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SUNDAY, July 26, 2015 / 9 Shawwal 1436 AH

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The heavy burden DECODING DOCTOR

Hubert Vaz chats with Dr Mathew Raphael, a physici an and gastroenterolo International gist at Al Hayat Hospital

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JULY 26, 2015

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ISO 9001:2008 CertiďŹ ed Company

‘Switch off’ Alarmed over recent incidents of ďŹ re,

New drug g may y treat depression tre ssi

Researcherson in a day have identiďŹ promising ed drug that a could successcompounds fullyy treat depression treat hours while in less than 24 minimising effects. Althoug side haave not yet been tested h theyy have in people, compounds the cant advantacould offer signiďŹ ges overr current antidepressant medica the study said. “Our tions, open up a results whole potential antidep new class of ications,â€? said ressant medScott Thomp lead researcher the Univers son, professor at School of ity of Maryland, Medicine (US). IANS

petrol pump staff are asking motorists to shut off their engines,

D E R E G U L AT I N G F U E L P R I C E S

if they want to ďŹ ll

Rush expected at Oman fuel pumps FAHAD AL GHADANI

fahadnews@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Fuel stations in areas such as Buraimi and Madha, which share a border with the UAE, are likely to face a rush of vehicles from across the border following a decision of that coun-

try to deregulate fuel prices from August 1, according to fuel station owners and residents.

In a recent decision, the UAE’s Ministry of Energy decided to link gasoline and diesel prices to global oil markets making it the ďŹ rst country in the Gulf to end fuel subsidies. >A6

M I R B AT I N C I D E N T

Search on for Emiratis Times News Service MUSCAT: Search operations will continue to trace the two Emiratis who went missing in the sea off Al Dimr in the wilayat of Mirbat in Dhofar governorate, said a Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) official.

Seven friends, including two Omanis, had gone for swimming

when six of them got trapped in strong currents. “One of them was standing at the shore. Four among the six, who entered the sea, managed to swim to safety but two are still missing,� said the PACDA official.

In their Twitter account, PACDA said that search was carried out along the rocks of the Mirbat shore but without success. >A6

their fuel tanks

FAHAD AL GHADANI

fahadnews@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Turn off your engines or we will not refuel your tanks, is what staff at numerous fuel stations are telling motorists.

With more than ďŹ ve incidents of ďŹ re reported at fuel stations in June and July, the attendants are insisting that motorists switch off their vehicles before they refuel. “It is true that we are implementing rules strictly and are telling customers to switch off their vehicle engines,â€? said a worker at a fuel station in Azaiba. “When you take into consideration the high temperatures in

ALARM: More than four incidents of ďŹ re were reported at fuel stations in Oman this year. – File photos

Oman, the risk of cars catching ďŹ re at petrol stations is very high, so it’s better to be cautious, he noted.

An official at the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) also conďŹ rmed that following the recent reports of ďŹ res, several fuel stations have decided not to refuel any vehicle that keeps its engines running.

“These fuel stations were not forced by the PACDA to do so, but they decided on their own,� said the official. He, however, added that PACDA makes the same recommendations. “Clear regulation sheets are pasted at all fuel stations but nobody follows them,� said the source. If petrol stations stop

fuelling vehicles, motorists will be forced to switch off vehicle engines, he added. “Since summer sees high temperatures, incidents of ďŹ re are triggered off easily,â€? the official pointed out.

More than four incidents of ďŹ re have been reported at fuel stations this year in summer. >A6

TOP THREE INSIDE STORIES

OMAN

OMAN

REGION

1

2

3

Challenges for SMEs SME projects will face formidable challenges in Oman without the expats’ participation. >A3

Omani author at 80 Jawad Ibrahim Al Bahrani penned his ďŹ rst book and at the ripe old age of 80. >A6

Anti-terror law The Tunisian parliament adopted an anti-terror law to confront a militant threat. >A7

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

OMAN

Omanis topped the list of tourists to Salalah with 66,348 visitors, followed by 14,248 Emiratis and 3,370 Saudi nationals Khareef Salalah records 88,405 footfalls >A5

OMAN CELEBRATES RENAISSANCE DAY IN MILAN

Omani pavilion in Expo Milan 2015 celebrated the Renaissance Day on Saturday. The government delegation was led by Dr. Fu’ad bin Ja’afar Al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, member of the Ministerial Committee tasked with supervising and preparing for the Sultanate’s participation in the expo. — ONA

ANNUAL REPORT

Asphalt road network tops 13,857-km MUSCAT: As of October 2014, Oman has paved 13,857 km long asphalt roads and 16,414 km long dust roads, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said in its report published on the 45th anniversary of the Renaissance Day. The major projects under way include Sur-Bidbid dualcarriageway project (240 km) and Al Batinah Expressway, from the first to sixth package (about 265 km).

The ministry also revised the final draft of the Land Transport Law, which aims at regularising the land transport activities and meeting the needs of economic development.

The first stage of the structural study for the public transport in Muscat Governorate, which has been already completed, aims at creating an integrated public transport system that meets the needs of the public and limit the traffic congestion and environmental effects.–ONA

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NCSI REPORT

C O M M E N TA RY

SME projects need participation of expatriates to make them feasible

More accidents, but fewer deaths in Oman this year Times News Service

SUNDAY BEAT SALEH AL SHAIBANY

saleh@timesofoman.com

S

mall to Medium Enterprises (SME) projects will continue to face formidable challenges in Oman without the participation of the expatriates.

The official statistics show that expatriates make up around 40 per cent of Oman’s total population and it makes sense to give them the opportunities to take part in the SME projects. Also, young Omani entrepreneurs need to learn to cope with intense competition to come up with a long lasting project. The SME funds, such as Al Raffd and Al Naama, can still be reserved solely for Omanis to create self-employment but the government should consider allowing expatriates to become partners of these projects.

Expatriates should not be barred to partner Omanis in SME projects provided they can raise their own funds to inject into the business. In other words, though government’s SME funds can only be given to Omanis, local banks should come up with a special financing scheme to finance expatriates so they can own a percentage of these projects.

The percentage of expatriate ownership in SMEs can be minority to allow Omanis to own the majority shareholding. Giving opportunities to expatriates to participate in these projects, will inject the much needed experience in the

A3

GROWTH AGENDA: Around 80 per cent of the SMEs fail to take off and collapse within five years

of their establishments. Expatriates will give SME projects a new dimension and a competitive edge to ensure business longevity.-File photo

newly established companies to ensure the survival rate of the businesses.

Export prospects At the moment, 80 per cent of the SMEs fail to take off and collapse within five years of their launch. Expatriates will give SME projects a new dimension and a competitive edge to ensure business longevity.

The current SME companies solely depend on the domestic market for their survival. The local market is limited and is not big enough to support new entrepreneurs.

Inclusion of expatriates in these projects will add a new business angle that will lead to exports. Expatriates, if allowed to have stakes in governmentfunded SME projects, will work hard to diversify the market by exporting to their countries of origin. The decision can also diversify business risks and offer opportunities to expand globally, instead of relying just on the Omani market. The government can allow a maximum 25

per cent expatriate ownership in SMEs, the rest can belong to Omanis. The government can also legislate by reserving 80 per cent of the jobs to Omani nationals in any SME project.

Clear guidelines Such clear guidelines will help SMEs maximise the available opportunities and the use of the full resources, both domestically and internationally. It will also give struggling SME projects, which are on the brink of collapse, a shot in the arm.

Ask any SME owner and they will tell you that part of their problem is, they draw a blank when it comes to marketing their products. They don’t know how to raise product awareness or launch a sales campaign. An expatriate partner can make up for this lack of knowledge and expand the business beyond the shores of Oman. SME owners at the moment feel isolated and their businesses are scattered all over the country without a proper business vision. They need help and expatriates’

inclusion in these important projects can be the answer to their problem. SMEs also need to be part of the extensive business scenario. The reason why the United Arab Emirates has been successful is that the country started linking SMEs with Free Trade Zones (FTZ). FTZs are getaways for exports and the examples in the UAE indicate that SME owners forge a successful partnership with expatriates. In very global competitive markets, reserving SME projects solely to the local population is an economical oversight.

Skills and experience need to be in greater diversity to make an SME project successful.

A fusion of skills from both Omanis and expatriates are much needed to make this segment grow. With 40 per cent expatriates working in Oman, the Sultanate is certainly becoming a multicultural society. Young Omani entrepreneurs will surely need to take advantage of this if the authorities consider allowing expatriates take part in the SME projects.

MUSCAT: While there has been a marginal increase in the number of accidents, there has been a decrease in the number of deaths and injuries in the first six months this year.

There has been a 1.7 per cent increase in road accidents across the Sultanate compared to the same period last year, according to the monthly bulletin of the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) for July.

The report says that 2,958 accidents were recorded until June, compared to 2,909 for the same period in 2014.

Fatalities decreased 24 per cent compared to last year, with 307 people losing their lives in the first half of 2015, compared to 404 last year. “We request motorists to abide by road safety rules and continue to work towards bringing down the accident figures,” said a police official.

“It is good to know that there is a decrease in the number of those dead and injured in accidents. We appreciate the efforts of the Royal Oman Police in creating awareness among motorists. The decrease in numbers proves that people are now mindful of the rules,” said a resident. “However, more needs to be done to avoid accidents

completely. We can bring the figures down further,” he added.

The number of injured till June this year totalled 1,593 as compared to 2,832 till June 2014, a 43.8 per cent decrease.

The number of injured Omanis stood at 1,240, which was again a drop from 2,131 last year.

Omanis accounted for 77.84 per cent of injured victims while the number of injured averaged 22.15 per cent. Injuries due to road accidents decreased 41.8 per cent and 49.6 per cent, respectively for Omanis and expatriates, compared to figures during the same period last year.

Among those who lost their lives in road accidents in the first six months of this year were 208 Omanis and 99 expatriates.

June was the month when the most accidents took place. There were 631 mishaps registered compared to 546 in May, 506 in April, 455 in March and 337 in February.

In 2014, 816 people died and 4,143 were injured in 5,768 road accidents as compared to 913 deaths and 10,802 injuries in 7,829 road accidents in 2013. The number of deaths in road accidents also dropped 10.6 per cent in 2014.

The number of those who suffered injuries in Muscat also saw a significant decrease of 61.6 per cent in 2014, according to NCSI.

ROAD TRAGEDIES: Road fatalities decreased 24 per cent compared to last year, with 307 people losing their lives in the first half of 2015. – ONA file photograph

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

OMAN

It’s to challenge photographers to come up with new concepts and new ideas which leads to creative thinking Alexandra Hoepfner, MuscArt Gallery Manager

FA S H I O N S TAT E M E N T

Oman’s jewellery brand ‘Deema’ to be launched in UAE Times News Service

LENS ART: Winners of the photography contest; First Place: Akram Al-Amoudi, for his picture Ana Khalfak (I Stand Behind You); Second

Place: Abdallah Al-Thuwaini, for his picture Taharah Muda’fah (Double Purity).–Supplied photos

Saudi photo contest now open to Omanis The Art Jameel Photography Award, which seeks to discover talented photographers and help them develop their skills and exhibit exceptional photography, is open to nationals and residents in the GCC region

SARAH MACDONALD sarah@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Photographers in Oman, both nationals and expatriates, will have the chance to win up to OMR3,000 and have their work exhibited in Saudi Arabia thanks to a Saudi photography competition that is now expanded to include the whole GCC region.

The 6th annual Art Jameel Photography Award (AJPA), which seeks to discover talented photographers and help them develop their skills and exhibit exceptional photography, is open for the first time to nationals and residents

across the GCC, having previously been limited to Saudi Arabia.

“This year we are expanding the competition to include artistic talent from the entire Gulf region, which marks a really exciting expansion of the Art Jameel Photography Award and recognises the abundance of talent we have in our region,” said Dalya Mousa, Art Jameel Programme Manager.

In Oman the organisation is partnering with MuscArt, a gallery and workshop space run by Omani photographer Ahmed S. Al Harthy. “The programme and concept of the award very much reflected MuscArt’s own philoso-

phy. It’s to challenge photographers to come up with new concepts and new ideas which leads to creative thinking and looking into a different subjects in photography, ultimately resulting in a form of education, and hopefully a unique and strong result,” said Alexandra Hoepfner, MuscArt Gallery Manager.

Male and female entrants of 18 years and above are required to produce a single photograph, or series of photographs that capture the theme ‘Transitions’, reflecting transitions from social, conceptual, cultural, economic, personal or even technical perspectives.

Hoepfner said there are a number of photography competitions in Oman, but often with repetitive themes and competitions that revolve around the same people. She hopes this competition, with its unique theme and its workshops may “bring a fresh wind into the market with a whole new level of competitors.”

The workshop, which will be held in September in Oman, will be free of charge and open to all participants on a first-come, firstserve basis if they reserve tickets

in advance.

“It’s just a great opportunity for Oman to show a different more abstract side, which takes quite a bit of courage, as well as a chance of building your name within the GCC countries,” Hoepfner said.

Hoepfner said she hopes anyone with a passion for photography will participate, especially those “quirky misfits that may find it difficult to find their place in traditional photography.”

This competition will focus more on the message than the technical aspects of the photographs, which may encourage more participants, she added.

Competitions winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony in December 2015. Winners will receive cash prizes, the opportunity for residency and the chance to participate in Art Jameel’s activities in Saudi Arabia and abroad.

The winning work will be promoted online and in print, both regionally and internationally.

Applications will close on October 31, 2015. Submissions can be made via the competition website - www.ajpa.artjameel.org.

MUSCAT: Oman’s jewellery brand ‘Deema’ is all set to launch a new collection made available for the first time in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The brand uses traditional Arabic designs with a modern twist using the finest gems and materials. The brand, led by motherdaughter design duo Shadya and Suad Al Riyami, was founded in 2008 as the first ever jewellery brand to be born in Oman.

Featuring one of a kind, handmade creation inspired by arts, heritage, nature and culture, Deema’s pioneering fourth collection will be available in September for the first time in the UAE, via the soon to launch e-commerce site www.deemaoman.com.

Four distinct lines make up the ‘Deema’ brand. These are Islamic heritage, heritage, architecture, and nature. Each includes its own beautiful assortments, with individual inspirations and telling their own exceptional story.

Peace collection Luminescent, lemon quartz, blue topaz and blue aquamarine stones are blended with 18K yellow gold and diamonds to create the Islamic eight-pointed star pattern, promoting the heritage and richness of Islamic patterns and architectural designs, the inspiration behind the collection.

Harmony collection Richly hued blue and green gemstones conjuring up thoughts of deep oceans, compliment perfectly with lavish 18K white gold and diamonds, to create astonishing beauty in this luxurious collection. The materials symbolically reflect the nautical heritage of the Arabian Gulf region, with the blues representing the seas that connect the land with the rest of the world in harmony.

JEWELLER’S ART: (Above)

Necklace and (below) ear ring com pendant.–Supplied photo

Palm collection Amethyst gemstones and diamonds are intricately set against earthy tones of sapphire dark green, light green and 18K yellow gold, evoking thoughts of the true beauty of mother nature. The ‘Palm’ is inspired by the striking date trees, the fruit of the Middle East.

Other ‘Deema’ collections include Eqaam, Deco Art and exclusively for men, Oman El Izz, Opera and Riyam. ‘Deema’ has been recognised for its revolutionary impact on Omani jewellery designs, and has been celebrating the brand’s successes through its presence at prestigious events like Jewellery Arabia (2010), International Jewellery London Exhibition (2011), the celebration of 150 years anniversary of life and legacy of Sir Henry Royce (2012), in addition to Knooz for Fine Jewellery and Watch Exhibition (2012), and the celebration of the 110th anniversary of Rolls Royce (2013), etc.

YOUR BIGGEST ROAD HAZARD IS IN YOUR HAND A TIMES OF OMAN HANDS-FREE DRIVING INITIATIVE

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Snapchat’s Mecca live feed lauded Mecca being live on Snapchat was a great opportunity for Muslims to share the true meaning of Islam as well as their personal experience in Islam’s holiest city

TARIQ AL HAREMI tariqh@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: There was a time when Snapchat was seen as a tool to spread illicit messages, but recently the popular apps used its platform to shine a positive light

on the Muslim world.

Worshippers at Mecca gave non-Muslims, who are not allowed into the holy land, a rare insight into what goes on at the holiest site of Muslims, by taking videos using Snapchat’s ‘Live Story’ feature.

Snapchat then compiled all the

best videos into one 300 second video feed and broadcast it to 100 million users.

Non-Muslims around the world took to social media to express their surprise about the peacefulness of the religion and its portrayal that the otherwise traditional media would not have shown. They posted their thoughts on Twitter under the hashtag #Mecca_live.

Omanis and expatriates, both Muslim and non-Muslim, applauded Snapchat for its efforts for displaying the truth about Islam.

“Mecca being live on Snapchat was a great opportunity for Muslims to share the true and only meaning of Islam as well as their personal experience at Islam’s holiest city with the whole world dur-

ing a holy and blessed night,” said Shorooq Abu Nasser, a resident of Oman.

“I personally think it gave an incredible insight to non-Muslims who are not allowed into the city and I would love to see more experiences shared on what Islam really is,” he added.

An Omani citizen, Rumaitha Al Busaidi, also applauded the social networking platform, saying that for the first time social media had the power to make a positive change.

“Snapchat took the right steps forward to make sure there was positive attention towards a religion not many know as peaceful.

We keep stressing that as Muslims and explain how peaceful we re-

KHAREEF SEASON

Salalah records 88,405 footfalls Times News Service MUSCAT: More and more tourists are soaking in the charm of Salalah this Khareef season.

According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the number of visitors to Khareef Salalah touched 88,405 till July 21, which was an increase compared to figures of the same period last year.

Khareef Salalah is an annual blessing for the people of Oman, especially the Dhofar Governorate, as locals escape the scorching heat of the North and enter the cool, drizzling weather of the South, and visitors from abroad experience the forest-like environment in the Gulf Cooperation Council state.

Of the 88,405 visitors so far, 86,795 were from Arab nations, including Oman.

Omanis topped the list with 66,348 visitors, followed by 14,248 Emiratis and 3,370 Saudi nationals. Completing the list were 968 tourists from Qatar, 608 from Kuwait and 543 from Bahrain, while

COOL CLIMES: Of the 88,405 visitors to Salalah so far, 86,795 were from Arab countries, including Oman. Omanis topped the list with 66,348 visitors, followed by 14,248 Emiratis and 3,370 Saudi nationals.–TIMES OF OMAN

710 visitors arrived from the other Arab countries.

Non-Arab visitors reached 1,610, with 1,250 Asians making up most of those numbers. There were 206 Europeans who visited Khareef Salalah, while 154 others were from various non-Arab countries.

NCSI recorded 70,321 people arriving by land and 18,084 by air which is 79.54 and 20.45 percentiles respectively.

Last year, the total number of local and international visitors recorded from June 21 to August 30 was 415,209, compared to 399,747 during the same period in 2013,

representing an increase of 3.9 per cent, reported the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

In 2014, the majority of Khareef Salalah visitors were Omanis, representing 76.2 per cent of the total number, while other GCC citizens represented 16.1 per cent of the total tourist count.

Activities at the Salalah Tourism Festival 2015 kicked off Thursday under the title ‘Oman: Love and Peace’. The festival concludes on August 31.

“Salalah is unique, especially when one realises that it is the only place in the Gulf that turns green during summer. The camels, a variety of chirping birds, the fruits, and the people, apart from the lush green hills, misty woods and sparkling mountain springs give the place a magical effect. It is surely an experience for those visiting Salalah,” said Ravi H, who makes it a point to take his family to Salalah every year.

“We are sure to visit the place before the Khareef season ends,” he said.

ally are, but like they say ‘actions speak louder than words’. Only by allowing people to look through a window and judge for themselves, do their impressions of that image change,” she said.

“Mecca Live was a true definition of what we believe in. It was the message of an entire religion in silence doing what they know to do best; coming together in peace with a message of unity away from racism and hatred towards one another,” added Al Busaidi.

“It was a moment that brought all Muslims together in spirit. It was a moment that identified to the world that there is a spiritual unity to Muslims that they cannot find anywhere else. It was enlightening, galvanising and informa-

tive. I wish we could see more religious places and use Snapchat to bring the world into one peaceful mind,” said Fahmi Al Maawali.

George Satti, a Syrian resident said about Islam, “I never thought it was this organised and peaceful.”

Mahmoud Al Zadjali also commented, “It illustrated Islam in a way it should have, inspirational and loving. I think that Snapchat is the perfect platform because it is within everyone’s reach worldwide.”

More than 100 million people make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca which is one of the pillars of Islam. Last year 10,114 Omanis, 550 Arabs and 499 non-Arab pilgrims registered for the pilgrimage to the holy land.

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

OMAN

I always wanted to publish books and have readers to read them Jawad Ibrahim Al Bahrani, Omani author

Omani author Jawad pens first book at 80 Jawad Ibrahim Al Bahrani, who was

You are never too old to realise your dreams, no matter how bold or difficult they are. It is just a matter of getting it right and the opportunities available to you

born in Zanzibar in 1935 to Omani parents, had a kaleidoscope of careers before he decided to become a full-time writer late

Jawad Ibrahim Al Bahrani

in life

Omani author

SALEH AL SHAIBANY

bian Nights (Alf laylah wa laylah) about a young orphan who decided to straighten up his life to make something for himself.

By finishing off his book and published it fifty years later is not just a matter of accomplishing a long standing task but it is about proving to everyone that it is never too late to realise your ambition and embark in a new career.

“You are never too old to realise your dreams, no matter how bold or difficult they are. It is just a matter of getting it right and the opportunities available to you. I always wanted to publish books and have readers to read them,” Jawad explained.

How prolific Jawad is going to be after the publication of his first book is a question of how fast he can write more.

saleh@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Jawad Ibrahim Al Bahrani has proved that it is never too late to pen your first book. At the ripe old age of 80 he is embarking into a new career of writing stories for general readers.

Jawad, who was born in Zanzibar in 1935 to Omani parents, had a kaleidoscope of careers before he decided to become a full -time writer late in life.

Starting as a seaman He started life as a seaman followed by a brief stint as a stage actor. Later, he started writing Swahili songs in the 1960s and had his own photography studio.

In 1977, he joined Oman Television as a cameraman. His enthusiasm in creativity was noted by his bosses and was given an opportunity to work as a film director for the Ministry of Information. As a result, one of his television documentaries about Oman won an award in Bahrain.

Resurrecting his ambition When he retired from the Ministry of Information in 1997, Jawad did not want to stay at home idly looking at the four walls. He resurrected his ambition to become a published author by dusting his old manuscripts that were stored in his house for many years.

NEW INNINGS: The front cover of the book.

He decided to finish off a story he started in the 1960s, The Tales of Bul Bul Adventures, but due to his family commitment and financial constraints, it took

many years to be published. It was printed earlier this year, almost five decades after he started writing it. The book is written in the same mould as The Ara-

Final touches He is already putting the final touches of his second fiction book, titled The Tales of Zanzibar Nights, to be published next year.

There is a third one brewing in his mind, whose title would be “Tales of Arabian and Persian Deserts,” which will be published in 2017.

He is planning to continue with a series of books of ‘Tales’ for as long as he can.

Jawad also has published a non-fiction book this year with a title of “My Wisdom Thoughts.”

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On Friday, Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance had requested a helicopter from the Oman’s Royal Air Force to help in the search and rescue operations. In a tweet, PACDA clarified that there was a signboard at the spot warning people against venturing out into the sea.

ABIDE BY RULES

‘Shut off engines A1 while refuelling’ < FROM

The source at the PACDA clarified that the high temperatures have been the trigger in all those cases.

The PACDA has also called on motorists to install fire extinguishers in their vehicles and to abide by the rules.

Mark Pudwell, business development and training manager, Competence HR said, “It is encouraging to hear that fuel station staff is telling drivers to shut off their vehicle engines while refuelling.”

He explained that high octane fuels are highly inflammable and in environments such as those prevalent in Oman where ambient air temperatures are very high, particularly at this time of the year, the liquid fuel vaporises much more quickly, and creates a highly explosive environment.

Confirming that this process cannot be eliminated completely, Pudwell said, “We can do much more to reduce chances of a fire by following some simple rules.”

Pudwell suggested switching off the vehicle engine once the parking brake is applied.

“Vehicle occupants must also extinguish anything they are smoking before entering the station forecourt,” he added.

Pudwell said, “Mobile phones are intrinsically unsafe, which means they can generate static electricity that is capable of ignit-

ing fuel vapour and the oxygen in the atmosphere. So these must not be used in the forecourt at any time.”

Pudwell advised fuel pump attendants not to leave vehicles unattended during refuelling and to hold the fuel dispenser till the tank is filled. “This ensures that in case of spillage, they can take immediate action and alert the occupants to vacate the vehicle until the spill is removed,” said Pudwell Pointing out that most vehicle fuel tanks are situated under the rear of the vehicle and often adjacent to the exhaust systems which heat up during use, Pudwell said, “If liquid fuel reaches the hot exhaust pipes it could ignite. Switching off the vehicle during refuelling will reduce the temperature of the exhaust thus reducing the likelihood of ignition.”

He stated that all these rules are mandatory and instructions are clearly displayed by law at each station.

“Staff must be further encouraged to educate customers and receive regular approved training in the dispensing of fuel and the actions required of them in the event of spillage,” he said.

“Staff should also be discouraged from dispensing fuel to customers who refuse to comply with these simple but mandatory rules,” he said.

END OF SUBSIDY

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A1 ‘Buraimi fuel pumps can cope with rush’ Speaking to Times of Oman, Rashid Al Shamsi, a Majlis Al Shura member representing Buraimi wilayat, said that while he expects a rush from across the border once the fuel price in the UAE increases, he is certain there will not be a shortage.

“I am sure the number of vehicles will rise, but I think the quantity of fuel received by petrol stations in Buraimi and others will meet the daily needs of consumers,” said Al Shamsi.

He added that the rush will be witnessed only on some days.

“It is during weekends that we will witness a bigger rush as many of Omanis living in the UAE and Emiratis head to Buraimi on Friday and Saturday,” said Al Shamsi.

Salim Al Mizahmi, owner of a fuel station in Buraimi said that there is surely going to be a rush but it will not be unmanageable.

“The fuel consumed last year is less than the year before which means that there are fewer consumers. Many petrol station own-

ers here decided to decrease the quantity of fuel we would receive from the last year,” said Al Mizahmi.

He will monitor the market and then decide if more fuel is required for his fuel station, he added.

Some residents in Buraimi and other areas close to the border expressed their unhappiness over the rush experienced at fuel stations during peak days.

“Because of the slight price difference that exists there is already a rush on weekends. Can you imagine what it will be like once the price is deregulated?” asked a resident.

According to Al Mizahmi, “I had a meeting the last time with the Wali of Buraimi and other concerned authorities and addressed the issue. Some suggested that residents of the areas should have fuel cards. They also suggested that there should be a limit on the fuel for cars with non-Omani licence plates. However, these suggestions were rejected.”

WIDE USE

Omanis collecting honey since ages MUSCAT: Omani honey is very popular and people rush to buy it whenever it is available, and use it in food and even for medicinal purposes, which is also a reason for its high price and shortage.

Omanis have been collecting honey since ages — much before it became a profession that began to be managed by government institutions connected with agriculture, and before honey collectors were trained and provided the tools to produce honey for commercial purposes, as well as for domestic use.

There are numerous types of honey, but the finest variety and the most famous is “Al Baram”, or “A’Sumar,” named after “Acacia tortilis” which is usually light black in colour. Then there is “A’Sidr” honey, which is light brown in colour.

Honey is usually collected throughout the year, but the finest types are those that are produced from March until the end of May. The search for honey is practiced by observing bees, which come to drink water, especially early in the morning.

Beekeepers observe honeybees either with the naked eye or through binoculars. They try to determine the direction in which the bees fly. They begin searching in caves or on certain trees in the mountains, in farms, in addition to palm groves and various other

trees. After finding the hives the beekeepers decide, depending on their experiences, how much honey is in the hives based on their size. They collect the honey if the hive is large, but if it is small they wait until the honey is ready to be collected.

Both men and women take part in collecting honey, and sometimes even children take part, either in groups or individually.

Some may move from one place to another in search of honey, sometimes for long distances, which may include valleys or mountains or neighbouring areas, while others do not go beyond their area of residence.

Beekeepers noiselessly remove honeybees from the upper part of the hive where the honey is stocked. To protect themselves from bee stings, they wear clothes that completely cover the body, including the face, and use gloves to cover their hands.

After cutting away the upper part of the hive, the beekeepers put the hives back in their original place to use again. Sometimes, they move the hive to a new place, if they find it more appropriate than the previous location.

After collecting the honey, beekeepers filter it for impurities and pack it in glass bottles or cans which are is used either in food, for medicinal purposes, etc. -ONA

S U N DAY, JU LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

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REGION

The bill would also make it easier for investigators to use phone-tapping against suspects and make public expressions of support for terrorism a jailable offence.

Tunisia adopts new anti-terror legislation

POST NUCLEAR DEAL

The new legislation comes after a gunman massacred 38 tourists on a Tunisian beach in an LASHING OUT: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks in parliament in Tehran last Tuesday. Zarif on Friday decried what he called the ‘uselessness of such empty threats against the nation of Iran and the resistance of the nation of Iran’, and said that such remarks should be consigned ‘to the last century’. – AFP

attack claimed by IS militant group

TUNIS: The Tunisian parliament adopted a new anti-terror law overnight on Friday aimed at beefing up powers to confront a militant threat following deadly attacks.

The law was adopted after three days of debate by 174 members of parliament with 10 abstentions and no votes against, according to an AFP tally.

The president of the assembly, Mohamed Ennaceur welcomed the passing of the “law against terrorism and money laundering”, calling it an “historic” moment.

“It’s with pride we have arrived at this historic moment ... this law will reassure the citizens,” Ennaceur said.

The new legislation comes after a gunman massacred 38 tourists on a Tunisian beach in an attack claimed by IS militant group (IS) on June 26.

In March an attack on the Bardo museum in the capital Tunis that was also claimed by IS left 21 tourists dead.

Old law The law replaces legislation from 2003 which was adopted under the leadership of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and rights groups say was largely used to crush dissent, in particular then-banned Ennahda

HISTORIC MOMENT: Tunisian deputies attend a debate on Friday at the Assembly of the Representa-

tives of the People in Tunis. – AFP

party, which is now one of the main players in Tunisian politics. While the law was widely supported by both secular and hardline parties, it has been strongly criticised by rights groups and NGOs. “This law poses a real threat to rights and liberties in Tunisia,” said Amna Guellali, the Human Rights Watch representative in Tunis.

Criminal lawyer Ghazi Mrabet agreed the law was a bad sign, saying: “You can’t fight terrorism with regressive reforms.”

Critics have condemned the fact the law brings back capital punishment for a number of offences, after a de facto quarter-century moratorium on executions.

The death penalty can apply to anyone who “knowingly murders someone enjoying international protection”, a reference to people such as diplomats and interna-

tional civil servants.

