times of oman - may 3, 2016
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Times of Oman - May 3, 2016TRANSCRIPT
Founded 1975 . Volume 41 No. | Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group
May 3, 2016 25 Rajab 1437 AH
TUESDAY
61 40
On the occasion of the 4th National Day, 1974
FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN
We fully realise that our work is bound by the targets we aim at. The success we see today in the sectors of both our local and international policies, is the true reflection of the efforts of our people, the sacredness of our soil and the respect and understanding of the world towards us and our aims.
‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’
MALLS OF OMAN TO CREATE 42,000 JOBSMajid Al Futtaim’s investments
in Oman will create 42,000 job
opportunities over 5 years. >A5
OMANDuplicate key makers told to get licence
1All duplicate key making shops must obtain a licence from the Royal Oman Police, a decision issued by the ROP has said. The licence fee is OMR50 and it is valid for one year, according to
Inspector General of Police and Customs. >A4
OMANHepatitis A prevention
2Maintaining personal hygiene and good food habits can help ward off
Hepatitis A, medics said. >A5
INDIATraffic chaos in Delhi
3Delhi groaned under traffic woes as hundreds of cab drivers blocked
National Highway 8. >A9
T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S
March
January - March
34.76M
12.87M
32.36M
12.81M
2015 2016
2015 2016
7%
OMAN AIRPORTS STATISTICS: MARCH 2015-2016
O M A N A I R P O R T S C O O M O A M C I N F O O M A N A I R P O R T S C O M9 6 8 24 3 4 1 0 0 0 9 6 8 24 5 1 8 0 8 8
Oman Airports Managment Company is a government-owned company, responsible for the management and operation of the civilian airports in the Sultanate of Oman. The infrastructure of the airports such as the terminal buildings, cargo buildings, runways, aprons, car parking and other facilities are directly under the OAMC’s management.
“Growing gatewaysto beauty andopportunity”
OUR PURPOSE“To be among the top 20
airports of the worldby 2020”
OUR VISION
Source: Airport Statistics 2014-2015, Oman Airports Managment Company Graphics
OAMC is currently managing and operating four airports, Muscat, Salalah, Sohar and Duqm; here are the monthly statistics
Muscat Airport Salalah Airport
Sohar Airport Duqm Airport
Total Number of Passengers
Civilian Aircraft Movements
Cargo & Mail (in Kilograms)
Key
March
January - March
2.90M
973,464
2.41M
812,438
2015 2016
2015 2016
March
January - March
24,698
8,458
22,188
7,702
2015 2016
2015 2016
11%
10%
20%
20% 0.5%
March
January - March
137
40
207
50
2015 2016
2015 2016
March
January - March
40
8
46
12
2015 2016
2015 2016
-13%
-33%
-34%
-20%
March
January - March
287,494
65,114
412,101
163,077
2015 2016
2015 2016
-30%
January - March
255,921
81,234
217,669
71,722
2015 2016
March
January - March
2,229
732
2,483
850
2015 2016
2015 2016
18%
-60%
March2015 2016
13%
-10%
-14%
March
January - March
6,498
3,678
1,552
2,329
2015 2016
March
January - March
106
38
100
36
2015 2016
2015 2016
6%
6%
77%
50%
2015 2016
O M A N A I R P O R T S C O O M O A M C I N F O O M A N A I R P O R T S C O M9 6 8 24 3 4 1 0 0 0 9 6 8 24 5 1 8 0 8 8
Oman Airports Managment Company is a government-owned company,nnresponsible for ff the management and operation of the civilian airportsin the Sultanate of Oman. The infrastructure of the airports such asthe terminal buildings, cargo buildings, runways, aprons, car parkingand other facilities are directly under the OAMC’s management.
“Growing gatewaysto beauty andopportunity”
OUR PURPOSE“To be among the top 20
airports of the worldby 2020”
OUR VISION
Source: Airport Statistics 2014-2015, Oman Airports Managment Companynn Graphics
137137
207207
40
46
-13%13%-34%-34%
6,498
3,678
106106
100100
6%6%77%A3OAMC seeks to improve passenger satisfaction
SCAN THIS FORMORE PHOTOS
HM SENDS GREETINGSMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of greetings to Presi-dent Dr. Andrzej Duda of Poland on the oc-casion of his country’s National Day. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere greetings and best wishes of good health and happiness to President Duda and the friendly people of Poland further progress and prosperity. -ONA
MORNING MINUTE
BABA UMAR FAHAD AL GADHANI [email protected]@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: Oman has decided to ‘delay’ its ambitious rail project connecting the Sultanate with the rest of the Gulf countries to meet the schedule of other Gulf coun-tries, a top official has said.
Contract with a private con-sultancy company - supposed to manage the rail project - has been cancelled as well.
“The ministry of transport and communications has not can-celled the project but only delayed it as other Gulf countries have de-cided to stop work on the project,” Mohammed Al Shuaili, Direc-tor of the Minister of Transport
and Communications Office told Times of Oman in an exclusive interview.
In January, the UAE announced suspension of Stage II tenders.
UAE’s stage II involves the con-struction of the rail network in the Abu Dhabi linking the country to the Saudi border at Ghweifat and the Omani border at Al Ain.
Meanwhile, the Sultanate, Al Shuaili, said, has also cancelled contract with a private company “to avoid extra costs.”
“It’s only one company and the contract was cancelled to avoid extra costs. There is no reason to keep the contract for now to avoid falling into compensation costs,” he said.
Al Shuaili wouldn’t confirm when the project could be re-launched but said, “Whenever the image becomes clear in the other part of the project, the ministry can assign the company to start working on it again.”
One of the private contractors present at the recent Middle East Rail Conference in Dubai and 3rd Annual Saudi Arabia Transport & Infrastructure 2016 in Riyadh said no new official time lines for the GCC Railway project were presented.
“There was just several state-ments off-line that the projects are delayed respectively and were being put on hold,” said one contractor.
To avoid giving compensation to the private
consultant, the deal has been cancelled
BRAKES PUT ON OMAN’S RAIL PROJECT
Not cancelled, but delayed, say transport officials
Decision follows Gulf countries also shelving rail plans
A2 T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
OMANTakatuf forges future-ready young leaders
TARIQ ZIAD AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: In an effort to develop as the next generation of leaders in the Sultanate, several students from across the country have en-rolled in the Takatuf Scholarship Programme to hone their academ-ic and leadership skills and com-pete for securing an international scholarship abroad.
Organised by Takatuf Oman LLC, the programme is split into two areas. The preparatory pro-gramme gathers 60 eleventh and twelfth graders to undergo an in-tensive programme designed to develop the core competencies needed for success today. Upon completion, they will be recog-nised as Takatuf Scholars and would have acquired skills that are vital for their university years.
Out of these 60 students, 10 are selected to study for six years in one of the most prestigious universities in the world and complete an un-dergraduate programme in which they will be recognised as Takatuf International Scholars. The pro-gramme joins academia with real world experiences, which are de-signed to prepare the students for personal and professional suc-cess. “Other than school, pledging my efforts to the Takatuf Scholars Programme was the first serious commitment I’ve ever made and I’m quite glad it was,” said Aziza Al
Kalbani, a Takatuf Scholar in 2015. “This programme introduced me to many things I needed to know as a 21st century learner and it was very likely that I would’ve learned them a bit too late otherwise,” she added.
Maryam Mukhaini, a Takatuf Scholar in 2015, said working with different people helped build confi-dence and develop communication skills, so vital today. “Working in these classes gave us the spark for discussions and debate in a critical way. Working with different peo-ple built our personal confidence and developed our communication skills; we learned how to collabo-rate and as a result, built stronger relationships and respect between us,” said Mukhaini.
For some students, the pro-gramme helped in developing their time management skills, which allowed them to accomplish a set number of goals effectively and ef-ficiently.
“I acquired certain crucial skills in the programme, which I will be able to utilise throughout my life and I grew as an individual by enriching my thinking process-es,” said Muhammad Al Azizi, a Takatuf Scholar in 2015.
He also added, “I also learned to use my time in certain ways to help me accomplish tasks efficiently and effectively. Improving these skills allowed me to get closer to reaching the goals I’ve set for my-self.” Part of the programme is a workshop simulating real world situations, such as the recent cli-mate change conference in Paris. Student had to demonstrate their negotiation skills; a vital skill need-ed today.
“A large part of the Winter Workshop was participating in a simulation related to a global con-ference (COP21) that took place in Paris. We were divided into groups and each group represented the perspective of a party that partici-pated in the conference,” explained Muhammad Al Abdul Salam, also a Takatuf Scholar in 2015.
“My group represented the Unit-ed States’ point of view, while other groups represented the views of the Maldives, India and Shell Glob-al. There were many negotiations among us and we finally agreed to reduce the carbon dioxide by 30 per cent in India. We decided that the United States and Shell Global will be the sponsors of this project by providing financial support,” he added. “Some readers may ask why it is important to discuss such a global issue; well, I learned from this experience that educating young Omanis about the problems, which are facing our world can in-crease the significance of Oman’s opinion in global events,” said Al Abdul Salam.
Takatuf Oman LLC is set to hon-our the Takatuf Scholar 2015 in a recognition ceremony on May 15 under the patronage of Dr. Muna Al Jardani, undersecretary of the Ministry of Manpower for Tech-nical Education and Vocational Training.
Takatuf programme
helps prepare
students for success
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Working with different people
built our personal confidence and
developed our communication skills
Maryam Mukhaini, Takatuf Scholar
A3
OMANT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
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March
January - March
34.76M
12.87M
32.36M
12.81M
2015 2016
2015 2016
7%
OMAN AIRPORTS STATISTICS: MARCH 2015-2016
I N STA G R A M . C O M / O M A N A I R P O R T S
Y O U T U B E . C O M / O M A N A I R P O R T S
T W I T T E R . C O M / O M A N A I R P O R T SFA C E B O O K . C O M / O M A N A I R P O R T S
O M A N A I R P O R T S . C O . O M O A M C I N F O @ O M A N A I R P O R T S . C O M+ 9 6 8 24 3 4 1 0 0 0 + 9 6 8 24 5 1 8 0 8 8
L I N K E D I N . C O M / C O M PA N Y/ O M A N - A I R P O R T S - M A N A G E M E N T- C O M PA N Y
Oman Airports Managment Company is a government-owned company, responsible for the management and operation of the civilian airports in the Sultanate of Oman. The infrastructure of the airports such as the terminal buildings, cargo buildings, runways, aprons, car parking and other facilities are directly under the OAMC’s management.
“Growing gatewaysto beauty andopportunity”
OUR PURPOSE“To be among the top 20
airports of the worldby 2020”
OUR VISION
2015Airport ExcellenceNew Salalah Airport(OAMC)
2012The best airportaward for staff serviceMiddle East region
Source: Airport Statistics 2014-2015, Oman Airports Managment Company Graphics
OAMC is currently managing and operating four airports, Muscat, Salalah, Sohar and Duqm; here are the monthly statistics
Muscat Airport Salalah Airport
Sohar Airport Duqm Airport
Total Number of Passengers
Civilian Aircraft Movements
Cargo & Mail (in Kilograms)
Key
March
January - March
2.90M
973,464
2.41M
812,438
2015 2016
2015 2016
March
January - March
24,698
8,458
22,188
7,702
2015 2016
2015 2016
11%
10%
20%
20% 0.5%
March
January - March
137
40
207
50
2015 2016
2015 2016
March
January - March
40
8
46
12
2015 2016
2015 2016
-13%
-33%
-34%
-20%
March
January - March
287,494
65,114
412,101
163,077
2015 2016
2015 2016
-30%
January - March
255,921
81,234
217,669
71,722
2015 2016
March
January - March
2,229
732
2,483
850
2015 2016
2015 2016
18%
-60%
March2015 2016
13%
-10%
-14%
March
January - March
6,498
3,678
1,552
2,329
2015 2016
March
January - March
106
38
100
36
2015 2016
2015 2016
6%
6%
77%
50%
2015 2016
OAMC initiatives seek to improve level of passenger satisfaction
TARIQ ZIAD AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: As passenger num-bers grow across the Sultanate’s airports, the Oman Airport Man-agement Company (OAMC) is in-troducing a series of initiatives to involve the public in innovating and improving their experience.
Fkrati is one such new initia-tive by OAMC, aimed at promot-
ing creativity and innovation at Oman Airports by encouraging employees to put forward ideas that will benefit the organisation by maximising profits, improving the quality of working conditions, eliminating inefficiencies, as well as increasing safety and promoting health, among other benefits.
Currently, OAMC is in the pro-cess of making the initiative open to the public.
From today, the Times of Oman and its sister publication, Al Sha-biba, will partner with OAMC to re-port each month the latest in devel-opments across Oman’s airports.
Another initiative called “Some-thing on your mind” will be re-launched by the organisation in which it will provide a mechanism to collect customers’ feedback.
“It is vitally important to listen to our passengers’ and visitors’
concerns and comments, to en-sure we are continuing to meet their needs and improve their ex-perience,” said Aimen Al Hosni, OAMC’s chief executive officer.
OAMC is striving to make Oman Airports among the top 20 in the world by the year 2020 by provid-ing high customer satisfaction as they develop infrastructure and fa-cilities for passengers and visitors.
According to OAMC statistics,
the Muscat International Airport saw a 20 per cent growth in pas-sengers in March, compared with the same month last year, where it recorded 973,464 passengers visiting the airport. Civil aircraft movement also shot up 10 per cent in March. Passenger movement at Salalah Airport rose to 13 per cent in March, with 81,234 passengers recorded, compared with March last year.
OAMC is striving
to make Oman
Airports among the
top 20 in the world
by the year 2020
Oman Air support for youth entrepreneurship event Times News Service
MUSCAT: Oman Air has joined the Muscat-based College of Bank-ing and Financial Studies (CBFS) to support the ongoing develop-ment of entrepreneurship among young people of Oman.
The airline has accepted an invi-tation from the college to become a strategic partner for the CBFS Youth Entrepreneurship Com-petition. The competition aims to prepare students for success in an evolving Omani economy by incentives, contributing and sustaining the success of the win-ning students. It culminated with a ceremony, which was held under the auspices of Hamad Al Amri, undersecretary of Manpower, on April 24.
Expertise exchangeAs a part of its support for the competition, Oman Air provided the winner with return tickets to Dubai. The tickets will enable them to continue their project by visiting a financial firm in Dubai to exchange skills and expertise, and to enhance their knowledge and experience.
Dr. Khalid bin Abdul Wahab Al
Balushi, senior manager, Govern-ment Affairs at Oman Air, com-mented: “We are pleased and proud to be supporting this im-portant initiative, in partnership with the College of Banking and Financial Studies. The continuing success and expansion of Oman’s economy depends on the entre-preneurial flair of today’s students, who will go on to become the busi-ness leaders of tomorrow.
Highly competitive“That is why the CBFS Youth En-trepreneurship Competition is so important. The business world is, of course, highly competitive and this project encourages students to shine in their chosen fields. Furthermore, the winner now has the opportunity to travel and to further develop their skills and knowledge. It has been a pleasure to provide them with their flights to Dubai, courtesy of Oman Air.”
The College of Banking and Fi-nancial Studies was established by a Royal Decree in 1983, with the ob-jectives of educating and training bankers and encouraging research in banking and financial subjects. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Central Bank of Oman and is sup-
ported by the commercial banks operating in the Sultanate.
Training coursesOver three decades, the College has helped the financial services in-dustry to meet its human resource development needs by offering ac-ademic and training courses that are tailor made to meet the emerg-ing needs of Oman. It is an active partner in the Omanisation of the banking sector.
Oman Air’s partnership with CBFS was the latest step in its cor-porate social responsibility pro-gramme, which provides support for business and community devel-opment initiatives, as well as high achievement in the educational, sporting and creative fields. As the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman, and as a major national and international employer, Oman Air is committed to backing continu-ing economic development in the country, a key part of which is the flourishing small and medium en-terprises (SMEs) sector.
In November 2015, Oman Air was awarded for its Corporate So-cial Responsibility Initiative of the Year at the ninth Aviation Busi-ness Awards.
J O I N I N G F O R C E S
CAREER BOOST: Oman Air has accepted an invitation from the College of Banking and Financial Stud-ies to become a strategic partner for the CBFS Youth Entrepreneurship Competition. – Supplied photo
A4 T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
OMAN 5 nationals were arrested following a theft of thousands of rials
worth of gold from a house in Sohar province. The stolen
gold, worth OMR8,000, was recovered from the culprits
ROP licence must for duplicate key makers
FAHAD AL GADHANIRAHUL [email protected]@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: As summer sets in, citizens and residents have been urged by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) to take precautions against theft being committed in their houses.
Many thefts occur around this time, as some people return to their villages from Muscat, while a large number of citizens and ex-patriates travel abroad with their families to spend holidays.
“Criminals use different means to break into a house, such as with a duplicate key or by breaking open doors or windows. There-fore, people should take precau-tions,” said a spokesperson from ROP. To monitor key making shops, the ROP said all duplicate key making shops must obtain a licence from ROP.
The licence fee is OMR50 and is valid for a year, Lt- General
Hassan bin Mohsin Al-Shuraiqi, inspector general of Police and Customs, said in a ministerial de-cision issued by ROP.
The ROP has also warned that shops failing to renew their li-cences on time will be penalised OMR10 per month.
“We monitor these shops and we believe that many theft cases can be solved by monitoring these shops,” he said.
Residents said in general, thieves target homes believing that residents may have kept valuables, such as gold and cash. People can protect their property while going on a holiday by install-
ing surveillance cameras, locking windows and doors, and closing open spaces in the house, which can reduce chances of theft.
Recently, five nationals were arrested following a theft of thou-sands of rials worth of gold from a house in Sohar province.
The stolen gold, worth OMR8,000, was recovered from the culprits.
The official added that people should not leave valuables, such as gold and cash while they are away and pointed out that ROP will intensify its patrols, espe-cially in areas where such crimes are reported.
Criminals use
different means
to break into a
house, such as
with a duplicate
key or by breaking
open doors or
windows. Therefore,
people should take
precautions, said a
spokesperson from
Royal Oman Police
The licence fee
is OMR50 and is
valid for a year, Lt-
General Hassan bin
Mohsin Al-Shuraiqi,
inspector general
of Police and
Customs, said
Sri Lanka expects 20,000 tourists from Oman this yearTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Sri Lanka expects 20,000 tourist arrivals from Oman in 2016, according to Deepal Palle-gangoda, Country Manager Oman, Mihin Lanka, talking during a Sri Lanka Tourism road show at Al Falaj Hotel on Sunday.
Pallegangoda noted that there was a 67 per cent increase in the number of Omanis travelling to Sri Lanka in 2014, compared with 2013.
“In 2015, 14,216 tourists from Oman visited Sri Lanka, and we hope that number will touch 20,000 this year. Because of the economic crisis, many people will shun holidays in Europe and, in-stead, look for cheaper options, like Sri Lanka, where they can have greater value for their mon-ey,” he said.
Talking about main markets in the Gulf, Pallegangoda mentioned that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman are the main source of tour-ists from the Gulf region for the island nation.
Other dignitaries present at the road show included M.K. Pathma-naathan, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Sultanate of Oman, Ajantha
Rathnayake, Assistant Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bu-reau, Mrs Hiruni Rajapakse, Sec-ond Secretary, Sri Lanka Embassy and J.H. Liyanage, Minister of the Sri Lanka Embassy.
In his speech, Pathmanaathan said the embassy is committed to promoting Sri Lankan tourism in Oman, not only as a means of trade, but also to strengthen peo-ple to people links between the
two countries. “Today, the tour-ism industry has become one of the priority sectors of the national economy of many countries in the world. The contribution of the tourism industry to the economy
of both Oman and Sri Lanka is ex-pected to significantly increase in the near future. The governments of both Sri Lanka and the Sultan-ate of Oman are committed to sup-port the growth of the tourism in-dustry through their own national programmes. The programmes will eventually be implemented by industry players, including tour operators,” he said.
He added, “Sri Lanka has been a familiar and preferred destination for Arabs, including Omanis, since ancient times. Sri Lanka’s location in the well-known maritime Silk Road of the Indian Ocean was a contributing factor for this attrac-tion. This historical link and con-nectivity has not been promoted adequately among the present generation of Omanis. Many peo-ple in Oman, I was told, are not aware that Sri Lanka was popular in the ancient Arab world, and was called Serendib. It is widely be-lieved that Omanis who are histor-ically known for their ocean-going capabilities had visited Sri Lanka, then known as Serendib many centuries ago. Some even settled there. This is an important factor when we talk about relations be-tween Oman and Sri Lanka.”
Citing The Master Card – Cres-cent Rating Global report, he said Sri Lanka was named one of the top 10 destination for Muslim tourists to visit and is expected to increase tourist arrivals to 4.5 mil-lion by 2020. “Sri Lanka has signed up with leading international hotel chains, such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Internation-al, Hyatt Hotels Cooperation, Mov-enpick Hotels, Shangri La, Anan-thara, ICT, and others to increase its room capacity,” he added.
Mihin Lanka launched service on the Muscat-Colombo sector on October 25 last year after its sister airline, Sri Lankan Airlines, ceased flying this route.
According to Pallegangoda, Colombo is emerging as a tour-ism and trade hub in South Asia. “We plan to promote the country by providing affordable travel op-tions. More passengers are travel-ling to Dhaka and the Maldives, apart from the Far East and China, using Mihin Lanka.
“I think that this summer more people will travel to Sri Lanka, In-dia and Far East countries, com-pared to Europe, as these coun-tries provide affordable options,” Pallegangoda added.
A T T R A C T I V E D E S T I N A T I O N
BUILDING LINKS: Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Sultanate of Oman Pathmanaathan said the em-
bassy is committed to promoting Sri Lankan tourism in Oman, not only as a means of trade, but also to
strengthen people to people links between the two countries. — OK Mohammed Ali
Oman is the fastest growing tourism destination in Middle East: WTTCTimes News Service MUSCAT: Oman is the fastest growing tourism destination in the Middle East when it comes to the total contribution of travel and tourism sector to its Gross Do-mestic Product (GDP), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said in its latest report.
While the total contribution of the sector was 5.7 per cent of Oman’s total GDP (OMR 1,593.8 million) in 2015, this is expected to grow by 6 per cent in 2016.
At an expected growth rate of 6 per cent, Oman stands at the top, while Qatar and Kuwait follow with 5.9 and 5.6 per cent of expect-ed growth, respectively. The Unit-ed Arab Emirates (UAE) come in at sixth place, with an expected growth rate of 4.4 per cent.
The total contribution of the travel and tourism sector includes the wider effects of investment, the supply chain and induced in-come impact. With regards to the direct contribution of the sector to the country’s GDP, Oman stands second, with a growth rate of 6.6 per cent, following Kuwait.
The direct contribution reflects the economic activity generated by industries, such as hotels, travel agencies, airlines, other passenger
transportation services, restau-rants and leisure industries.
The WTTC has forecast an in-crease of 5.1 per cent in the num-ber of jobs directly generated in the travel and tourism sector in 2016, the report said. The number of jobs is expected to reach 56,000, which is 2.8 per cent of total em-ployment. This includes jobs in industries, such as hotels, travel agencies, restaurants and airlines. The WTTC expects the sector to account for 81,000 jobs in 2026.
The total contribution of the sector to employment, reflecting the wider effects of the sector, is forecast to rise by 4.4 per cent in 2016 to reach 116,500 jobs, accord-ing to the WTTC.
Oman ranks ninth out of 10 countries in the region when it comes to the sector’s contribu-tion to employment, with 5.7 per cent in 2015. The UAE came in at the fifth place, with 9.6 per cent of total employment. WTTC expects Oman to attract 3,342,000 inter-national tourist arrivals in 2026.
The Tourism Strategy 2040 of the Ministry of Tourism will tar-get 5 million international visi-tors by 2040 and a 6 per cent rise in the sector’s contribution to the GDP. In 2015, Oman received 2.4 million tourists.
I N T E R M S O F G D P
Oman’s adult literacy climbs to 94.8%Times News Service
MUSCAT: Oman’s adult literacy rate reached 94.8 per cent in 2015, according to Alpen Capital’s GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Edu-cation Industry Report.
The report said the education system in Oman is receiving an impetus from the government‘s five-year plans and higher budget allocation.
Reforms, such as a mandatory 10 years of basic education, an increase in the number of school days, encouragement of private higher education institutions, growth of special needs education, and the setting-up of teacher train-ing colleges, among others, have further assisted the development of the country‘s education land-scape. The progress is reflected in an improvement in the adult lit-eracy, which reached 94.8 per cent in 2015, up from about 81 per cent a decade ago.
Despite the significant drop in oil prices, the government of Oman has earmarked a generous expenditure of OMR2.5 billion for the education sector in 2016. This signifies the country‘s zeal to make its youngsters (those under 25 years of age) skilled, and this demographic forms nearly 37 per cent of the total population.
With a young population, there is an increasing focus on attaining high-quality education to under-stand the international business culture and acquire skills to suc-ceed in a globalised market.
As of 2014-2015, the Sultan-ate was home to over 500 private schools, 27 private universities and colleges, 1,048 government schools, a government university, 17 public colleges, and 14 special institutes. The country‘s educa-
tion system registered enrolments to the tune of more than 778,000 students, recording an overall Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 79.2 per cent in 2014.
“The GCC education sector is witnessing robust growth in stu-dent enrolments, coupled with the steady expansion in related infra-structure. Population growth and a rise in disposable income have supported growth of the private education sector. Further, govern-
ment measures to encourage pri-vate sector investments, alongside an increasing preference for in-ternational curricula among resi-dents, is also attracting renowned foreign education institutes to the region,” said Sameena Ahmad, managing director, Alpen Capital (ME) Limited.
“The education sector in the re-gion is growing at a rapid pace and offers attractive opportunities for private investors. The sector has witnessed several M&A transac-tions in the last three years, ow-ing to the increasing demand for quality education. The investor friendly policies adopted by the GCC governments are also helping the trend towards increased pri-vate sector participation. We be-lieve that the existing momentum in the M&A space of the education sector in the region is likely to con-tinue being fuelled by factors, such as favourable demographics, high disposable income and growing awareness for quality education,” said Mahboob Murshed, manag-ing director, Alpen Capital (ME) Limited. According to Alpen Capi-tal, the total number of students in the GCC education sector is pro-jected to reach 15 million in 2020, registering a CAGR of 3.6 per cent, up from an estimated 12.6 million in 2015.
R E P O R T
Sameena Ahmad Mahboob Murshed
Despite the significant drop in oil prices, the government
of Oman has earmarked a generous expenditure of OMR2.5
billion for the education sector in 2016
Millennium Resort Mussanah offers package for familiesTimes News Service
MUSSANAH: With summer setting in, the Millennium Resort Mussanah has launched a special offer that will enable guests to sa-vour a unique and family-friendly retreat this vacation season.
Christoph Schleissing, general manager of Millennium Resort Mussanah, said, “The resort, our staff, and every inch of our facilities are fully prepared and ready to deliver the perfect sum-mer getaway to all our visitors this summer.
Ideal escape“Filled with fun and tailored to deliver the ideal escape families often dream of during the school year, we introduced this offer to ensure guests can enjoy a full range of our services no matter how long they stay.
“Our resort has exceptional views of the Al Hajjar Moun-tains and the Batinah Coast, im-maculate pools, as well as all the amenities required to make every second with us memorable.”
Under the resort’s deal, guests will be able to experience a stay for two in the Deluxe Garden View Room, daily breakfast and dinner for two at the Mydan Res-taurant, and a full range of its top facilities from the May 1 until end of September 2016, exclud-ing public holidays, and starting from OMR39 net.
Complimentary stayThe offer is perfect for families as it also allows complimentary stay and meals for one child below six years of age, 50 per cent off on bed and meals for children between the ages of six and 12, and an ex-tra bed with breakfast and dinner, inclusive for only OMR25 net.
In a perfect complement to access its private beach, Mil-lennium Resort Mussanah also announced a series of fun sand castle building competitions for the little ones and their fami-lies to enjoy every Friday from 3 to 4 pm. Each competition will be inspired by a different theme and will be held throughout the summer months.
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OMANT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
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Malls to boost job market in Oman
REJIMON [email protected]
MUSCAT: Dubai-based conglom-erate Majid Al Futtaim’s (MAF) investments in Oman will create 42,000 direct and indirect job op-portunities in the next five years, a top official from the conglomer-ate said.
“With the upcoming large scale investments in Oman, we will be able to create 16,973 direct jobs and 25,459 indirect jobs,” Alain
Bejjani, the chief executive officer of Majid Al Futtaim, said. Since the company began its Oman op-erations in 2001, it has generated more than 23,000 jobs in the con-struction and operations sectors.
“We will be able to provide 65,000 new jobs in Oman,” the of-ficial said, adding that currently, it has been able to maintain 88 per cent Omanisation in the shopping retail sector, 37 per cent in Carre-four and 67 per cent in Al Mouj.
The company official was talk-ing on the sidelines of an event to announce that it will be mak-ing OMR515 million worth of additional investment in Oman by 2020.
“The company’s investment strategy includes the Mall of Oman (estimated at OMR275 million), City Centre Sohar (estimated at OMR45 million), My City Centre Sur (estimated at OMR15 million),
and additional investments from its retail, leisure and entertain-ment businesses (estimated at OMR180 million) including Magic Planet, Carrefour and VOX Cin-emas,” the official said.
New opportunitiesMeanwhile, referring to the effect of a dip in oil prices on the region, the official conceded that there has been an impact but added that the crisis has led to new initiatives be-ing taken up.
“The initiatives undertaken by Oman and other countries to cush-ion the oil price dip effect have opened up new opportunities, which will fuel the development
process and progress further,” the official added.
According to the official, Oman is turning into a leading shopping destination in the region and the footfalls in its shopping malls are promising.
“When the Mall of Oman opens in 2020, it will be the largest in-tegrated retail, leisure and enter-tainment destination in Oman with 350 outlets sprawling over a 137,000 sqm retail space. It will feature many ‘firsts’ including Oman’s largest snow-park, with an 8,000 sqm play area, and a Lit-tle Explorers edutainment centre,” the official added.
The Mall of Oman will also in-
clude Oman’s first Abercrombie and Fitch and largest VOX Cin-emas and Magic Planet, the lead-ing family entertainment centre in the region, as well as a 13,200 sqm Carrefour hypermarket and a 292 room hotel, completing its in-tegrated offer. It is estimated that the Mall of Oman’s development will generate 29,000 direct and in-direct job opportunities.
City Centre Sohar, set to open in 2018, will be home to 100 new retail outlets across 40,000 sqm. The mall will create an estimated 8,000 employment opportunities in Oman.
My City Centre Sur, which will open in 2017, will include 16,500 sqm of retail space, comprising 50 outlets, a 6,850 sqm Carrefour hy-permarket, Oman’s first City Cen-tre Clinic and a Magic Planet.
The project will create more than 3,500 direct and indirect job opportunities.
ExpansionMajid Al Futtaim is also expand-ing its existing City Centre Qurum shopping mall in Muscat.
The revamp will see the in-troduction of Centrepoint, the multi-brand retail concept, as well as additional car parking spaces.
Furthermore, the company is developing the next phase of Al Mouj Muscat, an oceanfront mixed-use destination, and is also expanding its VOX Cinemas and Carrefour hypermarkets to new locations across Oman.
The continued investment in Oman’s retail and leisure infra-structure by Majid Al Futtaim supports the country’s National Strategy for Tourism 2040, which targets a 6 per cent rise in the contribution of the tourism sec-tor to the GDP and a near dou-bling of visitor numbers to five million annually.
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Crimean-Congo fever claimed 2 lives last month: MinistryTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Two of the people, af-flicted by the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), died in the past one month, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has an-nounced.
The CCHF is a disease caused by a tick-borne virus that is trans-mitted to human beings either by tick bites or through contact with infected animals. The first case of this disease, endemic to the Sul-tanate, was reported in 1995.
Since the beginning of 2016 and
till the end of April, the Sultanate has recorded six cases. Three of the afflicted people died.
The MoH works together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to monitor the CCHF while the Ministry of Health pro-vides brochures to help raise
awareness. Since there is no effec-tive vaccine available for humans or animals, the only way to prevent infection is to raise awareness about risk factors and educate peo-ple to take preventive measures.
Such measures include reduc-ing the risk of tick-to-human
transmission by wearing protec-tive clothing (long sleeves, long trousers) while handling animals, avoiding touching, removing or swatting the ticks by hand, using approved acaricides (chemicals intended to kill ticks) and avoiding areas where ticks are abundant.
The risk of animal-to-human transmission can be avoided by wearing gloves and other protec-tive clothing while handling ani-mals or their tissues, notably dur-ing slaughtering, and informing the concerned authorities in case of ticks in animals.
M I N I S T R Y O F H E A L T H A N N O U N C E M E N T
Hygiene, food habits vital for prevention of Hepatitis AREJIMON K [email protected]
MUSCAT: Maintaining personal hygiene and good food habits can ward off Hepatitis A, medics said in the wake of an outbreak of the disease in the South Sharqi-yah region.
Citing epidemiological surveil-lance data, an official from the Ministry of Health (MoH) said that there had been an increase in the number of Hepatitis A cases in South Sharqiyah Governorate.
Hepatitis A symptoms, which typically don’t appear until a pa-tient has had the virus for a few weeks, may include fatigue, nau-sea and vomiting, abdominal pain or discomfort, especially in the area of liver on right side beneath lower ribs and loss of appetite.
The Hepatitis A virus is ex-creted in faeces and transmitted by ingesting contaminated food or water. An infected person can transmit the Hepatitis A virus to others if they do not take strict sanitary precautions, such as thoroughly washing hands before food preparation.
According to the MoH, a total of 136 cases were reported from the South Al Sharqiyah Governorate between January 1 and April 25.
The MoH statement added that most of the reported cases were from Asila village (76 per cent) from Jaalan Bani Bu Ali.
However, results of water sam-ples collected from Asial village’s different sources were found to be normal.
“The Ministry of Regional Mu-nicipalities and Water Resources has been notified about the situ-ation to implement the required measures,” the official said, add-ing that the Health Ministry has undertaken many measures to contain the increase in Jaalan Bani Bu Ali.
“The medical teams have intensified efforts to spread awareness among parents and the community about the dis-ease’s transmission methods and preventive measures,” the official added.
According to the official, the reason behind the increase is per-son-to-person transmission and is not connected with one source or via food suppliers either in the school or community level.
“Hepatitis A spreads mainly through contaminated food and water and people should make sure that the food and water they consume is hygienic,” Dr Basheer, a senior internist at the Badr Al Samaa, told the Times of Oman.
“If you’re travelling in regions where a Hepatitis A outbreaks occur, peel and wash all fresh fruits and vegetables yourself and avoid raw or undercooked meat and fish. Drink bottled wa-ter and use it while brushing your teeth. Don’t drink beverages of unknown purity, with or without ice. If bottled water isn’t available, boil tap water before drinking it,” the internist added.
Dr Geetha Kumar, a senior medic at a hospital in Ibri, said people should drink only boiled water and avoid stale food.
“Avoid eating from hotels, keep your hands clean always, as also the kitchen and your utensils,” she added.
E X P E R T S P E A K
Symptoms, which typically don’t appear until a patient has had the virus for a few weeks, may include fatigue, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain or discomfort
Alain Bejjani, chief executive officer, Majid Al Futtaim.
BIG PLAY: When the Mall of Oman opens in 2020, it will be the largest integrated retail, leisure and entertainment destination in Oman with 350 outlets sprawling over a 137,000 sqm retail space. It will feature many ‘firsts’ including Oman’s largest snow-park, with an 8,000 sqm play area, and a Little Explorers edutainment centre, said Alain Bejjani, chief executive officer, Majid Al Futtaim. – Jun Estrada
Majid Al Futtaim’s
investment strategy
includes the
OMR275m Mall of
Oman, OMR45m
City Centre Sohar,
OMR15m My City
Centre Sur besides
OMR180m in other
retail, leisure and
entertainment
investments
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The scientific production of SQU has witnessed a strong growth in the last
three years, which has resulted in a third place after Qatar University and
the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia
Dr. Rahma bint Ibrahim Al Mahrooqi, deputy vice chancellor,
Postgraduate Studies and Research at SQU
Haj operatorstold to register with ministry
FAHAD AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: All companies and establishments running the Haj transportation business have been directed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to seek approval from the Ministry of En-dowments and Religious Affairs (Awqaf ) and submit it to the min-istry as soon as possible.
The announcement, made through social media, stated that
all companies and establishments, which deal with pilgrims’ trans-portation in the commercial reg-isters, need to register with the Ministry of Endowments and Re-ligious Affairs and get the approval to practice this activity, within six months from the date of the an-nouncement, which is May 2.
If they fail to do so, the ministry will cancel the activity from their registers, the directive stated.
The ministry also announced that the processing of online regis-tration for those who have applied for Haj this year has already start-ed. The ministry explained that the results of the online registra-
tion will be announced in 10 days from the day the processing began.
A total of 23,966 online applica-tions have been received, as stated by the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs on its official account in social media.
The Ministry had announced earlier that Omani pilgrims plan-ning to travel to Mecca to perform Haj could register their applica-tions at www.Hajjj.om, which will be opened from April 10 to 24.
The online registration system will aim to curb violations com-mitted by Haj operators and en-sure a better system for offering the best services to pilgrims.
The ministry also
announced that the
processing of online
registration for those
who have applied
for Haj this year has
already started
PILGRIMAGE: A total of 23,966 online applications have been
received, the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs on its
official account in social media. – Supplied photo
Five SQU researchers get grant
from His Majesty Trust Fund
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Five researchers at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) have received a grant from the prestigious His Majesty Trust Fund, in recognition of their ex-cellence in research.
The grants, announced at the opening of the 16th SQU Day yesterday morning, amount to OMR450,000 each.
An annual event, Sultan Qa-boos University Day commemo-rates the visit of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the university on May 2, 2000 and focuses on the achievements of the university, particularly in re-search. It was opened under the patronage of Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidi, Minister of Com-merce and Industry.
Dr. Rahma bint Ibrahim Al Mahrooqi, deputy vice chancel-lor, Postgraduate Studies and Re-search at SQU, said the His Maj-esty Trust Fund had supported 77 research projects, valued at OMR7 million since its inception in 2001 until 2015.
The colleges of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sciences and Medicine have also given the highest number of grants to their researchers during this period, with 45 scholarships.
During the event, Al Mahrooqi also outlined the successes of SQU in recent years.
According to her, growing re-search at SQU has helped it figure among the top universities in the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). SQU researchers published 58 academic papers in academic journals in 2015.
“We are seeing that the scien-tific production of SQU has wit-nessed a strong growth in the last three years, which has resulted in a third place after Qatar Univer-sity and the King Fahd Univer-sity of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia,” she said.
