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SHELTER FROM THE STORM OF ABUSE FOR WOMENFAHAD AL GHADANIREJIMON Kfahadnews@timesofoman.comreji@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: A shelter for women who suff er from physical abuse has been opened by the Ministry of Social Development amid reports that assaults are on the rise. A reliable source at the ministry confi rmed that the hostel has been opened but will shelter only national females and expatriate women married to Omani nationals.

It comes after repeated calls for help from women suff ering abuse, said Shu-koor Al Ghamri, former president of Omani Women Association, who vowed that solving the issue of

violence against women in Oman was one of the priori-ties of the association.

“The association had pro-posed the idea unoffi cially to establish a temporary hostel for abused women since we were getting more and more complaints of abuse. The request had gone to the Min-istry of Social Development long ago,” said Al Ghamri.

She explained that the ministry had not initially approved the idea of such a hostel as it believed that such a project would have to address the issue of security and offi cial control.

“The ministry had pointed out that husbands could break into the hostel to take away their wives even by force,” said Al Ghamri.

She also said that the hostel idea was not wel-comed by the public as they felt it would be equivalent to allowing the association to interfere in the family’s private issues. > A6

With cases of

domestic violence

against women

on the rise, the

Ministry of Social

Development has

opened a facility

for abused women

His Majesty receives thanks >A6

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of condolences to His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, on the death of Sheikh Ali Sabah Al Sa-bah Saud Al Sabah.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere condolences and sympathy to the Emir of Kuwait and Al Sabah rul-ing family, praying to Allah to rest the deceased’s soul in peace and grant his family patience. -ONA

K U W A I T

Persons of Indian Origin to get life-long visasREJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) can enjoy the same privileges as Overseas Citizen-ship of India (OCI) from now on as the Indian government has promulgated an ordinance that seeks to merge the PIO and OCI schemes.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has signed the Citi-zenship Ordinance, which will now provide benefi ts like life-long visas to the PIOs and exemp-tion from appearing before the local police station on each visit to the country.

“It is an excellent move. So far, PIO card holders had to renew their cards every 15 years and had to register with local police sta-tions in India if they stayed there for more than 180 days. These

conditions are not needed for an OCI card holder. So, by merging both, we can also have the same benefi ts as the OCI card holder,” Dr C. Thomas, the pioneering plastic surgeon in Oman and an Omani resident of Indian Ori-gin, for the last 40 years, told the Times of Oman.

“PIOs have played a vital role in the development of India and they are still doing it. So, by merging it, India can have more opportunities to get more contri-butions from PIOs,” said Thomas who was awarded the “Order of Oman” Civil Service Award and was granted Omani citizenship by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in 1991. Until now, a PIO card holder was required to go to the local police station to regis-ter after continuous stay of more than 180 days. >A6 Parakh gets top award>A4

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

OMAN67 illegals arrested

1The police arrested 67 illegal persons of Asian nationalities from several

wilayats. >A3

OMAN2015 Muscat Festival

2Festival-goers at the 2015 Muscat Festival will have more reasons

to cheer. >A6

MARKETIran for transit corridor

3Iran said it would welcome joint investment with Oman

for the transit corridor. >B1

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

Omani female students better than males in honing skillsREJIMON K reji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Omani female stu-dents are far ahead of their male counterparts in learning and acquiring skills, an English Lan-guage Teaching (ELT) consultant, said on Wednesday.

“Female students are less dis-tracted when compared to their male counterparts, which enables them to acquire learning skills and do well in their studies and jobs. Omani male students have to focus more to be on par with their female counterparts,” Rich-ard Harrison, an ELT author, lec-turer and teacher trainer based in Oman and also London, told Times of Oman.

Richard was speaking exclu-sively to Times of Oman on the sidelines of the fi rst ELT profes-sional development symposium held at Higher College of Technol-ogy. “Omani students are doing well in learning English and other educational skills when com-

pared to the past. However, a lot has still to be improved to make them competitive in the global job market. Improvisation in the cur-riculum focused on quality can bring in results,” noted Richard.

Ghada Sarhan, chair of the symposium, said that only good teachers can groom good stu-dents. “We want our students to

excel. So, to groom them we fi rst need to develop our teachers’ skills. This is the fi rst step of that mission,” said Sarhan.

Around 200 participants at-tended the symposium and 25 dif-ferent workshops.

Eff ective and helpfulMeanwhile, Muayad Abdul Jabar Al Khuri, an English teacher and symposium participant, said that these workshops are quite eff ec-tive and helpful.

“It is a great experience to learn from experts,” Muayad said, add-ing that Arab students should perfect the basics of English lan-guage. The theme of the sympo-sium centred on “Notions of Good Teaching in ELT Classrooms”.

L E S S D I S T R A C T E D

Richard Harrison, an ELT

author, lecturer and teacher

trainer based in Oman.

His Majesty sends condolences

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OMANT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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German honour for Sheikh Salmi

Times News Service

MUSCAT: In a well-attended cer-emony on the Halban Campus of the German University GUTech, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed Al

Salmi, Minister of Endowments and Religious Aff airs, received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The highest German decoration was bestowed on him by Presi-dent of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, for out-standing services to Germany and German-Omani relations.

German Ambassador Hans-Christian Freiherr von Reibnitz, while lauding Sheikh Abdullah Al Salmi for the initiative, advice and continued support to GUTech in Muscat said, “Actions speak louder than words and Sheikh Abdullah Al Salmi has acted.”

Turning to the minister he add-ed, “You are truly living the value

of tolerance as minister of your country but also as a friend of Ger-many and a human being!”

In his reply, Sheikh Abdullah Al Salmi, while warmly thanking the Federal Republic of Germany for the honour said, “I hope we shall continue to work together as a shining example of excellent hu-man relations and for the future progress of knowledge and science in our societies and nations.”

Among the 200 guests attending the ceremony were His Highness Sayyid Haitham Al Said, Minis-ter of Heritage and Culture, Yusuf bin Alawi, Minister for Foreign Aff airs, Dr Rawiah Al Busaidiyah, Minister of Higher Education, and members of the Majlis Al Shura and the State Council.

The decoration was

bestowed by the

President of the

Federal Republic

of Germany

Colder weekend likely Times News Service

MUSCAT: A snowstorm called ‘Huda’ that has hit several parts of the Middle East will not have any impact in Oman, according to the Directorate General of Meteorolo-gy and Air Navigation (DGMAN), which monitors weather condi-tions in Oman. DGMAN said that Oman gets aff ected with north easterly winds, which generally blow from Iran. “Since it is blow-

ing over Lebanon, Palestine, Jor-dan, it is not likely to aff ect Oman. But things will become clear in the next 24 to 48 hours,” the of-fi cial said. The offi cial, however, said some parts of Oman may wit-ness a slight drop in temperatures because of the snowstorm in the weekend. “Cold temperatures will be accompanied by strong winds may reach some GCC countries by Thursday so temperatures can drop,” the offi cial said.

W E A T H E R R E P O R T

67 illegals deportedTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Sixty-seven illegals of diff erent Asian nationalities were arrested from diff erent wilayats by the police in coordi-nation with military and other security units, according to a re-liable source at the Royal Oman Police (ROP).

Forty other people who en-

tered the Sultanate illegally were deported last week.

The ROP source warned resi-dents and citizens against har-bouring illegals or recruiting them as this constitutes a breach of law and can have serious im-plications. He also called on them to report such cases either at the nearest police station or by call-ing the emergency number 9999.

R O P R E P O R T

OMAN-GERMANY BROTHERHOOD: Among the 200 guests attending the ceremony were His Highness

Sayyid Haitham Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture, Yusuf bin Alawi, Minister for Foreign Aff airs,

and Dr Rawiah Al Busaidiyah, Minister of Higher Education.–Supplied photo

A4 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

OMAN OMR225 mwas the total quantum of Oman-Iran

trade in 2012, which increased to about

OMR340 million (about $1billion) in 2013

Gordot’s melody set to rock ROHM

SARAH MACDONALDsarah@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Melody Gardot strolls into the lobby of the Grand Hyatt in loose, fl owing pants, a delicately embroidered white cotton shirt, dark glasses and her brown hair covered by a light scarf, a little grimy from a night in the desert, looking more like a radiant gypsy than a jazz star.

Gardot, 29, is one of the top contemporary jazz singers, and whether you are a jazz fan or not, the American songstress’s concert tonight at the Royal Opera House Muscat will be well worth check-ing out. It’s not just her music, with her smoky, seductive voice and soulful, romantic lyrics, that will enchant you, but her global spirit.

A self-described “citizen of the world,” both Gardot and her music are borderless, and her songs have been infl uenced by her travels. Her third album, The Absence, which

came out in 2012, was largely inspired by her travels in South America, Morocco and Portugal. The fl avours of fl amenco, Bossa nova and Fado spice up the album, giving it a Latin warm.

“We live in a time now, baby, where you can’t put a frontier on where music stops and where mu-sic begins. It’s a technological age where in a heartbeat you can get music from Ethiopia, music from 50 years ago, music from a coun-try maybe you never visited, or you could take a two-hour trip while you’re visiting Oman to do a gig and fi nd out what the real music is like,” Gardot told Times of Oman, adding that she was delighted to listen to live Omani and Moroccan music at the desert camp where she spent the night.

She says both the Omani melo-dies she heard and its landscape were rich with inspiration, too. From the birds and the breeze to the views from the highway, there

were songs and stories being told.“Just going through the desert

you see the shapes of the moun-tains and you can see songs in the lines. Even some of the electricity wires that go from the side of the road to the smaller villages have fi ve lines so you’re thinking of mu-sic. Landscape gives a great por-

trait for music,” Gardot refl ects.The stories she has heard about

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, and what he has done for his people, have also touched her deeply. She says his respectful care for the Sultanate should be used as examples by other leaders.

“It was so refreshing and it made

me feel like, ok, here’s a place that the rest of the world could prob-ably learn from in some facet,” she notes.

Born in New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, Gardot started playing the piano when she was nine-years-old and it didn’t take her long before she began impro-vising and bringing her own spirit to the music, perhaps a sign she was destined to be a jazz musician.

Tragic accidentBut her journey to becoming a jazz star wasn’t an easy one. At the age of 19 Gardot was riding her bike when she was hit by a Jeep, dam-aging her pelvis, spine and caus-ing memory loss and making her sensitive to light, which accounts for the dark glasses she always wears. When one of her doctors heard that she used to play the pi-ano and sing before the accident, he recommended music as a form of therapy.

She started playing the guitar from her bed and was soon com-posing her own gentle jazz songs. What started out as therapy soon became songs that were played on local radio stations, followed by her debut album, My Worrisome Heart, which came out in 2008. Her best-selling sophomore al-bum, My One and Only Thrill, fol-

lowed in 2009, establishing Gardot as one of the fi nest jazz voices.

Now she is fi nally sharing her talent with Oman, and in a con-cert that will be a special one for her personally. For the fi rst time since her accident, she will per-form without her cane, which she has been using for years to help her walk. She says in the past year her health has improved greatly.

“I can’t run or do a lot of the things people my age do...but this is my fi rst trip without my cane. I fi g-ured if there was ever a time to try it without my cane, it was here in Oman, and I plan to take the stage for the very fi rst time without my cane,” Gardot says, smiling at the thought.

As a performer Gardot says wants her music to evoke emo-tions in those who hear it, whether it’s sadness, contemplation, peace or joy, emotions which she can share with them. Each of Gardot’s albums, in its own way, can take its listeners to another place where every day worries are smoothed away, and one can only hope her concert will do the same.

“My aspiration is mostly rooted in joy when you leave, no matter what journey we take from the be-ginning to the end, the end result is that we should be happy and go-ing on with our lives with a feeling of joy,” Gardot concludes, before washing off the desert and heading to the opera house for a rehearsal.

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6X9uq05H74

A self-described ‘citizen of the world’, Melody

Gardot’s music are borderless, and her

songs have been infl uenced by her travels

to distant parts of the globe, including

South America, Morocco and Portugal

EVOKING EMOTIONS: Gardot wants her music to evoke emotions in

those who hear it, whether it’s sadness, contemplation, peace or joy,

emotions which she can share with them.

Parakh wins top Indian honourTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Oman-based Indian businessman R.M. Parakh is among the 15 recipients for this year’s coveted Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award, according to reli-able sources.

The Vice President of India will present the award in New Delhi on January 9 to distinguished members of the Indian Diaspora, for their achievements in life and contribution to the welfare of the Indian community abroad and for enhancing India’s image overseas.

The 13th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention is the fl agship event of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Aff airs (MOIA), of the Government of India. 2015 is the centenary year of the return of Mahatma Gandhi to his mother-land from South Africa on January 9, 1915, to Gandhinagar in Gujarat from where he began the freedom struggle against the British.

Based in Oman for the last 36 years, Parakh has been involved in various social and philanthropic activities.

“During the Uttarakhand trag-edy, Parakh helped by getting houses constructed and providing shelters and other facilities. In the year 2000, he founded the R.M. Parakh Charitable Foundation. His trust contributes to various charity activities in Oman and in India at Jodhpur, Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi. A substantial amount of money is donated every year to orphanages and other charitable societies to provide solace to the poor and physically challenged persons, to help them live a life of dignity. He also helped in provid-ing clean drinking water to back-ward tribal villages of Thane in Maharashtra state through a char-itable trust in Mumbai,” according to his website.

He was recognised as one of the highest donors during the building of the Pravasi Bhawan in the In-dian capital New Delhi.

“He has also contributed a large amount of money on a school for visually challenged children. He has been donating regularly to various charitable organisations, hospitals, eye cataract camps and polio camps, so that even the poor-est of the poor, who cannot aff ord costly drugs have access to good health care facilities at these hos-pitals,” those who know him said.

In recognition of Parakh’s con-tribution in the fi eld of social ser-vices, he was conferred with the lifetime achievement award at the annual Global Summit by the NRI Institute at New Delhi in 2009.

Parakh becomes the fi fth in-dividual from Oman to win the award. The previous winners in-clude Sheikh Kanaksi Gokaldas Khimji, P. Mohammed Ali, P.N.C. Menon, Suresh K Virmani and Kiran Asher.

P R A V A S I B H A R A T I Y A S A M M A N

During the Uttarakhand tragedy, Parakh helped by

getting houses constructed and providing shelters and

other facilities. In the year 2000, he founded the R.M.

Parakh Charitable Foundation. His trust contributes

to various charity activities in Oman and in India

at Jodhpur, Jaipur, Mumbai and Delhi

R.M. Parakh’s website

REJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: A majority of Indian blue-collar workers in Oman are not even aware of the 13th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2015, the In-dian Diaspora meeting which opened in Gujarat yesterday, but are expecting more welfare measures as an outcome of the meeting.

“We have not heard about it,” said quite a few Indian blue-collar workers while trying to catch a nap in the shade outside a shop in Ruwi during their lunch break. “We do not know anything about it. But if there is such a meeting which will discuss our welfare we appreci-ate it. We would like to have a better wage protection system as the meeting outcome,” said some of the workers.

601,293 IndiansThere are an estimated 25 million people of Indian origin, mainly low paid workers, out-side India. In Oman there are 601,293 Indians working.

“Even though our company is taking care of us we feel that if the government had provided us job opportunities there itself we would not have migrated. If we could have survived in India, we would have been happier,” added the workers.

Most of the workers are earn-ing below OMR70, but are keen to continue in Oman here as they are the sole breadwinners of their family back in India.

“We have to take care of our

children’s education and other needs. So we will not quit and continue to work, whatever the circumstances,” added the workers.

The World Bank remittance statistics shows that in 2013 India was the single largest recipient of remittances from abroad at $70 billion.

In this year’s Pravasi Bharati-ya Divas (Non-Resident Indian Day), there are special events, including four special ses-sions, on issues of labour and employment in Gulf countries, another on Girmitiyas, one on the Francophone Diaspora, and the role of Indian Diaspora organisations.

The PBD2015 marks the 100th year of Mahatma Gan-dhi’s return from South Africa on January 9, 1915.

Opening the three-day meet-ing, Indian Union Minister for Overseas Indian Aff airs Sushma Swaraj called on the Diaspora youth gathered there to “come, connect, celebrate and contribute, and be a part of the momentous transformation taking place in the country.”

Sushma Swaraj, who is also

the external aff airs minister, urged them to contribute to the country’s development.

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event was started in 2003 by former Prime Minister Atal Be-hari Vajpayee to commemorate the contributions of expatriate and non-resident Indians and people of Indian origin.

Even though the event main-ly aims at connecting India to its vast overseas residents on a common platform, it also serves as a forum to discuss concerns and issues related to Indians living around the globe.

Thousands of Non Resident Indians from 58 countries are participating in the event.

Blue-collar workers await welfare initiative

OPTIMISTIC: Most of the workers are earning below OMR70, but are keen to continue in Oman as

they are the sole breadwinners of their families back in India.–Pictures and videos by Shabin E

Oman-Iran joint session explores new trade avenues

MUSCAT: Oman and Iran have discussed a number of impor-tant issues, including enhanc-ing trade exchange.

The Omani-Iranian Joint Economic Committee yester-day held its 15th session in the capital on Wednesday.

The Omani side was led by Dr. Ali bin Masud Al Sunaidi, Min-ister of Commerce and Industry and the Iranian side was led by Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade in the Islamic Re-public of Iran. The Minister of Commerce and Industry said that while the value of recipro-cal trade increased from about OMR225 million in 2012 to about OMR340 million (about $1billion) in 2013, this fi gure is very low compared to the value of imports of both countries.

He added that the meeting discussed bilateral cooperation in air transport routes as there is only one route to Tehran. The two sides agreed to add another city to this line after completing the work at Sohar Airport.

The move is expected to en-hance air transport between the two countries, especially Oman Air is currently using a big air-craft to transport traders and commodities.

The Minister also said that the Sultanate imports meat, poultry and table eggs and that Ashgabat Agreement will open the door for enhancing trade between the two countries and other countries as well.

The two sides considered the possibility of signing the vet-erinary and agricultural quar-antine agreement and reducing the current procedures. The Iranian side welcomed the pro-posal and pointed out that the issue has been discussed during a previous visit by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The Iranian side expressed its sincere desire to set up some industries that produce steel and its derivatives in Duqm. These industries may include spare parts, house appliances, vehicles, ethylene, propylene, aluminium and steel.

The Iranian side already ex-ports steel products but the in-tention is to set up some major industries. A number of Iranian are now holding senior and executive positions at major companies.

Many of them are currently exploring investment poten-tial and if they conclude agree-ments with the investment companies in the Sultanate, we might see some Iranian projects in the Sultanate.–ONA

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OMANT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

The fear of reaction on the part of the husband or the family stopped many women from communicating the issues to the association

Shukoor Al Ghamri, former president of Omani Woman Association

‘Group works for amicable solutions’“We later mooted the idea of re-ceiving complaints from abused women. The association would then call the husband for a dis-cussion and the couple would be convinced to fi nd an amicable so-lution to their problems,” said Al Ghamri.

She added that the association had received calls regarding cas-es in which women had suff ered abuse and tried to solve the prob-lems before seeking legal help.

“The association could solve many issues between couples by bringing the two spouses together through dialogue. Of course, there were some issues where discus-sion would come to an end at a certain point and the case had to be transferred for legal actions,” said Al Ghamri.

“We have tried to deal with each problem separately to as-sure confi dentiality of the couples but still there was another bar-rier between the association and the women. The fear of reaction on the part of the husband or the family stopped many women from communicating the issues to the association,” said Al Ghamri.

To avoid such problems, Al Ghamri said the association had allocated a phone number to re-

ceive complaints about abuse. “The hotline number was a way to avoid the problem of women shy-ing away from reporting abuse, a fact seen in the Omani society,” said Al Ghamri.

She also said that many women feel that the issue of a woman being abused is part of a normal couple’s life and it should remain their own secret. “Through the phone, the association could help in many cases but still there are many Omani women who believe that tolerating violence is bet-ter than a scandal in the society,” said Al Ghamri. She also said that the association had organised many lectures and awareness pro-grammes to educate the women about their rights and to teach them how to protect themselves from any violent behaviour on part of the husband or the family.

Meanwhile, an Indian social worker said that whether it’s a do-mestic violence or not, stranded and abused women should be pro-vided shelter.

“The Sultanate’s move to set up shelter for abused women is a welcome move. On humanitar-ian grounds, I feel that it is the responsibility of welfare state to provide shelter for stranded and

abused women,” Shaji Sebastin, a Muscat based social worker, told Times of Oman.

Most of the Asian country em-bassies are providing shelter for stranded women in Oman.

An Indian embassy panel lawyer confi rmed that a shel-ter is provided for stranded in Indian women.

“In the shelter, they are pro-vided accommodation, food and medicines while their stay. They are provided shelter till their cas-es are resolved,” the lawyer said.

Sri Lankan embassy in Muscat is also providing shelter for their Lankan women who are stranded in Oman.

Safe house“We are running a safe house for stranded Lankan women in Oman. On average every month four stranded women are shel-tered in our safe house till their issues are resolved and able to fl y back to Lanka,” an offi cial from the Lankan embassy told Times of Oman.

Bangladesh embassy also runs a shelter for stranded Bang-ladesh women.

“We have a shelter in Muscat. Around 10 to 15 stranded Bangla-

deshi women are provided shelter. We provide them food, medicines and other necessary items while they are in the shelter. Till their is-sues are resolved are ready for the return, they are provided shelter,” an embassy offi cial said.

Sunaina Serna Ahluwalia, Women’s Guild of Oman Public Relations said, “The WGO wel-comes this initiative by the Min-istry of Social Development and hopes that it will help the abused women on all fronts- the most immediate being the mental and emotional welfare of the abused.”

She added, “I have been with the WGO since 2008 and we have heard of a few cases like these. Since we do not have any facility for providing shelter to these la-dies, we have referred them to the concerned embassy . On a regu-lar basis, we have been purchas-ing and providing these women with personal eff ects and toilet-ries through funds allocated for the same.”

Do you think it would help to have such a exclusive shelter for expat women too? “While we do not have relevant data at this point, it would be useful if a simi-lar shelter could be arranged for expat women too,” she said.

F E U D

< FROM

A1

Expect a bigger and better Muscat Festival this year

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Festival-goers at the 2015 Muscat Festival will have more reasons to cheer.

With more events lined up this year, the organisers of the festival say the event will be bigger and better than ever.

This year’s event will begin on January 15 and will end on Febru-ary 14. Organisers believe that the Jurassic Park, which includes 15 dynamic and static models show-

ing diff erent sizes of dinosaurs, accompanied by sound and light eff ects, will be a major attraction at Naseem Park this year.

At Amerat Park, a snow village is expected to pull in huge crowds. It will include snowy mountains, skiing corners and tracks that in-volve 30 ice-carved models and animated cartoon characters which will include polar bears, seals, penguins and sea lions.

Since its inception in 1998, the Muscat Festival has proved to be more than just a celebra-tory, cultural and artistic event in the Sultanate.

“It has managed to invent and re-invent itself into a major en-tertainment spectacle, plus a carnival and a shopping wonder,

all rolled into one,” said Abul Ka-rim, who has not missed a single festival. Over these 30 days there will be several events and perfor-mances at the diff erent venues around the Sultanate.

Stand-up comedy, concerts by Omani artists, laser shows, inter-national trade fair and a cricket match between India and Paki-stan and electric games will also be a part of the extravaganza.

The Muscat Municipality, which organises the festival, has announced that the entrance fee at Naseem Garden will be 200 baiza for adults and 100 baiza for children. There will, however, be no charge to enter Amerat Park. The timings of the fair will be from 4pm to 11pm.

Elaborating on the events, the organisers said that they have in-cluded a large number of sporting events this year. This includes a maritime festival for traditional

Omani vessels, a tattoo show, free style jumping, and aircraft shows in addition to aquatics (in coor-dination with the World Aquat-ics Association), hiking, a cricket championship, camel racing and equestrian events. A modern tri-athlon race, various auto shows and aerobics are also on the cards.

As a part of the festival, the sixth edition of the much awaited Tour of Oman cycling race will be held from February 17 to 21.

In Naseem Park, besides Ju-rassic Park, there will be a Fun Fair Park - an integrated park for electrical and electronic games for all ages.

“Last year, this area was bus-tling with children, adults, cou-ples, groups and families who en-joyed some really thrilling rides,” recalled an Indian expatriate S Basu. Then there will be an edu-cation and entertainment pavil-ion which will have educational plays for children, lectures and group discussions for family and children and many other things.

There will also be a consumer exhibition which will have 420 stores for the sale of diverse prod-ucts and items. Of these, 20 stores are allocated to SME entrepre-neurs. At Amerat Park, there will be a heritage village.

Depicting traditional life in the coastal, agricultural, rural and Bedouin communities in the country through folklore and live

demonstrations of traditional crafts and cuisine, this is a one-stop shop for those who want to know Oman.

Jurassic Park,

which includes 15

dynamic and static

models of dinosaurs,

accompanied by

sound and light

eff ects, will be an

added attraction

at Nassem Park

HM receives thanks from Pakistan

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a cable of thanks from Presi-dent Mamnoon Hussain of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in reply to His Majesty’s con-dolences cable on the victims of the terrorist attack that tar-geted the Pakistani Army Public School in Peshawar city.

In his cable, President Hus-sain expressed his thanks and appreciation for His Majesty the Sultan’s condolences, sym-pathy and noble feelings. -ONA

C A B L E

HM receives thanks from Emir of Qatar

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a cable of thanks from His High-ness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, in reply to His Majesty’s greetings cable on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

In his cable, Sheikh Tamim expressed his utmost thanks for His Majesty’s noble feel-ings and best wishes, praying to Allah to grant His Majesty the Sultan good health and well-being and the Omani people further progress and prosper-ity under the wise leadership of His Majesty. -ONA

C A B L E

SCINTILLATING SHOW: The beautiful laser show at last year’s

Muscat Festival. Photo–Times of Oman

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642 ‘Persons of Indian Origin’ living in Oman

The OCI card holders were ex-empted from doing so.

The Ministry of Home Aff airs (MHA) had stated that Persons of Indian Origin and Overseas Citi-zenship of India schemes will be merged and the combined scheme will be called the ‘Indian Overseas Cardholder’.

The ministry had admitted that the OCI scheme is more popular since it provides a life-long visa and the process for obtaining the OCI card is more user-friendly, quick and simple.

Offi cial statistics show that there are 642 Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) residing in Oman.

The decision to amend the Citi-zenship Act, 1955 was taken after a large number of representations were received from PIOs.

OrdinanceThe ordinance combining PIO and OCI schemes into a single Indian Overseas Cardholder scheme will also drop the clause requiring for-eigners married to Indian citizens to continuously stay in the country for a period of one year before they can apply for Indian citizenship.

The amendment will allow for-eigners breaks not exceeding 30 days, to travel abroad during the mandatory one-year stay in India.

C O M B I N E D S C H E M E

< FROM

A1

Muscat Festival

GraphicsSource: Muscat Municipality

Entrance fee

Sporting Events

Nassem Park

baiza foradults

200baiza forchildren

100(At Naseem Garden)

(No fee)

Start

Ends

January 15

February 14

Tour of Oman in its 6th edition

Aircraft shows

Cricket Championship: Matchbetween India and Pakistan.

Camel racing

Aerobics

Jurassic ParkFun Fair Park Entertainment Pavilion Nature PavilionConsumer Exhibition Fire works

Amerat ParkHeritage VillageSnow village Dazzling laser showsExhibition of Arts and Crafts

A7

REGIONT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

BLAST SITE: A policeman walks past a wreckage at the scene of a

car bomb outside the police college in Sanaa on Wednesday.

Snowstorm batters parts of Middle East

BEIRUT: A Syrian man and young boy died in cold weather in Leba-non as a major storm dumped rare snow on parts of the Middle East on Wednesday, bringing misery to thousands of Syrian refugees.

The local Red Cross agency said the bodies of the two Syrians, in-cluding the six-year-old boy, were found dead in the Shebaa region of south Lebanon.

A security source said the dead were Syrian refugees who had been crossing the mountainous border between Syria and Leba-non, where temperatures fell as low as minus 7 degrees Celsius (20 Fahrenheit).

Their deaths came as a major storm struck the Middle East, hitting Syrian refugees living in makeshift camps throughout Leb-anon and disrupting schools and roads in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Many refugees in Leb-anon were trapped in their tents by the heavy rain and snow, strug-gling to stay warm in temperatures

hovering around zero degrees. The UN’s refugee agency dis-

tributed cash and fuel coupons to more than 80,000 refugee families ahead of the storm, which forced the closure of all Lebanese ports and briefl y shut Beirut’s interna-tional airport. It warned however that “serious gaps” remained in provisions for the refugees dur-

ing the storm. In Majdalun, close to the eastern town of Baalbek, around 40 tents were cut off from surrounding villages by a thick layer of snow, an AFP photogra-pher said.

“There is a lack of food and heat-ing materials,” said one man who had left his tent. “We ask charities to intervene. We are scared that

the tents will collapse under the weight of the snow.”

Heavy snowfall also cut several roads in mountainous areas of Lebanon, where more than a mil-lion Syrians fl eeing civil war have claimed refuge. “I’ve been a refu-gee here for two years but this is the worst winter I’ve seen,” said Mohammad Al Hussein, who lives in an east Lebanon camp with his wife and fi ve children. “We feel humiliated,” he added.

DesertedIn Israel and the Palestinian Ter-ritories, hundreds of schools were closed. Across occupied Jerusa-lem, the streets were largely de-serted and few people ventured out to brave the high winds and intermittent rain, AFP corre-spondents said. Ahead of the storm, the education ministry announced the closure of schools across occupied Jerusalem and the surrounding area, as well as in Jewish settlements through-out the occupied West Bank and much of northern Israel.

In occupied Jerusalem, a fl eet of 150 vehicles was readied to clear the snow, with 200 tonnes of salt, food, blankets and emergency generators also on hand. Streets

across the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, which stands at 2,861 feet (872 metres) above sea level, were also deserted as peo-ple hunkered down ahead of the storm, an AFP correspondent said.

The impoverished Gaza Strip, which lived through a 50-day war with Israel during the summer, also battened down the hatches.

The normally jammed streets of Gaza City were largely empty and many shops were closed.

In Syria, schools were closed and many government offi cials were unable to make their way to work through the snowy streets of Damascus. The state SANA news agency said snow and rain fell Wednesday in most provinces in the war-ravaged nation.

In Egypt, authorities shut ports in Alexandria and on the Red Sea coast due to the weather. Snowfall and gales in Lebanon’s Bekaa Val-ley destroyed some refugee tents.

Turkish Airlines cancelled doz-ens of fl ights between Turkey’s biggest cities and to several inter-national destinations. Budget air-line Pegasus also cancelled some fl ights. Night-time temperatures in Ankara were forecast to plunge to minus 17 degrees Centigrade and natural gas consumption spiked to record levels in Turkey as people tried to heat their homes, forcing some usually gas-fi red power stations to switch to fuel oil to generate electricity, a Turkish energy offi cial said. — Agencies

Two Syrians were

killed in Lebanon

as storm buff eted

parts of Middle East

with blizzards, rain

and strong winds on

Wednesday, keeping

people at home

Car bomb kills35 outside Yemen police college SANAA: A car bomb exploded outside a police college in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Wednesday, kill-ing 35 people and wounding doz-ens, police said, less than a week after a suicide bombing south of the capital left nearly 30 dead.

Yemen’s sectarian confl ict has worsened since September when the Houthi militia seized Sanaa, deepening political divides that spawned a popular protest in 2011 and led to a change of government and splits in the army. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the militant group’s most active wings, had staged increas-ing numbers of attacks across Yemen before the Houthi advance and has carried out more bomb-ings and shootings since.

Brigadier Abdulaziz Al Qud-si, deputy general manager of Sanaa police, said that 68 people were also wounded by the explo-sion which sent a large plume of smoke into the sky above a dense-ly built up and congested part of the city near the central bank and defence ministry.

“The situation is catastrophic. We arrived to fi nd bodies piled on top of each other,” a paramedic at the scene told Reuters as ambu-lances took casualties away.

“We found the top part of one person yelling, while his bottom half was completely severed.”

InvestigationQudsi said the initial investiga-tion showed that a booby-trapped vehicle with a driver and passen-ger in the front had been parked near where people who wanted to register were standing beside an outside wall of the police college.

“They then hurried out (of the bus) and escaped and then the bus explosion happened at 7am (0400 GMT),” Qudsi was cited as saying by state news agency Saba. He said several of those wounded were in critical condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s

bombing. Al Qaeda has in the past claimed they were behind simi-lar attacks. The victims from the latest blast included students at the college and people waiting in line to enroll with the police, the police sources said, as well as passers-by.

A policeman said that another car had been passing as the bomb went off and was set on fi re along with everyone inside.

Registration haltedThe Interior Ministry said it was halting registration at the police college, which takes place every year, for a week.

The US embassy in Yemen condemned the attack, saying it showed the “nihilistic vision and depravity of terror groups operat-ing in Yemen”.

Western and Gulf Arab coun-tries fear that further instabil-ity could weaken the country’s government, giving AQAP more space to plot attacks outside Yemen’s borders. Yemen shares a long border with major oil ex-porter Saudi Arabia.

Yemen’s army has launched several concerted campaigns to dislodge Al Qaeda with the help of US drone strikes, but the mili-tants have proved capable of en-trenching themselves in largely lawless parts of the Arabian Pen-insula country where it has sym-pathy from some tribes.

On January 1 a suicide bomber killed at least 26 people at a cul-tural centre in the central Yem-eni city of Ibb in an attack that appeared to target the Houthi militia that seized the capital in September and advanced into other areas.

Most attacks in the past four years have targeted Yemen’s se-curity infrastructure. A suicide bomber killed more than 90 peo-ple in May 2012 at a military pa-rade, and a coordinated assault on a military hospital a year ago killed more than 50. — Reuters

I N T E R N A L S T R I F E

FIERCE WINTER STORM: Children play in the snow during heavy snow fall in Syrian capital Damascus

on Wednesday. – AFP

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Night-time temperatures in Ankara were forecast to plunge to minus 17 degrees Centigrade and natural gas consumption spiked to record levels in Turkey as people tried to heat their homes

A8

INDIAT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

As a strong federation of states, India continues to grow with the cooperation of the Centre and the states. In all areas where the states want to prosper, we are here to fully support you

Arun Jaitley, Finance minister

GEARING UPAn Indian vendor displays kites printed with the portraits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama,

who is expected to visit India for the Republic Day celebrations, ahead of the forthcoming Makar Sankranti kite festival in Hy-

derabad, on Wednesday. The Makar Sankranti festival, which will be celebrated on January 14 this year, celebrates the begin-

ning of the harvest season. - AFP

BJP lawmaker says Hindu women must have four childrenNEW DELHI: A lawmaker from India’s ruling party has called for Hindu women to have at least four children to “protect” their religion, sparking calls for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein in his hardline supporters.

Sakshi Maharaj, who rep-resents a seat in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said in a speech on Tuesday that Hindus should see it as their duty to have large families.

“The time has come when a Hindu woman must produce at least four children in order to protect the Hindu religion,” Ma-haraj said at a religious congrega-tion in the city of Meerut.

Maharaj’s remarks sparked a backlash on social media with his name trending on Twitter while political opponents demanded an explanation from Modi who has a reputation as an unashamed Hindu nationalist.

“Why has the prime minister maintained silence even for 24 hours? Is this the new popula-tion policy of India? The country wants to know, the nation wants an answer,” said Abhishek Manu

Singhvi, a senior fi gure in the for-mer ruling Congress party.

Modi also came under fi re last month for rejecting calls to sack another BJP lawmaker for his remarks. In his speech, Maharaj went on to support a recent spate of ‘re-conversions’ to Hinduism, an issue which paralysed parlia-ment last month and stalled the right-wing government’s eco-nomic reforms agenda.

Religious groups and political opponents have accused radical organisations linked to the BJP of forcing or enticing religious mi-norities to convert to Hinduism.

While Hindus account for more than 80 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion population, the country is offi cially secular and is home to sizeable numbers of Muslims, Buddhists and Christians.

India’s birth rate has declined dramatically in the last two dec-ades due in part to rising female literacy, according to a govern-ment study published last month.

The Total Fertility Rate — the number of children the average woman will have in her lifetime based on current trends — fell to 2.3 in 2013 from 3.6 in 1991. - AFP

C A L L T O P R O T E C T R E L I G I O N

SIT begins probe into Sunanda’s murder

NEW DELHI: A Special Investi-gation Team (SIT) has begun its probe into the mysterious death of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar even as Delhi Police Commissioner B. S. Bassi on Wednesday said there are prima facie reasons to believe it is a case of murder.

Bassi said the SIT has fi nalised an “action plan” to investigate the case and did not rule out question-ing Tharoor soon, saying “whatev-er necessary will be done” to solve the case.

Prima facie reasons“When we fi le a case under Section 302 of IPC, it means we have prima facie reasons to believe that it is a case of murder,” Bassi told report-ers on being asked whether police have any evidence that it was a case of murder.

Asked why the murder case

was registered almost a year after Sunanda’s death, Bassi said the fi nal medical report from AIIMS warranted fi ling of the FIR so that Sunanda’s viscera samples can be sent abroad for further tests.

“We have formed an SIT to probe the case. The SIT has formed an action plan to go about the case and everything will be done as per it,” he said.

Delhi Police had on Tuesday registered a murder case into Su-nanda’s death under section 302 of the IPC on the basis of an AIIMS medical report that concluded that her death was unnatural and due to poisoning, but nobody has been named as a suspect as yet. The FIR was fi led against unknown persons.

The investigators have decided to send her viscera samples to a laboratory either in Britain or the US to identify the poison includ-

ing whether it could be radioactive isotopes that cannot be detected in Indian labs. Sources said the SIT is likely to question Tharoor, his relatives and personal staff along with the employees of the fi ve-star hotel where she was found dead on January 17 last year.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said that a Delhi Police offi cial had attempted to implicate him and a domestic help in the murder of his wife Su-nanda Pushkar.

In a letter to Delhi Police Com-missioner B.S. Bassi dated Nov 12 and accessed by the media on Wednesday, Tharoor urged the po-lice chief to take action against the concerned offi cer.

Tharoor said that four Delhi Police offi cers interrogated his domestic help Narayan Singh last month - for 16 hours on November

7 and for 14 hours on November 8.On both days, Tharoor alleged

that Narayan Singh was “repeat-edly physically assaulted by one of your offi cers.

Physical assault“Worse, that offi cer used the trau-matic physical assault to try and intimidate Narayan into ‘con-fessing’ that he and I murdered my wife,” the former central minister said.

Tharoor recalled that he ex-pressed his concerns to Bassi over telephone on November 8 night.

“As you graciously agreed, such conduct is completely unaccepta-ble and illegal,” Tharoor said in his letter. “It also amounts to the use of physical coercion in the attempt to frame an innocent man.

“I would request you to take im-mediate and appropriate action against such unlawful misconduct of the offi cer concerned.

“My staff and I have always made ourselves available for any kind of inquiry and investigation but the recent behaviour of the of-fi cers towards my staff is a matter of serious concern to any law abid-ing citizen.

“Please look into the matter personally and ensure that the unvarnished truth comes out in this case.”

Tharoor said he had “complete trust and faith” in Delhi Police and that he was committed to “fully co-operating with the investigations to ensure the timely completion of the inquiry”.