Another article refers to people who commit rape during the course of a terrorism-related crime. Rights groups also questioned the powers the law accords the authorities, allowing them to detain suspects for 15 days without access to a lawyer or being brought before a judge.

The bill would also make it easier for investigators to use phonetapping against suspects and make public expressions of support for terrorism a jailable offence.

Advocacy groups have said the law’s definition of terrorist crimes is too vague and it fails to adequately safeguard the rights of defendants and could undermine freedoms.

Members of the leftist opposition have also criticised the bill, saying it could be used to stifle popular movements and does not

N E W WAT E RWAY

BOOSTING TRADE: Boats, including a container ship, cross the new waterway of the Suez canal on Saturday in the Egyptian port city of Ismailia, east of Cairo. – AFP

Ships cross New Suez Canal in first ‘successful’ test-run ISMAILIA: The first cargo ships passed through Egypt’s New Suez Canal on Saturday in a test-run before it opens next month, state media reported, 11 months after the army began constructing the $8 billion canal alongside the existing 145-year-old Suez Canal.

The new waterway, which President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi hopes will help expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and give a boost to Egypt’s economy, will be formally inaugurated on August 6.

Symbol of national pride Sisi wants the canal to become a symbol of national pride and to help combat Egypt’s double-digit unemployment. The old Suez Canal is already a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, which has seen tourism and foreign investment drain away in the years of turmoil since a 2011 uprising.

Three container ships crossed the new waterway, state news agency MENA reported. One was an American ship heading

Iran accuses Kerry of threatening military action against Iran

GETTING READY: Employees work on a boat in front of a container ship, as they are both crossing the new waterway of the Suez canal on Saturday, in the Egyptian port city of Ismailia, east of Cairo. – AFP

to Egypt’s Port Said from Saudi Arabia, another was a Danish ship sailing to the United States from Singapore, and a Bahraini ship going to Italy from Saudi Arabia.

The exercise took place amid tight security. An insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders on the Suez Canal, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since 2013. State television said there were helicopters

circling above and showed naval vessels escorting the ships.

Mohab Mameesh, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority who led the project, told state television from aboard the first ship that the test-run had been a success.

“This is the first trial crossing but it will be followed by more trials,” he said. “We are 99.2 per cent done with everything. We should be completely done in two or three days.

The existing canal earns Egypt around $5 billion per year. The new canal, which will allow twoway traffic of larger ships, is supposed to increase revenues by 2023 to $15 billion.

It should also reduce navigation time for ships to 11 hours from about 22 hours, Mameesh said last month, making it the fastest such waterway in the world.

The government also plans to build an international industrial and logistics hub nearby that it hopes will eventually make up about a third of the Egyptian economy. — Reuters

distinguish between protests and terrorist acts.

President Beji Caid Essebsi decreed a month-long state of emergency on July 4, eight days after the shooting at the Mediterranean resort of Port El Kantaoui killed 30 Britons, three Irish nationals, two Germans, one Belgian, one Portuguese and a Russian. That came after two gunmen attacked Tunisia’s national museum on March 18, killing 21 foreigners and a Tunisian policeman. Both attacks were claimed by the IS militant group.

The country’s vital tourist industry has been badly hit and Essebsi has said his country is “at war with terrorism”.

“The army, the National Guard, the security forces are doing their duty and the Tunisian people must be secured,” he has said. “The country needs to overcome this crisis, everyone must unite.” — AFP

TEHRAN: Iran hit out late on Friday against US Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of threatening military action against Tehran if it fails to respect a historic nuclear deal sealed on July 14.

“Unfortunately the US Secretary of State once again talked about the rotten rope of ‘the ability of the US for using military force’,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a statement.

Empty threats Zarif decried what he called the “uselessness of such empty threats against the nation of Iran and the resistance of the nation of Iran”, and said such remarks should be consigned “to the last century”.

Despite the agreement reached with Iran on putting the nuclear bomb out of Tehran’s reach, sev-

eral US officials, including Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, have signalled that military force remains on the table to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Kerry and other American officials “have repeatedly admitted that these threats have no effect on the will of the people of Iran and that it will change the situation to their disadvantage,” Zarif claimed. “Therefore, it would be better for Americans to abandon their old habit and put aside once and for all their threatening language and sanctions against this great people,” he added.

Under the July 14 agreement, Iran has agreed to dismantle or mothball much of its nuclear industry in return for an easing and eventual lifting of sanctions.

World powers have called it a historic opportunity to set relations with Iran on a new path. — AFP

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

INDIA

Chief Minister, I am grateful for the welcome...How times change...

There was a time when you used to say that ‘we already have one Modi (Sushil Kumar), so what is the need for another Modi to come to Bihar Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Politics has hampered growth of Bihar: PM

P O L L B ATT L E

Modi inaugurated several projects at a function attended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and several union ministers

ELECTION RALLY: RJD chief Lalu Prasad at the working meeting of Bihar Rajya Nonia Mahasangh in Patna on Friday. -PTI

Modi trying to demean people of Bihar: Lalu PATNA: Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for comments purported to be directed against him, RJD president Lalu Prasad accused the PM of trying to “demean” the people of Bihar and “create a rift” between him and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

“Modi is trying to demean the people of Bihar. The people here know how much JD(U) and RJD have served them. He is lauding one of us and criticising another.

This is a clear strategy to divide us.

He is trying to create rift between Kumar and me,” Prasad told media persons.

Prasad asserted “Modi’s ploy to create a rift (between him and Kumar) will not succeed and the public will give a befitting reply”.

The RJD chief’s quick rebuff came soon after Modi targeted him in his speech while inaugurating several projects, including a new project for IIT Patna, at programme here in which Kumar was also present.

Modi had said: “I agree with Kumar. Railway ministers after him did not work, which halted railway projects initiated during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government at the Centre.”

The comment was taken as an attack on Prasad, as he had succeeded Kumar as Railways Minister in the UPA I government that followed. It was also widely seen as a criticism of the Congress-led government at the Centre then.

Kumar’s JD(U), RJD, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party are already in alliance to contest

Prasad asserted: ‘Modi’s ploy to create a rift (between him and Kumar) will not succeed and the public will give a befitting reply’

PATNA: On his maiden visit to the east Indian state of Bihar after assuming power, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said politics had hampered the development of the state and promised to give more than Rs500 billion special package to the pollbound state at the right time.

Modi, who was in the state to kick-start his party’s poll campaign for Bihar where assembly elections are due later this, inaugurated several projects at a function attended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and several Union Ministers.

Referring to Chief Minister’s statement that the 38 km railway line from Daniyawan-Biharsharif could have been completed had polls in 2004 not taken place six months ahead of the tenure of the NDA government ended, he said, “I agree with Nitishji that politics had hindered development creating great loss.”

Taking a jibe at former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Modi said, “After the change in the government, the railway ministers

POLITICAL RIVALS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bihar Chief

Minister Nitish Kumar at a function for the launch of a number of government schemes in Patna on Saturday. -PTI

that came from here halted the work and after we came to power we have again started the work.

Let those who wants to do politics do it. But the people of Bihar have been hit because of it.”

Recalling his promise of giving a special package of Rs500 billion to Bihar during the campaign for Parliamentary election, he said he would fulfil the promise at the right time.

“Meine jo Bihar ke janata se vada kiya tha usse age bad ke nibhayun ga sahi samay par (I’ll deliver more than I had promised to people of Bihar at the right time),” he said.

“Looking at our dreams for a prosperous Bihar, we will give a bigger package than Rs500 billion.

This is my promise. The country

will progress if the eastern part of the nation progress. The development of Bihar is our prime agenda, development of eastern India is our mission,” he said.

Emphasising on “cooperative federalism, the prime minister said development of the states was necessary for the progress of the country.

He said it was heartening to see that states were now competing with one another in terms of development.

“Days of chalking out development plans sitting in Delhi are over. Priority of my government is to devise plans suited to development of states,” he said.

The prime minister said till all the eastern states like Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, As-

sam and north eastern states were developed, the country would not achieve the desired growth.

The Prime Minister differed with the Chief Minister’s view that Bihar has suffered losses due to the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.

Modi said after increasing 10 per cent in central tax devolution to the states as per recommendations of 14th Finance Commission, Bihar would get Rs 3,750 billion in five years between 2015-20 which could have been Rs1,500 billion as per the previous devolution formula.

Earlier the Chief Minister in his speech welcomed the PM to Bihar and addressed state BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi as his “old friend” and Nand Kishore Yadav as “most favourite old friend” and actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha as “Bihari Babu.”

Kumar took the opportunity to highlight the state’s contribution to the projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister. Bihar government provided 500 acres of land for new campus of IIT at Bihta. The state paid Rs3 billion for starting two units of 250 MW each of power projects at Barauni, Kumar said.

The CM and PM were seen talking to each others on the dais and the PM applauded Kumar’s speech. Kumar was also seen speaking with LJP President and Union minister Ramvilas Paswan.

Modi launched the Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana.

He also inaugurated the Daniawan-Bihar Sharif new railway line and flagged off the Rajgir-Bihar Sharif-Daniawan-Fatuha passenger train and Patna-Mumbai AC Suvidha Express. -PTI

TA R G E T I N G B I H A R C M

the state assembly polls, scheduled to be held in October-November this year.

Reacting to the prime minister’s announcement that he will provide a special package to the state at the right time, Prasad said “Modi will not give any special package to Bihar. We will take it. It is the right of our people. “He promises so much for everyone every time he comes here, but nothing has been fulfilled so far,” he said.

Prasad who has been demanding the release of caste census data, also pointed out that the Prime Minister did not speak anything regarding it.

He said a survey by a leading television channel has shown that 52 per cent respondents supported Kumar as the popular leader, making him more popular than Modi who could muster only 45 per cent. -PTI

Nitish ‘back-stabbed’ Bihar people: Modi MUZAFFARPUR: Kickstarting NDA’s poll campaign in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday focussed his attack on former BJP ally and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accusing him of “back-stabbing” the people of the state and alleging that there is some problem with his “DNA”.

Modi also targeted Kumar for allying with RJD, saying he was trying to drag the state back to the ‘jungle raj’, and asked the voters to reject such people as they “cannot be trusted” again and elect NDA with a two-third majority for changing Bihar’s fate.

He said Bihar will be given a special package “bigger” than Rs 500 billion which he had promised earlier and that will be announced

after the end of Monsoon session of Parliament as his “lips are sealed till then”.

Addressing a public meeting here, he said Kumar practices “political untouchability” as he recalled how the JD(U) leader had refused to entertain him after inviting him over dinner and had snapped ties with BJP because of his dislike towards him two years back.

Modi took a dig at Lalu for his comments about “drinking poison”, which was made in an apparent reference to his accepting Kumar’s leadership. He said while he had chosen to do so for his “vested interest”, why was he forcing the people of Bihar to “drink poison” along with him.

“During the last elections, Kumar had said that if he was unable to provide electricity to entire Bihar, he would not come to ask for votes again in 2015...But have you got the electricity? It has not come. But he has come to ask for votes. He betrayed your trust. Forget me, he even back-stabbed you.

Such people cannot be trusted again,” he said.

Seeking to play a dalit card, he said Kumar had practised “political untouchability” not only towards him but also a “mahadalit” former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, an erstwhile leader of JD(U), who has since joined NDA. He said even George Fernandes, former associate of Nitish Kumar, and BJP leader Sushil Kumar

L A L I T G AT E

SCAMS

‘Never sought travel documents for Lalit’ NEW DELHI: External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Saturday defended herself against allegations of helping former IPL chief Lalit Modi saying she never requested or recommended travel documents for him.

In a series of tweets, Swaraj, who is facing ire of the Opposition led by Congress which is demanding her resignation for helping Modi get travel documents, said it was “absolutely false” that she spoke to Keith Vaz, the British Labour MP, to allow British government to let the former IPL Commissioner travel.

“I am saying this time and again that I never requested or recommended travel documents for Lalit Modi,” she said.

In another tweet, the minister said, “As a Minister I am accountable to Parliament. That is the only forum to inform the nation.”

On her earlier tweets when the controversy broke out where she had maintained that her gesture was based on humanitarian ground, Swaraj said, “I left this to the UK Government to decide under their own laws and regulations. And that is what they did.”

“Yes I tweeted this on day one. Yet they spread falsehood .... I help people every day. That

Modi, were not treated well by him even though they had worked shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

“There seems to be some problem in his DNA because the DNA of democracy is not like that. In democracy, you give respect even to your political rivals,” he said.

He said Nitish welcomed his arrival with a complaint that he was visiting the state after 14 months.

“Chief Minister, I am grateful for the welcome...How times change...There was a time when you used to say that ‘we already have one Modi (Sushil Kumar), so what is the need for another Modi to come to Bihar,” he said, while recalling how Kumar had been strongly resisting his entry into the state. -PTI

External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

too on a single tweet....

The lady is suffering from cancer for the last 17 years.

This was the 10th recurrence of cancer,” she tweeted.

Reiterating her stand, she said, “I accepted a debate on the very first day of Parliament session. Congress members are not allowing a debate.” -PTI

HAVE YOUR SAY

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

‘House will not work without resignations’ NEW DELHI: Congress will not allow Parliament to function till the ministers whose names have surfaced in Lalit Modi controversy and Vyapam scam resign, party leader Ashwani Kumar said on Saturday, stressing that it was opposition’s right “to oppose, expose and depose” the government.

The Congress MP said that the responsibility of running Parliament is of the ruling party and not the opposition.

“We have clearly stated our strategy. Till the time, the ministers give their resignation, Parliament will not function. Running Parliament is the responsibility of the ruling party and not the opposition.

“It is the right and responsibility of the opposition to oppose, expose and depose the government,” the former union minister said.

Parliament’s proceedings in the first week of the Monsoon Session have been a complete wash-out, with both Houses adjourning on Friday till Monday without transacting any business as the deadlock between the opposition and the ruling party persisted over issues like the Lalit Modi controversy and the Vyapam scam. The opposition remained unrelenting on its demand for resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. -PTI

S U N DAY, JU LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

INDIA

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MEDICAL ENTRANCE TEST

Nun barred from exam for wearing veil THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Keralite nun was on Saturday denied permission to take the All India Pre Medical Entrance Test (AIPMT) here after she refused to remove her veil and Holy cross as required under the CBSE’s new dress code.

Sister Saiba, who was to take the test at the Jawahar central school on Saturday morning in the capital of the south Indian state of Kerala, said she sought permission to write the examination with her veil and cross.

However, the school Principal told her about the guidelines issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). She then requested for a separate room

to write the examination without the veil and cross, but it was not accepted by the school authorities, she told mediapersons. “I requested that I may be given a separate room where I will remove the veil and cross and write the test, but that was not allowed,” she said.

The Principal told her that she was also a Christian and understood her plight, but as per CBSE guidelines, veil and cross cannot be permitted inside the examination hall.

Many students were seen removing head scarfs, ear rings and all other articles banned before entering the hall at various examination centres in the state. They were allowed inside only after body frisking. The Supreme Court had on

Friday refused to entertain plea of an Islamic organisation that Muslim girl applicants be allowed to wear ‘hijab’ (scarf), a customary religious dress, while appearing for the AIPMT. “Faith is something different from wearing some kind of cloth,” a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu stated, adding the AIPMT was being held again at its direction and some “reasonable restrictions” were needed.

Kerala High Court had earlier granted conditional permission to two Muslim girls to appear for the test wearing hijab. In the backdrop of large scale irregularities in the AIPMT held in May this year, the apex court had directed CBSE to

Governor confers with top officials on Memon’s plea Maharashtra governor called additional chief secretary (Home), law and judiciary

1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon. – File photo

officials and advocate general for consultations

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Saturday held consultations with Home and Law Department officials on the mercy petition submitted by 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon.

The BJP-led government headed by Devendra Fadnavis had sent its opinion to the Governor late last evening on the plea submitted by Memon following the Supreme Court’s rejection of his

curative petition which sought a stay on execution of his death sentence slated for July 30.

The Governor on Saturday called Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi, Law and Judiciary officials and Advocate General Anil Singh for consultations. When asked about the outcome of the meeting, official sources said, “There has been no decision. The matter is under consideration of the Governor.”

The government, however, had earlier indicated that it stood for sticking to the schedule for hanging and abiding by the Supreme Court directions on the matter.

“There was no question of changing the plan to hang Memon

on July 30. The date of hanging has been communicated to the state government by the special court. Since no court has stayed the judicial order, there is no question of changing the date.

Memon will be hanged as per the court order,” highly placed sources had said earlier this week.

Chief Minister Fadvanvis, who declined to reveal the government’s stand, had said he would make a statement on July 29.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday the plea of Memon seeking stay of execution of his death sentence.

Memon, whose curative petition against the death sentence awarded by special TADA court was dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier this week, is lodged in Nagpur Central Jail. As many as 257 people were killed and over 700 injured in the serial blasts in Mumbai on March 12, 1993. Memon was the only convict in the case whose death penalty was upheld by the apex court. After his curative petition was dismissed, Memon has submitted a mercy petition to Maharashtra Governor.

The President had earlier rejected his mercy petition. — PTI

conduct a second test following which CBSE imposed a strict dress code, banning jeweleries, hair pins, head scarf or veils, shoes, watches and all electronic devices. Reacting to the incident, Syro Malabar Church spokesperson Father Paul Thelekkat, said it was “unfortunate” that the nun was not permitted to write the test.

“The Catholic church does not consider veil as the most important religious symbol of the Catholic faith. At the same time, we do not subscribe to the view of the Supreme court Chief Justice that 3-4 hours without veil does not make any difference. It does make and it is up to the citizen to take the decision”, he said. — PTI

A9

A10

SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

PAKISTAN E A R LY M O R N I N G

FEEDING PIGEONS

A man holds a bucket of lentils while feeding pigeons in front of a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday. Many Pakistanis believe feeding pigeons brings good luck. — Reuters

Three killed in Abbottabad earthquake ISLAMABAD: At least three people were killed when a 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck northern Pakistan early Saturday, officials said.

The United States Geological Survey said the tremor struck at a relatively shallow depth of 26 kilometres with its epicentre located 15 kilometres (nine miles) to the northeast of Islamabad.

An official in the northwestern town of Abbottabad, around 50 kilometres from Islamabad, said two women and a nine-year-old child were killed when their house collapsed.

“A house built of mud in the outskirts of Abbottabad collapsed due to the earthquake, leaving two women and a young boy dead and a minor girl injured,” senior police official Sher Akbar Khan told AFP. The women were aged 25 and 48 and the boy nine. The injured girl was about six, Khan said.

Buildings shake in capital The quake was felt in several cities in the provinces of eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ghulam Rasul, a senior meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told AFP. Residents of the Pakistani capital reported buildings and vehicles shaking after the quake hit at 1:59 am local time (2059 GMT Friday).

Local meteorologists measured the quake at 4.6 magnitude with a depth of just 10 kilometres. — AFP

E N V I R O N M E N TA L W O E S

Three cities make it on list of most polluted 20 ISLAMABAD: Three Pakistani cities are listed among 20 most polluted cities in the world, according to the World Economic Forum.

Of the Pakistani cities, Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi are among the 20 most polluted cities in the world, as per the most recent statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) compiled from more than 1,600 cities for the years 2008 to 2013.

Karachi ranks number five just ahead of Peshawar and Rawalpindi which stand at six and seven on the list of 20 most polluted cities.

Quality of air The WHO report listed 1,600 cities in 91 countries and ranked them according to the quality of their air which is measured for concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 that is particles smaller than 10 or 2.5 microns which are harmful toxins that can cling to the lungs and cause diseases.

Pakistan records the highest level over all of the 91 countries in the WHO air pollution database.

13 Indian cities Interestingly, 13 of the 20 cities on the list are Indian. Delhi tops the list of the most polluted cities followed by Patna, Gwalior and Raipur. — Express Tribune

Five Peshawar survivors leave for internship in US Forum voiced dissatisfaction over not being consulted about the visit.

When contacted, the forum’s president Abid Raza Bangash said he was neither taken into confidence about which students would be sent on the trip nor consulted about the selection process. “I came to know through the media,” he added.

A total 10 students were selected on the basis of their academic performance. They will be taking part in the International Visitors Leadership Programme

PESHAWAR: At least 10 students from army-run schools, including five from Army Public School on Warsak Road, left for Washington DC on Friday for the International Visitors Leadership Programme.

An Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson said students had been selected for the programme based on their academic performance.

“All 10 students left Peshawar for Islamabad Thursday evening,” the spokesperson said.

“Friday morning, they boarded a flight at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Airport for Washington DC.” According to the spokesper-

NEW BEGINNING: Pakistani Army chief Raheel Sharif, right, speaks with a student at the Army Public School after it was reopened following an attack there by Taliban militants in Peshawar, on January 12. — AFP/INTER SERVICES PUBLIC RELATIONS file photo

son, five of these students belong to APS on Warsak Road. “The remaining students belong to another army-run school on Mall Road,” he added.

According to the schedule, the students will visit the US for three weeks. They will visit Washington DC, New York and other major cities and attend classes at

various educational institutes in the country.

A teacher from the school on Mall Road has confirmed the visit.

“Students from both schools are position holders and were selected for the trip because of their academic performance,” he said.

“Some of the students from my school include Waleed, Maryam

Shahid and Maryam Jan. They are accompanied by the section head of the school.” However, the names of APS students could not be ascertained. “As far as I know, the APS students who have gone on the trip are position holders, the cream of the crop,” the teacher said.

Members of the Shuhada Ghazi

Children of civilians Qaiser Ali, who leads another faction of the forum, said eight of 10 students are children of highranking military officials. “Only two of them are children of civilians,” he added.

Leaders of both factions complained the government has failed to consult them about similar visits in the past. Furthermore, it has also not informed them about events held in memory of APS victims.

“I met the principal and informed her about our grievances,” Ali said. “Members of both factions are disappointed over the government and school management’s policies.”

However, a father who lost his son in the APS massacre told The Express Tribune miscreant elements were misusing the forum to serve their narrow interests.

“There are some people who introduce themselves as officeholders but have no links with the victims,” he said.

“Their children aren’t even enrolled at the school.” — Express Tribune

FISCAL WOES

Government secures $5 billion in form of loans, grants ISLAMABAD: Pakistan received $5.6 billion in foreign financing in fiscal year 2015, over 90 per cent of which was in the form of loans.

The government fell short of its estimates by $1.8 billion, mainly due to its inability to introduce reforms in the energy sector, and made up for the shortfall with heavy domestic borrowing.

The government had projected receiving $7.4 billion in loans and grants in the fiscal year that ended June 30. Instead, it was able to secure only $5.1 billion in loans and $515 million in grants, according to figures released by the Economic Affairs Division of the finance ministry.

Among the grants, the United Kingdom was the single largest donor, giving $260 million, followed by the United States, which gave

$97.4 million, and China, which provided $47.7 million.

Of the $5.1 billion in new foreign debt, $1 billion was raised by floating a US-dollar denominated sukuk (Islamic bond) on the global capital markets. The government also secured a $100 million shortterm loan from the London-based Standard Chartered Bank after loans from multilateral lenders fell through.

As much as 18 per cent of the total economic assistance was shortterm credit that the government has to either roll over or retire in fiscal 2016. Roughly one-fourth of the foreign inflows came in shape of budgetary support while project assistance was slightly over one-third. Only 2 per cent of the receipts were meant for 2014 flood relief activities.

According to the Economic Affairs Division, the Asian Development Bank gave $450 million in loans in fiscal 2015, 59 per cent less than the government’s estimates of $1.1 billion

Part of the reason behind the shortfall was lethargy on the part of Pakistani bureaucrats in approving the development projects that needed foreign financing, as well as delays in procurement, according to officials familiar with the budgetary process. As a result of the bureaucratic laziness, many foreign funded projects will now

face delays. Pakistan received Rs92 billion in foreign financing for development projects in fiscal 2015, against a budgeted Rs102 billion.

According to the EAD, the Asian Development Bank gave $450 million in loans in fiscal 2015, 59 per cent less than the government’s estimates of $1.1 billion. The ADB

delayed the approval of $400 million in budgetary support for the energy sector due to the government’s failure to implement reforms.

The World Bank gave $1.2 billion, or slightly less than twothirds of annual estimates of $1.9 billion. The World Bank too has postponed the approval of a $500 million loan for energy sector reforms.

The Washington-based lender was the single largest source of development assistance last year, followed by Islamic Development Bank and China.

After failing to implement the reforms that would have resulted in financial assistance from the ADB and the World Bank, the government turned to domestic borrowing to make up for the short-

fall, borrowing Rs865 billion ($8.5 billion) from local financial institutions in fiscal 2015, compared to Rs303 billion in fiscal 2014, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. The government’s heavy borrowing has meant that banks have very little left to lend to the private sector.

China lent slightly over $1 billion, which was 30 per cent less than the government’s estimate of $1.5 billion. Beijing lent mainly for the construction of two nuclear power plants in Karachi.

The Islamic Development Bank was the only multilateral institution that gave more than the government’s estimates.

The country received $1.15 billion from the IDB, which was 15 per cent more than the government’s projections. — Express Tribune

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READY TO TAKE OFF: An airport employee signals to a twin-propeller Beechcraft plane that is fixed with salt flares which are fired into a promising cloud to increase condensation and hopefully trigger rainfall, as it prepares to take off on a cloud-seeding mission at Al Ain airport on April 23, this year. – AFP

Where every rain cloud has a silver lining In the blazing sunshine at Al Ain airport, a twinpropeller Beechcraft stands ready to fly into action at a moment’s notice on a cloud-seeding mission

AL AIN (UAE): The United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the world’s most arid countries, is striving to capture every drop of rain it can wring from the clouds that pass over the desert nation.

In the blazing sunshine at Al Ain airport, a twin-propeller Beechcraft stands ready to fly into action at a moment’s notice on a cloudseeding mission.

The plane is armed with salt flares that are fired into a promising cloud to increase condensation and hopefully trigger a downpour.

The UAE, an oil-rich federation of about eight million people, ranks among the world’s top 10 driest countries.

Its annual rainfall stands at 78 millimetres (three inches), more than 15 times less than what falls in an average year in the United Kingdom.

The UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) runs the so-called cloud seeding programme.

Its Abu Dhabi-based forecasters monitor weather radars to tell pilots when to take off on rainfallinducing sorties.

“As soon as they see some convective cloud formations, they launch us on a flight to investigate” to try “to seed the cloud”, said Mark Newman, deputy chief pilot at NCMS. Speaking at the base for a fleet of four Beechcraft King Air C90 aircraft, Newman said summer is usually the busiest season.

That is when clouds form over the eastern Al Hajar mountains which deflect the warm wind blowing from the Sea of Oman.

The strength of the updraft determines the number of flares fired as the plane explores the base of the forming cloud.

“If we’ve got a mild updraft, we usually burn one or two flares. If we’ve got a good updraft, we burn four, sometimes six flares into the cloud,” he said.

Not all seeded clouds produce rainfall, but it happens often, said Newman.

“It is fantastic... As soon as there is rain, there is a lot of excitement.

We can hear the guys in the office are happy,” he said.

The effectiveness of cloud-seeding in increasing rainfall has often been questioned.

ALL SET FOR SORTIES: A pilot checks salt flares attached to a twin-propeller Beechcraft plane at al-Ain airport on April 23 this year. – AFP

SALT FLARES: A pilot and a United Arab Emirates official from the national center for meteorology and seismology check salt flares attached to a twin-propeller Beechcraft plane at Al Ain airport on April 23, this year. – AFP

However, US ski resorts in Colorado reportedly use the method to induce heavier snowfall.

China also used rain dispersal technology to ensure dry weather during the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

To cover its surging water needs, driven by rapid economic growth and a large influx of foreigners, the UAE has resorted mainly to desalination. The Gulf country accounts for 14 per cent of the world’s desalinated water and is the second largest producer after neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The country has 33 desalination plants that provided 42 per cent of its needs, according to a 2013 report by the environment and water ministry.

But groundwater represents 44 per cent of used water, putting immense pressure on the country’s reserves.

Another 14 per cent of water us-

age comes from treated wastewater, mostly for irrigation and and landscaped green areas.

Rain triggered through cloud seeding is much cheaper than desalinated water, according to Omar Al Yazeedi, head of research at NCMS. In 2010, four days of heavy rain induced by cloud seeding brought downpours equivalent to the nineyear output of a single desalination plant in Abu Dhabi, he said.

“This shows that there is a huge amount of water that could be tapped... It is a source that can not be ignored,” he said.

Studies show that cloud seeding can increase the amount of rain by between five and 70 per cent, depending on the quality of the clouds, he said.

The American Meteorological Society said in 2010 that despite some uncertainty over its effec-

tiveness, “large potential benefits can warrant relatively small investments to conduct operational cloud seeding”.

The UAE is also looking into methods to preserve the rain that does hit the ground, instead of allowing it to quickly evaporate or flow off into the sea.

It has built dams and reservoirs to gather water that flood desert wadis. The country has around 130 dams and levees with a storage capacity of about 120 million cubic metres (more than four billion cubic feet), according to the ministry report.

NCMS executive director Abdulla Al Mandoos said studies were being prepared to plan more dams and to protect water, aimed at directing rain “from the cloud right into the aquifer”.

“We do not want to waste a drop of water,” he said. — AFP

FINAL CHECKS: A pilot and a UAE official from the national center

for meteorology and seismology check salt flares attached to a twin-propeller Beechcraft plane at Al Ain airport on April 23. – AFP

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Finding ‘sister planet’ makes us more alone Rosie Millard

More than 57,000 expatriate workers have absconded from their employers since the beginning of this year, according to figures from the Ministry of Manpower

Labour party keeps moving to the right in response to an increasingly right-wing Tory government, then we come to realise that it has no anchor. And that, far more than a fear of the far left, is what will sound the death knell for the party bit.ly/corbynforlabourparty

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WILLIAM PESEK

H

ere’s the good news: We are probably not alone in the universe, because the presence of a planet which is rather like us in shape and distance from the sun has been discovered. Here’s the bad news: This “sister” planet, the rather prosaically named Kepler-452b, is more than 8,400 trillion miles away. Trillion. Even if we go for the American trillion, that is still a sobering 8,400,000,000,000,000 miles away.

Light from Kepler-452b, or we should say the parent star around which Kepler-452b orbits (since we haven’t ever seen this planet, we know it is there only because light from its “sun” dims ever so slightly when Kepler-452b passes in front of it), has taken 1,400 years to arrive at the mighty eye of NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, which itself sits 93 million miles above Earth.

That means that in terms of Earth years, light from Kepler-452b’s sun left our sister planet in AD615, and has been travelling through space towards us ever since. What was happening on Earth, back in 615? Let me quickly check, using a device which was, at that point, many hundreds of years away from invention. Not very much to show in the annals of history. Apparently the Balkans were being overrun in 615. The Anglo-Saxons massacred 1,000 Christian monks at Bangor. Since then light from Kepler-452b’s parent star has been trundling faithfully on through empty space towards the NASA’s scope.

