times of oman - january 27, 2015

Founded 1975 . Volume 40 No. | Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group

MORNING MINUTE

January 27, 2016 17 Rabi Al Thani 1437 AH

WEDNESDAY

287 40

To the students of Sultan Qaboos University, 2000

FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN

Quest for knowledge was — and is — always a legitimate aspiration.

‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’

OMANMajlis members to disclose assets

1Majlis Al Shura members have decided to disclose details of their financial

assets to the government. >A2

OMANNational had MERS symptoms in Oman

2An Omani tested positive in Thailand had symptoms of MERS while admitted

in a hospital in Oman. >A5

MARKET‘Crude prices to recover marginally’

3Crude oil prices are expected to start recovering marginally

towards the end of year. >B1

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

A6

Jail sentence planned for ‘driving and phoning’

REJIMON K TARIQ AL HAREMI [email protected] [email protected]

MUSCAT: Drivers caught using their phones could be jailed for up to two years as well as end up pay-ing a fine of OMR300 under tough new rules under discussion by the officials in Oman.

A jail sentence from one month to a maximum of 24 months, plus the tougher fine, are among the main amendments approved by the Majlis Al Shura in the draft Traffic Law on Monday.

“The use of cell phones while driving is a punishable crime. The violator will have to pay OMR300 fine and has to serve a jail term for a period ranging between one month and two years,” Dr Mo-hammed Al Zedjali, the head of legal committee in Majlis Al Shu-ra, who led the discussion of the amendment told Times of Oman.

The draft was approved during the last term of Shura and was for-warded to the State Council. From there it was sent to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. It was sent back to Shura for revision by His Majesty the Sultan.

“We are still reviewing it,” the head of the legal committee said.

According to Article (58) (bis 35), draft laws prepared by the government shall be referred to Majlis Oman for approval or amendment, and then they shall be directly submitted to His Maj-

esty the Sultan for promulgation. In case of any amendment by

Majlis Oman on the draft law, His Majesty may refer it back to the Majlis for reconsideration of the amendments and then for re-sub-mission to His Majesty the Sultan.

Different punishmentsIn addition to proposing stricter punishment for using cell phone while driving, the Shura has pro-posed different punishments for damages caused due to careless-ness and intentionally on roads.

“An accident, which causes in-jury to the second party due to negligence, is also punishable. For such accidents, the violator should pay OMR2,000 fine and jail terms for periods ranging from three months to one year. The fine and jail term depend on the se-riousness of the injury. “There is a difference between injuries caused by negligence and inten-tionally, so we can’t have one law for both. This has led for amend-

ment,” the Shura member added.Mark Pudwell, Business Devel-

opment and Training Manager of Competence HR, said that he wel-comed the new laws which clearly demonstrates the determination of His Majesty and his govern-ment to eradicate this wholly un-acceptable behaviour.

“The introduction of any new law of this nature also requires a review of the policies and proce-dures for its enforcement. The law does not discriminate against or offer advantage due to nationality or status and once this has been seen to be the case, everyone will understand its intentions and the outcomes of not adhering to it,” Mark said.

According to Mark, much has been achieved in reducing the numbers of fatalities on Oman roads but we should not forget those many thousands who have been injured or have suffered as an indirect consequence of care-less driving. >A6

The Majlis Al Shura has approved a

jail sentence of up to two years under

amendments to the new traffic laws

Golden opportunity to win free tickets to Russell Peters show Times News Service

MUSCAT: So the countdown is truly on, with popular stand-up comedian Russell Peters due to take the stage in Muscat on Feb-ruary 1. As part of his new “Almost Famous World Tour”, Peters will perform at the Shangri La Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa Amphithea-tre and tickets are selling fast.

Once again Times of Oman, in association with organisers Alive Entertainment, is giving away tickets worth OMR75, OMR55 and OMR30

To win the show tickets, all you

have to do is to send us a 15-sec-ond video of your best jokes via Times of Oman’s Facebook Mes-senger and you stand a chance of winning!

Tickets on saleOf course if you don’t want to leave it to chance, tickets are still on sale at the Mackenzie’s Café & Deli, OUA Retail (Madinat Qaboos), Mitsubishi Showroom (Azaiba) for what promises to be a sell-out show.

Russell Peters show is being or-ganised by Alive Entertainment in association with HI FM.

F E B R U A R Y 1

Dr Mohammed Al Zedjali,

the head of legal committee

in Majlis Al Shura.

Stand-up comedian Russell

Peters. – Supplied photo

A banker with a thirst for photography

A2 W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

OMANMajlis members to disclose assets

REJIMON K [email protected]

MUSCAT: Majlis Al Shura mem-bers have decided to voluntarily disclose their financial assets de-tails to the government as part of transparency measures, a Shura member said.

“On Monday, we decided to dis-

close the details of our financial assets to government auditors to bring in more transparency. This will help the government in the future to find if there are any finan-cial irregularities,” Mohammed Al Busaidi, a Shura member from Bausher, told the Times of Oman.

The majority of the members voted yes for the move during the Shura meeting.

According to law, government officials are bound to disclose their financial status upon the re-quest of government auditors.

“By this move, we want to in-spire government officials to vol-untarily disclose their financial status. This will build confidence among the public,” the Shura member added.

The latest Transparency Inter-national’s Corruption Perception

Index placed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the top in the region at the 25th rank, followed by Qatar at 26, Bahrain and Sau-di Arabia at 55, Oman at 64 and Kuwait at 67.

Last November, in a move to combat corruption, a special court was established in Muscat to in-vestigate bribery claims, worker abuse and public spending abuse.

The Public Funds Court, the first of its kind in Oman, aims to combat financial and administra-tive corruption.

In 2013, Oman’s membership of the United Nations’ Convention against Corruption was ratified.

As a result, significant efforts have been made to ensure that the Sultanate is fulfilling its ob-ligations under the terms of the convention.

Majority of the

members voted yes

for the move during

the Shura meeting

Majlis Al Shura committee for changes in fishing lawTimes News Service

MUSCAT: A gamut of issues re-garding the welfare of the nation and its citizens were discussed at separate meetings heald by sev-eral Majlis Al Shura committees.

The Food and Water Safety Committee hosted a meeting, which included experts from the Ministry of Environment and Cli-mate Affairs to discuss the impor-tance of amending the fishing law and protecting marine wealth.

This was the panel’s 6th regular meeting of the 1st annual sitting of the 8th term.

During the meeting, it was sug-gested that amendments should be made that do not conflict with other laws related to marine fish-

ing, as well as agreements that the Sultanate has signed with regards to international, regional and na-tional standards be followed.

Hilal Al Yahyai, head of the committee said, “Amending the current law of 34 years is of great importance to keep in line with the developments and improve-ments in the marine fishing in-dustry in the Sultanate.”

He added that amending the Law on Marine Fishing and Pro-tection of Living Aquatic Re-sources has become an urgent necessity in light of the develop-ments and changes witnessed by the fisheries and aquatic resourc-es sectors in the Sultanate.

He also stressed that the amendment will serve public ben-

efit, which is also in line with the ninth five-year plan for 2020.

Private museumsMeanwhile, the Media and Cul-ture Committee of the Shura Council also hosted a meeting, with some government officials discussing their research updates regarding regulating private mu-seum work.

They highlighted the efforts of private museums and discussed the importance of their contribu-tion towards tourism.

The committee also addressed museum owners in order to de-termine the challenges they face, as well as offered advice and suggestions to further enhance the sector.

GOVERNMENT

By this move, we want to inspire government

officials to voluntarily disclose their financial

status. This will build confidence among the public

Mohammed Al Busaidi, Majlis Al Shura member from Bausher

A3

OMANW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

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Online job contract system soonTARIQ AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Job seekers and em-ployers will soon be able to handle contract documents via an elec-tronic employment system on the Ministry of Manpower’s website.

An e-Employment contract, as it is called, is a system implement-ed by the ministry for the national

workforce in order to facilitate the process of employment.

Company representatives and job seekers won’t need to visit the ministry to complete the process but would do it electronically.

“The company won’t need to come to the ministry to sign a contract, as well as bring the job seeker to do so,” said a senior Ministry of Manpower official.

“When the employer and job seeker agree on things, such as benefits and wages, the contract will be sent electronically to the job seeker where he will ap-prove, depending on the case. The contract will then go back to the employer for his approval and hereafter to the ministry, where it will be saved in the system,” he explained further.

M I N I S T R Y O F M A N P O W E R

A4 W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

For detailed coverage log on to www.timesofoman.com

TARIQ AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Children can’t seem to hide their joy after seeing the many attractions that the Muscat Festival is offering this year as they take advantage of their school holi-days for playtime and fun.

The amusement park in Na-seem Garden has offered children various attractions, such as roller

coasters, a Ferris wheel, bumper cars, trampolines and giant slides among others, where parents are also happy to see their children en-joying their holiday.

“Having the Muscat Festival once a year is important for the children; and since it’s their holi-day this time of the year, we take them out to have fun,” said Saleh Al Saadi, one of the parents.

Some parents believe there

should be more places besides Na-seem Garden and the Amerat Park for entertaining children.

Mohammad Al Ghafri, a father of three told Times of Oman, “Most

of the festival activities occur in Naseem Park and I believe it would be better to see two or three extra places than the ones already avail-able for the children.”

QuestionSince the Muscat Festival is the place to be for children and fam-ily during the holidays, summer holidays offer three months of free time to the children and that

raises the question of whether to have some festival-like entertain-ment dedicated to the children at that time. However the case may be; parents would rather enjoy the summer holidays away from the Sultanate as it gives them the op-portunity to travel given the con-siderable amount of time to do so.

“We take advantage of the summer holidays to travel,” said Al Saadi.

The amusement

park in Naseem

Garden has offered

children irresistible

attractions

BIG HIT: Some parents believe there should be more places like Naseem Garden and Amerat Park for entertaining children. – Tariq Al Haremi

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Favourite holiday haunt of children

A5


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Oman hospital had confirmed MERS in citizen

REJIMON [email protected]

MUSCAT: An Omani person, who has tested positive for (Mid-dle East Respiratory Syndrome) MERS in Thailand, had similar symptoms while he was admit-ted in a hospital in Oman, says the Ministry of Health.

Commenting on the Thai Health Ministry statement, the Omani Ministry of Health said in a statement uploaded on its official facebook account that samples taken from the patient in an Omani hospital earlier in January, showed he was suffering from MERS.

At the hospital, he was suffer-ing from acute pneumonitis as well as diabetes. The patient had left the hospital against the ad-vice of medical staff, and travelled to Thailand.

Follow instructionsThe Ministry of Health has called upon everyone to follow the in-structions given by medical staff.

Meanwhile, the health condi-tion of the Omani man who was found infected with MERS in Thailand, is now improving, Thai media reported quoting a senior official of the health ministry.

“His fever is lower. He can sit up and eat food,” Public Health Ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Sopon Mekthon was quoted as saying.

The 71-year-old Omani, along

with his son, had travelled to Thailand last Friday abroad an Oman Air flight.

Thai health authorities also said they had placed 33 people in quarantine after the Omani man seeking medical help in the coun-try tested positive for MERS.

“There are 33 people under observation,” the health ministry said in an update on Tuesday.

According to Thai authorities, there were at least 40 people who came in contact with the man and hence were deemed to be at high risk, including 22 passengers on his flight, two taxi drivers, four hotel staff, 11 hospital staff and one relative.

Issue of visaMeanwhile, a senior official from Thai embassy in Muscat said that VISA issuance and probe on trav-el to Thailand, have not been af-fected since the news broke about the Omani MERS patient.

“There is no problem at all. Everything is as usual. We are not getting any concern calls. Even though we don’t have any screening process here, officials in Thai do it at all entry points. I have been updated from Thailand that tourism will not be affected,” Veerasakdi Prem-Aree, Counsel-lor at the Thai embassy, told the Times of Oman.

Thailand is a major regional tourist hub and many people also fly there to seek medical treatment.

It is particularly popular among wealthy Middle Eastern patients with many of the top Bangkok hospitals providing Arabic lan-guage services.

Last year too, an Omani had tested positive for MERS, lead-ing to the quarantine of more than 170 people. He was successfully treated and sent home.

Oman Air flightOn Tuesday, Oman Air in a travel advice said that the passenger travelled from Muscat to Bang-kok on January 22, 2016 aboard Oman Air flight WY815.

“Oman Air is liaising closely with all the relevant health and aviation authorities and has been advised that any risk posed to the health of fellow passengers is minimal. However, anyone who was aboard the same flight may, as a precaution, wish to visit a medi-cal professional and request that their health status be checked,” the statement said. “If, within the next two weeks, any passenger from the same flight experiences severe acute respiratory illness, including fever, cough, and short-ness of breath, we urge them to seek immediate medical advice,” the statement added.

The Omani patient

was suffering from

acute pneumonitis as

well as diabetes and

had left the hospital

against the advice

of medical staff, and

travelleld to Thailand DEADLY VIRUS: The health condition of the Omani, infected with

MERS is now improving in Thailand.

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]

ITA launches Electronic Certificate service ‘Tam’HASAN SHABAN AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Omanis and expatri-ates can now access all e-Gov-ernment services thanks to a new Electronic Certificate service, which provides each person with a digital identity and has been launched by the Information Tel-evision Authority (ITA) in co-operation with the Royal Oman Police (ROP).

The service called ‘Tam’ allows registered citizens and residents to use government electronic ser-vices and finish transactions in a fast and secure way.

Businessmen and job seekers can benefit from Tam simply by visiting ITA’s booths in Qurum and the Muscat City Centre.

It is also possible to register us-ing a mobile SIM card, which is available at Omantel and Oore-doo’s outlets.

The new service is protected by Oman’s e-Transaction Law and provides clients with highest lev-els of trust and legality.

After getting the Tam’ service,

users can have their personal data secured, will be able to sign any document of application elec-tronically and have 24/7 access to services provided by many govern-ment organisations, including the Muscat Municipality, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Health, the Public Prosecution, the

Al Raffad Fund and others.

Free serviceHowever, people with IDs that have an expiry date before July 14, 2018 will not be able to register for ‘Tam’. ITA had launched a cam-paign to promote the free service on December 22, 2015.

I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H R O P

SECURE TRANSACTION: Businessmen and job seekers can ben-

efit from Tam simply by visiting ITA’s booths in Qurum and the

Muscat City Centre. – Supplied photo

Agricultural insurance to be discussed in March forumTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Development of agri-cultural insurance will be the topic for discussion between the Capital Market Authority and insurance companies in March, a press re-lease from the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

On Monday, a meeting took place at the Oman Chamber of Com-merce and Industry between the Chamber, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Capital Mar-ket Authority to discuss proposals

to activate agricultural insurance by implementing recommenda-tions issued at a forum organised by the Chamber last December.

These recommendations were established with the coopera-tion of leaders and specialists in both the government, as well as the private sector, the press release said.

The importance of agricultural insurance for the sake of devel-opment and growth of the sector was discussed during the meeting, as well as support for companies

working in the agricultural sector and establishing full insurance for companies and workers in the sector.

In March, the Capital Market Authority will hold a meeting with all the insurance companies.

The Ministry of Agriculture meanwhile, will present a working paper on the infrastructure of the insurance.

The Capital Market Authority will prepare a survey among the in-surance companies on their wish-es, according to the press release.

C A P I T A L M A R K E T A U T H O R I T Y

A6


I travelled to India and started to capture street

life and the faces of people. Slowly, I realised

that capturing faces is my forte

Haitham Al Farsi, Omani banker

Banker with thirst for photography

REJIMON K [email protected] MUSCAT: Haitham Al Farsi, a 28-year-old Omani, is banker by profession. But photography is his passion, for which he spends seven to eight hours daily on honing his skills and 30 to 40 per cent of his annual salary to quench the thirst for capturing good pictures.

Having 270 global and four local photography awards in his kitty, Al

Farsi started his journey as a pho-tographer in 2013, when he bought his first camera, a Canon 550 D, from a local mall in Oman while doing window shopping. “I bought that camera purely out of curios-ity. However, purchasing it changed my life. Slowly, by following You-Tube and other social networking sites, I got acquainted with the ba-sics of photography. Later on, I at-tended the Photography Society of

Oman’s workshops, where I learnt the nuances of photography from the masters. Now, after three years, I feel happy and enthused to cap-ture more,” said Al Farsi, who also attributes his success to his father who shares the passion.

During the initial days, Al Farsi used to capture landscapes and follow fashion photography. How-ever, travelling to different places changed his priorities.

“I travelled to India and started to capture street life and the faces of people. Slowly, I realised that cap-turing faces is my forte. I have spent hours and hours to get the perfect shot. But spending time is worth it. I have not felt bad about it ever, es-pecially after seeing the final shot,” Al Farsi added.

Recently, he got the Sofia Photog-raphy Award from Bulgaria for cap-turing a young girl carrying water in

Nepal. “The picture was captured in 2014. I took three shots only. But it turned to be one of my favourite pictures,” Al Farsi added.

Al Farsi said he wished to meet that young girl again, as she has brought him these accolades. “I travelled in 2015 again to find her. But couldn’t. I will travel to find her again. It is said that patience pays off in photography. I am sure that I can find her again,” Al Farsi added.

Having 270 global

and four local

photography awards

in his kitty, Al Farsi

started his journey

as a photographer

in 2013, when he

bought his first

camera, a Canon

550 D, from a mall

in Oman while doing

window shopping

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Around 34 per cent of Omanis ranked “running my own business” as their ideal job, according to Oxford Strategic Consulting’s latest Oman Employ-ment Report: Insights for 2016.

Similar views on entrepreneur-ship as an ideal job role were re-flected in Qatar (41 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (37 per cent), how-ever, only 11 per cent of Emiratis surveyed viewed “running my own business” as an ideal role.

This inclination toward entre-

preneurship in the Sultanate can help Omanis in transitioning away from public sector roles and to-wards private sector enterprises.

The report’s findings revealed the following innovative employ-ment strategies for entrepreneurs and future business leaders in

Oman. Nearly three out of four Omanis listed money (76 per cent) as a top motivator, with chal-lenge (28 per cent) and travel (28 per cent) being the next closest motivators.

Yet, more than a third of Omanis consider entrepreneurship to be

their ideal job. Rather than sim-ply increasing public and private sector wages, Oxford Strategic Consulting recommended that the government should provide additional, targeted support for budding Omani entrepreneurs, including perhaps government

employees themselves. In order to maximise invest-

ment in entrepreneurship, high-potential entrepreneurs, who ac-tually contribute to employment growth, known as “Gazelles,” should be identified and supported by the government.

E M P L O Y M E N T S T R A T E G I E S



GUtech students get Aachen varsity study scholarships

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A group of fourth-year students have been awarded study scholarships for conduct-ing their Bachelor thesis in En-gineering, Geosciences, Urban Planning and Architecture at the RWTH Aachen University (Ger-many). All these students have already visited RWTH Aachen University during study excur-sions in the past years and have studied German for three semes-ters at GUtech.

“We are very happy to send these five students to our partner-university. The students have passed a selection process and were the most successful. To en-hance cooperation with the Ger-man universities, German Aca-demic Exchange Service (DAAD) is sponsoring GUtech students and excursions regularly,” said Andrea Cornelissen, a DAAD rep-resentative in Oman and German lecturer at GUtech.

Three students will receive funding from DAAD, one student

will be sponsored through a re-search grant and another student will be self-sponsored. The stu-dents are currently passing some final exams and are preparing for their studies abroad.

“Studying Engineering at RWTH Aachen is great, there are many well-equipped laborato-ries,” said Nouf Al Salmi, a Pro-cess Engineering student, who holds a scholarship from Petro-leum Development Oman (PDO).

Al Salmi and her engineering study-colleagues and professors had visited RWTH Aachen during a three-week excursion last year.

Balaj Faisal is also studying Engineering. He will write his Bachelor thesis on “Modelling of Steel Production,” at the Depart-ment of Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen. Faisal also did an internship at a steel company in Italy last year, where he studied at the Department of Mechani-cal Engineering at the University of Brescia for several months. He was also part of a Summer School at the Veolia head offices in Paris,

along with only 20 other interna-tional students. “My participa-tion in the Shell Eco-Marathon last year, helped a lot in getting accepted for the Veolia Summer School,” he said. After the Bach-elor’s thesis, Balaj would like to gain some work experience with Veolia, especially in the field of renewable energies and then con-tinue with an MSc programme.

“I know I will learn a lot and become more independent while studying in Germany,” said Raw-an Bassett, who will conduct her Bachelor thesis on an urban de-sign project in the city of Aachen.

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

SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS: All the students have visited RWTH

Aachen University and studied German for at GUtech. – Supplied photo

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Sixty students from different departments presented a total of 22 business ideas to staff and stu-dents, as the German University of Technol-ogy in Oman (GUtech) held its First Student-Entrepreneurs Fair in the university’s premises in Halban recently.

The fair was part of the “Entrepreneurship Course” conducted for all 4th year students and was held in cooperation with the SME Develop-ment Fund (SMEF).

Fair for students

FACES IS THE FORTE: Haitham Al Farsi, a 28-year-old Omani, is banker by profession and has passion for photography. – Supplied photo

34% Omanis view entrepreneurship as ideal profession

People ignore facilities

“All modern cars are equipped with technology that allows hands free use of cell phones but everyday we see people ignor-ing those facilities in favour of holding the phone. The law says it’s illegal, punishable with jail or can invite fines. Now it has to be enforced. There were still 618 deaths too many last year,” Mark added.

Oman has registered a 14.9 per cent dip in road accidents in 2015, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Infor-mation (NCSI).

There were 5,254 accidents recorded in 2015, down from 6,171 road accidents in 2014.

618 people died in car acci-dents in 2015, down from 760 fatalities in 2014.

Traffic awareness campaigns and more speed radars have contributed to the drop in the number of road accidents.

C E L L P H O N E U S E

< FROM

A1

Minister receives Sri Lanka envoyMUSCAT: Gen. Sultan bin Mo-hammed Al Nu’mani, Minister of the Royal Office received in his office M. K. Pathmanathan, ambassador of Republic of Sri Lanka to the Sultanate.

The two sides exchanged cor-dial conversations and reviewed the bilateral relations between the Sultanate and Republic of Sri Lanka, as well as means of enhancing them in various fields for the joint interest of both sides. Gen. Al Nu’mani, also received in his office Gen. Lloyd J. Austin, Commander of the US Central Command and his accompanying delegation, within the framework of his current visit to the Sultanate.

The guest expressed his de-light to visit the Sultanate. The two sides exchanged cordial conversations and discussed a range of topics of concern to the two countries.

The two sides reviewed the bilateral relations binding the Sultanate with the United States to achieve the joint inter-ests, in addition to touching is-sues of mutual concern. -ONA

U S C O M M A N D E R

A7


Indian expats in Oman celebrate Republic Day

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Led by the Indian Embassy in Oman, expatriates from the South Asian country celebrated the 67th Republic Day of India all over the Sultanate with patriotic fervour and gaiety on Tuesday.

Hundreds of members of the Indian community joined the cel-ebratory event held to mark the occasion at the Indian Embassy where Indra Mani Pandey, am-bassador of India to the Sultan-ate of Oman, unfurled the Indian National Flag and read out the Address of the Honourable Presi-dent of India to the Nation.

Students from the Indian School Al Ghubra led the gath-ering in singing the National Anthem, followed by other patri-otic songs. Addressing the Indian community, the Ambassador said, “On the auspicious occasion of 67th Republic Day of India, I wish all fellow Indians living in Oman a very happy Republic Day.

“The Indian community in Oman has been making immense contribution to social progress and the economic development of India. While we all should be aware of the challenges we face, we should also have pride in our achievements since we attained independence.

“The Government of India is

committed to ensuring the wel-fare of Indians living abroad and the Indian Embassy in Muscat has been making efforts to deliver passport, consular and communi-ty welfare services in an efficient and timely manner and to reach out to various segments of the In-

dian community living in differ-ent regions.

“We seek the community’s understanding and cooperation in achieving our goals. Let us all commit ourselves today to do our best to make India a great and ex-emplary nation. Let us rejoice to-

gether and march ahead.”Earlier, the Ambassador un-

furled the tricolour at the Indian School Darsait in the presence of thousands of students, teachers and parents.

The occasion was celebrated in other Indian schools as well.

Hundreds of Indian

expatriates joined

the celebratory event

held at the Indian

Embassy in Muscat

to mark the occasion

CELEBRATIONS: Indra Mani Pandey, ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman, unfurled the Indian National Flag at a celebra-tory event held at the Indian Embassy in Muscat to celebrate the country’s 67th Republic Day and read out the Address of the Honourable President of India to the Nation. – Supplied photo



Let us all commit ourselves today to do our best to make India a great and exemplary nation. Let us rejoice together and march aheadIndra Mani Pandey, Ambassador of India to Oman

21 entrepreneurs feted by RiyadaTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Hosting its second an-nual celebration of Oman’s entre-preneurial success, Riyada, Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development, held the closing ceremony for the sec-ond edition of the Entrepreneur-ship Award on Tuesday.

A total of 21 winners were honoured at the ceremony, hav-ing been divided into three main categories, including the Entre-preneurship Award, the Entre-preneurship Award for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), and Entrepreneurship Award for

Supporting Organisations. The ceremonial event was held

under the patronage of H.E. Mo-hammed bin Al Zubair, Adviser for Economic Planning Affairs to His Majesty. The event saw a broad range of distinguished guests in attendance; including delegates from the State Council and Majlis Al Shura, as well as government officials and private sector leaders.

2 N D E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P A W A R D S


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

A8

REGIONW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

If we want to combat extremism in the world, if we want

to fight terror, one of the roads before us is providing

growth and jobs. Lack of growth creates forces for

terrorism. Unemployment creates soldiers for terrorists

Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s President

Rouhani presents Iran as hub of Middle East trade and stability

ROME: Generating economic growth in the Middle East is cru-cial to defeating extremism, Ira-nian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday, putting forward his country as a regional trade hub and pillar of stability.

Rouhani is on a four-day trip to Italy and France, looking to re-build Iranian relations with the West some two weeks after finan-cial sanctions on Tehran were rolled back following the imple-mentation of its nuclear deal with world powers.

Italy announced some $18.4 bil-lion (17 billion euros) of business deals with Iran on Monday. Mega contracts are also in the offing in France, reflecting EU countries’ keenness to cash in on the diplo-matic thaw with Iran.

Underscoring the growing warmth, Rouhani said he expected Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to visit Iran in the coming months to help boost bilateral eco-nomic alliances.

Welcome“We are ready to welcome invest-ment, welcome technology and create a new export market,” Rou-hani told a business forum on the second day of his visit to Rome, saying Iran had ambitions to de-velop its own economy after years of curbs and hardship. “Under the new conditions, we want to export

30 per cent of what we produce in Iran,” he said, calling for rapid in-vestment in “the most secure and stable country in the region”.

Italy has rolled out the red car-pet to Rouhani and his 120-strong delegation of business leaders and government ministers, seeing

Tehran as a possible partner in the battle against IS militant group.

“If we want to combat extrem-ism in the world, if we want to fight terror, one of the roads before us is providing growth and jobs. Lack of growth creates forces for terror-ism. Unemployment creates sol-

diers for terrorists,” Rouhani said. “We are not looking at simple re-

activation of our cooperation with Iran, but rather a comprehensive relaunch of a strategic alliance,” Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told the business confer-ence. Among the deals signed on

Monday were a $4 billion contract for oil services group Saipem, up to 5.7 billion euros in contracts for steel firm Danieli, up to 4 billion euros of business for infrastruc-ture firm Condotte d’Acqua, 4 bil-lion euros for rail and road com-pany Gavio and 400 million euros

for planes from Finmeccanica.Industry Minister Federica

Guidi told la Repubblica newspa-per that the total value of the con-tracts could exceed the 17 billion euros initially indicated by the government.

Business delegationsTwo large Italian business delega-tions went to Tehran soon after the nuclear deal was inked last year. Another such group is scheduled to visit Iran from February 8 to 10.

Pope Francis met Iranian Presi-dent Hassan Rouhani in the Vati-can on Tuesday and urged Tehran to work with other Middle East states to promote peace and stop the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking in the region.

A Vatican statement spoke of the “important role Iran is called on to play, along with other coun-tries in the region, to promote ad-equate political solutions to the problems that afflict the Middle East, combating the spread of ter-rorism and arms trafficking”.

“I thank you for your visit and I hope for peace,” Francis told the Iranian leader at the end of a 40-minute meeting in the pope’s private study in the Vatican’s Ap-ostolic Palace.

Separate talksRouhani, who wore a white tur-ban and black robe, asked the pope to “pray for me”. He then held separate talks with top Vati-can diplomats.

It was the first state visit by an Iranian president to the Vatican since 1999, although former presi-dent Mohammad Khatami was among the many world leaders who attended the funeral of Pope John Paul in 2005.

Pope Francis has several times praised last year’s deal that aims to curtail Tehran’s atomic ambitions. He told the UN General Assembly last September it was “proof of the potential of political good will” in the international community. — Reuters

Iranian President

Hassan Rouhani says

boosting Middle East

economy key to beat

extremism, meets

Pope Francis

Iran approves 166 of 801 candidatesDUBAI: Four-fifths of candidates for the body that will choose Iran’s next Supreme Leader have with-drawn or been disqualified includ-ing a grandson of late Ayatollah Khomeini.

The 12-member Guardian Council, a clerical body that over-sees elections and legislation, ap-proved just 166 of the 801 candi-dates for the Assembly of Experts, electoral commission spokesman Siamak Rahpeik was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA on Tuesday. Among those excluded was Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Islamic Republic’s first Su-preme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, his son Ahmad said on Instagram. Hassan Khomeini, the first member of his family to stand

in elections, is seen as politically moderate and is popular among Iran’s reformists.

Elections to the 88-member Assembly of Experts fall on Feb-ruary 26. The Assembly oversees

the activities of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and will choose his successor. Elections to the 290-seat parliament are being held on the same day. Last week, the Guardian Council disqualified more than 7,000 of the 12,000 par-liamentary candidates.

CriticisedPresident Hassan Rouhani criti-cised the disqualification of parlia-mentary candidates and may also oppose the mass exclusion of As-sembly of Experts candidates. But Khamenei called for candidates to be strictly vetted, and Guardian Council Chairman Ahmad Jannati assured him the council would “not be affected by any pressure”.

The Guardian Council can dis-

qualify candidates on a diverse range of technical and ideological grounds including gender, level of education, and commitment to re-ligion and the constitution.

Ahmad Khomeini said his fa-ther, a 43-year-old mid-ranking cleric, had been disqualified on the grounds of his religious creden-tials despite the testimony of doz-ens of senior religious figures. Has-san Khomeini said he would issue a response in the coming days.

Khamenei initially approved Khomeini’s candidacy, but warned him not to damage the family name. Hassan Khomeini formed an informal alliance of political moderates with Rouhani and for-mer president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. — Reuters

A S S E M B L Y O F E X P E R T S E L E C T I O N S

Iran seeks foreign investment to overhaul dilapidated aviation sector

TEHRAN: Iran courted West-ern aviation firms this week with a blueprint of regulatory reforms aimed at setting aside 40 years of sanctions and rebuilding its air-ways with new jets.

But despite talk of a major plane order from Airbus, a raft of legal, financial and regulatory hurdles remain as Iran seeks foreign inves-tor backing for plans to overhaul its dilapidated aviation sector.

“We are seeing massive oppor-tunities in Iran,” said Peter Har-bison, chairman of the Centre for Aviation (CAPA), an Australian consultancy, adding that Tehran needed funding, organisation and manpower to do everything its air-lines intend.

Ingredients“Without each of those ingre-dients, the growth is going to be much less than optimal,” he said after chairing a major Tehran avia-tion conference.

A shopping list for over $20 bil-lion of Airbus jets carried to Eu-rope by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this week is seen as a test case for post-sanctions trade because of the sums involved and state-of-the-art financing used in

the jet market. Although Boeing jets are not involved, completing the Airbus deal depends on the ap-proval of the US Treasury, which must approve sales to Iran of jets with over 10 per cent US parts.

Even then, Iran must work out how to pay for the jets, delegates at the Iran Aviation Summit organ-ised by CAPA said.

Iran on Monday urged Wash-ington to remove any lingering obstacles to implementation of the accord under which sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear activities.

“I expect a very short process. Actually we expect them to expe-dite all these efforts to.. open the way for legal business cooperation between Iranian and foreign enti-ties,” deputy foreign minister Ab-bas Araqchi told reporters at the CAPA event.

