Times of Oman - October 14, 2015

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6 085010 120010 FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTY THE SULTAN

On the occasion of the 28th national day

‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’ Peace is the goal of the state. This is one of the principles that directs our external and internal policies. It is a strategic goal we strive to achieve and maintain for the sake of security, stability, growth and prosperity. The peace in which we believe is not the peace of those who are weak and cannot face aggression, or maintain the independence, sovereignty and the entity of the State. It is the peace of those who are strong, and who are prepared, and well-equipped as God ordains.

WEDNESDAY, October 14, 2015 / 30 Dhul Hijja 1436 AH timesofoman.com

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NEW HIJRI YEAR

HM exchanges greetings

OMAN BEAT INDIA 3-0

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Oman dispatched India 3-0 to move three points clear of Iran at the top of Group D. For the hosts, Ahmed Kano Mubarak and Abdul Aziz Al Muqbali were the scorers. >C1

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MUSCAT: On the occasion of the New Hijri Year and the anniversary of Prophet Mohammed’s (PBUH) Hijra, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has exchanged greetings with leaders of Arab and Muslim countries. In his cables, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his greetings and wishes of good health, happiness and a long life for them, praying to Allah the Almighty for the return of this happy occasion on them and make the New Year, a year of welfare and peace for all people and the Islamic nations further progress and prosperity. >A6

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‘e-visa to hit trade, travel to the UAE’ Businessmen and travellers in the Sultanate fear the new UAE e-visa rule might impact

MINISTRY

their travel plans and affect business

Thursday to be first day of Muharram

OMAN

Staff Reporter

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MUSCAT: Thursday will be the first day of Muharram, the Islamic New Year, according to the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.

The crescent of Muharram 1437 AH was not sighted on Tuesday evening, 29th Dhul Hijjah 1436 AH, corresponding to October 13, 2015. >A6

DEPRESSION

TOP THREE INSIDE STORIES

Haj pilgrims need to register with ministry Pilgrims wanting to go for Haj will have to register and collect their permits directly from the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, it was announced . >A3

OMAN

Staff Reporter

REGION

Omran invites tenders Iran okays nuclear bill

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Tenders have been invited for the construction of the headquarters and annexe building. >A5

Rain expected in Muscat, interior areas

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Iran’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday approving its nuclear deal with world powers. >A7

Countless charms of Sharqiyah Sands

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MUSCAT: Rains are expected in Muscat and interior areas in the coming three days as a depression is approaching Oman coast, the Sultanate’s meteorology department has said.

The meteorology department said the depression is currently cantered in the Arabian Sea, about 460km from the Oman coast.

According to the update, it will start raining in Sharqiyah region and later in Muscat, Dakiliyah, Batinah, Buraimi, Dahirah, Musandam and Wusta areas. Public Authority of Civil Aviation has advised people to remain cautious. >A6

REJIMON K

reji@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Oman business travellers and travel agents have expressed concern over the new e-visa system, now required to cross the border into the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Yesterday’s exclusive story was read 55,150 times on our website, reached 108,023 people on our official Facebook page and attracted 150 comments on Facebook, a majority of which expressed frustration at the change, with 350 shares.

“Businessmen like us, who frequently travel to Dubai, will be affected badly. With this new system, we have to forget about quick delivery,” Lalachen PE, a businessman in Muscat who mainly depends on products purchased from Dubai, told the Times of Oman.

“Moreover, the rule states that the e-visa is valid for entry into arrival/issuance port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will also affect us. Earlier, we could choose any of the three entry points at the Oman-UAE border to enter Dubai. Now, if it is for Dubai, we have to choose the Hatta entry point only and wait for our turn,” Lalachen added.

Effective from October 1, the

UAE announced new visa norms, stating that regardless of their professional status, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’, resident permit holders would have to apply for an evisa to enter into the UAE. Earlier, depending on their professions, many expatriates were able to procure visas-upon-arrival. However, now everyone, barring passport holders from certain countries, will have to apply for an e-visa to travel to the UAE. Another businessman in Muscat said to avoid travel hassles and to facilitate business, along with the e-visa, the UAE should continue with the visa-on-arrival facility. >A6

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

OMAN ASSIGNED BY HM

Al Futaisi to sign agreement for Tanzania port construction MUSCAT: Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, will lead the Sultanate’s delegation for the signing of agreement on the construction and development of Bagamoyo Port in Tanzania, and laying the foundation stone of the project.

Delegation Assigned by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for the signing

of the project, Dr. Al Futaisi will head to the United Republic of Tanzania on Wednesday.

The Sultanate, represented by the State General Reserve Fund, contributes, along with the United Republic of Tanzania, represented by Tanzanian Ports Authority, and the People’s Republic of China, represented by China Merchant Group, in developing the port of Bagamoyo, which consists of the seaport and

free economic zone.

The development of the port of Bagamoyo and the economic zone will bring many economic benefits for the Sultanate.

It will give investment returns to the Omani companies and businessmen and offer opportunities to them to expand into new markets in Africa, give access to global markets and ease in importing raw materials for manufacturing. -ONA

Search for Omani sailor called off Croatian coastguard ended its search operations to locate Mohammed Alawi on Monday

REJIMON K

reji@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Croatian coastguard ended its search operations for Mohammed Alawi, the missing sailor on MOD70, on Monday.

The Croatian coastguard was leading the search operations to locate Mohammed since last Wednesday. Mohammed who was on board MOD70 went missing last Wednesday in the early hours of the morning, just south of Pula in Croatia while the trimaran was en route from France to Trieste in Italy. “It is with immense sadness we heard the news

NO TRACE: Oman sail boat and Croatian coastguard searched the waters in the hope of finding Mohammed but the efforts went in vain. – Supplied photo

that Croatian coast guards have concluded the search and Mohammed remains missing,” David Graham, Oman Sail CEO, said.

“That said, we completely understand why and respect their decision. The coastguard team has worked tirelessly alongside our crews for everyday since Mohammed was lost at sea. The search has been thorough and extensive and Mohammed’s father, asked me to convey his deepest

gratitude for their efforts, and all involved in the search which we, Oman Sail, echo.”

On Monday also, the Oman sail boat and the Croatian coastguard searched the water, and the Oman Sail search team also flew a light aircraft along the Italian coast in the hope of finding Mohammed, sadly without results.

Meanwhile, the Italian coastguard has put all stations along the coast of the Adriatic on alert.

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Pilgrims registration rule Pilgrims will now have to register and collect their permits directly from the ministry

PILGRIMAGE: The Ministry has introduced the rule to streamline the Haj registration process. – File photo

FAHAD AL GHADANI

the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs. The Ministry has introduced the rule to streamline the Haj registration process.

According to the decision, “Pilgrims should register and collect

fahadnews@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: From now on, Haj pilgrims will have to register and collect their permits directly from MILESTONE

4 million visit Oman’s Expo Milano pavilion MILANO: Nearly four million people had visited the Sultanate’s pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 by Monday night since the beginning of the expo in May and hundreds more are visiting every day.

The number of visitors at the Al Sablah Restaurant touched 131,673, while the pavilion drew more than 63,000 visitors on Saturday.

Algirdas Butkevicius, Prime Minister of Lithuania, and his accompanying delegation, also visited Oman’s pavilion recently.

They were received by Yaqoob bin Khalfan Al-Busaidi, Director of the Omani Pavilion at Expo Milano, who escorted them on an introductory tour through the sections of the pavilion and briefed them on the civilisational and humanitarian achievements of the Sultanate.

The Lithuanian guests were also briefed on the Sultanate’s future plans related to food security, in addition to a briefing on the design of the pavilion, which is

The pavilion drew more than 63,000 visitors on Saturday.

inspired by the Omani environment, nature and architecture.

Lithuania’s PM Butkevicius hailed the Sultanate’s pavilion and the clearness of its message.

The Sultanate’s pavilion at Expo Milano will observe “the Omani Woman Week,” next week, which coincides with the Omani Woman Day that falls on October 17 every year. -ONA

their permits from the ministry themselves for Haj henceforth.”

The decision also mentioned that after obtaining the permit, pilgrims can decide to choose one of the approved Haj campaigns

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started by the ministry.

A reliable source at the ministry explained that in the past, pilgrims used to submit their documents and get their permits organised by the Haj campaign operators. “This decision has come in the wake of the incident that occurred during the Haj pilgrimage this year,” said the source. Around 700 Omani pilgrims were stuck at the Batha border of Saudi Arabia after failing to obtain valid Haj permits.

The source also informed the Times of Oman that cases have been registered against a number of Haj campaign organisers.

He further said that the ministry would announce the legal action taken against such organisers soon.

ARAB LEAGUE MEETING

Oman condemns Israeli acts CAIRO: Oman on Tuesday condemned all provocative actions carried out by Israel on occupied Al Quds, as well as all actions concerning the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and in the Green Zone.

The Sultanate, in a speech delivered by Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Harthy, Oman’s Ambassador to Egypt and its Permanent Representative to the Arab League be-

fore today’s emergency delegatelevel meeting of the Arab League Council, confirmed its support to Palestinian people and to all actions of the Palestinian Authority.

The Sultanate called upon the global community to take its responsibility to impose peace in this region, on the basis of the Arab peace initiative and all the United Nations resolutions. -ONA

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015 There still exists a lack of a clear definition of the communication framework, priorities and communication goals that create development and progress of nations and businesses Ines Pires, Founder and chief executive officer ISPD

OMAN

Oman-Spain bilateral trade volume up 62% Spain values the contribution of the Sultanate of Oman to the peace and security of the region and its commitment to dialogue as a method of solving

BILATERAL TRADE: In the last five years, Spain has bought 37 per

conflicts, said Jose

cent of Omani hydrocarbons exported to Europe, Jose Urtasun, Spain’s ambassador to Oman, said at an event to celebrate his country’s National Day. – AR Rajkumar

Urtasun, Spain’s ambassador to Oman

MOBIN MATHEW BLESSON

mobinmathew@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Bilateral trade between Oman and Spain has risen by 62 per cent, the European country’s top diplomat in Oman has said.

Speaking at an event to celebrate his country’s National Day, Jose Urtasun, Spain’s Ambassador to the Sultanate, said, “Spain receives the most hydrocarbon exports from Oman of any European nation. In the last five years, we have acquired 37 per cent of Omani hydrocarbons exported to Europe.”

He added, “The coming into force on September 19 of the Agreement to Avoid Double Taxa-

tion, signed on the occasion of the Royal visit, will no doubt contribute to encourage bilateral investment and trade.”

The ambassador said Spain values the contribution of the Sultanate of Oman to the peace and security of the region and its commitment to dialogue as a method of solving conflicts, highlighted by Minister Yousuf bin Alawi during his intervention at the 70th United Nations General Assembly.

Urtasun also said he appreciated the hospitality that His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said offered to King Juan Carlos I during his visit to Oman in May 2014.

“It was a memorable visit that gathered two old friends and resulted in an extraordinary expansion of our bilateral relations with the signing of the agreement to

avoid double taxation, as well as four memorandums on defence, transport, tourism and archives,” Urtasun said.

In discussing Spanish companies involved in the development of the Sultanate, Urtasun noted that highly qualified Spanish companies were operating in Oman in fields such as transport management, infrastructure, high speed trains and public works.

Significant projects “Companies are not only involved in large tenders related to infrastructures and the oil and gas sectors, but also in projects of great significance for the Sultanate, such as desalination and water treatment plants, the National Museum, long term tourism strategies, public transportation, and E D UC AT I O N

implementation of the railway project, to name a few,” he added.

According to Urtasun, the presence of Spanish companies has considerably increased in recent years, as they participate in the process of Omanisation while training Omani staff, or collaborating with Omani public entities in the development of key sectors.

Further, Oman and Spain have close cooperation within the defence sector.

“Participation of high ranking officers of the Sultan’s Armed Forces, for the second consecutive year, in the course for MENA countries organised by the Spanish Higher Centre for National Defence reflects the excellent cooperation among both countries,” Urtasun said.

Spain-Oman Forum The ‘Investment and Business Cooperation Spain-Oman Forum’, organised by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade in April, saw participation by more than 120 firms, more than 40 being from Spain and 80 from Oman,who were interested in cooperating in key sectors for the development of the country.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry of Oman, Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, and Secretary of State Garcia-Legaz presided over the opening of the Forum and the signing of a memorandum establishing a fund of an initial 200 million Euros for the internationalisation of Spanish companies interested in the expansion of their activities in Oman, along with other countries of interest in the Sultanate.

I N D I A N S C H O O L M U S C AT

Space scientist gives leadership tips to students Sasikumar advised the students to think independently and take responsibility

Times News Service MUSCAT: Students of Indian School Muscat (ISM), got leadership tips from a prominent space scientist on Sunday.

The lessons came during an address delivered by TP Sasikumar, a former scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who is also chairman, Shiksha Trust, and founder director, Destination IAS. The event is part of ISM’s ongoing series of motivational talks aimed at encouraging charismatic leadership and enthusiastic initiatives in students.

Sasikumar emphasised on certain points through his unique style and interacted with students of varied aptitudes.

He also exhorted students to think independently and take responsibility for their actions, which he said reflected signs of maturity.

He also highlighted various survival strategies for students while dealing with studies and

life in general. Referring to his personal life examples and how he overcame his low scores in examinations and reached great professional heights, he encouraged students to think of life as an acronym: ‘Live In Full Enjoyment.’

Sasikumar also stressed importance of gaining knowledge about a wide range of subjects and excelling in one’s profession, stressing on the point that no one is a failure or “useless, but is used less.”

Members of the Students’ Council received the guest speaker in a ceremony. The Senior Section, Vice Principal, Deep Wilson addressed the gathering.

Geeta Chauhan, assistant vice principal, Senior Section, and the heads of various departments and a great number of students were present on the occasion.

As a token of gratitude and appreciation, Wilson presented a memento to the guest speaker.

The students expressed their heartfelt gratitude and many of them admitted that the talk was truly an eye-opener.

DEVELOPMENT

Educational practices reviewed

Diplomacy school to open first Middle East centre in Muscat

MUSCAT: Vocational and technical education practices used in the Sultanate were reviewed by a team of visiting GCC officials here on Tuesday.

The review happened at a meeting which was held after Dr Muna bint Salim Al Jerdaniyah, Undersecretary of Technological Education and Vocational Training, received a delegation of officials from GCC technological education and vocational training sector.

The visit was aimed at exchanging experiences and to benefiting from the mechanisms used in both statistics, studies and planning process undertaken by the Sultanate in the field of technological education and vocational training and to learn how to find out the needs of the labour market through statistics and trends in order to develop and identify approaches and disciplines required in this market. -ONA

Times News Service MUSCAT: Oman stands to benefit immensely from enhanced protocol and diplomatic skills with the opening of a new centre next year, an expert has said.

Brussels-headquartered International School of Protocol & Diplomacy (ISPD) is set to open its first regional centre for the entire Middle East in Muscat in January.

ISPD is one of Europe’s leading academic institution and offers programmes in protocol, diplomacy and cross-cultural communication skills.

“The ISPD Muscat centre will cater to training demands of the whole of the Middle East in the field of business and diplomatic protocol skills. Oman, with so many odds stacked in its favour can reap rich benefits by following proper business and diplomatic protocol,” Ines Pires, founder and chief executive officer of ISPD said during a recent visit to Oman.

An economist and expert in international protocol, soft diplomacy skills, cross cultural intelligence and corporate diplomacy, Pires has worked as an international affairs adviser to the European Parliament vice president, and as a training adviser at the ministry of foreign affairs, Timor-Leste.

Working towards bringing the focus of the Sultanate’s government and private sectors on the significance of developing proper business and diplomatic protocol, ISPD in association with the Muscat-based Future Media Group will be holding Oman’s first Business Protocol & Diplomacy Conference at the Crowne Plaza, Muscat, on October 26 and 27.

ISPD has been working closely with the Sultanate’s Diwan of Royal Court’s Institute of Capability Development for implementing the Certificate in Protocol and Soft Diplomacy Skills at the Diwan of Royal Protocol Department. Also, last year ISPD provided training to 134 officials at the Diwan of Royal Court in protocol and soft diplomacy skills.

“With powerful nation branding efforts, Oman and the entire Middle East could project their real business and growth potential to the rest of the world. In fact, Oman is one of the first traders in the world to indulge in direct cross-cultural engagement with Europe and Asia. Still there is not much awareness about the need to develop a standard protocol

Lack of soft diplomacy skills and knowledge of appropriate protocol might affect the credentials, reputation and image of countries and businesses Ines Pires Founder and chief executive officer of International School of Protocol & Diplomacy and diplomacy framework at the government and corporate levels.

This conference is going to address that issue,” Pires added.

“Communication across cultures and governments has a long history. However, there still exists a lack of a clear definition of the communication framework, priorities and communication goals that create development and progress of nations and businesses.

In the light of ongoing agitations, conflicts and other developments in the Arab world, it is extremely important for governments and businesses in the region to undertake nation branding to steer clear of misconceptions and ensure that development and progress are achieved. Nation branding and corporate diplomacy is ever more significant today,” she stated.

Talking about the Sultanate, Pires said Europeans generally have no clear idea about Oman,

partly because proper efforts have not been made to brand the nation on an international level.

How government diplomats work at the inter-governmental level to enhance their countries’ economic growth, as well as how business leaders work with governments to bring in more revenue, is to a large extent dependent on how effective they are in applying the appropriate protocol, she said.

Stressing on the significance of protocol in today’s world, Pires said a lack of soft diplomacy skills and knowledge of appropriate protocol might affect the credentials, reputation and image of countries and businesses.

In many cases, the hired event management agencies were found to be clueless about corporate diplomacy and protocol, leaving the dignitaries feeling “culturally shocked” or embarrassed, she noted. Instead of investing money in reputation management consultancies to avoid brand disasters, companies and government agencies must learn the fundamentals of cross cultural protocol and diplomacy as a preventive strategy to avoid mistakes, including cultural and diplomatic offences that might negatively affect business prospects.

Protocol is not about discriminating against other human beings; rather it’s all about setting in place a system of criteria to bring order and dignity across dealings involving governments, organisations and businesses. Protocol ensures that society, which is inherently unequal on various parameters, is well organised in its dealings, Pires stated.

ISPD also has a membership system called ISPD+ Innovation in Diplomacy Network, whereby members will get regular updates on the latest developments in protocol and the diplomacy segment.

They can stay connected with their counterparts online, and always stay in the loop in terms new strategies and challenges in the field of protocol. ISPD+ also aims to promote a global elite of innovators in diplomacy and to aid, assist, foster, and spread soft diplomacy education in developing countries.

Members work to internationalise their knowledge and share it across cultures, resulting in continuous professional development and innovation in diplomacy, protocol, and cross cultural communication and soft skills.

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Omran invites headquarters, annexe tenders The brief of the tender includes construction, completion, handing over testing and commissioning, and maintenance of the Omran headquarters and the annexe building at OCEC LANDMARK PROJECT: Currently undergoing construction, OCEC project is progressing smoothly and on schedule. – Supplied photo

Times News Service MUSCAT: Tenders have been invited for the construction of the headquarters and annexe building of the Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC) Business Park.

This landmark project is the centrepiece of Oman’s business development programme and is aimed at establishing the Sultanate as a major regional venue for regional and international events.

Currently undergoing construction, the OCEC project is progressing smoothly and on schedule, with a large number of tenders having been awarded successfully last year.

The brief of the tender includes construction, completion, handing over testing and commissioning and maintenance of the Omran headquarters and the annexe building at the OCEC.

Requirements The tender fee is OMR3,000 and companies filing a tender are expected to be excellent grade and should have an experience of 10 years or above in having constructed similar projects.

“The last date for tender document sale is Thursday, October 22 and the last date for submission is not later than 10 am on Wednesday, November 25,” Omran said.

Omran, which is the Sultanate’s premier tourism-related investment, development and management company, has also invited tenders for direct subcontracting for the supply, installation, testing and commission of security, telephone and other advanced systems for OCEC Package 7 - Hotel 2.

The 4-star property hotel is currently under development and requires ICT active infrastructure including IP networks, IP

TV, hybrid IP telephone, digital signage and a security system.

“Bidders should have strong experience in past hotel and hospitality projects that have a minimum 4-star property rating,” the tender said.

The tender fee is OMR400, with companies required to be excellent grade.

“A minimum five years experience in hospitality projects, with strong reference and implementation for the above systems mentioned,” the tender said.

The last date for tender document sale is October 20 and the last date of submission is not later than 10 am on Wednesday, November 11.

Officials said the tender requirements are in line with the government’s vision of positioning tourism as a major economic driver in the future and as a generator of employment in Oman.

OMAN

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

OMAN DECISION

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Thursday to be a public holiday

Therefore, tomorrow (Wednesday), October 14, 2015, will be the last day of Dhul Hijjah and Thursday, October 15 will be the first day of Muharram 1437 AH. Therefore, Thursday will be a public holiday. Last week, Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court, chairman of the Civil Service Council, issued a decision on the holiday of the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) Hijra Anniversary and the advent of the New Hijri year 1437 AH. On this occasion, the minister of the Diwan of the Royal Court extended his congratulations to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty, grant him good health, happiness and a long life,and for the return of this and similar occasions on His Majesty for many years to come, and the Omani people and dear country with further progress and welfare under His Majesty’s wise leadership and all Muslims with blessings and welfare.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower also issued a decision on the occasion of the new Hijri year 1437 AH.

Home Centre started with a vision to provide customers with high quality home furnishing products Mederic Payne, chief executive officer, Home Centre

Home Centre to open new outlet in Nizwa Home Box is the Landmark Group’s retail offering, which comprises a diverse portfolio that includes high street fashion, accessories and electronics

POPULAR BRAND: During the last two decades, Home Centre has opened 90 stores and expanded in 11 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. – Supplied photo

TARIQ AL HAREMI

décor, beauty products and sporting goods.

The announcement comes in the wake of the United Arab Emirates-based retailer celebrating its 20th anniversary. The anniversary celebration was held in the Madinat Arena, Jumeirah, Dubai on Monday in the presence of important figures, regional staff members and media personnel.

“We have ambitious plans for the future, with significant investments and store expansion planned in the MENA region, as

tariqh@timesofoman.com DUBAI: Home decor retailer, Home Centre, is slated to open a new outlet in Nizwa in December.

The group has plans to introduce Home Box, which offers a value furnishing concept with high quality standards, in Oman.

Home Box is the Landmark Group’s retail offering, which comprises a diverse portfolio that includes high street fashion, accessories, electronics, home

well as for our online business and human resource development,” said Mederic Payne, chief executive officer (CEO), Home Centre.

Job creation He also said expansion plans would provide thousands of jobs.

The event was hosted by standup comedian Wonho Chung, who announced the introduction of Nancy Ajram, one of the Middle East’s most influential people and pop artist, as Home Centre’s brand ambassador. In addition to that,

Home Centre also unveiled a new television advertisement featuring the pop singer.

“Home Centre started with a vision to provide customers with high quality home furnishing products, which offer exceptional value for money; and twenty years later, customer satisfaction remains the prime focus from all our teams,” said CEO Payne. During the last two decades, Home Centre has opened 90 stores and expanded in 11 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

BLESSED OCCASION

A1 HM receives greetings < FROM

In their cables to His Majesty, the leaders expressed their sincere greetings and best wishes of good health, well-being and a long life to His Majesty the Sultan, praying to Allah the Almighty for the return of this blessed occasion on His Majesty for many years to come to achieve all aspirations of further progress, welfare and prosperity for his faithful people and all Muslims wellbeing and progress.

His Majesty the Sultan has exchanged cables of congratulations with: the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), His Majesty King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jabir Al Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, King Abdullah II of Jordan, King Mohammed VI of the Kingdom of Morocco, President Beji Caid

Essebsi of the Tunisian Republic, President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, President Ismail Omar Guelleh of the Republic of Djibouti, Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan, President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud of the Federal Republic of Somalia, President Dr. Fuad Masum of the Republic of Iraq, President Mahmoud Abbas of the State of Palestine, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), President Dr. Ikililou Dhoinine of the Union of the Comoros, President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Sultan Haji Hassan Al Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam, King Almu’tasimu Billahi Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah of Malaysia, President Dr. Ilham Heydar Alyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President Dr. Ashraf Ghani of the Islamic

Republic of Afghanistan, President Joko Widodo of the Republic of Indonesia, President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Dr. Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Mamnoon Hussain of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, President Mohammad Abdul Hamid of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov of the Republic of Turkmenistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey, President Idriss Deby of the Republic of Chad, President Ali Bongo Ondimba of the Republic of Gabon, President Dr. Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Imomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan, President Almazbek Atambayev of the Kyrgyz Republic, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President Abdulla Yameen of the Maldives, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, President Mohammed Bukhari of Nigeria and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita Republic of Mali. -ONA

E-VISA

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Visa rule

A1 to hit trade “Travel hassles will affect business. So we hope that the UAE will keep the visa-on-arrival option open,” Vijay Varghese, a businessman in Al Khuwair, who also depends on Dubai products, said.

A top official from the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry also reiterated that difficulty in travelling would hurt businesses.

“Not much is clear about the new rules. However, travel time is an important factor in business.

Travel delays will affect the market,” Mohammed Hassan Al Ansi, a senior OCCI official, said. An official from the Pakistan Social Club also echoed the same opinion.

“This will affect the market definitely. Travel time in business is a crucial factor. If there are unnecessary delays, it will create losses,” Pakistan Social Club Chairman and leading Pakistani businessman Mian Mohammed Munir, said while returning from Dubai.

Meanwhile, a senior expatriate official at a bank in Oman, said the website for applying e-visa followed a complicated procedure and that call centre numbers were not helping travellers much.

“I had planned to visit Dubai on October 1. First, I applied (for a visa) for myself. It got approved.

However, when I applied for my wife, it got rejected. During the second try, it got approved. But I lost my money, which I had deposited online for my wife’s visa during the first attempt,” R.S. Choubey, a bank official, said.

“When I applied for my daughter, the same thing happened. The application got rejected and I lost money. So, I didn’t try for my son.

I took a chance to source the visa from the border check post. There too, confusion in the processing delayed us a lot. However, finally we got visa and travelled to Dubai,” Choubey added.

Meanwhile, travel agents in Muscat said those who wished to travel to the UAE have to be prepared well. “Those who wish to travel to the UAE should plan well in advance. Online applications should be submitted at least three working days in advance,” Renny Johnson, a senior official at Mezoon Travels, said. “Those who wish to attend emergency business meetings in the UAE will find it hard to travel,” Johnson added.

“Last month, to reduce the time taken for applicants seeking entry permits, which require sponsorship from a citizen, resident or investor, the UAE had started allowing entry permit applications to be submitted online.

Earlier this month, the UAE’s Ministry of Interior announced that will now also accept visa applications for citizens, residents and other stakeholders for a shortterm visitor visa, either via the ministry website or through its smartphone application.

PYGMY AMBER WHALE RESCUED A pygmy amber whale which got stuck in shallow water on Hal beach in the Wilayat of Bukha was rescued by the employees of Environment and Climate Affairs Department in the Governorate of Musandam. — ONA

ARABIAN SEA

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Tropical

A1 depression “Fishermen and sea goers should avoid venturing into sea and have to follow the updates from the hazard warning centre,” the advice adds.

Drifting According to Jason Nicholls, the senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com, the depression still is drifting northwest. “Scattered rains expected in Oman, South East of Iran and Afghanistan by Friday,” Jason said.

WE DNE SDAY, O CTO BER 14, 2015

REGION

Gunmen kidnapped my father... We talked with the kidnappers over the phone and told us they would release them only when Tunisia frees the Libyan officials arrested in Tunisia Daughter of the detained Tunisian

Bill approving Iran nuclear deal passed With strong parliamentary backing, the bill is likely to be ratified by a clerical body called the Guardian Council

DUBAI: Iran’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday approving its nuclear deal with world powers, signalling victory for the government over hardline opponents who worry the accord opens a door to wider rapprochement with the West.

Many lawmakers opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that President Hassan Rouhani’s government agreed with the six powers on July 14, and the vote — which followed a bad-tempered, rowdy debate on Sunday — lifts a significant hurdle to putting the deal into effect.

With strong parliamentary backing, the bill is likely to be ratified by a clerical body called the Guardian Council.

The exact stance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, is not known. To date, he has neither approved nor rejected the agreement, but has commended the work of Rouhani’s negotiating team.

Provided Khamenei does not openly oppose it, many expect Iran will begin shutting down parts of its nuclear programme in coming weeks. When completed, that process will result in most international sanctions, imposed on Iran since 2006, being lifted.

The bill also calls on Iran’s gov-

SIGNIFICANT STEP: Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, centre, listens to a deputy during a session in Tehran on Tuesday in which Iran’s parliament approved its nuclear deal with world powers. – AFP

ernment to impose strict curbs on UN nuclear inspectors’ access to military sites, leaving the possibility that disagreements could still arise. “Members of parliament made a well-considered decision today showing they have a good understanding of the country’s situation,” government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said in a televised news conference after the vote.

The bill was adopted with 161 votes in favour, 59 against and 13 abstentions, the state news agency IRNA said. It had passed a preliminary vote on Sunday by a smaller margin, after a chaotic debate in the 290-seat chamber.

State television froze its live video coverage of Sunday’s debate as tempers frayed. Nuclear agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi could be heard shouting “listen, listen!”, his voice turning hoarse as he struggled to be heard over dissenting roars. Iranian agencies, which witnessed the debate, reported that Salehi came under physical assault as he addressed the chamber, while a lawmaker opposed to

the motion was admitted to hospital with heart problems linked to stress after losing Sunday’s vote.

The bill will now be submitted to the Guardian Council, a clerical vetting body, that will either suggest amendments to the text or pass it into law.

A spokesman told Tasnim news agency that the council, six of whose 12 members are appointed

by Khamenei and the rest by parliament, would return its verdict

by Thursday if given the draft on Tuesday. “Most policymakers expect this to pass quite quickly and smoothly. The Guardian Council’s framework is such that, if the JCPOA has reached this stage, it is highly unlikely to derail it now,” said Ellie Geranmayeh, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

She added that Khamenei was now likely to support Rouhani’s government in carrying out the deal, while also highlighting parliament’s insistence on limiting access to military sites for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. The bill stipulates that

A7

inspectors from the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, cannot visit such sites without approval from a top Iranian security organ.

Conservative hardliners fear Western powers aim to use transparency required by the nuclear deal to access Iran’s state secrets, or that it will usher in a detente with the West harmful to Iran’s 1979 revolution.

On October. 7, however, Khamenei appeared to put the brakes on moderates hoping the deal will end Iran’s isolation by banning any further negotiations between Iran and the United States, contradicting expectations voiced

by Rouhani.

For their part, Western critics of the agreement say that it is not tough enough. Ingrained mutual mistrust could cause delays in the implementation of the nuclear deal and provoke further heated debate both in Iran and the United States, where opposition conservative Republicans lost a battle to torpedo the accord in Congress, but is unlikely to derail it altogether, analysts say. — Reuters

L I B YA

Gunmen kidnap Tunisian workers TUNIS: Gunmen have kidnapped dozens of Tunisians in northwestern Libya to demand the release of a local Libyan official arrested in Tunisia this week, families and locals sources said on Tuesday.

An official from Sabratha, a coastal town between Libya’s capital Tripoli and the Tunisian border, was arrested along with another Libyan at Tunis airport on Saturday, Sabratha’s municipal council said. They had flown to Tunis on a visit organised by United Nations, the council said. Tunisian officials were not immediately available to comment. “Gunmen kidnapped my father... We talked with the kid-

nappers over the phone and told us they would release them only when Tunisia frees the Libyan officials arrested in Tunisia,” the daughter of one of the detained Tunisians told local radio. “I ask the authorities to intervene.”

Mustapha Abd El Kebir, a Tunisian human rights activist with contacts in Libya, said Tunisians were being held in Sabratha.

Armed groups in chaotic Libya often act with impunity because of a security vacuum in which rival governments and their backers fight for control of the North African state four years after Muammar Gaddafi’s fall from power. — Reuters

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

INDIA

When it is said I am a Pakistani agent, I say yes, I am an agent but an agent of peace and will continue to be one Sudheendra Kulkarni, Observer and Research Foundation chairman

Pranab for 3-pillar framework to propel ties with Palestine one place of the world triggers a response in another is unprecedented in terms of its impact and scale, the president said maintaining regular contacts at all levels is, therefore, important.

Stating that India has always been at the forefront in promoting the Palestinian cause, the president said the strong foundations in this regard and shared belief in peace, prosperity and development for the people of Palestine “propel us to do more.”

The President said the three principal pillars are ‘first, closer political interaction; second, deeper economic engagement and academic collaboration; third, wider cultural contacts and peopleto-people exchanges’

OCCUPIED RAMALLAH: Observing that peace and stability in the Middle East region is in India’s interest, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday proposed a three-pillar framework to propel its “historic” ties with Palestine besides building a second Information Technology (IT) centre in Gaza.

Pranab, who is in Palestine in the first-ever state visit by an Indian president, also announced an increase in Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scholarship programme slots for Palestine to 100 per annum and setting up of an India-Chair at the Al Quds University.

PAYING HOMAGE: President Pranab Mukherjee laying wreath at the mausoleum of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, Palestine on Monday. - PTI

The president made the proposal and the announcements in his acceptance speech after he was conferred a honorary doctorate by Al Quds University in Abu Dees in East Jerusalem on the second and final day of his visit to this country.

At the function, Pranab was described as a “valiant knight of peace”.

In his speech, Pranab told the audience at the Al Quds University, which included Prime Minister Dr Rami Hamdallah, “India shares the perception that the Palestinian issue is at the centre of ArabIsraeli conflict. Peace and stability in the region is in India’s interest.”

Noting that the speed with which an event happening in

UN resolutions He referred to India’s backing to several UN resolutions on Palestine to show its solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Pranab, who is in Palestine on the second leg of his three-nation visit that will also take him to Israel, said one of the aims of his visit to Palestine is to suggest a framework for the future of India’s relationship with it.

Noting that India continues to follow its traditional policy on Palestine, the president said the framework of their partnership can be reinforced through three principal pillars.

“First, closer political interaction; Second, deeper economic engagement and academic collaboration; Third, wider cultural contacts and people-to-people exchanges.”

Pranab delivered the speech after the inauguration of IndiaPalestine Centre for Excellence in Information and Communications Technology(ICT) in Al Quds University.

“India will build a similar centre in Gaza. We look forward to the success of the Techno-Park in Ra-

mallah. It will be jointly built and operated by the Palestine Investment Fund and the Indian public and private sector,” he added.

Pranab said this will have a satellite centre in Ramallah and forward linkages with industry.

The president gifted to the IT Centre of Al Quds University 30 computers from India without the sophisticated communication equipment, which was held by the Israeli customs on grounds of security. India plans to replace the communication equipment not permitted by Israel with frequencies acceptable to Israel.

He also inaugurated a high school for boys named after first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The president said the conferment of the doctorate on him was a sign of friendship and regard of the people of Palestine for India and for him. He told the assembled audience that the university’s pursuit of scientific knowledge and advanced research placed it at the centre of Palestine’s national development programme.

