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SATURDAY, October 10, 2015 / 26 Dhul Hijja 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certifi ed Company

HM sends greetings

HM receives thanks cable

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of greetings to President Epeli Nailatikau of Fiji on his coun-try’s Independence Day anni-versary. In his cable, His Maj-esty the Sultan has expressed his sincere greetings and wishes to the president and his coun-try’s people.

His Majesty the Sultan has also sent a cable of congratula-tions to President Yoweri Mu-seveni of Uganda on his coun-try’s Independence Anniversary.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere congratulations along with best wishes to President Museveni and his country’s people. -ONA

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a cable of thanks from President Xi Jinping of China in reply to His Majesty’s congratulatory cable on the occasion of the An-nual Anniversary of establish-ment of China.

In his cable, President Jinping expressed thanks for His Maj-esty’s congratulations, wishing His Majesty good health and success. He commended the existing cooperation between the two countries in various spheres, stressing joint eff orts to further push the relations be-tween the two countries. -ONA

C A B L E S

C H I N A

Animal lovers call for laws to protect pets in Oman

MOBIN MATHEW BLESSONmobinmathew@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman needs legisla-tion to protect animals, according to animal lovers in the Sultanate.

Eff orts are on to convince the authorities on the need to cre-ate laws to protect animals in the country, Nada Al Moosa, the founder of Omani Paws, told Times of Oman.

Omani Paws is a group that works to sterilise stray animals, rescues those that are sick, in-jured, or abandoned, and fi nds new homes for rescued animals.

There was recently, a social me-dia post on children dragging a kit-ten tied to a string along the road.

Even though an animal rescuer intervened, the kitten died. “The poor kitten was half skinned and bones were showing, it’s face a picture of agony at its slow and horrifi c death,” said Dr Emily Shotter, a member of the Omani Paws group.

Later, one of the group mem-bers contacted them and tried to educate them about proper treat-ment to animals.

“I have seen several cases where people own pets but do not care for them adequately and, in ex-treme cases, are guilty of neglect and cruelty,” Shotter said.

According to Al Moosa, many people enjoy owning pets, but do not know about the responsibili-

ties that come with the pets.“They don’t research before

owning a dog or a cat, they don’t know what certain breeds need, so they end up unhappy with their pets and abandon or give them away,” Al Moosa said.

While Shotter feels that some people here have a less than posi-tive attitude towards animals, she

added that this does not apply to everybody.

“I know people who adore ani-mals and have pets at home that are treated like members of their family,” she said.

She also said she knew of people here who have experienced things rarely seen, when it comes to suf-fering, neglect or cruelty towards

animals,” Shotter added. According to Ala Al Shahwarzi,

a supporter for the protection of animals, there are no eff ective plans to control the over-popula-tion of stray animals in Oman.

“The only solution the authori-ties think they have is to shoot dogs and poison cats,” says Ala.

However, as Shotter points out, “A tried-and-tested and very ef-fective solution to control over-population is a ‘Trap-Neuter- Re-lease’ (TNR) programme. If such a scheme is introduced and we run the scheme for a few years, we could control and reduce feral population, just as in many places in Europe and the US.”

Animal lovers say that there should be education in schools, not only about respecting and valuing animals, but also teaching young people not to harm or make animals suff er.

“There should be an aware-ness campaign using the media to teach the younger generation how to respect and value animals,” Al Moosa, the founder of Omani Paws, said.

Keeping pets also comes with an additional

responsibility of taking care but many shun

them once they fi nd the work burdensome

BAD SHAPE: A neglected cat surrendered by its owner.

COLOURS OF JOY With their fragrance and colours, fl owers rarely fail to lift the mood of the

beholder. And, their is no dearth of these gifts-of-nature in Oman, par-

ticularly during this season. Times of Oman photographer A R Rajkumar

captured some of the colours in his camera recently. See also >A3

Barriers on vehicle sides, rear help cut accidents in OmanTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Under-ride protec-tion on the rear and sides of ve-hicles, which prevents cars from sliding underneath a larger vehi-cle during collisions, has helped reduce the number of road inju-ries and deaths.

Truck accidents decreased in 2014 compared to 2013, accord-ing to the data released by the Di-rectorate General of Traffi c and published by the National Center for Statistics and Information.

A 17 per cent decrease in truck accidents was recorded in 2014, compared to 2013, as well as a 28 per cent reduction in deaths and 70 per cent drop in injuries.

Lieutenant Colonel Said Al Zarafi , Head of the Department of Vehicle Registration noted, “The decision to install under-ride protection in the front and back of many vehicles, including trucks, is one of the most recent improvements in traffi c safety.”

“The under-ride protection absorbs the shock of impact and prevents small cars from going under trucks, as well as decreases the severity of injuries during ac-cidents,” he explained.

The Directorate General of Traffi c has also put in place oth-er safety regulations for trucks, such as installing rotating bea-cons on truck roofs, as well as at the rear, which turn on when trucks weighing more than 6 tonnes apply their breaks.

Also, attaching refl ective tape on the back of trucks is a require-

ment to assure that approaching drivers see trucks from a dis-tance. Further, having lights on the sides and in front of trucks help in indicating the length and width when entering or exiting roundabouts and streets.

Lt. Col Al Zarafi added that all trucks are specially inspected during registrations and annual renewals by using the latest tech-nology. The inspection includes checking the frame of the truck and breaks, as well as inspecting the durability of tyres and check-ing their dates of production.

A walk-around inspection of the truck concludes the test, where offi cers determine if a truck is fi t to be driven. If any de-fects are spotted, trucks are not allowed on streets until the prob-lems are rectifi ed.

Al Zarafi made it clear that ac-cording to traffi c statistics, light vehicles are the main cause of truck accidents. “Tragic acci-dents which result in injuries and death are mainly caused by light vehicles colliding with trucks,” said Al Zarafi .

S A F E T Y M E A S U R E S

Gifts of love for child cancer patientsTARIQ AL HAREMI tariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Children at the paedi-atric oncology and haematology ward at Royal Hospital were re-cently given a treat, as members of ‘What’s Happening Muscat, Oman?’ distributed toys to chil-dren aged between one month and 12 years.

Joanne James, the group’s administrator, described the programme, saying, “It is over-whelming, emotional and amaz-ing. There are just no words, I’m speechless.”

Many of the group’s 23,000 members donated toys. Some of the toys were placed in the chil-dren’s playroom to share, while others were meant to be chosen by

the young patients as personal toys for themselves. “I’m glad to have them with us and it is good for the children. They are going through a hard time with the treatment and diseases. These occasions give them a small break and a sort of at-tachment to others,” said Ibrahim Al Ghaithi, Head of Paediatric On-cology and Haematology.

This is the group’s fi rst ‘ran-dom act of kindness’. Joanna said they are also planning to help at all hospitals in Muscat, as well as in villages.

R O Y A L H O S P I T A L

dip was witnessed in accidents involving

trucks in 2014 compared to 2013

17%

AMAZING GIFTS: ‘What’s Happening Muscat, Oman?’ group do-

nated toys for children admitted to Royal Hospital. – Supplied photo

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OMANOman doctors get high-tech training

1Doctors in Oman underwent training in using modern tech and

learnt about treatments in the fi elds of cardiology, neurology, neurosciences, nephrology and liver transplant. >A2

WORLDIsraeli troops kill five Palestinians in Gaza

2Israeli troops shot dead fi ve Palestinians in protests in Gaza and a

knife-wielding Jewish man wounded four Arabs. >A4

MARKETWealth funds tap rainy-day reserves

3From Oslo to Doha, Riyadh to Moscow, governments are

now being forced to start repatriating their rainy-day funds. >B1

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

A10Tunisian group gets Nobel Peace Prize

Speech via Oman TV26 November 1975

FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN

We belong to the international family. Our foreign policy is defi ned with clarity, a hand building from within, and a hand off ered in goodness, giving, continued participation in the world’s events and development.

‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’

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A2 S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

OMAN

Minister of Diwan of the Royal Court praises training programmes at Competencies Development Institute MUSCAT: Sayyid Khalid bin Hi-lal bin Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of the Royal Court, sponsored the launching ceremo-ny for training programmes at the Competencies Development Insti-tute (CDI) for the academic year 2015/2016.

The ceremony took place at Al Wahat Club on Wednesday even-ing in the presence of heads of units, advisers and senior offi cials at the Diwan of the Royal Court.

Sayyid Al Busaidi praised the steps taken by the institute since its inception, as well as those pro-grammes that were carried out in the past, expressing his thanks to

those in charge of the Institute and the benefi ciaries of its services.

Further, the Minister of the Di-wan of the Royal Court welcomed the partners of the institute from global training institutions, stress-ing the interest of the Diwan of the Royal Court in the development of competencies and abilities of the Diwan staff , inspired by the wise thinking of His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said and His focus on the Omani man as the foundation and purpose for development, with that man being the centre for the development of the country, hop-ing that these programmes will continue to provide best training.

Also, Dr. Khamis bin Saud Al Toobi, Acting Director General of CDI, reviewed the training pro-grams conducted by the institute over the past year, which benefi t-ted more than 800 employees from various job levels at the Diwan of the Royal Court.

He added that the institute’s programmes in the future will continue the high-level educa-tional and training services in the areas of leadership and manage-ment at all levels to enhance the current and future performance of the employees of the Diwan of the Royal Court.

Additionally, Ines Pires, Found-

er and Co-Chair of the Interna-tional School Protocol and Di-plomacy in Belgium, delivered a speech on behalf of the college.

Existing cooperationPires referred to the existing co-operation with the Institute and of the implementation of a spe-cialised programme for the devel-opment of skills of royal protocol offi cers during the last academic year, which included the most important scientifi c theories and practical techniques reached by the international protocol science.

She pointed to future pro-grammes to be launched by CDI

in collaboration with the college, which focuses on institutional di-plomacy and targets senior Diwan management.

Tina Tan also delivered a speech on behalf of the Civil Service Col-lege of Singapore, in which she reviewed their cooperation with CDI through implementation of a programme to develop an advisory capacity at the Diwan.

A presentation was screened at the launch ceremony on the achievements of the Competencies Development Institute during the past academic year and the most important programs for the current 2015/2016 academic year.- ONA

A C A D E M I C Y E A R 2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 6

Oman doctors get training in use of latest technologies

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Doctors in Oman re-cently underwent training in using modern technologies and learning treatments in the fi elds of cardi-ology, neurology, neurosciences, nephrology, liver transplants and liver disease.

To help physicians and techni-cians remain up-to-date on use of the latest technologies and treat-ment options, Hatat Polyclinic organised a Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on Wednesday at Majan Hotel.

Hatat Polyclinic is affi liated with Medanta-The Medicity, Gur-gaon, Delhi.

The management of the Hatat Ployclinic noted that the mission of the Medanta is to bring experts from India to assist in medical ed-ucation in Oman.

The CME was hosted by fi ve doctors from Medanta-The Me-dicity who spoke of recent ad-

vances and latest techniques being used in their fi elds.

Darwish bin Saif Al Moharbi, undersecretary Administration and Finance, Ministry of Health, was the chief guest of the evening.

Dr Praveen Chandra, who spe-cialised in Interventions, percuta-neous trans luminal coronary an-gioplasty (PTCA), balloon mitral valvuloplasty (BMV) explained the new techniques, such as tran-scatheter aortic valve implants, intravascular ultrasound, and in-tracoronary optical coherence to-mography, which has revolution-ised cardiology.

Dr Chandra is also recognised as one of the leaders in the fi eld of cardiology. He is a member of the Endovascular Intervention Society of India and the Asia-Pacifi c Society of Interventional Cardiology.

Dr Arvinder Singh Soin, an

expert in the fi eld of liver trans-plants, discussed the latest trends in the management of hepatic dis-eases, including cancers.

Dr Soin has performed the larg-est number of living donor liver transplants in India.

In his career as a liver trans-plant surgeon and hepatobiliary surgeon, Dr Soin has performed nearly 1,000 liver transplants in India and over 12,000 other com-plex liver, gall bladder and bile duct surgeries.

Recent advancementsDr Sumit Singh, a neurologist, elaborated on the latest research available to neurologists. He also discussed recent advancements in the management of epilepsy-head-ache, Parkinsonism and stroke.

Dr. Sumit is the head of the movement disorders and head-ache clinic at the Institute of Neu-

rosciences and the recipient of the “BL Soni Gold Meal”.

Dr Ajaya Nand Jha, a senior consultant and chairman of Me-danta Institute of Neurosciences, presented new techniques in the treatment of brain tumours.

He also discussed techniques for minimally invasive spine sur-geries. Dr Jha specialises in brain tumour surgery, Minimally Inva-sive Image Guided Surgery, cer-ebrovascular surgery, spinal sur-gery and Stereotactic Surgery.

Dr Jha is the fi rst neurosur-geon in India to use Image Guided Neurosurgery, dedicated X Knife (Radio-Surgery) and Intra-op-erative MR with image guidance for brain tumour surgery, and is one of the pioneers of aneurysm surgery.

Dr Jha is the fi rst in Asia to have introduced the “Brain Suite” for cranial surgery, with the use of

high fi eld MRI with an integrated image guidance system.

Dr Vijay Kher, chairman and senior consultant at the Medanta Kidney and Urology Institute, fo-cused on early detection of CKD (chronic kidney diseases) and techniques to slow the disease’s progression.

Astute clinicianHe is an internationally recog-nised nephrologist, an astute clini-cian, a well-known teacher and a keen researcher with extensive ex-pertise in Kidney Transplantation, Immunosuppression, Progressive Renal Diseases, acute kidney inju-ries and glomernlonephritiis.

Dr Mazen bin Jawad Al Kha-bouri, director general, Private Health Establishments at the Directorate of Private Health Es-tablishment Aff airs, was the guest of honour.

The Continuing

Medical Education

event was hosted

by fi ve doctors

from Medanta-The

Medicity who spoke

on recent advances

and latest techniques

being used in

their fi elds

UPGRADING SKILLS: The management of the Hatat Ployclinic noted that the mission of the Medanta is to bring experts from India to as-

sist in medical education in Oman. – Supplied photo

Tropical storm develops in Arabian Sea

MUSCAT: A tropical low de-pression has developed in the Arabian Sea. It is situated 1,200km away from the Oman coast and moving at a speed of 20 to 25 knots.

According to the forecast, the low pressure is likely to de-velop into a deep depression and move in North and North-West direction but is not going to have a direct impact on the Sultanate of Oman’s coast dur-ing the next three days.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has urged people to follow the forecasts about the movement of cyclone. -ONA

F O R E C A S T

GCC ministers discuss ways to promote tourism

DOHA: Ways to strengthen cooperation in tourism sector were discussed by the tourism ministers of the Gulf Coopera-tion Council (GCC) countries here. It was also decided to pro-mote integrated tourism devel-opment among the countries.

The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Tourism, participated in the concluding meeting of the second session of the GCC Tourism Ministers held in Doha.

Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrzi, Minister of Tourism, led the Sul-tanate’s delegation to the meet-ing. Also discussed were topics for developing tourism among the GCC countries, through revi-talisation of initiatives.

Additionally, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the fi eld of tour-ism was signed between the Government of the Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Tourism, and the Qatar Tourism Authority.

The MoU was signed by Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mah-rzi, Minister of Tourism,and Isa bin Mohammed Al Mahanadi, Chairman of the Qatar Tourism Authority.

The MoU comes as part of eff orts to strengthen bilateral cooperation, continuation in developing cooperation in the fi eld of tourism between the two countries, and as a refl ection of the awareness by both sides of the importance of tourism sec-tor as an eff ective element in promoting economic develop-ment through cultural and so-cial exchanges.

It provides for the formation of a technical committee of spe-cialists in the fi eld of tourism from both countries. -ONA

D O H A M E E T I N G

Scientists lay stress on groundwater reclamationTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Growing population and the development of industry has raised water consumption levels in an extreme way that has deteriorated the already dramatic situation of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid countries, said Prof. Heinz Hotzl, Professor Emeritus in Hydrology at the Karlsruhe In-stitute of Technology, Germany.

Hotzl made this comment while delivering keynote address on the topic, “Options and Problems of Managed Aquifer Recharge under Semi-arid conditions” at the open-ing ceremony of the Seventh Envi-ronmental Symposium of German Arab Scientifi c Forum for Envi-ronmental Studies at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).

“Groundwater is a major drink-ing water resource in most of the semi-arid regions in the world. Under the present climatic condi-tions, annual precipitation is gen-erally low and poorly distributed over the year. When rain does fall, it is commonly in intense storms with subsequent strong, but short fl ash fl oods. On the average, a few wet months face the major-ity of months with dry and hot conditions so that the potential evaporation prevails clearly the precipitation. Therefore, surface water resources exist only for a short period.”

“In the past, the natural under-ground water resources satisfi ed the demand of villages and small cities enabling even a limited pro-ductive agriculture. Now, climatic changes also make matters worse. Even extended aquifers have be-come severely over-pumped and are exhausted. Water scarcity in many countries is approaching critical levels. Improved technolo-gies are necessary to optimise the reclamation of the rare water re-

sources for human utilisation,” Hotzl added.

The Symposium was organised by the German Arab Scientifi c Forum for Environmental Studies entitled, “Environmental Protec-tion and Water Resources in the Middles East and North Africa-Water Resources, Air and Soils” was hosted by SQU.

The opening ceremony was held at SQU under the patronage of Dr Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, the Vice

Chancellor of SQU in the pres-ence of Hans-Christian von Reib-nitz, Ambassador of Germany to the Sultanate of Oman, and other dignitaries.

Speaking at the opening cer-emony, Prof. Dr. Fathi Zereini, Chairman of the German Arab Scientifi c Forum for Environmen-tal Studies, said environmental protection is not the privilege of the rich countries.

“It is our common duty. For ex-

ample, climate change does not stop at the borders. It threatens to exacerbate current problems regarding water availability. The eff ects of climate change are al-ready perceptible in all parts of the world. Water scarcity combined with high rates of population growth in this region is already a political issue. The confl icts re-garding ownership of entitlement to available water resources has led to relationships between vari-ous populations of this region be-coming strained. If water resourc-es become even more limited, this would of course destabilise the region and obstruct attempts to establish peace,” Zereini noted.

Climate changeAs many as 130 scientists and ex-perts from various institutions in Oman and abroad attended the symposium at SQU. The sympo-sium sessions addressed topics, such as water resources: protec-tion and management, wastewa-ter treatment and reuse, climate change, and, air and soil pollution and protection.

The German-Arab Scientifi c Forum for Environmental Studies is a group of scientists from diff er-ent scientifi c fi elds, as well as of in-dividuals and institutions sharing a common interest in the develop-ment of the German-Arabian rela-tions in environment fi eld.

S Q U S Y M P O S I U M

Under the present

climatic conditions,

annual precipitation

is generally low and

poorly distributed

over the year

Prof. Heinz Hotzl Professor Emeritus in Hydrology

Alawi receives credentials of Tunisia, Egypt ambassadors

MUSCAT: Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Re-sponsible for Foreign Aff airs received copies of credentials of Sabri Majdi Sabri, appoint-ed-ambassador of the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt to the Sultanate and Farhad Khlif, appointed-ambassador of the sisterly Republic of Tunisia to the Sultanate.

The Minister Responsible for Foreign Aff airs receives the cre-dentials of ambassadors when he met them in his offi ce on Thursday.

Pleasant stayBin Alawi welcomed the ambas-sadors and wished them a pleas-ant stay and success in their tour of duties as ambassadors to the Sultanate.

The minister also wished the good relations between the Sul-tanate and their countries fur-ther progress and growth. -ONA

A P P O I N T M E N T

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COLOURFUL FLOWERS ADD TO THE CHARMING HUES OF THE SULTANATE

Flowers are always a pleasant sight to the

eyes. Their sweet smell makes our day

beautiful one. These colourful fl owers

enhance the beauty of Oman. Some

pictures clicked by A R Rajkumar which

shows the beauty of fl owers in Oman.

A4 S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

REGION

Five Palestinians shot dead by Israeli soldiers

GAZA/OCCUPIED JERUSA-LEM: Israeli troops shot dead fi ve Palestinians in protests in Gaza on Friday and a knife-wielding Jewish man wounded four Ar-abs in southern Israel in a wave of violence that has fuelled talk of a new uprising against Israeli occupation.

The Israeli soldiers shot across the border into Gaza after the Palestinians came too close to the frontier, throwing stones and roll-ing burning tyres, an Israeli army spokeswoman said. Gaza medics said fi ve people were killed and 30 wounded.

The protests were in solidar-ity with Palestinians protesting in Occupied Jerusalem and the Is-raeli-occupied West Bank, where tensions have surged in 10 days of violence in which four Israelis and at least eight Palestinians have been killed.

AngerPalestinians have been angered by events at the Al Aqsa mosque com-pound in Occupied Jerusalem and fear Israel wants to change the sta-tus quo at the site.

Israeli Prime Minister Benja-min Netanyahu has denied want-ing to change conditions, but his assurances have done little to quell alarm among people across the region.

The violence is not of the inten-sity of two Palestinian uprisings in the late 1980s and early 2000s but the attacks have prompted talk of a third “Intifada”. Both Ne-tanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have called for calm and Palestinian police con-tinue to coordinate with Israeli se-curity forces to try to restore order, but there are few signs of the ten-

sion and violence dying down. In Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail

Haniya praised Palestinians who have carried out knife attacks as “heroes” and said a new Intifada focused on Occupied Jerusalem was underway.

“This is Friday, this is the day of rage... It is a day that will represent the start of a new Intifada in all of the land of Palestine,” he told fol-lowers after prayers.

“We give our souls and blood for (Occupied) Jerusalem, (Occupied) Jerusalem and Al Aqsa is part of the religion.”

Earlier on Friday, a Jewish as-sailant stabbed four Arab men in the southern Israeli city of Dimo-na, an attack denounced by Net-anyahu and described by one of his ministers as “terrorism”.

ShotIn the northern city of Afula, an Israeli-Arab woman was shot sev-eral times and wounded by Israeli police as she held up a knife. Police said she had tried to stab a bus sta-tion guard, although video footage of the incident did not show that.

In the Old City of Occupied Je-rusalem, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a 14-year-old Jewish boy, and near a Jewish settlement in the Occupied West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian stabbed

an Israeli policeman before being shot dead.

There was also violence in the Occupied West Bank city of Ra-mallah, with video footage show-ing an Israeli army jeep running over a stone-throwing Palestinian, who was wounded.

The violence is on a smaller scale than in the two intifadas but mistrust between Israel and the Palestinians is deep after their last negotiations ended in April 2014 without progress.

IntifadaA new Intifada would further com-plicate eff orts by world leaders to resolve confl icts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and there is little appetite to re-engage in peace eff orts be-tween Israel and the Palestinians after many failures in the past.

The chances of peace talks resuming before US President Barack Obama’s term ends appear slim. Netanyahu has accused Ab-bas, his Fatah party and the Ha-mas of inciting the violence in Oc-cupied East Jerusalem in recent weeks. He reiterated that message at a news conference on Thurs-day, adding that there was no “quick fi x”.

“We are in the midst of a wave of terrorism with knives, fi rebombs, rocks and even live fi re,” he said.

“While these acts are mostly un-organised, they are all the result of wild and mendacious incitement by Hamas, the Palestinian Author-ity, several countries in the region and... the movement in Israel.”

Abbas has praised Palestin-ians for defending Al Aqsa but also urged people to engage in “peace-ful popular resistance”.

As well as tensions over Al Aqsa, Palestinian anger has mounted as Israeli forces have taken a tough-er line against protesters who are violent.

Netanyahu has told troops and police they can shoot Palestinian stone-throwers if they have reason to believe an Israeli life is threat-ened. Israeli mayors have encour-aged residents with gun licences to carry their weapons.

There is also frustration at the failure of Israeli police to track down the Jewish perpetrators suspected of an arson attack on a Palestinian family in the Occu-pied West Bank two months ago in which a child and his parents were killed.

In turn, Israelis are on edge af-ter deadly stone-throwing attacks by Palestinians and the killing of an Israeli couple in the Occupied West Bank 10 days ago. They were shot as they drove in their car with their four children. — Reuters

Israeli soldiers shot

across the border

into Gaza after the

Palestinians came

too close to the

frontier

IS militants seize villages, close in on Aleppo city in Syria BEIRUT/ANKARA: IS militants have seized villages close to the city of Aleppo from rival insur-gents, a monitoring group said on Friday, despite a Russian air-and-sea campaign that Moscow says has targeted the militant group.

The Russian defence ministry said air strikes on rebel positions in northern Syria had killed 300 anti-Assad insurgents in nearly 70 sorties over the last day. There was no independent confi rmation of the death toll.

The RIA news agency said 200 insurgents were killed in an attack on the Liwa Al Haqq rebel group while 100 were killed in Aleppo. Two IS fi eld commanders were amongst the dead, the defence ministry was quoted as saying.

The Syrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights, which monitors the fi ghting on the ground, said there had been no signifi cant advances by government forces backed by allied militia in areas where ground off ensives were launched this week. “It’s back and forth,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said separately one of its generals had been killed late on Thursday near Aleppo, once Syr-ia’s most populous city.

IS is now within 2km (1 mile) of government-held territory on the northern edge of Aleppo which has suff ered widespread damage and disease during the four-year civil war that erupted in the wake of protests against Assad.

Syria’s military has launched a major attack in Syria’s west to re-capture land lost to non-IS rebels near the heartland of Assad’s mi-nority Alawite sect, an area vital to his survival.

As the operation in the west pushed ahead, IS said its fi ghters had captured fi ve villages in its northern off ensive and killed more than 10 soldiers or militiamen.

The British-based Observatory said it was the biggest advance by IS since it launched an off ensive against rival rebels in the Aleppo countryside near the Turkish bor-der in late August.

“SI has exploited the Russian air strikes and the preoccupation of

the (rebel) Free Syrian Army in its battles in Hama, and advanced in Aleppo,” said one rebel command-er with fi ghters in the region.

Russian warplanes and war-ships have been bombarding tar-gets across Syria for 10 days in a campaign Moscow says is target-

ing IS fi ghters, who control large parts of eastern Syria and of neigh-bouring Iraq. But the campaign ap-pears to have mainly struck other rebel groups, some of which had been battling to stop the IS ad-vance across Aleppo province. The Russian defence ministry said it

fl ew 67 sorties in the last 24 hours.US President Barack Obama is

set to overhaul Washington’s ap-proach to supporting Syrian rebels after this year’s troubled launch of a military training programme and is expected to speak on the matter within hours. US Defence Secre-tary Ash Carter said, however, on Friday in London that the United States had indications that Russian cruise missiles did malfunction.

French Rafale warplanes at-tacked an IS training camp in their stronghold of Raqqa overnight. “We struck because we know that in Syria, particularly around Raqqa, there are training camps for foreign fi ghters whose mission is not to fi ght IS on the Levant but to come to France, in Europe to carry out at-tacks,” said French Defence Minis-ter Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The Observatory reported a new wave of Russian air strikes in the west on Friday morning on Hama and Idlib, apparently in support of the ground off ensive against anti-Assad rebels.

The off ensive has focused around the Ghab Plain, next to

Syria’s western mountain range which forms the Alawite heart-land and the important strategic main north-south highway run-ning north from Hama towards the cities of Idlib and Aleppo.

