Download - Times of Oman - November 16, 2014
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Oman’s beauty draws Indian producer
NISHAD PADIYARATH [email protected]
MUSCAT: Oman’s stunning tourism is once again in the spot-light as a top film producer, who is visiting Muscat, is on the hunt for beautiful locations in the country that could be featured in his next movie.
Speaking to Times of Oman in an interview, Ousepachan Val-akuzhy, a renowned filmmaker from Kerala, India, said he is very impressed by the beauty of Oman and has plans to feature the coun-try’s picturesque landscapes in his upcoming film, scheduled to being shooting next year.
“While I haven’t travelled around Oman, I found the city of Muscat to be quaint and charm-ing. I will come back again to talk with the authorities concerned who could give me permission to use these beautiful locales for my next project,” said Ousepachan, who is known for producing some of the biggest hits in South India, including Nokkethadhoo-rathu Kannum Nattu, Ramji Rao
Speaking and Hitler.Interestingly, Ousepachan’s
next project will be with the di-rector duo of Siddique and Lal, who are coming back to shoot a film together after 20 years of working separately.
Siddique and Lal, who created a number of hit movies, parted ways owing to reasons best known to them. While Lal went on to perform in many films as an actor, Siddique focused on direc-tion. Ousepachan, who played a key role in bringing the duo back together, said part of the film will also be shot in Qatar. “We had
been to Qatar last week and are satisfied with the facilities there,” he said.
The film, entitled King Liar and starring Dileep in the lead, will be scripted by Siddique and directed by Lal. It is touted to be a comedy and is expected to hit the screens in 2015. Expectations are run-ning high for the film since news of the reunion was announced, as the Siddique and Lal team earlier released some of the best comedy movies in Malayalam, including Ramji Rao Speaking, In Harihar Nagar, God Father, Vietnam Col-ony and Kabooliwala. >A3
L O C A T I O N H U N T I N G
REUNITED: Top film-makers of Malayalam cinema, Siddique,
Ousepachan Valakuzhi and Lal. – Supplied picture
‘Set realistic Omanisation target for contracting sector’ELHAM [email protected]
MUSCAT: The Omanisation target for the contracting sector should be set according to ground realities, said the chairman of the Oman Society of Contractors (OSC).
Dr Hamed Hashim Al Dhahab, who is also the chief executive of-
ficer of Al Watanyiah United En-gineering and Contracting Com-pany, said that he is one of the supporters of Omanisation but is against ‘ambitious’ figures.
Speaking to Times of Oman, he said that one of the challenges in the way of increasing the number of locals in the sector is the fact that the contracting sector is ‘la-
bour intensive’ and may not be at-tractive to many Omanis.
The environment for workers in this sector is tough, involves manual activities and the nature of working in this sector requires that workers shift from one place to another after the completion of each project, he said.
All this might not be construed
as ‘favourable working conditions’ by an Omani, added Al Dhahab.
In addition, the government is entitled to increasing the living standards of locals and the current salaries in this sector may not be satisfactory for Omanis, he noted.
According to him, the current Omanisation rate in this sector is 18 per cent. According to earlier
reports, the Ministry of Manpow-er had set the localisation target for the contracting sector at 30 per cent. Al Dhahab said there are certain measures that could be taken to make the sector more at-tractive but under the current cir-cumstances, a target of 25 per cent seems to be realistic and the sector is doing its best. >A3
L A B O U R I N T E N S I V E I N D U S T R Y
Oman Society of Contractors chief
Dr Hamed Hashim Al Dhahab
Buckle up your child NOW
STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT: Children in vehicles must be protected by a safety re-straint appropriate to their age, road safety experts have said on the occasion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR).
They indicated that by letting children travel in cars without proper safety precautions, par-ents and caretakers expose them daily to the risk of sudden and violent death.
The simple law of physics dic-tates that, upon impact, even at low speeds, an unsecured child will fly through the glass to certain death on the road or suffer devastating head or spinal
injuries, they said.Bernadette Bhacker-Millard,
lawyer and road safety profes-sional who founded the Salim and Salimah initiative 10 years ago to educate parents and communi-ties on the benefits of car seats for children, said, “In Oman, there is scarcely a family that has not been affected by the death of a loved one in a road accident. Approximately one in five victims is a child or a young man who has died in cars or while walking across roads. Their lives have been cut short by the negligence of a driver. Sadly, many of these deaths are preventable. Over the past 20 years, numerous countries around the world have dramatically reduced the death toll and serious injuries among
children and young people by passing and enforcing laws man-dating the use of child safety seats and seatbelts for older children.”
According to the Royal Oman Police (ROP) statistics in 2012, accidents claimed the lives of 122 children and injured 1,510, all aged between 0 and 16 years.
Latest figures from the ROP reveal that 642 people died and 7,187 were injured in 4,789 road accidents in 2014.
A, ROP official said, “World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims gives us an op-portunity to remind ourselves of the importance of practising safe habits on roads. We encourage citizens and residents to act as re-sponsible drivers and passengers. The importance of using seat belts should not be underestimated.
“We urge parents and caretak-ers to keep a watch on children behaviour in vehicles.”
He also reminded that traffic safety is now part of the private--public education activity in schools, colleges and universities.
“We are sure that it will nur-ture a generation that is aware of traffic rules and which contrib-
utes effectively to promoting road safety,” he said.
Though there is no law in place that insists on those in the back seat wear seat belt, experts say using it will make a difference.
Stressing the need for parents and caretakers to avoid high risk driving behaviour that exposes children constantly to the risk of death and injury, Bernadette said, “In a crash, a properly fitted child safety seat reduces the risk of death or injury to a baby or a small child by as much as 75 per cent.
“For an older child a seatbelt reduces the risk by more than 50 per cent. In all the cases, this is the difference between life and death.”
Corporate houses too have been stressing on the importance of buckling up.
Leanne Blanckenberg, cor-porate communications man-ager of BMW Group Middle East said, “BMW Group Middle East launched its ‘Stay Alert. Stay Alive’ road safety campaign in 2010 as part of its commitment to raise awareness on the impor-tance of wearing seatbelts.” >A3
By letting children travel in cars without
proper safety precautions, parents and
caretakers expose them daily to the risk of
sudden and violent death, experts warn
A3Loyalty march held in Darsait
OMANA taxi driver who embodies honesty
2An Omani driver has been returning lost valuables to passengers
since he got behind the wheels three decades ago. >A5
REGIONIraqi forces retake dam from rebels
3Iraqi forces have recaptured one of Iraq’s largest dams, another
success in efforts to wrest key facilities back from IS. >A7
OMANWhy Omanis quit private sector jobs
1Official statistics show that more Omanis are leaving their private sector jobs than
those who get employed, which raises a question. >A2
T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Traffic on Sultan Qaboos Road was disrupted for a long time on Saturday after a truck overturned on the stretch
of the road near Ghubra. “The accident occurred near
the Public Authority for Con-sumer Protection (PACP) and resulted in chaos on the road,” said a resident of Ghubra.
A large number of paramedics and ROP personnel were seen in the area. Residents claimed they were stuck in traffic between Ghubra roundabout and Grand Mosque for more than an hour.
Road accident triggers jam
G H U B R A
A2 S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
OMAN
Why thousands of Omanis quit jobs in private sector?
Official statistics show that more Omanis are leaving their private sector jobs than those
who get employed, which raises a question as to why a much bigger number of nationals quit their jobs than those who get into the workforce.
By September this year, 192,873 Omanis have been reg-istered as working in the private sector compared to 215,056 in the same month in 2013, accord-ing to the Ministry of Manpower statistical data.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, the Minister of Manpower, said earlier this year that 83,000 Omanis resigned from their jobs in the private sector between the period of January 2013 and May 2014. That computes to a shock-ing average of 4,882 resignations per month in 17 months. An interesting question nobody has an answer to is why thousands of Omanis resign from their private sector jobs every month?
The rate of employment is not exceptionally high considering that more than 52,000 people are looking for jobs. In the period between January and September this year, an average of 1,220 Omanis a month found jobs. It only means that fewer jobs are created while a large number of job-seekers are waiting in the wilderness of unemployment. What the statistics do not show is where the thousands of Omanis who resign every month go to? Finding the answer on why Oma-nis leave their jobs at an alarming rate is more important than to answer the question, why enough job opportunities are not created.
The question may be answered in two ways. But first let’s look at the attitudes of employers. The majority of the foreign compa-nies operating in the Sultanate view Omanisation as a way of paying back to the country for be-ing allowed to do business while Omani-owned corporate houses
employ nationals simply to fill a quota. On the other hand, some Omanis working in the private sector have a pessimistic view about their jobs. For nationals, it is not so glamorous to work in the private sector and employers exploit this attitude by simply not providing enough incentives that would make their Omani employees stay.
Too many Omanis are working at the minimum wage (about 40 per cent) when inflation is climb-ing higher all the time. A number of them are expected to work in the areas which are not in their competence level when they should have training to make them competent. They also get unrealistic targets to complete their tasks. This is especially true in marketing and retail sectors.
But not the entire blame is on employers. Omanis have their share of blame as well for not being patient enough to stay in their jobs. The government, on the other hand, needs to take re-sponsibility for putting too much pressure on private companies to employ an unrealistic number of Omanis who don’t have enough qualifications to fulfil the professional requirements of the employers.
For the Ministry of Manpower to get a true picture of the level of the problem the country is facing, it must contact as many Omanis who are quitting the private sec-tor and learn from their experi-ence instead of accepting the private sector’s word that they are simply ‘lazy’ or ‘uncoopera-tive.’ This way, the authorities can get both sides of the story that would help to find a new way to compromise and satisfy both parties. Also, the Ministry of Manpower should not work in isolation but collaborate closely with the Ministry of Education to introduce a vocational training programme at schools to prepare students for employment skills. Without any doubt, corrective measures must be made to boost Omanisation. But the process of Omanisation is not just to find an Omani national a job but it is about staff retention and career progression as well.
Young Omanis need to work on their attitude and employers on incentive giving. To take it a step further, the government, perhaps, needs to consider introducing na-tional service. It will give young people discipline which some of them lack now. The military workout they would receive in this important exercise includes training in various trades and crafts that would make them at-tractive to the private sector. For those who are already working, military training will give them focus and a new job perception to further their careers. [email protected]
COMMENTARY
SALEH AL SHAIBANY
SUNDAYBEAT
H AV E YOU R SAY AT T W I T T E R.CO M /T I M ES O F O M A N O R S CA N T H E CO D E TO I N STA N T LY P O ST YOU R T H O U G H TS .
The process of Omanisation is not just to find an Omani national a job but it is about staff retention and career progression
83,000 Omanis resigned from their jobs in the private sector between the period of January 2013 and May 2014Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower
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OMANS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
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LOYALTY MARCHCitizens and residents organised a loyalty march at Darsait in Muscat on Saturday to show their loyalty to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, ahead of the National Day, which is celebrated on November 18 every year. Photo—Purhushothaman/Times of Oman
Remembering road victims“WDR provides us with a great opportunity to reinforce this messaging in line with such a credible global awareness day,” says the manager.
The automotive manufactur-er’s road safety campaign puts the following questions to drivers and urges them to buckle up: Do you buckle up as soon as you get in the car? Do you insist that your pas-sengers wear a seatbelt? Do your children have the right car seat safety restraints for their weight and age?
The World Day of Remem-brance for Road Traffic Victims is commemorated on the third Sun-
day of November each year – to re-member the many millions killed and injured on the world’s roads.
Bernadette says, “WDR is a day when we pause to reflect on the millions who have lost their lives in road accidents around the world and others who have often suffered life-long injury. “We also remem-ber those most profoundly affected by the loss of a loved one, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, broth-ers and sisters as well as men and women of the emergency services and medical staff who care for the dying and those suffering most grievous injuries.
She feels that today we should
also take a road safety resolve. “Regardless of the challenges, and there are many, decision makers in every field in Oman, whether in government or private sector, health, education, economy, fi-nance or corporate should commit resources to driving and this is-sue must be at the top of the road safety agenda.
“To reverse the trend of death and injury we need a collaborative effort on the part of government, private sector and NGOs to intro-duce laws and best standards of protection for all of Oman’s chil-dren in their daily journeys on the nation’s roads,” Bernadette says.
S A F E T Y F I R S T
< FROM
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Siddique, Lal to visit OmanExplaining how he convinced the two directors to reunite, Ousepachan, who produced their first film, Ram Ramji Rao Speak-ing in 1989, said, “I have known both of them since their initial days and I wanted them to come together for the sake of the indus-try. Both Siddique and Lal are not what they were 20 years back and both are very busy in their respec-tive fields. I made up my mind and first met Siddique, who thought for a while and agreed. I then met Lal, who gave a patient hearing to the idea and asked for two days to
ponder, after which he gave the green signal. We then sat to think over a subject that should entertain the audience.”
Speaking to Times of Oman over phone from India, Siddique, who proved his versatility, by entering the coveted Rs 1 billion club with the Salman Khan film Bodyguard, said the duo may come to Oman to explore locations.
“Both of us are busy with our own commitments. Soon after we may look to visit Muscat,” he stat-ed. On reuniting with his friend Lal after two decades, Siddique
hoped to recreate the old magic. “My only request to the fans is to judge us by the movies we did to-gether and not on the basis of this comeback. We are working hard to give the audience the best from us,” he added.
Lal, who won critical acclaim for his acting prowess, said although they had parted ways, their friend-ship remains intact. “We may not have worked together for long, but we meet and talk to each other frequently. It’s just that we are get-ting back professionally, after 20 years,” Lal noted.
S H O O T I N G I N O M A N
< FROM
A1Upgrade technology
Even now, most of the Oma-nis working in this sector are not doing manual jobs and are employed in other posi-tions, he added.
Al Dhahab noted that the infusion of technology in the execution of projects can make the sector more com-petitive and more attrac-tive for Omanis as the use of modern methods and equip-ment requires higher level of skills which would trans-late into higher salaries.
The realisation of this goal requires the collective effort of policy makers.
C O N T R A C T I N G S E C T O R
< FROM
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National Day Race CupTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Royal Horse Rac-ing Club will organise the 44th National Day Race Cup, which is the fourth race of the current season, at 2pm at Rahbah Farm Racecourse, in the Wilayat of Barka.
It will be held under the auspices of Sheikh Said bin Hilal Al Khalili, Head of Plan-ning and Human Resources Affairs at Royal Court Affairs.
R O Y A L H O R S E R A C I N G C L U B
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A4 S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
OMAN 60young Omanis will hone their business skills at the Boot Camp, which coincides Global Entrepreneurship Week
Italian handbags that have Omani designs
ELHAM [email protected]
MUSCAT: For many women, love for accessories only leads to shopping for them, but for Sara Al Zadjali, an Omani creative direc-tor and designer, passion for vin-tage fashion is something to be both indulged in and turned into a business.
A banker by profession, Sara used to sketch handbags while she was in high school. Her grow-ing passion and skills brought her closer to realising her dream when she sketched a handbag she wanted to design on a weekend in London in 2010, where she was pursuing her Master’s.
Her ambitions finally material-
ised in February 2014, when her design turned to reality.
On Wednesday, she launched the first collection of her Italian made handbags, ‘Abeey Collection’, at Boutique Muscat at Jawharat Al Shatti, in the presence of the com-mercial attaché of the Italian Em-bassy, Maria M. Di Gaeta.
“I chose Italy because I consider
it a country of fashion where most of the big brands come from. They totally understood what I want-ed,” said Sara, whose handbags sport ‘unique’ shapes such as an oval, which are not seen much in the market.
Omani patterns Speaking to Times of Oman, Sara said that her handbags are crafted from materials such as leather and pony hair and she is considering infusing Omani patterns into her next designs.
Sara plans to venture into de-signing shoes and wallets as well in the future and is looking forward to a day when her designs can be turned into fine products here in Oman with the same quality. Now, she has to go to Italy whenever she wants to see a sample of her work.
The commercial attaché of the Italian Embassy hailed Sara’s work, saying, “I am very pleased to see this beautiful collection, a combination of Omani design and Italian production, which shows the collaboration between Italy and Oman.”
Italy has a long and rich history in designing and manufacturing of a wide range of products that include clothing, cars, furniture and machinery, the official told Times of Oman.
Sara Al Zadjali’s
ambitions
materialised when
her design turned
to reality. She now
plans to venture into
designing shoes and
wallets as well
UNIQUE COLLECTION: Sara Al Zadjali, an Omani creative director and designer, launched the first collection of her Italian made handbags, ‘Abeey Collection’.– Photos and videos: Shabin E/TIMES OF OMAN
Boot camp seeks to support young entrepreneurs
Times News Service
MUSCAT: A group of 60 young Omanis will take part in the En-trepreneurs Boot Camp hosted by the National Business Centre (NBC), which kicks off on Sun-day at the Knowledge Oasis Mus-cat (KOM) under the patronage of Ahmed bin Hassan Al Dheeb, undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The camp, which is being held in conjunction with Global En-trepreneurship Week, would continue until November 20. It is being organised in coopera-tion with Oasis 500, which is rec-ognised globally for conducting specialised training boot camps for budding entrepreneurs.
Malak Al Shaibani, director general of NBC, stressed that the boot camp seeks to assist entre-preneurs to become acquainted with the role played by marketing in achieving the overall objec-tives of their emerging compa-nies, as well as learn to develop and employ a marketing strat-egy equipped with effective tech-niques, tools, and expertise. The boot camp will also touch upon branding concepts, innovation, and creative thinking, in addition to different case studies.
The boot camp has gained support from many sponsors,
including BP Oman, ITA, Jusoor, Orpic, Oman Oil, Omran, Oman-tel, PASMED, Sohar Aluminium, Zeenah Group, Oman LNG, and Times of Oman.
Ali bin Saleh Al Hashar, CEO of Jusoor, said, “Through our par-ticipation, we aim at boosting ties between the private and public sectors in youth-related subjects. We hope that the training boot camp will produce ground break-ing ideas from the participating entrepreneurs and witness these ideas become a reality.”
Abdullah Al Farsi of Orpic said that its contribution with Jusoor, as a sponsor for the training boot camp, supports this pioneering field in Oman in order to create an inspiring generation in this arena. “The company undertakes continuous efforts to support the SMEs in the Sultanate. We are confident that talented Omani men and women are capable to compete internationally in the field of entrepreneurship,” Al Farsi pointed out.
Abdul Wahid Al Farsi, acting Chief Communications Officer at Omran, emphasised that Om-ran’s support aims at fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and support owners of SMEs, as well as providing advice and guidance to entrepreneurs, especially in establishing tourism projects.
B U S I N E S S I N N O V A T I O N
The boot camp seeks to assist entrepreneurs to become acquainted with the role played by marketing in achieving the overall objectives
Malak Al ShaibaniDirector general of NBC
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Two ships visit Salalah port
SALALAH: The Port of Sala-lah received this weekend, two cruise ships Star Pride carrying 255 passengers, and Voyager with 636 passengers on board.
These tourists will also visit other ports of the Sultanate, including the governorates of Muscat and Musandam during their cruise tour.
The programme for the pas-sengers included tours to the archaeological and historical monuments in the Governorate of Dhofar like incense trees in Wadi Adonab, Al Baleed Ar-chaeological Park, Museum of Frankincense Land, Taqah Fort, as well as visiting the beaches and traditional markets in the Wilayat of Salalah. –ONA
T O U R I S T F L O W
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OMANS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 1 4
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Taxi driver who sums up honesty
ELHAM POURMOHAMMADI [email protected]
MUSCAT: In what can be a good example for other taxi drivers to follow, an Omani driver has been returning lost valuables to pas-sengers since he got behind the wheels three decades ago.
Saeed has been working as a taxi driver since 1985 and despite facing hardships at times in life he has never been tempted to keep the valuables that passengers for-get in his car.
Jewellery worth OMR3,000, several mobile phones, OMR400 in cash, and wallets with cash and credit cards inside them are among the things that he has re-turned to passengers, sometimes after spending a long time to find them. He has never accepted any-thing in return.
“I think if you bring in dirty money for your family, you will have to pay it back, even more than that, in another way in your life,” said Saeed, who asked to be identified only by his first name.
Saeed, who speaks English and Hindi fluently, believes the impression that foreign visitors
get from taxi drivers is really im-portant as they are among the first people visitors interact with when they enter the country.
The passengers using Saeed’s services describe him as ‘punctu-al’, ‘respectful’, ‘fair’ and ‘welcom-ing’, saying that his car is always clean and smells good.
“There are many people who call me during the day and are ready to wait if I am busy instead of hiring another taxi. It is not because I am a very good person. I think this is the way every taxi driver should be.”
The image mattersHe said that he feels ashamed of drivers who rip off foreign visi-tors and perhaps, mistreat them. “I have seen many taxi drivers overcharging passengers. It is not good for the image of the coun-try. The tourists will go back and tell others about their experience with Omani drivers.”
While appreciating the pro-gress of the country in different areas, Saeed is also displeased with some issues that he faces on a regular basis.
For example, he said that some-
times he sees private cars func-tioning as school buses and carry-ing more school children than the car can accommodate.
“Once I saw 12 school children coming out of a small car in front of a school. What will happen to them if there is an accident?”
Road chaosSaeed is also fed up with the large number of cars in Muscat, care-less drivers, traffic, prolonged and poorly executed construction projects blocking the way, and lack of police on the roads when their presence is required.
“Also, there are people who have more than one job and still work as taxi drivers. I know peo-ple who just spend a few hours at work and then drive a taxi, or re-port sick and work as taxi drivers when they should be in office.”
Saeed also believes that some form of social support should be provided to taxi drivers by the government, as many are strug-gling to earn a living.
“You can see that some taxi drivers are too old. But what else can they do? They need to earn money for their family,” he said.
Saeed has been
working as a taxi
driver since 1985
and despite facing
hardships at times,
he has never ever
kept valuables that
passengers forget in
his car
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OMANS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
Quality-composition and packaging have
always been a problem for Omani dates to
compete in the international market
Sultan Qaboos University research team
Quriyat’s Al Sayra Tower combines Oman’s heritage with present
QURIYAT: Off the beach in the Wilayat of Quriyat, atop a rocky bump and surrounded by water on all sides, stands the historic Al Sayra Tower.
The location of the tower, in Al Sahel village, attracts visitors and speaks volumes about the ancient Omani civilisation. The construc-tion of the tower reflects the im-portance of such ancient towers in monitoring and controlling ma-rine tracks and ships that now pass the wilayat, and used to earlier stop at Quriyat port.
Al Sayra Tower’s strategic loca-tion also gives the wilayat a his-torical significance.
Sources indicated that the tower was built in the era of Imam Nasir bin Murshid Al Y’arubi. The maps
of the region indicate that the tow-er which had been existence much earlier, had been restored or re-built in the reign of Sultan Timour bin Faisal Al Busaidi in 1333AH /1914. It was also restored in 1995 in the reign of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, and coincided with the establishment of the fish-ing harbour in the wilayat.
Today, Al Sayra Tower, apart from being an important historical landmark, also reflects the beauty of the brilliant Omani architec-ture. It attracts domestic and for-eign tourists and visitors through-out the year.
There is a parking and resting area close to the tower along with the umbrellas and seats along the shoreline next to the tower.
O M A N ’ S H E R I T A G E
SQU’s date research bags national award
MUSCAT: Five researchers from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) have won the National Research Award (environmental and bio-logical resources category) for the year 2014, instituted by the Research Council (TRC) for a research paper on detecting sur-face cracks on dates using colour imaging techniques.
The researchers are Sawsana Al Rahbi, a PhD student in the Department of Soils, Water & Ag-ricultural Engineering (SWAE), Dr Manickavasagan Annamalai, assistant professor, SWAE, Dr Rashid Al Yahyai, associate pro-fessor, Crop Sciences Depart-ment, Dr Pulathisi Mahinda Alahakoon, post-doctoral fel-low, SWAE, and Dr Lazhar Khr-iji, associate professor, Depart-ment of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The paper titled ‘Detecting Surface Cracks on Dates Using Colour Imaging Technique’, was based on the outcomes of a TRC-funded research ‘Development of Computer Vision Technology for Quality Assessment of Dates in Oman’, led by Dr Manick-avasagan Annamalai.
The research explores the po-tential of using computer vision
(CV) technology as an alternative for a visual inspection method of quality assessment. In the CV method, various cameras are used to take images of the products and characterise their qualities (in-ternal and external).
This method is being used for various quality measurements with acceptable accuracy in de-veloped countries. “In spite of higher production of dates in Oman, the average annual export is only 2.5 to 3.5 per cent of the total production. Quality-compo-sition and packaging have always been a problem for Omani dates to compete in the international mar-ket,” said the researchers.
Dr Manickavsagan said that manual grading is generally fol-lowed in date factories in Oman. Visual inspection or manual grad-ing has many constraints such as subjectivity (personal percep-tion), influence of mental stress, influence of environment (light-ings) and efficiency of individu-als at various times of the shift among others. “In many devel-oped countries, the food sector is one of the top ten industries using CV technology. In our work we determined the efficiency of a CV system with the RGB colour cam-era in determining the surface quality (surface crack) of dates. A surface crack is a type of defect which depreciates date quality. In the current manual inspection, there is no standard method to estimate the extent of spread of these cracks on dates, or their per-centage cover, he said.
MUSCAT: The first phase of the graduation ceremony of the 25th batch of stu-dents of the Sultan Qaboos University will be held on Sunday, under the patron-age of Dr. Mohammed Al Zubair bin Ali, adviser for economic planning affairs to His Majesty.
Dr Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, vice chancellor of Sultan Qaboos University, has congratulated the graduat-ing students on the occasion and hoped that the new batch of graduates, like their predecessors, will contribute significantly to the exercise of nation building.
Commenting on the quality of the academic programmes at SQU, the vice chancellor said that many of them are subject to periodic academic accreditation by reputed international bodies.
“All the undergraduate programmes of the college of Engineering are accredited for the second consecu-tive term by the US-based ABET Inc. (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.). The basic MD programme offered by the College of Medicine and
Health Sciences has been accredited by the Associa-tion for Medical Education in the Eastern Mediterra-nean Region (AMEEMR) in association with the World Federation for Medical Edu-cation (WFME),” he said.
Six undergraduate pro-grammes from the College of Education, and chemistry, geology and geophysics pro-grammes from the College of Science, have received na-tional recognition from the USA. The Tourism degree of-fered by the College of Arts & Social Sciences is UNWTO TedQual certified.
Speaking on infrastructure development at the univer-sity, Dr Al Bimani said that several new buildings have come up on campus within the last two years. “The new buildings for the proposed National Centre Blood Hereditary Diseases and Bone Marrow Trans-plant, Radiology block at SQU Hospital, and the College of Education Annex are nearing completion. Administration Annexe and College of Science laboratory block have been commis-sioned of late.
SQU graduation meet today
MAJOR LAND- MARK: The SQU team which won the national research
award for colour imaging technique on dates .–Supplied photo
Man falls in Wadi Bani Khalid pit; dies on way to hospitalTimes News Service
MUSCAT: One person drowned in one of the pits formed in Wadi Bani Khalid on Saturday.
Local citizens managed to rescue the victim but he died on the way to the Bidyah hospi-tal, said an official at the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA).
The official added that at-tempts by PACDA personnel to resurrect the victim failed.
In another incident, PACDA personnel doused a fire which gutted a house in the wilayat of Bausher on Saturday morning. Eight members of a family sus-tained light to medium injuries while another sustained serious injuries, said a PACDA official. Four ambulances and fire en-gines rushed to the spot to help the victims and control the fire.
A C C I D E N T
The research explores
the potential of using
computer vision
(CV) technology as
an alternative for a
visual inspection
method of quality
assessment
Al Sayra Tower’s strategic location gives the wilayat a historical significance. Apart from being an important historical landmark, also reflects the beauty of Omani architecture
A7
REGIONS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 1 4
130km is the distance of Adhaim dam, form Baghdad. It has a width of 3,800 metres.
Iraqi forces retake one of country’s largest dams
ADHAIM DAM (IRAQ): Iraqi forces and majority sect militia-men have recaptured one of Iraq’s largest dams, another success in Baghdad’s efforts to wrest key fa-cilities back from the IS group. Pro-government forces ousted IS extremists from control of Ad-haim dam, which forms a lake that marks the border between the eastern provinces of Diyala and Salaheddin, earlier this week.
Commanders from the army and the Majority sect Badr militia
that jointly led the operation told an AFP journalist who visited the site on Friday that IS pulled out after a brief battle two days earlier.
“Thanks to the mujahedeen of the army and Badr, we have taken control of the site and have cleared it completely,” said Badr com-mander Kadhem Husseinawi. Ali Hussein, a soldier with the 5th Brigade, said the fighting only
lasted a few hours but that it would take some time to defuse all the booby-traps left behind.
Most of the dam’s vital infra-structure was intact, as was the administrative headquarters, but some of the staff lodgings that IS fighters had occupied were destroyed.
In the back yard of one of those houses, in a bunker the
IS used to store food and am-munition, Badr fighters wearing their trademark green bandanas flashed victory signs.
The pro-government forces seized at least 10 vehicles, includ-ing Humvees and armoured per-sonnel carriers, and destroyed four others during the operation, which involved mortar fire and strikes by helicopters and jet fighters.
Headless body One soldier said the operation be-gan with the capture from IS of two of the four mainly minority sect villages near the dam, with the other two being seized afterwards.
Ground troops advanced by communicating to helicopters the coordinates of suspected bombs planted on the road, which were fired on and detonated to clear the way for the forces.
The bodies of at least eight ex-tremists were still visible near the shores of the lake, including one whose head was missing.
Former minister Hadi Al Ameri, who commanded the Badr forces in Adhaim on Wednesday, claims that IS sometimes decapitates its own dead before pulling out of an area to prevent their identification.
Husseinawi showed a ware-house IS had used as a workshop
to rig vehicles with explosives for car bomb attacks.
One suicide bomber detonated a Humvee during the fighting on Wednesday, killing three soldiers, including a colonel, he said.
Adhaim dam, located about 130 kilometres (85 miles) northeast of Baghdad, has a width of 3,800 me-tres (2.4 miles).
Construction of the dam began in 1989 to provide hydroelectric power, as well as flood control and irrigation. However, work was never completed, and no electric-ity has ever been generated there.
A main focus for the govern-ment since it lost swathes of land in a bruising June offensive by the extremists has been to re-take or protect the country’s most vital facilities.
On Saturday, pro-govern-ment forces broke a months-old siege on Iraq’s largest oil refinery near Baiji.
And in August, Kurdish and federal troops backed by US air strikes retook Mosul dam, the country’s largest, in the north.
Significant Iraqi and foreign resources have been poured into retaining control of Haditha dam, one of the last areas still under government control in the western province of Anbar. -AFP
Commanders from
the army and Badr
militia that jointly
led the operation
said that the IS group
pulled out after a
brief battle two days
earlier
UAE lists Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groupDUBAI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has formally designated the Muslim Broth-erhood and local affiliates as terrorist groups, state news agency WAM reported on Sat-urday citing a cabinet decree.
It has also designated Nusra Front and the IS, whose fight-ers are battling Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, as terrorist or-ganisations, along with other mi-nority sect militant groups such as the Houthi movement in Yemen.
Similar move Saturday’s move echoes a similar move by Saudi Arabia in March.
The UAE has designated Al Islah group, which is a lo-cal extremist group banned in the UAE, for its alleged link to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, as a terrorist group.
UAE authorities have cracked down on members of Al Is-lah and jailed scores of those convicted of forming an illegal branch of the Brotherhood.
Al Islah denies any such link, but says it shares some of the Brotherhood’s ideology.-Reuters
W A M R E P O R T
Iran nuclear deal possible, says RussiaBRISBANE: A deal could be reached this month between world powers and Iran on curbing the country’s nuclear programme if there is the will in Washington and Tehran, a senior Russian diplomat said on Saturday.
In Australia for a meeting of the G20 major and develop-ing economies, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters six world powers and Iran had never been so close to an agreement and it could be reached by a November 24 deadline. “Therefore, from (November) 18 to 24 there is enough time for such decisions to be taken,” he said. -Reuters
D I P L O M A C Y
IN CONTROL: Iraqi federal troops and members of their Kurdish and majority sect militia allies stand next to Adhaim dam after reportedly recapturing the dam from IS group militants in Diyala province, which borders Iran and is strategically important since it is a gateway to Baghdad, on Friday. -AFP
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INDIAS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
Repatriation of black money is priority for Government: Modi
BRISBANE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday une-quivocally said that repatriation of black money kept abroad is a “pri-ority” for his government, as he sought close global coordination to achieve this objective.
Raising the black money issue at an informal meeting of lead-ers of the five-nation Brics bloc, Modi set the tone on this key issue ahead of the G20 summit in the wake of his commitment to bring back every penny of black money stashed abroad.
“Repatriation of black money kept abroad is a key priority for us,” Modi told the Brics leaders.
CoordinationCalling for close coordination on the issue of black money kept abroad, Modi also said this unac-counted money is also linked to security challenges.
As India makes attempts to re-trieve the black money, the prime minister has already made it clear
that close cooperation to retrieve the black money from abroad is a key issue for him.
The G20 host Australia Friday vowed a “very aggressive” crack-down on tax avoidance.
India is also seeking strong ac-tion by the Group of 20 industri-alised and emerging economies against tax havens.
“A key issue for me would be to highlight the importance of inter-national cooperation against black
money,” Modi had said, as he is set to renew the country’s commit-ment at the G20 summit to a global response to deal with cross border tax avoidance and evasion.
India is also expected to urge the G20 to pressure tax havens into revealing more information on black money from India to help retrieve this illegal money.
Meanwhile, making a strong pitch for speeding up the crea-tion of a Brics development bank,
Modi on Saturday said India hopes to ratify the agreement over the financial institution by year-end and 2016 should be set as the tar-get for its inauguration.
“The historic sixth Brics Sum-mit in Fortaleza delivered — the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.