The president congratulated the people of Palestine on the momentous unfurling of their national flag at the United Nations — for the first time in history — on September 30, 2015.

Apart from our bilateral trade in goods, the president said there is vast scope for trade in services.

“India’s strength in IT and ITenabled services as well as consultancy can pave the way for greater engagement in the IT sector,” the president added.

The president also said that Government of India’s Make in India scheme welcomes Palestinians to manufacture in India.- PTI

EMERGING MARKETS

Jaitley gets best FM of Asia award

Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been chosen as ‘Finance Minister of the Year, Asia’ by London-based publication Emerging Markets.

In an article the magazine said that Jaitley too deserves ‘some recognition’ for India’s relative economic success over the last 18 months. “...most of the plaudits for India’s relative economic success have gone to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan, who was recognised with Emerging Markets’ Central Bank Governor of the Year award for Asia last year.

“But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also deserves some recognition, for without his decisions and his stewardship of India’s financial direction, India would not have achieved what it has,” said the magazine.

The article said the government must continue the privatisation programme, which is under strain, and “must convince the investment community that the sale agenda is intact and that the money can be raised. -PTI

BOOK LAUNCH ROW

Shiv Sena likens Kulkarni to Kasab, slams Fadnavis MUMBAI: Unfazed by all-round criticism for blackening Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face for his refusal to cancel Pakistan’s former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book launch, Shiv Sena on Tuesday likened the ORF chief to 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

The Sena, a junior partner in the BJP-led governments in Maharashtra and at the Centre, also locked horns with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for criticising it, saying he had “failed to understand Maharashtra” and that his condemnation of the incident brought the state “a bad name”.

Continuing with its shrill antiPakistan stance, a day after the

paint attack on Kulkarni triggered outrage, Shiv Sena said India faced greater threat from people like the Observer Research Foundation chairman than extremists and terrorists.

“The real threat to the sovereignty of our nation is not due to extremists or terrorists, but people like Kulkarni. People like him are out to cut the neck of our nation.. When there are people like him present here, Pakistan does not need to send people like Kasab for terrorist activities,” the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

“An atmosphere has been created where it now seems that

Khurshid Kasuri is a messenger of peace or a Mahatma and the Sena has committed a crime by opposing him. However much we are criticised and maligned, we will not change our stand against Pakistan,” it said.

Six Shiv Sena activists who had been arrested on Monday for blackening Kulkarni’s face, on Tuesday met party chief Uddhav Thackeray at ‘Matoshree’, his Bandra residence.

Meanwhile, ORF chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni on Tuesday described himself as an “agent of peace” and not a “Pakistani agent” as labelled by Shiv Sena for hosting former Pakistan minister Khur-

shid Mahmud Kasuri and asked the saffron party to respect other people’s freedom of expression.

Freedom of expression “I have been labelled a Pakistani agent in Sena mouthpiece Saamana. I respect their freedom of expression. They should also respect others’ freedom of expression,” Kulkarni said at a press conference here.

The Observer and Research Foundation (ORF) had organised Kasuri’s book launch event at Nehru Centre in Worli, Central Mumbai, which took place as scheduled on Monday evening amidst tight security.

“When it is said I am a Pakistani agent, I say yes, I am an agent but an agent of peace and will continue to be one,”he said.

Asked about the arrest of six persons who allegedly smeared his face black on Monday for organising Kasuri’s book launch here, he said, “I am not concerned about their arrest and bail.I have faith in our judiciary.”

“Ours is a democracy. Freedom of thought and speech is a fundamental thing,” Kulkarni said.

“ORF is a non-political organisation. I don’t want to comment on Sena-BJP ties,” he said.

To a question on the performance of Prime Minister Nar-

endra Modi, Kulkarni, who has served as speech writer for BJP veterans Atal Behari Vajpayee and L. K. Advani, said “From the day he assumed office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun efforts to usher in a new beginning in south Asia.”

Dialogue Both the sides (India and Pakistan) want the dialogue to go ahead, Kulkarni said.

“I am happy that the people of Mumbai appreciated our efforts,” Kulkarni said, and thanked those who attended the book launch in large numbers despite the Sena threat to disrupt the event. - PTI

REMARKS

BJP MP terms Dadri lynching a ‘small incident’, kicks up row NEW DELHI: BJP MP Satyapal Singh on Tuesday kicked up a row with his remarks calling Dadri lynching a “small incident”, evoking strong reactions from Opposition parties, which said it was a reflection of the party’s “polarisation” strategy.

“As far as a small incident like Dadri is concerned, our country’s democratic atmosphere is fully competent to handle. Our country is full competent to handle such incidents,” Singh told CNN-IBN. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Baghpat also said Government needs to take a view on the plight of Muslims as well as followers of other religion. Reacting sharply to Singh’s comments on Dadri, Indian political party Congress’ spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said it is a reflection of what the BJP was trying to do.

Demanding apology “I am absolutely dismayed at the remarks of the BJP MP, who was also a former Police Commissioner of Mumbai,” he said, alleging that such remarks reflect the “strategy” of BJP to “usurp” power by “polarising” communities.

Samajwadi Party leader Rajiv Rai demanded an apology from the BJP and alleged that it was aiming at “communal polarisation”, which would be seen more as Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled in 2017 comes closer. He wondered if Dadri is

RAGE: Members of various organizations protest against lynching of Akhlaq in Dadri, at Mandi House in New Delhi on Sunday. - PTI

a minor incident, what else is a big incident.

“They should apologise.I am disgusted that this statement comes from an MP, who was a former police commissioner.”

Fifty-year-old Akhlaq was dragged out of his home by a 200-strong mob and beaten to death over beef eating rumours in Bishada village in Dadri.

The Uttar Pradesh government has submitted a report to the Centre on the issue.

Concerned over communal incidents in Dadri and other places in the country, the Centre had last week asked all states to take strictest action against those who attempt to weaken the secular fabric by exploiting religious emotions. - PTI

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INDIA

Nitish: When was the last time Modi practised what he preached?

Bihar CM’s comments came against the backdrop of Modi’s ‘no shame’ barb in the wake of a sting video of a state minister allegedly taking money to contest elections

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “no shame” barb in the wake of a sting video of a state minister allegedly taking money to contest elections.

“Rattled by imminent defeat in Bihar, Modiji forced to muster courage and talk of corruption that wasn’t in his discourse since Lalitgate and Vyapam,” Kumar said in a tweet.

“We have seen what he has done on Lalitgate and Vyapam. But, when was the last time Modiji practised what he preached?” Kumar said in another post on microblogging website twitter.

The Chief Minister’s comments came against the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s “no shame” swipe at leaders of the secular alliance at election rallies in Jehanabad and Bhabua on Monday after a sting video of

JD-U minister Awadesh Prasad Kushwaha showed him allegedly accepting bribe.

Kumar’s ally RJD chief Lalu Prasad had fired salvos at Modi on Tuesday, saying “The person who did not uphold‘Lok lajja’ (high moral values in public life) and ‘Lokhit’ (good of the masses) in front of a tall personality like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is giving lectures on shame.”

Meanwhile, the two leaders of the grand secular alliance on Tuesday claimed 57 per cent voter turnout in 49 seats in the first phase of Assembly election on Monday would go in their favour.

The 57 per cent voting was 6.15 per cent more than the figure in the last elections held in 2010.

Kumar thanked the electorate, especially women, for turning up in large numbers at polling stations. Lalu Prasad also thanked the voters for the large turnout.

“Two sons of Bihar (Lalu and Nitish) have kept Modi, Amit Shah, RSS, 100 MPs, 50 ministers on run for the past four months... you have lost, hence go back and take care of the functioning of your ministries,” the RJD supremo said in a twitter post.

“The condition of BJP has turned so bad that the PM is forced to address ‘nukkad sabhas’ (street corner meetings) at panchayat level...Bihar needs a CM and not PM,” Prasad quipped, apparently taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for addressing a large number of election rallies in the state where the alliance has not declared a chief ministerial candidate.

In another incident Lalu escaped unhurt when a portion of the dais at his election meeting caved in due to overloading in Madhuvan Maidan inBihar’s Arwal district on Tuesday. - PTI

V I G I L A N C E AWA R E N E S S W E E K M E S S A G E

‘Corruption should be treated like a disease’ NEW DELHI: Corruption affects the growth of a nation and needs to be treated like a disease, President Pranab Mukherjee has said emphasising on generating awareness on its evils.

“Corruption affects the growth of a nation, reduces the government’s income and creates inequalities in distribution of income and wealth. It is a major factor hindering development. It is critical that awareness is generated and public opinion developed on the evils of corruption,” he said in his message on vigilance awareness week to be observed across the country from October 26.

Pranab said corruption needs to be treated like a disease and focus should be on prevention.

“It is appropriate that the Com-

mission has adopted the theme of ‘preventive vigilance as tool of good governance’ for the current year. The measures adopted for preventive vigilance would help not only reduce corruption but also contribute towards good governance by way of increasing efficiency, transparency and adherence to rule of law,” Pranab said.

Vice President Hamid Ansari said preventive vigilance can ensure that acts of corruption do not take place.

“It is important to create awareness among government departments, institutions and general public to implement preventive measures effectively, so that transparency and accountability can be maintained in governance and corruption eliminat-

ed at every level,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his message, said the theme chosen by Central Vigilance Commission for this year’s vigilance week “shall help highlight the importance of preventive vigilance in curbing administrative malpractices, and providing good governance”. The CVC, which is organising this annual programme, said that cooperation of all stakeholders is imperative in creating and promoting a culture of integrity, transparency and accountability, which would help fulfil the expectations of the citizens for a corruption-free society.

“Corruption is one of the factors inhibiting governance and preventive vigilance can play a prominent role in ensuring good govern-

GROWING INTOLERANCE

Punjabi author returns Padma Shri CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana on Tuesday decided to return her award protesting “recurrent atrocities” on Muslims in the country as another Kannada writer and Hindi translator joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against “growing intolerance”.

In a letter to the Centre, Tiwana said, “In this land of Gautama

Buddha and Guru Nanak Dev, the atrocities committed on the Sikhs in 1984 and on the Muslims recurrently because of communalism are an utter disgrace to our state and society. And to kill those who stand for truth and justice put us to shame in the eyes of the world and God. In protest, therefore, I return the Padma Shri award”, said the author who received the honour in 2004.

Joining the bandwagon of writ-

ers and poets protesting “growing intolerance”, Kannada writer Prof Rahamat Tarikeri on Tuesday said he has returned his Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the killing of scholar M M Kalburgi and rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.

Hindi translator Chaman Lal, a retired JNU Professor, on Tuesday returned his award and cash money of his 2002 translation prize to the Sahitya Akademi. - PTI

ance. Good governance plays a vital role in promoting economic development of the country and well being of the citizens,” it said.

Preventive vigilance is package of measures to improve systems or procedures aimed at eliminating the scope of corruption and to aid the management to achieve optimum results.

Identifying complex rules or procedures and simplifying the same, curtailing discretions, ensuring accountability, sensitising the officials, facilitating a culture of honesty and promoting ethical practises, etc are some of the measures, the CVC said.

The Commission believes that good governance can be promoted by putting in place strong preventive vigilance measures, it said. - PTI

Mob violence at Devgan’s poll rally BIHARSHARIF: Around 12 people, including some policemen, were injured as police resorted to lathicharge to quell a stone-pelting crowd which grew restive due to late arrival of Bollywood actor star Ajay Devgan at a poll rally here.

Superintendent of Police Vivekanand Kumar said, a big crowd had gathered at the ground which became unmanageable with no sign of the actor who finally came around 1pm instead of the scheduled 10.30am.

As the crowd vented ire by throwing chairs and stones on policemen, police resorted

to lathicharge and at least a dozen people, including some policemen, were injured in the ensuing melee, he said.

The actor, who was supposed to address the meeting for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sunil Kumar, finally waved at the crowd from the helicopter and did not land, the SP said.

Earlier, unruly scenes were witnessed at the programme of Ajay Devgn at Lakhisarai and Khagaria as well.

BJP has fielded Sunil Kumar from the seat after he quit Janata Dal (United) and joined the saffron party. - PTI

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

PAKISTAN EXTREMIST GROUP

IS group active in Sindh: Police chief ISLAMABAD: The Sindh police chief said on Monday that the IS group was active in the province and that the extremist group had links with the banned sectarian militant outfit Lashkar-eJhangvi (LeJ).

Briefing a parliamentary panel on Monday, Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali shared details of the arrested suspects and their alleged involvement in terrorism, particularly the Safoora bus attack, which had left more than 40 members of the peaceful Ismaili community dead in Karachi on May 13.

“They [the suspects] wanted to set up a self-styled caliphate in Pakistan,” Jamali told the Senate Standing Committee on Interior.

He said investigations into Karachi’s Safoora carnage revealed that Abdul Aziz, the kingpin of the group, had escaped to Syria and was involved in almost all the recent terror attacks along with his lieutenant Azhar Minhas.

Israr Ahmed “These two most-wanted men are affiliated with the LeJ and are influenced by late Islamic scholar Dr Israr Ahmad’s philosophy.”

The police chief said the two men were associated with al Qaeda for the past four to five years and with IS for the last one year.

He said the arrested Safoora

KARACHI LANDSLIDE KILLS 13 Pakistani relatives mourn the death of their family members in a landslide in Karachi on Tuesday. Thirteen people including seven children were crushed to death in Karachi when a rare landslide struck their thatch huts as they slept, officials said. The victims, who police said were from three families, were living on a plot of land carved out of a hill in the eastern neighbourhood of Gulistan-e-Jauhar when the tragedy struck in the early hours. — AFP

attack suspects had confessed to carrying out at least 37 major terror attacks. Of the 14 suspects, eight have been arrested with the help of GSM locators, he added.

“Aziz had started reconnaissance two months before the May 13 attack.”

Laptops confisticated The police chief said six laptops were confiscated from the suspects and the police took some time to decrypt the machines.

“The suspects were not using mobile phones and kept in touch with each other through computers.”

He claimed that the same group was involved in the assassination of Karachi’s ‘super cop’ Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam..

The parliamentary panel was critical of the controversial advertisements published by the Sindh police in some Urdu- and Sindhi-language newspapers.

The advertisements claimed that six men had been picked up by ‘unidentified Rangers personnel’ and had gone missing.

Inappropriate ads The Sindh police chief said the advertisements against those fighting terrorists were inappropriate. The committee directed IGP Jamali to expedite investigation into the case. - Express Tribune

Afghan refugees hit by cuts in aid gents since the extremist movement was toppled in 2001.

“The UN is supporting Syrian refugees. But no one ever asks about Afghans. Our war has been going on for 35 years,” said Mohammad Amin, a white-bearded veteran of the fight against the Soviets, unable to hide his anger.

Pakistan hosts the world’s largest long-term refugee population, according to the United Nations refugee agency, mostly Afghans who fled more than three decades of war

PESHAWAR: Aid programmes for some of the 2.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan are being slashed amid the worst funding shortfall for a generation, as the European and Syrian migrant crisis uses up cash and dominates headlines, United Nations officials said.

Pakistan hosts the world’s largest long-term refugee population, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), mostly Afghans who fled more than three decades of war.

The exodus of people from countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan is forcing UN officials to

IN LIMBO: A Pakistani policeman stands alongside Afghan refugees outside a registration office of the Pakistani National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), in Peshawar on March 28, 2014. — AFP file photo

cut programmes like infant feeding, education, and sanitation for refugees in Pakistan.

The UNHCR in Pakistan has received only $33.6 million for 2015 out of its $136.7 million annual budget, officials said.

That means schools like the one run by principal Mohammad

Zamir, 55, at the sprawling Kababiyan refugee camp outside the northwestern city of Peshawar, are telling students to go home.

“This year, during the summer holidays, we were suddenly told that the funds aren’t there, and so we are withdrawing 7th and 8th grade classes,” said Zamir,

gazing over a crowd of blue-uniformed students sitting on the floor of a tent.

Thousands of children could be affected by the cuts.

More than half a million refugees have tried to enter Europe this year, including 80,000 Afghans, UNHCR says.

That’s still a fraction of the 2.5 million who live in Pakistan. Many fled violence one or two generations ago.

Since the 1980s, Afghanistan has endured the campaign against Soviet occupation, civil war after the Soviets withdrew and the ongoing battle against Taliban insur-

Hard choices Globally, UNHCR’s budget is under-funded by 61 per cent in 2015, the largest gap in more than 15 years. The shortfall is forcing hard choices.

“If... there is a child who has just crossed with their families into the hills of Lebanon, and it’s winter and they’re freezing to death: do you give a tent there, or do you replace a shelter (in Pakistan)?” asked Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR’s Pakistan chief. The cuts could have the unintended effect of creating more migrants to Europe.

In Kababiyan camp, home to around 12,000 people, some members of Saida Jan’s family have already decided there is no future to be had in staying.

Two young relatives of the 60-year-old Afghan from Nangarhar province, who fled his native country 35 years ago, paid people smugglers to get them to Germany and left around two months ago. They have arrived there safely. “I cannot tell you all of the difficulties that we face over here,” he added. — Reuters

AU S T R I A N C O M PA N Y

Company finds new gas reserves in Sindh VIENNA: Austrian oil and gas company, OMV, claimed to have discovered new gas reserves at the Latif exploration block in Sindh, a press release issued by the company stated.

The Latif South-1 well had a gas throughput of 2,500 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) a day during testing, the company said in a statement.

“We are very pleased with this exploration success. The appraisal and development of this discovery will potentially enable us to enhance the production in Pakistan,” OMV Executive Board Member responsible for Upstream, Johann Pleininger, said.

The company also said that the Latif South-1 well had a gas throughput of 2,500 barrels of oil equivalent a day during testing.

“This discovery has opened up new exploration opportunities in the area,” the company said, adding that “further appraisal work is needed to confirm the size of the discovery.”

OMV’s global production was 309,000 boe a day last year, the

company, which has a 33.4 per cent stake in the Latif exploration licence, said.

Its partners are Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) and Italian energy group Eni, which hold 33.3 per cent each.

OMV Pakistan, a whollyowned subsidiary of OMV Exploration & Production GmbH, started exploration activities in the desert area of Sindh in 1991 and is amongst the largest international natural gas producers in Pakistan in terms of operated volumes.

As a key investor in the oil and gas sector in the region, OMV also holds a 10 per cent stake in PakArab Refinery Limited (PARCO), a joint venture between Pakistan and Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan is currently pursuing two major projects of gas import, including the Iran-Pakistan (IP) pipeline project, which will supply 750 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) to Pakistan and the volume will be enough to generate 5,000MW of electricity. — Express Tribune

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Taliban pull back from Kunduz as fighting flares The Taliban, seeking to re-establish their rule after they were toppled by US-led military intervention in 2001, said the decision to move out

WOUNDED: Relatives assist a wounded Afghan man after a rocket attack by Taliban militants in Ghazni on Tuesday. - AFP

of Kunduz city was not a sign of defeat

KABUL: The Taliban said they were pulling back in the northern city of Kunduz on Tuesday in order to protect civilians, but fighting continued elsewhere in the country with government troops battling to reopen the main highway south of the capital Kabul.

The insurgents have mounted a wave of attacks in Kabul and beyond since the withdrawal of most foreign troops last year, culminating in the seizure of Kunduz in a carefully orchestrated offensive at the end of last month.

Though the Taliban only controlled the city for three days, fighting between the militants and Afghan security forces continued for two weeks, driving tens of thousands of residents to seek safety in neighbouring provinces.

As government forces have slowly regained control in Kunduz, fighting has flared in Ghazni, a provincial city that lies south of Kabul on Highway One, the main link between the capital and the

major southern city of Kandahar.

Security forces beat off an attack by hundreds of Taliban in Ghazni on Monday, but clashes continued in nearby villages and the highway was blocked, leaving many desperate people trapped in the open by the fighting.

“There are hundreds of cars, buses stuck in the Nawrak area of Zabul since yesterday morning,” said Sayed Abdullah, a traveller from the area on phone.

“We beg the government and the Taliban to let us go either back to Kandahar or Ghazni. There are many women and children,” he said.

Afghan security forces have struggled to contain the insurgency, which has shattered hopes of a smooth transition after NATO pulled out of most combat operations last year and piled growing pressure on President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban, seeking to reestablish their hardline rule after they were toppled by US-led military intervention in 2001, said the decision to move out of Kunduz city was not a sign of defeat.

“We assure our people and the world that we are able to seize the

city,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

“Pulling back from Kunduz city and government compounds is based on consultation in order to protect civilians from bombings and prolonging it is a waste of humans and ammunitions.”

Kunduz police chief Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh said the city centre had been cleared and residents were starting to return.

“Getting the city back to normal, Afghan government forces are removing the destroyed vehicles and roadblocks from the city,” Jangalbagh said.

In Ghazni, the scene of days of sporadic fighting, conditions were also calmer than on Monday, with many shops reopening and more residents on the streets.

“The people in the city panicked yesterday and closed their shops, but now most shops are open and business is as usual,” said Deputy Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi.

Later, however, Ahmadi said eight rockets fired by insurgents landed in the city, killing one woman and wounding five children. - Reuters

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FRANCIS WILKINSON Location: Al Fazahiya Beach, Salala

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Research that is just too good to be tested

/Photo: Jenilee Sevilles

W

e know what happens when science is “politicised”: Think of global warming.

Politicising science leads both sides to retreat into bunkers, hurling insults at each other, and trying to cut each other off at the knees by any means necessary. But what happens when science isn’t politicised? Part of the answer may be: the epidemic of replication failures we now seem to be seeing. A recent paper from the Fed argues that economics has problems similar to those recently found in psychology: A lot of research results are getting published, and a lot of the interesting findings can’t be replicated, often because key data or instructions aren’t available.

Now, that is not, by itself, necessarily a problem.

As I’ve written before, “finding an interesting result that fails replication” is an important part of science.

We should not expect every paper to get a replicable result, not even papers that are meticulously done to the highest research standards. The outliers, the coding errors, the unforeseen model weaknesses -- these we will always have with us. But “the authors did not provide enough data to replicate their work” is not a problem science should ever have; neither is “a weak result lived on in the literature for years before anyone tried to repeat it.” I read these papers about replication failure and think “Aren’t scientists supposed to be competitive? Why aren’t these guys trying to destroy each other? Or at least provide a reality check?

How has this gone on for so long? Why do so many journals allow authors to publish without providing the necessary tools to replicate their work?”

Of course, many scientists do some of this. But the recent spate of broad replication failures suggests that they’re not trying to do it nearly enough. And cases I can think of where the system worked are often political. Take Neumark and Wascher’s attack on Card and Krueger’s work on the minimum wage.

The debate is hardly resolved. Partisans of both sides are still confidently declaring that the other side’s proposition about the minimum wage has been “debunked,” even as the research goes on. The debate has often been uncivil. But it is a robust debate in which scientists are hunting for problems in other scientists’ work. Other relatively recent cases in economics include the housing-based critiques of Piketty’s book, and the coding error that was discovered in Rogoff and Reinhart’s work on debt dynamics. We might wish that the volume of the debate was turned down

a notch. But at least there’s serious science happening -- and even better, that science is making its way to the news media and the public. In too many cases, this does not seem to be happening. One can cite any number of reasons for this: To get tenure, and grants, one needs publications, and it is hard to get published if you’re replicating a previous study; meticulously replicating someone else’s work isn’t nearly as much fun as designing your own research; people who invest a lot of time and effort in developing a data set aren’t eager to share it so that far-flung researchers can free ride on their work. But I’d like to advance another issue now being aired by the folks at Heterodox Academy: Politically, science is becoming narrower, and that is making science weaker.

A few years back, a friend who is a securities lawyer, and therefore very interested in books on the financial crisis, asked me a very good question: How does journalism guard against the possibility of false facts entering the data stream? These tomes are extensively reported, and each has its nuggets of new information gleaned from many hundreds of hours of interviews. Often interview subjects are hard to get to sit down, much less to go on the record. What happens if those interviews yield false information?

Journalists do, of course, attempt to guard against that sort of thing, for example by getting multiple sources. But we also get things wrong sometimes.

And it would be folly to think that these errors are always exposed. When they are not, these “facts” get repeated until they are heard as facts.

There is one area, however, where a robust response is guaranteed, and that’s in politics. Publish something that makes one side of the political spectrum look bad, and you can be sure that the next day, there will be hordes of interns, reporters and political staffers devoted to exposing every last weakness in the argument. Had Rogoff and Reinhart published a few years earlier, it seems unlikely that they would have attracted the level of attention that they did from outside the slightly stuffy world of international public finance wonks. As it was, their work became the focus of a heated debate over stimulus, government spending and deficits -- and their coding error quickly became big news.

When almost everyone in your field leans towards one side of the political spectrum, that reaction -that teeth-grinding, hair-pulling, eye-rolling “That can’t be right!” -- gets blunted. We should respect and demand that kind of rigor across the sciences, not only for politicised topics. - Bloomberg View

READERS’ FORUM Online visa system needs to be made simpler The Times of Oman report that expatriates in Oman — regardless of their professional status — will now have to apply for an e-visa to obtain entry into the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was true. I had to face a lot of trouble while applying and getting a visa to visit the UAE. I lost money while trying to obtain visa online. Later, I had to purchase the visa from border. It would be great if UAE eases the norms and makes the procedures simple so it helps people to visit one of the best cities in the world.

— Sunny John, Salalah

Despite a fair amount of unity among Democrats, much about the party’s direction is still unknown. Without President Barack Obama, it’s a hulking ship preparing to leave port. The party’s first debate should offer some clues about where it might be headed bit.ly/usdemocratsrace

Tunisia quartet shows the way The award of the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize to the National Dialogue Quartet comprising Tunisian General Labour Union Scan this QR code (UGTT), Tunisian Confederation of Into send letters to the dustry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), Readers’ Forum, containing not more Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) than 200 words with and Tunisian Order of Lawyers, was richfull name, address ly deserved. This quartet of civil society and telephone institutions, that came together in 2013, number, may be sent by mail (Times of had managed tortuous political negotiaOman, P.O. Box 770, tions for a consensus-based Constitution P.C. 112, Ruwi). and a transition to a robust democracy in Tunisia. The transition in Tunisia has been unique among the countries that experienced similar change. Tunisia was the site of the first set of popular uprisings in 2011, which came to be known as the Jasmine Revolution and triggered similar protests across the Arab world, which was termed as the Arab Spring. Kudos to the panel for picking the deserved ones. — Rustam Jamasjee, Muscat

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OCTOBER 2000 Symposium on cultural tourism opened MUSCAT: Salim bin Ismael Suwaid, vice president of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), presided at the opening session of a symposium on cultural tourism at Crowne Plaza Hotel here yesterday. The two-day forum is being organised by the Directorate General of Tourism and the Omani National Committee for Education, Culture and Science (ONCECC) in collaboration with the Unesco.

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12.1 OMAN 2.9

1792: President George Washington lays the cornerstone for the White House.

10.6 Kuwait

1944: Troops of the advancing Soviet Army occupy Riga, capital of Latvia.

1946: Fourth Republic begins in France; will continue to 1958.

1990: The Lebanese Civil War ends when a Syrian attack removes Gen. Michel Aoun from power.

3.2 9.9 Saudi Arabia 2.9 Source: The World Bank

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Singapore, with its limited land and workforce, is hoping that autonomous vehicles will encourage its residents to use more shared vehicles and public transport, and avoid further congestion on its roads

AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY: An autonomous self-driving vehicle picks up people during a demonstration at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on Monday. – Reuters

SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES SINGAPORE’S ROAD TO FUTURE

The city state’s plans to streamline its transport future have begun with two selfdriving vehicles going through their paces in a Singapore estate that is home to research facilities and educational institutes

SELF DRIVEN: A crew member inputs his route in an autonomous self-driving vehicle that goes onto the road during a demonstration at One-north Business Park in Singapore on Monday. – Reuters

SINGAPORE: Singapore unveiled its public transport future on Monday, and it was a vision of passengers commuting in driverless buses along roads and freeways populated by platoons of autonomous trucks following a single driver.

The city state’s plans to streamline its transport future have begun with two self-driving vehicles going through their paces in a Singapore estate that is home to

research facilities and educational institutes.

The vehicles are the vanguard of two projects - one run by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) with the National University of Singapore and one by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

Some US states and countries including Germany also allow testing of driverless vehicles on public roads.

SMART IDEAS: Members of the media disembark from an autonomous self-driving vehicle during a demonstration at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on Monday. – Reuters

Singapore, with its limited land and workforce, is hoping that autonomous vehicles will encourage its residents to use more shared vehicles and public transport, and avoid further congestion on its roads.

“Trying to look for bus drivers, truck drivers - big challenge for us,” said Pang Kin Keong, permanent secretary in the ministry of transport.

“We don’t have a huge population and these are not some of the professions which Singaporeans aspire to,” Pang said after taking a ride in SMART-NUS’s driverless car - a modified Mitsubishi Motors Corp electric vehicle with a top speed of 30km per hour (20 mph).

The government and port operator PSA Corp also said on Monday that they would seek proposals to design and implement autonomous truck platooning trials, in which a human-driven truck is followed by other driverless trucks.

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Autonomous vehicles could spur the mass-market adoption of ride sharing, ultimately resulting in a marked reduction in personally owned vehicles and in the total number of cars on the road, at least within cities, according to a Boston Consulting Group report in April.

Google and a number of automotive manufacturers and suppliers have said the technology to build self-driving cars should be ready by 2020.

The Singapore government said in June that it was seeking ideas on how autonomous vehicle technology could be harnessed for more land transport options.

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority said it had received proposals from eight applicants, includ-

ing Uber Technologies Inc, BMW AG and the Toyota group’s trading arm, Toyota Tsusho Corp.

Meanwhile on the road to use advance technology, Singapore Post recently said it has used a drone to deliver mail to an island community, joining other postal services such as Finland which are testing unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver packages.

The test flight took five minutes and carried a letter and a T-shirt for a total distance of two kilometres (1.24 miles), Singapore Post said.

The delivery comes as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong promotes plans to develop Singapore into a “smart city” to better compete against Shanghai, San Francisco and Sydney.

The city-state is introducing initiatives such as letting people access maps and build up databases so they can share information such as traffic incidents or the best eateries. — Reuters

VANGUARD OF PROJECTS: An autonomous self-driving vehicle goes onto the road during a demonstration at One-north Business Park in Singapore on Monday. – Reuters

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Violence escalates on Palestine ‘Day of Rage’ With the worst unrest in years in Israel and the Palestinian territories showing no signs of abating, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a security cabinet meeting

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Palestinian men armed with knives and a gun killed at least three people and wounded several others in a string of attacks in occupied Jerusalem and near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, police said, on a “Day of Rage” declared by Palestinian groups.

With the worst unrest in years in Israel and the Palestinian territories showing no signs of abating, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a security cabinet meeting.

Officials said Israel’s public security minister was considering whether to seal off Palestinian neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, home of many of the assailants of the past two weeks, from the rest of the city.

Public insecurity Unlike their brethren in the occupied West Bank, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem can travel in Israel without restrictions.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem after a 1967 war in a move that is not recognised internationally.

Adding to a growing sense of Israeli public insecurity, two Pal-

UNREST: A Palestinian student from Hebron University carries a piece of metal during clashes with Israeli security forces as they block the main north entrance of the occupied West Bank town of Hebron with stones and tyres on Tuesday. - AFP

estinians shot and stabbed passengers on a bus in occupied Jerusalem, killing two and injuring four, police said.

One of the assailants was killed, an ambulance service spokesman said, and the other captured.

“We don’t know what to do, or where to walk,” Avi Shemesh, a witness to the attack, told reporters. “They are Israel-haters and they need to be eliminated.”

Minutes later, another Palestinian rammed his car into a bus stop in the centre of occupied Jerusalem, then got out and began stabbing pedestrians, killing one and wounding six, police said.

They said the attacker had been “neutralised”, without saying what this meant.

Seven Israelis and 27 Palestinians, including nine alleged attackers and eight children, have died in almost two weeks of street attacks and security crackdowns.

The violence has been stirred in part by anger over increasing Jewish visits to the Al Aqsa mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.

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In Raanana, just north of Tel Aviv, a Palestinian man stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli on a shopping street during the morning rush hour, officials and witnesses said. Amateur video distributed by police showed several men kicking and beating the alleged assailant as he lay on the ground. The ambulance service said he was seriously hurt.

A shopkeeper said that, after hearing shouting, he had grabbed a heavy wooden umbrella and run outside to confront the assailant.

“He started stabbing the guy.

I hit him a couple of times and kicked him and the knife flew out of his hand,” the store owner said.

“I wish I had had a gun — I would have shot him.”

Within an hour of that incident, another Palestinian stabbed and

wounded four people in Raanana, police said. The main Palestinian factions, including the Westernbacked Fatah movement and the Hamas group, declared a “Day of Rage” on Tuesday across the occupied West Bank, Gaza and occupied East Jerusalem, accusing Israel of “escalating its crimes against our people” and carrying out “summary executions”.

The leaders of Israel’s Arab community called for a commercial strike in their towns and villages.

The now-daily stabbings have raised speculation that Palestinians could be embarking on another uprising or Intifada, reflecting a new generation’s frustrations over their veteran leadership’s failure to achieve statehood.

Palestinians also see increasing visits over the past year by Jewish groups and right-wing lawmakers to the Al Aqsa plaza.

Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not allow any change to the status quo, but his assurances have done little to quell alarm among across the region. - Reuters

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GENERAL ELECTION

Myanmar to hold poll as planned on November 8 YANGON: Myanmar’s general election will go ahead as scheduled on November 8, according to an announcement on state-run television on Tuesday night.

Earlier, the country’s main political parties and election commission had discussed postponing the ballot less than a month before it was due be held, owing to disruptions to preparations caused by widespread flooding.

“After taking into consideration the discussions of the Central Mediation Committee about the possible consequences of postponing the general election, the Union Election Commission decided not to postpone the general election but to hold it on November 8 as scheduled originally,” said the announcement read out on state-run MRTV. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is expected to do well in the vote, a milestone in the country’s transition from a military dictatorship to democracy.The election commission invited 10 parties to the capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday morning and asked them whether they

wanted to postpone the election because of the floods, a government official and two politicians who attended the meeting said.

The NLD opposed the move, while the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was in favour of a postponement, the three said.

There was an exchange of views but no voting on the matter, the two politicians added. Win Htein, a senior member of the NLD present at the meeting, said the floods were insufficient reason to delay the landmark vote. Parts of western Myanmar, including the impoverished Chin state, were devastated by the disaster.

“This is a false excuse, the disasters in Chin and flooding are quite negotiable,” said Win Htein.

More than 100 people have been killed and over 1 million “critically affected” by the flooding in recent months, according to the government and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

It is the worst natural disaster in Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140,000 people in May 2008. - Reuters

CAMPAIGNING: Members of the National League for Democracy party hold posters and flags as they campaign for the upcoming November 8 general election in Yangon on Tuesday. - AFP

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“A 9N314M warhead detonated outside the aeroplane to the left side of the cockpit. This fits the kind of warhead installed in the Buk surface-to-air missile system Dutch Safety Board report

MH17 shot down by Russian missile The long-awaited findings of the board, which was not empowered to address questions of responsibility, did not point the finger at any group or party for launching the missile

GILZE-RIJEN (THE NETHERLANDS): Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile, the Dutch Safety Board concluded on Tuesday in its final report on the crash in July 2014 that killed all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch.