The letter became public knowl-edge a day after Delhi Police an-nounced that Pushkar, found dead in a hotel a year ago, was poisoned to death. - Agencies

Top cop said SIT has

fi nalised an ‘action

plan’ to investigate

the case and did not

rule out questioning

Tharoor soon, saying

‘whatever necessary

will be done’ to

solve the case

Worse, that officer used

the traumatic physical

assault to try and

intimidate Narayan into

‘confessing’ that he

and I murdered my wife

Shashi TharoorCongress MP

Jaitley wants Centre-state cooperation on development issuesKOLKATA: In the backdrop of the Trinamool Congress taking the lead in parliament to block several economic reforms, union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday called for cooperation among the central and state governments on development issues.

He also reminded West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee that just like her regime, the BJP also has a responsibility to deliver what it had promised to the electorate.

“Madam chief minister, you have a mandate to rule the state. And, therefore, you have the re-sponsibility to deliver what was promised. We have a mandate to rule the country from the Cen-tre. We have a responsibility to deliver from Delhi, what we had promised.

“Notwithstanding our politi-cal diff erences in many areas, the

strength of India is that despite these diff erences, Indian remains a strong federation of states.

“As a strong federation of states, India continues to grow with the cooperation of the Centre and the states. In all areas where the states want to prosper, we are here to ful-ly support you,” Jaitley said during his address at the Bengal Global Business Summit here.

The Trinamool Congress had spearheaded the opposition’s protests against the central gov-ernment’s bid to pass the Insur-ance Bill and the Coal Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The minister’s speech dwelled on development, investment and economy, with particular refer-ence to West Bengal, but simul-taneously it was also loaded with subtle criticisms and messages di-rected at the Mamata government.

Regretting that many of the big

industries, which operated from Bengal for ages, had now shipped out, Jaitley said the challenge was how to re-establish the eastern state as an industrial centre.

He took on state Finance and

Industries Minister Amit Mitra, who earlier in the day, highlight-ed that the state’s growth fi gures were double than that nationally.

Jaitley pointed out that share of manufacturing in the state’s

growth was small which aff ected job creation. “While talking of encouraging growth fi gures of the state, we must not lose sight of re-ality that the share of manufactur-ing in the state’s growth is still on a very narrow base,” he said.

“It is the manufacturing which is going to create jobs. It is manu-facturing in which people are go-ing to shift from the underemploy-ment in the agriculture sector into the manufacturing sector.”

Jaitley said an investor would choose the state or region which gives him the best deal, “where doing business is comfortable... doing business is conducive, pur-poseful and profi table”.

He also called for cutting down of red tape, easy grant of permis-sions and sanctions and negligi-ble loss of man-days, besides good quality and modernised infra-structure.

“I am sure, while Bengal today makes a very strong plea, and a very legitimate plea for invest-ment into the state, which I am sure is coming to the state, and should come to the state, we have to bear in mind in each of these area we have to grow.”

Jaitley also referred to the All India Institute of Medical Scienc-es project which has been sanc-tioned in the last budget.

The erstwhile UPA government had also sanctioned the setting up of an AIIMS-like institute in the state, but the project did not see the light of the day over wrangling between the Congress and the Tri-namool on its site.

“Last year, in the union budget, we sanctioned the setting up of an AIIMS. I am sure steps are being taken now to expedite its setting up in West Bengal itself,” the BJP leader said. - IANS

B E N G A L G L O B A L B U S I N E S S S U M M I T

Sunanda Pushkar

BUSINESS SUMMIT: Finance minister, Arun Jaitley lights a tradi-

tional lamp as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and

business leaders look on during the inauguration of the Bengal

Global Business Summit 2015 in Kolkata on Wednesday. - AFP

Italian marine asks court for time after surgery ROME: An Italian marine accused of killing two Indian fi sh-ermen asked a court through his lawyers on Wednesday for more time at home to recover from heart surgery amid a dip-lomatic row over the case. Last September India’s Supreme Court allowed Massimiliano Latorre to spend four months in Italy after he was found to be suff ering from cerebral ischae-mia — a restricted blood supply that can lead to a stroke. The court ruled last month that Latorre must return to India in January over the shooting that occurred during an anti-piracy mission off the southern state of Kerala in February 2012. But lawyers for the marine on Wednesday again petitioned the court in New Delhi to allow him extra time at home. They said he underwent heart surgery in January and needs to recuper-ate, according to the Press Trust of India.

14 killed, 40 injured in Andhra bus accident HYDERABAD: At least 14 passengers, half of them stu-dents, were killed and 40 were injured when a crowded bus slid down the road in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district on Wednesday, police said. The accident occurred between Penukonda and Madakasira, about 450km from here. The toll may go up as the condition of 13 of the injured was stated to be critical. The bus belonging to the state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) was proceeding from Madakasira to Penukonda when the driver reportedly lost control while trying to avoid hitting an auto-rickshaw. According to witnesses, the bus slid and fell off the road in an area, about 15 km from Penukonda town. Work was going on there to widen the road.

Security beefed up after terror threat in MumbaiMUMBAI: Security at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here was beefed up Wednesday after a suspected terror threat was found scribbled on a wall in the men’s rest room, offi cial sources said. Late on Tuesday, an attendant saw the warning scrawled in large letters proclaiming “CSI Attack by IS 10/01/2015”, and alerted the authorities. Offi cials of the Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) gave a guarded response, saying they had no information on who could have scrawled the message but police were probing the matter. It was not immediately clear whether the threat could be real or merely a prankster’s scribble, but the security agencies are not taking any chances. - Agencies

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INDIAT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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Rajnath asserts boatmen were terror suspects

NEW DELHI: With questions over Coast Guard’s ‘boat’ opera-tion persisting, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said those travelling in the Pakistani vessel were suspected terrorists as per the “given circumstances”.

“With given circumstances in

the Pakistani boat, it is clear that they were suspected terrorists,” he told reporters here.

Singh was replying to ques-tions about the four people on board a boat, which “exploded” and sank in the Arabian Sea in the intervening night of December 31 and January one during an Indian Coast Guard operation.

He, however, did not elaborate on the “circumstances which he was referring to.

The Home Minister’s remarks

came as questions were being raised on the veracity of claims that a 2008 Mumbai attack-style operation had been foiled. There are also reports claiming that the boat was involved in smuggling.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier said that “cir-cumstantial evidence” indicated that the occupants of the vessel were “suspected or possible ter-rorists” and that they were in touch with Pakistani maritime offi cials and army.

Asked about a letter written by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to his fi ve counter-parts seeking premature release of 13 convicted terrorists, the Home Minister said he would dis-cuss the issue with Badal.

“I will talk to him (Badal) on this issue,” he said. In his letter to Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajas-than and Gujarat, Badal sought premature release of the terror-ists, including those who were convicted for assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. - PTI

The Home Minister’s

remarks came as

questions were

being raised on the

veracity of claims

that a 2008 Mumbai

attack-style plan had

been foiled by

the Coast Guards

NOBEL GESTUREIndian Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi,

right, presents his Nobel medal to President Pranab

Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on

Wednesday. Satyarthi dedicated his Nobel Peace Prize

to the country as he presented his medal to the Indian

president on Wednesday, a report said. Satyarthi, 60,

who for 35 years fought to free thousands of children

from virtual slave labour, was in 2014 jointly awarded

the Nobel Peace Prize with Malala Yousafzai, the Paki-

stani teenage education campaigner. - AFP

Connect, contribute, Sushma tells Indian Diaspora youthGANDHINAGAR: Minister for Overseas Indian Aff airs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday called upon the diaspora youth gathered here to “come, connect, celebrate and contribute” to be part of the “momentous transformation tak-ing place in the country”.

Speaking at the inauguration of the 2015 Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), Sushma, who is also the external aff airs minister, urged the diaspora youth to contribute to the country’s development.

“We want you, the Pravasis, to contribute to the development of India. We want you to participate in the vision that Prime Minister Modi has for India’s future,” she said and enumerated the several programmes launched by the government, including the Make in India, Smart Cities, Swachch Bharat, and Skill India.

She said the government has been working in mission mode to implement all these programmes. “You can contribute to them and become an active partner in these ventures. Our govern-ment is fully committed to good governance, effi ciency, account-ability, transparency, and speedy decision-making.”

The minister, addressing the diaspora youth at the Mahatma Mandir complex, said there are “tremendous opportunities today for you to join us, especially in the

fi elds of manufacturing, infra-structure development, educa-tion, health, skills development, science and technology, research and innovation, knowledge econ-omy and youth development as part of our eff ort to realise India’s full potential”.

Describing the diaspora as “the most signifi cant example of In-dia’s soft power”, Sushma said the diaspora has “retained a bit of In-dia” in their hearts. Though living thousands of miles away, you have “kept the spirit of Bharat alive”.

The minister said the PBD is “an occasion to refl ect upon your heritage, and to touch base with a country which will al-ways consider you as one of its own, regardless of the colour of your passport or the land of your citizenship”.

She said the PBD is a platform to connect the diaspora with the motherland and promote the concept of a global Indian family.

Sushma Swaraj said to en-hance ease of doing business, the government has taken multiple steps to simplify procedures, ra-tionalise rules and increase use of technology for effi cient and ef-fective governance.

“Eff orts are on to identify obso-lete laws and regulations which need to be repealed. Skilling our people, particularly the young, is also a priority.” - IANS

Y O U T H P R A V A S I B H A R A T I Y A D I V A S

IN FLAMES: This handout pho-

tograph released by the Indian

Ministry of Defence last Friday,

is said to show a burning ves-

sel off the coast of Gujarat in

the Arabian Sea. - Reuters

A10

FIND-IT-ALLT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr 12.18pm

Asr 3.21pm

Maghrib 5.41pm

Isha 6.56pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.31am

OMAN

Max 27Min 18

Max 25Min 18

Max 26Min 18

Max 28Min 15

Max 27Min 17Max 28

Min 9

Max 29Min 14

Max 28Min 19

MAINLYclear skies over most of the Sultanate with chances of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the southeastern coasts of the Sultanate.EXPECTED WIND: Wind will be southwesterly light to moderate along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea and westerly to northwesterly over rest of the Sultanate.SEA STATE: Slight along Oman Sea coast with a maximum wave height of 1.25 metres while slight to moderate along the Musandam coast and Dhofar governorate coast with a maximum wave height of 1.75 metres.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during fog formation.THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Stable weather; mainly clear skies with chances of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the southeastern coast of the Sultanate.

W E A T H E R L I S T I N G S

WORLD

Max -5Min -6

Max 21Min 7

Max -10Min -12

Max 28Min 14

Max 22Min 12

Max 27Min 22

Max -10Min -11

Max 27Min 22

Max Min

Abu Dhabi 26 18Doha 26 13Dubai 26 14Kuwait 16 10Manama 23 15Riyadh 17 2Athens 10 5Baghdad 14 2Barbados 22 18Beijing 4 -9Berlin 5 4Boston -5 -5Brussels 8 4Buenos Aires 31 25Cairo 14 9Chicago -2 -5Colombo 31 20Copenhagen 7 3Dublin 7 5Frankfurt 6 3Harare 26 16Hong Kong 18 13Istanbul 32 28Jerusalem 4 3Johannesburg 28 18

Max Min

Kuala Lumpur 28 24Lisbon 12 7London -10 -12Madrid 7 -1Manila 29 22Mexico City 15 6Miami 20 18Moscow -10 -11New Delhi 21 7New York -5 -6Oslo 6 -1Panama 4 -1Paris 11 6Perth 32 12Prague 4 3Rio de Janeiro 32 25Santiago 30 14Seoul 1 -5Singapore 29 24Stockholm 3 0Sydney 27 22Taipei 16 14Tokyo 11 3Toronto -8 -0Vienna 3 -2

PHARMACIESRound the clockAl Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666Muscat PharmacyRuwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635Atlas PharmacyGhubra: 24503585; Ruwi 24811715Muscat RegionAl Hashar, Ruwi1 24 Hr Br. Tel. 24537080Muscat, Al Sarooj. Tel: 24695536Belqees, Al Khoudh (OIB) Tel. 24535398Belqees, Ma’abelah. Tel: 24454624Dhofar RegionMuscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah. Tel. 23291635

HOSPITALS1st Chiropractic Centre: 24472274Al Amal Medical & Health Care Centre: 24485052Al Musafi r Specialised Medical Clinic: 24706453Hatat Polyclinic LLC,Ruwi: 24563641, Azaiba: 24499269, Sohar: 2683006Al Raff ah Hospital: 24618900/1/2Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory: 24566435Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre: 24499434Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24787766, 24787780Capital Polyclinic: 24707549Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi: 24799760/1/2Capital Clinic, Seeb: 24420740Ceregem National Raak: 24485633Dr Harub’s Clinic: 24563217Elixir Health Centre: 24565802Emirates Medical Centre: 24604540Hamdan Hospital: 23212340International Medical Centre LLC: 24794501/2/3/4/5Kims Oman Hospital: 2476010024 Hrs Emergency: 24760123Lama Polyclinic, Sohar: 26751128,

MBD: 24799077, Al Khuwair: 24478818Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital: 24568870Muscat Private Hospital: 24583600Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair: 24477666Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC: 22004000

ROYAL OMAN POLICEEmergencies and inquiries: 9999General Directorate of Passport and Residence: 24569603Directorate General of Customs: 24521109Traffi c violations inquiries: 24510228Public Relations Admin: 24560099

ACCOMMODATIONAl Bahjah Hotel: 24424400Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311Al Qurum Resort: 24605945Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979Beach Hotel: 24696601Bowshar Hotel: 24491105Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660Crystal Suites: 24826100Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234Haff a House Hotel: 24707207Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123InterContinental Muscat: 24680000Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900Marina Hotel: 24711711Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565Mina Hotel: 24711828Muttrah Hotel: 24798401Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199Oman Dive Centre: 24824240Park Inn: 24507888Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443

Ruwi Hotel: 24704244Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666The Chedi Muscat: 24524400The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570

MUSEUMSBait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fi sh market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pmNatural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm Thursday: 9am to 1pmMuseum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday - 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmOman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., Muscatmuseum@baitalzubairmuseum.comOpen from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmSohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pmMuscat Gate Museum: At Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

E V E N T S

L I S T I N G S

LISTINGS

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

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41)06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41)07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (Route 62)06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (Route 62)12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201)06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201)07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (Route 100)07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (Route 100)07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (Route 102)15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (Route 102)15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Muscat Festival 2015, January 15 to February 14

GCC Rail and Metro Conference, 11th January to the 12th January 2015 at the Al Bustan Palace Muscat in Muscat, Oman.

3rd International Medical & HealthCare Exhibition & Conference (IMTEC Oman 2015) will be held during the period from 19 - 21 January 2015 at Oman International Exhibition Centre.

The Oman Contractors Forum, organized by the IQPC will take place from 26th January to the 27th January 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Muscat in Muscat.

EdTechTeam Oman Summit, organized by the EdTechTeam, Inc. will take place from 30th January to the 31st January 2015 at the American International School of Muscat.

Interior Design Decor & Furniture Expo, Oman International Exhibition Centre | Muscat, Oman | 17-19 Feb 2015.

The BIG Show Muscat, Oman International Exhibition Centre| Muscat, Oman | 30 Mar-02 Apr 2015.

Times Great India Education Fair Muscat is a 2 day event being held from 20th February to the 21st February 2015 at the Al Falaj Hotel.

TURKEY: Pedestrians walk through a snow-covered park in

Istanbul. -Reuters

—www.met.gov.om

C I N E M A S C H E D U L E

BAHJA CINEMA

STARS CINEMA

Film Information - 24540856 / Advance Booking - 24540855

Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

For More Information 24789032, 24786776

Website: www.isurf.co.om

Film information 24791641 / 24786776

Seventh Son (Adventure/Fantacy)Cast: Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander Kit Harington, Olivia William 4.00 , 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pm CP No : 2015/62 (PG 12 ) Autómata (Sci-Fi-/Thriller) Cast: Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Melanie Griffi th 2.00. 6.00, & 10.00 pm CP No : 2015/61 (PG) Zulu (Crime /Drama /Thriller) Cast : Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker, Tanya van Graan 4.00 , 8.00 & , 11.55 pm CP No : 2015/60 ( 15+ ) Iron Clad:Battle for Blood (Act) Cast: Michelle Fariley, Roxanne Mckee 2.00 pm., .CP No : 2015/2 Swelter (Action/Thriller) Cast:Jean Claude Van Damme, 6.00 pm CP No : 2015/3 (15+)

Chinnadana Nee Kosam (Telugu) ( Rom\Com) Cast: Nitin Reddy & Mishti 3:00pm at Cinema Main, 6:30 & 9:30pm at Cinema 2 Mylanchi Monchulla Veedu (Mal) (Rom\Com) Cast: Jayaram & Asif Ali 3:30 pm at Cinema -2\ 6:30 &10:00 pm Cinema Main P K (Hindi) (Com) Cast: Aamir Khan , Anushka Sharma & Sanjay Dutt 3:45, 6:45 & 9:45 pm Cinema-3 Vellakkara Durai (Tamil)(Com) Cast: Vikram Prabhu & Sri Divya & Soori 3:45, 6:45 & 9:45 pm at Cinema -4

Seventh Son (2D) (Adv ) (PG12) Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, 5:15 PMSeventh Son (3D) (Adv) (PG12) 9:30, 11:30 PMAutomata (2D) (Sci-Fi ) (PG)Cast: Antonio Banderas 3:00, 7:15 PMTevar (2D) (Action |Romance) (TBC) Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha 8:50 PMTom Little and Magic Mirror (2D) (Animation |Adventure) (PG) 4:00 PMThe Imitation Game (2D) (Bio) (12+) Cast: Keira Knightley, 5:30, 6:45 PMWoman In Black Angel Of Death (2D) (Horror | Thriller) (15+) Cast: Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irvine11:45 PMVice (2D) (Action | Adventure) (15+) Cast: Thomas Jane, Bruce Willis,2:00, 11:45 PMP.K (2D) (Comedy | Drama) (PG) Cast: Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt4:00 PMFrom A to B (2D) (Adv|Com) (12+) Cast: Fahad Albutairi, Shadi Alfons2:00, 7:45 PM

Gold Class: 03:00 PMSeventh Son (2D): (Adv) (PG12)Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore03:30 PMSeventh Son (3D) (Adv/Fan) (PG12)09:45 PM & 11:45 PM.Gold Class: 11:15 PMAutomata (2D): (Sci-Fi/Thr) (PG)Cast: Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Dylan McDermott05:30 PM & 11:45 PMP K (2D): (Comedy/fantasy) (PG)Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma04:00 PMGold Class: 05:15 PMJack & The Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2D) (Animation/Adventure) (PG)10:30 AM & 02:15 PMFrom A To B (2D) (Co/Adv) (12+)Cast: Fahad Albutairi, Shadi Alfons12:15 PM & 06:45 PM.Gold Class: 01:00 PMTevar (2D): (Action/Romance) ()Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha08:45 PM

Tom Little & Magic Mirror (2D) (Animation/Adventure) (PG)10:15 AM & 02:00 PMThe Imitation Game (2D): (Biography/Thriller) (12+)Cast: Keira Knightley11:45 AM & 07:30 PM

SCREEN 1

Tevar (Action |Romance) (TBC) Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha 2:30, 5:30, 8:30, 11:30pm

SCREEN 2

P. K (Comedy | Drama | Social) (PG )Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt 3:30, 6:15, 9:00 & 11:45pm

SCREEN 3

P.K. – 2D (PG) Com | Drama Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma9:00pmVice – 2D (15+) Act | Adv | Sci-FiCast: Thomas Jane, Bruce Willis3:45, 11:45pmSeventh Son – 2D (PG12) Adv | Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore 3:15pmSeventh Son – 3D (PG12) Adv| Family | FantasyJeff Bridges05:15 , 09:30 , 11:30pmThe Imitation Game – 2D (12+) Biography | Drama | ThrillerCast: Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode04:00 & 07:15 PMZulu – 2D (15+) Crime | ThrillerCast: Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker, Tanya van Graan06:15 PMTevar – 2D (TBC) Action | RomanceCast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee 08:15 & 11:15 PMTom Little and Magic Mirror – 2D (PG) Animation/Adv/FantasyCast: Ada Cruz , Omar Proenza03:15 & 05: 30 PMFrom A to B – 2D (12+) Adv | Com Cast: Fahad Albutairi, Shadi Alfons, Fadi Rifaai04:45 & 07: 00PM

Seventh Son – 2D (Adv) (PG15)Cast: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore03:15 PMSeventh Son – 3D (Adv ) (PG15)05:15, 09:15 PMPoker Night (Act | Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Beau Mirchoff , Ron Perlman07:15, 11:45 PMZulu (Crime | Thriller) (15+)Cast: Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker, Tanya van Graan03:15, 09:45 PMSwelter (Act | Thriller) (15+)Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme05:15 PMFrom A to B (Adv| Com ) (12+)Cast: Fahad Albutairi,Fadi Rifaai05:00, 07:00 PMTevar (Action | Romance) Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha07:00, 09:00, 11:15 PMAutómata (Sci-Fi | Thriller) (PG)Cast: Antonio Banderas, Birgitte Hjort 03:00, 11:45 PM

Zulu (Crime | Thriller) (15+) Cast: Orlando Bloom 11:45 PMVice (Act| Adventure | Sci-Fi) (15+) 6:45 pmSeventh Son (2D) (Adv| Fa) (PG12) 3:00pmSeventh Son (3D) (Adv | Fa) (PG12)

Seventh Son (3D/PG12) (Adv) 09:45 & 11:45PMSeventh Son (2D/PG12) (Adv) 02:30PMThe Imitation Game (2D/12+) (Biography/Drama/Thriller) 01:30PM, 07:30PM Poker Night (2D/PG12) (Act/Th) 12:30, 11:15PMJack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2D/PG) (Animation/Adv/Drama)Cast: Mathias Malzieu, Olivia Ruiz02:30PMVice (2D/15+) (Act/Adv/Sc-FI) Cast: Thomas Jane, Bruce Willis11:45am, 11:30PM Zulu (2D/15+) (Crime/Thriller)Cast: Orlando Bloom09:30PMFrom A to B (2D/12+) (Adv/Co)Cast: Fahad Albutairi, Shadi Alfons4:15, 06:15PMP.K. (2D/PG) (Com/Drama/fantasy)06:45PMTevar (2D/PG) (Action/Romance)11:30am, 04:30, 08:15PMMylanchi Monchulla Veedu (2D/PG) (Family/Drama)Cast: Asif Ali, Jayaram, Kanika 03:45PM

04:50, 09:45pmMylanchi Monchulla Veedu (Mal) (Family | Drama) (PG) 06:45 PMTevar (Hindi) (Com | Drama ) (TBC) Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha08:30, 11:15 PMFrom A to B (Arabic) (Adve | Co ) (12+) 04:50 PMP.K (Hindi) (Co | Dr | Fantasy) (PG) Cast: Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt2:00pm

Linga (Act|Drama) (Tamil) -(PG )Cast: Rajnikanth, Sonakshi Sinha3:00pm

P. K (Comedy | Drama | Social) (PG)Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt 6:15, 9:00 & 11:45pm

Mylanchi Monchulla Veedu – 2D (M) (PG) Family | DramaCast: Asif Ali, Jayaram, Kanika 06:45PMAutomata – 2D (PG) Sci-Fi Cast: Antonio Banderas09:45 & 11:45 PM

A11

PAKISTANT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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TERRORISTS EXECUTEDPakistani soldiers patrol outside the central jail in Multan on Wednesday, where authorities are said to have executed prison-

ers Ghulam Shabbir and Ahmed Ali of the banned sectarian militant outfi t Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Pakistan on January 7 hanged

two more men convicted of murder and tried under terrorism charges, taking the number of executions to nine since the

country lifted a moratorium on capital punishment after a Taliban massacre at an army school last month. — AFP

More than 8,000 seminaries operate without affiliation

ISLAMABAD: Over 8,000 semi-naries have neither been regis-tered with the Ittehad-e-Tanzee-mat-e-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP), an umbrella of fi ve schools of thought, nor with the ministry of religious aff airs, raising a seri-ous question over their curricu-lum’s legitimacy and their source of funding.

Following the National Action Plan (NAP) committee’s recom-mendations, offi cials associated with provinces’ Auqaf depart-ments are gathering data about religious schools which have never been registered with the ITMP, ministry of religious aff airs or with the provincial Auqaf departments.

Around 8,249 seminaries which have enrolled 300,000 students are not registered across Khyber-

Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, revealed offi cials, who will brief ministry of interior next week.

Basic criteria“These non-registered madaris/makatib (religious schools) did not fulfi l the basic criteria set by the ministry of religious aff airs,” a senior offi cial told The Express Tribune.

Around 4,135 religious school-sare operating without getting proper registration from the des-

ignated authorities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the offi cial said, adding that some 2,411 seminaries are unregistered in Punjab, 1,406 in Sindh and 266 in Balochistan, he explained.

At least 31 religious schools are not registered in Islamabad where all seminaries are built on encroached land, he revealed and went on to say that even Jamia Hifsa, adjacent to Red Mosque, also failed to fulfi l basic require-ments of registration.

The offi cial claimed that “Semi-

naries operating in Khyber-Pa-khtunkhwa did not cooperate with us.”

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that around 605 students were studying in the capital’s unregistered seminaries.

Seminaries, whose curriculum is provided by Waqaful Madaris, are registered with Islamabad Auqaf Department.

The ITMP offi cials also con-fi rmed that some members of sem-inary boards — Barelvi, Ahle Ha-dith, Shiite and Jamaat-e-Islami

( affi liated with the Ittehad Tanzi-mat Madaris-e-Deeniya) had also refused to comply when it came to regulating their syllabus during Pervez Musharraf’s era.

No check on literatureThe problem exists in non-regis-tered seminaries where there is no check on literature being taught there, a cleric said on condition of anonymity.

The ministry of religious aff airs registered 26,131 seminaries by September 2014, according to of-fi cial fi gures obtained by The Ex-press Tribune.

Around 14,768 seminaries are registered in Punjab, 7,118 in Sindh, 2,704 in Balochistan, 1,354 in KP and 187 in the federal capital. — Express Tribune

These non-registered

madaris/makatib

(religious schools)

did not fulfi l the basic

criteria set by the

ministry of religious

aff airs, a senior

offi cial of the Auqaf

department said

UNDER THE SCANNER: Religious students take mid-term exams at Jamia Binoria, the nation’s largest

seminary in Karachi, on March 16, 2013. — AFP fi le photo

Around 4,135 religious

schoolsare operating

without getting proper

registration from the

designated authorities

in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,

2,411 are in Punjab,

1,406 in Sindh and

266 in Balochistan

Two years on, little lessons learnt from Karachi factory blazeKARACHI: More than two years after a fi re tore through a Karachi clothing factory, killing 255 work-ers, no-one has been prosecuted over the catastrophe, one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Pakistani history.

The abandoned hulk of the Ali Enterprises factory, which sup-plied cheap clothes to Western re-tailers, now stands as a monument to a disaster many would rather forget.

A little after 6pm on September 11, 2012, fi re broke out in a fac-tory storeroom housing jeans and t-shirts made by the 1,000-strong workforce for stores in Europe.

Never came homeTrapped inside, one of the workers, Riaz Parveen, rang his wife Nazia.

“He told me, ‘There’s a huge fi re in the factory, if I can’t get out of here I won’t be coming home’,” mother-of-three Nazia told AFP tearfully.

Riaz and his brother Rafaqat never came home.

Their charred bodies were found in the ashes of the factory.

A judicial probe into the blaze was damning, pointing to a lack of emergency exits, poor safety train-ing for workers, the packing in of

machinery and the failure of gov-ernment inspectors to spot any of these faults.

Two years later the victims’ families have received a total of $1.67 million in immediate com-

pensation paid by the factory own-ers and the German company KIK, which bought much of the produc-tion. Negotiations are still going on for long-term benefi ts.

Nazia got the equivalent of $7,000 which allowed her to buy a small plot of land in the city, but she is still angry at the factory owners and their Euro-pean partners. “The workers were paid barely Rs100 ($1) for making clothes that sell for much much more money,” she said.

Sucking blood“They’re sucking the blood of the poor. We are illiterate and unedu-cated and they exploit this weak-ness. We realised this when they paid us the compensation.”

A murder case was registered against the factory owners, but it has never come to trial.

The delay has infuriated Faisal Siddiqui, lawyer for the victims’ families.

“It just shows you a complete breakdown of the criminal justice

system but it also shows you that when it comes to labourers, it is next to impossible to get justice in Pakistan,” he said.

With workers paid around $100 a month, textiles make up more than half of Pakistan’s exports, valued at $13 billion last year and bound mainly for Europe.

GSP+ statusThis year Pakistan won the prized “GSP+” status from the European Union, a highly favourable tariff exemption regime that is a boon to textile exporters.

After the Karachi fi re, the Euro-pean Parliament told big brands to re-examine their supply chains in Pakistan and demanded the crea-tion of a new eff ective and inde-pendent system to monitor facto-ries. This has not been done.

The Karachi fi re was followed by an even deadlier accident in Bang-ladesh, where a garment factory collapse killed more than 1,100 people in April 2013.

Since then, “there has been pres-

sure to improve textile workers’ conditions”, an industry offi cial said on condition of anonymity.

“But this is not philanthropy -- the big brands just want to make sure they are not associated with another scandal,” the offi cial said.

Inspection depends on the good faith of those involved.

At the D.L.Nash factory, which makes sheets and duvet covers for French retailers, owner Shabir Ahmed is grateful for the safety measures that prevented a disas-ter in the spring, when a fi re broke out on a high fl oor.

“We rang the alarm bell, the workers were fully trained... and they didn’t rush and so they were evacuated,” he told AFP.

“Due to our evacuation plan, not a single person was neither injured or killed.” Before its devastating fi re, the Ali Enterprises factory was given a safety certifi cate, but the document was fake, issued by a company suspected of fraudu-lently “inspecting” around 100 Pa-kistani factories. — AFP

P L I G H T O F W O R K E R S

TOUGH CONDITIONS: Pakistani employees work in a textile factory

in Karachi on November 11, 2014. — AFP

Court reimposes Lakhvi detentionISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Su-preme Court Wednesday reim-posed a detention order on the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, court offi cials said, the latest in a tussle over his custody that has strained ties with India.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who is accused over the terror siege in India’s commercial capital, was granted bail on December 18 by an anti-terror court but authorities later detained him under a public order law, which in turn was then suspended by the Islamabad High Court on December 29.

A two-judge panel has now sus-pended Islamabad High Court’s interim order and directed it to hear the case again from January 12, a court offi cial told AFP.

The judges ruled that the high court did not hear the arguments of federal government and sus-pended Lakhvi’s detention orders in haste, the offi cial said.

Lakhvi has never been let out of Adiyala Prison in Rawalpindi dur-ing the back and forth over his de-tention, which prompted an angry response from Indian Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi when he was initially granted bail.

The Mumbai attacks left 166 people dead and were blamed on banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). India has long seethed at Pakistan’s failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning and or-ganising the violence.

Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged in Pakistan but their cases have made virtually no progress in more than fi ve years.

It was also seen as an embar-rassment for Pakistan’s govern-ment, which has promised to crack down on all terror groups in the wake of the Taliban school massa-cre that killed 150 people. — AFP

M U M B A I A T T A C K S M A S T E R M I N D

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi

Nation pays homage to slain teen

PESHAWAR: It has taken the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa As-sembly exactly one year to ac-knowledge the sacrifi ce of brave Hangu teenager Aitzaz Hasan who embraced a suicide bomber on January 6, 2014 and saved the lives of 300 schoolmates.

As Hasan’s death anniver-sary was marked across the country on Tuesday, opposition and treasury lawmakers of the provincial assembly showed rare unity and adopted a unani-mous resolution praising the young hero.

Pakistan Peoples Party law-maker Nighat Orakzai raised the matter in the house on a point of order and Speaker Asad Qaiser asked her to table a reso-lution after consulting other parliamentary leaders.

“For more than a decade, K-P has turned into a battlefi eld. Not only security personnel but civilians have laid down their lives,” read the resolution. It added that the sacrifi ces of Aitzaz Hasan and Army Public School students and teachers have united the nation against terrorism.

“Aitzaz sacrifi ced himself to save 300 of his schoolmates and teachers. This assembly pays tribute to him for this selfl ess act,” the resolution read, asking the provincial government to name Kohat-Hangu Road after Aitzaz Hasan.

Lawmakers also demanded “fi ctitious tales” be removed from school curriculum and chapters on local heroes added. — Express Tribune

A I T Z A Z H A S A N

COMMEN ARYT I M E S O F O M A NT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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T I M E S O F O M A NA12

Barack Obama was widely considered an exciting new fi gure when he was fi rst elected President of the United States in 2008. His increasing un-popularity and virtual abandonment by his own party in his second term in 2014 stems largely from that fact:

Expectations exceeded reality. But, more important, reality changed — in several ways.

Obama is not a failed president. He has in fact ac-complished much in nearly impossible circumstanc-es. In his fi rst two years in offi ce, when his Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress, he took nu-merous steps to stem the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Likewise, he got his land-mark health-care reform, the Patient Protection and Aff ordable Care Act, passed. Even now, despite oppo-sition from Republican politicians and major inter-est groups, he has begun to turn energy policy toward dealing with climate change and curbing greenhouse gases. He has also taken signifi cant steps to uphold the rights of women and minorities, and has used his executive power to loosen immigration restrictions on families amid congressional paralysis.

An assessment of Obama’s presidency must focus not just on him, but also on the Republicans’ unprec-edented hostility. Even before Obama took offi ce, Republican leaders were plotting to oppose his every proposal, so he could not claim bipartisan support. No Republican voted for Obama’s health-care legislation, even though it was modelled on schemes backed by some Republican offi cials and prominent think tanks.

The Republicans’ most ingenious trick was to use procedural measures to keep bills from being brought to a vote in the Senate, so that the public would ul-timately blame “the stalemate in Washington” on Obama. As his poll ratings began to drop, reaching the low forties, Democrats made the tactical error of run-ning away from him. Voters concluded that even his own party no longer supported him, and his popular-ity fell further.

As a result, in November’s midterm congressional election, the Democrats, unwilling to support any Obama-associated policy, waged a campaign about nothing, contributing to low turnout among their party’s voters. Republican candidates, running highly charged anti-Obama campaigns, trounced their op-ponents. Of course, no honest discussion of Obama’s presidency can ignore the role of his race. America, it turned out, was far less ready for a black president than his supporters expected (or hoped), exemplifi ed in virulent attacks that exceed the norm for a presi-dent. Moreover, Obama’s approach to issues involv-ing race has been fettered by his fear, expressed in his early memoir Dreams From My Father, of being

perceived (even by his white mother) as an “angry black.” To his credit, however, he has been eff ective in navigating the racial thicket of Ferguson, Missouri, by turning the killing of an unarmed teenager into a focal point for national action to improve police methods.

Obama’s personality has also contributed to his problems. In his astonishingly swift rise, he was virtually alone — a Democrat, but not a creature of the Democratic Party, a politician of progressive in-stincts, but not an ideologue. His tendency toward solitude, however, left him disinclined to build new ties and allies in Washington, leaning instead on his family and close friends from Chicago.

The emphasis on loyalty is particularly glaring on the national-security front. National Security Advis-er Susan Rice, who has been with Obama since 2008, is said to be intelligent but lacking in strategic vision. That, together with her avowed combativeness, has impaired coherent policymaking on critical issues like the Syrian crisis.

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel could not pen-etrate the bastion around Rice, and his dissent on policy toward Syria, which he often took directly to Obama, was not appreciated. After the midterm elec-tions, Hagel — Obama’s third defence secretary in six years — became the fl oundering administration’s sac-rifi cial lamb. He was not even aff orded the dignity of a simple resignation, untainted by leaked statements from White House offi cials that he “wasn’t up to the job.” Given Hagel’s good standing in Washington, the move refl ected poorly on the administration.

Obama is unlikely to fi nd much refuge from do-mestic struggles in the last redoubt of previous lame-duck presidents: foreign policy. Obama should not be blamed for the foreign-policy challenges that the US now faces. He did not create the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is not his fault that conducting foreign policy is far more diffi cult in today’s fragment-ed world than it was during the Cold War. It would be a tough time for any US president to try to assert global leadership — a fact that the Republicans choose to overlook.

But, brilliant as Obama is, he has been prone to making odd mistakes. With a seemingly out-of-con-trol John McCain taking over as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the situation is likely to become even more complicated. As Ameri-can politics becomes more polarised, and as Obama struggles to manage the challenges posed by epochal global developments, large domestic programmes to address rising income inequality are probably be-yond his administration’s reach. And, though there is no shortage of candidates lining up to succeed him in 2016, one might wonder, after his experience, why anyone would want the job. – Project Syndicate

Obama is unlikely

to find much refuge

from domestic

struggles in the

last redoubt of

previous lame-duck

presidents: foreign

policy. Obama should

not be blamed for

the foreign-policy

challenges that

the US now faces

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

THE CHALLENGE

In January 1992, Bill Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, left the presidential campaign trail to fl y home for the execution of a man named Ricky Ray Rector. Clinton’s decision not to grant clem-

ency to Rector, who had been sentenced to death for killing a police offi cer, was widely seen as an attempt to fend off the familiar charge that Democrats were soft on crime. On December 31, Governor Mar-tin O’Malley of Maryland, whose name has been mentioned among potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidates, commuted the sentences of the last four inmates on the state’s death row.

Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013, but only for new sentences. In resentencing the condemned men to life without parole, O’Malley said that leaving their death sentences in place would “not serve the public good of the people of Maryland — present or future.” Whether or not O’Malley runs for president, his action is a mark of how quickly the death penalty debate in America has shifted. Liberals have long opposed capital punishment, and now more conservatives are speaking out against it as well, variously describing it as immoral, unjust, racist, arbitrary, costly and ineptly carried out.

Thirty-fi ve people were put to death in 2014, the fewest in 20 years, according to a report last month by the Death Penalty Information Centre. All but seven of the executions took place in three states: Tex-as, Missouri and Florida.

And while two-thirds of those executed were black, only six had been convicted of killing a black person, even though blacks make up almost half of all murder victims. Another sign of the times: Fewer people are put on death row. There were 72 new death sentences in 2014, the lowest number since 1974. Death penalty is often seen as a brutal means to end a brutal life. In 2014, for the fi rst time, a Washing-ton Post-ABC News poll found that a majority of Americans favoured life without parole over the death penalty. O’Malley’s move may seem unusual among politicians, but it refl ects the views of a growing seg-ment of the country. – The New York Times News Service

Politics on death penalty

If all that was needed for the eurozone to stabilise was the depar-ture of the Greeks, then it would have happened by now. Indeed, successive Greek sovereign debt crises have off ered every op-

portunity, not to say incentive, for the Germans — paymasters and dominant voice in the eurozone — to push Athens out. Instead, with an admirable commitment to European unity, the German taxpayer has, albeit grumpily, paid up and subsidised Greece and Club Med’s other uncompetitive economies — Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Yet the suspicion is that German idealism and generosity is not matched by Greek determination and self-sacrifi ce.

More than suspicion, in fact: the Greek Syriza party may well tri-umph in the election later this month. It is threatening to renege on the deal Greece reached with the IMF, EU and European Central Bank because it is too austere, even though it’s almost completed. Such an outcome would not be good for Greece, which would gain an even worse reputation for its ability to hold to international obligations, and her exit from the eurozone would soon follow. A re-introduced drachma would immediately devalue, and the real-terms value of her euro-denominated debt would rise even further beyond redemption. Default would then be the only option. No one would lend to them. The Greek people would suff er more grievously than now.