Securing those areas would help consolidate Assad’s control over Syria’s main population centres in the west of the country, far from the IS strongholds in the east.

The IRGC said one of its most senior generals, Hossein Hamed-ani, was killed near Aleppo late on Thursday. Hamedani was a vet-eran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and was made deputy chief com-mander in 2005.

Iranian lawmaker Esmail Ko-sari said Hamedani had played an important role preventing rebel fi ghters seizing the capital Damas-cus earlier in Syria’s confl ict, and had returned for a few days be-cause of his deep knowledge of the country. The Observatory, which monitors Syria’s confl ict through a network of sources in the coun-try, said Hamedani was killed near Kweires air base, about 20 miles (35km) east of Aleppo. — Reuters

W A R W I T H I N N A T I O N

CLASHES: A Palestinian demonstrator runs amid smoke during clashes with Israeli security forces in

the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday. Photo - AFP. – Credit

VIOLENT DEMONSTRATION: Kurdish residents take part in a

protest during clashes with riot police in Sulaimaniya, northern

Iraq, on Thursday. – Reuters

Kurdish protesters demanding wages scuffl e with policeARBIL: Protesters hurled stones and scuffl ed with riot police in the second largest city in Iraq’s Kurdish north on Thursday, in the most intense show of discon-tent since an economic crisis hit the region.

Teachers, hospital workers and other public sector employees have taken to the streets and gone on strike for a week, demanding their salaries from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is three months in arrears.

Thursday’s protest focused on a fi ve-star hotel in the centre of Sulaimaniyah, where political parties were meeting to resolve a deadlock over the presidency that has compounded the eco-nomic crisis.

President Massoud Barzani’s mandate expired on August 20 but rival factions have yet to agree on the terms to extend his tenure, and many Kurds accuse their leaders of using or even cre-ating problems for leverage.

“Instead of resolving the crisis they have deepened it,” said Ari Ahmed, the headmaster of a sec-ondary school in Sulaimaniyah. “Only ordinary people are suff er-ing in this political game.”

The demonstrations threaten to undermine stability in the re-gion at a time when it is at war with IS militants.

The economic crisis began in early 2014 when Baghdad slashed funds to the region, and has been exacerbated by the confl ict with IS group and a drop in oil prices that has pushed the region to the verge of bankruptcy.

“The crises must not be mixed up with political matters that will take Kurdistan in an unstable direction,” the region’s deputy prime minister, Qubad Talab-ani, said at a meeting with the teacher’s union in Sulaimaniyah, which has backed the protests.

Thousands of young Kurds have left the region, heading to Europe as part of a larger exodus of people from the Middle East.

The last serious civil unrest in the region was in 2011, when Kurds protested against corrup-tion and nepotism. — Reuters

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READY FOR ASSAULT: A French Air Force Rafale fi ghter jet, in a

picture released on Friday by the French Defence Audiovisual Com-

munication and Production Unit (ECPAD), prepares to take off from

a base in an unidentifi ed location, to strike targets in and around

Raqqa, Syria. – Reuters/ECPAD/Handout

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps most senior generals, Hossein Hamedani, was killed near Aleppo late on Thursday. Hamedani was a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and was made deputy chief commander in 2005.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps

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Lalu will remote control Bihar if grand alliance wins: Modi

SASARAM/AURANGABAD: Raising the ‘Jungle Raj’ pitch, Indi-an Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday warned that Lalu Prasad will “remote control” the aff airs in east Indian state of Bihar and “kid-napping” will be the only industry that will fl ourish if the opposition grand alliance comes to power.

Addressing election meetings in Sasaram and Aurangabad ahead of the Bihar polls starting on Oc-tober 12, Modi also attacked Nit-ish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Sonia Gandhi for not giving an account of their performance of their 60 years rule in the state and said they have nothing else to speak except abuse him during campaigning.

“He (Lalu) now wants to run Bi-har through remote control since he himself cannot contest elec-tions. He says that he is a ‘Big Boss’ and he can make anyone dance to his tunes,” Modi said in Sasaram, reminding people of Lalu’s con-viction in the fodder scam due to which he has been barred from contesting polls.

RidiculedScaling up the attack against the grand alliance on the issue in an-other poll rally in Aurangabad, Modi ridiculed Nitish Kumar for objecting to his ‘jungle raj’ com-ments instead of Lalu doing so.

“When we talk about ‘jungle raj’, it is Nitish Kumar who gets dis-turbed and not Lalu. It is he who had called Lalu’s rule as ‘jungle raj’.Now he is objecting it being called so. Does Bihar need jungle raj again? What industry fl ourished during jungle raj? It is only the kid-

napping industry that fl ourished,” the prime minister said.

“New cars were snatched away, the houses of the poor were cap-tured. Do you want such days again in Bihar? Should Bihar go back to the same days?,” Modi asked.

Attacking Kumar on his prom-

ise of ushering in good governance, the prime minister reeled out fi g-ures of crime in the state ever since the JD-U leader joined hands with RJD, ushering in a fresh spell of lawlessness.

He said there are indications to this eff ect ever since they have

come together and as many as 4,000 abductions have taken place between January and July.

He also recalled that a police of-fi cer was shot at in Patna last night.

“If a police offi cer is not safe.How can a common man be? This kind of jungle raj has already come when they have just come together.What will be the fate of Bihar if you commit the mistake of voting for them. Please save Bihar from be-ing ruined,” he said. BJP has been targeting the grand alliance, saying with Lalu being a part of it, there will be ‘jungle raj 2’.

Training his guns on leaders of the grand alliance, he said, “Should Lalu, Kumar and Sonia Gandhi not give an account of their 60 year rule and what they did for Bihar? But during campaigning, these three have not even spoken on it.

“They only abuse Modi day and night. Early morning they see the dictionary to fi nd new abuses for Modi. Now even the dictionary does not suffi ce. So they have now come out with a factory to manu-facture new abuses,” he said at a rally in Aurangabad.

In Sasaram, the constituency of Dalit leader late Jagjivan Ram, he hit out at Kumar for “backstab-bing” dalits by removing maha dalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi as chief minister. Manjhi, who now heads Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secu-lar) and is an NDA ally, was also on the stage when Modi attacked Ku-mar on the issue of Dalits.

“His(Kumar’s) arrogance will defeat him. He has committed the sin of backstabbing the son of a Dalit. He backstabbed him for per-sonal gains,” Modi said.

Terming the grand alliance as a coming together of “opportunists”, Modi asked people to punish those who ruined Bihar.

“This election is not about who forms the next government or which party comes to power. It is not about making a new gov-ernment, but about punishing all those who ran previous govern-ments that ruined Bihar. You are the Supreme Court, you are the judges of Bihar. You have to press the button and punish the culprits on October 16,” he said. He also asked the voters to elect the BJP-led NDA government to change the fortunes of the state. -PTI

Modi attacked Nitish

Kumar, Lalu Prasad

and Sonia Gandhi for

not giving an account

of their performance

of their 60 years rule

in the state and said

they have nothing

else to do except

abusing him during

campaigning

His (Kumar’s) arrogance

will defeat him. He has

committed the sin of

backstabbing the son of

a Dalit. He backstabbed

him for personal gains

Narendra ModiPrime ministerWOOING VOTERS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at an election

rally in support of NDA candidates in Aurangabad on Friday. - PTI

Will India’s ‘smart cities’ tap into water wisdom reservoirNEW DELHI: Shanti Kushwa-ha waits anxiously for the wa-ter tanker to reach the slums of Seelampur in India’s capital New Delhi, bringing a scarce and fought-over essential.

Many of India’s urban slums have no piped water, only getting a delivery by public tanker on alter-nate days. So as soon as the tanker arrives, people rush with buckets and other containers to grab their share. “This struggle is now part of our life,” said Kushwaha. “The water supplied through tankers by the municipal body in our area is not enough.”

Frequent quarrels erupt be-tween neighbours trying to get water from the tanker, with eve-ryone wanting as much as pos-sible. Those who lose out have to fetch water from far-off public hand-pumps, overhead tanks or wells. Others get their water from friends and relatives who have a piped supply.

Residents in many other parts of the country face the same prob-lem, including in Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, where slum dwellers wait hours for tankers.

“We really have to struggle daily for water,” said Ramzan Khan, who

lives in Bhopal’s Banganga area, explaining that each family tries to fi ll up four or fi ve buckets.

Independent environmentalist Anupam Mishra said India’s cit-ies have a much greater need for potable water than acknowledged by the government, which can-not supply enough. “A large num-ber of people in cities depend on groundwater, and this has led to a sharp decline in the water table in a number of places,” he added.

High-tech initiativesIndia plans to develop 100 “smart” cities, creating modern satel-lite towns around existing cities. The aim is to create urban spaces where green, high-tech initiatives bring more effi cient management of resources, including water and energy, and better services to citi-zens. Experts predict the number of people living in Indian cities will touch almost 850 million by 2050, up from 350 million now.

A key question is how well equipped these “smart” cities will be to handle a bigger infl ow of citi-zens from rural to urban areas — not least when it comes to water.

According to data from India’s Urban Development Ministry, at

least 30 of 35 big cities have much less water than they need, leaving their inhabitants to deal with daily shortages. The government has said it will be in a position to meet water demand by 2021, Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ram Kripal Yadav told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

But experts don’t believe the government can meet this prom-ise, saying the gap will likely in-crease in the coming years.

In a 2012 report looking at wa-ter needs for the next fi ve years,

the Planning Commission of India said that, in cities with a popula-tion of over 100,000, only 73 per-cent of people were getting suffi -cient water. Nearly half the water supply was lost in distribution, as old, rusty water pipes fractured and broke, it added.

“The paradigm for water supply is to grab as much from wherever possible, while laying insuffi cient, leaky pipeline networks and not monitoring usage or billing,” said Nitya Jacob, head of policy for Wa-terAid India. “This must change

to maximise supply from local re-sources such as surface water, rain-water and groundwater,” he added.

Members of an expert panel set up by the government to suggest ways to improve urban drink-ing water supplies have called for clear and eff ective policy, arguing that offi cial agencies rarely try to preserve precious water sources.

Restoring water bodiesIn a report, the panel said city of-fi cials, planners, builders and de-velopers had ruthlessly destroyed water bodies in and around cities, despite their important role in re-charging groundwater and ensur-ing water security. Protecting and restoring those water bodies was crucial to meet rising demand, the panel concluded. In India, water is often regarded as a mere input for other activities rather than a resource to be used wisely and sus-tainably, experts say. Hence water management is ineffi cient and plagued by corruption, they argue.

In addition, around three quar-ters of India’s surface water is pol-luted by domestic sewage, and the rest is unfi t for human use without treatment, Jacob noted.

“Cities never plan to collect and

treat sewage from unplanned colo-nies, slums and poor localities,” he said. Sewage treatment must be universal and high-quality, he explained, otherwise untreated sewage seeps into groundwater which is then pumped up for hu-man consumption. “Increasingly we will be drinking our own sew-age,” he warned. India’s “smart” cities will clearly need better plan-ning for water and sanitation than is the case now. “It is important for the government to think out of the box,” said Jacob.

ResponsibilityYadav said individual state gov-ernments are responsible for the supply of drinking water, with funding from the central govern-ment. Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which ran from 2005 to 2014, the government approved infrastruc-ture development schemes worth around Rs466 billion ($7.8 billion), including for drinking water, sew-age and drainage. Yet while public investment in drinking water pro-jects has increased nine-fold over the last decade compared to the preceding two, India’s cities are still thirsty. - Reuters

S C A R C E E S S E N T I A L

MANDYA/BENGALURU: Stepping up attack on Prime Minister, Congress leader Ra-hul Gandhi on Friday accused him and the BJP of “polaris-ing the country” through a “strategy” to make Hindus and Muslims fi ght with each other while remarking that Narendra Modi has a “history”.

Rahul alleged that “BJP people” were involved in the Dadri lynching incident and dismissed Modi’s pitch for communal harmony, alleging that he did not seem to want to stop his party that was behav-ing in a “completely diff erent way”. “The BJP and the prime

minister have a strategy of polarising this country.

CommentsThey have a strategy of making Hindus and Muslims fi ght with each other,” he told reporters at Mandya after visiting two families of debt-ridden farm-ers who committed suicide in the district recently.

Asked about Modi’s com-ments at an election rally in Bihar pitching for communal harmony and brotherhood, Rahul said, “It is nice for the prime minister to make such comments. But the prime minister has a history and the

prime minister has a party that is behaving in a completely diff erent way which he doesn’t seem to want to stop.”

Modi had said Hindus and Muslims should decide whether to “fi ght each other” or “together” to overcome pov-erty while asking the people to ignore “irresponsible” state-ments of politicians.“...You can see in every election.There is a polarisation taking place. Riots are taking place.There were BJP people in-volved in the Dadri incident,” the Congress vice president alleged about the September 28 lynching incident. - PTI

‘PM, BJP have polarising strategy, Modi has history’

STRUGGLE FOR WATER: Villagers after collecting water from the

panchayat at Heraegoja near Chikmagalur in Karnataka, recently.

The panchayat provides water to them only once in a month. - PTI

New survey predicts landslide win for NDA

NEW DELHI: A new pre-poll survey has predicted a landslide victory for the BJP-led NDA in Bihar with the alliance pro-jected to win 162 seats and the JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine set to win only 51 seats.

According to the latest pre-poll survey by Zee News and survey agency ‘Janta Ka Mood’ done three days ahead of the fi rst phase of polling on October 12, the NDA comprising BJP, LJP, RLSP and HAM is project-ed to win a thumping majority in the 243-member Assembly.

The survey has predicted that the Nitish Kumar- and Lalu Prasad-led grand secular alli-ance will be decimated to an all-time low of just 51 seats.

The survey projects that there will be a close contest on 30 seats where any party can win.

In the overall percentage share of votes, the survey pre-dicts the NDA alliance to get 54.8 per cent and the grand secular alliance likely to garner 40.2 per cent, while others will get six per cent of votes.

As per the survey, the NDA alliance has an edge over its ri-vals on all caste combinations except Yadav where the ‘grand secular alliance’ is likely to get more votes.

Among all caste combina-tions, the new poll fi nds 65 per cent of forward caste voting go-ing in favour of NDA alliance.

It has positive impressions on Dalit and Mahadalit where NDA is likely to garner 57 per cent of votes but ‘Grand Alliance’ will get 36 per cent only.

Among Other Backward Caste (OBC) voters, 55 per cent view NDA alliance favourably and only 40 per cent root for ‘grand alliance’.

But among Yadav voters, ‘grand alliance’ has an edge with 50 per cent while NDA alliance is likely to get 45 per cent, ac-cording to the survey.

The survey further said that only 35 per cent Muslim re-spondents in Bihar are rooting for NDA, while 58 per cent vot-ers are likely to favour the ‘grand secular alliance’. - PTI

B I H A R P O L L S

A6

INDIAS AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

One of his (Arvind Kejriwal’s) ministers has been caught red-handed taking a bribe and there was no option but to sack him. Faced with a situation like this, what Kejriwal is trying to do is make it count

Sambit Patra, BJP spokesperson

Kejriwal sacks minister over corruption charges

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Min-ister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday summarily sacked Environment and Food Minister Asim Ahmed Khan for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 600,000 from a builder and recommended a CBI probe.

Announcing the dismissal at a hastily called press conference, Kejriwal said the decision was tak-en as part of AAP’s zero tolerance policy towards graft and dared BJP to sack Rajasthan chief min-ister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan on corruption charges.

Kejriwal said Imran Hussain, a fi rst time MLA from Ballimaran in Old Delhi, will be the new face in his Cabinet.

Khan is the second minister to get the boot in the last eight months. In June, the then Law Minister Ji-tender Singh Tomar had to resign over the fake degree row.

“The government will not toler-ate corruption, be it by any MLA, minister, offi cial, Manish (Sisodia) or even by my son. If Manish com-mits corruption, I will take action, if I commit corruption Manish will take action against me.

“This is for the fi rst time in the history that a minister has been sacked taking suo motu cogni-zance of graft charges and BJP should also sack Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan for corruption charges against them,” Kejriwal said.

Elaborating on the complaint against Khan, the chief minister said the government had received an audio of Khan demanding Rs600,000 from a builder to allow contiune construction of a building in his constituency of Matia Mahal.

“We received a complaint last night that a building was being built in his constituency. It’s con-struction was stopped and money was demanded from the builder, who paid the amount. There was a mediator between the MLA and the minister,” Kejriwal said.

Sources said the around one-hour-long audio clip containing purported telephonic conversa-tion among Khan, the mediator and the builder over last one month, was given to Kejriwal by a senior AAP leader on Thursday.

The AAP leader was approached by a complainant whose identity has not been revealed.

Kejriwal and Sisodia listened to the audio clip three-four times last night to ascertain its veracity and concluded that prima facie there was a strong case against Khan.

Confessed wrongdoingsHe was summoned this morning and when confronted with the audio clip, Khan confessed to his wrongdoings, the source claimed.

However, there was no confi r-mation from Khan who refused to take calls or respond to text mes-sages. The Chief Minister later held meeting with senior AAP leaders including Ashutosh, Ku-mar Vishwas. After the meeting,

Kejriwal decided to remove Khan though some of the party leaders were of the view that his portfolios should be changed.

The ruling AAP said Kejriwal had set a new benchmark in pro-priety and asked the Modi govern-ment and chief ministers of other states to follow his example.

“There will be no compromise with corruption. The decision has been taken with a heavy heart as there was a lot of trust involved. He’s being removed till CBI probe is on,” Kejriwal said. The chief minister said a strong message has gone on Friday that AAP govern-ment will not tolerate graft. - PTI

Elaborating on the

complaint against

Food Minister Asim

Ahmed Khan, the

chief minister said

the government had

received an audio

of Khan demanding

Rs600,000 from

a builder to allow

construction

of a building

This is for the first

time in the history that

a minister has been

sacked taking suo motu

cognizance of graft

charges and BJP should

also sack Vasundhara

Raje and Shivraj Singh

Chouhan for corruption

charges against them

Arvind KejriwalDelhi chief minister

PUNISHED: Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Asim Ahmed

Khan who was sacked by the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in

New Delhi on Friday over corruption charges. - PTI fi le photo

NEW DELHI: After Arvind Kejriwal summarily sacked a Cabinet colleague for alleged graft, opposition parties on Friday questioned the integrity of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government and scoff ed at the Delhi chief minister’s remarks on having a “zero-tolerance” policy towards corruption.

Opposition parties called for a special session of the Delhi Assembly to be convened over the matter and also sought the immediate appointment of a state Lokayukta, a post lying vacant since November 2013.

“The party that has been formed to fi ght corruption is fi nding itself in such a position.What about the fi les that he (Asim) has signed over the past eight months?” asked Ajay Maken, Congress’s Delhi unit chief.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that Kejriwal’s at-tempt to project the matter as a “situation of virtue” was ironi-cal as the former had no other option but to remove the minister.

“One of his ministers has been caught red-handed tak-

ing a bribe and there was no option but to sack him. Faced with a situation like this, what Kejriwal is trying to do is make it count,” Patra said.

Former union minister and Congress leader RPN Singh claimed that had a Lokpal been there, “possibly the whole Delhi Cabinet would have to resign.”

“So many scams even when there is no Lokpal. Had Lokpal been there, imagine how many of these ministers would have been in jail.Possibly the whole Cabinet would have had to give in their resignation,” he said. -PTI

Opposition on off ensive over minister’s sacking

Musician Ravindra Jain deadMUMBAI: Veteran music di-rector-singer-lyricist Ravindra Jain, the genius who overcame his blindness to render lilting melodies and soulful tunes in sev-eral fi lms including Chitchor and Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se, died on Friday of multiple organ fail-ure. He was 71.

Jain breathed his last at 4.10 pm at Lilavati hospital due to multiple organ failure, family sources told PTI.

He is survived by his wife Divya and son Ayush.

Jain was shifted from Wock-hardt Hospital in Nagpur few days back to Mumbai by a char-tered air ambulance for treatment at Lilavati Hospital in Bandra.

The music composer was suf-fering from an urinary infection causing a problem in his kidney, sources said.

He was in Nagpur for a concert on Sunday, but could not partici-pate because of his ill-health and was subsequently airlifted to Mumbai. He was kept in the ICU at Lilavati and was on ventilator.

Indian Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi condoled the death of Jain, saying he will be remem-bered for his “versatile music and fi ghting spirit.”

Congress President Sonia Gan-dhi condoled the death of noted lyricist and music composer Ravindra Jain whom she described as a “musician par excellence”.

In a message, Sonia said that the void created by the music director-singer-lyricist in the popular as well as classical music

genre will be hard to fi ll. He was a “musician par excellence”.

Jain was also credited for bringing south Indian singing leg-end K J Yesudas to Hindi movies.

The duo collaborated together in giving melodies like Oo goriya re, Beeti hui raat ki, Gori tera gaon and Jab deep jale aana.

Jain, who remained undaunted by blindness to become one of the most successful composers, also gave music for hit fi lms like Chor Machaye Shor and Geet Gaata Chal in the 70s.

He was given a big break by Raj Kapoor, for whom he composed super hit songs in movies such as Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Do Jasoos, and Henna, which was directed by Randhir Kapoor.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jain widely composed music for many mythological movies and television serials.

The Bollywood fraternity in their condolence message hailed Jain as a “genius composer”.

“R I P. Ravindra Jain “Daddu”.Thank you for the lovely music.You did Henna for me,” said fi lm star Rishi Kapoor.

Music composer Salim Mer-chant in a tweet called Jain as a“genius composer.”

Born to a well-known Sanskrit scholar Pandit Indramani Jain and mother Kiran Jain, he was the third child among seven brothers and a sister. He started singing bhajans and poetry at nearby tem-ples at a very young age. The blind singer started his fi lm career as a composer with a Mohammad Rafi song that never released.

Later he went on to compose music for hit fi lms such as Chor Machaye Shor (1974), Geet Gaata Chal (1975), Chitchor (1976) and Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se (1978), Nadiya ke Paar (1982) and Vivah (2006). He also wrote the lyr-ics for many of his famous songs along with composing them.

Jain also recorded music to many of Rajshri Productions’ features starting in the 1980s and continuing well into the 2000s.

Jain also composed music for many TV serials for Sagar Films.

The popular serial that he com-posed music for was Ramanand Sagar’s epic Ramayan. His oth-er popular works on the small screen include Shri Krishna, Alif Laila, Jai Ganga Maiya, Jai Ma-halaxmi, Sai Baba, Jai Hanuman and Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithvi-raj Chauhan. - PTI

N O T E D M U S I C D I R E C T O R - S I N G E R - L I R I C I S T

LEGEND: File photo of music

composer Ravindra Jain who

passed away at a hospital in

Mumbai on Friday. - PTI

Two teenagers

among NASA’s

space contest

WASHINGTON: Two Indian-American teenagers fi gured among 10 fi nalists of NASA’s national 3-D Space Container Challenge which asked students to design models of containers that could help astronauts keep things in order in space.

However, both Rajan Vivek from Arizona and Prasanna Krishnamoorthy from Dela-ware failed to win the prestig-ious competition which went to Ryan Beam of California.

Beam’s ClipCatch design will allow astronauts on the space station to clip their fi ngernails without worrying about the clippings fl oating away and potentially becoming harm-ful debris. Rajan’s Hydroponic Plant Box container tackles the challenge of containing water in a microgravity environment while still allowing plants to grow roots in it.

Hydroponics, growing plants without soil, would be very ef-fective in spacecrafts because it requires less space and plants grow faster and stronger, NASA said. Prasanna on the other hand developed a Collapsible Container. In order to use the limited space on international Space Station, the Collaps-ible Container can expand and compress to perfectly fi t its contents. When empty, it can compress fully for easy storage, NASA said. - PTI

I N D I A N - A M E R I C A N

President to visit Israel, Jordan and PalestineNEW DELHI: Indian President Pranab Mukherjee will be em-barking on a six-day historic visit to Israel and Palestine on Satur-day, becoming the fi rst Head of Indian State to visit these two nations and providing an oppor-tunity for him to impress upon the leadership there to reduce tensions.

In the fi rst leg of his visit, the President will go to Jordan, where he will be discussing vari-ous issues including making a re-newed appeal for help in securing release of 39 Indians held by IS in Mosul town of Iraq.

After his two-day state visit to Jordan, the President will travel to Palestine on October 12 and then Israel for a three-day visit from October 13.

Trade tiesDuring the President’s stay in Jordan, India will be looking for opportunities to increase the trade between the countries as Jordan can act as the base for Indian companies to start opera-tions in that region.

Pranab will be the fi rst Indian President to travel there in the last 65 years since the establish-ment of diplomatic relations be-tween the two countries.

Earlier, Rajiv Gandhi had vis-ited Jordan as prime minister in 1988. The President will meet King Abdullah and have exten-sive discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, re-gional and international issues of mutual concern.

He will also visit the Univer-sity of Jordan and address its stu-dents and faculty.

He will also grace a function organised by Indian Ambassador in Amman for Indian community and Friends of India.

During his visit to Palestine, the President will hold meetings and interactions with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and leaders of major political parties.

He will also address the Al Quds University where he will be conferred an honorary doctor-ate after which he will inaugu-rate Jawaharlal Nehru Second-ary School at Abu Dees in East Jerusalem.

On the Palestine dispute, he said India remains steadfast in its principled support to the Pales-tinian cause and India has always favoured a negotiated solution resulting in a sovereign, inde-pendent, viable and a united state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital living with recog-nised and secured borders side by side with Israel as endorsed in the ‘Quartet’ roadmap.

From there, the President will travel to Israel during which the highlight of his visit will be his address to its Parliament Knes-set, which is a rare honour for any visiting leader.

Pranab will hold talks with his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the Speaker of the Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein.

The discussions are expected on subjects like terrorism and co-operation in various areas.

MoUs in the fi elds of culture, education, science and technol-ogy will be signed. - PTI

H I S T O R I C V I S I T

Daljit Nagra named BBC Radio 4 Poet in Residence

LONDON: Daljit Nagra has been appointed the fi rst Poet in Resi-dence by the BBC, a role through which the Indian-origin poet will curate a weekly programme for the corporation to tell a new story about the 20th century poetry.

Nagra, the son of Sikh immi-grants from India who came to Britain in the late 1950s, curate the weekly programme on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

His role will last for two years.The 49-year-old will also be

appearing on various Radio 4 broadcast and social media plat-forms over the year while writing

original work to commission.“It’s an honour and a privi-

lege to be given such a valuable platform as Poet in Residence at Radio 4. This position will, I am sure, inspire me to write new poetry that speaks of our compli-cated age,” Nagra said.

“What excites me most is the chance to give exposure to my beloved art form of poetry; I will take part in discussions about the latest issues concerning poetry but most of all I am thrilled to be given the role of curator for the 90-year-old poetry archive at the BBC.” - PTI

H O N O U R

A7

PAKISTANS AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

Afghanistan-Taliban talks effort on Obama-Sharif dialogue menu

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is likely to brief US President Barack Obama about Pakistan’s eff orts to resume talks between Afghanistan and the Tali-ban, a source said.

The disclosure came following a meeting between the premier and army chief General Raheel Sharif on Friday.

“PM Nawaz, during his visit to the US will brief US President Barack Obama about Pakistan’s eff orts on resuming talks between Afghanistan and Taliban,” a source

said, adding that the US is interest-ed in seeing concrete steps being taken from Pakistan’s side regard-ing the peace process.