But the long-awaited findings of the board, which was not empowered to address questions of responsibility, did not point the finger at any group or party for launching the missile.

A bitter war was raging in eastern Ukraine between Russianbacked separatists and Ukrainian

ILL-FATED AIRCRAFT: The wrecked cockpit of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is presented to the press during a presentation of the report on the cause of its crash, at the Gilze Rijen airbase on Tuesday. – AFP

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government forces when the aircraft was downed and, amid a huge international outcry, many Western experts and governments immediately blamed the rebels.

“A 9N314M warhead detonated outside the aeroplane to the left

R E L I E F M AT E R I A L

EXPLOSION: A militiaman loyal to Yemen’s government extinguishes the fire on a car destroyed by a landmine explosion in Yemen’s central province of Marib on Tuesday. The landmine was set by Houthi rebels. – Reuters

First ship docks at Yemen’s port of Hodeidah in weeks DUBAI: Officials at Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah said the first ship to dock there in three weeks arrived on Tuesday, carrying desperately needed fuel, as Saudi Arabia denied it was obstructing aid supplies heading for Yemen by sea.

Yemen is suffering what the United Nations has designated as one of its highest-level humanitarian crises but aid efforts have been severely hampered by ongoing fighting and air and sea ports being blocked for long periods.

Hodeidah port officials said that two cargo ships, one carrying wheat and the other timber, were the last vessels to enter the facility about three weeks ago.

The tanker that arrived on Tuesday had been waiting in international waters for two months, they said, adding that nine other vessels were anchored about 60 miles away from the port awaiting permission to enter. International aid officials say imports to Yemen have slowed to a trickle because of inspections of vessels by a Saudi-led coalition looking for smuggled weapons.

However, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Al Asseri said there had been no attempts to prevent ships from reaching Hodeidah, adding that six ships had arrived at Hodeidah two days ago and 12 more to the southern port city of Aden, which is controlled by Hadi’s government. “The ships are still operating,” Asseri told Reuters.

Concern “We told the crude oil to go to Aden, to the refinery there. But for the rest, the refined fuel, plus the food and humanitarian aid, they can go to Hodeidah. We want this to go to the population. That is where our concern is.” The Saudi-led coalition is fighting to end control of the country by the Houthi movement.

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Asseri said ships sent by humanitarian bodies such as the Red Crescent, and the United Nations, are not searched, nor are ships from member countries of the coalition. Only those ships coming from third countries are searched, he added.

He appeared to be referring to a new inspection regime backed by United Nations and announced in September to increase the flow of commercial goods into Yemen.

Shipping sources said that the fuel tanker’s cargo of diesel was destined for a flour mill that was forced to close early October due to lack of fuel. Late in night yesterday, Yemen’s former president vowed to honour a peace plan brokered by the United Nations and to quit Yemeni cities if a Saudi-led Arab alliance stopped air strikes on the country.

Ali Abdullah Saleh also told the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen television in an interview broadcast on Monday that he was ready to quit his position as head of the country’s largest party, the General People’s Congress (GPC), to facilitate an end to fighting that had killed more than 5,000 people. Saleh, who enjoys the loyalty of the armed forces despite having stepped down from office nearly four years ago after months of protests, had joined forces with Houthis in fighting a Saudi-led alliance. The Houthis and Saleh’s GPC last week sent letters to UN chief Ban Ki-moon declaring their acceptance of the peace plan, which includes a Security Council resolution adopted in April calling on the Houthis to quit cities captured since September last year. — Reuters

side of the cockpit. This fits the kind of warhead installed in the Buk surface-to-air missile system,” said Safety Board head Tjibbe Joustra, presenting the report.

Russia for its part disputes that a Buk may have been used. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov responded to the report by saying there had been “an obvious attempt to draw a biased conclusion, and carry out political orders”, according to Russian news agencies.

The Safety Board report said

that simulations of the missile’s trajectory showed it came from somewhere in an area covering some 320 kilometres southeast of Grabovo, Ukraine -- an area mostly controlled by separatists.

The makers of the Buk said their tests had shown that the aircraft could not have been hit by a missile fired from rebel-controlled territory.

Although the report did not assign blame, it is almost certain to further strain diplomatic ties be-

tween the Netherlands and its allies and Russia.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte urged Russia to cooperate fully with a separate criminal investigation that the Netherlands is leading, with participation from Malaysia, Australia, Ukraine and Belgium. The White House called the report an “important milestone in the effort to hold accountable those responsible”.

“Our assessment is unchanged - MH17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. The report also seemed certain to strengthen calls within the airline industry for a review of how information is shared in conflict zones.

The board found that Ukraine should have closed the airspace over the conflict zone, and that the 61 airlines that had continued flying there should have recognised the potential danger.

It recommended international

aviation rules be changed to force operators to be more transparent about their choice of routes.

However, Hennadiy Zubko, head of a separate probe by Ukraine, said Ukrainian authorities had followed the established procedure.

“All the recommendations from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) were carried out... Ukraine closed its airspace below 9,750 metres (32,000 feet),” he told journalists in Kiev.

The British pilots’ union BALPA called for states and operators to share accurate information on where it is safe to fly.

“Passengers and pilots want an open and uniform level of safety, not one that is decided in secret and in different ways by airlines and countries,” Stephen Landells, flight safety specialist at BALPA, said in a statement.

The safety board’s report said that a 9N314M (Buk) warhead had exploded to the left of the aircraft’s flight cabin, sending shrapnel hurtling with “tremendous force” into the plane. — Reuters

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CRUDE OIL PRICE

CURRENCY RATES*

DRAFT RATES (OMR1)*

GOLD PRICES*

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

Forex rates vs OMR1* US Dollar ................................. 2.58 Euro ............................................ 2.25 Pound ...........................................1.68 Indian Rs ............................. 168.78 Pak Rs ....................................266.74 Bangla Taka.......................199.52

Indian Rs ...................................169.10 Pakistan Rs .............................270.40 Sri Lanka Rs ........................... 361.60 Bangla Taka.............................201.70 Phil Peso .....................................119.10

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......14.80

Oman Crude............. (Spot) ..........$47.41 Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) .........$47.36 Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$48.40 Arabian Light ......... (Spot) .........$47.49 N.Sea Brent............... (Spot) .........$50.21 West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$47.43

* Rates are as of Oct. 13 Source: Bank Muscat

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Bank Muscat’s net profit rises 7.5% to OMR136.2m 482m

The bank’s net interest income

OMR was the Islamic financing receivables as of September 30, 2015, compared with OMR385 million during the same period of 2014.

from conventional banking stood at OMR176m for the first nine months of 2015, compared with OMR170.3m for the same period in 2014, up by 3.3 per cent

Times News Service MUSCAT: Bank Muscat reported a net profit of OMR136.2 million for the first nine months ended September 30, up from the OMR126.7 million net profit reported during the same period last year, showing an increase of 7.5 per cent.

CREDIT SUISSE REPORT

Global wealth forecast drops on economic slowdown ZURICH: Private wealth will grow more slowly because the global economy isn’t advancing as quickly as expected, according to Credit Suisse Group.

Wealth is now expected to climb 6.6 per cent a year to $345 trillion through June 2020, the Zurich-based bank said in its annual wealth report on Tuesday. That compares with last year’s projection of an increase of seven per cent a year to $369 trillion by 2019. “The global economic outlook is weaker than previously expected,” the world’s fourth-largest wealthmanagement firm said in the report. “This leads us to revise our projections downwards.”

Private wealth measured in dollars fell 4.7 per cent to $250.1 trillion in the 12 months through June 30, the first decline since the 2008 financial crisis, as the greenback rose against other currencies, according to Credit Suisse. Net worth valued in dollars dropped in every region except China and North America during the period.

While wealth has doubled since 2000, including a fivefold increase in China, the pace of growth has slowed in recent years. — Bloomberg News

ROBUST GROWTH: Net income from Islamic financing was pegged

at OMR13.7 million for the nine months of 2015, compared with OMR12.4 million for the same period in 2014. — Supplied picture

Oman’s leading bank said net interest income from conventional banking stood at OMR176 million for the first nine months of 2015, compared with OMR170.3 million for the same period in 2014, up 3.3 per cent.

Net income from Islamic financing was pegged at OMR13.7 million for the nine months of

2015, compared with OMR12.4 million for the same period in 2014.

Non-interest income Non-interest income was said to be OMR112.9 million, 8.4 per cent higher than the OMR104.1 million reported for the nine months ended September 30, 2014.

Operating expenses for the nine-month period in 2015 stood at OMR126 million, higher than OMR117.6 million for the same period a year ago, showing an increase of 7.2 per cent.

Impairment for credit loss The impairment for credit losses for the nine-month period this year was OMR42.7 million, against OMR40.7 million for the same period in 2014. Recoveries from impairment of credit loss was OMR25.5 million for the nine-month period of 2015, against OMR19.6 million for the same period last year.

Share of income from associates for the nine-month period in

2015 was OMR1.9 million, against OMR896,000 for the corresponding period of 2014.

Net loans and advances Net loans and advances from the conventional operations increased by 8.7 per cent to OMR6,566 million, against OMR6,042 million during a year ago, the bank said..

Customer deposits, including CDs (certificates of deposit) from conventional operations, jumped 6.7 per cent to OMR6,778 million during the nine-month period of 2015, against OMR6,351 million during the same period in 2014.

Islamic financing receivables amounted to OMR482 million as of September 30,2015, compared with OMR385 million during the same period of 2014.

Islamic Banking customer deposits amounted to OMR549 million as of September 30,compared with OMR231 million reported during the same period of 2014.

The full results of the ninemonth period ended September 30,along with the complete set of financial statements, will be released after an approval given by the Board of Directors at a meeting scheduled to be held in late October.

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......14.30 Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ........... 139.00 Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............ 132.00 * Rates as of Oct. 13 Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

PERFORMANCE

Net profit of Raysut Cement falls to OMR16m Times News Service MUSCAT: Oman’s largest cement producer, Raysut Cement, said its net profit for the first nine months of this year fell 24.24 per cent to OMR15.81 million.

The company’s revenue edged down to OMR69.38 million from OMR70.76 million, while the cost of sales rose to OMR43.88 million from OMR40.16 million, the company said in a stock market filing.

Raysut Cement’s gross profit also slipped to OMR25.50 million, against OMR30.59 million for the nine-month period of 2014.

Earnings per share Earnings per share stood lower at 79 baisas by the end of September, compared with 104 baisas for the same period last year.

The preliminary results are subject to approval by the company’s Audit Committee and Board of Directors.

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B2

W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

MARKET ISLAMIC BANKING

Maisarah reviews innovative products and services corporate customers.

The Islamic banking window currently provides products and services out of five dedicated branches located in Azaiba, Salalah, Sohar, Birkat Al Mouz and Al Hail in addition to the Corporate Banking Division in Azaiba.

Times News Service MUSCAT: As part of its future growth strategic plan, Maisarah Islamic Banking Services plans to distinguish itself by focusing on prominent customer service, developing and launching new products, and investing in technology to provide the best customer experience in timely and convenient manner.

Sharia Supervisory Board of Maisarah Islamic Banking Services recently held its fourth meeting for 2015 at Maisarah’s headquarters in Azaiba.

The meeting was chaired by Sheikh Dr Salem Ali Al Dahab, chairman of the Sharia Supervisory Board, and was attended by board members — Dr Mohammed Ali Al Lawati, Sheikh Ahmed Awadh Al Hassaan, Dr Abdullah Mubarak Al Abri and Dr Mohammad Ameen Qattan.

In the meeting, various innovative products and services related to different business segments

were reviewed and approved by the board along with Sharia audit and profit distribution reports.

Meanwhile, Maisarah’s executive management team met the

Sharia Supervisory Board and discussed the current progress of Islamic banking services provider as well as the latest updates and current changes in the dynamic Islam-

ic banking industry across Oman.

The board also assessed the overall Sharia compliance mechanism to ensure meeting the highest standards of regulatory and

Sharia compliance.

Maisarah offers a wide range of Sharia-compliant financial solutions, products and services that cater to the needs of its retail and

3M’s foray into Oman helps support regional presence Located in Shatti Al Qurum and spread over 170 square metres, the office will support a comprehensive range of 3M innovative products to customers in the Sultanate

Times News Service MUSCAT: 3M, a science-based company that inspires creative collaboration, has opened an office in Oman in line with its ongoing plans to expand its presence in the Middle East and Africa region.

The new office was formally inaugurated by Ippocratis Vrohidis, 3M Area vice-president for Middle East and Africa; Terrence Zwambila, managing director of 3M Gulf; Alex Arzoumanian, 3M country manager for Oman in the presence government officials and industry leaders.

Located in Shatti Al Qurum

area and spread over 170 square metres, the office will support a comprehensive range of 3M innovative products to customers in Oman. 3M operates across diverse business sectors, such as consumer, electronics and energy, healthcare, industrial, safety and graphics, and produces more than 100,000 products across 46 technology platforms.

IT’S OPEN: The new office was formally inaugurated by Ippocratis Vrohidis, 3M area vice-president for Middle East and Africa; Terrence Zwambila, managing director of 3M Gulf; Alex Arzoumanian, 3M country manager for Oman. - Supplied picture

Promising market 3M’s foray into Oman would initially focus on leveraging opportunities in the healthcare, oil and gas, infrastructure and retail sectors to better serve local markets

and customers.

“Oman is a promising market in the GCC region, with its economy constantly expanding on the back of rising public and private invest-

ment, and a steadily increasing level of non-oil activity,” said Ippocratis Vrohidis, 3M Area vice president for the Middle East and Africa region. “As a global leader in

developing innovative solutions, 3M is firmly poised to effectively contribute towards the growth and development of Oman’s inspiring economic progress which offers a lot of potential opportunities for sustainable long-term growth,” he added.

“The decision to open a new office in Oman is in line with our commitment to provide our partners and customers with the best products and solutions derived from years of technological innovation excellence,” said Terrence Zwambila, managing director of 3M Gulf.

“Oman is a key growth market for our operations in the region and we are confident that we will be able to establish a strong presence and sustain our operations in this market which will be led by Alex Arzoumanian, the newly appointed 3M country manager,” he noted.

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Growth strategy Maisarah Islamic Banking services showed an impressive growth since the start of its operations in 2013 and demonstrated a high degree of product innovation and best services. The Islamic window has been recognised for its commitment to lead the Islamic finance market in the Sultanate, earning prestigious awards and titles from leading local and international organisations.

This year Maisarah was awarded the ‘Best Islamic Banking Window — Oman 2015’ award by the International Finance Magazine and the ‘Islamic Bank of the Year — Oman 2015’ award by The Banker.

INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING

Worldpay valued

at $7.4 billion in London listing LONDON: British payments processor Worldpay listed on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday in an initial public offering valuing the company at £4.8 billion ($7.4 billion), the biggest flotation in London this year.

Shares in Worldpay were trading at 255 pence at 0735 GMT, up 5 per cent and above the 240 pence offer price. One source familiar with the matter said demand outstripped the number of shares on sale by 6 to 7 times.

Worldpay’s private-equity owners Advent International and Bain Capital rejected an offer of up to £6.6 billion, including debt, earlier this year from French rival Ingenico Group, a source said at that time. Including debt, the initial public offering (IPO) values Worldpay at £6.3 billion.

Advent International and Bain bought Worldpay from Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010 for about £2 billion. The business provides platforms to allow merchants to accept payments by cards and other methods.

Worldpay processes about 31 million mobile, online and in-store transactions every day. - Reuters

WE DNE SDAY, O CTO BER 14, 2015

B3

MARKET NINE MONTHS

Oman Cement’s net profit drops Times News Service MUSCAT: Oman Cement’s net profit dipped by 38.72 per cent to OMR6.99 million for the first nine months of 2015, from OMR11.41 million for the corresponding period last year.

The company’s total revenue also fell by 7.4 per cent to OMR38.90 million from OMR42.01 million during the period under review, according to a stock market filing.

Oman Cement’s investment income dipped by 74.12 per cent to OMR1.20 million for the first nine months of 2015, from OMR4.62 million for the same period last year.

Total expenses of the company showed a marginal growth of 6.12 per cent to OMR31 million from OMR29.21 million.

The preliminary results are subject to approval by audit committee and the company’s board of directors.

GCC insurance industry set to touch $62 billion by 2020 The industry’s growth is expected

With governments realising the importance of an efficient and stringent regulatory requirement to foster growth, the industry is seeing several reforms to combat challenges such as slowdown in profitability and premium growth resulting from intense competition

to continue, driven by government expenditure on infrastructure and a gradual rise in insurance penetration level

Sanjay Vig

within the region,

Managing director, Alpen Capital (ME)

says Alpen Capital TURKEY

Mashreqbank weighs

potential acquisition DUBAI: Mashreqbank, the Dubaibased lender, may consider a potential acquisition in Turkey as some international banks seek to sell assets in the country, chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair said.

“Turkey we keep looking at,” he told reporters on Tuesday in Dubai. “There are few banks exiting Turkey now and depending on the size, price and timing” Mashreqbank would consider a potential deal, he said.

HSBC said in June it’s seeking a buyer for its Turkey business to cut costs. Qatar National Bank has held preliminary talks with Turkey’s Finansbank on a potential takeover as it seeks expansion beyond the Gulf. – Bloomberg News

Times News Service MUSCAT: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) insurance industry is expected to touch $62.1 billion by 2020, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7 per cent for the period between 2014 and 2020, according to a report.

The recently published report

by Alpen Capital depicts the current scenario of the insurance industry across the GCC states and major insurance segments, including life and non-life. The report also covers the recent trends, growth drivers, and challenges faced by the industry.

“The GCC insurance industry continues to grow at a double-digit CAGR despite a challenging 2014, backed by increased awareness

and favorable regulatory changes in most of the GCC nations. The industry is thus expected to continue to grow in the upcoming period, driven by government spending on infrastructure and a gradual increase in insurance penetration level in the region,” says Sameena Ahmad, managing director of Alpen Capital (ME).

“However, the persistent sluggishness in oil prices might put pressure on the GDP in the near term, creating challenges for its growth. In light of all these facts, the outlook for the GCC insurance industry is cautiously positive in the near to medium term,” she said.

“Currently, the GCC insurance industry is transitioning from being a protected industry into a globally competitive sector. With governments realising the importance of an efficient and stringent regulatory requirement to foster

growth, the industry is seeing several reforms to combat challenges such as slowdown in profitability and premium growth resulting from intense competition,” said Sanjay Vig, managing director of Alpen Capital (ME).

According to him, soaring valuations and limited market share are discouraging consolidation in the industry. However, stricter solvency and capital requirement regulations may push small players to consider M&A route to sustain and grow in the industry.

Industry outlook The scale and growth of the insurance industry is strongly correlated with a country’s economy.

The GDP of the GCC economies is strongly linked to oil prices.

As per the high growth scenario described in the report, the GCC insurance industry is expected to

reach $62.1 billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 18.7 per cent for the period between 2014 and 2020.

International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) forecasted drop in the GDP of the GCC countries for 2015 and the volatility in oil prices are expected to result in lower growth in premiums for 2015. Between 2014 and 2020, IMF forecasts GDP growth in the region at a CAGR of 2.3 per cent.

Population growth Additionally, population growth is expected at a CAGR of 2.4 per cent for the same period. The resulting improvement in insurance penetration and density levels (based on historical regression analysis) is likely to bring about growth in GCC insurance premiums for the period 2014 to 2020.

The report’s conservative growth scenario, assuming that

the GCC countries will average non-life premium growth in line with their preceding five years, results in the GCC insurance industry reaching a size of $49 billion by 2020 at a 14.1 per cent CAGR. Growing at a CAGR of 20.2 per cent between 2014 and 2020, the non-life insurance segment is likely to outperform the life insurance segment (CAGR of 5.9 per cent), primarily due to its line of compulsory insurance products and encouraging regulatory reforms.

Insurance penetration The insurance penetration in the GCC nations is expected to increase to 3.3 per cent in 2020 from 1.4 per cent in 2014. At the same time, insurance density is expected to more than double. In 2014, eight insurers in Saudi Arabia re-capitalised their balance sheet to comply with the regulatory requirements and fuel future growth, leading to an almost 14 per cent increase in the Saudi Arabian insurance industry equity to $2.7 billion.

Saudi Arabia, the largest country in terms of population, is likely to overtake the UAE as the largest insurance market in the region and drive the growth of the GCC insurance industry between 2015 and 2020.

Qatar is one of the fastest growing markets and is likely to remain at the third position after the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with a market share forecast of around 10 per cent between 2015 and 2020.

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VIEWPOINT S E P T E M B E R D ATA

Oman’s crude output Relevant experience crucial for success of business, says Omani entrepreneur touches 30 million barrels in September to us, we should go to them.’

“It was being run by two people at the start of the business, and now, we have 18 staff, including Omanis,” he said.

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADI

elham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman’s crude oil and condensates production edged up 0.12 per cent to 29.70 million barrels in September 2015, over the previous month. This is equivalent to an average of 990,030 barrels per day.

A statement from Ministry of Oil and Gas said that the total exports of crude oil in September 2015 amounted to 26.55 million barrels, an average of 885,032 bpd, showing a 0.59 per cent rise in comparison with August.

The Asian markets, as usual, have the biggest share of the Omani oil exports. China’s imported rate topped the list of the Omani oil importers as its imported quantity rose by 13.48 per cent in comparison with August 2015, comprising 94.47 per cent of the Omani exports in September 2015.

The imports of Oman Crude

by Japan, Taiwan and Thailand remarkably declined in September 2015. The average price for American crude oil in New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in September, 2015, amounted to $45.82per barrel, indicating a rise of $2.58 compared to August, 2015.

The North Sea (Brent) basket in ICE in London averaged $48.99per barrel, a rise of$0.59 compared to the trading of August, 2015.

The trading of Oman Crude Oil Future Contract at Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME Oman) declined in price in the same month

in comparison to other crude oils, as it averaged between $49.89 and $43.71 per barrel.

November delivery Meanwhile, Oman oil price (November Delivery 2015) stood at $45.76, a decline of $2.12 compared to October delivery 2015.

The decline of Oman oil price during September 2015 in comparison to other crude oil is attributed to many reasons, including the contraction in China’s industrial sector, which is one of the main economic engines of the largest energy consumer in the world, while the official Chinese purchase index went down to 49.7 per cent in August 2015 from 50 per cent in July 2015, which contributed in increasing the concerns about second-largest economy in the world.

The wide fluctuation in the Chinese stock markets also deepened the future of the crude oil prices and the recovery of the global markets, as the decline in the Chinese demand for crude oil impacted the oil trading at the Asian markets. – ONA

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MUSCAT: A relevant educational and professional background is crucial for the success of a business and should be taken into account by funding organisations, says an Omani entrepreneur.

There are some people who establish a business without having any relevant background and there is a high probability that they will not succeed in the market, said Ben Bella Al Naamani, founder of Ocean & Earth catering.

“When you start a business, you should not work ‘for’ the business.

You should work ‘on’ the business.

It means you should get involved in all aspects of it. If you do not have any background, you will not be able to do so,” Al Naamani told Times of Oman.

He believes that funding organisations in Oman should support start-up projects based on the ‘experience’ of the individuals and not only their ‘interests’, and their capabilities should be assessed through various tests.

Having a strong background has been the key to the success of Ocean & Earth catering, founded in 2009 by Al Naamani, a hotelier with around 27 years of experience.

Before setting up his own business, he had worked at Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Intercontinental Hotel Muscat, Intercontinental Dubai, Grand Hyatt Muscat, Grand Hyatt Cairo, Park Hyatt Hotel Dubai, Meridian Hotel Kuwait and Kempinski Hotel in Chad, Africa.

UPBEAT: Ben Bella Al Naamani, founder of Ocean & Earth

“I had been working in Chad for over a year and came back to Oman after Gonu. When the time came for me to return to Chad, I thought to myself that it would be a good idea to establish my own business in Oman,” Al Naamani said.

First initiative His first initiative was to open a live seafood restaurant, where live fish would be kept and cooked for customers based on their choice.

“However, courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. I realised that this kind of business is very expensive because of the costs and the massive space that it requires,” he said Al Naamani then decided to open a small ordinary restaurant and the idea of changing it to a catering company came to his mind when he thought that ‘if people do not come

Sharakah’s support When Al Naamani felt the need for more capital to maintain his business, he approached the Fund for Development of Youth Projects (Sharakah), which provided 49 per cent of the required investment. In addition to offering financial support, Sharakah helped enhance his auditing and management skills.

Al Naamani managed to buy back all the shares owned by Sharakah in a record two years and so, sooner than the specified period of three years.

New location Ocean & Earth catering had established its production facility in Barka and is now shifting to a new location in Al Ghubra North to enhance its accessibility to clients.

“Our clients include Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech). We are also providing our services to those working on the new airport project,” Al Naamani said.

Expansion plans Ocean & Earth catering also plans to open a bakery, and the work on the project is expected to begin by March 2016. While expanding the business in Oman, Al Naamani is considering the opportunities

abroad, especially in East Africa.

The entrepreneur believes that there is still room for ‘quality’ catering businesses in Oman, established by those who have a solid background in this field.

Support for SMEs In addition, Al Naamani said that the government has done a lot in order to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and business owners should themselves prove that they are capable of delivering quality services.

“If you prove yourself, I do not think that anybody can stop you.

You should not wait for large companies to come and award you contracts. You should approach them,” he added.

Local community He also noted that Ocean & Earth catering believes in contributing to the local community and is using local products and services wherever possible.

In his message to those who are interested in setting up their businesses, Al Naamani said, “As we all know if there is no struggle, there is no progress. Truth builds trust. Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. If you are not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.”

“We are very much open to share with you new ideas. So if any young Omani plans to open a food business, he or she can contact me anytime for consultation atinfo@ cateringoe.com,” he said.

B4

W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

MARKET OMAN STOCKS

MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET

INDICES Index .................................................High .................Low..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff % MSM30 Index ....................................... 5,968.22 .............. 5,928.89 ...................5,928.98 ....................5,963.11................-34.13 .................. -0.57 Financial Index ..................................... 7,341.79 ............... 7,310.16 .................... 7,317.48 ....................7,314.56....................2.92 ...................0.04 Industrial Index ................................... 7,434.84 ............... 7,372.17 ....................7,373.43 ................... 7,428.83................-55.40 .................. -0.75 Services Index ...................................... 3,304.75 .............. 3,288.44 ...................3,288.44 ................... 3,299.79................ -11.35 .................. -0.34 MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................912.50 .................. 907.21 ....................... 907.41 ...................... 912.42...................-5.01 .................. -0.55 Trading Summary Volume ................Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded 29,386,297 ..................5,529,815 ..................1,459 ...............14,740,358,080 ................ 10 ..................... 24 .................... 11..........................45

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13 ISIN ......................................SECURITY NAME ..................................................................VOLUME..... TURNOVER............TRADES ......OPEN PRICE......HIGH ............. LOW ........ CLOSE PR. ...PREV. CLOSE...DIFF (RO).........DIFF % .............LAST PR.....LAST BID .............LAST OFFER ........MARKET CAP.PAR VALUE – Times file picture

MSM index ends lower

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 6,879,932 ...1,429,643...................372 ........... 0.208........... 0.213 ...........0.203........... 0.208 .............0.200 ........... 0.008.............4.000 ................0.206............. 0.206...................0.207 ..................31,215,600 .........0.100 OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ............ 212,122............ 63,226..................... 34 ........... 0.302 ...........0.306 ...........0.290 .......... 0.298 .............0.287 ............0.011 ............. 3.833 ................0.294..............0.293...................0.294 ...................6,258,000 ..........0.100 OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING........... 1,375,151 ....... 159,993..................... 85 ............0.118 ........... 0.119............0.113 ............0.116 ............. 0.113 ............ 0.003............. 2.655 ................0.117 .............. 0.116................... 0.117 ................... 14,137,500 .........0.100 OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK ......................................................................33,030 ............... 6,799........................5 ........... 0.204...........0.207 ...........0.202 .......... 0.206 .............0.202 ........... 0.004............. 1.980 ................0.202 ............. 0.195...................0.202 .................293,557,446........0.100 OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER..............................................................69,000 ............24,564........................2 ........... 0.356 ........... 0.356 ...........0.356........... 0.356 .............0.352 ........... 0.004..............1.136.................0.356..............0.352...................0.356...................78,679,560 .........0.100 OM0000001087............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 407,000 .........108,323......................16 ........... 0.269 ...........0.270 ...........0.264 .......... 0.266 .............0.264 ........... 0.002............. 0.758 ................0.264..............0.262...................0.264 ..................26,600,000 ........0.100 OM0000001319 ............NATIONAL ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS ............. 580,948 ......... 126,379..................... 25 ........... 0.222...........0.222 ...........0.217 ........... 0.218 ............. 0.217.............0.001 ............. 0.461 ................0.220 .............0.218...................0.220 ....................7,318,576 ..........0.100 OM0000001509............DHOFAR INT.DEV.AND INV. HOLD........................ 1,000 ..................400........................2 ........... 0.400...........0.400 ...........0.400 .......... 0.400 .............0.400 ........... 0.000.............0.000 ................0.400..............0.390...................0.400 ..................98,560,000.........0.100 OM0000002275 ...........SHELL OMAN MARKETING ..................................... 5,497 ............ 10,994........................2 ........... 2.000...........2.000 ...........2.000 .......... 2.000 .............2.000 ........... 0.000.............0.000 ................2.000 ............ 2.000...................0.000 ................ 190,000,000 .......0.100 OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ...................... 112,875 .............11,965.....................20 ............0.106 ........... 0.107 ...........0.104........... 0.106 .............0.106 ........... 0.000.............0.000 ................0.104..............0.103...................0.104....................3,180,000 ..........0.100 OM0000002549 ...........BANK DHOFAR ............................................................ 479,722 ......... 114,854........................6 ........... 0.239 ...........0.240 ...........0.239........... 0.239 .............0.239 ........... 0.000.............0.000 ................0.240 ............ 0.240...................0.244 .................369,190,122 ........0.100 OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 1,525,450 ......273,320...................108 ............0.179 ........... 0.183 ...........0.172 ............0.179 ............. 0.179............ 0.000.............0.000 ................0.173 .............. 0.173...................0.175 ...................52,026,533.........0.100 OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ...........................................................552 .................. 238........................1 ........... 0.432 ...........0.432 ...........0.432........... 0.430 .............0.430 ........... 0.000.............0.000 ................0.432..............0.436...................0.440 ..................26,015,000 .........0.100

The top gainer on Tuesday was Oman

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER................................................ 390,619............ 83,983......................14 ............0.215 ........... 0.215 ...........0.215 ............0.215 ............. 0.215............ 0.000.............0.000 ................0.215 .............. 0.215...................0.216..................145,100,797 ........0.100 OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................. 397,781 .............85,535......................13 ............0.215 ........... 0.216 ...........0.215 ............0.215 ............. 0.215............ 0.000.............0.000 ................0.215 .............. 0.215...................0.216..................153,597,363 ........0.100

Textiles, up by 9.94 per cent, while HSBC

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS .....................................................4,518 ...............2,213........................7 ........... 0.490 ...........0.490 ...........0.488........... 0.488 .............0.488 ........... 0.000.............0.000 ................0.490..............0.484...................0.490 ..................25,620,000.........0.100 OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ............................................65,000 .............27,490........................8 ........... 0.422 ...........0.424 ...........0.422........... 0.422 .............0.424 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.472 ...............0.424..............0.422...................0.424 ..................25,828,203.........0.100

Bank was the top loser, down by 4.13 per cent

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE.............. 584,172 ..........110,655..................... 50 ............0.195 ........... 0.195 ...........0.185 ........... 0.189 .............0.190 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.526 ...............0.186 .............. 0.185...................0.187...................37,800,000.........0.100 OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 186,799 ...........140,313......................11 ............0.752 ........... 0.752 ...........0.748 ........... 0.752 ............. 0.756............-0.004 ........... -0.529 ...............0.748 ..............0.744...................0.748..................489,510,061 ........0.100 OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 209,157 .........342,091.....................20 ............1.640 ........... 1.640 ...........1.625 ............1.635 ............. 1.645............-0.010 ........... -0.608 ...............1.625 .............. 1.625...................1.640................1,226,250,000......0.100 OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 1,588,821 ......874,588.....................80 ........... 0.550 ........... 0.552 ...........0.550........... 0.550 .............0.554 ...........-0.004 ........... -0.722 ...............0.550..............0.548...................0.550................1,260,502,428 ......0.100

MUSCAT: Profit taking after earnings results led the MSM30 Index to close at 5,928.98 points, down by 0.57 per cent.

The MSM Shariah Index declined 0.55 per cent to close at 907.41 points. Bank Nizwa was the most active in terms of volume while Al Anwar Holding led in terms of turnover. The day’s top gainer was Oman Textiles, up by 9.94 per cent while HSBC Bank was the top loser, down by 4.13 per cent.

Turnover of OMR5.5m As many as 1,459 trades were executed during Tuesday’s trading session generating turnover of OMR5.5 million with 29.3 million shares changing hands. Out of 45 traded securities, 10 advanced, 24 declined and 11 remained unchanged. Omani investors were net buyers for OMR1.04 million followed by GCC & Arab Investors for OMR306,000 while Foreign Investors were net sellers for OMR1.35 million worth of shares on Tuesday's trading.

Financial Index closed on a stable note at 7,317.48 points, up marginally by 0.04 per cent.

Al Anwar Holding, Bank Nizwa, Oman & Emirates Holding, Ahli Bank and Oman United Insurance increased 4.00 per cent, 2.90 per cent, 2.65 per cent, 1.98 per cent and 0.76 per cent respectively. HSBC Bank, Al Madina Takaful, Gulf Investment Services, Al Madina Investments and Al Sharqia Investments decreased 4.13 per cent, 3.41 per cent, 1.94 per cent, 1.67 per cent and 1.63 per cent respectively.

Industrial Index retreated strongly by 0.75 per cent to close at 7,373.43 points. Oman Textiles, Gulf International Chemicals, Construction Materials and National Aluminium increased 9.94 per cent, 3.83 per cent, 2.78 per cent and 0.46 per cent respectively. Oman Fisheries, Al Jazeera Steel, Al Anwar Ceramics, Raysut Cement and Al Hassan Engineering declined 3.39 per cent, 2.56 per cent, 2.29 per cent, 2.21 per cent and 2.11 per cent respectively.