Washington has said Iran may still not use its financial system, raising potential difficulties for jet deals denominated in dol-lars. If Iran pays for its planes in euros, any money subsequently converted into dollars may create problems. A senior Iranian official said Tehran was in touch with the US Treasury to clarify the status

of such transactions. US officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Iran meanwhile faces warnings that Western banks may hold off from backing aircraft and other deals until rules are clear.

“I think we need much more clarity on what (the US Treasury) is going to authorise or not,” said Bertrand Grabowski, a managing director at Germany’s DVB Bank.

In a further twist, Iranair re-mains locked out of a dedicated global financial system for air tick-ets because it is based on laws of Canada, which has not lifted sanc-tions on Iran.

“To have Western banks effec-tively financing directly aircraft to Iranian airlines is going to be a tough call. This isn’t going to happen in the next 18 months,” Grabowski said.

However, he said some banks may be more willing to support the activities of leasing companies working in Iran.

Aircraft leasing companies, who control about 40 per cent of the world’s fleet, eagerly touted for business at the Tehran event, joined by suppliers from 35 na-tions offering Iran badly needed wares from avionics to airports.

“We are behind, we admit that,” Deputy Transport Minister As-ghar Fakhrieh Kashan said.

“Therefore we have decided to... look for the solutions and try to find proper responses to any ques-tions” on funding.

Kashan said Iran was looking at joining the 2006 Cape Town Con-vention, a treaty of more than 60 nations designed to boost trade by protecting aircraft owners in re-turn for cheaper financing.

Positive signal“That is a very positive signal for me,” said Dick Forsberg, head of strategy at Dublin-based leasing company Avolon, while warn-ing investors Iran would not be a “gold rush”.

Privately, some foreign del-egates said doing business in Iran

was still a complex puzzle, further obscured by upcoming elections.

President Rouhani has been trying to attract technology and investment to bolster Iran’s shat-tered economy. But some analysts say political in-fighting, and the possibility of fresh sanctions if Iran violates the deal, worry in-vestors. While Iranian officials gave assurances that they would respect foreign investors’ owner-ship rights, some delegates at the aviation conference saw potential sticking points over Iran’s attitude to collateral on some transactions.

Britain’s export credit agency said last week it was open to do-ing business in Iran, boosting the prospect of aircraft sales. But such agencies typically demand secu-rity on the jet even if the buyer is government controlled and can put up a state guarantee to pay money owed.

That may be a problem for Iran, which regards its sovereign-backed guarantees as word enough and is reluctant to offer collateral on the asset as well, delegates said.

Grabowski said Iran had reas-sured investors but “they need to deliver, and this is where it is going to be difficult”. — Reuters

R E B U I L D I N G A I R W A Y S

WARM WELCOME: Pope Francis, right, welcomes Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for their private audience on Tuesday, at the Vatican.

Pope Francis met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the Vatican on Tuesday and urged Tehran to work with other Middle East states to

promote peace and stop the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking in the region. – AFP

SEEKING COOPERATION: Iranian minister of transportation Abbas

Ahmad Akhoundi, right, speaks during the CAPA 2016 Iran Aviation

Summit in the capital Tehran. – AFP

BARRED: Hassan Khomeini has

been excluded from contesting

next month’s Assembly of Ex-

perts election, his son said. – AFP

Bombing kills 24 in Syria’s HomsBEIRUT: A bomb attack claimed by IS militant group in the Syrian government-controlled city of Homs killed at least 24 people on Tuesday. The governor of Homs said the first of two explosions was caused by a car bomb which targeted a security checkpoint. A suicide bomber then set off an ex-plosive belt, state media reported.

“We know we are targets for terrorists, especially now the (Syrian) army is advancing and local reconciliation agreements are being implemented,” the gov-ernor told Reuters by phone.

Seventeen people are still in hospital, one of whom is in a criti-cal condition, the governor said.

Syrian state TV earlier report-ed 22 people had died and more than 100 people had been injured.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at 29. It said those killed in the explosions, which took place in a mostly Ala-wite district, included 15 mem-bers of government forces and pro-government militiamen.

IS said in a statement its at-tack had killed at least 30 people. The Syrian army and allied forces have been battling IS in areas to the east and southeast of Homs city. They recently took back sev-eral villages including Maheen southeast of the city. — Reuters

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

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INDIAW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

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Fear is the last thing in the minds of Indian braveheartsNEW DELHI: They are young, energetic, brave and are even will-ing to risk their lives to save that of others.

They are the special 25 brave sons and daughters of India, who saved several lives while putting themselves in life-threatening situations and not worrying about their own well-being.

Hailing from different parts of the country, they received the Na-tional Bravery Awards for 2015 from President Pranab Mukher-jee at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan on Friday evening for showing exem-plary courage without expecting anything in return.

On Tuesday, these bravehearts were part of the Republic Day pa-rade on the magnificent Rajpath, with the president taking the sa-lute and his French counterpart Francois Hollande the chief guest.

Gaurav Kawduji Sahastrabud-dhe (15), Shivampet Ruchitha (8), Arjun Singh (16), Aromal S.M. (12), Ramdinthara (15), Rake-shbhai Shanabhai Patel (13), Nilesh Revaram Bhil (9), Joena Chakraborty (10), Bhimsen alias Sonu (10), Kashish Dhanani (10), Vaibhav Rameshwar (9), Dishant Mehndiratta (12), Chongtham Ku-ber Meitei (12), Angelica Tynsong (13), Mohit Mahendra Dalvi (14), Nithin Philip Mathew (13), Sar-wanand Saha (15), Beedhhovan (14), Anandu Dileep (14), Maurice Yengkhom (14), Abhijith K.V. (15), Sai Krishna Akhil Kilambi (14), Muhammad Shamnad (14), Abi-nash Mishra (17) and Shivansh

Singh (13) are the courageous children who saved lives of others without fearing for their own.

Two of them — Gaurav Kawduji Sahastrabuddhe of Maharash-tra and Shivansh Singh of Uttar Pradesh — were honoured posthu-mously as they died while helping others in trouble.

Sahastrabuddhe died on June 3, 2014 while trying to save four boys from drowning in a lake. They were playing near Ambazari lake

in Nagpur district when one of them slipped and fell into it.

On seeing this, the other three dived into the water to rescue him but they too started drowning. Sa-hastrabuddhe then jumped into the lake and saved them one by one but he himself got so tired in the process that he could not save himself and died.

Similarly, Shivansh Singh died while trying to save his friend Vivek, who fell in the Saryu river

while bathing. Vivek was in deep water and was drowning when Shivansh Singh reached there to help him. He tried his best and brought Vivek near the shore.

However, Vivek had died by that time and Shivansh Singh also died after a while as he got very tried in the process. Their mothers re-ceived the award from the presi-dent on behalf of their brave sons.

The bravehearts, who looked cheerful after receiving their

awards, had one sentiment in com-mon that they would serve the country or would continue helping people in need as they grow up.

“I would like to serve the nation as I grow up,” Rakeshbhai Shanab-hai Patel said, adding: “We all should help each other in whatever way we can.”

“Serving the nation is my dream. I think we should continue to serve our country in whatever way we can,” he said.

Patel had saved a boy from drowning. He struggled for over 35 minutes in a well that the boy had fallen into while playing.

Joena Chakraborty helped her father retrieve his mobile phone from a miscreant as she caught him the leg while he was trying to run away after snatching the device. “Anybody who has done something wrong is to be chal-lenged,” Chakraborty said.

“The moment I realised that my father’s mobile phone was snatched by a man, I, without loos-ing a second, started chasing him. He had a blade in his hand but it did not deter me to grab him by his legs,” she said.

Passers-by caught the snatcher and handed him to the police.

Sarwanand Saha of Chhat-tisgarh, who saved a man from drowning in flood water, said that helping others in difficult situations should come naturally to people.

“I was returning from school when I saw a man drowning. I im-mediately jumped into the water and pulled him out of it,” he said, adding that he did not fear for his own life as “it all happened with-out any warning”. On what he would like to do after completing his education, Saha said serving the nation was his dream and he will try to join the defence forces. He, however, also believed that one can serve the country even with-out being in the forces as “serving the less privileged could also be very satisfying”. - IANS

E X E M P L A R Y C O U R A G E

BRAVE SONS AND DAUGHTERS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi with the

awardee children and their parents, at the National Bravery Awards 2015 function in New Delhi on Sunday. - PTI

Patriotic fervour grips Indians worldwide on Republic DayLONDON/BANGKOK: India’s vibrance was on full display on the world stage on Tuesday, with hun-dreds of Indians celebrating the 67th Republic Day at Indian mis-sions where the tricolour fluttered proudly amid melodious strains of the national anthem.

Cultural festivities were held as the mellifluous ‘Jana Gana Mana’ played and the unfurling of the national tricolour accompanied by falling rose petals took place at Indian embassies and high commissions.

In London, the occasion was marked by a ceremonial flag hoist-ing at the Indian High Commis-sion by the high commissioner, Navtej Sarna, who recently as-

sumed charge. Britain’s Indian-origin Cabinet minister Priti Patel offered greetings to Indians, de-scribing the day as “deeply signifi-cant” in India’s history.

The UK employment minister, who also serves as British Prime Minister David Cameron’s Indian diaspora champion, said: “Repub-lic Day is a hugely important occa-sion where we can all reflect on our hard work, success and achieve-ments so far, as well as looking to the bright and prosperous future.

“Today we are celebrating our vibrant culture, heritage and aspi-rations, and uniting as one global Indian community.”

In Cairo, Indian community members as well many Egyptian

friends of India attended the cele-brations despite the cold and rainy weather as they watched India’s Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bh-attacharyya hoist the tricolour in the India House premises and read out President Pranab Mukherjee’s message to the country.

Enthused“I think I’m very enthused by the fact that a lot of Egyptians showed very active interest in this event.People have been very excited about this event,” Bhattacharyya said. In Kathmandu, India gifted 40 ambulances and eight buses to different organisations in Nepal on the occasion.

India’s Ambassador to Nepal

Ranjit Rae handed over keys of 33 ambulances and six buses to dif-ferent charitable organisations and schools during a function held inside the Indian Embassy prem-ises and attended by over 2,500 people.

Addressing a gathering in Co-lombo on the Republic Day, In-dian High Commissioner Y K Sinha said Sri Lanka is a key part of India’s “neighbourhood first” policy as New Delhi has an abid-ing interest in the country’s secu-rity and remains committed to its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. An important element in strengthening bilateral ties will be deepening economic and commer-cial relations, he added.

Across the entire South East Asia - in Bangkok, Singapore, Ma-laysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos,

Cambodia, Vietnam and Indo esia, patriotic fervour gripped Indians who turned out in large numbers to mark the celebrations.

In Bangkok, more than 550 In-dian nationals and friends of India, braved the sudden drop in temper-ature to attend the function at the Indian embassy premises.

The flag was unfurled by am-bassador Bhagwant Singh Bish-noi, who took over recently from Harshvardhan Shringla.

Bishnoi also read out excerpt from the President’s address.

Later, schoolchildren sang

songs to regale the audience fol-lowing which Bishnoi presented some gifts to them as a token of ap-preciation.

In Hanoi, India’s Ambassador to Vietnam Preeti Saran hoisted the national flag, with at least 200 members of the Indian commu-nity in attendance despite the cold weather and rains.

In Kuala Lumpur, India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia T S Tirumurti unfurled the tricolour, which was followed by singing of the national anthem in chorus by all the guests assembled at the In-dia House.

Despite being a working day, the function was attended by about 300 people. - PTI

6 7 T H R E P U B L I C D A Y

Republic Day passes off peacefully amid tight vigil

NEW DELHI: With intelligence inputs warning of a possible ter-ror strike, unprecedented security measures were put in place across the country for Republic Day cele-brations that passed off peacefully on Tuesday.

However, a few incidents in-cluding an encounter in Indian-administered-Kashmir where an unidentified militant was killed, and a bomb scare sparked by an unclaimed bag at a Pathankot rail-way station set off alarm.

The national capital was brought under an unprecedented ground-to-air security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a tight vigil for the 67th

Republic Day celebrations where French President Francois Hol-lande was the chief guest.

The area around Central Delhi was turned into a virtual fortress in view of intelligence inputs that terror groups may target some im-portant installations in the city.

The measures were adopted in the aftermath of the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase.

Terror module bustedAhead of the Republic Day cel-ebrations, central security agen-cies and NIA busted a module by arresting 14 militants linked to terror group IS, who, officials claimed, had planned to carry out

strikes at important installations.Commandos with light ma-

chine guns were deployed at 10 strategic locations and anti-air-craft guns remained positioned at two vantage points in the capital.

The entire region of Central and New Delhi had nearly 50,000 security personnel drawn from Delhi Police and central secu-rity forces guarding every nook and corner.

Special arrangements were made at the historic Rajpath where India’s military might was on display.

Hollande was seated along with President Pranab Mukher-jee and host of VVIPs including

Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The VVIP enclosure was put under a multi-layer security ring with Presidential Guards and of-ficials of SPG and NSG guarding the two inner-most orbits and Delhi Police entrusted with guard-ing the outermost circle, said a senior official.

Senior officials said snipers have been put atop 45 buildings overlooking Rajpath besides pro-viding a similar cover along all the buildings along the parade route.

Gunners have been given clear instructions to bring down any aerial object flying without per-mission.

A ‘NOTAM’ (Notice to Airmen) has been declared from 10.35am to 12.15pm during which no flight will land or take off at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

A special control room has been monitoring as many as 15,000 CCTV cameras installed across Central and New Delhi, with 200 high-tech digital cameras in-stalled in the parade route, an of-ficial said.

As many as 1,000 traffic officials have been issued revolvers so that they can deal with any untoward incident amid heavy security ar-rangements across the city involv-ing around 25,000 police officials.

In Punjab, additional personnel were posted at bus stands, railway stations and government build-ings. Similar arrangements were in place in Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

However, in Pathankot, an un-claimed bag at a railway station sparked a security scare in the district where police and agen-cies are on high alert following the terror strike at air base early this month, in which seven security personnel were killed.

People were swiftly evacu-ated from the area and rail traffic had also been halted or diverted for the time being on the route, police said.

Bomb disposal and dog squads were summoned to identify the contents of the bag, which has been covered by sand bags, they said. - PTI

The national capital

was brought under

an unprecedented

ground-to-air

security cover with

thousands of armed

personnel keeping

a tight vigil for the

celebrations where

French President

Francois Hollande

was the chief guestPARADE: A view of the 67th Republic Day parade at Rajpath in New Delhi on Tuesday. - PTI

SCAN THIS TO VISIT

PHOTO GALLERYARTICLE, VIDEO,

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

French army soldiers create history on Rajpath

NEW DELHI: French Army sol-diers on Tuesday created history by marching down the Rajpath during the Republic Day parade, becoming the first foreign mili-tary contingent to take part in the celebrations.

Led by Lt Colonel Paul Bury of the French Army’s 35th Infantry Regiment, one of the oldest regi-ments of France, the 76-member contingent marched before an audience that included Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee, visiting French President and Chief Guest Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Forty-eight members of ‘The Music of the Infantry’, a ceremo-nial band based in Lyon in France, played two military tunes at the parade as the spectators cheered them.Talking about the Republic Day, Bury, who has twice served in Afghanistan, has said it was a mat-ter of pride and honour for his men to participate in the celebrations and the march past on the Rajpath.

Maj Gen Rajesh Sahai, Chief of Staff Delhi Area of Indian Army, said the parade was evolving, and added that a foreign contingent should be a regular affair. - PTI

H O N O U R

OLDEST REGIMENT: A French

army contingent marches

during the 67th Republic Day

parade at Rajpath in New Delhi

on Tuesday. - PTI

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INDIA W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

Since their relationship lasted over many years, it

was multi-faceted, I imagine. In many aspects they

held similar views, in others their views differed

Dr Anita Bose Pfaff, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter

India strongly committed to United Nations: AkbaruddinNEW YORK: Pledging India’s commitment to the UN, new per-manent representative Syed Akb-aruddin assured Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon of his support in helping the world body achieve its goals.

While presenting his creden-tials to Ban as India’s new per-manent representative to the UN, Akbaruddin also promised him of his fullest support in the body’s quest for peaceful political solu-tions for all the problems.

Receiving the credentials, Ban welcomed his appointment as the top Indian diplomat to the UN and appreciated the significant role India plays at the powerful world

body as a long-trusted partner of multilateral system.

The former high-profile spokes-man of the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated India’s commit-ment to the UN and assured the secretary general of his support in helping the UN achieve its ide-als and priorities Ban had set out for 2016, including that of Agenda 2030 and the quest for peaceful political solutions for all problems, an official statement said.

Akbaruddin, a 1985 batch IFS officer, is India’s 21st Permanent Representative at the UN and suc-ceeds Asoke Mukerji who demit-ted office on December 31.

Akbaruddin had previously

served at the Indian Mission to the United Nations as First Secretary during 1995-98 and focused on the UN Security Council Reform and Peace-Keeping.

Prior to this appointment, he was the chief coordinator of the India-Africa Forum Summit — a milestone event with participa-tion of all 54 African states held in October, 2015 in New Delhi.

Immediately before that, he was the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs from 2012 to 2015.

He is known for his effective use of social media for diplomacy outreach. Akbaruddin has repre-sented India’s interests in various

capacities, promoting friendly ties across the globe.

He has also served as an inter-national civil-servant at the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna from 2006-2011.

In that capacity, he worked as Head of External Relations and Policy Coordination Unit and also as the Special Assistant to the Di-rector-General of the IAEA.

In his first few speeches soon after this arrival early this month, Akbaruddin urged the UN to show a common resolve to rise above semantic definitional differences and work on the long overdue Comprehensive Convention on International terrorism. - PTI

N E W R E P R E S E N T A T I V E

PRESENTING CREDENTIALS: Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, right,

the newly appointed Permanent Representative of India to the

United Nations, presents his credentials to UN Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York, on Monday. - Reuters

‘Attacks in Paris, Pathankot against fundamental values’

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee has said that terror attacks on Paris or Pathankot are against fundamental values of lib-erty and freedom.

The president made these com-ments at a banquet he hosted in honour of French President Fran-cois Hollande at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.

Appreciating the French Presi-dent for his leadership and reso-lute action in the wake of the dastardly terror attacks in Paris in November last year, a Rashtra-pati Bhavan spokesperson quoted Mukherjee as saying that these determined steps show France will “not let terrorists succeed.”

“India appreciates the sup-port and solidarity expressed by France for India in the wake of the attacks in Pathankot.

“Whether in Paris or Pathankot,

terrorist attacks on democracies such as India and France are an attack against fundamental values of liberty, freedom and universal brotherhood.

“Terrorism is a global threat and it poses a threat to all nations. No cause can justify terrorist acts. It is imperative that the world act in unison against terrorism, with-out political considerations,” the president said.

IntoleranceThe president, the spokesper-son said, added the two countries must fight resolutely for freedom against the forces of intolerance, extremism and terrorism.

“The dastardly terror attacks in Paris and Pathankot have under-lined the urgency for countries like India and France to jointly combat this existential threat to

humanity and human civilisa-tion,” he said.

Mukherjee added that the growing strength of India-France strategic partnership in defence, space, civil nuclear energy and security “demonstrates high mu-tual trust and understanding” between the two countries. The president said friendship between India and France is driven by a re-markable similarity in the ideals and aspirations of our people.

“Our civilisations have inter-acted with each other over the centuries, united by a shared vi-sion of the world we want to live in- a world that is premised on individual liberty, freedom and equality, a world that respects pluralism and democracy, a world that seeks tolerance and peaceful co-existence,” Mukherjee said.

He said the deep bonds of our

time-tested friendship are only set to strengthen in the years ahead anchored as they are in this rich, unshakable foundation.

CooperationThe president said while mutual cooperation between the two na-tions in science and research and other sectors is growing, he was glad that the French government and captains of their industry are actively partnering India “in our ambitious developmental initia-tives, infrastructure, smart cities, clean energy, railways and skill development.”

He also talked about Hollande’s visit to the country as the chief guest of the Republic Day parade and the importance India attaches to the invited country.

The president said France was the only country to have been ac-

corded the honour of being chief guest at India’s Republic Day cel-ebrations for the fifth time.

When the French Infantry troops march in step with Indian troops in the parade (today), they will make history yet again by be-ing the first-ever foreign contin-gent to do so, he said.

“This is not just history in the making, it is a testimony to the enduring bonds between our two civilisations and our two people, it is a tribute to our long-standing and strategic partnerships.

“It is emblematic of our two national mottos: “Liberty, Equal-ity, Fraternity” and “Satyameva Jayate”, coming together, with the power to inspire the world to achieve the universal ideals of peace and justice,” the presi-dent said.

ChallengesHe said India has begun the New Year “with fresh hopes and dreams and a resolve to jointly overcome the challenges facing us.”

“We live in difficult times char-acterised by violence, fundamen-talism and inequality. But, we also live in times of brilliant innova-tion, of great creativity, of unpar-allelled global interaction,” he said adding the French President’s vis-it “heralds new beginnings in scal-ing new heights in India-France bilateral relationship and in the common quest for peace, stability and prosperity for all.”

Mukherjee congratulated Hol-lande on the successful organisa-tion of the Paris climate summit as he recalled that thousands of Indian soldiers hailing from Pun-jab and Haryana fought France’s battle during the First World War and close to ten thousand of them today lie buried in scattered cem-eteries in France, having made the supreme sacrifice for the freedom of France. - PTI

President Pranab

Mukherjee said the

dastardly terror

attacks in Paris and

Pathankot have

underlined the

urgency for countries

like India and France

to jointly combat this

existential threat

to humanity and

human civilisationAT-HOME RECEPTION: President Pranab Mukherjee with French President Francois Hollande and

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves during an At-Home reception hosted by him on the occasion of

67th Republic Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday. - PTI

Mysterious balloon-shaped object shot down in Barmer

JAIPUR/NEW DELHI: A mys-terious balloon-shaped object was on Tuesday shot down by a Suk-hoi-30 fighter aircraft in Rajas-than’s Barmer district, bordering Pakistan, after the IAF radar de-tected it on a day the country was celebrating the Republic Day.

Indian Air Force officials said the object was flying in from the western sector and was shot down Tuesday morning.

“Between 1030 and 1100 hours today, an unidentified balloon shaped object was picked up by IAF radar. An IAF fighter was launched which intercepted the object and brought it down. Fur-ther investigation is underway,” an IAF spokesperson said.

No one was hurt nor was any damage caused to the property in the area, IAF spokesman said in Jaipur.

The incident happened in Bar-mer, nearly 500km from Rajasthan capital Jaipur, where some villag-ers have reported an incident of certain metal pieces falling down from the sky.

Police said a team led by Ad-ditional SP Jassaram Bose found about five pieces of a triangle kind of metallic objects but it was not an explosive material.

These pieces were handed over to IAF, police said. - PTI

D E T E C T E D B Y I A F R A D A R

Arunachal comes under President’s ruleNEW DELHI: Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday came under central rule with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee giving assent to the Union Cabinet’s recommen-dation on such a course following political instability in the state.

Official sources said the Presi-dent signed the proclamation two days after the cabinet held an unscheduled meeting on Sunday to recommend that the northeas-ten border state be brought under central rule.

Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju had said the cabinet was forced to take the decision be-cause of a Constitutional break-down as six months had lapsed between two sessions of the state Assembly.

On Monday, Mukherjee called Home Minister Rajnath Singh and put some queries to him on the need for the imposition of Presi-dent’s rule even as Congress, the ruling party in the state, met him and opposed the cabinet decision.

The party urged the President not to give assent to the cabinet decision saying the issue was be-fore the Supreme Court which has decided to hear the Congress peti-tion on Wednesday.

Other major opposition par-ties had also attacked the Centre’s decision saying it amounted to “murder” of democracy while the BJP said the crisis was of Con-

gress’ making because it had lost numbers in the Assembly.

Arunachal Pradesh has been rocked by a political crisis since December 16 last year when 21 re-bel Congress MLAs joined hands with 11 of BJP and two independ-ents to ‘impeach’

Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia at a makeshift venue, in a move branded as “illegal and un-constitutional” by the Speaker.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court decided to hear on January 27 the Congress plea challenging the Cabinet decision.

The petition seeking urgent

hearing was mentioned before Chief Justice T. S. Thakur, at his residence, who directed the mat-ter to be listed for hearing on Wednesday.

The Union Cabinet’s decision was based on state Governor Jyoti Prashad Rajkhowa report.

Up in arms against Tuki, 21 rebel party MLAs, including 14 disqualified a day before, with the help of BJP and independent leg-islators, congregated at a commu-nity hall after the state Assembly complex was ‘sealed’ by the local administration, and ‘impeached’ Rebia in an impromptu session

chaired by Deputy Speaker T Nor-bu Thongdok.

Twenty seven MLAs in 60-member Assembly, including the Chief Minister and his min-isterial colleagues, boycotted the proceedings.

A day later, in a bizarre turn of events, opposition BJP and rebel Congress MLAs congregated in a local hotel to “vote out” Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and to “elect” a rebel Congress MLA in his place but the Guwahati High Court intervened to keep in “abey-ance” decisions taken at the rebel “session”. - PTI

S I G N E D P R O C L A M A T I O N

POLITICAL INSTABILITY: Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge with party lead-

ers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and V. Narayanasamy submitting a memorandum to President

Pranab Mukherjee on Arunachal Pradesh issue, in New Delhi on Monday. - PTI

Netaji’s daughter wants

DNA test of ashes kept

in Renkoji temple

NEW DELHI: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter Dr Anita Bose Pfaff wants a DNA test to be conducted to establish whether the ashes kept in a Japanese temple are her father’s, but believes that the 1945 aircrash in Taipei was the “most likely cause” of his death.

“I believe that the plane crash is the most likely cause of his death,” Pfaff said when asked whether she believes in the theory that her fa-ther died in an air crash near the Taihoku aerodrome in Taipei on August 18, 1945.

However, she said she wants a DNA test of the ashes kept in an urn at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo to ascertain whether the remains belong to the freedom fighter.

“A DNA test could provide proof, provided that the bones are not too badly charred for extracting DNA,” Pfaff, the only child of Subhash Bose and Emilie Schenkl, said in an interview from her home in Stadtbergen, Germany.

Bose family sources said the 73-year old German economist, who is likely to visit India next month, may urge the government here to talk to Japan for conducting DNA test of the remains kept in the Ren-

koji temple in Tokyo. On whether the recently declassified docu-ments sufficiently proved Netaji’s death in the aircrash, Pfaff said “while I have only looked at a few files, I get the impression that a death certificate is not contained.”

Asked about her opinion that Bose was not treated with as much respect as were leaders like Ma-hatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, Pfaff said: “That certainly seems to be the case for the official treatment. But the general public, the so-called man in the street, however, seem to have kept his memory alive in a very touching way. It was a shame how the Indian government treated the INA veter-ans for decades.”

To a question about Nehru’s ap-proach towards Bose, she merely said, “Since their relationship lasted over many years, it was multi-faceted, I imagine. In many aspects they held similar views, in others their views differed.”

On whether Netaji’s birthday should be declared a national holiday, she said, “I believe there are better ways of keeping Ne-taji’s memory alive than a national holiday.” - PTI

M Y S T E R I O U S D E A T H

INVESTIGATE: Police men

investigate after an unidentified

balloon-shaped object picked up

by the Indian Air Force’s radar

was intercepted and shot down

over Barmer on Tuesday. - PTI

A11

PAKISTANW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

Stay ahead of the curve with

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INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS DAY A man burns confiscated contraband during a campaign marking the International Customs Day in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday. — Reuters

Plan afoot to build 2,000MW nuclear plant ISLAMABAD: A mega nuclear power plant is to be set up in Pa-kistan, the first in the country’s history, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday.

“It will be the first time in the history of the country that a mega nuclear power plant would be set up with power generation capacity of 2,000 megawatts,” the minister said in an interview, according to Radio Pakistan.

Thar coal depositsIqbal added that Thar is enriched with natural coal deposits and the government is committed to uti-lising the resources for producing electricity, to overcome the power shortage in the country.

“Super critical technology will be used in the coal power plant, which will be established with the financing of the Asian Develop-ment Bank in Jamshoro to ensure a safe environment,” he added.

Despite many difficulties, Paki-stan has steadily continued its nu-clear energy programme.

Towards the end of last year, a report by a top US think tank predicted that Pakistan could turn into the fifth largest nuclear weapons state in the world by 2025. — Express Tribune

E N E R G Y C R I S I S

Charsadda varsity to stay shut till security beefed up

PESHAWAR: The Pakistani uni-versity attacked by Taliban mili-tants in a deadly assault last week will remain closed indefinitely until security is beefed up, staff said on Tuesday, as some teachers demanded the government issue them with weapons.

Four Pakistani Taliban gunmen killed 21 people at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in the country’s northwest on Wednes-day after scaling its rear walls, battling security guards and then firing into packed classrooms and hostels.

University staff and students met on Monday, after briefly reopening the campus, to review security as at least 200 students protested outside to demand the

government protect them.“We decided to keep the uni-

versity closed for some time so we can repair the damaged building and further improve the security

situation,” Fazal Rahim Marwat, a professor at the university, told Reuters.

He said some teachers had de-manded licensed weapons for

self-defence, a suggestion that is rejected by other teaching mem-bers and has reignited a debate about arming school staff.

Common targetEducational institutions have become an increasingly common target for the militants waging war against the Pakistani state.

In December 2014, gunmen killed 134 children at an army-run school in the city of Peshawar, about 30 km (19 miles) from the site of last week’s attack.

Authorities say last week’s as-sault was planned and carried out by Pakistani Taliban militants based in neighbouring Afghani-stan. Five suspects have been ar-rested in Pakistan for acting as “facilitators”.

CrackdownPakistan has launched a major crackdown against militants holed up along its porous border with Afghanistan, but the univer-sity attack shows they retain the capacity to launch deadly raids, particularly against targets where security is relatively weak.

The Pakistani Taliban com-mander who says his fighters were behind the Bacha Khan assault released a video last week vowing more attacks on schools. — Reuters

Four Pakistani

Taliban gunmen

killed 21 people

at Bacha Khan

University in

Charsadda in the

country’s northwest

on Wednesday

INDEFINITE CLOSURE: A relative of a 2014 Peshawar school attack victim shows her son’s pictures

to a student victim, left, of the Bacha Khan University attack at a hospital in Charsadda on January

21, 2016. — AFP

Punjab closes all schools due to severe cold weatherLAHORE: Pakistan’s most popu-lous province has ordered schools shut for five days and told 22.5 million students to stay at home - not because of security fears after gunmen attacked a university but because of cold weather, an official said on Tuesday.

Punjab province Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan said a large number of chil-dren were catching flu and pneu-monia as temperatures fell to as low as four degrees Celsius in the capital, Lahore, and a severe short-age of gas left schools unable to heat themselves.

“Two days ago, parents com-plained about the harshness of weather and diseases to children,” Khan told Reuters.

“The meteorological office, too, told the government that the wave of extreme cold would continue for another three to four days.

We took all stakeholders in con-fidence and made the decision to announce holidays.”

Militant threatsKhan denied that the province’s more than 100,000 schools were shut because of militant threats, despite recent warnings that mili-tants were planning to attack edu-cational institutions. — Reuters

I N C O N V E N I E N T

Reaching for the skies: Gilgit’s very own Wright brotherGILGIT: Kabir Khan always dreamed of becoming a pilot and soaring over the towering moun-tains surrounding Gilgit city.

That dream could not become reality, but he found another way to satiate his thirst for touching the skies.

Over the past two years, Khan has single-handedly made 10 dif-ferent kinds of aircraft using vari-ous kinds of material, including plywood and aluminium frames. “This is a passion and a way to sa-tiate my thirst for flying,” he said on Tuesday.

Khan does not have a profes-sional degree in and currently serves in a government office as a computer operator.

Human resource“It was my desire to make aircraft but it wasn’t an easy task given that it required time, money and material besides some human re-source,” says Khan.

“I design the aircraft by down-loading images from the inter-net,” he said, while explaining the four to six-month long process of completing one project. “I use raw

material wherever possible to give it shape.”

The first plane he made was a Cessna 182, which took him about five months to prepare and cost about Rs25,000. Unfortunately, it crashed the same day while landing.

Khan, however, didn’t lose heart. He immediately began making an-other, even better plane. It was a Falcon 25, which suffered the same fate after flying for five minutes.

