Times of Oman - May 2, 2015

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ITA SIGNS DEAL FOR MOBILE APPS CENTRE The Information Technology Authority signed a contract with HCL Technologies to implement the Mobile Applications Development Centre during COMEX 2015 that ended on Friday. >A2

SATURDAY, May 2, 2015 /13 Rajab 1436 AH

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OMAN

Omani artist to team up with Italian master

GLITTERING LIKE GOLD

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An aerial view of the shimmering Wadi Kabir at night captured by Times of Oman photographer Shabin E. Share your pictures with Times of Oman via our instagram account or email webeditor@timesofoman.com

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Omani painter Mohammed Al Maamari will be teaming up with a prominent Italian artist, Attilio Forgioli, in a joint exhibition that opens on May 4 in Milan, Italy, just in time for the start of EXPO 2015. The exhibition, ‘In the Shade, In the Sun,’ compares the works of a great master of Italian painting and those of a young Omani artist. It’s is being organised in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism and OmanAir. >A3

WORLD

Up to 1,000 Europeans missing in Nepal

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Nepali and foreign officials were struggling on Friday to locate thousands of people still missing after last week’s massive earthquake, as food and other relief supplies began to trickle through to those stranded in remote parts of the country. Up to 1,000 Europeans are among the missing, mostly around popular trekking routes, the head of the EU delegation in Nepal said. “We don’t know where they are, or they could be,” said EU ambassador. >A10

Health comes before all else for Omanis

MARKET

Saudi Aramco restructured

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Saudi Aramco created a supreme board to oversee the state-run company’s affairs as the world’s biggest oil exporting nation continues a reorganisation of its energy industry. The 10-member board will be led by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who’s also chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Council of Economic Affairs and Development, Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Friday. >B1

The super fight cheat sheet

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Health is top priority for people in Oman Oman

When it comes to spending on

CONFERENCE

Focus on entrepreneurship as Oman pursues diversification TARIQ AL HAREMI

tariqh@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Diversification of the economy and raising the share of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in it by boosting entrepreneurship were discussed at a conference held on Thursday.

Titled ‘The dynamics of entrepreneurship’, the conference was held under the patronage of Dr Rashid Al Huraibi, chairman of the Tender Board of Oman and hosted by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Leading speakers, including industrialists, corporate executives and businessmen discussed entrepreneurship in the Sultanate in course of the conference.

The thought-provoking presentations and panel discussions by private and public sector leaders addressed the importance of the SME community in Oman and deliberated on the key issues faced by them.

65% businesses in the Sultanate come under the SME category, but their contribution to the GDP is only 15 per cent

Injaz, one of the key presenters of the conference, spoke of its determination to train students to become entrepreneurs and leaders.

Mindset “The real reason we started this project is to infuse the spirit of entrepreneurship and bring about that change in the mindset. Regardless of where you end up, starting your own business or working for an organisation,

in the end you will have the spirit of entrepreneurship within you,” said Shabib Al Mamari, executive director of Injaz Oman.

Dominic De Sousa, founder of privately owned CPI Media Group stated that “Oman has become a regional champion of SME evolution with unrivalled innovation, debate and commercial development in the SME sector.”

“With a strong diversification agenda, terrific public-private partnership models and flourishing tourism sector, Oman is a great place to do business,” said De Sousa.

The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship is dedicated to celebrating the efforts of the Omani community and fostering its growth.

Although SMEs make up 65 per cent of businesses in Oman, they only contribute 15 per cent to the Sultanate’s GDP, which is a factor that needs to be addressed and changed significantly in the next seven to eight years. >A3

healthcare, people in Oman do not hesitate even though the cost is a shade higher compared to other Asian countries

Staff Reporter MUSCAT: For Omanis health is the most valuable thing, a survey that shows what people around the world value most, has found.

It is followed by life satisfaction, income, environment, and education, along with housing, safety, community, jobs, civic engagement and work-life balance, the survey conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Called the Better Life Index, the survey hopes to allow viewers to compare well-being across countries, based on the 11 topics the OECD recognised as vital, in the areas of material living conditions and in the quality of life.

“Both Omanis and expatriates

Oman government covers

81.1 % 83.1 % 92.5 % 62.2 % 94.5 %

Health Life satisfaction Income Environment Education Housing Safety Community Jobs Civic engagement Worklife balance

UAE Qatar Saudi Arabia Kuwait Bahrain

Valued first Safety Jobs Jobs Income Life satisfaction

2.7 %

of total health expenditure of hospitals of hospital beds of out-patient services of in-patient services

is the share of health expenditure in the GDP

OMR 1.6 billion

Source: OECD Better Life Index

living here are more conscious about their health. We medics have realised that they never compromise on that. Even though the cost is a little high when compared to Asian countries, people are not reluctant to spend on healthcare,” Shibu Mohammed, a medic at Badr Al Samaa, told the Times of Oman. “They look at health as wealth,” he added.

“Since it was founded in 1961, the OECD has helped governments design better policies to improve the lives of their citizens.

More recently, the OECD has been keenly involved in the debate to measure well-being.

Based on this experience, these 11 topics reflect what the OECD has identified as essential to wellbeing in terms of material living conditions (housing, income,

health sector grant in budget Graphics

jobs) and quality of life (community, education, environment, governance and health, apart from life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance),” according to the website.

Regional variations In the region, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) valued “safety” as most important, Qatar and Saudi Arabia gave top billing to jobs. Kuwait valued income as important and Bahrain voted for life satisfaction.

More than 80,000 users of the Better Life Index around the world have shared their views on what makes for a better life.

If they explore the interactive map viewers can find what wellbeing topics are rated highest, and where. >A3

GROUND-BREAKING CEREMONY

British School Muscat launches Phase 1A of expansion plan TARIQ AL HAREMI

tariqh@timesofoman.com

INNOVATIVE PLANS: Maqbool Hameed, chairman Douglas OHI, left, with British School Muscat Principal Kai Vacher, right. -Jun Estrada

MUSCAT: A ground-breaking ceremony was organised on the British School Muscat (BSM) premises to launch the Phase 1A of the school’s development.

Phase 1A is the first of several development projects the BSM has planned which focuses on a new car park with a drop-off point where currently the football pitch exists. The football pitch will be shifted above the car park.

“Where the present football

pitch is, you will have a car park, and above the car park you will have a football pitch, which is of a higher specification and is better than the present one,” said Liam McAuliffe, project manager from Douglas OHI. FIFA standards The 96-metre long, Astroturf football pitch is designed to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Under-16 standards with a running strip around. The pitch is equipped with quality floodlights and capacity to

accommodate 700 spectators.

The car park will fit 180 vehicles and can accommodate up to 24 cars at the drop-off bay.

When asked about the future projects with the BSM, McAuliffe said, “We have huge plans going forward. Phase 1B will be coming up next year, and it will see a couple of more sports halls, restructuring of the existing swimming pool and installation of a tournament-size swimming pool.”

“There are very progressive plans for the school in the next four to five years,” he said, and add-

ed that plans for a performing arts auditorium and an amphitheatre could make the BSM one of the best British schools in the world.

Commenting on the close relationship between Douglas OHI and the BSM, Maqbool Hameed, chairman of Douglas OHI said, “We are very proud of the work done. We did a good job, our past record was good, we delivered on time and the client was very happy.”

Phase 1A, which includes the car park and new football pitch, is scheduled for completion on December 21 of this year.

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S ATUR DAY, M AY 2 , 2 015 With assistive technology tools, we can enhance the lives of people with disabilities and empower them to be as productive as any member in the society Abdullah Al Fasari Student working on Byadi Aqra, (With My Hands, I Read) website

OMAN

Mobile apps set to boost e-services ITA signed a OMR2 million contract to implement the Mobile Applications Development Centre at the COMEX which concluded on Friday

Times News Service MUSCAT: Mobile apps are the best platform for eServices and to provide the right infrastructure for the public and private sector to develop these services, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) has signed a contract with HCL Technologies to implement the Mobile Applications Development Centre.

The contract was signed at COMEX 2015 by Dr Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA, and Arindam Sengupta, director, Middle East and Turkey, HCL Technologies Ltd. The contract is valid for three years and is worth about OMR2 million. The ITA will provide training to three batches every year with 54 trainees in each batch. They will receive training

for three months after which 10 trainees from each batch will go for a 6-month advanced training programme.

The centre aims to develop mobile applications in Oman through skill development and by creating an industry demand in the region.

It also seeks to establish the ecosystem for local talent to get incubated into mobile application development and develop them into becoming freelancers, entrepreneurs or industry professionals.

The Mobile Applications Development Centre will also serve as an advisory for local SMEs and start-ups by establishing industry standard best practices and subsequently offering mobility services to various SMEs in the region.

With the Ministry of Health committed to providing seamless health-care services, and in line with its eTransformation plan, it unveiled its new contact centre mobile app at COMEX 2015 under the patronage of Dr Ali Bin Talib Al Hinai, undersecretary for planning affairs at the Ministry, in the presence of Dr Al Ruzaiqi.

To ensure accessibility of health services to everyone in the Sultanate, anywhere and at anytime, the mobile app service, which complements the call centre, was launched by the ministry recently.

It has a health database that can be accessed by specialists, researchers and administrators.

In addition, the app is linked to the patient’s record to provide the right services once requested.

Omani school students show their skills with robots Times News Service MUSCAT: Besides the exhibits showcased by large companies’ and institutions’ at COMEX 2015, Omani school students also put their own innovations on display.

Robots created by Omani school students stood out among these technologies and innovations, as support provided by the Ministry of Education(MOE), represented by the Department of Development and Educational Technologies (DDET), motivates creative students to excel at IT and helps them to participate and compete at both local and international levels.

Quba’ School for Basic Education (5-10) is one of the schools participating in the school innovations corner at COMEX2015, where they displayed The Space Robot. The robot works to reduce pollution in space and measures the humidity and temperature inside spaceships.

Iman Al Rubaie, Sara Al Rushaidi, and Noor Al Ghdani carried out the project and its programming under the super-

TECH FUTURE: Robots created by Omani school students stood out among the technologies and innovations shown at the exhibitions.–Supplied photos

vision of their teacher, Laila Al Sa’di. Speaking about the tasks handled by the Space Robot, Iman, an 8th grade student, said, “The robot does complicated tasks performed by the crew, such as humidity and temperature measurements.”

This project was also entered in the competition organized by the World Robot Olympiad

national committee in Oman in September 2014 and won first place, and was then nominated to represent Oman in the 2014 World Robot Olympiad in Russia. Competing with a large number of participating projects from various countries, the Space Robot project won sixth place among other 45 projects. Iman Al Rubaie added,

“We really feel proud that we placed Oman’s name in the frontier, as it was the only Arab country to win such a prestigious ranking.” She continued, “Our ambition is to achieve first place, and we are working to reach this goal.” The students are now improving the Space Robot by adding more features, she added.

SOCIAL COMMITMENT

New technologies pitch for support to differently-abled at COMEX Times News Service MUSCAT: Some people might be unlucky to have a disability, but that should not stop them from leading normal lives or even getting the same education as other people do.

At COMEX 2015, several such educational tools, devices, soft-

ware and technologies for the differently-abled have been showcased.

Assistive technology refers to devices such as hearing aids, electricity powered wheelchairs and many more items that allow individuals with disabilities to lead more fulfilling, integrated and independent lives. The White

Hands Centre (WHC) for assistive technology and complementary therapies, the first of its kind in Oman, provides assistive technology needs for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties.

People with mobility, vision or hearing impairments, or intellectual and learning disabilities such

as cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome, and even age-related disabilities like Alzheimer’s, will be able to get appropriate treatment there.

‘Byadi Aqra’ (with my Hands, I Read) is a website developed by the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) to help visually impaired

students get the course materials in accessible formats.

One of the main goals of this application is to facilitate and handle the conversion of course materials and books from hard copy to softcopy by volunteers, then uploading them directly to the e-library which can be accessed at any time.

This application serves as a

complete archive storing a wide number of e-books and academic courses that can be found at anytime from anywhere. It made the academic life of many visually impaired students easier and simpler by providing them with any academic course they asked for, in a short time in a manner suitable for their needs.

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OMAN

EXHIBITION

Omani artist to team up with Italian master in Milan for EXPO 2015 SARAH MACDONALD sarah@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Omani painter Mohammed Al Maamari will be teaming up with a prominent Italian artist, Attilio Forgioli, in a joint exhibition that opens on May 4 in Milan, Italy, just in time for the start of EXPO 2015.

The exhibition, ‘In the Shade, In the Sun,’ compares the works of a great master of Italian painting and those of a young Omani artist.

It’s is being organised in collaboration with Oman’s Ministry of Tourism and OmanAir at La Permanente Museum in Milan and promoted by JunGlam Advice. It will run from May 4 to 27.

“It’s something prestigious. It’s something unique for an Omani artist to have this chance,” Al Maamari told Times of Oman.

Al Maamari, who was born in 1981, paints scenes of Oman’s rich culture and heritage, while Attilio Forgioli, born in 1933, paints and draws colourful, modern images based on landscapes and still life.

Organised in the first month of EXPO 2015, the exhibition will be an opportunity to compare the cultures of Italy with that of Oman. Al Maamari, who will be in Milan for the opening, said he hoped visitors would see how rich Oman’s traditions are thanks to his paintings.

“They will get a different image of Oman. They will see a lot of cultural scenes of Oman, like the amazing camels and camel races, the people, and all these things,” Al Maamari added.

In October ‘In the Shade, In the Sun’ will be exhibited in Muscat with the support of the Italian Embassy in Oman.

ART CONNECTIONS: Organised in the first month of EXPO 2015, the exhibition will be an opportunity to compare the cultures of Italy with that of Oman. Al Maamari, who will be in Milan for the opening, said he hoped visitors would see how rich Oman’s traditions are thanks to his paintings.–Supplied photo

Comedy shows must be rich in content: Vivek Vivek is in Muscat to perform at the mega

I am special about today’s show because this is my first visit to Muscat. I am going to anchor some parts of the show and also enact a few skits and play a musical instrument as well

comedy-cum-musical evening organised

by Muscat Arts in association with Majan Events at the City Amphitheatre on Saturday

Vivek Acclaimed South Indian comedian Times News Service MUSCAT: Comedy shows should be rich in content, said south Indian actor Vivek, known for his comic roles.

Vivek is in Muscat to perform at the mega comedy-cum-musical evening organised by Muscat Arts in association with Majan Events at the City Amphitheatre on Saturday.

Vivek, a comedian par-excellence, is hailed as one of the alltime great comic actors of southern India’s Tamil film industry.

With his very unique and amazingly natural brand of comedy, he has been entertaining filmgoers for over 25 years. He has a ‘UNSEEN OMAN’

Red Bull starts photo contest SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT

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

Times News Service MUSCAT: Photography enthusiasts, whether amateur or professional, have the opportunity to reveal their talent at the Red Bull 5 Pics contest.

To compete at the photo contest, all you need to do is shoot five photos showing what you love about Oman and collect votes to win.

“Red Bull 5 Pics is a creative platform for anybody, whether amateur or professional to express themselves through their photos.

All you need to do is snap five photos from your phone or camera, showing us what you love about Oman with the theme ‘Unseen Oman’. Rack up as many votes as you can and take home the prize,” according to the Red Bull website.

You can tell a story with five best photos of Oman and upload them to the Red Bull 5 Pics website. If your pictures are among the finest you could get a chance to show them off at a gallery exhibition.

Winners will be announced on May 27 at Bait Al Zubair gallery.

This promotion is only open to residents of Oman of all nationalities and 16 years or above. Those interested can submit one album throughout the duration of the promotion which ends on May 13.

unique style of dialogue-delivery and body language, and an impeccable sense of timing – all hallmarks of a great comedian. His mere presence on screen evokes spontaneous laughter.

Introduced to the screen by none other than veteran film director, the late K. Balachander, Vivek left his mark on every single role that he essayed, and soon became a sensation, storming the film world with not just his comedy but also his thought-provoking social messages delivered unobtrusively through his performances.

In an interview, while speaking about the quality of the comedy in Tamil films, Vivek said, “Comedy

without content will not live long.

That is my humble opinion.”

When asked what was special about the May 2 show he said, “I am special about today’s show because this is my first visit to Muscat. I am going to anchor some parts of the show and also enact a few skits and play a musical instrument as well.”

“Beware, my dear audience,” he warned.

Speaking about his mentor K Balachander he said, “My guru was known for his perfection, sincerity and innovative ideas. I am a product of his school. He introduced more than 75 new faces to the film industry. He is the creator of su-

perstar Rajnikanth and the mentor of Kamal Hassan Sir. Without his guidance his guidance and advice, I would not have reached these heights.”

Describing Samy as one of his favourite films because the humour in the film dealt with numerous social issues, he said, “It was appreciated by one and all.”

On the directors who have really made the best use of his abilities, he said, “Undoubtedly Balachander sir and Shankar sir.” “’Muscateers’ can get set for an evening of rib-tickling comedy while treating themselves to a repertoire of hit songs,” said the organisers.

OMAN ECONOMY

A1 SMEs face market hurdles < FROM

Discussing the challenges SMEs face while competing against the public sector, Nader Al Rawahy, director, account business development leader, Government and Private Sector of Ernst and Young, said, “SMEs in Oman face high operational costs, which is a big burden on them, as well as marketing limitations, marketing weaknesses and inefficiency, and a lack of sufficient initiative for local products to compete with imported products.”

“SMEs also face recruitment challenges due to Omanisation percentages and minimum wages paid to Omanis,” he further said.

It is a well known fact that

Omani youth would prefer joining the government sector as opposed to the private sector due to greater benefits and job security offered by the former.

In Qatar, 97 per cent of businesses are run by SMEs but they only contribute 3 per cent of the country’s GDP, whereas in the United Arab Emirates, SMEs run 62 per cent of the businesses and have contributed 67 per cent to the local economy in a timeframe of nine years.

“Oman is at a critical juncture in the development of the SME universe and it maybe a relatively short time before we see a much greater proportion of diversification in the SME

space,” said Paul Godfrey, group director of Editorial. Commenting on Oman’s 15 per cent GDP contribution compared to the UAE, Al Rawahi said, “I know it is a very low percentage, but I believe that initiatives such as this and having the right people in the right place and having them discussing and seeing challenges from the beginning will be gamechangers in the next few years.”

During the event, CPI Media Group and PWC also signed an exclusive deal for the CPI - PWC Insight Series, through which the parties will collaborate and produce world-class reports that will benefit the SME communities in the region.

NAT I O NA L D ATA B A S E

NCSI to e-survey foreign funds Times News Service MUSCAT: To create a comprehensive database for decision makers, the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) will begin conducting its annual e-survey on foreign investment in the Sultanate for the fiscal year ending December 2014 on Sunday.

The database survey, which will continue through the end of this year, seeks to build a comprehensive database on foreign investment in the Sultanate to

enable decision makers to form necessary policy frameworks to create an environment for attracting significant investments in Oman.

Technical system The survey will be electronically carried out by a specialised technical system designed exclusively for this project, and will primarily identify the role of foreign investment in the current and future development of the Sultanate.

It will focus on economic

sector-wise distribution of foreign investment and its effect on them.

Yet another objective of the survey is to gain insights into the extent of the impact of foreign investment in the fields of manpower, exports, imports and international services.

The data collected in the survey will be dealt with confidentially and not used for any purpose other than statistics, according to the statistical law set forth in Royal Decree No.: 29/2001.

S O C I A L W E L FA R E

Government leads A1 health care drive < FROM

“The responses, updated daily, have been grouped by country, age and gender, and displayed on the interactive map above,” according to the OEC website.

The health care system in the Sultanate is characterised by its universal coverage for both citizens and expatriates. Total health expenditure accounts for 2.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) at market prices.

Health-care is provided in facilities mainly owned and run by the government. The government covers about 81.1 per cent of total health expenditure, providing 83.1 per cent of hospitals, 92.5 per cent of hospital beds, 62.2 per cent of out-patient services and 94.5 per cent of inpatient services.

In the present budget, Oman has allocated OMR1.6 billion to the health-care sector. There are plans to set up 11 new hospitals.

Talking of life satisfaction, both nationals and expatriates said that political and economic stability makes Oman the best place to make a living.

“Even during the present oil price dip, which is triggering economic turbulence, there is life satisfaction in Oman. In addition to that, decisions taken by the government, both local and regional, are making life easier here,” said Mohammed Faisal, a national working in a private company. “Payments and other benefits are decent too,” he added.

Meanwhile, an expatriate businessman said that compared to other countries in the region, Oman is the best place to live.

The health-care system in Oman is characterised by its universal coverage. Total health expenditure accounts for 2.7 per cent of GDP

“We feel safe, and we are able to maintain the work-life balance,” said Jose Chacko, an Indian businessman and financial analyst.

Natural beauty While talking on the prospects of the natural beauty of Oman, which is valued by nationals and expatriates at fourth place, a travel agent said that none of the other countries in the region can beat Oman’s natural beauty.

Recently, ‘Skift’, an international website which is affiliated to a major American company, chose the Sultanate as the world’s best tourist destination for 2015.

According to the largest global provider of information and data related to the travel and tourism sector, the outstanding tourism elements offered by the Sultanate for tourists combines the nobility of traditional Arab culture and modernity.

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S ATUR DAY, M AY 2 , 2 015

REGION

Syrian government fighter jets hit rebels’ hideouts in the northern Latakia countryside with ‘tens killed and wounded’ SANA, Syrian State news agency

P R E L I M I NA RY E X A M I NAT I O N

ICC mulls opening war crimes probe against Palestinians OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor has said she is weighing opening war crimes investigations into Palestinians as well as Israelis after Palestine joined the tribunal’s jurisdiction last month.

Fatou Bensouda rejected Israeli fears of bias by the court, promising to consider the evidence “independently and impartially without fear or favour,” in an interview published by Israel’s liberal Haaretz newspaper on Friday.

“We will of course look into the alleged crimes committed by all sides to the conflict. I have made this clear to both Israeli and Palestinian officials,” she said.

Bensouda said that so far her deliberations were still at a preliminary stage and no investigation had been opened into anyone from either side.

“At this stage we are not inves-

tigating, as a decision on whether to open an investigation in the situation of Palestine has not been made,” she said.

Bensouda began a preliminary examination in January of whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant opening war crimes investigations into last summer’s conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian movement Hamas. Israel branded her decision “absurd”.

A UN report released on Monday found Israel responsible for seven deadly strikes on UN schools used as shelters during the conflict, but also found that Palestinian fighters had used vacant schools as weapons stores and possibly also as firing positions.

Palestine formally joined the ICC on April 1, extending its jurisdiction to the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, as well as Gaza. — AFP

CLASHES: Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to throw stones towards Israeli troops during clashes near Israel’s Ofer Prison, close to the occupied the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday. – Reuters

Fuel shortage threatens to halt Yemen relief operations The latest strikes and clashes on the ground killed 47 people in the country’s second biggest city of Aden

ADEN: The UN and Red Cross warned fuel shortages are threatening to halt relief operations in Yemen and urged warring sides to spare hospitals, as Saudi-led air strikes entered a sixth week on Friday.

The latest strikes and clashes on the ground killed 47 people in second city Aden, where the Red Cross also scrambled to evacuate staff and patients from a hospital when it became a front line.

And after a meeting in Riyadh, Gulf Cooperation Council countries foreign ministers rejected any moves to hold peace talks between Yemeni rivals at a neutral venue. The conflict escalated in March when a Saudi-led coalition launched strikes against Houthi rebels who overran much of the country, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansur Hadi to flee.

Virtually halted The bombing has virtually halted the delivery of humanitarian aid and other goods, including fuel, with the International Committee of the Red Cross describing the situation as “alarming”.

“After a month of air strikes and fighting, Yemen’s health system is struggling to cope and there are severe shortages of essential

DEMOLISHED DWELLINGS: People stand amidst the rubble of houses destroyed by an overnight Saudi-led air strike on a residential area, in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, on Friday. – Reuters

items especially food and fuel,” the ICRC said in a statement.

The World Food Programme said it was halting its food distribution due to the shortage of fuel in Yemen where most of the stocks are in the hands of rebels.

“Humanitarian operations will end within days unless fuel supplies are restored,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned.

Ban called for an “immediate resumption of fuel imports to avoid making the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen even worse.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that as of Monday 1,244 people had been confirmed

killed in fighting in Yemen since March 19.

The Red Cross deplored the health care situation in Yemen, where doctors say they are under huge strain to operate hospitals and care for patients with dwindling supplies and almost no fuel.

“The surgical team from the ICRC and all local staff and patients were forced to evacuate Aden’s Al Jumhurriya hospital when the building itself became a front line in the fighting,” it said.

The ICRC’s mission chief in Yemen said hospitals should be spared.

“We are shocked by the lack of respect for the hospital, as a neutral health facility, by the fighting

parties,” said Cedric Schweizer.

Doctors in the capital Sanaa, in statements reported by the Red Cross, also spoke of the hardships they are up against.

“We are running out of diesel.

Our ambulances can no longer transport patients. Only half of our staff can come to work as the hospital buses have stopped running,” said Issa Alzubh, head of Al Kuwait hospital in Sanaa.

In Aden, Doctor Adel Al Yafyi told AFP his hospital was no longer able to care for ordinary patients because it was being flooded by those wounded in combat or air strikes. The WHO said the collapse of access to health

care had also fanned the spread of epidemic diseases, with 44 alerts of suspected outbreaks of diseases including measles, dengue fever and meningitis. Last week, Riyadh announced a halt to the coalition air war but it has kept up its strikes every day since.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and his son and Defence Minister Prince Mohammed have said repeatedly that it will go on until the rebels concede. At Thursday’s meeting in Riyadh, Gulf countries foreign ministers insisted UN-brokered peace talks must only take place in the Saudi kingdom. — AFP

WA R W I T H I N C O U N T RY

Rebels battle Syrian army close to Assad’s ancestral home AMMAN/BEIRUT: Hardline rebels and the Syrian army fought fierce battles in Latakia province overnight close to President Bashar Al Assad’s ancestral home, the army and rebels said, after weeks of insurgent gains in the country’s northwest.

Rebels seeking to topple Assad have in the past sought to bring their four-year-long insurgency close to coastal areas in government-held Latakia, heartland of Assad’s minority Alawite community. An army source told state news agency SANA fighter jets hit insurgent hideouts in the northern Latakia countryside with “tens killed and wounded.” Latakia is the main port in Syria and along with the capital Damascus is one of the most important government-held areas in the country. The violence follows advances in neighbouring Idlib province by the hardline Ahrar Al Sham group and Syria’s Al Qaeda wing Nusra Front as well as other allied fighters.

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, said the Latakia battles started with an army offensive on Thursday, backed by local militias, aimed at pushing the insurgents out of the province in order to advance on captured areas of neighbouring Idlib. The Observatory, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said at least five insurgents were killed and an unidentified number from the pro-government side.

Two rebel sources said the fighting in Latakia was near the mountains of Jabal Al Akrad, close to some of the highest peaks in Syria including Nabi Younis that overlook Alawite villages and close to Qardaha, hometown of the Assad family. — Reuters

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

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INDIA

Do not take unfair advantage of liberal tax system: Jaitley He said that the G20 initiative on automatic transmission of information will make all monetary transactions transparent by 2017

ENGROSSED: Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley with Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das at the Enforcement Day function, in New Delhi on Friday. -PTI

NEW DELHI: Warning corporates not to take unfair advantage of the liberalised tax environment, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the world is moving towards a more transparent regime that would remove the veil of secrecy from unlawful transactions.

“I think, for every assessee, every person in the commercial business also, it is a judgement call that in a liberal economic environment of reasonable and lower taxation rates, ‘go straight’,” he said at the foundation day celebrations

of the Enforcement Directorate.

“And, therefore, if you transact within the limits of law, it is much safer. If you breach it, gone are the days where offences would go undetected.”

Jaitley also said that the G20 group of countries’ initiative on automatic transmission of information will make every monetary transaction transparent by 2017.

“Each country would go out of the way to cooperate with others.

The Americans have particularly taken a strong initiative in

their domestic law. They want every country to sign an arrangement with them with regard to the transmission of information,” the finance minister said.

Arrangements “Both these arrangements, by 2017, are going to make extremely risky for anybody to have unlawful assets or unlawful transaction of money. We, in India, have to prepare our people for that,” he added.