These signal our collective ca-pacities to create and manage global institutions,” Modi said at an informal meeting of leaders of the five-nation Brics bloc here.
Proposal“We propose that we should set the target of 2016 for inaugura-tion of this Bank. We hope to ratify the agreement by the end of the year. We would soon nominate our candidate for the post of the Presidency,” Modi said, making a strong pitch for the early opera-tionalisation of the bank.
India will hold the Presidency of the $100 billion New Development Bank for the first six years.
The bank will be based in Shang-hai, China’s financial hub.
India’s presidency will be fol-lowed by Brazil and Russia who will have five years term each un-der an agreement reached after in-tense negotiations among the five country-grouping BRICS -- Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa. The decision to set up the bank and a $100 billion Currency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) that will help countries to deal with short-term liquidity pressures, was made at the 6th BRICS Sum-mit held in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in July.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African Pres-ident President Jacob Zuma at-tended the informal meeting along with Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit here.
Modi said that the bank and the CRA can be effective in promot-ing sustainable development and bridge infrastructure gaps.
“These measures send a strong message to the rest of the world about the efficacy of Brics,” he said in his speech.
“We can be more aligned to local conditions and requirements. We should focus on next generation in-frastructure. We can promote new models of governance and financ-ing, while maintaining the highest banking standards,” Modi said.
“We should also make it more participatory. We need to work towards their early implementa-tion,” he said. - PTI
Calling for close
coordination on
the issue of black
money kept abroad,
Modi also said this
unaccounted money
is also linked to
security challenges
REITERATING COMMITMENT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an informal Brics meeting ahead of
the G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday. - PTI
Rahul demands probe into sterilisation deathsBILASPUR: Opposition Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhi de-manded on Saturday a “thorough probe” into the deaths of 13 wom-en undergoing sterilisation sur-gery as local media alleged the vic-tims were treated with antibiotics contaminated with rat poison.
Police announced on Friday the arrests of the head of a drug manufacturing company and his son on suspicion of destroying ev-idence in the cases of the women who died in central India after the sterilisation operations.
“This isn’t just a case of negli-gence but a case of corruption, of fake drugs which is the respon-sibility of the government,” said Rahul, whose Congress party suf-fered a crushing defeat in recent national elections.
Counterfeit or adulterated medicines are a significant health problem in the country, as well as for buyers of India’s drugs abroad, with the World Health Organisa-
tion calculating as many as one in five drugs made in India might be spurious.
“The first thing that needs to be done is a thorough probe of what
happened here,” Rahul added in televised remarks in the district of Bilaspur in central Chhattisgarh state where the deaths occurred.
The Hindustan Times daily reported an analysis of the anti-biotic, ciprofloxacin, given to the women found it had been adulter-ated with zinc phosphide, a chem-ical used in rat poison.
The deaths have triggered wide-spread criticism of government-run schemes offering poor women cash incentives to be sterilised, in what activists say are often hor-rifying assembly-line conditions. Police arrested the plant head and his son after raiding their drugs factory, Mahawar Pharma, in Chhattisgarh, where dozens more women were still in hospital after undergoing surgery. - AFP
B O T C H E D O P E R A T I O N S
Order on children sweeping streets challenged
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has refused to entertain a public interest litigation which challenged a government circular sent to schools and colleges ask-ing children to participate in Swa-cha Bharat Abhiyan (cleanliness campaign), initiated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sweep the streets of the country.
According to petitioner, M V Holamagi, a city-based lawyer, a circular had been issued asking
the children to sweep the streets for seven days from November 14.
He said this was illegal and not justified and was being done by political leaders to use children for their own interests. A bench of Justice Anoop Mohota and Nitin Jamdar pulled up the petitioner on Friday for not enclosing the circular with the petition.
‘Come fully prepared’“You must come fully prepared to
the court when the PIL is heard,” said the Judges and asked the pe-titioner to locate the circular and attach a copy thereof to the PIL.
Circular The petitioner had prayed that pending the hearing and final dis-posal of the PIL, the court may de-clare the impugned circular, ask-ing children to participate in the Swacha Bharat Abhiyan, as illegal and set aside the same. - PTI
S W A C H A B H A R A T A B H I Y A N
TALKING TOUGH: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi speaks
at the 125th birth anniversary function of Jawahar Lal Nehru at
Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, on Thursday. - PTI
We propose that we should set the target of 2016 for inauguration
of this bank. We hope to ratify the agreement by the end of the year.
We would soon nominate our candidate for the post of the presidency
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
A9
INDIAS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 1 4
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Government to increase compensation for Bhopal gas victimsNEW DELHI: India’s govern-ment has promised to increase compensation for Bhopal gas dis-aster victims as the 30th anniver-sary of the tragedy looms, Amnesty International said on Saturday.
The pledge was given by Chem-icals Minister Ananth Kumar late on Friday in New Delhi to dem-onstrators demanding higher compensation for victims, the
rights group said in statement. Thousands of people were killed when 40 tonnes of lethal me-thyl isocyanate gas spewed from the Union Carbide chemi-cal plant in the central city of Bhopal on December 2, 1984.
The long-term impact of tox-ins released after the gas leak led to a string of diseases, which the the state-run Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) said had killed 25,000 people by 1994. Amnesty called the Indian govern-ment’s enhanced compensation commitment a “major victory” for survivors. “India’s government has agreed to increase a multi-million dollar compensation claim against Union Carbide over the 1984 gas leak... which poisoned more than half a million people,” the London-
based organisation said. The group gave no details about the higher compensation, and the Indian government was not immediately available to comment.
But Amnesty said it welcomed the “important move” and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “ensure the government’s pledge is honoured”.
According to Indian official fig-
ures, 3,500 people died within days of the accident. But the ICMR later estimated the immediate number of deaths at 8,000 to 10,000.
Survivors and their children say they are still afflicted by can-cer, vision problems, fatigue, heart disease and other ailments. Indian authorities blamed the gas leak on design and maintenance problems but Union Carbide attributed it to
employee sabotage. In 2012, the Indian government filed a Supreme Court petition asking for higher compensation from the company, which was set at $470-million in a settlement reached in 1989.
Dow Chemical which bought Union Carbide after the disaster, insists that all of the company’s liabilities were covered in a 1989 agreement. - AFP
TRAGEDY
Now, lodge your FIR from kiosks
AFTAB H. KOLAOur Correspondent
BANGALORE: Now a resident of the southern Indian city of Bangalore does not have to go to a police station and file a complaint.
The city, which is known for lev-eraging technology to tackle law and enforcement issues in the city since 2007, got India’s first remote First Information Report regis-tration system in collaboration with IT networking giant Cisco.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dedicated the country’s first Remote Expert Government Services (REGS) to help aggrieved citizens lodge complaints against crimes using remote FIR registration kiosks.
REGS is part of Cisco’s
Smart+Connected Communities solutions portfolio. The pioneer-ing technology offers a new way for government services to be de-livered and how citizens interact with various government depart-ments and officials, in a truly im-mersive, collaborative experience.
The first such kiosk has come up at Mantri Square mall in Malleswaram and similar ki-osks will be rolled out in other parts of the city.
Exuding confidence, the chief minister said, “We hope it will be a huge success. Karnataka has been at the forefront of technol-ogy adoption with respect to pub-lic service delivery and REGS is another step in that direction. The solution from Cisco will make it easy for citizens to lodge
complaints. The initiative will help improve the citizen-police relationship in the State.”
CollaborationEquipped with a Cisco TelePres-ence system with high-definition video and high-quality audio, a touch screen, virtual keyboard and Cisco collaboration technol-ogy, the kiosk will allow citizens to launch a live collaboration session with a designated po-lice officer based at the Traffic Management Centre.
The complainant can sign, print and scan documents vir-tually as part of the experience. They will also get an opportunity to review the complaint with an expert, thus ensuring that the FIR filed is error-free. Once the FIR is filed, the citizen will receive a print copy of the FIR as an instant acknowledgement.
The kiosk will be accessible 24X7, from where citizens may interact face to face with a remote investigation officer to expedite the entire process of filing an FIR.
The kiosk will serve as the cen-tral location for FIRs related to 105 law and order police stations and 42 traffic police stations of the city. A citizen need not neces-sarily visit any police station to lodge an FIR.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
dedicated the country’s first Remote Expert
Government Services (REGS) to help
aggrieved citizens lodge complaints against
crimes using remote FIR registration kiosks
A10
PAKISTAN S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
‘3 days of talks end 13 years of differences’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan pledged to begin a new era of economic coopera-tion on Saturday, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani saying three days of talks had ended 13 years of differences.
Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said col-laboration on economic and en-ergy issues would form the basis of better security in the troubled region as US-led Nato combat troops leave Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting the Taliban.
Testy relationsThe two countries have long en-dured testy relations, with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai
regularly accusing Pakistan of supporting Taliban insurgents trying to overthrow his regime.
Pakistan has accused Kabul of not doing enough to shut down bases on its soil for militants at-tacking Pakistani targets.
The fact that Ghani chose to make Islamabad the destination for his first bilateral visit since taking power in September is seen as an important sign of wanting to improve ties.
The former World Bank econ-omist arrived in Islamabad on Friday but aides had begun nego-tiations with Pakistani officials a day earlier.
After talks between Ghani and Sharif on Saturday, the two sides’ finance ministers signed a deal aimed at more than doubling trade between the two countries
to $5 billion by 2017, as well as simplifying customs protocols.
“I want to welcome the enor-mous steps that have been taken in the last three days to achieve progress on the economy,” Ghani said at a joint news conference with Sharif afterwards.
“We have overcome obstacles of 13 years in three days,” he said in an apparent dig at the troubles of the Karzai era.
Election battle The Afghan leader, who took the presidency in a power-sharing government after a protracted and bitter election battle against rival Abdullah Abdullah, said cooperation on gas and energy projects would be key.
“What we have agreed on is a shared vision where Pakistan
and Afghanistan would serve as the heart of Asia to ensure that economic integration in Asia be-comes a reality,” he said.
The two sides plan to work to-gether on the CASA-1000 elec-tricity line and the ambitious $7.6 billion dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistani-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
The 1,800-kilometre TAPI pro-ject aims to link the gas fields of Central Asia to energy-hungry markets in Pakistan and India, with international giants Exx-onMobil, Chevron, Petronas, BP and Total all interested, according to sources.
“Today we have taken funda-mental steps to ensure that South Asia connects with Central Asia and Central Asia connects to South Asia,” Ghani said. — AFP
Ghani and Sharif
said collaboration
on economic and
energy issues would
form the basis of
better security in
the troubled region
as US-led Nato
combat troops leave
Afghanistan after
more than a decade
I want to welcome the enormous steps that have been taken in the last three days to achieve progress on the economy
Ashraf GhaniAfghanistan president
TROUBLED TIMESInternally displaced residents of Bara, a town of the
Khyber Agency who have fled the military operation
against Taliban militants, arrive at a registration point
in Peshawar on Friday. Taliban on Saturday clashed
with government-backed tribal militia in Pakistan’s
restive northwest near the Afghan border, killing five
militants, officials said. The incident occurred in Speena
Danda area of Khyber tribal district. ‘Five Taliban were
killed and seven anti-Taliban militia members received
injuries in a clash with pakistani Taliban and their sup-
porters,’ a local administration official said. Intelligence
officials confirmed the incident and causalities. — AFP
The two sides plan to work together on the
CASA-1000 electricity line and the ambitious
$7.6 billion dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistani-India (TAPI) gas pipeline
A11
WORLDS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 1 4
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NO LIMITS STUNT SHOWFreestyle stunt rider Jason Britton performs during the No Limits Stunt Show at the Progressive International Motorcycle
Show in Long Beach, California on Friday. The three-day event showcases more than 20 major motorcycle manufacturers as
well as custom bike builders and stunt shows. — AFP
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‘Ebola outbreak in Congo is over’KINSHASA: Democratic Repub-lic of Congo declared its three-month Ebola outbreak officially over on Saturday after 42 days without recording a new case of the disease.
Congo’s outbreak, which killed 49 of the 66 people infected in the remote northwestern Equa-teur province, is unrelated to the outbreak in West Africa, where at least 5,177 people are known to have died in the worst Ebola out-break on record.
“No new cases have been reg-istered since October 4,” Health Minister Felix Kabange told re-porters in Kinshasa.
“After 42 days of active search-ing, the government declaresthe end of the outbreak of the Ebola virus,” he added. Forty-two days is the internationally-accepted pe-riod for declaring Ebola over as it represents two full cycles of the maximum possible incubation period of the disease.
Congo acted swiftly to contain
the outbreak, partly as a result of having already faced six previ-ous outbreaks since the disease was first identified in the former Belgian colony in 1976.
West AfricaUnlike West Africa, where the dis-ease spread across most of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, reach-ing densely populated capital cit-ies, the epicentre of Congo’s out-break was in northwestern forests with little access. — Reuters
No new cases have
been registered
since October 4,
Health Minister
Felix Kabange told
reporters in Kinshasa
Thousands protest Georgian regime’s pro-Russia stanceTBILISI: Over 30,000 opposi-tion supporters rallied on Satur-day in the Georgian capital Tbilisi against the government’s Russia policy and the Kremlin’s backing of separatists in the breakaway Ab-khazia and South Ossetia regions.
Carrying Georgian and Ukrain-ian flags and placards that read “Stop Putin!”, the protesters gathered on the city’s main thor-oughfare, following the call of the former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement party (UNM).
Saakashvili addressed the rally by video link from Kiev as the cheering crowd chanted his name.
“Let’s show Georgia’s gov-ernment that the nation is united against the serious threat to its independence, its future,” he said.
Saakashvili’s UNM party has ac-cused the ruling Georgian Dream coalition government of not con-fronting what it claims is Russia’s creeping annexation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Backed by the Kremlin, the two regions broke away from Georgia after civil wars in the
1990s following the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Moscow officially recognised their independence after fight-ing a five-day war with Georgia in August 2008.
After that war, Moscow sta-tioned thousands of troops in the two separatist statelets in a move condemned by Tbilisi and its Western allies as an illegal occupation. — AFP
O P P O S I T I O N S U P P O R T E R S
Carrying Georgian and Ukrainian flags and placards that read ‘Stop Putin!’, the protesters gathered on the city’s main thoroughfare, following the call of the former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement party
Congo has launched a plan to train 1,000 Congolese volunteers to help West African nations fight the outbreak, which has now affected six nations in the region
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“It is like a terrible dream,” says a man who has just fled Mosul for Irbil, describing conditions in the city five months after Isis captured it in June. He adds that “from the day they started to blow
up the mosques people hated them”, referring to the destruction of the Mosque of Younis (Jonah) and other mosques denounced by Isis “as places for apostasy not prayer”.
The man, a small businessman who had been an army officer under Saddam Hussein and is now on a pension, was very nervous that anybody should learn his name. Some of his family have stayed on in Mosul to prevent their house being confiscated by Isis. Its officials check house-to-house demand-ing to see documents proving that the occupant is the owner. If they discover that the real owner has left the city, he is given 10 days to return or his house is confiscated by Isis.
He said actually crossing from Isis-controlled ter-ritory to that under the authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had not been difficult. He had taken the road between Mosul and Kirkuk that was guarded by “a couple of 15- or 16-year-olds with guns” at a checkpoint. A Kurdish friend spon-sored him to enter the KRG.
Day-to-day life in the city he left behind was rap-idly deteriorating, he said. For 28 days people had no fresh water or mains electricity. They now rely on local generators. Crude oil from Mosul province goes to Syria where it is refined, but the fuel which comes back is poor quality and ruins the engines it is used to power. Some foodstuffs, such as tomatoes, are cheap because farmers have no customers aside from the markets in Mosul.
Life in Mosul for a Iraqi minority sect Arab – Christians and Yazidis have been forced to flee – is a mixture of normality, inconvenience and fear. Sur-prisingly, pensions are still being paid by the central government in Baghdad and the man I met at the weekend was still receiving his.
But there is the burden of complying with new rules and regulations as Isis imposes its fundamen-talist ideology. Some of these are inconvenient, such as the ban on smoking in public, or trivial, such as the removal of all pictures of Tom and Jerry from the walls of schools.
The imposition of the niqab, fully covering a wom-an’s face, is deeply resented. One woman in Mosul, whose name must also be concealed, writes: “Just this evening, with my old mom, I went out to shop and buy medicines in my car with a thin cloth show-ing my eyes only. What can I do?
“Last week, a woman was standing beside a kiosk, and uncovered her face to drink a bottle of water. One of them [Isis] approached her and hit her on the head with a thick stick. He didn’t notice that her hus-band was close to her.
“Her husband beat him up and he ran away, shoot-ing randomly in the sky as the people, in sympathy, chased him so they could share in beating him. This is just one story of the brutality we are liv-ing.” Such examples of open opposition to Isis are limited because people are terrified of savage re-taliation at its hands. The retired businessman said this sense of dread never left him, “though generally if you don’t interfere with them, they don’t interfere with you”.
But he recalled public executions in the middle of a roundabout, such as that of the lawyer Sameera Salih Ali Al Nuaimy, who had written on Facebook that the blowing up of mosques and shrines by Isis was “barbaric”. He says he stays mostly in his house, “going out 10 times in the past two months”.
“I was one of the people who hated [Nouri Al Ma-liki’s] army, but now I would like the Iraqi army to come back,” he says. “People in Mosul would wel-come them. Anybody would be better than Isis, even the Israelis. We are dying.”
Such words may be joy to the government in Bagh-dad and its supporters in Washington or Tehran. But while detestation of Isis is common in the minor-ity sect community in Iraq, so too is fear of the Iraqi army and the majority sect militias that are the main fighting force of the Baghdad government.
One of its few military successes has been to re-lieve the besieged majority sect Turkoman town of Amerli, but the 40 minority sect Arab villages near-by have been abandoned by their inhabitants.
There is no good option for the Iraqi minority sect community, which knows that it will be punished as likely Isis supporters by vengeful government sol-diers and militiamen if they return.
Isis is striking pre-emptively at local leaders in Mosul who might resist it in future. Imams from the mosques have been placed under house arrest and replaced by younger clerics supporting Isis.
It does not target potential opponents randomly, but has its own well-organised security service that seeks to eliminate potential enemies before they can act. When the former governor of Nineveh province, Atheel Al Nujaifi, announced last month that former army officers in Mosul were waiting for the Iraqi army to reach the city before rising up against Isis, the militants held a mass execution of army and po-lice officers it held.
Isis may be unpopular in Mosul, but it will be dif-ficult to dislodge. - The Independent
The brutal reality of life in Mosul under IS
There is no good option for the Iraqi minority sect community, which knows that it will be punished as likely Isis supporters by vengeful government soldiers and militiamen if they return
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 ([email protected])
WAR ZONE
Pakistan has a distinctly patchy record when it comes to the protection of rare breeds of fauna. Birds such as the houbara bustard are hunted by prominent people resident in the Ara-
bian Peninsula and the Gulf states. They are allowed to hunt the rare birds, courtesy permits issued by the Pakistani government. The irony of this is that Pakistan is a signatory to the Convention on the Inter-national Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This is an intergov-ernmental agreement, which aims to ensure that international trade in wild animals — and plants — is not a threat to their survival. The houbara bustard is an endangered species, a fact which does not pre-vent the Pakistan government from profiting by its annual slaughter by visiting Arab dignitaries and ‘influentials’.
Trafficking in rare breeds is also good business. It is unlikely that the man caught attempting to smuggle five rare falcons at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi will ever have heard of the CITES agreement. In his luggage were five birds, all falcons and according to the arrested man, all had their origins in Balochistan. They were bound for Dubai where the erstwhile smuggler works as a driver. Three of the birds were rare Saker falcons. Rare breeds command high prices internationally, and the Arab Spring is widely and reliably reported to have produced an upswing in demand, with countries like Pakistan, where controls are lax, happy to supply. Be they hunted or smuggled, any animal or bird that has a rarity value and lives in Paki-stan seems to be fair game. There are 42 species of birds identified as ‘endangered’ in Pakistan, as well as 24 mammals. Not all of them are trafficked or hunted, and those that are not are endangered by virtue of the destruction of their habitats, usually by human encroachment. Currently, the Indian Pangolin is one of our most at-risk species. Hunted for the keratinous scales that cover it and its body fat that is prized for its medicinal purposes in China, it is verging on extinction in Pakistan. Rare species have a global ownership, and we are clearly poor custodians. -The Express Tribune
Continuing rare-breed trade
The referendum may be over, and now the SNP conference, but the arguments about Scottish independence look as though they will not rest. The issue, the new SNP leader Nicola Stur-
geon made clear yesterday, is not settled for a generation, as union-ists hoped. For a party so recently defeated in what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve its central aim, the Scot Nats show little despondency. With good reason: the SNP may get another opportunity for a decision on devolution before long. On the one hand, in what is shaping up to become a historic betrayal, the main UK parties seem unable or unwilling to come up with a plan for “devo max” home rule for Scotland along the lines promised by them in the last stages of the referendum campaign. The Conservatives can be rightly blamed for linking further powers for Holyrood with the so-called English Question, or Evel – English votes on English laws. William Hague’s task is made all the more frustrating by the blatant politicking of the Labour Party, which still refuses to join the talks.
So the moral case for reopening the independence question grows ever stronger, and the SNP is making the most of the Westminster parties’ failures. Come next May, there could be a solid phalanx of SNP MPs returned to Westminster, displacing many Labour and Lib-eral Democrat members. That will add to the weight of its case; it will also prove a fine practical advantage in the near certainty of a hung parliament. It will, in short, be able to hold any Westminster govern-ment to ransom until a second referendum is granted. This time the referendum would have to have devo max as a clear option, but if by then it has not been delivered, it would be difficult to predict which way a scorned Scottish electorate might jump. It would not take very much resentment to convert the 45 per cent support a few months ago into a clear majority for independence in, say, a year’s time. In which case David Cameron and Ed Miliband will carry a heavy guilt for the debacle; they would not, and should not, survive such a turn of events.
What is more, the Conservative promise of a referendum on the EU also provides the SNP with a case for a further vote. As Sturgeon pointed out, it is “democratically indefensible” not to give Scotland another referendum if there was a vote to leave the EU in 2017. If Eng-land wants to get out of Europe but Scotland does not, then Scottish independence has to be the logical corollary. Miliband, for his part, will find it difficult. If he were to try a more nakedly social democratic approach, he would most likely lose yet more votes in England, where conservatism with both a lower-case and capital C is a more main-stream approach to politics than it is north of the border. Miliband’s party, in other words, looks in trouble in Scotland. Alex Salmond, one of the most talented politicians either side of the border, has be-queathed his successor an enviable legacy. -The Independent
The SNP could force
another referendum
PAT R I C K C O C K B U R N
News about His Majesty confirms his popularityThis refers to the news report, ‘His Majesty’s speech to the people of Oman crosses 1 million views on YouTube’. The news only confirms what Omanis and expatriates liv-ing in the Sultanate already know — that His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said is admired by all the people for what he has done for the country ever since he assumed its helm. His Majesty has been instru-mental in Oman’s development.Sundaram SubramanianMuscat
What punishment will parents, erring child get?This refers to the call for curbs on child drivers. When I read this ar-ticle, I was shocked to read of the teenager, who, with the permis-
sion of her irresponsible parents, hit a mother and her two children killing all three of them. I would like to know what punishment the parents and their daughter have received?Lina de FinaMuscat
Pakistan-Afghanistan ties hold key to regional peacePakistan and Afghanistan are two countries which not only share a common border but also religion and a number of social and cul-tural practices, especially in the border areas of both the coun-tries. The same tribes and clans often dwell on both sides of the border. There are cross border marriages, business, and other transactions. This has been going on for generations. These people
claim that they were divided in a conspiracy during the British rule for the sake of strengthening control over the northern part of India when a 2,400-km long line (Durand Line) was imposed on the Amir of Afghanistan in 1893. Since the division of sub-conti-nent in 1947, relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have seen many an ebb and tide and have hardly been cordial. During the Cold War, Pakistan stood on the side Afghanistan and fought against Russian invasion. As a result, the Taliban succeeded in establishing their government in Afghanistan and announced Mul-lah Umar as their Ameer. This government, however, proved too brutal for the people. After 9/11, except the last years of Hamid Karzai’s government in which a number of killings of security per-
sonnel occurred, both the coun-tries have mostly enjoyed friendly ties. The new government in Kabul, which has come after a democratic transition, seems in-terested in maintaining friendly and cordial ties with Pakistan. In this regard a recent meeting held between the top leaders of the two countries is a positive sign — indicating that a good working re-lationship will evolve eventually. If peace indeed prevails as a result of these efforts, a new trade corri-dor would likely open with central Asian states on one side and China and India on the other. This will bring much needed prosperity to the people of this region as it will enable cross-borders business. It will also lessen the sufferings of the Afghans.Nasir IqbalAl Rustaq
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PERSPEC IVET I M E S O F O M A N S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 1 4T I M E S O F O M A N A13
Early on Sunday 20th July, we clambered wearily into the back of our ancient
stretch-Mercedes taxi and head-ed east, into the low, but already searing morning sun. Sweating into our body armour and wearing our helmets in the car, we drove in silence through ghostly streets towards Shajaiyah. The district, on the outer edge of Gaza City, had been under apocalyptic bombard-ment all night; we’d watched from a distance as hell rained down on a residential suburb.
As dawn broke, families trapped by the unremitting rocket-fire, were escaping down Shajaiyah’s narrow alleyways. Children were in shock, eyes wide.
Their parents talked of bloodied bodies littering the rubble-strewn streets they’d fled. Another shell exploded just nearby. A little girl we’d stopped to talk to said she wasn’t scared, but her father told me he was petrified.
More rockets crashed down behind the fleeing Shajaiyah refu-gees as we cautiously headed in. Our guide, as ever: Khaled Abu Ghali, my friend and freelance fixer for close to a decade now. When you work with someone long enough in such conditions you build a bond of trust of the sort that lasts a lifetime.
Stephen, my cameraman, An-na-Lisa, my producer and I were, quite simply, in his hands. We turned left, we turned right, down Friday Market Street. Khaled spoke to a couple of people, then beckoned us to follow. We filmed as we walked.
A few minutes later and Ste-phen’s camera catches a moment I still remember vividly. Khaled has suddenly stopped in his tracks. The two of us had been pacing up
an alleyway towards a destroyed house. Now his blue flak jacket blocks the camera. “No,” he said. “Stop. It isn’t safe.”
I stopped and turned. “What’s up?” “I don’t know. We just should not go up here,” Khaled said.
“OK.” I looked at him quiz-zically, but I’d learned to trust his judgment.
It’s all there, caught on camera. We turned and left and as we did so, small-arms fire broke out up the alley. It meant that Hamas street fighters were probably en-gaging Israeli snipers just nearby. I looked at Khaled, who grinned at me and shrugged. “You see? Let’s go!” he said, “al-hamdulillah!” Thank God.
This was not the only time Khaled Abu Ghali’s sixth sense kicked in and saved us. We weren’t the only Channel 4 News crew that long, hot, dangerous Gaza sum-mer, to have praised Khaled’s cool-headedness under fire.
He has worked with differ-ent crews through the wars of 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2014; and this year alone, he worked with five successive teams without a break, flat out for weeks.
He continued to so even when his own wife and children were
forced to evacuate their fam-ily home, when his married daugh-ter’s home was partially destroyed and when a close friend was killed in an Israeli air-strike. He just kept on, relentlessly; our Gaza field pro-ducer; shepherding, fixing, trans-lating... and helping to coordinate out Channel 4 News live broad-casts from Shifa Hospital.
This is why these teams of presenters, correspondents, pro-ducers and cameramen have unanimously nominated Khaled Abu Ghali for this year’s Martin Adler Prize, which honours a local freelancer who has made an exceptional contribution to newsgathering, as part of the Rory Peck Awards.
In doing so, we pay tribute to his professionalism, indefatiga-bility, his coolness in difficult and dangerous situations and to his infectious, mischievous sense of humour. Khaled is a big man in every way: big beard, big heart, big laugh. He has a way with children in particular; he makes even the seemingly inconsolable laugh with his ludicrous party tricks, as he comforts their par-ents after they’ve relayed their grim experiences to our cameras. -The Independent
TODAY IN HISTORY
OPINION POLL
1813 The British announce a blockade of Long Island Sound, leaving only the New England coast open to shipping.
1892 King Behanzin of Dahomey (now
Benin), leads soldiers against the French.
1902 A cartoon appears in the Washington
Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi.
1992 Eric Lawes, searching for a hammer
near Hoxne, Suffolk, England, discovers the largest hoard of Roman silver and gold ever found in Britain.
SEMINAR ON CATEGORISATION OF DISEASES, SURGICAL OPERATIONSMUSCAT: A seminar on the 10th amendment of the international categorisation of diseases and surgical operations opened at Wattayah Health Science Institute yesterday. The undersecretary for administrative and financial affairs at the Ministry of Health, said the Sultanate in an endeavour to translate the slogan ‘Health for all by the year 2000’ had developed a consolidated and modern system for medical registers capable of providing required data for health institutions in the country.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
All people in Myanmar, regardless of ethnicity or religion, deserve the same fundamental rights and freedoms
Myanmar is in the midst of changes un-paralleled in our history. Expectations are high, but the needs of our people are
even greater. We must succeed in our transition to peace, democracy and inclusive economic devel-opment. And for this to happen we need the rest of the world to appreciate the complexity of the chal-lenges that the Burmese government faces.
We live in the shadow of our past - a past shaped by colonial occupation and military dictatorships, and by our unique geography between Asia’s gi-ant civilizations of India and China, a geography that must be carefully managed. We suffer from extremely limited institutional capacity and even more from the mind-sets and mentalities that emerged under isolation and authoritarian rule. These are things that cannot change overnight.
One of our most important tasks at the moment is bringing about a just and sustainable end to 70 years of armed conflict - one of the longest-running internal conflicts in the world. We are committed to a federal union formed under the principles of democracy, equality and self-determination. We have been in talks with nearly two dozen differ-ent ethnic-based armed groups with the goal of a nationwide cease-fire agreement. We want an end to fighting that will allow displaced people to re-turn home and resume their livelihoods. We wish to open space for dialogue at all levels - including political talks at the highest levels - aimed at a final peace accord. These talks may well lead to con-stitutional reforms, including in the area of civil-military relations.
We are also determined to end the humanitarian crisis in our western Rakhine State, a site of recent communal violence. We will very soon release a final action plan to address the totality of issues in Rakhine State, one that conforms to accepted international standards in all respects, including on issues of humanitarian access, resettlement, livelihoods and citizenship. We are committed to heightened security to prevent any further vio-lence and will take the toughest measures under the law to prosecute those responsible for violence or incitement to violence. There will be no forced resettlement of people.
All people in Myanmar, regardless of ethnicity or religion, deserve the same fundamental rights and freedoms.
In a year’s time we will hold general elections.
We are committed to an electoral process that is totally free and fair, and are working hard to ensure the elections will be a major step forward in build-ing our democracy. We are in constant dialogue with political parties and hundreds of civil soci-ety organizations. We will not only allow domestic monitors but international election observers as well. We hope for elections that are not only free but that encourage substantive debates of policies, offering people real choices for the future.
We are committed as well to a free media. The newly established Myanmar Press Council is working hard to make this a reality and we under-stand fully the importance of a free, independent, and responsible media as a key component to any democratic society. Alongside all these political efforts, we are working as hard as possible on de-veloping our economy. Reducing poverty is a task that can be second to none. This requires many dif-ferent reforms - from currency reform to the crea-tion of a central bank to establishing a more liberal trade and investment system than previously ex-isted. It is essential that we expand our economy in an inclusive way and in a way that protects our natural environment at the same time as we em-bark on our political changes.
We are encouraged and heartened by the sup-port given by governments and international in-stitutions. America - both the United States gov-ernment and American friends and organizations - has played a critical role in moving us away from decades of dictatorship to a place where we can now at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. President Obama - who arrived in our country on Wednesday and leaves for Australia on Friday - and Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry have all been important, but so too have senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle in Congress.
Our interest is not in aid funding for our re-forms. What we want more than anything is that friends of Myanmar around the world understand the nuances of what is happening and be aware of the big picture: that we are a small nation between giant neighbors, poor and isolated for decades, with entrenched systems and views that have grown up over generations, now trying decisively to move toward peace and democracy. It is a grand experiment, but we are determined to succeed. -New York Times News Service
Democratic transition in Myanmar faces challenges
HISTORYNET.COM
G20 nations funding fossil fuel exploration
GraphicsGraphic News /
The G20 group of leading economies spend about $88 billion each year on fossil fuel exploration, increasing the risk of “dangerous climate change”, according to a report by the Overseas Development Institute.
GraphicsGraphic News /Source: ODI and Oil Change International, Rystad Energy
OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION EXPENDITUREIN G20 COUNTRIES (public and private), $ billions, 2013
Data includes all G20 members except European Union. All figures approximate
Canada United Kingdom
Germany0.08
India
Japan0.02
France0.04
Turkey0.15 Saudi
Arabia0.8
Mexico
Brazil Argentina1.3
South Africa1.0 Indonesia Australia
Italy0.2 Korea
0.01
Russia ChinaUnited States
35.0 7.02.4
2.6
3.5
2.2 4.3
12.0
12.0
3.8
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For a nuclear-power at an important geostra-tegic location — fight-
ing virtually, the world’s war against terror even as it is embroiled in taking on home-based militancy — yearning for stability and calm is under-standable. Yet that is not how an average cricket fan — the game is second only to religion for Pakistan’s teeming mil-lions — understands the battle is fought.
Cricket of course, is a mi-crocosm of what the political and social fare is like in this South Asian republic — peo-ple, like the leaders they elect or are foisted upon them, be-tray a certain impetuousness to get things done. Almost any which way, and quickly. As if there’s no tomorrow; more of-ten than not, there’s little by way of a plan, and rarely still, Plan B. May be I’ve laboured to make the point: just suggest-ing Pakistan is a Shahid Afridi nation in essence would have sufficed. With him, it’s an edge-of-the-seat ride for sure, but no-one, least of all Afridi him-self, knows how long it’s going to last, and it usually doesn’t, but the mere anticipation and thrill keeps the fans hooked.