Services Index closed negatively at 3,288.44 points, down by 0.34 per cent. Sohar Power gained 1.14 per cent to close at OMR0.356. — United Securities

OM0000002374............UNITED FINANCE ....................................................... 11,250 ............... 1,496........................2 ............0.133 ........... 0.133 ...........0.133 ............0.133 .............0.134............-0.001 ........... -0.746 ...............0.133 ..............0.132...................0.133................... 41,331,737 .........0.100 OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 434,767 ............75,879......................13 ............0.176 ........... 0.176 ...........0.174 ............0.175 ............. 0.177............-0.002 ............-1.130................0.174 .............. 0.174...................0.175 ................. 252,252,000 .......0.100 OM0000001483............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 368,000 ..........113,100......................11 ............0.310 ........... 0.310 ...........0.306........... 0.308 .............0.312............-0.004 ........... -1.282 ...............0.306..............0.302...................0.304 .................412,938,757 ........0.100 OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. ........12,751 ............24,864........................2 ............1.950 ........... 1.950 ...........1.950 ........... 1.950 .............1.980 ...........-0.030 ............-1.515 ................1.950 ..............1.980...................0.000 .................134,550,000........0.100 OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 518,661 ............ 62,703.....................44 ............0.123 ........... 0.123 ...........0.118 ............0.121 ............. 0.123............-0.002 ........... -1.626................0.118 .............. 0.119...................0.120...................10,890,000.........0.100 OM0000001962............AL MADINA INVESTMENT .....................................93,810 ...............5,535........................2 ........... 0.059 ...........0.059 ...........0.059........... 0.059 .............0.060 ...........-0.001 ............-1.667................0.059..............0.060...................0.061...................12,221,932 .........0.100 OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .......................................................... 121,983............54,240..................... 10 ........... 0.448 ...........0.448 ...........0.440 .......... 0.444 .............0.452 ...........-0.008 ............-1.770................0.440..............0.430...................0.440 .................146,907,483 ........0.100 OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION .........................55,500 ...............9,234........................7 ............0.175 ........... 0.175............0.166 ............0.166 ............. 0.169............-0.003 ............-1.775 ................0.166 ..............0.166...................0.170................... 15,776,640 .........0.100 OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 1,167,284........118,475..................... 47 ............0.103 ........... 0.103 ...........0.101 ............0.101 .............0.103............-0.002 ........... -1.942 ...............0.102.............. 0.101...................0.103.................... 5,943,165 ..........0.100 OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 557,832............ 54,568..................... 29 ........... 0.099 ...........0.099 ...........0.097........... 0.098 .............0.100 ...........-0.002 ........... -2.000 ...............0.098..............0.097...................0.098...................28,418,102 .........0.100 OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ........................................................55,983 ............. 61,851........................8 ............1.120 ........... 1.120............1.100 ............1.105 ............. 1.130............-0.025 ........... -2.212 ...............1.100 .............. 1.100................... 1.130 ................. 221,000,000 .......0.100 OM0000002168............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 208,174 ........... 71,260........................9 ........... 0.344 ...........0.344 ...........0.340 .......... 0.342 .............0.350 ...........-0.008 ........... -2.286 ...............0.344..............0.344...................0.346 .................101,305,079 ........0.100 OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 110,000............20,900........................6 ............0.190 ........... 0.190 ...........0.190........... 0.190 ............. 0.195............-0.005 ........... -2.564 ...............0.190..............0.190...................0.195................... 23,730,612 .........0.100 OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL............................................. 344,679 ........... 29,397..................... 33 ........... 0.086 ...........0.086 ...........0.085........... 0.085 .............0.088 ...........-0.003 ........... -3.409 ...............0.085..............0.085...................0.086...................14,875,000 .........0.100 OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .............................................................10,088 ............... 3,147........................2 ............0.312 ........... 0.312 ...........0.312 ........... 0.312 .............0.324 ...........-0.012 ........... -3.704 ...............0.312 ..............0.312...................0.320 ..................15,600,000 .........0.100 OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN .................................................... 788,912 ............91,787.....................22 ............0.119 ........... 0.119............ 0.115 ............0.116 ............. 0.121............-0.005 ........... -4.132 ...............0.115 ...............0.115...................0.120................. 232,036,284 .......0.100 .............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 19,968,820.....4,796,004 ...........1,128 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......37........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET .................................................................................................................................................................................

OM0000001053 ............OMAN TEXTILE HOLDING ................................... 166,040 ............58,695......................41 ........... 0.354 ...........0.354 ...........0.348........... 0.354 .............0.322 ............0.032............. 9.938 ................0.354..............0.350...................0.354....................2,124,000 ..........1.000 OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 7,970,265 ......566,606................... 185 ........... 0.069 ........... 0.074 ...........0.069............0.071 .............0.069 ........... 0.002............. 2.899 ................0.073..............0.072...................0.073................. 106,500,000 .......0.100 OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. ....................18,000 .................. 666........................2 ........... 0.037 ........... 0.037 ...........0.037........... 0.037 .............0.036 ............0.001 ............. 2.778 ................0.037..............0.035...................0.037.................... 3,145,000 ..........0.100 OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 955,152............ 67,840..................... 65 ........... 0.070 ...........0.072 ...........0.070............0.071 ............. 0.071............ 0.000.............0.000 ................0.072.............. 0.071...................0.072...................71,000,000.........0.100 OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 184,084 ............28,313.....................22 ............0.154 ........... 0.154 ...........0.153 ........... 0.154 .............0.154............ 0.000.............0.000 ................0.153 .............. 0.153...................0.154................. 225,240,625 .......0.100 OM0000004776 ...........TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE ..............................66,957 ............... 7,164........................3 ............0.107 ........... 0.107 ...........0.107 ........... 0.107 .............0.108 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.926 ...............0.107 ..............0.107...................0.110 ...................10,700,000 .........0.100 OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING....................................35,354 ...............3,288........................6 ........... 0.093 ...........0.093 ...........0.093........... 0.093 .............0.095 ...........-0.002 ........... -2.105 ...............0.093..............0.092...................0.094 ...................6,994,344 ..........0.100 OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ....................................................... 21,625 ...............1,238........................7 ........... 0.060 ...........0.060 ...........0.057........... 0.057 .............0.059 ...........-0.002 ........... -3.390 ...............0.057..............0.058...................0.059.................... 7,125,000 ..........0.100 .............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 9,417,477........733,811................... 331 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 8........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

STOCK MARKET

India's Sensex drops again MUMBAI: India’s benchmark stock index declined for a second day after weak Chinese import data sent global equities to their first loss in 10 days and metal prices retreated.

Vedanta, India’s largest copper producer, dropped after a six-day, 33 per cent rally. Hindalco Industries, the nation’s second-biggest aluminium producer, ended an

eight-day climb, whileTata Steel declined more than two per cent.

Oil & Natural Gas Corp. slid the most in three weeks. Infosys, the second-largest software exporter, slid for a second day after cutting its sales forecast.

The S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.2 per cent to 26,846.53 at the close.

Energy and materials companies led losses on the MSCI Asia

Pacific Index as shipments to China plunged 20 per cent in dollar terms in September. Tata Consultancy Services, the largest software exporter, may say its second-quarter profit increased 14 per cent to Rs60.2 billion, according to the median estimate of 27 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. The shares added 0.2 per cent. — Bloomberg News

WE DNE SDAY, O CTO BER 14, 2015 SCAN THIS TO INSTANTLY LAUNCH FACEBOOK PAGE

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ROUND-UP

More Café opens brand new outlet in Qurum

VA L U E A D D I T I O N

Al Hayat welcomes new laparoscopic surgeon MUSCAT: Dr Mohammad Kheer Al Khateeb joined as a full-time general and laparoscopic surgeon at Al Hayat International Hospital, Al Ghubra, in general surgery department, says a press release.

After graduating from Damascus University as a doctor, Dr Mohammad followed it up with Masters Degree in general surgery from Damascus University’s hospitals (Al Moasat Hospital, Al Assad Hospital and Children Hospital).

He has worked as a general surgeon in Mamdoh Abaza hospital.

He is experienced in general surgery procedures (thyroid surgery, breast surgery, gastrointestinal tumours, bariatric surgery, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, laparoscopic appendectomy, laparoscopic ovarian cysts, diagnostic laparoscopic, anal and rectum surgery multiple trauma, Gunshot, war victims).

Dr Mohammad Kheer has presented papers on Stapled Haemorrhoidectomy and participated in a number of conferences and CME programmes. He has undergone special training in laparoscopic techniques. He got trained as a Premier Personnel in Comprehensive Trauma Care System and is adept in handling advanced laparoscopic and general surgical procedures, as well as emergency surgeries. His area of special interest includes diabetic foot care.

Al Hayat International Hos-

Created by the café’s own international chefs, the menu presents a healthy range of soups, salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes, as well as a mouth-watering array of desserts, pastries and drinks

MUSCAT: The hugely popular Dubai based More Café recently opened their newest outlet in ‘Bader Al Qurum’, situated near the PDO compound in Muscat.

With communal and hanging tables, art displays, the signature purple hue and a friendly team, More Café exudes a warm and welcoming ambience for customers from all walks of life.

Ajit Singh, group general manager of Asha Enterprises, believes More Cafe’s commitment to the highest standards of quality and

CASUAL DINING: More Café exudes a warm and welcoming ambience for customers from all walks of life. – O. K. Mohammed Ali/ TIMES OF OMAN

its distinctive food and surroundings give it an advantage in Muscat’s highly competitive casual dining market.

“The restaurant offers patrons a relaxed environment where they can enjoy menu choices from an extensive selection of modern and international dishes with a few local favourites, served in a way that is uniquely more,” he said.

“As one of Dubai’s progressive Café chains, we are very happy that the More brand has carved a place for itself in the Muscat foodie community. It is the perfect choice for those who are looking for a quality food offering that blends excellent service with value pricing,” he added.

“Our vision was to create a visu-

APPETISING PRODUCTS

ally stimulating space where individuals and families could come together to participate in initiatives which would support and build the community, while enjoying excellent food.

"Since opening its first café in Muscat in 2012, the brand has grown immensely with a loyal fan following. Our Wave location has enjoyed great success and we are sure that the outlet at ‘Bader Al Qurum’ in the central Qurum location will be equally popular amongst the local community.”

The restaurant is well liked by business professionals who prefer the calm and elegant environment to conduct meetings. The communal table, free WiFi and the latest business publications

B5

make it the perfect location to hold weekly office meetings.

Created by the café’s own international chefs, the menu presents a healthy range of soups, salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes, as well as a mouth-watering array of desserts, pastries and drinks.

More uses the freshest ingredients, roasts its own coffees, bakes its own breads and pastries and produces the pastas, jams, dressings, chutneys and ice creams on their menu, ensuring the best quality from source to plate. These ingredients can also be purchased at the store along with other More Café specialities such as chocolate truffles, cookies and pralines. The restaurant also has an extensive catering menu for private parties.

Al Hayat International Hospital is offering 50 per cent discount on Dr Mohammad Kheer’s consultation, valid till November 15

pital is offering 50 per cent discount on Dr Mohammad Kheer’s consultation, valid till November 15, and free general surgery camp every alternative Fridays from 5pm to 9pm.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Now enjoy A’Saffa’s Duqm Refinery launches ‘Wadhah’ initiative new range of tasty barbecue wings MUSCAT: A’Saffa Foods, Oman’s leading poultry and value-added processed product producer, has launched yet another appetising and tasty product in Oman with its new A’Saffa Barbecue Wings that are available at leading supermarkets across the country.

Processed and hygienically prepared from pure, tasty, premium natural ingredients and aromatic spices, the newly launched barbecue wings are quick and convenient to fry or grill and can be served as an appetising and tasty meal starter, says a press release.

Commenting on the launch, Sidhartha Lenka, head, Marketing & Sales, A’Saffa, said: “A’Saffa Barbe-

cue Wings have been produced using the latest research and studies making them an excellent product for families across the Sultanate.

Quickly frozen to retain freshness, all our processed farm fresh chicken products bring you good health, great taste and convenience.”

MUSCAT: Duqm Refinery in partnership with the Omani Women’s Association in Duqm launched ‘Wadhah’ initiative.

This is an initiative of Duqm Refinery’s CSR programme that is designed to support all the projects aimed to empower and build the capacity of women in Duqm specifically and Al Wusta Region in general, says a press release.

The launch of the initiative involved delivering two training workshops for 80 women from the local community in the areas of landscape art and local handicrafts/ jewellery design that will last for a week and is facilitated by subject matter expert Omani women.

The workshops aim to maximise the potential of local women and provide them with up-to-date skills and techniques in handicrafts design, marketing and packaging. It also complements the as-

NEW ERA OF LUXURY

sociation’s efforts in supporting the local women in developing handicrafts products through enriching them in a way that is more attractive and competitive. The artwork and products produced by the women during the workshops will be exhibited in Crowne Plaza Duqm the following week.

Nasha Al Fallahi, GM, Corporate Affairs, Duqm Refinery, said: “‘Wadhah’ initiative is part of Duqm Refinery’s social investment programme to empower and support local women. This initiative comes in line with His Majesty’s directives to support and empower women so they can actively participate in the sustainable development of their communities and the Sultanate. Our CSR approach is driven by our vision to fuel economic growth in Duqm as well as significantly contribute to Oman’s future prosperity.”

I N N O VAT I O N A N D T E C H N O L O G Y

IPM participates in 32nd edition of IASP conference in Beijing

Geely GC9 super sedans to be launched in Oman soon MUSCAT: Geely’s new premium sedan GC9 will be soon made available in the Sultanate of Oman exclusively at Towell Auto Centre (TAC).

Geely GC9 is the first model to be based on the unusual and futuristic Geely KC concept that was unveiled at many leading global auto shows. In Oman, this super sedan will be made available with 2.4L and 3.5L V6 engine options.

Riyadh Ali Sultan, director of TAC, test drove the Geely GC9 3.5L V6 variant. TAC is currently testing this model to gauge its performance, limitations and suitability for local driving conditions. Driving the GC9 for almost a month now, Riyadh is very happy with its design and performance.

“I am both thrilled and awe struck by the design and the driving capabilities of the GC9. It is the first model that prides itself on the strong Geely-Volvo partnership and we keenly look forward to its introduction into the Oman market. Super design, touch controls, multi-dimensional camera are some of the features that I love.

Its spacious interior and aboveclass features are worthy of appre-

ciation and can be compared to the premium car segment in Oman.

Indeed, the GC9 will prove to be the game changer for the brand.

One really needs to drive and feel the car to understand what I am saying,” says Riyadh.

The Geely GC9 #Super Sedan is a four-door ‘fastback’ sedan with an aggressive profile, an overall length of 4,956mm and wheelbase of 2,850mm, giving an elegant and solid stance. It features an artistic innovation that borrows heavily from classical Chinese aesthetic needs and international styling philosophy. The distinctive side shoulder line arches over the front wheel and then sweeps cleanly around the vehicle’s length, combining a sense of speed with character and elegance. The wide shoulder surface gives a strong and confident feel.

The headlights and grille form a unified graphic, with the arched curve of the grille inspired by the distinctive profile of historic Chinese stone bridges. The graceful and modern interior design of the GC9 reflects a mix of technology and quality. The steering wheel, door armrests and front control

display have a lightweight and elegant appearance. The central console arches from the front to the rear passenger area.

The seats are well-designed, floating on bridge-like supports and dressed in the style of Chinese clothing. Fine red wood, jade, traditional patterns and ambient lighting works together to enhance the interior quality.

A senior spokesperson of TAC comments: “Geely’s philosophy has been to make cars that offer great luxury and an enormous array of comfort and safety features at an unbelievable value. Already the best-selling China-made car in the GCC, the automaker is now focusing on new generation cars such as GC9 designed using the KC concept. This concept brings together a whole new era of luxury, class and next generation technology thanks to the dedicated 300 designers and R&D engineers who work relentlessly at the Geely European Innovation centres.”

By bringing the Geely range to the Sultanate, TAC has reinforced its commitment to provide highquality products and services to its customers in Oman.

MUSCAT: Innovation Park Muscat (IPM), a part of The Research Council, concluded its participation in the 32nd edition of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) Conference, organised in Beijing, China recently. The conference was held under the auspices of the Mayor of Beijing.

IPM’s participation is a strategic move to be recognised on the global level as an upcoming player amongst leading science and technology parks. Its objectives are to move towards becoming a knowledge-based economy by facilitating a suitable environment for researchers and innovation, and to transfer the ideas into products that contribute to the local economy, says a press release.

It is worth mentioning that IPM was the bronze sponsor of the IASP conference.

The park’s name and logo was therefore a part of all the publications distributed for the promotion of the conference before and during the event.

An exhibition stall was created at the venue by IPM to provide visitors with relevant information about the park. Various publications and marketing tools including an innovative Rubik’s Cube were created and distributed at the venue. A visual presentation supported by augmented reality technology was also created to attract more people to the IPM stall.

IPM was the first to offer visitors a chance to experience the overall

It is worth mentioning that Innovation Park Muscat was the bronze sponsor of the IASP conference. An exhibition stall was created at the venue by IPM to provide visitors with relevant information about the park. IPM was the first to offer visitors a chance to experience the overall view of IPM in a 3D format just by scanning a printed QR code view of IPM in a 3D format just by scanning a printed QR code.

The International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) is considered as a platform to share experience and ideas in the field of scientific areas, incubators and SME management in the world of innovation and technology. It also

provides an opportunity for representatives from all over the world to meet and highlight the improvements needed in these scientific areas and suggest ways to overcome the challenges they face. They also discussed the services as well as benefits that these areas should cover in order to attract investors.

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

ROUND-UP Home Centre plans to add new stores by 2020

NEW ACADEMIC YEAR

MEC welcomes new batch of students

While continuing to strengthen its existing market presence, Home Centre will also explore expansion opportunities in countries such as Kazakhstan, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria and Angola

MUSCAT: Home Centre, the largest home retailer in the Middle East, kicked off its milestone 20th anniversary celebrations by unveiling plans to expand its regional presence through the addition of over 50 new stores over the next five years.

The brand has grown from a single store opened in Sharjah, UAE in 1995 into an international network of nearly 90 stores spread across 10 countries and occupying a total space of 4 million sq. feet, says a press release.

Attributing its leading status

to the versatile product offering, affordable pricing and customercentric approach that have been the cornerstones of its business strategy, Médéric Payne, CEO of Home Centre, announced the brand plans to invest more than AED 1 billion over the next five years to strengthen its presence across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Home Centre will also remodel over 40 existing stores in the region, fortify its existing supply chain and enhance its warehouse infrastructure.

While continuing to strengthen its existing market presence, Home Centre will also explore expansion opportunities in countries such as Kazakhstan, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria and Angola, both through organic growth and new franchise operations. The brand’s projected expansion will create around 3,000 additional job opportunities by 2020.

In a bid to adapt to evolving customer needs, Home Centre aims to introduce a wider offering over

the next five years to include a range of innovative products, a lifestyle range of home storage options, modular furniture concepts, as well as completely new product categories.

Médéric Payne, CEO of Home Centre, said: “Twenty years marks a significant milestone for a homegrown brand like ours that has today evolved to become the region’s preferred home shopping destination. We started with a vision to provide customers with high quality products at affordable prices and today two decades later, customer satisfaction continues to remain a prime focus for us.

“In our endeavour to extend an exceptional brand experience, we ensure that our product range is aligned with global trends, while continuing to cater to our diverse local customer base as well.

“We also routinely reformat our store design and enhance our customer service experience in line with new technology and changing trends that sweep the

EXHIBITION

home retail market. We have ambitious plans for Home Centre in the next five years. We will increase our store count and retail footprint by 50 per cent, while venturing into new markets. This expansion will fuel Home Centre’s next phase of growth.”

In the last two decades, Home Centre has invested in building strong and enduring relationships with its customers. More than 80 per cent of Home Centre customers are reported to be loyal to the brand, with studies indicating that on an average, a Home Centre Shukran member visits one of the brand’s stores at least three times a year.

Home Centre has been consistently ranked among the top 50 brands in the Middle East Global Brand Simplicity Index. In addition to this accolade, it maintained its Superbrand status for three consecutive years in the UAE (2010-12), as well as once each in Kuwait (2010) and in Jordan (2012).

MUSCAT: The Middle East College (MEC) concluded the orientation programme for the Academic Year 2015/2016 where it received the new students who joined the college recently. The programme included many activities organised by Student Activities Office, says a press release.

The students were introduced to the college activities, throughout the whole academic year, and the students’ clubs. Moreover, the students were given an insight into all departments of the college which are related to the students and how they help to familiarise them with their new environment.

Rajaa Al Qayodhi, one of the new students in Accounts and Finance programme, said: “I had a scholarship to study in Holland but I decided to change the scholarship to an internal one and chose MEC between all other colleges. After this programme I really found that this college is wonderful and I am excited to start my studies here.”

Abdullah Al Harrasi, a new student in Information Technology programme, said: “I was not sure about completing my higher

education and I really thought about searching for any job but after this programme everything changed. The organisers showed us how important studying is. Now I am filled with passion to complete my education at MEC and I will try my best to reach where I always dreamt of reaching” Dr R. C. Bhattacharjee, Dean of the college, also welcomed the new students, encouraged them to do their best in studying and clarified some important points that they should take care of during their life in the college. At the end he wished them the best of luck and invited them to participate in the different activities which will help them to develop their talents and skills. It is worth mentioning that MEC works in academic partnership with Coventry University, UK and Wolverhampton University, UK. In addition, the college has partnership agreements with different institutions around the world for an international exchange programme to provide a better chance of learning and developing the skills for its students.

SOCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY EVENT

Al Hashar displays Tailift forklifts at Infra Oman 2015 MUSCAT: The Tailift forklift stall received a warm and spirited response at the recently concluded Infra Oman exhibition held at the Oman Exhibition Centre.

Tailift Forklifts are available in models ranging in capacity from 1.5 to 10.0 ton. Powered by internal combustion engines or electric motors, Tailift forklifts are a viable alternative to established brands and offer customised solutions across sectors.

Distributed by Al Hashar in Oman, what distinguishes the Tailift forklifts is their cabin comfort viz ergonomically designed pedals and control levers, userfriendly dashboard, adjustable seat with seat belt and steering, wider front vision, enhanced driving stability and operator safety features, says a press release.

Fully automatic power transmission through state-of-the-art one-piece axle design (transaxle) ensures optimum functioning of all components, while the oil-immersed disc brakes guarantee precision braking and ensure lower maintenance costs.

The Z-series of forklifts boast of wider steering angles up to 85 degrees, and the smaller turning radius allows them to work in narrower aisles.

The ISO 9001 certified forklifts

use fuel-saving 4-cylinder or high performance, 6-cylinder Japanese engines. Another highlight is the mono-block chassis.

Tailift Forklifts deliver high operator comfort and reduced fatigue through ergonomically designed pedals and control levers, user-friendly dashboard, adjustable seat with seat belt and steering, wider front vision, enhanced driving stability and many other operator safety features. This leads to higher productivity and reduced downtime.

Established in 1973 and finding a home in over 50 countries, Tailift forklifts are ranked as the # 1 brand in Taiwan. The Tailift Group has bagged the National Enterprise Innovation Award by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan.

Eighty per cent of the forklifts are

exported to West Europe and USA and they are accredited with European Union’s CE mark.

Tailift Group continues to perfect its product quality and innovative technology to create added value. A comprehensive R&D team imparts the ability to customise products to client requirements.

Toyota Industries Corporation is now a major stakeholder in Tailift forklifts, after investing in Tailift material handling division in 2014. Tailift will utilise Toyota’s global sales experience and know how to further increase the value of Tailift forklifts.

Tailift Forklifts are supported through Al Hashar 3S centres located in Azaiba, Sohar, Ibri, Sur and Salalah, in addition to the parts outlets in Wadi Kabir, Ruwi, Mabela and Nizwa.

Muscat shutterbugs take part in Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk MUSCAT: Scott Kelby’s 8th Annual Worldwide Photo Walk, the world’s largest photo walk was organised by Friday Shoot Out (FSO) Muscat group here recently.

The Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk, dubbed as the world’s largest global and social photography event, has grown immensely in size and popularity since the inaugural walk in 2007. This year, more than 20,000 photographers from all walks of life and skill level converged to explore their corners of the world through photography and social community,

RECOGNITION

says a press release.

Photo Walk event in Muscat was created by FSO Muscat Group. Walkers met up at Portuguese Watch tower opposite to Riyam Park to stroll and shoot along the Muttrah corniche.

Walkers spent a few hours socialising, capturing images and sharing views and ideas with likeminded people. At the end of the photo walk, the walkers gathered at Kalbuh Park for refreshments and group photo. The event was locally sponsored by SKT Oman.

In addition to the event, photo

walkers will be able to upload their favourite picture to Kelby’s popular Photo Walk contest for a chance to win a digital copy of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby.

A grand prize winner among the 10 finalists will be selected by the great Scott Kelby himself!

This year, Kelby encouraged every photo walker to help support this year’s initiative to ‘Walk with a Purpose’ by donating $1 to the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya.

TRADITIONAL GESTURE

Bahwan CyberTek’s chief conferred Kalabhavan School with ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ gears up to celebrate MUSCAT: S. Durgaprasad, director and CEO of Bahwan CyberTek (BCT), a leading global provider of innovative software products and solutions, has been conferred with the ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ from the world renowned Anna University’s Alumni Club, Chennai, India.

Durgaprasad belongs to the 220-year-old College of Engineering Guindy, popularly known as CEG, which is the home of the world-renowned Anna University.

Anna University is the only state university in the country to find a place among the top 10 Indian institutions in the QS World Ranking for engineering courses. Every year, the Anna University’s Alumni Club recognises the professional achievements and contributions of its outstanding alumni through the annual ‘Distinguished Alum-

Durgaprasad has been conferred this recognition for his exemplary contributions to the IT industry and his vision in building a $230m organisation that has been recognised in several forums worldwide for its strengths in IP-enabled transformation nus Award’, says a press release.

Durgaprasad has been conferred this recognition for his exemplary contributions to the IT industry and his vision in building a $230m organisation that has been recognised in several forums worldwide for its strengths in IP-enabled transformation. His leadership and unparalleled commitment has evolved Bahwan CyberTek from a

start-up to a globally recognised organisation. He has continuously associated with CEG over the years. Durgaprasad has also been admired and appreciated for setting up of the AU-BCT Kalam Center of Excellence in the Anna University campus, which was inaugurated by the former president of India, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Through this state-of-the-art CoE,

Durgaprasad has provided an opportunity for the students and the faculty of CEG to enhance their professional skills and technical knowledge in the areas of BPM, SOA and emerging technologies.

He has also supported many initiatives of Anna University’s Alumni Club and continues to strengthen his relationship with many educational institutions, to further the ideals of co-creation and joint innovation.

Commenting on this recognition, Durgaprasad said: “I’m extremely happy to receive this award and I thank the jury for having selected me. This award is extremely special considering it has come from my alma mater. I cherish my association with this great institution and will continue to contribute in any way possible towards its enrichment.”

‘Vidyarambham’ MUSCAT: Kalabhavan School of Music & Arts has been conducting Vidyarambham ceremony in a traditional manner for the last few years in Oman.

Vidyarambham is a Hindu tradition observed on Vijayadashami day mainly in Kerala and Karnataka, where children are formally introduced to music, dance, languages and other folk arts.

This year too, the institution is gearing up for the celebration of Vidyarambham on Friday, October 23 from 7.30am to 11am.

As a special gesture, the institution will be waiving the registration fee from those taking admission for any courses on the day, says a press release.

Vijayadasami is a major festival celebrated in India under dif-

ferent names and with regional variations, as the victory of good over evil.

It is also known as Dussehra; the 10th day of Navratri, celebrated to commemorate the victory of Rama over Ravana.

The first nine days of the Dussehra festival is called Navratri and the 10th day is known as Vijayadasami.

Indians have been celebrating the Navratri festival with great zest and fervour from ancient times.

On Vijayadasami day, people make an auspicious beginning of art and learning.

People who also want to pursue the learning of any art forms commence their studies on Vijayadasami.

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Renault Oman supports OER Finance Summit The summit, will bring together CEOs, CFOs and financial leaders for an interactive discussion on ‘managing finance in an uncertain business environment’

MUSCAT: Renault, which is exclusively distributed in Oman by Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, has signed up as an associate partner for the OER Finance Summit and Top 20 Awards to be held at Crowne Plaza Hotel on October 20.

“Over the years, Renault Oman has made pioneering efforts to offer world class facilities and services to its valued customers. The OER Finance Summit and the Top 20 awards event is sure to set the stage for an engaging discussion among

RECRUIT QUOTES Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy. — Warren Buffet

key decision-makers and business leaders on various aspects of managing business in the current business environment,” a spokesperson of Renault Oman said.

Organised by Oman Economic Review (OER), one of Sultanate’s premium business magazines, the Finance Summit, will bring together CEOs, CFOs and financial leaders for an interactive discussion on ‘managing finance in an uncertain business environment,’ says a press release.

The summit will cover a range of topics that include managing business risk; negotiating financial uncertainty and striking a balance between short term objectives and long term sustainability against

B7

the backdrop of falling oil prices.

Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate is the strategic partner of the event, while SIMPA Marketing Research is the Knowledge partner.

Times of Oman and Al Shabiba are the media partners. Oman Printers & Stationers is the print partner.

OER Finance Summit will have international speakers sharing their expertise. Key-note speakers from London Economics are also expected to attend. The Summit will offer an opportunity to engage in peer networking, share best practices, and to gain insights on ways to address challenges and opportunities faced by businesses every day.

JEWELLERY DESIGNS

PSM hosts designing contest

MUSCAT: ‘The Little Artist in Me’ contest was conducted in the junior school of Pakistan School Muscat (PSM) in collaboration with Malabar Gold and Diamonds, recently.

The students of KG classes and special education participated in this designing contest. The little children demonstrated their talent and abilities by making beautiful jewellery designs. Three designs from each class were selected by the judges for first, second and third positions, says a

press release.

Muhammad Usman Lakhan, member, Board of Directors of PSM, was present at the event as the chief guest. Nithin, marketing head of Malabar Gold and Riays, branch manager, were the guests of honour. Muhammad Hafeez Malik and Sajid Pervaiz, members of BoD attended the event as special guests. Ataullah Niazi, Senior Principal, Khalid Jadoon, Principal PSM and Munazza Ghafoor, principal Junior School, were present at the occasion.

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Bank Muscat Open Day starts at Avenues Mall

EXCLUSIVE EVENT

The bank is committing 24hour disbursement of finance along with free Lulu Bank Muscat credit card, Bank Muscat prepaid card preloaded with OMR25 and free personal protection insurance plan

MUSCAT: The first of the series of Open Days organised by Bank Muscat to provide one of the best offers on personal, home and auto finance with a range of add-on benefits got off to a rousing start at the Oman Avenues Mall yesterday under the auspices of Sheikh Muhana bin Saif Al Ma’awali, Wali of the Wilayat of Baushar.

The opening ceremony was attended by senior bank officials and a good turnout of customers.

The unique initiative launched by the flagship financial services

provider in the Sultanate as part of its ‘Let’s Do More’ vision and commitment to partnership in enhancing banking service, is aimed at simplifying and adding convenience to help customers meet their financial requirements. The Open Day event being held from 10am to 10pm will conclude tomorrow, says a press release.

The bank is committing 24hour disbursement of finance along with free Lulu Bank Muscat credit card, Bank Muscat prepaid card preloaded with OMR25 and free personal protection insurance plan. The offer is valid only at the Open Day venues and not at any Bank Muscat branches.

To avail the exclusive offer, customers are required to submit copy of national identity card or resident card, salary assignment letter, passport copy for expatriates and address proof on water or electricity bill or rental agreement.

Taya Bait Sabeaa, senior regional manager, said: “This is the first

time a finance offer of this kind with a range of add-on benefits is being made available to the largest banking family in Oman. The concept of the Open Day is to provide a unique opportunity for customers to avail personal finance at their convenience.”

The bank has lined up Open Day events across the Sultanate with the second event to be held at Lulu Nizwa on October 21 and 22. The third event will be held at Lulu Sohar on October 28 and 29 and the fourth event will be held in Sur at Makkah Hypermarket on November 4 and 5.

The concluding event will be held at Lulu Salalah on November 11 and 12. The Open Day timing at all venues will be from 10am to 10pm.

Saleh Al Maaini, Senior Regional Manager, said: “Bank Muscat is proud to organise the exclusive Open Day events across the Sultanate. The unique opportunity stemming from the ‘Let’s

Do More’ vision reiterates the bank’s commitment to extend the helping hand to fulfil the financial needs of customers.”

In step with responsible banking, the focus of Bank Muscat is clear — create a sustainable financial platform for the nation and people and thereby contribute to the country’s progress and development. Committed to supporting economic growth and sustainable development, the bank seizes every opportunity to reiterate partnership in building the nation by creating opportunities for individuals and businesses to grow and prosper.

Doing more is the forte of Bank Muscat — more for the economy, more for the community and more for the individual. The bank has incorporated sustainable best practices and is fully equipped to guide customers through all stages of banking life, whether it be savings, investments, financing or just reliable financial advice.

Alfardan Motors hosts test drive of top Ferrari models for customers MUSCAT: Alfardan Motors, the official importer of Ferrari in Oman, hosted an exclusive test drive recently for a group of prospective customers who were invited to get behind the wheel of the acclaimed Ferrari 488GTB, F12berlinetta and California T. After gathering at the Shangrila’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa Muscat, the guests enjoyed an exhilarating afternoon drive on a stunning Omani mountain route, where they were able to experience the full power and handling of the celebrated Ferrari models.

Before the test drive guests were also treated to an exclusive lunch at the hotel, says a press release.

The 488GTB Recently launched in Oman in September 2015, the 488GTB guarantees exuberant performance that is absolutely exploitable to the fullest regardless of

driving conditions and is accompanied by a deep, seductive soundtrack, the signature of all Ferrari engines.

The F12berlinetta Upon it’s unveiling the F12berlinetta ushered in a new generation of Ferrari 12-cylinders in the form of a car that delivers unprecedented performance from an exceptional new engine, combined with innovative design that redefines classic themes along with extreme aerodynamics.

The California T Sprinting from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.6 seconds flat and from 0 to 200 km/h in 11.2 seconds, the California T is a brilliant expression of Ferrari’s sporty DNA, while its retractable hard top (RHT) and 2+2 configuration, amongst other features, make it supremely versatile.

S T U D E N T C O M PA N Y

Eureka awarded ‘best company’ at Sharikati competition MUSCAT: Sharikati’s ‘Best Company of the Year 2015 was awarded to the student company ‘Eureka’ during Injaz Oman’s Sharikati award ceremony held recently.

The ceremony was held under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Taimur bin Asaad bin Tariq Al Said at the Sultan Qaboos University Cultural Center. The event was held in association with Nama Group as a main partner for the Sharikati programme and competition, says a press release.

Eureka is a student company

from Sultan Qaboos University specialised in alternative energy sources and making use of unutilised energy sources. The company aspires to develop renewable energy sources that are cost effective and environmentally friendly at the same time. With these objectives in mind, the student company came up with a way of extracting bioenergy from date seeds and produced as well what it called a “power shoe”, which is a power generating shoe.

Khalid Mohammed Al Zubair,

chairman of Injaz Oman, said: “Developing the skills of the Omani youth and bridging the gap between academia and requirements of the private sector, represent the core objective behind the foundation of Injaz Oman.

