28

SATURDAY, September 14, 2013 / 8 DHUL QA’ADA 1434 AH timesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certifi ed Company

Narendra Modi was yesterday anointed Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lower House of Parliament polls, ending months of suspense over his elevation amid stiff opposition by party patriarch L. K. Advani. >A6

MODI NAMED AS BJP’S PM CANDIDATE

173

OMANTEL PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE KICKS OFF AMIDST FANFAREHistory was made as the much-awaited Omantel Professional League kicked off amidst fanfare yesterday with Seeb entering the record books as the fi rst team to win a match in the pro era of Sultanate’s football, defeating Al Arouba 1-0, at Seeb Stadium. — Photo by Ismail Al Farsi See also >A11

Chemical arms: UN report may confirm it, says Ban

UNITED NATIONS/GENE-VA: A report by UN chemical weapons experts will likely con-fi rm that poison gas was used in an August 21 attack on Damascus suburbs that killed hundreds of people, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.

“I believe that the report will be an overwhelming, overwhelm-ing report that chemical weapons (were) used even though I cannot publicly say at this time before I receive this report,” Ban said at a UN meeting.

He was referring to a report by the UN expert team led by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden. Ban also said that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad “has committed many crimes against humanity,” though he did not say whether it was Assad’s forces or rebels who used chemical toxins in the Au-gust 21 attack.

Civil warMeanwhile, Russia and the Unit-ed States agreed a new push to negotiate an end to Syria’s civil war as they discussed a plan to destroy President Bashar Al As-sad’s chemical weapons in order to avert US air strikes.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Min-ister Sergei Lavrov met for a second day in Geneva to work on Moscow’s disarmament propos-al; Washington remains sceptical and Kerry has said US military action is still possible to punish Assad for a poison gas attack in rebel territory last month.

However, after meeting the United Nations envoy for Syria, both Kerry and Lavrov said pro-gress on the arms issue in their talks could help relaunch their eff orts to bring Syria’s warring sides together and negotiate an end to a confl ict that has infl amed the Middle East and divided world powers since it began in 2011.

Air strikes and artillery bom-bardments on rebel-held sub-urbs of the Syrian capital yester-day followed defi ant comments from Assad a day earlier after he agreed, at prompting from his Russian ally, to sign up to a global ban on chemical weapons.

Kerry told a joint news confer-ence: “We are committed to try-ing to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemi-cal weapons, in hopes that those eff orts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world.”

He hoped a date might be set for peace talks, but added: “Much ... will depend on the capacity to have success here in the next hours, days, on the subject of the chemical weapons.”

Geneva 2 meeting Lavrov, voicing regret at the fail-ure of an international accord reached at Geneva last year, said he hoped a “Geneva 2” meeting could lead to a political settle-ment for Syria.

“We agreed ... to see where we are and see what the Syrian par-ties think about it and do about it,” he said. -Reuters

Russia and US agree

on a new push to

negotiate an end to

Syria’s civil war as

they discussed a plan

to destroy President

Assad’s chemical

weapons

A2

Wadi Darbat revels in its natural splendour

PAKISTANProposal to privatise national carrier PIA

2Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif plans to sell off a 26 per cent stake in ailing

national carrier PIA and hand over management control in a bid to stem haemorrhaging losses. Pakistan International Airlines is one of the poorest performing state-run companies. >A7

WORLDBritish police smash plot to defraud bank

3British police smashed an “audacious” and sophisticated plot to take

control of the bank Santander UK’s computer systems and steal millions of pounds. Detectives said they had arrested 12 men who had fi tted a device in a Santander branch in southeast London. >A10

OMANOver 60 illegals held near Barka deported

1The Royal Oman Police (ROP) deported 61 foreigners who had attempted to enter the country illegally on Wednesday morning. These infi ltrators had been arrested while attempting to illegally

enter the Sultanate on a boat near the Barka shores. Offi cial sources at the ROP said the police, in cooperation with various agencies, has launched a campaign to prevent infi ltrators from entering and staying in the country. >A3

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

Death sentence for Delhi gangrape convictsNEW DELHI: Death sentence was yesterday awarded to the four convicts in the sensational De-cember 16 gangrape-cum-murder case by a court here which said the“beastly” and “hair-raising” man-ner in which the crime was com-mitted against a 23-year-old girl falls in the rarest of rare category.

“Accordingly, the convicts be hanged by neck till they are dead,” Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said after observing that the inhuman and ghastly acts of the convicts shocked the collec-tive conscience of the nation and deserve exemplary punishment, which was pronounced nine months after an agonising wait.

Delivering his 20-page order in a packed courtroom, the judge noted that the “ghastly acts” of Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) requires withdrawal of the “protective arm of the com-munity from around them”.

“The crime of such nature against a helpless woman, per se, require exemplary punishment. I may leave here while saying the gravity of the incident depicts the hair-raising beastly and unparal-leled behaviour.

“Subjecting of the prosecutrix to inhuman acts of torture before her death had not only shocked the collective conscience but calls for withdrawal of the protec-tive arm of the community from around the convicts. This ghastly

act of the convicts defi nitely fi ts this case in the bracket of rarest of rare cases,” the judge said.

The court said “the aggravating circumstances outweigh the miti-gating circumstances in the case.” Hearing that they have been sent to gallows, a shocked Vinay start-ed crying while the other three - Mukesh, Pawan and Akshay - sought mercy.

The death penalty reference has been sent to the Delhi High Court for confi rmation. The “severity” of the injuries and the “unprovoked” suff ering in-fl icted upon the “defenceless” victim were relied upon by the court while handing down the capital punishment.

“Convicts in pursuance of their conspiracy lured the victims into

the bus, brutally gangraped the prosecutrix, infl icted inhuman torture and threw the defenceless victims out of the moving bus in naked condition, profusely bleed-ing on a cold winter night; their unprovoked crime demonstrated exceptional depravity of mind.

“Her intestines were so severe-ly damaged and the suff ering in-fl icted on the prosecutrix was un-paralleled. The brutality caused to her internal organs is extreme as is evident from the medical evi-dence on record and hence the act of convicts call for extreme pen-alty,” it said.

Weighing the factors against and in favour of the convicts in de-ciding the punishment, the court said the aggravating circum-stances are that the off ence was

committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting and thus dastardly manner so as to arouse intense and extreme in-dignation of society.

He said the manner of crime demonstrated exceptional deprav-ity and extreme brutality by which extreme misery was infl icted upon the girl before her death leading to grave impact on social order.

The mitigating circumstanc-es noted by the judge included the young age of the convicts, their socio economic status, cit-ing which they had sought a chance for reformation, and their clean antecedents.

The court concluded that the aggravating circumstances out-weigh the mitigating circum-stances. -PTI See also >A5

C O U R T V E R D I C T

JUSTICE DONE: Four convicts of the December 16 Delhi bus gan-grape case being taken away in a police van after the pronounce-ment of the sentence in the case, in New Delhi, yesterday. -PTI

20-PAGE ORDER The December 16

gangrape and murder of the 23-year-old girl ‘defi nitely fi ts in the bracket of rarest of rare’ case

‘Crime of such nature against a helpless woman, per se, require exemplary punishment’

ENVOYSPEAK — PAOLA AMADEI, ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO OMAN

Italian enterprises are eager to contribute to the ongoing extraordinary infrastructural plan in the Sultanate of Oman in implementation of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s wise vision. Read the column on Sunday

A2 S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

OMAN

Wadi Darbat revels in its natural splendourNow is the time to visit the famous Wadi

Darbat, located in Dhofar Governorate. Just

30 minutes drive from Salalah, Wadi Darbat

is one of the most picturesque spots of Oman.

This wadi carves its way through hills and

highlands until it reaches Khawr Ruri, where

it empties into the Arabian Sea. The wadi is

distinguished by its thick botanical cover,

in addition to a natural spring and a number

of caves. The wadi’s water is the source of

the water fi lling Teeq Cave’s cells. Travellers

are often stunned by the spectacle — the

eff ervescent contrast to the vast regions of

desert in the north. During the height of the

Khareef season, the wadi’s water descending

from the mountains forms magnifi cent

waterfalls cascading from a height of up to

30 metres (100 feet). Camels, cattle, and other

livestock graze the abundant grass on the

banks, while birds nest in the wetland areas.

Families from all around the region come to

revel in the magic of the annual summer rains

here. During the Khareef season, Wadi Darbat

showcases the richness and colour of both the

Dhofar landscape and the Omani culture. MPPH

photographer Cio Datan captures the green

beauty of Wadi Darbat

Gunday eyes Oman for multi-star fi lm shooting scheduleTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Bollywood movie, Gun-day, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra, is likely to be shot in Oman.

The director, who has already shot some parts of the fi lm in Kol-kata, is planning the last shooting schedule in Muscat.

“I was in Oman, scouting loca-tions for Gunday. Now back in Mumbai,” Abbas posted on his Twitter account, indicating that shooting could take place in Oman.

The star cast of the movie in-cludes Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. Irrfan Khan, selected for the role of an intelligence agent in the fi lm, said, “I will be playing a ‘larger than life’ character in the fi lm.”

Reports suggest that it will be released on Valentine’s Day (Feb-ruary 14) next year. Ranveer Singh

and Arjun Kapoor will be playing the role of gangsters by the name of Bikram and Bala.

Arjun and RanveerArjun and Ranveer are going through a fi tness regime, including lots of physical exercises to make themselves fi t for the role. The movie also captures Bappi Lahiri in action.

When director Ali Abbas Zafar decided to make a cabaret song for Gunday, set in the Kolkata of the 80s, Bappi Lahiri was an inevitable choice. It brings together Yash Raj Films and Bappi Lahiri for the very fi rst time, say inside sources.

Recently, Oman featured in the Bollywood movie Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Again.

The stars who shot for the movie in Oman were heard singing praise about the stunning locales of the country.

B O L L Y W O O D

A3

OMANS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3 A3

45,000 apply for 2,317 ministry job vacanciesMUSCAT: The Ministry of Civil Service has announced that preliminary data for vacancy announcement issued by the ministry on February 28, this year for 2,317 vacan-cies in diff erent ministries shows the number of applicants has exceeded 45,000. The Ministry of Civil Service, in a statement, said there were 13 applicants for three vacan-cies that require masters degree qualifi cations, while 8,322 applied for 1,001 vacancies that require bachelors degrees. Further, 7,012 applied for 556 vacancies that require post-secondary diplomas and diplomas from professional in-stitutes. Additionally, 19,607 people applied for 157 vacan-cies that require a general education diploma and 10,208 applied for 600 vacancies that require less than a general education diploma. In total, 29,815 applied for jobs that re-quire general education diplomas, which constitutes 66% of the total number of applicants. Additionally, 428 applied for the 55 vacancies held for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of the Civil Service will, at the end of next week, publish the announcement of the dates of written tests, in-terviews and lists of candidates. - ONA

Arab radio station next yearMUSCAT: Participants at the Arab Tourism Media Cam-paign have recommended the establishment of a partner-ship between tourism authorities to highlight the enor-mous potential of Arab countries across various Arab media. The Arab Centre of Tourist Media (ACTM) an-nounced the launch of the fi rst Arab radio station from the Sultanate, to begin broadcasting in January 2014. They also pitched in for utilisation of new media on the Internet for promotion of tourism. The participants stressed on the importance of training of Omani media about the basics of tourist media. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Sut Al Arab radio, Saudi News Channel, Tunisian radio, Egyptian Television and a num-ber of Arab news agencies, including UAE news agency (WAM), Yemen news agency (SABA) and Kuwait news agency (KUNA), participated in the campaign. -ONA

Blood donation drive heldMUSCAT: ‘Donate Blood Save a Life’ was the message of Indian Social Club’s Malayalam Wing’s blood donation campaign held in collaboration with Central Blood Bank, Bausher at ISC Hall, Darsait recently. The Malayalam Wing has been involved in many social activities aiming at the welfare of the community.

B R I E F S

Over 60 illegals held near Barka deported

Times News Service

MUSCAT: The Royal Oman Po-lice (ROP) deported 61 people who had attempted to enter the country illegally on Wednesday morning. These infi ltrators had been ar-rested while attempting to illegally enter the Sultanate on a boat near the Barka shores.

Offi cial sources at the ROP said

that the police, in cooperation with various agencies, has launched a campaign to prevent infi ltrators from entering and staying in the country illegally.

The offi cials added that some citizens are providing shelter to these foreigners and even off er-ing them employment, which is a breach of the Labour Law and ROP regulations. This only encourages migrants to commit crimes such as theft and drug-traffi cking. Infi l-trators pose a threat to the society since they do not undergo medical check-ups, the sources said.

Offi cials appealed to the citizens to report such cases by calling the emergency number 9999.

Road accidentsTwenty-one people died in road accidents in the Sultanate from September 1 to 7, sources informed Al Shabiba, the sister publication of the Times of Oman.

Fifty-nine accidents were re-ported during this period, includ-ing 34 vehicle-to-vehicle colli-sions, the newspaper reported.

According to the National Cen-tre for Statistics and Informa-tion, the total number of road ac-cidents since the end of July this year stands at about 4,724. Fur-ther, 78 per cent of all road deaths during this period involved men, said sources.

According to the Directorate General of Traffi c of the Royal Oman Police (ROP), some 1,139 people died in road accidents in Oman in 2012, which marked the highest traffi c fatality rate in the last 10 years.

Despite the eff orts of the ROP, all indicators show an increase in the number of traffi c fatalities compared to past years.

In 2010, the National Commit-tee for Road Safety at the ROP headquarters developed a national

strategy for 2011 to 2020 to pro-mote road safety and curb road ac-cidents in the Sultanate by raising public awareness via media and other channels.

Safety exhibition The Traffi c Safety Exhibition 2013, to be organised by Xibo Oman Company in collaboration with the ROP, will be held from October 11-14. The event aims to attract motorists and owners of road transport companies with a view to promoting traffi c aware-ness. The land transport compa-nies’ vehicles are the biggest users of Sultanate’s roads, moving thou-sands of passengers and tonnes of cargo across the country.

The organisers of Traffi c Safety Exhibition 2013 urged all trans-port companies to implement traf-fi c safety programmes by provid-ing proper training to drivers on loading and storage of luggage.

The ROP has launched

a campaign to prevent

infi ltrators from

entering and staying

in the country illegally

OJA to conduct English course for journalists MUSCAT: The Omani Journal-ists Association (OJA) will start its ‘Inside-the-Sultanate English language training course’ next month, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information.

The programme would involve training 15 Omani journalists, providing them with the language skills needed to interact in a vari-ety of activities, conferences and events in Oman and abroad.

The programme will last for six months and after the participants

have been tested, they would en-rol at Al Bayan College, which is hosting the training course.

Fawzyah Al Baluchi, an In-formation Ministry Consultant, pointed out in her meeting with the participants that the Minis-try of Information would follow up with Al Bayan College on the progress of the participants.

“This training course is just a beginning. There will be many more advanced courses in the fu-ture,” she said.

T R A I N I N G P R O G R A M M E

Seven shops shut for violating norms Times News Service

MUSCAT: The Muscat Munici-pality has closed seven shops for selling contaminated food-stuff and fl outing health and safety regulations.

Khiys bin Saliman Al Khashri, Director of the Health Aff airs Department at Muscat Munici-pality, said 992 inspection raids were carried out by the munici-pality and the Royal Oman Po-lice (ROP) from September 1 to 5, which resulted in the issuing of 31 chargesheets for violating health laws.

In addition, 113kg of food-stuff items unfi t for consump-tion; 154 packages, and two tonnes of vegetables and fruits were confi scated by offi cials and destroyed in Seeb.

Moreover, 1,006 inspections were conducted at Mawaleh Central Market which led to the issuance of four violation charges and the destruction of 5,248kg of rotten fruits and vegetables.

Al Khashri noted the impor-tance of conducting inspec-tions in assuring the public that health-related regulations are not being violated.

258 vehicles purchasedThe Ministry of Regional Mu-nicipalities and Water Resources has purchased cleaning equip-ment worth OMR7,940,065, in-cluding 258 heavy vehicles, as part of its eff orts to promote the cleaning sector. The informa-tion was provided by Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Abdullah Al Hashimi, the General Director for Administrative and Financial Aff airs at the ministry.

The equipment would be distributed among all munici-palities and directorates, Al Hashimi informed.

Out of the 258 vehicles pur-chased, 237 would be replacing the old ones, and 21 others, in-cluding water tankers, trucks and small and big diggers, would be added to the ministry’s fl eet.

M U N I C I P A L I T Y D R I V E

Iran’s diversity in photos STAFF REPORTER

MUSCAT: A collection of pho-tographs by acclaimed Iranian photographer Amir Ali Jawadian opened on Tuesday evening at the Omani Society for Fine Arts.

The exhibition, titled ‘Iran in the Eyes of a Photographer,’ fea-tures 50 photographs that show-case the country’s nature, archi-tecture and its people.

Jawadian has captured Iran’s diversity — from its deserts to its mountains and from its mosques to its factories.

His photographs document many angles of Iran, giving view-ers a broad perspective of what the country is like. Filled with glowing light, vivid colours and breathtaking scenes, they tell many stories of what one may discover on a visit to Iran.

E X H I B I T I O N

IRAN ON SHOW: The photos show diff erent seasons, sands, greenery, architecture and mountains of Iran.– TIMES OF OMAN

GUtech duo present ‘EcoHaus’ Times News Service

MUSCAT: Two students from the Department of Urban Plan-ning and Architecture of the German University of Tech-nology in Oman (GUtech) par-ticipated in a two-day Green Building Oman Conference in Salalah recently.

On the fi rst day, Amna Al Sharji and Shaharin Elham An-nisa, both fourth year students at GUtech, presented the con-cept of EcoHaus.

“One aim of the conference was to learn from each other and to understand the problems that are arising in the build-ing and construction industry around the Gulf regions, and understand how eco-friendly solutions could help them move forward. The second aim was to apply some of the ideas in future industry rules and regulations that might be made for architec-ture and urban planning in the Gulf region,” said Amna.

The students explained the concept of the GUtech EcoHaus, which is based upon 10 strate-gies to assure energy-effi ciency: Protective Envelope, Optimal Orientation, Natural Ventila-tion, Radiant Cooling, Recov-ered Energy, Solar Energy, Local Material, Treated Water, Native Plants and Effi cient Appliances.

“As a result, the building can be operated with net zero-en-ergy and yet achieve full com-fort for its occupants. These 10 strategies can be wholly or partly translated from the Eco-Haus project into future designs for residential and other pur-poses in the region. Our GUtech EcoHaus will be operational in 2014,” the students said.

G R E E N B U I L D I N G

WIDENING HORIZONS: The programme would train 15 Omani journalists, and hone their language skills. –Supplied photo

A4

REGIONSUPPORTING SYRIAN PRESIDENTProtestors loyal to Al Houthi group, also known as Ansarullah, march during a demonstration to show their support for Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad, in Sanaa, yesterday. Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said the global community should welcome Syria’s decision to join a ban on chemical weapons, saying it shows the ‘serious intentions’ of Damascus. - Reuters

Mursi supporters hold protest rally in Cairo

CAIRO: Thousands of Mohamed Mursi’s supporters rallied yester-day in Cairo against the military, as supporters and opponents of the deposed president clashed elsewhere in Egypt.

The rallies come nearly a month after the August 14 crackdown by security forces on two pro-Mursi protest camps in Cairo that led to clashes in which hundreds of peo-ple were killed, the worst carnage in Egypt’s recent history.

“Either we recover their rights, or we die like them,” protestors chant-ed of those who lost their lives in the crackdown, as they marched toward Rabaa Al Adawiya Square, the site of one of those camps.

An AFP correspondent said soldiers used barbed wire to block roads to the square, in the Nasr City district, with troops in hel-mets and carrying shields standing

guard. Protestors chanted slogans to army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, as they passed a government build-ing guarded by soldiers.

The protestors, including sev-eral travelling in cars, carried fl ags with portraits of those killed in Ra-baa Al Adawiya. They made a stop outside the apartment building of one of those killed.

Police fi re tear gasThe dead man’s relatives had hung his picture outside a window of his apartment. His mother said he was killed when police broke up the Rabaa Al Adawiya camp.

Mursi supporters also rallied in other parts of Egypt.

State media and security sourc-es said police fi red tear gas when

the protestors clashed with op-ponents in the Nile Delta towns of Tanta and Mahalla.

Clashes between the two sides were also reported in the Mediter-ranean city of Alexandria.

Yesterday’s protests were called by the Anti-Coup Alliance, led by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood to which Mursi belongs, under the slogan of “Loyalty to the Martyrs’ Blood.” Mursi, the country’s fi rst democratically elected president, was ousted by the army in July after massive protests demanding his resignation.

The new military-installed au-thorities have since arrested more than 2,000 of his supporters.

On Thursday, interim presi-dent Adly Mansour extended for

another two months a state of emergency in force since the mid-August bloodshed, citing security concerns.

Meanwhile, Egyptian troops and helicopter gunships attacked militants in the Sinai Peninsula yesterday in a drive to crush a se-curity threat now spilling over into the rest of the country.

Three soldiers were wounded in clashes in three separate villages, security offi cials said.

Rebel attacks have increased in the desert region adjoining Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Rocket and grenade attacks on soldiers and policemen take place in the Sinai nearly every day and about 50 have been killed since July. - Agencies

On Thursday, interim

president Adly

Mansour extended for

another two months a

state of emergency in

force since the mid-

August bloodshed,

citing security

concerns

The rallies come

nearly a month

after the August

14 crackdown by

security forces on

two pro-Mursi protest

camps in Cairo that

led to clashes in

which hundreds of

people were killed,

the worst carnage in

Egypt’s recent historyPROTEST: Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi raise up posters during a demonstration against the military-backed government in Cairo, yesterday. – AFP

Two roadside bombs leave 30 dead in IraqBAQUBA: Two roadside bombs killed 30 people out-side a mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba just as worshippers were leaving following Friday prayers, police said.

The civil war in neighbour-ing Syria has strained relations between the two communities across the region, contributing to a resurgence of sectarian vio-lence in Iraq.

A further 25 people were wounded in the Baquba explo-sions, which occurred about ten minutes apart in the ethnically and confessionally mixed city, situated around 65km (40 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad.

The second explosion tore through a crowd of people who had rushed to help those hurt in the fi rst blast.

“We were evacuating the wounded after the fi rst roadside bomb exploded inside a dustbin. Ten minutes later another bomb exploded about six metres away

from the fi rst and I got some shrapnel in my stomach,” teacher Khalid Jameel, 25, said from his hospital bed.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

Sectarian violenceSeparately yesterday a car bomb killed three pilgrims from Iran in the city of Samarra, where the bombing of a shrine in 2006 touched off the worst sectarian carnage to engulf Iraq after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Violence abated from its peak in 2006 - 07, but in recent months insurgents have been regaining momentum, raising fears of a return to full-blown civil strife in Iraq.

About 800 Iraqis were killed in August, according to the United Nations. That is still well below its height, when the monthly death toll sometimes topped 3,000. - Reuters

S T R I F E - T O R N

Rowhani wants ‘swiftest solution’ to nuclear standoff BISKEK: Iran wants to end the stand-off with global powers over its nuclear programme swiftly but will not sacrifi ce its rights or interests for the sake of a solu-tion, President Hassan Rowhani said yesterday.

Meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a regional security summit, Rowhani said it was a good time for new steps to resolve the dis-pute over a programme Western states believe is aimed at devel-oping nuclear weapons.

“Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, we want the swiftest solu-tion to it within international norms,” Rowhani said at the meeting with Putin in Bishkek.

“Russia in the past has taken important steps in this sphere and now is the best opportunity for new steps from your side,” said Rowhani, whose country has observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Iran has been in on-off talks for years with six global powers seek-ing to ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons capability. A solution has been elusive and the most recent talks, in April, ended without a breakthrough.

TalksRowhani, who was elected in June, has said Iran will be more transparent and less confronta-tional in talks with the six powers — the United States, Russia, Chi-na, Britain, France and Germany.

But he made clear earlier yes-terday he is only ready to go so far, indicating Iran would not give up its right to enrich uranium.

“I declare that only if there is political will, if there is mutual respect and mutual interest, and only if the rights of Iran’s people are ensured, can we guarantee the peaceful character of Iran’s nuclear programme,” he said.

Western diplomats say Iran has continued to expand its ura-nium enrichment capacity in re-cent months. - AFP

N E W S T E P S

I declare that only

if there is political

will, if there is mutual

respect and mutual

interest, and only if

the rights of Iran’s

people are ensured,

can we guarantee the

peaceful character

of Iran’s nuclear

programme

Hassan RowhaniPresident of Iran

A5

INDIAS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

Leaders hail verdict in Delhi gangrape case

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Po-litical leaders including federal Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and chief ministers yes-terday welcomed the death sen-tence awarded to four convicts in the Delhi gangrape case, saying justice has been done and that it will act as a ‘deterrent’ against such heinous crimes.

“This was the rarest of rare crime...Damini and her fam-ily have got justice. I welcome the court ruling,” Shinde told report-ers in Mumbai.

“The ‘nyay devta’ has set a new example for such culprits that if you commit such a heinous crime, then you will get a stringent pun-ishment,” he said. Shinde was speaking shortly after the four convicts — Akshay Thakur, Vi-nay Sharma, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta — in the December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy stu-dent inside a private bus in Delhi were sentenced to death by the Saket fast track trial court.

“There was an atmosphere in the country after this incident....We expected such a punishment,” he said. Apparently referring to Defence counsel A. P. Singh’s claim that the verdict was de-livered under political pressure, Shinde said, “The judiciary fol-

lows the law and not political pressure.” Shinde also referred to the new legislation based on the Justice Verma Committee report which recommended amend-ments to the criminal law so as to provide for quicker trial and en-hanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual as-sault against women. The panel headed by former Chief Justice of India J. S. Verma was formed in the wake of the shocking Delhi gangrape incident. “The new law has provision for hanging in rar-est of rare cases,” he said.

Dikshit and Chavan Welcoming the verdict, Maha-rashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said, “Nobody will dare do such heinous crime in future. Fed-eral Minister of State for Home R. P. N. Singh said justice has been done fi nally to the 23-year-old victim “Justice has been done. (I) agree with the judge there has to

be zero tolerance for such crimes. That is the message that has gone out with this sentence,” he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said the severe punish-ment given to the convicts will act as a deterrent and that she was happy with the court verdict.

“I welcome the judgement. Jus-tice has prevailed. The fast track court has delivered the justice ex-peditiously. I hope that the judge-ment would prove to be a deter-rent,” Dikshit said in New Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minis-ter Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the capital punishment served the requirement of justice. “It shall act as a deterrent against heinous crimes,” he said in Bhopal. - PTI

Welcoming the

decision, politicians

from across spectrums

say justice has been

done and it will act as

a ‘deterrent’ against

such heinous crimes

Jaishankar is new envoy to US; Kantha to ChinaNEW DELHI: S. Jaishankar, India’s envoy to China, has been named the new ambassador to the United States, while his suc-cessor in Beijing will be Ashok K. Kantha, it was announced here. The announcement of the new envoys comes ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to both the countries. Jaishankar is to succeed Nirupama Rao, whose ambassado-rial tenure in Washington is coming to an end. Ashok Kantha is currently Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Aff airs (MEA). Both Jaishankar and Ashok Kantha are Indian Foreign Service (IFS) offi cers of the 1977 batch.