Al Mahrooqi further said that during the 2015 to 2016 academ-ic year, six inventions had been registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office, primarily in engineering and Information Technology.
She added that SQU is seeking to further develop postgradu-ate studies, in order to meet the demands of the job market and the needs of development of the
society, and to further improve the position of SQU in academic rankings.
According to Al Mahrooqi, 433 students are enrolled in Masters programmes and 40 students in doctoral programmes.
She also pointed out that in 2015, the number of students in Masters programmes, had in-creased in the colleges of Educa-tion, Arts and Social Sciences, Economics, Political Sciences, Law, Political Science and Agri-cultural and Marine Sciences and Science. In addition to announc-ing the winners of the research grants, SQU also honoured excel-lent researchers, as well as stu-dents with high grades.
Meanwhile, Al Sunaidi opened an exhibition where researchers of SQU presented their research projects.
A C H I E V E M E N T S O F U N I V E R S I T Y
HONOUR: The grants, announced at the opening of the 16th SQU
Day, yesterday morning, amount to OMR450,000 each.– Erik Prins
Oman trade union rescues workers stranded at resortREJIMON [email protected]
MUSCAT: Around 30 workers stranded at a resort in Muscat were recently helped by the Oman trade union, officials said.
“The workers were stranded as the resort had reportedly stopped its operations. We were informed about the workers’ situation as they were struggling without power supply, food and water at their accommodation. We reached the location that night itself to help them,” Moham-med Khaldi, a board member of the General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU), told the Times of Oman (GCC).
“Our aim is the welfare of work-ers. We don’t differentiate be-tween them as nationals or expa-triates. Workers are workers,” the trade union official added.
Some 70 workers, including 30 expatriates, were stranded after the resort they were working in reportedly closed its doors some
40 days ago without paying their pending salaries.
“The workers were struggling without food and clean drinking water. Moreover, as there was no power supply, they were afraid even to sleep peacefully as the area is infected snakes,” the trade union official said, adding that they have taken up the issue with the government.
Mohammed Al Farji, board member of GFOTU, who met the stranded workers, initi-ated procedures to lodge their grievances with the Ministry of Manpower’s office.
An official from the manpower office said they have taken a note of the workers’ grievances and their complaint will be forwarded to the court.
The hotel manager at the resort and spa, who is also one among the stranded workers, told TOO that they were left in lurch after the company stopped operations.
“An intervention by GFOTU has evoked some hope among us.
Manpower officials came here. We went with them to office. In-dividual complaints have been lodged. We hope our issue will be resolved soon,” the manager, who has not been paid his salary for the last 14 months, said.
“We slept peacefully on Tues-day night after the trade union leaders came. We got power sup-ply and food back at our accom-modation. As it’s a seaside area, lack of power supply was a big threat as there are a lot of snakes in the area. Hunger pangs can be borne, but what happens if we step on a snake?”
Meanwhile, the company of-ficials were not available for com-ment. The labour law does not dif-ferentiate between an expat and a national worker when it comes to rights and welfare.
Oman is the second country in the Gulf Cooperation Council, after Bahrain, to have a general federation of trade unions. Expa-triates are also allowed to join the trade union in Oman.
H E L P I N G H A N D
MUSCAT: State Council and Majlis Al Shura in a joint meet-ing discussed the efforts made by the Standing Committees to deal with the current economic situa-tion in the Sultanate.
About the economic challeng-es, Dr. Yahya bin Mahfoudh Al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council explained that it is a very important issue and all govern-ment and private sectors must cooperate in facing it.
He pointed out that the private sector must play its part to sup-port the national economy more effectively by domestic invest-ment in the country, since the government had provided it with infrastructure, support and the appropriate services, and to be a key partner in finding appropriate solutions to these challenges.
Al Mantheri highlighted the importance of these meetings to increase coordination between the two councils in all legislative and regulatory actions.
Khalid bin Hilal Al Ma’awali, Chairman of Majlis Al Shura said that Majlis, through its of-fice, standing committees and task forces, continues to follow the economic crisis and its after-math, as it has already held sever-
al meetings and dialogue sessions with several specialists in the banking, economic and tourist sectors, in addition to the oil and gas sectors to listen to the view-points of the private sector.
He pointed out that these meet-ings resulted in a series of propos-als and visions to ensure reducing the economic harms caused by the deterioration of oil prices or limiting them.
A special committee was formed to study the economic cri-sis and its impact on the society. The committee began its work and held several meetings. It will also
submit its report and recommen-dations in July. The meeting also discussed the coordination mech-anisms proposed between the two councils, pursuant to the provi-sions of Article (58) repeated (36) of the Basic Law of the State, in ad-dition to discussing the exchange of results of studies prepared by both councils, when needed.
The offices touched on the draft laws referred by the government through peer committees in the councils after referring the draft law by Majlis to the State Coun-cil to clarify the rationale for the amendment. -ONA
J O I N T M E E T I N G
JOINT SITTING: A joint meeting of the State Council and Majlis Al
Shura is being held at the Council of Oman yesterday. -ONA
Private sector must help revive Oman economy, says Mantheri
Sangour highlights banking challenges
MUSCAT: Hamoud bin Sangour Al Zedjali, Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman yester-day chaired the annual meeting of CEOs, general managers and offi-cials of banks operating in Oman.
The CBO Executive President stressed the importance of this regular meeting, which comes within the framework of exist-
ing cooperation and coordination among banking institutions, CBO, its various departments and units.
He also affirmed the endeavours of all to find successful solutions for the issues and challenges fac-ing the banking sector and facili-tating its assignments.
Al Zedjali also confirmed that the banks in the Sultanate fulfilled
the minimum conditions of Basel III at the end of 2015. He added that the banks also maintained high levels of basic capital while the CBO financial tolerance evalu-ators continue in a bid to show the flexible banking system as each bank is required to identify weak-ness points and adopt proactive measures to limit weakness. -ONA
C E N T R A L B A N K O F O M A N
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OMANT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
SAYYID KHALID MEETS IRANIAN, SRI LANKAN AMBASSADORSSayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court received yesterday Ali Akbar Sibawayh, ambassador of Iran to Oman to bid him farewell at the end of his tour of duty
as his country’s ambassador to the Sultanate. The two sides exchanged conversations and reviewed the relations between the two countries. Sayyid Khalid also received M. K. Pathmanaathan, am-
bassador of Sri Lanka to Oman. The two sides exchanged conversations and reviewed the bilateral relations between Oman and Sri Lanka, as well as means of enhancing them in all fields. -ONA
Oman’s efforts in health, education fields praised
GENEVA: Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimina-tion (CERD) hailed in Geneva the progress made by the Sultanate of Oman in all fields by providing education and health services for all categories of the Omani soci-ety without discrimination, and the role of the Sultanate’s govern-ment in empowering women and giving them positions in state and
private sectors. The matter came during a discussion of the Sultan-ate’s second to fifth reports of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in the presence of the national team, assigned by the Council of Ministers, to draft these reports, in accordance with
the contractual obligations of the Sultanate before the Committee on the follow-up, as well as dis-cussion of the reports about the Convention at the High Commis-sioner for Human Rights head-quarters in Geneva.
The team in-charge, headed by Sheikh Dr. Khalifa bin Moham-
med Al Hadhrami, Vice President of the Supreme Court, and in the presence of Abdullah bin Nasser Al Rahbi, Sultanate’s ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), and other international organisations in Geneva, and the membership of Dr. Rashid bin Hamad Al Balushi Professor of Criminal Law in the College of Law in Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), and Maysaa bint Zahran Al Ruqaishiya, Head of Public Prosecution, reviewed the measures taken by the Sultan-ate in the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
Sheikh Dr. Al Hadhrami deliv-ered a speech during which he thanked the CERD for conven-ing this meeting to discuss the reports of the Sultanate and its recognised efforts to promote and protect human rights.
He touched on the work meth-odology and the consultation pro-cess for the preparation of these reports in the Sultanate. -ONA
Sultanate’s role in
empowering women
and giving them
positions in state
and private sectors
was also lauded
PROTECTION OF RIGHTS: Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination hailed in Geneva the progress made by Oman. -ONA
Tourism ministry names winners
IBRA: Ministry of Tourism, rep-resented by the Department of Tourism in the Governorate of North A’Sharqiyah, yesterday announced the results of Qual-ity Competition for Tourism and Hotel Facilities in the Governo-rate North A’Sharqiyah, at the headquarters of Oman Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) Branch in the Wilayat of Ibra under the auspices of Sheikh
Yahya bin Hamoud Al Ma’amari, Governor of North A’Sharqiyah.
The results are: In the category of hotel facilities, Al Sharqiya Sands Hotel won the first place, Al Wesal Hotel came second and Al Sharqiya Nights Resort came third.
In the tourist camps category, Desert Nights Camp came first, Arabian Oryx Camp came sec-ond and 1000 Nights Camp came
third. In the Travel and Tour-ism Offices category, Ibra Office came first, followed by Travel-ler Adventure Office in the sec-ond place and Al Faida Office came third.
The ceremony was attended by Sheikh Saqr bin Sultan Al Shu-kaili, Wali of Ibra, directors of public and private institutions, and members of the municipal council in the governorate. -ONA
Q U A L I T Y C O M P E T I T I O N F O R T O U R I S M
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REGIONT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
Kerry in Geneva, aims to extend ceasefire to Aleppo
AMMAN/GENEVA: Washing-ton and Moscow said on Monday they were working hard to extend a truce in Syria to Aleppo, the di-vided northern city where a sharp escalation of violence in recent weeks has left a ceasefire in tat-ters and torpedoed peace talks.
US Secretary of State Joahn Kerry was in Geneva for meetings with other dignitaries to try to re-vive the two-month-old US and Russia-sponsored cessation of hostilities, which quieted guns for the first time during the five-year Syrian war but which has unrav-elled in recent days.
Syria announced temporary lo-cal truces in two areas last week. But those agreements have not been extended to Aleppo, where government air strikes and rebel shelling have killed hundreds of civilians in the past week, includ-ing more than 50 people in a hos-pital rebels say was deliberately targeted by the army.
The Aleppo fighting threatens to wreck the first peace talks in-volving the warring parties, which are due to resume at an unspeci-fied date after breaking up in April when the opposition delegation walked out citing government ceasefire violations.
“We’re getting closer to a place of understanding, but we have some work to do, and that’s why we’re here,” Kerry said at the start of a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir.
Kerry said he hoped for more clarity in the next day or so on re-storing the nationwide ceasefire. The United States and Russia had agreed to keep extra staff in Ge-neva to work on it.
“Both sides, the opposition and the regime, have contributed to this chaos, and we are working over the next hours intensely in order to try to restore the cessa-tion of hostilities,” Kerry said.
He later spoke by telephone to Russia’s Foreign Minister Ser-gei Lavrov. The Russian Foreign Ministry said they both called on all sides to observe the ceasefire. A Russian military official, General Sergei Kuralenko, said talks were under way on extending the local truces to Aleppo.
The United States and Russia have taken the leading roles in di-plomacy since Moscow joined the war last year with an air campaign that tipped the balance of power in favour of President Bashar Al As-sad, its ally. Washington is among Western and regional powers that
say Assad must leave office. The White House said on Monday As-sad’s government needed to live up to its ceasefire commitments.
The civil war in Syria has killed hundred of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and provided a base for IS militants who have launched at-tacks elsewhere.
All diplomatic efforts to resolve it have foundered over the fate of Assad, who refuses to accept op-position demands that he leave power. The local truces, known as a “regime of calm”, were launched in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus and the countryside of northern Latakia province from Saturday morning in a bid to revive the overall ceasefire.
The Latakia truce was for three days and the Ghouta truce, initially for 24 hours, was also extended by another 48. Both cover areas where there has been heavy fight-ing. But without a similar truce in Aleppo, divided for years between
government and rebel zones, there appears to be little hope of restor-ing the overall ceasefire so talks can resume.
De Mistura, due to travel to Moscow for talks with Lavrov, said in a statement there could be no progress in political talks with-out the ceasefire and other steps to bring “tangible benefits on the ground for the Syrian people”.
Aleppo remains the biggest prize for Assad’s forces hoping to take full control of the city, Syria’s largest before the war. The nearby countryside includes the last strip of the Syria-Turkish border in the hands of rebels. The opposi-tion accuses the government of deliberately targeting civilians in rebel held parts of Aleppo to drive them out. For its part, the government says rebels have been heavily shelling government-held areas, proving they are receiving sophisticated weapons from for-eign sponsors.
A British-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights, has reported scores of civilians killed on both sides in recent days, although more in rebel-held territory.
Syrian state television said on Monday that a missile had hit the surroundings of Aleppo Univer-sity Medical Hospital, and several civilians were injured by rebel mortar attacks on the residential area of Jamiyat Hay Al Zahra in western Aleppo. The rebel-held local council of Aleppo city an-nounced a state of emergency in areas it runs due to the intense bombardment. About 350,000-400,000 people are believed to remain in rebel-held parts of what was once a city of 2 million.
Mohammad Muaz Abu Saleh, a senior councillor in the rebel Aleppo governate council, said residents were nonetheless not abandoning opposition-held ar-eas. “Those who wanted to leave Aleppo have fled,” he said. Those who have stayed behind “have decided to stay under all circum-stances of shelling and siege. Aleppo will remain populated with its people not leaving.”
Amar Al Absi, a resident of a rebel-held area, said: “There was heavy shelling throughout the night. In my neighbourhood, Salah Al Deen, a missile hit a building that was empty and it was levelled but there were no casualties.”
In Hama, a western city, gov-ernment troops surrounded a prison and fired teargas to put down a revolt by inmates, who seized several guards in protest against their planned transfer to a military prison, the Observatory reported.
In countryside north of Alep-po, other rebel groups have bat-tled IS militants who are not party to any ceasefire. Amaq, a news agency affiliated to IS, said the militants had gained control of three villages near the bor-der with Turkey, cutting supply routes of other rebels, despite Turkish shelling.. — Reuters
Truce in Damascus
suburb extended for
48 hours; scores of
civilians killed in
Aleppo fighting
Israel to reopen second crossing for commercial traffic into Gaza
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Isra-el plans to reopen a second border point for commercial traffic into the Gaza Strip, an official said on Monday, a step in gradually easing the blockade imposed on the Pal-estinian enclave since 2007.
The decision to allow trucks through the Erez terminal, on Gaza’s northeastern tip, was taken in recognition that a truce that ended the 2014 war against Hamas is holding, the official said.
Israel says its blockade prevents the movement of fighters and stops construction materials that could be used by Hamas to make bunkers and tunnels. Palestinians there say they are under siege and are un-able to rebuild homes destroyed by Israeli bombing.
Israel halted commercial traf-fic through Erez in 2000, after a Palestinian revolt erupted, and only passengers transit has been allowed since. The official said de-tails of its reopening were still be-ing worked out, and gave no imple-mentation date: “It won’t be today or tomorrow.”
Changing policyChanging Gaza policy is politi-cally sensitive in Israel, as Hamas, while holding fire, remains openly hostile toward it, so the announce-ment was kept low-key. The offi-cial said the decision was mainly aimed at reducing pressure on the sole crossing point currently han-dling commercial traffic, Kerem Shalom in southeastern Gaza, as well as reducing truck traffic on Is-raeli roads leading to it.
But the official added that Israel “has an interest in Gazans living in dignity - both on a humanitarian level, and because it helps preserve the quiet, in parallel to the security deterrence that exists. It is good for both Gazans and for us.”
Erez will eventually handle at least half of the around 600 trucks that go through Kerem Shalon dai-ly, the official said. — Reuters
B O R D E R P O S T
Egyptian police raid press syndicate, arrest journalistsCAIRO: Egyptian police raided the press syndicate in Cairo late on Sunday and arrested two jour-nalists critical of the government, a syndicate official and report-ers said in what the labour union called an unprecedented crack-down on the media.
Labour union officials said this was the first time that police had raided its building -- a traditional spot in downtown Cairo for stag-ing protests -- as authorities seek to quell rising dissent against President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
DenialThe interior ministry denied officers had stormed the press labour union building but con-firmed it had arrested journal-ists Mahmoud El Sakka and Amr Badr who work for the opposition
website Bawabet Yanayer inside the syndicate. On Sunday, jour-nalists held a sit-in inside the un-ion when officers arrested the two reporters, syndicate officials said. “The press syndicate calls for the resignation of the interior minis-ter and an open sit-in,” the union said in a statement.
RaidMahmoud Kamel, a member of the syndicate board, said over 40 policemen raided the building but the interior ministry said its force consisted of only eight of-ficers. “The ministry affirms that it did not raid the syndicate or use any kind of force in arresting the two journalists who handed themselves in as soon as they were told there was an arrest war-rant,” the interior ministry said in
a statement. A security guard was wounded in the eye when police raided the union, Kamel said.
The state prosecutor said it had ordered the arrest of the two reporters as they were being in-vestigated for “spreading news based on lies” and possessing fire arms and Molotov cocktails, state news agency MENA said. “This is unprecedented, no presi-dent or prime minister or inte-rior minister has ever dared to do something like this,” Kamel said. Under the law only a prosecutor is allowed to search the union in the presence of its chairman or deputy, he added.
Dozens of journalists later held a new sit-in at the syndicate to protest against the arrest but po-lice closed off streets to the build-ing on Monday. — Reuters
C R A C K D O W N
BRIEFING: US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, looks his watch next to UN Syria envoy Staffan de
Mistura during a press briefing following a meeting on Sunday in Geneva. – AFP
Three bombs kill 14 in Baghdad
BAGHDAD: Three bombs went off in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 peo-ple, including pilgrims, police and medical sources said.
The largest blast, which IS said it was behind, came from a parked car bomb in the Saydiya district of southern Baghdad that killed 11 and wounded 30, the sources said.
At least a few of the casualties were pilgrims passing through the area. Explosives planted on the ground in Tarmiya, 25km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, killed two and wounded six, while a roadside bomb in Khalisa, a town 30 km (20 miles) south of the city, left one dead and two wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the smaller attacks.
IS militants fighting Iraqi forc-es in the north and west regularly target security personnel and civilians whom they consider apostates. The group said in an online statement distributed by supporters that a suicide bomber
had targeted pilgrims in the Dora neighbourhood adjacent to Say-diya. It said the attack was part of an offensive launched recently in apparent revenge for the killing of a senior leader.
IS’ Al Qaeda predecessor was blamed in the past for such at-tacks on pilgrims, including
blasts in 2012 that left 70 people dead nationwide.
Security has gradually im-proved in Baghdad, which was the target of daily bombings a decade ago, but there has been a string of blasts in recent days, including a suicide attack on Saturday that killed at least 19 people. — Reuters
V I O L E N C E
DESTROYED: Iraqis look at the damage following a car bomb in
Baghdad’s southern Saidiya neighbourhood on Monday. – AFP
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INDIAT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
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Traffic chaos in Delhi as taxi drivers block major roads
NEW DELHI: The city groaned under traffic woes on Monday as hundreds of cab drivers blocked National Highway 8 and ring road, protesting against action by en-forcement agencies following the Supreme Court’s decision to ban diesel taxis in Delhi.
In the early hours, a group of protesters blocked both carriage-ways near the Rajokri toll booth on National Highway 8, which led to a long tailback stretching over a kilometre in the area, traf-fic officials said. The situation turned worse at around 11.30am when the protesters blocked both carriageways on the Ring Road stretch at Maharani Bagh, close to Ashram Chowk.
In no time, traffic was thrown out-of-gear in Dhaulakuan, Ka-pashera and Mehrauli, and the chaos continued for hours. The congestion largely affected thou-sands of office-goers who travel between Delhi and Gurgaon,
linked by NH-8, and the traffic helpline was bombarded with calls from distressed commuters, officials said.
The second blockade directly hit traffic in areas including Sarai Kale Khan, Ashram, near PGDAV College in Nehru Nagar, Lajpat Nagar and Moolchand stretching up to AIIMS.
With people taking alternative routes, several stretches includ-ing Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, Defence Colony and Mathura Road also got clogged within an hour, officials said. The protesters included the diesel cab drivers with All India tourist permits (AITP), who are
exempted from the ban provided they operate outside NCR.
On Sunday, over a hundred die-sel-run cabs, including many with AITP, ended up getting impound-ed after they were found plying within the city limits, following which the drivers alleged harass-ment by enforcement agencies.
“We will continue our protest until the authorities forbid po-lice and transport department officials from penalising us as we have an All India permit which is exempted from the ban. We are only asking for exemption which we have already been given,” said Sanjay Samrat, President of Delhi
Taxi Tourist Transporters Asso-ciation. After extending the dead-line twice, the Supreme Court had on Saturday refused to give more time to cab operators to convert to CNG and put a ban on diesel cabs in the city from May 1.
The court exempted taxis with all-India tourist permit (AITP) from switching to CNG if they op-erate outside NCR.
According to Delhi transport department, about 60,000 taxis are registered in the national capi-tal of which 27,000 run on diesel. Around 2,000 diesel-run taxis had converted into CNG mode in the last two months. - PTI
After extending the
deadline twice, the
Supreme Court had
on Saturday refused
to give more time
to cab operators to
convert to CNG and
put a ban on diesel
cabs in the city
from May 1
BUMPER TO BUMPER: A view of heavy traffic jam at ITO in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI
NEW DELHI: As pro-testing taxi drivers cre-ated a traffic chaos here on Monday, the govern-ment said it will request the Supreme Court to reconsider the ban on plying of diesel taxis in the national capital.
“The government has decided to request the Supreme Court to recon-sider its decision on ban. The ban has created an unprecedented situation of thousands of taxis get-ting off road and people facing severe hardships,” Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters.
The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting, attended by Gadkari, Heavy Indus-tries Minister Anant Geete and Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to ex-tend the April 30 deadline fixed for conversion of diesel cabs into less-polluting CNG mode for plying on city roads, send-ing off-road thousands of diesel taxis, including those run by aggregators like OLA and UBER. - PTI
Government to approach SC over ban on diesel taxis
Uttarakhand forest fires show signs of abating, operation continuesDEHRADUN/NEW DELHI: Forest fires raging through large parts of north Indian state of Utta-rakhand began showing signs of abating as two IAF choppers and over 10,000 personnel continued firefighting operations for the sec-ond day on Monday.
The number of active fires dropped sharply to 40 in the hill state and the Centre claimed the situation was “under control”.Three persons were arrested from Pithoragarh and Nainital for burn-ing dry leaves of Cheed and stoking the fires.”There are only 40 active fires in the state today in compari-son to yesterday’s 73 which is an encouraging sign.
It shows the situation is gradu-ally getting under control.”Today there were 271 incidents of forest fires in the state out of which 232 have been extinguished, “ Addi-tional Chief Secretary (Forest) S Ramaswamy said.
Two Indian Air Force helicop-ters made nine sorties from Naini-tal and Pauri and poured water out of Bamdi buckets over the flaming forests as 10,000 personnel fought numerous infernos on the ground.
Governor K. K. Paul, who is close-ly monitoring the situation, spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Forest and
Environment Prakash Javadekar and briefed them about the situa-tion prevailing in the state where forests in 3185.45 hectares have been blighted since February 2.
According to Raj Bhawan sources, the Prime Minister asked
the Governor to keep the Centre posted about the steps being taken to put out forest fires and assured him of all help from the Centre to overcome the situation.
President Pranab Mukherjee also shared his concern with the
Governor and expressed his con-dolences to families which had lost their kin in forest fire incidents.
Around 5-6 people were report-edly killed in such incidents over the past few days. In Delhi, Union Minister of State for Home Kir-
ren Rijiju said the fires have been largely contained.
“As per the latest information, fire has been contained. Situation is under control now,” Rijiju told reporters.
A four-member Central team of
experts, including Special Direc-tor Centre for Fire Explosives K. C. Wadha and director of Delhi Fire Services G. C.Misra have reached Uttarakhand to assess the situ-ation and suggest possible rem-edies.Rijiju said, if required, the Centre would send additional per-sonnel to assist the state.”
Kumaon is very much under control now with two MI 17 chop-pers conducting several sorties over affected areas to sprinkle wa-ter. We have to concentrate now with greater focus on Garhwal,” Principal Conservator of Forest B. P. Gupta, who is the nodal officer for firefighting operations for both regions said. Fresh fire incidents will continue to occur till there is a drop in day temperatures but the heartening factor is that we are now equipped to control the situation with MI17 choppers and 10,000 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Forest Guards, Homeguards and locals involved in the firefighting exr-cise,” Gupta said. - PTI
S I T U A T I O N U N D E R C O N T R O L
IN FLAMES: A massive fire in the forests at Kotdwar, Uttarakhand on Monday. - PTI
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Vijay Mallya resigns from Rajya Sabha
NEW DELHI: Independent MP and business tycoon Vijay Mallya, facing a case of loan default of over Rs94 billion, on Monday resigned from Rajya Sabha, a day before Ethics Committee of the Upper House was set to recommend his expulsion.
In his resignation letter to Ra-jya Sabha Chairman Hamid An-sari, he said he does not want his “name and reputation to be further dragged in the mud”.
“And since recent events sug-gest that I will not get a fair trial or justice, I am hereby resigning as a member of the Rajya Sabha with immediate effect,” Mallya said in the letter.
He also referred to the letter written to him by the Chairman of the Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha Karan Singh and said he had replied to Singh.
This is Mallya’s second term in Rajya Sabha and it would have oth-erwise come to an end on July 1.
Ethics Panel of the Upper House, which had taken up the matter, had unanimously decided in its April 25 meeting that Mallya should no longer remain a member of the House and was planning to recommend his expulsion in its next meeting on May 3.
At the same time, the panel had decided to give Mallya one week’s time to explain his conduct. -PTI
L O A N D E F A U L T C A S E
Mercury soars in north; Delhi records season’s
hottest day as toll climbs to 178 in Telangana
NEW DELHI: Temperatures soared in north, central and pen-insular regions of the country on Monday with Delhi witnessing the season’s hottest day and south Indian state Telangana and east Indian state Odisha together re-cording 36 more sunstroke deaths even as over a thousand houses were damaged in thunderstorm in north-east state of Nagaland.
The plains in the north sim-mered under the blazing sun with Hisar in north Indian state of Haryana being the hottest in the country at 45.5 degrees Celsius.
It was followed closely by Ban-da in north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh at 45.2 degrees.
Heatwave conditions, however, subsided in east Indian state of
Bihar, which had a cloudy day, and Gangetic West Bengal, which is likely to be hit by thunderstorms in the next few days.
The national capital sizzled at 44 degrees Celsius, the hottest day of the season so far. The mini-mum was 23.8 degrees Celsius.
In south Indian state of Tel-angana, the sunstroke toll since the beginning of this summer climbed to 178 from the last count of 143 reported on Friday as heatwave conditions prevailed in many parts of Khammam and Karimnagar districts of the state.
“These deaths were confirmed by a three-member committee. Nalgonda district tops the chart with 53 deaths, followed by Mah-bubnagar with 33,” an official in
the disaster management’s con-trol room said.The maximum temperature of 45 degree Celsius was recorded at Ramagundam.
Rain occurred at isolated places over the state and Kondurg in Ma-habubnagar district received 3cm of rainfall, IMD said.
Odisha reported another heat-wave-related death, taking the toll to 14. Mercury soared in western parts of the state with coal town of Talcher recording the maximum of 44.6 degrees.
Jharsuguda was hot at 44.3, followed by Bhawani Patna and Bolangir at 44.2 and Angul at 44.1 degrees.
“The number of unconfirmed sunstroke deaths has increased to 140, of which 14 have been con-
firmed,” the Special Relief Com-missioner of the state said.
In the east, thunderstorm cou-pled with heavy rain damaged over 1000 houses, injured two persons and snapped electricity supply in five districts in Naga-land, the State Disaster Manage-ment Authority said.
Heavy rain and thunderstorm were reported in Chuchuyimlang areas of Mokokchung district be-sides, Longleng, Phek, Wokha and Mon districts. Meanwhile, land-slide triggered by heavy rains cut off road communication to Hay-uliang in remote Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh but there was no report of any loss of life. Heavy rains have lashed Anjaw for the past 26 days. - PTI
S C O R C H I N G S U M M E R
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INDIA T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
India, US in talks to help track submarines in Indian Ocean NEW DELHI/HONG KONG: India and the United States are in talks to help each other track submarines in the Indian Ocean, military officials say, a move that could further tighten defence ties between New Delhi and Washing-ton as China steps up its undersea activities.
Both the United States and India are growing concerned at the reach and ambition of the Chinese navy, which is taking an increasingly assertive stance in the South China Sea and is chal-lenging India’s domination in the Indian Ocean. New Delhi, shed-ding its decades-old reluctance to be drawn into America’s embrace, agreed last month to open up its military bases to the United States in exchange for access to weapons technology to help it narrow the gap with China.
Military technologyThe two sides also said their na-vies will hold talks on anti sub-marine warfare (ASW), an area of sensitive military technology and closely held tactics that only allies share. “These types of basic engagements will be the building blocks for an enduring Navy-to-Navy relationship that we hope will grow over time into a shared ASW capability,” one US official familiar with India-US military
cooperation said, speaking on con-dition of anonymity.
Indian naval officials say Chi-nese submarines have been sight-ed on an average four times every three months. Some are seen near India’s Andaman and Nicobar is-lands that lie near the Malacca Straits, the entry to the South Chi-na Sea through which more than 80 per cent of China’s fuel supplies
pass. India and the US, which al-ready conduct joint naval exercis-es, both fly the new version of the P-8 aircraft, making information sharing easier on highly sensitive submarine tracking activities.
The P-8 is Washington’s most advanced submarine hunting weapon, equipped with sensors that can track and identify subma-rines by sonar and other means. An
Indian naval spokesman declined to comment on the proposed anti-submarine warfare cooperation with the United States.
But an Indian naval source, briefed on the discussions, said the focus of the next set of joint exer-cises to take place in the northern Philippine Sea in June will be on anti-submarine warfare.
Japan, a close US ally whose
submarines are believed to track Chinese submarines in the west-ern Pacific, will also be a partici-pant in the exercises.
Two linked factors are driving the cooperation, say regional mili-tary attaches and security experts. The prospect of active patrols by nuclear-armed Chinese subma-rines has sparked intense surveil-lance activity around the China’s southern submarine base on Hain-an Island, and nearby waters.
India, meanwhile, is preparing to launch its first locally-built sub-marine armed with nuclear tipped missiles. So just as US attack sub-marines are seeking to track the Chinese nuclear armed subma-rines in the Pacific, the Chinese are expected to send their own attack submarines to the Indian Ocean in greater numbers to scrutinize the Indian patrols.
Collin Koh, a submarine ex-pert at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said increased US submarine and surveillance activity was being seen across the region.
“We will see the Indian Ocean grow in importance, too, particu-larly around traditional choke-holds, such as the approaches to the Malacca Straits and the Nico-bar islands, so an improved US relationship with the major sub-marine player in the area, India, is
very significant,” Koh said.Initially, the United States as the
world leader in anti-submarine warfare is likely to be bolstering Indian capabilities in the field. But in time, experts say each country could be covering stretches of the Indian Ocean through which two-thirds of the world’s trade moves.
David Brewster, an expert on the strategic rivalry in Indian Ocean at the Australian National Uni-versity, said anti submarine war-fare collaboration may eventually include Australia, another US ally which just ordered 12 new subma-rines. “We are likely to ultimately see a division of responsibilities in the Indian Ocean between those three countries, and with the po-tential to also share facilities.” China for its part is seeking to se-cure its energy and trade transpor-tation links by building ports and other infrastructure for countries such as Sri Lanka that lie along the vital shipping route. Asked about collaboration between India and the United States on submarine warfare, Hua Chunying, a spokes-woman for China’s Foreign Minis-try, said China had noted countries in the region engaging in military cooperation. “We hope that the relevant cooperation is normal, and that it can be meaningful to the peace and stability of the re-gion,” she said. - Reuters
C H I N A ’ S A S S E R T I V E S T A N C E
ON A MISSION: This December 1, 2013 US Navy handout image shows Patrol Squadron (VP) 16’s P-8A
Poseidon No. 429 and No. 435 aircraft refuelling at Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Ayase, Japan. India
and the United States, which already conduct joint naval exercises, both fly the new version of the P-8
aircraft, making information sharing easier on highly sensitive submarine tracking activities. - AFP/ HO/
US Navy/MC2 Kegan E. Kay
UN arbitration tribunal rules in favour of Italian marineROME/NEW DELHI: A UN arbitration tribunal has ruled in favour of an Italian marine, held in India on murder charges, by al-lowing him to return home pend-ing the arbitration proceedings at the Hague.
Two Italian marines — Massi-miliano Latorre and Salvatore Gi-rone are facing charges of murder-ing two fishermen in 2012 off the Kerala coast.
Latorre is back in Italy after a stroke in 2014 while Girone is staying in Italian embassy here. The two countries have agreed to arbitration by the UN Court.
Reports from Rome said the UN tribunal court has ruled that pending arbitration proceedings, Girone may be permitted to return
home. However, the tribunal’s or-der is expected to be made public on Tuesday. Sources in New Delhi denied reports that marine has been ordered to be freed, saying Italy was “misrepresenting” the order which actually affirms the Indian Supreme Court’s authority over the matter.
Information reaching the Indian government said “India and Italy asked to approach Supreme Court for relaxation of bail conditions for Girone. Possible return to Italy strictly conditional on Italy guar-anteeing to return him if required.” “Foreign Ministry informs that the arbitral tribunal set up in The Hague has anticipated today its decision that Girone Rifleman (be allowed to go) back in Italy until
the end of the arbitration proceed-ings, initiated by the Government on June 26, 2015. The return of the conditions will be agreed be-tween Italy and India,” the Italian ministry said.
Italy in March had asked the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) judges to order India to re-lease its detained marine Girone, saying otherwise he risks four more years in India without any charges being made which would amount to “grave violation of his human rights”.
The PCA is hearing oral argu-ments by the two sides. The arbi-tration “could last at least three or four years” which means that Girone risks “being held in (New) Delhi, without any charges being
made, for a total of seven-eight years”, Italy’s representative had told the court. Girone is one of two Italian marines— on board ship ‘Enrica Lexie’ — accused by India of killing two of its fishermen. He has not been able to leave India, aside from a few brief permits, since the incident.
Meanwhile, Italian new agency ANSA quoted Italian Premier Matteo Renzi as saying that he was sending a message of “friend-ship and cooperation to the great people of India and to the Indian prime minister (Narendra Modi)” after the news that marine Sal-vatore Girone is to return to Italy. “We are always ready to cooper-ate,” Renzi added in Florence, as per ANSA. - PTI
K I L L I N G O F T W O F I S H E R M E N
RELIEF: Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre, left, and Salvatore
Girone after being produced at a court in Kollam in February 2012.
The International Tribunal at the Hague that is dealing with the
case has decided on Girone’s return, upholding a request from
Italy. - PTI file photo
Opposition alleges ‘selective leaks’ of chopper deal papers
NEW DELHI: Opposition on Monday attacked the government in Rajya Sabha, alleging “selective leaks” of sensitive documents re-lated to the controversial Augus-taWestland helicopter deal and sought a probe into the matter.
It alleged that the government was “misleading” through “selec-tive leaks” and expressed concern over the credibility of the sensi-tive agencies — Defence Ministry, Airforce Headquarter, CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“...the government must answer: A subject which has been bullen-tined for discussion on (May) 4th, individuals, various TV channels, journalists have been given sensi-tive documents of the CBI, ED and Defence Ministry...Who gave the documents? There should be an inquiry...,” Deputy Leader of Con-gress Anand Sharma said in the
Upper House. “The government is selectively leaking,” Sharma said, adding, “If the government is not. Then who else is leaking? We de-mand the government to do an in-quiry.” This is happening despite there being an Official Secrets Act, the Congress leader said. Al-leging that this is “dirty tricks” of the departments which are “coor-dinated centrally” in this govern-ment, Sharma charged that the government misused the office as he questioned the credibility of the agencies.
“It is a question of how they are misleading through selective leaks of sensitive information. Which government, if it is not
complacent at the highest level, will have this scenario where eve-ry docuement is given,” he said.
Supporting a notice for breach of privilege motion given by Con-gress MP Shantaram Naik, Shar-ma said, “Ministers in this govern-ment are making statements on the PIB website and not coming to the House but the selective leaks.” “When the House was in session, what prevented the Defence Min-ister to come in the House and give the statement here? Sir, what is happening?” he asked.
Before initiating debate on a bill to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, Naik raised a point of order
on ministers making statement in the PIB on AugustaWestland deal when Parliament is in session.
“I have given a breach of privi-lege notice. I pray that the notice be admitted and refer to the Privi-leges Committee (of Parliament) and action be taken as per the re-port,” he said.
Naik said he was shocked to see Information and Broadcast-ing Minister Arun Jaitley issuing a statement on the second day on the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on the same topic.
“I ask if Parrikar is the Defence Minister or Jaitley? That clarifi-cation also be made,” he asked.
Deputy Chairman P. J. Kurien
asked, “What is the harm in min-ister giving a statement? I am not able to understand. If it is a pol-icy matter, then the government should restrain.” He added that “If the subject is slated for discus-sion in the House, the government should come to the House and re-ply.” While Naik insisted that the Chair should give a ruling if min-isters can give a statement dur-ing Parliament session, Sharma said, “This is as close as that. How do you differentiate between the two?” Sharma said there are past precedents that when the House is in session, the government can-not make statement on any im-portant matter. - PTI
The opposition
alleged that the
government was
‘misleading’ through
‘selective leaks’ and
expressed concern
over the credibility
of the sensitive
agencies — Defence
Ministry, Airforce
Headquarter,
ED and CBI
NEW DELHI: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday examined former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi in connection with alleged corruption in the Rs3,600-crores(Rs36 billion) AgustaWestland VVIP chop-per deal. Tyagi arrived at CBI headquarters at around 10am for questioning.
The Milan Court of Appeals — equivalent of an Indian high Court — has given details of how alleged bribes were paid by helicopter-maker Finmec-canica and AgustaWestland to Indian officials through mid-dlemen to clinch the deal.
The order mentions the name of Tyagi at several points.
CBI had registered a case against Tyagi along with 13 others including his cousins and European middlemen in
the case. The allegation against the former Air Chief was that he had reduced flying ceiling of the helicopter from 6,000m to 4,500m (15,000ft) so that AgustaWestland was included
in the bids. However, this deci-sion was reportedly taken in consultation with the officials of SPG and the Prime Min-ister’s Office including then NSA M. K. Narayanan. CBI has
alleged that the reduction of the service ceiling — maximum height at which a helicopter can perform nor-mally — allowed the UK-based firm to get into the fray as otherwise its helicopters were not even qualified for submis-sion of bids.