Last month in Washington, Jaitley sought urgent implementation

‘ P U T R A J E E VA K B E E J ’

Ramdev rebuts allegations on ‘son bearing’ medicine NEW DELHI: A day after opposition MPs demanded a ban on a medicine from his pharmacy, yoga guru Ramdev on Friday rebutted allegations that it was being sold for conceiving a male child and claimed that he was being targeted through “lies” to defame the Indian prime minister.

However, he said a disclaimer will be added on the package of the medicine ‘Putrajeevak Beej’ that it does not promise a male child and claimed it is named so after the scientific name of the herb ‘Putranjiva roxburghii Wall’.

“MPs who have no clue about Ayurveda should be ashamed and should apologise to the nation.

The medicine (pack) does not say anywhere that it helps in producing a son,” he told a press conference here, and demanded an apology from Janata Dal(United) MP KC Tyagi, who raised the issue in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, accusing him of resorting to “lies”.

The yoga guru, who has courted several controversies in the past, also took a jibe at Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan saying she was demanding a ban on his pharmacy products as she was “not getting any opportunity to act in movies these days”.

“The name has simply been derived from its scientific name ‘Putranjiva roxburghii Wall’ and has

CONTROVERSIAL MEDICINE:

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev poses with an Ayurvedic health product during a press conference in New Delhi on Friday. - AFP

got nothing to do with the promise of a son. Lying in the Parliament is a national crime,” he said.

Calling himself a “fakir” (ascetic), Ramdev, who had openly supported Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign, repeatedly invoked the prime minister’s name and said not only he but the PM was being “unfairly” targeted through these “falsehoods”.

“On one hand there is the fakir and on the other hand there is the wazir. It’s being said that when the prime minister is saying ‘Beti Bachao’, his closest man is saying‘Beta Badhao’. Essentially insult the fakir and and tarnish

the wazir’s name is the method,” he said.

According to Ramdev, the opposition was latching onto every issue to target Modi, who, he said was focusing on developing the manufacturing sector as well agriculture.

“While Modi is trying to find a balance between the two, the Opposition wants him to fail on both the fronts. He should be given time,” he said, evading a direct reply on the Land Acquisition Bill.

Meanwhile, amid a controversy over an Ayurvedic medicine from Ramdev’s pharmacy, Haryana government, which has made the yoga guru the state’s brand ambassador, on Friday said it had asked him to change the name of the product as it may mislead people.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, however, said that the state government was satisfied with his clarification that the drug had nothing to do with conceiving a male child and was only named after a herb.

“We told him (Ramdev) whether the name of this medicine (Putrajeevak Beej) could be changed.

But he said that it was an ancient name which was not given by him and therefore it was not his right to change its name,” Khattar said while addressing reporters here on Friday. - PTI

A5

If you transact within the limits of law, it is much safer. If you breach it, gone are the days where offences would go undetected, Jaitley cautioned the corporates

of the automatic exchange of financial account information.

“We strongly feel that there is a need to ensure that the common reporting standards on automatic exchange of information should be implemented on a fully reciprocal global basis,” he said at the weekend’s annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “... and those countries which have not yet committed to the timeline of 2017 or 2018 should do it without any further delay.”

At the G20 Brisbane summit last November, leaders endorsed a new global transparency standard by which more than 90 jurisdictions will begin automatic exchange of tax information using a common reporting standard by 2017-18.

In this connection, Jaitely said on Friday that the Income Tax department had filed 121 cases of prosecution against those entities whose names have appeared in the HSBC Geneva bank list.

“If I understand correctly, the assessment of 100 of those cases has been completed and 121 prosecutions have been filed by the tax department against those who were caught with the accounts abroad,” he said.

A senior official said here the 121 cases were filed before the March 31 deadline after which these cases would have become time-barred and thus could not be prosecuted by the department.

Jaitley, who said he would move th Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) Bill, 2015, in Lok Sabha next week.

India has no official estimate of illegal money stashed away overseas, but unofficial assessments put it somewhere between $466 billion and $1.4 trillion. - IANS

US REPORT

‘BJP leaders’ divisive comments is a reality’ NEW DELHI: With a US Congress-established panel criticising attacks on minorities in India, Congress on Friday said it was a “ground reality” that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been making “divisive and communal” statements but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking no action against anyone.

“We are not here to support (any such report). India needs no lessons from any foreign country,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here when referred to the report.

At the same time, he said, “It echoes what you and me are seeing as ground reality.”

The “sad truth” of Modi government is that BJP leaders, MPs, MLAs have been making “divisive and communal” statements, Singhvi said, adding the Prime Minister resorts to some general rhetoric “but there is not single action against anyone”.

A US Congress established panel has said religious minorities in India have been subjected to “violent attacks, forced conversions” and ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaigns by groups like RSS after the Modi government assumed power in 2014. -PTI

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TIMES O F O MAN

S ATUR DAY, M AY 2 , 2 015

WORLD RO U NDS B OX E D : 4 0 7 FAST E ST KNO CKO U T: 6 4 S ECO N D S

24 H I TS

D AT E 3 May 2015 / 5 am to 9 am (Oman time)

TITLES ON Unified WBA (Super), WBC, WBO,

THE SUPER FIGH

35% AV E RAG E P U NC H ES P E R ROUN D

Tomorrow’s fight will go down in history as the two of the wo Billed as ‘The Fight of the Century’, this long awaited s

69 AT T E M PTS

AGE : 3 6 Mayweather has a longer re Pacquiao — an edge of 13 cm. Th Mayweather to hit Paquiao from where Pacquiao could not reach has larger fists than Mayweath would play an advantage as larg larger bone structure thus m

M A N N Y PACQ U I AO

REAC H : 170 CM

FIST: 2 5. 4 CM TITLED

57

RA N K #1 1 World’s Highest Paid Athlete (FORBES 2014)

WI 5

LOS

38

SALARY/WINNINGS: $41 MILLION E N D ORSE M E N TS: $800,000

TOP TEN RICHEST FIGHTS IN HISTORY

RECO

NO TITLE

KNOCK 2

Holyfield vs Foreman / 19 9 1 Tyson vs McNeeley / 19 9 5 Tyson vs Holyfield / 19 9 6 Holyfield vs Tyson / 19 9 7 Lewis vs Tyson / 2 002 Mayweather vs de la Hoya / 2 007 Pacquiao vs Mosley / 2 011 Mayweather vs Cotto / 2 012 Mayweather vs Alvarez / 2 013 Mayweather vs Pacquiao / 2 015

D RA

8 0 M ILLIO N DO LLAR S 96 7 7 .9 10 0 . 2 112 136 75 94 150

17 3

YEAR

HEIGHT DIFFERENCE 4 CM (ACTUAL SCALE)

SOU T HPAW

TITLED BOUTS

Right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook.

A normal stance for a left-handed boxer.

Pacquiao is the first and only champion who has competed in eight divisions, in which he has won ten world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes.

L E FT AR M

LEF T FO OT

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

169

2010

SUPER WELTERWEIGHT (154 lbs) Antonio Margarito / U D

2009

JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT (140 lbs) Ricky Hatton / K O

WELTERWEIGHT (147 lbs) Miguel Ángel Cotto / T K O

2008

R IG HT AR M

SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT (130 lbs) Juan Manuel Márquez / S D

L I G H T WEI G H T (135 lbs) David Díaz / T K O

RI GH T FO OT

PACQUIAO’S EDGE

POWER W E IG H T CL ASS Opponent / R E S U L T

FEATHERWEIGHT (126 lbs) Marco Antonio Barrera / T K O

EXPERIENCE

While Mayweather has the speed, Pacquiao has the power.

Pacquiao has 38 knockouts in his 64 career fights — a knockout rate of 59 percent.

Mayweather has 26 knockouts in his 47 fights — a knockout rate of 55 percent. If Pacquiao can consistently connect with his left jab, it could spell trouble for Mayweather.

Collectively, Mayweather and Pacquiao have fought 111 times professionally. Pacquiao has 64 career fights with 57 victories.

Mayweather has 47 career fights, all wins. Despite being two years younger, Pacquiao has a slight edge in experience because he is more battle tested, has 10 more wins and has fought all around the world.

OFFENCE The big x-factor in this fight will be Pacquiao’s left hand.

A lot of people think the only way Pacquiao can win is by knockout, thus not leaving it up to the judges. If Pacquiao can dominate the scorecard with overwhelming power hits throughout the fight, the judges won’t have a choice but to reward Pacquiao with a victory.

Typically, it’s harder to train for a fight against a southpaw than an orthodox due to the fact the ratio between lefties and righties are big (9:1).

It’s just unconventional to fight a southpaw if you have been training with orthodox fighters.

Basically, there are more orthodox boxers than southpaws.

S UP E R BAN TAMW E IGH T (122 lbs) Lehlohonolo Ledwaba / T K O

FLYWEIGHT (112 lbs) Chatchai Sasakul / K O

KO : KNOCK OUT or when a fighter gets knocked unconscious and such fight is ended

1995

T KO : TECHNICAL KNOCK OUT or when the referee stops the fight to prevent injury to a fighter who can’t defend himself anymore U D: UNANIMOUS DESISION or when three judges agree on which fighter won the match

1994

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

FIGHTING

S D : SPLIT DECISION or when two judges rank one fighter as the winner while the third judge scores for the other fighter

HOW PACQ U I AO WO UL D CO U N T E R A D E F E N SI V E ORTHODOX FIGHTER

SOURCE: badlefthook.com, ESPN.com, boxrec.com, HBO, wikipedia, money.cnn.com, latinpost.com

Pacquiao would sidestep to the right, encircling his opponent, distracting him from his shoulder roll defence.

Pacquiao would then feint a jab so that his opponent is forced to face him.

As the opponent turns his body, Pacquiao would quickly connect his left hook — giving him a killer blow.

T I M E S OF OMAN

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

N THE LINE , and The Ring welterweight titles

A7

ROUNDS BOXED : 3 63 FASTEST KNOCKOU T: 7 2 S ECONDS

VENUE MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, USA

45%

HT CHEAT SHEET

AV ERAG E PUN C H ES PER ROUN D

orld’s greatest boxers will face off in the ring for the first time. showdown is yet the most expensive fight ever staged.

17 HI TS

38 AT T E MPTS AGE: 3 8

RE AC H: 1 8 3 C M

F I ST: 2 0 . 3 C M

ORDS 47

NS

RA N K # 1 World’s Highest Paid Athlete (Forbes 2014)

0

SS ES

26

KOUTS

SALARY/WINNINGS: $105 MILLION EN DO RSEMEN TS: $0

0

AW

None

FIGURES ARE BASED ON PAY-PER-VIEW REVENUES AND TICKET SALES

Four expensive bouts were fought

by Pacquiao and Mayweather

0

It is projected to reach up to $400 million.

The pay-per-view cost is $100 (high definition). According to price tracker SeatGeek, the median price of tickets sold so far online has been $10,500, with sales ranging from $4,650 to $17,850. There are floor seats listed for $50,000, while cheapest ticket on the secondary market is about $5,000.

400+

250

F L O Y D M AY W E AT H E R

each or armspan than he long reach would allow m relatively safe distance h him. However, Pacquiao her, which experts believe er fists meant that he has more punching power.

CM

170 CM YEAR

CM

2015

ORTHODOX

2014

Left foot further in front of the right foot, thus having his weaker side closer to the opponent.

2013

RIGH T A RM

2012

M AY W E AT H E R ’ S E D G E

2009

STA N C E

2010

L EFT FO OT

2011

Mayweather is the undefeated pound-forpound champion in five divisions, having won ten world titles and the lineal championship in four different weight classes.

R I G HT FO OT LEF T A R M

2008 SUPER WELTERWEIGHT (154 lbs) Oscar De La Hoya / S D

2007

WELTERWEIGHT (147 lbs) Zab Judah / U D

2006

SUP ER LIGH TWEIGH T (140 lbs) Arturo Gatti / T K O

2005

1 60 C M

DEFENCE Mayweather is arguably the best defensive fighters. He wins fights because of his speed and his ability to avoid getting hit. His excellent speed is his defense.

Pacquiao may have to back Mayweather into a corner to stop him from running around the ring.

2003

LIGH TWEIGH T (135 lbs) José Luis Castillo / U D

2002

SIZE The match will be a standard 147 pound Welterweight fight, but Mayweather has an advantage in overall size.

He is taller and has a reach advantage. Mayweather will try and work the longdistance jab, like Lennox Lewis famously did against Mike Tyson in 2002.

2004

SPEED Mayweather is undefeated at 47-0 because he avoids getting hit. Mayweather throws far less punches per fight than his opponents and uses his legs to win. If he stays on his feet and uses his quickness to avoid Pacquiao’s hard punches, he has a great chance to come out on top.

2001 2000 1999 1998

SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT (130 lbs) Genaro Hernández / R T D

1997

150 CM 1996

Mayweather would then make a quick follow up by stealing a right hand lead.

If the opponent fights back, he could quickly cover himself using a shoulder roll.

1994

As the opponent would start to attack, Mayweather would counter it with his left hook — possibly hitting him in the chin.

1995

H OW M AYWE AT H E R WO U L D CO UN TE R AN O F F E NS IV E SO UTH PAW F IGH T E R

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TIMES O F O MAN

S ATUR DAY, M AY 2 , 2 015

COMMEN ARY ISO 9001:2008

Certified Company

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Subscription: RO70 per year.

What came before the Baltimore riots

T

he riots that devastated urban America during the 1960s were often ignited by acts of police brutality that inflamed poor African-American communities where the police were seen not as protectors but as an occupying force. These same tensions resurfaced last year in the suburban St. Louis community of Ferguson, Mo., where riots broke out after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, a black teenager. They have now erupted on a larger stage, in Baltimore, after the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who suffered a catastrophic injury while in police custody. President Obama has condemned as inexcusable the looting and arson that spread across the face of the city after of Gray’s funeral. But he also implied that the Baltimore Police Department had “to do some soul-searching.” Indeed it does: A well-documented history of extreme brutality and misconduct set the stage for just this kind of unrest.

Proof can be found in a meticulously reported investigation by The Baltimore Sun of lawsuits and settlements that had been generated by police-brutality claims. The victims included a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant woman who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson.

The report, published last fall, detailed what it called “a frightful human toll” inflicted by the police: broken bones, head trauma, organ failure, and even death, occurring during questionable arrests. It found that judges and prosecutors routinely dismissed charges against the victims and that city policies helped to hide the extent of the human damage.

Settlements prohibited the victims from making public statements.

The Sun estimated that the cash-strapped city had spent $5.7 million on settlements and $5.8 million on legal fees since January 2011.

Baltimore residents were familiar with these and other stories of police abuse when Gray’s case fell into the public spotlight earlier this month. The police chased and apprehended him on April 12, allegedly because he had “made eye contact” with a lieutenant and then ran away.

Cellphone videos of his arrest showed him being dragged into a police van, appearing limp and screaming in pain. The police have acknowledged that they delayed in calling for medical help. When he arrived at the police station, medics rushed him to the hospital, where he slipped into a coma and died a week later.

The Baltimore Police Department has a particularly egregious history and has entered into a voluntary reform agreement with the Justice Department. But there is no reason to believe that it is unique in terms of its toxic relations with the people it is meant to protect.

Indeed, over the last five years, the Justice Department has opened 21 investigations into local police departments around the country and is enforcing reform agreements with 15 departments, some investigated by previous administrations. - The New York Times News Service

COMMENTARY

Did American drone strikes lose Yemen?

AMRIT SINGH

A deadly own-goal

A

pologies for anything by sitting US presidents are exceedingly rare, and the body language of President Barack Obama as he apologised for the killing of two hostages in a drone strike spoke of his extreme discomfort at finding himself forced into such a position. An American national, Warren Weinstein, and Italian, Giovanni Lo Porto, had both been long held by al Qaeda and were both killed in a drone strike in January 2015.

The Americans were unaware of the hostages’ presence in the building they hit, which as far as they were concerned held only al Qaeda operatives. In a further development, it is revealed by Foreign Policy magazine that the government of Pakistan was in touch at various points with the captors of Mr Weinstein and has “facilitated” the payment for him of a privately-raised ransom of $250,000 and transferred the money to the group holding him. There was an expectation that he would be released, but the kidnappers reneged on the deal and Mr Weinstein’s life ended as collateral damage.

A host of questions arise, not the least of these being that if the government was able to be involved in the payment of ransom for Mr Weinstein, then why was it not able to rescue him as presumably it had more than a vague inkling of where he was?

Of equal weight is the question not only of the legitimacy or otherwise of American drone strikes in Pakistan, but the rules of engagement surrounding them. These were recently relaxed by President Obama, according to The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, the CIA operating in Pakistan is no longer required to demonstrate that its targets pose an imminent threat to the US or its interests. Had that exemption not been granted, the CIA would have been required to gather further intelligence before a strike was authorised. All this has only emerged into the public domain on the belated admission of an owngoal by an American drone. Sadly, the questions raised are never likely to have an answer. - The Express Tribune

We have created an entire generation of zombies Have we created a generation of zombies? I am afraid, we have.

We have denied our children their childhood, restricted them from going out and playing in the fields, we have told them not to mix with boys and girls of the locality and we have given them a few gadgets so that they can play and spend their time at home.

We gave them the video games and then we have given them mobile phones to play with. In the process we have created an entire generation of extremely selfish, self-centred, insensitive, unimaginative people who are completely cut off from the world and are bad citizens of tomorrow. I blame myself when I see teenagers, early adolescents and even young men and

women, regardless of where and whose company they are in, glued to their mobile phones like possessed people. We have created these creatures because as parents we failed in our primary task of offering a good grooming.

Minu Dutta Muttrah

The report provides a window into the experiences of Yemeni civilians directly affected

by US drone strikes. The testimonies of these individuals, vital for assessing the US drone programme, are all too easy to overlook because these individuals are poor and have no political influence

READERS’ FORUM

Even democracy now is in a process of change Explosions of anger and defiance of authorities seen in Egypt, Turkey and Brazil ought to be seen as ingredients of the process of evolution democracy is currently undergoing. Time has changed; we are into twenty first century. Aspirations of people, especially those who were born in late eighties and early nineties, have changed. Their perception of

R

ecent revelations that the US killed an innocent American in a drone strike in Pakistan confirm what a new study, “Death by Drone,” of civilian harm caused by US drone strikes in Yemen shows — that claims about the precision of drone strikes are overstated. The revelations also underscore the stark asymmetry between how the US treats drone strikes that kill its own citizens and those that kill others. While the Obama administration has now publicly acknowledged that it has recently killed three US citizens in drone strikes, it has refused to acknowledge countless other drone strikes around the world which have killed non-US civilians.

In Yemen, the US has been conducting drone strikes since at least 2002, with estimates of the total number of strikes ranging from 91 to 203.

While the American and Yemeni governments have lauded the drones’ precise targeting, they have refused to meaningfully disclose key details about the strikes, including how many have been conducted, who has been targeted, or, crucially, the number and identities of civilians killed. In a May 2013 speech at the National Defence University, Obama offered assurances that, outside the Afghan war theatre, no drone strike would be carried out unless there was “near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured.”

Obama also claimed that the US targets only “terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the American people,” and that it does not launch drone strikes when it has “the ability to capture individual terrorists.”

“Death by Drone,” which includes first-hand testimony from eyewitnesses and survivors of drone strikes in Yemen, tells a different story.

The nine case studies documented in the report, four of which cover attacks that came after the 2013 speech, provide credible evidence that US drone strikes have killed and injured Yemeni civilians, suggesting that the “near-certainty” standard is not being effectively implemented.

The report also casts doubt on Obama’s other claims, with evidence indicating that targets of drone strikes, though perhaps posing a threat to Yemen, may not have posed a direct threat to the US, and that their capture may have been possible. In other words, Yemeni civilians have suffered and died from drone strikes that may not have been necessary.

More generally, the report provides a window into the experiences of Yemeni civilians directly affected by US drone strikes. The testimonies of these individuals, vital for assessing the US drone programme, are all too easy to overlook because these individuals are poor and have no

NEW INDIA ASSURANCE New India’s PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY and PUBLIC LIABILITY POLICIES safeguard the professional hazards of Doctors/Engineers/ Architects/Hospitals/Hotels etc. website: www.newindiaoman.com

The character of a man is known from his conversations MENANDER

political influence, and because the strikes are conducted in secret, far away from the US. As Yaslem Saeed bin Ishaq, whose son was killed in a US drone strike in Wadi Sir on August 1, 2013, observed, “They just kill. They do not know what havoc their missiles have caused.

They are unaware of the suffering they create for our families.”

Indeed, if the US never acknowledges the specific strikes, how can ordinary Americans possibly know that Rasilah Al Faqih, a pregnant Yemeni woman, was killed in Walad Rabei’, along with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, as they headed home from a visit to the doctor?

Or that Abdoh Mohammed al-Jarraah’s house in Silat Al Jarraah had 19 people, including women and children, inside when it was hit by a US drone strike?

The US’ refusal to acknowledge drone strikes that kill foreigners is sending a damaging message in Yemen and beyond. As Moqbel Abdullah Ali Al Jarraah, a villager from Silat Al Jarraah, put it: “I believe that America is testing its lethal inventions in our poor villages, because (it) cannot afford to do so at any place where human life has value. Here, we are without value.” In every incident recorded in this report, the families of Yemeni civilians killed in US strikes want to know why they were targeted. As the father of Nasser Mohammed Nasser, one of four innocent civilians killed in a US drone strike on April 19, 2014, lamented: “My son and those who were with him had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. They were simply on their way to earn a living. Why, then, did the American aircraft strike them?”

But the US has given Nasser no answers. It has not even acknowledged that it killed his son.

In February 2013, then-White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan testified at his Senate confirmation hearing to become CIA Director that, “in the interest of transparency,” the US must acknowledge mistaken killings publicly. Later that month, he recognised that the US government “should make public the overall numbers of civilian deaths resulting from US strikes targeting Al Qaeda.” The US has done neither. It should come as no surprise, then, that civilians like Nasser, who have lost mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters in US strikes, are outraged not only at the US, but also at the Yemeni government, which consented to the attacks.

They believe that instead of making Yemen and the US safer, drone strikes only strengthen support for Al Qaeda As “Death by Drone” shows, the US drone programme is fundamentally flawed and should not be perpetuated. The Obama administration’s recent admissions that its drone strikes killed its own citizens only underscore this fact. - Project Syndicate

governance, the concept of public probity and expectations from their governments are different today. They want to be consulted, informed and have their wills respected.

Anu Shaikh Wadi Kabir

Statelessness has only made the world poorer Statelessness of millions has cost the world dearly. Rough estimates and random studies suggest that the global economy is denied at least four per cent growth because the stateless persons do not contribute. Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton appeared too well aware of the problem. She said, “When you deny a population the opportunity to participate, you deny

them the opportunity to contribute.” She was right. The world’s most prominent stateless populations include the Palestinians, the Romas, the Tibetans, the Kurds and the Bidoons. And by denying them to participate in the economic activities the world has not become any richer but certainly poorer.

Anubhav Choudhury Muscat

Dhoni is the best cricket captain that India has I am in agreement that Chennai Super Kings under Dhoni snatched a miracle victory from Kolkata Knight Riders (April 30). Today, Dhoni is arguably the best captain that India has.

Ashok Panicker Seeb

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

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

A9

PAKISTAN 10-MONTH PERFORMANCE

MAY DAY RALLY Pakistani Labour Union workers chant slogans during a May Day rally, in Lahore, on Friday. Hundreds of trade, labour and factory workers staged Labour Day rallies in Pakistan on May 1, calling for better working conditions and hike in their wages. - AFP

Tax collection target falls short by Rs100b ISLAMABAD: A further steep cut in the development budget is imminent, as tax authorities have failed to achieve even the downward revised 10-month revenue collection target and fallen short of the goal by Rs100 billion, highlighting the urgency of reforms in the tax machinery.

Against the July-April 2014-15 thrice revised tax collection target of Rs2.075 trillion, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) could collect Rs1.975 trillion, according to provisional results compiled by the authorities till Thursday.

In April alone, the FBR could pool only Rs200 billion, said officials. The IMF had given Rs1.846 trillion tax target to the FBR for the first nine months but the FBR could collect only Rs1.775 trillion, a gap of Rs71 billion.

The shortfall further widened by Rs30 billion in April as the FBR collected Rs200 billion against the monthly target of Rs230 billion. It achieved 13 per cent growth in revenues from July through April, which is not sufficient to reach the annual

PROBE ON

DSP killed in Karachi KARACHI: Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) bin Qasim Abdul Fateh Sangri was killed on Friday in Gulshan-e-Hadeed area of Karachi, Express News reported.

According to police, unidentified assailants opened fire on the car of the deceased and fled from the scene. Two other policemen, Nazeer and Farooq, were also killed in the incident.

District East SSP Pir Muhammad Shah said the miscreants shot the deceased at least 22 times with 9mm pistols, killing the victims on the spot.

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.

“DSP Fateh was number 37 on our hit-list,” the TTP spokesperson, Muhammad Khorasani said.

The bodies were shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Cen-

tre. Fateh was reportedly present at the press conference held by SSP Rao Anwar on April 30 during which the SSP had alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) maintains connections with an spy agency from a neighbouring country, Express News reported.

He was later suspended by the Inspector General Sindh (IGP) for making such comments.

Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah condemned the attack and sought a report from the IG Sindh over the incident.

The IG Sindh said initial investigations reveal that the attack was an act of terror, adding that he has ordered the security personnel to arrest the culprits immediately. The deceased police official was posted at Bin Qasim police station for the past two years. - Express Tribune

target of Rs2.691 trillion. In the July-April period of last fiscal year, the FBR had pooled Rs1.745 trillion in taxes.

Despite the resistance put up

by FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa, the government had given the Rs2.810 annual target for the current fiscal year.

Dismal performance After seeing the dismal performance, it first revised the target to Rs2.756 trillion and then to Rs2.691 trillion.

Besides lowering the target, the government has so far imposed five mini-budgets in an attempt to touch the revised figure.

The indications are that the FBR may collect Rs2.6 trillion at best, said a senior official.

He said the authority was using the Rs2.6 trillion base for determining next year’s tax collection target. The official said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was repeating the same mistake and despite the opposition, he wanted to fix the target at Rs3.2 trillion for fiscal year 2015-16. - Express Tribune

Criticism of army will not be tolerated: Bajwa Military spokesman Major General Asim

Such reference to army or its leadership as reaction to arrest of criminals, who may have links with any political party, won’t be tolerated

Bajwa said Altaf Hussain’s speech on TV, containing remarks about the army and its leadership, was uncalled for

Major General Asim Bajwa

and disgusting

Military spokesman

RAID

320kg explosives seized PESHAWAR: Two suspected terrorists were arrested from Peshawar with 320kg of explosives on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off, the police and counter-terrorism department (CTD) raided a house in City Town, Paharipura and arrested both men.

They were Afghan nationals and were allegedly involved in the assembly of explosive devices. At least 30 bags of explosives, 11 detonators, 72 prima-cords, a bag of urea nitrate, 62 electronic cables, a UPS and a toy bomb were recovered from the house.

Other equipment used to manufacture explosive devices was also found on the premises.

Development “This is an important development as the group was involved in recent attacks on law-enforcement agencies in the city,” a police official said.

According to the official, both terrorists have been shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.“We hope to identify other members of the gang during the investigation process,” he added. - Express Tribune

KARACHI: The Pakistani military on Friday lashed out at the leader of one of the country’s biggest political parties, in rare censure of a civilian politician for his sharp criticism of the army.

The dispute marks a low in deteriorating relations between the military and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest and richest city. Residents fear a confrontation could spark violence.

“Altaf Hussain’s speech on TV, containing remarks about the army and its leadership, was uncalled for and disgusting,” military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa said on his Twitter feed, referring to the leader of the MQM.

A G R I C U LT U R E S E C T O R

Income of farmers stagnant despite bumper crop: Report ISLAMABAD: The Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) has noted that despite bumper crops for three consecutive seasons, farmers have not seen a marked increase in their income because of low agriculture product prices in domestic and international markets.

This was stated by Federal Minister of Food Security and Research Sikander Hayat Khan Bosan at a press conference here on Thursday, after chairing an FCA meeting for the Kharif 201516 season.