One could push a volume here just extrapolating on the life and times of Afridi, but that Head & Shoulders com-mercial is enough to illustrate the point. He gets the shine, he takes the shine. And while shampooing removes the ap-parent dandruff from his hair, it doesn’t the chink in his ar-mour. The contrast is provided by the unsung Misbah-ul-Haq, who can perhaps, now justi-fiably lay claim to being the model Pakistani every sane compatriot can aspire to emu-late in more ways than one.
The market forces will squeal for, they have never had the time for someone with method to a madness, but in the interest of Pakistan crick-et —and even common sense — they can take a hike! At best, a degree in business manage-ment can help navigate the ship of one’s life reasonably well, but steering it in the turbulent waters of Pakistan cricket is a different kettle of fish. Few would know it better than Misbah.
Defying the odds, includ-ing the lengthening shadows of the afternoon of his life, the 40-year-old has restored
faith in Pakistan cricket, fit-tingly becoming his country’s most successful Test captain this week. Since victory has a thousand fathers it would be convenient for many to over-look how this very man has been lampooned from Karachi to Khyber for his method.
And what has been the man’s response to digs taken by the who’s who of Pakistan cricket to the average fan? A near Buddha-like poise; never giving in to the standard Paki-stani instinct to hit back, al-ways focusing on the job at hand, and resolutely going back to the vigil mode as the last man standing. Any cricketing fraternity with a slightly more reasoned approach and mind-ful of the circumstances in which Misbah has led all along would stand up and applaud the man for being such a faith-ful servant to his country.
Since he took over the mantle in 2010 following the unsavoury match-fixing saga in Tests and the ODI steward-ship after Shahid Afridi threw another one of his fits in 2012, Pakistan cricket has seen calm and stability despite the antics of the usual suspects that come to represent the ‘system’. If it is easy now to forget the events of 2010, credit must be given to Misbah for manfully, tak-ing on the responsibility of delivering a redemption on Pakistan cricket’s behalf. Four years down the road, there is an element of nor-malcy — that biggest miss-ing link about the state itself. Misbah has carved that niche by sweating it out in a crisis —often walking right into Hun-ger Games of the kind Jennifer Lawrence would be loathe to — but never complaining. It couldn’t have been easier; the pressure of being just one se-ries away from potentially be-ing dropped, and contenders rearing to serve the “national interest” at first opportunity.
But in their grudging accep-tance of the fittest 40 in the game, you now see “respect” that the millions of Pakistani fans are beginning to concede. His record as captain is unique because he has led in exile — all 33 Tests — since there has been no international cricket in Pakistan after the unfortu-nate attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team in 2009. Despite the massive handicap, Misbah rides on, typically soaking the pressure as a captain is wont to and doing with a bat whose consistency is such that it is in the event of a failure that it gets noticed. And when that happens, Pakistan is just gasp-ing for breath. Misbah etch-ing his mark is a reward for the self-belief of a man whose legacy is yet to be understood. The legacy of being patient in a crisis, of being judicious with limited resources, of never losing hope.
The author is a senior journal-ist based in Islamabad. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely his and not of Times of Oman.
Misbah: Theme for Pakistan’s dream
Why Khaled won Martin Adler Prize
K A M R A N R E H M AT
J O N AT H A N M I L L E R
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Muslims discovered Americas: ErdoganISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that the Americas were discovered by Muslims in the 12th century, nearly three centu-ries before Christopher Columbus set foot there.
“Contacts between Latin America and Islam date back to the 12th century. Muslims discov-ered America in 1178, not Chris-topher Columbus,” the president said in a televised speech during an Istanbul summit of Muslim leaders from Latin America.
“Muslim sailors arrived in America from 1178. Columbus
mentioned the existence of a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan said that Ankara was even prepared to build a mosque
at the site mentioned by the Ge-noese explorer.
“I would like to talk about it to my Cuban brothers. A mosque would go perfectly on the hill to-
day,” the Turkish leader said.History books say that Colum-
bus set foot on the American con-tinent in 1492 as he was seeking a new maritime route to India.
A tiny minority of Muslim scholars have recently suggested a prior Muslim presence in the Americas, although no pre-Columbian ruin of an Islamic structure has ever been found.
Metaphorical referenceIn a controversial article pub-lished in 1996, historian Youssef Mroueh refers to a diary entry from Columbus that mentions a mosque in Cuba.
But the passage is widely under-stood to be a metaphorical refer-ence to the shape of the landscape.— AFP
Muslims discovered
America in 1178,
not Christopher
Columbus, the
Turkish president
said in a televised
speech
Contacts between Latin America and Islam date back to the 12th century. Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus said Tayyip Erdogan
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Comet probe shuts down as batteries fail
CAPE CANAVERAL: A pioneer-ing robotic spacecraft shut down on Saturday after radioing results of its first and probably last batch of scientific experiments from the surface of a comet, scientists said.
Batteries aboard the European Space Agency’s Philae comet lander drained, shutting down the washing machine-sized probe after an adventurous and largely unscripted 57-hour mission.
Deploy harpoonsCarried aboard the orbiting Ro-setta mothership, Philae floated to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Thursday, but failed to deploy an-choring harpoons.
Upon contacting the comet’s unexpectedly hard surface, it bounced back up into space twice then came to rest at a still-un-
known location about 1 km (0.6 mile) from its original target.
Photos and other data relayed by Philae show it finally land-ed against a cliff or crater wall where there was little sunlight to recharge its batteries. Racing against the clock, scientists acti-vated a series of automated exper-iments, the first to be conducted from the surface of a comet.
Before dying, Philae defied the odds and radioed its science re-sults back to Earth for analysis.
Its last task was to reposition itself so that as the comet soars towards the sun, Philae’s batter-ies may recharge enough for a follow-on mission.
“Perhaps when we are nearer to the sun we might have enough solar illumination to wake up the lander and re-establish commu-nication,” spacecraft operations manager Stephan Ulamec said in a statement.
Scientists are particularly in-terested in learning about the
chemical composition of any organic molecules in samples drilled out from the comet’s body.
Comets are believed to be pris-tine remnants from the forma-tion of our solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. They contain rock and ice that have preserved ancient organic molecules like a time capsule and may provide in-sight into how the planets and life evolved. Philae’s drill descended more than 25 cm on Friday, pen-etrating the comet’s surface.
Rosetta in August became the first spacecraft to put itself into orbit around a comet. It will ac-company the comet as it travels towards the sun for at least an-other 13 months. — Reuters
Batteries aboard
the European
Space Agency’s
Philae comet lander
drained, shutting
down the washing
machine-sized probe
after an adventurous
and largely
unscripted 57-hour
mission
SETBACK: A handout photo released by the European Space
Agency (ESA) on Thursday shows an image taken by Rosetta’s
lander Philae. Rosetta’s lander Philae is safely on the surface of
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as this CIVA image con-
firms. One of the lander’s three feet can be seen in the foreground.
— AFP/ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA
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Scientists are particularly interested in
learning about the chemical composition of
any organic molecules in samples drilled out
from the comet’s body
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Journalists told to double up as delivery boys
SACRAMENTO: One of Cali-fornia’s largest newspapers has asked reporters and other em-ployees to help deliver papers on Sundays, according to a memo ob-tained by Reuters, the latest sign of the toll that financial woes are taking on print journalism.
The Santa Ana-based Orange County Register, which recently stopped contracting with rival Los Angeles Times for delivery services, is offering $150 gift cards to staff members if they de-liver 500 to 600 papers, according to the memo sent on Thursday, which was confirmed by the paper’s top editor.
“The entire company — all de-partments, including our news-room — has been asked to help during what has clearly been a dif-ficult situation,” editor Rob Curley said . “It’s strictly voluntary.”
Employees have also been asked to help out in customer ser-vice, personally telephoning sub-scribers who had not been able
to reach a live agent, according to the memo sent to the staff.
“It’s unusual, yes,” Curley said. “It’s frustrating that we’re even in this position. But it’s temporary. Bottom line: all of us want our loy-al readers to get their papers first thing in the morning.”
The Register’s parent com-pany, Freedom Communications Inc, emerged from bankruptcy in 2010 and was purchased two years later by Aaron Kushner, a greeting-card entrepreneur who initially poured millions of dollars into the paper, doubling the size of its reporting staff and vowing to rejuvenate the sagging business of print journalism.
Company’s struggleBut the company has struggled, and dozens of reporters and edi-tors have been let go in recent months. A much-ballyhooed Los Angeles edition was shut abruptly
in September.Earlier this month the Register re-
ported that two investor groups had told a judge in Delaware that the company was insolvent and asked the court to appoint a receiver to oversee the company’s finances.
The newspaper reported that the request was denied, but it said the investors pointed to problems with the delivery contract with the Los Angeles Times as adding to its financial woes.
The Times, which has itself been hard-hit by troubles in the newspaper business, has said Freedom owes it $2.5 million in fees for delivering the paper.
Register publisher Rich Mirman on Friday said that most of the pa-per’s delivery routes are now cov-ered, but that a few are “affected by intermittent or late delivery.”
Newspapers have been strug-gling for years amid the rise of online communications. -Reuters
The Santa Ana-
based Orange County Register,
is offering $150
gift cards to staff
members if they
deliver 500 to 600
papers, according to
an official memo
HARD TIMES: The newspaper’s journalists have also been asked
to help out in customer service. – Supplied picture
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Assets of commercial banks increase 9.5% to OMR24.6b
MUSCAT: Continued GDP growth and supporting monetary and financial policies had a favour-able impact on business growth and performance of commercial banks during 2014.
On the macroeconomic front, the Sultanate’s GDP at current prices grew by 3.7 per cent during the first
half (January to June) of 2014 as compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
Annual inflation rate measured by movement in the average con-sumer price index (CPI) for the Sultanate stood at 1.1 per cent dur-ing January till August 2014.
The total assets of commercial
banks increased by 9.5 per cent to OMR24.6 billion in Septem-ber 2014 from OMR22.5 billion, a year ago. Of the total assets, credit disbursement accounted for 67 per cent and increased by 8.8 per cent as at end September 2014 to OMR16.5 billion.
Private sector creditCredit to the private sector in-creased by 8.9 per cent during the period to reach OMR14.4 billion at the end of September 2014.
Of the total credit to the private sector by end September 2014, the share of the non-financial corpo-rate sector stood at 47.9 per cent, closely followed by the household sector (mainly under personal
loans) at 45.4 per cent, financial corporations at 4.7 per cent and other sectors the remaining two per cent.
Overall investmentsCommercial banks’ overall invest-ments in securities increased by 19.8 per cent to OMR3 billion as at the end of September 2014 from OMR2.5 billion a year ago. Of to-tal investments, CBO CDs stood at OMR1.4 billion while investment in Government Development Bonds (GDBs) stood at OMR566.7 million as at the end of September 2014.
Investments by commercial banks in foreign securities in-creased in September 2014 by 14.1 per cent to OMR687.4 million.— ONA
Sultanate’s gross domestic product at current
prices grew by 3.7 per cent during the first
half (January to June) of 2014
Mobile phone subscriptions in Oman exceed 6m MUSCAT: The total number of mobile phone subscriptions in the Sultanate reached 6,001,241 in September 2014, compared to 5,617,426 registered at the end of 2013, growing by 6.8 per cent and adding 383,815 subscribers in the first nine months of the year.
Breaking down the subscrip-tion types, the number of post-paid mobile phone subscribers reached 515,431 subscribers by the end of September 2014 when compared with 495,703 subscribers by the end of 2013, reflecting an increase of four per cent. During the same period, pre-paid mobile phone subscrib-ers increased by 7.1 per cent to 5,485,810 subscribers when compared with 5,121,723 sub-scribers by the end of 2013.
A report titled ‘Number of Telecom Subscriber Service by Type’ recently released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) re-vealed that the total number of Internet subscribers increased by 6.8 per cent to 169,434 sub-scribers when compared with 158,678 subscribers by the end of 2013, this figure comprised of fixed broadband and dial-up In-ternet subscribers.
Breaking down the figures, the total number of fixed broadband subscribers increased by 7.8 per cent to 166,257 subscribers when compared with 154,290 sub-scribers registered by the end of 2013. Meanwhile, Internet dial-up subscribers declined by 27.6 per cent at the end of September 2014 to 3,177 subscribers com-pared to 4,388 subscribers regis-tered by the end of 2013.
According to the NCSI re-port, the total number of fixed telephone lines registered an in-crease of 3.5 per cent by the end of September 2014 to 363,610 lines when compared to 351,411 lines by the end of 2013.
The number of fixed post-paid telephone lines declined by 0.5 per cent from 271,400 lines by the end of 2013 to 270,025 lines by the end of September 2014. Fixed pre-paid telephone lines, however, increased significantly by 52.9 per cent to 39,480 lines when compared with 25,829 lines by the end of 2013. Mean-while, the number of public
phone lines remained stable with 6,801 telephone lines. Addition-ally, ISDN channels reached 45,496 channel and WLL Con-nections 1,808 lines.
The NCSI report ‘Main Tele-phone Lines by Governorate’ re-vealed that the the Governorate of Muscat registered the highest increase in number of fixed tele-phone lines by the end of Septem-ber 2014 totalling 177,880 lines compared with 168,676 lines by the end of 2013, an increase of 5.5 per cent. Other governorates also witnessed increases with the to-tal number of fixed lines increas-ing in Dhofar to 27,571 lines by the end of September 2014 when compared with 26,679 by the end of 2013, reflecting an increase of 3.3 per cent.
A’Dakhiliyah also recorded an increase in number of fixed lines by 1.9 per cent to 22,286 lines when compared with 21,872 lines by the end of 2013. — ONA
N C S I S T U D Y
CorrigendumIn the story titled ‘Batinah Ex-pressway tender floated again’ in the business section of Times of Oman dated November 13, the package number of the road pro-ject was wrongly reported as two. The correct package number of the expressway tender is eleven. The error is regretted.
MUSCAT: Allotment of cer-tificates of a deposit tender was held at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) this week. The total amount allotted for issue No. 891 was OMR462 million.
A bulletin issued by the CBO stated that the average interest rate of these certifi-cates was 0.13 per cent whilst
the maximum accepted inter-est rate was 0.13 per cent. The tenor of these certificates is 28 days, so their maturity date is December 10.
The certificates of deposit issued to licensed banks by the CBO as a monetary policy instrument is aimed at ab-sorbing excess liquidity. — ONA
Central Bank of Oman issues tenders worth OMR462m
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Omantel hosts Global Settlement Carrier forum in MuscatTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Omantel, the leading telecommunication provider in the Sultanate, hosted the 23rd Global Settlement Carrier (GSC) forum in Muscat for the GSC Group from November 11 to 14, 2014.
Omantel is one of the latest op-erators who have joined this pres-tigious group of carriers in early 2013 to enhance its opportunities of international networking.
Commenting on this, Ingemar Jonsson from Wholesale Unit said: “We are pleased that Oman-tel hosted the GSC forum, which represents an opportunity for us as a telecom company to exchange
and discuss the hot topics with other telecom operators. Omantel is keen to be part and present in these forums and joined the GSC early in 2013. Being a part of this forum provides also a chance to share the development of telecom threads and enhance the inter-national networking between the members of the Group.”
“A majority of the 30 GSC mem-bers participated in the forum and discussed practical solutions to continuously improve Telco car-rier’s billing, settlements and re-lated business processes, foster inter-carrier business relation-ship, and to explore solutions to business demands and enable Car-riers to gain first hand insights on
market movements and upcoming trends,” he added. The GSC pro-vides a platform where Carriers trade experiences and knowledge critical to Telco operations and organisation. The GSC priorities are to serve the Carrier Members’ needs, provide a forum for sharing experiences and addressing chal-lenges, and to develop solutions that will assist Carrier Members on process improvements and ef-ficiency gains in their respective daily business operations.
The main reason for which the GSC Group is successful is that its main focus is on activities that falls outside the competition and there-fore, it allows an open source for knowledge and experiences shar-
ing for the Carriers to benefit from. As an Associate Member of the ITU (International Telecommu-nication Union), the GSC Group has been an active contributor to develop “best practice” guidelines which have been incorporated as new supplements in some of the ITU Recommendations. These sig-nificant milestones were achieved as a result of the GSC Members’ inputs via workshops.
Omantel is the pioneer of total communications solutions in the Sultanate of Oman with the widest choice of state of the art services with the broadest network cov-erage. As the only truly national network in Oman, Omantel offer innovative end-to-end commu-
nication solutions serving home, mobile and business customers.
In the international wholesale arena, Omantel is considered one of the most prominent and com-petitive wholesale telecommu-nication providers in the Middle East region. In addition, it is one of the leading companies in the field of submarine cable networks and a key participant in several submarine cables as well with di-rect terrestrial links, which link Asia, Europe and America passing through the Middle East region, meeting the international capacity requirements of clients locally and internationally, thereby sustaining the Company’s leading position among its competitors.
I N T E R N A T I O N A L N E T W O R K I N G E V E N T
Meet to focuson renewableenergy sources
MUSCAT: The Public Author-ity for Electricity and Water (PAEW) will organise at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Muscat a seminar on “Assessing the Readiness of the Sultanate for Renewable En-ergy and the Project of Install-ing Solar Cells on the Roofs of Buildings,” on Sunday.
Sheikh Dr Abdul Malik bin Abdullah al-Hinai, Adviser at the Ministry of Finance and Chairman of Public Authority for Electricity and Water Board of Directors, will sponsor the opening ceremony in the pres-ence of the Secretary General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The seminar will discuss an assessment of the readiness of the Sultanate for renewable en-ergy, in cooperation with IRE-NA to study the current situ-ation of the Sultanate and the analysis of the available data for renewable energy sources as one of the steps that pave the way for the development of general and sustainable policy for renewable energy in the Sultanate.
The seminar would discuss the project of installing solar cells on the roofs of buildings, in collaboration with the German Centre for International Coop-eration and the German Insti-tute of Fran Hoover. — ONA
P A E W I N I T I A T I V E
Ingemar Jonsson. — Supplied picture
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Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft lobby to curb NSA spying
L E G I S L A T I O N Islamic finance projected to see sizeable growth in Oman
Times News Service
MUSCAT: As the Islamic finance industry enters a new phase of growth in the Sultanate, Dr Jamil El Jaroudi, chief executive officer of Bank Nizwa, joined government policymakers and regulators, in-dustry leaders and experts as well as representatives of financial ser-vices at the Oman Forum to reflect on Oman’s Islamic banking jour-ney to date and identify measures to further enhance the industry.
Attended by over 300 partici-pants, the 2014 edition of the fo-rum explored current opportu-
nities and challenges related to job generation and highlighted Islamic finance’s strategic role in contributing to Oman’s socio-economic development within the next four years.
Dr El Jaroudi stressed the need to build a regulatory framework that will work in tandem with that of conventional banking to over-come the challenges facing the industry’s performance and cus-tomer expectations.
He also said that the expand-ing geographical reach of Islamic finance across the Sultanate cou-
pled with increased awareness of the banking solutions available to citizens is expected to result in Islamic finance assets reaching 10 per cent of the total banking assets by 2018 in comparison to the cur-rent 4.5 per cent.
Helping SMEsThe customer response to Islamic finance in Oman has been phe-nomenal in such a short period of time. In order to ensure the in-dustry’s continued growth, it is essential to assess the takeaways and opportunities unveiled in re-
cent years, while looking to sup-port critical sectors such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent 90 per cent of reg-istered businesses in Oman, with financial solutions that can help them prosper,” he explained.
“The Islamic finance industry is registering a solid 15 per cent to 20 per cent year-on-year growth as of the incremental growth in the overall banking sector and it is es-sential for both users and provid-ers of Sharia-based products and services to capitalise on this op-portunity,” he added.
Today, Oman’s Islamic finance assets are estimated at OMR1.1 billion as of June 2014 and could reach up to OMR7.1 billion in a span of four years.
Bank Nizwa has been and will continue to be a key contributor to this organic growth as proven by its latest financial results which registered an increase in assets of 49 per cent to reach OMR257 million, a 349 per cent surge in its customer financing portfolio and a 204 per cent growth in depos-its to reach OMR101 million and OMR69 million respectively.
In addition to Dr El Jaroudi, the panel on Islamic finance also in-cluded Ali Hamdan Al Raisi, vice-president of the Central Bank of Oman (CBO); Sheikh Rashid bin Saif Al Saadi, chairman of Takaful Oman; Mohammed Al Kharusi, group director (Business Develop-ment) at Mohsen Haider Darwish (MHD) Group; and Abdul Samad Al Maskari, chief executive officer of Al Madina Financial and Invest-ment Services Company.
Islamic finance
assets are expected to
touch 10% of the total
banking assets by
2018 in comparison
to the current 4.5%,
says Bank Nizwa CEO
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HUGE POTENTIAL: Attended by more than 300 participants, the Oman Forum 2014 edition explored current opportunities and challenges related to job generation and highlighted Islamic finance’s stra-tegic role in contributing to Oman’s socioeconomic development within the next four years.– Supplied photo
WASHINGTON: Trade groups representing Facebook, Micro-soft and Apple are pushing the Senate to pass legislation limit-ing National Security Agency (NSA) spying before the Repub-lican majority takes control of the chamber.
A coalition of Internet and technology companies, which also include Google and Twitter are supporting a bill the Senate plans to vote on November 18 to prohibit the NSA from bulk collection of their subscribers’ e-mails and other electronic communications.
Many of the companies op-posed a Republican- backed bill the House passed in May, saying a “loophole” would allow bulk collection of Internet user data.
Members of the Consumer Electronics Association “have already lost contracts with for-eign governments worth mil-lions of dollars,” in response to revelations about US spying, Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive officer of the group that represents Apple, Google and Microsoft, wrote in a letter sent to all senators.
The clock is ticking. If a final bill isn’t reached this year, the process for passing legislation would begin over in January un-der a new Congress controlled by Republicans, many of whom support government surveil-lance programmes.
US Internet and technology companies are confronting a do-mestic and international back-lash against government spying that may cost them as much as $180 billion in lost business, ac-cording to Forrester Research.
Tech retaliationThe issue emerged in June 2013 when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed a programme under which the US uses court orders to compel companies to turn over data about their users.
Documents divulged by Snowden also uncovered NSA hacking of fiber-optic cables abroad and installation of surveillance tools into rout-ers, servers and other network equipment.
Apple and Google have retali-ated by offering stronger secu-rity, including on new smart-phones, that will automatically shield photos, contact lists and other documents from the gov-ernment. That, in turn, has heightened tensions with law enforcement agencies that want access to the data for criminal investigations.
The Senate bill would end one of the NSA’s most controver-sial domestic spy programmes, through which it collects and stores the phone records of mil-lions of people not suspected of any wrongdoing. The legisla-tion would allow companies to publicly reveal the number and types of orders they receive from the government. - Bloomberg News
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Don’t post ads for free on Facebook, marketers toldSAN FRANCISCO: Facebook is telling marketers to stop putting up posts that look like advertise-ments unless they actually are paid promotions.
The social network said in a blog post that starting next year, users’ news feeds will show fewer posts that prompt readers to buy a prod-uct, install an application or enter a sweepstakes.
Facebook already limits the number of promotions that appear in a feed. When free posts look like ads, it hurts a consumer’s experi-ence, the company said.
The move spells more bad news for companies that spent years building up the number of ‘likes’ on their Facebook brand pages,
only to see their free posts reach fewer people as the news feed be-came more crowded. Mark Zuck-erberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, addressed the issue in
a public question-and-answer ses-sion last week, saying that though he has ‘empathy’ for businesses that went through the change, pro-tecting the user experience on Fa-cebook is more important.
Organic distribution“Pages that post promotional crea-tive should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time,” Facebook said in the post. “This change is about giving people the best Facebook experi-ence possible and being respon-sive to what they have told us.”
Zuckerberg has said that Face-book members on average have 1,500 posts they can see each day. To be one of the few they see, a
business’s best bet is to pay for an ad, he said.
“Every day it becomes more and more clear that Facebook has aban-doned social marketing, and is just a place to buy old-fashioned ads,” Nate Elliott, an analyst at Forrester Research, wrote in an e-mail. “If you’re a brand, 98 per cent of your fans won’t see your next Facebook post, and 99.9 percent won’t engage with that post and this change will only make matters worse.”
The Menlo Park, California-based company also has been working to improve the quality of posts, including efforts earlier this year to limit click-bait. Facebook began limiting the frequency of ads last year. - Bloomberg News
S O C I A L M E D I A
Crude oil price slump fuels deal speculation
NEW YORK: Talks that could lead to oilfield services provider Halliburton buying rival Baker Hughes may herald increased deal-making in the energy busi-ness as companies bet on a pro-tracted drop in oil prices, industry bankers said.
Competing service companies including National Oilwell Varco and Weatherford International may also be targets, bankers and lawyers said. In any deal, the in-centives will be the same: consoli-dation would allow them to better weather the downturn and resist pressure from oil producers to slash prices.
The Baker Hughes/Halliburton talks have stalled after the com-panies weren’t able to agree on issues including price, people fa-miliar with the matter said.
As oil prices fall, oil field service companies get squeezed, one in-dustry lawyer said. That’s because when prices fall far enough, it’s no longer economical to get oil out of the ground. If it’s too expensive to drill, there’s no need to pay an oilfield service company. “The
services guys are the last marginal dollar,” the lawyer said.
While services companies are likely to feel the effect of lower oil prices sooner, overleveraged exploration and production com-panies may also be pushed to do deals over the medium term, bank-ers said. Such companies could in-clude Apache, Hess, Marathon Oil or Devon Energy, bankers said.
Four exploration firmsThose four exploration compa-nies along with the oil services companies including Baker Hughes, all have market values that range between about $20 bil-lion and $31 billion.
In the end, price expectations will decide whether upstream exploration and production com-panies turn into sellers.
If sellers’ management be-lieve the oil price will rebound fairly soon, sellers would wait until then, hurting chances for large deals. Brent crude traded at $79.60 a barrel on Friday, down from $115.06 on June 19.
Until prices stabilise, explora-tion and production company deals will likely remain asset-level deals in distressed situations such as Samson Resources’ sale of its Bakken assets. “Certainly there will be instances where you will find more compromised
balance sheet operators possibly being more inclined to sell their entire position,” said Ted Harper, a fund manager at Frost Invest-ment Advisors in Houston.
Pricing pressureNot all will be targets, he said. Some exploration and produc-tion companies will seek to buy at a discount additional potential reserves near where they are al-ready drilling “to enhance returns from existing production,” he said.
Because exploration and pro-duction companies will slow or stop drilling if they are not making money, there is enormous pricing pressure on oil field services pro-viders as oil prices fall. Indeed, the tumbling price may have pushed the companies into a dialog, es-pecially if Halliburton’s manage-ment believes that oil prices could remain low for some time.
While Halliburton ‘has first mover advantage’ in its bid to ac-quire Baker Hughes, “it’s common knowledge that Schlumberger made a run at Baker Hughes years ago to plug a major hole in (well) completions. That hole remains unfilled,” Bill Herbert, oilfield analyst at energy-focused invest-ment bank Simmons told clients.
“Further, General Electric is lurking in the shadows as well, manufacturing cultures are com-parable,” said Herbert. General Electric has a large oil and gas business. - Reuters
Talks that could lead
to Halliburton buying
rival Baker Hughes
may herald increased
deal-making in the
energy business
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PRICE EXPECTATIONS
In the end, price expectations will decide whether
upstream exploration and production companies turn
into sellers. If sellers‘ management believe the oil
price will rebound fairly soon, sellers would wait until
then, hurting chances for large deals
NEW MOVE: Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook members on average
have 1,500 posts they can see each day. To be one of the few they
see, a business’s best bet is to pay for an ad. – Bloomberg News
GOOD & BAD NEWS When free posts look like
ads, it hurts a consumer’s
experience, Facebook said
The move spells more bad
news for companies that
spent years building up the
number of ‘likes’ on their
Facebook brand pages
Sensex reaches 28,000-milestoneMUMBAI: Encouraging macro data and foreign institutional in-vestors acknowledging Indian stocks led the Sensex finally cap-ture the milestone of 28,000-level with Nifty too hitting fresh record highs during the week.
The feel good factors over-lapped the trading momentum this week due to fall in inflation numbers Consumer price Indices (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) along with rebound in In-dustrial production growth bol-stered the market sentiment amid spurring up the hope that RBI would opt for early rate cut and real growth fundamentals.
The week also saw volatility and bouts of profit-booking at higher
levels as government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel prices bringing back the fear inflationary pressure and returning of RBIs hawkish policy, though largely sidelined at the fag-end trade.
Sharp decline in global crude-oil prices which directly affect-ed country’s fiscal deficit also lifted the bourses. Good buying was seen in FMCG, auto, realty, banking, consumer durables, IT, metal and technology sectors along with shares of mid-cap and small-cap companies.
While profit-booking at higher levels were witnessed in oil & gas, power, capital goods and health-care segments. The Sensex re-sumed higher at 27,919.45 and ral-
lied to lifetime high of 28,126.48 and a low of 27,764.75 before clos-ing the week at 28,046.66, show-ing a smart gain of 178.03 points or 0.64 per cent.
The CNX 50-share Nifty also gained by 52.90 points or 0.63 per cent to conclude at 8,389.90, it touched the psychological 8,415.05 level during the week.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued their buying spree during the week by invest-ing net Rs27.72 billion as per the SEBI’s record including the provisional figure of November 14. Eighteen stocks out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended high-er while 12 others closed lower.
Major gainers from the sensex
pack were Bajaj Auto (4.28 per cent), ITC (3.53 per cent), Coal India (3.42 per cent), HDFC Bank (3.37 per cent), HDFC (2.27 per cent), Hero Motocorp (2.12 per cent), Wipro (2.01 per cent), Maruti (1.74 per cent), SBI (1.68 per cent), Axis Bank (1.67 per cent), Tata Steel (1.47 per cent), TCS (1.26 per cent) and Dr Red-dy’s Lab (1.06 per cent).
However, Cipla dropped by 6.42 per cent followed by ONGC 3.89 per cent, Tata Power 2.68 per cent, Larsen 1.91 per cent, Reli-ance Industries 1.20 per cent and Bhel 1.16 per cent. The total turnover at BSE and NSE rose to Rs177.87 billion and Rs862.55 billion respectively . - PTI
I N D I A N S T O C K S
S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
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Two-year cost-free motoring for Mitsubishi Attrage, Mirage buyers
MUSCAT: General Automotive Company (GAC), official distribu-tors of Mitsubishi Vehicles in Oman, has announced an amazing new deal that ensures two years of cost-free motoring. Customers who purchase the Mitsubishi Mi-rage or the Mitsubishi Attrage are in for a treat with two years free registration and insurance, free service for two years/30,000kms and free petrol for two years, says
a press release.“The Two Years Free Motoring
campaign is a part of our efforts to give customers a worry-free ownership experience for the new Mitsubishi Attrage and Mirage. Each of these cars have their own
appealing personalities and offer buyers safety and super fuel effi-ciency in equal measure, together with the high quality synonymous with the triple-diamond brand.
“This special offer comes com-plete with petrol vouchers worth
OMR180, two years free insurance and registration renewed at the end of the first year, and two years 30,000km service.
“Together with our Two Year Free Motoring campaign, each of these cars will make for the
perfect car for you and your fam-ily to enjoy,” said Rajesh Sharma, National Marketing Manager for General Automotive Company on the launch of this exciting offer.
Powered by the same newly developed EURO2, double over-
head cam, three cylinder 1.2 li-tre MIVEC engine and boasting ‘Green’ credentials, the Mirage and Attrage features class leading fuel economy, a low environmen-tal footprint, with very low carbon emissions, exceptional value for money and most of all a fun and easy to drive vehicles.
Both vehicles provide fun, styl-ish and attractive exterior designs perfect for people of all ages, whilst at the same time offering a balance of both performance and excep-tional fuel economy.
Valid from November 9, 2014 to January 8, 2015, the special offer only applies to the Mitsubishi Mirage and Attrage.
The Two Years Free
Motoring campaign
is valid till January 8,
2015
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Max opens new store in IbriIBRI: Max, the leading value fashion brand, has increased its presence in Oman by opening a brand new store in Ibri, its sixth in the Sultanate.
The new 17,000 sq.ft store lo-cated on Hafeet road will stock Max’s homegrown label of wom-en’s, men’s and children’s fashion — as well as home, footwear, toys, cosmetics and accessories, says a press release.
“We are really proud to have of-ficially opened our newest store in Oman. The new Ibri store is a testament to our commitment to bringing the brand closer to the people of Oman. As a retail brand we are always trying to identify and meet our customer’s needs and we are working hard to increase our presence in Oman which is evident from our future expansion plans within the country. The new store features brand new look and feel that offers customers an inter-national experience, while provid-
ing them with the latest styles and trends at affordable prices, and we’re confident that it will be re-ceived extremely well by the resi-dents of Ibri,” said, Ramanathan Hariharan, CEO, Max.
The latest Winter collection is now available in store, which in-cludes a huge variety of on-trend ladies wear, men’s wear and kids wear to choose from, offering cus-tomers ‘More Fashion, More Value’.
Max Fashions is part of Land-
mark Group, one of the largest retail conglomerates in the Mid-dle East and India. It currently operates in the UAE, Saudi Ara-bia, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, Nigeria, Libya, Tanza-nia, Iraq and India.
Launched in the UAE in 2004, Max is the largest value fashion brand chain in the Middle East with over 280 stores across the Middle East, Africa and India.
S I X T H O U T L E T
OITE to host Masterclass on trade shows on November 17MUSCAT: Discover the right way to grow your business through ef-fective exhibiting by attending the ‘Transforming your Tradeshows Masterclass’ presented by John Blaskey, Founder and Managing Director of the Exhibiting Agen-cy Ltd, UK on November 17 at the Crowne Plaza Muscat, Sin-bad Ballroom from 9am to 4pm. The Masterclass is organised by Oman International Trade and Exhibitions (OITE), says a press release.