“We at the board, hope that this programme (Sharikati) will play a wider and more effective role in the development of the national economy by building the capacities of the Omani youth, adopting their innovations, and encouraging their proactiveness, which rep-

resents one of the deeply rooted personal characters of the Omani people. Injaz Oman programmes develop the knowledge of the students to help them realise the work opportunities available for them in the local market. In addition, the programmes equip them with the necessary skills to efficiently venture the market either as employees or entrepreneurs.

The Sharikati programme started in 2012 with seven student companies from different higher education institutions.”

PROMOTION

Don’t litter a beautiful country like OMAN. Ensure proper disposal of garbage.

Feature packed Nissan Altima offers unique benefits till October 16 MUSCAT: The Nissan Altima, which breaks new ground for the mid-size sedan segment is clearly the most engaging vehicle in its class. And if you’ve never driven an Altima before, get ready to have your notion of a mid-size sedan redefined.

Nissan from the house of Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has been receiving rave reviews on its seasonal offers on sedan models that last till October 16.

Its exclusive vehicle promotions are enticing and one-of-a-kind promising unlimited benefits to valued patrons.

Nissan has a heritage of showcasing some of the most amazing benefits for its customers by introducing unique offers on its prestigious line up of vehicles.

In an effort to make Nissan vehicles affordable and accessible to all, Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has taken up this unique initiative.

Exciting benefits Auto enthusiasts can now avail exciting benefits on the Nissan Altima 2.5L and 3.5L that include cash gift up to OMR750, free service for two years or 20,000km (periodic maintenance only),

free registration, six years unlimited mileage warranty and easy and convenient financing options. Flexible EMI’s can also be tailor made for any individual requirement from in-house Auto Finance team.

Interactive social media Customers can also get unlimited access to Nissan’s prestigious vehicle line up at the comfort of their homes or offices. Simply visit Nissan Oman’s Facebook page i.e http://www.facebook. com/Sbanissanoman or send an SMS to get updated information on any of the vehicles from the house of Nissan.

A refined vehicle in its own right, the Nissan Altima aims to attract a wider audience with its contemporary good looks, eyecatching exterior colour range, spacious and fashionable interior, in addition to a powerful high performance engine and a range of other options to make city driving easier.

SBA is largely committed to supporting Nissan’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on customer satisfaction and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman.

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Maqbali’s brace spurs Oman While the verdict condemned the visitors to their fifth consecutive defeat, Paul Le Guen’s Oman have now moved to top of the group with 11 points from five outings

A SESHAGIRI RAO

raoas@timesofoman MUSCAT: Star striker Abdulaziz Al Maqbali scored a brace as Oman blanked India 3-0 in a Group D match of the 2018 World Cup/2019 Asian Cup qualifiers at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Tuesday.

While the result condemned the visitors to their fifth consecutive defeat, Paul Le Guen’s Oman have now moved to top of the group with 11 points from five outings. Iran, who have played a match less, occupy the second place on eight points.

Playing against a defensive Indians, the Omanis found it difficult to find the target for the first 45 minutes. However, they scored three goals after resumption to earn full points.

Second half substitute Abdulaziz Al Maqabli, who has just returned from South Korea after leading the Sultanate squad to a silver medal at the Military World Games, got into the act and struck in the 66th and 83th minutes after Ahmed Mubarak ‘Kanu’ opened the score in the ten minutes into the second session.

Job done The Omanis performance not only delighted the 11,000 fans who turned up for the match but also ‘satisfied’ their coach.

“We have done the job,” Le Guen said in his post-match comments.

While admitting his wards missed a few chances in the first half, the Frenchman also praised the Indian defenders, more particularly their custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

“In the first half, we missed quite a few scoring opportunities. But I should admit the Indians defended well and their goalkeeper made a few brilliant saves,” he said.

When asked whether Oman were under pressure in the initial stages as they were unable to score, Le Guen said: “We played for 90 minutes and we are happy with the final result. At the end of day the result matters and it is good to win the match.

“I do agree we need to be more efficient. I am completely satisfied with the performance, both in to-

day’s match as well as our previous match against Iran (which ended in a 1-1 draw),” he added.

Ahead of the match, captain Ali Al Habsi talked about the need to have a solid start, as in their previous outings, with the aim of earning full points. And the hosts, especially after their morale-boosting performance against Iran last Thursday, were expected to dominate the lowly the Indians.

Though they failed to make a rousing start, they did dominate the visitors from the word go.

But the Indians preferred to play defensive game while trying to launch counter attacks when the opportunities presented themselves. That made it difficult for the Omanis find the target.

But Le Guen’s boys kept pressing forward in search of the elusive goal. Ten minutes into the match, star striker Imad Al Hosni was in the thick of the action, first trying to produce his trademark scissors kick and then came up with a feeble header, both off flag kicks. But on both occasion, the Indian defenders stood up to the challenge.

Oman’s best chance came in the 24th minute. A well-developed move from the right culminated in Raed Ibrahim taking a shot at the goal but Gurpreet Singh pushed the ball over the bar.

In the 39th minute, it was the turn of Eid Al Farsi to take a shy at the goal but was once again denied ever-alert Gurpreet Singh.

In between the two missed chances, Oman earned a series of corners but failed to threaten the rival goal while Abdulsalam Amor and later Ahmed Mubarak ‘Kanu’ wasted half chances by shooting wide or heading over the bar.

Abdulsalam booked As the match approached the halfstage, Oman suffered a minor blow when Abdulsalam Amor made an unnecessary charge at a diving Gurpreet Singh and earned a yellow card. The central defender will now miss Oman’s next match, an away game, against Turkmenistan on November 17.

India took their first clear look at the Oman goal just before the break, when captain Sunil Chhetri, playing one-two match with fellow forward Jeje, marched forward but

failed to trouble the Omani custodian Ali Al Habsi.

At the start of the second session, Le Guen send in Abdulaziz Al Maqbali in place of Imad Al Hosni and his counterpart Stephen Constantine took made a change replacing Rowllin with Sehnaj Singh.

But the change worked well for the hosts as Al Maqbali went on to torment rival defenders in the company of Saad Suhail and Qasim Said. Both Al Muqbali and Saad Suhail even came up with good shots at the goal but the Indian goalkeeper lived upto the challenge.

However, there was no denying the hosts in the 55th minute when Saad Suhail, taking a free-kick, send the ball in and Al Muqbali brilliantly headed the ball down towards the goal. Experienced Ahmed Muabrak ‘Kanu’ slotted the ball home to the delight of the fans.

Encouraged by the goal and the crowd egging on, Oman launched series of attacks and came close to doubling the lead twice in quick succession. But Eid Al Farsi and Qasim Said, both unmarked, failed to find the net -- the former curling the ball across the goal and the latter side netting the ball.

But in the 66th minute, Abdulaziz Al Maqbali scored the first of his two goals after running into the danger zone unchallenged to put the ball past the rival goalkeeper.

In the 80th minute, India’s coach made another change replacing Rino with Aibor Lang Khong Jee but that has not brought any change to their fortunes.

Later, Le Guen also made a change sending in Mohsin Al Khalidi in place of Qasim Said. And that move too worked well for Oman as the substitue forward, after a move from the right, shot the ball in for the unmarked Al Maqbli to head the ball into the goal.

Towards the end, Le Guen gave young forward Saud Al Farsi some match time by sending him in place of Raed Ibrahim.

Friendly planned Le Guen revealed the plans to play a friendly before travelling to Turkmenistan.

“We are hoping to play a friendly before we face Turkmenistan in our next match. Most probably on November 11 or 12,” he said.

Turkmenistan edge Guam ASHGABAT: A first-half goal was enough for Turkmenistan to go level with Guam in the Group D standings following the Central Asians’ 1-0 victory over the Matao in Tuesday’s FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint-qualifying clash.

Guvanch Abylov broke the deadlock for the second successive match at the Kopetd-

ag Stadium as he followed up his ninth-minute opener in last week’s 2-1 win over India with Turkmenistan’s first with 16 minutes played.

The FC Hazyna midfielder’s first-half effort transpired to be the only goal of the game as the two-time AFC Challenge Cup runners-up joined Guam on seven points after five Group D matches. — AFC

TOWERING HIGH: Raed Ibrahim Saleh towers over the Indian defence to head the ball during the World Cup/Asian Cup Group D qualifying match between Oman and India at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher on Tuesday. – ISMAIL AL FARSI/Times of Oman

SAYYID KHALID AND OMAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION DELEGATION VISIT MUSCAT MEDIA GROUP Oman Football Association (OFA) chairman Sayyid Khalid Al Busaidi led a delegation on Tuesday to visit Muscat Media Group (Times of Oman and Al Shabiba). Sayyid Khalid and Ahmed Essa Al Zadjali, Chief Executive Officer of Muscat Media Group (MMG), exchanged pleasantries and discussed football. The OFA officials also showcased the newly launched Oman Professional League (OPL) website and highlighted the friendly features available on the site. MMG is also the media partner of OFA during the current season and the discussions also touched upon further improving the existing football relationship. — JUN ESTRADA/ Times of Oman

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Younis overshadows Malik’s returning ton

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Pakistan 1st innings M. Hafeez lbw b Stokes 98 S. Masood b Anderson 2 S. Malik not out 124 Y. Khan c Cook b Broad 38 Misbah-ul Haq c Buttler b Anderson 3 A. Shafiq not out 11 Extras (b-4 lb-5 nb-1) 10 Total (for 4 wickets, 87 overs) 286 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-173, 3-247, 4-251 To bat: S. Ahmed, W. Riaz, Z. Babar, R. Ali, I. Khan Bowling: J. Anderson 14-3-29-2; S. Broad 14-5-30-1 (nb-1); B. Stokes 10-1-35-1; M. Wood 13-3-34-0; A. Rashid 17-0-76-0; M. Ali 19-2-73-0 Umpires: Bruce Oxenford and Paul Rieffel TV umpire: Sundaram Ravi Match referee: Andy Pycroft

The 37-year-old Younis clobbered Moeen Ali for six over mid-wicket early in the evening session to surpass the 8,832run marker set by Javed Miandad, the man considered Pakistan’s greatest ever batsman

ABU DHABI: Younis Khan became Pakistan’s all-time leading run scorer in Test cricket and Shoaib Malik scored his first century in almost six years, as the home side posted 286-4 at the end of the opening day of the first Test against England in Abu Dhabi.

The 37-year-old Younis clobbered Moeen Ali for six over midwicket early in the evening session to surpass the 8,832-run marker set by Javed Miandad, the man considered Pakistan’s greatest ever batsman.

The few Pakistan fans in a sparse crowd in the United Arab Emirates broke the subdued atmosphere to cheer their man, while the Pakistan dressing room gave him a standing ovation for the feat achieved in his 102nd match -- 22 fewer than Miandad, who played the last of his 124 Test matches in December 1993.

Younis was eventually out for 38, caught by England skipper Alastair Cook off the bowling of Stuart Broad, with Asad Shafiq (11 not out) and Malik (124 not out) unbeaten at the close.

If it was not for Younis, it would have been Malik’s day.

Returning to the side after a fiveyear absence, Malik hit his third Test century overall and his first since 2009.

It was a steady knock but one which contained one large mo-

RECORD-BREAKER: Pakistan’s Younis Khan raises his bat to the crowd as he celebrates becoming his country’s leading run scorer in Test matches during the first day’s play of the first cricket Test match against England at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. – AFP

ment of fortune: Broad overstepping in the first over after lunch rendered the edge to Joe Root in the gully irrelevant.

It was one of three gifts afforded to Pakistan during a day when England threatened to shoot

themselves in the foot after being asked to bowl in hot conditions and on a track which offered little assistance to bowlers.

In the penultimate over of the day, Shafiq edged James Anderson to Ian Bell at second slip. It was

the simplest of chances but Bell dropped it.

It wasn’t his only offence of the day.

Mohammed Hafeez breezed to 98 with some smart stroke-play, particularly against England’s debutant spinner Adil Rashid, before succumbing leg before to Ben Stokes’ last ball before tea.

However, the Pakistani opener should have been out for seven when Bell dropped him off the bowling of Anderson -- who had already bizarrely dismissed Shan Masood for two with a bouncer which hit his helmet and deflected onto the stumps.

Also cursing his luck was Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq after being given out by the TV umpire for edging Anderson to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler but without any assistance from Snicko or Hotspot, which are not in used in this series. The wicket would have been seen as reward for England, who having been plundered for 74 runs off 96 balls at the start of the evening session by Younis and Malik, tightened things up in the last hour of play.

The visitors were also boosted before a ball had been bowled, with Pakistan spinner Yasir Shah ruled out of the match with a back injury sustained in final practice on Monday.

Yasir was the fastest man to 50 Test wickets in Pakistan history and England had been ripped apart by spin during the last series in 2012. - Reuters

SHANGHAI: World number three and defending champion Roger Federer suffered a surprise defeat in the second round of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday, losing 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3 to Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The Swiss, returning to action after a month off, looked rusty against the 70th-ranked qualifier and despite appearing to be back on track when he cruised through the second set, he succumbed in the decider to a single break of serve in the eighth game. US Open runner-up Federer, 34, banged down 15 aces and won more points than his opponent but a lack of sharpness at crucial moments sent him spinning to defeat. Ramos-Vinolas, 27, had never beaten a player ranked in the top 10 before. His reward for some fearless tennis was a third-round meeting with Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who outclassed Victor Estrella Burgos in straight sets. Ninth seed Milos Raonic, one of several players hovering around the cut-off mark for the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London, reached the second round when he came through against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci in two tiebreaks. South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, seeded 12, beat German veteran Tommy Haas in straight sets.

Atletico go top of table, beat Kerala Blasters 2-1 KOLKATA: Defending champions Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) blasted their way to the top of the league as they downed last year’s finalists Kerala Blasters FC 2-1 in an Indian Super League (ISL) encounter at the Salt Lake stadium here on Wednesday. Arata Izumi scored the first for the hosts while in the second half it was a strike for Spanish midfielder Javi Lara who doubled the lead for ATK. Englishman Chris Dagnall pulled one back for the visitors 10 minutes from the end of regulation time. With the win ATK now have seven points from three outings, while the Blasters are on four points from three matches.

PCB sources still hopeful of a short series against India KARACHI: The Pakistan cricket authorities have not ruled out the possibility of having a short limited over series against India in December even as their top officials are in Dubai to attend the ICC meetings. Even though the PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan said at a press conference in Lahore last week that he had little hopes of the series with India being held in December due to the existing relations between the two countries but well-informed sources have not ruled out some sort of compromise.“A revised series with only ODIs and T20 matches is a possibility in the UAE in December,” a PCB source said. — Agencies

ODI

Get Rohit out in first 10 deliveries is Proteas’ secret ploy for Indore match INDORE: Unbeaten in the tour they might be, but Indian batsman Rohit Sharma’s form is giving South Africa sleepless nights and the Proteas are planning to get the marauding right-hander out of their way in the first 10 balls itself in the third ODI here on Wednesday.

Aware of Rohit’s destructive abilities, South Africa’s bowling coach Charl Langeveldt is busy working out a plan to dismiss the Indian batsman early.

“At the moment he (Rohit) is really batting well. He bats well in Indian conditions. He is a great player. The first 10 balls to him are important. You need to try and get him out in the first 10 balls. We will probably look to bowl the glory ball. He is one of those players who kicks on if he gets past 20,” Langeveldt told reporters in the pre-match press conference at the Holkar Stadium here on Tuesday.

Happy with South Africa’s performance so far in the tour, Langeveldt said adaptability is

MAN IN FORM: Rohit Sharma arrives for practice session ahead of second ODI against South Africa in Indore on Tuesday. – PTI

key to success for any team in Indian conditions. “So far it has been great. We had three wins. In the last 10 overs (in Kanpur) we were looking down the barrel but we did very well to come over the line and win the game,” the former Protea fast bowler said.

“The tour is still very long. We

had just three wins but India is a strong team. In India you will go for runs so the main thing is always to compete. We need to compete in every ball.

If you go for 6 in one ball then you should compete in the next ball. These are not easy conditions to bowl at. So if we are com-

peting in every ball there is a good chance, we might win the game,” said Langeveldt, who replaced Allan Donald earlier this year as South Africa’s bowling coach.

“If we assess the conditions quick enough, we try to change things. We just don’t bowl yorkers in the death overs. The guy that adapts quickly will get success quickly. In training as well our focus is on bowling everything.

“We have been really working hard. In the past there were instances when we lost big moments. We are not trying to change a lot and probably we will go with the same seam attack.

In India you are going to go for runs. So if you can control the last 5 and first 10 overs, then you can win games,” he added.

Langeveldt also said that there are doubts over middle-order mainstay Faf du Plessis’ availability tomorrow as he is down with a knee problem from which he recovered just before the India tour. - PTI

WE DNE SDAY, O CTO BER 14, 2015

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SPORTS Under-fire Dhoni seeks to revive his career and team’s fortunes India are yet to taste victory since South Africa’s arrival in the country, having lost two Twenty20 Internationals (the third one was abandoned) before suffering a close five-run defeat in the first ODI

INDORE: Facing the toughest phase of his cricketing life, an underfire Mahendra Singh Dhoni will seek to revive his career and change the fortunes of a dispirited Indian team when the hosts take on an unbeaten South Africa in the second cricket one-dayer here on Wednesday.

India are yet to taste victory since South Africa’s arrival in the country, having lost two Twenty20 Internationals (the third one was abandoned) before suffering a close five-run defeat in the first ODI. With critics gunning for his head, Dhoni, in particular, finds himself in very challenging situation. The year 2015 has not been a particularly happy one for Dhoni after the semifinal loss in the World Cup. The loss in the IPL final was followed by the humiliation in Bangladesh in the ODI series and the T20Is against Proteas proved to be yet another no-contest. His own form has been patchy and ‘Dhoni the batsman’ evidently does not FOOTBALL

Bale, Ronaldo are ‘complete opposites’ LONDON: The agent of Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale, Jonathan Barnett, has spoken about the relationship between the Welshman and his Portuguese teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and noted that they are “complete opposites” but there is “no hatred” between them.

In an interview published on Monday in The Guardian, Barnett stated that the players “don’t go out eating every night together, but it’s fine, reports Efe. “There’s no hatred there. Gareth is a quiet guy. But I think Gareth can learn a little bit from Ronaldo as well, interacting maybe a little bit,” Barnett said.

The agent added that Bale “wants his own life and he lives it.

“Gareth is a great footballer, he doesn’t want anything more.

He has some very good endorsements but his whole life is to be the best footballer in the world.”

Barnett also outlined his work as an agent and considered that there should not be interference by the parents of players he represents in their relationship with other players, and in return, he promises to take care of all aspects of football finances and be available for them 24 hours in case they have any problems. — IANS

TRAINING SESSION: Indian cricketers during a practice session on the eve of second ODI against South Africa in Indore on Tuesday. – PTI

strike fear in the hearts of bowlers anymore. Come Wednesday, the spotlight solely would be on Dhoni and his leadership skills and the remaining four matches of the ODI series will definitely be a test of character for the Indian captain.

As usual, Indian batting line-up is a formidable one with opener Rohit Sharma in rollicking form.

After the sublime ton in the first T20I in Dharamsala, the Mumbai batsman struck a delightful 150 in the lost cause in Kanpur.

But Rohit’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan’s form is a cause

of concern. He would be looking for a bagful of runs after failing in the T20s and then the first ODI. Returning to the side, Ajinkya Rahane, however, proved his worth with a vital 60 in Kanpur and would be looking to carry forward his good form.

But Dhoni s heir apparent Virat Kohli would be hoping for runs and going by his lofty standards, he would like to take on the challenge against tough opponents like the Proteas to stamp his class once again.

Serious questions marks are also on Suresh Raina and the abilities

of Stuart Binny as an all-rounder.

But the thing which will worry Dhoni, the captain, most is the performance of his bowlers and the absence of is ‘go to man’ Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been effectively ruled out of the series with a side strain suffered during the Kanpur match. The pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and comeback man Umesh Yadav looked ordinary in front of AB de Villiers and Co. while Binny as usual has failed to prove his worth with the ball as well. De Villiers, who powered South Africa past the 300-run

C O M M E N TA RY

To single out just one man for defeat is just typically Indian in nature

S

outh Africa won another thriller and in doing so have shown that they are definitely stronger mentally than the Indians when it comes to close games. The Proteas did that in the first T20 when they overhauled a tough target that Rohit Sharma’s century had set up and in the first one day game at the beautiful Green Park they displayed the same sangfroid when it came down to the wire. Young Kagiso Rabada was the one who ensured that the best finisher in the game, the Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, could not finish it off this time.

Predictably the Indian captain has come in for flak from those who have been gunning for him for some time even as they forgot the collective failure of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to score the runs that were expected of them.

Kohli of course is the blue eyed boy at the moment so there won’t be too much murmuring from those who want to see him take over the limited overs captaincy as well, but to single out just one man for the defeat is just typically Indian in nature. Not much was said about the pathetic bowling as

Predictably the Indian captain has come in for flak from those who have been gunning for him for some time even as they forgot the collective failure of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to score the runs that were expected of them well when more than 100 runs were allowed to be hit in the final overs by bowlers doing the same mistakes that they have been doing for the past

couple of seasons. The pick of the bowlers was Suresh Raina who bowls stump to stump and doesn’t look for much variety. Amit Mishra was also impressive but with Ashwin being injured India lost out on a bowler who could have made a difference.

The one aspect that one can question Dhoni is his tactics in taking Ashwin off after just one over in which he had bowled a peach of a delivery to get rid of the dangerous looking de Kock and also rapped the new batsman on the leg guards. By the time he came back on again the batsmen were settled and looking to accelerate.

Ajinkya Rahane sent in at number three justified his promotion and his partnership with the magnificent Rohit Sharma set India up nicely.

Unfortunately the momentum was lost as Kohli was unable to get going and Sharma also looked a bit tired on what was a really hot day.

Those few overs helped South Africa to get back in the game and then young Rabada bowled a superb last over where he got Dhoni and Binny off successive deliveries and sealed the match for the Proteas. — PMG

mark in Kanpur with a 73-ball unbeaten 104, went hammer and tongs as Indian bowlers bled more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs in the first ODI. The only saving grace for Dhoni and Indian has been the spin duo of Ashwin and leggie Amit Mishra, but with Ashwin now out of at least first three ODIs, this department has also taken a severe beating.

Ashwin s place in the playing eleven is likely to be replaced by veteran Harbhajan Singh, who has been called into the ODI side.

South Africa, on the other hand,

are a confident lot and are eyeing their first-ever ODI series win on Indian soil. South African bowling attack looks ominous with the return of speedsters Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, who were rested in the shortest format.

Young Kagiso Rabada, who impressed in the T20s, proved he belongs to the big stage by keeping a cool head in defending the total in the final over in Kanpur.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir, as usual, has been De Villiers go to man in crunch situations. The battling unit, led by the dangerous De Villers, looks more ominous than their bowling. De Villiers has already marked his arrival with the smashing ton in Kanpur and his deputy Faf du Plesis too is not far behind, scoring a vital 62.

JP Duminy is in cracking form, so what if he failed in the first ODI. And with the likes of Hashim Amla, David Miller, Quinton de Kock and Farhaan Behardien in the ranks, the Indian bowlers are sure to have another tough day in office. But going by records, the Holkar Stadium here as been a happy hunting ground for the home team as they have won all their previous highscoring matches at this venue.

India have played three ODIs at the venue and have won all the three ODIs at this 27,000 capacity stadium.

Teams (from) India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Stuart Binny, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh and Amit Mishra.

South Africa: AB De Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Faf Du Plessis, JP Duminy, David Miller, Farhaan Behardien, Chris Morris, Khaya Zondo, Aaron Phangiso, Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada. - PTI

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

SPORTS Fourth Golden Shoe award for Ronaldo The Portugal captain and FIFA Ballon d’Or holder netted 61 times in all competitions in 201415, although Real missed out on the three main titles as arch rivals Barcelona swept to a treble of Champions League, La Liga and King’s Cup triumphs

MADRID: Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo collected a record fourth Golden Shoe award as Europe’s top scorer on Tuesday for his 48-goal haul in La Liga last season and said he is hungry for more.

The Portugal captain and FIFA Ballon d’Or holder netted 61 times in all competitions in 2014-15, although Real missed out on the three main titles as arch rivals Barcelona swept to a treble of Champions League, La Liga and King’s Cup triumphs.

Ronaldo, 30, is poised to become Real’s all-time top scorer ahead of former Spain striker Raul, with whom he is level on 323 goals, and has another chance to break the record in Saturday’s La Liga game at home to Levante.

“I never planned on winning four times,” Ronaldo said at a presentation ceremony in Madrid attended by his mother and son.

“Maybe one or two yes but never four,” he added. “I always want more. I know I am the only one to have four but I want more.

“That implies winning trophies with the world’s greatest club.

This year will be no different and we want to win La Liga, the Cup and the Champions League. I hope we see each other again next year.”

GLOBAL ICON: Real Madrid’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo poses with collections after receiving his fourth European Golden Shoe. – AFP

Ronaldo has had a relatively subdued start to the latest La Liga campaign with five goals in seven appearances. All five came in one match, a 6-0 romp at Espanyol last month.

He has a much better return in the Champions League, hitting

five goals in two Group A outings, including a hat-trick against Shakhtar Donetsk.

A global icon and one of the most prolific goalscorers of all time, he is the leading marksman in Europe’s elite club competition with

82 goals, five ahead of Barca’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi.

Messi, who scored 58 goals in all competitions last term and 38 in La Liga, holds the record for the most in Spain’s top flight in one season of 50 set in 2011-12. - Reuters

FOOTBALL

FIFA and UEFA were kept in dark about Platini’s Blatter deal, says Johansson ZURICH: Former UEFA president Lennart Johansson says that the European football body was never told about the payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.1 million) from Sepp Blatter to current UEFA boss Michel Platini.

Both Platini and Blatter were suspended from football for 90 days by FIFA’s Ethics Committee last week with a 2011 payment from FIFA to Blatter under scrutiny. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Platini has said the payment was for work he carried out under a contract for FIFA as an advisor to Blatter between 1999 and 2002. He said the nine year delay in payment was due to FIFA’s financial situation.

The Frenchman’s bid to replace Blatter at the helm of FIFA in February’s election has been thrown into serious doubt by the affair and UEFA members gather in Nyon on Thursday to discuss the crisis.

Swede Johansson, who was UEFA president from 1990 to 2007 says that the FIFA executive committee, which he served on, was not told about Platini’s hiring by Blatter.

“I was a member of the FIFA executive then and Blatter should have reported it to the executive but he never did. I never heard about this arrangement in FIFA. “This is quite a lot of money, not a small amount. I have only learnt through the media that Platini claims that he has a contract with FIFA,” the 85-yearold told the website Inside World Football.

By the time Platini received the payment in 2011 he had replaced Johansson as UEFA president but the Swede continued to attend UEFA executive meetings as honorary president, and he says the payment was never disclosed.

“I would have expected this payment to be reported to UEFA. Platini should have mentioned it to the executive. I would have done so. I would have said to the executive, ‘I have a contract with

I was a member of the FIFA executive then and Blatter should have reported it to the executive but he never did Lennart Johansson Former UEFA boss

Blatter which you may criticise.

But this is the truth, this is the money I received and you should know about it.’”

A spokesman for Platini said: “The president is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigations and feels there is nothing more he wants to say publicly for the moment.”

The payments will be on the agenda at UEFA’s crisis meeting in Nyon which Platini will unable to attend due to his suspension from all football activities. - Reuters

BADMINTON

Ashutosh-Sailee retain mixed doubles title MUSCAT: Ashutosh Pant and Sailee Kerkar are in their dazzling form to retain mixed doubles title defeating PT Francis and Bharati Ramachandran at the National Bank of Oman (NBO) – sponsored annual badminton tournament organized by the Indian Social Club Muscat.

Superb badminton played by both teams although Francis and Bharati teamed up for the first time.

The defending pairs faced few aggressive movements from Francis and Bharati before they wrap up game at a score 22-20, 21-14.

Cyril Williams and Sudheer stormed in to the finals of Open Mens doubles defeating the technical players Sharath Kumar and Sajan.

Cyril and Sudheer enjoyed court superiority with fierce smashes to claim success in 2nd and 3rd sets although the pair lost in the 1st set due to numerous unforeseen errors. Final score was 18-21, 21-17 and 21-17.

In men’s doubles semifinal, Prabhu AR and Niyas N continued their excellent team work and

THE FINALISTS: Winners Ashutosh Pant and Sailee Kerkar and runners-up PT Francis and Bharati Ramachandran – Supplied photo

confidence to attain victory over Ronnie Pereira and Kennedy at a score 21-16 and 21-17.

In men’s singles semifinal, young Shabaz Naser with his

dangerous net plays claimed victory over Niyas N. Niyas’s length and judgment of the mid court returns were all of a sudden in a mess which saw him squander the

lead in the first set and eventually Shabaz won the set at 26-24.

Niyas was completely exhausted in the second set to pass an easy win to Shabaz at 21-9.

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FOOTBALL

Coleman ready to extend Wales contract CARDIFF: Wales manager Chris Coleman is ready to extend his contract after securing the team’s Euro 2016 qualification but wants some “structural” changes to ensure they continue to march forward, according to media reports.

Despite losing 2-0 in their European Championship qualifiers to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday, Wales clinched second place in Group H with a match to spare, after Israel lost 2-1 at home to Cyprus.

This was the first time since the 1958 World Cup that Wales qualified for a major tournament and Coleman wants to prove this was not a one-off achievement.

“Hopefully we can agree on that,” Coleman told BBC Wales Sport.

“And it won’t be about my contract, it will be about the structure and how we can take that forward,” he said.

“There are certain things we need to change. It is staff, how we run the structure, along those lines — we have succeeded but how can we improve?” he added.

Coleman, whose deal expires at the end of the Euro 2016 in France, was quoted as saying in the British media that he may need to “rattle a few cages” in the Football Association of Wales (FAW).

“It is up to me to go and rattle a few cages and say: ‘We have done this but to get to the next stage we need to change certain things.’ We need to come out of our comfort zone. It is new territory and it makes them feel inferior,” the 45-year-old said.

“We’ve got to keep pushing these lads and that’s the only way. It’s not about resting now we’ve got to France.

“We’ve got think about how we replicate this campaign after we’ve been to France. We’ve got to qualify for the (2018) World Cup,” he added. - Reuters

SPORTS

Oman Air return with Aviation Cup honours

FOOTBALL

Brazil coach Dunga

Time for Brazil to enjoy their football, says Dunga

FIRST TIME WINNERS: Oman Air team celebrate after their title triumph. – Supplied photo

Oman Air team beat Ukrain’s Windrose 5-4 in the final, having entered the tournament for the first time this year

MUSCAT: Oman Air’s football team has won the Aviation Football Cup 2015, held in Rovinj, in the Istria region of Croatia, on October 2 and 3.

The team beat a side from Ukrainian charter company Windrose 5-4in the final, having entered the tournament for the first time this year.

And Oman Air goalkeeper Harub was named Best Goalkeeper of

2015, after stopping every ball that threatened to cross the goal line.

Oman Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Gregorowitsch, was delighted with the win, saying: “This is a fantastic achievement for the Oman Air football team. On behalf of everyone at the airline, I would like to congratulate each and every team member. I would especially like to thank Harub, whose perfect timing and safe

pair of hands have ensured that he was named Best Goalkeeper in the tournament.

“The Oman Air football team’s success in Croatia was particularly impressive, as this was the first year they had entered the Aviation Football Cup. “However, their accomplishments go beyond the sporting arena and have helped to raise awareness of Oman Air around the world. We look forward to seeing the side defend its title in Rome next year and take many more titles in the future.”

The Aviation Football Cup provides a platform for aviation professionals from all over the world to meet several times a year in order to travel, play and celebrate with their colleagues.

The first tournament was ini-

GRAND FINAL

NBO Golf Classic set for ‘wicked’ fit out

PIONEERING SYSTEM: For the third consecutive year, Wicked will provide the structures and interior for the highly regarded event.

MUSCAT: Wicked, Unique Structure Solutions is set to partner the European Challenge Tour’s prestigious season-ending NBO Golf Classic Grand Final taking place at Almouj Golf, The Wave in Muscat from November 4 to 7.

For the third consecutive year, Wicked will provide the structures and interior for the highly regarded tournament.

The VIP hospitality pavilion at the NBO event is widely considered to be one of the best on

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the Challenge Tour and sits in a spectacular location on the edge of the ocean with the Hajar Mountain as its backdrop. Wicked will also erect the 18th hole viewing terrace, the Majlis and the Media Centre using their pioneering ‘Saddle Span’ system.

Operating across the Middle East from their Dubai head office Wicked now provides a host of services including structures, flooring, air conditioning, power distribution, interior design, furniture and fit out. The company

has a comprehensive range of furniture, soft furnishings and accessories as well as an extensive decor and fabrication department, allowing for a ‘one-stop’ solution for a wide range of events.

“Wicked is delighted to provide structures, interiors and overlay services for the tournament, and we are equally excited to have been rewarded a multi-year contract, demonstrating NBO’s faith in our company,” Alistair McDonald, Managing Director and Partner, Wicked Tents, said.

The NBO Golf Classic Grand Final — the most prestigious event of the year in Oman — provides the perfect platform for Wicked to showcase their unique tented structures.

Only the top 45 players on the Road to Oman Rankings are eligible to compete in the tournament a prize fund of €375,000 will be up for grabs. Not only that, following the conclusion of the event, the top 15 players on the Rankings will be awarded cards to play on next season’s European Tour.

tiated by airline employees and held in Portugal in 2005. In the ten years since the Aviation Football Cup was launched, over 1,000 players from more than 100 teams, representing 42 countries, have participated in the tournament.

Team rankings based on performance since 2011 place the Oman Air football team in 15th position, out of 125 sides, despite only having played in the 2015 tournament.

After congratulating the team in person, Paul Gregorowitsch concluded: “Many of those participating in the tournament had not heard about the Sultanate of Oman, until the Oman Air team flew in and won the cup. Thanks to their hard work they have delivered success as promised and have brought a hard-won and prestigious award home.”

BRASÍLIA: Brazil coach Dunga has called on his team to rediscover their enjoyment for football as they seek their first victory of South America’s 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

“Against Chile we did some things well and other things not so well,” Xinhua news agency quoted Dunga as saying on Monday. “Brazil needs to smile. We need to play with enjoyment.”

The Selecao will meet Venezuela at Fortaleza’s Castelao Arena on Tuesday, five days after their 0-2 loss to Chile in Santiago.

Dunga played down criticism of the team’s performance against Chile, their first competitive outing since losing to Paraguay on penalties in the Copa America quarterfinals in June.

“Everybody has their own opinion and we respect that,” Dunga said. “There will be people doubting us until we win.

We have to learn to live with the criticism, but we are doing all we can to win.”

Venezuela also started their qualifying campaign with a loss, stumbling 0-1 at home to Paraguay. The last time Brazil and Venezuela met was in the Copa America group stage, when Dunga’s team secured an unconvincing 2-1 victory.