The FCA, a top inter-governmental consultative body for the agriculture sector, reviewed the performance of Rabi crops (201415) and the production plan for Kharif crops (2015-16).

The committee observed that there was lower demand for wheat, rice, potato and sugarcane in the international market, which also had an impact on the domestic market.

“Keeping in view the current situation, we are recommending

TOUGH LIFE: Women plant paddy at a field in Lahore.

The production target for rice was fixed at 6.90 million tonnes. - AFP file photo

to the government to reduce the cost of production of agricultural products,” Bosan said.

“It looks like the sole solution in order to compensate the growers amid low prices of their produce in domestic and international markets.”

The committee was informed that wheat production in 201415 was estimated at 25.03 million tons from an area of 9.17 million hectares as revised estimates brought the target down from

25.48 million tons.

Representatives of provincial agriculture departments emphasised the need of adequate supply of urea and phosphate fertilisers during the Kharif season.

The production target for rice was fixed at 6.90 million tons from an area of 2.84 million hectares.

The target for maize crop 201516 was set at 4.61 million tons and for moong crop the output was expected to be 102,000 tons.

The Meteorological Department reported that the data of Indus River System Authority (Irsa) showed that water levels in the reservoirs would be better than last year.

The department was of the view that rain prospects were also better in all parts of the country.

The committee was informed that certified seed availability had increased in this year’s Kharif season. A representative of the State Bank of Pakistan said the allocation of credit for agriculture purposes had substantially increased. - Express Tribune

“Such reference to army or its leadership as reaction to arrest of criminals, who may have links with any political party, won’t be tolerated,” he said, vowing to pursue the matter legally.

The military has ruled Pakistan for about half its history and retains power over foreign relations and security, even during civilian rule. But it rarely gets openly involved in day-to-day politics, preferring to be seen as above the fray.

The military has vowed to drive criminals out of the southern port city of 18 million people, scarred by violence unleashed by insurgents, drug lords and kidnappers.

The MQM, Pakistan’s fourth largest party, has long held sway

over Karachi, which is home to the main stock market and central bank and generates half of government revenue.

Accused Law enforcement agencies have accused the MQM of retaining power through mafia ties, accusations the party denies. Political insiders say the military is determined to shatter the MQM’s grip on Karachi. A military operation against criminals is really directed at the MQM, the party says.

Hours before the spokesman’s comments, MQM leader Altaf Hussain accused the military of targeting his supporters, asking why it had not rooted out criminals

and militant sympathisers from its own ranks.

“How many retired army men were caught in bank heists?” Hussain asked in a televised speech from London, where he has lived in self-exile since fleeing arrest in the 1990s. Hussain was enraged by an accusation from a senior Karachi policemen on Thursday, that his officers had captured two MQM workers acting as spies for India. - Reuters

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Officials struggling to locate thousands missing in Nepal Up to 1,000 Europeans are among the missing, mostly around popular trekking routes, the head of the European Union (EU) delegation in Nepal said

KATHMANDU: Nepali and foreign officials were struggling on Friday to locate thousands of people still missing after last week’s massive earthquake, as food and other relief supplies began to trickle through to those stranded in remote parts of the country.

Up to 1,000 Europeans are among the missing, mostly around popular trekking routes, the head of the European Union (EU) delegation in Nepal said.

“We don’t know where they are, or they could be,” Ambassador Rensje Teerink told reporters. Officials said it was hard to trace the missing because many backpackers do not register with their embassies in the country.

However Nepal’s home ministry said it had not been informed the number of EU citizens missing could be that high.

“If that is the case then why are the embassies not informing us?

Why have they not contacted the Nepal government?,” home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told Reuters.

The number of people missing from France, Italy and Spain is 221 according to checks Reuters

REDUCED TO RUBBLE: Nepalese resident Nomita Khadka leans on her crutches as she looks at the remains of her home, in Kathmandu, on Friday. Nomita escaped with only a twisted ankle after a devastating earthquake hit the Himalayan nation on May 25. – AFP

made with their governments, while other European nations are yet to provide an updated figure on how many of their citizens are unaccounted for.

The confirmed death toll from last Saturday’s disaster has risen to 6,250, with 14,357 injured according to the government. There is no number for the missing, but bodies are still being pulled from the debris of ruined buildings, while rescue workers have not been able to reach some remote areas.

In the capital Kathmandu, many unclaimed bodies were being quickly cremated because of pressure on mortuaries. Besides the possibility of disease, the stench of the corpses was spreading through localities where buildings had collapsed.

Many bodies could be migrant workers from neighbouring In-

Morgues full “Morgues are full beyond capacity and we have been given instruction to incinerate bodies immediately after they are pulled out,” said Raman Lal, an Indian paramilitary force official working in coordination with Nepali forces.

Aid was beginning to slowly reach remote towns and villages nestled in the mountains and foothills of the impoverished nation. But government officials said efforts to step up the pace of delivery were frustrated by a shortage of supply trucks and drivers, many of whom had returned to their villages to help their families.

“Our granaries are full and we have ample food stock, but we are not being able to transport sup-

plies at a faster pace,” said Shrimani Raj Khanal, a manager at the Nepal Food Corp.

Army helicopters have airdropped instant noodles and biscuits to remote communities but people need rice and other ingredients to cook a proper meal, he said.

Many Nepalis have been sleeping in the open since the 7.8 magnitude quake, with survivors afraid of returning to their homes because of a series of powerful aftershocks. According to the United Nations (UN), 600,000 houses have been destroyed or damaged.

Information Minister Minendra Rijal said the government would provide $1,000 in immediate assistance to the families of those killed, as well as $400 for cremation or burial.

The UN said 8 million people in the country of 28 million were

Slow aid distribution Anger over the pace of the rescue has flared in some areas, with Nepalis accusing the government of being too slow to distribute international aid that has flooded into the country.

“There have been cases where villages have pelted stones on trucks carrying aid and food supplies. They must have been really hungry and angry to do so,” said Purna Shanker, who works at the government’s commodity trading office. In Sundarkhula, a village close to the quake’s epicentre west of Kathmandu, villagers said they were searching their destroyed homes for food.

Bharat Regmi, 28, said he jumped out of the first floor as the quake lifted his house from its foundations. When he went back a few days later, he and two of his friends found a bag of potatoes in the rubble. — Reuters

Afghanistan delegation to meet Taliban men in Qatar KABUL: An Afghan delegation is headed to Qatar for “open discussions” with representatives of Taliban insurgents over the next few days aimed at ending Afghanistan’s long war, officials said on Friday.

The scheduled meeting would mark a significant step towards opening formal talks to ending the war, but it was not clear on Friday whether the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader had approved them.

Pakistan’s army chief told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in February that senior figures in the Taliban were open to direct talks with Kabul to end the war, but until now there had been little sign of progress.

Preliminary talks The 20-member Afghan delegation will attend preliminary talks set for Sunday and Monday, said Attaullah Ludin, deputy chief of the country’s High Peace Council. “The open discussions are based on peace in Afghanistan. There will be representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban and some other organisations,” Ludin said.

He added that members of the High Peace Council would be meeting the Taliban in Qatar and also two representatives of Hizbi-Islami, another militant group fighting Afghanistan’s US-backed government that also has a political wing. A senior Taliban official in Qatar confirmed that a meeting was set for the next several days with Afghan figures, as well as some from Pakistan and other countries.

Top secret The Taliban official also said that Hizb-i-Islami figures would participate in the meeting. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to reveal the talks. “It’s top secret so far,” he said. — Reuters

TURKEY

REMAINS OF MIGRANTS

Mass graves found in Thailand jungle camp BANGKOK: Authorities in Thailand uncovered a mass grave in an abandoned jungle camp on Friday believed to contain the remains of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, a grisly find in a region notorious for peoplesmuggling routes.

The discovery was made at a remote camp in Sadao district, in Songkhla province bordering Malaysia, and comes as Thailand’s junta cracks down on human trafficking following accusations that officials have been complicit in the trade. The border area with Malaysia is notorious for its network of secret camps where smuggled migrants are held, usually against their will until relatives pay up hefty ransoms.

“There are 32 graves, four bodies have now been exhumed and are on their way... to hospital for an autopsy,” Sathit Thamsuwan, a rescue worker who was at the scene soon after the site was found, told AFP, saying it was unclear how they had died.

dia, who would be living alone in the Himalayan nation, local officials said.

affected, with at least 2 million needing tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months. Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said Nepal would need at least $2 billion to rebuild homes, hospitals, government offices and historic buildings and appealed for help from international donors.

“This is just an initial estimate and it will take time to assess the extent of damage and calculate the cost of rebuilding,” Mahat told Reuters. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters earlier this week the death toll from the quake could reach 10,000.

That would surpass the 8,500 who died in a 1934 earthquake, the last disaster on this scale to hit the Himalayan nation sandwiched.

Home ministry spokesman Dhakal said that though the 1934 quake was more powerful, there were fewer people in the Kathmandu valley then. “The scale of reconstruction will be unprecedented,” Dhakal said.

OPEN DISCUSSIONS

“The bodies were all decayed,” he said, adding a single emaciated man from Bangladesh survived and was being treated at a hospital in nearby Padang Besar.

Virtual prison camp National police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung described the site as a virtual “prison camp” where migrants were held in makeshift bamboo cells.

“There are 32 places that look like graves and whether there is one body or several bodies in those graves, we will we have to wait and see,” he said.

He said the smugglers were believed to have abandoned the sick man when they moved Rohingya migrants across the border into Malaysia two days ago.

Local media said the camp and its lone survivor were stumbled upon by villagers looking for mushrooms. The hospital confirmed the Bangladeshi man had survived and said he was in a stable condition. — AFP

Tear gas fired on May Day protesters ISTANBUL: Turkish police on Friday used water cannon and tear gas to disperse May Day protesters in Istanbul as tens of thousands of labour activists turned out worldwide to defend their rights at a time of austerity.

Turkish police had blocked all vehicle access and cut public transport to prevent protests on Taksim Square in the centre of Istanbul, the traditional focus for protests in the country’s largest city. Police moved in on the protesters close to the shores of the Bosphorus as they tried to head towards the square, using water cannon trucks and spraying tear gas, an AFP correspondent said.

Even before the police moved in on the Besiktas protesters, Istanbul’s police chief Selami Altinok had said that 136 people had been arrested in various points in the city during the day.

This is the first May Day in Turkey, a national holiday in the country, to be marked after parliament passed a controversial security bill this year giving the police greater powers to crack down on protests.

VIOLENT PROTEST: A man lies on the ground as Turkish police use a water cannon to disperse protestors during a May Day rally near Taksim Square, in Istanbul, on Friday. – AFP

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration -- shaken by weeks of deadly anti-government protests in May-June 2013 centred on Taksim Square -- is hugely nervous about public demonstrations ahead of June 7 legislative elections.

“If find that this insisting on

(protests in) Taksim is wrong and has a purpose. Having a meeting in Taksim means basically paralysing all Istanbul,” Erdogan said in a speech at his Ankara presidential palace.

By contrast, thousands of people packed into the centre of Athens in response to a call from public and

private unions, joined by the country’s controversial anti-austerity Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. In Moscow, around 140,000 workers and students paraded on Red Square, waving Russian flags and balloons, a spectacle harking back to Soviet times.

In the Russian capital, some marchers wore T-shirts with the face of President Vladimir Putin while in Saint Petersburg others held portraits of Putin and wartime tyrant Josef Stalin and placards reading “Homeland, freedom, Putin”.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people were expected to protest later in the afternoon in Milan against the opening on Friday of the Expo 2015 in Italy’s financial centre. Opponents of the project have accused the authorities of a needless waste of public funds by hosting the show at a time of austerity. In South Korea, tens of thousands of workers held May Day rallies, vowing to wage an “all-out general strike” if the government pushes through with planned labour reforms. — AFP

ALLEGED MISHANDLING

Death row Filipina’s family criticises Aquino’s government MANILA: The family of a Filipina on death row in Indonesia returned home on Friday with scathing criticism of the Philippine government’s alleged mishandling of her case.

Mary Jane Veloso’s mother said President Benigno Aquino should not be credited for the 11th hour reprieve that saved her daughter from death by firing squad on Wednesday. But the family nonetheless expressed hope that Indonesia would commute her death sentence or free her after the Filipina maid’s alleged recruiter turned herself in to authorities this week. Indonesian President Joko Widodo stayed Veloso’s execution after Aquino asked that she be made a witness against a human trafficking ring that duped her into smuggling drugs.

Veloso was caught with 2.6 kilo-

grammes (5.7 pounds) of drugs at Yogyakarta airport five years ago.

She claims the drugs were sewn into her suitcase lining without her knowledge. “We’ve returned home to the Philippines for payback... This is not about money.

The government owes us because they tricked us,” 55-year-old Celia Veloso, wearing a “Save Mary Jane” shirt, told reporters.

In an apparent reference to Aquino, she said: “He is telling the whole world that he helped save my daughter’s life. That is not true.

Get ready, we are here to charge you. We will fight you.”

Veloso’s sister, Marites VelosoLaurente, told AFP the Philippine government failed to provide her with a capable interpreter during her trial.

“Had the government not been remiss, my sister would not have

TEMPORARY REPRIEVE: Cesar Veloso, left, father of Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine domestic worker on death row who was given a temporary reprieve by Indonesia, sits with his daughter Marites Veloso-Laurente, right, and other family members upon their return from Jakarta, in Manila, on Friday. – AFP

been in trouble,” she said.

Presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte denied the charge, saying that as early as 2011, Aquino asked then president Susilo Bambang

Yudhoyono for clemency.

Aquino also asked Widodo for clemency and a review of Veloso’s case twice, Valte told AFP. “The records will bear out the president’s

actions very clearly... It is not an issue of who gets credit, but more importantly, Mary Jane was able to get a reprieve for her sentence,” she said.

Veloso’s alleged recruiter, Cristina Sergio, is under police custody after she sought protection citing death threats. The justice department is studying whether a human trafficking and fraud complaint against her would merit filing in court. “We owe it to the Indonesian government to undertake and complete the investigation as soon as possible,” Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said this week.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, Jose said the Philippines may again seek clemency for Veloso.

Her sister thanked Widodo for the reprieve as she renewed an ap-

peal for compassion. “President Widodo, please study my sister’s case very carefully. Please keep an open mind and heart,” she said.

Marites Veloso said the family last saw Mary Jane at Yogyakarta prison on Thursday.

“There were lots of hugging and laughing. There was no trace of sadness or worry in Mary Jane’s face,” she said.

“We left prison with smiles on our faces because we know that we will see her again soon,” she said.

While Veloso was spared, seven other foreign drug convicts and an Indonesian were executed as Widodo defied global anger.

Among those executed were Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug ring, prompting Canberra to recall its ambassador from Jakarta. — AFP

S ATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

S P O R S T20 CRICKET

Mumbai survive Samson scare MUMBAI: Hosts Mumbai Indians (MI) successfully defended 187 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 to enhance their chances. They won the close encounter by just eight runs after surviving a Sanju Samson scare. Samson played the main innings for the Royals scoring a fluent and measured 76, however Mitchell McClenaghan stole the game away from Royals with three crucial wickets including Samson.

Earlier, a late cameo from Ambati Rayudu (53; 27b, 4x4 3x6) ensured that Mumbai Indians reached a challenging total at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai Indian got off to a flying start with openers Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons striking the ball to all parts of the park scoring at over nine runs per over in the first four.

Rohit, who scored 27 off 21 balls, completed 2,000 runs for Mumbai Indians. For Royals, Kulkarni was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with two for 26.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 187 for 5 (Lendl Simmons 38, Ambati Rayudu 53; Dhawal Kulkarni 2 for 26) beat Rajasthan Royals (Sanju Samson 76, Shane Watson 28; Mitchell McClenaghan 3 for 31) by eight runs. - Agencies

Tamim, Imrul record stand thwarts Pakistan

TEST SERIES

England struggle after Holder double strike

SCOREBOARD

The left-handed pair put on their nation’s highest partnership for any wicket as Bangladesh, trailing by 296 runs on the first innings, closed the day strongly at 273 for no loss in their second knock

KHULNA: Openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes hit unbeaten centuries to lead a brilliant fightback

by Bangladesh on the fourth day of the first Test against Pakistan in Khulna on Friday.

The left-handed pair put on their nation’s highest partnership for any wicket as Bangladesh, trailing by 296 runs on the first innings, closed the day strongly at 273 for no loss in their second knock.

Tamim was unbeaten on 138 to become the first Bangladesh batsman to score seven Test centuries.

He beat former captain Mohammad Ashraful’s tally of six hundreds.

It was Tamim’s third century in as many Tests, having made identical scores of 109 in the last two matches against Zimbabwe in November.

Imrul scored 132 not out, his third hundred, as the bowlers toiled on the placid wicket at the Sheikh Abu Naser stadium that has already produced 1,233 runs and just 20 wickets over the four days.

The pair batted through just over two sessions to surpass the previous Bangladesh record of 267 by Ashraful and current skipper Mushfiqur Rahim for the

RECORD PARTNERSHIP: Bangladesh cricketers Tamim Iqbal, right, and Imrul Kayes, left, run between the wickets during the fourth day of the first cricket Test match. – AFP

fifth wicket against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2013.

Tamim and Imrul had put on an opening stand of 224 during Bangladesh’s previous Test — against Zimbabwe in Chittagong — and carried on in the same manner on Friday.

Fears that Bangladesh may struggle to bat out two days to save the match, after Pakistan ran up 628 in their first innings, proved unfounded as the openers settled in to tame the bowling.

Tamim reached his century after tea with two consecutive boundaries off Junaid Khan. Imrul swept Zulfiqar Babar for a single soon after to bring up his own landmark in front of some 5,000 delighted home fans.

Tamim has so far hit 13 boundaries and four sixes. Imrul has 15 fours and three sixes.

Earlier, the tourists took their

overnight score of 537 for five to 628 before they were all out shortly before lunch.

The overnight pair of Asad Shafiq (83) and Sarfraz Ahmed (82) carried their sixth-wicket partnership to 126 to build a sizeable lead for Pakistan. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam picked up three of the five wickets in the morning session to finish with creditable figures of six for 163.

Debutant fast bowler Mohammed Shahid claimed his first Test wicket when he ended the sixthwicket stand by having Sarfraz caught at mid-on by substitute fielder Litton Das. Taijul bowled Wahab Riaz for zero in the next over and then trapped Yasir Shah leg-before that gave the 23-year-old his third fivewicket haul in six Tests so far.

Between those two wickets, star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

Brilliant return by Zaheer as Delhi trounce Punjab NEW DELHI: Zaheer Khan made an impressive comeback from a year-long hiatus complementing Nathan Coulter-Nile brilliantly as Delhi Daredevils spanked Kings XI Punjab by 9 wickets in an Indian Premier League cricket tournament match, here on Friday.

Chasing a paltry target of 119, Daredevils romped home with 6.1 overs to spare as openers Mayank Agarwal (52 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (54) put on a comfortable 106-run partnership for the first wicket to seal the issue in style.

The home team could not have asked for a better performance from their bowlers in their last home match as they restricted Punjab to 118 for eight after winning the toss.

Coming into bowl in a competitive match after 363 days, Zaheer removed Virender Sehwag (1) off the second ball and Manan Vohra (1) in his very next over as he finished with figures of 2/17 from

four overs. After Zaheer blew the top two away, Coulter-Nile caused a lot of damage in the middle and lower order with figures of 4/20 in four overs as it deservingly earned him man-of-the match award.

There was not much KXIP could have done after putting on board such a total and Delhi easily crossed the finishing line without much fuss. Needing under six runs an over, Iyer and Agarwal went abut their business calmly.

Iyer’s 54 came off 40 balls with four fours and three sixes while Agarwal?s faced 40 balls in his knock and hit six fours and six.

Delhi now have eight points and they moved up to number four, replacing Royal Challengers Bangalore (7) while Punjab remained at the bottom with 4 points.

The Kotla pitch had good bounce to assist the bowlers even as there were no demons in it and largely Punjab batsmen were responsible for team’s misery as

they did not apply themselves well. KXIP can thank David Miller (42) and Axar Patel (22) as their 57-run partnership for seventh wicket helped them cross the 100run mark as they were tottering at 45 for six at halfway stage.

Apart from the duo, only skipper George Bailey (18) reached the double-digit mark before being trapped by Amit Mishra.

Miller’s 42-run knock five boundaries, including a six.

In all Punjab batsmen hit only 12 boundaries of which three were maximums.

Their start to the innings was disastrous but the ended the innings with Anureet Singh whacking Imran Tahir for a long-on six.

Earlier, comeback-paceman Zaheer struck twice in his three-over spell.

Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 119 for 1 (Iyer 54, Agarwal 52 not out) beat Kings XI Punjab 118 for 8 (Miller 42, Coulter-Nile 4-20, Zaheer 2-17) by nine wickets. — PTI

Bangladesh 1st innings: 332 (Imrul Kayes 51, Mominul Haque 80, Mohammed Mahmudullah 49, Wahab Riaz 3-55, Yasir Shah 3-86, Mohammad Hafeez 2-47).

Pakistan 1st innings (overnight 537-5): M. Hafeez c Mahmudullah b Shuvagata 224 Sami Aslam c Rahim b Taijul 20 Azhar Ali b Shuvagata 83 Younis Khan b Taijul 33 Misbah-ul Haq c Rubel b Taijul 59 Asad Shafiq c and b Shakib 83 Sarfraz Ahmed c sub (Das) b Shahid 82 Wahab Riaz b Taijul 0 Yasir Shah lbw b Taijul 13 Zulfiqar Babar st Mahmudullah b Taijul 11 Junaid Khan not out 0 Extras (b-5, lb-8, w-3, nb-4) 20 Total (all out, 168.4 overs) 628 Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Aslam), 2-277 (Azhar), 3-339 (Younis), 4-402 (Hafeez), 5-468 (Misbah), 6-594 (Sarfraz), 7-595 (Wahab), 8-617 (Asad), 9-617 (Yasir), 10628( Zulfiqar).

Bowling: Rubel 22-3-82-0 (3nb), Shahid 19-4-59-1 (1nb), Taijul 46.4-4-163-6, Shuvagata 34-1-120-2 (w3), Shakib 37-4146-1, Mahmudullah 4-0-30-0, Soumya 1-0-2-0, Mominul 5-0-13-0.

Bangladesh 2nd innings: Tamim Iqbal not out 138 Imrul Kayes not out 132 Extras: (w-1, nb-2) 3 Total (for no loss, 61 overs) 273 Bowling: Junaid 8-0-44-0 (nb2), Zulfiqar 16-0-60-0, Hafeez 9-0-46-0, Wahab 13-257-0 (w1), Yasir 15-0-66-0.

Position: Bangladesh trail by 23 with 10 wickets in hand.

Toss: Bangladesh Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG) and Ranmore Martinesz (SRI) TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS) Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

claimed his lone success in the innings when he took a return catch to dismiss Shafiq.

Tajiul wrapped up the innings when wicket-keeper Mohammad Mahmudullah, standing in for the injured Rahim, stumped Zulfiqar Babar. The second and final Test begins at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka from May 6. — AFP

BRIDGETOWN: England suffered early setbacks in reaching 71 for three at lunch on the opening day of the third and final Test against the West Indies at Kensington Oval on Friday.

Skipper Alastair Cook, who won the toss, will resume following the interval on 31 in partnership with the in-form Joe Root (19 not out) after coming together with their side labouring at 38 for three.

Jason Holder dispelled doubts about his fitness with two important wickets after opening bowler Jerome Taylor exploited Jonathan Trott’s vulnerability to fast, short-pitched bowling. Stretchered off the field on the last day of the second Test in Grenada a week earlier when he appeared to turn over his left ankle badly while bowling, Holder showed no ill effects of that injury.

Playing on his home ground, the tall fast-medium bowler uprooted Gary Ballance’s middle-stump and then induced an indeterminate prod from new batsman Ian Bell with a slower delivery to take a sharp catch off his own bowling before the prolific right-hander had scored. — AFP SCOREBOARD

England 1st innings (at lunch) A. Cook not out 31 J. Trott c Permaul b Gabriel 0 G. Ballance b Holder 18 I. Bell c and b Holder 0 J. Root not out 19 Extras (nb-3) 3 Total (3 wickets, 25 overs) 71 To bat: Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Chris Jordan, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Fall of wickets: 0-1 (Trott), 2-38 (Ballance), 3-38 (Bell).

Bowling: Taylor 7-4-17-0 (3nb), Gabriel 4-1-6-1, Holder 6-1-15-2, Samuels 6-1-18-0, Permaul 2-0-15-0.

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The richest prize fight of all-time will give each fighter a multimillion-dollar payday and smash pay-perview numbers while eye-popping ticket prices, out of reach for all but the rich and famous, will see the 16,800-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena

READY FOR THE BOUT: Undefeated WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, of

rival the Super Bowl

the US and WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines pose with the WBC championship belt during a final news conference at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. – Reuters

in gate receipts

LAS VEGAS: When Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao enter the ring on Saturday the stakes could not be higher, even for a bout already labelled the “Fight of the Century.”

The richest prize fight of alltime will give each fighter a multimillion-dollar payday and smash pay-per-view numbers while eyepopping ticket prices, out of reach for all but the rich and famous, will see the 16,800-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena rival the Super Bowl in gate receipts.

There is a garish championship belt embossed with 3,000 emeralds on the line along with the mythical title of world’s best pound-for-pound fighter but more significantly it is a bout that could cement a boxing legacy and a fight on which the future of the sport could hang.

Five-plus years in the making, all the hype and elements are in place to elevate the welterweight showdown into one of those memorable watershed sporting moments.

Or it could be a flop, providing

another blow for a sport that is just starting to lift itself back off the canvas.

“This fight has been talked about for so long the anticipation now people are really looking forward to it and willing to pay any price to watch it,” Oscar De La Hoya, one of the few boxers to fight Mayweather and Pacquiao, told Reuters.

“It this fight is dull, if it’s a dud then that can really affect the overall game but if it is an exciting fight, a fight people want to see again, it can take boxing to new heights.”

With tickets on the resale market commanding over $100,000 for ringside seats and close to 3 million people expected to pay $100 on pay-per-view, the undefeated Mayweather (47-0) and Filipino southpaw (57-5-2) will be expected to produce a spectacle worthy of such princely price tags.

The fight will be a classic matchup of boxing styles.

Considered one of the best defensive fighters of all-time, Mayweather is crafty with a superior ring intelligence that has allowed him to survive nearly two decades in the ring by avoiding danger.

In contrast, Pacquiao brings an all-out attacking style to the show-

down, a hard puncher capable of landing a knockout shot that could hand Mayweather his first professional defeat. While the fight is the most anticipated in decades, for most boxing experts it comes a half-decade too late with both fighters past their prime.

The 38-year-old American may not be as slick or fast as he was while there are questions about Pacquiao’s power, the 36-year-old having not scored a knockout win since 2009 when he floored Briton Ricky Hatton in the second round.

“The ingredients are there and it is only because of Pacquiao,” said De La Hoya, who lost to both men.

“We know what Mayweather is going to do, we’ve been there, we’ve done that but the one person who can make this fight an exciting one is Pacquiao.

“He has a relentless style; he will be the one pressing the action.

“It all depends on Pacquiao.”

For Mayweather, it will be his 11th consecutive fight at the MGM Grand but it is Pacquiao who will have an entire nation in his corner.

A politician, philanthropist, recording artist and action movie star, Pacquiao is a national hero in his homeland where his image has

featured on a postage stamp and video games.

His rags-to-riches story of a young man who once lived on the hard scrabble Manila streets is inspiring, a source of motivation Pacquiao routinely draws upon, “I can’t imagine the boy who was starving and sleeping on the street has become what I am now,” said the eight-division world champion known as Pacman. “I have a good feeling for this fight. For me, it’s about how we can make the fans happy. They are paying big money ... so they deserve to have a good fight.”

For Mayweather the fight is one that will define his legacy and place among the pantheon of boxing greats.

Even if Mayweather were to retire with an unbeaten record there would have always be a question mark hanging over his career if he never clashed with his great Filipino rival.

“This fight is about one fighter who is at the top fighting another fighter who is at the top. It’s about giving you guys excitement,” said Mayweather. “We don’t know how this fight is going to play out, but I believe in my skills. I believe I am going to be victorious. - Reuters

LAS VEGAS: Freddie Roach is the quintessential trainer, an Irish-American who lives and breathes boxing and is happiest when he has the mitts on while putting his fighters through their paces in his Wild Card Boxing Club.

