Times of Oman - May 28, 2016

SATURDAY May 28, 2016 21 Sha’aban 1437 AH

6 085010 120010 FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTY THE SULTAN

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‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’ We were determined that our young people should not only be educated but should receive an Omani education in addition to being taught academic subjects they should be instructed in our Omani culture and learn to value and cherish our great historical heritage.

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Founded 1975 . Volume 41 No. 82

On the occasion of the 7th National Day, 1977

| 28 Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group

CABLES

BREATHTAKING QURIYAT DAM

HM sends greetings

Covered with misty mighty mountains, Quriyat dam which is 110km from Muscat, offers breathtaking views, throughout the journey until you reach the top of the viewing point. It is a perfect place to go if you want to spend a picnic outdoors. — Photo-Prasenjit Mahato

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of greetings to Dr Ilham Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan on his country’s National Day. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere greetings and wishes of good health and happiness to the president and his country’s people further progress and prosperity.

His Majesty the Sultan has also sent a cable of greetings to Dr. Mulatu Teshome, president of Ethiopia on his country’s National Day. In his cable, His Majesty has expressed his sincere greetings and wishes of good health and happiness to the president and his country’s people further progress and prosperity.

His Majesty the Sultan has also sent a cable of greetings to Bidhya Devi Bhandari, President of Nepal on her country’s National Day. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere greetings and wishes of good health and happiness to the president and her country’s people further progress and prosperity. —ONA TOP THREE INSIDE STORIES

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Arab League hails Sultanate’s role

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Dr. Nabil Al Arabi, the Arab League secretary general, hailed Oman’s role characterised by wisdom. >A3

SUGGESTION

Shura sessions to go live?

FAHAD AL GHADANI

fahadnews@timesofoman.com

SPORTS

Oman qualify for final, promoted

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Oman survived a scare against Guernsey and entered the final. >A11

MARKET

Leaders tangle over growth, ‘rising risk’

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World leaders meeting in Japan tangled over how to push the global economy towards growth. >B1

MUSCAT: Majlis Al Shura’s sessions might be broadcast live for the public again, according to a senior Shura official.

“This was suggested by one member and it was considered by the council, but there are a number of procedures that should be followed before announcing such a decision,” said Mohammed Al Ghassani, a member of the Majlis Al Shura’s management office.

He added that the council shall address the Public Authority for Radio and Television and check the possibility of broadcasting the session of the council live to people. “The purpose of live broadcast to the public is to ensure transparency and convey the information in a better manner to

the public,” said Al Ghassani.

Mohammed Al Kindi, a member of Shura, said all the work of members is not conveyed to the public. “The TV shows only a part of the session, which involves the questioning of ministers, not the entire proceedings.”

He explained that the council enjoys a number of privileges that needs to be presented to the public.

“When there is a need to stop the broadcasts, the members can vote and decide,” said Al Kindi. He added that there are many people who should be able to see their issues being addressed in the council.

The Majlis Al Shura has implemented a new strategy for tackling public interest topics while holding a session with government officials. “The head of each committee invites experts to get detailed information about the topic,” said Al Ghassani. He said such specialists discuss issues from different aspects allowing the members to raise more points during the session.

“This will lead to a more comprehensive discussion on topics involving the public which in turn will lead to a better standard of public satisfaction,” said Al Ghassani.

Stranded workers hope for early end to row supply for both was cut by the authorities. However, Oman trade union members talked to officials and got it restored.

REJIMON K

reji@timesofoman.com

Ways to beat the summer heat

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Many observers feel that Oman has no other option but to hike taxes to meet the deficit, though many firms will have to pay more

A L S AWA D I B E A C H R E S O R T

MUSCAT: Stranded expatriate workers at the Al Sawadi Beach Resort are hoping that a meeting on May 30 — when the Labour Department meets their employer— will end with a positive result for their future.

“At the last meeting, the employer didn’t turn up. Hope he comes on May 30. It would be quite hard if he doesn’t do so,” Suleiman Khalid Kazi, the manager of the resort, who is among the 28 stranded workers, told the Times of Oman (TOO).

The workers were left in the lurch after it stopped its operations on March 11.

Tax hike to affect oil & gas, mining revenues

DISPUTE: A meeting is to be held with the employers on May 30.

“My salary is pending for the last 14 months. Similarly, for others too … We were struggling. Only after the Oman trade union people came to help us, we saw some ray

of hope. It is they and some other good Samaritans supporting us with food and water,” Kazi added.

As the resort had failed to pay the water and electricity bill, the

Campaign After news of their plight was revealed by TOO, “What’s Happening Muscat, Oman” (WHMO), a popular Facebook page in Oman, launched a campaign to collect food and other essential items for the stranded workers.

According to Joanne (JoJo Bird), the administrator and creator of the popular Facebook WHMO page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatshappeningmuscatoman/, some of the workers are sick and in need of medical help.>A3

Staff Reporters MUSCAT: An amendment in article No. 112 of the Income-Tax will increase the cost of LNG, and lead to petrochemical and mining companies paying more tax.

A joint session of the State Council and Majlis Al Shura, based on the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, took place on Thursday and voted on the Income Tax Law, which included amendments in some of the provisions of the Insurance Companies Law and the Foreign Capital Investment Law. The session approved the provisions under dispute during the proposed amendments on the Income Tax Law, the Foreign Capital Investment Law and Insurance Companies Law and submitted to His Majesty the Sultan, together with the opinions of the two houses after examining and discussing them during the session.

LNG firms will have to pay 55 per cent tax, instead of 12 per cent. Fighting for the implementation of the new tax, the Shura’s proposal won the vote and raised the LNG firm’s tax to 55 per cent while the State Council had suggested hike to 15 per cent .

Moreover, the members at the joint session also voted for imposing a 35 per cent tax on both petrochemical industries and non-oil natural resource exports.

However, the vote resulted in the refusal of the proposal to impose a 3 per cent tax on insurance. The

55%

is the proposed tax on LNG for which members of State Council and Majlis Al Shura voted during the joint session

joint session vote approved the amendments made by the Ministers Council on Foreign Capital Investment Law to impose tax, except for industries and investments, based on the suggestion of the concerned minister.

“The tax on petrochemical firms has been approved,” Tawfiq Al Lawati, Shura member told the Times of Oman. The tax on producers of LNG is currently 12 per cent.

Observers said taxes have been raised by many Gulf countries in order to make up for the losses stemming from the sharp drop in oil prices. >A3

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SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

OMAN

WAYS TO BEAT THE SUMMER HEAT

Summer is here and most people stay indoors to avoid the heat. However, there are some who beat the heat with a splash in the water at one of the many wonderful beaches of the Sultanate. And there are yet others who take the sultry weather in their stride for a little cricket outdoors. Here is a selection of pictures of these activities taken by OK Mohammed Ali.

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

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distinguished role in the Arab world and all Arab countries should encourage Oman to play this important role, said Al Arabi HONOUR: Arab League Secretary General presented Arab League Shield to Al Harthy in recognition of his efforts during his term. – ONA

ate to play this important role.

An event was organised by the Arab League to honour Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Harthy, the Sultanate’s accredited ambassador to Egypt and its Permanent Delegate to the Arab League at the end of his term. The Arab League’s Secretary General presented the Arab League Shield to Al Harthy in recognition of his efforts during his term. On his part, Al Harthy, said that his experience as the Sultanate’s accredited ambassador to

Egypt and its Permanent Delegate to the Arab League since 2009 has been rich on all levels. He described Egypt as a pivotal and important country for all.

He affirmed the Sultanate’s appreciation of its relations with the Arab League and the role the Sultanate plays to promote regional and international peace and security. He also expressed the Sultanate’s appreciation for the role played by the Arab League Secretary General. -ONA

WHMO

A1 Money raised to help workers < FROM

“We have arranged for some medically trained people to visit them over the next couple of days, all free of charge,” she said.

Ruqayah Bahassan, a member of WHMO, is coordinating with the medical teams to ensure that all those who need treatment are being treated.

She has also asked group members to contact embassies on behalf of the workers, in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Egypt, Malaysia and Morocco and ask them to intervene and assist these workers in getting the help

JOINT MINISTERIAL MEETING

GCC ministers meet Lavrov, discuss Middle East issues MOSCOW: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Foreign Ministers and Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation held their fourth joint ministerial meeting in Moscow on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs and the foreign ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.

Sultanate plays a

CAIRO: Dr. Nabil Al Arabi, the Arab League secretary general, hailed the role played by Oman, which is characterised by wisdom.

He affirmed that the Sultanate has a special status, not only in the Arab world, but in the world in general, as its assistance is sought in many issues; owing to the wisdom it applies in solving many regional and international issues.

Al Arabi added that the Sultanate plays a distinguished role in the Arab world and that all Arab countries should encourage the Sultan-

OMAN

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Arab League hails Sultanate’s role

they desperately need.

Earlier, WHMO members had raised money and other essential items for the stranded workers.

Some members of the group have paid some of the debt, school fees, loans etc of the stranded workers. Sarah Greenwood, another WHMO member has been on her phone constantly talking to the stranded workers and updating WHMO members.

“It is very worrying for everyone concerned and no one should have to live in such conditions,” she said. Meanwhile, a trade union of-

ficial said they are doggedly following up with the case.

“We are in touch with the labour dispute department officials and the workers. We are extending whatever help we can to help the stranded workers,” Mohammed Khaldi, a board member of the General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU), told TOO. “Our aim is the welfare of workers. We don’t differentiate between them on the basis of them being nationals or expatriates. Workers are workers,” the trade union official added.

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Settling disputes The ministerial meeting discussed the developments in the Middle East and the means for settling disputes in the region in a peaceful manner and maintaining its stability.

MINISTERIAL MEETING: The meeting was attended by Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs and the foreign ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.– ONA

It also discussed issues of security guarantee in the GCC countries, as well as cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and facing other challenges.

It also discussed horizons of developing trade, economic and investment relations between Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. -ONA

BALANCING ACT

A1 ‘No other way to meet country’s expenses, says OCCI member < FROM

The State Council Chairman said during an opening speech that the meeting comes in the wake of the implementation of the orders of His Majesty the Sultan to send back the following draft laws to the Council of Oman and hold a joint meeting of the State Council and Shura for a unified opinion on the comments already made by the two houses on ‘amendments of some of the provisions in the Insurance Companies Law’, discussing the provisions under dispute on ‘amendments of some of the provisions of the Foreign Capital Investment Law,’ along with a discussion on the provisions under dispute on ‘some of the provisions of the Income Tax Law’ referred by the Council of Ministers.

“It is not only in Oman, but all over the GCC countries, who are also imposing more taxes,” Ahmed Al Hooti, member of the

In January, Oman had unveiled its OMR3.3b deficit with spending cuts and tax hikes to offset decreased revenues Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) told TOO. Al Hooti said there is no other way to cover all the expenses.

Although the Majlis and Council-approved tax figures are high, many believe the impact on the market will be high as well.

Shiv Gupta, the chief executive officer of a private company in Muscat, said it is one of the ways for the government to cover its deficit “to balance the economy of the country.”

According to Krishnan MAK, an economist in Muscat, taxes may not augur well to the petrochemical companies, “but when we consider the current situation, the government needs to adopt such measures.”

Others see “bad news” in the latest development. “That is bad news for those involved in the petrochemicals and related sectors,” said a businessman dealing with petrochemicals in Muscat, who refused to be named.

In January, the Oman government had unveiled its OMR3.3 billion deficit budget with a series of spending cuts and tax hikes to offset decreased revenues following the drop in oil prices.

Oman had posted a budget deficit of OMR4.5b in 2015, as revenues more than halved. In the report, the IMF said despite actions taken so far, the dip in oil prices has affected Oman’s economy.

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SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

REGION SEARCH INTENSIFIES

No new signal from EgyptAir plane since day of crash CAIRO/PARIS: No new radio signal has been received from an EgyptAir jet since the day it crashed in the Mediterranean last week, sources close to the investigation said on Friday.

Media reports on Thursday suggested that a new signal had allowed officials to further home in on where the black box recorders might be located. But the sources told Reuters that nothing new had been detected since a radio signal picked up on the day of the crash from the plane’s emergency locator transmitter which allowed officials to determine a broadly defined search zone of 5 km (3 miles) in radius. “There has been nothing since day one,” one of the sources said.

More than a week after the Airbus A320 crashed on May 19 with 66 people on board, including 30 Egyptians and 15 from France, investigators have no clear picture of its final moments. Search teams are working against the clock to recover the two flight recorders that will offer vital clues on the fate of flight 804, because the acoustic signals that help locate them in deep water cease transmitting after about 30 days.

France’s BEA air crash investigation agency said French naval survey vessel Laplace had left Corsica on Thursday and was heading toward the search zone north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria.

A French official said the vessel would arrive on Sunday or Monday. The vessel contains equipment from ALSEAMAR, a subsidiary of French industrial group Alcen, which can pick up black-box pinger signals over long distances up to 5 km (3 miles), according to the company’s website. These are separate from the signals transmitted by the ELT, which sends a radio signal upon impact that is not designed to continue emitting once the plane is submerged underwater, said one of the sources close to the investigation. — Reuters

Final battle for Falluja will start in days: Militia leader Families flee the encircled IS-held city, as reports of starvation emerge amid new protests in Baghdad as demonstrators defy Premier Haider Al Abadi’s appeal

BAGHDAD/GENEVA: The final battle to recapture Falluja, IS’s stronghold near Baghdad, will start in “days, not weeks”, a militia leader said on Friday, as new reports emerged of people starving to death in the besieged city.

The first phase of the offensive that started on Monday is nearly finished, with the complete encirclement of the city that lies 50 km (32 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, said Hadi Al Amiri, leader of the Badr Organisation.

Amiri, in military fatigues, spoke to state-TV from the operations area with Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi standing by his side, wearing the black uniform of Iraq’s counter-terrorism force.

Final victory At the end of last year, Abadi said 2016 would be the year of the final victory over IS, which declared a caliphate two years ago in territory it controls in Iraq and Syria.

Falluja is a bastion of the insurgency that fought the US occupation of Iraq and the Iraqi authorities. It was the first city captured

by IS in Iraq, in January 2014, and is the second-largest still held by

FLEEING TO SAFETY: Iraqi families near Al Sejar village, in Iraq’s Anbar province, after fleeing the city of Falluja, on Friday, during a major operation by pro-government forces to retake the city, from the IS group. – AFP

the militants after Mosul, their de-facto capital.

Amiri said this week the paramilitary coalition known as Popular Mobilization would only take part in the encirclement operations, and would let the army storm Falluja. It would only enter the city if the army’s attack failed.

The army has defused more than 250 explosive devices planted by the militants in roads and villages to delay the troops’ advance, state TV said, citing military officers. Amiri called on civilians to leave from a southwestern exit called the Al Salam (Peace) Junction. But the United Nations said on Friday about 50,000 civil-

ians were being prevented by the hardline militants from escaping.

Those who did manage to flee the city reported some people were dying of starvation, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said. The Norwegian Refugee Council on Thursday reported similar accounts from displaced people interviewed at a camp near Falluja.

“Food has been in very short supply. We are hearing accounts that people are relying on expired rice and dried dates and that’s about it for their diet,” UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva.

“They have to rely on unsafe water sources, including drainage

water from the irrigation canals.”

Another UNHCR spokeswoman, Ariane Rummery, later said about 825 families were able to leave the city hurriedly on Friday, with no belongings, and were taken to safety by minibus.

Death toll Between 500 and 700 IS militants are in Falluja, according to a US military estimate. The death toll since the start of the military operation on Monday has reached about 50, including 30 civilians and 20 miliants, a source in the city’s main hospital said.

Success in recapturing Falluja might help Abadi refocus the at-

tention of Iraq’s unruly political parties on the war on IS, and defuse unrest prompted by delays in his planned reshuffle of the cabinet to help root out corruption.

But thousands of anti-corruption demonstrators gathered again on Friday in central Baghdad, prompting security forces to fire tear gas and rubber bullets as they tried to approach the heavily fortified Green Zone. The demonstrators ignored Abadi’s appeal on Thursday for an end to protests against his government while the armed forces are fighting to retake Falluja. “Holding demonstrations is a right, but that would put pressure on our forces,” he said. — Reuters

WA R W I T H I N NAT I O N

IS drives Syrian rebels from town near Turkish border BEIRUT: IS fighters captured territory from Syrian rebels near the Turkish border on Friday and inched closer to a town on a supply route for foreign-backed insurgents fighting the militants, a monitoring group said.

The ultra-hardline group has been fighting against rebels in the area for several months. The rebels, who are supplied via Turkey,

last month staged a major push against IS, but the group counterattacked and beat them back.

The United States has identified the area north of Syria’s former commercial hub Aleppo as a priority in the fight against the IS group.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday’s advance was the biggest

by IS in Aleppo province for two

years. It brought the militants to within 5 km (3 miles) of Azaz, a town near the border with Turkey through which insurgents have been supplied. IS said in an online statement it had captured several villages near Azaz.

International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it evacuated patients and staff from a hospital in the area as the fighting

got closer, and that tens of thousands of people were trapped between the front lines and Turkish border. A Syrian NGO operating in the area said the latest assault by IS had displaced 20,000 more people towards Turkey.

The advance also cut rebel supply lines from Azaz to the town of Marea farther southeast, isolating the latter from other rebel-

held areas, the Observatory said.

The Observatory said the fighting had killed 30 rebel fighters and 11 members of IS. In April, IS militants seized another strategic town near the Turkish border from rebel factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.

The IS advances on Friday encroach on a corridor of rebel-held territory that leads from the Turk-

ish border down towards Aleppo city, which is divided between insurgent and government control.

Aleppo’s northern countryside is the theatre of several separate battles between multiple warring sides in the five-year Syrian conflict, which has drawn in military involvement of regional and world powers that back different groups. — Reuters

O N G O I N G I N V E S T I G AT I O N S

Middle East refugees help Europe to build war crimes cases in Syria, Iraq THE HAGUE: European authorities are seeking testimony from some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Middle East violence as they try to build war crimes cases linked to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

As witnesses to atrocities, they are invaluable to prosecutors preparing trials in European courts that will offer a way round the United Nations impasse that has prevented the setting up of an international court for Syria.

The search for evidence takes a variety of forms. Dutch and German immigration services hand out leaflets to arriving migrants, inviting them to testify. In Norway, police screen arrivals’ mobile phones for evidence of possible involvement in war crimes.

“Over the next five years you’ll see a lot of prosecutions,” said Matevz Pezdirc of the European Union’s Genocide Network, a forum that brings together police and prosecutors twice a year in The Hague to swap information about war crimes. Some alleged perpetrators may be European citizens who have joined IS; others may be militants who have travelled to Europe from Syria or Iraq, blending in with the more than 1 million migrants and refugees who streamed into the continent last year.

“You may have lots of victims or witnesses in one place, but you can’t move with a prosecution until you have a perpetrator in your

INNOCENT VICTIMS: Syrian refugees near the village of Idomeni, Greece Most European countries have legislation allowing them to prosecute international crimes like genocide regardless of where in the world they happen. – Reuters

jurisdiction,” Pezdirc said.

Most European countries have legislation allowing them to prosecute international crimes like genocide regardless of where in the world they happen. About 15 have units dedicated to investigating and prosecuting them.

Over the past decade, authorities in Europe have launched 1,607 international war crimes cases in domestic jurisdictions, while another 1,339 are ongoing, according to EU judicial cooperation agency Eurojust.

German police have compiled testimony from hundreds of potential witnesses to the Syria conflict, and war crimes prosecutors in Karlsruhe have questioned a few dozen of them in greater

depth. But gathering evidence is a painstaking process. Traumatised witnesses, fresh from harrowing journeys on foot and by sea, need time before they are ready to testify, and can often face only short periods of questioning each day.

“The refugees usually need time to rest and calm down before they decide to cooperate with law enforcement,” Pezdirc said.

Investigators have interviewed Yazidi Kurd refugees in Germany for evidence of alleged genocide against the ethnic and religious minority. A German citizen thought to be in Syria is the subject of a sealed arrest warrant on separate war crimes charges.

They are preparing further cases against two other suspects, one

accused of torture and another of kidnapping a US legal adviser near Damascus. In France, genocide and war crimes prosecutors have a handful of investigations open into Syrian nationals, including a former Syrian colonel, once a doctor in a military hospital, who has sought asylum.

More than 4,000 European citizens are estimated to have left to fight in Syria, of whom around a third have since returned home, a Dutch think tank said earlier this year. With both witnesses and perpetrators on their territory, European prosecutors have already brought some cases. A German citizen is on trial for war crimes after Facebook posts showed him posing alongside decapitated heads.

Last year, Swedish courts convicted a Syrian on the basis of a video showing him torturing a fellow combatant. Crimes being investigated around the continent include torture, murder, rape, crimes against humanity and genocide. With more than 400,000 people killed in Syria since 2011, there have been calls for perpetrators of massacres to face trials in a UN court, like those that followed the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

But division among the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council has stymied attempts to refer such cases to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. — Reuters

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OFFICIALS

CBSE Class X results to be out on Saturday NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of the Class X examinations on Saturday.

According to officials, the result would be declared by 2pm.

Students can get their results from the board’s website www. cbse.nic.in or www.results.nic.in or www.cbseresults.nic.in.

The schools will automatically get their entire results on email IDs already registered with the board, an official statement said.

It said that as per previous years, board would be disseminating its results through Interactive Voice Response also.

The telephone numbers of NIC and MTNL through which results can be accessed through IVRS are 24300699 or 28127030 — for local subscribers in Delhi, and 011 - 24300699 or 011 -28127030 — for subscribers in other parts of the country. The result will not be available in the board premises and people are advised not to visit its office for collection of results, the statement added. - PTI M I N I S T RY S TAT E M E N T

Water level dips in major reservoirs NEW DELHI: Water level in 91 major reservoirs across India has dipped to 17 per cent of their total capacity, the government said on Friday. According to Union Water Resources Ministry, 26.816 billion cubic metre (BCM) of water was available in these reservoirs for the week ending May 26. The total capacity of these reservoirs is 157.799 BCM. It is 45 per cent short of the stock available during corresponding period last year and 21 per cent less than the 10-year average storage levels for the same span, the ministry said in a statement.

The estimated water storage capacity of all reservoirs in the country is 253.88 BCM. Thirtyseven of the major reservoirs have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. - PTI

INDIA

‘China willing to work with India on fighting terrorism’ Mukherjee invited Xi to pay a bilateral visit to India which he accepted.

On the vexed boundary question, the Chinese leadership conveyed their resolve to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the dispute at an early date

BEIJING: China has conveyed its willingness to enhance cooperation with India on combating the menace of terrorism, including in the United Nations, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday winding up a “fruitful and productive” four-day visit to that country.

Mukherjee, who met the top Chinese leadership including President Xi Jinping on Thursday, also expressed the hope that China will play a “positive and facilitative role” in ensuring a predictable environment for India in its pursuit of civil nuclear programme in bridging the huge power deficit the country faces.

His statement on the two issues in his interaction with the media on board Air India One aircraft on his way back home, assume significance in the context of China’s recent action in blocking a UN move to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and Beijing’s stand that India should sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) for gaining admission to the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The Chinese stand is seen as a bid to scuttle India’s membership of NSG and New Delhi has dismissed the Chinese proposition.

“Terrorism was an important topic which I covered in my meetings,” the president said. During his discussions with the Chinese leadership, he conveyed to them that there was universal concern

BOOSTING TIES: President Pranab Mukherjee shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting at Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. - PTI

over growing acts of terrorism.

“India has been a victim of terrorism for around three and a half decades. There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist. Terrorism respects neither ideology nor geographical boundaries. Wanton destruction is its only aim.

“Comprehensive cooperation by all countries of the world is essential to tackle this global menace. The international community must engage in strong and effective action. As close neighbours, India and China should work together. The Chinese leadership agreed that terrorism was a menace to the entire human race.

They conveyed their willingness to enhance cooperation, including in the UN,” he said.

Asked by a journalist whether the specific “current problem” with China, an apparent reference to the Masood Azhar issue, came up in his talks with the Chinese leaders, the president said “We don’t discuss any specific issue during president’s visit. “We confine ourselves to overall policy issues and not confined to specific

issues. This was decided when I was external affairs minister.”

Energy shortage On the nuclear issue, Mukherjee said he conveyed to the Chinese leaders that India faces acute energy shortage and was engaged in efforts to significantly expand power generation in the country.

India has announced a goal of 40 per cent non-fossil fuel power generation capacity and it can be achieved only if we rapidly expand the generation of nuclear power.

“I conveyed that it was important for us to have a predictable environment in the above regard and hoped that China, as a close partner in the field of development as well as climate change, will play a positive and facilitative role,” he said.

Mukherjee said the two sides agreed that as neighbours it was natural for them to have differences from time to time.

“But what is important is that we should continue to advance our relationship while managing our differences.”

CHEMICAL UNIT

Death toll in Thane factory blast rises to 11 THANE: The death toll in the massive explosion at an industrial unit in Dombivli township of Thane district on Friday mounted to eleven and 47 of the 201 injured are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, officials said.

Police registered a case against the company management for not taking proper safety measures that allegedly led to the mishap.

The son and daughter-in-law

of the founder of the chemical company, where the mishap took place, are among the deceased, police said.

The incident had occurred at about 11.30 am on Thursday when cylinders exploded triggering a blaze in the chemical manufacturing unit of Probace Enterprises at Shivaji Udyog Nagar of MIDC phase-II area in Dombivli (East).A senior officer of Manpa-

da police station confirmed that the total number of deceased has gone up to eleven on Friday.

The deceased include company founder’s son Sumit Vakatkar and his wife Snehal, Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said. According to Narkar, the body of Snehal was found lying on top of the security cabin on the company premises.

“Due to the impact, she was

‘A C T - E A S T P O L I C Y ’

Much more needs to be done in North-East: Prime Minister SHILLONG: Describing NorthEast as the “gateway” to SouthEast Asia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government has been pro-actively pursuing the ‘Act-East Policy’ and working to improve infrastructure in the region but “much more needs to be done”.

Addressing a public meeting here after flagging off three new trains, he said his government intends to connect all north eastern states by rail network and upgrade infrastructure in road, telecom, power and waterways to bring them on a par with the developed states.

