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WEDNESDAY, July 8, 2015 / 21 Ramadan 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

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Outcry over early Eid pay from bosses

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADI FAHAD AL GHADANI

MUSCAT: Private companies should not be forced to pay sala-ries earlier as it disturbs their financial plans, and some com-panies cannot afford to do so, say members of the business community.

The Ministry of Manpower has made it clear that companies must comply with the decision re-garding early payment of salaries in July, and any company violat-ing the decision will face legal ac-tion, a reliable source at the min-istry told the Times of Oman.

According to the ministerial

decision, salaries of private sec-tor employees should be given by July 14 due to Eid Al Fitr.

“This is a ministerial decision and all private companies should abide by it,” said the source, and added that employees who do not get their salaries by the deadline should report it to the ministry.

“The Ministry of Manpower will then investigate the compa-ny, and if found guilty it will face legal action,” he said.

However, businessmen in the private sector say it is in an unfair decision and puts undue financial burden on companies.

Ahmed Al Hooti, a member of the Oman Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (OCCI), be-lieves that the decision should be revised in the future as it leads

to certain problems. “I believe, the government sector knows the situation, so it depends on them. But as far as the private sector is concerned, it is best left to the em-ployees,” he said.

The employee should be given the choice and an advance pay-ment can be made based on their requirements, he added.

“Today in the private sector, we have more than one million employees and just 20 per cent of them are Omanis. So the Omanis may need their salaries earlier, but the rest probably do not, and that creates quite a few prob-lems,” he said.

“We do not want to force em-ployees to take their salaries ear-lier,” he said, and added that em-ployees may face some issues as they will have to wait longer for the next salary.

Sultan Ali Al Busaidi, managing director (MD) of the United Na-tional Oilfield Services (UNOS), a new generation start-up compa-ny, said that the ministry should revise the decision.

“Monthly financial (outlays) have to be planned very much in advance, and normally salaries are hitting our accounts on the 25th of every month,” he said, and added that it would be diffi-cult for companies to pay salaries earlier. >A6

Ministry of

Manpower officials

have warned that

any companies not

paying salaries early,

by July 14, may

face legal action Staff Reporter

MUSCAT: A fire broke out at a Shell petrol station in Barka on Monday evening, causing panic in the area. However, there were no reports of any injuries.

The Public Authority of Civil Defence and Ambulance (PAC-DA) officials said they were in-vestigating the cause of the fire, and advised motorists to exercise caution while filling petrol tanks.

After the earlier incidents, a PACDA official had told the Times

of Oman that with temperatures soaring high in the country, any small spark can trigger a fire. The official called on motorists to in-stall fire extinguishers in their vehicles and to abide by the rules.

Refuelling vehicle“Motorists should also switch off the vehicle’s engine while refuel-ling,” the official had said.

The PACDA also asked people not to smoke or talk on mobile phones at petrol stations, and urged them to report any spillage

to the staff. It asked petrol station attendants to ensure that the fuel pump nozzle was disconnected from the car fuel tank before the vehicle left. The latest incident is the fourth this year.

Last month, two people were injured and some vehicles dam-aged in a fire at a petrol station in Al Ghubrah.

On June 3, a car caught fire while refuelling in Bidbid at around 8am. In another incident, on June 2, a car caught fire at a petrol station in Yanqul.

T R A G E D Y A V E R T E D

OMANMeet held to discuss Muttrah development

1A meeting was held to develop Muttrah as a tourist destination and setting up

of a tourist office to streamline tourism sector. The new office will house representatives from ROP, Muscat Municipality and the Ministry of Tourism. >A3

REGIONLawyers to defend Moroccan women

2Hundreds of lawyers have registered to defend two women who went

on trial in Morocco accused of ‘gross indecency’ for wearing dresses considered provocative. The women were arrested in the southern city of Agadir. >A7

MARKETBanks in Oman comfortable

3Oman’s banks are in a comfortable position in maintaining

capital adequacy ratio — an international standard that measures a bank’s risk of insolvency from excessive losses. >B1

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

C7Diving in Oman

Public should stay

‘alert’ for mobile phone

thieves after incident

Staff Reporter

MUSCAT: People have been urged to remain cautious by the police after a mobile phone of a passerby was snatched from her hand by a thief in broad daylight on Monday.

The thief, identified by the po-lice as a Pakistani national, had followed the victim and snatched the mobile while she was talking on the phone.

Speaking to the Times of Oman, a source at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) said that people should be ‘alert’ and ‘careful’ although this is not a ‘very common’ crime.

Usually complaints about cell-phones theft are received from houses, vehicles or other places, said the source.

Recalling the incident, the vic-tim said, “It was around 3.40pm when I was walking in an alley leading to the Shell gas station in Ruwi close to Sheraton Hotel. This man suddenly hit my sun-glasses, snatched my phone and fled. I was shocked but began screaming for help and chased him.” She added that while she was shouting for help, the thief threw down some items, but she did not notice whether the phone was among them.

“I did not stop to check but continued to chase him. The con-struction workers on the Shera-ton flyover heard my cries for

help and also began chasing the man. Other workers at the other end of the flyover who witnessed the scene managed to nab him,” she recalled.

“Then I realised that it was my phone that he had thrown down. The construction workers along with an Omani national held the thief while I headed back to find my phone. However, another per-son brought it to me,” she said.

“I had run so much that I could hardly breathe. I called the police and they reached the scene in five minutes or so. They took him to the police station in Ruwi and put him in a lock-up. I went there to complete the formalities,” said the victim.

“This is the first time that such a thing has happened to me. I always believed that it would never happen to me in Oman and that too in broad daylight,” said the victim.

Be careful“I should have been more cau-tious and not used my phone on the road, but I had to make an urgent call. I advise people, espe-cially women, to be careful when they are outside alone,” she said.

“It is not just about mobile phones. They should be careful about everything such as their purse or whatever they are carry-ing and should not choose a road which is deserted,” she added.

B R O A D D A Y L I G H T R O B B E R Y

EXERCISE CAUTION: The Public Authority of Civil Defence and Ambulance has advised motorists to

exercise caution while filling petrol tanks. – Supplied photo

Call to ‘switch off’ as Barka petrol station catches fire

A2 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

OMANGUtech launches business and service management course

TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: German University of Technology (GUtech) officially launched their new Bachelor’s Degree programme called Inter-national Business and Service Management (IBSM) under the auspices of Maitha Al Mahrouqi, Undersecretary of Ministry of Tourism, at the Bustan Palace Ritz Carlton Hotel.

The new IBSM programme is carefully aligned with the needs of the tourism and service sector in Oman as well as the overall re-quirements of the Omani business environment. The tourism indus-try is considered one of the largest industries in the world employing

approximately 10 per cent of the world labour force which is 1 in every 11 persons.

“Our new programme is the predecessor of the programme Sustainable Tourism and Regional Development. The programme focuses on the tourism sector and related service sectors like trans-portation, aviation, event manage-ment from an international busi-ness approach,” said Prof. Dr. Heba Aziz, Head of the Department of Logistics, Tourism and Service Management.

IBSM is an eight semester pro-gramme allowing full understand-ing of the tourism economy, both nationally and internationally, within the context of a detailed programme of international busi-

ness management. It follows the CTS credit hourly system.

The programme is not limited to classrooms as students will gain knowledge through field trips, en-trepreneurship workshop, con-sultancy projects with public and private sectors as well as a twelve week internship at establishments such the Bustan Palace Hotel.

The IBSM programme is tai-lored to the requirements of the Sultanate and the region where it draws state of the art expertise accumulated at RWTH Aachen University, GUtech’s partner uni-versity in Germany.

“For the Omani economy, it is unique as it offers the basis for a vi-able economic diversification and employment creation on one side

and it is highly competitive due to Oman’s unique tourism prod-uct on the other,” said Aziz, ex-plaining that the students will be equipped with the business knowl-edge they would need for this expanding sector.

Students could also get job offers from the likes of Oman Air, Oman Airport Management Company, Oman Exhibition and Convention Center, Omran Tourism Develop-ment, leading hotels among many other in the tourism and hospital-ity sector.

To shed light on the tourism sector and Oman’s economic vi-sion for 2040; two million tourists have visited the Sultanate in 2014 which is an increase of 7 per cent compared to 2013.

A C A D E M I C

NAKHAL MOSQUE TO BE INAUGURATED ON FRIDAY Delegated by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Nasr bin Hamoud Al Kindi, Secretary

General of the Royal Court Affairs will open next Friday Sultan Qaboos Mosque in the

Wilayat of Nakhal in the Governorate of South Al Batinah. The new mosque, which is

located at Bab Al Dhfour area, west of the Wilayat of Nakhal, stretches over 92,267 square

meters of which 5,826 square meters are the built up area and the remainder dedicated

for green spaces, external works, car parks and an area for future expansion.-ONA

FUTURE AVENUES: The new programme focuses on the tourism

sector and related service sectors like transportation, aviation and

event management. – Jun Estrada/TIMES OF OMAN

For the Omani economy, it (academic programme)

is unique as it offers the basis for a viable economic

diversification and employment creation

Prof. Dr. Heba Aziz, GUtech academic

A3

OMANW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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New tourist office for Muttrah to be set up

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Plans for upgrading Muttrah as a tourist destination and the setting up a tourist office that would help to streamline the facilities were discussed by top of-ficials recently.

The new tourist office would house representatives from the Royal Oman Police (ROP), Mus-cat Municipality and the Ministry of Tourism, who would be there to offer any help required by tourists visiting Muttrah.

The meeting involved special-ists from various directorates and departments of the ROP and the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) in the presence of representatives from the Muscat Municipality, Haya Company and the project consult-ant to discuss plans for the upgra-dation of Muttrah.

Space for new roads and ex-pansion of the existing ones to address the traffic congestion problem were among the issues discussed. Plans to improve traf-fic movement, facilitate security surveillance, with a provision for ambulances and civil defence ser-vices along with creating enough parking space, were also dis-cussed in the meeting.

Integrated planThe meeting included a visual presentation for an integrated plan of the Muttrah Develop-ment Project and the consultancy for the project which was aimed at designing infrastructure that would help in the rehabilitation of Muttrah.

The Muscat Municipality stat-ed that it sought to raise the liv-

ing standards of the residents of Muttrah without disturbing the historical and cultural identity of the city.

The meeting addressed the cur-rent status of Muttrah and the problems being faced by the ROP to raise the level of services pro-vided to residents.

The geographical nature of Muttrah, the large population and the narrow streets and path-ways are major challenges faced by the ROP and the PACDA in providing security and safety to the residents.

The meeting also discussed providing fibre-optic cables to fa-cilitate the process of close circuit cameras for improved surveil-lance, better control over the en-try and exit of trucks, identifying special places for loading goods,

and organising warehouses locat-ed near the Muttrah Souq. The en-hanced security would also help in ensuring proper accommoda-tion for bachelors in Muttrah.

Office set-upThe meeting suggested the estab-lishment of a building to be used as an office to streamline the tour-ism sector, which would house representatives from the ROP, the Muscat Municipality and the Ministry of Tourism.

In order to make better use of the land in Muttrah, the infrastruc-ture and rehabilitation project will include more studies about the area in the near future. The studies will target roads, maritime tracks, light and heavy transportation, parking and other requirements in the field of transport.

Officials discussed

plans to raise the

living standards

of the residents of

Muttrah without

disturbing the

historical and

cultural identity

of the city. Space

for new roads and

expansion of existing

ones were among

issues discussedFACELIFT PLANS: Officials from ROP and the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance,

representatives from the Muscat Municipality, Haya Company and the project consultant discussed

plans for the upgradation of Muttrah. –File photo

153 workers arrested for violating labour law

MUSCAT: Expatriate workers found violating the labour law in the last week of June stood at 153 according to the report of the Joint inspection team of the Ministry of Manpower. The violators included 119 commercial workers, 15 farm workers and 19 housemaids and their equivalents.

The inspection teams caught 84 absconding workers, 48 astray workers and 19 workers with other violations. The Governorate of Muscat witnessed the highest number of workers violating the law with 55 cases, followed by the Governorate of North Al Batinah with 27 workers.–ONA

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

Ooredoo lauds charity team TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Ooredoo concluded its 11th Goodwill Journey on Monday under the auspices of H.H Sayyid Kamil bin Fahad Al Said by hon-ouring 22 volunteers for their contribution to charity during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The Goodwill convoys, headed by Khalid Ali Al Zadjali, depart-ment head of External Affairs – Government Relations, trav-elled through eleven cities. These were Mussanah, Liwa, Ibri, and Al Buraimi, in addition to Dima wa’Tayeen, Qurayat, Nizwa, and Samail. The convoys also visited Maseera Island, Duqm and Sala-lah. Their main purpose was to spread joy among people in these cities by offering donations and helping women hone their skills in cooking, tailoring and other handicrafts.

Manal Al Kiyumi, head of the Goodwill project said, “We have helped 24 women from Mussan-

ah graduate in tailoring, cooking and beauty workshops before the arrival of the convoys, to enable them to join us on our journey. This is what we focus on in social development.”

Rather than providing one-time donations, the contributions will support communities in the long-term as well as spread hap-

piness in the short-term. The convoys went around the

cities providing toys to children in hospital wards, education and skill training to women’s asso-ciations, indoor playgrounds for school children as well as educa-tional materials and resources, while spreading joy and spiritual-ity of Ramadan.

R A M A D A N D R I V E

Oman Air helps rebuild NepalTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Following the dev-astating earthquake in Nepal in April, Oman Air has risen to the challenge of meeting the needs of those affected, and maintaining operations on one of its key flag-ship routes.

Paul Gregorowitsch, chief executive officer of Oman Air, said, “Oman Air came for-ward wholeheartedly to collect money to be sent for the reha-bilitation of those devastated by the earthquake. We collected close to OMR10,000. This has been handed over to the Oman Charitable Association, which is spearheading a campaign to help the victims of the earthquake. “On behalf of all my colleagues, I would like to thank Awena Al Fehdi and Al Azhar Al Zaabi for organising the fundraising cam-paign,” he said.

C H A R I T Y D R I V E

HELPING HAND: The collected amount was donated to humani-

tarian organisations in Nepal, through the Oman Charitable As-

sociation. – Supplied photo

SOCIAL PURPOSE: Goodwill convoys travelled through eleven cit-

ies to spread joy among people.– Jun Estrada/Times of Oman

A4 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

TODAY’S DUAA‘O Allah, on this day, beautify me with covering and chastity,

cover me with the clothes of contentment and chastity, let me

adhere to justice and fairness, and keep me safe from all that I

fear, by Your protection, O the protector of the frightened.’

Hadith of the daySAHL IBN SA’D reported that the

Prophet (may Allah bless him and peace be upon him) said, “There is a gate in the Garden called Ar -Rayyan which those who fast will enter on the Day of Rising,

and none but they will enter it.” It will be said, ‘Where are the fast-

ers?’ They will stand up and none but they will enter it. When they have entered it, it will be closed

and no one else will enter it.” [Agreed upon]

The Arabic word ‘I’tikaf’ that is attributed to seclusion in the mosque can have sev-eral meanings. It has a number of impli-cations: distancing oneself from worldly distractions, or preventing oneself from

certain pleasures, or voluntarily trapping and re-stricting oneself in a confined space. It can also mean committing yourself to something, and in this case of course it means committing yourself to worship, deep thought, and rituals practised by our Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him).

I’tikaf refers to the religious practice of spend-ing the last ten days of Ramadan (either wholly or partly) in a mosque so as to devote oneself exclu-sively to worship. I’tikaf is a spiritual retreat and Islamic ritual in which a believer secludes himself from others to engage solely in acts of worship and keep away from worldly dealings, especially dur-ing Ramadan.

I’tikaf is for a person to confine himself to the mosque in obedience to Allah so as to sepa-rate himself from the people and free himself (from the chores of daily life) to exert himself in worshipping Allah. This can take place in any mosque, whether it is a mosque in which people gather for the Friday prayer or not. However, it is better (to perform the I’tikaf ) in a mosque in which the people gather for the Friday prayer so that one performing I’tikaf is not forced to leave the mosque (in which he is doing I’tikaf ) to go to another mosque for the Friday prayers. The last ten days of Ramadan has a special significance as it is most likely on one these days that the Lailatul Qadr (Night of Power), descends upon Muslims promising them bountiful rewards to those who spends time in Ibadaah (worship) and asks in humble supplication to Allah whatever they want.

Abdullah ibn `Umar, a learned Companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), reported that “Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) used to stay in the mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan.” (Al-Bukhari). Ramadan is special to all Muslims and so worship in this blessed month has its own special rewards.

So, the more you pray, recite the Holy Quran, do Zikr, engage in good deeds, avoid backbit-ing, telling, lies, etc, the more rewards you have been promised. We have completed fifty per cent of fasting and it is time to look inwards whether we have accomplished what Allah and Prophet (PBUH) enjoined upon us to do. Or, what we did was according to the Shariah parameters or our Ibadah was done with good intent. Here is a good opportunity coming up after we complete our 19th fast to engage in Ibadah in a way distractions are none and you are in direct hotline with Allah. Yes, spending your last ten days in a masjid, which our prophet (PBUH) practiced and recommended.

The night of Power or alternatively called the Night of Decree is the pinnacle of this season of worship. It takes place in the last ten days of the

month when a Muslim’s devotion is brought to its climax. One good way of doing this is to stay in a mosque, following the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). Reference to it is made in the Qur’an in Al Baqarah 2:187. All scholars agree that it is a Sunnah, following the practice of the Prophet.

`A’ishah, the Prophet’s wife (may Allah be pleased with her), also reported that the Prophet (PBUH) used to stay in the mosque for the last ten days of Ramadan until he passed away, and his wives used to do the same afterward (Al-Bukha-ri). Most scholars agree that I`tikaf should be in a mosque, although one of school of thought makes it possible for a woman to practice this Sunnah in the place where she normally prays in her home.

Eminent scholar Adil Salahi writes, “When a person embarks on this Sunnah, it is permissible for him to pay a visit to his family at home to at-tend to their needs. He does this during the day and then comes back to resume his stay in the mosque. It is also permissible for his family to visit him in the mosque. It so happened that when the Prophet (PBUH) was in the midst of his stay in the mosque his wives visited him. When they left, he asked Safiyah, his wife, to stay a little longer, perhaps because she arrived later than the others and he wanted her to stay an equal length of time. He accompanied her to her home, which was, like the homes of his other wives, just next to the mosque. “These days those sitting in I`tikaf do not go home until the announcement of Eid as needs of the house are taken care of by others in the fam-ily. A person who stays in a mosque in order to follow the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) example, may have some sleep before wak-ing up to spend the rest of his night in worship, reciting the Holy Qur’an or praying. A Muslim can choose any number of days, even one night to stay in the mosque with the intention of I’tikaf and to make the most of any time spent there, no matter how short it is.

Away from the work and family and leaving behind all distractions including shopping, mo-bile phone, laptop, Internet access, and house-hold chores, Allah has given a rare opportunity to dedicate ourselves solely to worship and to actually enjoy performing acts of worship, rather than doing them only as an obligation or duty. But now-a-days a new trend is being seen that a sec-tion of youngsters who stay in a masjid for I`tikaf are engaged in worldly discussion and engaged in WhatsApp. We should avoid this and keep away from WhatsApp, etc otherwise the very purpose gets defeated. Refrain from arguing and partici-pating in idle talk with others. Better not to leave the boundaries of the mosque unless you have an important reason to do so. It is thus important to form a good group for I`tikaf where you can share Islamic knowledge . It is needless to say that I’tikaf is highly rewarded by Allah, as every action therein involves dedication.

I’tikaf refers to the religious practice of spending the last ten days of

Ramadan (either wholly or partly)

in a mosque so as to devote

oneself exclusively to worship,

AFTAB H. KOLA outlines its importance

TH

E SPIRITUAL RETREAT

A5

OMANW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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Evolution of Omani education through the eyes of a veteran

TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: “When you enter my classroom, it is like you have entered a mosque” is one of the most popular sayings Mohammad Mustafa, a fifty-year veteran of education is fond of.

It implies silence, discipline and respect to the teacher and a lesson which a generation of stu-dents have heard and abided by.

Arriving in the Sultanate dur-ing Ramadan on August 5, 1976, from Egypt where he taught for eleven years, Mustafa only taught at two schools. From 1976 to 1982 he taught at Hafs bin Rashid Pub-lic School in Seeb and from 1986 until his retirement in 2015, at the Sultan’s School in Al Hail.

He has been part of the evo-lution of education in Oman throughout the 39 years he has spent in the Sultanate while teaching history, geography and social studies to a generation of students who have become gradu-ates under him.

Asked how education had changed through the years, Musta-fa said, “Specifically with reference to Oman, it is not so much change as it is development in education. The curriculum starting from the

1980s began to be Omanised.”“Before the 1980s, we were

teaching other curriculum. It is like creating something which is not there to begin with,” he added.

He explained that by creating Omanised curriculum from the first grade to the twelfth and pre-paring teachers, Oman had scaled new heights. “Schools were totally dependent on expatriate teach-ers, but now you have the highest quality of Omani teachers who train, and possess sources of in-formation among their many oth-ers traits,” said Mustafa.

Educational facilitiesChange is not a word he agrees with, and prefers development. Since the late 1970s, schools have evolved into being state-of-the-art educational facilities equipped with laboratories and classrooms which adhere to international standards of school books and ad-vanced curriculum.

Some students feel that school is like a prison and it negates their

sense of freedom which in turn might make them appear disin-terested in learning and expand-ing their knowledge. Mustafa said, “Back in those days, there were some people who did not give much importance to education, as much as now.

“But now, education is a neces-sity of life, to the extent that an individual understands that if he does not educate himself, he will not have a place in society.”

A student’s motivation depends on a number of factors, according to Mustafa, and one of them is the individual factor.

Some students believe in self-motivation where they know their responsibilities, and what is expected from them, which are typical characteristics of someone who loves learning, while other students require encouragement and positive reinforcement to progress through their academic life. There are also students who are motivated just by the sight of the teacher.

Troublemakers“Diverts” is a term Mustafa pre-fers to use for students who are a bit too much to handle dur-ing classes.

Mustafa said that there are two types of “diverts” – leaders and followers. “Some students can-not sit straight during a class and have to make a silly comment on anything that is said. People say he is a troublemaker but I prefer to dub them as “diverts” from the mainstream. They are not causing trouble,” he said.

“The followers, on the other hand, are not troublesome in na-ture but would rather wait for someone else to do something and then follow,” he said.

“They are also those who do not understand the lesson in hand and remain silent for the rest of the class or fiddle with something that will cover their misunderstanding of the subject,” explained Mustafa.

Based on his experience he ex-plains that scolding them or talk-ing to them in a firm tone does not

work since it is in their nature.“What I do is I involve them in

the lesson. Nobody can change one’s natural personality and so I use it in my lessons. If the student says something I ask him to re-peat it for the class, and if he says something close to what is right, I commend him for it,” he said.

“If I scold and I am always firm, I will never get the result I want from my students,” he said.

“After a few weeks we become friends. They need to understand that the lesson is my way, not theirs,” he explained.

Mustafa advised that one needs to gain the trust of the students and build a friendship. So, when a teacher uses a firm tone the stu-dents understand that it is a tone of care and concern for their edu-cational well-being.

Speaking about the future of ed-ucation in the Sultanate, Mustafa said he has lived through the strategic educational plans un-der ministerial standards and ex-plained that these plans are made to “continuously develop the edu-cation industry in Oman”.

“Recently, officials from the Ministry of Education and coun-cils incharge of education in Oman visited so many countries to gain knowledge from those ex-periences. They will then imple-ment what they have learnt that suits our nature,” he explained.

He stressed that learning from other cultures is important in building a strong foundation for Omani youths.

When asked for his predictions on education in the next 50 years, Mustafa replied, “In this day and age we now have studies that are a major within a major. As a history teacher, I could say, that every age is shorter than the previous one because the following age learnt from the previous one.”

“So, I believe in 50 years, branches of education will appear that we could never have thought of today,” the veteran educationist explained.

Mohammad Mustafa

has been part of

the evolution of

education in Oman

over the past 39

years. He talked to

the Times of Oman of his experiences

Before the 1980s, we were teaching other curriculum. It is like creating something which is not there to begin with

Mohammad Mustafa Educationist

SQU, Al Raffd Fund ink pact for SME loansTimes News Service

MUSCAT: The Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) on Tuesday signed an agreement of co-opera-tion with the Al Raffd Fund.

This agreement has been imple-mented as per the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in culmination of the Forum on De-velopment of Small and Medium Enterprises that was held in Janu-ary, 2013, at Bahla, to establish the Al Raffd Fund to help youths to set up their own projects.

The agreement is part of the ef-forts to implement the decisions taken at the Saih Al Shamikhat Symposium at the Sultan Qaboos University’s Cultural Centre in January 2015, which reviewed the implementation of the recommen-dations of the Forum on Develop-ment of Small and Medium Enter-prises. The agreement was signed by Dr Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, vice chancellor of the SQU, and Tariq Sulaiman Al Farsi, chief executive officer of the Al Raffd Fund.

As per the agreement, the Al Raffd Fund will highlight the SQU logo on its website and will provide a list of beneficiaries of the loans, who can avail of the services of the SQU contracts.

The Al Raffd Fund will also in-clude the SQU’s name in the an-nual reports submitted to His Majesty clarifying the latter’s contribution in supporting and en-couraging the owners of small and medium enterprises. The Al Raffd Fund will give preference to SQU students who can benefit from the Al Raffd loan schemes if they meet the conditions.

Meanwhile, the SQU will pro-vide work contracts and services to loan beneficiaries, according to the applicable regulations and provide training as per conditions agreed upon, based on the needs of both parties.

The SQU will give priority to the Al Raffd Fund loan beneficiaries in delivering required material and services to the university.

N A T I O N A L E C O N O M Y

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OMANW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Parents should not force their children to fast

and should instead encourage them to do it by

talking about the good things of Ramadan

Maryam Al Rashdi, Omani housewife

MUSCAT MEDIA GROUP ORGANISES IFTAR FOR EMPLOYEES, FAMILIESThe Muscat Media Group organised an Iftar for its employees and their families at the Cave Restaurant on Monday

evening. - Photo: O K Mohammed Ali

The infinite patience of fasting children

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: They may be small but their huge resolve and patience impresses everyone around.

Fifteen hours of fasting in this scorching hot weather is no child’s play, but Sumaiya Al Rash-di and her cousin Aziza Al Rashdi have proved that they are stronger than some adults.

Three yearsBrought up in families who be-lieve that the spirit of Islam should be ingrained in children in early stages of life, Sumaiya, 12, and Aziza, 11, have both been fasting during the Holy Month of Ramadan for the last three years.

While Sumaiya could observe complete fast every single day of last Ramadan, Sumaiya missed only for two days as she was un-well. Sumaiya and Aziza say they both ‘love’ fasting and think other children should be fasting as well because they are strong enough to do it. They say that fasting teaches them to be patient and think of the poor, while praying brings them closer to God.

Every Ramadan, they gather to-gether with other family members and develop a plan for praying and reading the Holy Quran in the Holy Month.

Sumaiya admits that it was very difficult for her when she started fasting and would feel

very hungry and tired, especially close to iftar time, but she re-fused to break her fast even when her parents told her she could do so if she felt unwell.

“Of course, it is not easy. It is difficult,” said Aziza, adding that she looks at the clock a lot when she is fasting and plays or does something else to distract herself and pass the time.

SuhoorIn sheer honesty, they said that they try to remain awake until Suhoor by doing different ac-tivities such as praying and read-ing the Holy Quran because if they slept they would not wake up. So they prefer to sleep after having their Suhoor and saying their prayers.

The atmosphere at home has been so encouraging that even Sumaiya’s 7-year old brother, Essa, says he wants to try and fast this Ramadan. Credit goes to their parents, who have adopted a ‘not too strict and not too leni-ent’ approach when it comes to familiarising their children with Islamic teachings.

Sumaiya’s mother, Maryam Al Rashdi, says that parents should

teach their children about Islam, how to pray, and the importance of fasting from an early age.

Children watch their parents and imitate them, so it is impor-tant that parents prepare the children from childhood and teach them invaluable lessons about Islam through their own actions, she said.

However, Maryam says that parents should not force their children to fulfil their religious obligations and should instead encourage them by praising and rewarding them. She thinks par-ents should also not be too lenient.

Don’t force“Parents should not force their children to fast and should in-stead encourage them to do it by talking about the good things of Ramadan.

On the other hand, we should not say ‘Okay, our children are small and cannot fast’ and leave them like that because they will grow up that way, and when they get older it will be difficult to change their attitude,” she said.

Echoing a similar view, Sumai-ya’s father Saif, says that parents should not let the children watch

from the sidelines but should in-volve them in their activities, so that they can also take advantage of this blessed time.

Reciting the QuranHe says that during Ramadan, he and his wife sit with their chil-dren, recite the Quran and pray with them, take them to mosque and speak to them about the good deeds that they can do.

“When they fast, they learn to be patient and remember the poor. Fasting is very important and parents should encourage their children to fast by giving them presents and praising them. We hold small celebrations at home when children complete their fasting and recite the Quran, and of course Eid Al Fitr is a big cel-ebration itself,” said Saif.

Special opportunityRamadan is a special opportunity provided by God in which the re-ward for good deeds is multiplied, he added.

“We should pass on this mes-sage to the children that their good deeds will be rewarded not only in this world but also in the next,” he said.

Brought up in

families who believe

that the spirit of

Islam should be

ingrained in children

in early stages of

life, Sumaiya, 12, and

Aziza, 11, have both

been fasting during

the Holy Month of

Ramadan for the

last three years

THE SPIRIT OF ISLAM: From left, Sumaiya Al Rashdi, Saif Al Rashdi, Essa and Aziza Al Rashdi at

their home. -Supplied picture

‘Early pay affects

financial plans

of companies’

It is not a ‘fair’ expectation from the private sector as the ministry does not know the financial situa-tion of private companies, said Al Busaidi. The ministry should have a clearer vision of the situation, he added.

Negative impact The MD of UNOS, a 100 per cent Omani initiative, also said that the decision to pay salaries earlier could cause financial hardships to some people after Eid.

He said, “It is good that people will have money to spend in Eid, but what next?”

Eid is the time to spend money and you spend what you have, said Al Busaidi, adding, “One tends to spend a lot if one has a lot of mon-ey.” After that, employees will start borrowing money to cover other expenses, he noted.

In addition, an Omani business owner in the private sector, who asked not to be named, said that not all companies have the finan-cial resources to pay salaries be-fore July 14, as requested by the Ministry of Manpower.

“The ministry should not issue such orders and should stop in-terfering in the working of private companies. Some companies may have the money to pay salaries ear-lier, but what about the companies which cannot afford to?” he asked.

He said that the ministry does not understand the situation faced by companies and such an order just disrupts their financial plans.

Delaying collection“After the issuance of this order, some companies are refusing to pay bills to other companies be-cause they have to pay salaries ear-lier. That is delaying the collection of companies who have to receive the money,” he said.

He added, “It is wrong of the ministry to issue such an order. If they want to help employees, they should leave it to the company and the employee to decide. Maybe, some company might want to give 50 per cent of the salary in ad-vance and give the rest at the end o f the month.”

The business owner also noted that some employees misuse the salaries they receive in advance and overspend on Eid shopping, when even Islamic teachings say

that one should not spend more than what one can afford.

“At the end of the month, they do not have enough money to pay the rent or for other essential items. So, they end up borrowing money, and next month their productivity is low because they are distracted by financial problems,” he claimed.

Protesting the decision “Companies must protest and should not entertain this demand. If they cannot afford to pay the sal-aries earlier, should they be taken to the court because of something that the ministry has itself cre-ated?” asked the business owner.

Also, there will be companies which do not abide by the min-istry’s decision and any action against them would be unfair, he said.

The ministry should not act in a ‘dictatorial’ manner, he noted.

“The ministry has already im-posed a burden on the private sec-tor with its Omanisation policy and this decision is putting undue pressure on companies,” he added.

Haidar, an Omani economic ex-pert, says that the decision to pay the salaries earlier is made to help those who may be spending more on this special and celebratory occasion, including Eid shopping, and also those who have to trans-fer money abroad.

Companies are asked to pay salaries earlier as families of some workers live outside the country and they have to send money home before the banks close for several days, he said. The advance pay-ment is only a matter of a few days, he added.

Haidar, however, cautioned em-ployees to spend wisely and man-age their finances well to avoid any financial pitfalls.

M I N I S T R Y O R D E R

Pact signed with Canada for radiation detection networkMUSCAT: An agreement worth OMR463,000 was signed on Tuesday for the first stage of ex-panding the radiation detection network in the Sultanate by Mo-hammed bin Salim Al Toobi, min-ister of environment and climate affairs, and Mike McCall, CEO of International Safety Research Inc. (ISR) of Canada.

The first stage includes identi-

fying new locations for the instal-lation of system, while taking into account the existing locations. The study covers all parts of the Sultanate, including islands.