Voted trainer of the year by the Boxing Writers Association of America on seven occasions, Roach is best known for the success he has achieved in partnership with Manny Pacquiao, a Filipino southpaw he has transformed into a complete fighter.

“I recognised he needed to add a right hand, but anybody who has walked into a gym more than once would have been able to tell him that,”

Freddie Roach.

said Roach, while playing down his own part in Pacquiao’s transformation.

“It was up to Manny. He’s such a great athlete and he’s so dedicated, he just listened to what I said and went out and made the change on his own. That’s a Manny Pacquiao thing, not a ‘me’ thing.” - Reuters

Mayweather Sr. looks for poetic victory LAS VEGAS: When Floyd Mayweather Jr. steps into the ring to face Manny Pacquiao in what has been dubbed the ‘Fight of the Century’, in his corner will be his father Floyd Sr., who once used his young son as a human shield against an angry gunman.

It would seem almost certain Mayweather Sr. will never win father of the year honours but with victory on Saturday his son could cement his legacy as one of the greatest fighters of all time with the man who sparked that dream looking on with pride. But for all the strain and long periods of estrangement, the two Mayweathers have developed an unbeatable game plan and on Saturday it will be Floyd Sr. in his son’s corner mapping out the strategy to beat Pacquiao.

“I don’t think it is going to

Floyd Mayweather Sr.

be much of a fight. the fight is already won,” declared Mayweather Sr. on Thursday. “They (Pacquiao) were scared. We wasn’t scared. I’m just here to tell you whatever it is, it’s going to be one-sided.

Good night.”

In what has been a surprisingly polite buildup, it has been left to the abrasive Mayweather Sr. to stir the pot with a boorish and relentless attack on Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach. — Reuters

EXTREME SAILING SERIES

Oman Air, The Wave well placed after fog lifts in Qingdao MUSCAT: The fog lifted just enough in Fushan Bay in Qingdao, China, to get some racing in on Day 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series and cleared the way for Oman Air and The Wave, Muscat to climb the leaderboard.

The Wave, Muscat’s trademark consistency was slow to surface but mid-way through the nine races, the two-time Extreme champions, who won in Qingdao in 2012 and 2013, hit their straps to close the day with three outright wins under their belt and a second place to improve on over the remaining two days.

Drizzly and cold conditions meant plenty of warm layers for the crews but skipper Leigh McMillan identified the starts as the key challenge today for him and his team of Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth and Nasser Al Mashari.

“So much of this is down to the starts and we were slow to nail them today,” he explained.

“But otherwise, we were fairly solid around the course. We had two OCS (on course side) which cost us a lot of points and that was the difference between us and SAP who are at the top of the leaderboard with an eight-point advantage. “We had a good end to the day though, with a second and two

Oman Air becomes official airline partner

GOOD GOING: Sultanate’s boats The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air

performing well on the second day. – Supplied photo

wins in the last three races so it was nice to finish on a bit of a high.

There is still plenty to do.”

Stevie Morrison and his crew on Oman Air, racing in only their third event, also made a tentative start but by Race 9 enjoyed an intense battle with The Wave, Muscat for the lead and although they came second on this occasion, the tussle gave a flavour of things to come between Oman Sail’s highly competitive crews.

By the end of the day Oman Air had climbed to fifth place and the

crew of Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, and Oman’s Ali Al Balushi were confident of improving on their rankings over the coming days.

“We also had a slow start which wasn’t what we had planned but we learned a lot and got better as we went along,” said Stevie.

“The last four races were really good, although we had a penalty in the last race after a close situation with The Wave, Muscat and that was a shame since it cost us a few points but there is a long way to go until the end of the regatta.”

MUSCAT: Oman Air became the Official Airline Partner to the Extreme Sailing Series as part of the Sultanate’s national carrier’s plans to expand its network into China and across the world. This major agreement with series organisers OC Sports was unveiled on the opening day of Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series in Qingdao, China, where Oman Sail’s high performance Extreme 40 sponsored by Oman Air, skippered by Britain’s Stevie Morrison and featuring Omani sailor Ali Al Balushi, UK sailors Ed Powys, Nic Asher and Ted Hackney from Australia, was preparing for four days of hard and fast racing.

China represents Oman Air’s 49th destination, explained Abdulrahman Al Busaidy, Chief Operating Officer and the partnership represents an important platform for further growth. “We are excited to announce Oman Air as the

PARTNERSHIP: Andy Tourell, Extreme Sailing Series Event Director with Stevie Morrison and Ali Al Balushi of Oman Air.

Official Airline Partner of the Extreme Sailing Series. It is especially significant to make the announcement in China, which will become our 49th destination as we continue to invest in our fleet and expand our network.

“As the Sultanate’s national carrier we have an opportunity to unite the seafaring past with its future as a high-end tourist destination and promote the Sultanate of Oman to new audiences. We look forward to a

long and successful partnership with the Extreme Sailing Series, both on and off the water.”

Andy Tourell, Extreme Sailing Series Event Director, welcomed Oman Air on board and said it was an honour for their world-class sailing event to be associated with a worldclass airline.

“The importance of securing a new partner is testament to the commercial value the Series can offer as the only annual global circuit in sailing.”

B

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM S ATU RDAY, M AY 2, 2015

SONY PROFIT SET TO QUADRUPLE LE THIS YEAR TO $2.7 BILLION

MARKE

Kazuo Hirai, leading Sony on a comebackk nty after years of losses, is giving himself plenty of room to deliver more good news in the future. He said operating profit will more than quadruple to 320 billion yen ($2.7 billion) this fiscal year. >B3

ECONOMY

US manufacturing logs weakest growth since 2013 WASHINGTON: Manufacturing in April held at the weakest pace in almost two years, prompting factories to pull back on hiring as they await stronger demand in the US and abroad.

The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) index was unchanged at 51.5, the lowest since May 2013, a report from the Tempe, Arizona-based group showed on Friday. Readings above 50 signal expansion, and the April figure was less than the median projection of 52 in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The lack of improvement reflects the lingering effects of a stronger dollar and low oil prices on capital spending and exports that caused the economy to nearly stall in the first quarter. While the ISM’s report showed factory employment was the weakest since 2009, readings on orders and production advanced as goods began to move following labour-related delays at West Coast ports.

“For the most part, the rebound may not be as strong as people are expecting,” Gennadiy Goldberg,

a strategist at TD Securities in New York, said before the report.

“There currently are considerable downside risks to the second quarter.” Estimates of 85 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 50.3 to 54. Readings greater than 50 indicate growth.

Manufacturing around the world remains tepid. Growth at UK factories dropped to a sevenmonth low in April, according to a Markit Economics Ltd. index.

China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index was little changed at 50.1 last month, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing said April 30.

The ISM’s measure of US factory employment decreased to 48.3, the weakest since September 2009, from the prior month’s 50 reading.

Orders increase The group’s new orders gauge climbed to a four-month high of 53.5 from 51.8, and a measure of production rose to 56 from 53.8.

The index for orders waiting to be filled held at 49.5.

domestic product, the volume of all goods and services produced, rose at a 0.2 per cent annualised rate, the weakest in a year, after advancing 2.2 per cent in the prior three months, according to Commerce Department data released on Wednesday.

INDEX UNCHANGED: Institute for Supply Management’s index was unchanged at 51.5, the lowest since May 2013, a report from the Tempe, Arizona-based group showed. — Bloomberg file picture

The measure of export demand rose to 51.5 last month from 47.5 in March. The report also showed the index of prices paid increased to 40.5 from 39.

The advance in the dollar since mid-2014 and the global drop in

oil prices have already taken a toll on investment and export demand, which has fallen for four consecutive months through February.

A wider trade deficit subtracted 1.25 percentage points from firstquarter economic growth. Gross

Corporate investment Corporate fixed investment decreased at a 2.5 per cent annualised pace, the worst performance since the end of 2009, the GDP figures also showed. Investment in nonresidential structures, including office buildings and factories, dropped by the most in four years, reflecting weakness in petroleum exploration. Halliburton, the world’s second-biggest provider of oilfield services, said it expects to reduce capital spending by 15 per cent this year and accelerated the pace of job cuts ahead of its takeover of Baker Hughes.

That’s one reason Federal Reserve officials signaled this week after a two-day meeting that they’re in no rush to begin raising interest rates.

Opec output unchanged as Saudis show no letup Iraq raises April oil exports to highest in three decades

Production by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries slipped 1,000 barrels to 31.295 million a

– Bloomberg file picture

day, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil firms, producers and analysts

LONDON: Opec oil production was little changed in April near the highest level since November 2012 as Saudi Arabia pumped 10 million barrels a day.

Production by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) slipped 1,000 barrels to 31.295 million a day, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil companies, producers and analysts.

March’s total was revised

267,000 barrels higher to 31.296 million a day, mostly because of a change to the Saudi estimate.

Prices tumbled the first quarter of this year as US output surged to the highest level in more than four decades and Opec members pumped more barrels.

The 12-member group left its production quota unchanged at a November meeting, prompting speculation that it would let crude slide low enough to curb shale development in the US. “The high Saudi number is what sticks out,” Julius Walker, senior consultant at JBC Energy in Vienna, said on Thursday by phone.

“The consensus view is that the Saudis are going to continue with their present policy. The market

continues to be substantially oversupplied.”

Trimmed output Saudi Arabia, Opec’s top producer, trimmed output by 100,000 barrels a day to 10 million in April. March output was revised 330,000 barrels a day higher to 10.1 million.

The country sold oil at a higherthan-projected rate in March as a result of the biggest discounts in at least 15 years.

The oil market is in “excellent” condition, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy oil minister, said on Monday. Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi stressed earlier this month that the kingdom won’t yield market share to higher-cost producers. — Bloomberg News

NAT U R A L G A S S U P P L I E S

Europe weighs pipeline for Turkmen gas through Iran ASHGABAT (Turkmenistan): EU energy boss Maros Sefcovic said late on Thursday Europe could import natural gas from ex-Soviet Turkmenistan via Iran as Brussels ramps up efforts to break its dependence on Russian-sourced energy.

Speaking after a meeting with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in the capital Ashgabat, Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission for Energy Union, also said he expected that imports of Turkmen gas via a pipeline built under the Caspian sea could begin as soon as 2019. Sefcovic said the two had discussed the “possibility of building a pipeline through the Caspian as well as through Iran, since diplomatic relations with Iran are developing positively”.

“The EU hopes that negotiations between the big six and Iran conclude successfully,” he added, speaking in comments aired on Turkmen state television late on Thursday night.

Officials in Iran, which shares

the inland Caspian sea with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, have repeatedly said the Trans-Caspian pipeline is uneconomic and that building a land-based pipeline transiting its own territory would be a better option.

But with talks over Iran’s nuclear programme involving the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany hanging in the balance ahead of a June 30 deadline, Sefcovic stressed the Caspian link.

The pipeline could cost upwards of $5 billion and would funnel gas under the disputed sea from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan before connecting with the existing South Caucasus pipeline and the planned Trans-Anatolian pipeline through Turkey.

“The European Union expects natural gas supplies from the Caspian region to Europe to begin in 2019-2020,” Sefcovic said.

He added that environmental risks connected to the proposed pipeline could be mitigated.

In addition to Iran, the TransCaspian pipeline would face opposition from Russia, which met around a third of the EU’s gas needs in 2014.

Currently it is planned that the Trans-Caspian pipeline would transport up to 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year to the EU. No blueprint exists as yet for a pipeline transiting Turkmen gas through Iran, although EU commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete confirmed it was being considered as a supplier in plans for “southern corridors” that bypass Russia.

Turkmenistan, which borders Iran, has the fourth largest reserves of natural gas in the world but suffers from a lack of pipeline infrastructure.

The Central Asian country currently supplies around half of China’s total natural gas consumption through a pipeline built by the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) that began shipping gas in 2010. — AFP

LONDON: Iraq exported the most oil in more than three decades last month, overcoming violence and instability to ship more than three million barrels a day to world markets.

Opec’s second-largest producer shipped 92.3 million barrels in April, Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said by text message on Friday. That’s equivalent to 3.077 million barrels a day, compared with 2.98 million in March.

Iraq, with the world’s fifth-biggest oil reserves, is rebuilding its energy industry after decades of war and sanctions, while fighting militants who seized a swathe of the country’s northwest. The increase of more than three percent from March shows Iraq is achieving more stable exports following weather

disruptions that hampered shipments in February, said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects in London.

Higher volumes “Iraq is managing to put out higher volumes than the average last year,” Mallinson said on Friday. “Given all the instability and violence that is happening in the centre and northwest of the country, and the political and economic challenges that come with a lower oil price, that is an impressive achievement.”

About 78.8 million barrels were exported from Iraq’s southern oil fields, while 13.5 million barrels came from the north, Jihad said. The exports were sold at an average price of $51.70 per barrel, generating $4.8 billion in revenue. — Bloomberg News

At the same time, there are signs household demand is improving.

Consumer spending climbed in March by the most since November, helping to end a weak first quarter on a more hopeful note.

A strong labor market and some improvement in wages may help usher in a US rebound.

Economic forecasts Economic growth may pick up to a 3.1 per cent pace in the second quarter, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey conducted April 3 to April 8. For all of 2015, the economy is projected to expand 2.9 percent on average.

Automobile sales are holding up.

Honeywell International, a Morris Township, New Jersey-based manufacturer, sees greater demand for its turbocharger technology as vehicle purchases rise.

“Lower prices at the pump, improvements in employment, and overall positive consumer sentiment have driven greater demand for autos,” Thomas Szlosek, chief financial officer, said on an April 17 earnings call. — Bloomberg News S U P R E M E B OA R D C R E AT E D

Saudi Aramco restructured LONDON: Saudi Aramco created a supreme board to oversee the state-run company’s affairs as the world’s biggest oil exporting nation continues a reorganisation of its energy industry.

The 10-member board will be led by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who’s also chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Council of Economic Affairs and Development, Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Friday.

The Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC), which previously set oil policy and was led by the king, will be dissolved, according to the statement.

Saudi Arabia is pumping nearrecord amounts of crude, leading the Opec in a policy of maintaining output to pressure suppliers outside the group to help tackle an excess. At the end of January, oil analysts anticipated little change to the nation’s production and export policies.

“The vision and mission of Aramco is now becoming bigger with this Supreme council,” Mohammed Al Ramady, professor of economics at King Fahd university for petroleum and minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, said by phone.

“The establishment of Aramco’s supreme council completes the economic restructuring and centralisation of authority and oversight of the key critical Saudi pillars of the economy.” — Bloomberg News

B2

S ATUR DAY, M AY 2 , 2 015

MARKET

China’s manufacturing activity gains for second straight month China surpasses US as largest foreign investor in Australia

Official Purchasing Managers’ Index released by the National Bureau of Statistics came in at 50.1 last month, the same result as March when the gauge showed growth for the first time this year

BEIJING: China’s manufacturing activity expanded modestly in April for the second straight month but the rate of growth failed to accelerate, the government said on Friday, as the world’s secondlargest economy struggles to pick up steam. The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics came in at 50.1 last month, the same result as March when the gauge showed growth for the first time this year.

Key barometer The index, which tracks activity in factories and workshops, is seen as a key barometer of the country’s economic health. A figure above 50 signals growth, while anything below indicates contraction.

January’s reading of 49.8 was the first shrinkage in more than two years and added to worries about China’s economic outlook.

Some analysts, however, were cautiously optimistic.

“The continued expansion of the official PMI suggests that the growth momentum is picking up,

CONTINUED EXPANSION: The economy is also slowing on a longer-term basis. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.4 per cent in 2014. — Bloomberg file picture

though modestly, thanks to the rise of newly started projects and monetary policy easing,” ANZ economists Liu Li-Gang and Zhou Hao wrote.

China’s economy, a key driver of global growth, expanded 7.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, against 7.3 per cent in the final three months of last year, in the worst result since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.

The economy is also slowing on a longer-term basis. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.4 per cent in 2014, the worst fullyear result since 1990, when China was hit by international sanctions after the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Chinese authorities are happy to accept a slowdown however, as they seek to rejig the country’s

economic model away from reliance on heavy investment and make consumer spending the main growth engine. But they are sensitive to it getting out of hand and have unveiled several stimulus measures to support the economy, including two interest rate cuts since November and twice this year reducing the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve.

Economists broadly expect more such measures this year.

Risk of deflation “As the economy still faces strong headwinds and the risk of deflation has not diminished, the authorities will need to continue to roll out easing measures in the coming months,” the ANZ economists added.

There are concerns about weak

inflation in China, though the consumer price index (CPI) held steady in March at 1.4 per cent, the same as February. The CPI had slumped to 0.8 per cent in January, the lowest since November 2009.

But the producer price index — a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate and a leading indicator of the trend for CPI — declined for the 37th straight month in March, falling 4.6 per cent year-on-year.

Nomura economists also said that official measures appear to be having some positive effect, though the overall outlook remains shaky.

“It seems policy easing may have kicked in and firms may have begun to increase investment expenditures,” Zhao Yang, Nomura’s chief China economist, and colleagues said in a note. — AFP

SYDNEY: China has for the first time overtaken the United States as Australia’s largest source of foreign investment, according to official data, laying out Aus$27.7 billion (US$21.8 billion) in 2013-14 as real estate purchases more than doubled.

The Asian economic giant’s spending in Australia for the year ending June 30, 2014 far outstripped the Aus$17.5 billion from the United States — which was the biggest investor for more than a decade — and Canada’s Aus$15.4 billion, the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) said in its annual report.

The Chinese surge was driven by Aus$12.4 billion in approved investments in property, the report released on Thursday said. That compares with Aus$5.9 billion in the previous financial year.

“For the first time, China was the largest source of proposed foreign investment in Australia, mainly driven by a large increase in residential real estate approvals,” the report said.

The new report followed the Australian government’s move in February to enforce foreign investment rules as concerns grow that foreign buyers are squeezing local house seekers out of the market.

Chinese investment for 2013-14 also included Aus$3.3 billion in the manufacturing sector, Aus$5.7 billion in mining and Aus$6.2

billion in services.

Rounding up the top five foreign investors were Malaysia at Aus$7.2 billion and Singapore at Aus$7.1 billion.

The Australia government in February highlighted plans to crack down on illegal property purchases and charge application fees on all foreign investments.

Cashed-up foreigners, many from China, have been blamed for driving up prices in Australian property markets, particularly Sydney and Melbourne, and placing home ownership out of reach of many locals.

In March, the government ordered China’s Evergrande Real Estate Group to sell a Sydney mansion worth Aus$39 million, saying it was bought illegally under foreign investment rules.

The FIRB’s annual report said overall approved foreign investment in residential real estate in 2013-14 was Aus$34.7 billion from Aus$17.2 billion in the previous corresponding period.

China is already Australia’s largest trading partner, with the nation’s key mining sector dependent on its Asian neighbour’s demand for resources.

China’s total investment in Australia for 2012-13 was at Aus$15.8 billion, which had made it the third-largest investor behind the US and Switzerland, with the European nation’s spending driven by a Aus$15.8 billion splurge in mining. — AFP

ECONOMY

F I R S T Q U A R T E R R E S U LT S

Lloyds net profit falls Japanese inflation ticks up in March LONDON: Britain’s state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group announced on Friday that net profits sank by a fifth in the first quarter, after taking a charge against the disposal of its TSB retail division.

Earnings after taxation slid to £913 million ($1.40 billion, 1.25 billion euros) in the three months to the end of March, compared with £1.148 billion a year earlier, Lloyds said in a results statement.

However, pretax profit before exceptional items rose 21 per cent to £2.2 billion in the reporting period boosted also by falling bad debts. That beat expectations of £2.0 billion, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg. Lloyds — almost 21-per cent state-owned after a bailout in the global financial crisis — took a £660-million charge linked to the sale of TSB to Spain’s Banco de Sabadell. — AFP

TOKYO: Japanese inflation picked up in March for the first time in 10 months, data showed on Friday, but household spending tumbled in a worrying sign for consumer confidence.

Core inflation, excluding volatile fresh food prices, hit 2.2 per cent year-on-year, accelerating from the previous month for the first time since May 2014, and offering a sliver of hope for Tokyo’s war on deflation. However, stripping out the impact of a sales tax rise last year, the rate was a tepid 0.2 per cent, well short of the central bank’s 2.0 per cent target.

Monetary easing Analysts say central bank policymakers will almost certainly be forced to expand its monetary easing scheme to jack up prices and counter a downturn in the world’s number three economy.

Sustained inflation is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive to conquer stagnant or falling prices and revive growth.

“Inflation is still close to zero and could drop in the coming months,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

“The reading was a little bit positive, but worries (for the Bank of Japan) have not disappeared.”

Separate figures showed household spending in March dropped almost 11 per cent, the worst on record since comparable data

two years. “It is true that the timing for achieving the 2.0 per cent inflation target has been delayed,” BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters on Thursday.

GDP EXPANDS: Japan’s gross domestic product will expand 2.0 per cent in the year to March 2016, while the inflation rate is seen at 0.8 per cent. — Bloomberg file picture

started in 2001 and steeper than an 8.2 per cent on-year decline in March 2011, when Japan was hammered by a quake-tsunami disaster and nuclear crisis.

Original timeline On Thursday, the BoJ conceded the original timeline for hitting its price target would be missed, as it cut its growth and inflation forecasts.

Japan’s gross domestic product will expand 2.0 per cent in the year to March 2016, while the inflation rate is seen at 0.8 per cent, the BoJ said in a semi-annual report. That compares with a previous estimate of 2.1 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively.

Tepid spending The report — which followed a meeting where policymakers held fire on fresh stimulus — pushed back an already murky timeline for hitting the bank’s inflation target to the first half of fiscal 2016, which runs from April through September next year. The ambitious goal was originally supposed to have been achieved around two years after the launch of the BoJ’s stimulus in April 2013.

But the bank has, over time, loosened that timeline as the data suggested it was unattainable.

Weighed by a plunge in oil prices and tepid consumer spending, Japanese inflation stalled in February for the first time in nearly

Trends improving “But price trends are improving steadily and that is expected to continue. We don’t see additional (easing) measures being necessary at this point.”

Kuroda has previously acknowledged that falling oil prices hurt efforts to drive inflation, and he warned of the possibility of zero inflation as attempts to reverse of years of deflation proved to be “very challenging”.

Consumers tightened their purse strings after Tokyo hiked Japan’s sales levy last April and the economy fell into a brief recession. It emerged from the red in the last quarter of 2014. Also Friday, the internal affairs ministry said the unemployment rate edged down to 3.4 per cent in March from 3.5 per cent in February.

Minami further added that BoJ policymakers could have decided to offer fresh easing measures on Thursday if they had wanted to act pre-emptively. — AFP

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PMI INDEX

UK manufacturing growth down in March LONDON: Growth at UK factories unexpectedly cooled last month as the stronger pound hit demand for British goods abroad.

A Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to a seven-month low of 51.9 from 54 in March, Markit Economics said on Friday in London. Economists had forecast an increase to 54.6 from a previous reading of 54.4. New export orders shrank for the fifth time in seven months.

The pound has risen seven per

cent this year against the euro, the currency of Britain’s biggest trading partner, as the European Central Bank buys government bonds to stoke inflation. Markit’s report adds to signs the economy may be losing steam a week before the general election, after data on Tuesday showed growth slowed in the first quarter.

“A slowing global economy and strong sterling-euro exchange rate are hurting the competitiveness of exporters,” said Rob Dob-

son, a senior economist at Markit in London. “A key challenge for the next government is to revive manufacturing and help it at least regain its pre-crisis peak.”

Markit’s headline gauge has now held above 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction, for just over two years.

Though its index of new orders fell to 52.9, the lowest since September, the expansion was driven by domestic activity.

Employment at manufacturers

increased for a second full year, while a drop in output prices reflected weaker demand.

On the input side, prices declined in part due to the benefits of the weaker euro, Markit said. However, the pound’s slide against the dollar lifted the price of dollar-denominated imports.

Sterling fell as much as six per cent against the greenback this year, and has rebounded in recent weeks amid signs the US economy has faltered. — Bloomberg News

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

B3

MARKET PERFORMANCE

LinkedIn fails to meet estimates, shares dip 27% SAN FRANCISCO: LinkedIn’s shares plunged as much as 27 per cent after the company delivered quarterly revenue that missed analysts’ estimates for the first time, shaking confidence in a historically stable business plan.

The professional-networking website also forecast sales that missed projections for the second quarter and cut its guidance for annual revenue, citing the strong US dollar and slower-than-predicted growth. “This is an extraordinary miss for a company that has by and large avoided any major blowups since going public,” said Paul Sweeney, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

Since its debut as a public company in 2011, LinkedIn has steadily surpassed estimates for sales until now. The company, with its mix of job-related tools for consumers and businesses, has been expanding its offerings every year under Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner, through acquisitions and rapid hiring. Those efforts aren’t translating to as much revenue growth as expected, Sweeney said.

Second-quarter revenue will be $670 million to $675 million, the company said on Thursday. Analysts had predicted $718.3 million, on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. LinkedIn also trimmed its forecast for annual revenue to $2.9 billion, from $2.93 billion to $2.95 billion.

Growth was also hurt by currency-exchange rates, as LinkedIn generated 39 per cent of its revenue from outside the US. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a measure of the US currency against 10 major peers, gained 6.2 per cent in the first quarter. — Bloomberg News

Sony operating profit set to quadruple to $2.7b this year trouble if it makes a downward revision as it’s in the process of rebuilding trust.” Sony forecast a 17 per cent surge in revenue from devices, the unit that makes image sensors, and a 16 per cent increase in the pictures division. New releases this year include “Spectre,” the latest instalment in the James Bond franchise.

The earnings revival comes after Hirai sold Sony’s personalcomputer business, pruned its smartphone lineup and placed the TV manufacturing business into a separate structure to boost performance after years of losses.

It also started selling the PlayStation 4 console in China to tap the world’s biggest game market.

That forecast given on Thursday is about 20 per cent less than analysts projected as Sony tries to shake its yearslong reputation for disappointing investors

TOKYO: Kazuo Hirai, leading Sony on a comeback after years of losses, is giving himself plenty of room to deliver more good news in the future.

The chief executive officer says operating profit will more than quadruple to 320 billion yen ($2.7 billion) this fiscal year. That forecast given on Thursday is about 20 per cent less than analysts projected as Sony tries to shake its years-long reputation for disappointing investors.

Cutting costs Hirai is cutting costs and focusing on profitability in businesses where Sony has an advantage.

That approach, coupled with Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida’s emphasis on account-

Sony Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai. — Bloomberg file picture

ability, has helped boost the stock 103 per cent in the past year. “We have revised our forecasts down 15 times in the past seven years, and that’s not something we want to repeat,” Yoshida said in Tokyo.

“The profit forecast takes into account a considerable risk from foreign exchange fluctuations.”

The outlook for the current year includes 35 billion yen in restructuring charges and a negative impact from foreign exchange of 150 billion yen.

Sales will be 7.9 trillion yen this

year, Sony said. Net income will reach 140 billion yen, marking the first annual profit in three years.

Analysts projected revenue of 8.2 trillion yen and profit of 189.9 billion yen.

‘Minimum’ targets “The targets announced are the minimum line, and the point is how much can Sony increase them during the year,” said Yasuaki Kogure, chief investment officer at SBI Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “Sony will be in

ENERGY INDUSTRY

TV profit The TV making unit had a profit of 8.3 billion yen in the year ended March — its first in 11 years. The business will post earnings of five billion yen in the current year, Sony said.

Hirai forecast in February that operating profit will climb to 500 billion yen in the year ending March 2018. That’s the highest since 1998, when the company featured cathode-ray tube TVs and one of its biggest music sellers was the “Titanic” soundtrack.

Sony forecast a 40 billion-yen operating profit in the games division this year. The PS4 has sold almost twice as many units as Microsoft’s Xbox One, according to VGChartz, making it the most successful of the latest generation consoles. The company is strengthening its game streaming service, purchasing the patents of OnLive. PlayStation Now is avail-

able in North America for streaming content on Bravia TVs and other Sony devices.

Smartphone revamp “The target of operating profit is conservative,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. “Investors expected too much so Sony is trying to lower their expectations.”