“My government has been proactively following the ‘Act-East Policy’. As part of this policy, it is our mission to upgrade the infrastructure in road, rail, telecom, power and waterways in the region,” he told the gathering.

“I consider the North Eastern Region as the gateway to SouthEast Asia.... A lot is being done.

Much more still needs to be done,” said Modi who earlier in the day chaired a meeting of

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SPELLING OUT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering his speech on the occasion of the flag off ceremony of three trains in Shillong, Meghalaya on Friday. - PTI

North Eastern Council, comprising all states of the region.

He said since formation of National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, more than Rs10,000 crore have been spent for development of railway network in North East and the Railway ministry plans to spend more than Rs5,000 crore during

the current year. Highlighting the tourism potential of the region, he stressed was need for developing tourist circuits by providing better facilities to tourists in terms of improved road connectivity, hotels and cleanliness.

He said the central government has launched a new scheme ‘Swadesh Darshan’, under which it is developing tourist circuits in the country and “one such circuit is proposed for the North East”.

During his visit here, the prime minister also dedicated to the nation the Doppler weather radar at Cherrapunji, which receives the highest rainfall in the country.”

Another feather has been added to its cap,” he said.

“The North East, a land of beauty and adventure, has been hit by several natural calamities in the recent past, on account of heavy rain and landslides. This weather radar system will enable better weather forecasts, especially for the North Eastern region. This should help in minimising the threat posed by extreme weather conditions,” he said. - PTI

blown off and fell on the cabin,” she said.

“Body of one of the deceased that was recovered yesterday (on Thursday), was today identified as that of her husband Sumit’s,” she added.

Thane District Collector Mahendra Kalyankar said that, of the 201 injured, 159 have been discharged while 47 are undergoing treatment in 18 hospitals. - PTI

On the vexed boundary question, the Chinese leadership conveyed their resolve to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the dispute at an early date.

“I agreed with the Chinese leadership that while we continue to engage in seeking an early resolution of the boundary question, we must improve border management and ensure peace and tranquillity is maintained in border areas,” he said.

The president said his visit as well as discussions with Chinese leaders were fruitful and productive. They expressed gratitude for the forward-looking approach adopted by India and willingness to take India-China relations to the next level through all-round exchanges as well as continued communication at high political level on important issues, he said.

The BRICS summit in Goa in October and the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou in September this year will provide the two countries opportunity to continue bilateral dialogue in this regard, he said.

Partnership Noting that China was as keen as India to take the bilateral relations forward, he said he was returning home with the conviction that the two countries must jointly impart new momentum to this defining partnership of the 21st century, the president said.

Mukherjee said during his first visit as head of the state his interaction with the Chinese leadership was multi-faceted and comprehensive. It was conducted in a warm, friendly and cordial as well as candid manner. Discussions were wide-ranging and covered various ares of mutual interest.

All the four Chinese leaders including Premier Li Keqiang and Chairman of the National People’s Congress Jiang Zengwei fondly remembered their recent visits to India and conveyed heir conviction that this state visit would provide new impetus to the development of bilateral relations.

There was deep appreciation of the role played by high-level visits in enhancing mutual understanding and political trust.”We agreed on the need to build a solid foundation of goodwill between the two countries,” he said.

The President said he conveyed to the Chinese leaders that there was a national consensus within India on strengthening IndiaChina ties.

“India attaches high importance to the relations with China.

There was convergence of views that India and China as two major powers must have greater strategic communication and work together in an uncertain global situation where economic recovery was fragile, geo-political risks were growing and the menace of terrorism proving to be a threat to the whole world.

“We agreed that our relationship transcends bilateral dimensions and has regional and global salience. We emphasised the importance of close cooperation in all international fora. I conveyed that India and China should join hands not just in the interests of the people of our countries but also for the good of the whole world,” he said. - PTI

A6

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

INDIA

In the recent assembly elections, Mamata led the Trinamool to a landslide, with the party winning 211 seats — well above the two-thirds majority mark of 196 — to retain power.

Mamata takes oath as chief minister of West Bengal Trinamool Congress to a spectacular victory with 211 of the 294 seats in the Assembly routing the Congress-Left combine on one hand and Bharatyia Janata Party on the other

SWEARING-IN CEREMONY: West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administers the oath of secrecy to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during swearing-in ceremony in Kolkata on Friday. - PTI

spectacular victory winning 211 of the 294 seats in the Assembly defeating the Congress-Left combine and BJP. A host of political leaders including Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi were present at the ceremony. Leaders of Congress and the Left parties boycotted the swearing-in to protest against alleged post-poll violence by TMC. State BJP leaders also stayed away from the ceremony alleging post-poll violence. Jaitley, however, said that the central ministers attended the programme in the

H I T S D E S I G NAT E D TA R G E T

spirit of democracy.

The 42-member TMC ministry has 29 Cabinet ministers, including the chief minister, five ministers of state with independent charge and eight ministers of state. Prominent cabinet ministers include Amit Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Firhad Hakim and Sovan Chatterjee, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata. Women ministers include Sashi Panja, Asima Patra and Sandhyarani Tudu. The new ministry has 18 new faces.

After taking oath, Mamata left for ‘Nabanna’, the state secretariat where she was given a guard of

honour by the police. Flower petals were showered as she entered the secretariat. “I consider myself as a commoner. My life is dedicated for the cause of the people,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Mamata Banerjee on taking oath as the chief minister of the east Indian state of West Bengal for the second time and said he looked forward to working closely with her government for the state’s growth. “Congratulations to @MamataOfficial ji & her team on taking oath. Looking forward to working closely with the WB Govt for the state’s growth,” Modi tweeted.

Mamata had taken over as chief minister for the first time on May 20, 2011 when she led an alliance of Trinamool Congress, Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist to a huge win in the state assembly polls, ending 34 years of Left Front rule.

In the recent assembly elections, Mamata led the Trinamool to a landslide, with the party winning 211 seats — well above the two-thirds majority mark of 196 — to retain power.

The Congress-Left Front alliance won 77 seats in the 294-member house. The BJP and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha got three seats each. - Agencies

Fake encounter Following an uproar in Parliament, the Ministry had asked Prasad to inquire into the circumstances in which the files related to the case of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, went missing.

The papers which disappeared from the Home Ministry include the copy of an affidavit vetted by the then Attorney General and submitted in the Gujarat High Court in 2009 and the draft of the second affidavit vetted by the AG on which changes were made.

Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in the encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. - PTI

I N F I LT R AT I O N B I D F O I L E D

BrahMos cruise missile test-fired successfully NEW DELHI: India on Friday successfully test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos land-attack supersonic cruise missile.

The system was put to test by the Indian Air Force, which has acquired a squadron of it consisting of over 50 missiles, at about 1200 hours in the Pokharan firing range.

The unique BrahMos weapon system on numerous occasions has established its supremacy in the world of supersonic cruise missile, a statement by the BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia, said.

The flight conducted on Friday has met its mission parameters in a copybook manner, it said, adding, that the missile met all flight parameters the formidable weapon successfully hit and annihilated the designated target.

“I congratulate the IAF for successfully accomplishing such a complex mission. BrahMos has proved its mettle once again as the best supersonic cruise missile system in the world,” Sudhir Mishra, CEO & MD of BrahMos Aerospace, said.

Defence Research and Development Organisation chief S. Chris-

Missing Ishrat files not traced as deadline approaches NEW DELHI: The missing files and documents related to the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan have not been traced, Additional Secretary B. K.Prasad, who has got four days left to submit his report on the mysterious disappearance of the documents, on Friday told the Union Home Ministry.

Prasad, who is due to retire on May 31, is understood to have been given a two-month extension but has been asked to give his report by the month-end so that the Home Ministry could decide on future course of action including registering an FIR. Prasad had met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi on Friday during which he expressed his inability to trace the files related to alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan, official sources said.

The one-member panel was constituted after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had disclosed in Parliament on March 10 that the files were missing.

She steered her

KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive time heading a 42-member ministry with the Congress-Left combine and the state BJP boycotting the ceremony.

Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Ashok Gajapathi and Babul Supriyo, however, attended the ceremony, besides Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal.

Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office and secrecy to 61-year-old Mamata in Bengali at a function on the arterial Red Road here.

After leaving her Kalighat residence in south Kolkata, Mamata, wearing her trademark white sari, walked some distance greeting people before boarding the car.

She single-handedly steered her party Trinamool Congress to a

M AY 3 1 D E A D L I N E

BLAST OFF: An advanced version of BrahMos land-attack supersonic cruise missile successfully test fires from the Western sector on Friday. - PTI

topher also congratulated the IAF, BrahMos team and DRDO scientists involved in the successful mission. The accuracy in mountain warfare mode was recently re-established in a campaign conducted by the Indian Army in the eastern sector last year and repeated last month. - PTI

Six militants, soldier killed in two encounters in Jammu and Kashmir SRINAGAR: Six militants and a soldier were killed and two armymen were injured in two separate encounters with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir where an infiltration bid was foiled, police and army said on Friday.

In one incident, four militants were killed in a two-day anti-infiltration operation along the Line of Control in Naugam sector in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, army said on Friday.

Army Havildar Hangpand Dada also lost his life in the gunfight with the heavily-armed terrorists who were spotted trying to sneak into India from across the border yesterday (Thursday), an army official said.

He said the bodies of the terrorists were recovered from the site along with four AK-47 Rifles, ammunition and other war-like stores. Thirty-six-year-old Dada, who led his team, was seriously injured during the gun fight and succumbed to injuries while being evacuated to Army Base Hospital, the official said. Dada is survived by wife, a daughter and a son. Giving details of the operation, the official said troops deployed in the sector observed movement of a group of terrorists.

“The counter infiltration grid was reinforced while the terrorists were kept under constant surveillance till they could be effectively engaged,” he said, adding army troops successfully foiled the infiltration bid.

ENCOUNTER SITE: Security jawans search the debris of a house after encounter with militants at Khonchipora village in Tangmarg, in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. - PTI

The identity of four militants is yet to be ascertained, the official said. Security forces are continuing search and sanitisation operation in the area, he said. In a separate incident, two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Tangmarg area of Baramulla district today (on Friday), police said.

The gunbattle erupted after a joint team of police, army and

Central Reserve Police Force launched cordon and search operation in the wee hours in Khonchipora village, about 35 km from here, following information about presence of militants in the area, a police spokesman said.

“The hiding militants were asked to surrender which they refused and instead fired upon the joint search party, resulting in an encounter,” the spokesman said.

The slain militants have been identified as Mehraj Ahmad Bhat and Aadil Ahmad, residents of Pattan and Sopore towns of the district, respectively.

They were associated with Hizbul Mujhaideen, he said, adding two AK assault rifles were recovered from the scene of the gunbattle. Two army soldiers were also injured in the operation, an army official said. - PTI

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016 The paper has been accepted at STOC (a prominent theoretical computer science conference) and will be presented in Boston this June. Our latest algorithm is more general and was shared with experts a few weeks ago Haris Aziz, Alumnus, Lahore University of Management Sciences

INQUIRY COMMISSION

PM’s name omitted from Panama leaks scandal probe ISLAMABAD: In a major concession, the joint opposition on Thursday agreed to remove the name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from the draft terms for a proposed inquiry commission which will probe Panamagate scandal, conceding to government’s demand of making the document “issue-specific rather than person-specific”.

In its second meeting in as many days at the Parliament House, the 12-member committee comprising equal numbers from the government and opposition, it principally agreed to a four-point preamble of the terms of reference (ToRs). The preamble was previously suggested by the government through two separate motions adopted in both houses of Parliament. The opposition also backtracked from another demand that calls for investigating the gifts Nawaz had received while in Saudi Arabia. Nawaz was treated as a state guest in the gulf kingdom for the period the former dictator General (retired) Pervaiz Mushrraf had exiled him.

Deliberating on the ToRs submitted by the opposition, the meeting on Thursday showed greater flexibility.

“If the government thinks that specifically mentioning name of Prime Minister Nawaz in the ToRs draft will make the document person specific, then we are ready to accept this demand with an open heart and mind,” leader of the opposition in Senate, Aitzaz Ahsan, told the media after the three-hour long meeting. — The Express Tribune

A7

PAKISTAN

Financial constraints likely to hamper critical projects The Planning Commission’s hands

Finance Ministry’s refusal to increase the proposed size of the development budget being the major hindrance

seem to be tied, hindering allocation of sufficient funds for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects

Officials ISLAMABAD: Financial constraints may hamper progress on critical projects of the muchtrumpeted China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as the Planning Commission has so far indicated an allocation of only Rs124 billion in the next financial year, an amount just slightly over one-third of total demand.

The Planning Commission’s hands seem to be tied, hindering allocation of sufficient funds for CPEC projects, with Finance Ministry’s refusal to increase the proposed size of the development budget being the major hindrance, said officials close to the matter.

The officials added that out of the Rs655 billion share of the Planning Commission in the 2016-17 Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), it has so far indicated an allocation of around Rs124 billion for CPEC

schemes. This amount is just 18 per cent of the remaining financial requirements of these projects.

However, the proposed size is subject to change, as the matter will now come in front of the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC), which is headed by the planning minister, and will then be placed in the National Economic Council (NEC). The APCC will meet today (Friday) while the NEC meeting is scheduled for May 30 and is headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The total cost of CPEC infrastructure projects is estimated at Rs820 billion and an amount of Rs693 billion is required during the execution period of these schemes. Pakistan remains unable to meet its growing financial

needs of CPEC projects amid frustration expressed by the Chinese officials over the slow pace of work. The Planning Ministry denies that CPEC projects are facing delays. During Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to the Planning Commission, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal had demanded Rs350 billion for CPEC schemes. The premier had asked the Finance Minister to sit with the Planning Minister and resolve this issue but both sides could not reconcile.

For the new fiscal year, the total national development outlay is proposed at Rs1.675 trillion, which is Rs161 billion higher than the outgoing fiscal year’s original national development budget.

The federal PSDP is proposed at

Rs800 billion – higher by Rs100 billion or 14.3 per cent. However, out of this Rs800 billion, the share of Planning Ministry-administrated PSDP will be Rs655 billion, as the Finance Ministry has so far rejected the demand to increase this number to over Rs900 billion.

Provincial annual plan The provincial annual development plan is proposed at Rs875 billion – higher by Rs61 billion or 7.5 per cent. About 90 per cent or Rs110.4 billion of the so far proposed CPEC allocations are going for infrastructure projects, being administered by National Highway Authority (NHA). NHA’s next year’s total development budget is Rs195 billion.

There are eight CPEC schemes

under NHA having an estimated cost of Rs762 billion and proposed allocation is just 17 per cent of the remaining financial requirements.

For Multan-Sukkur section of the Lahore-Karachi Motorway, only Rs22.9 billion are proposed for next fiscal year against the remaining financing requirements of Rs247.7 billion. The total cost of this project is Rs298 billion.

For Lahore-Abdul Hakeem section, Rs34 billion have been proposed for next fiscal year against the outstanding requirements of Rs130.7 billion. The total cost of this project is Rs150.7 billion.

For the construction of recently approved Burhan-Hakla motorway of western route, the Planning Commission has proposed Rs25.1 billion. The total cost of this scheme is Rs124.2 billion and the Ministry has allotted Rs10 billion spending for this fiscal year. For compensation to the people affected by Burhan-Hakla road, the government has proposed Rs2 billion, which will cover the full cost of this scheme. For the construction of Thakot-Havelian road on eastern route, the government has proposed Rs14 billion against the remaining requirements of Rs116 billion. For land acquisition of this project, the government has proposed Rs1.8 billion.

For construction of BurhanHavelian Expressway, the government has proposed Rs5.7 billion against the remaining requirements of Rs22 billion. For Gwadar International Airport, Rs4 billion have been proposed against the remaining requirements of Rs20 billion. — The Express Tribune

W I D E N I N G O P E R AT I O N S

Hascol Petroleum to build oil storage facility at Port Qasim KARACHI: Hascol Petroleum has announced that the company, in partnership with Dubai-based Vitol, will widen the scope of its operations with the addition of a 200,000-tonne oil storage facility at Port Qasim and equity injection of Rs375 million, according to a bourse filing on Thursday.

For the purpose, the company will establish a separate firm as a

joint venture with Vitol, a global energy and commodity trading concern, which has recently bought a 15 per cent stake in Hascol for $28.1 million. The new oil tank will increase the storage capacity for white and black oil and help the fast-growing oil marketing company to broaden its network of retail outlets in the country.

The company has targeted to

increase the number of retail outlets in the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to 400 by the end of December this year compared to around 320 at present.

“Total paid-up capital of the new company will be Rs2.5 billion divided into 250 million shares of Rs10 each,” said Zeeshanul Haq, Company Secretary in a notification to the Pakistan Stock Ex-

RESEARCH

Major breakthrough made in mathematical problem LAHORE: Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) alumnus Haris Aziz, along with co-author Simon Mackenzie, has come up with a solution to a problem that has been plaguing scientists for years: how to allocate resources fairly to any number of people so that each is left satisfied with his/her share.

“My co-author Simon Mackenzie and I started working on this particular problem around 18 months ago. We are both based at Data61 and UNSW in Sydney. The problem for four or more persons was unresolved for years. We first came up with an algorithm for the case of four persons,” Haris Aziz said, while speaking to The Express Tribune.

“The paper has been accepted at STOC (a prominent theoretical computer science conference) and will be presented in Boston this June. Our latest algorithm is more general and was shared with experts a few weeks ago,” he added.

Their paper, titled, ‘A Discrete and Bounded Envy-Free Cake Cutting Protocol for Any Number of Agents’, was published on the Cornell University Library archive site in April. Dividing a thing in two fairly is easy enough, but when there are more people involved, that’s when the task becomes more difficult. In the 20th century, John Selfridge and John Conway independently developed a solution for envy-free cake cutting for three people.

The cake is only a metaphor for any kind of divisible good, be it time, property settlement, or computing resources. “As technology improves, many problems will arise and be solved on electronic platforms. One interesting application area of fair division algorithms is allocating access to cloud computing resources. Fair allocation algorithms also have the potential to identify desirable solutions in complex automated negotiation settings,” Aziz said.

Earlier this year, Aziz, a senior

research scientist, was named among ‘AI’s 10 to Watch’ by the IEEE Intelligent Systems magazine. ‘AI’s 10 to Watch’ acknowledges 10 researchers who are upcoming professionals in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), an official statement said.

Aziz shares that cake cutting is just one of the problems within the wider field of multi-agent resource allocation. “Other problems include assigning credit in a joint project and sharing supply chain costs. Another important application of allocation algorithms is efficient exchange of donated organs such as kidneys to save lives.”

Their solution has been described as a “major breakthrough”

by Professor Steven Brams at New York University, who has worked on such problems for more than 20 years. Although the paper is yet to be peer reviewed, Professor Brams told the Sydney Morning Herald the “results look solid”. — The Express Tribune

change. “We would like to notify that the board of directors of the company in their meeting held today (Thursday) has approved the establishment of a joint-venture company for developing and operating an oil storage/terminal facility (of approximately 200,000 tons) at Port Qasim along with other sponsors/investors with the company acquiring a 15 per cent

equity stake with an estimated investment of Rs375 million subject to approval by shareholders of the company…,” he added.

Exisiting facilities Hascol already has storage facilities at Machike, Shikarpur and Daulatpur. It has also acquired land at Mehmoodkot and Sahiwal where storage tanks will be

completed by the end of December 2016. In addition to these, the company has leased storage capacity for management at Keamari, according to its official website.

It is engaged in the purchase, storage and sale of petroleum products such as fuel oil, highspeed diesel, gasoline, Jet A-1, liquefied petroleum gas and lubricants. — The Express Tribune

A8

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READERS’ FORUM Oman cricket looks set to reach greater heights This refers to the story Zeeshan smashes ton as Oman vanquish Vanuatu(May-26). Kudos to Oman Cricket. What a great going! The Oman Cricket team deserves a big round of applause for registering three successive wins during the ongoing ICC World Cricket League Division 5 competition in Jersey. Congratulations to Zeeshan Maqsood for his unbeaten knock of 130 runs which made the run chase task look easier. To the best of my knowledge Zeeshan is the first Omani batsman to reach this dream landmark of every batsman at this level of international cricket. Keep it Scan this QR code up boys. The promotion of Oman Cricket to to send letters to the Division 4 looks imminent now. — MoReaders’ Forum, hammad Osama Rawat, Ruwi containing not more

BRIGITTE MIKSA

It has been clear for some time that a pension crunch is coming, and that it will be bad news for government spending everywhere.

The proportion of old people – and specifically those who are retired – is growing rapidly, especially in developed countries, where the trend is already putting pressure on social welfare systems

than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by e-mail (akhtar@ timesofoman.com).

Cracks in Libya intervention plan This refers to the cracks in the Western plans for Libya intervention. It seems that within this alliance of neocolonials are two camps, one spearheaded by Washington and other following the diktat of Berlin. However, as both have allied to resist Russian and Chinese expansionist policies, we are seeing a scenario previously seen in the run up to world wars of the previous century. -Sandy Usman, Muscat

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN

How a Sanders-Clinton thaw could play out T

he acrimony between Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, inflamed in recent weeks, is likely to be resolved with a series of compromises that will bring relative unity in the weeks after next month’s final primaries.

Limited conversations between supporters of the two candidates have been productive and both sides are guardedly optimistic, despite the sharp barbs the campaigns exchanged in recent weeks.

With Clinton almost certain to be the Democratic nominee and polls showing her in a tight race with the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, Democrats are worried that internal friction could weaken the party in the general election.

“It’s going to take a conscious effort for the winning candidate to be gracious and the opposing candidate to see the larger goal,” says Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat and Sanders supporter. Although Merkley hasn’t had any conversations with the Clinton forces, he expressed confidence that “the road is being paved” for a rapprochement.

Two of the people serving as bridges between the two camps are Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and campaign manager for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run, and Leah Daughtry, a pastor who’s the chief executive officer of the Democratic National Convention this year. These two influential black women have credibility both with progressives and party regulars. Their involvement has offset a major source of tension, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has come under attack from the Sanders camp for a supposed pro-Clinton bias, in particular after she criticized Sanders for not condemning violent acts by some of his Nevada supporters. The Clintonites, who are not big fans of the party chairwoman either, have instructed her to tone it down and be more accommodating. Sanders was pleased this week when he got a sizable representation on the party’s platform committee, including a few left-wingers. There are several primaries remaining, including the big June 7 California contest.

Sanders advisers say that if he wins decisively there and scores an upset that day in New Jersey — and polls continue to show him a stronger general election candidate against Trump — it may cause some Democrats to reconsider.

That is more than a long-shot and the Sanders camp has started to consider how best to preserve “the Bernie brand” when the nominating contest ends. That would include winning important platform planks and getting credit for energizing Democrats in the fall campaign.

“Should Clinton win the nomination, it’s absolutely critical to get the grassroots of the party and they are Sanders’s,” Merkley says.

There are concessions the Sanders people feel they must win, including revising the election process for the next cycle, and that the Clinton forces aren’t expected to resist. There are important issues for the “Bernie brand” in the platform, and some are relatively easy, such as language that is tough on Wall Street. Other demands probably will include a call for an expansion of health-care coverage, but that would stop short of the Vermont lawmaker’s single-payer system; calling for overturning Supreme Court decisions that have unleashed torrents of special-interest monies; and going along with Sanders’s call for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. There may be arguments over environmental issues. Sanders wants to ban fracking, the Clinton forces aren’t likely to want to go that far.

Sanders insiders say some recent articles suggesting that the candidate has taken on a Ralph Nader quality, determined to pursue his own agenda even if he damages the party, are dead wrong. In 2000, Nader’s third-party candidacy cost Democrat Al Gore the election. These supporters insist that the Vermont socialist has contempt for Trump and is dismissive of a Nader-type role.

They also say that the Clinton side needs to show more skill and sensitivity in treating the likely runner-up with respect, giving him a full airing at the Philadelphia convention and reining in the party chairwoman.There are relationships that should prove helpful in the weeks ahead. Both Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and Sanders’s strategist Tad Devine are veterans of Democratic campaigns and have worked together. The Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook is from Vermont.

The Clinton campaign says that starting in June Sanders must try to control some of his more fervent followers and bring in line some of the Never Hillary contingent among them.

There might be resistance.

“Most of his followers,” Merkley predicted, “will look to Senator Sanders for a signal.” - Bloomberg View

CLIPPINGS FROM OUR ARCHIVES MAY 2001 Oman LNG organises seminar on social fund MUSCAT: The Oman LNG Company yesterday organised a seminar on Social Support Fund under the auspices of Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Mattar Al Azizi, minister of civil services, on the company premises in Kalhat. Sayyid Mohammed bin Sultan Al Busaidi, undersecretary of the Interior Ministry, walis of Sharqiyah region, members of Council of State and Majlis Al Shura from the region, members of LNG committee in Sur, members of the Social Support Fund committee and senior Oman LNG officials attended the seminar. Sheikh Ahmed bin Hashir Al Maskary, director of commercial relations at Oman LNG, delivered a speech highlighting the role of the Social Fund.

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1900: Britain annexes the Orange Free State in South Africa.

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1940: Belgium surrenders to Germany.

1953: Melody, the first animated 3-D cartoon in Technicolor, premiers.

1961: Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, is founded.

7

10

9 6

4 0

Source National Centre for Statistics & Information

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WORLD

Obama calls for world without nuclear arms

SINGAPORE

UNDER TIGHT SECURITY: One of three armoured personnel carriers, front, from the Singapore police task force escorting six arrested Bangladeshi guest workers arrives at the State court in Singapore on Friday. – AFP

Tokyo and

Six Bangladeshi men charged with terror financing

visit to Hiroshima

Washington hope US president’s underscores a new level of reconciliation and tighter ties between the two countries

SINGAPORE: A Singapore court on Friday charged six Bangladeshi men with terrorism financing, after detaining them last month for allegedly planning attacks in their home country.

Security was tight at the state court as three armoured vehicles carrying the suspects entered the premises. The six were among eight Bangladeshi men detained in April under Singapore’s colonial-era Internal Security Act, which allows suspects to be held for lengthy periods without trial.

Five of the six said in Bengali through a court interpreter they intended to plead guilty.

The sixth, Mamun Leakot, 29, said he never contributed to funding any group’s activities in Bangladesh. “We just had an exchange of funds between ourselves,” he said after the judge asked him about a transfer of money with another of the suspects.