CBI which has received a copy of the Milan court order has now prepared a fresh set of questionnaire to put to Tyagi.
Tyagi has denied allegations against him and has claimed that the decision to reduce the ceiling was taken by a group of senior officials.
The agency had already questioned Tyagi but this ses-sion is the first after the Italian court order.
His cousins have also been called by the agency. - PTI
CBI questions former IAF chief SP Tyagi in Augusta scam
ACCUSED: Former Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi arriving at the
CBI headquarters in New Delhi on Monday, in connection with
alleged corruption in the AgustaWestland choppers deal. - PTI
Former Jana Sangh president Balraj Madhok passes away
NEW DELHI: Former Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) President Bal-raj Madhok, who was among its founders but was expelled later, died on Monday after being ill for over a month.
Madhok (96) was unwell for some time and had been admitted to AIIMS for a month where he died around 9am.
Born on February 25, 1920, in the undivided north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir’s Skardu area, Madhok led the BJS to its biggest ever win in 1967 when it won 35 seats in the Lok Sabha.
His decline began in the 1970s as Atal Behari Vajpayee and L. K.Advani rose in prominence and he was expelled from the party in 1973 on disciplinary grounds.
A leading light of the Jana Sangh, the forerunner of Bhar-tiya Janata Party, in the 1960s and early 70s, Madhok represented the National Capital Territory of Delhi and South Delhi in the 2nd and 4th Lok Sabha in 1961 and 1967 respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his last respects to him and met his family members to con-dole his death.
“Heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of a stalwart leader of Jan Sangh Shri Balraj Madhok.Balraj Madhok ji’s ideological commitment was strong & clarity of thought immense.
“He was selflessly devoted to the nation & society.
“Had the good fortune of inter-acting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions. His demise is sad-dening. Condolences to his family. RIP,” Modi said in earlier tweets.
Madhok was associated with the RSS before the Jana Sangh was founded and was also the founder Secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vid-yarthi Parishad (ABVP), the stu-dent wing of the organisation. - PTI
B R I E F I L L N E S S
The government is selectively leaking. If the
government is not. Then who else is leaking?
We demand the government to do an inquiry
Anand Sharma, Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha
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Preschool essential for children’s developmentLaura Tyson & Lenny Mendonca
High-quality early childhood education is one of those rare issues that unites people of all social strata and across the political
spectrum. But the consensus about the benefits – both for the children and society – does not ex-tend to delivery and funding. The good news is that, with an impressive array of new models be-ing implemented, important lessons are emerging about how to shape, finance, and scale future early education programs. To understand what these models are trying to achieve, it is useful to consid-er the science that underlies them. The evidence is increasingly clear that the early years of life are crucial to brain development, with 700-1,000 new neural connections occurring every second during the first three years of life. The number of words a child hears during that critical time has a huge im-pact on his or her future intellectual abilities.
Yet there is a major discrepancy between the number of words heard by children of profes-sional parents and those of working-class fami-lies – three million per year in the United States. Whereas high-income households have an average of 12 books per child, more than half of the day-care centers for the lowest-income children do not have a single book.Some programs are helping to level the playing field. For example, an initiative in the US called First 5 California funds programs that educate parents, grandparents, caregivers, and teachers about the critical role they play dur-ing a child’s first five years.
But what a child learns at home is just part of the issue (albeit a very important part). Children, the evidence suggests, also need school. Across the OECD, students who attend preschool for one year or more scored significantly higher (30 points) on its Programme for International Student Assess-ment reading tests than those who did not. This has important implications in terms of lifetime achievement. Indeed, long-term studies suggest that early childhood education can increase earn-ings in adulthood by 1.3-3.5 per cent.
Add to that the opportunity that early school attendance provides to parents – and mothers, in particular – to work, and it should be no surprise that investment in early education brings major long-term economic and financial benefits. Ac-
cording to Nobel laureate James Heckman, in-vestments in early education bring very attractive returns, even compared to investment in other stages of education.
Such data have spurred a flurry of initiatives to improve early education. In 2014, the United King-dom expanded public support for families earning less than £16,190 ($23,648) per year to enable two-year-olds to receive 15 hours of education per week for 38 weeks per year. Today, nearly three-quarters of two-year-olds are enrolled in preschool, giving their mothers the opportunity to work or study.
But the public sector is not alone in pursuing such investment. Business leaders have also got-ten involved, driven by concerns that education is failing to keep up with the demands of the chang-ing economy. In Tennessee, for example, business leaders were among the first to invest in early education. Their experiences reinforced the need not just to get more kids in school, but to focus on providing high-quality education that is well-gov-erned, involves student’s families, and is linked to subsequent schooling.
Efforts to link the public and the private have also emerged. Warren Buffett’s daughter, Susan Buffett, created the Alliance for Early Success, which brings together various stakeholders to en-courage investments and policies that lead to im-proved health, learning, and economic outcomes for children in the first eight years of life. The link between education and health has shaped other programs. California’s First 5 Commission (which is funded by a tobacco tax) has galvanised paedia-tricians – a group that parents are predisposed to trust – to help parents understand the importance of engaging with their children in ways that ad-vance their health and cognitive development. Im-portant initiatives have also been implemented at the municipal level. San Antonio, Texas, made in-vestment in early education a priority. For a Dem-ocrat-led city in a Republican-dominated state, bi-partisan agreement – achieved through the efforts of former mayor Julián Castro and Governor Greg Abbott – was essential. - Project Syndicate
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Cabling should comply with guidelines This refers to the report ‘Calls to insure homes as electrical fires rise in Oman’ (May 2). Very valid observation and recommendations, especially when the temperature is rising and continuous running of
air-conditioners the risk of triggering a fire cannot be overlooked. However, home in-suring is just a part to secure the properties within, whereas it is critical to safeguard the lives. The high number of cases point to the fact that lack of control measures still exists in housing apartment buildings and villas. Besides having a comprehensive insurance coverage, it is equally important to ensure proper cabling as stipulated in the guidelines and usage of quality electri-cal appliances. — Ramachandran Nair, Ruwi
Hollande acting like a leader of a third world country This refers to the story, Unpopular Hol-lande courts the French anew (May 2). It is sad to see that a Western leader is not accepting peoples’ choice and instead bent
on to destroy democracy like many democratically elected leaders of third world countries. It is likely, world over mankind has lost ability to realise when to quit. — Saira Pasha, Muscat
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‘Arab Traffic Week’ begins tomorrowMUSCAT: Along with the other AGCC countries the Sultanate will celebrate ‘Arab Traffic Week’ tomorrow under the slogan ‘the traffic rules protect our people from tragedies… the vehicle is for journey not for killing’. During the week, the traffic awareness will be tightened through various information, cultural and education programmes. On this occasion, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Salem, secretary general of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, issued a message saying that the accidents are increasing day by day due to the carelessness of the drivers to adhere to the traffic regulations.
1568: French forces in Florida slaughter hundreds of Spanish.
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DR HASAN ASKARI RIZVI
Now and then a worthy economic proposal comes along that seems as politically unattainable as it is
sensible. Then, on closer inspection, you see that it’s more than a policy-
wonk’s fantasy. And you wonder whether it could actually prevail.This may be happening with the
concept of a universal basic income
PAULA DWYER
To be sure, many of the problems articulated in the campaign are real.
The next president faces a host of economic, national security and social challenges. But pessimists
still should answer two questions: If the goal is to make America great again, what era should we aspire to return to? And is there any country whose hand you would rather have?
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PAKISTANT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
ANTI-POLIO VACCINATION CAMPAIGNLeft: A Pakistani policeman stands guard over polio health workers during a door-to-door polio campaign in Lahore on Sunday; Right: A health worker administers polio vaccine drops to a child dur-ing a polio campaign in Karachi. Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but years of efforts to stamp it out have been badly hit by reluctance from parents, opposition from militants and attacks on immunisation teams. — AFP
‘Panama leaks historic opportunity for Pakistan’
ISLAMABAD: International law expert Ahmer Bilal Soofi has a dif-ferent perspective on the Panama Papers leaks and believes that Pakistan can convert the crisis into opportunity — if it plays its cards well.
Soofi sees the disclosure of names through these leaks as a starting point for a global move-ment to curtail jurisdiction of off-shore entities. “Pakistan can use this movement as an opportunity to stabilise its economy by offer-ing incentives to its nationals and
foreign entrepreneurs to invest their money in the country,” Soofi said in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune.
UN conventionHe said after the scandal the UN convention against corruption en-acted in 2003, might be strength-ened further. The global outcry will lead to another movement where mandate of offshore juris-dictions will get curtailed, he said.
“What I see from all this is, I won’t be surprised if in the next few weeks or months there is some sort of a global legal frame-work evolved to curtain the ju-risdiction of offshore compa-nies. This is almost the same (situation) as we had seen in the
global movement on anti-corrup-tion,” he said.
Recalling his experience with regard to the anti-corruption movement, he said at that a point of time there were two three ma-jor cases of corruption which led to the UN convention on repatria-tion of assets and corruption of-fences. Now this movement will lead to further oversight mecha-nisms on offshore jurisdictions,” Soofi said.
Under these circumstances, he said, investments of private entrepreneurs which are parked offshore will come under tremen-dous pressure and Pakistan can benefit from this by offering legiti-mate entrepreneurs incentives to invest their money in Pakistan.
“In a Pakistani context, if we play our cards well and incentiv-ise, we can offer voluntary repatri-ation of money back into Pakistan not only of ours but also of other investors to raise our foreign re-serves and other economic port-folio,” he said.
Two categories According to Soofi, it should not
be generalised that all the money invested through offshore compa-nies abroad is corruption money.
He said there would be two categories of offshore account holders: those who parked their legally earned money in off-shore companies to avoid taxes and those who earned it through illegitimate means.
“These two have to be treated separately. Money trail will tell you everything. If you want to go down the prosecution route to bring back the money, it takes longer period of time. Ten years to 15 years at least, may be much longer. If you go for incentives route, the money can come back far quickly,” he said.
White-collar crimesHe also elaborated steps involved in prosecuting such white-collar crimes.
“Asset tracing is the first step then it is linked with some crime, committed under domestic laws. After this probe is carried out on these prepositions and the matter is referred to local courts.
Then you take this judgment to the jurisdiction of international forums and seek repatriation. This five-six step process takes an average time of 20 to 25 years,” he said.
He said there will be two disad-vantages if the prosecution route was adopted. “You will make these people run away. They have al-ready parked their money abroad. Second, you will need to exhaust too much resource and time and you will miss the historic opening this country is getting,” he said.
He said cases of those business entities or individuals who were involved in illegitimate means might be sent to the respective agency dealing with relevant crimes. Like the drug money cases could be referred to the Anti-Nar-cotics Force and the corruption case to National Accountability Bureau. — Express Tribune
Pakistan can use
this movement
as an opportunity
to stabilise its
economy by offering
incentives to its
nationals and foreign
entrepreneurs to
invest their money
in the country, said
international law
expert Ahmer
Bilal Soofi
We should not stigmatise our entrepreneurs ahead of time. We are unnecessarily stigmatising it, assuming everything in offshore companies is black money. Lots of legitimate profits are parked there, because global business is facilitated through these off-shore companies
Ahmer Bilal SoofiInternational law expert
Pakistani children receive fourth lowest aid in South AsiaLAHORE: Despite being the re-cipient of the second highest aid package for education in the re-gion, aid for basic education per child in Pakistan is the fourth low-est in the region and far below re-quirements.
According to Unesco’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report, Pakistan received $643
million in aid for education in 2014, second behind India which received $806 million in the same year.
It was up by nearly 41% from 2013 when Pakistan received $454 million, and has nearly tre-bled from 2002 when it received $218 million.
Despite that, the share of aid for
basic education was around half the total aid it received at $342 million in 2014.
It was up from $252 million in 2013 and had almost trebled from 2002-3 when it was allocated $126 million.
As a result, aid for basic educa-tion for every child in Pakistan in 2014 stood at just $16, behind
other countries in the region such as Nepal ($24 per child), Sri Lanka ($25) and Afghanistan ($50).
This despite the fact that Paki-stan has a large percentage of out-of-school children with Unesco’s Institute for Statistics listing 5.5 million of primary school-age chil-dren not attending schools in 2013.
Globally, the report said esti-
mated aid figures for education dipped by almost $600 million or four per cent between the years 2013 and 2014.
It said that the share of total aid being allocated to educa-tion also fell from 9.5 per cent to 8.2 per cent.
“This indicates that the sector is falling further down the list of pri-
orities for donors,” the GEM report observed. The report added that aid for basic education, pre-prima-ry and primary education as well as basic life skills, had worryingly decreased by five per cent globally since 2013, a higher decrease than education as a whole in a world where there are 59 million out-of-school children. — Express Tribune
B A S I C E D U C A T I O N P E R C H I L D
Afghan boy fan of Messi arrives in countryQUETTA: The Afghan boy who became popular on social media after wearing a homemade shirt bearing Lionel Messi’s number 10 is currently in Pakistan.
Five-year-old, Murtaza Ahmedi, who comes from the Jaghori Dis-trict, arrived in Quetta a few days ago, according to BBC Urdu.
“I really like Messi, I wish I can meet him,” said Murtaza in Per-sian while speaking to BBC Urdu.
Murtaza’s cousin said he the five-year-old’s family brought him to Quetta because they fear he might get kidnapped after gaining popularity. He added that the Af-ghan Football Federation prom-ised to help Murtaza meet Messi but they didn’t fulfill it. The young Messi fan’s cousin requested the Pakistan and Afghan govern-ments to help Murtaza’s dream come true.
Earlier this year, Murtaza re-ceived a signed Argentina shirt and football from Messi. The Bar-celona star Lionel Messi had also expressed his desire to arrange a meeting with the Afghan boy.
Jorge Messi, Lionel’s father, told AFP that the footballer was aware of the photos that made waves on social media and “wants to do something” for his young fan. Murtaza became an internet star after a picture of him wearing a makeshift plastic Lionel Messi jer-sey went viral.
Photos of the boy wearing the improvised Messi jersey — made from grocery bags discarded by their neighbour — has touched a chord with football fans around the world. — Express Tribune
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A14
ASIAT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
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Food security fears resurface as Asia’s rice crop shrivelsSINGAPORE: Nearly a decade after a spike in global food prices sent shockwaves around the world, Asia’s top rice producers are suf-fering from a blistering drought that threatens to cut output and boost prices of a staple for half the world’s population.
World rice production is expect-ed to decline for the first time this year since 2010, as failing rains linked to an El Nino weather pat-tern cut crop yields in Asia’s rice bowl. A heat wave is sweeping top rice exporter India, while the num-ber two supplier Thailand is facing a second year of drought. Swathes of farmland in Vietnam, the third-biggest supplier, are also parched as irrigation fed by the Mekong river runs dry.
The three account for more than 60 per cent of the global rice trade of about 43 million tonnes. “As of now we haven’t seen a large price reaction to hot and dry weather because we have had such signifi-cant surplus stocks in India and Thailand. But that can’t last for-ever,” said James Fell, an econo-mist at the International Grains Council (IGC).
Rice inventories in the three top exporters are set to fall by about a third at the end of 2016 to 19 mil-lion tonnes, the biggest year-on-year drop since 2003, according to
Reuters calculations based on US Department of Agriculture data. Any big supply disruption can be extremely sensitive.
El NinoIn 2008, lower Asian rice output due to an El Nino prompted India to ban exports, sending global pric-es sky-rocketing and causing food riots in Haiti and panic measures in big importers such as the Philip-
pines. Manila at the time scrambled to crack down on hoarding, ordered troops to supervise subsidised rice sales and asked fast food chains to serve half-portions, as well as urg-ing Vietnam and others to sell the country more rice. The world has suffered a series of food crises over the past decade involving a range of grains due to adverse weather.
In the case of rice, benchmark Thai prices hit a record around
$1,000 a tonne in 2008. Price spikes like this typically also boost demand for other grains such as wheat, widely used for noodles in Asia, and soybeans and corn used for food or feed.
While currently far below 2008 highs, rice earlier this month hit $389.50, the strongest since July and up 13 per cent from an eight-year low of $344 in September.
Bruce Tolentino of the Philip-
pines-based International Rice Research Institute is concerned about Asia’s vulnerability.
“In general prices are still sta-ble right now. They’re inching up though, and what will drive things over the edge will be a major ca-lamity in one of the major produc-ing countries.”
Although India’s rice output in 2015 was largely stable, extremely hot temperatures are threatening a second crop in eastern regions. Traders see further price gains by June as India’s next big crop is not due until September and Thai-land’s main crop by year end.
The IGC sees a 2016 world har-vest of 473 million tonnes, down from 479 million tonnes in 2015 and the first decline in six years.
Thailand’s last main crop was only about half of the peak produc-tion a few years ago and the USDA has forecast output will drop by more than a fifth to 15.8 million tonnes this year.
“The government has been ask-ing farmers not to plant rice as there is little water in the reser-voirs after two years of drought,” said one Bangkok-based trader.
In Vietnam, output could fall 1.5 per cent this year to 44.5 million tonnes, while exports would be 8.7 million tonnes, steady on a previ-ous projection, the government
said. As much as 240,000 hectares (593,000 acres) of paddy have been destroyed by drought and salina-tion in the central area and south-ern Mekong Delta region, it said.
A Singapore-based trader said that while the annual decline ap-peared modest Vietnam’s latest harvest “is 5 to 6 per cent lower than last year.”
Thailand and Vietnam harvest three crops a year.
Some Asian countries are al-ready looking to raise imports. Indonesia is expected to see 2016 purchases jump by more than 60 per cent to two million tonnes from a few years ago.
China, the world’s top importer, taking about 5 million tonnes an-nually, is expected to continue this buying pace. IGC has forecast Chi-na’s 2016 production will fall short of consumption for a third con-secutive year. The Philippines had the lowest stocks since October in March despite importing 750,000 tonnes and its procurement agen-cy has standby authority to ship an additional 500,000 tonnes.
“Although El Nino has entered its weakening stage, the risk of higher food prices remains given the onset of the summer sea-son,” said Philippine Economic Planning Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra. - Reuters
B L I S T E R I N G D R O U G H T
CONCERNED: Caption A farmer burns his dried-up rice on a paddy field stricken by drought in Soc
Trang province in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam March 30, 2016. -Reuters/Kham/File photo
Reckitt Benckiser executive slapped while apologising for sterilisers
SEOUL: An executive from Brit-ish consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser was slapped during an emotional news conference as he apologised on Monday over deadly lung injuries linked to the use of humidifier sterilisers marketed by the firm.
Ata Safdar, head of Reckitt Benckiser Korea and Japan, bowed several times in apology before an audience that included victims and their families, among them a 13-year-old boy who now uses an oxygen tank to breathe.
The news conference in a Seoul hotel marked the first public ac-ceptance of responsibility by the firm for its role in a bitter contro-versy that has raged since 2011. The government said last year that
92 people were believed to have died from causes related to the humidifier products - not all them marketed by Oxy Reckitt Benck-iser, which was the group’s South Korean arm at the time.
“Today’s apology, was about acceptance of responsibility for the harm that Oxy HS (humidi-fier sterilisers) has caused,” Safdar said.
“This is the first time we are accepting the fullest responsibil-ity, and we are offering a complete and full apology. “We were late, five years have passed, we are also apologising far too late. This is what we are apologising about.”
As he spoke, a man stepped on to the stage, shouting expletives and slapping him on the back of
the neck. “This is heartbreaking,” Safdar said as he asked to be al-lowed to continue.
“I apologise again. I would re-quest that I am allowed to finish my statement, please.” Another man who mounted the stage shouted: “It’s too late.”
Sales of the sterilisers, a liquid added to the water of humidifiers, were suspended by the South Ko-rean government in 2011. Safdar said some 178 users of its prod-ucts are among those believed by the South Korean government to have been affected, and he out-lined a plan to set up a compensa-tion panel. South Korea says 530 people had registered claims since 2011 of lung ailments from using humidifier sterilisers marketed by
Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, and similar products marketed by other firms.
South Korea is believed to be the only country where the products were sold, according to a govern-ment official.
South Korean prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against makers of the products. The company changed the name of its local unit to Reckitt Benckiser Korea in 2014. Monday’s apology follows a written statement last month by the local unit of the com-pany for failing to communicate more quickly with victims and their families. Last month, the firm established a 5 billion won ($4.4 million) “humanitarian fund”, which was in addition to a 5 billion won fund set up in 2014. - Reuters
S O U T H K O R E A
ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY: Ata Safdar, centre, the head of Oxy
Reckitt Benckiser Korea, is surrounded by the aggrieved relatives
of victims as he bows during a press conference at a hotel in Seoul
on Monday. - AFP/Yonhap
South Korea revives GPS project to prevent jamming
SEOUL/LONDON: South Ko-rea has revived a project to build a backup ship navigation system that would be difficult to hack af-ter a recent wave of GPS signal jamming attacks it blamed on North Korea disrupted fishing vessel operations, officials say.
Global Positioning System (GPS) and other electronic navi-gation aids are vulnerable to signal loss from solar weather effects, ra-dio and satellite interference and deliberate jamming.
South Korea, which says it has faced repeated attempts by the rival North to interfere with sat-ellite signals, will award a 15 bil-lion won ($13 million) contract this month to secure technology required to build an alternative land-based radio system called eLoran, which it hopes will pro-vide reliable alternative position and timing signals for navigation.
“The need for us is especially
high, because of the deliberate sig-nal interference by North Korea,” a South Korean government official involved in the initiative said, re-questing anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The latest jamming campaign from the North began on March 31, lasting nearly a week and af-fecting signal reception of more than 1,000 aircraft and 700 ships, originating from five locations along the border, South Korean of-ficials said.
WarningAircraft traffic was not affected because the GPS system is nor-mally used as a backup, not a pri-mary navigation tool, one of the officials involved in telecommuni-cations policy said.
The jamming prompted warn-ings by South Korea’s military to North Korea to stop what it called “provocation” and a protest at the United Nations. North Korea has denied involvement.
South Korea has been on high alert against possible cyber at-tacks from the North following the North’s nuclear and missile tests and threats of war in response to new sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council and the South.
No major disasters anywhere have been blamed on loss of GPS, although the risks are growing as sea lanes become more crowded. Part of the problem is that it’s not easy to detect a GPS outage caused by jamming.
“When GPS/GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems)
fail, transportation is impacted immediately. It slows down, be-comes more dangerous, and every mode can carry less capacity,” said Dana Goward, president of the non-profit Resilient Navigation & Timing Foundation.
Security risks“As short-term backup clocks start to desynchronize with each other ... cell phone towers start to fail, IT networks slow down or fail, financial systems are impacted, management of the electrical grid becomes problematic. That is the really scary part,” said Goward.
GPS vulnerability poses secu-rity and commercial risks, espe-cially for ships whose crews are not familiar with traditional navi-gation techniques or using paper
charts. The General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland, which tried to pioneer an eLoran system in Europe, conducted sim-ulated communications attacks on ships at sea and said the results “demonstrated the devastating effects of jamming on the ships’ electronic bridge systems”.
Many vessels, such as fish-ing boats, lack backup electronic navigation systems. The United States, Russia and India are all looking into deploying versions of eLoran, which sends a much stronger signal and is harder to jam, as backup.
Installing an eLoran receiver and antenna on a ship would cost thousands of dollars, although cheaper options could include in-corporating eLoran systems into satnav devices, according to tech-nical specialists.
Last month, hundreds of South Korean fishing boats returned to port after GPS jamming that also created problems in locating nets at sea, South Korean officials said.
The US Coast Guard said in January that “multiple outbound vessels from a non-US port sud-denly lost GPS signal reception”, although the vessels were able to navigate using compasses and other aids.
In 2013, the US Navy reported almost certain, intentional jam-ming of the GPS system of one of its vessels sailing near Iranian ter-ritorial waters. South Korea’s eL-oran initiative dates to 2011, after a series of incidents also blamed on the North, but was stalled in part by a cancellation of contracts due to a conflict over payment schedules with a US supplier.
Its new plan envisions setting up coastal transmitters by the end of 2019, said Seo Ji-won, a profes-sor at Yonsei University in Seoul, who is on a government advisory panel. - Reuters
South Korean
officials said
the latest jamming
campaign from
North Korea began
on March 31, lasting
nearly a week and
affecting signal
reception of more
than 1,000 aircraft
and 700 ships
NAVIGATION SYSTEM: Navigation equipment is shown onboard a ship in San Diego May 15, 2015.
- Reuters/Mike Blake/File Photo
China airs two more confessions by Taiwan fraud suspectsBEIJING: Confessions by two more Taiwanese telecoms fraud suspects, from among dozens de-ported from Kenya to China last month, were aired by Chinese state television on Monday, ap-pearing to back China’s contention that such crimes are lightly dealt with in Taiwan.
The case, and subsequent depor-tations of Taiwanese from Malay-sia for similar suspected crimes, has infuriated Taiwan and soured ties that were already strained by the election in January of a pro-independence party in Taipei.
Taiwan has said China effective-ly kidnapped its nationals. China says they are criminals wanted for serious crimes in China and that it has every right to try them, accus-ing Taiwan of turning a blind eye to crime and politicising the issue.
The videos are the latest in a recent string of on-camera confes-sions in China that have prompted international criticism that the admissions could have been made under duress.
Deported from KenyaChinese state television showed two men it said were from Tai-wan and had been deported from Kenya. The men, whose faces were blurred out, were identi-fied by their family names of Lin and Hsu and spoke with Taiwanese accents.
It was not possible to verify their origins independently. The report said Lin, 46, set up a Kenyan fraud cell which called people in China to extort money by pretending to be law enforcement officers. Lin had been jailed in Taiwan in 2011 for telecoms fraud, state televi-sion said, but was only given a six-month sentence and resumed his crimes upon release. - Reuters
T E L E C O M S S C A M
A15
WORLDT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
Greenpeace opposes the proposed Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP), arguing with other
critics that it would hand too much power to big business
at the expense of consumers and national governments
First US cruise ship arrives on historic Cuba voyage
HAVANA: The first US cruise ship to arrive in Cuba in decades received a warm welcome on Monday from Havana residents who gathered at the wharf in the colonial old city as hundreds of Americans waved from the decks of the vessel.
It was another first for the two countries since US President Barack Obama and Cuban Presi-dent Raul Castro announced a historic rapprochement in Decem-ber 2014, and comes weeks after
Obama’s visit to the Caribbean island. Carnival Corp’s Adonia, a small ship with a capacity of 700 passengers, slipped through the channel into Havana Bay in the morning under picture-perfect
skies, then docked at the colonial old town recently visited by Obama.
A Cuban law prohibiting na-tionals from entering the coun-try by sea had almost delayed the cruise but was lifted by local au-
thorities just over a week ago.Obama has made the dramatic
shift in US policy toward Cuba a part of his legacy. The two coun-tries reestablished diplomatic re-lations a year ago and have signed
agreements on issues of common concern such as the environment, postal services and direct flights.
Talks are ongoing over other is-sues that have kept the next-door neighbours apart, from the return of fugitives to reparations for em-bargo damages and the return of the Guantanamo Naval Base.
EmbargoObama had urged the Republi-can-controlled Congress to lift the trade embargo and travel ban, but to no avail, resorting to his ex-ecutive powers to punch holes in them instead.
Both sides appear determined to make further progress on travel before Obama leaves office.
“Regularly scheduled cruises are the third leg of the land, sea and air efforts by the Obama Ad-ministration to cement its policy changes, the goal is to make the in-itiatives big and loud so that they are harder to dislodge,” said John Kavulich, president of the New York-based US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. — Reuters
Carnival Corp’s
Adonia, a small ship
with a capacity of
700 passengers,
slipped through the
channel into Havana
Bay under picture-
perfect skies
Greenpeace publishes confidential US-EU trade deal documentsBERLIN: A sweeping free trade deal being negotiated between the European Union and the United States would lower food safety and environmental standards, Green-peace said on Monday, citing con-fidential documents from the talks.
But the European Commission said the documents reflected ne-gotiating positions, not any final outcome, and the EU’s chief nego-tiator dismissed some of Green-
peace’s points as “flatly wrong”.Greenpeace opposes the pro-
posed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), arguing with other critics that it would hand too much power to big business at the expense of con-sumers and national governments.
Supporters say the TTIP would deliver more than $100 billion of economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic. Greenpeace Nether-
lands published 248 pages of “con-solidated texts” for 13 chapters, or about half, of the deal on the web-site TTIP-leaks.org on Monday. They date from early April, before a round of meetings in New York last week. “We’ve done this to ig-nite a debate,” Greenpeace trade expert Juergen Knirsch told a news conference in Berlin, adding that the documents showed the nego-tiations should be halted. “The best
thing the EU Commission can do is to say ‘Sorry, we’ve made a mis-take’.” The documents show how entrenched differences have be-come on both sides of the Atlantic, Greenpeace said, though Washing-ton and Brussels said last week they could still reach a deal before US President Barack Obama leaves of-fice in January 2017.
Knirsch said the texts showed the United States wanted to re-
place Europe’s “precautionary principle” - which prevents poten-tially harmful products from com-ing to market when their effect is unknown or disputed - with a less stringent approach.
In Europe, there is widespread opposition to allowing more im-ports of US agricultural products due to concerns about genetically modified foods. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom
played down the significance of the texts. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are areas where the EU and the US have different views,” she wrote in a blog.
“That does not mean the parties will meet halfway. In areas where we are too far apart in a negotia-tion, we simply will not agree. In that sense, many of today’s alarm-ist headlines are a storm in a tea-cup,” she said. — Reuters
F O O D S A F E T Y A N D E N V I R O N M E N T A L S T A N D A R D S
Hopes fade for survivors in building collapseNAIROBI: Aid workers said hopes were fading of finding more survivors in the rubble of a col-lapsed building in Kenya’s capi-tal on Monday, as the death toll reached 21.
Police said they were question-ing the owner of the six-storey residential block that collapsed late on Friday after days of heavy rain and floods, but no one had been charged.
Residents and rescue workers have been sifting through piles of broken concrete at the site in the eastern Huruma suburb ever since, rescuing 135 people, accord-ing to the latest police figures.
But conditions were getting more challenging, Kenya Red Cross told Reuters. “In conditions of no air, dirt, no food, no water, it’s very difficult for that person to stay alive,” Red Cross official Anthony Mwangi said.
Authorities had condemned the 198-room building and there has been no official explanation of why it remained occupied.
Government critics say corrup-tion is rampant and real estate developers often violate construc-tion codes to minimise costs, with little or no penalties from authorities. — Reuters
K E N Y A
Five Seattle policemen injured in
clashes with May Day marchers
SEATTLE: Five Seattle police officers were injured and at least nine people arrested on Sunday night, after unruly demonstrators hurled projectiles and Molotov cocktails and broke windows, au-thorities said.
Protesters gather every year on May 1 to focus attention on la-bour and immigration issues, but demonstrators in cities across the United States also used the oc-casion to rally against police vio-lence. Mayor Ed Murray blamed the “senseless violence” in Seat-tle on a “different crowd” from those who had attended an earlier peaceful May Day immigration march, however.
It was “deeply regrettable that in a city that goes to incredible
lengths to respect First Amend-ment rights, there are some who disregard our values and engage in senseless acts of violence and property destruction,” he said later, referring to free speech pro-tected by the US Constitution.
In posts on social media web-site Twitter, the Seattle police department said one officer had suffered a cut to the head as pro-testers hurled Molotov cocktails, another was hit by a rock, and a third officer was bitten, appar-ently by a protester. Injuries suf-fered by two more officers were not detailed. “Nobody has been seriously injured,” police chief Kathleen O’Toole said after the unrest subsided, adding, “Once assaults started and property
damage started, we took action. It’s that simple.” Police said they made arrests in several places and restrained one group in a parking lot, before allowing some groups to disperse, but would maintain a presence in the area.
They charged three people with assault, one with destruction of property and five with obstruc-tion of justice. Eight men ranging in age from about 20 to 32 were charged, along with a teen-aged girl. Police used “blast balls” to disperse a crowd throwing rocks and bottles and breaking windows in a downtown neighbourhood, the Seattle Times newspaper re-ported, after they used pepper spray several times to break up throngs of demonstrators. — Reuters
V I O L E N C E
BOOSTING RELATIONS: The first US-to-Cuba cruise ship to arrive in the island nation in decades
glides into the port of Havana, on Monday. – AFP
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OMAN OIL PRICE DECLINES Oman Crude oil price (July delivery) declined by $1.08 per barrel to $43.31 per barrel, said Dubai Mercantile Exchange. The average price of Oman Crude (May delivery ) has stabilised at $36.34 a barrel, $6.11 higher than April delivery. — ONA
Oman’s natural gas production grows 8%
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Oman’s natural gas production and imports grew by 8.3 per cent to 10,206 million cu-bic metres (MNCM) for the first quarter of 2016, compared to 9,426 MNCM for the same period of last year.
Of this, while non-associated gas showed a growth of 8.1 per cent at 8,459 MNCM, associated gas production surged ahead by 9 per cent to 1,748 MNCM, according to latest statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
A sizeable portion of the natural
gas in Oman is used by various mega industrial projects, which stood at 6,160MNCM for the first three months of 2016, against 5,692MNCM for the same period last year. Natural gas is also used in oilfields either as fuel or for re-injection.
For instance, in the first quar-
ter, as much as 2,279 MNCM of natural gas was used in oil fields, against 1,963 MNCM units con-sumed for the same period in 2015. Other major consumers of natural gas in the country include power producers, small-scale industries and liquefied natural gas plants.
Natural gas used by power and desalination plants stood 0.8 per cent higher at 1,622 MNCM for the three-month period of this year.
The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) estimates gas consumption in the electricity and water desalination sector to rise in the next few years, mainly due to new power plants that need natural gas feedstocks.
While the national demand for gas will rise sharply over the com-ing five years, the rate of increase is by no means evenly distributed, with requirements set to spike in some regions. In fact, the Ministry of Oil and Gas is responsible for supplying gas to various consum-ers and the obligations are set out in within the agreements.
While non-
associated gas
showed a growth of
8.1 per cent at 8,459
million cubic metres,
associated gas
production surged
ahead by 9 per cent
to 1,748 million cubic
metres, according to
NCSI statistics
Waste management contract awardedTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Oman Environ-mental Services Holding Com-pany, be’ah, has awarded Veolia, through its subsidiary Veolia Middle East, and its Omani part-ner Al Ramooz National, a con-tract for waste management in the Sultanate.
The seven-year contract will focus on establishing the re-quired services across the Gov-ernorates of Al Dhahirah and Al Buraimi, restructure the mu-nicipal waste collection services and improve public awareness of waste management.
North-West regionThe contract will include collec-tion, transportation, and landfill-ing for the North-West region of Oman for municipal waste and will benefit more than 250,000 inhabitants. Veolia will act as the technical leader of the con-tract and will operate two land-fills, whereas Al Ramooz will be in charge of the waste collection and the development of a mate-rial recovery facility (MRF).
The waste management con-tract in the Sultanate is a mile-stone for Veolia, its first ever con-tract for this activity in Oman. This contract shows how seeking complementary local expertise
can be a driver of growth. In line with the development ambition of Veolia in the region, partner-ship with local players is pivotal for creating value in the territo-ries and for the communities.
“Together with our Omani partner Al Ramooz National, Veolia looks forward to support-ing Oman and its people with the best-in-class expertise in waste management. Our key focus for this contract will be to contribute to the implementation of the best standards for the waste manage-ment operations in the Sultan-ate, as well as support the Omani economy through in-country val-ue,” said Xavier Joseph, manag-ing director, Veolia Middle East.
“We are pleased to award the contract as per our strategy and sector takeover plan and our aim to provide high level ser-vices in association with an international experienced com-pany like Veolia with operations around the globe,” noted Tariq Ali Al-Amri, chief executive of-ficer at Oman Environmental Services Holding Company.
“At be’ah, our main goals are to structure the waste sector in a sustainable manner; to eliminate environmental damage incurred during traditional waste dump-ing processes as well support the economy,” he added.
S E V E N - Y E A R C O N T R A C T
Iraq crude oil exports near record levelBAGHDAD: Iraq’s oil ex-ports approached a record high in April, adding barrels to a worldwide supply glut even as protests against public corrup-tion threatened to paralyse the government of Opec’s second-largest producer.
Shipments rose to 3.36 mil-lion barrels a day, or 100.92 million barrels for the month, Asim Jihad, an Oil Ministry spokesman, said by text mes-sage on Sunday.
The figures don’t include sales by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Exports rose from 3.29 mil-lion barrels a day in March and were close to the November all-time high of 3.365 million a day, according to ministry figures.
Production unaffectedCrude oil shipments and production weren’t affected on Sunday after protesters stormed the parliament in Baghdad, Falah Al Amri, chair-man of Iraq’s State Oil Mar-keting Organisation, said by Facebook message. The dem-onstrators have accused the government of putting off nec-essary reforms as it struggles in the fight against militants and sees its finances battered by collapsing oil prices.
“Politically, things have worsened dramatically in Iraq,” Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects, said on Sun-day by phone from London. “It’s a negative for the country’s oil industry over the medium term. We’re going to see production plateau and start to decline lat-er this year” as government tur-moil and spending cuts affect projects needed to maintain output. — Bloomberg News
O I L S U P P L Y
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Average price of Oman Crude declined by 43.9 per cent to $34.76 per barrel in the first quarter of 2015, from $61.99 a barrel for the same period of last year.
Oman produced 90.86 mil-lion barrels of crude oil and condensates in the first three months of 2016, which was 4.6 per cent higher than that of the same period last year, according to latest statistics
released by the National Cen-tre for Statistics and Informa-tion (NCSI).
The country’s average daily crude oil production stood higher at 998,500 barrels in the first quarter of 2016, against 965,100 barrels for the same period of 2015.
Of the total production, the country exported 83.94 mil-lion barrels in the first quarter of 2016, against 78.39 million barrels for the same period of last year.
Average price of Oman Crude falls by 44% in first quarter
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B2
MARKETT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
Duqm Refinery launches programme for studentsTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Duqm Refinery has officially launched a programme called the ‘Science of a Refinery’ under the patronage of Sheikh Mohsin bin Hamad Al Maskary, wali of Duqm.
The programme aims to instill an interest in science, technol-ogy, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects among school students in Duqm and surround-ing areas, said a press release.
The chief guest and other digni-taries witnessed school children being introduced to the working of a refinery in theory and then through classroom based experi-ments learn the core fundamen-tals of chemistry, physics and en-gineering and relate this to various processes involved in refining.
‘The science of a refinery’ pro-gramme is developed by Duqm Refinery in partnership with En-gineering for Kids - Oman Branch,
a venture that inspires children in STEM subjects and brings about an interest for these subjects in a fun and inspiring way that com-plement and enrich the existing school curriculum.