Sony stopped developing new smartphones for China and culled the Xperia lineup as it struggled to compete with Apple, Samsung Electronics and Chinese vendors.

The company took a 180 billionyen charge in the business last fiscal year. The company is moving its mobile-phone operations from its Tokyo headquarters to save on rent, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg.

The company boosted investment in semiconductors by 150 billion yen this year to tap surging demand for the sensors that power cameras in Apple and Samsung smartphones. It’s also shifting 220 employees involved in developing and producing chips for gaming consoles to the sensor business and other operations. Sony said it will restore its dividend and plans to pay out 10 yen per share in the first half of the year. In September, the company scrapped its annual dividend for the first time since listing in 1958. — Bloomberg News

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FISCAL SECOND-QUARTER

Tesla forays into energy storage with Visa profit declines batteries for utilities, firms, homes LOS ANGELES: Tesla Motors on Thursday unveiled Tesla Energy — storage systems or batteries for homes, companies and utilities that will expand its business beyond electric vehicles and tap into a fast-growing area of the energy industry.

Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company’s goal was to “fundamentally change the way the world uses energy on an extreme scale.” He introduced the products to a crowd of business partners and journalists at a Tesla facility near Los Angeles.

In Tesla’s view, such storage systems could become part of a fossil-fuel-free lifestyle in which people can have solar panels on their roof generating electricity to power their home and recharge their electric car batteries.

The smallest battery unveiled on Thursday, known as Powerwall, is housed in a six-inch-wide container that is meant to be hung

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk. — Bloomberg News

inside a garage or on the outside wall of a house.

At $3,500 for a 10kWh model, excluding inverter and installation prices, the Powerwall can be used for backup power or to store solar energy.

Tesla’s lead installation partner for the home battery will be SolarCity, the solar installer backed

by Musk. The company will also partner with many others, Musk said. Tesla has several hundred batteries installed with SolarCity systems in California already. The growth of those projects has been helped by a subsidy from California’s public utility regulator.

Utilities have also been seeking out energy storage to help manage

increasing amounts of renewable energy on the grid. To address that market, Musk unveiled what he called the “power pack,” a 100 kWh battery block that is meant to help smooth out power from intermittent solar and wind energy production or add energy to the grid quickly when demand levels are high.

Tesla already has several utility-scale batteries deployed on the grid in California, which requires its biggest utilities to source large amounts of energy storage.

Musk told reporters Tesla expected to have a low but growing gross margin in battery products in the fourth quarter of this year and added that battery products would be “materially profitable” some time next year. Tesla will initially manufacture the batteries at its automobile factory in California but will move production to its planned “gigafactory” in Nevada next year. — Reuters

NEW YORK: Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, said profit fell three per cent on a strengthening US dollar and revised its full-year forecast for earnings-per-share growth. The stock slid in late trading.

Net income for the fiscal secondquarter ended March 31 dropped three per cent to $1.55 billion, or 63 cents a share, from $1.6 billion, or 63 cents, a year earlier, adjusted for a stock split, the Foster City, California-based company said on Thursday in a statement. The average estimate of 34 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 62 cents a share.

Visa, led by CEO Charlie Scharf, 50, is investing in new technology aimed at accelerating mobile and other forms of digital payments and striking deals with merchants as consumers demand more rewards. Spending on the network increased even as consumers spent less at the pump amid lower gas prices in the US. “While the negative impacts from the strengthening of the US dollar and lower gasoline prices

– Bloomberg file picture

continued to exert pressure on revenue growth, our results and volume trends have remained strong,” Scharf said in the statement. Visa revised its EPS growth forecast for the fiscal year ending on September 30 to the “lowend of the mid-teens range,” from “mid-teens” on January 29.

Visa shares dropped two per cent to $64.72 at 4:35pm in New York. The stock climbed 0.8 per cent this year through the close of regular trading, compared with the 4.7 per cent advance of MasterCard, the second-biggest payments network. Visa announced a 4-for-1 stock split in January that took effect March 19. — Bloomberg News

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S ATUR DAY, M AY 2 , 2 015

FEATURE

BLIND IN V ES T ORS IN IPO A LLE Y LACK OF CONCERN IS PART AND PARCEL OF THE RISK-TAKING MINDSET

W

ould you buy stock in a company that doesn’t regularly record its debits and credits? Or one that admits it lacks accounting skills?

How about one that couldn’t account for some of its expenses?

Apparently you would.

About 30 per cent of companies that went public last year acknowledged they were at serious risk of incorrectly reporting their financial information, according to a study by New York law firm Proskauer Rose.

That’s up from 17 per cent of issuers in 2013, the study shows.

Yet investors weren’t bothered.

The 32 companies — from GrubHub to GoPro — that reported material weaknesses in their accounting systems last year have surged an average of 42 per cent since their stock debuts. The lack of concern is part and parcel of the risk-taking mindset that has seen investors overlooking earnings and valuation metrics in the hottest initial public offering market since the dot-com bubble, said Lise Buyer, partner at Class V Group, an IPO advisory firm.

“Whenever you have a robust IPO market, it definitely signals that investors are willing to take on risk,” she said.

The requirement to report mate-

rial weaknesses goes back to passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.

Public companies must prove to auditors that they have the processes and people in place that can prevent or detect accounting errors. If they can’t, they need to disclose as such.

GrubHub seamless “If the auditors are saying there’s a material weakness, they’re saying you’re not set up like a public company should be yet,” said Frank Lopez, co-head of global capital markets at Proskauer, which helped conduct the IPO study.

GrubHub, a food-delivery and pickup website, disclosed in its prospectus that before merging with Seamless Holdings in 2013, the site had neglected to regularly document its review of journal entries. Since the Chicago-based company’s debut last April, the stock has surged 58 percent, giving it a market value of $3.4 billion.

Zoe’s Kitchen, a Mediterranean restaurant chain, disclosed it didn’t have adequate accounting resources before its IPO last year. Installed Building Products, a provider of residential insulation, had to make seven financial adjustments. Zoe’s market value has climbed to $592 million as of Thursday’s close, from about $289

million based on the debut price.

Both stocks have gained more than 80 per cent since their IPOs. GoPro, which makes video cameras used by adventure-seekers, said in its IPO prospectus that it lacked accounting skills, monitoring activities and review processes prior to 2013.

Before GoPro’s $491 million IPO in June, the company said in the filing that it’s implementing better internal controls, although cautioned these efforts still may not be enough to prevent errors. GoPro’s stock has more than doubled since the IPO, giving it a market value of $6.7 billion.

weaknesses can create serious issues.

Among the worst-case scenarios happened to Groupon.

In August 2011, two months after filing an IPO prospectus, the company abandoned its controversial accounting method and subsequently restated 2010 results because it had counted the total amount of its dailydeal sales as revenue, including fees paid to merchants. After going public in November 2011, Chicago- based Groupon reported a material weakness in its financial controls and had to reduce fourth-quarter revenue by $14.3 million.

Over lawyering Often times, material weaknesses don’t amount to much — which is one reason some investors say they aren’t deterred by such disclosures. While they can increase a company’s risk profile, the warnings are often a result of advisers being too protective, said Eric Jackson, who runs a hedge fund in Naples, Florida.

“One reason it’s rising is overlawyering/CPA creep,” said Jackson, president of Ironfire Capital. “Just throw everything in there along with the kitchen sink for the risk factors.

‘What does it hurt?’ is probably what the lawyers would say.”

In some cases, though, material

Biotech industry The stock, which reached a high of $26.19 two weeks after the IPO, never recovered. The shares are currently trading at nearly one-quarter of their record: $6.92 each.

“We’ve had accounting frauds every five to 10 years, and people always seem to forget what’s taken place and engage in investment activities without taking certain precautions,” said Edward Ketz, an associate professor of accounting at Pennsylvania State University.

The biotechnology industry, filled with unprofitable companies with no revenue, accounted for seven of the 32 firms in the study. The remaining

25 companies came from industries including technology, consumer, energy and financial services.

Valuation jump The surge in initial fundings last year, which reached $88 billion, the most since 2000, was accompanied by a steep jump in valuations. The median debut price-to-sales ratio of 7.2 was the highest in seven years, according to data compiled by the University of Florida.

The trend continues this year as well. Etsy, the decade-old online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods, went public after disclosing two material weaknesses, including that it wasn’t able to account for some non-income tax-related expenses. While the company is working to remedy the issues, it said in the IPO prospectus that it’s still vulnerable to errors.

Etsy’s stock surged 88 per cent on day one, although it has since declined. The company now has a market value of $2.5 billion.

The disclosures “only add fuel to the fire that some of these IPO names are lower quality and maybe the IPO market is getting frothy,” said Michael Scanlon of John Hancock Asset Management. — LESLIE PICKER / Bloomberg News

B SECTION

LIFE & STYLE THE NEPALESE MOVIEMAKER WHO ENVISIONED

KATHMANDU’S COLLAPSE BEFORE IT HAPPENED

Kiran Joshi, who founded Nepal’s first special effects and animation studio after an 18-year career with Walt Disney, now has the disturbing distinction of having foreshadowed his own hometown’s collapse

A

s the world woke up on Sunday another disaster. (“Their past could become April 26 to horrific images of our future” is the movie’s tagline.) So he endeath and destruction in Nepal, listed his animators in creating dramatic Kiran Joshi sat in a hotel room scenes of the potential ruin another powin Beijing feeling sick to his erful earthquake could cause modern-day stomach. Joshi had just been in Kathmandu Kathmandu.

“Basically, through animation we de12 hours earlier. Now he watched his hometown burn on the TV news. But there was stroyed many of Kathmandu’s most famous another reason Joshi was so sickened by the monuments, including the Dharahara Towscenes from Kathmandu. He had seen them er, our number one monument,” he said. “In all before — in his own movie. our documentary we levelled that off. We “We thought we were exaggerating the were trying to say, ‘This is how bad the devdamage when we made our documentary, astation could be.’” but now I watch the news and the devastaJoshi said he and his team debated long tion is even worse,” Joshi told The Washing- and hard about just how graphic to make the ton Post on Monday. “It’s chilling.” scenes in the movie.

Joshi is a Hollywood insider turned Nepa“That was the biggest thing we discussed: lese innovator. He helped create classics in- to what level do we portray those visuals?” he cluding Beauty and the Beast and The Lion said. “On one level you don’t want people to King during an 18-year career with Walt panic, but on another level you want to wake Disney, but left in 2008 to found Nepal’s first them up. If you show just a few houses getspecial effects and animation studio. ting knocked down, people won’t care unless Now, however, he has the disturbing dis- it is their house. But if you are showing some tinction of having foreshadowed his own significant landmarks of the country, it will hometown’s collapse on film. send a very strong message.”

Joshi was born in Kathmandu: a computer Joshi’s digitally animated film didn’t prenerd who struggled to get the latest equip- pare him for the destruction that Kathmanment in Nepal. He left the coundu suffered on Sunday, however. try when he was 19 to study in “That was the most devastatthe US and then joined Disney, ing part,” he said. “When I saw where he helped programme the news and I saw that the towcomplex animations sequences er was completely knocked off.” in Aladdin, The Hunchback of From his hotel room in BeiNotre Dame and Atlantis. jing, Joshi eventually contacted But even though he married several of his co-workers in and had a kid in the United Kathmandu. None of his emStates, Joshi felt pulled back to ployees were seriously injured Nepal. in the earthquake, but large “The year 2007 was the turncracks appeared in the office ing point in his life,” according walls.

Kiran Joshi, a to a 2010 profile. “When he had Nepalese animator “We were very lucky,” he come to Nepal for the funeral said. “One artist comes from who has worked of a relative, his friend Sanjeev with Disney, was in the epicentre area. He said his Rajbhandari suggested opening Nepal just before the whole village is pretty much a studio in Nepal. He then spent levelled off.” earthquake three weeks in small animation As of now, the death toll boutiques and was impressed stands at more than 6,300 and to see the portfolios of skilled and passion- thousands are still missing. But Joshi said ate young artists. He met a 19-year-old boy there are other costs. who showed his portfolio and said that his “It’s very sad,” Joshi added. “I think Nepassion was animation but due to pressure pal and Kathmandu will never be what they from his parents, he had been studying were before. Besides losing so many lives, management. He asked Kiran for help, so lots of our culture is in our buildings and realising the level of this boy’s passion, he monuments. They are completely damaged. decided it was time to open an animation What I love about Nepal is its rich culture. studio in Nepal.”

Everyone of those temples and monuments In 2008, he founded Incessant Rain Ani- has a history why they were built. I know mation Studios, the first of its kind in Kath- they will build back the city, but some of the mandu. Initially, the company focused on charm about these old, antique buildings animating films for Hollywood. But in 2010, will be gone.” when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake levelled From 1996 until 2006, Nepal was gripped Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Joshi realised there by conflicts between government forces was important work to be done about Nepal, and Maoist insurgents. Since then, political which sits on a seismic fault line. squabbling has often shut down the governThe United Nations, Red Cross and other ment and stymied progress, Joshi said. He development agencies poured money and hoped the solidarity he had seen since the resources into Nepal in order to raise aware- earthquake would push the poor, Himalayan ness about disaster preparation and rescue country past such problems. procedures. But Joshi didn’t think the mes“The political structure is really messed sage was reaching everyone. “There was a lot up, he said. “The parties are always fighting of preparation done in terms of educating and trying to create ethnic divides, but dividpeople at a higher level,” he said, “but due to ing the country along ethnic lines is not good circumstances in Nepal, which is very poor, for the country. it hasn’t reached everybody.”

“Now we are coming together and reSo Joshi teamed with the Red Cross and building our lives after the earthquake,” the American embassy to produce a series Joshi said. “I hope politicians realise the of animated public service announcements. value of being one nation. I hope that someIn the videos, a heroic red panda — a local thing good comes out of this tragedy and animal — teaches people how to prepare for Nepal rebuilds itself, not just from an infraan earthquake as well as what to do during structure standpoint but also pulling itself and after a disaster. together as a people.”

“The red panda is like our version of Joshi said he couldn’t be sure that his Smokey the Bear,” Joshi explained. “We’re public service announcements or even his trying to teach people about safety.” apocalyptic movie helped save anyone’s life In January, Joshi debuted a different pro- in Nepal. But he felt that his movies might be ject: a documentary called Moving Moun- able to play a role in rebuilding Kathmandu tains. The film featured interviews with by reminding people of what has been lost. the few remaining survivors from Nepal’s “The good thing about animation is that last devastating earthquake, an 8.2 magni- whatever you have in your mind you can cretude tremor on January 15, 1934. More than ate,” he said. “So many world heritage sites 10,000 people died in Nepal — mostly in have been destroyed. I hope we can recreate Kathmandu — with nearly as many perish- them 3-dimensionally. ing across the border in Bihar, India.

“If we reconstruct those temples on film,” But Joshi wanted to do more than remind he said, “maybe that can be a way of getting the Nepalese of the previous earthquake. He the stakeholders to realise what could be in wanted to stir them to take action to prevent the future.” — Michael E. Miller/The Washington Post

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ACES ON BRIDGE

Can you see your two options?

H

enny Youngman, a London-born American comedian and violinist who died in 1998, said, “I told the doctor that I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places.”

In this grand slam, South starts with 12 top tricks: seven spades, two hearts, two diamonds and one club.

There are two places to go for the extra winner.

Where are they? How should South play after West leads the heart queen?

I strongly approve of North’s three-diamond

response, showing his good five-card suit and at least eight points. This way, both players know it is (almost certainly) a slam deal. South’s final bid is a gamble because he does not know where the club queen will go. However, he can anticipate the grand will be at worst on a finesse.

After West leads the heart queen, South should realise that he will make his contract if the club finesse works or the diamonds break 4-4. He should try the diamond option first.

So, after taking the first trick, declarer plays

a trump to dummy’s seven, ruffs a low diamond with the spade jack, crosses back to dummy with a trump to the eight, ruffs high a second low diamond, and draws East’s last trump by leading his nine to dummy’s 10. Now South cashes the diamond aceking, discarding his two low clubs.

Are the diamonds 4-4?

If so, declarer throws the club queen on the 13th diamond. If not, he takes the club finesse.

Altogether, the odds of success are an acceptable 66.38 per cent.

— By Phillip Alder MARMADUKE

CROSSWORD

B I G NAT E

Answer to previous puzzle

ACROSS 1 Computer programme glitch 4 Humerus neighbour 8 Tijuana locale 12 Lyricist — Gershwin 13 Breakfast dining area 14 Famous last word 15 Bob Hope was one (hyph.)

17 Usual food 18 “Blue — Shoes” 19 They rent quarters 21 UK part 23 Formerly known as 24 Covered passageways 28 Crunchy

32 That woman 33 Gives the go-ahead 35 Weep audibly 36 Enterprise officer 39 Strait’s opposite 42 Long time 44 Memorable decade 45 Scold 49 Desert plant 53 Pate de — gras 54 Eastwood’s “Pink —” 56 Clay jar 57 007’s alma mater 58 Volcanic dust 59 Hawk 60 Called up 61 Voice vote

DOWN 1 Prejudice 2 Lahore language 3 Squall 4 Relax 5 Slow pitch 6 Playwright — Coward 7 Rubber city 8 Long-clawed animal 9 Yves’ girlfriend 10 Mock 11 Aardvark snacks 16 Notion 20 Solstice mo.

22 Thermal lead-in 24 Happy sighs 25 Gym iteration 26 — -Magnon

27 Travel on powder 29 Dogma 30 Not worth a — 31 “Sesame Street” channel 34 Flight dir.

37 Breakfast fare 38 RV haven 40 Irksome 41 Move freight 43 More polite 45 Foreign visitors?

46 Axis extremity 47 Cap visor 48 Spreadsheet filler 50 Plaid wearers 51 Home, to Jose 52 Stiff and sore 55 Grandee’s title

BORN LOSER

WITH LOVE

ANISH MAHESHWARI

SYED SALMAN SHARIEF

May 2

May 2, 2006

P. KAVIN KARTHIK

MOHD AFFAN AWAIS ANWER

April 30, 2009

April 30, 2003

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to extra@timesofoman.com

KIDSPOT

H E A LT H C A P S U L E

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr Asr Maghrib Isha Fajr (Tomorrow)

Y O U R B I R T H D AY

BORN today, you are one of the most conscientious and trustworthy individuals born under your sign.

Your word is your bond. You seek the higher things in life — goodness, honour, respectability — and you most often find them not far from home, for they are the very mainstays of your existence. You strive for that which is so often sought by others as well, but where they fail, you usually succeed. Your secret? You have a way of seeing things in a simple, straightforward way, with few or no complications.

In this way, you keep your life from becoming tangled and confused. You live in the world, but you don’t let the world get the better of you.

You are never one to shy away from difficulty, even when that difficulty is not of your making.

You will immerse yourself in tricky situations with one motive, and only one: to help those who cannot help themselves. You are quite caring and generous.

Also born on this date are: Dwayne Johnson, wrestler and actor; David Beckham, soccer player; Engelbert Humperdinck, singer; Christine Baranski, actress; Manfred von Richtofen, World War I pilot; Theodore Bikel, actor; David Suchet, actor; Hedda Hopper, columnist; Larry Gatlin, singer; Dr. Benjamin Spock, paediatrician and author.

12.09pm 3.34pm 6.40pm 7.56pm 4.12am

Sunset Sunrise (Tomorrow)

6:35pm 5.33am

High tide Low tide

8.55pm 2.28am

7:53am 2.04pm

FIND-IT-ALL

W E AT H E R

AIRLINES

M

ainly clear skies over most of the Sultanate with existence of clouds over Dohfar coastal areas with chance of dust rising wind over the desert and open areas. Chances of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches over governorates of Dohfar and Al Wusta.

EXPECTED WINDS: Winds will be northeasterly light to moderate during day becoming southwesterly light to moderate at night along the coastal areas of Oman Sea while along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea the winds will be southerly to southeasterly light to moderate occasionally fresh, while it will be northwesterly light to moderate over

the rest of the Sultanate.

SEA STATE: Slight to moderate along the coastal area of Arabian Sea with maximum wave height of 1.5 metres, and slight along the rest of the coasts with maximum wave height of 1.0 metre.

HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during fog and dust rising wind.

THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Mainly clear skies over most of the Sultanate. Chance of early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea.

Max

OMAN

WORLD

Max 37 Min 26 Max 20 Min 11

Max 39 Min 24

Max 38 Min 28 Max 16 Min 12

Max 37 Min 26

Max 21 Min 12

Max 40 Min 26

Max 41 Min 26

Max 41 Min 26

Max 40 Min 29

TAURUS

Max 41 Min 29

[APRIL 20-MAY 20] You may slip and slide a bit, but you’ll regain stable footing before long. Someone you’ve just met may prove helpful to you.

Max 33 Min 27

Max 26 Min 14

Max 34 Min 26 Max 21 Min 17

Source: www.met.gov.om

GULF Abu Dhabi Doha Dubai Kuwait Manama Riyadh

39 37 37 39 36 41

25 29 24 21 29 29

WORLD Athens Baghdad Beijing Berlin Boston Cairo Colombo Frankfurt Hong Kong Istanbul Johannesburg Kuala Lumpur Lisbon Paris Perth Singapore Tokyo Toronto

25 37 26 18 16 29 31 18 27 22 23 31 22 17 23 32 25 17

17 21 18 8 8 19 26 9 22 14 7 24 18 14 11 27 13 9

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

[MAY 21-JUNE 20] You may be in for a long day, though the creativity involved is likely to keep you in good spirits throughout the entire process.

CANCER [JUNE 21-JULY 22] You may find yourself grappling with some difficult facts and figures.

When you get the right answer, make a record of it!

LEO [JULY 23-AUG. 22] While you are waiting for others to join you in a certain endeavour, make sure that you have done all you can to anticipate developments.

VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22] You may be surprised to learn that you are not being held accountable for a recent error — though you were, indeed, a responsible party.

LIBRA L [[SEPT. [S S 23-OCT. 22] The earlier you are able to start, the more you will be able to get done — and not merely because you’ll have more hours to work with.

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (Route 36) Dept Destination Arrival Time Time 15:00 Quriyat 16:30 15:00 Sur 18:00 15:00 Jaalan 19:30 TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41) 06:30 Sohar 06:30 Buraimi 08:00 Buraimi 13:00 Sohar 13:00 Buraimi 16.00 Sohar 16.00 Buraimi TO SINAW (Route 52) 17:30 Sinaw

[[OCT. 23-NOV. 21] Keeping others on track may actually be easier than keeping yourself on the straight-and-narrow — but both must be done!

SAGITTARIUS S [[NOV. 22-DEC. 21] Your personal relationships demand some special attention. It’s not what you’ve been saying, but how you’ve been saying it.

CAPRICORN [DEC. 22-JAN 19] You’re ready to tackle something that you know will not be easy, yet you are confident that others will find it even harder than you do.

AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18] The time has come for you to attempt what others claim cannot be done. Ingenuity and inspiration will count for much.

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20] Let someone guide you throughout the day, especially if you find yourself unable to anticipate coming events.

ARIES [March 21-APRIL 19] You may discover that breaking one of your own rules can actually prove beneficial to you — at least temporarily.

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (Route 36) Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily 05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily 05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

08:50 11:00 14:30 15:45 17:40 18.35 20:20

Daily Daily Daily via Ibri Daily Daily Daily Daily

20:50

Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41) 07:00 Sohar 07:00 Ruwi 13:30 Ruwi 13:00 Sohar 13:00 Ruwi 13:00 Sohar 17:00 Ruwi TO SINAW (Route 52) 07:00 Ruwi

To Yanqul (Route 54) 14:30 Nizwa 14:30 Yanqul

16:50 19:30

Daily Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54) 08:00 Nizwa 08:00 Al Araqi

10:20 12:30

TO SUR (Route 55) 07:30 Sur 14:30 Sur TO FAHUD - YIBAL (Route 62) 06:30 Fahud 06:30 Yibal

08:55 11:40 20:20 14:55 17:40 19:20 22:15

Daily Daily Daily via Ibri Daily Daily Daily Daily

10:25

Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54) 06:00 Nizwa 06:00 Ruwi

08:40 11:00

Daily Daily

Daily Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54) 15:40 Nizwa 15:40 Ruwi

17:55 20:20

Daily Daily

12:00 18:45

Daily Daily

TO SUR (Route 55) 06:00 Ruwi 14:30 Ruwi

10:45 19:00

Daily Daily

10:30 11:15

Daily Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (Route 62) 12:30 Fahud 12:30 Ruwi

13:15 17:30

Daily Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (Route 100) 07:00 Salalah 20:00 10:00 Marmul 20:30 10:00 Salalah 23:30 19:00 Salalah 07:40

Daily Daily Daily Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (Route 100) 07:00 Ruwi 19:50 10:00 Marmul 13:15 10:00 Ruwi 22:30 19:00 Ruwi 07:30

Daily Daily Daily Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101) 06:00 Marmul

Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101) 06:00 Marmul

16:30

Daily

Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (Route 102) 15:00 Salalah 07:00

Daily

16:50

SALALAH TO DUBAI (Route 102) 15:00 Dubai 07:00

SCORPIO S

Operating Days Daily Daily Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201) 06:00 Sohar 06:00 Dubai 13:00 Sohar 13:00 Dubai 15:00 Sohar 15:00 Dubai

08:30 11:30 15:30 18:30 17:35 20:55

Daily Daily Wed,Thur Wed,Thur Daily Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204) Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily 07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily 07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201) 07:30 Sohar 07:30 Ruwi 13:00 Sohar 13:00 Ruwi 15:30 Sohar 15:30 Ruwi

10:50 13:40 16:15 19:10 18:45 21:35

Daily Daily Thur-Fri Thur-Fri Daily Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204) Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily 16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily 16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

LISTINGS

PHARMACIES Round the clock Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334; Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666; Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635; Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra: 24503585; Ruwi 24811715 Muscat Region Apollo, Al Hamriya. Tel: 24787766 Muscat, A Seeb Market. Tel: 24421691 Muscat, Al Khuwair. Tel: 24485740 Muscat, Al Hail South. Tel: 4537080 Dhofar Region Muscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah.

Tel: 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 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 ACCOMMODATION Al Bahjah Hotel: 24424400 Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171 Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400 Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949 Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385 Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311 Al Qurum Resort: 24605945 Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979 Beach Hotel: 24696601 Bowshar Hotel: 24491105 Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121 Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660 Crystal Suites: 24826100 Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300 Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234 Haffa House Hotel: 24707207 Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123 InterContinental Muscat: 24680000 Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900 Marina Hotel: 24711711 Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565 Mina Hotel: 24711828 Muttrah Hotel: 24798401

Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199 Oman Dive Centre: 24824240 Park Inn: 24507888 Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070 Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777 Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399 Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443 Ruwi Hotel: 24704244 Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200 Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772 Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666 The Chedi Muscat: 24524400 The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570 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:

SATURDAY

Min

L O N G D I S TA N C E B U S T I M I N G S ( O M A N N AT I O N A L T R A N S P O R T C O M PA N Y S A O C ) * S U B J E C T T O C H A N G E

GEMINI

B7

24784545, Swiss International Airlines: 24796692, Thai Airways: 24705934, Turkish Airlines: 24703033 MUSEUMS Bait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fish market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pm Natural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm; Thursday: 9am to 1pm Museum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946 Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707 Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pm Oman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thurs: 9am to 1pm Bait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., Muscat museum@baitalzubairmuseum.com Open from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.