Maiden successThe failures, however, didn’t de-ter Khan’s efforts. He then made a Wing Dragon which finally proved to be his maiden success.

“It flew for more than five min-utes and as high as 1,000 feet,” said the architect, adding that the plane wings measured a combined 48 inches.

At present, more than seven planes are in Khan’s fleet, which also include two jet planes (Raptor F22) measuring seven and three feet, respectively.

A Quadcopter is also part of his collection of aircraft in his room, which serves as a hanger. “The

expenditure incurred on it was more or less Rs25,000,” he said of the Quadcopter, which is simi-lar to a drone camera used widely by media outlets and enthusiasts these days.

A lack of open space for flying, coupled with financial implica-tions, make Khan’s work a chal-lenge. He flies his aircraft in play-grounds and parks but feels that it is hardly sufficient or safe enough for take-off and landing. “The re-sults and performances would be better if I get a good runway strip.”

Own pocketMoreover, Khan finances his hob-by from his own pocket. “I save up to Rs5,000 from my salary every month and when I have enough at my disposal, I start work.”

One day, he plans to make a single-seat plane for himself. But his elder brother, Nadeem, says to do that they’d have to face the big-gest hurdle yet: permission from their mother. “Our mother fears for his life and that is perhaps the biggest reason my brother has yet to embark on that adventure,” said Nadeem. — Express Tribune

H O B B Y

DETERMINED: At present, more than seven planes are in Kabir Khan’s fleet, which also include two jet

planes (Raptor F22) measuring seven and three feet, respectively. — Express Tribune

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Educating the parents of Pakistani schoolchildren

Muhammad Hamid Zaman

When it comes to higher education in Pakistan, two fundamental ground realities need to be ap-

preciated. First, there is a severe lack of un-derstanding about what various disciplines mean, in terms of knowledge, career options and the potential impact on society. There is a substantial gap between the needs of society and adequate workforce present to address those challenges. Society as a whole does not understand what the role of nu-merous disciplines in shaping a better and a more sustainable future is.

The second fact, whether we like it or not, relates to the strong roles parents of students play in choosing their higher edu-cation paths. The pressure to become a doc-tor or an engineer is often not based on the thought, passion or ideas of the student. Instead, social pressures, ranging from per-suasion to threats to coercion, dictate the choice. The result is a graduate who lacks passion, desire to innovate and the ability to make lasting contributions. In their defence, parents would argue that their decision comes from economic arguments and their experience. Yet, as economic realities of the world have evolved, so have education mod-els. The insistence on pursuing particular degrees, and in institutions that have failed to evolve with time, does not create engaged citizens that society needs.

The parents of students, on the one hand, are unable to understand why we need to emphasise problem-based learning, open-ended questions and creative thought, and on the other, fail to appreciate the need for science students to understand history, eth-ics and tools in social sciences to become effective in their own disciplines. Univer-sity education that takes the student into the foray of broad education, on written and oral expression, ethical decisionmaking and creative process and inquiry, are therefore met with deep suspicion. The irony is that what we offer the students is based largely on models developed in Europe a century ago, and the so-called creators of these nar-row models of education shunned these ap-

proaches and moved on long ago.Recognising that parental pressure comes

with good intentions and is not going away anytime soon, the responsibility lies on the university to educate parents about why they are moving away from the tunnel-vi-sion model of education and why this change is desperately needed. Universities have to educate the parents of prospective stu-dents through seminars, outreach, debates and discussions to illustrate why a graduate of a university, be it in the natural or social sciences, needs to be prepared to deal with complex issues of our time and be globally competitive, not just in core knowledge but also in understanding ethical, social, aes-thetic and technical grand challenges of our time. The parents will, and rightfully so, be concerned about the career opportuni-ties for their children. Here, the university should take a multi-pronged approach.

First, the university should emphasise the need for knowledge and inquiry, not just information. Second, the university should also make a case that the sole purpose of go-ing to a university, cannot, and should not, be to get a job. Instead, it is to enlighten the mind and the soul, to create a more mature, rational and engaged citizen. Third, the uni-versity should illustrate that modern society in Pakistan and on a global scale does not just need doctors and engineers, but profes-sionals in a spectrum of disciplines, in social and natural sciences. Finally, perhaps the strongest argument the university should make is about innovation. A good graduate is not bound by the career options that already exist, but is ready to create one (or many) that bring out the best in him or her.

Engagement with parents is not just need-ed to break the mental silos of our time; it is also needed to bridge the gulf between aca-demia and society.

As the academics will engage with par-ents, they will also get to understand the so-cioeconomic challenges that are worthy of intellectual pursuit and inquiry.

The university will then, hopefully, be able to get closer to its mission of creating a bet-ter society, and not just regurgitating what is already in the textbooks. - Express Tribune

Foreign investment law will lead to positive changes This refers to the report ‘Foreign investment law to create jobs, woo investors to Oman’ (January 26). I am glad to know that the pro-posed change would help in bringing more prosperity to the country,

especially as it has more value during this time of austerity in all aspects of life. As Oman has been enjoying a steady growth in all spheres of development, the invest-ment opportunity for local and foreign business groups would help bring success in a number of areas under focus. Since the government has been unveiling large scale developmental projects, the investment prospects can extend to creating fresh jobs for potential candidates as well as qualified expatriate job-seekers. It was a similar decision India has taken a few decades ago by opening up its potential to foreign investments, which created numerous job opportunities and apparently helped to flourish industry and created a competi-tive trade and work environment in that country. The proposed foreign investment map can bring large scale changes to the

perceptions of the youth, and it gives them the opportunity to show-case their talent with a wider choice. As Oman has a great potential in human and natural resources, the new proposal can help take the country to higher growth. — Ramachandran Nair, Ruwi

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SQU to hold symposium on advanced medicineMUSCAT: Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) will hold a symposium on advanced medicine on January 31 and February 1. As many as five scientists from the UK, a Swedish scientist and experts from Oman Council for Medical specializations will take part in the symposium. The participants will introduce the latest pathological developments with regard to the most widespread diseases in the Sultanate, includ-ing the management of diabetic heart disease, congestive heart failure, hypertension and the advantages of intensive insulin treatment of dia-betics who have heart attacks.

1825: Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the “Trail of Tears.”

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ASIAW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

Malaysian premier cleared of graft charges in funding scam

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s at-torney-general cleared Prime Min-ister Najib Razak of any criminal offences or corruption on Tuesday, closing investigations into a murky multi-million-dollar funding scan-dal that his opponents had hoped would bring him down.

Najib was buffeted last year by allegations of graft and misman-agement at the debt-laden state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and by a revela-tion that about $681 million was deposited into his personal bank account. But Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali said the transfer was a gift from Saudi Ara-bia’s royal family, adding that no further action needed to be taken on the matter.

DenouncedOpposition party leaders de-nounced the finding, saying the appointment of the attorney-general by the prime minister in the midst of the crisis suggested a conflict of interest.

But analysts said it was a vic-tory for Najib that would allow him to focus on winning the next election in 2018.

“The AG’s statement today pretty much allows the govern-ment to move on ... As far as things are legally concerned, the prime minister is in the clear,” said Ibrahim Suffian, director of independent opinion polling firm Merdeka Centre.

Apandi told a news conference no criminal offence had been committed by Najib in relation to

three investigations submitted by Malaysia’s anti-graft agency.

“I am satisfied with the findings that the funds were not a form of graft or bribery,” he said.

“There was no reason given as to why the donation was made to PM Najib, that is between him and the Saudi family,” he said.

The involvement of the Saudi royal family is an unexpected twist in the saga over the funds transfer and the troubles of 1MDB, whose advisory board Najib chairs.

Najib denied any wrongdoing and said he did not take any mon-ey for personal gain. His office de-clined to make any comment on the attorney-general’s findings.

The Malaysian Anti-Corrup-tion Commission had earlier said only that the funds were a politi-

cal donation from an unidentified Middle Eastern benefactor.

Apandi said $620 million was returned to the donor in August 2013, about five months after the transfer, because it had not been utilised. He did not clarify what happened to the remaining $61 million that was not returned or explain why it had taken so long for news of the return of the funds to be released.

Najib, enjoys the backing of most of the powerful division chiefs in the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party. Even his fiercest internal critics, such as influential for-mer prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, accept that he cannot be unseated.

Najib now needs to put aside

the scandal and build support ahead of the 2018 election, after scraping to only a narrow victory in the last polls.

“There is still a large public opinion out there that is still scep-tical and critical of government,” Suffian said.

The scandal has shaken inves-tors in Southeast Asia’s third-biggest economy and rocked confidence in the coalition led by UMNO, which has held power since independence in 1957.

The ringgit slumped by more than 20 per cent in 2015 and has continued its slide this year, weighed down by global oil prices and political uncertainty.

“The attorney-general is sat-isfied with the findings, but it remains to be seen whether the public is satisfied and will put the 1MDB scandal to rest,” said Hak Bin Chua, ASEAN economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

After the scandal broke in mid-2015, then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail — who had led investi-gations of 1MDB — was replaced by Apandi, a former judge with strong ties to UMNO.

“The attorney-general should not have been involved in the de-cision affecting the PM because he was appointed by the PM,” said Lim Kit Siang, parliamentary leader of the opposition Demo-cratic Action Party.

Two of the anti-corruption commission papers that Apandi reviewed related to SRC Interna-tional, a former 1MDB subsidiary that is being investigated for an al-leged misappropriation of funds. 1MDB is under investigation by law enforcement agencies in Switzerland, Hong Kong and the United States, media and other sources have said. - Reuters

Najib was buffeted

last year by

allegations of graft

and mismanagement

at the debt-laden

state fund 1Malaysia

Development Berhad

and by a revelation

that about $681

million was deposited

into his personal

bank accountPROBE CLOSED: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak, centre, walks towards his car after attending

a parliament session in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. - AFP

Malaysia says metal debris on Thai beach not from Flight 370

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Tuesday said the metal debris found washed up on a beach on Thailand’s southern coast was not from Flight 370 that disappeared mysteriously about two years ago, yet again dashing hopes of families seeking a closure to the fate of the 239 people on board the plane.

Malaysia’s transport ministry said the team of experts sent to Thailand found that the debris — covered in barnacles and measur-ing two metres wide and three me-tres long — did not match those of the missing MH370.

“From their detailed report, they have ascertained that the part

assembly number, wire bundle number and bolts part number do not match those of a Boeing 777,” said the transport ministry in a statement.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the part numbers found on the recovered debris were not listed in the MAS B777 Illustrated Parts Catalogue manual.

“Based on these identifying de-tails, the team has confirmed that the debris does not belong to a B777 9M-MRO aircraft (MH370),” Liow said in the statement.

A large piece of curved metal had washed ashore in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in Thailand

on Saturday where villagers re-ported it to authorities, stirring speculation that the debris may be part of MH370 that vanished on March 8, 2014 with 239 people — including five Indians — on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Investigators believe the plane went down in a remote part of the Indian Ocean.

But the cause of the disappear-ance remains a mystery. In July 2015, a two-metre-long flaperon wing part washed up on a beach on the Indian Ocean island of Reun-ion and was confirmed to be from the flight, marking the first con-crete evidence that it crashed.

Nothing has been found since, despite more than 80,000 square kilometres of the seafloor being searched, based on satellite analy-sis of the jet’s likely trajectory after it diverted from its flight path.

Speculation on the cause of the plane’s disappearance has focused primarily on a possible mechani-cal or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action.

“We will continue to keep the next of kin and public updated on any latest developments of MH370. We remain committed to continue the ongoing search in the southern Indian Ocean,” minister Liow said. - Reuters

M Y S T E R I O U S D I S A P P E A R A N C E

10 Afghan policemen shot dead in insider attackKANDAHAR (Afghanistan): A rogue policeman collaborating with insurgents in southern Af-ghanistan shot dead 10 colleagues on Tuesday after first poisoning their food, an official said.

The latest in a long series of so-called insider attacks took place at a checkpoint in the Chenartu dis-trict of the volatile southern prov-ince of Uruzgan, district chief Faiz Mohmmad said.

He said security forces were looking for the policemen and the presumed Taliban allies who joined him in shooting his colleagues in the early hours of Tuesday.

“After the shooting, the police-man and Taliban stole their weap-ons and burnt the checkpoint and a police vehicle,” Faiz Mohm-mad said.

The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Uruzgan, which borders the traditional Taliban strongholds of Helmand and Kandahar prov-inces, was the scene of a similar incident last week when four po-lice shot and killed nine colleagues before joining the Taliban with weapons and equipment.

Low moraleInsider attacks have been a major problem among security forces struggling with low morale and high desertion rates and there have been repeated instances of police and soldiers going over to the Taliban.

The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by US-led forces, have stepped up their insurgency since the withdrawal of most foreign troops in 2014 and have launched a concentrated campaign in Helmand and other southern provinces. - PTI

W A R - T O R N C O U N T R Y

China expels detained Swedish NGO worker

STOCKHOLM: China expelled a Swedish national taken into cus-tody this month on suspicion of acts detrimental to the country’s national security, China’s Foreign

Ministry said on Tuesday.Three weeks ago, it detained

Peter Dahlin, a 35-year-old co-founder of the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group that

worked with Chinese human rights lawyers. Dahlin’s girlfriend, Pan Jinling, who had been de-tained around the same time, had also been released. - Reuters

N A T I O N A L S E C U R I T Y C H A R G E S

WRECKAGE: People stand next to a piece of suspected plane

wreckage which has been found off the coast of southern Thailand

in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, on Sunday. - Reuters

The AG’s statement today pretty much allows

the government to move on ... As far as things are

legally concerned, the prime minister is in the clear

Ibrahim Suffian, Merdeka Centre director

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WORLDW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

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Denmark ‘jewellery bill’ to seize valuables of refugees

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s parliament passed measures on Tuesday aimed at deterring refu-gees from seeking asylum, includ-ing confiscating valuables to pay for their stay, despite protests from international human rights organisations.

The measures, which also in-clude extending family reunifi-cation among refugees from one year to three years, are the latest sign that the Nordic welcome for

refugees is waning as large num-bers flee war in Africa and Middle East for a better life in Europe.

The “jewellery bill” is the latest attempt by Denmark’s minority centre-right government to curb immigration to a country that took in a record 20,000 refugees last year.

Under the bill, refugees could keep possessions amounting to 10,000 Danish crowns ($1,450),

raised from 3,000 crowns af-ter criticism from human rights organisations.

Valuables of special emotional value such as wedding rings will be exempt.

The Liberals Party government has just 34 out of 179 seats in par-liament and depends on support of rightist parties, including the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF), to pass laws.

During a three and a half hour debate, dissenting voices from small leftwing parties were heard including from Red Green Alli-ance.

But the bill passed with an over-whelming majority, backed by the main centre-left opposition party Social Democrats, highlighting a shift to the right in Denmark’s political landscape thanks to DF’s popularity and rising concern over refugee numbers.

“I wouldn’t say that I have be-come racist or anything,” said Poul Madsen, a taxi driver, before the bill was passed.”But I may be more aware of the fact that this has some downsides and may be a potential problem for our society and our economy.”

Denmark is not the only one Nordic country trying to shut its doors to migrants.

Sweden, which took in over 160,000 refugees last year, the most per capita in Europe, intro-duced checks on its border to Den-mark at the start of the year.

Swedish Prime Minister Ste-fan Lofven promised on Monday more resources for police after an employee was stabbed to death at a refugee centre for unaccompa-nied minors.

A minor was arrested on

suspicion of murder or man-slaughter after the incident in western Sweden, local TT news agency reported.

A poll on Monday showed sup-port for Lofven’s Social Demo-crats at its lowest for nearly 50 years, in part due to a sense the government was unable to cope with the refugee influx.

Norway, meanwhile, has been trying to send back refugees who crossed over from Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Ser-gei Lavrov said on Tuesday Mos-cow would not take them back.

Denmark is also not alone in targeting migrants’ valuables.

Switzerland has started taking valuables from asylum seekers over 1,000 Swiss francs ($985), the German state of Baden-Würt-temberg valuables above 350 euros ($380), while other south-ern states have been reported to do the same.

“Most (refugees) have lost eve-rything and yet this legislation ap-pears to say that the few fortunate enough to have survived the trip to Denmark with their few re-maining possessions haven’t lost enough,” the Organisation for Se-curity and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said, mirroring criticism from many organisations. — Reuters

Under the bill,

refugees could

keep possessions

amounting to 10,000

Danish crowns

($1,450), raised from

3,000 crowns after

criticism from human

rights organisationsFACING DEAD ENDS: A man carries a child on his shoulders as mi-

grants and refugees wait in line for a security check after crossing

the Macedonian border into Serbia, near the village of Miratovac,

on Tuesday. — AFP

Merkel ally threatens legal steps over migrantsBERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies, deepening a coalition rift over refugee policies, threatened on Tuesday to take her government to court if their demand to stem the flow of asylum seekers is not met.

Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) “sis-ter party” to Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), wants Merkel to set up centres on the Austrian frontier to speed up deportation of migrants deemed unqualified for political asylum.

The letter with the threat of court action was faxed to Merkel on Tuesday, the Bavarian chan-cellery said, and she had until Fri-day to respond before Seehofer would publish it.

Thomas Oppermann, par-liamentary leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel’s junior coalition partner in Berlin, called Seehofer’s written threat an “an-nouncement of the break within the coalition. In order to govern, the CSU is not a prerequisite.

Merkel’s coalition with the SPD would maintain its large major-ity in parliament even without the CSU, which governs in Bavaria, the main entry point for arriving migrants. — Reuters

R I F T S

Treatment for Zika exposed babies pointed out by US CHICAGO: US health officials on Tuesday issued interim guide-lines for health care profession-als in the United States caring for infants born to mothers who travelled or lived in an area with Zika virus transmission during pregnancy.

The guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call for paediatri-cians to work closely with ob-stetricians caring for pregnant women exposed to the virus dur-ing pregnancy, monitoring fetal ultrasounds and testing infants with signs of a birth defect called microcephaly marked by small head size.

The guidelines come after thousands of infants in Brazil were born with microcephaly,

which was believed to be linked to Zika infections. In studies of the current outbreak in Brazil, genetic material from the Zika vi-rus has been identified in studies of brain tissue, placenta and am-niotic fluid from several infants with microcephaly and from miscarried fetuses from women infected with the virus.

In the interim guidelines for pediatricians, the CDC recom-mends that infants with micro-cephaly born to women exposed to Zika while pregnant should be tested for the virus.

For infants without micro-cephaly but whose mothers re-ceived a positive or inconclusive test for the virus, the guidelines call for the child to be tested for possible Zika infection. — Reuters

C R I S I S

OUT OF CONTROL: A municipal worker prepares insecticide to

be sprayed at Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday.

The operation is part of the city’s effort to prevent the spread of

Zika’s vector, the ‘Aedes aegypti’ mosquito, according to a state-

ment from Municipal Health Secretary. — Reuters

2 Libya leaders may

be sanctioned by EU

BRUSSELS: The European Un-ion is discussing imposing travel bans and asset freezes on at least two Libyans it sees as blocking efforts by the United Nations to form a government of national unity, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

While European governments have threatened sanctions for many months, the rejection of the unity government on Mon-day is forcing the 28-nation bloc to act, sources said, as frustration grows in Brussels after a string of delays.

Nouri Abusahmain, the head of Libya’s General National Con-gress, one of two rival parlia-ments, and Khalifa Al Ghwell,

who heads one of Libya’s two ri-val governments, could face the sanctions early next month if diplomats reach agreement soon, the sources said.

Other names are also being dis-cussed, according to the sources, including the president of Libya’s internationally recognised par-liament, Aguila Saleh, whose eastern-based House of Rep-resentatives rejected the UN-backed plan on Monday.

“We want the political process to go forward but we are also ready to penalise those who want to obstruct it,” said one person close to discussions who declined to be named because of the sensi-tivity of the issue. — Reuters

R E S I S T A N C E

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WORLDW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

UN envoy sends invitation to Syrian groups for talks

AMMAN/BEIRUT: The United Nations invited Syria’s govern-ment and opposition to peace talks in Geneva on Friday.

The UN Special Envoy for Syr-ia, Staffan de Mistura, sent out invitations to the delayed talks on Tuesday, without saying who had been invited or how many groups might participate.

Earlier, the opposition cast doubt on whether it would go to Geneva, accusing the United States of adopting unacceptable ideas for solving the conflict.

Opposition official Asaad Al Zoubi told Arabic news channel Al Hadath that he was pessimistic, though the final decision would be taken at an opposition meeting in Riyadh. The Geneva talks are expected to last for months, with diplomats shuttling between rival delegations in separate rooms.

The Syrian government, which is clawing back territory from the rebels with the help of Russian air strikes and foreign ground forces, has already said it will attend.

Call to halt bombing The opposition comprising the re-cently formed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) has however repeatedly said the government and its allies must halt bombard-ments and lift blockades of be-sieged areas before it will join talks. Zoubi, who is due to head the

opposition delegation, told Reu-ters that without the implemen-tation of goodwill steps including the release of detainees “there will be no negotiations”. “This is what the HNC has laid down,” he said.

Reflecting opposition misgiv-ings about the process, he told Al Hadath that US Secretary of State John Kerry had tabled foreign countries ideas about Syria at a recent meeting with opposition leader Riad Hijab.

“It was not comfortable for us for America - even in theory or partially - to adopt what came in

the initiatives,” Zoubi said.He also heaped criticism on de

Mistura, saying the UN Syria en-voy “cannot impose conditions” on the opposition.

The US Special Envoy for Syria, Michael Ratney, urged the opposi-tion to attend the talks. “Our ad-vice to the Syrian opposition is to take advantage of this opportunity to put the intentions of the regime to the test and to expose in front of international public opinion which are the parties serious in reaching a political settlement in Syria and which are not,” he said.

A Western diplomat said the aim was to get the talks started without further delay. “There is a little bit of fear that if the talks don’t start soon they’ll never re-ally get going.”

The United States has sup-

ported the opposition to Assad, who it says has lost legitimacy and must leave power. But the opposi-tion has been increasingly criti-cal of US policy. Hijab said earlier this month the United States had backtracked on its position over Syria, softening its stance to ac-commodate Russia.

Diplomacy has repeatedly failed to resolve the conflict that has killed 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes, spawning a refugee crisis in neighbouring states and Europe. De Mistura is the third interna-tional envoy for Syria. His two predecessors - Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi - both quit.

Preparations for the talks have been beset by problems including a dispute over who should repre-sent the opposition.

Russia has sought to expand the opposition delegation to in-clude a powerful Kurdish faction that controls wide areas of north-ern Syria. The opposition say the Kurdish PYD party should be part of the government delegation.

PYD leader Saleh Muslim told Reuters he expected his party to be invited to Geneva, though it was unclear in what capacity.

De Mistura has said the Ge-neva meeting will aim to kick off six months of talks, first seeking a ceasefire, later working towards a political settlement.

Russian Foreign Minister Ser-gei Lavrov said on Tuesday it would be impossible to reach a peace agreement in Syria without inviting Kurds to take part in the negotiating process.

The Syrian Kurds say the au-tonomous government they have established in the northeast is a decentralized model for how to re-solve the war that has splintered the country.

Turkey, a major sponsor of the insurgency, however said it was against the participation of the Kurdish YPG militia which is af-filiated to the PYD. The YPG has become an important partner in the US-led fight against IS.

Turkey views the YPG as an ex-tension of the PKK, which it sees as a terrorist organisation.

The Syrian government and its allies have made significant gains against rebels in western Syria in recent weeks.

On Monday they captured the rebel-held town of Sheikh Maskin in southern Syria near the border with Jordan. It was the first sig-nificant gain for Damascus in that area since the start of the Russian intervention on September 30.

In recent weeks government forces and their allies have also captured two strategic towns in the northwestern province of La-takia, where they are trying to seal the border to cut insurgent supply lines to Turkey. — Reuters

US envoy urges

Syrian opposition

to attend the Geneva

talks as opposition

wants conditions

to be met


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

District of Columbia city government and most local governments

in the Washington and Baltimore region are set to reopen after

round-the-clock cleanup from the weekend snowstorm that killed

at least 35 people in 10 states and the US capital.

CONFLICT: Syrian pro-government troops hold positions in the Syrian town of Ain Al Hanash near

Al Bab in Aleppo’s eastern countryside on Tuesday as regime forces have recaptured the area from

militants. – AFP

Washington gradually reviving from blizzard

WASHINGTON: The snow-bound Washington area was re-suming partial business on Tues-day as trains and buses restarted near-normal service, while federal offices remained closed following a massive blizzard that hammered the US East Coast.

District of Columbia city gov-ernment and most local govern-ments in the Washington and Baltimore region are set to reopen after round-the-clock cleanup from the weekend snowstorm that killed at least 35 people in 10 states and the US capital.

New York was largely back to normal on Monday despite near-record snowfall, with public schools and the New York Stock Exchange open. But Washington and its sprawling Maryland and Virginia suburbs were mostly at a standstill from the blizzard that dumped more than 2 feet (60 cm) in the area. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers stayed at home on Monday as the subway system, the second-busiest in the United States, and roads were cleared.

Federal offices will be closed again, but emergency and telework employees should adhere to their agencies’ policies, the US Office of Personnel Management said late on Monday. Federal offices closed at noon on Friday ahead of the storm. District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters that public schools would stay closed until Wednesday but city offices would open as normal. Many school districts in the Baltimore area, which received a record 29.2 inches (74.2 cm) of snow, and in the Washington region were set to be closed on Tuesday, according to local media websites. — Reuters

I N C L E M E N T W E A T H E R


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

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6B

Muscat

4,934.23- 31.58

- 0.64%

Dubai

2,698.43- 5.47

- 0.20%

Abu Dhabi

3,800.02- 14.83

- 0.39%

Saudi Arabia

5,623.07+ 12.62

+ 0.22%

Kuwait

4,936.51- 1.71

- 0.03%

Bahrain

1,155.83+ 5.35

+ 0.47%

Qatar

8,748.62- 100.24

- 1.13%

CURRENCY RATES* DRAFT RATES (OMR1)* GOLD PRICES*Forex rates vs OMR1*

US Dollar .................................2.58

Euro ............................................2.36

Pound ............................................1.81

Indian Rs ............................. 175.53

Pak Rs .................................... 267.81

Bangla Taka........................201.17* Rates are as of Jan. 26

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs ....................................176.10

Pakistan Rs .............................272.25

Sri Lanka Rs ............................371.75

Bangla Taka........................... 203.20

Phil Peso ................................... 124.25

* Rates as of Jan. 26 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......14.30

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......13.80

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............ 133.75

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 126.75

* Rates as of Jan. 26

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$24.97

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........ $24.47

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) .........$27.63

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$23.30

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........ $29.76

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ........$29.62

CRUDE OIL PRICE

DIGEST VIDEO

S CA N T H I S Q R CO D E TO I N STA N T LY L AU N C H T H E V I D EO

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‘Crude prices to recover marginally by year-end’

A E [email protected]

MUSCAT: Crude oil prices are expected to start recovering mar-ginally towards the end of the year, said a top-level official of the US-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

“My hope is that oil prices will

start recovering during the end of the year. But I don’t expect that we are going to see significant im-provements in oil prices in 2016. (Also) may be a slight, not signifi-cant, improvement in 2017,” Oc-cidental president and chief oper-ating officer (COO) Vicki Hollub, told the Times of Oman in an ex-clusive interview.

Crude oil prices in the interna-tional markets touched a 12-year low recently. Oman Crude (Febru-ary delivery) was quoted at $24.97 per barrel, while West Texas In-termediate (WTI) traded at $29.62 a barrel on Tuesday.

She said that in view of the crude oil prices, Occidental is trying to adopt a conservative approach. “When we look at the future, we

are not expecting to see high oil prices in the next two to two-and-a-half years or so.” However, Hol-lub said, as a company “we take a long-term view. This is a cycle prone industry. When the cycle comes, you have to adjust, you have to make sure that you are prudent with the cash you have.”

Hollub also said the plunge in oil prices started with a demand issue, which was complicated by oversupply. The oversupply in the market was from multiple sources, including the Middle East region, the United States and some other parts of the world.

The US energy giant has a sub-stantial portfolio of hydrocarbon assets in Oman, which include the Mukhaizna oil block. Occidental, which has been operating in Oman for more than three decades, is the single largest independent oil pro-ducer in the country.

My hope is that oil prices will start recovering

during the end of the year. But I don’t

expect that we are going to see significant

improvements in oil prices in 2016, said a

senior executive of Occidental PetroleumVicki Hollub — Picture by Jun Estrada/

Times of Oman

National Bank of Oman plans to pay 27% dividendTimes News Service

MUSCAT: National Bank of Oman (NBO) said that the bank’s board has recommended a cash dividend of 17 per cent and stock dividend of 10 per cent (or one share for every 10 shares held) for 2015 to its shareholders.

The dividend proposal is sub-ject to the approval of sharehold-ers of the bank at the annual gen-eral meeting to be held on March 27, 2016, according to a stock market filing.

Financial results approvedThe board also approved the bank’s financial results. The fi-nancial results are subject to approval of the Central bank of Oman and shareholders.

National Bank of Oman earlier reported a 20 per cent surge in

net profit to OMR60.11 million in 2015, up from OMR50.27 million posted in the previous year.

The bank said in a stock mar-ket disclosure that the net inter-est income and income from Is-lamic finance grew 16 per cent to OMR94.74 million in 2015, from OMR81.46 million in year before.

Also, net loans and advances reflected a nine per cent growth to OMR2.53 billion from OMR2.31 billion during the period under review. However, customer de-posits grew at a slower pace of three per cent to OMR2.25 bil-lion by end-December 2015, from the previous year.

The total assets of the bank also grew by 10 per cent to OMR3.26 billion from OMR2.98 billion.The bank will publish its com-plete set of financial statement on or before March 31.

S T O C K M A R K E T F I L I N G

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MARKETW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

Iranian firms eyeing larger slice of trade with Sultanate

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADI [email protected]

MUSCAT: Iranian companies are seeking to establish or expand their presence in Oman after the lifting of the economic sanctions against Iran, through the platform provided by Iran’s second solo ex-hibition in Muscat.

A number of companies active in various fields such as car, steel, cement and foodstuff production, are participating in the exhibit, which opened on January 26 and runs until January 30 at the Oman International Exhibition Centre. The exhibition will be officially in-augurated on January 27.

Speaking to ‘Times of Oman’, H. N. Ravindra, country manager – Oman Iran Insurance Company (Bimeh Iran), said that their activ-ities are expected to increase after the lifting of the economic sanc-tions against Iran and the com-pany is keen to offer its services to Iranian and Omani investors.

Iran Insurance Company was established in Iran in 1935 as the first-ever national insurance en-terprise and, thus, the founder of the country’s insurance industry. It has several overseas branches and agencies.

The company is the only Iranian

insurance company established in Oman, Ravindra said, adding that an increase in investments is ex-pected by both Iranians and Oma-nis in each other’s countries.

“Being an Iranian insurance company established in Iran and also in Oman, we can play a dual role,” the official said. The compa-ny will be the first point of contact for Iranians who want to invest in Oman as most of them would have already been working with the company in Iran, Ravindra said.

This is important given Iran’s planned investments especially in Duqm and the plans to enhance shipping services between the two countries, he added, noting that assistance can also be offered to potential Omani investors in Iran.

MotogenAnother exhibitor, Motogen, a manufacturer of household and industrial electromotors, is seek-ing to establish its presence in the Sultanate of Oman.

Gholamreza Abdi Rahmani, Motogen’s quality control manag-er, said that the company’s prod-ucts, which are of high quality and meet the international standards, can be used for various purposes and are available in different sizes.

He said that the company’s products were being exported to European countries such as Italy and Germany before economic sanctions were imposed on Iran and currently Motogen exports its products to a number of countries including Iraq and Sudan.

Iraj Rahimpour, export manag-er of Motogen, said that the com-pany has not exported its products to Oman yet and plans to find an Omani partner or agency to enter the Sultanate’s market through the opportunity provided by the exhibition and with the coopera-tion of the Iranian embassy.

He also noted that the com-pany would welcome any invest by Omani investors in Iran, add-ing that Motogen is interested in sharing its knowledge and expe-rience with Omani companies. Rahimpour also sees potential for the re-export of their products to other countries through Oman considering Motogen’s produc-tion capacity.

Khouzestan Steel Khouzestan Steel Company, the second largest crude steel produc-er in Iran, has also participated in the exhibition to explore new ways to enhance cooperation with Oman after the lifting of the eco-nomic sanctions against Iran.