Such a turn of events would also be disastrous for the eurozone as a whole, at least in the short term, because of “contagion”. This little-un-derstood phenomenon demonstrated its destructive potential during both the banking crisis and successive eurozone crises. Panic, often ir-rationally, spreads from bank to bank, from bank to country, and from country to country, and something of the same is happening now, with the euro falling to fresh lows in inverse relation to Syriza’s poll rating. Added to the unpredictable consequences of oil dipping below $50 a barrel, it is alarming fi nancial markets.

Defl ation is looming, something not seen in Europe since before the Second World War but which has mired Japan in stagnation for two decades. After Greece, the dominos would fall — Portugal, Spain and the rest. The rout may not end until it has overcome France, in which case the euro would simply be a proxy German currency, with only the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland as economic satellites along for the ride. Europe would slide back into recession.

Despite the damage it would cause, many governments must be qui-etly wondering whether Greece’s exit from the eurozone is simply in-evitable, as Greek resistance to reform proves insurmountable. When as committed a Europhile as President François Hollande remarks, gnomically, that “the Greeks are free to determine their own destiny”, you can feel the patience of the leaders of the eurozone wearing thin. Contingency plans must be being made now, as they must surely have been formulated during past ructions. - The Independent

Greek exit from the euro now looks inevitable

E L I Z A B E T H D R E W

Mass marriages show the way by cutting expenditureThis refers to the news story, Mass marriages help cut expenses (January 7). It is a wonderful idea. I personally feel that mar-riages should be kept as simple as possible and people must try to avoid spending unnecessarily on marriages. Of late, weddings have become a prism through which people want to show off their wealth and infl uence. Pomp-ous weddings ultimately lead to nowhere but certainly add to unnecessary spending. The show of wealth in weddings often turns out to be vulgar. I would laud all those who would opt for mass marriages and keep the spend-ing at the minimum and use the money for some better causes.LateefMuscat

It is time now to cut the huge wedding expenses This refers to the news story, Mass marriages help cut expenses (January 7). The dowry amount paid at marriage is still very high in this country and it’s time now to cut down on the wed-ding expenses. This unnecessary expenditure needs to be slashed. Mass marriage is a good move.Shabib Al-kalbaniMuscat

Even supporters of Modi government are confusedI believe that those who trusted in Narendra Modi are also confused now, thanks to the increasing in-ternal issues within his party. The fact is that confl icting statements and actions of party workers and even some of the cabinet mem-

bers, are damaging the confi dence of the public within and outside the country. Past experience and politics of India show that no party can remain in power and win elections over and over again only by selling religious senti-ments and dogmatism. Govern-ments need to perform and politicians have to be sincere in their working. The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership needs to start working on a fresh agenda for the development of the country and people.Ramachandran NairRuwi

Pakistan fi nally takes right step to fi ght terrorismThis refers to the news story, Parliament okays Military Courts in Pakistan (January 7). Finally,

the Parliament voted to set up the Military Courts to try the ter-rorists who have become a bane for the whole nation. There is a diff erence of opinion in Pakistan regarding Military Courts. In my opinion this is the only concrete and correct step taken to try the terrorists without any fear and fa-vour and to ensure speedy justice.S.A.S. BukhariRuwi

FY 2015 would be a game changer for the SultanateI am absolutely confi dent that Oman will emerge from 2015 eco-nomically stronger. Oil price crisis is actually a blessing in disguise. I am sure the current fi nancial year will be a game changer for Oman.Ahmed Al-HadhramiMuscat

READERS’ FORUM

He who will not economize will have to agonizeCONFUCIUS

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Behold the unmaking of President Obama

PERSPEC IVET I M E S O F O M A N T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5T I M E S O F O M A N A13

TODAY IN HISTORY

OPINION POLL

1681 The Treaty of Radzin ends a fi ve year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.

1745 England, Austria, Saxony and the

Netherlands form an alliance against Russia.

1815 A rag-tag army under Andrew

Jackson defeats the British on the fi elds of Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans.

1871 Prussian troops begin to bombard

Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

1900 The Boers attack the British in

Ladysmith, South Africa, but are turned back.

DEVALUATION, PERSONAL INCOME TAX RULED OUTMUSCAT: Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, minister of national economy, deputy chairman of the Financial Aff airs and Energy Resources Council, and supervisor of the Ministry of Finance, has ruled out a devalua-tion of the rial or the imposition of personal income tax. He made the statement at a press conference held yesterday to announce the details of year 2000 budget. Highlighting the salient features of year 2000 budget, Macki said the Sultanate would increase spending by 13 per cent.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

HISTORYNET.COM

South Australia bushfires

GraphicsGraphic News /Source: Country Fire Service

Kersbrook

Gumeracha

UpperHermitage

Houghton

Inglewood

Lobethal

MountTorrens

CharlestonLenswood

WoodsideWoodsideBarracks

SampsonFlat

Cudlee Creek

8km

A D E L A I D E

Townships under threatAdelaide

CanberraAUSTRALIA

SouthAustralia

Victoria

Firefighters in South Australia are battling out-of-control bushfires before hotter weather and stronger winds are expected later in the week. The blazes are the worst since 1983 when 75 people lost their lives. The Country Fire Service has warned that temperatures will reach 38 degrees Celsius .

LAST POLL RESULT

Are you confi dent Oman will emerge from 2015 economically stronger?

Is mass marriage the best way to keep the cost of wedding under control in Oman?

Visit timesofoman.com to cast your vote

Yes60.6%

No27.3%

Can't say12.1%

A few days ago, Britain’s Ra-dio 4 listeners expecting an early morning giggle

courtesy of the nation’s ever beaming “black friend”, Lenny Henry, would have found them-selves sorely disappointed.

Guest presenting Radio 4’s To-day programme, which featured an ethnically diverse panel, Henry discussed racism and diversity (or rather the distinct lack of it) in the media, a point he’s been driving home since last March when the comedian told a Bafta audience that the number of minorities seen on screen was “appalling”.

And it is. We rarely blink at all white casts in what no lon-ger is an all white country, yet the notion of a black Bond is still turning stomachs.

Even the BBC’s discussion it-self highlighted how prevalent the problem of underrepresentation

truly is. It speaks volumes that when a panel consists of more than two minority members, it’s more often than not to discuss something race-related.

We know if we’re faced with one too many brown faces on screen there’s a specifi c reason for it, and if we grin and bear it we’ll be faced with our regular, white cast by tomorrow.

With the black and Asian popu-lation currently standing at 14 per cent nationwide and 40 per cent in the media Mecca of Lon-don, our measly six per cent rep-resentation in television simply doesn’t suffi ce.

Non surprisingly, tweeters in their swarms attacked Lenny for “reverse racism”, but fail to realise its “racism” that sees minorities erased from the media altogether.

People of colour are already counted out of period dramas —

and much as I’d love a black Ben-net sister, the small amount of blacks present in early 19th cen-tury England makes her omis-sion understandable — but what explanation is there for only two ethnic minority families in what the BBC would like us to believe is a present day, bustling east end community?

True Eastenders also include the Ghanaian women dressed in kente, buying plantain and yams at a market stall and the Kurdish family who run it.

I’m not paying my television license to play a game of spot the minority.

Let’s hope the New Year brings some new faces, as I guarantee if the square had cast at least one interfering Nige-rian aunt, they’d have identifi ed Lucy Beale’s killer long before Christmas. – The Independent

Every day a public

figure is apologising

for something crazy

or foul that he or she

muttered, uttered,

tweeted or shouted

that went viral —

including the ranting

of an NBA owner in his

friend’s living room

You could easily write a book, or, bet-ter yet, make a movie about the dra-ma that engulfed Sony Pictures and

“The Interview,” Sony’s own movie about the fi ctionalised assassination of North Korea’s real-life dictator.

The whole saga refl ects so many of the changes that are roiling and reshaping to-day’s world before we’ve learned to adjust to them. Think about this: In November 2013, hackers stole 40 million credit and debit card numbers from Target’s point-of-sale systems. Beginning in late August 2014, candid photos believed to have been stored by celebrities on Apple’s iCloud were spilled onto the sidewalk.

Thanksgiving brought us the Sony hack, when, as The Times reported: “Everything and anything had been taken. Contracts. Salary lists. Film budgets. Medical re-cords. Social Security numbers. Personal emails. Five entire movies.”

And, on Christmas, gaming networks for both the Sony PlayStation and the Mi-crosoft Xbox were shut down by hackers.

But rising cybercrime is only part of the story. Every day a public fi gure is apologis-ing for something crazy or foul that he or she muttered, uttered, tweeted or shouted that went viral — including the ranting of an NBA owner in his friend’s living room.

What’s going on? We’re in the midst of a Gutenberg-scale change in how informa-tion is generated, stored, shared, protect-ed and turned into products and services.

We are seeing individuals become su-per empowered to challenge governments and corporations.

And we are seeing the rise of apps that are putting strangers into intimate prox-imity in each other’s homes (think Airb-nb) and into each other’s cars (think Uber) and into each other’s heads (think Face-book, Twitter and Instagram).

Thanks to the integration of networks, smartphones, banks and markets, the world has never been more tightly wired. As they say: “Lost there, felt here.” Whis-pered there, heard here. And it’s now hit a tipping point.

“The world is not just rapidly changing; it is being dramatically reshaped,” Dov Se-idman, author of the book How and CEO of LRN, which advises global businesses on ethics and leadership, argued to me in a recent conversation.

“It operates diff erently. It’s not just in-terconnected; it’s interdependent. More than ever before, we rise and fall together. So few can now so easily and so profound-

ly aff ect so many so far away.” But, he added, “it’s all happened faster than we’ve reshaped ourselves and developed the necessary norms, behaviours, laws and in-stitutions to adapt.”

“If we’re in an interdependent world, then the only strategy for countries, com-panies and individuals is to build healthy interdependencies so we rise, and not fall, together,” Seidman added.

“This comes down to behaviour. It means being guided by sustainable values like humility, integrity and respect in how we work with others: values that build healthy interdependencies.”

It means shunning “situational ‘values,’ just doing whatever the situation allows.”

The American-Canadian relationship is a healthy interdependency. The rela-tionship between police forces and black youths today is an unhealthy interdepen-dency. The relationship between Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York and his police force is an unhealthy interdependency.

But there is another critical part. It’s how we learn to respond to all the se-crets being revealed: the CEO’s email that makes him or her look foolish, but also reveals that women are being paid less than men in the same jobs; the video of a suspect being killed by police; the elevator footage of a football player knocking out his fi ancée; and private photos of movie stars. They all have diff erent moral and societal signifi cance. We need to deal with them diff erently.

“We need to pause more to make sense of all the MRI’s we’re being exposed to,” argued Seidman. In the pause, “we refl ect and imagine a better way.”

In some cases, that could mean showing empathy for the fact that humans are im-perfect. In others, it could mean “taking principled stands” toward those whose behaviours “make this interdependent world unsafe, unstable or unfree.”

In short, there’s never been a time when we need more people living by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Because, in today’s world, more people can see into you and do unto you than ever before.

Otherwise, we’re going to end up with a “gotcha” society, lurching from outrage to outrage, where in order to survive you’ll either have to disconnect or constantly censor yourself because every careless act or utterance could ruin your life.

Who wants to live that way? – The New York

Times News Service

The Peshawar massacre of schoolchildren by Taliban terrorists, it

seems, has rudely awakened the slumbering power elite to some grave national security threat. We have experienced so many rude shocks before.

This was the cruellest act of violence, but one amongst the thousands that this great-ly weakened state and society have witnessed for decades.

Gravity of one kind of vio-lence by one group shouldn’t blind us to other forms and groups operating in Pakistan today. Living in denial or ig-noring some groups or forms of violence for reasons of po-litical discomfort will be self-defeating in the end.

All forms of violence are political in nature, regard-less of group identity or its ideology.

Sadly, many groups, not just the Taliban, have resort-ed to violent means in varying degrees and with diff erent target lists for political and religious ends.

The question is, why have we seen violence and its in-tensity to be on the rise dur-ing the past decade or so?

The brief answer is, it is system failure, by which I mean the institutions of the state and governments have failed to perform their speci-fi ed functions.

Any system, whether in-stitutional or physical, be-comes dysfunctional when it does something it was not designed to do or fails to do what it was required to do.

In case of states and gov-ernments, this happens when they fail to implement laws eff ectively, deliver political goods to the people and ad-judicate disputes peacefully, timely and according to law and good standards of justice.

Pakistan has been on the downside of this deadly dreck for too long, without any resolute, good leader try-ing to put the country back on the rails of rule-bound governance.

My argument is two-fold. First, the system failure has created a culture of impu-nity in the country, which is no longer confi ned to the ruling elite.

Frankly, it started with the ruling class — the politicians and the military regimes, as they got away free and were cleared of every wrong com-mitted, as well as for the misuse of power and mega corruption.

Now, it is every section of society — clerics, business-men and members of every other profession.

The problem of Pakistan is large and extends beyond

state institutions. It is also social and involves the loss of values. This is character-istic of every society that has not applied the rule of law or has not lived according to the law.

Therefore, the mess Paki-stan is in, and has been in for decades, is too big to be cleared by one set of adminis-trative actions or emergency legislation.

We have been in this for a long time because of grave neglect by the military and civilian regimes that have come and gone.

Dynastic party lead-ers have switched places, but the problems have kept accumulating.

We have found each one of them at the top to be expedi-ent, driven by narrow self-interest, and compromising on vital social, economic and political reforms, including national security.

The sacrifi ce of the last batch of our children has uni-fi ed the nation and has forced political parties, leaders and all parts of the state to do some collective thinking.

This collective thinking must not end at establishing military courts alone.

We must address the larger issue of system failure, which also includes reforming and restructuring of the judiciary — the criminal justice system in its every aspect.

Second, there cannot be any exception from the rule of law — all are equal before it and under it.

Third, we need to bring in accountability and transpar-ency in the functioning of government institutions at every level and in all spheres.

Politics and governance as usual is not a rational choice for a society in such deep crises, and quick fi xes never off er real solutions. - The

Express Tribune

The question is where to begin from?

Why can’t we see a black Bennet sister on TV?

R A S U L B A K H S H R A I S

T H O M A S L . F R I E D M A N

Y O M I A D E G O K E

Sadly, many groups,

not just the Taliban,

have resorted to

violent means in

varying degrees and

with different target

lists for political and

religious ends. The

question is, why have

we seen violence and

its intensity to be on

the rise during the

past decade or so

The rising cybercrime is only a part of the story

A14

GLOBAL EYET H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

MONACO: Prince Albert II, right, and Princess Charlene of Monaco present their baby twins Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques to

public from the balcony of the Princely Palace, in Monaco, on Wednesday. This is the fi rst public appearance of the royal twins. The

date has been declared a public holiday in the Principality. Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, is now fi rst in line to succeed his

father, Prince Albert II. – AFP

MOROCCO: A view of traditional plates at a pottery workshop in the

old Medina in the city of Marrakech, Morocco. – Reuters

VATICAN: Circus artists perform before Pope Francis’ weekly gen-

eral audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican on Wednesday. – Reuters

AUSTRALIA: Maria Sharapova of Russia holds Sinnamon, a native Australian Koala, at the Brisbane International tennis tournament, in

Australia, on Wednesday. – Reuters

CAMBODIA: Students release balloons into the sky during a ceremo-

ny marking the 36th anniversary of the toppling of Pol Pot’s Khmer

Rouge regime in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Wednesday. – Reuters

LAS VEGAS: ChihiraAico, a communication android robot,

gestures at the Toshiba booth at the International Consumer

Electronics show in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday. – Reuters

WASHINGTON: Children sled in Rock Creek Park in Washington on

Tuesday after snow fell for the fi rst time this winter. – AFP

AUSTRIA: Actors Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux, right, pose dur-

ing a photocall to promote the new James Bond fi lm Spectre at

Gaislachkogel mountain in the Austrian ski resort of Soelden, on

Wednesday. – Reuters

DAKAR: Buggy driver Guerlain Chicherit of France drives during the 3rd stage of the Dakar Rally

2015, from San Juan to Chilecito, on Tuesday. – Reuters

GERMANY: The piece ‘Roboter’ of the German band Kraftwerk is performed during a concert at the

Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) museum in Berlin on Tuesday. – AFP

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A15

WORLDT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

12 killed as gunmen attack French weekly

PARIS: Heavily armed gunmen massacred 12 people on Wednes-day after bursting into the Paris offi ces of a satirical weekly that had long angered Muslims.

The late-morning attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in a quiet neighbourhood was the bloodiest in France for at least four decades.

Victims included three car-toonists and the chief editor who had been holding a morning meet-ing when the assailants armed with Kalashnikovs opened fi re, offi cials said. President Francois Hollande immediately rushed to the scene of what he called “an act of exceptional barbarism.”

Amateur video shot after the bloodbath showed two men masked and dressed head-to-toe in black military style outfi ts leav-ing the building, then shooting a wounded policeman in cold blood as he lay on the pavement.

The gunmen, who appear to be calm, then returned to a black Cit-roen and drove off .

Large numbers of police and ambulances rushed to the scene,

where shocked residents spilled into the streets. Reporters saw bullet-riddled windows and peo-ple being carried out on stretch-ers. The gunmen remained at large by early evening and there was no claim of responsibility. The interior minister said three assailants took part.

Two police were confi rmed among the dead and four people were critically injured. The capi-tal was immediately placed under the highest alert status.

The attack took place at a time

of heightened fears in France and other European capitals over fallout from the wars in Iraq and Syria, where hundreds of Euro-pean citizens have gone to fi ght alongside the radical Islamic State group.

In a sign of such tensions, a me-dia group’s offi ce in Madrid was evacuated later in the day after a suspicious package was sent there. One man, who witnessed the attack, described a scene like “in a movie.”

“I saw them leaving and shoot-ing. They were wearing masks. These guys were serious,” said the man who declined to give his name. “At fi rst I thought it was special forces chasing drug traf-fi ckers or something.” An em-

ployee at a nearby daycare centre said he was walking with children when panic erupted.

“People leaned out of the win-dow and yelled at me to get off the pavement,” he said.

Hollande called for “national unity”, adding that “several ter-rorist attacks had been foiled in recent weeks”.

US President Barack Obama condemned the attack and pledged assistance, while British Prime Minister David Cameron called it “sickening.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack was “des-picable” and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the violence along with the Arab League. — AFP

Victims included

three cartoonists and

the chief editor of

‘Charlie Hebdo’ who

had been holding a

morning meeting

when the assailants

armed with

Kalashnikovs opened

fi re, offi cials said

TARGET: Firefi ghters carry an injured man on a stretcher in front of the offi ces of the French satirical

newspaper ‘Charlie Hebdo’ in Paris on Wednesday, after armed gunmen stormed it’s offi ces. — AFP

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UN chief accepts Palestine request on ICC; war crimes complaints likelyNEW YORK: UN chief Ban Ki-moon has accepted the request by Palestine to join the International Criminal Court, a move that would open the way for war crimes com-plaints against Israel.

The decision grants the Hague-based ICC jurisdiction to open cases starting April 1 on serious crimes committed in the Pales-tinian territories, despite fi erce opposition from Israel and the United States.

Ban notifi ed states that are party to the ICC of the decision late on Tuesday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told AFP.

“The secretary-general has as-certained that the instruments received were in due and proper form before accepting them for de-posit,” a UN statement read.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Ab-bas signed requests to join the ICC and 16 other conventions on De-cember 31, a day after the Security Council failed to adopt a resolution paving the way to full statehood.

Israel has retaliated by freezing some $127 million in tax revenue due to the Palestinian Authority and has vowed to take other steps in response to the move.

The United States has criticized the ICC membership bid as coun-terproductive and the US Con-gress is threatening to withhold $440 million in aid.

The Palestinians have asked the ICC to look into possible war crimes committed during last year’s Gaza war.

Almost 2,200 Palestinians were killed in July and August during the 50-day war in Gaza, including more than 400 children, according to UN estimates.

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said a suit could also be fi led at the ICC over the construction of

Israeli settlements in the Palestin-ian territories. The Palestinians were upgraded from observer en-tity to UN “observer state” in 2012, opening the doors for them to join the ICC and a host of other inter-national organisations.

UNSC rejected resolutionAn Arab-backed resolution on ending the Israeli occupation by the end of 2017 was rejected at the UN Security Council last week, but the Palestinians are considering another measure at the 15-mem-ber council.

The United States and Australia voted against the resolution, but China, France and Russia were among eight countries that voted in favour, just one vote short of the nine required for adoption. — AFP

G A Z A W A R C R I M E S

The move to join the

International Criminal

Court is part of a

Palestinian strategy to

internationalise their

push for statehood,

moving away from

US-led negotiations

that have been the

framework for the

peace process

for decades

In this tense international climate stoked by the madness of terrorist groups unjustly claiming to represent Islam, we call on all those attached to the republic’s values and to democracy to avoid provocation

French Muslim Council

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Sri Lankan poll body probing ‘army deployment in Tamil areas’COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s election commission said on Wednesday it was investigating claims of troops being deployed in the Tamil-dom-inated north ahead of a tightly-fought election, as police reported the fi rst campaign-related death.

Chief election commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said there had been complaints that secu-rity forces were deploying in the

northern Wanni region, in contra-vention of election laws.

Wanni was part of the war zone where Tamil separatists fought the army in a decades-long confl ict that ended only fi ve years ago.

“I have already taken this up with the army commander, who says he has not ordered troops to deploy,” Deshapriya told reporters on the eve of the election. “I hope

there will be no attempt to use troops to block people voting.”

The investigation came as po-lice said a 57-year-old opposition activist who was hit in a drive-by shooting two days ago had died of his injuries.

Looking for ministerPolice are looking for a deputy min-ister and two supporters of Presi-

dent Mahinda Rajapakse’s party in connection with the shooting out-side Colombo on Monday, the fi nal day of campaigning, police spokes-man Ajith Rohana said.

The independent Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) on Tuesday accused the ruling party of tolerating “fl agrant violation of election laws” and said opposition party offi ces had been

targeted. The CMEV, said it had documented 420 incidences of violence since the election was an-nounced on November 20.

Jaff na worst hitIt said the Tamil-dominated northern district of Jaff na was worst hit.

President Rajapakse, who is standing for an unprecedented

third term, is widely loathed by the country’s minority Tamils after overseeing a violent military sup-pression of a separatist struggle.

Both local and international poll monitors have expressed fears that authorities could try to pre-vent Tamils from voting after the main Tamil political party backed opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena. — AFP

CLA IMS

AirAsia jet’s tail found

JAKARTA/PANGKALAN BUN (INDONESIA): The tail of a crashed AirAsia jet has been found upturned on the sea bed about 30 km (20 miles) from the plane’s last known location, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said on Wednesday, in-dicating the crucial black box recorders may be nearby.

Flight QZ8501 vanished from radar screens over the northern Java Sea on December 28, less than half-way into a two-hour fl ight from Surabaya to Singa-pore. There were no survivors among the 162 people on board.

Main target“We’ve found the tail that has been our main target,” Fransis-kus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Ja-karta. The tail was identifi ed by divers after it was spotted by an underwater machine using a so-nar scan, Soelistyo said.

“I can confi rm that what we found was the tail part from the pictures,” he said, adding that the team “now is still desperate-ly trying to locate the black box”.

Indonesia’s Minister for Maritime Aff airs, Indroyono Soesilo, said: “With the fi nding of the tail, six search and rescue ships are already at the location to search within a radius of two nautical miles.” — Reuters

CRASH

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5B

Muscat

6,204.12- 25.75

- 0.41%

Dubai

3,600.33+ 150.33

+ 4.31%

Abu Dhabi

4,424.64+ 112.75

+ 2.61%

Saudi Arabia

8,132.33+ 74.90

+ 0.93%

Kuwait

6,423.21+25.34

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Bahrain

1,425.16- 1.27

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Qatar

11,898.18+ 86.43

+ 0.73%

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

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

Euro .............................................2.16

Pound ........................................... 1.70

Indian Rs .............................164.53

Pak Rs .................................... 257.73

Bangla Taka.......................199.52* Rates are as of Jan. 7Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs ..................................164.00

Pakistan Rs .............................261.00

Sri Lanka Rs ............................341.75

Bangla Taka............................201.80

Phil Peso .................................... 116.35

* Rates as of Jan. 7 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......15.55

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......14.95

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............ 146.75

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) .............139.25

* Rates as of Jan. 7

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$48.23

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) .........$47.23

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$46.87

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........ $45.73

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........ $50.77

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ..........$47.91

CRUDE OIL PRICE

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Iran to pursuetransit corridor with Sultanate

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Iran on Wednes-day said it would welcome joint investment with Oman in the implementation of the planned transit corridor that will run from Uzbekistan across Turkmeni-stan and then to the Sultanate of Oman via Iran.

“This transit route is highly important as it will connect us to the Central Asian countries, and there is an opportunity for joint investment with Oman to imple-ment this project,” Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Iran’s minis-ter of industry, mining and trade, told ‘Times of Oman.’ In August 2014, the foreign ministers of Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan held a meeting in

Muscat, in which they signed a memorandum of understanding for Ashgabat Agreement to estab-lish the international transport and transit corridor among the state parties.

Nematzadeh, who was visiting Muscat to attend an exhibition of Iranian products, said that Iran is more interested in joint invest-ments as it will help bring the two friendly nations closer together.

Steel plant The Iranian offi cial said that Iran is planning several projects in Oman, including the establish-ment of a steel factory through joint investment, as an expansion

of the activities of several steel companies that are already pre-sent in Oman. “There is common ground for cooperation in infra-structure development, industrial projects, oil, gas and petrochemi-cal industry as well as port con-struction,” he added, noting that an agreement was recently made for the sale of Iranian tar to Oman.

Auto industry In addition, Nematzadeh said that there is potential for collabora-tion in automobile exports and Oman can become a commercial hub for the export of Iranian-manufactured heavy and light ve-hicles to other countries.

The planned transit

corridor will run

from Uzbekistan

across Turkmenistan

and then to Oman

through Iran

CEMENTING TIES: Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, Iran’s minister

of industry, mining and trade. – Supplied photo

Is crude oil’s fall to $40 a boon or bane?NEW YORK: Plummeting price of oil means no more trout ice cream.

Coromoto, a parlour in Merida, Venezuela, famous for its 900 fl avours, closed during its busi-est season in November because of a milk shortage caused by the country’s 64 per cent infl ation rate, the world’s fastest.

That’s the plight of an oil-pro-ducing nation. At the same time, consuming countries like the United States are taking advan-tage. Trucks, which burn more gasoline, outsold cars in Decem-ber by the most since 2005, data from Ward’s Automotive shows.

The biggest collapse in energy prices since the 2008 global re-cession is shifting wealth and power from autocratic petro-states to industrialised consum-ers, which could make the world safer, according to a Berenberg Bank report. Surging US shale supply, weakening Asian and Eu-ropean demand and a stronger dollar are pushing oil past thresh-old after threshold to a fi ve-and-a- half-year low, with a dip be-low $40 a barrel “not out of the question,” said Rob Haworth, a Seattle-based senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management, which oversees about $120 billion.

“Oil prices are the big story for 2015,” said Kenneth Rogoff , a Harvard University economics professor. “They are a once-in-a-generation shock and will have huge reverberations.”

Weak pricesBrent crude, the international benchmark, fell as low as $50.52 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest since April 2009. Prices dropped 48 per cent in 2014 after three years of the highest average prices

in history. West Texas Intermedi-ate, the US benchmark, plunged to $47.93 on Tuesday, a 55 per cent decline from its June high.

“We see prices remaining weak for the whole of the fi rst half” of 2015, said Gareth Lewis-Davies, an analyst at BNP Paribas in Lon-don. If the price falls past $39 a barrel, we could see it go as low as $30 a barrel, said Walter Zim-merman, chief technical strate-gist for United-ICAP in Jersey City, New Jersey, who projected the 2014 drop.

“Where prices bottom will be based on an emotional decision,” Zimmerman said. “It won’t be based on the supply- demand fundamentals, so it’s guaranteed to be overdone to the downside.”

The biggest winner would be the Philippines, whose economic growth would accelerate to 7.6 per cent on average over the next two years if oil fell to $40, while Russia would contract 2.5 per cent over the same period, ac-cording to an Oxford Economics’ December analysis of 45 national economies.

Infl ation outlookAmong advanced economies, Hong Kong is the biggest winner, while Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates fare the worst, according to Oxford Economics. One concern of cen-tral bankers is the eff ect of falling oil prices on infl ation. If crude remains below $60 per barrel this quarter, global infl ation will reach levels not seen since the worldwide recession ended in 2009, according to JP Morgan Securities economists led by Bruce Kasman in New York.

Kasman and his team are al-ready predicting global infl ation to reach 1.5 per cent. - Bloomberg News

O I L M A R K E T

Projects worth OMR1.51m awarded by Tender Board

MUSCAT: Tender Board yes-terday awarded projects worth OMR1.51 million.

The Tender Board met under the chairmanship of Dr Rasheed bin Al Safi Al Huraibi, chairman of the board.

The projects awarded by the Tender Board include supply of newspaper printing papers for Oman Establishment for Press Publishing and Advertising for 2015/2016 (OMR1,468,133), ad-ditional works to provide consul-tancy services for the supervision of 500 housing units with internal roads and lighting in the wilayat of Al Suwaiq in the Governorate North Al Batinah (OMR33,531).

The tender also includes ad-ditional works for the provision of consultancy services for the supervisor of 300 housing units with internal roads and light-ing in the wilayat of Sohar in the Governorate North Al Batinah (OMR13,097).

Ministry buildingThe board also opened bids for a number of projects, which include construction of the building of the Ministry of Social Development in Al Irfan City in the wilayat of Baushar and the construction of Sultan Qaboos University Hospi-tal administration building.

It also opened technical bids for building a recharge dam over Wadi Ghamdha in the wilayat of Bukha in Musandam and the construc-tion of sportsmen training centre in Al Jabal Al Akhdar in the Gover-norate of Al Dakhiliyah. – ONA

N E W P R O J E C T S

L&T Oman bags contract to build Crowne Plaza HotelMUSCAT: Oman Tourism De-velopment Company (Omran) announced that Larsen & Toubro Oman, a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited, bagged a tender for the turnkey construction of the four-star, 300-room Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Oman Conven-tion and Exhibition Centre Pro-ject (OCEC).

Ideally positioned 10 minutes from Muscat International Air-port, the 4-star hotel will include a two-level basement car park to accommodate 270 vehicles, a ground fl oor, mezzanine and six additional fl oors with standard guestrooms, junior and executive suites and a presidential suite.

Other facilities at the hotel in-clude a ballroom, an executive lounge, all-day dining restaurant and a specialty restaurant.

Gold rating accreditationIn line with Omran’s long stand-ing sustainable policy, the hotel has been designed to achieve a gold rating accreditation under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard (LEED) manifesting itself in out-standing energy and water effi -ciency compared to international standards, use of solar thermal hot water heating, LED fi xtures in rooms and public areas and healthier indoor air quality for the occupants.

The contractor will be respon-sible for civil works, architectural fi nishes, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services (MEP)

works, external works and land-scape. The works will be super-vised by local consultant Ibn Khaldoun Al Madaen, in collabo-ration with Jordanian architect Arabtech-Jardaneah.

“The construction of the Crowne Plaza was awarded to L&T Oman based on their score in a comprehensive evaluation carried out by the project team; and subsequently approved by Omran’s main tendering com-mittee and board.

The evaluation considered the capability of the bidding fi rms, proposed execution methodol-ogy, as well as their demonstrated commitment to Local Devel-opment,” said Engineer Wa’el Ahmed Al Lawati, chief executive offi cer of Omran.

Due for completion in late 2016, a socio-economic impact study has indicated that the Oman Tourism Development Company project will contribute OMR200-230 million annually to the gross domestic product by 2030 and generate 15,000-30,000 direct and indirect jobs, in addition to creating opportunities for small and medium enterprises in des-tination management, retail, food and beverage, transportation, se-curity, and other fi elds. - ONA

O M R A N P R O J E C T

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Al Kamil Power board names new directorMUSCAT: Al Kamil Power Company’s board of directors has agreed to appoint Jurgen De Vyt, a senior professional in the power industry, as director and deputy chairman in place of Jo-han Kerrebroeck, who resigned in December, 2014.

Semcorp Salalah appoints disclosure offi cerMUSCAT: Board of directors of Semcorp Salalah has decided to appoint Tariq Bashir (acting fi nancial controller) as the compa-ny secretary and Lim Yeow Keong (chief executive offi cer of the company) as the disclosure offi cer with immediate eff ect.

Monster sues Apple’s Beats CALIFORNIA: American audio equipment maker Monster is suing rival Beats over claims it ripped off headphone technol-ogy ahead of the fi rm’s sale to Apple for more than $3 billion. The lawsuit, fi led on Tuesday in California, alleges Beats co-founders music mogul Jimmy Iovine and rapper Dr Dre pirated the ‘Beats By Dr Dre’ headphone line from Monster and its CEO Noel Lee.

Defl ation fears grip eurozone BRUSSELS: Eurozone consumer prices fell 0.2 per cent in De-cember, entering negative territory for the fi rst time since fi nan-cial crisis in October 2009 and raising fears of defl ation, EU data showed yesterday. The drop was brought on by plummeting oil prices and will heap pressure on the European Central Bank to take bold action to stimulate price rises in the now 19-nation single currency zone. It is the fi rst concrete sign of much-feared defl ation, or long-term falling prices, in the eurozone. Defl ation is defi ned by prices falling over a longer period. Defl ation also in-creases the burden of long-term debt. - Times News Service/Agencies

B R I E F S

MOBILE APP FOR HALAL FOODIES AND TRAVELLERSA man displaying the ‘HalalTrip’ app outside a restaurant in Singapore, on Wednesday. A Singapore-based company

launched a mobile application that enables Muslim foodies and travellers to share halal restaurant discoveries around the

world. The free ‘HalalTrip’ app, available for Apple iOS and Android devices, enables users to take and upload photos of halal

dishes, write comments and share them through social media. The app, which has English and Arabic interfaces, also uses a

traveller’s location to display photos of halal dishes served in nearby restaurants. — AFP

Computing ‘unleashed’ by wearables, says Intel CEOLAS VEGAS: Intel chief execu-tive Brian Krzanich has said that computing is being ‘unleashed’ by the move to wearables as the tech giant unveiled a button-sized de-vice for new connectivity.

Speaking at a keynote at the huge Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Krzanich said he sees wearables and simi-lar technology taking computing power out of the constraints of the traditional screen and keyboard.

“We’re going from a two-dimen-sional world to a three-dimension-al world,” he told a CES crowd.

“So computing becomes un-wired, and everything becomes smart and connected.”

Krzanich unveiled the Intel Curie module, a device the size of a button which is essentially a system chip for smart garments, glasses and other wearables.

“Curie is the next generation of computing,” he said at the pres-

entation, where he outlined plans for connected eyewear, garments and drones. The new trend off ers a whole new range or intuitive computing without keyboard or screens or mice. “It can unleash us,” Krzanich said.

He also said the California tech giant would spend $300 million over the next fi ve years to improve diversity in its workforce to bring more women and minorities into the group. Krzanich said Intel would seek “full representation at all levels” of women and minori-ties in the company by 2020, and said this was an eff ort to “lead by example” and encourage others in the sector to do the same. – AFP

T E C H N O L O G Y S H O W Spain showing recovery signs after six years

MADRID: Fewer Spaniards stood in jobless queues in 2014, consumer spending rose and banks boosted lending — all signs pointing to Spain’s economy get-ting back on track after six years of a gruelling fi nancial crisis.

The number of people reg-istered as unemployed in 2014 dipped by 253,627 to 4.45 million, the Labour Ministry said this week. It was the second consecu-tive yearly drop since a decade-long property bubble burst in 2008, throwing millions of people out of work.

While the unemployment rate — which is calculated diff erently — was 23.67 per cent in the third quarter, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world, the dip in the jobless numbers last year gives a ray of hope to job seekers, many of whom have seen their unemployment benefi ts run out.

“Today there is greater confi -dence in Spain in the ability to fi nd work in the coming months,” said Labour Minister Fatima Banez of the ruling conservative government which faces regional and legislative elections this year.

One in two Spaniards, 51 per cent, believe their personal eco-nomic situation will improve or at least remain stable in 2015, ac-cording to a survey by DYM Mar-ket research published last week by online newspaper El Confi den-cial. Those who fear that the new year will be one of economic dif-fi culty fell to 36 per cent from 51 per cent during the same time a year earlier.

Christmas salesThe growing optimism has also spurred a shopping spree. Sales over the Christmas season, which in Spain ended on Tuesday on the Feast of the Epiphany when gifts are traditionally opened, are ex-pected to post their biggest rise in seven years. In November retail sales posted a 1.9 percent increase over the same year-ago period.

New car sales — a key measure of demand — jumped 18 per cent in 2014 to 855,308 vehicles, the best annual performance since 2010, helped in part by a govern-ment subsidy scheme, according to carmakers association Anfac.

Government borrowing costs

are down and banks, which were saddled with bad debt after the property crash in 2008, also ap-pear more willing to lend, the Bank of Spain said in its latest bul-letin on the state of the economy.

Buff ett opens offi ce Spain emerged timidly from re-cession in mid-2013 and in the second quarter of 2014 posted its strongest quarterly growth since 2007, expanding by 0.6 per cent.

Prime Minister Mariano Ra-joy’s government estimates the economy will have expanded by 1.3 per cent in 2014 and will grow by 2 per cent in 2015, a faster growth rate than is expected in France, Germany and Italy.

And foreign investors are stepping back into Spain. They poured €47 billion into the eu-rozone’s fourth-largest economy last year, up from €20 billion. - AFP

Spain’s economy

is getting back on

track as fewer people

stood in jobless

queues in 2014,

consumer spending

rose and banks

boosted lending

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

SHOPPING SPREE: Sales over the Christmas season, which in

Spain ended on Tuesday on the Feast of the Epiphany when gifts

are traditionally opened, are expected to post their biggest rise in

seven years. – Bloomberg News

WERABLE PROCESSOR: Intel’s

wearable processor, the size of a

button at the CES. - AFP

B3T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Drones makepresence feltat exhibition

LAS VEGAS: On a dusty stretch of Nevada desert, a quadcopter drone kicks up a small cloud as it takes off . It then trails its operator on a drive across the fl at terrain, fi lming the motion from a short distance above.

The AirDog drone was designed to capture the intensity of extreme sports that have been diffi cult to access — surfi ng, skiing, off -road biking and similar activities.

“We felt we could change the way video is captured in action sports,” said Agris Kipurs, co-founder or AirDog, created by a group of Latvian engineers and now based in California, which is starting beta-testing on its prod-ucts later this year.

AirDog, one of dozens of drones being shown at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas, is aiming for “an unassisted experience, so all you need is the tracking device on your wrist,” Kipurs said during a dem-onstration in the desert outside Las Vegas. Drones are showing up in a variety of shapes and sizes at the huge electronics fair, which has for the fi rst time a space dedi-cated to ‘unmanned systems’.

Over a dozen companies are dis-playing the fl ying devices, for uses ranging from remote-controlled toys to fi lmmaking. - AFP

T E C H N O L O G Y Mercedes relying on SUV for seventh year of record sales

LAS VEGAS: Mercedes-Benz aims to make 2015 its seventh straight year of record annual sales on demand for new models like the coupe version of the GLE sport-utility vehicle.