“The focus of the Masterclass is to highlight quality exhibitor experiences and will cover how businessmen can select the right show and the right location, plan for guaranteed success, execute strategies meticulously and capi-talise on their new business pipe-line,” said John Blaskey. He will offer attendees valuable tips on transforming their trade shows at
the upcoming Masterclass.Executive personnel and man-
agers involved in venue manage-ment, sales and sponsorship, business development, marketing strategies, corporate communica-tion, events and promotions and public relations will learn valu-able lessons on reducing costs, raising profiles and measuring results through the Masterclass. For those businesses planning to exhibit at a trade show and conference or already serial ex-hibitors in their own right, the Masterclass will provide multiple opportunities to step up the way
they approach their communica-tion programmes.
“Business organisations intend-ing to sharpen their marketing tac-tics and hone their communica-tion skills should not miss out on this Masterclass, especially from an invaluable figure with unlim-ited experience in the field,” said Tarek Ali, GM, Exhibitions, OITE.
“The Masterclass will indicate how businesses can avoid typi-cal pitfalls in marketing as well as ways to relate their marketing efforts to their business plans and techniques to measure their re-sults and outcomes,” said Blaskey.
Q U A L I T Y E X H I B I T O R E X P E R I E N C E
Business organisations intending to sharpen their marketing tactics and hone their communication skills should not miss out on this Masterclass
ISM toppers presented Gokaldas
Khimji Academic Awards
MUSCAT: Prestigious Gokaldas Khimji Academic Awards ceremo-ny was held recently in the school’s multipurpose hall. Nailesh Kanaksi Khimji and Minal Nailesh Kh-imji attended the occasion as chief guests, says a press release.
These exalted academic awards are given to the outstanding stu-dents from Classes VIII, IX, X, XI and XII every year. The chief guests honoured 163 intellectually gifted students who outshone hun-dreds of their peers in academic proficiency and were presented Academic Merit Certificates, med-als and cash awards. A great num-ber of dignitaries, guests and par-ents joined the celebrations of the magnificent event.
The function commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the chief guests accompanied by Wil-son George, Chairman, Board of
Directors, Indian Schools in the Sultanate of Oman, Cisily Wilson, Dr Avirat Vaishnav, president of the school managing commit-tee, Srinivas K Naidu, principal and Deep Wilson, Vice Principal, Senior Section. The school choir implored the blessings of the Al-mighty through a prayer song.
Deep Wilson, while welcom-ing the chief guests and the other dignitaries, lauded the selfless services rendered by Nailesh Kanaksi Khimji and his revered family to the Indian community and thanked him for instituting the academic awards to benefit the students and complimented the dynamic students, their ever sup-portive parents, and the diligent staff for producing spectacular results. He called the occasion magnificent and wonderful as it acknowledged and honoured the
meritorious scholars.In his address, Nailesh Khimji
hailed the benevolence of His Maj-esty Sultan Qaboos bin Said and his government towards the In-dian community and his family. He appreciated the students and the teachers for their exceptional job in both academic and co-cur-ricular activities.
Reminiscencing about his be-ing an alumni of ISM, he felts nostalgic and humbled because ISM made him who he is. He said he is proud of the exponential growth and achievements of his alma mater.
Later, Minal Nailesh Khimji honoured the meritorious stu-dents with awards and certificates.
The winners of the Inter-House English Drama Competition, one of the much-awaited events of Indian School Muscat, were also
honoured by the chief guest. Blue House’s play ‘The Miracle Work-er’, based on the life of Hellen Kel-ler, directed by Novena Augustine bagged the first position.
Satvik Anand of Red House and Hafsa Mattoo of Blue House re-ceived the Best Actor and the Best Actress awards respectively for their unmatched performances.
Nikhil Babu P. of Red House and Shravya Srinivas of Blue House won the second Best Ac-tor and Second Best Actress awards respectively. Ankita Sa-darjoshi of Red House won the consolation prize.
In addition to the first prize win-ning play, the folk song, folk dance and the drums performance by the senior students added colour to the evening’s celebrations. Ankita Sadarjoshi, School Head Girl, pro-posed the vote of thanks.
A C C O L A D E S
New Rolex Cellini now available at Khimji’s WatchesMUSCAT: At Baselworld 2014, Rolex presented the new Cel-lini collection — a contemporary celebration of classicism and the eternal elegance of traditional timepieces. Consisting of 12 clas-sically inspired models, this new collection combines the best of Rolex know-how and its high standards of perfection. And this collection is now available in Oman at Khimji’s Watches, says a press release.
“The lines are sober and re-fined, the materials noble, the finishings luxurious: every detail respects the codes of the art of watchmaking. But, this new col-lection is not suspended in an idealised past. Like the Italian Renaissance — one of whose most admired artists, Benvenu-to Cellini, goldsmith and sculp-tor to the popes, inspired the name of the collection — the Rolex Cellini models mark a return to the sources of clas-sicism, reinterpreting it in perfect harmony with con-temporary time,” commented Madhursinh Jesrani, general manager, Khimji’s Watches.
The new Cellini collection celebrates the most fascinating and exalting facets of watchmak-ing tradition. Here, elegance and nobility are absolute. The cases
are available exclusively in 18ct white or Everose gold cast by Rolex in its own foundry.
Their round shape and clas-sic 39mm diameter are marks of tradition, while the refined lugs, the polished finish and the dou-ble bezel — one domed and the second delicately fluted — add a touch of distinction. An emblem-atic Rolex feature, this fluting is also present on the case back, serving to screw it down.
The dials also bear witness to know-how and tradition. They are either lacquered or embel-lished with a black or a silver-plated classic guilloche motif and adorned with gold applique hour markers. The layout of the dials is determined by the watches’ dif-ferent functions, dividing the col-lection into three families.
The Cellini Time models are the quintessential expression of a watchmaking classic, the guardian of hours, minutes and seconds. The Cellini Date models add a date function via a hand on a small sub-dial, blending practi-cality and elegance. Finally, the Cellini Dual Time models indi-cate the time in two time zones simultaneously and feature an elegant sun and moon day/night indicator in an aperture on the sub-dial for the second time zone.
T I M E P I E C E S
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Oman Forum stresses need for job creation
MUSCAT: The private sector has to play a pivotal role in creating and sustaining job opportunities for the national workforce, by creating an environment condu-cive for career growth and skill development for Omanis. This was stated by a senior official from the Ministry of Manpower while expressing his views at Oman Forum 2014.
The forum was held recently under the patronage of Ministry of Manpower and Central Bank of Oman at Hotel Grand Hyatt. Oman Forum is an annual Arabic debate organised by the leading Arabic business magazine Alam al-Iktisaad WalA’mal (AIWA), published by United Media Ser-vices (UMS). Oman Forum in-volved the relevant stakehold-ers of the economy and society, and was aimed at contributing to the decision making on critical management and policy issues. His Highness Sayyid Taimur bin Asa’ad Al Said was the chief guest and Sheikh Khalid bin Omar Al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service, was the guest of honour in Oman Forum 2014, says a press release.
Two panel discussions were conducted in Oman Forum 2014.
The first panel discussion, moder-ated by noted TV journalist Yusuf Al Hooti, focused on the subject – “Job Creation – The National Agenda”. The panel includedEng. Said Bin Naser Al Sadi, Advisor to the Minister of Manpower; Hamed Saif Al-Hadhrami, Learn-ing & Development Manager, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO); Nabhan Al Batashi, Chair-man, General Federation of Oman Trade Unions; Khalid Al Mahroo-qi, COO – Arkan Majan and Board Member – Oman Society of Con-tractors; and Said Mohammed Al Badaei, Director – HR & Omani-zation, MHD Group.
The leading companies in Oman had partnered with Oman Forum 2014. It was organised in partnership with Galfar Engineer-ing & Contracting, Bank Muscat, Omantel and MHD Group as Stra-tegic Partners; Takaful Oman as Islamic Insurance Partner; Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZAD), Al Madina Investment and Al Madina Takaful as Associ-ate Partners; and Petroleum De-velopment Oman (PDO), Jazeera Steel and Jindal Shadeed Iron & Steel as Support Partners.
The Ministry of Higher Educa-tion, Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry, The Research Coun-cil and Sultan Qaboos Univer-sity also supported Oman Forum 2014. Apart from senior bureau-crats from the relevant ministries, around 200 strong audiences rep-resenting the senior-and-middle level leadership of private sector companies attended it.
Talking in the forum, Eng. Said Bin Naser Al Sadi from the Minis-try of Manpower said: “The Min-istry of Manpower accords top priority for creating job opportu-nities for Omani nationals both in the public and private sectors. There is no dearth of new oppor-tunities for talented Omanis, as the country witnesses tremen-dous growth in terms of infra-structure development and other potential economic activities which contribute significantly to create more jobs. There is no point in comparing and contrasting pri-vate and public sectors as they have different business models. However, the private sector has to play a pivotal role in creating and sustaining job opportunities for the national workforce, by creat-ing an environment conducive for career growth and skill develop-ment for Omanis.”
Nabhan Al Batashi of General Federation of Oman Trade Un-ions called on the private sector companies to introduce timely innovations to make themselves more attractive for Omani em-ployees, by creating better work-ing environment, bringing about parity with the public sector in multiple levels and giving more opportunities for training and skill development.
“There is a growing trend that people take private sector job as a temporary placement till they get their hand on a government job. Testifying to this is the increase in the number of resignations of Omani employees in the private
sector. The private sector compa-nies are responsible for prevent-ing the disproportionate level of migration from the private to public sector. They need to imple-ment both in letter and spirit all the rules and regulations stipu-lated by the ministry to create a working environment conducive for creating sustainable work-place for the nationals. In this re-gard, banking sector has created a good model for other sectors to replicate,” he said.
He added that it is high time that private sector gave back to the nation by developing itself as magnet for talented Omanis to work in and prosper.
Hamed Saif Al Hadhrami from PDO explained various measures adopted by the oil & gas major to enhance the skill sets and employ-ability of Omani graduates.
“Since its inception, PDO has been vigorous not only in em-ploying Omanis but also in giv-ing training to Omani youth and developing their skills, in order to identify the potential of the youth and train them to contribute to society. The company has special training programmes for gradu-ates to improve their technical ca-pabilities and it has increased the number of Omani college gradu-ates it recruits, from 50 to 200 as part of its technical Omanisation Programme,” he informed.
Khalid Al Mahrooqi of Arkan Majan called for upgrading the education system in the country to meet the demands in the job market. “There are plenty of op-portunities in the private sector for skilled employees, but unfor-tunately the young graduates are not skilled enough to meet this requirement. The number of new graduates is higher than the op-portunities available in the pri-vate sector. But when it comes to the skilled workforce, there is an acute shortage of those who can meet the specific demands in the market among the graduates from our universities and higher education institutes.”
Oman Forum
involved the relevant
stakeholders of the
economy and society,
and was aimed at
contributing to the
decision making on
critical management
and policy issues
Shah Nagardas felicitates employees for long serviceMUSCAT: The Management of Shah Nagardas Manji & Co. re-cently felicitated more than 20 of its Omani and expatriate employ-ees who have completed 25 years or more of service with the company.
The company felicitated each by presenting a silver memento as a token of appreciation and recog-nition for their services provided over the years, says a press release.One of the employee commended the occasion by saying, “This in itself speaks about the cordial rela-tionship, attitude and the employ-ment policies which the company adopts towards its employees.”
T O K E N O F A P P R E C I A T I O N
RECOGNITION: Shah Nagardas Manji & Co’s PRO Said Sulaiman Al Wahaibi receiving the silver memento from the directors and senior staff for having been with the company for more than 25 years. – Supplied photo
ISG retains Polemic Challenge trophyMUSCAT: Indian School Ghubra (ISG) proved itself once again, making a clean sweep in the Po-lemic Challenge, the inter school debate for the Ambassador’s Cup held at Indian School Wadi Kabir, says a press release.
Pavithra Ramesh and Rishab-Shetty who represented the school impressed the audience with their debating skills and emerged champions at the Ambassador’s Polemic Challenge 2014 and lifted the coveted trophy. Twenty six participants from 13 Indian schools in Oman took part in the event and showcased their skills debating on the topic ‘Technology has failed to foster world peace’. Pavithra won the awards for the best speaker and the best rebuttal.
I N T E R S C H O O L D E B A T E
ISWK hosts Polemic Challenge
MUSCAT: The Ambassador’s Cup instituted by the former In-dian Ambassador to the Sultan-ate, Anil Wadhwa, offers a podium to the Indian schools in Oman to demonstrate their declama-tory proficiency. Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir hosted this annual inter school debate this year in its multipurpose hall recently, says a press release.
Twenty-six participants from 13 Indian schools participated in this competition. Pavithra Ramesh, Indian School Al Ghu-bra, bagged both the accolades of Best Speaker and Best Rebuttal and to top it up, Indian School Al Ghubra was also judged as the
Best School. Mamata Gopinathan of ISWK
was adjudged the Best Speaker first Runner-up and the Best Speaker second Runner-up was Merrin Elza John from Indian School Muscat.
The topic chosen for the Po-lemic Challenge for the Ambassa-dor’s Trophy was ‘Technology has failed to foster World Peace’
At the end of the debate, the chief guest J. S. Mukul, Indian Ambassador to the Sultanate, further enlightened the students about the topic. He suggested how technology could be used in a constructive manner.
Juliette Omonigho, one of the
judges for the occasion, gave use-ful tips on voice modulation and the use of microphone for effec-tive speaking. She agreed on the fact that technology could be both useful and harmful depending on each individual’s perspective.
Mementos were handed over by D. N. Rao, Principal of ISWK, to the judges — Mayank Singh, Omo-nigho and DTM George Thomas. Mathew Abraham, chairman of the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in Oman, Alex. C. Joseph, Assistant Educational Adviser of the Board of Directors and Leo Lobo, Academic Director, Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir were aalso present.
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Kia sales surge in October
MUSCAT: Kia Motors Corpora-tion’s global sales figures — export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants — for pas-senger cars, recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for October 2014, have recorded a total of 242,362 units sold, rep-resenting a 7.7% year-on-year in-crease, says a press release.
In October, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in China, North America, General Markets (include the regions of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia (excluding China and Korea), the Pacific, Middle East and Afri-ca. ‘Europe’ includes both Western and Eastern European markets. and Europe of 22.5% (58,960 units
sold), 11.9% (50,704 units sold), 7.1% (44,438 units sold) and 0.1% (51,255 units sold), respectively.
Cumulatively, through the first 10 months of 2014, Kia’s global sales have increased by 4.3% year-on-year, reaching 2,397,878 units. China, North America and General Markets have experienced cumu-lative gains to date in 2014 of 15.6% (544,170 units sold), 6.1% (551,906 units sold) and 0.7% (436,416 units sold), respectively.
Kia Motors Corporation, a mak-er of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart, was founded in 1944 and
is Korea’s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. Over 2.7 million Kia vehicles a year are produced in nine manufacturing and assembly operations in five countries which are then sold and serviced through a network of distributors and deal-ers covering around 150 countries.
Kia today has over 47,000 em-ployees worldwide and annual rev-enues of $42 billion. It is the major sponsor of the Australian Open and an official automotive part-ner of Fifa – the governing body of the Fifa World Cup. Kia Motors Corporation’s brand slogan – “The Power to Surprise” – represents the company’s global commitment to surprise the world by providing exciting and inspiring experiences that go beyond expectations.
Reliable International Auto-
motive, the distributor for Kia in Oman provides a rewarding own-ership experience for customers. Excellent product attributes and unmatched 18 facilities easily en-sure their absolute satisfaction, every mile of the way. No wonder then that Reliable International Automotive has been ranked amongst the top Kia distributors worldwide and has been honoured with prestigious accolades includ-ing the Kia ‘Dealer of the Year’ award; Kia ‘Distributor of Distinc-tion’ award, ‘Family Like Care’ Ser-vice award and the ‘Zenith Club’ award for excellent performance.
The prestigious ‘Kia Award for Overall Excellence and Outstand-ing Performance’ amongst Kia dis-tributors worldwide was bestowed most deservingly.
Reliable International
Automotive, the
distributor for Kia
in Oman, provides a
rewarding ownership
experience for
customers
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Ram 1500 pickup: Robust and reliable
MUSCAT: With legendary at-tributes of reliability and power, the Ram 1500 offers best-in-class fuel efficiency, technology and features without sacrificing on its capability. Being Ram’s most recognisable pickup on the road, the Ram 1500 is a must-have for individuals who are in constant pursuit of enjoying life and travel, anywhere, says a press release.
“Equipped with a truckload of pioneering and fuel-saving sys-tems, and the legendary 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine that offers the best powertrain in the industry, the Ram 1500 has several acco-lades to its credit — and has been named a 2014 Automobile Maga-zine ‘All-Star USA’ by the publica-tion’s editorial staff for the second year in a row and the fourth time
in the past five years. Not just this, the Ram 1500 has also been named Motor Trend’s ‘Truck of the Year’ in 2013 and 2014, mark-ing the first time any vehicle has won this prestigious honour for two consecutive years, reaffirm-ing the fact that Ram has the best pickup truck on the road,” said Ismaeel Hassen, National Sales & Brand Manager at Dhofar au-tomotive, sole distributors of the Ram range in Oman.
The Ram 1500 features first-in-segment technologies: eight-speed automatic transmission, stop-start system, active aerody-namics that including grille shut-ters, active air suspension and a host of other features. An award winning interior and the next-generation Uconnect Access sys-tem keep passengers connected.
R E C O G N I S A B L E P I C K U P O N R O A D
Zubair Corporation sponsors official supporters of National Football TeamMUSCAT: The Zubair Corpora-tion announced its sponsorship of the official supporters of the Oma-ni National Football Team for the upcoming 22nd Gulf Cup, which is to be held in Saudi Arabia. The Zubair Corporation aims, through its sponsorship, to stand alongside the national team and cheer them in the various matches as they make their way to their 2nd cham-pionship, says a press release.
Commenting on the sponsor-ship, Mohammed bin Mubarak
Al-Hasni, chief communication officer of The Zubair Corpora-tion said: “This sponsorship is in line with The Zubair Corporation philosophy and policy of support-ing the Sultanate’s national teams in events that contribute towards highlighting the presence of the Sultanate on international stage. Supporting the National Team in the 22nd Gulf Cup is a national responsibility which The Zubair Corporation gladly embraces. Sponsoring the official support-
ers of the Omani National Foot-ball Team will help showcase the nation’s support and encourage the team to perform better and achieve their 2nd championship.”
“The Zubair Corporation’s strategy is to support a sport that encompasses sports clubs, local and national teams, sports asso-ciations as well as various sports programmes backed by the Min-istry of Sports Affairs. Supporting the official’s of the national team comes as part of this vision that is
aimed at developing sports and en-couraging sporting talent within the country,” he added.
Saleh Al Harasi, one of the official supporters, said: “We would like to thank The Zubair Corporation for their support and sponsorship. It will no doubt greatly facilitate our presence in Riyadh to cheer the National Football team. It is en-couraging for members to receive such support and has indeed helped us add more participants from different wilayats.”
B I G S U P P O R T
FRiENDi extends validity of lowest international call ratesMUSCAT: FRiENDi mobile has extended the validity of its offer on low international call rates to selected countries. The promo-tional offer had received excellent response from customers.
A steady growth in subscriber base was the motivation behind the initiative to extend the of-fer. The promotional rates will be valid till December 31, says a press release.
By offering the lowest inter-national calling rates ever in the Sultanate, FRiENDi mobile helps customers to stay connected with their loved ones beyond borders. Customers can benefit from the most affordable international calling rates as low as 42bz per minute to Bangladesh, India, In-donesia and USA. The offer has
also the lowest call rate to Paki-stan at only 52 bz per minute.
FRiENDi offers reasonable call rates of 62bz per minute to GCC Countries, Egypt, Jordan, Philip-pines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Yemen. Call rates to Iraq and Tanzania will be
97bz per minute. By extending the validity of the promotion, FRiEN-Di aims to reinforce its commit-ment to its valued customers to offer the best services at the most attractive rates to the destina-tions of their choice.
To enjoy the amazing rates, all existing and new FRiENDi cus-tomers need to dial *136*13#. They will be charged a one-time fee of 100 bz only to get the rates activated every day from 6pm to 6 am and full day on Friday. The off-peak timings included in the promotion are by far the most beneficial in the market.
Announcing the extended va-lidity of the new international call rates, Adnan Al Alawi, CEO, FRiENDi Oman said: We are in-deed very pleased to announce the
extended offer period, keeping in mind the constant efforts to sat-isfy our subscribers. We intend to help customers stay connected with their friends and family any-where in the world without run-ning out of money. The off-peak plan is another added benefit for customers to enjoy the company of their loved ones for a longer time and a perfect option for those who make most of their interna-tional calls during the night.”
“We would like to thank our customers for their continued support and loyalty. We are de-termined to continue our efforts to maximise customer satisfac-tion and strengthen our growing customer base through upgrad-ed services and new initiatives, Alawi concluded.”
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‘Islamic Finance Personality of the Year’ award goes to Bank Nizwa CEO
MUSCAT: Bank Nizwa CEO Dr Jamil El Jaroudi was named ‘Is-lamic Finance Personality of the Year’ at the 4th annual Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) 2014 for his leadership in estab-lishing Oman’s first Islamic Bank.
Today, under his guidance, Bank Nizwa is a pioneer in the Is-lamic banking sector offering cus-tomers a suite of Shari’a-based products and services that com-pete with conventional banking, says a press release.
“It is a great honour to be recog-nised by one of the most prestig-ious awards in Islamic banking. This award reflects the dedica-tion and commitment of each and every individual in our team and their unparalleled efforts to make
Bank Nizwa, one of the most trusted and innovative banks in the Sultanate,” said Dr El Jaroudi.
“Islamic banking is relatively new to Oman and our journey to date tells a remarkable story as we pave the way for a thriving and robust industry,” he added.
Bringing over 35 years of ex-perience in the financial sector, Dr El Jaroudi joined Bank Nizwa ahead of its launch as the bank’s first Chief Executive Officer in 2012. He has successfully led the bank’s growth strategy focusing on increasing its customer base, expanding its branch network and offering forward-thinking Is-lamic banking solutions that em-power customers to enjoy finan-cially-secure lives. This recent win is yet another in the bank’s roster of accolades in 2014, which includes the ‘Best Islamic Bank in Oman’ by Islamic Finance News, ‘Best Islamic Financial Institu-tion in Oman’ from the London Sukuk Summit and the World Finance 100 Award.
Dr El Jaroudi went on to thank the bank’s customers for their trust and support, promising to continue delivering competitive propositions that meet commu-nity needs. In the period between December 2013 and September 2014, Bank Nizwa increased its customer relationships by 104% and since inception, the bank opened nine branches across six of the Sultanate’s Governorates and introduced an array of spe-cialised personal and corporate banking products and services.
In addition to his responsibili-ties at Bank Nizwa, Dr El Jaroudi is a member of the Governing Council of the International Cen-tre for Education in Islamic Fi-nance, the leading university in the world dedicated to offering academic and professional quali-fications in Islamic finance. He is also a Board member of the Beirut Islamic University and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lebanese American University Institute of Family Businesses.
Under Dr Jamil El
Jaroudi’s guidance,
Bank Nizwa has
been a pioneer in
the Islamic banking
sector offering
customers a suite
of Shari’a-based
products and
services
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
SPOR SY O U R G A M E
SECTIONC S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
MOMINUL TON SETS ZIMBABWE RECORD Mominul Haque scored his fourth Test century to leave Zimbabwe chasing a world record 449-run target to win the third and final Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong on Saturday. >C2
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Le Guen blasts ref for denying Oman a penalty against UAE
RIYADH: After beginning their Gulf Cup campaign with a goal-less draw against defending cham-pions the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday, Oman’s Paul le Guen blamed the match referee for depriving his team the victory with some wrong decisions.
According to the French coach, the match referee made some wrong decisions while also deny-ing a penalty to Oman.
“We played a good match. But some wrong decisions by the ref-eree went against us. There was an obvious penalty which should have been awarded to us but the referee decided against giving it,” he said.
Le Guen also called for the need for the better referees to be given charge of the remaining matches.
Le Guen refused to talk about a disallowed goal scored by Oman right after the break during Friday’s match.
“I need to see the video many times before I decide about it. But as I said we were denied an obvi-ous penalty.”
However, Oman coach said he is satisfied with the team’s perfor-mance and winning a point against the title holder is a positive sign.
Asked whether there is any pressure after the draw, Le Guen said: “I am not under any pres-sure. I am a professional coach and I know how to deal with this kind of situations. Maybe some players
feel the pressure and we will deal with that before the next matches.”
His UAE counterpart Mahdi Ali said that his team played a good game. “The team played a good match. We created more chances than Oman,” he said.
“Oman team tried in the first 10 minutes to create some pressure but our players were up to that challenge.”
Mahdi Ali also praised veteran star Ismael Matar who came on in
the second half of the match.“Ismael is our trump card which
I wanted to use in the second half. He played a good game despite re-turning from his injury,” he said.
Ali also defended the level of the star midfielder Omar Abdul Rah-man. “Omar played a good game despite his low fitness. He didn’t play for a month so lacked match fitness. But want him to give enough time on the field to prepare him for the next matches.”
Points countMeanwhile, Kuwait’s Bader Al Motawa speaking about his team’s performance in their 1-0 win over Iraq said the three points are im-portant than performance.
“We needed to win this match. We are happy did against one of the title contenders,” he said.
“Personally I don’t care about the performance. What I care about is the three points. So I am happy we achieved that target.”
“Just like us, Iraq too had their chances same. But the difference is we utilised them and benefited from that,” he added.
On the other hand, his team-mate Walid Ali said both the teams had controlled the match in phases but they are delighted to have won full points against a strong and fa-vourite team like Iraq.
Iraq players, obviously disap-pointed with the result, refused to
speak to the press. However, Iraq coach Hakim Shaker said he was satisfied with the team’s perfor-mance despite losing the match to Kuwait by a solitary goal.
“We did everything in the match and played to win it. But unfortu-nately luck was against us and we lost three points in our opening match,” Shaker said.
“Players played a positive game and tried to attack the Ku-wait goal from all sides. But we couldn’t score the all-important goal,” Shaker said.
“Then we paid for our mistakes in the last minutes.”
Kuwait coach Jorvan Vieira ex-pressed delight at his team’s suc-cess against Iraq.
“We achieved an important win at the beginning of the tour-nament. The match was difficult for both teams but we succeed in organising ourselves towards the end and score a precious goal.”
After Saturday’s rest, the action continues today with two Group A matches when Qatar take on Yemen and hosts Saudi Arabia tackle Bahrain.
After Oman’s goalless
draw against the
UAE in their Gulf Cup
opener, Le Guen said
the match referee
made some wrong
decisions while also
denying a penalty to
the Sultanate’s squad
IN CONTEMPLATIVE MOOD: Oman team pictured along with Paul Le Guen’s coach staff during a training session in Riyadh yesterday. – ISMAIL AL FARSI/Times of Oman
POSITIVE ATTITUDE: Oman’s French coach Paul Le Guen, centre, shows his soccer skills during Oman’s training session.
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CHITTAGONG: Mominul Haque scored his fourth Test century to leave Zimbabwe chasing a world record 449-run target to win the third and final Test against Bang-ladesh in Chittagong on Saturday.
Mominul made an unbeaten 131 as Bangladesh, seeking a 3-0 sweep after winning the first two Tests, piled up 319 for five in their second innings before declar-ing in the post-tea session of the fourth day’s play.
The tourists ended the day on 71 for one still needing 378 runs more with nine wickets in hand to record an improbable win.
The highest fourth innings total so far that won a Test was 418 for seven by the West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2003.
Sikandar Raza was unbeaten on 43 and Hamilton Masakadza was
on 26, the pair having put on 67 for the second wicket after open-er Brian Chari was leg-before to Rubel Hossain for zero.
Mominul, who was playing only
his 12th Test, hit 13 fours in his 189-ball innings.
He put on 113 for the second wicket with Tamim Iqbal, who missed the chance to become
the first Bangladeshi batsman to score centuries in both innings of a Test when he was bowled by Natsai M’shangwe for 65.
Tamim had made 109 runs in the first innings.
Mohammed Mahmuddulah hit 30 off 28 balls, Shakib Al Hasan made 17 and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim scored a brisk 46 off 30 balls to hasten the declaration.
The Test series between the two lowest-ranked teams will be followed by five One-day Interna-tionals. - AFP
Mominul made an
unbeaten 131 as
Bangladesh, seeking
a 3-0 sweep, piled
up 319 for five in
their second innings
before declaring in
the post-tea session
on the fourth day
Bangladesh 1st innings 503 Bangladesh 2nd innings Tamim Iqbal c M’shangwe 65I. Kayes c Mutumbami b Panyangara 15M. Haque not out 131M. Mahmudullah c Mutumbami b Panyangara 30Shakib c Ervine b M’shangwe 17M. Rahim c M’shangwe b Raza 46Shuvagata Hom not out 3Extras (b-8, lb-3, w-1) 12Total (5 wkts decl; 78 overs) 319Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-149, 3-204, 4-237, 5-308.Bowling: S. Masakadza 7-0-28-0, Panyangara 12-3-31-2, Raza 25-0-114-1, M’shangwe 18-2-77-2, Chigumbura 9-2-19-0, H. Masakadza 7-1-39-0 (w-1).Zimbabwe 2nd inningsS. Raza not out 43B. Chari lbw Rubel 0H. Masakadza not out 26Extras (lb-2) 2Total (1 wkt; 19 overs) 71Fall of wicket: 1-4.Bowling: Shafiul 4-0-8-0, Rubel 3-1-16-1, Taijul 6-1-17-0, Jubair 2-0-12-0, Shakib 3-0-16-0, Shuvagata 1-1-0-0.
S C O R E B O A R D
UNBEATEN TON: Bangladesh’s Mominul Haque Plays a shot during
the fourth day of their third Test against Zimbabwe at the Zohur
Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Saturday. – AFP
Clarke ruled out of South Africa ODIs
PERTH: Australia captain Mi-chael Clarke will miss rest of the One-day International (ODI) series against South Africa with a ham-string injury, the country’s cricket board (CA) said on Saturday.
Clarke re-injured his problem-atic left hamstring on Friday in Australia’s 23-run win over the Proteas in the first match in Perth and had scans on Saturday.
“Michael had scans today in
Perth for his ongoing left ham-string problem and as a result has been ruled out of the remaining matches in the... ODI Series,” CA team doctor Peter Brukner said in a statement.
“Michael will return to Syd-ney for further treatment and an update on his fitness for the first test in Brisbane will be made in due course.”
Perth also hosts the second
game One-day International on Sunday with George Bailey con-firmed to lead the home side, a role he is set to continue to play in the five-match series.
Clarke’s injury sidelined him for the entire one-day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates and almost all of a preceding one-day tournament against South Africa and hosts Zimbabwe. - Rueters
I N J U R E D
Mominul’s century sets Zimbabwe record target
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SPORTSS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
What a privilege it was to witness Rohit Sharma’s’
record breaking innings. That it came at the Eden Gardens made it even more special as the iconic ground was celebrating its 150th anniversary and it was just the kind of fireworks that it needed.
Pity that it wasn’t a full house, for then the noise levels would have been even more. Sharma’s knock had all the shots in the book plus some. The one where he walked towards the off-side and then bottom handed it over long on was the most ex-traordinary one of them all.
There were some glori-ous drives as well and the flicks, short arm pulls, sweeps and all, were such that every blade of grass at the Eden would have felt it being singed.
Thanks are in great meas-ure due to Thisara Perera, who in the modern way of falling down to make an easy catch look spectacular dropped it, as his palms opened as he fell down and reprieved Sharma.
Sharma got out to the final ball of the innings and 260 runs later, and nobody, maybe not even the Sri Lan-kans complained, for they too were witness to some superlative batting indeed.
There will always be cynics who will try and take credit away by pointing out to the Sri Lankan attack, but then they won’t be able to explain why the next best score was Kohli’s 66.
Whatever the quality of the opposition, the runs
still have to be scored, and if only one batsman has done that then he must be special.
India indicated that they wanted to be ruthless, and that’s what they have been, which is tremendous, for wins by such margins increases self belief and confidence in the team.
There were some wor-rying moments too, as the spin duo of Akshar Patel and Karn Sharma found out that they could be hammered too. Umesh Yadav, though, continues to impress, and his finding his rhythm before a big tour is a huge plus for India.
Dhawal Kulkarni also bowled well, as he finally got to play two games in a row instead of the one appearance and then out of the playing eleven as has been happening with him earlier.
Like in the batting, India now have options in the new ball department too, and that is only good for the team.
Virat Kohli has said that he wants the team to continue with good habits and keep winning, and that is what the approach should be for the final game in Ranchi. India let England win the last one-day in Eng-land and thereby spoil its record and hopefully that lesson has been learnt. We shall see soon enough. - PMG
Rohit provided fireworks at Eden Gardens anniversary
C O M M E N T A R Y
SUNIL GAVASKAR
SUNNY STROKES
India rest Raina for fifth ODI against Sri Lanka
RANCHI: India’s middle-order batsman Suresh Raina was rested for the fifth and final One-day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka, the team’s assistant coach Sanjay Bangar said on Saturday.
“Everybody has been getting opportunities more or less. For tomorrow’s game we have rested Suresh (Raina), so the boys who have missed out so far, have a very good chance to play,” Bangar was quoted as saying by bcci.tv.
The decision to rest Raina was made to open up opportunities for the fringe players in the squad and also keeping in mind India’s lengthy tour of Australia, starting with the Test series and culminating in the 2015 ODI World Cup, he said.
The Test series has been on the team’s mind even as they focus on inflicting a series whitewash on Sri Lanka.