Bahman Tajallizadeh, a deputy in charge of sales and marketing at Khouzestan Steel Company, said that Oman is a major market for the company and its exports to Oman account for more than 20 per cent of the company’s total exports.

The company was established in 1973 and is the first producer of iron and steel in Iran based on direct reduction method and electric-arc furnaces technology (EAF).

It has three main production units, namely pelletising plants, direct reduction plant and steel-making plant.

Tajallizadeh said that the com-pany’s capacity is around 4 mil-lion tonnes per year and is expect-ed to reach to 5 million tonnes in around a year and a half consider-ing its expansion projects.

The official noted that their products are being purchased by a number of companies in Oman, which are based in Muscat and Sohar.

Omani investors can invest in the company’s production activi-ties in Iran such as the production of sponge iron, he said, adding that Khouzestan Steel Company has al-ready been cooperating with Oma-ni companies in terms of the trans-fer of knowledge and technology.

Iranian companies

are exploring ways to

expand or establish

their presence in

Oman through the

platform provided

by Iran’s second solo

exhibition in Muscat

Tender floated for building new

Omantel headquarters in Seeb

Times News Service

MUSCAT: State-owned Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) has floated tender invit-ing qualified contracting firms to build the headquarters for Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel).

The new head office building is coming up within the mega business park of Oman Conven-tion and Exhibition Centre in Seeb. The tender comprises the construction of two office towers above a podium and housing three

levels of basement car parking.Omantel sources earlier said

that the proceeds of its OMR50 million-sukuk (Islamic bond) is-sue would be used for building the

headquarters building. Tender document will be dis-

tributed between January 25 and February 8. The last date for sub-mission is March 2.

N E W B U I L D I N G

Market regulator conducts training for insurance staffTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Oman’s Capital Mar-ket Authority (CMA), in col-laboration with the College of Banking and Financial Studies (CBFS) and Queens Smith School of Business (QSSB), Canada, has recently conducted a senior lead-ership training programme for employees of various insurance companies in Oman.

The three-day programme, held locally from January 19 to 21, enabled participants to develop a personal action plan to engage teams, drive communication and create a high-performance cul-ture within their organisation duly considering the changing com-position and expectations of an increasingly younger workforce. The intensive training enhanced participants’ management and

strategic skills as well as allowed for analysis and reflection on personal leadership styles.

The programme was facilitated by Dr Bill Blake, professor of Or-ganisational Behaviour at Queens Smith School of Business, who has extensive professional and academic experience in leader-ship and the relationship between cultural adaptability and leader-ship effectiveness.

H O N I N G S K I L L S

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]

H. N. Ravindra, country man-ager – Oman Iran Insurance

A number of companies active in various fields such

as car, steel, cement and foodstuff production, are

participating in the exhibition, which opened on

January 26 and runs until January 30 in Muscat. The

exhibition will be officially inaugurated on January 27

India less vulnerable to external shocks: S&PNEW DELHI: Indian economy is less vulnerable to external shocks as it is mainly driven by household consumption and government spending, and not dependent on hot money which can move out quickly, Standard & Poor’s Rating Services said on Tuesday.

The United States-based rating agency expects the current ac-count deficit, which is the differ-ence between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, to remain at a modest level of 1.4 per cent at the end of current fiscal and would continue at similar level till 2018.

“We see India as having lim-ited vulnerability to external eco-nomic or financial shocks. This is because growth in the economy is mainly driven by domestic factors, such as household consumption and government spending.

“At the same time this is a coun-try that has low reliance on exter-nal savings to fund its growth. In other words, the banks are mainly deposit funded and don’t rely on wholesale funding to grow their loan books,” S&P Rating Services India Sovereign Analyst Kyran Curry said.

Capital marketsHe said India’s capital markets are diversified and deep enough for companies to raise funding. “Another favourable aspect of In-dia external settings is that it is generally not subject to hot money inflows that can turn into outflows with shifts in investor sentiment. As such we see the external risks for India to be relatively con-tained,” Curry said.

He said while export growth may be disappointing, the current account deficit likely to be a mod-est 1.4 per cent in 2015, with simi-lar levels through 2018.

The current account deficit in the first half of current fiscal stood at 1.4 per cent of growth domestic product, lower than 1.8 per cent in the same period last fiscal. - PTI

E C O N O M Y

B3W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

MARKET

Saudi unveils plans to lure global investorsRIYADH: Saudi Arabia outlined ambitious plans on Monday to move into industries ranging from information technology to healthcare and tourism, as it sought to convince international investors it can cope with an era of cheap oil.

A meeting and presentation at a luxury Riyadh hotel was held against a backdrop of low oil prices pressuring the kingdom’s currency and saddling it with an annual state budget deficit of al-most $100 billion — the biggest economic challenge for Riyadh in well over a decade.

Top Saudi officials said they would reduce the kingdom’s de-pendence on oil and public sec-tor employment. Growth and job creation would shift to the pri-vate sector, with state spending helping to jump-start industries in the initial stage.

“It’s going to switch from sim-ple quantitative growth based on commodity exports to qualitative growth that is evenly distributed” across the economy, said Khalid Al Falih, chairman of national oil giant Saudi Aramco.

More than 2,400 people, in-cluding local and foreign officials, business, consultants and aca-demics, registered for the event, staged by the government’s in-

vestment promotion agency.Commerce and Industry Min-

ister Tawfiq Al Rabiah said Saudi had been a victim of the ‘Dutch disease’ — a condition in which the oil sector had crowded out other parts of the economy — but was now working to correct that.

Healthcare systemUnder the reforms, parts of the national healthcare system would be converted into inde-pendent commercial companies, officials said.

Participants in the conference, including the chief executives of United States aerospace firm Lockheed Martin and Pepsico, discussed subjects ranging from how to foster entrepreneurs to ways of developing dynamic cit-ies and increasing the role of Sau-di women in the business world.

ObstaclesThe heavy presence of foreign

business representatives sug-gested many saw opportunities in the Saudi strategy. Although Riyadh is burning through its foreign assets to cover the budget gap, it still had $628 billion in No-vember, enough to finance years of new projects.

Some participants expressed doubt about the scale of the planned change. - Reuters

I N V E S T M E N T P L A N Oil prices take toll on share offerings in Gulf

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Fourth quarter of 2015 echoed the sluggish initial public offering (IPO) performance in the third quarter proving that the year was a volatile year for share offers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), according to PwC Mid-dle East Capital Markets and Ac-counting Advisory Services team.

The theme of uncertainty and negative market sentiment mate-rialised in the second half of 2015 on the back of fluctuations in oil prices and ongoing regional and global political and economic in-stability, the PwC note said.

Saudi Arabia witnessed the

only IPO in the fourth quarter of 2015 by Alandalus Property, which raised $101 million from the deal. The IPO was oversubscribed and marked the first real estate sector offering on the Saudi Stock Ex-change in five years.

Third quarter blankThe third quarter of 2015 saw no IPOs, while the second quarter proved to be the strongest quarter in terms of the number of offer-ings (4) and the money raised at $1.2 billion. Looking at IPO per-formance in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, the number and money raised was considerably

higher in the prior year with $7.3 billion from a total of 5 floats, mainly driven by the largest IPO in the GCC in 2014 by National Commercial Bank.

With there were no IPOs in the third quarter of 2015, the total money raised in the second half of 2015 was $101 million from one of-fering while $1.3 billion was raised from 5 IPOs in the first half driven by a stronger second quarter per-formance during the year. In terms of performance in the second half of 2015 compared to the prior year, a total of 7 IPOs raised $8.9 billion in the second half of 2014. There-fore, in many ways the fourth quar-ter of 2015 was a disappointing

quarter for IPO performance. Total proceeds in 2015 stood at

$1.4 billion from 6 deals compared to $10.8 billion raised from 16 deals in 2014, $702 million from 9 deals in 2013, $1.7 billion from 9 deals in 2012, $789 million from 9 deals in 2011 and $2 billion from 12 deals in 2010, proving that al-though 2015 was the lowest year in terms of number of offerings over the past 5 years, the total value of offerings improved.

Largest IPOFurthermore in the same period, excluding 2014, the average offer-ing value of IPOs in 2015 was the highest. The Saudi Ground Ser-vices offering back in June marked the largest IPO during 2015 raising $752 million.

In the GCC, Saudi Arabia domi-nated the IPO market in 2015 in terms of number of offerings (6) accounting for 67 per cent of the total proceeds raised ($1.1 billion). The two other offerings were in Oman by Phoenix Power and on Nasdaq Dubai, United Arab Emir-ates by Orascom Construction.

Debt market in GCC continued to be muted mirroring perfor-mance in the previous quarter and underlying the recurring theme witnessed in the equity markets.

In the fourth quarter

of 2015, Saudi Arabia

witnessed the only

IPO by Alandalus

Property, which

raised $101 millionLESS ACTIVITY: Total proceeds in 2015 stood at $1.4 billion from

6 deals compared to $10.8 billion raised from 16 deals in 2014 and

$702 million from 9 deals in 2013. - Times file picture

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION: Khalid Al Falih, chairman of Saudi

Aramco, said that it is going to switch from simple quantitative

growth based on commodity exports to qualitative growth that is

evenly distributed across the economy. – File picture

B4

MARKETW E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR TUESDAY, JANUARY 26

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................ 30,280 ...............3,624........................3 ............0.120 ........... 0.120 ........... 0.119 ........... 0.120 ............. 0.115 ............ 0.005 ............. 4.348 ................0.120 ...............0.115...................0.120 ...................11,404,800 .........0.100

OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .................................................. 1,000 .............. 2,420........................ 1 ........... 2.420 ...........2.420 ...........2.420 .......... 2.420 .............2.395 ............0.025 ............. 1.044 ................2.420..............2.395...................2.420 .................231,006,412 ........1.000

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ..............16,500 ...............4,269........................5 ........... 0.260 ...........0.260 ...........0.258........... 0.259 .............0.257 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.778 ................0.258 ..............0.258...................0.259.................... 5,439,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ................................................ 10,537,739 .2,012,170......................17 ............0.190 ........... 0.191 ............0.190 ........... 0.190 ............. 0.189.............0.001 ............. 0.529 ................ 0.191 .............. 0.188...................0.000 .................128,228,612 ........0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .............................................................10,000 ...............2,948........................3 ........... 0.294 ...........0.302 ...........0.294 .......... 0.295 .............0.294 ............0.001 .............0.340 ................0.302..............0.294...................0.302 ..................14,750,000 .........0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 978,191 .......... 215,472..................... 38 ........... 0.230 ...........0.230 ...........0.218 ........... 0.220 .............0.220 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.220 .............0.219...................0.220 .................294,956,255 .......0.100

OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST ......................................................................53,667 ............ 24,150........................6 ........... 0.450 ........... 0.450 ...........0.450........... 0.450 .............0.450 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.450 ..............0.450...................0.470..................248,787,739 ........0.100

OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK ........................................................................... 200 .....................37........................ 1 ............0.186 ........... 0.186 ...........0.186 ........... 0.188 ............. 0.188............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.186 ..............0.180...................0.186 ..................267,906,795 ........0.100

OM0000002374............UNITED FINANCE .......................................................26,700 ...............2,850........................7 ............0.106 ........... 0.107 ...........0.106 ........... 0.107 ............. 0.107............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.107 .............. 0.107...................0.108 ...................33,251,849 .........0.100

OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING .................. 200 ..................... 17........................ 1 ........... 0.087 ........... 0.087 ...........0.087 ........... 0.087 .............0.087 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.087 .............. 0.081...................0.087.................... 7,830,000 ..........0.100

OM0000003141 ............ACWA POWER BARKA ................................................. 3,400 .............. 2,203........................ 1 ........... 0.648 ........... 0.648 ...........0.648........... 0.652 .............0.652 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.648 ..............0.594...................0.652................. 104,320,000 .......0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 696,688 ............36,136..................... 20 ............0.051 ........... 0.053 ...........0.050........... 0.052 .............0.052 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.052 .............. 0.051...................0.053................... 15,078,993 .........0.100

OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................. 335,000 ........... 63,650..................... 10 ............0.190 ........... 0.190 ...........0.190 ........... 0.190 ............. 0.190 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.190 .............. 0.188...................0.000 ................. 135,737,205 ........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ..................................................55,300 ............ 18,802........................6 ........... 0.340 ...........0.340 ...........0.340 .......... 0.340 .............0.342 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.585 ...............0.340............. 0.340...................0.344 .................. 17,850,000 .........0.100

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR....................................................................6,900 .................. 856........................ 1 ............0.124 ........... 0.124 ...........0.124 ........... 0.124 ............. 0.125............-0.001 ........... -0.800 ...............0.124 .............. 0.121...................0.124 ..................178,738,560 ........0.100

OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO.........................................................................88,649 ............ 54,837........................9 ........... 0.624 ........... 0.624 ...........0.612 ........... 0.620 .............0.628 ...........-0.008 ............-1.274................0.612 ..............0.604...................0.620 .................403,585,423 .......0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ..........................63,948 .............91,223......................15 ............1.440 ........... 1.440 ........... 1.410 ............1.425 ............. 1.445............-0.020 ........... -1.384 ...............1.410 .............. 1.410...................1.420 ................ 1,068,750,000 ......0.100

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ............................................. 124,700 .............. 8,729......................13 ........... 0.070 ........... 0.070 ...........0.070........... 0.070 ............. 0.071............-0.001 ........... -1.408 ...............0.070..............0.069...................0.070...................12,250,000 .........0.100

OM0000001319 ............NATIONAL ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS ............... 37,950 ................7,631......................14 ........... 0.202 ...........0.202 ...........0.201 ........... 0.201 .............0.205 ...........-0.004 ............-1.951 ................0.201 .............. 0.196...................0.200 ....................6,747,861...........0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 2,019,694 ......808,262................... 133 ........... 0.402 ...........0.402 ...........0.400 .......... 0.400 .............0.408 ...........-0.008 ............-1.961 ................0.400............. 0.400...................0.402 .................916,729,039 ........0.100

OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ......................................94,790 ...........141,985......................17 ............1.500 ........... 1.500 ...........1.450 ........... 1.500 ............. 1.535 ............-0.035 ........... -2.280 ...............1.450 .............. 1.450...................1.500 ..................134,550,000........0.100

OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE .................................46,609 ............... 7,642........................3 ............0.164 ........... 0.164 ...........0.162 ........... 0.164 ............. 0.168............-0.004 ........... -2.381 ...............0.162 .............. 0.162...................0.164 ...................16,400,000 .........0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 264,782 ........... 43,502..................... 30 ............0.165 ........... 0.166 ...........0.162 ........... 0.164 ............. 0.168............-0.004 ........... -2.381 ...............0.166 ..............0.164...................0.165 ...................32,800,000 ........0.100

OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 134,100 ............15,140........................8 ............0.117 ........... 0.117 ............ 0.112 ............0.113 ............. 0.117 ............-0.004 ............-3.419................0.112 ...............0.113................... 0.117 ...................32,843,565 .........0.100

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 532,825 ........... 76,370..................... 36 ............0.143 ........... 0.145 ...........0.142 ........... 0.143 ............. 0.151 ............-0.008 ........... -5.298 ...............0.143 ..............0.144...................0.145 ................... 21,460,725 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 16,159,812 .......3,644,924 .............398 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......25........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 583,777 ............. 77,561..................... 33 ............0.132 ........... 0.133 ...........0.132 ............0.133 ............. 0.132.............0.001 ............. 0.758 ................0.133 .............. 0.133...................0.134 ..................194,525,994........0.100

OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. ......................... 500 ..................... 15........................ 1 ........... 0.030 ...........0.030 ...........0.030........... 0.029 .............0.029 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.030..............0.028...................0.030 ...................2,465,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ..................................................... 270,600 ............12,454..................... 29 ........... 0.046 ........... 0.047 ...........0.046........... 0.046 .............0.046 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.046..............0.045...................0.046 ................... 5,750,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING...................................... 1,000 .....................60........................ 1 ........... 0.060 ...........0.060 ...........0.060........... 0.060 .............0.060 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.060..............0.060...................0.065.................... 4,512,480 ..........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 243,200 ............15,267......................11 ............0.061 ........... 0.063 ...........0.061 ........... 0.063 .............0.063 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.062.............. 0.061...................0.062 ..................94,500,000 ........0.100

OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 237,400 ........... 12,946..................... 10 ........... 0.054 ........... 0.056 ...........0.054........... 0.055 .............0.056 ...........-0.001 ............-1.786 ................0.055 ..............0.054...................0.055...................55,000,000.........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 1,336,477 ...... 118,302..................... 85 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 6........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS AND SUKUK MARKET ...................................................................................................................................................................... OM0000004628 ...........BANK SOHAR BONDS 4.5 ................................................140 ..................... 15........................ 1 ............0.109 ........... 0.109 ...........0.109 ........... 0.109 ............. 0.109 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.109 ..............0.095................... 0.110 .................... 7,793,500 ..........0.100

.............................................SUM: ..........................................................................................140 ..................... 15........................ 1 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. .........1........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ISIN ......................................SECURITY NAME .................................................................. VOLUME ..... TURNOVER ............TRADES ......OPEN PRICE ......HIGH ............. LOW ........ CLOSE PR. ...PREV. CLOSE...DIFF (RO).........DIFF % ............. LAST PR .....LAST BID .............LAST OFFER ........MARKET CAP .PAR VALUE

O M A N S T O C K S

INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ....................................... 4,958.48 .............. 4,934.23 ...................4,934.23 ................... 4,965.81 ................ -31.58 .................. -0.64Financial Index ..................................... 5,891.91 .............. 5,848.40 ................... 5,858.23 ...................5,900.72 ............... -42.49 .................. -0.72Industrial Index ................................... 6,435.84 ...............6,413.56 ....................6,415.95 ...................6,435.84 ................ -19.89 .................. -0.31Services Index .......................................2,849.18 .............. 2,839.89 ................... 2,840.14 ...................2,848.48 .................. -8.34 .................. -0.29MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................805.72 .................. 800.61 .......................801.99 ...................... 806.19 ..................-4.20 .................. -0.52

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded17,496,429 ...................3,763,241 .................... 484 ............... 15,241,410,569 .................. 6 ......................13 .................... 13 .........................32

MSM index ends lower

MUSCAT: Regional headwinds weighed on local markets as the MSM30 Index declined by 0.64 per cent to 4,934.23 points. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 801.99 points, down 0.52 per cent. Al Batinah Power was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Port Services, up 4.35 per cent was the top gain-er while Al Anwar Holding was the top loser, down 5.30 per cent.

As many as 484 trades were executed on Tuesday, generat-ing turnover of OMR3.76 million with 17.4 million shares changing hands. Out of 32 traded securi-ties, six advanced, 13 declined and 13 remained unchanged. Omani Investors were net buy-ers for OMR450,000 followed by GCC & Arab Investors for OMR113,000 while Foreign In-vestors remained net sellers for OMR564,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index reversed course to finish at 5,858.23 points, down 0.72 per cent. Al

Anwar Holding, Oman United Insurance, Bank Muscat, Al Izz Bank and Al Madina Takaful declined 5.30 per cent, 2.38 per cent, 1.96 per cent, 1.79 per cent and 1.41 per cent respectively.

Industrial Index retreated 0.31 per cent to close at 6,415.95 points. Gulf International Chem-icals, up 0.78 per cent was the only gainer. Oman Cables, Na-tional Aluminium and Al Maha Ceramics declined 2.28 per cent, 1.95 per cent and 0.58 per cent respectively.

Services Index closed nega-tively at 2,840.14 points, down 0.29 per cent. Port Services, Sembcorp Salalah, Phoenix Pow-er, Al Batinah Power and Nation-al Gas gained 4.35 per cent, 1.04 per cent, 0.76 per cent, 0.53 per cent and 0.34 per cent respective-ly. Renaissance Services, OIFC, Omantel and Ooredoo decreased 3.42 per cent, 2.38 per cent, 1.38 per cent and 1.27 per cent respec-tively. — United Securities

Port Services Corporation, up by 4.35 per

cent, was the top gainer while Al Anwar

Holding was the top loser, fell by 5.30 per cent

Muscat Securities Market – Times file picture

Saudi and Russia are more flexible on oil output cutsKUWAIT: Saudi Arabia and Rus-sia, the world’s biggest oil produc-ers, are now more flexible about cooperating to cut output as crude prices have fallen to levels that hydrocarbon-rich nations didn’t foresee, Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said.

“This flexibility should be final-ized, and we should hear some solid suggestions coming from all parties,” Abdul Mahdi told report-ers at a major conference in Ku-wait City.

He didn’t give details about what the increased Saudi and Rus-

sian flexibility entailed, nor did he say how he knew about it. Bench-mark Brent crude dropped for a third year in 2015 and is down 19 per cent this year. Opec abandoned production limits in December and is continuing to pump into a glutted market. — Bloomberg News

I R A Q ’ S V I E W

Chinese shares hit 14-month lows

SHANGHAI: Chinese shares plunged more than six per cent to 14-month lows on Tuesday after oil prices dropped again, reviving concerns about global growth and prompting a sell-off in the world’s equity markets.

Battered by a late selling frenzy, the benchmark Shanghai Com-posite Index ended down 6.4 per cent at 2749.79 points, its lowest close since December 1, 2014.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen dropped six per cent to 2940.51, also its lowest since the beginning of December 2014.

After a rebound on Friday and early Monday, crude prices fell back below $30 a barrel, not far from last week’s 12-year lows, ending a couple of days of gains for Wall Street stocks.

China’s fickle stock markets have now slumped about 22 per cent so far this year on concerns about the slowing economy and confusion over the central bank’s foreign exchange policy.

Many investors have lost the stomach for the market after a wild ride since last summer,

when shares crashed 40 per cent. Beijing intervened to stem that rout and orchestrate a recovery of sorts, but anyone who mistook that for a bottom and bought in will have lost their shirt again in January.

“We’ve seen another stampede driven by panic,” said Yang Hai, analyst at Kaiyuan Securities.

“There’s no good news in sight while investors are being affected by the global ‘risk-off’ mood.”

The slump has triggered a lot of forced liquidation, he added.

Indeed, China’s outstanding margin loans — money investors borrow to buy stocks — declined for 16 consecutive sessions to January 22, the longest losing streak on record, with 209 billion yuan ($32 billion) worth of lev-eraged bets unwound during the period. “Volume is getting very thin, as there are hardly any fresh inflows, and the process of delev-eraging is continuing,” said Chang Chengwei, analyst at brokerage Hengtai Futures.

Wang Baoan, chief of the Na-tional Bureau of Statistics, sound-ed a solitary voice of confidence in

the market, while trying to reas-sure investors that the volatility would have a limited impact on the real economy.

Wang also reiterated Beijing’s line that there was no basis for further yuan depreciation given China’s economic fundamentals.

Yuan strainsInvestors nevertheless remain wary about further weakness in the yuan, though the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has kept the yuan’s daily midpoint fixing little changed since the market’s bearish reaction to its early Janu-ary depreciation.

Spot yuan was at 6.5810 on Tuesday, weakened slightly from Monday’s close, while offshore it slipped to 6.6115, a 0.5 per cent discount to the onshore rate.

In a move that could help ease market strains, Japan and China, Asia’s two largest economies, said on Tuesday they were work-ing to create a new framework to discuss economic policy coordi-nation, such as steps to stabilise the yuan, media report said. — Reuters

S T O C K M A R K E T


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Bank Sohar enhances Easy Instalment Plan

MUSCAT: Further improving the ease and convenience for its cus-tomers when using its credit card purchase facilities, Bank Sohar has now enhanced its popular ‘Easy In-stalment Plan’ with an online via SMS purchase registration service.

This new service allows cus-tomers to process their request for availing of the 0 per cent interest in-stalment plan, says a press release.

The Bank Sohar Credit Card in-stalment plan allows the bank’s In-ternet, Classic, Gold and Platinum Credit Card customers to make worry-free purchases from any POS or the Internet and spread the total purchase price up to 3, 6 or 12 month interval in easy monthly in-stalments at 0% interest. Making use of the new facility, customers

will now receive an SMS on com-pleting a purchase with a person-alised link.

Should they choose to avail of the service, customers need only click on the link to go online and register the purchase for the ser-vice. Previously, this was done by following a more time consuming registration formality with the bank’s call centre after the pur-chase had been made. The new system not only speeds up, but also simplifies the entire process for the customer.

Commenting on the service, Khamis Masoud Al Rahbi, Sr. AGM Branches & Retail Sales at Bank Sohar commented, “Given the sig-nificant advancements and ready availability of hand-held technol-

ogy, many of our customers have begun to prefer the use of self-ser-vice channels like online banking. In order to cater to this require-ment and offer a simplified and convenient banking service, we continue to make enhancements to our online banking experience, while at the same time adding similar facilities to other products and services. In doing so we bet-ter provide our customers with additional options for conducting their financial transactions when and how they please to. Enhance-ments such as the addition of this SMS processing service for our in-stalment plan showcase our com-mitment towards customising our products, services and promotions to suit our client’s requirements

while continually improving their overall banking experience.”

Aside from its instalment plan, Bank Sohar Excel Credit Cards also provide an array of other ben-efits to customers including Travel Insurance, Purchase Protection, Zero Lost Card Liability, Free Pri-ority Pass and online shopping security via Verified by Visa and more. Furthermore, Bank Sohar’s credit cards are also accepted for making payments or purchases in Oman and abroad and can also be used for cash withdrawals at more than 800,000 ATMs worldwide. Together with the Bank’s best-in-class services, this latest service will add to the appeal of Bank So-har credit cards as among the most sought-after in the country.

For the first time in

Oman, Bank Sohar

has introduced web-

based 0% interest

Easy Instalment

Payment Plan

A’Saffa Foods' barbecue, grill products a favourite among food loversMUSCAT: Outdoor cooking, backyard parties and barbecues are common during the winter season in the Sultanate, and what better way to celebrate the winter season with your fam-ily, than a barbecue feast with A’Saffa products.

A’Saffa Foods, Oman’s lead-ing poultry and value-added processed food producer has an appetising and tasty range of ready-to-cook products for barbecue and grill food lovers across Oman with its A’Saffa Seekh Kebabs, A’Saffa Shish Taouk and A’Saffa Chicken Tik-ka, which are quick and conven-ient to cook and are available at retail outlets across the coun-try, says a press release.

“Our expertise in poultry and

food production, processed food technology, and innovative food recipes helps us to deliver new, flavourful choices that consum-ers can enjoy anytime,” said Sid-hartha Lenka, head of Marketing and Sales, A’Saffa Foods.

“As a market leader, it is our promise to provide consumers with food products that are whole-some and processed hygienically from pure, tasty, premium, natu-ral, healthy ingredients and aro-matic spices.

"Whether it’s a barbecue at the park or beach, or a quick back-yard dinner on a busy evening, A’Saffa products provide families with a variety of options - all you have to do is put them on the grill and within minutes, a delicious A’Saffa meal is ready to enjoy.”

R E A D Y T O C O O K

Khimji’s Watches showcases Oris Thelonious Monk Limited EditionMUSCAT: Khimji’s Watches, the home of luxury in Oman, is now showcasing Oris Thelonious Monk Limited Edition timepiec-es at its magnificent showroom in Shatti Al Qurum, says a press release.

The Oris Thelonious Monk Limited Edition is a tribute to the incomparable talents of Theloni-ous Monk, one of America’s finest jazz pianists and composers.

The revolutionary pianist The-lonious Monk (1917 - 1982) was one of the guiding lights of modern jazz. He is remembered in par-ticular for his use of dissonance in his music and for the unortho-dox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive at-tack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations.

In 1944, he wrote Round Mid-night, which has since become the most recorded jazz standard com-posed by a jazz musician.

The Oris Thelonious Monk Limited Edition is a celebration of Monk’s distinctive style and

talent. The 40mm steel watch has a sunray finished smoke blue dial with polished dots and has the uncommon arrangement of 11 minute markers between the 10 and 12-hour markers, a nod to Monk’s dissonant technique. On the reverse, the case back is engraved with the words ‘Monk Always Know’, referring to one of Monk’s many memorable quips inspired by the letters on his cus-tom-made ring. To audiences, the ring appeared to say ‘Know’, but when approached, he would ex-plain it read ‘Monk’.

The movement of choice is the Oris 733 self-winding movement, based on Sellita SW 200, beating at 28,800 vph with a power re-serve of 38 hours. A black leather strap with stainless steel folding clasp completes the watch. A lim-ited edition of 1000 pieces, the Oris Thelonious Monk is present-ed in a wooden box with a satin grey lacquer finish.

Khimji’s Watches is one of Mus-cat’s leading franchisees for luxury

watches, jewellery, accessories and writing instruments. Set up in 1973, Khimji’s Watches offers a range of global designs from the world’s best brands such as Rolex, Cartier, Chopard, Piaget, Mikimo-to, Girard Perregaux, Tudor, Oris, Frederique Constant, Bell&Ross,

L U X U R Y T I M E P I E C E

Art Utsav staged by ISWK displays creative talents of students, adultsMUSCAT: A wealth of fabulous art displays and creative master-pieces adorned the venue at Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir (ISWK) at a an impressive Art Utsav envis-aged, planned and executed by the Department of Art and well sup-ported by the staff of ISWK.

The premier objective of the event was to inspire and encour-age artists and creative minds - both students and adults alike, to converge at a common venue to demonstrate and display their interest and proficiency in crea-tive and imaginative skills, says a press release.

Armed with expertise, experi-ence and exposure it was most

befitting to have Heena Kothary, an art enthusiast majoring in ‘Por-trait & Abstract’ with a diploma in drawing and painting as chief guest to do the honours for the day. Accompanied by the members of the school management commit-tee and the staff of the school, the inauguration announced a wel-come opening to the event.

The Utsav that was organised at two levels i.e. the participation and the competition level, had entries invited for an array of art and crea-tive forms viz. drawing and paint-ing, flower making, cartoon draw-ing, glass painting, fabric painting, stencilling, calligraphy, collage making and Rangoli creation. The

participation of students from the other Indian schools in Oman add-ed sheen to the event.

The manual proficiency of all the participants was evident when their dexterous fingers cre-ated colourful, decorative and awe – inspiring masterworks that were unique and singular to each of them.

As each of the artist was im-mersed in the intricacies of his/ her creation, the ambience was further enhanced by the live in-strumental music on flute by Suhas Gadgila accompanied on the keyboard by Stanley Joseph which absorbed the rapt attention of every visitor.

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

MUSCAT: The My Profession training programme, sponsored by BP and held in coordination with the Ministry of Social Devel-opment and the Public Authority for Crafts Industries, was recently concluded benefiting 220 trainees.

The trainees underwent a 2-month training programme that focused on helping them acquire new skills related to the develop-ment of traditional crafts work, says a press release.

The programme was conducted in 10 different wilayats across Oman and included activities like manual Kumah embroidery in the Wilayat of Adam, palm fibre prod-ucts in Wilayats of Liwa, Quriyat and Khasab, wool weaving in the Wilayats of Al Buraimi, Muhoot and Ibra, paper packaging in the Wilayat Masirah, Textile (Klim) in the Wilayat of Dhank and Pot-tery in the Wilayat of Dhalkot. The result was noticeably significant with a total 220 beneficiaries with 22 participants in each wilayat.

The Omani Women’s Associa-tion played a pivotal role in this pro-ject by providing the proper venues and qualified trainers. This has contributed effectively in creating a suitable environment to interact with the trainees and elevate the overall outcome. Further, the wom-en association’s venues were used as a marketing channel to showcase and sell the handicrafts made.

Explaining the goals of the pro-gramme, Abdul Wahhab Al Man-thari, director general of Crafts Care at the Public Authority for Crafts Industries, said: “The pro-gramme aimed at training a num-ber of individuals to gain knowl-edge and skills of designing and improving traditional crafts. We believe that with the skills they have learned, they would be able to enter the market with their own projects. This will bring back social benefits to themselves and their families.”

Khalfan Harib Al Jabri, director general of Planning and Studies at

the Ministry of Social Development, mentioned that such programmes will contribute in developing and increasing the productivity levels of those ladies and will contribute in reducing the number of job seekers in the local community.

Khalid Al Kindi, deputy gen-eral manager and ICV manager added: “BP is proud to support this programme for individuals with special needs. Through the pro-gramme, these individuals will learn entrepreneurial skills which will help drive the Omani economy. We are committed to continuing to support programmes that enhance

the employability of all Omanis."The implementation of this pro-

ject was supervised by Sharakah. Commenting on this, Fatma Al Kindi, Project Specialist at Sharakah, said: “Working together with the trainees to enhance their capabilities enriches our commu-nity and leads to a positive social development, building confidence and social welfare for all as they are the core entity of society.”