The world’s third-biggest mak-er of the luxury vehicles will pre-sent the GLE coupe, which will vie with BMW’s X6 for sporty SUV (sports utility vehicle) buyers, at the Detroit motor show next week. The car is part of Mercedes’ strategy to surpass BMW and Audi to retake the top spot in the upscale car segment by the end of the decade.

“I expect a very good year for Mercedes-Benz” in 2015, Dieter Zetsche, chief executive offi cer of Mercedes parent company Daim-ler, said in an interview in Las Ve-gas, where he unveiled the F 015 self-driving concept car. “With the new products that we launched and bring to the markets this year, we expect to signifi cantly exceed general car market growth.”

To regain the luxury car crown

that it lost to BMW in 2005, Mer-cedes has been adding aff ordable cars like the new wagon-like CLA Shooting Brake, even as it revives the ultra-luxury Maybach name-plate, which will off er more lavish versions of Mercedes cars.

With the F 015 prototype, which allows passengers to face each other rather than the road while the car drives itself, Mercedes is seeking a technological edge on

its two main rivals. Even with Mercedes expecting to post a new sales record in 2014, the carmaker has a lot of catching up to do. Audi outsold Mercedes by 104,300 cars after 11 months of 2014. The gap between the luxury segment’s No. 2 and top-ranked BMW was nar-rower at 42,600 vehicles. Final sales fi gures for last year are due to be released by all three brands on January 9.

Global growthAs he pursues his catch-up strat-egy, Zetsche anticipates a mixed bag in car markets across the globe this year. European demand is recovering, and carmakers and other exporters that produce in euros will benefi t in the short term from that currency’s decline against the dollar, he said.

Meanwhile, ‘positive signals’ from Asia and ‘promising’ trends in North America may be off set by less favorable conditions in Latin America and Russia, he said. Overall, Zetsche sees the global economy expanding by about 3 per cent, underpinning higher worldwide car demand.

Part of the reason Mercedes has lagged behind competitors is it’s been slow to react to trends. The GLE coupe comes seven years after BMW pioneered the segment with the X6. BMW has since added the smaller X4, which also combines the high ride of an SUV with the sloping back end of a sports car. - Bloomberg News

Luxury vehicles

maker will present

the GLE coupe, which

will vie with BMW’s

X6 for sporty buyers,

at the Detroit motor

show next week

Renaissance fi nalises equity partnership for Duqm project Times News Service

MUSCAT: Renaissance Services has fi nalised the equity part-nership for its OMR75 million permanent accommodation pro-ject in the Duqm Special Eco-nomic Zone.

“Renaissance is delighted to have attracted investors from all our target groups, including the local community, alongside Om-ani pension and sovereign wealth funds,” said Stephen Thomas, chief executive offi cer of Renais-sance Services.

The total investment is esti-mated at OMR75 million, with

40 per cent of the investment funded through the new equity partnership between Royal Court Aff airs, the Ministry of Defence Pension Fund, Bank Muscat, Al Khonji Development and found-er and promoter and Renais-sance Services. Renaissance will hold 51.9 per cent of the shares, with the balance held by the in-vesting partners.

The Duqm Permanent Accom-modation for Contractors pro-ject will create a modern, fully-serviced living facility for over 16,000 people working in Duqm.

Renaissance blueprint turns the challenge of scale and perma-

nency into design economies for the project, which means they can provide world-class standards of comfort, safety and service, well below the cost of setting up tem-porary structures for the same number of people. In fact, by of-fering services from recreation to cleaning and catering, the perma-nent accommodation experience is a striking contrast to the infa-mous living conditions faced by manual labourers elsewhere.

The project is progressing on time and on budget. The piling is completed and construction un-derway, with operations on target to begin mid-2016.

A C C O M M O D A T I O N

Shell to pay

$83m to settle

Nigeria oil spill

ABUJA/LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell will pay out £55 million ($83.4 million) in com-pensation for two oil spills in Nigeria in 2008 after agreeing a settlement with the aff ected community.

The largest ever out-of-court settlement relating to oil spills in Nigeria is a step forward for the oil-rich Niger Delta region that has been hit by regular envi-ronmental damage, but it is tiny compared to the billions in com-pensation and fi nes BP had to pay after the Macondo rig disas-ter in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Though signifi cantly higher than the 30 million pounds Shell had previously said it would be willing to pay, its deal is a fraction of the 300 million pounds-plus originally sought by the Bodo community in the Niger Delta.

The payment will be split, with 35 million pounds shared evenly between 15,600 Bodo individuals and the remaining 20 million pounds set aside in a trust fund for projects such as

health clinics and schools, said Martyn Day, senior part-ner at Leigh Day, the British law fi rm acting for the community.

The individuals will each re-ceive about £2,200, equivalent to a little more than 600,000 naira ($3,249). - Reuters

C O M P E N S A T I O N

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

TARGETING ANOTHER RECORD: To regain the luxury car crown that it lost to BMW in 2005, Mer-

cedes-Benz has been adding aff ordable cars. Mercedes is also seeking a technological edge on its

two main rivals. Photo is used for illustrative purpose only. – Bloomberg News

WORK IN PROGRESS: Duqm Permanent Accommodation for Contractors project will create a mod-

ern, fully-serviced living facility for over 16,000 people working in Duqm. – Supplied photo

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MARKETT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

MSM slide continues

MUSCAT: Muscat Securities Market (MSM) index continued its downtrend to close at 6,204.12 points, down by 0.41 per cent. MSM Sharia index also fell 0.20 per cent to close at 956.68 points.

Bank Muscat was the most ac-tive in terms of volume as well as turnover. Gulf Investment Ser-vices, up by 4.65 per cent, was the top gainer of the day while Al An-war Ceramics, down by 3.59 per cent, was the top loser of the day.

As many as 1,142 trades were executed during the session gen-erating a turnover of OMR3.1 million with more than 12.2 mil-lion shares changing hands. Out of 41 traded stocks, 15 advanced, 13 declined and 13 remained un-changed. Arab and GCC inves-tors were net buyers for to the tune of OMR455,000 followed by Omani investors at OMR188,000. Foreign investors, who were net sellers, sold shares amounting to OMR644,000.

Financial Index declined by 0.14 per cent to end the session at 7,465.17 points. Gulf Invest-ment Services, Oman United Insurance, DBIH, Oman & Emir-ates Holding and Bank Nizwa in-creased by 4.65 per cent, 2.77 per cent, 2.65 per cent, 2.65 per cent and 2.60 per cent, respectively. BankDhofar, HSBC Bank Oman, ahlibank, NBO and ONIC Hold-ing fell by 3.39 per cent, 2.11 per cent, 0.83 per cent, 0.64 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.

Industrial Index closed at 8,323.40 points, down by 0.12 per cent. Gulf Galfar Engineer-ing, Oman Fisheries, Al Maha Ceramics and Dhofar Cattlefeed increased by 3.87 per cent, 2.94 per cent, 2.03 per cent and 0.54 per cent, respectively.

Al Anwar Ceramics, National Aluminium Products, Gulf In-ternational Chemicals and Oman Cement fell by 3.59 per cent, 2.53 per cent, 1.91 per cent and 1.54 per cent, respectively.

Services Sector Index ended on a fl at note at 3,427.27 points, up marginally by 0.01 per cent. Ooredoo, Al Suwadi Power and OIFC increased by 0.65 per cent, 0.59 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively.

Port Services, Renaissance Services and Sembcorp Salalah fell by 2.89 per cent, 0.43 per cent and 0.24 per cent, respectively.

UAE shares gainShares in the United Arab Emir-ates jumped the most in the world after Brent oil prices slowed their decline and investors judged the markets oversold.

The DFM General Index rose 4.4 per cent, the most since De-cember 21, to 3,600.33 at the close, the biggest advance among more than 90 major indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Abu Dha-bi’s ADX General Index was the second-best performer, adding 2.6 per cent.

Brent, the benchmark for more than half the world’s oil, dropped 0.5 per cent to $50.83 per barrel in London after slipping 3.8 per cent on Tuesday.

The 14-day relative strength indexes of the country’s two main gauges rebounded from the weakest levels in about three weeks, rising to 42.8 from 37.2 yesterday in Dubai and 45.9 from 39.9 in Abu Dhabi. A level below 30 indicates to some analysts that securities have fallen too far.

“The markets are oversold following the recent oil driven plunge,” Tariq Qaqish, a fund manager at Al Mal Capital, said by telephone from Dubai. “Inves-tors are speculating oil should stabilise at these levels.”

Market volatility across the oil-producing Gulf Cooperation Council has surged in recent weeks as the price of Brent crude dropped to below $55 for the fi rst time since May 2009.

-- United Securities/Bloomberg News

Gulf Investment Services, up by 4.65 per cent,

was the top gainer, while Al Anwar Ceramics,

down by 3.59 per cent, lost the most

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MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 1,705,650 .......230,111................... 126 ............0.132 ........... 0.138 ........... 0.131 ............0.135 ............. 0.129............ 0.006 ............. 4.651 ................0.134 .............. 0.133...................0.134 .................... 7,943,834 ..........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 209,948 ........... 33,870......................18 ............0.160 ........... 0.165 ...........0.159 ............0.161 ............. 0.155 ............ 0.006 ............. 3.871 ................0.160 .............. 0.159...................0.160 ...................42,442,621 .........0.100

OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 730,870 ..........189,750................... 110 ........... 0.258 ...........0.260 ...........0.257 ........... 0.260 .............0.253 ........... 0.007 ............. 2.767 ................0.258 ..............0.258...................0.259...................26,000,000 ........0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,447,121 ....... 168,303..................... 66 ............0.112 ........... 0.119............ 0.112 ............0.116 ............. 0.113 ............ 0.003 ............. 2.655 ................ 0.116 .............. 0.116................... 0.117 ................... 14,137,500 .........0.100

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 1,871,311 ....... 339,215................... 133 ............0.170 ........... 0.184 ...........0.170 ............0.181 ............. 0.177 ............ 0.004 .............2.260 ................0.179 .............. 0.179...................0.180 ...................23,620,500 .........0.100

OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 520,900 ............67,669......................51 ............0.130 ........... 0.133 ...........0.125 ........... 0.130 ............. 0.128............ 0.002 ............. 1.563 ................0.129 ..............0.126...................0.129 ................... 11,247,600 .........0.100

OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO......................................................................... 94,513 .............58,373..................... 20 ............0.612 ...........0.620 ...........0.612 ............0.616 ............. 0.612............ 0.004 ............. 0.654 ................0.620.............. 0.616...................0.620 .................400,981,646 .......0.100

OM0000001301 ............DHOFAR CATTLE FEED ............................................12,490 ...............2,323........................2 ............0.186 ........... 0.186 ...........0.186 ........... 0.186 ............. 0.185.............0.001 ............. 0.541 ................0.186 .............. 0.168...................0.190 ...................14,322,000 .........0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 482,386 ............96,169..................... 45 ............0.196 ...........0.203 ...........0.196 ........... 0.199 ............. 0.198.............0.001 ............. 0.505 ................0.201 ..............0.201...................0.203 ..................39,800,000.........0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 2,013,868 ... 1,107,593................... 186 ........... 0.548 ........... 0.554 ...........0.546........... 0.550 .............0.548 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.365 ................0.548 ..............0.546...................0.548................1,200,478,503 ......0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .................................................................. 400 ...................216........................ 1 ........... 0.540 ...........0.540 ...........0.540........... 0.550 .............0.550 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.540..............0.530...................0.556 ................... 25,058,778 .........0.100

OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ........................................................ 12,691 .............21,194........................7 ............1.670 ........... 1.670 ...........1.670 ............1.670 ............. 1.670............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.670 .............. 1.670...................1.700 ................. 334,000,000 .......0.100

OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ................................... 116,238 ............... 7,879......................11 ........... 0.068 ........... 0.069 ...........0.066........... 0.068 .............0.068 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.066 ..............0.066...................0.068...................14,086,294 .........0.100

OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ............................................79,000 ............ 23,004......................17 ........... 0.290 ........... 0.296 ...........0.290 .......... 0.291 ............. 0.291............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.291 ..............0.289...................0.291 ................... 17,810,443 .........0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 124,279 .........208,075.....................40 ............1.660 ........... 1.685 ...........1.660 ............1.675 ............. 1.675 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.685 .............. 1.685................... 1.710 ................1,256,250,000 ......0.100

OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ...........................................................104 .....................37........................ 1 ........... 0.352 ........... 0.352 ...........0.352 ........... 0.370 .............0.370 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.352 ..............0.356...................0.370...................22,385,000.........0.100

OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES .......................................94,582 ............ 43,382..................... 29 ........... 0.460 ...........0.460 ...........0.454........... 0.458 .............0.460 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.435 ...............0.458 ..............0.454...................0.460 .................129,199,260 ........0.100

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 718,890 ......... 152,103..................... 32 ............0.213 ........... 0.215 ........... 0.211 ........... 0.212 ............. 0.213............-0.001 ........... -0.469 ...............0.211 ............. 0.206................... 0.211 ................. 242,528,000 .......0.100

OM0000002614 ............ONIC. HOLDING .......................................................... 181,470 ............ 58,938......................21 ........... 0.326 ........... 0.326 ...........0.320........... 0.324 .............0.326 ...........-0.002 ............-0.613................0.320..............0.320...................0.326 .................. 56,189,133 .........0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 177,285 ............ 54,994..................... 20 ........... 0.306 ........... 0.314 ...........0.306........... 0.310 ............. 0.312............-0.002 ........... -0.641 ...............0.306..............0.306...................0.310 ..................377,836,525 ........0.100

OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK ..................................................................... 26,804 ............... 6,410........................7 ........... 0.240 ...........0.240 ...........0.236........... 0.239 ............. 0.241 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.830 ...............0.236 ..............0.236...................0.240 .................309,621,490 ........0.100

OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .............................................................. 5,469 ...............2,793........................2 ............0.510 ........... 0.518 ...........0.510 ........... 0.510 ............. 0.518 ............-0.008 ........... -1.544 ...............0.518 .............. 0.510...................0.518 ..................168,745,082 ........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ............ 130,000 ........... 20,063........................8 ............0.156 ........... 0.156 ...........0.154 ........... 0.154 ............. 0.157 ............-0.003 ............-1.911 ................0.154 .............. 0.153...................0.154 ....................3,234,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN ......................................................70,860 ............... 9,835......................17 ............0.140 ........... 0.140 ...........0.138 ............0.139 ............. 0.142 ...........-0.003 ............-2.113 ................0.138 ..............0.128...................0.138 ..................278,043,478........0.100

OM0000001319 ............NATIONAL ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS .............. 20,000 ............... 6,180........................2 ........... 0.306 ........... 0.312 ...........0.306........... 0.308 ............. 0.316............-0.008 ........... -2.532 ...............0.312 .............. 0.312...................0.316 ...................10,340,007 .........0.100

OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................... 9,720 ...............3,275........................5 ........... 0.340 ...........0.340 ...........0.334........... 0.336 .............0.346 ...........-0.010 ........... -2.890 ...............0.334..............0.334...................0.340 ..................31,933,440 .........0.100

OM0000002549 ...........BANK DHOFAR ..............................................................45,082 .............15,397........................4 ........... 0.348 ........... 0.348 ...........0.340 .......... 0.342 .............0.354 ...........-0.012 ........... -3.390 ...............0.342..............0.342...................0.354..................459,388,837........0.100

OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 130,872 ........... 63,459......................15 ........... 0.480 ........... 0.486 ...........0.480........... 0.484 .............0.502 ...........-0.018 ........... -3.586 ...............0.486 ..............0.486...................0.500 ................. 119,472,852 ........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 11,032,803 2,990,609...................996 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......28........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ..................................................... 220,120 ............15,408......................13 ........... 0.070 ........... 0.070 ...........0.070........... 0.070 .............0.068 ........... 0.002 ............. 2.941 ................0.070..............0.070...................0.071 .................... 8,750,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ...................... 379,025 ........... 43,925..................... 34 ............0.116 ........... 0.117 ............ 0.115 ............0.116 ............. 0.113 ............ 0.003 ............. 2.655 ................ 0.115 .............. 0.112................... 0.115 ....................3,480,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 188,310 .............14,937......................13 ........... 0.079 ...........0.080 ...........0.079 ........... 0.079 .............0.077 ........... 0.002 ............. 2.597 ................0.079 ..............0.078...................0.079..................118,500,000 ........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ..................................................54,577 ............. 27,371..................... 27 ........... 0.492 ...........0.504 ...........0.492........... 0.502 .............0.492 ............0.010 ............. 2.033 ................0.500..............0.500...................0.504 ..................25,100,000 .........0.100

OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER ....................................................61,484 .............10,452........................7 ............0.170 ........... 0.170 ...........0.170 ........... 0.170 ............. 0.169.............0.001 ............. 0.592 ................0.170 .............. 0.169...................0.170 ..................121,449,078 ........0.100

OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. ....................59,670 ............... 2,169........................7 ........... 0.037 ........... 0.037 ...........0.036........... 0.036 .............0.036 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.036 ..............0.036...................0.038....................3,060,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING.................................. 118,505 ............. 11,650..................... 24 ........... 0.099 ........... 0.100 ...........0.097 ........... 0.098 .............0.098 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.097 ..............0.097...................0.099.................... 7,370,384 ..........0.100

OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ........................................ 59 ...................198........................ 1 ........... 3.350 ........... 3.350 ...........3.350 ........... 3.400 .............3.400 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................3.350 ..............3.060...................3.300 ..................33,252,734 .........1.000

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ...............................................26,647 ...............2,287........................4 ........... 0.086 ........... 0.086 ...........0.085 ........... 0.086 .............0.086 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.086 ..............0.085...................0.086...................15,050,000 .........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER .................................................. 27,532 ...............4,665........................8 ............0.170 ........... 0.170 ...........0.169 ............0.169 ............. 0.169............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.169 .............. 0.169...................0.170 ..................114,055,976 ........0.100

OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .................................................. 6,676 ............ 14,020........................4 ........... 2.100 ........... 2.100 ...........2.100 ........... 2.100 ............. 2.105............-0.005 ........... -0.238 ...............2.100 ..............2.100...................2.200 .................200,460,110 ........1.000

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 1,142,605 ...... 147,082...................142 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ...... 11........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS MARKET ........................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000004487 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES BONDS3.75 ................ 5,000 .................. 570........................ 1 ............0.114 ........... 0.114............ 0.114 ............0.115 ............. 0.115 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.114 .............. 0.114................... 0.119 ...................48,661,293 .........0.100

OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 .......................................... 50,000 ...............5,645........................3 ............0.110 ........... 0.113 ............0.110 ............0.113 ............. 0.113 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.113 ...............0.111................... 0.113 ................... 36,119,622 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: ....................................................................................55,000 ............... 6,215........................4 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 2........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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 ........................................6,237.30 .............. 6,204.12 ................... 6,204.12 ...................6,229.87 ................ -25.75 .................. -0.41Financial Index ......................................7,518.11 ...............7,463.32 ....................7,465.17 ....................7,475.78 ................ -10.61 .................. -0.14Industrial Index ................................... 8,375.60 .............. 8,323.40 ...................8,323.40 ...................8,333.35 .................. -9.95 .................. -0.12Services Index .......................................3,428.51 .............. 3,422.35 ................... 3,427.27 ...................3,426.83 ....................0.44 ................... 0.01MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................960.47 ..................956.32 .......................956.68 ...................... 958.58 .................. -1.90 .................. -0.20

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded12,230,408 ................. 3,143,906 ..................1,142 ...............14,402,459,568 ................ 15 ......................13 .................... 13 .........................41

Dubai-Abu Dhabi bourses to merge

ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates government would fa-vour a merger of the main Abu Dhabi and Dubai bourses, but the decision is up to the exchanges themselves, economy minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said.

He was speaking at a session of the Federal National Council, an advisory body to the government, where some members asked the government to work to facilitate a

merger and to introduce a timeline for it to take place.

A possible merger of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange with the Dubai Financial Market has been discussed on and off for years, and at one stage investment banks were hired to advise on a tie-up.

But sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last year the idea had been shelved for the fore-seeable future as terms for the

politically-sensitive move could not be agreed. For one thing, wild swings in stock prices over the past couple of years have made it diffi cult to value assets. “If at this stage, we as a regulator - if there is a proposition to merge the two mar-kets, we are with it,” Al Mansouri said. “And, if not, we understand.” He also said, “We hope there is one market because as a regulator it would be easier to supervise.”

S T O C K E X C H A N G E

Sensex falls for second dayMUMBAI: India’s benchmark stock-index dropped to a three-week low, as a drop in banks and metal shares outweighed a re-bound in energy companies.

ICICI Bank, the biggest private lender, fell for a second day from a record high. Tata Steel dragged a gauge of metal shares to a three-week low. Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s largest refi n-ing complex, helped an index of energy shares rebound from its biggest slump in 16 months.

The S&P BSE Sensex decliend 0.3 per cent to 26,908.82 at the close. The gauge is on course for a second monthly loss after tum-bling to its lowest level since Sep-tember 2013 on Tuesday, as oil’s rout fueled concern economy will slow. Foreign funds have pulled $31.2 million from local shares so far this month, data shows.

“Foreigners are pressing the sell button,” Hemant Thukral, the Mumbai-based head of deriva-tives at Aditya Birla Money Ltd., said in an interview with Bloomb-erg TV India today. “We will have to live with a volatile trading

environment for the next 5 to 10 trading sessions.” The CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Ex-change of India Ltd. slid 0.3 per-cent after sinking 3 per cent on Tuesday. The India VIX Index, a gauge of protection against stock market swings using options, jumped 4.1 per cent, adding to a 23 per cent surge a day earlier.

ICICI Bank tumblesICICI Bank tumbled 2.7 percent to its lowest level since December 17. Bharat Heavy Electricals, the biggest producer of power equip-ments, declined 2.7 per cent, par-ing last year’s 50 per cent rally. Aluminum maker Hindalco In-dustries plunged 2.9 per cent, the worst performer on the Sensex. Tata Steel fell 1.9 per cent to its lowest level since March 28.

The S&P BSE Metal Index dropped 1.4 per cent.

Reliance Industries rose 2.2 per cent, ending a four-day, 6.2 per cent loss. ONGC, the largest state explorer, added 1.5 per cent after tumbling to a eight-month low on Tuesday. The S&P BSE Oil

& Gas Index climbed 1.4 per cent.The biggest collapse in crude

prices since the 2008 global re-cession is the Almighty’s gift to India and its benefi ts will fl ow in the next three months, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who owns more than $1 billion of stakes in Indian companies including Lupin, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV India yesterday.

Tuesay’s selloff was led by global factors and is not a cause for worry, he said. Plummeting commodity prices will keep infl a-tion within 5 per cent, below the central bank’s 6 per cent target for January 2016, Jhunjhunwala said.

The Reserve Bank of India may cut the main rate by 100 basis points over the next two or three meetings, he said. The bank has left rates steady at 8 percent since January 2014. - Bloomberg News

I N D I A N S T O C K

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Geely GC7 now comes at an irresistible price

MUSCAT: In line with its objec-tives of ‘customer delight’ and get-ting ‘close to the customer’, Tow-ell Auto Centre (TAC) recently unveiled Geely GC7 at its Azaiba showroom.

A compact sedan that gives style, power and comfort at an unbelievable price of OMR3,650, Geely GC7 is another high qual-

ity product, both in terms of en-gineering and design. TAC makes owning it a pleasure by giving guaranteed OMR651 cash gift along with its purchase, says a press release.

“We wanted to welcome the New Year in an exciting way with the unveiling of the new feature loaded Geely GC7 that will give you an exciting start in all that you do. Now, upgrade to a sedan from a smaller car at the price of a small-er car without compromising on power, style or comfort with un-paralleled safety at an incredible price. The new Geely GC7 will surely be well appreciated for its grand comfort and performance and further strengthen the Geely brand in the country,” commented

a senior spokesperson of TAC, the sole distributors of Geely range of vehicles in Oman.

The Geely GC7 provides safety and cutting-edge digital confi gu-ration that allows customers to experience features normally of-fered by other more expensive cars, at a reasonable price. The Geely GC7 has large comfortable seats with the spacious black and beige-coloured interior space. De-signed with a red and yellow LED tail light, the additional refl ec-tive plate adds extra safety to the passengers. A built-in two-point parking radars, with four probe reversing radars, brings more comprehensive protection.

“As a company that owns lead-ing global brands like Volvo pas-

senger cars, DSI Australia, global transmission manufacturer and as the manufacturers of the Lon-don Black taxi, Geely has come a long way since its inception and are now exporting their cars all around the world. These cars are immensely popular for their qual-ity and have been awarded 5-star rating for their safety features”, the spokesperson added.

The Geely GC7 is equipped with Geely’s 1.8L 4-cylinder DVVT Engine, DSi 6 speed au-tomatic transmission, halogen lamps and aluminium alloy rims. Besides the spacious interior, the black and beige inner decoration is equipped with breath-taking deluxe confi guration.

Considerate features such as ABS & EBS, rear camera, front and rear parking sensor, speed-sensitive automatic door lock, burglar alarm, power sunroof and much more are off ered.

Bluetooth Connectivity and Brake Liner Wear Warning Alarm are also adopted, which ensures a more comfortable, convenient and harmonious journey to both the driver and the passenger. Moreo-ver, this new exciting model of Geely Emgrand comes with free 24 hours AAA roadside assistance.

A compact sedan

that gives style,

power and comfort at

an unbelievable price

of OMR3,650, Geely

GC7 is another high

quality product,

both in terms

of engineering

and design

Barakath Al Noor Clinic

conducts breast cancer

awareness campaign

MUSCAT: Barakath Al Noor Clinic, speciality clinic for breast cancer, with the support of Bareek Al Shatti and Extreme Lashes, ran a week-long breast cancer aware-ness campaign recently at the Ba-reek Al Shatti mall.

Barakath Al Noor Clinic held an exhibition of posters on every aspect of breast cancer and also had a table displaying take away pamphlets and write-ups on the disease. Bareek Al Shatti had dressed the entire foyer area with pink balloons to commemorate the campaign for the entire week, says a press release.

Oman Cancer Association also participated by having a table for the walkathon registrations. This week-long awareness campaign

ended with a short ceremony with Yuther Al Rawahi, chairperson, Oman Cancer Association, con-senting to be the guest of honour. Al Rawahi spoke about breast cancer in Oman and the various facilities that OCA is working on to battle this disease and reduce its occurrence in the future.

Dr Rajyashree Kutty, director at Barakath Al Noor Clinic, also spoke to the audience on various aspects of the disease and how one could prevent and fi ght it.

Short entertainment pro-grammes were held at the closing ceremony. An aero dance skit by Balance Gym staff Aleem and Sha-bangi, and a fl ash mob dance skit by the Omani twin brothers Ham-dan and Osama were also staged.

E X H I B I T I O N

KR rings in New Year with special calendar on Oman

MUSCAT: In commemoration of the 45th anniversary of His Maj-esty’s reign in the Sultanate, the KR Group is dedicating a special calendar for 2015 featuring photo-graphs from the company’s ‘Oman in Focus’ photography tour held early last year.

This special edition calendar will carry the best selection of pho-tographs from the exhibition that capture Oman in all its resplend-ent grandeur and beauty, says a press release.

“The KR Group is always at the centre of initiatives that shine the spotlight on Oman and more im-

portantly those that encourage lo-cal enterprise and potential. The 'Oman in Focus' concept, there-fore, resonates perfectly with our mission to support the Omani youth and help showcase their talents to the world. We want to celebrate the 45th anniversary of His Majesty’s reign in the Sultan-ate by presenting the nation and its people with a calendar of these photographs that truly capture the beauty of Oman,” said Rajive Ahu-ja, head of Corporate Communica-tions, KR Group.

Featured in the range of photo-graphs for the calendar is an ex-

tensive melange of pictures taken by some of the world’s most re-nowned photographers who par-ticipated in the exhibition.

The collection gives viewers a lens-eye view into Oman’s vast and varying landscape, its rugged, mountainous scenery and serene desert vistas.

The 'Oman in Focus' event is the brainchild of the talented Maisa Al Hooti, an Omani professional pho-tographer whose studio In Focus is located at Al Hail.

When Al Hooti contacted the KR Group with a proposition for the event the company stepped

forward with full support, since developing local talent forms part of its key objectives.

“I am proud that Oman pos-sesses so much beauty and culture; so, I owe it to my country to let the world know about its magnifi -cence,” she said.

The photography expo, which was held between March and April of 2014 at the Royal Op-era House Muscat, roped in the professional talents of world renowned photographers from countries such as Canada, the US, France, Lebanon, Egypt, Italy, Bahrain and South Korea.

' O M A N I N F O C U S '

Featured in the range of photographs for the calendar is

an extensive melange of pictures taken by some of the

world’s most renowned photographers who participated in

the exhibition. The 'Oman in Focus' event is the brainchild

of the talented Maisa Al Hooti, an Omani professional

photographer whose studio In Focus is located at Al Hail

Muscat based singer Ritika wins musical reality show in DubaiMUSCAT: Ritika Nair, a Muscat based singer was declared the winner by the judges of Sky San-geetha Varsham 2015 Season 7, a musical reality show organised by Radio Asia 1269 AM of UAE.

The fi nals of the show were re-cently conducted in Dubai, says a press release.

A total of 40 singers from all

over the GCC and India partici-pated in the competition which began in April 2014.

A total of eight contestants reached the fi nals.

This musical reality show has been organised by Radio Asia 1269 AM of UAE, with Sky Jew-ellery being the main sponsor of the show.

T A L E N T S H O W

alizz Islamic bank reinforces

its AML, internal fraud systemMUSCAT: As part of its continu-ous eff orts to enhance its IT sys-tems, alizz Islamic bank, the most innovative Islamic bank in Oman, has recently completed its suc-cessful initiative to upgrade its Anti-Money Laundry (AML) and internal fraud system.

The upgrading engagement was assigned to a reputed global ven-dor that implemented smart and effi cient controls to the system, says a press release.

The function of the system is to identify suspicious transac-tions, check them against various sanction lists, generate alerts for further investigation, and fi le sus-picious activity reports with the relevant authorities.

“In light of recent events in the international banking sector and the evident spot light on several banks with regards to both Anti – Money Laundering and Anti-Fraud, which are very sensitive areas in banking that require the highest regard, alizz islamic bank has taken a drastic step forward. Being the most innovative Islamic bank in the Sultanate of Oman, it is with great confi dence that alizz has integrated a state-of-the-art framework to enhance the ex-

pected standards and controls re-quired with regards to AML and Anti-Fraud in the bank,” said Ali Al Zadjali, head of Compliance at the bank.

alizz Islamic bank is planning to further grow its digital plat-forms in line with its values of excellence to be the best in every-thing they do.

U P G R A D A T I O N

Meethaq to host conference on private education on January 14MUSCAT: Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, as part of its com-mitment to the national objective of quality education for Omani children is hosting a conference under the auspices of Dr Madiha bint Ahmed Al Shibaniya, Min-ister of Education, at the Bank Muscat head offi ce on January 14.

The conference titled ‘Private education with Meethaq fi nance solutions’ will be attended by dig-nitaries and senior offi cials from the government, the Royal Oman Police and leading educational institutions. Key topics to be cov-ered include the challenges and opportunities within the private education sector in Oman and safe school transportation sys-tem, says a press release.

Presentations will cover a gamut of issues relevant for pri-vate educational institutions, including Shari’a-based fi nanc-ing solutions for development of infrastructure and facilities. Representatives from the ROP and Oman National Transport Company (ONTC) will focus on issues related to safe school transport system. The Ministry of Education will make a pres-entation on student registration

portal for private schools.Sulaiman Al Harthy, Group

General Manager – Islamic Bank-ing, said: “Meethaq is proud to host the conference on private ed-ucation as part of its commitment to off er world-class Islamic bank-ing service to customers. Ensur-ing a solid foundation for quality education is key to guaranteeing a bright future for Omani children. In line with the Meethaq brand values of true Partnership, Trans-parency and Trust, new products and services serving the require-ments of private educational in-stitutions are available to comple-ment the unique Islamic banking experience.”

Al Harthy added: “Meethaq is focused on redefi ning Islamic

banking operations in Oman with unique products and services benefi ting citizens and comple-menting the economy. Meethaq strives to fulfi ll the needs of cus-tomers with innovative Shari’a based products and is well posi-tioned to provide Islamic fi nan-cial expertise to diverse segments and thereby promote the good of society as a whole.”

Meethaq off ers a full suite of Is-lamic banking products and ser-vices, including savings account, current account, home fi nance, auto fi nance, credit card, mobile banking etc. Meethaq has adopt-ed the best practices in Islamic banking and fi nance worldwide to combine a robust model which protects customers and comple-ments the Islamic banking indus-try. Every Meethaq product goes through the process of Shari’a compliance certifi cation by the Shari’a Supervisory Board and is created in line with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Oman.

Meethaq stands out for its in-dependent Shari’a Supervisory Board, separate capital alloca-tion from shareholders’ money, unique risk management tools, complete fund segregation, sepa-rate books of account, etc.

Q U A L I T Y E D U C A T I O N

Being the most

innovative Islamic

bank in the Sultanate

of Oman, it is with great

confidence that alizz

has integrated a state-

of-the-art framework

Ali Al ZadjaliHead of Compliance at the bank

B6 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UP

Bank Muscat to reward al Mazyona customers with year-end bonanza

MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the fl ag-ship fi nancial services provider in the Sultanate, is all set to reward al Mazyona customers with the 2014 year-end big prizes as 15 custom-

ers will win Oman’s biggest total cash prizes of OMR1.9 million.

Fourteen winners across the Sultanate will win OMR100,000 each while one asalah Prior-

ity Banking customer will win a whopping OMR500,000 prize money. Customers who main-tained a minimum balance of OMR1,000 for the last quarter of 2014 between October and De-cember are eligible for the grand prize draw, says a press release.

‘Save more, dream big’Marking Oman’s 45th Renais-sance anniversary, Bank Muscat raised the 2015 al Mazyona prize money to OMR9 million com-pared to OMR8 million in 2014. Structured on the thematic ‘45’ refl ecting the Sultanate’s 45 years

of Renaissance under the leader-ship of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the 2015 al Mazyona sav-ings scheme campaign reaches out with a powerful call to action ‘Save more, Dream big’ guaranteeing more for everyone to share in the biggest prize money in Oman and the region.

Enhanced prize monetThe enhanced 2015 prize money is to be shared by more winners as customers from all regions are guaranteed to win prizes rang-ing from OMR45,000 a week to OMR450,000 a month and

OMR1.5 million at the end of the year. A special prize draw off er-ing OMR450,000 in celebration of the 45th National Day is an-other highlight.

Customer segmentational Mazyona scheme refl ects in-novative customer segmentation based on two principles — region and demographics — ensuring a higher winning chance to all cus-tomers across the Sultanate. The 2015 al Mazyona scheme reaches out to all individual segments with exclusive prizes earmarked for ladies, youth, children and high

savings balance customers in all regions where the Bank Muscat branches are located.

Winning with al Mazyona has never been simpler as custom-ers are not required to block their money for long or wait for a long time to win big prizes.

Over the years, al Mazyona has succeeded in inculcating a strong savings culture in Oman. The ob-jective of al Mazyona is to create a lifetime change for winners and al-low them to invest the prize money in things that will make a lasting diff erence and the well-being of their families.

Fourteen winners across the Sultanate will

win OMR100,000 each while one asalah

Priority Banking customer will win a

whopping OMR500,000 prize money

Al Araimi Complex hosts Christmas extravaganza MUSCAT: Popular family shop-ping destination, Al Araimi Com-plex ushered into the festive sea-son with an unforgettable, gala Christmas party held recently on its premises.

This unique family event was a mega hit and was extremely well received by everyone. It was amaz-ing to see people from all walks of life, taking time off their busy schedule and coming together to celebrate on a weekday, says a press release.

The event, fi lled with lots of fun and frolic, started with a pup-pet show bringing instant smiles on the faces of the little ones. The major attraction of the event was Santa Claus who was introduced with the goody bags to the kids.

The entry of Santa proved to be the cherry on the cake, leaving the audience spellbound as he was in-troduced with an artifi cial snow fall, giving a true Xmas feeling and spirit to the event.

A snow globe and a snow play

area were also developed for the kids, which made them jump with joy. People were seen taking pic-tures throughout the event and even queuing up for getting their pictures clicked with lovely Santa.

Lots of prizes were also won by the audience for giving the right answers in the spot Q&A round.

The face painting corner, candy fl oss and popcorn added to the ex-

citement of the kids, making it an event to remember for one and all.

Happy with the success of the event, Al Araimi management thanked its patrons and promised to make it even bigger and better in the years to come.

All details for the upcoming events can be easily followed on the Facebook page of the mall — fa-cebook/alaraimicomplex.

F E S T I V E S E A S O N

McDonald’s launches new Spicy Chicken McNuggetsMUSCAT: McDonald’s Oman has announced the launch of its all new Spicy Chicken McNuggets.

The fl avourful recipe adds the perfect kick of heat to the iconic Chicken McNuggets fl avour, and is a fi tting addition to a series of celebrations around this much-loved McDonald’s menu item. The spicy new fl avour from McDon-ald’s will be available for a limited period, says a press release.

Customers’ taste buds will be teased with this spicy spin on the timeless classic, making sharing those delicious McNuggets even more fun, and harder to share. Customers will get to savour the new spicy fl avour with a variety of dipping sauces with this new lim-ited time off er.

“As part of our ongoing com-mitment to innovation and to re-sponding to our customers ever evolving tastes, our McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets celebrations would not be complete without treating our customers to a new fl avour to indulge in. Our new

Spicy Chicken McNuggets com-bine richness of fl avour with the golden quality crunch our Chick-en McNuggets are famous for, and we welcome all those who love the ‘heat’ to indulge and share this social food,” said Ali K. Daud, Development Licensee and Presi-dent of McDonald’s Oman.

The McDonald’s Arabia Twit-ter competition Chicken Mc-Nuggets Daily Tasks is now in full swing, with participants sub-

mitting their #ShareAMcNug-get pictures, ideas, videos, and quotes in creative and ingenious ways in response to a new task set each day, taking “social food” to a whole new level. Participants re-ceive a voucher for one extra deli-cious golden McNuggets with any Chicken McNuggets purchase, with the best submissions from each day’s Daily Task featured on McDonald’s Arabia website. The Chicken McNuggets Daily Tasks will be running till supply lasts.

Continuing the celebrations, McDonald’s Oman is featur-ing additional great off ers for Chicken McNuggets fans, such as special saving off ers avail-able with the purchase of any large extra value meal during the campaign period.

While McDonald’s is focused on providing unique menu choic-es, it is also committed to serving the very best ingredients in the quick-service restaurant sector, and will never compromise on food quality.

L I M I T E D T I M E O F F E R

Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune partners with Al Hayat

PUNE, INDIA: Soaring across borders with an aim to spread cancer awareness, India’s lead-ing tertiary care hospital, Grant Medical Foundation (Ruby Hall Clinic) has associated with Muscat’s Al Hayat Internation-al Hospital to serve the global community.

The partnership is an eff ort to advance the level of cancer care in the Middle East through collabo-rative research coupled with com-munity awareness and educative initiatives, says a press release.

Beginning the New Year on a positive note, Al Hayat will ensure senior doctors of Ruby Hall Clinic will be available for consultation with the approval of MOH. Fur-thermore, on February 4, mark-ing the occasion of World Cancer Day, a dedicated team of cancer specialists will visit the Al Hayat International Hospital to conduct free medical camps.