The first stage of the project also includes preparing technical specifications for the machines, the designs of the stations, and preparing tender documents for the second stage of the project.

It also includes construction, installation, operation, and main-tenance of the detection stations, in addition to supervising the operation and maintenance pro-gramme and providing training to employees.

The design will on par with the International Atomic Energy Agency standards for early warn-ing system. -ONA

O M R 4 6 3 , 0 0 0 D E A L

< FROM

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Some employees misuse the salaries they receive in advance and overspend on Eid shopping

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REGIONW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Air strikes, clashes kill 200 in Yemen

SANAA: Saudi-led coalition air strikes and clashes killed at least 176 fighters and civilians in Yem-en on Monday, residents and me-dia run by the Houthi movement said, the highest daily toll since the Arab air offensive began more than three months ago.

The United Nations has been pushing for a halt to air raids and intensified fighting that began on March 26. More than 3,000 peo-ple have been killed since then as the Arab coalition tries stop the Houthis spreading across the country from the north.

The Houthis say they are re-belling against a corrupt govern-ment, while local fighters say they are defending their homes from Houthi incursions. Saudi Arabia says it is bombing the Houthis to protect the Yemeni state. On Mon-day, about 63 people were killed in air strikes on Amran province in the north, among them 30 people at a market, Houthi-controlled state media agency Saba said.

In the same province, about 20 fighters and civilians were killed

at a Houthi checkpoint outside the main city, also named Amran, about 50km (30 miles) northwest of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, local residents said. Arab alli-ance war planes also killed about 60 people at a livestock market in the town of Al Foyoush in the south. Also in the south, residents reported a further 30 killed in a raid they said apparently targeted a Houthi checkpoint on the main road between Aden and Lahj. They said 10 of the dead were Houthi fighters. Tribal sources in the central desert province of Marib said about 20 Houthi fight-

ers and soldiers fighting alongside them were killed in air raids and gun battles with tribal fighters, who support Yemen’s president in exile Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi.

On Tuesday, UN envoy to Yem-en Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed continues meetings with Houthi officials in Sanaa to try to broker a ceasefire to allow aid deliveries. One Houthi official said Monday’s attacks had dealt a blow to peace efforts. “Even as the UN envoy is present, there are a hundred mar-tyrs and hundreds of wounded... No truce, no retreat, no surrender. Forward, forward heroes of Yem-

en, for victory is coming,” Yahya Ali Al Qahoom wrote on his Twit-ter account.

Fighting, bombing and a near-blockade by the Arab coalition has deepened suffering in the country.

The UN says more than 80 per cent of Yemen’s 25 million people need some form of humanitarian aid. “(There is) a quite catastroph-ic situation we are facing today after three months of hostilities,” Antoine Grand, head of the Inter-national Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen, told a UN brief-ing in Geneva by telephone from Sanaa. — Reuters

Monday’s casualities

are the highest daily

toll since the Arab

air offensive began

more than three

months ago

500 lawyers to defend Moroccan women who go on trial over dresses

RABAT: Hundreds of lawyers have registered to defend two women who went on trial in Mo-rocco on Monday accused of “gross indecency” for wearing dresses considered provocative, an activist said.

The women were arrested in the southern city of Agadir in mid-June after walking through a marketplace in the dresses, spark-

ing anger among passers-by in the kingdom. The verdict is to be delivered on July 13, said Fouzia Assouli, head of women’s rights or-ganisation LDDF.

The two women, hairdressers aged 23 and 19, were charged with “indecent exposure” for which they could face up to two years in prison. They have been backed by hundreds of lawyers, many of

whom appeared in court on Mon-day, said Assouli. “Five hundred lawyers registered to defend the two women, but because of re-stricted space in the courtroom, only 200 were able to attend” the hearing, she told AFP.

The lawyers took turns to put forward arguments in the case, she said. One of them, Sibai Ba-kar, said the trial was a “chance for

our country to amend its laws to conform with its commitments to human rights and especially indi-vidual freedoms”.

DenouncedRights organisations have de-nounced the trial and protests are to be held later this week in Agadir and in Morocco’s commer-cial capital Casablanca in support

of the two women. In the police report, the women were said to have been wearing clothes that were “too tight”.

Article 483 of Morocco’s pe-nal code states that anyone found guilty of committing an act of “public obscenity” such as “gross indecency” can be jailed for be-tween a month and two years.

The case comes amid growing

calls for “morality” to be respected in Morocco, which has been fre-quently criticised by international groups for rights abuses.

Last month, pop star Jennifer Lopez sparked anger in Morocco -- and triggered much debate -- for being, according to media, “scant-ily” dressed during a concert in Rabat that was broadcast on public television. — AFP

I N D E C E N C Y A C C U S A T I O N

Cholera kills 32 in South Sudan

LONDON: A cholera outbreak in war-torn South Sudan has killed at least 32 people, a fifth of them children under five, and schools have a major role to play in stem-ming the spread of the disease, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

More than 700 cholera cases have been reported in the capital Juba and Bor, the capital of Jon-glei state, in the last five weeks, according to the UN children’s

agency UNICEF. “Cholera is a deadly disease that inordinately affects young children,” Jona-than Veitch, UNICEF repre-sentative in South Sudan, said in a statement.

“One of the most powerful ways we can respond to this outbreak is by equipping schoolchildren with the information and tools they need to protect themselves and their families.”

An intestinal infection often linked to contaminated drinking water, cholera causes diarrhoea and vomiting, leaving small chil-dren especially vulnerable to death from dehydration.

As many as 5,000 children un-der five are at risk of dying from cholera unless urgent action is taken to contain the outbreak, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said last week. — Reuters

D E A D L Y D I S E A S E

More than 700 cholera cases have been

reported in the capital Juba and Bor, the

capital of Jonglei state, in the last five weeks,

according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF

BADLY HIT: Smoke billows from weapons depot at a Houthi-controlled military airport hit by the

Saudi-led coalition air strikes in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday. – AFP

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INDIAW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Both India and Central Asia cannot achieve their full

potential without each other. Nor will our people be safer

and our region more stable without our cooperation

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Modi seeks security ties with Central Asia to combat terror

ASTANA: Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi on Tuesday under-lined the common Islamic herit-age of both India and Central Asia which has always rejected the forces of extremism and strongly pitched for enhanced defence and security cooperation between the two to combat terrorism.

On his first visit to Central Asian countries, Modi, who flew to Kazakhstan’s capital from Uz-bekistan earlier in the day, as-serted that both India and Cen-tral Asia cannot achieve their full potential without each other and nor will the region be more stable without the cooperation between the two.

Frontier of instabilityAddressing a gathering at the Nazerbayev University, the Prime Minister said, “We live at the fron-tier of instability. We live close to the crucible of extremism and ter-

rorism. We see terrorism spawned by nations and groups. Today, we also see cyber space become a platform without borders for ter-ror to draw recruits to its cause.

“So, during this visit, we will strengthen our defence and secu-rity cooperation in the region. But, we will also combat terrorism by the strength of our values and our commitment to humanism.”

Asserting that he has come to write a “new chapter in an an-cient relationship”, Modi said, “the Islamic heritage of both India and Central Asia is defined by the highest ideals of Islam.

Noting that the richness of ties between India and Central Asia was written into the contours of

Indian cities and daily lives there, Modi said one could see this in architecture, art, handicraft and textile and in most popular foods.

“The dargahs of Delhi resonate with Sufi music that draws people from all faiths. The cities of Central Asia have become centres of yoga and Hindi, long before the world came together to celebrate the International Day of Yoga on 21st June,” the prime minister said.

However, he also rued that the engagement between India and Central Asia falls short of its promise and potential and said, “We have a special place in our hearts for each other. But, we have not paid as much attention to each other as we should. This

will change. That is why I am trav-elling to all five countries in the region in the early stages of my Government.”

Global challenge“Both India and Central Asia can-not achieve their full potential without each other. Nor will our people be safer and our region more stable without our coop-eration,” Modi said while noting that they have built modern, in-clusive and pluralist nations at a time when many in the region are caught in conflict and instability.

Stressing that from theatres of conflicts to the calm neighbour-hoods of distant cities, terrorism has become a global challenge as

never before, Modi said it was a force that is larger and more en-during than its changing names, locations and targets.

“So, we must ask ourselves: Will we let a generation of youth be lost to guns and hate, because they will hold us accountable for their lost future?,” he said.

Describing Kazakhstan as “a nation of global stature and re-spect”, he said this was not just because mother nature has been generous to it with resources of every kind.

Voice of responsibility“Kazakhstan is a voice of respon-sibility and maturity in interna-tional forums, including the Unit-ed Nations.”

He also recalled Kazakhstan’s generosity in making way for In-dia’s bid for the membership of the UN Security Council in 2011-12 and assured India’s support for the Central Asian country’s bid in 2017-18.

On trade ties, Modi said trade was expanding, but it was still modest. The cooperation in en-ergy sector has begun, he said while highlighting today’s launch of the drilling of the first oil well with Indian investments in Kazakhstan.

He also said Indian investments in Central Asia have started flow-ing in and asserted that India was prepared to invest more in a new partnership of prosperity.

The prime minister also offered expertise in information and com-munication technology to cre-ate wealth and opportunities for the youth as well as in the field of space technology for closer part-nership in development and re-source management. - PTI

Asserting that he

has come to write a

‘new chapter in an

ancient relationship’,

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

said, ‘the Islamic

heritage of both

India and Central

Asia is defined

by the highest

ideals of Islam’

BILATERAL RELATIONS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with his Kazakhstan counter-

part Karim Massimov during the inauguration of India-Kazakhstan Centre for Excellence in Informa-

tion and Communication Technology in Astana on Tuesday. - PTI

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

Record 94% turnout in Bihar council electionPATNA: A record 94 per cent polling was recorded in Tuesday’s election to 24 legislative coun-cil seats in Bihar, which has been billed as a semifinal ahead of the crucial assembly polls scheduled later this year.

The Election Commission said the figures were preliminary as the final polling figure from various districts would reach it in a couple of days.

Additional Chief Electoral Officer(ACEO) R Lakshmanan said “Voters participation was very good in the polls on Tuesday and 94 per cent of the 139,000 vot-ers exercised their franchise.

“The percentage may increase after final figures come from the districts.”

He said around 15 cases of viola-tion of model code of conduct were registered against various candi-dates, including Education Minis-ter P. K. Shahi and Road Construc-tion Minister Lalan Singh.

FIRs were registered against Shahi and Singh for violation of the model code of conduct like use of official vehicle and red beacon light while voting, he said.

The two ministers later on sur-rendered themselves at Gandhi Maidan police station and took bail from there.

Cash seizedLakshmanan also said around Rs300,000 in cash was seized by EC flying squads from various places like Begusarai and Khagaria.

Polling was held in 534 booths and Nalanda reported the maxi-mum turnout of 98.71 per cent, followed by 98.42 per cent in Sa-ran and 98.28 per cent in Bho-jpur-cum-Buxar.Aurangabad and Siwan districts reported 98.05 per cent each.

Alliances of RJD, JD(U), Con-gress and NCP and the BJP-led NDA fielded candidates in all the 24 seats. - PTI

L E G I S L A T I V E C O U N C I L

TURKISH AIRLINES JET CLEARED AFTER BOMB HOAXA Turkish Airlines passenger jet sits on the tarmac after it made an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi International Air-

port in New Delhi on Tuesday. The flight from Bangkok with 157 passengers and crew on board, which landed under emergency

conditions following a bomb scare, was cleared for take-off after the security agencies did not find any explosive. - PTI

Mumbai blast victim dies after nine years in coma

MUMBAI: After being in a coma and semi-conscious state for the last nine years, 7/11 blast victim Parag Sawant died at a hospital here on Tuesday.

Thirty-six-year-old Sawant was admitted to the P. D. Hinduja Hospital on July 12, 2006, with severe head injuries.

He is survived by wife Priti and a daughter, who was born when he was in a vegetative state.

“He was in deep coma for about two years and then his condition gradually improved into a semi-conscious state where he would understand simple commands,” Dr B K Misra, consultant neuro-surgeon at P D Hinduja Hospital said in a statement here.

“He underwent multiple op-erations for brain treatment and then was on supportive care and

physiotherapy for few years.At 5.30am, the staff nurse

checked Parag and his condition was stable.

Later, at 6am his saturation levels dropped and he was put on oxygen to stabilise his breathing condition,” he said.

Sawant had a sudden respira-tory arrest for which the CPR team tried to conduct all resusci-tation measures.

“In spite of all resuscitation measures, Parag could not be re-vived and was declared dead at 6.54 am today. He died because of cardiorespiratory arrest and most likely possibility of immedi-ate deterioration could be pulmo-nary embolism,” Misra said.

Nearly 188 people were killed and 817 others injured in the 7/11 Mumbai serial train blasts. - PTI

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Chouhan asks for CBI probe into Vyapam scandal

BHOPAL: Under relentless op-position attack, central Indian state Madhya Pradesh Chief Min-ister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said he will recommend to the high court a CBI probe into the Vyapam scam, a day after the Centre and BJP disfavoured handing it over to the central agency without a court directive.

The announcement by the beleagured Chief Minister at a hurriedly called press confer-ence came two days before the Supreme Court hears a clutch of petitions seeking a CBI inquiry into the scam monitored by the apex court.

“Loktantra lok lajja se chalta hai (public perception is important in democracy). Honouring public sentiments, I will request the high court for a CBI probe,” Chouhan said, adding “the functioning of the government should be beyond any doubt.”

“I have full respect for both High Court and the Supreme Court and have total faith in the ongoing probe into the Vyapam scam,” he said. In a related de-velopment, the Supreme Court agreed to hear on July 9 the plea of Congress leader Digvijay Singh and three whistleblowers seek-ing an apex court-monitored CBI probe into the scam.

Singh and whistleblowers —Ashish Chaturvedi, Anand Rai and Prashant Pandey — have also moved the apex court seeking a CBI probe under its supervision.

Chouhan was under mounting pressure from opposition parties, particularly the Congress to order a CBI probe following the death of Arun Sharma, the dean of a Jabalpur medical college probing the scandal on Sunday in Delhi, a day after Akshay Singh, a journal-ist of the TV Today group on the Vyapam scam trail, mysteriously died minutes after he had inter-viewed the parents of a deceased girl accused. At least five people

associated with Vyapam, includ-ing Sharma and Singh, have died under mysterious circumstances in the last one week.

‘Unnatural deaths’The opposition has claimed near-ly 45 people linked to the scandal in some manner have died so far though the official figures put the “unnatural deaths” at 25. Chou-han, who has been under opposi-tion attack, said people wanted to know the truth and it had be-come imperative that the case be probed by CBI now to put to rest all doubts.

Congress has been demanding sacking of Chauhan and has been insisting that a fair probe is not possible with him at the helm.

Troubles mounted for Chou-han on Monday over Vyapam scam after a woman trainee sub-inspector recruited by the state board was found dead in a lake, triggering demands from Con-gress for his immediate sacking and an impartial probe. - PTI

The announcement

by the beleagured

chief minister came

two days before

the Supreme Court

hears a clutch of

petitions seeking a

CBI inquiry into the

scam monitored

by the apex court

BELEAGUERED: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan addressing a press conference at Mantralaya in Bhopal

on Tuesday. - PTI

A10 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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Malala for $39b in funding to extend basic education years

OSLO: Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, urged an extra $39 billion a year for education worldwide on Tuesday and said she wants to remain the “voice of children” even after she turns 18 next week.

The cash, to allow all children to attend secondary schools, was the equivalent of cutting global mili-tary spending for eight days, she told Reuters at an international education conference in Oslo.

Think bigger“The world needs to think bigger and it needs to dream bigger,” she said, saying U.N. goals for 2015

wrongly only focused on universal primary schooling. Fifty-nine mil-lion children, many in war zones, do not even attend primary school.

Best known by her first name, Malala became a global symbol of defiance after she was shot on a school bus in 2012 by the Taliban

for advocating girls’ rights. The extra $39 billion a year is

the estimated cost of extending basic education to 12 years from nine. “If nine years of education is not enough for your children, it is not enough for the rest of the world’s children,” she told sev-

eral hundred delegates including United Nations Secretary-Gener-al Ban Ki-moon.

Malala, who started her speech by saying “I am here as the voice of children”, also noted she becomes an adult on July 12. “My life of be-ing a child will come to an end, it’s

quite hard,” she said. But she said her approach will be unaffected.

No limit of age “I think there’s no limit of age... to speak of all children’s rights. My father has been doing it as a teacher and I will continue to do it as a woman,” she said.

“As an adult, you can be the voice of children.”

Malala, who now lives in Eng-land, was a joint winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Ban praised her in a speech, saying she “embodied the courage of girls re-solved to claim their rights.”

Also at Tuesday’s conference, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg won U.N. backing for a commission to look into new ways to raise funds for education. It would make recommendations by September 2016.

Chaired by BrownThe commission, also backed by the leaders of Indonesia, Malawi, Chile and the UN children’s fund UNICEF, will be chaired by for-mer British prime minister Gor-don Brown.

Malala, who has two more years at school, said she hoped to return to Pakistan after university. “I am more interested in history, eco-nomics, these kind of subjects, so I might go to Oxford,” she said.

But she added, jokingly: “I have got so many honorary de-grees - from Edinburgh and many others.” — Reuters

The cash, to allow

all children to attend

secondary schools,

was the equivalent

of cutting global

military spending

for eight days, said

the youngest Nobel

Peace Prize winner

BIG DREAM: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki moon, fourth right, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala

Yousafzai, second right, and Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, right, participate in the Oslo

Summit on Education for Development at Oslo Plaza in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday. — Reuters/Vegard Wivestad

Grott/NTB Scanpix

Anti-Hazara militants killed in BalochistanQUETTA: Pakistani security forces killed the leader of a fiercely anti-Hazara militant group during a targeted operation early on Tues-day on the outskirts of the south-western city of Quetta, security officials said.

Jaish-ul-Islam has claimed many of the recent attacks on Haz-ara in Balochistan province, of which Quetta is the capital.

It is similar to the larger Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has carried out large attacks minor-ity sects, who the movement says should leave the country.

The military’s Frontier Corps and intelligence agents acted on a tip to conduct the Quetta raid, ac-cording to Frontier Corps spokes-man Khan Wasey.

Jaish-ul-Islam’s chief, Me-hmoodur Rehman Rind, was killed along with two other militants, he said.

“Rind was involved in targeted killings and planning suicide at-

tacks on the Hazara community and many other attacks,” Wasey told Reuters.

Heavy weapons including rock-ets and grenades were used in the

battle, which lasted for several hours. One Frontier Corps officer was wounded in the exchange of fire.

More than 100 members of mi-

nority sects have been killed in at-tacks in Pakistan this year, includ-ing 45 Ismailis gunned down on a bus in Karachi and 62 in a suicide bombing in January.

On Monday in Quetta, gun-men riding motorcycles gunned down two Hazara brothers and a police officer outside the city’s passport office. — Reuters

J A I S H - U L - I S L A M

SUCCESS: Ambulances carrying the bodies of suspected extremist

militants killed in a security forces’ operation arrive at a hospital in

Quetta late on Monday. — AFP

WANTED: A Pakistani official looks at an identity card of a sus-

pected extremist militant killed in a security operation in Quetta

late Monday. — AFP

Blindness no roadblock to success, says disabled mechanicKARACHI: As a boy, Asif Patel would take apart toys and transis-tor radios, relying only on his sense of touch to rebuild them, having been robbed of his sight by a rare condition that meant he was born without eyes.

Now a renowned mechanic with his own workshop in Pakistan’s sprawling metropolis of Karachi, Patel’s story is a rare tale of suc-cess in a country which offers few opportunities for the blind.

At a small workshop that em-ploys seven people in the city’s Lasbela area customers come and go, leaving their cars in the trusted hands of their old mechanic.

Making adjustmentPatel, 44, makes his way over to an older Toyota, pops open the bon-net and places his hands inside, feeling the out-of-tune whirring of the carburettor and carefully mak-ing adjustments.

“I used to play with those things and I used to break them,” he tells AFP of his childhood.

“Whenever my dad brought things I would open them up, then try to fit it back how I opened it, and I saw how it worked.”

Pakistan has nearly two million blind people, according to the Fred Hollows Foundation, with more than half afflicted due to treatable conditions like cataracts.

Opportunities for the blind, like those with other disabilities, are few and far between, with many sight-impaired reduced to begging

on the streets to make ends meet.They often have to deal with so-

cial taboos surrounding disability and have little by the way of gov-ernment facilities to aid them in public spaces. Many are rejected by their own families.

Not so for Patel.“No, I was encouraged at home,”

he says. The key to his success, he ex-

plains, is his keen sense of touch. “It is important for us that we touch, and see how it is, and what it is.” After dropping out of school, he found a part-time job at age 15 at an auto-workshop and was as-signed the task of dismantling a clutch plate.

“I had to open the clutch plate and they were a little shocked be-cause they thought my confidence

showed that I had worked some-where else too,” he said.

The next part of his training involved taking apart a gear box. “I said ‘yes’ and lay under the car and saw that the clutch plate we opened was put in with a flywheel and the area behind it is the gear,” he said.

“So mentally I figured out the rounds of the gear and its founda-

tions and in barely 15 minutes, I took it out and was done.

“When I opened and put the gear out, I gained their trust and they knew that this boy had some gift from God and could do this work.”

He eventually bought his own car to train himself further in the intricacies of auto mechanics, and started his career swapping out engines.

And he is keen to distinguish himself as a true “mechanic” and not merely a fitter of parts, which he says any child can do.

“A mechanic’s work is to diag-nose. Anyone can become a fitter. The main thing is to diagnose if there is a problem and why it is there,” he said.

“So it is a gift from Allah that I can find out what the fault actually is.” Fahad Younis, a 30-something client with his own car import-export business, drops off a Nis-san Platz for repair. He says Patel’s customers come for one reason only: the quality of the work.

“He fixes the problems whatever they are,” he said. “We give him all our cars, big and small.”

It has not always been a smooth ride. “Once I was experimenting with the engine and petrol and was squirting it in. It caught fire and I had to throw sand on it to put it out,” Patel said.

Another time a jack collapsed while he was working under a car, dropping the vehicle on him.

“I didn’t worry too much about it, just lifted it up, put in another jack and carried on working,” he said.

While some might rue their luck at being blind, Patel says he prefers to count his blessings -- and insists he doesn’t really think of himself as disabled.

“If I ever felt that I was handi-capped from something, I would not be able to do what I am doing right now,” he said. — AFP

R A R E T A L E O F S U C C E S S

FIGHTING THE ODDS: File photograph shows Pakistani blind mechanic Asif Patel, centre, working on a

car engine at his workshop in Karachi. —AFP

A mechanic’s work is

to diagnose. Anyone

can become a fitter.

The main thing is to

diagnose if there is a

problem and why it is

there. So it is a gift from

Allah that I can find out

what fault actually is

Asif PatelMehanic

Blackout in Karachi as Bin Qasim plant tripsKARACHI: Most parts of Ka-rachi plunged into darkness on Tuesday evening after the main power line from Bin Qasim Power plant tripped, Express News reported.

Due to tripping of the main power line from Bin Qasim pow-er plant, all the units of the plant shut down, creating a short-fall of 700 mega watts (MW) in the city.

The plant’s shut down caused a power break down in many parts of city.

Technical issueThe K-electric company said that an extra high tension pow-er line had tripped leading to a technical issue which caused the power outage. — Express Tribune

M A I N P O W E R L I N E

Afghan peace talks being held in capitalISLAMABAD: Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday on an unannounced visit for talks with Afghan Taliban, sources told The Express Tribune.

“I can confirm that the Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai is in Islamabad,” a source privy to the development said. The minister is accompanied by former governor of Nangarhar Haji Deen Muhammad and other officials.

It was learnt the Afghan deputy foreign minister is leading a nine-member team for ‘talks with the Afghan Taliban.’

ConfirmationThe Afghan Presidential Palace in Kabul confirmed that a four-mem-ber delegation of the High Peace Council is visiting Islamabad for talks with the Taliban.

Deputy presidential spokesper-son Zafar Hashmi told the media in Kabul that three Taliban leaders are taking part in the talks. He did not disclose the names.

However, an Afghan Tali-ban spokesperson denied hav-ing any knowledge of the talks in Islamabad.

“I do not have any information and will share if there is any,” Zabi-hullah Mujahid said.

A diplomatic source said Hek-mat Karzai-led delegation ‘contin-ued consultations’ for a second day on Tuesday and the formal talks with Taliban leaders could start on Wednesday.” — Express Tribune

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Mark Gilbert

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufa-kis’s resignation -- even after Greek voters firmly backed the government’s

refusal to accept its creditors’ demands for economic austerity -- is the clearest sign yet that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is seri-ous about getting a new bailout deal. Unfor-tunately, it’s probably too late to keep Greece in the euro. The euro zone now faces a horri-ble choice. Tsipras will resume negotiations claiming to have a fresh democratic mandate, making it unlikely he’ll accede to the tax and pensions changes he’s previously rejected. So a new bargain would look awfully like Greece getting its own way -- a reward for ‘bad faith’ and ‘bad behaviour’. Kicking Greece out of the euro, on the other hand, would prove once and for all that euro membership can be revoked. Nevertheless, the latter option remains the better of two bad choices.

When the nation’s banks fail to reopen and a fresh agreement on aid isn’t completed within “one hour” -- two predictions confi-dently made last week by Varoufakis to help persuade his fellow Greeks to vote “no” -- the 61 per cent of Greeks who took his advice may start to regret their decision. The euro’s guardians, meanwhile, who had insisted that Greeks were voting on their future euro mem-bership (no matter how incomprehensible the actual ballot question was) will struggle to ac-commodate the result without looking as if they’re giving into a form of blackmail.

Rather than come up with some convoluted formula to give Greece enough money to stave off bankruptcy, European leaders should cut their losses and start the process of easing Greece out of the common currency project. The nation’s stubborn ‘contradictory stance’ -- yes to the euro, no to the conditions of con-tinued membership -- isn’t consistent with the euro’s future well-being.

The German newspaper Handelsblatt summed the situation up neatly last week, with a front page showing Tsipras holding a gun to his own head with the caption “give me money or I shoot myself.”

Greece, for its part, should seize the oppor-tunity to get out of the euro on the best terms possible. Those would include a restructuring of its debts, with creditors taking a one-time

hit and reducing the debt burden from about 180 percent of gross domestic product. A new and devalued currency could help put the economy back on the path to recovery; econo-mists including Roger Bootle at Capital Eco-nomics in London have argued this is Greece’s best alternative. Varoufakis announced his decision to quit on Twitter, directing follow-ers to a statement on his personal web site:

“Soon after the announcement of the refer-endum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my ... ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Min-ister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.”

Call me old-fashioned, but it strikes me that Greece’s negotiations have relied far too much on messages of 140 characters or fewer deliv-ered via social media, adding to the govern-ment’s reputation as amateurs.

While there’s little evidence of contagion in financial markets -- the euro is barely changed from where trading closed on Friday, and bang in line with its three-month average value against the dollar -- Greece still poses a poten-tial threat. The 89 billion euros Greek banks owe the European Central Bank for its emer-gency liquidity assistance, combined with the 100 billion euros owed by the Greek central bank to its Eurozone peers, is almost double the ECB’s equity and reserves of 98.5 billion euros, according to calculations by the Cobden Centre, a research organisation. Whatever the true value of the Greek collateral that the ECB owns against those liabilities, it certainly isn’t 100 percent of its face amount. That poses a financial stability risk to the entire region.

Moreover, the ECB will struggle to main-tain the myth that Greek banks are solvent when their ATMs are close to empty, their doors remain locked, and the government’s aid package remains in limbo.

The euro’s rules about what the central bank can and can’t do for a member in trou-ble have been broken long enough. This has to end. The euro region needs the catharsis of a Greek exit, not the uncertainty of yet more wrangling. Greeks have had their say loud and clear: They’re not willing to endure the stric-tures of membership. So they should leave the common currency. - Bloomberg View

2015 Report on the global tobacco epidemicWorld Health Organisation

Source:

TAX ON TOBACCOGulf states tax tobacco products less than

other Arab countries

Jordan83%

Palestine82%

Tunisia75%

Egypt73%

Morocco70%

Yemen54%

Lebanon43%

Bahrain40%

Kuwait35%

OMAN22%

SaudiArabia,Qatar& UAE20%

Very hot weather behind petrol station firesThis refers to the online story Petrol station in Oman catches fire (July 7). The main issue behind this is the very hot weather. It has been approximately 50 degrees Celcius during the past 1 week but the concerned authorities are not advising the public how to deal with this weather. In my experience, people refuse to turn off their engines while filling petrol because it is too hot and they don‘t want to turn off the air conditioner. People need to choose between sweat snd death?

Additionally, it seems to me the pump attendant doesn‘t seem to have professio-nal training to handle with these situations as well. The petrol companies need to staff and professional attendants. They need to start spending some money on awareness and safety. — Nabeel Irshad Hussain, Ruwi

Petrol pump attendants should make sure engines are shut offThis refers to the online story Petrol station in Oman catches fire (July 7). After a series of incidents, it is a surprise that people are still disinclined to switch off the engine while petrol is being filled in their cars. In my view, the attendent should insist on this firmly. — Manoj Panakkaran, Muscat

Obsession over finding alien life senselessThis refers to the news story Comet carrying Philae probe could be ho-sting ‘alen life’ (July 7). I simply cannot understand why scientists are fixated on finding alien life. As if we don’t have enough wor-ries here. There are so many things unknown on our planet. Why not decipher them? How can meeting aliens ever be helpful to the current dismal human condition. — Melissa Smart, Muscat

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Moosa signs agreement to set up nursing institute Dr Ali bin Mohammed bin Moosa, health minister, signed at the ministry yesterday an agreement worth RO600,000 for the establishment of a specialised nursing institute. The project includes six classrooms, a room for scientific applications, a computer room, a library and other utilities. After the signing ceremony, the minister said the new institute was scheduled to admit students in the academic year 2001-2002, noting that the ministry had always accorded special attention to the de-velopment of human resources.

1795: Thomas Paine defends the principle of universal suffrage at the Constitutional Convention in Paris. 1798: Napoleon Bonaparte’s army begins its march towards Cairo from Alexandria.

1807: Czar Alexander meets with Napoleon Bonaparte.

1981: Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court.

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Britons observe minute of silence for 2005 London bombings victims

LONDON: Britons laid flowers at the sites of the 2005 London sui-cide bombings and held a nation-wide minute of silence for the 52 victims on Tuesday on the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

Prime Minister David Cameron led the tributes by placing a wreath at a memorial in Hyde Park, less than a fortnight after an attack in Tunisia in which 30 Britons were killed.

The ceremony began at ex-actly 8:50am (0750 GMT) -- the time the first of four homegrown militants detonated his device on London’s transport system on July 7, 2005.

“It’s still raw 10 years on,” said Mark, a 40-year-old train driver fighting back tears on the plaza outside King’s Cross train station, near two of the four blast scenes.

“You see things you don’t want to see again. It was horrendous,” he said, adding that he was on duty at the time and was “involved” in res-cue operations.

Tavistock SquareBouquets of flowers were laid in nearby Tavistock Square, on the spot where one of the bombers det-onated his device on a red double-decker bus, killing 13 people.

“Our precious daughter Shy-anu. When heaven took our an-gel back, they left two broken hearts,” read one message left in honour of 30-year-old Shayanuja Parathasangary.

At Russell Square Underground station where a second device was detonated on a train, a tent was erected near the station entrance where mourners could sit and pay a silent tribute.

Spectators at the Wimbledon tennis tournament joined in the minute of silence, as did tourists outside St Paul’s Cathedral, where petals were dropped from the dome during a service for families of the victims and survivors.

“Ten years on from the 7/7 Lon-don attacks, the threat from terror-ism continues to be as real as it is deadly,” Cameron said. “The mur-

der of 30 innocent Britons whilst holidaying in Tunisia is a brutal reminder of that fact. But we will never be cowed by terrorism.”

The Britons were among 38 peo-ple killed when a gunman went on the rampage at a popular Tunisian beach resort on June 26, Britain’s worst terror incident since the 2005 bombings.

Social media tributeIn a social media tribute that quickly trended on Twitter, many commuters posted pictures of themselves walking to work as part of a #WalkTogether cam-paign by leaders of different faiths to honour the victims.

In the past decade, successive governments have strengthened security powers and improved the way the emergency services respond to attacks after criti-

cism of severe delays.But they are still struggling to

address the problem of radicali-sation exposed by the bombings, which were carried out not by foreign fighters but by four young men who grew up in Britain and were inspired by Al Qaeda.

Hundreds of British young peo-ple are now flocking to join the IS militant group in Syria and Iraq, raising fears that they might re-turn to attack their homeland.

For many of those directly af-fected by the London bombings, the anniversary has brought back painful memories.

“Whatever help you get, it’s still there. You can never get rid of it,” said Mark, the train driver.

David Boyce was a 25-year-old supervisor at Russell Square sta-tion and one of the first to witness the carnage.

“There was body parts all over the place and dead bodies lying all over the train,” he told AFP.

The general emergency re-sponse was fractured, ham-pered by poor communications inside the tunnels and between controllers.

This has been overhauled, as has the government’s counter-terror-ism strategy, with new measures introduced to clamp down on radi-cal preachers and give police and security services tougher powers to question and track suspects.

Despite the new measures, the

head of the MI5 domestic intel-ligence agency, Andrew Parker, warned that the risk remained high. “Appalling acts are attempt-ed by individuals who have grown up here but decided for whatever twisted reasons to identify their own country as the enemy,” he said in a rare public statement.

“The continuing fact that some people, born in the UK, with all the opportunities and freedoms that modern Britain offers, can none-theless make those sorts of warped choices presents a serious societal and security challenge.” — AFP

Prime Minister David

Cameron led the

tributes by placing a

wreath at a memorial

in Hyde Park

It’s still raw 10 years on. You see things you

don’t want to see again. It was horrendous.

Mark, 40-year-old train driver

FLORAL TRIBUTES: A woman places a floral tribute for victims of the July 7, 2005 London bombings,

at Aldgate Station in London, Britain on Tuesday. Right: Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge

and Gerald Oppenheim, right, lay flowers at the 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park on Tuesday. – Reuters/ AFP

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UN arms curbs on Iran to stay after deal: US

VIENNA: Iran will continue to face restrictions on its missile programme as well as its trade in conventional arms under an emerging nuclear agreement, a senior US official said on Tuesday.

Six major powers and Iran are still not where they need to be to achieve an agreement under which Iran would restrict its nu-

clear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, the official added on condition of anonymity.

“There will be an ongoing re-striction on arms (if there is a deal), just like there will be ongo-ing restrictions regarding mis-siles,” the official said. “It will be part of the (United Nations) Secu-rity Council resolution.”

Any deal concluded by Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China will include a draft Security Coun-cil resolution that terminates all UN sanctions but re-imposes

some specific measures. That resolution will then be present-ed to the 15-nation council for official adoption.

Iran and the six powers earlier extended an interim nuclear deal through Friday in order to give the delegations additional time to work through several remain-ing sticking points in order to get a long-term accord.

Earlier, an Iranian official re-vealed on Monday that Tehran was pushing for removal of any mention of a UN arms embargo in any final nuclear agreement. “There is no evidence that the

arms embargo has any relation with the nuclear issue,” the of-ficial said. The US official ac-knowledged the Iran nuclear talks were “not a missile nego-tiation, and that “countries are allowed to have a conventional missile programme.”

But under UN Security Council resolutions there are “provisions... that are address both technology and missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons as part of the nuclear-related bases of those resolutions. And that is what we are addressing,” the official said.

Negotiators were drafting a new resolution which will go be-fore the UN Security Council to endorse the Iran nuclear deal. “What this means there will be continued restrictions in this area and we’ve always said that,” the of-ficial said.

Meanwhile, senior officials from the International Atomic Energy (IAEA) have made “fur-ther progress” in meetings in Teh-ran but more work will be needed to resolve outstanding issues be-tween the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran,it said on Tuesday.

“A team of senior IAEA officials held constructive talks in Tehran on Monday on ways forward to re-solve all outstanding issues,” the agency said. — Agencies

Iran and the six

world powers earlier

extended an interim

nuclear deal through

Friday in order to

give the delegations

additional time to

work through several

remaining sticking

points in order to get

a long-term accord

TOUGH TALKS: High Representative of the European Union for

Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, left, and

US Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meet in Vienna, Austria on

Tuesday. — AFP

Syria parliament approves deal for Iranian credit worth $1bBEIRUT: Syria’s parliament on Tuesday approved a deal with Iran under which Tehran will pro-vide the government a new line of credit worth $1 billion, state media said.

The credit line will be the third that Tehran has extended to Da-mascus since the conflict in Syria erupted with anti-government protests in March 2011.

“The People’s Council approved a deal on a line of credit of $1 bil-lion,” which was signed on May 19 in Damascus by Syria’s Commer-cial Bank and the Export Devel-opment Bank of Iran, the official SANA news agency said.

It said the credit would be used for “importing merchandise and carrying out projects.”.

Iran is the key regional ally of

President Bashar Al Assad’s gov-ernment, and has provided him with military and financial sup-port through Syria’s conflict.

In 2013, Tehran extended Da-mascus two lines of credit worth a total of $4.6 billion, with much of that devoted to the purchase of oil.

After more than four years of conflict that has left some 230,000 people dead, Syria’s government

has become increasingly depend-ent on credit and other aid from allies like Iran.

Rare sources“It is one of the rare sources of cur-rency that remains for the Syrian government,” said Jihad Yazigi, di-rector of the economic news web-site The Syria Report.

Meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish

fighters have recaptured more than 10 villages seized by IS mili-tant group north of its de facto capital of Raqqa city, aided by US-led coalition air strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights re-ported on Tuesday.

Intensified air strikes across northern Syria and clashes on the ground have killed at least 78 IS militants since Sunday night, the

Britain-based Observatory said.The strikes are some of the most

sustained since they began in Sep-tember, according to US officials who say they are aimed at curbing the rebels’ ability to operate out of Raqqa and to prevent it from fight-ing back against Kurdish advanc-es. But, on Tuesday, the extremist group was still in control of Ain Issa, the Observatory said. — Agencies

T O B E F O R M E R C H A N D I S E , P R O J E C T S

World’s oldest man dies in Japan at 112TOKYO: The world’s oldest man, Sakari Momoi, has died in Japan at the ripe old age of 112, an official said on Tuesday.

Momoi, born months before the Wright brothers made their first successful flight, passed away late Sunday, said the official at Saitama City, north of Tokyo, where he had lived for many years.

The supercentenarian, recog-

nised as the world’s oldest male at the age of 111 last year, died of kidney failure in a care home in Tokyo. “We heard from his fam-ily... that his health worsened one or two weeks ago,” the official said. Momoi, a former high school prin-cipal who was born on February 5, 1903, received a certificate from Guinness World Records confirm-ing the achievement last year. — AFP

W O R L D R E C O R D H O L D E R

LONG INNINGS: In this file picture taken on August 20, 2014,

one-hundred-eleven-year-old Japanese man Sakari Momoi, right,

receives a certificate naming him as the world’s oldest man by the

Guinness World Records at a hospital in Tokyo. Momoi, has died in

Japan at the ripe old age of 112, an official said on Tuesday. — AFP/

Files/Japan Pool via Jiji Press

Bank accounts linked to Malaysia’s premier frozenKUALA LUMPUR: A task force investigating Malaysia’s troubled state investment fund 1MDB said on Tuesday it had frozen half a dozen bank accounts following a report that hundreds of millions of dollars had been transferred to an account of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last week that investiga-tors probing the debt-laden 1MDB had traced nearly $700 million to bank accounts they believed be-longed to the prime minister.

Najib has denied taking any money from 1MDB or any other entity for personal gain, and is considering legal action.

The special task force said it had frozen six bank accounts in relation to the allegations, but it did not specify whose accounts they were or the banks involved.

The team also took possession of documents related to 17 ac-counts from two banks to help with the investigations.

Meanwhile, WSJ published what it said were government documents from the probe of the prime minister, detailing a money trail of nearly $700 million that led to his personal bank account.

A link on its website opened to a nine-page document that in-cluded remittance application forms, some flow charts and an authorisation letter.

Some portions of the docu-ments were redacted.

Reuters could not indepen-dently verify these documents.

The Prime Minister’s office did not respond to a request for com-ment. Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister has repeatedly demanded Najib account for the disappearance of billions of dollars borrowed by state fund 1MDB, or resign.

The attorney-general said on Saturday he had received docu-ments from the investigating task force that are “connected to alle-gations” money was transferred into the prime minister’s account.

Malaysian opposition law-makers on Tuesday accused au-thorities of blocking a planned

meeting in parliament to discuss the allegations against Najib, which threaten to become the biggest political crisis in the country’s history.

Stop any discussionAbout 100 lawmakers, activists and lawyers were prevented from entering a meeting room in par-liament, and were left sitting on the steps outside the building in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

Officials said the room had been double booked, and was be-ing used by the Youth and Sports Ministry.

“It’s fairly obvious what the authorities are doing. They are in cahoots to stop any discussion about the allegations the prime minister is facing,” said Tony Pua,

a lawmaker from the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Meanwhile, members of Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), have closed ranks behind the prime minister, who had already been on a back foot over the mis-management of 1MDB and his handling of the economy.

1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, has debts of nearly $11.6 billion. Even before the WSJ report it was the subject of separate investigations by the central bank, auditor general, po-lice and the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. The Wall Street Journal, citing documents from a government investigation, said there were five deposits into Najib’s account. — Reuters

1 M D B G R A F T S C A N D A L

UNDER THE SCANNER: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak

speaks to the media at a mosque outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,

on Sunday. — Reuters

Truly, the one who shamed the country is Najib with

his 1MDB. Prior to this, the country has never been

insulted by unanswered allegations, unlike now,

said former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in his

latest blog posting on Tuesday

A15

WORLDW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

3 Saudi brothers arrested for Kuwait attack

KUWAIT CITY/RIYADH: Two brothers arrested in Saudi Arabia had transported the explosives used in the suicide bombing of a mosque in Kuwait, the interior ministry said Tuesday.

Earlier Riyadh said on Tuesday that three Saudi brothers were arrested in connection with the bombing of the Kuwaiti mosque that killed 27 people, after a shootout with one of the suspects.

It said Majed Al Zahrani and Mohammad Al Zahrani smuggled in the explosives in an icebox by car through Nuwaiseeb border post from Saudi Arabia, a day before the June 26 bombing that killed 26 people.

The two Saudis then delivered the explosives near the border post to Abdulrahman Sabah Ei-dan Saud, a stateless Arab who passed them on to the suicide bomber and drove him to the tar-get mosque, the ministry said.

It said tests had shown that the explosives were of the same type

as used in two similar attacks on mosques in eastern Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, the interior ministry said Mohammad Zahra-ni was arrested in Khafji, another border town near Nuwaiseeb, af-ter a shootout with Saudi security forces. Two security personnel were wounded in the shootout, it said, adding that brother Majed was arrested in the southwestern Saudi city of Taif.

“As result of the shooting, two security personnel were injured and rushed to hospital,” the min-istry said. A third brother was ar-rested in Kuwait and handed over to Saudi authorities, officials in Kuwait said.

“Two of them were born in Ku-wait and they have ties to a fourth sibling who is present in Syria as

part of IS,” the Saudi ministry said.Kuwait has said more than 40

people could face charges in con-nection with the mosque blast.

An IS-affiliated group call-ing itself Najd Province claimed the Kuwait bombing and also said it carried out the two sui-cide attacks at mosques in Saudi Arabia in May.

The IS militant group claimed the June 26 suicide bombing of the mosque in Kuwait City, which it said was carried out by a Saudi.

On Friday a Saudi policeman was shot dead during a raid in Taif, where officers said they found IS flags. Three suspects were arrested. A fourth escaped but was later killed in a gun bat-tle with law enforcement officers, the interior ministry said. - AFP

Riyadh said three

Saudi brothers

were arrested in

connection with

the bombing of the

Kuwaiti mosque that

killed 27 people, after

a shootout with one

of the suspects

BLAST SITE: Kuwait Special Forces control the area around the Imam Sadiq Mosque in Al Sawaber area of Kuwait City, on June 26, 2015, after a bomb explosion killed 27 people during Friday prayers. - Reuters

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Swiss test drone parcel service

BAS-VULLY (SWITZER-LAND): Wondering where your package is? Look up!

Switzerland’s postal service said on Tuesday it had begun testing parcel deliveries by un-manned drones, although wide-spread use of the flying postmen is not likely to kick in for another five years. Postal service execu-tives showed off the drones for the first time on Tuesday and said initial tests of the machines’ post-delivery abilities would run until the end of July.

The snow-white drones consist of four branches with propellers on the end extending from a hol-low ring the size of a toilet seat. A yellow box, bearing the postal ser-vice logo, is lodged in the middle.

“The drone has an extremely light construction and is capa-ble of transporting loads of up to one kilo (2.2 pounds) over more than 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) with a single battery charge,” Swiss Post said in a statement. The drone “flies autonomously, following clearly defined, secure flight paths, which are drawn up by cloud software developed by Matternet (the drone’s US manu-facturer)”, Swiss Post added.

Swiss Post, which is cooper-ating on the project with Swiss WorldCargo — the air freight di-vision of Swiss International Air Lines — stressed that the drones

would be thoroughly tested before being put to wide-scale use.

“Until the time of their realis-tic commercial use in around five years, there are various require-ments which need to be clarified,” the statement said.

This includes exploring the reg-ulatory framework that would ap-ply when sending the unmanned aircraft out across the Alpine country, which is dotted with numerous remote and isolated villages where drone deliveries could be useful. Swiss Post also said extensive tests would be car-ried out to explore the technical restrictions of the drones, includ-

ing limited battery life. For now, Swiss Post said it expects to main-ly use the drones in emergency situations, which could “involve bringing supplies to an area that has been cut off from the outside world following a storm.”

“Another realistic possibility is the urgent transport of consign-ments with the highest priority, such as laboratory tests,” it added.

Switzerland is not the only place where package-delivering drones could soon appear. Ama-zon, the world’s largest online retailer, announced in late 2013 a plan to airlift small parcels to customers by drone in select mar-kets, less than 30 minutes after an order is received. But the company warned last month that proposed US rules regulating the use of ci-vilian drones could block it from launching the service, and called for them to be overhauled. — AFP

Switzerland’s

postal service

said on Tuesday it

had begun testing

parcel deliveries by

unmanned drones

FLYING POSTMAN: A Swiss Post and Swiss WorldCargo ‘Matter-

net’ drone is flown during a presentation at Bellechasse airfield in

Bas-Vully near Fribourg, Switzerland, on Tuesday. – Reuters

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

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5B

Muscat

6,428.46 - 6.58

- 0.10%

Dubai

4,041.39- 14.43

- 0.36%

Abu Dhabi

4,756.90 + 5.18

+ 0.11%

Saudi Arabia

9,079.25- 52.11

- 0.52%

Kuwait

6,147.40- 20.00

- 0.32%

Bahrain

1,337.94 - 0.16

- 0.01%

Qatar

11,966.70- 41.31

- 0.34%

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

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

Euro ............................................ 2.33

Pound ...........................................1.65

Indian Rs .............................164.04

Pak Rs ....................................260.15

Bangla Taka.......................199.40* Rates are as of July 7

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs ...................................164.70

Pakistan Rs ............................ 263.50

Sri Lanka Rs .......................... 346.50

Bangla Taka.............................201.70

Phil Peso ....................................116.60

* Rates as of July 7 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......14.95

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......14.40

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............ 141.00

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 133.75

* Rates as of July 7

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ..........$56.11

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) .........$55.91

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ......... $57.77

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) .........$56.01

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ..........$57.17

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ........$52.64

CRUDE OIL PRICE

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Banks in Oman comfortable in capital adequacy

A. E. JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman’s banks are in a comfortable position in main-taining capital adequacy ratio — an international standard that measures a bank’s risk of insol-vency from excessive losses.

The core capital and reserves of commercial banks increased by 7.8 per cent to OMR3.24 billion in 2014, while banks’ supplemen-tary capital elements went up by 2.9 per cent to OMR651.4 million, said the Central Bank of Oman in its annual report.

The BIS (Bank for Internation-al Settlement) capital adequacy ratio of commercial banks aver-aged 15.4 per cent by the end of 2014, which exceeded the 12.625 per cent (including 0.625 per cent capital conservation buffer) mandated for individual banks. “Total provisions and reserved in-terest held by commercial banks

continued to surpass the stock of non-performing loans,” the an-nual report noted.

The gross non-performing loans increased by 9.1 per cent from OMR458 million in 2013 to OMR500 million in 2014. Howev-er, the gross non-performing loan ratio as a proportion to total loans and advances net of reserve inter-est, remained unchanged at 2.1 per cent by the end of 2014, over the previous year.

Credit growthCentral bank said that the in-crease in customer deposits with banks in 2014 to the tune of OMR1.69 billion, augmentation of the capital base by OMR0.3 bil-lion and borrowings from banks abroad of OMR0.2 billion pro-vided the additional resources for further asset creation.

The increased funds were mainly deployed in the expansion of credit by OMR1.72 billion as well as in investments.

In fact, the Central Bank of Oman issued the final frame-work on Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) and LCR disclosure stand-

ard requirements under Basel III in December 2014, after due pro-cess of consultations.

The Basel Committee on Bank-ing Supervision developed the LCR to promote the short-term resilience of the liquidity risk profile of banks by ensuring that they have sufficient high qual-ity liquid assets to survive a sig-nificant stress scenario lasting 30 calendar days.

The standard for LCR was ef-fective from January 1, 2015 with a minimum ratio of 60 per cent.

Oman’s banking sector com-prised 16 conventional commer-cial banks of which 7 were locally incorporated and 9 were branch-es of foreign banks, two spe-cialised banks, two full-fledged Islamic banks together with six local commercial banks operat-ing separate Islamic windows for banking operations.

Reserves and core

capital of commercial

banks rose by 7.8%

to OMR3.24 billion

in 2014, while banks’

supplementary

capital elements

grew by 2.9% to

OMR651.4 million

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

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The banking regulator said that the

increase in customer deposits with banks in 2014, augmentation

of the capital base and borrowings from banks abroad provided

the additional resources for further asset creation. – Times file

A. E. JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman’s Ministry of Transport and Communications on Tuesday floated a tender to se-lect a consultant for conducting studies and designing the third phase expansion of Port of Salalah.

According to the Tender Board website, the consultant will con-duct a study on the third phase expansion and will design the ex-pansion programme. The tender documents will be distributed up to August 6, while the tenders will be opened on August 31.

In fact, Port of Salalah has for-mulated a 20-year master plan (2011-30) few years ago, which envisions the establishment of the Salalah hub that includes a railway connection and distribution cen-tre, food reserve and processing centres among warehousing and other logistics facilities, dedicated terminals for cruise tourism and liquid storage along with dedicated facilities. Port of Salalah is among the world’s top transshipment ports and continues to provide an important service to the global supply chain. It provides a signifi-cant opportunity for businesses

to benefit from the Salalah hub network of multi-modal transport (sea-air-road) and Salalah Free Zone incentives, the company said in its first quarter report.

Transshipment volumePort of Salalah continues to achieve considerable volume growth at the General Cargo Ter-minal (GCT), which reflects the role of the port in supporting local businesses expansion and growth. However, transshipment volumes at the Container Terminal (CT) have declined as compared to the corresponding period last year.

T E N D E R B O A R D

Consultant to be appointed for Salalah port expansion

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MARKETW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Oil pares biggest drop in five months over Iran nuclear dealLONDON: Oil pared its biggest decline since February as signs Iran and world powers will miss their Tuesday deadline for a nucle-ar deal damped expectations that sanctioned crude will soon return to global markets.

Futures rose as much as 1.5 per cent in New York. Countries ne-gotiating with Iran said an agree-ment that could lift sanctions isn’t assured even as differences be-tween negotiators in Vienna con-tinued to narrow. Global refining margins will drop later this year amid a product surplus, while or-ganisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) output further outpaces demand growth, Gold-man Sachs predicted.

Oil is trading at the lowest level

since April as investors avoid risky assets amid the Greek crisis and analysts warn of a persistent supply glut. While United States crude in-ventories are forecast to have fallen last week, supplies are still about 20 per cent above the five-year average level for this time of year.

“The question really then is how quickly can the sanctions come off ” if there’s an agreement, Paul Stevens, distinguished fellow at London-based Chatham House, said by phone. “It’s going to take a lot longer than a lot of people think. And then we get to the more medium-term issue of how quickly can the Iranians restore their production.”

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery climbed as much

as 78 cents to $53.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $53.17 at 9:34 a.m. London time. The contract decreased 7.7 per cent on Monday, the most since February 4, to close at $52.53.

Nuclear dealBrent for August settlement gained as much as $1.03 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $57.57 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It slid $3.78 to $56.54 on Monday, the lowest

close since April 8. The European benchmark crude traded at a $4.25 premium to WTI.

United States secretary of state John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks until early Tuesday in Vienna, along with their counter-parts from China, France, Ger-many, Russia and the UK. There’s an agreement on the main body of a nuclear accord, while negotia-tions continue on an annex related to a new United Nations Security Council resolution, according to Iran’s Etemaad newspaper.

Unrealistic ambitionsIran’s plan to sell more crude re-mains a long way off, Goldman, Bank of America and Societe

Generale said last week. Its goal of boosting exports by 50 per cent would require an extra 500,000 barrels a day of production, which the banks project will take six to 12 months as the country revives ageing oil wells.

Oil prices have been driven low-er by a global supply surplus, rath-er than an escalation of the Greek crisis, Goldman Sachs said in an e-mailed note dated July 6. The market has yet to rebalance amid increased supply from the Or-ganisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to the bank.

Opec’s output surged last month to the highest level since August 2012. The 12-member group pumped 32.1 million barrels a day in June. - Bloomberg News

N U C L E A R D E A L

Samsung profit drops as phone sales fail to click

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics on Tuesday flagged a second quar-ter drop in operating profit that missed analyst estimates after sales of its newest flagship smart-phone failed to meet expectations.

In an earnings estimate, the giant South Korean smartphone and memory-chip maker predict-ed operating profit of around 6.9 trillion won ($6.1 billion) for the April-June period, down just over 4 per cent from a year earlier.

That compared ato the 7.2 tril-lion won average of 33 analyst es-timates, but still marked a 15 per cent increase from the first quar-ter. Tuesday’s estimate, which comes ahead of audited results to be released later in the month, did not provide a net income figure. It also gave no breakdown of divi-sional earnings.

The company has seen profits sag since late 2013 due to height-ened competition in an increas-ingly saturated smartphone market that it had dominated for years. Samsung has faced a dou-ble challenge from United States arch-rival Apple in the high-end smartphone market and rising Chinese firms like Xiaomi in the mid- and low-end market.

Hopes of a turnaround had largely been pinned on the sixth edition of its flagship smartphone launched in April. The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with a wraparound screen received rave reviews, but company predictions of record sales fell short of expectations, partly due to production and supply constraints.

Overall sales were around 48 trillion won in the second quarter, Samsung said Tuesday, compared to the 53 trillion won average of 37 estimates. “Shipments of the Gal-axy S6 were clearly not as strong as had been hoped for,” said Greg Roh of HMC Investment Securi-ties, citing manufacturing delays that trimmed sales of the S6 Edge.

DisappointingSamsung’s shares, which has fallen 7.2 per cent this year, was largely unchanged in early trading following the earnings estimate.

In an effort to see off smaller ri-vals nipping at its heels in emerg-ing markets, Samsung slimmed down its line of low- and mid-end smartphones last year, and ramped up production of those that remained in a higher-vol-ume, lower-price strategy.

At the same time, its semicon-ductor unit has managed to miti-gate some of the slump in the mo-bile division, posting strong profit growth in the least few quarters.

Leadership changeThe slump in Samsung’s once stellar growth has coincided with preparations for a once-in-a-generation leadership change, with control of the family-run conglomerate’s main business expected to pass from ailing pa-triarch Lee Kun-Hee to only son Lee Jae-Yong.

Faced with what will be a mas-sive inheritance tax bill, Lee and his siblings have been seeking to pare down and simplify the byz-antine system of cross-holdings that link the many branches of the Samsung empire.The anticipated reforms have helped keep Sam-sung on the “buy” list of many analysts, despite the recent profit downturn. - AFP

Technoloy giant

has seen profits sag

since late 2013 due

to tough competition

in a smartphone

market that it had

dominated for years

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

SEVERE COMPETITION: Samsung has faced a double challenge

from Apple in the high-end smartphone market and rising

Chinese firms like Xiaomi in the mid- and low-end market. – AFP

B3W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

MARKET

National Finance

net profit up 14%

Times News Service

MUSCAT: National Finance Company said its net profit surged ahead by 13.81 per cent to OMR2.78 million for the first six months of 2015, from OMR2.44 million for the same period last year.

The company’s net operating income was up 8.41 per cent to OMR6.32 million.

C O R P O R A T E

Global sukuk market likely to remain subdued: S&P

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Sukuk market across teh world is heading toward a cor-rection in 2015 after the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) — one of the largest issuers of sukuk world-wide — stopped issuing earlier this year, says a report by Stand-ard & Poor’s Ratings Services.

But as the report, titled ‘Global sukuk issuance stalls in 2015 as major issuer exits the market’, points out, BNM’s move leaves the door open to issuers such as the International Islamic Liquid-ity Management Corporation (IILM) and the Islamic Develop-ment Bank (IDB) to step up their issuance and provide the industry with liquidity, thereby contribut-ing to the development of an Is-lamic yield curve.

“In the first half of 2015, BNM’s pullback saw total sukuk issuance drop by 42.5 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier,” said Standard & Poor’s global head of Islamic Finance Mohamed Damak. “In 2014, BNM alone is-

sued about $45 billion of sukuk out of a total issuance of $116.4 billion.

“We understand part of the rea-son behind BNM’s decision was that its sukukwere subscribed

to by a broad array of investors, preventing them from reaching their intended end-users (pri-marily Malaysian Islamic banks for liquidity management pur-

poses). As a result, BNM decided to switch to other instruments re-stricted to banks.”

Excluding the BNM effect, the worldwide volume of sukuk issu-ance performed in line with expec-tations, total issuance dropping by only 10.7 per cent, confirming that the impact of falling oil prices on recurring government spending and investment projects in core markets (namely GCC countries and Malaysia) was limited in the first half of 2015, said S&P.

Lower oil pricesWhile S&P expects this trend to continue in the second half of 2015, the effect of lower oil prices on sukuk issuance in 2016 re-mains uncertain. Such an effect

will depend on whether there is a recovery in oil prices or whether governments in core markets de-cide to reprioritise their spending and avoid continuing using their reserves and tap the capital mar-kets more aggressively to finance their spending. Sukuk market per-formance in the first half of this year was also aided by returning sovereign issuers and large, albeit sporadic issuances from banks and a few nonfinancial firms in the Gulf and Malaysia.

Sukuk market is

heading towards a

correction worldwide

in 2015 after Central

Bank of Malaysia

— one of the largest

issuers of sukuk

worldwide — stopped

issuing earlier this

year, says a report by

Standard & Poor’s

IMF under pressure to recover huge loan from GreeceWASHINGTON: Hated in Ath-ens and brushed off by the Euro-peans, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approaches the next round of negotiations with Greece in a delicate position.

The global crisis bank is anxious to craft a compromise, but also un-der pressure to recover the billions it has lent to the country.

In a sign of its caution, the IMF waited nearly 24 hours to react to Greece’s referendum on Sunday — in which the people strongly rejected another reform-heavy bailout plan from the EU creditors. In addition, the fund will not send a representative to the meeting of the Eurogroup, the zone’s finance ministers, to discuss their next

steps in the Greece crisis.“The IMF has taken note of the

referendum held in Greece. We are monitoring the situation closely and stand ready to assist Greece if requested to do so,” the Fund’s managing director Christine La-garde said in a terse statement.

“If requested” is the issue. It is not clear the Europeans still want the IMF by their sides at the table to negotiate a new deal with the nearly bankrupt Greek government. The two bailout pro-grammes crafted by the IMF, the European Commission and Eu-ropean Central Bank came with tough reforms and austerity poli-cies that forced the government to slash spending.

One unpredicted result is that, despite all the bailout funding, the Greek economy has contracted 25 per cent over five years. Last month, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras said the IMF had

“criminal responsibility” for Greece’s debt crisis.

Last Thursday, the IMF released its study of Greece’s economy and finances that predicted zero growth again this year, and rec-

ommended that, to stabilise the country through 2018, the Euro-peans would need to put another €36 billion ($40 billion) into the rescue operation. That proposal was enough to irritate the Fund’s closest allies on the continent, especially Germany.

Default“As long as they were doing what the Europeans wanted to hear, which is asking for tougher meas-ures to Greece, then their voice was being heard,” said Ashoka Mody, who was the architect be-hind the IMF bailout of Ireland.

“But presumably when they were saying things that the Eu-ropeans didn’t want to hear, it

doesn’t work,” he said. The IMF’s ability to pressure

Athens now is limited since Greece defaulted last week on a €1.5-bil-lion payment, said Susan Schadler, the former deputy director of the IMF’s European Department. “Having not received the payment lask week, it means that its role is constrained, because it can’t right now lend to Greece,” Schadler said.

Moreover, she noted, it is in part an issue of ‘political will’ among the Europeans: as long as they don’t free up more funds for Greece, the IMF cannot get paid. The EU could then decide to reim-burse the IMF on behalf of Greece themselves, or provide the country special credits to that end. - AFP

D E B T C R I S I S

DROP IN SUKUK ISSUANCE: In the first half of 2015, Central Bank of Malaysia’s pullback saw total sukuk issuance drop by 42.5 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier, said Standard & Poor’s in its report. – File photo

AT A GLANCE S&P revised forecast for total sukuk issuance in 2015

to $50b-$60b from $100b-$115b

Excluding this effect, the market performed relatively well despite the decline in oil prices s.

List of potential sukuk issuers continues to increase, but the timing of their issuance is uncertain

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

Oman’s ministry commences e-tendering

MUSCAT:: Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry started implementing the e-tendering system through an e-portal of the Tender Board. The scheme is part of the e-government initiative pro-moted by the Oman government in a bid to facilitate businesses.

The e-tendering system, imple-mented in collaboration with In-formation Technology Authority (ITA), is a multi-stage system that will be used in the tendering pro-cess at the ministry starting from the preparation of the technical specifications for the tender until awarding the tender.

Said bin Awadh Al Shukri, head of IT Development Department, said that the payment of fees will be done electronically through the e-payment gateway of the ITA. The financial, technical bids, copy of the banking guarantee, e-signa-ture and submission of bids will be completed using the password provided to the user.

The second feature is the open-ing of bids and ensuring that the bids meet the requirements in terms of payment of fees and sub-mission of banking guarantee.

The third feature is the assess-ment and award of tenders. The system has a feature that allows to assess bids, its technical and finan-cial offers and makes a compara-tive analysis among the different bids. - ONA

T E N D E R

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SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR TUESDAY, JULY 7

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. .......12,500 .............27,215........................5 ........... 2.100 ........... 2.195 ...........2.100 ............2.175 .............2.100 ............0.075 ............. 3.571 ................2.175 .............. 2.125...................2.175 ..................150,075,000 ........0.100OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN .................................................... 200,000........... 26,600........................6 ............0.133 ........... 0.133 ...........0.133 ............0.133 ............. 0.132.............0.001 ............. 0.758 ................0.133 ..............0.134...................0.135 ..................266,041,601 ........0.100OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 1,766,561 .......992,425..................... 87 ............0.558 ........... 0.564 ...........0.558 ........... 0.562 .............0.558 ........... 0.004 ............. 0.717.................0.564 ..............0.564...................0.566................1,288,004,300 ......0.100OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 237,319 ............ 48,770..................... 28 ........... 0.205 ...........0.207 ...........0.205........... 0.206 .............0.205 ............0.001 ............. 0.488 ................0.207..............0.207...................0.208 ..................30,915,450 .........0.100OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................... 1,000 ..................204........................ 1 ........... 0.204 ...........0.204 ...........0.204 .......... 0.204 .............0.204 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.204 ............ 0.202...................0.204 .................. 19,388,160 .........0.100OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ........................................................... 1,161 ............... 1,742........................2 ............1.500 ........... 1.500 ...........1.500 ........... 1.500 ............. 1.500 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.500 ..............1.480...................1.500 ................. 300,000,000 .......0.100OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ............ 22,000 ...............2,660........................5 ............0.120 ........... 0.121............0.120 ............0.121 ............. 0.121 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.121 .............. 0.121...................0.122 ................... 14,746,875 .........0.100OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ..................................... 25,000 .............57,500........................4 ........... 2.300 ...........2.300 ...........2.300 .......... 2.300 .............2.300 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.300 ............ 2.280...................2.300 ................ 206,310,000 .......0.100OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .............................................................. 1,800 .................. 943........................ 1 ........... 0.524 ........... 0.524 ...........0.524........... 0.524 .............0.524 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.524..............0.524...................0.550..................173,377,300 ........0.100OM0000001822 ............UNITED POWER ............................................................. 1,400 ...............2,184........................3 ............1.560 ........... 1.560 ...........1.560 ........... 1.560 ............. 1.560............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.560 .............. 1.535................... 1.555 .................... 3,120,000 ..........1.000OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT .....................................55,050 ...............4,129........................5 ............0.075 ........... 0.075 ...........0.075 ........... 0.075 .............0.075 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.075 ..............0.073...................0.075 ................... 15,536,354 .........0.100OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ............................ 8,386 ............... 2,013..................... 10 ........... 0.240 ...........0.240 ...........0.240 .......... 0.240 .............0.240 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.240 .............0.233...................0.239................... 29,975,510 .........0.100OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ............ 20,000 .............. 2,500........................3 ............0.125 ........... 0.125 ...........0.125 ............0.125 ............. 0.125............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.125 ..............0.126...................0.127 ...................11,250,000 .........0.100OM0000002614 ............ONIC. HOLDING ...............................................................1,150 .................. 547........................ 1 ............0.476 ........... 0.476 ...........0.476 ........... 0.480 .............0.480 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.476 ............. 0.000...................0.480 ..................83,243,160 .........0.100OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 579,404 ..........110,087......................13 ............0.190 ........... 0.190 ...........0.190 ........... 0.190 ............. 0.190 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.190 ..............0.190...................0.192 ..................273,873,600........0.100OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ................................................... 147,159 ............ 63,480......................21 ........... 0.440 ...........0.440 ...........0.430........... 0.432 .............0.432 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.430..............0.430...................0.440 ..................26,136,000 .........0.100OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER ................................................................... 540 ..................204........................2 ........... 0.378 ........... 0.378 ...........0.378 ........... 0.380 .............0.380 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.378 ............. 0.000...................0.378...................83,983,800 .........0.100OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 205,200 ..........157,594........................9 ............0.768 ........... 0.768 ...........0.768 ............0.768 ............. 0.768............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.768 ..............0.764...................0.768 ..................499,925,169 ........0.100OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH ..................................................... 500 ...............1,250........................ 1 ........... 2.500 ...........2.500 ...........2.500 .......... 2.565 .............2.565 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.500 ............ 2.500...................2.565..................244,847,705 ........1.000OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ............................................. 144,587 ............12,734......................14 ........... 0.088 ...........0.090 ...........0.088........... 0.088 .............0.088 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.088 ..............0.088...................0.090 ..................15,400,000 .........0.100OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ..................................................41,052 ...............8,293........................6 ........... 0.202 ...........0.202 ...........0.202 .......... 0.202 .............0.202 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.202 ............ 0.202...................0.205 ................. 136,327,261 ........0.100OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER ................................................... 43,002 ...............8,686........................4 ........... 0.202 ...........0.202 ...........0.202 .......... 0.202 .............0.202 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.202 .............0.203...................0.206 .................144,310,081 ........0.100OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS .................................................... 2,469 ............... 1,359........................4 ........... 0.552 ........... 0.552 ...........0.550 ........... 0.552 .............0.552 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.550 ..............0.550...................0.554...................28,980,000 ........0.100OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 119,750 ............ 33,389..................... 24 ........... 0.279 ...........0.280 ...........0.277 ........... 0.279 .............0.280 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.357 ...............0.278 ..............0.277...................0.278...................78,704,353 .........0.100OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ............................................65,000 ............ 23,920........................ 1 ........... 0.368 ........... 0.368 ...........0.368........... 0.368 .............0.370 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.541 ...............0.368 ..............0.364...................0.368...................22,523,172 .........0.100OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 216,471 .......... 376,187..................... 50 ............1.745 ........... 1.745 ............1.730 ............1.740 ............. 1.750 ............-0.010 ............-0.571................ 1.735 .............. 1.730................... 1.740 ................1,305,000,000 ......0.100OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. ....................83,000 .............10,458..................... 10 ............0.126 ........... 0.126 ...........0.126 ........... 0.126 ............. 0.127............-0.001 ........... -0.787 ...............0.126 ..............0.126...................0.127 ................... 36,537,560 .........0.100OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 116,000 ............ 24,039........................8 ........... 0.208 ...........0.208 ...........0.207........... 0.207 .............0.209 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.957 ...............0.207............. 0.206...................0.207 ..................41,400,000 .........0.100OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ..................................... 8,600 ...............2,872........................ 1 ........... 0.334 ........... 0.334 ...........0.334........... 0.334 .............0.338 ...........-0.004 ............-1.183 ................0.334..............0.334...................0.338..................447,797,224 ........0.100OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ......................................750 ............... 2,775........................ 1 ............3.700 ........... 3.700 ...........3.700 ........... 3.700 ............. 3.750............-0.050 ............-1.333................3.700 ..............3.700...................3.900 .................. 36,186,799 .........1.000OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ........................37,200 ...............4,535........................7 ............0.122 ........... 0.122 ........... 0.121 ........... 0.122 ............. 0.124 ...........-0.002 ............-1.613 ................0.122 ..............0.122...................0.124 ....................3,660,000 ..........0.100OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 261,750 .......... 107,494......................19 ............0.414 ........... 0.414 ...........0.408........... 0.410 .............0.422 ...........-0.012 ........... -2.844 ...............0.410 ..............0.406...................0.410 .................. 121,447,610 ........0.100OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE .................................25,700 ............... 7,057........................3 ........... 0.260 ........... 0.275 ...........0.260 .......... 0.275 .............0.286 ........... -0.011 ........... -3.846 ...............0.275 ..............0.276...................0.286 ..................27,500,000 .........0.100.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 4,451,461 .. 2,125,844...................359 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ TRADED SEC. ......33........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000001590 ............MUSCAT FINANCE ......................................................29,867 .............. 4,480........................ 1 ............0.150 ........... 0.150 ...........0.150 ........... 0.150 .............0.144 ........... 0.006 ............. 4.167 ................0.150 .............. 0.150...................0.000 .................. 37,742,771 .........0.100OM0000004776 ...........TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE ..............................28,016 ............... 3,221........................8 ............0.111 ........... 0.119............ 0.111 ............0.115 ............. 0.111 ............ 0.004 ............. 3.604 ................ 0.119 .............. 0.116................... 0.119 ...................11,500,000 .........0.100OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ..................................................................60,889 ...............4,497........................7 ........... 0.073 ........... 0.074 ...........0.073 ........... 0.074 .............0.073 ............0.001 ............. 1.370 ................0.074 ..............0.074...................0.075 ..................111,000,000 ........0.100OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING................................... 22,000 .............. 2,200........................2 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.100 ...........0.100 ........... 0.100 .............0.100 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.100 ..............0.100................... 0.101 .................... 7,520,800 ..........0.100OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 6,491,318 ...1,000,927.................. 444 ............0.153 ........... 0.155 ...........0.153 ........... 0.154 ............. 0.154............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.154 .............. 0.154................... 0.155 ................. 225,240,625 .......0.100OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ........................................................67,913 ...............3,682..................... 10 ............0.055 ........... 0.055 ...........0.054........... 0.054 .............0.055 ...........-0.001 ............-1.818 ................0.055 ..............0.052...................0.055.................... 6,750,000 ..........0.100.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 6,700,003 ... 1,019,008...................472 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ TRADED SEC. ........ 6........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS MARKET ........................................................................................................................................................................................ OM0000004602 ...........BANK MUSCAT CONV. BONDS 4.5 ...................... 121,964 .............13,028........................2 ............0.107 ........... 0.107 ...........0.106 ........... 0.107 ............. 0.106 ............0.001 ............. 0.943 ................0.106 ..............0.106...................0.108 ...................32,394,155 .........0.100OM0000003810 ............BANK MUSCAT SUBORDINATED BONDS .......... 1,900 ............... 1,995........................ 1 ............1.050 ........... 1.050 ...........1.050 ........... 1.050 ............. 1.050............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.050 ..............1.000................... 1.055 ...................78,750,000 .........1.000OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 ...........................................52,038 ...............5,308........................4 ............0.102 ........... 0.102 ...........0.102 ........... 0.102 .............0.102 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.102 ..............0.102...................0.108 ...................32,603,553 .........0.100OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ................... 377,786 .............37,401........................8 ........... 0.099 ........... 0.099 ...........0.099........... 0.099 .............0.099 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.099 ..............0.099...................0.100...................32,092,000 ........0.100.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 553,688 ............ 57,732......................15 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ TRADED SEC. ........ 4........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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

O M A N S T O C K S

INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ....................................... 6,435.04 ...............6,427.53 ................... 6,428.46 ...................6,435.04 .................. -6.58 .................. -0.10Financial Index .................................... 7,809.20 ............... 7,784.17 ....................7,784.85 ....................7,796.77 ................ -11.92 .................. -0.15Industrial Index ....................................8,327.42 .............. 8,299.37 ................... 8,299.37 ................... 8,327.21 ................-27.84 .................. -0.33Services Index .......................................3,447.85 ...............3,435.19 ................... 3,446.89 ................... 3,441.18 .....................5.71 ................... 0.17MSM SHARIAH INDEX...................... 990.24 .................. 988.11 ....................... 988.11 ......................990.24 .................. -2.13 .................. -0.22

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded11,705,152 ..................3,202,584 .................... 846 ...............15,060,388,259 .................. 8 ......................11 ....................24 .........................43

MSM indexends lower

MUSCAT: With eyes of the world on Greece debt crisis and Chinese stock market slump, local investors remained cautious as the MSM 30 Index closed at 6,428.46 points, down by 0.10 per cent. The MSM Shariah Index closed at 988.11 points, down by 0.22 per cent.

Phoenix Power remained the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Muscat Finance, up by 4.17 per cent was the top gainer, while Oman United Insur-ance, down by 5.12 per cent was the top loser.

As many as 846 trades were executed during the session gen-erating a turnover of OMR3.2 mil-lion with over 11.7 million shares changing hands. Out of 43 traded securities, 8 advanced, 11 declined and 24 remained unchanged. GCC and Arab investors were net buy-ers to the tune of OMR227,000, while foreign investors, who were net sellers, sold shares amounting to OMR195,000, followed by Oma-ni Investors at OMR32,000.

Financial Index retreated 0.15 per cent to close at 7,784.85 points. Muscat Finance, Takaful Oman, Bank Nizwa, HSBC Bank and Bank Muscat increased 4.17 per cent, 3.60 per cent, 1.37 per cent, 0.76 per cent and 0.72 per cent respec-tively. Oman United Insurance, DBIH and NBO declined 3.85 per cent, 1.61 per cent and 1.18 per cent respectively.

Industrial Index ended the day at 8,299.37 points, down by 0.33 per cent. Al Anwar Ceramics, Oman Fisheries and Galfar Engineering decreased 2.84 per cent, 1.82 per cent and 0.79 per cent respectively.

Services Sector Index ended positively at 3,446.89 points, up by 0.17 per cent. Al Maha Petro-leum gained 3.57 per cent to close at OMR2.175. Sharqiyah Desalina-tion, OIFC, Omantel, Al Jazeera Services and Renaissance Servic-es declined 1.33 per cent, 0.96 per cent, 0.57 per cent, 0.54 per cent and 0.36 per cent respectively.

Emerging stocks fallEmerging-market stocks fell to-ward a six-month low and curren-cies weakened as investors as Eu-ropean leaders gathered to decide the fate of Greece within the euro zone and concern grew that Chi-na’s bid to stem a rout in the equi-ties gauge is failing.

The Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.3 per cent amid a record drop in margin bets. Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong entered a bear market as Citic Securities and Hai-tong Securities plunged more than 13 per cent. Russia’s ruble headed for a three- month low versus the dollar, while South Africa’s rand lost 0.6 per cent.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slid 1.2 per cent to 932.19 in London, its fifth day of declines. Euro-area leaders and finance ministers are meeting Tuesday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “time is running out” for Greece to unveil a plan to stay in the currency union. A Bloomb-erg gauge of 20 currencies has dropped 4 per cent in the past two months, in part on concern the Federal Reserve is moving closer to raising interest rates.

– United Securities/Bloomberg News

Muscat Finance, up by 4.17 per cent, was the

top gainer, while Oman United Insurance,

down by 5.12 per cent, was the top loser

Nigerian President urgedto overhaul oil industryJOHANNESBURG: Advisors to Nigerian President Mohammedu Buhari have recommended a root and branch overhaul of Africa’s biggest oil industry and increased borrowing to help pay off $20 bil-lion of government arrears, a re-form proposal document shows.

Buhari, who won a shock elec-tion victory in March, has so far given little indication of his policy agenda as he has focused on his main election pledges of tackling corruption and a six-year insur-gency by Boko Haram sect.

A ‘transition committee’ set up by Buhari in April submitted 800 pages of policy recommendations to the president last month but the details were not made public.

Among its recommendations were slashing the size of the civil service, overhauling the much-criticised state oil company and removing costly petrol and kerosene subsidies, according to an executive summary. Bu-hari should appoint a ‘Reform Czar’ within the President’s office to oversee changes, the committee suggests.

“Time is of the essence, and ex-pectations are high. The adminis-tration must act now,” the report says. The paper lays bare the dire state of public finances in Nige-ria, which has been hammered

by a halving of oil prices last year. Nigeria relies on oil exports for 80 per cent of government rev-enues and 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.

Troubled financesNigeria has arrears totalling 4.1 trillion naira ($20.6 billion), including 400 billion naira in unpaid salaries, 200 billion in arrears to fuel importers and 1 trillion naira to the oil industry, the paper shows.

The committee recommends paying salary arrears and fuel subsidies immediately to avoid “mass labour unrest”. The ac-countant general said on Monday he would share $1.7 billion from the oil savings account between the three tiers of government to cover outstanding arrears, sug-gesting the committee’s proposals are being implemented.

Paying government arrears should be funded by issuing 600 billion naira in bonds, restructur-ing existing debt and renegotiat-ing or scrapping some government contracts. “The incoming govern-ment will therefore have very lim-ited resources and a plethora of challenges to address,” it said.

The report stressed the need for an independent central bank and said it would “ensure that only professionals” served on its board. It made no mention of monetary policy. It recommends cutting costs by slashing the number of government minis-tries to 19 from 28 and removing “top-heavy appointments” with-in the presidency.

Part of the streamlining would also include establishing a new ministry of energy to oversee power and oil and gas, a merger that would create a powerful and important portfolio. - Reuters

E N E R G Y S E C T O R

Sensex declines; rupee downMUMBAI: India’s benchmark in-dex - BSE Sensex - snapping its two days of gains, settled 37.07 points lower, dragged down by profit-booking in blue chips companies. “After a sustained up-trend, the domestic markets were showing a consolidation phase. This consolidation may continue for one or two days and after that, the market movements may be based on the quarterly numbers,” said Alex Mathews, head (Re-search) of Geojit BNP Paribas Fi-nancial Services.

After moving between the day’s high of 28,335.23, its highest in 10 weeks, and the low of 28,084.36, the 30-share index closed down 37.07 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 28,171.69. The Nifty too fell 11.35 points, or 0.13 per cent, to settle at 8,510.80.

Despite a solid start, sentiment remained cautious ahead of the earnings season starting this week as the Greek confusion led to sell-ing in the late-afternoon trade. However, India’s strong macro parameters as well as some buying support cushioned the fall.

In the Sensex group, Vedanta fell the most, followed by NTPC, while HeromotoCorp, Hindalco, RIL, ONGC, Cipla and ICICI Bank ran up losses, too. The notable gains came from Coal India, HDFC, Wipro, SBI, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy’s, as Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank ended in the positive zone, thus cushioning the fall.

Sectorally, the technology index fell the most, plunging 0.48 per cent, followed by IT, power, auto and oil and gas. The broader mar-ket outperformed benchmarks as

BSE small-cap rose 0.62 per cent.

Rupee depreciatesSnapping five-session rising steak, the rupee slipped by 6 paise at 63.46 against the United States dollar due to fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers amidst strong over-seas sentiments. The greenback’s strength against other Asian currencies and lack-lustre local equity markets made the rupee depreciate further, forex dealers said. The local currency resumed firmly higher at 63.30 against Monday’s closing level of 63.40 at the Interbank Foreign Ex-change market on sustained dollar selling by exporters. However, the rupee suddenly turned volatile and immediately drifted to hit a fresh intra-day low of 63.4825. - PTI

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

Mohammedu Buhari. – Bloomberg News

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Shakeaway launches its first outlet in Sultanate

MUSCAT: Adding to Muscat Grand Mall’s (MGM) already en-viable collection of food and bev-erage outlets, the mall announced that Shakeaway — the world’s larg-est milkshake company has now opened a brand new location, and their first franchise in the Sultan-ate, says a press release.

Endless choicesAmina Al Zadjali, GM of Bandera Group and owner of the Omani franchise commented, “With over 180 flavours and millions of possible combinations, each milkshake is freshly made to or-der for every customer!

"At Shakeaway, the choices are endless such as Ferrero Rocher and Daim Bar, real fruit such as banana and passion fruit in addi-tion to luxury shakes such as Lindt truffles and black forest gateau, as well as the Millionaire’s Milk-shake made with real 23 carat ed-ible gold and the fizzy pop shakes made with real coca cola, red bull and more. We are really excited to bring Shakeaway to Oman!”

Unique conceptThe Shakeaway concept is unique. The milkshake outlet offers an ar-ray of flavours which can be com-bined all kinds of ways and served

hot or cold, with ice cream or yo-gurt as the base. Now open in seven countries, Shakeaway is also known to localise its menu in the country that it established presence.

In Oman there are familiar fla-vours such as dates, date mahmoul, Omani kahwa, Omani halwa and Nabil cookies, to name a few.

At Shakeaway, customers can also try the smoothie and healthy shake ranges, both made with real fruit and 100 per cent fat free fro-zen yoghurt. In addition to their range of drinks, the MGM outlet will also serve their unique low fat crispy fries and handmade Shake-away style frozen yoghurt desserts.

The milkshake outlet

offers an array of

flavours which can be

combined all kinds

of ways and served

hot or cold, with ice

cream or yogurt as

the base

TSC’s Qaranqasho a

resounding success

MUSCAT: Celebrating the holy month of Ramadan and commem-orating the Omani culture, The Sultan Centre (TSC) hosted the Qaranqasho night, a traditional festivity to mark the 14th night of the holy month of Ramadan.

A large number of families answered TSC invitation and brought their children to join in TSC Qaranqasho celebrations which took place in TSC’s Qurum and TSC Wholesale Centres in Al Khoud and Al Amerat, says a press release.

The event was a roaring suc-cess and the night of July 1 came alive with the excited laughter of children. There was a range of fun activities to keep them spell-bound and well entertained. From 9pm till the stroke of mid-night, children were engaged in activities such as face painting and a fun line-up of games; some of the world’s most beloved car-toon characters made an appear-ance and interacted with the chil-dren. At the end of the festivities, children received a Qaranqasho treat bag from TSC.

“We are very delighted to see so many families accepting our invi-tation and bringing their children

to take part in the Qaranqasho night across three of our seven outlets,” said, Mahmoud Al Shai-kh, marketing manager of TSC Oman. “At The Sultan Centre, we are keen to participate in all traditional events that are inte-gral parts of the Omani culture; it is our way of getting involved in the community and spreading the message of generosity, shar-ing and caring which form the very essence of the holy month of Ramadan.”

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

ahlibank relocates Al Ghubra branch to Oman Avenues MallMUSCAT: ahlibank, the Sultan-ate’s ‘Best Bank’ as per OER–Gulf Baader for the fourth consecutive year, has recently relocated its Al Ghubra branch to Oman Avenues Mall, Sultanate’s latest shopping destination in Bausher.

The branch was inaugurated by Dr Rasheed bin Al Safi Al Huraibi, chairman of the Tender Board, along with the senior manage-ment of the bank recently, says a press release.

The newly designed branch is conveniently located to provide easy access to ahlibank’s grow-ing customer base in various ar-eas and has been outfitted with state-of-the-art technology, which will positively impact the delivery of quality service to its customers; thereby reinforcing the bank’s commitment to pro-viding customer centric solutions to its customers always.

The bank has also installed a new full functional machine at the premises to provide round the clock cash deposit, cheque deposit, cash withdrawals and bill payment services or its consumers. Cus-tomer account number and details will remain the same.

Speaking at the inauguration, Lloyd Maddock, CEO of ahlibank

said, “It gives us great pleasure to launch a branch at Oman Avenues Mall. The Oman Avenues Mall is the ideal location for our branch due to the high foot-fall the mall is expected to have.

“At ahlibank we have a clear strategy and an unwavering com-mitment to deliver outstanding service for our customers no mat-ter how big or small. Through our international expertise and local capability we will continue to de-liver to our customers and local businesses; building on both our presence and enabling greater ac-cess to our products and services.”

Over the past years, the bank has aggressively expanded the product portfolio, along with the

footprint in response to its cus-tomer’s needs and feedback by launching conveniently located kiosks, offsite ATMs, CDMs and other electronic channels.

ahlibank’s customer strategy revolves around attracting new clients and the bank strives to be at customers’ doorsteps through its prime and prominent locations.

Apart from the Oman Avenues Mall in Bausher, ahlibank has branches in Wattayah, Seeb, So-har, Nizwa, Sur, Ibri, Ibra, Sala-lah, Barka, Al Khoud, Al Khuwair and Mabelah. To serve you better ahlibank’s Oman Avenues Mall branch will be open from 9am to 9pm (cash transactions until 7pm) Sunday to Thursday.

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

Nissan Oman Facebook page achieves

record fan following during Ramadan

MUSCAT: Nissan Oman’s Face-book page has gained huge mo-mentum for over a year as they have been successful in reaching out to a diverse audience on the social media platform.

During the holy month of Ram-adan, the page has gained a record fan following of 50,000 and more. Beating top competitors in the Sultanate region, Nissan Face-book page has been the most liked or favourite page leading up to having the highest fan following since 2013, says a press release.

Interactive experienceThe aim of Nissan’s Facebook page has always been to offer viewers and Nissan fans an in-teractive experience and since Nissan as a brand is built on the ethos of ‘innovation that excites’; through its page, Nissan show-cases its cutting-edge technology to connect with its audience. The Facebook page also showcases Nissan’s path breaking technolog-ical features of its various models in easy to understand mode fo-cusing on core advantages.

The page also provides a pleth-ora of information on the wide range of models from Nissan which is updated on a daily basis

to provide the latest information at all times comprising interac-tive videos, behind-the-scenes access, international news, pic-torial galleries, aesthetic details, and unique model features. The page also regularly runs contests on all its latest models to keep viewers enticed and engaged at all times. The aim has been to be at par with customers’ require-ments and needs.

Creative strategyThe creative strategy to have a so-cial media campaign on Nissan’s official Facebook page is aimed at being a social advertising in-novator. The success is measured through evaluation of brand per-ceptions and assessing audience feedback from the Facebook page as well as the number of clicks re-questing test drives.

“By using social media in a smart way any traditional ad, be it on TV, in print, or billboard has the potential to become a subject of interest; a gateway that leads the audience to more engaging information and communicating core benefits with audio visual content. Be that new products or USPs or existing and upcoming offers or prizes, deeper engage-

ment, or an enriched experience, it is all about creating a social moment,” commented a senior SBA official.

New recordThe Nissan Oman Facebook page has gathered over 90 per cent in-terest and viewership from on-line viewers which is available both in English and Arabic ver-sions. The page has officially made a new record of creat-ing buzz and excitement in the market on their latest product offering from the 2015 range of models purely through social media content.

The Facebook page also is a gateway to information on all of Nissan’s vehicles — the Nissan range consists of sedan vehicles like Sunny, Sentra, Tiida hatch-back, Altima and Maxima.

Their crossovers range con-sists of Juke and Murano; SUV’s consist of X-Trail, X-Terra, Patrol and lastly the Armada.

Nissan’s LCV range too com-prises top models like the single cab and the double cab pickup, Navara, Patrol Pick up, Urvan 15 seater and panel van buses and Civilian with 26 seats and 30 seater variants.

A C H I E V E M E N T

Mazda CX-5 production reaches 1 million units

MUSCAT: Mazda Motor Corpo-ration announced recently that the cumulative production of the Maz-da CX-5 globally has surpassed one million units.

In just three years and five months since its production com-menced in 2011, the CX-5 is the second fastest Mazda model to reach the milestone one-million-unit mark, following the Mazda3, says a press release.

Mazda CX-5 was launched into the growing global crossover SUV market in February 2012 as a new core model for the Mazda brand. Since then, it has won more than 60 different awards around the world from the ‘Crossover of the Year’ to the ‘Best Value for Money SUV’, and from the ‘Most Fash-ionable Imported Car’ to the ‘Best SUV at the Green Awards’.

It has also won the prestigious Car of the Year Japan in 2012-2013. It is noteworthy that CX-5 is Mazda’s first new-generation model that features the SKYAC-TIV technology and KODO-Soul of Motion design.

In Oman too, the all-new 2016 CX-5 is gaining popularity for its advanced features, styling and driving pleasure.

A senior spokesperson of Towell Auto Centre (TAC), the sole dis-tributors of Mazda range of cars in Oman comments: “The CX-5 in-deed is a celebrity model of Mazda full of innovative features and ad-vanced technology. Its worldwide growth has been commendable.

Even in our country, we have wit-nessed marvellous response to the CX-5, within few days of its launch. We are committed to ensure that it remains a popular choice among people and will appeal to even more customers in the future.”

Offering the trendiest of Japa-nese cars, Mazda has brought in a lot of excitement in Oman’s auto-

mobile industry with their ‘stylish, spirited and insightful’ branding. These three unique qualities lie at the core of each Mazda you spot on the streets and form the brand’s DNA and TAC makes owning a Mazda extra pleasant with its effi-cient after sales service and quick response time. With a network of 13 service outlets and 10 parts out-

lets spread across Oman, TAC is the only Mazda distributor in the world to win the Mazda Customer Service award five years in a row. With 98.2 per cent parts deliver-ability, TAC also offers quick, ef-ficient service with genuine parts available for all models and have highly trained staff who pride in their quality of service.

M I L E S T O N E

Babymoon bliss at The Chedi MuscatMUSCAT: The babymoon is be-coming something of a trend as expectant mothers treat them-selves to a holiday in the months before having their first baby.

With elegant suites, a world-class spa and a zen-like ambi-ence, The Chedi Muscat is the perfect place to relax and enjoy kids-free solace before the immi-nent joy and chaos that a new ar-rival brings, says a press release.

Mothers-to-be can now take time out to indulge and pamper at The Spa, which has recently introduced a specialist Earthlite Maternity Bed, the only bed of its kind in Oman that has been de-signed especially to let pregnant women lie at ease during their time of indulgence for complete comfort and relaxation.

Under the hands of an expert therapist, pregnant mothers will leave feeling revitalised and re-juvenated with an array of treat-ments including the Ila Mother-

To-Be Massage. The treatment begins with

an exfoliation using a blend of Himalayan pink salt, rosehip and blackcurrant seeds to stimulate lymphatic drainage and release water retention, followed by a soothing massage with organic argan oil. To finish, heating poul-tices with lavender and calen-dula are used over marma points to bring balance and harmony to mother and baby. Guests can choose to enjoy in the tranquil surroundings of the spa or in the privacy of their hotel suite.

Following a day of pampering, expectant mothers can look for-ward to reclining by one of the three temperature controlled pools, complete with king-sized sun-loungers and staff on hand to cater to every whim. Meanwhile partners can be kept entertained at the state-of-the-art Health Club or with a round of golf at a nearby championship course.

P A M P E R I N G , E X P E C T A N T M O T H E R S

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ROUND-UPA’Saffa online campaign concludes successfully

MUSCAT: A’Saffa Foods’s recent-ly concluded ‘Let Us Achieve Their Dreams - 2’ campaign on Facebook was a huge hit amongst users of the popular social networking site, as it helped realise the dreams of 10 selected children with special care

at special homes putting a huge smile on their little faces.

The fortunate kids Farida, An-jum, Hassan, Nasreen, Sameera, Shahid and Tabassum were given an iPad each; and Sumair, Saleh and Ahmed were given a Play Sta-tion each, says a press release.

The online initiative received a tremendous response from peo-ple from all walks of life within the Sultanate who appreciated and supported the effort undertaken by A’Saffa Foods. To participate online, users were requested to ‘Like’ the A’Saffa Foods Facebook from May 10 to June 25.

Every ‘Like’ helped generate 100 baisa that was donated by A’Saffa Foods towards presents for 10 se-lected children; presents that the children chose and felt would help achieve their dreams.

After gathering a record number of over 10,000 ‘Likes’ for the cam-paign’s post online, A’Saffa Foods presented the selected children with the gifts desired by them.

The initiative enabled viewers to engage themselves with all the information on the brand and the campaign and is a testament to the dedicated following that A’Saffa Foods has on Facebook.

Sidhartha Lenka, head of Mar-keting and Sales, A’Saffa Foods said, “It gave us immense pleas-ure to see the smiles on the faces of the selected children. We hope that with the help of our patrons we continue to make a difference in society through our sustainable initiatives such as these.”

A’Saffa Foods has been commit-ted to helping children within the Sultanate with hope and oppor-tunity for several years now. The company’s recently concluded so-cial media initiative is a step that has come as a result of the organi-sation’s keenness towards engag-ing and interacting with consum-ers, and reiterating to them the brand’s pure, natural, and halal brand promise.

As Oman’s leading poultry pro-ducer and one of the biggest food companies, A’Saffa has been instru-mental in extending a helping hand towards society as a whole, and children in particular through their social outreach programmes. The organisation is a constant support-er of sports, health programmes and educational programmes for children within Oman.

After gathering a

record number of over

10,000 ‘Likes’ for the

‘Let Us Achieve Their

Dreams - 2’ campaign

post online, A’Saffa

Foods presented the

selected children

with the gifts so

desired by them

omanoil donates 10% of

ahlain sales to charity

MUSCAT: In the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan, Oman Oil Marketing Company (oma-noil) launched a special At’a campaign to raise funds to help those in need.

Under the theme ‘Together We Give More’, omanoil will be donating 10% of all sales from a selected number of ahlain con-venience stores in Muscat, Al Batinah, Al Sharqiyah, Al Dakh-iliyah, and Salalah to charity, says a press release.

“Ramadan is not just a time of spiritual growth but it is also the month of giving, making it the perfect time to launch our At’a campaign. We are constantly searching for ways to better serve our beloved nation and utilising our far-reach and the extensive product portfolio of our Ahlain convenience stores, we are confident that we will be able to make a difference in the lives of many people in Oman,” explained Al Moatasam Al Amri, corporate communications & CSR executive.

“Starting from July 19 until July 29 all funds raised from this nationwide campaign will go towards community empow-

erment and children develop-ment programmes across the country,” he added.

Firm believers in the power and impact of charitable ini-tiatives, omanoil’s At’a campaign further reaffirms the company’s decade-long commitment to re-main at the forefront of humani-tarian causes, leading by example and giving back to the commu-nity. To date, the company has spearhead a diverse range of so-cial initiatives and campaigns.

A T ’ A C A M P A I G N

OIE sponsors Iftar in Seeb Souq

MUSCAT: A grand Iftar Mahfil was held recently at Seeb souq.

The Iftar Mahfil gathering was sponsored by Oman International Exchange (OIE) and held under the aegis of NRB (non resident Bangladeshis) Chittagong Samity Oman was attended by Sheikh Esa Al Shiyabi of Seeb and four other prominent Omani dignitar-

ies, says a press release. More than 2,000 Non Resident

Bangladeshis participated in the Iftar. The Iftar Mahfil prayed for the long life of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said and well being and prosperity of the Sultanate.

Yaseen Chowdhury conducted the Iftar Mahfil programme rep-resenting NRB Chittagong Samity.

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

Under the theme

‘Together We Give

More’, omanoil will

be donating 10% of all

sales from a selected

number of ahlain

convenience stores

Indian Social Club Salalah hosts Iftar SALALAH: Indian Social Club (ISC) Salalah celebrated the holy month of Ramadan in Salalah by hosting an Iftar meet on the prem-ises of Indian Social Club Salalah along with its various wings, re-cently, as a gesture to the fasting Muslim community.

The gathering was attended by

prominent personalities from In-dian community, socio-cultural activists, members of the Indian Social Club and its regional wings and people for different communi-ties and religion. Over 1,000 peo-ple attended the Iftar including women, says a press release.

Separate seating arrangement

was made for ladies and children. The function was lead by Man-preet Singh, chairman of ISC Sala-lah and was coordinated by the members of the management com-mittee and executive members of various linguistic wings.

Speaking about the impor-tance of fasting in various reli-

gions, Manpreet said fasting is observed by different religion in different ways. It purifies human being physically and mentally as it prevents all kinds of evils and instils spiritual values in human mind. Gathering Iftar meets, cer-tainly promote brotherhood and human values.

G E T T O G E T H E R

Sohar Islamic extends support to

Salam Sports Club Ramadan Tent

MUSCAT: With the aim of sup-porting the community and as part of its Ramadan initiatives, Sohar Is-lamic, Bank Sohar’s Islamic Bank-ing Window, sponsored a special Ramadan Tent organised by Al Had Support team — part of Al Salam Sports Club in Wilayat Liwa — for the second year running.

The tent was set up with the aim to uphold the values of Islam and spread awareness on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the holy month of Ramadan. The event included several activities where Sohar Islamic sponsored the Family Ramadan Competition and handed over cash prizes for the winners in the competition, says a press release.

The opening ceremony was held on June 16, under the auspices of Eng. Abdullah Salim Al Gaithy, head of Corporate Affairs at Vale Oman. Attending the opening cer-emony on behalf of Sohar Islamic was Talib Ali Al Balushi, Chief Branch Manager of Sohar Islamic Falaj Al Qabail (Sohar) Branch. As part of the opening ceremony, a panel discussion was conducted by renowned scholars Dr Abdul-lah Almaenai and Dr Ali Al Raysi. The panel discussion, titled ‘Don’t waste your Ramadan’ touched on topics related to religion and health during the holy month.

Commenting on the bank’s sponsorship of the event, Mo-hammed Haris, AGM of Sohar Is-lamic said, “Ramadan is a time of solidarity and spiritual reflection. While fasting and abstinence is important during the holy month, it is also important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

“It is vital to spread aware-ness amongst the community on how to effectively do so. In addi-tion to achieving this objective, the tent was also set up to spread awareness on other key values and concepts. We are glad to be in a position to sponsor this tent for

the second year running and look forward to doing so in the future as well.”

The Ramadan Tent, which has a seating capacity of 300 people, is open from 8pm to 12am everyday till July 10, with the tent open spe-cifically for families and children every Monday and Wednesday.

Various programmesAs part of its daily activities, the tent includes various Ramadan themed and family oriented com-petitions as well as programmes to spread awareness on key concepts of Zakat and fasting, in addition to a blood donation campaign and Family Ramdhan Competition where Sohar Islamic provided 10 cash certificates for the winners in the contest.

As part of its sponsorship, So-har Islamic had a stand at the tent where it showcased its bevy of shari’ah compliant financial ser-vice; focusing on auto finance pro-motion during the month of Rama-dan in addition to other products such SME finance, construction and housing finance and savings accounts. Other retail products from Sohar Islamic also include

term deposits and current ac-counts. In addition to these retail products, Sohar Islamic also has a comprehensive range of addi-tional banking solutions that cover a wide array of corporate financ-ing needs that encompass asset finance, working capital finance, trade finance, treasury and invest-ment products.

All products and services of-fered by Sohar Islamic adhere to the highest level of Shari’ah compliance and are specifically designed to meet certain key cri-teria including a complete segre-gation of funds, stand alone and independent branches, separate sales staff, a strong Shari’ah Super-visory Board and Shari’ah Audit and Compliance unit, committed management, and the application of the world’s best Islamic banking software. Sohar Islamic assures compliance with the standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Finan-cial Institutions (AAOIFI). Sohar Islamic customers also enjoy free of charge withdrawals from over 1,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) within the OmanNet plat-form, spread across the Sultanate.

R A M A D A N I N I T I A T I V E

Khimji Ramdas annual blood

drive draws positive response

MUSCAT: The Khimji Ramdas Group recently conducted its an-nual blood donation drive as part of its ongoing corporate social re-sponsibility initiatives.

Conducted under the guidance and supervision of the Central Blood Bank of Oman, Ministry of Health, the event is a conscious effort to involve KR staff, their families and friends to selflessly step forward and voluntarily do-nate blood for a noble cause, says a press release.

Anil Khimji, director, Khimji Ramdas, said: “We thank all those who came forward to voluntar-ily support this noble cause, which will help maintain a bal-ance between supply and demand throughout the year. The Khimji Ramdas management and staff are delighted to witness a sat-

isfactory turnout for this year’s blood donation drive during the month of Ramadan, a time of selfless caring and giving. We look forward to your continuous support and contributions in the years to come.”

He pointed out that, since the inception of Blood Bank

of Oman, the Khimji Ramdas Group, for over 35 years now, has actively organised its annual blood drives through its staff and their families. “It was heartening to see so many individuals vol-unteer blood in the spirit of giv-ing and sharing during the holy month of Ramadan.”

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

Park Inn Muscat provides

Iftar meals to Dar Al Atta’a

MUSCAT: Ramadan is the sea-son of reflection, sharing and giv-ing. The Park Inn by Radisson Muscat, supported the Ramadan Al Atta’a activity of the charity organisation, Dar Al Atta’a, led by Rabih Zein, general manager, Park Inn Muscat and Park Inn Duqm.

A worth of 166 Iftar meals was donated by the hotel to Dar Al Atta’a and was appreciably re-ceived by May Al Bayat, market-ing director, Dar Al Atta’a.

“We support local communi-ties, as part of our responsible business activity. Taking respon-sibility of the environment and local community has been an im-portant part of the broader com-mitment of the Carlson Rezidor

Hotel Group. As part of the group, we maintain to be involved in this kind of activities for us to share awareness to the community that by sharing a small act can make a big difference,” says Rabih Zein.

S U P P O R T

InterContinental hosts Iftar for staff

MUSCAT: In celebration of the holy month of Ramadan, Inter-Continental Muscat hosted an Iftar get together for its em-ployees and their families at the Jabrin ballroom recently.

The season presents with a unique opportunity to serve and support its employees in the company binding them in soli-darity and trust. The Iftar gath-ering is held every year, says a press release.

H O L Y M O N T H

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RECRUIT

Daily ‘Ooredoo Surprises’ offers reward customers

MUSCAT: Ooredoo aspires to de-liver new and inspiring services and for Ramadan and beyond they are giving prepaid and business users daily ‘Ooredoo Surprises’.

Running until September 25, customers will be awarded with

daily exciting offers including reduced rates on national and in-ternational calls, SMS’, and more, says a press release.

Feras Al Shaikh, director of Con-sumer Sales, said, “Ramadan is the month of giving and generosity,

which makes it the perfect time for us to reward our customers. This is our way of saying thank you for your loyalty throughout the years.”

Customers who opt-in for

‘Ooredoo Surprises’ will receive daily SMS messages which will have details of the offer of the day. Customers with Ooredoo’s ‘More’ packages will also receive great deals on recharges, to supplement their ‘More Internet’, ‘More Credit’ and ‘More International’ services.

Value-added servicesFeras added: “Delivering an ex-ceptional customer experience is at the centre of everything we do and ‘Ooredoo Surprises’ builds on the many successful offers we have given customers in the past. From June to September, we are invit-ing customers to enjoy unbeatable rates and the best value added ser-vices entirely free-of-charge.”

Running until September 25, customers

will be awarded with daily exciting offers

including reduced rates on national and

international calls, SMS’, and more

Honda Oman picks raffle draw winnersMUSCAT: Known to be a trusted name amongst auto enthusiasts, Honda Oman has always strived to be different and unique by of-fering unmatched services to-wards their patrons.

Honda Oman is offering a unique Ramadan experience towards their customers by of-fering unmatched service and packages making it one of the most admired and desirable brand of vehicles.

This year’s Ramadan scheme gave customers a chance to win a wide array of fabulous prizes including cash prizes as part of their daily and weekly raffle draws. It was a first of its kind Ramadan scheme where Honda showcased exclusive giveaways along with a selfie contest for social media enthusiasts, says a press release.

Eleven lucky winners were an-nounced as part of their daily raf-fle draw at the Honda showroom along with a weekly raffle draw

winner that went to K. A Al Raw-ahi. Customers who purchased a new Honda vehicle were entitled to participate in the draw.

The daily raffle draw winners were entitled to individual cash prizes worth OMR500 and week-ly draw raffle winner won cash prizes worth OMR1,000.

All the winners were ecstatic with joy and expressed their grat-itude towards Honda not only as a brand but the impeccable ser-vice that it renders to valued cus-tomers. They were happy to be associated with the brand.

Adil Al Zadjali, Honda Oman’s National Sales Manager said, “At Honda, we always believe in providing unique and exciting offers to our valued customers. Honda as a brand is known for its superior driving finesse and we want our customers to be able to experience all of that. This year’s Ramadan scheme has been a suc-cess so far, and we would like to congratulate all the winners.”

R A M A D A N S C H E M E

Bank Nizwa facilitates zakat donations during RamadanMUSCAT: Supporting the Minis-try of Awqaf and Religious Affairs efforts to help individuals make their zakat (alms giving) dona-tions, Bank Nizwa is facilitating the process by opening a special zakat account to make it easier for contributors to deposit or transfer funds.

Providing people with an ad-ditional opportunity to make a difference in the community, the bank has also opened a sadaqah

account with the option of setting up standing orders for succes-sive donations. People utilising both accounts are not required to be Bank Nizwa customers, says a press release.

“We have joined hands with the ministry to offer people conveni-ence and peace of mind while giv-ing back in this holy month. We have also made our recourses and Islamic Banking experts available to all contributors, whether it is

to use our zakat calculator or an-swer any questions they have on the processes of zakat, sadaqah and Islamic finance,” explained Dr

Ashraf Al Nabhani, GM, Corporate Support at Bank Nizwa.

Contributors can pay their zakat through account number 001-22211222-001 and sadaqah through account number 001-22200222-001. In a similar col-laboration, Bank Nizwa partnered with the Oman Charitable Organi-sation, a local humanitarian estab-lishment, by opening a sadaqah account for them to support the underprivileged.

H E L P I N G T H E N E E D Y

People utilising the accounts are not required to be Bank Nizwa customers

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Meethaq Ramadan automotive finance evokes good response

MUSCAT: Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, has evoked good response to an attractive auto fi-nance campaign coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan.

The special Meethaq Ramadan auto finance is available at 4.50 per cent profit rate, including life takaful or insurance, during the finance period and special givea-ways. The limited period offer is

valid till July 31.The Shari’a compliant Meethaq

auto finance is based on the con-cept of Murabaha wherein the cost of goods and profit is disclosed to the buyer. Meethaq purchases the vehicle as per customer request and sells it to them at a cost plus agreed profit, says a press release.

The exclusive benefits of Meethaq auto finance include fi-nancing up to 80 per cent of the value of vehicles, repayment ten-ure up to 8 years and free life takaf-ul or insurance coverage during the finance period.

Notably, financing is also avail-able for purchasing used vehicles. The bank does not charge any pro-

cessing fee and offers competitive pricing. With minimal documen-tation and fast processing, the Meethaq car finance is available for citizens and residents.

Sulaiman Al Harthy, group gen-eral manager, Meethaq Islamic Banking, said: ”Meethaq strives to fulfil the needs of customers with innovative Shari’a based products and is well positioned to pro-vide Islamic financial expertise to diverse segments and there-by promote the good of society as a whole.”

Oman is home to the world’s best known auto brands and Meethaq remains committed to helping people to own their dream

vehicles. By encouraging people to buy top quality vehicles, Meethaq reiterates its commitment to road safety, thereby spreading safety and happiness in Oman.

Meethaq has adopted the best practices in Islamic banking and finance worldwide to combine a robust model which protects customers and complements the Islamic banking industry. Every Meethaq product goes through the process of Shari’a compliance certification by the Shari’a Super-visory Board and is created in line with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Oman.

As the pioneer of Islamic bank-ing in Oman, Meethaq stands out

for its independent Shari’a Su-pervisory Board, separate capi-tal allocation from shareholders’ money, unique risk management tools, complete fund segregation, separate books of account, core banking system which supports Islamic banking operations, stand-alone Islamic banking branches and proper profit dis-tribution mechanism among investment account holders/de-positors. The adoption of AAOIFI standards (Accounting & Auditing Organisation for Islamic Finan-cial Institutions) distinguishes Meethaq Islamic banking practic-es in terms of standardisation of products and services.

The special Meethaq Ramadan auto finance

is available at 4.50 per cent profit rate,

including life takaful or insurance, during the

finance period and special giveaways

TeO signs partnership pact with MHD GroupMUSCAT: Integrated Telecom-munications Oman (TeO) has signed a partnership agreement with MHD Group to foster closer collaboration in a range of areas.

The agreement was signed at the MHD corporate office in the presence of the top management from both the companies, by Suleiman Al Yahya’ae, chairman, TeO and Lujaina Mohsin Haider Darwish, chairperson, MHD Group. The agreement includes the distribution of various TeO services and building on other synergies to benefit both parties.

Suleiman Al Yahya’ae remarked: “At TeO, we believe in strong part-

nerships. This philosophy is core to our long term vision of intro-ducing the finest telecommunica-tion products and services to the people of Oman. The agreement with MHD is an important step in that direction. We look forward to passing on the expected benefits to our customers and stakeholders.”

Lujaina Mohsin Haider Dar-wish added: “In a short span of time, TeO has created a niche for itself in the Omani telecom market. We are pleased to be working closely with them. The combination of MHD’s profes-sional distribution network and TeO’s products and services will

be a strong factor that ultimately benefits our customers.”

TeO is Oman’s first private Class I licensee international gateway operator, a mobile ser-vices reseller and international calling card services provider in the Sultanate of Oman. TeO cur-rently operates with its consumer product brand “Allo” and its en-dorsed brands “TeOGlobe” and “TeO Business”.

MHD Group is one of Oman’s leading business houses, with ac-tivities spanning manufacturing, services, imports and distribu-tion of a large portfolio of brands and products.

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

Qatar Airways boosts frequency

of flights on Doha-Manila route

MANILA: Qatar Airways will be adding six extra flights per week between Doha and Manila start-ing from October 26, following an expanded Air Service Agreement signed between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Philippines, says a press release.

Qatar Airways’ group chief ex-ecutive Akbar Al Baker, said: “The increase in flight frequencies on the Doha-Manila route serves to further strengthen commercial and trade links between our two countries and we are delighted to be able to provide our Philippines-based passengers with greater connectivity options when they choose to fly with Qatar Airways.”

Award-winning hospitality“Now, more passengers will be able to experience our award-winning hospitality and also our state-of-the-art Hamad Interna-tional Airport when transiting

seamlessly onward to their final destination. Passengers travelling with Qatar Airways beyond Doha can also look forward to flying on some of the world’s most advanced aircraft, including the A350 XWB,” said Al Baker.

The Doha-based carrier, most recently crowned Airline of the Year at the 2015 annual Skytrax World Airline Awards, is currently flying eight flights per week to Ni-noy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

With the increase in weekly flights, Qatar Airways will operate a full twice-daily service to Ma-nila, in addition to its daily flights between Clark and Doha.

Hi-tech facilityThe Doha – Manila route is oper-ated by the Boeing 777 aircraft, featuring 24 Business Class seats and 356 seats in Economy Class. Passengers travelling in Business

Class can look forward to relaxing in one of the most comfortable and hi-tech, fully-flat beds with a 78-inch seat pitch.

Qatar Airways’ premium pas-sengers can also enjoy its five-star food and beverage service, which is served ‘dine on demand’.

Qatar Airways Premium and Economy Class passengers travel-ling beyond Doha can also enjoy the airline’s state-of-the-art home base, Hamad International Airport (HIA). Home to one of the world’s best and largest Business Class lounges, the Al Mourjan Business Lounge, HIA also has more than 70 retail and 30 food and beverage outlets offering world-class duty free shopping and dining experi-ences for all.

Additional weekly flights from Doha-Manila from 26 Octo-ber 2015: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

A I R S E R V I C E A G R E E M E N T

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

FROOME RETAINS GRIP AS MARTIN CLAIMS YELLOWChris Froome lost his yellow jersey but retained his grip on his rivals after surviving a day on the cobbles in the Tour de France. German Tony Martin won the fourth stage with a late attack and snatched the overall lead at the end of body-punishing ride. >C4

S

Ireland bowlers too good for Oman as warm-up washed outMUSCAT: Ireland put in a great performance with the ball as they bowled Oman out for 91, before heavy rain brought a premature end to proceedings at Stormont.

According to information re-ceived here, on a day when most of the matches were affected by rain, Oman batsmen failed to impress.

Jatinder Singh (10), Vaibhav Wategaonkar (26), Aamir Kaleem (18) and Rajesh Kumar Ranpura (10 not out) were the batsmen who reached double figures. Ireland’s George Dockrell and Alex Cusack picked up three wickets each, as the Ireland bowling attack dominated.

John Mooney was also in the wickets, picking up 2-15 from his three overs, while there was a

wicket apiece for Tyrone Kane and Kevin O’Brien. Dockrell in partic-ular caused the Oman batsmen all sorts of problems as he extracted good turn and bounce, only con-ceding 15 runs off the four overs he bowled from the Dundonald end.

While Cusack again showed why he is one of Ireland’s finest T20 bowlers picking up wickets at the top and bottom of the innings.

Just as Dockrell claimed an ex-cellent catch on the mid-wicket boundary off Cusack to end the Oman innings in 18.5 overs, the heavens opened bringing the match to a close with no prospect of the players getting back on the field before the cut off time.

Ireland are in action in their first

group match at the same venue on Friday against Namibia. Oman will be up against Kenya on July 11.

The top six sides from the 18-day tournament, during which 51 matches will be played, will join the 10 Full Members for the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, which will be held from March 11 to April 3 next year.

The sides that top the two groups will automatically qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, while those that finish second and third in each of the two groups will play cross-over matches with the two winners joining the table-top-pers for the India tournament.

De Lange is determined that Scotland will qualify the simple

way by topping Group B, a diffi-cult task considering Afghanistan, UAE, Netherlands, Canada, Kenya and Oman lie in wait.

“We have prepared really well for this. I think we’ve been really thorough and very specific in ar-eas of the T20 game. I feel we’ve covered those things very well and I sense there is a lot of confidence out of our preparation coming into this tournament,” he was quoted on the ICC website.

Across in Group A, Ireland go in as favourite to top the pool, es-pecially with home advantage, but any mistake will be seized upon by a teams aiming to take that top spot, namely Namibia, Nepal, Hong Kong, PNG, USA and Jersey.

I C C T W E N T Y 2 0 Q U A L I F I E R S

UNCONVINCING BUILD-UP: Oman national cricket team found Ire-

land bowlers too hot to handle in Tuesday’s warm-up. – Supplied photo

Big four target semifinal spots

LONDON: Novak Djokovic, Rog-er Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka can justify their status as Wimbledon’s big four by making the semifinals on Wednesday.

Defending champion, top seed and 2011 winner Djokovic takes on US Open champion Marin Cilic boasting a 12-0 career lead over the Croatian.

Seven-time champion Feder-er faces Gilles Simon with the Frenchman playing in his maiden Wimbledon quarter-final while 2013 winner Murray, seeded three, is up against surprise quarter-fi-nalist Vasek Pospisil of Canada.

Fourth seed Wawrinka tackles 2007 semifinalist Richard Gas-quet, the second Frenchman in the last-eight. Cilic, 26, lost to Djoko-vic in five sets in the quarter-finals in 2014 despite being two sets to one ahead.

He then went on to win a maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in September. “I know him very well. We played many, many matches on different surfaces,” said Djokovic after reaching his seventh succes-sive Wimbledon quarter-final and 25th in a row at the majors with a 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 win over Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

“I remember him mentioning earlier this year that he wants to focus mostly on Wimbledon, grass. That’s where he feels like he has a best chance besides US Open. He’s playing at a very high level.”

Cilic admitted he needs to match Djokovic blow for blow on Wednes-day. “When Novak is playing at the speed that he’s playing, I’m going to have to be more aggressive to play more risky tennis,” said Cilic.

Federer, 33, is bidding to become the oldest Wimbledon champion and win a record eighth title.

The Swiss has been virtually untroubled on serve on his way to a 13th Wimbledon quarter-final, just one behind the record of 14 held by Jimmy Connors.

He has yet to drop serve, has faced just two break points in 58 service games and has committed only three double faults.

Service kingThe last time he dropped serve was in the second set of his open-ing round win over Philipp Kohls-chreiber in Halle -- more than 100 service games ago.

“Maybe the guys are returning terrible,” joked Federer.

“Gilles Simon is one of the best return players we have in the game. I would think I’ll be tested a lot. So that streak’s maybe coming to an end, in my opinion.”

Simon, one of three over-30s in the last eight, last made the quar-terfinals of a Grand Slam in Aus-tralia in 2009.

He trails Federer 5-2 in career clashes. After winning their first two meetings in 2008, the French-man has lost five in succession al-though their only two Grand Slam matches — at the 2011 Australian Open and 2013 French Open — went to five sets.

Murray is into his eighth succes-sive Wimbledon quarter-final and takes a 3-0 lead into his match-up with world number 56 Pospisil who had never previously got be-yond the third round of a major before this Wimbledon.

All their three meetings have come in the last 10 months with the 25-year-old Canadian unable to win a single set. Pospisil spent more than eight hours on court on Monday, first beating Viktor Tro-icki in the singles in five sets and then losing a five-setter with Jack Sock against Murray’s brother Jamie and John Peers.

“He’s played a lot of tennis here which is a positive for him,” said

Murray. “But also maybe he’s a little bit fatigued. So if that is the case, and I won’t bank on that be-ing the case, but if that is the case, I’ll try to use that to my advantage.”

Pospisil’s win over Troicki was his third five-set win in four rounds at the All England Club this year.

French Open champion Waw-rinka is in the quarter-finals for the second successive year and is bidding to become just the fifth man to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year.

Wawrinka, the only quarterfi-nalist not to have dropped a set at the tournament, faces 21st seed Gasquet with the two men locked at 1-1 in career meetings.

Gasquet won their first clash at the Paris Masters in 2006 with the 30-year-old Swiss gaining revenge at the 2013 French Open when he recovered from two sets to love down to win a fourth round en-counter. - AFP

Defending champion,

top seed and 2011

winner Djokovic

takes on US Open

champion Marin

Cilic boasting a

12-0 career lead

over the Croatian

CLASSIC WIN: Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after winning

his match against Kevin Anderson of South Africa at the Wimble-

don Tennis Championships in London. – Reuters

LONDON: Top seed Serena Williams overpowered Victo-ria Azarenka in an absorbing Wimbledon quarterfinal on Tuesday, recovering from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The American, who will face Russia’s Maria Sharapova in the semifinals, is two wins away from holding all four grand slam titles concurrently — the so-called Serena Slam she also achieved in 2002-03.

The 33-year-old was second best in the first set against the Belarussian former world number one on Centre Court, but she found an extra gear and dominated thereafter.

Three consecutive aces at 4-2 in the third set moved her to within a game of victory and although 23rd seed Aza-renka hung on and threat-ened to break back, Williams would not be denied and stayed on course for a 21st grand slam title.

“It was fun out there and I saw Victoria smiling as well, we both really enjoyed it,” five-times Wimbledon champion Williams, who has won 26 grand slam matches in a row, said in a TV interview.

Agnieszka Radwanska set up a semifinal clash with Spain’s Garbine Muguruza after the Polish 13th seed de-feated Madison Keys 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3.

Radwanska, the 2012 Wim-bledon runner-up, hit only 13 winners on Court One, but was able to take advantage of 40 unforced errors from Ameri-can 21st seed Keys, while mak-ing only seven herself.

The 26-year-old will be making her fourth Grand Slam semifinal appearance and her third at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, Sharapova survived a gamesmanship row with a 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 vic-tory over Coco Vandeweghe.

Sharapova needed two hours and 45 minutes before she finally saw off unseeded Vandeweghe to reach her fifth Wimbledon semi-final and her first since 2011.

But the world number four was accused of unsporting

behaviour by Vandeweghe, who was unhappy that Shara-pova was moving during the 23-year-old American’s service action. Vandeweghe pro-tested to the umpire during the quarter-final and repeated her complaint in the post-match press conference

“She (the umpire) said she didn’t believe she was doing it during the motion. I strongly disagreed. Towards the later end of the second set, I said if she has a problem speaking to Maria, if she’s too scared to do it, I had no problem speaking to her,” said the American.

“What I felt from her moving around in between my serving motion was not, I don’t think, sportsmanlike. I try to play as fair as I can. “When I felt like it wasn’t being reciprocated, that’s when I spoke with the umpire for her to deal with.”

Nothing out of ordinaryBut Sharapova insisted she was doing nothing out of the ordinary.

“It is what it is. What she said, I’m not going to argue against her words,” said the Russian. Joining Sharapova in the last four was 20th seed Garbine Muguruza, who de-feated Swiss 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3 to become the first Spanish woman to make the Wimbledon semifi-nals since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1997.

Sharapova was well below her best on Centre Court, mak-ing 23 unforced errors, serving 10 double faults and hitting only 19 winners.

But the always tenacious 28-year-old somehow found a way to secure her 20th Grand Slam semi-final appearance that has brought her five major titles. It was Muguruza who took the giant leap towards the sport’s upper echelons as she defeated Bacsinszky, a surprise French Open semi-finalist last month, in 86 minutes on Court One. To reach the quarterfi-nals, Muguruza beat fifth seed and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki on Monday and also defeated 10th seed Angelique Kerber in the third round.

The 21-year-old, born in Venezuela but raised as a ten-nis prodigy in Barcelona, had never been made the semi-finals of a Grand Slam.

She had fallen in the last eight of the French Open for the last years.

“It is just amazing. I am so happy. It was a very tough match and I am just so excited. It was a very intense final game so it is just relief,” Muguruza said.“It is very hard to make the last four of Wimbledon so to achieve this so I am very proud.” Muguruza will take on Polish 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 runner-upfor a place in the final. - AFP

It’s Serena vs Azarenka and Radwanska vs Muguruza

I HAVE DONE IT: Serena Williams exults after beating Victoria

Azarenka. – Reuters

SET FOR SERENA SHOWDOWN: Russia’s Maria Sharapova returns to US player Coco

Vandeweghe during their women’s quarterfinals match. – AFP

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SPORTSW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

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Proteas clinch T20 series

DHAKA: Spinners Eddie Leie and Aaron Phangiso shared six wick-ets between them as South Africa thrashed Bangladesh by 31 runs in the second Twenty20 internation-al to take the two-match series 2-0 in Dhaka Tuesday.

Debutant leg-spinner Leie claimed 3-16 and left-arm spinner Phangiso took 3-30, as Bangladesh were all out for 138 runs with five balls remaining in reply to South Africa’s 169-4.

Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar put on 46 runs in the open-ing stand to give Bangladesh a strong start before Wayne Parnell removed Tamim for 13.

Leie struck in his first over to drag Sarkar (37) out of his crease and had him stumped and then dismissed Mushfiqur Rahim (19) and Sabbir Rahman (one) in suc-cessive balls.

Phangiso removed Shakib Al Hasan (eight) off his first ball be-fore taking the wicket of Nasir Hossain who fell for a duck and Lit-

ton Das (10) in his next two overs to put South Africa in control.

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis hailed his team’s perfor-mance. “We had all the answers from a bowling point of view,” he said. “So really proud of the boys. Extremely tough conditions to beat Bangladesh 2-0 like that. Great job,” du Plessis added.

Paceman Kyle Abbott, who claimed three wickets for 20 runs, completed the rout with wickets off his last two balls.

Earlier, Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers put 95 runs for South Africa in the opening stand after du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat. De Kock top-scored with 44 runs and de Villiers added 40 as the visitors looked for a series sweep after winning Sunday’s opening game by 52 runs.

Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny forced de Kock into chipping a catch to Sabbir at midwicket to earn Bangladesh’s first break-through in the 11th over.

‘No excuse’Left-handed de Kock faced 31 balls and hit four fours and two sixes in his innings.

Bangladesh were immediately back in the contest as Nasir made a double strike in the next over to put a brake on the run flow.

JP Duminy got a leading edge off the second ball of the over to hoist a catch which Shakib gleefully took at short midwicket to remove him for six.

De Villiers gloved the next ball to wicketkeeper Rahim to end his 34-ball innings which included six sixes.

David Miller survived a strong caught behind appeal in the same over to put on 34 runs for the fourth wicket with du Plessis (16).

Miller (30 not out) and Rilee Rossouw (19 not out) then took 32 runs in the last two overs to give South Africa a respectable total.

Nasir finished with 2-26 for Bangladesh.

“There are some positives. And we have to learn from our mis-takes too,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said.

“So hopefully, we’ll come back in the one-dayers.

“We haven’t played too many T20s recently. Not an excuse. We just have to improve,” he added.

The two teams will now play a three-match One-day interna-tional series, beginning on July 10 at the same ground. - AFP

Debutant leg-spinner

Leie claimed 3-16

and left-arm spinner

Phangiso took 3-30,

as Bangladesh

were all out for 138

runs with five balls

remaining in reply to

South Africa’s 169-4

SOUTH AFRICAQ. de Kock c Sabbir b Sunny 44A. de Villiers c Rahim b Nasir 40J. Duminy c Shakib b Nasir 6F. du Plessis c Rahim b Mustafizur 16D. Miller not out 30R. Rossouw not out 19Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-9) 14Total (four wickets; 20 overs) 169Did not bat: D. Wiese, W. Parnell, A. Phangiso, K. Abbott, E. LeieFall of wickets: 1-95 (de Kock), 2-102 (Duminy), 3-102 (de Villiers), 4-136 (du Plessis).Bowling: Sunny 4-0-31-1 (w2), Nasir 4-0-26-2(w6), Mustafizur 4-0-34-1(w1), Shakib 4-0-37-0, Mortaza 3-0-25-0, Sarkar 1-0-11-0BANGLADESHTamim Iqbal c Wiese b Parnell 13Soumya Sarkar st de Kock b Leie 37Shakib Al Hasan c Rossouw b Phangiso 8Mushfiqur Rahim c Rossouw c Leie 19Sabbir Rahman c Miller b Leie 1Nasir Hossain c Rossouw b Phangiso 0Rony Talukdar b Abbott 21Litton Das c Weise b Phangiso 10Mashrafe Mortaza b Abbot 17Arafat Sunny not out 5Mustafizur Rahman b Abbott 0Extras (w-6, nb-1) 7Total (all out; 19.2 overs) 138Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Tamim), 2-55 (Soumya), 3-69 (Shakib), 4-82(Sabbir), 5-82 (Rahim), 6-82 (Nasir), 7-103 (Das), 8-125 (Mortaza), 9-137 (Rony), 10-138 (Mustafizur)Bowling: Abbott 3.2-0-20-3 (w3), Duminy 4-0-26-0 (nb1, w1), Parnell 3-0-29-1 (w2), Weise 2-0-17-0, Leie 3-0-16-3, Phangiso 4-0-30-3Result: South Africa won 31 runsSeries : South Africa won series by 2-0Toss: South AfricaUmpires: Anisur Rahman (BAN) and Enamul Haque (BAN)TV Umpire: Sharfoudoulla Saikat (BAN)Match Referee: David Boon (AUS)

S C O R E B O A R D

ALL SMILES: South Africa captain Faf du Plessis poses for a photograph with teammates as he holds

the tournament trophy. – AFP

Bangladesh recall fit-againMahmudullah and Anamul

DHAKA: Bangladesh Tuesday recalled batsmen Mohammad Mahmudullah and Anamul Haque in a 14-man squad for the first two of the three one-day internationals against South Africa. Mahmudullah missed Bangladesh’s previous series against India at home after he sustained a fracture on his left index finger.

Anamul was injured dur-ing the World Cup in March and was sent back home from Australia. He missed the home matches against India and Pakistan.

Mominul Haque and Rony Talukdar, who were part of the squad for Pakistan and India series but did not feature in any of the matches, made way for Mahmudullah and Anamul.

Paceman Taskin Ahmed will also miss the first two ODIs due to a rib injury he picked up dur-ing a training session last week.

The three-match ODI series begins on July 10 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

The second and third ODI will be held on July 12 and 15 in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Mo-hammad Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Litton Das, Arafat Sunny, Jubair Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman. - AFP

O D I S E R I E S

Younis leads Pakistan to series win PALLEKELE: Younis Khan hit a brilliant unbeaten 171 as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by seven wick-ets in the third Test on Tuesday to win their first series on the island since 2006. The tourists achieved the sixth highest successful chase in history when they surpassed the target of 377 runs in the post-lunch session of the fifth day’s play in Pallekele, finishing on 382-3.

Skipper Misbah-ul Haq made 59 not out, smashing the winning six off Jehan Mubarak to end his nation’s long winless streak in Sri Lanka where they had lost the last three series in 2009, 2012 and 2014. “This is such a big victory for us,” said a delighted Misbah as Pakistan jumped three places to number three in the official rank-ings behind South Africa and Pa-kistan. “We had lost some Tests in Sri Lanka earlier because we panicked. We just wanted to bat calmly this time.

“This series win means a lot to me after we did not fare well in the last three series in Sri Lanka.”

It was the first time a visiting team had scored more than 300

runs in the fourth innings to win a Test on Sri Lankan soil.

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews said he expected his team to have defended the 377-run target. “That was not a small total to get, so obviously I am very disappointed,” he said. “I thought we were sitting pretty when we gave them 377 to win.

“It was a good game of cricket, but Pakistan played better than us and deserved to win. There may have been a bit more turn towards the end, but there was nothing in

the wicket for the seamers over the last couple of days.”

Mathews said the team were trying to overcome the absence of batting greats, the retired Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sang-akkara, who opted out of the final Test. Sangakkara, the world’s lead-ing current Test scorer, will play two more Tests against India next month before retiring. “We know we don’t have Mahela and Sanga,” said Mathews. “We will need to take on the challenge and move on.”

Younis, who made his 100th Test

appearance in the second match, ended the game just 19 runs away from surpassing Javed Miandad’s tally of 8,832 runs to become Paki-stan’s leading scorer in Tests. — AFP

T E S T S E R I E S

Sri Lanka 1st innings: 278Pakistan 1st innings: 215Sri Lanka 2nd innings: 313Pakistan 2nd innings (overnight 230-2):Shan Masood st Chandimal b Kaushal 125Ahmed Shehzad b Lakmal 0Azhar Ali c Chandimal b Prasad 5Younis Khan not out 171Misbah-ul Haq not out 59Extras: (b-5, lb-10, w-2, nb-5) 22Total (for three wickets, 103.1 overs) 382Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Shehzad), 2-13 (Azhar), 3-255 (Masood).Bowling: Prasad 20-2-65-1 (nb1, w1), Lakmal 19-5-48-1 (nb3), Pradeep 17-3-51-0 (w1), Mathews 13-2-34-0 (nb1) Kaushal 31-1-153-1, Mubarak 3.1-0-16-0Result: Pakistan won by seven wickets, clinch series 2-1Umpires: Ian Gould and Paul ReiffelTV umpire: Sundaram Ravi (IND)Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

S C O R E B O A R D

TRIUMPHANT: Pakistan players celebrate Test series win. – AFP

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SPORTSW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Cook hopes Johnson threat is less

LONDON: It’s hard to have more than one series of a lifetime and England captain Alastair Cook hopes that in Mitchell Johnson’s case it has already happened.

Left-arm fast bowler Johnson took 37 wickets at under 14 apiece as Australia crushed England 5-0 in the 2013/14 Ashes ‘Down Under’.

As a result, there has been talk he could inflict similar damage when this season’s Ashes get un-derway with the first Test in Car-diff on Wednesday.

But just as Cook himself has come nowhere near matching his tally of 766 Test runs at 127.66 dur-ing England’s victorious 2010/11 Ashes tour — indeed he averages under 28 in all other series against Australia — so he believes John-son will find it hard to replicate his haul of wickets.

“Mitchell had the series of a life-time (in 2013/14), pretty similar to what happened in 2010/11 with my form,” Cook said on the eve of the first Test.

“You get on a bit of a roll and you can’t do no wrong. Credit when it’s due, he bowled very well and bowled quickly.

“Whether he can repeat that, that’s the challenge and we’ve got to make sure we cope with it better if he does.”

Cook, taking up a theme voiced by England paceman Stuart Broad, also suggested conditions in Brit-ain would work in England’s favour when it came to facing Johnson.

“Obviously, the pace and bounce

in these wickets aren’t as much (as Australia),” he said.

With several members of Eng-land’s squad yet to play a Test against Australia and leg-spinner Adil Rashid still to make a debut at this level, Cook said an injection of youthful verve would serve his side well in their quest to regain the Ashes.

‘End of life cycle’“That side at the end of 2013/14 was right at the end of its life cycle I suppose,” he said. “A lot of players have gone from that side that were kind of hanging on.

“In this side we’ve got two or three slightly older statesmen I suppose you could call them, with 80 plus caps, and the majority of the side is under 15 caps and are really excited about their future,” explained the 30-year-old Cook, himself a veteran of 114 Tests.

“They’ve got the chance to cre-ate their own history,” said Cook, England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer. Australia parachuted Darren Lehmann into the posi-tion of coach after Mickey Arthur was sacked shortly before the 2013 Ashes in England.

Although Australia lost that se-ries, they’ve have enjoyed plenty of success under former Test bats-man Lehmann since then, includ-ing winning this year’s World Cup.

Now England find themselves preparing for a first series under a new Australian coach in Trevor Bayliss, formerly in charge of Sri Lanka and New South Wales.

“There is no nonsense to him. He says what he thinks and we’ve only known him a week but he’s pretty simple in his approach he’s made that clear,” said Cook of Bayliss.

“Obviously, he’s got some good knowledge of the Australians from working with them over the last few years. That’s going to help us but at the end of the day it’s the 11 players that have got to do it.”

But Cook, who added the fact that England assistant coach Paul Farbrace, who stood in as caretak-er after Peter Moores was sacked, had worked with Bayliss before in Sri Lanka had helped smooth the transition between regimes. - AFP

Left-arm fast bowler

Johnson took 37

wickets at under 14

apiece as Australia

crushed England

5-0 in the 2013/14

Ashes ‘Down Under’

ALL SET: England captain Alastair Cook and Australia captain Michael Clarke pose with a replica of the Ashes urn. – Reuters

CARDIFF: Australia captain Michael Clarke believes all the talk of whether fast bowler Mitchell Johnson can succeed in British conditions has “put fire into his belly”. The left-arm paceman took 37 wickets at under 14 apiece as Australia crushed England 5-0 in the 2013/14 Ashes ‘Down Under’.

But the likes of England captain Alastair Cook have questioned whether Johnson can replicate that form in the upcoming Ashes series, which gets underway with the first Test in Cardiff starting on Wednesday.

Clarke, however, insisted Tuesday that his spearhead was in prime form. Mitchell Johnson

is as ready as I’ve seen him,” Clarke told a news conference at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens ground.

“He’s bowling as fast as I’ve ever seen him bowl in the nets and he’s swinging it too. It’s not fun to face,” he added

“He’s fit, healthy and excited about what lies ahead. There’s been things said about whether he can perform in these conditions and that’s put fire into his belly.”

Cook, who himself has come nowhere near matching his tally of 766 Test runs at 127.66 during England’s victorious 2010/11 Ashes tour — indeed he aver-ages under 28 in all other series against Australia — suggested Johnson would find it hard to replicate his past success.

“Mitchell had the series of a life-time (in 2013/14), pretty similar to what happened in 2010/11 with my form,” Cook said.

“You get on a bit of a roll and you can’t do no wrong. Credit when it’s due, he bowled very well and bowled quickly.

“Whether he can repeat that, that’s the challenge and we’ve got to make sure we cope with it better if he does.”

Cook, taking up a theme voiced by England paceman Stuart Broad, also suggested conditions in Britain would work in England’s favour when it came to facing Johnson.

“Obviously, the pace and bounce in these wickets aren’t as much (as Australia),” he said.

Much has been made in the build-up regarding Cook’s con-servative captaincy style, which has been contrasted with the more aggressive approach of Clarke.

Trevor Bayliss, England’s new Australian coach, has said they must “fight fire with fire” if they are to regain the Ashes.

But Cook said Tuesday that leadership was often about the players at your disposal.

He added that the current make-up of the side, featuring the likes of attacking batsman Joe Root, all-rounder Ben Stokes, wicket-keeper/bats-man Jos Buttler and fast bowler Mark Wood, was very different to the one that was at the “end of its life cycle” in 2013/14. - AFP

Johnson ‘as fast as ever’, says Clarke

Botham’s tales fire up ButtlerCARDIFF: Ian Botham may not appreciate the comparison but there was no doubt Jos But-tler was paying him a compli-ment when he said listening to the England hero’s tales of Ashes past was “like storytime with your granddad”.

Botham, one of England’s greatest all-rounders, reserved many of his best performances for ‘old enemy’ Australia.

And such was his impact on the 1981 series it was labelled ‘Botham’s Ashes’ after several stunning individual displays with both bat and ball helped turn the series in England’s favour.

Botham was invited to give the current England squad a pep talk ahead of the first Test against Australia in Cardiff starting on Wednesday and Buttler lapped up every word. “It was great,” said England wicketkeeper/batsman Buttler. “It was like storytime with your granddad, really.”

Buttler, who at the age of 24 is not quite two generations re-moved from the 59-year-old Botham, added: “’Beefy’ — eve-ryone sat around listening to stories of the rockstar life he led. “It was quite different the way he went about it as to our how our preparation has been.”

It seems the most pertinent piece of advice that Botham, who relished the big occasion, passed

on was to enjoy all the hype that surrounds the Ashes without let-ting it affect your own game.

“He said you have to under-stand that is how it is — but the cricket doesn’t change,” Buttler explained. With England bidding to recover the Ashes after a 5-0 thrashing in Australia in 2013/14, the scale of the task ahead has en-thused Buttler.

“You always dream of playing in this series that is always talked about,” he said.

“It’s going to be a huge chal-lenge for me personally and the team — but it’s something you want to be a part of, to test your-selves in these situations.”

But even if this season ends up being ‘Buttler’s Ashes’, the kind of exploits that Botham used to enjoy mid-Test won’t be an op-tion for the present-day England team, given that rest days have long since been abolished. - AFP

A S H E S

INSPIRED: Jos Buttler. – Reuters

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SPORTSW E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Ahmad targets British GT podiumMUSCAT: Oman Racing Team driver Ahmad Al Harthy returns to Spa-Francorchamps in Bel-gium later this week for the re-sumption of the Avon Tyres Brit-ish GT Championship, where the 33-year-old says he will be target-ing nothing less than a podium challenge at the wheel of his As-ton Martin V12 Vantage GT3.

According to the information received, while the round five of the 2015 campaign on Saturday will mark the sole overseas visit of the year for British GT, Muscat racer Ahmad and team-mate Dan-iel Lloyd, who were both in testing action at Spa a couple of weeks ago with the Blancpain Endur-ance Series.

Although the focus of that out-ing was key preparation for the upcoming Total 24 Hours of Spa at the end of July — round four of the Blancpain season — the ad-ditional track time enjoyed at the Ardennes venue should still pay dividends for the latest instal-ment of British GT a few days from now. “I’m really looking for-ward to being back at Spa so soon, it’s an amazing track and some-where I always enjoy racing”, said Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa ambassador Ahmad, “Heading back there this week with the recent Blancpain test still fresh in our minds should be an advantage but we know it’ll be another challenging weekend.

“The team has been doing a

fantastic job all season, and Dan and I have both shown very good pace, but there have been a couple of things which have gone against us and cost us points. We know we should be competitive at Spa, the podium is the target and I’m con-fident we can achieve that.”

Arriving in Belgium fifth in the British GT championship stand-ings, 18 points shy of the coveted top three with one podium to their credit so far this year from round three at Rockingham, Ahmad and team-mate Lloyd also hold the lead in the Silver Cup class. In the

entrant standings, the Oman Rac-ing Team leads the way comfort-ably by more than 40 points.

Last time out in British GT, the rain affected three-hour Silver-stone 500 at the end of May, the duo only just missed out on mak-ing it two podiums from the first four races of the season when a late Safety Car period spoiled their hopes and resulted in a top four finish for the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs, Oore-doo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-supported entry.

During the corresponding Spa

event last year, where two one-hour races were contested, Ah-mad and then team-mate Michael Caine raced to second position in the first of the weekend’s en-counters so a repeat performance could well be on the cards.

“We know we have a good car at Spa, the team performed well there last year and we’re all going back with a lot of confidence and positivity”, added Ahmad, “The weather is always a big factor, rain is often a risk, but as we know from Silverstone we’re quick in the wet and dry so should be strong.”

M O T O R S P O R T S

The team has been

doing a fantastic

job all season, and

Dan and I have

both shown very

good pace

Ahmad Al HarthyOman Racing Team

FOURTH STAGE ACTION: Great Britain’s Christopher Froome, third left, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey rides in the pack during the 223.5 km fourth stage of the 102nd edition of the Tour de France

cycling race between the Belgian city of Seraing and Cambrai, northern France. – AFP

Froome retains grip, Martin yellow

CAMBRAI: Chris Froome lost his yellow jersey but retained his grip on his rivals after surviving a day on the cobbles in the Tour de France on Tuesday.

German Tony Martin won the fourth stage with a late attack and snatched the overall lead at the end of a body-punishing 223.5-km ride from Seraing, Belgium.

Team Sky rider Froome was ex-pected to be tested on the seven cobbled sectors that peppered the course, as the Tour entered France for the first time since the grand depart in Utrecht, Netherlands, and he passed with flying colours.

Froome almost fell off his bike after being slightly elbowed by

Italian Jacopo Guarnieri, his front wheel hitting a kerb, but the Briton regained control and soldiered on in impressive fashion.

The 2013 champion, who crashed out of last year’s Tour just ahead of the first cobbled sec-tors, even accelerated in the finale, showing he was in top shape as he stamped his authority on the race.

Martin leads Froome by 12 sec-onds overall with American Tejay van Garderen, another contender for the overall victory, in third place 25 seconds off the pace.

Vincenzo Nibali and his Astana team mate Lars Boom attacked repeatedly on the cobbles hop-ing to shake Froome but all the

defending champion got was the prize for the most aggressive rider of the day.

Among the other top favour-ites, Spain’s Alberto Contador and Colombian Nairo Quintana could only follow, but stayed in conten-tion as the most treacherous part of the race is now behind them.

Contador eighthContador is in eighth spot 48 sec-onds behind Martin. Nibali is in 13th position 1:50 off the pace and Quintana lies 17th, 18 seconds fur-ther back.

A four-man breakaway built an eight-minute advantage but they never had a chance as Team Sky took control of the peloton just ahead of the first cobbled sector, dramatically upping the pace.

The peloton was eventually skimmed to about 30 riders after Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who had already lost a chunk of time on Monday, was ruled out of conten-tion for good in this Tour following two mechanical failures.

Martin powered away with three km left and the triple time trial world champion never looked back.

His compatriot John Degenkolb sprinted for second ahead of Slo-vakia’s Peter Sagan. - Reuters

Team Sky rider Froome was expected to be

tested on the seven cobbled sectors that

peppered the course, as the Tour entered

France for the first time since the grand

depart in Utrecht, Netherlands, and he

passed with flying colours

GREAT FINISH: Etixx-Quick Step rider Tony Martin of Germany celebrates as he crosses the finish line

to win the 223.5 km (138.9 miles) 4th stage of the 102nd Tour de France cycling race from Seraing in

Belgium, to Cambrai, France. – Reuters

C5

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Hard work pays dividends for Oman Sail’s Optimist talents

MUSCAT: Eight young Opti-mist sailors from Oman Sail are proving themselves ahead of a packed international schedule at an intensive training programme, held in Nea Makri on the east coast of Greece.

The youngsters, aged between 10 and 15 and members of the Omantel Youth Programme, co-sponsored by Oman Shipping Company, are halfway through a two-week training camp and have impressed Oman Sail coaches with their work rate and progress during the team and individual challenges, on and off the water.

Long days spent working on fit-

ness levels, boat handling tech-niques and race strategies are paying dividends and presenting national selectors with food for thought ahead of the World Opti-

mist Championships in Poland in August where five places are up for grabs. Selectors will also have to choose six contenders for the IODA Optimist African championships

in Algeria in September and six for the Asian and Oceanian Champi-onships in Doha in October.

“These young sailors are work-ing very hard, which has resulted

in a dramatic improvement in performance,” commented Sultan Al Zadjali, the Mussanah Sailing Centre coach who is also gaining valuable experience after being

selected to head up the Optimist preparations.

“They are happy and motivated, so even though the days, where we can spend up to eight hours on the water, can leave them tired, it is exciting to see them take such huge strides for-ward in their development.”

“We came here because there is guaranteed breeze, typical of the sort we will experience in Poland, allowing the sailors to try out new race strategies and learn to handle their boats more confidently in these conditions.

“We are seeing more boat speed and their decisions over where they should be on the race track are becoming smarter.”

Exciting potential Al Zadjali, who is working in con-junction with Marina Psichogiou, Oman Sail’s Youth Programme Manager, in Greece, says the po-tential among the Oman National Optimist squad is exciting, an ob-servation that Rashid Al Kindi, Oman Sail’s National Youth Team Manager, endorses.

“This is not just about sail-ing, the sailors are learning how to work together as a team and have been bringing the best out of each other.

“They will return home as im-proved sailors, fitter than they have ever been and better prepared as a team to aim higher in the upcom-ing international competitions,” he said.

He added: “These youngsters are being put through their paces during the training camp and we confident it is equipping the youth to deliver great performances in future racing events.”

Long days spent

working on fitness

levels, boat handling

techniques and

race strategies are

paying dividends and

presenting national

selectors with food

for thought ahead

of the World Optimist

Championships

in Poland

TRAINING HARD: Optimist team during one of the the training sessions. – Supplied photo

Irfan shines for Cheema XI, Al Nafeesa ease past BisyaMUSCAT: Al Nafeesa and Chee-ma XI prevailed in the Pakistan Social Club organised Omantel Ramadan Cricket Tournament 2015 being played at the Pakistan School ground.

In the first match on Monday night, Al Nafeesa beat Bisya CC by 15 runs.

Batting first Al Nafeesa made 76

for 7 in 8 overs with contributions coming from Naveed (21), Farhan (19) and Aqib (10).

For Bisya, Sankat claimed three wickets for 8 runs and Shani took two wickets for 8 runs.

In reply, Bisya CC could manage only 61 for 4 in 8 overs with Akbar (26) and Rehan (17) contributing with the bat.

Al Nafeesa bowlers Adnan and Fayyaz claimed two wickets each costing 9 and 22 runs respectively. Naveed was declared the man of the match.

In the second match of the night, Cheema XI defeated CSI Warri-ors by 37 runs. Cheema XI, bat-ting first, set a total of 86 for 7 in 8 overs with Irfan smashing 41

runs and Ihsan 15 runs. Imtiaz (2 for 16) and Aqib (2 for

21) bowled well for CSI Warriors, who in reply could manage only 49 for 6 in 8 overs.

Abbass (2 for 6), Zaheer (3 for 21) and Bilal (1 for 13) bowled well for Cheema XI, while Irfan of Cheema was declared man of the match.

O M A N T E L R A M A D A N C R I C K E T

MAN OF THE MATCH: Irfan of Cheema XI receiving the award.

Satish and Jitu stars of the night

MUSCAT: SS Friends and Abu Dhabi Travel won their matches in the knock-out tournament of the 6th Al Turki/NMC Cup 2015 underway at the Al Rifa ground near the Azaiba beach.

The tournament is being spon-sored by Al Turki Enterprises and National Metal Cans.

In the first match on Monday night, SS Friends beat National Gas by 9 wickets and in the match that followed Abu Dhabi Travel defeated Al Nafeesa Jewellers by six wickets. Satish of SS Friends and Jitu of Abu Dhabi Travel won

the man of the match awards for their respectives matches.

Brief scoresNational Gas 48 for 8 in 8 overs (Qamar 14, zahid 8, Ganesh 2 for 16) lost to SS friends 49 for 1 in 6 overs (Shiva 17 not out, Satish 19 not out). Man of the match: Satish of SS Friends. Al Nafeesa Jewel-ers 47 for 4 in 8 overs (Ateeq 11, Naveed 14 not out, Jitu 1 for 12) lost to Abu Dhabi Travel 48 for 4 in 6.1 overs (Shami 13 not out, Jitu 15, Salman 2 for 14). Man of the match: Jitu of Abu Dhabi Travel.

C R I C K E T

DAY’S STARS: Satish of SS Friends and Jitu of Abu Dhabi Travel.

Lionel Messi devastated by new defeatBUENOS AIRES: Lionel Mes-si has told of the pain of losing the Copa America final after the football superstar faced criti-cism in his native Argentina.

Messi finally posted a state-ment on his facebook account late Monday having hidden his devas-tation at losing another major fi-nal since the 4-1 penalty shootout defeat by Chile on Saturday.

“There’s nothing more painful in football than losing a final,” Messi said.

“But I don’t want to leave it any longer to say thank you to everyone who has always sup-ported us and continued to dur-ing the tough moments.”

Messi, 28, has now lost one World Cup and two Copa Amer-ica finals and still has to win a major international event de-spite his success with Barce-lona. Argentina, beaten 1-0 by Germany in last year’s World Cup final, have now not won a major title for 22 years. — AFP

F O O T B A L L

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Cricket oasis for Asians in Qatar

DOHA: In a nondescript corner of Doha’s Industrial Area, sand-wiched between building works, a dusty landscape and overused roads, sits a green oasis for Asian labourers and cricket enthusiasts.

The Asian Town Cricket Sta-dium is a colourful place of rest and recreation in a mostly grey-looking part of Qatar’s capital that serves as the engine room of the country’s booming economy, full of small industrial workshops, fac-tories and labourers.

A large orange and blue-seated amphitheatre, the stadium’s ca-

pacity — 14,000 — seems even more remarkable considering Qa-taris do not play cricket and it is used mostly by amateurs.

The ground is actually larger than the stadium housing Qatar’s current football champions, Le-khwiya, and rivals Al-Sadd, where Xavi Hernandez, formerly of Bar-celona, will play next season.

Asian Town is less than 2,000 seats short of the SWALEC stadi-um capacity where this summer’s first Ashes test between England and Australia, arguably the fierc-est rivalry in cricket, starts on Wednesday.

Like many things in Qatar, the

stadium owes its existence to the phenomenal change the energy-rich country has undergone in re-cent years.

It was built specifically for the vast number of labourers who have poured into Qatar, particularly from countries such as India, Pa-kistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Between them, migrants from these four countries account for almost one million of the 2.3 mil-lion people in Qatar, which has faced criticism for the treatment of foreign workers.

High standardOn the night AFP visited, a T20

match was being held under flood-lights between the “Shah XI”, mostly made up of players from Pakistan, and the eventual vic-tors “Al Zaman Exchange”, drawn largely from India.

The standard was high though there was a sparse Asian crowd -- it was the middle of the week and during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. “The labourers are living very near that’s why they come,” said tournament organiser, Sajjad Chaudhry.

“They are coming and watching, especially the teams’ supporters and friends, and especially peo-ple who have spent a long time in

Qatar, who haven’t seen this kind of facilities.” One of those who at-tends a game every night is me-chanic Nitiss Sikder, a 35-year-old from Kolkata in eastern India.

He has been living in Doha for eight years and is a self-confessed cricket lover. Sikder is among the few regulars at the moment but that might be about to change.

A far bigger building has been completed nearby.

“Labour City” — Qatari place names may not be imaginative but are accurate — a vast sand-col-oured housing complex for 70,000 workers is just opening its doors.

Seven such “cities” will in total

house 258,000 labourers as Qatar attempts to build a better reputa-tion on accommodation for foreign labourers.

It could also provide a boon for Asian Town Cricket Stadium.

Shah Zaleri Sikka, an Indian cricket supporter, was one of the first to move into Labour City.

Qatar Premier League?“The atmosphere is really good in Labour City,” he said.

“We get a good chance to rest in our rooms as they are really nice and most evenings we come here to pass the time and get a chance to watch a match as well.”

Chaudhry believes that with La-bour City nearby and the riches of Qatar, there is scope for bigger and better tournaments in Doha.

The Ramadan Tournament, made up of 18 sides, awards 50,000 Qatari riyals ($13,500) to the win-ning team, enough to encourage some to draft in professional play-ers from overseas.

But Chaudhry said organisers should aim higher and try to repli-cate the success of the popular T20 Indian Premier League.

“We are planning a Qatari Pre-mier League or Doha Premier League,” he said. “We are planning (a launch) for the first of Septem-ber. We are working on that. In-shallah, inshallah... we hope.”

Whoever plays, it is likely Sikder will be there watching and larger crowds are expected.

“Last time there was a (big) match here a lot of people came to see it. The stadium was packed. If there are more matches like that in the future, a lot of people will come,” he said. - AFP

The Asian Town

Cricket Stadium is

a colourful place of

rest and recreation

in a mostly grey-

looking part of Qatar’s

capital that serves

as the engine room

of the country’s

booming economy,

full of small industrial

workshops, factories

and labourers

RELIEF THROUGH CRICKET: Asian labourers relax during a cricket game at the Asian Town Cricket Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha. – AFP

BIGGER EVENTS LIKELY: Asians play cricket at the Asian Town Cricket Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha. The organisers are planning a

Qatar Premier League or Doha Premier League. – AFP

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

LeisureSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E

The Sultanate is blessed with some of the best diving locations in the world where

you can rub shoulders with reef fishes, moray eels, sting rays, turtles, and even whale sharks.

Dive masters hold the key to finding the best of Oman’s underwater bounty.

By Salim Joseph

W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

LIFESTYLEC8 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

There’s a whale shark divers often come across in the Dimaniyat Islands during September. Last year, he came out in August, along with six others. “That was something new. This year too we can

expect to see them early,” says Monique Borlee, the director of Global Scuba, the dive centre located at the Civil Aviation Club in Azaiba.

But, for her, the most adorable under water crea-tures are seahorses and Dimaniyat, considered to be the best diving location in the Sea of Oman, is the best place to find them. “They are quite big out there. But it’s not that easy to spot them as they have specific paths.”

That’s where dive leaders or dive centres comes in handy, as they can take divers to just the right coral beds to spot a seahorse, or the right cove in which to spy eels, turtles, and sting ray. There are many underwater destinations to explore in Oman, which is blessed by some of the best div-ing sites in the world.

Summer is best for scuba-diving, they say, as underwater visibility is greater than in the winter season. Besides that, it’s very cool down there, a relief from the blazing heat above, but not freezing so there is no need for a wet suit. At the Dimaniyat diving sites, visibility ranges from 5 to 15 metres during winter and the water temperature is typi-cally around 23 degree Celsius. In the summertime the visibility is around 8 to 20 metres and the tem-perature averages 28 degrees Celsius.

A nature reserve for almost two decades, Di-maniyat is simply the best diving location around Muscat, says Yannick Borlee, the business devel-opment manager at Global Scuba. “It only takes us about 30 minutes by boat from here, and there you have the abundance of corals, really nice soft cor-als. Last year marine biologists came across some unknown coral species here and there are some species that you can find only in Oman.”

Other popular diving sites around Muscat in-clude Fahal Island off Mina Al Fahal (PDO) and Bandar Al Khayran. It’s more about the deep dives at Fahal where one can go as far as 30 me-tres down (the maximum depth allowed by Div-ing Federation) and you can find more hard cor-als than soft corals. “We have the tug and barge dive site, where a small tug and barge sank many

years ago near the Fahal Island. There is lots of beautiful coral around it.

There are nearly 20 diving sites along the coves and inlets at Bandar Al Khayran which also fea-tures a shipwreck: Al Munassir, which the Royal Navy of Oman sank for divers in 2003.

Covered with beautiful coral now, the wreckage had rooms only half-filled with water till several years ago. Many divers recall how nice it was to be able to remove the regulator and talk to ones’ buddy deep down under water.

It is very dark in the wreckage, and many divers find themselves surprised by a large fish that sud-denly darts by. But, there’s no need to panic. “A diver is never attacked under water as he or she will be seen like another fish. In Oman, we only have friendly sharks and in the history of scuba-diving in the Sultanate, there’s not been a single incident of shark attack,” says Keith Holt, the co-director of Global Scuba.

“I came to Oman in 1973 and I know what His Maj-esty Sultan Qaboos bin Said told the citizens when he took to power: to have friendship with foreigners, to have the respect for them. It’s same down there under water. They all listen to him,” Keith grins. Visit one of the many great dive centres in Muscat to plan your underwater summer adventure.

Most Popular Diving Locations Off Muscat CoastAl Dimaniyat Islands

nature reserve and one of the most beautiful diving locations in the Sea of Oman

minutes by boat from near-est dive centres in Seeb or Sawadi (Barka)

contains more than 20 known diving sites

-als, rare coral species, sea turtles

Al Fahal Island (Shark Island)

the mainland (PDO area)

fish and coral species including sting rays and turtles

Features at least 6 dive sites besides a tug and barge site

of corals (dives go up to 30 metres as restricted by Div-ing Federation rules)

Bandar Khayran Reserve-

utes by boat from Bandar Al Rawdha Marina

shallow areas with high coral abundance

with a length of 85 metres (The Royal Navy of Oman sank this for divers in 2003)

Dive Centres

Oman Dive CentreQantab

24824240, 24824198

Email: reservation@omandive-

centre.com, dive@omandive-

centre.com

Euro Divers Oman Al Sawadi Beach Resort

95057317

euro-divers.com

Global ScubaCivil Aviation Club, Azaiba

24692346

enquiries@global-scuba.com

SeaOman Dive Centre Almouj

Marina at The Wave Muscat &

Millennium Resort Musannah

24181400

dive@seaoman.com

Bluzone Diving

Marina Bandar Al Rowdha

24737293

bluzonediving.com PHO

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LIFESTYLEC9W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Why do you love it?I’m a voracious reader and a casual movie watcher. Yet, those are still passive mediums. Video games, on the other hand, provide an interac-tive experience and a real immersion into really great storytelling with fantastic settings wrought from the hands of very dedicated artists/crea-tors. It’s also a great match with my other hobby which is tinkering with computers.

How did you get into it?I grew up in the late 80s and the early 90s during the golden age of video game consoles. Obviously every kid on the block had to get one. My first exposure to video games was with an Atari 2600 that my father brought us. It had very basic graph-ics and very straightforward games. A few years later, we got our hands on a second-hand PC that I learned to build, repair, and improve. I also discovered more immersive and complex games (“Doom” anyone?). And I’ve been playing video games on a PC ever since.

How can I get into it?Nowadays, you can have access to video games very easily on your phone or even your web browser. Although, the best crafted games are available on dedicated systems and PC. The choice then depends on your preferred setting to enjoy them. Game consoles are for those who like playing on the couch of your living room with your family and friends. PCs are geared toward online multi-player and hardcore gamers that like to upgrade them to keep them in line with the more demanding titles.

What’s your pro-tip?Video games often engage passion and dedication, but can also be very toxic if time management is an issue. So it’s good to play with your friends online, but don’t forget to meet them in real life too.

Resources for gamingThe Internet is ripe with websites dedicated to gaming. My personal f avourites are:

Metacritic.com/gameThis site aggregates reviews for vid-eo games on all platforms as well as music, movies and TV shows

Pcgamer.comA go-to for everything PC gaming, from video game news to tips and tu-torials on building and maintaining a gaming setup

Gameinformer.comA comprehensive video game news website

Eat, Pray, LoveReviewed by Swati Dasgupta

ELIZABETH GILBERT’S mem-oir of self-discovery, Eat Pray Love, touched a chord for me way back in 2006 when it was first published. Even nine years later, this heartfelt memoir continues to be a favourite. A beautifully written book on choices, faith, and maintaining life’s balance, Eat, Pray, Love explores and rec-ognises the various facets of the feminine experience. The author, despite having a successful career and a good life never knew what made her happy (or unhappy) in life or what was she longing for. Was it her disintegrating mar-riage? Her motherhood compul-

sions? Simply the uncertainties of life? In a moment of crushing depres-sion she prayed in despair trying to reach out to God for help. She then began a journey of self-dis-covery on which she unearthed her potential, fought her short-comings, and set out in search of her true self. As she travelled through Italy, Indonesia, and In-dia, she gradually began to see clearly what she didn’t want from life to what she truly desired.

As the story of her journey un-folds there are moments when I felt the author was very self absorbed, but her words and thoughts are soaked in honesty

and she manages to weave an emotional tapestry as she de-scribes every moment of pain and anguish with candor.

“I don’t think I will ever write another book as raw, intimate and revealing as Eat, Pray, Love, which I wrote without imagining that mil-lions of people would ever read it,” Gilbert confessed in an interview following the huge success of her book. Her book was later adapted into a feature film starring Julia Roberts.

There are many great lines in the book, but my favourite was: ‘You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day.

This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.’

A must read for those on their own quest for ‘pleasure, guidance, experience and wholeness’.

THE HOBBYIST

Ali Jani Gaming

Y O U R F A V O U R I T E B O O K

ARE YOU A PROLIFIC READER? Which is your favourite book? Pick one and send in your thoughts on it.

Contact salim@timesofoman.com

A memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert

Game OnVideo games often engage passion and

dedication, but can also be very toxic if time

management is an issue. So it’s good to play

with your friends online, but don’t forget to

meet them in real life too

Monument ValleyMobile

DestinyPS4 - XBOX One

World of WarcraftPC

Photography: VENECIO DATAN

What’s your favourite hobby? Want to tell us about it? Contact salim@timesofoman.com

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Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Appolo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Hamdan Hospital 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

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

CINEMA SCHEDULE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily

15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily

15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily

06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily

08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily

13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily

16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily

16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily

14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily

08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily

14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily

06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily

10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily

10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily

19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily

06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily

13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur

15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily

15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6pm) 24567664 | 68 .

www.citycinemaoman.net

facebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTI

Jurassic World (Action, Adventure) (3D)

(PG12)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty

Simpkins,

9:15 pm

Cold in July (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

11:30 pm

Sword Of Vengeance (Action) (15+)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric

9:30 pm

Dark Summer (Horror, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Peter Stormare, Grace Phipps, Keir

Gilchrist

11:15 pm

Papanasam (Drama, Family)(PG12)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9:45 pm

MUSCAT GRAND MALL

Jurassic World (3D) (Action/Adventure)

(PG12)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard

11:15 pm

Gold Class: 9:00 pm

Just The Way You Are (2D) (Dance/Ro-

mance) (12+) (Language - Tagalog)

Cast: Enrique Gil, Liza Soberano, Yves Flores

9:15 pm

Papanasam (2D) ( Drama/Thriller) (PG12)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9:30 pm

Cold in July (2D) (Crime, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

Gold Class 11:15 pm

RUWI

SCREEN 1ABCD-2 (Dance/Musical ) – PG

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor and

Prabhudeva, 9.45 pm

SCREEN 2Second Hand Husband

(Comedy/Romance) – PG

Cast: Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja, Dharmendra,

Geeta Basra, 9.00 pm

Dil Dhadakne Do (Romance/Drama/

Comedy ) – PG12

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Shefali

Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra

11.00 pm

SCREEN 3Papanasam (Tamil) (Drama/Family/Thriller) – PG12

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9.30pm

SOHAR

Jurassic World (3D) (PG12) (Action

|Adventure | Sci-Fi)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty

Simpkins, 11:30 pm

Cold in July (2D) (Crime, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

9:15, 11:55 pm

Sword Of Vengeance (Action) (15+) (2D)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric, 9:45 pm

Dark Summer (Horror, Thriller) (15+) (2D)

Cast: Peter Stormare, Grace Phipps, Keir

Gilchrist, 11:30 pm

Papanasam(Tamil) (Drama/Family/Thriller)

– PG12 (2D)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani

9.30 pm

Laila O Laila - 2D (M) (PG12) Action | Thriller

Cast : Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew

9:00 pm

BURAIMI

Cold in July - 2D (Crime/ Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Sheppard, Don

Johnson

9:30 pm

Sword of Vengeance – 2D (Action) (15+)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric

11:30 pm

Papanasam– 2D (Drama/Family/Thriller)

(PG12)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9:30 pm

Laila O Laila – 2D (Action/Thriller) (PG12)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew; 9:00 pm

Dark Summer - 2D (Horror/Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Peter Stormare, Grace Phipps, Keir

Gilchrist

11:55 pm

SUR

Cold in July (Crime / Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

9:30 pm

Sword Of Vengeance ( Action ) (15+)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Wdward Akrout, Misa

Beric; 11:30 pm

Laila O Laila (Mal) (Action / Thriller) (PG12)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew

10.30 pm

SALALAH

Jurassic World (3D) (PG12) (Action,

Adventure, Sci-Fi )

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty

9:15 pm

Cold in July (2D) (15+) (Crime, Thriller)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson; 11:30 pm

Second Hand Husband (2D) (PG) (Comedy,

Romance)

Cast: Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja, Dharmendra

9:00 pm

Papanasam (2D) (PG12) (Drama, Family,

Thriller)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 11:00 pm

Laila O Laila (2D) (PG12) (Action, Thriller)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew, 9:00 pm

Sword of Vengeance (2D) (15+) (Action)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric; 11:55 pm

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance

Booking 24540855

Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

Jurassic World (Action / Adventure)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, Ty Simkins

9.30 pm

CP No: 1495 (PG12)

Guardian (Action, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Sarah Carter, Tio Pakusodewo, Nino

Fernandez

11:45 pm

CP No: 1613

Cold in July (Crime / Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson.

9:30 & 11:45 pm

CP No: 659 (15+)

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776

Website: www.isurf.co.om

Premam (Mal) (Comedy)

Cast: Nivin Pauly, Anupama Parameshwaran

and Sai Pallavi

10:00 pm at Cinema Main

Papanasam (Tamil) (Drama/Family/

Thriller) – PG12

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani

9:30 pm at Cinema 2

Laila O Laila (Mal) (Romance / Thriller)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew

9.45 pm at Cinema 3

Kakka Muttai (Tamil)

Cast: Ramesh & Silam Barasan

9.45 pm at Cinema 4

NEXT CHANGE: 2nd Class Yatra (Mal)

Bahubali (Telugu)

(Programmes are subject to change)

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily

07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily

13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily

13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily

17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily

06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily

15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily

14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily

12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily

10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily

10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily

19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily

07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri

15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily

15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily

16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily

16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

Gold Class: 11:15 pm 9:30 pm 9:00 pm 10:30 pm 9:30 pm

@MGM @SHATTI @RUWI @SUR @BURAIMI

COLD IN JULY (2D) (Crime, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard Don Johnson

SWORD OF VENGEANCE (Action) (15+)Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout Misa Beric, 9:30 pm

SECOND HAND HUSBAND (Comedy/Romance) – PGCast: Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja

LAILA O LAILA (Mal) (Action / Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul

PAPANASAM 2D (Drama/Family (PG12)Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla, Kalabhavan Mani, 9:30 pm

C10 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

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

WITH LOVE

WEATHER

450

Maximum

370

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

20-60%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

ADITHYA PRAVEENLALJuly 8, 2012

There’s a Taoist proverb that says ‘the journey is the reward’.

With the Gulf sweating in the sun, thoughts turn to travel to cooler climes, with Europe a favourite among Oman tourists I decided to test if that statement holds true for Oman Air’s Business Class service to Heathrow, London.

To date Oman Air has won a host of awards for its Business Class service, most recently in the Business Destinations Travel Awards, winning Best Business Class Airline 2015 in the Middle East category, as it did in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Why? Firstly the 1-2-1 config-uration of seating on board pro-vides comfort whether you are travelling alone, or as a couple. This is the seating map that many other airlines reserve solely for their first class passengers

With every business class flight it’s the seat that really counts, and it is here that Oman Air wins many battles in the sky with one of the largest, most comfortable seats in the world. Don’t believe us? Check out seatguru.com (run by tripad-visor) to compare.

Just hold Oman Air’s offering up against its two (also excellent) neighbours Etihad Airways and Emirates Airlines, based in the UAE. There are perhaps four key

elements that make a good airline seat: being fully flatbed, bed length, seat width and seat pitch - the dis-tance from any point on one seat to the exact same point on the seat in

front or behind it. While it is not the exact equivalent of “legroom”, it does give a very good approxima-tion of how much seat room you should expect.

LIFESTYLEC11W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Enjoying the Journey

Oman Air Business Class Highlights

By Scott Armstrong

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If it was a boxing match it’s fair to see why the judges would award Oman Air the win for its consistency and quality.

Each seat also features an electrically controlled backrest/seat bottom and leg rest, an ad-justable seat pan depth, a 17-inch screen, a power point, and two USB plugs.

The flight is also mobile-friendly, with paid WiFi avail-able, allowing you to connect your laptops, tablets or smart-phone to the web, plus you can send SMS messages and make calls. Food and drink comes with a smile from the attentive staff, served in cut crystal and bespoke chinaware. Once fed and watered, relax with the in-flight entertainment package that offers a host of new block-busters from around the world.

If you simply want to sleep, ask the hostess for a sleep suit (yes they’ll give you pyjamas) and ask to be woken at a cer-tain time. As you land you’ll of course be given a fast-track pass to smooth immigration at your destination, which also helps one sleep soundly.

Relaxed, and refreshed as you enter the UK, all in all Oman Air’s Business Class proves that there is wisdom in that old proverb.

THE ULTIMATE SEATFully flat bed (180 degrees): Oman Air: Yes. Etihad is also a yes, but on Emirates it depends on what aircraft you are on, working out to roughly a 50- 50 chance of getting a true flat bed.

Bed Length: Oman Air can be confident with its 77.5-inch offering (1.96m or 6ft 4in). Compare that to Etihad’s 73 inches, while on Emirates again you roll the dice with either 70 inches or 79 inches.

Seat Width: Oman Air’s is one of the best in class with a generous 22 inches, with Emirates offering 20.5 inches, and Etihad 20 inches.

Seat Pitch: Oman Air is one of the dominators worldwide on what could be considered legroom with a whopping 82 inches. Here Etihad trails with 73 inches, while Emirates offers 60 inches.

LIFESTYLEC12 W E D N E S DAY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Manuela ZekriFashion editor, runway coach, fashion show choreographer, and art director of @OmanByNight eMagazine

FIVE THINGS I CAN’T TRAVEL WITHOUT

03 LIP BALM I use lip balm all the time to keep

my lips hydrated. My personal favourite is Charlotte Tilbury lip magic balm.

05 HIGH HEELS I love high heels! They give me

power — they make me feel ready to face the world.

04 JEWELLERYJewellery and accessories are the sparkle

you leave wherever you go. I like to carry accessories that will suit most of my outfits.

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01 WHITE DRESSA white dress is chic every time and everywhere. It makes me feel fresh,

comfortable and relaxed.

05 HIGH HEELS

kle essories essories

02 MOISTURISER I always travel with Colbert MD daily

moisturiser, it protects my skin against environmental changes.

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

CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E

D

D4 VACANCY CARGO D7

W E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

1BHK, Darsait, walking distance to

ISM , neat and clean building, ground

floor, OMR 260/- per month rent

Call IQRAR on 99076557

Fully furnished 3 BHK accommo-

dation with all spacious rooms in a

villa at Darsait near ISD.

Contact: 9526 5289 / 9604 8422

Furnished room for rent at

Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975

Villa AL Ghobrah, 6 bedroom 1200/-

R.O. Contact: 99340055/97557555

Flats shops for rent in

Ruwi MBD area Mumtaz area.

Contact: 97293708 / 92433127

2BHK at Al Khodh, 2BHK at Wadi

Kabir 2 room, 1hall, dining, 2

bathrooms. Contact: 99224748 /

99332297

Store in Wadi Kabir 1900 SQM.

Contact: 99473751 / 91471067

1BHK Darsait R.O 225/-. Contact: 92144045

1BHK Wadi Kabeer, RO 225/-.

Contact: 92144045

2BHK Darsait R.O 300/-.

Contact: 92144045

2BHK Ghubra R.O 250/-. Contact:

92144045

1,2,3 BHK. Contact: 97799175

3 Bedroom flat in Wadi Kabeer and

2 bedroom villa in Sidab- Muscat.

Contact: 95755953

Spacious 2- BR flat in MBD.

Contact 99713489

For rent office CBD flat in Ruwi.

Contact: 92820734 / 95345909

Residential /commercial 2 B/R

near Medical College Bausher from

Owner. Contact: 92158031

256 sq mtrs restaurant for rent in

Plaza Hotel, Walja Ruwi.

Contact 99326339

1BHK close to ISWKG Wadi Kabir

Bldg # 1690 R.O 250/-.

Contact: 99476728

3 BHK Flat in Azaiba.

Contact 99792181

Studio Flat in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181

1 BHK Flat in Honda Road (Ruwi).

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHK flat in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

Labour Camp + Store in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99792181

Flat with A/C in the South Al Ma-

bella close to the Mosque Al Tawab

consists of 2 rooms, hall,

2 bathrooms and kitchen.

Contact: 99388995

2 bedrooms apartments for rent

in Al Khuwair and Ghubra. Call Yel-

low Bird property on 24615375 /

97137989 or visit

www.muscat-realty.com

Good flat villa type at Mobeileah

Senaiya. Contact : 99879872

New building in Wadi Kabir, 2 bed-

room flats. Contact: 99313274

3 bed room flat near ONTC Ruwi.

Contact: 99653336

Six bed room twin villa Al Athaiba.

Contact: 99207840

4 bed room flat at Al Hail South.

Contact: 99207840

D2 W E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Three new three bedrooms flats

with servants rooms Al Khuwair 39.

Contact: 99207840

4 BHK single villa in Al Khuwair.

Contact: 97616158

1 Villa & 3 big Flats of 2/3 BHK with

hall, Kitchen & ACs Al Khoudh 6,

Close to express way,

from owner. Tel 97600322

alnehang@gmail.com

1BHK with A/C Mumtaz. R.O 250/-.

Contact 97799175

Fabulous AC flat at Al Khoud 3 bed-

rooms, hall and kitchen RO 270/- for

rent. Contact: 99334699

Deluxe 3 BHK Penthouse with

Seaview, ideal for office / residence

at Qurum near PDO.

Contact: 9772 1313 / 9507 0421

Flats shops and store for rent in

Ruwi, MBD Honda road.

Contact 97293708 / 92433127

Flats for rent near Indian School in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122

2 BHK flat in Al Ansab with

split A/C. RO.250/- Contact – 93191111

2BHK near Oman house behind

Khimji, H.O. Contact: 95865686

3000 sq mtrs Industrial landß,

in Barka Sanaiya, with electricity

400KW, shed, staff accommodation

and office. Ready to start any kind

of factory. Contact 99384255.

BUYING/SELLING

Rooms available with separate

bathroom for executive bachelors in

azaiba near al meera hyper market.

Gsm 99053844

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new flat

available at Mabela in front of Mod-

ern English School

Contact: 96239126

Deluxe 1, 2 BHK flats in Darsait,

AL Khuwair 1deal for office &

residence. Contact 99369081

/99142314

Flat at Darsait. Contact 99326879

ACC. WANTED

Required a room in Darsait /

WadiKabir /Ruwi area. # 95405033

2 BHK commercial /

residential flat at Honda Road.

Contact: 99342733/99795241

Small old house for rent Al Ghobrah.

Contact 95112461

Fully furnished 1BHK with all

household items in Darsait near

Lulu on monthly Basis. Contact :

99378397/99493500

Independent rooms in Qurum /

Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Full furnished single /sharing room

for Exe. bachelor at Rex Road near

Kamat with WIFI available.

Contact 92873832

Available sharing accommodation

for non cooking Executive bachelor

near Indian School Al Ghoubra with

Keralite family. Contact 91697955

Furnished bedroom with separate

bathroom and kitchen on sharing in

Darsait for Ex- bachelors.

Contact : 95376096

Furnished room attached bath room

& kitchen for Executive bachelor /

family, Honda road near NBO bank

Ruwi. Contact: 98582078

Fully furnished room for a decent

expatriate. independent kitchen,

bathroom in Wadi Adai.

Contact 96243086 at 5p.m.

For sharing accommodation room

with toilet attached, kitchen sharing

near clean building next to main

road near Indian school Wadi Kabir,

Indian couples family or bachelor.

Contact: 95345537 / 94672007

Furnished room attached bath for

lady in Wadikabir (Mars Hypermar-

ket) – 95941515

Furnished room with attached bath-

room in W/K. Contact: 97167857

Sharing for non cooking executive

bachelor in CBD area WIFI free,

Advance deposit. Contact: 95094504

Single room rear Oman house

Muttrah. Contact: 97477670

Single room with sharing kitchen

available for executive bachelor near

Saud Bahwan Residency Complex,

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99024362,

93166353.

DAILY GUIDE

FOR RENTBuilding In Rusail Industrial

comprising a store divisible area 266 sq. meters.

The building includes Studios

residence.Preferably to be leased to

one company.

Mob + 968 96177505

All type of car scanner available

easy car diagnostic for professional

and self use Authorize LAUNCH

and Autel dealer. GSM:92393972

www.omancartools.com

Used furniture & Electronic items,

office & house. Contact: 99834373

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting,

Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery,

Glassware, Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculp-

tures, to Large Sound Systems and spec-

tacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222

for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for

Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

506sqm space with mezzanine

available for rent in AL Wadi Al

Kabir, Suitable for carpentry / Auto

workshop and / or electrical shop

interested parties may.

Contact: 24703981

For rent if require flats for rent in

Wadi Kabir please send me mes-

sages through Whatsapp.

Contact: 99376454

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair 33,

8 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms with

parking area near Taimur Mosque.

Contact: 99366624

Office space at Alasfoor Plaza

Qurum. Contact : 24566217

/24564686

2 BHK Flats for rent Muttrah

near Oman house.

Contact: 97009734/92629232

Flat in South Al Hail, 2 bedrooms,

Majlis, 2 bathrooms, kitchen RO

250/-. Contact 93221474

Flat in Ruwi Mumtaz 2 BHK

RO 300 or 1 BHK 250 RO.

Contact 98588240

2BHK with split AC near PDO Gate

no -2 at Qurum. Contact: 94057023

Luxury 3 BHK flat in Al Wattaya

with split A/C & private parking.

RO.500/- Contact – 93191111

Flat for rent in Mabellah 8th.

Contact: 97147240

2BHK with split AC at Al Khuwair

33. Contact: 94057023

2 bed rooms, kitchen, toilet & car

park in Al Khuwair R.O 200/- .

Contact 95154331

Deluxe furnished / unfurnished

flats Qurum. Contact: 24566217 /

24564686

For rent in Qantab European style 4

bedrooms, 4 baths, Guest toilet, fully

equipped modern kitchen, covered

car park for two cars, approximately

150 meters from the beach. For

enquiries, please Contact: Yasser at

92606005

Bath attached room for rent

Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569

Commercial 3 BHK flat in Al Ghobra

18 Nov Street. RO 700/-

Contact 93191111

2 BHK flat in Al Azaiba near sea,

with split A/C. RO.340/- # 93191111

Villa of 5 BHK in Al Ansab with split

A/C. RO.650/- Contact – 93191111

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 D3

FOR SALE

MOTOR VEHICLE FOR SALE

Touareg 2011 Oman cars, 114000

KM, silver, 8500/-R.O.

Contact: 92857111

Suzuki Desire 2015, silver colour,

17000 km, excellent condition, 4

months old for just R.O 3,500/-.

Contact: 96473187

Toyota Prado 2008, Toyota Corolla

2009, Honda CRV 2009, low mileage

available at Bombay Medical, behind

Ruwi Police Station. #99326339

Chevrolet Epica 2008 very good

condition. Contact 92802299

Prado ,2012. Contact : 99336093

Sportage, 2013. Contact:99336093

Peugeot 206-2007 Model, expat

driven. Contact 99209285

Land Cruiser 2012. # 99336093

2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40

ton petrol tank each working at the

moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35

Thousand each. Contact 97000155

or 92688692

ACC. AVAILABLE NRI

CHANGE OF NAME

Equipped kitchen showroom

company for sale at Ghubrah, Muscat.

6 visa available,

Contact owner at 96303747

House hold items. Contact: 97094797

Total Station Survey Instrument

S3 2” / Servo/ Trimble access

bundle - batch 9101025 – not used.

Contact: 94282782 / 95425747

Coffee shop at Liwa main road.

Contact : 99515419

Sale & repair of Tyres 315/80 R 22.5

& 12.00 R 24. Contact: 97477128

Salon for sale in Muttrah next to

Muttrah Health Center 2/500 -R.O .

Contact: 99012807

Brand new 4 BHK plus Maids room

in Barka, 2 Kms from Lulu.

Contact: 99347089

Turkish MDF door with frame for

sale, size 210 x 100 Price: RO 75/-.

Contact: 95899296 / 92141514

SITUATION WANT-MATRIMONIAL

SITUATION WANT-MATRIMONIAL

A/C room with separate balcony

and big wardrobe available for

non-cooking bachelor in CBD area

(near Stars cinema). Rent OMR125

inclusive of electricity and water

charges. Contact 96568110

6 bedroom, 6 bath rooms, sitting &

dining villa at Qurum.

Contact: 99342733

Shawarma Double burner for sale.

Contact: 95395378

Well established medium size

construction company for sale.

Equipments, 30 employees & ongo-

ing projects. Serious buyers only

99412020

Wall papers, grass carpets sale

& fixing. Contact: 99834373 /

97102699

Commercial land for sale 3000 m

in quriyat road main high way can

use as a petrol station license

available asking price 350,000

For more information please call on

99070701 with out name

Fully decorated & Equipped kitchen

cabinet and marble showroom for

sale at Mabela industrial area road

no – 10 only serious buyers can.

Contact: 99337670/97763560

Christian CSI Syrian boy, 31/178,

fair, working as Business Develop-

ment Officer in a reputed company

Muscat. Suitable proposals solicited.

Email: jamesmails2010@gmail.com

Contact: 98582078,

M4 - Marry - 4083713

Kerala Hindu Ezhava girl (28 yrs,

164 cm), Staff Nurse (MOH), seeks

suitable alliance from Graduates /

professionally qualified boys.

Contact: 91 9746343275 /

+91 9747801255

Indian Kerala male 31 years Hindu

Ezhava working in Muscat looking

for life partner. Contact: 99893119

Kerala Nair girl, B.Com, 22 yrs, 5.2”

very fair, slim, (Star Uthrattathi)

Presently working in infosis, Chen-

nai. Financially sound, from parents

of nair boys from Trissur, Palakkad

and Eranakulam & Calicut dist. .

Contact :0091 8301865688

email: raveendrandr@yahoo.com

Alliance invited for a Nair girl 24 yrs, 5ft, 1”, fair, slim, B.Tech gradu-

ate reputed family of Ernakulam

dist. (Star Thiruvonam Sudha-

jathakam) financially sound, from

parents of B.Tech nair boys from

Trissur, Palakkad and Eranakulam

dist. . Contact 00919495924302

Hair dressing, facial massage &

other beauty treatment for women.

Contact: 94689448

I Mohammad Irshad (name exactly

as in present passport) son of Mo-

hammad Samdani presently residing

at the following address in Wattaya

P.B No. 1693, P.C No.112 Sultanate of

Oman and having permanent address

in India Zulekha Manzil Azad Colony

Degloor Dist Nanded Maharashtra

(India) (as per present passport) ,

holder of passport No. K 4638604 date

of issue 03/12/2012 place of issue

Muscat solemnly affirm and declare

that my Mother’s name is Shameem

Akhtar for all purpose. Any objection

towards this name change may please

be communicated to Embassy of

India, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters, Al

Khuwair, P.O. Box No. 1727, Postal Code

112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman.

Spacious bedroom, T& K in Wadi

Kabir. Contact: 96098443

Furnished room for Indian couples

or family near Honda Road (Walja).

Contact 98952904

Fully furnished room in Ruwi for non

cooking ex- bachelor.

Contact 94412557

FOR LADIES LOSTLOST

Rahul Chandra Mohan has lost

Indian Passport No. M 2735765.

Finder please handover to ROP

38 cents plot with 2BHK house by

the river bank in Thrissur Dist. near

Irinjalakuda (Karavanoor).

Contact: 99347089

500 acre agricultural land suitable

for rubber plantation for sale in

Ratnagiri Maharashtra. price 2 lakh

per acre, rubber board approved

land, minimum purchase 20 acre. We

provide care taking by experienced

Malayalee team for your plantation.

please call , prasad 95760790

Velayudhan Kutty Periya Swamy Chettiar has lost Indian Passport No.

G 4357505. Finder please handover

to ROP.

DAILY GUIDED4 W E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

CATERING

DESIGNER

ADMIN

ENGINEER

ENGINEER

EDUCATION

SALES / MARKETING

TOURS

DESIGNER

AUTO CAD/DRAUGHTS-

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Required Office Assistant

160+25+Acc, Contact 99454425

ACCOUNTANT

BEAUTY

Indian CA with 15 yrs exp working

as Finance Head of MNC looking for

Job. NOC Available. 94047434

Married lady 25 years, Master

Accounts having 5 years experience

in Indian looking for full / part time

job. Contact: 95140332 /93223050

family visa holder.

Contact 95140332

Indian male, well experienced in

Accounts and Admin looking for a

suitable vacancy. Contact : 98717938

Indian female, M.Com Finance, DCA,

3 years experience in Accounts /

finance& knowledge in ERP & Tally

seeking suitable position in corpo-

rate finance / banking / consulting.

Email: prapullasuvarna@gmail.com

Contact: 96953705

now in family visa.

Indian male, B.Com, Accountant,

10 yrs in Oman experience in

Accounts, knowledge of Tally ERP 9,

focus RT having NOC & D/L,

looking for suitable job.

Contact 93086105

Male 26 yrs, MBA in Accounts

and Finance, 2 years Experience in

Management and Accounts Fields,

and 1 year experience in Operations

in Oman Looking for a suitable job.

Contact 94374745

Indian male 32 years MBA, 6 out

of 14 years experience in Oman in

accounts / finance having NOC and

Valid Oman driving license last date

in Oman 01/AUG/2015.

Contact: 94051463

Email: gkvenkatesh83@gmail.com

Part Time Accounting, Accounts

Finalization, Audit Preparation,

Internal Audit, Onsite Tally

Training, Inventory Management

Contact : 96975454,

email : ibfc.gcc@gmail.com

Dynamic, Young Accountant

Professional with CPA and ACCA (in

progress) 2/3 years experience up

to finalization of accounts. currently

in Oman on visit. Contact: 94704330

/ 99094531

Indian male with total 5 year experi-

ence (2 years experience in Account-

ant cum sales co ordinator in a FMCG

Company in Oman) in accounts field

and NOC available. Looking for

suitable job Contact 92130188

Indian female 25 MBA looking for

a suitable opening in Accounts,

Admin/Hr. Contact 97013375

Accountant 8 yrs experience

looking part time job.

Contact 99867456

MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in

finance/accounts/ auditing. Special-

ized in accounts payable dept, Ora-

cle app user, proficient in Sap (fico)

end user & tally 9.0. lean &six sigma

certified trainer on visit visa.

Contact – 91967213 / 99064780

Young, energetic 24, ACCA finalist,

Advanced diploma in Accounting

and business, seeking suitable

placement in accounts, finance or

audit. Contact: 92430152

Email: rau_dey@yahoo.com

Motivated and energetic male 25

having 4 years of experience in

finance with Master’s degree in Eco-

nomics and CAT Certified seeking

opportunity in Accounts/finance/

audit in a reputable organization.

Cell no: 00968-94626209 E-Mail:

omerjawedshah@gmail.com

Chinese/ Arab/ continental cook & helper wanted. Contact 95529970

Required experience Waiter / Supervisor/ Juice maker, Shawarma maker. Contact:

95395378

Traditional Omani restaurant requires: Waitress for restaurant. Delivery man with bike license

preferred. Interested candidates send

CV to: Email: omanhari@yahoo.com

Contact: 95892831

Urgently required a part – time female Accountant fluent in English

with 2-3 years experience in Tally.

Email: mhca@mhabibgroup.com

Fax: 24564459

Urgently required female accountant with an experience

minimum 3years Email CV on

cv.hrcharity@gmail.com

Urgently required Junior Account-ant. Please send CV:

hr.azatllc@gmail.com

MEDICAL

SKILLED

IT

Vacancy Lab Technician for inquiry

or send CV zmczahara@yahoo.com

Contact 24571094 Fax: 24571097

Required Prometric passed nurse to

join clinic from end August.

Contact: 99352793

Urgent! Omani healthcare com-

pany looking for a smart proactive marketing executive cum product

specialist with strong English com-

munication skills, healthcare back-

ground and marketing experience

in medical/pharmacy/microbiology/

biotechnology field. Omani driving

license is a must. Mail your CV to:

vacancymedeq@gmail.com

Driver required for a Company,

2 years experience. Visa available.

Contact 24479922

Driver needed, preferably female.

Must hold valid driving license.

Contact 95591068

DRIVER

Urgently required experienced sub-contractors for Marble Floor-

ing / Marble Cladding / Grinding /

Carving works. Contact 92884177 /

99485595

Urgently required a silk Screen printer with good knowledge and

release letter or NOC. Contact:

93280288 or send CV to

albayanstamps@gmail.com

Architect and Interior designer, 8

years exp capable of managing turn

key projects, design, BOQ, Execution.

NOC available. Contact : 95273166

Interior Designer: Indian male 31,

8 years exp. in GCC, NOC available.

95217586

Electrical draftsman AutoCAD

switch gear & MEP control panel

7 years experience Qatar. Contact:

92546203/96228100

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

Vacancy for Omani PRO Email:

abid673@yahoo.com Mob 94192526

Vacancy for lady Receptionist

at Sinaw Hala Medical Center - Flu-

ency in English and Arabic Omani

or non Omani. Contact: 25524180 /

91362141 Email:

halamedicalgroup@gmail.com

Urgently Required: Administration with an experience minimum in

3 years in building construction,

required immediately join and

MUST have NOC.Apply,

fax 00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com.

MANAGER

Urgently required female Sales Promoters individual with pleasant

personality, excellent communica-

tions & presentation skills & experi-

ence in selling perfumes cosmetics

and skincare products would be

preferred. Send your CV & details

with recent photograph to

info@mawaridoman.com

or fax no 24127484/ Tel: 24127485

Wanted part time female Sales Executive with D/L for a reputed

company. Contact 94688874

A leading marketing company is

looking for outdoor Sales Execu-tives on part time or full time basis

in Salalah. Contact 92760281 /

96436719

Looking for Outdoor Salesman for

heavy equipment spare parts.

Contact - 93292015,

Email: mail.om@gulfcenter.co

Required Sales man - 1 Person Quali-

fication. Gulf Experienced - Minimum

5 Years with Oman Driving Licence

Language - English Education:- Any

Degree Further Contact :

Mr. Abdul Hameed

Nashabat - Mobile No: 97414307 and

-92807399 amn@yaqeeneng.com

Urgently required Sales and Marketing Executive for Graphic de-

signing company. Contact: 96727631

mail: smartgraphic518@gmail.com

Required male or female candidate with 5 years experience in renting

of properties. Interested candidates

may please mail to

alqurumprop@gmail.com

Minimum 2 years of experience

with valid gulf light driving license

interested candidates please

Contact: 99222086 /98585851

DRIVER

Well established company in

selling chocolate, Arabian sweets

and fresh flowers, opening ITS first

branch in Muscat seeking:

1- sweets and chocolates Sales man 2- flower arranger (Asian/

Filipino Nationality) # 94490011

Email: labelleoman@gmail.com

Urgently Required: Male – handles overall store operations of the Su-

permarket, Prior Experience a MUST,

knowledgeable in MSOffice. Send CV

to chanda@dolphin-oman.com or

fax to 244-92718.

Mason, C.C.T.V, Technician, Electrician cum Plumber. Contact - 99383044

Indian Female MBA, 3 years experi-

ence in Admin MIS, Family Visa.

Contact 98234427,

jkjsmith01@gmail.com

A Lady with 5 years experience in

HR/Admin is looking for suitable job

and can join immediately.

Contact : 94465835

System administrator with 3 years

experience hold a degree, MCITP,

CCNA , CCTV biometric ,

seeking job in a company.

Contact: 99630084/98129845

Indian female with 10 yrs of experi-

ence in HR/Banking/Operations

seeks a suitable placement.

Can be contacted on 98919015 or

sherianne.coelho@gmail.com

Required exp. employee for travel

agency in Saham.

Contact :93655939 / 92900021

Fire and Safety Technician with

NIFE or equivalent Diploma holder

preference to those having D/L. Send

CV to visionansara@gmail.com

Required MEP Diploma Engineer specialized in building maintenance.

Fluent in English and computer

holding valid Omani driving license

& NOC. Send CV to

Email: info@alrabiyahrealestate.com

to arrange interview

Urgently Required: Civil Engineer with an experience minimum in

5 years in building construction,

MUST have NOC and immediately

join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com

Construction Company in Oman

urgently requires following candi-

dates: BE Civil Engineer, minimum

3-5 years gulf experience & Civil site foreman, minimum 5 years gulf

experience, diploma not required.

Email: applyforoman@gmail.com

Construction Company in Oman

urgently requires the following:

B.Sc Civil Engineer, minimum 3-5

yrs Gulf experience. Civil Site Fore-man, minimum 5 yrs experience

with operating knowledge of Tally.

Please Email CV ;

applyforoman@gmail.com

Leading Construction Company requires Quantity Surveyor (QS)

with 4-6 yrs Gulf experience. Send

your CV : qsmuscat2015@gmail.com

(NOC required).

Required for Engineering consul-

tancy office a Supervision Staff for road project at Ibri region: Civil Engineer (B.Sc) RE with 12

years experience & Land Surveyor

(Diploma) with 8 years experience.

Please email CV & certificate copy to

alsarh@omantel.net.om

Required a part time steel Struc-tural Design Engineer for a reputed

steel fabrication company in

Muscat. Interested person may

Contact : 99451158

IND male WEB developer 5 yrs exp

B.Tech (comp science) PHP, HTML

MYSQL Java script CSS.

Contact: 95990529

Email: renjith341@gmail.com

Required Beautician for a parlor

in Ghubra. Contact: 94241385 /

97244766

Wanted experienced Beautician

for beauty parlor in Al Amerat 3.

Contact: 91107337

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Gradu-

ate 1 year exp in Accounts, currently

on visit visa. Looking for suitable

job. Contact 94341848 /

Email – mohdhaji7272@gmail.com

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Sudanese Accountant seeking

job in Nizwa state experience 10

years 3 years in Saudi Arabia, 7

yrs in Sudan. Contact : 97796394 /

94003247

Indian Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

finalization, having knowledge

of ERP, Tally, seeks suitable

placment.Contact 93950138

Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437

ADMIN

CATERING

Looking for a Sales Engineer (Me-

chanical) with 2 to 3 year relevant

experience in the Oman market

with driving license .

Please forward your CV to :

mbdeast@gmail.com

Required Civil Engineer (build-

ings) Oman experience 5+ years,

BOQ+ Tendering + site supervision.

Contact: 95218004

Email: alhilalint@yahoo.com

ADVERTISING

Looking for JOB. I have done BS

Hons in Mass communication and

media, Specialised in Public Rela-

tions and Advertising. I have upto

1 year of experience. Immediate

Available. Open for any JOB.

Sultan Zafar #97034134

Designer required for wooden

joinery company with excellent

knowledge of 3D Max, 2D Autocad.

Contact: 94249047

Email: mfqazi@gmail.com

English medium private school in

Sinaw urgently required English & Science teachers. Send CV :

saminternationalschoolsinaw@

gmail.com Contact: 98927055

Indian male 38 yrs Senior Chef de.

De. Party pastry exp 15 yrs in five

star hotels, 10 yrs exp Oman get NOC

looking for job in hotel & bakery.

Contact: 96460519

MISCELLANEOUS

A company from UAE require 2 merchandisers in retail food

supply, store keeper with English

and invoicing experience. Email:

yesterdaysun@hotmail.com Light driver. Contact: 96961993

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 D5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

EDUCATION

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Mechanical Engineer, Indian 24

with 2 yrs experience in HVAC- MEP

Revit – MEP, AutoCAD – MEP Navis

solid works Catia PRO-E primavera.

Contact: 96975382

Email: bonny491@gmail.com

MBA having 4years Gulf experience

in Coordination with contracting

company .NOC Available.

Ph: 95405885

Indian female, BE, Civil engineer

with 1 year experience looking for

suitable vacancy, on visit.

Contact 95139583,

Email : aisushetty09@gmail.com

Degree holder Civil Engineer hav-

ing 10 years experience with driving

license looking for better position.

Contact 98451844

Email: zahid_ruet@hotmail.com

Indian male Safety Officer, 4+

years experience diploma in fire

& safety Eng seeks suitable post.

Contact: 98843139

Indian male, 38 years old, DME –

Mechanical Maintenance Techni-

cian 11 years Oman experience.

Ready for NOC, VISA transfer, ready

to join immediately, Mob +968

95612870, seeniselvan@gmail.com

Indian male, 34 years old, DEE –

Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman

experience. Ready for NOC , VISA

transfer and valid Oman driving

license light, ready to join imme-

diately. Contact +91 9740679094,

kulasekar1980@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer Indian male 29

years, having 5 years of experience

in industrial automation and utility

maintenance in India (MRF Tyres)

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92789995

Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

MEDICAL

MISCELLANEOUS

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Indian male, B.E ( computer science

engineer), MBA (finance), OCA certi-

fied, having 5 years of experience in

oracle Dba/ oracle apps Dba, seeks

a suitable position in the field of IT.

Contact: 96212062

email: zubairkhan11@gmail.com

Well experienced MOH Licensed

Indian GP Doctor looking for locum /

permanent position in the

Capital area. Contact 98140024

email:drgpoman@yahoo.com

Production Manager 13 years

experience in cast Aluminium fab.

field and good track record seeking

for a suitable job. NOC ready in Hand.

Contact: 96392319

Indian male, with 8 yrs exp. in

Oman (BA- Graduate) working as

a project Sales Coordinator, with

Oman D/L, looking for suitable job,

ready to join immediately with NOC.

Contact 95245057

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian (Kerala) light driver seeking

for job, 5 yrs experience in Oman.

Contact: 98029273

Looking for driving job. Contact:

98219182

Driver: 15 years Driving Experi-

ence in Saudi Arabia, Looking for

suitable place, Contact.. 91624908,

93540898

Driver available with car and with-

out car Education, B. A exp. 5 years,

language Hindi, Arabic, English.

Contact: 98522914

Heavy duty driver with PDO license,

5 yrs Intl. exp. Contact: 95546585

Bangladeshi male light driver seeking suitable placement 1 yr

experience. Contact: 94158238

Driver available with car driver &

without car. Contact 96771598 /

94039796

Driver, 42 yrs seeks for suitable

job KSA, 12 years Oman 4 years,.

Contact: 95796030

Light driver. Contact: 95779594

Driver looking for job. Contact

99507039

Pakistani driving available.

Contact : 96913836

DRIVER ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Female Dentist Indian, Prometric

passed 63%,4 years of work experi-

ence, immediately available to join.

Contact 97469553,

nazianbaig@gmail.com

Indian male GP doctor, 12 years

experience parametric passed with

74% seeks suitable post. Email:

ppdr2020@gmail.com

Indian female Dentist MOH Oman

passed seeking a suitable place-

ment in capital region.

Contact– 91377681

hashimsarawat@gmail.com

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable

job (NOC available)

Contact-93344378

TOURS & TRAVELS

25 Indian female B.S.C. Fashion

Technology. 5 years experience in

textile industry as a merchandiser

and good in fashion marketing.

Currently available on visit visa,

seeking for a suitable job.

Contact 96990368.

Email: simmy.missy@gmail.com

MOH Indian Dentist 10 years experi-

ence in Oman. Can speak Arabic, has

driving license. Contact 98995321

or ventureoman007@gmail.com

BRANCH-HEAD, MBA-BBA, Indian

Male having experience in UAE,

India, Oman total 5 years (including

MNC), looking for similar or same

openings.NOC available.

Mobile :92700670,

E mail:catanalur131@gmail.com

Qualified Native speaking male

English Teacher with 18 years

experience seeks position. Salary

Negotiable. Whatsapp on +968 9334

1047 / +968 93952732 or e-mail me

on nadgov@gmail.com

Indian female, IATA, B. Sc, look-

ing for suitable placement.Con-

tact-95514305, E mail id-

raveendranmala@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, 29

years, 8 years experience. Presently

working in Oman as a Senior Ac-

countant with Oman Driving license.

NOC available seek suitable opportu-

nity. GSM: 98184170

12 yrs exp FREELANCE 2d, 3d

Draughtsman (holding Omani driv-

ing license). Contact : 93790601

Sudanese male, 31 year, have 3 year

Diploma in Electrical Engineer, 6

years experience in construction and

electrical plant.

Mobile No ; +96894549609

Freelance Graphic Designer availa-

ble to assist in Photoshop, Illustrator,

InDesign and Corel Draw Projects.

Contact : 95811820

Indian Female Lawyer 36 Yrs

having 11 yrs experience presently

working in Oman as Legal Advisor

seeks placement in Legal/HR/Admin

NOC available

Contact-94436960

Email: famidakhan123@gmail.com

23, Male, ACCA Affiliate, 2 years+

experience in Audit and Finance

in audit firm, Looking for suitable

permanent placement, NOC release

Available. Contact: #95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

MBA - (F), M.Com, B.COM. Indian fe-

male having knowledge of accounts

with Tally looking for part time or

full time job. Presently on family

visa. Contact :- 91892264.

Email:- yashicapandya@gmail.com

Indian Female 10 years exp as cook

in Oman. South Indian & Gujarati

special looking for part-time job

Contact 96733187.

Indian male-28 Years, Diploma in

Electrical Egg, having gulf experi-

ence. Specialization on Electrical

Installation and Maintenance, Opera-

tion. 7 years experience seeks for

suitable placement.

Mob – 968-95334580. E-mail

-sunilkumar257.sk23@gmail.com

Indian male auto cad draughtsman

(civil) 8 years experience seeking for

part time job Mobile no:

00968 99070584,

E mail: remluvp@gmail.com

Seeking Teaching Position. Quali-

fied and experienced Native English

speaking teacher seeking posi-

tion in Muscat, I have a Teaching

Diploma , two Honours Degrees

and a CELTA Certificate. Position

at Language school will be suit-

able. Will e-mail CV. Whatsapp only

+96893952732

Indian Male Web developer with

5 year experience. Indian, Male, 27

years, B Tech(Computer science),

professional in php, html, mysql,

javascript, css. Contact:95990529

Email:renjith341@gmail.com

Structural Engineer of 2 years & 7

months experience, specialized in

Structural Design and Site Super-

vision looking for a job. Contact:

94634906 / 94370767

Email: muazomer45@gmail.com

B.E in ECE worked as Junior Scien-

tist Trainee in Chennai worked as

System Admin in Berik Honda

Nagger coil worked at Technical

Support in Samsung Service, pres-

ently in Bangalore.

Contact : 0091 7026267513

Indian female 23, B.Tech (Electrical

& Electronics) & Diploma in

Electrical CAD on Visit Visa seeks

suitable placement.

Contact: 99278410 / 94027398,

Email: renju.raghavan7@gmail.com

Indian Civil Engineer (buildings)

available immediately as supply

contract. Contact: 93263834

CARPENTER-15 years gulf exp.

Indian male looking for suitable

post. Present working in Crown

Plaza. NOC available.

Please contact Jacob 96940120.

jacob.sabu11@gmail.com

Chemical Engineer with 04 years

experience in petrochemical refinery

sector seeking for & suitable position

in petrochemical oil & gas, refinery

EPC Companies.

Contact 00968 91748400

Indian female, B.Tech biotechnology with strong computer

skills and 2 years experience as

associate research analyst (Media

Monitoring) in Nasdaq Oman seek-

ing growth oriented jobs. Contact

92044603 /918056169148 or

angeline.babithac@gmail.com.

Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need

suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Btech computer science graduate

2015 passout.. Android application

marketing.. Having good communi-

cation skills and mindset to work in

a team. Contact 91024385

Engineer with 3 yrs experience in

Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical

maintained field on visit visa looking

for suitable job. Contact 99191535

Email: fareed029@gmail.com

Female Postgraduate searching

suitable job. Contact 97792820

Indian male Oman D/L 2 years

Saudi experience in electrical, fire

and safety one year Oman logistic

management experience.

Contact : 91233475

Bangladeshi Post Graduate seeks

a job good command in English and

computer ready to take the chal-

lenge. Contact 93982627 Email:

saymun.riyad@gmail.com

Filipino Male looking for a job &

have experience in sales, waiter,

barista, technical support / customer

service with good communication

skills. Contact 91789465

Indian material controller/ store

keeper seeking job in Oman NOC /

Release available.

Contact: 91946174

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male MBA 7 years experience

in Hospitality industry, operation,

sales & marketing looking for suitable

vacancy. Contact 92115860

Email vibin.py@gmail.com

MBA from UK with 9 yrs experi-

ence in London, Dubai & Mumbai.

Specialized GCC experience in top

real estate co & bank with driving

license. NOC available.

Contact 968 95168205,

dubaihomes1@gmail.com

Looking for Sales Assistant job

(having Oman driving license).

Contact : 95872634

Indian male MBA Graduate 10 years

experience in Sales and Market-

ing (Tyre Industry and Electrical

Industry) looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 96065164 Email:

pradeesh123in@yahoo.co.in

Indian male 31 visionary business

strategist having over 8+ years of

global experience seeking a chal-

lenging position that utilizes my

years of experience currently on

visit. Contact: 91902154

Indian male. 27, Post Graduate, 5+

yrs exp in Oman in Sales & Credit

Control, with valid Oman driving

License, NOC available, looking for

suitable placements. Ph: 9199 3376

Indian Male, B.Com Graduate,

23, with experience in Sales looking

for suitable placements. .

Contact 98371144

Indian male Graduate with 18 years

experience in Sales and Marketing

currently on visit visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact : 91996486 /

99732070

Available for part time accounting

job, contact 99196621

MBA (F), B.COM. Indian female

having knowledge of accounts with

Tally looking for full or part time

job. presently on family visit visa.

Contact :- 96259171.

Email:- bhumicapandya@gmail.com

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male,29 years.8 years experience

.Presently working in Oman as a

Senior Accountant with oman Driv-

ing license. NOC available, seek suit-

able opportunity. GSM: 97705854

Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer Sci-

ence) (Diploma Computer Engineer-

ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle PL-

SQL , MS SQL-server, MS visual studio

VBA, network. Contact :91415886

BSc Graduate, INDIAN male ,

seeking suitable jobs.

GSM: +91-8589820233.

MAIL ID: prajinap45@gmail.com

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support,

Networking, Security systems, Serv-

er support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91033395

Indian Male, 38 years old, DME –

Mechanical Maintenance Technician

11 years Oman experience. Ready for

NOC , VISA transfer, ready to join im-

mediately, Mob +968 95612870,

seeniselvan@gmail.com

Indian Male, 34 years old, DEE –

Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman

experience. Ready for NOC , VISA

transfer and valid Oman driving

licence light, ready to join immedi-

ately, Mob +91 9740679094,

kulasekar1980@gmail.com

24 years, Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3 yrs of experience

is seeking suitable placement in

Muscat, currently on visit visa &

ready to join immediately. Kindly

contact him on 98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Young Indian Chartered Accountant,

female, Having 6 years experience in

Oman and India. Accounts and Finance

Manager, Auditor. Urgently seeking

suitable positions.# 92530131,

jobcareer44@gmail.com

Tunisian women looking for a job,

khnows english,frensh, italian and

arabic. Contact: 91171838

Indian male 25 years B.tech com-

puters (Having 3 years of experience

in customer service/Admin/IT Sup-

port) looking for suitable position.

Visa Transfer/NOC Available im-

mediate to join. Contact: 98402389,

Mail: naresh6672@gmail.com

Manager, Young Indian Male, MBA,

BBA. Having excellent manage-

rial experience (around 5 years) in

leading Multi-National-Company.

Looking for suitable positions.

Contact: 92700670,

fardhaan@gmail.com

Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with One

year three months Teaching

experience. Subject: EnglishSeeking

for a Better placement.

Now working in Oman.

Contact 93961142, 92184408,

Email:-anoopkesavan78@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 hav-

ing 4years experience in accounting

& having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968094535881,

0091 9037622048

Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

Indian female MCA, 24 years seek-

ing suitable job. Contact 93439467

B.E Computer Science, Indian male

looking for suitable job in the field

of software or information technol-

ogy having good knowledge in Java,

ASP. Net, MS Sql, MS Word.

Contact: 91986919 Email:

dileep2468.a@gmail.com

Indian male 25 yrs exp in Adminis-

tration, Telecom, Optical Fiber Com-

munication, Networking, MS Office.

Seeks any job. On visit visa.

Contact 91385373 /

sridharbsnlma1455@gmail.com

Network system Engineer B.E / ECE

+ CCNA & Ms certified with 4+ yrs exp

looking for a job. Currently in Oman

on visit visa. Contact: 92589502

Email: careersjegan

IT

Tanzanian male, 25 yrs Accountant

successful experience in Tanzania

looking for suitable placement in any

field. Contact : 96710154

Content Executive, freshers with

good communication skills and will-

ingness to learn may apply on

job@socioholics.com

Business development Manager/Executive. Preferably minimum of

2 years experience. Valid driving

licence can apply on

job@socioholics.com

Professional Teacher Qualified

M.Com Post Graduate in finance for

teaching Accounting subject.

Contact: 91251210

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian Female with over 9 yrs ex-

perience with good communication

skills seeks jobs in customer service

or sales field. Contact : 96108289,

shijipaul84@gmail.com

Part- Time Accountant, well experi-

ence senior accountant ,doing all

type of accounting works, Finaliza-

tion, Budgeting available.

Contact: :98803439

13 Years UAE experienced in MNC &

reputed firms logistics distribution

looking for a suitable placement, on

visit visa contact 99838743,

gani.dawood@gmail.com

Male Indian BBM Graduate 8 years

experience in logistics and ware

housing in a reputed company valid

driving license NOC available

looking for suitable position.

Contact : 96311786

Email: ubinfs@gmail.com

Indian male 45+ yrs , 20 yrs exp as

sales supervisor in India looking for

indoor sales /stores /cashier or any

suitable placement can speak Hindi

, English, Malayalam, Tamil, kannada

can join immediately on visit visa.

Contact 93086105/33016546

Indian 6 years experience as Sales

Executive with 2 years visa, driving

license seek suitable job.

Contact 92233068

Pakistani male 34 yrs Intermedi-

ate 2 yrs exp in sales & marketing

in Oman. Looking for suitable job.

Contact - 92146864

6 years experienced male holding

Masters Degree with experience in

customer relationship, real estate,

Sales and IT. Contact: 98823248

Email: sajjadhussain@yahoo.com

Market research / Hospitality

Indian male Graduate with nearly 30

yrs experience in Market research &

hospitality industry. NOC available.

Contact: 99347089

ACCA Affiliate, 2.5years experience

in Audit/Finance in Global Big6

Firms and Oil company in Oman,

Looking for suitable permanent

placement. Release NOC Available.

Contact: #95140445,

a.saran891@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer, 29, Indian Male,

having 7+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable placement

in any Oman. Contact - 97693456.

Mail ID : venkatbadri23@gmail.com

BE. Biomedical Engineer, 5 years

experience in the same field (Hos-

pital/company)looking for suitable

placement. Contact:92084807

Email:bonnygeorge1005@gmail.com

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER – Indian

male seeking Electrical Engineer job

with 2 years’ experience.

Contact: 94263445, E mail –

janardhanan53@gmail.com

32 years, Filipina with experience

in Teleperformance, Manila call

centre, now working as Waitress in

Qatar seeking suitable post.

Contact 99022484

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D6 W E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

Filipino Male looking for a job &

have experience in sales, waiter,

barista, technical support / customer

service with good communication

skills. # 91789465

PART TIME ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male, M. Com, 35 years, 12 Years

exp. in Accounts, 8 years in Oman.

Knowledge upto finalization. Having

valid D/L, seeks suitable Placement.

GSM: 96249124

Egyptian Civil Engineer, total expe-

rience 7 years - 2 years experience

in Oman. I am looking for Project

Engineer, I have good experience in

site & office works.

Contact number:91148708

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com.

ACCOUNTING – Indian male seeking

accounting job with 2 years

experience in accounting.

Contact: 94263445, E mail –

contactantonyxavieranand@gmail.

com

Sudanese male: 27 yrs, 2 years ex-

perience in accounting, other experi-

ence (purchasing – HR - Coordinat-

ing and Office Management), looking

for a job Omani Driving License,

NOC. Contact: 94174403

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Sudanese male (B.Sc, computer sci-

ence) (diploma computer engineer-

ing), 6 yrs. experience DBA oracle

PL-SQL, MS SQL - Server, MS visual

studio vba, network. # 91415886

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support,

Networking, Security systems, Serv-

er support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91055584

Over 15 years experience in Gulf.

Interior Architect, Lebanese Nation-

ality, on visit visa seeking a suitable

Placement. 96268005.

PRODUCTION OPERATOR – Indian

male seeking production operator or

related jobs with 4 years of experi-

ence in oil & gas field. #94263445.

Email: tonyxavier4u@gmail.com

Indian Keralite Male 35 looking for

Scaffolding supervisor post having 5

years of Supervisor and HSE experi-

ence in GCC Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Fluent in English Arabic and Hindi .

Contact 96155921, or mail

fysal.nellaya@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 yrs, having 7 years

Gulf + Indian experience in HR and

Admin field, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact: 97914340,

Email: rajkv3086@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 years MSM, B. Com

having 6years experience in Gulf

and India as a HR and Admin looking

for suitable placement.# :97914340.

Email: rajkv30@gmail.com

B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer Suda-

nese 3 yrs of exp. In industrial field

available in muscat on vist visa

seeking suitable job .

Contact: 95868922, Email:

almouthanaosman@yahoo.com

IT system and Printer engineer ME,

5Years bank IT Management exp in

India looking for full time job visit

visa contact 94462150

Indian male with 8 yrs experience

in FMCG in Oman as Sales Supervi-

sor looking for suitable placement.

NOC available. Gsm: 96495206

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

MCA IT Professional Indian Female

seek placement in Teaching/ Non

Teaching field. Presently on visit

visa. 9588 7051,

ashwininakod@gmail.com

ACCA Affiliate, Indian, 2.5Years

experience in Audit/ Finance in Big

6 Audit Firm and Oil Accounting in

PDO, For Permanent Placement for

Finance or Accounts or Audit. Re-

lease NOC Available on hand.

Contact #95140445,

a.saran891@gmail.com

Finance ACCA Affiliate, Worked as

an Auditor with 2.5 Years Experience

in reputed firm, Handled independ-

ent audit/finance assignments, Look-

ing for permanent placement, NOC

available. #95140445.

a.saran891@gmail.com

Piping Design Engineer, Indian

male 27, looking for suitable place-

ment in Piping Design & Engineer-

ing. Having 7 years of experience in

AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS

(11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact :

97351786 / 96143708, E-mail :

mohammednazeer07@gmail.com

Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer sci-

ence) (diploma computer engineer-

ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle pl-

sql, MS sql-server ,ms visual studio

vba, network. Contact :91415886

Indian Male, Graduate, 11 years

Sales experience in Lighting /

Industrial products, ready to join im-

mediately. GSM: 9710 5356

Indian heavy duty driver with 8

years experience in oman available

with NOC. GSM : 93601943

GSM : 94496457

Indian male, 28 yrs MBA (HR/M) 2

years experience in Indian Oman in

HR & admin seeks suitable place-

ments. NOC available.

Contact 97484159

Email: rameshkapa86@gmail.com

M.Sc 3+ years exp from France &

India in IT Support Engineer / Hard-

ware & Networking / Server support

/ scientific system support looking

for suitable positions. Indian, male

on visit visa, contact 98898781/

anoopys@gmail.com

Looking for managerial post (full

time ), More than Ten years of expe-

rience in Team Development ,Train-

ing, planning, Administration, Sales

& Marketing, Advertisement and

Credit Control and Logistics. Contact

91076608 / 99322748. Release &

noc available

Indian male, 34years having 10

years of experience in Sales, Sales

Coordination and Administration.

Experienced in SAP and

MS Office. NOC available.

Contact # 94686594

Indian Male MBA Marketing/HRM

3 year experience with Omani D/L,

seeking suitable jobs.

Contact: 97424188

email: dharwesh@gmail.com

Indian, Male, 23 years, BE Electri-

cal, having 2 years experience in

Electrical Works-H.T. cabling etc,

& Construction, looking for a suit-

able placement. # +968 96927880

(Oman), +91 9765376109 (India),

Email: rahulrevi6@gmail.com

Indian Female M.Com with Com-

puter Skills and Four Month Experi-

ence as Accountant ,Currently On

Family Visa Looking for a Suitable

Placement, Available Immediately.

Contact : 95846642,

Email : dhanyashree91@yahoo.com

Omani Mechanical Engineer, has

3 years experience ,has HSE, H2S,

Riggers/Banks men Permit, Drawing

/ cad, SCBA, Safety Leadership and

Initial Fire Response Courses. good

with computer and English language

looking for suitable job.

Contact 99224319-98454500

Indian male 22 Mechanical Diploma

holder Engg with HVAC certified,

having 1 year exp. seeking suitable

position. Currently available on visit

visa. Contact - 92835952

Indian male Diploma, Civil engineer

4.3 year experience at building

construction and consulting

company with Oman driving licence

and N.O.C available seeking suitable

placement Contact 95989500

email cv.shihabedappal@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ACCA Affiliate, Experience in audit/

finance of 2.5 years in Big 6 Firm

and Oil industry, looking for suitable

permanent placement, Release NOC

available. Contact: #95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

B.Tech Computer Engineer Wanted

job to work on(IT/Banking/Admin-

istrator/Technical/Office works)

having NOC with the limited time

from (04/06/2015 to 13/06/2015).

Mobile:98402389

email:naresh6672@gmail.com

British Beauty Therapist looking

for suitable position. please contact

:97175240

Highly Qualified & Experienced

Finance Manager Pakistani with

USA , UK & Canadian Degrees , CPA

,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA ,IFA- Finan-

cial Consultants Canada , Corporate

Analyst USA Professional of Bank-

ing , Audits ,ERPs & Profit Maximi-

zations ( NOC available ) call 94

504505 – 94403270

27 year Indian female who has 4

years of experience with logistics

function in distribution of spares

for both heavy machinery & wind

turbine parts. Kindly contact me on

+91 9790769104

E-mail: joemohana@yahoo.co.in

Indian male Executive Secretary

having vast experience in admin,

logistics & procurement well versed

with computer .seek suitable place-

ment. Contact : 99514286

Indian male MBA (U.K), 10 Years

of experience in Admin, Sales, HR,

stores and logistics seeks suitable

placement. Contact 99271903.

Indian Female MCA, 4 plus Years

of experience in Web designing, Ad-

min, P.A, seeks suitable placement.

Contact 99486374

8 Years successful experience,

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male,29 years. Presently working in

Oman as a Senior Accountant

with oman Driving license seeks suit-

able opportunity. GSM: 97705854

7 and half years experience working

accounts / inventory manager look-

ing suitable job. Contact: 96991782

Email: srinivasu.sp@gmail.com

Indian female , MCA BCA, certifica-

tion PL SQL , 6months training PHP,

date warehouse looking for suitable

placement. #95694330 Email:

mondkashyapodl@gmail.com

B.Com with more than 5 yrs exp.

looking for an accounts part tome

job work. know with tally.

Email-shilpa_62@yahoo.com

Part- time accountant, well experi-

ence senior accountant , doing all

type of accounting works, finaliza-

tion, budgeting available.

Contact : 98803439

Indian male, looking for a part time

accounting job. Having additional

knowledge & experience in

HR admin & purchase.

Contact 99196621

Indian Female, 24yrs, M.COM (Ac-

counts) having 3yrs experience

in Accounts, HR, Administration,

Customer Service. Good Computer

Proficiency. Seeking Suitable Posi-

tion. Visa Transfer/NOC Available.

Contact: 99654913

HSE Advisor, NEBOSH IGC, Indian

male, 4 years experience in con-

struction and oil fields, seeking suit-

able jobs. Gsm: 97458900,

Mail: miroshbabu@gmail.com

Highly Experienced Finance Man-

ager, CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA , Pro-

fessional of Banking, Audits , ERPs

Sap , Management as Team Leader

and Problem Solver call 94 504505

/ 94403270

Indian male MBA Finance presently

OMAN IN visit visa, 26 years, looking

for an accountant job. # 95240641,

email Id mohammadabdulazharud-

din@gmail.com

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male,

having 9+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable place-

ment in any gulf region. Contact

+968 99276601 & 97693456. email :

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

MEP Quantity Surveyor-Estimation-

Project, 10 Years Experience

(3 years in Oman). Having NOC &

Oman D/L, looking for suitable job,

Contact - 98291626

Indian house maid looking full time

job. Contact : 98254909

B.E. Civil Engineer age 27, total 3

years of experience in Mumbai look-

ing for placement asap in oman now

on visit visa of 1 month ph 9571 3441

Email. Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3

year Diploma in electrical engineer,

5 years experience in different ac-

tivities . Mobile No ; +96894549609

ACCA affiliate, with 2.5 years

experience in Big6 audit firm and

Oil industry, looking for permanent

placement in Accounts/Audit.

Release available Contact :95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

Indian Female, Commerce Graduate,

Total 9 yrs of experience in India.

worked as Accounts Assistant and

Business executive seeking for suit-

able placement.

Tel : 96173533/24222457

Email : topranidivya@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Female Executive Assistant/Execu-

tive Secretary with 27+ experience,

worked with top management/Board

in financial services with shorthand

skills & Omani driving license,

seeks suitable placement.

call 95941515

B.E. Civil Engineer from India with

3 years of experience looking for

suitable vacancy in oman now on

visit visa. Contact 9571 3441,

Email . Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian male 21 IT Eng. networking &

computer hardware diploma, 1 year

experience, currently on visit visa

looking for a suitable job.# 96036273

email: faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com

8 yrs exp Site supervisor cum 2d,

3d Draughtsman (holding Omani

driving license) seeking job.

Contact : 93790601

Indian, 32 years, completed M.A.

English, M.Sc. Psychology and B.Ed

in English. Searching for suitable job

in the field of teaching. To

Contact: 00968 99869535

Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com

26 years Indian male with MBA &

PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience

in Administration, seeking suit-

able placement in any gulf region.

Holding Oman valid driving license.

Contact :94501423

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Finance ACCA Affiliate, 2.5 years

experience in audit/finance and oil

company in reputed firms. Look-

ing for suitable permanent place-

ment. Release available. Contact

95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3

year Diploma in electrical engineer,

5 year experience in different activi-

ties. Contact; +96894549609

More than Ten years of experience

in Sales & Marketing, Advertisement

and Credit Control and Logistics&

Administration.

Contact; 91076608 / 99322748

Sudanese/ 26 years/ master of

clinical pharmacy(1st class)/ 1 year

experience/live in India/excellent

communication in English(IELTS

Certificate) and arabic/pharmacist

license/hassan_kassala@hotmail.

com 00919600413966-96387227

24 Years, indian male 2.5 Years ex-

perience in admin & accounts, dubai.

Currently on visit visa. Seeking suit-

able placement in admin & accounts.

M: 93016252 EMAIL:

shahabaskp@gmail.com

Indian male, MBA with 20 years of

experience in back office operation,

risk and operational management,

financial management for Finance

and Trading companies. Presently

available on visit visa. #91276221

CCNA MCITP network support /net-

work technician with 2 years experi-

ence indian male having bachelors

degree on visit visa. #93080871

sean.f.peters@outlook.com

Video Editor 29 years Indian male

with 8 years experience on visit

visa looking for a suitable placement

#91275969 leomoorkoth@gmail.com

Omani male , BBA ,with 6 year

experience in HR &Admin looking

for opportunity in HR & Admin in

Muscat. Joint date after one month

notice period . Mobile 92223279

Having 9+ years exp. in Admin,

Purchase, Stores & Warehouse in re-

puted companies. Presently working

in Muscat and seeking for suitable

placement. Contact +968 97693456.

email : muralimahdav77@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5 D7

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

TOURS

GOOD NEWS

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL ,

CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November

street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 /

99117987

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. If you would like to know more

about Islam, please call: 99425598,

96050000, 99353988, 99253818,

99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723

Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /

92504980 www.siddhayur.com

Butter cup rent a car presents fantastic offers all vehicles are model 2016.

Contact : 97249449

DRIVING

Learn driving with professional

only automatic. Contact 94022250

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. *

Subject to space availability

RENT A CAR

SITUATION WANT-MANPOWER

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact: 96538078

Transportation. Contact:

98522914

Transportation. Contact 99508282

Transportation. Contact:

98244078

Pick & Drop any time. Contact:

97014786

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 W E D N E S D AY, J U LY 8 , 2 0 1 5

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00

noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

House shifting. Contact

99708138

Carpet, curtain, sofa, floor,

cleaning, shampooing, marble &

mosaic tiles grinding, polishing

and painting. Contact : 93630133 /

95821193

House shifting packing.

99657644 / 98518013

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-ter-

mite treatment, general cleaning

painting, Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir

Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.

# 24810137, 99450130

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

CLASSES

CLASSES

COMPUTER

ACCOUNTANTS AND CONSULTANTSWE ARE PROVIDING

ACCOUNTING/ AUDITINGTAX/ CONSULTING

CONTACT: 24 567 251 / 95 498 033

Admission Open: CAMBRIDGE /

BILINGUAL CURRICULUM

admission started in Al Burj Private

School, Azaiba for KG and Grade I to

IV. Please register soonest.

Contact: 93211417 / 92887809.

Split & window A.C servic-

ing & maintenance. Contact

93769089/95323517

Air condition maintenance split

and window services AC specialist

ducted and package type unites.

Contact: 98667326

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet

& sofa shampooing, Contact

99314807/24792998

Split & widow unit A.C servicing &

repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split & window unit A.C servicing &

maintenance.

Contact: 96236476

Window & split unit A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact : 93769089 /

95323517

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance.Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

Carpet, Sofa Shampooing. Ocean

Center LLC. Contact: 99884591

AC servicing maintenance fixing.

Contact: 99540621

BUSINESS

General Investors. Gsm-99674870

Learn Cup cakes, exotic cakes, Ic-

ing decorations, handicrafts.

Contact 95941515

A/C Maintenance & servicing, fridge,

washing machine & dish washer

repairing, painting & cleaning ser-

vices, electrical & plumbing. Contact:

99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

Pest control Treatments, termites,

cockroaches, bedbugs Ocean Center

LLC. Contact: 99344723

B.E Biomedical Engineer, having 5

years of experience in Diagnostics

division seeking suitable position.

94151658

SIT.WANTED

Electronics and instrumentation

Engineer 28 year Indian male, elec-

trical, electronic, industrial, building

& automation exp of 4+ yrs in India.

Contact - 93154156

CCNP Network Professional with 6 years experience having

Bachelors degree on visit visa looking

for suitable job. #96760618 email:

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25, 3

years experience in site, CAD, 3d, MS

Project, Seeking job in Oman.

Contact 92875345,

jubincivileng@gmail.com

Indian male, total experience is 5

years in Retail industry. Currently

supervisor in Sun and sand sports

Muscat City centre.

Contact : 96994345.

Email : jsp.jsr85@gmail.com

Indian Male 34 years Mechani-

cal Engineer 3 years of Experi-

ence seeking suitable placement

immediately Contact: 91991435,

93310821

Indian female with MBA (Finance)

on visit visa, seeks immediate

placement. Phone: 968-98430089

Indian female B.ED & BCA looking

for a suitable placement in school

or admin office, having 5 yrs exp in

same field. Contact – 97384206 /

rani_sweet786@live.com

CCNP Network Professional with 6

years experience having Bachelors

degree on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact: 96 76 06 18

Indian male, 28 years, 7 years

experience in transporting & heavy

equipment renting company. Having

Omani driving license seeks suit-

able positions. Contact 94410485

Indian male, Engineer, BE Mechan-

ical, having with 21 years of experi-

ence in India and 13 years in Oman,

In production, project management,

quality control and assurance and

MR for ISO and API Standards look-

ing out for a suitable placement

in Oman. GSM: 00968 97311616.

E-MAIL: fahazasa@yahoo.com

Indian male, post graduate, currently

in Oman on visit visa. Seeks suitable

placement.Contact 92388346