The programme is delivered in partnership with Directo-rate General of Education in Al Wusta Region.
The programme is to run for
three days through a total of 24 interactive workshops delivered in six schools in Wilayat of Duqm with the aims to impact 500 stu-dents aged between 8 and 14 en-rolled in grades 2 to 8.
The programme has been de-ployed in Bahr Al Arab School, Duqm School, Dahar School, Ras Madraka School, Shumookh School and Haitam School.
S C I E N C E O F A R E F I N E R Y
KEEN ATTENTION: An employee works inside a factory in Kolkata, India. — Reuters
Global industrial growth weakens
BENGALURU/SYDNEY: Asian factories barely grew in April and those in the euro zone did little better despite heavy discounting, setting a sluggish tone on Monday for the global economy in the sec-ond quarter.
Japanese manufacturing ac-tivity shrank last month at the fastest pace in more than three years as major earthquakes dis-rupted production, while the for-mer bright spot of India sank to a four-month trough and growth in China was all but flat.
The euro zone reading edged up only marginally, painting a more subdued picture of an economy that grew an encouraging 0.6 per-cent between January and March.
Insufficient demandWith manufacturing dogged by insufficient demand and excess supply, the regional readings are likely to reinforce the view that a recent pick-up in economic mo-mentum will be difficult to sus-tain and further policy stimulus is needed.
The equivalent manufactur-ing reading from the US Institute of Supply Management later on
Monday was forecast to dip back to a modest 51.4, from 51.8, ahead of the always-pivotal payrolls re-port out on Friday. While the Fed is contemplating when to hike next, the European Central Bank is preparing to buy corporate bonds as part of its trillion-plus euro asset purchase programme.
So far, the massive ECB stimu-lus and weaker euro has yet to feed through to euro zone facto-ries which operated only margin-ally faster in April.
Markit’s Manufacturing Pur-chasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 51.7 from March’s 51.6, a marginal improvement from an earlier flash estimate of 51.5.
Manufacturing growth was strong in Italy and, buoyed by ris-ing demand at home and abroad, hit a three-month high in Ger-many. But in France activity con-tracted at the steepest rate in a year. — Reuters
Japanese
manufacturing
activity shrank,
while India sank to
a four-month low
and growth in China
was all but flat
INITIATIVE: The programme aims to instill an interest in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics subjects among school
students in Duqm and surrounding areas. - Supplied picture
B3T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
MARKETEnhanced Oil Recovery brings latest technology in waste water treatment
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Enhanced Oil Recov-ery LLC has partnered with The-mark Corporation of USA to bring in the HydroPod technology to the Sultanate.
The technology, which won the Water Management Company Award in the USA in 2015, can take waste water from different sourc-es that are not meeting the Oman waste water discharge standards, including refineries, industrial estates, primary and secondary sewerage treatment plants. Then it treats waste water with the Hy-droPod and solves the water pollu-tion problem in Oman.
The HydroPod is a small mobile unit (fits in a 15 foot container) and can be moved from one company to another to treat water that is not meeting the Oman environmental standards.
To this date, the alternative has been expensive chemical pre-treatment of industrial wastes or expensive tertiary treatment of liquid waste, which has been un-viable to most industries in the country. With the HydroPod, the company will be able to help the Sultanate maintain its stringent environmental standards and also promote aspiration for in-dustrial growth by providing low and effective solutions.
Today, under the auspices of Mohammed bin Salim Al Tobi, the Minister of Environment and Cli-mate Affairs (MoECA); Enhanced Oil Recovery has one of its Hydro-Pod units in the MoECA for a live demonstration of how it works and for further discussions on how this Omani SME can play a role in our beloved Sultanate’s future.
Abdullah bin Rashid Al Man-dhari, the CEO of Enhanced Oil Recovery said that he is proud to play a role in the environmental scene in Oman, and is also proud to say that he is in final discussions with other GCC countries which are pushing for this technology to be utilised.
Themark’s HydroPod
technology treats
waste water and
solves the water
pollution problem in
the Sultanate
SMART TECHNOLOGY: The HydroPod is a small mobile unit (fits in a 15 foot container) and can be
moved from one company to another for treating water. — Supplied picture
CLEAN STANDARDS: With HydroPod, the firm will be able to help
Oman maintain its stringent environment standards. — Supplied picture
‘Souq Al Mina’ receives encouraging response from Omani businessesTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Oman Tourism Devel-opment Company (Omran) has received an encouraging response from aspirants to set up retail outlets at the Souq Al Mina — the modern business incubator in the upcoming Mina Sultan Qaboos Waterfront Development.
Due to the high interest shown by interested businesses, Omran has extended the applications deadline last month and success-fully received 251 applications covering a wide variety of activi-ties such as agricultural products, cafes and restaurants, cosmetics and body care, decorative arts, design and fashion, sweets and desserts, floral arrangements, handicrafts, gift and Henna stores, jewelry, photography as well as tourism-related recreational ser-vices and activities.
“We are thrilled about the vol-ume and the variety of applications received from Omani entrepre-neurs. They have been thinking out-of-the box just like we had hoped as Souq Al Mina project aims to support established as well as innovative business ideas that provide an authentic experi-ence to the visitors.” said Fahad Al Hinai, Senior Development Manager at Omran.
At present, a selection commit-
tee from Omran is reviewing the applications to shortlist the ideas based on factors such as innova-tive approach, services offered, creativity, growth and sustainabil-ity planning, strength of vision and market potential.
Retail spaceIn the event the applicant’s idea is selected for the second and final stage, he or she will be invited to make a presentation to a larger ex-pert committee formed by Omran. Those selected at this stage will se-cure their retail spaces at the Souq Al Mina and can engage directly with the visitors of the Mina Sul-tan Qaboos Waterfront by the end of this year.
“We are ready with the Souq Al Mina concept. The innovative ideas selected for the project will boost the tourism sector by creat-ing new experiences and values for consumers.” Al Hinai said.
The watershed at Souq Al Mina, which will be spread across 3,300 square meters (sqms), will cele-brate local creativity as well as the country’s exquisiteness. The main objective of this project is to boost the country’s tourism services by endorsing talented Omanis and encouraging unique business ideas. The project will embrace 40 retail spaces in an integrated ‘so-ciety of makers’ to provide unique products and services for locals, residents and tourists.
Mina Sultan Qaboos Waterfront is one of Omran’s flagship projects and spans 451,000 sqm. It will transform Port Sultan Qaboos into a major tourism-based authentic waterfront destination, which will attract both tourists and residents.
The first phase of the waterfront will be delivered in time for the up-coming global events in the region such as Expo 2020 and the FIFA World Cup 2022. It will consist of various hospitality, lifestyle, en-tertainment and cultural zones as well as residential units that will redefine the experience of Mus-cat and provide investors with a significant opportunity to partici-pate in a unique and unparalleled marketplace offering.
M I N A S U L T A N Q A B O O S W A T E R F R O N T P R O J E C T
Kuwait workers’ strike
makes austerity drive
tricky for government
KUWAIT: A three-day strike by oil workers in Kuwait last month over pay reforms shows the government faces consider-able opposition as it prepares to push through painful and con-troversial cuts to longstanding welfare benefits.
Oil-exporting states around the Gulf are reducing subsi-dies for fuel, public utilities and food, and freezing or slowing the growth of public sector wages, as they try to curb big budget defi-cits caused by low oil prices.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bah-rain have all taken such steps in the past six months. But Kuwait has been slower to act; reforms were still being discussed in par-liament last week and no timeta-ble has been set.
In mid-March, finance Minis-ter Anas Al Saleh said the cabi-net had approved in principle a “repricing” of some commodities and public services, but he gave no details and did not mention a date for the changes.
One reason for the delay is that Kuwait has more of a history of industrial action. In recent years, brief work stoppages over pay and conditions have also hit Ku-wait’s national airline and the
customs administration. The re-sult is that Kuwait’s government is having a harder time imposing austerity policies than its coun-terparts, and the extent of those policies is still uncertain.
“The oil strike was a show-down between a welfare govern-ment and a civil society fearful that the government will solve its problem, resulting from a lack of planning, at its expense,” said Shafeeq Ghabra, political science professor at Kuwait University.
“This strike shows that the government needs to have a ma-jor dialogue with civil society re-garding economic as well politi-cal reform.” — Reuters
E C O N O M Y
ENCOURAGING RESPONSE: An artists’s impression of the project. — Supplied picture
Kuwait Oil and Petrochemical
Industries Union workers sit
on the first day of an official
strike over public sector pay
reforms in Ahmadi, Kuwait.
— Reuters file picture
B4
MARKETT U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET
SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR MONDAY, MAY 2
REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS ........................................................... 250,400 ........... 98,467..................... 39 ........... 0.390 ........... 0.396 ...........0.390........... 0.394 .............0.360 ........... 0.034 ............. 9.444 ................0.396 ..............0.396...................0.000 ..................21,670,000 .........0.100
OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,252,912 ...... 178,873..................... 53 ............0.133 ........... 0.144 ...........0.133 ........... 0.143 ............. 0.131 .............0.012 ............. 9.160 ................0.144 ..............0.144...................0.000 .................. 17,428,125 .........0.100
OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 1,146,837 ......172,040..................... 78 ............0.142 ........... 0.151 ............0.142 ........... 0.150 ............. 0.138.............0.012 ............. 8.696 ................ 0.151 ...............0.151...................0.000 ..................13,500,000 .........0.100
OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 561,452............ 74,372..................... 56 ............0.129 ........... 0.135 ...........0.129 ........... 0.132 ............. 0.126............ 0.006 ............. 4.762 ................0.130 ..............0.130...................0.132 .....................7,767,305 ..........0.100
OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 336,389 ........... 84,026..................... 26 ........... 0.244 ........... 0.257 ...........0.244 .......... 0.250 ............. 0.241 ........... 0.009 ............. 3.734 ................0.257 ..............0.256...................0.260 ..................72,662,755 .........0.100
OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ................................... 121,798 ............... 8,015......................13 ........... 0.067 ........... 0.067 ...........0.065 ........... 0.066 .............0.064 ........... 0.002 ............. 3.125 ................0.066 ..............0.065...................0.066................... 13,671,991 .........0.100
OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ...................... 191,600 .............19,474..................... 20 ........... 0.099 ........... 0.103 ...........0.099........... 0.102 .............0.099 ........... 0.003 ............. 3.030 ................0.099 ..............0.099...................0.100....................3,060,000 ..........0.100
OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ....................................................... 60,000 ............ 70,500........................4 ............1.175 ............1.175 ............ 1.175 ............1.175 ............. 1.170 ............ 0.005 ............. 0.427 ................ 1.175 .............. 1.180................... 1.195 ................. 235,000,000 .......0.100
OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 110,000............ 30,055........................6 ........... 0.278 ........... 0.278 ...........0.273 ........... 0.273 .............0.272 ............0.001 ............. 0.368 ................0.273 ..............0.272...................0.273...................27,300,000 .........0.100
OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................... 12,750 ...............3,366........................2 ........... 0.264 ...........0.264 ...........0.264 .......... 0.264 .............0.264 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.264..............0.264...................0.265..................389,342,257 .......0.100
OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE ................27,000 ...............5,720........................2 ............0.212 ........... 0.212 ...........0.210 ........... 0.212 ............. 0.212 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.210 ............. 0.208...................0.210 .................. 42,400,000 ........0.100
OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST .................................................................... 3,785,048 ...2,081,776..................... 49 ........... 0.550 ........... 0.550 ...........0.550 ........... 0.550 .............0.550 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.550 ..............0.536...................0.550..................349,684,988 .......0.100
OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY .................................... 222,246 .........395,598......................12 ............1.780 ........... 1.780............1.780 ............1.780 ............. 1.780 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.780 .............. 1.700...................0.000 .................159,666,000 ........0.100
OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .......................................................... 127,500 ............ 63,237........................5 ........... 0.490 ........... 0.496 ...........0.490........... 0.496 .............0.496 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.496 ..............0.490...................0.496..................164,112,864 ........0.100
OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 379,076 ............ 86,751......................31 ........... 0.230 ...........0.230 ...........0.228........... 0.229 .............0.229 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.229..............0.228...................0.229 .................. 34,367,175 .........0.100
OM0000002275 ...........SHELL OMAN MARKETING .................................. 20,000 ............ 38,100........................2 ............1.905 ........... 1.905 ...........1.905 ........... 1.905 ............. 1.905............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.905 .............. 1.905...................2.085..................180,975,000........0.100
OM0000002549 ...........BANK DHOFAR ............................................................ 351,400 ........... 89,607......................13 ........... 0.255 ........... 0.255 ...........0.255 ........... 0.255 .............0.255 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.255 ..............0.250...................0.255..................433,296,357........0.100
OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 122,310.......... 195,724......................12 ............1.600 ........... 1.610............1.600 ........... 1.600 ............. 1.600 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 1.610 ..............1.600................... 1.610 ................1,200,000,000......0.100
OM0000003125 ............GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ....................2,250 ...................315........................2 ............0.140 ........... 0.140 ...........0.140 ............0.135 ............. 0.135 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.140 ..............0.140...................0.142 ...................27,000,000 .........0.100
OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 1,751,836 ........317,082..................... 37 ............0.181 ........... 0.181............ 0.181 ............0.181 ............. 0.181 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.181 .............. 0.179................... 0.181 ..................286,990,704 .......0.100
OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ........................................................1,768 .................. 738........................3 ............0.418 ........... 0.418 ...........0.410 ........... 0.420 .............0.420 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.410 ..............0.410...................0.420 ..................25,410,000 .........0.100
OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 100,000 ........... 76,000........................2 ............0.760 ........... 0.760 ...........0.760 ........... 0.760 ............. 0.760 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.760 .............. 0.752...................0.760 .................. 494,717,615 ........0.100
OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION .............................. 1,001,924 .. 4,709,043..................... 26 ........... 4.700 ........... 4.700 ...........4.700........... 4.700 ............. 4.725 ...........-0.025 ........... -0.529 ...............4.700 ..............4.700...................5.000 .................. 45,967,015 .........1.000
OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 2,810,549 ...1,128,927...................299 ........... 0.406 ...........0.406 ...........0.400 .......... 0.402 .............0.406 ...........-0.004 ........... -0.985 ...............0.402............. 0.400...................0.402 ...............1,003,492,604 ......0.100
OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................ 58,200 .............15,047......................12 ........... 0.260 ...........0.260 ...........0.256........... 0.259 .............0.262 ...........-0.003 ............-1.145 ................0.256 ..............0.253...................0.256...................24,615,360 .........0.100
OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS .................7,805 ...............2,025......................12 ........... 0.262 ...........0.262 ...........0.257 ........... 0.259 .............0.262 ...........-0.003 ............-1.145 ................0.262..............0.258...................0.262 ................... 5,439,000 ..........0.100
OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ...............................................52,624 ...............3,947........................6 ............0.075 ........... 0.075 ...........0.075 ........... 0.075 .............0.076 ...........-0.001 ............-1.316 ................0.075 ..............0.074...................0.075 ................... 13,125,000 .........0.100
OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 1,235,100 ......243,536....................113 ........... 0.200 ...........0.200 ...........0.193 ............0.197 .............0.200 ...........-0.003 ........... -1.500 ...............0.195 .............. 0.193...................0.195 ...................24,604,898.........0.100
OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN .................................................... 571,000 ........... 68,583..................... 25 ............0.125 ........... 0.125 ........... 0.119 ........... 0.120 ............. 0.122 ...........-0.002 ............-1.639................0.120 ..............0.120................... 0.121 ..................240,037,535 ........0.100
OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ........................................... 84,500 .............19,435......................15 ........... 0.230 ...........0.230 ...........0.230........... 0.230 .............0.235 ...........-0.005 ........... -2.128 ...............0.230..............0.229...................0.230 ..................14,076,983 .........0.100
OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 3,941,275 ......460,089................... 195 ............0.120 ........... 0.120 ........... 0.115 ............0.117 .............0.120 ...........-0.003 ........... -2.500 ............... 0.117 .............. 0.116................... 0.117 ................... 33,927,735 .........0.100
OM0000002846 ...........GULF INV. SER. PREF SHARES ..............................10,000 ............... 1,100........................ 1 ............0.110 ........... 0.110............0.110 ............0.110 ............. 0.114 ............-0.004 ........... -3.509 ...............0.110 .............. 0.110................... 0.118 ...................10,052,986 .........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 20,707,549 .....10,741,568 .......... 1,171 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......32........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000001228 ............OMAN HOTELS AND TOURISM .............................. 5,100 ............... 1,352........................ 1 ........... 0.265 ........... 0.265 ...........0.265........... 0.265 ............. 0.241 ........... 0.024 ............. 9.959 ................0.265 ..............0.265...................0.000 ..................14,575,000 .........0.100
OM0000001590 ............MUSCAT FINANCE .................................................... 102,304 ............12,536......................12 ............0.120 ........... 0.125 ...........0.120 ............0.123 .............0.120 ........... 0.003 .............2.500 ................0.120 ..............0.120...................0.124 ...................32,806,016 .........0.100
OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ..................................................... 603,526 ........... 40,276..................... 32 ........... 0.067 ........... 0.067 ...........0.066........... 0.067 .............0.066 ............0.001 ..............1.515 .................0.067 ..............0.066...................0.067....................8,375,000 ..........0.100
OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 832,761 ............ 64,130..................... 37 ........... 0.077 ........... 0.078 ...........0.077 ........... 0.077 .............0.076 ............0.001 ..............1.316.................0.077 ..............0.077...................0.078..................115,500,000 ........0.100
OM0000001475 ............SWEETS OF OMAN ........................................................ 3,100 ................3,751........................2 ............1.210 ........... 1.210............1.210 ........... 1.340 .............1.340 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.210 ............. 0.000...................1.340 ....................9,380,000 ..........0.100
OM0000001723 ............OMAN ORIX LEASING .............................................. 50,000 ...............5,850........................ 1 ............0.117 ........... 0.117 ............ 0.117 ............0.117 ............. 0.117 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.117 ...............0.115................... 0.117 ................... 29,371,610 .........0.100
OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING.................................. 525,420 ........... 52,949..................... 33 ............0.102 ........... 0.102 ...........0.099............0.101 ............. 0.101 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.099 ..............0.099...................0.100.................... 7,596,008 ..........0.100
OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 337,808 ........... 20,003..................... 22 ........... 0.060 ...........0.060 ...........0.059 ........... 0.059 .............0.059 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.059 ..............0.059...................0.060 ..................59,000,000.........0.100
OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 149,599............22,440..................... 23 ............0.150 ........... 0.150 ...........0.150 ........... 0.150 ............. 0.150............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.150 .............. 0.150................... 0.151 ..................219,390,219 ........0.100
OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. .................... 66,461 .............. 2,340........................6 ........... 0.035 ........... 0.036 ...........0.035 ........... 0.035 .............0.036 ...........-0.001 ........... -2.778 ...............0.036 ..............0.035...................0.036....................2,975,000 ..........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 2,676,079 ......225,627................... 169 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......10........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
BONDS AND SUKUK MARKET ...................................................................................................................................................................... OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 ............................................. 1,948 .................. 201........................ 1 ............0.103 ........... 0.103 ...........0.103 ........... 0.103 ............. 0.103............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.103 ..............0.103................... 0.110 ...................32,923,196 .........0.100
OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ...........................510 .....................48........................ 1 ........... 0.094 ...........0.094 ...........0.094........... 0.094 .............0.094 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.094..............0.094...................0.099................... 30,471,192 .........0.100
.............................................SUM: ...................................................................................... 2,458 .................. 249........................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 ........................................ 5,957.76 .............. 5,948.37 ................... 5,952.10 ...................5,948.07 ....................4.03 ................... 0.07Financial Index ..................................... 7,783.81 ...............7,732.80 .................... 7,765.12 ....................7,729.88 ................. 35.24 ................... 0.46Industrial Index ....................................7,226.15 ...............7,209.08 ....................7,209.10 ...................7,224.96 ................ -15.86 .................. -0.22Services Index ......................................3,244.84 ............... 3,237.16 ................... 3,244.81 ...................3,230.48 ..................14.33 ...................0.44MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................882.62 ..................880.80 ...................... 882.05 ...................... 880.80 .................... 1.25 ................... 0.14
Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded23,386,086 ............... 10,967,443 ................. 1,342 ................17,014,054,162 ................ 13 ......................11 ....................20 .........................44
MSM index ends higher
MUSCAT: Mixed trading wit-nessed on the Muscat bourse as foreign investors turned out to be net sellers and Omani retail-ers extending buying support on the bourse. The general index - MSM30 Index - closed at 5,952.10 points, up by 0.07 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index gained by 0.14 per cent to close at 882.05 points. Galfar Engineering was the most active in terms of volume while Sharqiyah Desalination led in terms of turnover. Oman Hotels & Tourism, up by 9.96 per cent, was the top gainer while Con-struction Materials was top loser, down by 2.78 per cent.
As many as 1,342 trades were executed on Monday, generat-ing turnover of OMR10.9 million with 23.4 million shares changing hands. Out of 44 traded securi-ties, 13 advanced, 11 declined and 20 remained unchanged. GCC and Arab investors were net buy-ers for OMR384,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR6,000 while foreign investors remained net sellers for OMR390,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index advanced 0.46 per cent to close at 7,765.12 points. Oman & Emirates, Al
Sharqia Investments, Gulf In-vestment Services, Al Madina Investments and Al Batinah In-vestment increased by 9.16 per cent, 8.70 per cent, 4.76 per cent, 3.13 per cent and 3.03 per cent, respectively. HSBC Bank, Al Madina Takaful and Bank Mus-cat declined by 1.64 per cent, 1.32 per cent and 0.99 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index retreated by 0.22 per cent to end at 7,209.10 points. Oman Fisheries and Ray-sut Cement gained by 1.52 per cent and 0.43 per cent, respec-tively. Construction Materials, Galfar Engineering, Al Jazeera Steel and Gulf International Chemicals declined by 2.78 per cent, 2.50 per cent, 1.50 per cent and 1.15 per cent, respectively.
Services Index closed the ses-sion at 3,244.81 points, up by 0.44 per cent. Oman Hotels & Tour-ism, National Gas and Renais-sance Services advanced 9.96 per cent, 9.44 per cent and 3.73 per cent, respectively. Al Jazeera Services, Port Services and Shar-qiyah Desalination declined by 2.13 per cent, 1.15 per cent and 0.53 per cent, respectively.
— United Securities
Oman Hotels & Tourism, up by 9.96%, was
the top gainer while Construction Materials
was top loser, down by 2.78%.
With weak corporate earnings in tow, US investors' focus turns to jobs dataNEW YORK: Coming off a bar-rage of flimsy company earnings reports that included Apple’s first revenue drop in 13 years, investors will turn to April jobs data for signs of budding resilience or further weakening in the second quarter.
US nonfarm payrolls, unem-ployment and wages data are due Friday May 6, when the economy is expected to have added 200,000 jobs in April, with the unemploy-ment rate unchanged at five per cent and a wage increase of 0.3 per cent, according to Reuters data.
Unlike in recent months, where weak jobs numbers were counted on to stave off another Federal Re-serve interest rate hike, investors are now itching for better-than-expected employment data to in-dicate a stronger next earnings season, analysts said.
“The most important thing to stock investors is not what the Federal Reserve will do in June at their meeting; the most important thing is to see a recovery in the economy and earnings,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Albany, New York-based Hugh Johnson Advisors.
First-quarter earningsEven as expectations for first-quarter earnings have improved of late, S&P 500 companies are still seen posting a 5.9 per cent earn-ings fall in the first quarter. On April 1, the estimate was for a 7.1 per cent decline.
With dismal US gross domes-tic product figures released on Wednesday showing the slowest economic expansion in two years , jobs will be especially important for signaling a second-quarter re-covery, Johnson said.
If employment can beat esti-mates, markets will likely rally,
Johnson said, even if the number triggers talk of an impending rate hike at the Fed.
After a slow climb since the start of the month, as many com-panies beat ultra-low first-quarter earnings expectations, stocks fell sharply over the last two trading days. Pushing the downturn were Apple’s results, which included the first decline in iPhone sales.
Sacrifice the short termEven if a stronger-than-expected jobs report furthers a short-term selloff, investors would then feel more confident that a bull market is sustainable without Fed sup-port, said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Capital Management.
“If we’re going to see positive economic growth perpetuate, it needs to come on the back of job growth and wage increases,” Lus-chini said. “If we did see some dis-ruption as a consequence of the Fed raising interest rates, it would be welcome.”
Stronger employment data signals an increase in demand for consumer goods, which typi-cally indicates better revenue for companies.
“The jobs report is a great run-ning barometer on how our econ-omy is doing,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.
Ablin said he would pay close at-tention next week to any changes in wage growth, which has been
particularly stagnant. Average hourly earnings gained seven cents in March after slipping the prior month. Nonfarm payrolls rose 215,000 in March and the un-employment rate edged up to 5.0 per cent from an eight-year low of 4.9 per cent. In addition to employ-ment figures, analysts said they will continue to look at earnings reports next week, Fed officials’ comments, and economic data, including manufacturing, services sector growth and car sales. — Reuters
W A L L S T R E E T
Indian-origin tycoon’s
firm confirms bid for
Tata Steel assets in UK
LONDON: Indian-origin busi-nessman Sanjeev Gupta’s Lib-erty House group has confirmed that it will be submitting its bid for Tata Steel’s loss-making UK businesses by Tuesday, according to a media report.
The commodities trading firm, which emerged as an early front-runner for Wales-based Port Talbot steelworks, had said last week that its team was evaluating the bid.
“We can confirm that Liberty will submit a letter of intent to Tata Steel on Tuesday and has put in place a strong internal transaction team and panel of leading external advisers to take the bid forward,” a Liberty House spokesperson was quoted as say-ing by ‘The Financial Times’.
Gupta is being advised by sev-eral former Tata Steel executives including Jon Bolton, who until last year was the head of Tata’s Long Products business in Eu-rope, the report said.
Liberty HouseBolton joined Liberty House last month to run its steel business in Scotland, also bought over from Tata.
Liberty House is reportedly working with Macquarie Capital, which is prepared to support the bid with funding, and the State Bank of India.
Deloitte and Grant Thornton are among other firms involved which, among other issues, will advise Liberty House on deal-ing with the nearly 500 million pound funding deficit in Tata’s pensions scheme, considered the biggest stumbling block in clinching the sale.
Punjab-born graduateGupta, a Punjab-born graduate in economics and management from Cambridge University, has in the last week completed the acquisition of Tata’s Scottish plants in a back to back transac-tion, which saw the Scottish gov-ernment acquire the two plants of Dalzell and Clydebridge in La-narkshire and immediately sell them to Liberty House.
“Our team are continuing to evaluate the opportunity to make a bid for other Tata UK assets,” Gupta had said.
Other bidders for the remain-ing Tata Steel UK assets include Albion Steel, a UK start-up busi-ness with industry veteran Tony Pedder on the board.
It is believed to be eyeing Tata’s speciality steels unit based in Sheffield, northern England.
A Tata management team buy-out is seen as the other serious contender at this stage. — PTI
L E T T E R O F I N T E N T
Sanjeev Gupta. — Bloomberg News
UNCERTAIN TIMES: After a slow climb since the start of the month, as many companies beat ultra-low
first-quarter earnings expectations, stocks fell sharply over the last two trading days. - Bloomberg News
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Infiniti launches two new models in Oman
MUSCAT: Infiniti in Oman yes-terday unveiled the Infiniti QX60 and QX50 premium crossovers at an exclusive event held at its show-room in Muscat.
Infiniti is in the midst of a mas-sive product offensive. The intro-duction of these two models builds on this story with many more an-nouncements in the pipeline, says a press release.
“The launch of the Infiniti QX60 and QX50 reaffirms our commit-ment to enhance our product line up in the Middle East and around the world,” said Juergen Schmitz, managing director, Infiniti Middle East. “Both the QX60 and QX50
feature an overhaul in exterior design. The QX60 also features a number of interior and technologi-cal advancements whilst the QX50 has made significant improve-ments with particular focus on rear legroom.”
The premium crossovers are a cornerstone for Infiniti’s business in the region with sales for both models contributing to fiscal year 15 results of almost 2,500 vehicles delivered to customers.
“Crossovers and SUV’s continue to be a key driver of our growth in the region,” added Schmitz. “With the introduction of these two pre-mium vehicles to our regional port-folio, we are confident that they will enable us to further deliver our promise of a premium motoring ex-perience to our customers.”
A senior official at Infiniti, Su-hail Bahwan Automobiles, Oman said, “We are thrilled to unveil the new crossovers in Oman at a time when Infiniti continues to ex-pand its product portfolio globally. QX60 and QX50 models offer cus-tomers more styling, new technol-ogy and enhanced driving dynam-ics. With improved soundproofing, uprated cabin materials and new connectivity solutions, we can as-sure high user satisfaction and in-comparable ownership value. We are sure these models will stand out in the local market.”
Infiniti QX60The new Infiniti QX60 is complete-
ly redesigned from the exterior and also features a host of new features and technologies that enhance comfort, convenience and safety.
At the front, the redesigned double-arch grille is flanked by standard-fit bi-xenon headlamps. There is greater use of LED light-ing, including new LED Daytime Running Lights as well as front fog lamps which feature LED lighting and chrome finishers. It also fea-tures the signature brand design cues such as double-wave bonnet, and crescent-cut D-pillar.
On the interior, Infiniti’s QX60 offers the signature driver-ori-ented cockpit, highlighted by thin chrome accents as well as an up-per instrument panel has been wrapped in soft-touch material with contrast stitching.
Infiniti’s QX60 continues to de-liver in spades on the technology front. Added in for 2016, is forward emergency braking with pedestrian detection. When combined with the already existing industry first features like predictive forward collision warning, backup collision intervention and around view mon-itor, it makes for one of the safest 7 seat crossovers in its segment from a technology perspective.
The 2016 QX60’s new suspen-sion components and settings combine to deliver superior levels of both comfort and agility, while a revised steering system deliv-ers greater feedback for a more rewarding drive. Featuring intel-
ligent all-wheel drive, the QX60 is offered with a powerful and ef-ficient 3.5-litre V6 gasoline engine.
Infiniti QX50From an exterior design perspec-tive the QX50 LWB has been en-hanced for 2016 with a new front and rear bumper and lower front and rear fascia, new LED Daytime Running Lights, new signature Infiniti-style double-arch front grille, new side mirrors with inte-grated LED turn signals and up-dated side sill styling.
Significant inroads have also been made on its size. The wheel-base increases by 81mm while overall length is boosted by 114mm. The result is an increased interior volume by 235 litres as well as increased 2nd row – rear legroom by 109mm.
The QX50 LWB also features a host of technological advancements that include; Streaming audio via blue-tooth wireless technology, advanced around view monitor which includes front and rear sonar, 7-inch colour display with Infiniti controller. Also available is the optional Infiniti hard drive navigation system with a colour touch-screen display that is addition-ally complimented with the Bose pre-mium audio system with 11 speakers.
SBA is largely committed to supporting Infiniti Oman’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on customer satisfac-tion and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman.
Infiniti QX60 features
enhanced interior and
exterior design with
suite of assistive and
intuitive technologies
and QX50 features a
new, fluid appearance
with a unique
personality
MGS conducts youth
leadership programme
MUSCAT: Muscat Gujarati Sa-maj (MGS) conducted a youth leadership programme, in asso-ciation with Morrison Muscat Toastmasters Club, for 22 young children in the age group of 11-16 years recently.
This programme is an interna-tionally acclaimed programme by Toastmasters International with its presence in 128 countries hav-ing more than 15,000 clubs, says a press release.
Youth leadership programme (YLP) is an informal course in the arts of communication and leadership. It is one of the best programmes available for the creative and energetic minds of today’s children, to bring about an overall enhancement in their interactive and expressive skills, which eventually help them in boosting their confidence levels and develop their personality. Most importantly, at very early age, it will sow in them the seeds of becoming powerful and effec-tive, communicators and leaders of a modern tomorrow.
The YLP was led by Toast-master Rajendra B. Varma, Club Mentor of the Morrison Muscat Toastmaster Club. Eight sessions of two hours each were conducted where the children were coached and mentored on speech making and impromptu speaking.
Business sessions were also taken on the leadership front by introducing the children to chair-manship which included how to organise and conduct meetings, be a conference leader and con-duct panel discussions.
A typical YLP meeting would
consist of three sessions; speech making, providing evaluations (instant feedback) and speaking impromptu (speaking on a topic without preparation).
The grand finale where chil-dren were expected to ‘Show Their Skills’ acquired during the YLP programme consisted of prepared speeches, evaluation and table topics. President of the grand finale session Hritika Sampat carried off the show with aplomb and Toastmaster of the Day Vaidehi Ramaiya effortlessly anchored the YLP session. The best prepared speech was award-ed to Raghavisankar, best evalua-tor to Prati Sanghvi and best table topics speaker award was given to Keya Tanna.
Other prominent personalities who motivated the children were chief guest Neelu Rohra, Second Secretary (Press, Information, Culture and Community Wel-fare) Embassy of India, Muscat, Oman, guest of honour Sheikh Kanaksi Khimji, Kiran Asher, MGS Board member and T. M. Yasser Suleiman, Past District Governor for District 20 repre-senting Gulf countries.
Neelu Rohra congratulated MGS for successfully conducting the youth leadership programme where children develop their speaking and leadership skills at a very young age.
Kiran Asher recalled days when his children were part of the Toastmaster movement and how greatly it had improved their ability to speak in public.
Youth leadership programme participation certificates were awarded to all the participants.
S K I L L S D E V E L O P M E N T
Centrepoint encourages families to spend time with loved onesMUSCAT: Centrepoint, the re-gion’s largest family fashion retail-er, celebrates World Family Day on May 15 by encouraging families of the region to spend quality time with loved ones.
The brand that is hugely popular for its variety of fashion clothing, kids-wear, accessories, cosmetics and home décor, is encouraging its customers to celebrate the special moments with more than just gifts. A study conducted by the brand shows that over 48% of respond-ents claimed that they do not get sufficient time with their family and 87% of respondents said that spending time with family is what they looked forward to most on the
weekends, says a press release.In today’s modern world, work
is increasingly taking over our lives and we spend longer and longer hours in pursuit of our ca-
reer goals. With more than 44% of participants in the study spend-ing over nine hours at work, time with family becomes shorter, with adverse effects on our wellbeing.
“Children are often the most af-fected,” says Lucy Bruce, founder of Home Grown Children’s Eco Nursery who has worked closely with Centrepoint to help raise awareness for the importance of family time.
“As a mother of three, a business owner and founder of the Harmony House charity, it is fair to say that I’ve had times when I’ve felt like I have bitten off more than I can chew. Recognising the importance of my role in my children’s lives has made being present and spending quality time with my children my main priority. The positive impact it has had on my children and my-self is immeasurable.”
Studies have shown that close bonds to family and having a strong emotional support system have a significant positive im-pact on our health and wellbeing. Manu Jeswani, CEO - Centrepoint said, “When I was younger I often missed out on spending precious moments with family due to work commitments. I have learnt from that and today my family is my priority and I make sure to spend quality time with my wife and children on the weekends and on family holidays. Work is an im-portant aspect of life, but family comes first.” He further adds that, “Centrepoint is a family fashion brand and we care about our cus-
tomers; a majority of which are married with children. We want to encourage them to cherish this phase of life and prioritize their time towards their families.”
Centrepoint has teamed up with regional lifestyle and parent-ing influencers Lucy Bruce, Kaya Scott and Deanna Khalil, to share tips and advice on spending qual-ity time with family. This year, Centrepoint stores will have special cash desks dedicated to families shopping in store on World Family Day. Centrepoint is also encourag-ing families to post selfies of them-selves spending quality time togeth-er using #GiftYourTime in order to win gift cards from the brand.
W O R L D F A M I L Y D A Y
New designer collaboration from
Mamas & Papas and Liberty London
MUSCAT: Combining nearly 40 years of parenting experience with over 140 years of fashion expertise, check out the latest col-laboration from Mamas & Papas and Liberty London.
Designed for little girls aged 0-3, the new collection includes eve-rything from summer dresses and sunhats to rompers and dungarees, all fusing vintage detailing with
one of three world famous Liberty prints, says a press release.
Each print has its own unique charm from the colourful, coun-tryside inspired Painter’s Meadow to the intricate Irma Tana and the bold Glenjade, an original 1930s Liberty Print. Launching in May, the new collection will be available at Mamas & Papas located in Mus-cat City Centre, Seeb.
F A S H I O N E X P E R T I S E
National Biscuit picks
2 promotion winners
MUSCAT: National Biscuit In-dustries Ltd, the makers of the brand ‘Nabil’ range of biscuits and snacks announced two win-ners of iPhone 6 in its grand ‘Scratch N Win’ promotion on its selected biscuits range being held from March 15 to May 15.
In addition to the Scratch N Win, is a mega raffle draw where the consumers of Oman will get an opportunity to win and own a brand new Nissan Altima Car.
The promotion is applicable on multipacks of Nabil Glucose, Nabil Cookies, Nabil Crackers & Sweet n Salt Biscuits, Nabil Cream biscuits and the newly launched Nabil Sugarfree Diges-tive Biscuits. Consumers will find a scratch card in the multi-packs of the scheme SKUs with a Unique Nabil Code and have to quickly register on www.Nabil-Biscuits.com, which will qualify them for the final raffle draw, says a press release.
Only successful and valid en-tries registered till May 15 will qualify for the raffle draw. Con-sumers can register more than once with every unique code, and increase their chances of winning the mega raffle of Nis-san Altima.
Further, there are eight more iPhone 6 to be won as instant prize, through the scratch card. They can be redeemed till May 31.
Commenting on the occasion, Unnit Mankodi, head of Sales and Marketing at National Biscuits said, “Nabil is delighted with the tremendous response received on the promotion. We are very happy for the two lucky consum-ers who have won the iPhone 6, and hope that the next eight winners find their lucky coupon soon. We urge the consumers to rush to their nearest outlet and buy the multipacks of the listed products. The more they buy and register, more are the chances of winning the bumper prize - Nissan Altima!”
‘ S C R A T C H N W I N ’
TSC picks first promotion winner
MUSCAT: The Sultan Centre (TSC) picked the first winner of its exciting promotional ‘Win Seven Cars in Seven Weeks’ campaign. The lucky winner of the first draw was Abdullah Salem Al Rashdi, coupon number: 154604, says a press release.
Any customer who spends OMR10 or more in any TSC store till June 8 will have an opportunity to enter the draw to win one of the six remaining Chevrolet Cruzes. The more you shop the more chances you have to win and drive away in a new Chevrolet Cruze.