The civil and military leader-ship is likely to meet in the coming week to fi nalise the agenda of the premier’s visit to the United States and the country’s stance regarding the Afghan peace and reconcilia-tion process.

During the meeting with the prime minister, General Raheel apprised the premier of the secu-rity situation of Afghanistan and its implications on Pakistan.

“Internal security situation was reviewed during the meeting,” a PM House statement said.

The source said the army chief briefed the premier regarding a Corps Commanders meeting held

at the military’s General Head-quarters in Rawalpindi on Thurs-day. Days after the top US military commander in Afghanistan said that the military operation by the Pakistan Army in the tribal border areas had forced militants across the Durand Line, military com-manders discussed ways to plug the porous border.

“External security situation was comprehensively discussed with particular emphasis on the situ-ation in Afghanistan and border management issues on Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” an ISPR statement said.

Shift in policyPakistan had on Thursday said it would facilitate another round of peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban provided that both sides are willing to re-engage with each other, hinting at a shift in its policy towards reconciliation in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan supported and hosted the fi rst round of intra-Afghan dia-logue for peace and reconciliation (in early July) and if both sides agree to it, we are ready to off er our cooperation to them for future talks,” Foreign Offi ce (FO) spokes-man Qazi Khalilullah said at his weekly news conference.

The statement could be seen as a response to President Ashraf Ghani’s repeated assertion that his government would no longer seek Islamabad’s help in the peace pro-cess. It seems to imply that even if Afghanistan’s national unity gov-ernment changed its mind about talks with the Taliban, the re-sumption of the peace process will depend on whether the insurgent group is also ready to come back to the negotiating table.

In an interview with The Ex-press Tribune earlier, a senior ad-viser of the Afghan Taliban said the group too is now averse to Pa-kistan’s direct involvement in the peace process. He also said the Taliban do not want direct talks with the Kabul administration.

In a veiled reference to Pakistan, the Taliban supreme leader Mul-lah Akhtar Mansoor, in his Eid message, opposed other countries’ role in the talks.

“Any foreign pressure under the pretext of resolving the Afghan problem, is not going to resolve the problem but will create other problems,” he said.

It is believed that Khalilullah’s remarks could signal a realisa-tion among Pakistani circles that the Taliban are no longer willing to negotiate with Kabul, and that

Islamabad should keep a distance from the Afghan peace process.

“Despite anti-Pakistan state-ments emanating from Kabul, Islamabad believes that coopera-tion between the two countries is vital for peace and security in Af-ghanistan which will benefi t both the countries and the region as a whole,” the FO spokesman said.

“We have been helping Afghani-stan in many ways, in their devel-opment process, in their eff orts to counter terrorism, and we have remained in touch with the gov-ernment in Kabul at various levels and have tried our best to restore the level of trust between the two countries,” Khalilullah added.

The spokesman rejected allega-tions of Pakistan’s involvement in Kunduz fi ghting and reiter-ated its condemnation of attempt by any group to occupy areas in Afghanistan.

“There is no truth in allegations that Pakistani agencies or forces are involved in attacks (in Kun-duz) or elsewhere in Afghanistan.We have also said that occupation of Afghan territory by force by any group is condemnable,” he said.

He added that Pakistan is de-termined not to allow its soil to be used against Afghanistan.- Express Tribune

During the meeting,

General Raheel

Sharif apprised

the premier of the

security situation

of Afghanistan and

its implications

on Pakistan

JOIN : US President Barack Obama, right, with Pakistan’s Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Oval Offi ce at the White House in

Washington. - Reuters fi le photo

RUINED Students walk past the burnt out car of a train which caught fi re as they head home along

a railway track at Cantonment railway station in Karachi, Pakistan, on Friday. There were

no casualties reported. - Reuters

MQM agrees to take back resignations from assembliesISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qau-mi Movement (MQM) agreed on Friday to take back their res-ignations from Parliament and Sindh Assembly.

“The decision to take back res-ignations comes following the government’s decision to form a grievance committee to address the party’s grievances,” MQM leader Farooq Sattar told The Ex-press Tribune.

Senior party leaders, including Sattar, met with federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid and Ishaq Dar at the Punjab House in Islamabad.

Resolve issue“Both the sides have agreed on a memorandum of understanding,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said, while addressing the media after the meeting.

“A fi ve member review commit-tee will be formed in a week to re-solve the issue,” he added.

On August 12, the MQM re-signed from Parliament and the Sindh Assembly, citing what it

called victimisation in the ongo-ing targeted operation.

Presenting 19 reasons for the resignations, the party demanded formation of a monitoring com-mittee, release of innocent work-ers and investigation by a judicial commission into extrajudicial killings of its activists.

Last month, Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani deferred his ruling on the status of MQM res-ignations. Rabbani said that he was still in the process of jotting

down the points of the ruling.However, he promised to pre-

sent the fi nal verdict on the fi rst day of the next Senate session – which is expected to take place in the fi rst week of October. — Express

Tribune

R E V I E W P A N E L

The decision to take back resignations comes

following the government’s decision to form

a grievance committee to address the party’s

grievances, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader

Farooq Sattar said

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The quartet of Tunisian civil society leaders who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday played an important part in the country’s

thus-far successful democratic, constitutional revolution. But their role was no more decisive than that of the leaders who shepherded the coun-try from the Arab Spring protests to the election of the constituent assembly, or of the elected assem-bly members who produced, negotiated and rati-fi ed a liberal democratic constitution.

The best way to think about it is that the Nobel committee wanted to reward the Tunisian peo-ple for being the only Arab state to have achieved democracy since the regional upheaval in 2011, and they picked the civil society leaders as the stand-in. The peace prize is being given to the Tunisian exception.

Seen as a victory for Tunisia as a whole, the prize is extremely well deserved. Nothing pro-duces peace better than a domestic constitutional process in which elected representatives of stake-holders negotiate patiently to reach consensus. A quick look at Egypt, where elections failed to pro-duce durable democracy, and the constitutional process was hijacked by all sides in turn, should show how remarkable Tunisia is. In Syria, things are much worse, and the Arab Spring produced nothing but vicious civil war.

What went right in Tunisia? The Nobel commit-tee isn’t wrong to think that a robust civil society contributed signifi cantly to the conditions that al-lowed negotiation to succeed.

It’s worth noting that all four organisations-- the general labour union, which includes many teach-ers; the trade union; the human rights league; and the lawyers’ association -- grew into prominence under the authoritarian presidencies of Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

All dictatorships aren’t created equal. The Tunisian regimes from 1957 to 2011 drastically limited basic rights, and jailed and tortured op-ponents. High-level corruption was endemic. Yet unlike the dictators in Egypt or Syria or Iraq, these regimes worked out a complex relationship with civil society institutions, allowing them to organise in exchange for their willingness to live with the regime.

The origins of political culture are always hard to pin down, and Tunisia’s need for consensus is

no exception. But it’s probably fair to say that the revolutionary period against France helped cre-ate a sense of national unity. Tunisia is very small, which can contribute to a sense of collective iden-tity. (But doesn’t always: see Lebanon.)

Tunisia also has the legacy of the fi rst constitu-tion in any Arabic speaking country, dating back to 1861. Although I was frequently struck by how lit-tle the delegates referred to that history, nonethe-less it shows that at least the idea of elite cohesion in a fundamental agreement has deep roots.

But the most decisive feature of the Tunisian exception, arguably slighted by the Nobel com-mittee, is that the potential for confl ict between secularists and extremists was reined in repeat-edly by acts of compromise and realistic negotia-tion on both sides. Key to this process was Rashid Ghannouchi, a conservative democrat who went from being an important theorist of how Islam can be compatible with democracy to the leader of the movement and party known as Ennahda, the Renaissance.

At several crucial moments, Ennahda under Ghannouchi chose to pursue concession rather than going for a maximal role for religion in the constitution. After protests in 2012, Ennahda de-cided to remove Shariah from its constitutional draft or ideology. And after the killing of promi-nent leftists led to further protests and crisis, En-nahda, which had been democratically elected as the plurality party in the assembly, agreed to resign from the government. As for the secularists, they deserve credit for treating Ennahda as a genuine, legitimate, democratically elected political force.

Comparing Tunisia to Egypt emphasises how enormously important these decisions were. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood tried to govern without much compromise. Faced with protests against it, it rammed through a constitution by a bare majority that had no chance of achieving con-sensus. The Egyptian army ultimately decided not to compromise with the Brotherhood and to re-move it from power in a coup.

Ghannouchi, whose party voluntarily resigned and was perfectly happy to run in and lose a na-tional election, is the architect of a liberal demo-cratic Islamic model that off ers just the alterna-tive to radicalism that Westerners and secularists alike claim to be looking for. He may never win the Nobel himself. But without him, Tunisia couldn’t have won it either. - Bloomberg View.

Lebanese unrest should not escalate furtherThis refers to the online story, Beirut protest turns violent, politi-cians postpone talks (October 9). The unrest in my home country has been brewing ever since the row over heaping on trash on the country’s streets. The discontent should not be allowed to escalate further and result in something critical for the country.

— Salma Haddad, Muscat

US intelligence should have given advice on Afghan hospital This refers to the online story, MSF seeks independent inquiry into US attack on Af-ghan hospital (October 7). A US general has claimed that it was the Afghan forces asked for the air raids. This position on the issue is ridiculous as the Americans should have verifi ed this by using its own intelligence services. — Nadeem Khanzada, Muscat

Cheating by Fifa offi cials is shocking, deplorableThis refers to the online story, FIFA mulls delaying presidential election (October 9). The turmoil, which has enveloped football’s world body is indeed shocking and deplorable. This is, in my opinion worse than doping or match-fi x-ing. These two types of cheating are done by individual players and their coaches. However, the alleged fl outing of laws by

Sepp Blatter and Michel Plattini should not go unpunished. Just a suspension should not be enough. — Henry Rordrey, Muscat

T I M E S O F O M A NS AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5A8

Nobel brings Tunisian exception into focus

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Ministry plans to prepare report on human resourcesMUSCAT: Mohammed bin Nassir Al Khusaibi, secretary gen-eral of the Ministry of National Economy, said his ministry has plans to prepare a report on human development in the Sul-tanate. In a statement published yesterday, Khusaibi said the report, the fi rst of its kind to be compiled in the Sultanate, will be modeled along the human development reporting format of the UN Development Programme.

1900: Maximilian Harden is sentenced to six months in prison for publishing an article critical of the German Kaiser. 1922: Lilian Gatlin becomes the fi rst woman pilot to fl y across the United States.

1932: Indian Air Force established.

2001: US President George W. Bush establishes the Offi ce of Homeland Security.

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Rather than trying to only placate upper-middle and middle

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NUMBER OF PRIVATECLINICS IN OMAN

By governorate

Source: National Centre for Statistics and Information

Muscat

Dhofar

Musandam

Al Buraimi

Al Dakhliyah

North Batinah

South Batinah

South Sharqiyah

North Sharqiyah

Al Dhahirah

Al Wusta

2013 3812014 399

4553

1314

3232

6263

143155

4649

25252731

4241

1512

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GUTTED: Inmates, centre, sift through belongings and debris inside the provincial jail in Abuyog, Leyte province, central Philippines on

Friday, after the provincial jail was hit by fi re a day earlier. – AFP

Fire kills 10 inmates at Philippine prison

MANILA: Fire swept through a maximum-security Philippine prison killing 10 inmates, most of them in their cells, authorities said on Friday, in a disaster likely to highlight woeful conditions in one of the world’s most over-crowded prison systems.

The cause of the blaze at the prison in the central province of Leyte on Thursday evening was faulty electrical wiring, a fire department officer said. “The whole maximum security compound was struck by the fi re, so everyone inside the cells was

caught in the blaze,” municipal fi re marshal Eric Barcelo told report-ers. Eight inmates were burned beyond recognition in their cells while one died in an emergency shelter and one body was found near the security fence.

The Southeast Asian country’s dilapidated prison system is the fourth most overcrowded in the

world, according to the Interna-tional Centre for Prison Studies.

Authorities transferred pris-oners from the damaged section to a minimum-security com-pound. Several dormitories in the 42-year-old penal facility were de-stroyed by a fi re in 2013.

Overcrowding in Philippine prisons is exacerbated by a slow judicial process and a lack of basic infrastructure.

Inmates suff er from inadequate nutrition and medical attention, the US Bureau of Democracy, Hu-man Rights and Labor in a 2013 report. — Reuters

The cause of the blaze at the jail in the central

province of Leyte was faulty electrical wiring

National unity government for Libya proposedSKHIRAT (MOROCCO): The United Nations proposed a na-tional unity government to Libya’s warring factions on Thursday to end their confl ict, but the deal fac-es resistance from Tripoli’s self-declared rulers and hardliners on the ground.

Libya is caught up in a war be-tween the internationally recog-nised government and its elected parliament, and an unoffi cial gov-ernment controlling Tripoli. Each side is backed by rival alliances of armed factions.

Four years after the fall of Mua-mmar Gaddafi , Western pow-ers are pushing for both sides to accept the UN accord, fearing violence has allowed militants to gain ground and illegal migrant smugglers to take advantage of the chaos.

Libya’s recognised govern-ment has operated out of the east of the country since last year when an armed faction called Libya Dawn took over Tripoli, set up its own government and reinstated a former parliament known as the GNC.

NegotiationsThe UN proposal comes after months of protracted negotia-tions between delegates from both sides, who have faced pres-sure from hardliners and from continued fi ghting on the ground that has halted part of Libya’s oil production.

Delegates from Tripoli’s GNC parliament already balked at proposing candidates for the unity government because they wanted more amendments to the initial deal. But the UN proposal includes GNC members for the government.

“The GNC decided yesterday not to propose names and to ask

for more changes in the text,” UN envoy Bernardino Leon told re-porters in the Moroccan city of Skhirat, site of recent talks.

“The international community has been very clear that after huge eff orts to adapt the text... It is not possible to continue to do this.”

He said the door remained open for the GNC to participate in the proposed unity government. Both the elected House of Representa-tives and the GNC in Tripoli are expected to vote on the proposal.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-

moon welcomed the proposal in a statement issued by his media offi ce, while urging the parties to accept and sign the agreement.

The statement said Ban “urges Libyan leaders not to squander this opportunity to put the coun-try back on the path to building a state that refl ects the spirit and ambitions of the 2011 revolution”.

“Now is the time for the parties to the political dialogue to endorse this proposal and sign the agree-ment without delay,” Ban said in the statement.

The deal names six candidates for key posts in the national government. Fayez Seraj, a law-maker from the elected House of Representatives, would be prime minister with three deputy prime ministers. Two senior members on a presidential council include a GNC member.

But the proposal faces prob-lems on the ground, including the reaction of militant hardliners on both sides who still see the pos-sibility of gaining more ground through fi ghting.

Questions also remain about the role in the armed forces of General Khalifa Haftar, a former Gaddafi ally who has become a di-visive fi gure, and over the powers of the two legislative bodies under the national unity agreement.

Libya still has no offi cial na-tional army. Each side is backed by loose alliances of former anti-Gaddafi rebels, ex-soldiers, tribal factions and hardliners-lean-ing brigades, who once fought Gaddafi ’s forces but have steadily turned against each other. — Reuters

U N A C C O R D

Smoking will kill one in three young men in China: StudyLONDON: One in three of all the young men in China will eventu-ally be killed by tobacco unless a substantial proportion of them succeed in quitting smoking, re-searchers said on Friday.

“Without rapid, committed, and widespread action to reduce smoking levels, China will face enormous numbers of premature deaths,” said Liming Li, a profes-sor at the Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing who co-led a large analysis of the issue.

The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, found that two-thirds of young men in China start to smoke, mostly be-fore age 20, and that unless they quit for good, around half of those who start will eventually die from their habit.

The scientists conducted two large, nationally representative studies 15 years apart, track-ing the health consequences of smoking in China. The fi rst was in the 1990s and involved a quar-ter of a million men. The second study is ongoing, and involved half a million men and women.

The results showed annual number of tobacco deaths in China, mostly among men, had reached a million by 2010. If cur-rent trends continue it will be 2 million by 2030. Among Chinese women, however, smoking rates have plummeted and the risk of premature death from tobacco is low and falling, the study found.

The researchers said the con-sequences are now starting to emerge of a large increase in cigarette smoking by young men

in recent decades. The propor-tion of all male deaths at age 40 to 79 attributed to smoking has doubled to around 20 per cent now from about 10 per cent in the early 1990s. And in urban areas this proportion is higher, at 25 per cent and rising.

Smoking causes lung cancer, which is often fatal, and is the world’s biggest cause of prema-ture death from chronic condi-tions like heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure.

Richard Peto a professor at Britain’s University of Oxford who co-led the research, said price hikes on cigarettes in China may be one way to reduce smok-ing rates.

“Over the past 20 years to-bacco deaths have been decreas-ing in Western countries, partly because of price increases. For China, a substantial increase in cigarette prices could save tens of millions of lives.” — Reuters

R I S K O F P R E M A T U R E D E A T H

Paris train hero was breaking up fi ght when stabbed

SACRAMENTO: Spencer Stone, the US Air Force airman who helped thwart an August train at-tack in France, was trying to stop a fi ght between a man and a woman outside a Sacramento, California bar when he was stabbed during a brawl on Thursday, a witness told a local TV station.

Stone remained hospitalised in serious condition on Friday at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacra-mento after undergoing surgery on Thursday. The hospital said he was expected to make a full recovery.

Eric Cain, who works at a store and witnessed the fi ght, told the CBS Sacramento affi liate KOVR on Thursday that a woman was arguing outside the bar with a man who appeared to be her boyfriend. She hit him with a plastic bag, and he then punched her in the face, Cain said.

“The big dude, the white guy, stood up and kinda got in his face,” Cain said, referring to Stone.

In the fi ght that ensued early on Thursday, Stone was stabbed several times in his torso, authori-ties said. “I saw the back of his shirt. I saw a big red mark on the back of his shirt, and another ran-dom person walked by, and I just kinda went, ‘I think the dude got stabbed,’” he said.

Stone was one of three Ameri-cans who subdued a gunman on a train headed to Paris in August. Au-thorities said Thursday’s stabbing was not related to Stone’s role in the train incident and had no connec-tion to terrorism. Stone’s assailant has not been caught. — Reuters

C A L I F O R N I A

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT

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

DEADLY KILLER: The study,

published in ‘The Lancet’

medical journal, found that

two-thirds of young men in

China start to smoke, before

age 20, and that unless they

quit for good, around half of

those who start will eventually

die from the habit. – File photo

ANNOUNCEMENT: United Nations envoy for Libya, Bernardino Leon, centre, holds a press conference in the Moroccan city of Skhirat on

Thursday, to announce Libya has agreed to form a new national government. – AFP

A10

WORLD S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

The suspected gunman was identifi ed as Steven Jones, a freshman at the university.

Gregory Fowler , Northern Arizona University campus police chief

ANGER SPILLS OVER: A Lebanese protesters wave the national

fl ag as they are sprayed with water cannons by security forces

during a demonstration denouncing Lebanon’s stagnant political

system, that has become the target of demonstrations following

a trash crisis, on Thursday, in the capital Beirut. – AFP

Tunisian mediator group bags Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO/TUNIS: Tunisia’s Nation-al Dialogue Quartet won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for helping build democracy in the country, an example of peaceful transition in a region otherwise struggling with violence and upheaval.

The quartet of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers was formed in the summer of 2013.

It helped support the democ-ratisation process when it was in danger of collapsing, the Nor-wegian Nobel committee said in its citation.

“This is a great joy and pride for Tunisia, but also a hope for the Arab World,” UGTT chief Hussein Abassi told Reuters.

Message“It’s a message that dialogue can lead us on the right path. This prize is a message for our region to put down arms and sit and talk at the negotiation table.”

With a new constitution, free elections and a compromise poli-tics between hardliners and secu-lar leaders, Tunisia has been held up as a model of how to make the transition to a democracy.

“This a brilliant example, I think Tunisia is one of the Arab

countries that has done best,” said Ahmad Fawzi, chief UN spokes-man in Geneva. The Nobel Peace Prize, $972,000 (worth 8 million Swedish crowns), will be present-ed in Oslo on December 10.

The Norwegian Nobel Commit-tee praised the quartet for provid-ing an alternative, peaceful po-litical process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. “More than anything, the prize is intended as an encourage-ment to the Tunisian people, who despite major challenges have laid the groundwork for a national

fraternity which the Committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries,” it said.

Committee head Kaci Kull-man Five told Reuters: “I think it’s timely to put the limelight on the positive results that have been obtained in Tunisia to try to safe-guard them, to try to inspire the Tunisian people to build further on this basis.”

After a protest that led to the ousting of former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and in-spired protests, Tunisia now has a new constitution, free elections and a coalition government with secular and hardline parties.

In 2013, Tunisia appeared to be sliding into a political crisis that would end its transition, with sec-ular opponents demanding that

an hardline-led government step down. Angered by the assassina-tions of two of its leaders and em-boldened by Egypt’s army-backed ousting of a hardline president, Tunisia’s opposition held protests against the ruling Ennahda party. The government had agreed it would step down but wanted more guarantees of a fair handover.

The UGTT with other civil so-ciety partners negotiated between the two sides, helping form a care-taker government to hold power until new elections were held.

The crisis ended, and last year Tunisia held successful legisla-tive and presidential elections to complete its transition. Problems remain, however.

In March, gunmen killed 21 tourists in an attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, and 38 foreign-

ers were killed in an assault on a Sousse beach hotel in June.

More than 3,000 Tunisians have also left to fi ght for militant groups in Syria, Iraq and neigh-bouring Libya. Some of those mil-itants have threatened to return home and carry out attacks on Tu-nisian soil.

The Nobel Committee’s choice came as a surprise. The quartet had not been mentioned in any of the speculation in the run-up to the announcement, which instead focused on Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and an-ti-nuclear weapon campaigners.

“This is extraordinary, incred-ible, unexpected... It brings sup-port from the world to Tunisia for its democratic process,” LTDH member Chocri Dhouibi told Nor-wegian broadcaster NRK. — Reuters

Nobel committee

hopes award will

spur others to follow

Tunisia as award

will be presented on

December 10 in Oslo

Refugee arrivals surge in GreeceGENEVA/ UNITED NATIONS: The number of refugees arriving on Greek islands has leapt to 7,000 a day from about 4,500 at the end of September, probably because of fears the weather will worsen soon, the International Organiza-tion for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

Also on Friday, the United Na-tions Security Council authorised European Union naval operations for one year to seize and dispose of vessels operated by human traf-fi ckers in the high seas off Libya.

The sharp increase, in a mat-ter of days, has come as European states continue to struggle to agree on a strategy to control the fl ow of people and protect thousands making perilous sea crossings.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, urged the European Union on Friday to come up with a credible system soon, and warned that the unpre-dictable weather could lead to more deaths.

“This is a chaotic situation that is terrible for the countries, cre-ates tension among countries and that at the same time is horrible for the people,” Guterres told a news conference on the eve of a visit to Greece which includes talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday.

“All of a sudden with the kind of weather that you have in Bal-kans this can be a tragedy at any moment. And there is no easy re-sponse to that unless you have a mechanism to control things from the starting point,” he said.

Entry pointOn Saturday, he will visit recep-tion centres on the Greek island of Lesbos, the main entry point for most of the 428,000 people who have crossed the Mediterranean from Turkey so far this year.

Almost 3,000 have died, the UN refugee agency UNHCR esti-mates. Authorities on the island say they are running out of room to bury them.

Many of the arrivals are Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis fl eeing war and persecution.

IOM said it expected the elevat-ed rate of 7,000 arrivals a day would persist as long as the weather held

out. “The pattern has been over the last two years that the worse the waters and the colder the weath-er, the fewer people are willing to make the trip,” IOM spokesman Joel Millman told journalists.

Hungary will decide in a week whether to close its border with Croatia, where a double fence to stop a massive fl ow of migrants through the country is “99 percent fi nished,” a top government offi cial said on Thursday.

The UNHCR welcomed the start of an EU programme to relo-cate 160,000 refugees from Italy and Greece to other participating EU countries, as a fi rst group of 19 Eritrean asylum seekers left Italy for Sweden.

Resolution“But it is obvious that we need a much bigger capacity and sys-tem,” Guterres said. Meanwhile, the 15-member council adopted the British-drafted resolution with 14 votes in favour. Venezuela abstained.

The resolution approved the second of three phases of an EU naval mission intended to help stem the fl ow of migrants and refugees into Europe, which has escalated into a major crisis in recent months.

The third phase of the EU mis-sion, which is not covered by the resolution, would involve Europe-an operations in Libyan territorial waters and coastal areas.

Libya initially objected to the draft UN resolution on the high seas mission, but its UN Ambassa-dor Ibrahim Dabbashi wrote to the council Tuesday to say the coun-try’s concerns had been allayed and it agreed to the fi nal draft.

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft welcomed the approval, and said “any action will be pro-portional in keeping with the lim-its authorized by this resolution and used solely against the smug-glers and empty boats.”

He said any migrants rescued would be taken to Europe.

Still, he cautioned that naval

missions against smugglers would not tackle the root causes of the migration problem.

“Action against smugglers on the high sea won’t solve this crisis alone,” he said. “But it will send a message that people cannot profi t from this evil trade with impunity. It will save lives.”

Migration routeThe operation only covers the mi-gration route from Libya and will not apply to the route that refugees have been using to fl ee the wars in Syria and Iraq, from Turkey through Greece and the Balkans. Russia and the African members of the council - Chad, Angola and Nigeria - had been wary of author-izing the use of force.

But they ended up voting in fa-vour of the measure.

The International Organization for Migration said this week that nearly 3,000 people have died at-tempting to cross the Mediterra-nean this year, while 557,899 mi-grants have reached Europe. — Reutrs

R I S I N G N U M B E R

Beirut protest turns violent, politicians postpone talksBEIRUT: Lebanese security forces fi red tear gas and water canon to break up an anti-govern-ment protest in Beirut on Thurs-day, and the country’s fractious leaders postponed talks aimed at resolving a political crisis that is feeding public discontent.

Anger at Lebanon’s govern-ment has fuelled repeated pro-tests in recent months. Dis-content with widely perceived corruption and incompetence came to a head in July when the government failed to agree a solu-tion to a trash disposal crisis and piles of garbage were left to fester in the streets.

Protesters threw projectiles including rocks at a line of riot po-lice blocking the way to the Leba-nese parliament in Beirut’s com-mercial district. Live TV footage showed at least one injured riot policeman on the ground.

Some three dozen people were taken to hospital suff ering from suff ocation as a result of tear gas, medics said. Six policemen were also wounded, a security offi cial said.

The Lebanese government grouping rival factions has strug-gled to take even basic decisions since it was formed last year. Lebanon has also been without a

president for more than a year in the absence of a deal on who should take the post.

The crisis is linked to wider re-gional turmoil, including the war in neighbouring Syria which has driven well over one million refu-gees into Lebanon.

Lebanon’s parliament speaker cancelled the last day of this week’s session aimed at discuss-ing ways out of the political crisis after politicians made no pro-gress on issues including high-level security appointments, the National News Agency said.

The three-day “national dia-logue” called by Nabih Berri started on Tuesday and was aimed at fi nding solutions to the stalemate. The talks were set to run into Thursday but Berri postponed the next session until October 26.