Asaram moves High Court for bail in rape caseJAIPUR: Spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, arrested for allegedly assaulting a 16-year-old girl, yesterday moved Rajasthan High Court’s Jodhpur bench for bail, a lawyer said. The 72-year-old Asaram is currently lodged in the Jodhpur Central Jail after the district and sessions judge (rural) remanded him to 14 days’ ju-dicial custody in the sexual assault case. The custody ends Sep-tember 16. The lower court had rejected his bail application. The application is likely to come up for hearing on Monday. Asaram, who was arrested from his ashram in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, sought bail claiming that police erred in booking him under rape charges, which is non-bailable.

Mission to make Kerala a zero-landless state by 2015KOZHIKODE: The Mission Mode Project (MMP) to make southern Indian state Kerala a zero-landless state by 2015 has moved a step ahead with Kozhikode becoming the eleventh dis-trict to donate land under the welfare scheme. The fi rst phase of the project was inaugurated by district panchayat president Kanathil Jameela on Thursday here. The district fi nalised its fi rst phase under the MMP by identifying 1,520 benefi ciaries who would be allotted three-cent plots here, sources said. The district administration had received 12,000 applications, of which 8,034 benefi ciaries were selected using special software developed by C-DIT, they said.

CBI employee arrested for molesting doctor on train MUMBAI: A 21-year-old stenographer with India’s top investi-gative agency CBI was yesterday arrested for allegedly molest-ing a doctor while she was asleep in a Mumbai-bound Express train, railway police said. Chandraprakash Malkhan Singh was arrested after he was brought to Mumbai Central Government Railway Police (GRP) station yesterday following a complaint by the 31-year-old woman that she was inappropriately touched by the accused inside the coach of Gujarat Mail around 3am, Ra-jendra Trivedi, senior inspector said. - Agencies

B R I E F S

Girl student hacks Ambani’s I-T account MUMBAI: A young chartered accountant (CA) student from the southern Indian city of Hy-derabad has allegedly hacked into the e-fi ling of income tax (I-T) re-turns account of country’s leading industrialist Anil Ambani, with an intention to know his income and tax amount paid over a period of time, police said yesterday.

The 21-year-old woman, who has been doing her chartered ac-countancy articleship at Manoj Daga & Company in Hyderabad, was booked under relevant sec-tions of Information Technology Act on September 7, after a pre-liminary investigation and faces arrest in the case.

“The girl hacked Ambani’s e-fi ling of Income-Tax returns ac-count with an intention to check the industrialist’s income and tax amount paid by him over the period of time. After hacking the account of the chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), she accessed the de-tails of his income, tax amount paid, PAN card number and even changed twice the password of his e-account on the IT website,” an offi cial said.

According to police, a char-tered accountant fi rm in Mum-bai, which fi les 54-year-old Am-bani’s individual tax details, was intimated. - PTI

T A X R E T U R N S

NEW DELHI: “I can fi nally breathe, I am re-lieved and we are fi nally at peace. Our daughter has been given justice.”

This is how the mother of the 23-year-old physi-otherapy student, whose brutal rape on a mov-ing bus on December 16 by six men triggered a nationwide outrage, reacted when a fast track court sentenced four men to death terming the crime as the ‘rarest of rare’. “It has been a diffi -cult journey. The verdict has come. Justice has been delivered to us in true sense. We are happy with the judgement. If an appeal is fi lled, then also I think we will get justice,” the girl’s mother said at the Saket court complex here, with her husband by her side.

The fast track court, set up following the massive protest in the city, handed down death sentence to Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh for their involvement in the rape and murder of the girl. One of the accused Ram Singh was found hanging in his prison cell in high-security Tihar jail. - PTI

We’re fi nally at peace, say parents of victim

SATISFIED: ‘This was the rarest of rare crime...Damini and her family have got justice. I welcome the court ruling,’ federal Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. – Bloomberg News

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

A6 S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

INDIARALLY FOR UNITED ANDHRAYSR Congress leader Y.S. Sharmila addresses a public rally during her Yatra programme for united Andhra Pradesh, at Ravu-lapalem in East Godavari district, yesterday. The Congress on July 30 decided to carve out a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. It, however, said Hyderabad would serve as joint capital of the two states for 10 years. - PTI

Modi named BJP’s PM candidate for 2014 polls

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi was crowned as the candidate for prime minister of main opposi-tion party BJP yesterday, cement-ing the remarkable rise of a leader adored by business but tainted by deadly religious riots that broke out on his watch.

On a path that from humble roots as the son of a tea shop own-er to running for leadership of the world’s biggest democracy, Modi has methodically built a fervent fan base.

But, a deeply polarising fi gure, he has made many enemies along the way, even within his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Supporters believe he has the drive needed to salvage a sagging economy and make India a re-gional superpower. Detractors see an authoritarian extremist who could fan sectarian tension in the religiously diverse nation.

India is due to hold its largest - ever general election within eight months. Modi’s elevation means the poll will pit the business- friendly chief minister of Gujarat state against the centre-left Con-gress party, which critics say looks jaded after a decade at the head of a fractious ruling coalition.

Modi’s success at chaperoning Gujarat’s economic growth was for years overshadowed by reli-gious riots just months after he took offi ce in 2002. At least 1,000 people died in the violence, most of them Muslims. A crowd of ju-bilant Modi supporters gathered outside the BJP’s headquarters in New Delhi ahead of the formal decision to name him the party’s candidate for prime minister, dancing, setting off fi recrackers and handing out sweets.

BJP president Rajnath Singh made the announcement in a brief

statement to journalists. “I will work hard to achieve victory for the BJP in 2014 elections,” Modi said afterwards, describing him-self as a “small party worker” from a small town.

Modi, anointed as candidate just days before his 63rd birthday

is known for rousing speeches and biting attacks on the Nehru- Gandhi dynasty that leads the Congress party. The government’s fi nal years have been tarnished by graft scandals and the poor per-formance of Asia’s third-largest economy. - Reuters

A deeply polarising

fi gure, the Gujarat

CM has made many

enemies along the

way, even within his

Bharatiya Janata Party

ELATED: BJP president Rajnath Singh greets Gujarat Chief Minis-ter Narendra Modi after declaring him the party’s prime ministeri-al candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha polls, in New Delhi, yesterday. – PTI

Curfew eased in riot-hit UP town; toll reaches 47LUCKNOW: With the recovery of more bodies, the death toll in riot-hit Muzaff arnagar and adjoin-ing areas of Uttar Pradesh touched 47 yesterday while the curfew was eased in the city for the fourth con-secutive day.

Now the district administra-tion has shifted its focus to bridge trust-defi cit between the two com-munities in rural areas.

“Though situation in the urban areas has improved considerably but in the rural areas doubts and suspicions with regard to diff er-ent communities are still doing the round and now the administration is concentrating on restoring nor-malcy there,” Inspector General (IG) crime Ashish Gupta told new-spersons here.

“Police pickets have been set up in 547 villages in Muzaff arnagar and its surrounding areas, besides 536 mobile teams have been given the responsibility of three villages each,” Gupta said.

Policemen in these teams will

visit villages, meet the locals and try remove their doubts and also inform seniors about the ground situation, he said.

The IG said that the toll in the riots today reached 47. The IG said that two more bodies have been recovered from the canal in Mu-zaff arnagar and one in Meerut. IG, Gupta said that curfew imposed in three police station areas of Mu-zaff arnagar — Kotwali, Civil Lines and Nai Mandi, was eased for 12 hours since 7am.

No untoward incident was re-ported from any part of the district during the curfew relaxation.

Gupta said that there are re-ports of an objectionable video being uploaded on social network-ing site Facebook which is also being shared.

“Talks are on with the offi cials of Facebook to get it removed and action will also be taken against those using it after collecting in-formation about their IDs,” the of-fi cer said. -PTI

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

NEW DELHI: He was instrumental in BJP’s rise to power in the nine-ties and credited with its phenomenal growth, but L. K. Advani cut a lonely fi gure yesterday as the party announced Nar-endra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, even as he voiced his “an-guish” and “disappoint-ment” at the move.

Advani, 85, the senior-most leader in the BJP has seemingly not found it easy to reconcile with the growing mobilisa-tion around Modi in the party and impact of his rise on party’s coalition prospects ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Advani is working chairman of BJP-led National Democratic Al-liance and considered the leader most acceptable to present and potential allies of the party.

BJP sources said Ad-vani, along with Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposi-tion in the Lok Sabha, had conveyed to party leaders that any decision on prime ministerial candidate should be taken only after the assembly polls to fi ve states later this year.

However, even as Sushma Swaraj and to an extent Murli Manohar Joshi sensed the party’s mood and overwhelm-ing sentiments in Modi’s favour and fell in line, Advani decided to plough the lonely furrow. He held out till the end but decided not to speak out publicly against Modi’s elevation. -IANS

‘Anguished’ Advani cuts a lonely fi gure

Modi‘s father used to run tea shop. As a boy, Modi would help him by selling tea at Vadnagar railway station. He weds but marriage not consummated

The young Modi was attracted by the RSS discipline and authority. In 1967, he broke away from his family

After 1971 war, Modi joined RSS as a pracharak

After serving RSS for a decade and a half, in 1988, was made general secretary of BJP‘s Gujarat unit

In 1991, he organised and accompanied then BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi on the Kanyakumari-Srinagar Ekta Yatra (Unity March)

In 1995, Modi played a role at the party‘s national level. In 1998, promoted as general secretary (organisation)

On October 7, 2001, he was sworn in as Gujarat chief minister. In December 2002, he returned with a massive majority

In December 2007, sworn in as chief minister for the second time

In December 2012, sworn in as CM for third time

F R O M T E A V E N D O R T O P M C A N D I D A T E

A7

PAKISTANS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

Hashmi remanded to police custodyKARACHI: The arrested former Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPA, Nadeem Hashmi, was remanded to seven days in police custody on Thursday in a case relating to the murder of two policemen.

The Anti-Terrorism Court-II headed by Judge Khalida Yasin also directed the investigation offi cer to submit charge sheet against the sus-pect, who should also be produced, on the next date of hearing.

The two constables were gunned down by unknown armed men on Tuesday night. Hashmi was arrested later during the night, which caused outrage among the MQM.

Parts of Karachi were also shut down on Wednesday. Vehicles were torched and public transport stopped running.

According to the prosecution, constables Mohammad Ali and Haris Iqbal were standing near a police mobile when suspects fi red at them and fl ed. They succumbed to their multiple bullet wounds be-fore receiving medical treatment.

Hashmi was arrested from his

residence for alleged involvement and he was booked and arrested in terrorism and murder charges.

On Thursday, he was brought to the court for remand in an ar-moured personnel carrier escort-ed by fi ve police vans.

The investigation offi cer in-formed the court that a co-ac-cused, identifi ed as Noshad, is still at large. He requested for Hashmi’s physical custody for two weeks to interrogate him and complete oth-er legal formalities.

Meanwhile, Hashmi told the court that on the day of the in-cident, he was on a visit to a friend whose father had passed away. He then returned home where he had dinner with guests. At night, he was arrested from his house for his alleged involvement in the policemen’s murders, he said.

To another query, Hashmi said that he was a former member of the provincial assembly and un-ion-council nazim. These days, he was doing a business of medi-cines. - Express Tribune

M U R D E R O F P O L I C E M E N

Cellphone chat services banned after protests by parents, lawmakersISLAMABAD: Pakistan has cracked down on “immoral” love chat services off ered by mobile phone companies, stifl ing hopes of illicit romance in the country where dating is frowned upon.

The Pakistan Telecommunica-tion Authority (PTA) said the ban was enforced last month due to pro-tests from parents and lawmakers, but critics warn it is the latest at-tempt at creeping censorship.

Pulling the plugThe PTA fi rst pulled the plug on dirt-cheap chat rates and late-night dis-counts in November, but operators simply started off ering the services under diff erent names.

So the regulator tightened the ban late last month, ordering tel-

ecommunication companies to scrap immediately “all kinds of chat services, irrespective of the time of day”.

In a country, where parents keep young people on a tight leash and dating is considered inappropri-ate, late-night chatting over the phone or Internet can be a way to fi nd love below the radar.

A 20-year-old university student who did not want to give his name said that the ban had hit him hard as he is now unable to chat with ran-dom girls and fi nd new dates.

“The cruel world has once again conspired against lovers and made it diffi cult for them to communi-cate,” he said.

“It was so inexpensive and an easy way to fi nd a date,” he added.

The 25-year-old manager of a boutique in Islamabad said that he had found the “love of his life” through the service. “I am going to marry her,” he said.

There is no public data about how many people used the roman-tic chat, but of the 68.6 per cent of the population with access to a mobile phone, it is likely to have

been a small number. Normal call charges are about two rupees ($0.02) a minute and Rs1.50 for a text message, but chat services were off ered at an hourly rate for a fraction of those rates.

A customer would dial a particu-lar number after which a computer generated voice or text message guided subscribers through vari-ous options.

For example, if you want to chat to a girl press 1, a boy press 2, then you select your preferred age group before being connected to another caller by SMS conforming to your criteria. Two of Pakistan’s fi ve mo-bile phone companies said they had shut down romantic chat rooms, but would continue to off er calling services that stick to general inter-

ests such as hobbies. Another com-pany said they had shut down all chat rooms and two others were not reachable for comment.

Ban welcomedSaeeda Khan, a 45-year-old mother of three, welcomed the ban. “I am worried as they’re busy all night on the phone with their friends and cousins,” she said.

Khan said she worried about “what kind of people” are in the chat rooms and that children “are exposed to strangers”. “I would never approve of chatting with un-known people,” she said.

Mobile phone companies have fi led petitions in the Supreme Court against the ban, but no date has been set for a hearing. - AFP

‘ I M M O R A L ’

GLUED: A man talks on his mobile phone at a mobile market in Rawalpindi., in this photograph taken on Tuesday. - AFP

Plan to privatise PIA

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif plans to sell off a 26 per cent stake in ailing national carrier PIA and hand over man-agement control in a bid to stem haemorrhaging losses.

Pakistan International Air-lines (PIA) is one of the poorest performing state-run companies in the country and businessmen were quick to welcome the deci-sion, announced late Thursday.

PrioritySharif who has made repairing the weak economy his top prior-ity, ordered PIA management to slash losses to make the company viable for sale. The company has incurred heavy losses because of poor management, corruption

and ineffi ciencies. PIA offi cially lost $320 million last year but the defi cit would have been much larger if the state had not been pouring money into its coff ers in a bid to keep it afl oat.

The company has a staggering 18,000 employees for 42 planes, a ratio of more than 400 staff per aircraft, a PIA spokesman said.

“The government is fully com-mitted to reforming and restruc-turing all ailing state enterprises, including PIA,” Sharif said.

Under the plan, 26 per cent of PIA’s shares will be off ered to potential buyers along with the transfer of management control.

The auction is expected to at-

tract international players and could be a milestone for the coun-try’s privatisation plan, analysts and businessmen believe.

Pakistan sold its state-run tel-ecom company in mid-2000 by transferring 26 per cent of its shares and management control. The government offl oaded another 10 per cent of PTC shares later on.

Arif Habib, chairman of Arif Ha-bib Group of Companies and on PIA’s board of directors until last month, said that the airline could attract an international buyer.

“If an investor injects some capital it could be turned around in a short span of time,” said Ha-bib, who is a former president of

the Karachi Stock Exchange. “It would be a good public-pri-

vate partnership model,” he said.

Strong oppositionNevertheless the fi nal sale is like-ly to face strong opposition from rival political parties and from employees.

Farrah Marwat, head of re-search at JS Capital Markets, said good fi nancial packages and retirement benefi ts could help to defuse the complaints.

“We have a big market of 180 million people and no other siz-able company to cater them so it would be a good attraction for the buyers,” Marwat said. - AFP

PIA offi cially lost

$320 million last year

but the defi cit would

have been much larger

if the state had not

been pouring money

into its coff ers in a bid

to keep it afl oat

The government is fully

committed to reforming

and restructuring all

ailing state enterprises,

including PIA

Nawaz SharifPrime Minister

Gunmen torch Natotankers, kill driver in Kalat

QUETTA: Gunmen attacked a convoy of Nato oil tankers in southwest Pakistan over-night, killing a driver and torching eight vehicles, local offi cials said yesterday.

The attackers fi red rockets and bullets at the convoy of 15 oil tankers travelling from Pakistan’s port of Karachi to landlocked Afghanistan.

The attack happened around 300km from Quetta, the capital of the province of Balochistan that borders Af-ghanistan and Iran.

“The gunmen attacked the convoy at a rest stop in Soor-ab town of Kallat district. They fi red rockets and bullets on the convoy from both sides of the road,” police offi cial Yousaf Reiki said.

“One Pakistani driver of a tanker died in the attack while eight tankers were burnt,” he added. - AFP

I N S U R G E N C Y

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A8 S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

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

The US is pursuing fl awed counter-terrorism policyThis refers to the letter, Ameri-can hegemony is collapsing everywhere (September 12). The United States, I am afraid, may be unwittingly creating conditions that spur more people to embrace terror by pursuance of a fl awed strategy and through its fl awed actions in the name of counter-terrorism. “It seems clear that Faisal Shahzad’s alleged act — like most of the several other terrorist incidents in the United States over the past year — was motivat-ed in large part by anger over US use of force overseas.” And it has burst yet another bubble. Far from insulating US mainland from terror attacks, the US has, in fact, augmented the vulnerability.S. K. RajanMumtaz

G20 leaders failed to meet the challenge, expectations Developing a fl exible framework for co-ordinated macroeconomic policy is now the most critical challenge for the G20. The latest summit was an opportunity for G20 leaders to launch a process to guide the global transition. Unfor-tunately, the G20 leaders failed in what they were expected to do. Smriti JhaAl Khuwair

The implications of falling rupee on the economy It was a myth that has turned now into a reality now. Who would have ever imagined that the value of Indian rupee would have fallen so much? It is surprising to know the value of Indian rupee which in 1990 was just Rs18.11 for one dol-

lar has currently surged to near Rs63.44 today against the US dol-lar. The million-dollar question for the ordinary citizens (aam aadmi) as well as the NRIs is does — this bode well for our economy. As a citizen I fail to understand how the value of the rupee has slumped so much. Is the fi nance minister, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the economists as well as the policy makers doing anything to steer the economy from this mess. The print as well as the vis-ual media has been churning out interviews and expert comments about the state of the rupee, but unfortunately the policy makers have yet to show the citizens that it is doing something concrete to control the situation. I hope the authorities in India wake up and do something so as to instil confi dence in the economy for

the investors, ordinary citizens as well as the NRIs.AK SharmaJibroo

US appears to have given up in AfghanistanWhat would it take to describe the decade-long US military engage-ment in Afghanistan a success? What exactly was America’s mission objective in Afghanistan? How can the US’ war against terror in Afghanistan be quanti-fi ed and described? And fi nally, why did the United States fail to achieve success in Afghanistan? Answers to these critical ques-tions are necessary because the US has announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan next year. Tanveer AlamAl Khuwair

READERS’ FORUM

If the lessons of history teach us anything it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us

ANON

“Insure with New India and be secure”

THE

INDE

PEND

ENT

At long last, there appears to be some ray of hope for sanity to prevail. The Supreme Court of Pakistan appears on the verge of breaking the bureaucratic logjam that has hitherto been pre-

venting the advent of the third generation (3G) of mobile communi-cation technology from being launched in Pakistan. If the honourable Court is able to fi nally force the government to stop the inordinate de-lays and hold a free and fair auction of 3G spectrum, then the nation will be in its debt. The government should be doing its best to accom-modate the telecommunication industry. The fi ve telecom operators between them have accounted for over one-third of all foreign direct investment over the past decade. They account for one in every Rs20 paid in taxes and employ tens of thousands of people. Fair market competition between them has meant that Pakistanis ensure some of the cheapest telecommunications costs in the world.

With the 3G auction, the industry has had a fairly simple demand: if the government sets a reasonable base price for the spectrum, they will not only pay the licence fee, but bring in billions of dollars in more investment into the country, in addition to dramatically improving the quality of telecommunications infrastructure in the country. Yet, the previous administration had been asking for far too high a price for the spectrum and delaying the 3G auction. The Nawaz Administration ap-pears not to have paid too much attention to this problem it inherited, but we are grateful that the apex Court is forcing its hand.

The advent of 3G spectrum in Pakistan would allow ordinary Paki-stanis, armed with a cheap smartphone, to be able to access the whole world’s information, spurring innovation, productivity and economic growth. Its arrival on our shores has been delayed by government un-reason. We are glad that the courts have decided to remedy that situa-tion and we hope this administration will not make the same mistakes as its predecessors. - The Express Tribune

Spectrum of opportunity

International health programmes have greatly reduced death and sickness worldwide over the past two decades but there is still a long way to go. The United Nations General Assembly will meet

later this month to assess progress — impressive in some areas, halt-ing in others — toward achieving the United Nations’ Millennium De-velopment Goals, which were adopted in 2000 and are supposed to be reached by the end of 2015. For instance, great strides have been made in reducing the maternal mortality rate related to childbirth, which has declined to 210 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010 from 400 deaths per 100,000 births in 1990. Still, that is far short of the Millennium target of 100 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2015. Many countries with high maternal death rates continue to struggle with lack of prenatal care; skilled assistance from a midwife, nurse or doctor for women during childbirth; and broad contraceptive use to prevent unwanted pregnancies, especially among adolescents.

Another goal is a reduction of death rates for children under the age of 5. That rate dropped signifi cantly over two decades, to 51 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011 from 87 in 1990. Even with the gains, some 6.9 million children under age 5 died in 2011, mostly from preventable diseases. The overwhelming majority of these deaths, according to the United Nations, occurred in the poorest countries of the world, with the toll especially high in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in nine chil-dren die before age 5, and in southern Asia. The Millennium target is to reduce the toll to 4.3 million deaths by the end of 2015. It can be done: Bangladesh and Liberia, two poor nations, have already reduced their death rates substantially enough to meet their 2015 targets. Progress in lagging countries will depend on greater eff orts by local health min-istries and the help of low-cost tools like antibiotics for pneumonia, rehydration salts and zinc for diarrhoea, and insecticide-treated bed nets to protect children from malaria-bearing mosquitoes.

Another Millennium goal — providing antiviral therapy to all people infected with the virus that causes AIDS — has been hard to reach. While more people are getting the drugs, the need for treatment has grown even faster. Today, 10 million people are in treatment; the Mil-lennium programme aims for 15 million by 2015.

That’s still less than the 26 million people in low- and middle-in-come countries that could benefi t from such treatment. Many experts believe that redirecting the substantial sums already committed to AIDS around the world toward more treatment could help substan-tially. The 2015 goals are described by the U.N. secretary general as the “halfway mark” in a long-range agenda to eradicate extreme pov-erty by 2030, end hunger and malnutrition, protect the environment through sustainable development of natural resources, and enhance opportunities for all societal groups, including equal rights for women and girls. But without more intense eff orts and money, the world will not even reach the halfway mark. - The New York Times News Service

Let there be a race to improve global health

Vladimir Putin, who keeps Edward Snowden on a leash and lets mem-bers of a riotous girl band rot in jail, has thrown President Obama a lifeline. The Russian president had coldly brushed back Obama on Snowden and Syria, and only

last week called John Kerry a liar. Now, when it is clear Obama can’t convince Con-

gress, the American public, his own wife, the world, Liz Cheney or even Donald “Shock and Awe” Rums-feld to bomb Syria — just a teensy-weensy bit — Pooty-Poot rides, shirtless, to the rescue, off ering him a face-saving way out? If it were a movie, we’d know it was a trick. We can’t trust the Putin — his Botox has given the former KGB offi cer even more of a poker face — or Bashar Al Assad. By Tuesday, Putin the Peacemaker was already setting conditions.

Just as Obama and Kerry — with assists from Hill-ary and some senators — were huffi ng and puffi ng that it was their military threat that led to the break-through, Putin moved to neuter them, saying they’d have to drop their military threat before any deal could proceed. The administration’s sabre-rattling felt more like knees rattling. Oh, for the good old days when Obama was leading from behind. Now these guys are leading by slip-of-the-tongue.

Amateur hour started when Obama dithered on Syria and failed to explain the stakes there. It esca-lated last August with a slip by the methodical word-smith about “a red line for us” — which the president and Kerry later tried to blur as the world’s red line, except the world was averting its eyes.

Obama’s fl ip-fl opping, ambivalent leadership led him to the exact place he never wanted to be: unilat-eral instead of unifi ed. Once again, as with gun con-trol and other issues, he had not done the ground-work necessary to line up support.

The bumbling approach climaxed with two off -the-cuff remarks by Kerry, hitting a rough patch in the role of a lifetime, during a London press confer-ence; he off ered to forgo an attack if Assad turned over “every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community” and promised, if they did strike, that it would be an “unbelievably small” eff ort.

A State Department spokeswoman walked back Kerry’s fi rst slip, but once the White House realised it was the only emergency exit sign around, Kerry walked back the walking back, claiming at a Con-gressional hearing that he did not “misspeak.”

The president countered Kerry’s second slip with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on last Monday night, de-

claring that “The US does not do pinpricks,” which Kerry parroted at the hearing the following day, de-claring that “We don’t do pinpricks.” For good mea-sure, Obama, in his address to the nation, made sure the world knew: “The United States military doesn’t do pinpricks.”

Where the mindlessly certain W. (George W. Bush) adopted a fi g leaf of diplomacy to use force in Iraq, the mindfully uncertain Obama is adopting a fi g leaf of force to use diplomacy in Syria.

Even as Democrats tiptoed away from the red line, eager to kick the can of Sarin down the road, their own harsh rhetoric haunted them. Kerry compared Assad to Hitler last week, and Harry Reid evoked “Nazi death camps” on the Senate fl oor.

Again, an echo of the misbegotten Iraq. Making his hyperbolic case for war, W. was huff y with Germans on a visit in 2002, irritated that they did not seem to grasp the horror of “a dictator who gassed his own people,” as he put it to a Berlin reporter.

Obama cried over the children of Newtown. He is stricken, as he said in his address, by “images of children writhing in pain and going still on a cold hospital fl oor” from “poison gas.” He thought — or thought he thought — that avenging the gassing was the right thing to do. But W., once more haunt-ing his successor’s presidency, drained credibility, coff ers and compassion.

While most Americans shudder at the news that 400 children have been killed, they recoil at the Middle East now; they’ve had it with all the ancient hatreds. Kerry can bluster that “we’re not waiting for long” for Assad to cough up the weapons, but it will be hard for him to back it up, given that a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll indicates that Joe Sixpack is now a peacenik; in 2005, 60 per cent of Repub-licans agreed with W. that America should foster democracy in the world; now only 19 per cent of Republicans believe it.

W., Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld launched a social engineering scheme to change the mind-set in the Middle East about democracy and the mind-set at home about the post-Vietnam reluctance to be mus-cular about imposing our values through war. They did manage to drastically change the mind-set in the Middle East and at home, but in the opposite way than they intended.