“We have been preparing for the longer format simultaneously as some players who are part of the Test squad are also with this team. We have been practicing with the Test series in mind,” the 42-year-old said, ahead of the fifth ODI here on Sunday.
He pointed that some of the selection and strategising in this series have been done keeping in
mind the conditions that the team will face in the World Cup.
He said it was decided that the openers would look to get the team off to a solid start and focus on keeping wickets in hand.
“We spoke about the impor-tance of keeping as many wickets in hand as possible for the latter half of the innings,” Bangar said.
“That is the conscious effort we have made, especially keeping in
mind that we have two new balls and the conditions that we expect to face in Australia.”
He said the focus is on keeping the pacers fresh by rotating and resting them whenever possible.
“There is a lot of rotation happen-ing and bowlers who have played a lot in the recent past, people like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Moham-med Shami, have been given rest. This is with the intention of having an all-fit pace attack in Australia,” the former India player said.
“The preparations have been spot on and the workload is moni-tored properly. We have probably the best seam attack going to Aus-tralia in years now.”
He expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance, saying the boys have managed to achieve the goals set for them.
“There have been a lot of posi-tives that have emerged. Earlier we thought there are not many spin-ners around. Here we see that there are four of five of them in conten-tion,” the former all-rounder said.
“Umesh (Yadav) has been a big plus and he has improved a lot as the matches have progressed. He has more control now and is giv-ing us wickets in the initial overs, which so crucial and is helping the team’s cause.”
He stressed on the return to form of the frontline batsman as the reason behind India’s recent impressive ODI form.
“One major reason why we have done so well in the matches after the England series is that a lot of our batmen have managed to get big scores. We have already seen seven hundreds being scored and they’re all from different bats-men. So, it’s great that everybody is chipping in with these vital contri-butions,” Bangar concluded. - IANS
The decision to rest
Raina was made to
open up opportunities
for the fringe players
in the squad
GEARING UP: Sri Lankan players pictured during a practice session
on the eve of their fifth One-day International match against India
in Ranchi on Saturday. – PTI
Pakistan spinners not unplayable, says New Zealand’s LathamDUBAI: New Zealand opener Tom Latham is convinced Pakistan’s spinners are not unplayable, but his team will have to adapt quickly if they want to level the series in the second Test starting in Dubai on Monday.
Pakistan won the first Test in Abu Dhabi by a big 248-run mar-gin to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. New Zealand’s tra-vails against spin will not lessen at the Dubai stadium where the pitch is more likely to turn.
Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar took five wickets while leggie Yasir Shah took four in the Abu Dhabi Test. That came on the back of
Babar’s 14 and Shah’s 12 in the 2-0 rout of Australia that preceded the current series.
But Latham, who scored his maiden hundred in the first Test, was convinced Pakistan’s spinners can be negated.
“Pakistan’s spinners obviously have variations, the make up of their side is a left-armer and a leg-spinner and they do challenge us, but I don’t think they are unplay-able,” Latham said after New Zea-land’s practice on Saturday.
Latham said New Zealand’s tail put up a brave show against Paki-stani spinners on the final day.
“We showed that on the morn-
ing of the fifth day and Ish (Sodhi) and Trent (Boult) dug in,” said Latham of the tenth-wicket stand of 54 between Sodhi and Boult.
Sodhi made a career-best 63 while Boult remained not out on 19 runs.
“They played really well so if we get ourselves in those situa-tions and keep them (spinners) out for long then we can be able to put a big total on the board,” said Latham, whose father Rod also played for New Zealand.
“It’s a good opportunity to right some wrongs, we have shown that in the past in the West Indies after losing the second Test and then
come back by winning the third and win the series,” said Latham of New Zealand’s 2-1 win in June this year.
“The basic principle is to apply ourselves and you go out and if the ball is reverse swinging or spin-ning then we have to apply our-selves and try to adapt to the situa-tion as quickly as possible to those conditions,” said Latham.
Pakistan have retained the same squad for the second Test, minus opener Ahmed Shehzad who was ruled out of the Test series due to a minor skull fracture after being hit by a bouncer from seamer Corey Anderson. - AFP
S E C O N D T E S T
CONFIDENT: New Zealand’s Tom Latham smiles as he speaks
during a press conference after a net session at the ICC Cricket
Academy in Dubai on Saturday. – AFP
ODI winter primes England for World Cup success: CookLONDON: England captain Alastair Cook believes a diet of nothing but One-day Interna-tional (ODI) cricket this winter and the return of a number of rested key players will give Eng-land their best chance to win the World Cup.
Having not played any form of cricket since a T20 victory against India in early September, Eng-land’s weary team are rested after a testing year on and off the field.
Between now and the World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand starting in February, England’s schedule is made up entirely of limited overs cricket and Cook be-lieves that provides them with the perfect platform for success.
“Without a doubt, this is our best chance,” Cook told a press conference ahead of their seven-game ODI tour in Sri Lanka.
“This goes back a few years in planning and asking why our World Cups have not gone as well as they should have.
“Since 1992, we have not done ourselves justice in any World Cup. The ECB have planned to make sure we have the guys fresh and ready to go for the World Cup.
“We have a great opportunity and I, for one, am excited about playing one-day cricket without having Tests in the forefront.”
England have lost five of their
last six one-day series but the 29-year-old pointed to the ab-sence of key personnel on those occasions.
“We haven’t had our full-strength side since the Champions Trophy (in June 2013). Priorities change. We obviously had back-to-back Ashes series so a lot of the guys were rested from one-day cricket. That is not the case now.
“We have a full-strength side, we have guys who are desperate to get a World Cup spot and we have time to really focus on us as an England one-day side.”
England face Sri Lanka in the first ODI on November 26. - Reuters
B E S T C H A N C E
Alastair Cook
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SPORTSS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
There was a fleeting touch of the wild about what Rohit Sharma did at the
Eden Gardens as he went about scripting history, but the quirky beauty of it was that the dash of the wild was so sneaky and quiet that it escaped the unsuspect-ing eyes until the moment when the swish of the tail ended in a mighty roar after the ambush and the kill. Like a tiger.
A tiger minus the rippling muscles or the glowing amber eyes, but with the fluid grace and poise that would help it to have the edge even over the king of the jungle if ever they came to an exchange of paws.
The transformation of Rohit Sharma from mild to wild was low and slow, but when it hap-pened spontaneously we were transfixed more by disbelief than by the thrill of the drama that unfolded.
The wild streak remained bot-tled up until that deep square leg single brought Rohit the century he was dreaming about to tell the selectors that he would love to open the innings and that they should not really mind the slow, lazy way he normally deals with the ball in the initial overs.
That was desperate to prove himself after getting back into the team was something even a kid watching the match would have no doubt about by the 10th over, but the animated punch into the air with the bat and the extended celebration that fol-lowed put it all in a new perspec-tive and context. That was when we got the first measure of his desperation.
The wild streak vanished just as swift as it made its presence felt, and Rohit was back in his mild pitch persona and kept his eyes more seriously than ever on the team scoreboard because “that’s how you build your innings”.
Fifty balls later, and just after driving Nuwan Kulasekara through covers for the four that made him the first, and only, player to hit two double centuries in ODIs, the wild side was up, and this time too loud and long to
miss. It was a roar, silent but still deafening, that went on and on. The tiger has made the killing.
The flick of the tail got more virulent and soon we found 250 inscribed against a player for the first time in One-day Internationals.
An Everest that’s going to chal-lenge, inspire and frustrate many in the coming years.
With the Eden Gardens epic, Rohit has sealed his place in the Indian team for the World Cup and perhaps the opening slot as well, but it will be unfair if we fail to hail two guys who helped the hero of the day enjoy his fair share in the sun.
And, ironically, both guys stood a tempting chance to reap handsome gains if they tried, overt or covert, to lead the hero up the garden path for the simple reason that the three Rs — Rohit, Rahane and Robin — were involved in a contest, healthy, of course, for their quarter of the World Cup cake.
Ajinkya Rahane may have lost his opening slot to Rohit after the Eden Gardens show and Robin Uthappa may now be as confused as he ever was about his luck to be part of the World
Cup pack, but their positive at-titude towards their team-mate and team India was inspiring.
When Rohit was struggling at the start of the innings, being dropped on four and scoring just six off 20 balls, it was Rahane’s aggressive pitch (28 off 22 balls) that helped Rohit hit the tempo.
And Robin Uthappa was happy with the 16 runs in a 128-run partnership.
Uthappa, himself an opening batsman, did not try to make the most of the opportunity he got by going after the hapless Lankan bowlers — rather, he was keen on giving the strike back to Rohit.
No prize for guessing who the winner would have been if there had been any prize for unselfishness.
So, what does it all really hint at? That there’s no crouching tiger or hidden dragon behind the rock in the dark for this team India led by Virat Kohli?
The writer is a freelance contribu-tor based in India. All the views and opinions expressed in the ar-ticle are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman
Without crouching tigers and hidden dragonsC O M M E N T A R Y
PRASAD PANICKER
BEYOND THE BOUNDARY
Ahmad focuses on positives after being forced out of season opener
MANAMA: Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy took the steep learning curve of Porsche GT3 Cup Chal-lenge Middle East racing in his stride and is looking forward to the next race after being forced to re-tire from Race 1 of Round 1 at Bah-rain International Circuit.
The Season 6 opener was even-tually won by his UAE-based Cle-mens Schmid of Al Nabooda Rac-ing in what was a sensational start to the new series and the perfect advert for regional motor racing featuring local drivers.
A pointer to the excitement Season 6 is set to deliver the race showed just how competitive the series will be amongst the drivers in the championship but also in the team stakes with Al Harthy’s Al Nabooda Racing, SkyDive Dubai and the newly formed BuZaid GT/Frijns giving glimpses of what is set to be an absorbing series of six rounds running from November to April across the GCC.
After a promising performance in qualifying Al Harthy started Race 1 in fifth position but as the race got underway immediately showed why he has such a prom-ising future in the series, shoot-ing up to third after a solid start. The Omani then fell victim to the experience of SkyDive Dubai duo, Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum and Saeed Al Mehairi who have had considerably more time in the Porsche GT3 Cup car.
The pair pressured Al Harthy after the safety car allowed them to close the gap on him and even-tually squeezed past as he moved down to fifth. The Omani’s race then came to an end with just five laps to go following a collision with KSA driver Bandar Alesayi after which he was not able to contin-ue. It was a disappointing end to his first real outing of the season but the local driver can take heart from his encouraging lap times and strong start to the race.
Speaking after Race 1 Ahmad Al Harthy said: “Obviously it wasn’t the start to the season I
was looking for but there are a lot of strong points to focus on and I will take on all the learning possi-ble to ensure future success. I can take a lot of heart from my pace in testing, qualifying and the first half of the race.
“I am definitely not far off the competition and as I get to know the car better I am confident I can convert my form into podium fin-ishes. Being forced to drop out of the race was an unfortunate way to end it but there is another race in this round and I will be looking to make amends. The worst thing about not finishing is not being
able to contribute team points as they will be crucial to ensure our success. It’s a long season and I feel lucky that I can take this learning so early on.”
Marking his return to action af-ter painfully losing the Season 5 Championship in the final race by just one point Al Nabooda Racing’s Clemens Schmid was dominant in his return to BIC winning by a margin of just 0.931 seconds.
After qualifying first the UAE-resident held off late challenges from his Emirati rival, Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum, to take the chequered flag in an absorbing
race featuring the region’s finest talent showcasing their skills.
Al Maktoum started strongly from seventh place climbing up to fifth behind his SkyDive Dubai Fal-cons teammate Saeed Al Mehairi, as the duo took advantage of an early mistake by promising Qatar-based talent, Charlie Frijns.
Al Harthy also started well launching himself up to third in his first full season in the series. Al Maktoum and Al Mehairi were harking back to their old days in karting as the friendly rivalry be-tween them was magnified on to the big stage, the pair switching places
multiple times in what must have been a nervous few opening laps for their team bosses.
Finely balancing their driving between team attacks on Al Har-thy and personal pride the bat-tle between them began to cost time as Frijns found his form and closed the gap to within a few tenths of a second, before a flat tyre caused Sweden’s Magnus Ohman to crash out and the safety car was deployed.
As the action restarted the ex-perience of the SkyDive drivers told as the pair passed Al Harthy to take third and fourth. Al Har-thy eventually fell down the pack and collided with the car of KSA’s Bandar Aleyasi which meant the end of both their races and a sec-ond outing for the safety car.
Again the Porsche GT3 Cup cars were bunched together with just two laps to go but Al Maktoum capitalised on a lock up Zaid Ash-kanani to squeeze into second and pile the pressure on race leader Clemens Schmid.
As Schmid struggled with worn tyres Al Maktoum’s team mate was also pressing for third with Ashka-nani struggling as his rear brakes regularly locked.
The extra pushing told on Al Me-hairi’s tyres with a bald spot even-tually wearing away to force the Emirati driver out of the race with a flat tyre. Despite the pressure from second placed Al Maktoum, Schmid held on to take a deserved win with Ashkanani second.
After a promising
performance in
qualifying Ahmad
started Race 1 in fifth
position but as the
race got underway
immediately showed
why he has such a
promising future in
the series, shooting
up to third
SOLID START: Ahmad Al Harthy leads the pack during the opening race of Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge
Middle East’s Season 6 at Bahrain International Circuit. – Supplied photo
Saeed Ajmal getting
better by degrees
DUBAI: Suspended Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has sub-stantially improved his suspect bowling action but he still needs work to return to being within the legal limit, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Saturday.
The 37-year-old was reported during the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in August this year and after a biomechanical analysis in Australia the master spinner was suspended until another official assessment by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has even hired former off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq to work on removing the flaws in Ajmal’s action. Under ICC rules a bowler is allowed 15-degree elbow exten-sion, a point visible to naked eye.
But August’s tests on Ajmal showed he extends his elbow nearly 43 degrees and, as a result, needed a major overhaul.
Before going for his official test with the ICC, the PCB sent Ajmal to Loughborough, England, to have an unofficial assessment as a precautionary measure and the Pakistan board said the unofficial test was satisfactory.
“After tests on November 10
at Loughborough University, an ICC-accredited facility for tests on bowlers with suspect actions, biomechanist Dr. Mark King has reported that Ajmal has modified his “bowling action substantially,” said the PCB.
“While there is clearly a sub-stantial improvement from the previous official test it is likely that with additional work the bowler can bowl within the 15-degree limit.”
Ajmal will remain in England for one more week and will con-tinue working with Saqlain.
Ajmal was one of seven bowl-ers reported after an ICC crack-down initiated in June this year.
Apart from Ajmal, Sri Lanka’s Sachitra Senanayake, New Zea-land’s Kane Williamson, Zimba-bwe’s Prosper Utseya and Bang-ladesh’s Sohag Gazi were also suspended.
Bangladesh’s paceman Al-Amin Hossain, also reported in Septem-ber, was cleared after a biome-chanical assessment last month while Zimbabwe’s Malcolm Waller was reported last week.
Pakistan is hoping Ajmal will be cleared before the World Cup in February. - AFP
C R I C K E T
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Arjay and Richard emerge men’s doubles champions
MUSCAT: Arjay Canoza and Rich-ard Martinez got the better of Matei Horia and Copil Rosvan in a clash of coaches to emerge the men’s doubles champions at the ongoing Oman Arab Bank (OAB) Open Ten-nis Championships at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
In the summit clash, Oman Ten-nis Association coaches Arjay and Richard came up against inform Matei and Copil, Pro Tennis Oman professionals. But Arjay and Rich-ard managed to dictate the terms from the beginning and went on to win the match and title with a straight sets 6-4, 6-3 victory.
In the men’s B singles, Abdul-lah Al Barwani set up a title show-down with Khalid Ikram.
Abdullah advanced after his semifinal opponent retired with the former leading the match 6-0, 3-0. Khalid Ikram, on the other hand, had to thwart a late fight back by Subash Pillai to move up with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.
In the veteran singles, Srikanth Hemanth and Tinny Gallarde booked their places in the final with contrasting victories.
Hemanth came up against a
fighting Mohammed Al Yawer in the semifinal and had to survive some anxious moments before pulling off a 7-6, 7-5 victory while Tinny Gallarde eased past Robin Kleinveldt with a 6-1, 6-0 win.
In the under-10 (unisex) com-petition, Vivek Kulloru and Nao Nishino are scheduled to clash in the title match.
Vivek moved up after a 9-5 win over Marwan Al Khanjari and Nao
booked his place with a 9-5 victory against Tyler Blake.
Younis close to trebleA day earlier, Younis Al Rawahi completed a double after taming Nevil Philip in the boys under-18 final. Younis, who is eyeing a treble after winning the mixed doubles title in the company of Omani star Fatma al Nabhani, had to dig deep especially in the first set when
Nevil matched him shot for shot. But Younis went on to dominate the second set and clinched the match 7-5, 6-3.
Two Omanis girls, meanwhile, reached the finals of junior compe-titions. In the girls under-18 con-test, Maryam Al Balushi eased past Yashika Jain and into the final with a 6-1, 6-3 win. And in the girls un-der-14 category, Aisha Al Suleim-ani outlasted RafaellaSaa 6-3, 7-5 for a place in the summit clash.
In the boys under-14 double, Ab-dullah Al Barwani and Zakariya Al Suleimani reached the final after a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ayaan Malhotra and Amaan Kazi.
In the veterans doubles, Rbin Kleinveldt and Luis Torres reached final after a similar win over Imran Khan and Bruno Van Begin.
The annual championship, one of the biggest events to be organ-ised by Oman Tennis Association with participation of 260 players in various categories, concludes on Sunday when treble title seek-ing Younis Al Rawahi faces Matei Horia in the men’s pro singles final. The match is scheduled to begin at 7.00 pm after girls under-18 and veterans singles title matches.
Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed bin Said al-Mardhouf Al Saadi, the Minister of Sports Affairs, will pre-side over the final day’s proceed-ings and hand over the trophies.
The championships is sup-ported by one of country’s leading banks, Oman Arab Bank, as the ti-tle sponsor and is co-sponsored by Omantel and Pocari Sweat.
In the summit clash,
Arjay and Richard
came up against
inform Matei and
Copil but managed
to dictate the terms
from the beginning
and went on to win
the match 6-4, 6-3
WINNERS: Arjay Canoza and Richard Martinez pose for a photo after winning the men’s doubles final
against Matei Horia and Copil Rosvan at the OAB Open at SQSC. – FAISAL AL BALUSHI/OTA
Carlsen crushes Anand in 37 moves to grab leadSOCHI: Norwegian world chess champion Magnus Carlsen defeated the title challenger, India’s Viswa-nathan Anand, in the sixth game of their world title match on Saturday.
With two connected passers on the king’s side for Carlsen and down by whopping three pawns at the end of 37th move, Anand had no other option except to resign.
At the end of the sixth game, Carlsen leads the 12 game match with 3.5 points to Anand’s 2.5.
For Anand the defeat will be dou-
bly painful as he missed out a win-ning 26th Nxe5 move from a posi-tion that was very difficult to defend.
“No it can’t be termed a game of blunders. But it is rare that two top notch players making successive wrong moves. The pain will be more for Anand as his error cost him a win from a very difficult defensive position,” world No. 23, Indian Grandmaster P. Harikrishna said.
But what is true is that the sixth round of this world title match would be known as ‘Ne5’ game that
‘Kanned’ Anand. Carlsen opened the game moving his king pawn two squares to which Anand re-sponded with c5 the Sicilian de-fence and surprised the experts by opting for the Kan variation push-ing his pawn to a6.
The first exchange of pieces happened on the 8th move with Carlsen exchanged his knight for Anand’s queen side knight.
The next move Carlsen went for exchange of queens and in the process disturbed Anand’s castling
chances while pinning down the latter’s white bishop to its home square. The exchange of queens prompted Susan Polgar, a four-time women’s world chess cham-pion to tweet: “Basically white has very little initiatives in this line. Slow squeeze coming.”
She was referring to Carlsen’s specialty of playing long grinding game while the opponent tires out.
Incidentally in round four, Anand playing black refuted Carlsen’s attempts to exchange
the queens. In that game it was be-cause of the queen Anand was able to exert pressure on the champion and go in for a draw.
On move 12 Anand exchanged his black bishop for Carlsen’s re-maining knight. At this juncture, Carlsen’s had an open position whereas Anand’s pieces were somewhat cramped for want to squares for mobility.
“It was surprising that Anand went for this variation. It gives a passive position. It didn’t expect
the Kan variation. Further Carlsen chose the main line,” Harikrishna remarked.
“Something went wrong for Anand in the opening. Maybe he was unprepared and bluffed, or he forgot his lines, or his team didn’t analyse this variation properly,” world No. 3 Grandmaster Anish Giri said.
With Sunday being a rest day, the next round will be on Monday with Carlsen again having the ad-vantage of playing white. - IANS
W O R L D C H E S S C H A M P I O N S H I P
Advocaat quits as Serbia coachBELGRADE: Dutchman Dick Advocaat has stepped down as Serbia coach after a 3-1 home defeat by Denmark in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, the Balkan na-tion’s football association (FSS) said on Saturday.
“The FSS wishes to thank Ad-vocaat as he has shown utmost professionalism and we are dis-appointed that our cooperation with him ended so abruptly,” the soccer governing body said.
“We wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”
Advocaat said: “The pressure which was everywhere to be seen was too much to bear by this team and I had never faced such a difficult situation in my entire career.
“Serbia have to move on im-mediately and find a better way and I thank the FSS for their support throughout.”
Defeat by the Danes in an empty stadium left Serbia’s qualification hopes in the bal-ance. They have one point from two games, pending Uefa’s final verdict on last month’s home qualifier against Alba-nia, which was abandoned over crowd trouble.
Serb media have touted for-mer international midfielder Dejan Stankovic as a long-term successor, while Under-21 coach Radovan Curcic is ex-pected to step in for Tuesday’s away friendly with Greece.
Serbia’s next two qualifiers are away to Portugal in March and Denmark in June. - Reuters
F O O T B A L L
WAB AND OCC REGISTER RESOUDING VICTORIESWAB and OCC recorded resounding victories in the ongoing Oman Chamber of Commerce
and Industries-Companies Basketball Competition (OCCI-CBC) at the Sultan Qaboos
Sports Complex. WAB defeated Pepsi by a 95-34 margin while OCC routed Daleel 74-39.
On Sunday, STTE face TSC while OCC take on WAB. — Supplied photo
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CHEERS XI CLINCH TITLE AT RCC CRICKET TOURNAMENTCheers XI defeated
Bluestar XI to lift the
title at RCC cricket
tournament at Al Saada
ground in Salalah
recently. Elected to
bowl bat first in the 20-
over match, Cheers XI
bowled out Bluestar XI
for 136 in 18 overs. In
reply, Cheers XI chased
the target in 17.3 overs.
Shailesh, who top
scored with 36, was
declared the man of the
final. The best batsman
and man of the series
awards went to Sanu
of Al Seer. Shanu of
Telyboys was the best
bowler. — Supplied photo
Djokovic halts Nishikori’s debut run to reach final
LONDON: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic ended Kei Nishikori’s impressive debut at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 semifinal victory at the O2 Arena on Saturday.
The Serb was rattled by a mid-match onslaught from the Japa-nese who came back from a poor start to dominate the second set, only for his challenge to fizzle out in the decider.
Things could have been differ-ent had Nishikori, the first Asian man to qualify for the year-ender, converted the two break points he had in the first game of the decid-ing set. But Djokovic held firm and quickly regained control to march
towards a 31st consecutive victory on indoor courts.
He set up a match point with a searing crosscourt forehand winner and U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori double-faulted to end the contest after one hour and 27 minutes.
“Kei was playing great and this has been the best season of his life
but he made some crucial double faults in the third set,” seven-times Grand Slam champion Djokovic said. “Of course I will watch the semifinal (between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka). I’ll get some popcorn and enjoy it from my bed.”
Djokovic had gone through the group stage with wins against
Marin Cilic, Stanislas Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych for the loss of a mere nine games, a tourna-ment record. When the pressure of the occasion appeared to get to Nishikori in a first set that last 23 minutes, the Djokovic juggernaut looked unstoppable.
Nishikori ballooned another
forehand long to drop serve at the start of the second set and the crowd, who paid big money for their tickets, looked like being short-changed.
Things turned in the next game, however, when Nishikori suddenly had a break point chance and Djok-ovic double-faulted — prompting huge cheers from the stands which clearly annoyed Djokovic who sar-castically applauded.
Suddenly world No. 5 Nishikori began to dictate the rallies and drag Djokovic out of his comfort zone. Leading 4-3 he set up a break point with a forehand winner and con-verted it after teasing Djokovic with a drop shot and then a topspin lob the Serb could only fend back into mid court where Nishikori ripped away another forehand winner.
Two aces helped Nishikori level the match and a grandstand de-cider looked in store after so many disappointing one-sided matches at the tournament. However, you squander opportunities against Djokovic at your peril and when the Serb dug himself out of trouble to move 1-0 ahead in the third set, the momentum swung back his way.
The 27-year-old, who has al-ready clinched the year-end world number one ranking, can become the first man since Ivan Lendl (1985-87) to claim three consecu-tive Tour Finals crowns if he wins on Sunday against either Roger Federer or Wawrinka, who face each other later in an all-Swiss semifinal. - Reuters
Djokovic was rattled
by a mid-match
onslaught from
Nishikori who came
back from a poor
start to dominate the
second set, only for
his challenge to fizzle
out in the decider
GAINING CONTROL: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic hits a return against Japan’s Kei Nishikori during their
semifinal match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Saturday. – AFP
NorthEast United, FC Pune City in goalless drawGUWAHATI: NorthEast United FC and FC Pune City drew 0-0 in a hard-fought Indian Super League (ISL) match at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.
Pune FC improved to 12 points from eight matches but remained in the third spot in the standings while NorthEast United FC stayed in the fifth spot with the draw, hav-ing accumulated 10 points from eight matches.
NorthEast enjoyed the upper hand against their opponents at the beginning of the match. They de-fended confidently and timed their attacks perfectly, forcing the visi-tors to sit deep in their own half.
They stretched the Pune de-fence and have managed to create goal-scoring chances. Midfielder Koke was sublime in his passes in the first half and at times it seemed it was a just matter of time before they went ahead.
But Pune managed to hold on
and went into the break with a 0-0 scoreline. The home team main-tained their supremacy after the break but the all-important goal proved elusive.
Pune became confident with the passage of time and came threat-ened to punish NorthEast for their inability to score.
Konstantinos Katsouranis provided the attacking inspira-tion to Pune.
He set up Nigerian striker Dudu, who tested goalkeeper Rehenesh with an on-target header and then played a neat through ball for Krisztian Vadocz who sent his shot wide.
As the match neared its end, Pune, spearheaded by Dudu, be-came dangerous.
They came close to breaking the deadlock on a couple of occassions but like their opponents did every-thing without finding the target, to settle for a draw. - IANS
I S L
HARD-FOUGHT BATTLE: Action from the match between the North East United FC and FC Pune City in
the Indian Super League at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday. – PTI
‘Fifa must deal with crisis or risk credibility’BERLIN: The head of the Ger-man football league (DFL) said the crisis at Fifa over the 2022 and 2018 World Cup bid pro-cess could raise questions about its credibility and thoughts of Europe breaking away from world soccer’s governing body.
World soccer’s governing body was plunged into chaos this week when Fifa ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert said there were no grounds to reopen the controversial pro-cess which led to Russia being given the 2018 finals and Qatar the 2022 tournament.
Allegations of corruption and bribery surrounding the pro-cess have accompanied Fifa and the host nations ever since.
Three hours after Eckert’s statement, former U.S. prosecu-tor Garcia, who led the investi-gation over an 18-month period, said Eckert’s 42-page statement had misrepresented his report and that he would take the case to the Fifa appeals committee.
“It was a serious attempt to process the issues regarding the 2018 World Cup and 2022 World Cup,” DFL President Reinhard Rauball told ====== Kicker magazine on Saturday.
“The result is the commu-nication nuclear meltdown which rocks the foundations of Fifa as I have never experi-enced it,” said Rauball, who is not a member of Fifa.
The DFL is in charge of Ger-many’s top two professional divisions.
Rauball, who is also chairman of Borussia Dortmund, said Fifa should make the report public in order to see “what was accused and how it was evaluated.”
“Two things must happen,” Rauball said.
“Not only publishing the eth-ics commission decision but also the appeal by Mr Garcia so it is clear what is being accused and how it was evaluated.”
“Also what was not taken into account and if it was cor-rect to leave those things out,” Rauball added.
Rauball, who has been critical in the past of Fifa’s decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, said if that did not happen then questions would be asked about whether Fifa was the right body to lead football.
“If that does not happen and this crisis is not solved credibly then one has to think about the question whether one is still in good hands at Fifa,” he said.
“One option that would be se-riously considered is for Uefa to break away from Fifa.” - Reuters
F O O T B A L L
Henman wants Murray to question partnership with coach Mauresmo
LONDON: British great Tim Henman believes Andy Mur-ray might need to question his coaching relationship with Ame-lie Mauresmo unless the former Wimbledon champion can quickly return to peak form.
A disappointing 2014 cam-paign came to a suitably down-beat end for Murray on Thursday when he was eliminated from the ATP Tour Finals in humiliating
fashion after a 6-0, 6-1 thrashing by Roger Federer.
Former British No. 1 Henman has been frustrated by his lack of aggression in recent weeks and claims there could be cause for the Scot to reassess whether Mauresmo is the right person to revive a career which has stag-nated since he won Wimbledon last year.
“When you reflect on the
match, for me his game had no identity,” Henman said. “What was the plan out there? It was re-ally the Federer show.
“It’s about clarity of thought and that’s when you’ve got to take a step back and look at the whole set-up, the whole team and his whole lifestyle and see whether that is working as well as it can. At the end of the day, he’s the only one that can answer that.” - AFP
T E N N I S
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONC S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14LIFE & STYLE
Purported negative effects such as addic-tion, increased ag-gression and various health consequences such as obesity and
repetitive strain injuries tend to get far more media coverage than the positives. I know from my own re-search examining both sides that my papers on video game addiction receive far more publicity than my research into the social benefits of, for example, playing online role-playing games.
However there is now a wealth of research which shows that video games can be put to educa-tional and therapeutic uses, as well as many studies which reveal how playing video games can improve reaction times and hand-eye co-ordination. For example, research has shown that spatial visualisa-tion ability, such as mentally ro-tating and manipulating two and three-dimensional objects, im-proves with video game playing.
To add to this long line of stud-ies demonstrating the more posi-tive effects of video games is a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Vikranth Bejjanki and colleagues. Their newly published paper demonstrates that the playing of action video games — the sort of fast-paced, 3D shoot-em-up be-
loved of doomsayers in the media — confirms what other studies have revealed, that players show improved performance in percep-tion, attention and cognition.
In a series of experiments on small numbers of gamers (10 to 14 people in each study), the re-searchers reported that gamers with previous experience of play-ing such action video games were better at perceptual tasks such as pattern discrimination than gam-ers with less experience.
In another experiment, they trained gamers who had little previous experience of playing action games, giving them 50 hours practice. It was shown that these gamers performed much better on perceptual tasks than they had prior to their training. The paper concludes: “The en-hanced learning of the regularity and structure of environments may act as a core mechanism by which action video game play in-fluences performance in percep-tion, attention, and cognition.”
In my own papers, I have point-ed out many features and qualities that make video games potentially useful. For instance, in an educa-tional context, video games can be fun and stimulating, which means it’s easier to maintain a pupil’s undivided attention for a longer period of time. Because of the ex-
citement, video games may also be a more appealing way of learning than traditional methods for some.
Video games have an appeal that crosses many demographic boundaries, such as age, gender, ethnicity, or educational attain-ment. They can be used to help set goals and rehearse working toward them, provide feedback, reinforce-ment, self-esteem, and maintain a record of behavioural change.
Their interactivity can stimu-late learning, allowing individu-
als to experience novelty, curios-ity and challenge that stimulates learning. There is the opportunity to develop transferable skills, or practice challenging or extraordi-nary activities, such as flight simu-lators, or simulated operations.
Because video games can be so engaging, they can also be used therapeutically. For instance, they can be used as a form of physio-therapy as well as in more innova-tive contexts. A number of studies have shown that when children play video games following chemotherapy, they need fewer painkillers than do others.
Video games have great educa-tional potential in addition to their entertainment value. Games spe-cifically designed to address a specific problem or teach a spe-cific skill have been very success-ful, precisely because they are motivating, engaging, interactive and provide rewards and rein-forcement to improve.
But the transferability of skills outside the game-playing context is an important factor. What’s also clear from the scientific lit-erature is that the negative conse-quences of playing almost always involve people who are excessive video game players. There is little evidence of serious acute adverse effects on health from moderate play. - Mark Griffiths/The Washington Post.
Whether playing video games has negative effects is
something that has been debated for 30 years, in much
the same way that rock and roll, television, and even the
novel, faced similar criticisms in their time
Because video games can be so engaging, they can also be used therapeutically. For instance a number of studies have shown that when children play video games following chemotherapy, they need fewer painkillers than do others
C8
EXTRAS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
HOW OBESITY
TRIGGERS AUTO-IMMUNE
DISEASES
IN THE case of auto-immune diseas-es, the immune system attacks its own body rather than predatory invaders.
Obesity leads to a breakdown of the body’s protective mechanism, creating the optimal environment for auto-immune diseases, and creates an environment that may hinder its treatment, showed the study.
“We have been aware of a long list of causes of auto-immune disorders — infections, smoking, pesticides, lack of vitamins, and so forth. But in the last five years, a new factor has emerged that cannot be ignored: obe-sity,” said Yehuda Shoenfeld from the Tel Aviv University in Israel.