National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pm Sohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pm Muscat Gate Museum: at Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

SUNDAY

FLT NO

ARRIVALS FROM

FLT NO

ARRIVALS FROM

WY406 WY648 WY672 WY424 WY676 WY682 WY914 WY916 TK774 4H583 PK225 GF560 QR1132 ET624 EK866 EY384 MS930 FZ041 WY114 WY658 WY638 WY902 WY644 WY154 WY144 WY668 WY692 WY132 WY674 WY102 FZ043 WY602 WY432 WY346 WY202 WY236 G9114 WY282 PK191 EK862 WY210 WY242 WY252 IX549 QR1128 EY382 IX443 WY844 WY652 9W530 WY604 WY918 GF562 FZ037 IX337 WY384 PA450 WY705 WY822 WY818 WY634 WY904 BG023 PK291 WY670 WY324 NL771 WY332 WY606 WY3302 WY906 WY920 FZ045 SV532 WY344 WY656 QR1126 WY204 WY632 WY292 WY216 EK864 WY232 WY246 WY694 WY664 GF564 G9116 WY274 WY374 WY386 FZ047 WY908 PK259 RG125 WY646 WY224 WY614 WY338 FZ049 WY124 KL441 9W534 AI973 6.00E+81 BA073 WY624 WY254 UL205 WY684 AI907 WY264 WY312 LX242 QR1134 GF566 LH616 WY717 WY328 EY388 9W540 AI985 WY662 WY654 WY636 WY928 WY816 WY696 WY612

CAIRO 0005 KUWAIT 0005 MEDINA 0005 BEIRUT 0005 JEDDAH 0005 RIYADH 0010 SALALAH 0020 SALALAH 0120 ISTANBUL 0135 DACCA 0200 KARACHI 0215 BAHRAIN 0325 DOHA 0345 ADDIS ABABA 0350 DUBAI 0350 ABU DHABI 0400 CAIRO 0410 DUBAI 0415 FRANKFURT 0515 BAHRAIN 0635 ABU DHABI 0640 SALALAH 0645 KUWAIT 0650 ZURICH 0700 MALPENSA 0705 DOHA 0715 DAMMAM 0715 PARIS 0735 JEDDAH 0735 LONDON HEATHROW 0740 DUBAI 0800 DUBAI 0805 TEHRAN 0805 ISLAM ABBAD 0815 BOMBAY 0835 HYDERABAD 0900 SHARJAH 0905 BANGALORE 0910 TURBAT 0930 DUBAI 0930 GOA 0935 DELHI 0935 MADRAS 0955 TRIVANDRUM 0955 DOHA 1000 ABU DHABI 1010 COCHIN 1020 MANILA 1020 BAHRAIN 1040 TRIVANDRUM 1045 DUBAI 1115 KHASAB 1115 BAHRAIN 1130 DUBAI 1140 CALICUT 1155 MALE 1210 LAHORE 1215 DARESSLAM-ZANZIBAR 1215 KUALA LUMPUR-SINGAPORE 1215 BANGKOK 1220 ABU DHABI 1220 SALALAH 1230 DACCA 1230 ISLAM ABBAD 1235 DOHA 1250 KARACHI 1300 PESHAWAR 1300 KATHMANDU 1305 DUBAI 1340 MUKHAIZNA 1350 SALALAH 1440 KHASAB 1445 DUBAI 1535 JEDDAH 1550 LAHORE 1605 BAHRAIN 1615 DOHA 1650 BOMBAY 1655 ABU DHABI 1710 CALICUT 1710 TRIVANDRUM 1745 DUBAI 1745 HYDERABAD 1750 DELHI 1750 DAMMAM 1805 DOHA 1805 BAHRAIN 1810 SHARJAH 1905 JAIPUR 1910 COLOMBO 1915 MALE 1935 DUBAI 1940 SALALAH 2000 PESHAWAR 2000 ABU DHABI 2005 KUWAIT 2010 COCHIN 2025 DUBAI 2025 KATHMANDU 2040 DUBAI 2100 MUNICH 2105 AMSTERDAM-DOHA 2105 COCHIN 2115 DELHI 2125 BOMBAY 2130 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI 2140 DUBAI 2150 MADRAS 2150 COLOMBO 2155 RIYADH 2200 MADRAS 2200 LUCKNOW 2200 CHITTAGONG 2210 ZURICH-DUBAI 2225 DOHA 2225 BAHRAIN 2240 FRANKFURT-DOHA 2245 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 2250 KARACHI 2250 ABU DHABI 2300 BOMBAY 2315 BOMBAY 2325 DOHA 2335 BAHRAIN 2340 ABU DHABI 2340 SALALAH 2345 BANGKOK 2350 DAMMAM 2355 DUBAI 2355

WY406 WY648 WY676 WY672 WY682 WY914 WY916 WY910 TK774 4H585 NL669 PK225 GF560 QR1132 ET624 EK866 EY384 FZ041 WY114 4H586 CV732 WY658 WY638 WY902 WY326 WY644 G9841 WY686 WY154 WY144 WY692 WY668 WY674 WY132 WY102 FZ043 WY602 NL768 WY272 WY202 WY3932 WY236 G9114 WY282 WY226 EK862 WY210 WY242 WY212 WY252 IX549 QR1128 IX817 EY382 IX443 9W530 WY3922 WY3302 WY604 WY918 GF562 FZ037 IX337 WY384 WY822 WY818 WY634 WY904 WY670 WY324 WY332 WY652 WY606 KU677 WY906 WY920 WY348 FZ045 WY3304 WY344 QR1126 WY204 WY632 WY292 WY264 WY664 EK864 WY246 WY232 WY610 GF564 WY656 TG507 G9116 WY374 WY646 FZ047 WY908 WY614 WY848 WY338 WY386 WY434 FZ049 WY124 9W534 AI973 6.00E+81 WY254 BA073 WY624 UL205 AI907 WY312 QR1134 LX242 GF566 LH616 EY388 WY414 WY910 9W540 AI985 WY662 WY654 WY636 WY928 WY816 WY696 WY612

CAIRO 0005 KUWAIT 0005 JEDDAH 0005 MEDINA 0005 RIYADH 0010 SALALAH 0020 SALALAH 0120 SALALAH 0130 ISTANBUL 0135 DACCA 0200 SIALKOT 0200 KARACHI 0210 BAHRAIN 0325 DOHA 0345 ADDIS ABABA 0350 DUBAI 0350 ABU DHABI 0400 DUBAI 0415 FRANKFURT 0515 DOHA 0600 LUXORE 0635 BAHRAIN 0635 ABU DHABI 0640 SALALAH 0645 KARACHI 0650 KUWAIT 0650 RAS AL KHAIMA 0655 RIYADH 0655 ZURICH 0700 MALPENSA 0705 DAMMAM 0715 DOHA 0715 JEDDAH 0735 PARIS 0735 LONDON HEATHROW 0740 DUBAI 0800 DUBAI 0805 LAHORE 0830 JAIPUR 0830 BOMBAY 0835 SOHAR 0840 HYDERABAD 0900 SHARJAH 0905 BANGALORE 0910 COCHIN 0920 DUBAI 0930 GOA 0935 DELHI 0935 TRIVANDRUM 0950 MADRAS 0955 TRIVANDRUM 0955 DOHA 1000 MANGALORE 1010 ABU DHABI 1010 COCHIN 1020 TRIVANDRUM 1045 DUQUM OMAN 1045 MUKHAIZNA 1110 DUBAI 1110 KHASAB 1115 BAHRAIN 1130 DUBAI 1140 CALICUT 1155 MALE 1210 KUALA LUMPUR-SINGAPORE 1215 BANGKOK 1220 ABU DHABI 1220 SALALAH 1230 DOHA 1250 KARACHI 1300 KATHMANDU 1305 BAHRAIN 1330 DUBAI 1340 KUWAIT 1405 SALALAH 1440 KHASAB 1445 ISLAM ABBAD 1515 DUBAI 1535 MUKHAIZNA 1550 LAHORE 1605 DOHA 1650 BOMBAY 1655 ABU DHABI 1710 CALICUT 1710 LUCKNOW 1740 DOHA 1745 DUBAI 1745 DELHI 1750 HYDERABAD 1750 DUBAI 1800 BAHRAIN 1810 BAHRAIN 1820 BANGKOK-KARACHI 1900 SHARJAH 1905 COLOMBO 1915 KUWAIT 1920 DUBAI 1940 SALALAH 2000 DUBAI 2025 JAKARTA 2035 KATHMANDU 2040 MALE 2045 TEHRAN 2055 DUBAI 2100 MUNICH 2105 COCHIN 2115 DELHI 2125 BOMBAY 2130 MADRAS 2135 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI 2140 DUBAI 2150 COLOMBO 2155 MADRAS 2200 CHITTAGONG 2210 DOHA 2225 ZURICH-DUBAI 2225 BAHRAIN 2240 FRANKFURT-DOHA 2245 ABU DHABI 2300 AMMAN 2300 SALALAH 2310 BOMBAY 2315 BOMBAY 2325 DOHA 2335 BAHRAIN 2340 ABU DHABI 2340 SALALAH 2345 BANGKOK 2350 DAMMAM 2355 DUBAI 2355

FLT NO

DEPARTURES TO

ETD

FLT NO

DEPARTURES TO

9W539 AI986 SG062 WY657 WY637 WY281 WY235 WY201 WY251 WY643 WY345 WY601 WY431 WY123 WY901 WY241 WY667 WY691 TK775 WY383 WY209 4H584 PK230 WY331 ET625 EK867 EY385 MS931 FZ042 QR1133 WY651 GF561 WY903 WY603 WY917 WY669 WY323 FZ044 WY373 WY633 WY215 WY815 WY343 WY291 WY717 WY821 WY385 G9115 WY3301 WY231 PK192 WY905 WY605 WY203 WY245 EK863 IX554 WY337 QR1129 EY383 IX442 WY311 WY919 9W533 GF563 WY223 WY655 WY273 FZ038 IX350 WY253 PA451 WY113 WY693 PK292 WY631 WY131 WY663 WY143 WY263 BG024 WY101 WY153 WY927 NL668 WY405 WY645 WY907 WY675 FZ046 WY683 SV533 WY671 WY613 QR1127 WY327 WY681 WY623 WY647 GF565 EK865 WY695 WY661 WY653 G9117 WY913 WY635 FZ048 WY611 RG126 PK226 WY915 WY909 FZ050 KL442 WY817 9W529 6.00E+82 AI908 UL206 AI974 LX243 GF567 QR1135 BA072

BOMBAY BOMBAY AHMEDABAD BAHRAIN ABU DHABI BANGALORE HYDERABAD BOMBAY MADRAS KUWAIT ISLAM ABBAD DUBAI TEHRAN MUNICH SALALAH DELHI DOHA DAMMAM ISTANBUL MALE GOA DACCA LAHORE KATHMANDU ADDIS ABABA DUBAI ABU DHABI CAIRO DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN SALALAH DUBAI KHASAB DOHA KARACHI DUBAI COLOMBO ABU DHABI TRIVANDRUM BANGKOK LAHORE CALICUT ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM SINGAPORE-KUALA LUMPUR MALE SHARJAH MUKHAIZNA HYDERABAD TURBAT-GWADUR SALALAH DUBAI BOMBAY DELHI DUBAI TRIVANDRUM KATHMANDU DOHA ABU DHABI COCHIN CHITTAGONG KHASAB COCHIN BAHRAIN COCHIN BAHRAIN JAIPUR DUBAI CALICUT MADRAS LAHORE FRANKFURT DAMMAM ISLAM ABBAD ABU DHABI PARIS DOHA MALPENSA LUCKNOW CHITTAGONG-DACCA LONDON HEATHROW ZURICH SALALAH SIALKOT CAIRO KUWAIT SALALAH JEDDAH DUBAI RIYADH RIYADH-JEDDAH MEDINA DUBAI DOHA KARACHI RIYADH DUBAI KUWAIT BAHRAIN DUBAI DAMMAM DOHA BAHRAIN SHARJAH SALALAH ABU DHABI DUBAI DUBAI ABU DHABI KARACHI SALALAH SALALAH DUBAI DOHA-AMSTERDAM BANGKOK TRIVANDRUM BOMBAY MADRAS COLOMBO DELHI DUBAI-ZURICH BAHRAIN DOHA ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW

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AI986 9W539 WY657 WY225 WY637 WY235 WY281 WY211 WY685 WY201 WY643 WY251 WY271 WY601 WY123 WY325 WY847 WY241 WY901 WY691 WY667 WY383 TK775 WY209 4H585 PK260 NL772 WY331 ET625 EK867 EY385 FZ042 QR1133 WY3931 4H586 GF561 WY3921 G9842 WY903 WY603 WY3301 CV732 WY917 WY347 WY669 WY323 FZ044 WY373 WY815 WY291 WY343 NL769 WY651 WY263 WY821 WY843 G9115 WY231 WY605 WY905 WY203 WY385 WY245 EK863 IX554 WY337 QR1129 IX818 EY383 IX442 WY311 9W533 WY919 GF563 FZ038 WY3303 WY253 IX350 WY633 WY113 WY663 WY631 WY143 WY645 WY655 WY101 WY153 WY927 WY405 WY413 WY433 WY609 KU678 WY907 WY675 FZ046 WY671 WY613 QR1127 WY623 WY681 WY647 WY909 GF565 EK865 WY695 WY653 WY661 G9117 WY913 TG508 WY635 FZ048 WY611 WY915 FZ050 WY421 WY817 9W529 6.00E+82 AI908 UL206 AI974 WY705 GF567 LX243 QR1135 BA072 WY673 EY381 LH617

BOMBAY 0020 BOMBAY 0020 BAHRAIN 0055 COCHIN 0105 ABU DHABI 0105 HYDERABAD 0110 BANGALORE 0110 TRIVANDRUM 0110 RIYADH 0115 BOMBAY 0115 KUWAIT 0120 MADRAS 0120 JAIPUR 0135 DUBAI 0145 MUNICH 0200 KARACHI 0210 JAKARTA 0215 DELHI 0215 SALALAH 0215 DAMMAM 0225 DOHA 0225 MALE 0230 ISTANBUL 0230 GOA 0255 DOHA 0300 PESHAWAR 0310 PESHAWAR 0330 KATHMANDU 0350 ADDIS ABABA 0450 DUBAI 0450 ABU DHABI 0500 DUBAI 0510 DOHA 0515 SOHAR 0635 DACCA 0700 BAHRAIN 0715 DUQUM OMAN 0745 RAS AL KHAIMA 0745 SALALAH 0750 DUBAI 0750 MUKHAIZNA 0800 HONG KONG 0800 KHASAB 0815 ISLAM ABBAD 0830 DOHA 0835 KARACHI 0835 DUBAI 0845 COLOMBO 0900 BANGKOK 0905 CALICUT 0915 LAHORE 0915 LAHORE 0930 BAHRAIN 0935 LUCKNOW 0940 SINGAPORE-KUALA LUMPUR 0945 MANILA 0955 SHARJAH 0955 HYDERABAD 1000 DUBAI 1020 SALALAH 1020 BOMBAY 1025 MALE 1040 DELHI 1040 DUBAI 1045 TRIVANDRUM 1045 KATHMANDU 1050 DOHA 1100 MANGALORE 1100 ABU DHABI 1105 COCHIN 1120 CHITTAGONG 1140 COCHIN 1145 KHASAB 1145 BAHRAIN 1215 DUBAI 1225 MUKHAIZNA 1230 MADRAS 1255 CALICUT 1255 ABU DHABI 1300 FRANKFURT 1320 DOHA 1330 ABU DHABI 1345 MALPENSA 1350 KUWAIT 1350 BAHRAIN 1400 LONDON HEATHROW 1400 ZURICH 1420 SALALAH 1430 CAIRO 1440 AMMAN 1440 TEHRAN 1445 DUBAI 1445 ABU DHABI-KUWAIT 1505 SALALAH 1540 JEDDAH 1615 DUBAI 1620 MEDINA 1705 DUBAI 1710 DOHA 1750 DUBAI 1840 RIYADH 1840 KUWAIT 1845 SALALAH 1850 BAHRAIN 1855 DUBAI 1910 DAMMAM 1915 BAHRAIN 1920 DOHA 1920 SHARJAH 1955 SALALAH 2000 KARACHI-BANGKOK 2005 ABU DHABI 2015 DUBAI 2025 DUBAI 2035 SALALAH 2100 DUBAI 2145 BEIRUT 2215 BANGKOK 2225 TRIVANDRUM 2230 BOMBAY 2245 MADRAS 2300 COLOMBO 2305 DELHI 2310 DARESSLAM-ZANZIBAR 2310 BAHRAIN 2325 DUBAI-ZURICH 2325 DOHA 2330 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW 2330 JEDDAH 2350 ABU DHABI 2355 DOHA-FRANKFURT 2355

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EXTRA BRIEFS

SKINNY

‘Bajirao Mastani’ makes Priyanka feel blissful

ACTRESS Priyanka Chopra has loved shooting for a song for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani in which she shares the screen space with Deepika Padukone. “Finally done... The bliss of finishing a momentous task is so relieving. #BajiraoMastani. Back to #AyeshaMehra for #DDD tomorrow. Kashi bids gn,” Priyanka tweeted. Bajirao Mastani marks actress Priyanka’s first period film, which is based on the love story between Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao I (Ranveer Singh) and his second wife Mastani (Deepika Padukone). Priyanka plays Kashibai, the first wife of Peshwa Bajirao. The Mary Kom actress also thanked the team behind the song. “Thank u Sanjay sir @remodsouza_1 @shampa_s Kruti @deepikapadukone and #TeamBajiraoMastani for an awesome song shoot. See u on set next sched,” she shared.

Cool to play 80-year-old in ‘Sanam Re’: Rishi Kapoor VETERAN actor Rishi Kapoor, who surprised everyone with his impressive act as Rauf Lala in Agneepath remake, will now play an 80-year-old man in Divya Khosla’s upcoming film Sanam Re. The actor has found his look in the film cool and took to his Twitter page to share the news. “This picture is from Sanam Re, play an eighty year old man. Cool (sic),” he tweeted on Friday. Reportedly, the veteran actor will play a grandfather in the film. Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Sanam Re also features Pulkit Samrat, Yami Gautam and Urvashi Rautela. Meanwhile, the actor is busy shooting for All Is Well that will see him alongside Abhishek Bachchan.

Won’t change my writing style for Bollywood: Bhagat HIS BOOKS have found visual translation in Hindi movies, but author Chetan Bhagat remains unmoved by the glitz and glamour of the tinsel town and says he won’t change his style of writing to suit Bollywood’s sensibilities. “I don’t want to change my writing style. I want to write books as books. I don’t want to change my books because of some film-related reason. I will continue to make my books as they are,” Bhagat said. Most of his books like The Three Mistakes of My Life, Five Point Someone and 2 States: The Story of My Marriage impressed Bollywood filmmakers enough to turn these into films. The adaptations have garnered mixed response at the box office. While 3 Idiots, and 2 States, raked in a good business, Kai Po Che, a take on The Three Mistakes of My Life, got only tepid response. Hello, was a dud at the boxoffice. Now two films based on Revolution 2020 and Half Girlfriend are in works. It’s often seen that films aren’t able to do justice to the storyline in the book. But Bhagat notes that he “has been lucky” in that case. “People have liked the films and I feel filmmakers have done justice to the book,” he said. -IANS

Now log in to Google for updates on the season’s latest fashion trends The search giant's first fashion trends report analysed billions of searches to figure out what shoppers are interested in

T

hat’s the thing about fashion trends today: Their lifecycles are short. And with everything moving faster, retailers are increasingly looking for ways to keep up with what you want to wear, right this minute.

Google thinks it has found a way to help. On Monday, the search giant released its first fashion trends report, which analysed billions of searches to figure out what shoppers are interested in this season and how that has changed relative to previous years.

Google’s full report is a fascinating read for any fashion junkie.

Midi skirts? They’re just starting to surge in popularity.

But perhaps one of its most noteworthy finds is on the trajectory of skinny jeans. Google says this trend is “expected to decrease

in demand every year.” After years of getting bruised by the emerging “athleisure” trend, projected weakness for the skinny silhouette may at first glance seem detrimental to the denim industry. If the most popular women’s jeans style of the past decade is losing its appeal, how is denim going to stay relevant?

Dig deeper into Google’s report, though, and you’ll find some possible answers. Searches for “boyfriend jeans” — a baggier style that’s meant to look like you borrowed it from your guy’s closet — surged 89 per cent year over year and were conducted in higher volume than searches for skinny jeans. (Google does not share the precise number of searches conducted for any of its keywords, but it does provide a “volume index” that gives a sense of how the volume of searches within an

apparel category compares with one another.)

Searches for biker jeans were up 552 per cent, while searches for ripped jeans were up 107 per cent.

Here’s one way to interpret those findings: Skinny jeans have been the go-to denim silhouette for about a decade, and that is challenging for denim sellers. If a woman has a great pair of skinnies, she has little motivation to open her wallet for new jeans until the styles shift dramatically. And so retailers have been gently pushing us to try something new: Remember the crop of high-waisted jeans and wide-leg styles that hit stores a couple of seasons ago?

Seen some culottes at the mall this year? Those pieces are all nudges to get you to change up your jeans.

With these findings, it appears that retailers might finally be getting their wish: Women indeed seem to be getting tired of skinny jeans, and they’re looking for something new.

Athleisure wear will continue to present a challenge to denim brands. Google found that “jogger pants” have experienced “steady growth” lately, and says they are

a trend that is “about to take off.”

It found strong interest in these stylish sweatpants across various demographics — men, women, boys and girls — suggesting wide appeal.

But if denim brands give women something new and show them appealing ways to style it, they just might start seeing fresh momentum.

One of Google’s findings doesn’t seem to reflect a change in fashion trends so much as it serves as an eye-popping testament to the power of viral Web content.

Remember the debate over the white-and-gold (or was it blueand-black?) dress that clogged your Facebook and Twitter feeds for a couple of days in February?

Google found that searches for “white and gold dress” skyrocketed 51,493 per cent this season and searches for “blue and black dress” shot up an astonishing 215,408 per cent.

Also, “white and gold dress” and “blue and black dress” both outindexed wedding dresses, an item that women generally research heavily before buying. — Sarah Halzack/ The Washington Post

H E A LT H

Adopting high fibre diet could dramatically cut risk of bowel cancer CORN BISCUITS for breakfast; veggie dogs for lunch; okra, tomato and black-eyed peas for tea.

It’s probably not a diet to tempt most Americans into shedding a few pounds.

But swapping westernised eating habits for the high-fibre diet of millions of people living in rural southern Africa could dramatically cut the risk of bowel cancer in the West, according to an innovative ‘diet swap’ study.

In research which saw 20 Americans switching diets with 20 South Africans living in rural Kwazulu, scientists saw dramatic effects on bowel cancer risk indi-

cators after just two weeks. Bowel cancer – one of the biggest cancer killers – is considered a ‘westernised disease’ and risk is heightened by a diet high in red and processed meat and low in fibre.

Impact of diet To test the true impact of diet, researchers led by cancer specialists at Imperial College London recruited 20 Americans from Pittsburgh, and gave them a meal plan based on a ‘traditional’ African diet high in fibre and low in fat, centred on corn-based products, vegetables, fruit, and pulses.

Meanwhile, 20 volunteers liv-

ing in rural South Africa were given a typical Western diet, with plenty of red meat, but precious little fruit and vegetables or other sources of fibre. All participants had colonoscopy examinations before and after the diet swap, to look for inflammation and polyps – abnormal growths in the lining of the bowel that can be an indicator of cancer risk. At the start of the study, nearly half of the Americans, and none of the South Africans, had polyps.

But after only two weeks, the American group was found to have significantly reduced inflammation in the colon, or large bow-

el, while in the South Africans, measurements indicating cancer risk dramatically increased, the study authors said.

Surprising “What is really surprising is how quickly and dramatically the risk markers can switch in both groups following diet change,” said Professor Jeremy Nicholson, the study team leader from Imperial’s department of surgery and cancer.

“These findings also raise concerns that the progressive westernisation of African communities may lead to the emergence of colon [large bowel] cancer as

a major health issue.” The new study, which is published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that changing diet may affect cancer risk by altering the balance of bacteria found in the gut – known as the microbiome.

At the start of the study the African group consumed between two and three times less animal protein and fat than the Americans, but consumed significantly more carbohydrate and fibre. This led to higher levels of butyrate, a byproduct made by the body when it metabolises fibre. Butyrate is thought to have anti-cancer effects, and higher levels were seen

in the Americans after two weeks on the African diet.

Diet swap: What the volunteers ate on day one A high fibre, low fat rural South African diet for the Americans including: corn fritters, spinach and red pepper for breakfast; corn dogs, fried potatoes and mango for lunch; and okra, tomatoes, corn muffins and black-eyed peas for dinner. A high fat, high protein American diet for the South Africans including: beef sausage and pancakes for breakfast; burger and chips for lunch; and meatloaf and rice for dinner. —The Independent

B O L LY W O O D

When Anupam Kher got jealous of Hrithik Roshan BOLLYWOOD actor Hrithik Roshan’s chiselled body and looks of a Greek deity has given veteran actor Anupam Kher a complex. “When you meet someone who looks like @iHrithik you suddenly discovered god has been a little unkind to you,” Anupam tweeted. Anupam, who is back with second season of his TV show The Anupam Kher Show... Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai, also shared a photograph with Hrithik. In the image, both of them are looking sophisticated and classy in all-black outfits. -IANS

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DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

2 BHK Muttrah behind Oman house. Contact 95915154 Flat for rent in Ruwi 3 BHK spacious semi furnished flat , with dining room, 3 toilets split & window A/Cs fridge , cooking range & fully automatic washing machine.

Contact 91174070

500 Square meters workshops, ready to use, with electricity & shaded work space, ideal for vehicle repairs , welding and other small industrial units, Misfah industrial area block 2 near Baladiyah Camp. Contact 94030816 Deluxe 1, 2 BHK flats in Darsait, AL Khuwair 1deal for office & residence.contact 99369081 /99142314 2BHK with split AC in W. K behind Sana Fashion. contact 96708000 1BHK flat near star cinema with split A/C 230/- O.R. Contact 99358589/ 97079146/ 95570288 Studio flat Wadi Kabeer 160/-O.R. Contact - 99358589 / 97079146/ 95570288 New flat at Wadi Kabir near Indian school 1bedroom + 1 sitting, 2 attached bathrooms and big kitchen.

Contact 98011224 Covered space available near Misfah INDL, NCPT 100sq, mtr, ideal for ware house. Contact 93965831 Fully furnished school for rent, with license or not and 1BHK near Al Fair super market Al Khoud Souq.

Contact 95490049/91290464

Villa for rent with 4 bedroom at Al Khodh, Rent 750/-RO.#92888115 4 BHK villa in Madinat Ilham.

Contact - 99792181 2 BHK flat in Bowshar. contact 99792181 3 BHK flat in Azaiba. contact 99792181

Furnished flats for rent in Al Buraimi, daily, weekly, monthly.

Contact 97819981 / 93593336

2 BHK in Al Khuwair 33.contact 99792181

2BHK available Ghubra near Indian School, 1BHK Mumtaz Ruwi.

Contact 99269751

2BHK 3 toilets Mumtaz Ruwi, in building cinema and gym, card excess, 425omr contact 97707007

2 BHK spacious flat for rent in Al Khuwair prime location.contact 99262279

2 B/R Apartment Luxury Fully Furnished @ Azaiba Near Zubair Showroom. 2 B/R Apartment Executive Fully Furnished @ Al Khuwair 33. 1 B/R Apartment Executive Fully Furnished @ Al Khuwair 33. 3 B/R Apartment Executive Fully Furnished @ Al Khuwair 25. 5 B/R Villa - Fully Furnished at Madinat Al Ilam.

Contact - Atlas Real Estate & Rent A Car LLC / 24783341- 24834888/ 99249069 / 92888376/ 93201688 Email: info@alshahiintl.com

Shop & workshop for rent opp. gmc showroom Al Gubrah. Contact Vekariya 99252176 Al Hail villa for rent. suitable for family or staff accommodation, near Dosteen Hotel RO 600 /- per month. Contact 94439250.

New furnished flat at Amerat3BHK, 3Toilets RO230 pm.#95113797 1 Bedroom bachelors, sharing K & T in Al Khuwair R.O 100/-. contact 95154331 Furnished A/C Office for rent in MBD with Meeting Room and other facilities. Rent R.O.200/ per month.

Contact: 99232271/99624180.

Bath attached room for rent Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569 Furnished room attached bath for Indian bachelor - Al Falaj area & for lady at Wadi Kabir (al Maya) 95941515.

2 & 3 BHK flat in Al Khuwair. Contact - 99792181

2BHK flat available for rent, near Hamriya roundabout contact-99366191 Flats and villa for rent in North Ghubra, the first line on 18 November Street opposite of chedi hotel suitable for offices. #96130361

3000 sq mtrs Industrial landß, in Barka Sanaiya, with electricity 400KW, shed, staff accommodation and office. Ready to start any kind of factory. Contact 99384255.

Flat for rent at Al- Khuwair 33/1, 3 Bedrooms, Dining room, Family hall, 3 Bathrooms, Kitchen with store with split A/C units. #99315515 Office size 160 Sq.M. available in Jasmine Towers Al Khuwair @ OMR - 7/- per Sq. M. Please#99335093 1BHK R.O 250, Bldg # 1619 Way # 1322 adjacent to Indian Nursery Darsait.contact 99476728 / 24705453 Villa in Al Khuwair and Seeb.