Brazil will be without defender David Luiz, who suffered a knee injury against Chile, and captain Neymar, who is serving the last match of a four-game ban. - IANS

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W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

SPORTS

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Cruel climax for rugby warrior O’Connell, one of Ireland’s greats O’Connell, who turns 36 next week, will continue to play for his new club Toulon after a decorated 14year club career with Munster but after winning his 108th and final cap, Irish rugby was struggling to find the words to sum up his huge influence

CARDIFF: For a player who battled back from serious injury to add chapter after chapter to a glittering career, the premature ending of Paul O’Connell’s international story marked a cruel finale for one of Ireland’s greatest ever players.

The inspirational lock, who said before the Rugby World Cup that he would retire from the international stage at the end of the tournament, tore his hamstring in Sunday’s 24-9 pool-topping win over France to end his dreams of a storybook ending.

O’Connell, who turns 36 next week, will continue to play for his new club Toulon after a decorated 14-year club career with Munster but after winning his 108th and final cap, Irish rugby was struggling to find the words to sum up his huge influence. “There is not much I can say in the next 30 seconds that is going to sum up his contribution to Irish rugby and this World Cup,” Ireland fullback Rob Kearney said of his captain who led the country to back-to-back Six Nations titles this year.

With a distinctive head of short red hair that disappeared as the years and caps rolled on, O’Connell made a try-scoring debut for Ire-

IN PAIN: Ireland’s Paul O’connell receives treatment after sustaining an injury. – Reuters

World Cup man-of-the-match selection process set for overhaul LONDON: A string of embarrassing “anomalies” in picking the man of the match in Rugby World Cup pool games has led organisers to consider overhauling the selection process for the knockout stages, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

Under the existing system, three players are short-listed

land against Wales in 2002, although he later admitted not remembering it after playing most of the first half concussed.

He played his first game for his home club Munster a year earlier and was part of one of the great

by the tournament’s world feed radio early in the second half before fans vote for their choice on social media, a process tournament director Alan Gilpin admits has resulted in a number of “challenges”.

England lock Joe Launchbury was named man of the match for his performance in the 33-13

teams who won European Cups in 2006 and 2008, ending years of near misses for the province and launching a dominant period for Irish sides in Europe.

Standing 1.98 metres tall and weighing 112 kgs, to opponents

defeat by Australia that knocked the hosts out of the tournament, despite Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley scoring two fine tries in the game. Launchbury admitted he was unhappy to get the award.

“It was extremely strange to be named man of the match.

It was embarrassing and it definitely won’t go on the man-

O’Connell was twice as imposing.

He dominated lineouts, cleared out rucks at will and was an enormously powerful runner to go with an ability to lead that inspired team mates for years.

Ireland flanker Chris Henry said

telpiece at home,” Launchbury said. “It was a strange award that could have gone to a whole host of guys on their team.”

Equally embarrassing was the award going to Uruguay’s Agustin Ormaechea, who scored a try against Fiji but was then sent off after receiving the first red card of the tournament. — Reuters

the captain’s speech before Sunday’s pool decider against France had everyone in tears.

Captain of the British and Irish Lions on their 2009 tour of South Africa, O’Connell returned from a near career-ending back injury

to become a Lions’ tourist for the third time during the successful 2013 series in Australia.

Cruelly, that tour was cut short too when O’Connell broke his arm before the second test.

But like Brian O’Driscoll, whose retirement last year was greeted with similar adoration at home and abroad, O’Connell took on a new lease of life under Joe Schmidt when the Kiwi was appointed Ireland coach two years ago.

The towering second row became only the fourth Irish player to win 100 caps, alongside O’Driscoll and former Munster team mates Ronan O’Gara and John Hayes, during this year’s Six Nations when he was voted player of the tournament.

Handed the captaincy on a full-time basis by Schmidt, the thoughtful Limerick native thrived under the coach’s methods and attention to detail and has said a future career in coaching is a possibility. - Reuters

RUGBY WORLD CUP

We’ll do it our way, say Les Bleus seeking another All Blacks upset NEWPORT: France have a history of upsetting the All Blacks at Rugby World Cups, but they will not be dwelling on former glories when they take on New Zealand in Saturday’s quarterfinal.

Les Bleus famously beat New Zealand 43-31 in the 1999 semifinals and 20-18 in the 2007 quarter-finals. They then came agonisingly close in the 20011 final, losing by a single point in Auckland.

Though the French will take inspiration from the way their unfancied predecessors came from behind in both of those triumphs, the current crop of players insist they will do it their way when they take the field at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

“It’s been done, so it’s doable, but its another story (on Saturday),” flanker Damien Chouly told reporters on Tuesday.

In the 2007 quarterfinal France wore red, white or blue shirt to form a French flag while the All Blacks performed the Haka. Be-

Every team have their history. Four years ago they did something; we don’t have to do something, too.

999, 2007; it was different. We will have to create our own history on Saturday Sebastien Tillous-Borde

fore the 2011 final they formed an arrow as New Zealand began their traditional Maori challenge.

“Every team have their history. Four years ago they did something; we don’t have to do something, too,” scrumhalf Se-

bastien Tillous-Borde said.

“1999, 2007; it was different. We will have to create our own history on Saturday.”

Whatever the approach, France will again face the All Blacks as underdogs, particularly after Sun-

day’s dismal 24-9 defeat in the Pool D decider against Ireland.

The French, starved of the ball as Ireland dominated the breakdown, spent much of the game defending before cracking in the final 15 minutes.

With the side having shown little to suggest they can pose a serious threat to the defending champions this time, utility back Brice Dulin urged his team mates to let if flow in the quarter-final.

“We can’t only defend, we must try things, we must not be minimalists,” he said.

If they do that, who’s to say that France’s notorious stubborn streak and ability to turn on the style when least expected won’t bring another famous victory over the All Blacks?

“As a Frenchman, it’s never good to be the favourite,” coach Philippe Saint-Andre said on Monday. “We’ll have to show our greatest match. For several players, it will be the game of their lives.” - Reuters

C

SECTION

LIFESTYLE

W ED N ES DAY, O CTO B ER 14 , 2 0 1 5

Leisure WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

COUN T CHAR LESS M SHAR S OF QIYAH SAND S People l iving in Oman a experie re lucky nce the to beautifu magica l, serene l deserts , and of the S Discove ultanate r the go . lden du nes, wild the sim ple life o l i fe, f Bedou a moon i n s , and less but starry n calmne ight of ss of the Sharqiy ah Sand Story: s.

Saleh

Photography : Cio Datan

Al Sha ibany

C8

W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

LIFESTYLE

Out of curiosity than anything else, I bent over and took a scoop of sand and examined what was in my hand. I parted the granules with my index finger and realised that they were crystallised with deposits of different metals that naturally occurred over millions of years of the existence of the desert. I let the hot sand roll down from my palm to cause a careless small heap next to my feet.

It was then I heard a soft sound somewhere behind me. It was a whimper of an animal and when I turned around, I saw a red fox making a fuss over its litter of kittens, just fifty metres away from me. I was not sure whether the fox was aware of my presence but she was busy licking the furs of its babies while they were trying to snuggle closer to their mother. Seconds later, the flapping of the wings forced me to look in the sky. A white and grey eagle was circling above me and I was pretty sure I was not the prey he was looking for.

The mother fox saw the eagle, too. She squirmed, hissed and stared at the circling bird. She then quickly picked each of her three kittens by her teeth and dropped them one by one in a hole under a rock.

With the danger out of the fox’s way, I cast my eyes a distance away to the kaleidoscope of colours made up by clusters of tents — homes of the Bedouins. I also watched camels feeding on thorny trees, women in black walking around doing their chores, boys in white dishdasha playing and girls in bright red and pink dresses running around.

I scanned my eyes to the south and there was nothing but the horizon. To the north was the tourist camp I was going to spend a night and the water vapour rising and falling in the east, telling me there was a water spring somewhere there.

It made sense because the Bedouins would not choose to

camp anyway unless there was water nearby.

I must have stayed up there for half an hour before I decided to come down. I walked towards the Bedouins camp, behind two wide dunes. There was a surprise waiting for me there. I usually associate desert plants with cactus or trees with thorny branches but to my amazement, a fauna patch of bright flowers greeted me as I was coming round the bend. I wondered how an area of arid land could be the unsuspecting host of beautiful and vibrant forms of life.

A swarm of bees circling the flowers warned me not to get too close when I was trying to pick one of them. I kept a respectable distance from the Bedouins tents and my desert exploration to make sure I don’t invade their privacy. An old gentleman, sitting under the shade of a craggy tree, waved his hand and I waved back.

A much younger Bedouin, was skinning a lamb which was hanging upside down from a branch of a tree.

I also saw a woman starting a fire from dried twigs under another tree. I deliberated my walk long enough to see her placing a pot on three stones from which the fire was blazing from. Then it occurred to me how basic their lives are. The kitchen, living room, the food preparation area were all under the shade of trees.

The night in the desert has a different proposition for city dwellers like me. It was cooler and the owls were loud.

The cry of the wolves was eerie and the bats were dominating the air. In the moonless night, the sky was decorated by the glitter of the stars like carelessly strewn diamond necklaces. Yet, it was peaceful, rejuvenating and I was completely enveloped by calmness, unknown to the crude noises and the pollution of the city. saleh_shaibany@yahoo.com

Photography: Shutterstock

he four-hour drive towards the Eastern Region of Oman to the Sharqiyah Sands was worth the trouble every kilometre of the way. Once you go past Al Qabil town, little villages dot the route, but the main fascination are the colourful tents of the Bedouins that flap playfully in the wind.

I preferred not to lodge in a twostar hotel but in a desert camp so I could be close to the grandeur of the sands. I had trainers on my feet, shorts, sleeveless shirt, baseball cap, sunglasses, and a drink in my hand. That was all I needed to explore around in that late afternoon.

First, I had to make up my mind whether to walk to the nearest sand dune, venture deep in the desert or take a stroll to the Bedouins camp. I decided to go for the dunes because it happened to be the largest within a 300 metre radius.

What was really fascinating about this particular dune was that it was not only about 100 metres long, but it was in the shape of a pyramid. When I reached it, I stopped on its base and admired its colours, the way you would admire a house of your dreams knowing that you can never afford to own it. The sands on its sides were intricately twisting from top to bottom in different shades of gold. It was made of the fluffiest sand you could ever find anywhere else.

It was not a steep climb but I was breathless by the time I reached the top. I could not help but take a selfie with my mobile phone so I could send the picture in my snap chat to declare to my friends that I conquered a dune in the middle of the legendary Sharqiyah Sands.

The view from the top was sublime. I could see more dunes scattered around and I was wondering why each one was gleaming under the bright sun as if they were made of metal but not sands.

T R AV E L T I P S

Save Money During Vacations

Flying: Book airline tickets well in advance and go to discount websites for better deals. Though these sites might charge you a fee, they can combine flight segments from different airlines to give you a great deal. Though connecting flights would mean more travel time, do not write it off as they can save money.

Taking a Taxi: If you travel by taxi, better have some idea about how much it should cost. Carry a card with the hotel address and a map, and ask the taxi drivers to use the meter. Some insurance and many credit cards have car rental coverage. So take advantage of those when you rent a car.

Local Purchase: Grocery stores are travellers’ best resource for cheap food and local flavours. Find the nearest one to your hotel and you will save yourself a lot of money.

Have a picnic lunch every day.

Also learn the art of bargaining, which saves you money. So, be bold and bargain.

Vacation Homes: If you are staying at a destination for at least a few days, consider a vacation home instead of hotels. They often are more comfortable and your cost will probably be cheaper. Some also provide furnished kitchens as well as service of cooks and cleaners for a fee on a day-to-day basis.

Public Transport: Use public transport, which is fast, easy, and cheaper.

It can give you a better travel experience. So, get a map and learn the different ticket types. Some cities offer combo tickets for travel by various modes (bus, train, tram, metro) at a subsidised cost. Avail of that. lifestyle@timesofoman.com

WEDNE SDAY, O CTO BER 14, 2015

C9

LIFESTYLE THE HOBBYIST Ahmed Al Hadi Stunt Biker

Why Do You Love Stunt Biking?

First of all, it’s a passion that makes you feel unique. There is no better feeling than hopping on the bike after a long week at work. It really relieves you of any stress at work or home.

How Did You Get Into It? I’ve been around bikes my whole life. I got inspired once by a friend, and when I tried it for the first time I felt like I didn’t want to stop and get off the bike. I wanted to continue doing stunts with bikes because it gave me an amazing feeling that I am not able to describe.

How Can One Get Into It? You should try to pop the wheel once and then it is up to you to continue or not.

Many wanted to get into it but, after trying it they didn’t get the thrill and didn’t want to continue. So, it greatly depends on the person. The answer to ‘how’ is simple: if you are already a rider, just keep riding and experiencing it.

What’s Your Pro-Tip? Safety first and practise, practise, practise.

B U R N I NG R U B B ER

For more details and information on resources for stunt biking in Oman, contact: Oman Automobile Association (OAA): Phone: +968 2451 0239, +968 2451 0630 Fax: +968 2451 0276 info@omanauto.org, omanauto@omantel.net.om omanauto.org

PHOTO: SUPPLIED

I got inspired by a friend, and when I tried it for the first time, I felt like I didn’t want to stop and get off the bike.

Y O U R FAV O U R I T E B O O K

The Fourth K Author: Mario Puzo My addiction with Puzo never seems to go away, and even though this book has never been considered as one of his best, I still find this 1990 novel a masterpiece (may be my addiction has got something to do with it).

A crime, suspense, thriller, The Fourth K is set during the Presidency of fictional Francis Xavier Kennedy, nephew of John F Kennedy, and scion of the famed and ill-fated clan.

President Francis is elected to office owing to his personal charm and the aura of his legacy. He is the perfect poster-boy of youth leadership. Too soon, however, he is disillusioned, beaten down by the political process and, disabused of his ideals.

He transforms drastically into

what he himself would never have believed for himself; a shrewd, cunning, and brutal plotter.

And when his daughter is held hostage to a terrorist plot, Francis, who has obsessively kept alive the memory of his uncles’ assassinations, unleashes fury on his opponents, one which is violent and bloody.

As the explosive events unfold, the world and those closest to him are left stuck in awe and horror, just the same as Francis himself is left in much bewilderment.

His own people plot against him (his cabinet and wily influential members of the Socrates Club – who control everything from grain, real estate, to oil, media and even Congress).

Even his vice-president, the beautiful Helen Du Pray, calculates

her moves to usurp power.

The plot begins with a terrorist assassination of the Pope on Easter Sunday, a deed that sends global aftershocks to jolt the power strongholds around the world, from the palace of the Sultan of Sherhaben to the White House.

And this time Francis cares for nothing – not even the interests of his country – when his family is once again dragged into the cold treacheries of politics and the resulting brutal plots. It is all personal for him this time.

No longer are his energies invested towards forging the idealistic ‘new social contract’ for the betterment of USA. It is all about settling scores and vendetta.

Undermining the validity of right and wrong, and the judg-

ment of good from bad, The Fourth K is all about power and how it corrupts the human soul; how power intoxicates and lures towards deceit and betrayal.

The Fourth K is not set in any particular era; the only assumption the reader can make is that it is after the era of the famous USA president JFK. The book is all about power and how it grabs human minds.

- Reviewed by Faisal Mohammed Naim

ARE YOU A PROLIFIC READER? Which is your favourite book? Pick one and send in your thoughts on it to shafeeq@timesofoman.com

W E D NE S DAY, OCTOBER 14, 2 015

C10

FIND-IT-ALL

PRAYER TIMINGS

@SHATTI

@MGM

(12+) 5:00, 9:15PM Jamna Pyari – 2D (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Roja, Gayathri 9:30PM Singh is Bling– 2D (Action/Comedy) (PG) 4.30, 11:45PM

@SOHAR

@RUWI

CITY CINEMA Contact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68. www.citycinemaoman.net facebook.com/citycinemaoman SHATTI Black Mass (Biography, Crime, Drama) – 12+ Cast: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch 4.30 PM The Martian (2D) (Action, Sci-Fi) – PG 6.00 PM The Martian (3D) (Action, Sci-Fi) – PG Cast : Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain 8.45, 11.30 PM The Walk (3D) (Adventure, Drama) – PG Cast: Charlotte Le Bon, Ben Kingsley 6.30 PM Pan (3D) (Adventure, Family, Fantasy) – PG Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy Vee 2.30, 4.15, 7.00 PM Legend (Biography, Crime, Thriller) – 12+ Cast Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, 3.15, 9.00, 11,45 PM Hotel Transylvania 2 (3D) (Animation) – PG Cast: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Nick 2.30 PM Jazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+ Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan 9.15 PM Momentum (Action, Thriller) (15+)(2D) Cast: Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy, Morgan Freeman 11:45 pm MUSCAT GRAND MALL Momentum 2D (Action, Thriller) 15+ Cast : Olga Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy, Morgan Freeman 11:45PM Pan 3D (Adventure | Family | Fantasy ) (PG) 10:00AM, 12:00 & 4:15PM Gold Class: 1:15PM & 6:15PM The Martian 3D (Action| Adventure) PG 10:45AM, 1:30, 9:15 & 11:55PM Gold Class: 3:30, 8:30 & 11:15PM Jazbaa 2D (| Action |Drama ) 12+

Pan (3D) (Adventure, Family, Fantasy) – PG Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy Vee Timing: 2.30, 4.15, 7.00 PM

Timings : 2:00, 6:35, 9:10, 11:45 PM

9:15PM Legend 2D (Biography| Crime | Thriller TBC Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher 6:30PM The Walk 3D (Adventure | Biography) (PG) Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 7:00PM Singh Is Bling 2D (Action |Comedy) 2:00PM Etiquette for Mistresses 2D (Tagalog) Cast: Kris Aquino, Claudine Barretto (TBC) 4:45PM

3:00, 11:30 PM The Martian – 3D (PG) Action, Adventure, Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, 5:30, 8:00, 10:45 PM Pan – 3D (PG) Adventure, Family, Fantasy Cast: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman 2:30, 4:30, 7:15 PM Jazbaa – 2D (12+) Drama, Action, Adventure Cast – Aishwarya Rai Bacchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi 2:15, 6:30, 8:45, 11:00 PM Jamna Payri – 2D (PG) Comedy Cast – Kunchacko Boban, Roja, Gayathri 9:15 PM Rudramadevi – 2D (TBC) Historical/Action/ Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun, Rana 2:45, 8:00 PM

AZAIBA The Walk – 3D (PG) Adventure, Biography, Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Charlotte Le Bon, 5:45 PM Momentum – 2D (15+) Action, Thriller Cast: Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy, Morgan Freeman 11:00 PM Puli – 2D (12+) Action, Adventure Cast: Vijay, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan 4:30 PM Singh Is Bling - 2D (PG12) Action, Comedy Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Kay

Screen 2 Singh Is Bling (Action / Comedy ) – PG12 3.45, 9.45 PM Jawani Phir Nahi Aani (Comedy) – 12+ Cast: Humayun Saeed, Javed Sheikh 6.45 PM Screen 3 Talvar (Mystery/Thriller) – PG12 Cast: Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Tabu, 3.45, 6.45, 9.45 PM SOHAR Momentum - 2D (15+)Action | Thriller Cast :Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman 11:30 PM Singh Is Bling - 2D (PG12) Action |Comedy 10:45 PM Talvar - 2D (PG12) Murder |Mystery |Thriller 4:30 PM Cast : Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma Puli - 2D (T) (PG12)Action |Adventure Cast : Vijay, Sridevi, Shruti Haasan 5:00 PM The Martian - 3D (PG) Action, Adventure, Cast : Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen 2:00, 6:35, 9:10, 11:45 PM The Martian - 2D (PG) Action, Adventure,

RUWI Screen 1 Jazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+ Cast : Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan 3.30, 9.30 PM Singh Is Bling (Action / Comedy ) PG12 Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta 6.30 PM

Cast : Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen 4:45 PM Pan - 3D (PG) Adventure, Family, Fantasy 2:45, 4:35, 7:30 PM Jazbaa - 2D (12+) Drama, Action & Adventure 2:15, 7:00, 9:30 PM Legend - 2D (12+) Biography| Crime | Thriller 2:30, 11:45 PM Jamna Pyari - 2D (M)(PG) Comedy Cast : Kunchacko Boban, Roja, Gayathri 9:15 PM Rudramadevi - 2D (Telugu)(TBC) Historical Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun, Rana 7:45 PM

TO MUSCAT (RUWI) Arrival Operating time days

BURAIMI The Martian– 3D (Action) (PG) 6:45, 9:15, 11:45PM Pan – 3D (Adventure, Family, Fantasy) (PG) 4:45, 7:15PM Legend – 2D (Biography, Crime, Thriller) (12+) Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Taron 7:00PM Momentum – 2D (Action, Thriller) (15+) Cast: Ogla Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman 11:30PM Jazbaa – 2D (Drama, Action & Adventure)

Dept time

Destination

Arrival Operating time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

TEMPERATURE

05:30 05:30 05:30

Maximum

Sur Quriyat Ruwi

06:45 08:30 10:00

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 06:30 08:00 13:00 13:00 16.00 16.00

07:00 07:00 13:30 13:00 13:00 13:00 17:00

Sohar Buraimi Buraimi Sohar Buraimi Sohar Buraimi

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

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52) 17:30

Sinaw

Nizwa Yanqul

Daily

16:50 19:30

Daily Daily

Nizwa Al Araqi

36 29 Minimum

0

RELATIVE HUMIDITY

60-90%

07:00

Ruwi

10:25

Daily

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 17 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

08:40 11:00

Daily Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54) 08:00 08:00

08:55 Daily 11:40 Daily 20:20 Daily via Ibri 14:55 Daily 17:40 Daily 19:20 Daily 22:15 Daily

06:00 06:00

Nizwa Ruwi

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

10:20 12:30

Daily Daily

15:40 15:40

Nizwa Ruwi

17:55 20:20

Daily Daily

LISTINGS

ROYAL OMAN POLICE TO SUR (ROUTE 55) 07:30 14:30

Sur Sur

TO SUR (ROUTE 55) 12:00 18:45

Daily Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62) 06:30 06:30

Fahud Yibal

Salalah Marmul Salalah Salalah

20:00 20:30 23:30 07:40

Daily Daily

Marmul

Dubai

16:50

Daily

Sohar Dubai Sohar Dubai Sohar Dubai

Daily Daily

12:30 12:30

Fahud Ruwi

13:15 17:30

Daily Daily

07:00 10:00 10:00 19:00

Ruwi Marmul Ruwi Ruwi

19:50 13:15 22:30 07:30

06:00

Marmul

16:30

Daily

08:30 11:30 15:30 18:30 17:35 20:55

Daily Daily Wed,Thur Wed,Thur Daily Daily

15:00

Salalah

Daily

07:00

Daily

10:50 13:40 16:15 19:10 18:45 21:35

Daily Daily Thur-Fri Thur-Fri Daily Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201) 07:30 07:30 13:00 13:00 15:30 15:30

Sohar Ruwi Sohar Ruwi Sohar Ruwi

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 07:00 07:00

16:00 16.00 16.00

Fujairah Sharjah Dubai

11.45 13.30 14.00

Daily Daily Daily

Sharjah Fujairah Ruwi

16:30 18.15 23.00

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999 General Directorate of Passport and Residence 24569603 Directorate General of Customs 24521109 Traffic violations inquiries 24510228 Public Relations Admin 24560099 EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Daily Daily Daily Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

07:00

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201) 06:00 06:00 13:00 13:00 15:00 15:00

10:45 19:00

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102) 15:00

Ruwi Ruwi

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100) Daily Daily Daily Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101) 06:00

06:00 14:30

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

10:30 11:15

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100) 07:00 10:00 10:00 19:00

Rudramadevi (Telugu) (Act/Thrill) Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arun & Rana Dagubati 3-30, 6-30 At Cinema Main & 9.45 Pm Cinema 3 Jamna Pyari (Mal) (Com/Rom) Cast: Kunchako Boban, Roja, Gayatri & Anu Moi 3-45 & 6-45 PM At Cinema 3; 9-30 pm at Cinema Main Pulli (Tamil) (Act) Cast: Vijay & Shruthi Hassan 3-30, 6.30 & 9-30 Pm at Cinema-2 Kunji Ramayanam (Hindi) (Drama/Com) Cast: Vineeth Srinivasan, Aju Verghese & Srinda 3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 Pm At Cinema-4 Rudramadevi (Telugu) (Act/Com) Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arun & Rana Dagubati 3-00, 6-30 & 10-00 Pm At Cinema Main Next Change: Life of Josutty (Mal), Rudramadevi (Tamil), The Fighter (Telugu) Programmes are subject to change

0

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52) 20:50

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54) 14:30 14:30

Sohar Ruwi Ruwi Sohar Ruwi Sohar Ruwi

Daily Daily Daily

Film information 24791641 / 24786776 Website: www.isurf.co.om

WEATHER

15:00 15:00 15:00

Daily Daily Daily

STAR CINEMA

WITH LOVE

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36) 16:30 18:00 19:30

Black Mass ( Biography,/ Crime/ Drama) Cast: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson 5.45 pm CP No: 2645 (12+) Pan (Adventure/Family/Fantasy) Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Jimmy Vee 3.45, 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pm CP No: 2759 ( PG ) The Stranger ( Drama/Horror/Mystery) Cast: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levi, Cristobal Tappia Montt 2.00, 6.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pm CP No: 2758 (12+) Cooties (Action /Comedy/Horror) Cast: Elijah Wood, Allison Pill, Rain Wilson 2.00, 4.00 & 8.00 pm CP No : 2760 ( 15+)

The Martian (3D) (PG) (Action, Sci-Fi) 11:00AM, 3:45, 9:00, 11:45PM The Martian (2D) (PG) (Action/Sci-Fi) 12:45PM Momentum (2D) (15+) (Action/Thriller) Cast: Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy 10:15, 11:35PM Pan (3D) (PG) (Adventure/Family/Fantasy) 10:00AM, 1:45, 2:10, 4:10PM The Stranger (2D) (12+) (Mystery/Horror) Cast: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns 5:00PM Cooties (2D)(15) (Horror/Comedy) Cast: Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill 3:15PM Jazbaa (2D)(12+) (Drama/Action/Adventure) 12:00, 9:15PM Rudramadevi (2D) (PG12)( Telugu) (Action) 6:15PM Legend (2D) (12+) (Biography/Crime/Thriller) 6:30PM Singh Is Bling (2D) (PG12) (Action/Romance) 10:15AM, 11:50PM Puli (2D) (PG12) (Tamil) (Action/Adventure) 6:45PM

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Quriyat Sur Jaalan

Film information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855 Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

SUR Momentum (Action | Thriller) (15+) Cast: Olga Kurylenko, James Purefey 10:00 PM Pan (3D) (Adventure | Family | Fantasy) (PG) 3:30 PM Martin (3D) (Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi) (PG) 4:30, 7:00, 11:45 PM Jazbaa (Hindi) (Action | Drama) (12+) 5:30, 9:30 PM Singh Is Bling (Hindi) (Action) (PG12) 11:15 PM Jamna Pyari (Mal) (Comedy (PG) Cast: Kunchako Boban, Roja, Gaythri 7:45 PM

THE MARTIAN - 3D (PG) (Action, Sci-Fi) Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig

Jazbaa (Action / Drama ) – 12+ Cast : Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Chandan Roy Sanyal Timing: 3.30, 9.30 PM

Momentum : 2D (Action, Thriller) 15+ Cast : Olga Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy, Morgan Freeman Timing: 11:45PM

BAHJA CINEMA

SALALAH

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) Destination

11.58pm 3.19pm 5.48pm 6.58pm 4.48am

CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

CINEMA SCHEDULE

Dept time

Dhuhr Asr Maghrib Isha Fajr (Tomorrow)

Daily Daily Daily

Afghanistan Algeria Bahrain Bangladesh Brazil Brunei China Cyprus Egypt France Germany India Indonesia Iran Iraq Italy Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya South Korea Kuwait

24698 791/4 24605 593 24 605 074/133 24 698 660 24640100 24 603533 24 696782 24 699815 24 600 982/411 24681 800 24835000 24684500 2469 1050 24 696 944/7 24603642 24693727 24 601 028 24692760/1/3 24 692418 24 697664 24 691490 24 699628

Lebanon Libya Malaysia Morocco Nepal Netherlands Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Senegal Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Switzerland Syria Tanzania Thailand Tunisia Turkey UAE United Kingdom United States Yemen

24 693208 24603466 24698329/643 24696152/3 24696177 24603706 24603439 24601312 24605335 24 691 153/2/4 24602894 24601705 24694139 24697977 24647300 24691101 24697841/2 24697875 24603267 24697904 24601 174 24 602684/5 24603486 24697050/1/2 24400000 24609000 24643400 24600815

PHARMACIES Round the clock Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi Salalah Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra Muscat Region Apollo, Al Hamriya Muscat, A Seeb Market Muscat, Al Khuwair Muscat, Al Hail South Dhofar Region Muscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah

24782666 24702542 23291635; 24503585 24787766 24421691 24485740 24537080

23291635

HOSPITALS Al Amal Medical & Health Care Centre 24485052 Atlas Hospital Ruwi 24811743/ Ghubra 24504000 Al Musafir Specialised Medical Clinic 24706453 Hatat Polyclinic LLC, Ruwi 24563641 Azaiba 24499269 Sohar 2683006 Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2 Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory 24566435 Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre 24499434 Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780 Capital Polyclinic 24707549 Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi 24799760/1/2 Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740 Ceregem National Raak 24485633 Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217 Elixir Health Centre 24565802 Emirates Medical Centre 24604540 1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274 Hamdan Hospital 23212340 International Medical Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5 Kims Oman Hospital 24760100 24 Hrs Emergency 24760123 Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128 MBD 24799077 Al Khuwair 24478818 Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital 24568870 Muscat Private Hospital 24583600 Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666 Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000 AIRLINE OFFICES Muscat Airport Flight information (24 hours) 24519456/24519223 Aeroflot 24704455 Air Arabia 24700828 Air France 24562153 Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732 Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128 British Airways 24568777 Cathay Pacific 24789818 Egypt Air 24794113 Emirates Air 24404400 Ethiopian Airlines 24660313 Gulf Air 80072424 Indian 24791914 Iran Air 24787423 Japan Airlines 24704455 Jazeera Airways 23294848 Jet Airways 24787248 Kenya Airways 24660300 KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737 Kuwait Airways 24701262 LOT Polish Airlines 24796387 Lufthansa 24796692 Malaysian Airlines 24560796 Middle East Airlines 24796680 Oman Air 24531111 Pakistan International Airlines 24792471 Qatar Airways 24771900 Qantas 24559941 Royal Jordanian 24796693 Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485 Singapore Airlines 24791233 Shaheen Air 24816565 SriLankan Airlines 24784545 Swiss International Airlines 24796692 Thai Airways 24705934

WE DNE SDAY, O CTO BER 14, 2015

LIFESTYLE

Mountain Oasis

Location: 23°08’23.7”N 57°18’43.8”E Have you been able to capture the beauty Oman? of an off-the-beaten-path destination in Send your pictures with a caption an.com esofom and geo-locator to: shafeeq@tim

H O S P I TA L I T Y

The Attractive Calmness of Thunder Dragon Land ROAD TRIPS through longwinding mountainous roads aren’t everyone’s forte. The sheer beauty, however, leaves one stunned. Surrounded by snowclad mountains, apple, peach orchards and a river with clean water running parallel to the road, the breathtaking beauty of the landscape of Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan leaves one in awe. The fluttering prayer flags added to the mystical beauty of the countryside. The feeling was stunning and humbling at the same time.

Dotted with buildings strictly following traditional aesthetics, the place looked like out of a dream. Clean roads with barely no traffic showed how much the citizens take care of the city.

Revved up by the sights, one is looking forward to a walk outside the hotel. A faint Tibetan horn sounds the beginning of prayers. As the clouds cleared I caught a glimpse of the gigantic Buddha Dordenma.

The sense of calm and unhur-

ried life in Thimphu is evident.

Travelling alone is not a problem here. Welcoming and helpful locals add to the charm. Walking into the Centenary Farmers Market, one is overwhelmed by the cleanliness and order that the Bhutanese have. With fresh vegetables, fruits and the humble dried fish all in a beautiful ensemble, the market is a riot of colours.

The country’s monastic calm

can only be paralleled by its love for books. It was an awakening for the uninitiated to see hundreds throng to get a glimpse of their favourite writers at the cerebral Lit Fest named Mountain Echoes.

For a kingdom sandwiched by two countries that account for one-third of humans on Earth, Bhutan is an island of scenic beauty, culture, tradition and modernity. -IANS

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LIFESTYLE

From the thousands of national parks across the globe,

Iguazú National Park, Argentina Located in Misiones Province in Argentina and bordering the Brazilian state of Parana, Iguazú National Park, jointly with its sister park Iguaçu in Brazil, has massive waterfalls. The surrounding subtropical rainforest has over 2,000 species of vascular plants and is home to the typical wildlife of the region.

Goreme National Park, Turkey Located on the central Anatolia plateau and sculpted by erosion to form mountain ridges, valleys and pinnacles is Goreme National Park which provides a unique evidence of Byzantine art. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns, the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century, can also be seen there.

Zhangjiajie National Park, China Covering over 50 square miles, Zhangjiajie National Park, is the highlight of the gorgeous Wulingyuan scenic area and features the vast forest of peculiar sandstone peaks. It covers three natural reserves, and contains over 500 tree species. There are also giant salamanders, rhesus monkeys, and many bird types.

Canaima National Park, Venezuela Spread over 3 million hectares in south-eastern Venezuela along the border between Guyana and Brazil Canaima National Park is covered by table mountain formations and is of a unique biogeological entity. The spectacular landscape features cliffs, waterfalls, rivers, jungles and savannas.

Halgurd-Sakran National Park, Kurdistan (Iraq) A Natural Park in Choman district, Kurdistan, on the border with Iran. The Halgurd Mountain retains some snow throughout the summer. Two key habitats surveyed here are mountain forest vegetation— thorncushion vegetation and alpine zone vegetation. A number of villages at lower elevations grow vegetables and raise livestock.

Sundarbans National Park, India and Bangladesh Covering 10,000 km of land and water in India and Bangladesh Sundarbans contains the world’s largest area of mangrove forests. A number of rare and endangered species live here including tigers, aquatic mammals, birds and reptiles. It’s one of the most biologically productive of all natural ecosystems.

Cairngorms National Park, Scotland Covering 4,500 sq km of stunning mountains, green forests, friendly villages and picturesque lochs, Cairngorms National Park is a place where one can explore wildlife, enjoy hillwalking and ski down snow covered mountains. It’s a real adventure playground for outdoor enthusiasts.

Kruger National Park, South Africa One of the largest game reserves in Africa, Kruger covers an area of 19,485 square kilometres.

The diversity and density of animals is almost unparalleled, and all of Africa’s iconic safari species including elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, rhino, buffalo, giraffe, hippo and zebra live out their dramatic days here.

Minneriya National Park, Sri Lanka The 8,890 hectares of Minneriya National Park is an ideal eco tourism location in Sri Lanka and comprises mixed evergreen forest and scrub areas. It’s home to extraordinary diversity of wildlife including the country’s favourites such as sambar deer, leopards, and elephants.

it’s almost impossible to choose the best.