A prosecutor who declined to be identified said the other two were still facing detention orders but had not been charged.

Authorities said the eight met in parks and other open spaces to share radical propaganda and videos, calling themselves members of IS in Bangladesh. The detentions brought Singapore’s 150,000

or more Bangladeshi migrant community into the spotlight for being one of the most marginalised Muslim communities in the wealthy city-state, according to rights groups and community leaders. Singapore, which has not suffered a militant attack in decades, deploys extensive surveillance and is largely seen as one of the safest countries in the world.

But some critics say security comes with a cost to civil liberties.

As part of the same investigation, five other Bangladeshis were deported to their home country last month and had since been arrested by the police there.

They were being investigated for possible connections with the Bangladeshi militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team, authorities there said. The latest detentions were the second group of Bangladeshis investigated by Singapore in recent months.

In January, authorities said they had arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers who supported hardline groups including Al Qaeda and IS. All 27 were deported. Militants in Bangladesh have carried out a series of killings since early last year, with liberal bloggers and academics among their victims. — Reuters

HIROSHIMA (JAPAN): Barack Obama on Friday became the first incumbent US president to visit Hiroshima, site of the world’s first atomic bombing, in a gesture Tokyo and Washington hope will showcase their alliance and reinvigorate efforts to rid the world of nuclear arms.

Even before it occurred, the visit stirred debate, with critics accusing both sides of having selective memories, and pointing to paradoxes in policies relying on nuclear deterrence while calling for an end to atomic weapons.

The two governments hope Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, where a US atomic bomb killed thousands instantly on August 6, 1945, and some 140,000 by the year’s end, underscores a new level of reconciliation and tighter ties between the former enemies. “We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in the not so distant past,” Obama said after laying a wreath at a Hiroshima peace memorial. “We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans and a dozen Americans held prisoner. Their souls speak to us.”

TRIBUTES: US President Barack Obama, right, pauses for a moment of silence after laying a wreath in front of the cenotaph during his visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Friday. – AFP

Before laying the wreath, Obama visited a museum where haunting displays include photographs of badly burned victims, the tattered and stained clothes they wore and statues depicting people with flesh melting from their limbs.

“We have known the agony of war,” he wrote in the guest book.

“Let us now find the courage, together, to spread peace, and pursue a world without nuclear weapons.”

After speaking, Obama shook hands and chatted briefly with two atomic bomb survivors. Obama and Sunao Tsuboi, 91, smiled as they exchanged words; Shigeaki Mori, 79, cried and was embraced by the president.

The city of Nagasaki was hit by a second nuclear bomb on August 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later.

A majority of Americans see the bombings as having been necessary to end the war and save lives, although some historians question

HEIST

Bangladeshi hackers have attacked other Asian banks, say cyber firms WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE: Hackers who stole $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank have been linked to an attack on a bank in the Philippines, in addition to the 2014 hack on Sony Pictures, cybersecurity company Symantec Corp said in a blog post.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony’s Hollywood studio.

A senior executive at Mandiant, the cybersecurity company investigating the Bank Bangladesh heist, also told Reuters the hackers had recently penetrated banks in Southeast Asia.

In the blog post published on Thursday, Symantec did not name the Philippines bank or say whether any money was stolen, but said the attacks could be traced back to October last year. It did not identify the hackers.

The Philippines central bank’s deputy governor, Nestor Espenilla, told Reuters that no bank in the country had lost money to hackers, although he did not rule out the possibility of cyber attacks.

“We are checking if there are similar attacks on Philippine banks,” Espenilla said. “However, no reported losses so far.”

He added: “It is one thing to be attacked. It is another to lose money.”

TARGETED: A senior executive at Mandiant, the cybersecurity company investigating the Bank Bangladesh heist, said the hackers had recently penetrated banks in Southeast Asia. – File photo

Marshall Heilman, vice president for Mandiant, a part of USbased FireEye, said it was not known whether any money was lost in the other attacks he described or whether the hackers had been successfully blocked. “There is a group operating in Southeast Asia that definitely understands the bank industry and is at more than one location,” he said.

Heilman declined to identify the country or countries, or the institutions attacked. He said it was the same group as the one involved in the Bank Bangladesh theft and that the attacks were recent, but declined to be more specific.

Central banks elsewhere in

Southeast Asia - Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and East Timor - have declined comment or denied knowledge of any other breaches.

Fraudulent messages There have been at least four known cyber attacks against a bank involving fraudulent messages on the SWIFT payments network, one dating back to 2013. SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, urged banks this week to bolster their security, saying it was aware of multiple attacks. Banks around the world use secure SWIFT

messages for issuing payment instructions to each other.

SWIFT said earlier this week that February’s Bangladesh Bank hack was a “watershed event for the banking industry” and that it was “not an isolated incident”.

Spokeswoman Natasha de Teran said on Thursday that SWIFT was “actively looking into other possible instances of such fraud”, but would not comment on individual entities.

Symantec said it had identified three pieces of malware that were used in limited targeted attacks against financial institutions in Southeast Asia.

One of the malicious programmes has been previously associated with a hacking group known as Lazarus, which has been linked to the devastating attack on Sony’s Hollywood studio in 2014.

“There is a pretty hard connection now to the Sony attacks and the actor behind them” and the Bangladesh heist, Eric Chien, technical director at Symantec, said in an interview.

Another cybersecurity firm, BAE Systems, said this month that the distinctive computer code used to erase the tracks of hackers in the Bangladesh Bank heist was similar to code used to attack Sony. — Reuters

that view. Most Japanese believe they were unjustified.

The White House had debated whether the time was right for Obama to break a taboo on presidential visits to Hiroshima, especially in an election year.

But Obama’s aides defused most negative reaction from military veterans’ groups by insisting he would not second-guess the decision to drop the bombs.

Obama’s main goal in Hiroshima was to showcase his nuclear disarmament agenda, for which he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

“Amongst those nations like my own that own nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them,” he said.

Obama avoided any direct expression of remorse or apology for the bombings, a decision that some critics had worried would allow Japan to stick to the narrative that paints it as a victim. “We remem-

ber all the innocent killed in the arc of that terrible war and wars that came before, and wars that would follow. We have a shared responsibility to look directly in the eye of history,” he said.

For atomic bomb survivor Eiji Hattori, Obama’s remarks provided solace. “I think it was an apology,” said Hattori, 73, who was a toddler at the time of the bombing and now suffers from three types of cancer.

“I didn’t think he’d go that far and say so much. I feel I’ve been saved somewhat... For me, it was more than enough.”

Mori was also consoled by the president’s embrace.

“It made me so happy that I thought I was walking on air,” he said. Survivors said earlier an apology from Obama would be welcome but for many, the priority was ridding the world of nuclear arms, a goal that seems as elusive as ever. — Reuters

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SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

WORLD Hollande warns protesters against derailing economy French protesters attacked a police station and smashed bank windows during rallies on Thursday against the proposed labour reforms

PARIS: French riot police removed picketers and barricades blocking access to a large fuel distribution depot as President Francois Hollande warned anti-reform protesters on Friday he would not let them strangle the economy.

The police operation to free up a fuel depot near the Donges oil refinery in western France followed similar swoops at other depots this week to ease petrol shortages caused by picketers fighting planned labour law reforms.

Although concerns were mounting about potential disruption to the Euro 2016 football tournament which begins in two weeks time, evidence elsewhere in the energy sector indicated a slightly less tight supply compared with the previous day. Some 741 of oil major Total’s 2,200 filling stations were out of fuel compared with 784 a day earlier.

In the Seine Maritime region north of Paris, local government DANGEROUS TREKKING

Body of Indian climber found on Everest KATHMANDU: The body of an Indian climber was found on the upper slopes of Mount Everest, raising the death toll on the world’s tallest mountain since it was re-opened to expeditions this spring to four.

Sherpas searching for two Indian climbers missing since last Saturday located the body of Paresh Nath, 58, above the South Col (7,900 metres), hiking officials said on Friday.

“They are bringing the body down while the search for another Indian climber is continuing,” said Wangchu Sherpa of the Trekking Team Nepal company that organised their expedition. About 400 climbers have reached the top of Everest this month, the first time they were on the mountain after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake set off an avalanche that killed at least 18 people at Base Camp a year ago.

On Friday, a rescue helicopter brought the body of Australian climber Maria Strydom from Everest to the Nepali capital of Kathmandu.

Strydom, 34, was nearing the 8,850-metre (29,035 foot) summit when she fell ill with altitude sickness and had to turn back. She died last Saturday. “Her body has now been brought to Kathmandu from the mountain,” said Phu Tenzi Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks that organised her expedition. — Reuters

ANTI-REFORM DEMONSTRATION: A man holds a bouquet of flowers and a torch as he faces riot police during a demonstration against the government’s planned labour reform, on Thursday in Lyon, central eastern France. – AFP

prefect Nicole Klein said the number of petrol stations without fuel had fallen significantly and lifted rationing orders.

Nevertheless at the Fos-Lavera oil port in southern France, the country’s biggest, about 38 oil tankers were queued up waiting to unload, up from 12 the previous day, a port authority spokeswoman said.

Separately, the hardline CGT

union said its members at the CIM oil terminal at the port of Le Havre, which handles 40 per cent of French crude oil imports, had voted to extend their strike until Monday.

Speaking in Japan after a summit with other world leaders, Hollande said France’s economy was starting to pick up and should not be derailed by opponents of a reform designed to make hiring and

firing easier to boost employment.

“I will stay the course because this is a good reform and we must go all the way to adoption,” the Socialist leader said. “This is not the time to put the French economy in difficulty.”

Hollande’s appeal was directed above all at the CGT union, which is leading street protests, public transport strikes and fuel supply pickets that also risk disrupting

the European soccer tournament France is hosting next month.

Some evidence to back up Hollande’s remarks on the economy emerged on Friday in consumer confidence data collected in May. The official consumer confidence index surged past even the highest estimate to reach the highest level since October 2007, before the global financial crisis broke. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months for protests marred by violence on the fringes in which hundreds of police have been hurt and more than 1,300 people arrested.

Hollande, who faces an election a year from now plagued by dismal popularity ratings and high unemployment, says the labour reform is vital to tackle joblessness, which has dipped for two months in a row but remains close to a rate of 10 per cent.

The reform, which the CGT wants withdrawn, would make it easier for companies to lay off staff in difficult economic times.

It would also allow firms to opt out of national labour protection rules if they strike in-house deals on pay and conditions with the consent of a majority of their staff.

French protesters attacked a police station and smashed bank windows on Thursday at rallies against the reform, while the CGT members sought to choke off fuel supplies. Seventy-seven people were arrested during nationwide street demonstrations on Thursday in which more than 150,000 marched, according to the Interior Ministry. — Reuters

UGANDA

Five get life term for World Cup bombings KAMPALA: Five men were jailed for life in Uganda on Friday for their role in two Al Shabaab bombings that killed 76 people among crowds watching the World Cup soccer final in July 2010.

The attacks, at a popular restaurant and a sports field where fans had gathered to watch the Spain vs Netherlands final on large screens, showed the ability of the militant group to strike far beyond the borders of its native Somalia.

It said the blasts were to avenge killings of Somalis by Ugandan troops, who were deployed to the Horn of Africa nation in 2007 as part of an African Union peacekeeping force to help defeat Al Shabaab. High Court judge Alphonse Owiny Dollo said it was likely most of those killed and maimed were opposed to the deployment by the Uganda People’s Defence Force.

“The hundreds of victims of these wanton acts had nothing to do with the decision to deploy the UPDF in Somalia,” he said. “And yet because of these senseless and indiscriminate attacks, they are either dead or permanently living with the scars of these deeds.”

The judge said while the crime was repugnant, he did not believe a death sentence would “give closure to the indelible pain that society has suffered.”

Five others were acquitted when the verdicts were read on Thursday. Two other Ugandans were jailed in 2011 after pleading guilty to terrorism charges related to the attacks, and were handed sentences of 25 and five years respectively. — Reuters

TENSIONS AND SECURITY CONCERNS

Turkey tourist arrivals decline most in 17 years ANKARA/ISTANBUL: The number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell by 28 per cent in April, official data showed on Friday, the biggest drop in 17 years amid tensions with Russia and security concerns after a wave of bombings.

The decline signals more pain for Turkey’s economy, which is smarting from slowing exports and weak private investment.

Some economists have forecast that tourism revenue will drop by a quarter this year, costing around $8 billion, or the equivalent of 1 per cent of GDP. The drop-off does not bode well as Turkey heads into the May-August high tourism season, when European holidaymakers usually flock to its southern beaches.

“As we move from low to high season in tourism, the deterioration in tourism statistics gets more and more significant,” said Deniz Cicek, an economist at Finansbank in a note to clients.

Tourism fell 28.07 per cent year-on-year in April, with 1.75 million people arriving, data showed. It was the biggest drop since May in 1999, when the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group launched a bombing campaign and warned tourists to stay away after the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The number of Russian visitors all but evaporated, falling by nearly 80 per cent, the data showed.

Russians traditionally account for

SIGNS OF TROUBLE: Merchants wait for customers at Grand Bazaar, known as the Covered Bazaar, in Istanbul, Turkey. The number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell by 28 per cent in April, official data showed on Friday. – Reuters

one of the biggest groups of foreign visitors after Germany, but they have stopped coming after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane over Syria last year, souring relations.

The number of Germans fell by more than a third.

“The substantial decline in tourist arrivals this year was not limited to Russia, and spread out to all major tourism part-

ners of Turkey to some extent,” Cicek said.

The pronounced drop in tourism is yet another headache for a government trying to win back investor confidence.

Sentiment has been battered by security fears and worries about President Tayyip Erdogan’s growing power. It was given a boost this week when Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, seen as an anchor of investor confidence, retained his position in the new cabinet. However, Simsek’s authority has been curbed in his new role, and security concerns continue.

Turkey has been hit by a wave of suicide bomb attacks this year, including two in Istanbul - its biggest city and traditional tourist draw - blamed on IS militants. In January a suicide bomber killed 12 German tourists when he blew himself up in the city’s historic heart. Three Israeli tourists and an Iranian were killed in March when another suicide bomber blew himself up in Istanbul’s most popular shopping district.

The NATO member faces multiple security threats. It is part of the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, and also battling the decades-old militant insurgency in the largely Kurdish southeast region.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Istanbul this month that wounded seven people. An offshoot of the group has claimed responsibility for other car bombings in Ankara this year that killed at least 66 people. — Reuters

SUPERBUG

US reports first case of bacteria resistant to all antibiotics WASHINGTON: US health officials on Thursday reported the first case in the country of a patient with an infection resistant to all known antibiotics, and expressed grave concern that the superbug could pose serious danger for routine infections if it spreads.

“We risk being in a post-antibiotic world,” said Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referring to the urinary tract infection of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman who had not travelled within the prior five months.

Frieden, speaking at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, DC, said the infection was not controlled even by colistin, an antibiotic that is reserved for use against “nightmare bacteria”.

The infection was reported

Thursday in a study appearing in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. It said the superbug itself had first been infected with a tiny piece of DNA called a plasmid, which passed along a gene called mcr-1 that confers resistance to colistin. “(This) heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria,” said the study, which was conducted by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mcr-1 in the USA.” The patient visited a clinic on April 26 with symptoms of a urinary tract infection, according to the study, which did not describe her current condition. Authors of the study could not immediately be reached for comment.

SERIOUS DANGER: Colonies of E. coli bacteria grown on a Hektoen enteric agar plate are seen in a microscopic image courtesy of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). – CDC/Handout via Reuters

The study said continued surveillance to determine the true frequency of the gene in the United States is critical.

“It is dangerous and we would assume it can be spread quickly, even in a hospital environment if

it is not well contained,” said Dr Gail Cassell, a microbiologist and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School. But she said the potential speed of its spread will not be known until more is learned about how the Pennsylvania patient was infected, and how present the colistin-resistant superbug is in the United States and globally.

In the United States, antibiotic resistance has been blamed for at least 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths annually. The mcr-1 gene was found last year in people and pigs in China, raising alarm.

The potential for the superbug to spread from animals to people is a major concern, Cassell said.

For now, Cassell said people can best protect themselves from it and from other bacteria resistant to antibiotics by thoroughly wash-

ing their hands, washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly and preparing foods appropriately.

Experts have warned since the 1990s that especially bad superbugs could be on the horizon, but few drugmakers have attempted to develop drugs against them.

Frieden said the need for new antibiotics is one of the more urgent health problems, as bugs become more and more resistant to current treatments. “The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are,” Frieden added.

“The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients. It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act urgently.” Overprescribing of antibiotics by physicians and in hospitals and their extensive use in food livestock have contributed to the crisis. More than half of all

hospitalised patients will get an antibiotic at some point during their stay. But studies have shown that 30 per cent to 50 per cent of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals are unnecessary or incorrect, contributing to antibiotic resistance.

Many drugmakers have been reluctant to spend the money needed to develop new antibiotics, preferring to use their resources on medicines for cancer and rare diseases that command very high prices and lead to much larger profits.

In January, dozens of drugmakers and diagnostic companies, including Pfizer, Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline, signed a declaration calling for new incentives from governments to support investment in development of medicines to fight drug-resistant superbugs. — Reuters

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

S P O R S FOOTBALL

Deschamps to sue Cantona PARIS: France soccer coach Didier Deschamps will file a legal complaint against Eric Cantona after his former national teammate suggested the squad selection for Euro 2016 was racially motivated, Deschamps’ lawyer said on Friday.

The two men, who played 34 times together for France, have a history of animosity since the mid-1990s when Deschamps replaced Cantona as France’s captain, going on to lead the team to World Cup and European Championship successes in 1998 and 2000.

In an interview with British daily newspaper the Guardian on Thursday, former Manchester United star Cantona questioned the motives of omitting striker Karim Benzema and forward Hatem Ben Arfa, both of North African origin, from the final squad of 23.

“Benzema is a great player.

Ben Arfa is a great player,” Cantona told the Guardian. “But Deschamps, he has a really French name. Maybe he is the only one in France to have a truly French name. Nobody in his family mixed with anybody, you know.

Like the Mormons in America.

“So I’m not surprised he used the situation of Benzema not to take him. Especially after Valls said he should not play for France. And Ben Arfa is maybe the best player in France today.

But they have some origins. I am allowed to think about that.”

Noël Le Graët, the head of the French Football Federation, immediately described the comments as “ridiculous.”

Deschamps’ lawyer, Carlos Brusa, told French media that he was launching proceedings against Cantona to penalise “the unacceptable slanderous and defamatory statements that harm Mr Deschamps’ integrity”. - Reuters

Oman survive Guernsey scare to qualify for final Thanks to Aamir Kaleem’s all-round show Oman overcame Guernsey to reach the final of the ICC WCL Division 5 and with that clinched a berth in the Division 4 competition

MUSCAT: Aamir Kaleem came with a fine all-round display to help Oman survive a scare against Guernsey and clinch a berth in the final of the ongoing ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 5 competition in Jersey on Friday.

The thrilling two-wicket victory, their fifth success in a row, also ensured the Sultanate squad earned promotion to the WCL Division 4 competition, which will now take place in the United States later this year.

For the first time in the competition, unbeaten Oman side seemed to have met their match as chasing a rather easy target of 141 for eight set by Guernsey, Duleep Mendiscoached side simply caved in at the beginning of their innings.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Oman’s Aamir Kaleem receives his man of the match award. – Supplied photo

With four wickets down for just 13 runs and hosts Jesery, the other contenders for a place in the final and one of the two qualifying places for Division 4, racing to a 10-wicket victory over Nigeria, Oman placed themselves in all sorts of danger.

But Aamir Kaleem (35) and captain Ajay Lalcheta (24) took Oman closer to the victory before Swapnil Khadye (33 not out) completed the formalities in the company of Rajesh Ranpura and Sufyan Mehmood as Oman scored 142 for eight in 36.2 overs.

Chasing an achievable score of 145 for eight, Oman made a disastrous start losing four wickets with 13 runs on the board which soon read 39 for five with Oliver Newey doing the major damage.

The medium pacer removed

hard-hitting opener Zeeshan Maqsood (4) and one-drop Vaibhav Wategaonkar (0). And after Andrew Hutchinson sent back Jatinder Singh (0), Newey struck again to remove Khawar Ali (4).

But Aamir Kaleem, in the company of Noorul Riaz, steadied the ship. After playing out a few overs, including a maiden over from Hutchinson, Aamir Kaleem settled the nerves with three boundaries off the ninth over bowled by Newey.

However, when Newey claimed his fourth scalp in the 11th over, removing Noorul Riaz (11), half the Sultanate’s team were back in the pavilion. Aamir Kaleem and captain Ajay Lalcheta kept the things under control. Mixing caution with aggression they took the team closer to the victory.

But the departure of the duo, both

dismissed by Max Ellis, in quick succession again swung the match in Guernsey’s favour.

However, Swapnil Khadye ensured there were no more hiccups as he steered Oman to victory with valuable contributions from Rajesh Ranpura and Sufyan Mehmood.

Earlier, Guernsey tried to take a cautious route in the hope of putting up a big score. but all they could manage in first five overs was 13 runs. Soon they were jolted

by Rajesh Ranpura who removed Guernsey opener GH Smith.

From then on Guernsey crawled to 40 for one in 18 overs. But they were further jolted when Oman claimed four wickets in space of seven runs. It was Sufyan Mehmood who sparked the collapse by removing one drop batsman Oliver Newey (11).

Then an alert Jatinder Singh ran out Tom Kimber before leftarm spinner Aamir Kaleem struck twice in two overs accounting for Mathew Stokes (3) and David Hooper (4), both trapped lbw.

Guernsey never really recovered from that shock though Oliver Nightingale (24) and Jason Martin (33) tried to rebuilt the innings.

Martin in particular took the fight to Oman smashing two fours and two sixes. He was the last to be dismissed, bowled by Munis Ansari, as Guernsey ended their innings at 141 for eight in 50 overs.

Unbeaten Oman finished their league engagements with 10 points and take on hosts Jersey (8 points) in Saturday’s final. Guernsey earned six points from five outings.

SCOREBOARD

GUERNSEY GH Smit c Riaz b Ranpura 13 TCR Kimber run out 16 OE Newey c Khadye b Sufyan Mehmood 11 MWR Stokes lbw Aamir Kaleem 3 DR Hooper lbw Aamir Kaleem 4 LB Ferbrache c Ranpura b Z Maqsood 10 OB Nightingale c Jatinder b M Ansari 24 JC Martin b M. Ansari 33 J. Butler not out 8 A. Hutchinson not out 7 Extras (b-2, lb-7, nb-3) 12 Total (8 wkts; 50 overs) 141 Did not bat: MLA Ellis Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-40, 3-41, 4-46, 5-47, 6-79, 7-123, 8-132.

Bowling: Ajay Lalcheta 10-2-25-0; Rajesh Ranpura 7-4-12-1; Munis Ansari 8-0-34-2; Sufyan Mehmood 7-1-18-1 (nb-2); Aamir Kaleem 10-3-2-2; Zeeshan Maqsood 8-231-1 (nb-1).

OMAN Zeeshan Maqsood c Ferbrache b Newey 4 Khawar Ali c Martin b Newey 4 V. Wategaonkar lbw Newey 0 Jatinder Singh c Martin b Hutchinson 0 Noorul Riaz c Hooper b Newey 11 Aamir Kaleem c Kimber b Ellis 35 Ajay Lalcheta c Stokes b Ellis 24 Swapnil Khadye not out 33 Rajesh Ranpura c Martin b Hutchinson 12 Sufyan Mehmood not out 2 Extras (b-2, lb-1, w-13, nb-1) 17 Total (8 wkts, 36.2 overs) 142 Did not bat: M. Ansari Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-10, 3-13, 4-13, 5-39, 6-92, 7-94, 8-132.

Bowling: O. Newey 6-0-27-4 (w-3); A. Hutchinson 9-1-25-2 (w-2); DR Hooper 8-225-0 (w-3); J. Butler 3-0-12-0 (w-2); M. Ellis 9.2-1-35-2 (w-1); GH Smit 1-0-15-0 (w-1).

P E N D I N G A P P R O VA L

New Zealand plan day-night Test against England WELLINGTON: New Zealand will host their first day-night Test when England tour the country in early 2018, pending final approval from both teams.

The twilight match will be played at Auckland’s Eden Park, which has not hosted a Test since a game with India in 2014. No dates have been confirmed but the tour is likely to fall in a window during February-March.

“While we can’t confirm it yet, it’s something we’re extremely interested in and working towards,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said in a media release on Friday.

New Zealand, who played the inaugural day-night Test against Australia last year in Adelaide, had hoped to play their first at home early next year against South Africa but the idea was abandoned due to logistical problems.

South Africa’s board are also mulling a pink ball Test with Australia in Adelaide later this year but the Proteas’ players have expressed their reticence.

New Zealand also confirmed three One-day Internationals (ODIs) against world champions Australia from January 30-February 5 next year. Bangladesh will tour for three ODIs, three Twenty20 matches and two Tests from December 26-January 24.

The limited overs matches, like last year’s series against Sri Lanka, will be held over the ChristmasNew Year holidays.

South Africa begin their tour with a T20 international at Eden Park, where they were beaten by New Zealand in the semifinal of last year’s World Cup, before they play five ODIs and three Tests.

New Zealand will also host a full tour by the West Indies in 2017,

TENNIS

Fatma loses in second round of Incheon tourney

MUSCAT: Omani tennis ace Fatma Al Nabhani bowed out of the $25,000 Incheon ITF Pro Circuit Tournament in South Korea on Thrusday.

In the second round of the singles competition, Fatma came up against eighth seeded British girl Freya Christie, who proved

too strong for the Omani lass and went on to win the match 6-2, 6-1.

Fatma also took part in the doubles competition partnering Mari Osaka.

But the duo lost 4-6, 2-6 in the first round to Kamonwan Buayam of Thailand and Pei-Chi Lee of Chinese Taipei.

limited overs series against Pakistan and three ODIs against Australia before the England tour.