The trainees expressed their positive impressions about the quality of the programme, thank-ing BP and all the supporting or-ganisations for the opportunity given to enrol in the programme. Aisha Al Dhawi, a wool weaving trainer quoted: “Contributing to enhance such skills is a continu-ous and effective process for the trainee and the trainer both, allow-ing more room for improvements when it comes to creative designs.”

In addition, Rahma Al Wahebi, a trainee in Palm Fibre Product in Quriyat said that the programme is an opportunity to unleash the creativity and create valuable out-comes with a modern twist from Palm Fibre Products. Also, she is looking forward to get her crafts industries membership card.

BP aims through the efforts invested in such programmes to widen the scope of benefit with the value added activities and improve the skill levels of locals.

S K I L L S D E V E L O P M E N T

PSM Sports Day winners awardedMUSCAT: The prize distribu-tion ceremony with regard to the sequel of the Sports Gala, 2016 was held in Pakistan School Mus-cat (PSM) recently.

The ceremony which was sponsored by Malabar Gold saw the presence of Aslam Gondal, president SMC, Pakistan School Musannah, as the chief guest whereas the other guests includ-ed Abdul Azeez from Al Jadeed Exchange, Nawaz, business De-velopment Manager, Najeeb, Hafiz Faisal, Sheeraz Ahmad, Samina Khan, Principal Paki-stan School Ibri and Munnaza Ghafoor – Principal Pakistan School Muscat (Junior Branch), says a press release.

The two final matches of bas-ketball got the show on road for the audience. The first close match was played between senior girls students of Jinnah House and Sir Syed House which was finally nailed by the high-spirited students of Sir Syed House.

The boys of Sir Syed House and Johar House faced one an-other to bucket the ball with the highest number.

The players of both houses took the match to a nail biting finish though finally it ended with Sir Syed House winning the gold medal.

The medals were given away to the agile players of Junior school by Khalid Jadoon, Principal Pa-kistan School Muscat, Samina and Munnazza.

Besides, Aslam Gondal, Ab-dul Azeez, M. Nawaz, Atta ullah Niazi, Senior Principal Pakistan School System, put the gold and silver medals at the disposal of the players of the senior school.

The trophies were also given to the winning teams of the cricket matches, football, badminton, ta-ble tennis, volleyball and basket-ball. Thus, the students of all the houses are looking forward to the final sequel of the sports which are the athletics competitions.

T O P P E R F O R M E R S

BP supports 220 trainees to benefitfrom important training programme

B6 W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

ROUND-UPRenault Symbol comes with Muscat Fest offer

MUSCAT: The Renault Symbol is a status-enhancing yet affordable family sedan with the added ad-vantage of an attractive offer dur-ing the Muscat Festival.

Its modern design and attrac-tive equipment package, combined with its low fuel consumption make the new Renault Symbol the perfect sedan for families look-ing for value for money along with status and style. Competitive ad-vantages such as roominess, boot space, modern equipment and engine displacement ensure it has everything required to make it a hit with customers in the region, says a press release.

Offer highlights Customers will be entitled to re-ceive assured cash gift of OMR500 on the Renault Symbol 1.6L and other benefits include free regis-tration, 6 years unlimited mileage

warranty and 2 years/30,000km free service (whichever is earlier). Customers will also receive free AAA/Road Assistance card for the first year only and as supported by AAA Oman.

The scheme is applicable for all customers purchasing Renault ve-hicles for personal use only.

Smart from every angleSymbol is packed with topnotch technology and innovation. It of-fers an enjoyable ride, significant power while maintaining low lev-els of fuel consumption. It is fitted with an automatic gearbox and a 1.6L16V engine; placing it among the highest size of engines avail-able on the B Sedan segment. The compact sedan offers as well spa-cious interior with seating for five adults, a 510 Litres bootspace, and the possibility to increase it up to 1,257 Litres with the rear bench-seat folded.

The new Renault Symbol also offers plenty of safety features. It is equipped with front driver and passenger airbags, driver seatbelt

unlock alarm, ISOFIX attach-ments for child seats, three points rear seatbelts with three rear headrests in addition to a central locking system and a speed sen-sitive door lock. It also boasts as standard front fog lights, daytime running lights, and most impor-tantly an antilock braking systems.

To top it all, Renault Symbol will be available in various colors to satisfy all customer preferences and desires. It comes with the new Radio Arkamys 3D Sound CD/MP3/USB and Bluetooth, steer-ing wheel controls, a cruise control and speed limiter. It is also fur-nished with an automatic air-con-ditioning system that was tested to meet the challenges of the region’s harsh climate conditions.

The new Media Nav multime-dia system also gives easy access to highly practical features thanks to it 7” touchscreen: GPS, audio streaming music, as well as access to your phonebook and call history thanks to Bluetooth.

This new car in the Renault line-up has been specially designed to

meet the needs of customers who want an elegant, spacious, low-maintenance family car. Mod-ern equipment specification and engine range ensure it has all the ingredients to make it a hit with customers in the region.

Main assets in briefEngine: The 1.6L 16V engine is among the highest size of engines available on the B Sedan category.

Bootspace: The bootspace has a capacity of 510 Litres, therefore placing the new Renault Symbol as the best-in-class choice for luggage transport in its category. In addition, the capacity can be increased to 1,257 Litres with the rear benchseat folded.

Technology: The new Radio Arkamys 3D Sound CD / MP3 / USB is available with factory fitted Bluetooth and steering wheel con-trol as standard from the first PE equipment level.

The new Media Nav multimedia system offering 7” touchscreen, GPS and audio streaming music comes along with the top of the range LE grade.

BA is largely committed to sup-porting Renault Oman’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on customer satisfac-tion and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman. With a national network of more than 80 outlets — showrooms, service centres and parts outlets, SBA has further built upon its legacy of trust, excellent customer service and providing value for money to each of its customers.

Customers will be

entitled to receive

assured cash gift

of OMR500 on the

Renault Symbol 1.6L

along with other

benefits

BIIT students come

out with outstanding

results in SAT 2 exams

MUSCAT: The students from Oman who are undergoing coach-ing from Bahwan International Institute of Technology (BIIT- A Bahwan Cybertek Group) have come out with outstand-ing results in the SAT 2 Exams this year.

Some of the students have scored a full 800/800 in the vari-ous subjects. One of them scored 2390/2400 and is aiming for the full score of 2400/2400, says a press release.

BIIT is a premier institute in Oman, which launched coach-ing for IIT-JEE, SAT 2 and other competitive exams since 2014 with an aim to help students seek admissions in premier technical institutions in India and abroad.

BIIT provides training for students to build the basic foun-dations in core concepts and fundamentals in Science and Mathematics to help them solve complex problems from the Board and JEE syllabi.

Additionally, the coaching at BIIT will focus on developing analytical and reasoning abil-ity of the students, which plays a critical role in attaining higher rankings in IIT – JEE and other competitive examinations. BIIT provides excellent study materi-als which are synchronised with school curriculum to supplement and expand upon the knowledge acquired in school.

Besides trainer-led classroom coaching sessions and compre-hensive course materials, stu-

dents will be administered a se-ries of tests, which helps them to assess their relative performance and continuously improve upon. Besides, BIIT coaching also helps them to cope with the stress due to the intensive preparation re-quired for the highly competitive examinations.

Karthik Sundararaman, head, BIIT said “We are very much happy with the overall progress of our students’ performance in the various exams. We have de-signed our coaching programme, methodology and courseware in a way that helps our students to perform very well in the exams with a good score.

“Our dedicated faculty with their rich experience and expo-sure have played a pivotal role in the success of our students.”

He further added that BIIT’s coaching classes are meant to strengthen the conceptual un-derstanding of students and re-orient their thinking towards problem-solving. The complex-ity of the IIT-JEE arises from the fact that the questions are always unique, and solving them requires applying concepts span-ning different chapters across multiple subjects.

With BIIT’s intensive coach-ing, the students will be able to approach and solve various prob-lems analytically.

This coaching, while making students to become stronger con-ceptually will also help them ex-cel in their CBSE examinations.

A C A D E M I C S

Bank Muscat extends lead support to Muscat MarathonMUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flag-ship financial services provider in the Sultanate, has extended lead support to Muscat Marathon to be held on Friday, January 29 from 6am to 12pm. Over 600 long-dis-tance enthusiasts from around the world have confirmed participa-tion in the popular event hosted by Muscat Road Runners, says a press release.

InterContinental Hotel is the start and finish point of the race comprising three events, including the 42km full marathon, 21km half marathon and a 10km marathon. Muscat Marathon has received a

competitor rating of 90% in the Premier marathons website, mak-ing it the highest ranked sporting event in the GCC.

Muscat Marathon has caught the attention of avid sports en-thusiasts from across the world, which is helping to spotlight Oman as an attractive sporting destina-tion. The marathon route takes in a large amount of Muscat’s beau-tiful scenery. The support for the marathon reflects the bank’s com-mitment to encouraging health, social interaction and integration through the promotion of sport and physical activity.

The attention given to healthy lifestyle reflects the level of de-velopment of people and nations. Omanis are privileged as the Sul-tanate accords top priority to de-velopment of sports, encouraging all segments of society to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Running shows what can be achieved through motivation, hard work, dedication and a willing-ness to push personal boundaries. As the flagship financial institu-tion, Bank Muscat remains at the forefront in offering the required encouragement and support for sporting excellence in the country.

S U P P O R T F O R S P O R T S

Customers continue to win big at Malabar Gold

MUSCAT: Malabar Gold & Dia-monds, the prominent jewellery retailer, will run the 5th edition of Malabar Gold & Diamonds Festi-val, one of the biggest jewellery events in GCC until January 31.

The festival will display dis-tinctive pieces of jewellery from across the world and offers mas-sive gifts and irresistible offers.

This much-awaited festival is one of the biggest jewellery events in GCC and the customers get un-precedented opportunities to win a total of 250,000 gold coins and up to OMR200,000 instant cash refund. Customers have already won over 1,25,000 gold coins through this promotion with the successful completion of the 35 days of the festival, the custom-ers continue to win big across all the outlets of Malabar Gold &

Diamond. This great winning has created excitement among cus-tomers, says a press release.

For every purchase of gold jew-ellery above OMR200, the cus-tomers get a ‘Scratch & Win’ cou-pon through which they can win a guaranteed gold coin or up to 100 gold coins instantly. With every

diamond jewellery purchase, the customers get a ‘Scratch & Win’ coupon for a guaranteed cash re-fund and get a chance to win up to 100% cash back.

The customers who buy dia-mond jewellery worth OMR200 or above are eligible to get both the coupons.

P R O M O T I O N

Lifeline Hospital Sohar

instals new advanced

1.5 Tesla MRI machine

SOHAR: Sheikh Ali Ahmed Mashari Al Shamshi, Wali of So-har, inaugurated the state-of-the-art Philips Ingenia 1.5 Tesla MRI at Lifeline Hospital Sohar in the presence of dignitaries from Min-istry of Health and other invited guests and hospital staff.

This ultra modern machine has a 70cm wide bore magnet which provides more space and helps to reduce anxiety in patients, espe-cially claustrophobic patients. Im-proved software which is installed helps to reduce retakes and in-crease consistency and speed, says a press release.

This will result in less amount of time inside the MR machine.

Patient-perceived gradient noise is also reduced by more than 80% due to the advanced hardware and soft-ware incorporated in this machine.

“Lifeline Hospital Sohar was the first hospital in Al Batinah region to introduce open MRI facility as early as 2011 and this has greatly benefited patients from Buraimi and Aqr to Suwaiq who, otherwise, had to travel to Muscat to avail of such an accurate screening tool. We are taking this one step further and have now installed an addi-tional and more advanced 1.5 tesla machine to improve patient satis-faction,” stated Nousheer Alam, hospital manager, Lifeline Hospi-tal Sohar.

H E A L T H C A R E

alizz holds AML awareness lectures

MUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank, the most innovative Islamic financial institution in Oman, has given various Anti-Money Laundering (AML) awareness lectures to its staff at all branches.

The lectures focused on AML mechanisms and the broad defi-nitions of money laundering, its indicators, its penalties and the relevant legal procedures, says a press release. “Money laundering has proven to be a global threat to economic growth and devel-opment in different countries,” said Saif Al Batashi, head of AML Compliance at the bank.

“It is an economic crime that has a negative impact on the eco-nomic cycles because it can largely contaminate financial and bank-ing industry as well as societies. By definition, it refers to the prac-tice aiming to conceal the source of funds or hinder any attempt to track down the illicit source.”

Global financial institutions

have joined forces to curb the practice of money laundering and control its spread by adopting multiple unified mechanisms and procedures, Al Batashi noted.

The lectures reflect alizz Islamic bank’s strict compliance with global and regional anti-money laundering standards and the eagerness to raise staff members’ awareness levels. They also seek to protect all finan-cial institutions operating within Oman and help them achieve eco-nomic integration.

The United Nations said in a previous report that the funds that have been seized because of the volume of money launder-ing operations amounted to $1.6 trillion in 2009, the equivalent to 2.7% of the global GDP. This has resulted in the doubling of anti-money laundering efforts in global markets with a number of precautionary measures and strict procedures to enhance the work environments of financial

institutions put in place to deal with suspected money.

The security systems of banking transactions conducted through the Internet networks have also followed these procedures and have been strengthened, highlight-ing the importance of using mod-ern technological means to moni-tor suspicious financial activities.

The avenues that are used to combat money laundering have been intensified by collecting in-formation and data on any sus-picious or unusual financial ac-tivities. This data is then analysed and submitted to the competent authorities to take the necessary measures and actions. As one of the pioneer financial institutions in combating anti-money launder-ing, alizz Islamic bank organises symposiums and lectures and dis-tributes guidance booklets to the public on a regular basis in order to raise public awareness levels of this detrimental economic issue.

A N T I - M O N E Y L A U N D E R I N G

Hans Van Bylen is new CEO of Henkel

MUSCAT: Henkel, a multina-tional company active in con-sumer and industrial sectors, announced that CEO Kasper Rorsted, who has decided not to renew his current contract beyond 2017, will leave the com-pany at his own request as of April 30, 2016. He served on the Henkel Management Board for 11 years, thereof 8 years as CEO. Effective May 1, 2016, Hans Van Bylen has been appointed as his successor, says a press release.

His successful career at Henkel started in 1984 and he serves as member of the Man-agement Board since 2005, re-sponsible for the Beauty Care business. The appointment to CEO already in spring will enable him to leading the de-velopment of the new strategy which Henkel will announce at the end of this year and driv-ing its successful execution. “I am honoured by the confidence which is expressed through this appointment. I am looking forward to shape the future of our company together with my colleagues at the Management Board and an excellent global team,” said Hans Van Bylen.

A P P O I N T M E N T


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QUOTES

No great achiever –

even those who made

it seem easy – ever

succeeded without

hard work.

— Jonathan Sacks

Greatness is sifted

through the grind,

therefore don’t despise

the hard work now for

surely it will be worth it

in the end.

— Sanjo Jendayi

Success is the good

fortune that comes

from aspiration,

desperation,

perspiration and

inspiration.

— Evan Esar

We are all motivated by

a keen desire for praise,

and the better a man is,

the more he is inspired

to glory.

— Cicero

RECRUIT

Kia launches exciting Muscat Festival offer

MUSCAT: It almost sounds unbe-lievable, but it is true that during the Muscat Festival (from January 14 to February 13) any customer visiting the Kia booth can bring OMR199 and own a brand new

Kia, says a press release. A Kia spokesperson explains,

“You see, OMR199 is the amount payable by customer and the cash gift available in option 1 scheme can be used as the down payment. This is valid only on select models of Cerato (15MY), Koup and Opti-ma (15MY). Amounts payable may vary on other models/ grades.”

Other highlights of the scheme are upto OMR1,700 cash gift.

In lieu of this, customers can

choose any one option. i.e. a cash gift amount varying from OMR600 to OMR1,700 depending on the model variant and model year. No cash gift on K4000 and Kia Quoris. (cash gift not applicable on fleet deals, government and ministry purchases. Cash gift amount can be used as part of down payment.)

Alternatively, customers can go in for 1 year insurance + upto 100,000km / five years service (In-surance - 1 year comprehensive

(Oman Only) on all models except Kia Quoris and K4000. (For RAC, taxi and driving school purchases, insurance would be given to the extent applicable for private ve-hicles. Additional premium as per insurance norms would have to be paid by the buyer. Service benefit - 60 months/100,000km (max. 20 services) whichever is earlier on 14 MY models only. On 15/16MY upto 36 months/60,000km which-ever is earlier (max. of 12 services). No Service offer on K4000.

In Option 2, cash gift amount varies from OMR50 to OMR1,250 depending on the model variant and model year. No cash gift on Kia Quoris and K4000. Cash gift not applicable on fleet, government and ministry purchases. Vehicles specifications are subject to change without notice. Vehicles may also include some dealer installed ac-cessories. Pictures and colours are indicative.) For further details, please visit your nearest Kia showroom.

‘OMR199 is the

amount payable by

customer and the

cash gift available

in option 1 scheme

can be used as the

down payment,’ a Kia

spokesperson said

Saraya Bandar Jissah

supports Omanya Tour

MUSCAT: Drawing attention to the pristine beauty of the Sultanate and its internationally acclaimed road infrastructure, Saraya Bandar Jissah announced its partnership with Supercars Club Arabia in conducting the first ever supercar and hypercar tour to Oman, says a press release.

The Omanya Tour was flagged off from Muscat on January 23 to end tomorrow in Dubai. The tour started in Oman and most of the 1,200km of driving will be done within the Sultanate. The participants are visiting Muscat, Sur and Nizwa, before crossing the UAE border and continuing to Jabal Hafeet in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, before concluding the journey in Dubai. On the second day of the tour, the participants visited the Saraya Bandar Jis-sah site to experience the scale and vastness of the project and to promote tourism and investment in the Sultanate.

Commenting on the rationale behind the sponsorship at the opening ceremony, Sheikh Ham-ood bin Sultan Al Hosni, CEO of Saraya Bandar Jissah remarked, “Since our inception, it has con-sistently been an area of focus for us to promote tourism in Oman by highlighting the unique aspects of the country and our association with Supercars Club Arabia in or-

ganising this unique event, simply resonates that belief.”

He added, “It is a matter of great pride for us to showcase the best in Oman through the Om-anya Tour. The participants also visited the Saraya Bandar Jissah site to witness first-hand how the project preserves the natural beauty of the area, while also pro-viding residents and tourists with the feeling of a close-knit yet spa-cious community. For a nation as passionate about automobiles as Oman, there could be no better place to start the Omanya tour. It is our great pleasure to welcome all the participants to the Sultan-ate and wish them the best of luck for the upcoming journey!”

Following the opening ceremo-ny, the tour moved to Sur and then travelled to Nizwa on the next day. On the fourth day of Omanya, the supercars will be driven to Jebel Hafeet after which they will visit the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The event will come to a close tomorrow in a ceremony to be organised at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in Dubai.

Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khal-ifa, president of Supercars Club Arabia, mentioned, “The Sultan-ate of Oman is the most beautiful country in the GCC with nature. Thanks to Saraya Bandar Jissah for their support.”

P A R T N E R S H I P

Al Injaz organises fun day campMUSCAT: To help students relax and enjoy with their school mates after the completion of semester 1 exam, Al Injaz Private School or-ganised a one-day camp recently, for the students of Grades V, VI and VII, on its premises, says a press release.

The camp included an outing to the beach to enjoy and play beach games.

This was followed by many out-door games, entertainment pro-grammes, salad making competi-

tion, clay modelling competition and foot tapping music on the school premises, which the stu-dents clearly enjoyed.

Prize distributionThe camp concluded with prize distribution followed by dinner.

The students thoroughly en-joyed each and every moment of the camp.

Al Injaz conducts such camps every year as part of their pro-gramme of learning through fun.

L E A R N I N G T H R O U G H F U N

B8

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Omantel wins coveted ISO certification

MUSCAT: Oman Telecommuni-cations Company (Omantel) has achieved ISO 9001 certification for consistently delivering out-standing levels of service within their corporate customer services division, says a press release.

ISO 9001 is the world’s most

widely recognised Quality Man-agement System (QMS).

The 9001 certification helps organisations consistently and re-liably meet the expectations and needs of their customers, as well as strengthening and streamlining operational processes.

The quality certification comes as the company launches the ‘3.0’ transformative strategy to deliver an enhanced Omantel customer experience across all aspects of its operations, together with the launch of innovative digital smart home and business services to be introduced in 2016. The in-novative transformative strategy positions Omantel as the digital partner of choice, in the consumer arena and for the public and pri-

vate sectors, enabling the digital society to flourish and grow across all sectors in Oman.

Meeting the stringent require-ments of the ISO 9001 certification process took a holistic approach, says Dr Rashid Bahwan, manager, Fault Management Corporate, “To consistently and reliably de-

liver high quality services we rec-ognised that an effective quality management system (QMS) was necessary. To achieve our goals, we committed to establish, main-tain and continuously improve our QMS by regularly reviewing all our processes and assessing whether the desired customer outcomes were being achieved against spe-cific quality objectives and targets. This process involved compre-hensive internal audits, customer feedback workshops and group wide staff training. The certifica-tion also involved reviewing and updating all our customer service processes and putting quality management key performance in-dicators (KPIs) in place.”

The QMS and new customer

processes at Omantel’s Corporate Unit reflects the company’s com-mitment to deliver consistently high quality services for fixed, mo-bile, broadband, connectivity solu-tions and other customized solu-tions within a customer friendly environment, services that satisfy the diverse needs of the growing corporate customer base.

He added: “The ISO 9001 certifi-cation will help the company apply increased levels of customer excel-lence to every single process with-in our organisation. This allows for a flexible and fast response to new market opportunities, supporting Omantel in researching and un-derstanding customer needs and expectations more effectively, in addition to helping us measure

customer satisfaction levels and quickly acting on the feedback.”

Highlighting the key pillars of Omantel’s 3.0 strategy in regards to customer excellence, Dr Rashid Bahwan said: “The new 3.0 trans-formative strategy touches every aspect of our operational approach for the coming years, both for retail consumers and corporate clients. The new ISO 9001 certification for our corporate unit underlines our commitment to elevate the cus-tomer experience.”

“At Omantel we deliver on our promises. We believe every time we deliver on our commitments, be they small or large, we are build-ing long term trust with our cus-tomers, who are the greatest asset of Omantel,” Rashid concluded.

ISO 9001 certification

was awarded for

outstanding corporate

customer service

Mi Store opens outlet in MCC

MUSCAT: Apple Premium Re-seller Mi Store opened recent-ly at the Muscat City Centre (MCC) and offers customers the opportunity to learn and experi-ence Apple’s innovative prod-ucts and solutions including the Mac, iPhone and iPad with a wide range of accessories, says a press release. “We are excited to open an Ap-ple Premium Reseller in Muscat City Centre, where customers will receive a first class shopping experience,” said Dr Manmohan Singh Rehsi, CEO. “Customers who want to learn more about Apple products and other items can now get personal attention from our many dedicat-ed Apple-trained consultants.”

At Mi Store, trained consult-

ants are available to help custom-ers learn about all the latest prod-ucts from Apple, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the most advanced iPhones ever.

The store will provide informa-tion about iPad Pro, thin. light. epic; iPad Air 2, thin and power-ful; iPad mini 4, now with Touch ID; the13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display with the all-new Force Touch trackpad; the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display with a breathtaking 14.7 million pixels; OS X El Capitan, the world’s most advanced desktop operating sys-tem. The hands-on environment provides customers the opportu-nity to test drive the products and Apple-trained staff are present to offer impartial advice to both con-sumer and professional customers.

A P P L E P R E M I U M R E S E L L E R

Special Muscat Festpromotion starts at Muscat Grand MallMUSCAT: As a participant sponsor of the Sultanate’s most anticipated annual festival — the Muscat Festival 2016, Muscat Grand Mall (MGM) announced its partnership for the 16th edi-tion of the festival.

The mall also announced a spe-cial promotion running till Febru-ary 13 which would include nu-merous entertainment acts for its visitors as well as the opportunity to shop at outlets offering lucrative sale prices, says a press release.

Held annually since 1998 by the Muscat Municipality, the Muscat Festival commemorates the past and present culture and heritage of the Sultanate.

Giving residents and visitors the opportunity to make the best of this festive season, outlets across MGM are running an ex-citing sale during this period, providing customers with the exclusive advantage of amazing discounts across a broad range of

international and local fashion, home-appliances and electron-ics outlets as well as the food and beverage brands that MGM has become renown for.

Bonus for visitorsThis year, the mall is adding a bonus for visitors who shop during the Muscat Festival pe-riod through a special ‘Shop, Win, Celebrate’ campaign. Under this promotion, between January 14 and February 13, customers are eligible for the coupon for every OMR20 purchase at any store within Muscat Grand Mall. With every raffle coupon shoppers will have the chance to enter the draw and win a grand prize of the im-pressive Nissan Patrol XE.

During the period of the festi-val, the mall will also be host to a number of shows and performers who will keep guests entertained and showcase the spirit of Mus-cat Festival.

S H O P A N D W I N

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country like OMAN.

Ensure proper disposal of garbage.

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Djokovic, Serena sail into semis

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams faced what were supposed to be their biggest challenges to date at this year’s Australian Open on Tuesday but both rattled off comfortable victo-ries to march into the semifinals.

Australia Day fireworks were expected on court and off on Day Nine of the championships but Djokovic extinguished Kei Ni-shikori’s flame 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and Williams doused every spark of a threat from Maria Sharapova to win 6-4, 6-1. The defending cham-pions face very different hurdles in the last four, however, with Djoko-

vic moving on to face 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer and Williams’s path to a seventh final blocked by the slight figure of Agnieszka Radwanska.

Federer eased past Tomas Berdych 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-4 while fourth seed Radwanska thrashed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 to reach her second semifinal at Mel-bourne Park.

Djokovic has played five and had already booked a place in his sixth when the traditional festive fireworks lit up the skies over Mel-bourne to celebrate the national holiday. The 28-year-old, suppos-

edly vulnerable to an upset after racking up 100 unforced errors in a five-set marathon against Gilles Simon in the fourth round, rolled on remorselessly.

Seventh seed Nishikori stunned the world number one the last time they met in a Grand Slam at the 2014 U.S. Open, but there was to be no repeat. Early breaks were enough to secure the first two sets for the Serbian, who later revealed he had not hit a single ball on Mon-day, and only after an injury timeout did Nishikori rediscover the aggres-sion that got him to the last eight.

Asia’s number one raced to a 3-1 lead on the back of two breaks in the third set but Djokovic reined him in with two breaks of his own and grabbed a third before finish-ing the Japanese off with a crunch-ing backhand winner after just over two hours.

Losing streakWilliams faced her biggest threat in the first set of her contest against Sharapova, who had placed her hopes of ending a 12-year los-ing streak against the world num-ber one on a rejuvenated serve.

The Russian had racked up a career-high 21 aces in her fourth-

round match but her serve desert-ed her when she needed it most in the 10th game and Williams broke to win the first set before racing away with the second.

“I think if you’re serving maybe 180 (kph) against somebody else com-pared to Serena, that’s an ace,” said Sharapova. “Against Serena, as we all know, the return is one of her great strengths. She’s very explosive.”

Williams twice had treatment for the after-effects of food poison-ing before securing an 18th succes-sive win over the five-times Grand Slam champion.

The 34-year-old American has won all eight matches against Pole Radwanska but said she was taking nothing for granted as she contin-ues her bid for a 22nd Grand Slam title. “Nothing’s guaranteed in sports,” she said. “I still have to win two matches against potentially two extremely tough opponents.”

Federer is also 34 and it has been quite some time since he was able to take for granted advancement to

the last four at Grand Slams.Czech Berdych had triumphed

in their last two meetings at majors but, after a tight opening set, was no match for the clinical Swiss.

Federer found the target with nearly 70 percent of his first serves and won 83 percent of those points, hit 48 winners and made only 26 unforced errors to smoth-er the sixth seed in two hours and 16 minutes. “I think I played well overall,” he said. “I think the first set was definitely key to the rest of the match because I think it maybe might’ve taken some energy out of Tomas. Who knows? If not physi-cal, also mental.”

Federer and Djokovic have played 44 times with the wins split equally between them, although the Serbian won their meetings in finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year. “We are big rivals, we played so many times against each other,” said Djokovic.

“There’s a lot of tension. There’s a lot at stake. I’m expecting a great fight in two days.”

Sania vs PaesSania Mirza entered the women’s doubles semifinals and set up a high-intensity clash against Le-

ander Paes in the mixed doubles after both the Indians made the quarterfinals with their respective partners on Tuesday.

Sania and Swiss great Martina Hingis, seeded No.1, survived a mid-match slump to beat the 12th seeded German-American com-bine of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Coco Vandeweghe 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

The duo, who are on a record winning streak, will next face the 13th seeded German-Czech pair of Julia Goerges and Karolina Plisk-ova. Later, Sania and Croat Ivan Dodig, also seeded top, sailed past the unseeded Kazakh-Pakistani duo of Yaroslava Shvedova and Aisam-Ul Haq Qureshi 7-5, 6-2.

On the other hand, Paes and Sania’s women’s doubles partner Martina Hingis hammered the American-Dutch pair of Sloane Stephens and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-1, 6-2. As a result, Sania and Paes find themselves pitted against each other in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.

In the junior competition, fifth seeds Karman Thandi and Pranja-la Yadlapalli entered the girls’ dou-bles quarterfinals after defeating China’s Siqi Cao and Jia Ren 6-4, 4-6 (10-2). - Reuters, PTI

Australia Day fireworks were expected

on court and off on Day Nine of the

championships but Djokovic extinguished

Kei Nishikori’s flame 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and

Williams doused every spark of a threat

from Maria Sharapova to win 6-4, 6-1

GREAT GOING: Serena Williams ease past Sharapova. – AFP POWER-PACKED: Novak Djokovic downs Kei Nishikori. – AFP PERFECT PARTNERS: Sania Mirza & Martina Hingis on a roll. – AP/PTI



Kohli, bowlers shine in India’s

T20 victory against Australia

ADELAIDE: Virat Kohli’s ele-gant unbeaten 90 and some crafty bowling by their spinners secured India’s comprehensive 37-run victory over Australia in the first Twenty20 International at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

Put into bat, the tourists rode Kohli’s classy knock to post 188-3 and then returned to skittle out Australia for 151 for a morale-boosting win barely six weeks before the Twenty20 World Cup at home.

Australia began well with Aar-on Finch scoring freely before Jasprit Bumrah (3-23) dismissed David Warner (17) and then the Indian spinners took over.

Ravindra Jadeja (2-21) dis-missed Steven Smith and Ravi-chandran Ashwin (2-28) sent back Finch (44) to derail Austral-ia’s chase and the hosts eventually folded in 19.3 overs.

It was an inspiring bowl-ing effort by the tourists after their repeated failures to defend 300-plus totals in the preceding one-day series, which Australia won 4-1.

Kohli’s unbeaten 90 was the bedrock of India’s innings after Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to field.

Indian openers milked 40 runs of the first four overs before Shane Watson pegged them back with a double strike.

The 34-year-old blond dis-missed the dangerous Rohit Shar-ma (31) with his first delivery and Shikhar Dhawan (five) with his fifth. Kohli and limited-overs spe-cialist Suresh Raina (41) steadied ship with a 134-run stand spread over nearly three-fourth of the visitors’ innings.

Raina initially struggled to get going but Kohli displayed sublime touch that has been the hallmark of his batting of late.

James Faulkner castled Raina but Kohli remained unbeaten af-ter a chanceless 55-ball innings that included two sixes and nine boundaries.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s hard-hitting prowess has looked on the wane in the ODI series but the In-dia captain drilled the first ball he

faced from Faulkner for a six and followed it with a boundary as In-dia settled for a competitive total.

Playing his first international match in nearly five years, Aus-tralian paceman Shaun Tait be-gan with a 150 kmh delivery but

sent down six wides and bled 45 runs in his four overs without any success.

India’s left-arm paceman Ash-ish Nehra, who like Tait had not played an international match since the 2011 World Cup, made a better comeback, claiming a wicket and taking a skier to dis-miss Watson.