The anti-government rallies has been organised independent-ly of the main sectarian parties in a direct challenge to the political system they control. — Reuters

A N T I - G O V E R N M E N T D E M O N S T R A T I O N

Gunman kills one, injures three at US university

ARIZONA: An 18-year-old stu-dent opened fi re with a handgun on the campus of Northern Ari-zona University in Flagstaff early on Friday, killing one person and wounding three others, before police took him into custody in the latest in a series of US school shootings, authorities said.

The suspected gunman was identifi ed as Steven Jones, a fresh-man at the university, campus po-lice chief Gregory Fowler said.

Jones brandished a handgun during a confrontation with sev-eral male students, Fowler said. The three injured students suf-fered multiple gunshot wounds and were being treated at Flagstaff Medical Center, Fowler said. Their conditions were not disclosed.

The shooting occurred hours before President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit Roseburg, Oregon to meet privately with families of nine people killed in a mass shooting at a community col-lege last week.

The incident occurred in a park-ing lot adjacent to a residence hall, a university spokesman said. The shots were reported at 1:20am, of-fi cials said. “We don’t know the facts yet about what brought them together, or what caused the con-frontation,” Fowler said.

Jones did not try to run, was tak-en into custody by university po-lice and is cooperating with police, Fowler said. Guns are not allowed to be carried on Northern Arizona University’s campus under Ari-zona law and Arizona Board of Re-gents policy, Fowler said. The cam-pus was secure and classes were to go on as scheduled on Friday, uni-versity president Rita Cheng told a news conference. Cheng called the incident “isolated.”

“Our hearts are heavy,” Cheng said.

Some Delta Chi fraternity mem-bers were involved in the shooting, the Washington Post and other media reported. — Reuters

A R I Z O N A

WORTHY FOUR: Left to right, President of the Tunisian employers union Wided Bouchamaoui, Secretary General of the Tunisian General

Labour Union, Houcine Abassi, President of the Tunisian Human Rights League Abdessattar ben Moussa and the president of the Na-

tional Bar Association, Mohamed Fadhel Mahmoud arrive for a news conference in Tunis, in this September 21, 2013 fi le photo. – Reuters

SEEKING SAFETY: An elderly man carries a child in a blanket after arriving by boat on the Greek is-

land of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday. – AFP

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015

FIFA discussing delaying the presidential election

ZURICH: FIFA is discussing de-laying the election for their next president following the suspen-sions given to Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, two sources have told Reuters.

The issue is expected to be on the agenda of an emergency executive committee meeting which could make the decision to postpone the vote, scheduled for February 26, the sources, with knowledge of the discussions, said on Friday.

FIFA said on Friday a decision whether to hold an emergency ex-ecutive meeting would likely be made next week.

A spokesman for England’s Football Association said they would ask FIFA’s acting general secretary Markus Kattner to or-

ganise such a meeting to discuss the election.

UEFA’s 54 member associations are gathering on Thursday at their headquarters in Nyon where the topic of the election will also be on the agenda, the FA spokesman said.

UEFA president Platini was an early favourite to win the vote to replace Blatter at the helm of FIFA before he was given a 90 day sus-pension by FIFA’s Ethics Commit-tee on Thursday. A further 45 days can be added to the provisional ban.

Platini’s ban relates to a 2 mil-lion Swiss francs payment he re-ceived from FIFA in 2011, which is part of a Swiss criminal inquiry into Blatter.

Switzerland’s Attorney General said Platini is being considered somewhere “between a witness and an accused person” in the case. Both Platini and Blatter deny they have done anything wrong and are appealling the suspensions .

Currently, the election nomina-tions need to be provided by Oct. 26 but a change in the date of the vote could see that deadline move.

United front“For the time being the schedule is as it is,” a FIFA spokesperson told Reuters, adding that only the ex-ecutive committee had the power to make a decision on the election date. The FIFA spokesperson did not want to speculate further on the matter.

It remains to be seen whether a majority of the executive commit-tee would back postponing the vote.

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan said he would prefer to stick with the February date depending on the outcome of the appeals pro-cess against the bans. “My feel-ing is that the sooner the election takes place the better. If the Eth-ics Committee has clarity on this

situation by the end of December then I think the election should go ahead as planned,” he said. “But if the extra 45 days is added to the 90 day suspension and it goes on into

early 2016 then I think logic would dictate that the election should be postponed to such a time when all the eligible candidates have time to prepare their campaigns with-

out any risk of those campaigns be-ing compromised by any investiga-tion,” he added. Dutch FA (KNVB) executive director Bert van Oost-veen said he was uncertain of the best way forward.

“I’m not sure how to proceed, we’ll have to study the regulations. We are going to sit down after the trip to Kazakhstan and formulate the KNVB position. While we do so, we’ll take a sample of what the other European associations say and (see) whether we can form a united front,” he said.

But Karl-Erik Nilsson, chair of the Swedish Football Associa-tion (SvFF), told Reuters the date should not change.

“We want the election to be held on Feb. 26 as planned. Together with many European countries, we supported Michel Platini’s can-didacy and we need more informa-tion about exactly what has hap-pened. “We said when this story fi rst appeared that it could cause problems, and it is very bad for his candidacy,” he said.

AFC seeks meetingMeanwhile, The president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa on Friday requested Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, the acting chief of FIFA after the sus-pension of Joseph Blatter, to hold an emergency executive commit-tee meeting of world football’s global body.

“These are exceptional circum-stances and that is why we need the meeting. Only together will we overcome these diffi cult times,” the AFC president wrote in his letter.

The Election Committee will have to validate Platini’s request, while the fi nal deadline for appli-cants to submit their candidacy documents ends on Monday, Octo-ber 26. - Agencies

The issue is expected

to be on the agenda

of an emergency

executive committee

meeting which could

make the decision

to postpone the

vote, scheduled

for February 26,

the sources, with

knowledge of the

discussions, said

on Friday

SUSPENDED FOUR: A combination shows four pictures showing

(left to right, from upper row) Fifa president president Sepp Blatter,

UEFA leader Michel Platini, South Korean FIFA Honorary Vice-Pres-

ident Chung Mong-Joon and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.

FIFA’s ethics watchdog suspended Blatter and Platini for 90 days after

they were named in a Swiss corruption case. The independent ethics

committee also banned South Korean tycoon, Chung Mong-Joon, like

Platini a candidate for the FIFA presidency for six years. FIFA secre-

tary general Jerome Valcke, already ordered to leave by FIFA over a

separate ticketing scandal, was suspended for 90 days. – AFP

LONDON: Liverpool’s new man-ager Juergen Klopp promised to bring “full throttle” football with a “big heart” to Anfi eld in his fi rst comments since the German was unveiled as the Merseyside’s club new manager on Thursday night.

Invited to emulate Jose Mour-inho’s claim on arrival at Chelsea to be “the special one”, however, he insisted he was “the normal one”.

The club’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group, signed the former Borussia Dortmund man-ager on what is reported to be a three-year contract, after sack-ing Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers on Sunday.

One of the most coveted man-agers in world football, Klopp has been out of work since May when he fi nished a seven-year reign at Dortmund to take a sabbatical.

“Firstly, I would like to off er thanks to the ownership of Liv-erpool Football Club for showing faith in me and my staff and pre-senting us with this wonderful opportunity,” Klopp told the club’s website on Friday.

“They have presented to me a very clear vision and I share their ambitions and model of work,” the

German, who won two Bundesliga titles with Dortmund, added.

“Liverpool has extraordinary supporters and Anfi eld is a world renowned home, with an incredible atmosphere. I want to build a great relationship with these supporters and give them memories to cherish.”

Klopp has been joined at Liv-erpool by Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz, his former assistants at Dortmund. “In Juergen Klopp we

have appointed a world-class man-ager with a proven track record of winning and someone who has the personality and charisma to reig-nite this football club and take the team forward,” Liverpool chair-man Tom Werner said.

“He is a strong, inspirational leader, who has a clear philoso-phy of high energy, attacking foot-ball. Critically, he is also a winner and someone who can connect

with and enthuse our supporters,” Werner added.

Burden of historyIn an impressive fi rst news confer-ence later on Friday, Klopp told a packed audience at Anfi eld that he wanted a positive approach on and off the pitch, to “turn doubters into believers”.

Well aware that Liverpool have not won the league for 25 years, the new man said he did not want his-tory to become a burden and that he was not prepared to promise immediate success.

“History is only the base for us. You can’t carry it in your back-pack every day. Five or six clubs in the Premier League can win the league. It’s a problem.”

British media reports put the value of Klopp’s contract at a basic 5 million pounds ($7.68 million) per year, with bonuses taking that to a potential 7 million.

His fi nal message was a request for patience. “Please give us time to work on it. Please be patient. I don’t say we have to wait 20 years. In four years time I’m pretty sure we will have won a title. If not, Switzerland!” - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

Klopp ‘the normal one’ promises ‘full throttle’ football at Anfi eld

LIVERPOOL’S NEW BOSS: Liverpool’s new German manager Jurgen

Klopp poses with a team jersey. – AFP

Delhi edge Chennaiyin

NEW DELHI: Delhi Dynamos rebounded from their opening match failure to notch up the fi rst victory of their Indian Su-per League (ISL) campaign in a 1-0 win over Chennaiyin FC here on Thursday.

Dynamos lead 1-0 at the breather in front of a disappoint-ing crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium. Defender Anderson Cardoso netted the match-winning goal from a pen-alty in the eighth minute.

Dynamos lost their fi rst match of the tournament away against FC Goa 0-2 while Chennaiyin were beaten 2-3 at home by title holders Atletico de Kolkata. The home team now has three points from two matches while their op-ponents are yet to get a point after two defeats. Dynamos identifi ed the need to get a quick start in their fi rst home match and began in right earnest.

They plotted their attacks pre-dominantly from the left side where their nippy Brazilian Gus-tavo Dos Santos, one of the few positives in their otherwise dis-appointing inaugural campaign last year, was lively. He danced his way to the left byline after evading couple of defenders and created the fi rst goal in the eighth minute.

His cut-back pass initially

found no one inside the box, but was met with a strong shot by an advancing Hans Mulder whose shot was blocked by Manuele Blasi. Referee Tejas Nagvenkar promptly directed to the spot from where Cardoso scored.

The goal settled Dynamos’ nerves and helped them to take control of the action.

They could have doubled their lead on 31 minutes had Ghanaian forward Richard Gadze’s forceful shot, after beating three defend-ers on the run, not saved by goal-keeper Edel Bete Apoula, diving to his left on the near post.

But just when it looked the home team, would build on from the initial ascendancy, Chennai-yin reminded them of staying true at the back, three minutes later.

A momentary lapse of con-centration by defender Anas Edathodika, who lost control of the ball, just outside the penalty area, allowed Colombian for-ward Steven Mendoza to unleash a left-footer that thundered off the cross bar.

Chennaiyin’s attackers, which hadn’t quite performed as a unit in the fi rst session, began to stitch together meaningful moves and tried utilising their wingers look-ing to stretch the opposition de-fenders.. — IANS

I N D I A N S U P E R L E A G U E

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ODIs won’t be walk in the park: Duminy

KOLKATA: South Africa may have clinched the Twenty20 series quite comprehensively but their star batsman batsman J P Duminy feels the Indians will fi ght back strongly in the upcoming ODIs and make sure that his side does not have it easy.

South Africa defeated India in Dharamsala and Cuttack to clinch the Twenty20 series 2-0 after the third and fi nal match was aban-doned owing to a wet outfi eld.

“As a team, we defi nitely expect them to put in a big performance in the two series. We are under no il-lusion that it is going to be a walko-ver in the ODI series.

We know that we have to fi ght hard and play well and take it one game at a time,” Duminy, who was adjudged man of the series, told a news conference after Thursday’s washout. The ODI leg is beginning with Kanpur in two days time and Duminy said his side would once again look to make a strong start.

“Our focus is on Kanpur and hopefully we can start off well in that series as well. That is going to give us a lot of confi dence.

We know that they are a great ODI team so it is important for us to start off well in the ODI series,” Duminy said.

India had set up a mammoth 200 target in Dharamsala riding on Rohit Sharma’s maiden century but his eff ort was overshadowed

by the Duminy’s unbeaten 68 that fashioned a thrilling seven-wicket for the visitors.

“I would defi nitely put it down as one of my better innings, es-pecially in International cricket in the shorter format. But I still believe that there is a lot more to come from myself and I can still contribute a lot more; not only with the bat but also with the ball.

I guess the key for me is to stay

hungry to perform,” the South Af-rican all-rounder said.

Terming the Dharamsala win as a turning point, Duminy said, “It was a big one for us especially chasing 200 gave us a lot of confi -dence going into the second T20I.

That is going to be a big tick for us in the T20 format.

With the results that we have got here now, they will give us a lot of confi dence going into the T20 se-ries against England and Australia and obviously the World cup com-ing in a few months.”

“We spoke long and hard com-ing here... It can get quite painful if you start off in the wrong fash-ion. We are happy the way we have started but we also know that there is a lot of hard work ahead of us,” Duminy said. - PTI

South Africa defeated

India in Dharamsala

and Cuttack to clinch

the Twenty20 series

2-0 after the third

and fi nal match was

abandoned owing to a

wet outfi eld

NO ILLUSIONS: South Africa’s Jean-Paul Duminy looks on during a training session. – AFP

MUMBAI: With fi ve months to go before next year’s World Twenty20 at home, former champions India’s search for an enforcer in the lower middle order shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

Winners of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007, India will play more 20-over matches in Australia and at home against Sri Lanka early next year as they look to seal their best combination for the March 11-April 3 biennial tournament.

“As a unit we have played very little T20 cricket in bi-lateral series,” team director Ravi Shastri told reporters after Thursday’s abandoned match. “It’s a young team, we’re still fi guring out on what will be our best combi-nation and the best way forward.”

Shastri was right in point-ing at the relative inexperi-ence of the side in Twenty20 Internationals even though the players are well-versed with the format and feature regularly in the Indian Pre-mier League (IPL).

Though teeming with exciting strokemakers, most of the India top and middle order batsmen need time to

get their eyes in before they can accelerate.

“We are very keen to see the month of December when all the one-day competitions are scheduled,” former India captain Shastri added.

“The No. 6 position has a diff erent role in 50-over cricket, but an extremely im-portant role in T20 cricket.

“The team that goes on to win the World T20, you will see that their No. 6 batsman could be a very crucial player.” - Reuters

India’s number six conundrum continues ahead of World T20

BOSS: Team India’s director

Ravi Shastri

Indian cricket on right path: TendulkarNEW DELHI: Two years after his retirement, the iconic Sachin Tendulkar reckons that Indian cricket is moving in “good direc-tion” though there is still room for improvement.

Tendulkar said as long as there is drive, things will be on track for the young Team India, which is currently engaged in a home series against South Africa.

“Yeah, it has been moving in good direction. I defi nitely feel we need to play better cricket and there is room for improvement. As long as there is drive, things will be on track,” Tendulkar said, when spe-cifi cally asked whether he was hap-py with the direction Indian cricket has taken after his retirement.

“You cannot lose focus as the whole country is watching you. To meet these expectations or to get close to meeting them, you need a lot of commitment,” Tendulkar said, in an interview published in The Week magazine.

Tendulkar also dispelled the no-tion that the current Indian bats-men were susceptible to spin.

“No, I don’t think so. The Indian Premier League has helped. Earlier, the players (foreigners) did not get enough time to play in India. Now, the top four to fi ve players, or more,

from each country are part of the IPL. The coaches are also spending a lot of time in India and they are adapting to Indian conditions.

“We won Tests in Durban and Perth. Does that mean that South Africans and Australians are poor players of pace?” he asked.

The 42-year-old iconic batsman said that his second innings in life has been all about satisfaction.

“At fi rst, things were about achieving targets, winning match-es and doing what the team re-quired me to do. It was exciting. The second half of my life, the second innings is all about sat-isfaction. I want to be able to do something for the less privileged. I have been able to do so to a certain extent and I felt extremely satis-fi ed,” he said.

Asked whether a sense of de-tachment from cricket has come about now, Tendulkar said: “No, there is no detachment from crick-et. I will always be in love with the game. I cannot say that I sit and watch all the matches regularly but I do try and follow them when I get time.”

“If there is an exciting ses-sion, I will watch. When I am at home, Arjun and Anjali sit with me and having played, I know

what is going to happen. “There is the excitement of what

is in store, when the batsman is go-ing to attack, what are the areas he is looking to attack and where the bowler is going bowl.

“I share these things with them. The level of involvement is diffi -cult to bring back as I am no longer an active cricketer but having been

one, there is always involvement,” Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar, who also owns a foot-ball team — Kerala Blasters — in the Indian Super League, said that privately-owned leagues were the way forward to popularise games.

“That is the future. we witnessed the competitiveness in these leagues. Above all, there is appre-ciation and following, which is the best tonic for any sportsperson. I am extremely happy that other sports are being appreciated and you are seeing the results,” he said.

Specifi cally asked whether he would diversify into other sports, Tendulkar said, “I support and fol-low other sports such as kabaddi and badminton. But honestly, I have not thought about being an owner in another sport. And even if I am not there in that role, nothing stops me from supporting the sport.”

On whether he would write anoth-er book on the mental aspect of the game, Tendulkar said, “Oh my god! the fi rst book itself was a challenge.

“To remember 24 years of cricket was not easy, nor was de-ciding what to keep and what to discard, I have added a little bit here and there about the mental aspect, but to write a book on that, I don’t know.” - PTI

C R I C K E T

SATISFIED: Sachin Tendulkar

Djokovic and Nadal in semisBEIJING: Novak Djokovic ex-tended his winning streak at the China Open to 27 matches with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition over big-serving American John Isner on Friday.

The world number one was in devastating form, conceding just three aces in a masterclass per-formance to reach the semifi nals in Beijing.

The Serbian is chasing his sixth title in Beijing and his seventh this year, which already includes the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open championships.

His next opponent is Spain’s David Ferrer, who won the Ma-laysian Open last week. Ferrer eased into the semifi nals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun.

Harder timeRafa Nadal had a much harder time in his quarterfi nal with American Jack Sock, before pre-vailing 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The Spaniard is still strug-gling to get back to his best but said he was pleased with the way he fought back. “Obviously I fi n-ished the match playing better

than what I started. This year I lost a lot of matches when I had an advantage,” Nadal said.

“So to have the chance to win a match when I start losing is im-portant for me.”

Nadal will face Fabio Fognini in the semifi nals after the Italian beat Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. Nadal has lost three of his last four matches against Fognini, including at the U.S. Open when he blew a two-set lead in the third round.

“When you play against a great player, especially if you don’t play to your best, your chances are lower,” Nadal said.

“If I am able to play my best tomorrow, I am going to have my chances. If not, it is going to be tough. It’s simple.

“Sport is simple. The winner is the player who plays better. Fognini played better in the three matches that he beat me.”

In the women’s draw, Wimble-don fi nalist Garbine Muguruza beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the U.S. 6-1, 7-5 to ease into the semifi nals, joining Ana Ivanovic, Agnieszka Radwanska and Timea Bacsinszky. - Reuters

T E N N I S

BMARKE

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMS AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

VEDANTA CUTS CAPITAL AND OPERATING EXPENDITURESVedanta Resources on Friday said it has reduced capital expenditures and operating expenditures in the July-September quarter as the mining giant tries to tackle volatile market conditions as well as subdued metal prices globally. >B3

China’s food delivery apps spell trouble for fast food chainsSHANGHAI: As China’s econo-my stutters, growing numbers of diners on a budget are tapping into various smartphone applications to snap up meal delivery deals, spelling big trouble for fast food chains like Yum Brands Inc’s KFC and Pizza Hut.

People like Li Jiali, a 20-year-old Shanghai student, say they have all the dining options they need nest-ling in their phones, without need-ing to venture out of the house. Yum’s shares dived this week after it said it’s way behind target in a bid to recover from damaging food scandals in China, its top driver for profi t and revenue.

Li’s Huawei smartphone is packed with cut-price food de-livery apps from some of China’s biggest internet fi rms, like Baidu’s

Waimai, Alibaba-linked Meituan and Tencent-backed Ele.me — meaning “Hungry?”. These allow thousands of mom-and-pop res-taurants to lure diners previously beyond their marketing reach.

“On my phone I have Meituan, Baidu and Ele.me, and I use which-ever one has the biggest discount,” Li said. Baidu’s platform is cur-rently off ering the best deals at around 40 per cent off , she said, ev-idence of a price war raging online.

Yum this week pointed the fi n-ger at a “savage battle” under way between apps to explain why Chi-na same-store sales grew only two per cent in the third quarter, well below the expected 9.6 per cent jump. Yum cut its global forecasts on weakness in China, where the fi rm has been whipsawed by food

safety scandals and marketing missteps over the last few years.

The rise of online apps is a ex-tra blow to Yum, already facing a crowded fast food market, where

consultants Euromonitor forecast growth will slow to around four per cent by 2019, less than a third of the pace a decade before.

“We are experiencing what we

believe is a short-term but sig-nifi cant impact of online ordering aggregators entering the casual dining space,” Yum’s chief fi nan-cial offi cer Pat Grismer said on an earnings call after the results.

The company’s executives also cited a dud marketing campaign at its Pizza Hut brand and slowing growth in the world’s second-big-gest economy hitting consumers’ willingness to fork out on discre-tionary spending. Shares sank nearly 20 per cent after the earn-ings report.

Yum’s stumble also undermined bullish predictions earlier in the year, when the fi rm pegged global growth targets to a then-hoped-for sharp second-half China bounce, posing a problem for newly in-stalled China boss Micky Pant.

“Apps like this level the playing fi eld so that every venue has its vir-tual spot that’s equal,” said Stone Shi, Shanghai-based founder and Chief Executive of restaurant search platform Bon App.

“It used to (be) about being a household name in one sector — pizza, pasta, fast food etcetera. Now people want to see what else is out there.” Yum did not respond to specifi c queries after the earn-ings disclosure on how the fi rm would combat the rise of online platforms in China.

The fi rm, which has 6,867 res-taurants in the country, now also faces the challenge of reviving growth when consumers are re-directing spending from food to other areas such as healthcare and transport, analysts said. — Reuters

F O O D D E L I V E R Y A P P S

Wealth funds forced to tap rainy-day reserves

DUBAI: From Oslo to Doha, Ri-yadh to Moscow, governments that rode crude’s historic rise to unprecedented wealth are now being forced to start repatriating their rainy-day funds just to make ends meet.

The halving of oil to less than $50 a barrel has the potential to alter one of the most powerful economic and political forces of the past half century: the rise of the petro-state. These countries led a surge in state investments in the US and Europe that now totals about $7.3 trillion globally, ac-cording to the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) Institute.

During the last boom, the oil countries fl aunted their wealth abroad by buying stakes in iconic companies such as Barclays as well as trophy assets including Manhattan hotels, European

soccer clubs and London luxury homes, often in the face of opposi-tion from the local public.

Swagger fadingThe biggest fund, Norway’s, this week said it expects to tap its $820 billion stockpile for the fi rst time next year to balance its budget, fol-lowing similar moves across the Gulf and in Russia. If sustained, the withdrawals may be felt by investors the world over, accord-ing to Michael Maduell, president

of the Las Vegas-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.

“If the wealth funds of Norway and the Gulf countries begin to slowly pull out, it will have an im-pact on fi nancial markets,” Madu-ell said by e-mail.

Looking ahead, TheCityUK, a lobby group for the fi nancial ser-vices industry in London, expects sovereign-fund assets will in-crease by just four per cent in 2015 to $7.4 trillion, well below the 12 per cent average annual growth

seen over the previous fi ve years.

Quantitative easingThe amount of petro-dollar investments in the fi ve years through 2014 was on a similar scale to the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying programme, known as quantitative easing, accord-ing to analysts at Barclays. As the fl ows have reversed, the world has lost about $400 billion in annual demand for fi nancial assets, they further added.

Nowhere is the decline more evident than in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom’s foreign holdings fell for the seventh month in a row in Au-gust to $654.5 billion, the lowest since February 2013, according to data from the Saudi Arabian Mon-etary Agency. The oil slump has spurred the biggest Arab economy to search for savings, contemplate project delays and sell bonds for the fi rst time since 2007.

Other Gulf states that have spent lavishly on public works to ensure the loyalty of their popu-lations — United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar among them — have all announced initiatives to preserve cash as the price drop in crude saps growth.

Abu Dhabi, home to the $773 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), is reassess-ing its largest state companies with an eye toward selling assets, four people with knowledge of the matter said. The government and its entities have been running down reserves and withdraw-ing deposits from banks to fund their spending.

Qatar Investment Authority, which owns stakes in companies including Glencore and Volk-swagen, this week sold a stake in French construction company Vinci valued at about $400 mil-lion, just two months after it sold two London offi ce buildings worth more than 550 million pounds ($842 million). The Qatari owners of Italy’s Valentino Fashion Group SpA are exploring options includ-ing an initial public off ering of the maker of $3,000 handbags, peo-ple with knowledge of the matter said. — Bloomberg News

These countries

led a surge in state

investments in the

US and Europe that

now totals about

$7.3 trillion globally,

according to the

Sovereign Wealth

Fund Institute

UAE’s NMC Health explores new counter bid for Al NoorLONDON: NMC Health, a Unit-ed Arab Emirates (UAE) health-care company, is considering a counteroff er to Mediclinic Inter-national’s takeover approach for Al Noor Hospitals Group, accord-ing to people with knowledge of the matter.

NMC Health, the fi rst Abu Dhabi-based company to list on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has reached out informally to Al Noor about a merger proposal, the people said, asking not to be identifi ed as the information is private. It’s not clear whether Al Noor, which has a market value of about 1.1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) and is also based in Abu Dhabi, is willing to engage in talks and there’s no guarantee that a transaction could take place, the people said. Al Noor is leaning toward accepting the Mediclinic proposal, one of the people said.

Representatives for Al Noor and NMC Health declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Mediclinic said she wasn’t imme-

diately able to comment.Al Noor and Johannesburg-

based Mediclinic are in talks about a tie-up that would create the biggest supplier of private care in Dubai and Abu Dhabi with further operations in Europe and Southern Africa. The potential deal between the two private-hospital owners would involve the issue of new Al Noor shares to Mediclinic and be classifi ed as a reverse takeover, Abu Dhabi- based Al Noor said in a statement on Monday.

Both NMC and Al Noor have sold shares in London to tap a wider pool of investors. Al Noor

raised Dh1.27 billion ($346 mil-lion) in the UK capital in 2013, while NMC raised Dh749 million in 2012. Mediclinic would take a London listing if its acquisition of Al Noor is successful, the com-pany said on Tuesday.

NMC’s biggest investor is In-dian entrepreneur and 26 per cent shareholder Bavaguthu Ra-ghuram Shetty, who also bought a controlling stake in Travelex Holdings last year. NMC owns and operates hospitals in Dubai and owns pharmacies across the United Arab Emirates .