The Ruby Hall Clinic’s team will also conduct lectures on can-cer awareness for locals of the city. Grant Medical Foundation (Ruby Hall Clinic) is one of the largest medical institutions of western India with a multi-speciality hos-pital dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and research related to various diseases.

It is a 700-bed hospital, with all ultra-modern facilities, sophis-ticated medical equipment and more than 22, state-of-the-art operation theatres, 3 Tesla MRI, PET-CT Scan, 256 Slice CT Scan

etc. Ruby Hall Clinic was also ad-judged as ‘The Best Medical Fa-cilities for Oversees Patients in India’ by the Govt. of India for the year 2012. Ruby Hall Cancer Cen-tre also awarded the Best Cancer Hospital of the Year.

Al Hayat International Hos-pital started in August 2013, has already gained reputation and popularity among the people of Oman. It is a 50 bedded hospital with advanced facilities and high quality care.

In a short span of less than two year it has created a niche in the

healthcare segment and gained a name for complete evaluation and holistic approach towards care and cure of chronic diseases.

Uniquely positioned to cre-ate leaders of tomorrow, both the highly-respected institutions have decided to combine their resources and initiate a short cer-tifi cate course in cancer manage-ment namely – ‘Basics in Cancer Management’ for general practi-tioners in Muscat.

Owing to the changing lifestyle and its ageing population, the country is at a high-risk of this

growing ailment. Improved ac-cess to early diagnosis and subse-quent treatment is the need of the hour; therefore highlighting the importance of cancer awareness. This includes an understanding of the symptoms as well as adapta-tion of healthier lifestyle choices.

Talking about this partner-ship, Bomi Bhote, CEO, Ruby Hall Clinic said, “With a considerable number of resources dedicated to cancer research, we have one of the largest pools of clinical talent in the country. Over the last dec-ade, the Ruby Hall Cancer Cen-tre has successfully treated over 25,000 cases.

“Consistent with our legacy of providing high-quality clinical ex-cellence, we are viewing this new strategic affi liation as an opportu-nity to set new standards for can-cer awareness and care not just in India, but globally.”

Dr K. P. Raman, Founder and Chairman, Al Hayat International Hospital stated, “We hope that our model of integration and col-laboration with Ruby Hall Clinic will transform cancer care in the Sultanate of Oman. Cancer is a ticking time-bomb; early detec-tion and defi nitive treatment will not only help save lives in the present, but also better address the growing cancer burden in the Middle East. Our association strives to give the Omani citizens and resident’s early detection of cancer, advanced treatment and a better quality of life.”

A S S O C I A T I O N

We hope that our

model of integration

and collaboration with

Ruby Hall Clinic will

transform cancer care

in the Sultanate

Dr K. P. RamanFounder and Chairman, Al Hayat International Hospital

B7T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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BankDhofar organises merchants gathering

MUSCAT: As part of the continu-ous eff orts to retain its position as one of the leading banks in the Sultanate, BankDhofar recently hosted its fi rst annual merchants gathering. The event, which was organised by the Card Centre Ser-vices at the bank, took place at the Al Bahjah Hall, Jungle Restaurant, says a press release.

The event was inaugurated with a speech by Abdul Hakeem bin Omar Al Ojaili, Acting CEO of BankDhofar, who welcomed the guests and highlighted the recent achievements of the bank, hailing the strong partnership and sup-port given by stakeholders.

The prominent gathering was at-tended by representatives of public and private sector organisations, governmental institutions and members of BankDhofar’s execu-tive management team. The event was wrapped up with trophy distri-bution where guests representing public and private sector organisa-tions were handed tokens of appre-ciation for their continuous sup-port to the bank’s operations that led to its tremendous success and paramount achievements.

DelightedHighlighting the bank’s achieve-ments in the previous year, Al Ojaili noted in his speech: “BankDhofar, without doubt, is very keen in build-ing on the existing relationships and strengthening the ties we have with our stakeholders. Thus, we are very delighted to organise this event to honour our merchants and to better connect with each other.

“As evident, we have proudly changed the scene of the bank-ing sector across the Sultanate by launching several initiatives in our pursuit to provide unique products and exceptional services to Bank-Dhofar customers. We save no ef-forts and work tirelessly to ensure that our customers’ banking needs are met and we aspire to also ex-ceed their expectations.”

Expression of gratitude“I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all our merchants and customers for their constant support and contribution to Bank-Dhofar’s achievements, and we pledge to do our best and continue our eff orts to deliver reliable, dy-namic and innovative banking so-lutions to be the best bank for our customers,” he added.

Unique productsThis event was yet another eff ort by BankDhofar to reinforce its po-sition as one of the leading banks in Oman. It has always been at the forefront for its unique products and outstanding technology-driv-en services, including the state-of-the-art wireless Point of Sale (POS) service, in addition to other

innovative solutions that add an-other perspective to the banking industry in the Sultanate.

The bank’s wireless POS devices are effi cient, unlike the traditional methods which make the custom-ers wait for hours together to get their card approved. Using these devices, customers can get their payment through in a matter of few seconds. The devices make use of the latest GPRS wireless com-munication technology and hence will have extended coverage area and increased fl exibility.

The new POS machine accepts all major cards and provides maxi-mum security for the bank and the customers. The Near Field Com-munication (NFC) infrared scan-ner implemented in the machines eliminates the need to swipe the card, thus making the payments much more effi cient. The scanning system enables customers to con-duct a transaction effi ciently and eff ectively. Customers can also benefi t from dynamic currency conversion while on the move.

Since its inception 25 years ago, BankDhofar has witnessed steady growth and remarkable achieve-ments in the competitive market. A resolute focus on product quality and service excellence has helped BankDhofar to achieve its aspira-tions. Today, the bank is proud to be well on its way towards its goal without relinquishing any of its founding principles and fi rm so-cial commitment. Today, the bank is proud to be well on its way to-wards its goal without relinquish-ing any of its founding principles and fi rm social commitment.

The event was

wrapped up with

trophy distribution

where guests

representing public

and private sector

organisations were

handed tokens of

appreciation for their

continuous support to

the bank’s operations

that led to its

tremendous success

and paramount

achievements

Zubair supports Bandar Al Khairan sports teamMUSCAT: The Zubair Corpo-ration recently supported the Bandar Al Khairan Team, one of the local cultural, social and sports teams that are affi liated with the Ahli Sidab Club. This support comes within the frame-work of the corporate’s strategy to support Omani youth and en-able them to practice their hob-bies, and to further contribute to their community development across various domains, says a press release.

This initiative also aims to help the team and enhance its role in providing a suitable environment for the team members to exercise and practice their favourite sport as well as contribute to the com-munity through varied initiatives.

“The Zubair Corporation has been a leader in supporting the Omani youth through myriad initiatives – be it sports, cul-tural activities or community outreach. In the Sultanate, lo-cal sporting associations are the best way to connect with Omani youth and instil a spirit of com-munity development by harness-ing their combined love for the sport. We feel it is important to support these teams in order to allow them to revamp their role in the community by organising

a healthy environment for young people to shape their talents and improve their skills in diff erent fi elds,” said Ibrahim Al Salmi, So-cial Communication Manager at The Zubair Corporation.

“Supporting Omani youth and nurturing their talents in diff er-ent fi elds has always been a major focus of the Zubair Corporation. The company saves no eff orts to expand its outreach to all seg-ments of the society, and through supporting such teams we are able to contribute to the develop-ment of the community through our focus on the youth. We spon-sor and provide support to the events and activities organised by these teams, aiming to make a wider positive impact on the so-ciety as a whole,” he added.

“I would like to thank The Zubair Corporation who have lent support for our cause. I am sure this will have a positive im-pact on the team activities and will contribute to the individual members’ development in sport, cultural and social fi elds. This contribution will allow our team to be ready to participate in dif-ferent competitions and events locally and regionally,” said Qais Al Mushari, team member of Bandar Al Khairan team.

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

Sindbad Children’s Mobile Library comes to Izki FestivalMUSCAT: The Sindbad Chil-dren’s Mobile Library was the highlight of the Izki Children’s Fes-tival 2014. Leading the fun reading event was the KR Group that has been supporting the SCML initia-tive since its inception early 2014, says a press release.

During this year’s Izki Festival, children between the ages of three and thirteen engaged in stimulat-ing reading and story-telling activ-ities, which also included visiting

the mobile library and browsing through the extensive collection of story books available both in Eng-lish and Arabic.

“We are happy to support the Sindbad Children’s Mobile Li-brary initiative that makes reading a fun and interesting activity for children. The event forms part of our corporate social agenda that focuses on youth empowerment,” said Rajive Ahuja, head of Corpo-rate Communications, KR Group.

F U N R E A D I N G E V E N T

Talented Omanis successfully complete SBG’s advanced development programmeMUSCAT: Eleven talented Oma-nis have graduated from the spe-cial training and development programmes conducted by Saud Bahwan Group (SBG).

The Management Develop-ment Programme (MDP) and Ex-ecutive Development Programme (EDP) conducted by the group are a part of the corporate eff ort to groom Omani employees to take on higher positions and sig-nifi cant roles in the organisation, says a press release.

The programmes provide the required exposure to contem-porary management practices, while maximising soft skills, func-tional expertise and leadership techniques essential for manage-rial talent. The programmes also impart the required skills for cus-tomer care, personal eff ectiveness and team building.

The eff ectiveness of learning is ensured by adopting novel practices like experiential learn-ing, debate sessions, book re-views, group discussions, brain

storming, role plays, video based discussions, simulations, in-basket training and more in ad-dition to the conventional class-room training.

To facilitate and enhance the learning, Saud Bahwan Group appointed senior level manag-ers from within the company to conduct guest lectures. This was apart from inviting external speakers consisting of thought leaders, business leaders and leading educationists.

“First of all, I sincerely thank our management for the wonder-ful opportunity to learn and grow

through EDP. The course has helped me develop my managerial skills. Now I understand how to delegate work and also complete tasks confi dently. This course has moulded me into a team player; Now I have moved from a Task-focused Manager’ to a ‘People-focused Leader’,” remarked Jamal Abdullah Al Mahfudi, after having attended the Executive Develop-ment Programme.

“Important life skills like com-munication skills, time manage-ment, effi ciency orientation and other inputs have helped me emerge as a better manager and a

better human being,” he added.Another successful participant

in the Management Development Programme, Muna Juma Freish Al Muqeemi felt that she had gained tremendously, “This programme has really transformed me into a confi dent individual and a compe-tent Manager. The programme has also inspired me to work as a team player, to achieve organisational goals. It has motivated me to give 100 percent commitment in all my personal and professional tasks. Undergoing this nine months long course has been a life changing experience. I’d like to convey my thanks to our company,” she added.

Yet another successful partici-pant in the Management Devel-opment Programme, Khalid Al Jabri said that the programme “helped me enhance my perfor-mance through acquiring new skills, knowledge and habits. I have acquired decision-making skills. This course has also taught me how to analyse situations and develop innovative solutions.”

D E V E L O P I N G N A T I O N A L W O R K F O R C E

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Nissan’s new 2015 sedan range comes with advanced features

MUSCAT: Nissan Oman from the house of Suhail Bahwan Au-tomobiles (SBA) has announced the availability of its 2015 range of sedan vehicles across all its showrooms within the Sultanate of Oman. With new stocks and colour variants readily available, customers can now get to choose their favourite Nissan model, says a press release.

For every customer purchasing a Nissan vehicle, it is the begin-ning of a fulfi lling experience as Nissan’s top class after sales ser-vice makes sure every customer is happy and satisfi ed. Nissan’s af-ter sales service in Oman ensures that customers get the advantage

of factory trained expertise and genuine Nissan replacement parts always. Customers can expect reli-ability and assistance, which will help retain Nissan’s performance and resale value for years to come.

Micra: Add colour to your life A refi ned vehicle in its own right, the 2015 Nissan Micra aims to attract a wider audience with its contemporary good looks, eye-catching exterior colour range, spacious and fashionable interior, in addition to a powerful high per-formance engine and a range of other options to make city driving easier. The new keyless entry fea-ture makes the Micra an appealing choice for its customers.

Key features of the new Micra include a characterful, sleek exte-rior design, eye-catching exterior colour range, user-friendly equip-ment and interior designed with convenience in mind, highly-ver-satile interior seat/stowage confi g-urations, effi cient, largest-in-class 1.5-liter engine, nimble handling with best-in-class turning circle – ideal for city driving, high levels of safety equipment including dual airbags, ABS, EBD & Brake Assist. The new Micra with trim level ‘SV’ is available in Oman.

Sunny: A reliable partner The 2015 Nissan comes with a unique feature like the Nissan Connect that uses hands-free technology, smartphone, and the Nissan’s display screen to help customers stay in touch with the outside world from inside their

vehicle. It’s loaded with features and compatibility with a growing list of apps that allows custom-ers play music, keep tabs on social network, and navigate any city like a local.

The Nissan Sunny is the most complete sedan in the mid-size sedan segment, with luxury and comfort close to that of premium sedans and it appeals on a number of levels. Its sophisticated style sets it apart from the rest and its roomy interior and large trunk is ideally suited to families.

Tiida: Styled for fun With dynamic styling looks and class-leading spaciousness, the second generation of the Middle East’s best-selling compact hatch-back has everything to build on the Tiida nameplate’s established success. The Nissan Tiida hatch-back comes with best-in-class fuel economy, advanced technology and features typically expected from far more expensive vehicles. Inside and out, the Nissan Tiida is dynamically styled. The refreshed aerodynamic body shape blends sophistication with a sporty infl u-ence, complemented by widened and lowered stance, electric-fold-

ing mirrors and 17” alloys wheels. Inside, a sleek, modern cabin wel-comes the driver and passengers featuring quality materials and lifestyle-accommodating design.

Sentra: Upgrade your journey Nissan Sentra focuses on class-above design standards inside and out. Automatic dual-zone climate control system with rear passen-ger air vents, navigation system, rearview camera, intelligent key and Push engine start, and leather seats on selected models are just some of the features Sentra intro-duces to the segment.

The 2015 models also come with exclusive LED headlights that make it a notch superior than the other models in its segment. How-ever, all models benefi t from the standard fi tment of soft interior trims, and a wide range of safety equipment including dual airbags, ABS (anti-lock Braking System), EBD (Electronic Brake- force Dis-tribution), and BA (Brake Assist).

Altima: Special powers Among the all-new Altima’s many new features, perhaps the one that stands out most is its ‘class above’ appeal, which is apparent at fi rst

look and fi rst touch of both the exterior and interior executions and its Intelligent Key feature. The Altima’s all-new exterior de-sign starts with its wide, aggres-sive stance and dramatic front end styling. This technology allows owners to lock and unlock the door just by pressing the ‘Request Switch’ on the door while just sim-ply carrying the key.

Drivers can also open and close the trunk, and can start the en-gine without having to insert the key, making departure seamless. By cutting out the trouble of put-ting in the key, there is no need to search for the key inside a bag or pocket. It also eliminates the fear of accidentally shutting the key in-side the vehicle or trunk.

In addition to its many other functions, the Advanced Drive-Assist Display can be linked to three new available safety features — Blind Spot Warning, Lane De-parture Warning and Moving Ob-ject Detection – typically off ered only on more upscale vehicle and fi rst time in the segment. Thanks to the use of the systems’ advanced next-generation rear view camera, the BSW, LDW and MOD are inte-grated and intuitive.

Along with sunroof and pre-mium seat comfort, the all-new Altima off ers superior quietness through eff orts to reduce cabin noise coming from the powertrain (new engine and exhaust mount designs), climate system (in-creased HVAC mounting rigidity) and the body (increased body ri-gidity) versus the previous Altima design. New noise absorption ma-terials with a 30 per cent increase in absorption capability (versus previous Altima) are also used throughout the cabin, including areas such as the roof trim, instru-ment panel and fl oor mats.

Maxima: Sports car The Nissan Maxima is a great fu-sion between a sedan and the soul of a sports car. And this combina-tion of sports sedan styling along with ample comfort and luxury that the Maxima provides has made it a favourite among the youngsters in the Sultanate.

The breakthrough exterior de-sign of the Maxima imparts a feel-ing of powerful driving motion which combines an aggressive stance and the powerful 3.5L, V6 engine with 290 HP/64000 RPM Xtronic CVT transmission. The new Nissan Maxima delivers quick acceleration and lasting euphoria with Paddle shifter, Cruise con-trol and Bluetooth technology for a better driving experience. Tak-ing into consideration the driver’s comfort, the vehicles comes with auto A/C with dual zone climate control, stylish sunroof and 19” al-loy wheels.

For every customer

purchasing a Nissan

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India Education Interaction Meet on January 12 and 13MUSCAT: A free-to-attend and exclusive two-day meet will be held to showcase Indian educational re-sources, best practice methods and training on January 12 and 13 at Hotel Haff a House in Muscat.

India Education Interaction Meet is held abroad each year across 15 countries. Over 10,000 visitors attend, get counselled, discuss and compare thousands of resources, designed to meet a huge range of educational needs, says a press release.

The meet will highlight a vast array of resources, course infor-mation, training and demonstra-tions to make this the most useful date in NRIs calendar.

The will take place from 3.30pm

to 9pm. NRI students and parents will get an opportunity to interact with academic heads of various institutions across India. They of-fer one to one counselling to the visitors. It is proven that in spite of available information in the digital form in websites, interaction with academic heads, professors in per-sons is very highly ranked as the best mode of getting information about the courses available, fee structure, job opportunities and placements and helps the parents and students to decide which fi eld they are opting for.

Information of more than 100 courses which are in demand, scholarships information for NRIs is on display during the event.

“All this happens only in exhibi-tions and that is the only opportu-nity NRIs get in Oman by visiting the event,” said an organiser.

A few of the participants include Anna University, SRM University, Hindustan University, Dr.DY Patil University, Datta Meghe Medical University, KJ Somaiya Institu-tions, MVJ Colleges, Thapar Uni-versity, NITTE University, CMR University, M. S. Ramaiah Univer-sity of Applied Sciences and Adi-tya Institutions.

The organisers Indus Group is a leading business to business me-dia group and the largest Indian exhibition organiser.

The meet is being co-organised by Lynx, Muscat.

E V E N T F O R N R I S

NBO Visa cardholders to benefi t

from rewarding promotion at DSF

MUSCAT: The Visa card holders of National Bank of Oman (NBO) can win one of more than 4,000 prizes during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), including a shop-ping trip of a lifetime to London, Paris or Milan with their own personal shopper.

Now in its 20th year, the DSF is the Middle East’s largest shop-ping and entertainment event, attracting visitors from across the globe with a wide variety of events, activities and promotions. NBO Visa cardholders who shop in the UAE during the promotion-al period of January 12-25, and spend more than AED300 (ap-proximately OMR30), will be eli-gible to participate in the ‘Dubai Shopping Festival Big Wheel at

the Dubai Mall’ promotion, says a press release.

“The Dubai Shopping Festival has become a fi rm fi xture in the Middle East’s social calendar and many of our customers in Oman will visit the UAE during the month-long festival.

“We are delighted that our Visa cardholders can also now benefi t from this fun and reward-ing promotion when they hit the shops and malls of the emirates this January,” said, Abdul Ka-rim Al Hinai, head of Alternative Channels, NBO.

E N T E R T A I N M E N T E V E N T

Celebrity Malayalam

singers to enthral

Muscat on January 10

MUSCAT: Stage is set for a scintillating musical experience when noted Malayalam playback and professional singers will per-form at Al Falaj Hotel’s Le Grand auditorium at 6pm on Saturday, January 10.

Named as Madhurikkum Or-makale, the even is organised by Muscat Diamond entertainment in association with Kerala Wing of Indian Social Club, Muscat and Bhavalaya, says a press release.

The event is going to be unique and one of its kind, as the celebrity artistes will perform the selected songs from amongst the 50 years of Malayalam drama, especially that of KPAC.

The trend setting duo, Kerala State Award winning singers Sri Ram and Vaikam Vijaya Lakshimi, along with famous vocalist Kallara Gopan, talented Aparna and Ammu Vijayan, will sing their heart out

to take the audience to a nostalgic journey, said the organisers.

“The Malayalam dramas of olden days were remembered and are considered a vital tool for so-cial reform and struggle for free-dom wherein the songs and their visualisation played a pivotal role. And we are trying to showcase a replica of life and struggle of our predecessors through music,” claimed the organisers.

‘ M A D H U R I K K U M O R M A K A L E ’

be’ah acts to prevent fi res at waste dumpsites in DakhiliyahMUSCAT: Oman environmen-tal Services Holding Company be’ah had implemented a strategy related to waste management in the Sultanate, in an eff ort to fi nd the most successful solutions to avoid environmental damage caused by dumpsites operations, which has become a concern to communities.

In coordination with special-ists from Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Re-sources (MRMWR), be’ah launched an emergency plan to control fi re situations that erupt abruptly in traditional dumpsites in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorates.

The company has rolled out a number of projects implemented by specialised companies in the fi eld of waste management. The importance of these projects come in a quest to close the ex-isting dumpsites, by stopping the transfer of waste to these loca-tions then undergo a rehabilita-tion process as planned by be’ah, says a press release.

“be’ah is aware of the size of the environmental and health impact of traditional dumpsites, which are currently deployed in the Al-Dakhiliyah Governorates. The available data shows that the traditional waste disposing meth-ods cause sudden outbreak of fi re, which has become a source of concern to citizens and residents alike,” said Hilal bin Khalfan Al Noamani, Executive Vice Presi-

dent, Municipal Waste.“The traditional dumpsites

operations contribute to green-house gas emissions (carbon di-oxide and methane) that cause global warming. The traditional methods of waste disposal does not include any protection layers leading to leakage resulting from the decomposition of waste into the soil, surface and ground water resulting contamination of water “according to technical studies,” he explained.

Specialists at be’ah assessed the situation technically and over the past months “be’ah” had organ-ised fi eld visits to various tradi-tional dumpsites with specialists from MRMWR. Following these visits, health and environmental impact studies were examined with the help of various offi cials in the governorates. The com-pany signed three contracts with specialised companies entrusted with tasks regarding this matter.

“Among these tasks is to iden-tify temporary locations to col-

lect waste from Al-Dakhiliyah Governorates to be as temporary transfer stations, and to be se-cured by guards around the clock. MRMWR and be’ah coordinate to transfer all municipal waste that is collected from wilayats in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorates to these stations. Then, the appointed companies transfer the waste on daily basis to engineered landfi lls which will come into operation in January next year 2016.

“The specialised companies that has been assigned by “be’ah” to control the traditional dump-sites contamination prior to closing them and fencing them to ensure no dumping of any new waste into these sites, hence rehabilitate them as well,” Al Noamani added.

“Implementation of these pro-jects are in line with the overall strategy for waste management in order to reduce the risk of health and environmental damages caused by traditional dumpsites that currently are in place, and in an eff ort to provide a proper mechanism to deal with diff erent types of waste in a safe manner, taking into account the steady increase in the waste resulting from expansion of population and development in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorates. be’ah is currently working to implement several projects to provide infrastructure for waste management in the Sul-tanate,” he said.

W A S T E M A N A G E M E N T

Chance to learn

Sanskrit online

MUSCAT: A Sanskrit language expert in Oman has taken the electronic route to promote the ancient Indian language from January 2015.

Kavitha has trained numer-ous students as well as parents in Sanskrit language. For the last seven years Kavitha has been involved in teaching a lot of her friends and she does this without any monetary com-mitments. She has more than 50 students and she is a gold medallist in MA Sanskrit from Bangalore University.

Kavitha will be introducing the e-learning in association with the Art, Culture and Lan-guage department of the Gov-ernment of India. Those avid learners who are interested to know more about this sacred Indian language can log on and pursue it further. Apart from this she will also be starting a blog of her own where she will be interacting with all those who are interested to learn San-skrit and will take the oppor-tunity to clarify all the doubts raised by the students.

A N C I E N T L A N G U A G E

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

SMITH JOINS GREATS AS INDIA CHASE HUGE TOTALAustralia skipper Steve Smith joined the greats on Wednesday with his fourth century of the series as India hung in after the shock loss of an early wicket on the second day of the fi nal Test in Sydney. >C3

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Oman’s buildup continues

CANBERRA: The Oman nation-al football team continued their buildup for the Asian Cup with rigorous training sessions here on Wednesday in the presence of Oman Football Association (OFA) chairman Sayyid Khalid Al Busaidi.

Wednesday’s training ses-sions started with a brief speech by Oman’s French coach Paul Le Guen and also OFA chairman Sayyid Khalid Al Busaidi.

The team were also briefed by the OFA technical experts who ex-plained to the players on technical aspects as well as what to expect in their Asian Cup matches.

All the players, including cap-tain and star goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi and Amir Said Al Shat-

tri, who arrived in Australia as a replacement for injured de-fender Saad Suhail, attended the training session.

The lone exception being in-jured Mohammed Al Musallami, who did light jogging before head-ing straight to Sports Medicine Centre to continue with his special rehabilitation programme.

OFA chief all praise for CanberraMeanwhile, Canberra Times re-ported that organisers are expect-ing an impressive crowd of 15,000 to fl ock to Canberra Stadium on Saturday to see South Korea take on Oman in the fi rst of seven Asian Cup games in the capital.

The tournament will have an estimated television audience of 800 million. South Korea is ranked 69th in the world and is the third highest-ranked Asian nation be-hind Iran (51) and Japan (54).

The benefi ts of having the Asian Cup in Canberra extend far beyond seeing some of the world’s best

soccer teams in the fl esh. Oman, Qatar and Kuwait have held pre-tournament training camps in the city, injecting $1 million into the local economy, along with forging business ties with the region.

Oman Football Association chairman Sayyid Khalid bin Hamed Al Busaidi described Can-

berra as having the “perfect envi-ronment” for preparing for a major sporting event.

“Canberra is a fantastic city for sports and it’s a model for the rest of the world,” Sayyid Khalid said.

“We would like to learn from this experience because we are in the process of establishing some facilities in Oman in terms of sports excellence.

“Hopefully we can build some relationships in the coming months to do something together in the fi eld of sports.” He also hoped Can-berrans learnt about Oman through its participation in the Asian Cup.

“There are great opportunities for investors from this part of the world in Oman in terms of tourism and development,” he said.

“With Oman being located in the eastern side of the Ara-bian Peninsula, it off ers a lot in terms of tourism and investment opportunities.”

Ali among top fi ve players to watchMeanwhile, according to AFP, Paul Le Guen’s Oman will need their popular goalkeeper and captain Ali Al Habsi in top form if they are to

make an impact at Asian Cup. A good run for Oman in Aus-

tralia would see the popular Wigan Athletic stopper near 100 appear-ances for his country.

The ever-smiling Al Habsi is a well-known fi gure in England where he was a regular for then Premier League outfi t Bolton Wanderers before signing for Wigan in 2011, after a successful loan spell in which he was named the club’s player of the season.

He has an FA Cup winner’s med-al, despite only being on the bench for Wigan’s famous 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the 2013 fi nal at Wembley.

Al Habsi’s star has waned re-cently and this season he was briefl y loaned out to Brighton and Hove Albion. Large-handed Al Habsi is known for his ability to save penalty kicks, which could be crucial if Oman make an unlikely escape from Group A, which also contains hosts Australia, South Korea and Kuwait.

Al Habsi will be appearing in his third Asian Cup after fea-turing in the 2004 and 2007 editions, and currently has 92 in-ternational caps.

All the players, with the exception of injured Al

Musallami, took part in the training as Oman

continued their buildup for the Asian Cup

opener against South Korea on January 10

PEP TALK: Oman Football Association chairman Sayyid Khalid Al Busaidi, right, speaks to the national team players during a training session in Canberra yesterday. – OFA

OFA chairman Sayyid

Khalid bin Hamed Al

Busaidi described

Canberra as having the

“perfect environment”

for preparing for a

major sporting event

Perrin spices up China challengeMELBOURNE: China are hoping a young line-up and a new coach will bring a change of fortunes as they bid to reach the Asian Cup knock-out stages for the fi rst time in more than a decade.

The world’s most populous na-tion is one of football’s biggest un-der-achievers but recent success at club level provides a glimmer of hope for Alain Perrin’s side.

China, with a population of 1.3 billion and ever-expanding fi nan-cial muscle, have mystifyingly stalled since reaching their fi rst and only World Cup in 2002.

They came perilously close to missing their fi rst Asian Cup in 11 editions, but scraped through on goal diff erence as the best-per-

forming third-placed team in the qualifying groups.

However, Guangzhou Ever-grande earned respect last year when they became China’s fi rst winners of the AFC Champions League, shepherded by World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lip-pi. Now Perrin, formerly of Lyon and Portsmouth, will try to steer China past the group stage for the fi rst time since 2004, when they reached the fi nal on home soil.

The 58-year-old Frenchman arrived in February at the helm of a side in fl ux after the sack-ing of expensively hired ex-Real Madrid and Spain boss Jose Anto-nio Camacho.

Perrin’s fi rst competitive squad

features seven players from Guangzhou Evergrande, including their captain and talisman Zheng Zhi, their only representative aged more than 30.

Striker Yang Xu was selected along with Gao Lin, whose goals helped Guangzhou win last year’s Champions League as well as a fourth straight domestic title this season. Perrin’s fi rst game in charge was China’s fi nal qualifi er, a 3-1 loss to Iraq in March when Zhang Xizhe’s second-half penalty was enough to see them squeak through on goal diff erence.

But China have lost only one of their 10 friendlies since, a 3-1 de-feat to Mali, and have carved out wins against Macedonia, Kuwait,

Paraguay and Thailand. Their task looks challenging

but not insurmountable in Group B, where they will compete with Uzbekistan, three-time winners Saudi Arabia and North Korea for one of two quarter-fi nal slots.

However, China’s exclusively home-based squad remain largely untested and 1-1 home draws against Jordan and New Zealand suggest they may struggle to break down solid opposition.

“We are not the favourite, we do not have the best chance,” Per-rin said, when asked about China’s Asian Cup chances.

“What I know is that the players are ready to give the best they can... anything is possible.” — AFP

A S I A N C U P

CHINA’S HOPE: File picture of former Lyon and Marseille boss Alain Perrin, right, is seen talking to a player as he takes part in a training

session for China’s national football team at a training base in Qingyuan, south China’s Guangdong province. – AFP

Australia expect defensive slogsMELBOURNE: Asian Cup hosts Australia do not expect the same free-fl owing contests that marked their World Cup campaign in Brazil and are gear-ing up to face teams intent on stifl ing their attacking threat in the group stage, said midfi elder Mark Bresciano. The Socceroos lost all three of their matches in Brazil to be eliminated from the group stage but won admirers for their enterprising play against the Netherlands, Chile and Spain.

Australia play world number 124 Kuwait in their tournament opener on Friday, before matches against 69th-ranked South Ko-rea and 93rd-ranked Oman, and some might expect an easier run in front of home fans.

Not so, according to playmaker Bresciano, who said their Asian Cup opponents might prove tougher to crack than the teams at the World Cup.

“At the World Cup obviously, it was fl owing, attacking games (for us), but I think we were play-ing against other opposition that play the same style of football,” he said. “I think this time around we’ll be playing against other countries playing a diff erent style, obviously going to stop us trying to play that attacking foot-ball for ourselves.

“But we’re going to try to play the best to our ability and create as much opportunity as we can. But we know, for us, they’re going to probably be tougher opponents to play against.”

Kuwait, Australia’s fi rst op-ponents at Melbourne’s Rectan-gular Stadium on Friday, will be something of an unknown quan-tity given they have had only four weeks under new coach Nabil

Maaloul, who replaced Brazilian Jorvan Vieira after a poor Gulf Cup of Nations. Kuwait’s war-mup match against United Arab Emirates was cancelled at the last minute.

The 34-year-old Bresciano, who has played for Qatari club Al Gharafa in recent years, has some insight into Maaloul, who coached El Jaish. — Reuters

F O O T B A L L

But we’re going to

try to play the best to

our ability and create

as much opportunity

as we can

Mark BrescianoAustralia midfielder

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Kiwis finally overcome fluctuating fortunes to win at Basin Reserve

WELLINGTON: The fl uctuating nature of Test cricket was never more evident than the last fi ve days at Wellington’s Basin Reserve as New Zealand somehow man-aged to fi ght back to record an 193-run win in the second Test over Sri Lanka and seal a 2-0 series victory.

Fortunes ebbed and fl owed, in-dividual battles were fought, won and lost, and momentum changed from session to session.

Both teams were on top, then under pressure, while Sri Lanka had victory in their grasp inside three days before cold-blooded grit from New Zealand took it away.

After being asked to bat on a green wicket, New Zealand were dismissed for 221 on the fi rst day before they reduced Sri Lanka to 78 for fi ve by stumps and pundits predicted a result inside four days.

Kumar Sangakkara, however, re-fused to countenance any of those predictions and showed why he is considered one of the world’s great-est batsmen as the 37-year-old, in the twilight of his career, seized the game by the scruff of the neck.

Having become the fastest man to 12,000 career runs, Sangak-kara worked, defl ected, prodded, slashed, drove and fl icked the New Zealand attack all over the fi eld, bending the game to his will with Brendon McCullum powerless to stop him.

“He is an absolute great player,” home skipper McCullum said after his team completed their victory on Wednesday. “Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap and say, ‘he’s too

good’ when he’s in that frame of mind and playing as well as he is.

“It was a pleasure to watch him bat. It was frustrating from our point of view. At the same time,

you’ve got one of the best seats in the house to watch one of the mas-ters at work.”

Fittingly, it took a moment of sheer athletic brilliance from

Trent Boult, diving high and to his left to pull in a square cut from Sangakkara that left many, includ-ing the batsman, wondering how he had managed to wrap his fi nger-

tips around the ball to end the in-nings on 203.

Boult’s catch as it turns out was a perfectly microcosm of the fi eld-ing in the game. New Zealand held

their catches when the chances came, Sri Lanka did not.

“We were able to put New Zea-land under pressure by the third day but we missed a couple of sitters and good players make it count,” Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said. “If we had held on to our catches, it would have been a diff erent story.”

Williamson, however, capital-ised on being dropped three times to anchor New Zealand’s second innings and combined in a world record 365-run sixth wicket part-nership with Watling, which took the game away from the visitors.

“For so long we were miles be-hind the game and it took some-thing pretty special for us to get out of trouble fi rstly,” McCullum said. “Overall, it was an excellent eff ort from our guys to be able to manufacture a win from nowhere really.” — Reuters

Both teams were

on top, then under

pressure, while Sri

Lanka had victory

in their grasp inside

three days before

cold-blooded grit

from New Zealand

took it away

SERIES WINNERS: New Zealand pose after winning the match and the series against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. – AFP

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New Zealand 1st innings: 221 (K. Wil-liamson 69; N. Pradeep 4-63, S. Lakmal 3-71) Sri Lanka 1st innings: 356 (K. Sangak-kara 203, D. Chandimal 67; J. Neesham 3-42, D. Bracewell 3-93) New Zealand 2nd innings: 524-5 dec (K. Williamson 242 not out, B. Watling 142 not out; N. Pradeep 3-117) Sri Lanka 2nd innings (overnight 45-1) D. Karunaratne c Rutherford b Craig 17 K. Silva c Craig b Bracewell 50 D. Prasad c Neesham b Boult 6 K. Sangakkara c Watling b Boult 5 L. Thirimanne not out 62 A. Mathews c Williamson b Bracewell 8 P. Jayawardene c Williamson b Craig 10 D. Chandimal c Watling b Craig 13 R. Herath lbw Craig 0 S. Lakmal run out (Bracewell) 6 N. Pradeep b Southee 1 Extras (b-8, lb-6, w-3, nb-1) 18 Total (all out, 72.4 overs) 196 Fall of wicket: 1-42 (Karunaratne), 2-51 (Prasad), 3-61 (Sangakkara), 4-94 (Silva), 5-110 (Mathews), 6-133 (Jayawardene), 7-156 (Chandimal), 8-156 (Herath), 9-189 (Lakmal), 10-196 (Pradeep) Bowling: Boult 21-2-55-2 (1w), Southee 17.4-6-41-1, Bracewell 13-3-25-2 (1nb, 2w), Craig 18-8-53-4, Rutherford 1-0-2-0, Wil-liamson 2-0-6-0

S C O R E B O A R D

WELLINGTON: Sri Lanka cap-tain Angelo Mathews struggled Wednesday to understand how his side went from a position of dominance to lose the second Test against New Zealand.

Sri Lanka collapsed after their mainstay Kumar Sangak-kara was sensationally given out cheaply in their second innings by the review system when a draw, and possibly a remarkable series levelling win, were still possible.

“It was a shocking turn-

around,” Mathews responded when questioned why Sri Lanka lost a game they had in control.

The fi rst problem was the fi elding and the succession of lives aff orded Williamson.

“If we had held on to our catches, it would have been a dif-ferent story. But they were able to reverse the pressure on us and we just couldn’t hold on,” he said. “You can’t really drop those sitters when you’re on the way to winning the game and you are desperate to win the game.”

“Umpires have a tough job at hand and you can’t really com-ment (on the review system). You have to be careful with that,” Mathews said.

“That’s the way it goes and unfortunately, or fortunately, we have to take it as it comes.”

Despite the controversial dis-missal, Mathews felt he was let down by the lack of fi ght from the remainder of his batting line up as the last eight wickets fell for 135 runs. “He was the man in form and we needed

somebody to bat through the innings and Sanga’s wicket was the crucial one,” he said.

“We had to build up partner-ships around him but I think we shouldn’t put a lot of pressure on him. He is a world class player and one of the best we have seen, but we also need the youngsters to grab opportunities.

“Slowly but surely the youngsters will learn but this is international cricket and we can’t expect one person to score all the time.” — AFP

Mathews struggles to understand ‘shocking’ loss

Sri Lanka gamble on MalingaCOLOMBO: Sri Lanka have in-cluded pace spearhead Lasith Malinga in their 15-man squad for the Cricket World Cup despite concerns over his fi tness after an-kle surgery, the country’s cricket board said on Wednesday.

The mercurial Malinga had left ankle surgery in September and missed the team’s One-day series against India and England.

Malinga is expected to return in the later stages of the seven match ODI series against New Zealand, which starts in Christchurch on Sunday, and was included in the World Cup squad, subject to fi t-ness, the Sri Lanka board said in a statement.

The 31-year-old Malinga, whose yorkers delivered with a sling-shot action at times makes him almost unplayable, will be crucial for Sri Lanka’s chances in the 50-over World Cup in Aus-tralia and New Zealand.

Fast bowler Shaminda Eranga was the only name missing from the 16-member squad that will play in the ODI series in New Zealand as a warm-up for the Feb. 14-March 29 World Cup.

The 2011 World Cup runners-up, who lost to India in the fi -nal, also included off -spinner Sachithra Senanayake, who was recently cleared to bowl after re-medial work on his action.

The team will be led by all-rounder Angelo Mathews with left-handed batsman Lahiru Thirimanne as his deputy.

The island nation will play two warm-up games, against South Africa and Zimbabwe, before their opening match of the tour-

nament against co-hosts New Zealand on February 14.

Squad: Angelo Mathews (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jay-awardene, Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-captain), Dinesh Chandi-mal, Dimuth Karunaratne, Je-evan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga (subject to fi tness), Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ran-gana Herath, Sachithra Senanay-ake. — Reuters

W O R L D C U P S Q U A D

HOPING TO BE FIT: Lasith Malinga. – File photo

Zimbabwe make major changes

HARARE: Zimbabwe have re-called several players to their squad for next month’s World Cup in Australia and New Zea-land marking major changes from the list for the Bangladesh series in November.