Melbourne hosts the second T20 International of the three-match series on Friday. - Reuters

T W E N T Y 2 0 S E R I E S

INDIAR. Sharma c Faulkner b Watson 31S. Dhawan c Wade b Watson 5V. Kohli not out 90S. Raina b Faulkner 41MS Dhoni not out 11Extras (lb-3, w-7) 10 Total (3 wickets; 20 overs) 188Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-41, 3-175Bowling: Shaun Tait 4-0-45-0; Kane Rich-ardson 4-0-41-0; James Faulkner 4-0-43-1; Shane Watson 4-0-24-2; Cameron Boyce 3-0-23-0; Travis Head 1-0-9-0AUSTRALIAA. Finch lbw b Ashwin 44D. Warner c Kohli b Bumrah 17S. Smith c Kohli b Jadeja 21T. Head lbw b Jadeja 2C. Lynn c Yuvraj b Pandya 17S. Watson c Nehra b Ashwin 12M. Wade c Jadeja b Pandya 5

J. Faulkner b Bumrah 10K. Richardson b Nehra 9C. Boyce c Pandya b Bumrah 3S. Tait not out 1Extras (lb-2, w-8) 10 Total (all out; 19.3 overs) 151Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-89, 3-89, 4-93, 5-110, 6-124, 7-129, 8-143, 9-149, 10-151Bowling: Ashish Nehra 4-0-30-1; Ravichan-dran Ashwin 4-0-28-2; Jasprit Bumrah 3.3-0-23-3; Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-21-2; Hardik Pandya 3-0-37-2; Yuvraj Singh 1-0-10-0.Toss: Australia, who chose to fieldT20I debuts: Travis Head (Australia); Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya (India)Player of the match: Virat Kohli (India)Umpires: Simon Fry and John Ward (both Australia)TV umpire: Paul Wilson (Australia)Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)Reserve umpire: Gerard Abood (Australia)

S C O R E B O A R D

FINE KNOCK: India’s Virat Kohli celebrates his half century during

the T20 International against Australia in Adelaide. – AP/PTI



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Red-hot Rabada rattles England

PRETORIA: Mercurial paceman Kagiso Rabada produced the sec-ond-best match figures by a South African to propel his side to a con-solation 280-run victory over Eng-land in the fourth and final Test on Tuesday. The hosts needed lit-tle more than an hour on the final day to reduce England, who won the series 2-1, from 52 for three to 101 all out with Rabada returning match figures of 13-144 to confirm his rich potential.

The 20-year-old’s figures are second only to Makhaya Ntini’s 13-132 against West Indies in 2005 and Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a Test match.

Although the series had already been decided, the victory was a welcome one for South Africa af-ter a run of nine games without success stretching back more than a year had caused them to be knocked off the top of the world rankings by India.

“The boys were fired up for this Test and we’ll enjoy the celebra-tions,” captain AB de Villiers said at the presentation ceremony. “We showed a lot of character and hopefully we can build on this now. There is a bright future for us.”

Chasing an unlikely victory tar-get of 382 on a wearing wicket, England’s hopes of batting out the day were undone by a combination of rash stroke-making and excel-lent swing bowling.

James Taylor (24) got a snorter from Morne Morkel (3-36) that brushed his glove and was caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock

to kickstart a procession of Eng-land batsmen. Joe Root (20), who had already been dropped by De Kock off Dane Piedt, drove wildly at the spinner and was caught at slip by Dean Elgar. Rabada then got in on the act as he was made to celebrate his record-breaking 10-wicket haul twice — first having Jonny Bairstow (14) caught at slip off a no-ball and then inducing another edge from the very next delivery to De Kock.

Man-of-the-series Ben Stokes (10) was caught at deep midwicket off Morkel as he fell into a short-

ball trap, before Rabada cleaned up the tail efficiently for innings figures of 6-32. “It’s been a disap-pointing five days with the way we have played,” England skipper Alastair Cook said.

“We haven’t quite been on it and had to try hang in there. Credit to South Africa, they played well.”

The teams will now play a five-match one-day international se-ries starting on February 3, fol-lowed by two Twenty20 games.

Steyn ruled out Dale Steyn’s injury woes contin-

ued on Tuesday as South Africa ruled him out of the five-match one-day international series against England shortly after they secured a consolation victory in the final Test.

The fast bowler, who has missed all but one innings of the four Tests against England and lost his rank-ing as the world’s best bowler, con-tinues to battle with a shoulder in-jury, coach Russell Domingo said.

South Africa are now hoping the 32-year-old might be able to play in the two Twenty20 internation-als which follow the five ODIs and

serve as a warm-up for the World Twenty20 in India in March.

Steyn hurt his shoulder in the first Test against England in Dur-ban just after Christmas and has not been able to bowl since despite South Africa officials saying that a scan had revealed no obvious mus-cle damage. Fellow paceman Ver-non Philander has also not recov-ered from an ankle injury suffered on tour in India in November.

Kyle Abbott, who suffered a hamstring strain during the fourth Test in Pretoria will miss the first ODI against England in Bloemfon-

tein next Wednesday.Kagiso Rabada, who took 13

wickets in the final Test that South Africa won by 280 runs, and fellow paceman Morne Morkel will also be rested for some of the ODIs, Do-mingo told a news conference.

“We will look to bring one or two new fast bowlers in,” he said. - Reuters

The hosts needed

little more than an

hour on the final day

to reduce England,

who won the series

2-1, from 52 for three

to 101 all out with

Rabada returning

match figures of

13-144 to confirm

his rich potentialMATCH HERO: South African bowler Kagiso Rabada (top) celebrates a wicket. – AFP

SERIES WINNERS: England’s captain Alastair Cook, centre, and team pose with the

series winning team Basil D’Oliveira trophy. – AFP

South Africa 1st innings: 475 (Q. de Kock 129no, S. Cook 115, H. Amla 109; B. Stokes 4-86) England 1st innings: 342 (A. Cook 76, J. Root 76, M. Ali 61; K. Rabada 7-112) South Africa 2nd innings: 248 for 5 (H. Amla 96, T. Bavuma 78no) England 2nd innings:A. Cook c&b M. Morkel 5A. Hales lbw b Rabada 1N. Compton c de Kock b Rabada 6J. Root c Elgar b Piedt 20 J. Taylor c de Kock b M. Morkel 24B. Stokes c Cook b M. Morkel 10J. Bairstow c de Kock b Rabada 14M. Ali not out 10C. Woakes c de Kock b Rabada 5S. Broad c de Villiers b Rabada 2J. Anderson lbw b Rabada 0Extras (lb-2, nb-1, w-1) 4Total (all out, 34.4 overs) 101Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-8, 3-18, 4-58, 5-58, 6-83, 7-83, 8-91 ,9-101, 10-101Bowling: M. Morkel 12-5-36-3, K. Rabada 10.4-2-32-6 (nb-1, w-1), K. Abbott 2-0-10-0, D. Piedt 7-2-11-1, D. Elgar 2-1-8-0, J. Duminy 1-0-2-0Umpires: K. Dharmasena , Chris Gaffaney TV umpire: Rod Tucker Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle Result: South Africa won by 280 runs

S C O R E B O A R D

PRETORIA: South Africa coach Russell Domingo hopes his side’s comprehensive 280-run victory in the fourth Test against England will halt the criticism levelled at the side after successive series defeats knocked them off the top of the world rankings.

South Africa lost 3-0 in India last year before going down 2-1 at home to England, exposing weaknesses in the team’s bat-ting line-up, in particular.

“The main thing I take out of it was the way side responded to a lot of noise that has come from the public and the media,”

Domingo told reporters on Tuesday. “When you have one or two bad series, everybody makes you sound like you are the worst players and the worst coaches in the world which is not necessarily the case.

Domingo said his players had maintained their composure re-ally well through tough times.

“To play the way they have played these last couple of days

makes the coaching staff really proud because it has been a tough series,” he said.

After a series of embarrass-ing batting collapses recently, including their two lowest Test innings totals since readmis-sion to international cricket in 1991, the team have been criticised for being the only top nation without a batting coach.

“Everybody thinks we have not been looking for a batting coach but we’ve been trying for the last year,” Domingo said.

“Every team’s got it. England have got one, Australia have got one, India have got one.

“We’ve offered the position to quite a few people and we of-fered the position whilst things were going well, not whilst we’ve been bowled out for 80 and 90.

Domingo said they had a candidate in mind.

“We’ve had a few people who said they were interested but they wouldn’t commit to it simply because travelling is not that fun when you are away from your family for a long time and when there is a lot of pressure and a lot of criticism you are faced with when things don’t go well,” he said. - Reuters

S. Africa coach Domingo hopes win will quieten the noiseSCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT


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MRR all set to host ‘bigger, better’ Muscat Marathon

A. SESHAGIRI [email protected]

MUSCAT: Delighted with the ‘huge response’, the Muscat Road Runners (MRR) are gearing up to organise ‘a bigger and more successful’ Muscat Marathon this weekend. The fifth edition of Marathon, which forms part of the annual Muscat Festival, is scheduled for Friday.

According to MRR chairman Ahmed Al Malki, this year’s event received overwhelming response from within the Sultanate and from outside.

Speaking to Times Sport, Ahmed Al Malki said: “Our Mus-cat Marathon has been growing in stature since we have started organising it five years ago.”

“As one of the main sporting events of Muscat Festival it has been gradually growing and gain-ing in popularity,” he said. “The growing popularity can be gauged from the number of entries we have been receiving over the years. In fact, the numbers have been increasing since we hosted our first Marathon five years ago.”

“For example this year the Marathon is ‘sold out’. Requests for entries have been pouring in. We have already accepted 600 entries, which is 20 percent more than last year,” he said while re-vealing that last year’s Marathon had attracted 500 entries.

“We have received entries from over 54 nationalities from within Oman and from outside.”

While most of them are from Oman and the neighbouring

countries as well as the Omanis loving abroad, a group of runners from Australia will be flying in to the Sultanate to take part in the Muscat Marathon.

Latest technologyThe MRR chief attributed the huge response to his team’s or-ganisational ability and the event’s success. “It’s quite obvious that athletes want to take part in a successful event. And they like

the way we run the event. That’s the reason we have been receiving tremendous response,” a delight-ed Al Malki said.

“It will be no different this year too. In fact, we are gearing up to organise a bigger and bet-ter event,” he said. “We will also be using the latest technology... like individual time record chips. There will be online results.”

Three categoriesGiving further details of the Marathon, he said: “There will be three categories: 10km run, Half Marathon and Marathon.”

This year’s event will be flagged off at Hotel InterContinental with the participants in the full Mara-thon starting at 6 a.m. The Half Marathon will begin at 7 a.m., while the 10km run will start an hour later at 8 a.m.

Like Muscat Festival and its ac-companying events, Muscat Mar-athon is also aimed at showcasing the beauty of the capital city. The events route is designed in such a way the participants pass through some of the most picturesque lo-cations of Muscat.

After the flag off at InterCon-tinental, the participants will be passing through Qurm Corniche, Royal Opera House, the Minis-tries area and Grand Hyatt before finishing at InterContinental, de-pending on the categories they are taking part in.

The fifth edition of

Muscat Marathon,

which forms part

of the annual

Muscat Festival,

has attracted 600

participants from

within Oman and

from outside. And

the Muscat Road

Runners are all

set to host another

successful event

on Friday

POPULAR EVENT: Thanks to the good work done by Muscat Road Runners, the Muscat Marathon has

been growing in popularity over the years. – Supplied photo

Bank Muscat extends support to Muscat Marathon

MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flag-ship financial services provider in the Sultanate, has extended lead support to Muscat Marathon to be held on Friday

According to a press release received from the bank, Muscat Marathon has received a com-petitor rating of 90 percent in the Premier marathons website, mak-ing it the highest ranked sporting event in the GCC.

Muscat Marathon has caught the attention of avid sports en-thusiasts from across the world,

which is helping to spotlight Oman as an attractive sporting destination. The support for the marathon reflects the bank’s com-mitment to encouraging health,

social interaction and integration through the promotion of sport and physical activity.

The attention given to healthy lifestyle reflects the level of de-

velopment of people and nations. Omanis are privileged as the Sul-tanate accords top priority for de-velopment of sports, encouraging all segments of society to lead a healthy lifestyle. Running shows what can be achieved through motivation, hard work, dedication and a willingness to push personal boundaries. As the flagship finan-cial institution, Bank Muscat re-mains at the forefront in offering the required encouragement and support for sporting excellence in the country.

E X T E N D I N G T H E S U P P O R T

Muscat Marathon

has been growing in

stature over the years.

The numbers have

been increasing since

the first edition hosted

five years ago

Ahmed Al MalkiMRR chairman

Assarain CT delighted with Abbas show in Pakistan A winMUSCAT: While amateurs and semi professionals of Oman crick-eters are gearing up for their debut at ICC World T20, to be organised in India in March, another of their ilk is making news with the Paki-stan A team.

Mohammad Abbas, who has been playing league cricket for As-sarain CT in the Sultanate for the past few seasons, is turning up for the Pakistan A team in their on-going unofficial One-day Interna-tional (ODI) series against Eng-land Lions in Dubai.

The 25-year-old fast bowler took two crucial wickets on Monday as Pakistan A defeated the England Lions by 17 runs in the third match after losing the first two of the five-match series.

Assarain team are obviously de-lighted with their player’s perfor-mance. “It’s good to see Moham-mad Abbas performing well with the Pakistan A team,” said Assarain team manager Vinu Mathew.

Speaking about the player’s as-sociation with Assarain, Vinu Mathew said: “Mohammed Abbas has been with us for the last two

seasons. And has done well and contributed to our team’s success.”

“We are hoping to have him back with us in the later stages of the current season... most probably af-ter he completes his national team (Pakistan A) duties,” he added.

According to media reports, Mohammad Abbas was picked for Pakistan A team after his excel-lent performance with Khan Re-search Laboratories in the 2015-16 season when he claimed a total of 87 wickets.

C R I C K E T

IN ASSARAIN COLOURS: Mohammad Abbas.

C4


NATIONAL GAS WIN FCC CUPNational Gas defeated South XI by six wickets to bag the

title at the Future CC New Year Cricket Cup cricket tour-

nament at National Gas Ground in Rusayl here recently. In

the seven-overs a-side match, South XI after being asked

to first, scored 32 runs for six five overs. National Gas

chased the target in four overs scoring 33 for four wickets.

The tournament was sponsored by Morning Star Building

Materials LLC, Roadstar Trading & Transportation Co.

LLC and United National Projects LLC. — Supplied photo

OFA to start new grassroots sessions

MUSCAT: The Oman Football Association (OFA) Grassroots team will organise special weekly ‘L’aeeb’ sessions for children of six to eight years and nine to 12 years.

The first phase of the pro-gramme, to be conducted under the guidance of AFC Grassroots expert Jamie Houchen, is scheduled to be held on February 2 and 3 in Seeb.

According to information re-ceived from the OFA on Tuesday, the programme is aimed at pro-viding the kids with the opportu-nities to learn the game in a fun and safe environment as well as play in weekly mini matches.

“Sessions will take place be-tween 4.00 pm and 5.30 pm every week, and children of all abilities will enjoy the “mini match” experi-ence playing with different team-mates each week, while learning to play the game, socialise with new friends, and take responsibility for their own matches, including keeping scores and refereeing,” the OFA statement said.

The youngest group of players will be playing in four against four matches with level going up to six

against six and eight against eight as per the age groups.

“Children will benefit from playing the game in a realistic yet scaled down version, and experi-ence the thrill of scoring goals, making tackles, defending and attacking, all within a fun yet competitive environment with no pressure on winning or losing,” the statement added.

The OFA also informed that the association is committed to provid-ing these sessions on a weekly basis free of charge, and are working with community clubs in the regions of Suwaiq, Sohar, Sur, Nizwa and Salalah to establish local OFA ap-proved sessions in each of these communities with a target of 1,000 children playing L’aeeb each week from the ages of six and above.

“Free equipment will also be given to these clubs, provided

by the AFC, UEFA and FIFA ac-knowledging the OFA’s commit-ment to developing grassroots football,” the statement said.

“Talented players from these sessions will be offered the op-portunity to progress to Club Skill Development Academies as part of the OFA talent development pathway, ensuring that Oman’s next generation of talent has the opportunity to flourish under the watchful eye of OFA coaches.”

Jim Selby, OFA Technical Di-rector, said: “Initiatives like these are absolute key for the OFA, as we need to ensure children from the age of six are provided with quality playing opportunities, within a fun yet challenging en-vironment. They will fall in love with the game, while playing with their friends in the community on a weekly basis, supported by coaches, who are happy for the children to “own” their game, and be supported by them, not re-stricted by them!”

For registration and other de-tails, contact OFA coach Karim at 98095940.

F O O T B A L L


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

Passage to India defeat Al Turki bysix wickets MUSCAT: Passage to India re-corded a six-wicket victory over Al Turki in a Muscat Pharmacy and Stores-sponsored Pre-mier Division cricket match at the Ministry of Sports Affairs ground during the evening ses-sion on Sunday.

Batting first, Al Turki man-aged to score just 80 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs. Bilal Khan claimed three wick-ets while Mohammed Bilal and Amir Kaleem claimed two wick-ets each for Passage to India.

In reply, Passage to India achieved their target in 17.1 overs scoring 82 for four. Benja-min top scored with 26 runs.

Brief scores: Al Turki 80 for 9 in 20 overs (Bilal Khan 3/2) lost to Passage to India 82 for 4 in 17 overs (Benjamin 26). Points: Passage to India - 2, Al Turki – 0.

O M A N C R I C K E T

Larson to lead Oman Air campaign in 2016 ESS

MUSCAT: Morgan Larson will head up Oman Air’s campaign for the Extreme Sailing Series’ first foiling GC32 championship in 2016 that kicks off in Muscat on March 16, with an exciting new crew made up of familiar faces and fresh young talent.

For the 44-year-old American, one of the most experienced and accomplished skippers on the professional racing circuit, the appointment marks a welcome return to the Oman Sail squad af-ter he campaigned Oman Air to second place in 2012 behind Leigh

McMillan’s The Wave, Muscat be-fore moving to Swiss team Alinghi.

He has represented the USA in the Olympic 49er and 470 classes, been tactician with three America’s Cup campaigns and won three World Championships (Farr 40 and 505) and 15 National Championships as well as the cov-eted Extreme 40 trophy in 2014 for the Swiss. Last year, Larson campaigned Alinghi’s GC32 in the first Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour, losing out to overall winners Sul-tanate of Oman by a single point, and in 2016 will use his inspira-

tional expertise and experience to give Oman Air their best chance of landing the first Extreme Sailing Series GC32 trophy.

“I feel like I made good friends with the Omani guys and have stayed quite close so it is exciting to be back with Oman Air,” he said.

“Even though the guys just won the 2015 Extreme Sailing Series, I don’t believe we will have a head start because these foiling boats are so different but I have a lot of

respect for the guys and feel it an honour to be working with them representing Oman Air.”

Pete Greenhalgh, a member of McMillan’s three times champion crew on The Wave, Muscat, con-tinues as boat captain while team-mate Sarah Ayton, who became ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year in 2015, will take up the po-sition of Oman Air coach. Omani bowman Nasser Al Mashari and Ed Smyth from Australia will return to action with newcomer James Wierzbowski, the 24 year-old Aus-tralian who has campaigned 49ers, Extreme 40s and GC32s.

Oman Air CEO, Paul Gregorow-itsch, said: “It is with great pleasure that we announce another Oman Air Extreme Sailing Series cam-paign in 2016 and with anticipation that we welcome Morgan Larson back to the helm. The Series pre-sents us with superb opportunities to raise awareness of our Oman Air brand and the attractiveness of the Sultanate of Oman in key markets around the globe.”

The 44-year-old American’s appointment

marks a welcome return to the Oman

Sail squad after he campaigned

the team to second place in 2012

EXCITED: Morgan Larson.

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

LeisureSECTIONC L I F E STY L E W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

J ust toss the board on the water, climb on, paddle and enjoy the calm sea-waters off Omani coast or the crystal clear wa-

ters in remote wadis. The word is spreading fast: Oman could be the most perfect country for SUP (Stand Up Paddling). While it is the fastest growing watersport in the whole world at present, this leisure sport is gaining momen-tum in the Sultanate, having taken off as a leisure activity in the early 2000s. Many in Oman are up on their feet with a thirst for fun and have realised this could be a social sport and a full body workout with an added opportunity to explore and enjoy the country.

Stand Up Paddling enables you to get to know the landscapes from a completely new perspective. It feels like walking or running on water. Its name is self-explana-tory; the sport involves standing up on a specially designed board while using a paddle to steer and move you along. Often, it has been described as a combination between canoeing or kayaking and surfing.

The paddling boards are very similar to surfboards but they are a little bit longer and tilt-proof. They are similar to surf boards with the exception that you don’t lay on them paddling with your hands. Instead you stand up and use a long paddle to push yourself across the surface of the water. Standing on top of a SUP board is very com-fortable and you can move forward elegantly by using a long paddle. This water sport is getting more and more popular every day as it is very easy to learn as it trains every single muscle of your body. It is suitable on lakes, wadi waters, and the sea.

Enjoy an unparallelled sense of freedom as you glide along waters while on a stand up paddleboard, with paddle in hand. This sport can be experienced in a number of stunning locations across the country, and will give you a unique, on-the-water perspective of Oman. “I think it is a perfect sport for Oman and specially for the Omani waters, it’s a fast growing sport and we see great potential for it,” says Murtadha Al Lawati, own-er of Surf SUP which offers Stand Up Paddling facility in Oman. “In the region the water is perfect for such a sport. Oman in particular offers so many different options

from Wadi’s to beautiful coves and of course the abundance of the natural life. Take Qurum Park for example, we take so many peo-ple on tours inside the waterways in the mangroves and it takes you to a whole different side of Oman,” he said. Here in Muscat, besides Surf SUP, OmanSUP offer equip-ment hire and lessons. With these communities, you can learn to master the techniques required at a range of sites including the sea off Oman cost and pristine wadis, ideal for exploring.

The SUP boards of interna-tional quality which would have cost you between OMR500-1200 is now available for OMR300-400 and that too an Omani brand. “We have a great price range of every pocket starting from OMR300 and going up to OMR1000 for the more expensive carbon fibre boards. We pride ourselves on be-ing the only stand up paddle board manufacturer in the Middle East and our boards are of the highest quality and are designed with pre-cision to insure the best perfor-mance, says Murtadha.

“By using a paddle board surfers were able to enjoy the water and obtain some exercise simultane-ously,” says Murtadha. “People now engage in stand-up paddling to enjoy the water, spend time with friends, and to improve their fit-ness level,” he explains.

SUP can provide you with a very good overall workout. You will make use of balance and strength in order to remain upright and propel yourself in the water. If you are paddling in the ocean and there are a lot of waves and an ocean cur-rent, your workout will be intense. If you are simply drifting in rela-tively placid waters, it will not be so hard-core. An additional benefit that SUP provides is that it is a very low impact exercise. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will do dam-age to the tendons and ligaments of your joints, said Murtadha, add-ing, It is a very good sport to engage in if you are cross-training since it uses almost all the muscles in the body. SUP is a form of simultane-ous aerobic and strength training.

“We have seen a steady growth in both Omani and non Omani ‘suppers’. It’s a great activity for families to enjoy and helps you get away from the hustle of life in a city and get in touch with nature,” he added.—[email protected]

Stand Up on Water

When you feel the blues, get out there and let the sky, the crystal waters change the colours of your mind. Stand Up Paddling (SUP) is gaining popularity as a wonderful leisure sport in Oman over the last couple of years making them affordable to aspiring paddlers. Story Mohammed Shafeeqe

Phot

os: S

urfS

UP

Tours by Surf SUPQurum Nature Reserve Bander Khayran Nature ReserveWadi Al ArbeyeenYanket Cove TourPrice : OMR35 per person (excluding transport)Duration: 160 minutes

You want to SUP?Surf SUPInsta : @surfsupomanFacebook/surfsupoman+968 9609 3939Oman SUPEmail: [email protected] +968 9322 0805

FIND-IT-ALLC6 W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

Dhuhr 12.24pmAsr 3.32pmMaghrib 5.54pmIsha 7.08pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.31am

PRAYER TIMINGS

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTIThe 5th Wave (2D) (Adventure) (PG12) Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson2:30,6:45,11:30 PMThe Revenant (2D) (Adventure) (12+) Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy8:30PMRide Along 2 (2D) (Action) (15+) Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter4:45, 9:45, 11:45PMThe Hateful Eight (2D) (Crime) (12+) Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell2:30PMOur Brand is Crisis (2D) (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton5:45, 7:45PMDirty Grandpa (2D) (Comedy) (15+) Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch2:30, 6:45PMThe Boy (2D) (Horror | Thriller) (15+) Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans11:30 PMAirlift (2D) (Drama | History | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur4:15, 9:00PM

MUSCAT GRAND MALLDirty Grandpa (Comedy)(15+) Cast : Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch12:15 & 7:30PMAirlift (Drama, History, Thriller) (12+)Cast : Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur2:15,9:00 & 11:30PMGold Class - 6:00PMRide Along 2 (Action | Comedy) 15+Cast : Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter12:00, 7:00 & 11:30PMGold Class - 3:30 & 8:30PMThe 5th Wave (Adventure | Sci-Fi) PG12Cast : Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson

4:45 & 9:30PMGold Class - 11:00PMNorm of the North (Animation) PG12Voice over: Rob Schneider, Heather Graham3:45PMThe Peanut Movie - (Animation) PGVoice Over: (Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez)2:00PMThe Good Dinosaur-3D (Animation) U5:30PM

PANORAMA MALLOur Brand is Crisis (2D)(PG)Cast : Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton2:30 & 6:30PMAirlift (2D)(12+)Cast : Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:30, 6:15, 8:45, 11:15PMAirlift (2D) (12+)-VIP LOUNGE8:30PMRide Along 2 (Action, Comedy)(2D)(15+)Cast : Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter2:30, 4:30, 9:30, 11:30PMRide Along 2 (Action)(2D)-VIP LOUNGE6:30, 11:00PM The 5th Wave (ci-fi)(MX4D)(PG12)

Cast : Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson3:45, 6:30,8:45, 11:00PM The 5th Wave (Sci-fi)(2D)(PG12)4:30, 11:30PMThe Hateful Eight (Comedy)(2D)(12+)Cast : Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell 6:30PMThe Revenant (Adventure, Drama)(2D)(12+)Cast : Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy8:30PMThe Revenant (2D)(12+)-VIP LOUNGE3:30PM

AZAIBA Airlift – 2D (PG12) Drama/ History/ ThrillerCast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:00, 5:30, 6:30, 8:00, 10:30, 11:30PMRajini Murugan (Tamil) – 2D (PG) ComedyCast: Shivakarthekeyen, Keerthi Suresh8:35PMOur Brand Is Crisis – 2D (PG) ComedyCast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton2:30, 6:15PMGethu (Tamil) – 2D (PG) Action/ ComedyCast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Amy Jackson6:15, 9:00 PM

2 Countries (Malaylam) – 2D (PG12) ComedyCast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas8:25PMWazir – 2D (PG12) Hindi| Action| ThrillerCast: Amitabh Bacchan, Farhan Akhtar4:30, 11:30PMBajirao Mastani – 2D (PG12) Drama, HistoryCast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone3:15 PMThe Revenant – 2D (12+) Drama | ThrillerCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy3:15, 11:45PM

RUWIScreen 1Airlift (Action / Thriller) –12+Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3.30, 6.30, 9.30PMScreen 2Wazir (Action / Thriller) – PG12Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Farhan Akhtar3.45, 6.45, 9.45 PMScreen 3Bajirao Mastani (Romance/Drama) – PG12Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone3.45, 9.45 PM

Gethu (Action / Thriller) – Tami - PGCast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Vikranth6.45 PM

SURThe Fifth Wave (Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Chole Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Maika Monroe5:50 PMAirlift (Hindi) (Drama |History) (12+) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur6:20, 9:20PM2 Countries (Malayalam) (PG12) Cast: Dilip, Mamata Mohandas10: 30PMThe Boy (Horror | Thriller) (15+)Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans4:00, 8:35, 11.45 PM.Ride Along 2 (Adventure) (15+) Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumter.4:30, 7:40PM.

SOHARThe Revenant - 2D (12+) Adventure | ThrillerCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy3:00 PMThe 5th Wave - 2D (PG12) | Sci-Fi | ThrillerCast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson6:30, 9:30, 11:45 PMThe Hateful Eight - 2D (12+) Comedy Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell3:15 PMRide Along 2 - 2D (15+) Action | ComedyCast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter 5:00 , 11:30 PMAirlift - 2D (12+) Drama | History | ThrillerCast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:45, 7:00, 8:45, 11:15 PMThe Boy - 2D (15+) Horror | ThrillerCast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans3:00, 11:45 PMMin Dahar Ragel - 2D (Arb) (TBC) DramaCast: Asser Yassin, Yasmin Raeis 5:50 PMRajini Murugan - 2D (T) (PG) ComedyCast: Shivakarthekeyen, Keerthi Suresh8:30 PMGethu - 2D (T) (PG )Action | ComedyCast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Amy Jackson6:15 PM2 Countries- 2D (M) (PG) Comedy

Cast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas8:45 PM

BURAIMIRide Along 2– 2D (Action, Comedy) (15+)Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter3:15, 5:15, 9:30, 11:30PMThe Boy – 2D (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans5:00, 11:45PMThe 5th Wave – 2D (Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson3:00, 6:00, 9:45PMRajini Murugan– 2D (Comedy) (PG)Cast: Shivakarthekeyen, Keerthi Suresh8:00PMAirlift – 2D (Drama, History, Thriller) (12+)Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:30, 7:00, 11:00PM2 Countries– 2D (Comedy) (PG12)Cast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas6:45PM

SALALAHDirty Grandpa (2D) (15+) (Comedy) Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch10:30AM & 3:55PMRide Along 2 (2D) (15+) (Action | Comedy) Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter10:45AM, 2:00, 6:50, 9:15 & 11:45PMThe Boy (2D) (15+) (Horror, Thriller) Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans5:10, 11:55PM The 5th Wave (2D) (PG12) (Adventure)Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson12:30, 2:40, 7:05PM The Hateful Eight (2D) (12+) (Comedy) Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell6:05PMAirlift (2D) (12+) (Drama, History, and Thriller) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur11:30AM, 2:45 ,9:15 & 11:15PM 2 Countries (2D) (PG12) (Malayalam) Cast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas8:50PM Our Brand is Crisis (2D) (PG12) (Comedy) Cast Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton12:40, 4:45PM

CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999

General Directorate of

Passport and Residence 24569603

Directorate General

of Customs 24521109

Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

Public Relations Admin 24560099

EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Afghanistan 24698 791/4

Algeria 24605 593

Bahrain 24 605 074/133

Bangladesh 24 698 660

Brazil 24640100

Brunei 24 603533

China 24 696782

Cyprus 24 699815

Egypt 24 600 982/411

France 24681 800

Germany 24835000

India 24684500

Indonesia 2469 1050

Iran 24 696 944/7

Iraq 24603642

Italy 24693727

Japan 24 601 028

Jordan 24692760/1/3

Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

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 Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

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

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily

15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily

15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily

06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily

08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri


13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily

16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily

16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily

14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)


08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily

14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily

06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily

10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily



TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)


SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)



13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur



TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)



13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri





TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)


TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)



TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)



TO SUR (ROUTE 55)



TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily


TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)





TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)


DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)


TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)



13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri



FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily

16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily

16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

@SOHAR @SUR

Min Dahar Ragel - 2D (Arb) (TBC) DramaCast: Asser Yassin, Yasmin Raeis 5:50 PM

@BAHJA

Dirty Grandpa (Comedy)Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch2.00, 6.00 & 10.00PMCP No : 124 (15+)

The Boy (Horror | Thriller) (15+)Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans4:00, 8:35, 11.45 PM.