During this time quite a lot of things have happened, including the building of the Great Wall of China, the stitching of the Bayeux Tapestry, the writing of the US Declaration of Independence, the invention of penicillin, the Great War and Paul Simon, and the birth and death of billions of individuals, and innumerable other things that has been marvellous, dire, or just ordinary in our little world.

Kepler-452b may be, it’s true, a bit bigger than us, but the reason NASA is excited about it is because it is (probably) a rocky planet which inhabits the same “Goldilocks” terrain of proximity to its parent star: Not so near as to get frazzled, but not so far as to get utterly iced over. It takes just over an Earth year to orbit its “sun”. Furthermore, it is apparently 1.5 billion years older than Earth, so it has certainly been around long enough for in-

telligent life to evolve. Water could probably exist on its shores.

Shores? Who knows if it has shores, and whether they are like the shores of Barbados, Lake Victoria or the banks and braes o’ Bonnie Doon. Because we will never know. We will never be able to send a signal to Kepler-452b, and we will never get one back in return. Are you kidding? Light takes 1,400 years to cover the distance. Nothing goes faster. So even if we sent a message to Kepler-452b, it would be 3415 when it arrived, and 4815 when we might expect a reply... oh, it is just too ghastly to contemplate. NASA data analyst Jon Jenkins has actually envisaged travelling to Kepler-452b “with an ark full of plants or animals... it would feel a lot like home”, he has stated, which frankly puts him in the world of The Little Prince, not the world of NASA. Jenkins is articulating something which SaintExupéry captured in his classic book, and which the graphic designers who appeared this week on the BBC bulletins also suggested, with their representations of Kepler-452b showing clouds, lakes and (almost) an Arrivals lounge. He is acknowledging the same thing as the Russian Yuri Milner, who this week gave $100m to scientists, including Stephen Hawking, to look for aliens in the Milky Way. We all yearn for a signal to show we are not alone. We will never stop looking for one, even though we have given up on our own solar system.

Yet the numbers offer no comfort. If we had discovered life on Mars, that would have been bad enough. It takes a rocket seven months to get to Mars. It took Nasa years to fly past Pluto. But Kepler-452b? Furthermore, there is the worry about Kepler-452b’s age; as it is more than a billion years ahead of us, who knows where evolution has taken it? We might find that life was very much not as we know it. Indeed, it might be rather like living at a Star Trek convention, or that nasty moment in Ant Man where the hero leaves the comforting world of Michael Douglas’s study and goes “sub atomic”, rolling around in a foetal position surrounded by opening and closing geometric shapes. For ever. At which point, I would rather reread The Little Prince.

I value NASA and its determination to keep looking, but the mind-troubling suggestions provoked by its telescope only make Earth appear more alone than ever, not the reverse.

- The Independent

READERS’ FORUM Need to ensure gold product prices decrease as well This refers to the online report, Gold price dip spurs sharp rise in sales in Oman (July 24). The constant fall in gold prices is beneficial to consumers. However, it must be ensured that the total price of jewellery per gram sold by shopkeepers is actually less than the earlier offer. This is because the shopkeepers never sell any gold ornament below the cost and chances are they could increase the percentage of current making charges to compensate for the loss, if there is any.

— Sasi Menon, Muscat

Very excited to see Oman book spot in WorldTwenty20 in India

Scan this QR code to send letters to the Readers’ Forum, containing not more than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by mail (Times of Oman, P.O. Box 770, P.C. 112, Ruwi).

For decades, central banks lorded over markets. Traders quivered at the omnipotence of monetary authorities -- their every move, utterance and wink a reason to scurry for safe havens or an opportunity to score huge profits.

Now, though, markets are the ones doing the bullying bit.ly/marketsshovebanks

This refers to the online story, Oman make history, book World Twenty20 spot (July 23). While watching the match and also the presentation, I literally did not move from my seat. My excitement level was higher than when India won the World Cup for the second time.

— Vinesh Mandalia, Muscat

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HOW TO GET UP EARLY? Follow these simple tips Turn off your phone

Airfares to all destinations will be lowered

In a move that looks set to have a sweeping impact on a highly disorderly travel sector here, some of the airlines have finally made their intentions clear to lower the airfare, once and for all, to all, especially Indian, destinations from August 16. Top agency sources, said the airlines are embarking on concrete plans to lower the fares and will henceforth attempt not to indulge in any unhealthy market practices nor let the agencies play any devious games that would ultimately spoil the future of the market.

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1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned and forced to abdicate her throne to her 1-year-old son James VI.

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1862: The eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, dies at the age of 79.

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JULY 2000

TODAY IN HISTORY

Bobby Jindal statement on gun control is extremely strange

This refers to the report on the latest shooting in the United States. This time around two moviegoers were gunned down in a city in Louisiana by a white man. I cannot understand what is going on in that country. This is highlighted by the statement of the state’s Governor Bobby Jindal that it would be better not to discuss gun control. This attitude could be because he is himself is a presidential candidate of the 2016 elections. I fail to understand US claims to be a superpower and the most democratic country with such state of affairs. — Firas Taheri, Muscat

CLIPPINGS

1942: The Soviet city of Rostov is captured by German troops.

1974: The US Supreme Court rules that President Richard Nixon must surrender the Watergate tapes

Read a book (not online, you can’t browse away from it)

Use a blanket that keeps you warm (best sleep is between 16-21 °C)

Sleep in total darkness, Melatonine, the sleep hormone, is produced in the dark

Drink water before going to bed (is healthy and relaxing) Put the alarm across the room, you can’t reach easily the snooze button

S U N DAY, JU LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

WORLD

People are being lifted out of poverty, incomes are up, the middle class is growing and young people like you are harnessing technology to change the way Africa is doing business Barack Obama, US President

Coalition declares five-day truce in Yemen to allow aid Announcing the unilateral truce to begin from midnight Sunday, Saudi Press Agency said the decision was taken at the request of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi

ADEN: The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemeni rebels since March declared a five-day truce on Saturday so aid can reach a country the UN says is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

Announcing the unilateral truce to begin from midnight Sunday, a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency said the coalition also reserved the right to respond to “military activity or movement” by the Houthi rebels during the ceasefire.

SPA said the decision was taken at the request of Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who has taken refuge in the Saudi capital with much of his government. Hadi, whose supporters have recaptured most of the southern port of Aden from the rebels after four months of war,

AIR STRIKE VICTIM: A child injured in a recent Saudi-led air strike sits on a hospital bed in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Saturday. – Reuters

wanted the truce for the “delivery and distribution of the maximum amount of humanitarian and medical aid”, it said. Two previous UN-brokered ceasefires failed to take hold.

35 civilians killed The Saudi move came as Yemeni medical sources said a coalition air raid killed at least 35 civilians in the southwest of the war-ravaged Arabian Peninsula nation.

Women and children were among the dead in the Friday night strike on the town of Mokhba near the country’s third city

Taez, the sources said. Residents said the raid hit a residential neighbourhood where employees of the town’s power station live.

They said several houses were destroyed and dozens of people were wounded. Some witnesses said the district had been targeted by mistake, but others alleged that the Houthis had taken up positions in the area.

In March, the coalition began a campaign of air strikes after the Houthis swept into Sanaa and pushed south towards Aden, where Hadi initially took refuge before fleeing to Riyadh.

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Coalition jets carried out fresh raids overnight on Houthi positions across Yemen, including around Aden, military sources said on Saturday. The United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 3,640 people, around half of them civilians, since late March.

On Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that civilian suffering in Yemen has reached “unprecedented levels”. The ICRC said intensifying violence in the south was hamstringing emergency medical aid.

It voiced particular concern over worsening clashes in the southern provinces of Taez and Aden.

“The suffering of the civilian population has reached unprecedented levels,” ICRC mission chief in Yemen Antoine Grand said in a statement.

In Aden and Taez, “it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to reach affected areas, to evacuate the dead and the wounded and to provide life-saving assistance”, Grand added. The aid group urged both pro-Hadi forces and the rebels and their allies to let humanitarian groups work.

Aden’s international airport was closed for months, but recent gains by Hadi loyalists allowed it to reopen this week. Four aircraft carrying humanitarian supplies have since landed there, although the airport came under fire from rebels on Thursday as a Saudi plane was unloading.

The ICRC warned that, as the fighting escalated, so too did “shortages of water, food and fuel across the country”.

A boat chartered by the Red Cross and loaded with humanitarian supplies successfully docked at Aden Thursday. The ICRC insisted that aid should not be held hostage by the shifting situation on the ground. “All sides must facilitate our access and respect our mandate,” it said.

A humanitarian ceasefire declared by the UN earlier this month was not respected, and the world body warned that the impoverished country was just “one step away from famine”. — AFP

V I S I T T O K E N YA

Africa on the move, says Obama NAIROBI: US President Barack Obama declared on Saturday that “Africa is on the move”, praising the spirit of entrepreneurship at a business summit in Kenya as he kicked off a landmark visit.

Obama arrived in Kenya late on Friday, making his first visit to the country of his father’s birth since he was elected president.

“I wanted to be here, because Africa is on the move, Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world,” Obama said, drawing cheers and applause from delegates. “People are being lifted out of poverty, incomes are up, the middle class is growing and young people like you are harnessing technology to change the way Africa is doing business,” Obama said in his first official engagement in Nairobi. The US embassy itself warned the summit could be “a target for terrorists”, but Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, sharing the stage with Obama, said the event showed a different side to Africa. “The narrative of African despair is false, and indeed was never true,” Kenyatta said.

“Let them know that Africa is open and ready for business.”

Obama later laid a wreath at the memorial site of the US embassy destroyed in an Al Qaeda attack in 1998, standing in silence in memory of the 224 killed in the twin bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania. Obama said he was delighted to be back. “It is wonderful to be back in Kenya,” Obama said, also greeting the summit with a few words of Swahili. “I’m proud to be the first US president to visit Kenya, and obviously this is personal for me. My father came from these parts.” — AFP

STUNNING SILHOUETTE

Pluto wrapped in haze; ground reveals flows of nitrogen ice CAPE CANAVERAL: A stunning silhouette of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft after it shot past the icy orb last week show an extensive layer of atmospheric haze, while close-up pictures of the ground reveal flows of nitrogen ice, scientists said on Friday.

New Horizons became the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its entourage of moons and so far has returned about 5 percent of the pictures and science data collected in the days leading up to,

during and immediately following the July 14 flyby. The latest batch of images includes a backlit view of Pluto with sun, located more than 3 billion miles away, shining around and through the planet’s atmosphere.

Analysis shows distinct layers of haze in Pluto’s nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane atmosphere. The haze extends at least 100 miles (161km) off the surface.

“This is our first peek at weather in Pluto’s atmosphere,” New Hori-

zons scientist Michael Summers, with George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, told reporters during a teleconferenced press briefing. As the tiny particles fall to the ground, they may trigger chemical reactions that give Pluto its reddish hue, he added.

The haze layer, which extends five times farther than predicted by computer models, was not the only surprise. Pressure measurements show the total mass of Pluto’s atmosphere has halved in two

WA R A G A I N S T T E R R O R

Turkey carries out new strikes against IS, Kurdish militants ISTANBUL: Turkey’s military on Saturday carried out a new wave of air and artillery strikes against IS group militants in Syria and Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, in an escalating campaign Ankara says is aimed at rooting out terror.

The two-pronged operation against IS and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- two groups who are themselves bitterly opposed -- came after a week of deadly violence in Turkey the authorities blamed on both organisations.

The PKK blasted the air raids on its northern Iraq mountain stronghold, saying a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since 2013 with Ankara “no longer has any meaning”.

After raids overnight, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkish war planes were carrying out new daytime raids against IS in Syria and PKK in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, Turkish ground forces were pounding targets belonging to both groups with artillery, he added.

“No one should doubt our determination,” he added. “We will not allow Turkey to be turned into a lawless country.”

Raids The raids against IS, which had begun before dawn on Friday, marked a major shift in policy towards the group by key NATO member Turkey, which has faced severe criticism from its Western allies for not doing enough to combat the militants.

But the “anti-terror” operation has now been expanded to strikes on the PKK in neighbouring Iraq,

SPECIAL MEETING: Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu,

centre, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, fourth right, and Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, fourth left, Commander of the Turkish Air Forces and Full General Akin Ozturk, second left, during a special security meeting on terrorist groups IS in Syria and the PKK in Iraq, at the Cankaya Palace in the capital Ankara on Saturday. – AFP/HO/Turkish Prime Minister’s Office

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where the banned group’s military forces are based.

Davutoglu’s office said shelters and warehouses containing PKK weapons were hit in the northern Iraq operation, listing seven locations where the strikes had been carried out including Mount Kandil, where the PKK’s military leadership is based.

Davutoglu said he had earlier Saturday spoken to Massud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish-ruled autonomous region in northern Iraq, who expressed his “solidarity” with the operation.

The air strike raised questions about the future of the fragile

peace process between Turkey and the PKK, which has for decades waged a deadly insurgency in the southeast for self-rule that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The PKK’s military wing, the People’s Defence Forces (HPG), said in a statement on its website that Turkey had “unilaterally terminated” the ceasefire.

“Amid this intense aerial bombardment, the truce no longer has any meaning,” it said.

Turkish security forces on Saturday launched new raids to arrest suspected IS and PKK members in Istanbul and other cities, adding to hundreds of detentions already made the day earlier.

A total of 590 people have so far been arrested across Turkey over links to terror groups and for allegedly posing a threat to the state, Davutoglu said. — AFP

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years. “That’s pretty astonishing, at least to an atmospheric scientist. That tells you something is happening,” Summers said.

More details will come over the next year as New Horizons sends recorded data back to Earth.

NASA also released new images

of Pluto’s surface, with telltale signs of a wide range of geologic activities including a Pluto version of glacial ice flows.

With surface temperatures just shy of 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-235 degrees Celsius), Pluto is too cold for the ice to be made of water. Instead, Pluto’s surface ice consists mostly of nitrogen. “We knew that there was nitrogen ice on Pluto... and we imagined that nitrogen was sublimating, or evaporating, in one place and condensing in

another place. But to see evidence for recent geologic activity is simply a dream come true,” said New Horizons scientist William McKinnon, with Washington University in St. Louis.

“Recent” in geological terms does not mean yesterday, he added. Based on the lack of impact craters, scientists suspect the surface of Pluto is less than a few hundred million years old, a fraction of the solar system’s 4.6 billion year age. — Reuters

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

GLOBAL EYE

SINGAPORE: People take photos of fireworks in the skyline of Singapore during a National Day Golden Jubilee parade rehearsal on Saturday. The city-state’s 50th independence falls on August 9. — Reuters

UNITED KINGDOM: Kite enthusiasts participate in the St Annes Kite Festival on the seafront in Lytham St Annes, United Kingdom on Saturday. The festival, which takes place on July 25 and 26, features single line kites of all shapes and sizes including the world’s largest teddy bear kite. — AFP

INDIA: An Indian model showcases a creation by designer Ashok

Maanya on the penultimate day of the four-day Bangalore Fashion Week 2015 in Bangalore on Saturday. — AFP

UNITED STATES: Local residents pass a makeshift memorial outside of a store owned by one of the victims, Jillian Johnson on Saturday in Lafayette, US. Two people were killed and nine wounded when a shooter identified as John Russell Houser, 59, opened fire in a movie theatre, killing himself when police arrived. — Stacy Revere/ Getty Images/AFP

CROATIA: Burned vehicles are seen in Trstenik, southern Croatia,

on Saturday. Several dozen residents were evacuated from a village on Tuesday as firefighters struggled to keep a raging forest fire away from houses, state television HRT reported. — Reuters

BELARUS: A girl in an inflatable ball plays bubble soccer during the Freaky Summer Party at a park in Minsk, Belarus, on Saturday. — AFP

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WORLD

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien urged Kiir to “ensure the restriction on barges transporting vital lifesaving supplies on River Nile be lifted without delay,” making the comments at a news conference in Juba.

Shark kills man as daughter watches The deadly incident happened off Maria Island in the southern island state of Tasmania SYDNEY: A diver was killed by a shark on Saturday while hunting scallops off the coast of Australia as his daughter watched helplessly, shocking locals in an area not known for such attacks. The deadly incident happened off Maria Island RESTRICTIONS

UN urges South Sudan to allow aid via River Nile JUBA/ADDIS ABABA: South Sudan should lift restrictions on transporting aid supplies using the River Nile, a vital mode of movement in the war-torn country that has almost no proper roads, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief said on Saturday.

Also on Saturday in Addis Ababa, negotiators proposed establishing a court to try possible genocide and war crimes in South Sudan, in the latest powersharing peace proposal hoped to end a 19-month civil war.

South Sudan, the world’s newest nation and one of its poorest, has been mired in a conflict since December 2013 that pits President Salva Kiir’s SPLA army against troops loyal to rebel leader Riek Machar, a former deputy president.

Fighting has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2.2 million, 500,000 of whom have fled the country, since the country plunged into civil war. Many rely on aid to survive.

The country relies heavily on the River Nile for transport due to a lack of tarmacked roads.

The river was a lifeline for aid recipients until the government put restrictions on its use.

In early June, government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said for security reasons all UN humanitarian cargo would be searched along highways, on water and at the Juba International Airport.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien urged Kiir to “ensure the restriction on barges transporting vital lifesaving supplies on River Nile be lifted without delay,” making the comments at a news conference in Juba. O’Brien visited Bentiu and Leer in Unity State County, which has experienced some of the worst fighting over its oil fields. On the trip he met relatives of victims of the conflict, some of whom he said had been raped.

In July - in response to several complaints from UN humanitarian agencies - President Kiir directed that security personnel and other government agencies stop harassing humanitarian aid workers and allow for safe passage for them and their supplies. “I call on all parties to uphold their obligations to comply with the principles of international humanitarian law and ensure the safe passage of humanitarian assistance,” O’Brien said, adding 27 aid workers had been killed and others were unaccounted for during the conflict.

“We need rapid and unhindered access to provide assistance to conflict affected communities by the most efficient means possible - be that air, road or river.”

Peace talks Meanwhile, peace talks, led by the eight-nation East African IGAD bloc, have been taking place in Ethiopia almost as long as the war, resulting in at least seven failed agreements or ceasefires, all broken within days or even hours. An IGAD draft “compromise agreement” proposes an independent hybrid court, set up in collaboration with the African Union and United Nations, able to try possible genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. — Agencies

in the southern island state of Tasmania following sightings of a large great white shark in the vicinity over recent days. The man, in his late 40s, was diving with his daughter when he failed to resurface.

“My understanding is the daughter returned to the boat and the father returned to get some more scallops,” Tasmania Police Inspector David Wiss told reporters. “He did not return to the surface.

“His daughter became worried and went down and checked on her father, she saw a very large shark, she saw her father being attacked by the shark.”

The woman scrambled back on board their dingy and set off a flare to get the attention of other boats, who came to her aid and helped

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haul her father back to the surface using the air hose he was attached to. “But unfortunately he was fatally injured,” added Wiss.

Tasmanian Scallop Association president John Hammond said the area, off the state’s east coast, was not known for sharks. “Absolute tragedy for the family. Bloody terrible,” he told national radio, adding

that there were a number of other divers in the water at the time. “(The diver was) in the shallow water there, it just struck out of the blue, and bang.”

Michael Kent, mayor of nearby Glamorgan Spring Bay, said Saturday’s grisly incident was “absolutely devastating”. “I feel for the family,” he told The Examiner

newspaper in Tasmania, adding that a 4.5 metre (15 foot) shark had been spotted in the area a number of times over the past week. “It’s a recreational area. The scallop season has been very good to professional and recreational fisherman and then we’ve got a disaster like this. “The whole community down here will be deeply in shock.”

Diver Danny Smith told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he and a friend had a close call in the same area on Friday.

He said he saw a great white while he was in the water but managed to get back on his boat, where he and other crew frantically pulled the friend aboard. “The (shark) came to the surface to see where I’d gone I presumed and she sort of took a swipe at him (his friend),” he said.

“We saw fins and arms and legs going everywhere, we were initially thinking that we were going to pull in half a body.

“We got him on the boat and she came right to the back of the boat and then just descended back to the bottom.”

Sharks are a regular feature in Australian waters, and swimmers and surfers have had their share of encounters this year. — AFP

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

MARKET WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW.

BEST PRACTICES

DON’T WASTE A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY LIKE OMAN.

Plastic takes 1,000 years or more to break down

New centre set to boost corporate governance, social responsibility MUSCAT: Awareness on corporate governance and social responsibility will get a boost in Oman with the recent formation of Oman Governance and Sustainability Centre, said Abdullah bin Salim Al Salmi, executive president of the Capital Market Authority (CMA).

The centre will ensure that all public and private companies are abiding by the best international practices in these two fields, especially there has been a growing interest in the various kinds of corporate governance due to its economic, legal and social effects.

The Sultanate has been a leader in 2002 at the level of the region’s markets when it issued the first corporate governance charter for public companies.

Al Salmi also added that there has been a growing interest in the mechanisms, standards and applications of governance as it contributes to enhancing economic growth and progress. The centre, which was established as per the recent Royal Decree No. 30/2015, will also integrate this concept at the joint stock companies to develop the capital market in the Sultanate and help it become more efficient and competitive.

Al Salmi is optimistic of the role that will be played by the centre in enhancing the status of the Sultanate, which has been known for adopting the best international practices that safeguard the rights of investors and their investment. The centre will also enhance the Sultanate’s investment status and investors’ confidence in the market.

As for as social responsibility is concerned, Al Salmi said that due to the growing interest in social responsibility, CMA has adopted

Abdullah bin Salim Al Salmi — Times file picture

Oman Social Responsibility initiative, which include the market regulator, a number of leading public, private and family-owned companies. These entities have made great efforts to bring this centre into reality.

He added that the issuance of the Royal Decree culminates all sincere efforts. He pointed out that the adoption of a centre like this will enhance the good citizenship among companies and will regularise the interaction among different companies and the communities they are working at.

It will also make it important for companies to attach a great care to the different humanitarian, ethical, professional, environmental, labor right, transparency at work, health, education, training, rehabilitation, abidance by laws and regulations, being away from financial, ethical corruption and local community development aspects. – ONA

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MARKET Second phase of Frontier Town at Duqm coming up Projects in Duqm also include a residential complex for contractors to provide accommodation for workers, which is being implemented by Renaissance Services

MUSCAT: Duqm Development Company started developing the second phase of Duqm Frontier Town, while Al Madinah Real Estate Company is building a shopping mall there to further develop facilities at the economic zone.

“There are also a number of infrastructure projects, such as the remaining packages of Duqm Port and airport, roads, liquid and bulk material berths, construction of 150 housing units for the citizens, construction of Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (Sezad) headquarters, and the new main road to the center of the Wilayat of Duqm, in addition to many other projects,” said Yahya bin Said Al Jabri, chairman of Sezad, in a speech published in the first issue of Duqm Economist magazine.

He said projects implemented in Duqm also include a residential complex for contractors to provide accommodation for workers implemented by ReCENTRAL BANK OF OMAN

OMR42m worth treasury bills issued by CBO MUSCAT: Total value of treasury bills amounted to OMR42 million at a tender for government treasury bills held at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) on July 21. This is with a maturity period of 91 days, from July 22 to October 21, 2015.

The average accepted price reached 99.958 for every OMR100, while the minimum accepted price arrived at 99.945 per OMR100. The average discount rate reached 0.16999 per cent and the average yield stood at 0.17006 per cent. The interest rate on the Repo operations with CBO is 1 per cent for the period from July 22 to 28 while the discount rate on the treasury bills discounting facility with CBO is 1.35 per cent, for the same period. Treasury bills are short-term highly secured financial instruments issued by the CBO on behalf of the government, which helps the licensed commercial banks to gainfully invest their surplus funds. – ONA

naissance Services, instead of porta cabins. He explained that this complex will accommodate about 16,000 people and will provide various facilities to its residents.

Development agreements “There are other investments carried out by local and foreign companies with which Sezad signed usufruct and development agreements during the current and prior years in the educational, health, commercial, industrial, logistics and other sectors.”

Al Jabri also added that Sezad provides several facilities through its one-stop shop to overcome various difficulties and challenges facing investors.

In addition, Duqm overlooks the Arabian Sea, and near the international shipping routes and the key markets in Asia and Africa.

Sezad also has the advantage to embrace a variety of projects in different sectors.

“It is not only an industrial zone, a multi-investment economic zone that has a room for tourism, recreational, real estate, and residential projects. It can accommodate warehouses, hospitals, international schools and many other projects, in addition to other key projects relating to ports, dry docks, heavy and petrochemical industries. All these projects give Sezad an impetus and readies it to attract different investors,” noted the Sezad chief.

Local community Al Jabri pointed out that since its inception, Sezad has been focusing on implementation of many programmes for the local community and for the local companies to benefit from the projects implemented there. A committee — Local Community Development Area in Sezad – was also formed. The panel includes members of the local community as representatives of and familiar with the needs of residents.

He further added that Sezad has taken great strides in the area of social development in the region through strengthening its relationship with the local community and implementing a number of programmes to serve it, such as providing 10 scholarships for the people of Al Wusta Governorate with a view to qualifying them to work on the projects in the region. – ONA

DEVELOPMENT BOND

Bond issue to open today MUSCAT: A government development bond for raising OMR300 million will open for subscription on July 26 and will close on August 2, 2015. The issue is with a maturity period of five years and will carry a coupon rate of three per cent per annum. The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) said in a statement that the auction will be held on August 4, 2015 and the issue settlement date will be on August 9, 2015.

Interest on the new bonds will be paid on February 9 and August 9, every year until maturity date on August 9, 2020.

Central Bank of Oman. — Times file picture

Competitive bidding Investors can apply for these bonds through the competitive bidding process only. Investors may submit bids through commercial licensed banks operating in the Sultanate.

Investors with applications of one million rial and above can directly submit their bids to Central Bank of Oman after getting them endorsed from their banks. Prospectus and application forms can

be obtained from any commercial licensed bank operating in the Sultanate of Oman. The bonds are direct and unconditional obligations of the Government of Oman. The bonds can be used as collateral to obtain loans from any local commercial licensed bank. The bonds can also be traded at prevailing market rates through the Muscat Securities Market (MSM).

The details of the Bonds allotted will be recorded in the register maintained by Muscat Clearing and Depositary (MCD).

Investors must provide the same bank account details registered with MCD in order to ensure the smooth processing of their bids and the receipt of the coupon payments and principal amount on their scheduled dates. – ONA

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

MARKET Iran offers to sell state assets to foreigners Top Iranian officials outlined an economic policy package designed to win foreign investment at a business conference

ECONOMIC PACKAGE: Instead of immediately bringing the money

in Vienna

back to Iran when sanctions were lifted, the central bank would keep some of it in accounts abroad until it was needed to fund domestic investment projects. - Bloomberg file picture

VIENNA: Iran offered to sell state assets to foreigners, said it would cut the government’s role in the economy and pledged a tight monetary policy as it sought to attract billions of dollars of investment from abroad after over a decade of isolation. At a business conference in Vienna this week, the first such event since last week’s deal between Tehran and world powers on its nuclear programme, top Iranian officials outlined an economic policy package designed to win foreign investment.

The package was strikingly promarket — many of the policies would not have been out of place in a centre-right European government. If implemented, they could move Iran’s economy well beyond the tight restrictions and heavy state involvement that followed its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“The government, the parlia-

ment are trying to remove all the obstacles for free investment and for reducing interference of government in private investment,” said Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh.

Well-educated population With a young, well-educated population of just under 80 million and some of the world’s largest energy reserves, Iran looks likely to provide huge investment opportunities. Officials at the conference said Tehran had identified nearly 50 oil and gas projects worth $185 billion that it hoped to sign by 2020. Under the nuclear deal, sanctions that have stifled Iran’s economy are to be lifted when the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies that Iran is honouring its side of the bargain.

Nematzadeh said Iran expected

verification in under three months, and that it believed it could rejoin the SWIFT global electronic payments system — a key step to enable inflows of foreign money — three months after sanctions were repealed. Foreigners will then be welcome to enter Iran’s economy through joint ventures — including those in the banking sector — and direct investment, such as participation in tenders to buy stakes in state companies, he said.

National oil company The national oil company will be off-limits to investors but petrochemical and refining firms may be partly sold off, and parliament has given permission for the sale of assets or projects such as hospitals, schools and highways, he added.

Over the past decade, the government has sold off stakes in ACQUISITION

US approves AT&T’s $49b deal for DirecTV WASHINGTON: AT&T’s $49 billion acquisition of satellite broadcaster DirecTV won final regulatory approval on Friday, clearing the way for a new powerhouse in broadband and video services. The US Federal Communications Commission said it approved the plan, announced last year, with conditions drawn up to ensure competition and more deployment of high-speed Internet connections.

Earlier this week, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said he had circulated an order approving the mega-deal and the Justice Department said it would not block the merger.

The deal merges AT&T, which offers Internet and television in parts of the US and is one of the biggest wireless carriers, with DirecTV’s more than 20 million subscribers. That creates the largest pay TV provider in the US, but also opens up possibilities for other online services and packages.

“This transaction allows us to significantly expand our high-speed Internet service to reach millions more households, which is a perfect complement to our coast-to-coast TV and mobile coverage,” AT&T chairman and chief executive Randall Stephenson said, in announcing the completion of the deal. “We’re now a fundamentally different company with a diversified set of capabilities and businesses that set us apart from the competition.”

Stephenson added that the deal “is all about giving customers more choices for great video entertainment integrated with mobile and high-speed Internet service,” He further added that “we’ll now be able to meet consumers’ future entertainment preferences, whether they want traditional TV service with premier programming, their favourite content on a mobile device, or video streamed over the Internet to any screen.”

AT&T said it becomes “the largest pay TV provider in the US and the world,” with 26 million US customers and 19 million in Latin America. - AFP

C A P I TA L I N T E L L I G E N C E R AT I N G

state companies worth tens of billions of dollars. But its privatisation programme has not been fully effective because most of the stakes have gone to state-linked bodies such as pension funds and foundations. Iranian bankers believe that if foreign investors are allowed to enter the Islamic Republic, they will end up buying assets from the cash-strapped funds and foundations, completing the privatisation process. During the sanctions years, the government often favoured state firms over private ones on the grounds of economic survival. Nematzadeh said this was ending, and parliament had agreed that all firms would be treated equally for tax purposes.

Times News Service

Reforms For privatised companies to succeed, however, they may need to reduce staff. This might put them in conflict with Iran’s strict labour rules, a legacy of the revolution; a complex, unpredictable legal system adds to risks for foreign companies. Iranian officials at the conference did not describe in detail any plans for labour or legal reforms, which would be politically sensitive and could cost President Hassan Rouhani some of the public support he has won with the nuclear deal.

But they, however, did outline plans for a conservative monetary and fiscal policy which could reassure investors. One of the big economic risks that Iran will face after sanctions are lifted is how to keep the economy stable as money flows back into the country and growth accelerates. - Agencies

MUSCAT: alizz islamic bank (SAOG) has been assigned by Capital Intelligence (CI), the international credit rating agency, an initial Long-Term Rating on the Oman National Scale of ‘omBBB-’ and a Short-Term Rating of ‘omA3’, on ‘Stable’ Outlook, according to a press release.