But here are some incredible and amazing parks, which stand testimony to how beautiful and diverse our planet Earth is.

IN-FLIGHT DINING

On Air Dining Kitchen Achieves Halal Certification DUBAI: On Air Dining, the elite culinary service that provides a fine dining experience in the air, has enhanced its offering to clients with the installation of a dedicated approved Halal kitchen at its London Stansted Airport, UK headquarters.

It is one of the first kitchens run by an inflight dining company to be designated as holding official Halal status. The recognition was made formal by Mataan Noh of Halal Consultations who is counselled by Shaikh Dr Abdul Majid Ali, a well-respected TV personality and councillor on Islamic matters in the UK and UAE. In addition to creating a dedicated Halal Arabic menu, On Air Dining has also received certification confirming that its entire Fine Dining, Brasserie, and Platters menus conform to Halal requirements. This means that clients can order from any item on the menu and be assured that it conforms to Halal cuisine guidelines that adhere to Islamic

law. This includes sourcing meat (which has undergone the approved slaughter procedure) and products solely from well-known Halal suppliers.

This investment is in response to an increase in requests from On Air Dining’s expanding Middle Eastern customer base. Daniel Hulme, CEO On Air Dining comments: “The Middle East market is growing at a tremendous pace with more operators coming in and out of the UK so this is an important move for us. We are proud to offer the services of our newly certified Halal kitchen to our private jet customers and look for-

ward to satisfying the taste buds of this discerning clientele.”

On Air Dining has ensured its new kitchen meets the stringent requirements needed for official status. This includes using separate kitchen equipment when handling Halal items such as grills and fryers, storing Halal food so that it does not touch non-Halal items and changing gloves when handling non-permissible ingredients. Daniel Hulme, adds: “Many inflight dining providers claim to offer Halal cuisine but often they are just buying dishes from Halal restaurants and delivering them to the aircraft. At On Air Dining we will be creating dishes from freshly sourced permissible Halal ingredients in our certified kitchen ensuring that the needs of our customers are met 100% and that quality, consistency and versatility are not compromised.” Mataan Noh of Halal Consultations said: “We are very proud to award official Halal status to On Air Dining.” lifestyle@timesofoman.com

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SECTION

CONNEC T H E D A I LY G U I D E

RENT

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VACANCY

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CARGO

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W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5 Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DAILY GUIDE FOR RENT

Workers’ campus, shops, workshops, stores in a building in Al Misfah, Wilayat Bausher.

Contact 98918090 02 BHK commercial / residential (with split AC) Flat at Honda road.

Contac: 99342733 / 99795241

Flat for rent, 3 bedrooms, kitchen & bathroom in wadi kabir for 280 RO. Contact : 97771444

02 BHK residential flat opposite to Al Nadha Hospital. Contact: 99342733 / 99795241

3 BHK Penthouse Flat with Split A/ Cs, Free Unlimited Broadband WiFi, Security access system, Pvt. Terrace & Secured car park, Opposite Kims Hospital Al Falaj, Monthly Rent: 625/-.

Contact: 99657906 or 24702141

Furnished room for rent at Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975

1000sqm industrial and with compound well & two rooms at Misfah.

Contact: 99342733 / 99795241 Readymade office space for rent (100sm) in Bank Melli Iran building, MBA area, Ruwi, opposite Center Point. Contact: 99011352 Shop / store for rent about 250 sq mtrs area in the heart of Ruwi City good for restaurant, store or general sale. Contact 99326639 One /two, B/R, Res / comm. flats near Bank Muscat Bausher from owner directly . Contact: 92158031 AL Khuwair 17/1, 2 single bedroom flats at 150/-, 1 big studio at 120/- , 3 small studios at 90/- with electricity & water. Contact: 99441798 Wadi Kabir 8 studios, each at 80/with electricity & water.

Contact 99441798 Mawaleh 3 bedrooms flat at 450/with electricity, water.

Contact: 99441798 Brand new 2 bedroom flat split ACS near Sultan Center Arjan towel project R.O 450/- PM. Contact: 95278815

1000 sq mtrs industrial land in Ghala suitable for ware house, work shop etc. Contact : 24700120 / 92584715 200 sqm basement available for rent in AL Khuwair near Rawasco.

Contact: 93782735 / 93329476 We have 1BHK in Mabela 7 new buildings 175/- R.O. Contact: 93782735 / 93329476 We have 3BHK villa fully furnished in Ghubra 18th November street 650/- R.O. Contact : 93782735 / 93329476 1BHK R.O 190/- & 2BHK R.O 225/near Medical Darsait Muttrah house.

Contact: 98748925 For rent one bedroom Majlis, 2 toilets, kitchen, balcony Greater Muttrah near Muscat Electricity distribution new building rent R.O 230/-. Contact: 99243059 Deluxe 2 bedroom flats MBD, Ruwi, Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99472457 / 24707340

We have 2 BHK in Ghubra 18th November street 2 rooms, 3 bathrooms, large sitting, hall& Kitchen 325/- O.R. Contact : 93782735 / 93329476

We have 3BHK villa near Grand Mosque villa with 3 rooms, sitting hall, majlis & car parking 700/- O.R. Contact : 93782735 / 93329476

We have shops for rent in Ghala & Ghubra. Contact : 93782735 / 93329476

We have 2 BHK flat in Al Khuwair new Rawasco brand new building 325/- O.R. # 93782735 / 93329476

We have 100 sqm for rent in Ghala new building 350/- R.O. Contact 93782735 / 93329476

We have small building for rent in Bousher, 4 studio & 1 shop building commercial & residence can be used for family, bachelors or store 750/O.R. contact : 93782735 / 93329476

We have 3BHK flats in Ghala new building flat with 3 rooms, 4 bathrooms, large sitting hall& kitchen 425/-. Contact: 93782735 / 93329476

Flat 2bedrooms, 2 toilets, kitchen and sitting room in Al Ansab.

Contact: 95302993 / 95216161

Al Hail Villa & Flats.

Contact: 95282986

Office/Shop 28 SQM, Wadikhabeer, Contact 93004902

Apartment for rent, have flat in South Al Hail consists of 3 bedrooms + 3 baths + hall + kitchen car parking.

Contact: 92602050 / 93214010

2BHK with Split Unit A/C , Wadikhabeer near Indian School, 99441193, 93004802

Bedroom ground floor apartment with sitting, 2 baths, big richen close to Indian School near to Mars hypermarket Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 98011224

2BHK with Split Units , WadiKhabeer, 93004802.

Flats and shops for rent in Ruwi, MBD Mumtaz area. Contact : 97293708 / 92433127

2 BHK available Ghubra near Al Maha hotel. Contact: 99269751 Brand new deluxe flats located near Seeb fly over on the right hand side of the main road coming from the Seeb palace roundabout, two bedrooms family, hall, kitchen, 3 toilets, balcony & split unit AC. Contact: 97755586 1BHK , 3BHK flats at Wadi Al Kabir new building with split unit and lift behind Muscat Bakery.

Contact: 99338133 3 rooms, Majlis, living room, kitchen, 4 toilets & swimming pool in Amerat Heights (phase one).

Contact: 99277377 Villa in Al Khuwair 17 /2 for rent, near Ibis hotel, 2 spacious bedrooms, spacious hall, Maid room front yard , private entrance kitchen and 3 bathrooms. Contact: 97056443 Um Obelah 5/1 just walking distance from the Nesto hypermarket and opposite the new pullman mall, 2 bedrooms with two toilets and seating area on 4th floor. only 250 omani rial. Contact 99203381

1BHK Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99024730 1& 2 BHK C.B.D. Contact: 99024730 2 flats with air-conditions in Al Bustan each flat has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, family hall, kitchen, store laundry. Contact: 98919037 Duplex flat Al Athaiba, near Sultan Center 3BHK, 3 Bathrooms, hall & living room family only 500/-R.O. Contact: 92479515 Flat available for rent, 2 bedrooms, hall, 2 toilets, 1 kitchen and balcony with proper sun light & ventilator, location on Mabela North very close to Indian School Al Seeb.

Contact: 99432496 Flat AL Ghubrah near 18 Nov ST, bedroom, living room, 2 bathrooms, first floor without ac family only 325/- R.O. Contact: 92479515 Villa Al Amerat behind Al Raffah Hospital 5BHK, living room, hall, 6 bathrooms, split ac family only 425 R.O. Contact : 92479515

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DAILY GUIDE

FOR RENT Showrooms/ Offices at prime location on the main road, near Police Station, Al Seeb.

Suitable for Travels, Money Exchange and Textile shops etc.

CONTACT - 99888007 FOR RENT 2 BHK flats with split units in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99720021 Flat Al Khuwair near Bader AL Samaa, 2 BHK living room, 2 bathrooms, Kitchen split ac family only 350 R.O. Contact 92479515 Flat 3 mint from Indian School, 2 BHK, living room, 3 bathrooms without A/c, Ground floor family only 340/-R.O. Contact 92479515 Staff accommodation / 2 storey full building available for rent in Rusayl, near Industrial area. Contact: 99352441 / 98116480 / 99358724 2 bed room flat at Al Khodh commercial Street Souq. Contact : 99224748 / 99332297 First floor flat in new building and pent house, each 3 bedrooms servant room, laundry and 5 toilets very spacious halls and family lounges Al Khuwair 39.# 99207840 / 24494243 New Building in Mutrah, 2 B/D Room Flat + Setting Room,3 Baths+ Kitchen with split unit Ac’s. Behind Khimiji’s main office/opposite to Oman House Call 99419712 1,2,3 BHK Flats. Contact: 97799175 2bed room villa in Sidab, 2 Bedroom villa in Wadi Kabeer. Contact : 95755953 / 95555162 Brand new residential flats in Wadi Kabir near Muscat football club, have 2 bedroom family hall, 2 toilets, Kitchen with spilt AC for 250/- R.O. Contact: 95999904 / 98585889 / 92383886 Villa for rent four spacious bath attached bed room private swimming pool gymnasium (common) with electrical equipment and free maintenance secured compound at Madinat Al Allam. Contact: 98027975

FOR RENT 1BHK Ghubra R.O 275/-.

Contact : 97799175 Furnished flat for rent, 3 rooms with attached bathroom, 1 dining room, 1 sitting room, 1 kitchen at Al Hail South. Contact 99835995 For rent a full office building of 3100 sq mtrs opposite to Central Bank in CBD (Ruwi) for R.O 4 per Sq mtrs. Contact: 95330200 600 SQT commercial flat for rent opposite Oman flourmill Darsait more details. Contact 91214849/ 99364735 1 room, 2 rooms, 3 rooms with all supplements including water electricity and sewage. Also we provide the following services free 1plumber, electrician for any failed center for garbage on price call on Farahat 98020768 , Hilal 96541263

Villa for rent in Wadi Kabeer.

Contact: 95562646 / 99059333

1BHK flats available for rent in CBD area. Contact: 98116480

1BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/-.

Contact: 97799175

1bedroom attached, toilet & kitchen in AL Khuwair R.O 140/-.

Contact: 95154331

1& 2 BHK Darsait. Contact: 97799175 2BHK Ghubra R.O 350/-.

Contact: 97799175 2 BHK Commercial Al Khuwair R.O 375/-. Contact : 97799175

Contact - 91135930

3BHK , 3bathrooms , 2balconys NRAL Hassan W/ Kabir R.O 320/-.

Contact: 99384640 1 & 2 bedroom flats available for rent in wadi-kabir (opp: pencil bldg), ideal for company staff / families bulk corporate deal possible.

Contact: 97677170

SITUATION WANTM.V. FOR SALE Toyota Corolla 1.6, 2012 model.

Contact: 98402616 Honda Civic 97, manual.

Contact 99045803

FOR SALE

FOR SALE Private School License & Furniture available for sale.

KG to IVth Grade Bilingual.

Contact - 99261773 Email:

Fully furnished 2 BHK apartments available at Bareeq Al Shatti.

Contact 92888063 1, 2 BHK in Azaiba. Contact: 99385835 / 99428143

2BHK Wadi Kabir RO 300/Contact: 97799175

Ladies beauty parlor sale at Muttrah.

New flats for rent At Darsait near to Ministry of Sports, Mumtaz area the flats includes1 living room, 2 bedrooms, Kitchen, 3 toilets, every rooms with split A/C, high quality finishing, rent RO 340 /-.

Contact: 00968 92225523

Office for rent in CBD. Contact : 92820734 / 95345909

1BHK Commercial M.B.D R.O 280/-.

Contact: 97799175

Running furniture showroom for urgent sale.

Office for sale in Ruwi Chamber Oman. Contact : 94241385 / 97244766 Excellent running building materials shop cum Showroom and store for sale in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 98871548 / 93412622 Homegym with cross trainer for sale.

Contact 95367937

burjschool@alhakkim.com

Running furniture showroom for urgent sale.

Ladies beauty parlor sale at Muttrah.

Contact - 91135930 FOR SALE Well running shop at Hamriya (5 yrs old), for immediate sale. With 2 visa activity printing & stationery, designing, corporate gift items, signage work. Contact: 96395770 New dishwasher LG 2013 for sale at 100 or. Contact-98125422

FOR SALE An Amazing excellent residential land for sale in Barka at Al Muraysi attached to road open from 3 sides and surrounded by houses & shops.

Ready for construction to build twin villa good investment in Barka 677 SQM, price RO 21000/-. #91010668 Institution for sale. well furnished institution for sale in Muscat.

Contact 93657915 Bunk Bed with a large study table and plenty of storage space.

Purchased from IKEA. Can be flat packed for transportation. RO 75.

Pictures can be shared on whatsapp.

Call – 99226485

Industrial land Wadi Kabeer 3470 sqr mtrs with warehouse + office + labor accommodation price 900,000 Ready coffee shop for sale or rent available in Al Khuwair near Rawasco R.O . Contact : 99792181 / 99473751 Golden chance. Contact: 93782735 Used furniture and steel racks at /93329476 Daiso showroom in Ruwi for immediate sale. Contact 93411561 / A well running Pharmacy at prime 93991322 (Mr. Naveen) location for immediate sale. Contact 92548672 / 99627621 / 99516236 Ice Cream & juices shop Ruwi good location for sale suitable for beauty Attention to wholesalers, retailers parlor also. Contact: 92150455 & manufacturers. We can Sell/Buy your dead stock. Contact : 99742983, Fast food style well furnished coffee 95226989 shop for sale in new Salalah.

Contact: 91121215 / 97484825 Split A/C -2, Window A/C- 25, Iron cot- 120, cupboard - 130, water cooler Comm. & Res land in the heart of - 2, Gas big - 2, small-3 , Ruwi 2400 sq mtr for sale.

Grinder-1 , Chapatti tava-1 , Contact : 91155779 stove-2, kitchen equipment etc .

Cntd On pg 7 Contact: 99328223

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W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5 Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DAILY GUIDE

SITUATION WANTED

SITUATION SITUATION WANTED VACANT Urgently required a

DOMESTIC COOK Of Asian origin to work at my residence with a very good experience and knowledge of preparation of Asian, Chinese & Continental food. Remuneration for this service is commensurate with experience.

Candidate meeting the above requirements call at 99880712

Urgent Requirement

SALES LADY For Jewellery Showroom

1. Two years experience in sales.

2. NOC is must. (send CV with current picture) Email:

vacancy299@gmail.com

Multinational Group is looking for a

FINANCE MANAGER For their corporate office.

Ideal candidate should have 7-10 years experience in handling Banking & Treasury functions, feasibility studies.

Ex Bankers shall be preferred Please apply with a detailed CV to - recruitin15@gmail.com

Walk-In Interview on 18/10/2015

URGENTLY REQUIRED

Applications are invited for the post of

GYM Instructor (Lady), Waitress (Lady), Carpenter (Male), Painter (Male) For a reputed four star hotel 2 Years of Experience in the same field Please send cv at hoteljbs@gmail.com Fax -24593277

Gynaecologist, Pediatrician, General Practitioners (Male & Female), Insurance Coordinators, Sales & Marketing Representatives, Sales & Marketing Director and Receptionist.

Walk in interviews for these posts will be held at our head office, building no 404, 18 th November Street, Opposite Baskin Robins, Al Athaiba on 18/October/2015 between 10:00 Am to 5 pm.

Interested candidates can also send resume to athirababylon@gmail.com,

info@babylonmedicalcentre.com.

For more information call 24613069.

ADMIN/ HR Urgently required HR Manager Omani National: Minimum 2 years experience good command over English & Arabic. Should be capable of handling Administration, all type of correspondence & routine office works independently, and good skill in MS-Office is must. Interested candidates may send in their CVs to Fax # 24600217 or email on: starmail@omantel.net.om

ACCOUNTANT An Omani construction co. located at Muscat looking for an expert Accountant with minimum five yrs. experience with wide knowledge of using tally and other software and GCC driving license. Send C.V to kwk585@gmail.com Required Accountant present in Oman. Not for candidates on visit.

Contact: 99454425 Wanted Accountant.

Contact: 94007259 Email: smylackal@gmail.com Required ACCOUNTS OFFICER to ensure accurate processing of revenue data into ERP systems and invoicing module. Posting of invoices to customer SAP portal and delivery to customer offices and interface with Country Manager / Reporting to Regional CFO. Qualifications : BSc Accounting. Relevant experience and knowledge on Online Accounting Systems especially the customer SAP system. SUBMIT CV to : me-job@interwell.com

CATERING A fiberglass products manifesting company required experienced South Indian Cook. Interested candidates. Please email CV to alhosnif@gmail.com or call on 99871101 Chinese/ Arab/ Continental Cook & helper wanted. Contact 95529970

DOMESTIC HELP Urgently required a full time Indian Housemaid to work in Sharqiya - for an Omani family (local recruits preferred) please contact : 95164139, between 8 am – 5 pm Looking for an Mangalorean Konkani speaking Housemaid for Mangalorean family to look after baby at Wadi Kabir.

Contact 96449951 / 95147107

DRIVER Urgently requires Heavy Duty Driver with valid Oman driving license and electrical foreman (Diploma holder with 6 years over head line experience.

Fax: 24814699 , Email: info@sajgloballlc.com GSM : 93210740 Required light driver.

Not for candidates on visit.

Contact: 99454425 Urgently Require good English speaking Omani drivers.

Contact: 92870992 Required Indian driver with Omani driving license and experience to work in house.

Contact : 96255558 Driver with Oman driving licence needed. Visa available.

Contact 94288863

DRAUGHTSMAN Wanted a Autocad Draftsman fulltime or part time Contact 98963963 BY SMS

EDUCATION Required English Teachers (native speaker), candidates for teaching should have minimum bachelor degree and having experience not less than 3 years. Please submit your CV through email till 15th of October 2015 for more information please Contact: 24498423.

Email: info@omrantraining.com Post Graduate researcher required.

Contact 99229700

ENGINEER/TECH/MECH Turning or Mechanical Engineer wanted to work in workshop if interested please call: 96996884 / 98021385 / 99745330/ 95179003 Experienced construction Civil Engineer with qualification (attested) certificates & with Omani driving license.

Contact: slayhawk@yahoo.com Aluminum Foreman – with minimum 5 years experience in aluminium fabrication, MUST have NOC and immediately join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com.

Urgently Required: Mechanical Engineer for a steel fabrication welding workshop 10 yrs exp he should know how to design drawing with auto cad estimate & quotation he must have exp to supervise job of workshop & sites.

Contact: 97130671 Required foreman for a steel welding workshop 10 yrs exp.

Contact :97130671 A signage company looking urgently for Mechanical Engineer with 3 years experience in internal and external signboards. Candidate with knowledge of estimation / BOQ, AutoCAD 2d /3d Sales experience, will be preferred. Pls send CV to rdawwad2@gmail.com Required hydraulic Mechanic with experience in Trucks & Heavy machinery. Contact : 99454425 Reputed electrical contracting company requires an Oman experienced, capable “Electrical Contracts Manager”. Ideal candidates should have relevant market experience & connections.

Contact 94400671/ 91272871 Urgently required a Indian Diploma Civil Engineer with 1-2 years of experience and should valid G.C.C driving license. Email: smtcoman@gmail.com

MEDICAL Wanted Staff Nurses (female) with or without MOH license for a polyclinic near Sohar. Excellent salary & accommodation. Contact 99006915, email : alhinaee.clinic@yahoo.com Required Nurse for a clinic in Al Buraimi S.O. Oman. Contact: 00968 92737149 CV to drpkabbas@yahoo.co.in Medical care center, Multispecialty clinic, Seeb requires General Practitioner, medical lab technician & pharmacist. Mail CV to sarita_h23@yahoo.com or Call - 97884856

MEDICAL Looking for quality assurance / Supply Chain Lead. 25-35 years old with good communication skills, with experience related to food processing or food service minimum of 5 yrs. experience. Please send CV’s to: admin-dept@daud.om Required Pharmacist or Asst Pharmacist in a locum basis for one month period in capital area from 15th Oct 2015to 15th Nov 2015.

Contact : 99372860 / 99008379 Immediate Opening for laboratory technician. Should have MOH license to work in medical centre in capital area. Excellent Package, Accomodation will be offered.

Contact 99340135

SALES / MARKETING Required Sales Executive with corrugated cartons manufacturing background. Minimum 3+ years experience. Omani D/L is a must.

Please send CV to this email: corrugatedpackagingoman@gmail.com Urgently required: Sales Executive- with 5 years experience in aluminum and sales, MUST have NOC and immediately join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com Required Sales Executive for a leading building material manufacturer in Oman having valid Omani Driving License and 1-2 years of sales experience. NOC from the current sponsor is required.

Contact: 95646844 Sales & Marketing Executive for travel and tourism.

Contact: 92890506 Software development and Sales company in Oman, looking for a male / female, Marketing / Sales Executive with Oman driving license. Please send the CV to hr@ozoneunited.com A trading company in Muscat requires Sales Executive with minimum 1 yr experience & Oman driving license & welding machine / electronics / power tools technician with min. 1 year experience.

Email: jobs.trading2015@gmail.com Sales Co-Ordinator Required Urgently – Any Graduate with 1-2 years experience in DTP work with good knowledge of MS Office and Internet, Age: 21-28 years can apply to careers@teejanequipment.com Looking for 3+years Exp in Insurance for Insurance Broker, Barka.

Email : lizjoseph27@gmail.com A leading trading Group is looking for Outdoor Sales Coordinator with driving license & release / NOC. Email CV to alhajoil@omantel.net. om or fax: 24701683 Wanted Sales man (experienced in transporting etc).

Contact: 94007259 Email: smylackal@gmail.com Primedia International is looking for experienced Sales Executives having strong background of digital and print media. Send your Cv’s at SihamHalloubi@primedia-oman. com or contact on 97002356 Required experienced Sales / Marketing Executives having light license. Send your CV ocean@omantel.net.om

SEC/OFFICE Sir Lankan Secretary with experience in recruitment field.

Contact: 92809528

SECRETARIAL Office Assistant required in trading company male and female 25 to 35 years old with good communication skills, confidence, smart and computer skills. Visa provided.

Send your CV to vacancy807@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED ACCOUNT. & FINANCE Sr. Accountant M.Com (finance) 15 years experience (2 years in Oman) with a reputed firm, NOC available.

Contact: 92404608 Email: jin_75@rediffmail.com Accountant Indian male Charted Accountant and bachelor in Commerce having 3.5 years experience in Auditing presently in Muscat and seeking for suitable position.

Contact: 91656202 Email: sanoopvarghese90@gmail.com MBA(3.5) years specialty in finance with an advance research in Islamic and conventional banking experienced remain an internee and remittance officer and currently accountant looking for post Assistant finance / Accountant. Contact: 94515020 Accountant Indian male 32 years B.Com 5 Plus years experience in Oman, seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 94410485 / 98008164 10+ yrs UAE experienced Fin. Controller looking for job change.

Contact: 98006226 Indian male 22 years B.Com done tally ERP-9 Accounting and Inventory, looking for suitable position.

Contact: 96067602 Email: saif24293@gmail.com Accountant with 3 yrs exp in Oman having driving license and Noc. Contact: 91307632 MBA (F&M) experience 1.3 year.

Contact: 97445488 Email: abinbabygeorge@gamil.com Part Time Accounting, Accounts Finalization, Audit Preparation, Internal Audit, Accounting System for New Companies, Contact: 96975454, email : ibfc.gcc@gmail.com Sri Lankan Male Accountant, Age 26, BBA Spl, CA Inter, Having more than 5 years’ Experience in accounting field seeking for Suitable Placement NOC Available Contact: 97250638 msmnaja@gmail.com Sr. Accountant (finance) 14 yrs Gulf experience in trading & contracting, valid UAE driving license (visit visa) looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 98110814 / 99055679 Indian male with B.Com, MBA finance & marketing 14 yrs exp seeking suitable placement.

Contact : 0091 8697292219, Email : rejesh.nair@gmail.com Indian male 8 years experience having B.Com and MBA ready to work in HR customer service, Admin banking & related field.

Contact : 97436890 / 96939803.

Email: girimub@gmail.com Indian lady, bachelor degree in Preparatory Programme (BPP) and Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), completed training course in MS Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook from KTI looking for full time / part time job opportunity in Oman.

Contact 92437568, 96795853, Email: linda_navs@yahoo.com Accountant, Indian Male, 15 Years experience (8 Years in Oman with Driving License & NOC) Seeks suitable placement, Contact 94117616, 91238272 praveen78oman@gmail.com Male, business Graduate having an experience of 10 years in the field of banking & finance, administration , currently employed at EPC Contracting Company as Finance & Admin manager is looking for a suitable position, NOC available can join within 2 weeks. Contact : 93235690 Chief Accountant, 12 years of Oman experienced looking for suitable placement. Contact: 99513082 Part time accountant, senior accountant, doing all type of accounting works, up to finalization. contact.95254864

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE ACCOUNTANT, Indian male 28 years, 6 plus years of GCC experience, presently working in Oman as an Accountant, seeking for a suitable job position, NOC available, Contact: 95089869 E-Mail: anuchunda@gmail.com CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, Indian male having 7 years experience as functional finance head, presently working in Muscat as Asst. Finance Manager seeking for a suitable position. NOC available, Contact 9178 9950 / Email: igneshmlazar@gmail.com SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with 13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman in manufacturing, trading & contracting Cos, capable of handling all accounting, finance, banking, L/C, import, export & finalization seeks placement.

NOC Available. Call+968-98932752, mail:jjohnmuscat@hotmail.com Finance Manager, 13 years experience B.Com, MBA, CMA (currently).

Contact: 92243552 Finance Manager 26 years experience (22 years Oman) with NOC. Contact: 91335205 / 91302906 Part time Accountant accounts finalization auditing.

Contact: 98157999 Indian male 25 years MBA finance having 4 years experience in accounts looking for suitable placement presently on visit visa.

Contact: 95291085 Email: atharali9849@gmail.com CIMP qualified Accountant 5 yrs exp immediately joining with NOC. Contact: 95522109 Indian male, 8 yrs experience in Oman looking for any suitable vacancy Accountant / Asst. Accountant/ Office Admin local release available. Contact 98492752 Email: atiquehazique@rediffmail.com Indian male MBA finance with 3 years experience in Accounts, Admin, HR, on visit visa.

Contact: 91520930 Indian male, 8 yrs experience in Oman looking for any suitable vacancy Accountant / Asst. Accountant / Office Admin local release available. Contact: 98492752 Email: atiquehazique@rediffmail.com Finance Manager, 12 years experience in leading Construction and manufacturing companies (9 years in Oman) have strategic vision and proven leadership ability. B.Com, CPA- USA & modern accounting certificate from “AUC”. “NOC” in hand.

Contact: 97220505 CA (Ind) & CPA (Aus) qualified Indian male with more than 20 years experience (12 years in Oman) in senior positions, currently on visit, seeks immediate and suitable position in a dynamic organization.

Contact : 93910095 Email: reji.thomas07@gmail.com 20 yrs exp in non Banking finance co in Oman as Branch Manager, credit analyst, risk, Debt Collect, BR- operations, documentation, etc with valid D/L now on visit.

Contact: 99055123 Part time accounting works up to finalization on monthly basis.

Contact: 96247295 Accountant with 8 years experience in Oman with D/L & NOC , seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92994825. Email: sanuchithranjali@gmail.com Indian female 28 years M.Com, Accountant having 6 years experience in Accounts, finalization, Tally currently on visit visa.

Contact : 95595083 Email: merlinfernandes16@yahoo.in ACCA finalist, Recent B.Com Graduate, Indian female, looking for full time employment in Accounting and Audit. +968 96964379, sangeethaumesh5@gmail.com

ADMIN 10 years Gulf & 4 years Oman experience in HR / Admin & logistics fluent in Arabic / English with D/L looking for suitable position.

Contact: 95824598 HR/ Recruitment specialist with 8 years Oman experience in entire gamut of HR functions like resource planning, recruitment, HR policies & procedures performance appraisal, expatriate affairs, exit interviews & ticketing. Contact 93825307 Email: jarthath@rediffmail.com

ADMIN Indian female graduate fluent in English/Arabic(work purpose) with 5+ experience in Admin, Logistics and 2 years in Insurance handling, looking for suitable opportunity.

Contact 93221054, email: nurinabhavania@ymail.com

ARCHITECT Senior Architect, Indian male 15yrs exp. having DL& NOC, Looking for suitable position. Contact: 97239313 Email: abdul_muq2000@yahoo.co.uk

DRAUGHTSMAN Draughtsman Civil with AutoCAD. Contact 97105408 Autocad D/man Exp in Arch , Interior , knows 3D, Photoshop Ph : 93837973 Indian male 28 yrs, Master degree in Computer Application and CCNA certified, 2 years exp in Oman looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 93295112 Email: syedsadathali.mca@gmail.com

DOMESTIC HELP Indian House maid looking for job.

Contact: 91834383

DESIGNER Interior designer, advanced diploma interior, 3dmax maya coreldraw, photoshop. Contact : 93837973 Interior designer with 6 years exp 3D design MEP architectural with sound knowledge in AutoCAD Sketch up with VRAY, 3D Max looking for suitable position. Contact: 96789770 Email: sachinratnan@gmail.com

DRIVER Light driver looking for job.

Contact: 96942547 Light driver Pakistani, Arabic & English. Contact 95435008 Light driver looking job exp. 4 years. Contact: 94208089 11 years experience as Driver in Embassy, looking for suitable placement. Contact: 92191698 20 years experience Driver D/L in Oman, seeks suitable job.

Contact : 99775728 Light driver for job 5 yrs exp.

Contact: 92171166 Light driver for job 1yr exp.

Contact: 95582571 Bangladeshi male driver, 48 yrs, exp 14 years, 9 years need job & visa, got release letter.

Contact: 99165961 Pakistani driver seeks for job, holding license of Oman exp in driving in Oman 6 years. Contact : 92604918 Indian male light vehicle driver, 10 yrs GCC exp looking for job.

Contact : 93060050 Indian driver 13 yrs exp. looking for fulltime or part time jobs.

Contact: 91103909 12 years experience light duty driver with car. Contact: 96467373 Driver. Contact: 95084826 Pakistani male light vehicle driver looking for job. Contact: 96474528 Driver with car. Contact :91452930

ENGG. / TECH./MECH. Civil Engineer (Diploma) seeking for placement. Contact: 95200650 Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com C-SWIP 3.1 ASNT level 2 QC Mech.

Engr 5+ yrs exp Indian male 26 seeks suitable placement.

Contact : 91823331 Email: kannasekhar46@gmail.com Electrical and Electronics Engineer with one year experience and GCC licence holder seeking a job mail – shyjalpk@gmail.com Indian male BE Mechanical currently on 2 yrs free visa with NOC & local release. Looking for suitable job in Muscat.

Contact – 90296975 / ali.syedausaf@gmail.com

W E D N E S DAY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

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DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED

ENGINEER Indian B. tech Civil, 19 years exp , seeks suitable position.

Contact: 98365910 Email: kks.pkd1969@gmail.com Omani Mechanical Engineer with 2years Experiences looking for new opportunity . Contact:95993315, alrus7idisaif@gmail.com Electrical Engineer, B.Tech, with 8 years GCC experience (5 years in Oman) in MEP & Oil/gas construction/Inspections side with NOC, is seeking new assignments in Oman.

Has attested degree certificate and Oman D/L. Contact No.96083636, Email:tobineasow@gmail.com Quantity Surveyor: 11 years Experience (8 years Gulf & 3 years India)NOC & DL Available, Contact 99806801 / 95899345, Mail:asmani1984@gmail.com Building Site Supervisor with Omani D/L since Mar 2010 in Oman looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 93061107 A senior professional with Engineering background is available for Executive lead in Contract Management, Coordination, Execution in construction establishments and consultancies. Contact: 99703972 Experienced Civil Engg professional 12/26 years ran a company as Working partner have estimation, tendering of high rise building infrastructure steels conc. Products seeks suitable placement. Contact: 95360102 / 94460357 Civil Structural Engineer professional in R.C Structural design & Q.S & shop drawings. C.N (97983610) Project Engineer (Electrical) 5 years experience in Oman primary substations + OHL, oil & gas, AutoCAD design driving license. NOC available.

Contact: 93210528 / 99410588 Civil Engineer, having 8 years experience in field, 5 years in Oman & 3 years in EV with valid Oman driving license. Contact: 96534115 B.Tech Software Engineer nearly 2 yrs Engineer nearly 2 yrs experience seeking job in Oman, currently on visit visa. Contact: 95184451 B.Sc Electronics (course completed) and holder at A+ Grade in mobile phone technology & computer hardware and Network Engineering looking for suitable job in mobile servicing / software and hardware servicing / sales man.

Contact: Binu .B.G. 93607271 Indian B.E Electronics Communication Engineer available in Muscat on visit visa 3+ years experience in automation system. Contact: 97439738 Civil Engineer with 8 yrs exp in construction field & all related work, having Oman driving license & NOC. Contact: 97613084 B.Tech Elec., Engineer, 8 yrs exp in Oman valid D/L. Contact : 91456023

Indian female, 30 yrs, Interior Designer

Contact 98499975, Email : swasdesigner@gmail.com

Indian diploma Civil Eng, 2 yrs Infrastructure Projects (4G, Towers, substation) landscaping & Auto CAD. Contact: 94756183 Email: indianexpat1@gmail.com Electrical Engineer (B.E) with 5 years experience (3 yrs in Gulf) NOC available. Contact: 92119851 Email: mayurdevadiga@gmail.com Resident Engineer B.E civil 25 years exp 12 yrs in Architecture consultancy having Oman Dubai D/L NOC available. Contact: 95732453 Email: milindj951@gmail.com Electrical Engineer Indian male 2.5Years Of experience Looking for suitable Job. Contact:91845173 Email:er.joshidhaval@gmail.com

B. Tech Bio Tech. Experience in food & water industry, expert in chemical & microbiological labs Ph : 92940218 B. Tech, Engineer Civil exp total 12 yrs, Gulf exp 6 yrs, PDO exp 3yrs D/L Oman. Contact: 96242773

Jordanian Engineer in MECHANICAL & MANUFACTURING Good experience Sheet Metal Fabrication, AutoCad, Solidworks 3D, Storage Tanks & Silos, Sales - Speaking Arabic/English/Russian -GSM#90198575 / 99201710 Civil Engineer, Indian M 29 5yrs exp. having DL & NOC Looking for suitable position. Contact: 94576233 Email: suhailmullah@gmail.com SUPERVISOR: Indian male site supervisor (AIR CONDITIONING) 25 years of experience with valid Oman Driving lic Contact: 97498809, 93391910 Email: hilariankj@gmail.com

Computer & Network Engineering.