As around 35 per cent of the global community is overweight or obese and more than 10 auto-immune dis-eases are known to be associated with increased weight, it is criti-cal to probe obesity’s involvement in the pathology of such diseases,
noted Yehuda. Yehuda conducted a review of 329 studies from around the world on the relationship be-tween obesity, adipokines (com-pounds secreted by fat tissue and involved in numerous physiologi-cal functions including the immune response), and immune-related conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
“According to our study and the clinical and experimental data reviewed, the involvement of adi-pokines in the pathogenesis of these auto-immune diseases is clear,” added Shoenfeld.
“We were able to detail the meta-bolic and immunological activities of the main adipokines featured in the development and prognosis of several immune-related conditions,” con-cluded Shoenfeld.
The study appeared in Autoimmunity Reviews. - IANS
Around 35% of global community is overweight
and more than 10 auto-immune diseases are
known to be associated with increased weight
CHARLES Caleb Colton was an eccentric English cleric and author who died in 1832. He said, “Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity than straightforward and simple integrity in another.”
This week, we are trying not to be baffled by trick one. In this deal, the North-South hands, the contract (three no-trump) and the lead (the spade six) are the same as yesterday’s. What should declarer do?
South starts with eight top tricks — one spade (given the lead), three hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. The ninth winner will come from clubs. Is there any danger?
Yes, if a defender gets on lead with the club queen, perhaps East-West will then cash too many spade tricks.
As we saw yesterday, declarer must start by playing dummy’s spade king, the honor from the shorter side first. Yesterday, the king held the trick, but not today — East wins with his ace and returns the spade nine. How should South proceed?
If the spades are 4-4, there is no danger, but if West has five or six spades, the contract is at risk. First, declarer must duck the second trick and take the third with his spade queen. Then the job is to try to keep West off the lead, the defender with the spade winners. This means that the club finesse is a red herring. South must cash his two top clubs. Here, the queen drops and the contract is home with an overtrick. But if the club queen does not appear, declarer plays a third round and hopes that East wins the trick.
Phillip Alder
C9
ENTERTAINMENT
The other side of the trick-one coin
B I G N A T E
B O R N L O S E R
M A R M A D U K E
A C E S O N B R I D G E
K I D S P O T H E A L T H C A P S U L EC R O S S W O R D
Ans
wer
to p
revi
ous
puzz
le
WITH LOVE
Previous puzzle Solution
HOW TO PLAY Fill the empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area. — Seven Galaxies
S U D O K U
S U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to [email protected]
25 Verdi opera26 Harvest 27 Bottom seams28 Glance over29 Twisted 30 Biggers’ sleuth32 Pita treat 38 Apache
language 40 Luxury resort42 “— So Fine”
44 Pyromaniac’s work
46 Barge pushers48 Hair curler49 Prefix for second50 Wine label info51 Interest amt52 Mauna — 53 PC button 54 Vive le —! 55 Turtle-to-be
ACROSS 1 Economic ind.4 School year
division 8 Stop up 12 Aurora, to Plato13 Helm position14 Cartoon shrieks15 Website clutter16 Flowering shrub18 Kind of rocket20 A, in Munich21 Playwright —
Simon 24 Percolate 28 Kangaroo pouches31 Command to
Rover 33 Catastrophic34 Elec. measure35 “Poison —
(Coasters tune of yore)
36 Monk’s title37 Persia, in modern
times 39 Knight’s title40 Weakens 41 Chatty starling43 Bathday cake?45 Poodle’s doc
47 Like much Seattle weather
51 Delights 56 Charlotte of
“Bananas”57 Blackjack58 Kind of dancer
(hyph.) 59 — — dare 60 Kind of salad61 Put one’s sig62 Fjord terr.
DOWN 1 Clock part2 Twig juncture3 Hey, you! 4 Lake near Reno5 Cathedral town
near Cambridge6 Tulip color7 Like a pittance8 Composed9 Drumstick10 Luau strummer11 Brownie’s org.17 Feel awful19 ER personnel22 Hieroglyphics
bird 23 Tee partner
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Dumb and Dumber To (Com) Cast: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels1.00, 4.00 & 8.00pmCP No: 2338 (PG12)Trash (Adventure / Crime)Cast: Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen2.00 & 10.00pmCP No: 2340 (PG 12)Jessabelle (Horror /Thriller)Cast: Sarah Snook, Mark Webber6.00 & 11.55pmCP No: 2339 (15+)A Good Man (Action) Cast: Ron Balicki, Radu Banzaru5.15 & 11.55pm, CP No: 2337 (15+)Kill Dil (Action / Crime)Cast: Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar, Parineeti Chopra3.00, 7.15 & 9.30 pmCP No: 2336 (12+ )
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SCREEN 1
Kill Dil (Act |Romance | Drama) (12+ )Cast: Ranbeer Singh, Govinda, Zafar Ali, Prineeti Chopra3.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm
SCREEN 2
Happy New Year ( Act |Rom ) (PG 12 )Cast: Shahrukh Khan , Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone3.30, 6.45, 10.00 pm
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SCREEN 3
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ALEEZA JOSEPHNovember 16, 2008
SAHANA SANTHOSH PILLAINovember 16, 2014
CHRISTINA PHILIPNovember 16, 2002
RADHA LAKSHMI TETALANovember 16, 2008
C10
FIND-IT-ALLS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
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Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199Oman Dive Centre: 24824240Park Inn: 24507888Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443Ruwi Hotel: 24704244Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666The Chedi Muscat: 24524400The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570
AIRLINE OFFICESMuscat Airport Flight information (24 hours): 24519456/24519223Aeroflot: 24704455, Air Arabia: 24700828, Air France: 24562153, Air India: 24799801, Air New Zealand: 24700732, Biman Bangladesh Airlines: 24701128, British Airways: 24568777, Cathay Pacific: 24789818, Egypt Air: 24794113, Emirates Air: 24404400, Ethiopian Airlines: 24660313, Gulf Air: 80072424, Indian: 24791914, Iran Air: 24787423, Japan Airlines: 24704455, Jazeera Airways: 23294848, Jet Airways: 24787248, Kenya Airways: 24660300, KML Royal Dutch Airlines: 24566737, Kuwait Airways: 24701262, LOT Polish Airlines: 24796387, Lufthansa: 24796692, Malaysian Airlines: 24560796, Middle East Airlines: 24796680, Oman Air: 24531111, Pakistan International Airlines: 24792471, Qatar Airways: 24771900, Qantas: 24559941, Royal Jordanian: 24796693, Saudi Arabian Airlines: 24789485, Singapore Airlines: 24791233, Shaheen Air: 24816565, SriLankan Airlines:
24784545, Swiss International Airlines: 24796692, Thai Airways: 24705934, Turkish Airlines: 24703033
MUSEUMSBait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fish 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, Thurs: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., [email protected] 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
PRAYER TIMINGS
W E A T H E R
Dhuhr 11.57amAsr 3.05pmMaghrib 5.27pmIsha 6.40pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.03am
Sunset 5:22pmSunrise (Tomorrow) 6:20am
High tide 2:46am 1:53pmLow tide 7.29pm 9:22pm
OMAN
Max 30Min 20
Max 28Min 20
Max 28Min 20
Max 28Min 18
Max 28Min 19Max 27
Min 14
Max 28Min 14
Max 31 Min 21
Mainly clear skies over most of the Sultanate, chance of clouds advection along the coastal areas of Arabian Sea with isolated rain over Al-Hajar mountains tomorrow
tomorrow afternoon there are chances of clouds development as well.EXPECTED WIND: Along the coastal areas of Oman wind will be variable during night, becoming northeasterly light to moderate while it will be northerly to northeasterly light to moderate over rest of the Sultanate.
SEA STATE: Moderate along the western coasts of Musandam governorate and eastern coast of governorate of Al-Sharqiya south with maximum wave height 2.0 metres andslight along the rest of Oman coasts with maximum wave height of 1.25 metres.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during rain. THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Mainly clear skies over most of the Sultanate. Chance of early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the coastal area of Arabian Sea.
Max Min
GULFAbu Dhabi 28 22Doha 28 27Dubai 31 17Kuwait 29 18Manama 26 21Riyadh 26 15
WORLDAthens 17 14Baghdad 26 12Beijing 12 1Berlin 12 8Boston 10 2Cairo 23 15Colombo 30 25Frankfurt 9 4Hong Kong 28 18Istanbul 14 10Johannesburg 23 8Kuala Lumpur 30 22Lisbon 17 11Paris 11 7Perth 31 15Singapore 31 25Tokyo 16 9Toronto 2 1
WORLD
Max 9Min 5
Max 26Min 12
Max 19Min 11
Max 33Min 18
Max 24Min 12
Max 30Min 14
Max -3Min -6
Max 32Min 24
SUNDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY406 CAIRO 0005WY682 RIYADH 0005WY676 JEDDAH 0005WY648 KUWAIT 0010WY916 SALALAH 01054H585 DACCA 0115NL669 SIALKOT 0200TK776 ISTANBUL/BAHRAIN 0300QR1132 DOHA 0345ET624 ADDIS ABABA 0350EK866 DUBAI 0355EY384 ABU DHABI 0405GF560 BAHRAIN 0405FZ041 DUBAI 04154H586 DOHA 0600WY902 SALALAH 0630WY638 ABU DHABI 0650WY658 BAHRAIN 0700WY686 RIYADH 0700WY324 KARACHI 0700WY668 DOHA 0710WY674 JEDDAH 0730WY672 MEDINA 0745WY602 DUBAI 0805WY202 BOMBAY 0815WY102 LONDON-HEATHROW 0820WY422 BEIRUT 0830FZ043 DUBAI 0850NL768 LAHORE 0900G9114 SHARJAH 0915WY236 HYDERABAD 0920WY226 COCHIN 0930WY242 DELHI 0935WY252 MADRAS 0940EK862 DUBAI 0940WY212 TRIVANDRUM 0940QR1128 DOHA 1010EY382 ABU DHABI 1015IX549 TRIVANDRUM 10209W530 TRIVANDRUM 1035WY282 BANGALORE 1100WY342 LAHORE 1100WY272 JAIPUR 1100WY604 DUBAI 1110WY346 ISLAM ABBAD 1110G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA 1120PK223 PESHAWAR 1120WY372 COLOMBO 1140IX337 CALICUT 1155FZ037 DUBAI 1200WY384 MALE 1205WY332 KATHMANDU 1210WY904 SALALAH 1215WY3302 MUKHAIZNA 1230WY826 KUALA LUMPUR 1230WY818 BANGKOK 1235WY606 DUBAI 1330WY918 KHASAB 1440WY906 SALALAH 1445WY656 BAHRAIN 1530WY632 ABU DHABI 1535FZ045 DUBAI 1555WY664 DOHA 1625WY204 BOMBAY 1710WY292 CALICUT 1720WY3304 MUKHAIZNA 1730WY610 DUBAI 1730WY246 DELHI 1730WY264 LUCKNOW 1735WY232 HYDERABAD 1740QR1126 DOHA 1745EK864 DUBAI 1800GF564 BAHRAIN 1810WY646 KUWAIT 1900WY3922 DUQUM OMAN 1900G9116 SHARJAH 1915WY254 MADRAS 1920RG125 BATEEN AIRPORT OF AUH 1930TG507 BANGKOK/KARACHI 1935FZ047 DUBAI 1945WY914 SALALAH 1950WY434 TEHRAN 2000WY614 DUBAI 2030KL441 AMSTERDAM/DOHA 2120WY312 CHITTAGONG 2125AI973 DELHI 2125WY624 DUBAI 21256.00E+81 BOMBAY 21309W534 COCHIN 2140AI907 MADRAS 2200QR1134 DOHA 2210UL205 COLOMBO 2225WY338 KATHMANDU 2235GF566 BAHRAIN 2240EY388 ABU DHABI 2250BA073 LONDON-HEATHROW/ABU DHABI 2255AI985 AHMEDABAD/BOMBAY 2310WY662 DOHA 2315LX242 ZURICH/DUBAI 23209W540 BOMBAY 2325LH618 FRANKFURT/ABU DHABI 2330WY654 BAHRAIN 2330WY612 DUBAI 2335WY696 DAMMAM 2350WY910 SALALAH 2355WY717 ZANZIBAR/DARESSLAM 2355
MONDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA
WY682 RIYADH 0005WY406 CAIRO 0005WY676 JEDDAH 0005WY636 ABU DHABI 0010WY648 KUWAIT 0010WY816 BANGKOK 0015BG021 DACCA/CHITTAGONG 0100WY916 SALALAH 01054H583 DACCA 0115WY414 AMMAN 0125TK776 ISTANBUL/BAHRAIN 0300QR1132 DOHA 0345EK866 DUBAI 0355GF560 BAHRAIN 0405EY384 ABU DHABI 0405FZ041 DUBAI 0415WY142 MALPENSA 0630WY902 SALALAH 0630CLX732 LUXORE 0635WY638 ABU DHABI 0650WY658 BAHRAIN 0700WY686 RIYADH 0700WY412 AMMAN 0705WY668 DOHA 0710WY114 FRANKFURT 0715WY644 KUWAIT 0715WY122 MUNICH 0715WY154 ZURICH 0720WY692 DAMMAM 0725WY674 JEDDAH 0730WY132 PARIS 0800WY602 DUBAI 0805WY432 TEHRAN 0815WY202 BOMBAY 0815WY102 LONDON-HEATHROW 0820FZ043 DUBAI 0850G9114 SHARJAH 0915WY236 HYDERABAD 0920WY242 DELHI 0935EK862 DUBAI 0940WY252 MADRAS 0940QR1128 DOHA 1010EY382 ABU DHABI 10159W530 TRIVANDRUM 1035WY3302 MUKHAIZNA 1045WY272 JAIPUR 1100WY604 DUBAI 1110IX337 CALICUT 1155FZ037 DUBAI 1200WY314 CHITTAGONG 1210WY268 LUCKNOW 1210PA450 LAHORE 1215WY904 SALALAH 1215WY906 SALALAH 1325WY606 DUBAI 1330WY326 KARACHI 1355WY918 KHASAB 1440WY3304 MUKHAIZNA 1445WY812 BANGKOK 1525WY656 BAHRAIN 1530WY328 LAHORE 1550FZ045 DUBAI 1555WY632 ABU DHABI 1635WY204 BOMBAY 1710WY292 CALICUT 1720WY610 DUBAI 1730WY246 DELHI 1730WY232 HYDERABAD 1740WY216 TRIVANDRUM 1740WY664 DOHA 1745WY348 ISLAM ABBAD 1745QR1126 DOHA 1745EK864 DUBAI 1800GF564 BAHRAIN 1810WY284 BANGALORE 1810WY3306 MUKHAIZNA 1845G9116 SHARJAH 1915RG125 BATEEN AIRPORT OF AUH 1930FZ047 DUBAI 1945WY614 DUBAI 2030AI977 BANGALORE/HYDERABAD 2105WY386 MALE 2110KL441 AMSTERDAM/DOHA 2120AI973 DELHI 2125WY624 DUBAI 21256.00E+81 BOMBAY 2130WY914 SALALAH 2130WY224 COCHIN 21409W534 COCHIN 2140WY374 COLOMBO 2150WY254 MADRAS 2155WY814 BANGKOK 2200AI907 MADRAS 2200QR1134 DOHA 2210UL205 COLOMBO 2225WY338 KATHMANDU 2235GF566 BAHRAIN 2240EY388 ABU DHABI 2250BA073 LONDON-HEATHROW/ABU DHABI 2250WY908 SALALAH 2255SG061 AHMEDABAD 2300AI985 AHMEDABAD/BOMBAY 2310WY662 DOHA 2315LX242 ZURICH/DUBAI 23209W540 BOMBAY 2325WY654 BAHRAIN 2330LH618 FRANKFURT/ABU DHABI 2330WY612 DUBAI 2335WY636 ABU DHABI 2350WY696 DAMMAM 2350WY910 SALALAH 2355
FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY 0005LX243 DUBAI/ZURICH 0020BA072 ABU DHABI/LONDON- HEATHROW 00259W539 BOMBAY 0025LH619 ABU DHABI/FRANKFURT 0050WY671 MEDINA 0105WY685 RIYADH 0105WY211 TRIVANDRUM 0110WY251 MADRAS 0110WY201 BOMBAY 0120WY225 COCHIN 0125WY235 HYDERABAD 0135WY341 LAHORE 0150WY345 ISLAM ABBAD 0150WY601 DUBAI 0150WY241 DELHI 0155WY281 BANGALORE 0200WY657 BAHRAIN 0205WY637 ABU DHABI 0205WY371 COLOMBO 0210WY323 KARACHI 0210WY667 DOHA 0220WY383 MALE 02354H585 DOHA 0245NL772 PESHAWAR 0330WY271 JAIPUR 0350TK777 BAHRAIN/ISTANBUL 0350ET625 ADDIS ABABA 0450EK867 DUBAI 0455FZ042 DUBAI 0510QR1133 DOHA 0520EY385 ABU DHABI 05254H586 DACCA 0700GF561 BAHRAIN 0745WY903 SALALAH 0800WY603 DUBAI 0800WY3301 MUKHAIZNA 0800WY291 CALICUT 0920WY263 LUCKNOW 0920FZ044 DUBAI 0935WY231 HYDERABAD 0955WY245 DELHI 0955G9115 SHARJAH 1005WY815 BANGKOK 1010WY605 DUBAI 1030NL769 LAHORE 1030WY905 SALALAH 1030WY203 BOMBAY 1030WY253 MADRAS 1040WY311 CHITTAGONG 1040WY717 ZANZIBAR/DARESSLAM 1045WY717 ZANZIBAR/DARESSLAM 1045EK863 DUBAI 1055EY383 ABU DHABI 1105IX554 TRIVANDRUM 1110WY655 BAHRAIN 1110QR1129 DOHA 11159W533 COCHIN 1135WY917 KHASAB 1140G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA 1210WY663 DOHA 1210PK224 PESHAWAR 1220WY631 ABU DHABI 1225IX350 CALICUT 1255WY337 KATHMANDU 1310WY101 LONDON-HEATHROW 1325WY3303 MUKHAIZNA 1330WY645 KUWAIT 1340WY433 TEHRAN 1340WY113 FRANKFURT 1345WY141 MALPENSA 1400WY153 ZURICH 1405WY121 MUNICH 1415FZ048 DUBAI 1415WY609 DUBAI 1420WY131 PARIS 1420WY405 CAIRO 1430WY3921 DUQUM OMAN 1515WY913 SALALAH 1545WY675 JEDDAH 1630WY613 DUBAI 1700FZ046 DUBAI 1700WY413 AMMAN 1725WY623 DUBAI 1820WY681 RIYADH 1845QR1127 DOHA 1845GF565 BAHRAIN 1855WY647 KUWAIT 1900WY661 DOHA 1900WY695 DAMMAM 1910WY653 BAHRAIN 1910EK865 DUBAI 1915WY909 SALALAH 1940G9117 SHARJAH 2005RG126 BATEEN AIRPORT OF AUH 2015WY611 DUBAI 2025FZ048 DUBAI 2040TG508 KARACHI/BANGKOK 2040WY915 SALALAH 2050WY635 ABU DHABI 2050KL442 DOHA/AMSTERDAM 2230WY421 BEIRUT 22309W529 TRIVANDRUM 22406.00E+82 BOMBAY 2245WY411 AMMAN 2250AI908 MADRAS 2300AI974 DELHI 2310QR1135 DOHA 2320GF567 BAHRAIN 2325UL206 COLOMBO 2335WY673 JEDDAH 2350EY381 ABU DHABI 2350WY901 SALALAH 2350
FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY 0005LX243 DUBAI/ZURICH 0020BA072 ABU DHABI/LONDON-HEATHROW 00259W539 BOMBAY 0025LH619 ABU DHABI/FRANKFURT 0050WY685 RIYADH 0105WY251 MADRAS 0110WY201 BOMBAY 0120WY811 BANGKOK 0120WY235 HYDERABAD 0135WY601 DUBAI 0150WY241 DELHI 0155WY431 TEHRAN 0155WY643 KUWAIT 0200WY313 CHITTAGONG 0205WY637 ABU DHABI 0205WY657 BAHRAIN 0205WY667 DOHA 0220WY691 DAMMAM 02354H584 DACCA 0245BG022 CHITTAGONG/DACCA 0250WY271 JAIPUR 0350TK777 BAHRAIN/ISTANBUL 0350WY267 LUCKNOW 0355WY267 LUCKNOW 0355EK867 DUBAI 0455FZ042 DUBAI 0510QR1133 DOHA 0520EY385 ABU DHABI 0525WY3301 MUKHAIZNA 0715GF561 BAHRAIN 0745WY603 DUBAI 0800WY903 SALALAH 0800CLX732 HONG KONG 0805WY813 BANGKOK 0805WY325 KARACHI 0920WY327 LAHORE 0920WY905 SALALAH 0920WY215 TRIVANDRUM 0920WY291 CALICUT 0920WY823 KUALA LUMPUR 0930FZ044 DUBAI 0935WY385 MALE 0940WY231 HYDERABAD 0955WY245 DELHI 0955G9115 SHARJAH 1005WY283 BANGALORE 1010WY815 BANGKOK 1010WY373 COLOMBO 1020WY605 DUBAI 1030WY203 BOMBAY 1030WY347 ISLAM ABBAD 1040EK863 DUBAI 1055EY383 ABU DHABI 1105WY655 BAHRAIN 1110WY3303 MUKHAIZNA 1115QR1129 DOHA 11159W533 COCHIN 1135WY917 KHASAB 1140IX350 CALICUT 1255WY337 KATHMANDU 1310WY253 MADRAS 1315PA451 LAHORE 1315WY631 ABU DHABI 1325WY101 LONDON-HEATHROW 1325WY223 COCHIN 1325WY663 DOHA 1330FZ048 DUBAI 1415WY609 DUBAI 1420WY405 CAIRO 1430WY3305 MUKHAIZNA 1515WY675 JEDDAH 1630WY613 DUBAI 1700FZ046 DUBAI 1700WY913 SALALAH 1735WY623 DUBAI 1820WY907 SALALAH 1840QR1127 DOHA 1845WY681 RIYADH 1845GF565 BAHRAIN 1855WY661 DOHA 1900WY647 KUWAIT 1900WY695 DAMMAM 1910WY653 BAHRAIN 1910EK865 DUBAI 1915WY821 KUALA LUMPUR 1930WY909 SALALAH 1940G9117 SHARJAH 2005RG126 BATEEN AIRPORT OF AUH 2015WY611 DUBAI 2025WY635 ABU DHABI 2030FZ048 DUBAI 2040WY915 SALALAH 2050AI978 HYDERABAD/BANGALORE 2200KL442 DOHA/AMSTERDAM 22309W529 TRIVANDRUM 22406.00E+82 BOMBAY 2245AI908 MADRAS 2300AI974 DELHI 2310QR1135 DOHA 2320GF567 BAHRAIN 2325UL206 COLOMBO 2335WY673 JEDDAH 2350WY901 SALALAH 2350EY381 ABU DHABI 2350
A I R L I N E S
LISTINGS
BORN today, you are one of the most fun-loving individuals born under your sign, yet at the same time you are also one of the hardest working and most dedicated. When you spot a goal you think is worth pursuing, you will pursue it with everything you’ve got, even to the point of sacrificing daily enjoyment for the sake of great gains down the road. You are never one to turn away from a challenge. You believe that the harder one works, the more fun one can have — and the more fun one has, the better his or her work will be. You combine business and pleasure like no other, but only when it is appropriate to do so, and in ways that will attract admiration and imitation, not scrutiny or criticism.
You are not always fond of routine, but when it comes to daily chores, you prefer to leave them to someone else! Of course, that is not always possible, so there will surely be times when your own personal environment is something of a mess. You will take the time to straighten things up eventually!
Also born on this date are: Oksana Baiul, Olympic figure skater; Lisa Bonet, actress; Martha Plimpton, actress; Burgess Meredith, actor; Diana Krall, singer; Maggie Gyllenhaal, actress.
Something significant is likely to develop, demanding that you take action of a kind that you would not normally be comfortable with.
VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22]
LIBRA [SEPT. 23-OCT. 22] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL[S[S[S[S[[[S[[S[S[S[[S[S[SSS[SS[SSSS
SCORPIO [OCT. 23-NOV. 21] S[
SAGITTARIUS [NOV. 22-DEC. 21] S[[[[[[[[[[[[[
AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18]
You’ll be caught up in the interpretation of facts and figures throughout this busy day. Someone else provides a key to greater comprehension.
What you see and hear may challenge your belief system just enough that you feel the need to engage in some honest self-assessment.
You have something to offer today that others may not fully appreciate — until, of course, they become firsthand recipients.
Your unique methods will serve you well throughout the day, and you’ll have many people coming to you with special requests.
You don’t want to be uncertain in your approach to a personal dilemma. Get all the info you can before swinging into action.
A minor conflict is likely to turn into a major one if you aren’t very quick to pinpoint the cause and eliminate it.
If someone drops in unexpectedly, you’ll want to be ready to change your overall strategy to accommodate his or her desires.
PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]
Communication is, once more, the key to success. Don’t let anyone charge ahead without being sure that all messages are received.
GEMINI [MAY 21-JUNE 20]
CANCER [JUNE 21-JULY 22]
LEO [JULY 23-AUG. 22]
CAPRICORN [DEC. 22-JAN 19]
Y O U R B I R T H D A Y
ARIES [March 21-APRIL 19]
TAURUS [APRIL 20-MAY 20]
Progress can be swift, but once you hit that first milestone, you may want to stop, look back and assess your methods — and your rewards.
Potential is very high for rewards. Someone is likely to step forward to offer you what you have been asking for all along.
You won’t be able to move in two directions at once, but you may be able to send another in your stead while you tend to personal issues.
-www.met.gov.om
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 Daily 16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily 16.00 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 Daily 13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily 17:00 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 Daily 07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily 07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily
FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily 16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily
FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) TO MUSCAT (RUWI)
C11
EXTRAS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
Scientists have created the first device which allows people to turn genes in mice on and off at will using
only their brainwaves.In humans, the ability to reg-
ulate the expression of genes through thoughts alone could open up an entirely new avenue for medicine. A monitoring sys-tem that could pick up early neu-rological signs of an impending epileptic fit or a migraine, for example, could automatically trigger the manufacture and release of protein-based medica-tion within the body.
“Being able to control gene ex-pression via the power of thought is a dream that we’ve been chas-ing for over a decade,” said Dr Martin Fussenegger from ETH Zurich, who led the research.
The study made use of a human gene implanted in mice. A tiny chamber containing human cells and an LED light was inserted un-der each mouse’s skin. The genes had been genetically modified to be sensitive to light, which made it possible to trigger and manage their protein production through shining the near-infrared light from the LED on them.
The human test subjects were divided into three groups, and asked to either meditate, play a game of Minecraft, or watch the light coming from the mouse’s body. Their brain activity was cap-
tured by a headset and analysed to establish their state of mind. The resulting signal was transmitted to the mice in the form of an elec-tromagnetic field, which was able to light up the LED.
The quantity of protein created by the guest genes depended on whether the human wearing the headset was relaxing or concen-trating on playing Minecraft.
Those who were asked to keep their eye on the mouse were able to see the effect their brain activ-ity had on the red-coloured light, and thus on the genes within the implant. After some practice, this group learnt to exert conscious
control over the amount of pro-tein produced. They were able to alter their state of mind in or-der to change the output of the genes; a finding which gives the researchers hope that sim-ilar techniques could be used to influence implants within a person’s own body.
Fussenegger believes that the type of protein-based pharma-ceuticals that can be produced in this way match the natural work-ings of the body more closely than currently used drugs, and may overcome some of the limitations imposed by traditional medicine. - Elisa Criado/The Independent
Protein production of genes in mice can be altered
by human thought, confirm experiments
Controlling medication with your mind
RESEARCHERS have success-fully replicated a direct brain-to-brain connection between mul-tiple pairs of people as part of a scientific study on direct transmission of signals
Led by an Indian-origin sci-entist Rajesh Rao, the study in-volved six people and the team was able to transmit the signals from one person’s brain over in-ternet and use these signals to control the hand motions of another person within a split second of sending that signal.
New study “The new study brings our brain-to-brain interfacing paradigm from an initial demonstration to something that is closer to a deliv-erable technology,” said co-author Andrea Stocco, research assis-tant professor of psychology.
“Now we have replicated our
methods and know that they can work reliably with walk-in par-ticipants,” Stocco added.
Software to connect brains The research team combined two kinds of non-invasive in-struments and fine-tuned soft-ware to connect two human brains in real time. The pro-cess is fairly straightforward. One participant is hooked to an electro-encephalography ma-chine that reads brain activity and sends electrical pulses via internet to the second partici-pant, who is wearing a swim cap with a magnetic stimulation coil placed near the part of the brain that controls hand movements.
Using this setup, one person can send a command to move the hand of the other by simply think-ing about that hand movement.
“We will expand the types of information that can be trans-ferred from brain to brain, in-cluding more complex visual and psychological phenomena such as concepts, thoughts and rules,” said Rao.
The researchers are also ex-ploring how to influence brain waves that correspond with alertness or sleepiness.
Stimulating brain For example, the brain of a sleepy airplane pilot dozing off at the controls could stimulate the co-pilot’s brain to become more alert.
The project could also even-tually lead to “brain tutoring” in which, knowledge is trans-ferred directly from the brain of a teacher to a student. The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE. -IANS
Direct brain-to-brain connection between humans established
The wireless optogenetic implant. - Martin Fussenegger & ETH Zurich
RESEARCH
C12
EXTRAS U N DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 6, 2 0 14
W E D D I N G B E L L S
Salman invites top stars for sister’s wedding
TOP BOLLYWOOD stars will descend on Hyderabad Novem-ber 18 as Salman Khan’s young-est sister Arpita ties the knot with her long-time fiance and businessman Ayush Sharma at a gala ceremony.
Preparations for the wedding are in full swing at Taj Falak-numa, the luxury heritage hotel of the Taj Group located in the old city. The actor’s family has booked the entire hotel for two days, November 18 and 19, to ensure that nobody gatecrashes the festivities.
Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan top the long list of invitees to the wedding. While Amitabh has not yet confirmed his participation, King Khan and his wife Gauri are likely to make it in view of their close ties with Salman’s family.
Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Hri-tik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, his wife Kareena Kapoor, Dharmendra, his wife Hema Malini, Karan Johar, David Dhawan and several other film personalities have reportedly confirmed their participation.
Salman and his father Salim Khan have invited leading politi-cians, sportspersons and corpo-rate honchos for the ceremony. About 300 guests are likely to attend the wedding.
Bollywood celebrities usually head to Jodhpur for marriages at the opulent palaces-turned-luxury hotels but this is the first time that a leading Bollywood
family chose Hyderabad.Top Bollywood stars vis-
iting Hyderabad for shoots frequent Falaknuma, one of the most beautiful palaces of Nizam, the ruler of erstwhile Hyderabad State.
The palace, which the Taj Group converted into a luxury hotel and threw it open four years ago, has 60 lavish rooms, decorated halls and a 101-seat dining hall, said to be the biggest in the world. Its Durbal Hall, embellished with intricately
carved wooden ceilings, parquet flooring, regal walnut wood fur-niture and handcrafted mirrors, had once hosted guests like King George V and Czar Nicholas II.
Located five kilometres from Charminar, Falaknuma, or ‘mir-ror of the sky’ in Urdu, is the scorpion-shaped, all-marble palace and was once the resi-dence of Mir Mahboob Ali Khan (1869-1911), the sixth Nizam.
The Falaknuma stands apart in its splendour and majesty, of all the Nizam’s palaces. —IANS
The actress says if she has to choose be-tween Bollywood and Pakistan it will al-ways be the latter.
“If I have to choose between a Bollywood film and Pakistan film, it may sound clichéd but I will go with the script first. And if both the scripts are equally good, then I will choose Pakistan film,” she said in a group interview.
“Pakistani cinema needs us badly and I am ready to do any-thing for it. I believe the new gen-eration needs to step up and come out. I need to give back to that country,” she added.
The actress also expressed op-timistic views about the growth of the cinema in Pakistan and thinks the one drawback which was holding back it’s cinema has been eliminated.
“In next 10 years you will see a change in Pakistani cinema. We will not be trading drama and film but film and film. There was one drawback and that was people were not making films and that’s not there now. People are coming back to the country after studying
film making abroad and putting in their money and making movies,” she said. “The void has been filled. Right before, I left I had to say no to a film because I am doing an-other film. It is a rare thing in Pa-kistan,” she added.
Despite the successful run of the show on Zindagi channel, the actress has no plans to foray into Indian television.
“I can’t work in Indian serials
as they are too long — they run for years,” she said.
There were rumours of Mahira debuting on the big screen with actor Ranveer Singh. The actress quashed the rumours looking el-egant in a traditional look.
“I have not thought about Bol-lywood much. I think all the guys are really good but if I have to pick one it would be Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt amongst the girl’s
brigade, Mahira said. The actress, who is married to Ali Askari and has a son, says she has to cut down her work to justify the role of wife and a mother.
“I am very conscious of the time I spend outside. Hence in order to manage the role of wife and mother, I deprive my fans from constant back to back serials,” said the actress.
Acting is not the only thing that attracts Mahira. She wants to try her hand in production.
“I would love to do production despite knowing it is a big head-ache. I want to produce short film. I have not zeroed in on the theme but I like the idea of boy meets girl concept,” said the actress.
Mahira has crossed the border and won the hearts. The one thing that is evident in all her replies is the similarity between the neigh-bouring countries.
“Everything is the same. I be-lieve the thing that connects us is our language. If I am outside and hear a voice which is like me there is an instant connect. And I feel that is present between both the countries,” said the actress.