Given the relatively short history of alizz islamic bank, the main supporting factors are nonfinancial. These include strong shareholders including Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds, a strong and experienced management team and well developed policies and procedures. An important supporting factor is the close regulatory oversight by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO). alizz islamic bank was established in late 2012 and received its Islamic banking license in September 2013. As at end-June

STABLE OUTLOOK: alizz islamic bank was set up in 2012 and re-

ceived Islamic banking licence in September, 2013. — Supplied picture

alizz islamic bank gets investment grade credit rating 2015, the Bank had six branches and is steadily growing its distribution network.

Within a short time framework alizz has established its footprint in Omani banking industry and is being widely regarded as one the most innovative bank and is known for introducing technology oriented products and services to the Omani banking customers.

Al Shaksy, CEO of alizz islamic bank said “Assignment of investment grade rating by an international agency in such a short span of time affirms our financial strength, support from our shareholders, quality and experience of our management team and risk management framework of the Bank.

The bank will continue to remain conservative, maintain asset quality of its balance sheet, and will further strengthen its risk management systems to face future economic challenges.

C O M M E N TA RY

Eurozone’s German problem PHILIPPE LEGRAIN*

E

urozone has a German problem. Germany’s beggar-thy-neighbour policies and the broader crisis response that the country has led have proved disastrous.

Seven years after the start of the crisis, the eurozone economy is faring worse than Europe did during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The German government’s efforts to crush Greece and force it to abandon the single currency have destabilised the monetary union.

As long as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration continues to abuse its dominant position as creditor-in-chief to advance its narrow interests, the eurozone cannot thrive – and may not survive.

Germany’s immense currentaccount surplus – the excess savings generated by suppressing wages to subsidize exports – has been both a cause of the eurozone crisis and an obstacle to resolving it. Before the crisis, it fueled German banks’ bad lending to southern Europe and Ireland. Now that Germany’s annual surplus – which has grown to $255 billion, approaching eight per cent of GDP – is no longer being recycled in southern Europe, the country’s depressed domestic demand is exporting deflation, deepening the eurozone’s debt woes.

Germany’s external surplus clearly falls afoul of eurozone rules on dangerous imbalances.

But, by leaning on the European Commission, Merkel’s government has obtained a free pass.

This makes a mockery of its claim to champion the eurozone as a rules-based club. In fact, Germany breaks rules with impunity, changes them to suit its needs, or even invents them at will. Indeed, even as it pushes others to reform, Germany has ignored the commission’s recommendations. As a condition of the new eurozone loan programme, Germany is forcing Greece to raise its pension age – while it lowers its own.

It is insisting that Greek shops open on Sundays, even though German ones do not. Corporatism, it seems, is to be stamped out elsewhere, but protected at home. Beyond refusing to adjust its economy, Germany has pushed the costs of the crisis onto others. In order to rescue the country’s banks from their bad lending decisions, Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. — Bloomberg file picture

breached the Maastricht Treaty’s “no-bailout” rule, which bans member governments from financing their peers, and forced European taxpayers to lend to an insolvent Greece.

Likewise, loans by eurozone governments to Ireland, Portugal, and Spain primarily bailed out insolvent local banks – and thus their German creditors.

To make matters worse, in exchange for these loans, Merkel obtained much greater control over all eurozone governments’ budgets through a demand-sapping, democracy-constraining fiscal straitjacket: tougher eurozone rules and a fiscal compact.

Germany’s clout has resulted in a eurozone banking union that is full of holes and applied asymmetrically. The country’s Sparkassen – savings banks with a collective balance sheet of some €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) – are outside the European Central Bank’s supervisory control, while thinly capitalised mega-banks, such as Deutsche Bank, and the country’s rotten state-owned regional lenders have obtained an implausibly clean bill of health.

The one rule of the eurozone that is meant to be sacrosanct is the irrevocability of membership. There is no treaty provision for an exit, because the monetary union is conceived as a step toward a political union – and it would otherwise degenerate into a dangerously rigid and unstable fixed-exchangerate regime. Germany has not only trampled on this rule; its finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, recently invented a new one – that debt relief is forbidden in the eurozone – to justify his outrageous behaviour toward Greece.

As a result, Greece’s membership in the eurozone – and by extension that of all other members – is now contingent on submission to the German gov-

ernment. It is as if the United States unilaterally decided that NATO’s principle of collective defense was now conditional on doing whatever the American government dictated. The eurozone desperately needs mainstream alternatives to this lopsided “Berlin Consensus,” in which creditors’ interests come first and Germany dominates everyone else. Merkelism is causing economic stagnation, political polarisation, and nasty nationalism. France, Italy, and Europeans of all political stripes need to stand up for other visions of what the eurozone should be.

One option would be greater federalism. Common political institutions, accountable to voters across the eurozone, would provide a democratic fiscal counterpart to the ECB and help cage German power. But increasing animosity among eurozone member states, and the erosion of support for European integration in both creditor and debtor countries, means greater federalism is politically unfeasible – and potentially even dangerous. A better option would be to move toward a more flexible eurozone, in which elected national representatives have a greater say. With the no-bailout rule restored, governments would have more space to pursue countercyclical policies and respond to voters’ changing priorities.

To make such a system credible, a mechanism for restructuring the debt of insolvent governments would be created.

This, together with reform of the rules covering the capitalization of banks – which incorrectly treat all sovereign debt as risk-free and do not cap banks’ holdings of it – would enable markets, not Germany, to rein in truly excessive borrowing.

The eurozone’s members are trapped in a miserable marriage, dominated by Germany.

But fear is not enough to hold a relationship together forever.

Unless Merkel comes to her senses, she will eventually destroy it. - Project Syndicate * The author, a former economic adviser to the president of the European Commission, is a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics’ European Institute and the author of European Spring: Why Our Economies and Politics are in a Mess – and How to Put Them Right.

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MARKET

Greece asks for fresh IMF aid in step closer to huge third bailout pears to have been a gesture of goodwill as a new request is not technically necessary.

Greek government, which is seeking a three-year bailout worth up to 86b euros to avert financial meltdown and a chaotic exit from the eurozone, had initially planned to go without fresh help from the IMF as it considers the agency too wedded to draconian austerity measures

ATHENS: Debt-crippled Greece on Friday took a step closer to a huge third international bailout by formally requesting IMF help, but sources said “logistical problems” were delaying the start of talks in Athens.

The Greek government, which is seeking a three-year bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) to avert financial meltdown and a chaotic exit from the eurozone,

LOAN FACILITY: A man carries bags of goods in an alley in central Athens, Greece on Saturday. The International Monetary Fund said on

Friday it had received a letter from Greece seeking a loan facility. Greece is due to begin talks with European Union and IMF lenders on a new bailout deal. - Reuters

had initially planned to go without fresh help from the IMF as it considers the agency too wedded to draconian austerity measures.

But in a letter to Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos wrote that Greece was “seeking a new loan” from the IMF. He noted the Greek parliament has passed two laws enshrining a series of tough reforms demanded

WA L L S T R E E T

by the creditors, including tax rises and a pensions overhaul, in a step closer to finalising the deal.

“The Greek authorities have committed to implement a number of policies that would enhance fiscal sustainability, strengthen fiscal stability, sustain long-term growth and, importantly, spread the cost of economic adjustment in a fair way,” the finance minister wrote in the letter, which was

dated July 23 and released to the public on Friday. “It is our belief that it will take several quarters before the Greek economy faces up to these challenges and returns to a vigorous and sustainable path to growth with fairness and social inclusion,” he added.

The IMF confirmed receipt of the request, saying that it will next discuss with Greek and EU authorities “the timing and the modali-

ties” of talks on the next bailout.

Tsakalotos said that Greece, which has been bailed out by the European Union, European Central Bank and IMF twice since 2010, had already formally requested a new three-year loan from the eurozone’s bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

Greece’s existing aid programme from the IMF runs until early 2016, and the letter ap-

Apparent delay The request came amid an apparent delay in getting the ball rolling on talks to finalise the package.

Negotiators from the creditors, known collectively as the troika, have not set foot in Athens for more than a year as hostility has grown between the two sides.

Greece had said on Thursday that negotiators would fly in to Athens on Friday to begin the talks, but this swiftly became “in the coming days”, according to a European Commission spokeswoman, with the location of the talks and offices for the creditors apparently among the sticking points.

“The mission is being prepared.

We are still discussing a location as we have to find an accessible place to work, near the ministries,” a source close to the negotiations further added..

The two sides are under enormous pressure to hammer out the rescue deal before August 20, when Athens is scheduled to make a loan repayment of 3.2 billion euros to the ECB that it cannot currently afford.

The IMF warned on Thursday that finalising the deal, which is conditioned on Greece implementing painful reforms, would not be easy. — AFP

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RECESSION

US stocks succumb Brazilian economy now hits the skids to lack of confidence NEW YORK: After a strong opening for the second-quarter reporting season, US stocks reversed course on a raft of earnings disappointments as Wall Street succumbed to lack of confidence this week. Traders also bared their doubts about the US economy’s breakaway from the rest of the globe on Friday, when shares sank more than one percent after poor data on China drove down especially oil and other commoditytied companies.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.9 per cent at 17,568.53, and broader S&P 500 fell 2.2 per cent to 2,079.65.

The Nasdaq began the period looking like it would buck the trend on the back of the two largest US companies, Apple and Google.

The Nasdaq Composite struck a new record close of 5,218.86 on Monday. But investors tossed in that towel, too, dumping Apple shares on Wednesday after its “only” 38 per cent gain in net in-

come in the quarter ending June 27, to $107 billion.

Apple ended up losing 4.0 per cent for the week, and dragging down Google, the previous week’s earnings king, 7.3 per cent. By the end of the week, then, the Nasdaq Composite had given up 2.3 per cent at 5,088.63.

Friday’s sell-off came despite a 10 per cent gain by Amazon — which surprised with a modest profit in the second quarter and became larger by market capitalisation than the country’s largest traditional retailer, Walmart. The market also found little happiness in the $54 billion merger of Anthem and Cigna which will establish the largest US health insurer.

“An unexpected decline in US new home sales and a disappointing read on Chinese manufacturing output sapped sentiment,” said Charles Schwab. That could be true, but it also suggested that bullishness was already in short supply on the Street. — Agencies

SAO PAULO: Bad news piled up on Friday for Brazil’s economy, with the real plunging to its lowest level against the dollar in 12 years and analysts warning the home of samba will need years to recover its economic rhythm.

For President Dilma Rousseff, weakened by government approval ratings of just 7.7 per cent, things appear to be falling apart.

Friday’s tumble of the national currency to 3.34 to the dollar followed Thursday’s news of unemployment rising in June for a sixth month, while annual inflation has risen to almost nine per cent.

Many analysts are of the opinion Brazil’s once booming economy suffers deep underlying illnesses, notably the massive corruption scandal unfolding at national oil company Petrobras and rippling across other top companies and into political circles. On Friday, prosecutors announced formal Petrobras-related charges against Marcelo Odebrecht, chairman of Brazil’s biggest construction firm, Odebrecht.

NOT SO ROSY: Analysts say Brazil’s once booming economy suffers underlying illnesses, notably the massive corruption scandal unfolding at national oil company Petrobras and rippling across other top companies and into political circles. - Bloomberg file picture

The once powerful executive is currently in detention.

Macro-economic issues The latest sign of macro-economic problems appeared on Wednesday when the government announced a radical cut to its fiscal savings goal and said it would

increase austerity measures. Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said the lowering of the surplus goal from 1.1 per cent of GDP to just 0.15 per cent reflected the worsening performance in the world’s seventh largest economy.

With Brazil on the brink of recession, “there has been an effect

on tax receipts,” he said. However, the government’s commitment to austerity measures was unshaken. Cuts of 8.6 billion reais ($2.66 billion) were announced, raising this year’s cuts to $24 billion, the ministry of planning and budget further added.

“The revision is largely to do with the slowdown of the economy, which turns out to be deeper than thought,” said Ignacio Crespo, an analyst at Guide Investimentos in the financial capital Sao Paulo.

“It’s hard to know how far the recession will go, but for sure it will be tougher.

Contrary to what we hoped for a few months ago, the economy will be going down in 2016,” he said.

Another analyst, Andre Ferreira, from Futura, said he didn’t expect growth to return before 2018.

If so, that would add up to a seven-year stretch of zero or negative growth in a country that not so long ago had been hoping to ride the commodities boom to top rank economic status. - AFP

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

FEATURE CORRUPTION HITS LATIN AMERICAN ECONOMIES HARD Of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities, 43 are located in Latin America and this is affecting their economy

14,670

100

Violence still tou touches far too many lives in Guatemala, wwhere nearly 100 people were murdered each week last year.

An increasingly important challenge for Guatemala is to improve the levels of citizen security. The World Bank report estimates that crime and violence represent staggering economic costs for the country, equivalent to 7.7 per cent of its GDP.

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uatemalans are steaming. Crowds of them have poured into the streets this month — some 60,000 on May 16 alone — to protest corruption and demand the ouster of President Otto Perez Molina.

Triggered by the scandal over a giant scheme of import tax fraud, the widening crisis already has toppled the nation’s vice-president, the energy minister, the Central Bank governor and interior minister.

Social upheaval has a deep history in Guatemala, where Marxistinspired guerrillas battled security forces from 1960 to 1996, leaving 200,000 dead.

What's new, and encouraging, is the popular revolt against resurgent corruption, which has reignited partisan feuds and sapped confidence in the country’s still-wobbly democratic institutions at a time when this nation of more than 14.6 million may need them most.

Latin America is no stranger to bureaucrats on the take. The region traditionally merits dismal ratings on Transparency International’s annual corruption perception index. In 2014, Guatemala ranked a lowly 115th among 175 countries.

Was the total number off murders in Colombia in 2012. Colombia had a murder rate of 30.8 per 100,000 population.

The damage in 2013 due to economic crimes in companies operating in Colombia is estimated at $3 $3.66 billion billion, or 1% of the Colombian gross domestic product for 2012, according to the recently released KMPG “Fraud Survey Colombia 2013 report. In 2011, the damage was $950 million.

For a while, paying off officials was brushed off as a necessary lubricant for the cumbersome gears of government service. “Rouba mas faz,” — “He steals but gets things done” — was the unofficial disclaimer in the 1940s for the famously light-fingered but much admired Sao Paulo governor, Ademar de Barros.

No one is winking now. That may be because corruption has grown exponentially. In Brazil, it’s as big as Petrobras, the state oil company, which just reported $2.1 billion in losses to kickbacks and graft.

The other reason is that wherever corruption spreads, violence generally follows. The link between bent officials and the region’s fevered murder rate, according to a recent report by Insight Crime — a news portal which monitors illicit activity in the Americas — is organised crime.

In recent years, international cartels moving cocaine, arms and laundered money have installed themselves in key transshipment locations in Latin America and the Caribbean. As their franchises expanded, they have converted several countries into global crime hubs.

90.4 murders per 100,000 population, po more than twice that of nneighbouring El Salvador and Guatemala Guatema – most victims are poor and nam nameless.

Honduras’ homicide rate of 90.4 per 100,000 people is the world’s highest. The capital, Tegucigalpa, is the country’s largest city, so features on the UNODC cities list, with 1,175 killings in 2011 – but San Pedro Sula has a higher rate.

85,000 Total number of people estimated to have been killed since the administration dministration of former President Felipee Calderón launched its war on the drug cartels. tels.

More than greasing the odd palm or exploiting the blind spots of flawed institutions, the cartels — Sinaloa and Zetas in Mexico, the Soles of Venezuela, Colombia’s FARC and Barrio 18 of Guatemala — have systematically crippled law enforcement by capturing local governments or buying entire police departments — often to devastating effect.

The most blatant example was the kidnapping and apparent massacre of 43 Mexican students by drug traffickers allegedly in service to the mayor of Iguala, in southern Mexico, last August. In a recent poll, Mexican businesses named lack of public safety as the biggest single obstacle to growth.

It's much the same for El Salvador, where powerful gangs forced government to broker a truce with outlaws, which briefly quelled one of the world’s highest murder rates before the deal fell apart.

A 2014 study by The Institute for Economics and Peace concluded that “Latin America clearly remains the world’s most violent region in terms of crime.”

Mexico has experienced increasingly high crime rates, especially in major urban centres. centres The country‘s great economic polarisation has stimulated criminal activity in the lower socioeconomic strata, which include the majority of the country‘s population. Crime continues at high levels.

79

Venezuelan Violence OObservatory, a nongovernmental organisation, says the orga official figure is too low; low it estimates that 24,763 people were killed kil last year, or 79 per 100,000 people.

The violence also bleeds economies. Honduras — Latin America’s third most crooked country, according to Insight Crime — has the world’s highest murder rate and loses 19 percent of its gross domestic product a year to violence.

El Salvador is next, forfeiting 14.5 per cent of its national wealth on violence, followed closely by Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala, each foregoing around 10 per cent of potential GDP on security, prison maintenance and income of workers who were murdered.

Though hardly surprising, the cross contamination of corruption and crime suggests that stopping the bloodshed will take more than best practices and government reforms. It means freeing courts, lawmakers and police from the grip of powerful cartels and their official sponsors, who have a vested interest in preserving the shadows.

Look for more crowds in the Guatemalan streets in the days ahead.

— Washington Post-Bloomberg News

Crime affects an economy in many ways. The first effect that violence has on an economy is the way it limits interna international capital flows, The high rates of crime also hurt people’s confidence and the possibility for entrepreneurship.

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

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‘ B A H A R - 6 0 D AY S ! 6 0 W I N N E R S ’

NDC gives away prizes to raffle draw winners MUSCAT: The prize distribution ceremony of National Detergent Company’s (NDC) summer promotion ‘Bahar - 60 Days! 60 Winners’ was held recently at KM Hypermarket in Al Khuwair.

Fabulous prizes like three iPhone 6, 10 Samsung Galaxy S5, 30 Samsung Galaxy S4 and five grams gold (20 nos) were handed over to

63 lucky winners.

The three winners of iPhone 6 were Shareef P. A., Shesir Jamsheer and Khadeeja, says a press release.

During the promotion, for every purchase of NDC products worth OMR3, consumers received a scratch and win card along with a raffle coupon. The promotion was

made available in Lulu Hypermarket, The Sultan Centre, Mars Hypermarket, Karama Group and K. M. Trading. Along with mega and grand raffle prizes, there were 20,000 scratch and win prizes too.

As an added attraction, 100 winners received a tablet each for collecting combination of alphabets ‘BA+HA+R’ in the coupons.

A. K. Shaji, head of Business Development at NDC, said: “The ‘Bahar - 60 Days! 60 Winners’ promotion proved to be a fantastic success with our customers. We are seeing increased growth and high conversion rates, a clear indication that more and more consumers are coming in to shop and enjoy our promotion on offer.”

OAB continues to support Salalah Tourism Festival Visitors of the festival can also enjoy Oman Arab Bank’s offers and services by visiting the bank’s stand at the festival centre in Salalah

MUSCAT: Oman Arab Bank (OAB) continues to play its role as a main sponsor of Salalah Tourism Festival 2015 that opened its doors to all tourists on Thursday, July 23, coinciding with the Sultanate’s Renaissance Day celebrations. OAB has been supporting this festival on an annual basis, says a press release.

Amin Al Husseini, chief executive officer of OAB, said: “The bank’s participation this year as a main sponsor for Salalah Tourism Festival comes in line with its vision to continuously support national tourism. This includes activities that help promote the Sultanate as a unique touristic destination, especially with our management’s commitment to social responsibility and strengthening the bank’s relationship with the local community.”

“We aim to continue our support to the community by contributing to local festivals and activities that provide an added value to tourism in the country.

Salalah, being unique with its monsoon season during summer, is the ideal holiday destination for

many local and regional families.”

Visitors of the festival can also enjoy Oman Arab Bank’s offers and services by visiting the bank’s stand at the festival centre in Salalah, where most of the festival activities take place.

Oman Arab Bank’s staff are available on site to attend all customers’ enquiries and answer their questions. The festival visitors can also enjoy Oman Arab Bank’s ATM services as a fullfledged ATM is available onsite.

OAB offers a wide range of banking products and services to its valued customers through retail, corporate, and investment banking operations. The bank provides comprehensive banking services in Dhofar Governorate through its branches.

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WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2015

SECTION

SPOR YOUR GAME

Afghanistan pip Oman in thriller Both teams have already qualified to take part in the ICC World T20 2016 to be played in India but the win on Saturday ensured Afghanistan finish fifth — one

MAN OF THE MATCH: Najibullah Zadran. – ICC photo

above Oman

DUBLIN: In a low-scoring thriller at the Clontarf Cricket Club Ground in Dublin, Afghanistan finished fifth in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament after beating Oman by five wickets on Saturday.

Both teams have already qualified to take part in the ICC World T20 2016 to be played in India.

Sent in to bat, Oman, shaken by a collective effort from the Afghanistan bowlers, posted 127 for 8. Zeeshan Maqsood, who had provided his side with good starts on many occasions during the course of the tournament, fell in the first over, bowled by Dawlat Zadran, the right-arm medium-pacer.

Zeeshan Siddiqui and Khawar Ali tried to consolidate with a second-wicket partnership of 39 off 34 balls before Dawlat struck again in the seventh over, sending Siddiqui back for a 16-ball 18.

That brought Khawar and Jatinder Singh, the highest run-getter for Oman in the tournament, together with Oman on 45 for 2 in 6.2 overs. The duo added 22 more to the total before Afghanistan removed both in quick succession preventing Oman from building any momentum.

Mirwais Ashraf and Aftab Alam then bagged two wickets each to restrict Oman, who had beaten Afghanistan by 40 runs in a Group B clash in Edinburgh earlier in the tournament.

Afghanistan’s chase was rattled by the early dismissal of Mohammad Shahzad (0), who had held the side’s batting together in the tournament with a tally 199 runs in

Scotland, Netherlands in final DUBLIN: Scotland and the Netherlands will square off in Sunday’s final of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier after recording contrasting victories on Saturday.

In the first semifinal, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif and Rob Taylor took three wickets apiece as Scotland bowled out Hong Kong for

the previous six matches. Shahzad was caught by Jatinder off the bowling of Rajeshkumar Ranpura, the right-arm medium-pace bowler, in the first over.

Ranpura struck again in his next over, removing Asghar Stanikzai, caught behind for nought. Six balls later, without a run being added to the total, Nowroz Mangal was back in the hut for four.

Despite being in pursuit of a low target, Afghanistan now looked in deep trouble, with the score reading 7 for 3 after 3.3 overs.

It was then up to Mohammed Nabi and Samiullah Shenwari to put the innings back on track, and that they did, with a 49-ball stand of 44 for the fourth wicket.

Mohammed Nadeem broke the partnership in the 11th over when he got Nabi to edge one to Sultan Ahmed, the wicketkeeper, who grabbed onto his third catch.

But Shenwari and Najibullah were adamant on taking Afghani-

116 in 19.4 overs before Kyle Coetzer (33) and Calum MacLeod (39) made light work of the target, chasing it down in just 12.2 overs.

In the second semifinal, the Netherlands pip Ireland by five wickets. The Dutch first bowled out Ireland for 128 in 19.5 overs and then scored 129 for five in 18.1 overs.

stan over the line. They took Afghanistan past the 100-run mark in the 17th over with a flurry of boundaries in their fifth-wicket partnership.

Najibullah went past his previous best of 38 in T20Is to score a marvellous 32-ball 44 partnering Shenwari, who finished with an unbeaten 40 off 41 balls to take Afghanistan to victory with seven balls to spare.

The four sides competing for the trophy are Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Brief scores: Oman 127 for 9 in 20 overs (Khawar Ali 21, Zeeshan Siddiqui 18, Jatinder Singh 18, Aamir Kaleem 10, Sultan Ahmed 15, Dawlat Zardan 2 for 21, Aftab Alam 2 for 23) lost to Afghanistan 130 for 5 in 18.5 overs (Samiullah Shenwari not out 40, Mohammed Nabi 27, Najibullah Zadran 44, Rajeshkumar Ranpura 2 for 17, Munis Ansari 2 for 38).

Man of the match: Najibullah Zadran. Positions: Afghanistan Fifth, Oman Sixth. — ICC

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INDIA COURT CLEARS SREESANTH, OTHERS

A New Delhi court on Saturday cleared ed Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other players of spot-fixing during the Indian Premier er League (IPL), a lawyer and media reports said. >C3

C O M M E N TA RY

Oman cricket has come a long way...

F

rom the ‘wadi’ beds to parking slots, from the streets to concrete pitches and finally on to the green turf ground, Oman Cricket has come a long way.

Since 1979, when Late His Highness Sayyid Abbas bin Faisal was the patron-inchief, Oman Cricket has been inspired by the national body chairman Kanaksi G. Khimji.

From then on every cricket loving individual has seen the game’s popularity grow.

From becoming an affiliate International Cricket Council (ICC) member in 2000 to an associate status last year and now with the qualification to World T20 comes the international status for Oman Cricket — a quantum jump indeed.

This meant the nation is set to receive good ICC funds for further development and along with it more international exposure on the Twenty20 platform.

Official calendar for associate nations will now see Oman featuring a lot more and the new infrastructure could see more tournaments or matches at home too.

More exposure means more opportunities for home grown players and I hope that the Oman Cricket think tank will start working on that line.

Until now the nation has had the distinction of boasting the maximum number of citizen players unlike other Gulf nations and some of them have also performed with distinction on international platform.

It is hoped that the newfound laurel is utilised to lure more citizen players into the game and spread the excitement all across the country.

It was also nice to see Oman Football Association, the most popular sports body in the Sultanate, applauding Oman Cricket’s efforts to qualify for the World T20 in India.

I have been watching the development of cricket in Oman since 1997. Though I have been critical in my views some times, the moment of pride that came on the nation’s 45th Renaissance Day, has instilled an euphoria in me.

As any other aficionado, I watched Team Oman live on television for the first time, and the winning stroke by Zeeshan Ahmed Siddique made my day.

The success means the nation will receive good ICC funds for further development and along with it more international exposure

It was a dream realised for Oman, who will be going to India to take part in the World T20 2016. A first on all counts and an achievement for the nation who have had very few appearances on the world stage.

The game of cricket may not enthuse the local population much, but these achievements will surely act as a fodder to attract more and more local talents.

Surely there had been many achievements before that Oman Cricket can boast of, especially on the continental platform, but this performance in Scotland and Ireland is indeed something special.

To be frank, none including me expected Oman to come through from the tough Group B, which had teams like Scotland, Netherlands, Afghanistan, UAE, Kenya and Canada. But the boys led by experienced Sultan Ahmed, groomed by the legendary Sri Lankan Duleep Mendis and advised by Derek Pringle, looked remarkably sound.

In 2012 qualifier, the Gulf nation had nothing to showcase, but currently with a rank of 29 in the world and just part of a lowly Division 5 in World Cricket League, there has been a remarkable transformation.

It was in 2009, I had an opportunity to follow the national team to South Africa during the ICC World Cup

(50-over-format), but what I saw was to see the players finding it difficult to adapt to the conditions.

Oman had finished 11th among 12 teams and had nothing to boast but that enlightened the need for infrastructure development.

The difference now is indeed the new infrastructure with lush green ground and natural turf wicket, which came up at Al Amerat.

With the A Division matches being played on this surface the players have tuned themselves to the natural vagaries of the game, unlike the monotonous motions found while playing on concrete pitches.

Adding on the valuable inputs of Duleep Mendis along with the Oman Cricket’s decision to issue contracts to national players have succeeded in enhancing professionalism into the game.

Now that they are on world stage, Oman Cricket cannot rest on the laurels as the national cricketers will cross swords with the big boys of the game.

It was only some years ago when Oman earned a chance to battle it out against the big boys of Asia, when they qualified for the Asian Cup 2006, but unfortunately that tournament did not happen that time.

All said and done, the qualification for World T20 has opened a new chapter for Oman Cricket. It will also be interesting to find how the Ministry of Sports Affairs responds to the achievement of the cricketers.

When Duleep Mendis and his boys understand that it is more hard work from now on, the onus will be on the administrators to lend more support. Hopefully, we must see a boom in infrastructure development and more inroads made into talent tapping and training.

Its high time Oman has more coaching expertise in the offing for all age groups and formation of Duleep Mendis’ brain child of National Youth Development Teams at all levels.

Well, now it is celebration time, and the nation is waiting for the cricketing heroes to arrive.

— sportseditor@timesofoman.com

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

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How to get out of Bermuda Triangle

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WEATHER-BATTERED: A general view shows Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong as the rain falls during the final day of the

first Test match between Bangladesh and South Africa on Saturday. – AFP

Rain-hit Chittagong Test ends in draw Bangladesh’s pace debutant Mustafizur Rahman was adjudged man of the match for his four for 37, including three wickets in an over in the first innings

CHITTAGONG: The first Test match between Bangladesh and South Africa ended in a draw on Saturday after rain washed out the fifth day’s play in Chittagong.

With no chance of a result in the weather-battered match, officials called off play at noon.

South Africa captain Hashim Amla said he was disappointed over the loss of playing hours.

“It goes without saying that when you come all the way from South Africa you really want to play Test cricket,” Amla said at the post-match press conference.

“But these things you can’t really control. So there’s no use getting frustrated about it,” he said.

“The game was poised in our favour I feel, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

This was the first draw for Bangladesh against South Africa after defeats in previous eight Tests, seven by an innings margin.

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said he was expecting a better result, especially after taking the first innings lead.

“Yes, it’s frustrating. It was really positive for us to take the lead against the world’s top-ranked Test side,” Rahim said after the match.

“If there had been a complete match, the result could have been different. We can only take positives from the match.

“Bowling them out cheaply and then scoring over 300 runs against them first time, taking the lead, the batting of top and late order are positives for us.”

Rain had washed out the entire fourth day’s play and some 50

overs were lost on the second and third days at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

Highest total South Africa, who scored 248 in the first innings, bowled out Bangladesh for 326 before making 61 without loss in their second knock.

Bangladesh’s first innings total was their highest ever against the Proteas, the top-ranked Test team.

Stiaan van Zyl remained unbeaten on 33 and Dean Elgar was 28 not out for South Africa.

Bangladesh’s pace debutant Mustafizur Rahman was judged man of the match for his four for 37, including three wickets in an over in the first innings.

The home side named an unchanged squad for the second and final Test, which will be played in Dhaka from July 30. - AFP

CRICKET

Marsh warms up for Test with four wickets DERBY: Australia’s Mitchell Marsh took four wickets against Derbyshire on Saturday ahead of next week’s third Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston.

The lively all-rounder led the tourists’ attack with four for 41 as Australia dismissed Derbyshire for 259 in reply to Australia’s first innings 413 for nine declared, a deficit of 154 runs, on the third and final day at Derby on Saturday.