‘ W I N S E V E N C A R S I N S E V E N W E E K S ’ C A M P A I G N
Harmony students excel in music grade exam
MUSCAT: Harmony Music, Arts and Karate training insti-tute congratulated all students who achieved distinction in music grade exam conducted by Trinity College & Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music in UK, says a press release.
1. Piano: Ananditha B – Grade 1, Ganesh Arvindh –Grade 1, Jonathan Fernandes – Grade 1, Soham Raut- Grade 2, Jobin George-Grade 3.
2. Electronic keyboard: Jerry Mathew - Initial, Pranav Naidu Panduri - Initial, Vaishnav Anand - Initial, Sunhari Jacob-Initial, Adhityan R - Grade 1, K. Sanjith - Grade 1, Kevin Paul-Grade 2, Melita Ann Stephen-Grade 2, Shehjaar Kilam - Grade 4, Sarengi Radhika - Grade 5
3. Drums: Krishang Srivasta-va-Grade 1, Saam Wesley-Grade 1, Lakshmi S Kumar-Grade 1, Adithya Deepak-Grade 4
4. Plectrum Guitar: Vaishnavi Raj-Grade 1, Rejath Veliyath Reji-Grade 3.
5. Theory of Music: Adhindra V.S- Grade 1, Ashwin Kumar-Grade 2, Jobin George -Grade 2, Abhilash Nandakumar-Grade 5.
T R A I N I N G I N S T I T U T E
B6 T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
ROUND-UPToyota Land Cruiser offers unchallenged performance
MUSCAT: Ushering in new benchmarks in performance across all terrains, the Toyota Land Cruiser continues to be totally un-challenged at the pinnacle of 4WD performance, within a pampering ambience of classy luxury.
In the words of its master crea-tor, Sadayoshi Koyari, the chief en-gineer, “The Land Cruiser is a true go anywhere, all-terrain four-wheel drive SUV that has always exceeded expectations all around the globe.”
With a pedigree that can be traced back over 50 years, the Land Cruiser commands customer loy-alty unmatched by any other SUV, and this new model proudly car-
ries forward the vehicle’s legacy of phenomenal all-terrain perfor-mance and reliability. Indeed, the Land Cruiser is one of the most technically advanced four-wheel drive vehicles ever produced and is equipped with a series of advanced dynamic and handling features.
These have been further ex-tended in the new model with the world-first turn assist, which works in conjunction with the crawl control function, multi-terrain monitor and tyre angle display. The crawl control system helps maintain a low uniform vehicle speed by automatically controlling the engine output and brake hydraulic pressure for the purpose of reducing driver burden when in off-road conditions.
Helping drivers confirm their surroundings when driving off-road are features such as a multi-terrain monitor used in conjunc-tion with multi-terrain select. The range of advanced active-driving control features extends to the ac-tive traction control system which ensures excellent vehicle handling functionality. Adding to the ver-satility of the Land Cruiser is the hill-start assist control system which prevents vehicle roll-back when stopping and then starting
again on a steep incline or slippery surface while the downhill assist control helps improve directional control during descent on steep or slippery surfaces.
In addition, the vehicle features four-wheel active height control and adaptive variable suspension, a fully adjustable system that pro-vides spring rate control to give exceptional performance off-road. It also regulates pitch and body roll on-road to maintain ride comfort and refinement. Aero stabilising fins have also been added to the outer lens of the rear combination lamps, contributing to excellent handling and stability.
The heart of the new Land
Cruiser’s capability is its 5.7-litre with dual VVT-i V8 engine, which produces 362 horsepower and 54 Kg-m of torque. The Land Cruiser is the first large SUV segment model with genuine off-road capa-bilities to offer a smooth and quiet 8-speed automatic transmission. This indomitable 4WD is popular-ly available in the 4.0 and 4.7 litre variants as well.
The Land Cruiser’s new ad-vanced safety technology package called Toyota safety sense includes items that are particularly effec-tive in reducing risk of accidents. These include a pre-crash safety system that uses sensors to detect other vehicles or obstructions and
warns the driver to perform eva-sive manoeuvres while automati-cally activating the brakes when there is a high probability of a col-lision. Radar cruise control helps maintain a suitable vehicle-to-ve-hicle distance while following the preceding vehicle.
A lane departure alert system warns the driver when the vehicle is unintentionally deviating from its lane and automatic high beam system detects oncoming head-lamps and/or tail lamps of pre-ceding vehicles and automatically switches to low beam to reduce glare. The 2016 Land Cruiser has a total of 10 airbags. Active head-rests and a blind spot monitor sys-tem is also available.
The 2016 Land Cruiser is avail-able in many exterior colours. El-evating in-vehicle entertainment to a whole new level are the 11.6-inch dual display screens with display angle adjustable mechanism that offer the ultimate multimedia enter-tainment for rear seat passengers.
In Oman, the nationwide parts and service network of Saud Bahwan Automotive supports Toyota’s outstanding product quality. No wonder then that today, Toyota is one of the most trusted and well-known brands.
The Land Cruiser
is one of the most
technically advanced
four-wheel drive
vehicles ever
produced
FRiENDi’s new promotion generates great response
MUSCAT: FRiENDi mobile’s latest ‘Big Data Small Prices’ promotion has shown a very positive growth for the brand with its widespread acceptance among new customers, says a press release.
Customers can either go for the budget friendly 600MB plan at OMR1.5, a more value driven 1.5GB plan at OMR2.5 and the data hungry ones can choose a 3GB plan for OMR4.5 only. All the plans have day – night split and a loyalty bonus attached, which is unique to FRiENDi mobile only.
For example, the medium sized 1.5GB plan includes 500 MB day and 1,000 MB night usage plus 50 MB renewal bo-nus data valid for 30 days and the customer just dials *150# to activate it.
“Customers have varying needs at different times and we make offers that will cater to each rising need. Our pack-ages are designed in a way that customers enjoy and retain the flexibility to tailor their pack-ages according to their desires,” said Eugen Comendant, direc-tor of Product and Marketing, FRiENDi mobile.
‘ B I G D A T A S M A L L P R I C E S ’
Z-Corp organises event at Al Wafa Centre for Disabled Children in SoharMUSCAT: To emphasise the phi-losophy of giving to society, the team ‘Collaboration’ from The Zubair Corporation (Z-Corp) re-cently organised a community event at the Al Wafa Rehabilita-tion Centre for Disabled Children in Sohar.
Al Wafa centres with branches across Oman aim to rehabilitate children who have some form of mental, auditory, physical, or visual disability. According to the Ministry of Social Development’s website, the objective of Al Wafa centres is to rehabilitate disabled children between the age of 3 and 14 by instilling skills in them that enable them to become self-reliant as much as possible. These centres also provide suitable rehabilita-tion and training programmes for the enrolled children in order to encourage them to become inde-pendent. In addition, they provide educational programmes for the families of the disabled children on how to deal with the disabled, the causes of disability and ways to prevent them, says a press release.
The community event at the Al Wafa Centre was organised by the ‘Collaboration Team’ of Z-Corp. The ‘collaboration team’ compris-es a group of employees of Z-Corp
who participate in community initiatives which are planned and executed by them.
Support for Al Wafa centre’s event comes as part of Z-Corp’s strategy to builds its programmes around factors such as employee engagement, community involve-ment and corporate giving. The objective is to touch and improve upon the lives of the communities they live in.
The community day event pro-vided an opportunity for children with disability to experience dif-ferent events including sports and entertainment activities. The aim of the community event was to en-courage children with disabilities to participate and enjoy the differ-
ent activities. At the end of the day, children were honoured for par-ticipating in sports and entertain-ment activities.
Zuwaina Al Azri, communica-tions manager at Zubair Auto-motive Group said, “An impor-tant strategy at Z-Corp is that it encourages employees to get involved in their local communi-ties by actively contributing their time for worthy causes and pro-jects. The ‘collaboration team’ has organised similar events at differ-ent institutes. We will continue to nurture our employees’ sense of responsibility and encourage ex-change of experience.”
Appreciating the work done by Al Wafa Rehabilitation Centre for
Disabled Children, Zuwaina said, “We want to place on record our gratefulness to the centre who have been working towards giving quality training for these children. They have been truly educating and encouraging these children by giving them special care and attention. The centre’s effort will help integrate these children into mainstream in the future. We be-lieve that those with disabilities are an equal and important part of the community.”
Expressing thanks to The Zubair Corporation’s collaboration team, the Director of Al Wafa centre at Sohar said, “This support from a prestigious group like the Z-Corp means a lot for the centre and the children. With reassurance and support, these children can build a solid sense of self-confidence and a foundation for lifelong success. All children need encouragement and for children with disabilities, such positive reinforcement can help ensure that they emerge with a strong sense of self-worth and re-solve to keep going.
“The children enjoyed and par-ticipated with much enthusiasm. We are thankful to the Zubair group for making a difference in the life of these children.”
S O C I A L R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y
Awards ceremony at Indian School GhubraMUSCAT: The excellence and meritorious achievements of the students of CBSE and CBSEi In-dian School Al Ghubra were cel-ebrated at the awards ceremony held recently. Indra Mani Pandey, Ambassador of India to Oman, was the chief guest.
Board of Directors, Indian schools in Oman, members of the school management com-mittee, dignitaries, parents and well-wishers of the school were also present at the event, says a press release.
Haya Srivastava welcomed the chief guest by presenting a potted plant. The cultural programme commenced with ‘Singing Stars’- the Junior Choir from CBSEi who sang ‘The Dream Boat’.
The students of Classes V and VI presented ‘What a wonder-ful world’ a tribute to 25 glorious years of ISG.
The synchronisation of hand
movements and the use of props which complemented with the special UV lighting mesmerised the audience.
In his exhortation, Pandey ex-pressed his delight upon the insti-tution‘s successful completion of 25 years. He urged the teachers to prepare students to meet the chal-lenges of the 21st century educa-tion as there is a need for the chil-dren to keep themselves abreast with the changing trends in the field of technology. He stated that equal opportunities should be giv-en to girls to help them gain a firm footing in society.
Students who achieved excel-lence in academics, sports, art and general knowledge received their awards and certificates from Pandey and special awards were given to teachers who com-pleted 25 years of service and others who completed 20, 15 and 10 years too.
E X C E L L E N C E A W A R D S
Liqui Moly stays Germany’s No. 1 brand for sixth time in a rowMUSCAT: Readers of four major automotive magazines in Germa-ny have elected Liqui Moly to be the top brand for the sixth time in a row.
Independent of one another, the four leading automotive maga-zines in Germany, Auto Zeitung, Auto Motor und Sport, Auto Bild and Motor Klassik, asked their nearly six million readers to vote for the best brand of oil. The unan-imous winner was Liqui Moly. This continues the brand’s victory march from previous years, says a press release.
Liqui Moly GmbH from Ulm in South Germany offers a wide range of high-quality products such as motor oils, additives, vehicle care products and service products.
The entire range of Liqui Moly products is available through Al Hashar outlets and dealer network.
“This reader vote for Liqui Moly is a decision for stability and predictability. We appreci-ate it and it supports us in a dif-ficult market environment, this presents us with great challenges. The vote by car owners confirms
our course and shows we are mak-ing good progress.
“Our product quality with its unqualified commitment to the motto ‘Made in Germany’ and our reputation as an anthropocentric brand have anchored themselves in the head and hearts of people around the globe. And this has ce-mented Liqui Moly’s top place,” said Ernst Prost, CEO-Liqui Moly.
“This is not a matter of course. The way to the top was rocky, and confirmation of this top position from year to year is always the re-sult of diligence and hard work,”
continued the CEO. “These values are incorporated
into our company philosophy. And we adhere to them. In contrast to global corporations, we, as a me-dium size company, are closer to our customers and capable of ca-tering to them more quickly and individually in every one of the 120 countries where you can buy Liqui Moly,” stated Ernst Prost.
“Such discipline on the part of our co-entrepreneurs will con-tinue to earn us further accolades and is essential for our course for becoming a global brand.”
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‘Rest Upon The Wind will unveil side of Khalil Gibran you may not have known’
MUSCAT: Celebrated actor and playwright Nadim Sawalha, the writer and director of Khalil Gi-bran Rest Upon The Wind speaks about his play being staged at the Oman Auditorium, Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz-Carlton Hotel tomorrow at 8pm.
“Come and watch the play and see a side of Khalil Gibran you
perhaps didn’t know before,” is his message to theatre enthusiasts of Oman.
The play is brought by NPA Events, known for their ‘wow’ events, says a press release.
Poet, writer, painter and philosopher Khalil Gibran has been close to your heart. You have written and directed Rest Upon The Wind, based on his life. Having yourself migrated to Britain from Jordan in the 1950s to study drama, do you draw a parallel in your life?I do. I’ve chosen to write this play in order to study the fortunes and misfortunes of the exiled Arab’s life in Europe and America. Khalil and his fellow poets are known in the Arab world as ‘The Poets in Exile’, or more correctly, ‘The Im-
migrant Poets’.
Ever since ‘Rest Upon The Wind’ was first staged in the West End of London at the Tristan Bates Theatre in 2011, the play has been popular the world over with sell-out per-
formances in New York, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. How has the experience been?The experience has been fasci-nating. To watch the reactions of various audiences from London to New York to the Middle East is to understand the impact of theatre on people with many different cultural attitudes.
What is your message to Khalil Gibran theatre aficionados in Oman?Come and watch the play and see a side of Khalil Gibran you maybe didn’t know before.
You have portrayed different roles in over 100 television serials and films. Which ones stand out in memory?After working for 50 years all over
the world, I found my favourite role in my hometown, Amman, when I played Captain Abu Raed, directed by Amin Matalqa, a superb young Jordanian film director.
What was the public response to your role as Aziz Fekkesh in the 1977 James Bond movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. Was it a shot in the arm to your career?In my time I played in two Bond films. You can never say no to a Bond film, because invariably the experience is an enormous thrill, irrespective of the nature of the part. You work on a Bond film for the experience of film-making, not the role you play.
Do you look at yourself as a bridge between the Middle
East and the West, having essayed varied roles as that of Emir Hamad Al-Subaai in Syriana, Abu Raed in Captain Abu Raed, Hassan in Sindbad and the Eye of the Tiger and so many more?I definitely started life wishing to be a bridge between the Middle East and the West, and although it was a noisy bridge, it’s been full of excitement and thrills.
As the narrator of Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World (2003), how different is narration from acting and writing?Narration is definitely more tiring, because to do it well you have to cultivate a level of mental and emotional concentration at a superhuman level.
Nadim Sawalha, the
writer and director of
the play, talks about
what makes it special
Copa America 2016: Live on beIN channelsMUSCAT: Copa América 2016, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America will be broadcast-ed in high definition, live on beIN sports channels. Copa America football tournament will be availa-ble on the Euro 2016 package, says a press release.
The 45th edition of the Copa América competition will be or-ganised by CONMEBOL, South America’s football governing body. The tournament will be held in United States from June 3 – 26.
beIN Media Group, which is a leading provider for sports chan-nels in broadcasting all live ac-tion of global sport events has announced five packages keeping different nationality sports view-ers in mind and also boosting en-tertainment experience.
The first package is Access Pack-age which has 26 HD Channels in-cluding; 9 Sport Channels, 1 Movie Channel and 4 Kids Channels. The second package is Top Entertain-ment which has extra 13 channels above the Access package; 6 HD Movie Channels, 1 Factual Chan-nel, 5 kids’ channels and 1 Food channel. Third package is Top Sports. The package contains Ac-cess package + extra 14 Premium
HD Sports Channels. Fourth is the complete package which contains all channels of Access, Top Movies and Top Sports packages. The last package is the Euro 2016 package that will be broadcasting in June/July 2016. The Euro 2016 package is available as an add-on with at least Access package or with an ac-tive Sports or Sports Global pack-age expiring after July 15. beIN has dedicated 4 channels for Euro
2016; beIN Max 1HD, beIN Max 2HD, beIN Max 3HD and beIN Max 4HD which will open only for the Euro 2016 subscribers. The new packages facilitate customers to choose depending upon their in-terest and budget.
Mustafa Sultan Enterprises Entertainment Factory (Pay-TV) division is pioneer in Pay TV busi-ness for more than 20 years and is the distributor for OSN in Oman. Besides OSN, MSE-EF is a lead-ing distributor for beIN Sports. They have a showroom in Al Khu-wair and six kiosks at Muscat City Centre, Qurum City Centre, Mus-cat Grand Mall, Panorama Mall, Nizwa Grand Mall and Sohar Sa-feer Mall. MSE-EF also offers the Pay TV services through their sub dealers spread across in all major towns of the Sultanate.
A V A I L A B L E O N E U R O 2 0 1 6 P A C K A G E
alizz bank endorses E&Y Student Excellence Awards MUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank (AIB), one of the first Islamic banks in the Sultanate of Oman, has endorsed Ernst & Young’s (E&Y) Student Excellence Award 2016, which recognised top achieving students in account-ing, finance, business adminis-tration and IT.
The ceremony was held re-cently at the Muscat InterCon-tinental Hotel, under the pa-tronage of Saud bin Nasser Al Shukaily, secretary- general for Taxation at the Ministry of Fi-nance. This support comes as part of AIB’s commitment to-wards enabling distinguished and academically talented Om-ani students to further develop and to continue their strides towards achievements and suc-cess, says a press release.
Participating students under-went a thorough evaluation, and were assessed against various standards such as academic per-formance, analytical abilities, communication and presentation skills, as well as their ability to get information across to others.
The top five students in each discipline were nominated by each of the participating univer-sities, including: Sultan Qaboos University, College of Banking
and Financial Studies, Majan University College, Modern Col-lege for Business and Science, Waljat College of Applied Scienc-es, Oman College of Management and Technology, Nizwa College of Technology, Middle East Col-lege and Caledonian College of Engineering. The winners were also recognised for their creativ-ity and innovation.
Aisha Al Kharusi, chief mar-keting officer, alizz Islamic bank, said: “alizz Islamic bank spares no effort to support and empower Omani students in all fields. We will continue to support similar initiatives that contribute to the success of our local student body, paving the way for their careers and accomplishments.”
“Recognising talented and creative students will encourage them to continue their hard work, and will definitely influence their colleagues and motivate them to excel. This will create an envi-ronment of healthy competition, hence nurturing a strong pool of talent strive to achieve higher standards of excellence through-out their careers,” she added.
The support of alizz Islamic bank for this initiative reflects its commitment to invest the devel-opment of human capital.
M A J O R S U P P O R T
OAB launches new MasterCard Corporate Credit CardMUSCAT: Oman Arab Bank (OAB), in collaboration with Mas-terCard, launched its first Cor-porate Credit Card to provide its growing corporate client roster with enhanced efficiency, flexibil-ity and convenience in managing employee business expenses.
The OAB MasterCard Corpo-rate Credit Card offers customers the ability to seamlessly track and manage business related expendi-ture online as well as access Smart Data, MasterCard’s renowned suite of reporting and expense manage-ment tools. The new service also offers card holder level, department level and company level statements for tracking and accountability, says a press release.
In addition, the new offering from OAB will provide corpo-rate customers with a number of unique privileges and services in-
cluding access to airport lounges in several major cities. Customers can also participate in the highly popular Priceless Arabia cam-paign, which gives cardholders a number of exclusive offers and experiences in the Middle East and North Africa from dining and shopping to exciting travel and en-tertainment options.
On the occasion, Alsalt Al
Kharusi, head of Corporate and Institutional Banking and GM at Oman Arab Bank, said, “This is our first collaboration with Master-Card. The launch of this new stra-tegic product falls in line with our objective to cross sell new prod-ucts to our corporate client base and further strengthen our rela-tionships by providing innovative financial service solutions.”
Al Kharusi added, “The Oman Arab Bank MasterCard Corporate Credit Card is a sophisticated prod-uct that will open new avenues for business owners, entrepreneurs and companies in Oman and facili-tate the way corporate expenses are managed and executed.”
Raghav Prasad, general manager – Gulf Cluster, MasterCard, said, “Commercial payment solutions are a key area of focus for Master-Card, and we are excited to col-laborate with Oman Arab Bank so businesses in Oman can stream-line their purchasing processes to manage expenses efficiently. Through this partnership, Cor-porates can benefit from simple, safe and secure payments and the power of MasterCard Smart Data Gen.2, all while offering employees the rewards and benefits synony-mous with premium credit cards.”
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Meethaq hosts first focus group meeting
MUSCAT: Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, hosted the first fo-cus group meeting aimed at famil-iarising and obtaining feedback from customers on products and services offered by the leading Is-lamic banking service provider in the Sultanate.
The meeting held at Bank Mus-cat head office was attended by a large turnout of Meethaq custom-ers who shared valuable feedback on Meethaq products and services, says a press release.
Sulaiman Al Harthy, deputy chief
executive officer – Islamic Bank-ing, said: “Meethaq is happy to host the focus group meeting to engage valuable customers in familiarisa-tion of products and services and exchange of customer feedback. As the pioneer of Islamic banking service in the Sultanate, Meethaq is focused on contributing to the growth and development of the banking sector through innovative products and services. The bank remains committed to responsible banking and customer service ex-cellence aimed at contributing to the country’s development.”
Meethaq is the leading Islamic financial services provider in the Sultanate with many achieve-ments contributing to the growth and development of the Sultan-
ate’s economy. Meethaq extends support to all key economic sec-tors with innovative Sharia based products and is well positioned to provide Islamic financial expertise and thereby promote the good of society as a whole.
Meethaq is focused on develop-ing as a benchmark Islamic finan-cial institution in Oman and the region. Within just three years of operations, Meethaq has at-tained the leading position in the Islamic banking industry in Oman in terms of financing receivables, branch network, products and services, IT infrastructure and human resources development. Meethaq not only provides bench-mark Islamic financial solutions to support the country’s develop-
ment but also plays a key role in raising awareness and educating people on important aspects of Is-lamic banking and finance.
The bank has invested in staff, systems and controls to ensure the service is delivered in a profes-sional, segregated and fully Sharia compliant manner.
Meethaq has adopted the best practices in Islamic banking and finance worldwide to combine a robust model which protects customers and complements the Islamic banking industry. Every Meethaq product goes through the process of Sharia compliance certification by the Sharia Super-visory Board and is created in line with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Oman.
The meeting was
attended by a large
turnout of Meethaq
customers who
shared valuable
feedback on Meethaq
products and services
Khimji Paints supports
World Kidney Day
initiative for children
MUSCAT: Khimji Paints, a di-vision of the Khimji Ramdas Group, recently teamed up with the Royal Hospital to pro-mote the cause of kidney health in children.
Following through on its CSR initiatives, the company lent strong support to the event ti-tled ‘Let’s Protect Our Kids Kid-neys’, which was held recently to spread awareness on the subject, says a press release.
Commenting on the organisa-tion’s role, Kamat, general man-ager, Khimji Paints, said: “Chil-dren are the future of our country. We are more than willing to be as-sociated with a social cause that helps in spreading awareness, prevention and early detection of
chronic kidney failure.”The event opened to active
public participation at Muscat Grand Mall under the auspices of Mohammed Al Hosani, un-dersecretary at the Ministry of Health. Dr Badriya Al Ghaithi from the Nephrology Depart-ment, Royal Hospital said, “Pae-diatric nephrology is a medical speciality focused on the diag-nosis and treatment of acute and chronic kidney-related disorders in infants, children, adolescents and young adults. Our team eval-uates and treats a variety of dis-orders that affect the kidney and urinary tract, as well as problems with growth and development that are specifically related to chronic kidney disease.”
T E A M I N G U P W I T H R O Y A L H O S P I T A L
Dar Al Atta’a celebrates 10 years of serving the nation
MUSCAT: Dar Al Atta’a associa-tion recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the official declara-tion of the association under the ministerial decree 76/2006 from Ministry of Social Development.
The celebration took place in the association’s 10th annual gala dinner under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture, at Al Bustan Palace, a Ritz Carton Hotel.
A number of 450 guests at-tended the celebration including Sheikh Mohammed bin Said Al Kalbani, Minister of Social De-velopment, members of the state council, undersecretaries and representatives from various cor-porates, hotel chains and Omani banks that have contributed finan-cially in supporting the growth of
Dar Al Atta’a as a charitable Omani association, says a press release.
The opening speech was con-ducted by May Al Bayat, mar-keting director, Dar Al Atta’a, in which she highlighted the work the association has done for the
Omani community since its incep-tion, developing and expanding its charitable progress from family welfare program and student care programme in Muscat to covering housing, nutrition, empowerment, let’s read programme and disaster
relief programme in all the gover-norates in the Sultanate.
Film presentationA visual film covering the success of the association through the years was presented at the cel-
ebration, along with a film about the houses renovated using the funding brought in from the gala dinner 2015. Maryam Al Zadjali, chairperson Dar Al Atta’a, and Haitham presented a trophy of gratitude to a list of sponsors. Gulf
Power Company and Omantel were honoured as the platinum sponsors for contributing (hundred thousand riyals and above).
Dar Al Atta’a’s gala dinner 2016 aimed to thank all those who have contributed to the success of Dar Al Atta’a over the years and also presented a visual film about the need for a new headquarter to accommodate the growing staff needed to work on the expanding care programmes catered by the association.
Addressing the gathering, Mary-am said: “On behalf of Dar Al Atta’a, I would like to thank His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said for being with us as we celebrate 10 years of charitable work in our beloved Oman. We thank our loyal donors that have supported us strongly throughout the years.”
G A L A D I N N E R 2 0 1 6
ahlibank receives top security certification
MUSCAT: ahlibank, premier fi-nancial institution, is the first bank in Oman to achieve the most stringent security standards in the world based on the industry best practices named PCI DSS v3.1 in-tended to optimise the security of credit and debit card transactions and secure sensitive cardholder information during storage and transmission in order to protect cardholders against fraud and mis-use of their personal information, says a press release.
“The main purpose of PCI DSS is to create a proactive approach towards the security of card-holder data aiming to decrease the probability of any potential online attacks, debit/credit cards theft, fraud, and security breach-es, which in turn helps prevent us from undergoing financial loss. In fact, the PCI DSS certifica-tion demonstrates our continu-ous commitment and efforts in applying effective processes and procedures across ahlibank’s operations that helps to sustain trusting and lasting partnerships with our customers,” said Lloyd Maddock, CEO - ahlibank.
PCI DSS standard has been formulated by the PCI Secu-rity Standard Council which was formed by the five major card companies MasterCard, American Express, VISA, JCB and Discover. PCI DSS provides a baseline of
technical and operational require-ments designed to protect card-holder data.
“PCI DSS certification is an ex-cellent standard and following its provisions has greatly improved the security of ahlibank environ-ment. We are doing our best to keep ahlibank’s customers valuable information safe and secure by de-fining effective information secu-rity processes, in-depth technical examination, and critical thinking about systems, processes, and data-flow within our environment,” said Said Almahrooqi ahlibank, head of Information Security.
“My hearty congratulations to ahlibank on achieving PCI DSS v3.1 compliance, the industry best standard for payment card secu-rity. ahlibank is the first bank in Oman to achieve the most strin-gent security standards in the world based on the industry best
practices aimed at increasing protection for customers against card fraud. This is a testament of ahlibank’s commitment to secure customer data. As the leading pay-ment security specialists in GCC, SISA is glad to work with ahlibank and contribute to this milestone achievement. SISA and ahlibank had a like-minded ‘security first’ approach to ensure customer data is secured,” said Dharshan Shan-thamurthy, CEO, SISA Informa-tion Security.
PCI DSS was developed to en-courage and enhance cardholder data security and facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures globally. ahlibank has also maintained ISO 27001 certification since 2012 as an effort to ensure privacy, reli-ability, security, authenticity, ef-fectiveness and availability of in-formation assets.
P C I D S S V 3 . 1
‘InventT2016’ held at Majan College
MUSCAT: Majan University College hosted a one day technol-ogy-festival ‘InventT2016’ at its Darsait campus recently.
The event organised by the student council and supported by the faculty of Information Technology had over 200 attend-ees from various schools across the Sultanate.
‘InventT2016’ provided a plat-form for young talented students to demonstrate their innovative, technical and creative skills. The event commenced at 9.30am with an introductory note by Professor Vijay Nair, head of Faculty of IT, says a press release.
Over 300 students participated in diverse activities, tasks and competitions filled with learning and fun. The platform enabled students display and demonstrate their understanding of cutting edge technologies, from building
and assembling PCs to putting across concepts and ideas in form of poster presentations and sev-eral hands-on IT related tasks.
One activity, ‘Build a PC’ under time constraint was a magnificent opportunity to showcase talent and harness skills as expressed by a participant in the exercise.
Successful attempts were made at creating a 3D model of the smart house, an aspiration in line with the country’s vision il-lustrated in the Poster Challenge competition.
The ACL Challenge and Build a Network was another really challenging task for the first prize winners, Sara Al Kiyumi and Sara Al Mahrooqi. The quiz with 60 participants was a showstopper. The event was witnessed by Ma-jan students and lecturers as well as students and principals from local schools in Muscat.
The Fix the Bug and Web De-sign contest highlighting Muscat Smart City through e-transfor-mation showed students’ prob-lem solving and logic skills and re-vealed the potential geek instinct among them.
The venue was packed with elat-ed participants anxious to show-case their talents and skills. The students were highly motivated and expressed their joy and hap-piness at getting an opportunity to exhibit their knowledge through real time practical implementation.
“We forgot our forth coming as-sessments and assignments for a while and enjoyed every moment,” said Nahla Al Dahwi and Marwa Al Balushi, event managers.
With the sole aim of promoting technology, innovation and com-petition among students across the campus, InventT2016 was well organised.
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Bayern’s Pep Guardiola out to end semifinal misery against Atletico
MUNICH: Bayern Munich are desperate to avoid losing a third consecutive Champions League semifinal to Spanish opponents when they host Atletico Madrid on Tuesday but coach Pep Guardiola has his work cut out to end his time in Germany on a high.
Guardiola inherited the reign-ing European champions when he joined Bayern in 2013, but has endured successive semifinal fail-ures since, falling to Real Madrid in 2014 and to his former club Bar-celona last season.
His hopes of reaching a first Champions League final since his Barcelona side beat Manchester United 3-1 in 2011 were dented af-ter Saul Niguez’s brilliant solo goal gave Atletico a 1-0 first-leg victory.
With Guardiola leaving for Manchester City at the season’s end, this is his last chance to con-quer Europe with Bayern, who
won the first of their five European Cups by defeating Atletico in the 1974 final.“It’s not over yet, we still have a chance,” Guardiola told re-porters. “If we lose it, you can kill me, but we still have a chance.”
Atletico coach Diego Simeone also believes the tie is open.
“Playing in Munich means they’ll have their fans supporting them, but we have the opportu-
nity to score an away goal.” “We need to be on fire on Tuesday,” said Thomas Mueller, who shone as Bayern were held 1-1 by Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and were consequently made to wait for their fourth consecutive Bundesliga title.
Mueller’s return was one of eight changes from the Atletico match made by Bayern, who were
boosted by the return of Jerome Boateng, who had not featured since January.
Arjen Robben, sidelined for two months with a hamstring injury, says that he is “fighting” to return this season but will miss out, while Guardiola confirmed he does not know whether Franck Ribery will recover from a back complaint.
“We’ll do everything we can to
have Franck back,” said Guardiola, who is also without defender Holg-er Badstuber.
While Bayern were unconvinc-ing on Saturday, Diego Simeone’s Atletico are finishing strongly in Spain, having won their last six league games and keeping four consecutive clean sheets.
They are level on points with La Liga leaders Barcelona after
defeating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 on Saturday. “It’ll be a close game like today’s match,” said Simeone af-ter the Rayo game. “We’ll see who makes the most of their chances.”
Influential central defender Diego Godin returns from a ham-string injury, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco is also available and Ti-ago Mendes travels despite not yet being passed fit to play. - Reuters
Guardiola inherited
the reigning
European champions
when he joined
Bayern in 2013,
but has endured
successive semifinal
failures since, falling
to Real Madrid in
2014 and to his
former club Barcelona
last season
Source: UEFA, Gracenote Graphic News / Graphics
Champions League 2015-16SEMI-FINAL, 2ND LEG – MAY 3/4 Form W D L
Thomas Müller Bayern MunichSet to be crucial influence after surpriseomission from starting line-up in first leg
FormGoals for / against28 / 10 15 / 5
Head-to-head
BAYERN v ATLETICOAllianz Arena
1st leg result: 0-1
Head-to-headDrawn 2
REAL MADRID v MAN CITYSantiago Bernabéu
1st leg result: 0-0
Won 1 Won 0
Drawn 1Won 1 Won 1
FIRST LEG STATISTICSShots on target
Shots widePasses
CornersPossession
78
6545
69%
52
1505
31%
FormGoals for / against26 / 5 18 / 11
FIRST LEG STATISTICSShots on target
Shots widePasses
CornersPossession
35
5196
52%
22
4254
48%
Sources: UEFA, Gracenote Picture: Getty Images
SHOOTING BOOTS: Bayern at home
Wheregoalswerescored
How goals were scoredLeft foot Right foot Header
Bayern havescored
19 of 28goals at
home
RIVAL NATIONS: Despiteelimination to Spanish teamsin each of last two seasons,Bayern have strongrecord againstteams fromLa Liga
Bayern:HomeagainstSpanishopposition
W16 D5
L2
SEMIFINAL, 2ND LEG – MAY 3/4 W D L
Thomas Müller Bayern MunichSet to be crucial influence after surpriseomission from starting line-up in first leg
FormGoals for / against28 / 10 15 / 5
Head-to-head
BAYERN V ATLETICOAllianz Arena
1st leg result: 0-1
Head-to-headDrawn 2
REAL MADRID V MAN CITYSantiago Bernabéu
1st leg result: 0-0
Won 1 Won 0
Drawn 1Won 1 Won 1
FIRST LEG STATISTICSShots on target
Shots widePasses
CornersPossession
78
6545
69%
52
1505
31%
FormGoals for / against26 / 5 18 / 11
FIRST LEG STATISTICSShots on target
Shots widePasses
CornersPossession
35
5196
52%
22
4254
48%
SHOOTING BOOTS: Bayern at homeWheregoalswerescored
How goals were scoredLeft foot Right foot Header
Bayern havescored
19 of 28goals at
home
RIVAL NATIONS: Despiteelimination to Spanish teamsin each of last two seasons,Bayern have strongrecord againstteams fromLa Liga
Bayern:HomeagainstSpanishopposition
W16 D5
L2
Champions League 2015-2016
It’s not over yet, we still have a chance. If we lose it, you can kill me, but we still have a chance. Playing in Munich means they’ll have their fans supporting, but we have the opportunity to score an away goal
Pep GuardiolaBayern Munich coach
Salem Al Wahaibi to contest for Oman FA chairmanshipTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Salem Said Al Wahai-bi of Assarain Group has declared his candidature to for the chair-manship of the Oman Football Association (OFA).
The Sultanate’s football gov-erning body is likely to host board elections for the 2016-2020 term in September this year.
Salem Al Wahaibi, who previ-ously served as the vice-chairman of OFA, in a statement released to the media on Monday, said: “I am honoured and pleased to pre-sent myself as a candidate for the Oman Football Association chair-man’s post in the next elections which will be held in September for the period of 2016-2020.”
He also appealed to the clubs and all those associated with Oman football to work together for serve the game in the Sultanate.
“On this occasion, with great honour I would like to invite all Omani clubs’ chairmen, mem-bers and representatives, includ-ing media to work together to serve the Omani youth football to achieve national goals and objec-tives,” the statement said.
“I’m excited to offer my work experience and talent to improve Oman Football Association and adequately plan for future chal-lenges. I stand ready to serve with my utmost energy, commitment and passion to build a better fu-ture for youth and achieve Oman Football Association mission.”
“Under the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, may Almighty protect him, we can walk on the high approach to participate with pride in this vital youth area that requires all of us to work with all efforts and dedi-cation,” the statement added.
Keen businessmanAccording to his profile, Salem Al Wahaibi is a keen businessman with over 24 years of work experi-
ence in various businesses. He had the opportunity to serve
as a member of Majlis A’Shura, and is privileged to be a member of the prestigious State Council, the upper house of the Council of Oman that contributes to eco-nomic and social development, and works for closer co-operation between the government and the public.
He has served on the boards of many banking and non-banking
institutions like Bank Muscat, Oman International Bank, Oman United Insurance Co., Oman In-vestment & Finance Co. and Na-tional Life Insurance Co.
An ardent sports enthusiast, Salem Al Wahaibi has held several positions in various Sports Bod-ies in the Sultanate of Oman. In his capacity as the vice-chairman of Oman Football Association, he was part of the team that placed Oman Football on the global map.
A N N O U N C E M E N T
I’m excited to offer my work experience and talent to improve Oman Football Association and adequately plan for future challenges
Salem Said Al WahaibiVice- chairman Assarain Group and Former OFA Vice-Chairman
Oman Air stay on top after finishing second in ChinaMUSCAT: When Morgan Larson and his team crossed the finish line in Race 18, a further race was scheduled offering an opportunity to add points and finish above Alin-ghi in Extreme Sailing Series Act 2 but the thick fog grew increasingly unsafe for the crews and Race Di-rector Phil Lawrence was forced to abandon the competition.
A second place, coming in just six points behind the winners Alin-ghi, added 11 points to Oman Air’s haul for the series which means a two-point advantage over the Swiss team when the fleet returns to action in Cardiff in June for Act 3. According to Larson, there was more than fog and a shifty breeze to contend with on the final day with a jib breaking on Oman Air which slowed them right down.
“We tore a jib in the third and fi-nal race and we were in a nice spot but it got stuck in the spreader and we were in irons for a period which
put us on the back foot. “But the guys on this team come back fight-ing and this is what they did so we were looking forward to the last race because we knew we had a shot at winning overall.”
It was a fantastic event in chal-lenging conditions against top opposition, added Larson who was previously skipper of Alinghi before switching to Oman Air for the 2016 season. “Hats off to Al-inghi. They are a great team and any chance you get to beat a team like that you go for it but they were superior all week and we will have to find a way of closing the gap, but that gap is not so big. “There were a couple of things that happened today that haven’t in the past -- so we have to take some notes and come back stronger.”
A total of six races were com-pleted on the final day in winds that ranged between 5 and 10 knots. Oman Air took victory in
the first race of the day and in the last but Alinghi posted three wins to snatch the China title.
The contest has set up the rest of the series nicely with the long running rivalry between Oman Air and Alinghi set to continue, said Omani bowman Nasser Al Masha-ri. “We remain confident for the future because we are a strong team. We need to figure out a few little things but we think it will be a great season of racing.
“We did pretty well so we are happy with second place. There are still six more events and we are looking forward to that especially the next one in Cardiff. To have won would have been great but the fleet is very strong and Alinghi are hard to beat so we are very happy with our performance.”