Contact 95250300/ 99119699 / 92125648 Industrial land for rent in Wadi Kabir 7000 Sq mtrs. #99354340 2BHK with A/C Al Khuwair 325/-.

Contact 99358589/95570288 Labour camp for Rent in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99797422 Family flats in Wadi Kabir, MBD, Ruwi, Muttrah, AL Khuwair, Al Hail and Seeb. Contact 96055889 /95250300 / 92125648 Flat No3 first floor AL Khuwair 33 may no 4712 H. 866. Contact Awad : 95525509 /Ahmed : 99486805

Room main road, Al Khuwair R.O 110/-. Contact 97799175

Room with attached bathroom AL Khuwair 33 area. contact 96059431

New 3 bedroom flats split AC, attached toilets available behind Kims Oman Hospital. contact 95225662

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair 33, 8 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms with parking area near Tuimur Mosque.

Contact 99366624

Shop for rent Misk house bldg Walja area near Honda road. Contact 99312674 / 96917934

Big room attach bathroom Sep: kitchen Wadi Kabeer nr Kuwaiti mosque OMR 125/-. #95094028

One BHK flat for rent in Ghobra with attach and common bathroom.

For Indian family. #- 92322096

250 Sqr mtrs office space in CBD. Contact 99792181

Flat at Darsait. contact 99326879

1 Bhk flat in Near Cornich (mutrah).

Contact 99792181

1 Bedroom flat in Azaiba. Contact 99385835/99428143

1 Bhk Flat in Ghobra. contact 99792181

3 Office space available between 120-142 sqm, with data cable, pantry, cassette AC, parking, @ RO. 5/- per/sqm. At Jibroo Muttrah. 2 BHK flat at Azaiba, behind Al Meera Hypermarket. RO. 330/-.Contact: 93221054, 99229263, 95215289

New one B/R directly from owner Behind Bank Muscat Bausher. #92158031

Flat 1BHK for rent, OPP. Abu Haroon furniture, bldg No 1057, Way 5917, Hamriya, Rent 170/-P.M. Contact 99350946 For rent flats, shops, villas in Al Hail, Mawalih, Ruwi, Khuwair, special prices, fast service. Contact 98588240 / 24487033 Flats shops and store for rent in MBD area, Honda rood and Rex Road. Contact 92433127 / 97293708/ 95150632 1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG Way 4041, building 4390 #99319880 Ghubra near Al Maha hotel & Indian school (2BHK with 5 split ac units). contact 94652485/ 99273774 / 99202278

1BHK with A/C in Ghubra 250/R.O. Contact 97799175 2BHK at Azaiba, 2 bedrooms, 1 hall, dining, 3 bath rooms. Contact 99224748 / 99425665 2BHK at Honda road, 2 bedrooms, 1 hall, 2 bath rooms. Contact 99224748 / 99332297 Flat for rent 2 bedroom +1sitting room + 3 bathroom + 1 kitchen with store + store room in Ruwi-Mumtaz area 95135445 1BHK with A/C near star cinema 250/-. Contact 970790146/ 99358589/95570288 New 2B/R flats with split unit D/C & free Internet & office space available at Al Khuwair near Mustafa Sultan Philips showroom. #99460330 Spacious Ground floor 3 BHK, flat with, 3 toilets in Wadi Kabir, AL Hassan R.O 325/-. Contact 92622506

Flat for rent 1 & 2 bedroom available behind Zaker Mall Al Khuwair.

Contact - 99530405

One room with bath at Al Khuwair.

Contact 99382008

1BHK with A/C Al Khuwair 225/-. #99358589/ 97079146/ 95570288

2BHK near medical Darsait R.O 260/-. Contact 98748925

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FOR RENT 1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in Misfah Industrial area near to Khanco. OMR 1,500 Monthly. Electricity and boundary wall will be provided.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 4 BHK with 4 bathrooms near Darsait municipality. Rent RO 550/-.

Cont. 92883288 4 flats for rent at Sidab Opp. Petrol pump each flat consist of 2BR, 1 STRM, 2 toilets, rent each flat R.O 250/- P. M 12 Cheques monthly off comm. 5% for one year agreement.

Contact Abdullah 99445880 2 BHK + 3 bathrooms + balcony near MCT Bakery Wadi Kabir. Contact 99357660 / 96453506 Spacious 2 BR flat in MBD. #99713489 Flat for rent 3bedroom, 2 toilets in Mobillah front of Palm project near Nesto Hyper market. Contact 96034110 / 92773350

AVAILABLE Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Systems and spectacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com, E-mail: info@ tunesoman.com

2BHK Flats for families at Azaiba next to Al Meera Hyper Market.

Contact : 96457757 2 BHK & studio flat at Darsait 1SM. Contact 99024730 Flats/villas owned by ROP pension fund available for rent in Muscat.

Contact 99349526 Spacious 2 BHK flats in Ruwi MBD area only on 350/- OMR.Contact – 95122188 / 96441499

FOR SALE

2 residential Lands together, one 610 and the other 600 sq mtrs, in Al Haram on way to Barka. OMR 49 Thousand both. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 3 floor commercial building in Muttrah behind Police. Generating income of OMR 18 Thousand annually. Neat and well maintained. Built on 197 sq mtrs land. 2 tailor shops on ground floor and 6 flats. OMR 207 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land with water well in Al Salwa, Barka.

OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 558 Sq mtrs residential land in Barka (Al Jenainah) near Lulu and near to school. OMR 32 Thousand.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 Expat leaving used furniture, electronics, A/Cs and many other things.

Contact 99556962 Pic On Whatsapp.

Beauty parlour for sale. Serious buyers. Contact 99609265

1B/R available for bachelors in REX ROAD, Ruwi. contact 99889590 Bed sharing for Keralite bachelor close to Majan intercontinental hotel, Ghala. Contact 98001451

For running beauty saloon for sale.

Contact 97786792 / 96914627 Coffee shop for sale in North Al Ghobrah. Contact 95256009 A building in CBD opposite to the central bank of 3100sqmtr built up area of experienced rent of 205000 per annum for 1 million 350Thousands. Contact 95330200

Furnished room with bath at AL Khuwair for non- cooking bachelor.

Contact 95875735

Restaurant for sale well running with open area and good parking area. 3 new clearance also in Wadi Kabeer near Mars hyper market.

Contact 99656863

BUYING / SELLING The used household items like Refrigerator, Washing Machine, Sofa Set, Dining Table & Chairs and other items are available for disposal on “as is where is basis”. Interested parties are requested to contact GSM 95475591 for further details.

Used supermarket shelvings (Gandolas), tube light fittings, window A/C. Contact 97752395 Barber shop for sale in Al Khuwair good running business & located in main location, location near AL Aktham restaurant. Contact: +968-99616650 2,560 sq mtrs industrial land in Wadi Kabir. First line on way to Al Bustan hotel. Possible to make petrol station or hotel. OMR 1 Million. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 5 Flats of 1 bedroom for Sale in Bousher: OMR 35 Thousand each.

Monthly income OMR 270 Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

TRANSPORTATION

Used household & office furniture and electronic items. #99834373, 97102699

ACC. AVAILABLE Single room with A/C separate toilet at AL Hail highway side, shell pump.

Contact 94611224 Fully furnished single room with all amenities available behind Sheraton.

Contact 92162623 Sharing accommodation available Wadi Kabir attached room with sharing, kitchen. Contact 96575016 Spacious master bedroom attached Bath, balcony for rent near MBD. Contact 92600922 Single room available in Qurum from 1/May/2015 for exe male female.

Contact 92988746

Transportation. Contact 98178135

DRIVING

Pick & drop anytime in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99764307

Semi furnished room with attach bath for non cooking Ex. bachelor in South Al Hail near Nissan Showroom. Contact 98343250

Transportation. Contact 99664703

Single room for Executive bachelor near Al Falaj Hotel. contact 99643845

Pick & Drop any time.contact 97014786

Sharing acc. Available in Muttrah behind Oman house.contact 99354340

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

Sharing family accommodation in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99335057 3 Bedrooms, with spacious hall & 3 bathrooms near ISM, Darsait from 1st April 2015. Gsm 94288861 Accommodation available for South Indian family, one bedroom with attached toilet, kitchen, hall in a villa, Al Ghubrah. Contact 99209160 Room for rent in flat for bachelor / bachelors near ISWK primary wing, Way 6930 rent 100 OMR per month.

Contact 97687055 / 98001645

ACC. WANTED Wanted a family sharing accommodation for Keralite in Ruwi area.

Please contact: 92558541 Sohar, 2/3, B/R, flat /villa, required. Contact 93031168 Near Ghala / azaiba, require sharing accommodation for executive bachelor contact : 99138352

Restaurant for sale Al Hail North.

Contact 94148970 / 94148972

Port cabin new & refurbished – porta cabin for sale & rent. contact 96723468 / 97775501 / 97775502

COMPUTER

2Bedrooms flat in Al Hail with utilities 92817777

Shop for sale Al Khoudh. contact 92820541

Used Furniture of Ready made showroom for Sale.contact 24704370, 99798452 (Ashwin)

CLASSES

Transportation. contact 94087276

FOR SALE Residential land for sale 21000 sqm, best for housing complex at Al Harm – Barka, opp to Khimji logistic.

Contact 99438397

ACC. AVAILABLE

BUSINESS Local company based in Ghala requires business development Manager with good experience and driving license.#99166930 / 93782735

Transport to ISWK. E93172589

GOOD NEWS Ayurvedic treatment for backache, paralysis, arthritis etc & massage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam). Contact 24475280 / 95371554 / 92504980 www.siddhayur.com Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain, backache, paralysis massage, steam bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL , CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November street, Azaiba.#99639695 / 99117987 FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: 99425598, 96050000, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, and 99379133. For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Orvisit: www.islamfact.com Varkey s Saloon & SPA offers Summer discount on Hamam Spa, pedicure & manicure massages with steam bath, Jacuzzi, facial treatments.#92935679 Taimour Ayurvedic Clinic, Ruwi offers genuine & effective treatment for back pain, paralysis, cervical and lumbar spondylitis, osteoarthritis, joint pains, sinusitis, migraine, allergic problems, varicose vein and all other health related problems.

Kerala massage and rejuvenation package available. For details please#92197920/ 24799689

MATRIMONIAL

A construction company since 2008 with 40 employees is looking for a construction engineer as business partner. #99373727

Wanted Groom- Alliance invited from a middle class Hindu Nair girl 20 years, 5.5 H/ 45 kgs/ Thiruvathira/ BBA. Currently staying with family in Oman.

Contact – 96283490 / 95273175 / Email – tharayilrk@gmail.com

Required business Researcher. contact 99229700 Email: kjaaraimi@ hotmail.com

We are Muslim family seeking alliance for our son interested families.

Contact 97664009

Business consultant, feasibility study.

Contact 99229700 We have some companies for rent with the following activities: press publishing & advertising, information consultancy, organizing event management & conference, real estate, landscaping, maintenance etc contact 93946622 / 91408005

CHANGE OF NAME I Chinna Ashayya Ushanna Bumenna (holder of Indian passport No. J 5404429) Son of Ushanna having permanent residence in Banda Linga PURAM ( Tost) Karihimpatnam( M) (DIST) , Telangana (A.P) India Telangana complete postal address in India ) and presently residing in A lhajiry Trading LLC Wadi Kabir , Oman (complete postal in Oman) intend to change my name from Chinna Ashayya Ushanna Bumenna (old name) to Bommena . Chinna . Ashaiah (given name) Ushanna (sur name) (new name) for all practical purpose. Any objection towards my name change may please be communicated to Embassy of India, Muscat, diplomatic Quarters, AL Khuwair, P.Box No, 1727 postal code 112, Ruwi , Sultanate of Oman.

Anwar AL Fajar AL Satea trading (associated) registered with the commercial register secretariat ministry of commerce and Industry under the number 1206971herebx announces that it is in the process of changing its name to read Anwar Al Fajar Al Satea contracting (associated)

M.V. FOR SALE

Nissan Sunny 2007, 1.6, automatic, good condition km 1,48000. #99781671 Mercedes delivery van 2002. Contact 99755644 Hyundai Elantra model 2015 km 37712, 1.6 cc, 10 months used, price 4650. Contact 99170202 2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40 ton petrol tank each working at the moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35 Thousand each. #97000155 or 92688692 Land Cruiser 2012. #99336093

Toyota Yaris 2008, 1.5 cc Automatic, White, 84,000 k.m, accident free, well maintained & sparingly used by diplomat. All services done through Toyota. Contact 24684512/13.

Toyota Camry 2010, 55000km full option white colour. #99738373 Mazda 3 model KMS 140,000 fully automatic single driven company maintained. Contact 92302159 MAZDA CX9 39000KM 2012 Grey Color No.1 FULL OPTION for sale.

Contact 99752695

D4

S AT U R D AY, M AY 2 , 2 0 1 5 Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DAILY GUIDE SITUATION SITUATION WANTED VACANT

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE ADMIN Young experienced English speaking telephone operator wanted.

Contact 99466062

ARCHITECT Urgently required an Architect with experience. Contact email: engineering_district@yahoo.com

BEAUTICIAN Female beautician required. Contact 94050001

CATERING Wanted 2 waiters, 3 cleaners, 1 driver & 3 cooks all rounder. Contact 95356276

ENGI./ELECT./TECH..

Need one Auto Electrician qualification must Diploma or ITI. Contact 98983951 / 98668697 or send CV hilat.tech@gmail.com Sales Executive for IT Firm. Diploma in Computers 3 years Oman experience & D/L. Email: admin@ enetstorage.com Looking for civil engineer with Diploma from India, Pakistan Indonesia or any of these Southern Asia countries to work with small company in Ibri, Oman.contact 99251428 email: almarshoudi4@ gmail.com Indian Civil Diploma. 3-5yr Oman Exp with DL: nfw.civil@gmail.com

MANAGER/SUPERVISOR Urgently require a foreman with Omani driving license to handle plants nursery and do marketing of agricultural items. Contact: 93831805, Email: jobs.mgc13@gmail.com

MEDICAL Wanted Nurse for polyclinic in Mabella South ph 97339965 Urgently required qualified two male home Nurses. Email: jvacancy05@gmail.com

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE MISCELLANEOUS Wanted for immediate appointment HSE officers - degree in safety engineering, Electrical site engineers- degree in electrical engineering, linemen class C- transmission – basic qualification. Gulf exp is preferred for all posts. Apply with bio data to – hr_oman1@ yahoo.com immediately

TOURS Wanted an experienced person in reservations and ticketing using airlines Sabre system for a new travel agency; please send your CV to sunairways1@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING Required Sales man - 1 Person Qualification. Gulf Experienced - Minimum 5 Years with Oman Driving Licence Language - English Education:- Any Degree Further Contact :Mr. Abdul Hameed Nashabat - Mobile No: 97414307 and -92807399 amn@yaqeeneng.com Required Salesman for a press and preferably if he has valid driving license. Kingdom of Creative Press. Contact 99520777 Email: alibda.d@gmail.com Urgently required Omani person (English knowledge) with valid Oman driving license for delivery purpose of children’s English educational product. Contact 99452215 Requires a Sales and Marketing person (Female) for Home linen Company with minimum experience. Please send your CV on email zeyanaalharmaly@yahoo.com A leading Marble & Granite Trading company looking for Experienced Sr. Sales Executive with D/L. Send CV with details : jskanchan01@gmail.com immediately.

A REPUTED TRADING & CONTRACTING CO. requires urgently sales Executive (male) having at least 3 years experience of building material products specially in paints in Oman, with valid driving license. Send CV through Fax 24495411 or email: info@styletrading.net

Required Office Assistant 160+25+Acc, Contact 99454425

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED ACCOUNT. & FINANCE Accountant, Indian male 10 years experience, 6 years in Oman with Oman driving license, seeking suitable job. Contact 96012973 MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in finance/accounts/ auditing. Specialized in accounts payable dept, Oracle app user, proficient in Sap (fico) end user & tally 9.0. lean &six sigma certified trainer on visit visa.

Contact – 91967213 / 99064780 Senior Accountant Indian male 43 years B.Com Graduate + DCA. Total 15 years exp, 7 years in Oman, 4 years in Bahrain knowledge in tally 9, Peachtree & MS Office having NOC, seeks placement. #97060826 Email: tomnedum71@yahoo.co.in Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Graduate 1 year exp in Accounts, currently on visit visa. Looking for suitable job. #94341848 / Email – mohdhaji7272@gmail.com

MBA (international business) from London, 4 years of UK experience in banking operational, looking for suitable position. Contact 91710075 B.E /MBA fresher looking for suitable positions in IT finance and Administration visit visa valid up to 18/05/2015.#94384120/99867536 Email: jkjithin123@gmail.com

Experience Sales Executive required - for leading building materials company. Please email CV to maganjam@gmail.com

Indian male management (banking & finance) worked with multinational bank skill in MS Office SQL etc. Contac 94693310

Urgently required Staff Nurse, Pharmacist and endodontist Female Staff nurse, Pharmacist and endodntist with MOH License/Prometric exam passed with 60% and above#24780088, 97374459 Email : karamadental@gmail.com

Urgently needed Senior Marketing Executive for modular kitchens department (male only) for a leading building materials trading company, Graduates with 5 to 7 years relevant experience and D/L only. Email CV to yourfutureinoman@gmail.com

MBA Graduate specialized in finance with one years experience seeking placement. contact 96725204 Email: ameen.1915@ gmail.com

Wanted female Gynecologist, female Staff Nurse -2 no, Dentist, Dental Technician with MOH license for Al Saadi specialized Medical Centre in Mussana.contact 92025033

Software company looking for Telesales Executives – Female, with minimum 2 years of experience. Suitable candidates can send their resume to omanerpsales@gmail.com

Required urgently qualified and skilled candidates for below jobs: A/C technician with GCC driving license, duct fabricator, accountant, HR Manger. Lotus golden international LLC. Contact 97087835/97087845

A leading Building Materials distributor seeks Outdoor Salesman (2 Nos) with Valid Omani D/L, 5 years of Oman experience, & proficient in English, Arabic and Hindi. Candidates with local release may forward your resume to talent@mpesllc.com

Indian male 28 years MBA finance experience in accounts / finance and knowledge in SAP, FICO & tally , seeking suitable placement on visit visa. Contact 97409606 Email: mujtabaalam7@gmail.com

Indian male, 32 years, M. Com. 7 out of 9 years experience in Oman in Accounts/finance. Having NOC and valid Oman D/L. contact 98277143, Email: anzarks@gmail.com

Masters Criminology with experience of 1.5 years in Litigation & Recovery department with Standard Chartered Bank in Karachi is looking for a job. Contact # 94677814

Wanted Salesman with driving licence and car. Gsm : 98805474 or email id: jobssales2015@gmail.com

Part time Accountant with 15 years experience in accounts, finance tax, audit management. contact 95857199

Indian male 35 , B.com /MBA having 5 yrs experience in Oman , in accounting , auditing , taxation , accounts receivables, payables , up to finalization , knowledge in tally and other oracle packages. NOC available. Contact 93240480

Required IT, sales / marketing executive driving license Oman 3-5 years experience. contact 99329216 Email: sales@aditsllc. com

MISCELLANEOUS

Part- time Accounting 15 yrs qualified experience Chief Accountant, finalization, auditing, consultancy.

Contact 96759385

India Accountant: Male, M com, 7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to finalization, having knowledge of ERP, Tally, seeks suitable placment. contact 93950138 Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

ACCA affiliate & B.Com hons with NOC, morc than 5 years of experience in accounting & finance looking for a suitable job car join immediately.

Contact 97012146

Urgently required, general practitioner (Male), gynecologist, pediatrician, LAB, technician, Philippine, nurses, marketing executive for a reputed medical center Salalah.

Email: hrmdimc2010@gmail.com

Indian CA,( Finance Manager ) More than 8 Yrs Exp ( Oman, UAE, India) in Accounts, Audit, Finance, seeking suitable senior position in Muscat, Can Join Immediately, NOC Available , Contact casmart007@ gmail.com/98707434

Indian male with total 5 year experience (2 years experience in Accountant cum sales co ordinator in a FMCG Company in Oman) in accounts field and NOC available Looking for suitable job #92130188

Media company need for salesman having drive license + car.

Contact 94216866 /94221420 Email: magicfingerprint1@gmail. com

Immediate placement ( with or without MOH) A. Pharmacist - 3 nosB. Asst.pharmacist - 2 nos CONTACT..Tel.99338219 , 93240949

Master in economics having 9 years banking experience in finance, operations and audit with Bank Al falah Pakistan, looking for suitable job. Contact 91960412 artaqvi@hotmail.com

M.Com, CA (article ship), 15 years Gulf experience looking for suitable position in finance & accounts, visit visa valid up to 10/07/2015 Contact 97135855 / 94097305 Email: altabhossain2008@hotmail.com

Pakistani male 27 years, MBA finance, 4 years experience in finance / accounts & procurement on tier 1 ERP oracle EBS ( RIZ) . Looking for suitable position for long term relation. Available in Oman or visit visa.#95830415

Female Nurse with MOH license required for clinic in Al Khoud.

Contact 93538672

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Finance / Accounts Manager 12 years experience at senior position in leading companies 9 years in Oman CPA – USA& modern accounting certificate from AUC. Contact 99139926

Wanted young and energetic sales executive having Oman work experience good communication skill and valid D/L. Email: info@ mwpoman.net

Required Nurse for a clinic in Al Buraimi, S. Of. Oman. Contact 00968 92737149 CV to drpkabbas@yahoo.co.in

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED

MBA (finance) Indian female currently under family visa B/B in Muscat. BBA, MBA studied in Muscat (Birla) 2 years experience in Oman, having Oman D/L. Contact 96504080 Indian male MBA having more than 5 years experience in Indian automotive finance construction having valid UAE, D/L currently on visit visa seeking suitable job.

Contact 96787992 Email: reeyasoceekey@gmail.com Indian male 25 years with 3 years experience having MBA, degree on visit visa, seeking suitable placement in accounting. Contact 98822072/91689977

Professional Accountant Finance Manager, Chartered Accountant, 15 years experience in ERPs, MS office. Contact 96264969 Finance Manager, CPA, with more than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC. Fully knowledgeable in Finance, General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

ADMIN/HR Indian male, 30 yrs, MSW, total 6.7 yrs experience 2.5 yrs in Qatar as Welfare and Recreation Coordinator with an MNC seeking suitable man management jobs in top – notch hotel / restaurants, Labour camps etc . Contact 97460880 Email: jjkam8@yahoo.com Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR. joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437 Omani experience in the legal, administrative, public relations, education. Contact 97243393 Email: mwm3003@gmail.com Indian Male 25 years, BBM (MBA), 2+yrs exp. in Administration/ Finance on visit visa seeking suitable position. Contact: 92726769 Indian female graduate 7 years work experience admin operation retail customer service looking for suitable job. Contact 94231020 B.A graduate with 8 years experience (2 years in Oman) in admin / business development and sustainably (green buildings) on visit visa. Contact 91626216 Indian male 26 yrs MBA/HR Graduate 1 year’s exp in Administration seeking placement. #99151280 Female 26, 3 yrs exp in HR & Admin, with Oman D/L, looking for a suitable opening. Contact 98236033 Indian female, MBA with 3 years of experience in admin MIS,family visa. Contact 98234427 Email: jkjsmith01@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTED SIT. WANTED ADMIN/HR Indian male MBA, HR& Marketing experience in multifunctional management business development marketing /HR experience in Oman & Dubai with valid Oman & UAE D/L seeking suitable opportunity. Contact 96052953 Indian female with 10 yrs of experience in HR/Banking/Operations seeks a suitable placement. Can be contacted on 98919015 or sherianne.coelho@gmail.com Indian Female 34 yrs, currently under family visa, B.Com, seeking placement as accounts assistant, HR or suitable position. 99199710 B.A Graduate with 6.5 yrs of exp in Administration Presently working as Admin (Operations) looking for suitable position. Contact 93075375

AUTO CAD Indian male draft man, 3 D visualiser, 18 month experience in Oman driving license. Contact 96285891 / 98414107 Email: prasadvv4u@ gmail.com Indian male 25 years diploma Auto CAD draughtsman interior design 5 years exp here on visit visa looking for job. Contact98360268/99881264

CATERING Your Bangladeshi male 26 knowing coffee shop work as waiter or sandwich maker or juice maker, presently in Bangladesh if any employer need. Contact with his brother 92278538

DRIVER Driver looking for job. Contact 99748264 Indian male looking for driver job.

Contact 93051674 Light Vehicle Driver requires job in any transportation / private co.

Contact 96015617 Driver with car. Contact 91452930 Driver looking for job. contact 94435912 Light duty driver 2 years experience in Oman looking for job. contact 93131542 Driver looking for job. contact 92137431 Driver with 6 years experience looking for job. contact 99280685 / 99120956 Light duty driver looking job experience 4years Oman. contact 96088707

DESIGNER 5 years of experience as a Graphics designer with valid driving license in Oman qualification B.A degree. Contact 91452730 Email: sanjaymuralik@gmail.com

DOMESTIC HELPER Lady from Mumbai available for household work only in Al Khuwair.

Contact 95896415 Housemaid (overseas, Goa and Mangalore) Looking job Indian family only. Contact-99531802 House maid looking for full time job Sri Lankan. Contact 99865938

EDUCATION Indian female M.A, B. Ed professionally qualified currently on visit visa, seeks suitable placement in the field of education. Contact 96753257 Email: sreechitrarmohan2@gmail. com Indian female 32 yrs, BSc, MCA , 3+ years teaching experience in India and 3 yrs exp in technical side in Muscat, Oman seeks suitable placement in teaching. Contact 96124929 Bioinformatics Lecturer: Master Degree, 5+ years experience from FRANCE & INDIA as a Lecturer in Bioinformatics and Research, looking for suitable position.

Indian, Male on visit visa, contact 98898781/ anoopys@gmail.com B.Ed & BCA Indian female with 5 yrs exp in teaching primary section in Dubai currently looking for appropriate placement in teaching. Email: rani_sweet786@live.com contact: 97384206 Civil Engineer 25 years Indian 2 years experience in Oman with valid GCC D/L, NOC available. contact 96732869 Email: hizbullaareekara@gmail.com Sudanese male BSC electronic Engineer 2 years experience in GSM, 10 years experience in oil industry (Drilling & Measurements).contact 91198104 Emails: Husseintalat@ hotmail.com Sudanese BSC industrial Engineer experience 4 yrs in QA /QC and 8 yrs in production. Contact 94041960 Email: mekkimedani@hotmail.com / mekkimedani78@gmail.com

HOSPITALITY Indian male 18 yrs hotel experience Dubai procurement logistics stores suitable position NOC available.

Contact + 968 96573591 Email: namraj1973@rediffmail.com

ENGG. / TECHNICAL DESIGNER Interior Designer Syrian Nationality one year experience in design.

Contact 95246737 Email: yassalnajjar@gmail.com Female architect bachelor, 4 yrs experience (internal & external design, project coordinate, office management) with valid Oman D/L NOC available. Contact 94348074

Indian male 24 years, Mechanical Engineer,pdms.1 yr experience in pipeline,16years in oman seeking immediate placement #95775742 B.E (Mechanical), Indian male 8 years experience (HVAC – 4 years, operation / production / maintenance, 4 years) looking suitable position. Contact 96696190 Email: faisalmnz@gmail.com

S AT U R DAY, M AY 2 , 2 0 1 5

D5

DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Indian female, 24 yrs, B.Tech Engineer excellent academic qualification 2 yrs experience at IBM India, SAP- ABAP, currently under dependent visa, looking for suitable placement. Contact 99450960 Email: sajyodine@ gmail.com B.Tech mechanical Engineer + QAQC, NDT (level-2) done hvac course and work at HVACs project Engineer seeks job with a year of exp on visit. Contact 98235575 Email: sajinclement12@gmai.com Indian male, mechanical Engineering, two years experience in fabrication and erection of heavy structures as a project Engineer now on visiting visa seek suitable placement. Contact 92151818 Email: krishnakumarkk9@gmail.com Indian male, B.E ( computer science engineer), MBA (finance), OCA certified, having 5 years of experience in oracle Dba/ oracle apps Dba, seeks a suitable position in the field of IT. Contact: 96212062 email: zubairkhan11@gmail.com Land Surveyor Indian 2.7 years experience seeking suitable placement.