New Zealand’s 2016/2017 schedule: November 17-21: vs Pakistan, 1st Test, Christchurch;

November 25-29: vs Pakistan, 2nd Test, Hamilton; December: 26 vs Bangladesh, 1st ODI Christchurch; December 29: vs Bangladesh, 2nd ODI, Nelson; December 31: vs Bangladesh, 3rd ODI, Nelson;

January 3: vs Bangladesh, 1st T20, Napier; January 6: vs Bangladesh, 2nd T20, Mt. Maunganui; January 8: vs Bangladesh, 3rd T20, Mt. Maunganui; January 12-16: vs Bangladesh, 1st Test, Wellington; January 20-24: vs Bangladesh, 2nd Test, Christchurch; January 30: vs Australia, 1st ODI, Auckland; February 2: vs Australia, 2nd ODI, Napier; February 5: vs Australia, 3rd ODI, Hamilton; February 17: vs South Africa, 1st T20, Auckland; February 19 vs South Africa, 1st ODI, Hamilton; February 22: vs South Africa, 2nd ODI, Christchurch; February 25 vs South Africa, 3rd ODI, Wellington; March 1 vs South Africa, 4th ODI, Napier; March 4: vs South Africa, 5th ODI, Auckland; March 8-12: vs South Africa, 1st Test, Dunedin; March 16-20: vs South Africa, 2nd Test, Wellington; March 25-29: vs South Africa, 3rd Test, Hamilton. - Reuters

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SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

SPORTS CRICKET

Warner’s masterclass takes Sunrisers to IPL final

MAJESTIC KNOCK: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner, left, celebrates after guiding his team to the victory over Gujarat Lions during their IPL match in New Delhi on Friday. – AFP

NEW DELHI: Skipper David Warner produced a majestic 93 as he single-handedly led Sunrisers Hyderabad into the Indian Premier League (IPL) final after securing a four-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 2, here on Friday.

Chasing a tricky 163, Sunrisers overhauled the target with four balls to spare as Warner anchored the chase with his responsible 58ball knock, embellished with 11 four and three sixes.

Hyderabad will now challenge Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday as the two teams will compete for their first ever IPL title.

While maximum Sunrisers batsmen cut a sorry figure, Warner showed his class and super cool temperament as he never let the innings fall apart.

Wickets kept tumbling but Warner had dug his heels and

found amazing support in Bipul Sharma, who came up with a sizzling unbeaten 27-run knock under pressure.

Bipul, who had also troubled rival batsmen when Lions batted, took pressure off his captain with his timely big shots. His sixes off Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni played a crucial role in turning the tide in Sunrisers’ favour.

Bipul, who played for India A in 2010, always had batting credentials but today was the day to show his worth as he added 33 runs with

England batsmen fail to punish Sri Lanka

Warner in their unfinished partnership for the seventh wicket.

Needing five runs off last over, Warner blasted a four in the first ball off Praveen Kumar to level the scores and then took a single to finish the match comfortably.

Earlier, Aaron Finch (50) rescued his side with a fighting halfcentury, leading Gujarat to a competitive 162 for seven with useful contribution from Brendon McCullum (32), Dinesh Karthik (26) and Dwayne Bravo (20).

Losing Shikhar Dhawan (0) and

Moises Henriques (11) early was not the ideal start for the Sunrisers.

Dhawan was run out while Henriques hit straight to Eklavya Dwivedi in the covers off Dwayne Smith.

Warner was still there and giving him company was a confidentlooking Yuvraj Singh as the Sunrisers managed 46 for 2 in Powerplay overs. Sensing that spinners would do well, Lions skipper Suresh Raina introduced himself early into the attack and also handed the ball to young Shivil Kaushik.

Warner hammered Raina for a straight six, that broke the glass facade on the first tier, to raise fifty of the team and found another boundary on a mis-field from the substitute fielder Andrew Tye. Brief scores: Gujarat Lions 162/7 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 50; Ben Cutting 2/20, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/27) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 163/6 in 19.2 overs (David Warner 93 n.o.; S Kaushik 2/22). - PTI

FRENCH OPEN

Gasquet and Murray move up, Nadal pulls out with injury

SCOREBOARD

England 1st innings A. Cook c Karunaratne b Lakmal 15 A. Hales c Mathews b Siriwardana 83 N. Compton c Lakmal b Pradeep 9 J. Root c K. Silva b Pradeep 80 J. Vince c Thirimanne b Siriwardana 35 J. Bairstow c Chandimal b Pradeep 48 M. Ali not out 28 C. Woakes not out 8 Extras (b-1, lb-3) 4 Total (6 wkts, 90 overs) 310 Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-64, 3-160, 4-219, 5-227, 6-297.

To bat: S. Broad, S. Finn, J. Anderson Bowling: S. Eranga 19-2-67-0; S. Lakmal 18-3-58-1; N. Pradeep 19-3-69-3; R. Herath 24-1-74-0; A. Mathews 2-1-3-0; M. Siriwardana 8-0-35-2.

A late cameo from Jonny Bairstow steadied an innings that had been in danger of falling away but he departed for 48 just before the close as Sri Lanka fought back on a slow pitch in Durham

DURHAM: England’s batsmen failed to take full advantage on a first day of swinging fortunes in the second Test against Sri Lanka, finishing on 310 for six after outstanding catching kept the touring side in contention on Friday.

A late cameo from Jonny Bairstow, who oozed confidence after his first-Test 140, steadied an innings that had been in danger of falling away but he departed for 48 just before the close as Sri Lanka fought back on a slow pitch in Durham.

Both England openers missed landmarks in chilly conditions at Chester-le-Street where England have won all five of their previous Test matches.

Alastair Cook chose to bat after winning the toss in the hope of scoring the 20 runs he needed to become the youngest player — and

HALF CENTURIES: England’s Joe Root, right, and Alex Hales celebrate during the first day of their second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham on Friday. – Reuters

the first Englishman — to reach 10,000 runs. But the opener only reached 15 before jabbing at a wide delivery from Suranga Lakmal and he was well caught by a diving Dimuth Karunaratne in the slips.

Cook’s opening partner Alex Hales also had a personal milestone in mind and came close to a maiden Test century.

Hales, who made 86 in the first

Test, played fluently with a judicious mix of attack and defence before falling on 83 to a superb catch by Angelo Mathews at slip off the bowling of spinner Milanda Siriwadana.

With under-pressure Nick Compton again departing cheaply for nine, to an excellent catch on the long leg boundary by Lakmal, Joe Root needed to provide the innings with renewed momentum.

The Yorkshireman chalked up an effortless fifty from 70 balls and looked on course for a century but was surprised on 80 by a quicker ball from Nuwan Pradeep that got up off a length.

The bounce forced Root into a hurried shot that was easily caught

by Kaushal Silva.

England’s most prolific batsman has now failed to reach three figures seven of the last eight times he has recorded a half century.

James Vince fell to a lazy stroke for 35, leaving Bairstow and Moeen Ali to add 70 for the sixth wicket before the former under-edged a catch to the keeper.

By the close, Moeen had reached an untroubled 28 with Chris Woakes unbeaten on eight.

Pradeep was Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler with three for 69.

England won the first Test in the three-match series by an innings and 88 runs. - Reuters

PARIS: Local favourite Richard Gasquet was simply a class apart as he dismissed maverick Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6 (7), 6-2 to reach the French Open last 16 on Friday.

On a day when former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal pulled out of the tournament with injury and Andy Murray eased past Ivo Karloic, ninth-seeded Gasquet relied on his trademark backhand to unsettle Kyrgios, who appeared to be suffering from shoulder pains and needed treatment from the trainer in the opening set.

Gasquet, who has yet to drop a set, played neatly and although he was at times on the back foot because of his opponent’s booming forehand, 17th seed Kyrgios’s 44 unforced errors were enough to see the Frenchman through.

Earlier, nine-time champion Nadal sent shock waves around Roland Garros when he unexpectedly pulled out because of an injury to his left wrist.

A day after notching up his 200th Grand Slam victory with an imperious 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 second-round win over Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis, a grim-faced Nadal walked into a hurriedly arranged news conference wearing a navy blue brace around his stricken wrist.

“I have to retire from the tournament because I have a problem in my wrist that I have had a couple of weeks,” said the Spanish left-hander who turns 30 next week.

“Every day was a little bit worse. We tried to do all the treatments possible.

“Every single day we spent a lot

of hours working so hard to try to play,” he added.

Kei Nishikori puffed out his cheeks in relief after he beat Spanish dangerman Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 in a third-round tussle that featured 16 breaks of serve .

Defending champion Stan Wawrinka eased into the fourth round with a drama-free 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Jeremy Chardy.

Andy Murray’s campaign gathered pace as he made light work of big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic to reach the fourth round with a quick victory for a change.

After gruelling five-setters in his first two rounds, the second seed gave a masterclass in nullifying the game’s biggest serve, breaking twice in succession at the start of the match to set up a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory.

Big shock Agnieszka Radwanska, meanwhile, survived a second-set wobble to qualify for the last 16 with a 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-2 victory over Czech Barbora Strycova .

The second-seeded Pole, looking to win her first Grand Slam title, next faces 19th-seeded American Sloane Stephens or Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.

Shelby Rogers produced one of the biggest shocks at this year’s French Open when she knocked out twice Wimbledon champion and 10th seed Petra Kvitova in the third round .

The 23-year-old American, ranked 108th in the world, won 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-0 to move into the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time. - Reuters

FOOTBALL

Mourinho and Guardiola set for first faceoff in Beijing LONDON: The new managers of Manchester United and Manchester City will face an early confrontation when the teams meet in a friendly in Beijing on July 25.

Jose Mourinho, officially confirmed as United boss on Friday, and old adversary Pep Guardiola, who is replacing Manuel Pellegrini at City, will renew hostilities in the pre-season International Champions Cup. There was little love lost between the pair when Mourinho was in charge at Real Madrid and Guardiola led Barcelona.

The rivalry is likely to be just as fierce when United attempt to make up ground on their neighbours, who have finished above them in the Premier League for the past three seasons.

This term City were only ahead on goal difference but pipping United to fourth position meant they took the final Champions League qualifying place.

United won the FA Cup last weekend but the final proved to be manager Louis van Gaal’s swansong, his dismissal coming two

days later. The first game of their pre-season tour to China is against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on July 22.

United, as FA Cup holders, take on Premier League champions Leicester City in the annual Community Shield game at Wembley on August 7.

Before that Mourinho will have an early date in the Old Trafford dugout when he takes charge of an England XI in a charity game for Soccer Aid against a Rest of the World XI on June 5.

‘Wounded animal’ Meanwhile, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has welcomed Friday’s appointment of “true winner” Jose Mourinho as manager at Old Trafford, saying the Portuguese’s latest challenge will be his most exciting.

Ferdinand, who won six Premier League trophies with the club, said Mourinho would have to teach the team how to start winning again after the club missed out on Champions League football for the second time in three years.

“This is Jose Mourinho’s most exciting and most challenging job yet,” the former England centre half wrote on his Facebook page.

“The first thing he needs to do is instil a ‘winning mentality’ back into the club. One thing I can tell Manchester United fans is that they have got themselves a true winner in all aspects. His CV shows success.”

Ferdinand said Mourinho would be motivated by the desire to prove his critics wrong after a disappointing title defence with Chel-

sea that led to him being sacked in December.

“After his recent unsuccessful time at Chelsea in the final year, I can assure you this winner is now a wounded animal which makes him such a mouth-watering appointment,” added the former Leeds United, West Ham United and Queens Park Rangers defender.

“He will be desperate to silence the media who have been writing and saying negative things about him and will be as focused as ever.” - Reuters

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WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM S ATU RDAY, MAY 28, 2016

MARKE

CHINA, EU COMMISSION EDGE TOWARDS DEAL The European Commission and China may be near a deal to avoid a dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and a wider trade war, diplomats say, but must convince EU lawmakers angry over record Chinese steel output. >B2

OIL MARKET

Battle inside Opec eases as Saudi oil strategy pays off LONDON: Saudi Arabia has been fighting with fellow Opec members since the oil rout started two years ago. For the first time next week, it can argue convincingly that its strategy of squeezing rival producers is succeeding.

By stifling high-cost suppliers, the Saudi approach has now almost eradicated the global oversupply, spurring a price rally of 80 per cent to above $50 since January. All but one of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) will stick with the strategy rather than set output limits when ministers gather in Vienna on June 2.

“It might not look a victory compared with when oil was $100 a barrel, but the Saudi strategy is working as you’ve got significant production declines showing up in a lot of places, and prices are grinding higher,” said Seth Kleinman, head of energy research at Citigroup. “Which makes the odds of them abandoning the plan even more remote.”

Lower prices have taken their toll on production from the US to BRITISH EXIT FROM EU

Brexit would be serious risk, say G7 leaders TOKYO: A British exit from the European Union (EU) would be a serious risk to global economic growth, Group of Seven leaders said in a summit declaration on Friday, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the issue had not been discussed.

The statement will be welcomed by the British government, which has issued a series of warnings about the domestic cost of voters opting to leave the bloc in a June 23 referendum on EU membership.

“A UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth,” G7 leaders said, in the only reference to the vote in a 32-page declaration.

Brexit was listed alongside geopolitical conflicts, terrorism and refugee flows as a potential shock of a “non-economic origin”.

The issue was not formally on the agenda at the two-day summit in Japan, but British government officials had said they expected it would come up on the margins.

Merkel said that leaders had not discussed Brexit but that there was a consensus that they wanted the country to stay in.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is pushing for Britain to stay in the EU, told reporters on Friday there was a real economic risk in leaving and Britain should listen to its friends.

French President Francois Hollande said Brexit would be economically bad news for the world.

“It is not for us to say what the British people should be doing,” he told reporters. — Reuters

Nigeria. Analysts from the International Energy Agency to Goldman Sachs Group say the crude glut is dissipating as supply and demand move back into balance.

That shift may mean a less contentious meeting than the last gathering in December, which ended with public criticism of Saudi Arabia’s position from fellow members Venezuela and Iran.

Biggest slump Oil production outside Opec is headed this year for its biggest drop since 1992 as the US shale-oil boom that fostered the world surplus sputters out, the Paris-based IEA forecasts. US output has fallen for 11 weeks to its lowest since September 2014, and will average 8.5 per cent lower this year than 2015, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates.

Kuwait’s acting oil minister Anas Al Saleh, said on May 18 that Opec’s policy “has been working well.” Brent crude futures traded for $48.82 a barrel in London as of 10:12am local time, after climbing as high as $50.51 on Thursday.

Any action that raises prices

OIL SUPPLIES: Oil production outside Opec is headed this year for its biggest drop since 1992 as US shale-oil boom that fostered world surplus sputters out, IEA forecasts. — Bloomberg file picture

would only rescue US drillers and jeopardise the return to equilibrium, said Mike Wittner, head of oil market research at Societe Generale in New York.

“The Saudis might be concerned that if prices go a little higher and sustain it, that could nip the rebalancing in the bud just when it’s getting going,” said Wittner.

“I don’t know they have a whole lot of incentive to particularly do anything.”

Opposition fades While the economies of Opec members such as Venezuela and Nigeria remain under strain, they are probably resigned to the course set by Riyadh, said Jason Bordoff,

director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York.

“Countries like Venezuela have been pushing Opec for over a year now to do something to get the prices up,” said Bordoff. “They probably recognise that that’s a futile effort at this point. The Saudi strategy of allowing low prices to do the work of low prices is working.” The chances of reaching any supply agreement look especially dim after Opec failed to complete an accord with Russia and other non-members on freezing supply levels in Doha last month, according to Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of consultant IHS. “The clash between Iran and Saudi Arabia makes it very difficult for Opec to do anything,” Yergin said in a Bloomberg television interview. “It’s pretty hard to have any deal at this point.” Iran — a key advocate of output restraint in previous years — is unlikely to push for a new group limit as it remains focused on restoring exports previously constrained by sanctions, Societe Generale’s Wittner said.

The only analyst surveyed who

predicted an agreement, Phil Flynn at Price Futures Group in Chicago, expects the group to follow up on the aborted Doha initiative by deciding to “freeze” production at current levels.

Opec’s previous ministerial meeting in December ended without any agreement on a group output ceiling, abandoning the target of 30 million barrels a day that the organisation had held — and mostly ignored — since late 2011.

Key figure While prices collapsed after that gathering amid Opec’s inaction, just as they had when the approach was first revealed in November 2014, the response will probably be subdued this time as the market has accepted the laissez-faire policy is here to stay, said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas in London.

The Vienna meeting will be the first opportunity to assess the stance of new Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih, appointed this month when Ali Al Naimi stepped down after two decades, according to Tchilinguirian. — Bloomberg News

World leaders tangle over growth amid ‘rising risk’ The Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations sought a coordinated approach at a summit in central Japan amid discord over the best policy mix of fiscal spending, monetary stimulus or structural reforms.

TOKYO: World leaders meeting in Japan tangled over how to push the global economy toward growth amid an array of risks including geopolitical tensions, a slowdown in China and Britain’s potential exit from the European Union (EU).

Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations — the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Canada — sought a coordinated approach at a summit in central Japan amid discord over the best policy mix of fiscal spending, monetary stimulus or structural reforms.

G7 nations will use “all policy tools — monetary, fiscal and

COORDINATED APPROACH: Michel Sapin, France’s finance minister, right, speaks as Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France, listens during a news conference following the Group of Seven (G-7) finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Sendai, Japan, recently. — Bloomberg News

structural — individually and collectively to strengthen global demand and address supply constraints while continuing our efforts to put debt on a sustainable path,” the group said in a statement on Friday after the two-day meeting in Ise-Shima.

The show of comity disguised an undercurrent of dissent over how to create jobs and growth, whether through spending and stimulus measures championed by leaders like Japan’s Shinzo Abe and Canada’s Justin Trudeau, or an approach of budget discipline supported by looser labor markets and better competitiveness, the hallmark of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Regional differences played a role, as Asian economies feel the

brunt of a Chinese slowdown, while the 19-member euro area struggles with seven years of crisis and a dearth of demand and the US economy revives.

Uneven dynamic “It is not entirely surprising that a coordinated response to an unevenly felt dynamic could not be reached at the G7 negotiating table,” Glenn Maguire, Asia-Pacific chief economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Singapore, said in an e-mail.

“Moreover, the G7 is obviously aware of the ‘announcement effect’ the official communique has,” he said. “In such a situation, warning of negative risks and sentiment can become self-fulfilling.”

Abe, the host, failed in his bid for the G7 to warn of the risk of

a global economic crisis after making a presentation to other leaders, including US President Barack Obama, which showed an economy potentially veering into a crisis on the scale of the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse.

Japan had pressed G7 leaders to note “the risk of the global economy exceeding the normal economic cycle and falling into a crisis, if we did not take appropriate policy responses in a timely manner.” That phrase was scrapped.

“We are not pessimistic about the global economy, but if we are not clearly aware of the risks, we will not be able to take the appropriate measures,” Abe told reporters at a press conference in which he repeatedly referred to Lehman.

“We as G7 leaders held a thorough debate on the world economy and agreed that we are facing a great risk.”

Abe has frequently said he would proceed with a planned increase in Japan’s sales tax in April 2017 unless there is an event on the scale of Lehman or a major earthquake. He is expected to announce next week he is deferring the tax rise, Japanese media reported.

China, Brexit Non-member China loomed over the G7 talks. A slowdown in the world’s most populous nation, alongside a global steel glut, has spurred concerns among developed economies that turmoil there could send ructions across the globe.

“We want a good and thriving pace of economic growth for China,” Merkel said earlier on Friday.

“China also has great structural challenges, for which we wish that China can tackle them, because that’s in all of our interest.”

The leaders added in an 11thhour warning on the UK’s referendum to leave the European Union, saying a so-called Brexit would “reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment and the jobs they create, and is a further serious risk to growth.” The warning wasn’t included in a draft of the communique as of Thursday evening. Further threats to the world economy include escalating geopolitical conflicts, terrorism and refugee flows, the communique said.

Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to market-determined exchange rates. They warned that “excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for economic and financial stability.”

Trade is a key driver of growth, the document said. It lauds the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact as “an important step forward” and called on each country to “complete its domestic process,” while stopping short of a call to quickly ratify the agreement.

Final approval of the pact has faced delays in countries such as the US and Japan, while Canada has not committed to ratification.

Leaders said they’ll work toward an agreement in principle on the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as early as this year, while encouraging the EU and Canada to bring their trade pact into force as quickly as possible. — Bloomberg News

ECONOMY

US first quarter economic growth revised up to 0.8 per cent

REVISED UP: Economists polled by Reuters had expected firstquarter GDP growth would be revised up to a 0.9 per cent rate.

The economy grew at a 1.4 per cent rate in the fourth quarter. — Bloomberg file picture

WASHINGTON: US economic growth slowed in the first quarter although not as sharply as initially thought, amid a surge in spending on home building and a steady increase in inventory investment by businesses.

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose at a 0.8 per cent annual rate as opposed to the 0.5 per cent pace reported last month, the Commerce Department said in its second GDP estimate on Friday. It was the weakest performance since the first quarter of 2015.

The upward revision to the firstquarter GDP growth estimate also reflected a smaller drag from trade than previously reported. The government also reported a rebound in after-tax corporate profits, which increased at a 0.6 per cent

rate in the first quarter after plunging at an 8.4 per cent pace in the fourth quarter. When measured from the income side, the economy grew at a 2.2 per cent rate after expanding at a 1.9 per cent pace in the fourth quarter.

The economy has been hurt by a strong dollar and sluggish global demand, which have eroded export growth. It has also been squeezed by lower oil prices, which have undercut profits of oilfield companies like Schlumberger and Halliburton , forcing them to slash spending on equipment.

Economists also believe the model used by the government to strip out seasonal patterns from data is not fully accomplishing its goal despite steps last year to address the problem.

Residual seasonality has plagued first-quarter GDP data, with growth under-performing in five of the last six years since the economic recovery started in the middle of 2009.

There are signs the economy regained momentum early in the second quarter, with retail sales, goods exports, industrial production, housing starts and home sales surging in April.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve is currently estimating secondquarter GDP rising at a 2.9 per cent rate. But the continuing high level of inventories poses a downside risk to this forecast.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected first-quarter GDP growth would be revised up to a 0.9 per cent rate.

The economy grew at a 1.4 per cent rate in the fourth quarter.

Inventory accumulation Spending on residential construction increased at a 17.1 per cent rate in the first quarter, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2012. It was previously reported to have increased at a rate of 14.8 per cent. Businesses accumulated $69.6 billion worth of inventory, instead of the $60.9 billion estimated last month. Inventories cut two-tenths of a percentage point from first-quarter GDP growth instead of the previously reported 0.33 percentage point.

Households were frugal in first quarter, cutting back on purchases of long-lasting manufactured goods like automobiles. — Reuters

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C O M M E N TA RY

Central banks of world can not go it alone anymore MOHAMED A. EL-ERIAN

W

HETHER through signals from the Group of Seven (G7) meeting this week or in the outcome of the latest round of European negotiations on Greece, officials of advanced countries increasingly are acknowledging that the problems facing their economies require a new response to take over from the overlong use of narrow short-term tools.

This recognition has been too long in the making and, judging from the regrettable lack of credible and detailed action plans, still needs time to be translated into progress on the ground.

Secular stagnation Before the G-7 meeting in Japan, several member countries indicated they understood that their individual and collective policy stances needed to evolve.

Germany warned against continued over-reliance on central banks, simultaneously stressing the need for structural reforms. Canada and Japan urged a more aggressive and imaginative use of fiscal policy. And the US warned Japan to resist the temptation to intervene to depreciate the yen.

Earlier this week, Greece’s European partners concluded

that they needed a greater emphasis on debt relief for that beleaguered economy. In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there is there was agreement among all stakeholders that Greece’s debt was “highly unsustainable” and needed relief. In addition, the official said the parties “accept the methodology that should be used to calibrate the necessary debt relief. They accept the objectives in terms of the gross financing need in the near term and in the long run.

They even accept the time periods, a very long time period, over which this debt has to be met through 2060.”

These notable developments reflect an important evolution in mindsets, which are shifting more decisively toward looking at structural and secular conditions, and away from an excessive emphasis on cyclical considerations. This shift is driven by three developments: recurring disappointing economic growth despite extraordinary monetary policy stimulus and, in the case of Greece, eye-popping bailout packages; concern that the benefits of unconventional central bank involvement are being offset by a mounting risk of col-

lateral damage and unintended consequences; and recognition that the political context is becoming more complicated as anti-establishment movements gain momentum amid growing popular mistrust of “elites” both in government and the private sector.

Structural reforms Such thinking should, one would hope, lead to the implementation of pro-growth structural reforms, tax reform in conjunction with lessened fiscal austerity; debt relief for segments with crushing debt overhangs; and effective global policy coordination.

Nonetheless, the translation of greater collective awareness into credible actions remains frustratingly patchy.

Take the case of Greece. Despite the overdue acknowledgement of reality by European creditors — that debt relief is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for Greece to have any realistic chance of restoring durable economic and financial viability -- this recognition hasn’t been turned into clear action. “Fundamentally, we need to be assured that the universe of measures that Europe -is willing to commit to is consistent with what we think is needed to produce debt relief,” said the IMF official

who described the negotiations on Wednesday. “We do not yet have that.”

As a result, the fund is unwilling to back with loans the compromise understanding on Greece reached this week.

Meanwhile, it is unlikely that the G-7 will implement a much different policy stance once officials return to their national capitals. As a result, the crucial handoff from reassuring words to effective measures on the ground will once again fail to materialise.

Yet greater awareness is a critical ingredient of durable mindset adaptations and related course corrections, so there is hope that the advanced economies are getting closer to putting in action a muchneeded comprehensive policy response. So if not this time, maybe next time. Still, time is not on their side.

Troubling aspect A troubling aspect of structural impediments to growth is that the longer they remain unaddressed, the deeper they become embedded in the system. Today’s growth shortfalls become harder to reclaim even as tomorrow’s growth potential is undermined. That, in turn, erodes the potency of any given policy response.

These unsettling economic

consequences are amplified by fluid political conditions.

Anti-establishment movements are benefiting from the recent history of insufficient growth whose limited benefits have accrued to a small (and already well-off ) segment of the population. As the system awaits policy actions, politics is likely to further erode support for established political parties and simultaneously reduce the potential for constructive bipartisan policy making.

Meanwhile, the alternative — a radical shift to the implementation of the more extreme policies advocated by anti-establishment movements — is likely to be contained by the checks and balances in the system. Indeed, the experience of the Syriza party in Greece provides a vivid illustration of the constraining effect of these institutional guardrails.