The Extreme Sailing Series now moves to Cardiff where Act 3 starts on June 23 and continues through to June 26.
E X T R E M E S A I L I N G S E R I E S
OVERALL LEADER: A second place, coming in just six points behind winners Alinghi, added 11 points to Oman Air’s haul for the series which means a two-point advantage over the Swiss team. – Supplied photo
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Kaushik reprises Adams’ frog-in-blender actionNEW DELHI: When Paul Ad-ams burst onto the scene with his bizarre way of delivering the ball, many were convinced they would never see anything like it again.
Two decades later, India’s Shivil Kaushik has emerged as the proud heir to the South African spinner’s “frog-in-a-blender” action.
Heads, including Kaushik’s own, turned at Pune’s Maharash-tra Cricket Association Stadium when the left-arm chinaman bowler made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Gujarat Li-ons on Friday.
Pressed into attack in the eighth over, the 20-year-old ambled slightly wide of the crease when a spirit seemed to enter his body as he bent his knees, twisted his torso and sent down the ball rotating his left-arm around his head.
“Shivil Kaushik. Wow!! Wouldn’t have thought we’d ever see that action again. #Gogga #PaulAdams #FrogInABlender,” tweeted former Zimbabwe crick-eter Pommie Mbangwa. He was not alone. For many, it brought back memories of Adams’ outra-
geous action which got him a bag-ful of wickets, especially in his de-but home series against England.
Adams, now coaching Cape Co-bras, himself appeared amused.
“Remind you of someone! Wow #Kaushik ! Great to see the art of #Chinaman bowling alive,” tweet-ed ‘Gogga’, who played 45 tests and 24 one-day internationals for South Africa between 1995-2004.
Kaushik thanked all his coaches for not forcing him to dump the ac-tion, however weird it maybe.
“I was eight-years old when I started playing cricket and the first ball I bowled was this way and
I have not changed,” the spinner said after claiming 3-20 against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.
“Batsmen found it a bit difficult because my action was a bit differ-ent. I got a lot of support from all my coaches. They’ve not tinkered my action and been backing me.”
Spinner-contortionistSeeing him bowl is like watching a contortionist perform — strain-ing every muscle in his torso but the spinner assures his body can cope with it. “It’s something which comes naturally to me so my body doesn’t take much of a load.”
Kaushik went wicketless in his IPL debut but bounced back against Punjab, dismissing rival skipper Murali Vijay and the Aus-tralian duo of Shaun Marsh and Glenn Maxwell.
“The first three balls, I didn’t understand what was happening,” Vijay, who opens for India in tests, said with a smile.
“It was very difficult for me to pick whether it’s going in or com-ing out. I did my video analysis be-fore the game and I saw a bit of his bowling, but it was still difficult.
“Maybe the next time I face him, I will be better equipped.”
Once the element of surprise wears off, Kaushik will need much more than just an unorthodox bowling action to graduate to in-ternational cricket.
The youngster is now focussing to get his line and length right and refuses to look too far.
“It feels really nice that a lot of people (are) talking about me but I think it’s more important to stay focused and look at our future matches and all I look to do is to contribute to our team.” - Reuters
W E I R D B O W L E R
At the start of the Indian Premier League 2016 Rising Pune Super-
giants’ skipper MS Dhoni had more resources at his disposal than he could comfortably handle. Having guys like Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith — three captains — and Mitchell Marsh, an Australian all-rounder — at your service was a blessing unmasked, or so it looked like, but we realized later that it wasn’t really so when Pietersen limped out of the IPL season with a calf issue and Dhoni spoke of a blessing in disguise. Now, as Smith joins KP, Du Plessis and Marsh on the list of players Pune have lost for the reminder of the sea-son due to injury, Dhoni may be worried not about dropping a mate but about finding eleven guys who could pull the team out of the mire.
After the Sunday’s match against the Mumbai Indians, the Supergiants are one of the three teams that have played eight or more games, but Dhoni’s boys are sitting uncomfortably at the bottom half of the table, having just four points. The Gujarat Lions top the table with 12 points from eight matches, followed by the Mumbai Indians with 10 from nine games. The two teams placed below the RPS too have four points, but they have played fewer matches. The Royal Challengers Banga-lore have played six and the Kings XI Punjab seven—so Dhoni will have nothing much to cheer himself looking up or down. Time for Dhoni to look straightforward.
With the exit of Du Plessis, the Pune franchise have lost their opening round firepower. Saurabh Tiwary failed in his first outing, against the Gujarat Lions, and he flopped again in his second, against the Mumbai Indians, on May 1, though his personal score of 57 might tell us a different story.
Tiwary was looking good in the early part of his innings when he was in the com-pany of Steve Smith, but after Smith’s dismissal in the 10th over, his scoring rate came down as he struggled for tim-ing and apparently lacked the power to send the ball beyond the boundary. When Smith was out, Tiwary was on 38 off 27 balls, with three fours and two sixes, and when he walked back to the dressing room after getting dismissed in the 18th over, he could add just one more big hit, a boundary in the 11th over. That’s not the sort of stuff you need from an opener.
Pune’s is the sort of problem normally faced by a team that fail to click as a unit. When their openers gave the team a good start, as in most of the games when Du Plessis was playing — their middle-order failed to take the total to an imposing level, and when the openers failed the finishers came in early and engaged themselves in partnership-building to stitch together a to-tal close to the 150-mark. In the rare instance of the openers and the finishers firing in sync, the bowlers misfired— Dhoni’s guys couldn’t defend even a score of 195 in their seventh game, against the Gujarat Lions.
The season is just past the half-way stage, and most teams have played either seven matches, or a game more or less, so there’s plenty of time left to catch up and rise to be one of the top four teams. With a guy like Dhoni as skipper, the franchise owners or the coach need not worry about the lead-er of the pack, like Punjab did, whose coach Sanjay Bangar had to do the unpleasant job of telling David Miller the bad news that the team required a new man at the helm to boost their fortunes.
Pune have already signed up Usman Khawaja. The big-hitting Australian’s presence at the crease could give the Supergiants a new direction and an exciting dimension to the order of things at the start of the innings. The aggressive left-hander had shown what he could do in the opening powerplay overs in the World T20 Championship.
Obviously, Indian cricket fans weren’t particularly cheering for Khawaja when he demolished Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichan-dran Ashwin that rocketed Australia to 53 in the first four overs, but his IPL avatar could offer them an exciting oppor-tunity to keep aside national divides and franchise loyalties.
The IPL is actually about celebrations of such unbeliev-able, uncomplicated opportunities.
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
C O M M E N T A R Y
What Usman Khawaja could bring to Dhoni, Pune, the whole of India and beyond
BIZARRE ACTION: Shivil Kaushik bowls in an IPL match. – AFP
Pathan powers KKR past RCB
BENGALURU: Kolkata Knight Riders staged a remarkable comeback, riding on Yusuf Pa-than’s power hitting to record a five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the In-dian Premier League (IPL) on Monday night.
Pathan blazed away to 60 off 29 balls to help KKR achieve the tar-get of 186 with five balls to spare at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Andre Russell made 39 off 24 balls in a brilliant match-turning fifth-wicket partnership of 96 runs in just 7.2 overs.
The Knight Riders were back to the second position in the points table, while RCB’s hopes of quali-fying for the playoffs took a beat-ing. Earlier, RCB plundered 54 runs in last three overs to post a competitive 185 for seven after skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul struck half centuries.
From 131 for four at the end of 17th over, RCB went past 180 with Shane Watson (34), Sachin Baby (16) and Stuart Binny (16) playing fine cameos. Watson’s 21-ball knock was studded with five boundaries and a six.
Binny smashed two sixes and a boundary in the last over while facing only four balls. Umesh Ya-dav, who was allowed to continue despite bowling two beamers, was hit for 20 runs in the last over and finished with expensive fig-
ures of 1/56 in four overs. Umesh gave away 23 runs in the 18th over, which turned things around for RCB.
Sent into bat after the coin land-ed in favour of KKR captain Gau-tam Gambhir, Royal Challengers Bangalore rode on a 84-run second wicket partnership between Kohli and Rahul to lay the foundation.
Young Rahul smashed six boundaries and two sixes dur-ing his 32-ball knock, while Kohli found the fence four times while facing 44 balls at the M Chinnas-wamy Stadium.
Brief scores: RCB 185 for 7 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 52, Virat Kohli 52, Shane Watson 34; Morne Morkel 2/28, Piyush Chawla 2/32) lost to KKR 186 for 5 in 19.1 overs (Yusuf Pathan 60 not out, Andre Russell 39; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/27). - PTI
Pathan blazed away to 60 off 29 balls to help
KKR achieve the target of 186 with five balls
to spare at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium
and the Knight Riders were back to the
second position in the points table
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YOUR BIGGEST ROAD HAZARD IS IN YOUR HAND A TIMES OF OMAN
HANDS-FREE DRIVING INITIATIVE
Al Turki beat Raha CT
Jalan in OPL
MUSCAT: Al Turki defeated Raha by three wickets in a Kh-imji Ramdas-sponsored Premier Division Knockout match.
Batting first, Raha were bowled out for 147 in 32.2 overs with Waseem Akhtar top scoring with 57. K. Devsi claimed four wickets for Al Turki. In reply, Al Turki scored 148 for seven in 24.5 overs and qualify for the fi-nal, which will be played April 7. Shivpal Rana top scored with 46. K. Rasheed took three wickets.
Brief scores: Raha 147 in 32.2 overs (Waseem Akhtar 57; K. Devsi 4/32) lost to Al Turki 148/7 in 24.5 overs (Shivpal Rana 46; K. Rasheed 3/21). Net Run Rate: Al Turki +3.0197.
MUSCAT: Jalan got the bet-ter of Al Musannah in the sec-ond match of their double-leg playoff to gain promotion to the Omantel Professional League (OPL) for the 2016-17 season.
Jalan, First Division team, defeated OPL side Al Musannah 2-1 in Sur to advance with a 3-2 aggregate after a 1-1 in their first match. Jalan are promoted to OPL and Al Musannah are rel-egated to the first division.
C R I C K E T
F O O T B A L L
OGC launches second ladies golf programme
MUSCAT: After the phenomenal success of the Term I of the NBO-OGC Ladies’ Programme in 2015, the Oman Golf Committee (OGC) launched Term II at the Muscat Hills here recently.
The second spell of the pro-gramme, which is being conducted with the support from the National Bank of Oman (NBO), has 29 Om-ani ladies taking golfing lessons from a Muscat Hills-designated coach for a period of six weeks.
According to information re-ceived from OGC on Monday, the programme is part of OGC’s ini-tiatives to produce future Omani women golfing champions.
The number of participants has increased from Term I, which had attracted 26 players.
A total of 19 ladies from Term I have graduated to Term II and they have been pooled in the Silver Pro-gramme and have been joined by 10 new learners, who form the new Bronze Programme.
“The Silver Term of the ladies’ programme has so far proved to be a great success. The ladies seem to be really enjoying their lessons and playing golf. A few ladies are showing some promise — Fatma Al Maskiry, Raja Al Hammadi and Aziza Al Habsi are a few who stand out as having more talent than the others. Their understanding of the game and awareness is improving greatly,” Jade Lucas, programme coach, said.
She added: “The Bronze Term is also looking strong, with Iman in particular looking like she really could show a lot of potential. May-
be the most out of all of the ladies so far, and she is the youngest at just 13 years old. The greatest thing to come out of this programme, in my opinion, is the increase in jun-ior participation.”
Sameera Al Zadjali, one of the participants of the ladies’ pro-gramme, said: “The course is amazing, it gave me the chance to learn and play golf, a game that my family is playing now. So now we have a game that we can all enjoy together. I am planning to con-tinue playing this beautiful game and do more practice, put it in my weekly programme and enter competitions.”
Maitha Al Omeiri, another par-ticipant, believes the programme has helped her attain a whole new level. “The golf programme has made me discover myself on a dif-
ferent level and made me realise that I have capabilities outside my field and I am able to do more than what is expected of myself. In the initial days, it was a surprise for me to be interested in golf, but now I understand the approach. You never know what you are capable of unless you try,” she said.
Interestingly, after the ladies completed the first term, they signed up eight of their children to the OGC’s Junior Programme and six of them are girls.Following this development, more ladies have shown interest in enrolling their kids in the junior programme.
Participant Abeer Al Zubaidi said: “My golf experience at Mus-cat Hills has been very interesting. I plan to continue with the game and hope to be a professional golf-er one day. Also, I shall enroll my two daughters to join the junior programme.”
Hailing the OGC’s initiative, Dr. Asma Al Naamani, an avid partici-pant, said: “I would like to express my appreciation for all the golf les-sons. I found out about the NBO sponsorship for the programme thought it was a great initiative. Being a mother and also engaged in a full-time job makes it stressful at times.
“Since I joined this programme, I learned that I could find a new thing that got me interested. I look forward each week to practice and learn new skills.”
The second spell
of the programme,
which is being
conducted with the
support from the NBO,
has 29 Omani ladies
taking golfing lessons
NEW CROP: The Silver Term of the NBO-OGC ladies’ programme has
so far proved to be a great success. – Supplied photo
MUSCAT: Moldovan Grand-master Viktor Bologan overcame stiff competition to clinch both the titles on offer at Al Dhahira Chess Championships organised by Oman Chess Committee in Ibri recently.
While Bologan bagged both blitz and rapid crowns, the Oma-nis also benefited from the in-augural championships with as many as six local players gaining FIDE international ratings for the first time.
The championships, which saw participation of 86 players in blitz and 70 in rapid, attracted three Grandmasters including Viktor Bologan (2615 rating), Qatar’s Zhu Chen (2439) and Frenchman Hicham Hamdouchi (2577).
In the nine-round blitz com-petition, Bologan completed his engagements with 8.5 points and took the top honours beating Zhu Chen (8 points) by half a point.
Hicham settled for third place after beating Syrian Mohamad Imadaldein Zamrik (1608) on tie break after both players finished on seven points each.
In the rapid competition, also a nine-round affair, Bologan (2546) won the title with 8.5 points ahead of Hicham (2607), who fin-ished with eight points.
Bahrain’s FIDE Master Husain Ayyad (2247) and Syria’s Hasan Abtini (2066) completed their engagements with seven points each but the former was declared the winner of the third place after applying the tie break method.
Ratings for OmanisAmong the Omanis who gained from their participation in the championships are Amer Al Ghafri, Adnan Mohammed Al Jahwari and Said Salim Al Kathi-ri in the blitz category and Mo-hammed Sultan Al Shabibi, Said Al Mazroui and Issa Al Shabibi — all are set to receive their first rating points when the next list is released by the FIDE.
Al Ghafri will get 1967 points, Al Jahwari 1613, Al Kathiri 1689 in their category while Al Maz-roui will get 1620 points, Isa Al Shabibi 1556 and Mohammed Al Shabibi 1763.
Shaham bin Rashid bin Saif Al Shouhomi, member of Majlis A’Shura from wilyat of Ibri, pre-sided over the closing ceremony and handed over the prizes.
In the blitz category, Oman Club’s Emad Abdulkarim Al Bal-ushi was declared the best Omani player in the under-18 category and his club mate Hood Mo-hammed Al Hooti was adjudged the best Omani player of the championship.
In the rapid competition, Seeb Club’s Ahmed bin Khalid Al Had-id was best Omani junior player and Ibri Club’s Said bin Moham-med Al Mazroui best Omani un-der-18 player.
UAE’s International Arbitrator Mahdi Abdulrahim presented a special gift to Muscat-based In-dian Mezban Anwar who was the youngest player to take part in the championships.
C H E S S
Supergiants call up Bailey for rest of IPLNEW DELHI: Rising Pune Su-pergiants today called Australia batsman George Bailey as the re-placement for Faf du Plessis, who was ruled out of rest of the IPL with a finger injury.
One of the two debutant teams this season, the Supergiants have
already lost four of their star in-ternational players — Australian duo of Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh, South African Faf du Ples-sis and Englishman Kevin Pieters-en — due to injury.
Earlier, another Australian batsman Usman Khawaja was also
called in to join the IPL franchise for the rest of the tournament.
“We lost four crucial players, but we are looking ahead,” RPS chief executive Raghu Iyer said.
“Bailey has tremendous experi-ence and had a very successful sea-son before last. He can contribute
to the leadership group. Smith’s (injury news) been a bummer. He was just coming into his own and this happened.
“It is a challenging time. Before we could settle down we lost the core group of players around whom you build a team,” he said. - PTI
C R I C K E T
GM Bologan bags two
titles in Ibri, six Omanis
gain rating points
C4
SPORTST U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
Oman Sail selects 10 young talents for camp in Europe
MUSCAT: Oman’s national youth sailing selectors were given a clear steer on the form and talent of the Sultanate’s most promising young sailors in the Omantel Youth Sail-ing Club following Oman Sail’s fi-nal ranking races of the season at Al Musannah last weekend.
Under pressure to pick the Na-tional Optimist Squad to compete in the 2016 Optimist World Cham-pionships in Portugal starting on June 25, the selectors were able to put together a shortlist of 10 con-tenders for a Youth Squad training camp in Europe.
Only the top five will then carry the Sultanate’s national flag in Vilamoura, Portugal, and make a bid to put Oman firmly on the in-ternational youth sailing map.
Among the leading lights over the two day ranking event was Al Moatasem Hamood Al Farsi, a member of the Musannah Sailing School, who swept to victory in all five races completed in the Optimist class to claim overall victory by a significant margin over Jihad Salim Al Hasani in second place and Mo-hammed Khalid Al Qasmi in third.
Newcomer TalalYousuf Al Har-ami also caught the selectors eyes
with a stand out performance of four top ten places to finish in 7th place overall.
In all there were 30 Optimist contenders but Al Moatasem was the best young sailor in Oman and a very exciting prospect, said Moh-sin Al Busaidi, who heads up Oman Sail’s Youth Programme.
“He came second last year but as well as being a natural and out-standing talent, he enjoys compe-tition as he demonstrated quite plainly this week,” Al Busaidi said.
“He was a member of the youth squad who represented Oman to positive effect at the Optimist World Championships in Poland last year and continues to improve with every event. He is also a great example to the other youngsters.”
Commenting on the success-ful ranking races, Talal Said Al Mamari, Chief Executive Officer of Omantel said: “Our investment in the youth of Oman stems from our belief in the importance of build-ing their capacities and unlocking
their potential to succeed both per-sonally and professionally.”
“We are glad to see these young athletes eager to develop their skills and look for bigger chal-lenges. These sailing ranking rac-es provide just the right formula for budding talents to advance and evaluate their performance against their peers,” he added.
The races once more featured three classes with the Laser 4.7s at-tracting 10 entries, dominated once more by a single competitor Salim Al Alawi. With the four top Laser sailors away at a 29er training camp, Al Alawi grabbed his opportunity and impressed with his promise.
Seven Techno 293 windsurfers also locked horns with Abdul Ma-jeed Al Hadhrami from Al Musan-nah winning for the second con-secutive year followed by Abdullah Al Sarhi (Musannah) and Mukhtar Al Mujaini (Musannah).
The Almouj Muscat Sailing School once again ran away with the prize of top school with Sur,
Marina Bandar Al Rowdha and Musannah all competing for hon-ours with almost 50 children, aged between 9 and 17, showing off their skills, many of them for the first time at this event.
The ideal racing conditions pro-duced some hard fought competi-tion but infringements, in particu-lar Rule 42 breaches, were at all time low as the on-the-water jury, officiating for only the second time, kept a tight rein on proceedings.
“These ranking races provide Oman Sail coaches and the na-tional selectors with vital infor-mation about the progress of our youngsters and helps us with our Performance Pathway which is a roadmap of all the stages of pro-gress from youth to elite level sail-ing,” said Al Busaidi.
“Our aim is to have Oman repre-sented at the Olympic Games and an Omani to win a sailing medal in 2024. These ranking races are part and parcel of that journey,” Al Bu-saidi added.
The selectors
were able to put
together a shortlist
of 10 contenders
for a Youth Squad
training camp in
Europe ahead of
the Optimist World
Championships
in Portugal
WINNERS ALL: The young Omani sailors pose for a group photo after Oman Sail’s final ranking races
of the season in Al Musannah. – Supplied photo
ISG’s Aishwarya and Somil emerge winners at ‘Play Anand’ QualifiersMUSCAT: Two students of the Indian School Al Ghubra (ISG) won the right to challenge five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand in a simulta-neous exhibition match.
The second of a series of ‘Play Anand’ Qualifiers were organised at the ISG with the International Chess Academy of Oman (ICAO) spotting the two young contend-ers — one boy and one girl, after a stiff competition that saw partici-pation of 160 players.
The players who topped their respective categories and quali-fied to challenge Anand are Somil Rawat and Aishwarya Sen.
Indian chess legend Anand will be visiting Muscat from May 12 to 17 on an invitation from the ICAO and under the sponsorship of Al Zawawi Group’s Al Alawi Enterprises. The ICAO is organ-ising ‘Play Anand’ Qualification
tournaments in different schools to select the best who will be chal-lenging Anand in a simultaneous exhibition match to be played at the Avenues Mall on May 13.
The qualifying event was or-ganised by ICAO chief coach and International Master Ismael Ka-rim and Anas Al Raisi, Arbiter of International Chess Federation.
The ICAO, meanwhile, thanked the school principal Mrs. Papri Ghosh and her team of teachers for successfully organising the qualifying tournament.
C H E S S
THE CHALLENGERS: ISG students Somil Rawat and Aishwarya Sen pose for a photo along with the
officials of the school and International Chess Academy of Oman. – Supplied photo
HUGE RESPONSE: The second ‘Play Anand’ Qualifier at the Indian School Al Ghubra saw participation of 160 young talents. – Supplied photo
FRiENDi Mobile Summer Cup attracts 16 men’s, six eves’ squadsMUSCAT: Sixteen men’s teams and six women’s squads will be vying for top honours at the FRiENDi Mobile Summer Cup cricket tournament scheduled to be organised on May 6.
The draw for the 19th edition of the tournament, being organised by Jazz Boys Cricket Club, was conducted at the Palm Restau-rant in Al Khuwair last Saturday.
The draw ceremony was con-ducted in the presence of Eu-gen Comendant, Marketing and Product Director at FRiENDi Mobile, Joseph Rajan, Brand Manager of FRiENDi Mobile and Vaishali Jesrani, woman’s cricket coordinator at Oman cricket.
The tournament is mainly sponsored by FRiENDi Mobile, Al Hajiry Group, Strabag Oman, Khurshid Trading, Tile Marine and The Body Shop.
This title sponsors FRiENDi Mobile has announced very at-tractive prices for the winning teams, best performers and sup-porters as well.
The fabulous prizes include champions trophy plus gift ham-pers for all players, runners-up trophy plus gift hampers for all
players, best batsman, best bowl-er, best fielder, maximum sixes, best catch takes away a FRiENDi Mobile SIM Starter pack with free one year internet and high value recharge voucher, best wicket-keeper and best spectator would get a gift hamper from Body Shop, man of the series will win a home theatre from JBL, best dressed team will receive a colourful tro-phy from FRiENDi Mobile.
1st round fixtures: May 6 (men): Khurshid Beatrice vs OEC (6.15 am), BHR vs Royal Challengers (7 am), Asfand-yar XI vs Masters XI (8 am), SS Friends vs Voltas XI (1 pm), Sialkot Stallions vs Mangalore United (2 pm), Rangers vs Fu-ture Oilfield (3 pm), Rahil XI vs Klair XI (4 pm), Cheers XI vs Rain Riders (5pm).
1st round fixtures: May 6 (women): will feature, Sohar Strikers vs ISG Green (9.30 am), Sohar Challengers vs ISM Strik-ers (10 am), Pitch Smashers vs Sohar Strikers (10.30 am), ISG Blue vs Sohar Challengers (11 am), ISG Green vs Pitch Smash-ers (11.30 am), ISM Strikers vs ISG Blue (12 noon).
S U M M E R C R I C K E T
ALL SET: The 19th edition of the popular cricket tournament is
scheduled to take place on May 6. – Supplied photo
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
DiningSECTIONC L I F E STY L ET U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6 T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
Story Swati Dasgupta
PARTICIPATE IN AN EATING COMPETITIONVisit The Jungle Restaurant, Qurum (through May 7th)+968 9428 1824+968 9569 [email protected]@junglerestaurant.net
ON YOUR MARK,GET SET, EAT!
In a world so full of competitions, those that amused me most during my child-hood were the eating challenges that were held during the annual com-munity festival. Totally awestruck
I would watch men and women wolf down food in bulk in efforts to claim the champion title. From watermelon and rasgullas (cottage cheese balls in syrup) to eggs, corn on the cob, bread, cup cakes, ice-cream and more, they would gobble as fast as they could. Some were a bit daring and dangerous too, like munching raw green chillies. It was fun at times and eerie too watching this weird act of gluttony. It was only later I learned that this small time community fun was popular in other parts of the world too, and that something called an eating competi-tion was a competitive sport.
A little research and I discovered that way back in 1916 a hot dog eating contest was first held in the United States in which four men competed to prove their patri-otism at Nathan’s Famous hotdog stand on Coney Island in New York. Since then the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has become an annual event held on Inde-pendence Day, drawing competitors from around the world.
Today competitive eating is a part of many cultural events, adding an element of fun in a sport that requires no physi-cal prowess. Though critics claim that it is encouraging overeating, most people feel that food is all about celebration and there’s nothing wrong in eating to one’s heart’s content.
Though certainly not the same kind of throw-down competition as you might find at small town fairs or on Coney Is-land, in the spirit of celebratory eating, Jungle Restaurant in Muscat has come up with it’s own competition: “The Mighty Mix Grill Challenge.”
Contestants have 20 minutes to finish a grill platter of either chicken, fish, lamb, beef, or vegetarian bean grill along with three bowls of sides, like hummus or tab-bouleh, along with two fresh breads like naans, khubz, or rotis. If the competi-tor successfully completes the meal in under 20 minutes, the meal (normally priced at OMR12) is free and the cham-pion will also receive a certificate, a place on the Jungle Wall of Fame, a OMR50 voucher to dine in Jungle Restaurant along with a T-shirt and other goodies. This ‘open to all’ competition is cur-rently on and will continue until May 7. —[email protected]
FIND-IT-ALLC6 T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
Dhuhr 12.09pmAsr 3.34pmMaghrib 6.41pmIsha 7.57pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.11am
PRAYER TIMINGS
ROYAL OMAN POLICE
Emergencies and inquiries: 9999
General Directorate of
Passport and Residence 24569603
Directorate General
of Customs 24521109
Traffic violations inquiries 24510228
Public Relations Admin 24560099
EMBASSIES IN OMAN
Afghanistan 24698 791/4
Algeria 24605 593
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Bangladesh 24 698 660
Brazil 24640100
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Egypt 24 600 982/411
France 24681 800
Germany 24835000
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Malaysia 24698329/643
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Nepal 24696177
Netherlands 24603706
Pakistan 24603439
Palestine 24601312
Philippines 24605335
Qatar 24 691 153/2/4
Russia 24602894
Saudi Arabia 24601705
Senegal 24694139
Somalia 24697977
South Africa 24647300
Spain 24691101
Sri Lanka 24697841/2
Sudan 24697875
Switzerland 24603267
Syria 24697904
Tanzania 24601 174
Thailand 24 602684/5
Tunisia 24603486
Turkey 24697050/1/2
UAE 24400000
United Kingdom 24609000
United States 24643400
Yemen 24600815
PHARMACIES (ROUND THE CLOCK)
Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24782666
Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542
Salalah 23291635;
Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585
Muscat Region
Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766
Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691
Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740
Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080
Dhofar Region
Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,
Salalah 23291635
HOSPITALS
Al Amal Medical & Health Care Centre
24485052
Atlas Hospital
Ruwi 24811743/
Ghubra 24504000
Al Musafir Specialised
Medical Clinic 24706453
Hatat Polyclinic LLC,
Ruwi 24563641
Azaiba 24499269
Sohar 2683006
Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2
Al Massaraat Clinic &
Laboratory 24566435
Al Makook Medical
Coordinance Centre 24499434
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24787766, 24787780
Capital Polyclinic 24707549
Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,
Ruwi 24799760/1/2
Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740
Ceregem National Raak 24485633
Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217
Elixir Health Centre 24565802
Emirates Medical Centre 24604540
1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274
Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340
International Medical
Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5
Kims Oman Hospital 24760100
24 Hrs Emergency 24760123
Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128
MBD 24799077
Al Khuwair 24478818
Magrabi Eye and
Ear Hospital 24568870
Muscat Private Hospital 24583600
Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment
Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666
Al Hayat International Hospital, Al Ghubra
22004000, 94267068/97049520
Al Hayat Clinic, Al Hail 22009455
AIRLINE OFFICES
Muscat Airport Flight information
(24 hours) 24519456/24519223
Aeroflot 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
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KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737
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LOT Polish Airlines 24796387
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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
LISTINGS
LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)
15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily
15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily
15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily
06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily
08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri
13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily
13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily
16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily
16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily
TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)
17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily
TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)
14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily
14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily
TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)
08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily
08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily
TO SUR (ROUTE 55)
07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily
14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily
TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)
06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily
06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily
TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)
07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily
10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily
10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily
19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily
TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)
06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily
SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)
15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily
TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)
06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily
06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily
13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur
13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur
15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily
15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily
TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)
07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily
07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily
07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily
TO MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)
05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily
05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily
05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily
07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily
13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri
13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily
13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily
13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily
17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily
TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)
07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily
TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)
06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily
06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily
TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)
15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily
15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily
TO SUR (ROUTE 55)
06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily
14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily
TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)
12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily
12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily
TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)
07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily
10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily
10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily
19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily
TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)
06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily
DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)
15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily
TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)
07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily
07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily
13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri
13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri
15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily
15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily
FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)
16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily
16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily
16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily
CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman
SHATTIMidnight Special – (2D) (Drama) (PG)Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst3:00, 9:15 & 11:30PMI Am Wrath – (2D) (Action |Crime) (12+)Cast: John Travolta, Rebecca De Mornay7:15 & 11:30PMTake Down – (2D) (Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Dominic Sherwood, Phoebe Tonkin3:45 & 10:00PMMother’s Day – (2D) (Comedy| Drama) (15+)Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts5:30PMDhay Fe Abu Dhabi – (2D) (Drama) (PG)Cast: Hassan Hosni, Eid Al Thahiri7:45PMGreen Room – (2D) (Crime |Horror) (TBC)Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots11:45PMPrecious Cargo – (2D) (Action) (12+)Cast: Bruce Willis, Claire Forlani5:15 & 9:30PMThe Jungle Book - (3D) Drama| Family) (PG)3:30, 5:30 & 7:30PM
MUSCAT GRAND MALLTake Down – 2D (PG12) ThrillerCast: Dominic Sherwood, Phoebe Tonkin4:00, 9:40 PMPrecious Cargo – 2D (12+) ActionCast: Bruce Willis, Claire Forlani6:00 PMThe Jungle Book – 3D (PG) Adventure 12:15, 2:45, 5:00, 7:00 PMI Am Wrath – 2D (12+) Action |Crime | DramaCast: John Travolta, Rebecca De Mornay2:15, 7:50, 11:45 PMGold Class : 9:00 PMMidnight Special – 2D (PG) Adventure
Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton12:30, 9:15, 11:30 PMGold Class: 3:45, 6:45, 11:00 PM
PANORAMA MALLBastille Day –2D (Action) (12+)Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Kelly Reilly3:45 & 11:30PMMidnight Special –2D (Adventure| Drama | Sci-Fi) (PG) VIP LOUNGECast: Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst3:45, 9:00 & 11:15PMMidnight Special –2D (Adventure) (PG)3:45, 6:15, 9:15 & 11:30PMI Am Wrath –2D (Action |Crime | Drama) (12+) VIP LOUNGECast: John Travolta, Rebecca De Mornay6:45PMI Am Wrath –2D (Action |Crime ) (12+)8:15 & 11:45PMTop Cat Begins –2D (Animation) (TBC)Voice Overs: David Hoffman, Ben Diskin3:30 & 5:30PMBaaghi –2D (Hindi| Action| Romance) (TBC)Cast: Shraddha Kapoor, Tiger Shroff6:15, 8:45 & 11:15PMPrecious Cargo –2D (Action) (12+)
Cast: Bruce Willis, Claire Forlani10:00PMThe Jungle Book (MX4D) (Family) (PG)Cast: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley3:30, 5:30, 7:30 & 9:30PMThe Jungle Book - (3D) Drama| Family) (PG)7:15PM
AZAIBA Top Cat Begins (2D) (Animation) (PG) Voice Overs: David Hoffman, Ben Diskin3:15, 5:00 PMSynchronicity (2D) (Mystery | Thriller) (15+) Cast: Chad McKnight, Brianne Davis, AJ Bowen3:00, 4:50, 11:30 PMThe Huntsman: Winter’s War (3D) (Action) (PG12) Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain11:30 PMThe Jungle Book (3D) (Adventure) (PG) 5:15, 6:45, 9:15 PMFan (Hindi) (2D) (Thriller) (PG12) Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Joelle Koissi3:15 PMBaaghi (2D) (Action | Romance) (PG) Cast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor2:45, 6:15, 8:45, 10:15, 11:15 PM
Hijrat (2D) (Pakistan | Drama) (TBC) Cast: Asad Zaman, Rabia Butt, Noman Ijaz6:45 PMManithan (2D) (Comedy) (TBC) Cast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Hansika Motwani8:45 PMSarrainodu (2D) (Action) (12+) Cast: Allu Arjun, Rakul Preet Singh7:15 PM
RUWIScreen 1Baaghi (2D) (Action) –PGCast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PMScreen 2The Jungle Book (2D) (Adventure) –PG3.45, 9.45 PMHijrat (Urdu) Pakishtani (Action) –TBCCast: Asad Zaman, Rabia Butt6.45 PMScreen 3Fan (Thriller) –PG12Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Joelle Koissi3.45, 9.45 PMThe Jungle Book (2D) (Adventure ) –PG6.45 PM
SURMidnight Special (Adventure) (PG) Cast: Micheal Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kristen Dunst4:15, 7:15, 9:15 PMI Am Wrath (Action | Crime | Drama) (12+) Cast: John Travolta, Rebecca De Mornay3:45, 10:15 PMBaaghi (Hindi | Action | Romance) (TBC) Cast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor11:30 PMThe Jungle Book 3D (Adventure) (PG) 6:15 PMBastille Day (Action) (12+) Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Kelly Reilly.5:30, 11:55 PMSynchronicity (Mystery | Sci-Fi) (15+) Cast: Chad McKnight, Brianne Davis8:15 PM
SOHARMother’s Day– 2D (Comedy/Drama) (15+)Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts4:45PMPrecious Cargo– 2D (Action) (12+)Cast: Bruce Willis, Claire Forlani3:15, 6:45PMI Am Wrath – 2D (Action/Crime/Drama) (12+)Cast: John Travolta, Rebecca De Mornay, Amanda Schull5:00, 11:30PMThe Jungle Book – 3D (Drama, Family) (PG)3:30, 5:15, 7:15PMGreen Room-2D (Action/Crime/Horror) (15+)Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots11:55PMMidnight Special – 2D (Drama/Sc-fi) (PG)Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton3:00, 9:00, 11:45PMTake Down – 2D (Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Dominic Sherwood, Phoebe Tonkin5:30, 7:15PMBastille Day– 2D (Action) (12+)Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Kelly Reilly3:00, 10:15PMBaaghi– 2D (Action) (PG)Cast: Shraddha Kapoor, Tiger Shroff9:15, 11:15PMManithan– 2D (Comedy/Romance) (TBC)Cast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Hansika Motwani8:45PM
Sarrainodu – 2D (Action, Masala) (12+)Cast: Allu Arjun / Rakul Preet Singh7:00PM
BURAIMIThe Jungle Book (3D) (Adventure) PG7:30PMTop Cat Begins (Animation) PGVoice Overs: David Hoffman, Ben Diskin4.45 & 6.20 PMGreen Room (Crime |Horror | Thriller)( 15+)Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots6:45 & 11.45 PMBaaghi (Action| Romance) PGCast : Shraddha Kapoor, Tiger Shroff8.30 & 11:00 PMMidnight Special (Adventure) PGCast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton5.15, 9.30 & 11.30 PMSynchronicity (Mystery) (15+)Cast: Chad McKnight, Brianne Davis, AJ Bowen8:00 PMTake Down (Thriller) PG (12+) Cast: Dominic Sherwood, Phoebe Tonkin4:45 & 9:45 PM
SALALAHThe Jungle Book (3D) (PG) (Adventure) 2:30, 6:30PMMidnight Special (2D) (PG) (Adventure) Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton1:00, 3:15, 9:00, 11:30PMI Am Wrath (2D) (12+) (Action |Crime) Cast: John Travolta, Rebecca De Mornay5:30, 11:55PMTop Cat Begins (2D) (PG) (Animation) 12:45, 4:30PMPrecious Cargo (2D) (12+) (Action) Cast: Bruce Willis, Claire Forlani1:15, 7:15PMMother’s Day (2D) (15+) (Comedy)Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson5:00PMBastille Day (2D) (12+) (Action)Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden3:00, 10:00PMBaaghi (2D) (PG) (Hindi) (Action)Cast: Shraddha Kapoor, Tiger Shroff, Sudheer Babu Posani8:30, 11:15PMManithan (2D) (TBC) (Tamil) (Comedy)Cast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Hansika Motwani7:15PM
CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW
@SALALAH @ SHATTI
Manithan (2D) (TBC) (Tamil) (Comedy)Cast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Hansika Motwani7:15PM
Midnight Special – (2D) (Drama) (PG)Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst3:00, 9:15 & 11:30PM
BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking
24540855
Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com
I Am Wrath (Action / Crime / Drama)Cast: John Travolta, Amanda Schull, Rebecca De Mornay4.00, 8.00, 10.00, & 11.55 PMCP No: 1109 (12+)Take Down (Thriller)Cast: Dominic Sherwood, Phoebe Tonkin, Ed Westwick4.00, 6.00, 10.00, & 11.55 PMCP No: 1110 (PG12)Green Room (Horror / Crime / Thriller)Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat2.00 & 8.00 PMCP No: 1111 (15+)Top Cat Begins (Animation)Voice Overs: David Hoffman, Ben Diskin, David Boat2.00 & 6.00 PMCP No: 1112 (PG)
STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776
Website: www.isurf.co.om
Sarrainodo (Telugu) (Action, Drama)Cast: Allu Arjun and Rakul Preet Singh3:00 PM Cinema Main; 6:45, 9:45 PM Cinema-3Kali (Mal) (Comedy\ Drama)Cast: Dulquar Salmaan and Sai Pallavi6:30, 9:30 PM Cinema Main; 3:45 Cinema-3Theri (Tamil) (Action)Cast: Vijay and Samantha3:30, 6: 30, 9:30 PM Cinema-2Manithan (Tamil) (Comedy)Cast: Udhayanidhi Stalin and Hansika Motwani3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 pm Cinema-4
Next Change: Jacobinte Swargarajyam (Mal); 24 (Tamil)
Programmes are subject to change
@ PANORAMA MALL
Bastille Day –2D (Action) (12+)Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Kelly Reilly3:45 & 11:30PM
WEATHER
360
Maximum
280
Minimum
TEMPERATURE
50-25%RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 17 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to [email protected]
WITH LOVE
KAIVALYA (PRADYOT) SHENDEMay 3, 2015
LIFESTYLEC7T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
What image does the word “grill-ing” bring to mind? Do you envision thick,
juicy burgers or steaks? What about sauce-slathered chicken breasts sizzling over coals? Side dishes give you a chance to re-ally show off your grilling chops, savour the farm fresh flavours of summer harvests, and indulge in wholesome, organic fare. Here are six side dishes to grill.