Derbyshire’s Tony Palladino, primarily a seam bowler, topscored in the innings with 82 off just 68 balls, including eight fours and four sixes.

Together with David Wainwright (38) he put on 105 for the eighth wicket.

Although Australia captain Michael Clarke could have enforced the follow-on, as Derbyshire were not within 150 runs of the tourists’ first innings score, he chose to bat again instead.

Indeed Clarke, in a match where Australia’s chances of victory had been reduced after rain

washed out two-thirds of Friday’s second day, promoted himself to open the innings.

At tea he was 19 not out, with Shaun Marsh unbeaten on 30.

Derbyshire resumed Saturday on 81 for two with skipper Wayne Madsen 14 not out and Scott Elstone unbeaten on 13.

Mitchell Marsh, who impressed in Australia’s Ashes-levelling 405-run win in the second Test against at Lord’s last week after Shane Watson was dropped following England’s 169-run victory in the series opener in Cardiff, was the pick of the attack in an extended first session.

He had Elstone (19) caught in the gully by David Warner and, four legitimate balls later, pinned Madsen lbw for 19. Mitchell Marsh struck again when he had Tom Knight (three) well caught low down at second slip by Adam Voges.

The ongoing Ashes series is all square at 1-1, with Australia looking to win their first Ashes campaign in Britain for 14 years. - AFP

ndian cricket is, at the moment, sucked into the Bermuda Triangle.

The magnetic variation theory postulated by the U.S. Coast Guard in the 1970s and other, similar scientific manoeuvres at explaining away and dispelling the myths and mysteries about the Triangle have so far not been able to explode the popular belief that the large area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda is actually and inexplicably a vortex of doom—but it doesn’t take rocket science intelligence to get to know how Indian cricket drifted itself into a treacherous triangle of a different, but just as much perilous, sort.

Batsmen who struggle against spinners. Fast bowlers with fake confidence.

Spinners who cannot win a series for the team. That’s the Bermuda Triangle sort of doom Indian cricket has found itself in for quite some time now.

During the 2014 tour of England, Indian batsmen, believed to be among the best in the business against spinners of any sort and art, cut a sorry figure fumbling against Moeen Ali, and in the early part of this year they proved their critics right again when they showed no courage to take on or tackle Nathan Lyon at Perth and elsewhere.

The reason? If you believe Harbhajan Singh, it’s because Indian batsmen do not get to play quality spinners at home, so when they face blokes like Ali or Lyon abroad, or guys like Monty Panesar or Graeme Swann (Remember the 2012-2013 shock?) at home, they are found out, tragically.

How did it happen? How did batsmen born and brought up on low, slow and dusty pitches against an army of spinners of all sorts and revolutions, suddenly found themselves weakkneed in international cricket?

Or, how a country that produced some of the unplayable spinners of the game in the past who singlehandedly tormented the opponents and won the matches for the team could not confidently name even one who could turn the fortunes in favour of Team India?

Blame it on the greentops, perhaps.

It seems there has been an overemphasis on getting pitches with pace and bounce to produce fast bowlers who could get on a flight to Australia happily and walk out onto the Waca ground with the pace and confidence to scare the lions in their dens.

It seems they were filled with “fake confidence” because the green, too much of it, at the Raji Trophy pitches made even the guys who bowled at speeds in the 120-125km per hour range look like Malcolm Marshalls. The fake Marshalls fell flat on away pitches and the ball didn’t even reach the batsman.

And, unfortunately, those who managed to bang it harder were lacking in the most essential thing humans have: intelligence.

Hitting the 140-mark is fine, but you need to bowl within the vicinity of the three stumps. And you need

Importing the Bermuda grass from Australia and laying greentops would have made sense if the authorities tried to get the kind of soil too that gave the ball that extra jump on the WACA pitch, just like what Cricket Australia is doing now by importing soil from India

to outthink the guy who you are hurling the stuff in your hand at.

With the Bermuda grass on the greentops making life less charming for spinners, youngsters ditched spin for speed.

The result? The spin bench strength is so miserable now that the selectors have to toss the ball back to veterans like Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra.

Importing the Bermuda grass from Australia and laying greentops would have made sense if the authorities tried to get the kind of soil too that gave the ball that extra jump on the WACA pitch, just like what Cricket Australia is doing now by importing soil from India to prepare low-bouncing, spinning pitches at the training facility in Brisbane.

They don’t do it at the cost of their strength, which is having wickets that offer pace and bounce. That— abandoning the strength to shore up the weakness— was the Indian blunder.

As things unceremoniously stand now, India don’t have spinners who could put confusion in the minds of the batsmen even at home and fast bowlers who could put six balls in a row exactly at the spot they should.

The future of Indian cricket has now been entrusted with Virat Kohli, and much will depend on how he puts his ideas across the table when he sits with the selectors.

For that, he has to talk unfailingly and consistently smart with his bat first.

The writer is a freelance contributor based in India.

All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman

S U N DAY, JU LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

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SPORTS India court clears Sreesanth and two others over IPL spot-fixing BCCI sticks to ban on players for time being

The three players were arrested in May 2013 along with scores of bookies as part of a police investigation into the spot-fixing scandal that caused outrage among fans in the cricket-mad nation

NEW DELHI: A New Delhi court on Saturday cleared Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other players of spot-fixing during the Indian Premier League (IPL), a lawyer and media reports said.

Indian prosecutors had filed charges of cheating and conspiracy against the players over their alleged links to an organised crime syndicate during the 2013 edition of the Twenty20 competition.

Two of Sreesanth’s teammates from the Rajasthan Royals franchise, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, had also been charged along with bookmakers and un-

HUGE RELIEF: Indian cricketer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth speaks to the media following the judge’s

pronouncement of the order discharging 36 accused in the IPL spot fixing case outside Patiala Court in New Delhi on Saturday. – AFP

derworld figures. “The judge has passed the order and discharged all the players. There is no case against the players now,” a defence lawyer told reporters outside the court on Saturday.

“All are discharged (from the case),” the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency quoted additional sessions judge Neena Bansal Krishna as saying while pronouncing the order. The three

players were arrested in May 2013 along with scores of bookies as part of a police investigation into the spot-fixing scandal that caused outrage among fans in the cricketmad nation.

The players were later granted bail due to lack of evidence.

Gambling is mostly illegal in India, but betting on cricket matches thrives through underground networks of bookies.

Spot-fixing, in which a specific part of a game but not the result is fixed, is also illegal.

Sreesanth, who played 27 Tests for India, was alleged to have been paid tens of thousands of dollars after agreeing to deliberately bowl badly in an IPL match.

Delhi police also said at the time of their arrest that his teammates agreed to similar deals in two other IPL matches.

NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the verdict of a Delhi court dropping charges against former India pacer S. Sreesanth and two others in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to stick to its ban on the three cricketers for the time being.

All the 36 accused persons including Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were on Saturday discharged in the IPL-6 spot-fixing case

by Patiala House Court but the Indian board said its disciplinary decision remained unaltered.

The players welcomed the verdict on Saturday, hugging family members and friends.

“It’s a huge relief. I have nothing against anybody. God willing I will return to cricket,” Sreesanth told India’s NDTV network.

Chandila said “a bad dream” had come to an end while Chavan said he was looking forward to being able to play again soon.

The glitzy Twenty20 league,

CRUCIAL TO BE FRESH

which is broadcast around the world, is hugely popular in India, with a number of teams fronted by big Bollywood names.

But it has been dogged by corruption allegations ever since its first edition in 2008.

Earlier this month, a Supreme Court-appointed panel suspended two of the eight IPL teams after officials were found guilty of illegally betting on matches. - AFP INJURED

Pakistan’s Riaz out of Sri Lanka T20 series

England not haunted by Lord’s defeat, says Broad LONDON: Being humiliated by 405 runs in the second Ashes Test

by Australia was a setback but England will not dwell on it when the third Test gets underway at Edgbaston on Wednesday, fast bowler Stuart Broad has said.

England won the first Test in Cardiff by 169 runs in a near-perfect performance but a resurgent Australia crushed them in the second Test at Lord’s to level the series.

“In Ashes series it’s so crucial to be mentally and physically fresh,” Broad told the Telegraph. “It’s crucial that we don’t get to Edgbaston still hung over or fearing what happened at Lord’s. We need to be quite clear that we performed badly, but this is a new week.”

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson finished with match figures of six for 80 at Lord’s but the 29-year-old Broad believes Eng-

“Any disciplinary proceeding or decision taken by the BCCI is independent to any criminal proceeding and has no bearing. The decisions of the BCCI, based on its independent disciplinary action, shall remain unaltered,” BCCI said in a statement issued on Saturday.

All three had to spend time in jail during the course of investigation.

Of the three, Sreesanth and Chavan are currently serving life bans imposed by the BCCI after the scandal shook the high-profile league, while Chandila’s hearing is still on. - PTI

land were at fault for the manner of the dismissals.

“In the first innings especially, the 10 wickets we lost, they weren’t good balls,” he said.

“We gave them 10 wickets, and in Test match cricket you’ve got to make teams work hard for their wickets.”

England have brought in batsman Jonny Bairstow to replace his Yorkshire teammate Gary Ballance in the only change to their squad for the Edgbaston Test.

Ian Bell moves up the order to bat at number three, followed by Joe Root, with Bairstow coming in at five.

“I think when we get to Edgbaston you’ll see a very determined, steely, skilful batting line-up for England,” Broad said. “I think it’ll be a big change from Lord’s.”

Broad is confident playing the

third Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham and the fourth Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham will play into England’s hands.

“Let’s not forget that Edgbaston and Trent Bridge are two fantastic grounds for the England cricket team,” he said.

“We should have a lot of confidence. The last Test I played at Edgbaston, Cooky (Alastair Cook) got 294 (against India in 2011) and we won by an innings.

“It’s a huge week. I read somewhere that England haven’t won the third Ashes Test since 1981, which has got to change.

“A lot has been written this week about it being the end of the world, like we’re losing 10-0.

“But actually, it’s 1-1. They’ve played fantastically one week, we’ve played fantastically one week. Let battle commence.” - Reuters

LOOKING FOR CHANGE: Stuart Broad, left, and Alastair Cook.

BALANCE PROBLEM

Recovering Rogers returns to Australia Test squad

CLOSELY MONITORED: Chris Rogers

DERBY: Australia opener Chris Rogers was back with the tourists’ Test squad on Friday and will undergo further medical assessment to determine his fitness to play in next week’s third Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston.

The 37-year-old left-hander succumbed to a sudden bout of dizziness during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Sunday.

There were concerns that Rogers was a victim of delayed concussion, having been struck on the helmet by a bouncer from England paceman James Anderson on Friday’s second day.

But a London-based specialist said on Wednesday that Rogers

was suffering from a balance problem in the inner ear.

Australia team doctor Peter Brukner, in a Cricket Australia statement issued on Saturday, said: “Chris continues to improve and has re-joined the team in Nottingham last night.

“He will continue to increase his level of activity over the next couple of days and will be closely monitored by team medical staff.”

Before the third and final day’s play in Australia’s tour match with Derbyshire in Derby on Saturday, Rogers walked round the outfield and then had a gentle knock-up with the bat.

At Lord’s, after two overs’ play

on Sunday, Rogers crouched down by the side of the pitch and then sat motionless before eventually going off on 49 not out.

Retirement plans The left-hander played no further part in Australia’s crushing 405run win, which levelled the series at 1-1, having helped establish their strong position at Lord’s with a Test-best 173 in the first innings.

Rogers was not scheduled to play against Derbyshire in any event.

Rogers, who plans to retire after the Ashes, missed Australia’s recent 2-0 series win in the Caribbean with concussion after being hit on the head while batting in the nets. - AFP

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Saturday that paceman Wahab Riaz had ruled himself out of the team’s two-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka due to an ongoing hand injury.

The 30-year-old was named in the 15-man squad subject to complete recovery from the injury, sustained during the second Test against Sri Lanka earlier this month.

But after bowling during a fitness test on Friday, it was found that the left-arm paceman had not fully recovered.

Riaz will be replaced by another left-arm fast bowler, Ziaul Haq, who was in the squad as a stand-by.

“Riaz bowled in nets on Friday and still feels stiffness in his bowling hand. Thus he withdrew himself from T20s squad.

Zia will replace him,” a Pakistan Cricket Board statement said.

Riaz said he was disappointed. “Unfortunately still some stiffness in my bowling hand.

Hopefully another week or so to give my 100 percent,” Riaz said on his Twitter account.

Pakistan, already leading the five-match ODI series by 3-1, will face Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-day in Hambantota on Sunday. That will be followed by two Twenty20 internationals on July 30 and August 1 — both in Colombo.

The squad: Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Nauman Anwar, Mohammed Hafeez, Mukhtar Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Mohammed Irfan, Zia-ul Haq. - AFP

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SPORTS

CYCLING

Froome poised to win Tour, Pinot triumphs on Alpe d’Huez L’ALPE D’HUEZ: Chris Froome is poised to win a second Tour de France title, but was forced to hang on desperately as Colombian Nairo Quintana attacked relentlessly in Saturday’s penultimate stage up the iconic Alpe d’Huez.

In a gripping finale, Quintana powered clear of Froome, slicing almost a minute and a half off the Briton’s lead, but not doing quite enough to prevent the Team Sky rider almost certainly ensuring he will celebrate victory on Sunday.

With only the procession into Paris remaining, Froome leads Quintana by 1:12 after the Movistar rider attacked repeatedly and pushed the 30-year-old to the limit in a punishing ascent.

The day’s laurels went to Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who salvaged an under-par Tour with victory on the race’s ‘Queen stage’.

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde is third 5:25 off the pace. Quintana was second in the 110-km stage from Modane-Valfrejus, 18 seconds behind Pinot, with Canadian Ryder Hesjedal taking third place 41 seconds adrift.

Froome, who could not respond when Quintana attacked less than four kilometres into the 13.8-km ascent, ended the stage in fifth place, 1:38 off the pace after being helped to the summit by teammate Richie Porte. Froome, who claimed his first Tour title in 2013, was once again booed by the crowd in the final climb.

He will become the first rider since Carlos Sastre in 2008 to win both the yellow and the polka dot jerseys — although the Spaniard only claimed the mountain classification after Austrian Bernhard Kohl was stripped of the title fol-

lowing a retroactive dope test.

Froome, who had already lost 30 seconds to Quintana on Friday, spent another tough day in the saddle. Frenchman Alexandre Geniez attacked from the start and broke away with three others but the FDJ rider went out on his own in the climb to the Col de la Croix de Fer. Among the group of favourites, Valverde attacked about five kilometres from the top of the col de la Croix de Fer and was quickly followed by Quintana. Helped by Porte, Froome managed to catch Quintana at the top and along with Valverde and Nibali, the four of them stayed together in the descent.

Pinot and Hesjedal then attacked and the Frenchman, who got help on the way from his FDJ team mate Geniez, powered to his second Tour stage win after claiming his first on his debut in 2012. - Reuters

EYEING SECOND CROWN: Great Britain’s Christopher Froome celebrates his overall leader yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the 110,5 km 20th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Modane Valfrejus and Alpe d’Huez, French Alps on Saturday. – AFP

Hamilton grabs Hungary GP pole The pole was Hamilton’s ninth in 10 races this season, the 47th of his career and left the Briton perfectly placed for a fifth career win at the Hungaroring

BUDAPEST: Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday with a blistering lap more than half a second faster than downcast Mercedes teammate and great rival Nico Rosberg.

The two title rivals will line up together on the front row on Sunday, with Ferrari’s four times champion Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Australian 2014 race winner Daniel Ricciardo behind them on the second row.

The pole was Hamilton’s ninth in 10 races this season, the 47th of his career and left the Briton per-

DELIGHTED: Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton reacts after

the qualifying session of the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest on Saturday. – AFP

fectly placed for a fifth career win at the Hungaroring.

Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points before a race that marks the halfway point of the season.

“I’m incredibly happy with the

weekend, I can’t remember having a performance as good as this,” said Hamilton, who has now been on pole five times in Hungary and went fastest in all three practice sessions.

“I’m liking the weather, loving the city. I love the track, it feels a bit like an old go-kart circuit that we used to race on many years ago.”

Rosberg, who has won three times to Hamilton’s five victories this season, was on pole in Hungary last year but had no response to his team mate this time on a hot and hazy afternoon.

“I don’t have an explanation,” he said. “I just didn’t find the pace. It’s been a bit up and down all weekend, I’m definitely not happy with how it went today.”

Behind the top four, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth with fellow-Finn Valtteri Bottas lining up sixth for Williams.

Red Bull’s Russian Daniil Kvyat and Brazilian Felipe Massa, for Williams, share the fourth row.

McLaren, a team with an impressive record in Hungary, endured another tough afternoon with Fernando Alonso pushing his broken down car back to the pitlane likely to be one of the year’s enduring images.

The second phase of qualifying was red-flagged to allow marshals to help the sweating Spaniard get the McLaren off the track.

Alonso will line up in 15th place with teammate Jenson Button alongside in 16th. Both drivers took their first grand prix win in Hungary but even a point will be a bonus this time around. - Reuters

Hamilton assures Wimbledon he will dress up next year BUDAPEST: Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has recognised a fashion faux pas and assured Wimbledon he will respect the dress code at next year’s championships.

The Mercedes’ British driver was refused entry to the Royal Box for the men’s singles final at this month’s tennis tournament after turning up in a floral shirt and hat but without the mandatory jacket and tie.

The story became an immediate talking point, with photographs of the driver spreading like wildfire around the world and sparking a debate about British sporting tradition, stuffiness and etiquette.

Enjoyed the aftermath Speaking to reporters at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday, his first race since Wimbledon, the 30-year-old Briton said he had been invit-

ABOVE POLITICS

FOOTBALL

Formula One right to go to Azerbaijan, says Tost BUDAPEST: Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost has defended Formula One’s decision to race in Azerbaijan next year while brushing off concerns about media freedom and the country’s human rights record.

Asked at a Hungarian Grand Prix news conference how he would react if some reporters were denied entry for Baku’s race debut next year, as happened during the inaugural European Games recently, Tost was unmoved.

“There must be a reason why the visa was denied. I don’t know the background. To be honest, I don’t care about this. So we go there, we race there and that’s it.

It’s your problem how you get the visa,” he replied.

The Austrian said Formula One was a sport and above politics.

“We go there to entertain. We do not go there for any political reasons. It’s the same issue we had a couple of years ago with Bahrain,” he said. “If we will be put into the corner to say, OK, we should not

ed back and would definitely dress the part.

“It was fun, I enjoyed the aftermath of it and ultimately I am excited that I have been invited back again for another year, or I will be invited back — so I’m happy about that and I will make sure that I dress the right away,” said Hamilton.

“I love Wimbledon. I really, really like the sport,” added the Briton, who spent time chatting with beaten finalist Roger Federer after the semifinal with Britain’s Andy Murray.

“I just went home and watched it on TV. No problem for me, I went and watched it with my dogs,” he said.

“I see the positives of it.

There were so many stories written about it, I’m like ‘Wow, that’s nice’.

“It was just one of those days, sometimes you get things right and sometimes you get things wrong.” - Reuters

The Austrian said Formula One was above politics go into a country where maybe the press freedom is not at a certain level or any other issues, then I don’t know where we go racing.

“Then we have problems with China, then we have problems with Russia, then maybe we have problems with Brazil, then any country...we just go there, make our show, present our sport and that’s it and therefore we should go.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner also made light of the prospect of reporters being barred entry.

“It would make our press conferences a lot shorter anyway, so maybe not a bad thing,” he joked.

Azerbaijan, with a race in Baku, has been listed on the provisional 2016 calendar.

That calendar includes races in Russia, China and Bahrain — all countries with chequered rights records. Russia, which made its F1 debut last year, is also subject to Western sanctions over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan, governed by President Ilham Aliyev since he succeeded his father in 2003, has been courted by Western countries because of its role as an alternative to Russia in supplying oil and gas to Europe.

However, various European bodies and human rights groups have accused Aliyev of muzzling dissent and jailing opponents, charges Baku denies.

In June, Amnesty International said Baku had blocked a visit in which they had planned to highlight human rights abuses in the south Caucasian republic ahead of the European Games. - Reuters

Franco Di Santo leaves Werder BERLIN: Argentine striker Franco Di Santo has made use of a buy-out clause in his contract with Werder Bremen to leave the north German club, it said on Saturday.

Werder did not say which club Di Santo was set to join but German media reports said Europa League competitors Schalke 04 had won over the talented player. Schalke officials could not be immediately reached for a statement. “Franco Di Santo is leaving Werder Bremen with immediate effect,” Werder said in a statement. “The Argentine made use of his contract’s buyout clause and is no longer part of the team.”

Werder officials had confirmed earlier in the week they were holding talks with Schalke for the player.

The powerful 26-year-old former Chelsea forward, who has scored 17 goals in 49 Bundesliga matches, had joined Werder from Wigan Athletic in 2013. - Reuters

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Mishra, Ojha return with rich hauls as match ends in draw CHENNAI: Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha turned out to be the biggest gainer while comeback man Amit Mishra got five wickets and more importantly vital overs under his belt as the first unofficial ‘Test’ match between India A and Australia A ended in a tame draw.

Chasing a target of 240, Australia A reached 161 for four in 46 overs when the umpires decided to call off the match after the two captains shook hands.

For Ojha, a match haul of six for 132 (five for 87 and one for 45) will do his confidence a world of good. Mishra on his part bowled close to 40 overs across both innings and a return of five wickets could be considered a decent performance.

Earlier, India A declared their first innings at 206 for eight, starting from their overnight score of 121 for three.

Kohli to play India on Saturday batted 32.3 overs as young Shreyas Iyer (33) again chipped in with a useful contribution while Karun Nair (23) failed once again.

Pacer Gurinder Sandhu (two for 27) and part-time seamer Marcus Stoinis (two for 17) were the most successful bowlers while left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe took his match-haul to eight wickets with two for 81 in the second innings.

The next match, starting July 28, will feature Test captain Virat Kohli. He will in all likelihood replace Karun in the starting XI as he has failed in both innings. - PTI

TRICKY WEATHER: Nasser Al Mashari, centre, in action onboard The Wave, Muscat at the Extreme Sailing Series Act 5 in Hamburg. – Supplied photo

treme Sailing Series Act 5 in Hamburg. – Supplied photo

Fickle Hamburg winds see shift in fortunes for The Wave, Oman Air Racing on the city centre stadium course once again proved tricky with sunshine and the welcome breeze from day one giving way to light and shifty winds spiced up with strong gusts that kept umpires busy watching for infringements

MUSCAT: A turnaround in the Hamburg weather saw a shift in fortunes among the Extreme Sailing Series fleet which left The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air stepping up their plans for the remaining two days of competition.

Racing on the city centre stadium course once again proved tricky with sunshine and the welcome breeze from day one giving way to light and shifty winds spiced up with strong gusts that kept umpires busy watching for infringe-

HOCKEY

ments. These conditions served to wrong foot experienced crews and create opportunities for others so after topping the leaderboard overnight, The Wave, Muscat’s crew had to move to third place.

A dip in consistency saw them start and finish the day with maximum point wins with just one other podium place to add to their tally but in one of the tightest contests of the year so far, they were sitting just five points behind new leaders Gazprom Team Russia at the close and a single point behind SAP Extreme Sailing Team.

The variable breezes made life difficult for everyone added Oman Air’s Ali Al Balushi. “The wind was really tricky. Sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left so it was impossible for the tactician to decide where to go but it was the same for everyone. We did not

have a great day but tomorrow will be different,” he said.

“It was tricky and while we had some good races, there were a few that didn’t go our way and a few where the jury did not pick up on the situation,” admitted Leigh McMIllan.

“It was frustrating because we were not picking the right strategy in the starts. We were working as hard as we could but things kept on going against us, again and again.

Hopefully we can get back up on top tomorrow.

“But it is still only day two of the regatta and it is very close, points wise — there are still two days remaining and a lot of wind coming tomorrow which we are 100 per cent pleased about.”

Oman Air incurred several penalties during the day though maintained their sixth place overall and

left skipper Stevie Morrison mulling over new ideas for their race strategies.

“Perhaps we need to think about buying the umpires an ice cream because I lost count of the penalties we received,” he said.

“We are racing hard and working well as a team but we need to avoid incident. We have had some very close racing but it was a tough day with the jury. They did what they thought was right but we thought we only deserved one of the penalties. We are frustrated but you win some and lose some and we will fight on.”

A forecast for storms and strong winds on the third day of racing has created a stir of anticipation among the crews since yet again, the conditions are likely to cause more upset and further changes on the leaderboard.

FOOTBALL

Oltmans to be Indian squad coach till Rio Olympic Games NEW DELHI: High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans was on Saturday appointed coach of the Indian hockey team, replacing Paul van Ass, who was unceremoniously sacked after a bitter spat with Hockey India President Narinder Batra.

The 61-year-old Dutchamn, who has been associated with Indian hockey for close to three years now, will be at the helm of affairs at least till next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The decision to appoint Oltmans was taken at a meeting between Sports Authority of India’s Director-General Injeti Srinivas and Batra.

“Oltmans has agreed to be the coach till the Rio Olympics and we would want him to continue after that,” Batra told reporters after the meeting.

Batra said that Van Ass’ ouster was a disappointing chapter but it was important for Indian hockey to move ahead.

“We should move ahead, coaches come and go. We want to look ahead and prepare the team for the Olympics. We will talk to Oltmans about his requirements regarding the support staff and will give all possible assistance,” Batra said.

Earlier on Friday, a nine-member committee headed by Olympian Harbinder Singh, formed to decide Van Ass’ future, recommended that the Dutchman should not be continued.

Van Ass blamed an “autocratic” Batra for his ouster and said the recommendation to remove him did not come as a “surprise” to him.

RACING HARD: Oman Air crew, skippered by Stevie Morrison, in control at the Ex-

AT THE HELM: Roelant Oltmans

Oltmans has been associated with Indian hockey for nearly three years and to add to it, the players also gel well with him and some have even aired their views of handing the reins of the team to the Dutchman after Van Ass’ ouster.

Van Ass, who was appointed at the end of January this year, was awarded a three-year contract till 2018. The World League semifinals in Antwerp, earlier this month, was the Dutchman’s second assignment with the Indian team.

Van Ass’s future with the Indian team was in doubt after he failed to report on time for the

national team’s camp that Negan at the scenic Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Shilaroo, Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.

Speculations that the Dutchman won’t be continuing was fuelled when he failed to submit his report on India’s performance at the recently concluded World Hockey League semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium.

According to media reports, Van Ass had a public spat with HI president Narinder Batra after the quarterfinal match against Malaysia at the World League semifinals. — PTI

Five AS Roma stars denied entry to Indonesia JAKARTA: Five players from Italian club AS Roma will miss Saturday’s friendly match in Jakarta after they were refused entry to Indonesia and forced to fly home.

The team touched down in Jakarta on Friday evening for the first time in the Serie A club’s his-

tory but ran into trouble at customs, Roma chief executive Italo Zanzi said. Seydou Doumbia, Gervinho, Victor Ibarbo, Adem Ljajic and Antonio Sanabria were denied entry by immigration officials at Jakarta’s international airport and later boarded a flight to Rome.

Zanzi said it was “very frustrating” the footballers wouldn’t be able to join the rest of the squad for Saturday’s friendly match between two teams of AS Roma players. “It’s a real disappointment for us, given that we’ve made a substantial effort to be here.” - AFP

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Blatter promises ‘total support’ for 2018 World Cup in Russia Blatter is a victim and a brave person: Russian chief

Blatter said ‘FIFA will always be behind Russia’ while Putin in turn promised a “grandiose” World Cup in 2018

ST PETERSBURG: FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Saturday vowed “total support” for Russia’s World Cup preparations in a meeting with Russian head of state President Vladimir Putin.

Putin in turn promised a “grandiose” World Cup in 2018 at their talks ahead of the draw for the qualifying phase.

Some U.S. senators have called for a boycott of the World Cup because of Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict. But Blatter, whose organisation is at the centre of a major corruption scandal, has strongly rejected any such suggestion and condemned political interference in sport.

“FIFA will always be behind Russia” and give “total support” to the 2018 World Cup, Blatter told Putin at the Konstantin Palace in St Petersburg where the draw was held.

“We say ‘yes’ to Russia,” Blatter added. “Football does a lot for peace. It is especially important in the current geopolitical situation.”

Blatter gave the same message at the draw ceremony, insisting to

YES TO RUSSIA: FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, left, invites Russia President Vladimir Putin to address during

the preliminary draw for the 2018 World Cup at Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg on Saturday. – Reuters

the 2,000 guests that FIFA will “always stand behind Russia.”

He added that FIFA’s executive committee had this week reaffirmed its “trust and confidence” in Russia.

Putin said Russia will “do everything to make sure that the sportsmen and supporters who come will feel at home and that those who watch the television will feel that they are participating in a grandiose international sporting festival.”

The Russian leader also made a reference to the scandals that have embroiled FIFA, partly over

P L AY O F F

The vote process is now at the centre of a corruption probe by Swiss investigators.

The inquiry was launched in parallel to a US corruption investigation in which seven FIFA officials were detained while they were at a congress of the world governing body in Zurich in May. The Kremlin said at the time that the arrests were a bid to influence the re-election of Blatter. The Swiss official secured a fifth term but has since announced he will stand down and a new election for a replacement held on February 26. - AFP

finals and a new vote ordered.

Sorokin said the controversy was “casting shade on the most cherished FIFA product, the World Cup, without any grounds.

“It’s a purely blown-up matter which hurts us,” he added.

“It keeps lingering on in the media and in people’s minds and that is really disappointing.

“We need to focus. It’s time to go on and stop rubbing it in and discussing this.”

Sorokin also denied suggestions the Russian bid team destroyed computers when FIFA launched its own internal inquiry into the allegations of corruption.

“They (the computers) were not destroyed,” said Sorokin. “The truth is they became obsolete and they were naturally discarded.

“I understand there is regrettably such an atmosphere created a long time ago around Russia that creates suspicions that we don’t deserve.

“That is the biggest challenge that we live with, stereotypes, and part of our job is to overcome these stereotypes about Russia. We believe we are doing that,” said Sorokin. - Reuters

OLD FOES

Oceania winners to face South American side ST PETERSBURG: The winners of the Oceania World Cup qualifying group will have to play the fifth-placed South American side to reach the finals in Russia following the draw for the intercontinental playoffs made on Saturday.

In the other tie, the team which finishes fourth in the CONCACAF competition will face the fifthplaced team from Asia. Both ties will be played over two legs.

Uruguay have finished fifth in the last four South American World Cup qualifying competitions and taken part in an intercontinental playoff each time.

They beat Australia in 2001, lost to them four years later, beat Costa

the award of the 2018 tournament to Russia.

“We see what is happening around football,” Putin told Blatter. “We are grateful that you still concentrate your time and attention above all on sport,” he said.

Putin told the ceremony that Russia has “a long history of football” and that the World Cup was an opportunity “to show a multifaceted and open Russia that can surprise and inspire.”

Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup in a vote in 2010 when Qatar got the 2022 tournament.