Advanced economies should be congratulated for their willingness to incorporate a larger dose of structural and secular considerations into their economic deliberations.

But every quarter they wait to enact credible and comprehensive measures adds to the difficulty of removing the impediments to inclusive growth and makes the political context even more complicated. — Bloomberg News

members during the negotiation on China’s accession,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said earlier this month.

“It must be observed by all WTO members as their obligation.”

The Commission is set to accept a change to China’s DURABLE GOODS: Much of the factory sector weakness has been

trade status at the

concentrated in the heavy machinery segment, where manufacturers have also been hurt by reduced demand for agricultural equipment. — Bloomberg file picture

WTO by treating

Business spending mired in weakness

it as an economy controlled by the market, not the state.

That would benefit

MAKING A POINT: Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. — Bloomberg file picture

Beijing and make it

Overall domestic growth “Overall domestic growth momentum appears to be on the mend. Nevertheless, the weak performance in business capital investment activity suggests that this segment remains a source of drag for the US economic recovery,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

The Commerce Department said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.8 per cent after slipping 0.1 per cent the prior month. These so-called core capital goods orders have now declined for three consecutive months.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core capital goods orders increasing 0.4 per cent last month. The persistent decline in these orders comes as the manufacturing sector remains pressured by lower energy prices, which have eroded profits of energy companies and forced oilfield services firms like Schlumberger and Halliburton to slash capital spending budgets.

Manufacturing, which accounts for 12 per cent of the economy, has also taken a knock from efforts by businesses to slim down an inventory bloat, which has undercut new orders growth.

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said China isn’t doing enough to tackle oversupply in its steel industry, after Group of Seven leaders pledged to fix excess industrial capacity and a global glut of the metal caused by government subsidies and support.

“The Chinese government has said it will cut back on excess capacity,” Abe said at a press briefing on Friday following the G-7 meeting at Ise-Shima in central Japan.

“But our government believes that the size of the reduction is insufficient, considering the state of international markets. While we have the fundamental problem of government support that distorts markets, we will be concerned that the reduction will not be put into practice.”

China, the world’s top steel supplier, is contending with its weakest growth in decades and is exporting its surplus at record rates.

The slowdown has created about 400 million metric tonnes a year of excess capacity, according to Japanese steelmakers who compete with China on export markets.

That’s equivalent to four times the size of steel output in Japan, the world’s No. 2 producer.

The European Union, India and the US have all taken steps to protect their domestic industries against the deluge. — Bloomberg News

China, EU Commission edge towards key deal

US ECONOMY

WASHINGTON: US business spending intentions weakened in April for a third straight month amid soft demand for machinery, but a surge in contracts to purchase previously owned homes to a 10-year high supported views economic growth was gaining speed.

The growth picture was further boosted by another report on Thursday showing the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, pushing them back to near cycle lows.

‘China is not doing enough to fix steel glut’

VITAL FACTS

easier for it to export

Durable goods orders increase 3.4 per cent in April.

into the bloc.

nese imports. “Everyone has to know that if somebody distorts the market, Europe cannot be defenceless,” Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said at the G7 summit in Japan.

Core capital goods orders fall 0.8 per cent

Weekly jobless claims decline 10,000

BRUSSELS: The European Commission and China may be near a deal to avoid a dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and a wider trade war, diplomats say, but must convince EU lawmakers angry over record Chinese steel output.

The Commission is set to accept a change to China’s trade status at the WTO by treating it as an economy controlled by the market, not the state. That would benefit Beijing and make it easier for it to export into the bloc.

But the Commission also wants to enhance the bloc’s ability to defend itself against cheap Chi-

Dual approach Chinese envoys have signalled they could live with the dual approach, which is designed to assuage fears of European industry that Europe’s economy will suffer if China is able to undercut its industries with heavily subsidised goods.

“Every country has a legitimate right to make full use of trade defence measures, within WTO rules,” a Chinese diplomat said. “If they follow the WTO rules, there’s no problem for us.”

Without a deal, China is willing to retaliate. “A trade war is not our choice,” a second Chinese diplo-

A strong dollar has been a drag on exports.

Shipments of core capital goods — used to calculate equipment spending in the gross domestic product report — rose 0.3 per cent last month, reversing March’s 0.3 per cent drop.

Much of the factory sector weakness has been concentrated in the heavy machinery segment, where manufacturers have also been hurt by reduced demand for agricultural equipment. In April, orders for machinery tumbled 1.9 per cent after dropping 0.8 per cent in March.

US stocks were trading slightly lower after recent strong gains, while prices for US government debt rose. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies.

In a separate report, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index jumped 5.1 per cent last month to its highest level since February 2006. Pending home contracts become sales after a month or two, and April’s surge pointed to further gains in home resales.

The housing market is being underpinned by a tightening labour market, which is starting to lift wages, as well as still very low mortgage rates.

But a shortage of properties available for sale remains a hurdle and house prices have risen faster than wages, sidelining some first-time buyers. — Reuters

mat said. “But our confidence in doing business with the EU would be affected, if we find our trading partners don’t respect the rules.”

China is the European Union’s second-largest trading partner after the United States. Europe is China’s top trading partner.

Europe’s concerns have been worsened by record Chinese steel production in April amid a global steel glut. After world economies failed to find agreement on how to deal with overcapacity, the United States put hefty duties on China.

G7 leaders discussed the issue in Japan.

Prices and tariffs Beijing’s private stance contrasts with public remarks that changing China’s status at the WTO is not for negotiation.

“This is the consensus reached between China and other WTO

Punitive tariffs The WTO recognised when Communist-ruled China joined in 2001 that its local prices were not set by market forces. WTO members can normally apply punitive tariffs on others only if export prices are below those in the exporter’s home market. But with China, the EU and others have been able to ignore low domestic prices and set tariffs to make Chinese exports as expensive as in wealthier countries.

However, those WTO limitations on China are due to expire on Dec. 11, though there is some room for interpretation.

European commissioners from the bloc’s 28 members debated the politically sensitive issue for the first time in January and are expected to come back to it again in late June or July.

After an EU-China summit in Brussels on July 15, the Commission will make specific proposals on China’s market economy status before the end of the month.

However, the European Parliament must approve the Commission plan and EU lawmakers have so far rejected considering China as a market economy in trade disputes, in part because of steel.

“China is not a market economy and should not be recognised as one when calculating anti-dumping sanctions,” said David Martin, an EU lawmaker from Britain’s Labour party. — Reuters

K A R AC H I - B A S E D C O M PA N Y

Pakistan’s energy crisis prompts Engro to boost its power generation business

Khalid Siraj Subhani.

— Bloomberg News

KARACHI: Engro, owner of Pakistan’s second-biggest fertiliser maker by value, plans to expand its power generation business and build a second liquefied natural gas terminal, betting a revival in economic growth will boost demand for electricity.

The Karachi-based company is looking at the possibility of constructing a 400 to 600 million cubic feet a day LNG terminal, through a partnership, for private sector companies, Chief Executive Officer Khalid Siraj Subhani, 62, said in an interview. It also plans to build a 450 megawatt LNGfuelled power plant for as much as $700 million, he said. Engro is

also looking to invest overseas in energy and fertiliser after the firm sells stakes in existing businesses, he said.

“The idea is to keep expanding, there is a strong desire,” Subhani said in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital. “There are so many elements we are working on, how they will materialise it depends, but the shift will happen toward energy.”

Engro is seeking to turn an energy crisis in South Asia’s secondlargest economy into an opportunity as the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pushes to end shortages within two years.

The nation is adding power plants

with the help of Chinese investment and started importing gas last year with Engro building the nation’s first LNG terminal. Outages lasting 18 hours had led to street protests in Karachi as recently as June, while falling natural gas production at home forced companies to idle it’s plant.

The energy starved nation’s average electricity generation is 16,000 megawatts with deficit peaking to about 5,000 megawatts in the summer, according to Tahir Abbas, analyst at Arif Habib.

Construction has started with about 200 Chinese workers on site for the $2 billion project, said Subhani. — Bloomberg News

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

B3

MARKET S TAT E B A N K O F I N D I A

Google beats Oracle in Java code copyright suit in US the panel was a lawyer who works for the county government in Napa, California.

In the first trial in 2012, jurors found Google infringed Oracle’s copyrights but couldn’t agree whether it was justified under the fair use legal doctrine. That set the stage for the second trial, featuring many of the witnesses from four years ago as well as the same judge, William Alsup.

Oracle contended Arundhati Bhattacharya.

— Bloomberg file picture

India’s largest bank reports drop in profit MUMBAI: State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender by assets, posted the sharpest fall in profits since 2011 as a centralbank audit triggered a surge in provisions for bad loans.

Net income fell 66 per cent to Rs12.6 billion rupees ($188 million), or Rs1.64 a share, for the three months ended on March 31.

That’s down from Rs37.4 billion, or Rs5, a year earlier, the Mumbai-based lender said in a Friday exchange filing. Profit missed the Rs18.3 billion mean of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, who is mulling the acquisition of some of the bank’s subsidiaries, is trying to bolster profits at a time when the outlook for bad loans is looking increasingly uncertain. While analysts had been anticipating the central-bank audit to provide clarity on banks’ balance sheets, that optimism has been clouded by the $3.1 billion of losses SBI’s state-run peers have since reported for the quarter.

“Pressure on asset quality and profits will continue for most state-run banks” until next year, Siddharth Purohit, an analyst at Angel Broking in Mumbai, said before the earnings were released.

“This is going to be a year of consolidation, rather than aggressive growth, for SBI.” Shares of the lender rose 0.3 per cent to Rs184.65 at 1:36pm in Mumbai trading, paring this year’s losses to 18 per cent. — Bloomberg News

that Google needed a licence to use its Java programming language to develop Android, the operating system in 80% of the world’s mobile devices. Jurors on Thursday rejected that argument and concluded Google made fair use of the code under copyright law

SAN FRANCISCO: Google won a jury verdict that kills Oracle’s claim to a $9 billion slice of the search giant’s Android phone business and may give comfort to programmers who write applications that run across different platforms without a licence.

Oracle contended that Google needed a licence to use its Java programming language to develop Android, the operating system in 80 per cent of the world’s mobile devices. Jurors in San Francisco federal court on Thursday rejected that argument and concluded Google made fair use of the code under copyright law.

Oracle started the second trial in a case spanning almost six years

WINDOWS 10

at an advantage, with the judge explaining that it had already been established that Google had infringed Oracle’s copyrights.

Oracle plans to appeal the verdict, while legal experts say overturning it will be difficult. The verdict should provide reassurance to software companies that their method of creating common, interoperable software doesn’t put them in legal jeopardy. Instead, it will promote the practice of writing re-implementations of the systems used to pass information between widely-used software.

‘Sigh of relief’ “A lot of people have sort of breathed a sigh of relief,” he said.

A federal appeals court’s 2014 ruling that the Java APIs are eligible for copyright protection may still have a “chilling effect” on software companies, because few have the resources to mount a defense as vigorous as Google did, said Tyler Ochoa, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law who has followed the case closely since it was filed in 2010.

Still, the “ruling should encourage some of those companies that what they are doing is fair, and

that they will ultimately prevail if sued for copyright infringement,” he said.

Google relied on witnesses including former Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, who is now chairman of parent company Alphabet, to convince jurors that it used Java to innovate, rather than merely copy code. Before joining Google, Schmidt worked at Sun Microsystems developing and marketing Java. Oracle acquired Sun in 2010 and Schmidt was involved in Google’s failed licensing negotiations that spurred the copyright-infringement lawsuit filed that year by the database maker.

Schmidt told jurors that, based on his “many years of experience” with Java, he believed Google was permitted to use the APIs without a negotiated license, as long as the company relied on its own code.

Sun promoted them as “free and open,” and not sold or licensed separately from Java, he said.

Central to Oracle’s bid for what would have been one of the largest jury verdicts in US history was its claim that Google has reaped $21 billion in profit from more than 3 billion activations of Android.

Oracle sought damages of $8.8 bil-

lion, plus $475 million in what it claims was lost licensing revenue.

Oracle said it plans to seek review of the verdict by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the same court that ruled in its favour in 2014. “We strongly believe that Google developed Android by illegally copying core Java technology to rush into the mobile device market,” Oracle General Counsel Dorian Daley said in a statement.

“Oracle brought this lawsuit to put a stop to Google’s illegal behaviour. We believe there are numerous grounds for appeal.”

Android ecosystem “Today’s verdict that Android makes fair use of Java APIs represents a win for the Android ecosystem, for the Java programming community, and for software developers who rely on open and free programming languages to build innovative consumer products,” Google said in an e-mailed statement.

Of the eight women and two men on the jury, four declined to comment and the rest left the courtroom quickly after Thursday’s verdict. The forewoman of

FOURTH-QUARTER REVENUE

Microsoft’s push for upgrade irritates Chinese consumers BEIJING: IT giant Microsoft is under fire in China as the company pushes users to upgrade their operating systems to Windows 10, with the pop-up upgrade message not offering a “decline” option but only a choice to upgrade later.

Computers running older versions of Windows will automatically start the upgrade at the recommended time if users ignore the pop-up without selecting the easy-to-miss option to delay or cancel the update.

Yang Shuo, who works at a Beijing-based public relations company was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday that the sudden update interrupted him while drafting a business plan, which led to cancellation of a meeting for a deal worth 3 million yuan.

Yang said he failed to save the draft when his laptop restarted for the update.

His clients had left by the time he finally finished the plan.

“Just because I didn’t see the pop-up reminder does not mean I agreed,” said Yang, adding he did not even know when the installation package was downloaded to the laptop, as he wasn’t connected to the Internet when the

WELCOME: The sculpture of a Google’s Android mobile operating system mascot is seen inside the Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, California, US. — Bloomberg file picture

Ten Commandments Oracle Co-Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz invoked the Ten Commandments to characterise Google as acting above the law. Catz told jurors that, at a bat mitzvah in 2012, Google General Counsel Kent Walker told her, “You know, Safra, Google is this really special company, and the old rules don’t apply to us.”

“I immediately said, ‘Thou shalt not steal,’” Catz testified. “It’s an oldie but goodie.”

Witnesses for Google said the company didn’t need a license for the Java’s APIs to build Android.

In cross-examinations of those witnesses, Oracle’s lawyers hit upon a disconnect between their testimony and selected e-mails while Android was being created.

The messages showed Google executives and engineers were concerned that they needed, and didn’t get, a license for Java.

Google co-founder Larry Page was confronted with a 2005 internal e-mail posing the question of whether to drop the use of Java for Android or press ahead, “perhaps making enemies along the way.”

Page responded, “Obviously we didn’t do the first one.”

Ochoa and Michael Risch, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law in Pennsylvania who’s been following the case, said it will be difficult for Oracle to overturn the jury verdict because an appeals court will have to conclude the instructions to jurors on the legal issues in the case were flawed. — Bloomberg News

update started. Yang is not the only one complaining about the unwanted update.

On microblog site Weibo, posts related to Windows 10 reached more than 1.2 million, the report said.

“I had ignored all pop-up reminders about the update in past months, but it suddenly started updating automatically,” Ning Jiayu, professor at Nankai University in Tianjin, posted on Weibo early on Thursday.

“Can’t you stop forcing users to update? Do you know how much work by graphic designers you have ruined?” wrote a graphic designer under the screen name “3jinyeshixin”.

Xinhua reporters sent a text message to the Microsoft China office on Thursday, but did not receive a response, the report said.

Microsoft technical support staff have posted instructions on the company’s official Weibo account for users who want to revert to an earlier version of the operating system.

The company had said earlier this month that more than 300 million devices have started using the Windows 10 platform, and the free update will end on July 29. — PTI

Lenovo revenue plummets by 19% as Motorola woes weigh on its profit HONG KONG: Lenovo Group fourth-quarter revenue slumped 19 per cent and profit missed analysts’ estimates as the company struggled against falling PC sales and plunging mobile shipments in China and North America.

Sales were $9.13 billion in the three months ended March, Beijing-based Lenovo said in a filing on Thursday, missing the average of analyst projections by more than $1 billion. Net income of $180 million compares with expectations for $184.9 million.

Lenovo has been struggling to revive the Motorola smartphone business it bought for $2.8 billion in 2014 as its devices lose market share in China and growth in the global industry slows.

The company is focusing more on overseas markets and cutting costs after slipping outside the top five globally, compounding the challenge of a shrinking PC industry that is hurting its biggest business by sales.

“We continue to see that Lenovo holds limited advantages and lacks a coherent strategy in a slowing and competitive smartphone market,” analysts led by Ken Hui at Jefferies Hong Kong Ltd. wrote in a report.

“Management should explore more drastic options.”

Lenovo shares fell as much as

phone business that can withstand industry fluctuations like it does in PCs, Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming.

Lenovo struck the Motorola deal to bulk up in smartphones at a time when the Chinese market was surging. That growth has since slowed, compounding the challenge of turning around the business.

– Bloomberg file picture

3.2 per cent to HK$4.82 in Hong Kong. The company’s ADRs fell 5 per cent in New York overnight.

Full-year loss Lenovo swung to a full-year loss of $128 million compared with net income of $829 million a year earlier.

“This year was a big write-off,” said Chris Yim, an analyst at BOCOM International Holdings Co. “Fiscal 2017 is going to be prof-

itable, but the thing is with the current PC market, and we don’t know what the current mobile lineup is going to be like, we’re not sure what kind of profit to expect.”

Lenovo struck the Motorola deal to bulk up in smartphones at a time when the Chinese market was surging.

That growth has since slowed, compounding the challenge of turning around the business. The company needs to build a smart-

Build a foundation “It probably will take a little bit longer for us to build a foundation, not only in the rest of the world but also in China,” the CFO said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. The company said the markets where it operates will remain challenging in the short term.

Shipments of smartphones fell 13 per cent compared to a year earlier to 66 million handsets thanks to slumps in China and the US. Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing is eliminating jobs while seeking to make the company’s devices more competitive.

The company said cost savings of $690 million were achieved in the second half and it’s on pace to achieve its annualised target of $1.35 billion. Yang said the company has had problems integrating Motorola into the Lenovo business and that’s an issue they need to address. — Bloomberg News

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

B4

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

FEATURE

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CAR OF 2016 IS ALREADY HERE The British auto brand and the Italian coach builder have designed five cars together, dating back to the DB4 GT Zagato in 1960. This is their first since the V12 Vantage Zagato, in 2013

A

ston Martin has just unveiled what gets my vote for the most beautiful car of the year: the Vanquish Zagato Concept.

The British auto brand and the Italian coach builder have designed five cars together, dating back to the DB4 GT Zagato in 1960. This is their first since the V12 Vantage Zagato, in 2013.

The concept was developed at Aston headquarters in Gaydon, England. The new bodywork is made entirely of carbon fibre, and fresh proportions give it a stance that’s more aggressively styled than its production counterpart.

In fact, the car combines the best elements of just about every Aston Martin model. The Vanquish Zagato Concept has new lights and round tail reflectors that make it look like a classic Zagato, but this year’s version also uses the supermodern “bladed” LED lights it debuted on the track-only Aston Martin Vulcan. Its winglike mirrors are inspired by the One77 Aston; its sculpted rear and retractable spoiler evoke the best assets of the DB11.

That subtle double indentation dipping into the rear-window glass—the so-called double bubble—is a throwback to 1950 Zagato models, which required extra

space above the seats to accommodate racing helmets without ruining the entire aerodynamic profile of the car.

Like the limited-edition Vantage GTS I drove last week, it has a quad-exhaust format and carbonfiber sills that circle the lower part of the car. The windshield and side mirrors blur into one glass frame that wraps around the front of the car; the sides run from wheel arches to doors in the design first introduced by the CC100. It’s a lot to take in.

Inside, Aston has added herringbone-patterned carbon fiber with leather and “Z” quilt stitching on the headrest, seats, center console, and door sections. The V12 engine is boosted to 600ps (592hp), with enhanced engine systems and chassis dynamics that make driving the thing almost as exciting as just looking at it. But I’m guessing you were already sold on this car without needing to know that.

Unfortunately, Aston hasn’t confirmed prospective pricing on the car, or even whether it’ll actually make any of them. (The 2013 Aston Martin V12 Zagato cost roughly $450,000.) So start saying your prayers now.

The world needs more beautiful machines, and this one looks downright heavenly. — Bloomberg News

B

SECTION

LIFESTYLE

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

Family WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

R

eading is a gateway to other places, time periods, or even worlds. It’s also the springboard to success in school and beyond. Parents can inspire a life-long love of reading by encouraging and guiding their children, especially as they get older.

The tween years are particularly important for developing a joy for reading, says Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and creative lead at StoryArc Media. “Some children will naturally gravitate toward books and others tend to be reluctant readers. Parents are the key to providing ample opportunity and modelling the importance of reading. Experts agree that reading is a skill that will pay off throughout life.” When they are toddlers, it’s easy to sit down and read a picture book. When they are tweens, they are more independent, plus there are plenty of distractions. Kinney offers three ideas for inspiring your tween reader to pick up a book.

Explore an Interest Does she adore baseball? Is he all about the outdoors? Does she love animals? Reading for fun can be powerful when you consider your child’s interests. Whether fiction or non-fiction, the tween genre has countless books that touch on virtually every subject imaginable.

Chat with your tween about what he or she thinks would be fun subjects to explore. Then visit your local library. Librarians are great resources for knowing what would appeal to your child’s interests, plus what’s hot with different age groups. And, don’t forget the power of online booksellers too - searching and reading reviews can be part of the adventure.

Graphic Novels Tween readers aren’t limited to traditional chapter books. Variety is key for tweens, who vacillate from comic books to magazines to traditional chapter books to anything on a screen. One segment that has exploded in popularity with the tween crowd is graphic novels. These books incorporate comic-style art along with conventional storytelling to draw the reader in. Here are three summertime “must reads” that are guaranteed to excite your tween: Galactic Hot Dogs: The Wiener Strikes Back Since the initial launch of Galactic Hot Dogs on Funbrain.com, millions of kids have delighted in the exploits of Cosmoe, Humphree, Princess Dagger and the rest of the gang featured in weekly webisodes. The first book in the series, Cosmoe’s Wiener Getaway, was published in May 2015 and now, Cosmoe and his space-adventuring partners return, ready to save the galaxy (and of course sell more hot dogs) in this zany adventure.

Besides, what could possibly go wrong when you combine hot dogs and a flying space circus?

The Popularity Papers Think graphic novels only appeal to boys? Think again. Most are gender-neutral and some are created with girls in mind. One example is the Popularity Papers book series, where best friends Lydia and Julie relentlessly pursue one goal: cracking the code of popularity. The books are fashioned as a notebook detailing their observations of cool kids, incorporating humour and messages on the importance of friendship.

Poptropica: Mystery of the Map Poptropica.com began as a virtual world in which kids explore a chain of story-based islands, travel back in time, battle monsters, solve mysteries and complete quests in a kidSAFE-certified environment. Now a New York Times best-seller, Mystery of the Map is the first book to tell the origins story of the Poptropica game — extending the fun from screen to page. The next book in the Mystery of the Map series is due out in August 2016.

Shared Reading Shared reading can be a great way to bond with your tween or encourage a reluctant reader.

You could read the book together each night, taking turns reading pages or chapters out loud.

Alternatively, you could both read independently and then talk about the chapters together. Feeling especially motivated this summer?

Start a kids’ book club with other parents. Select a book to read each month and then have kids meet for snacks and a discussion. Too busy to meet regularly? Start an online group or discuss the book via text.