Al Noor shares advanced more than 16 per cent across two days when the interest from Mediclin-ic was made public, and traded 0.7 per cent lower at 973 pence as of 1:43pm in London on Fri-day. NMC declined 0.4 per cent to 828 pence, valuing the company at 1.5 billion pounds. Mediclinic gained 0.8 per cent to 120.57 rand as of 2:44pm in Johannesburg, valuing the South African com-pany at 118 billion rand ($8.9 billion). — Bloomberg News

T A K E O V E R A P P R O A C H

StanChart plans to cut 1,000 senior employees

LONDON: Standard Chartered Chief Executive Offi cer Bill Win-ters is planning to cut about a quarter of senior staff , resulting in about 1,000 job cuts worldwide, to help reverse a two-year profi t slide at the emerging markets-focused lender, a person with knowledge of the decision said. The shares rose.

The bank plans to eliminate some of the 4,000 employees who are graded in bands one to four, ranging from board members to managing directors, Winters said in a memo on Wednesday, accord-ing to the person, who asked not to be identifi ed because the decision is private. The bank will also sell assets and cut clients as part of the strategic review, the person said.

Winters has “made it clear that kick-starting performance is a pri-ority,” Standard Chartered said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. “On headcount, we said previously when we announced the manage-ment team and organisational changes in July that there would be further personnel changes to come. We have already acted to reduce management layers, and a result will have up to 25 per cent fewer senior staff .”

Standard Chartered, which gen-erates almost all of its revenue in Asia, has plummeted 20 per cent this year after commodity prices slumped and concern spread that China’s economy is slowing more than expected.

Analysts have forecast a capital gap of between $4 billion and $10 billion will be revealed when the Bank of England releases its sec-ond round of stress tests on De-cember 1. — Bloomberg News

S T R A T E G I C R E V I E W

AT YOUR SERVICE: A courier of Ele.me food delivery smartphone

application travels on his electric bicycle along a street in Shang-

hai, China, October 9, 2015. - Reuters

STANDING TALL: The exterior of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority building is viewed in Abu

Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi, home to the $773 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, is

reassessing its largest state companies with an eye on selling assets. — Bloomberg fi le picture

M 2 0 1 5

L ANDRES

d it has operating

ber quarter volatile ued

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‘Economic transformation of China expected to be bumpy’

LIMA: As China shifts to a new growth model, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde has cautioned that this transformation of the world’s second largest economy is expected to be bumpy and not a smooth ride.

“There will be little bumps on the road because no transition can be made absolutely smooth with-out any disruption, without any volatility,” Lagarde told reporters.

“I think we all need to get used to this little bumps on the road in that transition process, which as I said we welcome, together with the principles of more market de-termined exchange rate fl uctua-tion, for instance, which we also believe is desirable and has been called for by many economic op-

erators for many years, actually,” she said. Responding to a ques-tion, she said the Chinese slow-down of growth is a phenomenon that was predictable, expected and anticipated.

Describing China’s economic transformation as a good move, she said, “To only grow at 6.8 per cent and next year at 6.3 per cent, with a growth model that is no longer based on either massive ex-port relative to domestic massive investment projects as opposed to consumption is a good transi-

tion, but it is a massive exercise.” In her interaction with report-ers, the IMF chief said there are many transitions occurring at the same time. “First of all, on eve-rybody’s mind, China’s shift to a new growth model. Second, the normalisation of US monetary policy. And third, the adjustment to potentially prolonged cycle of low commodity prices,” she said.

They need to be managed, and they can be managed with a policy mix that includes demand sup-port through the arm of monetary

policy and fi scal policy; fi nancial stability measures; and structural reforms, she asserted.

“Second recommendation in our policy mix, watch out for spillover eff ects. For example, central banks in advanced econo-mies should, and might actually already, give consideration to the risks of spillovers from their policy decisions. And emerging economies should fi rmly address the buildup of corporate leverage and foreign debt,” she said.

“So, manage the economic tran-

sition, watch out for the spillover eff ects, and take them into ac-count,” she added.

Asserting that international cooperation is key, Lagarde said: “what we are seeing around the world in terms of challenges, in terms of headwinds, are of an in-ternational nature, whether it is economic spillovers, whether it is the refugee crisis and not just from the Middle East, whether it is international development, whether it is climate change, no country can go it alone.” — PTI

There will be little

bumps on the

road because no

transition can be

made absolutely

smooth without any

disruption, without

any volatility, IMF

chief Christine

Lagarde said

Asia stocks shine taking cue from rise in oil prices

TOKYO: Asian shares rose on Fri-day, taking their cue from a jump in oil prices as well as gains on Wall Street after minutes of the Fed-eral Reserve’s latest meeting led investors to further pare bets that the central bank will hike interest rates this year.

Oil prices climbed to their high-est in three months on Thursday, after forecaster PIRA Energy Group predicted crude prices would rise to $70 per barrel by the end of 2016. Crude oil futures ex-tended overnight gains, with Brent adding 0.4 per cent to $53.28 a bar-rel, while US crude was 0.5 per cent higher at $49.66.

US economic outlookThe Fed minutes revealed the ex-tent to which policy-makers are concerned that a global economic slowdown might threaten the US economic outlook. Though they said overseas turmoil had not “materially altered” economic prospects, they opted to hold inter-est rates steady last month.

“When the dust settled the mes-sage for the market was that the FOMC was pretty confi dent on the robustness of the US economy and saw room for 2015 lift-off , but no imperative to do so if fragility per-sisted,” Steven Englander, global head of currency strategy at Citi, said in a note.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacifi c shares outside Japan was up 0.7 per cent in early trading, on track for a robust weekly gain of 5.7 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index add-ed one per cent, poised to gain 3.4 per cent for the week. — Reuters

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

New tough approach for state banks fails to sway investorsSINGAPORE: Ratings compa-nies say the disciplinary orders India has started to slap on state banks aren’t a sign the lenders are on the road to failure. Some investors would rather avoid the risk amid the worst bad loans since 2002.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiated “prompt correc-tive action” against Indian Over-seas Bank this week, which could limit the Chennai-based lender’s ability to pay bonuses or buy as-sets. The framework was imple-mented in 2002, and updated in May last year. The RBI issued a warning of impending curbs against United Bank of India in February 2014.

Tough-love approachPrime Minister Narendra Modi and RBI Governor Raghuram Ra-jan have adopted a tough-love ap-proach to state banks, insisting on management discipline in return for a Rs200 billion asset injection this fi scal year. Some fund manag-ers say they’re still favouring pri-vate banks or mortgage lenders as the industry’s bonds rally on signs growth in Asia’s third-largest economy is starting to pick up as RBI cuts interest rates.

The central bank “has realised that asset quality is a big problem and it’ll be getting worse before it gets any better,” Kunaey Garg, a Mumbai-based fi nancial institu-tions analyst at India Ratings & Research, said. “Most of the pub-lic sector bank exposure is with the infrastructure sector and that’s not faring too well. Once on-the-ground realities improve, the quality of bank balance sheets” should get better.

State-owned banks recorded the worst capital adequacy ratios (CAR) among all fi nancial insti-tutions as at the end of March, according to a semi-annual fi nan-cial stability report published by the RBI in June. On average, 13.5 per cent of their loans were classi-fi ed as stressed, the RBI said.

Under capitalisedState-owned banks are “under capitalised and have a lot of non-performing loans on their balance sheets,” said Thomas Drissner, a Singapore-based investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Man-agement, which managed some $484 billion as of June 30.

“There are questions about how proactive they are provision-ing for those. And purely the fact they’re reliant on the sovereign to keep the minimum capital ratios isn’t a good sign.”

Drissner said he takes a positive

view about some of India’s private institutions. William Danoff , the money manager who oversees Fi-delity Investments Ltd.’s $103 bil-lion Contrafund, earlier this week recommended buying shares of Indian housing fi nance company HDFC Bank, predicting private-sector banks will benefi t from economic growth more than their state-run competitors.

The Reserve Bank of India looks at three main criteria when considering corrective action. A bank’s return on assets must remain above 0.25 per cent, its net nonperforming assets must be less than 10 per cent and its capital adequacy ratio must be over nine per cent. It relaxed the action it took against United Bank in March, reversing an or-der that made it more diffi cult for the lender to make advances and participate in restructuring proposals. — Bloomberg News

R E S E R V E B A N K O F I N D I A

Bank of England votes again to keep rates at a record lowLONDON: Bank of England (BoE) showed no sign it was close to rais-ing interest rates as it voted once again to keep them at a record low and said the outlook for infl ation in coming months looked weaker than it previously thought.

British consumer price infl a-tion, which stands at zero, was unlikely to reach one per cent until the spring of 2016, the BoE said, slightly later than forecast in Au-gust. Pressure on prices from ris-ing wages remained muted.

“Although rising, increases in labour costs remain lower than would be consistent with meeting the infl ation target in the medium term,” the BoE said on Thursday in a summary of the debate among its policy-makers who decided to hold rates at 0.5 per cent.

Sterling fell against the dollar after the decision and British gov-ernment bond prices rose slightly as some economists rethought the previous majority view that the BoE’s fi rst rate rise since 2006

would come in February.“The language on infl ation was

relaxed,” BNP Paribas’s Dominic Bryant said as he pushed back his forecast for the fi rst rate hike to May. “The Bank is more likely to conclude that there is relatively little cost to waiting a few more months to be confi dent that do-mestic price pressures are rising.”

BoE Governor Mark Carney said in August the timing would come into sharper focus around

the turn of the year. Since then, concerns about a slowdown in the global economy and the US Fed-eral Reserve’s decision not to start raising rates have steadily pushed back expectations for when the BoE might move.

The lone dissenter on the nine-member Monetary Policy Com-mittee (MPC) came from Ian Mc-Caff erty, who for a third month called for a rise in rates to 0.75 per cent because he felt infl ation risked overshooting its target in the medium term.

But some other policymakers cited evidence that interest rates aff ected infl ation faster than they previously thought — suggesting they might delay a rate hike until infl ation is closer to the BoE’s two per cent target.

Policymakers acknowledged the slowdown in emerging markets but disagreed about whether it was any worse than they expected earlier this year with China show-ing steady levels of activity. — Reuters

E C O N O M Y

International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde. — Bloomberg fi le picture

China’s shift to a

new growth model.

The normalisation of

United States monetary

policy. And third,

the adjustment to

potentially prolonged

cycle of low

commodity prices

Christine LagardeInternational Monetary Fund chief

Mark Carney. — Bloomberg News

CORRECTIVE ACTION: Reserve Bank of India initiated ‘prompt cor-

rective action’ against Indian Overseas Bank, which could limit

the lender’s ability to pay bonuses or buy assets. - Bloomberg fi le picture

B3S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

MARKET

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Dell’s merger move heads for debt-market reality checkNEW YORK: Dell is trying to cre-ate a computing behemoth just as cracks are appearing in the debt markets that it would need to fi -nance the deal.

The personal-computer maker is talking to banks about raising at least $40 billion to fi nance the purchase of EMC Corp as the two companies battle fl agging demand, according to people with knowl-edge of the matter. That could be a tricky proposition for the junk-rated Dell because investors who gorged on $4 trillion of high-yield debt in the past fi ve years are be-coming increasingly wary.

“The idea of $40 billion in fi -nancing will put Wall Street’s cre-ativity to the test,” said Margie Pa-tel, a fi xed-income money manager for Wells Capital Management in Boston, which oversees $351 bil-lion. Debt markets are showing strains amid concerns that global growth is slowing just as the Fed-eral Reserve is preparing to draw the curtains on its easy-money policies. At least seven borrowers were forced to pull debt deals in the past week.

‘Oh no’A Dell-EMC merger may push to-tal debt to about fi ve times a meas-ure of its earnings, which would put it more in line with a single-B rated company, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report. That compares with the double-

B rating that Dell commands and single-A for EMC, the larger of the two companies.

“There’s a collective ‘oh no, here we go again’ in the market, given the potential size, when we’ve already seen a ton of these huge deals this year,” said Jack Fla-

herty, a money manager in New York at GAM Holdings AG. “They will have to do some work to get it done,” he further added.

Even if a merger between Dell and EMC is agreed in the coming days, the company may not need to tap debt investors for some time.

David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, declined to comment. The high-yield market, which just recorded its worst quarter in four years, has shown an aversion to risk as trou-ble in the pharmaceuticals indus-try, the downgrade of Sprint Corp. and the Volkswagen emissions scandal unnerved investors.

Selective investorsOnly one high-yield bond deal has priced in the past two weeks and those unable to wait have tried and failed as rattled investors tread with caution. Canadian company SunOpta Inc. and machine-parts maker NN Inc., may be forced to lean on their banks to provide backup fi nancing after failing to muster enough investor interest to price their bond deals.

“If credits have any sort of hair on them, there might not be a price to clear the market in this environ-ment,” said Peter Toal, the head of leveraged fi nance syndicate at Barclays. “Investors are being very selective in terms of what they want to buy,” he said.

He said while it’s not unusual that borrowers who come to mar-ket after a bout of volatility are forced to pay large concessions to lure lenders, not many issuers are willing to be the test case.

Creditors are increasingly fo-cused on “the outlook for new- is-suance markets” and the extent to which “potential downside shocks trigger the closure — temporarily or more structurally — of compa-nies’ access to capital markets,” Matthew Mish, a senior credit strategist at UBS Group in New York, wrote in a October 7 report.

Scotts Miracle-Gro, a maker of garden products, sold $400 million of notes on Wednesday, ending the seven-day drought in junk-debt sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Investors’ reluctance to com-mit money to new deals has spilled over to the leveraged-loan market as well, where at least fi ve deals have been pulled in the past week.

“The high-yield market is still very focused on macro events — global growth, China, price of oil,” Toal further said. — - Bloomberg News

F U N D R A I S I N G

Vedanta reduces its capital and operating expenditures

LONDON: Vedanta Resources on Friday said it has reduced capital expenditures (capex) and operat-ing expenditures (opex) in the Ju-ly-September quarter as the min-ing conglomerate tries to tackle volatile market conditions as well as subdued metal prices globally.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led mining giant said market con-ditions are expected to remain “challenging in the short term”.

Production fi guresPresenting its production fi gures for the second quarter of 2015-16, Vedanta Resources Group CEO Tom Albanese said: “We are continuing to drive effi ciency improvements and optimise op-erating expenditures and capital expenditures across the business.

“While the near-term market

outlook is challenging, we believe we have the right mix of commodi-ties to benefi t from future demand in India and globally.”

Asset portfolioHe added however that the Group’s diversifi ed asset portfolio has delivered a strong operating performance during the quarter, including record production from its tier-1 Zinc mines.

On the fi nancial side, the Lon-don Stock Exchange-listed fi rm

in a statement said: “In light of the current market conditions, we are focused on optimising our opex and capex, increasing free cash fl ow and reducing net debt.”

Several initiativesDuring the quarter, sev eral initiatives and programmes to generate cash savings, including a reduction of working capital have been implemented across businesses. These initiatives have resulted in an improved cost per-

formance and lower net debt at the end of the quarter, it added. On its iron ore business, Vedanta Resources said that in Goa, the remaining approvals were re-ceived for production of saleable ore of 5.5 million tonnes per an-num (MTPA) during the quarter and mining restarted during the quarter.

Production will progressively be ramped up in the third quarter of 2015-16. The fi rst export ship-ment is expected in October 2015,

it further added.In Karnataka, production in

third quarter was higher at 0.6 million tonnes (MT).

Production of pig iron was low-er at around 150 kilo tonnes (KT) primarily due to planned mainte-nance activities at the plant.

Aluminium businessIn the aluminium business, the 325 KT Korba-II smelter pro-duced 19,000 tonnes during sec-ond quarter FY’16 with 83 pots operational. However, the ramp up of further pots has been tem-porarily put on hold due to weaker LME and premium.

The high cost rolled product fa-cility at BALCO which produced about 46,000 tonnes in 2014-15 has been temporarily closed, which will result in cost saving.

In the Oil & Gas business dur-ing the July-September quarter of 2015-16, average gross operated production and working interest production were up six per cent and four per cent year-on-year at 205,361 boepd (barrels Of oil equivalent per day) and 128,021 boepd, respectively.

Production at Rajasthan was up three per cent year-on-year at 168,126 boepd, primarily driven by inline reservoir performance at Mangala and production from additional infi ll wells in the Aishwariya fi eld. — PTI

We are continuing

to drive effi ciency

improvements and

optimise operating

expenditures and

capital expenditures

across the business,

Vedanta Resources

Group CEO said

Amazon asks corporate employeesfor feedback

SEATTLE: Amazon.com wants to know how its white-collar workers are feeling.

Over the past few months, the online retailer has been ramping up eff orts to get regular feedback from corporate staff ers about their work environments. The eff ort is being expanded two months af-ter a scathing newspaper report portrayed the online retailer as a pressure cooker where worker hardships are ignored and back-stabbing is encouraged.

Dubbed Amazon Connections, the internal system poses ques-tions daily to employees to collect responses on topics such as job satisfaction, leadership and train-ing opportunities, people with knowledge of the initiative said. The company started the pro-gramme at its fulfi lment centres staff ed mostly with blue-collar workers last year and has been rolling it out to other departments since then, fi rst hitting the corpo-rate ranks this summer.

The confi dential feedback is assessed by a team in Seattle and Prague that compiles the answers in daily reports shared with the company, said one of the people, who asked not be identifi ed dis-cussing internal company com-munications.

Some employees will be encour-aged to speak in further detail with members of the Connections team. Individual employee re-sponses aren’t anonymous, but are shared only with members of the Connections team and the reports will contain only aggregated data.

Amazon has drawn severe criti-cism for its treatment of ware-house workers, many of them on temporary assignments, who are under tremendous pressure to move quickly to get customer or-ders out the door. — Bloomberg News

W O R K E N V I R O N M E N T

Alibaba opens second US data centre in cloud pushHONG KONG: Alibaba Group Holding opened its second data centre in Silicon Valley as it in-vests $1 billion in its cloud com-puting business globally to com-pete for clients with Amazon.com.

The facility will target custom-ers on the US West Coast in the next three to fi ve years, said Ethan Yu, who is leading the AliCloud unit’s international expansion. Alibaba is planning its fi rst data

center in Europe in the fi rst half of 2016, he said in a phone interview.

Boost growthAlibaba is betting on Internet-based computing and big data to boost growth in the next decade, tapping into demand for process-ing and storage from govern-ments, fi nance and online gam-ing companies. AliCloud could account for more than $1 billion

of Alibaba’s revenue by 2018 and public cloud presents a $120 bil-lion global market opportunity, according to research by Sun-Trust Robinson Humphrey Inc.

Fast-growing market“In our expansion we run into Amazon Web Services frequent-ly as we both are addressing a fast-growing market,” Yu said by phone. “As a competitor there are

a lot of things we could learn from them, but there’s also a lot of ways we can diff erentiate ourselves.”

Alibaba’s cloud business only contributes a small part of total revenue, with computing and In-ternet infrastructure accounted for 2.6 per cent of sales in for the June quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Chinese companies will most likely need to compete for local

business to reach scale, said Ste-ven Lu, a Shanghai-based partner at Bain & Co. “When Chinese com-panies go overseas, following the diaspora of Chinese companies might be a good fi rst step,” Lu said.

“Yet the majority of cloud cus-tomers overseas are local, so Chi-nese companies have to penetrate the local market if they want to really grow,” he further added. —

Bloomberg News

S I L I C O N V A L L E Y

MAKING A POINT: Even if a merger between Dell and EMC is agreed upon in the coming days, the com-

pany may not need to tap debt investors for some time. - Bloomberg fi le picture

Vedanta Resources Group CEO Tom Albanese. — Bloomberg fi le picture

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

– Bloomberg fi le ppicture

B4

FEATURES AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

SILICON BEACH Today over 1,000 startups are based in Los Angeles, and more are

taking notice as investors are thirstily eyeing the scene

Venice Beach, a neigh-bourhood of Los An-geles, is where Arnold Schwarzenegger toned his muscles, the Dogtown

skateboarders launched a lasting move-ment and Jim Morrison conceived the Doors. The Dude lived here in “The Big Lebowski.”

For decades, Venice has been the epi-centre of weird, a beachy paradise with a gothic twist, where carnival freaks, homeless hippies, yoga instructors and fanny-packed tourists blend into a milieu as colourful as its famous three-story murals. Now, thanks to real estate speculators and a tech boom featuring the likes of Google and Snapchat, Ven-ice’s mellow charm is under siege.

“There are a lot of shenanigans going on to hyper-gentrify this area, almost make it a beach-front resort,” said Lad-die Williams, a third-generation Venice resident and community activist. “They are killing our community.”

As skyrocketing real estate prices push long-time residents out of this ocean-side district of Los Angeles, corporate chains are replacing funky shops, and tech geeks are emerging as a dominant part of the scene. Meanwhile, the area’s already robust homeless pop-ulation is rising, leading to controver-sial police crackdowns.

Similar trends are transforming much of coastal California. Across Los Angeles, middle-class homebuyers are losing out to speculators who plunk down cash off ers. And in San Francisco, median home prices have soared from $700,000 to nearly $1.1 million in three years, making it one of the least aff ord-able cities in the world.

But in bohemian Venice, the shakeup

has been particularly upsetting, espe-cially since the arrival of Snapchat, the tech giant whose app enabling users to send each other disappearing photos and messages has proved irresistible to teens.

Snapchat’s presence here has swollen from 14 employees to 200 in two years, expanding this spring into offi ce build-ings throughout the densely populated, three-square-mile hamlet. One building near the beach spans an entire block.

Among the dozens of tenants dis-placed by Snapchat was the Teen Pro-ject, a nonprofi t organisation that pro-vides housing to young homeless adults.

“They shoved us right out and treated us like redheaded stepchildren,” said founder Lauri Burns. A few months before the move, a Shapchat execu-tive told her he had noticed one of her homeless clients sweeping the street with an old broom, so he off ered to buy the organization a new one.

“You could have just slapped me in the face at that point,” Burns said.

Slapped in the face is exactly how many Venetians are feeling by the tidal wave of new money. And the local tech boom, known around town as “Silicon Beach,” is just one source of it.

The main thoroughfare in Venice, Abbot Kinney Boulevard, has been transformed from a funky lineup of artisan shops and antique stores to a ritzy outdoor mall of upscale corporate brands, such as Scotch & Soda, Hyden Yoo and Sofi a Kaman Fine Jewels — the shop where Lindsay Lohan was caught stealing in 2011.

In a stunner last month, a piece of commercial property on the boulevard sold for $44 million to a New York part-nership, forcing the ejection of Hal’s, a

landmark bar and grill. Jaws had also dropped when the same property sold for $20 million two years ago.

“Pretty good fl ip,” said Carol Landau, owner of a hand-crafted-jewelry store that was priced out of its home of 30 years by the earlier sale.

Residential bungalows are also be-ing emptied and fl ipped to high-fl ying investors, many from overseas. In fi ve years, the median home price has surged from $832,000 to $1.4 million.

Rents have also skyrocketed. Intensi-fying the housing squeeze is AirBnB, the sharing-economy app that enables peo-ple to rent out houses and apartments to short-term visitors (i.e. tourists).

Venice is often called the biggest tour-ist attraction in Southern California next to Disneyland; it is also the No. 1 AirBnB spot in Los Angeles. About 12.5 per cent of all housing units there have become AirBnB units, taking a sizable chunk off the market, according to the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Econo-my, a labour-supported advocacy group.

Tony Bill, a producer who shared an Academy Award in 1973 for “The Sting,” wonders why anyone is sur-prised that beachfront property in one of the nation’s largest cities would ex-perience such growth.

“It’s like, what did you expect? How long did you expect that Venice would be a depressed, inexpensive, inactive haven for people who can’t fi nd a cheap-er place to live?” said Bill, who owns one of the buildings that houses Snapchat.

“Venice is not known, and shouldn’t be known, for its starving artists,” Bill said. “It should be known for its ac-complished artists. . . . If you’re accom-plished, you can aff ord to pay the rent.”

Snapchat executives declined a re-

quest for an interview. Via e-mail, they off ered a bullet-point listing of civic do-nations. ”We love being in Venice and we strive to be great neighbors within the community where we live and work,” it said.

Google has taken greater pains to fi t in since its 2011 arrival. The company houses 600 employees in an iconic Ven-ice building fronted by a massive sculp-ture in the shape of a pair of binoculars. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the place is known, aptly enough, as the Binoculars Building.

Google hosts the annual Venice Art Walk and Auction, which showcases the work of local artists and benefi ts a free medical clinic, and has commis-sioned work from local artists for its of-fi ces. It has also donated 25 computers to the Teen Project.

Many longtime Venetians make no distinction between the two tech titans.

“The locals hate Snapchat and Goog-le,” said Don Calhoun, 45, a guitar in-structor in a Spinal Tap shirt who was hanging out at a boardwalk oxygen bar. Calhoun tries not to use Google, he said, adding: “I’ve been on Bing! I’ve been Bingin’ away!”

Still, Thomas Williams, site lead for Google’s Los Angeles offi ce, said he feels embraced by Venice. He recounted an interaction with a street performer on the boardwalk, a drummer named Ibra-him. “He just reached out and held both my hands, looked into my eyes and said, ’I want you to feel welcome,’ ” Williams said via e-mail.

“We spoke for a little while and he in-vited me to a performance, but his goal was really just about wanting me to feel welcome in being here. Really cool. Re-ally Venice.” — Washington Post-Bloomberg News

List of startups in Silicon Beach

Company Founded VidRoll 2014

Cloudwear 2014 WeMash 2014

Gradient X 2013 Vow to be Chic 2013Cargomatic 2013GoCoin 2013

Realty Mogul 2012Women.com 2012Acorns 2012

Tapiture 2012 Bitium 2012

Whisper 2012 The Honest Company 2012 The Black Tux 2012

Bloom2Bloom 2012 The Bouqs Company 2012 Enplug 2012 The Bouqs 2012

Kuapay 2011Snapchat 2011

BloomNation 2011GoodRx 2011

Mediakix 2011 Eventup 2011

TigerText 2011 Dollar Shave Club 2011

Frequency 2010BeachMint 2010 ParkMe 2009WeezLabs 2008

Tieks 2008Hulu 2007Nasty Gal 2006

TrueCar 2005 ConsumerTrack, Inc 2004

BQE Software Inc 1996

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

FamilySECTIONB L I F E S T Y L E S AT U R DAY, O CTO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

SWITCH IT UP IN THE KITCHEN

Whether cleaning up after a busy weekend or

hosting company, having a few quick kitchen

shortcuts on hand is a great way to be prepared for

whatever life brings. Many of the best shortcuts

come from switching things up and using typical

kitchen items in not-so-typical ways.

Aside from being the de facto mess cleaner, paper towels are among the

most versatile kitchen tools you can have on hand. They can pro-long the life of produce, be used to prep beverages and clean up spills. In fact, paper towels have so many uses, they may render some kitchen “staples” unnec-essary. Finding non-traditional ways to use common household tools is a handy trick to make kitchen maintenance easy. So switch things up and see what a diff erence one item, like a paper towel, can make. Check out these tips for paper towels that show you how to switch-up your kitchen routines and tap the full potential of the paper towel:

 — Family Features

Ditch the bulky

colander in favour of a

paper towel. Place veggies

and fruit on a sheet of paper

towels under a running faucet

to function as a strainer;

the stretchy strength will

keep the towel intact

when wet.

Replace the need

for a vegetable

scrubber by utilising

the great scrubbing

power of paper towels

to properly

clean mushrooms,

potatoes.