Chamu Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Tawanda Mupariwa, Prosper Utseya and Sean Williams all return after not being selected for the trip to Bangladesh.

Utseya is included despite be-ing reported for an illegal bowl-ing action. He will not be able to bowl off spin at the World Cup but has since turned his hand to medium pace off -cutters.

Squad: Elton Chigumbura (cap-tain), Sikandar Raza Butt, Regis Chak-abva, Tendai Chatara, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Tafadzwa Ka-mungozi, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Solomon Mire, Tawanda Mupariwa, Tinashe Panyangara, Bren-dan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Wil-liams. — Reuters

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SPORTST H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Smith joins greats as India chase huge total

SYDNEY: Steve Smith joined the greats on Wednesday with his fourth century of the series as In-dia hung in after the shock loss of an early wicket on the second day of the fi nal Test in Sydney.

The Aussie skipper became only the third batsman along with Don Bradman and Jacques Kallis to score tons in four consecutive Tests in the same series as his team posted a total beyond 500 for the fourth Test running.

Smith contributed 117 in Aus-tralia’s fi rst innings declaration of 572 for seven before the tour-ists were rocked by the third-ball dismissal of opener Murali Vijay for a duck. At the close, India had stabilised at 71 for one to trail Aus-tralia by 501 with Lokesh Rahul on 31 and Rohit Sharma hitting two sixes on his way to 40 not out.

“I thought our whole top six played really well,” Smith said.

“We’ve relied a lot on the tail in the last couple of Test matches and I said the batters had to step up in this match.

“The whole top six got above fi fty which I don’t think has hap-pened before. That’s outstanding for us. “It’s not the kind of wicket I think where you can blast sides out. It’s about staying patient and hopefully the patience pays off .”

Left-armer Mitchell Starc, bowling with fi re and rhythm, slanted one across Vijay and coaxed a snick to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Starc may be in disciplinary trouble for giving Vijay a big send-off , roaring in his face and waving his fi sts in a fi ery opening over as Mitchell Johnson’s injury replace-ment. But the day belonged to Smith, who added another century to his unbeaten 162 in Adelaide, 133 in Brisbane and 192 in Mel-bourne in this series.

“It’s been a pretty special sum-mer for me personally, obviously with some of the results that I’ve got,” Smith said.

“But look, I always put the team fi rst, I think the success the team has had over the last little bit

has been outstanding and we’re in another good position in this Test match.”

Australia passed 500 for the fourth Test of the series, a feat last registered against the Garry Sobers-led West Indies at home in 1968-69.

Smith was out just before lunch when he was caught behind off Umesh Yadav ending his 208-ball knock spiced with 15 fours.

Purple patch He has 698 runs in the series at an average of 139.6, placing him third behind Bradman (715) and Ricky Ponting (706) for most runs in a series against India.

Smith is having an extraordi-nary purple patch and has now scored six centuries in the fi rst innings of his last seven Tests at home. Watson again missed out on what would have been only his fi fth Test century when, on a fl at SCG wicket, he had another brain snap and hoisted Mohammed Shami straight to Ravichandran

Ashwin at deep midwicket for 81. Watson has now scored 24 half-

centuries but just four tons in 56 Tests, with his last Test hundred coming against England in Perth in December 2013. He toiled for 250 minutes and faced 183 balls in putting on 196 runs for the third wicket with Smith.

Shaun Marsh added 73 to his 99 in Melbourne before he was caught behind off Shami nearing tea. Marsh batted for 116 balls with nine fours and a six.

Joe Burns, playing in his sec-ond Test, was well caught by Ra-hul in the deep for 58 off 114 balls and Ryan Harris roused the crowd with a lusty 25 off nine balls before the declaration.

It was hard going on the unre-sponsive SCG pitch for India’s bowlers with Shami fi nishing with fi ve for 112 off 28.3 overs.

India have already lost the Bor-der-Gavaskar Trophy with Aus-tralia holding an unassailable 2-0 lead following wins in Adelaide and Brisbane.

The tourists have wonly one of their last 22 Tests overseas and have been successful in only one of their 10 Tests at the Sydney Cricket Ground, that sole victory coming 37 years ago. - AFP

The Aussie skipper

became only the

third batsman along

with Don Bradman

and Jacques Kallis

to score tons in four

consecutive Tests in

the same series as his

team posted a total

beyond 500 for the

fourth Test running

Australia 1st innings (overnight 348 for 2) C. Rogers b Shami 95 D. Warner c Vijay b Ashwin 101 S. Watson c Ashwin b Shami 81 S. Smith c Saha b Yadav 117 S. Marsh c Saha b Shami 73 J. Burns c Rahul b Shami 58 B. Haddin not out 9 R. Harris c Ashwin b Shami 25 Extras (lb-6, w-7) 13 Total (7 wickets decl., 152.3 overs) 572 Fall of wickets: 1-200 (Warner), 2-204 (Rogers), 3-400 (Watson), 4-415 (Smith), 5-529 (Marsh), 6-546 (Burns), 7-572 (Harris) Bowling: Kumar 34-5-122-0, Yadav 27-5-137-1 (6w), Shami 28.3-3-112-5, Ashwin 47-8-142-1, Raina 16-3-53-0

Did not bat: M. Starc, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood India 1st innings M. Vijay c Haddin b Starc 0 L. Rahul not out 31 R. Sharma not out 40 Total (1 wicket, 25 overs) 71 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Vijay) Bowling: Starc 6-2-17-1, Harris 7-1-17-0, Hazlewood 4-1-10-0, Lyon 8-1-27-0 To bat: V. Kohli, A. Rahane, S. Raina, W. Saha, R. Ashwin, M. Shami, U. Yadav, B. Kumar Toss: Australia Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) Rich-ard Kettleborough (ENG) TV umpire: Simon Fry (AUS) Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)

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

117runs from 208

balls with 15 fours

STEVESMITH

Pakistan include leg-spinner Yasir Shah in World Cup squadKARACHI: Pakistan on Wednes-day included inexperienced leg-spinner Yasir Shah in their 15-man squad for next month’s World Cup, hoping he can fi ll the gap left by Saeed Ajmal who with-drew due to an illegal bowling ac-tion.

Ajmal, who has led Pakistan’s attack in all three formats of the game since 2009, was suspended in September because of prob-lems with his action.

He has undergone remedial work but nevertheless withdrew last month from the World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zea-land after he failed completely to conform to regulations.

Pakistan hope all-rounder Mo-hammed Hafeez, who was includ-ed in the squad, can pass a test this month on his own bowling action. He was suspended in November.

Under International Cricket Council rules, bowlers are per-mitted to straighten their bowling arm only by up to 15 degrees.

Shah has played only one One-day International in his career but chief selector Moin Khan gave him a vote of confi dence.

“I think Shah will be eff ective... and we have confi dence in him,” Khan said.

Misbah-ul Haq will lead the na-tional side for the fi rst time in the World Cup.

Pakistan, placed in Group B, will open their campaign with a highly-charged clash against arch-rivals and defending cham-pions India in Adelaide on February 15.

This will be followed by match-es against the West Indies, Zim-babwe, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Ireland.

The top four teams from each of the two groups will qualify for the quarterfi nals, leading up to the fi -nal in Melbourne on March 29.

Khan said the team was select-ed after consultation with Misbah and coach Waqar Younis.

“We selected the squad after thorough consultation... and al-though no one can give assuranc-

es of results, we are hopeful that the team will do well,” said Khan, a member of Pakistan’s only World Cup-winning side in Australia in 1992.

Paceman Sohail Khan was a surprise inclusion after he took ten wickets in three games in do-mestic matches in Karachi.

The 30-year-old bowler played the last of his fi ve one-day inter-nationals in Zimbabwe in 2011.

Sohail said he would try to make his mark in the mega event.

“I am happy at my selection af-ter good performances in the do-mestic matches,” Sohail said.

“I will not be in awe of any bats-man like (India’s Virat) Kohli or anyone but I will be trying to take wickets in the World Cup to help my team.”

Pakistan’s pace attack will be made up of the lanky Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz and Sohail. Pacemen Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir and batsmen Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik failed to make the cut due to re-cent poor form.

Squad: Misbah-ul Haq (cap-tain), Ahmed Shehzad, Moham-med Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Shah, Mohammed Irfan, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz. — AFP

C R I C K E T

I think Yasir

Shah will be

effective...

and we have

confidence

in him

Moin KhanChief selector

LOOKING GOOD: Lokesh Rahul

appeared solid. – AFP

C4

SPORTST H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

NEW YEAR CRICKET CUP TOURNAMENT FROM JANUARY 16A total of 19 teams will be participating in New Year Cricket Cup to be organised by Rising Kokan Team at Bausher Munici-

pality Ground from January 16. The tournament will be sponsored by Abu Maather, Al Faisal Group, Shalimar Restaurant,

Nurson, Majan Events, United Gulf Beacons, Al Zaitun Travels, Al Rawabi and Pocari Sweat. The teams are divided into two

groups. Group A comprises OEC, Mangloreans, Asfandyar, Royal Challenger, Coastal Cricketers and Al Faisal. Group B con-

sists of Knight Rider Mangalore, Friends XI, Seven Seas Rising Stars, MCC, Ibn Sina Pharmacy, U Maather, Kokani Boys, Al

Naba, Bombay Blues, Eleven Warriors, Ofsat Warriors, Badar al Sama Hospital and Masters Eleven. — Supplied photo

OOC celebrates success of Olympic Day activities

MUSCAT: The Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) on Wedne-day organised a ceremony to cel-ebrate the success of the Olympic Day events and to honour the or-ganisations and invididuals who contributed to its success.

The 2014 edition of the Olym-pic Day events were organised on December 22 and for the fi rst time the events were held simultanous-ly in fi ve diff erent governorates.

The ceremony was presided over OOC chief Sheikh Khalid bin

Mohammed Al Zubair and was at-tended by Olympic Day Organis-ing Committee chief Mutassim Al Zadjali. In his remarks, Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair lauded the ef-forts everyone who contributed to the Olympic Day success.

P O P U L A R E V E N TPrince Ali to start campaign in Melbourne

MELBOURNE: Fifa presiden-tial candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein heads to Melbourne for Friday’s AFC Extraordinary Con-gress, aiming to convince Asian members he is the man to clean up world soccer’s governing body.

The Jordanian royal said on Tuesday he would challenge for soc-cer’s top job at the May elections in Zurich against Frenchman Jerome Champagne and incumbent Sepp Blatter after becoming fed up with the sport being dragged through the mud by poor governance.

Backed by UEFA President Michel Platini and the near major-ity of the European confederation, the 39-year-old prince must con-vince a bulk of voters in the AFC he is the man for the job if he is to become only the ninth leader of Fifa and the fi rst from Asia.

However, getting AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa onside is most certainly a bridge too far. The Bahraini and Jordanian endured an ugly public spat last year after Shaikh Salman pushed through legislation to en-

sure the AFC President automati-cally took the Fifa vice-president position currently held by Ali.

The Jordanian suggested the Bahraini should spend less time on playing politics and more on de-veloping the sport in a fi nal dig as he inevitably lost out in the power struggle. Next on Shaikh Salman’s radar is fi nalising the removal of Iran from the Ali-founded West Asian Football Federation, which the Jordanian also presides over.

Friday’s meeting in Melbourne, one of Asia’s furthest outposts, will see members ratify Iran’s move to the Central Asian Federation, while the composition of the AFC executive committee could also see some changes.

Some unsourced reports sug-gest Australian lawyer and AFC

Vice-President Moya Dodd, an Ali ally, could be shunted aside in the shake up.

Although Shaikh Salman has al-ready declared the AFC’s full sup-port for the 78-year-old Blatter to stand for a fi fth term, Ali remains a popular fi gure in some corners of the 47-member association.

His non-profi t Asian Football Development Project has helped with developments in many of the continent’s poorest countries, while he has been behind the in-creased promotion of women’s soccer in the region. He also won plaudits for his fi ght to remove the ban on headscarves being worn in women’s matches after pressing Blatter to take the issue to soc-cer’s law makers, the International Football Association Board. - Reuters

Prince Ali must

convince a bulk of

voters in the AFC he

is the man for the

job if he is to become

only the ninth leader

of Fifa and the

fi rst from Asia

Toure in the running for fourth African award

Constantine off ered India coaching job

CAPE TOWN: Yaya Toure has a chance to become the fi rst player to be named African Footballer of the Year four years in a row when the 2014 winner is announced in Lagos on Thursday.

Toure is one of a trio of fi nalists, along with Nigeria goalkeeper Vin-cent Enyeama and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, for

the annual accolade voted for by coaches and captains of the conti-nent’s national teams.

Toure has earned another nomi-nation on the back of excellent per-formances for Manchester City in the Premier League rather than his achievements with the Ivory Coast, who failed to reach the second round at the World Cup in Brazil. - Reuters

NEW DELHI: India have off ered Englishman Stephen Constan-tine the job of coaching their na-tional team for a second time, as they look to shed their reputation as football’s sleeping giant.

Constantine, currently the head coach of Rwanda, was in charge of India from 2002 to 2005 during which the side man-aged to achieve a best-ever Fifa ranking of 109.

Football’s popularity has been growing steadily in the cricket-mad nation and many of the matches in the recently concluded Indian Super League (ISL) drew tens of thousands of supporters.

However, India currently rank 171st in the world, more than 100 places behind Constantine’s cur-

rent charges who are 68th. In a statement on their web-

site, the All India Football Fed-eration confi rmed they had ap-proached “Stephen Constantine to become the head coach of the senior men’s national team and the U23 team.”

Reports said the 52-year-old, who has also coached Nepal and Sudan, had been off ered a three-year deal worth $20,000 a month.

Former New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert had also been in the running but just missed out to the Englishman, the reports said.

The position became vacant af-ter Dutchman Wim Koevermans resigned in October after the In-dia’s 3-2 home defeat against Pal-estine in a friendly. - AFP

F O U R I N A R O W

F O O T B A L L

JAKARTA: Asia’s power-ful Olympic chief Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah on Wednesday underlined his support for Sepp Blatter to remain as Fifa president de-spite a challenge by Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Al Hussein.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president said it was “too early” for Prince Ali, 39, to take over from Blatter, 78.

The Kuwaiti is considered highly infl uential in world sport, owing to his leadership of both the OCA and the Asso-

ciation of National Olympic Committees.

“When I commit, I commit. I repeat my commitment to Blatter for him to run for one more term,” Sheikh Ahmad told reporters during a visit to Jakarta.

“As to Prince Ali, I support him to keep his career in Fifa. If he takes my advice, I think it is too early for him. I was speaking for Kuwait. We will support Blatter very strongly and we will not allow anyone to challenge him.” - AFP

Fifa job ‘too early’ for Prince Ali: Al Sabah

C5

SPORTST H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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Rockers, FCC, HCC, Al Faisal, AKCT register wins at GST Falcon Cup MUSCAT: Muscat Rockers, FCC, HCC, Al Faisal and AKCT record-ed victories at the ongoing GST Falcon Cup cricket tournament.

Muscat Rockers defeated Asad XI by three runs. Batting fi rst, Muscat Rockers scored 70 for fi ve thanks to a 13-ball 30 runs by Rubel. In reply, Asad XI started very well but failed to convert the good start provided by the top or-der batsmen. Asad XI’s Sajad, who scored 39 off 17 balls and took one wicket in two overs, was adjudged the man of the match.

FCC batted fi rst against Al Ka-lili and scored 69 for six. In reply, Al Kalili lost wickets at regular intervals and fell short by 30 runs. FCC’s Sadh, who scored 11 runs and returned with fi gures of fi ve for three in two overs, won the man of the match award.

In a match against Batkal XI, HCC batted fi rst and scored 75 for six thanks to contributions from Sajeev (26) and Zahid (19). In re-ply, Batkal XI fell short by 44 runs. HCC’s Zahid won the man of the match award after scoring 19 runs and claiming three for two.

Against OEC, Al Faisal bat-ted fi rst and scored 73 for fi ve. Sagheer was the top scorer with 34 runs. In reply, OEC lost wickets at regular intervals and fell short by 12 runs. Sagheer was declared the man of the match.

In another match between FCC and AKCT, the former batted fi rst and scored 56 for seven. AKCT, in reply, achieved their target los-ing just one wicket. AKCT’s, who scored 40 runs and claimed one

wicket, won the man of the match. Meanwhile, Al Faisal overcame

HCC in an exciting match. Batting fi rst, HCC scored 67 for

seven thanks to 12-ball 33 by Sa-jeev. In reply, Al Faisal lost three

wickets in two overs with just 12 runs on the board. But Ifran came up with a man of the match per-formance scoring 41 off 17 balls as Al Faisal reached the target with two overs to spare.

C R I C K E T

MAN OF THE MATCH: Sagheer receives his award after starring in Al Faisal’s victory over OEC in the

GST Falcon Cup cricket tournament. – Supplied photo

Oman set for Rotax Max Challenge

MUSCAT: Top drivers from Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE) will vie for top honours when the Rotax Max Challenge (RMC) season begins at the Oman Automobile Association’s kart-ing track, Muscat Speedway, this weekend.

Apart from the six rounds of the Oman RMC, the speedway will host two rounds of the UAE nation-al championships for the fi rst time.

“We are proud to conduct two rounds of UAE Rotax Max Chal-lenge at our facility. It shows Mus-cat Speedway’s growing stature as a top karting destination in the re-gion. Motorsports fans can expect a lot as talented drivers from both the countries fi ght for supremacy,” said event co-ordinator, Mommin bin Nasser Al Rawahi.

The season begins on January 9, followed by the second round

on January 10. The second week’s action will take place on January 16 and 17.

These rounds will be more exciting as the third and fourth rounds of Oman RMC will be held along with the seventh and eighth

rounds of the UAE RMC. The fi -nal rounds (Round 5 and 6) will be held on February 20 and 21.

The teams, along with their karts, have already begun to ar-rive at the Speedway, while the OAA offi cials are busy sprucing up

the track and the facilities. As many as 40 drivers, including

10 from the UAE, have registered for the fi rst two rounds, while the second week’s event is expected to attract more than 100 drivers from UAE alone.

“The second week’s action will be more entertaining as the third and fourth rounds of the Oman RMC will be held along with the sev-enth and eighth rounds of the UAE national competition. We expect around 100 drivers from UAE apart

from 30 contestants from Oman for the second week,” said Mommin.

The decision to hold two national championships at the same venue provides upcoming drivers a good opportunity to test their skills while rubbing the shoulders with some of the best drivers in the region.

Competitions will be held on fi ve categories, viz. DD2, Sen-ior Max, Micro Max, Mini Max and Bambinos.

“Top professionals will com-pete in the two-gear DD2 category while experienced drivers will vie for honours in Senior Max section. Future stars will battle it out in the Micro Max and Mini Max catego-ries, while children between the ages of fi ve and six will test their skills in the Bambinos,” Mommin explained.

Oman’s fi nest drivers Sanad and Abdullah Al Rawahi, Faisal Al Zubair, Shihab Al Habsi, Moham-med Al Habsi are the top drivers to watch out for from Oman, while Sean Babington, Piers P Walsh and Emanuele Pagani, who lead the DD2 points table, will lead UAE’s charge.

Veteran rally driver Hamed Al Wahaibi will be seen in action dur-ing the Oman-UAE event, said the OAA offi cials. Competitions will begin at 9 a.m. during weekends, and will conclude by 4 p.m.

Rotax Max Challenge sched-uled: Jan 9 and 10: Oman RMC (Rounds 1 & 2); Jan 16 and 17: Oman RMC (Rounds 3 & 4)/UAE RMC (Rounds 7 & 8); Fed 20 and 21: Oman RMC (Rounds 5 & 6).

Muscat Speedway to

host two rounds of

UAE championships

for the fi rst time

while top drivers from

Oman and UAE set to

fi ght for supremacy

GROWIN IN STATURE: OAA offi cials believe that hosting of two UAE Rotax Max Challenge shows Muscat Speedway’s growing stature as a

top karting destination in the region. – Supplied photo

Second edition of OHI Golf Open to be held on January 23MUSCAT: After a stellar inaugu-ral edition in 2014, OHI Golf Open 2015 is ready with some more ex-citing golfi ng action for golf enthu-siasts in Oman.

The second edition of the Open Golf tournament will also be held in the Ghala Valley Golf Club on January 23. The event will be or-

ganised and sponsored by the OHI Group of Companies with eager participation expected from cor-porates, business leaders and indi-viduals alike.

The fi rst edition of the tourna-ment held at the Ghala Valley Golf Club was won by Azzan Al Rumhy who received the OHI Open Re-

volving Trophy with a gross score of 76 in the main ‘gross’ category.

The tournament is an ideal plat-form for both professionals and amateurs, as it off ers the right ven-ue for them to put their skills to the test while rubbing shoulders with the Who’s Who of Oman’s corpo-rate world.

Eihab Al Saleh, Chief Execu-tive Offi cer, OHI Group of Compa-nies, said: “The fi rst edition of the tournament was a huge success in terms of attracting some great players who showed excellent skill and grace. Golf as a sport requires the perfect balance of grace, skill and power, which we saw in most

of the players, last year. This year too we expect to see participation from some very skilled players. The OHI Golf Open is a seamless exten-sion of our belief which is the ‘Pow-er of Partnerships’. Not only does it off er a great day of golfi ng, but it also lets the participants’ partner in the spirit of great golfi ng.”

The second edition of OHI Golf Open will feature an 18-hole round in strokeplay format. Tee times start from 6.30 a.m. There will be attractive prizes in both the gross and nett categories. For more in-formation contact Ghala Valley Golf Club or email at leon@golf-worldoman.com

‘ P O W E R O F P A R T N E R S H I P S ’

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Nine-member ISM team leave for India to take part in CBSE National Athletic Meet

MUSCAT: A nine-member In-dian School Muscat (ISM) ath-letic team left for India to par-ticipate in the CBSE National Athletic Meet, which is scheduled to be held in Mehsana, Ahmadabad in Gujarat.

According to a press release issued by the school, Samantha Pinto, Rithu Cheriyan, Anoushka

Punja and Beatrice Thambiraja will represent the school in un-der-16 category in 4x100m and 4x400m competitions. Samantha, Anoushka and Beatrice will rep-resent the school in various indi-vidual events as well.

Mohammed Hisham, Mo-hammed Ali, Johan C and Irfan Ummer will participate in the

under-16 100m competition while the under-19 category will see Shahid Ali Khan taking part 800m.

The ISM athletes had qualifi ed for the CBSE Nationals after their excellent performances in the CBSE Oman Clusters held earlier at various Indian schools in the Sultanate.

The team will be accompanied by athletic coach Johns Abra-ham and team manager Novena Augustine.

ISM Principal Srinivas K. Naidu, vice-principals and mem-bers of various departments and students wished the team all suc-cess at CBSE National Athletic Meet in India.

B I G C H A L L A N G E

Injured Tsonga

pulls out of

Aussie Open

PARIS: A forearm strain has ruled Jo-Wilfried Tsonga out of the Australian Open, the French tennis ace said on his personal website on Wednesday.

“It is with great disappoint-ment that I have to postpone to-day the start of my season, pull-ing out of the Australian Open,” explained the 29-year-old who was pictured wearing a high-tech support on his right hand and arm.

“I’m still suff ering from a forearm infl ammation (inter-section syndrome) and that prevents me from being at full capacity,” he said.

The popular French No. 1 and world No. 12 has been strug-gling with the arm injury for several weeks and it laid him low during the Davis Cup fi nal against Switzerland in Lille in November.

In that contest Tsonga played the opening rubber against Stan Wawrinka but lost in four sets and then withdrew from the rest of the match which the Swiss won 3-1.

He then withdrew from the Hopman Cup team tourna-ment in Perth and said he was in doubt for the Australian Open which starts in Melbourne on January 19.

Tsonga’s best Grand Slam run to date came at the Austral-ian Open in 2008 when he beat Raphael Nadal on the way to the fi nal before losing in four sets to Novak Djokovic.

He said he would be undergo-ing treatment for the condition over the next three weeks in a bid to be fi t in time for the Mas-ters Series tournaments in In-dian Wells and Miami. - AFP

D I S A P P O I N T E D

France edge Australia to keep title hopes alivePERTH: France kept their hopes of a second successive Hopman Cup title alive by edging past Australia at the Perth Arena on Wednesday.

The French pairing of Alize Cor-net, who teamed with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the mixed teams tournament last year, and Benoit Paire won the Group B tie 2-1, af-ter taking out the deciding mixed doubles rubber against Casey Del-lacqua and Marinko Matosevic.

With one win and a loss from their two ties, Cornet and Paire, who replaced the injured Tsonga at the tournament, will need to de-feat unbeaten Poland on Friday to be in with a chance to advance to

Saturday’s fi nal of the eight-nation tournament.

If the Polish pairing of Agnieszka Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz win Friday’s tie they will go through to the title decider. Radwanska and Grzegorz Panfi l were beaten in last year’s fi nal by the French.

World No. 18 Cornet, who ap-peared to be troubled by a lower back complaint, had her hands full with local favourite Casey Dellac-qua early and it was the 29th-ranked Australia who took the fi rst set 6-4.

At 5-5 in the second set the match was evenly poised, but the Frenchwoman then won seven successive games to put her on her way to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win.

Paire then looked set to secure the tie for the French when he took the fi rst set against Matosevic, but the Australian substitute player fought back to win the match in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The French then claimed the mixed doubles, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 in a very tight battle.

Britain beatenEarlier, Radwanska and Janowicz remained unbeaten after two ties by claiming the deciding mixed dou-bles rubber against Great Britain’s Heather Watson and Andy Murray.

Radwanska gave the Poles the early ascendancy when she was far too good for 50th ranked Watson,

winning plenty of cheap points through Watson errors in her 65-minute 6-3, 6-1 win.

Radwanska said she played sig-nifi cantly better than when defeat-ing Australian Casey Dellacqua on Sunday. “I felt very good on the court today and in the second set I was playing much better, I think more consistent and confi dent and that’s for sure,” she said.

Radwanska said defeat in last year’s fi nal would motivate her in Friday’s tie against the French.

Murray, ranked sixth in the world, levelled the tie with an im-pressive 6-2, 6-4 win over Janow-icz. The Scot dropped the fi rst two games against the dangerous Jano-

wicz, but then reeled off nine suc-cessive games to take total control.

Murray had complained of shoulder pain after his opening win against Paire. While he was still a little sore during the clash with Janowicz, he said it was noth-ing to be concerned about.

“My shoulder felt much better today,” Murray said.

“It’s not like when I play on it it gets much worse, I do feel much better after a bit of rest and treat-ment on it.”

In the mixed doubles, the Poles were always in control in their 6-4, 6-4 winning match, creating 15 break points to their opponents’ three during the match. - AFP

H O P M A N C U P

With one win and a loss from two ties, Cornet and

Paire need to defeat unbeaten Poland on Friday

to be in with a chance to advance to final

Japan star Nishikori storms into quarters

Wawrinka toys with Croatian teen Coric

BRISBANE: Japanese star Kei Nishikori enjoyed a solid start to the year when he downed Ameri-can Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of the Brisbane In-ternational on Wednesday.

Fifth seed Nishikori, who re-ceived a fi rst round bye, was never in any real trouble against Johnson despite being made to work hard for the win.

Nishikori enjoyed a break-through year in 2014, winning four tournaments and making the fi nal of the U.S. Open.

He broke the American once in each set and faced just two break points on his own serve early in the second. Afterwards he gave himself a pass mark for his fi rst outing in 2015.

“I thought it was pretty good. I served really well, I think. I saved

a couple of break points with good serves, and had a couple of aces,” Nishikori said.

The world No. 5 will now take on either Bernard Tomic or Thanasi Kokkinakis in the quar-terfi nals. Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov was given a huge scare by Frenchman Jeremy Chardy before scraping through 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8). Dimitrov plays Mar-tin Klizan in the quarterfi nals after the Slovakian upset seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (9/7).

In the women’s draw, seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, Alla Kudryavtseva defeated Czech Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi beat American qualifi er Madison Brengle 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). - AFP

CHENNAI: Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka opened his campaign in the new season with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of teenager Borna Coric of Croatia to cruise into the ATP Chennai Open quarterfi nals on Wednesday.

The Swiss world No. 4 gave the 18-year-old Coric a tennis lesson as he began the defence of his ti-tle in the $450,000 event on the centre court of the Numgambak-kam Tennis Centre.

Wawrinka will next play eighth seed Gilles Muller of Luxem-bourg for a place in the semifi -

nals. Muller, 31, still looking for his fi rst title after 14 years on the circuit, brushed aside Swedish teenager Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 19 minutes.

Fourth seed David Goffi n of Belgium overcame a mid-match loss of form to struggle past Rich-ardas Berankis of Lithuania in three sets 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (7/1).

Goffi n’s quarterfi nal opponent will be Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer.

Maurer came from behind to oust Jiri Vesely of the Czech Re-public 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-4. - AFP

B R I S B A N E I N T E R N A T I O N A L

C H E N N A I O P E N

Djokovic enters last eight stage

DOHA: World No. 1 Novak Djoko-vic took a signifi cant step towards winning a tournament in the opening week of the season for the fi rst time in eight years when he brushed aside the challenge of Ser-giy Stakhovsky.

The Serbian’s 6-2, 6-1 win over the Ukrainian carried him to the quarterfi nals of the Qatar Open and enabled him to avoid a poten-tial banana skin, especially in the aftermath of the illness which al-most prevented him competing,

Stakhovsky, who likes to attack the net much more than is fash-ionable these days, is unusually dangerous when the adrenaline is fl owing, and is best known for his upset of Roger Federer at Wimble-don 18 months ago.

On Wednesday though there were only brief moments when something like that seemed pos-sible, in the seventh game when Stakhovsky earned three break back points and might have pulled

the fi rst set back to parity. But Djokovic played all three

of them with excellent focus and nicely controlled aggression, and after this mini-crisis was over, he took encouragement and became twice the player.

“I have never played here be-fore but I shall defi nitely be com-ing back next year,” said the man who is playing in the fi rst week of

the ATP World Tour for only the third time.

“And I’m feeling better.” That medical news is probably

the most important piece of pro-gress for the man who has won the Australian Open four times and very much wants to win the title back this month after his shock loss to Stan Wawrinka in last year’s quarterfi nals. - AFP

Djokovic’s win

enabled him to avoid

a potential banana

skin, especially in

the aftermath of

the illness which

almost prevented him

competing

SIGNIFICANT STEP: Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates his win

against Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine at the Qatar Open in Doha

on Wednesday. – AFP

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONCinespace Film Studios, Toron-to — It’s lunchtime on the set of doppel-gänger thriller Enemy,

and star Jake Gyllenhaal slides his tray along the rails of the food counter with the rest of the cast and crew, his plate loading up with fish, sal-ad and couscous.

He cuts an imposing figure as he strides to the table, his 6ft 1in frame clad in a crisp white shirt tucked into tan slacks, his blue eyes clouded above a heavy black beard. Seated, however, his smile is wide, his enthusiasm infectious. So eager is he to talk about his second team-up with the French-Canadian director Denis Ville-neuve, after the harrowing child-abduc-tion thriller Prisoners, that his fork hov-ers in the air like a metallic exclamation mark, food untouched.

“Enemy is about a man who is married, his wife is pregnant, and he’s having an affair,” Gyllenhaal begins, keen to detect the nub of this outré fable, based on José Saramago’s 2002 source novel The Dou-ble. “He has to figure himself out before he can commit to life as an adult.”

Such an explanation doesn’t begin to tell the tale. With the action set in a To-ronto of brutalist architecture, vast spac-es and clogged freeways, Enemy is about a repressed history teacher Adam (Gyl-lenhaal) who spies his double, Anthony

(Gyllenhaal again), in a movie. Deter-minedly tracking the actor down,

he discovers that the two men are identical, right down to the

same scar on their stomachs. Then things get really

weird. Vexed by Adam’s repeated intrusions

into his life, An-thony decides

to run a series of recon-

naissance missions of his own — the stalkee stalking the stalker, if you will. Soon, the iden-tities of Anthony and Adam begin to morph and mingle, until finally it is hard to determine which of the men we are viewing, and just how much of the action is reality or fantasy.

“It’s very difficult to describe, but one doesn’t exist without the other,” Gyllenhaal explains. “We made the decision that there wasn’t going to be a great physical differ-ence between them. I thought maybe one character can have a beard and the other doesn’t, but Denis said, ‘No, both charac-ters will have beards. The difference be-tween them will be a flick of a hand.’”

Painted in grey, ochre and sepia, with the tops of Toronto’s towering structures lost in permanent smog, Enemy is a claus-trophobic, labyrinthine vision beholden to David Lynch and Roman Polanski, Franz Kafka and JG Ballard. It is a film that Vil-leneuve and Gyllenhaal are finding as they go along, huddling between takes to discover what they have and where they might venture. After lunch, the director and star sit on the edge of Anthony’s king-sized bed in his modernist apartment, scrutinising a monitor. Finally satisfied, Villeneuve calls action. Gyllenhaal mur-murs into a phone then hangs up and steps into a pristine living room dominated by a gigantic TV and a glass table with Perspex chairs. The Canadian actress Sarah Ga-

don, playing Anthony’s six-month preg-nant wife, Helen, stares at him accus-

ingly. “Who was it? Are you seeing her again?” she asks, the start

of an escalating argument. When Gyllenhaal and Vil-

leneuve reconvene to watch the footage

back, they whisper urgently before

trying it an-other way,

and an-other, and then another. Lines, intonation and positioning al-ter, but the heightened mood remains the same. Gyllenhaal approaches. “This movie hopefully feels like you’re dreaming,” he ex-plains. “It’s an exploration of the unconscious. Such an intense mood. I have this feeling that, ironically, the darker the places you go, the more you can illuminate. I really do believe in the world being a genuinely complicated place, but a very beautiful one.”

Descended from Swedish nobility, Jake Gyllenhaal is Hollywood royalty. The son of the director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, his older sister is actress Maggie, while his foster parents include Jamie Lee Curtis and the late Paul Newman. He made his de-but as Billy Crystal’s son in City Slickers, aged 11, and turned heads playing an al-ienated teen who is warned of the end of the world by a 6ft rabbit in cult favourite Donnie Darko. That was in 2001, and, a couple of empty-spectacle blockbusters aside, the 34-year-old actor has spent the past 13 years attacking challenging char-acter roles of considerable heft: a cowboy in Brokeback Mountain; a bored marine in Jarhead; a journalist tracking a serial kill-er in Zodiac; a CIA analyst overseeing the illegal torture of a terror suspect in Rendi-tion; and an LA cop targeted by a Mexican drug cartel in End of Watch. “Those are the

things that interest me,” he shrugs. “I love movies that have currency. Mov-

ies are political, whether they’re escapist or tackle something

head on. There’s a responsibil-ity in telling a story. There’s

a responsibility to know your own mind. “One of

the things that chang-es in your career

is that, at the beginning,

people are telling you what you fit into, and later, if you do some things that people like, you make the decisions yourself. You have to know yourself well enough to make those decisions.”

Currently doing the most inter-esting work of his career, Gyllenhaal is tipped to receive his first best-actor Oscar nomination for Nightcrawler (he was also nominated for his supporting role in Brokeback Mountain in 2005). In that, he plays Louis Bloom, a gaunt loner who embarks on a career hawking LA crime footage after seeing a news crew descend on a late-night road accident. “There were a lot of scenes in the screenplay where Lou’s ordering food and he can’t afford it,” he says, accounting for his decision to shed 30lbs for the role. “They’re no longer in the movie, but they’re in the character. Lou is an animal who comes out at night, scavenging to survive. He’s a coyote.”

Would Oscar recognition be particu-larly rewarding, given that Nightcrawler is the first film he has produced, after scor-ing an executive producer credit on End of Watch? “I’d be thrilled — it’s important that movies like this get made and get seen, and that people are allowed to express their point of view in a complicated, different way,” he says. “But I don’t do the job (for awards). I do it to learn about life. I think acting is an incredibly immature, selfish profession, but on the flipside of that, it

helps you practice empathy. When you do your research, you see what real

people are doing in the world.” There’s a craving in his voice that

is worthy of Lou. “I’m hungry and excited to get to the

core of characters.” -Jamie

Graham/The Independent

T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5SIGHT & SOUND

ETCETERAC8 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

H is spiky hair, designer stub-ble, black jacket and faded blue sweatpants have all the trademarks of a pop star. So does the $200,000

fl aming red Mustang convertible and the hordes of PR men and women desperate to smooth the path of the great man.

With an income of $10 million a year, solo album sales higher than anyone since Elvis, and a place in the Guinness Book of Records 58-year-old Nigel Kennedy is still the most unexpected pop superstar — par-ticularly as he plays the violin!

The unconventional genius who plays a $2 million Guarneri violin, is no long-er only a classical virtuoso. His current tour takes in jazz clubs as well as classi-cal concert halls and his version of punk anthems topped the album charts in over ten countries.

“I’m just a fi ddle player,” he says. “So long as I’m playing and people like what I do, I’m happy.”

There’s a bit more to it than that. When he fi rst hit stardom 30 years ago with his cockney accent, his love of drinks, par-tying and his scruff y punk clothes, Ni-gel Kennedy single-handedly broke the mould of the classical musician in white tie and tails.

Described by Prince Charles as a “rebel and visionary”, Kennedy is now one of the world’s richest musicians but his story is a classic rags-to-riches tale — his mother was a struggling piano teacher who brought up her son after his father, a cellist, aban-doned the family and died of drink.

But young Nigel did have one spectacu-lar stroke of luck — violin legend Yehudi Menuhin recognised his talent and of-fered the seven-year-old a place in his vio-lin school. “He paid for everything,” Nigel remembers. “My mum had no money. He was like a father to me. I will forever be grateful to him. I miss him all the time.”

His mother was Nigel’s biggest fan — he took her to America to hear him play in New York’s Carnegie Hall. “It meant the world to her. She was a great mum and always did what she thought was best for me.”

Nowadays Nigel divides his time be-tween the $2 million Worcestershire mansion, home of his former girlfriend Eve Westmore and their 18-year-old son

The bad boy of classical music,

Nigel Kennedy, now sells

more records than any

pop star since Elvis Presley

Sark and his house in Krakow where he lives with his Polish wife, former lawyer Agnieszka, and plays regularly in Polish rock and jazz bands.

“I love life in Poland but in England I fi t my life around Sark and see him as much as possible. He is very precious to me and when we’re together we just hang out and feed the horses and do normal stuff dads and sons do.”

Often appearing before concert audienc-es in the shirt of his favourite Aston Villa football team, Nigel has been regularly at-tacked by critics for his “ludicrous clothes and grotesque self-invented accent.”

Certainly he has delighted in breaking all the rules, introducing Jimi Hendrix cadenzas into Beethoven violin concertos, joining rock superstars The Who at the Royal Albert Hall, playing with pop star Kate Bush and sharing the stage with jazz legend Stephane Grappelli despite warn-ings that it would ruin his classical career.

At one point he announced that he would in future concentrate on jazz and gave up classical performances for fi ve years — later returning to star at the Proms for the fi rst time for 21 years and receiving a ten-minute standing ovation.

He says he always wants his audiences to enjoy themselves and believes music is for everyone. “One of the most exciting people in music today is the rapper Jay-Z because he’s bringing together lots of dif-ferent genres — hip-hop, rap and motown.