Pakistani cinema needs us:
The Pakistani actress not only enchanted the audience in her country but also in India
with her powerful, yet sensitive, performance in TV series ‘Humsafar’
MAHIRA KHAN
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
S U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4
RENT D2
DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461
FOR RENT
For rent apartments: An apart-
ment in old Muscat at Oman Arab
Bank’s building. 3 bedrooms + 3
bathrooms, dining room, living room
and a kitchen. Air conditioned apart-
ments. 2 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms,
living room, dining room area and
kitchen in an excellent location in Al
Khuwair opposite the court of first
instance. For further information
call 97072976
New deluxe 1&2 B/R, fully furnished
and unfurnished flats with free in-
ternet available Al Khuwair near KM
Hypermarket. Contact 99460330
ISM, Darsait, 3 minutes by walk,
very spacious 1 BHK flat, 2 bath-
rooms, brand new well maintained
building, ground floor-RO 275/- per
month. Contact 94150798 (ZIA)
Apartments in Al Khuwair new
area each apartment contains (2
bedrooms + living room) for RO 365.
Contact 93181111
Building in Ghala for rent with
24 apartments near Bank Muscat,
93181111
Villa in Al Azaiba contains (5 bed-
rooms + living room + hall)
for RO 900 located near Al Fair
Supermarket. 93161111
Villa in Bousher contains (5 bed-
rooms + living room + hall) for RO
900, 93161111.
Stores in Industrial Ghala opposite
Al Ghobrah garage with 550 m, RO 4
for each meter, 93161111
Villa in Al Azaiba with area of
1200 m, contains from (2 halls +
2 living rooms +5 bedrooms with
bathrooms+maids room+7 car
parkings+garden) for RO 2300,
92161111
Villa in Qurum contains (7 bed-
rooms living room hall) for RO 1500,
93161111
4 villas in Southern Al Hail with (6
bedrooms living room hall), each
villa is RO 1200, 93121111
D2 S U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4
Luxury villa in al Azaiba inside a
compound each villa contains (5
bedrooms living room dining room
car parking) each villa RO 1200,
93161111
Open space offices with 4 bathrooms
kitchen for each meter RO 7, 93161111
Villa in Al Mawaleh contains
(4 rooms + hall) RO 480.
Contact 93121111
Villa in Al Khoudh 7 with (5 bed-
rooms, living room, hall) for RO 600,
93121111
Shops for rent near Al Khoudh Souq
rental prices starts with RO 400,
93121111
Residential / Commercial Apart-
ments in Al Khuwair located on the
main street rental prices starts with
RO 450, 93121111
Commercial land in Al Misfah and
Al Jafnen for rent for rent starts with
4000 meter, each meter is RO 1.200,
93121111
Apartments in Al Khuwair near
Al Khuwair Souq each apartment
contains (2 bedrooms + living room)
for RO 325, 93121111
Showroom in Al Khuwair located
on the main street, 900 m, and each
meter for RO 12, 93121111
1,2 BHK in Wadi Kabir. RO 235/-, RO
300/-. Contact 97799175
For rent 2 bedrooms + hall + kitchen.
Location: South Mawaleh.
Contact 99870020
2 BHK flat for rent in Ruwi.
Contact - 99792181
2 BHK flat in Ghobrah.
Contact - 99792181
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
5 BHK villa in MQ near Centre point
Al Khuwair (Rent or Sale), 1 BHK flat in
Darsait near Kims. Contact 92883001
Ground + Mezzanine floor suitable
for A Grade Restaurant at prime loca-
tion, MBD south. Contact 24714625 /
94460790
Deluxe 3 BHK family flat, 4 bed-
rooms bachelors villa at Al Ansab.
Contact 98458542
4 BHK for rent in Madinat Qaboos.
Contact - 99792181
1 BHK flat in Wadi Kabir. RO 180/-.
Contact 99376454
3 rooms, kitchen, store Rex Road
Ruwi behind Fathima Market. Con-
tact 91290464, 95490049
Big room attached bathroom,
kitchen near Sana Bldg, Wadi Kabir.
RO 125/-. Contact 95094028
Room attached bathroom, kitchen
near Kuwaiti Mosque, Wadi Kabir.
RO 200/-. Contact 95094028
An industrial land at Al Wasit of
11550 SQM for RO 900K. Contact
95330200
A 2 bedroom direct Marine view
apartment at the Wave for RO 210 k.
Contact 95330200
2 bedroom apartments available
for rent at Ghubrah near Grand Mall,
close to Atlas Hospital next to Di-
wan’s Office.#99833747, 24562526
For rent two bedrooms hall kitchen,
three bathrooms balcony, complete
split units, brand new deluxe flats
near Seeb flyover main road side.
Contact 97755586
New flat, Ghala near Royal Hospi-
tal, 3 BHK, hall, split A/C, RO 425/-.
Contact 92479515
Flat for rent in Mabela near express
road rent RO 300/-. #97695450
Office space (125 SQM) located in
prime area at 18 November street,
Al Azaiba. Contact 99261522
Office space with cassette type
A/C’s with free internet in Al Khu-
wair near KM Hypermarket. contact
99460330
Readymade office space for rent
(110 & 130SM) fully or separate, with
partition) in Bank Melli Iran Build-
ing, MBD area, Ruwi, Opposite center
point. Contact 99011352
2 BHK flat, brand new building
Ghala, 100 SQM open space offices,
Ghala, 40 SQM shop in Ghala, full
furnished business Centre, small
offices available in Ghala, 20
SQM, 25 SQM, 2 BHK in Ruwi,
Mumtaz, Darsait, Wadi Al Kabir, Rex
Road. #93782735 / 99208033
1 BHK, 2 BHK, brand new building
in Mabelah on main road, 450 SQM,
showroom available in Mabelah,
good price. Prime location good for
any business like showroom, restau-
rant, bank, supermarket, retail shop.
Contact 93782735 / 99208033
Café Shop for Rent at Ghubrah North.
Contact 99359755
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4 D3
FOR RENT
FOR RENT
BUYING/SELLING
Household & office furniture and
electronic items. Contact 99834373,
97102699
Looking for purchase of Used Portable Compressor (350 CFM,
7 Bar Pressure) powered with Diesel
run Generator.
Kindly Contact 99014686 or
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
1+2+3 BHK, Darsait, near ISM.
Contact 99024730
2 BHK, Wadi Kabir. Contact
99024730
2 BHK, Al Khuwair. Contact
99024730
2 BHK 7 flats in Mabela, Road
No.2 for rent. Contact 99420591,
94354545, 99354340
2 BHK 2 flats at Muscat Hill for
rent. Contact 99420591, 94354545,
99354340
Independent rooms in Qurum / Hail.
Contact 95529970
A cold store (-26 degree C) with
office and temperature controlled
area is available for rent. Contact
24497570 / 99313046
Semi furnished office space of 200
SQM in Al Khuwair next to Al Meera
Hypermarket is available.
Call 99313046
BHK in Al Ghubrah North include
E/W and AC split RO 280. #95811110
House in Al Azaibah, 3 rooms, 2
halls, 4 bathrooms and kitchen, RO
480. Contact 95077881
Deluxe one, two, three bedrooms
flats Ruwi, Darsait, MBD, Wadi Kabir,
Wattayah.#24707340 / 99472457
LABOUR CAMP Space for rent at
YETI. Contact: 99221683/92830110
Furnished / unfurnished apart-
ments available for rent on long
term /short term basis, near Vacha’s
hypermarket in Ghala. # 97677211
1 BHK, 2 BHK new building in
Wadi Kabir. Contact 99313274
1 BHK for commercial, MBD.
Contact 97799175
1 BHK, ISD RO 225/-.
Contact 97799175
Big flat Al Azaiba near 18 November
Street, first floor, 5 BHK, hall, living
room, AC, family only, RO 500/-.
Contact 92479515
1, 2, 3 BHK flats & villas.
Contact 92144045
Flat, 3 BHK, hall, Al Khuwair near
Centre point, RO 425/-, family only.
Contact 92479515
ACC. AVAILABLE
Room with separate bath & kitchen
for small family or exec bachelor at
Al Khuwair. Contact 99224185
Fully furnished accommodation
for executive bachelor near Lulu
Darsait. Contact 93513986
Fully furnished room with attached
bath & sharing kitchen available
for single working lady in North Al
Ghobrah. Contact 95593795
2 BHK available, Mumtaz area,
Ruwi. Contact 99269751
Available furnished single room
with attached bathroom with shar-
ing kitchen for executive bachelor.
Contact 94478424
Bachelor sharing accommodation
available in villa, Rex Road Ruwi-
Contact- 94442157
Sharing accommodation available
for Executive bachelor near to Mut-
trah hotel. Contact 98132389
Single bedroom with attached
bathroom for executive bachelor
next to Indian School Ghobrah.
Contact 95259322
Sharing villa, large room with
kitchen, bath, dressing, Al Khuwair.
Contact 99743569, 97004265
Room for Sri Lankan, ex bachelor,
Al Khuwair. Contact 96536307
Executive bachelor in Al Khuwair.
Contact 98689559, 92125115
2 BHK available in Darsait near
Lulu RO 250/-. Contact 92383882
1 BR accommodation available at
Rex Road, suitable for bachelors.
Contact 99889590
Spacious room, separate bathroom,
sharing kitchen at Wadi Kabir,
Shell Pump rent RO 90/- & E/W RO
20/- per month for Muslim family.
Contact 97887620
Furnished single room with
bathroom, Al Khuwair area only for
ladies. Contact 96059431
Flat, Ghubrah, 2 BHK, hall, split AC,
RO 350, family only near Beiret Bank.
Contact 92479515
1 & 2 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair 33 near
technical college. Contact 99792181
100 + 140 +180 + 200 sqr mtrs office
space in Alkhuwair.
Contact 99792181
1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in Mis-
fah Industrial area near to Khanco.
OMR 1,500 Monthly. Electricity and
Boundary wall will be provided.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360
2BHK Flat at Old Muscat. Contact:
91393005
Shop/ Office near Oman House, Mut-
trah. Contact 99233116
2 BHK villa, Mumtaz, RO 300.
Contact 97799175
2 BHK, Ghobrah, RO 300. #97799175
1 BHK Darsait commercial, RO 250.
Contact 97799175
3 BHK flats in Ruwi near Masjid
Sultan Qaboos.contact 99421637,
98546002
1st floor flat in Amerat 4 rooms,
3 bathrooms, family hall, kitchen
with A/C. Contact 95522405
Flat/rooms for rent in Mumtaz Area.
Contact 92502241 / 92245110
Room for rent in Ruwi.
Contact 95372192
Double bedroom flat near Wadi Kabir
Lulu# 99719471, 99639102
Flats/villas owned by ROP pension
fund available for rent in Muscat.
Contact 99349526
Flat and room for rent in Qurum near
park. Contact 99664703
23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture
land with water well in Al Salwa,
Barka. OMR 260 Thousand. Tel:
99333479 or 95215360
3 floor building in Muttrah behind
Police. Generating income of OMR
20 Thousand annually. Neat and
well maintained. Built on 197 sq
mtrs. 2 tailor shops on ground floor
and 6 flats total. OMR 269 Thousand.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360
Jewellery Shop for sale in Seeb
Souq. Contact 93313312
Beauty Saloon for sale in Amerat 5
Tel. 95421739
Dental clinic, well equipped for sale
in Sohar please contact immediately
92625962 / 95904234 / 9547402
Apartment in Al Khoudh with 1 BHK
for RO 35000, 93121111
Used containers for sale.
Contact 95539929
Running studio for sale at Amerat
Souq. Contact 97621737
Sadolin paint mixing machine well
maintained, not much used with
tinters, location Mabela Sanaiya.
Contact – 96473187 / 95125790
Industrial Area land in Rusayl 5000
SQM and building with 8 shops.
Contact 95490842, 99323957
Well running coffee shop for sale in
Bausher and Al Khuwair. #94514314
Optical shop for sale. #93560765
Machines for sale: Articulated
dump trucks make: Volvo A35D (16
cum) model: 2005 & 25 ton AWM
Truck mounted crane model: 2008.
Contact 99207592, 99882570,
fax: 24593333
M.V. FOR SALE
Nissan Sunny, 1.6, 2007, fully
automatic, lady driven. Contact
99045803
Toyota Innova, 2010 model, manual
gear. Contact 968 92187371
PROTON GEN 2 FOR SALE: Manual
Gear.Good condition. Single owner.
Silver colour. 1st registered August
2009. Full insurance till Au-
gust 2015. Price OMR 1,680 Tel:
99333479 or 95215360
Toyota Innova white 2007.
Interested call: 99365361
Mitsubishi Canter model 2013 3
ton. Contact 92104057
Lexus GS300, 2006.
Contact 93218349
Mitsubishi Outlander - model
2005, silver grey, fully automatic in
excellent condition for sale.
Contact: 95867021
2013 November model Pajero,
38000 kilometers for sale. Price
negotiable. Please contact
96388496
Subaru Impreza 2.0 ltr 2000 model,
manual in super condition.
Contact: 99844601
2010 Toyota Yaris (automatic),
excellent condition.
Contact 99737879
Pajero 2013. Contact 99336093
M.V.WANTED
Required Nissan Tida / Toyota yaris /
Suzuki swift / hyundai/Kia hatchback
car in good condition.#95405033
AVAILABLE
Established Restaurant for rent
with sponsorship. #97628242
Party & Wedding equipment rentals.
Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-
ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,
Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes,
Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound
Systems and spectacular lighting.
Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering
and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound &
Light. www.tunesoman.com,
E-mail: [email protected]
Plots available. Open land and plots
for yard and labor camps available
near Naseem Garden plot size 1000-
3000 SQM. Contact :
E mail- [email protected].
GSM 99849644
New & Refurbished portable cabins,
Fabrication of car parks & all types
of fabric shade.
Contact 94475705
Shop for sale in Al Khuwair 33 with
office equipment security.
Contact 96024655
Flats For Sale in Boushar: OMR
35 Thousand 1 bedroom. OMR 45
Thousand 2 bedroom. Monthly
income 1 bedroom OMR 270 and 2
bedroom OMR 350. Tel: 99333479 or
95215360
Brand new split unit AC on excellent
cash rate. Contact 98458542
SHOP FOR SALE AT HONDA RD. CON-
TACT 99221683 / 92830110
Industrial Area land in
Rusayl 5000 SQM and building
with 8 shops. Contact 95490842,
99323957
Excellent flat for rent in Ruwi,
Mumtaz Area and Al-Hail South.
Contact 98051159
1 BHK flat near Star Cinema, Ruwi.
RO 240/-.Contact 97079146 /
95570288
For rent flat and showroom, Al Azai-
ba, Ghala, Ghubrah, Al Khuwair-33
and Mabelah. Contact 93651633,
24485240, 24485241
5 bedrooms villa, 2 halls, 4 bath-
rooms in Darsait, behind Khimjis
Mart. Contact 24700120 / 92584715
Building with four flats near Pizza
Hut Mawaleh. Contact 99044164
Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir.
Contact 99383569
1 BHK flat in Wadi Kabir. RO 215/-.
Contact 99358589
Small house for rent at Ghubrah.
Contact 95032152
DAILY GUIDED4 S U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4
DOMESTIC HELP
MICROBIOLOGIST
BEAUTY
DRIVER
ADMIN / HR
SKILLED / UN SKILLED
FOREMAN
HOSPITALITY
SECRETARIAL
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT
MEDICAL
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
Require house boy having fair com-
munication skills in English with
experience in house or hotels. Age
limit required between 21 to 25 yrs
Contact 24707088,
Email : [email protected]
ADMIN/HR
ADMIN/HR
ACCOUNT. & FINANCEACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461
ENGINEERS
Required light driver cum Techni-cian. Contact 92341826
Telugu Driver Wanted-
Contact 95450157
Urgently driver wanted, Omani
(private light). Contact 99173812,
Star life Co.LLC
SALES / MARKETING
Required Sales Engineer having 1-2
year experience with Oman driving
license for an Oilfield trading com-
pany, please send CV to
Urgently required Sales Execu-tives, Senior Sales Managers, Sales Promoters, 3D-AutoCAD Designer. Candidates with minimum 2 years
experience in Oman and Driving
License may only apply –
Contact: 94151791,
Email: sales @dewdropoman.com
Urgently required Sales Executive IT Company with 2 years experi-
ence, driving license preferred
Need a Salesman for marketing job
for printing Company. Indian na-
tionality who has the ability to work
hard and has experience of mini-
mum 3 years with Omani Driving
License. We offer attractive package.
Contact 93645550,
email: [email protected]
Require an experienced Sales Exec-utive with NOC or GCC background
for Switchgear Company.
Contact 98005224/92105554.
Email [email protected]
Wanted males/females Omanis
& expats as freelancers to conduct
Corporate & Individual Surveys in
Muscat, Batinah, Dakhliya, Salalah,
Sharqiyah, Duqum, Ibri, Buraimi
& Musandam on project to project
basis. Graduate fluent in English,
Driving license must.
Contact 24701430
We are looking for an experienced
Building Materials Sales Executive
having valid Omani Driving License
and NOC. Please send CV by email :
Urgently required Sales & Mar-
keting Executive for an Engineer-
ing company, minimum 2 year
experienced, with good communica-
tion skill & driving license. Email :
Tourism Company looking for
marketing person, salary RO 200/- &
commission, petrol & car free. (Also
for ladies part time RO 150/-).
Contact 91272676
Reputed Perfume Company requires promoters. Please contact 95663682.
Email: [email protected]
Required Tailor. Contact
95204145
Required for leading company
– one foreman (Indian). Email :
Wanted experienced Indian Chef, age between 30-35, experience in
Indian & Continental food is must.
Good salary package. # 99466062
Business Development cum Outlet
Manager required for reputed Asian
Franchise in Muscat. 5 to 7 years of
experience in restaurant/catering
business with 2 years in supervisory
position. Self-driven people with
pleasing personality and good com-
munication skills. Call 93977533
Reputed trading company in Mus-
cat requires Female Receptionist
(Omani) and Sales Executive (any
Nationality). Interested candidates
please send CV’s to
Indian B.Sc. Maths+PGDCA - well ex-
perienced, seeks suitable placement
as Commercial/Logistic Executive
or Document Controller/Customer
Service Executive; expected on short
visit by Nov. 1st Week;
Contact 99702383.
Email: [email protected]
A reputed LLC in Muttrah urgently required an Accountant Assistant, 2 years experience. Those who
are interested please forward your
resume to silverworld2006@gmail.
com or contact 99364735, 91214849
Nizwa Medical Complex, located at Nizwa is looking for Gynecologist, female GP, laboratory technician preferably with MOH license. Please
email your resume to nmc919@
hotmail.com or send to P.O.Box 1236,
Nizwa, Phone: 24512323 or call Mr.
Owen 99072287 between 10-12 am
and 6-8 pm
Urgently required Omani Account-ant: Minimum 2 years experience
in accounts must be able to handle
accounts. Good knowledge of MS
word, excel, Oracle based accounting
software or any other is must. Inter-
ested candidates may send in their
CVs to Fax # 24600217 or email to
One of the leading Business groups
in Oman is looking for an Accountant
with 5-8 years of experience prefer-
ably in industrial parts.
Contact 99428552
Lecturers for Admin & Accounts Graduate with 4 yrs. experience,
Lecturers for English graduate with
CELTA/TEFL/TESOL minimum 4 yrs.
experience, Lecturers for IT gradu-
ate with Experience in Network &
AutoCAD. (Preference will be given
to Philippine Nationals)Arabian
Institute – Willayat Suwaiq .
Mail CV to: [email protected] ,
Required for a leading company: 1.Qualified Accountant, salary RO
300 + accommodation, 2.English
typist, salary RO 175-200 + accom-
modation, 3.Full time driver
(light vehicles only).
Email : [email protected]
Electrical Engineer, 3 yrs Gulf exp
required & plumber & electrician,
3 yrs Gulf exp required for Dubai
based Company.
Email : [email protected]
Required Civil Engineer minimum
3 to 5 years experience with GCC
Driving License may apply with
details to [email protected]
Required for Al Shirawi Equipment
Company LLC, Sales Engineer with
fabrication experience, 5 to 7 years
(1 No.), experience in Tipping Trailer,
Flat bed, low bed, water tanker,
tipper. Contact 94226924
MECHANICAL/ TECH
Chief Accountant with 20 years
experience in reputed companies
looking for suitable placement.
Contact 97385562
Accountant / Computer expert 2 yrs
in Muscat & 2 yrs in Mumbai, NOC
available. Contact 98584498
Sr. Accountant M.Com (Finance) 14
yrs exp (1 year in Oman) in finance
& accounts. NOC available, immedi-
ately joining. Contact – 92404608 /
20 yrs experienced Accountant
seeks employment, ACCA (UK),
CPA/MBA + Oracle Financials ERP,
Hyperion Planning, SAP & Advanced
Excel. Contact sanjeevcga@gmail.
com or 98934705
Male 27, 7+ years of experience in
Accounts and Administration, out of
4 years experience in Oman looking
for a suitable placement.
Contact 93531602
Part Time Accounting, Accounts
Finalization, Audit Preparation,
Internal Audit, Onsite Tally Train-
ing, Onsite Training for Accountants,
Inventory Management, Feasibility
Study and Project Reports.
Contact: 96975454,
email: [email protected]
Keralite M.Com lady having 4 years
exp looking for Assistant Accountant
job. Contact 91757086
B.Sc in applied Accounts, having 6
years of working experience in Gulf
and India seeking suitable place-
ment in Accounts, Finance or Audit
Department. Contact 94551480,
Email : [email protected]
Accounting & Administration, Exp,
B com, Diploma in Mass Comn.
Ph : 97931505
Indian Male, 40- Senior Accountant
looking for a job.
Contact 98753366
Accountant Indian Female, MBA
(Finance), 1.5 years experience in
Oman looking for a suitable place-
ment. Contact 97349904, Email:
Indian male, 28 yrs, B.Com, 6 years
Accounts experience in East Africa
seeking suitable job. 3 months visit
visa. Contact 94613626
Indian male 26 yrs B. Com
(Accountant/Payroll Officer) 3 Yrs
experienced in Oman seeking for
a suitable position, release & NOC
available. Contact 97803996
M. Com, well experienced, working
knowledge with Tally n ERP, present-
ly working in Oman seeks suitable
placement. Release available
Ph: 99035707.
email:[email protected]
Full or part time Indian male,
Accountant, 4 years experience in
Oman, NOC available. #96799714
Indian female, MBA in HR & Finance,
3 yrs experience in Accounts &
Administration seeking suitable
placement. Contact 93685717.
Email : [email protected]
Indian Female, Senior Account-
ant with 10 years experience in
Accounts, Finance, Audit & Tax Man-
agement. Contact 96263157
Immediate placement for Phar-macist and Asst.Pharmacist, 2 nos
each with MOH or prometric pass.
Contact: 99338219
Vacancy for staff nurse with MOH
License, capital area.
Contact 99013372
Urgently required a GP doctor with MOH license for a leading
medical clinic.Contact 92008272 /
96602188
Required paed doctor Gyn doctor, dentist - assistant pharmacist. lab technician , X.ray technician staff nurse for polyclinic for Saham .
Contact:92406024 Email:
Private Dental Clinic in Burimi
city need a dentist have practice
license in oman
Mob : 98379121
Wanted Doctor with MOH license for
a Polyclinic. Excellent salary with
accommodation and commission.
Contact 99752442,
email : [email protected]
Urgently required GP Doctor with
MOH license for one month from
15.12.2014. Contact 93824902
Urgently required a Doctor for
leave vacancy, good payment with
commission. Contact 97091664
Urgently required Dentist [email protected]
or call - 96721709
MOH licensed female nurse
required for clinic in Muscat for im-
mediate placement.
Contact 93538672
Pharmacist and Assistant Pharma-cist with MOH license are required.
Interested candidates
contact 97091664 or
Good payment with incentives.
Urgently required Omani Administration Manager. Gradu-
ate with minimum 5 years experi-
ence good command over English
and good experience in M.S Office
and computers. Should be capable
of handling Administration depart-
ment, all type of correspondence &
routine office works independent-
ly. Interested candidates may send
in their CVs to Fax # 24600217 or
email to [email protected]
A/C duct man cum fabricator, A/C technician. Visa available.
Contact-95271668
Urgently required air condition Mechanical Engineer (diploma
holder) Contact no; 96407775.
Urgently required, Heavy Duty Drivers with Oman or GCC License,
Diesel Mechanics and Civil Labo-
ratory Technicians for a reputed
group. Candidates with Gulf expe-
rience may please forward their
CV’S to salesjob112014@gmail.
com or Contact GSM-99274321
for personal Interview
within 10 days.
Required Marine Mechanic with
3-5 years experience in maintain-
ing/ repairing outboard Engines,
Generators & AC of Boat with Driv-
ing license. Contact-24696130
Email- [email protected]
Over 14 years of Gulf experience as
Administration/HR specialist fluent
in Arabic / English with driving
license, looking for suitable position.
Contact 95824598
Indian Male 35 Document control-
ler/Admin Assistant seeking employ-
ment for suitable position. (Release/
NOC) Available. MOB:-96345187
MBA in Material Management, 20
years experience in Gulf worked in
Admin, Stores, Inventory, Procure-
ment in charge, bilingual translator,
Arabic, English hold Omani and UAE
driving license, and release avail-
able seeks employment.
Contact 97418315
Indian female (26), B.Tech (CS),
1.6 years experience Banking sector
(Axis Bank Ltd) seeking job in pvt
firms/ banks in Administration/HR
/ Secretarial positions.
Contact 94525956,
Email : [email protected]
currently on visit visa.
Over 15 years Oman experienced
Indian female Manager / Accounts
and Admin / Secretary.
Contact 96025193
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
Experience PRO Oman Male, 36
Yrs, 16 yrs experience in PRO/ HR
& Administration, Prefect English
language speaking & writing with
D/L, Seeks suitable placement,
Can join immediate. #91221773
Indian male, B.Com, 5 years Office
Executive experience sector Agency
seeking job in office/Company for
administration. Email : aneesh-
[email protected], currently on
visit visa. Contact 99846801
Young Omani male have experience
10 years as P.R.O , CLERK, helper
supervisor, admin supervisor, H.R
Manager have diploma in H.S.E , IT ,
and P.D.O license looking for H.R po-
sition or P.R.O part time or full time.
Contact 95933288
Indian Female, 25 yrs, B.Com Gradu-
ate, presently on visit visa having 6
yrs experience seeking good oppor-
tunity in HR Admin, HR Recruiter or
Office Secretary. Contact 91762061
Indian Male, MBA 2 years experi-
ence in Admin, Sales & Accounts
looking for suitable position.
Interested in Admin Sales Marketing
Accounts. Contact 94512430
Urgent male Omani Microbiolo-gist required for leading Commer-
cial Testing Lab in Muscat. Contact
93351031/92982665/ 93888576
A reputed Beauty salon requires hairdressers and receptionist. Please contact 92527238
Required salesman and tailor.
Contact 96964767
Legal adviser and consultant in
International arbitration (Egyptian
resident) legal and administrative
expertise and the Omani Labor Law
and drafting contracts.
Contact 99664890
Indian Male 32 yrs( MBA-HR) 9 yrs
of Exp (GCC,AFRICA) in EPC, Diversi-
fied industries, Seeking Suitable
placement in HR/Admin. Currently
on visit visa, NOC available,
join immediately.
Contact 94535618
Email:[email protected]
Omani female with 9 yrs exp looking
for PRO job with Oman D/L.
Contact 97917333
HR & Admin Assistant, 26 yrs Indian Male having
6Years of experience looking for suit-
able position.
Contact No: +968-93264616
Indian National working in Oman
since 6 years as Assistant Manager
HR & Operations. Will get NOC and
can join immediately.
Contact No. 97648333
Office Assistant with knowledge
of self correspondence, MS Office
& good command in English (Both
speaking & writing). Interested can-
didates may send resume to:
or fax to: 24799615
32 years Pakistani, MBA from UK
with 5 + years experience of Business
Development and Administration
seeks a suitable job.
Contact 95658916
Male, 27 years with MBA in HR/MKT
having 2 years exp in respective field
looking for suitable placement in
leading organization.
Contact 91705051
Pakistani Male, ACCA Fundamental
Level qualified, advanced Diploma
in Accounting and Business certified
accounting technician, 3 years expe-
rience as Accounts Officer.
Contact 99860453,
Email: [email protected]
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,
should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject
to space availability
DOMESTIC HELP
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4 D5
DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
DRAUGHTSMAN
DESIGNER
DRIVER
DRIVER
Indian Male: B.COM, 4 years experi-
ence in Accounts, in Manufactur-
ing Co Oman, Working Knowledge
With Tally ERP- With Oman valid
D/L,Presently working in Muscat
NOC Available Looking for Suitable
position in Reputed Company,
Contact; 95745287 and Email:
EDUCATION
INFORMATION TECH
HOSPITALITY
ENGG. / TECHNICAL
ENGG. / TECHNICAL
MEDICAL
MEDICAL
MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR
Female Pharmacist B Pharm MOH
license seeking suitable position.
Contact 91391547 / 99538357
I have 7 years experience in Nurs-
ing Field (GNM) and I have Oman
Prometric also seeking suitable job
in Hospital or Clinic or Polyclinic.
Contact 98992469, 98036216
Male Pharmacist, 4+ yrs exp with
B. Pharm degree and MOH license.
Presently on visit visa, seeking suit-
able position. #91678103, 96522803
Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf ex-
perience) looking for a suitable job
(NOC available) Contact-93344378
25 yrs Indian female M. Sc Microbi-
ology MS Office 2 yrs exp seek-
ing suitable placement. Contact:
99032236 / 98049057
Indian female, 29 yrs , SENIOR
EXECUTIVE CLINICAL RESEARCH,
MSC Biotechnology & pursuing
Phd/ 4 Yrs total work experience/
on a visit visa/seeking for a suitable
placement/Contact # 95925881/
Email: [email protected]
Medical Laboratory Technologist,
4 years experience in UAE, Master
Degree holder. Contact 97007930
Indian Male GP with MOH License
and NOC, having 10 years of excel-
lent hands on experience in Oman
with corporate culture. #98140024
Email: [email protected]
Nursing caregiver, qualified Nurse/
Asst. Nurse (male/ female) medical
staff seeks placement for Hospital/
clinic. Contact 92989109 (Oman),
0091 – 9555427742 (India),
Telecom Engineer, Master Degree
in UK with seven years, UK, Gulf and
Sri Lanka experiences, Installation
Operations maintains and Project
Management. Presently on visit visa
looking for a telecom related role.
Contact 94626136,
Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer with India’s
largest Construction Company,
planning, supply chain manage-
ment, operations. #99503895
Mechanical Engineer 21m Indian
fresher, seeking job, visit visa.
Contact: 99027468
Email: [email protected]
BSc Civil Engineer, over 19 years
experience in Construction field with
Project Management skills, seeks
suitable placement. NOC available &
can join immediately.
Kindly contact 92198264,
Email: [email protected]
Iraqi Civil Engineer, 3 yrs exp
(1 yr exp) in Oman looking for job.
Contact 92628850
Indian male B.Tech Civil Engineer
with 5 yrs exp in Gulf & India. Pres-
ently on visit visa looking for suit-
able placement at capital region in
Oman. Contact – 93453417 / Email –
HSE and NDT Engineer, M.Sc in
radiation protection with more than
6 yrs experience in oil and gas fields
“OSHA-NDTLII” 95481430
Mechanical Engineer (B.E), 26
yrs, Indian Male with two years
experience as Production Engineer
in Manufacturing / Production pres-
ently on visit visa seeking suitable
placement, has good knowledge of
MS-Office, MS-Project and AutoCAD.
Contact 91685141 / 93101922, email:
Indian Male, 26 yrs, graduate in
hospitality science, with New Zea-
land business diploma and previous
Oman experience in Customer
service seeks suitable placement in
hospitality/salesmarketing/ logis-
tics/ admin. Contact 91383167
Indian male 28 completed
B.H.M.CT, 4 yrs exp in food & bever-
ages dept. looking for senior super-
visor position. Contact – 91018857 /
Having 7 years Europe experience
in the field of Hotel Management,
store keeper, Supervisor looking for
a challenging opportunity in Muscat.
Contact +96897376612, Email:
Male 22 Housekeeping front office
Hotel management degree course.
Contact 96732520
Indian Male, 36 yrs available on
visit visa, 14 yrs experience seeking
suitable placement in games devel-
opment / graphics industry.
Contact 98454245
Tunisian interior and furniture
designer, 8 yrs exp in Oman looking
for suitable placement. Local release
available (NOC). Contact 92038385
Graphic Designer for Sign Industry
(Preferably Omani National). Contact
fax: 24812377
Piping Design and Drafting Diploma
with AutoCAD and Mechanical
Draughtsman in oil and gas sector.
Email id : [email protected]
GSM: 94515084
Housemaid looking for job in Qurum
area. Contact No. 93623629
Civil Engineer, diploma, Indian Male,
8 years experience, Oman Driving
License with local release.
Contact 95320570,
Email: [email protected]
Land Surveyor 8 years experience
5.5 in Oman known all survey instru-
ments and handle AutoCAD for call
96531364&98904134).
Civil Engineer have 6 years Site
experience in both structural and
finishing works in Oman. Email :
+968 95110820
Sudanese male, MEP Engineer, B.Sc,
3 yrs experience in Oman having
Omani Driving License looking for
job in any company.
Contact +968 99141958
Mechanical Engineer, 1.5 yrs experi-
ence with India’s largest Construc-
tion company, operations & supply
chain management, water pipeline
project. Contact 94627096
Indian male, B.E Mechanical with
4.5 years Quality Control, Sales &
Marketing. Email : sherjith@yahoo.
com. Contact 94620659
Indian, M.Tech Electrical Engineer
(Female), fresher in family visa seek-
ing suitable placements in Oman.
Contact 94306164
33 years Indian female B.E Com-
puter Science currently teaching in
Secondary School seeks suitable
opportunity in school or office.
Contact [email protected]
BE Civil Engineer having 9 years of
experience in construction of build-
ings & roads in Oman looking for a
suitable job. Contact 91078499
BE (Civil), Indian male, 22 years
experience (12 years in Oman) in es-
timation, planning & execution seek-
ing suitable placement. #98314531
Young man looking for a job Com-
puter maintenance software, 10
years experience, Chemical Engineer
looking for job, experience fertilizers,
water treatment and quality control.
Contact 91114624
Civil Engineer with 5 years experi-
ence in various fields supervision,
design and geotechnical with Omani
license. Contact 97261086
Indian Female, 30 Years, B.Com, 3
years Oman experience in Bank-
ing and 5 Years India. Contact
96727030/96253400
Mechanical Engineer (B.E) - 4yrs
exp in manufacturing / production
seeking placement, on visit visa.
Contact: 93694953;
Email: [email protected]
Electrical Engineer, 9 yrs experience
in Electrical Projects with Oman D/L,
NOC available, can join immediately.
Email: [email protected]
Civil Engineer B.E., 5 years experi-
ence with valid Driving License,
consultancy job preference.
Contact 91693008
Project Engineer, 3 years experience
in primary substation OHL oil & gas,
AutoCAD, driving license available.
Contact 95120225, 99410588
Civil Engineer, 6+ years work experi-
ence in Oman, valid Omani D/L look-
ing for suitable placement. Contact
96936404
Sudanese Mechanical Engineer, 3
years experience (production, opera-
tion), driving license easy to transfer
immediately. Contact 91135140
Mechanical Engineer,(BTech in
Mechanical) with Certified quality
controller - NDT level 2 qualified as
per ASNT - SNT-TC-I A, with
1 & half yr exp. as quality control
engineer, presnetly in India seeks
suitable placement Cont : 95405033
Indian Female, Software tester, 5 years experience in Oracle India
and Wipro Technologies having
knowledge in SQL and Data Ware-
house concepts looking for suitable
job vacancies. Contact 98605362,
Email : [email protected]
Indian Female, Computer Engineer
with 14 Years of IT Experience. Dual
Expertise both in Business / System
Analyst and Project Management
role. Looking for any IT opportunity
pertaining to Business Analyst /
Project Manager / Software Quality
Assurance role.# 968 92661857
Email : [email protected]
Young and energetic Indian holding
Oman driving license, having 6+
years experience in IT Industry
(4+ years in Oman) seeks placement.
Contact : 92687056, 92228414
Indian Female (25), married, MSc
(Software Engg), 2+ years of experi-
ence in leading MNC, IT skill include
HTML, CSS with the design and de-
velopment of web based application
using struts frame work, J2EE and
oracle with excellent communica-
tion skills looking for a suitable job
opening.# 95892587, 96265726
MBA (Operations) with 13 years
experience in IT Infrastructure
enterprises, voice network, unified
communication, MS Certified Lync
Avaya Polycom is on visit visa
seeking a suitable placement.
Contact 94535700.
Email: [email protected]
Indian light driver looking for
placement immediately having
14 years exp in Oman.
Contact 97098133
I have experience, 8 years for Saudi
Arabia and Oman – 2 years. Contact
95382465 / 98939925
Bangladeshi driver looking for suit-
able job, KSA 12 years + Oman
3 years experience, 42 years.
Contact 95796030
Driver looking for job.
Contact 92715713
Driver looking for job.
Contact 96964634
Indian Female, Software tester, 5
years experience in Oracle India and
Wipro Technologies having knowl-
edge in SQL and Data Warehouse
concepts looking for suitable job
vacancies. Contact 98605362,
Email : [email protected]
Indian Executive L/D. Driver,
2 years exp. Contact 93078481
Indian driver looking for job, 2 yrs
exp. Contact 95151738
Bangladeshi man wants job.
Contact 97293149
Heavy driver, experience, 5 years,
nationality Pakistan.
Contact 92073175
Light motor vehicle looking for job,
3 years experience in Oman.
Contact 92117837
7 Years exp driver (Keralite).
Contact 93412587
SALES / MARKETING
Indian male, 32yrs b.Com, 6.5 Yrs
exp in purchase asst and store
keeper seeking suitable placement.
Contact 95318192.
Indian Male seeking Sales and
Executive Driver job have valid
Oman and UAE license. #91183634
A Graduate male looking for Mobile
Marketing job having 4 years expe-
rience in Oman & UAE with vehicle.
Interested persons please contact
94164657
Marketing Professional with 7
years Oman experience in Business
Development and ATL advertising
looking for a suitable placement.
Valid D/L Oman. GSM 93466033.
Email - [email protected],
MBA Graduate with 2 years of
experience as working as Executive
assistant in Dubai is looking for a job
(full time) other than as an Executive
Assistant / Office Assistant.
Contact 91615322
Indian male, 25 years Graduate, 3
years experience in Sales in Delhi
(India) on visit seeking suitable
placement. Contact 98914220
MISCELLANEOUS
DIETICIAN
Female postgraduate Searching
suitable Job Contact 97792820
26 years Gulf experience plumb-
ing fire fighting Supervisor having
UAE D/L looking for job. Contact
97357960 / 91306037
5 years surveyor for pipe line, 8
years Construction/Projects experi-
enced Accountant, 5 years Drafts-
man to work in Salalah. Mail CV to
Indian male, experienced executive
secretary / Document Controller /
Admin Executive, looking for suit-
able job. Contract No. 91091963 /
99707262”
Indian male, 24 years experience
Senior Miller Flour Mills including
erection and QC, presently in India. #
00919744167051, 98657006
Sr. Procurement and logistics Ex-
ecutive with 8 years experience (in
middle east), in Oil and gas as well
as Industrial projects and an overall
16 years of total job experience
together in India and Qatar is on the
lookout for a suitable placement.
Valid GCC driving license.
Contact: 91750084.
20 years experience Division Man-
ager specialized in false ceiling &
partition in Oman.
Contact 93513986
Senior Position for CA with 24
years of experience: Managing Fi-
nance, Accounts, Audit, Bank Loans,
Budgeting, Business planning, Strat-
egy, Purchase and Sale management
of group of companies. SAOG
Mobile 91799262
Logistics Officer, Gulf Experienced,
knows MS office Ph : 99505934
Indian Male 25 MBA in Sports
Management; Looking for job in
Sports administration/Sports
events/sports facility management
and Sports related Organisations.
Exp. as sports development of-
ficer in schools,Project Manager in
Syncotts international Bangalore
& part of World Hockey Series of
India-2012 as Production Runner.
Presently on Visit visa in Oman.
Contact; 96398569.
Email : [email protected]
Indian Male, 25 years in Oman, FMCG business in Senior Manager
level looking for senior position.
Contact 99015946
Indian Female Dietician with an
experience of 3 yrs looking for suit-
able opportunity. Contact 94291727
Presently in Muscat.
Physical Science/Mathematics
female teacher with 6 years Indian
experience, seeking a position in a
reputed school/Institution. QUALI-
FICATION: B.Sc (Mathematics, Elec-
tronics & computer science), B.Ed
(Mathematics & English) Contact:
Kamaal. GSM: 94300026, email:
MSc. Chemistry Teacher (5 y EXP.)
Pakistani female looking for
a job in School/college. #96580101
Indian Male 40 yrs, Legal advisor
and coroprate in house lawyer
currently working with a reputed
legal firm in Muscat having 7
years gulf eperience looking for
Legal Manager post in companies.
Experience in drafting agreements,
contracts, negiotation and dispute
settlement. Good knowledge in
Oman Labour Law and other laws.
NOC available . GSM: 99137569
Accountant BCom. 2yrs Oman
experience. NOC available. Joing
immediatley-93089367
Accountant, indian male, 31yrs,
M.com, 4 yrs experince in oman,
NOC available, Cont-93376130 ,
92398040
Accountant 3.5yrs.noc available.
joingimmediatly.mba(hr).98772358
Chief Accountant, M.Com + CA
articles completed.Having 5 yrs of
experience in Oman.Excellent com-
mand in IAS and IFRS.seeks proper
placement. GSM # 94387066
Welder Tig, 6g, Steel Fbrcn Gulf
Exp Ph : 93837973
MECHANICAL/ TECH
Part time Accountant with 19 yrs
exp in Accounting Management.
Contact 95857199
Indian Female Accountant with
1 year experience in Accounts.
Contact 98672945
Indian Female 29 Yrs, B-Com Gradu-
ate with Basic Computer Knowledge
and Tally, having 6 yrs experience in
accounting seeking for the placement
in Account Assistant, currently on
visit visa in Oman Contact: 95478149
Email: [email protected]
Indian female Senior Account-
ant with 10 years experience in
Accounts, Finance, Audit & Tax
Management. Contact 96263157
Indian male 30 MBA Graduate 8
Years of Experience in Accounts &
Finance Looking for Part time Ac-
counts job like Daily 2 Hrs or in week
end holidays. Contact 97181244
Accounts part time works and fina-
lization works. Contact 96247295
Sr. Accountant up to finalization
looking for part time job after 5 pm
(location prefer – Qurum to
Al Khoudh). Contact 92917574
Chartered Accountant Indian
(Female) having valid Omani DL and
work experience of 1 year in a Big
4 Audit firm (India) seeks suitable
placement. GSM: 99484368
Chartered Accountant with 10 yrs
of Gulf & MNC experience, in depth
knowledge in Financial statements
including consolidation, treasury,
MIS, AR/AP, Insurance, Taxation,
Payroll etc looking for Senior posi-
tion in finance, NOC available.
Email : [email protected].
Contact : 96293649
Indian male age 30 having 10 yrs
experience in Finance & Accounts
seeking suitable placement.
Contact 93675399
MSc (Applied Chemistry and Chemi-
cal Technology), 4 years experience
in Operations and Laboratory on
visit visa seeking for a suitable job.
Contact 91261365,
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male, 24, B.Tech Electrical
and Electronics Engineering, 2+
years experience in Electrical field,
panel board designing, electrical
AutoCAD drawings and manage-
rial skills. Contact 92181106, email :
Civil Engineer with exp 5 years in
construction and roads. NOC avail-
able. Contact 97646908
BS Electronic engineer, Pakistani
Male, 23, specialize in Industrial
Automation (Siemens PLC, HMI),
embedded system design & instru-
mentation looking for suitable place-
ment in Oman. Contact 96271586
Male, Indian (now in Oman),
fresher, B.E. Civil Engineer.
Contact 98907359
Mechanical Engineer, Sudanese,
3 years experience in HVAC Site En-
gineer, driving license easy to trans-
fer immediately. Contact 91135140
A Filipino National seeking for the
job Vacancy as Safety Officer, Fire
Engineer, Fire Inspector, Fire and
Safety Instructor. Well experienced
in Offshore and Petrochemical Plants
with an IOSH Certificate. Please
contact 91718309 or 26855037
Sudanese Mechanical Engineer, male, 5 yrs experience looking for
job in Oman. Contact 91762602
Civil Engineer with 8 years experi-
ence and valid Omani D/L looking
for suitable placement. Ready to join
immediately. Contact 95326194 /
99525367
Indian Male, 29 years. BCA + ITI
Electronics, 8 years experience in
Electronic service and telecommuni-
cation networking, # 98689568
Instrumentation Engineer, Indian
male having 2 years experiences
in process instruments seeks
suitable placement.
Contact 95954385
Electrical Engineer having 2 yrs
of experience, substation/ mainte-
nance seeking for suitable place-
ment. # 97698493 / 99253909
Diploma in Electronics Engineering
with 5 years experience in Oman
as Customer Service Coordinator,
Inventory Control and Indoor Sales
Executive seeks suitable job. Speaks
Arabic, English & Hindi. #95681406.
Email [email protected]
Electrical Engineer, Indian, 2.5
years experience at Thermal Plant,
(erection and commissioning). Now
in Oman on visit seeking suitable
job. Contact 95836714.
Email – [email protected]
BE Civil Engineer, fresh graduate,
male 24 yrs, Indian looking for a
suitable placement. # 95117509
Pakistani light driver cum sales-
man, experience, 6 yrs in Dubai.
Contact 96955798,
Email : [email protected]
Driver is available for his personal
home, driver as a Company driver,
outhouse to go to UAE, please do not
hesitate to contact 96964343
Light driver. Contact 98537756
Light driver, 3 years experience in
Oman. Contact 94453093
Sri Lankan driver looking for job.
Contact - 97387112
Light driver looking for job, 5 years
exp in Saudi Arabia + Oman 2 yrs.
Contact 96088707
Female 21 yrs, Tally 1 year experi-
ence, looking for visa.
Contact 95330720
HOSPITALITY
Indian lady needs placement, MSc,
pure Chemistry. Contact 96749374
DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624
Email: [email protected]
D6 S U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4
DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624
Email: [email protected]
INDIAN female having ten years
experience as cook. South Indian,
Gujarathi special. # 94224512
Homoeopathic Doctor, Indian
Female, with MOH License( to be re-
newed) (Nearly 2 years exp in Mus-
cat, Oman) seeks suitable place-
ment in Clinics/Hospitals in Muscat
area. Please Contact:92975815.
Male senior accountant with 20+
years experience readily available.
6 years experience in construction
industry Oman. NOC & Oman driving
license holder. 93969767/ gnana-
Electronics & communication
Engineer, having 3+years experience
(2Yeras GCC) in Security systems/
low current systems (FAS, CCTV,
ACS, PAVA etc) seeking suitable
Post in construction/manufactur-
ing/production/maintenance depts.
Contact: [email protected]
91001523
Dynamic Indian Female, Chemical
Engineer (fresher from NIIT),
holding Oman D/L seeks suitable
placement. Contact 97477127,
email: [email protected]
Indian Female, B.Com, Secretarial
skills, MS office, Oracle, 5 years
experience in Oman, as QA/QC As-
sistant, Administrator, Document
Controller, seeking placement.
Contact: 96465391 or
E-mail: [email protected]
Indian female 29 Graduate/Comput-
er diploma 5-year work experience
as Manager Administration/HR in
Construction & Real Estate seeking
suitable placement .
On family Visa. Contact - 91191236
British Female with 4 years experi-
ence in Oman in Marketing and
Project Management.
Call 00974 3343 7619
Indian Male MBA & PGDFM 26
Yrs. having 3.2 yrs of exp. seeking
suitable placement in Admin/HR/
Accounts/Purchase co-ordinator etc..
Holding valid Oman driving license.
Contact No :93359371
Indian Male, 24 years old on visit
visa, 3 years Diploma in Civil Engi-
neering, 3 yrs experience.
Contact 98515106
Indian Male, B.Sc, Fashion & Ap-
parel Design having 4+ yrs of experi-
ence (in retail sector as Designer-
Visual Merchandising & Marketing)
seeking suitable placement.
Contact 94535866,
email: [email protected]
Indian female MCA., M. Phil in
computer Science having 5 yrs of
experience in teaching(as Lecturer)
seeking for teaching position in
school or college. Can join immedi-
ately. Contact :97765173.
Email:[email protected]
Indian male 23YRS, 4 Years expe-
rienced in Architectural Draughts-
man looking for a suitable Post
GSM:96023726, Email :
Indian Male having 10 years of
Experience in Oman having Valid
Omani Driving license working in
Purchase Dept looking for a suit-
able position. salary is negotiable.
Mob: 94304324/92654817
Indian Male, 24 yrs on visit visa,
3 yrs Diploma in civil Engineering,
3 yrs experience. Contact 98515106
Female Candidate: Having
experience(ISRO) in Administra-
tion (seeking suitable opportunities
&presently in Oman
Mob:97239854,
Mail:[email protected]
PDO Approved in Contracts, Pro-
curement, Operations, Project Indian
Male PMP, CIPS, PGDBA, DME, Oil &
Gas with Exp-18+ Yrs. & having valid
Oman & PDO D/L Seeking job -
Contact 92560287 /
Indian Female, M.Sc Software
Engineering having 2 yrs experience
in IT & Admin seeks suitable place-
ment. Contact 94391214,
Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech), Indi-
an Male, with Oil Engg & Quality Con-
trol Systems, NDT-Level 2 qualified
as per ASNT, one year experience as
Site Engineer. Presently on visit visa,
seeking suitable placement. Contact
# 91260427, 95147671,
Email: [email protected]
Indian male-26 having 2 years
experience in Oman as a store keeper
looking for the good placement, NOC
available by the current company.
Contact 96671102, email:
57 Yrs. Old healthy person seeking
an opportunity in any area of works
(Shop sales man, Painting, Store asst,
traffic controller, Foremen, Control-
ler) .Saudi experienced.
Contact-97239854-Asher
Eight years experience in the field
of Sales, Marketing & Branch in
charge & Having Valid Oman Driving
License with NOC.Presently in Oman.
Seeking for Placements
Cont: Sumesh: 92718716
B.Sc (Bio-Technology) & MBA hav-
ing 4 years experience in Marketing
and Sales currently on visit visa
seeking suitable placement in Oman.
Email: [email protected],
GSM: 94517678
Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25,
3 years experience in site, CAD, 3d,
MS Project, Seeking job in Oman.
Contact 92887561,
Indian Male, 23 years MBA (Mar-
keting) (6 months experience as a
Sales and Operation Officer looking
for suitable job. Contact 99106181,
Email: [email protected]
IT software professional looking for
a suitable position in Desktop/Web
application development. Visit www.
muhammedswafuvan.weebly.com for
more details. Reach me on
(+968) 98395032.
Part time accountant available.
Accounting experience up to finali-
zation and tally also. #96423671
Indian Male, 24 yrs, MBA in HR/
Marketing. More than 1 years experi-
enced in retail Banking
(Axis Bank) Presently in family
visit in Oman seeking for a suitable
placement# 99892082/ 997 43 709
MBA, Indian Male, 28 yrs, HR & Ad-
min, Marketing sales, 1 yr experience
in India. I have release looking for
any suitable job in Oman.
Contact 97484159
Pakistani male 32 years IT network
+ Computer Hardware professional
A+ MCSE Termination Technician
work Experience in Salalah airport.
10+ years experience in IT field and
2 years Oman working experience
looking for a suitable placement
contact no 96733205 Email
Indian Male having 20 years Ex-
perience in Travel Agency in Oman.
Looking for suitable placement.
Contact 95692050.
Indian Male, 38 years, Electron-
ics Engineer with 14 years of Oman
experience and proven track record
as Sales & Marketing Manager (Elec-
tronics, electrical & electro mechani-
cal products) with valid Oman D/L
for a suitable placement in a reputed
Organization. Contact 92208744,
email : [email protected]
Diploma in civil engineering having
an experience 23years (19years in
Oman) experience in Estimator /
quantity surveyor looking for a
suitable placement.
Willing to join immediately
Contact: 96328687.
Indian male Engineer (B.E in E&C,
MBA) with 5 years admin/profes-
sional experience looking for a
suitable placement in a reputed
company. Contact 91387463
email: [email protected]
Experience salesman with 5 years
experience and vehicle looking for a
job. Contact 93079087
Civil Engineer, Indian Female, having
one year experience in Quantity Sur-
vey, also knows AutoCAD, primavera
etc seeks placement. #91690345
Senior Accounts Professional, Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA
(Fin) 8 years in Oman, with valid
Oman DL and NOC available. Capable
to handle accounts up to finalization.
Contact 9602 3965.
B Pharm, Indian female, Oman MOH
License holder, seeking job.
Email- [email protected].
Contact no: 99665183
Presales Engineer - IT 4yrs exp. en-
gineering graduate (Indian female)
currently on family visa looking
for opportunities as Sales/Presales
engineer or any suitable positions.
Contact: 0096895829278,
Indian male with over 19 years of
qualitative experience in Automobile
field, expert in providing techni-
cal advice on repairs and servicing
seeks jobs in sales/ service in mane-
gerial capacity.
Contact 91-7736048460.
Experienced Salesman with 5 years
experience vehicle looking for job.
Contact 93079087
29 yr old indian male graduate 5yrs
oman exp in sales and marketing with
valid oman driving license looking
for suitable job.Noc available ready to
join immediately Contact 95136784
MATRIMONIAL
Kerala Nair girl, 28 years M.Tech
seeks suitable alliance.
Contact 91790746
A north Indian Muslim family
seeks alliance for their son, 26 yrs
old, MBA, a Businessman.
Contact 96176446
Mumbai based Keralite (Dheevara),
40 yrs male working in Oman since
3 yrs looking for suitable alliance.
Contact 93627279
38 years undergraduate Graphic
Designer, own business, alliance from
girls of any Christian denomination.
Contact 91296049 after 5.30 pm
Keralite Male, 178 cm, 26 years old,
Christian Marthomite working is
workshop foreman in Al Khoud look-
ing for suitable alliance.
Contact 92118245
Hindu Ezhava, family settled in
Muscat looking for suitable groom
for their daughter, 24 yrs, MBA-HR
presently working (preferably
BE, B.Tech, MBA Professional).
Contact 95693133
Keralite Hindu Nair, Male 33 yrs
divorcee 6.1, working in Ministry
as Administrator seeks suitable
alliance. Please send details on
Contact 93139524
Mangalore Sunni Muslim, seek-
ing suitable bride (preferably from
Dakshina Kannada) for their son
working as Logistics Manager.
Contact 92198085
Indian Doctor, Businessman look-
ing for working lady in Oman for
marriage, any nationality, Muslim
preference self. Contact 96290792
Hindu, Brahmin – Iyengar boy, 36
yrs working as Service advisor in a
reputed company looking for Brah-
min Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Iyer /
Iyengar girls. Language no problem.
Contact 99786274 – Brother
NRI
9 Cents of residential vacant land in
Valencia for immediate sale.
Contact [email protected] of
92034072
1750 SQ FT. Newly built house in 8
cent plot for sale Near Vadakkencher-
ry, Alathur, Palakkad District, Kerala.
Contact: [email protected]
14 cents land with 2 HK house for
sale near Kakkanade Collectorate at
Cochin. Contact 968 92682970
For Astrological consultation, Jathakam. Contact: 99860435 /
97102599
2 BHK flat for sale in Bangalore,
Hebbal. Contact 96263157
Villa for sale 2200 sq ft in 8 cent. Kot-
tayam. Contact: 92652534
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
SITUATION WANT-ED
CHANGE OF NAME
ACC. WANTED
LOST
Wanted a two Bedroom Flat in and around Ruwi Area.
Gsm 99761216
Single room need in Ruwi.
Contact 91676434
Ramulamma Kurrapothula has
lost Indian Passport No. J9812145.
Finder please handover to ROP.
Sukhdial has lost Indian Pass-
port No. F0590853. Finder please
handover to ROP
Indian Male, 28 yrs, having 5
years experience in FMCG Sales in
visit visa, Looking for any suitable
jobs in Oman. Contact: 98531486/
98988824
Indian male, Graduate, 23 yrs on
visit visa looking for suitable posi-
tion in Sales and Marketing.
Contact 91757222,
email: [email protected]
Indian Male, Sales and Admin expe-
rience in India, 4 yrs now in Muscat.
Contact 91344706,
Email: [email protected]
Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 14 Years Inside and
outside Oman following activities:
tenders& real estate& construction &
marketing projects& investments&
transportation & Marine services&
companies management& develop
business. Contact :- 93240027
Experienced FMCG Sales person
with 20+ years knowing Oman Mar-
ket as Business Development Man-
ager with D/L. Contact 98506377
29 years, Indian male with PGDM
and B.Com, experience 4.5 years in
administration, corporate sales and
marketing seeking suitable place-
ments, willing to join immediately.
Contact 91722610,
email : [email protected]
Indian female having 8 years
experience in Sales & Marketing
in oil and gas field as commercial
manager, looking for a suitable
placement-NOC available -Contact -
Email- [email protected]
Mob: 96311709
10 years Oman experience in Sales
and Marketing with valid D/L and
NOC available from current sponsor.
Can join immediately.
Contact 96491505
Indian male, MBA (USA) having
5 years of International experience in
Sales and Marketing.
Contact 98853309.
Email : [email protected]
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 [email protected]
Sales/ Marketing / customer
service release / NOC available UK
+ Oman experience valid Oman D/L,
excellent communication &
organizing skills,
can join immediately,
Email : [email protected],
gsm 92342060 / 96761225
SALES / MARKETING MISCELLANEOUS
Indian Female: Bachelor in Travel &
tourism.1 year experience in ticket-
ing and 6 month in cargo (CIAL).
Looking suitable placement.
Contact 95883404
TOURS & TRAVEL
B.E (Chemical), 23, Indian male with
1 year experience (production) in
Chemical Plant, on visiting visa seek-
ing for a suitable job. #94525650,
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 30 yrs seeking suit-
able placement to work as forklift
operator, having 5 yrs of exp. NOC
available. Contact – 94370085
Piping/Pipeline engineer, 3+ yrs
exp with B.E degree (Mech), familiar
with CAESAR-2, PDMS, AutoCAD,
stress analysis and piping of criti-
cal lines for hydrocarbon industry.
Contact: 95785479,
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 28, completed B.H.MCT 4 yrs exp in food &beverages
department. Looking suitable job for
senior supervisor.Contact – 9108857
Civil Engineer 8 years Exp (2 in
Angola with DAR AL HANDASAH,
4 months in Oman) as a site engi-
neer. He holds a Diploma in project
management, fluent in English &
Arabic. Contact: 99170315
Indian Male, MBA, having 9 years
of logistics operation and market-
ing experience in Saudi Arabia
and India with valid Saudi Driving
License, looking for suitable place-
ment . Please contact 94525696
Indian Male, MBA in HR & Mktng
1yr exp. in India. Looking for suitable
jobs in Admin, HR, Store in charge,
Sales & Mktng. M: 96329315,
Email: [email protected]
I, Shoaib Ahmed Khan (name of
father as per the passport) son
of Khalil Ahmed Khan presently
residing in Ruwi P.B.No 333, P.C.No
117, Sultanate of Oman and
having permanent address in
India 02, Irrigation Colony, Ratlam
Pin : 457001, M.P., India (as per
present passport), holder of Indian
Passport No. K7162744 date of
issue 13.06.2013 place of issue
Bhopal hereby solemnly affirm
and declare that Madhaya Naz
(name of my wife appearing as
my passport) and the name of my
wife Madiha Naz appearing as per
her Indian Passport No. F3001431
are the same individuals and not
two different individuals. Any
objection towards change of name
of our minor child may please be
communicated to Embassy of
India, Muscat, Diplomatic
Quarters, Al Khuwair, P.B.No 1727,
Postal Code 112, Ruwi,
Sultanate of Oman.
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00
noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to
space availability
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4 D7
DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDCARGO
Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with
Buffet, & Land Tours
Al- Ainain Marine Tours Contact-
98029602, 92808636
TOURS
RENT A CAR BUSINESS
Coffee shop business partner
required in Muscat. Contact
94542865
Increase your income on
commission basis with our land-
scaping & gardening services
provided for big, small projects &
maintenance contracts.
Contact +968 99242207
Email: bestgardens.om@gmail.
com
We assist in new business set up
local sponsorship, real estate ser-
vices, assist in company formation
services. Contact - 93166088
Learn Driving from professional
instructors. Contact 94022250
Driving School, automatic.
Contact 92245110
Learn driving automatic from
scratch. Contact 98599675
DRIVING
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation available-
Contact - 95570429
Transportation. Contact 98621075
Transportation. Contact 96248040
Transportation. Contact
91310107
Transportation. Contact
98518979
Transportation. Contact 97838217
Transportation available car with
driver. Contact 98475141
Transport. Contact 99664703
Transportation for women only from
Muscat area only.
Contact 97007934 / 92629232
Transportation available.
Contact: 95068976
Transportation available driver with
car-Muscat. Contact 97361454
Transportation. Contact
99508282
Transportation. Contact
96538078
Transportation. Contact:
97897833
Transportation Available
Contact: 97180655
MANPOWER
Housemaid , driver/operator (heavy & light Gulf D/L), house boy, cleaner, all skilled and un-
skilled categories process, (embassy
agreement and immigration).
Contact 95175192, EMAIL.
GOOD NEWS
Ayurvedic treatment for joint
pain, backache, paralysis, mas-
sage, steam bath, obesity, spondy
hills, ideal care Ayurvedic Clinic, 18
November Street, Azaiba. Contact
99639695 / 99117987
Ayurvedic treatment for backache,
paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,
All Season (Vaidyaratnam).
Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /
92504980 , www.siddhayur.com
FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know
more about Islam, please call:
99425598, 96050000, 99353988,
99253818, 99341395, and
99379133. For ladies: 99415818,
99321360, 99730723
Orvisit: www.islamfact.com
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
Indian Male, 24 years old on visit
visa, 3 years Diploma in Civil Engi-
neering, 3 yrs experience.
Contact 98515106
Senior Accounts Professional, Indi-
an Male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA (Fin)
8 years in Oman, with valid Oman
DL and NOC available. Capable to
handle accounts up to finalization.
Contact 9602 3965.
Female Candidate: Having
experience(ISRO) in Administration
(seeking suitable opportunities &
presently in Oman
Mob:97239854,
Mail:[email protected]
Indian male, 24 years MA Sociol-
ogy (Social science) B-Ed. 2year
experience in teaching, currently
on visit seeking suitable placement.
Contact 91632006, 91397505
Email- [email protected]
Post graduate in hospitality and
tourism, Indian ,male 26 , looking
suitable placement ,
in Muscat on visiting visa
contact 98861272
Indian male having 10 years of
experience in Oman having Valid
Omani Driving license working in
Purchase Dept looking for a suit-
able position. Salary is negotiable.
Mob: 94304324/92654817
8 yrs exp 2d, 3d draughtsman
(HOLDING OMANI DRIVING LICENSE)
seeking job.#97449630
PDO Approved in Contracts, Pro-
curement, Operations, Project Indian
Male PMP, CIPS, PGDBA, DME, Oil &
Gas, Construction with Exp-18+ Yrs. &
Having valid Oman & PDO D/L Seek-
ing job - Contact 92560287,
E-mail: [email protected]
Senior Sales & Marketing specialist
with 14 years of experience and proven
track record in Muscat looking for a
suitable placement in a reputed Com-
pany. Indian Male, 38 years (Electronics
Engineer) preferred industry (Electron-
ics / Electrical / Electro Mechanical)
having good exposure in access Control
& Automation systems, Lighting & Elec-
trical accessories etc. #92208744.
Email : [email protected]
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00
noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to
space availability
DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624
Email: [email protected]
D8 S U N D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 4
DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624
Email: [email protected]
SERVICES
CLASSES
WEBSITE
WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-
gence (BI) creation and man-
agement at rock bottom price.
Contact: http//webviewoman
COMPUTER
SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES
SITUATION WANT-SERVICES
GULF INTERNATIONAL LLC
all kind of pest control. #92326955
Truck body making, Misfah
Industrial Area. Contact 92326955.
BRIDGE GULFA LLC
House Shifting. Contact 99708138
GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,
Contact 99314807/24792998
MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your
marble. # 24793614/ 99314807
For all your maintenance needs
including, Painting, Plumbing,
Electricity, Laying of Interlock
Tiles, Marbles etc. Tel: 99383574
Mr Chandran
Maintenance – A/C mainte-
nance & servicing, fridge wash-
ing machine and dishwasher
repairing, painting & cleaning
services, electrical & plumbing.
Contact 99447257 / 97014234 /
24504281
All types of curtain ventation,
Roman, vertical (blinds), sofa
shampooing. Contact 99539521
Pest Control Treatments, termites,
cockroaches, bedbugs. Ocean
Center LLC - Contact 99344723
Carpet and Sofa shampooing.
Ocean Center LLC – #99884591
For All Your Maintenance Solutions,
A/c Servicing & Fixing, Painting,
Cleaning, Electric. Contact. 99002390
Civil Maintenance, Painting Elec-
tric, Plumbing, Decor, Tile Fixing,
Lecithin Copra Board flat stifling ,
Carpet Cleaning and A/C Servicing.
Contact 97897831 (Indian keralite)
House shifting & transporting.
Contact 92490422
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
Bus service available with experi-
enced driver on monthly basis for
2 yrs. Contract for companies only.
Contact 98605556, 92577588
Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles
polishing, carpet shampooing,
maintenance. Contact ABU QA-
BAS- 99320217 /24788722
Split & window A/C servicing &
maintenance. Contact 93769089
Civil maintenance, Electrical &
Plumbing work. Contact 99557080 /
96236476
Part time services available for
Arabic/Quran classes or transport in
the evening. Contact 92567848
Electrical Plumbing Painting
Contract and Maintenance.
Contact 98456535
Waterproofing, light weight Screed,
Antitermite and MS Fabrication.
Contact 92888337
Part time services available for
Arabic / Quran classes or transport
in the evening. Contact 92567848
Contract general cleaning for of-
fices. Ocean Center LLC - 99344723
Split & window unit AC servicing &
repairing. Contact 99557080
Window & split unit AC servicing &
maintaining. Contact 96236476
Civil maintenance, electrical &
plumbing work. Contact 99557080,
96236476
Pest Control and cleaning best
services – 1. Cockroach, ants, etc, 2.
Tiles cleaning, marbles cleaning,
floor cleaning, and carpet cleaning.
Contact 92108447, 99666505
Pest control service, bed bugs,
cockroach, termite, snake
RA+Rodent and all insects. Contact
95084939, 97914212
Key locked in Car or lost your house
keys. Help available anywhere
anytime. Save this number!! -
99414506
Catering services We do industrial
catering service, Canteen/ mess,
3 times packed meals,
and all types of catering events.
Contact 92188777/ 99249899
Painting Interlock plumbing
maintenance. Contact 92142319
For HT cable jointing and
termination works 33KV/11KV.
Contact 99056438 /
Email: [email protected]
Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile pol-
ishing, pest control & anti-termite
treatment, general cleaning paint-
ing, Plumbing, Electrical, shifting.
Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trad-
ing. L.L.C. # 24810137, 99450130
Water proofing ABUQABAS-
Contact 99320217/24788722
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
We provide all heavy duty
equipment, tractor & trailers &
all type of trucks.
Contact 97722507
Running truck wash for rent in
Ouhi Sunia Sohar. Serious people
can. Contact on 97864747
50 seater bus with PDO specifica-
tion for rent or lease.
Contact 99839898
Window & split unit A/C servicing
& maintenance.
Contact 96236476
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00
noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to
space availability