Need to chill drink

quickly? Don’t dilute

it with ice; wrap a damp

paper towel around

the bottle and put

it in the freezer

to chill rapidly.

Slip a damp paper

towel under your

cutting board to

prevent it from

shifting while

slicing and

dicing.

Keep lettuce

fresh longer by

wrapping a paper towel

around a head of

lettuce to soak

up excess

moisture.

Hand wash and dry

glasses and other

stemware using the

cloth-like texture of

paper towels for a

sparkling fi nish.

Need to get that

grime off your stove?

The great scrubbing power

of paper towels allows

you to clean the toughest

messes and restore your

kitchen’s shine.

FIND-IT-ALLB6 S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr 11.59pm

Asr 3.21pm

Maghrib 5.51pm

Isha 7.02pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.47am

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

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

Bahrain 24 605 074/133

Bangladesh 24 698 660

Brazil 24640100

Brunei 24 603533

China 24 696782

Cyprus 24 699815

Egypt 24 600 982/411

France 24681 800

Germany 24835000

India 24684500

Indonesia 2469 1050

Iran 24 696 944/7

Iraq 24603642

Italy 24693727

Japan 24 601 028

Jordan 24692760/1/3

Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

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

Hamdan Hospital 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

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

SHATTI

The Martian (3D) (Action, Sci-Fi) – PGCast : Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain12.30, 8.45, 11.30 PMThe Martian (2D) (Action, Adventure) – PG6.00 PM Legend (Biography, Crime, Thriller) – 12+Cast Tom Hardy, Emily Browning,3.15, 9.00, 11.45 PMHotel Transylvania 2 (3D) (Animation) – PGCast: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Nick 12.45, 2.30 PMJazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan 9.15 PM Pan (3D) (Adventure, Family, Fantasy) – PGCast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy Vee12.15, 2.30, 4.15, 7.00 PM Black Mass (Biography, Crime, Drama) – 12+Cast: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch 4.30 PM Singh is Bling (Action / Comedy ) – PG12Cast Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta 11.45 PMThe Walk (3D) (Adventure, Drama) – PGCast: Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley6.30 PM

MUSCAT GRAND MALL

Pan 3D (Adventure | Family | Fantasy ) (PG)10:00AM, 12:00 & 4:15PMGold Class: 1:15PM & 6:15PMThe Martian : 3D (Action| Adventure) PG10:45AM, 1:30, 9:15 & 11:55PMGold Class : 3:30, 8:30 & 11:15PMJazbaa : 2D (| Action |Drama ) 12+9:15PMLegend : 2D (Biography| Crime | Thriller TBCCast : Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher6:30 & 11:45PMThe Walk : 3D (Adventure | Biography) (PG)

Cast : Joseph Gordon-Levitt,7:00PMSingh is Bling : 2D (| Action |Comedy ) ( )2:00PMEtiquette for Mistresses : 2D (Tagalog) Cast: Kris Aquino, Claudine Barretto (TBC)4:45PM

AZAIBA

The Walk – 3D (PG) Adventure, Biography, Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, 12:30, 5:45 PMTalvar – 2D (PG12) Murder, Mystry, ThrillerCast: Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma11:00 PM Puli – 2D (12+) Action, AdventureCast: Vijay, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan4:30 PMSingh Is Bling - 2D (PG12) Action, Comedy Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Kay12:00, 3:00, 11:30 PMThe Martian – 3D (PG) Action, Adventure, Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, 12:15, 5:30, 8:00, 10:45 PMPan – 3D (PG) Adventure, Family, FantasyCast: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman

12:00, 2:30, 4:30, 7:15 PMJazbaa – 2D (12+) Drama, Action, Adventure Cast – Aishwarya Rai Bacchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi 2:15, 6:30, 8:45, 11:00 PMJamna Payri – 2D (PG) Comedy Cast – Kunchacko Boban, Roja, Gayathri9:15 PMRudramadevi – 2D (TBC) Historical/Action/Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun, Rana Daggabutti2:45, 8:00 PM

RUWI

Screen 1Talvar (Mystery/Thriller) – PG12Cast: Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Tabu, 1.00 PMJazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+Cast : Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan 3.30, 9.30 PMSingh is Bling (Action / Comedy ) PG12Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta 6.30 PMScreen 2Singh is Bling (Action / Comedy ) – PG12

3.45, 9.45 PMJawani Phir Nahi Aani (Comedy) – 12+Cast: Humayun Saeed, Javed Sheikh 1.00, 6.45 PMScreen 3 Jazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+1.30 PMTalvar (Mystery/Thriller) – PG123.45, 6.45, 9.45 PM

SOHAR

Black Mass - 2D (12+)Crime |DramaCast : Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch 11:30 PMSingh is Bling - 2D (PG12) Action |Comedy 10:45 PMTalvar - 2D (PG12) Murder |Mystry |Thriller 4:30 PMPuli - 2D (T) (PG12)Action |Adventure Cast : Vijay, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan5:00 PMThe Martian - 3D (PG) Action, Adventure, Cast : Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen2:00, 6:35, 9:10, 11:45 PMThe Martian - 2D (PG) Action, Adventure, Cast : Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen4:45 PM

Pan - 3D (PG) Adventure, Family, Fantasy 2:45, 4:35, 7:30 PMJazbaa - 2D (12+) Drama, Action & Adventure12:00, 2:15, 7:00, 9:30 PMLegend - 2D (12+) Biography| Crime | ThrillerCast : Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Taron2:30, 11:45 PMJamna Pyari - 2D (M)(PG) ComedyCast : Kunchacko Boban, Roja, Gayathri 12:00, 9:15 PM Rudramadevi - 2D (Telugu)(TBC) HistoricalCast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun, Rana 11:45 AM, 7:45 PM

BURAIMI

The Martian– 3D (Action) (PG)2:15, 6:45, 9:15, 11:45PMPan – 3D (Adventure, Family, Fantasy) (PG)Cast: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Garrett2:30, 4:45, 7:15PMLegend – 2D (Biography, Crime, Thriller) (12+)Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Taron7:00, 11:30PMJazbaa – 2D (Drama, Action & Adventure) (12+) 2:30, 5:00, 9:15PMJamna Pyari – 2D (Comedy) (PG)Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Roja, Gayathri,

4:45, 9:30PMSingh is Bling– 2D (Action/Comedy) (PG)11:45PM

SUR

Pan (3D) (Adventure | Family | Fantasy) (PG) 12:00, 2:45, 4:30 PMMartin (3D) (Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi) (PG)12:15, 4:45, 6:30, 11:45 PMJazbaa (Hindi) (Action | Drama) (12+) 7:15, 9:30 PMSingh is Bling (Hindi) (Action) (PG12) 2:00, 11:15 PMJamna Pyari (Mal) (Comedy (PG) Cast: Kunchako Boban, Roja, Gaythri9:00 PM

SALALAH

The Martian (3D) (PG) (Action, Sci-Fi)

11:00AM, 3:45, 9:00, 11:45PM

The Martian (2D) (PG) (Action/Sci-Fi)

12:45PM

Pan (3D) (PG) (Adventure/Family/Fantasy)

Cast: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Garrett

10:00AM, 1:45, 2:10, 4:10PM

The Stranger (2D) (12+) (Mystery/Horror)

Cast: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns

5:00PM

Cooties (2D)(15) (Horror/Comedy)

Cast: Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill

3:15PM

Jazbaa (2D)(12+) (Drama/Action/Adventure)

Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan,

12:00, 9:15PM

Jamna Pyari (2D) (PG) (Mal)(Comedy)

9:35 PM

Rudramadevi (2D) (PG12)( Telugu) (Action)

6:15PM

Legend (2D) (12+) (Biography/Crime/Thriller)

6:30, 11:35PM

Singh is Bling (2D) (PG12) (Action/Romance)

10:15AM, 11:50PM

Puli (2D) (PG12) (Tamil) (Action/Adventure) Cast: Vijay, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan6:45PM:

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking

24540855

Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

Black Mass ( Biography,/ Crime/ Drama) Cast: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson5.45 pmCP No: 2645 (12+)Pan (Adventure/Family/Fantasy) Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy Vee3.45, 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pmCP No: 2759 ( PG )The Stranger ( Drama/Horror/Mystery) Cast: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levi, Cristobal Tappia Montt2.00, 6.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pmCP No: 2758 (12+)Cooties (Action /Comedy/Horror) Cast: Elijah Wood, Allison Pill, Rain Wilson2.00, 4.00 & 8.00 pmCP No : 2760 ( 15+)

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776

Website: www.isurf.co.om

Jamna Pyari (Mal) (Com/Rom)

Cast: Kunchako Boban,Roja, Gayatri & Anu Moi

3-00 & 10-00 Pm At Cinema Main \ 6-30 Pm

Cinema -2

Singh Is Bling (Hindi) (Act/Com)

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson & Lara Dutta

3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 Pm At Cinema-4

Pulli (Tamil) (Act)

Cast: Vijay & Shruthi Hassan

3-30 & 9-30 Pm Cinema-2 \ 6-30 P Cinema Main

Shivam (Telugu) (Rom/Act)

Cast: Ram, Rashi Khanna & Brahmanandam

3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 Pm At Cinema -3

Rudramadevi ( Telugu) (Act/Thril)

Cast : Anushka Shetty, Allu Arun & Rana Dagubati

3-00, 6-30 & 10-00 Pm At Cinema Main

Programmes are subject to change

@MGM @RUWI

Legend : 2D (Biography| Crime | Thriller TBCCast : Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, ChristopherTiming: 6:30 & 11:45PM

@SHATTI

Pan (3D) (Adventure, Family, Fantasy) – PGCast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy VeeTiming: 12.15, 2.30, 4.15, 7.00 PM

@SOHAR

THE MARTIAN - 3D (PG) (Action, Sci-Fi)Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen WiigTimings : 2:00, 6:35, 9:10, 11:45 PM

Jazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+Cast : Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Chandan Roy SanyalTiming: 3.30, 9.30 PM

WEATHER

390

Maximum

280

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

35-80%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

WITH LOVE

ROSE SEBY CHITTATUKARAOctober 10, 2010

LIFESTYLEB7S AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

ACROSS

1 Wet soils 5 Spotted animal 9 Crumple up 12 On the double 13 Mystique 14 Med. plan 15 Wheel spokes 17 Violent storm in the Pacific 19 Give a fresh look 21 Bunny features 22 Humane org. 25 Major Japanese port28 Took it easy 30 Out of the rain 34 Crimson Tide st. 35 Sz. option 36 Providence’s st. 37 In days gone by 38 Snoop 40 Had poison ivy 42 Uncanny 44 Tones 45 “Star Trek” captain 48 Bird abode 50 Lack 53 Look forward to57 Ullmann of cinema 58 Tiber city 60 Pantyhose shade 61 Mind-reader’s letters62 Basilica area 63 College official

Crossword Puzzle

Q u e s t i o n s & A n s w e r s

It’s better not to argue with...

Me

If I had treasures I would

hide them...Under my pillow

One thing that puts me off ...

Bad marks

One movie/book I can watch/

read over and over again...

Home Alone series

When I’m in doubt...

I ask my parents

If I met an alien I would...

Scream and run away

One person I would trade

places with (real or fi citional)

Amitabh Bachchan

I go crazy when...I am unable to fi nd

my things

The scariest thing that I have done...

Nothing

The best way to my heart is...Being friendly

If I win a lottery...I would give the

entire amount to my parents

If I have to describe myself

as a fl avour it would be...

Sweet and sour

If I could go back in history,

I would like to meet...

All Mughal emperors

Send your contributions to lifestyle@timesofoman.com. A good quality photo is compulsory. Lifestyle reserves the right to

publish the contributions.

ROSHINI VINOD NAIR

DOWN

1 Damage the finish2 UN member 3 Parent 4 Kind of staircase 5 Musical note 6 Garage contents 7 Sardonic 8 Tot’s time-out 9 Cowboy’s shout 10 Love, to Pablo 11 Slips into 16 That is (abbr.)

18 Cattle rancher’s unit20 Ebbets Field player22 Shut with a loud noise23 Ply a gondola 24 Sheathed with metal26 More open 27 Furrowed 29 Fashion magazine 31 Honolulu’s island32 Pointed arch 33 Retina cells 39 Hockey feint

41 Gnawed 43 List components 45 Curly-leafed veggie46 White wader 47 Party-thrower’s plea49 Price wd. 51 Brady Bill opposer52 PD member 54 Top card in a royal flush55 Retiree’s kitty 56 Winery cask 59 MIT grad, perhaps

AN

SWER

TO

PR

EVIO

US

PUZ

ZLE

STORYTIME

By Swati Dasgupta

One skill I would like to learn...Playing guitar

Tea time

KEEP SAFE by Isidore

“Robby, it’s al-ready six. Get up fast,” Al-ice D’Souza’s voice echoed

in the corridors of their house. She had just fi nished packing the school tiffi n of Robby and Aleeta. Morn-ings were always busy at D’Souza’s residence as all of them had to leave home before eight.

Robby heard his mum’s reminder and knew it was time to give up his precious sleep. He tossed and turned on the bed and wanted to continue sleeping for a while. The AC was at blast and it was nice and warm under the covers.  “It’s such a bliss. What a pain it is to get up so early in the morning. Surely I can sleep for another fi ve minutes or so.  The world isn’t going to end if I don’t get up right now.” Robby thought and then again dozed off .

Alice had no idea that as she was busy getting ready for offi ce her son, instead of getting ready for school, remained snuggled on his bed. As she headed towards the break-fast table she called for Aleeta, her daughter. Aleeta was usually up on time and didn’t need any reminders. “Aleeta, where’s Robby? He should have been here by now for break-fast” Mr D’Souza enquired as he sipped his morning cuppa.

“Dad, I didn’t see him at all,” Alee-

ta said while nibbling her toast.Not fi nding Robby Alice went to

her son’s bedroom and to her utter shock found him fast asleep.

“What’s this Robby? You are still sleeping. I am sure you are go-ing to miss school today because it’s already 7.30 and we hardly have any time left,” Alice said in a displeased tone.

Robby got up with a jolt hearing his mother’s voice. There was only 15 minutes in his hands to get ready for school and the next few minutes were like a marathon. He had a quick shower and somehow managed to get ready. As he got on to the car Mr D’Souza looked pretty annoyed but he remained quiet.

They had almost reached the school when Robby suddenly ex-claimed; “Oh! I have left my English text book on my study table.”

Robby looked worried for forget-ting his book. He knew the English teacher was very particular about such things and didn’t like when the students forgot to bring their books or notebooks.

“Robby, I don’t understand why you always get delayed in the morn-ing. Why can’t you get up on time and not have this last minute has-sle,” said Mr D’Souza hearing Rob-by’s cry.

Robby kept mum. He knew it was his fault and it was not the fi rst

time it had happened. His late rising habit had always got him into trou-ble but he never changed for better. On several occasions he had to stand outside the school assembly line for reaching school late.

For no fault of her own Aleeta too had to face punishment, all because of her brother.

His parents would get late for work at times. Once in school, as expected, Robby was rebuked by the English teacher for forgetting

to bring his book. “That’s an ex-tremely irresponsible behaviour Robby. I think you are big enough to take care of such things,” he sternly said.

Robby felt miserable for being ticked off , more because Matt and Rehman made fun of him during lunch hours. “Wish I could get up on time,” he pondered.

In the evening as the family were chatting Robby told his parents about the trip to the children’s mu-

seum the next day. “Mom, we are going to the Children’s Museum to-morrow. Won’t it be fun? I am really excited. We have been told to reach school on time,” Robby said.

“That’s wonderful but Robby you go to bed on time instead of watch-ing TV so that you can get up early tomorrow,” she said.

Robby nodded his head but in the night as the rest of the family went off to sleep Robby quietly sneaked out of his bedroom and went to the living room.

He remembered about his favour-ite programme and couldn’t resist it. He quietly switched on the televi-sion set and remained glued to it for the next two hours.

It was already past midnight and suddenly Robby realised that he was pretty late. He rushed to his bed-room, put the alarm and dozed off in minutes.

The next morning it was the same old story. Robby in spite of the alarm bell and his mother’s reminders failed to get up on time.

At the breakfast table when Mr D’Souza found his son missing he immediately knew that it was Robby again who had delayed.

He thought for a while and then asked Alice and Aleeta to get in the car as soon as they were through with the breakfast.

“But dad, Robby has his museum

trip today,” Aleeta pleaded.“I know my child but Robby has to

learn to be responsible,” he said.The D’Souzas soon left and the

caretaker of the building was in-formed about Robby being at home.

Robby got up at 8.30 and he pan-icked seeing no one in the house. He knew he had missed his much awaited museum trip.

He was almost in tears when the doorbell rang. He saw through the door peephole to see the caretaker. He opened the door. “Robby, your dad told me to tell you that they had to leave for work as you were sleep-ing. Your breakfast is on the table. Please have it,” he said.

Robby felt extremely miserable. He wondered how much his friends must be enjoying the trip to the mu-seum. If he had listened to his mum he would also have been a part of the excursion. But now nothing could be done. He realised his mistake but it was too late.

In the evening when the D’Souza’s came back from work they saw Rob-by sitting quietly in his room read-ing a book. Alice called him and he reluctantly came to the hall.

“Robby we know that you are very upset at today’s incident but I am sure you must have learnt something out of it,” Robby’s father looked at his son aff ectionately. swati@timesofoman.com

When the alarm bell rings

B8

LIFESTYLES AT U R DAY, O C TO B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 5

All the words below appear in the puzzle - horizontally, vertically,

diagonally, even backward. Find them and circle their letters.

The leftover word spells the Teleword.

How to playFill empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area.

Answer to previous puzzle

SOLUTION

W N O I T N E V N O C R A F T D O O W Y L L O H E U G A E L E I R H A N N A H N I N E I L G S E L B I S S O P M I K C E N I L A D P I T A T I D E O S I V F I S S N L E H C A R R N W E E C L A H R C M E E A A A U L R R Y O L H E C I L M L H P E R E L C A L I F O R N I A T T I M C R A O Y W E E C N M O E E M L H V L M G O E S E A W S R O E M O H D L I H C M B N A T C A L E I S S A C S I A Y T I C E E N E C S Y L I L L E T E E W S L E T E R G M Y A

TelewordSudoku

Alabama, Cale, California, Cassie, Charlotte, Cheerleading, Child, Choice, City, Commercial, Convention,

Coraline, Craft, Crime, Emily, Fern, Ferrier, German, Gretel, Hannah, Hansel, Hollywood, Holmes, Home,

Kim Possible, Lacy, League, Lilo, Lily, Nine, Pita, Rachel, Sally, Scene, Secret, Show, Sweet, Television, Tide,

Uptown, Voice, Winged, Worlds. Answer: I Am Sam

CLUE: DAKOTA FANNING SOLUTION: 6 LETTERS

Children’s PoetryArt for the Ages

Ch

ild

ren

up

to

th

e a

ge

of

15 w

ho

wo

uld

lik

e t

o h

av

e t

he

ir a

rt c

on

sid

ere

d

for

inc

lusio

n i

n “A

rt f

or

the

Ag

es”

ca

n e

-ma

il t

he

ir d

raw

ing

s

or

pa

inti

ng

s (

in jp

eg

or

tiff

fo

rma

t) t

o l

ife

sty

le@

tim

eso

fom

an

.co

m

Oeshi Chowdhury, Grade 10, Indian School Salalah Sarthak Ajmera, Grade 6, ISG

Laavni Sinha, Grade 3, MISO

Nandana Vinod, Grade 5, ISG

Rufaiq Hassan, Grade 1, ISD Ashley Dharman, Grade 7, ISD Srinidhi Rajesh, Grade 5, ISM

Drive Safely

Alex RoyGrade XIndian School Wadi Kabir

While journeying down the road,A slightest mistake, we can’t aff ord.Risking our lives, in a matter of just seconds, Into a life of pain, our blunder ends.

In vehicles, all so comforting we don’t realise,With reckless speeds, we often drive. At all times, trying our best to overtake others,To reach faster, ending up in dangers.

To leave our phones, we may turn unwilling,Throughout the drive, chatting and texting.Snacks and chips, we keep on munching,Why take the peril of such multi-tasking?

Seat belts to wear, we often refuse,And helmets while biking to us are of no use.Ours and the innocent lives we suppress,We have to blame ourselves for being so careless.

So grip your hands on the steering,Follow the traffi c lights while you are driving.For we must never forget- although speed thrills,Our precious lives it also kills.

Send your contributions for Children’s Poetry to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

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

C

C4 VACANCY CARGO C6

S AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5

RENT C2

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

One /two, B/R, Res / comm. fl ats

near Bank Muscat Bausher from

owner directly . Contact: 92158031

3 BHK, 2 BHK and 1 BHK fl ats with

split air conditioners are available

for rent in new building in Al Qurum,

near Rose Garden. Interested persons

may contact: 99244577

2bed room villa in Sidab, 2 Bedroom

villa in Wadi Kabeer. Contact :

95755953 / 95555162

Brand new residential fl ats in Wadi

Kabir near Muscat football club,

have 2 bedroom family hall, 2 toilets,

Kitchen with spilt AC for 250/- R.O.

Contact: 95999904 / 98585889 /

92383886

Villa for rent four spacious bath at-

tached bed room private swimming

pool gymnasium (common) with

electrical equipment and free main-

tenance secured compound at Madi-

nat Al Allam. Contact: 98027975

Offi ce for rent in CBD.

Contact : 92820734 / 95345909

2 bed, 1Majlis, 2 toilets, lobby small

kitchen in Hamriya rent R.O 170/-.

Contact: 99489548

Villa for rent in Wadi Kabeer.

Contact: 95562646 / 99059333

1,2,3 BHK Flats. Contact: 97799175

Single room bathroom attached

sharing kitchen available in Ghubra.

Contact: 99071817 / 92258623

1BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/-.

Contact: 97799175

1BHK Commercial M.B.D R.O 280/-.

Contact: 97799175

2BHK Wadi Kabir RO 300/-

Contact: 97799175

1& 2 BHK Darsait. Contact:

97799175

2BHK Ghubra R.O 350/-.

Contact: 97799175

2 BHK Commercial Al Khuwair

R.O 375/-. Contact : 97799175

1BHK Ghubra R.O 275/-.

Contact : 97799175

Newly built 3 bedroom villa avail-

able for rent near to Kuwaitee

mosque, Wadi kabir. Contact

99725331, 91318111.

Furnished fl at for rent, 3 rooms with

attached bathroom, 1 dining room,

1 sitting room, 1 kitchen at Al Hail

South. Contact 99835995

Two fl oor villa, 5 toilets, kitchen,

and 2 sitting rooms in Mabela South.

Contact: 99357404

C2 S AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

2BHK Qurum. Contact: 99024730

1BHK Azaiba. Contact: 99024730

2 fl ats with air-conditions in Al

Bustan each fl at has 3 bedrooms,

3 bathrooms, family hall, kitchen,

store laundry. Contact: 98919037

1 room, 2 rooms, 3 rooms with all

supplements including water elec-

tricity and sewage. Also we provide

the following services free 1plumber,

electrician for any failed center for

garbage on price call on Farahat

98020768 , Hilal 96541263

1& 2 BHK fl ats for rent at Wadi

Kabir, Wadi Adai, Hamriya, Al Khoud

and Mabela and shop at Al Khoud

land line. Contact : 24834644

GSM 93994401/ 02/ 03, 3 lines

1BHK fl at available in MBD near

Khimji Supermarket with split AC &

curtain R.O 230/-. Contact: 97748721

/ 92393067

1& 2 BHK Ghala with A/C new build-

ing. Contact 99024730

Studio fl at at Al Khuwair.

Contact: 99024730

For rent a full offi ce building of 3100

sq mtrs opposite to Central Bank in

CBD (Ruwi) for R.O 4 per Sq mtrs.

Contact: 95330200

House for rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99379950 / 92925173

Furnished room for rent at

Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975

New fl ats for rent At Darsait near to

Ministry of Sports, Mumtaz area the

fl ats includes1 living room,

2 bedrooms, Kitchen, 3 toilets, every

rooms with split A/C, high quality

fi nishing, rent RO 340 /-.

Contact: 00968 92225523

1 B.H.K Wadi Kabeer, RO 175/-.

Contact : 95094028

Recently refurbished ground fl oor

apartment near Indian school Wadi

Kabir, 2 Bedrooms and sitting,

2 baths, kitchen. Contact: 98011224

Villa at al Khuwair having six

bedrooms, six bathrooms, sitting,

dinning, hall, kitchen Etc. Contact-

24833972/24833974/99367448

Single BHK fl at available in

Honda Road Ruwi. Contact -

24833972/24833974/99367448

Flat for rent, 2 bedrooms, 1 sitting

room, 3 toilets next to Al Hassan Com-

pany in W/K. Contact: 99210008

Fully furnished 2 BHK apartments

available at Bareeq Al Shatti.

Contact 92888063

1, 2 BHK in Azaiba. Contact:

99385835 / 99428143

2BHK fl ats & shops available for rent

at Honda road in a brand new build-

ing (dish & split A/C provided in

fl ats). Contact: 91165807 / 92976611

Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir near

Indian Primary School 2B and 1k.

Contact : 92222922

1000 sq mtrs industrial land in Gha-

la suitable for ware house, work shop

etc. Contact : 24700120 / 92584715

200 sqm basement available for

rent in AL Khuwair near Rawasco.

Contact: 93782735 / 93329476

We have 1BHK in Mabela 7 new

buildings 175/- R.O. Contact:

93782735 / 93329476

We have 3BHK villa fully furnished

in Ghubra 18th November street

650/- R.O. Contact : 93782735 /

93329476

We have 2 BHK in Ghubra 18th No-

vember street 2 rooms, 3 bathrooms,

large sitting, hall& Kitchen 325/- O.R.

Contact : 93782735 / 93329476

We have shops for rent in Ghala

& Ghubra. Contact : 93782735 /

93329476

We have 100 sqm for rent in Ghala

new building 350/- R.O. Contact

93782735 / 93329476

We have 3BHK fl ats in Ghala

new building fl at with 3 rooms,

4 bathrooms, large sitting hall&

kitchen 425/-. Contact: 93782735 /

93329476

We have 3BHK villa near Grand

Mosque villa with 3 rooms, sitting

hall, majlis & car parking 700/- O.R.

Contact : 93782735 / 93329476

We have 2 BHK fl at in Al Khuwair

new Rawasco brand new building

325/- O.R. # 93782735 / 93329476

We have small building for rent in

Bousher, 4 studio & 1 shop building

commercial & residence can be used

for family, bachelors or store 750/-

O.R. contact : 93782735 / 93329476

For rent : showroom / storage space

available (area 290 SQM, 6M height)

facing Al Mina street, Jibroo.

Contact: 99360631 / 96760819

600 SQT commercial fl at for rent

opposite Oman fl ourmill Darsait

more details.# 91214849/ 99364735

1BHK fl ats available for rent in CBD

area. Contact: 98116480

Fully furnished luxury 2 bedroom

fl at for rent at Ghala for short or long

term basis. Contact: 99886386/

99881653

Flats, shops for rent in Ruwi, MBD &

Mumtaz area. Contact 97293708

3BHK fl at Darsait Near I.D card

Medical 450/- R.O.

Contact: 99358589 / 95570288

1bedroom attached, toilet & kitchen

in AL Khuwair R.O 140/-.