1. Corn on the CobIf you’ve always wanted to try grilling vegetables but weren’t sure which of your favourites would go well on the grill — take heart. Virtually any veggie can be prepared on a grill, but corn becomes a show-stopper when grilled. Remove the husks and silk and toss the cobs right on a preheated grill. Watch them carefully and keep turning them to ensure they brown but don’t
burn. The heat from the grill causes the natural sugars in the corn to caramelise, and you’ll end up with the sweetest sweet corn you ever tasted.
2. FriesA trip to the grocery store for fresh produce may not fit in your schedule. There’s good news — frozen options. Organic fries sprinkled with bright sea salt bring out even more of the rich flavour that Mother Nature de-livered. Make a tray out of alu-minium foil, spread the fries in a single layer, and grill for about 20-25 minutes at 200 degrees C. Turn once or twice during the cooking process.
3. TomatoesIf you’ve only grilled small toma-toes on a kebab, or never tried grilled tomatoes at all, this is your summer to discover grilling toma-toes couldn’t be easier. Start with large, meaty tomatoes — a variety
that’s dense and has fewer seeds works best. Slice in half, brush with your favourite seasoned oil and place the halves cut-side down on the grill. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side. Top with your favour-ite cheese when done.
4. KaleGrilling greens like kale helps all those wonderful nutrients and fla-vour stay in the vegetable and don’t disappear into the cooking water — which is what can happen when you boil veggies on the stovetop. Grilling kale couldn’t be easier. You can adapt virtually any of your favourite kale recipes to grilling by tossing the kale with the recipe seasonings and some oil. Arrange the seasoned leaves in a single layer on the grill and they’ll cook to crispy splendour in just minutes.
5. CheeseA slice of gooey melted cheese is the crowning glory atop your grilled burger, but cheese can
also handle the grill on its own, and be a delicious, different side dish or appetiser.
Many cheeses will work on the grill, and you can find recom-mendations for the best cheeses to cook on the grill with a simple online search. Slice your chosen cheese in thick pieces. Most grill-ing cheeses will need minimal sea-soning and little or no oil. Gener-ally, cheese takes just a minute or two to brown each side and allow the inside to melt.
6. Dinner RollsCraving dinner rolls to go with that thick juicy steak, but in no mood to fire up the oven? You can make frozen dinner rolls on the grill. Choose your favourite varie-ty, set your gas grill to the temper-ature recommended on the pack-age’s directions, wrap the rolls in foil and place directly on the grill. Keep an eye on the rolls to ensure they don’t burn as they can cook quickly on a grill. — BPT
BarbecuedSide DishesCooking is one of the greatest joys sans the weather, but if you leave side dishes out of your grilling plans — or stick with cold sides like salads — you’re missing out on some great flavours.
Go Global While Munching Your Favourite French FriesCanadians like to have cheesy French fries, in Philippines peo-ple add a banana twist to the snack, and in Romania people go rustic. Know how the world en-joys the humble snack and pick your favourite. Chef Tushar from McCain Foods India has shared a list.
In Canada, they go cheesyThe Canadians like to pour a deli-cately spiced gravy and cheese curd on their French fries to make up for a delicious serving of poutine giv-ing it a beautiful texture and an ir-resistible cheesy after taste.
In Philippines, they go bananas In Philippines, French fry fanat-ics use an unusual yet oriental flavour by adding banana ketchup — a sweet and savoury sauce made from mashed banana, sugar, vin-egar and spices.
In Romania, they go rusticA rustic paste made from garlic, oil, salt, and vinegar also called “mu-
jdel” is the Romanian way to relish their French fries. You can also ask for customisation across joints who offer this savoury delight in differ-ent consistencies of thickness.
In Vietnam, they go butterliciousEver imagined a pack of fries served to you in a pool of sugar and dollops of butter? Vietnam gives you all the reasons to indulge in some fries both as a starter and as a
dessert, when in Vietnam go ahead and don’t look for any more rea-sons to grab a few extra.
In Britain, they go drunk on friesOur favourite fries are known as chips in England. Eaten with gar-lic mayonnaise in Ireland, in Brit-ain owing to love for everything amber they like to dip their fries in malt vinegar — quite an intoxicat-ing mix indeed.
In Australia, they chicken outAustralians have gone a step ahead to flavour their traditional fries, they sprinkle them with chicken salt than the regular salt to add an enviable taste only found in Australia.
Indians like to experimentThey like everything about fries from global concoctions to indige-nous varieties. Mint and coriander chutney, chilli garlic sauce, malt, vinegar, hummus or ketchup, all do just fine, the latest one being with peri-peri.— IANS
F O O D N O T E
LIFESTYLEC8 T U E S DAY, M AY 3, 2 0 1 6
A pungent green herb, oregano is used in many dishes. Whether in lamb and chicken, or in cakes and smoothies, oregano adds a fresh flavour to any food. If fresh oregano is not available use dried ones, but remember to cut down on the amount by about half.
ONE INGREDIENT
FIVE WAYS
INGREDIENT
Oregano Lamb ChopsTake 2tbsp lemon juice, 1tsp olive oil, 1/2tsp dried oregano and 1 garlic clove and mince together. Take 8 lamb chops and marinate it with the mixture. Keep it for 15-20 minutes. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Remove the extra marinade from the lambs and add 1/2tsp salt and 1/2tsp pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray and place the lamb chops and cook each side from 5-8 minutes on medium heat.
Oregano-Spiced ShortcakePreheat oven to 200 degrees C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add 2tbsp lemon zest in 1/2 cup sugar and mix well. Add this mixture to 2 cups flour. Also add 4tsp baking powder, 1/2tsp salt, and 2tsp dried oregano and mix well. Take 4tbsp butter, 2tbsp heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk. Add them to the flour mixture and mix well. Shape them into shortcake and place them onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Oregano Flavoured Chicken BreastsTake 1tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped, 2tsp grated lime rind, 1tsp ground cumin, 2tsp minced garlic, 1/2tsp salt, and 1/2tsp black pepper. Mix in a bowl. Take 4 chicken breast halves and rub the mixture on them. Keep it in the fridge for 5-6 hours. Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat 1tbsp of oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan, skin side down and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer it to the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. Serve hot.
Oregano- Scented SmoothiesTake 5-6 cucumbers and peel off the skin. Cut into chunks and blend well. Take 2 cups fresh orange juice and pour it on the cucumber. Add 2tsp sugar and 1tsp dried oregano to the cucum-ber puree and blend. Chill it in the refrigerator and serve in tall glasses.
Oregano-Laced SaladCut 1 red bell pepper into vertical halves and discard the seeds. Broil for 10 minutes or so. Once cool cut into bite size pieces. Separately cook 1/2 cup soya beans in boiling water and drain. Combine the chopped bell pepper, cooked soya beans, 1tsp salt, and 1tsp pepper. Add 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2tbsp chopped parsley, and 2 cups of fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped. Drizzle with lemon juice and 1tbsp olive oil and mix well.
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 3 , 2 0 1 6
RENT D2
*Tourist visa arranged
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461
FOR RENT
D2 T U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDE
3 BHK, 3 toilets near Indian School
main Wadi Kabir & 2 BHK, 2 toilet
near Honda road Junction.
Contact: 99737562
Office 55 SQ. Mtrs & 2 B /R new
bldg in Bausher behind bank Mus-
cat from owner. Contact: 92158031
3 Rooms, 2 Toilets Flat for Rent.
18 November Street. Near Mars
Hypermarket and The Chedi.
Ghobrah -Good for Commercial or
Residential use. OMR 295/- month.
Call 94477222
Flats for rent near Indian School
in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122
Super Deluxe 2 bedroom flat with
swimming pool, Gym, at Qurum
Shatti Al Qurum. Contact: 99369081
OFF / Shop 30 SQMT, W/Kabir R.O
200/-. Contact: 99384640
New warehouse for rent with office
space 1150 sq mtr 9.5 height (rent
negotiable), new Industrial area -
Salalah.# 96955505 / 96217297
1,2,3 BHK flats & villas. Contact: 92144045
3 BHK without A/C Al Khuwair R.O
375/-. Contact: 92144045
2BHK with A/C Ghubra
R.O 325/-. Contact: 92144045
Room for rent near Al Daser Rex
road Ruwi. Contact: 92099367 /
99797645
2BHK & 1BHK flats with split air
conditioners are available for rent
in new building in Al Qurum, near
Rose Garden. Interested persons may
contact on 95133331 / 96722449
Flat for rent : flat available at Hamri-
ya & Wadi Kabir. Contact: 97380548
/ 99680499
Flat for rent in Al Khuwair 33.
Contact: 92277419
1 BHK flat for rent R.O 180/-
Near Medical Darsait.
Contact: 24705742
Spacious room with bath and pas-
sage, kitchen available for sharing
at Darsait (near ISD School).
Contact: 99419390
2 BHK flat at Ruwi Mumtaz area
RO 320/-. Contact: 99358589 /
97079146 / 95570288
1BHK Studio flat near Star Cinema
RO 180/-. Contact: 99358589 /
97079146 / 95570288 For rent flat in Darsait office CBD.
Contact: 95345909 / 92820734
1BHK M.B.D R.O 250/-.
Contact: 92144045
1BHK Mumtaz R.O 225/-.
Contact: 92144045
Room at Al Khuwair RO 110/-.
Contact: 95317247
1BHK with A.C Ghubra R.O 275/-.
Contact: 92144045
3 Bedroom well maintained flat
(villa TYPE only 2 flats in villa)
in Al Khuwair, Behind Al Akhtam
Restaurant Villa No 1841, Way No
3922 Block No 239.
Contact: 99462980
House rent 2 bedroom, Majlis,
2 toilets, kitchen & parking in
Mawalah near City Center.
Contact: 96968104
4 BHK villa in Bowsher Heights.
Contact 99792181
2 BHK flat in Ghubra 18 November
Street. Contact 99792181
2 BHK flat in Al Khuwair.
Contact 99792181
House for rent 1 bedroom & sitting
room, 1 toilet & kitchen in Mawalah
near City Center.
Contact : 96968104
2 rooms flat for rent in Wattaya.
Contact: 99202602
2 Bedroom flat near Kuwait Mas-
jid, Wadi Kabir. Contact: 98498823
/ 97608564
2 Bed room flats available in
Al Amera Mahj5 (Opp. Sultan
Center. Contact: 99108822
150 + 180 + 200 Sqr mtrs office in
Al Khuwair. Contact 99792181
Running beauty parlor for rent in
Al Khuwair. Contact: 98689280
Warehouse 400 sqm behind
Majan Hyper market near Bridge-
stone tyres, Ghala.
Contact: 95928800 / 98014921
3 BHK villa in Qurum heights.
Contact 99792181
Warehouse for rent at Ghala Ind.
Area. 800 & 2500 approx sqms
Near Hotel Al-Madinah Holiday,
Ghala. Container can enter. Imme-
diate access to roads & highways.
Contact : 94583320
Room or apartment for rent in
Qurum. Contact: 99664703
Luxury fully furnished 2 bedroom
flat at Al Khuwair for short or
long term lease contract. Contact
Atlas Real Estate & Rent a Car
LLC. Contact Atlas Real Estate &
Rent a Car LLC. Contact 94617563
/ 92888376, tel : 24833848 /
24834888
Flat for rent in Ruwi, Mumtaz area
2 bedrooms. Contact: 24291500 /
91409667
Villa for rent 8 big room, 7 toilets,
big hall, Kitchen & store Al Khoud.
Contact: 91153933
Villa for rent, 4 rooms, big hall, 6
toilets, big living room, kitchen &
store Bousher 750/-OMR.
Contact: 91153933
Flats in Wadi Kabir. Contact
94051789 / 97201688
Villa for rent room, toilet, hall,
kitchen, store with furniture water
& electricity included Bowsher
OMR 300/-. Contact: 91153933
Office for rent in Mabela. Contact: 99355330
Room for rent big room, toilet,
washing place including water &
electricity Bowsher OMR 200/-.
Contact: 91153933
Villa for rent, big hall, 4 room, 5
toilets, kitchen, store living room
in Ghubra OMR 650/-.
Contact: 91153933
Flat for rent in South Mabela.
Contact: 95331177 / 95230355
Office space small in Azaiba.
Contact: 99428143
1BHK at Hamriya near Muscat
Pharmacy & 2 BHK at Mawaleh
near Mosque Sadiq Al Amin.
Contact: 99224748 / 99332297
Offices & Showrooms in Al Khoud.
Contact 94051789 / 97201688
FOR RENTIN RUWI
1 BHK – SPILT A/C,
BUILT IN WARDROBE
&CENTRALIZED GAS.
SPACIOUS 2 BHK.
Contact :990 49 722
Two modern fully furnished & FOR RENTCommercial Space
Commercial Space For Rent in Al Khuwair. Ideal for Coff ee Shop /
Restaurant / Offi ce Space / Showroom
27sqm / 68sqm / 128sqm
Contact: 96775026
FOR RENT
IN AZAIBA4 Bedrooms excellent villa with car parking
Directly from the owner
Contact - 97094797
DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6 D3
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR RENT
AVAILABLE
Party & Wedding equipment rent-
als. Full line, from Tables, Linen
& Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers,
Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware,
Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to
Large Sound Systems and spec-
tacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606
2222 for Catering and Croyden
9623 5555 for Sound & Light.
ww.tunesoman.com,
E-mail: [email protected]
ACC. AVAILABLE
ACC. AVAILABLE
Brand new double bed room flats
with two and three toilets, split ac,
elevators available at Al Khoudh
next to Al koudh health center.
Contact 99022675
Warehouse at Wadikabir - total
area 3500 sqm - covered ware-
house (500sqm), office, ac-
commodation (1000sqm), open
area (2000sqm) please contact:
99273774 - 99202278
Four bedroom two floors luxurious
and spacious residential villa in
Al Hail North, near to the sea and
Oman oil. Each room has its own
bathroom. It has splits A/C’s and
shaded car park. OMR 750 month-
ly. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or
97509955
1 BHK in Azaiba. Contact:
99385835 / 99428143
2 bed rooms flat with hall,
2 bathrooms in Darsait near
Muscat Municipality.
Contact: 92584715/ 24700120
Flats in Qurum. Contact 94051789
/ 97201688
Fully Furnished apartments in
Boucher (35) Contact 94051789 /
97201688
Flat for rent 2 BHK 2 split A/C, 2
toilets, Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti
Masjid. Contact 97007934 /
92629232
Flats in Darsait. Contact
94051789 / 97201688
1 Bed room, sharing K& T, R.O 100,
2 bedrooms , sharing K& T
R.O 200/- in AL Khuwair.
Contact 95154331
Flats in Muttrah. Contact
94051789 / 97201688
Offices in Ghala. Contact
94051789 / 97201688
Shops / flats available in Honda
Road, Ruwi & Mabellah Indus-
trial area. Contact 24833972/
24833974/ 99367448
Two bedrooms flat in Al Ghobrah
near Oman Oil of 18 November
Street. OMR 330 Monthly.
Contact 99333479 or 95215360 or
97509955.
Flat for Rent 2 bed room Near ISM
muscat Indian Scoole Dar sate
Tel : 00 968 95158570
Brand new villas in Al Ansab.
Contact 94051789 / 97201688
Duplex villa in QURUM 29.
Contact 94051789 / 97201688
Flat in Al Khuwair opp grand mall
4 room 3 toilet + hall kitchen in 3
floor 400. Contact 99420346
Flats, shops and store for rent in
Ruwi, MBD & Mumtaz. Contact:
97293708 / 92433127
New building Wattayah main road,
showroom & office space.
Contact 94300909
1/ 2 BHK flat required in Al Khu-
wair/ Ghubra. Contact 96026943
Wanted one room. Contact 98026234
ACC WANTED
BUYING
Bobcat available for rent.
Contact 97623299
Buying cars for cash.
Contact: 90202090
Small old house for rent in
Ghobra. Contact: 97165972
1 BHK and 2BHK Flats available
near Lulu Darsait (Main road, Opp.
to Min. of Defense).
Contact : 93202733
Room for rent near Hamriya
roundabout for bachelor only.
Contact: 97443614
Single room sharing B/K at
Mumtaz area. Contact: 95212017
Single room available near
Darsait Lulu. Contact: 92120626
Big room with attach bathroom,
kitchen in Muscat near Riyam
Park RO 75/-. Contact: 95094028
Room with attached bathroom for
working ladies in a flat in M.B.D.
Contact: 99764307
Villa for rent in South Mabellah,
3 bedrooms, sitting room, family
Lounge, kitchen, three Toilets
Contact 92212212
between 10 AM to 5 PM.
Rooms available with Kitchen
facility at Ruwi.
Contact: 91214897
Furnish bedroom with attach
bathroom for executive bachelor.
Contact: 97704794
Room with attached bathroom for
a family in Wadi Kabir.
Contact 97167857
Room for rent with furniture.
Al Bustan village.
Contact 93687466
Furnished apartment for rent, two
rooms, majlis, hall, kitchen. Near
Carrefour al-mawalah.
Contact 99336776
Sharing Accommodation avail-
able for working ladies opposite
Al Nadhah Hospital. Preferably
Indians. Room with seperate toilet
and sharing kitchen.RO.90.
Contact 96524717
Room available in Mumtaz area
1 room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen & 1
room, common bathroom. Interested
pleasecontact 92680041 Mr. Altaf
Sharing accommodation
near ISD. Contact: 99657340
Room available for Executive
bachelor at Al Hail.
Contact 96234708
Furnished room attached bath
for Indian bachelor, Al-Falaj
Ruwi & lady Wadi Kabir near
Mars hypermarket. CONTACT
96202458/96761960
Furnished office (61M2) for sale
/ rent Al Khuwair near Zawawi
Mosque. Contact: 95611569
2BHK Wadi Kabir R.O 300/-.
Contact: 92144045
Offices & Showrooms in Mutrah.
Contact 94051789 / 97201688
Flat for rent in South AlGhubrah
3 rooms, hall and 3 toilets, kitchen
rent 450/-. Contact: 99335580
2BHK split A/C 200/- Monthly
& 1BHK spilt A/C 150/- monthly
new building good location Barka
Market. contact 99342661
2BHK Big Size Flat Behind Bank
Muscat, Wadi Kabir. Near ISWK.
97826454, 24815012.
02 BHK residential flat opposite
to Al Nahdha hospital.
Contact: 99342733 /99795241
For rent and investment Land
industrial shops in Rusayl.
Contact: 99323957 / 95490842
FOR HIRE
Crane trailer, hiab. Contact:
99354909
WANTED
IELTS Coaching (academic)
required nearby wadi Kabir
area. Please call on mobile or
msg on Whats up. Mobile no:
92927880/99012165
MV SALE
Nissan Altima 2.5S purchased &
registered Oct 2012 Golden color
dealer maintained new tyres &
battery, excellent condition.
Contact: 97717152
Pajero 2015 GLS V6 3.5L for sale,
R.O 7,700. Contact: 97798368
Hyundai Accent 1.6, 2014 model,
good condition. Contact : 95212017
Geely 1.3 model 2012
manual gear used 72000.
Contact: 96778006
FOR LADIES
Offer!! Treading Gold Facial &
Pedicure just for 10 RO, Al Doom
Parlour Ruwi: Contact 99619409
(watsup)
NRI
INDIAN RAILWAYS
Ticket Reservation
Hotel & Bus Tickets
Star Travel92820665 / 24711734
910 SQ FT, 1 B/R fully furnished flat
at Quepem – Goa. Contact: 97094797
1100.00 m2 com. & Res. plot at heart
of Ruwi. Contact: 93666944
Coffee shop for sale in Al Khuwair
33. Contact: 92294415
A well running pharmacy for sale
at prime location.
Contact 99627621, 93240949
20 x40 containers. Contact: 99354909
HD Scaffoldings, Shuttering
Jacks, Wooden Planks, Shuttering
wood assorted, Tower hoist (lift),
Concrete Mixer, Bending Machine,
Steel Fabrication Machinery
(Searing/Cutting, lathe & Welding)
including tools for immediate sale:
Contact 99273774/ 99202278
Shop for sale near Oman House,
Muttrah. Contact 99024362.
400 sq mtrs Commercial/Resi-
dential land in Mabela Phase 5
Block 2. OMR 165 Thousand.
Contact 99333479 or 95215360
or 97509955
Dental chair, mobile dental X ray,
instruments, 5 year old, sale for
1000 Rials only in Al Buraimi.
Contact: 92737149
Single colorful Bed and Sofa
for Sale at Al Khuwair.
Contact 92881849 /What`s up No
97290565
Beauty Salon for urgent sale in Al
Khoud/ Seeb prime location next to
Rameez shopping centre. With spon-
sor and 1 staff and 1 ready visa clear-
ance. Call: 95318629 / 95169411
Space for printing press available
at wadikabir with or without
machinery. Contact 99328430
Car accessories, upholstery, oil &
battery shop for sale in Seeb.
Contact: 92262284 / 98737197
DRIVING
TAILORING SHOP
FOR SALE
WITH TRADE LICENSE
Under operation in a Prime
location with experienced
staff and stock
Mobile number:
9232 1411
REQUIRED
Sub-Contractor
For Indoor and Outdoor
Telecom works
including Fiber, RF and
In building cabling
work experience
Contact - 91409326
Room with attached bathroom
and sharing kitchen available for
Executive bachelor or small family
at wadikabir Contact 93049849
SALEELECTRICAL and
ELECTRONICS items
for bulk sale at
Muscat.
Contact
99883067/ 92429917
Villas in Al Khoud. Contact 95056808 / 97201688
Luxury Apartments in Boucher
(35). Contact 95056808 /
97201688
Steel Scrap materials for immediate sale.
Contact 99273774/ 99202278
Almost new beach/ garden lounge
chairs /bar stools/ counter. Photos
can be sent 95865457
Urgent sale of steel scrap only
serious buyers kindly contact
+968 96725423 for viewing
the items.
S R(P
DAILY GUIDED4 T U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
DRIVER
DOMESTIC HELP
MISCELLANEOUS
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Wanted Light duty Driver cum house boy for an Indian family in
Oman. Kindly contact 99425610 /
99211030
Wanted driver. Contact: 97165972
Urgently required Staff Nurse with
MOH license to work in a reputed clin-
ic, permanent or for leave vacancy.
Salary negotiable. Contact 99048170
Urgently required Staff Nurse with
MOH license for a private clinic in
Sohar (leave vacancy for 3 months).
Contact: 99797459
GP doctor needed for reputed clin-
ic. Preferably with MOH license or
with Dataflow & Paramatics pass
Contact: 95388934
ENGINEER/MECHANIC.
BEAUTICIAN
CATERING
Urgently Required: Construction Project Manager- with experience
10 years experience in building
and with NOC for immediately join.
Interested candidates may call us
to our office telephone:
00968-24696584/24696585 or
fax: 00968-24605955 or email us
Construction company seeking Marketing Executives, Electrical Diploma Engineer & Civil Engi-neer. Should have Omani driving
license. Email : [email protected]
Required Indian Engineer road
Construction 5/10 years experience
Eligibility BE or Diploma Civil Auto-
CAD Estimation with Oman (D/L) &
Indian Heavy Duty drivers.
Contact: 99882127
Email: [email protected]
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
EDUCATION/TRAINING
Female B. Ed English teacher, 7 yrs exp seeking suitable
placement. Contact : 99739415 /
92091528
Teacher Female , Phd in Chemis-
try having 3.5 yrs of Experience in
India. Staying here on Family Visa
& seeking for a suitable placement.
Contact – 99675828, Email -
Indian Lecturer M.Phil, M.Com,
MBA DMM , 3+ years of exp in col-
lege & 2+ years exp in corporate
seeks a suitable position.
Contact: 90369540
Email: [email protected]
SALES / MARKETING
SKILLED / UNSKILLED
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Indian male qualification MBA
Finance Marketing experience
2 years express visa seeking for
placement, presently on express
visa. Contact: 93991882
Accountant, Indian female, B.Com
Graduate 1 & half year experience
up to finalization in tally with
reporting knowledge, pursuing
ACCA, having valid GCC D/L.
Contact: 95373751
Accountant, Indian male, with 6
years experience up to finalization
in tally with reporting knowledge
and good knowledge of payroll,
having valid driver’s license,
with NOC. Contact: 94035577
Email: [email protected]
25 years, Pakistani male with a
qualification of BBA (Hons) & valid
Omani driving license looking for
suitable job in Muscat.
Contact: 93557510
BBA finance 2 years experience as
Accountant 6 months experience
Assistant Marketing offer looking
for jobs in accounts and market-
ing. Contact: 90291297
BBA finance fresh Graduate
knowledge of accounting balance
sheet income statement, tally,
advance, excel looking for jobs
accountant. Contact: 93150918
Indian male 28 Accountant /
Senior Audit Associate ACCA
finalist having 6 years experience
in Accounting upto finalization
currently on visit visa.
Contact: 95193650 or 99078853
Finance & Admin Manager with
20 years UAE experience looks for
suitable positions.
Contact: 97126771
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com
Finance-Indian with 7 years expe-
rience in Finance & Accounts up to
Finalization. Currently employed
in Oman. Having D/L & NOC.
Mob:94122464,
28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com -
Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/
India experience looking for a
suitable placement.
Contact 90187483
Part time Sr. Accountant with
19 yrs experience in Accounts,
finance, Audit Tax Management.
Contact: 95857199
Male B.Com Graduate Assist. Ac-
countant with 2 years experience
in Accounting administration.
Contact: 94736742
Indian male 36 (M.Com) 10 +2 yrs
IND / Oman experience, expert in
Accounts upto finalization looking
for accounts or sales, NOC avail-
able. Contact: 90389456
Email: [email protected]
Indian male, M. Com with 3 yr
Oman Exp in Accounts with valid
NOC & D/L on Visit Visa.
GSM : 94744575
A Graduate of Alexandria in
Accounting has freelance interior
designing, experience in
different design programs &
recorded projects achievements,
willing to join suitable job for
his qualification and talents.
Contact: +201003966769 Oman:
99602608 C/o Osman. Email:
A Graduate of Alexandria
Mechanical Power Engineering
and certified International Pro-
curement Manager CIPM basics of
supply chain management BSCM
- APICS seeking suitable job for his
Qualifications. Contact:
20 01222399139 Oman
99602608 C/O Osman Email:
DRIVER
DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN
ADMIN
Free lance /part time autocad
works (ARCH/ MEP) 2D/3D
PH: 97103168
Young Indian female, BSc Interior
Designer, with 2 years experience
seeking for suitable placement.
Contact: 91102695 / 92191721
Architectural Draftsmen diploma
in construction technology with 6
years experience in drafting and
detailing as per British standard
in Oman with valid Omani license
looking for suitable opportunity
Noc available. Call 94375897.
Revit, Autocad D/man, expected
salary 200 OMR PH :92279784
Filipino Senior Revit/AutoCAD
Draftsman with 20 years profes-
sional experience is looking for
suitable job in Oman.
Please Contact: 96489798,
(+974) 66653780.
Required candidates for following
posts: Accountant, Storekeeper, Foreman Building Maintenance, Van-salesman (water), Helpers. Candidates with Omani driving
license preferred.
Contact 99273774/99202278
Wanted part time Accountant (Tally). Contact: 99419390
Required SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Graduate B.Com/MBA. Minimum
6 yrs of experience, Knowledge of
Finalization & can handle accounts
independently. Contact:
Urgently required Marketing Executive for a reputed Company
in Oman with valid Oman D/L.
Contact 94293209,
Wanted Staff with 3 years experi-
ence in Oman in real estate field.
Contact: +968 95910186
Email: [email protected]
Salesman required for electrical
equipments with driving license &
5/7 years working experience.
Fax your C.V 24833043
(Jinan Enterprises)
Required marketing / PR manager
for a modern restaurant group in
Oman , proficient in illustrator &
Photoshop charismatic , proactive ,
creative & flexible excellent writing
/ Editing skills degree in relevant
area fluent in English. Send CV to
Sales Staff required for laundry.
Contact 92396884 after 6pm
Looking for Salesman with ex-
perience in vegetable and fruits
sales, good conduct, fluent in Eng-
lish. Should have driving license.
Email CV on: info@eigllcoman.
com Contact - 96339339
EDUCATION
DOMESTIC HELPER
MEDICAL
MEDICAL
IT
Housemaid/ baby sitter looking for job (overseas).
Contact 95175192
Required Indian Mason – 5 nos., eligibility (minimum 5 yrs experi-
ence in road construction field).
Contact: 99882127
Email: [email protected]
Electrician for Heavy Machines :
experienced with mobile cranes
and Wheel Loader (shovel) with a
background in troubleshooting and
reading a diagram . #98856565 .
email : [email protected]
Crane Hydraulic Mechanic : ex-
perienced with Mobile Cranes and
should have knowledge with trou-
bleshooting and hydraulic system
diagnosis . Contact : 98856565 .
email : [email protected]
Private School seeks to employ teachers with experience and
high efficiency in the following
specializations: Class teacher, English KG Teacher, Science Teacher, Math Teacher for grade
6,7,8,9 experienced in teaching
field with not less than 5 years
experience, University degree in
the field of Sociology.
Contact: 99573791 / 24489721 /
24489536
Email: [email protected]
Accountant Indian male with 7
years experience up to finalization
tally & accounts receivable SAP
R/3, good knowledge of payroll
having Oman D/L, NOC.
Contact: 93733996
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 7 years experience
as Accountant in Oman having
Oman driving license looking for
job, currently in Oman. NOC avail-
able. Contact: 92859733 Email:
Sudanese Accountant, Alexandria
University Graduate bachelor of
commerce Diploma of Marketing
professional photographer worked
in PR and social media for 2 years
looking for a job in public relations
media, social media or marketing.
Contact: 96976240
ACCA member with 6 yrs of
experience in Oman looking for a
suitable job in finance.
Contact: 99284193
Part time Accountant up to
finalization audit & assignments.
Contact: 91126314
Indian female MBA in finance cur-
rently on visit visa seeking suit-
able placement in Accounts / HR /
Admin. Contact: 92896110 Email:
36 years, male with M.Com
Finance having 15 yrs of insurance
& banking experience in India,
on visit visa for 15 Days seeks
suitable jobs. Contact 91159284 /
99429589
Jordanian Senior Accountant 15
yrs experience in Oman finance &
accounts. Contact : 92881223
Accountant 8Years Experience
with D/L and NOC.
Contact 97712084
Sudanese female Accountant ex-
cellent knowledge, MS Office, can
work under pressure.
Contact 97200130
Accountant available with NOC,
7 years experience in Oman.
Ready to join immediately.
Contact 98263394
Indian male , 29 B.com ICWA
(pursuing) 7 years experience
in accountant / audit with valid
Omani D/L seeking for suitable
placement, NOC available.
Contact: 94706954
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 34 Yrs, Dual MBA
Finance and marketing with IT
skills, 7+ yrs of experience,
Looking for suitable placement.
contact 94879615,Email-
Quantity Surveyor (Civil) 11 years
with Omani driving license,
local release available.
Contact: 95719108
Associate Engineer Electron-
ics with 3 years of experience in
Satellite & CCTV searching for
placement. Contact: 99832706
Sudanese Mechanical Engineer +13 years experience in heavy
equipments maintenance experi-
ence in Oil field.
Contact 96583270
Electrical B.E.C Engineer Paki-
stani male 24 years looking for a
job. Contact: 94049812 / 92958112
Electrical & Electronics Engr,
knows autocad & revit.
PH: 93837973
Civil Engineer 8 years experience.
Contact: 90183630
Electrical Engineer having 16
years experience in switchgear
/ transformer / over head lines &
trading for sales / procurement &
project execution with valid Omani
D/L. Contact: +968 95994727
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 23 years, young
dynamic looking for draughtsman
in civil. Contact: 94553406 Email:
Female Electrical Engineer, excel-
lent knowledge, Graduated with
distinction, can work under pres-
sure. Contact: 98133281
Sr. Electrical Engineer with17+
yrs of exceptional exp in spear
heading strategic planning and
project management initiatives &
executing various high rise resi-
dential & commercial building as
well as roads and highway project
with proficiency in installation,
seeking a challenging position in a
dynamic organization.
Contact 96570891
Electrical Engineer Indian male
30 years, having 5 years of
experience in industrial
automation & utility maintenance
in Indian (MRF Tyres)
holding valid Oman D/L.
Contact: 92789995 Email:
Quantity Survey works part time /
freelance (civil).
Contact: 95719108
Indian male B-tech 8 years expe-
rience as senior electrical project
engineer / QC engineer on visit
visa seeks suitable placement.
Contact 94094543
Email: [email protected]
Required Shop Sales man + Hard-ware Technician for IT Company
with minimum 2 years experience.
Contact: 98825806 / 98825806,
Email: [email protected]
Wanted experienced beautician
for the reputed ladies beauty cent-
er at Muscat. Contact: 99791572 /
97453246
Email: [email protected]
Beautician required for Al Gazala
beauty parlour, visa available.
Contact: 92534941
Required gynecologist GEN: practitioner lady lab Technician and pharmacologist immediately
for a clinic in Suwaiq.
Contact: 95081010
Email: [email protected]
Truck Mechanics
With 3-5 years experience
required for a leading
commercial Workshop
in Sharjah.
Fax CV to: + 971 6 507 2736
or Email:
HR & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER
Email CV: [email protected]
Should hold Bachelor degree & Diploma in HR,
coupled with 6-7 years experience in Oman.
Managing HR related functions, Annual budget, Renewal of all types of documents and well versed with Government Laws & Policies.
ADMIN
Indian male, 10 yrs exp seeks
placement in Off Coordination, HR,
Admin, Customer service, on visit
visa. Contact: 95762646
With 15 years of Gulf experience
in HR / Admin / logistics looking
for suitable position. Fluent in
Arabic / English with D/L.
Contact: 95824598
Indian male, 20 years experience
in Oman as personal assistant /
office manager / executive sec-
retary / administrator / business
development assistant looking for
a change. holding Omani driving
license. local release available.
Contact 99168054
Lady Expat looking for full time
job with visa. Interested fields are
Admin, teaching, HR, back office.
Contact: 91739424
Email: [email protected]
Indian male – Post Graduation in
HR, having 18 years of experience.
Working in Oman since last 12
years. Capable of handling HR &
Administration. Well Acquainted
with Omani Laws. Valid Omani
License & car. Contact 96442435.
A Young dynamic post Graduate with 10 years experience of Office
Administration cum transport in
charge in Oman to manage large
fleet of PDO / Non PDO vehicles
in addition having experience of
managing the labor camp and staff
with their mess valid Omani D/L.
Contact: +968 - 92700274
Email: [email protected]
Filipino HRD especialist / material
controller supervisor with 18 yrs
experience looking for suitable job
in Oman. Contact: (+968) 98037142
/ (+968) 92659817
Light driver looking for job exp 2
years in Oman. Contact: 91929556
Indian light driver having 2 years
experience in Oman know lan-
guage English, Hindi, Arabic need
job. Contact: 97366822
Looking for driving job or trans-
portation job, have Nissan Sunny
2012 model. Contact: 97224035
Light duty driver Pakistani seeks
placement. Contact: 97762974 Indian light driver looking for job.
Contact: 99089441
Driver LTV computer opt store
keeper office boy, shop keeper.
Contact: 94801189
12 years experience driver with
Pajero 2015 GLS V6 3.5L need job.
Contact: 97798368
Light Duty Driver seeks place-
ment. Contact: 96250185
GCC experienced Driver 10 years
requires suitable placement.
Contact: 94801679
Experienced driver available
20 years in Oman.
Contact: 99040186
Driver with car. Contact:91362320
Looking for job as light vehicle
driver 5 years experience.
Contact: 92640278
Light driver wanted for suitable
placement. Contact: 95656941
Looking for a job light duty driver.
Contact: 95141473
Light duty & heavy duty driver, GCC valid D/L looking for job (over-
seas). Contact 95175192, Email :
Bangladeshi male light driver exp
4 years need job.
Contact: 92681457
Looking for light driving job 2 yrs
exp. Contact: 91625977
8 years experience in driving
heavy D/L (PDO) H2S.
Contact: 92091528
Light driver looking for job.
Contact: 96798075
Light Duty Driver, 3 years
6 months experience.
Contact: 95768440
Contact:
offi ceinma [email protected]
Fire Door & Carpentry Workshop required following
personnel1. Marketing Executive/ Sales Manager – Joinery work -12. Workshop supervisor-013. Designer-Joinery work -14. Furniture carpenter-125. Aluminum Technician-26. Polisher-2
Required Gardener for part time job at Al Rabiat Qurum.
Contact 95890531
Urgently required an experienced Waiter for a food restaurant. Visa
available. Contact: 96026615 /
99816262
Wanted Staff Nurse for
a dermatology clinic in Muscat .
Must have MOH license and NOC.
Attractive salary offered. Email:
Indian male age 26, Accountant one
year experience in accounts
looking for suitable job. Contact -
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +968 9565 9415
Qualified and experienced MBA
post graduate with proven work
exposure in Middle East & India,
having more than 5.5 years of rich
experience in accounts , project
coordination and administration
in (3.5 years UAE experience) oil
and gas projects is currently
looking for suitable job.
Contact 93953613, Email
Male Accountant M.Com (Accounts & finance) having
3 years experience in accounts
looking for suitable job on visit
visa. ontac: 94648575
IND female 12 years exp in
Banking, Insurance customer
service Secretarial skills analysis
communication, client handling,
coordination, Team handling,
qualification, M.COM looking for
suitable position currently on visit
visa. Contact: 95166496
Indian CA, male 34yrs, 14+ Yrs
exp. in A/Cs, finance, auditing,
consultancy & knows SAPB1, Tally
ERP. Oman D/L .Currently in Oman.
NOC available.
PLZ contact: 94704800,
Email: [email protected].
Indian male good experience in
accounts, admin and ERP Tally 9
seeking for suitable placement.
NOC available. Contact: 92650835
Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in
commerce, overall 5 yrs exp in ac-
counts/ finance field. On visit visa.
Immediately available.
Contact 92836216 /
Indian Female, MBA-HR having
8+ experience in Administration/
HR, Customer Support, Office
Coordinator with good Computer
skill, Now on Visit Visa,looking for
suitable position.
Contact: 90196235
Indian looking for customer ser-vice, purchase front office Admin
5 years experience in UAE.
Contact: 91744032
Young Omani male have experi-
ence 12 years as P.R.O, CLERK
Helper Supervisor Admin Supervi-
sor, H.R Manager have diploma in
H.S.E, IT and P.D.O license, looking
for H.R position or
P.R.O part time or full time.
Contact: 95933288
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
in Oman as a project engineer for
governmental & private projects.
Contact – 90164912
DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6 D5
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
SECRETARIAL & OFFICE
Filipina, looking for an admin-
istrative job with experience in
Law office and Logistic planning.
91384939/ 91961348,
Looking for part time job Secre-tarial / Data Entry / Documenta-
tion available every day after 5:00
pm Friday / Saturday full day area
preferred Ruwi/ CBD/ MBD / Al
Khuwair. Contact: 90414827
Lady Secretary / Sales Co-coordi-
nator 12 years experience in Oman
in reputed companies,
seek immediate Employment.
Call: 95244761
Sales & Marketing specialist
with 16 yrs experience in Oman in
MNC retails telecom lubes
construction related industry
handled various projects, holding
valid Oman driving license,
release available.
Contact 96960991
Indian male, 25 yrs,
Accountant, 2.5 yrs in
Finance & Accounts, MBA
Finance & HR, exposure in
SAP, Tally, ERP 9 on visit visa.
Contact 96715420 / 91265020, Email : [email protected], [email protected]
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
Mechanical Engineer (Indian
male, 24 years) with three years
experience looking for suitable job.
Currently on visit visa, ready to
join immediately.
Contact: 92175441
Email: [email protected]
B.E Mechanical Engineer, age 24
with almost 1 year experience as
Production Shift Engineer, has
achieved training on HVAC En-
gineering design and has good
hands on software like AutoCAD
and HAP.Currently in Oman on a
visit visa, looking for a suitable
placement.Contact: 95065955
email: [email protected]
Indian female diploma
Architecture having 5 years exp in
Engineering consultancy in Oman
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 96683293
18 years experienced Civil
Engineer with NOC looking for
suitable opportunities in Contract-
ing companies - Nationality Indian
immediately available.
Contact: 92855910
Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer (UK), having
4 yrs exp in the field of technical,
sales & maintenance Engineer
seeking suitable placement having
valid Oman D/L& NOC is also avail-
able. Contact: +968 97612297
Email: [email protected]
Telecommunication Engineer Sudanese male having 3 years for
experience in Telecom RF3 optical
fiber seeks for job.
Contact: 91403123
Email: [email protected]
Telecom Engineer Sudanese male
having 4 years experience in tel-
ecom RF 3 optical fiber looking for
job. Contact: 95614243
Email: [email protected]
AutoCAD Draughtsman Indian
male 8 years exp Civil, Interior,
precasting, GCC driving license.
Contact: 95685028
Email: [email protected] Civil Engineer experience March
2013 to July 2015.
Contact: 91034688
Indian male (Kerala) 24 yrs, B.E
Civil Engineer, residing in Oman
on visit visa looking for suitable
placement. Contact: 92724814 /
99473131
Electrical Engineer experience 9
years in Oman. Contact: 98148034
Proposed position Safety Officer
experience 04 yrs and 6 months
qualification NEBOSH IOSH MS,
OSHA, fire safety certificate,
Master in Social Science.
Contact: 93644060
Email: [email protected]
Operations Coordinator Indian Male 27 ,5 Years Exp
call:90649152
Filipino Male, 28 years Old.
Looking for job, Have experience
in Rent a Car/ Cargo & Logistics /
Real Estate/ Customer Care Execu-
tive / Sale Executive & Market-
ing/ Shop In- Charge with driving
license, w/ good computer and
communication skill.
GSM: 97761075
MANAGER
SKILLED LABOUR
Young Dynamic MBA Post-Grad
with 2 yrs exp as Procurement
officer at Muscat & 3 yrs exp in
Marketing-Interior construction
in India with NOC and Driving
License. Mob 98238260.
Manager Indian experience FMCG
Company & supply chain logistics
solid organizational skills looking
suitable position currently on ex-
press visa. Contact: 98826074
MEDICAL
Female Indian MOH licensed den-
tist looking out for job opportuni-
ties in Nizwa. Has 14 yrs experi-
ence as dentist after graduation.
Can be contacted on 93329964
Sudanese female Medical Labora-
tory specialist with M.S.C in hema-
tology, 3 years experience seeking
for suitable job.
Contact: 97996545
Quality Analyst Medical Coding
CPC ICD-10 testified qualification
M.Sc biotechnology holding 4+
years of experience seeking suit-
able job, currently in India, age 27
yrs. Contact: +91 9500515933
Indian Bsc Female Nurse with
6.5 years exp, 4 years in KSA.
Passed Oman Pro Metric with 69%,
completed data flow. Presently in
Muscat in visit visa looking for a
suitable placement.
Contact: 94744900, 94742834,
Qualified Certified Management Accountant (CMA-USA) and cost and
management accountant (ACMA-
India) with over 25 years experience in
Sultanate of Oman in finance, banking
and administration is seeking a suitable
placement. NOC available.
Contact -95986767
INDIAN FEMALE, 23 years, BSC-
CS Diploma in IAD graphics, well
knowledge in computer applica-
tions 6 months experience pres-
ently in Sohar seeking suitable
placement. Contact: 96670907.
Email: [email protected]
Sudanese IT Developer with 2 years experience.
Contact: 94360181
IT support MCSA Network
Virtualization 1 year exp.
Contact: 98207829
B.E (CSE) Graduate Indian male 25
years with 3 years experience in IT
field, seeking suitable placement
currently on visit visa.
Contact: 91228492
Email: [email protected]
5 years of experience in the post
of Networking Engineer holding
(CCNA – MCITP) Very good in Ara-
bic & English valid driving license.
Contact: 99813988
B.Tech Information Technology
with one year experience in I.T
field looking for job on visit visa.
Contact: 92312978, Email :
IT Support Engineer, Exp 3 years
in Oman 2 years in India.
Contact: 94672759
B.Tech (IT) experience in Net-
working server & desktop man-
agement in corporate environment
looking for suitable placement.
Contact: 92954613
Indian female M.Sc Computer
Science seeking suitable place-
ment in Muscat area.
Contact: 98660672
Female 24 yrs, 3 years in IT
programmer now in Oman looking
for suitable job.
Contact: 96350234
IT
MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS
SALES / MARKETING
SALES / MARKETING
Indian male 26 years looking sales
& marketing job, having 2 years
experience in Oman valid license &
NOC available. Contact: 96155259
Indian 7 years experience in Hospi-
tality Industry looking for customer
service Indoor sales purchase front –
office reception. Contact: 91744032
Indian male BBA in Marketing &
finance have 3 years work experi-
ence in Oman with driving license
seeking for suitable placement.
Contact: 96007885
Indian male 12 yrs experience in
sales & administration seeks suit-
able placement. Contact: 97205114
Sudanese in Oman bachelor in
Business Management & diploma
in Sales & Marketing with experi-
ence seeking for a job.
Contact: 93909910
Looking for job in shop, 6 years
experience. Contact 96001823
Indian male, M. Tech (CS), MBA
Marketing, 25 years experience,
Country Manager, seeks suitable
placement valid D/L, NOC avail-
able. Contact: 92279972
Pakistani male, Graduate over
9 years experience in Procurement,
Warehouse & Logistics, looking for
suitable placement currently on
visit visa. Contact: 968 91257663 ,
Procurement / Estimation male 15
years experience in Oman work-
ing with reputed company seeks
suitable placements. N.O.C available.
Contact: 93508898
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male, 30yrs, 7 year experi-
ence in marketing, (3 years Exp.
in Oman & Saudi) seeking suitable
placement in Sales & Marketing.
DL & NOC available,
Contact: 93329021,
D/L, NOC available looking for
salesman job, 1 year experience.
Contact: 91210380
10 years ICT Business develop-
ment & project management exp
in Oman looking for suitable sen-
ior position. Contact: 98987654
Senior Sales Executive, 10Yrs
Exp, India seeking immediate job.
Contact #+968 98444359,
+91 9880637906.
35 years male, Lebanese holding
British passport, 10 years of experi-
ence in procurement, Omani Govern-
ment tenders, setup marketing plans
& strategies, importing, Organizing
events, management, have car, NOC
available. Contact 94123939
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 37 years MBA
graduate in marketing with 9yrs of
experience in UAE in field of brand
promotions & marketing with UAE
D/L on a visit seeking suitable
position. Conatct 95792820
Geologist position Pakistani male
27 years applied Geology looking
for any Geologist position in any
oil & gas construction or mining
company in Oman on 1 month visit
visa of Oman, experience total of
2 years. Contact: 96390458 Email:
A/C Tech with Electrician and
plumber looking for maintenance
job, have D/L. Contact: 95308363
Pakistani male 48 yrs Diploma
electrical technician with 21 yrs
exp . Contact : 98262600, Email:
[email protected] Diploma in Civil Engineer with
5 yrs experience in Oman seeking
a suitable job N.O.C available.
Contact: 93630296 / 93264828
Sudanese Civil Structure Engi-neer 3 years looking for job in rep-
utable company AutoCAD, Etabs,
Staad Pro Omani driving license
available. Contact: 97906770
Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech)
Indian male with 1 year experience
looking for job, qualification in
Qa-Qc, HVAC & piping engineering.
Contact 90510800, Email :
Civil Engineer diploma 3 years
Sudanese National experience 4
years at construction sites.
Contact: 91183608
Telecommunication Engineer 35 years experience with Omantel
company, Hindi , English & Arabic.
Contact: 91204243 / 94372096 /
99751612
5 years experience in supply
chain (warehouse logistics) pro-
curement. Contact: 90644186
Indian male 24 yrs ITC Electrical
2 years experience looking for job.
Contact: 95428225
Email: [email protected]
Electronics and Instrumentation
Engineer, B.Tech Indian male 24
years with 2 years Indian experi-
ence looking for suitable position
available in Oman on visit visa.
Contact: 91228010
Indian male Structural Engineer
(M.Tech) with 3 years Indian expe-
rience in designing searching for
suitable job placement.
Contact: 98334396,
Email: [email protected]
Electrical Engg : M 32, having 8
yrs experience in MEP/ EPC pro-
jects with MEDC, OETC & PAEW,
C.E.P holder with D/L,
seeking for better opportunity.
Contact: 93949885
Email: [email protected]
Indian male, Structural Engineer
looking for job in structural design
field. Having 6 years of experience
in design field. Residing in Muscat.
Contact: 91176187
Indian Female, 24 Years - MSc
Biotechnology. Worked in Inter-
national Crops Research Institute
For The Semi Arid Tropics for pro-
ject work as trainee. Looking for
suitable job. Mobile: 92619048,
Email: [email protected]
Procurement Coordinator Indian
male 30 yrs B.Com (computers)
4 years experience in Saudi Arabia
in Construction Company, looking
for any suitable position on visit
visa till 15 May 16.
Contact: 0968-98590811 Email:
Indian female Mech. Engineer
with 1 & half years experience
looking for suitable placement.
Interested in Sales & Marketing
also. Contact: 94743992
Email: [email protected]
Indian female B.Tech (Civil)
looking for suitable placement.
Contact: 93480346
Email: [email protected]
Electrical Engineer 5.5 years
experience and 2 years Gulf expe-
rience. Valid GCC driving license
ph:+968-95527936
Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp
seeks suitable position ina reputed
company. NOC available.
Contact 96789711
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
Structural buildings marine.
Available NOC release.
Contact: 92451323.
Email: [email protected]
Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience
in designing, assembling, com-
missioning execution etc having
valid GCC license too looking for a
suitable. Contact: 00968-98052942
Email: [email protected]
HSE Engineer (B.E Mech+Diploma
Safety+NEBOSH+OSHA) over
10yrs. Exp, (Visa Release Letter
(NOC) available), seeking suit-
able placement, Mob:97061817,
Email:[email protected]
Indian male, B.Tech, Software
Engineer well knowledge in com-
puter applications, android tech-
nology technical support on visit
visa seeking suitable placement
in IT or BPO. Contact: 99014938 /
93841724
Email: [email protected]
B.E Mechanical Engineer, In-
dian male 34 years, having 10+
years experience in MEP build-
ing construction field (HVAC,
Firefighting and Plumbing)
with Omani D/L. NOC available.
96978380;[email protected]
P
Electrician looking for a job,
6 years experience. Contact:
96001823
Shovel, JCB, Grader, Excavator, Operator GCC valid D/L looking
for job(overseas), looking for job.
Contact 95175192
Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian
male 24 years with 1+years Indian
experience,(Certified in Staad
Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).
Looking for a Suitable position.
Available In Sultanate of Oman
(Muscat) on Visit Visa.
Contact 92835952. E-mail:
Indian male 26 B.Tech Civil Engi-
neer 3 year’s 8 months Experience
at building construction. In Oman
2 year’s experience N.O.C available
seeking suitable placement
Contact : 97396269
Email : [email protected]
An Iraqi civil with more than
30 years experience in (Iraq and
G.C.C) looking for a job, (N.O.C)
available. Contact: 96561306
Email: [email protected]
Indian male, Mechanical
Engineer having 1year experi-
ence, on visit visa looking for
suitable job. Contact:97416564,
Email:[email protected]
Light Duty Driver, Fluent in
English, Arabic. Well knowledge of
Oman Areas looking for
suitable placement.
Contact 97950869
Indian male 34 years MBA finance
& marketing 7 years experience in
India accounts & Administration,
currently in Muscat on family visa.
Contact: 98104991
Email: [email protected]
Indian male, network cabling
technician (19 years Gulf experi-
ence) seeking for suitable place-
ment. NOC available. Contact :
0091-8089909265 (India),
E mail: [email protected]
Indian male 26 years, Graduate in
BBM & having Diploma in Logistics
with 3 years of experience in
Banking and Accounts looking for
suitable placement. Contact : + 968
97166820/ +91 9895102356
Email :[email protected]
A/C & Fridge Technician 25 years
experience in Oman India seeks
suitable placement. #95680380
MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUSW
Interested employer please call
Male having visa, 3 years in
Oman with valid D/L seeks suita-
ble placement. Contact: 95453393
Indian female master degree one
year experience seeking suitable
placement in any field.
Contact: 97792820
Email: [email protected]
BS in Electrical Engineering, Experience: 5 years(Power Plants).
Contact: 92475206 Email:
Indian male, 28, post graduate,
6+ yrs exp in Oman in sales (back
office) & credit control with valid
Oman D/L looking for suitable
placements. NOC available.
Contact: 920 66 523
Indian male,B.Com + Dip. Logistic
2year experience looking for a job
in Accounts/Logistics Field.
Presently on Visit Visa
Mobile: 93884951,
Email:[email protected]
Indian male, 40 Years, B. Com,
having 10 years experience in
Oman, Tally & ERP- looking for
suitable placement ( NOC and
Oman driving license available)
Tel- +91 89 43 109897
Rajeev. [email protected]
Indian female 10 years exp as
cook in Oman. South Indian &
Gujarati special looking for job,
company or restaurant.
Contact 90559292
HSE Engineer, Indian male, 5.5
Plus years Experience in Oil &
Gas Working in Shclumberger.
NEBOSH, IOSH, & NDT Certi-
fied, M Tech in HSE, CONTACT-
Mobile- +91 9867016808
Indian Male 30 year GCC driving
license and past experience as
project coordinator looking for a
suitable position. Project Coordi-
nation, Sales Executive, Marketing
Executive or any other suitable
post. Contact number -97070427
Assistant Accountant - B.Com
Graduate with excellent overall
skills. 2 Years of experience. Ready
for immediate joining.
Contact: sharonravi00@gmail.
com, 968-92049215
IT professional, B.E. in IT, CCNA,
MCSA, MCSE, 3yrs exp. in IT,
valid Omani D/L seeking suitable
placement in IT/Network/Server
support/Retail sales.
Contact 91496939.
HSE Engineer,Indian male, 5.5
Plus years Experience in Oil & Gas
Working in Shclumberger
NEBOSH,IOSH, & NDT Certi-
fied, M Tech in HSE. CONTACT-
Mobile- +91 9867016808
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com
Finance-Indian with 7 years expe-
rience in Finance & Accounts up
to finalization. Having D/L & NOC.
Mob:94122464,
Software Engineer with 5 + plus
years of experience in Infosys
ltd on visit visa seeking suit-
able vacancy in oman. Email :
[email protected] mob:
96896246205 / 96897032284
Indian male, 24 yrs, B. Com Grad-
uate more than 1 year experienced
in accounts planning to come for a
family visit in oman seeking for a
suitable placement .
Contact : 99339544 / 99743709
Indian Female looking for a part
time opportunity (Graphic Design/
Teaching/Research Assistant/
Business Development/Admin-
istration) Contact: 95811820 or
IT professional, B.E. in IT, CCNA,
MCSA, MCSE, 3yrs exp. in IT, valid
Omani D/L seeking suitable place-
ment in IT/Network/Server sup-
port/Retail sales. #91496939.
Indian male, Fire & Safety Engi-
neer having 1 year experience on
visit visa looking for suitable job.
Contact: 95208305
Email: [email protected]
Indian female, 27 yrs, B.E
(Telecom) with 3 yrs exp in IBM
(India) as Senior Security Delivery
Analyst. Now on family visa seek-
ing for suitable position.
Contact: 95600437
Tea boy looking for job Name:
Man Bahadar
Contact: 97859837
Electrical & Electronics diploma
engineer Indian male 22 years,
2 years experience currently in
visit visa. Contact 93047707
Indian Female, 29 Yrs Age, M.Sc
Microbiology, looking for Job any
reputed organization / Hospitals,
seeks suitable position.
Contact : 95218424 / 9610 6604.
On Family Residence Visa.
Sr. Sales & Marketing SpecialistIndian male, Diploma Engineer with BBA
& 16 yrs experience in Oman, worked with
MNC in retail (Telecom/ Lubricant sales)
and with construction industry handling
various products & subcontract projects.
Holding valid Oman D/L, NOC available.
Contact 96960991,
Email : [email protected]
Pakistani male Diploma Civil
Engineer 4yrs exp in Oman bull-
ing & mega projects, valid license
Oman.Contact:98921022
Site Supervisor, Diploma in Civil
Engg (cert attested) knows auto-
cad revit, salary exp: 250
Ph : 92279784
10 yrs experience in Oman in
logistics / purchase have Oman
D/L looking for suitable placement.
Contact 96410767.
email :[email protected]
DAILY GUIDED6 T U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
Indian B-Com Graduate 1 year
Experience in market survey, Valid
Driving License, looking for any
suitable post. Contact: 92567020
/ 96930392, shwayanad@gmail.
com
Indian male, M. Com, 11 years
experience in the field of account-
ancy and Stores. Good knowledge
in SAP, Tally, oracle, MS office and
Excel seeks suitable placement.
Contact 92859733
Senior Accountant, NOC avail-
able, more than 5 years exp., born
& bought up in Oman, Account-
ing upto finalization, computer
skills tally9, Sage ERP ACCPAC
500(6.0A), Vcams, Audit ,valid
Oman driving license, lan-
guages known English, Arabic,
Hindi. Can join immediately.
Tel: (+968) 96339599, E-mail-
Indian male, M.Com, 7 years
Oman experience in the field of
accounts and valid oman driving
license & NOC . Good knowledge
in SAP, Tally, oracle, MS office and
Excel seeks suitable placement.
Contact 92859733
Indian male 42, BE-Civil 13 years
experience in Road construction.
looking for suitable placement.
having valid Oman driving license.
Contact: 95225214, Email:
Indian Male 28 years, Mechanical
Engineer (Diploma) with 2 years’
experience, Automobile ITI NCVT,
CSWI-BGAS Painting QC Grade-2,
NDT Level-2, ISO Lead Auditor QA
(IRCA), Piping QC & Isometric Draw-
ings, WPS & WPQR, available on
Visit Visa, looking for a suitable job.
Contact: 90653733,
The Business Development Man-ager, Iraqi, Exp. 15 Years Inside and
outside Oman following activities:
construction(Very strong and quali-
fied to bringing business for civil
work Or any type of the construction
work for many million per year with
a good experience in pricing and
collect payment and cash flow &
marketing projects & investments &
tenders & real estate.
Contact: 92385033
HSE Engineer, Indian male, 4
Plus years experience in Oil & Gas,
Working in Shclumberger,
NEBOSH,IOSH, & NDT Certified,
M Tech in HSE.
Mobile- +91 9867016808
Indian female 27 yrs, Diploma in
Aviation & Hospitality manage-
ment, seeking suitable placement.
Curnetly in Oman, NOC Available.
Contact 94880684
Safety Officer 3 years of expe-
rience in safety certifications:
BE (Electrical and Electronics
Engineering),NEBOSH, IOSH, DHSE,
first aid. Contact +97474018995,
email:[email protected]
skype:midhunmike
Bachelor in Hotel Management
Having 13 years experience in
Catering Industry in all aspects of
Operations with D/L looking out for
a suitable placement.
Contact 90654826
Email: [email protected]
Indian Female on a visit visa hav-
ing master degree seeking suitable
placement in any field, 1 ,5 year
experience in HR .
Contact+968 91467576.
Indian with 3 years for experience
in sales and marketing fluency in
English, Arabic, Hindi, Tamil and
Malayalam looking for suitable job.
Also hold valid Driving License,
currently in oman
Mob : 93451439
Indian male network cabling tech-
nician (19-years Gulf experience)
seeking for suitable placement.
Contact 0091-8089909265 (India),
Email: [email protected]
Indian female, MBA, Diploma in
Aviation & Hospitality mgt (IATA),
having 4 yrs of exp, on family visa
seeks job in Oman.
Contact-9910 4529, 95679557,
27 years old Indian male looking
hospitality jobs in Hotel. Experience
in customer service, front desk,
housekeeping supervisor, captain,
cashier,guest relation manager.
Contact. +968-90351742Email.
9 yrs exp Site Engineer in Civil &
Shade Structure. 2d, 3d draughts-
man (HOLDING OMANI DRIVING
LICENSE) seeking job.
Contact: 93790601
LAND SURVEYOR: Male, more
than 12 years’ experience in land/
pipe line surveying in Oman and
UAE. Looking for suitable place-
ment. NOC available.
Contact 91215843
ELECTRONICS ENGINEER Indian/
male/24Yrs,Bsc.Electronics &
Communications,ITI,1.7 Years
experience as Service Technician
in India, on visit Visa, looking
For a Suitable Placement.
Contact :92794176 ,
E-mail: [email protected]
27 yearsold Indianmale looking
Jobs in documents Collection
executive.Experience in collection
executive.
Contact. +968-90358068
Email [email protected]
Indian male, 26 years old BA
Graduate having 1 year experience
in accounts finance field. Looking
for suitable Job On visit visa
immediately available.
Contact. 9565 9415
Anishkhan991867@gmail. Com
ELECTRONICS ENGINEER Indian/
male/24Yrs,Bsc.Electronics &
Communications,ITI,1.7 Years
experience as Service Technician
in India. On visit Visa,
Looking For a Suitable Placement.
Contact :92794176,
E-mail:[email protected]
Pakistani male 23 years old expe-
rience in travel agency - ticketing
looking for a suitable job, NOC avail-
able. Contact: 93253759
Indian male physiotherapist with
3 years of experience, with (moh
license and NOC available. seeking
suitable placement.
Contact 99767528, 91317863
HSE Engineer, Indian male, 4 Plus
years exp. in Oil & Gas, Working
in Shclumberger, NEBOSH, IOSH,
& NDT Certified, M Tech in HSE.
Mobile- +91 9867016808
Indian Male, 40 Years, B. Com, having
10 years experience in Oman, Tally
&ERP- looking for suitable placement
( Local release and Oman driving
license available. Tel- 92469789
14 years experienced light driver
with valid Oman license looking
for suitable job. Contact 99442481
Electrical diploma Engineer
Indian male 22 years, 2 years ex-
perience in control panel contact
93047707 [email protected]
Indian Male 42 year’s, MBA, Sr.
Material controller having 12 years
experience in Oman with reputed
companies. Having Oman driving
License, Seeks suitable replace-
ment immediately. Available NOC.
Cont. 00968-92944026,
Email – [email protected]
ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN Indian/male/24Yrs,Bsc.Electronics
& Comm,1.7 Years experience as
Service Engineer in India. On visit
Visa, Looking For a suitable place-
ment. Contact : 92794176
E-mail:[email protected]
Indian male Executive Secretary
having vast experience in admin,
logistics & procurement well versed
with computer seeks suitable
placement. #99514286
Indian male Kerala, B.com & B.PE.
Currently on visit visa, looking for
a suitable job in Accounts, Store
keeper etc. Ready to join as early as
possible. Contact:-93301023,
email:- [email protected]
NOC available, Indian Male - MBA
(HR) and B.E (E.I.E) with total 9
years of experience in HR & Admin
and Business Development (3 yrs
of Gulf exp.) can join immediately -
Contact 91240251 /
Indian Male 42 year’s, MBA, Sr.
Material controller having 12 years
experience in Oman with reputed
companies. Having Oman driving
License, Seeks suitable replace-
ment immediately. Available NOC.
Cont. 00968-92944026,
Email – [email protected]
Female Dentist with MOH license
and NOC, 7 years experience 2 yrs
out of them in Oman looking for a
job. Contact 97401243
IT System Administrator 6 yrs
experience, male, Filipino Desk-
top, Laptop and printer Support,
Backup administrator, Router and
switch Network, Server Adminis-
trator. +968 94134295
Female dentist with MOH license
and NOC ready to join 7 years
experience 2 of them in Oman.
Contact 97401243
M. Sc Computer Science – 2 year
Experience – in India, looking suit-
able Placement. Email:-elvisgt6@
gmail.com, Mob:-+91 9497482305
(INDIA), Oman:-98291626.
Indian, 30 years, B. Com with 2
years Oman experience in Tally
ERP-9 available in Muscat seeking
suitable positions. #95186652
Having 10 years exp. in Admin &
HR in reputed companies. Pres-
ently working in Muscat and seek-
ing for suitable placement.
Contact No.: 97693456. email :
ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN Indian/male/24Yrs,Bsc.Electronics
& Comm, 1.7 Years experience as
Service Engineer in India, On visit
Visa, looking for a suitable place-
ment. Contact : 92794176,
E-mail:[email protected]
B-tech Civil with honours, Civil
Engineer (structures) Experience
more than six years.
Contact 91431483. Email
HSE Engineer,Indian male, 4 Plus
years experience in Oil & Gas .Work-
ing in Shclumberger NEBOSH, IOSH,
& NDT Certified, M Tech in HSE.
contact +91 9867016808
PART TIME ACCOUNTANT avail-
able, well experienced in account-
ing up to finalization. knowledge in
tally also. contact. 92643875
Chief Accountant 25 years
experienced looking for part/full
time accountant job.
Contact: 95598477 / 98803439
Mechanical Engineering 6 years
experience. contact 00968-
998907110091 - 9841867534
Email:[email protected]
Indian Pediatric consultant, md
with 20 years experience and wife
gynecologist md with 15 years
plus experience seeking oppor-
tunities with reputed hospitals in
Muscat. [email protected]
Indian male: 24 years, diploma
in computer science and B.E(CSE)
having experience in hardware
and networking seeking for the
suitable job. Contact: 91170912,
Email- [email protected]
Indian male auto cad draughts-
man (civil) 8 years experience,
seeking for part time job. mobile
no: 0096899070584. email:
Civil Engineer (roads and struc-
tures) Education B. Tech Civil
Engineering with honours
experience more than six years.
Contact no 91431483 ,Email
Indian male 6 years exp in differ-
ent field, with valid Oman driving
license. Languages known Hindi,
English, looking for any job(Driver
for executives). Contact 98696795
Indian Female living in Ghubra -
Muscat near Emirates Shopping
Center. 20 years of experience in
Teaching. Able to handle all sub-
jects till grade 6. Need suitable job.
Contact- 94406552
Indian male,16 years Oil & Gas
experience ( Down Hole Tools ),
3 years in Oman, Dip. Mechanical
Engineer, Having D/L and NOC.
Email – [email protected],
Mob : 965 956 18.
PROCUREMENT OFFICER, Indian-
Male 34yrs,M.Com with 14 yrs
work Exp.(8 yrs in Oman) work-
ing in Construction Co LLC( for
ROAD,CIVIL,ELECTRO-MECHANI-
CAL & Others Projects ) and having
valid LT D/L, NOC available & ready
to join within a month-M:94064650,
Email: [email protected]
Sudanese male, 5 years experi-
ence in warehouse management
and logistics services#90644186
Draughtsman, 15 years’ experi-
ence, Indian male currently in
Oman looking for suitable position.
Gsm – 95358115, 96977289,
Email : [email protected]
Experienced B.Com graduate +
IATA Diploma holder looking for
Accounts/Admin/Travels related
job. Mob. 91142997.
NOC available
.
Indian male B.A degree & diploma
in hotel management with 16 years
experience as restaurant & catering
manager in Oman & Saudi with V/L
Oman D/L seeks suitable placement.
Contact : 92100141
HSE Engineer,Indian male, 4
Plus years Experience in Oil &
Gas .Working in Shclumberger.
NEBOSH,IOSH, & NDT Certified,
M Tech in HSE,
contact [email protected]
Mobile- +91 9867016808
MBA Graduate (Indian male 26
years) having 2 years experience
in Qatar as admin assistant looking
for suitable placement.
Contact 93041141 Email:
Indian male Network cabling tech-
nician ( 19-years gulf experience)
seeking for suitable placement.
Contact : 0091-8089909265 (In-
dia), Email: [email protected]
Indian female, MBA with 9 yrs of
experience in finance & procure-
ment currently on family visa
looking for suitable position in
finance & supply chain.
Contact 95622568
Admin Assistant. Having 5 years
experience in admin department
in reputed companies, presently
working in Muscat (NOC Available).
GSM. 00968-98404122, mail -
8 plus years of experience in Events
/Marketing Communication /confer-
ences / Trainings /Media repre-
sentation. Having UAE D/L. seeking
Suitable Placement: Contact:
95792820. [email protected]
Indian Male,Kerala,B.COM & B.PE
having 13Years of Physical Educa-
tion Teacher experience. Currently
on visit visa Looking for a suitable
job. Contact:- 968 94106834.
email:[email protected].
14 years experience in 5 star hotel
as sales manager in UAE & INDIA on
tourist visa looking for suitable op-
portunity please contact 91305978
Indian Female, 24 MA Eng. Litr
with 2 yrs experience in teach-
ing & 14 months in Administra-
tion cum Secretary, Currently
on visit visa, seeks suitable job.
Contact: 92613704/99260702,
Email:[email protected]
Bangladeshi Male, Univer-
sity MA, Working as Store
In-charge cum Logistic Manager
in Muscat; searching better job.
Phone:91997605. email:
Diploma(Electrical Engineering)
From Government polytechnic.
Age 27years, 6 years Experiance
in Maintenance, troubleshooting
and managing and Technical in
substation as a Electrical Engi-
neer. Seek suitable placement.
GSM- 92995899,
Indian male, 8.5 yrs experience,
B.Com Graduate with GCC exp &
valid driving license looking for
better job opening in Muscat.
Contact: 92609935 / 94771365
Indian male with 1 yr exp looking
for job in I.T as Web developer,
presently in Muscat on visit visa.
Contact: 92312978
Indian Female on a visit visa hav-
ing master degree seeking suitable
placement in any field, 1 and half
year experience in HR .
Contact: 91467576
.
2 years experienced male seeking
job related to safety. M. Tech in HSE,
MSc in Environmental
Science and IOSH certified.
Contact: 94653264
Indian male, M. Com with 3 yr
Oman Exp in Accounts with valid
NOC & D/L on Visit Visa, available to
join immediately . GSM :94744575
Indian Male B-Com Graduate
1 year, experience in market sur-
vey, Valid Driving License,
looking for any suitable post.
Contact: 92567020 / 96930392
Indian Female, M.Sc Computer
Science, Seeking suitable place-
ment in Muscat Area.
Contact : 98660672
Looking for a part time accounting
& admin job. Contact 99196621.
DAILY GUIDET U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6 D7
TOURS
RENT A CAR
25 - 50 seater bus with PDO & BP
specification for monthly rent &
small car with driver.
Contact: 99839898
SITUATION WANTEDCARGO
Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine
Tours contact 98029602, 92808636
We arrange tours & accommodation at all the beautiful places in Oman.
Contact 99839898
Moon Travel L.L.CSaudi Arabian Government approved agent
Contact: Tariq Al Balushi - 99218069 Ahmed Maseehuddin - 99353611, O ce: 24790746/24706217
Umrah Package by Road & AirBus Departures- Apr 19, May 03, 17 & 31.2016
Ramadan Schedule - Jun 06, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26 & 30.2016
RENT A CARBest Rates for Saloon
Contact: 97869042 / 95730550
SITUATION WANTEDBUSINESS
Required partner investor to
build an apartment in Al Mobelah.
Contact: 99355330
MATRIMONIAL
SIT.WANTED GOOD NEWS
Ayurvedic treatment for joint
pain, backache, paralysis, mas-
sage, steambath, obesity, Spondy-
litis, Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic,
18 November Street, Azaiba.
Contact: 99639695 / 97397320
Ayurvedic treatment for
backache, paralysis, arthritis etc &
massage, All Season
(Vaidyaratnam). Contact:
24475280 / 95371664 / 2504980
www.siddhayur.com
FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know
more about Islam,
please call: 99425598, 99250777,
99353988, 99253818, 99341395,
and 99379133. For ladies:
99415818, 99321360, 99730723
Orvisit:www.islamfact.com
Malankara Catholic Male Nurse (28) from Thiruvalla working in
Nizwa Private Co. Alliance invites
parents/nurses working in Oman.
Contact 968 98267338,
0091 9287215726
Ezhava boy age 31 height 5’ 6”,
star Makam, aeronautic engineer
seeks suitable alliance.
Contact 99550870
Indian male Roman Catholic 40yrs divorcee working in Muscat.
Seeks suitable alliance from
widow/ divorcee/ single.
Contact 96059801.
WEB, ERP and Business Intel-
ligence (BI) creation and manage-
ment at rock bottom price.
Contact: http//webviewoman
Investment opportunity for
lucrative building and decorative
product. Contact: 99421513
Email: [email protected]
Sri Lankan Male 34 BSc. (Physics)
5 years experience as a site man-
ager and administration supervisor
in Oman with valid D/L looking for a
suitable position. contact 99153061
Indian male 37 YEARS, BSC
COMPUTER SCIENCE having More
than 8yrs of experience with well
exposure in PDO, DALEEL & OXY as
IT SUPPORT / DESKTOP SUPPORT
ENGINEER. Seeking suitable place-
ment. Contact 968-99758320 /
Sr Material controller, having
13 years experience in material
controlling in reputed companies.
Presently working in Muscat (NOC
Available). Contact 92944026,
Email [email protected]
D8 T U E S D AY, M AY 3 , 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,
should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s
publication. * Subject to space availability
CATERING SERVICES We do industrial catering
service, Canteen / mess,
3 times packed meals and
all types of catering events.
Contact: 92188777 / 99249899
SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES
A/C Maintenance & Servicing,
Fridge, Washing machine & Dish
washer repairing, Painting & Clean-
ing services, Electrical & plumbing.
Contact 99447257 / 97014234 /
24504281
Service & maintenance of split &
window A/C. Contact: 95273713
We do building maintenance all
kind of works. Contact 99247663
Water proofing ABUQABAS-
Contact 99320217/24788722
Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont
Maintenance services electric,
plumbing and A/C. Contact:
96524904 /94285064
B
MY
Pest control treatments, Ocean center LLC
Contact 99344723
House shifting. Contact 99708138
Marble crystallization & grinding, cleaning & carpet shampooing.
Ocean center LLC.
Contact 99344723
Muscat Driving School estab-
lished for over 15 years drive
safe with MDS. Meet our pro-
fessional friendly Instructor.
Contact: 99773651 / 95840670
Sohar 26844412 Ruwi / Darsait
24781123 MGM 24399951
AL Khudh 24536348
Marble crystallization & grinding, Ocean center LLC
Contact: 99344723
All MEP & Civil shop drawings.
Contact : 93070771 Email :
Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile
polishing, pest control &
anti-termite treatment, general
cleaning painting,Plumbing,
Electrical, shifting. Contact Mun-
dhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.
Contact: 24810137, 99450130
Complete building maintenance
Midawa Trading Est.
Contact: 94614479
Split A/C servicing R.O 10 only.
Contact: 94217681 /99210141
Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles
polishing, carpet shampooing,
maintenance. Contact ABU QA-
BAS- 99320217 /24788722
CAD drawings Archi/ MEP CAD –
comply BIM. Contact: 91233975
House Shifting Packing. Contact: 99657644 / 98518013
Split & window A/c installation &
maintenance specialist package &
ducted units. Contact 98667326
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 93769089 /
95323517
House shifting & transporting.
Contact 92490422
Split unit & window unit A.C
servicing & maintenance.
Contact: 96236476
Split unit & widow unit A.C servic-
ing & maintenance.
Contact: 95323517 / 93769089
SITUATION WANTEDEDUCATION/CLASSES/COMP./WEB.
Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English
class for Malayalam Speakers in Azaiba and Ruwi
earn in two monthstion guaranteed
Tel: 95244310
Wanted partner handover 20% to 30% running building Construction
Company. Contact: 97491117
Karate and self defense classes at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per month
twice a week Monday and Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM. Contact: 98294551
MANPOWER
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation. Contact:
91310107
Picking and drop Al Khuwair
to Rusayl. Contact: 91287470 /
98957524
Transportation available Ruwi to
Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.
Contact: 91103909
Driver with car.Contact
93346085
Transportation. Contact: 95190627
Transportation required from
Qurum to WadiKabir
at afternoon only 1 PM.
Contact - 99012165
Transportation. Contact 99508282
Transportation. Contact 92015894
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s
publication. * Subject to space availability