ST PETERSBURG: FIFA’s embattled president Sepp Blatter is “a victim” and “a very brave person”, the chief executive of the 2018 Russian World Cup organising committee said on Friday.

Blatter was in St Petersburg for Saturday’s World Cup qualifying draw, his first foreign trip since football’s ruling body became the subject of criminal investigations into allegations of systemic corruption. The 79-year-old Swiss is standing down in February as a result of the crisis.

“He has always been a friend of our country,” Alexei Sorokin told the BBC. “We are certain everything he’s doing is for the good of FIFA to which he has dedicated his life.”

“Unfortunately, he decided to take up responsibility himself for certain things which are not within his responsibility,” he said.

The bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are being investigated in the U.S. and Switzerland, leading to media speculation that Russia and Qatar could be stripped of hosting the

Rica in 2009 and Jordan in 2013.

In the first round (August-September 2015) American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga contest a group stage with winners only progressing to second round.

Group Stage: Group A: Winners of 1st rd; Papua New Guinea; New Caledonia; Tahiti. Group B: New Zealand; Vanuatu; Fiji and Solomon Islands. Top three from each group progress to third round and drawn into two groups of three.

The top two in each group then play each other in two-legged tie with the winner then involved in a play-off with an opponent from another continent. The winner of that qualifies for the finals. - Agencies

England drawn with Scotland ST PETERSBURG: England will face old enemies Scotland in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia after they were paired together at a lavish draw ceremony in Saint Petersburg on Saturday.

Both sides will also face Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta in Group F. World champions Germany were drawn alongside Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan and San Marino.

Arguably the toughest group sees 1998 champions France drawn alongside three-time World Cup runners-up the Netherlands and a Sweden side captained by Paris Saint-Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

There is also a meeting of two former winners in Group G as Spain and Italy were paired along with Albania, Israel, Macedonia and Liechtenstein.

Group D sees another local clash as top seeds Wales will meet the Republic of Ireland as well as Austria, Serbia, Moldova and Georgia.

The winners of all nine European groups will qualify automatically for the World Cup with the eight best runners-up facing off in two-legged playoffs for the remaining four spots.

Copa America champions Chile will entertain Brazil in their opening qualifying match with the most keenly anticipated South American encounters between Argentina and Brazil taking place on matchdays three and 11.

US grouped with Trinidad The United States, who have qualified for the last seven World Cups, will begin their quest for an eighth straight appearance in Russia with Trinidad & Tobago likely to provide the toughest opposition in their first qualifying group.

The U.S., who reached the last

LAVISH DRAW: Former German striker Oliver Bierhoff shows the name of England during the pre-

liminary draw for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in St. Petersburg on Saturday. – AFP

16 in Brazil last year, will also meet the winners of two earlier qualifying round games -- St Vincent and the Grenadines v Aruba, and Antigua and Barbuda v Guatemala.

Mexico will play Honduras in their opening qualifying group as well as the winners of the earlier round ties -- Curacao v El Salvador and Canada v Belize.

Jamaica, whose ranking means they have to enter the competition at an earlier stage, face Nicaragua in a two-legged tie. If they win that tie they will go into a group containing Costa Rica and Panama as seeded teams. Grenada or Haiti will also be in the same group.

The top two teams in those three groups will go into a final group of six teams.

The top three teams will qualify for the World Cup with the fourth-placed team meeting an

Asian qualifier bidding to take their place in the finals.

The first two rounds for the African stage of qualifying were also drawn with the 20 victors from round two progressing to a final group stage where the five group winners will qualify for the World Cup. The standout tie from the second round sees four-time finalists Morocco take on African Nations Cup semi-finalists Equatorial Guinea.

Meanwhile, there was a blow for Oceania favourites New Zealand as they will have to beat the fifth-best side in South America if they come through regional qualifying in the inter-continental playoffs.

In the other inter-continental tie the fourth-placed side in the North and Central American confederation face the fifth-best side from the Asian qualifying stage.

European qualifying draw: Group A: Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus, Luxembourg. Group B: Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Andorra. Group C: Germany, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan, San Marino. Group D: Wales, Austria, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Moldova, Georgia.

Group E: Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia, Kazakhstan. Group F: England, Slovakia, Scotland, Malta, Lithuania, Slovenia. Group G: Spain, Italy, Albania, Israel, Macedonia, Liechtenstein. Group H: Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus. Group I: Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland. (Group winners qualify directly for finals, eight best runners-up contest two-legged playoffs). - Agencies

AFRICAN ZONE

Cameroon face tricky start in qualifiers ST PETERSBURG: Cameroon will have to negotiate a tricky twoleg knockout tie against Somalia or Niger at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign following the African zone draw made in St Petersburg on Saturday.

Somalia and Niger will meet in the first round and the winners play the Indomitable Lions over

two legs in the second. South Sudan, who joined FIFA in 2012, will face Mauritania in their firstever World Cup qualifier, with the opening leg at home.

The winners play Tunisia in the second round.

Nigeria will face Djibouti or Swaziland in the second round and African champions Ivory

Coast must face Liberia or Guinea-Bissau.

Angola will meet South Africa in arguably the toughest of the second-round meetings.

The 26 lowest-ranked African teams take part in the first round and the winners join the remaining 27 African sides in the second stage, again played on a knockout

basis with each tie over two legs played from November 9 to 17.

This creates a potential pitfall for the established teams who run the risk of being eliminated because of a single shock result.

In the third round, the 20 teams are divided into five groups of four and the winners of each group qualify for the World Cup. - Reuters

C

SECTION

Health LIFESTYLE

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

S U N DAY, J U LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

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SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

LIFESTYLE

Don’t let a missed workout derail your entire day. To make up for the lack of expended calories, stick to water at dinnertime, avoiding sugary juice or soda and saving yourself the 150 calories you might have burned at the gym.

Replace negative statements about your self-worth or value with positive affirmations.

When you find yourself reaching for a snack when you are stressed, set a timer for 10 minutes. Then wait and see if you are still hungry by the time the buzzer rings.

O

besity and weight-control issues affect more than 1.5 billion people around the world. Even more if you take into account the families of those struggling with the scale who are affected in numerous ways, from the emotional toll of seeing a loved one suffer to the physical loss when a family member dies from an obesity related illness.

While most people are now aware of the array of factors, from diet to exercise to genetics, that contribute to weight management, many dieters and their supporters overlook the emotional cost of carrying excess weight.

International studies have found solid links between depression and obesity. One study sited a 37% increase in depression among women who experienced significant weight gain, while other studies reveal a strong correlation between weight gain and emotionally taxing life events, like unemployment, death of a friend or family member, or a diagnosis of a major illness. Depression is both a risk factor for obesity and a potential symptom.

Those struggling with their weight, often experience feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, which can cause them to turn to food as a source of comfort, as an act of self-destruction, or as a punishment for perceived weight-loss failures.

This vicious cycle can destroy confidence and negatively effect personal relationships, further perpetuating the cycle.

So when it comes to losing weight, or supporting a loved one who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle, addressing some of the emotional components that affect our weight is as important to long term success as diet and exercise.

According to a study conducted by the National Weight Control Registry, people who lost weight and continued bimonthly support meetings for one year maintained their full weight loss, while those who didn’t, regained almost half of the weight they had lost. Start your own weight loss support group within your family, mosque, church, or school.

Replace: I ate too much today, I am a failure With: I am proud of my continued efforts and perseverance. I look forward to doing even better tomorrow.

Combat Emotional Eating We often turn to food as a source of comfort, stress relief, or out of boredom, instead of approaching our meals as a source of physical nourishment.

There are some theories out there that purport that we crave sweets at times of great distress based on a primal association with mother’s milk. But no matter what the reason, emotional eating can lead to rapid weight-gain and feelings of being out of control or helpless. There are several ways to help combat emotional eating.

When you find yourself reaching for a snack, stop and ask yourself if you are physically hungry, or if your craving might be triggered by something stressful that you are trying to avoid or seek comfort from.

Set a timer for 10 minutes and see if you are still hungry by the time the buzzer rings. If you think you are truly hungry, then eat a piece of fruit and drink a glass of water before eating anything else, as we rarely desire healthy options during an emotional craving.

In the long-term, try to find healthy ways to de-stress and find comfort, like calling a friend to talk, going for a walk, or writing in a diary. If you do succumb to your cravings, look at it as an isolated incident and don’t dwell on it, as that can derail your entire diet.

The All-Or-Nothing Trap When dieting, it is impossible to be perfect all the time; we miss workouts and sometimes eat an extra cookie (or ten). Sometimes these slip-ups lead to an all-or-nothing approach in which a missed workout seems to justify an all-day pizza binge. But the key to avoiding the emotional distress (and the associated overeating) is to be forgiving with yourself.

Instead of dwelling on your “failure”, acknowledge your misstep, ask yourself why or how it happened (emotional crutch, a celebration, you just plain needed some chocolate), think of ways you might have avoided the situation (reaching for an apple, eating a salad before hitting the buffet, or maybe just practicing moderation and splitting that piece of cake). Then put it out of your mind and move on.

Whatever you do, resist being pulled into the trap of negative selftalk. You are not what you eat.

talk (often unknowingly and with the best of intentions) it is important to express how it makes you feel and let them know how they can better support you. If they do not seem receptive or if you do not feel it is coming from a good place, find other support systems to build you up and help encourage you on your journey.

Negative Self-Talk Many who struggle with their weight, especially over a long period of time (or a lifetime in some cases) are haunted by feelings of guilt. Part of this stems from the fact that weight loss has long been approached from a purely physical perspective — calories in versus calories out — with little consideration for the emotional factors or physical factors outside of one’s control (like slow metabolism, or various medical conditions that inhibit weight loss). This oversimplified approach indirectly blames the overweight for being overweight, which unsurprisingly, can lead to feelings of guilt.

The biggest trap those on a weight loss journey can fall into is the cycle of guilt-induced negative self-talk: I have no self control. I am lazy. I don’t deserve to be healthy. I am worthless.

I am ugly.

Such lies can eat away at a person’s sense of self worth and motivation, and can be incredibly damaging to the psyche. These thoughts also have a tendency to spiral out of control.

The only way to combat this cycle of negativity is to refuse to engage in it. When you catch yourself repeating one of these lies, counter it. I am strong. I am brave and willing to fight for the changes I want to see in myself. I am loved. I am worth the effort.

Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant as the mantras we repeat to ourselves become our truths.

If those around you are perpetuating this negative

Don’t Go it Alone Study after study has found that those with a solid support system, which provides both accountability and encouragement, experience greater weight loss than those who go it alone, and tend to keep the weight off over the long-term.

Reach out for help. Confide in close friends or family about your weight loss goals and efforts and let them know how they can support you, for example, have a friend join you on a daily walk in place of your usual daily coffee.

If they too are interested in losing weight, find ways to encourage each other through weekly check-ins, healthy recipe swaps, or pacts to call one another when a craving hits.

Get involved with community of people on the same weight loss journey. Those working towards a healthier weight, especially those with a large amount of weight to loose, greatly benefit from being able to share and relate to one another’s triumphs and challenges. Go online and join weight loss chat groups or supportive programmes like weightwatchers.com.

Or put up fliers or ads to start your own weight loss support group at your local mosque, church, or school.

Over 20% of the population in Oman struggles with their weight, so there are many out there going through the same challenges.

Weight at its most extreme is about life and death, and at the very least is about quality of life. Efforts to change one’s life through weight loss are brave and honourable, though they are too often fought in shameful isolation.

This need not be the case. You are not alone. —felicia@timesofoman.com

S U N DAY, JU LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

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LIFESTYLE

Try

BRIEFS

Watching cartoons can make kids fat

W hy Here are a few simple, time-tested foods, techniques, and remedies to try, and a bit about why. Have you tried any of these tricks? How did you like them? Do you have a favourite remedy of your own? Tell us about it at lifestyle@timesofoman.com

Sip Lemon Juice Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good to start your day with a glass of lemon juice cut with water. The citrus is loaded with Vitamin C and other antioxidants that boost your immunity, and it enhances the bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to absorb iron, an important nutrient for a healthy immune system. As lemon juice is similar in atomic structure to the stomachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digestive juices, it also has a positive effect on the gastrointestinal tract and helps cleanse the bowels, relieving symptoms of indigestion, heartburn and bloating. The acid can damage the enamel on your teeth, so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t eat lemon raw.

Lift Correctly Many people injure their backs when they lift objects.

To prevent back injury and pain, bend and lift the proper way: Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; *, Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014; .Ĺ&#x2014; * ,.Ĺ&#x2014;.)Ĺ&#x2014;!#0 Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014; ) 3Ĺ&#x2014; Ĺ&#x2014;1# Ĺ&#x2014; - Ĺ&#x2014;) Ĺ&#x2014;-/**),.Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; . ( Ĺ&#x2014; -Ĺ&#x2014; &)- Ĺ&#x2014; -Ĺ&#x2014;*)--# & Ĺ&#x2014;.)Ĺ&#x2014;." Ĺ&#x2014;) $ .Ĺ&#x2014;3)/Ĺ&#x2014; , Ĺ&#x2014;&# .#(!Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; ( Ĺ&#x2014; .Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014;%( -Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014;().Ĺ&#x2014; .Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014;1 #-.Ĺ&#x2014;),Ĺ&#x2014; %Ĺ&#x2014;-)Ĺ&#x2014;." .Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014;& !-Ĺ&#x2014;. % Ĺ&#x2014;." Ĺ&#x2014;#'* .Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; #!". (Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014;-.)' "Ĺ&#x2014;'/- & -Ĺ&#x2014; -Ĺ&#x2014;3)/Ĺ&#x2014;&# .Ĺ&#x2014;." Ĺ&#x2014;) $ .Ĺ&#x2014;.)Ĺ&#x2014;*,). .Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014; % Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; )& Ĺ&#x2014;." Ĺ&#x2014;) $ .Ĺ&#x2014; -Ĺ&#x2014; &)- Ĺ&#x2014;.)Ĺ&#x2014;3)/,Ĺ&#x2014; ) 3Ĺ&#x2014; -Ĺ&#x2014;3)/Ĺ&#x2014; (Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; -Ĺ&#x2014;3)/Ĺ&#x2014;-. ( Ĺ&#x2014;/*Ĺ&#x2014;1#."Ĺ&#x2014;." Ĺ&#x2014;) $ .Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014; )Ĺ&#x2014;().Ĺ&#x2014; ( Ĺ&#x2014; ),1 ,

Children consume more high-calorie food such as cookies and candy after observing egg-shaped cartoon characters that they perceive to be overweight, a study said.

Children tend to perceive ovoid, or egg-shaped, characters as overweight even though the creatures are imaginary, and seeing them can inďŹ&#x201A;uence children to eat more unhealthy food, found the study. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They have a tendency to eat almost twice as much indulgent food as kids who are exposed to perceived healthier looking cartoon characters or no characters at all,â&#x20AC;? said lead author of the study Margaret Campbell, marketing professor at the University of Colo, )Ĺ&#x2014; )/& ,Ĺ&#x2014; #(Ĺ&#x2014; ." Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x201E;Ĺ&#x2014; " Ĺ&#x2014; results of the study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology said that kids are responsive to the apparent bodyweight of cartoon characters like the aptly named Grimace, a rotund, milkshakeloving creature created by McDonaldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurant in the 1970s. The ďŹ ndings â&#x20AC;&#x201D; gathered from over 300 participants in three age groups averaging eight, 12 and 13 years â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have implications for marketers as well as parents navigating a world where children encounter cartoon characters in a variety of media, from books to graphic novels, TV shows, video games, movies and more. IANS

New drug may treat depression in a day Researchers have identiďŹ ed promising drug compounds that could successfully treat depression in less than 24 hours while minimising side effects. Although they have not yet been tested in people, the compounds could offer signiďŹ cant advantages over current antidepressant medications, the study said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our results open up a whole new class of potential antidepressant medications,â&#x20AC;? said lead researcher Scott Thompson, professor at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine (US). IANS

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Miss Tea Time Tea is loaded with antioxidants and is considered good for the heart. Drinking tea may help keep your arteries clear of clots that can develop due to high cholesterol levels. It ensures that arteries are smooth and clog-free in much the same ways as drain ensures that bathroom pipes remain clear. Studies have found a 70 per cent lower risk of fatal heart attack in people who drink at least two to three cups of tea daily compared to non-tea drinkers.

PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCK

DECODING DOCTOR

Hubert Vaz chats with Dr Mathew Raphael, a physician and gastroenterologist at Al Hayat International Hospital

Love Your Liver IF THE HUMAN BODY was an automobile, the liver would be its (!#( Ä&#x201E;Ĺ&#x2014; ( Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014; (-/,#(!Ĺ&#x2014;&#0 ,Ĺ&#x2014;" &."Ĺ&#x2014; is crucial to keeping things running well. Dr Mathew Raphael, physician ( Ĺ&#x2014;! -.,) (. ,)&)!#-.Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014; &Ĺ&#x2014; 3 .Ĺ&#x2014; (. ,( .#)( &Ĺ&#x2014; )-*#. &Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014;!#0 -Ĺ&#x2014; Ĺ&#x2014; , %down of what the liver does, some common liver issues, and how to maintain good liver function.

What is the role of the liver?

The liver has many crucial functions, like detoxiďŹ cation of the blood to rid it of harmful substances, digestion of fats, production of proteins and immunoglobulins, storage of sugar, conversion of stored sugar to functional

sugar, breaking down haemoglobin as well as insulin, conversion of ammonia to urea (which is vital in metabolism) and eliminating old red blood cells. So, basically, cleaning the blood and turning food into usable energy.

ards. Thankfully, the most common liver ailments are preventable.

What if the damage is done?

Liver transplants are an option for some patients with acute liver failure.

They require a compatible donor who will donate a 30 per cent porWhat are common liver issues?

-# -Ĺ&#x2014; * .#.#-Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014; Ĺ&#x2014; ( Ĺ&#x2014; Ä&#x2026;Ĺ&#x2014; )." ,Ĺ&#x2014; tion of his or her liver. It is far betailments concerning the liver include ter to take preventative measures to alcoholic liver disease (due to exces- ensure your liver health and mainsive consumption of alcohol), fatty tain a happy healthy life. liver (due to obesity), cancer of the liver, autoimmune liver dis- How can I protect my liver? ease, developmental defects in One can protect the liver and infants, and amoebic liver disease prevent the most common liver which is not prevalent nowadays issues easily by avoiding things because of better hygiene stand- that injure the liver.

Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t engage in excessive consumption of alcohol Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; Limit the number of medications you take that can damage the liver (cholesterol drugs must be taken under medical supervision). Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; Keep your weight under control to prevent fat deposits from developing on the liver. Ä&#x160;Ĺ&#x2014; .Ĺ&#x2014;." Ĺ&#x2014;*,)* ,Ĺ&#x2014;#''/(#- .#)(Ĺ&#x2014; ),Ĺ&#x2014; *atitis A (contracted through unclean )) ĢĹ&#x2014; ( Ĺ&#x2014; * .#.#-Ĺ&#x2014; Ĺ&#x2014; ÄĄ )(., . Ĺ&#x2014; through blood or body ďŹ&#x201A;uids) ÄŽ " , Ĺ&#x2014; #-Ĺ&#x2014; ()Ĺ&#x2014; 0 #( .#)(Ĺ&#x2014; ),Ĺ&#x2014; * .#tis C, which is most often contracted through unprotected sex or the use of unclean needles.

C10

SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

FIND-IT-ALL CINEMA SCHEDULE

CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

@MGM

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BAHJA CINEMA

Terminator: Genisys (Action / Adventure) Cast: Arnold Schwarznegger, Emily Clarke 3.30, 7.30, 9.45 & 11.55 pm CP No: 1714 (PG 12) The Gallows (Horror/ Thriller) Cast: Cassidy Gifford, Pfiefer Brown, Riyan Shoos 8.00 & 10.00 pm CP No: 1730 (15+) Minions ( Animation/ Comedy ) 12.00 & 5.45 pm CP No: 1731 (PG) Max (Adventure/ Family) Cast: Thomas Harden Church, Josh Wiggin 4.00 pm CP No: 1732 ( PG) Vatican Tapes ( Horror/Thriller ) Cast: Katheleen Roberston, Djimon Hounsou, Dougrey Scott 12.00, 1.45 & 11.55 pm CP No: 1835 (18+) Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! ( Horror/Sci: Fic ) Cast: Tara Reid, Bo Derek, Frankie Muniz 2.00 & 6.00 pm CP No: 1836 (15+)

Film information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855 Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

CITY CINEMA Contact (10 am to 6pm) 24567664 | 68. www.citycinemaoman.net facebook.com/citycinemaoman SHATTI Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Drama)(PG) Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali 11:30 am, 3:30, 8:30, 11:30 pm Terminator: Genisys (Action, Adventure) (3D)PG12 Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke 9:15, 11:45 pm Terminator: Genisys (Action)(2D)PG12 2:30 pm Minions (Animation, Comedy)(3D) PG 1:30, 5:00 pm Minions (Animation, Comedy)(2D) PG 11:30 pm Hayaty Mebahdela (Comedy)(PG) Cast: Mohamed Saad, Nicole Saba 7:00 pm The Gallows (Horror, Thriller) (15+) Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos 6:15, 10:00 pm The Vatican Tapes (Horror, Thriller) (12+) Cast: Michael Peña, Kathleen Robertson, Djimon Hounsou, 4:30, 11:45 pm Pixels (3D) (Action, Comedy) PG12 Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle 2:30, 6:30, 8:00 pm Pixels (2D) (Action, Comedy) PG12 12:15 pm MUSCAT GRAND MALL A Royal Night Out 2D (Drama) Cast: Sarah Gadon, Emily Watson, Jack 3:45PM (15+) Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! 2D (Horror) (15+) Cast: Tara Reid, Bo Derek, Frankie Muniz 7:45PM Terminator Genisys (3D): (Action) (PG12) 9:30 PM, 11:55 PM Gold Class: 12:30 PM, 11:15PM Terminator Genisys (2D) (Action) (PG12) 4:15 PM

3:45 pm

9:15, 11:45 pm

TERMINATOR: GENISYS (3D) (Action, Adventure) (PG)

A ROYAL NIGHT OUT 2D (Drama) Cast : Sarah Gadon, Emily Watson, Jack (15+)

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke

Minions (3D) (Animation, Comady) (PG) 12:30 PM, 2:00PM Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2D): ( Action) (PG) 11:00 AM, 8:45 PM, 11:45PM Gold Class: 3:00 PM, 8:15 PM Pixels (3D) (Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi ) (PG12) Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle 2:15, 6:45 PM Gold Class: 6:00 PM Hayaty Mebahdela (2D) (Comedy)(PG) Cast : Mohamed Saad, Nicole Saba, Hassan Hosny 5:45 PM

SCREEN 3 Masaan (Romance/Drama) – (12+) Cast: Richa Chadda, Sanjay Mishra, Saurav

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) Dept time

Destination

TO MUSCAT (RUWI) Arrival Operating time days

Dept time

Destination

Arrival Operating time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

TEMPERATURE

15:00 15:00 15:00

05:30 05:30 05:30

Maximum

16:30 18:00 19:30

Daily Daily Daily

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

20:50

Daily

16:50 19:30

Daily Daily

Nizwa Al Araqi

Sur Sur

Daily Daily

Fahud Yibal

12:00 18:45

Daily Daily

Salalah Marmul Salalah Salalah

10:30 11:15

Daily Daily

20:00 20:30 23:30 07:40

Marmul

Dubai

16:50

Daily

Sohar Dubai Sohar Dubai Sohar Dubai

08:40 11:00

Daily Daily

15:40 15:40

Nizwa Ruwi

17:55 20:20

Daily Daily

06:00 14:30

Ruwi Ruwi

10:45 19:00

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

07:00

Daily

08:30 11:30 15:30 18:30 17:35 20:55

Daily Daily Wed,Thur Wed,Thur Daily Daily

15:00

Salalah

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

38 33 Minimum

11.45 13.30 14.00

Film information 24791641 / 24786776 Website: www.isurf.co.om

Baahubali (Tamil) (Action) Cast: Prhabas, Rana Daggubatti, Anshka Shetty, Tamannaah & Satya Ra 3-30, 6-30 & 9-30 pm at Cinema Main Baahubali (Telugu) (Action) 3-30, 6-30 & 9-30 pm at Cinema -2 Ivede (Mal ) (Thriller) Cast: Prithviraj, Nivin Pauly & Bhavana 3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 pm at Cinema – 3 Premam (Mal) (Rom) Cast: Nivin Pauly & Anupama 3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 pm at Cinema -4 Next Change: Acha Din (Mal), Appatakkar (Tamil), Vallu (Tamil) (Programmes are subject to change)

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RELATIVE HUMIDITY

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

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Daily Daily Daily Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201) 06:00 06:00 13:00 13:00 15:00 15:00

Nizwa Ruwi

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102) 15:00

06:00 06:00

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100) Daily Daily Daily Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101) 06:00

Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100) 07:00 10:00 10:00 19:00

10:25

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62) 06:30 06:30

Ruwi

SALALAH Terminator (3D)(PG12) (Action) 9:00, 11:55 PM

STAR CINEMA

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

10:20 12:30

TO SUR (ROUTE 55) 07:30 14:30

07:00

SUR Terminator Genisys (3D) (Action) (PG12) 05:45, 11:45 PM Minions (3D) (Animation) (PG) 4:00 PM Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Hindi) (Drama) (PG) 04:15, 08:00 PM Bahubali (Hindi) (Action) (12+) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka 7:15 PM The Vatican Tapes (Horror | Thriller) (18+) Cast: Michael Peña, Kathleen Robertson 10:00 PM Ivide (Mal) (Crime | Drama) (12+) Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Nivin Pauly 11:00 PM

Terminator (2D)(PG12) (Action) 2:45 PM Minions (3D) (PG) (Animation) 10:30, 2:15 PM Minions (2D) (PG) (Animation) 1:00 PM Pixels (3D)(PG12) (Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi ) Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle 12:15, 5:00, 7:00 PM Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2D) (PG) (Drama/Action) 10:00AM, 12:30, 4:00, 9:00, 11:15 PM Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali Hayaty Mebahdela (2D) (PG)(Arabic) 5:00 PM The Gallows(2D)(15+) (Horror/Thriller) Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos 3:30, 11:30 PM Masaan (2D)(12+) (Drama) Cast: Richa Chadda, Saurabh Chadhary, Sanjay Mishra 7:00 PM Mahra Story (2D)(PG) (Drama) Cast: Salim Bahwan, Raniya alali 7:00 PM Ivide (2D) (12+) (Crime/Drama) Cast: Prithviraj, Nivin Pauly, Bhavana 8:45 PM

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

Sharkando 3: Oh Hell No! (2D) (Horror) (15+) Cast: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo, 5:45, 10:00PM The Gallows– 2D (Horror/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan 3:45, 10:00PM

BURAIMI Terminator Genisys - 3D (Action) (PG12) 12:30, 6:45, 11:50PM Bajrangi Bhaijaan– 2D (Drama, Action) (PG) 12:45, 2:45, 7:00, 9:00, 11:30PM Ivide– 2D (Crime/Drama) (12+) Cast: Prithviraj Sukumran, Nivin Pauly 7:30PM Minions– 3D (Animation) (PG) 12:15, 2:00, 6:00PM Baahubali: The Beginning – 2D (Thriller) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka 3:45PM (12+) The Vatican Tapes– 2D (Horror) (18+) Cast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Pena 11:45PM

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54) 14:30 14:30

Sohar Ruwi Ruwi Sohar Ruwi Sohar Ruwi

Daily Daily Daily

Sci-Fi ) Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan

Cast: Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Cassie Scerbo

WEATHER

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36) Quriyat Sur Jaalan

12:15, 5:00, 7:00 pm PIXELS (3D) (PG12) (Action/Comedy/

1:30, 11:55 PM Nom El Talat - 2D (12+) Comedy 8:15 PM Masaan - 2D (12+) (Drama) Cast: Richa Chadda, Saurabh Chadhary, Sanjay Mishra 10:00 PM Ivide - 2D (M) (12+) (Crime, Drama) 12:45, 9:05 PM Baahubali - 2D (12+) (Action) 11:45 PM

SOHAR Terminator Genisys - 2D (PG12) (Action) 3:30 PM Terminator Genisys - 3D (PG12) (Action) 12:30, 9:00, 11:45 PM Bajrangi Bhaijaan - 2D (PG) Drama, Action 4:00, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30 PM Minions - 2D (PG) (Animation) 11:45 AM Minions - 3D (PG) (Animation) 2:15, 5:00 PM Baahubali - 2D (Telegu)(12+) (Action) 3:15 PM Hayaty Mebahdela - 2D (Arabic)(PG) (Comedy) 6:45 PM Pixels - 2D (PG12) (Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi) 6:15 PM Pixels - 3D (PG12) (Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi) 12:15, 3:00, 7:00 PM The Vatican Tapes - 2D (18+) (Horror)

SCREEN 2 Baahubali: The Beginning (Action) – (12+) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka 3.45, 6.45, 9.45 PM

5:45 & 10:00 pm SHARKANDO 3: OH HELL NO (2D) (Horror ) (15+)

Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali Malthotra

Choudhary 3.45, 9.45 PM Bin Roye- Urdu - Pakistani (Romance/ Drama/Comedy) – PG12 Cast: Mahira Khan, Humayun Saeed, Armeena Rana Khan , Zeba Bakhtiar 6.45 PM

RUWI SCREEN 1 Bajrangi Bhaijaan (Action/Drama ) – PG Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Harshaali 3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PM

1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 pm BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN (Action/Drama )

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

Appolo 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

S U N DAY, JU LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

C11

LIFESTYLE Widely ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Ayurvedic Massage

By Dr Jisha K.J.

FA M I LY A D V I C E

regarded as the oldest form of healthcare in the world, Ayurveda is an intricate medical system that originated in India thousands of years ago.

Massage (Abhyanga) has a very important role in Ayurveda, in which it is performed using medicated oil (thailam).

Every thailam has a unique and specific formula that can contain the components of up to 50 different plants. Each ingredient of the thailam is carefully selected for its physiological action and to help restore the body’s natural state of health.

In addition to general Ayurvedic massage, there are specialized massages like Udvartana and Shirodhara. Udvartanais performed primarily to promote weight loss, but also improves skin complexion, helps to destress and relax the body, and works as a natural exfoliation treatment. In this treatment a special medicated powder is used instead of oil and massage strokes are delivered in upward direction with high pressure.

Shirodhara involves dripping oil like a thread onto the head.

The technique soothes and invigorates the senses and the mind, promoting a total feeling of well-

ness, mental clarity and comprehension. Medicated oil, ghee, or decoctions are placed in a dhara pot and allowed to trickle slowly onto the head of the patient lying below it. Shirodhara is an extremely effective treatment used to calm the nerves, release pent-up emotions, and purify the mind and is particularly well suited to those struggling with mental distress or illness and insomnia, as well as diseases of the ears, nose, and throat.

Specific strokes, oils, marmas, chakras, music and affirmations enhance the therapeutic impact of the customised massage, all of which must be preceded by a consultation to establish the state of the patient’s tissues and body systems, as well as his or her previous conditions and mental disposition.