In a crouch after 9/11, the country was happy to punish an Arab villain, even the wrong one. That mass delusion, plus the economic vertigo, has sent Americans into a permanent crouch. And that’s too bad. - The New York Times News Service

Mindfully uncertain & mindlessly certain

Where the

mindlessly certain

W. adopted a fig

leaf of diplomacy

to use force in

Iraq, the mindfully

uncertain Obama

is adopting a fig

leaf of force to use

diplomacy in Syria

M A U R E E N D O W D

SYRIA CRISIS

A9

WORLDS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

Taleban attack US consulate in Herat

HERAT: Seven heavily armed Taleban suicide attackers struck the US consulate in the Afghan city of Herat before dawn yester-day, setting off two car bombs and sparking a shootout with US forc-es. The sophisticated attack in the western city, a key business hub near the Iranian border, under-scored how the Taleban are able to strike outside their main centres in the south and east.

At least one Afghan guard was killed in the attack and 18 other people wounded, but US offi cials said there were no US casualties with all consulate staff safe and ac-counted for.

The US State Department said the attackers appeared to be wear-ing suicide vests and detonated a truck bomb that “extensively” damaged the front gate.

Afghan security offi cials said six attackers took part in the assault, detonating a minivan bomb and then a four-wheel drive vehicle, before engaging in a gunbattle with security forces. The attack comes days after Pakistan said it would soon release its top Taleban pris-oner, former military chief Abdul Ghani Baradar, in what Afghan of-fi cials hope can ignite peace talks.

The Taleban publicly refuse to

negotiate with the Afghan govern-ment, branding Afghan President Hamid Karzai a US puppet, but opened a liaison offi ce in Qatar in June billed as a step towards talks with the Americans on a possible prisoner swap.

“Today at around 5:30 am, a minivan suicide bomber detonat-ed his car outside the US consulate in Herat city,” Abdul Hameed Ha-meedi, the deputy security chief of

Herat province said. “Another sui-cide bomber driving a four-wheel drive detonated outside the fi rst gate of the US consulate -- damag-ing the gate.

“After that fi ve suicide bombers engaged in a gunbattle with the Afghan security forces, and after a while, all of these suicide bombers get killed in the attack,” Hameedi added. He said an Afghan guard at the US consulate was killed and

two other guards and two police-men wounded. A number of civil-ians were wounded because of the powerful explosion, he said.

Herat hospital spokesman Mo-hammad Rafi q Sherzai said that 18 people were wounded, including four policemen and 14 civilians.

Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, a spokes-man for Herat police, confi rmed the same account and said that US and Italian forces were also called

to the scene and cordoned off the area. The Taliban claimed respon-sibility for the attack, saying that there were several casualties on the Afghan and US side but the militia is known to exaggerate its claims of deaths and injuries.

The front gate of the US consu-late was “extensively” damaged, US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told re-porters. She said the attack start-ed at 5:30 am when the gunmen, dressed in suicide vests, drove up to the front gate in a truck, opened fi re and then detonated the truck bomb. American and contracted security personnel reacted to the attack before it came to an end, Harf said. US Ambassador James Cunningham condemned the at-tack and thanked Afghan and NATO troops for their quick re-sponse in securing the building and keeping consulate staff safe.

“We are reminded again of the very real human toll exacted by ter-rorism. The perpetrators of this attack have shed Afghan blood on Afghan soil,” he said in a statement.

Taleban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP in a telephone call that the militia were responsi-ble. “Our mujahedeen, armed with heavy and light weapons, attacked the US consulate in Herat. There are several casualties to Afghan and US forces,” he said.

In the southeastern province of Paktika, a suicide truck bomber wounded at least 14 Afghan secu-rity personnel outside the town of Sharan when they stopped the ve-hicle, police said. -AFP

The US State

Department said the

attackers appeared

to be wearing suicide

vests and detonated

a truck bomb that

‘extensively’ damaged

mission’s front gate

SUICIDE ATTACK: Smoke rises from a burning vehicle near the US consulate after an attack by a car bomb followed by a gunfi ght in Herat, yesterday. -AFP

Japan should start releasing Fukushima N-plant water: ExpertTOKYO: Japan should begin pre-paring to release a massive tide of water from the wrecked Fukush-ima nuclear plant into the Pacifi c Ocean, once it regains public trust and can confi rm the water has only low levels of radiation, a US ad-viser to the plant’s operator said on yesterday.

Lake Barrett, a former head of the Department of Energy’s Of-fi ce of Civilian Nuclear Waste Management, spent nearly a dec-ade at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and led the clean-up operations after the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Is-land nuclear plant. He has been brought in by Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) to advise it on the lengthy decommissioning pro-cess at Fukushima.

He said work should begin now to pump groundwater from the plant before it reaches wrecked reactors - a measure that has been stalled by local opposition.

“They should start pumping as soon as practical,” said Barrett, add-ing that groundwater would have to be released into the sea along with water that had been treated to re-move most radiation - by a system designed by Toshiba Corp.

“I believe in a matter of a few months ... early next year ... water will be cleaned up and be ready to be discharged,” he said in an inter-view. But Barrett, who has said he would feed his grandchildren fi sh caught off the Fukushima coast if the clean-up proceeds as planned, said Tepco has lost its credibility to reassure a jittery public. “When

Tepco says: ‘trust me, this water is safe,’ that’s not enough,” he said.

Barrett toured the Fukushima plant on Thursday and met Tepco’s president Naomi Hirose, part of an eff ort by the utility and Japan’s government to show they are fol-lowing through on a pledge to take control of irradiated water leaks at Fukushima.

Tide of contaminated waterTepco has been battling to contain a tide of contaminated water at the plant, which suff ered reactor melt-downs after the station was crip-pled by a massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The utility is pumping 400 tonnes of highly radioactive wa-ter out of the reactor buildings’ wrecked basements every day,

treating it to remove most radia-tion and storing the water in hun-dreds of makeshift tanks around the plant.

Some 330,000 tonnes of con-taminated water - enough to fi ll more than 130 Olympic swimming pools - has been pumped into stor-age pits and above-ground tanks at the facility.

Tepco plans to more than dou-ble the storage capacity of tanks at Fukushima by 2016, but doesn’t have a plan beyond that.

At least one tank has sprung a leak. Tepco has tried to win lo-cal support for a “bypass” that would route groundwater around the plant and into the sea, reduc-ing the amount of contaminated water that must be treated and stored. -Reuters

O P I N E S

INSPECTING TEAM: Fukushima prefecture panel members inspect a contaminated water tank which leaked radioactive water at Fuku-shima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima, yesterday. -Reuters

37 killed in Russia hospital blazeMOSCOW: A fi re killed 37 peo-ple in a Russian psychiatric hos-pital yesterday, the second deadly blaze at such a facility this year and it was likely to heighten con-cerns about Russia’s treatment of the mentally ill and other wards of the state.

There have been many deadly fi res at state institutions like hos-pitals and schools over the past decade, raising questions about safety standards. Russia is also dogged by transport and industrial accidents, and critics point to a culture of negligence bred by Pres-ident Vladimir Putin’s top-down ruling style.

The pre-dawn fi re razed a di-lapidated ward for severely ill pa-tients at the hospital in a provincial village north of Moscow, appar-ently killing some while under sedation as fog slowed fi refi ghters travelling from 45 km away.

Emergency authorities had recently sought to have the

run-down wood, brick and con-crete building condemned as unfi t for use, a senior offi cial said. Federal authorities began a criminal inquiry into suspected lethal negligence.

State television showed fi re-fi ghters spraying water on the smoking, blackened ruins of the ward at the hospital. A female orderly died while trying to save patients at the hospital in the vil-

lage of Luka, which is in Novgorod province between Moscow and St Petersburg, the regional branch of the federal Investigative Commit-tee said in a statement.

It said 37 people were killed, and the Emergency Situations Minis-try said 15 bodies had been recov-ered by midday.

More than 20 patients were evacuated after the fi re broke out shortly before 3 am (2300 GMT on Thursday). Offi cial initially said some others may have escaped on their own, but none had been found hours later by police comb-ing the area.

The fi re left little but the con-crete foundation of the single-sto-ry building housing male patients at the hospital.

Volunteer fi refi ghters began battling the blaze minutes after it started, but the nearest fi re station is 45 km away and it took a crew 45 minutes to arrive on fog-shrouded roads. -Reuters

S H E E R N E G L I G E N C E

GRIM SCENARIO: Firefi ghters continue to extinguish fi re in the charring remains of a burned out psychiatric hospital in the village of Luka in the northwest Russian Novgorod region, yesterday. -AFP

Berlusconi should be barred: ItaliansROME: Nearly three-quar-ters of Italians think ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi should be barred from the Sen-ate after a conviction for tax fraud, and a majority want to avert a government crisis over the issue, according to a poll published yesterday.

The issue threatens the sur-vival of the fragile ruling coali-tion because Berlusconi’s sup-porters have threatened to pull out of Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s left-right government if Berlusconi loses his seat.

The full upper house is expect-ed to vote next month on whether to expel Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon who has served as prime minister four times.

A cross-party Senate com-mittee is expected to continue sitting next week before voting on whether to start expulsion

proceedings, which would end with a full vote on the fl oor of the Senate.

According to a poll by the SWG institute for the state television station RAI, 73 percent of Ital-ians asked said they believed the Senate should vote to expel Ber-lusconi. Sixty per cent of those asked in the poll said the centre-right should continue to support Letta’s government for the good of the country even if Berlusconi is booted out.

The poll indicated that centre-right voters were split almost down the middle about what to do if Berlusconi is ousted.

Fifty-two percent of centre-right voters said the bloc should withdraw its support for Letta, potentially forcing him to resign. But 45 per cent said they should continue to support him and 3 per cent were undecided. -Reuters

O P I N I O N P O L L

A10

WORLD S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

UK police smash plot to defraud bank

LONDON: British police said yes-terday they had smashed an “au-dacious” and sophisticated plot to take control of the bank Santander UK’s computer systems and steal millions of pounds.

Detectives, who described the plot as the most signifi cant case of its kind, said they had arrested

12 men who had allegedly fi tted a device in a Santander branch in southeast London capable of transmitting the entire desktop contents of the bank computer.

“In eff ect, this allowed the

suspects to take control of the bank computers remotely,” said a spokesman for London’s Metro-politan Police.

“The device had been fi tted and offi cers believed that the group

would imminently have been in a position to go operational,” he said, adding they had avoided multi-million-pound losses.

Santander UK said a bogus maintenance engineer pretend-

ing to be from a telecoms fi rm had fi xed the device, which police described as a keyboard video mouse, to a computer in the Surrey Quays branch.

It said it had been aware of the alleged fraud and had worked closely with offi cers, adding no staff members had been involved.

“It failed and no money was ever at risk,” the bank said. “Santander operates multiple levels of con-trols to protect customers’ funds and this attack would not have been successful.”

Detectives from the Metropoli-tan Police’s Central e-Crime Unit said they had arrested 11 men at an address in west London and another man in central London on Thursday, while houses across the capital were raided The 12 sus-pects, aged between 23 and 50, are being held in custody at a London police station.

Cyber crimeCyber crime has become a major threat to companies and fi nancial institutions. In July, US federal prosecutors charged fi ve men re-sponsible for a hacking and credit

card fraud spree that cost compa-nies more than $300 million, the biggest cyber crime case fi led in US history.

A week later, a panel of lawmak-ers said that Britain was losing the battle against cyber crime and needed a new crack crime unit to fi ght the growing problem.

The cost of cyber crime to the British economy is estimated to be between 18 billion and 27 billion pounds and British fi nancial ser-vices fi rms lost a total of 5.4 billion pounds as a result of fraud last year, according to government data.

Banking fraudFraud cost retail banks 475 million and online banking fraud cost 40 million pounds. London police said Thursday’s arrests were the result of a long-term, intelligence-led operation and had been achieved by working in partnership with banks. “This was a sophisticated plot that could have led to the loss of a very large amount of money from the bank, and is the most sig-nifi cant case of this kind that we have come across,” said Detective Inspector Mark Raymond. -Reuters

Cops arrest 12 men

who had allegedly

fi tted a device

in a Santander

branch in southeast

London capable of

transmitting the entire

desktop contents of

the bank computer

Three dead in Colorado fl oods, people fl ee to safer placesBOULDER: Flooding that killed at least three people in Colorado, toppling buildings and stranding drivers, worsened on Thursday night as record rains pounded the state, forcing thousands more residents to fl ee to higher ground, offi cials said.

The unusual late-summer downpours drenched Colorado’s biggest urban centres, stretching 130 miles along the eastern slopes of the Rockies from Fort Collins near the Wyoming border south through Boulder, Denver and Colo-rado Springs.

In Boulder, the rainfall record for September set in 1940 was shattered, offi cials said, unleash-ing surging fl oodwaters in Boul-der Canyon above the city that triggered the evacuation of some 4,000 residents late on Thursday.

“There’s so much water com-

ing out of the canyon, it has to go somewhere, and unfortunately it’s coming into the city,” said Ash-lee Herring, spokeswoman for the Boulder offi ce of Emergency Management.

Boulder Creek, which runs through the heart of the city, be-came a raging torrent that burst its banks and fl ooded adjacent park-ing lots and streets as warning si-rens wailed.

Other towns nestled along the Front Range of the Rockies north of Denver were also hard hit.

In Longmont about 14 miles northeast of Boulder, the St. Vrain River jumped its banks, cascading across main thoroughfares and making travel across the city im-possible overnight.

“Our city is completely divided,” by the fl oodwaters, assistant city manager Shawn Lewis told Reu-

ters. Lewis said 7,000 households were under mandatory evacu-ation orders. The city opened two emergency shelters for dis-placed residents.

President Barack Obama ap-proved a federal disaster as-sistance request, which will release funds to help with emer-gency protection, Governor John Hickenlooper’s offi ce said late on Thursday.

National Guard troops were dis-patched with emergency supplies to the remote town of Lyons, north of Boulder, which was virtually cut off from surrounding areas when fl oodwaters washed out US Route 36, county offi cials said.

A dozen major roads in north-eastern Colorado remained shut with signifi cant damage from fl ooding, mudslides, rockfalls and other debris, the Colorado Depart-

ment of Transportation said late on Thursday.

Heavy summer rains are not un-usual for Colorado, but the inten-sity and duration of the downpour that began on Monday night was unprecedented.

The National Weather Service said at least 12.3 inches of rain have fallen on Boulder since Sep-tember. 1, smashing a 63-year-old record of 5.5 inches (14 cms) for the month.

A fl ood watch was extended un-til 6 am on Friday for the entire Front Range, the NWS said, and the rainfall is not expected to ease until later in the day. One body was found in a collapsed building near Jamestown, an evacuated enclave north of Boulder. A couple were swept away in fl oodwaters after stopping their car northwest of the city. -Reuters

P O U R I N G M I S E R Y

FLOOD FURY: A man drops a sand bag to help funnel water down a street as heavy rains cause severe fl ooding in Boulder, Colorado, on Thursday. -Reuters

TIMELY INTERVENTION: Customers use ATM machines at the Surrey Quays branch of Santander Bank, while the premises remain closed, in Surrey Quays in south London, yesterday. -Reuters

Tiny robots to revolutionise battlefi eldLONDON: Ex-US Marine Ernest Langdon pulls a pin and throws a small black object onto the ground. But it doesn’t explode. In-stead, the robot rights itself and swiftly scuttles away, feeding in-frared video back to a small radio control screen.

Unmanned drones have become an almost ubiquitous presence on the battlefi eld for US and other high-tech forces.

But the market for remote con-trolled vehicles is evolving from the sometimes multi-tonne craft that patrol the skies over Afghani-stan or Yemen, carrying out recon-naissance and targeted strikes, to tiny robots that police and even fi lm companies can use.

The top end of the market con-tinues to be dominated by US com-panies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics, formerly a division of General Dynamics and creator of the Predator and Reaper drones.

Other major defence fi rms such as BAE Systems are pushing for-ward with next-generation drones with stealth and other features.

Smaller companies are increas-ingly redefi ning the industry, however. Drones on display at this week’s DSEI defence fair at London’s Excel exhibition centre include undersea robots that can act as mini submarines or simply

drive along the surface of the sea-bed to clear mines or conduct re-connaissance.

Remote control “quadrocop-ters” with four or more rotors can be launched from backpacks.

Even conventional military vehicles are becoming increas-ingly robotised. The stand of US truck manufacturer Oshkosh Corp showcases a picture of a convoy of military trucks it says are being entirely remote-controlled.

Critics of the use of drones con-trolled remotely argue that they make warfare too clinical and easy, and too often end up killing in-

nocent people. Advocates say the reality is that a drone removes the three “D”s - “diffi cult, dull and dan-gerous” - making it increasingly diffi cult to justify deploying hu-man beings in certain situations.

ReconRoboticsUS-based fi rm ReconRobotics say their products, robots designed to help soldiers or police look inside a building before they storm it or under a vehicle to detect a bomb, are already saving lives.

“It gives you eyes inside a room before you go there,” said Langdon, a former Marine Corps sergeant

and now director of US and inter-national military programmes for the company.

“Maybe that means you see there are children in a room so you don’t throw a grenade. Maybe it means you fi nd an IED (impro-vised explosive device).”

ThrowbotsThe company says it has sold more than 4000 of its 540 g (1.2 lb) Throwbots and slightly larger Recon Scouts. More than half have been sold to the US military, the vast majority for immediate use in Afghanistan, but police depart-ments are also major buyers. Each unit retails for around $16,000.

In March last year, French counterterrorism commandos used two Recon Scout robots be-fore they stormed a house in Tou-louse where a gunman, suspected of shooting three French soldiers, three children and another adult, was hiding.

Operating almost silently inside the house, the robots were able to locate 23-year-old Mohammed Merah in the bathroom. He was shot and killed after a 30-hour siege. ReconRobotics’ next prod-uct will be a small tethered fl y-ing quadrocopter able to fi t in an infantryman’s pouch, allowing the operator to silently check out higher fl oors, Langdon said. -Reuters

U N M A N N E D D R O N E S

Malaysian court awards death to German peddler KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court yesterday sentenced a German businessman to death for drug traffi cking, his law-yer said. A high court outside the capital Kuala Lumpur found Bebou Akpo Bouraima guilty of traffi cking, which carries the mandatory death penalty by hanging, his lawyer Karpal Singh said. The German, who is of Togolese descent and is reported-ly 40 years old, was found guilty of smuggling 1.5 kilogrammes of methamphetamine at the Kuala Lumpur International Air-port in 2011, he said. “She (the judge) didn’t believe his story... that his bag was intended for his girlfriend,” Karpal said.

Croatian customs seize smuggled weaponsRIJEKA: Croatian customs have seized containers from Ser-bia carrying smuggled weapons, notably rockets, local papers reported yesterday. The undeclared weapons, seized earlier this week in the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka, included S-8 unguided aircraft rockets as well as rocket launcher parts and solid rocket fuel, said the infl uential Jutarnji List daily. The newspaper said the arms were found in several containers bound for Abu Dhabi, though the Vecernji List daily reported that the shipment was to be delivered to Sudan.

Six-hour jail to Ugandan girl for killing rapist fatherMASAKA: A Ugandan court has given a symbolic six-hour jail term to a teenage girl who killed her rapist father in a case that has drawn a wave of public sympathy. The 18-year-old girl, who is now pregnant after repeated attacks, had con-fessed to killing her father with a knife and machete. -Agencies

B R I E F S

CLINICAL PRECISION: A Shepherd-MIL Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is seen during the Defence Security Equipment International arms fair at ExCel, in London, on September 10. -Reuters

SPOR S

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2013

Sreesanth slapped with life banNEW DELHI: Test fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth has been banned from cricket for life after being found guilty of spot-fi xing during the Indian Pre-mier League (IPL), authorities said yesterday.

Ankeet Chavan, a teammate of Sreesanth’s in the Rajasthan Royals team, was also handed a life ban following a probe by the Board of Control for Cricket in In-dia’s (BCCI) anti-corruption chief Ravi Sawani.

“Sreesanth and Chavan have been banned for life from play-ing any representative cricket, or in any way being associated with the activities of the BCCI or its affi liates,” the board said in a statement.

The BCCI’s three-member dis-ciplinary committee, taking ac-tion on Sawani’s report, handed a fi ve-year suspension to Amit Sin-gh, who played in the IPL till last year, for his involvement in spot-fi xing. Rajasthan Royals’ Sid-dharth Trivedi was suspended for one year after being found guilty of the lesser charge of not inform-

ing offi cials about approaches made by bookmakers.

The case against Harmeet Singh, a 21-year-old spinner, who had also been suspected of hid-ing a bookmaker’s approach, was “closed in the absence of evidence against him”, the statement said.

The BCCI did not announce any action against another Rajasthan Royals player, Ajit Chandila, who was also accused of spot-fi xing by the anti-corruption offi cer.

The BCCI have not released Sawani’s report but the Indian Express newspaper said that

Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan were found guilty on multiple accounts, including conceding a “pre-determined number of runs per over in exchange for bribes”.

Sreesanth, Chandila, Chavan and Singh are among 39 people who have also been charged sep-arately in court by Delhi Police in the corruption scandal that rocked this year’s IPL.

Sreesanth, 30, is the only one to have played for India, having taken part in 27 Tests, 53 One-day Internationals and 10 Twenty20 matches. He was a member of India’s victorious teams in the World Twenty20 in 2007 and the World Cup in 2011.

The Indian Express quoted Sawani as saying in his report that he hoped the BCCI will “impose such sanctions as considered ap-propriate to send out a strong sig-nal indicating the zero tolerance policy of the BCCI to any corrup-tion in the sport.”

The players were arrested in May along with scores of bookies as part of a police investigation into the spot-fi xing scandal. - AFP

C R I C K E T

VERDICT: Sreesanth guilty on multiple accounts. – AFP

Oman settle for second placeMUSCAT: Oman settled for the second place after being beaten by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the fi nal of the GCC Under-17 Football Champion-ship at Aspire Academy in Doha on Thursday night.

According to information re-ceived here, the UAE managed to defeat Oman 3-0 via penal-ties after a tense battle during the regulation time and extra-time, during which neither team managed to open their account.

Earlier, Bahrain clinched the third place with a 2-0 victory over hosts Qatar.

G C C U - 1 7 F O O T B A L L

Promising start to pro era

STAFF REPORTER

MUSCAT: Seeb beat three-time domestic League winners Al Arouba 1-0 as the inaugural Om-antel Professional League (OPL) kicked-off with much fanfare at the Seeb Sports Stadium yester-day. Billed as the fi rst major step towards ‘professionalising’ foot-ball in the Sultanate, the 14-club League is being operated under criteria set down by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

In the opening match yesterday in front of their home fans, Seeb club, guided by Romanian coach Jijo Peter, were aggressive from the start of the game. With both sides trying to defend in the sec-ond half, it was captain Ibrahim Al Zadjali who hit the net in the 67th minute of the game to help the side secure their fi rst ever win in the OPL. Speaking to reporters after the match, a delighted coach Pe-ter complimented both teams for their display of courage.

“Nobody is a winner till the fi -nal whistle. It’s great to win the fi rst game on your home turf, but I must say that both these teams have played really well. It was tough, but we were lucky enough to have won,” Peter said. Skipper Ibrahim said the win would boost his side when they take on champi-ons Al Nahda in their next game on September 19.

“It’s a perfect start to the OPL. We prepared so well for this tour-nament, so we cannot let it slip away from our hands. To win at home is always special, but we will not be carried away. I have told my boys to prepare for our next game. Al Nahda is going to be a strong op-ponent for us, but we will continue the same way we played in Seeb,” Ibrahim said.

Meanwhile, Al Nahda began their campaign with a 2-1 home victory over Sohar.

In an exciting match, Al Nahda took the lead through a fi ne fi rst-half goal by Avilay before Juma Saeed doubled the score in the second half. Jordanian recruit Ha-zim Jawdat capped a great fi ght-back with a neat fi nish but his goal came too late for Sohar.

Back at the Seeb Sports Sta-dium, a similar fi ghtback by Al Shabab denied Fanja the oppor-tunity to start their Pro League campaign with full points.

In the fi nal game of the opening day, Fanja took the lead the fi rst but failed to maintain that as Al Shabab came up with a late equal-iser to share points.

Thanking sponsorsMeanwhile, in a statement to the media yesterday, Sayyid Khalid Al Busaidi, chairman of Oman Foot-ball Association (OFA), thanked the general assembly for its sup-port in launching the OPL.

“Without their support, I think this wouldn’t have been possible. I would also like to thank Omantel for their sponsorship support and to all others who are behind this great initiative,” Sayyid Khalid said. Oman Under-22 national team coach Philippe Burle, who was delighted to watch the open-ing game of OPL, urged fans to turn out in large numbers for the com-ing matches.

“The OPL itself is a great tour-nament. Everyone was waiting for it to begin. But I think what it

requires is the support from fans. It is not easy to get results out of just one or two OPL tourna-ments. You have to wait for years. Rome was not built in a day,” the Frenchman said.

For now, the new season will witness professionalism when it comes to the set-up, fi xtures, match day, telecast and in many other areas. It will also pave the way for the Omani teams partici-pation in the Asian Champions League from next March.

Shabib Al Hosni, the OPL chief executive who is busy preparing for the championship, had this to say: “We have been working around the clock to make this hap-pen. Finally it’s on, and the game has begun. What we want is the support from fans and the media. We assure you that this will turn into a great championship, but what we need is patience.”

In today’s matches, Al Suwaiq will begin their campaign when they face Al Nasr in Salalah.

That game will be preceded by Al Ithihad facing Sur. The week one action concludes tomorrow when Majees take on Dhofar and Saham meet Al Musannah.

Seeb and Al Nahda made promising start to the

Omantel Professional League with victories

yesterday. In the second half of the opening

match, both Seeb and Al Arouba were trying to

defend. But it was captain Ibrahim Al Zadjali

who hit the net in the 67th minute to give Seeb

full points

KICKING OFF IN STYLE: Action from the match between Seeb and Al Arouoba on the opening day of the inaugural Omantel Professional League played at the Seeb Sports Stadium yesterday. – Ismail Al Farsi/Times of Oman

A12

SPORTSS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

OGC picks four for Arab amateur meetMUSCAT: Oman Golf Commit-tee (OGC) is sending four young talents to the 14th Arab Amateur Golf Championships to be held in Port el Kantaoui, Tunisia, from September 26 and 28, according to a press release received from the OGC.

The Oman junior national team players have earlier shown great potential by fi nishing second in 17th GCC championship on home soil in February this year.

In preparation for the champi-onship the team has undergone training with the national team coach and Almouj PGA pro Mar-cus Casey. On Saturday Oman Golf Committee concluded the selection process with a fi nal 18-hole strokeplay competition at Almouj Golf.

The three young talented and dedicated golfers to team up for the Sultanate in the under-15 category are Rashad Al Harthy, Hamood Al Harthy and Fahad Al Kitani.

In U-18 category the Oman Golf Committee will send Ahmed Al Balushi, his last competition as a junior and one of the future talents for the national senior team.

The players are getting ready to perform at their best at one of the most prominent regional tournaments. The 14th Jun-ior Arab Amateur Champion-ships will be held at the Golf El Kantaoui Course.

Training and preparations be-fore a major competition is crucial

and Marcus Casey, Almouj Golf pro and coach of the national team explains the process: ”The way to prepare the team for a major championship starts in advance and is holistic in its approach. The main area of focus will be on the players short game skills. Skills such as bunker shots and chipping and putting.

“These are parts of the game that can be improved very quickly and without much disruption to the players overall technique. The

short game is the one area which can help a player no matter how well or bad they are playing.”