Nigel takes music very seriously and practices at least three hours a day — un-less he has gone to watch his beloved As-ton Villa. “The way they are playing at the moment it’s a good incentive to stay at home and practise,” he jokes.

He says that if he wasn’t a musician he’d probably have become a cab driver and his son is really good on the drums and we probably would still be chatting if his manager hadn’t reminded him that he was due to broadcast a classical concert.

Before he goes, Nigel pulls on a lime-green fleece and a beanie hat and emp-ties an entire jar of sweets into his back-pack. It all goes to show that at nearing 60 the man dubbed the bad boy of clas-sical music certainly hasn’t lost his mis-chievous streak. — Judson Bennett/Tony James Features

ETCETERAC9T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

As DCI Sasha Miller in the top TV crime dra-ma New Tricks, she’s a steely-eyed ambitious

police chief apparently, with a pretty hard heart. Which shows just what a good actress Tamzin Outhwaite is.

While making the latest series — she took over from Amanda Redman — 44-year-old Tamzin suff ered the heartbreak of the end of her seven-year marriage to ac-tor Tom Ellis, a star of the hit com-edy Miranda, and the worry of bringing up two young daughters, Florence, six, and three-year-old Marnie Mae.

“It’s been a tough time, Tam-zin says. “But I’m stronger for it. I would give anything to keep my family together but it wasn’t to be. I could have cried every night, but working on the show and be-ing a mum was pretty exhaust-ing so it meant I just had to get on with things and not feel sorry for myself.”

Tamzin says that her fellow ac-tors in New Tricks gave her tre-mendous support, particularly Nicholas Lyndhurst, former star of Only Fools and Horses, who helped her cope with the dark days. “When I was having a down day he would make me feel good

about myself. I was very thank-ful to have him in my life because he’s a wonderful actor and when you see someone being so proud of his wife and child it gives you hope. The support of everyone in New Tricks has been a real saving grace.”

As an EastEnders star — she played the feisty Mel, married to Martin Kemp — Tamzin was voted the best looking woman in soaps and is still grateful to the gritty long-running series for the most spectacular boost to her career. It was a big decision to leave in 2001 after three years in the show.

“It was a major decision but I felt it was time to move on and try something new. I had a wonderful time in Albert Square and several of the cast are still close friends.”

In her private life it’s not the fi rst time Tamzin has been on an emotional roller-coaster. Before meeting Tom she had a two-year relationship with musician Steve Ellington before dating EastEnd-ers star Nigel Harman for a couple of months.

Then she met business execu-tive James Baker. “We’re very happy” she told friends. “But it’s early days yet.” It was — the pair split soon afterwards.

Now she says, looking back on the end of her marriage “I just want to have some calm now — see my family and friends and get some balance back into my life. I’m experiencing new things and new friends as well as old friends — I feel very much alive, and am looking forward to what the fu-ture brings.”

Tamzin doesn’t rule out a pos-sible guest appearance in the Square, but at the moment is re-ally enjoying playing DCI Miller in New Tricks. “She is a tough cookie and I have talked to several top policewomen to make her as realistic as possible.

Life in the police is not easy for women, particularly in the senior ranks. Sasha doesn’t seem to have much of a life outside work.

She’s very good at her job but she constantly needs to prove herself. It’s not the fi rst time she has been on the side of law and order on TV — she played a mili-tary policewoman in the hit series Red Cap.

Tamzin says she can’t remem-ber a time when she didn’t want to act. As a teenager she was in Lon-don’s Stagestruck Theatre Com-pany and studied drama and dance at the London Studio Centre.

One of her fi rst professional

jobs was as presenter of a chil-dren’s TV show No Limits — billed as Tammi Outhwaite. “Thank goodness no one calls me that an-ymore!” she says.

She’s nothing if not versatile — she has starred in stage versions of Summer Holiday, Grease, Car-ousel, Oliver and Absent Friends, was featured in U2’s music video for their hit single Mysterious Ways — and has presented a TV documentary about man’s rela-tionship with dolphins.

Ironically, shortly before their split after Tom admitted cheat-ing on her, the couple won the TV celebrity game show Mr and Mrs, in which contestants have to prove how much they know about each other.

Now Tamzin’s latest plan is to spend some time in Hollywood discussing movie off ers that are fl ooding in. “I’ve been so busy I haven't had time to go over there,” she says.

“Movies are my ultimate ambi-tion and that means Hollywood. I hope to go for a few weeks quite soon — so long as I can take the girls along too.

“Whatever else happens in my life you can be sure they will al-ways come fi rst.” -John Graham/Tony James Feature

44-year-old Tamzin Outhwaite suff ered the heartbreak of the end

of her seven-year marriage to actor Tom Ellis

HER SECRET SORROW

Courteney Cox feels she has 'worst memory'

ACTRESS Courteney Cox feels she has the “worst memory in the world”, and says that sometimes she even for-gets whom she dislikes. The former Friends star considers that it is fi ne to be disliked by her because she can nev-er remember it, reported femalefi rst.co.uk. “I have the worst memory in the world — I even forget when I don’t like somebody. Once I walked into a restau-rant and I saw this guy from across the

way and I was like, ‘Oh God that’s a familiar face.’ So I went up and said, ‘Hey,’ and he was like, ‘Hi’... and then I go, ‘Oh that’s right, we hate each other.’ And I couldn’t even remember why I hated him. It’s good to be hated by me because I forget,” she said on the talk show Conan.

Sharon Osbourne set to produce hubby's concert

SINGER Ozzy Osbourne’s wife Sha-ron has announced that she will be producing a Halloween concert for her husband in Las Vegas next year. Sharon, who has managed Ozzy’s ca-reer for years, said: “I’m working right now on a Vegas production for Ozzy. It’ll be in time for Halloween and be called ‘Hellgate’.” She is planning for it to be a standalone show as of now. However, if it is successful, it could become a regular event at one of Las

Vegas’s top hotels, reported femalefi rst.co.uk. If the concert proves to be so popular, he would be joining the likes of Brit-ney Spears, Celine Dion and Elton John, all of whom have had long-running residencies in Las Vegas. “Ozzy has never done a stand-alone show in Vegas and there has been huge interest in what he has to off er,” a source told The Sun newspaper.

Katy Perry, John Mayer may be together again

SINGER Katy Perry and John Mayer enjoyed a dinner date together over the weekend, sparking rumours that their romance could be on once again. After separating in February last year, it was rumoured Perry was still dating super-producer Diplo. But now it ap-pears she could be back with Mayer. Post that, Mayer even spent the night at Perry’s home. The pair turned up for dinner in separate cars, a source told the Daily Mail newspaper that they were keen not to be seen. -IANS

S T A R B U Z Z

W E D D I N G B E L L S

RAPPER Ludacris and his longtime girlfriend Eudoxie Mbouguiengue entered 2015 as a married couple.

Without off ering any details on the surprise ceremony, the rapper posted a photograph of himself dressed in a black and white tuxedo beside his bride with the caption: “Why wait? Did the thing before 2015. #mrandmrsrbridges”, reported eonline.com.

According to a source, it was a “beautiful wedding”.

Wearing a fl oor-length white dress and clutching a small bou-quet of white and lavender fl ow-ers tied with white and purple ribbon, Mbouguiengue looks serene in a series of snaps she shared on her own Instagram ac-count.

“The wedding was small and only close friends and family were in attendance. Ludacris was so thrilled to be getting married and (was) fi lled with such love for his lady.

He was a bit nervous when it was happening but in a very good kinda way,” added the source. His wife also took to Instagram to post a few pictures from their special day.

“Great way to go into the new year,” she captioned one photo-graph.

So are they planning babies al-ready?

“They both want children so that's something that will likely happen in the next year,” the source shared.

The rapper popped the ques-tion to the lady he's been dating since 2009, in an extravagant way, according to Mbouguien-gue's Instagram post.

Ludacris took her up on what looked to be a private jet and a message was projected on the ground below them.

The message was — “Eudoxie will you marry me?”

“Best day of my life with the love of my life,” she captioned the picture. -Agencies

Rapper Ludacris marries longtime girlfriend Eudoxie

C10

ETCETERAT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

The 27-year-old red-head, often touted as the next Nicole Kidman, has worked steadily for the past

fi ve years, inching up the call sheet and landing intriguing roles in Aussie projects including the television movie Sisters of War (2010), the soap opera Packed to the Rafters (2011) and the feature Not Suitable for Children (2012). More recently she made her Hollywood debut in the horror movie Jessabelle (2014), playing the title character, and next will co-star alongside Ethan Hawke and Noah Taylor in the sci-fi fi lm Predestination.

“I’m really happy with every-thing right now,” she said during a recent cell-telephone call from Sydney. “I can’t complain at all. I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunities I’ve had so far. The main thing of late has been working with some outstanding people and being able to learn from them.

“That’s the technician side as well as the acting side,” she continued. Working with Ethan and Noah on Predestination was amazing. I just worked with Judy Davis and Kate Winslet. They’re amazing actors, and you can learn so much from watching people like that. We have a lot of televi-sion stars in Australia that people in the States may not know, like Susie Porter and Claudia Karvan, and to able to work with them has been really important for me in my post-studies education.”

Snook, whose name rhymes with “book” and who graduated from Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Arts, has heard all the “next big thing” chatter. She knows better than to dismiss it entirely, but confessed to feeling trepidation about stardom chang-ing her life.

“I don’t know how comfortable I am with it,” she admitted, “but I’ll take it if that’s what’s happen-ing. If it happens, I’m a little more ready for it now. I had a brief fl ir-tation with the possibility of it be-cause of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

“I got down to the last couple of girls for that,” Snook explained. “I really feel, in a way, very lucky to have not gotten it, because I don’t think I was really ready then, but perhaps now, because I’m a little older and have a little more expe-rience, I’ll be a little more ready.

“I value my independence and my ability to walk around through the world, so hopefully that doesn’t change too much.”

Jessabelle received only a lim-ited theatrical release in 2014 and will arrive on DVD and Blu-ray on Januaru 13, but Predes-tination will open in the US on January 9, and her remarkable performance already has critics singing her praises.

Written and directed by the Australian sibling tandem of Mi-

chael and Peter Spierig, Predesti-nation builds massively upon its source material, a 13-page Robert A. Heinlein short story called All You Zombies (1959).

The tale centres on a “tempo-ral agent” determined to track down one particularly elusive criminal, a terrorist who killed thousands in a Manhattan bomb-ing, before he’s forced to retire. His story crisscrosses with that of John (Snook), who grew up as a child named Jane and now is an confused. Greeting the temporal agent, John/Jane refers to him-self as “the unmarried mother.”

Soon enough, the temporal agent and John/Jane leap through time together. John/Jane chases the man who kidnapped her baby while the temporal agent hunts for the terrorist, nicknamed the Fiz-zle Bomber.

“It’s a crazy story,” Snook said. “The time-travel element is in-credibly interesting, but the time-travel element is already in the past. Usually, when you see a time-travel fi lm, the person is going backward or forward. It’s not like this, with a person in the past go-ing further back into the past.

“And it was interesting to me that there were so many dynamic rules attached to the time travel,” she added, “like that you could only go 50 years on either side of a certain point. That’s something I thought was really cool, that the Spierigs put in there. We kind of take time travel and make it our own.

“Do I believe in predestination? I think up to a point,” Snook said. “I think you have control over your own fate, to a point, but there are some things that are meant to hap-pen. I’m 50-50 on it, really. I’m not quite sold, but I’m willing to say that there’s an element of truth to predestination.”

Snook described John/Jane as “a person who is unloved”-or,

more to the point, who feels un-loved. He/she “doesn’t feel con-nected to the world” by anything or anyone, the actress said.

“So the arc is someone search-ing for some sort of mirror, some other part of themselves, or someone to love,” she said. “This is someone who’s grown up not being able to fi t in and fi nds a niche, but is constantly being trodden on, I think.”

To fi gure out how to slip into the mindset of a man, the actress picked the brains of her male friends. She also tried to imagine what it would be like for her to be a man.

“‘How diff erent would that be?,’” Snook remembered asking her-self. “‘What things would change?’ Then a friend of mine had recently transitioned from female to male, so I had a lot of questions for him about how he felt internally, men-tally, socially and also physiologi-cally, like what changes actually do occur when you start taking testosterone?

“The main thing I had to work on was the barfl y aspect,” she said. “I had to work on the element of what it’s like to be this downtrod-den person on the fringe of society, and how that leaves you mentally.”

And, yes, there are scenes in “Predestination” in which John interacts with Jane. In fact, Snook noted, there were four days in which she had to play both John and Jane, as well as one day that required her to portray John and Jane in the same scene.

“That was a lot of fun,” she said, “but also a real acting challenge and lots of tense stress, because you only had one chance to make it right and it really hinged on the transformation, on me mak-ing it believable. The good thing was that we had solid stand-ins and body doubles. They were ac-tors as well, so I was able to work with them and act off them when I was playing either the female or male version.”

The fi lm is not particularly commercial, and the Spierigs don’t spoon-feed the audience or dumb down anything. Snook came away “super-impressed” with the brothers. They had a fi ne line to walk, she said, because the story is so high-concept.

“You want to make it viable and interesting for the people who are into high-concept stuff ,” the ac-tress said, “but then also for the people who aren’t as into high-concept stories, but may see this, you had to make it accessible for them. So it’s got to be understood by a broad demographic and then still have some surprises for the people who are used to this genre.

“The Spierigs, with their deft hand, manage that,” she said. “It all started with the work they did on the script beforehand. They knew what they were making when we were shooting the fi lm, and that carried all the way through it.”-Ian

Spelling/The New York Times News Service

Remember the name Sarah Snook? It’s quite possible that the

Australian actress will soon shine as a major star

AN EMERGING STAR

I don’t know how

comfortable I am with

stardom, but I’ll take it if

that’s what’s happening.

If it happens, I’m a little

more ready for it now.

I had a brief flirtation

with the possibility of it

because of ‘The Girl

with the Dragon

Tattoo’ (2011)

T E C H N I C A L D I S A S T E R

RYAN GOSLING directorial debut, Lost River, will not be re-leased in cinemas after receiving largely negative reviews at the Cannes Film Festival last spring.

The Canadian actor’s movie, starring Matt Smith, Christina Hendricks and his girlfriend Eva Mendes, will instead be distrib-uted by Warner Bros on home en-tertainment platforms in April.

It has yet to be confi rmed whether Lost River will be screened elsewhere around the world, but with critics describing it as “unthinkingly off ensive”, “ul-timately kind of juvenile” and “a student fi lm with an A-list cast”,

its future looks in serious doubt.The magical-realist fi lm fol-

lows single mother Billy as she is “swept into a dark underworld” while her teenage son Bones dis-covers a secret underwater town.

One scene sees Doctor Who’s Smith chant “Look at my mus-cles!” while plenty of others fea-ture burning bicycles and houses.

Many reviewers noted not-so-subtle homages to fi lmmakers such as David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Refn, who worked with Gos-ling on 2011 hit Drive, called Lost River a “beautiful, great movie that will grow on people”.

Lost River premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in May, after fi rst being called How to Catch a Monster.

The fi lm stars Christina Hen-dricks, Eva Mendes, Matt Smith, Saoirse Ronan and Iain De Caestecker. The script, written by Gosling, centers on a single mother swept into a dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road lead-ing to an underwater town.

A home entertainment release date has yet to be confi rmed and there are high chances it may never see the light of the day. -Jess Denham/The Independent

Ryan Gosling fi lm is not coming to a cinema near you

ETCETERAC11T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Dobet Gnahoré’s fi rst album, Ano Neko, was released in 2004. By 2006, the singer had been

nominated for a 2006 BBC World Music Award. But it was a D.C.-based collaboration with India.Arie that helped solidify her stat-ure in the United States.

“It was magic,” Gnahoré said via email from Europe.

India. Arie “listened to my song ‘Palea’ via a compilation of Putu-mayo (a record label), and then she contacted my producer. She invited me to Washington — that’s where we met each other for the fi rst time — and after, things fol-lowed to the Grammy.”

The resulting track, Pearls, on

India. Arie’s 2009 album, Testi-mony: Vol. 2: Love & Politics, won the Ivory Coast native a shared Grammy for best urban/alterna-tive performance.

And the recognition, she said, didn’t just open doors: “In my country, the family was proud.”

Gnahoré, 32, the daughter of percussionist Boni Gnahoré, grew up among musicians in an Abid-jan-based arts community, and her interests grew from dance and theatre to percussion and fi nally to singing.

“I evolved in the artistic com-munity Ki-Yi M’Bock, that’s where I made my fi rst steps in the art, ac-companied by several artists who were our trainers,” Gnahoré said.

She had a whole continent of

infl uences behind her. “My infl u-ences have been any major African voice such as Miriam Makeba and Anjélique Kidjo, and I also listen to a lot of traditional songs of the Af-rican continent.”

In fact, Gnahoré has sung them in seven languages, from the Ivori-an languages of Dida and Malinke to Wolof from Senegal, Fon from Benin, Lingala from Congo and Xhosa of South Africa.

“I sing in several languages. I do not speak (them). I do it for the beauty of our languages and (to) bring people together,” Gnahoré said. “It is very common to speak several languages in Africa; it is one of the great richnesses we do have.”

At 17, Gnahoré left the Ivo-ry Coast because of illness. In

France, she was able to get treat-ment she couldn’t get at home, “and fi nally I stayed.”

There she found a vibrant world music scene that embraced her art. “I think in France there is a de-sire to discover, to know,” she said. “The public is curious.”

Being in Europe also gave her a diff erent perspective on her home continent. “Being here, I am more attached to my roots, and I became more and more proud to be who I am — my trip to Europe made me grow and dis-cover who I am,” she said.

That perspective became part of her music as well.

“I usually sing issues that aff ect myself. I sing fi rst for me,” she said. But: “I always have a message of

peace and forgiveness, and toler-ance. My posts are for everyone. Languages are sometimes incom-prehensible to some in Africa. For this, comes the role of melody and emotion which are universal and speak to everyone.”

Gnahoré said that for her latest album, Na Drê, she “wanted mu-sic that represents me by now,” but also songs with memorable melodies.

Her songs have been hailed for their vibrancy, and her perfor-mances are notable for her rich voice and compelling, versatile performing style.

“I dance. I sing. I play percus-sion,” she said. “For me, being on-stage is to do a show.”— Roger Catlin/The Washington Post.

Gnahoré, 32, the daughter of percussionist Boni Gnahoré, grew up among musicians in an Abidjan-based

arts community, and her interests grew from dance and theatre to percussion and fi nally to singing

For singer Dobet Gnahoré,it’s personal and universal

Sylvester Stallone to star as John Rambo once again

OF ALL the entertainment news that slipped out over the holiday season, none was more thrilling – or as mockingly awful, depending on one’s perspective — than that contained in a tweet from Syl-vester Stallone.

The 68-year-old muscle man revealed he is preparing to once again star as the troubled and

misunderstood Vietnam veteran John Rambo. The fi fth Rambo fi lm will be titled Rambo: Last Blood. In his social media post, Stallone said he was preparing to fi lm a gangster movie based on the life of Gregory “the Grim Reaper” Scarpa and said work would start after he had complet-ed the Rambo fi lm.

The character of John Rambo had his fi rst outing in First Blood in 1982. There was a follow-up and then another follow-up be-fore the fourth fi lm in 2008.

That fi lm, which told of the character’s eff ort to save Chris-tian missionaries captured by the Burmese military, reportedly grossed $113 million worldwide.

Variety said there had been much speculation as to whether or not Stallone would retire the conversation-shy Rambo, who fi rst appeared in David Morrell’s 1972 novel First Blood. Reports say what may or may not be his fi nal outing will be taking on a Mexican drugs cartel.

Indeed, Stallone does not seem keen to give up on any of his “old ones but good ones”. In addition to working on the Rambo fi lm, he revealed he would be travelling to Philadelphia to play Rocky Bal-boa for the seventh time in Creed. -Andrew Buncombe/The New York Times News

Service

F I N A L R A M B O M O V I E

Gnahoré has sung them in

seven languages, from the

Ivorian languages of Dida

and Malinke to Wolof from

Senegal, Fon from Benin,

Lingala from Congo and

Xhosa of South Africa

C12

ETCETERAT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 8 , 2 0 1 5

In November, rock singer Bono took a bad tum-ble while riding his bike in Central Park. As he tells it, he blanked out. “I

blanked out on impact and have no memory of how I ended up in New York Presbyterian with my humerus bone sticking through my leather jacket. Very punk rock as injuries go.”

“I broke my hand, my shoulder, my elbow and my face but the real injury this year was to my Irish pride as it was discovered that under my tracksuit I was wearing yellow and black Lycra cycling shorts. Yes, LYCRA. This is not very rock ‘n’ roll.”

At least he had a sense of humor about it.

But on New Year’s Day, it be-came a lot less funny for the 54-year-old frontman. In a ram-

bling post called Little Book of a Big Year: Bono’s A to Z of 2014 (which he attributed jokingly to being delirious from pain killers, he wrote that “it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again.”

“Recovery has been more diffi -cult than I thought,” he wrote.

“I have written words for new songs, but I have also had an op-portunity to look back and review the year in a way I’ve never had time to do before — there have been more highs than lows, but perhaps the reason for this A TO Z endeavor is an attempt to learn from mistakes — the fi rst of which is the discovery that I am not an armored vehicle. Edge says I look at my body as an inconvenience.The problem, as I see it, is that I think my head is harder than any other surface.”— Fred Barbash/’The Washington Post

In a rambling post called ‘Little Book of a Big Year: Bono’s A to Z of

2014’ he attributed jokingly to being delirious from pain killers

I broke my hand, my

shoulder, my elbow

and my face but the

real injury this year

was to my

Irish pride

‘James Bond’ and ‘Star Wars’ actor dies during rehearsals

AN ACTOR who appeared in a James Bond fi lm and as a Jedi master in the Star Wars: Episode 1 has collapsed and died during a rehearsal for an upcoming thea-tre production.

Khan Bonfi ls was rehearsing for Dante’s Inferno, which was due to open at The Rag Factory in east London this week. Members of the Craft Theatre company and paramedics fought to save his life but he could not be resuscitated.

Chris Hislop, the company’s spokesman, said: “Kan collapsed during a rehearsal and the direc-tor Rocky Rodriguez Jr, he per-formed CPR on location.

“An ambulance was called out but unfortunately he couldn’t be resuscitated.” The cause of death has yet to be ascertained, he added.

A statement from Craft Thea-tre said: “With great sadness, we announce the death of Khan Bon-fi ls. His sudden loss is a tragedy and he will be sorely missed.” His-lop said the cast and crew were devastated by Bonfi ls’ death.

He said: “The entire company are in shock. There is absolutely severe sadness, it is a real trag-edy. I think they are holding it to-gether by talking it through and by being there for each other.”

He added that they hoped to carry on with the production with another actor from the company taking Bonfi ls’ place in the ensemble cast.

Hislop said: “It was due to open on Thursday.”

Bonfi ls appeared as Jedi mas-ter Saesee Tiin in the 1999 fi lm Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phan-tom Menace. He also appeared in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life, Batman Begins and the James Bond fi lm Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig, as well as several productions on the West End stage.

-Dominic Harris/The Independent

OB I TUARY

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

T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

New deluxe building in Misfah Industrial Area, 11 shops with A/C, each 4cm x 9cm, an additi onal 12

huge spaces including kitchens and bathrooms which can be used for offi ces or residences. The building

locati on fi rst row close to main road.

Contact - 98880333

FOR RENT

DAILY GUIDEEmail: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

2 BR fl ats with split A/C’s & internet

free & 2 BR fully furnished deluxe

fl ats available at Al Khuwair near

KM Hypermarket. Offi ce space 115

SQ mtr with partition & cassette type

A/C’s available at Al Khuwair near

KM Hypermarket.

Contact 99460330

Flats in Muttrah near Oman House

per fl at RO 230. Contact 92815855 /

95181077

2 bedrooms, big bathroom, sharing

kitchen for rent with Electric and

Water Bill =RO 220/-. Only for family.

Location / Place – Mumtaz Area near

Khimjis Mart. Contact 98917915 /

99823591

2 BHK fl at in Mumtaz.

Contact 99792181

1, 2, 3, BHK in Alkhuwair.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK in Bowsher. Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHK in Ruwi. Contact 99792181

200 Sqr mtrs Showroom in CBD.

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 bhk in Wataya. Contact 99792181

100 & 180 Sqr mtrs offi ce space in

Al khuwair. Contact 99792181

6 BHK commercial Villa in Ghobra.

Contact 99792181

Flat for Rent in Ruwi, Bareeq

Shatti, Mawalah. Contact 92521080,

98899916

Flat for rent Ghubrah South, ground

fl oor fl at, 3 bedrooms, majlis,

family hall, RO 425/-.

Contact 94669711

2 BHK Pent House with split A/C

in all rooms, very spacious balcony

with sea & city view RO 350, 2 BHK

RO 340, Bldg #1619, Way #1322

adjacent to Indian Nursery Darsait.

Contact 99476728 / 99831047

1 BHK bedroom fl at in Wadi Kabir

neat Kuwaiti Mosque RO 200/-.

Contact 95094028

2 BR deluxe fl ats at Ghubrah and

Ruwi. 2 BR furnished fl at at Ghubrah.

Contact 99885391 / 99354010

Rent, new fl at Wadi Adai, 2 big

bedrooms, 1 big toilet, 1 big hall, 1 big

kitchen. Contact 99345137

Spacious well maintained 2 BHK at

Rex Road from 1st February.

Contact 92227165

Barber Shop for Rent/Sale in Hail

North near Shell Petrol Pump.

Contact : 92864522 , 96448372

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

We have special villa in Bausher,

Al Muna, 5 bedrooms, rent RO 800/-.

Contact 99622885

1 BHK commercial, Darsait,

RO 225/-. Contact 97799175

D2 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5

1,2,3 BHK fl ats & Villas.

Contact 92144045

2 BHK Commercial Al Khuwair,

RO 375/-. Contact 97799175

Separate Villa, Al Athaibah, 3 BHK,

hall, living room, maid rooms, A/C

split, family only, RO 600/-.

Contact 92479515

Villa, Al Khuwair 33, 4 BHK, living

room, split A/C, family only, RO 600/-

Contact 92479515

2 BHK fl at for rent RO.350/- at Al

Khuwair near Sultan Taimur Mosque.

Contact – 98893294

Shop & fl ats available.

Contact-24813822

Apartments & villas available.

Contact 95178930

1 BHK residential fl at at Honda road.

2 BHK residential fl at opposite to

Al Nahdha hospital.

Contact – 93219590

1 BHK fl at Qurum RO.270/- with

split A/C. Contact – 99358589 /

95570288 /97079146

2 BHK fl at at Al Khuwair RO.370/-

with split A/C. Contact – 99358589 /

95570288 /97079146

2 BHK in Seeb RO.200/- Contact – 99455334

If require fl ats for rent in Wadi

Kabir please send messages through

Whatsapp or call – 99376454

Fully furnished one bedroom

penthouse Wadi Kabir behind Sana

Hassan, weekly RO.140/- Monthly

RO 350/- Contact – 99349990

Villa, Al Ansab, 5 BHK, living room,

split A/C, family only. RO 550/-.

Contact 92479515

Flat in Ghala, opposite Zubair,

2 BHK, living room, split A/C, family

only, RO 350/-. Contact 92479515

Fully Furnished ( A/C , Fridge, T.V,

Cooking Gas ) 3 rooms in a fl at with

Kitchen at Azaiba. 2BHK Flats Un

furnished at Azaiba next to Al Meera

Hyper market ( Families) Contact

-99424470 Time : 9 am to 7 pm

Fabulous A/C fl at Al Khoud, 3 rooms,

280 rials. Contact 99334699

2 single room fl ats available @ RO

160/- per month, including Electric-

ity & Water. Contact 99441798

New bldg 3 BR fl ats located at Dar-

sait, Muscat close to Kims Pvt Hospi-

tal. Contact 92020004 / 99800838

Building of 3 fl ats each 4 BR,

rent RO 2500/-. Contact 99776071 /

99057348

Villas & fl ats & stores. Contact

99776071 / 99057348

Basement for rent behind Bank

Muscat at Wadi Kabir. Contact

99373290, 24815012

3 offi ce spaces available in RUWI

FOR RENT 450 OMR & 500 OMR.

96986132

Luxury 2 bed room villa at Bausher-

AL Ansab Phase 3.Call. 99324456

6 shops in Maabela Industrial Area.

Each Shop OMR 400 Monthly.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

6 bedroom villas at Al Ansab (nr Ex-

press highway). Contact 99199365

Abu Adnan Tower - fl at for rent

available at Al Mabelah, 2 B/R,

1 hall, 2 toilets, 1 kitchen.

Contact 95566475 / 99654252

300 SQR mtrs Labor camp or Store

for Rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99792181

Villa 3 BR, 2 sitting room, store,

kitchen and 4 bathrooms with A/C in

Al Khoudh 3. Contact 94671441

BHK fl ats Muttrah near Oman House.

Contact 97007934 / 92629232

Villa 2 bedrooms & majlis,

2 toilets, kitchen in Mawaleh.

Contact 91376619

2 BR, 2 toilets, kitchen at

Al Mawaleh. Contact 99444786,

99747560

Fully Equipped Restaurant / Indus-

trial Kitchen for Sale with existing

catering orders, CR & Labour Clear-

ance, Restaurant space and Outdoor

sitting area on Sale at Mawaleh

Call: 9906 4589

Offi ce space with cassette type A/C’s

with free internet at al Khuwair near

KM Hypermarket. Contact 99460330

One / Two BR, directly from owner

at Bausher. Contact 92158031

2 BHK available in Darsait, 1 B/R

and hall, 2 B/R and hall. Contact

99357586, 97500025, 97884787

We have 1 BHK, 2 BHK, 3 BHK fl ats,

4, 5 bedrooms villa, open space of-

fi ces & shops available in Ghala, Gho-

brah, Qurum, Mabela, Ruwi, Darsait,

Mumtaz, Wadi Kabir. All brand new

buildings & very aff ordable prices.

Contact 93782735 / 99208033

Flat for rent 2 bedrooms one hall in

South Al Hail. RO 270.

Contact 93221474

3 new Villas for rent, located in

South Ghubrah behind American

School, each has 11 bedrooms

including 2 Majlis, 8 bathrooms and

kitchen. For residential or institu-

tional rent. Contact 99233729 /

98539366

5 bedrooms villa with 2 halls, 4

bathrooms in Darsait behind Khimjis

Mart. Contact 24700120, 92584715

House in North Al Hail with 3 rooms,

Majlis & 3 toilets.

Contact 99439568

2 BHK with A/C near ISM RO.325/-

1BHK Al Falaj without A/C RO.200/- 2 BHK with A/C near Kims hospital

RO.300/- Darsait commercial or res-idential with A/C RO.230/- Studio at

Al Falaj RO.170/-. 2 BHK without A/C

at Wadi Kabir RO.300/-

Contact - 92144045

Contact - 92850717

FOR RENTBrand new 2BHK with split A/C near SQU round about

at Al Khoud, near to Muscat highway, building no. 4558/1,

way no. 5350.

DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5 D3

FOR RENT

FOR RENT FOR SALE

FOR SALE

Restaurant about 250 SQM @

5/- SQM, heart of Ruwi Market in

Plaza Hotel for sale / rent. Contact

99326339 / 24833314

Shop for sale near ONTC bus stand

Ruwi near Sun City Hotel on main

road.#99326339 / 24789801

Readymade Garments shop furni-

ture. Contact 99386170

Running Workshop for Tiles /

Marble & Granite cutting & skirting

in Wadi Kabir for immediate sale.

Contact 99105492

Beauty parlour for sale Ghala

Al Ansab near Al Maha petrol pump.

Contact – 92540355 / 97748706

Offi ce for sale at Al Khuwair with

furniture, more than 700 sqm good

condition. Contact – 99055571

Workshop for sale near Misfah

behind Kanco with good fabrica-

tion shed electricity 1150 sqm area.

Contact – 98951026

Sanyo vacuum cleaner, cooler box

45 ltr. Contact - 99449801

HOUSEHOLD, SALES, Ghubra:

Sofa 3x3, King Bed, Multi Gym, Gym-

Bike, Microwave, Table, Racks, Mixi,

AttaKneader, Contact: 95053480

Port cabins – New & refurnished

Porta cabin for sale and rent.

Contact 96723468

Sale!, all household items, like

fridge, freezer, cooking range, wash-

ing machine, window/split A/Cs,

LCD TV, Laptop, tab and many more

for attractive prices. Location : near

Toyota service Center, Honda Road.

Contact - 97048983, 95293643

Restaurant for leasing/sale in

Al Hail. Contact 94148970,

94148972, 97820877

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLEBUYING/SELLING

BUYING/SELLING

AVAILABLE

Established Restaurant for rent

with sponsorship. # 97628242

Party & Wedding equipment rent-

als. Full line, from Tables, Linen

& Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers,

Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chaf-

ing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large

Sound Systems and spectacular

lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for

Catering and Croyden 9623 5555

for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.

com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

Furnished room in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 94012930

Separate entrance room with

attached bathroom and A/C near

Wadi Adai roundabout for Executive

bachelor. Contact 92148188

Furnished single room for Exe.

Bachelor at Rex Road (Kannada,

Telugu, Tamil). Contact 92873832

Accommodation available for

rent in SEEH AHMER FANJA near

Oman Oil, only 10 mtrs drive from

Rusayl industrial area, Please Call on

95200429 or 99224352

Room with A/C, furniture for expats

at Al Khuwair. Contact – 97004265 /

99689315

Room available in Al Khuwair with

sharing kitchen and bathroom near

Blu Radisson. R.O 100/-+W/E.

Contact 96930219

Room for Sri Lankan executive at

AL Khuwair. Contact – 96536307

Sharing accommodation available

near Khimji Mart at Mumtaz area in

Ruwi for couple. Living room, bed-

room, kitchen available.

Contact 96659817

300 Sqr mtrs store or labor camp for

Rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact - 99792181

For rent apartments: An apartment

in old Muscat at Oman Arab Bank’s

building. 3 bedrooms + 3 bathrooms,

dining room, living room and a

kitchen. Air conditioned apartments.

2 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms, living

room, dining room area and kitchen

in an excellent location in

Al Khuwair opposite the court of fi rst

instance. For further information

call 97072976

Flat for rent in Al Khuwair consists

of 2 bedrooms and living room at

RO 350. Contact 99109094

Flats and shops. Contact

93009999

Studio fl at in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181

For rent (fl ats), 2 bedrooms

+hall+kitchen, location: South

Al Mawaleh. Contact 99870020

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

Show room on the main road Saham

center total area 450 m sq. Contact:

99366558 / 99334226

Flats/villas owned by ROP pension

fund available for rent in Muscat.

Contact 99349526

Villa, ground fl oor in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99743569, 97004265

Apartments in Al Khuwair new area

each apartment contains

(2 bedrooms + living room)

for RO 365. Contact 93181111

New Villa for Rent Two fl oors

newly built villa in Maabillah, 8 Full-

fl edged Residential Area

6 Rooms, 8 Toilets, excellent fi nish-

ing spacious Kitchen, Big Dining

Rooms in Both Floors, Easy Access

to Muscat and Sohar using Maabil-

lah Bridge. Contact 92828303

Flats ground fl oor, 3 Rooms & AC,

kitchen, hall, in Al Mabaila South.

Contact 99377290

1 BHK with attached toilet & bath-

room behind Bank Muscat at

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99373290,

24815012

2 B/ R Fully Furnished Executive

Apartment @ Al Khuwair 33 Near

Zaker Mall. 3 Bedroom Furnished

executive apartment @ Al Khuwair 25

5 B/R Luxury Fully Furnished villas

at Azaiba with servants, 3 Bedroom

Unfurnished Villa @ Mawalah South

Area 6 with Servant Quarter,

5 Bedroom Unfurnished Villa @

An Apartment that resembles a pent-

house has 2 rooms with 2 toilets,

living room & an elegant balcony.

Fully furnished, suited for families.

Final price RO.300/- Mabela 8 near

German University.

Contact 99888400

1 BHK at Ghobrah - Near Indian

School. Contact: 99014885

Building of 3 fl oors with 20 rooms

in Mawaleh near Pizza Hut.

Contact 99044164

1 BHK & Single room in Wadi Kabir.

RO 180/-. Contact 99376454

Al Qurum heights Sea view.

Contact - 99249069 / 92888376/

93201688

For rent shops and offi ces in

Al Mabela. Contact 99355330

2 BHK at Al Azaiba, Building No.5145

Way 4470. Contact 99224748,

99425665

Looking for purchase of Used Portable Compressor (350 CFM,

7 Bar Pressure) powered

with Diesel run Generator.

Kindly Contact 99014686 or

operation@khancogroup.com

Looking for commercial lands for

sale in Al Ghobrah North (urgent

serious buyers, commercial lands in

al Ghobrah North (corners prime loca-

tion). Contact 91155779

OFFICES FOR RENT

Contact: 97377355 / 95530121, Email id: aaleem@ggcoman.com

- Premium offices to let a very good location on the main road very close to Zakher Mall, Al Khawiar. Business Center has offices with sizes of 50m2, 110m2, 180m2, 207m2, 230m2, 437m2.- Showroom also available at Business Center, Area 500m2 with central A/c. - Offices with Central Air-conditions, Security System with CCTV cameras, and Security presence in the building.

Tables, chairs & shfandish for sale.

Call 99368907

Well running Computer / Mobile

Sale & Service Shop. Good location

in Darsait with 2 clearances.

Contact 98523634

Sale!, all household items, like

fridge, freezer, cooking range, wash-

ing machine, window/split A/Cs,

LCD TV, Laptop, tab and many more

for attractive prices. Location : near

Toyota service Center, Honda Road.

Contact - 97048983, 95293643

Restaurant for leasing/sale in

Al Hail. Contact 94148970,

94148972, 97820877

Household items on sale.

Contact 93833107

Darsait Business Offi ce furniture,

Isuzu 4 ton brand new.

Contact 91391363

Running Electrical Building

Material Shop for sale in Muscat.

Contact 95330905

Used household furniture and

other items for sale.

Contact 91566996

Restaurant items on sale, like

plates, spoons, soup spoons etc.

please contact 93833107

A newly opened Barber Shop for

sale at upcoming industrial zone

in Misfah. Expat leaving Oman.

Genuine buyers call 93833107

(Sale Price Negotiable)

2 fl ats building in Al Khuwair 17/1.

Contact 99477009

Executive room at Mumtaz area.

Contact – 93103337 / 95212017

Flat for rent in AlKhoudh Suq

3bedrooms, 3bathrooms, kitchen in

Ground fl oor Contact 95151522

Room with separate toilet and WiFi,

Wadi Kabir near pencil building.

Contact 93416854

Room with separate entrance & A/C

in Al Khuwair near Rawasco for non-

cooking Indian Bachelor,

rent RO 125/-. Contact 97201100,

95397442

Offi ce space near KFC, Al Khu-

wair, offi ce basement near Mars, Al

Ghubrah, double & single bedroom

fl at Al Ghubrah near Mars and Wadi

Kabir near Lulu. Contact 95755551 /

92222045

Clean fl at available for sharing,

two big rooms, independent bath,

kitchen sharing, quiet area RO 150,

we actually near Al Falaj for small

family. Contact 93218110, semi

furnished

Single room at Walja, opposite MBD

area available for executive bach-

elors or single working woman for

OMR 100. Contact 93079877

Single room with sharing kitchen

for Executive bachelor or working

lady, Ruwi, in front of

Apollo Hospital. Contact 98232567

/ 91673718

Furnished room in CBD Area for

non-cooking bachelor

free Wi-Fi, advance deposit

call 99078540

Room + balcony + separate toilet for

non cooking single Indian Bachelor,

RO 140/-. Contact 98928458

Furnished single room with

attached bathroom near Mars

Hypermarket, Al Ghubrah. Contact

97312111, RO 150/- per month

2 Bedroom fl at for offi ces with

furniture near Al Manaf Hotel, Ghala.