Ayurvedic massage is available at: Kottakkal Ayurvedic Centre Near Hamriyah Al Maha pump.

Building No. 2788, Way No. 4141 Tel: 24701555 What is your favourite alternative medicine ?

Tell us about it: Hubert@timesofoman.com

FITNESS MOVE OF THE WEEK

DO A BRIDGE

ASK DR. GERRY DRUG ADDICTION

“The Bridge” is an extremely effective exercise move that works the glutes (bum), hamstrings, and hips, as well as the supporting abdominal and back muscles.

Do two sets of

20 repetitions three times per week

PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCK (2)

As a bonus, pulse the move by dropping your hips towards the floor and squeezing your glutes to return to the top position, without touching the floor,

Dear Dr Gerry,

Dear Z,

I’m a 17-year-old boy and I have a troubling question to ask you. I love my friends, love being part of the group and hanging out together.

Recently some of the group started using cigarettes and we all tried it out. Some of them want to try other substances but I’m feeling increasingly uncomfortable. I don’t want to lose my friends and want to be part of the group. Is there a problem with experimenting one time?

This is an important question that faces all young people. What do I do? Should I go with the flow?

Many young people let peer pressure direct their choices. But what you are describing is a dangerous problem and I’m happy you’re feeling uncomfortable. It’s important to trust your instincts, which in this case are correct. Every year millions of people struggle with drug additiction. What starts as an experimentation or occasional joy rides, can very quickly become an

Z

all consuming nightmare.

But why not try it just once? The fact is that nobody can say when addiction begins and it’s the first use that opens the door to addiction.

Many of my patients have wished they could have gone back and refused that ‘first use’. They tell me, “I thought it wouldn’t happen to me, I thought I could control it.”

Don’t open that door. Talk to your friends and let them know this is not something you are comfortable with or interested in trying. Those who truly care about you will respect your decision.

Dr Gerry D’Costa has an MD in psychiatry and a special interest in the areas of anxiety, depression, addiction, and children’s psychiatry. He has practiced as a specialised psychiatrist at Badr Al Samaa hospital in Ruwi for the last 9 years. Starting next week, Dr D’Costa will begin offering his advice and professional insights to the readers of Times of Oman. Send your mental health questions to lifestyle@timesofoman.com.

10 times

before rolling to the ground to rest.

Lay on your back with your arms flat at your sides.Bend your knees to a 45 degree angle, keeping your feet flat on the floor (your feet should be directly under your knees). Tighten your core (abdominal) and gluteus (bum) muscles. Lift your hips towards the ceiling until your body makes a straight line from your knees to your shoulders.

Hold the pose for 5 full breaths and slowly roll back down to the starting position

You can use the same position, but lower your hip all the way down to the ground after

1 - 2 sconds and repeat it 25 times to reap the benefits of fullfledged workout for your core and glutes.

C12

SU N DAY, JULY 26, 2015

LIFESTYLE

Only cardio burns fat, so whether you want to lose weight or show off your newly shredded abs and bicep muscles, cardio is essential to any fitness routine. Doctors recommend 30 minutes per day to increase heart health and overall fitness, here’s how to maximise that half hour.

Cycling Torch 200-500 calories (depending on speed and intensity) in just 30 minutes with this low-impact activity that is perfect for those who can’t run due to joint issues. Try a spinning class for extra intensity.

Running Running is one of the most perfect forms of exercise, as it can be done anywhere and costs nothing aside from the initial cost of running shoes. If you are new to the sport, start slowly with short jogs, working your way up to longer runs at faster speeds. For experienced runners, intensify your workout by incorporating 30-second sprints into your daily run. You can burn about 10 calories a minute running, for at least a 300 calories every 30 minute session.

Aerobic Dance Aerobic dance classes vary in intensity, but whether you salsa or two-step, you can be sure you are burning a minimum of 200-300 calories in half an hour. Aerobic classes range from club-style dancing to classes that incorporate kickboxing with hip dips. Try a variety until you find one that keeps you motivated.

Racquetball Racquetball is a fun and social activity, and, believe it or not, it is one of the most effective high intensity workouts out there. Sprinting around the court, you’ll burn over 400 calories in 30 minutes.

Swimming Swimming utilises the entire upper body and core, making it excellent for sculpting as well as for cardiovascular health. You’ll burn 250-300 calories in 30 minutes. This activity is zero impact, so anyone, regardless of joint or arthritis problems, can participate.

D

W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M S U N DAY, J U LY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

SECTION

CONNEC T H E D A I LY G U I D E

RENT

D2

VACANCY

D4

CARGO

D7

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

D2

S U N DAY, J U LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

3000 sq mtrs Industrial landß, in Barka Sanaiya, with electricity 400KW, shed, staff accommodation and office. Ready to start any kind of factory. Contact 99384255.

FOR RENT

Building In Rusail Industrial ŶĞĂƌ ƚŽ ŵŝĂŶƟƚ KŵĂŶ comprising a store divisible area 266 sq. meters.

The building includes Studios ĂŶĚ ƌŽŽŵƐ ǁŝƚŚ ĚŝīĞƌĞŶƚ ƐŝnjĞ ƐƵŝƚĂďůĞ ĨŽƌ ŽĸĐĞƐ Žƌ residence.

Preferably to be leased to one company.

3BR villa, sitting, dining & hall, Azaiba behind Al Meera H- Market.

Contact: 99259977 / 95033008 1BHK, Darsait, walking distance to ISM , neat and clean building, ground floor, OMR 260/- per month rent Call IQRAR on 99076557 Fully furnished 3 BHK accommodation with all spacious rooms in a villa at Darsait near ISD. Contact: 9526 5289 / 9604 8422 Furnished room for rent at Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975 Villa AL Ghobrah, 6 bedroom 1200/R.O. Contact: 99340055/97557555 For rent in Qantab European style 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, Guest toilet, fully equipped modern kitchen, covered car park for two cars, approximately 150 meters from the beach. For enquiries, please Contact: Yasser at 92606005 Small old house for rent Al Ghobrah.

Contact 95112461 House for rent 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, hall, kitchen Muscat Sidab opposite the sea 250/-.

Contact: 99277377 1BHK without A.C Ghubra R.O 275/.

Contact: 97799175 / 92144045 2 BHK with A.C Mumtaz R.O 300/-.

Contact: 97799175 3BHK, 3 bathrooms, 2 balconies, nr. Al Hassan W/ Kabir R.O 350/-.

Contact: 99384640 Flats shops for rent in Ruwi MBD area Mumtaz area.

Contact: 97293708 / 92433127 2BHK at Al Khodh, 2BHK at Wadi Kabir 2 room, 1hall, dining, 2 bathrooms. Contact: 99224748 / 99332297 Store in Wadi Kabir 1900 SQM. Contact: 99473751 / 91471067 1BHK close to ISWKG Wadi Kabir Bldg # 1690 R.O 250/-.

Contact 99476728

Mob + 968 96177505 2 BHK Town house at Assarain complex Al Khuwair for rent.

Contact 96365824 Rent RO 750

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new flat available at Mabela in front of Modern English School Contact: 96239126

2 BHK near Kuwaiti Masjid Wadi Kabir. Contact: 24816774 / 97608564

Deluxe 1, 2 BHK flats in Darsait, AL Khuwair 1deal for office & residence. Contact 99369081 /99142314

2 BHK, 2 bathrooms behind Abu Nabil, Honda Road R.O 240/-.

Contact: 99737562 / 93887852 2BHK, 2 bathroom behind Sana Wadi Kabir R.O 300/-.

Contact: 99737562 / 93887852 Luxurious room, fully furnished with free WIFI and gas at Ruwi.

Contact : 95586937 Shop for rent/ sale in Ruwi near Dish market good location, behind City Cinema. Contact: 91318111 Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir with 3 rooms. Contact : 98555580 / 92800007 Flat for rent 2 bedrooms, sitting room, store gym in ground floor in Mumtaz area-Ruwi.

Contact 95135445 1BHK flats at Muttrah near Oman house. Contact : 93231403 1BHK Darsait R.O 225/-.

Contact: 92144045

Flat at Darsait. Contact 99326879

2 bedrooms apartments for rent in Al Khuwair and Ghubra. Call Yellow Bird property on 24615375 / 97137989 or visit www.muscat-realty.com One & two bedroom apartments available for rent, near avenue mall, close to Atlas hospital next to Diwans office, South Ghobrah.

Contact 99833747 250 sq mtrs restaurant for rent in Plaza Hotel, Walja Ruwi.

Contact 99326339 3 Bedroom flat in Wadi Kabeer and 2 bedroom villa in Sidab- Muscat.

Contact: 95755953

1BHK Wadi Kabeer, RO 225/-.

Contact: 92144045

Villa with two floors in (Hay Al Arjan) in AL Khoud with 4 bedrooms, hall, Majles, kitchen & one room in ground floor. Contact: 93219597

2BHK Darsait R.O 300/-.

Contact: 92144045

For rent office CBD flat in Ruwi.

Contact: 92820734 / 95345909

2BHK Ghubra R.O 350/-.

Contact: 92144045 1,2,3 BHK. Contact: 97799175

House in Amerat near to Makah hypermarket with three room, 5toilets, kitchen and hall 430/-.

Contact: 92747078

Spacious 2- BR flat in MBD. Contact 99713489

Room with A.C AL Khuwair R.O 120/- Contact: 97799175

For rent if require flats for rent in Wadi Kabir please send me messages through Whatsapp.

Contact: 99376454 Bath attached room for rent Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569 Flat with A/C in the South Al Mabella close to the Mosque Al Tawab consists of 2 rooms, hall, 2 bathrooms and kitchen. Contact: 99388995 4 BHK single villa in Al Khuwair.

Contact: 97616158 1 Villa & 3 big Flats of 2/3 BHK with hall, Kitchen & ACs Al Khoudh 6, Close to express way, from owner. Tel 97600322 alnehang@gmail.com Fabulous AC flat at Al Khoud 3 bedrooms, hall and kitchen RO 270/for rent. Contact: 99334699 2 BHK flat in Al Ansab with split A/C. RO.250/- Contact – 93191111 2BHK near Oman house behind Khimji, H.O. Contact: 95865686 506sqm space with mezzanine available for rent in AL Wadi Al Kabir, Suitable for carpentry / Auto workshop and / or electrical shop interested parties may.

Contact: 24703981

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair 33, 8 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms with parking area near Taimur Mosque.

Contact: 99366624 2BHK with split AC at Al Khuwair 33. Contact: 94057023 Office space at Alasfoor Plaza Qurum. Contact : 24566217 /24564686 For rent if require flats for rent in Wadi Kabir please send me messages through Whatsapp.

Contact: 99376454 Luxury 3 BHK flat in Al Wattaya with split A/C & private parking.

RO.500/- Contact – 93191111 Flat for rent in Mabellah 8th.

Contact: 97147240

BUYING/SELLING All type of car scanner available easy car diagnostic for professional and self use Authorize LAUNCH and Autel dealer. GSM:92393972 www.omancartools.com Used furniture & Electronic items, office & house. Contact: 99834373

FOR SALE Equipped kitchen showroom company for sale at Ghubrah, Muscat.

6 visa available, Contact owner at 96303747 Computer set up for sale. Contact 94412557 A parlour well settled / well equipped in running position at Ghobrah for sale. Contact immediately on 97498898

Flat in South Al Hail, 2 bedrooms, Majlis, 2 bathrooms, kitchen RO 250/-. Contact 93221474

Darsait near labor card Medical business furnished office for sale, rent R.O 260/- p/m.

Contact: 91211117

Flat in Ruwi Mumtaz 2 BHK RO 300 or 1 BHK 250 RO. Contact 98588240

Ladies beauty parlor sale in Muttrah, above Ahla supermarket.

Contact: 93231403

2BHK with split AC near PDO Gate no -2 at Qurum. Contact: 94057023

Used Super market Gandola RO 40.000 PER meter, double tube light RO 2.000 per piece.

Contact: 96441670

2 bed rooms, kitchen, toilet & car park in Al Khuwair R.O 200/- .

Contact 95154331 Deluxe furnished / unfurnished flats Qurum. Contact: 24566217 / 24564686 Commercial 3 BHK flat in Al Ghobra 18 Nov Street. RO 700/Contact 93191111 2 BHK flat in Al Azaiba near sea, with split A/C. RO.340/- Contact 93191111 Villa of 5 BHK in Al Ansab with split A/C. RO.650/- Contact – 93191111 For rent in Qantab European style 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, Guest toilet, fully equipped modern kitchen, covered car park for two cars, approximately 150 meters from the beach. For enquiries, please Contact: Yasser at 92606005

Total Station Survey Instrument S3 2” / Servo/ Trimble access bundle - batch 9101025 – not used.

Contact: 94282782 / 95425747 6 bedroom, 6 bath rooms, sitting & dining villa at Qurum.

Contact: 99342733 Turkish MDF door with frame for sale, size 210 x 100 Price: RO 75/-.

Contact: 95899296 / 92141514 Sale & repair of Tyres 315/80 R 22.5 & 12.00 R 24.

Contact: 97477128 Brand new 4 BHK plus Maids room in Barka, 2 Kms from Lulu.

Contact: 99347089 Commercial land for sale 3000 m in quriyat road main high way can use as a petrol station license available asking price 350,000 For more information please call on 99070701 with out name

S U N DAY, J U LY 2 6 , 2 0 1 5

D3

DAILY GUIDE

NRI

BUSINESS

3 cents plots-(12nos.) at walkable distance from Kovalm Jn.,Trivandrum,Lorry site near to main road-Bus route, for immediate sale. 3 cents- 15 lakhs only.

Call 00968-95036240, 0091-9961034763 or email- cfhd1@ yahoo.com

AVAILABLE Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Systems and spectacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

ACC. AVAILABLE Fully furnished 1BHK with all household items in Darsait near Lulu on monthly Basis.

Contact : 99493500 Self contained furnished room for executive bachelor in a decent Ghubra North villa. Contact 92595830 1BHK sharing in Ruwi. Contact: 91214537 Sharing accommodation available for working lady or couples near Ruwi Church. Contact: 92837206

FOR SALE

Centre For Housing DevelopmentTrivandrum: Group of senior and retired Engineers and Architects provides service in the field of Design and Supervision of buildings in Kerala.For appointments, E-mail your site location and building requirements to cfhd@ymail.com. or call 00968-95036240, 0091-9961034763.

38 cents plot with 2BHK house by the river bank in Thrissur Dist. near Irinjalakuda (Karavanoor).

Contact: 99347089 500 acre agricultural land suitable for rubber plantation for sale in Ratnagiri Maharashtra. price 2 lakh per acre, rubber board approved land, minimum purchase 20 acre.

We provide care taking by experienced Malayalee team for your plantation. please call , prasad 95760790

ACC. AVAILABLE Accommodation available with Keralite family near W.K main school. Contact: 95882866 /96575016 Rooms for rent in Seeb for couple / single/ working ladies.

Contact: 96996938

New company seek partnership.

Contact: 96996938 General Investors.

Gsm-99674870

FOR HIRE

MOTOR VEHICLE FOR SALE

Silver Car, car for rent. Contact: 96166155 / 98402662 Volvo 12 Ton Truck for monthly rent. Contact: 98713900

ACC. WANTED Required a room in Darsait / WadiKabir /Ruwi area.

Contact: 95405033

ACC. AVAILABLE 2 Rooms & 2 bathrooms with kitchen near al meera hyper markets, azaiba for executive bachelors / family. Gsm : 942 888 63 Fully furnished room for a decent expatriate. independent kitchen, bathroom in Wadi Adai.

Contact 96243086 at 5p.m.

Urgent sell KIA CERATO 2012, 63200 KM Run Expat family used,1.6L, Price R.O. 3300/-. Excellent Condition. GSM 92286477 Volvo prime mover model 1998 for inspection Contact: Mr. Mohammed Al Harthy 99427071 Doctor driven, Toyota Corolla 2009, Honda CRV 2009, low mileage available at Bombay Medical, behind Ruwi Police Station.

Contact 99326339

Room attached toilet and kitchen near Indian School Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 95345537

Furnished room AL Khuwair for Indian Sri Lankan. Contact: 96536307

Furnished room with attached bathroom in W/K. Contact: 97167857

Toyota Corolla 1.8 ltr GLI excellent condition 28,000 kms.

Contact: 97717152

Single furnished room, attached bathroom in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 92155261

Furnished room for Indian couples or family near Honda Road (Walja).

Contact 98952904

Sharing for non cooking executive bachelor in CBD area WIFI free, Advance deposit. Contact: 95094504

Touareg 2011 Oman cars, 114000 KM, silver, 8500/-R.O. Contact 92857111

Wall papers, grass carpets sale & fixing. Contact 99834373 / 97102699

Fully furnished room in Ruwi for non cooking ex- bachelor.

Contact 94412557

Furnished room attached bath for lady in Wadikabir (Mars Hypermarket) – 95941515

Coffee shop at Liwa main road.

Contact : 99515419

Room with bath, kitchen Al Khuwair.

Contact: 99743569/ 97004265

Independent rooms in Qurum / Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Well established medium size construction company for sale. Equipments, 30 employees & ongoing projects.

Serious buyers only 99412020

2013 NISSAN MAXIMA FOR SALE. Single Owner,10 Months full cover Insurance (UAE & Oman), 15,000 Km only. Intrested buyers can Call/ Whatsapp on 95692099 Prado ,2012. Contact : 99336093 Peugeot 206-2007 Model, expat driven. Contact 99209285 Sportage, 2013. Contact: 99336093 Land Cruiser 2012. Contact: 99336093 2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40 ton petrol tank each working at the moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35 Thousand each. Contact 97000155 or 92688692

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

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S U N DAY, J U LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTSIT. WANTED ED

SITUATION SITUATION WANTED VACANT ADMIN

ADVERTISING

Looking For office support staff with driving license and having good knowledge of all official duty.

Contact .. 91624908, 93540898

Looking for JOB. I have done BS Hons in Mass communication and media, Specialised in Public Relations and Advertising. I have upto 1 year of experience. Immediate Available. Open for any JOB. Sultan Zafar #97034134

Urgently required Male with 2 years’ experience in Admin Works, fluent in Arabic and English, Computer knowledge, preferably with driving license.

Working hours 6am to 2pm or 2pm to 10 pm daily Email: jayan@ra.cc or 99661980

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE Indian CA with 15 yrs exp working as Finance Head of MNC looking for Job. NOC Available. 94047434

Vacancy for lady Receptionist at Sinaw Hala Medical Center - Fluency in English and Arabic Omani or non Omani. Contact: 25524180 / 91362141 Email: halamedicalgroup@gmail.com

Qualified Accountant 5 years experience bilingual Arabic & English, 2+ years in Oman. Contact: 95539923 Indian male, 30 years, CMA(Inter),M. com, 4 out of 7 years experience in Oman in Auditing/ Accounts/ Finance. Having NOC and valid Oman D/L. Contact: 96746420 , Email: sijuthampi@ymail.com

Urgently Required: Administration with an experience minimum in 3 years in building construction, required immediately join and MUST have NOC.Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com.

ENGINEER ACCOUNTANT Urgently required Accountant B. Com with 4-6 years Gulf experience in construction field and good knowledge in FOCUS accounting software.

Send CV : pccllcoman@gmail.com Urgently required a part – time female Accountant fluent in English with 2-3 years experience in Tally.

Email: mhca@mhabibgroup.com Fax: 24564459 Urgently required female accountant with an experience minimum 3years Email CV on cv.hrcharity@gmail.com Urgently required Junior Accountant. Please send CV: hr.azatllc@gmail.com

BEAUTY Required Beautician for a parlor in Ghubra. Contact: 94241385 / 97244766 Wanted experienced Beautician for beauty parlor in Al Amerat 3.

Contact: 91107337

CATERING Chinese/ Arab/ continental cook & helper wanted. Contact 95529970 Required experience Waiter / Supervisor/ Juice maker, Shawarma maker. Contact: 95395378

DESIGNER Grade”A” company in interior Designing looking for: Operations manager Sales executive Qs Interior Designer CVs to be emailed to : alzahi.oman@gmail.com Designer required for wooden joinery company with excellent knowledge of 3D Max, 2D Autocad.

Contact: 94249047 Email: mfqazi@gmail.com

DRIVER Wanted driver. Contact: 95112461 Driver heavy duty required urgently for trailer. Oman / GCC experience must. Those ready for immediate joining. Contact: 99310859

ENGINEER Required Civil Engineer (buildings) Oman experience 5+ years, BOQ+ Tendering + site supervision.

Contact: 95218004 Email: alhilalint@yahoo.com Urgently Required: Civil Engineer with an experience minimum in 5 years in building construction, MUST have NOC and immediately join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com Construction Company in Oman urgently requires following candidates: BE Civil Engineer, minimum 3-5 years gulf experience & Civil site foreman, minimum 5 years gulf experience, diploma not required.

Email: applyforoman@gmail.com Leading Construction Company requires Quantity Surveyor (QS) with 4-6 yrs Gulf experience. Send your CV : qsmuscat2015@gmail.com (NOC required).

Construction Company in Oman urgently requires the following: B.Sc Civil Engineer, minimum 3-5 yrs Gulf experience. Civil Site Foreman, minimum 5 yrs experience with operating knowledge of Tally. Please Email CV ; applyforoman@gmail.com

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

Quantity Surveyor for Mechanical, Electrical BOQ preparation and verification required for part time assignment on immediate basis. Please Contact-tgi17@omantel.net.om MEP Engineer on urgent basis required for immediate placement.

Please contact tgi17@omantel.net.om Urgently required: HSE Engineer with an experience minimum in 5 years in building construction, MUST have NOC and immediately join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955, emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com, sbeoman@yahoo.com Urgently required Project Engineer for a reputed Construction Company in Muscat with Civil Engineering Degree/Diploma, 6 to 10 years experience, holding Oman/GCC Driving License.E.mail: assaud@omantel.net. om or FAX: 24953530 Fire and Safety Technician with NIFE or equivalent Diploma holder preference to those having D/L. Send CV to visionansara@gmail.com Required a part time steel Structural Design Engineer for a reputed steel fabrication company in Muscat. Interested person may Contact : 99451158

IT IND male WEB developer 5 yrs exp B.Tech (comp science) PHP, HTML MYSQL Java script CSS. Contact: 95990529 Email: renjith341@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS Required urgently experienced Gardener and building care taker.

Contact: 99231676 Well established company in selling chocolate, Arabian sweets and fresh flowers, opening ITS first branch in Muscat seeking: 1- sweets and chocolates Sales man 2- flower arranger (Asian/ Filipino Nationality) Contact: 94490011 Email: labelleoman@gmail.com A company from UAE require 2 merchandisers in retail food supply, store keeper with English and invoicing experience. Email: yesterdaysun@hotmail.com

MANAGER Urgently Required: Male – handles overall store operations of the Supermarket, Prior Experience a MUST, knowledgeable in MSOffice. Send CV to chanda@dolphin-oman.com or fax to 244-92718.

MEDICAL Require Quality Caregiver for an elderly Mother. Contact: 99425200 Required MOH licensed lady G.P Dentist Pharmacist, Asst Pharmacist for Salalah based pharmacy and clinic. Contact: 92732491 Email: clinicrecruitment2015@gmail.com Urgently wanted Lady Ayurveda Therapist. Contact: 91590083 / 92798678 Vacancy Lab Technician for inquiry or send CV zmczahara@yahoo.com Contact 24571094 Fax: 24571097 Required Prometric passed nurse to join clinic from end August.

Contact: 99352793

SKILLED Urgently required experienced sub-contractors for Marble Flooring / Marble Cladding / Grinding / Carving works. Contact 92884177 / 99485595 Urgently required a silk Screen printer with good knowledge and release letter or NOC. Contact: 93280288 or send CV to albayanstamps@gmail.com

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE Secretary (Female), Experience: Minimum 1 - 2 years. Forward CV to hr@barikgroup.com Required Office Assistant 160+25+Acc, Contact 99454425

SALES / MARKETING A vending Machine for sale of coffee products and Derivatives Company in Muscat having operations in Oman is on the lookout for quality staff for the below positions: Sales & Marketing Staff, Mechanical maintenance mechanic, General electric maintenance machines with D/L. Send CV to service@arabianvending.com Urgently required Sales Executive and interior designer for furnishing company with Valid Oman D/L and minimum 3 years experience.

Contact: 93231403/ rainbowfurnishing156@gmail.com Experience building material Salesman required in Amerat shop.

Contact : 99641900 Required Sales man - 1 Person Qualification. Gulf Experienced - Minimum 5 Years with Oman Driving Licence Language - English Education:- Any Degree Further Contact : Mr. Abdul Hameed Nashabat - Mobile No: 97414307 and -92807399 amn@yaqeeneng.com Urgently required female Sales Promoters individual with pleasant personality, excellent communications & presentation skills & experience in selling perfumes cosmetics and skincare products would be preferred. Send your CV & details with recent photograph to info@mawaridoman.com or fax no 24127484/ Tel: 24127485 Tyre / Spare parts outdoor Sales Executive with experience required driving license and NOC. Send CV to ptf_25@hotmail.com Wanted part time female Sales Executive with D/L for a reputed company. Contact 94688874 A leading marketing company is looking for outdoor Sales Executives on part time or full time basis in Salalah. Contact 92760281 / 96436719 Looking for Outdoor Salesman for heavy equipment spare parts.

Contact - 93292015, Email: mail.om@gulfcenter.co Urgently required Sales and Marketing Executive for Graphic designing company. Contact: 96727631 mail: smartgraphic518@gmail.com Minimum 2 years of experience with valid gulf light driving license interested candidates please Contact: 99222086 /98585851 Required male or female candidate with 5 years experience in renting of properties. Interested candidates may please mail to alqurumprop@gmail.com

Indian male 32 years MBA, 6 out of 14 years experience in Oman in accounts / finance having NOC and Valid Oman driving license last date in Oman 01/AUG/2015.

Contact: 94051463 Email: gkvenkatesh83@gmail.com Indian male, B. Com having experience in Accounts or Sales on visit visa. Contact - 98295101 Indian Male B.com, 11 Year (8 Years in Oman as a Senior Accountant) experience in accounts having 5+ year experience in construction industry.

Working knowledge with SAP, AS400 & Tally –with valid Oman D/L, presently working in Qatar, will be available in Oman form 17th July-21st July-2015 looking for a suitable position in reputed organization. Contact 00974 77181323 / 98065641, email: bennybaby1982@gmail.com Finance Manager, 10 years Oman experienced MBA-Finance graduate seeking suitable placement.

Contact 97745764 Assist Accountant Indian (m) 2 years experience in Oman looking for a job immediate joining, currently working in Oman. Contact Shaheed Shamsadin : 98427810 Accountant, Indian male, 10 years experience in Oman. Can do upto finalization and knowledge of Tally ERP9 can be joined immediately with NOC. Contact: 94134085 Email: muscatoman95@yahoo.com Married lady 25 years, Master Accounts having 5 years experience in Indian looking for full / part time job. Contact: 95140332 /93223050 family visa holder. Contact 95140332 Indian male, well experienced in Accounts and Admin looking for a suitable vacancy. Contact : 98717938 Indian female, M.Com Finance, DCA, 3 years experience in Accounts / finance& knowledge in ERP & Tally seeking suitable position in corporate finance / banking / consulting.

Email: prapullasuvarna@gmail.com Contact: 96953705 now in family visa.

Indian male with total 5 year experience (2 years experience in Accountant cum sales co ordinator in a FMCG Company in Oman) in accounts field and NOC available. Looking for suitable job Contact 92130188 Indian male, B.Com, Accountant, 10 yrs in Oman experience in Accounts, knowledge of Tally ERP 9, focus RT having NOC & D/L, looking for suitable job. Contact 93086105 Male 26 yrs, MBA in Accounts and Finance, 2 years Experience in Management and Accounts Fields, and 1 year experience in Operations in Oman Looking for a suitable job.

Contact 94374745 Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Graduate 1 year exp in Accounts, currently on visit visa. Looking for suitable job.

Contact 94341848 / Email – mohdhaji7272@gmail.com MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in finance/accounts/ auditing. Specialized in accounts payable dept, Oracle app user, proficient in Sap (fico) end user & tally 9.0. lean &six sigma certified trainer on visit visa.

Contact – 91967213 / 99064780 Finance Manager, CPA, with more than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC. Fully knowledgeable in Finance, General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331 Sudanese Accountant seeking job in Nizwa state experience 10 years 3 years in Saudi Arabia, 7 yrs in Sudan. # 97796394 / 94003247

SITUATION WANTED ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

DRIVER

Accountant 8 yrs experience looking part time job.

Contact 99867456

Driver with 8 years experience looking for job. Contact: 98130645 / 94342106

Indian Accountant: Male, M com, 7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to finalization, having knowledge of ERP, Tally, seeks suitable placment.Contact 93950138 Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

Indian (Kerala) light driver seeking for job, 12 years experience Oman.

Contact: 98175321

Motivated and energetic male 25 having 4 years of experience in finance with Master’s degree in Economics and CAT Certified seeking opportunity in Accounts/finance/ audit in a reputable organization.

Cell no: 00968-94626209 E-Mail: omerjawedshah@gmail.com

ADMIN Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR. joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437 Indian Female MBA, 3 years experience in Admin MIS, Family Visa.

Contact 98234427, jkjsmith01@gmail.com A Lady with 5 years experience in HR/Admin is looking for suitable job and can join immediately.

Contact : 94465835 Indian female, 29 yrs, MBA (HR) 4 yrs exp in HR & Admin seeking suitable placement. Contact: 95619537 Indian (male) MBA (MHA) with 5+ years of experience in HR. Looking urgently for suitable position.

Ph-96395254, 24813065 Email-shm1691@gmail.com Indian female with 1 half years experience in MBA / HR seeks suitable placement. Contact 99257214

Pakistan male (27) light driver seeking job, 4 years experience in Oman. Contact 96346582 Light duty driver with 2 yrs experience looking for job. #96342684 Light driver. Contact: 96961993 Indian (Kerala) light driver seeking for job, 5 yrs experience in Oman. Contact: 98029273 Looking for driving job.

Contact: 98219182 Driver: 15 years Driving Experience in Saudi Arabia, Looking for suitable place, Contact.. 91624908, 93540898 Driver available with car and without car Education, B. A exp. 5 years, language Hindi, Arabic, English.

Contact: 98522914 Bangladeshi male light driver seeking suitable placement 1 yr experience. Contact: 94158238 Driver available with car driver & without car. #96771598 / 94039796 Driver, 42 yrs seeks for suitable job KSA, 12 years Oman 4 years,.

Contact: 95796030 Heavy duty driver with PDO license, 5 yrs Intl. exp. # 95546585 Light driver. Contact:95779594 Driver looking for job. #99507039

Indian female with 10 yrs of experience in HR/Banking/Operations seeks a suitable placement.