Contact 95141554 /91977142 Indian female 23: young Engineering Graduate looking for assistant executive, purchase executive, sales co-ordination, social network branding or web design and development jobs. Call: 97062261 Network / system Engineer B.E / ECE + CCNA & Ms certifiedwith 4+ yrs exp looking for a job. currently in Oman on visit visa.contact : 92589502 Email : jeganscareer@gmail.com Indian, M 25 yrs BE mechanical 3 yrs exp in Oil & Gas now on visit visa. Contact 96487013 Email: riarun.007@gmail.com Electronics & Communication Engineer with 14 yrs exp (10+ yrs Oman) experienced in sales & marketing of extra low voltage systems (CCTV, Structured Cabling, PA system, access control etc. Contact 99771815 Email: teledata1978@ rediffmail.com Diploma in Civil Engineering 9 years experience 7 years in Oman 2 years in home country having valid Omani D/L, seeking a suitable placement.

Contact 97430353 Sudanese fresh Graduate with a degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Malaysia fluent in Arabic (Native), English (IELTS 7.5) and intermediate in German. #95667610 Fresh Graduate holder of bachelor degree in mechatronics Engineering from Malaysia, Sudanese holder of a valid driving license, fluent in Arabic and English. Contact 96322507 Civil Engineer 8 years experience estimating and costing good knowledge stabling B.O.Q.S. #97468213 B.Tech, instrumentation Engineer, Indian male with 4 yr experience in EPC and Sales / 2 yr Oman experience having valid Oman driving license. Contact 94145460 Email: jgeevarughese@gmail.com Management professional with 25+ years of gulf ( UAE) experience in operations inventory management supply chain warehouse management with SAP , SBO experience seeking opportunity in Oil & Gas FMCG industrial automobile construction industry. Contact 97100682 Email: m367.kareem@ gmail.com BE Civil 35 yrs experience with consultant seeking senior level position in project management with client consultant structural Engineering background NOC available. contact 95455681 Email: sm_comp@hotmail.com Electrical engineer (construction) diploma with 11 years experience ( 2 years GCC + 9 years Indian job seeking from India. Contact 0091-994309844 Email: ganesh_dectrical@yahoo.com B.Tech biomedical Engineering having Omani driving license. Contact 91352248

IT

Project (Electrical) Engineer with BE 10 years of experience (8 years in Oman).Driving license and NOC available. Looking for job. GSM92197288

IT works, IT maintenance (OFC cable splicing) data cable CCTV, works, 5 years, GCC 3 years India job seeking from Indian.#0091-9751761084 Email: spsathiya1@gmail.com

Civil Engineer Female, 3 yrs experience in structural design, on visit visa seeking suitable placement. #99195433

Indian female 25 yrs - Software Engineer (ME-Comp.Sc)-5 yrs explooking for suitable opening-contact -96745422; Email: sruthi.k38@ gmail.com

Indian Engineer B.Tech & diploma in instrumentation & control having one & half years experience seeking for suitable post. Contact 98873416 Email: afsalp_06@gmail.com Male civil Engineer 6yrs experience 4 yrs in Oman (B.B.S and steel shop drawing prepare, M.Q.C sit management, D, W, M report) with valid Oman D/L NOC available. contact 99870370 B.Sc Mechanical Engineering, 17 yrs exp in Oman, 30 yrs exp in production management, erection and maintenance of refineries, stock piling equipments, belt convoying systems structures, power transmission equipments gear boxes - #98214442; Email: mohusak@ gmail.com Diploma in electronics & Telecom, Engineering with 5 years experience in Engineering & sales, marketing.

Contact 95932219 Indian female, B.Tech biotechnology with strong computer skills and 2 years experience as associate research analyst (Media Monitoring) in Nasdaq Oman seeking growth oriented jobs. Contact 92044603 /918056169148 or angeline.babithac@gmail.com.

Indian male, Diploma in Mechanical Engineering having 13 yrs experience in Oman as Estimation / Project Engineer in the fields of storage tanks structures, pressure vessels etc seeks suitable placement. #95656871. Email : akp.paul@yahoo. com Education +2 Diploma Mechanical Engineering skills 2 C (Non destructive testing) experience 1 year 6 months company GB Engineering Pvt Ltd S.D Engineering pvt ltd. Position Production Engineer, Production Supervisor. Contact 99799237 BSc Electronics, C.C.T.V, Electronic Welding Mech. Contact 99803912 / 97364750 Email: bijumonjk1@gmail. com Civil Engineer (B.E) having 5 years experience in building construction, looking for suitable placement, valid D/L available. Contact 91253392 Indian female Electronics and Communication, 2 years experience, 27 yrs. Contact 93190373 Indian male Instrumentation Engineer having 2 years experience in process instruments, seeks suitable placement. Contact 95954385 An electrical Engineer had two years experience as a project Engineer good experience in electrical installations electrical tests and computer skills. Contact 96209298

Network system Engineer B.E / ECE + CCNA & Ms certified with 4+ yrs exp looking for a job. Currently in Oman on visit visa. Contact: 92589502 Email: jegaanscareer@ gamil.com IT System Support Engineer,28 Years, Indian male,7.8 years experience,3 years from Oman, NOC available, having driving license, ready to join immediately, Mob : 93551182,Email: aniljose4u@gmail.com IT Network and Security Engineer with a master degree, CISCO and Linux red hat certified seeking a suitable job in a good company.

Contact 99818601 Diploma holder and 1 year experience in Computer hardware and networking seeking suitable placement.

Contact 95249087

MEDICAL

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf experience) looking for a suitable job (NOC available) Contact-93344378 Well experienced MOH Licensed Indian GP Doctor looking for locum / permanent position in the Capital area. Contact 98140024 email:drgpoman@yahoo.com Doctors available for immediate placement Internist MBBS, MD with Oman MOH license with NOC and release and a lady Paediatrician.

Available immediately.

Contact 96276347 nadakkavil1984@gmail.com GNM male Nurse, 30 yrs with 8 years of experience in ICCU, TCVS & emergency with prometric passed (with Gulf experience). Contact 93907230 / 93806822

MISCELLANEOUS Indian male graduated with over 8 yrs exp in Oman in purchase logistics exports & imports having Oman D/L seeking placement. Ready to joining immediately NOC providing .contact:96247344 Indian Graduate (32) computer literate seeks any official job presently on visit visa. 95697715 Indian male 26 yrs PGDM, B.com, 2yrs exp. Contact 91694170 Indian Female, BE in EEE having 3 yrs exp in IT Industry & experience in Admin in Muscat, looking for suitable placement. Available to Join Immediately. Contact 93422434

Electrical electronics Engineering 8 month experience in India came for visit visa urgently seeks. contact 94087414 /91575300 E mail: guntistddharth@gmail.com

Storekeeper, 26 yrs, Gulf experience 4 yrs in Oman company release available. Contact 97657823 Email: rusaikmzm_2009@yahoo.com

Electrical and Electronics Engineer (BE) 1+ year of experience now on visit visa seeking suitable opportunities Email: djnitheesh@gmail.com Contact 99254469

Indian male 36 years with visit visa having 16 years experience in training (soft skills) Admin marketing looking for a suitable job. Contact 99644501 / 96974356

25 yrs (f) B.Tech (Civil) 2 yrs in Oman (QS & Tendering) Estimation.

Contact 91228615

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer, 2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experience. Contact 97311847 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 Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

IT

Civil Engineer ( B.Tech) Indian female, 2 years experience as Q.S in Oman, knows primavera (P6), AutoCAD etc seeks placement. contact 93911895

Indian male 22 yrs fresher BCA young and energetic seeking good opportunites contact 00919567722270

Quantity surveyor (diploma civil) 2 yrs exp in Oman seeks job on work visa or free lanner. #96936793

Indian female B.Tech in computer science specialization web design & PHP development.#92725547

Looking for senior management position C- level leader with more than three decades of achievements in multi industry environment of manufacturing, trading, application, restructuring. NOC available. Contact 93343251 Email: shantiappa@gmail. com / shantiappa@yahoo.com

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Store manager 6 years experience in Oman (BCS) good knowledge of ERP seeking placement. Contact 95197303 Media/Brand Manager 20 years Gulf exp. in Media Advertising Industry.

Contact 93031168

SALES / MARKETING Indian male B.com 24 years, 2 years experience in sales operations in Indian on visit visa. Contact 97032977

Joinery & Interior Manager seeking opportunities Indian male 10 years industry experienced, excellent knowledge in technical line, production, materials and machinery. Good experience in business strategy, well experience in factory setting up. Contact 93974701 Email: gemct2015@gmail.com

Omani mechanical engineer, has 3 years experience ,has HSE, H2S, Riggers/Banks men Permit, Drawing / cad, SCBA, Safety Leadership and Initial Fire Response Courses. good with computer and English language looking for suitable job. Contact 99224319-98454500 Indian Pune based 29 years looking for job in Travel industry or any good company as a front office reception. Email: rufinabhavania@ gmail.com

Indian male 24 years, B.Com + ACCA level 1 on visit visa seeking for suitable job. Contact 91883811

Indian female, B.Com. knowledge of Ms. Office & Tally, 4yrs experience in A/Cing & admin dept .looking for good placement in any field. Contact.98928220

Sales & marketing professional with 14 years exp in Oman market seeking for a suitable placement.

Immediate release available (NOC).

Contact 92679055

Accountant, Indian Male 24 , 2 Years successful experience in Oman with Oman Driving License.

NOC Available seek a suitable opportunity. GSM : 9340 9315

Egyptian male 11 years in five stars international hotels management sales marketing D/L available residency visa. Contact 93577497 Email: elkomy82@hotmail.com

An Indian expatriate female, Graduate with TEFL certificate seeks suitable openings with Language centres or schools. Email : write2nishanair@gmail.com, Contact : 97216963

Graduate Indian male 25 with Good communication skill looking for suitable placemen in sales or marketing field in a reputed organization. #98558648 Email: risham54@gmail.com Pakistani male 34 yrs Intermediate 2 yrs exp in sales & marketing in Oman. Looking for suitable job.

Contact - 92146864 Indian male- 26 yrs - MBA (Marketing) - 2 yrs exp in sales & mktgseeks suitable placement - on visit visa - contact 96436686 Purchasing Officer 26 yrs Gulf experience 4 yrs in Oman company release available. Contact 99103269 Email: rusaikmzm_2009 @yahoo.com 13 years experienced in Sales of Industrial, Automotive & hydraulics of Parker is now available in Muscat looking for suitable opportunity.

Contact 00968 97032761 Indian male having more than 17 years experience in Sales Purchasing and Administration department in Saudi Arabia having transferable driving license seeking suitable placement. Contact 94260129 Email: shajahanayyaril@gmail.com Indian male 29 yrs MBA with 9 yrs exp in business development, sales looking for suitable opening.#96731462 Seven-years Oman experienced Indian sales and marketing person, 28, with driving license; fluent Arabic and Hindi; knowledge of English seeks immediate placement. NOC available. Contact: 95803430.

Sri Lankan male 28 yrs old completed degree business with marketing in UK having experience in business operations, Hospitality management and IT products & solutions on visit visa. Contact : 93592653 Indian male 45+ yrs , 20 yrs exp as sales supervisor in India looking for indoor sales /stores /cashier or any suitable placement can speak Hindi , English, Malayalam, Tamil, kannada can join immediately on visit visa.

Contact 93086105/33016546 Indian 45 years Sales Manager for European Modular kitchen & furniture. Contact 92284856 Indian male Graduate 9+ years experience in hardcore sales & customer - service & documentation in various industries (shipping, Banking, Building Materials) (PPE) from G.C.C, India valid Oman D/L on visit visa looking for better opportunity in Oman. Contact 97132606 Indian male MBA 7 years experience in Hospitality industry, operation, sales & marketing looking for suitable vacancy. contact 92115860 Email vibin.py@gmail.com

SECRETARIAL/OFFICE Well reputed Kitchen Fabrication company urgently required Light Driver, Draftsman & Site Supervisor with fluent English & Arabic speaking with Oman valid driving license. May Contact: 94106361 E-mail: aqayum@me.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian male more than 10 years Gulf experience in Office / Sales Coordinator, Admin (employees visa processes), Secretarial and purchase coordination with good computer skills. Having Driving license and NOC available. Looking for suitable placement. Contact 99709336

Indian male 21 Diploma in Mechanical Eng with HVAC certified having 6 yrsexp and seeking job in HVAC field as a supervisor. Currently on visit visa.#92835952/ 92734863 Indian Female: MCA, 3 Years Exp. as Asst. Professor, Specialization in C # (sharp).net, Data Comm.& Networking, Knowledge about Web Development, ASP.Net, Oracle, SQL,VB.net.

Seek Immediate Placement. Now on Visit Visa.9588 7051 ashwininakod@gmail.com Indian female, B.Com. Knowledge of MS Office &Tally, 4yrs experience in accounting & admin dept. looking for good placement in any field.

Contact.98928220 Indian male, 28 years, 7 years experience in transporting & heavy equipment renting company. Having Omani driving license seeks suitable positions. Contact 94410485 Sudanese/Bsc IT/26/2 years experience/excellent Eng-Arb speaking/ Omani driving license/96387227/ henrykarrar@gmail.com Sudanese / 29 years old / Bsc English language and Translation / 3 years experience in Oman teaching & translation / have driving license.

94211377. hosam.karar.1@gmail.com Indian Male 27, Piping Design Engineer looking for suitable placement in Piping Design & Engineering. Also familiar with PDMS (11.6 Version),CAESAR ll, AutoCAD. Contact : 97351786 / 96143708, E-mail : mohammednazeer07@gmail.com Indian female B.Com graduate, 4years experience in accounts & administration department looking for suitable placement. #98928220 Mechanical Engineer B.E fresher( QA, QC , Piping & NDT + 1 month practical training in production & oil field) seeking immediate placement currently on visit visa. Contact – 0096896107833, Email - albinalbin. thomas@gmail.com Civil Autocad draughtsman looking for part time job. Mobile: 95218737 Indian Male 33 looking for Scaffolding Supervisor vacancy in Oil & Gas field in Oman. Having 5 years experience in CCC Qatar and 3 years in Saudi” contact fysal.nellaya@gmail. com or 96155921 23 yrs old Pakistani bachelor in accounts and marketing 3.5 yrsexp 2 yrsexp in Oman, looking for a job.

Contact- 99374062 Well experienced hair dresser/ beautician required, visa available.

Contact – 96524717 Sharing accommodation available for ladies opposite Al Nahda hospital.

Contact - 96524717 Indian male, 34 yrs, ca inter pass, with 14 yrs experience, is seeking suitable placement, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Contact: 95585069 or 95630747

MISCELLANEOUS

26 years Indian male with MBA & PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience in Administration, seeking suitable placement in any gulf region.

Holding Oman valid driving license.

Contact :93359371

Indian female MBA finance currently on visit visa, seeks immediate placement# +(968) 9843 0089

Indian female 25 yrs MBA finance currently on visit visa seeks immediate placement. # +(968) 9843 0089

Indian Male 58yrs, Oman experience 31yrs in Multifunctional Management, Administration, Business Development, Purchase & Operations, seeking suitable Manager/ Supervisory Position. Visa transfer/ NOC Available. GSM: 95036410 Indian male 27 years, MBA, having more than 5 yrs experience in sales and marketing, looking for suitable job. Contact no.99224057, +919824823734 Sales/ Marketing Executive : 35 years old Indian male, MBA, having experiences in UAE and India in sales and marketing field, presently on visit visa, looking for a suitable job in Salalah or in Oman.#91233648 Indian male, 14 yrs Experience in Maintenance & Supervisor in hotel field ( Electrical . Ac Mechanical & Plumber ) N O C available mob : 95 25 36 40 . email = hareeshma24@yahoo.com Part- Time Accountant, well versed with all accounting, Finalization, Budgeting available.contact 98803439 ACCA affiliate,male,2.5 years experience in an audit firm in Finance & Audit, looking for suitable immediate placement. Release available.

Contact 95140445, a.saran891@ gmail.com Indian female MBA finance currently on visit visa seeks immediate placement. contact +(968) 9843 0089 ACCA affiliate, male, 23, 2.5years of vast experience in finance & audit in audit firm,seeking suitable placement immediately. Contact+96895140445, a.saran891@gmail.com 30 years Indian male with hotel management degree, 02 years experience in F&B service at five star hotel in Dubai and 05 years in American 6 star cruiseliner as Butler . Currently in Muscat on visit visa. Contact 91075704 Indian Female looking for an Internship or Part time opportunity in any Interior Design, Architectural or Design Firm . Contact 95811820 Male - B.E Mechanical Engineer fresher( QA, QC , Piping & NDT + 1 month practical training in production & oil field ) seeking immediate placement currently on visit visa.

Contact - 0096896107833 Email albinalbin.thomas@gmail.com Senior Accounts Professional, Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA (Fin) 8 years in Oman, with valid Oman DL and NOC available. Capable to handle accounts up to finalization.

Contact 9602 3965.

25yrs experienced indian marketing mangr seeking suitable position. .presently working as a General Manager one of the leading Hyper Market Group in Oman.valid omani driving licence. Release available . contact number.92205026. aparayath@Gmail.Com Indian male executive secretary having vast experience in admin, logistics & procurement well versed with computer seeks suitable placement. Contact : 99514286 Indian female, B.Com graduate, 2 years experience in admin department looking for a suitable placement. Contact 92531929 Young male, 22 years, B. Arch. Graduate with 12 months training experience, seeks suitable entry-level position in an architecture firm or architecture and engineering consultancy. Currently on visit visa, ready to join immediately. Phone no. 92488990 Email: jay. kay.92@gmail.com Indian Male, B.Tech Mechanical Engg 29 Yrs old,4 year experience,2.5 year experience as Lifting Inspection Engineer in Qatar. Looking for suitable placement. NOC available. Contact No.93269839, Email: saneersainu@gmail.com Indian male 21 IT Engineer Networking & Computer hardware course 01 yr experience currently on visit visa looking for suitable job.

Contact 96036273, E mail faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com Diploma in Fire and Safety Engineering, Completed IOSH and have PDO passport. Having experience of 3.5 years as Safety Advisor in Oman. Have valid Omani driving license. For further information please contact me on 96896176872, 9689808527

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Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTED SERVICES

WEBSITE

MANPOWER Housemaid, driver, house boy, electrician, plumber, a/c mechanic, Mason, carpenter, helper skilled and unskilled categories.

All agreement service from India, Sri Lanka, and Philippine. Contact Al Aidi manpower. Contact 95175192 & 99531802 email oman.manpower@yahoo.com

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED Indian Female, MBA with 2.5 years of experience in Marketing seeking a suitable placement in sales/ media/administration. Have Oman experience & valid driving license.#92460623 Indian male, 14 yrs Experience in Maintenance & Supervisor in hotel field (Electrical . Ac Mechanical & Plumber). N O C available contact 25 36 40

CANADIAN MANPOWER CO. based in Oman Recruitment for legal jobs - Hotel staff ,Construction staff, Medical staff ,Gas & Oil Free consultancy, 2 years contract, work visa, free tickets, accommodation, social & medical ins. Contact us on 93392630 , pls send CV to margholdingoman@yahoo.com

NRI

Indian female,available on visit visa,knowledge in AutoCAD 2012,Revit 2012,Adobe photoshop C3, Google sketchup,seeking suitable position.

Email:dhiyana.mhmd@gmail.com.

Indian male experience in electrical and plumbing looking for a suitable position. Contact 92282845

L.L.C upgrade and formation of foreign investor company. contact 95586937

Indian female Looking for an Accounts part time job, preferred to do from home. Well versed with TALLY , Accounting software. contact 95482970.

6.5 cents north & east faced prime plot for sale at Coimbatore – gated community. Most of the plot owners are NRIs. Contact 95277505

Indian male, 14 yrs Experience in Maintenance & Supervisor in hotel field (Electrical, Ac Mechanical & Plumber) N O C available. contact 95253640

Luxurious 4 B/R villa (BUA 3600sq. ft, 4 floors, 3 Livings, 4 bathrooms, maid’s room with separate bathroom & a car park) for sale at JP Nagar, Bangalore. Asking Price: INR 2.75 Cr. Contact Ph: 97903127. Email: ravichandran.mangala@gmail.com

Female B. Sc Maths, B. Tech, Computer science CCNA, RHCE, MCP 7 years experience. Email : devi2571997@ gmail.com presently in India

For sale 3BHK 1205’ builtup at Goregaon Mumbai. +96899850753 2pm – 4pm.

Indian male- 32, 6 years’ experience in store incharge in Africa seeks suitable job, contact 97385874

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED

Indian ,Male 43,CA/ISA, Experience in Retail, NBFC, Logistics, Banking, Automobile, Investment and Facility Management seeking for a change.

Valid D/L. Release available. Contact: aurosun@gmail.com Indian Male, B.Tech Mechanical Engg 29 Yrs old, 4 year experience, 2.5 year experience as Lifting Inspection Engineer in Qatar. Looking for suitable placement. NOC available#93269839/ Email: saneersainu@gmail.com Indian Male- 29 BCA & Diploma, IT document controller & database.8 years’ experience in India seeks suitable job. Contact: 97385864 Indian female, B.Sc, PGDCA currently on family joining visa. immediate joining seeks suitable placements. contact no. (968) 95573205 /95949230/ 95800792 Indian female having 10 years as cook looking for part time job, expert in gujarati & south indian food..contact 96733187 Female Junior Architect Graduated from School of Planning & Architecture, Vijayawada. Excellence in Autocad, Sketching & Modelling. Motivated, Hardworking and Result Oriented. Internship - KHAM Designs, Bangalore.Presently with Atulya Architects & Associates.

Email saatvika.frozenmusic@gmail. com Contact 00968-94057427 Electronics System Eng. UK Graduate.

Indian Female with relevant work experience. Eng. Analysis, Instrumentation and Control, Power & Heat, Electrical & Fluid, Drives & Actuators etc. Looking for an entry level position.

Email s.dinesh1508@gmail.com. contact 97848075, +91-8105413827 Indian Female- MCA:-3 years Teaching exp. in IT. Seeking immediate placement in Teaching in IT or in Management like Customer Service Executive, Front Desk, HR/ Admin Executive. Contact 9588 7051 , ashwininakod@gmail.com

Pakistani male, 25 yrs, MBA Finance, 1.6 yrs exp in Accounts seeking placement in Accounts, Administration or Business Management.contact 92651927 / 94250149 Sudanese/ 23 yrs old/ Bachelor degree is software ENG./ Sudan University of Science and Technology/ 1 to 2 years experiences/ 95527435 or 99385542 Pakistani Male having 5 years Experience Valid Omani Driving license working as a Logistic Officer looking for a suitable position. salary is negotiable. Email : naveedmuhammad037@gmail.com Mob: +968 93363316/ 94202746 Indian female 25 years MBA finance currently on visit visa. Seeks immediate placement. Contact: +(968) 9843 0089, +(968) 97851940 Indian Male, B.Com Graduate, 23, with experience in Sales looking for suitable placements. Ph: 9837 1144 Indian Male, BBM, with experience in Sales & Accounts on visit visa looking for a suitable job.contact 98797898.

Diploma in Fire and Safety Engineering. Completed IOSH. Has PDO PASSPORT also. Currently working as Safety Advisor for past 3.5 years in Carillion Alawi. Have valid Omani driving license. For further information please contact me at 96896176872,9689808527.

Indian Male, Accountant, 2 years experience in Accounts, Supply Chain Management, Oil Accounting and expertise in using ERP softwares.

Looking for suitable placement.Contact no: 96534120. Email: miruknuddin@gmail.com

WEB, ERP and Business Intelligence (BI) creation and management at rock bottom price. Contact: http//webviewoman

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED Accountant, Indian Male 24 , 2 Years successful experience in Oman with Oman Driving Licence . NOC Available. Seek a suitable opportunity.

GSM : 9340 9315 3 year experienced male seeking job related to safety. M. Tech in HSE. Nebosh, iosh certified. Ph: 94653264 Indian female 25 years MBA finance currently on visit visa. Seeks immediate placement. Contact: +(968) 9843 0089 / +(968) 97851940 12 Years of experience as a store keeper with valid driving license in Oman. Looking for suitable placement. Qualification : Diploma in Civil.

Contact details: +968 96147340. Email id: ktbinu_555@yahoo.com 24 year Indian Chartered Accountant male with 3yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Muscat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Kindly contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@ gmail.com Senior Accounts Professional, Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA (Fin) 8 years in Oman, with valid Oman DL and NOC available. Capable to handle accounts up to finalization. contact 9602 3965.

Indian male, 29 yrs, MBA in Marketing, 6 yrs exp. in Marketing/ Sales presently on family visa seeks suitable placement. Contact 92345569, Email : tapankumarupadhyay@gmail.com Tunisian women looking for job, knows english, frensh, Italian and arabic. Contact: 91171838 Indian Accounts / Audit assistant with 2 years of experience currently on a visit visa looking for suitable job openings.# 94677338, 97041086 Email: ajeeshkcy1989@gmail.com

indian male, 11 years exp. in accounting, knowledge in tally also. looking for a part time job. contact 98983122

Indian Male, 27 yrs MBA (Fin), SAP, 4 Yrs Exp in Finance Seeking Suitable Job with a Reputed Firm Currently on Visit Visa #92481230

Indian female, B.Com. knowledge of Ms. Office & Tally, 4yrs experience in A/Cing & admin dept. looking for good placement in any field. Contact.

98928220

A Fresh ACCA Affiliate, Pakistani male, 24 yrs, open for positions of Accounts, Audit and finance.

Contact : 94541539 email: wasiqnasir_3@yahoo.com

Water proofing ABUQABASContact 99320217/24788722 Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile polishing, pest control & antitermite treatment, general cleaning painting, Plumbing, Electrical, shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. contact 24810137, 99450130 Split & window A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact 93769089 / 95323517

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Contact 99314807/24792998

A/C maintenance split A/C servicing. RO. 10 only. contact 94217681/ 99210141

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your marble.contact 24793614/ 99314807

Sewage remove tanker sewage tank cleaning & block remove all maintenance sewage tanks. Contact 97412505 / 98852238

WINDOW & SPLIT unit A.C servicing & repairing. contact 99557080

Professional web graphic designing, updates, video editing. mobile applications, computer softwares very affordable for limited time.

Contact 97276004

Indian female with 10 yrs of experience in HR/Banking/Operations seeks a suitable placement. Can be contact on 98919015 or sherianne.coelho@gmail.com ACCA finalist and BSc from Oxford Brookes University UK, having 18 months working experience, currently in Muscat on visit, seeking immediate and suitable position.

Contact : 95375282

SPLIT & WINDOW A.C servicing & maintenance. contact 96236476 SPLIT & WINDOW A.C servicing & maintenance.contact 93769089 / 95323517

Indian male MBA 32 yrs having 10 yrs of exp seeking suitable placement in Admin/ HR/ Operations/ Coordination/ Logistics etc. Holding valid Oman D/L .Contact - 99054786

We do building maintenance all kind of works. Contact 99247663

Indian female, well experienced in secretarial, administration, customer care & supervisory jobs. 5 years experience in Muscat. Immediately available for joining. contact 92139298

A/C maintenance & servicing.

Fridge, washing machine & dish washer repairing. Painting & cleaning services & electrical & plumbing. Contact 99447257/97014234/ 24504281

Learn driving with professional only automatic. Contact 94022250

Electric, Plumbing, painting & all kinds of building maintenance.

Contact 93896787 / 97924862 Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet shampooing, maintenance.#ABU QABAS99320217 /24788722 Repairing and services of split, cassette, stand A.C, Window A/C. Contact 99540621 / 97145652 House shifting. #99708138 House shifting packing.

Contact 99657644/ 98518013

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DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED CARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine Tours Contact- 98029602, 92808636

TOURS

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

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DAILY GUIDE

Indian, Arabic, Chinese dishes, BuďŹ&#x20AC;et Lunch (On Friday) Indoor & Outdoor, Catering, Party hall available Take Away & Home Delivery

Party booking & sugges ons 99320065, 99341643

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624