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

Our Brand Is Crisis: (Comedy / Drama)Cast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie 2.00, 4.00, 8.00 & 11.55PMCP No: 122 (PG)The Boy: (Horror / Thriller)Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell 4.00, 6.00, 10.00 & 11.55PM CP No: 123 (15+) Dirty Grandpa: (Comedy)Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch2.00, 6.00 & 10.00PMCP No : 124 (15+) Ride Along 2: (Action / Comedy)Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter 8.00PMCP No: 112 (15+)

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776Website: www.isurf.co.om

2 Countries (Mal) (Drama/Comedy) Cast: Dileep & Mamta Mohandas3:00, 6:30 & 10:00PM Cinema Main Rajani Murugan (Tamil) ( Com /Rom) Cast: Sivakarthikcyan & Keertht Suresh 3:30, 6:30 & 9:30PM Cinema - 2 Dictator (Telugu) (Action/ Comedy) Cast: Balakrishna & Anjali 3:45PM Cinema -3 & 6:45PM Cinema -4 Airlift (Hindi) (Act\ Thriller) Cast: Akshay Kumar & Nimrat Kaur 6:45 & 9:45PM Cinema- 3 Gethu (Tamil) (Com\ Drama) Cast: Udhanidhi & Amy Jackson 3:45 & 9:45PM Cinema -4

Programmes are subject to change

WEATHER

260

Maximum

180

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

60-80%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and

parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to

[email protected]

DAKSHA DHARMIK K SJanuary 27, 2009

PALAK RAWAT January 27, 2007

WITH LOVE

SAI JANANI SUBBARAMANJanuary 27, 2009

THE BLURB and the cover pic-ture (old edition 1974) attracted me to this book, which otherwise would have been unnoticed. Ron-ald Glasser, a doctor by profession, gives his first hand experience that

he confronted in his life as an in-tern when appointed in Ward-402, the paediatric ward in a hospital. He faces a lot of real life challenges both medically and morally.

The story starts with the admis-sion of an eleven year old Mary Ber-quam as an advanced case of leuke-mia in Ward-402. Though anxious and distressed about their child’s health, her parents preferred a comfortable and painless treat-ment for her. His encounters with patients, their parent, and his col-leagues make the skeleton work of the story. Flesh and blood is added with his deep and sincere relation-ship towards Mary. Towards the end of the story, he finds that, apart from “lab values, IVs, X-rays there were human concerns — grief and heartache, personal problems, eco-nomics, fears, and even anger”.

The doctor’s so called “ethics” is finally surrendered to the com-manding words of his senior Dr. Prador and he is forced to obey

his boss. He removes the respira-tory plug and allows Mary embrace death as wished by her father —’no more suffering, no pain, enough’.

A sensitive layman reader may find a tear drop as he completes the last page, but he may also find an obstruction in the flow of sto-rytelling because of the frequently used “medical jargons”. Though written decades ago, this book will be a favourite of all times because of the relevance which the theme provides. -Reviewed by Riya Aravind

LIFESTYLEC7W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

HAPPY GAMING

WARD 402

ARE YOU A PROLIFIC READER? Which is your favourite book? Pick one and send in your thoughts on [email protected]

By Ronald J. Glasser

Why do you love gaming?Gaming makes me happy. If my day is going well, then it’s cer-tainly going to get better. And if the day goes south, then I know I can enjoy a game or two before I get some sleep.

How did you get into it?Being able to control Mega Man X4, the same hero whom I used to watch on television for 6-8 hours as a child and do all the awesome things that he did, just blew my mind away. I couldn’t wait for the next character. I was going to get my hands on whatever game and tried to do the same. That’s how I got into gaming.

How can one get into it?Gaming has allowed more and more people to connect. We have a stigma for being lazy people who only play in their rooms and just sloppy all around. But honestly we aren’t. Most of us are doing well in studies, have a job, and are married. We just like to get to-gether and pull out a trick or two in front of our friends so that we all can have fun.

What’s your pro-tip?Watch someone who is hav-ing fun, someone who is trying to improve himself. If you can look at someone who genuinely enjoys what he is doing you’ll see that special sparkle in their

eyes. And if that doesn’t moti-vate you to get better, I honestly don’t believe anything will.

Where in Muscat one can go for gaming or learn it?I would recommend one place in particular, a place where we game a lot. It is called Waha. It is a gaming zone which is right next to McDonalds in Al Khuwair. This place brought many of the best players in Oman together. There you’ll never leave without having some fun or learning something new about whatever game you’re playing, and who knows, you might even make a friend or two by the time you exit.—[email protected]

THE HOBBYISTBasil Munir

Gamer

Phot

ogra

phy:

Sha

bin

E

Gaming has allowed more and more people to connect together

Phuket, Pattaya PushThai Economic Growth

Thailand’s dependence on foreign tourists has risen as its exports slump to the low-est in five years.

Exports were about $212 billion last year, a decline of about 6 percent from 2014 and the least since 2010, ac-cording to calculations based on December data reported by the Ministry of Commerce. By contrast, the number of foreign tourists rose 19 percent from a year earlier,

to a record 29.9 million, according to the latest forecast by the tourism ministry.

Sparked by a surge in Chinese visitors to seaside resort cities including Phuket and Pattaya, Thai tourist arrivals have more than doubled since 2009. The central bank will give its trade-data report on Friday, in which some economic figures may be revised. — Bloomberg

I N T H E N E W S

B O O K R E V I E W

LIFESTYLEC8 W E D N E S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 6

THE 10 BUSIEST AIRPORTSOver the past decade the number of airports has grown from around 10,000 to over 40,000 around the world including

strips, fields, and heliports. The popularity of air travel and the lower budget flights’ availability has caused an expansion

in the number of airports during this time. According to the figures of Airports Council International, these are the

top 10 busiest airports in the world by passenger traffic for the year 2015.

RANK LOCATION/AIRPORT CODE TOTAL PASSENGERS

W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O MSECTION

CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E

D

D4 VACANCY CARGO D7

W E D N E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

RENT D2

*Tourist visa arranged

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

D2 W E D N E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

DAILY GUIDE

1/2/3 BHK Flats & Showrooms at

FOR RENT2BHK,

3 washroom Flat with

Split Air Conditioners -

Near Lulu Darsait

CONTACT :

93202733

Brand New 4-Bedroom Ground

Floor House for Rent in Al-Ansab

(Bousher) . Easy access to main

road. House is constructed with

high quality finishing and elegant

doors design. 4 Bedrooms with

in-situ bathrooms. Marble floor.

Specious kitchen. For rent @ 600

OMR/Month (Negotiable).

Please contact Mr. Ali 92755663.

Villa 2 room, 1 sitting room, 1 lob-

by, 2 bathrooms at South Mawalleh

behind Discount Supermarket.

Contact: 92757673 / 99388138

Al Khuwair 17/2, 4 rooms,

4 bathrooms. Contact: 97300123

Al Khuwair 33, 3 rooms, 2 bath-

rooms. Contact: 97300123

Apartments & shops for rent in Al

Amerat & brand new apartments &

shops for rent in Al Amerat.

Contact: 95965445

1000 sqm industrial land with

compound wall & two rooms at

Misfah. Contact: 99342733 /

99795241

Flat in Hamriya. Contact 99341112

Newly build luxury residen-

tial villas for rent in Al Khoud.

Contact: 98116480 / 99447002 &

99358724

Luxurious villa for rent in Al

Athaiba, a new luxurious G+2

floors villa in Al Azaibs. All rooms

W/ Splt unit ACs, close to Wave

Muscat & shopping centers.

Contact: 95965445

02 BHK Commercial / Residential

(with split AC) flat at Honda road.

Contact: 99342733 / 99795241

1BHK near Indian school Darsait

Junior , 2 room , 2 bathroom ,

kitchen Monthly rent R.O 225/-.

Contact: 98320476/92459806

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair.

Contact: 96571151

Flat for rent in CBD area - Ruwi

Two rooms and a large hall•Office spaces for rent in Al Hail on

the main road On the same building

of Al Khamis Shoes at Al Hail

•2 bed room flats in Qurum 29 for

rent next to ABA New building

-split AC - Good location

Contact No: 96177505

Luxury flat for rent in Bareeq Al Shatti building

Spacious 2 BHK with sea view,

split A/Cs, fixed wardrobes,

kitchen appliance.

Near Opera Gallery.

Rent RO.900/- negotiable.

Contact - 94084335 / 96920789

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6 D3

FOR RENT

FOR RENT

BUILDING

FOR SALEMUMTAZ AREA

(NEAR RUWI HOTEL)

CONTACT - 99353931

Sharing accommodation at Ruwi

near family shopping center,

please call after 6:00 pm .

Contact: 93394653

02 BHK Residential flat opposite

to Al Nahdha hospital.

Contact: 99342733 / 99795241

Empty plot at Al Wadi Al Kabir

industrial area 550 sqm.

Contact: 95909020

Bosher Rimal 1, building appt for

rent 2BR, Maid room, sitting room,

full appliance, kitchen, 4 toilets.

Contact: 99349910

Villa in Al Khoud for staff accom-

modation, like nurses or teachers can

accommodate 30 to 35 people.

Rent RO.1200/-. Contact - 91178282

Single room attach bath with

kitchen in Muscat 100/- R.O.

Contact: 95094028 A big room available for Muslim

couple / small family executive

bachelor near Hamriya R/A rent

130/- OMR, including water /

Electricity. Contact: 99495131

2BHK modern & spacious flats

with split AC for rent in Qurum

near PDO Gate No.2.

Contact: 94057023

Flat available in Muttrah Cor-

niche near Gold Souq (4 rooms, 2

bathrooms, 1 kitchen with balcony).

Contact: 24707088 / 91405015

FOR SALE

FOR RENT

Commercial flats of 3 & 2 BHK

in Al Ghobra North 18 Nov street

RO.650/- & 450/-

Contact – 91776665

600 M2 showroom or office in

Bousher in front of Dolphin

complex. RO.3.5 per m2.

Contact – 91776665

Brand new 4 BHK villa in Al Fai

compound Al Khoud. RO.475/-

Contact – 91776665

Luxury villa of 5 BHK in

Al Khuwair 33 RO.650/-

Contact – 91776665

Villa of 3 BHK and sitting area in

Al Ghobra North. RO.525/-

Contact – 91776665

Luxury and brand new semi

furnished 2 BHK flat in Remalbow-

sher. RO.550/- Contact – 91776665

Spacious 1 BHK flat in Al Wattaya

with all split A/C’s and parking.

RO.300/-Contact – 91776665

Flats in Darsait. Contact - 94051789-97201688

Flats in WadiKabir. Contact - 94051789-97201688

Fully Furnished apartments in

Boucher (35)

Contact - 94051789-97201688

Offices in Qurum opposite City

Center. Contact - 94051789-

97201688

Brand new villas in Al Ansab.

Contact - 94051789-97201688

Offices & Showrooms in Muttrah.

Contact - 94051789-97201688

Mini Furnished Apartment in

Qurum. Contact - 94051789-

97201688

New flat in Wadi Kabeer.

Contact: 98185135

Flats two bed room for rent in

Al Khuwair. Contact: 96571151

Residential cum commercial

2BHK available in MBD at 280/-.

Contact: 96332793

1& 2 BHK flats for rent at Hamriya Wadi Adai, Al Khoud,

Mabela & shop at Al Khoud & land

line Contact: 24834644 GSM

93994401/02/03 3 lines

Room, toilet and sharing kitchen

for family near Azaiba Bank

Muscat. Contact: 96755127

1&2 BHK flat in Walja.

Contact: 98218279

New flats for rent at Darsait near

to ministry of sports, Mumtaz area

the flats include 1 living room, 2

Bedroom, kitchen, 3 toilets every

room with split A/C & high Quality

finishing, rent per flat is R.O 340/-.

Interested candidates please

Contact: 00968- 92225523

3BHK flat for rent in Ghubra.

Contac: 99328070

Flats shops & store for rent in

Ruwi, MBD area & Honda road.

Contact: 92589235/ 94579531

Flats in Muttrah. Contact - 94051789-97201688

Offices in Ghala. Contact - 94051789-97201688

2BHK flat for rent Darsait near ISM.

Contact: 95158570 / 99102255

2BHK flats with split AC available

for rent at Al Khuwair 33.

Contact: 94057023

Flats for rent 2BHK, 1 BHK with

AC new building at Wadi Al Kabir

behind Muscat Bakery.

Contact: 92103604

Flats shops & store for rent in

Ruwi MBD Honda road.

Contact: 92433127 / 97293708

Single bedroom flat behind

German Embassy near to Al Nah-

dha Hospital and single bedroom

flat near to Indian School

Al Ghubrah. Contact: 99203954

2 bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, car

park R.O 220/- & 1 bedroom,

kitchen, toilet R.O 140 in

Al Khuwair. Contact: 95154331

Flats available for rent at Al

Ghubra. Contact 99876576 &

93656672

2BHK new bldg for families

Al Khuwair 17/2. Contact: 91403136

Flat for rent (Walja) Ruwi 2 rooms,

2 toilets & kitchen for enquiry.

Contact: 95464608 or 95464607

2 bedroom centrally air

conditioned flat in CBD, Central

Bank area. Contact: 24714625 /

99053493

2 BHK near Khamis shoes Honda

road Junction. Contact: 99737562

One flats for rent 2 bedroom

all with bath al Ghobrah north

near Indian school (hot burger

restaurant) Tel. 9976610

Flats for rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99376454

Brand new Twin Villas in

Mawaleh South 4BR; 2Halls;

External Kitchen and Maids room.

Contact: 99414106

Flat for Rent 1/2 BHK Flat at

Muttrah, near Oman flour mills,

10 min. from Corniche.Equipped

with split unit ACs, internet points,

free-to-air dish connection, CCTV

monitored, basement parking.

Rent RO.250/350 per month.

Contact:99229263; 93221054;

95215289

STORE FOR RENT

500 sqm store with 200 sqft offi ce & 200 sqm

covered shed for rent at Mabella Ind No-11 on main road,

direct from owner.

CONTACT - 99278002

RUWI : Ware House - 630 M2

SPACIOUS -2 B H K FLATS

NEAR AL FALAJ HOTEL:FURNISHED DELUXE

1 B/RM WITH 2 bathrooms,

SPLIT A/C, BUILT IN

ARDROBRE, PRIVARE

TERRACE.

Household items & furniture in

excellent condition for sale. Indian

expat leaving for good.

Contact Ravi : 93380408

Beauty Salon for urgent sale in

Azaiba prime location behind

Al Fardan building. With sponsor

and 1 staff and 1 ready visa clear-

ance. Call: 95318629 / 95169411

Kingsize 7x7 double cot, dining

table good as new.

Contact: 98796982

Restaurant items for sale.

Contact: 96772479 /98428507

Filling material for sale in

Muscat. Contact: 93299940

CONTD on pg 6

High quality

Warehouses

for rent at Mizfa

550 sqm to

3400 sqm.

Contact

96046951 / 99332291

Duplex villa in Qurum 29. Contact

- 94051789-97201688

Offices & Showrooms in Al Khoud.

Contact - 94051789-97201688

USED VEHICLES FOR SALE1. Toyota Land Cruiser. Model 2008 in good running condition.

Vehicle regularly serviced by authorized service dealer.

2. Hino 7T Tipper. Model 2010 regularly serviced and in running

condition

3. Toyota Yaris. Model 2006 regularly serviced and in running

condition

Place of inspection: Barka.

Last date of submitting the quotation: 4th February 2016

Interested buyers may please contact on Phone: 26883543, Mobile : 99440306

3 Bedroom flat in Wadi Kabeer.

Contact 95755953 / 95555162

BHK apartment for rent in

Al Khuwair near Ibis Hotel.

Contact: 95124975

4 BHK with terrace near Raymond

Ruwi in market on road.

Contact: 99065900/99354975

New Deluxe 1,2,3,4 bedroom villas

flats Darsait, Ruwi, Al Khuwair.

Contact: 99369081

Family flats in Wadi AL Kabir, Ham-

riya, Muttrah, Al Khuwair, Ghubrah,

Bowshar, Al Hail North & Al Seeb.

Contact: 95250300 / 92125648

2BHK Sitting room, 3 bathrooms,

split AC big balcony 300/- R.O in

Wadi Kabeer. Contact: 99324402

3 BHK flat near Darsait ID medical.

RO 420/- Contact – 99358589 /

97079146 / 95570288

1BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/-. Contact: 97799175 / 92144045

600 SQT commercial flat for rent

opposite Oman flourmill Darsait

more details. Contact:91214849/

99364735

2 Room + hall & kitchen ,3 toilets

in Bareeq Al Shatti 750 RO.

Contact: 99314314

7 Bedrooms villa in Ghobrah

North. Contact - 96420432

Profs/ Jack. Contact 93219378

1,2 BHK Ghubra R.O 300/-, 325/-

& 350/-. Contact: 97799175

1BHK flat near Star Cinema 220/-

Contact 99358589 /95570288

Single BHK flat available

in Honda road Ruwi. Contact:

24833972/ 24833974/ 99367448

DAILY GUIDED4 W E D N E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

ENGINEER/TECH/MECH

CATERING

BEAUTY

DESIGNER

SKILLED LABOR

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

DRIVER

DRIVER

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

ADMIN

CATERING

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

SALES / MARKETING

DOMESTIC HELP

Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp

looking job. Contact: 99531802

We are looking for Chief Financial Officer, Male 40- 45

years old, Bachelor of Science in

Accountancy with 5 - 15 yrs. of ex-

perience. Contact: +968 24702133

Email: [email protected]

Required Full Time Light Driver for an Omani Family. Indian or Philippine national are preferred.

Send SMS only to 97711577

Reputed Construction Company

require experienced light Vehicle Driver. Contact 95526871

Immediate Requirements for ex-perienced Tailors (Designer wears,

casual clothing). Please call for

interview 99471085

Indian male good experienced in

Accounts, ERP Tally 9 & Admin in

India & Oman, presently on visit

visa, looking for suitable placement.

Contact 94834687

Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in com-

merce, overall 5 yrs exp in accounts/

finance field. On visit visa. Immedi-

ately available. Contact – 92836216 /

[email protected]

Looking full time job. # 99153378

Well reputed Marble Company looking for

3 SALESMEN

Requires minimum 3 years experience

and valid Omani driving license.

Interested candidates please Fax your CV to 24601724 or

Email on [email protected]

Contact -91262604Email: [email protected]

Wanted female GP, female

Gynecologist, female Staff

Nurse, female X- Ray Technician

With MOH license for Al Saadi

Specialized Medical Centre

in Musanna.

DOMESTIC HELP

Housemaid required for Keralite

family. Contact 95405033

Looking for housemaid urgently clearance available good salary

yearly ticket. TEL 24446920 /

99238121,

mail: [email protected]

Urgently required building Technician for inquiries.

Contact: 98111363

Civil Site Supervisor for telecom

tower projects across Oman. Send

CV to [email protected] or

call +968 9946 7227

Required Maintenance Techni-cian (male - 1) - should have

knowledge of new devices & 3

years Oman experience.

Contact: 94441111 Send CV to

email: [email protected]

Indian male, 28, Post Graduate, 6

years exp. in Oman in Sales and

Credit Control , with valid Oman D/L

looking for suitable placements.

NOC available. Ph: 9206 6523

Wanted Sales Supervisor with

Oman experience in FMCG for a re-

puted company. Send your C.V to our


Salesman require for building

material with driving license &

10 years working experience.

Fax your C.V 24833043.

(Mustafa Hardware Store)

SALES CO ORDINATOR ( male/

female) Preferably Omani (For

Private Trading Company Deals

in to Oil & Gas Equipments). Can-

didate should be Graduate with

2 Years of Experience (Preferred)

& Fluent in English with having

strong written Communication

Skills with sound knowledge of

Computer. Send CV-

[email protected] OR

Contact on gsm : 99681448

Required Philippine Sales lady for women’s shoes and bags store.

Arabic speaking advantage.

Send CV with current picture.


Required Salesman for Electronic

& mobile devices (male - 2) -

should have 3 years Oman

experience. Contact: 94441111.

Send CV to


An excellent Grade company requires experience Salesman

for indoor and outdoor with Oman

driving license. Mail your CV to

[email protected]

Sales for a printing press What-

sapp Only. Contact: 95955729

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Require LAB TECHNICIAN ,The

desired candidate must be a grad-

uate/diploma in Civil Engineering

with minimum experience of 3 to

5 years as Lab Technician having

Experience of testing construc-

tion materials on Building/ Road

projects. Send your CV to:

[email protected].

Required X RAY Technician, Lab Technician, General Practitioner, Gynecology, Staff Nurses. Contact: 95133572


Wanted GP Doctor with MOH

license, job location in Muscat

with good salary and benefits.

Drop your cv at

[email protected].

Wanted B- Pharmacist (female)

for a pharmacy in Sohar.

Contact : 99767605

Wanted Manager and Doctor for

25 year old well running clinic in

Amerat. Tel 99024340

E mail drtkjoseph50@ gmail.com

Urgently required GP, Gynecolo-gist, Dentist, Staff Nurse, Lab Technician, Pharmacist, For a

medical centre in Muscat.

Tel: 92603863

Email : [email protected].

Urgently required Office Staff/ Manager for medical equipment

import office in Ruwi.

Tel: 92603863


Wanted Gynecologist, General Practitioner, Assistant Pharmacist for immediate appointment.

Contact 97884856/ mail CV to –

[email protected]

Wanted urgently lady Doctor GP or DGO for immediate appoint-

ment. Contact : 99310590


ARCHITECT

Part Time Accounting, Accounts

Finalization as per IFRS, Audit

Preparation, Cost Control and Man-

agement, Training for Accountants,

Internal Audit, Accounting System

for New Companies,

Contact: 96975454,

email:[email protected]

Indian male having good experi-

ence in accounts and in accounting

and in accounting software’s ready

to join immediately.

Contact: +91 9444965126

15 years experienced in finance &

treasury management CPA, CMA,

ACCA, MBA, qualified Chartered

Accountant available for immediate

joining as head of finance, financial

advisor, financed consultant.

Contact: 94872345


Indian male B.com accountant with

9 years ( 8 yr Oman) experience

seeking suitable placement

immediately ( NOC available ).

Contact: 98624850

Female Accountant Indian with

3 years exp in Oman looking for

suitable job. Contact: 98418533/

99338639

Chief Accountant Indian male

44 years B.Com Graduate PGDVA

total 13 years in GCC, 7 years in

Oman & knowledge in Tally, ERP9,

Peachtree MS Office having NOC

seeks placement

Contact: 97060826


Accountant MBA (finance)

masters (accounting) 2 yrs Exp

looking for suitable placement,

having NOC & valid D/L .

Contact: 92491009,


Young 24, ACCA affiliate, Ad-

vanced diploma in Accounting

and Business, seeking suitable

placement in Accounts, Finance or

audit With valid driving license.

Contact - 92430152,

Email - [email protected]

Part time Accountant, up to fina-

lization, looking for job after 5pm

(location prefer – MSQ to

Al Hail). Contact: 95694737

Finance & Accounts Indian male

35 years B.Com MBA (F) 7 years

experience tally ERP9 with valid

D/L family visa.

Contact: 93257426 / 95230114


Indian male B.Com with 1 year

experience in Oman as Account

having driving license seeks

suitable placement.

Contact: 93415880 Email:

[email protected]

Chartered Accountant with 1.5

years of experience looking for

job. Currently in Oman on visit

visa. Contact - 91520687 Email: [email protected]

Accounting Assistant, BBA, M.

Com (pursuing), tally, peach tree,

valid visa available.

Contact : 98269281

Indian male (25) B.com 6 years

experience in accountant seeking

suitable placement accountant,

admin, sales visit visa.

Contact: 98437731


Required SECRETARY ( FEMALE)

Preferably Omani (For Private

Trading Company Deals in to Oil

& Gas Equipments). Candidate

should be Graduate with 2 Years of

Experience (Preferred) & Fluent in

English with having strong written

Communication Skills and sound

knowledge of Computer. Inter-

ested Candidate may apply to :

[email protected]

OR Contact#: 99681448

Chinese / Arab/ Grill, cooks. Contact: 95529970

Wanted experienced English

speaking Continental Cook

for reputed house in Qurum.

Contact 99466062

20+ years experience Architect

M.B.A 10 years Muscat experience

(local transfer) looking for job

opportunity. Contact: 91709408 /

92981814

Finance & accounts 25 years Oman

experienced WHO can handle ac-

counts up to finalization job costing,

receivable payable age wise analy-

sis and timely followers with D/L &

NOC. Contact: 94070799

Indian Accountant well experi-

enced in construction accounts

(Financial and Cost) and also

administration and HR seek suit-

able placement (Full/Part time) in

Oman or UAE. Contact 98598099

Part time accounts qualified

experience accountant.

Contact: 91126314

Accountant / account assistant,

BBA, M.Com, Tally, Peach tree on

valid visa in Oman. #98269281

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com

Finance-Indian with 7 years expe-

rience in Finance & Accounts up to

finalization. Currently employed

in Oman. Having D/L & NOC.

Mob: 94122464,


28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com -

Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/

India experience looking for a

suitable placement. #90187483

[email protected]

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with

13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman in

manufacturing, trading & contract-

ing Cos, capable of handling all

accounting, finance, banking, L/C,

import, export & finalization seeks

placement. NOC Available.

Call+968-98932752,

mail:[email protected]

Financial Accounting Manager having working experience 24

years looking job in construction

or manufacturing companies 8

years working in Muscat expecting

family status with good compensa-

tion. Contact: 95919546.

Indian lady, bachelor degree in

Preparatory Programme (BPP) and

Bachelor of Commerce (BCom),

completed training course in MS

Word, Excel, Power Point and Out-

look from KTI looking for full time /

part time job opportunity in Oman.

Contact 92437568, 96795853,


Part-time accounting, tax report,

auditing & bank loan assistance.

Contact 91720465

Indian female, M.Tech electron-

ics 6.5 IELTS experience as VLSI /

Electronics project trainer & institute

administration currently in family

visa. Contact: 90195131 /24551290


Indian female Graduate 7 years as

Secretary Office Assistant Admin

seeks placement.

Contact: 99073789

Indian female PGDHRM MSW hav-

ing 5+ experience in HR Assistant

Administration customer support

good computer skill DOA, CIT Tally

now on family visit visa looking for

suitable position. Contact: 95352527

Indian female 25 years Graduates

in BBM (HR) currently on visit visa

looking for suitable job.

Contact: 92065248


young Omani male have experi-

ence 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 license . Looking

for H.R position or P.R.O part time

or full time. Contact: 95933288

Indian having more than 10

years experience (7 years in UAE)

as project secretary, document

controller, site administrator, site

store keeper on visit seek suitable

placement. Contact 92196001

14 years of Gulf experience in HR/

Admin & logistics fluent in Arabic

& English with D/L looking for

suitable position, NOC available.

Contact: 95824598

Indian male MBA- UK 18 yrs Gulf

exp in Administration/ HR & Public

relationship. Fluent in Arabic/

English with D/L. Looking for suit-

able position. Contact - 99897280

Filipino male with 13 years HR and

Administration managerial experi-

ence. MBA & CIPD holder. Currently

looking for job in Oman. Interested

employer pls call 97728418.

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 27 yrs with 5 yrs

HR /Admin experience seeking

suitable placement with valid

Oman driving license.

Contact: 98236033

Indian female, Masters in HR,

having 4 + years Oman experience

in media management and HR,

looking for openings in HR, Educa-

tion, Admin, Corporate communi-

cations. Contact 98252030

SITUATION VACANT(Omani Candidates only)

Required Store Keeper to manage an offi ce store

in Ghala

Minimum 5 years

experience handling stores

with working knowledge

of English

Send CV to [email protected]

Experienced Sales Man

for Al-Rawas Marble & Granite.Located at

Al Rusayl Industrial.

SALES / MARKETING Urgently required

Please forward your cv at oure mail :

[email protected]

Beauty expert required to work

in Salon in Al Amerat.

Contact : 93336061

FASHION DESIGNER specializing

in western attire and traditional

wear required for a Boutique in

Capital area. Female candidates

with 4 to 5 years experience in

GCC are advised to revert at

9321 8210 or [email protected]

Urgently required for a reputed

company in Oman (Tyre, Battery

& Lubricant division) Sr. Execu-tives/Executive-5 nos (Sohar,

Nizwa & Muscat), Techno Com-mercial Professional-5nos, Driver (Omani)-1no. Required minimum

3-5 yrs experience in the same

field with market exposure hold-

ing valid Omani driving license

or GCC. Kindly fwd your CV’s to

[email protected]

Contact: (+968)93891700

Furniture company urgently re-

quired : 2 Outdoor sales people, 1 Interior designer. Previous

experience in furniture field will

be an added advantage. Interested

candidates please send CV :

Email : [email protected]

Photographer lady with experi-

ence in Photoshop and editing

video. Visa available.

Contact 92073780

URGENTLY REQUIRED

Qualifi ed & experienced

male B.SC holder

CIVIL ENGINEER With 10 -15 years experience

for a Muscat based well known

construction company.

Email:

[email protected]

Fax: 24479675

Wanted Driver. Contact:

91025698

Urgent Requirement

SALES LADYFor Jewellery Showroom

1. Two years experience in sales.2. NOC is must.3. Arabic speaking advantage.

(Send CV with current picture)

Email:

[email protected]

Orthopedician, Nurses, Physiotherapist, Asst. Pharmacist, Gynecologists to work in a clinic at

sur. M/F, any nationality with MOH

license or prometric pass 60% and

above can apply to

[email protected]

Sales Ladies wanted for Ladies Boutique. Age: 20-35 yrs. Al

Khoudh. Call -91159905 Send CV

to [email protected]

Total 24 yrs exp. 15 years served Oman LLC SAOG, SAOC Con-

tracting, trading manufacturing

company as Finance Commercial

Manager looks after finance logis-

tics, procurement, ERP, oracle, tally

focus internal control implemen-

tation B.Com PGDBM, ICWA (Inter).

Contact: 91721545 / 95788723,


Indian male, MBA (finance),

1 year experience in Oman having

Oman D/L and NOC on visit visa

looking for a suitable job.

Contact 94109375

Indian Male Accountant 10yrs

Exp. in OMAN Retail & Furni-

ture Co. (Release Available)

GSM.92564955

Indian male MBA finance 12 years

experience in Oman as Accounts

/ Admin manger, seeks suitable

placement on visit visa. Can join

immediately. Contact: 96055815

Email:shaikhussain111@gmail.

com



DRIVER

DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

B.Tech Mechanical, Diploma in

industrial health and safety, NE-

BOSH (IGC) , working experience

4 years (Construction, oil and Gas) .

Contact: 94750413


Indian female (B.Tech/ Mechani-

cal Engineering) 4 yrs Oman ex-

perience in project coordination in

water, sewerage and infrastructure

sector , Having valid Omani D/L

seeking suitable placement.

Local release available.

Contact: 95297449

B.Tech Chartered Electrical

Engineer, AMIEI with 5 years of

experience in electrical power

transmission and distribution in

industrial, residential & com-

mercial sectors. Expertise in

load designing BOQ, Estimations,

transformer and switchgear

selections. Leadership skills in

project execution & management.

Contact: 94638744


Computer Network and Hardware

Engineer with driving license and

20 years of experience in Oman

looking for a suitable position.

Contact: 98388431


B. Sc Civil Engineer, having 27 yrs

Oman experience as Project Man-

ager, Structure Engineer looking

for suitable placement, consulting,

contracting co. NOC & local trans-

fer available. Contact : 99399578


Indian male 26 yrs BE- Me-chanical Engineering, CSWIP 3.1

certified welding inspector + ASNT

level in UT, RT, MPT, LPT with 3.5

yrs experience in QC Inspector-

Welding. Looking for a suitable job.

E-mail: [email protected]

Sri Lanka (BSC) quantity survey-or, having 3 years GCC experience

is looking for a suitable placement

1 such as QS/ Contract administra-

tor / estimator / project coordina-

tor has knowledge in Fidic and

construction standard available

in visit visa. Contact: 96301107

/94292198


Indian female Computer Science

Engineer having two years experi-

ence in teaching and programming

C .CCP Java VB HTML, Sql, Php

currently on visit visa seeks suit-

able placement. Contact: 91168733

Syrian Civil Engineer graduated

2012, 1 year experience in Oman.

Contact: 92967785

Aeronautical Engineer with MBA

in Operations Management having

4 yrs experience in reputed Avia-

tion & Oil Companies, now on visit.

Contact 91864047 / 92791625

B.E .Mechanical Engineer Indian

over 4 yrs of exp in HVAC design

auto cad drafting on visit visa .

Contact 90305596. Email:

[email protected]

7 years teaching experience in

Political Science at University

level, 5 years experience as Intel-

lectual property lawer 20 years

experience of Arabic / English visa

versa , translation / interpretation /

Editing , 20 years of experience in

management, Tri lingual (Arabic /

English / French)

Contact : 92175153

B.Tech Civil, 25 yrs female, 3 yrs

exp in qty survey have valid GCC

license. Contact: 91309475

Indian male 5 years experience in

piping (Site Engineer / Supervisor)

Indian and Oman (PDO Project) &

looking for suitable post currently

on visiting visa, NOC available.