Contact 99525743, 99439705

Excellent 3 bedrooms , 2 sitting

rooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen & store

with A/C. 92817777

Used Sofa, A/c, Table for sale.

Contact 99737812

We are dealing with sale of all beauty

salon equipments, furnitures & cos-

metics.#942 888 61 / 942 888 63

Furnished single room with

separate bathroom near al meera

hypermarket, azaiba.

Gsm 94288863

Industrial Land in Misfah.

Contact 93009999

2 BHK with A/C, commercial

Al Khuwair. Contact 92144045

Flat one bedroom at Al Khuwair 33,

owner. Contact 92800007

Used household & offi ce furniture and

electronic items. Contact 99834373,

97102699

DAILY GUIDED4 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5

DOMESTIC HELP

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MEDICAL

MECH/ TECHNICALCAL

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANTED

Need cutter for Tailoring shop.

Contact 99825211

Housemaid required urgently.

Please contact +968 92806900

Required Housemaid for Indian fam-

ily, Visa will be provided.

Contact 94291473

DRIVER

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

Finance & Accounts manager based in Oman with multi-faceted

experience in Finance, Costing,

Audit ,Erp software implementation

with over 18 yrs of post qualifi ca-

tion experience in leading Gulf/

India based Companies involved in

Construction, Contracting, Manufac-

turing, Trading activities. I am seek-

ing suitable challenging position

in leading coys/Groups in Oman.

Please contact mobile no-+968

99601390 or 92209357 or email

vr6954@gmail.com for detailed

experience

M.Com with MS Dynamics and

Tally, 8 yrs experienced Accountant

requires Accountant (Senior Ac-

countant) position (NOC available).

Contact 93687011

Indian, MBA, Graduate specialized

in Finance, Marketing with GCC, D/L

looking for good job opportunity.

Contact 93197431

Bangladeshi male, Chartered

Accountant with 2 yrs London exp.

looking for job. Contact 99640986/

ahammadmds@gmail.com,

+447958036642

Male Indian, 28 yrs MBA Finance,

3 yrs Building Material & Structural

Steel Sales experience Omani Driv-

ing License. NOC available.

Contact 98840669 / 97162513

Pakistani Male, 26 yrs, MS-Supply

Chain & Project Management, BS-

Finance & Business Administration,

+2 yrs experience in Trading Firm

responsible for Supply Chain &

Accounts. Skills including strong

operation managerial

Communication & interpersonal,

fl uent in English, SAP and EPM.

Contact 94663827,

email : musadiqfayyaz@gmail.com

Accounts Assistant B.Com having

4 yrs of exp in accounts, well versed

with computer languages like C, C++,

SQL, HTML, VB Networking. Seeks

suitable placement.#93995483

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Accountant / Auditor, Srilankan

male 27, having 3+ yrs experience

looking for suitable placement.

Contact 93556320

Accounts Finalization, Part Time

Accounting, Audit Preparation,

Internal Audit, Onsite Tally Training,

Onsite Training for Accountants,

Inventory Management.

Contact : 94669089,

email : ibfcoman@hotmail.com

Accountant, 4 yrs experience in

Oman, NOC available.

Contact 96799714

Indian male, 32 years, M. Com.7 out

of 9 years experience in Oman in

Accounts/fi nance. Having NOC and

valid Oman D/L. Contact 98277143,

Email: anzarks@gmail.com

ADMIN/HR

ENGINEERS

SALES / MARKETING

MANAGER

TOUR/ TRAVELS

OFFICE/ SECLight Driver having own visa

looking for job as driver

Contact 92303692

Bangladeshi male driver, exp 12 yrs

looking for job in any company &

offi ce. Contact 99165961

Pakistani male light vehicle driver

with 1.5 yrs experience.

Contact 98219599

Driver with car. Contact

96954496

6 Years experience light duty driver.

Contact – 96736744

Indian driver need job with car.

Contact 91254539

Light vehicle driver available.

Contact 96756014 / 97938893

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 96794309 / 98335778

Bangladeshi male light vehicle driv-

er, looking for job. Contact 93113447

Pakistani male light vehicle driver

2 yrs exp. Contact - 96342684

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 92791678

Accountant, 2 yrs experience (pur-

chasing, coordinator) with D/L and

NOC. Contact 94174403

Indian Male, MBA 2 yrs experience

in Accounts, Admin & HR on visit

visa. Contact 92045306

India Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

fi nalization, having knowledge of

ERP, Tally, seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact:93950138

Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

Urgently required an experienced person in gliding, fi xing & instal-lation works at buildings, for a

well established advertisement

co.in Sohar. Send your CV to :

mohammed.tauseef2@gmail.com

younis.alshezawi@live.com,

Call : 96367342,95728453

Indian Male, qualifi ed ICWA, M.com

with 2years experience in accounts,

costing, auditing & SAP in reputed

listed companies, seeks suitable

placements. Mob: 94619453

Email: cmashahidkt@gmail.com.

Indian male MBA 32 yrs having

10 yrs of exp seeking suitable place-

ment in Admin/ HR/ Operations/

Coordination/ Logistics etc.

Holding valid Oman D/L .

Contact - 99054786

Graduate Indian female having

5+ Years Oman experience in Ad-

min/Procurement/Logistics with

excellent computer skills(PGDCA).

Seeking suitable Placement.NOC

available.Contact:95382966

Indian female, MBA, HR 1 yr experi-

ence in India seeking suitable op-

portunity. Contact 99257214

Indian male having NOC with 7

yrs Oman exp in recruitment, on

boarding, general admin. Immediate

joining. Contact - 96684424

Indian female with excellent

communication skills, confi dent,

dedicated to work and enthusiastic.

Knowledge about ms offi ce. Has

6 years of experience in cus-

tomer service, telecommunication,

HR.Looking for immediate place-

ment. Contact # 97348819

Pakistani Male, 27 yrs, MBA in HR,

BBA in Marketing and Finance hav-

ing 2 yrs experience in Sales and

Admin, on family visit till 15 Febru-

ary looking for suitable position.

Contact 94543222,

email: wajid_rais@hotmail.com

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Required Physiotherapist. Contact: 91453024

General practitioner Doctor is

required to work urgently in Dreams

Clinic at Al Khoudh and must be

resident in the Sultanate of Oman.

Please send your CV to the follow-

ing email: towershr70@gmail.com,

balushi70@gmail.com &

info@towersinternationalgroups.

com, Mobile 99882340,

Tel: 24545914

Dentist required to work urgently in

dreams clinic at Al Khoud and must

be resident in Sultanate of Oman.

Please send your CV to the following

email – towershr70@gmail.com /

balushi70@gmail.com /

info@towersinternationalgroups.com

Mobile – 99882340 / 24545914

DESIGNER

CATERING

AutoCAD Designer D/man 2D/3D/

Revit/Photoshop, experienced.

Contact : 97103168

Interior Designer, Gulf Exp, Auto-

CAD 2D/3D/ Corel draw.

Contact : 97103168

Indian male, 8 yrs GCC experience

in 3D & Architectural Designing

with D/L. Contact 97263199Urgently required light car drivers for a VIP service Company.

Preferred Philipino National.

Contact 98266319.

Email : lord.ofarts@yahoo.com

Needed 2 drivers, off ering good

salary. Contact 99441798

Wanted driver. Contact 95112461

DRIVER

Required experienced Account-ant Tally, excellent English &

driving license. Contact –

omanlaw.om@gmail.com /

24497762 / 92192510

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ADMIN

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

A reputed 3 star hotel in Muscat requires qualifi ed Omani Nation-als for front offi ce, security and

food and beverage departments.

Interested candidates

please contact 99061335,

email : agm@hotelgoasis.com

Indian female, 25 yrs, bachelors

of businesses management, hav-

ing experience of 5 years as a

fund/fi nancial administration, on

visit visa,looking for suitable place-

ment.#94662416

Apurwaverma@gmail.com

26 hrs Indian Accountant with

2 years experience, B.Com, seeking

suitable position, available immedi-

ately, contact No:9821 3292,

e-mail: Indite2faraaz@gmail.com

Looking for smart/ dynamic male

for front desk offi ce, pref. fl uency

in English. Contact 95176500

(Salalah)

A well reputed Steel Fabrication & Machining Workshop Company in

Oman requires experienced Salesman / Sales Engineer with Diploma / De-

gree Qualifi cation. GSM 99228046

Email : oman518@gmail.com,

Salesman for Sales of Printing Press

supplies urgently required in Dubai.

Must be knowledgeable about Print-

ing Presses and have a valid GCC

Driving License. Email CV to

sales@ies-oman.com

Required Japanese, Korean car parts Salesman with Gulf exp.

Contact – 98489140

Required Salesman, Tailor and barber. Contact 91114884

A logistics company located at Sohar, requires Candidate for the post of marketing and accounts. Valid Oman License and experience

is added qualifi cation.

Contact: 99381 82, 24499091,

Email: info@excellenceoman.com

Highly reputed Perfume Company requires Omani Sales girl promoters. # 95663682, 92956876

A reputed Oil & Gas Supplies Com-

pany is looking for Sales/Marketing in-charge personnel. Send your CV

to : rahbi_mohd@yahoo.com

Required an experienced person who has ideas to start a new

business in electrical fi eld or supply

with minimum cost. # 99426421

DRAUGHTSMAN

Auotcad, Well Experienced, Arch,

Stucture, knows 3D, Revit Photoshop

Ph : 97103168

Civil Draughtsman, Indian Male,

23 yrs with 3yrs experience in Au-

toCAD 2D & 3D, MEP, HVAC, 3Ds Max

and Photoshop looking for suitable

position, presently in Muscat,

Oman on visit visa.

Contact 91764358,

mohdsiraj02@yahoo.com

Omani Man looking for a job

with experience in HR/ Admin/

accounting. kindly contact me on:

99767666

Indian Male 25 years B.Com hav-

ing 3 years of exp of Oman in Ac-

counts/Administration.Well versed

with computer knowledge looking

for suitable position. Immidi-

ately available. Contact:93207867

email:tambeazhar@gmail.com

3 Years experienced Administra-

tive Executive seeking for Virtual

Admin Opportunities. Can work for

6 hours/day from a virtual location

for 100 RO/month. Call: 95811820

Indian female, 25 yrs, B.Com with

computer Application, 1 yr experi-

ence as Accountant, looking for

suitable job. Contact 98847165

Excellent cleaning company required Operation Manager, experience in Muscat cleaning

companies preferred.# 92868123

Required Laundry men (Ironing)

visa ready. Contact – 92868123

Urgently required Ticketing Agent for travel agency in Muscat mini-

mum one year experience.

Contact: 95417255

MISCELLANEOUS

Chartered Accountant, 10+ yrs

experience, B.Com, CA, CIA. Imme-

diate availability. Audit, Finance.

Contact 94641805

Indian male, working Bakery

Pastry as Sr. Chef De Party, 15 yrs

experience in Oman, 10 yrs exp in

one of the 5 star Hotels,

still working, get release.

Contact 96460519, 99063817

Urgently required Mechanic Super-visor (B.Tech in Mechanical / Auto-

mobile Engg) for a reputed company

in Muscat with min of

5 yrs experience in Grader, Dozer etc

with GCC/Oman License.

Those interested may email CV

along with certifi cates to

p.m@watcooman.com,

g.m@watcooman.com or

contact 99288717

Required urgently Civil Engineer with minimum 5 years experi-

ence driving license must. If you

interesting send your CV on email:

Towershr70@gmail.com

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER (full

time) Responsibilities: To work with

architect, To provide of construction

issue documentation for a projects.

Desired candidate Profi le: min of

3-5 years experience in Structural

Design, Should be AutoCAD compe-

tent. Please send your CV to Email:

info@pak2pak.com Tel. 99196733,

99419766

Wanted MBBS Doctor, Staff Nurse and Lab Technician for a Clinic

in Capital Area. Please contact

93431024, send CV to

drasyanaseem@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING

Required (fast food restaurant), a part time marketing / Sales professional on commission basis

– 5 Nos. in Muscat. Forward CV to

fastfoodoman2014@gmail.com

Post Graduate Engineer with 5+

years experience in Project Plan-

ning & Management currently

on visit visa looking for a Project

Co-ordinator/Planning Engineer

position in reputed organizations.

Please contact (968) 96105079

MECHANICAL ENGINEER (B

Tech), Indian Mail, with NDT

Level 2(ASNT), Autocad, Solid-

works, 2 year above experience

(as Mechanical Site Engineer and

Design Engineer), Seeking suitable

placement(on visit visa). Contact:

91591548, 00919447300022,

Email: vishnu300022@gmail.com

3 Years experienced Administra-

tive Executive seeking for Virtual

Admin Opportunities. Can work for

6 hours/day from a virtual location

for 100 RO/month. Call: 95811820

Indian Female, Graduate having

good experience looking for suit-

able job. NOC available.

Contact 91774397

Indian male, 28 yrs in Civil Engi-

neer (Diploma), 3 yrs experience

in Gulf seeking suitable chances.

Contact 92063150

22 Indian Female, BCA (MCA),

4 Years’ Experience in Teaching,

Training & Management of Of-

fi ce and Computer Applications,

looking for suitable vacancy in

the fi eld of Teaching/IT/Offi ce

Management Contact – 94540768,

Email – paipreethi01@gmail.com

Indian Male Graduate 20 yrs in

Oman, Accountant / Business

Property Management seeking

suitable position in Accounts / Ad-

ministration working knowledge

with TALLY. Valid Omani Driving

License. Contact 99817183

Indian male 2 years experience in

Light & Heavy motor vehicle Me-

chanic. Diesel & Petrol. Seek suit-

able placement Contact 99421537.

Indian female, 34 yrs, B.A, B.Ed

(S.S), DCA, Doing M.A by distance,

having 6 yrs experience in School

(5 yrs in Indian School, Oman).

Contact 98728700, 92458872

Indian Female 23 years M.Com

Graduate on visit visa hav-

ing four month experience as

an Accountant in a company

at Muscat. Looking for a suit-

able job. Immediately available

for joining. Contact: 95846642,

Email:shreedhanya916@gmail.com

28 years male, MBA in Marketing,

5 years experience in Marketing

and Brand Promotion. On visit,

looking for job. Contact: 96104833

B.Tech. (Civil), 2 years experience

in designing, and training corporate

professionals in Dubai in software,

presently working in India, seeks

suitable job opening.

madhunambiarm@hotmail.com

Indian female 24 yrs, MBA

(fi nance) (1 year experience as

administrator cum junior level

accountant looking for suitable job

& holding visiting visa. Contact

97481488, Email:

ayeshaowasi12345@gmail.com

Indian Female, IATA, BSc looking

for suitable placement.

Contact 95514305.

Email-jitureshmi@gmail.com

Hotel Manager, Indian male,

25 years exp. in Budget & 3 Star

Hotel, with Omani Driving License

, Seeks Placement. NOC/Release

Available. Contact: 99799774,

Email: smoin_moinsb@yahoo.co.in

M. Sc. Medical lab technician (Prometric passed) having 6 years

experience in India. Currently on

visit, looking for a suitable place-

ment. Please contact 97248144,

samiullah_ar@yahoo.co.in.

Project Manager civil, Indian,

seeking suitable placement, hav-

ing 18 yrs exp (13 yrs in Oman) in

tendering, contracting and manag-

ing projects, available with release.

Contact: 99244245, 95321251

Indian male -39, Graduate 15 years

experience in FMCG sales and mar-

keting and logistics operations with

valid driving license looking suit-

able placement. Contact 92090949

Indian Male 26years BCOM having

5years rich experience in Accounts

and Admin looking for suitable

placement. Contact : 96897914340,

00919902200486 Email:

sudhakaranchan06@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5 D5

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

EDUCATION

Jordanian Civil Engineer with 4 yrs

experience in Construction Field (re-

lease available). Contact 95157199 /

92866288,

email : best66_pl@hotmail.com

BSc Architectural Engineer,

7 yrs experience (6 yrs in Oman) site

work. Contact 99178218, 92579358,

email: ah.elnakash@yahoo.com

BE (Elec and Tele Engg), Experi-

enced as Application Engg, Certifi ed

in BMS SCADA Ph: 94037935/

97103168

Land Surveyor 10 yrs experience

on visit visa. Contact – 93522354 /

sibivarun89@gmail.com

Civil Engineer with 12 years Experi-

ence Looking For Job.Ph#98162295

Indian B.Tech Mechanical Engi-neer, 26 yrs, 4 yrs experience in

HVAC/MEP. Contact 94669629,

rajeevhpd15@yahoo.com

Sr. Site Supervisor (civil) since

March 2010 in Oman, looking for

better opportunity (rel. available).

Contact 93061107

Nebosh Qualifi ed HSE 15 yrs exp

safety Engineer Military (Indian

Navy) background, valid Oman driv-

ing license. Contact – 97352324

Industrial Electrician with Oman

Driving license. Contact 96348016

Indian male, 26 yrs B-Tech (ECE)

with MBA in Marketing / HR looking

for a suitable placement. Currently

on visit visa valid up to 30 January

2015. Contact 93754428,

email : shijosirius709@gmail.com

Sudanese Civil Engineer, 10 yrs

experience 4 yrs in Oman in Govern-

ment Projects Supervision looking

for a job with D/L.

Contact 96966790

Civil Engineer (Diploma) looking for

an urgent placement.

Contact 95200650

Civil Engineer (Fresher from NIT)

skilled in Autocad & Primavera,

holding oman D/L seeks suitable

placement. Contact -97309804,

Email-nizam.m5@hotmail.com

Diploma of Associate Civil Engi-

neering, Diploma of AutoCad, having

3.5 yrs experience, 2 yrs experience

of Oman in Building Construction,

valid transferrable ID Card.

Contact 94378581

B.Tech Civil Engineer, Indian, 16

yrs in Oman with experience in PDO

Road Pipelines building with Omani

D/L looking for suitable placement.

Contact 98005456

A , M Tech GEO TECHNICAL ENGI-

NEERING Lady Engineer PRIMA-

VERA - STADD holder on visit seeks

suitable opening - preferably Sohar

area Contact 91277256

satishcharuvil@gmail.com

BE Civil Engineer, 5 yrs experience.

NOC available. Contact 98970233

Diploma in Civil Engineer, 15 yrs

Oman experience (total 28 yrs) look-

ing for senior position with valid D/L,

NOC available. Contact 99013465

B.Sc in Civil Engineering, 2 yrs

experience (1 yr 3 months in Oman +

10 months in Bangladesh) knowing

AutoCAD, MS Offi ce & detailing, fl u-

ent speaker in English,

Hindi and Bangla. # 94038642

Email : shaikhhasib.ce@gmail.com

Indian male, 24 yrs, BE (Electronics

& Electrical) with 2 yrs experience

seeking suitable placement.

Contact 98201244

DAE (Civil) having 3.5 years Experi-

ence 2 years from Oman with driv-

ing licences, seeking for suitable po-

sition in Construction fi eld NOC and

release available Contact 96968554

mehranahmad26@yahoo.com

M. Tech Electrical Eng. Female, now

in visit visa. Contact +968-94654481.

B. Tech Civil Eng. 3 yrs exp in Oman

with driving license.

Contact +968-93733627.

Mail id : joinvisam@gmail.com,

neethusprakash@gmail.com

BE Mechanical, 9 yrs experience in

Sales & Business Development, Oil

& Gas equipments like pumps etc.

Contact 91139771

Currently working as Lecturer of IT,

(M.Sc IT) (M Phil computer Science)

having experience for more than 5

years, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact 91105949

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Indian male Graduate with 12+ yrs

experience in Purchase/ Logistics/

Costing/Scheduling and Warehous-

ing in Building Materials & Con-

struction sector looking for suitable

placement. Local release available

on request. Contact: 94657319

MBA Graduate 10+ exp FMCG food

serv. Sales channel/ Branch Man-

ager. Contact - 99185205

Looking for job, holding valid Oman

Driving License, experience in food

& beverage, McDonalds & Retail

Starbucks Coff ee, UAE. Working now

as House Manager in HB Excellency

house Muscat. Contact 93407470,

email : sanjeevmulla@gmail.com

Indian male Graduate with 20+

years of Administration, Operations

& Management experience in IT,

Oil & Gas & Hospitality Industry. 12

years in Oman with vast contacts,

very strong management, operation-

al, communication and interper-

sonal skills, can handle any size of

business and projects whether it’s in

initial stage or established. Can join

immediately. Local release available

on request. Contact: 9906 4589

Indian male Graduate with 20+

years of Administration, Operations

& Management experience in IT,

Oil & Gas & Hospitality Industry. 12

years in Oman with vast contacts,

very strong management, operation-

al, communication and interper-

sonal skills, can handle any size of

business and projects whether it’s in

initial stage or established. Can join

immediately. Local release available

on request. Contact: 9906 4589

Management Professional, exper-

tise in team building operations,

project management, leadership,

writing on visit visa till 19th January

2015. Contact 93516436,

email: dsouza.amit@gmail.com

Qualifi ed Manager: (12+ yrs. Oman

Exp.) Vast knowledge in A/c & Admin,

Costing, Banking, Credit Control,

Insurance, International Purchase/

Logistics & Finance, With D/L

looking for suitable position.

Gsm: 93826090

Email: jskanchan01@gmail.com

General Manager / working partner

20 years in Dubai adverting agency

experience. Contact 93031168

Indian female with nine years of ex-

perience in 5 Star hotels as Assistant

Food & Beverage Manager looking

for a suitable placement in a reputed

Star hotel.Contact: 91219787

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

SECRETARIAL/OFFICE

Indian female, well experienced

in secretarial, administration,

customer care & supervisory jobs.

5 years experience in Muscat.

Immediately available for joining.

Contact: 92139298

Mechanical Engineer, Gold Medalist,

B.Tech with 3.5 yrs experience in

Thermal Gas Power Plant in LDO, HFO

Pipeline Fabrication erection boiler

banker turbine. GSM: 97025338

Email : warisheyat329@gmail.com

Presently in Oman on visit visa.

Female, 26 yrs, B.Tech in Mechani-

cal Engineer with 3 yrs experience

in Piping Stress Analysis in Oil &

Gas Sector, currently on family visa,

looking for a placement.

Contact 95890939,

email : rita.debnath682@gmail.com

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Quantity Surveyor (Civil Building)

looking for Part time job Contact

no:-94391712 E-mail address-

inayathhussain@yahoo.com

Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian

Male, 24 yrs with 1+ yrs Indian

experience (Certifi ed in Quantity

Survey/Primavera/AutoCAD) look-

ing for a suitable position, available

in Sultanate of Oman (Muscat) on

visit visa. Contact 91303860,

email: mdayubmak@gmail.com

Jordanian Engineer Electrical 7 yrs

exp. Consulting, site & shop drawing

works. Ready to join immediately.

Worked in UAE & Saudi Arabia.

Contact - 00971555594733

Civil Engineer B Tech, Site Engineer

Experienced, Drafting on Visit Visa

Ph : 91642050

Sudanese Mechanical Engineer,

3 yrs experience as Sit Engineer,

HVAC System, and driving license,

easy to transfer immediately.

Contact 91135140

B.E Civil 5 yrs exp (2 yrs in India)

2 yrs Oman & 1 year in Qatar. Salary

expected RO.500/- above.

Contact - 94412557

Looking Part time Job in HVAC-

93198128

Indian Male, 22 yrs, B.Tech, Marine

Engineer, presently on visit visa

seeks suitable placement.

Contact 93191777,

email: ask.akash@gmail.com

Experienced female Electrical

Engineer.Contact 93800906

IT Technical Support Engineer, 3 yrs experience in Networking, spe-

cializing in DHCP,DNS,NTP etc also

Desktop level 3 helpdesk. jeni_per-

sonal@yahoo.co.uk 94525630

B.Tech IT Professional, Indian

Male with 3 yrs of Exp. In System

Admin, IT Support, Networking,

Installing Active Directory, DHCP,

DNS,RAS, confi guring maintaining

and managing servers, confi gur-

ing cisco routers, Exp in handling

SQL database, With Valid Driving

Licence. Contact - 968 98863507

Indian Male 23 yrs – IT / Pre-

post Sales Consultant / Business

Analyst / Web Designing. 2 yrs.

exp. Languages-HTML5, WebRTC,

Java, CSS, C++, .Net, SQL, Oracle,

ERP-Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Looking for suitable job. Contact:

98802504,

email:shrihari26@gmail.com

Indian male, 23 yrs, having

1 yr experience in IT hardware &

networking & 3 months in Oman,

currently on visit visa,

qualifi cation B.Sc Electronics

CCNA, MCITP, RHCE.

ph : 92089719 Email :

sujithvijayan119@gmail.com,

IT Prof, MCA having 6+ yrs exp,

seeks suitable position.

Contact 94543668

INFORMATION TECH

INFORMATION TECH

Physiotherapist (BPT), Indian male,

4.5 yrs experience, looking for suit-

able job, available in Oman (Muscat)

on visit visa. Contact 92692143,

Email: asadshabeeh@yahoo.com

Indian male Pharmacist (B.Pharma) 5 1/2 years experience

in Oman seeking suitable placement

in Muscat. NOC from the present

employer available.

CONTACT +968 98525100

Indian female Nurse, prometric

passed, 64%. Contact 97916986,

96146016, 22068598

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

TECHNICIAN

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Logistics Offi cer, Experience in

Store keeping. Contact : 99505934

Pakistani male, 34, College 2 yrs, 2

yrs experience as Sales Representa-

tive, 3 yrs experience as Clerk /

Offi ce Assistant, 3 yrs experience as

Salesman in Oman, Computer Skill :

Excel, BUSY, ERP, languages known

– English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu.

Contact 96763346

MBA Professional with Omani

Driving License seeking Sales or

Marketing job. Contact 94143154,

rinojnathen008@gmail.com

Indian male, 25yrs, MBA in HR/

Marketing.6yrs exp with MNC and

pharma. Presently in family visit

visa looking for suitable placements.

Contact no-94657379/ 96645182

Leading Construction company

requires young purchase assistant

with Oman driving license.

Contact 99108425

Indian male, 7 yrs Gulf exp in Sales

(Indoor – Outdoor), looking for job.

Contact 99433816 / 93159202

B.Com Graduate experience mar-keting 8 yrs (India) valid Oman

driving license. Contact – 97916044

/ 97382638

Indian male having 3 yrs Oman exp

in sales and administration with

valid Oman license. Looking for suit-

able placement. NOC available, own

vehicle also available.

Contact – 98956725

18 yrs Oman experience in Building

Materials seeking suitable placement,

NOC available. Contact 93105775

15 years experience in Business

Development , marketing, purchase –

UAE & Oman-staff coordination, doc-

umentation, civil & technical mainte-

nance, -valid GCC license-looking for

working partnership or management

post. Contact:91568362 /

Email vpj555pem@gmail.com

Indian Male, B.Tech E&I, 10 yrs

experience in Sales, Procurement,

BDM. 6 yrs Oman experience in

Oil & Gas Sector. Seeking suitable

placement. Oman D/L, NOC

available. Contact 97233074

Indian Male, MBA in Marketing and

Finance, 10 years’ Sales & Business

Development Experience with valid

D/L of Oman & UAE looking for a

suitable placement. NOC Available.

Contact: 93969961

e-mail abhilash.pvrk@gmail.com

Indian male, 22 yrs, BBM Gradu-

ate looking for suitable job in sales/

marketing, currently on visit visa.

Contact 91757222, email :

danishdani460@gmail.com

Indian Male, 7 yrs experience in

building materials trading having

Oman D/L, immediate release avail-

able. Contact 98676713

Civil foreman maintenance D/L,

12 yrs in Oman, 2 yrs in Kuwait.

Contact 96405865, 99534138,

India - +91 7589248550,

+91 9464255409, email:

sukhwinder9@yahoo.com

MBA with 1 yr experience, Indian

looking for job, salary 40000 INR.

Contact 96271935

Part time delivery man available.

Contact 95178930

BLDG Caretaker Gulf Exp, knows

HINDI/ARABIC/ENG PH: 94304348

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male,

having 8+ years exp. in reputed

companies, seeking suitable

placement in any gulf region.

Contact +968 99276601 &

97693456.

Email: muralimahdav77@gmail.com

Indian male, 26 yrs - MBA Gradu-

ate with 3 yrs of Experience in

Banking (Standard Chartered Bank

Scope International - Operations)

& Coff ee Vending Machine (Fresh

& Honest Cafe ltd - , Operations) on

Visit Visa seeks placement.

Ph: 91267867,

Email: jai.ks1988@gmail.com

Looking out for the post of Travel

coordinator/Senior travel Con-

sultant, 14 years (10 years in GCC

Countries) of experience in the

travel industry looking for a suit-

able placement. #96328687

Filipino Accountant with 13 years

working experience in the fi eld of

accounting looking for a suitable

job in Muscat. Contact: 94547323

Tunisian women looking for

job, khnows english, frensh, Italian

and arabic. Contact: 91171838

28 year Indian male with

7yrs(5yrs in Oman) of experi-

ence in Accounts & Finance up

to fi nalisation in Construction Oil

& Gas and also in Manufacturing

industries with Oman D/L

seeking suitable placement.

Contact me on 97104364 email:

Moorthy_cbe@hotmail.com

Structural Engineer with 14 years

experience in structural design

and supervision fi elds with full

knowledge of structure design

programs, Omani D/L, seeking a

reputed engineering consultancy

offi ce vacancy Tel. 96248598.

Indian female dentist with 4 year

experience. Call Nazia 96488737

Manager Maintenance/Engi-

neering/Purchase, 31 yrs. exp. in

mechanical, electrical, electronics,

parts fabrication, purchase deptt,

oman exp. 5yrs, have NOC,

looking for job. Contact -

pkv2k3@yahoo.com, 99331289

Indian Male, 31 years of Rich

Oman experience in Multifunction-

al Management, Administration,

Business Development, Purchase &

Operations seeking suitable Man-

ager/Supervisory Position. Visa

transfer/NOC Available.

GSM: 95036410

Indian Male, B.COM, ICWA, CMA

Australia, 24 years experience in

fi nance, costing, accounts, internal

audit. Valid Oman driving license.

NOC available. Can join immedi-

ately. Contact 97917136

More than 10 years experience

in Sales & Marketing, Insurance,

Direct marketing, Advertisement,

Credit Control & logistics.

Contact: 99322748, 91071097

Seeking job, BTech Instrumenta-

tion, 12 years experience Design,

FEED, Detailed engineering, Oil

& Gas, Instrumentation systems,

Oman Driving license.

Email :- wilfridsjacob@gmail.com

Mobile:- 00968 99048130

Graduate, Indian, having 6 yrs

experience in Sales with D/L, NOC

available. Contact 93410723

Indian male, Instrumentation

Technician with 3 yrs Diploma &

1 yr exp in Maintenance Dept,

seeks job. Call +971554275155

Dual expertise – programming /

networking, Indian male, 25 yrs,

B.E, Computer Science, CCNA,

certifi ed, 2 yrs experience in

programming, databases, server /

network support & administration.

Contact 91770547,

mudassirdf@gmail.com

IT Professional, Indian male, B.Sc

Graduate with 4+ yrs Gulf (UAE)

good exp in System Administration,

IT Support, Server Desktop, laptop,

smartboard, datashow biometric,

CCTV, currently on visit visa.

Contact 98936548,

vaseemj@yahoo.com

Female, B Tech (Software Profes-

sional), Oracle SQL .NET Database,

Experienced (Teaching & Engg)

Ph: 94550127

Indian Female, Dentist fresher look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact 98857686,

email : drsumbulahmad@gmail.com

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable

job (NOC available)

Contact-93344378

Sales & Marketing Indian male

MBA (marketing & sales) business

development experience at all levels

of management. Currently on visit

visa. Contact – 91272819

BUSINESS

LOST

NOTICE

Licensed Engineering Consultancy

(Chemical) Company looking for In-

ternational or local partners to start

operations in Oman. For enquiries

call 99264162

Wanted dentist or investor to buy a

well-running dental clinic in Sohar

immediately. Contact 92625962,

95904234

Omani National looking for expat

investing partner in Restaurant in

Al Amerat. Infrastructure almost

ready. Jamal Adan Trading.

Contact 98711083, email :

faisal.patel0038@gmail.com

We assist in new business set up

local sponsorship, real estate ser-

vices, assist in company formation

services. Contact - 93166088

MATRIMONIAL

Parents of Christian girl (Roman

Catholic),27yrs,fair,5.5”, from Ker-

ala working in TCS, Bangalore as

Systems Engineer seeks suitable

alliances. Call: +968 92010215 /

+968 99278649

Proposals are invited from parents

of professionally qualifi ed Nair Boys

for 24 year old Upper Middle Class

Nair girl hail from Trivandrum, (171

cm, Star-Bharani) employed in a

reputed Company in Oman. Contact:

0968-9950 2593 /99798041.

(KM ID.2844689)

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments &

massage, Ayurvedic clinic at Al Khu-

wair. Contact 24478618 / 97263637

/93309131

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. If you would like to know more

about Islam, please call: 99425598,

96050000, 99353988, 99253818,

99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723 Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /

92504980 , www.siddhayur.com

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis, massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis, ideal

care Ayurvedic Clinic, 18 November

Street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 /

99117987

GOOD NEWS

MANPOWER

Mohammed Meezaan has

lost Bangladeshi Passport No.

AC8617914. Finder please hando-

ver to ROP.

Sohar Factory for Plaster Product L.L.C company which is recorded

under the commercial register

in directorate general for trade

industry number 1011475 is going

to change its name to Modren Al

Sadara L.L.C company . This is to

inform anybody who concerns

about that.

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

M.V.WANTED

Required Nissan Tida / Toyota

yaris / Suzuki swift / hyundai/Kia

hatchback car in good condition.

Contact 95405033

D6 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5

FOR HIRE

TRUCK FOR HIREIsuzu 10 ton cargo body truck

(2012 FVR) with UAE experienced driver

available for long term / short term rent.

Contact: 95346950

Running truck wash for rent in

Ouhi Sunia Sohar. Serious people

can. Contact on 97864747

50 seater bus with PDO specifi ca-

tion for rent or lease.

Contact 99839898

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your

marble. # 24793614/ 99314807

Pest Control Treatments!!! Termites! Cockroaches! Bedbugs!

Ocean Centre LLC.

Contact 99344723

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Door to Door Computers repair

specialist laptop software Website

cartridges. Contact 99199376

A.M Trading Pest control.Contact 99067923

Split & window A/C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089

GULF INTERNATIONAL LLC

all kind of pest control.

Contact 92326955

Window & split unit AC servicing &

maintenance. Contact 96236476

Waterproofi ng, light weight Screed,

Antitermite and MS Fabrication.

Contact 92888337

For All Your Maintenance Solu-

tions, A/c Servicing & Fixing,

Painting, Cleaning, Electric. Contact

99002390

Contact: 91262820 / 96458007

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house clean-

ing. Contact 99542979 / 98855815

For All Your Maintenance Solutions,

A/c Servicing & Fixing, Painting,

Cleaning, Electric.

Contact. 99002390

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Window & split unit A/C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 96236476

Civil Maintenance, Painting Elec-

tric, Plumbing, Decor, Tile Fixing,

Lecithin Copra Board fl at stifl ing ,

Carpet Cleaning and A/C Servic-

ing.Contact 97897831 (Indian

keralite)

For all your maintenance needs

including, Painting, Plumbing,

Electricity, Laying of Interlock

Tiles, Marbles etc. Tel: 99383574

Mr. Chandran

Electrical Plumbing Painting

Contract and Maintenance.

Contact 98456535

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. # 24810137,

99450130

CLASSES

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

COMPUTER

Al Manar Vocational pleased to an-

nounce at vocational short and long

term courses in tailoring, cooking

and internal design. Contact us now :

24698070 or 91144335

Split & window AC servicing and

repairing. Contact 99557080

Civil maintenance, electrical &

plumbing work. Contact 99557080,

96236476

Building Caretaker, Gulf Expe-

rienced, knows Arabic, Hindi

English Ph : 94304348

PRO services. Contact 99368907

Fast & Right Way - For all PR

related works – permanent Visa

stamping, family visiting visa

holders, clients contacts – with

NOC letter with signed & sealed

photocopy documents –

Contact: 91568362

Catering services We do industrial

catering service, Canteen/ mess,

3 times packed meals,

and all types of catering events.

Contact 92188777/

99249899

For HT cable jointing and

termination works 33KV/11KV.

Contact 99056438 /

Email: npgoman@gmail.com

House shifting transport. Contact

99657644, 98518013

Painting Interlock plumbing

maintenance. Contact 92142319

Carpet & Sofa Shampooing.

Ocean Centre LLC. # 99884591

Maintenance – 1) A/C Mainte-

nance, 2)fridge, washing machine

& dish washer repairing, 3)paint-

ing & cleaning services, 4)electri-

cal & plumbing carpentry work.

# 99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

BEAUTY

Varkey’s Gents Salon & Spa – Of-

fer 25% on all spa facilities like

hamam spa, massages with steam

bath, Jacuzzi, aroma therapy, pedi-

cure & manicure, facial treatments.

Contact 92935679

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5 D7

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with

Buffet, & Land Tours

Al- Ainain Marine Tours Contact-

98029602, 92808636

TOURS

RENT A CAR

DRIVING

NRI

10 cent (404.7m2) residential land

for sale at kalamassery (kochi)

for immediate sale contact Biny

95298395

Villa for sale 2200 sq ft in 8 cent.

Kottayam. Contact: 92652534

For Astrological consultation,

Jathakam. Contact 99860435 /

97102599

M.V. FOR SALE

Pathfi nder silver 2008, Gulf, full

option, No.1, in very good condition.

Contact 91376619

Pajero 3.8 v6 full option, 2008

model expat driven single owner, ex-

cellent condition, accident free, 217k.

Contact - 92590781

Lexus IS 250, model 2007,

good condition.

Contact 95530560

Renault Safrane, model-2010 kms-

100000, full option, good condition.

price-2900/- negotiable

CONTACT-97881927

Toyota Yaris 1.5, full automatic

2010 Dec, new insurance, new tyres

83,000 kms in excellent condition,

OMR 3300/-.

Contact 93291179

Hyundai Elantra white 2010 model

full auto. Contact - 95212017

Lexus GS300, 2006 for sale.

Contact 93218349

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact 99542393

Transportation. Contact 93405941

Transportation. Contact 98178135

Transportation available.

Contact 95570429

Driver with car. Contact 92179395

Pick & drop anytime in al Khuwair.

Contact 99764307

Transportation. Contact 98505294

Transportation. Contact

91379976

Transportation with car & driver.

(VIP’s only). Contact 95040768

Transportation. Contact 93425167

Pick & Drop any time. contact

97014786

Transportation. Contact 99664703

Transportation available

99159277

Transportation. Contact 96538078

Transportation Available

Contact 97180655

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 8 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

Party booking & sugges�ons 99320065, 99341643

Indian, Arabic, Chinese dishes, Buffet Lunch

(On Friday)Indoor & Outdoor, Catering, Party hall

availableTake Away & Home Delivery