Can be contacted on 98919015 or sherianne.coelho@gmail.com

AUTO CAD/DRAUGHTSAutoCAD Draughts man seeks Employment. Contact: 91889873 Electrical draftsman AutoCAD switch gear & MEP control panel 7 years experience Qatar.

Contact: 92546203/96228100

CATERING Indian male 38 yrs Senior Chef de.

De. Party pastry exp 15 yrs in five star hotels, 10 yrs exp Oman get NOC looking for job in hotel & bakery.

Contact: 96460519

DESIGNER Indian female B.Sc- Fashion Designer 21 years, fresher, One month internship in a garment industry 2015 University best designer award holder. Now looking for a creative job, currently on residential visa.

Contact: 98297940 / 99741604.

Email : zintasabu@gmail.com Architect and Interior designer, 8 years exp capable of managing turn key projects, design, BOQ, Execution. NOC available.

Contact : 95273166

Pakistani driving available.

Contact : 96913836

EDUCATION Professional Teacher Qualified M.Com Post Graduate in finance for teaching Accounting subject.

Contact: 91251210 English Teachers wanted immediately locations Muscat, Salalah, Ibri, Nizwa, Buraimi, Khabourah and Khasab. Contact : 91979343 Email: eaglesmuscat@gmail.com

ENGG. / TECHNICAL Mechanical Engineer, Indian 24 with 2 yrs experience in HVAC- MEP Revit – MEP, AutoCAD – MEP Navis solid works Catia PRO-E primavera.

Contact: 96975382 Email: bonny491@gmail.com 2 years experienced Electrical Engineer looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 98480509 SAP – SCM.MM Consultant B.Tech.

(Chemical), from NIT, working with oil industry, seeks employment.

Contact: 98049288 Indian female 23, B.Tech (Electrical & Electronics) & Diploma in Electrical CAD on Visit Visa seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 99278410 / 94027398, Email: renju.raghavan7@gmail.com

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D5

DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL Civil Engineer B.E, 5.5 years experience with Omani D/L. Contact: 96785311 Indian 24 yrs male, 2 years experience in Site Engineer (Diploma in Civil Engineering), Now on visit visa in Oman. Contact: 94050311 Indian Male, Diploma in Civil Engineer working as a Project engineer with 7years of experience looking for suitable job. Contact- 92636569 Iraqi Civil Engineer, 12 years experience with Omani driving license.

Contact: 94695595 Degree holder Civil Engineer having 10 years experience with driving license looking for better position.

Contact 98451844 Email: zahid_ruet@hotmail.com Indian male, 38 years old, DME – Mechanical Maintenance Technician 11 years Oman experience. Ready for NOC, VISA transfer, ready to join immediately, Mob +968 95612870, Email: seeniselvan@gmail.com Indian male, 34 years old, DEE – Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman experience. Ready for NOC , VISA transfer and valid Oman driving license light, ready to join immediately. Contact +91 9740679094, kulasekar1980@gmail.com MBA having 4years Gulf experience in Coordination with contracting company .NOC Available. Ph: 95405885 Indian female, BE, Civil engineer with 1 year experience looking for suitable vacancy, on visit.

Contact 95139583, Email : aisushetty09@gmail.com Indian male Safety Officer, 4+ years experience diploma in fire & safety Eng seeks suitable post.

Contact: 98843139 Electrical Engineer, B. Sc degree, Filipino, 15 years experience in oil & gas, power plant, substation, EPC projects, testing & commissioning, O & M with Oman D/L light.

Contact: 97090934 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 Structural Engineer of 2 years & 7 months experience, specialized in Structural Design and Site Supervision looking for a job. Contact: 94634906 / 94370767 Email: muazomer45@gmail.com Indian Civil Engineer (buildings) available immediately as supply contract. Contact: 93263834 Indian Male, IT Support Engineer, 2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experience. Contact 97311847 Btech computer science graduate 2015 passout.. Android application marketing.. Having good communication skills and mindset to work in a team. Contact 91024385 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.E in ECE worked as Junior Scientist Trainee in Chennai worked as System Admin in Berik Honda Nagger coil worked at Technical Support in Samsung Service, presently in Bangalore.

Contact : 0091 7026267513 Indian female, B.Tech biotechnology with strong computer skills and 2 years experience as associate research analyst (Media Monitoring) in Nasdaq Oman seeking growth oriented jobs. Contact 92044603 /918056169148 or angeline.babithac@gmail.com.

HOSPITALITY 4 Years experienced (Money exchange services & Hospitality services in Oman & India) - Indian male 27 years, graduate in Hospitality science, fluent in English, Hindi & Arabic seeks suitable placement.

Contacts: 91383167

IT Indian male, B.E ( computer science engineer), MBA (finance), OCA certified, having 5 years of experience in oracle Dba/ oracle apps Dba, seeks a suitable position in the field of IT. Contact: 96212062 email: zubairkhan11@gmail.com Indian female MCA, 24 years seeking suitable job. Contact 93439467 IT professional MCA Oracle certified 6 months training of PLSQL data warehousing, PHP, 3 months trained seeking job at good company. Contact: 95694330 Email: monakashyap001@gmail.com B.E Computer Science, Indian male looking for suitable job in the field of software or information technology having good knowledge in Java, ASP. Net, MS Sql, MS Word.

Contact: 91986919 Email: dileep2468.a@gmail.com Indian male 25 yrs exp in Administration, Telecom, Optical Fiber Communication, Networking, MS Office.

Seeks any job. On visit visa.

Contact 91385373 / sridharbsnlma1455@gmail.com Network system Engineer B.E / ECE + CCNA & Ms certified with 4+ yrs exp looking for a job. Currently in Oman on visit visa. Contact: 92589502

MISCELLANEOUS Female Postgraduate searching suitable job. Contact 97792820 Filipino Male looking for a job & have experience in sales, waiter, barista, technical support / customer service with good communication skills. Contact 91789465 Indian Female with over 9 yrs experience with good communication skills seeks jobs in customer service or sales field.

Contact : 96108289, Email - shijipaul84@gmail.com Part- Time Accountant, well experience senior accountant ,doing all type of accounting works, Finalization, Budgeting available.

Contact: :98803439 13 Years UAE experienced in MNC & reputed firms logistics distribution looking for a suitable placement, on visit visa contact 99838743, gani.dawood@gmail.com Male Indian BBM Graduate 8 years experience in logistics and ware housing in a reputed company valid driving license NOC available looking for suitable position.

Contact : 96311786 Email: ubinfs@gmail.com

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR Indian male, B.com, diploma in material management, 12+ years exp in international / local purchase, ware housing 4 logistics seeks suitable placement NOC available.

Contact: 96477638 / 96477638 Production Manager 13 years experience in cast Aluminium fab. field and good track record seeking for a suitable job. NOC ready in Hand.

Contact: 96392319 Indian male, with 8 yrs exp. in Oman (BA- Graduate) working as a project Sales Coordinator, with Oman D/L, looking for suitable job, ready to join immediately with NOC. Contact 95245057

MEDICAL

Well experienced MOH Licensed Indian GP Doctor looking for locum / permanent position in the Capital area. Contact 98140024 email:drgpoman@yahoo.com Female Dentist Indian, Prometric passed 63%,4 years of work experience, immediately available to join.

Contact 97469553, nazianbaig@gmail.com Indian male GP doctor, 12 years experience parametric passed with 74% seeks suitable post.

Email: ppdr2020@gmail.com.

Contact 97985325 Indian female Dentist MOH Oman passed seeking a suitable placement in capital region.

Contact– 91377681 hashimsarawat@gmail.com Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf experience) looking for a suitable job (NOC available) Contact-93344378

SALES / MARKETING SALES / MARKETING Indian male MBA 7 years experience in Hospitality industry, operation, sales & marketing looking for suitable vacancy. Contact 92115860 Email vibin.py@gmail.com MBA from UK with 9 yrs experience in London, Dubai & Mumbai. Specialized GCC experience in top real estate co & bank with driving license. NOC available. #968 95168205, dubaihomes1@gmail.com Indian 44 yrs, 16 yrs Indian Army 5 and Half years in Oman exp ware house, seeks suitable placement in store, ware house or sales having Oman driving license.

Contact: 94050311 B. Com & MBA Graduate on visit visa seeks suitable placement.

Contact : 97372624 ,email : sivaraj.gurukripa@gmail.com Indian male 27yrs , diploma,3yrs exp in oman in sales & supervisor , oman driving license holder, looking for suitable placements.

GSM -96489211 B.Tech (MECH) MBA (Marketing) having 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, projects presently working in Oman seek suitable placement N.O.C available and ready to join immediately. Contact: 91257781 email: rajrathsing@yahoo.com Indian male 45+ yrs , 20 yrs exp as sales supervisor in India looking for indoor sales /stores /cashier or any suitable placement can speak Hindi , English, Malayalam, Tamil, kannada can join immediately on visit visa. Contact 93086105/33016546

Indian male 31 visionary business strategist having over 8+ years of global experience seeking a challenging position that utilizes my years of experience currently on visit. Contact: 91902154 Looking for Sales Assistant job (having Oman driving license).

Contact: 95872634 Pakistani male 34 yrs Intermediate 2 yrs exp in sales & marketing in Oman. Looking for suitable job.

Contact - 92146864 Indian male seeking job, 8 years experience in Qatar in clerical/administration/documents controlling fields. Willing to work in customer care or sale also. Qatar driving license available. Job preferred in Sohar and surrounding cities.

Contact 93285117 Indian male. 27, Post Graduate, 5+ yrs exp in Oman in Sales & Credit Control, with valid Oman driving License, NOC available, looking for suitable placements. Ph: 9199 3376 Indian Male, B.Com Graduate, 23, with experience in Sales looking for suitable placements. .

Contact 98371144

SKILLED / UNSKILLED Looking for job as Mason, pipe fitter, Electrician and Aluminum fixer available. Contact: 93015630

TOURS & TRAVELS Young Bangladeshi male 26 knowing coffee shop work as watering sandwich making juice marking etc presently in Bangladesh if any employer need please Contact behalf of candidate with his brother.

Contact: 92278538 Management professional experienced in profitable management with organization skills with over 21+yrs exp. in Bombay, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, UAE & in Oman11 yrs as GM Publications, Printing, Media & Advertising in entire operations, Sales marketing & etc. Looking for a reputed organization for a challenging position any industry, can Join immediately with NOC. Contact : +968 98864706/99574638 Mail : akdas_uae@yahoo.com

25 Indian female B.S.C. Fashion Technology. 5 years experience in textile industry as a merchandiser and good in fashion marketing.

Currently available on visit visa, seeking for a suitable job.

Contact : 96990368.

Email: simmy.missy@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS Indian male Diploma, Civil engineer 4.3 year experience at building construction and consulting company with Oman driving licence and N.O.C available seeking suitable placement Contact 95989500 email cv.shihabedappal@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25, 3 years experience in site, CAD, 3d, MS Project, Seeking job in Oman. # 92875345, jubincivileng@gmail.com

12 yrs exp FREELANCE 2d, 3d Draughtsman (holding Omani driving license). Contact : 93790601

Indian male accountants, 12 years experience, tally also. Looking for a part time/ full time job in accounts or purchase. Contact- 98983122

Sudanese male, 31 year, have 3 year Diploma in Electrical Engineer, 6 years experience in construction and electrical plant.

Mobile No ; +96894549609

Indian Female 2yrs exp. in Accountant 5 yrs exp. in Electronics, seeking suitable Job. Contact: 97162705,93705090

Freelance Graphic Designer available to assist in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Corel Draw Projects.

Contact : 95811820

Indian male, 14 years Experience in maintenance & Supervisor in hotel field (Electrical, Ac Mechanical & Plumber). NOC available #95253640 email = hareeshma24@yahoo.com

Indian Female Lawyer 36 Yrs having 11 yrs experience presently working in Oman as Legal Advisor seeks placement in Legal/HR/Admin NOC available Contact-94436960 Email: famidakhan123@gmail.com

Female Candidate: Having experience (ISRO India) in Administration (seeking suitable opportunities &presently in Oman Mob:97239854, Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com Diploma civil Engineer seeking jobs(positions suits me: civil engineer ,site engineer,qa/qc engineer,land surveyor ,total station, auto level,draftsman (autocad, microstation) mob:97239854, Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com MOH Indian Dentist 10 years experience in Oman. Can speak Arabic, has driving license. Contact 98995321 or ventureoman007@gmail.com BRANCH-HEAD, MBA-BBA, Indian Male having experience in UAE, India, Oman total 5 years (including MNC), looking for similar or same openings.NOC available.

Mobile :92700670, E mail:catanalur131@gmail.com Qualified Native speaking male English Teacher with 18 years experience seeks position. Salary Negotiable. Whatsapp on +968 9334 1047 / +968 93952732 or e-mail me on nadgov@gmail.com

23, Male, ACCA Affiliate, 2 years+ experience in Audit and Finance in audit firm, Looking for suitable permanent placement, NOC release Available. Contact: #95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com MBA - (F), M.Com, B.COM. Indian female having knowledge of accounts with Tally looking for part time or full time job. Presently on family visa. Contact :- 91892264.

Email:- yashicapandya@gmail.com Indian Female 10 years exp as cook in Oman. South Indian & Gujarati special looking for part-time job Contact 96733187.

Indian male-28 Years, Diploma in Electrical Egg, having gulf experience. Specialization on Electrical Installation and Maintenance, Operation. 7 years experience seeks for suitable placement.

Mob – 968-95334580. E-mail -sunilkumar257.sk23@gmail.com

Indian female, IATA, B. Sc, looking for suitable placement.Contact-95514305, E mail idraveendranmala@gmail.com

Seeking Teaching Position. Qualified and experienced Native English speaking teacher seeking position in Muscat, I have a Teaching Diploma , two Honours Degrees and a CELTA Certificate. Position at Language school will be suitable. Will e-mail CV. Whatsapp only +96893952732

ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, 29 years, 8 years experience. Presently working in Oman as a Senior Accountant with Oman Driving license.

NOC available seek suitable opportunity. GSM: 98184170

MBA (F), B.COM. Indian female having knowledge of accounts with Tally looking for full or part time job. presently on family visit visa.

Contact :- 96259171.

Email:- bhumicapandya@gmail.com

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S U N DAY, J U LY 2 6, 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTED MISCELLANEOUS Indian male auto cad draughtsman (civil) 8 years experience seeking for part time job Mobile 99070584, E mail: remluvp@gmail.com SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,29 years.8 years experience .Presently working in Oman as a Senior Accountant with oman Driving license. NOC available, seek suitable opportunity. GSM: 97705854 Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer Science) (Diploma Computer Engineering) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle PLSQL , MS SQL-server, MS visual studio VBA, network. Contact :91415886 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 Indian Male, 34 years old, DEE – Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman experience. Ready for NOC , VISA transfer and valid Oman driving licence light, ready to join immediately, Mob +91 9740679094, kulasekar1980@gmail.com 24 years, Indian Chartered Accountant male with 3 yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Muscat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Kindly contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@gmail.com Indian Male, 38 years old, DME – Mechanical Maintenance Technician 11 years Oman experience. Ready for NOC , VISA transfer, ready to join immediately, Mob +968 95612870, seeniselvan@gmail.com BSc Graduate, INDIAN male , seeking suitable jobs.

GSM: +91-8589820233.

MAIL ID: prajinap45@gmail.com Young Indian Chartered Accountant, female, Having 6 years experience in Oman and India. Accounts and Finance Manager, Auditor.

Urgently seeking suitable positions.

Contact 92530131, jobcareer44@gmail.com Tunisian women looking for a job, khnows english,frensh, italian and arabic. Contact: 91171838 Indian male 25 years B.tech computers (Having 3 years of experience in customer service/Admin/IT Support) looking for suitable position. Visa Transfer/NOC Available immediate to join. Contact: 98402389, Mail: naresh6672@gmail.com Manager, Young Indian Male, MBA, BBA. Having excellent managerial experience (around 5 years) in leading Multi-National-Company.

Looking for suitable positions.

Contact: 92700670, fardhaan@gmail.com Available for part time accounting job, contact 99196621 Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with One year three months Teaching experience. Subject: EnglishSeeking for a Better placement.

Now working in Oman.

Contact 93961142, 92184408, Email:-anoopkesavan78@gmail.com Indian Female M.Com with Computer Skills and Four Month Experience as Accountant ,Currently On Family Visa Looking for a Suitable Placement, Available Immediately.

Contact : 95846642, Email : dhanyashree91@yahoo.com ACCA Affiliate, Experience in audit/ finance of 2.5 years in Big 6 Firm and Oil industry, looking for suitable permanent placement, Release NOC available. Contact: #95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com

PART TIME ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, M. Com, 35 years, 12 Years exp. in Accounts, 8 years in Oman.

Knowledge upto finalization. Having valid D/L, seeks suitable Placement.

GSM: 96249124 Egyptian Civil Engineer, total experience 7 years - 2 years experience in Oman. I am looking for Project Engineer, I have good experience in site & office works.

Contact number:91148708 Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a Suitable Job in Telecom / Networking. 1 year sales experience. MSc. Communications Engineering & Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com.

Filipino Male looking for a job & have experience in sales, waiter, barista, technical support / customer service with good communication skills. # 91789465 ACCOUNTING – Indian male seeking accounting job with 2 years experience in accounting.

Contact: 94263445, E mail – contactantonyxavieranand@gmail. com Sudanese male: 27 yrs, 2 years experience in accounting, other experience (purchasing – HR - Coordinating and Office Management), looking for a job Omani Driving License, NOC. Contact: 94174403 24 year Indian Chartered Accountant male with 3yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Muscat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@gmail.com Sudanese male (B.Sc, computer science) (diploma computer engineering), 6 yrs. experience DBA oracle PL-SQL, MS SQL - Server, MS visual studio vba, network.

Contact 91415886 Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support, Networking, Security systems, Server support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 91055584 Over 15 years experience in Gulf.

Interior Architect, Lebanese Nationality, on visit visa seeking a suitable Placement. 96268005.

PRODUCTION OPERATOR – Indian male seeking production operator or related jobs with 4 years of experience in oil & gas field.

Contact 94263445.

Email: tonyxavier4u@gmail.com Indian Keralite Male 35 looking for Scaffolding supervisor post having 5 years of Supervisor and HSE experience in GCC Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Fluent in English Arabic and Hindi .

Contact 96155921, or mail fysal.nellaya@gmail.com Indian Male 28 yrs, having 7 years Gulf + Indian experience in HR and Admin field, looking for suitable placement. Contact: 97914340, Email: rajkv3086@gmail.com Indian Male 28 years MSM, B. Com having 6years experience in Gulf and India as a HR and Admin looking for suitable placement.#97914340.

Email: rajkv30@gmail.com B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer Sudanese 3 yrs of exp. In industrial field available in muscat on vist visa seeking suitable job .

Contact: 95868922, Email: almouthanaosman@yahoo.com IT system and Printer engineer ME, 5Years bank IT Management exp in India looking for full time job visit visa contact 94462150

Indian male with 8 yrs experience in FMCG in Oman as Sales Supervisor looking for suitable placement.

NOC available. Gsm: 96495206 24 year Indian Chartered Accountant male with 3yrs of experience is seeking suitable placement in Muscat, currently on visit visa & ready to join immediately. Contact him on 98201476 or email at lokeshkaluri@gmail.com MCA IT Professional Indian Female seek placement in Teaching/ Non Teaching field. Presently on visit visa. 9588 7051, ashwininakod@gmail.com ACCA Affiliate, Indian, 2.5Years experience in Audit/ Finance in Big 6 Audit Firm and Oil Accounting in PDO, For Permanent Placement for Finance or Accounts or Audit. Release NOC Available on hand.

Contact #95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com Finance ACCA Affiliate, Worked as an Auditor with 2.5 Years Experience in reputed firm, Handled independent audit/finance assignments, Looking for permanent placement, NOC available. Contact 95140445. a.saran891@gmail.com Piping Design Engineer, Indian male 27, looking for suitable placement in Piping Design & Engineering. Having 7 years of experience in AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS (11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact : 97351786 / 96143708, E-mail : mohammednazeer07@gmail.com Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer science) (diploma computer engineering) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle plsql, MS sql-server ,ms visual studio vba, network. Contact :91415886 Indian Male, Graduate, 11 years Sales experience in Lighting / Industrial products, ready to join immediately. GSM: 9710 5356 Indian heavy duty driver with 8 years experience in oman available with NOC. GSM : 93601943 GSM : 94496457 Indian male, 28 yrs MBA (HR/M) 2 years experience in Indian Oman in HR & admin seeks suitable placements. NOC available.

Contact 97484159 Email: rameshkapa86@gmail.com M.Sc 3+ years exp from France & India in IT Support Engineer / Hardware & Networking / Server support / scientific system support looking for suitable positions. Indian, male on visit visa, contact 98898781/ anoopys@gmail.com Looking for managerial post (full time ), More than Ten years of experience in Team Development ,Training, planning, Administration, Sales & Marketing, Advertisement and Credit Control and Logistics. Contact 91076608 / 99322748. Release & noc available Indian male, 34years having 10 years of experience in Sales, Sales Coordination and Administration.

Experienced in SAP and MS Office. NOC available.

Contact # 94686594 Indian Male MBA Marketing/HRM 3 year experience with Omani D/L, seeking suitable jobs.

Contact: 97424188 email: dharwesh@gmail.com Indian, Male, 23 years, BE Electrical, having 2 years experience in Electrical Works-H.T. cabling etc, & Construction, looking for a suitable placement. Contact +968 96927880 (Oman), +91 9765376109 (India), Email: rahulrevi6@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTED B.Tech Computer Engineer Wanted job to work on(IT/Banking/Administrator/Technical/Office works) having NOC with the limited time from (04/06/2015 to 13/06/2015).

Mobile:98402389 email:naresh6672@gmail.com British Beauty Therapist looking for suitable position. #:97175240 Highly Qualified & Experienced Finance Manager Pakistani with USA , UK & Canadian Degrees , CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA ,IFA- Financial Consultants Canada , Corporate Analyst USA Professional of Banking , Audits ,ERPs & Profit Maximizations ( NOC available ) call 94 504505 – 94403270 27 year Indian female who has 4 years of experience with logistics function in distribution of spares for both heavy machinery & wind turbine parts. Kindly contact me on +91 9790769104 E-mail: joemohana@yahoo.co.in Indian male Executive Secretary having vast experience in admin, logistics & procurement well versed with computer .seek suitable placement. Contact : 99514286 Indian male MBA (U.K), 10 Years of experience in Admin, Sales, HR, stores and logistics seeks suitable placement. Contact 99271903.

Indian Female MCA, 4 plus Years of experience in Web designing, Admin, P.A, seeks suitable placement.

Contact 99486374 8 Years successful experience, SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian male,29 years. Presently working in Oman as a Senior Accountant with oman Driving license seeks suitable opportunity. GSM: 97705854 7 and half years experience working accounts / inventory manager looking suitable job. Contact: 96991782 Email: srinivasu.sp@gmail.com Indian female , MCA BCA, certification PL SQL , 6months training PHP, date warehouse looking for suitable placement. #95694330 Email: mondkashyapodl@gmail.com B.Com with more than 5 yrs exp. looking for an accounts part tome job work. know with tally.

Email-shilpa_62@yahoo.com

Part- time accountant, well experience senior accountant , doing all type of accounting works, finalization, budgeting available.

Contact : 98803439

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3 year Diploma in electrical engineer, 5 years experience in different activities . Mobile No ; +96894549609

Indian male, looking for a part time accounting job. Having additional knowledge & experience in HR admin & purchase.

Contact 99196621

ACCA affiliate, with 2.5 years experience in Big6 audit firm and Oil industry, looking for permanent placement in Accounts/Audit.

Release available Contact :95140445 a.saran891@gmail.com

Indian Female, 24yrs, M.COM (Accounts) having 3yrs experience in Accounts, HR, Administration, Customer Service. Good Computer Proficiency. Seeking Suitable Position. Visa Transfer/NOC Available.

Contact: 99654913

Indian Female, Commerce Graduate, Total 9 yrs of experience in India. worked as Accounts Assistant and Business executive seeking for suitable placement.

Tel : 96173533/24222457 Email : topranidivya@gmail.com

HSE Advisor, NEBOSH IGC, Indian male, 4 years experience in construction and oil fields, seeking suitable jobs. Gsm: 97458900, Mail: miroshbabu@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP having Bachelor degree and 6 years of experience in Networking looking for job. 96760618 / varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Highly Experienced Finance Manager, CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA , Professional of Banking, Audits , ERPs Sap , Management as Team Leader and Problem Solver call 94 504505 / 94403270

Female Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary with 27+ experience, worked with top management/Board in financial services with shorthand skills & Omani driving license, seeks suitable placement. call 95941515

Indian male MBA Finance presently OMAN IN visit visa, 26 years, looking for an accountant job.

Contact 95240641, email Id mohammadabdulazharuddin@ gmail.com

B.E. Civil Engineer from India with 3 years of experience looking for suitable vacancy in oman now on visit visa. Contact 9571 3441, Email . Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male, having 9+ years exp. in reputed companies. Seeking suitable placement in any gulf region. Contact +968 99276601 & 97693456. email : muralimahdav77@gmail.com

Indian male 21 IT Eng. networking & computer hardware diploma, 1 year experience, currently on visit visa looking for a suitable job.

Contact 96036273 email: faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com

MEP Quantity Surveyor-EstimationProject, 10 Years Experience (3 years in Oman). Having NOC & Oman D/L, looking for suitable job, Contact - 98291626

Indian, 32 years, completed M.A. English, M.Sc. Psychology and B.Ed in English. Searching for suitable job in the field of teaching. To Contact: 00968 99869535 Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com

Indian house maid looking full time job. Contact : 98254909 B.E. Civil Engineer age 27, total 3 years of experience in Mumbai looking for placement asap in oman now on visit visa of 1 month ph 9571 3441 Email. Khatrialeem@gmail.com Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP having Bachelor degree and 6 years of experience in Networking looking for job. 96760618 / varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a Suitable Job in Telecom / Networking. 1 year sales experience. MSc. Communications Engineering & Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com 26 years Indian male with MBA & PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience in Administration, seeking suitable placement in any gulf region.

Holding Oman valid driving license.

Contact :94501423

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DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED CARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine Tours Contact- 98029602, 92808636

TOURS

DRIVING

RENT A CAR Learn driving with professional only automatic. Contact 94022250

TRANSPORTATION Taxi in Muscat for any where and any time just send whatssapp before one hour and we will conďŹ rm to you your appointment ,We have also travel in Muscat. what you wait for call: 99887282 Email: Awraqmuscat@yahoo.com Pick & drop anytime in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99764307 Transportation. Contact: 96538078 Transportation. Contact:98522914 Transportation. Contact 99508282 Transportation. Contact: 98244078 Pick & Drop any time. Contact: 97014786

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DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTED SERVICES

COMPUTER

WEBSITE

SITUATION SIT. WANTED WANTED

SITUATION WANTMANPOWER

BE civil Engineer with a vast experience of 18 years in Oman seeks immediate placement as General Manger /Partner. contact @ joboman2015@gmail.com.

Indian male 23 yrs B. Tech Civil having 2 years exp, currently on visit visa looking for suitable job.

Contact: 98031034, Email: musheer786.mm@gmail.com Indian male Autocad Draughtsman (Civil) 8 years experience seeking for part time job. Contact : 00968 99070584.

Email: remluvp@gmail.com Indian male, 14 yrs experience in maintenance & Supervisor in hotel field (Electrical, Ac Mechanical & Plumber). N O C available. Contact : 95253640, E mail = hareeshma24@yahoo.com BE Electrical Engineer, with 2 yrs exp. well knowledge in construction field on visit visa.

Contact -98269366 Indian female, Ph. D in Mech. Engg, B.Sc, B.Ed, M.Sc & M.Phil in Physics having 6 yrs Malaysia University/ College teaching exp +1 yr experience for research fellow seeking good position in Oman. Contact 97793859 / 93621114, sreejayarejil@gmail.com ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 having 4years experience in accounting & having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968094535881, 0091 9037622048 Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com ACCA Affiliate, 2.5years experience in Audit/Finance in Global Big6 Firms and Oil company in Oman, Looking for suitable permanent placement. Release NOC Available.

Contact: #95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTMATRIMONIAL Syrian CSI boy 30/184, working in a Automobile dealership at Muscat, inviting proposals.m4marry ID: 3951195 Ph: 0091- 9656439949 / 94946429292 Indian male Roman Catholic Divorcee 40 yrs working in Muscat seeks suitable alliance from widow/ divorcee/single. Contact: 96059801 Muslim boy, 32 years MBA, studied and working in Oman as Sales manager in a reputed organisation, Tableeg Jamath invites proposals from educated girls in Gulf preferably Malayalees. Contact 99357458 and 92656899

Split & widow unit A.C servicing & repairing. Contact: 99557080 WEB, ERP and Business Intelligence (BI) creation and management at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

CLASSES

Window & split unit A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact : 93769089 / 95323517 House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422 MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your marble. Contact 24793614/ 99314807

RC SC girl (Kerala) 28 yrs, 154cm BSC Nurse working in Oman (SQUH) seeks alliances from professionaly qualified employers.

Contact: 96228192

Air condition maintenance split and window services AC specialist ducted and package type unites.

Contact: 98667326 GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Contact 99314807/24792998 A/C Maintenance & servicing, fridge, washing machine & dish washer repairing, painting & cleaning services, electrical & plumbing.

Contact: 99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

House shifting. Contact 99708138

Kerala Christian Orthodox boy 29/185 Staff Nurse MOH Muscat seeks suitable alliances.

Contact: 99461264

House shifting packing.

99657644 / 98518013

CLASSES Admission Open: CAMBRIDGE / BILINGUAL CURRICULUM admission started in Al Burj Private School, Azaiba for KG and Grade I to IV. Please register soonest.

Contact: 93211417 / 92887809.

Split & window unit A.C servicing & maintenance.

Contact: 96236476

Split & window A.C servicing & maintenance. Contact 93769089/95323517

IELTS preparation course, unlock your educational and career opportunities with eagles to; achieve your required band. Contact 91979343.

Pest control Treatments, termites, cockroaches, bedbugs Ocean Center LLC. Contact: 99344723

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile polishing, pest control & anti-termite treatment, general cleaning painting, Plumbing, Electrical, shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. # 24810137, 99450130

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet shampooing, maintenance.Contact ABU QABAS99320217 /24788722

Water proofing ABUQABASContact 99320217/24788722

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

AC servicing maintenance fixing.

Contact: 99540621

Carpet, Sofa Shampooing. Ocean Center LLC. Contact: 99884591

GOOD NEWS Genuine Ayurvedic treatments & massage, Ayurvedic clinic at AL Khuwair. Contact: 24478618 / 97263637 / 93309131 Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain, backache, paralysis massage, steam bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL , CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 / 99117987 FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: 99425598, 96050000, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, and 99379133. For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Orvisit: www.islamfact.com Ayurvedic treatment for backache, paralysis, arthritis etc & massage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 / 92504980 www.siddhayur.com

FOR LADIES Hair dressing, facial massage & other beauty treatment for women.

Contact: 94689448