[email protected]

Road and Construction Engineer with 5 years exp in Oman.

Contact: 97667113

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer fresh

graduate, on visit visa looking

for job, who has done certifica-

tion courses in quality control,

basic pipeline engineering, ASNT

NDT level ii , also good knowl-

edge in HVAC. Contact:94743373

email:[email protected]

Indian male Electrical Engineer with MBA (Mktg) having 4 and

half years experience in technical

commercial and marketing fields

with valid GCC D/L, NOC available

seeking placement.

Contact: + 968 96547828


Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) with

2 and half years experience Indian

male 24 years in visit visa. Contact:

96620482 / + 91 9605423272


B.Tech (IT) Indian Male 2 years

Oman experience in I.T & Network-

ing, holding Oman Driving License,

presently on employment visa,

seeks for a suitable placement.

Ready to join immediately. NOC

available. Contact: 92462578

Electrical & Instrumentation

Engineer, Gulf Experience,

3 Year, Immediately available.

Contact- 95691800


Civil Engineer 8 years experience

Structural buildings marine. Availa-

ble NOC release. Contact: 92451323.


Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp

seeks suitable position ina reputed

company. NOC available.

Contact – 96789711

Sudanese Civil Structure Engi-neer, 3 years experience with resi-

dence and Omani license, good at

AutoCAD Etabs Staad. Pro looking

for suitable job. Contact: 97906770

Civil Engineer 3 years diploma

holder having 7 years experience,

building construction & oil & gas

field with driving license.

Contact: 93294965

Mechatronics Engineer 26, MSc

with 3 years industrial experience,

looking for suitable placement.

NOC available. Contact 94887665


Electrical Engineer Indian (29) ,

7 years exp in Oman, 33KV, 11 KV

projects in MZEC & MEDC having

CEP 1 & NOC with D/L.

Contact: 99822373

Sr.HSE Engineer (B.E Mech+ Diplo-

ma Safety + NEBOSH+OSHA) over

10yrs. Exp, (Visa Release/Transfer

Letter (NOC) available),


Contact - 97061817, Email:

[email protected]

Highly experienced mechanical/

steel structural fabrication engi-

neer looking for suitable place-

ment. NOC available.

Contact: 99860714,

[email protected].

Networking Engineer having

10 years experience with 3 years

in Oman having valid driving li-

cense and NOC, presently in Oman

needs immediate placement.

Contact - 95783383

10 years experience in Dubai

& Bangladeshi as a BSC En-

gineer on structural designer

& construction having Dubai

municipality approval & driving

license. Contact: 91206763 Future

008801758846027 Email: engr.

[email protected]

Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) In-

dian male, with good knowledge in

HVAC on visit visa looking for suit-



HSE & Fire Safety Engineer

4 years experience air port opera-

tional safety, power & chemical

industry. Contact: 94374241

Electrical Engineer B.Tech with

4 yrs experience in India available

on visit visa looking for suitable

placement. Contact: 94741401


7 Yrs Exp. PM in Mech. Engg in

the field of Building Const. Oil &

Gas Seeking Job.94625598

Indian female civil engineer B.Tech

having 3 years experience sound

knowledge of software, REVIT STAD

PRO structural detailing currently

on family visa seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact: 95345591

Civil AutoCAD Draughts man 5 years experience on visit visa.


[email protected]

A lady entrepreneur with BF Tech

1st Class (Fashion Technology)

since 2006 in Kerala like to make

change for better. Specialized in

designing, Production

Management, Fashion Art,

Grading, Surface ornamentation,

Garment Construction.


Mobile: +919539397097.

Interior designer Indian male

with 4 years experience / 3Ds

Max, AutoCAD .Now on visit visa


Contact: 94886507


25 years male BA. English , Quali-

fied as mast in digital animation

having 5 yrs ex in character

animation specialized Auto Desk

mago and motion building

software knowledge,


Contact: 97917357

Indian male electrical engineer

having 3 yrs exp in industrial

electrical machine maintenance &

data center facilities management

looking for suitable placement (NOC

available). Contact :99381733


Indian male Diploma Civil En-

gineer have 1 yr. experience, on

visit visa looking for suitable job

(certificate attested).

Contact: 92667406 / 99210411,


Indian Male 23 years B.Tech

Civil having 2 years experience in

quantity survey and site manage-

ment looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact:- 95042656

Sudanese Telecom Engineer, 5 years experience, 3 years in

Oman PMP certificate.


[email protected]

Sudanese Structure Civil Engi-

neer 2 years experience resident

Omani license. Contact: 94393880

Civil Engineer / QS engineer,

9 years experience in Oman free-

lance visa, searching for a suitable

job in Oman. Contact: 97299165

Need job for experienced mason,

electrician & welder.

Contact: 93015630

Telecom Engineer and HSE

Advisor with 6 years experience

in Oman with PDO requirement,

fluent in Arabic and English with

valid driving license searching for

job. Contact: 96355678

16+ yrs of Techno commercial ex-

perience in ELV systems seeking

suitable position in mid manage-

ment level. Local release avail-

able. Contact: 98143907 Email:

[email protected]

M.Tech in Manufacturing Engi-

neering with 2 years of experi-

ence, on visiting visa looking for

a suitable job. Contact: 91417949


BE Mech specialization welding

technology 11 yrs quality cont

Engineer by Steel Cons EPL

Installation desalination plant

(Gulf). Contact: 96603299

Electrical Engineer: Indian male,

30 yrs having 5 yrs of experience

in industrial automation & utility

maintenance in India (MRF tyres),

holding valid Oman D/L.

Contact 92789995, email :

[email protected]

Instrument Engineer B.Tech

Indian male, 24 yrs, 1 yrs experi-

ence in reputed oil & gas compa-

nies, currently on visit visa, seeks

suitable job. Contact: 92007218


Civil Engineer 6 yrs Exp in Oman

with license. Contact: 98975518

Civil Engineer (Diploma) having

11 years experience in building

construction, looking for a suitable

placement , having Oman driving

license. Noc available.

Contact: 95075365


Civil Engineer diploma holder

having 7 years experience of Site

Engineer with valid Omani D/L



[email protected]

E

EDUCATION

Indian female masters in comput-

er science and Engineering B.Tech

in information technology , M.B.A

( Systems) 3 years experience

teaching in college , having good

knowledge in C++ , java oracle now

on visit visa looking for openings

in Educational institutions.

Contact: 91812419/96935426



in Oman as a project engineer for

governmental & private projects.

Contact – 90164912

Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian

male 24 years with 1+years Indian

experience,(Certified in Staad Pro/

Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).Look-

ing for a Suitable position. Avail-

able In Sultanate of Oman (Muscat)

on Visit Visa.

Contact: 92835952. E-mail:

[email protected]

Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience in

designing, assembling, commis-

sioning execution etc having valid

GCC license too looking for a suit-

able. Contact: 00968-98052942


Experienced Light Duty Driver,

Fluent in English, Arabic Well

knowledge of Oman Areas

Seeking Suitable placement

Contact 97950869

Bangladeshi driver want job.

Contact: 93822195

Looking for driver job with own

car, education, B.A, can speak

English, Arabic, Urdu & Hindi.

Contact: 96728056 / 98031620

Light driver looking for job expe-

rience in Oman 6 years & K.S.A 5

years’ education H.S.C.

Contact: 93940319

Omani male need driver job for

part time. Contact: 92296607

Light duty driver experience

4 years suitable job. Can speak

English, Arabic & Hindi.

Contact: 98393692

Driver with car looking for job or

part time. Contact: 96023492

Light driver need job knows

English, Hindi & Arabic.

Contact: 92820309

Light driver need job 4 years exp

English & Arabia speaking.

Contact: 94208089

Job for driving. Contact: 98982410

27 years, 1 year experience,

with D/L. Contact: 97369716

Indian young smart driver 5

years Oman exp speaking English

Arabic, Hindi looking for job.

Contact: 94524433

Light driver Ruwi.

Contact: 95779594

Pakistani male light driver 10 yrs

in UAE & 1 yr in Oman.

Contact: 93709393

Driver (light & heavy duty) valid

gulf /Indian) looking job.

Contact: 95175192

Driver with new car looking for

job.contact: 95873286

Light driver looking for job.

Contact: 95219183

Indian Electrical Engineer Btech,

female 24 seeking job, presently

in oman having 2 year experience

in design and estimation of Ht &Lt

projects. Contact 968 97436557,

Mail id : [email protected]

Electrical Engineer with 18 years

exp in UAE. Contact: 98148034


Diploma in Electronics, 2 years

exp in telecommunication.


telecommunicationvishnumadhull

@gmail.com

Civil Engineer (BE) having total

5 years experience in building

construction looking for a suitable

placement. D/L available

Contact# 94450270

Diploma in Mechanical Eng piping system in AutoCAD work,

21+ years experience with Driving



Mechanical Engineer M.Tech

2 years experience HVAC design

& site Engg revit MEP Auto CAD.


[email protected]

Bachelor Civil Engineer 6 Years

in Oman experience Valid Driving

License seeks suitable placement

Phone 97619722

Email – [email protected]

Mechanical Engineer with 3 Yrs

experience in international Oil

& Gas company looking for job

Contacts: Tel: 90164236 Email:

[email protected]

Sudanese Architectural Engineer

2 years experience in Oman, Revit,

AutoCAD 3Ds max Archicad look-

ing for suitable job.

Contact: 94722356


Sri Lankan Engineer (27 Years

old) – B.Sc Engineering (Hon)

Mining / Geotechnical Presently

in Muscat, 1.5 years experience.

Contact 91295802 /

[email protected]

Indian female, 31 yrs, 7 yrs expe-

rienced as AutoCAD civil drafts-

man (2 yrs experience in Oman)

currently in Oman seeks suitable.

Contact 96789441


HOSPITALITY

Indian male B.A Degree & diploma

in hotel management with 16

years experience as restaurant &

catering manager in Oman & Saudi

with V/L Oman D/L seeks suitable


Hospitality/Hotel/ Restaurants

Dynamic result oriented hospital-

ity professional with 20 years of

international exp. MBA in Hotel

Management, specializing in

Hotel/Restaurant start ups, con-

cepts & Franchise development

with proven records. Seeking for

Challenging positions in reputed

groups as GM/COO/CEO/Business

Head. (NOC available) #96059470

Senior Management

Executive With over 18 years of

experience in Retail,

Distribution, FMCG &

Electronics across GCC markets

seeks GM / VP / Vertical Head

position for Group Companies

Management and P&L deliveries.

Contact +968 9791 2950

[email protected]


in construction having driving

license & NOC. Contact: 94194399


Mechanical Engineer male 26 yrs,

with 4 yrs of experience in manu-

facturing oil & gas retail, brand pro-

moting, marketing, logistics having

valid Omani D/L seeking for a suit-



Indian male, Mechanical

Engineer having 1year experi-

ence, on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact:97416564,

Email:[email protected]

Procurement Engineer (27 years

single male with Oman Driving Li-

cense) having 7 years experience

(UAE 2, Oman 3) with expertise in

MEP, Water, Electromechanical,

Instrumentation seeking suitable

placements. Contact 95852033,


IT

A young CA (ACA & ACCA qualified)

with 4 years experience in one of top

audit firms in UK & KSA seeks suit-

able placement in Oman. Contact:

Kamran [email protected],

+44 7480 1196 74/ +968 93595050

Indian male B.E ECE 25 yrs with

2 years experience in Networking

MCITP CISCO certified AutoCAD

searching for suitable placement.

Contact: 90189537

Indian female MCA Graduate,

holding valid driving license seek-

ing suitable placement.

Contact: 99466062

Hardware & networking, 2 years

exp. Contact: 96244031

Indian female (30 yrs) , BCA ,

MCA,ASP NET certification, SAP

ABAP certification 2 yrs experi-

ence, seeking placement family

visa. Contact: 99109121 Email:

[email protected]

SAP consultant with experience in

SD, MM & PM on visit visa in Oman

searching for job.

Contact 92824632

Indian male 26 years with BBA,

tally and hard ware networking,

having 3 years of experience as

an accountant, seeking for suitable


5yrs experience in software

and 1yr in admin, looking for a

part-time or work from home jobs

Contact: 91711326

Indian male (28) MCA 6 yrs ex-

perienced Oracle 10g, 6I, PL / SQL

forms / reports seeking job in IT

sector now on visit visa.

Contact 91475059


Sudanese Network Administra-

tor 1 year experience with (MCSA,

CCNA, CCNP) have valid driving


Network Engineer degree Com-

puter Science CCNA, MCSA experi-

ence NOC. Content: 92346191

Indian male 26 years BSC IT with

4 years experience currently on

visit visa looking for IT support

job knowledge of networking,

programming languages, windows

/ Linux environment.

Contact: +968 95369856 /

24781651 Email:

[email protected]

Dynamics AX 2009 / 2012 R2/

R3 Microsoft certified professional

MCA & BCA Having 15 yrs of total

exp & 6 yrs of relevant exp seeking

for suitable position. NOC is avail-

able. Contact: 93469493


Indian Male, IT System Engineer

having 4 yrs of experience in sys-

tem administration.CCNA,MCSE,

Linux. Looking for suitable job.

Contact :91272867

10 years Oman experience ICT

Sector, capable of handling large

accounts, looking for suitable

Senior Executive position.

Contact: 98987654

MEDICAL

Male Indian Dentist BDS with 9

years experience, prometric exam

cleared, looking for job.

Contact 97768187/

[email protected].

Indian female BDS with MOH

license looking for job.

Contact 95347894

Female Ayurvedic therapist.

Contact: 97263637 Male nurse MOH licensed having

NOC completed BLS, ACLS total

6 yrs exp seeking suitable job,

join at anytime .

Contact : 91322744

An experienced Sudanese female Dentist with MOH license look-

ing for job. Contact 96436517

/97396088

DAILY GUIDED6 W E D N E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

LOGISTICS

Indian having PG diploma Logis-

tics and shipping management 3

years experience as Warehouse

Executive experience in logistics,

purchase and store.

Contact: 98473905

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS


MANAGER

Indian Female, 24 Years - MSc

Biotechnology. Worked in Inter-

national Crops Research Institute

For The Semi Arid Tropics for pro-

ject work as trainee. Looking for

suitable job. Mobile: 92619048,


MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male 32, MBA (Marketing &

Finance) with 10 years experience

in Marketing of Banking Products

& Insurance Industry. Seeking for

a Job in Oman. Contact: 93576980,

97750460


Indian sales marketing professional

highly experienced in business

development in ME India and Africa

seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 97897611

Indian male, Graduate, 9 yrs expe-

rience in FMCG – UAE, valid GCC

driving license on visit seeks suit-

able position. Contact 92419491 /

94881950,


Indian male, BBM, MBA, having 3

years experience in Sales looking

for suitable job. Contact: 92796046

Indian male B.Sc Chemistry Grad-

uate 6 years experience in India

seeking suitable placement willing

to work in any field currently on

visiting visa. Contact: 94855667 /

92255983

BBA graduate /Valid Omani li-

cense/2 year experience/ Preferred

role Marketing / Sales / Business

development Executive.

Contact-94122944,

[email protected]

Sales & Marketing Executive MBA

with 3 years experience in sales


Contact: 91345727.

Indian male 22 BBA Graduate one

year experience in Oman with val-

id Oman driving license looking for

a placement. Contact: 96357787

A dynamic professional, Female,

with 8 years of experience in

PURCHASE,SALES COORDINATION

,OFFICE ASSISTANT, residing in

Oman with valid NOC from current

company,looking for a suitable job,

Ready to join Immediately”.

Contact:[email protected]

Phone:- 94157662

South Indian hold 12 years Omani

residency – B.E, MBA, PGDM, MCIM,

result oriented self starter - Techno

commercial Executive 15 years core

experience in business develop-

ment/ marketing oil & gas (all

streams) & manufacturing. seek-

ing suitable placement. Contact

99277816/ [email protected]

B.Sc Graduate with 4.4 years work

experience in Sales, Marketing and

Business Development looking for a

job. Currently in Oman and ready to

join immediately.

Contact : 00968-95096284

Looking for immediate sales and

marketing 3 years GCC experience

with valid driving license now on

visit visa till Feb 12.

Contact: 99642611

Email: [email protected] Pakistani male three years experi-

ence in Oman speaks excellent

English, earlier worked as English

speaking tourist guide.

Contact : 99120956

B.Tech Electronics Indian male

experience in Technical & market-

ing 2 years Oman driving license.

Contact: 98627362 , email :

[email protected]

A dynamic professional, female,

with 8 years of experience in PUR-

CHASE, SALES COORDINATION ,

OFFICE ASSISTANT, residing in

Oman with valid NOC from current

company, looking for a suitable

job, Ready to join Immediately.

Contact:- [email protected],

Phone:- 94157662

Indian male 26, with more than

4 years experience in Sales and

Marketing having valid GCC

license on visit visa seeks suitable

position. Contact: 92423161

Indian male Sales Engineer 18

years experience (pneumatics,

electric, air compressor, garage

equipments etc) including 5 years

Gulf experience currently employed

in Oman with D/L looking for suit-

able position, NOC available.

Contact 94425942 Email:

[email protected]

MBA Indian male 2.5 yrs exp

in marketing & sales presently

on visit visa seeking immediate

placement. contact :91725539.


Indian marketing & sales profes-

sional for automobile, hotel &

retail with over 7 years experience

Indian & us on visit & seeking

change/ suitable placement.

Contact: 99454425


27 years old male MBA Gradu-

ate having 1.5 years experience

in Marketing seeking for good

opportunities in sales & marketing.

Contact: 90572132


MBA Graduate (Indian) 2 years

experience in Auto sales & mar-

keting looking for suitable job in

automatic industry.

Contact: 94676974


Indian 15 yrs Marketing exp with

visa D/L looking for senior job.

Contact: 90390862

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fitter

gulf & Indian exp looking job.

Contact: 95175192

TECHNICIAN /MECH.

TOURS/TRAVELS

Instrumentation & controls Technician with 2-3 years

experience preferably in water

sector and having valid driving

license call Ph:+968 99450811

Send CV to [email protected]

MBA graduate having 6 years exp

in Sales & Marketing, 4 years with

PEPSI, India, having international

driving license permit seeks suitable

placement. Cont : 95308167,


Assistant Purchase Manager expe-

rience 9 years at Oman in Construc-

tion Company skills driving license.

Contact: 98894178


Indian male, MBA Marketing

having 2.5 years Sales experience

immediately looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 91415145,


Sales Coordinator, BBA MBA

(pursuing) tally on valid visa in

Oman. Contact : 98269281

5 years experience in Sales

currently looking for a placement.

Contact: 93458869

30 yr old experienced available

with NOC & Oman driving license

6+years experience in chemicals

Industry. Contact: 96675065

B.Com male 2 yrs experience in

sales Computer knowledge,


Contact: 98371144


Procurement Manager / Commer-

cial Manager / G.M Indian male

having 26 years of experience in

Import, procurement, logistics,

Commercial activities,

Warehousing, TRD & Sales.

Contact: 90502724


Indian female having 17 years of

Dubai work experience in Business

Process Management & Quality As-

surance (ISO 9001) is looking for

job in Muscat (Full time/Part time/

Consultant). Experienced in devel-

oping, training & implementation

of business process documenta-

tion, leading the organization

to ISO 9001 certification, Qual-

ity Audits and Business process

improvements & controls. Contact:

97903127. Email : ravichandran.

[email protected]

25 years experienced Supervi-

sor in plumbing & firefighting

available, NOC & driving license.

Contact: 95703680

The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years

Inside and outside Oman following

activities: tenders& real estate&

construction & marketing projects&

investments & transportation & Ma-

rine services& companies manage-

ment& develop business.

Contact :- 92385033

The Business Development Man-

ager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years

Inside and outside Oman follow-

ing activities: construction(Very

strong and qualified to bringing

business for civil work Or any

type of the construction work for

many million per year with a good

experience in pricing and collect

payment and cash management of

the company & marketing projects

& investments& tenders & real

estate. Contact 92385033

Indian male, with experience in

operations management, informa-

tion security, purchase & stores

mgmt, hold UAE driving license,

on visit visa, seeks suitable job.

Contact 91904541


MBA (marketing) with 17 years

experience in freight forwarding/

logistics industry in GCC & Oman.

Presently working as branch

manager in Muscat. Looking for a

suitable position. Release and NOC

available. Contact: 99856331

Sri Lankan (male) having 14 years

experience as a Store keeper in

an imports exports firm, looking

for suitable position presently in

Muscat. NOC available.

Contact: 91494225


Filipina lady very urgently look-

ing job only in boutique, release

available ready to join immediately.

Contact: 97122152 / 91240759

Looking for job with car education

O level exp 6 yrs English, Arabic &

Hindi. Contact : 99640986

Indian male having experience

more than 13 yrs, 4 years in Oman

as Store keeper, Procurement in

reputed company looking suitable

placement release available.


[email protected]

Female business graduate from

UK with four years corporate Ex-

perience in procurement purchas-

ing expediting logistics and sup-

ply chains in UAE Seeks suitable


22, Indian BBA graduate, 1 year

experience, presently on visit visa,


Contact 91881053

Highly experienced mechanical/

steel structural fabrication engineer

looking for suitable placement. NOC

available. Contact: 99860714,

[email protected].

Purchase Executive Professional,

Indian male having 6 Years of

Experience in Oman Having Valid

Driving Licence working as a Pur-

chase officer, Looking for a suitable

Position, NOC/LR Available.

Contact: 95132564/96456071,


B.TEC ( IT) . 24 years, 2 Years of

experience in technical support,

software development, networking,

troubleshooting and managing.

seek suitable placement.

Contact GSM- 98184170

Part- Time Accountant, well expe-

rience senior accountant ,doing all

type of accounting works, Finaliza-

tion, Budgeting available.

Contact 98803439

B.Com 5yrs experience good

command on tally, Excel sheet on

family visa. Contact: 98002428


SALES / MARKETING

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, sitting

room, hall, kitchen with parking

space for rent in Mawalah, behind

City Centre. Contact 93930352

Fully furnished room with at-

tached bath for Executive bachelor

behind Al Meera Hyper market,

Azaiba 150/- R.O.

Contact: 99455735

Spacious room semi furnished with

attached bath near Ruwi rounda-

bout. Contact: 96612979

Ghubra. Beautiful Room. Indian

Lady/Couple/Bachelor. Non-cook-

ing, Vegetarians. Contact 99283938

Accommodation available at

Hamriya roundabout for executive

bachelors (no kitchen, furniture

and A/C) including water and elec-

tricity RO 130. Contact 98145825,

98949724.

Spacious semi furnished room

with separate bathroom for execu-

tive bachelor opposite OC centre

Ruwi. Call: 92273779

Single bedroom flat behind

German Embassy, near Al Nahdha

Hospital. Contact 99203954 Room available in Mumtaz area 1

room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen &

1 room, common bathroom.

Interested please

Contact: 92680041 Mr. Altaf

Room for rent with furniture.

Al Bustan villeage. # 93687466

2 rooms, toilet in Al Khuwair pref-

erable for Indian couple or working

woman rent R.O 190/- only include

Ele & water. Contact: 99546410

Room , B/Room & Kitchen for

Executive in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99336206

Furnished room available for

executive bachelor in Ruwi area.

Contact: 99054542

Furnished room available with

attached bath & balcony near MBD.

Contact: 97636432

Room available for executive

bachelor in MBD with kitchen on

sharing basis. Contact: 96332793

New 1BHK fully furnished for

R.O 275/- at Wadi Kabir near

Al Hassan. Contact: 92577929

Hail Independent rooms RO 140/-

& 160/-. Contact 95529970

Electronics service Technician , 4 Years experience as Electronics

service engineer. Knowledge in all

type of Electronics items. Looking

for suitable placement.

GSM- 99105043

Searching a land surveyor job

fully know latest instrument of

Survey GPS and Total station two

year OMAN experience.NOC Avail-

able. Contact +96894144052,

Email- wasifnaz [email protected]

Indian male experienced material

segregation with D/L seeks suita-

ble placement. Contact: 92715032

Email: santhoshgeorge99@gmail.

com

Indian male 26 years (MBA Fi-

nance) seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 92715032


D.M.E, Indian, 12 yrs experience in

Oman, in Project Estimation, Execu-

tion, Quality & marketing working

as Estimation Engineer in acid &

water tanker, semi trailor company,

with havin driving license & will get

NOC, seeks suitable job in Oman.

Contact 98968495.

Indian male, 26 years, With 7 years

of experience in Sales Field in ship-

ping company in “Dubai” , looking

for suitable placement. Experienced

working in safety Marine equip-

ment and well versed with MS

Office. Contact: 90182494,

[email protected]

Senior Accountant Indian male

35 Years with 13 Years of Ex-

perience (7 years in Oman) in

Accounts & Finance having valid

Omani Driving License. Looking

for job in GCC Countries.

Contact: 96001918

Indian male 34 Yrs., Dual MBA

Finance and marketing With

IT skills, 7+ yrs. of experience,


Contact: 94879615, Email-

[email protected]

Indian male 26, on vist visa, 2+

yrs of experience with UAE D/L,

IATA-FIATA,BBA looking for any

suitable job. Contact 91324567

FOR SALE

Excavation contracts worth RO 2

million + Big Volvo Excavators &

2015 Astra 5 tippers for sale.

Contact: 99120532 / 98867530

Dialysis Machine(DBO7) - Available

10 Units for Sale .

Contact : 94306662 or


Villas in Al Khoud. Contact -

95056808-97201688

Luxury Apartments in Bousher

(35). Contact - 95056808-

97201688

Beauty parlor for sale in good

condition at Ghubra.

Contact: 98178135

Master Chef restaurant Al Hail for

sale 8 visas clearance available.

Contact: 91205000

3Ton Forklift, Special made for

Oman market, Japanese Isuze

C240 Engine, Cascade side shifter,

High amount exhaust, 3m lifting

height, Solid tyres, One year war-

ranty. Contact: 98883445

10 years experience in Oman in

logistics / purchase have Oman

D/L looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact- 96410767


Purchaser, experience 9.5 years

in Oman, Indian male, Driving

License available with own car.

Currently working with ARDISEIS

Oman Branch (Seismic work for

PDO Oman) as a purchaser. Han-

dling all type purchase, logistic,

petty cash, stock, dispatch. Work-

ing with SAP application. Educa-

tional qualification - Post Graduate

in MA (Economics) Salary – Nego-

tiable seeks suitable Placement.

Contact 99458569 Email :

[email protected].

Indian female on visit MBA

(International Business- Market-

ing & Logistics), BE (Computers &

Science Engg.) Trained in SAP-BI/

BW with 1 year experience

seeking for job Contact: 90228586

Email:[email protected]

Graduate, computer literate, expe-

rienced in sales, credit control, ac-

counts, Omani D/L , seeks suitable

placement. Gsm 98805474

Furnished room at Hilat Al Saad

with TV, AC, fridge near main road.

Contact : 95714202

Couple or bachelor room in

Wadi Kabir. Contact: 91165580 /

95264549

Semi furnished spacious room

with attached washroom separate

entrance near Indian school

Al Ghobrah for non cooking

Executive Indian bachelor.

Contact: 95146361/92657598

Furnished room with a/bathroom

in Al Khuwair33 for Indian Execu-

tive. Call: 95234062

Room available Walja.

Contact : 95382651 / 95382650

Spacious semi furnished room

with separate bathroom for execu-

tive bachelor opposite OC centre

Ruwi. Call: 92273779

Furnished room & bath Darsait

R.O 140/-. Contact: 93289652

Single room for expat Indian

bachelors near Al Aktham restau-

rant Al khuwair for RO 120.

Water and electricity included.

Contact 98803261

Furnished room in new building for

working Muslim lady/

Muslim couple only. Location AINT,

Darsait. Contact - 99008069


TOURS

TOURS

RENT A CAR

Car available with driver on

daily rent and Monthly. Contact:

96728065 / 98031620

25 - 50 seater bus with PDO & BP

specification for monthly rent &

small car with driver.

Contact: 99839898

SITUATION WANT-ED

TOURS

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

TRANSPORTATION

We need transport from Mabella

to Mawalleh for student &

employee. Contact: 92757673

Transportation.Contact: 99099714

Transportation Al Khuwair.

Contact: 92711421

Transportation. Contact: 91310107

Transportation available Ruwi to

Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909

Transportation. Contact:99664703

Transportation. Contact

96173326

Transportation. Contact

94510847

Transportation taxi mini bus.

Contact: 93091106

Transportation Contact:

99077395

DRIVING

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with

Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours contact 98029602,

92808636

We arrange tours & accommoda-

tion at all the beautiful places in

Oman. Contact 99839898

Plot for sale Shadnagar Munici-

pality, Mahboob Nagar District,

walk able distance to existing

colonies, national highway and ba-

sic amenities at reasonable price.

Contact – 0091 8686631669

One bedroom flat in Guruvayoor

Kerala, 2 minutes walk to Guruvay-

oor temple direct owner.

Contact: 00968 99466800

3 bedroom flat for sale Kerala,

EKM, Palarivattom. Contact: 00968

95993089/ 0091 9446845999/

0091 4842422700 Jimmy

Plot, propeties for sale in

prime location in pune Contact

95272138, (+918390982975)

NRI

GOOD NEWS

MATRIMONIAL

Menon / Nair boy 30 years, look-

ing for a girl, preferred from Otta-

palam area. Contact: 99505473

Hindu nair age 64,

looking for a suitable girl.

Contact: 0091 755900189

Nair boy 27 years Keralite work-

ing in Canada looking for qualified

girl. Contact: 99361442

SITUATION WANT-ED

BUSINESS

An Investing partner needed

for a printing press.

Contact 99498949

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments

& massage, Ayurvedic clinic at

AL Khuwair. Contact: 24478618 /

97263637 / 93309131

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know

more about Islam, please call:

99425598, 99250777, 99353988,

99253818, 99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723 Orvisit:www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for back-

ache, paralysis, arthritis etc &

massage, All Season (Vaidyarat-

nam).# 24475280 / 95371664 /

92504980 www.siddhayur.com

MV SALE

Rav4 ,2015,38000 km No.2 O.R

8200. Contact : 96474787

Hummer H2 model 2006, 178000

km, Full options Number 1 Army

edition.OMR 7200. #-99466773

Chaverlet Epica 2004 model

RO -700, for sale. Contact 92194205

BMW 318/ 2003 for sale.

Contact 96364990 WANTED

BUYING

FOR HIRE

FOR HIRE

Bobcat available for rent.

Contact 97623299

IELTS Coaching (academic)

required nearby wadi Kabir area.

Please call on mobile or msg on

Whats up.

Mobile no: 92927880/99012165

Buying cars for cash.

Contact: 90202090

Silver car, car rental at good rate.

Contact: 96166155/93530540

Low bed Trailer (PDO – SPC)

available monthly /

daily for Rent.

Contact: 96633970

D8 W E D N E S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 7, 2 0 1 6

DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SITUATION WANT-LOSTWater proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

For wooden Aluminum door, windows. Contact:

98796982

Pest Control Treatments. Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723

Cleaning & Carpet Shampooing, Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723

Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont

Maintenance services electric,

plumbing and A/C.

Contact: 96524904 / 94285064

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble.Contact 24793614/

99314807

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

Split & window A/c servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089 /

95323517

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

SITUATION WANTEDEDUCATION/CLASSES/TRAINING/COMPUTER/WEBSITE

Classes for Spoken EnglishTOEFL / GRE / GMAT / SAT

Excellent Guidance and Coaching Satisfaction Guaranteed

IELTS PREPARATION Target Band 8.0

EAGLES INSTITUTE92325542 | 93657915 | 93657917 | Email: [email protected]

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

Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English

class for Malayalam Speakers in Azaiba and Ruwi

earn in two monthstion guaranteed

Tel: 95244310

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

M

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-

ing, 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,


FURNITURE SHIFTING

Maintenance, Dismantling, Packing,

Shifting & Fixing furniture

with expert technicians.

Contact: 99041337

Uddin Rahel has lost Bangladeshi

Passport No. AB 5350053.

Finder please handover to ROP

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

A/C maintenance & servicing,

fridge, washing machine & dish

washer repairing, painting & clean-

ing services, electrical & plumbing.

Contact: 99447257 / 97014234 /

24504281

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-ter-

mite treatment, general cleaning

painting,Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir

Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. Contact:

24810137, 99450130

times of oman - january 27, 2015

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