11 yrs experience looking for suitable job. Contact 92811179/95882614 Email: khalido24@yahoo.com

Civil Engineer Pakistani 12+2 years Oman experience D/L required placement. Contact: 94392616 Engineer with 3 yrs experience in Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical maintained field on visit visa looking for suitable job. Contact 99191535 Email: fareed029@gmail.com

B.Sc. Civil Engineer having 3 years experience (2 years in Oman) with construction companies seeking suitable placement. Contact: 97409350 Email: kamrul07cuet@yahoo.com

Electrical Engineer Indian male 29 years, having 5 years of experience in industrial automation and utility maintenance in India (MRF Tyres), seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92789995 Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

B.Sc Civil 9 years experience looking for suitable placement as a Residence Engineer having valid Omani D/L. Contact : 94431917 Email: gmssohel.ce@gmail.com Indian male, MEP Manager, Diploma Electrical having 15 years experience in Oman looking for a suitable post in a reputed firm, NOC available. Contact : 99061823 Mechatronics (Electrical, Mechanical) Engineer, 3 years of experience. Contact: 91234024 Email: ammar.r.elerris@gmail.com Pakistani DAE civil with experience in Oman 2 years also holding license of Oman seeks for job in Oman exp in SAMAQADA & STFA. Contact : 93542055 / 99053438 Diploma Civil Engineer 11 yrs experience (9 yrs building construction + 2 yrs O&G) with valid Oman D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact : 97669006 / 99142744 Email: shafiqueam@gmail.com Bangladeshi female Project Engineer Civil having 5 years experience or construction site currently or visit visa looking a suitable position.

Contact 91207329 Email: dipabangladesh@yahoo.com

Btech computer science graduate 2015 passout.. Android application marketing.. Having good communication skills and mindset to work in a team. Contact 91024385 Indian BE (MECH) aviation BE degree diploma in material quality management 17 years Navy aviation 13 years construction purchase stores professional on visit.

Contact: 90205082 /98796982 BE Electrical Engineer 8 years experience 4 years in Oman with Oman driving license.

Contact 96942032

EDUCATION M. Com B. Ed Indian lady looking for suitable openings.

Contact: 97668603

HOSPITALITY Experience MBA (Hospital Management) looking for a suitable position. Contact: 95958597 Email: vipinpthomas28@gmail.com

IT IT System Administrator MCSA Sudanese UAE experience.

Contact: 91302074 B.Tech prince 2 certified IT Proff. with 16+ yrs experience, 8 years experience in banking IT projects and risk management, support vendor management looking for a suitable position on visit visa.

Contact: 92703635, email : anilsingh@live.in

Indian male, 26 yrs, 4 years experience diploma in Civil Engineering field on visit visa looking for suitable job. Contact: 95585564 Email: safvanullal6644@gmail.com

25 years old Indian male, BE, ECE,MCITP,MCSA,CCNA with 3.5 years experience in system and networking/IT support. Currently on visit visa, Looking for a suitable job.

Contact no -98110873. Email: blessonvvarghese@hotmail.com

Civil Engineer B.Sc -6 years experience with constructions companies - 1 years in Oman - qualified as Site Engineer & Planning Engineer.

Contact+968-94682217

Software Developer / Consultant Manager 7+ yrs Experience Mobile 92694166

Degree Civil Engg total 9 yrs experience, 7 yrs in Oman Construction Company with valid Oman driving license. Contact: 99721926 Email: tanvircivil@gmail.com Civil Engineer degree, diploma, Staad pro, Auto CAD 18 months Indian exp seeks suitable opportunity.

Contact: 93682529 Aeronautical Engineer Indian female 22 yrs, currently on family visa looking for suitable position in any air line / Engineering Industry.

Contact: 91705598 Email: nikhimnoushad@gmail.com Engineer with 4 years Telecom experience in Oman, having Oman driving license looking for a suitable opportunity. Interested in marketing, NOC available. Contact : 98513495

Filipino male 29 Graduate of BS IT with GCC experience as Document Controller and Executive Secretary looking for employment.

Contact: +968 93929569 Indian male 28 yrs, Master degree in Computer Application and CCNA certified, 2 years exp in Oman looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 93295112 Email: syedsadathali.mca@gmail.com

Indian Electrical & Electronics Engineer + MBA (29 years) having 7 years experience (2 years in Gulf) & having valid international driving license, seeks suitable placement. Contact Ajay Haridas (00971528254782)

Young Indian male 23 yrs, BE Electrical Engineer 1.4 years experience in India, on visit visa looking for suitable job. Contact: 93924395 Email: thomaspallathn19@gmail.com

Indian male, 26 yrs, B. Tech Computer Science, 4 years experience as System and Network Engineer looking for suitable job.

Contact : 93125669 Email: amritrajgt18@gmail.com

IT

Centre Manager for Training Institute/ In House Training Manager Ministry approved Manager, With 18 years of exp in Oman with proven records.

Excellent contacts for major training & Omanisation projects.

Seeking for challenging positions in reputed organizations.

NOC available,

Contact - 92406488 Mail: ttrg.mgr.oman@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer 4 years experience oil and gas electrical substation water project fluent in Arabic and English primavera p6 operator.

Contact: 99525856

Civil Engineer, Indian male 29, having 7 years exp in construction field& Auto Cad in Oman. Having valid driving license. Fluent in English & Arabic. Looking for suitable job in reputed firm. Contact - 99650569

Contact - 97203531

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

4 years experience Electrical Engineer electrical primary substations UG cables and OHL, fluent in English and Arabic. Contact: 91204243

M.Tech having 3 years experience in Mechanical Engineering department looking for any University to hire.

Contact: 90150913 Email: rahmanmechengg@yahoo.in

Qualification MBA PMP six sigma (GB) Countries exposure Canada & Middle East, Industry any (experienced in bank, telecom, transport.

Nationality-Canadian. On visit in Oman.

Bachelor degree with 5 yrs working experience seeking suitable placement in Oman.

Male Project Engineer (Civil) 12 years experience Dubai + SA in construction & water supply field with valid UAE D/L Currently on visit visa looking suitable position.

Contact: 91206763 Email: delwar.civil.97@gmail.com

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer with MBA in marketing & HR 3 yrs exp seeking suitable placement.

Contact :0091 9846568080 / 0091 4772702080, Email: jbabu4@gmail.com

Project/ Program Manager/ Finance professional

Indian female (29), BCA, MCA, ASP. Net certification, SAP ABAP Certification, 2 yrs of experience, seeking placement, family visa.

Contact 99109121 Email: ashamaryphilip@gmail.com Indian male, M. Sc Electronics, Diploma in Network Engineering with 2 years experience including GCC experience in networking, IT support and server support. Computer hardware , MCITP and CCNA, MCITP certified , Having Saudi driving license, now in Muscat on visit visa looking for suitable job. Contact : 96133981 , Email: obinkavumkal@gmail.com NOC / Network Engineer, Indian male 27 years Indian having 5 years experience as NOC/ Network Engineer with CCNA certified seeks for suitable placement currently on visit visa. Contact 97663834

MEDICAL Indian female MDS Endodontics, 9.5 yrs experience recently cleared Oman prometric 84% looking for suitable placement. Contact: 95624156 / 97233074 MSc Nurse specialized in OBG, 3 years experience-certified ACLS, BLS, on visit visa, seeking suitable opportunities Contact: 90125347 Indian female B. Sc Nurse with 3 years experience prometric passed seeks suitable placement. #95782544 Indian female Bsc nurse with 3year experience prometric passed seeks suitable placement.# 95782544 Indian male Nurse, prometric passed seeks suitable placement.

Contact 97284508I

MISCELLANEOUS BA Export Management, GCC, D/L 12 years Muscat experienced in purchase / commercial seeks any placement. Contact: 99775988 Maintenance foreman looking for suitable position in real estate or MEP work. Contact : 99526958 Indian male as building care taker, 8 yrs exp looking for job.

Contact: 99716008 Indian male 25 years, M.Sc Chemistry, 1 yr. experience in Quality Control and assurances done HACCP level 3 certificated course seeking job in suitable placement. #99185354 Email: alexbabu199@yahoo.com Indian female Diploma in Indian & foreign Accounting having 1 year experience in Oman seeking suitable placement. Contact: 95714285

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR Indian HSE Manager, Grad IOSH & I Dip Nebosh aged 43 years with more than 20 years of experience working in reputed oil & Gas / construction at Oman seeking suitable HSE Position (Manager / Trainer / Advisor). NOC available. Contact: 97926801 Email: johnkjoseph630@yahoo.com Manager- Media & Advertising industry-15 yrs Gulf exp - seeks suitable opening- 93031168 Highly skilled Transport Manager Experienced in Oman & UAE, required for Reputed Mining Company Located at Sultanate of Oman.

Contact: workatoman@gmail.com

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR Senior Project Manager approved

by Ministries with 23 years experience (Oman) in buildings and infra structure available for placement.

Contact: 99608299

PROJECTS Civil Engineer, Indian male, 25 years, B.Tech, have 3 years experience in building construction seeks suitable positions. 92609893, alenalexander123@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING Indian male 10+years of Gulf experience as a Sales Executive in FMCG Industry with valid GCC license.

Contact: 93512696 Indian male 41 yrs Sales Coordinator 16 yrs experience owing valid Oman D/L. Contact: 93412622 BBA Keralite, male, 23 yrs, experienced in Automotive Sales & Admin on visit. Contact 94742679, Email: jafarj4@gmail.com Indian male, 4 years experience in Sales. Oman experience with NOC & driving license seeking suitable.

Contact: 96607645 Indian male, U.K Post Graduate M.A, MBA, 3 years Experience, looking position within Marketing, Branding, Business Development & PR. Contact: 91-8939165131 Email: greetings111@hotmail.com Indian female 2+ years of experience in marketing / Sales business development in Oman with D/L seeks suitable position.

Contact: 98989784, Email: alamelusara@hotmail.com Male 24 years MBA Marketing B.Com 2 years experience in the field of sales, marketing, business development looking for suitable position presently in Muscat.

Contact: 93268245 Email: gregjose1991@gmail.com MBA qualified sales and marketing candidate having an experience of 1 and half years available in Oman on visit visa seeks placement.

Contact: 97436706 Email: anshusamue10001@gmail.com Indian male 21+ years Managerial experience in Oman in FMCG Industry seeking suitable placement with NOC can head any Business / working partner. Contact: 95264562 Expatriate currently working as Supply Chain Executive with an intensive 8 years Oman experience in IM & T sector proficient in Procurement Sales support and logistics capable to manage large scale clientele oil & gas utilities and public sectors. Contact 97755488 Experienced skilled candidate with driving license seeks position sales in Salalah. Contact: 98579382 Sales Executive experience in Oman 4 years, has driving license.

Contact: 96039024

SALES / MARKETING Marketing and Sales candidate with 8 years experience in GCC looking for suitable position. Having NOC and valid Oman diving license.

Contact: 96669152 Indian male more than 8 years experience in UAE in Office , Sales Marketing with good computer skills having driving license looking for suitable placement. Contact: 99369081 Email: shazulashraf60@gmail.com Indian Marketing & Sales professional for telecom, hyper stores & FMCG with over 7 years Oman experience is seeking change / suitable placement. Contact: 99360975 Email: howru73@yahoo.com Indian worked as Sales Supervisor 7 years MNC now working as Marketing Manager from 8 yrs with visa D/L. Contact : 90205082 Indian female holding Omani driving license M.B.A in Marketing and finance from Birla Institute, Muscat, 1 yr. working experience in India.

Contact: 91746962 Email: aarathiajith@gmail.com Indian male 28 B.Com M.Com, MBA experience 2 years Ventex Global UAE Marketing Executive, experience 1 year Al Majeed Group Marketing Executive with valid UAE D/L. Contact : +968 92871946 Marketing or Purchase Executive, 1.5 yrs in Oman Indian male 27 yrs, MBA with valid Oman D/L available for immediate placement.

Contact: 96300958 / 24796010 Email: ashwanihegde@gmail.com Male BS, with D/L having 7 years exp in Oman wanted suitable job in Sales inventory & procure.

Contact: 92191026 Indian male having 8 years experience in business development retail sales logistics currently on seeking job in Oman. Contact: 99052340 Email: pradee.ys@gmail.com Indian female Graduate holder valid driving license knowledge about all kinds of cosmetic products seeks suitable placement.

Contact 98697656 Indian male having 10 years work experience ( Customer Service/ Back end sales/stores)and 1 year work experience in Oman NOC in hand, looking for Suitable Position Contact no: 96526228 / sravan.kumaraj@gmail.com Indian male Sr. Sales Executive, 15 years exp in retail sector looking for vacancies.

Contact: 96768382 Sales and marketing - male 27 yrs, 2 years experience seeking suitable placement with Oman D/L. Contact: 95642740 Email: shaijichakkara@gmail.com

SKILLED / UNSKILLED Welder 6G, 3G ARC , Fabrication gulf exp ph : 92858985

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE Indian male more than 10 years gulf experience in Office / Sales Coordinator, Admin, Secretarial and purchase with good computer skills.

Having Driving license and NOC available, looking for suitable placement. Contact 95149624

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

D6

W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED MISCELLANEOUS India male 33 years. DCT, BBA, OSHA, looking for Job in Construction HSE, 11 Years experience with GCC license, NOC available Contact :- 9418 4280 Filipino Senior Architect with 13 years GCC experience. Proficient in 3D StudioMax, AutoCAD, Revit, Phostoshop, and Microsoft Office.

With NOC and Omani driving license.

Please contact 91292933.

Indian female, 40 yrs, 7 yrs experience in customer service, with D/L seeks suitable placement.

Contact 95580711 ME Civil- structural Engineer, 8 Years Structural Engineer experience, Looking for Structural Designer, supervisor or site engineer Position. Iranian male.

Contact: 93696929 Email: mhsaz1359@gmail.com Indian Male 23 years B.Tech Civil Engineering having 2 years experience in quantity survey and site management looking for suitable placement. Contact- 95042656 Indian female, MBA, 25yrs Having 4yrears of experience in MNC, hands of experiences in recruitment and administration, flexible for any suitable job placements currently in visting visa. Contact: 98864639 Email : neethuvijayan06@gmail.com Indian Male -25years B.Tech Engineer seeking any suitable jobs in Oman ,currently on visit visa.

Contact : Haneesh N. Surendran, Mob : 90126573, Email: - haneeshns02@gmail.com SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, 8 years experience, Oman driving license, Noc available seeks suitable opportunity.

GSM- 97705854 Female Junior Architect, Excellence in Autocad, Sketching & Modelling, 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.

Mobile: 97848075, +91-8105413827 Indian male BE Electrical & Electronics and PG in power systems (transmission & distribution) on visit seeking placement.

Contact 94669679 E Mail : prsabarish@gmail.com Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+ experience in Administration/HR, Customer Support, Office Coordinator with good Computer skill, Now on Visit Visa looking for suitable position. Contact: 90196235 Female, 35years, Bachelor of Pharmacy fresh graduate with BSc and MA looking for suitable position in hospital, polyclinic, companies or Institutions. Contact 90236481.

Electrical Maintenance Engineer, 29, Indian Male, having 7+ years exp. in reputed companies. Seeking suitable placement in Oman. #- 98440637.

Mail ID : venkatbadri23@gmail.com Administration - Having 9+ years exp. in Admin & HR in reputed companies. Presently working in Muscat and seeking for suitable placement.

Contact No.: 97693456. email : muralimahdav77@gmail.com Indian male 24 B.Tech IT(engineer) 2.5 years exp in hardware networking, programming such as C and C++.

Currently on visit visa seeks suitable placement. Contact 95153693 Indian male Auto Cad Draughtsman (civil) 8 years experience seeking for part time job.

Contact : 00968 99070584, Email: remluvp@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTED Indian male 37 years B.Tech Graduate having 12 years experience of Electrical DCRP Works / Jobs in Oman with driving license looking for suitable opening. NOC available can join immediately. Contact : saiviharvasanth@gmail.com Bangladeshi, looking job for sales man having 3-4 years experience in readymade garments.

Contact : 97756028 Indian female B.ARCH with 10 years experience (Indian & Oman) as an Architect is seeking a suitable in Muscat. Contact: 92412810 BE Civil Engineer with 11 years of experience in building construction with valid Oman DL, looking for suitable placement, NOC available.

Please contact 91329910.

Indian male 24 B.Tech IT (engineer) 2.5 years exp in hardware networking, programming such as C and C++.

Currently on visit visa seeks suitable placement. Contact 95153693 Indian male 23yrs, 2yrs exp. In Accounts (india). Seeking suitable position in accounts. Currently on express visa. M: 94399509, E. midhunaloor16@gmail.com Indian Male: 31yrs 8 Years Experience in the field of Business Development/ Sales/ Retail/ Logistics with good communication Skills seeking for suitable job in Oman .

Now available in Visit visa valid till (21st Oct). Contact; 99052340 , email: pradee.ys@gmail.com ACCOUNTANT , Indian male 30 years B.Com Having 7 years of Oman experience in the field of accounts & finance seeks for better placement.

Contact : 96143708 / 97351786 ME Civil- structural Engineer, 8 Years Structural engineer experience, looking for Structural Designer, supervisor or site engineer Position.

Iranian male. Contact: 93696929, Email: mhsaz1359@gmail.com

Indian male having 25 years exp in telecom optical fiber cables, network CCTV Administration office automation seeks job, now in visit visa.

Contact: 91385373 Email: sridharbsnlma1455@gmail.com

Civil Autocad draughtsman looking for part time job. Mobile: 95218737

Indian male 32 M. A. English and having 4 years of experience in teaching current company is ready to issue release letter.

Contact : 99869535 Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com

Network/Noc Engineer, Indian male 27 years B.com (General) 5 years & 4 month’s of experience in the field of networking seeks for better placement. Contact :97663834, bro’s no:98730758

Sudanese male, 31 years, have 3 year Diploma in electrical engineer , 6 year experience in construction and electrical production plant .

Mobile No ; +96894549609

Indian male, BBA, having 8yrs exp including 2yrs of (UAE) exp looking opportunities withinSales, Logistics, Retail, Operations. #99052340, Mail Id: pradee.ys@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT, 8 years experience, Oman D/L, Noc available seeks suitable opportunity. GSM- 98184170

B.Com Graduate, associate insurance, 25 year male, 3 years experience in accounts and 3 years in sales and marketing.

Contact no-95236312, mail id-lilommca@gmail.com Syrian Architect years experience in oman for work 2d plans and 3d internal and external projects in cooperation or even a piece . for contact : 97482871 Electrical Engineer with BS & MS Degree having 5 years of Experience in Electrical Utility/Water sector seeks a suitable job (on visit).

Contact: snaveelh@gmail.com Phone: 24413033/ 95731852 25 year male, B graduate, associate insurance with 3 years exp in accounts and 3 years in marketing.

NOC available.

Mail id lilommca@gmail.com and no-95236312 Indian male, 26 yr, b. tech Computer science, 4 years experience as system and network engineer looking for suitable job.

Contact : 0096893125669, Email : amritrajGT18@gmail.com Electrical Engineer with BS & MS Degree having 5 years of Experience in Electrical Utility/Water sector seeks a suitable job. Contact: 95731852 snaveelh@gmail.com Chartered Accountant, looking out for an opportunity in Oman in Audit OR Finance field. Available in Muscat from 10th – 16th Oct. Call : 91258435 26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance), MBA(HR), Looking for suitable Job. Contact immediately. Contact 98176105, nruknaddin@outlook.com Indian lady looking for accounts Job, two years experience one year worked in Oman B.Com Graduate , Tally ERP9. GSM : 91123561 The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 14 Years Inside and outside Oman following activities: tenders& real estate& construction & marketing projects& investments& transportation & Marine services& companies management& develop business.

Contact 93240027 Indian looking for a part time accounting or Internal Auditing job, contact 99196621.

33 year male Indian Keralite looking for Senior Accountant or Assistant Accounts manager having 10 years of working experience in Oman and Qatar with valid GCC license willing to work any GCC country, please contact : 97433387

SITUATION WANTED 27,male,ACCA finalist, have professional experience up to finalization of accounts, statutory and internal audit, expertise in using tally and focus & oracle software, have 3.5 years experience in accounts till finalization ,seeking for permanent replacement ,GSM-97654769,email id-abdullah.nooralam@yahoo.com 26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance), MBA(HR), Looking for suitable Job. Contact immediately #98176105, nruknaddin@outlook.com Senior Management Professional, MBA, 12 years+ exp. in Business Development/Sales Management , Sales Training, Content Development & Six sigma GSM:97428090 Part Time Accounting Job Complete Data Entry, Upto Finalization. Any Time Available. Location Al Hail, AL Khoud. #- +968-92049215 Email:- aiafe.oman@gmail.com ACCA finalist, Recent B.Com Graduate, Indian Female, looking for full time employment in Accounting and Audit.+96896964379, sangeethaumesh5@gmail.com Indian Chartered Accountant, Male 25 years, 5 years of relevant experience, On Visit visa, Staying with Parents. Also holds BCOM (Computer Applications).

Contact 98164467, 24492638 shyamal008@gmail.com Arab Lady seeking for Housemanager/Personal Assistant job.

Highly experienced. Arabic, English &French. Contat : +961 71339568 email : famurr@hotmail.com 26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance), MBA(HR), Looking for suitable Job. Contact immediately #98176105, Email: nruknaddin@outlook.com FABRICATION & ERECTION-DUCT MAN Candidate seeking suitable opportunities & presently in Oman with NOC Mob:97239854, Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com INDIAN MALE , MBA. Having 10+ years experience as Automotives Sales Manager .Worked with M/s TALWAR AUTO GARAGES PVT LTD India’s Largest Selling Dealer for VOLVO EICHER commercial vehicles .Seeking for suitable Job in Oman.

Contact no: 98045482 Email: dmstalwar@gmail.com

25yrs Indian Female with Bsc Nursing, MHA (master of hospital administration) Graduate looking for suitable placement. Contact:- 99513267 Email:-alinaelshaddai@gmail.com

ACCA finalist, Recent B.Com Graduate, Indian Female, looking for full time employment in Accounting and Audit. Contact +96896964379, sangeethaumesh5@gmail.com

50 years Indian male 15yrs experience as Manager in Steel and paper Plant seeking suitable placement.

Kindly contact me on +91 9840943638

Admin, having 10+ years experience in Admin/HR/Logistics/Time Keeper, in reputed companies. Presently working in Muscat. Contact- 94369965 , mail - satya1528@gmail.com

Chartered Accountant, Indian male, 25, two years experience, on visit visa. Staying with parents. Also has B.com+computer Application.

Contact: 24492638/98164467. shyamal008@gmail.com

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

Diploma in Civil Engineer. I have 6 year experience in Oman seeking for suitable position Oman. #97415597, email: Nasir.muscat@gmail.com

Indian male B.Eng. in IT,CCNA,MCSA,MCSE, 2.5 yrs + exp. in IT support, networking and server support valid Omani D/L seeking suitable placement in IT/Network/ Server support.

Contact 92607532

8+ years experienced senior accountant looking for a better placement. Contact No. +968 92935684.

Email - shabeerkkm@gmail.com.

NOC available.

Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+ experience in Administration/HR, Customer Support, Office Coordinator with good Computer skill, now on Visit Visa ,looking for suitable position. Contact: 90196235 26, Male, Indian, BBA (Finance), MBA(HR), Looking for suitable placement in Finance/HR/Marketing.

Contact immediately. # 98176105, nruknaddin@outlook.com

Indian Male, 24 years old recently completed M.Tech in Offshore Structures from NIT Calicut, looking for suitable position.

Contact : +919833248568, Email: shihabpatel91@gmail.com ACCA Affiliate, Indian Male, Fresher, looking for full time employment in Tax and Audit.+968 91291520, shahidazeez5@gmail.com

Indian Male, 38 years, BE and MBA in Marketing from UK seeks suitable placement in the IT industry.

Call 91200413.

Indian male with 18 years of Indian and Overseas experience in hospitality industry, with excellent cooking, operational, managerial and communication skills seeking a suitable job from reputed groups and organizations. On a visit visa.

Contact: 95363751

29 years Indian female (MBAFinance) with 4 yrs experience in Accounts, seeking suitable placement in Accounts/Admin/HR. NOC available. Contact:96141283

Indian male Executive Secretary having vast experience in admin, logistics & procurement well versed with computer seeks suitable placement. Contact : 99514286

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 having 4years experience in accounting & having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968 094535881, 0091 9037622048.

Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

Pakistan Male: 24 years,M.Com Finance having 2.5 year experience as a accountant & marketing executive looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 97670816, E.mail: naeem.ahsan68@gmail.com

31 year Indian male PG in HR , with 5 yrs Professional experience in HR in Construction Oil & Gas Oman seeking for a suitable placement.

Contact me on 93488914, emailKaarthickshankar@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 having 4 years experience in accounting & having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968094535881, 0091 9037622048, Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

W E D N E S DAY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

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DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED SERVICES

SIT.WANTED MISCELLANEOUS Well experienced management finance specialist having 18 years experience available for placement.

Contact.95602518 23, Male, ACCA Affiliate, OBU Bsc, 2.5 years of experience in audit and finance in Big 6 Firms, Looking for permanent placement in similar field. Release NOC available. Contact: #95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com 22, Male, Indian, BBA (Marketing), 1 year experience in India, Looking for suitable placement in Sales and Marketing. #91897046, azzamsiddique1@gmail.com Indian Male,27,ACCA Part Qualified,B.COM with 7+ yrs exp in receivables and credit control in Oman looking for suitable placements. NOC available.

Contact 9657 4343.

Indian Female, Science Graduate, 3 years Experience in Teaching back home. Looking for a suitable job opportunity as a teacher, in Schools in Muscat Region. Contact : 96431456 / 95704814 Looking for a suitable job as Jr. Accountant/ Jr. Administration in a reputed company. NOC Available.

GSM # 93004738.

ACCOUNTANT, Male, 8 years experience, presently working in Oman as a Senior Accountant with oman Driving license. NOC available, seek suitable opportunity. GSM: 97705854 Chemical Engineer Indian 2 years of experience in production field Contact: 91247222 Email:sahadpoonchola@gmail.com Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support, Networking, Security systems, Server support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 91033395 Civil Autocad Draughtsman part time work for job mob :96023726 Indian female, MBA, 25yrs Having 4yrears of experience in MNC, hands of experiences in recruitment and administration, flexible for any suitable job placements currently in visting visa. Contact Tel : 98864639 Email : neethuvijayan06@gmail.com Indian Male, 25, Chartered Accountant, working with ICICI Bank India.

On a Visit Visa in Oman. Staying with parents at Azaiba. Ph: 24492638.

Email: shyamal008@gmail.com Indian Male, 26 Yrs, Business Management, 6 years in Oman.

Knowledge of MS Office and Arabic Language. Seeks suitable position.

Contact 93931935 Indian Mechanical Engineer, 30, having 8yrs of UAE Sales/Business Development. experience in Electromechanical and Irrigation sectors. Contact no- +971558763220 email id-sangowri@outlook.com Indian male, with finance and Law degree, having more than 25 years of experience in Finance/ Accounts / Audit (5 years of Oman experience) seeks suitable placement. NOC available. Contact: 98421619.

E-mail: talemadhamu@yahoo.com.

SITUATION WANTBUSINESS ED

WEBSITE

FOR SALE

CLASSES

Port cabin and Wooden pallets new, used and renovated porta cabin Wooden & steel sandwich panel Wooden pallets and packing for marble packing available.

Contact no. + 968 99318152 Tel. +968 24458759 Email: ahastco@gmail.com Comm. & Res land in Darsait, opp.

Pakistani School, 900 sq mtr for sale.

Contact: 91155779 Used Fabrication machinery for sale : Fabrication machinery and tools in excellent condition for immediate sale. Contact 94652485/ 99273774/ 99202278 Comm. & res. land for investment for 25 years in Ghala heights.

Contact: 91155779

DRIVING

Comm. & Res land in Ghala heights 400 sq mtr for sale. Contact: 91155779 Shop for sale or rent at Ruwi City.

Contact: 99103077 For sale land in Amerat 3000 Sq.mt with petrol pump permission.

Contact 99323957 / 92702891

ACC. AVAILABLE Furnished master b.room with attached bath ,and Furnished room with sharing bathroom fully equipped kitchen immediately available in N. Azaiba. 95450250 Semi furnished two Bed room flat immediately available in N.Azaiba .Contact -95450250 Furnished room for rent Indian family near Honda road.

Contact: 99076546 Sharing accommodation available at Darsait near ISD specious room, bath, passage sharing kitchen. Preference Vegetarian. Contact: 99419390 Room available at Walja. Contact: 96246625 Furnished room for IND EXE bachelor near Al Khuwair.com R/A. Contact : 99659513 Single room for Executive bachelor with attached toilet & bath, for rent including water & electricity in Ruwi.

Contact: 99327158 Sharing accommodation for family or bachelors near Indian school Ghubra. Contact : 99836676 / 99056701 Room available with kitchen from first November 2015 onwards at Rex Road near Golden Oryx Restaurant.

Contact: 99768952 1 BHK available at Al khud in Baskin Robbins building. R.O.200. Contact: 97261418, 94194876, 99478492

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. ww.tunesoman.com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

NRI

Architect designed 5000 Square feet exquisite Villa in 16 cents of land at a scenic location on Aakkulam Road, Ulloor, Trivandrum for sale. Contact +968 95372011

MATRIMONIAL Malankara Catholic girl Alappuzha Dist BSc Nurse 28 yrs working with M.O.H in Buraimi 28 yrs seeks alliance from Keralite professionals Orthodox Marthoma. Contact: 93264638 Seeking alliance for our son from Muslim families. Interested families Contact: 99889590

GOOD NEWS

Studio flat MBD Ruwi.

Contact : 95698714 Independent rooms in Qurum / Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Flat for rent available in CBD near Costa Coffee. Mobile no.92820734 We want finance for 3 (three) months or renewable every 3 months from Omani nationals or expatriates for trading business.

Contact: 99462591 or 93525028

Private room with toilet near Qurum park incl. W& E, monthly RO 220/-.

Contact Hassan 99349990

Ware house space for rent at Ghala and Barka up to 20000/- Sqm. Contact: 99509460 / 93731363

Accommodation available for indian executive bachelor’s (no kitchen).RO:125 including water and electricity Contact no. .. 98145825, 98949724

Want regular financing for profitable business. Contact 91087526 Investors needed for well functioning company Engaged in manufacturing and supply of heating solutions.

Contact: 98871548 / 93412622

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

COMPUTER

3BHK+Puja Room, East Facing, 1549 Sq Ft, Independent Floor, Ansal Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, Contact:99381769

Single room attached bath S/ kitchen at Mumtaz area.

Contact: 95212017 / 96916398

Room for Rent Alkhuwair - Behind Al Aktham Restaurant. 120 RO. With elec. and water.For executive bachelors only. Contact : 98803261

WEB, ERP and Business Intelligence (BI) creation and management at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments & massage, Ayurvedic clinic at Al Khuwair. Contact: 24478618 / 97263637 / 93309131 FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: 99425598, 99250777, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Orvisit:www.islamfact.com Ayurvedic Treatment for joint pain, backache, paralysis, massage, steam bath, obesity, spondylitis , IDEAL CARE Ayurvedic Clinic, 18 November Street, Azaiba Contact: 99639695 / 98342990 Ayurvedic treatment for backache, paralysis, arthritis etc & massage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam). Contact 24475280 / 95371664 / 92504980 www.siddhayur.com

LOST Shippey Hussain has lost Bangladeshi Passport no. F 2565048.

Finder please handover to ROP

CHANGE OF NAME I Suganya Gurusamy (holder of Indian passport No. G 1021221 ) daughter of K. Gurusamy having permanent residence in 11-5-53, Vaniyan Kovil Street, Tiruppathur, Sivagangai Dt, Tamil Nadu - 630211 (complete postal address in India) and presently residing in Wadi Kabir, P.Box. No. 438, P.C 100 (complete postal in Oman) intend to change my name from Suganya Gurusamy (old name) to Fatima Al Zahra (new name) for all practical purpose. I have changed my religion from Hindu to Islam.

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.

NOTICE Noor Al Mawada for Cont ASSO company which is recorded under the commercial register number 1100091 in the treading & industry Al Batinah is going to change its legaly shape from ASSO company to L.L.C company And in accordance with Article 13 of the Commercial Companies Law No. 4/74 . This is to inform any body who concerns about that to 2 months from the date publishing this advertising.

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422 MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your marble. #24793614/ 99314807

Split & widow unit A.C servicing & repairing. Contact: 99557080 Split & window unit A.C servicing & maintenance. #96236476 Window & split unit A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact 93769089 / 95323517 GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Contact 99314807/24792998 Cleaning & carpet shampooing, Ocean Center LLC. #99884591 Pest control treatments. Ocean Center LLC. Contact: 99344723 Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet shampooing, maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS99320217 /24788722 House shifting & packing.

Contact: 99657644 /98518013

Air condition maintenance installation window AC, split a/c, ducted AC and package type units.

Contact: 98667326 Window & split unit A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact 93769089 / 95323517 Pest Control Gulfa Intl .LLC. Contact: 92326955 Water proofing ABUQABASContact 99320217/24788722 One stop shop business services : Public Relation (PRO) formation new companies, LLC companies, Investor visa, business setup, prepare businesses & companies accounts, legal services, representing you and your company. Contact Saleh: 96723485 Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile polishing, pest control & antitermite treatment, general cleaning painting, Plumbing, Electrical, shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. # 24810137, 99450130

D8

W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

TOURS

SITUATION WANTED CARGO

SITUATION WANTED CARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine Tours # 98029602, 92808636

FOR HIRE Available for rent 1500 sqmt, secured plot, suitable for keeping containers, construction equipments, trailers etc, near Sohar AirportContact 98236616

RENT A CAR

Bobcat Grader and roller for rent.

Contact: 94584688

MANPOWER

TRANSPORTATION Transportation available Ruwi to Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909 Transportation available.

Contact: 99867456 Pick & drop any time.

Contact: 93598436 / 96743215 Pick & drop any time. Contact: 92218001/ 96502406 Transportation. Contact98505294 Transportation in Muscat.

Contact: 95530908

We offer labour for loading and unloading if any one required we are providing this service. Contact: 95208185 /95456022 Leading manpower agency to hire Recruiter from India housemaids.

Contact: 99226093, Email: fesalwardi48@gmail.com

FOR LADIES GOOD OFFER for ladies: (Golden facial Golden bleach, Haircut-10 RO. Only) this offer started from 10th October to 10th November. #99619409, Hattat Modern Parlour