Contact: 95154331

3BHK , 3bathrooms , 2balconys

NRAL Hassan W/ Kabir R.O 320/-.

Contact: 99384640

2 bed room fl at at Al Khoudh

Commercial Street Souq.

Contact: 99224748 / 99332297

Twin villa 6BR hall, kitchen at

Al Ansab-2. Contact: 99747560 /

99444786

Workers’ campus, shops, work-

shops, stores in a building in

Al Misfah, Wilayat Bausher.

Contact 98918090

1BHK fl at with A/C Al Khuwair

250/- R.O. Contact: 99358589 /

95570288

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 C3

FOR SALE

FOR RENT

FOR SALE

ACC. AVAILABLE

SITUATION WANT-M.V. FOR SALE

For sale BMW 730 Li, 2008 model,

3000cc, maroon colour with beige

interiors, 14500KMS, serviced

at dealer, single Owner driven,

R.O 5500. Contact: 95731861

/92265958NRIWANTED

CHANGE OF NAME

FOR LADIESLOST

Architect designed 5000 Square

feet exquisite Villa in 16 cents of

land at a scenic location on Aak-

kulam Road, Ulloor, Trivandrum for

sale. Contact +968 95372011

10 cents of house plot at kallattu-

mukku Trivandrum next to Oxford

school 3km from railway station

Contact +919495255111

Land for sale with ample water,

Adjacent to National Highway, 15

Km from Mangalore Port (Selected

for Smart City) 6 Km from NITK,

Suitable for warehouses, automobile

service center, Highway Dhaba/Res-

taurant, hospital, Building Material

showroom etc. Call 99468991-Oman

9902543956-India.

Brand new 2 BHK furnished apart-

ment (1225 sq feet) at Indiranagar

(Kodihalli),Bangalore for sale.

Please contact: 00968 95210474

NRI

MATRIMONIAL

RC, Keralite male. 30yers. shop

manager in Muscat looking for

suitable alliance. GSM:98529885,

00919496155815

Pakistani male 34 years staying

with parents in Oman for 27 yrs us-

ing hearing aid looking for suitable

alliance.#: 99353096 / 95544612

NAIR GIRL, B.Tech (Civil) 23/163,

Pooram from Alappuzha (district)

working as a Civil Engineer with

Kerala Govt: on adhoc basis looking

suitable alliance from professionals.

Contact :95230285

RC Girl (Trissur) 28, 152 cm slim

(middle class) MBA, working in

Muscat seeking suitable alliance.

Contact: 93867447

Seeking alliance for our son from

Muslim families. Interested families

Contact: 99889590

Independent rooms in Qurum /

Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Room for Rent Alkhuwair - Behind

Al Aktham Restaurant. 120 RO.

With elec. and water.For executive

bachelors only.

Contact : 98803261

Flat for rent available in CBD near

Costa Coff ee. Mobile no.92820734

Furnished room available in Ruwi.

Contact 92435784

Furnished Executive bachelor ac-

commodation in Ghubra North villa.

Contact 92595830 / 24495667

Private room with toilet near Qurum

park incl. W& E, monthly RO 220/-.

Contact Hassan 99349990

Accommodation available for

indian executive bachelor’s (no

kitchen).RO:125 including water and

electricity Contact no. .. 98145825,

98949724

Required land for purchase in

location Muscat (1200 SQM).

Contact: 96725682

An Amazing excellent residential

land for sale in Barka at Al Muraysi

attached to road open from 3 sides

and surrounded by houses & shops.

Ready for construction to build twin

villa good investment in Barka 677

SQM, price RO 21000/-.

Contact: 91010668

5 Seater sofa with cushions Center

table and 2 side tables in excellent

condition for immediate sale.

Contact: 96027403

Industrial land Wadi Kabeer 3470

sqr mtrs with warehouse + offi ce +

labor accommodation price 900,000

R.O . Contact : 99792181 / 99473751

Used furniture and steel racks at

Daiso showroom in Ruwi for im-

mediate sale. Contact 93411561 /

93991322 (Mr. Naveen)

Ice Cream & juices shop Ruwi good

location for sale suitable for beauty

parlor also. Contact: 92150455

Sale or lease machining lathe mill-

ing workshop in Mabella Sanayya

for sale/ Lease with four Employees

Contact 92166887

Fast food style well furnished coff ee

shop for sale in new Salalah.

Contact: 91121215 / 97484825

Ready coff ee shop for sale or

rent available in Al Khuwair near

Rawasco Golden chance. Contact:

93782735 /93329476

Port cabin and Wooden pallets new,

used and renovated porta cabin

Wooden & steel sandwich panel

Wooden pallets and packing for

marble packing available.

Contact no. + 968 99318152

Tel. +968 24458759

Email: ahastco@gmail.com

Comm. & Res land in the heart of

Ruwi 2400 sq mtr for sale.

Contact : 91155779

Comm. & Res land in Darsait, opp.

Pakistani School, 900 sq mtr for sale.

Contact: 91155779

Comm. & res. land for investment for

25 years in Ghala heights.

Contact: 91155779

Workshop for sale / lease fabrica-

tion / carpentry, (1800 sq m.), close

to main road, at Barka Industrial area

with or without labour & camp facili-

ties for about 20 staff .

Contact: 95120404

Email: elmechoman@gmail.com

Shop for sale or rent at Ruwi City.

Contact: 99103077

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-

ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,

Crockery, Glassware, Chafi ng Dishes,

Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Sys-

tems and spectacular lighting. Call

Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and

Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light.

ww.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

GOOD NEWS

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments &

massage, Ayurvedic clinic at

Al Khuwair. Contact: 24478618 /

97263637 / 93309131

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

Ayurvedic Treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis, massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis , IDEAL

CARE Ayurvedic Clinic,

18 November Street, Azaiba

Contact: 99639695 / 98342990

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371664 /

92504980

www.siddhayur.com

GOOD OFFER for ladies: (Golden facial

Golden bleach, Haircut-10 RO. Only)

this off er started from

10th October to 10th November.

Contact 99619409,

Hattat Modern Parlour

I, Shivani Amrit Lal Lad (holder

of Indian Passport No. M 3936722)

daughter of Amaratlal Harilal Lad

having permanent residence in

7/333, Jalaram Krupa,

Nana Parsiwad, Valsad, Gujarat

(complete postal address in India)

and presently residing in C/O

Khimji Ramdas LLC, Commodity

Division, P.O Box No. 19, PC No. 100,

Sultanate of Oman (complete postal

address in Oman), intend to change

my name from Shivani Amrit Lal

Lad (old name) to Shivani Amaratlal

Lad (new name) for all practical

purposes. Any objection towards

my name change may please be

communicated to

Embassy of India, Muscat,

Diplomatic Quarters, Al Khuwair,

P. Box No. 1727, PC 112,

Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman.

Comm. & Res land in Ghala heights

400 sq mtr for sale.

Contact: 91155779

Restaurant for sale excellent

location six visa opposite Mars Wadi

Kabir. Contact: 93334685

Porta cabins for sale in good

working condition, currently being

used Porta Cabins are available for

sale. Interested parties can come

& inspect the Porta Cabins during

working hours from 7.30 am to 5

pm. Submit quotation on or before

12.10.2015 in a sealed envelope to

General Manager, Oman Mechanical

Services Co Ltd LLC., P.O Box 1199,

Ruwi , PC 112. Contact: 24502820

Extn. 14

Fish and shrimps sale retail and

whole sale. Contact: 96725079

A well established medical clinic

with new equipment for sale.

Contact 91262334 / 99206610.

E-mail. Mohamedsfarah@hotmail.

com

Villa in Barka Al Waha project

4 BHK plus Maids room with car

park and compound.

Contact: 99347089

Beauty Salon for sale in Azaiba

prime location behind Al fardan

building. With sponsor and 1 staff

and 1 ready visa clearance.

Contact: 95318629

Used Fabrication machinery for

sale : Fabrication machinery and

tools in excellent condition for

immediate sale.

Contact 94652485/ 99273774/

99202278

For sale land in Amerat 3000 Sq.mt

with petrol pump permission.

Contact 99323957 / 92702891 1 & 2 bedroom fl ats available for

rent in wadi-kabir (opp: pencil bldg),

ideal for company staff / families -

bulk corporate deal possible.

Contact: 97677170

38 cents land with 2BHK house by

the river side in Thrissur Dist

Irinjalakuda, Kerala.

Contact: 99347089

Manik Meah has lost Bangladeshi

Passport No. AD 4171554. Finder

please handover to ROP

DAILY GUIDEC4 S AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DOMESTIC HELP

DOMESTIC HELP

EDUCATION

CATERING

SKILLED LABOURENGINEER/TECH/MECH

ACCOUNTANT

DRIVER

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

SEC/OFFICE

MANAGER/SUP

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANT-

EDSIT. WANTED

SITUATION WANT-

EDSIT. WANTED

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

DRIVER

DESIGNER

Required Indian driver with Omani

driving license and experience to

work in house. Contact : 96255558

Wanted Heavy Duty Truck Driver (3 nos.) having 2 yrs experience at

PDO. Contact 92891888

Urgently required heavy driver

for trailer. Contact: 92131483

Driver required for personal, salary

250/- O.R .Contact: 96725079

Driver with Oman driving licence

needed. Visa available.

Contact 94288863

House maid looking full time or port

time job, 5 yrs experience care taker,

cleaning, cooking.

Contact: 97882204 / 98562066

Sir Lankan Secretary with experi-

ence in recruitment fi eld.

Contact: 92809528

Indian Mechanical Engineer, 30, having 8yrs of UAE Sales/Busi-

ness Development. experience in

Electromechanical and Irrigation

sectors. Contact no- +971558763220

email id-sangowri@outlook.com

Urgent required Supervisor for

Interior decoration with Oman expe-

rience. Contact : 95766844

A 10 yrs successful steel workshop with 25 staff members, looking for an experienced Manager who has

to lead successfully, control overall

expenditures & deliver more oppor-

tunities to the Workshop. Successful

candidate will be paid as percent-

age of monthly workshop revenue.

Contact: 97080700

ADMIN

DRIVERRequired Pharmacist or Asst Pharmacist in a locum basis for one

month period in capital area from

15th Oct 2015to 15th Nov 2015.

Contact : 99372860 / 99008379

Immediate Opening for laboratory

technician. Should have MOH license

to work in medical centre in capital

area. Excellent Package,

Accomodation will be off ered.

Contact 99340135

Required Nurse for a clinic in

Al Buraimi S.O. Oman. Contact:

00968 92737149 CV to

drpkabbas@yahoo.co.in

Physiatrist with 3+ years experi-

ence in rehabilitation medicine

required for a reputed rehabilitation

center in Dubai. Send CV to :

hr2015.oman@gmail.com

Medical care center, Multispecialty

clinic, Seeb requires General Practitioner, medical lab techni-cian & pharmacist. Mail CV to -

sarita_h23@yahoo.com

or Call - 97884856

Wanted a female Nurse for a dental

clinic in capital area.

Contact:-99855050

Urgent placement B Pharm Phar-macist with OR without MOH Oman,

2 nos. Contact 92548672, 99516236

Urgently required for Medical Centre in Muscat and Salalah GP doctor (Male/ Female) Gynecology Nurses ( male / female) with or

Without MOH license, salary

negotiable. Please send your CV

moc.hrd2015@gmail.com or

Contact: 92681842

10 years Gulf & 4 years Oman ex-

perience in HR / Admin & logistics

fl uent in Arabic / English with D/L

looking for suitable position.

Contact: 95824598

Indian, male having 8 years in pur-

chase and admin furnishing / metal

scrap on visit visa, available to join

Immediately if selected – Contact

00968- 96675184 ,97704828

Indian 17 yrs experience in Admin

and have knowledge in Accounting

seeks job. Have driving license and

release. Contact : 99573353

Sudanese, Bombay university

graduate. 22 years of experience in

diff erent fi elds i.e. procurement and

logistics management, construction

management, training and general

administration of which 13 years in

Oman. GSM (99601004).

Indian Female MBA, 3 years expe-

rience in Admin MIS, family Visa.

Contact 98234427,

jkjsmith01@gmail.com

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

Post Graduate researcher required. Contact 99229700

We are looking for a Salesman with a minimum experience of three

years with driving license.

Please contact 98000266.

Email info@marahland.com

A leading trading Group is looking for Outdoor Sales Coordinator with

driving license & release / NOC.

Email CV to alhajoil@omantel.net.

om or fax: 24701683

SALES MANAGER : To build and

manage a team of sales executives in

GCC countries. Must have minimum

12 years’ experience in sales and

minimum. 5 years in interiors and

joinery Sales in GCC. Attractive re-

muneration package available for the

right person. All CVs will be sent to

this E-mail : career@gobdoman.com

Reputed electrical contracting company requires an Oman experi-

enced, capable “Electrical Contracts Manager”. Ideal candidates should

have relevant market experience &

connections. # 94400671/ 91272871

Urgently required a Indian Diploma

Civil Engineer with 1-2 years of expe-

rience and should valid G.C.C driving

license. Email: smtcoman@gmail.com

ARCHITECT

Senior Architect, Indian male 15yrs

exp. having DL& NOC, Looking for

suitable position.

Contact: 97239313

Email: abdul_muq2000@yahoo.co.uk

DRAUGHTSMAN

Male 15 years exp FMCG in Oman

with D/L and know all part of Oman

looking for management post.

Contact: 00968 96147152

Draftsman , Autocad , exp in

Architecture, Interior drawings,

Ph 93837973

Indian male 28 yrs, Master degree

in Computer Application and CCNA

certifi ed, 2 years exp in Oman look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact: 93295112 Email:

syedsadathali.mca@gmail.com

Indian male looking for job in Auto-

CAD and 3DMX Draughtsman

4 years with experience, 25, avail-

able for immediate placement.

Contact: 98665963 / 92529312

Sr. Accountant M.Com (fi nance) 15

years experience (2 years in Oman)

with a reputed fi rm, NOC available.

Contact: 92404608

Email: jin_75@rediff mail.com

Finance Manager, 15 yrs Gulf experi-

ence in trading & contracting compa-

nies in Oman looking for placement.

Contact 96947652

Indian male MBA fi nance with 3

years experience in Accounts,

Admin, HR, on visit visa.

Contact: 91520930

Indian male, 8 yrs experience

in Oman looking for any suitable

vacancy Accountant / Asst. Account-

ant / Offi ce Admin local release

available. Contact: 98492752 Email:

atiquehazique@rediff mail.com

25 years female looking for suitable

opportunity, Qualifi cation MBA (Bank-

ing & fi nance) near banking experi-

ence ready to work in accounts, HR &

Admin and any other suitable fi elds,

presently on family visa in Muscat.

Contact: 00968- 96987078

Finance Manager, 12 years experi-

ence in leading Construction and

manufacturing companies (9 years

in Oman) have strategic vision and

proven leadership ability. B.Com,

CPA- USA & modern accounting

certifi cate from “AUC”. “NOC” in hand.

Contact: 97220505

Indian male, 25, MBA Finance, with

3 years’ experience seeks suitable

position. Contact - 99299471 /

96589605

Accounting up to fi nalization on

periodic basis by CA. Contact also

for Project Finance Report, taxation

and internal audit. 91720465

Urgent: Accountant, Indian female on

visit visa, B.Com exp Tally ERP- 9. 4

fi nalization of Accounts, Tax account-

ing, stock maintenance, pay roll etc.

Contact: mk.jothipriya@gmail.com

20 yrs exp in non Banking fi nance

co in Oman as Branch Manager, credit

analyst, risk, Debt Collect, BR- opera-

tions, documentation, etc with valid

D/L now on visit. Contact: 99055123

Filipino, 29 yrs, male, BS Commerce,

5years experience Payables/Re-

ceivables/Payroll/Document Control.

Excellent Communication/MS Offi ce

skills. Contact: 95057206 Email:

patrick110486@yahoo.com

ACCOUNTANT, Indian male 28

years, 6 plus years of GCC experi-

ence, presently working in Oman

as an Accountant, seeking for a

suitable job position, NOC avail-

able, Contact: 95089869 E-Mail:

anuchunda@gmail.com

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male having 7 years experience as

functional fi nance head, presently

working in Muscat as Asst. Finance

Manager seeking for a suitable posi-

tion. NOC available, # 9178 9950 /

Email: igneshmlazar@gmail.com

Indian male highly resulted oriented

and self driven CA Inter qualifi ed

Accountant with over more than

14 years of experience in auditing,

fi nance and accounts including

industrial exposure in construc-

tion industry in Mumbai and Qatar

available in Oman seeks placement.

Contact: 93405047

Part time accounting works up to

fi nalization on monthly basis.

Contact: 96247295

Indian male 23 yrs BBM Graduate

with computer knowledge having

2 yrs experience in accounts looking

for accounts, admin, sales or stores

currently on visit visa. # 95356512

Young Indian, B. Com, Diploma in

Accounting, 2 years experience as As-

sistant Accountant on visit seeks suit-

able placement: Contact: 94399509

Indian male 13 years Accounts &

fi nance experience in Oman having

Omani D/L looking for suitable posi-

tion release available.

Contact 95885092

Email: nitin_dhotre2@rediff mail.com

Pakistani male 28 years old

recently worked as Administration

Manager MBA fi nance from Maju

Karachi. Contact: 99685330

Email: hussain_ca87@yahoo.com

Omani female exp in Accounts &

Shipping & Secretary & PRO job

knowledge in computer with Oman

D/L. Content: 91161736

Accountant with 8 years experi-

ence in Oman with D/L & NOC ,

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92994825. Email:

sanuchithranjali@gmail.com

Light driver for job 5 yrs exp.

Contact: 92171166

Light driver for job 1yr exp.

Contact: 95582571

Bangladeshi male driver, 48 yrs,

exp 14 years, 9 years need job & visa,

got release letter.

Contact: 99165961

Pakistani driver seeks for job, hold-

ing license of Oman exp in driving in

Oman 6 years.

Contact : 92604918

Indian male light vehicle driver,

10 yrs GCC exp looking for job.

Contact : 93060050

Indian driver 13 yrs exp. looking for

fulltime or part time jobs.

Contact: 91103909

REQUIRED URGENTLY

CONTACT:

93613422, 95062514EMAIL-

vacancynshifamc@gmail.com

FOR MEDICAL COMPLEX AT SALALAH

GENERAL PRACTITIONER RECEPTIONIST

PATIENT RELATION EXCUTIVE

Required 2 Tailors who can make

readymade curtains. # 92891888

An Omani construction co. located

at Muscat looking for an expert

Accountant with minimum fi ve yrs.

experience with wide knowledge of

using tally and other software and

GCC driving license. Send C.V to

kwk585@gmail.com

Omani Accountant with good com-

munication & computer skills with

4-5 years experience required for im-

mediate placement in a reputed Oil

& Gas Engineering consultancy fi rm

in Al Khuwair. Candidates should be

sent to trejobs@tr-engineering.com,

24642100

Required ACCOUNTS OFFICER to ensure accurate processing of

revenue data into ERP systems and

invoicing module. Posting of invoices

to customer SAP portal and delivery

to customer offi ces and interface

with Country Manager / Reporting

to Regional CFO. Qualifi cations : BSc

Accounting. Relevant experience

and knowledge on Online Account-

ing Systems especially the customer

SAP system. SUBMIT CV to :

me-job@interwell.com

Wanted Pharmacist with MOH

license for Pharmacy in Seeb.

Contact - 24423342

Indian male, Graduate with 7 yrs

experience in fi nancial, logistics &

Data reporting and analysis, experi-

ence working with international cli-

ents, site testing. Currently on visit

visa seeking suitable placement in

Oman. Contact: 92689823,

Id: jiby.john28@gmail.com

10+ yrs UAE experience

Fin. Controller looking for job

change. Contact: 98006226

Indian female 28 years M.Com,

Accountant having 6 years experi-

ence in Accounts, fi nalization, Tally

currently on visit visa.

Contact : 95595083 Email:

merlinfernandes16@yahoo.in

Part time accountant, senior ac-

countant, doing all type of ac-

counting works, up to fi nalization.

contact.95254864

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Mechanical Engineer having 1 year

exp in Mechanical Supervising look-

ing for suitable job.

Contact 92835957

Young Electrical Engineer looking

for suitable placement. Having spe-

cialization in electronics.

Contact 99227861

Btech computer science graduate

2015 passout.. Android application

marketing.. Having good communi-

cation skills and mindset to work in

a team. Contact 91024385

Indian BE (MECH) aviation BE

degree diploma in material quality

management 17 years Navy aviation

13 years construction purchase

stores professional on visit.

Contact: 90205082 /98796982

Indian chemical Engineer with

1year experience in Business

Development; & valid Oman D/L,

seeks suitable opportunity.

Contact: 96141612 or

E-mail: anjana.nanda@outlook.com

BE Electrical Engineer 8 years

experience 4 years in Oman with

Oman driving license.

Contact 96942032

Civil Engineer (Diploma) seeking

for placement. Contact: 95200650

Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need

suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

C-SWIP 3.1 ASNT level 2 QC Mech.

Engr 5+ yrs exp Indian male 26

seeks placement. Contact : 91823331

Email: kannasekhar46@gmail.com

SUPERVISOR: Indian male site

supervisor (AIR CONDITIONING)

25 years of experience with valid

Oman Driving lic

Contact: 97498809, 93391910

Email: hilariankj@gmail.com

Electrical and Electronics Engineer with one year experience and GCC

licence holder seeking a job

mail – shyjalpk@gmail.com

Indian male BE Mechanical currently on 2 yrs free visa with NOC

& local release. Looking for suitable

job in Muscat. Contact – 90296975 /

ali.syedausaf@gmail.com

Chinese/ Arab/ Continental Cook & helper wanted. Contact 95529970

URGENTLY REQUIRED

STAFF NURSE MOH license OR Prometric passed staff nurse required

for a reputed Medical Center in Muscat

Send CV to : Info@shatti alqurummedicalcenter.com

Phone no: 24400436, 93655425

Urgently required a full time Indian Housemaid to work in

Sharqiya - for an Omani family (local

recruits preferred) please contact :

95164139, between 8 am – 5 pm

Looking for an Mangalorean Konkani speaking Housemaid for

Mangalorean family to look after

baby at Wadi Kabir.

Contact 96449951 / 95147107

Interior designer with 6 years

exp 3D design MEP architectural

with sound knowledge in AutoCAD

Sketch up with VRAY, 3D Max look-

ing for suitable position.

Contact: 96789770

Email: sachinratnan@gmail.com A reputed rent a car requires Sales Executive. Apply to

reservation@johnyinternational.com

Contact: 94146486

Urgent required Sales Manager for

Advertising company with Oman

experience & driving license.

Contact: 95766844

Accomplished Advertising Sales & Business Development Executives

for leading Media Enterprise.

Enthusiastic Fresher also welcome.

jobs@interacoman.com

Required experienced Sales & Marketing Executive for sports club.

Preference will be given who has

experience in Oman and valid driv-

ing license. Please send your CV to

dasanthas1@gmail.com or

saud7kh7@gmail.com

Required experienced Sales / Marketing Executives having light

license. Send your CV

ocean@omantel.net.om

Chief Accountant, 12 years Oman

experience looking for suitable

position. Contact: 99513082

Part time Accountant, up to fi na-

lization, looking for job after 5 pm

(location prefer – MSQ to AL Hail).

Contact: 95694737

ACCA fi nalist, Recent B.Com Gradu-

ate, Indian female, looking for full

time employment in Accounting

and Audit. +968 96964379,

sangeethaumesh5@gmail.com

Wanted driving job. Contact 97690766

12 years experience light duty

driver with car. Contact: 96467373

Pakistani light vehicle driver

having 2 yrs exp. Contact: 96105925

Land Cruiser with Driver.

Contact: 99725003

Driver looking for job.

Contact 92303744

Driver. Contact: 95084826

Pakistani male light vehicle driver

looking for job. Contact: 96474528

Driver with car. Contact :91452930

Looking for quality assurance / Supply Chain Lead. 25-35 years old

with good communication skills,

with experience related to food

processing or food service minimum

of 5 yrs. experience. Please send CV’s

to: admin-dept@daud.om

HOSPITALITY

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 C5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

EDUCATION

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

MEDICAL

IT

IT

MISCELLANEOUS

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

MISCELLANEOUS

PROJECTS

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male as building care taker,

8 yrs exp looking for job.

Contact: 99716008

Indian male 25 years, M.Sc Chemis-

try, 1 yr. experience in Quality Con-

trol and assurances done HACCP

level 3 certifi cated course seeking

job in suitable placement.

Contact: 99185354

Email: alexbabu199@yahoo.com

Indian male 22 BBA Graduate with

Iosh Nebosh Certifi cation having

valid Omani driving license seeking

suitable placement.

Contact: 96357787

1 years experience Managing

Supervising qualifi cation bachelors

degree, Master diploma.

Contact : 93736515

Email: namshad404@gmail.com

Indian female Diploma in Indian &

foreign Accounting having 1 year

experience in Oman seeking suit-

able placement. Contact: 95714285

Egyptian legal adviser experience

and experience in arbitration and

contracts and labor law, look-

ing for work a company. Contact:

99664890

BBA Graduate looking for a suitable

job valid Oman D/L.

Contact : 99172212

Highly skilled Transport Manager

Experienced in Oman & UAE, re-

quired for Reputed Mining Company

Located at Sultanate of Oman.

Contact: workatoman@gmail.com

Indian male, BSc Physics Manager

Communication & marketing, profes-

sional in Graphic Design software’s

presently in visit visa.

Contact: 93508947

Senior Manager Indian, 30 years in

FMCG Business in Oman looking for

better opportunity at management

level. Contact 99231513

Dynamic result oriented hospitality

professional with 20 years of inter-

national exp. MBA in Hotel Manage-

ment, specializing in Hotel/Restau-

rant start ups, concepts & Franchise

development with proven records.

Seeking for Challenging positions

in reputed groups as GM/COO/CEO/

Business Head. (NOC available)

Contact : 96059470

Indian male more than 10 years

gulf experience in Offi ce / Sales

Coordinator, Admin, Secretarial and

purchase with good computer skills.

Having Driving license and NOC

available, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact 95149624

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

Electrical Engineer with BS & MS

Degree having 5 years of Experi-

ence in Electrical Utility/Water

sector seeks a suitable job. Contact:

95731852 snaveelh@gmail.com

Chartered Accountant, looking out

for an opportunity in Oman in Audit

OR Finance fi eld. Available in Muscat

from 10th – 16th Oct. Call : 91258435

26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance),

MBA(HR), Looking for suitable Job.

Contact immediately. Contact

98176105, nruknaddin@outlook.com

Indian lady looking for accounts

Job, two years experience one year

worked in Oman B.Com Graduate ,

Tally ERP9. GSM : 91123561

The Business Development Man-

ager, Iraqi, Experience 14 Years

Inside and outside Oman following

activities: tenders& real estate&

construction & marketing projects&

investments& transportation & Ma-

rine services& companies manage-

ment& develop business.

Contact 93240027

33 year male Indian Keralite looking

for Senior Accountant or Assistant

Accounts manager having 10 years

of working experience in Oman and

Qatar with valid GCC license willing

to work any GCC country, please

contact : 97433387

27,male,ACCA fi nalist, have profes-

sional experience up to fi nalization

of accounts, statutory and internal

audit, expertise in using tally and fo-

cus & oracle software, have 3.5 years

experience in accounts till fi naliza-

tion ,seeking for permanent replace-

ment ,GSM-97654769,email id-

abdullah.nooralam@yahoo.com

Indian looking for a part time ac-

counting or Internal Auditing job,

contact 99196621.