Mundhir Al Barwani, chairman of Oman Golf Committee, says: “I am confi dent that together with experiences gained from partici-pating at the GCC championship earlier this year, our young jun-ior team will grow and develop their talent and play at their best in the 14th Arab Amateur Cham-pionships. Golf in Oman is still in the developing stages and we

have had only green golf courses during the last four years. Fund-ing OGC is crucial for us to pro-vide the best training and de-veloping programmes for our national team, which is key to mak-ing sure they do their best at these regional events.”

The national team will be ac-companied by the Oman Golf Committee Chairman Mundhir Al Barwani, Vice-Chairman Ahmed Al Jahdhamy and national team coach Marcus Casey.

G O L F

YOUNG TALENTS: Gearing up for the Arab challenge.– Supplied photo

Gopal bags a double, Suhail-Erica duo triumphsMUSCAT: In his fi rst tourna-ment appearance at the ISC, R. Gopalakrishnan claimed a double crown at the Annual Table Tennis Tournament of the Indian Social Club Muscat sponsored by Muscat Insurance Services (MIS).

Gopalakrishnan, who was re-turning to tournament play after more than 20 years, added the vet-erans’ singles title to the Men’s A singles which he had won a couple of days earlier.

In the veterans’ singles fi nal, Gopalakrishnan who was seeded No. 4 upset second seed Ashish Panday with a fi ne 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9 verdict. One saw brilliant rallies being exchanged between the two. Ashish went on the off en-sive and won the second game for one-game all.

Gopal showed consistency on both fl anks and forced Ashish into errors. Gopalakrishnan and Ash-ish matched each other stroke for stroke before the former put the is-sue beyond Ashish with victory in

the fourth game. Gopalakrishnan had also reached the semifi nals of the men’s singles before go-ing down fi ghting to top seed Suhail Khan.

Suhail Khan and Erica Vaz, the top seeds and defending champi-ons of the mixed doubles, retained the title after recording a hard-fought 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 victory over fi rst time fi nalists Armaan Sattikar and Rhea Bhatia in the fi nal.

Armaan and Rhea surprised the defending champions with a bril-liant comeback that saw them rally from 3-6 down in the fi rst game to win it. Suhail and Erica pulled back the second game but were made to fi ght hard before winning the third game.

Armaan and Rhea squandered a healthy 6-2 lead in the fourth game which the top seeds rallied to win. Suhail and Erica had no further problems as they won the next two games to retain the mixed doubles title.

I S C T A B L E T E N N I S

FINALISTS: Veteran’s singles winner R Gopalakrishnan, right, and runner-up Ashish Panday. Mixed doubles fi nalists, from left in right photo, Suhail Khan, Erica Vaz, Rhea Bhatia and Armaan Sattikar. – Supplied photos

Pakistan’s domesticteam to tour IndiaFAISALABAD: Pakistan’s do-mestic team Faisalabad Wolves will compete in the Champions League in India, with manager Haroon Rasheed calling it a “fi rst step towards reviving Indo-Pak cricket”.

Uncertainty surrounded Fais-alabad’s participation after re-cent attacks killed 11 people in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, but India issued visas to the players yesterday.

Led by Pakistan’s Test and one-day captain Misbah-ul Haq, the Wolves will feature in the four-team qualifying rounds starting in Mohali from Tuesday.

Two teams will join eight other teams — three from India, two from South Africa, two from Australia and one from the West Indies — to compete in the Twen-ty20 event which ends October 6.

Rasheed welcomed the clear-ing of the team.

“This is a positive sign,” Rasheed said.

“I think it will be the fi rst step

towards reviving Indo-Pak crick-et which is so cruelly suspended.”

Pakistanis featured in the in-augural Indian Premier League in 2008, but the Sialkot Stallions were the only Pakistanis to fea-ture in the Champions League last year, as the event was held in South Africa.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating offi cer Subhan Ahmed is in India to attend the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Chennai today and is expected to talk to his Indian counterparts about reviving ties.

Rasheed said, however, that all players were excited.

“All the players are very ex-cited and we have no fears as the focus will only be on cricket,” said Rasheed.

On his team’s chances, Rasheed said they are determined to reach the main rounds. “We have enough experience in Misbah, Saeed Ajmal, Asad Ali and Ehsan Adil and we will do our best to reach the main rounds.” - AFP

R E V I V I N G T I E S

Misbah stands in Zimbabwe’s way

HARARE: Pakistan captain Mis-bah-ul Haq stood fi rm as his side lost fi ve wickets chasing victory on the fourth day of the second Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club yesterday.

Set 264 to win, Pakistan were 158 for fi ve at the close of play, set-ting up a tense last day with Zim-babwe having a realistic chance of sharing the series and earning a rare victory against one of cricket’s major nations.

Misbah was unbeaten on 26 and will resume batting today with wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal (17 not out), with Pakistan needing another 106 runs to win.

Pakistan made an aggressive start to the chase after bowling out Zimbabwe for 199, breaking a trend of slow scoring on a wear-ing, cracked pitch. But they were forced to become more cautious

as the Zimbabwe bowlers struck at regular intervals.

First-change bowler Tendai Chatara made a crucial break-through when he dismissed Mo-hammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali in

quick succession to reduce Paki-stan to 46 for two in the 12th over.

Opening batsman Manzoor Ahmed stroked his way to his sec-ond half century of the match, hit-ting 11 fours in an innings of 54 be-

fore he was caught at short leg off off -spinner Prosper Utseya.

That brought Misbah in to join fellow veteran Younis Khan but Pakistan suff ered a huge blow when Younis was bowled for 29,

shaping to play left-armer Brian Vitori to leg and losing his leg stump. Misbah might have given a diffi cult chance when he was on 14, with wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami diving far to his

right but unable to hold on to a low defl ection.

But Mutumbami made no mis-take when Asad Shafi q tried to cut Utseya and top-edged the ball into the wicketkeeper’s gloves. — AFP

Set 264 to win,

Pakistan were 158

for fi ve at the close

of play, setting up a

tense last day with

Zimbabwe having a

realistic chance of

sharing the series

STEMMING THE SLIDE: Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul Haq, centre, Adnan Akmal, left, walk off the pitch along with Zimbabwe’s skipper Brendan Taylor and Malcolm Waller at the end of the fourth day’s play of the second Test match at the Harare Sports Club yesterday. – AFP

Zimbabwe 1st innings 294 Pakistan 1st innings 230 Zimbabwe 2nd innings (overnight 121 for 4) B Taylor c A Ali b R Ali 27 V Sibanda c A Akmal b R Ali 10 M Waller c K Manzoor b S Ajmal 3 E Chigumbura c A Akmal b J Khan 3 R Mutumbami c A Rehman b S Ajmal 29 T Chatara c A Akmal b R Ali 1 B Vitori (not out) 0 Extras: (b-3, lb-11, w-5) 19 Total: (all out, 89.5 overs) 199 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-117, 3-121, 4-121, 5-136, 6-149, 7-156, 8-177, 9-199.Bowling: Junaid Khan 19-6-37-1 (w-1), Rahat Ali 24.5-5-52-5, Saeed Ajmal 22-7-56-2, Abdur Rehman 24-5-40-2. Pakistan 2nd innings K Manzoor c Waller b Utseya 54 M Hafeez c Vitori b Chatara 16 Azhar Ali b Chatara 0 Younis Khan b Vitori 29 Misbah-ul Haq (not out) 26 A Shafi q c Mutumbami b Utseya 14 Adnan Akmal (not out) 17 Extras: (nb-1, w-1) 2 Total: (5 wkts, 49 overs) 158 Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-46, 3-90, 4-100, 5-133.Bowling: Panyangara 10-2-32-0, Vitori 12-2-55-1 (w-1), Chatara 13-2-29-2 (nb-1), Utseya 13-2-40-2, Masakadza 1-0-2-0.

S C O R E B O A R D

BMARKE

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

DELL SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE $25B BUYOUTDell shareholders approved a proposal led by company founder Michael Dell to take the iconic computer company private as it attempts to navigate a fast-changing technology market. >B3

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SONY HOLDS XPERIA Z1 JAPAN PREMIEREA member of the media tries out a Sony Xperia Z1 smartphone mounted with a lens-style digital camera Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 after a news conference in Tokyo, yesterday. Sony is betting its Xperia Z1 handset will propel it to No. 3 in the smart-phone market, leaping from seventh place by vaulting past competitors such as LG Electronics and Lenovo Group. — Bloomberg News

US retail sales tick higher in AugustNEW YORK: US retail sales edged higher in August at a weak-er than expected pace, led by auto and home furnishing sales, offi cial data released yesterday showed. Retail sales, which re-fl ects a key component of con-sumer spending that is the bul-wark of the US economy, rose 0.2 per cent in August from July, the Commerce Department said.

The increase was half the 0.4 per cent rise expected by ana-lysts. But the department revised upward the July reading to 0.4 per cent from an initial estimate of 0.2 per cent. Excluding sales of motor vehicles and equipment, retail sales rose a mere 0.1 per cent in August, a marked slow-down from the revised 0.6 per cent gain in July.

Mixed reportTotal retail sales in August were up 4.7 per cent year-over-year. The mixed report, showing a weak August but a stronger July, was the last signifi cant piece of economic data ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day mon-etary policy meeting that starts on Tuesday. The Fed is widely expected to announce a pullback in its massive monetary stimulus programme on Wednesday.

The central bank has said it will taper the $85 billion a month asset-purchase programme if the economy continues to show

broad improvement. Higher pay-roll taxes, limited job gains and restrained income growth are discouraging consumers, whose spending accounts for about 70 per cent of the economy. Yes-terday’s report is one of the last pieces of data before next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, at which policy makers will con-sider whether to dial back record monetary stimulus.

“The consumer continues to tag along slowly but surely,” said Eugenio Aleman, a senior econo-mist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wells Fargo economists are the top forecasters of retail sales in the last two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“We have to see better job growth, better income growth,” he further added. Stock-index futures were little changed after the fi gures, with the contract on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December rising less than 0.1 per cent to 1,678.4 at 8:48am in New York.

Estimates of the 85 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 0.2 per cent to 0.9 per cent after a previously report-ed 0.2 per cent increase in July.

Eight of 13 major categories showed increased sales last month, led by auto dealerships, electronics outlets and furniture stores. — Agencies

E C O N O M Y

Twitter announces plans for public stock off ering

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK: Twitter has fi led for an initial pub-lic off ering with US regulators, the company said on Thursday, taking the fi rst step toward what would be Silicon Valley’s most anticipated debut since Facebook’s last year.

The impending IPO of the mi-croblogging phenomenon ignited a competition among Wall Street’s biggest names for the prestige of managing its coming-out party. Goldman Sachs is lead under-writer, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, which is a major coup for the Wall Street bank.

Twitter fi led for an IPO confi -dentially under a 2012 law intend-ed to help emerging corporations with less than $1 billion in revenue go public.

Seven-year old Twitter, which allows users to send out streams of 140-character messages, has become an indispensable tool to governments, corporations and celebrities seeking to communi-cate with their audience, and for individuals seeking both news and entertainment.

Chief Executive Dick Costolo has for years waved off sugges-tions it intended to go public, say-

ing the company remained fl ush with cash. Facebook’s misman-aged 2012 debut and subsequent share-price plunge also chilled the consumer-dotcom IPO market.

Facebook, however, has clawed its way back to its $38 IPO price

in July, and the stock is at a record high after touching $45 this week.

Twitter, which has been valued by private investors at more than $10 billion, should break even this year and is on track for 40 per cent annual growth at a $1 billion an-

nual revenue run rate, Max Wolff of Greencrest Capital estimated.

“It’s completely conquered mo-bile. It has an enormous social net-work. It’s becoming a key utility as a second screen to TV and it’s liter-ally the fi rst draft of history,” Wolff said.

“Normally a company like Twit-ter would have been public for some time,” he said.

Since Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s in-ventor, dispatched the fi rst tweet from a downtown San Francisco offi ce in March 2006, the service has grown into a worldwide phe-nomenon with more than 200 million regular users contributing more than 400 million posts a day.

The company makes money by inserting paid, targeted ads that resemble ordinary, user-generated content. Twitter’s success with its advertising model created a new paradigm for mobile advertis-ing and prompted Facebook last year to adopt a similar ad product, called Sponsored Stories. — Reuters

Twitter fi led for an IPO confi dentially under a

2012 law intended to help emerging corporations

with less than $1 billion in revenue go public

Eurozone fi nance ministers warn against complacency BRUSSELS: Eurozone fi nance ministers warned against com-placency yesterday as the econ-omy recovers from a record re-cession, insisting the return to growth does not mean that pain-ful reforms can be relaxed.

The bailed-out countries es-pecially must stick to their tar-gets, with no compromise, even though it is expected some such as Greece need further help. “The economic outlook is improving,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the group of 17 euro fi nance min-isters after a meeting in Vilnius.

A return to growth after an 18-month recession is welcome, Dijsselbloem told a press confer-ence, but unemployment stuck at 12 per cent “is still too high”.

“We need to carry on with all our policies with strong resolve,” he said, citing controversial re-forms which allow Brussels to vet national budgets before approval to ensure they meet EU rules on the public defi cit and debt.

“Complacency ... is simply a

luxury we cannot aff ord,” EU Eco-nomic Aff airs Commissioner Olli Rehn commented. Dijsselbloem said the Eurogroup of fi nance ministers would hold an addition-al meeting on November 22 to re-view the draft budgets submitted to the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm which will po-lice the system.

Nearly all member states have breached EU defi cit and debt rules by a wide margin, made worse by the costs of the debt cri-sis, especially the rescue of failed banks, a major talking point at the meeting.

Making progressDijsselbloem said the eurozone was making progress toward a ‘Banking Union,’ the new regula-tory regime meant to prevent a repeat of the crisis.

A key step was taken Thursday when the European Parliament approved setting up the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the fi rst pillar of the new system which will be followed by a Single Reso-lution Mechanism to wind up failed banks.

After that will come a Deposit Guarantee System to reassure de-positors their money is safe, even at times of stress.

“Work on all the legs of the Banking Union are on track,” Di-jsselbloem said. — AFP

E U R O P E A N U N I O N

IPO TWEET: A tweet from Twitter announcing its IPO is shown in this photo illustration in Toronto, on Thursday. — Reuters

Jeroen Dijsselbloem. — Bloomberg

fi le picture

Gold prices may dip below $1,000/ounce

SINGAPORE: Gold is poised to extend declines as the US Federal Reserve withdraws stimulus and economic data improve, according to Goldman Sachs Group, which says that there’s a risk that bullion may drop below $1,000 an ounce. Futures retreated in New York.

While debt-ceiling discus-sions in the US and the Syrian crisis may support bullion in the near term, gold will resume its decline into next year, Jeff rey Currie, head of commodities re-search, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television yester-day. The bank’s target for 2014 is $1,050, and the commodity may overshoot to the downside, Currie said in Singapore. Gold futures haven’t traded below $1,000 since October 2009.

Bullion has dropped 22 per cent this year as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value, the US economy im-proved and stocks and the dollar rallied. — Bloomberg News

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

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FEATURES AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

The inspired Pepsi Challenge marketing campaign of the 1980s was my childhood introduction to one of the fundamentals of scientifi c

inquiry: the double-blind experiment. In a world beset with soft drink advertising, how could you really know which soda you liked best? Clearly what made sense was to put prejudice and branding aside, don a blindfold, and focus on pure fl avor.

It was one of the greatest marketing coups of all time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pepsi steadily gained on Coke in terms of market share. Characters in the ads always picked Pepsi, of course, but so did most people who tried it in real life — the sweeter taste was more appeal-ing. By 1983, Pepsi was outselling Coke in supermarkets, leaving Coke dependent on its larger infrastructure of soda ma-chines and fast food tie-ins to preserve its lead. That was a success in its own right. But even better, Pepsi forced Coke into an infamous business blunder. Faced with eroding market share, Coke began a series of its own internal taste tests aimed at de-veloping a superior product.

Thus was born the dread New Coke, a sweeter cola reformulated to best both Pepsi and the classic formulation of Coke in blind taste tests.

The backlash was fast and furious, with over 400,000 letters of complaint pour-ing in to the company. Despite declining market share, Coke was still by far the market leader over Pepsi — and the com-pany’s millions of loyal customers weren’t looking for a new fl avor. Pepsi recorded the fastest year-on-year sales growth in the company’s history during New Coke’s fi rst month, while a consortium of Coca-Cola bottlers decided to sue the company for changing the product.

But then Coca-Cola’s senior leadership did something tough: They admitted that they were wrong. And they executed a strategic pivot that’s kept them on top of the rivalry ever since. They reintroduced the original formula under the name “Coca-Cola Classic” and sold it in parallel with New Coke for a while. Over time, the “new” Coke was phased out, and Coca-Cola Classic became just, well, Coke once again — a product so culturally iconic that across a signifi cant swath of the United States it serves as a generic term for what decent people call “soda” and Midwest-erners call “pop.”

For the past 25 years, Coke advertising has focused on the brand fi rst and fore-most. The soda is a shared experience that’s supposed to remind you of friend-ship, family, adorable bears and other

fuzzy associations. And it’s worked great. According to industry statistics compiled by Beverage Digest, Coke owns 17 per cent of the American market for carbon-ated soft drinks. The next most popular choice is Diet Coke with 9.4 per cent. Pep-si languishes in third place at 8.9 per cent. Though it’s the fl agship brand of a diverse beverage and snack company with over $65 billion in revenue, Pepsi is a defi nite loser in the popularity sweepstakes.

Quintessential example Pepsi is a quintessential example of a “challenger brand” that’s seeking an edge against a dominant, iconic fi rm. Market-ing has often emphasised the idea of Pepsi as newer or more youthful — “the choice of a new generation” — as a way of turning its second-place status into an advantage. But Pepsi works as such a great example of a challenge because despite decades of eff orts, none of its diff erent slogans or logos or celebrity endorsements has ever put it in fi rst place.

It’s a frustrating place for the company to be, because the Pepsi Challenge wasn’t just an ad gimmick. It really is true that blind taste tests suggest that people like it better than Coke. Yet people keep buying more Coke. One theory of this “Pepsi Par-adox,” described by Lone Frank in Scien-

tifi c American, is that we should take the Pepsi Challenge at face value. Coke’s vic-tory is a triumph of branding over fl avor, and a clear sign that consumer companies should invest lots of money in advertis-ing. Researchers intrigued by the paradox have suggested that Coke’s ads actually rewire the human brain.

When Read Montague of Baylor Col-lege Medicine performed a version of the Pepsi Challenge with subjects hooked up to an fMRI machine, he found something interesting. In blind taste tests, most people preferred Pepsi, and Pepsi was as-sociated with a higher level of activity in an area of the brain known as the ventral putamen, which helps us evaluate diff er-ent fl avors. By contrast, in a non-blind test, Coke was more popular and was also associated with increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex.

Montague’s interpretation: This pre-frontal activity represented the higher-thinking functions of the brain associat-ing the soda with ad campaigns and, in eff ect, overriding the taste buds.

But perhaps this is wrong. Felix Salmon notes that in blind taste tests of wine, peo-ple almost invariably prefer sweeter va-rieties. This hardly means sweeter wines are always better — and Pepsi is sweeter than Coke. On this view it’s actually Pepsi

that scored the marketing triumph, by convincing people that a blind taste test represents the true mark of soda fl avor. Likewise, the idea that Coke triumphs be-cause of ads rather than fl avor has trouble explaining the failure of New Coke. New Coke had the same ads behind it as old Coke, but was specifi cally engineered to beat Pepsi in taste tests.

But taste tests consist of relatively modest sips, and Americans don’t drink tiny sips of soda. We drink whole cans of soda. We drink 20-ounce bottles. We drink Big Gulps at 7-Eleven. We drink sodas so large that Michael Bloomberg wants to make them illegal.

Serious soda drinkers consume mul-tiple servings per day, every day of the week. And while we want something sweet, we don’t necessarily want that kind of long-term relationship with something too sweet.

That’s why New Coke could succeed in a lab but fail in the marketplace. The Pepsi Challenge is a great marketing gim-mick but not a viable path to displacing the leading brand. Some rivalries come down to the fundamentals. Coke just has a fl avor that most people like better, and decades of brand-on-brand combat can’t change that. — Matthew Yglesias / Washington Post-

Bloomberg News

For the past 25 years, Coke advertising has focused on the brand fi rst and foremost. The soda is a shared experience that’s

supposed to remind you of friendship, family, adorable bears and other fuzzy associations

B3S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

MARKETDell shareholders okay founder’s proposal to take company private

TEXAS: Dell shareholders have approved a proposal led by com-pany founder Michael Dell to take the iconic computer company pri-vate as it attempts to navigate a fast-changing technology market.

The proposal, worth about $25 billion, won an unspecifi ed major-ity of votes from the holders of Dell stock, Dell said in a statement.

The buyers consortium sweet-ened the deal in recent weeks in response to criticism from activ-ist Carl Icahn and others, who had complained their off er underval-

ued the company. The deal comes against a back-

drop of profound change in the technology sector with the rise of mobile technology and clears the way for Michael Dell and partner investment fi rm Silver Lake to transform the company away from the glare of public markets and the need to wow investors with great quarterly results.

“In taking Dell private, we plan to go back to our roots” of entre-preneurialism, Michael Dell told reporters on a conference call.

“We stand on the cusp of the next technological revolution. The forces of cloud, big data, mobile and security are changing the way people live, businesses operate and the world works, just as the PC did almost 30 years ago.”

Under the terms of the transac-tion, Dell shareholders will receive $13.75 in cash for each share of Dell common stock, plus a special cash dividend of 13 cents per share. The total transaction is valued at about $24.9 billion. Dell shares closed unchanged at $13.85.

Voting systemThe buyers improved their off er in August, adding at least $350 mil-lion in exchange for a modifi cation to the shareholder voting system so that only votes cast would be counted. Previously non-voting shares would have been counted against the buyout.

Icahn on Monday continued to

criticise the proposal as underval-uing the company, but signalled an end to his campaign to derail the merger in light of the change to the voting system.

Dell chief fi nancial offi cer Brian Gladden told reporters that the company was on track to raise nec-essary fi nancing by September 23. Moody’s rated $12.5 billion in Dell debt at a subprime level with a ‘sta-ble’ outlook. Moody’s said the in-creased debt burden envisioned by the transaction “will limit Dell’s fi -nancial fl exibility” and potentially hinder its shift to “faster-growing” new businesses.

Moody’s also cited “consider-able key man risk associated with Michael Dell’s majority stake” including limitations to the board’s ability to “exert eff ective oversight” over Michael Dell and “make strategic course correc-tions if necessary.”

The transaction comes amid a

seismic shift in the technology sec-tor with the rise of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices at the expense of the once-mightly personal computer market.

Michael Dell created the com-pany from his dorm room at the University of Texas and grew the Round Rock, Texas-based com-pany into a global heavyweight known for direct service to cus-tomers and cutting out the retail middle man.

But diminishing PC sales have led to seven straight quarters of declining profi ts. And the special committee established to consid-er Dell’s strategic options gave a bleak future outlook. - AFP

Under the terms of the transaction, Dell

shareholders will receive $13.75 in cash for

each share of Dell common stock

Decision on Google EU probe outcome soonFLORENCE: Google will fi nd out within weeks whether its recent off er to European Union antitrust regulators was enough to settle an almost three-year-old EU probe into the way it op-erates its search services.

“This investigation started in November 2010, it has been diffi -cult,” Competition Commission-er Joaquin Almunia told a confer-ence in Florence, Italy, yesterday. “It’s important but it cannot be prolonged forever, so we are now in the decisive weeks.”

Almunia said “time is run-ning fast” and he will “in the coming weeks” decide whether to accept Google’s settlement off er or go forward with a for-mal complaint, known as a statement of objections, and ul-timately adopt “a possible nega-tive decision.”

Almunia said last week that Google had submitted a new proposal to address the Euro-pean Commission’s competi-tion concerns. A previous off er by Google in April to label its branded search services and show links to rival specialised search services was rejected as insuffi cient by Almunia in July.

Google rivals, including Mi-crosoft, have urged the EU to seek tougher concessions from the Mountain View, California-based company. Competitors and users were able to review Google’s proposed remedies the fi rst time around and are asking the Brussels-based European Commission to market test the latest off er as well.

“Our proposal to the European Commission addresses their” areas of concern, Al Verney, a Brussels-based spokesman for Google, said by phone today. “We continue to work with the com-mission to settle this case.”

First off erThe fi rst off er by Google sought to address concerns that the company promotes its own specialist search services, such as Google News and Google Fi-nance, copies rivals’ travel and restaurant reviews, and has agreements with websites and software developers that stifl e competition in the advertis-ing industry. The latest off er by Google isn’t public.

The EU will adopt a state-ment of objections against Google “if we consider that the new proposals are not able to limit our concerns,” Almunia said. - Bloomberg News

S E A R C H S E R V I C E S

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.comMichael Dell. – Bloomberg News

Indian pharma faces closer FDA scrutiny MUMBAI: United States inspec-tors visiting a factory in India owned by drugmaker Wockhardt in March found torn data records in a waste heap and urinals that emptied into an open drain in a bathroom six me-tres from the entrance to a sterile manufacturing area.

And when an inspector asked about the contents of unlabelled vials in the laboratory glassware washing area, a plant worker dumped them down a sink and said the contents could not be de-termined, according to a July 18 letter from the US Food and Drug Administration to Wockhardt, which makes sterile injectable drugs and various forms of insulin.

Habil Khorakiwala, chair-man of Wockhardt, last week told shareholders that the problem at its Waluj plant “is an inexcusable lapse, but we have taken swift and defi nitive action, both corrective and pre-emptive,” including ap-pointment of a new quality chief and hiring of outside consultants.

India’s drugmakers, battered by a rash of US regulatory rebukes in-cluding a record fi ne for Ranbaxy Laboratories, face closer FDA scrutiny as the agency ramps up its presence in the country.

Increased on-the-ground over-sight refl ects India’s growing im-portance as a supplier to the Unit-ed States, and should ultimately bolster quality and confi dence in Indian-made drugs.

In March, India allowed the FDA, guardian of the world’s most important pharmaceuticals mar-ket, to add seven inspectors, which will bring its staff in India to 19. In-dia produces nearly 40 per cent of generic drugs and over-the-coun-ter products. - Reuters

S U P P L Y O F D R U G S

NEW PROPOSAL Google has submitted

a new proposal to address the European Commission’s competition concerns. A previous off er by Google in April to label its branded search services and show links to rival specialised search services was rejected as insuffi cient

B4

MARKETS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

Global equity issuance may indicate market recovery

LONDON: Companies around the world are increasingly turning to equity issuance to raise capital, a sign of growing corporate and investor confi dence that could create a virtuous circle for the economy and fi nancial markets.

Both primary and secondary is-suance is picking up steam, with Twitter becoming the latest com-pany to announce plans to raise equity in an initial public off ering (IPO) on Thursday.

According to Thomson Reuters data, a total of $491.2 billion has been raised in equity capital so far this year, up 17 per cent from the same period last year.

Equity fi nancing is sometimes considered a last resort for fund-ing, as a theory known as the ‘pecking order’ states that compa-nies usually prefer internal source of funds from retained earnings and debt for raising capital.

Selling additional stock to in-vestors is also usually negative for share prices because it increases the number of shares outstanding

and reduces earnings per share. But markets are reacting warmly to those who have raised equity or said they will do so.

Tesla Motors gains 93% Shares in social networking web-site LinkedIn hit a record high on Wednesday, bringing year-to-date gains to around 120 per cent, days after it announced plans to raise ad-ditional equity capital to fund prod-uct development and expansion.

Similarly, shares of United States electric carmaker Tesla Motors have risen 93 per cent since it raised equity in May. The trend may refl ect growing approval among investors for companies tapping equity mar-kets to fi nance growth.

They may also welcome the fact that fi rms remain cautious about leverage, having spent the past few years building up cash buff ers amounting to $6.7 trillion.

What is more, increased corpo-rate fi nance activity on the back of growing confi dence could support equity markets and help econom-

ic growth in the long run. “Equity fi nancing will come back in a bull or positive equity environment,” said Bill Street, head of EMEA in-vestments at State Street.

“There’s a dilution eff ect, clear-ly, but in the context of a broader growth trajectory, the positive im-pact of having a liquidity-driven or very supportive monetary li-quidity environment behind that will be able to absorb that.”

According to law fi rm Allen and Overy, the global equity capital markets have rebounded to sit just below pre-crisis levels at $1.15

trillion in mid-August. Growth was led by the United

States, where the value of total equity issues rose 11 per cent in the year to August from the same period in 2007.

“When you look at academic literature, it tends to say that on average equity issuance does not create value. But it can be positive for share prices,” said Benjamin Melman, head of asset allocation at Edmond de Rothschild Asset management in Paris.

Funding corporate M&A Melman said a lot of capital rais-ing is related to funding corporate mergers and acquisitions, where activity is picking up after years in which deal-making took a back seat to balance-sheet repair.

“Due to a huge backlog of M&A inactivity, we think now the situa-tion is normalising. We’re going to see a lot of operations in Europe. We think it’s the beginning of a strong move in Europe and the trend has already started in the

United States.” M&A deals are certainly fl our-

ishing. European shares hit a two-year high on Thursday after Viv-endi said it aimed to decide early next year on whether to spin off its struggling French telecoms unit SFR. Telecom Italia and KPN also received takeover approaches.

Worldwide M&A activity has totalled $1.62 trillion so far in 2013, up two percent on the year, according to Thomson Reuters.

Strong balance sheet There has been a rush of capital raising in debt markets as expec-tations grow that the Federal Re-serve may start to slow its money printing, which has slashed bor-rowing costs, as early as next week. But year to date, debt fi -nancing activity is down one per cent from 2012.

Growth in equity issuance may refl ect the fact that some com-panies already fi nd it expensive to raise capital in debt markets, especially after benchmark US yields hit a two-year high of 3.01 per cent last week.

Japan —where strong refl a-tionary policy by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing up infl ation expectations — has seen a 94 per cent rise in the volume of equity off erings this year.

Sharp and Mitsubishi Motors may off er shares to the public to raise capital, possibly raising a combined $3.5 billion to trans-form their fi nances, according to media reports. Both shares prices fell after the reports , but investors may reward them. - Reuters

Both primary and

secondary issuance

is picking up

steam, with Twitter

becoming the latest

company to announce

plans to raise equity

in an initial public

off ering on ThursdayPICKING UP STEAM: Shares in social networking website LinkedIn hit a record high on Wednesday, bringing year-to-date gains to around 120 per cent, days after it announced plans to raise additional equity capital to fund product development and expansion. – Bloomberg News

Has been raised in equity capital so far this

year, up 17% from the same period last year, according to Thomson

Reuters data

$491b

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

Occidental to seek off ers for 40% stake in Mideast unit NEW YORK: Occidental Petro-leum, the largest oil producer in the continental United States, and which has operations in the Sul-tanate of Oman, has begun looking for suitors to take a minority stake in its Middle East unit for as much as $8 billion, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Stephen Chazen, chief execu-tive, has held talks with sovereign wealth funds and possible strate-gic partners for a 40 per cent stake in the Mideast business, whose value he pegs at $20 billion, said two of the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions are private. The chief executive is han-dling the talks himself and isn’t working with bankers now.

Chazen, a former investment banker, aims to lessen dependence on the Middle East while keeping funds available for capital-inten-sive projects, one of the people said. No buyer has emerged and any deal may take several months, said that person, citing the chal-lenge of transactions in the region.

Some suitors are valuing the asset at about $15 billion, 25 per cent less than Chazen, which may further slow the process, said this person. Melissa Schoeb, a spokes-woman for Occidental, didn’t re-turn calls seeking comment.

Occidental jumped 1.4 per cent to $92.30. in New York. The shares had advanced 19 percent this year through on Thursday.

Investor unrest over lacklustre returns has prompted Occiden-tal, Hess, Apache, and other en-ergy companies to pursue breakup plans and asset sales. Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey said af-ter a meeting with Chazen in May that Occidental would also con-sider selling a 25 per cent stake in its Middle East and North Africa operations. - Bloomberg News

C O R P O R A T E

Sensex declines; rupee appreciatesMUMBAI: Indian stocks fell for a second day, paring a weekly gain, after the prime minister’s economic adviser said a tight monetary policy should be maintained until the ru-pee stabilises and infl ation cools.

HDFC Bank dropped to a one-week low. Tata Steel fell for a sec-ond day. HDFC retreated 0.8 per cent, ending its biggest six-day rally since May 2009.

The S&P BSE Sensex decreased 0.3 percent to 19,732.76 at the close, with volume 29 per cent less than the 30-day average. Policy easing is dependent on a stable currency, Chakravarthy Ranga-rajan, head of Manmohan Singh’s economic advisory council, said today. The 6.7 percent rally in the rupee since Raghuram Rajan took charge as central bank governor on September 4 gives the authority a chance to reverse liquidity curbs aimed at shoring up the currency, BNP Paribas said in a report.

“Hopes of monetary easing by the RBI have been tapered,” Go-pal Agrawal, chief investment of-fi cer at Mirae Asset Global Invest-ments, said by e-mail. “There was chatter that some liquidity-tight-ening measures may be diluted.”

Rajan, who reviews borrowing costs for the fi rst time on Septem-ber 20, is under pressure to boost the currency and avoid a surge in import costs that would fuel infl a-tion. The central bank has cut the repurchase rate thrice this year to revive fl agging growth. India and Indonesia still have the highest policy rate among Asia’s biggest

economies at 7.25 per cent, ac-cording to data.

The Sensex has risen 1.6 per cent this year in rupee terms and trades for 13.9 times projected 12-month earnings, compared to the fi ve-year average of 14.1 times. The gauge has lost 12 per cent this year in dollar terms. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index trades at 10.5 times, data show.

Currency gainsIndia’s rupee completed its biggest weekly gain since October 2009 on optimism steps announced by the new central bank chief will boost the supply of dollars.

The Indian currency rose 2.8 per cent this week to 63.50 per dol-lar in Mumbai, the biggest advance since the fi ve days through Octo-ber 9, 2009, according to prices from local banks. The currency gained 0.1 per cent yesterday.

In his fi rst speech since tak-ing charge as Reserve Bank of India governor on September 4, Raghuram Rajan off ered to sell concessional swaps for lenders’ foreign-currency deposits and vowed to curb infl ation. The steps will boost India’s reserves by $10 billion, Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates.

The recent RBI policies “are near-term positives for the rupee,” Barclays analysts, including Lon-don-based Christian Keller, wrote in a report yesterday. “However, it remains to be seen whether these measures will translate into better sentiment.” - Bloomberg News

I N D I A N M A R K E T S

Top advisor cuts India’s GDP forecast NEW DELHI: India’s top eco-nomic advisor yesterday cut his growth forecast for this year to 5.3 per cent, just above last year’s decade-low expansion, but insist-ed global ratings agencies had no reason to downgrade the country.

The new forecast, while down from a previous 6.4 per cent pro-jection, is broadly in line with central bank expectations but still higher than some private econo-mists who say growth could be as low as 3.7 per cent.

The projected growth for the fi -nancial year 2013-14 is ‘still a very respectable’ level in the current global context, said C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council.

The forecast comes as policy-makers struggle to stabilise the Indian currency, which has fallen some 14 per cent against the dollar this year, hit by weak growth and a record current account defi cit — the broadest measure of trade.

Rangarajan said it was impera-tive the central bank maintain its tight monetary policy until the rupee stabilises. The rupee now is off historic lows hit last month, lifted by a spate of measures to support the currency.

He said the Congress-led gov-ernment, accused of policy pa-ralysis during most of its second term, had undertaken a string of reforms in the past year, opening up India to wider foreign invest-ment. “The rating agencies have been talking about the reforms be-ing put on the backburner. That’s no longer true. Much important legislation has been passed,” he

told a news conference. Standard & Poor’s, which has

maintained a negative ratings out-look for India, has said there is a one-third chance of a downgrade.

Rangarajan said he believed the government would meet its fi s-cal defi cit target of 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product this year, although it would be a ‘challenge’.

Current account defi citHe added the current account defi cit could be brought below the targeted $70 billion this year or 3.7 per cent of GDP from last year’s record $88.2 billion or 4.8 per cent of GDP, helped by government curbs on gold imports — a leading component of the shortfall.

“The current stance of mon-etary policy has to continue until stability in the rupee is achieved,” Rangarajan said, adding that the timeframe for that remained unclear. “Thereafter, if the cur-rent trend in the moderation of wholesale price infl ation contin-ues, which is in fact expected, the monetary authority can switch to a policy of easing.”

The rupee has performed worse than most Asian currencies this year as slowing growth and a re-cord current-account defi cit hurt confi dence in an economy with 1.2 billion people.

Governor Raghuram Rajan, who reviews interest rates for the fi rst time next week, is under

pressure to support the currency and avoid a surge in import costs that would fuel price pressures.

“India is likely to see a pro-tracted slow growth recovery this year,” said Tirthankar Patnaik, a strategist at Religare Capital Mar-kets in Mumbai.

“Odds are stacked against Ra-jan lowering the rates.”

India and Indonesia have the highest policy rate among Asia’s biggest economies at 7.25 per cent, according to data.

Concerns over infl ation, the rupee’s fall and industrial out-put that dipped in May and June prompted Standard Chartered last month to cut India’s econom-ic growth forecast. - Agencies

E C O N O M Y

The new forecast,

while down from

a previous 6.4%

projection, is broadly

in line with central

bank expectations but

still higher than some

private economists who

say growth could be as

low as 3.7%NEGATIVE TREND: C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minis-ter’s Economic Advisory Council. said that the projected growth for the fi nancial year 2013-14 is ‘still a very respectable’ level in the current global context. – Bloomberg News

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONB LIFE & STYLE S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

R ecent newspaper articles have argued that psychiatry is a “semi-science” whose practi-tioners cannot base their treatment of mental disorders on the same empirical evidence as physicians who treat disorders of the body can.

The problem for many people is that we cannot point to the underlying biological bases of most psychiatric disorders. In fact, we are nowhere near understanding them as well as we understand disorders of the liver or the heart.

But this is starting to change.Consider the biology of depression. We are beginning to dis-cern the outlines of a complex neural circuit that becomes disordered in depressive illnesses. Helen Mayberg, at Emory University, and other scientists used brain-scanning tech-niques to identify several components of this circuit, two of which are particularly important.

One is Area 25 (the subcallosal cingulate region), which mediates our unconscious and motor responses to emotional stress; the other is the right anterior insula, a region where self-awareness and interpersonal experience come together.

These two regions connect to the hypothalamus, which plays a role in basic functions like sleep, appetite and libido, and to three other important regions of the brain: the amyg-dala, which evaluates emotional salience; the hippocampus, which is concerned with memory; and the prefrontal cortex, which is the seat of executive function and self-esteem. All of these regions can be disturbed in depressive illnesses.

In a recent study of people with depression, Mayberg gave each person one of two types of treatment: cognitive behav-ioural therapy, a form of psychotherapy that trains people to view their feelings in more positive terms, or an antidepres-sant medication. She found that people who started with below-average baseline activity in the right anterior insula responded well to cognitive behavioural therapy, but not to the antidepressant. People with above-average activity re-sponded to the antidepressant, but not to cognitive behav-ioural therapy. Thus, Mayberg found that she could predict a depressed person’s response to specifi c treatments from the baseline activity in the right anterior insula.

These results show us four important things about the biol-ogy of mental disorders. First, the neural circuits disturbed by psychiatric disorders are likely to be very complex.

Second, we can identify specifi c, measurable markers of a mental disorder, and those biomarkers can predict the out-come of two treatments: psychotherapy and medication.

Third, psychotherapy is a biological treatment, a brain therapy. It produces lasting, detectable physical changes in our brain, much as learning does.

And fourth, the eff ects of psychotherapy can be studied

y

f

f

LIF

THENEW

SCIENCE OF

MIND

empirically. Aaron Beck, who pioneered the use of cognitive behavioural therapy, long insisted that psychotherapy has an empirical basis, that it is a science. Other forms of psycho-therapy have been slower to move in this direction, in part because a number of psychotherapists believed that human behaviour is too diffi cult to study in scientifi c terms.

Any discussion of the biological basis of psychiatric disor-ders must include genetics. And, indeed, we are beginning to fi t new pieces into the puzzle of how genetic mutations infl u-ence brain development.

Most mutations produce small diff erences in our genes, but scientists have recently discovered that some mutations give rise to structural diff erences in our chromosomes. Such dif-ferences are known as copy number variations.

People with copy number variations may be missing a small piece of DNA from a chromosome, or they may have an extra piece of that DNA.

Matthew State, at the University of California, San Fran-cisco, has discovered a remarkable copy number variation involving chromosome 7. An extra copy of a particular seg-ment of this chromosome greatly increases the risk of autism, which is characterised by social isolation. Yet the loss of that same segment results in Williams syndrome, a disorder char-acterised by intense sociability. This single segment of chro-mosome 7 contains about 25 of the 21,000 or so genes in our genome, yet an extra copy or a missing copy has profound, and radically diff erent, eff ects on social behaviour.

The second fi nding is de novo point mutations, which arise spontaneously in the sperm of adult men. Sperm divide every 15 days. This continuous division and copying of DNA leads to errors, and the rate of error increases signifi cantly with age.

Our understanding of the biology of mental disorders has been slow in coming, but recent advances like these have shown us that mental disorders are biological in nature, that people are not responsible for having schizophrenia or de-pression, and that individual biology and genetics make sig-nifi cant contributions.

The result of such work is a new, unifi ed science of mind that uses the combined power of cognitive psychology and neuroscience to examine the great remaining mysteries of mind: how we think, feel and experience ourselves as con-scious human beings. This new science of mind is based on the principle that our mind and our brain are inseparable.

In years to come, this increased understanding of the physi-cal workings of our brain will provide us with important in-sight into brain disorders, whether psychiatric or neurologi-cal. But if we persevere, it will do even more: it will give us new insights into who we are as human beings. –Eric R. Kandel/The New

York Times News Service

CAN

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ENTERTAINMENTB6 S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

HAROLD Wilson, who was the British prime minister for two separate terms, said, “I believe the greatest asset a head of state can have is the ability to get a good night’s sleep.”

It does not pay to be sleepy at the bridge table, which is why many players consume caff einated drinks. Today’s deal, though, is about declarer making the most of his assets, the cards.

South is in four hearts. West leads a low spade. How should declarer proceed?

North gets three points for his singleton, so it is easily worth three hearts. (His hand also has eight losers.)

The North hand has few assets, but it is important to make the most of them. South must not call for dummy’s spade king at trick one. It is so unlikely that West is underleading the ace. And, here, if East does take the fi rst trick with his ace over dummy’s king, declarer will lose two spades, one heart and one diamond.

Instead, let dummy play low. After East wins the fi rst trick with his 10, what does he do next?

If East cashes the spade ace, declarer will discard his diamond loser on the spade king, ruff his club three on the board, and lose only two spades and one heart. Suppose East does not take his ace, shifting to a club. Then declarer wins in his hand; draws one round of trumps; cashes his two top clubs, sluffi ng dummy’s remaining spades; and, to get communication between the two hands, plays two rounds of diamonds. Whatever happens now, South can draw a second round of trumps, ruff his last spade on the board, ruff a diamond in his hand, and ruff the club three to get home.

— By Phillip Alder

Do not waste “useless” assets

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

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to p

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puzz

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WITH LOVE1 8 3 5 6

6 8 3 9

5 9 4 2 1

2 7 6

9 4

5 2 4

7 5 9 6 8 1

3 1 9 2

2 1 4

6 5 1 3 8 9 2 4 7

4 9 7 2 1 6 5 8 3

8 3 2 5 7 4 9 1 6

7 2 5 6 9 1 8 3 4

1 4 8 7 2 3 6 9 5

3 6 9 8 4 5 7 2 1

2 8 3 4 6 7 1 5 9

5 1 6 9 3 8 4 7 2

9 7 4 1 5 2 3 6 8

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

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to extra@timesofoman.com

ESHAAL AZEEMSeptember 13, 2010

V. AKSHAYASeptember 12

DIVYA JAINSeptember 13

30 Where to do laps31 Ex-Speaker

Gingrich33 Per (abbr.)34 Rotates39 Compete in a

slalom42 Down and out44 Puts up boards45 Inbox fi ller (hyph.)

46 Baba au —47 Jumps48 Send packing49 Exceeded the

limit51 — Maria (coff ee

liqueur)52 Bruin great54 — whiz!55 Peculiar

ACROSS 1 Quantity of

fi rewood 5 Observe 9 Merchandise ID12 Gullet13 Panache14 PBS benefactor15 Bank feature16 Glued tight18 Boat-deck wood20 Heather habitats21 Huxtable player23 Reasons25 Logging tool26 Emerald Isle28 “Baseball Tonight”

network32 Pollen distributors35 Scratch or dent36 Moccasin, maybe37 Crisp cookie38 Goodall subject40 Ouch!41 Quaint lodgings43 Genufl ected46 Avignon’s river49 Where Anna met a

king50 Roof

53 Othello’s betrayer56 Boom times57 Ill-omened58 Stretched the

truth59 Billings hrs.60 Linear unit61 Yukon hauler

DOWN 1 Vaccine amts. 2 Mouths, in zoology 3 Floating platforms 4 Nerdy guy 5 Guitar part 6 Bullfi ght cheer 7 Woolen cap 8 Us, to Pogo 9 A law — itself10 Duke or count11 Heels17 Winning margins19 Sailor’s word21 Urban transport22 Draft animals23 Stoles24 Dog caller’s shout27 African-born

supermodel29 Library warning

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PLAZA 1Grand Masti (Comedy) (18+) Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani3:30, 9:30pm; CP No:815 John Day (Hindi) (Thriller) (15+) Cast: Randeep Hooda, Naseeruddin Shah, Shernaz Patel6:30pm; CP No:816PLAZA 2Shuddh Desi Romance (Hindi) (Comedy/Romance) Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput, Vaani Kapoor3:15, 8:15pm; CP No:790 Zanjeer (Action/Thriller) (PG) Cast: Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra,

Getaway (Action/Crime) (12+) Cast: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez3:00, 9:30, 11:30pm; CP No:798Percy Jackson 2 : Sea of Monsters (Adventure/Fantasy) (PG) Cast: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario5:00, 7:00pm; CP No:804Planes (3D) (Animation/Adventure) (PG) Voice Overs: Carlos Alazraqui, Dane Cook3:30, 5:30pm; CP No:810Riddick (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Kate Sackhoff 7:15, 9:30pm; CP No:779The Colony (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton11:45pm; CP No:794Kick Ass 2 (Action/Crime) (15+) Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace 2:00pm; CP No:766Zanjeer (Action/Thriller) (12+) Cast: Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt4:00pm; CP No:784Shuddh Desi Romance (Hindi) (Comedy/Romance) (PG) Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh 6:30pm; CP No:787 Percy Jackson 2 : Sea of Monsters (Adventure/Fantasy) (PG) Cast: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario9:00pm; CP No:804Riddick (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Kate Sackhoff 11:30pm; CP No:779The Colony (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton3:30pm; CP No:794

Riddick (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Kate Sackhoff 3:30, 11:30pm; CP No:780Getaway (Action/Crime) (12+) Cast: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez7:30, 9:30, 11:30pm; CP No: 799Planes (3D) (Animation/Adventure) (PG) Voice Overs: Carlos Alazraqui, Dane Cook, Stacey Keach3:30, 5:30, 7:15pm; CP No: 811 Percy Jackson 2 : Sea of Monsters (Adventure/Fantasy) (PG) Cast: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario5:30, 9:45, 11:45pm; CP No:805Kick Ass 2 (Action/Crime) (15+) Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace 4:00pm; CP No: 769Zanjeer (Action/Thriller) (PG) Cast: Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt6:00pm; CP No: 785 Pullipullikalum Attinkuttiyum (Malyalam) (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Kunchako Bhoban, Namitha8:30pm; CP No: 818

Planes (3D) (Animation) (PG) ) Voice Overs: Carlos Alazraqui, Dane Cook3:30, 5:30pm; CP No:812 Percy Jackson 2 : Sea of Monsters (Adventure/Fantasy) (PG) ) Cast: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario7:30, 9:30pm; CP No:806

Planes (3D) (Animation) (PG) Voice Overs: Carlos Alazraqui, Dane Cook, Stacey Keach11:30, 1:30, 3:30pmCP No:813 Percy Jackson 2 : Sea of Monsters (Adventure/Fantasy) (PG) Cast: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson5:30, 7:30pmCP No:807Getaway (Action/Crime) (12+) Cast: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight9:30, 11:30pm; CP No:801Kick Ass 2 (Action / Crime) (15+) Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz - Plasse12:30pm; CP No:766The Colony (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton, Kevin Zegers2:30, 11:45pm; CP No:795Riddick (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Kate Sackhoff 2:30, 4:30, 6:45, 11:45pmCP No:782Pullipullikalum Attinkuttiyum (Malyalam) (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Kunchako Bhoban, Namitha Pramod, Irshad9:00pm; CP No:820

Riddick (Action/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Kate Sackhoff 11:30pm; CP No:781Getaway (Action/Crime) (12+) Cast: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight3:30, 5:15, 7:15, 11:55pm; CP No:800Pullipullikalum Attinkuttiyum (Malyalam) (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Kunchako Bhoban, Namitha Pramod, Irshad9:00pm; CP No:819

Sanjay Dutt5:45, 10:45pm; CP No:786PLAZA 3Chennai Express (Action) (PG) CP No:692Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone5:45, 8:30, 11:00pmZanjeer (Action/Thriller) (PG) 3:15pm; CP No:786

One Direction: This Is Us (Documentary/Music) (PG) Cast: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn5:30pm; CP No:821Pullipullikalum Attinkuttiyum (Malyalam) (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Kunchako Bhoban, Namitha 7:30, 10:30pm; CP No:817

FIND-IT-ALL

PHARMACIESRound the clockAl Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334; Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666; Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635; Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra: 24503585; Ruwi 24811715Muscat RegionApollo, Al Hamriya. Tel: 24787766Muscat, A Seeb Market. Tel: 24421691Muscat, Al Khuwair. Tel: 24485740Muscat, Al Hail South. Tel: 4537080Dhofar RegionMuscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah. Tel: 23291635

HOSPITALSAl Amal Medical & Health Care Centre: 24485052Atlas Hospital: Ruwi: 24811743/ Ghubra: 24504000Al Musafi r Specialised Medical Clinic: 24706453Hatat Polyclinic LLC,Ruwi: 24563641, Azaiba: 24499269, Sohar: 2683006Al Raff ah Hospital: 24618900/1/2Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory: 24566435Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre: 24499434Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24787766, 24787780Capital Polyclinic: 24707549Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi: 24799760/1/2Capital Clinic, Seeb: 24420740Ceregem National Raak: 24485633Dr Harub’s Clinic: 24563217Elixir Health Centre: 24565802Emirates Medical Centre: 246045401st Chiropractic Centre: 24472274Hamdan Hospital: 23212340International Medical Centre LLC: 24794501/2/3/4/5Kims Oman Hospital: 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency: 24760123Lama Polyclinic, Sohar: 26751128, MBD: 24799077, Al Khuwair: 24478818Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital: 24568870Muscat Private Hospital: 24583600Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair: 24477666Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC: 22004000

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

ACCOMMODATIONAl Bahjah Hotel: 24424400Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311Al Qurum Resort: 24605945Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979Beach Hotel: 24696601Bowshar Hotel: 24491105Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660Crystal Suites: 24826100Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234Haff a House Hotel: 24707207Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123InterContinental Muscat: 24680000Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900Marina Hotel: 24711711Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565Mina Hotel: 24711828Muttrah Hotel: 24798401

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): 24519456/24519223Aerofl ot: 24704455, Air Arabia: 24700828, Air France: 24562153, Air India: 24799801, Air New Zealand: 24700732, Biman Bangladesh Airlines: 24701128, British Airways: 24568777, Cathay Pacifi c: 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 fi sh market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pmNatural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm; Thursday: 9am to 1pmMuseum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday - 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmOman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thurs: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., Muscatmuseum@baitalzubairmuseum.comOpen from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmSohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pmMuscat Gate Museum: at Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

Dhuhr 12.08pmAsr 3.35pmMaghrib 6.17pmIsha 7.28pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.37am

Sunset 6.13pmSunrise (Tomorrow) 5.53am

High tide 2.05pm 5.05amLow tide 9.43pm 10.30am

PRAYER TIMINGS

B7S AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

W E A T H E R

OMAN

Max 38Min 33

Max 34Min 29

Max 35Min 28

Max 42Min 29

Max 36Min 29Max 41

Min 26

Max 41Min 26

Max 28 Min 25

Partly cloudy skies along the coastal areas of Dhofar Governorate and adjoining mountains with chance of late night to early morning intermittent drizzle/fog over the

mountains. Mainly clear skies over rest of the Sultanate with chance of early morning low clouds or fog along the coastal areas of southeast coast Governorate of Al Wusta. Chance of convective cloud developments and thundershowers over Al Hajar mountains and adjoining areas towards afternoon associated with fresh downdraft winds.

EXPECTED WINDS: Along the coastal areas of Oman sea winds will be northeasterly to easterly light to moderate during day becoming variable light at night and southerly to southeasterly winds light to moderate over the rest of the Sultanate.SEA STATE: Moderate along the southeastern coasts with a maximum wave height of 1.5 metres and slight to moderate along the rest of Oman’s coasts with maximum wave height of 1.0 metre.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during thundershowers and fog.

Max Min

GULFAbu Dhabi 40 27Doha 38 30Dubai 40 28Kuwait 43 30Manama 37 29Riyadh 44 27

WORLDAthens 27 21Baghdad 41 24Beijing 30 12Berlin 21 14Boston 21 12Cairo 36 23Colombo 28 25Frankfurt 18 12Hong Kong 29 24Istanbul 23 17Johannesburg 31 17Kuala Lumpur 32 23Lisbon 28 19Paris 18 12Perth 18 7Singapore 30 26Tokyo 32 25Toronto 18 12

WORLD

Max 22Min 14

Max 35Min 25

Max 16Min 10

Max 34Min 27

Max 33Min 18

Max 27Min 11

Max 15Min 8

Max 30Min 25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

BORN today, you never enjoy doing things that you have to do, but you will throw yourself into any and all endeavours that you simply want to do. This means, of course, that you will be battling between “have to” and “want to” throughout much of your lifetime, and the result may bring you stress, discontentment and even sudden changes from time to time. All of this is in reaction to being bound, for whatever reason, to a line of endeavour that isn’t really for you. You know that you have a great deal to give, and have tremendous potential, but if you’re not doing something you enjoy, none of that really matters to you.

You treat people as fairly as you can, and you are always willing to give others a break when they have, for whatever reason, behaved in a manner that rubs you the wrong way. You understand that it is impossible to understand where someone has been, or what he or she is going through, and therefore you try not to judge.

Also born on this date are: Joey Heatherton, actress; Faith Ford, actress; Margaret Sanger, activist; Zoe Caldwell, actress; Sam Neill, actor; Clayton Moore, actor; Nicol Williamson, actor; Amy Winehouse, singer.

You may have to fi ll in for someone who has been called away temporarily. You must still do things in ways that come naturally to you.

VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22]

LIBRA [SEPT. 23-OCT. 22] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL[S[[S[[S[[[S[[S[S[SS[SS[S[S[S[SSSSSSSS

SCORPIO [OCT. 23-NOV. 21] S[

SAGITTARIUS [NOV. 22-DEC. 21] S[[[[[[[[[[[

AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18]

A fast pace early in the day aff ords you a little more freedom later on, when you’ll want to experiment with a new social approach.

Your primary objectives must not get lost as you deal with unavoidable distractions. You are transitioning in a key way.

Inner strength will shine today. During morning hours, focus on that which requires the most energy and commitment. Time is a key resource.

The unfamiliar provides you with an important new perspective. Your curiosity is piqued by a friend’s unexpected actions.

You may have to sacrifi ce expedience for something that is more eff ective in a lasting way. Be prepared to put in some extra eff ort.

Your own methods may confl ict with those of a friend who, for reasons you have yet to understand, may be turning into a rival.

Financial issues come to the fore. You may not feel that things are stable enough to do what you most want to do.

That which usually provides you with energy and inspiration may be in short supply, so you’ll have to look elsewhere.

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]

You want to hone your skills even further, and you can learn a great deal by watching someone you trust and admire.

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]

Someone who has been in a diffi cult position may come to you for the kind of guidance that only you can provide.

You are on the right track, and you can focus more squarely on what will require greater eff ort. You’ll be rewarded by day’s end.

LISTINGS

Source: www.met.gov.om

SATURDAY

FLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY682 RIYADH  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY916 SALALAH  00404H581 DACCA  0130BG021 DACCA-CHITTAGONG  0130PK237 KARACHI-ABU DHABI  0140ET624 ADDIS ABABA  0350WY3904 SALALAH  0350EK866 DUBAI  0355QR170 DOHA  0355GF560 BAHRAIN  0425MS930 CAIRO  0500TK778 ISTANBUL-BAHRAIN  0510WY658 BAHRAIN  0600WY412 AMMAN  0615WY122 MUNICH  0620WY904 SALALAH  0635WY638 ABU DHABI  0640WY674 JEDDAH  0640WY686 RIYADH  0640WY142 MALPENSA  0650WY114 FRANKFURT  0650WY154 ZURICH  0650WY692 DAMMAM  0705WY668 DOHA  0715WY644 KUWAIT  0720WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0730WY132 PARIS  0745FZ043 DUBAI  0800WY432 TEHRAN  0800WY602 DUBAI  0800WY274 JAIPUR  0820WY202 BOMBAY  0825WY3902 SALALAH  0900WY282 BANGALORE  0910G9114 SHARJAH  0915WY236 HYDERABAD  0925WY242 DELHI  0925WY252 MADRAS  0930EK862 DUBAI  0930EY382 ABU DHABI  0950QR166 DOHA  10109W530 TRIVANDRUM  1045IX443 COCHIN  1050WY604 DUBAI  1100WY918 KHASAB  1125WY902 SALALAH  1140WY314 CHITTAGONG  1155PK191 TURBAT  1215WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1230GF562 BAHRAIN  1230WY632 ABU DHABI  1245IX337 CALICUT  1305WY606 DUBAI  1330WY324 KARACHI  1350WY328 LAHORE  1415FZ045 DUBAI  1545WY346 ISLAM ABBAD  1545WY204 BOMBAY  1645PA450 LAHORE  1645WY246 DELHI  1700MP95 AMSTERDAM  1710WY292 CALICUT  1715WY264 LUCKNOW  1725WY3304 MUKHAIZNA  1730WY232 HYDERABAD  1740WY224 COCHIN  1745WY656 BAHRAIN  1745WY656 BAHRAIN  1745WY216 TRIVANDRUM  1800GF564 BAHRAIN  1810EY386 ABU DHABI  1815WY338 KATHMANDU  1830WY906 SALALAH  1835WY664 DOHA  1840WY3906 SALALAH  1855G9116 SHARJAH  1915FZ047 DUBAI  2020WY614 DUBAI  2020WY924 SALALAH  2030CV856 LUXORE  2100WY254 MADRAS  21109W534 COCHIN  2115AI973 DELHI  2125WY374 COLOMBO  2130BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  21306.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130QR168 DOHA  2135WY624 DUBAI  2145AI907 MADRAS  2200LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI  2225NL771 PESHAWAR  2230WY814 BANGKOK  2230LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  2235EY388 ABU DHABI  2235GF566 BAHRAIN  2240WY636 ABU DHABI  2240WY912 SALALAH  2240WY116 FRANKFURT  2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY  23109W540 BOMBAY  2315QR172 DOHA  2325WY654 BAHRAIN  2335WY910 SALALAH  2335WY816 BANGKOK  2340WY662 DOHA  2340WY612 DUBAI  2345WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  2345WY696 DAMMAM  2350WY648 KUWAIT  2355

SUNDAY

FLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA

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FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  0001AI986 BOMBAY  0005QR173 DOHA  00259W539 BOMBAY  0030WY685 RIYADH  0050WY811 BANGKOK  0100WY251 MADRAS  0110WY201 BOMBAY  0115WY211 TRIVANDRUM  0120WY225 COCHIN  0120WY601 DUBAI  0140WY273 JAIPUR  0145WY371 COLOMBO  0145WY267 LUCKNOW  0150WY235 HYDERABAD  0155WY115 FRANKFURT  0205WY123 MUNICH  0205WY133 PARIS  0210WY151 ZURICH  0210WY637 ABU DHABI  0215WY903 SALALAH  0220WY241 DELHI  0225WY657 BAHRAIN  0230WY667 DOHA  0235WY143 MALPENSA  0235WY341 LAHORE  0240BG022 DACCA  03004H584 CHITTAGONG-DACCA  0300TK777 BAHRAIN-ISTANBUL  0300ET625 ADDIS ABABA  0450EK867 DUBAI  0500FZ042 DUBAI  0500QR171 DOHA  0515EY385 ABU DHABI  0525NL772 PESHAWAR  0700WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  0715WY3921 JAALUNI  0725GF561 BAHRAIN  0730WY3901 SALALAH  0735WY901 SALALAH  0740WY603 DUBAI  0800WY323 KARACHI  0830FZ044 DUBAI  0840WY345 ISLAM ABBAD  0915WY253 MADRAS  0920WY291 CALICUT  0935G9115 SHARJAH  0955WY283 BANGALORE  1000WY245 DELHI  1000WY231 HYDERABAD  1010WY203 BOMBAY  1025NL769 LAHORE  1030WY605 DUBAI  1035WY905 SALALAH  1040WY311 CHITTAGONG  1040EK863 DUBAI  1045WY631 ABU DHABI  1045WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  1045EY383 ABU DHABI  1050QR167 DOHA  1115WY3303 MUKHAIZNA  1115WY917 KHASAB  11409W533 COCHIN  1145WY655 BAHRAIN  1145WY331 KATHMANDU  1225WY609 DUBAI  1235IX554 TRIVANDRUM  1305GF563 BAHRAIN  1315WY645 KUWAIT  1330WY413 AMMAN  1345WY663 DOHA  1350WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1400IX350 CALICUT  1405WY405 CAIRO  1440WY907 SALALAH  1450IX818 MANGALORE  1515WY3305 MUKHAIZNA  1515WY909 SALALAH  1540FZ046 DUBAI  1630WY433 TEHRAN  1645WY675 JEDDAH  1645QR6163 DOHA  1700WY613 DUBAI  1715WY623 DUBAI  1805QR165 DOHA  1825WY911 SALALAH  1840WY647 KUWAIT  1850WY681 RIYADH  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855WY695 DAMMAM  1930WY653 BAHRAIN  1935WY635 ABU DHABI  1940WY661 DOHA  1950WY3905 SALALAH  1950G9117 SHARJAH  1955TG508 KARACHI-BANGKOK  2005WY611 DUBAI  2045WY915 SALALAH  2100FZ048 DUBAI  2105WY825 KUALA LUMPUR  21159W529 TRIVANDRUM  2230KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM  2230WY673 JEDDAH  2235QR169 DOHA  2235WY817 BANGKOK  2240WY3903 SALALAH  22456.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300UL206 COLOMBO  2305AI974 DELHI  2310GF567 BAHRAIN  2325EY381 ABU DHABI  2330LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  2335LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT  2345

A I R L I N E S

B8

EXTRAS AT U R DAY, S E P T E M B E R 14 , 2 0 1 3

Does anyone exactly know what skipping breakfast might be doing to our bodies?

I eat breakfast every morn-ing — usually a bowl of Grape-Nuts with fruit, pecans, and a splash of goat’s-milk yoghurt. See

how virtuous I am? My dietary habits have been endorsed by the leading gurus of good health: The Mayo Clinic (US) says that morn-ing meals reduce hunger and stave off obesity; so do Dr Oz and Web-MD, and the editorial page of The New York Times. According to the surgeon general, having a sensi-ble meal to start your day “may be important in achieving and main-taining a healthy weight.” Cheer-leading for Cheerios has even made its way into the nation’s highest kitchen — in the Obama household, skipping breakfast is not allowed.

The pro-breakfast lobby has only gotten stronger in the past few months. In June researchers at the University of Minnesota published an analysis of 18 years of survey data from 3,600 young adults and showed that people who had breakfast every day gained 4 pounds fewer, on average, than habitual breakfast-skippers. The eaters were also at lower risk for obesity, hypertension and diabetes. In March another team found similar results among Ma-laysian adolescents, adding to a long list of cross-cultural confi r-mations that breakfast is, in fact, the most important meal of the day. The same eff ect has been studied in Asia and in Europe, in children and in grown-ups, and the answer always seems to be the same: The more regularly you eat breakfast, the slimmer you’ll be.

The mere fact of this asso-ciation doesn’t tell us very much about what breakfast really does, of course, and it’s possible that the

case for eggs and toast has been overblown. A study published re-cently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition starts with this simple fact — that in spite of all these association studies, no one knows exactly what skip-ping breakfast might be doing to our bodies. The study goes on to make a disturbing claim: Scholars in this fi eld of inquiry — breakfast science — have been fudging facts and misinterpreting the science. The literature shows signs of re-search bias.

That doesn’t mean any of these studies is fraudulent or dubious. There certainly is a link between skipping meals and getting fat, but Andrew Brown, a nutritionist at the University of Alabama at Bir-mingham and lead author of the new critique, points out that large surveys of people’s diets and their health are at most suggestive.

As a breakfast-eater, for ex-ample, I’m more likely to work out than other people. At least that was the fi nding of a break-fast study from 2008, which also found that breakfasters tend to be rich and white, and less likely to indulge in cigarettes and alcohol. Any of these factors might pro-tect someone from obesity and

diabetes, so it’s hard to know what role might be left to eating break-fast. There are other confounds, too: People with lousy sleeping schedules may have less time for making pancakes. So what makes them fat — missing breakfast or not getting a good night’s rest? Here’s another: People who are trying to lose weight often make a point of missing meals. The fact that they’re on a diet, though, sug-gests that they’ve been gaining pounds, not shedding them. Does skipping breakfast make them fat, or do people who are getting fat choose to skip breakfast?

Such questions will never get a thorough answer if we’re stuck with the sorts of studies that have been done so far, in which large groups of people are sur-veyed about their eating habits, then weighed and measured over time. Indeed, Brown and his co-authors in Birmingham show that research on breakfast and obesity has been stagnating in this phase for many years. They considered 58 studies of the question, con-ducted in 30 countries starting in the early 1990s. Then they pooled the data as it accumulated and plotted the strength of the as-sociation between breakfast and

obesity as it developed over time. (With each new study published, the link became more certain, since there were more data points in the cumulative analysis.)

For many years scientists have known the association between breakfast and body weight. Yet they’ve continued to replicate the fi nding instead of doing follow-up work — in the form of randomised, controlled trials — that might ex-tend our knowledge further.

What accounts for this redun-dancy? It’s mostly to do with cost, says Mark Pereira, a University of Minnesota researcher who published the most recent as-sociation study on breakfast and obesity in June. At this point such research may not advance the state of knowledge very far, but it’s cheap to do.

By drawing on an existing data set — the Framingham Heart Study, for example, or CARDIA — a scholar can fi nish an analysis for a few thousand dollars. Pereira would like to follow up his work with a randomised experiment in which subjects are assigned to breakfast and no-breakfast groups, then followed for two months. That would give a better sense of whether breakfast really prevents weight gain, but Pereira would need a $2 million or $3 mil-lion grant to make it happen and several years of research time.

Still, it might not be such a good idea to wait around for better evi-dence. Eating breakfast may not really help to keep you thin, but there isn’t any evidence that it makes you fat. It’s also possible that breakfast improves cogni-tive abilities and mood in kids and teenagers. So what’s the harm in trying, just in case it works? - Daniel

Engber/The Washington Post

THE BREAKFAST DILEMMA

Eating breakfast may not really help to keep you thin,

but there isn’t any evidence that it makes you fat.

It’s also possible that breakfast improves cognitive

abilities and mood in kids and teenagers. So what’s

the harm in trying, just in case it works?

Hosting Bigg Boss is uphill task: Salman THE SEVENTH season of Bigg Boss is ready to hit the tube to-morrow and Salman Khan is all set to take up the host’s seat for the fourth consecutive year. But he confesses that hosting is an uphill task, as he has to do things that he doesn’t enjoy doing. Bigg Boss - 7 will go on air on Colors and will see as many as 14 in-mates, including celebrities, try-ing to survive and win the title.

“As a host at times things bother me on the sets. And I am forced to take a stand, and I hate it. I don’t like to take a stand,” Sal-man said.

“If I say something to some-one, that guy has the right to give it back. It’s a diffi cult situation in which I am. It’s a diffi cult position to be in. So far we have been able to handle it,” said the 47-year-old.

Salman, who entered the small screen as the host of Dus Ka Dum, joined Bigg Boss in its fourth sea-son and has been hosting it since. The show fetches good TRPs, thanks to the heightened drama, mud-slinging, fi ghts and emo-tions that take place in the Bigg Boss house. But the Dabangg star is not buoyed by the ratings, as his motto is to do a good work. Salman said: “I only have to do my work. If the show is good, people will watch, or else even I will not see it. I don’t understand this TRP game at all, so it doesn’t bother me at all.” Box offi ce num-ber games are not his cup of tea either.

“Even with box offi ce they say Rs100 crore, Rs200 crore, but I don’t understand this Rs100 crore game at all. It doesn’t mat-ter to me. If the fi lm is good, it will do well,” said the actor whose fi lms Ek Tha Tiger, Bodyguard and Dabangg 2 had joined the Rs100 crore club.

He confessed as the host at times he lost his cool.

“Last time I lost my cool. I lost it the year before as well. I think they were disrespectful to Sanju (Sanjay Dutt who co-hosted sea-son fi ve with him). I remember that stuck in my head for two weeks and I couldn’t handle that.”

“As a person when I watch the show, I detach myself. As a host I am only there on Friday and Saturday. You go to the house as a common man. You are actually sharing your life with so many people. You behave like you are with your family, but that is your real personality.”

Every year Bigg Boss gets into controversies when the inmates indulge in acrimonious fi ghts, use bad language, etc.

When asked if it would be a clean show this time, Salman said: “It depends on who is going in. I don’t know who is going in. It’s a wow types or awe types.”

“I am sure they are going to have problems. But if they get along fi ne, tasks will be on a level that they will be forced to be bro-ken.”

At the same time, Salman praises inmates.

He said: “They (inmates) are doing a big favour by letting you in their house, lives, and personal space. It is a very big thing.”

“So much you can learn from this. It’s easy to say he or she was wrong, but when we are there in that situation, you think I would have reacted like this,” he added.

Asked if he would ever like to be in the Bigg Boss house, Salman said jokingly: “It’s diffi cult. I don’t think I want to. Not for any other reason, but I will be too entertain-ing inside and TRPs would hit the roof and other people won’t be able to hit that.” — IANS

BOLLYWOOD

Madhuri Dixit loses fatherMADHURI DIXIT’S father, Shankar R. Dixit, died yesterday morning. He was 91. “We’ll miss him but we know he has lived a full life. We thank all those who have off ered their condolences and prayers,” Madhuri said in a state-ment. The funeral was at 12.30pm at a crematorium in Oshiwada. “The actress’ father was staying with her. He had been unwell for a while and passed away at their Juhu residence in Mumbai,” Mad-huri’s manager said. Subsequently a prayer meeting will be organised in a day or two. Her contemporary Sridevi took to Twitter to off er her condolences. “Shocked to hear about your father. My condolences to the entire family. RIP Shri Dix-it,” she posted. — IANS

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Store for rent Saham Sinaya 225 sqr-mtr . Contact: 99755088

2 showrooms for rent Al Amerat behind Sultan Center. #97886169

3 BHK Flat Darsait 450/RO. Contact 99358589 / 97079146

1 BHK Flat Wadikabir 250/RO. Contact 99358589 / 95570288

2 Shops Wadi Kabir, 30 sqm / 56 sqm. Contact 99441193

2BHK fl ats available for rent com-mercial & residential purpose Ghala opposite American School. Content 24597400 between 9 A.M to 2:30 P.M and 5 P.M to 9 P.M

Fully furnished apartments for Rent in Al-Khuwair and Ghubra. Contact 95113252 or 91138757

2 BHK with split AC in Muttrah, opp Oman house. Contact 96708000

2 BHK with split AC in Bareeq Al Shatti. Contact 96708000

Luxury 6 Villas for rent in Al Khoudh. Contact 98559565

Single bedroom attached bathroom, living room in sharing available in Ghala opp to American School. Contact 98150655

Flat for rent at Qurum heights, ground fl oor, 3 bed rooms. Contact 95178930

New villa at Al Khuwair 33/ 6 bed rooms R.O 1000/- Monthly. Contact 99443834

Plot Area: 400 Mtr Sq. Barka Near Mazoon Electricity Station (Qarhat Baloosh), Shops: 6 Nos, Store: 260 Mtr Sq, One Room with Kitchen and Toilet. Co-ordination - N:2621745, E:588876. Contact No: 92165165

Villa 4 rooms + 2 hall+ Majlis + 5 toilets & servant room with split AC in Khuwair opp. Grand Mall RO 1000. Contact 99738881

Oil paintings For sale..Contact 99737812

Used furniture dining table with chairs, cooking range, microwave oven, show case (big & small). Contact 96282677

Beauty Parlour for sale Mawaleh with license. Contact 95020852

Barber shop for sale Mawaleh with license. Contact 95020852

Porta cabin sale. Contact 96432604

Well running new Coff ee shop at Hamariya for sale, with clearance. Contact 93660957

Running clinic with pharmacy for sale. Contact 95314738

Beauty Parlour for sale Contact 94062285.

Shop for sale at Sohar Falaj Al Qabail. Contact : 99103077

2 years old Ariston 4 burner cook-ing range, RO45/- , King size bed for RO 40/-. Both in perfect condition. Contact 98232794

400 sqm independent ware house space at Ghala. Contact 93731363

300 sqm independent ware house space at Ghala. Contact 93731363

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 3 C3

M.V. FOR SALE

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

2006 Model, Toyota Battery Oper-ated Excellent condition fork Lift suitable for store & rack system. Contact 99371732

Excellent condition Toyota Camry 2007 beige colour, fully automatic, single owner maintained by Toyota KM 1,18,000 for sale. Contact 99315297

Toyota Fortuner model 2012, 2.7 LT, km 17000. Contact 99350092

Toyota Yaris Saloon 2008 Auto-matic transmission manual win-dows, full company service 2800/- Neg. Contact 95277959

Infi niti M375 2011. Contact 92844996

For Sale Lexus 350Es model 2007 good condition. Contact 94480418

Dodge Charger 2012. Contact 92844996

Toyota Yaris 1.5 full option 2008, Expat driven 187000 KM, good con-dition for sale. Contact 96518020

Toyota Hilux P/up D/Cabon 4WD D-4D 2010, Toyota Avalon full Au-tomatic 2001. Honda Accord 2012. Contact 99328075

FOR SALE

AVAILABLE

Fully equipped commercial kitchen with camp & storage facilities available at Ghala Industrial area. Interested Parties may #99024519

Big two rooms for sharing opposite Al Nahda Hospital. Contact 98725208

Single bedroom fl at with A/C and car parking rent payment monthly basis. Contact 93569380

Single room for bachelor or lady, opp. Al Nahdha Hospital. Contact 92563206

Room for rent in Ruwi. 95372192

Semi furnished studio fl at is availa-ble in MBD area. Contact 99037554

Furnished room in Al Falaj area with attached balcony & Wadi Kabir for Indian bachelor/Students single. Contact 96761960

MBD new building accommodation with attached bathroom and split AC available for couple or working lady rent OMR 150 including W & E. Contact 97268031

Sharing acc. available for Execu-tive bachelor in Muttrah, near Oman house. Contact 95915399

Room bath attached furnished Wadi Kabir. Contact 99336206

Sharing accommodation available for Keralite family / bachelor near Al Nahda hospital. Contact 96040415

Room with attached bath available for Filipino. AlKhuwair 33, opposite Al Maya Supermarket. Contact 9338 2338

Sharing accommodation for Execu-tive bachelor furnished room with separate bathroom, near Pencil building Wadiakabir. Contact 99251214

Shared bachelor accommodation available in villa Rex road area, Ruwi. Contact- 99013227

Room in Al Wattyah.Contact 98910213

1 room (with AC) with separate washroom, beside Kamat Restau-rant in Al Khuwair for RO 150/-. Contact after 4 p.m on 95865170, 99381524

Sharing accommodation available in Al Khuwair (RED TAG Building). Contact : 93826090

Furnished accommodation available for Executive bachelors, near Oman House. Contact 93231403.

1BHK fl ats furnished available at Muttrah near Oman house. Contact 93231403

Furnished room in CBD area for Executive bachelors free wi-fi , non-cooking, Advance deposit. Contact 95934642

1BHK fl at at Muttrah near Oman house. Contact 93231403

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

For Sale Lancer 2008 Bought 2009, Single handed Driven 60000 kms. Contact 99636424

Kia Sorento 4wheel full option RO2000/- . Contact 98423714

Toyota Yaris 1.3 Manual 2009, 128000 km Expat Driven OMR 2400. Contact 99889215

Pajero 2003 No-1 Automatic. Contact 99384640

Toyota corolla manual 2010. Contact 96754569

BMW 740Li - Jan 2006, 145,500 km done, Golden Brown, used by top level Expat, well maintained through BMW dealer, for sale in showroom condition. Contact Pankaj – 95745434; Khalid al Balushi – 9905 6709

Range Rover sport HSE 2006 USA 97000 mile 9100/-RO. Contact 92857111

Chevrolet Captiva 2008 GCC, 20,0000 KM, 4100/-RO. Contact 97646282

BUYING/SELLING

ACC. WANTED

Furnished single room for execu-tive bachelor near Safeer hyper-market, Azaiba. Gsm 99761216

Sharing accommodation with at-tach bathroom and split A/Cavailable near Al Hassan Mosque, Wadi Kabir. Contact 99577462

Doctor Owned Lexus RX 350 excel-lent condition 2010 model km sixty thousand. Contact 99785613

Female requires an elite 1BHK fl at in Azaiba, Al Khoud or Mawaleh. Contact 93539652

NRI ONLY

3 bedroom villa for salekodaikanal, Tamil Nadu. Contact 92893243

Land for sale in Kollam Asramom 26.5 cent square plot with com-pound wall, 8.45 cent with 2 storey building in Umayanalloore near Industrial area, Ambalthumkala Ezhukone 9 cent with 2 storey building. Contact 00918086135254 / 92830626

Double Storey Villa 5 Bedrooms on 12.5 cents in Kodapana Kunnu Trivandrum for sale. Contact 99348960 between 8AM -11AM.

350 SQ MTS and plot, clear title, on 120 ft road near IIIT, Kalindipuram Allahabad, UP, India Serious buyers Contact 99236945

MATRIMONIAL

Thiyya girl, MBA, working in Dubai, Rohini, 27 seeks alliance from BTech/MBA holders working in Oman/Dubai. Contact 97270140

Sunni Muslim hand some boy Graduate, 24 years working as a Divisional Manager, well settled seeking Dini Namazi good family for suitable alliance. Contact 92876040

Hindu Nadar Tamil boy, 32 yrs, B.Com with Hospitality Management professional working as Operation Manager in Oman seeking suitable girl. Contact 95172095

Hindu Nair Girl from Aranmula doing fi nal year MCA in Kerala, Star Uthram, 165cm, DOB 5/11/88, seeks suitable alliance from well-placed/ educated Nair boys, upper middle class family. Dist. Pref. PTA/QLN/KTM/ALPY/EKM. Contact 94213773 / 98657914

PQM4 Singla boy 13.11.82, 5’11’’ B.Tech working in Muscat, fam-ily settled in Punjab India. Contact 97233074 / 95140207 Email pksingla2013@gmail.com

Kerala boy 38 years Chartered Accountant in Sultanate of Oman Hindu Nair seeking suitable alliance. Contact 97133729, E mail : kunjumonaca@gmail.com

RC Goan Boy, 44, IT Engineer, MBA-IT, seeks suitable alliance. #97139912

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact99542393

Transportation available. Contact 95714934

Transportation. Contact 93400744

Transportation. Contact 98178135

Transportation. Contact 96954496

Transportation. Contact98546606We Buy all types of Wooden Scraps. Contact ahastco123@yahoo.com , Ph: 24458759/ 98539316/ 99318152

Good Quality Wooden Kicking blocks available 1.2 mtr & 2.6 mtr length. Contact ahastco123@yahoo.com , Ph: 99318152

For transport. Contact 92548219

Transportation. Contact 99509283

Car with Graduate experienced driver. Contact +968 98267157

Transport Pick & Drop. # 97581610

Car with driver. Contact 95068976

Transportation Contact 95570429

FOR HIRE

Cranes and excavators available on hire. Contact 99209427

Party & Wedding equipment rentals. Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chafi ng Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Systems and spectacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

Crane Trailor Hiab. #99354909

25/ 50 seater Buses for rent/ leas-ing with drivers in PDO Specifi ca-tion. Contact 99839898

2 bedroom fl at near Muscat private hospital, Bausher. Monthly income OMR 300, OMR 60,000. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Running Carpentry work shop for sale or rent in Wadikabir. Contact 94107686 / 94107689

Shop for sale in Wadi Kabir two shutters. Contact 96607448

Porta cabin and Container for sale. Contact 99373256

Door with frame for sale. Contact 99208798 / 95643086

Medical complex (GP, Dental, Phar-macy) for lease or sale urgently price negotiable. Contact 92611619

Crane, 30Tons for sale. Contact 99209427

Camp for sale Including Porta - cabin, kitchen & Dining facilities with RO plant. For more information. Contact Nasser 99808067

GOOD NEWS

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain, backache, paralysis, massage, steam bath, obesity, spondylitis etc. Free consutation, Ideal Care Ayur-vedic clinic, Azaiba. # 99639695

Art of Living waves of happiness program to relax your body mind and to overcome stress through various breathing techniques. From 16th Sep to 21st Sep from 7.30 PM to 10.15 PM at lL Khuwair. Contact 94039695 / 95429685

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments &massage, ayuredic clinic AL Khuwair. Contact 24478618/ 97263637/ 97109295

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. If you would like to know more about Islam, please call: 99425598, 96050000, 99353988, 99253818, 99341395, and 99379133. For ladies: 99415818, 99321360, 99730723 Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache paralysis arthritis etc. & massage All Season (Vaidyaratnam). # 24475280 / 95371664 / 92504980

BUSINESS

Looking for Omani partner for business development services. Contact 93194825 Email: edumass4@gmail.com

C4 S AT U R D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 3

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

SITUATION VACANT

DOMESTIC HELP

MEDICAL

MISC

DRIVER

DESIGNER

ENGINEERS/TECH

ENGINEERS/TECH

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

EDUCATION

SECRETARIAL

BEAUTY

ARCHITECT /

ADMIN

INTERIOR DECORATOR

ACCOUNTANT

CATERING

Required Indian lady beautician, Al Amerat, visa & accommodations available. Contact 92059502

Ladies beautician. Email : info@sparkles-oman.com

Required urgently experienced Beautician. Contact 99467033

Wanted Filipino / Indian profes-sional beautician for saloon. Contact 99892289

Wanted experienced Cooks. Contact 95529970

Urgently required North Indian part time cook in mutrah. Contact – 99100314

Wanted Experienced Egyptian Cook. Contact 99466062

Required Continental Cook (1) 3-5 years experience. Contact +968 99364735 / 99652716

A reputed Engineering Contracting Company requires Project Manager (Piping) for Oil&Gas fi eld. BE (Mech),min 12 yrs exp in managing cross country pipelines, industrial piping etc. Thorough knowledge on HSE, QA and Environmental systems essential. Mail detailed CV to:- recruitbmen@gmail.com

Require urgent for IBN Group, candidates having 3 – 5 years of experience: Chemical Engineers, Electro-Mechanical Engineers and Store Keepers with Chemical Engineering Background. Send your resumes to info@ibnbarter.com

Urgently require A/C Technician with 3 to 5 years experience. Send CV to: Email nationalhvac@ymail.com , Fax +968 24799442

Receptions/ Dental Nurse with good English/Arabic speaking for a dental Clinic in Muscat. Contact 99785613

Wanted Doctor-MBBS-MD-with MOH license –Saham. Contact 96941772

Urgently require an Asst. Pharma-cist with or without MOH license for a Pharmacy in Barka. Contact 93353186 / 26868839

Required a Nurse for a clinic in Al Khuwair with MOH license, Full time or Part time. Send CV ntestament@hotmail.com Contact 99355095

Required Asst. Pharmacist with MOH License for a pharmacy in capital area. GSM: 9282057

Wanted GP - Male & Female for well established clinic in Barka & Mabela. Call 99754628 / 95197358.

Wanted a GP Doctor for a Clinic in Seeb. Mob. 99335216, 99726439

Urgently required PRO male or female Omani National minimum two years exp. in dealing with Govt. departments. Preferably female. Contact: 91375737 Email mian@mianandpartners.com

A leading oil & Gas company is looking for active Sales Engineer with minimum of 2 years experi-ence technical, sales market-ing with valid license. Contact 99061232 / 99853353

Building material Salesman. Contact 95856070

Sales Executive for a building material trading company, Persons with 3-5 years experience selling/ promoting Sanitary ware, Tiles, Paints to Contractors and Archi-tects, with Oman D/L. Send CV to : trend1993@yahoo.com

Marketing company requires Sales Executive salary + incentive, visa available send CV at bdmrightway@gmail.com Contact 95748080

Accountant required for a reputed company in Oman. Young candi-dates with 3-5 years experience in accounting fi eld and knowledge of Tally may forward their CV to jobs.mgc13@gmail.com, Tel: 24541755 / 92946419

A reputed construction company requires Accounts Assistant. Send C.V to azatllc@gmail.com

Malayali Housemaid required for Indian (Keralite) family in Muscat. Full time for ONE (1) month (Oc-tober) only. Contact immediately: 98988678”.

Pakistani Family living at Ghubrah south is looking for house maid. Should be resident card holder and familiar with Pakistani cooking. Contact 99101958 / 93575206

House maid required. Visa avail-able. Contact Deepak 96500750

Wanted full time Keralite House-maid with Kids experience for a Keralite Family. Will provide visa and Accommodation. Contact im-mediately to 00968 99898741

Required Primevera P6/Stadpro teacher. Contact 98686852

Required Architect for Consul-tancy offi ce. 3-5 years experience in modern design innovation & 3D drawings profi ciency. Email careerssabla@gmail.com

Offi ce Administrator required for prestigious furnishings and design company, based in Qurum. Must have three years experience with Omani administration. Must have good bookkeeping and organi-zational skills. Must have Omani drivers license. Salary and bonuses. Email : tony@materials-plus.com

Omani Staff , for shop Sales, re-ceptionist, Secretary for a building materials trading company, Persons with some experience in relevant fi eld and with good English. Please send CV: trend1993@yahoo.com

Expatriate driver with car for Om-ani family required to pick & drop children from school, middle aged person with at least 10 years clean Omani D/L. call - +968-95523416

Urgently required Quantity Surveyors (for tendering) Project Managers, Project Coordinators for a reputed construction company/ Interested candidates can send their CVs to mohamed@oasisgrace.com Contact 99881459 Fax: 24812226 Required Electrical Foreman (DIP/degree) preferably Gulf experienced, holding Oman electric license & ROP driving license. Fax or email your CVs at fax: 24505447 Email: sadanand@modernee.com Contact 99353859

Looking for an Indian well edu-cated Construction Technician with at least 5-10 years experiences in Oman, willing to start working with a newly established construc-tion company in Muscat. Contact 96961306

BE Civil Engineer with minimum 2 years Oman experience and driving license, only for immediate joining. Email CV: md@dirbasoman.com or Fax: 24495398

Wanted Land surveyor with Oman driving license, min. 3 years exp. Contact 92509170

Wanted Civil Engineer. Email almoosaengineering@gmail.com

MEP QS required for short term as-signment (One Month). Contact: Tel. 24485560 / 24486561

Required CCTV Technician with minimum 3 yrs experience. Email birdymaan@hotmail.com

Required Structural Engineer for Consultancy offi ce. 3-5 years experience in structural design & supervision. Email careerssabla@gmail.com

Italian Branded kitchen showroom URGENTLY requires dynamic INTERIOR DESIGNER with sales skills to manage showroom. info@aliscogroup.com – 97882257

Offi ce Secretary Female with 2 years experience. Send CV to: Email nationalhvac@ymail.com , Fax +968 24799442

SIT.WANTED

SIT.WANTED

SIT.WANTED

Urgently required experienced Fabricators, Welders 6G, Riggers, Grinders and Construction workers. Contact 99776471 / 95205473 Email ardharab@gmail.com

Urgently required Mobile Techni-cian (good experience), Sales staff (Indian, Filipino), Accountant M/F, Out door Sales executive, Graphic Designer M/F. Contact : 95227500 , tv_shopom@yahoo.com .

Lady cleaner. Email : info@sparkles-oman.com

Job available with a leading food stuff Company at Seeb area: Sales-men, Light Drivers- For Omani National only, Sales Supervisors, prefer having frozen food stuff experience- all nationalities. Send your CV to : thekkutt@gmail.com

Leading construction company requires Quality Assurance (QA) & quality control (QC) Electric Engineer, Personnel. Send CV to : nikunj@uniqueom.com

DRIVER

Expatriate driver for Omani family required, middle aged person with at least 10 years clean Omani D/L. Contact +968-95523416

Wanted Driver. Call - 24170076 / 98936716. Send resume: tthrteam@gmail.com.

Urgently required experienced HV Drivers with local release. Contact 99364007

Car Driver personal. Contact 96694954

Customer care, offi ce admin, female, MBA, B. Sc, fl uent in english ph : 95775221 email : rehnaarehman@gmail.com

Indian male more than 15 years gulf experience in Offi ce Coordinator and Administration with good com-puter skills and valid Oman Driving License seeks suitable placement. Contact 95149624

Qualifi ed Female HR professional with MBA(HR),BE,PGDBM. 5 years of experience seeking suitable role in HR profi le. Valid Oman D/L. Contact 94129462

ACCA 5 yrs experience seeks place-ment. Contact 95276276

Chief Accountant, 22 yrs. experi-enced, seeks immediate placement. Contact 95598477 / 99013963

Senior Accountant seeks part time job. Contact 99013963 / 98803439

Accountant South Indian 40 yrs Gulf exp 7 yrs, B.Com Tally 9 ERP. Contact 94349797

Indian male 25 yrs B.Com Computer application, 3 yrs experience in Ac-countant, Auditing, Tax calculation and accounts fi nalization on visit visa seeking suitable placement. Contact 96462686 Email: nizammadathis@gmail.com MBA (HR & fi nance), experienced, in marketing. Contact : 95775221

Accountant, offi ce admin, experi-enced. Contact : 99680178

Architect Indian female 31years B.Arch (COA) experience 5 yrs India 1year Oman currently working for a consultancy in Muscat AutoCAD, Archicad seeking immediate place-ment within 15 days. Contact 99569071

Autocad D/man, Architectural, Structural 3d, Photoshop, Gulf exp. Contact : 98225740

Pakistani female masters (M.Sc) Biology having 15 years experience of Gulf and Pakistan of teaching Biology and Chemistry, also worked as environment coordinator, seek-ing for suitable fulltime / part time placement. Contact +968 91280346 Indian female BE in Computer Sci-ence with 2 years of experience in a reputed Indian Engineering College, seeking a suitable lecturer position. Contact 95510957 Email : write2lathika@gmail.com

Indian male, 25 years BE computer science with 2 years experience as radio frequency planning Engineer with Vodafone networks & android application developer seeking a suitable opportunity.Contact 92886515 Email: deepaknir@gmail.com

Indian male, B Tech, NIT Trichy, Graduate Instrumentation & Control Engineering, having valid Omani driving license, seeking suitable openings. Contact 96760819 Email : mt.sanju@gmail.com

24 years, Engineering Graduate in ECE with 2 years exp NOC Engi-neer having certifi cations of CCNA & MCTS Looking to for suitable position in IT & Telecom Industry. Contact 99689445

Electrical Engineer male 27 yrs 4.5 yrs experience as Electrical quality head inspector in reputed heavy industry in India, China and South Korea currently in Muscat on visit looking for suitable placement. Contact 92521239 Email: electricalengineer.sk@gmail.com

Experience Indian Civil Engineer, seeking partner for new existing construction company. Contact 98315754 Email muscatjoy@gmail.com

IT Professional, Indian Male, BE Electronics & communication engi-neer having 2 years of experience in for BI/BA Technology with hands on experience in Cognos (Reporting) and Informatica (ETL) looking for an suitable opportunity. Contact 99878355

MSc IT holding Tasriya Resident visa offi ce Management experience, 8 years Administration, HR, Teach-ing, Accounting, Finance. Email asghar.rasool@gmail.com

Vehicle Mechanic / Supervisor/service incharge : Diploma Holder : having 28 years experience in Oman ,having oman D/L, Good in Arabic Language , got excellent training in Toyota Head offi ce - Japan and Bahrain , seeks suitable placement. Contact : 93214484 in Oman 0091 9900776792, 0091 9743739993

Graphic designer with Arabic & English knowledge for a printing press. Contact 99244470 Email excelpress1@gmail.com

Indian female, 24 yrs, having 3 yrs experience in Hospiatlity & HR. Presently working as Customer Care Executive in a reputed fi rm. Seeks suitable post. # 94288397, email: rajeevrajan307@gmail.com

Indian Kerala male, 23 yrs, BSC Chemistry, 4 months experience in building material shop as a Sales-man in Oman, seeking suitable placement. Contact 91290076 / 95097507.

Indian Female MBA with 3 yrs of experience in the fi eld of Busi-ness Development, HR and offi ce administration on family visa seeks immediate placement. # 99179709

Networking, Hardware and Soft-ware knowing person looking for suitable job. Contact 98141356

Male,25,ACCA fi nalist with driving license, seeking for permanent visa,1 year accounting and 2 month audit experience in audit fi rm, ex-pected salary is 300 plus, expecting audit job only. G.S.M. No. 97654769, id:abdullah.nooralam@yahoo.com

Seeking a placement Offi ce boy, Coff ee boy, Hotel boy in Oman. Contact :- 98494561

Indian male, Having 3years experi-ence for furniture Sales in Oman and 5 years experience for electron-ics and Home appliances Sales in India with Valid Oman Driving License. GSM 96148228 ,kmfi roz6@gmail.com

21 years Indian BBA (commerce) graduate with knowledge of E-Finance include tally, peach tree, Dac-Easy etc. 1+ year experience in India looking for a job kn ac-counts \ offi ce assistance contact 95601158/94282894

Male, 27, MBA specialized in mar-keting, looking for suitable position. Having valid oman driving license. Contact. 99590408, E mail. aneesteepee@gmail.com

Male Graduate 12 years experience in Oman seeks immediate place-ment as logistic coordinator/offi ce coordinator/ offi ce in charge or any suitable job. Contact 93393769

Indian Female Staff Nurse with MOH License & 5 Years of experi-ence seeks suitable placement. Contact – 93979353

Male Nurse with MOH license seeks placement. Contact 93262628, nobitjohn@gmail.com

Indian Male, 11 years experience in Oman with diversifi ed business at Managerial positions in HR, Admin, Operations & Business Develop-ment seeks placement, #99634130

Seeking a Store keeper, Market-ing Offi cer job in Oman, having 10 years job experiences with D/L. Contact: 95660533.

BE (Hons) in Electronic & Telecom-munication, Paki male with 2years technical sales experience in Mus-cat, seeking suitable placement in Oil & Gas or any electronic industry, able to design electronic circuits, well experienced in computers. Contact# 98068695

Offi cer Logistics, 11 years’ experi-ence in coordinating clearing at Ports & Border & Logistics experi-ence in construction fi eld. Holding valid ROP license. Ph93539653, sskr1981@gmail.com

Indian Male, 27 years, 5 years’ experience as a Customer/Client relation Manager in MNCs. Seeking suitable posts in Customer relations/Administration/HR. GSM: 93088407

B.Tech Mechanical,26yr Indian male having 4 yr experience in plant construction,structural fab-rication & erection in India. Cntc- 0091 9546418417, E-mail-mail2umesh 89@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 3 C5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ENGG. / TECHNICALACCOUNT. & FINANCEADMIN

DESIGNER

DRAUGHTSMAN

BSc Interior designer with 6 years in Mumbai and 2 years in Oman, seeking a suitable job for Site Co ordination. Contact +968 95796137

AutoCAD electrical draughts-man (2D) IND/M 5+years Gulf exp urgently looking for a job currently on visit visa. Contact 94459806 / 98192825

Auto cad d/man , Oman experi-enced, Arch, 3D, PH: 96722150

AutoCAD Civil Draughtsman 2D/3D IND/male 2 years Gulf experience & having Oman D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 99147961 Email: ashratalikv786@gmail.com

Pluming Draughtsman (Diploma in Mech. Eng) with 15 years experience (8 years Gulf), seeking suitable job. Contact 94070719

Electrical D/man, experienced, on visit visa. Contact :96516924

AutoCAD MEP Draftsman IND/M, 10+ yrs Gulf exp presently working in Oman seeks immediate suitable placement having Omani D/L. Contact 97697861 / 95291403

Looking for CAD Draftsman related jobs 6 years working experience in India. Also knowledge in Civil CAD Electrical CAD M/S Application Hardware and Networking Pro-gramming and Scripting and Web designing, looking for suitable job in Muscat. Contact +91 9835112958

Indian Female 23 years old, Aeronautical Engineering graduate with 1 year 6 months experience, expert in MS Offi ce tools, Technical documentation, reports and excel-lent communication skill. mail: sandhyamenon057@gmail.com

B.Tech Mechanical, 26yr Indian male having 4 yr experience in plant construction,structural fabri-cation & erection in India.Contact 0091 9546418417E-mail-mail2umesh89@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer (DME) 20 years experience including 7 years in Gulf, knowledge of steel fabrica-tion, erection, estimation and ma-chine shop. Contact - 95698781

Indian female 30 yrs, Procurement Engineer having 9+ yrs experience in EPC sector, looking suitable job. Contact 96682307 Email: bgeetha2004@gmail.com

Purchase / procurement offi cer, Gulf exp, exp in MEP Products. Contact 93243846

Electrical Engineer, Indian, Female, with 10 years experience, 4 years in consultancy fi rms in UAE seeks suitable job in Muscat. Mob: 91279796

Noor UL Huda Nasir from Pakistan searching job in Oman, MBA (MIS) in 2013 and BS Software Engineer-ing in 2009 with relevant experi-ence of one year’s full time job. Email : noor_mcpd@hotmail.com

B.Tech Mechanical Engineering with Diploma in CADD Fresher. Contact 92144704

Indian male B Tech Chemical Engi-neer, looking for suitable placement in Oman urgently. Email sarellayeshwanth@gmail.com/ vanabalaji@gmail.com

Indian female B.Tech Mechanical Engineer, presently in Salalah (vis-it), looking for suitable placement in Salalah urgently . Contact 96613978 Email divyasarella7@gmail.com

Diploma in Civil Engg, total 15 years experience, 4 years in Oman age 42 years. Contact 93101948

Land Surveyor 7 years experience 5 years in Oman know survey in-struments, handle AutoCAD for call 96531364 email : eltamam-2003@yahoo.com

B.Tech Electronic and Communica-tion one year Gulf experience. Con-tact 99757846 / 0091 9496326492

Sudanese Civil Project Engineer with 15years +5 in Oman seeks suit-able project works, consultant Offi ce supervisor, projects Omani D/L seeking suitable position. Contact 96302025 / 92123375

B.Tech (Electronics and Biomedical Engineering) and MBA (Marketing and HR) with 1.5 years experience in marketing and media fi eld. Contact 96175799 Email: aadil.azis@gmail.com

Indian male 29 years B.Tech Me-chanical Production Engineer with 4+ years experience in Mechanical Site Engineer H.VAC & Maintenance Engineering currently in Oman on visit. Contact 99343572 Email saqawathali@gmail.com

MEP Project Manager with 9 years of experience in EPC sector seeking for a suitable placement. Contact:92858543,24626827

B.Sc Engineer (Civil), 5 Yrs experi-ence with good construction skill, looking for suitable placement. Mobile: 93247929, Email: maislam03@hotmail.com

Indian Male 35 yrs, Instrumentation Engineer, DEI, NTC, NAC, ATI-EPI. 14 yrs of Instrumentation Exp. in the fi eld of Sales, Construction, Commis-sioning & Maintenance with Reputed Co’s in Oman, UAE, Qatar & India. Have Indian D/L, and Oman L/L. Seeking suitable Job, #93376354, Email: samuel.ndia@gmail.com

Male, 29 years, B. Tech in Electrical Engg having more than 5 years of experience in Electrical project Execution also having a valid Omani D/L seeking a good placement.Contact: 95583947

Service advisor, 5 years experience in Maruti Suzuki, Automobile Engi-neering. Contact-91038554, email: charancholakkil@gmail.com

B.E Civil Engineer 7 years experi-ence in Oman with valid Oman D/L, Seeks suitable placement. Contact 99612163

Part time accounts / audit services. Gsm 99761216

ARCH/ INTERIOR

DRIVERS

DRIVERS

CATERING

Indian Male 32, having over 10 yrs of experience in Finance & Accounts up-to fi nalization with complete admin knowledge, seeks suitable placement in middle man-agement. Have valid Omani D/L. Contact 99881723

Indian male 39, Senior Accounting professional, having 15+ years expe-rience in accounting, audit looking for good opening immediate joining. Contact 96675398

Chartered Accountant, Indian female 25 years, with good Knowl-edge and experience in Finance, Accounts, Audits, immediate join-ing. Contact 92530131 / 24785757 Email : mufl ihak@gmail.com

Indian female 1 year experience profi t Accounting MBA Finance, Tally, Peachtree. # 98998186.

Chartered Accountant , Indian Female 25 years , with good knowl-edge and experience in fi nance , accounts, audits. Immediate joining contact GSM : 92530131 , 24785757 Email : mufl ihak@gmail.com.

Female 33, Indian B.Com looking for suitable placement as back of-fi ce support. Contact 95256416

Accountant, Indian, with UAE & Oman working experience in ac-counts, seeks suitable position in Muscat as an Accounts Executive. Contact : 96950764.email manipv.pv@gmail.com

Indian female Accountant, having 15 years experience in Oman up to fi nalization with computer profi -ciency, seeks suitable placement. Contact 99739464

MBA Graduate currently in middle management position seeks similar position. 9 yrs work experience interested in real Estate Automotive. Contact 93690264

Accounts and administration or logistics, with 5 years of experience in Oman with valid driving license. Contact 93880414

Accounting & Finance ACCA, expe-rience 5 years. Contact 92436843

Accountant M.Com, MBA, with 7 years experience looking for suit-able placement. Email heams.mer-lin@gmail.com Contact 93029334 Indian male Accountant with 7 years experience (Expert in Tally ERP-9) seeks suitable placement. Contact 94251297 Email : milan.muscat@gmail.com

Male Accountant 30 years B.Com Graduate 8 yrs experience (4 yrs in Oman) having exposure in ERP & MS Offi ce. Contact 96956482

Jordanian Senior Accountant 11 Years Experience, Worked In Constructions, Tourism Company and Poly Clinic, Experience in Tally Erp9.Contact 96470036

Indian female MBA (fi nance) work-ing with reputed company in Mus-cat with valid Oman D/L seeking for suitable placement in fi nance /accounts. Contact 97197683

Indian male, 25 years, MBA-Finance Graduate, 1 year experience with computer knowledge, on the lookout for suitable openings in Oman. Contact 93870465 and email : fahadhv@yahoo.com .

Muslim Chartered Accountant and M.Com, 12 Years of Experience, At present in UAE, seeking good Job in Accounts, Finance, Audit etc. Contact 00971 50 9607654, 00968 9985 7838, E mail : chishtiaca@yahoo.com

B.Com completed 1 year Indian Accounting exp seek suitable place-ment as Offi ce Assistant, on visit visa. Contact 97104190

ACCA Member, 3 yrs experience, Well Versed in Tally ERP-9, Quick Book & MS offi ce, Currently on visit visa. Contact: 97268263

Chartered Accountant with 10 years experience of which 5 years in Oman. Contact 93795838

Female European 31 yrs, Bach-elor of Accounts, 13 yrs of Exp. as Showroom/Front Offi ce Manager (Fashion Accessories/Jewellery)/Offi ce Secretary (Educational Con-sultancy). Can speak, write, and read English, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Hindi and Telugu. Seeking suitable Job, Contact: 93376354, Email: samuel.ndia@gmail.com

Accounts works up to fi nalization on part-time / fulltime. #96247295

Steel detailer, x steel , autocad, & tekla, diploma in civil , experienced, ph : 95775221 rehnaarehman@gmail.Com

Fire and Safety Engineer, 9 years experience, male 28 years Indian, presently on visiting visa until (07/10/13). Contact : 98632132 / 92050014 Email ID : saneeshchandran25@gmail.com

Engineer with MBA having 2.5 years experience in Warehousing and Logistics, Good communication skills, Looking for a suitable place-ment. # 97150403/ 93846564

M.Sc Agriculture / Horticulture Su-danese Female looking for suitable job. Contact: 95498223

Mechanical Engineer Indian male having 10 years GCC experience in HVAC & MEP with valid Omani D/L, seeks suitable job in a reputed company. Contact 96093552

Indian Female Masters Bio Medical & B.Tech Electronics & Commu-nication with experience, looking for suitable offi ce / teaching job. Contact 92315860 Email anjubiomedengg@gmail.com

MEP Supervisor exp 15 years, HT, LT (exper.) with D/L, dp mainte-nance. Contact 96297274

Chemical Manufacturer 8 years experience in Oman. Contact 98651593

B.Tech (Civil), Diploma, Gulf experi-enced Site Engineer. Contact :96335260

Project Engineer B.Sc (Civil) 7 years experience, looking for suit-able placement. Contact 94422489 Email gmssohel.ee@gmail.com

An Engineer with Management Background (22years exp), worked in Senior Management position in trading of Building/ Materials, Contracting, Building Maintenance, Interior Fit-0ut, thorough knowl-edge of Oman/Qatar Market, 10 yrs exp, valid D/L, available on salary + profi t sharing. GSM: 93859365.

Indian male 24, B.Tech Electrical. Contact 94460751 Email: alexpynadath@gmail.com

B.Tech Mech Engineer, quality control engineer, experienced, with driving license. Contact : 97314864

Indian female, B-Tech Civil Engg, 3 years (6 months in Oman) experi-ence in QS, Estimation, Cost control & planning, seeks suitable job. Contact 92047375 Email vinujosephcm@gmail.com

Indian Male, B.E. in Electrical & Electronics Engg with valid CCNA certifi cate and 6 yrs experience in BMS, project management & main-tenance seeks suitable placement. Currently in India. Pls call Muscat contact No. 99639375

Indian Civil Project Engineer with 10+years Gulf exp, suitable for Pro-ject works/ QS works, Omani D/L, seeking a suitable position. Contact 93476959

Indian male, MBA with more than 14 years of experience as Ware-house Manager and Accountant, NOC available & can join immedi-ately seeks suitable placement. Contact 92203972

Chartered Accountant young Indian Female 26 years with good knowledge and experience in Fi-nance, Accounts and Audit of large corporate available for immediate joining. Contact 99887464 Email deepaj122@gmail.com

Indian Male, MBA ( Finance) with 5 years experience as Senior Analyst at reputed company in India, Seeks job in Finance or Accounts. Contact 91378950 Email ms.sharief@gmail.com

Indian female 25, B. Com with di-ploma in computerized Accounting (Tally, MS Offi ce) one year experi-ence seeking for suitable placement. Contact 98847165

Accountant Indian male, MBA & PGDFM having 9 years experience in Finance & Accounts (3 years) in Oman with D/L, seeking suitable placement. Contact 96710160 Email shinumath2007@yahoo.co.in

Indian female 35 B.Com with 5 years experience & driving license, seeks suitable placement. Contact 95871492

Indian male B. Com 9 yrs exp in Oman FMCG – accounts, inventory control, logistics, with D/L seeking for suitable placement. Contact 92968951 Email: resumefmcgoman@gmail.com

Part time Business Plan, Feasibility, Study systems Procedures, business fi nancing, MIS, ERP Finalization. Contact 98571309

MBA Finance Indian male 3 years Indian exp as Accountant, seeks suitable placement. #95728856Email vijeeshpv82@gmail.com

B.Com 21 yrs with 1 yrs exp Indian male valid D/L. Contact: 95186796

Indian male Accountant B.Com with 5 years experience in Oman having D/L seeking for suitable placement for fi nance & accounts. Contact 96709159

Charted Accountant Indian Fe-male, 3year experience in auditing and accounting seeks suitable placement. Contact-97019552. Email-cadeepsoman@gmail.com

Female B.Com, 2 years experience in Finance Accounts, having HR course and ICDL certifi cate for IT, fl uent in Arabic and English. Contact 98914030 / 99322154

Indian male 27, MBA, Specialized in Marketing & Finance having 3 years of experience skilled with MS Offi ce, Tally, ERP online with valid Omani D/L. Contact 97036161 Email nikiniji@gmail.com

Indian male, 28 yrs, Chartered Accountant, looking for suitable placement in Finance and Audit Department. Contact 96357827Email- ubaiskeeran@gmail.com

Chartered Accountant Young Indian female 25 years with Good knowl-edge and experience in Finance, Accounts and Audit of large corpo-rate, available for immediate joining. Contact 92530131/ 24785757 Email mufl ihak@gmail.com

Indian Female, having over 5 yrs of experience in Customer Care, Accounts & Administration, seeks suitable placement. #92801607

Sri Lankan female 27 years hav-ing 7years experience in Admin-istration, customer service with excellent English and computer knowledge seeking suitable place-ment. Contact 96144390

Indian Male, 27 years, 5 years’ experience as a Customer/Client relation Manager in MNCs. Seeking suitable posts in Customer rela-tions/Administration/HR. GSM: 93088407

Indian female 26 years MCA experience in Teaching and Admin, seeks suitable jobs, now in visit visa. Contact 95388696 Email ID: athulya.nair@gmail.com

Indian female Currently on Visit Visa, looking for a job in Oman. Total Work Experience of 6 Years, Worked as a senior technical associate and Senior Technical Support Offi cer with Bank of America & Mphasis Mumbai respectively. Diploma in MBA (HR MANAGEMENT), B. Com Graduate from Mumbai University. Email : beena.bhatia24@gmail.com, daswaniash_2001@yahoo.co.in, Mobile : 98682715 / 95257148

Indian female MA, MBA (HR) with 5 yrs GCC exp, presently working as HR Coordinator in groups of company, seeks suitable placement. Contact 93498876

Manager HR Administration, 8 yrs. Oman experience, good knowl-edge of HR policies, appraisals and HR Management available immedi-ately. Contact 92515583

Iraqi Architect 22 years experi-ence. Contact 97608513

Indian female B. Arch (Architect) having 3 years Middle East experi-ence with valid driving license on family joining visa. Contact 96908041 /99349047

Indian male, 3 yrs experience man-aging projects in interior designing & execution in Oman with valid Om-ani D/L seeks suitable placement. Contact 96678029 / 93285996 Email: kw251287@gmail.com

3D Max and Autocad designer, 2 years Gulf Experience Indian Male. Seeking parttime or full time job. Contact 98635975

Light Driver. Contact 97020205

Experience driver, 4 years in Oman. Contact 92417566

Corolla 2013 with driver. Contact 96772324

Light driver available, experience Graduate. Contact : 98987475

Indian male 23 B.Com with Hotel Management one year experience Oman looking for hotel service vacancy. Contact 91172990

Graphic designer / Interior design-er, experienced, Autocad, Photoshop. Contact : 95897357

Web designer with experience in application design for Android and iOS platforms available for full time and part time employment. Email: monishak12@gmail.com. Gsm: 96103465

Graphic Designer with Oman D/L Diploma in CorelDraw, 1llustra-tor, Photoshop, Macromedia fl ash, Adobe designing, Quark express in design. #98543702 / 99431708

Indian female, 25yrs Bsc-FASHION DESIGNING, 3yers experiencein designing fi eld and teaching. looking for a sutable placement. Contact: 98785310. Email: vinaya.m.nair@gmail.com

25 years Indian male, B.E Aeronautical, 2 Years experience on Maintenance repair and overhaul. Hands on experience on Gas turbine engine and Autocad 2007. Contact 00919739656833 Email: midhu4u@gmail.com

Experienced B.Com / MBA Finance 25 years Indian male, looking for Accounts/ customer relations/ Sales Coordinator. Contact 98250349

Male Accountant MBA, ICMAP (fi nalist) 6.5 years experience in fi nance, accounting, payroll, audit, administration, ERP,SAP,TALLY, seeking for good opportunity E-mail: faisalsaeedbana@hotmail.com Faisal Saeed : 97268088

Part time Accountant / Internal Auditor computerized and Manual Accounts, Driving own car. Ac-counts up to fi nalization. Contact Kumar 96414305

INFORMATION TECH.

EDUCATION ITIL, OCP, CRISC certifi ed IT Professional with 20 yrs. exposure to Dubai & Oman markets having expertise in ERP, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, security, IT/Project Management, Citrix, Oracle etc. is looking for immediate placement. Contact: 95602424

Indian male 27 years old, Masters in Computer Applications with 4+ years experience, Key skills: Oracle Pl/sql and .net Seeking Suitable placement. Contact: +919538345624sujithchennat@gmail.com

IT Professional with 19 yrs. experi-ence having expertize in ERP, Virtu-alization, Cloud Computing, Oracle Programming, Citrix, Microsoft, Lync is looking for immediate placement. Contact: 95602424

B.Tech (IT) Software Engineer, 2 years experienced in program-ming techniques, profi ciency in Java, J2EE, PHP, C & C++, Data base MSSQL Server 2005, MS Access, Oracle, Currently on visit visa, seeks suitable placement. Contact Mahiban 92476403

26 Years Indian female BA. B.Ed & MSW degree holder applying for Teaching & offi ce administra-tion post. Contact 94162888 Email sreelakshmi.kuttysree@gmail.com

Indian female, BSc B.ED, fresher looking for a teacher’s job for secondary section from 5th to 8th for all subjects. Contact 97645135 / 93023379

Female, 26 undergraduate, majored in English IATA qualifi ed with excellent communication, writing, teaching skills, Seeks suitable placement. Contact 96188745

MSc Economics B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) C.T (Certifi cation of teaching) 3 years teaching experi-ence, one year computer certifi cate. Contact 97104825

Chartered Accountant, with B.Sc Accountancy (special) degree, more than seven years of experience, looking for a position in accounts, fi nance or auditing department. Contact 93957919

B.Com Graduate male 22 yrs, MS Excel, Peachtree, Window OS knowl-edge, looking for entry level position. Immediate joining. Contact 98997746

Male, Indian 26 yrs Accountant 4 yrs in Oman. Contact 95960600

Accountant / Admin / store having 10 years experience with D/L seek-ing for suitable placement. Email: shamimshadab1973@gmail.com Contact: 92585921

Accounting and auditing services. Contact 95934758

Sir Lankan CA with B. Sc-Management, 7 years experience (3 in Oman), 30 years, looking for a position in Accounts, Finance and Audit department. Contact 93397026

Indian male B.Com Tally with 8 months experience in Accounting is looking for Accounts Assistant job. Contact 94103460

MBA (Finance) , 8 years of experi-ence in Banking, Finance, Audit & Accounting Industry seeks suitable placement. Contact : 97752854

Mumbai Born, male-24, PGPM + MBA (Finance) with one year experience as a fi nancial analyst in India. seeks job in fi nance. Tel: 98711999 email: sharancherian@gmail.co

Looking for Driver cum curtain and Carpet job. Contact 98219182

Looking for a job as light duty driver 15 years experience, knowl-edge of Pakistani English Arabic language. Contact 94436276 Driver light duty English & Arabic speaking. Contact 97146169

Light driver. Contact 95387829

Driver light duty. Contact 94263433

20 Yrs Exp Light Duty Driver. Contact 91210747

Driver with car. Contact 93803781 / 95891174

4 yrs Experienced Indian Driver looking for job as driver. #93079087

Driver with Car Pick & Drop. Contact 97581610

C6 S AT U R D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 3

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

SITUATION VACANT

SITUATION VACANTMEDICAL

Pharmacist female with 5 years experience and MOH license re-quire suitable placement in Store, Clinic or Hospital in Capital area. Contact 92363840 / 92694895

Indian Doctor female MD (Anes-thesiology) with 3years post MBBS experience seeks suitable place-ment. Contact 96243418

Female DENTIST with MOH License, English & Arabic Speak-ing having an experience of 12 year seeks placement in and around Muscat. Contact : 95240638

Female physiotherapist with MOH Looking for suitable job. Contact 99545952,98147312

Indian female nurse with MOH license seeks suitable placement. Contact 94499120

Male Nurse Indian 26 years with 3 years experience & MOH license, ACLS, BLS & ITLS, seeking job. Con-tact +91007965, 99470508 Email: jomonthomas1313@gmail.com

Indian male Nurse with MOH License, 1 year experience from Oman as company Nurse is Looking for a job, now on visit visa. Contact 93645954

Indian Female staff Nurse, 27, holder of MOH license( currently in Oman on visit visa), Looking for suitable placement. Contact 95720390

An Indian having rich Gulf experi-ence in Sales Marketing ( in House) Procurement Admin, seeking suitable placement at Senior level. Contact parthinath123@gmail.com / Contact 93689602

Indian male having valid driving Omani license with 9 years experi-ence in FMCG Electronics knowl-edge of complete Interior capital Route, Seeking for suitable job. Contact 91155541

Indian male MBA 6 years experi-ence in IT Sales business develop-ment and training staff in telemar-keting and customer service in Oman on visit. Contact 91380575

Indian male B Tech MBA with 4 years of marketing/sales experi-ence on visit visa seeking suitable placement Ph 96010724

Indian male 27, 3 years experience in Sales & Marketing in Australia on visit, seeking suitable placement. Contact 93717152 Email engoor@gmail.com

Indian male 24 MBA 2 yrs exp in Marketing on visiting visa. Contact 97138676 Email haris.hameedali@gmail.com

Outdoor Salesman with 10 years Oman experience with valid driving license. Contact 93600795

24 years female with D/L, BBA + BSc in Business & Management, 3 yrs work experience, seeking suitable position in Marketing/HR or Offi ce co-ordination. Contact 92462238/98123236Email : hemapopat7@outlook.com

Indian male MBA Sales & Market-ing, 7 years of experience holding Oman D/L, looking for a suitable position in the same. Contact 95475833

Indian male MBA marketing / fi nance with 4 yrs of exp in sale & marketing looking suitable place-ment in sales/ marketing/ sales coordination/ customer care/ retail/ admin jobs. Contact 98443722 / 92409198

Sudanese B.Sc Computer Engineer with 6 years experience, looking for Marketing, Sales, IT Jobs. Contact 97099676

Electrical Sales Engineer with 9+ years experience in Marketing with D/L seeks immediate placement. Contact 92311830 or santoshritvik@gmail.com

Indian male MBA 12 years Gulf Experience logistics, product and Business development seeking suitable placement currently on visit visa. Cont 95895451 Email : smartkhan76@hotmail.com

Indian Male 30 having 5 yrs expe-rience in Marketing having valid Oman driving license, Looking for a suitable position. Contact 93047608

29 Male MBA Marketing with 5 years experience in GCC. Holding valid Oman D/L, Seeking for suit-able placement. Contact 97268004

Indian male age 25 MBA from England, 2 yrs exp in Marketing and Sales with valid Oman D/L, Looking for suitable placement. Contact 97267753

TOURS & TRAVEL

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

17 Yrs experience in Airline Travel agency Airport Sales Hotel, Seeks suitable placement. Contact 99144363

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETINGPROJECTS

Looking for HSE Advisor job. Quali-fi cation NEBOSH IGC and OSHA education masters in Geosciences age 28 years. Contact 93835938

18 Years Oman experience Indian Female, Seeking suitable placement for Secretary. Contact 99758688

Indian Male 28 yrs Ms offi ce T. FAP knowledge, DTP, looking for entry level position (Offi ce Assistant). Contact 92648898 Email rchinchur@gmail.com

Indian Female 36 yrs, 15 yrs exp as Secretary/Accounts Document Con-troller, Seeking suitable placement. Contact 96761271

Customer care / offi ce admin, female, MBA, B.Sc, well exp, fl uent in English PH : 95775221 email : rehnaarehman@gmail.com

Pakistani Male on visit visa look-ing for job as any Helper/Offi ce Boy Contact:- 99002390

INFORMATION TECH.

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Commercial Manager (Contracts Specialist ) in Construction in Muscat till 30th September seeks placement 92829562 email: forwork283@gmail.com

Indian auto parts store keeper 16 years exp Oman in a multinational co now on visit visa seeks suitable placement. Contact 97146910

Business Development Manager with 6 yrs experience in Oil & Gas, Business development, Sales & Mar-keting with Oman D/L, seeks a suit-able placement. Contact 92961826 Email waseemprod@gmail.com

12+ yrs experienced Purchase Manager with D/L & release, seeks placement. Contact 97073942

Manager/Super 12+ yrs experi-enced Purchase Manager with D/L & release , seeks placement .Contact 97073942.

MANAGER/ SUPER

MANAGER/ SUPER

Insurance underwriting/claims/TPA Job opening. Indian Lady with experience of +15 years in Gulf & India. Mobile No. 00968-98505315

Indian (M) with 11 yrs exp. (7-India & 4-Dubai) in Sales & Offi ce support with Omani D/L need a job in Oman. Call 98267793

Indian female, 28, MBA looking for suitable placement. Contact 98435532

Female MBBS doctor with 3 years experience seeks suitable position in Muscat region. Contact 91218141

Indian male, MCA, 8 yrs exp, JAVA, J2EE, Struts, AJAX, Oracle, SQL. Contact 93858967 Email nrawat01@yahoo.co.in

Indian female 24 years, B Tech Computer Science, having 2 years experience in C, C#, dot net, SQL server currently on resident visa seeking for suitable position in IT. Contact 96718502

Indian male 36 yrs, MCA Graduate,7yrs of experience as technical assistant(IT Dept) in Koc Ahmadi Hospital, Kuwait, seeking a suitable placement in IT fi eld on visit visa Contact: 99318573

Indian Male with computer engi-neering (HONS) in Hardware and Networking, Seeking suitable place-ment. Contact 95249087

IT professional Indian Male ME in CSE, 12 years IT experience (6 months in Oman, 3 years in Dubai, Emirates Airlines/Project manage-ment, Software development in Dot Net, Training , Technical & Customer Support, Marketing) looking for suit-able post, for immediate placement. Contact 92664161 or 98261787. Email: sh8301@gmail.com

Indian 28 male, computer hardware & networking diploma, MCSE, 5 years experience at Bangalore, look-ing for suitable placement. Contact 92127185

10 Years of Technical presales expe-rience, Graduate from University of Huddersfi eld UK, previous experi-ence of working with ZTE, looking for job. Contact 91379396

Indian female, B.Tech, 5 yrs of exp, JAVA, J2EE, AJAX, Struts, Oracle, SQL. Contact 96200984 Email shiljyrajan@gmail.com

Indian female MCA ( Result Await-ing), seeking suitable placement in IT fi eld. Contact 99436069 Email ramanrami@rediff mail.com

24 yrs, B.E, ECE Engineering, hav-ing 2 years exp as NOC Engineer in Telecom and having certifi cation of CCNA & MCTS, looking for suitable job in IT & Telecom. # 99689445, Email thousi4jb@gmail.com

Indian male 26 years MSC telecom (UK) B.Tech (EC) having 3 years experience in IT/Telecom seeks suit-able placement. #95285710Email : prajith5678@gmail.com

Indian female 26 yrs MCA with 2 years Software experience in WIPRO, seeking suitable placement. Contact 96704824 Email : vineetha999@gmail.com

20+ Years experience in IT (8 years in UAE, in an reputed com-pany), served as Solutions Delivery Manager, IT Service Delivery In charge, NOC (Network Operation Center) InCharge, ServiceDesk In-Charge, ITIL (V2) Certifi ed, seeking suitable placement in Service Deliv-ery, Customer Support or Services, Logistics, Procurement or Facility Management. Open for any suitable positions in supervisory level. Contact No. : +968 97199358

Indian Male 42, B.Com Graduate, 19 years experience in AC,LCD, LED installation Manager seeking sales, service or Supervisor post, on visit visa. Contact 98044075 Mail markarmstrong20068@gmail.com

Finance & Accounts Manager hav-ing 25 years experience in Oman in Construction and manufacturing companies, seeks suitable replace-ment. Contact 93728127

Sales Manager having 15 years of experience in Retail manage-ment in Oman & Currently handling Electronics & home appliances, seeking suitable placement, Release available. Contact 93826379 Email marvelgeet@yahoo.com

MBA( MKTG)6 yrs exp Sales & Mktg valid OM D/L, Ind Male 30yrs currently working as an AQT man-ager. Contact 97757866

Young Qualifi ed 7 years experi-ence Indian W/ Driving L, worked as Sales executive all Hypermarket, key A/C experience, Seeking suit-able placement. Contact 96412319

Bangladeshi male 26 having 3 years experience in FMCG with Oman D/L, Fluent in English, seek-ing suitable job. Contact 92950907

B.Tech E & I, 8+ yrs experience Sales, Marketing Procurement, etc, currently working in Oman valid D/L, looking for suitable placement. Contact 97233074 / 95140207

Indian male B.Com 33 years having 7 years experience in Sales Coor-dination, Offi ce Administration and warehousing in Oman in the fi eld of Furniture, EHA, IT Products. Contact 92786255

Indian male 6 yrs experience in Oman Sales fi eld, having valid Omani Driving license, seeking suitable placement. Contact 92868522

Indian male MBA Sales & Market-ing, 7 years of experience holding Oman D/L, looking for a senior position in the same. Contact 95475833

Indian male BBM Specialized in Marketing 6 years of experi-ence as Transport Coordinator in an Earthmoving co, having valid Omani D/L, seeking for suitable placement. Contact 98465262 Email nikiniji86@gmail.com

Job Searching for Sales Executive (outdoor/ indoor) 3 years of experi-ence in GCC Oman valid driving license holder. Contact 92876824

Indian male 10 years experience in Sales with valid Oman driving license seeking for suitable replace-ment. Contact 98481925

An Indian Female Customer services Executive in BPO hav-ing 6 years experience at HSBC Bank, seeks suitable job. Contact 92106768 / 95318981

Indian male MBA (Sales & Market-ing) 10+ yrs exp in Sales & Market-ing, Purchase exp in Oman & Saudi with valid D/L, seeking suitable placement. Contact 95173538

22 yrs experience in Sales, 12 yrs in Oman with driving license seeks suitable placement. Contact 96698753

Indian male 33, 12 years exp in marketing, D/L, excellent in Arabic. Contact 94243250

Indian male 37 yrs, having 6 yrs exp. in purchasing with D/L seeking suitable placement. Contact 99345732

15 yrs exp sales, purchase, store, fl uent English, Arabic, know com-putes, Omani D/L. Contact 99717061

Seeking a job as a watchman, Offi ce Asst. cum Offi ce boy. Having experi-ences in Dubai, Kuwait and Oman. Contact: 98494561/ 99712920. IT cum Buyer, Indian male,26years.BA, Computer profi ciency: Operat-ing system (Windows 2000xp & Windows7) E plus and Tally ERP9, 6 yrs Experience in Oman seeks suitable placements. Contact :95360255

Accountant cum Buyer,Indian male,28years.BA, Computer profi ciency:Operating system (Win-dows 2000xp&Windows7) E plus and Tally ERP9, 6 yrs Experience in Oman.Seeks suitable placements. mob:95360255

35 yrs, male, seeking a job in Oman for the post of Offi ce Asst. cum of-fi ce boy. Contact: 98494561.

Electrical maintenance works look-ing in Oman. Contact : 96136615

Looking a watchman job in Oman. Contact :-98494561/ 95813403

Indian Female Staff Nurse, 27, holder of MOH license (currently in Oman on visit visa) looking for suit-able placement. Contact: 95720390 Indian female with GCC experience in offi ce admin, Accounts and HR seeks suitable placement. Contact : 95584732

Indian female fresh MBA ( Finance and Marketing) having driving licence looking for suitable place-ment, Contact: 98447033 email: ank2755@gmail.com

Indian Male, experience in Store/ Operation// Logistic/ Coordina-tor having good communication skills, seeking suitable change. # 94355675

Indian male, MCA, MBA-HR, B.Com with 9.5 yrs. Exp. looking for a suit-able opportunity as IT Project Head & SAP HR Consultant (Multi task-ing) presently come on visit visa in Oman, Contact : 92801761 E-mail : rishhi@msn.com

Indian male, MCA, MBA-HR, B.Com with 9.5 yrs. Exp. looking for a suit-able opportunity as IT Project Head & SAP HR Consultant (Multi task-ing) presently come on visit visa in Oman, Contact 92801761 E-mail : rishhi@msn.com

Indian male, Fresher, B.Com Gradu-ate 22, currently on family visit looking for suitable placements. Phone: 91037088

BE (Electronics and Communica-tion) graduate, Indian female with 3 years Oman experience, seeks suit-able placement, currently on family visa. Contact: 99327912 / 92115948

Indian male-24 diploma holder, having 2 years of experience in sales looking for suitable position. Contact# 94355626

Indian Male, MBA, 41yrs. 16yrs experience in Oman. Seeking a sen-ior post in Logistics, Import export management or inventory manage-ment. Contact : 91141206

24 yrs female with driving license, BBA plus I.A.T.A, 3 years experience seeking suitable position in secre-tarial, admin, hr, procurement, travel. Contact 95337828 or e-mail at hibhak@gmail.com.

Accountant, B.Com(Hons), having 4 yrs experience in accounts, well versed in Tally Erp9, Peachtree and Ms Offi ce looking for suitable place-ment. Release available. # 93244086

RSA female 13 years work experi-ence + 4 years in Oman with Omani driving license seeks employment as an Offi ce Manager, Administra-tor or BD Manager in a reputable company. Cell 93539652

Indian male Graduate, 26, 3 yrs exp in handling purchase in a reputed company in Oman looking for suitable placements. Phone: 95776353

Business Analyst and Business Development, 6+ years of experience across all areas of pricing, market-ing, product development and sales, seeking for job opportunities. MBA. Contact: 99359870, 99031408. Email: saikat_3@yahoo.com

Indian female, 27 years, B.Sc Maths, Msc Maths, bed maths, 2 yrs experience in India as teacher, good knowledge in Ms Offi ce, looking for suitable placement as teacher. Contact 98470441, EMAIL:libeeshmadamby@gmail.com

Indian Female MCA., M.Phil., Com-puter science 5 years experience as lecturer in reputed college and university in India seeking for im-mediate Placement in teaching fi eld. Contact : 97765173 mail : dtkthillai@gmail.com

Indian male, 33 yrs Graduate with three years gulf experience, holding Oman driving license. Seeking suit-able jobs at sohar.Contact 93507921, thellisanthabts@gmail.com

TOURS

TOURS

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al Ainain Marine Tours- Contact: 98029602, 92808636

RENT A CAR

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-gence (BI) creation and management at rock bottom price. Contact: http//webviewoman

CLASSES

CLASSES

New Car 2013 model fully automatic available for rent with or W/out Driver. Contact 92128176

Morning Star Rent A car. Contact 94475478 / 24478505/ 24478589

COMPUTER We arrange Tours to Jabel Alakhdar / Shames wahiba Sands. Contact 99839898

Learn Drawing & painting for chil-dren. (MBD area Ruwi) Contact 99737812

MANPOWER

Manpower supply maintenance & civil work contracting. Contact 98425389

Housemaid, male / female cleaner, driver, light and heavy gulf valid D/L, house boy, & skilled and un-skilled categories, form Srilanka, India. Contact Mr jerry 95175192Email: oman.manpower@yahoo.com

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 3 C7

C8 S AT U R D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 4 , 2 0 1 3

DAILY GUIDE

SERVICES

SERVICES

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Contact 99314807/24792998

Split A/C window cassette type standing unit installation, mainte-nance servicing. Contact 97145652 / 99540621

Building maintenance, electrical, plumbing, painting, cleaning, false ceiling, compound wall, interlock, lift maintenance etc. Contact 95885106 / 95829331

Electrical plumbing, Tiles interlock water proofi ng maintenance & contract RIZWAN 99429071 / 91162345

Electrical Plumbing Painting Contract and Maintenance. Contact #98456535

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your marble.# 24793614/ 99314807

Split & Window AC Servicing & repairing. Contact 99557080

Split & Window A.C Servicing & repairing. Contact 99380307

Marble polishing & crystalliza-tion building cleaning fl oor, fl oor polishing, carpet, sofa shampooing, pest control, anti termite, shifting, maintenance. Contact 99504275

Civil Maintenance, painting, Electrical land scaping. # 96465032

Door to Door Computers repair specialist laptop software Website cartridges.Contact 99199376

Accounting and audit services project feasibility study. Contact97133729 Email: omanaudits@gmail.com

1. A/C, Fridge & Washing Machine servicing & Repairing, 2. Painting , Plumbing, Electrical & Carpen-try Works. Contact 97014234 / 24504281

Carpet, sofa- cleaning, glue remov-ing, shampooing, house cleaning, polishing & painting etc. Contact – 99542979 / 98855815

Building maintenance, electrical, plumbing, painting cleaning, false ceiling, compound wall, interlock. Etc. Contact: 9408676

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile polishing, pest control & anti-termite treatment, general cleaning painting, Plumbing, Electrical, shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. Contact 24810137, 99450130

Electrical Works, Maintenance, Building Gas Pipelines, Fire Alarm & Security systems. Contact Amjad Majees Trading & Contracting: 99467936

Split & Window A.C Servicing & repairing. Contact 93769089

Dish Antenna Sales & Service, Dish TV, Tata Sky showtime & all other kind of satellite installa-tion renewals. Contact 95779616

A/ C maintenance, servicing & installation. Split A/C Servicing RO 10.000 Only. Contact 94217681 / 99210141

MEP Projects and Maintenance.

Contact 99367080Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet shampooing, maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS- 99320217 /24788722

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-Contact 99320217/24788722

House shifting, packing and Transportation. Contact 99657644 / 98518013

Split & Window A/C, Servicing. Contact 99380307

Painting / building construction & maintenance. Contact 99057348

A/C service RO7/- , repairing & installation, painting, building all maintenance. Contact 95563858 / 99326786

Cleaning Service, Carpet & Sofa Shampooing Marble grinding & Tile polishing, pest control.Contact 99448057 / 95401996

House shifting and transporting. Contact 92490422

Pest control water proof. Contact 99067923

SIT.WANTEDSIT.WANTED

FOR LADIES

IT Professional, Indian Male,BE Elec-tronics & communication Engineer having 2 years of experience in for BI/BA Technology with hands on experience in Cognos (Reporting) and Informatica (ETL) looking for an suitable opportunity. #99878355

Searching a placement for the post of offi ce assistance in Oman, having 10 years experiences in the same fi eld and also skilled ms word, ms excel, internet and web browsing. Contact: 9849456

Indian Male, experience in Store/Op-eration//Logistic/coordinator having good communication skills, seeking suitable change. #94148866

Executive HR & Admin Coordinator, Indian male, 15 years experience (8 years in GCC / 5 years in Oman); Han-dled Recruitment’s, Offi ce Admin-istration, Secretarial work, Training & development Coordination, & Site offi ce and vendors coordination, As-sisting Payroll - Hardworking, Honest & meticulous. GSM 91129916, email: executivecoordinatory2k@gmail.com

Seeking a watchman, Offi ce boy, Coff ee boy jobs in Oman. Contact :- 98494561.

Special package for RO. 15/- Home service available.(Threading, facial, waxing, pedi-cure, manicure, hot oil treatment) Home service available. Contact 99722031