The more kids talk about reading, the more excited they’ll get about reading. After all, the more kids read for fun, the better they do in school and eventually, in life. - BPT

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

B6

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Sarabjit (Hindi) (2D) (Drama) (PG12) Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bacchan, Shiwani Saini 3:30, 8:45, 11:15 PM Azhar (Hindi) (2D) (Sports | Drama) (PG) Cast: Nargis Fakhri, Emraan Hashmi 10:30 PM Brahmot Savam (Telugu) (2D) (PG) Cast: Mahesh Babu, Kajal Aggarwal 6:30 PM Idhu Namma Aalu (Tamil) (2D) (Romance) Cast: Mahesh Babu, Kajal Aggarwal, Tanikella Bharani 6:30 PM (PG)

PANORAMA MALL Warcraft - (3D) (Action| Adventure | Fantasy) (PG12) VIP LOUNGE Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 3:45, 6:45 & 11:30PM Warcraft - (4D) (Action| Adventure | Fantasy) (PG12) MX4D Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 3:30, 6:30, 9:00 & 11:30PM Warcraft - (3D) (Action | Fantasy) (PG12) Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 9:00 & 11:30PM The Nice Guys - (2D) (Action | Comedy | Crime) (15+) VIP LOUNGE Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling 9:15PM The Nice Guys - (2D) (Action | Crime) (15+) Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling 3:00, 7:15, 9:30 & 11:45PM Pele: A Birth Legend - (2D) (Biography) (PG) Cast: Vincent D’Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro 5:15PM X-Men: Apocalypse (3D) (Actiony) (PG12) Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender 3:30, 9:00 & 11:45PM

AZAIBA X-Men: Apocalypse (3D) (Action) (PG12) Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender 3:15, 6:00, 11:45 PM Warcraft (3D) (Action) (PG12) Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 3:45, 6:30, 9:15, 11:30 PM The Angry Bird Movie (3D) (Animation | Action | Comedy) (U) Cast: Peter Dinklage, Tituss Burgess 3:45 PM The Jungle Book (3D) (Family) (PG) Cast: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley 5:45 PM King Liar (Mal) (2D) (Comedy) (PG12) Cast: Dileep, Madonna Sebastian, Lal 8:45 PM

RUWI Screen 1 Warcraft (2D) (Action / Adventure) –PG12 Cast : Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton 3.30, 9.30 PM Sarbjit (2D) (Drama ) –PG12 Cast : Aishwarya Rai and Randeep Hooda 6.30 PM Screen 2 Sarbjit(2D) (Drama ) –PG12 Cast : Aishwarya Rai and Randeep Hooda 3.45, 9.45 PM Baaghi (2D) (Action) –PG Cast :Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor, Sudheer Babu

Pele: A Birth Legend PG (Biography) Cast : Vincent D’Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro, 5:15PM Idhu Namma Aalu (Tamil | Romantic) Cast : T.R. Silambarasan, Nayanthara 6.45PM

SUR X-Men : Apocalypse 3D (Crime | Drama) ( PG12 ) Cast : James Mc Avoy, Michael Fassbender 9:00 PM Warcraft 3D ( Action | Fantasy ) ( PG12 ) Cast : Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 3:45, 7:15, 11:45 PM The Nice Guys (15+) Cast : Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling 3:30, 9:30, 11:35 PM The Angry Birds Movie - (3D) ( Animation | Action | Comedy ) ( U ) Cast : Peter Dinklage, Tituss Burgess 5:30 PM Idhu Namma Aalu (Tamil | Action) (PG) Cast : T.R. Silambarasan, Nayanthara, Andrea Jeremiah 6:30 PM SOHAR X-Men: Apocalypse PG12 (3D) (Action) Cast: James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence 8:45, 11:45PM The Angry Birds Movie U (3D)( Animation) Cast: Peter Dinklage, Tituss Burgess 3:15PM King Liar PG12 (Malayalam) (Comedy) Cast: Dileep, Madonna Sebastian, Lal 9:00PM Brahmot Savam PG (Telugu/Comedy) Cast: Kajal Aggarwal, Mahesh Babu 6:15PM Money Monster 12+ (Crime | Drama) Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts 3:00, 11:55PM The Shamer’s Daughter PG12(Adventure) Cast: Allan Hyde, Jakob Oftebro, Roland Møller 5:00PM Warcraft PG12 (Action| Adventure | Fantasy) Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 3:30, 6:30, 9:30, 11:30PM The Nice Guys 15+ (Action | Comedy) Cast : Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling 3:45, 7:15, 9:30, 11:45PM

Arrival Operating time days

Dept time

Destination

Arrival Operating time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

15:00 15:00 15:00

05:30 05:30 05:30

Quriyat Sur Jaalan

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) Sinaw

Daily

Nizwa Yanqul

16:50 19:30

Daily Daily

SALALAH X-Men: Apocalypse (3D) (PG12) (Action) Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender 8:45PM X-Men: Apocalypse (2D) (PG12) (Action) Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender 1:30PM Warcraft (3D)(PG12) (3D) (PG12) (Action) Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 12:30, 4:15, 6:30, 9:00, 11:30PM The Nice Guys (2D) (15+) (Action | Comedy) Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling 2:00, 9:30, 11:55PM The Angry Birds Movie (3D) (U) (Animation) Cast: Peter Dinklage, Tituss Burgess 4:45PM Money Monster (2D)(12+) (Crime | Drama) Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts 2:45, 11:45PM Pele: A Birth Legend (2D)(PG) (Biography | Drama | Sport) Cast: Vincent D’Onofrio, Rodrigo Santoro 6:45PM Wild for the Night (2D)(15+) (Crime| Music) Cast: Tommy Flanagan, Michael Roark, Bianca A. Santos 4:30PM Idhu Namma Aalu (2D)(PG) (Tamil) (Romantic) Cast: T.R. Silambarasan, Nayanthara, Andrea 9:00PM

Nizwa Al Araqi

Sohar Ruwi Ruwi Sohar Ruwi Sohar Ruwi

Daily Daily Daily

Daily Daily

08:55 Daily 11:40 Daily 20:20 Daily via Ibri 14:55 Daily 17:40 Daily 19:20 Daily 22:15 Daily

07:00

Ruwi

Sur Sur

12:00 18:45

Daily Daily

Fahud Yibal

Daily

06:00 06:00

Nizwa Ruwi

08:40 11:00

Daily Daily

15:40 15:40

Nizwa Ruwi

17:55 20:20

Daily Daily

Salalah Marmul Salalah Salalah

20:00 20:30 23:30 07:40

Daily Daily

Dubai

16:50

Daily

Sohar Dubai Sohar Dubai Sohar Dubai

Daily Daily

12:30 12:30

Fahud Ruwi

13:15 17:30

Daily Daily

07:00 10:00 10:00 19:00

Ruwi Marmul Ruwi Ruwi

19:50 13:15 22:30 07:30

38 31

KAUSHAL MERTIA May 28, 2006

Minimum

0

RELATIVE HUMIDITY

06:00

Marmul

16:30

Daily

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

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 17 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

LISTINGS

11.45 13.30 14.00

Daily Daily Daily

Sharjah Fujairah Ruwi

16:30 18.15 23.00

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999 General Directorate of Passport and Residence 24569603 Directorate General of Customs 24521109 Traffic violations inquiries 24510228 Public Relations Admin 24560099 EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Daily Daily Daily Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

07:00

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201) 06:00 06:00 13:00 13:00 15:00 15:00

10:45 19:00

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102) 15:00

Ruwi Ruwi

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100) Daily Daily Daily Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101) Marmul

06:00 14:30

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

10:30 11:15

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

06:00

Programmes are subject to change

0

60-35% 10:25

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

07:00 10:00 10:00 19:00

King Liar (Mal) (Comedy) Cast: Dileep, Siddique and Madonna Sebastian 3-45pm Cinema-3; 6-30PM Cinema-2; 10-00pm Cinema Main Brahmotsavam (Telugu) (Drama) Cast: Mahesh Babu, Samantha and Kajal Agarwal 3-00 Pm Cinema Main; 6-45 pm Cinema -4 Marudhu (Tamil) (Act) Cast: Vishal and Sri Divya 3-45 & 9-45 pm Cinema -4 Jacobinte Swargarajyam ( Mal) (Comedy) Cast: Nivin Pauly Renji Panicker & Lakshmi Ramakrishna 6-45 & 9-45 pm Cinema-3 Idhu Namma Aalu (Tamil) (Drama) Cast: Silambarasan and Nayantara 3-30 & 9-30 pm Cinema -2; 6-30 pm Cinema Main Next Change: Iraivi ( Tamil) Aa..Aaa (Telugu)

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

10:20 12:30

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:30 06:30

Film information 24791641 / 24786776 Website: www.isurf.co.om

TEMPERATURE

Maximum

ROYAL OMAN POLICE 07:30 14:30

STAR CINEMA

WEATHER

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54) 08:00 08:00

Warcraft (Action / Adventure / Fantasy) Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster 2.00, 4.30, 7.00, 9.30 & 11.55 p.m.

CP No : 1129 (PG12) The Shamer’s Daughter (Adventure) Cast: Allan Hyde, Jakob Oftebro, Roland Moller 6.00 & 11.55 p.m.

CP No : 1130 (PG12) Wild for the Night (Crime / Thriller) Cast: Tommy Flanagan, Michael Roark, Bianca A. Santos 2.00, 8.00 & 10.00 p.m.

CP No :1131 (15+) The Trust (Crime / Thriller) Cast: Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood, Sky Ferreira 4.00 p.m.

CP No : 1119 (15+)

WITH LOVE

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52) 20:50

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54) 14:30 14:30

Film information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855 Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

17:30

BAHJA CINEMA

BURAIMI Idhu Namma Aalu PG (Tamil) (Romantic ) Cast: T.R. Silambarasan, Nayanthara 6:45 PM X-Men: Apocalypse PG12 (3D) (Action) Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender 3:30 & 8:45 PM Warcraft PG 12 (3D) (Action| Adventure) Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster.

3:45, 6:30, 9:15 & 11:30 PM Wild for the Night 15+ (Crime| Musi) Cast: Tommy Flanagan, Michael Roark 5:30 & 11:30 PM The Nice Guys 15+ (Action | Comedy) Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling 3:30, 7:20, 9:30, 11:45 PM

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) Destination

12.09pm 3.29pm 6.53pm 8.13pm 3.55am

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

Dept time

Dhuhr Asr Maghrib Isha Fajr (Tomorrow)

Daily Daily Daily

Afghanistan Algeria Bahrain Bangladesh Brazil Brunei China Cyprus Egypt France Germany India Indonesia Iran Iraq Italy Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya South Korea Kuwait

24698 791/4 24605 593 24 605 074/133 24 698 660 24640100 24 603533 24 696782 24 699815 24 600 982/411 24681 800 24835000 24684500 2469 1050 24 696 944/7 24603642 24693727 24 601 028 24692760/1/3 24 692418 24 697664 24 691490 24 699628

Lebanon Libya Malaysia Morocco Nepal Netherlands Pakistan Palestine Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Senegal Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Switzerland Syria Tanzania Thailand Tunisia Turkey UAE United Kingdom United States Yemen

24 693208 24603466 24698329/643 24696152/3 24696177 24603706 24603439 24601312 24605335 24 691 153/2/4 24602894 24601705 24694139 24697977 24647300 24691101 24697841/2 24697875 24603267 24697904 24601 174 24 602684/5 24603486 24697050/1/2 24400000 24609000 24643400 24600815

PHARMACIES (ROUND THE CLOCK) Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334 Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi Salalah Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra Muscat Region Apollo, Al Hamriya Muscat, A Seeb Market Muscat, Al Khuwair Muscat, Al Hail South Dhofar Region Muscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah

24782666 24702542 23291635; 24503585 24787766 24421691 24485740 24537080

23291635

HOSPITALS Al Amal Medical & Health Care Centre 24485052 Atlas Hospital Ruwi 24811743/ Ghubra 24504000 Al Musafir Specialised Medical Clinic 24706453 Hatat Polyclinic LLC, Ruwi 24563641 Azaiba 24499269 Sohar 2683006 Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2 Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory 24566435 Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre 24499434 Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549 Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi 24799760/1/2 Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740 Ceregem National Raak 24485633 Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217 Elixir Health Centre 24565802 Emirates Medical Centre 24604540 1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274 Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340 International Medical Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5 Kims Oman Hospital 24760100 24 Hrs Emergency 24760123 Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128 MBD 24799077 Al Khuwair 24478818 Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital 24568870 Muscat Private Hospital 24583600 Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666 Al Hayat International Hospital, Al Ghubra 22004000, 94267068/97049520 Al Hayat Clinic, Al Hail 22009455

AIRLINE OFFICES Muscat Airport Flight information (24 hours) 24519456/24519223 Aeroflot 24704455 Air Arabia 24700828 Air France 24562153 Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732 Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128 British Airways 24568777 Cathay Pacific 24789818 Egypt Air 24794113 Emirates Air 24404400 Ethiopian Airlines 24660313 Gulf Air 80072424 Indian 24791914 Iran Air 24787423 Japan Airlines 24704455 Jazeera Airways 23294848 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

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

B7

LIFESTYLE

(Exploring History, Science, and Nature)

FACT FILE

Blue Whale T

hese enormous animals are bigger than the largest dinosaurs, bigger than any animal that has ever lived on Earth. Amazingly, these endangered giants reach this size by feeding almost entirely on tiny, shrimplike crustaceans called krill.

Although whales breathe less often than other mammals, they still need air to live. They breathe through a blowhole or nostril on the top of their heads.

Where in the world?

Blue whales are found in oceans around the world.

They feed for months in polar waters before migrating to the equator to breed and give birth. Blues usually travel in small groups, in pairs or alone. During migration, the whales eat little or nothing, surviving on body reserves for four months or more.

Communication The blue whale is not only the largest animal on Earth; it is also the loudest.

What’s for dinner?

Blue whales are toothless baleen whales. They strain their food from the water using 260 to 400 thin, fringed plates called baleen, which hang from each side of the mouth. A whale takes huge gulps of water and krill, closes its mouth and, using its sieve like baleen as a kind of filter, squirts the water out and swallows the krill. During the feeding season, a blue whale eats more than 4 tons (3.6 metric tons) of krill daily. Sometimes, two whales will work together to catch the krill. One whale will use its body to block the prey, forcing the school of krill into an easy-to-eat group.

Weighing in Blue whales are born weighing about 3 tons (2.7 metric tons). The calf nurses on its mother’s milk for several months and gains about 200 pounds (91 kilograms) every day. A full-grown blue whale weighs in at about 200 tons (181 metric tons).

Diving habits While sperm whales will dive thousands of feet deep, blue whales dive no deeper than about 300 feet (90m).

This may be because the whales’ food source of krill lives at shallow depths, and because blue whales need to surface often to breathe.

On the brink The whaling industry of the early and mid-1900s destroyed almost 99 per cent of the world’s whale population. Some populations have increased since the 1960s, but the species remains vulnerable. It is estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 blue whales swim our oceans today.

Threats As you might expect, an animal this large has few predators, but sharks and killer whales have been known to attack them. Environmental changes, including habitat loss and toxins, are challenging this cetacean’s survival.

Also, climate change is having a disastrous impact on krill populations, the blue whales’ major food source.

Ship impacts and getting tangled in fishing gear are additional.—lifestyle@timesofoman.com

The chasing game !!

RK A B K!!

BAR

1

Questions & Answers

3

2 Hmmmpph..

4 ??

One thing that puts me off...

When I go to play no one comes to play

One skill I would like to learn...

Standing, walking and jumping on a rope

When I’m in doubt...

I search and resolve the doubt

If I win a lottery...

I will give party to my friends

Hi.

I go crazy when...

I see a funny movie

The scariest thing that I have done...

Walking alone at night when I was 5 years

One movie/book I can watch/ read over and over again...

Home Alone 3 or Hardy Boys

Winie Ariany

Crossword Puzzle ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE

It’s better not to argue with...

My family

If I met an alien I would...

Ask how they survive without air

If I have to describe myself as a flavour it would be...

Sweet and sour

If I could go back in history, I would like to meet Mahatma Gandhi

DHRUV V. MAHETA One person I would trade places with (real or fictional) Virat Kohli

Questions for quirky questions 1. It’s better not to argue with…

2. When I’m in doubt…

3. I go crazy when…

4. One thing that puts me off…

5. If I meet an alien…

6. If I win a lottery…

The best way to my heart is...

Comic books

7. One person I would trade places with…

8. If I had treasures I would hide them in…

9. One movie/ book / I can watch /read over and over again…

10. One skill I would learn…

If I had treasures I would hide them...

In a big hole in an island

11. The best way to my heart is…

12. If I have to describe myself as a flavour it would be …

13. The scariest thing that I have done…

14. If I would go back to history I would like to meet …

Send your contributions to lifestyle@timesofoman.com. A good quality photo is compulsory. Lifestyle reserves the right to publish the contributions.

DOWN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Holiday cheer Web addr.

1101, to Caesar Zaharias and Bunyan’s ox Warning signal Band member Heating fuel Blue pottery of Holland Hindi cousin Claw badly Dr.’s visit

17 19 21 22 23 24 27 28 30

Chalet features Greek P Dress fastener Sported Like gossip Sociable starling Decides Mark of Zorro Fast-food option (2 wds.)

31 Pinnacle 32 Those people 34 Of longer standing

39 Toga-party order 42 Work by Homer 44 Bursts of laughter 45 Sear a steak 46 “Kon-Tiki” craft 47 Bronte governess 48 Lap dog 49 Like some mgrs.

51 Unpaid 53 Investor’s concern 54 Ottoman title 55 Part of a club, briefly

ACROSS 1 Frostbitten 5 Oregon’s Mount — 9 “Pulp Fiction” name 12 Willy or Shamu 13 Theatre award 14 Knock 15 Smooth-talking 16 Drove in (2 wds.)

18 Ocean bird 20 Defect 21 Rustle 24 “Teen Wolf ” network 25 High sign 26 Squishy 29 Coup d’— 33 Alice’s chronicler 35 Permanent marker 36 Ex-frosh 37 Flake off 38 Boat-deck wood 40 Command to a horse 41 Bad-mouth 43 Powerful adhesive 45 Fish basket 48 Footnote datum 50 Rural outings 52 “Madam, I’m —” 56 Windhoek’s cont.

57 Razor-billed birds 58 Opera box 59 AAA suggestion 60 Bug repellent 61 Took to the pool

B8

SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

LIFESTYLE

Children up to the age of 16 who would like to have their art considered for inclusion in “Art for the Ages” can e-mail their drawings or paintings (in jpeg or tiff format) to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

Art for the Ages

Children’s Poetry

Exams

Akshi Saas Grade VIII Indian School Darsait

Niranjana S, Grade 7, ISWK

Noor Fatima, Grade SII, PSM

Alina Tabish, Grade 4, ISG CBSE i

Exams are over, finally over The tensions, the depressions Everything is over.

I still remember, The time I used to study Crying struggling , now everything is over.

Now we are moving on To time where we are free No study, no schools Moving on to holidays.

But I must say, School was great fun Now I wish to go to school Not to study but to play.

Ayaan Ahmed, Grade 7, ISM

Sudoku How to play Fill empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area.

SOLUTION Answer to previous puzzle

Manasvi S. Praveen, Grade 5, ISD

Megan Anna George, Grade 2, ISG

Send your contributions for Children’s Poetry to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

Teleword All the words below appear in the puzzle - horizontally, vertically, diagonally, even backward. Find them and circle their letters.

The leftover word spells the Teleword.

P O H S I B H C R A S T O R Y

E R E T R A C U R E C O A C H

U G O D G C W A E D I V R W L A I A N D F D P I A AM L L C B A H E C B R E K T S U T OM

CLUE: ‘THE KING’S SPEECH’ (FILM)

L E N O I L R L O H A I S R I

L I C R F D I D S Z N H T T T

A T H E N F E U I G D A A H O

P S R E O N D R F O MO R E L E G H N E K H M L MM E R T N

A B E O L I O E Y E E E E A O

W O L E Y R T N U O C T R P R

A B E L G G U R T S T U D I O

R E H E A R S E L P O E P S T

D E L I V E R N R E T T U T S

SOLUTION: 10 LETTERS

Albert, Archbishop, Award, Bertie, Bloom, Carter, Coach, Colin, Country, Cure, David, Deliver, Edward, Ehle, Elizabeth, Film, Firth, Geoffrey, Hamlet, Hand, Hone, Inherit, King George, Lionel, Logue, Order, Palace, Peoples, Radio, Rehearse, Role, Rush, Spall, Stammer, Story, Struggle, Studio, Stutter, Take, Therapist, Timothy, Toronto, Trust, Will.

Answer: Confidence

C

W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M S AT U R DAY, M AY 2 8 , 2 0 1 6

SECTION

CONNEC T H E D A I LY G U I D E

RENT

C2

VACANCY

C4

CARGO

C7

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

C2

S AT U R D AY, M AY 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DAILY GUIDE FOR RENT

*Tourist visa arranged

COLD STORE ROOMS

FOR RENT

Available at a prime location on azaiba service road (previously occupied by A’Saffa Foods) near Al Turky and Mazda showroom

Contact: 95215289, 99229263, 93221054

FURNISHED OFFICES FOR RENT Available at a prime location on Azaiba Service Road (Previously Occupied by A’Saffa Foods) near Al Turky and Mazda showroom.

Contact: 95215289, 99229263, 93221054

FOR RENT OFFICES & OUTLETS IN PRIME LOCATIONS: MAIN ROAD – MIDDLE OF THE MARKET AT: WALJA – HAMRIYA – SEEB - BARKA

Villa for rent in Al Hail South one at first floor and other at Ground floor.

Contact: 99546777 Available for lease Open Commercial Land of 21370 sqm near AL Nahda Resort, Shaksuk, Barka.

Contact : 99337160

CALL: 99332242 / 99106193 khamisco@alkhamis.com.om

Office for rent in Al Ansab near bank Muscat. Contact: 99466173 3 Rooms, 2 Toilets Flat for Rent.

18 November Street. Near Mars Hypermarket and The Chedi.

Ghobrah -Good for Commercial or Residential use. OMR 295/- month.

Call 94477222 2 BHK available Mumtaz area Ruwi & Ghubra near Al Maha Hotel.

Contact: 99269751 1 & 2 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181 3 BHK Flat in Azaiba.

Contact 99792181 60 + 100 + 180 + 600 Sqr Mtrs Office Space for Rent in Al Khuwair. Contact 99792181 Flat for rent in Darsait 1BHK. Contact: 99357586 / 97500025 / 97500021 Shop for rent in Ghubra prime location. Contact: 94281797 1000 sqmtrs industrial land for rent in Ghala suitable for warehouse workshop etc.

Contact 24700120 / 92584715 Al Khuwair 17, villa 3 B. Rooms, 3 toilets, kitchen, hall owner.

Contact: 99385553 Ware house open type in Saham, shared basis at OMR 150.00 P.M. Contact +968 99450811 & 9921 3487, EMAIL: Shiju@spec-link.com

2 Bedroom Flat for rent located in Prime location of Ruwi.

Contact: 92197959 / 92502497 2 Bedroom Townhouse with Swimming pool, free Wi-Fi for Rent near British School in Madinat Sultan Qaboos. Contact: 92197959 / 92502497 Office for rent located in Prime location of Azaiba Main Highway.

Contact: 92197959 / 92502497

Just 2 OMR / Sqm, Showroom / store for rent Ground floor & basement, area - 1100 Sqm, location Seh Al Ahmer, 20 km to Rusayl.

Contact: 97714433 / 93437982

Flats for rent at Just RO 160/- 2 Bed room, hall, kitchen , 2 toilets, location Seh Al Ahmer, 20 KM to Rusayl, including AC & roof Garden.

Contact: 97714433 / 93437982

2 Bedrooms Flat for rent located in Prime location of Al Khuwair. Contact: 92197959 / 92502497.

Spacious 1BHK flat in Darsait & fully furnished 2 BHK flat in Shatti Al Qurum. Contact: 99369081

Villa for rent in South Mabellah, 3 bedrooms, sitting room, family Lounge, kitchen, three Toilets Contact 92212212 between 10 AM to 5 PM.

Villa for rent in Al Ghubrah, 5 rooms, hall. Contact: 91763665

Office 55SQ.Mtrs & 2B/R at Bausher directly from owner.

Contact: 92158031

1BHK Mumtaz R.O 225/-. #92144045 House in North Al Hail with 3 rooms, living room, hall, 4 toilets 300 RO. Contact 99738881 / 99439568 2 bed rooms flat with hall, 2 bathrooms in Darsait near Muscat Municipality. Contact: 92584715 / 24700120 Plot at Barka next to Germany College & next to Aramex Company, next to Bahwan Warehouse, next to Omasco warehouse 37,074 SQM2 required 0.250 Baiza per SQM. Contact: 99888390 Shop for rent at Wadi Kabir Industrial area. Contact: 99888390 Flat for rent in Al Khoud, 2 rooms & hall. Contact: 917633665

Double bedroom flats available in Honda road, Ruwi and Mabellah.

Contact: 24833972/ 24833974 Mobile 99367448

1BHK Flats for rent, behind Sheraton hotel in Ruwi, rent R.O 250/per month. Contact: 96051941 Al Khuwair 17 a new room, toilet, kitchen, deluxe owner.

Contact: 99385553 2 BHK at Azaiba behind Bahwan half KM. Contact: 99224748 / 99332297

3 Bedroom well maintained flat (villa Type only 2 flats in villa) in Al Khuwair, behind Al Akhtam Restaurant villa No 1841, Way No 3922--- block no 239.

Contact: 99462980

For rent New flats at Darsait Al Sahail. Contact: 99777351

Flat for rent in Al Qurum, 3 rooms & hall.

Contact: 91763660

4 bedroom villa at Madinat Illam Office / 1 BHK Ruwi. #95915154

Flat for rent in Wadi Al Kabeer including 3 rooms with ACs. Contact: 99333639 Staff Complex villa (Al Khuwair 17) 10 rooms, 10 toilets, 7 kitchens.

Owner Contact: 99385553

House in Darsait 3 rooms, kitchen, 1 bathroom with A/C. Contact: 95522405

1BHK Ghubra R.O 275/-.

Contact: 92144045 3BHK Al Khuwair R.O 375/-.

Contact: 92144045 1BHK Mumtaz R.O 225/-.

Contact: 92144045

1BHK flat in Ruwi for family.

Contact- 92947251 1 BHK and 2BHK Flats available near Lulu Darsait (Main road, Opp. to Min. of Defense). Contact : 93202733 1BHK Darsait R.O 225/-.

Contact: 92144045 Room Al Khuwair R.O 110/-.

Contact: 97799175

Flat for rent : flat available at Hamriya & Wadi Kabir. Contact: 97380548 / 99680499 Flat for rent Al Hail North to the Wave Muscat ground floor with furniture the price RO 250/-.

Contact: 99353433 Flats in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 94051789 / 97201688

New flats Wadi Al Kabir.

Contact: 92130703

Flat for rent 2 bedrooms in Ruwi Mumtaz area. Contact: 91409667 / 24291500

1 bedroom family / bachelors in Al Khuwair R.O 100/-.

Contact: 95154331

Ware house in Ghala for rent (400/ 800/ 1200/ 3300 SQM).

Contact: 91155779

Villa for rent in Al Khoud, 6 rooms, hall. Contact: 91763665

Hotel for investment.

Contact: 91155779

5 BHK Villa in Al Khuwair, for Staff Accommodation. Contact 99792181

2/3 BHK in Al Khuwair for rent.

Contact: 91155779

2 & 3 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair & Ghubra. Contact 99792181

Flats, shops & store for rent in MBD area Ruwi, Mumtaz area.

Contact: 97293708 / 92433127

Flat in Al Bustan in Muscat, 3 rooms, 3 bathrooms, family hall, kitchen, store, laundry with spilt unit air condition 350/- O.R. Contact : 98919037 3000 Sqr mtrs compound land in Misfah. Contact 99792181 Flat in Al Bustan in Muscat, 4 rooms, 3 bathrooms, family hall, kitchen with spilt unit air conditioner 400/- O.R. Contact: 96228232 / 92776303 1 B/R Fully Furnished Luxury Apartment @ Al Khuwair 33.

2 B/R Fully Furnished Luxury Apartment @ Al Khuwair 33. 4 B/R Unfurnished Apartment with attached Split A/C @ Azaiba. Contact: Atlas Real Estate & Rent A Car LLC : 99249069 / 94617563/ 99436312, Email: info@alshahiintl.com

Offices and Flats in Ghala.

Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Fully Furnished apartments in Boucher (35). Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Villa in Al Khoud consists of 6 bedrooms, 1 sitting & living room.

Contact: 91153933 1BHK at Hamriya near Muscat Pharmacy & 2 BHK at Mawaleh near Mosque Sadiq Al Amin.

Contact: 99224748 / 99332297 Four bedroom two floors luxurious and spacious residential villa in Al Hail North, near to the sea and Oman oil. Each room has its own bathroom. It has splits A/C’s and shaded car park. OMR 750 monthly. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or 97509955

S AT U R DAY, M AY 2 8 , 2 0 1 6

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DAILY GUIDE

FOR SALE

FOR RENT

Luxury Apartments in Boucher (35). Contact 95056808 / 97201688

Room available for family / bachelor opposite to o.K. Center, Ruwi.

Gsm 942-888-63

2 bed rooms flat with hall, 2 bathrooms in Darsait near Muscat Municipality.

Contact: 92584715/ 24700120

Double Shutter 80 sq mtrs corner textile shop in Seeb Souq for sale.

Contact 99326339

Independent room in Qurum/Hail Contact: 95529970

Fully furnished offices in Ghala main Street. Contact: 94300909

Shop for sale near Oman House, Muttrah. Contact 99024362.

Full Furnished room with attached bathroom near Star Cinema for ex. Bachelor/lady. Contact 92886715 / 99782133

Offices & Showrooms in Al Khood.

Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Flats In Qurum.

Contact 94051789 / 97201688

400 sq mtrs Commercial/Residential land in Mabela Phase 5 Block 2. OMR 165 Thousand.

Contact 99333479 or 95215360 or 97509955

Room furnished attached for Executives in Mumtaz area.

Contact: 99334770

2BHK Big Size Flat Behind Bank Muscat, Wadi Kabir. Near ISWK. 97826454, 24815012.

Commercial /R land in Ghala (Industrial area) for sale.

Contact: 91155779

2BHK split A/C for rent Muttrah near Oman House.

Contact: 97007934 / 92629232

Villa in Al Qurum / Azaiba/ Mawaleh for sale. Contact: 91155779

Flats for rent near Indian School in Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122

Apartment in Al Khoudh consists of 2 room & hall.Contact: 91153933

2 flats each flat contain 3 bedrooms, 3 toilets and kitchen in South Al Mabella near New Indian School. Contact : 99757672 2BHK split A/C 200/- Monthly & 1BHK spilt A/C 150/- monthly new building good location Barka Market. contact 99342661 4 BHK Villa in Bowsher Heights.

Contact 99792181 1700 sqr mtrs open Land + small store + garage for Rent in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181 Shop for rent good location main road behind wholesale hyper market Amerat space 11 MT long, 4 MT Width. Contact: 92877449 Two bedrooms flat in Al Ghobrah near Oman Oil of 18 November Street. OMR 330 Monthly.

Contact 99333479 or 95215360 or 97509955.

Flats in Darsait. Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Brand new villas in Al Ansab. Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Flats in Ghobrah. Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Flats in Muttrah. Contact 94051789 / 97201688 Warehouse at Wadikabir - total area 3500 sqm - covered warehouse (500sqm), office, accommodation (1000sqm), open area (2000sqm) please contact: 99273774 - 99202278 Flat for rent 2 BHK 2 split A/C, 2 toilets, Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti Masjid. Contact: 97007934 / 92629232

1BHK Studio flat near Star Cinema RO 180/-. Contact: 99358589 / 97079146 / 95570288 Flat for Rent 2 bed room Near ISM muscat Indian Scoole Dar sate Tel : 00 968 95158570

FOR SALE Running Coffee Shop at Hamariya/Ruwi for sale with CR & Visa.

Contact : 92824153 / 99881187 603 sq mtrs residential land in Al Hail North Block 45 NE near Radio station. OMR 95 Thousand.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or 97509955 Ladies fashion boutique for sale in Al Khuwair. Contact: 24702870 Commercial land in first line in Barka for sale. Contact: 91155779 Farm in Barka for sale.

Contact: 91155779

Furnished office (61M2) for sale / rent Al Khuwair near Zawawi Mosque. Contact: 95611569

Villa for sale in Mabela 6 rooms, living room & hall.

Contact: 91763665

1 Bed room, sharing K& T, R.O 100, 2 bedrooms , sharing K& T R.O 200/- in AL Khuwair.

Contact: 95154331

Dental chairs for sale sparingly used dental units for sale.

Contact Mr. Ansari 92616343.

Kumar 99570284

Flat in Al Khuwair opp grand mall 4 room 3 toilet + hall kitchen in 3 floor 400. Contact 99420346

Dental clinic for immediate sale doctor going abroad. Contact: 92882209 / 96373097

Flat for rent in South AlGhubrah 3 rooms, hall and 3 toilets, kitchen rent 450/-. Contact: 99335580

2 Shops for sale at prime location in Ghobra. Contact: 96381294 Bozlur

Flat for rent in Al Khuwair 33.

Contact: 92277419

Apartment for sale location Bowshar apartment 105m has one sitting room, kitchen, balcony, two rooms with cupboards & curtains & 3 toilets. Contact: 99822260 / 94400777

2 BHK flat at Ruwi Mumtaz area RO 320/-. Contact: 99358589 / 97079146 / 95570288 02 BHK residential flat opposite to Al Nahdha hospital.

Contact: 99342733 /99795241 Villa in Bousher consists of 5 rooms, 1 hall & living room.

Contact: 91153933

ACC. AVAILABLE

6 Villas of six bedrooms each under construction in one compound in Bausher near Muscat Private hospital. Prices range from 165 thousand to 179 thousand for each villa. Each villa has three floors and 369 sq mtrs build up area. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or 97509955

Villa in Al Ghubra consists of 5 bedrooms, 1 hall and living room.

Contact: 91153933

Building in Al Khuwair at prime location for sale. Contact: 91155779

Room with 9 bathrooms in Bousher for rent. Contact: 91153933

Commercial /R land in Al Khuwair for sale. Contact: 91155779

Steel Scrap materials for immediate sale. Contact 99273774/ 99202278 Space for printing press available at wadikabir with or without machinery. Contact 99328430 HD Scaffoldings, Shuttering Jacks, Wooden Planks, Shuttering wood assorted, Tower hoist (lift), Concrete Mixer, Bending Machine, Steel Fabrication Machinery (Searing/Cutting, lathe & Welding) including tools for immediate sale: Contact 99273774/ 99202278 Ware house in W/K for Sale.

Contact: 91155779 Single colorful Bed and Sofa for Sale at Al Khuwair. Contact 92881849 / What`s up No 97290565 Urgent sale of steel scrap only serious buyers kindly contact +968 96725423 for viewing the items.

Almost new beach/ garden lounge chairs /bar stools/ counter.

Photos can be sent 95865457

ACC. AVAILABLE Sharing accommodation for Executive bachelor / family near Badr Sama Ruwi.

Contact: 99008436 Two bedrooms, flat available, just behind ISM. Contact: 99467374 Furnished single room available for Executive bachelor or small family in Walja near Honda road Ruwi. Contact: 99016546 Semi furnished big room with separate entrance attached bathroom near Indian School Al Ghubra for non cooking Indian Executive bachelor. Contact: 95146361 / 92657598 Big single room with AC, separate toilet, kitchen at Al Hail highway side preferred South Indians rent RO 90/-. Contact: 98593040 Semi furnished room for single bachelor at Muttrah R.O 85/-, WIFI & E/W. Contact: 92828615 Furnish bedroom with attach bathroom for executive bachelor.

Contact: 97704794

SITUATION WANTED BUSINESS

Spacious semi furnished room with separate bathroom for executive bachelor Opp. O.C. Centre Ruwi Call : 90611670 1 big room with attached bathroom with sharing kitchen available for small Muslim Family, Near Spar, Mumtaz area, Ruwi, Muscat.

Contact 99662698.

Room with attached bathroom for a family in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 97167857 1 BHK appartment for rent in Al Khoud Shabiya near mazoon mosque for rent (next to alkhoud medical center and squ) MOB: 93913224 Furnished apartment for rent, two rooms, majlis, hall, kitchen.

Near Carrefour al-mawalah.

Contact 99336776 Small old house for rent in Ghobra. Contact: 97165972 Room with attached bathroom for working ladies in a flat in M.B.D. Contact: 99764307 Room with attached bathroom and sharing kitchen available for Executive bachelor or small family at wadikabir Contact 93049849 Sharing accommodation near ISD. Contact: 99657340 1 BHK for rent, Ideal for small family or two bachelors, easy access to main road with AC near Sheraton hotel, CBD. Contact: 96444400 Room available for Executive bachelor at Al Hail.

Contact 96234708 Sharing Accommodation available for working ladies opposite Al Nadhah Hospital. Preferably Indians. Room with seperate toilet and sharing kitchen.RO.90.

Contact 96524717 Furnished room attached bath for Indian bachelor, Al-Falaj Ruwi & lady Wadi Kabir near Mars hypermarket. CONTACT 96202458/96761960 Room available in Mumtaz area 1 room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen & 1 room, common bathroom. Interested pleasecontact 92680041 Mr. Altaf

WANTED IELTS Coaching (academic) required nearby wadi Kabir area.

Please call on mobile or msg on Whats up. Mobile no: 92927880/ 99012165

INVESTOR PARTNER REQUIRED For a successfully Catering Restaurant Investor cum Partner is required.

Investor with fixed returns also welcome.

Please contact – 95213273

Email: muscatcoffeeshop@gmail.com

ONE STOP SHOP BUSINESS SERVICES Public Relation Service (PRO) Document Clearance, Business setup, Formation new Companies, LLC Companies, Investor Visa, Legal Services.

Contact Saleh:

96723485

WEB, ERP and Business Intelligence (BI) creation and management at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman Required partner investor to build an apartment in Al Mobelah.

Contact: 99355330 Want to market a product.

Contact: 92162623 Coffee shop for sale 7 visa available at Al Khuwair. Contact: 98826793

MV SALE Mitsubishi Pajero model 2006, full option, 6 cylinders, 3800 CC in a very good condition . Contact: 99376567 Prado 2007, manual 4-cylinder.

Contact: 99454425 Car for sale Mitsubishi Lancer, 2008 model, 1.3 CC. Contact: 92815138

BUYING Bobcat available for rent.

Contact 97623299 Used office house furniture & electronic items.

Contact: 99834373 / 96642500 Buying cars for cash.

Contact: 90202090

MATRIMONIAL Sunni Muslim family seeks proposal for their 24 year old daughter from well settled Urdu speaking Indian family. Pls call on 93521249 / 99374371

IT Consultancy division available interested person to handle the above division can Contact: 92162623

MATRIMONIAL Parents of 28 yrs, Indian Boy from Mumbai, ACCA working as a senior accountant in Muscat, seeks alliance from an Indian Sunni Muslim family. Contact no.(parent): 96408642 email id: khaledaoman@gmail.com Sunni Muslim (Urdu) girl B.E, MBA, 25 years HT 5.1” fair invites alliance from Tamil Nadu Bangluru / Mysore. Contact: 99502581 Indian male Roman Catholic 40yrs divorcee working in Muscat.

Seeks suitable alliance from widow/ divorcee/ single.

Contact 96059801.

Parent of Thrissur based Hindu Ezhava girl aged 20, Slim,Atham star, Studying for B. Pharm seeking alliance from well employed Graduates, preferably in Engineering Contact :96425102 Malankara Catholic Male Nurse (28) from Thiruvalla working in Nizwa Private Co. Alliance invites parents/nurses working in Oman.

Contact 968 98267338, 0091 9287215726

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S AT U R D AY, M AY 2 8 , 2 0 1 6 Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

DAILY GUIDE SITUATION SITUATION WANTED VACANT

SITUATION WANTED

SALES EXECUTIVES

Urgently required

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

A leading Travel Agency in Oman requires the following staff for immediate employment.

(Dubai, Saudi, Qatar & Oman)

an Accountant

Accounts Assistant Sales Executive Reservation Assistant With valid Omani driving license and 2-4 years experience in IATA Accredited Travel Agency.

A Prominent Building Materials Trading Company requires Sales Executives for various GCC locations.

Graduates with minimum 3 year experience in Sales may sent their resume to

With minimum 3-5 years Oman / GCC experience for a reputed Trading & Contracting Co. located in Azaiba.

Candidate must have Oman D/L & NOC.

Part Time Accounting, Audit Preparation, Internal Audit, Monthly Reports, Accounting set up for new companies, Project Report for Bank Loan purposes. GSM : 96975454, email: ibfc.gcc@gmail.com

Send your CV: info@styletrading.net Fax: 244 95 411

Indian male good experience in accounts, Admin & ERP, Tally 9 NOC available looking for suitable job.

Contact: 94834687

Send CV at Email : hojobs2016@gmail.com

A renowned school in Muscat is looking for competent & experienced teachers to teach the following subjects English (for primary & secondary) Primary Math’s & ICT Experience: minimum 3 years Qualification: Masters/ Bachelors in the relevant subject B.Ed/ M.Ed Only eligible candidate with the required experience and qualifications may apply by 30th May, 2016

at: applyigcse@gmail.com

BEAUTICIAN Require experienced Beautician for parlor, visa available.

Contact: 92285241 Require Employee for Saloon in Al Amerat, should have experience.

Contact: 90600688

DOMESTIC HELPER Required Office Boy. Contact : 91120552 House maid for small Omani family.

Contact: 92158031 Required house maid part time in Azaiba for Keralite family.

Contact : 96758982 A full time living Housemaid required for an Indian family in Ghobrah. Contact: 97335255

DRIVER Driver required for a leading Courier company. Send CV to info@atsglobex.com Contact: 00968-97461515 Salary: Negotiable.

Required Omani Driver for a restaurant. Contact 95929911 Wanted a experience Driver for Capital and Interior work.

Gsm : 942-888-63

Wanted driver. Contact: 97165972

DESIGNER Urgently required Designer minimum 5 years experience with different design concept and any related jobs Contact: 93218176 / Email: joboman88@gmail.com

EDUCATION/TRAINING Teachers required Math, Science & English with B.Sc, B.Ed & B.A, B. Ed for Omani Private School in North Al Hail. Contact: 95141554 / 95825772

ENGINEER/MECHANIC. Wanted Marine Engineer for yacht in Muscat.

Contact: Whatsapp 95887572 Email: alibadawy@gmail.com Indian Civil Diploma / ITI /Experienced person with DL for a small construction and maintenance company in Muscat to work as partner. Investment not required.

Contact 99039756.

Civil Engineer, Masons, Helpers, Shuttering, Carpenters, Steel fixers with 5 yrs experience in Oman.

Contact: 97491117

Required gynecologist GEN: practitioner lady lab Technician and pharmacologist immediately for a clinic in Suwaiq.

Contact: 95081010 Email: umchealthcare@gmail.com

Interested Candidates can e-mail CV’s to Qaisbahwan@yahoo.com

Senior Accountant 5 years experience NOC available up to finalization valid D/L. Contact: 96339599 Email: ahmedmohdkhan@gmail.com Indian male 32 Chartered Accountant having 2 years Oman experience looking for suitable placement in finance & Audit fields.

Contact: 96357827 Email: ubaiskeeran@gmail.com Indian Accountant with 15 yrs experience / driving license 8 yrs in Oman local release available.

Contact: 93477447 Email: s4svpai@gmail.com

Urgently required Pharmacist & MOH licensed female Dentist for a reputed polyclinic. Send CV : manageribnalhaitham@yahoo.com or call 96721709.

Indian CA, male 34yrs and 14+ Yrs exp. in A/Cs, finance, auditing, consultancy and knows SAPB1,Tally ERP etc. , Oman D/L .Currently in Oman. NOC available.

Please contact: 94704800, Email: omanjobca@gmail.com.

Wanted G.P Doctor, Pharmacist, Lab Technician and Staff Nurse for a running medical clinic near Sohar area. Contact 95272672

B.Com Graduate 10 years experience in Oman accounts & auditing.

NOC available. Contact: 95716128 mail: jaigomesh.ganesh@gmail.com

Care Medical Centre Al Seeb requires Gynecologist and General Practitioner.

Mail CV to:sarita_h23@yahoo.com

Accountant available with NOC, plus 10 years experience up to finalization of Accounting, Inventory Control on Tally ERP9, ready to join immediately. Contact: 97667273 Email: babujashid@gmail.com

Wanted Staff Nurse for a dermatology clinic in Muscat .

Must have MOH license and NOC. Attractive salary offered. Email: clinicvacancy2015@gmail.com GP doctor needed for reputed clinic. Preferably with MOH license or with Dataflow & Paramatics pass Contact: 95388934 Require a qualified Nurse to take care of an elderly female.

Contact: 99425200

MISCELLANEOUS Wanted Steward / Deckhand for Yacht in Muscat, Housekeeping & Guest service duties. Contact: Whatsapp 95887572 Email: alibadawy@gmail.com Required candidates for following posts: Accountant, Storekeeper, Foreman Building Maintenance, Van-salesman (water), Helpers.

Candidates with Omani driving license preferred.

Contact 99273774/99202278

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE Female Executive Secretary for MD Indian / Philippine Minimum 5years experience in HR and other administration work. Immediate appointment & attractive package.

Send your CV with passport size photo to E-mail: dsjob913@gmail.com

SKILLED / UNSKILLED Urgently required Offset Printer (5 years experience in the same and well versed in any related jobs. Contact: 93218176 / Email: joboman88@gmail.com Required Indian Mason – 5 nos., eligibility (minimum 5 yrs experience in road construction field).

Contact: 99882127 Email: georgymv@yahoo.com

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE Required Office Assistant with driving license present in Oman, Electrical B.Tech with 5 years of Oman experience & D/L electrical with ITI Industrial & MEDC license.

Contact: 99454425

SALES / MARKETING

MEDICAL

HOTEL MANAGER A new modern 3 star hotel located in a prime location at Bawshar – Muscat is looking for a Hotel Manager. The Candidate should be a holder of degree or an equivalent qualification in Hotel Management and should have at least 5 years’ experience at the Hotel industry with 2 years at least as Hotel manager.

MEDICAL

IT Required Shop Sales man + Hardware Technician for IT Company with minimum 2 years experience.

Contact: 98825806 / 98825806, Email: info@rns-group.com

cv4gcc@gmail.com

Required marketing / PR manager for a modern restaurant group in Oman , proficient in illustrator & Photoshop charismatic , proactive , creative & flexible excellent writing / Editing skills degree in relevant area fluent in English.

Send CV to marketingpr2016@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING Wanted experienced outdoor Salesman with computer knowledge in designing with valued Oman driving license or any other GCC valid license holders for a screen printing & Advertising firm.

Contact: 00968 94548749 Email: arscreens04@gmail.com Urgently required Printing & Stationary Salesman (minimum 3 years experience in field.

Contact: 93218176 / Email: joboman88@gmail.com Require Freshers & experienced Receptionists, insurance underwriters & marketing executives with fluency in English (Omani & expatriates) apply to insure@dotintl.com Sales person with 10 years experience in logistics sales. Attractive salary and incentive scheme.

Required for the fastest growing logistics company in Oman.

Will be required to recruit and develop a sales team.

Email: telljobs@gmail.com Required fresh Graduate in Sales / marketing with valid D/L. Send CV on Email : citycom213@gmail.com

Required smart, young, dynamic Sales & Marketing Executive having 2-3 years sales experience for a reputed manufacturing company in Oman, Experience in building materials is an added advantage. Omani Driving License and NOC is a must. Attractive remuneration package.

Apply with photograph to E-mail: salesjobds@gmail.com Required smart, young, dynamic Sales & Marketing Executive having 2-3 years sales experience for a reputed manufacturing company in Oman, having its Head Office in Ruwi. Experience in building materials is an added advantage. Omani Driving License and NOC is a must.

Attractive remuneration package.

Apply with photograph to E-mail: salesjobds@gmail.com Required female person to work at the retail shop/Marketing.

Please send your CV on e mail: Zeyanaalharmaly@yahoo.com Experienced Sales and Marketing Executive required for Indian restaurant, valid driving license preferred. Email CV to deepak@jashnoman.com

SITUATION WANTED SIT. WANTED ACCOUNT. & FINANCE Fresher 24, ACCA Affiliate, Advanced diploma in Accounting and Business seeking suitable placement in Accounts, Finance or Audit with Oman driving license.

Contact - 92430152 Email - raju.rd619@gmail.com Accounts part time services, available to handle all accounts up to finalization on monthly basis.

Finalization and audit works.

Contact: 96247295 Young Indian male ACCA finalist with B.Sc (Hons) in applied Accounting with 3 years experience & holding valid Omani driving license seeks immediate placement, NOC available.

Contact: 92851056 Accountant available with NOC, 7 years experience in Oman.

Ready to join immediately.

Contact 98263394 ACCA member with 6 yrs of experience in Oman looking for a suitable job in finance.

Contact: 99284193 28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/ India experience looking for a suitable placement.

Contact 90187483 shobinkarikkan1987@gmail.com

Indian male 34 Yrs, Dual MBA Finance and marketing with IT skills, 7+ yrs of experience, Looking for suitable placement. contact 94879615,Emailsajan_chacko1981@yahoo.com Sudanese Accountant, Alexandria University Graduate bachelor of commerce Diploma of Marketing professional photographer worked in PR and social media for 2 years looking for a job in public relations media, social media or marketing.

Contact: 96976240 Accountant 8Years Experience with D/L and NOC. Contact 97712084 Indian, Kerala Male B.COM & B.PE, Currently on Visit Visa.

Looking for a suitable job in Accounts, Store Keeper, Sales etc.

Ready to join as early as possible.

Contact: 96988923 email:- sajith3969@gmail.com Senior Accountant Indian male 10 years experience (8 yrs in Oman) with D/L & NOC, Accounts upto finalization.

Contact: 99582979 / 97373853 Accountant Assistant BBA, exp, Tally have 2 yr valid VISA PH : 98269281

Chief Accountant well experienced with reputed group available for immediate joining.

Contact : 98803439 / 97413784.

MBA female looking for job in accounting or in marketing or Administration department having 1 year experience have knowledge of Tally ERP9, MS Word.

Contact: 95910427 Email: ritashivprasad111@gmail.com Indian female with B.Com & CA Inter having overall 12 years experience in accounting / finance field, now on visit visa. # 90651102 Part Time Accountant, up to finalization of accounts, looking for job after 5 PM (location prefer MSQ to Al Hail). Contact: 90935099 American Certified Manager (6 sigma, CPPM) with MBA, PMP trained having 10 years, UAE cross functional experience in procurement, projects management, supply chain, facilities & Administration with UAE D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact: 90772927 Email: callshebin@gmail.com MBA & BBA (Hons) finance & having three years experience in accounts & seeking suitable job on visit visa, immediately joining. All documents are attested and verified from Oman.

Contact: 00968 94044125 Indian male 34 yrs, M.Com – Finance with 5 yrs experience in Accounts in India, presently in visiting visa looking for a suitable placement. Contact: 93671785 Email: jeyan903@gmail.com Senior Accounts Executive, B.Com, 05 years experience in India, seeking urgent job in Oman.

Contact 919900077458, +968-98444359, Email:syedtou23@gmail.com.

Indian (Male) having 17+years Experience in Trading & Healthcare seeking senior Position in Accounts (11 years GCC Experience ) currently on Resident Visa (NOC Available ) and has a valid Omani Driving Licence. Contact: 91335026; skumartp@gmail.com Indian male 26 years MBA experience in Accountant & Administration in a MNC company currently on visit visa ready to join.

Contact: +968 92194987 email: achal1989@hotmail.com Indian male age 26, Accountant one year experience in accounts looking for suitable job. Contact Email: Anishkhan991867@gmail.Com Mobile: +968 9565 9415 Qualified and experienced MBA post graduate with proven work exposure in Middle East & India, having more than 5.5 years of rich experience in accounts , project coordination and administration in (3.5 years UAE experience) oil and gas projects is currently looking for suitable job. Contact 93953613, Email-allen.mathew83@gmail.com Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in commerce, overall 5 yrs exp in accounts/ finance field. On visit visa.

Immediately available.

Contact 92836216 / muhammad.tausif623@gmail.com

ADMIN With 15 years of Gulf experience in HR / Admin / logistics looking for suitable position. Fluent in Arabic / English with D/L. Contact: 95824598 Tamil Nadu female BE, (ECE) MBA (HR) 25 years, 6 months experience business consult (HR) currently under family visa looking for suitable position. Contact: 99502581 Indian female 27 yrs MBA HR with 3.6 yrs exp in HR / Marketing / Customer relation currently in Muscat on visit visa.

Contact: 97205038 Email: chandpriya89@gmail.com Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+ experience in Administration/HR, Customer Support, Office Coordinator with good Computer skill, Now on Visit Visa,looking for suitable position. Contact: 90196235 Indian female BE (EC) with 2 years HR /IT/ Admin experience looking suitable placement now in visit visa.

Contact: 93263169 Receptionist (BSC Hotel Management) Indian male 26 years experience in Taj, Ramada, Crowne Plaza looking for position, now in Oman (Salalah) on visit visa.

Contact: 99780896 Indian, 20 years experience in Oman as Personal Assistant / Office Manager / Executive Secretary / Senior Administrator / Business Development Asst. seeks job change. Release available.

Contact 99168054.

Dynamic Indian male with 5 years Oman & Indian experience in Administration, purchase, marketing with valid Oman driving license seeks placement, also a certified SAP SD. Contact: 93846053 Filipino HRD especialist / material controller supervisor with 18 yrs experience looking for suitable job in Oman. Contact: (+968) 98037142 / (+968) 92659817

Sudanese accountant holding BSC, CIB 8 Post Graduate Diploma in financial management with Banking experience in projects finance. Contact: 99061339

Young Omani male have experience 12 years as P.R.O, CLERK Helper Supervisor Admin Supervisor, H.R Manager have diploma in H.S.E, IT and P.D.O license, looking for H.R position or P.R.O part time or full time. Contact: 95933288

ARCHITECT

CATERING

ARCHITECT, Indian Female with 4 years experience in Oman, well versed in related softwares, seeks suitable placement. Contact email: samarch0409@gmail.com GSM 96207476 Indian female diploma architect 6 years exp in Oman Engineering consultancy, valid Oman driving license. #96683293 / 97750870

Indian female 25 years MSc food, nutrition and dietetics looking for suitable job as dietitian or food quality Controller or Nutritionalist. Contact: 98924131 / 96737147 Email: swathysatheesh7@gmail.com Filipino Cabin steward / Linen vallet is looking for suitable job in Oman. Contact: +968 91065438 or email: blonglive@gmail.com

ADMIN DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN Indian female MBA (HR) 4 yrs exp in HR & Admin in India & Oman looking suitable placement.

Contact: 95619537

Revit, Autocad D/man, expected salary 200 OMR PH :92279784

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DAILY GUIDE SITUATION WANTED Mechanical Engineer & Project Manager Sudanese 29 yrs, more than 3 yrs experience in Mining Company, Profession:Production & manufacturing, safety, fire fighting designing, Engineering Management, sales – Muscat, Oman.

Contact 968 93642704, Email : mohamedfdl87@gmail.com

Indian male MBA Finance & Marketing 25 yrs having 1.9 years of experience Finance & Marketing Contact: 95206140/ 96992013

Indian male, Diploma Engineer with BBA & 16 yrs experience in Oman, worked with MNC in retail (Telecom/ Lubricant sales) and with construction industry handling various products & subcontract projects.

Holding valid Oman D/L, NOC available.

97728418

bonnythomas007@gmail.com

Email:

Contact 96960991, Email : sunap1968@gmail.com

DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN Architectural Draftsmen diploma in construction technology with 6 years experience in drafting and detailing as per British standard in Oman with valid Omani license looking for suitable opportunity Noc available. Call 94375897.

Filipino Senior Revit/AutoCAD Draftsman with 20 years professional experience is looking for suitable job in Oman. Please Contact: 96489798, (+974) 66653780.

DRIVER License light heavy duty, PDO license experience 8 years mechanical experience vehicle. #92091528 Driver Pakistani exp 4 years, looking for job. Contact: 94356465 Driver looking for job, 3 years experience. Contact: 97468646 Light driver / Salesman fluent in English, Arabic well knowledge of Muscat Areas. Contact: 97950869 Bangladeshi driver looking for job.

Contact: 97418036 Bangladeshi want job with own car. Contact : 93822195 Experience driver looking for job.

Contact: 95113612 Looking for a full time driver with valid Omani license. # 95454033 Light driver available.

Contact: 95501608 Light driver available.

Contact: 91362475 Looking for weekly light driving job, experience 5 years.

Contact: 92640278 Light driver. Contact: 99775728 Looking for driving job experience 5 years, Pakistani.

Contact: 96046242 / 93804176 Light vehicle driver. Contact: 95891087 Light driver with 6 years experience looking for job. #92617293 Light duty driver 2 yrs exp.

Contact: 96393805 Driver with car. Contact: 93346085

ENGG. / TECH./MECH. Civil Engineer, B.Tech, 6 yrs experience with Omani driving license, local release available.

Contact: 91693008 B.E Mechanical Engineer, age 24 with almost 1 year experience as Production Shift Engineer, has achieved training on HVAC Engineering design and has good hands on software like AutoCAD and HAP.Currently in Oman on a visit visa, looking for a suitable placement.Contact: 95065955 email: mjs.jazeb@gmail.com Project Manager Electrical with 6 years experience with EHV & MV substation projects. NOC available.

Contact 91398559 Indian female on family visa having M. Ttech degree in Biotech seeking suitable placement in any field. Contact: 91287047 Computer Hardware Technician, experienced Indian Male on visit visa seeking for suitable placement as hardware technician and Store Incharge. Contact: 95711667 Civil Engineer, young Indian having almost 2 years experience looking for a challenging position seeks suitable position in Oman/ GCC. Please contact 92718490, Email ID: uvais.pk82@gmail.com

Sr. Sales & Marketing Specialist

MANAGER, CIPD HR With 13 years experience in GCC and Oman. Competent in Sales, Marketing, Business operation and administration.

Interested employer please call

Civil Engineer 8 years experience Structural buildings marine.

Available NOC release.

Contact: 92451323.

Email: zubairali134@yahoo.com Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience in designing, assembling, commissioning execution etc having valid GCC license too looking for a suitable.

Contact: 00968-98052942 Email: azamjeelani78@gmail.com HSE Engineer (B.E Mech+Diploma Safety+NEBOSH+OSHA) over 10yrs. Exp, (Visa Release Letter (NOC) available), seeking suitable placement, Mob:97061817, Email:jayanammu1977@gmail.com Diploma Civil 5 years experience in Oman with D/L & NOC. Contact: 93772030 Indian worked as Electrical & Instrumentation Maintenance Engineer with Global Gypsum Board Co. LLC, Salalah (3 yrs) having valid Oman driving license, looking for a new job urgently.

Contact 93363104 Electrical Engineer with 8 Years Experience, looking for Job, having driving License and NOC. Ph#91293519 Email:nomee987@gmail.com Diploma in Civil Engineer 3 years experience (Surveyor) 1 year experience building work looking for job. Contact: 94857668 Email: mudassarsh93@gmail.com Mechanical Engineer, B.Tech & M.Sc, 3 yrs experience in Oman having Driving License.

Contact: 91162085 Mechanical Engineer with 2 years experience in Quality Control / Mechanical Engineer has achieved certification in NDT level 2, currently in Oman looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 95632276, Email: jassin.sudhakaran@gmail.com Electrical Engineer with 16 years experience in switchgear / transformer / over head lines & trading, looking for sales / procurement & project planning & Execution with NOC & D/L. Contact: 95994727 Email: qurm340@gmail.com

Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian male 24 years with 1+years Indian experience,(Certified in Staad Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).

Looking for a Suitable position.

Available In Sultanate of Oman (Muscat) on Visit Visa.

Contact 92835952. E-mail: mohammedamair.bin@gmail.com An Iraqi civil with more than 30 years experience in (Iraq and G.C.C) looking for a job, (N.O.C) available. Contact: 96561306 Email: iq.bgd.mnsr@gmail.com Indian male, Mechanical Engineer having 1year experience, on visit visa looking for suitable job. Contact:97416564, Email:jovinmathias@gmail.com Civil Engineer 8 years experience in Oman as a project engineer for governmental & private projects.

Contact – 90164912 Indian male 23 years Electronics and Communication Engineer B.Tech & Technical Diploma looking for suitable position. Contact: 94804100, sulthank@live.com Mechanical Engineer 28 years, 3 yrs experience, 1 year in Oman with NOC looking for suitable placement. Contact 94887665 Email: mechatron_mt@yahoo.com B.E Mechanical Engineer, age 33 with 6+ years experience in GCC in MEP building construction field (execution and design of HVAC,firefighting,plumbing), with D/L, NOC available 96978380;prajithks@gmail.com Civil & MEP Sub contractor we are doing all types of civil electrical & plumbing works. Contact: 98040451 /94109760 Auto CAD Drawings & program chart we are doing all types of civil, electrical, plumbing shop drawings & program chart for approval. Contact: 98040451/ 94109760 Civil Engineer B.Tech 2 years experience on visit seeks immediate placement. Contact: 98233199 Sr. Electrical Engineer with17+ yrs of exceptional exp in spear heading strategic planning and project management initiatives & executing various high rise residential & commercial building as well as roads and highway project with proficiency in installation, seeking a challenging position in a dynamic organization. Contact 96570891

Pakistani male Diploma Civil Engineer 4yrs exp in Oman bulling & mega projects, valid license Oman.Contact:98921022

Construction Machinery repairs Engineer, 5 years, driving license, Contact - 94001961

Civil Engineer (Indian male) 5 years experience in Oman with valid Omani driving license & NOC looking for suitable opportunity.

Contact: 93101283

B.Sc Civil Engineer, MBA experience 5 years (15 months in Oman) English & Arabic, driving license looking for a suitable job.

Contact: 94162443

Diploma in Civil Engineer (11 years Gulf experience +7 years India experience) Building structure & finishing work NOC available. Contact: 90458201 Email: siva6467@yahoo.com

Indian male BE Mechanical with 11 years experience in Automotive engineering and Industrial maintenance in Oman. With valid driving license seeks suitable job.

On release in Oman. 92880593

Electrical Engineer Indian male 30 years having 5 years of experience in industrial automation & utility maintenance in India, holding valid Oman D/L. Contact: 92789995 mail: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

Indian 24 yrs exp SR civil Engg with NOC, searching suitable job, in any project Supervision.

Contact: 96602718 mishteyaqh@yahoo.co.in

Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) Indian male with 1 year experience looking for job, qualification in QA- QC, HVAC & piping engineering. Contact: 90510800 Email: muhammedjaseem07@gmail.com Diploma Civil Engineer (8 years Exp.) with driving license.

Contact 92429006, francisprem123@gmail.com

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer having 8 years exp having Oman driving license seeking suitable placement. Contact: 97841963

Worked as Electrical & Instrumentation Maintenance Engineer with Global Gypsum Board Co. LLC, Salalah (3 years) having valid Oman driving license looking for a new job urgently. Contact: 93363104

Civil Engineer fresh Graduate with Omani driving license looking job in any company. Contact: 91745797 / 99190898 Email: alio_abdo@hotmail.com

Indian male, Instrumentation Engineer with M.Tech in Chemical process control seeking for suitable job position, presently in Oman for visit. Contact: 98352288

Sudanese Civil Engineer 6 years experience in Oman. # 95212902 Electrical & Electronics Engineer 1 year experience currently on visit visa, available immediately.

Contact: 90654844 / 90491353 Email: feyizmohamed@gmail.com Electrical & Electronics Engr, knows autocad & revit.

PH: 93837973 Telecommunication Engineer resident in the Sultanate, Sudanese Nationality. Contact : 95000024 Automobile Mechanic ITI 3 years experience marine mechanical fitter 2 yrs experience.

Contact: 93674847 Site Supervisor, Diploma in Civil Engg (cert attested) knows autocad revit, salary exp: 250 Ph : 92279784

With over 25 years in varied industries, presently working with a reputed group in Muscat, looking out for a suitable change.

Contact - 96491030

Electronics and Communication

ENGG. / TECH./MECH. Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp seeks suitable position ina reputed company. NOC available.

Contact 96789711

An experienced Chartered Accountant

SALES / MARKETING

ENGINEER Young Indian, Engineering in Bio-technology, Bio-chemical and Chemical, looking for a challenging placement in Oman.

Contact 97607000. Email: sivasankarjayakumar@gmail.com Indian male, Structural Engineer looking for job in structural design field. Having 6 years of experience in design field. Residing in Muscat.

Contact: 91176187 syam036@gmail.com Indian 14 yrs exp SR MEP – Elect Engg with NOC, searching suitable job, in field PMC, Fire consultants , Testing & com, project supervision.

Contact: 92437865 Email: maimran.mtech@live.com Indian male B-tech 8 years experience as senior electrical project engineer / QC engineer on visit visa seeks suitable placement.

Contact 94094543 Email: anwar425@gmail.com

EDUCATION/TRAINING Teacher available accounts business and economics near MQ by Indian lady Teacher.

Contact: 91254950 Indian female Mathematics Lecturer. M Sc Mathematics from a Prestigious University. B.Ed qualified, distinction holder.

7 Yrs experience with last 5 years as Assistant Professor Mathematics in Engineering College.

Contact: 91360147.

Female B. Ed English teacher, 7 yrs exp seeking suitable placement. Contact : 99739415 / 92091528

With 2 years exp in Telecom sector, currently on visit visa, looking for suitable placement.

Contact : 93919943 agneljerin@yahoo.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Pakistani male MBA 6 years experience, electrical & building material in Oman seeking for placement.

Contact : 968 96789513

Cricket : 23 years, fast bowler (LAF) Played OCC premier league, U-19, Faisalabad region, Patron trophy seeks suitable placement. Qualification : Intermediate experience in Stores. NOC in hand.

Contact: M: 91241615 Pak : 03416102803

Indian male 24 years B.com 2 years of experience in Sales & Office Admin knowledge of Tally ERP 9 & MS Office. Contact: 98613373 / 97359814, Email: syedismailnoor@gmail.com

Indian male 28 years with D/L with NOC seeks suitable placement. Contact: 93083279 Procurement Coordinator Indian male 30 yrs B.Com (Computers) 4 years experience in Saudi Arabia Construction Company looking for any suitable position on visit visa till 18 June 2016.

Contact: 0968 98590811 Email: ibrahimhashmi220@gmail.com Indian male, 28, post graduate, 6+ yrs exp in Oman in sales (back office) & credit control with valid Oman D/L looking for suitable lacements. NOC available.

Contact: 92066 523

MEDICAL

IT Filipino I.T. with 5 years experience looking for suitable job in Oman.

Contact: +968 91183514 or email delarama_ryan_t@yahoo.c om

Indian female Dentist specialized Endodontist looking for suitable placement, prometric completed.

Contact: 96410448

Indian male 3 years experience in IT as Linux Administrator& 1 year experience in Amazon EC2 Cloud at Wipro Technologies Bangalore seeking for a suitable placement.

Contact: 92889678 Email: amalpathikal@gmail.com Indian Male, MCA Graduate, 15 yrs exp in ERP, CSM Certified, seeking suitable role.NOC Available.

Contact : GSM : 90189284 Email: meetlibran@gmail.com Indian male B.Tech Electronics communication, MCSA, Java on visit visa seeking placement in IT / Network / Server Support / Retail sales. Contact: 91736346 Email: sajilsadanandan@gmail.com Software Developer having two years of experience in PHP Web development & Microsoft CRM & adx Portal experience looking for a developer position in reputed Software house or IT Dept bilal.

Contact: 95596711 / 92762313 IT Support Engineer, Exp 3 years in Oman 2 years in India.

Contact: 94672759 System IT Engineer with Linux & UNIX System Administration skills transferable visa.

Contact: 99109332 Omani 26(m) seeks placement 6 yrs experience IT specialist.

Contact: 99025044 Indian female M.Sc Computer Science seeking suitable placement in Muscat area.

Contact: 98660672 Indian female M.Sc Biotechnology, 3 years experience seeking for suitable position, part / full flexible for research, teaching business development IT hospitals.

Contact: 94710931 Email: skystars.hm@gmail.com

Indian male, 5 years building material sales experience in Oman Seeking for placement.

Contact 90655903

BS in Electrical Engineering, Experience: 5 years(Power Plants).

Contact: 92475206 Email: zahaibzafar007@gmail.com

D- Pharm Pharmacist 17 years experience Ayurvedic Panchakarma Masseur’s 3 years experience.

Contact: 93672452

IT Solution Architect,Indian female post graduate with 12 years of IT experience. Looking for position of IT Solution Architect/Consultant/Project Manager, Valid driving license. Contact 96563962

Digital Marketer: MCA, 2.6 yrs. Exp: SEM/SMM/PPC/SEO/SMO looking for suitable positions. Contact, Email: abeyve@gmail.com.

Contact 93594114

MANAGER Purchase Head Indian 20 years experience in MNC Civil, MEP, FIRE, Oil& Gas, PDO Omani driving license NOC available.

Contact: 93737496 Young Dynamic MBA Post-Grad with 2 yrs exp as Procurement officer at Muscat & 3 yrs exp & Marketing-Interior construction in India with NOC and Driving License. No# 98238260

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE Lady Secretary / Sales Co-coordinator 12 years experience in Oman in reputed companies, seek immediate Employment.

Call: 95244761 Looking for part time job Secretarial / Data Entry / Documentation available every day after 5:00 pm Friday / Saturday full day area preferred Ruwi/ CBD/ MBD / Al Khuwair. Contact: 90414827

SKILLED LABOR STP operator 20 yrs experience.

Contact: 93550661 Email: feroz1391@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING Indian Male, 26 M.Com with 4 yrs of Experience in Accounting & Administration in a Financial Company in India, seeks suitable job, Currently in India.

Contact: India:-+918907212253 Akhil:-93626288, Email: Sumeshpsmkr1989@gmail.com Indian male Graduate with 18 years of Marketing experience presently in Oman on family visit visa, looking for best opportunity.

Contact: 96168687 Email: dhibupaul@gmail.com Indian male 37 years MBA graduate in marketing with 9yrs of experience in UAE in field of brand promotions & marketing with UAE D/L on a visit seeking suitable position. Conatct 95792820

Indian Male, MBA marketing 5 yrs exp. in sales & 4 yrs in FMCG sector, looking for best opportunity.

NOC available. Contact: 96001877 Marketing, BBA, Dip in Logistics Mgmt, on 2 yrs free visa.

Contact : 98269281 35 years male, Lebanese holding British passport, 10 years of experience in procurement, Omani Government tenders, setup marketing plans & strategies, importing, Organizing events, management, have car, NOC available.

Contact 94123939 Email: 002015r@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS Indian male with 5 year Oman Sales Experience with valid Oman D/L, looking for suitable position. Mobile:97221624, Email:saileshpkhanna@gmail.com Indian male 33 years, B.Com, having 6 years experience in Oman.

Tally & ERP looking for suitable placement. Mobile no :98492921 B.E. (Mechanical) 12years industrial sales one year Muscat experience, Presently in India, Immediately ready to join.

Contact :917338899372 , email id : ganesh2008sep@gmail.com Male, Indian, 25, 5 years experience in Dubai; looking for permanent placement in Oman for jobs related to sales, coordination and marketing. Contact: +971563664701 syed97681@gmail.com Male, 23, with experience in UAE & India, looking for job in sales / marketing. Contact: 94032041 Sr. Accountant, WITH Oman D/L & 8.5 yrs exp, 7.5 yrs Oman & 1 yr India in manufacturing, trading & contracting Cos, independently handling all accounting, finance, banking, L/C, import, export & finalization seeks placement, srjob12@gmail.com Procurement/Tender & Contract Procurement /logistics & freight Specialist /Oil Field / petrochemical/Engineer /MBA /SAP certify / 15yrs Rich Experience/ Import &export Specialist / Oil Field experience/ coordinator / World Wide supplier network /Noc available Looking for challenging Position Contact: 97813849, Email Id:vved76@gmail.com Male, 23, with experience in UAE & India, looking for job in sales / marketing. Contact: 94032041 Indian Male Accountant. Completed MBA with 1 year experience, good working knowledge in Tally & Excel. Searching for suitable job. Email : jovin8910@gmail. com, Contact : 919715874548 , 918015907437 Indian male electrician(EEE ).

Two years good working experience searching for suitable job.

Gmail antonyajin15@gmail. com, : Contact; 918148336160 / 918300136160 Electrical & Electronics diploma Engineer Indian male 23 years, 2 years experience in Electrical field/good experience in Electronics MCU projects currently in visit visa please do not hesitate to Contact; 93047707 Email: adilm89@gmail.com

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DAILY GUIDE

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.com Tel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTED MISCELLANEOUS Indian male 30 yrs, holding valid driving license, having 5 years of experience in sales, looking for suitable position.

Contact # 90552942/94355626 Indian male Diploma in Electronics, having 3 years of experience in the hardware and networking field, also worked in construction company Mabela for 6 months as supervisor, trying to get driving license. Contact: - +96897017866.

Mechanical Engineer, Indian, Male,5 years experience in GCC & India, looking for permanent placement in Oman. NOC Release Available. Contact: 00968-95140445; noorullahanas@gmail.com Indian female (27 yrs) MBA(IT), BCA,CCNA.2year experience in IT operations in Oman. Graduated from Oman with good analytical, communicating & programming skills, presented in international conference, seeking suitable positions.contact:93672143.e-mail id:fathima.shoukath@gmail.com

Indian Female seeking a job in Back Office and Accountancy, 8+ years proven experience as a dynamic candidate with excellent Excel & Communication skills.

Quick learner and Team player.

Currently on Family Visa.

Contact 94093154, 91746890, Email: joyjohn_hhh@yahoo.com

Senior accountant ,NOC available, more than 5 years exp., born & bought up in Oman, Accounting upto finalization, computer skills tally9, Sage ERP accpac 500(6.0A), Vcams , Audit ,valid Oman D/L, languages known English ,Arabic, Hindi. can join immediately. Tel: 96339599, mail-ahmedmohdkhan@gmail.com

Sri Lankan Male, 31 years. 6 years experience as an Accounts Executive, (Languages can speak Urdu/ Arabic, English written & spoken) .

Contacts: 99782930/ lalindra1st@yahoo.com

Petrochemicals Specialist, Chemical, MBA 18 YEARS EXPERIENC IN OIL FIELDS COM, RAW MATERIAL , polymer, SPACIALISED IN Procurement /COMMECIAL/ PURCHASE / LOGISTICS / SCM/Planning & sound knowledge of technical requirement for any manufacture plant Forecasting, Distribution, Vendors Development, LC opening/ establishment coordination with NOC available.

Contact:97813849

HSE Engineer, Indian male, 5.5 Plus years experience in Oil & Gas. Working in Shclumberger.NEBOSH, IOSH, & NDT Certified, M Tech in HSE. CONTACT-krish.569@gmail. com Mobile- +91 9867016808 Sri Lankan Male, 31 years. 6 years experience as an Accounts Executive, (Languages can speak Urdu/ Arabic, English written & spoken).

Contact 99782930/ lalindra1st@yahoo.com

Part- Time Accountant, well experienced senior accountant ,capable of doing all type of accounting works up to finalization, Budgeting, Bank financing requirements, taxation work etc available. # : 98803439

Indian male with 10+ years of working experience (security solutions, event management) on visit visa seeks suitable placement.

Contact – 97945269, hkkrishna@gmail.com

BS in Electrical engineering, experience : 6 years in electrical installation and maintenance Contact : 99817032, Email : engmmg24@yahoo.com

Indian male Network Cabling Technician (19-years gulf experience) seeking for suitable placement. mobile no: 0091-8089909265 (India), email: mohithavp@gmail.com

Business Management Graduate with 12 years of experience in Oman, Worked with catering, medical, IT groups seeks suitable placement in Finance/purchase/ insurance sector, NOC Available.

Email, saima.gangawali@gmail. com, Mob 94258301

Indian Male, 24 yrs, looking for any type of job, qualification is Diploma in Electronics with 3 years of experience in the hardware an networking field an also worked in construction company Mabelah for 6 months as supervisor, having valid D/L. Contact : - +96897017866.

33 year old Filipina with experience in Tele performance, Manila call centre, now working as Waitress in Qatar seeking suitable post.

Local contact 99022484 Highly experienced mechanical/ steel structural fabrication engineer looking for suitable placement. NOC available.

Contact 99860714, hussain20173@gmail.com.

Indian Male 28 years, Mechanical Engineer (Diploma) with 2 years’ exp., Automobile ITI NCVT, CSWIP-BGAS Painting QC Grade-2, NDT Level-2, ISO Lead Auditor QA (IRCA), Piping QC & Isometric Drawings, WPS & WPQR, available on Visit Visa, seeks suitable job.

Contact: 90653733, libinthomaslt@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTED SERVICES

SITUATION WANTED EDUCATION/CLASSES/COMP./WEB.

SERVICES We Provide Cleaners, Office boys, Cleaning Contracts, General cleaning etc.

Al Mudakhir National Est. LLC Contact : 94277020

Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English class for Malayalam Speakers

Pest control & Building cleaning all kinds of pest control building. Cleaning tiles / Marble polishing monthly/ Yearly contracts available.

Contact: 98814733 /98814740 Al Husn Cleaning L.L.C

in Azaiba and Ruwi

• Learn in two months • Satisfaction guaranteed

Tel: 95244310

Split unit & window unit A.C servicing & maintenance.

Contact: 96236476

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Contact 99314807/24792998

Split & window A/c servicing & maintenance. Contact 93769089 / 95323517

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

Window & split unit A.C servicing & repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split unit & widow unit A.C servicing & maintenance.

Contact: 95323517 / 93769089

A/C Maintenance & Servicing, Fridge, Washing machine & Dish washer repairing, Painting & Cleaning services, Electrical & plumbing.

Contact 99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

House shifting. Contact 99708138

Regular container transportation from Sohar sport to anywhere in Muscat area OMR 100 per container. Contact: 93731363 Marble crystallization & grinding, Ocean center LLC Contact: 99344723 A/C servicing maintenance.

Contact: 92279370 Pest control treatments, Ocean center LLC Contact 99344723

CAD drawings Archi/ MEP CAD – comply BIM. Contact: 91233975 Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile polishing, pest control & anti-termite treatment, general cleaning painting,Plumbing, Electrical, shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. Contact: 24810137, 99450130 Marble crystallization & grinding, cleaning & carpet shampooing.

Ocean center LLC. Contact 99344723 Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet shampooing, maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS99320217 /24788722

MANPOWER

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your marble. Contact 24793614/ 99314807 Cleaning services, Sofa, carpet, shampoo old house or new house.

Contact: 92179395 Water proofing ABUQABASContact 99320217/ 24788722 Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont Maintenance services electric, plumbing and A/C. Contact: 96524904 /94285064 House Shifting Packing.

Contact: 99657644 / 98518013

FOR LADIES Home service available, (Threading, facial, waxing, Head massage) R0. 20. # 99619409 (watsup)

SITUATION WANTCLASSES Karate and self defense classes at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per month twice a week Monday and Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM. Contact: 98294551

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DAILY GUIDE

SITUATION WANTED CARGO

TOURS

TOURS

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine Tours contact 98029602, 92808636 We arrange tours & accommodation at all the beautiful places in Oman. Contact 99839898

DRIVING TRANSPORTATION

RENT A CAR

Transport. Contact: 96538078 Transportation available Ruwi to Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909 Transportation.

Contact:94510847 Transportation. Contact 9508282

GOOD NEWS Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain, backache, paralysis, massage, steambath, obesity, Spondylitis, Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic, 18 November Street, Azaiba.

Contact: 99639695 / 97397320 Ayurvedic treatment for backache, paralysis, arthritis etc & massage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact:24475280 / 95371664 / 92504980 www.siddhayur.com FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: 99425598, 99250777, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, and 99379133. For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Orvisit:www.islamfact.com *Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

Transportation. Contact 92015894 Transportation required from Qurum to WadiKabir at afternoon only 1 PM. Contact - 99012165

NRI 910 sq ft furnished flat at Qupem Goa. Contact: 97094797 Two properties at Bangalore for sale (1) 3 BHK Senior living apartment with full fledged facilities & services in Ozone Urbana Serene project for the cost price of Irene project. Handover by August 2016.

(2) 4 B/R villa (BUA 3600sq.ft, 4 floors, 3 Livings, 5 bathrooms, maid’s room & car park) for sale at JP Nagar. Contact Mrs. Mangala Ph: 97903127, Email: ravichandran.mangala@gmail.com Plot for sale in Mundur & Palakkal Trichur District.

Contact: 00968 92376297

25 - 50 seater bus with PDO & BP specification for monthly rent & small car with driver. Contact 99839898

AVAILABLE Party & Wedding equipment rentals. Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Systems and spectacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light. ww.tunesoman.com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

RENT A CAR Best Rates for Saloon Contact: 97869042 / 95730550 sales@modernreem.com

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