26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance),

MBA(HR), Looking for suitable Job.

Contact immediately #98176105,

nruknaddin@outlook.com

Senior Management Professional,

MBA, 12 years+ exp. in Business

Development/Sales Management

, Sales Training, Content Develop-

ment & Six sigma GSM:97428090

Part Time Accounting Job Complete

Data Entry, Upto Finalization. Any

Time Available. Location Al Hail,

AL Khoud. #- +968-92049215

Email:- aiafe.oman@gmail.com

ACCA fi nalist, Recent B.Com Gradu-

ate, Indian Female, looking for full

time employment in Accounting and

Audit.+96896964379,

sangeethaumesh5@gmail.com

Indian Chartered Accountant, Male

25 years, 5 years of relevant experi-

ence, On Visit visa, Staying with

Parents. Also holds BCOM (Computer

Applications). Contact 98164467,

24492638 shyamal008@gmail.com

Arab Lady seeking for House-

manager/Personal Assistant job.

Highly experienced. Arabic, English

&French. Contacttel : +961 71339568

email : famurr@hotmail.com

26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance),

MBA(HR), Looking for suitable Job.

Contact immediately #98176105,

Email: nruknaddin@outlook.com

FABRICATION & ERECTION-DUCT

MAN Candidate seeking suitable op-

portunities & presently in Oman with

NOC Mob:97239854,

Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com

25yrs Indian Female with Bsc Nurs-

ing, MHA (master of hospital adminis-

tration) Graduate looking for suitable

placement. Contact:- 99513267

Email:-alinaelshaddai@gmail.com

Building Site Supervisor with

Omani D/L since Mar 2010 in Oman

looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 93061107

Indian Male 25 yrs, B.E(Civil

Engg)1 yr exp in India(Residential

project(G +4),Autocad 2015.

Looking for suitable job.

E mail-gugan4u@gmail.com,

GSM-96767323

Indian female,28 years, B.Tech-

Electronics Engineering, M.tech-Em-

bedded systems,4+ years experience

as Assistant professor (Engineering

college, India) seeking suitable job in

Oman. Contact: 96965719

Pakistani DAE civil with experience

in Oman 2 years also holding license

of Oman seeks for job in Oman exp

in SAMAQADA & STFA. Contact :

93542055 / 99053438

B. Tech, Engineer Civil exp total 12

yrs, Gulf exp 6 yrs, PDO exp 3yrs D/L

Oman. Contact: 96242773

Diploma Civil Engineer 11 yrs expe-

rience (9 yrs building construction

+ 2 yrs O&G) with valid Oman D/L

seeking suitable placement. Contact

: 97669006 / 99142744 Email:

shafi queam@gmail.com

B.Tech Software Engineer nearly

2 yrs Engineer nearly 2 yrs experi-

ence seeking job in Oman, currently

on visit visa. Contact: 95184451

Pakistani male 28 Masters Telecom

Engineering from Sweden 5 years

experience 2 years technical sales /

business development experience in

Oman market. NOC available looking

for suitable placement.

Contact: 96559823

Email: khawaarnaeem@gmail.com

Pakistani male 28 yrs Electronics

Engineer having 3 yrs experience,

D/L (Oman) looking for a suitable

position in Muscat. NOC available

can join immediately.

Contact: 92055789

Email: zeeshnrahim89@gmail.com

M.E (Civil) Structural Engineer

3 years experience and AutoCAD

release or NOC available seeking

for suitable job. Contact: 92589557

Email: kmrcvl@gmail.com

Bangladeshi female Project Engi-

neer Civil having 5 years experience

or construction site currently or

visit visa looking a suitable position.

Contact 91207329

Email: dipabangladesh@yahoo.com

Male Project Engineer (Civil) 12

years experience Dubai + SA in con-

struction & water supply fi eld with

valid UAE D/L Currently on visit visa

looking suitable position.

Contact: 91206763

Email: delwar.civil.97@gmail.com

Young Indian male 23 yrs, BE -

Electrical Engineer 1.4 years experi-

ence in India, on visit visa looking

for suitable job.

Contact: 93924395 Email:

thomaspallathn19@gmail.com

Indian male, 26 yrs, 4 years experi-

ence diploma in Civil Engineering

fi eld on visit visa looking for suitable

job. Contact: 95585564

Email: safvanullal6644@gmail.com

Indian BE (Mech) Engineer having

P.G diploma in oil & gas piping and

level two NDT seeks immediate

placement in any industry at present

on visit vis. Contact : 92013757 /

99774956

B.Tech Mechanical, 5 years ex-

perience NOC available seeking

placement. Contact: 98557463 /

99470124

Indian male 28 yrs, Engg Nebosh &

IOSH certifi ed 5+ years experience

in Saudi Arabia at Aramco & Sabic

projects as a HSE head HSE Supervi-

sor. Contact 94059935

Aeronautical Engineer Indian

female 22 yrs, currently on family

visa looking for suitable position in

any air line / Engineering Industry.

Contact: 91705598

Email: nikhimnoushad@gmail.com

Civil Engineer B.Sc -6 years experi-

ence with constructions companies

- 1 years in Oman - qualifi ed as Site

Engineer & Planning Engineer.

Contact+968-94682217

Indian female, 30 yrs, Interior Designer

Bachelor degree with 5 yrs working experience seeking suitable

placement in Oman.

Contact 98499975, Email :

swasdesigner@gmail.com

Indian female B. Sc Chemistry B.Ed

having 6 years experience in teach-

ing looking for suitable jobs.

Contact: 94196493

Indian female MA English literature

B.Ed having 6 years experience in

teaching looking for suitable jobs.

Contact: 96701049

Welder, 6G,3G, ARC, Gas , Fabrica-

tion well gulf experinced

Ph : 95068064

Civil diploma Engr, exp in

supervision, designing, QA/QC

Ph : 92741929

Indian male, 23 Yrs, B-Tech – Elec-

trical & Electronics, having 1 year of

Work experience – looking for suit-

able placement. Currently in Oman

on Visit; Contact 95830305.

Automobile Engineer from India-

6 yrs exp-looking for opportunities

purchase / procurement/ supply

chain / project management-added

experience in automobile service &

customer care-presently in Oman on

visit visa. Contact 00968 91306841

email: shanyphilip23@gmail.com;

Degree Civil Engg total 9 yrs experi-

ence, 7 yrs in Oman Construction

Company with valid Oman driving

license. Contact: 99721926

Email: tamircivil@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Indian male 29,

having 7 years exp in construction

fi eld& Auto Cad in Oman. Having

valid driving license. Fluent in Eng-

lish & Arabic. Looking for suitable

job in reputed fi rm.

Contact - 99650569

Civil Engineer, Indian M 29 5yrs exp.

having DL & NOC Looking for suitable

position. Contact: 94576233

Email: suhailmullah@gmail.com

Professional Civil Engineer 25 yrs

experience with N.O.C Management

and Supervision with D/L.

Contact: 97290338

Civil Engineer degree, diploma,

Staad pro, Auto CAD 18 months In-

dian exp seeks suitable opportunity.

Contact: 93682529

Engineer with 4 years Telecom

experience in Oman, having Oman

driving license looking for a suitable

opportunity. Interested in marketing,

NOC available. Contact : 98513495

29 yrs, Indian male B.E with more

than 5 yrs experience in facilities

management / Real Estate in Oman

having valid D/L. Contact: 96652145

Diploma in civil Engineer, total 4

years experience, 1.5 years experi-

ence in Oman seeking suitable

placement. Contact : 96535084

Dynamic young Engineer (Electri-

cal & Electronics) on visit, seeking

suitable placement.

Contact: 94742764

Mechatronics (Electrical, Mechani-

cal) Engineer, 3 years of experi-

ence. Contact: 91234024 Email:

ammar.r.elerris@gmail.com

Civil Engineer Pakistani 12+2 years

Oman experience D/L required

placement. Contact: 94392616

Engineer with 3 yrs experience in

Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical

maintained fi eld on visit visa looking

for suitable job. Contact 99191535

Email: fareed029@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer Indian male 29

years, having 5 years of experience

in industrial automation and utility

maintenance in India (MRF Tyres),

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92789995 Email:

akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

Network professional, with 6 years

experience, CCNP and Bachelors

degree on visit seeking suitable

position. Contact: 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

MCA Indian female experience in

PHP / Java/ Web design / Photo-

shop and corel draw, with 2 years

Teaching experience in Bangalore

as lecturer and 4 years in call center.

Contact: 95140130

Email: nozah123@gmail.com

ME Electronics Engineer , 4 yr exp

in hardware and software currently

in Oman for visiting visa,

Contact: 95508754, 97049791

Civil Engineer, Indian male, 25

years, B.Tech, have 3 years experi-

ence in building construction seeks

suitable positions. 92609893,

alenalexander123@gmail.com

BBA Keralite, male, 23 yrs, experi-

enced in Automotive Sales & Admin

on visit. Contact 94742679,

Email: jafarj4@gmail.com

Indian female 2+ years of experi-

ence in marketing / Sales business

development in Oman with D/L

seeks suitable position.

Contact: 98989784,

Email: alamelusara@hotmail.com

Indian female Graduate holder valid

driving license knowledge about all

kinds of cosmetic products seeks

suitable placement.

Contact 98697656

Indian worked as Sales Supervi-

sor 7 years MNC now working as

Marketing Manager from 8 yrs with

visa D/L. Contact : 90205082

Indian female holding Omani driv-

ing license M.B.A in Marketing and

fi nance from Birla Institute, Muscat,

1 yr. working experience in India.

Contact: 91746962

Email: aarathiajith@gmail.com

Indian male 28 B.Com M.Com, MBA

experience 2 years Ventex Global

UAE Marketing Executive, experi-

ence 1 year Al Majeed Group Market-

ing Executive with valid UAE D/L.

Contact : +968 92871946

Indian male Graduate more than

16 years of experience in customer

relations and marketing in Pharma

and surgical fi eld seeking suitable

opportune. Contact: 95570460 /

92812020

Marketing or Purchase Executive,

1.5 yrs in Oman Indian male 27 yrs,

MBA with valid Oman D/L available

for immediate placement.

Contact: 96300958 / 24796010

Email: ashwanihegde@gmail.com

Filipino lady looking for Reception-

ist Sales girl having good experience

in Muscat. NOC will be available

ready to join immediately. Contact:

92664896 / 91107941. After October

1st week. Contact: + 639759460269

Indian male more than 8 years

experience in UAE in Offi ce , Sales

Marketing with good computer

skills having driving license look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact : 99369081

Email: shazulashraf60@gmail.com

Indian male having 10 years work

experience ( Customer Service/ Back

end sales/stores)and 1 year work

experience in Oman NOC in hand,

looking for Suitable Position

Contact no: 96526228 /

sravan.kumaraj@gmail.com

Indian male, 15 yrs. experienced

Marketing/Admin/Business Devel-

opment Personnel in Construction

Industry available with NOC and

valid Oman D/L seeks better open-

ings. Contact 99852404 or

mailtowelling@gmail.com.

Indian male Sr. Sales Executive, 15 years exp in retail sector looking

for vacancies. Contact: 96768382

Indian male more than 8 years

experience in outdoor sales in G.C.C

with transferable visa & valid

driving license Graduate.

Contact: 91234320

Indian male having 10 yrs experi-

ence 4 yrs in Oman in purchase,

stores & logistics areas, having valid

Omani driving license and N.O.C in

Hand, looking for suitable position

any where in Oman

Contact no:94087866

SENIOR SALES ENGINEER (B.E.

Mechanical, MBA-Mktg) - 6yrs ex-

perience in Industrial Products and

Services with NOC and GCC Driving

License looking for the challenging

opportunities. Join immediately.

GSM: 94596639

E-mail:dhvlnayak@yahoo.co.in

Sales and marketing - male 27 yrs,

2 years experience seeking suitable

placement with Oman D/L.

Contact: 95642740 Email:

shaijichakkara@gmail.com

3+ years of experience (Oman) in

marketing, business development,

sales & customer services, BBA

Marketing with valid GCC driving

license. Contact: 94374115

Indian male, U.K Post Graduate M.A,

MBA, 3 years Experience, looking

position within Marketing, Branding,

Business Development & PR.

Contact: greetings111@hotmail.com

Indian male 25 yrs BBM Graduate

3 yrs of experience Sales /

Marketing in Oman looking in

suitable placement.

Contact : 93185316

Email: karsh794@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING

Indian diploma Civil Eng, 2 yrs

Infrastructure Projects (4G, Towers,

substation) landscaping & Auto

CAD. Contact: 94756183

Email: indianexpat1@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer (B.E) with 5

years experience (3 yrs in Gulf) NOC

available. Contact: 92119851 Email:

mayurdevadiga@gmail.com

Resident Engineer B.E civil 25 years

exp 12 yrs in Architecture consul-

tancy having Oman Dubai D/L NOC

available. Contact: 95732453

Email: milindj951@gmail.com

Indian male, 25 yrs. B. Tech Civil

Engineer with 2 years experience in

India looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 96081437

Email: vibijvenugopal90@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Female, 3 yrs experi-

ence in structural design &

estimation; Contact: 99195433

Indian male 28 yrs, Master degree

in Computer Application and CCNA

certifi ed, 2 years exp in Oman look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact: 93295112 Email:

syedsadathali.mca@gmail.com

Indian male B. Eng in IT CCNA,

MCITP, RHCE 2 yrs + exp in IT sup-

port, Networking and Server Support

seeking suitable placement in IT /

Network / server support.

Contact: 93311963

Email: sajal035@gmail.com

Computer Engineer, Iraqi fresh

graduate excellent grade - Caledo-

nian college , experience in program-

ming, networking, database and

web designing. valid Omani driving

license, residence in Oman –

Contact 98763390

Network Engineer looking for job

have CCNA and CCNP (suitable) driv-

ing license NOC

and 4 years experience.

Contact: +968 91703807

Email: ekrema.zia@gmail.com

Computer Teacher with IELTS, expe-

rience in Oman IGCSE, CBSE, higher

Grades looking for suitable vacancy.

Contact: 98048946

Oracle ADF Developer, Msc (IT), 2

yrs of Experience in Software Devel-

opment (Oracle ADF, sql, pl/sql), Ora-

cle OCA & SQL Expert, Currently on

visit visa. Contact +968 93755858 /

92141644 Email :

shiralkarmuzammil@yahoo.com

IT Engineer, MBA, PMP trained, hav-

ing Omani driving license,

18+ years of experience in software

industry, looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 91244967

Software Engineer, 6 yrs exp in

software projects & development

(Java,PL/SQL Unix) on visit visa.

Contact: 99487493

Indian male IT professional with

8 yrs experience including GCC in

windows server, computer hardware,

networking & offi ce administration

seeks a suitable placement.

Contact: 95994227

B.Tech IT, 2 years experience, seek-

ing job as IT Support / Customer

and Technical Support, any suitable

jobs in Oman currently on visit visa.

Contact : 98960932

Email: jittojacob@hotmail.com

Net working Technical with driv-

ing license NOC having 2 years

experience in data and telephone

structured cabling epabx and CCTV

installing looking for suitable.

Contact: 96027516

Indian male 25 years MCA, CCNA

Certifi ed MCSE2012 having

16 months experience in network

and system administration

looking for suitable placement.

Contact 97703253 /

92365310

Email: albinmperakkattu@gmail.com

CCNA MCITP Network support/

Network technician with 2 yrs

experience Indian male having

bachelors degree on visit visa.

Contact 93080871,

email :sean.f.peters@outlook.com

Indian female MDS Endodontics,

9.5 yrs experience recently cleared

Oman prometric 84% looking

for suitable placement. Contact:

95624156 / 97233074

Indian female Bsc nurse with 3year

experience prometric passed seeks

suitable placement

Contact 95782544

Male Nurse, B.Sc, prometric exam

oman cleared exp.

Contact : 93837973

MSc Nurse specialized in OBG, 3

years experience-certifi ed ACLS,BLS,

on visit visa, seeking suitable oppor-

tunities Contact:90125347

Indian male Nurse, prometric

passed seeks suitable placement.

Contact 97284508I

Project/ Program Manager/ Finance professional

Qualifi cati on MBA PMP six sigma (GB)Countries exposure Canada & Middle

East, Industry any (experienced in bank, telecom, transport.

Nati onality-Canadian. On visit in Oman.

Contact - 97203531

Experience MBA (Hospital Manage-

ment) looking for a suitable posi-

tion. Contact: 95958597

Email: vipinpthomas28@gmail.com

Marketing and Sales candidate

with 8 years experience in GCC

looking for suitable position. Having

NOC and valid Oman diving license.

Contact: 96669152

Indian male 34 yrs MBA, Marketing

& fi nance with 11 years of experi-

ence in Managerial roles in Sales

Marketing in diff erent industry look-

ing for suitable placement presently

on visit visa. Contact : 97325393

Email: achus82@gmail.com

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done

till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

C6 S AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

TOURS

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

SITUATION WANT-CARGO

FOR HIRE

Trailor with driver for hire.

Contact: 92303774

Bobcat Grader and roller for rent.

Contact: 94584688

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation available Ruwi to

Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909

Transportation available.

Contact: 99867456

Pick & drop any time. Contact: 93598436 / 96743215

Pick & drop any time. Contact:

92218001/ 96502406

Transportation. Contact98505294

Transportation in Muscat.

Contact: 95530908

Transportation for saloon car&

delivery van.

Contact : 95530908

Transportation available. Contact -955 70 429

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 C7

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

Split & widow unit A.C servicing &

repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split & window unit A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact: 96236476

Window & split unit A.C servicing &

maintenance.# 93769089 / 95323517

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet

& sofa shampooing, Contact

99314807/24792998

A/C Technician installation

services. Contact : 92279370

House shifting & packing. Contact: 99657644 /98518013

General cleaning &

Shampooing. Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723/99357908

Used house & offi ce furniture & elec-

tronic items.# 99834373 / 96642500

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your

marble. #24793614/ 99314807

Air condition maintenance instal-

lation window AC, split a/c, ducted

AC and package type units.

Contact: 98667326

Window & split unit A.C ser-

vicing & maintenance. Contact

93769089 / 95323517

Pest Control Gulfa Intl .LLC. Contact: 92326955

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Pest Control Treatments, Cockroaches, Ants, Rodents &

Termites, Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723/ 99357908

Supply fi xing Wallpapers,

all carpets. #99834373 / 6642500

One stop shop business services : Public Relation (PRO) formation new

companies, LLC companies, Investor

visa, business setup, prepare busi-

nesses & companies accounts, legal

services, representing you and your

company. Contact Saleh: 96723485

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intel-

ligence (BI) creation and manage-

ment at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

SIT.WANTED

SIT-WANTED

SIT-WANTED

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-

termite treatment, general clean-

ing painting, Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi

trading. L.L.C. # 24810137, 99450130

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

CLASSES

DRIVING

COMPUTER

Well experienced management

fi nance specialist having 18 years

experience available for placement.

Contact.95602518

23, Male, ACCA Affi liate, OBU Bsc,

2.5 years of experience in audit and

fi nance in Big 6 Firms, Looking for

permanent placement in similar

fi eld. Release NOC available. Contact:

#95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

22, Male, Indian, BBA (Marketing),1

year experience in India, Looking

for suitable placement in Sales and

Marketing. #91897046,

azzamsiddique1@gmail.com

Indian Male,27,ACCA Part

Qualifi ed,B.COM with 7+ yrs exp in

receivables and credit control in

Oman looking for suitable place-

ments. NOC available.

Contact 9657 4343.

Indian Female, Science Graduate,

3 years Experience in Teaching back

home. Looking for a suitable job op-

portunity as a teacher, in Schools in

Muscat Region. Contact : 96431456

/ 95704814

Looking for a suitable job as Jr.

Accountant/ Jr. Administration in

a reputed company. NOC Available.

GSM # 93004738.

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, 8 years ex-

perience ,Oman driving licence,Noc

available. Seek Suitable opportunity.

GSM- 98184170

ACCOUNTANT, Male, 8 years expe-

rience, presently working in Oman

as a Senior Accountant with oman

Driving license. NOC available, seek

suitable opportunity.

GSM: 97705854

Chemical Engineer Indian 2 years

of experience in production fi eld

Contact: 91247222

Email:sahadpoonchola@gmail.com

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support,

Networking, Security systems, Serv-

er support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91033395

Indian female, MBA, 25yrs Having

4yrears of experience in MNC, hands

of experiences in recruitment and

administration, fl exible for any suit-

able job placements currently in

visting visa. Contact Tel : 98864639

Email : neethuvijayan06@gmail.com

MANPOWER

Leading manpower agency to hire Recruiter from India housemaids. Contact: 99226093,

Email: fesalwardi48@gmail.com

SITUATION WANT-

ED

BUSINESS

Looking for investor and Partner, well

running company monthly profi t.

14,000 RO. Contact: 96725079

Indian male Accountant with 10

years experience in Oman available

for immediate joining with Oman

driving license NOC available. Con-

tact : 99881355 / 99720602

HSE Advisor (Indian) 30 years

Nebosh, 10SH & Diploma in fi re &

Safety 9 years Gulf experience in

construction, oil & gas.

Contact 95568731

Email: sathishdream@gmail.com

SR. Land Surveyor Indian 7 years

GCC exp, 2 years IND. Exp, expe-

rienced in building construction

(Oman driving license).

Contact 97437307

HSE Offi cer (Indian) 26 years Ne-

bosh, diploma in fi re & safety council,

3 years experience (including 1 years

GCC) in construction. # 97058358

Email: arun.insane@gamil.com

Indian male, 29 years B.Tech

(E.C.E) and M.B.A with 1.2 years of

experience in Oman as Electronic

Engineer seeking for a suitable job

currently on visit visa.

Contact 92085082

Email: suhailece.61@gmail.com

50 years Indian male 15yrs experience

as Manager in Steel and paper Plant

seeking suitable placement. Kindly

contact me on +91 9840943638

Chartered Accountant, Indian male,

25, two years experience, on visit

visa. Staying with parents. Also has

B.com+computer Application.

Contact: 24492638/98164467.

shyamal008@gmail.com

Diploma in Civil Engineer. I have 6

year experience in Oman seeking for

suitable position Oman.

Contact 97415597,

email: Nasir.muscat@gmail.com

8+ years experienced senior ac-

countant looking for a better place-

ment. Contact No. +968 92935684.

Email - shabeerkkm@gmail.com.

NOC available.

Indian Male, 38 years, BE and MBA

in Marketing from UK seeks suitable

placement in the IT industry.

Call 91200413.

CCNP Network Professional with 6

years experience having Bachelors

degree on visit visa looking for

suitable job. GSM: 96760618 Email:

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+

experience in Administration/HR,

Customer Support, Offi ce Coordina-

tor with good Computer skill, now

on Visit Visa ,looking for suitable

position. Contact: 90196235

26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance),

MBA(HR), Looking for suitable place-

ment in Finance/HR/Marketing. Con-

tact immediately. Contact 98176105,

nruknaddin@outlook.com

29 years Indian female (MBA-

Finance) with 4 yrs experience in

Accounts, seeking suitable place-

ment in Accounts/Admin/HR. NOC

available. Contact:96141283

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 hav-

ing 4years experience in accounting

& having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968 094535881,

0091 9037622048.

Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

31 year Indian male PG in HR , with

5 yrs Professional experience in

HR in Construction Oil & Gas Oman

seeking for a suitable placement.

Contact me on 93488914, email-

Kaarthickshankar@gmail.com

INDIAN MALE , MBA. Having 10+

years experience as Automotives

Sales Manager .Worked with M/s

TALWAR AUTO GARAGES PVT LTD

India’s Largest Selling Dealer for

VOLVO EICHER commercial vehicles

.Seeking for suitable Job in Oman.

Contact no: 98045482

Email: dmstalwar@gmail.com

ACCA fi nalist, Recent B.Com Gradu-

ate, Indian Female, looking for full

time employment in Accounting and

Audit. Contact +96896964379,

sangeethaumesh5@gmail.com

Admin, having 10+ years experience

in Admin/HR/Logistics/Time Keeper,

in reputed companies. Presently work-

ing in Muscat. Contact- 94369965 ,

mail - satya1528@gmail.com

Indian male . 14 yrs experience in

maintenance & Supervisor in hotel

fi eld ( Electrical . Ac Mechanical &

Plumber ) N O C available

mob : 95 25 36 40 . email =

hareeshma24@yahoo.com

ACCA Affi liate, Indian Male, Fresher,

looking for full time employment

in Tax and Audit.+968 91291520,

shahidazeez5@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian male B.Eng. in

IT,CCNA,MCSA,MCSE, 2.5 yrs + exp.

in IT support, networking and server

support valid Omani D/L seeking

suitable placement in IT/Network/

Server support. Contact 92607532

Indian Male, 24 years old recently

completed M.Tech in Off shore Struc-

tures from NIT Calicut, looking for

suitable position.#: +919833248568,

Email: shihabpatel91@gmail.com

Indian male with 18 years of

Indian and Overseas experience in

hospitality industry, with excellent

cooking, operational, managerial

and communication skills seeking

a suitable job from reputed groups

and organizations. On a visit visa.

Contact: 95363751

Indian Male, 25, Chartered Account-

ant, working with ICICI Bank India.

On a Visit Visa in Oman. Staying

with parents at Azaiba.

Ph: 24492638.

Email: shyamal008@gmail.com

Indian Male, 26 Yrs, Business

Management, 6 years in Oman.

Knowledge of MS Offi ce and Arabic

Language. Seeks suitable position.

Contact 93931935

Indian Mechanical Engineer, 30, having 8yrs of UAE Sales/Busi-

ness Development. experience in

Electromechanical and Irrigation

sectors. Contact no- +971558763220

email id-sangowri@outlook.com

Indian male, with fi nance and Law

degree, having more than 25 years

of experience in Finance/ Accounts /

Audit (5 years of Oman experience)

seeks suitable placement. NOC avail-

able. Contact: 98421619.

E-mail: talemadhamu@yahoo.com.

Indian male Executive Secretary

having vast experience in admin,

logistics & procurement well versed

with computer seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact : 99514286

Pakistan Male: 24 years,M.Com

Finance having 2.5 year experience

as a accountant & marketing execu-

tive looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 97670816,

E.mail: naeem.ahsan68@gmail.com

Indian female with MBA in fi nance

seeking immediate placement.

Contact: 968-93316493

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 hav-

ing 4 years experience in accounting

& having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968094535881,

0091 9037622048,

Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

31 year Indian male PG in HR ,with 5

yrs Professional experience in HR in

Construction Oil & Gas Oman seek-

ing for a suitable placement. Kindly

contact me on 93488914, email-

Kaarthickshankar@gmail.com

Sudanese/26/Bsc Computer Sci-

ence /3 years exp/skills Excellent

knowledge in operating systems

and maintaining computers Java

Programmer Web Developer Linux

SMS solutions Android developer/

email khalid.omx@gmail.com/

contact no 944958080 and

99758186.

Civil Autocad Draughtsman part

time work for job mob :96023726

Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

C8 S AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE