times of oman - november 19, 2015
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Times of Oman - November 19, 2015TRANSCRIPT
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THURSDAY, November 19, 2015 / 7 Safar 1437 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company
On the occasion of the 22nd National Day in 1992
FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN
We are a society that is used to hard work and it is not our style to be lazy or negligent, but to responsibly and honestly carry out our obligations. This is the only way we can achieve progress and utilise the modern technology available to us.
‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’
C7Calling the shots
OMANGlobal peacemaker
1His Majesty the Sultan is a leader who made colossal jobs look easy. >A5
OMANFahd to preside
2HH Sayyid Fahd will preside over National Day celebrations. >A13
MARKETOman-Pakistan trade
3Oman and Pakistan have decided to boost bilateral trade. >B1
T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S
TARIQ AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: With the National Day holidays announced on De-cember 2 and 3, civil authorities have urged people to remain safe.
An official of the Public Au-thority for Civil Defence and Am-bulance (PACDA), reiterated the
need for people to stay safe dur-ing celebrations as most of the distress calls are received during public and national holidays.
“Negligence increases during celebrations and holidays. Often, you find people excited during celebrations and holidays, which causes accidents,” said a PACDA official.
According to PACDA’s statis-tics from 2014, the ambulance team had to respond to 10,517 cases during the year 2014, up from 9,889 cases in 2013.
Some 7,905 of those cases were trauma-related and included road and construction-related accidents, occupational injuries and fire injuries; whereas 2,612 were reported as medical cases.
Road accidents topped the list with 7,705 cases, followed by ac-cidents at home, prison and dur-ing recreation. >A13
PACDA has urged
people to stay safe as
most of the distress
calls are received
during holidays
Artist pays tribute to HM with portraitREJIMON [email protected]
MUSCAT: In today’s #Oman-Pride campaign, we are featur-ing an Indian expatriate, who has sketched a 10m long and 5m wide portrait of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, with pencils on 80 white sheets, to mark the 45th National Day.
“It was an enterprising attempt to draw His Majesty. It took 28 days to complete it. Some days, I didn’t even sleep,” Akbar Moham-med, an Indian expatriate work-ing with Zubair Furnishing, told the Times of Oman. “Until I com-pleted the picture, I couldn’t see it in full. Each paper was 1m long and 70cm wide. I was doing it part by part. So, the only way was to imagine and continue the work,” Mohammed added.
His creation has been dis-played at Zubair Furnishing’s factory in Ghala. “I am not a
trained artist. It is just my pas-sion, which pushed me to create this art. I was under tremendous pressure as I was drawing His Majesty’s sketch,” he said. >A13
T I M E S O F O M A N C A M P A I G N
#OMANPRIDE
THE HOME OFGOOD NEWS
HM PRESIDES OVER NATIONAL DAY PARADE
‘Stay safe’ on National Day holiday
MANAH: His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said, the Supreme Com-mander of the Armed Forces, pre-sided over the military parade at the military parade ground in Hisn Al Shumoukh, on the occasion of 45th Glorious National Day, yesterday.
Symbolic units representing the Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF), the Royal Guard of Oman (RGO), the Sultan’s Special Force (SSF) and the Royal Oman Police (ROP) took part in the military parade.
Upon the arrival of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Su-preme Commander of the Armed
Forces to the parade ground, Gen. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Nu’amani, Minister of the Royal Office, Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib Al Busaidi, Minister Respon-sible for Defence Affairs, and Lt.Gen Ahmed bin Harith Al Nabhani, SAF Chief of Staff, received His Majesty the Sultan.
On His Majesty’s ascension to the Royal dais, the parade columns gave the salute and the Royal Anthem was played by the joint military pa-rade band while the artillery gave a 21-gun salute to His Majesty the Sultan. >A6
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OMAN
His Majesty sends
cable of greetings
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a ca-ble of congratulations to Prince Albert II of Monaco on the occasion of his country’s National Day.
In his cable, His Majesty the
Sultan has expressed his sin-cere congratulations along with his best wishes of good health and happiness to Prince Albert II of Monaco and the people of his country further progress. -ONA
M O N A C O
HM receives message
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said received a written message from President Dr. Ikil-ilou Dhoinine of the Union of the Comoros relating to the relations between the two countries.
The message was received by Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for For-eign Affairs, when he received at the General Diwan of the Foreign
Ministry on Wednesday Moham-ed Ali Soilih, Vice-President of the Union of the Comoros, Envoy of the Comoros President.
CooperationThe meeting discussed coopera-tion and the means of promoting them, besides reviewing a number of regional and international is-sues and developments. -ONA
C O M O R O S
BOOSTING TIES: The message was received by Yousuf bin Alawi
bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs. ONA
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HM is global peacemaker
SALEH AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said would go down in the annals of history as a leader who made colossal jobs look easy not only at home, but also in the region and the world at large.
His Majesty transformed a very backward country into one of the most developed nations and delivered on every promise to his people, forfeiting personal comfort and freedom. In the pro-cess, he has taken the country from relative obscurity to a state of considerable international in-fluence. He is now a global peace-maker who has brokered a peace deal between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
An integral part of the Mid-dle Eastern landscape for many years with a proven track record, His Majesty takes a step back when it comes to publicity as the man who was instrumental in clinching the historic US-Iran nuclear deal. Through his lead-ership, Oman has proven that it has greater credibility than its neighbours in working coopera-tively with the world powers to promote mutual policy goals in a productive manner. Through his neutral position, His Majesty has managed to diffuse explosive sectarian tensions in the Gulf and motivated regional powers to promote security and stability.
Back in September 2011, he successfully negotiated the return of three US hikers held in Iran on spying charges. That led to a series of secret messages carried by Om-ani envoys containing important terms of negotiations between the US and Iran. As negotiations in-tensified, Oman hosted meetings as a negotiator between the two countries throughout 2014.
The role of Oman in the peace deal has been publicly acknowl-edged by both US President Barack Obama and Iranian Presi-dent Hassan Rouhani.
At home, he planted the seed of democracy by creating the Majlis Al Shura and a power sharing ini-
tiative of Majlis Ad Dawla. Every social group in the Sultanate is represented on these bodies. The Councils have been given suit-able powers and are not simply there to appease members of the public. Equal career and educa-tional opportunities have been provided to women too, some-thing few nations in the region have done. In his speech on the 14th National Day, His Majesty said, “if we do not give women an equal opportunity, we are limit-ing our resources by half.”
When it comes to religious and cultural tolerance, Oman comes across as a progressive model of political and social stability and freedom of religion. Through his leadership, His Majesty the Sultan has allowed construc-tion of churches and temples in the country so that the resi-dents of Oman can freely prac-tise their faith. Sectarian toler-ance in Oman is unrivalled in the Muslim world.
Robert Kaplan, a writer of global renown who visited the Sultanate in 2011, wrote that he had “never encountered a place in the Arab world so well-governed as Oman, and in such a quiet and understated way”.
On the economic front, His Majesty has not left any stone unturned to ensure prosperity. Oman does not have the financial and hydrocarbon reserves like its neighbours but through prudent spending, it has been able to con-sistently raise the standards of life of its people. Another jewel in the crown is the meet-the-people tour of His Majesty the Sultan, who is perhaps the only leader in the world who travels extensively to get first-hand experience of the needs of his subjects. The gruel-ling month-long annual schedule has become an integral part of governance and is an example of how His Majesty keeps his finger on the pulse of the nation to get things done the right way.
He has not only championed stability in the country and re-gion but also attracted billions in investments in sectors from aluminium to steel, from mining to hydrocarbons and tourism. Under His Majesty, Oman has attracted skilled and talented workers from across the world who want to be part of its success. Oman also has proved to be com-passionate. Through his leader-ship, His Majesty has been stead-fast to humanitarian course in war-torn Yemen and other Arab countries like Syria and Iraq.
As the country celebrates the 45th National Day, Oman and its people are proud of the achieve-ments of their leader in a multi-tude of ways.
His Majesty
the Sultan has
transformed Oman
into one of the most
developed countries
in the world
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His Majesty the Sultan presides over military parade
Then the commander of parade column approached His Majesty, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, to seek His Majes-ty’s permission to start the military parade. A joint military musical parade band comprising the corps of SAF, RGO, ROP and Royal Court Affairs (RCA) passed in military formation before the Royal Dais.
Then, the columns of the Proto-cols Guard performed their mili-
tary parade on the beats of joint military band and gave salute to His Majesty, the Supreme Com-mander of the Armed Forces.
After that, the columns of the Protocols Guard sang the military anthem, the joint military musi-cal parade band rendered various global music pieces, including from the ancient Omani heritage. Then, the columns of the Protocols Guard chanted the call of loyalty and alle-
giance and spoke thrice long live His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Then, the Royal Anthem was played and the col-umns of the Protocols Guard gave the salute to His Majesty the Sul-tan signalling the conclusion of the military parade.
Then, His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said, the Supreme Com-mander of the Armed Forces, left
the Military Parade Ground.His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin
Said received the gift of the Min-istry of Defence and the Sultan’s Armed Forces. It was handed over to His Majesty by Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib Al Busaidi, Minis-ter Responsible for Defence Affairs in the presence of SAF Chief of Staff and SAF Commanders.
His Majesty the Sultan was ac-companied during the parade by
their highnesses, the chairmen of the State Council and Majlis Al Shura, their excellencies the ministers, advisers, commanders of SAF, RGO, SSF, ROP and the military and security apparatuses, honourable members of the State Council and members of Majlis Al Shura, the undersecretaries, the governors, judges of the Governo-rate of Dakhiliyah and Omani Am-bassadors at the Foreign Ministry.
FireworksFireworks shows were held in the Wilayat of Al Amerat and the Wilayat of Seeb near Al Khoudh Dam in the Governorate of Muscat this evening to mark the 45th Glo-rious National Day. Such colourful fireworks shows expressed the joy of all Omanis on this dear occasion. Fireworks shows were also held in the Municipality’s Recreational Centre in Salalah. -ONA
N A T I O N A L D A Y
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May His Majesty the Sultan continue to be blessed with the best of health, and the nation of Oman continue to flourish in peace, prosperity and harmony under His Majesty’s wise leadershipGeorge Hisaeda, Japan’s Ambassador to Oman
[email protected]@timesofoman.com
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Indian expats pay tributes to His Majesty
Times News Service
MUSCAT: A celebratory event was organised by the Indian So-cial Club on Tuesday, to mark the historic occasion of the 75th birthday of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, and the 45th National Day of Oman. Indian ex-patriates and Omani dignitaries gathered for the event at the Em-bassy of India Auditorium to cel-ebrate the joyous occasion under the aegis of the Indian Ambassa-dor to Oman, Indra Mani Pandey.
Under the benevolent vision of His Majesty the Sultan, the large, diverse, accomplished and highly regarded Indian community has flourished in the Sultanate of Oman. The Indian community in Oman, comprising businessmen, professionals and workers, has been contributing to the progress and prosperity of the Sultanate.
The growing presence of the
Indian community in Oman is a testimony to the warm welcome accorded by the friendly people of Oman to Indians.
People–to–people relations between India and Oman have further strengthened after India’s centuries-old links and historical relations with Oman, which have evolved into a strategic partner-ship. The ever-expanding India–Oman strategic partnership has been nurtured and nourished by the vision and guidance of His Majesty the Sultan.
The Indian government is committed to taking its strategic partnership with the Oman to a new level. The Indian community unanimously expressed its ap-preciation and gratitude towards His Majesty, the Government of Oman and the friendly peo-ple of Oman for their patronage, warmth and hospitality.
On the occasion of the 75th birthday of His Majesty, the In-dian community conveyed its best wishes to him for a long, healthy and happy life and peace and prosperity for the people of Oman. The Indian community
also lauded the extraordinary achievements of Oman during the 45 years of the Blessed Renais-sance and their admiration for the leadership, vision and wisdom of His Majesty.
Indian Social Club Chairman Dr. Nambiar, expressed these sen-timents on behalf of the Indian community.
Pankaj Khimji, chairman, Oman-India Joint Business Council, spoke on the develop-ment and progress achieved by Oman under His Majesty’s be-nevolent rule. Young Indian stu-dents from Indian Schools in Al Seeb, Darsait and Al Ghubra also spoke about their impressions of His Majesty’s rule in Oman.
Ambassador Pandey spoke about the various dimensions of India’s friendly relations and strategic partnership with Oman.
A glue and glitter live painting of His Majesty was made. Cul-tural performances by Omani and Indian youth were presented on the occasion. While Hilal Al Jamali played the Oud, Jihad Al Raisi sang a few patriotic songs in praise of His Majesty.
Indian community
members
unanimously
expressed their
appreciation and
gratitude towards
His Majesty, the
Government of Oman,
and the friendly
people of Oman
JOYOUS OCCASION: Cultural performances by Omani and Indian youth were presented on the occasion. – Supplied photo
MUSCAT: Muscat Municipal-ity has opened to traffic flow the Mahaj bridge and interchange in the Wilayat of Al Amirat on the occasion of the 45th Glorious National Day celebrations.
It also opened the develop-ment of Darsait/Wadi Kabir road before traffic flow.
Vital linkThe project includes a number of bridges, expansion and cross-roads in vital areas that serve many residential and commer-cial districts. The Municipality has sought to develop this road from Qurum Heights in Darsait to Wadi Kabir roundabout to-wards Al Bustan areas as it is im-portant for the daily traffic flow.
It also opened part of the road that connects Muscat In-ternational Airport to Muscat Expressway. Users of Sultan Qa-boos Road, 18th November Road and Grand Mosque road will use the road very easily. -ONA
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Mahaj bridge, interchange opened
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K.R. ANANDSenior Executive, Indian
NASHIB HAMED AL GHADANI, Omani
SUNIL KUMAR, Manager
Automobile, Indian
KRITHEESH ENKDhofar Insurance Co.
(S.A.O.G.), Indian
O.P.JAYARAJManager, BOS Oman,
Indian
SUNNY JOHNIndian
LINA THAKORTraining Consultant,
Indian
QASIM ABDULLAH HAS-SAN ALAJMI, Assistant
Dean (OCMT), Omani
SYED ASHFAQTeacher, Pakistani
MAHBOOB QAYYUMMechanical Static
Engineer, Pakistani
RENNY JOHNSONSenior Executive, Me-
zoon Travels, Indian
SYEDSaud Bahwan Toyota
MDD, Sales Officer,
Indian
MARIA TERESA PAL-MARIA, Public Relations
Executive, Filipino
SANJOY SENGUPTAService, Indian
TIRTHANKAR BASUBusiness Head at
Mazaya, Indian
MARK PUDWELL, Business Development
and Training Manager,
British.
SHAJI SEBASTIN Tailor, Indian
TONIA GRAYGeneral Manager, Com-
petence HR, British
MOHD FARID IBRAHIMEngineer, Malaysian
SHAMEER PTK Project Management at
H2O Concepts (Oman)
LLC, Indian
ZUZANA BALAZIKOVACommunications Man-
ager, Slovakian
MUNAWAR HAMEEDEducationist, Pakistani
SREERAM MVCost Controller at Orbital
Projects & Services LLC,
Indian
DR. SANJAY DALAL Doctor, Indian
45 years of glorious, dynamic, effective leader-ship by our visionary leader, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has guided us on the path of progress and prosperity.
The National Day means a lot to me and to all Oma-nis. We are very proud of the development under His Majesty’s vision in many areas like educa-tion, health care.
It is my honour and privilege to extend my warmest congratulations and best wishes. It gives me immense pleasure to be in a place where a great visionary ensures the well being of all people.
Wishing His Majesty good health and prosper-ity for showing support and kindness to all the expats in Oman. May His Majesty live long!
Omanis known globally for peace, serenity and hospitality. For us expats, it’s our home away from home. Salute to the great leader.
When I look back at the last 45 years, I see a peace maker who made Oman a better nation. Being an expatriate, I honestly respect his big heart for granting freedom to peo-ple of every religion.
The National Day reflects the remarkable progress made. It’s an opportunity for the people of Oman to express their admiration and love for His Majesty.
We are proud as citizens to have such leader and father. This day is unfor-gettable in our hearts. Wishing HM all health, safety and a long life.
Celebration of National Day is great day of joy and pride to me. Praying for the good health of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said and to the pros-perity of the people living in Oman.
As an expatriate living in Oman, I would like to extend my gratitude and sincere congratulations to the people of Oman on this special day.
I have worked as a senior executive in different countries in the region. However, I find Oman as the best one. Let the coun-try progress more.
I am in Oman since I was three years old. It is the only home that I have known. His Majesty is a blessing for this nation and the world.
I fell in love with Oman and I consider it as my second home. I am very much privileged to wit-ness the great progress made in Oman.
The 45th National Day of Oman means a day of cel-ebrating success, growth, freedom and finally 45 years of strong brother-hood and belonging. This is a great nation.
A great nation on its 45th National Day takes pride in its dedication to growth, equality, and development. Let us show the same dedication for the future.
Celebrating National Day for me is the opportunity to recognise and laud the achievements that His Majesty and Omani peo-ple have made.
Let the country progress more and become a role model for other countries. My National Day wishes to everyone in Oman.
As an expat, I have been so very fortunate to live in this beautiful country alongside its kind hearted nationals. Oman is where it is today due to the lead-ership of His Majesty.
National Day is the time for each one of us to re-visit what and how much we have contributed for our country directly or indirectly and what more can we do.
Let the country progress more. Let it be a role model for others like it is now. My National Day wishes to all.
I wish to extend my greetings to His Majesty and the people of Oman. I highly admire Oman for achieving remarkable de-velopment and progress under His Majesty.
National Day of Oman is important to me as it is my second home. We feel the same joy and freedom as we feel in Pakistan. Oman is land of love, respect and peace. Long live Oman.
When we see old videos of Oman, we wonder how a leader can bring such a drastic change. We are so blessed to be in Oman.
Being a resident of Oman for last three decades, Oman National Day evokes a sense of patriotism. It is the time for retrospection. To be proud of all achievements and also plan our future.
Saluting the vision of His MajestyNovember 18, the National Day,
is an opportunity for all living
in the Sultanate to celebrate
and salute the vision of the
architect of modern Oman, His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
It is that time of the year when
every citizen and resident of this
nation comes together to salute
the road to development. Times
of Oman spoke to nationals and
residents, and each one of them
was unanimous in expressing
their love for the country and
praising their beloved leader, His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said,
for putting the country on the
world map with his visionary and
dynamic leadership.
Plastic takes 1,000 years or more to break down
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW. DON’T LITTER A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY LIKE OMAN.
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National Day holidays on December 2 and 3MUSCAT: As per the Royal Or-ders of His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said and on the occasion of the 45th Glorious National Day, it was decided that Wednes-day and Thursday, December 2 and 3, 2015, will be official holi-days for employees of ministries, public authorities and other de-partments of the state adminis-trative apparatus. The decision was issued on Wednesday by Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud al-Busaidi, Minister of the Di-wan of Royal Court, Chairman of the Civil Service Council.
“As per the Royal Orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said
and on the occasion of the 45th Glorious National Day, it was de-cided that Wednesday and Thurs-day, December 2nd and 3rd, 2015 will be an official holiday for the employees of the ministries, pub-lic authorities and other depart-ments of the state administrative apparatus. Work will be resumed on Sunday; December 6th, 2015.”
The Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court extended his con-gratulations to His Majesty Sul-tan Qaboos bin Said, praying to Allah to protect His Majesty, grant him good health, happiness and a long life and for the return of this and similar occasions on His
Majesty for many years to come and the Omani people and our dear country further progress and prosperity under His Majesty’s wise leadership.
Private sectorSheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, also issued a decision stating that the holiday of the 45th Glorious Na-tional Day at the private sector’s companies and establishments will be on Wednesday and Thurs-day; December 2 and 3, 2015. The decision allows employers and employees to agree on work ar-rangements if necessity arises. -ONA
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Giles Merritt
Last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris are likely to compound Europe’s deep divisions over how to respond to its refugee and migrant
crisis, particularly given reports that one of the perpetrators arrived amid the ongoing influx. But calls for the reintroduction of border controls and a new “Fortress Europe” risk giving Europe’s dem-agogues the lead and making it harder than ever to convince people of the need to integrate more new-comers into the European Union’s workforce.
The climate of fear that the attacks have cre-ated threatens to obscure a key statistic: unless EU countries open their doors wider to immigra-tion, the current ratio of four working-age people for every pensioner will fall to 2:1 by mid-century, if not earlier. Pension and social security systems are already under severe strain.
Nobody denies that this year’s wave of migration is overwhelming some EU countries, and that soli-darity among them is crumbling. But the truth is that the European economy badly needs the young people pouring across its frontiers from the great-er Middle East and Africa.
Judging by the cultural difficulties encountered when immigration was only a trickle, integration of this year’s estimated 1.5 million migrants and refugees will be a mammoth undertaking. The face and character of Europe will be changed, unleash-ing dangerous new political tensions.
Nonetheless, despite old and new fears, there is an overriding case for welcoming the newcomers, as well as the millions more expected to arrive in the coming years. This is particularly well under-stood in Germany, despite the backlash against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy; on current trends, the country’s population of 82 mil-lion will fall to 65 million by 2060.
As Marcel Fratzscher, who heads Germany’s Institute for Economic Research (DIW), has put it, “In the long run, the refugees are an incredible opportunity for Germany,” with the benefits out-weighing the costs “within the next 5-10 years.”
This is not a new story. Five years ago, a “wise men’s” group headed by former Spanish prime min-ister Felipe González reported that 100 million mi-grants will be needed by mid-century to maintain Europe’s active labour force at current levels.
Other studies indicate that if immigration re-
turns to pre-crisis levels, today’s labour force of 240 million will drop to 207 million. And if immi-gration were to be severely reduced, aging would cut the workforce to around 169 million.
Removing some 70 million jobs, and therefore taxpayers, from the European economy would clearly be disastrous.
Leading economists like Germany’s Klaus Reg-ling, who heads the European Stability Mecha-nism, the eurozone’s bailout fund, calculated a decade ago that the EU’s shrinking workforce is set to impose severe limits on economic growth. He forecast that labour shortages are creating a ceiling that restricts annual GDP growth to 1.8 per cent in the years up to 2030, and a mere 1.3 per cent from then to 2050. Comparatively few Europeans seem to contest the moral obligation to accept asy-lum-seeking refugees fleeing from Syria’s civil war or political oppression elsewhere.
Whether or not public sentiment changes in the wake of the Paris attacks, economic migrants are viewed more negatively. The newcomers, it is said, will place a burden on EU countries’ benefit systems, either because they are scroungers or be-cause they cannot find suitable employment. And if they do find jobs, it will be because they compete unfairly with unemployed young Europeans.
These objections don’t stand up to scrutiny. A European Commission analysis of national statis-tics has found that the economic contribution of migrants is greater than their cost to EU govern-ments. There are currently 34 million non-citizens living in the EU, with 69 per cent classified as “eco-nomically active” (in some countries, the figure rises to 80 per cent).
Introducing fresh blood into the EU economy has short-term as well as longer-term benefits. The immediate spending needed to address the crisis – an estimated €10 billion ($10.1 billion) this year in Germany alone – will help boost growth once the construction of new housing, schools, and hospi-tals begins to stimulate jobs and consumption.
These effects won’t be straightforward, of course, as some eurozone governments may have to abandon austerity and take on more debt.
But when the time comes to look back on the migration crisis, one hopes that, despite the un-certainties and strains, we will be looking back on the economic stagnation of an aging Europe as well. – Project Syndicate
HM’s leadership has been key for developmentOn this auspicious occasion of the 45th National Day, I congratulate every citizen of this beautiful country. For 45 years they have stood solidly by their visionary leader, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said,
in building their nation. Their persever-ance has brought great results and they have succeeded in taking their country into the league of developed nations. We pray to the Almighty for the best future of Oman and its citizens. We look forward to His Majesty the Sultan’s leadership for many more years to come, to take the Sultanate to higher levels of excellence and development. — Anu Shaikh, Wadi Kabir
Sports bodies need to be placed under United Nations control This refers to the online story, Blatter, Platini lose appeals against provisional FIFA bans (November 18). It is imperative that other sports bodies also conduct such investigation. It is very much likely that such discrepancies happen throughout the sports world. Also, after the Russian athletic doping scandal, I don’t think such
bodies should be run independently. All of them should be made part of a sports body directly under the United Nations leadership as the officials appointed are likely to be far more ethical. — Richard Lewis, Ruwi
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Europe still needs migrants, refugees
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Ministry of Health workshopsMUSCAT: Dr Ahmed bin Abdul Qadir Al Ghassani, undersec-retary for health affairs at the Ministry of Health, yesterday presided over a workshop on chemical combination of drugs and their administration organised by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the World Health Organisation. Another workshop, organised by the Director General for Health in the governorate of Muscat, for the health workers also began yes-terday. The four-day workshop is aimed at improving the qual-ity of health services in the governorate.
1905: Apollo 12 touches down on the moon.
1942: Soviet forces take the offensive at Stalingrad.
1985: US President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the So-viet Union, meet for the first time.
1998: US House of Representatives begins impeachment hear-ings against President Bill Clinton.
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For weeks, the Russian government seemed to be dithering over the proper
response to the plane crash, as if it were worried that the loss of
life would be blamed on its decision to intervene in
Syria’s civil war. bit.ly/putinsyriacrisis
NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA
Back in 1997, when the world signed the Kyoto Protocol, almost
everyone expected that it would be just the first step toward deep
emissions reductions. Yet the cuts envisioned in Paris by 2030
are just one-third higher than what was promised in Kyoto.
bit.ly/parisclimatemeet
BJØRN LOMBORG
When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that he intended to promote women
in the workplace, many people were understandably sceptical.
After all, Abe is known as a conservative, and conservatives
in most countries support traditional gender roles.bit.ly/japanwomenworkforce
NOAH SMITH
F R O M O U R A R C H I V E S
T O D A Y I N H I S T O R Y
Mussandam sees the worst of the wet weekend weather.
NOVEMBER 2000Scan this QR code to send letters to the Readers’ Forum, containing not more than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by mail (Times of Oman, P.O. Box 770, P.C. 112, Ruwi).
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1 Dubai sees return of expat flight as banks brace for bad loansbit.ly/dubaiexpatloans
2 GCC countries implementing railway projects worth $115bbit.ly/gccrailwayprojects
3 #OmanPride: National Day spirit a big boost for Oman economybit.ly/omannationalday
4 Royal Oman Police ramps up safety regulations for National Day fireworks display
bit.ly/nationaldayfireworks
5 ‘PDO aims to expand training despite low oil prices’
bit.ly/omanpdotraining
1 Loyalty march marks Oman’s 45th National Day in Manahbit.ly/loyaltymarchmanah
2 45th National Day: Oman strides forwardbit.ly/omanstridesforward
3 #OmanPride: Omani twins honour His Majesty with new mobile appbit.ly/omanitwins
4 Indian community in Oman pay tributes to His Majesty Sultan Qaboosbit.ly/indiancommunity
5 45th National Day: US President Barack Obama sends greetings to His Majestybit.ly/obamanationaldaywishes
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NUMBER OF EMPLOYEESIN TELECOM SERVICE
PROVIDERSOman, 2014
Source: National Centre for Statistics & Information
Educational level
Primary
Preparatory
Secondary
Diploma
University
HigherDiploma
Master’sDegree
Ph.D.
Unknown
72
97
1,035
793
1,383
33
TOTAL
3,850
283
7
147
Female
Male
946
2,904
Gender
Photo: Saad Akhtar
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OMANT H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
Artwork of HM as a tribute
“However, with the Almighty’s grace, I think I have done a justifi-able job,” he added.
The artwork was displayed on Tuesday and has been attracting a lot of attention in Ghala.
“Office people and people from other areas are quite amazed. My phone is ringing continuously. All are impressed with the work,” Mohammed said, while adding that he had used only pencil and pencil powder to draw the pic-ture. I have plans to depict Oman’s beautiful landscapes in pencil on paper. I will do it soon.
“Moreover, I have plans to ap-proach the Guinness Book of World Records with this picture. I am finding out a way to do it,” Mohammed said. Jayanandan TP, an employee at Zubair Furnishing and Mohammed’s friend, said the artwork is quite impressive.
“People are surprised when they come to know that it is done on paper with pencil,” Jay-anandan added.
H M ’ S S K E T C H
< FROM
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Most distress calls come from youth According to the report, the high-est number of calls for ambulances came from the age group of 19 to 30 years, with 4,719 cases being re-ported in 2014.
Explaining why more cases were being reported from this age group, the PACDA official said, “This is the time when they are lively and ener-getic. They are generally negligent and have a lower sense of responsi-
bility because of their age.”He added, “This is the age where
they are tempted to speed, which causes all the accidents.”
With National Day marches and events slated to continue in the coming days, the civil defence of-ficial said, “National Day celebra-tions will cause major traffic jams and some cars resort to overtaking others by passing the yellow line
to the side of the highway. Police have constantly warned drivers of the consequences of doing so and PACDA also urges people to keep that lane vacant in case of an emer-gency. If there is an accident ahead of the traffic, those overtaking out-side the yellow line will disrupt and prevent ambulances from making it to the accident (site) on time. We advise drivers to keep that lane va-
cated in case there is an accident.”To deal with such cases, PACDA
has increased the deployement of ambulances and civil defence vehi-cles in specific locations in Muscat. “We are aware of the celebrations which will continue through the week and are ready. Some of the vehicles have been strategically placed in areas where we see most celebrations,” explained the official.
H O L I D A Y S
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4 5 T H G L O R I O U S N A T I O N A L D A Y
Fahd to preside over celebrationsMUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Depu-ty Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, will preside over the 45th Glorious National Day cel-ebrations at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in the wilayat of Baushar on Thursday. Around 6,000 male and female students will stage five performances to express their loy-alty to the nation and its victorious leader. They will also stage a num-
ber of dances and performances from the Omani traditional arts, in addition to oriental and interna-tional music composed by a num-ber of Omani music composers.
The first student performance titled ‘Oman Renaissance and the Joy of Meeting’ will express the joy of the Omani citizens when meet-ing the leader of the blessed Re-naissance on different occasions.
The second performance, titled
‘Oman as an Oasis for Achieve-ments’ will include two scenes. The first scene, ‘the achievements march’, will cover the feats of the Renaissance age in education, health , industry, justice, IT and communication, commerce and industry and agriculture fields.
The second scene titled ‘Il-luminated spaces in the sky of Oman’ will cover the accumulated achievements of the nation.
The celebration will be attended by a number of their highnesses, Chairman of the State Council and Chairman of Majlis Al Shura, a number of their excellencies the ministers, advisors, members of the state council, members of Maj-lis Al Shura, undersecretaries, wa-lis of the Governorate of Muscat, judges, and heads of diplomatic missions of friendly and sisterly countries. -ONA
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‘Drop demand of Assad’s exit for unity against IS’
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the West had to drop its demands about the political exit of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad if it wanted a genuinely international coalition against IS militants.
Lavrov, who said there was still no agreement about Assad’s political fate after international talks in Vienna, said he had de-tected a change in the West’s po-sition since the Paris attacks and the bombing of a Russian passen-ger plane.
Russia has long been at odds with the West over Assad’s fu-ture with Moscow saying only the Syrian people should decide if he steps down. The United States and others want Assad to step aside during or at the end of a transition period.
Change“I hope the change in the posi-tion of our Western colleagues, which has unfortunately only come about as the result of ter-rible acts of terror, will spread to other Western partners. That the stance that the real battle with Is-
lamic State can only be resolved once the fate of Assad is clear, that this position will put to one side,” said Lavrov. “In my opinion there can now be no doubts that it is simply unacceptable to put for-ward any preconditions in order to unite in the battle against so-called Islamic State terrorists.”
Airline securityMeanwhile, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Egypt’s Presi-dent Abdel Fattah Al Sisi have agreed on measures to improve airline security as a first step to-wards resuming flights between the two countries, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Flight were cancelled between Russia and Egypt after the Rus-
sian plane broke up over the Sinai Peninsula last month. The Krem-lin said in the same statement that Putin told Sisi about Russia’s intensified combat operations against extremist groups in Syria.
The Russian daily Kommersant citing an unnamed source said a bomb that downed the Russian plane had been placed in the air-craft’s main cabin not in the cargo compartment as reported earlier.
The newspaper, citing a source close to the investigation of the crash, said the epicentre of the explosion appeared to have been at the rear of the cabin near the tail section.
“According to a preliminary version, the bomb could have been laid under the passenger seat by
the window. Its operation has led to the destruction of the frame and depressurisation of the cabin, which had an explosive charac-ter,” the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu was quoted as saying that Turkey and the United States will intensify operations aimed at flushing IS militants from a strip of northern Syria’s border with Turkey in the coming days. Both French and Russian war planes have stepping up air strikes in Syria. “We will not allow IS to continue its pres-ence on our border,” Sinirlioglu was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu Agency.
“We have long continued air operations in that region with the
United States... We have certain plans to terminate the IS presence on our border. Once these plans are finalised, our operations will intensify. You will see this in the coming days,” he said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday his coun-try would start an operation with Turkey to secure the northern Syrian border. “The entire border of northern Syria -- 75 per cent of it has now been shut off. And we are entering an operation with the Turks to shut off the other re-maining 98 km,” he said in an in-terview with CNN.
Neither Kerry nor Sinirlio-glu gave further details. Both the United States and Turkey, which has the second largest army in the NATO military alliance, have so far ruled out sending any signifi-cant number of ground troops into northern Syria.
But they have for months been discussing a joint plan of inten-sified air strikes to drive Islamic State from a strip of border terri-tory just under 100 km (62 miles) long, stretching west from the Syrian town of Jarablus on the banks of the Euphrates roughly to the town of Azaz.
They hope that by sweeping IS from this border zone in col-laboration with Syrian opposition forces on the ground, they can deprive the group of a smuggling route which has seen its ranks swollen with foreign fighters and its coffers boosted by illicit trade.
The Syrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights monitoring group said air strikes carried out by French jets and other forces have killed at least 33 IS militants in the group’s Raqqa stronghold in Syria over the past three days. Citing activ-ists, the Observatory also said that IS members and dozens of the families of senior members had started leaving Raqqa city to relocate to Mosul in Iraq because of security concerns. Mosul is also controlled by IS. — Reuters
Russia has long
been at odds with
the West over Syrian
president Bashar Al
Assad’s future with
Moscow saying only
the Syrian people
should decide if
Assad steps down
Obama calls on Russia to focus on war against ISMANILA: US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that Russia had to shift its focus from propping up Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and concentrate on the war against IS.
Speaking just hours after Presi-dent Vladimir Putin vowed to hunt down those responsible for blowing up a Russian airliner and intensified air strikes against mil-itants in Syria, Obama said it was a fitting response.
“If in fact he shifts his focus and the focus of his military to what is the principal threat - and that is IS - that is something that we very much want to see,” Obama said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila. “That’s not how they’ve been operating over the last several weeks. It may be that now having seen IS take down one of their airliners in a horrific accident, that reorienta-tion continues.”
Obama said he had held re-peated discussions with Putin last weekend at the G20 summit in Turkey and earlier at the United Nations in New York. More talks
would be held with Moscow, he said. He added: “The problem has been that their initial military in-cursion into Syria may have been more focused on propping up Mr Assad and targeting the moderate opposition as opposed to targeting
those folks who threaten us, Eu-rope and Russia as well.”
Russia began air strikes in Syria at the end of September. It has al-ways said its main target is IS, but most of its bombs in the past hit territory held by other groups op-
posed to its ally Assad.A senior French government
source said Russia had launched air strikes against the IS strong-hold of Raqqa in northern Syria on Tuesday, signalling Moscow was becoming more concerned about the threat posed by IS.
Putin ordered the strikes af-ter an official investigation con-cluded that an Airbus A321 that crashed over Egypt last month was brought down by a bomb.
The Metrojet plane had been
returning Russian holidaymakers from the Sharm El Sheikh resort to St Petersburg when it broke up over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 on board.
Also speaking in Manila, Rus-sian Prime Minister Dmitry Med-vedev said his country could beat terrorism on its own but the best option would be for Moscow and the West to put aside their differ-ences and fight together.
However, he added the West’s attitude towards Russia looked “weird” in light of last week’s militant attacks in Paris and the downing of the Russian airliner.
The United States and its al-lies have been at odds with Russia both over the future of Assad in Syria and the conflict in Ukraine.
“An act of terror with our plane and the terror attack in Paris... have sharpened the global politi-cal agenda,” Medvedev said. “The war is declared against the whole civilised world. The threat is global and, alas, is real. So the stance of some Western countries on Rus-sia looks weird,” Medvedev said, adding the West’s stance towards Moscow was short-sighted. — Reuters
A P E C S U M M I T
Pentagon targeting trucks, rigs in assault on IS oil fundingWASHINGTON: US-led air strikes have hit at least 175 targets in the IS militant group’s main oil-producing region over the past month, as Washington intensifies efforts to disrupt a key revenue source estimated to provide more than $1 million a day to the mili-tant group.
Those strikes include 116 oil tanker trucks hit by coalition forc-es earlier this week as the United States targeted the vehicles for the first time in the wake of last Fri-day’s suicide and shooting attacks in Paris claimed by IS.
The stepped-up bombing cam-paign has also targeted oil rigs, pumps and storage tanks, accord-ing to a Reuters tally of air strikes provided by the Pentagon since October 22.
The campaign marks a more ag-gressive US approach. Such targets
had previously been considered off limits by the US-led coalition as it sought to avoid civilian casualties and limit the damage to oil infra-structure that could be needed later by a new Syrian government. The Pentagon said last Friday that its recent air strikes in Syria had inflicted “significant damage” to IS’s ability to fund itself.
Dubbed “Tidal Wave II”, the strikes have been concentrated on oil facilities near Dayr Az Zawr and Abu Kamal, which provide an estimated two-thirds of IS’s oil revenue. It remains unclear how far along the Pentagon campaign on IS oil infrastructure was toward achieving US objectives and how much bigger the pool of potential targets might be. In the past, IS has been able to repair oil facilities damaged in air strikes in as little as 24 hours.
The goal this time is to knock oil fields out of commission for a year or more without destroying them completely. That would deprive the extremist group of revenues but allow oil resources to be ac-cessed by other forces if and when IS is forced out of the territory it currently occupies. “Nobody wants this to be another Baiji,” one US official said, referring to the disputed Iraqi oil refinery that has been rendered unusable by US-led strikes and bombings.
“Everything that we’re doing carries a timeline attached to it,” the official said.
The civilian fuel trucks hit this week are viewed as a crucial link for the extremist group’s oil busi-ness as they are used to transport oil across IS territory and sell it to residents who use it to power gen-erators and vehicles. “We finally
blew up a bunch of oil trucks,” said former State Department counter terrorism coordinator Daniel Ben-jamin. “It’s not entirely clear to me what took so long.”
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, speaking at a briefing on Tuesday, said no civilians ap-pear to have been hurt in the truck strikes.
The targets can vary. On Novem-ber 8, coalition forces hit three re-fineries and three pump sites. On November 2, they hit 3 cranes, two construction vehicles, an oil pump and a pump truck.
Air strikes last year against tar-gets such as mobile refineries had cut the group’s oil revenues from $3 million a day to under $1 mil-lion a day, according to several in-dependent estimates.
But the group was able repair those facilities quickly, US officials
say. It may struggle to do after the most recent bombings.
“They don’t have the where-withal, the skill set and the mate-rials to repair the oil wells them-selves,” said Matthew Levitt, a former US Treasury Department official now at the Washington In-stitute for Near East Policy.
The new strategy carries some risk. An aggressive bombing cam-paign may permanently disable oil wells and other facilities, ren-dering them useless for any future Syrian government.
“You’d want those to be avail-able ultimately for the legitimate governments that could follow, but that’s just not on the horizon right now. And meanwhile the IS is making a lot of money,” Levitt said.
Coalition forces also run a great-er risk of killing civilians who work in the oil trade. And because most
of the petroleum is sold within the territory controlled by IS, rather than exported to other countries, any disruption in supply would likely make life harder for a popu-lation that already is struggling to make ends meet.
IS is believed to rely on mul-tiple revenue streams to finance its activity.
Benjamin said some reports suggest IS still earns as much as $40 million per month from oil sales, a total that further strikes could significantly reduce.
But a February report by the Financial Action Task Force, an international anti-money launder-ing body, found that IS makes most of its money by taxing or extorting those who live in the area it con-trols, rather than selling oil. It also profits from kidnapping and the sale of antiquities. — Reuters
S T E P P E D - U P B O M B I N G
Journalist jailed in Iran for ‘spreading propaganda’DUBAI: An Iranian journalist and political activist said on Wednes-day she had been sentenced to one year in jail after being found guilty of spreading propaganda against the country.
Reyhaneh Tabatabaei, 35, told Reuters her lawyer was informed on Tuesday of the sentence, which also included a two-year ban on joining political parties and writ-ing for any newspaper or website.
ArrestsIt came a day after authorities ar-rested a cartoonist and sent him to prison to complete a suspended jail sentence, the latest in a series detentions of journalists, artists and activists.
Tabatabaei had been arrested twice in the last five years and had spent almost six months in Evin prison, two months of it in solitary confinement. Her last hearing in the Islamic Revolutionary Court was in November last year.
No specific article was men-tioned in court but Tabatabaei, who had interviewed one of the leaders in Iran, was accused of “promoting sectarian division”.
CrackdownIran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has rounded up several art-ists, journalists and US citizens as part of a crackdown on what it has called Western infiltration. Last week, it arrested the administra-tors of more than 20 groups on the mobile messaging app Telegram.
Their campaign coincides with Iran beginning the implementa-tion of a nuclear deal signed with world powers in July, which hard-liners oppose for fear it will open up Iranian society to what they see as corrupting Western influences.
Most of the journalists arrested in recent weeks work for media that support moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
Iran will hold a parliamentary election in February 2016. — Reuters
S E N E T E N C E D
Members of Saudi security forces shotDOHA: Two members of the Sau-di security forces were killed on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia’s east-ern province after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, an Interior Ministry spokesman quoted by state news agency SPA said.
“At one o’clock in the morning a security patrol in the province of Qatif came under fire from an unknown source”, the spokes-man said. There was no immedi-ate claim of responsibility for the attack which took place on the outskirts of the town of Seihat. The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, has been hit by a spate of deadly shooting and bomb at-tacks in recent months, many of them claimed by IS militant group. The militant group is seen as trying to stir up sectarian confrontation within Arabian peninsula coun-tries. An IS gunman killed five wor-shipers at a meeting hall in Seihat in October and a soldier was killed in the town of Al Jash in Qatif when his vehicle came under fire. — Reuters
A T T A C K
GEARING UP: French soldiers patrol around the aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle at a military port
in the southern French city of Toulon, on Wednesday, before leaving in Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
France said its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean to
boost operations in Syria as Paris intensifies a bombing campaign against the IS group there. – AFP
FITTING RESPONSE: US President Barack Obama in Manila, Philip-
pines, on Wednesday. Speaking just hours after President Vladimir
Putin vowed to hunt down those responsible for blowing up a Rus-
sian airliner and intensified air strikes against militants in Syria,
Obama said it was a fitting response. – Reuters
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said his country could beat terrorism on its own but the best option would be for Moscow and the West to put aside their differences and fight together
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INDIAT H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
President stresses on unity in diversity
VRINDAVAN/NEW DELHI: Living with diversity and finding unity in diversity is practised in India over centuries and it is part of our civilisational values, Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee said here on Wednesday against the back-drop of debate on ‘intolerance’ in the country.
“Living with diversity, finding unity in diversity is practised in India over centuries. That is why many people wonder how is it possible in India, in one system of administration, in one Constitu-tion, in one way of legal jurispru-dence and functioning.
“Is it possible to accommodate, to absorb so much diversity. Many a time we are confronted with these questions,” he asked and an-swered himself that “the answer lies in our civilisational values.”
The President was speaking
during a function to celebrate 500th year of Shri Chaitanya Ma-haprabhu’s advent in Vrindavan in Uttar Prasdesh.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a revered monk and a reform-er in the medieval India.
Pranab said that (civilisational values) is the reason why we live with 128 crores of people, the second largest population of the world, with almost all major re-ligions. Seven major religions are practised in India, more than 100 languages are spoken and over 1,600 dialects are used in India, he said.
“All three major ethnic groups Dravidians, Caucasians and Mon-golites. They live in one piece of land. In whole of north eastern In-dia you will find the concentration of Mongolite people. Whole south India, you will find Dravidian peo-
ple and in North and North West, people belonging to Caucasians group. All these major ethnic groups live in one state.
“It had been possible because of our cultural values, civilisa-tional values, which has taught us over centuries and which has de-scendant on us and we have nur-tured it which is a part of life and therefore it is no cliche to us,” the President said.
Ever since the Dadri lynching and subsequent events, Pranab-has been appealing for tolerance and pluralism.
Citing teachings of various spiritual leaders and poets, he asked people to accept the mes-sage of great saints and “recharge our society, retransform ourselves with love and harmony”.
He said India’s civilisation is 5,000 years old. “It has been con-
tributed by many saints various sages but all converge into one vast ocean of humanity,” the pres-ident said. Later, the President visited Sri Radha Raman Temple to pay obeisance.
Meanwhile, the president on Wednesday said India and other South Asian Association for Re-gional Cooperation (SAARC )na-tions should decide whether they should live in a state of perpetual tension or develop in an atmos-phere of peace and harmony leav-ing behind “divisions of the past”.
Without taking the name of any country, Pranab cited the exam-ple of EU and said that the mighty powers of the Europe were en-gulfed in battles for centuries but came together to form a common union, Parliament and currency.
Delivering the Cavalry Memo-rial lecture on perceptions on for-mations of Bangladesh and India-Bangladesh relations organised by the Cavalry officers associa-tion, he referred to the formation of eight-member SAARC in 1985 to deepen regional cooperation for peace and prosperity.
“In the last 30 years, we have created many mechanisms and institutions on the model of the European Union. It is, however, widely accepted that the full po-tential of SAARC is yet to be real-ised. As I have often said, we can change our friends but not our neighbours.
“It is for us to decide if we want to live in a state of perpetual ten-sion or develop together in an at-mosphere of peace and harmony. We must look at a shared future leaving behind the divisions of the past,” he said. - PTI
Against the backdrop
of debate on
‘intolerance’, Pranab
Mukherjee said
unity in diversity is
practised in India
over centuries and is
part of the country’s
civilisational valuesCELEBRATIONS: President Pranab Mukherjee with BJP leader Hema Malini, during the 500th year celebration of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s advent in Vrindavan on Wednesday. - PTI
Policeman among two killed in Bihar clashesPATNA: Police fired at riot-ers in Vaishali district in Bihar on Wednesday killing a civilian while a mob beat a police officer to death, officials said.
Ajit Kumar, officer in-charge of Belsar police outpost, was thrashed by a mob and suc-cumbed to his injuries.
A youth was earlier injured as police fired to disperse the mob in Lalganj area. He died during treatment, a police officer said.
Ajit Kumar was attacked when he and his colleagues intervened during a clash between two com-munities after two people died in a road accident. - IANS
R I O T
Mumbai court makes David Headley an accused in 26/11 caseMUMBAI: Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Coleman Headley was on Wednesday made an accused in the 26/11 ter-ror attacks case after a local court allowed a plea of Mumbai police and directed that he be produced before it via video-conferencing on December 10.
“Your exhibit (application) is allowed,” said judge G. A Sanap while he issued summons for Headley. “Issue summons to Headley through US District Court for North eastern district of Illinois, USA for appearance before this court on December 10,” the judge directed.
Headley reportedly visited India five times between 2006 and 2008, drew maps, took video footage and scouted several tar-gets for the attacks including the Taj Hotel, Oberoi Hotel and Nari-man House.
His reconnaissance provided vital information for the 10 LeT terrorists and their handlers, who launched the attack on No-vember 26, 2008 in which 166 persons were killed.
Facing trialThe Mumbai police had on Octo-ber 8 moved an application before the court saying that Headley (who is currently serving 35 years in an American prison for his role in the terror attacks) deserves to be tried by this (Mumbai) court together with 26/11 key plotter Sayed Zabi-uddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in the case as both of them are con-spirators and abettors behind the dastardly strikes.
Jundal is facing trial for his al-leged role in the attacks, which held the city to ransom for three
days. Speaking to PTI, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Ni-kam said, “David Headley has been joined as an accused along with Abu Jundal (in the 26/11 case) and the court has taken cognisance of offences against Headley.”
Nikam also said that the charge sheet filed against Jundal carves out the role of Headley and hence no separate charge sheet was needed against the latter.
Earlier this month, during a hearing the court had sought to know why the Mumbai police did not launch an investigation after the US took Headley’s custody.
The court had also said that the judgment of the foreign court only has ‘persuasive value’ and it cannot be relied upon as evi-dence. Nikam had then told the court that Headley had not been tried under Indian law for con-spiracy in the 26/11 attacks.
In Maharashtra, Jundal is also accused of involvement in Au-rangabad arms haul case, 2010 German Bakery blast case in Pune, and Nashik police academy attack conspiracy case. - PTI
S U M M O N S I S S U E D
David Coleman Headley
Slain Chittoor mayor’s husband dies
HYDERABAD: The husband of the slain Chittoor Mayor who was seriously injured in an attack by at least six persons, has suc-cumbed to his injuries, even as the police continued a vigorous search to trace the suspects.
K. Mohan, who was critically injured in Tuesday’s attack, succumbed to his injuries last night at Christian Medical Col-lege Hospital at Vellore in Tamil
Nadu, where he was admitted, a police officer said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, police have stepped up the manhunt to nab the accused. Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha was shot and stabbed to death by at least six assailants inside her chamber at the Chittoor Municipal Corpo-ration and Mohan, a TDP leader, was also seriously injured in the attack by them. - PTI
S U C C U M B S T O I N J U R I E S
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Choke terror funds through targeted economic sanctions: Modi
NEW DELHI: Pitching for con-certed global efforts to choke ter-ror funding through “targeted eco-nomic sanctions”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Paris attacks were a grim reminder that terrorists show re-markable flexibility and adaptabil-ity in arranging finances.
Underlining that terror fund-ings are being derived from a va-riety of criminal activities ranging from vehicle thefts to state spon-sored activities in failed states, Modi called for disrupting fund flow to hit at the abilities of terror groups to carry out attacks.
“The dastardly acts commit-ted in Paris a few days ago are a grim reminder that terrorists have shown remarkable flexibility and adaptability in meeting their fund-ing requirements.
“Disrupting fund flow con-strains the capabilities of terror-ists and reduces their ability to execute attacks,” he said address-ing the sixth Global Focal Point Conference on Asset Recovery and 21st conference of CBI and state
anti- corruption and vigilance bu-reaux attended by 34 countries.
Last week, Modi had raised the issue during the G-20 summit in Turkey which took place immedi-ately after the Paris terror attack which claimed over 134 lives.
Illicit fundingHe said globalisation of organised crime poses a major threat to econ-omies throughout the world and it is a well known fact that “dirty money drives out good money”.
“Organised crime can hamper investment and economic growth. It can also infiltrate or control a large section of economy. Illicit funding promotes organised crim-inal activities like drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human traffick-ing and terrorism,” he warned.
Calling for a concerted efforts to clamp down on proceeds of crime, the prime minister said economic liberalism and globalisation have drastically increased the ability to park profits of crime anywhere in the world within seconds conceal-ing its trail whereas investigation
agencies are limited by national boundaries.
Asserting that his government is unsparing in punishing the cor-rupt, Indian Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi on Wednesday said 45 senior officers have either been removed or faced pension cuts for “unsatisfactory performance and
delivery in public service”. He said the focus of his government was on providing system-based and policy-driven governance.
“A governance structure that is sensitive, transparent and ac-countable,” he said.
Speaking at conference the Prime Minister said corruption is
one of the “principle challenges” for government’s across the world in transforming the lives of poor and maginalised.
“We in India are currently in a crucial phase of nation building. Our mission is to build a prosper-ous India. An India where our farmers are capable, our workers satisfied, our women empowered and our youth self-reliant.
Fight against corruption“This is not an impossible mission. However, to achieve this objective, it is essential to fight relentlessly against corruption. India stands committed in its fight against cor-ruption,” he said.
Highlighting the achievements of his government in tackling the menace of corruption in bureau-cracy, he said several steps have been taken to make the bureau-cracy more efficient, performance-oriented and accountable.
“The Government is committed to ensuring probity among public servants and to protect them from frivolous allegations.
“Equally, the Government is unsparing when it comes to pun-ishing the corrupt. We have so far removed and ensured pension cuts of 45 senior officers of various services for unsatisfactory perfor-mance and delivery in public ser-vice,” he said.
The Prime Minister said after as-suming the office, his government had taken several steps to check corruption and the menace of black money in a short span of time which included setting of a Special Investigation Team under the su-pervision of the Supreme Court to look into the blackmoney issue.
The Supreme Court had di-rected the Centre to form an SIT and after Modi government came to power in May last year, it an-nounced its constitution as the deadline was nearing. He said In-dia has entered into agreements with many countries for exchang-ing real time information on black money besides signing an Inter Government Agreement with the US to implement the Foreign Ac-count Tax Compliance Act. -PTI
O R G A N I S E D C R I M E
ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, MoS at PMO
Jitendra Singh and Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary
in a group photograph with CBI officers, at the inaugural ceremony
of the sixth Global Focal Point Conference on Asset Recovery, in
New Delhi on Wednesday. -PTI
‘Exports fall 45% despite PM’s 30 foreign trips in 18 months’
NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday sought to take the sheen out of Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi’s frequent foreign tours, alleging India’s exports have dropped by a whopping 45 per cent despite him complet-ing 30 foreign visits during his 18-month tenure.
The party also took a jibe at Modi over the issue of price rise and said his government has “in one stroke taken away carbohydrate, protein, vitamin and fat from the plates of the common man”.
“After 30 foreign visits and an-other four lined-up, all that Modi has achieved for the nation during
his 18 months tenure is a whop-ping drop of 44.89 per cent in In-dian exports, from $280 billion d in May 2014 to $154 billion dol-lars today,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.
PlummetingHe said that despite “all the hoopla” created by the Modi government around ‘Make In India’ initiative, Indian exports have contracted for 11 straight months now and plummeted by 17.6 per cent to just $154.29 bil-
lion in October. He said under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance(UPA) government, In-dia’s exports crossed the targeted $300 billion and stood at $315 bil-lion in March 2013.
“What is particularly worrying is the persistent weakness across other major segments. Gems and jewellery, which account for roughly 13 per cent of the export basket, fell by 12.8 per cent and chemicals and related products which account for 10 per cent of the basket fell by 8.2 per cent while
engineering goods with a share of 22.4 per cent have contracted 11.6 per cent,” Singhvi said.
EconomyThis continuing weakness rein-forces concerns about India’s abil-ity to replace China as the manu-facturing hub of the world and it also raises serious doubts about meeting the $300 billion export mark, he said.
Posing a number of questions to the Prime Minister, Singhvi asked as to why is the economy in such a
“pitiable” state.“Apart from the sloganeering
that the Prime Minister is indulg-ing in the NRI circuit, what tan-gible steps has the government taken to push exports,” he asked.
The Congress spokesman also asked the Prime Minister what exactly “have you been doing on your frequent foreign tours?”
“What reason does the Prime Minister have about the contract-ing exports of iron ore, rice, oil seeds and jewellery for which In-dia is famous for,” Singhvi asked.
Taking a dig at the Prime Min-ister and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Congress spokesman said that if they are finding it dif-ficult to handle the economy, his party would like to help them with all its experience in the larger in-terest of the country.
Failed on all fronts“The government should just ac-cept the fact that it has failed in all fronts when it comes to tackling the economy,” Singhvi said.
Turning to price rise, he said “dal continues to sell at Rs200/kg, onion at Rs40/kg, tomatoes at Rs 70-80/kg, matar at 160/kg and now the basic carbohydrate rich rice threatens to touch a boiling point”.
“In effect, Modi has effected a ‘Mehangai Ki Maar’ (adverse im-pact of price rise) that has in one stroke taken away carbohydrate, protein, vitamin and fat from the plates of a common Indian,” he said. - PTI
Congress spokesman
Abhishek Singhvi
said after 30 foreign
visits, all that Modi
has achieved for the
nation during his
18 months tenure
is a whopping drop
of 44.89 per cent in
Indian exports, from
$280 billion in
May 2014 to $154
billion today
In effect, Modi has effected a ‘Mehangai Ki Maar’ (adverse impact of price rise) that has in one stroke taken away carbohydrate, protein, vitamin and fat from the plates of a common Indian
Abhishek SinghviCongress spokespersonWARM GREETINGS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with
the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a meeting on the
sidelines of G20 Summit 2015, in Antalya, Turkey on Monday. - PTI
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Hit-and-run case: Evidence suggests Salman was drivingMUMBAI: Evidence suggests Salman Khan was driving his car when it rammed into a shop in Bandra in 2002 killing one person and injuring four others sleep-ing outside, the prosecution on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court, hearing the actor’s appeal against his conviction by a lower court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
“Two witnesses had seen the Bollywood hero Salman Khan occupying the driver’s seat of his car... this implies that he was driv-ing the car,” public prosecutor S. S. Shinde told Justice A. R. Joshi who is hearing Salman’s appeal against the five-year sentence awarded to him by the sessions trial court on May 6.
Shinde referred to evidence of PW-6 (prosecution witness), a parking attendant at JW Marriott Hotel in suburban Juhu, which the actor had visited along with his friends just before the acci-dent occurred on the night of Sep-tember 28, 2002.
“This witness has said that he
had seen Salman at the driver’s seat of the car in the parking slot at JW Marriott Hotel,” the public prosecutor said, adding that even Salman had admitted to this in the trial court.
The actor had said in the trial court that on the night of the in-cident he was waiting in the car, parked at the hotel, for his fam-ily driver Ashok Singh to come and take over from other driver who had fallen sick and wanted to leave.
Salman had said that he occu-
pied the driver’s seat in the car for some time but got up after Singh arrived. However, the public pros-ecutor said that the witness did not see Singh arriving at the hotel.
So it is not known whether the driver had indeed arrived and if so then at what time.
Shinde also referred to evi-dence of another witness, who was injured in the mishap, saying
that the latter had seen Salman getting down from the driver’s seat of the car, thereby implying that the actor was behind the
wheels of the car.“Two witnesses have thus said
in their evidence that they had seen the actor at the driver’s seat of the car. This clearly establishes that he was driving the vehicle,” Shinde told the court.
According to prosecution, Sal-man’s Land Cruiser had ran over five persons, killing one of them, sleeping outside the American Ex-press Bakery. The trial court had earlier sentenced Salman to jail for five years, after which he filed an appeal in the high court. - PTI
H E A R I N G I N S A L M A N ’ S A P P E A L
Justice Thakur appointed as Chief Justice of India
NEW DELHI: Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, who had led the Supreme Court bench which de-livered a verdict on reforming the Indian Cricket Board, was on Wednesday appointed the Chief Justice of India. He will take oath on December 3.
The senior-most judge of the apex court, Justice Thakur (63), will take over from incumbent Justice H. L. Dattu who retires on December 2.
“In exercise of the powers con-ferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, Judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with ef-fect from December 3, 2015,” a Law Ministry statement said.
Justice Thakur headed the bench which had delivered the verdict on reforming the BCCI in the wake of the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal. The probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case is also being monitored by a Su-preme Court bench headed by him. He would have a tenure as CJI for a little over one year and would re-tire on January 4, 2017. - PTI
N E W R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y
Tirath Singh Thakur
Salman Khan
A17
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Deal to accept deportations from Europe suspended
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will re-fuse to accept any citizens deport-ed from mainland Europe, halt-ing repatriations at a time when European leaders facing an in-flux of migration are desperate to streamline procedures, the inte-
rior ministry said on Wednesday.Globally, around 90,000 people
were deported back to Pakistan last year for a variety of offences, but in some cases they had been sent back without proper de-termination they were Pakistan nationals, an interior ministry spokesman said.
It was not immediately clear
exactly how many came from Eu-rope, although the figure is in the thousands, he said.
European Union nations signed a deal with Pakistan in 2009 al-lowing them to repatriate illegal immigrants and other nationali-ties who transited through Paki-stan on their way to Europe.
“There were some irregularities
in the implementation of this agree-ment,” the spokesman, who asked not to be named, said. “The signing country had to first verify the nation-ality of that person who was being deported but there were instances where the nationality was not being verified. The minister took notice and the agreement is temporarily suspended.”
EU officials in Pakistan were not immediately available for comment on the Pakistani deci-sion. Europe is facing its biggest influx of migrants in decades, with many families fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some European leaders are calling for tighter controls over fears of IS infiltration after at-tacks in Paris last week killed 127 people and injured around 200.
Fleeing persecutionPakistan’s refusal to accept depor-tees could slow down the removal of illegal economic migrants, making it harder to accept those genuinely fleeing persecution.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said that airlines returning deportees without Pakistani permission would be penalised.
“Any airline that brings depor-tees to Pakistan without Interior Ministry permission and without Pakistan travel documents will be fined heavily,” he said.
Britain has a separate deal on deportations with Pakistan and is not affected by Tuesday’s deci-sion. Nisar added that Pakistan would not accept any deportees accused of militant links without clear evidence of guilt. — Reuters
Globally, around
90,000 people were
deported back to
Pakistan last year for
a variety of offences,
but in some cases
they had been sent
back without proper
determination they
were Pakistani
nationals, an interior
ministry official said
Quake-hit children suffer from traumaABBOTTABAD: Children in earthquake-affected areas of Hazara Division are suffering from psychological trauma after the devastating earthquake that ripped through various parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Oc-tober 26.
The unofficial death toll in the disaster stands at 44 killed and 300 injured. Hundreds of houses were either destroyed or partially damaged in Torghar, Kohistan, Battagram, Mansehra, Abbot-tabad and Haripur.
However, the natural calamity has left deep psychological scars on children. According to par-ents and teachers, children are still haunted by the memory of the temblor.
“They rush out of the school in distress whenever they feel even a mild movement on the CGI sheet roofed school. It is therefore hard-er for them to forget the October 26 earthquake,” said Sultan Khan, a schoolteacher at Government Primary School in Gheton.
Babar Khan, another senior pri-mary schoolteacher, said frequent aftershocks have led students
to believe there will be another earthquake.
“This is distracting students from their studies,” he said.
Babar added cracks in school buildings and houses have cre-ated the illusion among children that their lives are on the verge of collapse.
Hifzoon Bibi, whose husband
died in the earthquake, said she is living with her eight chil-dren and her mother-in-law in a makeshift tent.
“The house is completely dam-aged,” he said. “However, it is up-setting to see my children dealing with the loss of their father and our house.”
According to Hifzoon Bibi, she
is not worried about receiving compensation from the govern-ment. “My main concern is how to bring my children out of this psy-chological trauma,” he added.
Deep scarsSocial activist Rizwanullah said the earthquake has left deep scars on people’s lives. “We need to reach out to children to help them regain interest in life,” he said.
“This is just as important as re-lief work.”
Rizwanullah emphasised on the need to help children who are suffering from trauma, so they can have a brighter future. “Before the calamity, people were all busy with their lives,” he said. “But now, many of them are reliving the dis-aster and are expecting an even bleaker future.”
Lost everythingTaj Khan, a local, said many peo-ple have lost their homes and livestock. “Young people lost everything in the blink of an eye,” he said.
“That’s why they are suffering from trauma.” — Express Tribune
N A T U R A L C A L A M I T Y
Crackdown on human traffickers launchedISLAMABAD: Amid fears that Pakistan might be downgraded to Tier 3 on the US’ human trafficking watchlist, the Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) on Wednesday launched a nationwide crackdown against human traffickers.
Pakistan, which is currently on the Tier 2 Watch List, has been urged by several global anti-hu-man trafficking and human rights organisations to control worsen-ing trends of human smuggling in the country.
FIA officials are looking for as many as 300 top human traffick-ers whose passports have already been cancelled.
Illegal passportsFollowing directives by Inte-rior Minsiter Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, FIA teams arrested sev-eral human smugglers and their agents, who allegedly possessed hundreds of illegal passports, in the crackdown initiated at 11am today, an FIA, an official told The Express Tribune.
Director FIA Islamabad Re-gion Inam Ghani raided Al Qebla Travel and Tours, while another FIA team raided a shop at Shah Hussain Chowk Gujrat, recover-ing five Pakistani passports, he said. — Express Tribune
G L O B A L P R E S S U R E
MIGRANT CRISIS: A migrant from Pakistan drinks tea in the middle of a makeshift shelter at the har-bour in Calais, northern France, in this file photo. — Reuters
They rush out of the school in distress whenever
they feel even a mild movement on the CGI sheet
roofed school. It is therefore harder for them
to forget the October 26 earthquake
Sultan KhanSchoolteache, Government Primary School in Gheton
A18
WORLDT H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
SCARE IN THE AIR: Air France Airbus 380, Flight 65, sits on the
runway at the Salt Lake City International Airport being inspected
by the FBI on November 17, 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah. – AFP
Two die as police raid Paris suburb
SAINT DENIS (FRANCE): A woman suicide bomber blew her-self up and another militant died on Wednesday when police raided an apartment in the Paris suburb of St. Denis seeking suspects in last week’s attacks in the French capital.
Officials said police had been hunting Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian militant accused of master-minding the November 13 carnage, but more than seven hours after the launch of the pre-dawn raid it was still unclear if they had found him.
Seven people were arrested in the operation, which started with a bar-rage of gunfire, including three peo-ple who were pulled from the apart-ment, officials said.
“It is impossible to tell you who was arrested. We are in the process of verifying that. Everything will be
done to determine who is who,” Par-is prosecutor Francois Molins said at the end of the operation.
Molins said the assault was or-dered after phone taps and sur-veillance operations led police to
believe that Abaaoud might have been in St. Denis, near to the soccer stadium which was site of one of the attacks that hit Paris last week.
A total of 129 people died in the coordinated bombings and shoot-
ings. Investigators believe the worst atrocity in France since World War II was set in motion from Syria, with hardliners’ cells in neighbouring Belgium organising the mayhem.
Two police sources say investi-
gators believe the St. Denis group had been planning an attack on the French capital’s La Defence busi-ness capital. Local residents spoke of their fear and panic as the shoot-ing started in St. Denis just before 4.30am (0330 GMT).
“We could see bullets flying and laser beams out of the window. There were explosions. You could feel the whole building shake,” said Sabrine, a downstairs neighbour from the apartment that was raided.
She told Europe 1 radio that she heard the people above her talking to each other, running around and reloading their guns.
Another local, Sanoko Abdulai, said that as the operation gathered pace, a young woman detonated an explosion. “She had a bomb, that’s for sure. The police didn’t kill her, she blew herself up...,” he told Reu-ters, without giving details.
Police officers injuredThree police officers and a passerby were injured in the assault. A police dog was killed.
IS, which controls swathes of ter-ritory in Syria and Iraq, has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, saying they were in retaliation for French air raids against their posi-tions over the past year.
French prosecutors have identi-fied five of the seven dead assail-ants from Friday - four Frenchmen and a man who was fingerprinted in Greece last month after arriv-ing in the country via Turkey with
a boatload of refugees fleeing the Syria war.
Police believe two men directly involved in the assault subsequently escaped, including Salah Abdeslam, 26, a Belgian-based Frenchman who is believed to have played a central role in both planning and executing the deadly mission.
Until Wednesday morning, of-ficials had said Abaaoud was in Syria. He grew up in Brussels, but media said he moved to Syria in 2014 to fight with IS. Since then he has travelled back to Europe at least once and was involved in a series of planned attacks in Belgium foiled by the police last January.
A man in St. Denis told reporters that he had rented out the besieged apartment to two people last week.
“Someone asked me a favour, I did them a favour. Someone asked me to put two people up for three days and I did them a favour, it’s normal. I don’t know where they came from I don’t know anything,” the man told Reuters Television.
He was later arrested by police.French President Francois Hol-
lande is due to meet Russian Pres-ident Vladimir Putin in Moscow on November 26 to discuss how their countries’ militaries might work together.
Hollande is also due to meet US President Barack Obama in Wash-ington two days before that to push for a concerted drive against IS, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. — Reuters
Officials said police
had been hunting
Abdelhamid
Abaaoud, a Belgian
militant accused of
masterminding the
November 13 carnage
Two Air France flights diverted after anonymous bomb threatsLOS ANGELES: Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the United States were diverted for several hours on Tuesday follow-ing anonymous bomb threats, and more than 700 passengers and crew were safely taken off the planes, officials said.
Flight 65, an Airbus A-380 that departed from Los Angeles, landed safely in Salt Lake City, where pas-sengers and crew were escorted into the terminal, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administra-tion said. The Salt Lake Tribune, citing an airport official, said it was carrying 497 passengers and crew.
The FBI said in a statement that no evidence was found aboard the plane “which would lend credibil-ity to the threats” against the flight.
The airport said operations were not affected, and local Utah media including broadcaster KSL reported that passengers had been cleared to reboard and resume their journey.
Keith Rosso, a passenger who tweeted a photo shortly after take-off from Los Angeles, said he was “thankful to everyone who has been working to keep everyone calm and make sure air travel is safe. Hope to be taking off again shortly”.
A separate Boeing 777 that left Dulles International Airport outside Washington, DC, Flight 55, was diverted to Halifax In-ternational Airport in Nova Sco-tia, which said 262 passengers and crew members had safely disembarked.
SearchThe Royal Canadian Mounted Po-lice in Halifax said on its Twitter feed that police dogs searched the plane for evidence of explosives, but no details were disclosed.
In a brief statement, Air France said both flights had been the “sub-jects of anonymous threats received after their respective take-offs”.
“As a precautionary measure and to conduct all necessary se-
curity checks, Air France, apply-ing the safety regulations in force, decided to request the landings of both aircraft,” the airline said in its statement.
It said authorities inspected the aircraft, passengers and luggage, adding: “An investigation will be led by the authorities to identify the source of the telephone call”.
Security officials have been on high alert since IS militants claimed responsibility for attacks last week in Paris that killed 129 people. Russia has said the group was also responsible for the down-ing on October 31 of a plane re-turning to St. Petersburg from the Sharm El Sheikh resort in Egypt, killing all 224 on board.
The incidents did not appear to be causing flight delays or cancel-lations elsewhere.
According to data on flight tracking website flightradar24.com, flights operated by both Air France and other airlines appear to be taking off and landing nor-mally at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. — Reuters
H O A X
CATCHING SUSPECTS: French police enter the Eglise Neuve church after they smashed the door as they
secure the area during an operation in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on November 18, 2015 to catch fugitives
from Friday night’s deadly attacks in the French capital. – Reuters
WAITING FOR LUGGAGE: Pas-
sengers at the Salt Lake City
international Airport wait for
their luggage late Tuesday in
Salt Lake City, Utah. – AFP
Seven people were arrested in the operation,
which started with a barrage of gunfire, including
three people who were pulled from the apartment
French officials
A19
WORLDT H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
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Southeast Asia faces threat of ‘IS-style terror attacks’
KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asia faces the threat of IS-inspired at-tacks designed to “glamorise terror-ism”, a Malaysian minister said on Wednesday, voicing fears of battle-hardened fighters returning from Syria to launch Paris-style attacks.
In September, Malaysian police thwarted a plot to detonate bombs
in Kuala Lumpur’s vibrant tourist area of Bukit Bintang. Other recent plots frustrated by Malaysian se-curity forces included plans to raid army camps and seize weapons.
“I think the Paris situation can also be transplanted here, in South-east Asia, where we also have fertile ground for recruitment of such op-
eratives who will receive directives from Syria to carry out attacks,” Nur Jazlan Mohamed, Malaysia’s deputy home minister, said in an interview. “Such attacks, they hope, will glamorise terrorism and there-fore attract more people to join their cause,” he said, singling out tourist and entertainment centres in the region as a favoured targets.
Terrorism is high on the agenda of world leaders gathered in Manila for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit, in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.
And the minister’s comments follow news of the execution this week of a Malaysian businessman in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf, and militant group that had past links to Al Qaeda but has more re-cently shown support for IS mili-tant group.
Estimates suggests that more that 500 Indonesians, over 40 Ma-
laysians and a handful of Singapo-reans have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq. Hundreds of others were ar-rested or detained before they could leave the country.
In Malaysia, 150 terror suspects have been arrested since IS rose to prominence in 2013.
Counter-terrosism will doubt-less be on the agenda when Southeast Asian leader gather in Kuala Lumpur next week for a re-gional summit, and security has been ratcheted up in the Malaysian capital. “We have upgraded our se-curity information at immigration to make sure there are no suspi-cious foreigners coming into coun-try and activated anti-terrorism unit locally,” Nur Jazlan said.
Enforcement officials and securi-ty experts fear Malaysian militants hiding in Southern Philippines are trying to bring together groups in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philip-pines to form a regional branch of
IS. Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the Al Qaeda linked group that carried out the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed over 200 people, that could be used to build a network.
JI has been most active in Indo-nesia, but has had cells in several other Southeast Asian countries, whereas there is an array of smaller militant groups, like Abu Sayyaf, operating more locally in the re-gion. “These groups are just looking for an umbrella organisation and IS is becoming that organisation for these disparate and separate groups to get together,” said Nur Jazlan.
Sidney Jones, the head of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict and an regional expert on terrorism issues said there is increasing pressure from Indonesian and Philippine sup-porters of IS to declare a province of IS in Southeast Asia that would cover Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. — Reuters
Terrorism is high on
the agenda of world
leaders gathered in
Manila for the Asia-
Pacific Economic
Cooperation summit
Fresh clashes in Kosovo over Serbia accordPRISTINA: Police and protest-ers clashed in Kosovo for a second day on Wednesday in a deepening crisis over relations with former ruler Serbia.
Police fired tear gas at a crowd of around 150 people lobbing rocks, bottles and petrol bombs outside the government building in cen-tral Pristina. Hours earlier, bomb disposal experts detonated a hand grenade thrown near Kosovo’s Constitutional Court, which has been asked to rule on a European Union-brokered accord with Ser-bia that the parliamentary opposi-tion vehemently opposes.
On Tuesday, opposition law-makers fired tear gas and pepper spray in parliament and police clashed with rock-throwing pro-testers, the latest in months of vio-lence over the accord.
Angry oppositionThe opposition is angry in particu-lar at an agreement to grant ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo greater local powers and the possibility of some financing from Belgrade.
Majority-Albanian Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 1999 when NATO carried out 11 weeks of air strikes to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces trying to crush a guerrilla insurgency.
Wednesday’s protests followed news of the arrest of opposition lawmaker Donika Kadaj-Bujupi on charges of releasing tear gas in par-liament. Police also said they were looking for three more lawmakers including Albin Kurti, founder of the opposition Self-Determination party, who is wanted for releasing tear gas and firing pepper spray.
Kosovo’s president has sought a ruling from the Constitutional Court on whether the EU-bro-kered deal was in line with the con-stitution. The court is due to issue its ruling in the next few weeks, and on Wednesday it was sur-rounded by police and bomb squad units after a grenade was thrown into the backyard of the complex.
No one was hurt and the grenade was detonated in a controlled ex-plosion. — Reuters
V I O L E N C E
Militants execute Malaysian hostage in PhilippinesKUALA LUMPUR/MANILA: A small Al Qaeda-linked militant group has executed a Malaysian businessman held captive since May on the southern Philippine is-land of Jolo, the Malaysian govern-ment said on Wednesday.
The Philippine military ear-lier said it was investigating cred-ible intelligence reports that Abu Sayyaf militants had beheaded Bernard Then on Tuesday.
Shocked and sickenedOn his Facebook page, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was shocked and sickened at the killing and demanded the perpe-trators be brought to justice. Asked by Reuters if the man was behead-ed, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed would only say his death was “violent”.
Philippine Brigadier-General Alan Arrojado, army commander on Jolo, said the Malaysian was killed in the town of Indanan.
While the execution is far to the south of the capital Manila, where world leaders including US Presi-dent Barack Obama are attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Coop-
eration (APEC) summit, it is a re-minder of the security challenges small hardline groups still pose to the Philippines.
StrongholdJolo is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, a group known for bomb attacks, kidnappings and beheadings. It fre-quently seeks ransom in return for freeing hostages. The businessman and a Malaysian woman were ab-ducted in May from a Chinese sea-food restaurant in a coastal town in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, on Borneo island, and taken to Jolo. Last week, Abu Sayyaf freed the woman after reports a ransom was paid for her release.
Intelligence reportArrojado said an earlier intelli-gence report indicated Abu Sayyaf planned to behead the man if a ran-som was not paid.
In September, Abu Sayyaf kid-napped two Canadians, a Norwe-gian and a Filipino from an up-scale beach resort in the southern Philippines. They have demanded $21.21 million (1 billion pesos) for each of the captives. — Reuters
C A P T I V E
Bangladesh to hang opposition leadersDHAKA: Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected final appeals from two opposition leaders against death sentences for atroci-ties committed during the 1971 war, rulings that are likely to spark pro-tests by their supporters.
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, 67, secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was found guilty of five charges, including torture and the murders of intellectuals and mi-nority community.
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, 66, former legislator from former premier Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was con-victed in October 2013 on charges of genocide, religious persecution, abduction and torture.
“The entire nation is happy with the verdicts,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters out-side the packed court amid tight se-curity. — Reuters
W A R C R I M E S
VOICING FEARS: Nur Jazlan Mo-
hamed, Malaysia’s deputy home
minister. – Reuters
MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMT H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5B
Muscat
5,797.69 - 16.66
- 0.29%
Dubai
3,108.77- 8.96
- 0.28%
Abu Dhabi
4,196.85 - 0.25
- 0.01%
Saudi Arabia
6,932.13+ 15.36
+ 0.22%
Kuwait
5,698.10 - 1.68
- 0.03%
Bahrain
1,217.83 - 2.38
- 0.20%
Qatar
10,827.66+ 25.37
+ 0.23%
CURRENCY RATES* DRAFT RATES (OMR1)* GOLD PRICES*Forex rates vs OMR1*
US Dollar .................................2.58
Euro ............................................ 2.38
Pound ...........................................1.69
Indian Rs ..............................171.29
Pak Rs ...................................269.32
Bangla Taka......................200.08* Rates are as of Nov. 18
Source: Bank Muscat
Indian Rs ...................................172.05
Pakistan Rs .............................273.70
Sri Lanka Rs ...........................367.00
Bangla Taka............................207.00
Phil Peso ................................... 122.00
* Rates as of Nov. 18 Source: Oman UAE Exchange
Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) ....... 13.75
Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......13.30
Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ........... 130.50
Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 123.75
* Rates as of Nov. 18
Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds
Type ............................Delivery...........Price
Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$40.04
Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$39.35
Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$43.97
Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$38.92
N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........$44.43
West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$41.24
CRUDE OIL PRICE
DIGEST VIDEO
S CA N T H I S Q R CO D E TO I N STA N T LY L AU N C H T H E V I D EO
Top stories in one minute with our new daily Digest
Oman, Pakistan plan joint business council
SHAHZAD [email protected]
MUSCAT: Oman and Pakistan have decided to boost bilateral trade by encouraging business commu-nity in both the countries to step forward and play an active role in strengthening economic ties.
A memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) was signed by Oman Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (OCCI) and Federation of Paki-stan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at the recently held Business Opportunities Fo-rum to set up Oman-Pakistan Joint Business Council (JBC).
The MoU was signed by Redha Juma Mohammed Ali Al Saleh,
vice-chairman of OCCI, and Asim Arif Suleman, chairman, Pak-Oman Business Council at FPCCI.
A non-profit organisation, the JBC will be responsible for assist-ing the business circles of Oman and Pakistan as well as playing an active role in efforts to enhance bilateral economic relations in order to stimulate two-way trade and investment flow.
“The JBC Steering Committee will be composed of ten members from each side and its first meet-ing is likely to take place in Febru-
ary 2016. That meeting, with key representatives from Oman and Pakistan, will set its future course of action as well as identifying ar-eas of immediate attention,” Asim told Times of Oman.
Business opportunitiesThe JBC aims to ensure direct exchange of information among Omani and Pakistani business communities about economic and market situation, produc-tion, business opportunities, as well as technological and indus-
trial cooperation.The general as-sembly of the JBC will comprise businessmen from Oman and Pakistan, keen to be a part of the process to strengthen the trade activities with active participa-tion in joint exhibitions.
“We are going to look at every possible way to boost our econom-ic relations with Oman. Involving Pakistani business community in Oman will form an important component of this effort to boost bilateral trade,” Asim added.
The Joint Business Council aims to facilitate contacts among Omani and Pakistani business-men in economic, industrial and technological cooperation, in-cluding joint ventures, transfer of technology, licensing and techni-cal know-how.
In order to ensure its smooth functioning, the business council is likely to form a number of sub-committees and task forces to make recommendations on spe-cific matters.
Chambers of both
countries signed a
deal to form Oman-
Pakistan Joint
Business Council
BOOST TO TRADE TIES: The memorandum of understanding was
signed by Redha Juma Mohammed Ali Al Saleh, vice-chairman of
OCCI (right), and Asim Arif Suleman, chairman, Pak-Oman Busi-
ness Council at FPCCI. - Supplied picture
HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]
Saudi crude stockpiles fall as overseas demand risesRIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s crude oil stockpiles fell from a record amid signs that overseas demand for refined products was picking up as margins improved.
Stockpiles dropped to 322.7 million barrels in September from 326.6 million in August, the highest since at least 2002, according to data published on Wednesday on the website of the Riyadh-based Joint Organisa-tions Data Initiative (JODI).
Gasoline exports climbed to a record and Saudi Arabia’s own refineries processed 2.5 million barrels of crude daily, an all-time high and up from 2.2 million bar-rels a day in August.
Refineries are earning so much money from the low cost of crude and higher selling prices for their products that they are cutting back on maintenance. Plants are usually taken off line for repairs in September and October. Saudi Arabia’s Yasref oil refinery is pro-cessing crude at full capacity as margins improved since August, chief executive officer Moham-mad Alshammari said last month.
“Refineries at home or abroad seem to be back very fast from maintenance,” Mohamed Ram-ady, an independent analyst and former economics professor at King Fahad University of Petro-
leum and Minerals, said by phone from London. “The fastest way to delivery crude to them is from stockpiles.”
Brent crude oil prices dropped 23 per cent this year amid a global supply glut. Brent futures for December settlement climbed
1.7 per cent to $44.31 a barrel on Wednesday as United States in-dustry data was said to show a drop in the nation’s crude stock-piles for last week.
Oil exports riseCrude inventories dropped for the first time in four months in Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). Its crude exports rose to 7.1 million barrels a day from 6.99 million in August, according to the JODI.
“Crude stockpiling can’t go up indefinitely, so at some point some draws have to be made from them to give room for new crude to be stored when needed,” Ramady said. Saudi Arabia cut oil production in September to 10.23 million barrels a day from 10.27 million in August, according to the JODI data.
The kingdom told Opec that it produced 10.28 million barrels daily in October, which would be the first increase since the record output of 10.564 million in June.
Refined products exports from Saudi Arabia fell in September, to 1.19 million barrels a day from 1.35 million . Gasoline bucked the trend, rising to a record 206,000 barrels a day from 200,000 bar-rels in August. - Bloomberg News
O I L M A R K E T
Refineries at home
or abroad seem to be
back very fast from
maintenance. The
fastest way to delivery
crude to them is from
stockpiles
Mohamed Ramady An analyst and former professor of economics, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals
EXPORTS RISE: Saudi Arabia’s stockpiles dropped to 322.7 million barrels in September from 326.6
million in August, the highest since at least 2002, according to data published on Wednesday.
Picture is used for illustrative purpose only. – Bloomberg News
B2
MARKETT H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET
SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18
REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .......................................................... 399,420 ..........183,733........................7 ........... 0.460 ...........0.460 ...........0.460........... 0.460 .............0.450 ............0.010 .............2.222 ................0.460..............0.460...................0.480 .................152,201,447 ........0.100
OM0000003125 ............GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ................ 2,175,000 ......223,650........................4 ............0.103 ........... 0.103 ...........0.100 ........... 0.103 .............0.102 ............0.001 ............. 0.980 ................0.101 .............. 0.101...................0.103 ...................20,600,000 ........0.100
OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ..............................................................580 .................. 583........................2 ............1.005 ........... 1.005 ...........1.000 ............1.100 ............. 1.100 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.000 ..............1.000...................1.050 ................. 220,000,000 .......0.100
OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ......................................3,730 ............... 1,104........................ 1 ........... 0.296 ........... 0.296 ...........0.296........... 0.298 .............0.298 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.296..............0.285...................0.298 .................399,531,655 ........0.100
OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST ......................................................................46,601 ............ 22,368........................3 ........... 0.480 ...........0.480 ...........0.480........... 0.480 .............0.480 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.480..............0.474...................0.480 .................265,373,588 ........0.100
OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ..................................... 20,000 ............38,200........................3 ............1.910 ........... 1.910............ 1.910 ............1.910 ............. 1.910 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.910 ............. 0.000................... 1.910 ..................171,327,000 ........0.100
OM0000001889 ............SALALAH MILLS ............................................................. 5,000 ............... 7,450........................ 1 ............1.490 ........... 1.490 ...........1.490 ........... 1.490 ............. 1.490............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.490 ............. 0.000...................0.000 .................. 71,762,965 .........0.100
OM0000002275 ...........SHELL OMAN MARKETING .....................................2,500 ...............5,000........................ 1 ........... 2.000 ...........2.000 ...........2.000 .......... 2.000 .............2.000 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.000 ............ 2.000...................2.100................. 190,000,000 .......0.100
OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ..............................475 .....................46........................ 1 ........... 0.097 ........... 0.097 ...........0.097 ........... 0.095 .............0.095 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.097 ..............0.094...................0.097....................2,850,000 ..........0.100
OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 227,935 ........... 22,991......................19 ............0.101 ........... 0.101............0.100 ............0.101 ............. 0.101 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.100 ..............0.100...................0.102 .................... 5,943,165 ..........0.100
OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. ...... 22,000 ............ 43,120........................2 ............1.960 ........... 1.960 ...........1.960 ........... 1.960 ............. 1.960 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.960 ............. 0.000...................1.980 ..................135,240,000 .......0.100
OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 109,737 ...........177,427......................18 ............1.620 ........... 1.620 ........... 1.615 ............1.615 ............. 1.615 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.620 ..............1.620...................1.625 ................ 1,211,250,000 ......0.100
OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 219,504 ............37,974........................7 ............0.173 ........... 0.173 ...........0.173 ............0.173 ............. 0.173 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.173 .............. 0.170...................0.173 ..................249,369,120 ........0.100
OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER ............................................................ 514,381 .......... 190,321........................4 ........... 0.370 ........... 0.370 ...........0.370 ........... 0.370 .............0.370 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.370 ..............0.360...................0.380 .................. 81,773,700 .........0.100
OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 250,281 ......... 194,016..................... 20 ............0.776 ........... 0.776 ...........0.768 ............0.776 ............. 0.776............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.768 .............. 0.768...................0.776 ..................505,132,722 ........0.100
OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ................................38,274 ...........175,678..................... 24 ........... 4.590 ...........4.590 ...........4.590........... 4.590 .............4.590 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................4.590............. 4.200...................4.625................... 44,891,191 .........1.000
OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ............................................. 108,500 ...............9,114........................6 ........... 0.084 ...........0.084 ...........0.084........... 0.084 .............0.084 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.084..............0.083...................0.084 ..................14,700,000 .........0.100
OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ........................................................100 .....................21........................ 1 ........... 0.209 ...........0.209 ...........0.209 .......... 0.210 .............0.210 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.209............. 0.206...................0.210 ..................141,726,360 ........0.100
OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER ..........................................................100 .....................21........................ 1 ........... 0.209 ...........0.209 ...........0.209 .......... 0.210 .............0.210 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.209............. 0.206...................0.210 ..................150,025,331 ........0.100
OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .................................................. 2,724 ............... 7,328........................2 ........... 2.690 ...........2.690 ...........2.690........... 2.690 .............2.700 ...........-0.010 ........... -0.370 ...............2.690..............2.690...................2.700..................256,779,855 ........1.000
OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ................................................................ 5,450 ...............2,823........................ 1 ............0.518 ........... 0.518 ...........0.518 ............0.518 .............0.520 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.385 ...............0.518 .............. 0.518...................0.520 ................1,187,164,105.......0.100
OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 250,000 ........... 44,700........................9 ............0.180 ........... 0.180 ...........0.178 ............0.179 ............. 0.180 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.556 ...............0.178 .............. 0.175...................0.179 ...................35,800,000.........0.100
OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS ................................................................5,081 ................1,616........................ 1 ............0.318 ........... 0.318 ...........0.318 ............0.318 .............0.320 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.625 ...............0.318 .............. 0.318...................0.320 ..................15,900,000 .........0.100
OM0000002374............UNITED FINANCE ..................................................... 147,000............. 17,525........................6 ............0.120 ........... 0.120 ........... 0.119 ............0.119 .............0.120 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.833 ............... 0.119 ...............0.115................... 0.119 ...................36,981,028 .........0.100
OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING .............66,544 ...............6,579..................... 10 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.100 ...........0.098........... 0.099 .............0.100 ...........-0.001 ........... -1.000 ...............0.098 ..............0.099...................0.104...................12,065,625 .........0.100
OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 190,434 ............15,806......................19 ........... 0.083 ........... 0.083 ...........0.083........... 0.083 .............0.084 ...........-0.001 ............-1.190 ................0.083 ..............0.083...................0.084 ..................24,068,393 .........0.100
OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ...................................... 25,000 ...............4,075........................2 ............0.163 ........... 0.163 ...........0.163 ............0.163 ............. 0.165............-0.002 ............-1.212 ................0.163 .............. 0.163...................0.165 ................... 47,376,116 .........0.100
OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ............. 20,500 ............... 5,551........................5 ............0.271 ........... 0.271 ...........0.270............0.271 .............0.275 ...........-0.004 ............-1.455 ................0.271 ..............0.266...................0.271 .................... 5,691,000 ..........0.100
OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ............................................42,601 .............17,064........................2 ........... 0.402 ...........0.402 ...........0.400 .......... 0.400 .............0.406 ...........-0.006 ............-1.478................0.400............. 0.400...................0.406 ..................24,481,709 .........0.100
OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 596,900 ......... 106,834..................... 72 ............0.180 ........... 0.180 ...........0.177 ............0.179 ............. 0.182............-0.003 ........... -1.648................0.177 .............. 0.177...................0.178 ...................26,863,425 .........0.100
OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING .............33,857 ............... 3,742........................9 ............0.111 ............0.111 ............0.110 ............0.111.............. 0.113 ............-0.002 ............-1.770 ................0.110 .............. 0.110................... 0.113 ....................9,990,000 ..........0.100
OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS .................................................. 23,491 ............. 10,195..................... 10 ........... 0.434 ........... 0.434 ...........0.434........... 0.434 .............0.442 ...........-0.008 ............-1.810 ................0.434..............0.430...................0.434 ..................22,785,000 .........0.100
OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 705,000 ......... 219,380......................12 ............0.318 ........... 0.318 ...........0.310 ........... 0.312 ............. 0.318............-0.006 ............-1.887................0.310 ..............0.306...................0.318 ...................92,418,669 .........0.100
OM0000002549 ...........BANK DHOFAR ............................................................. 42,324 ...............9,928........................3 ........... 0.235 ........... 0.235 ...........0.231 ........... 0.235 .............0.240 ...........-0.005 ........... -2.083 ...............0.231 .............. 0.231...................0.240 .................363,011,208 ........0.100
OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ................................. 11,500 ...............2,760........................ 1 ........... 0.240 ...........0.240 ...........0.240 .......... 0.240 .............0.250 ...........-0.010 ........... -4.000 ...............0.240 ............ 0.240...................0.250 ................. 24,000,000 ........0.100
OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ........................ 25,000 ...............3,370........................3 ............0.130 ........... 0.140 ...........0.130 ............0.135 ............. 0.141 ............-0.006 ........... -4.255 ...............0.134 ...............0.131...................0.140 ...................12,830,400 .........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 6,337,524 ... 1,812,093...................292 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......36........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000001053 ............OMAN TEXTILE HOLDING .......................................2,000 .................. 704........................2 ........... 0.352 ........... 0.352 ...........0.352 ........... 0.352 .............0.352 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.352 ..............0.332...................0.352.................... 2,112,000 ..........1.000
OM0000001400 ...........OMAN FLOUR MILLS ................................................... 5,000 ...............2,370........................ 1 ............0.474 ........... 0.474 ...........0.474 ........... 0.474 .............0.474 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.474 ..............0.474...................0.498...................74,655,000 .........0.100
OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES .......................................................28,700 ............... 1,607........................6 ........... 0.056 ........... 0.056 ...........0.056 ........... 0.056 .............0.056 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.056 ..............0.055...................0.056....................7,000,000 ..........0.100
OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 430,486 ........... 64,580..................... 45 ............0.150 ........... 0.151 ............0.150 ........... 0.150 ............. 0.151 ............-0.001 ........... -0.662 ...............0.150 .............. 0.150................... 0.151 ..................219,390,219 ........0.100
OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 3,536,303 ...... 281,140..................... 53 ........... 0.080 ...........0.080 ...........0.079 ........... 0.080 ............. 0.081............-0.001 ............-1.235................0.079 ..............0.079...................0.080 ................ 120,000,000 .......0.100
OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 853,309 ...........62,302..................... 47 ........... 0.073 ........... 0.074 ...........0.073 ........... 0.073 .............0.074 ...........-0.001 ............-1.351 ................0.073 ..............0.073...................0.074...................73,000,000.........0.100
OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING....................................70,250 ............... 5,671......................11 ........... 0.083 ........... 0.083 ...........0.076 ........... 0.081 .............0.083 ...........-0.002 ........... -2.410 ...............0.076 ..............0.077...................0.083.................... 6,091,848 ..........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 4,926,048 ..... 418,375................... 165 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 7........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
BONDS AND SUKUK MARKET ......................................................................................................................................................................OM0000004602 ...........BANK MUSCAT CONV. BONDS 4.5 ........................ 55,551 ............... 6,166........................ 1 ............0.111 ............0.111 ............ 0.111 ............0.111.............. 0.111 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.111 ..............0.106................... 0.111 ................... 33,605,151 .........0.100
OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 ..............................................7,425 .................. 743........................2 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.100 ...........0.100 ........... 0.100 .............0.100 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.100 ..............0.100...................0.103 ...................31,964,268 .........0.100
OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ........................1,856 ...................173........................ 1 ........... 0.093 ........... 0.093 ...........0.093........... 0.092 .............0.092 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.093 ..............0.093...................0.099...................29,822,868 .........0.100
.............................................SUM: ....................................................................................64,832 ................7,081........................4 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 3........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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 ........................................ 5,815.73 ............... 5,797.67 ....................5,797.69 ................... 5,814.35 ................ -16.66 .................. -0.29Financial Index ..................................... 7,110.59 ............... 7,057.56 ....................7,057.56 ....................7,110.59 ................-53.03 .................. -0.75Industrial Index .................................... 7,157.39 ................7,131.76 .................... 7,131.86 ....................7,146.01 ................ -14.15 .................. -0.20Services Index .......................................3,241.86 ...............3,233.65 ................... 3,233.70 ................... 3,241.14 .................. -7.44 .................. -0.23MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................906.46 ..................904.69 ...................... 904.69 ...................... 905.79 ...................-1.10 .................. -0.12
Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded11,328,404 ................. 2,237,549 .....................461 ................14,811,909,792 .................. 2 ......................21 .................... 23 .........................46
MSM index ends lower
MUSCAT: Weak sentiments continue to prevail as the MSM 30 Index closed at 5,797.69 points, down by 0.29 per cent. The Sha-ria Index declined 0.12 per cent to close at 904.69 points.
Bank Nizwa was the most ac-tive in terms of volume as well as turnover. The top gainer was Oman Cement, up by 2.22 per cent, while the top loser was Port Services, down by 4.26 per cent.
As many as 461 trades were executed on Wednesday, generat-ing turnover of OMR2.2 million with 11.3 million shares changing hands. Out of 46 traded securi-ties, two advanced, 21 declined and 23 remained unchanged. Omani investors were net buyers to the tune of OMR200,000 worth of shares followed by GCC and Arab investors at OMR65,000. Foreign investors, who were net sellers, sold shares amounting to OMR266,000.
Financial Index retreated strongly by 0.75 per cent to close at 7,057.56 points. Global Finan-cial Investment, up by 0.98 per cent, was the sole gainer. Oman United Insurance, BankDhofar, Al Sharqia Investments, Al An-war Holding and Al Izz Bank de-clined by 4 per cent, 2.08 per cent, 1.77 per cent, 1.65 per cent and 1.35 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index ended the session at 7,131.86 points, down by 0.20 per cent. Oman Cement gained by 2.22 per cent to close at OMR0.460. Al Hassan Engineer-ing, Al Anwar Ceramics, Al Maha Ceramics, Gulf International Chemicals and Galfar Engineering declined by 2.41 per cent, 1.89 per cent, 1.81 per cent, 1.45 per cent and 1.19 per cent, respectively.
Services Index declined by 0.23 per cent to close at 3,233.70 points. Port Services, Al Jazeera Services, Renaissance Services, Phoenix Power and National Gas declined by 4.26 per cent, 1.48 per cent, 1.21 per cent, 0.66 per cent
and 0.62 per cent, respectively.
Emerging markets fall The biggest rally in emerging-market stocks in a month faded amid renewed concern about Chi-na’s slowdown as investors await-ed the release of United States Federal Reserve minutes. Russia bucked the trend on signs of a rap-prochement with the West.
Shares in Shanghai dropped to a two-week low after President Xi Jinping indicated China faced downside economic risks and data showed a recovery in home prices slowed. Currencies de-clined in Asia before Fed minutes that may shed more light on how quickly it will raise rates. The ru-ble and Russian stocks climbed for a third day.
“Growth is a key concern — Chinese manufacturing is still slowing,” said Tony Hann, head of equities at Blackfriars Asset Management in London. “Inves-tors are waiting to see if they can discern any new information from the Fed minutes.”
Futures traders see a 66 per cent chance of the Federal Re-serve raising rates in December, more than double the odds pre-dicted a month ago, data com-piled by Bloomberg show. Mor-gan Stanley’s Market Implied Pace of Rate Hikes Index suggests the Federal Reserve will carry out three 0.25 percentage-point rate increases in the 12 months after its first move.
The MSCI Emerging Mar-kets Index slipped 0.1 percent to 823.08 in London, after declining as much as 0.4 per cent, following gains in Russia and Brazil. The gauge has slumped 14 percent this year and is valued at 11 times its 12-month estimated earnings, compared to a 2 per cent decline in the MSCI World Index of de-veloped countries, which trades at a multiple of 15.9.
- United Securities/Bloomberg News
The top gainer was Oman Cement, up by 2.22
per cent, while the top loser was Port Services
Corporation, down by 4.26 per cent
Sensex sheds 382 points; rupee dropsMUMBAI: Snapping two-day gains, the S&P BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled by 382 pts to close at more than two-month low at 25,482.52 on fresh selling pressure from operators mainly in IT, banking, metal, technology, realty and auto sectors in view of fall in global markets over fears of fresh terror attacks in Europe.
The Sensex resumed lower at 25,837.71 and hovered in a range of 25,890.36 and 25,453.32 before
ending at more than two-month low at 25,482.52, showing a loss of 381.95 points or 1.48 per cent.
The Sensex had last ended at 25,317.87 on September 8, 2015. The Sensex had gained by 253.94 points or 0.99 per cent in previ-ous two days. The 50-share Nifty also dropped by 105.75 points or 1.35 per cent to close at more than 2-month low at 7,731.80. The Nifty had last ended at 7,688.25 on Sept 8, 2015.
Extended losses The rupee extended losses against the American currency for the second straight day, slip-ping by another 27 paise to close at 66.30 on sustained dollar de-mand from banks and importers in view of persistent foreign capi-tal outflows.
The rupee opened lower at 66.12 per dollar as against Tues-day’s level of 66.03 and dropped further to 66.33. - PTI
I N D I A N M A R K E T S
B3T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
MARKET
DR. RAED BKAYRAT*
Governments, utility com-panies, and private enter-prises around the world
have rapidly been embracing the potential to tap into our most abundant energy resource – the sun – and for good reason: the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth’s surface every six minutes is sufficient to produce more electricity than the world’s population consumes over an en-tire year. Solar energy is not only clean and renewable, but is also cost competitive with fossil fuels.
There is no doubt that invest-ing in solar electricity gener-ates important environmental, economic, and social benefits. Therefore, it comes as no sur-prise that Oman has committed to generating as much as 10 per cent of its total electricity re-quirements from renewable en-ergy sources, including solar, by 2020. Oman is also the only coun-
try in the region to have a cabinet dedicated solely to promoting environmental awareness and sustainable development: the Ministry for Environment and Climate Affairs.
In addition to the competitive economics, solar power plants, when properly designed and in-tegrated into the electricity grid, deliver yet another benefit — a significant contribution to grid stability. Grid stability cannot be taken for granted: electricity is the lifeblood of modern society and a stable electrical grid has a catalytic impact on the econo-mies and communities it powers.
Typical electrical gridThe typical electrical grid was designed and built decades ago on the principle of a centralised energy system of massive power plants transmitting electricity across long distances to the load packets. The adoption of renew-able energy has translated into a
need for these grids to cope in-stead with multiple variable gen-erators, often distributed over large geographical areas, far from the load centers. This presents an important challenge for the electrical system operators and renewable generation owners, particularly since renewables have the potential to match or even surpass conventional gen-eration in some regions over the next decade.
A large part of the challenge arises from the variability of re-newable energy generators: so-lar power plants need sunlight to function and passing clouds could impact their ability to con-sistently generate electricity and maintain the stability of the grid.
Conversely, an unusually sun-ny day in a region with a large volume of distributed genera-tors, during a low demand period, could lead to excess electricity generation, which in turn would impact stability. However, with
new sophisticated tools and op-erational practices, grid opera-tors are able to support the inte-gration and reliable operation of variable generation on the elec-tric power system.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) task force had defined six re-quirements for generation that supports grid stability: voltage, volt-ampere reactive (VAR) con-trol and/or power factor regu-lation; fault ride through; real power control, ramping, and curtailment; primary frequen-cy regulation; frequency droop response; and short circuit duty control.
These requirements are de-signed to control the output of a plant while giving operators the ability to monitor, track and re-act to changes in grid frequency, while also providing a failsafe to prevent faults.
Conventional energy genera-tion systems need to comply with
these standards — which are con-sidered a global benchmark — be-fore being integrated into grids. Today, First Solar’s utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants are designed to address these requirements, marking a signifi-cant leap forward in the integra-tion of renewable energy genera-tors into electrical grids.
Grid-friendly plantsWith more than 10GW installed worldwide, we understand the challenges of integrating utility-scale solar power into grids and have developed a ‘grid-friendly’ plant concept. By using technol-ogy — such as a proprietary plant control system that actively sta-bilises the electricity grid and provides advanced features typi-cal of large, conventional power plants — our grid-friendly plants are able to actively contribute to grid stability. The use of forecast-ing and advanced monitoring techniques, also boost systems
availability and the predictabil-ity of solar energy.
As utility-scale PV has and continues to be successfully in-tegrated into grids worldwide, the use of planning, real time controls, and fast communica-tion technology will continue to further increase its ability to actively contribute towards grid stability and reliability. This in turn will encourage the adoption of solar energy, ensuring that af-fordable solar electricity will play a bigger role in growth and development around the world.
*Dr Raed Bkayrat is the vice-president of Business Develop-ment for First Solar in the Mid-dle East. First Solar is a leading provider of solar energy solutions and has over 10 gigawatts (GWs) of modules installed worldwide. Dr Bkayrat also serves as the di-rector for research on the board of the Middle East Solar Industry Association.
Solar power can contribute immensely to grid stabilityC O M M E N T A R Y
Bank Nizwa to host discussion at Muscat Securities MarketMUSCAT: Bank Nizwa will host a panel of senior managers at Muscat Securi-ties Market (MSM) on November 22, which will be attended by representatives of the investment com-munity and media. Jamil Jaroudi, chief executive of Bank Nizwa, and a number of bank’s officials will be part of this panel discussion to discuss the bank’s past performance and its future plans and financial results. The forum will be held at 1.30 pm at Capital Market Authority (CMA) Business-man Hall in the presence of officials from the brokerage and investment firms and a number of investors as well as official from MSM, CMA and Muscat Clearing and Depository Company.
South Africa’s inflation rises JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s inflation quickened to 4.7 per cent in October, in line with forecasts, com-plicating the central bank’s decision-making ahead of its policy meeting. The inflation rate rose from 4.6 per cent in September, the Pretoria-based statistics office said on its website on Wednesday. The median of 26 economists was 4.7 per cent. Prices rose 0.3 per cent in the month. Governor LesetjaKganyago has taken a gradual approach to raising interest rates in the face of a slowing economy, increasing the benchmark repurchase rate three times since the beginning of last year to 6 per cent. Ten of the 26 economists predict the bank will raise the rate by 25 basis points . - Times News Service/Agencies
B R I E F S Gold declines to five-year low on hopes of US rate increase
SINGAPORE: Gold traded near the lowest in more than five years as a report showed a pickup in United States consumer prices, strengthening bets that the Feder-al Reserve will raise interest rates as soon as next month. Platinum fell to a near seven-year low.
Bullion for immediate delivery dropped as much as 0.5 per cent to $1,064.55 an ounce, the lowest level since February 2010, and was little changed at $1,071.71 in London, according to Bloomberg generic pricing.
“Another desultory day for the precious-metals complex, with gold and platinum prices making multi-year lows,” David Govett, head of precious metals at broker Marex Spectron Group in London, said by e-mail.
“Not only is there virtually zero interest in precious from an
investment standpoint, the pres-sure on commodities as a whole is ensuring that prices remain very weak despite these low levels.”
Gold has dropped almost 10 per cent this year on speculation that improving US growth will lead policy makers to raise borrowing costs, curbing its appeal because it doesn’t pay interest.
US Federal Reserve officials will release minutes from their October 27-28 meeting, at which they signaled that they’d be open to a move in December if labour-market conditions continue to improve and they are confident in-flation is headed back toward their 2 per cent target in the mid- term.
“Concerns of weak inflationary
pressures may have become less of a downside risk to the U.S. Fed’s monetary-tightening decision-making process,” Vyanne Lai, an economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne, said by e-mail. “Combined with recent ro-bust labor-market data, a liftoff in December is looking imminent.”
US inflation goalThe core consumer-price index increased 0.2 per cent for a second month as rents continued to climb and health-care costs rebound-ed, a Labour Department report showed on Tuesday. It was the strongest back-to-back reading since May and April and shows inflation edging closer toward the
Federal Resrve’s goal.The benchmark 30-member
Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index, which includes Barrick Gold and Newmont Min-ing, fell as much as 5.8 per cent. A close at that level would be the lowest since November 2000.
Gold prices are in for a ‘diffi-cult period’ in dollar terms, ac-cording to Jake Klein, executive chairman of Evolution Mining, Australia’s second-biggest pro-ducer. A gauge of the greenback’s strength climbed to a record on increased bets that the Fed will move in December. Futures con-tracts indicate there’s a 66 per cent chance the central bank will act next month.
Global holdings in exchange-traded products rose to 1,508.09 metric tonnes on Tuesday, data show. Assets are around the low-est since March 2009.
Platinum for immediate de-livery sank as much as 1 per cent to $845.90 an ounce, the low-est since December 2008. Silver climbed 0.4 per cent, snapping 14 straight days of declines which was a record streak of losses for data starting in 1950. - Bloomberg News
Gold has dropped
10% this year on
speculation that
improving US
growth will lead
policymakers to raise
borrowing costs,
curbing its appeal
because it doesn’t
pay interest
Meet to offer insights into Islamic bankingTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Insights on the out-look of the global Islamic finan-cial industry will be revealed by Middle East Global Advisors, convener of the 22-year World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), in its inaugural ‘Finance Forward Islamic Finance Out-look Report 2016’ on December2.
It is a three-day gathering of the industry’s leaders taking place from December 1 to 3 at the Gulf Hotel in Manama, Bahrain.
Speaking ahead of the pres-entation of the report, SaydFa-rook, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of Middle East Global Advisors, said, “The out-look report is expected to serve as a compass for Islamic finance leaders who are undertaking key decisions that will fundamental-ly shape their business strategies for 2016.”
He noted that the uniqueness of the report is that it combines meaningful insights from Islamic finance leaders, gathered from an extensive survey of practitioners’
sentiment, with robust analysis of the performance of Islamic fi-nancial institutions.
According to the report, three major global macro develop-ments of 2015 will shape the outlook of the industry, namely commodity prices (particularly oil), development in global inter-est rate policy, and a slowdown of the Chinese economy.
Low commodity prices do not bode well for either the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) or Southeast Asian economies, home to most of the world’s Is-lamic banks.
However, a positive outcome for Islamic banks in a ‘new normal’ of low oil prices is that they enter with low rates of non-performing loans, high liquidity (in part due to the limited liquidity management options), high capital levels and simple balance sheets with mostly Tier 1 capital overall.
Survey results of the out-look report highlighted two key trends, which are the develop-ment of ethical business models and that of digital banking.
B A H R A I N C O N F E R E N C E
LOSING SHEEN: Bullion for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.5 per cent to $1,064.55 an ounce, the lowest level since February 2010, and was little changed at $1,071.08 in Singapore on Wednesday. – File picture
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FEATURET H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
GENDERREVOLUTION
IN JAPAN
The rapid decline of Japan’s working-age population — down more than 11 per cent from its mid-1990s peak, and still falling — has made companies desperate for talent. That means hiring either foreigners or women
When Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe declared that he intended to promote women in the workplace, many peo-ple were understandably
sceptical. After all, Abe is known as a conservative, and conservatives in most countries support traditional gender roles. Perhaps for this reason, many writers rushed to declare that ‘womenomics’ wasn’t for real. But I be-lieved that something big had changed in the Japanese mindset, and that this time really was different. I came away from a recent trip to Japan even more convinced that womenomics is a deep and permanent shift that will rever-berate throughout the country’s social and economic structure.
The first reason for my increased confidence is that I now understand the strongest force behind the push to hire women. It’s not Abe — it’s demography.
The rapid decline of Japan’s working-age population — down more than 11 per cent from its mid-1990s peak, and still falling — has made companies des-perate for talent. That means hiring either foreigners or women.
Women, having no language barrier, requiring no visa sponsorship and be-ing already well-acquainted with Japa-nese corporate culture, are the natural first choice. For many Japanese com-panies, therefore, hiring women isn’t an act of social responsibility, gender fairness or capitulation to the govern-ment — it is a simple act of survival.
Cheap labourThis makes Japan’s gender revolu-tion different from those of the United States and Europe, which put women to work back when the population was young and growing. In the US, increas-ing pressure for corporate profitability,
resulting from globalisation and the shareholder revolution, forced com-panies to hire the best available talent at the lowest available price — in many cases, that meant hiring women. In Eu-rope, progressive governments added their weight to those natural economic forces. But in Japan, the economic pressure comes from demography rather than profitability, and the gov-ernment is worried about the Chinese threat rather than social equality.
Starting in April 2016, large Japa-nese companies will be required to re-port their percentages of female hires and female managers, along with tar-gets for these percentages. This policy will be effective — not just because Japanese companies try to avoid public shame, but because the new numbers will allow a huge raft of behind-the-scenes measures to push companies toward gender equality. A manager at a
large Japanese construction company told me that local governments are already awarding contracts preferen-tially to companies that score well on the government’s measures.
Protection Japanese companies that don’t make substantive, quantitative, public moves toward gender equality may soon be reminded where the term ‘Ja-pan Inc.’ comes from.
They may find themselves allowed to fail when they would otherwise be bailed out. They may find them-selves losing out to competitors for government contracts. They mind find themselves suddenly deprived of regulatory protection from foreign competitors, or legal protection from hostile takeovers.
None of these measures would be official, announced or systematic. But
the threat is enough. For companies that are resisting the demographic pressure to hire and promote more women, the Japanese government and its industrial policy may provide a helping shove.
Combined, the power of demog-raphy and government pressure will probably be too much for most Japa-nese companies to stand against. Even that country’s notoriously hide-bound and traditionalist firms value their survival over their prejudices. The days of the Japanese firm as a boy’s club are numbered.
As more women enter the work-place, these negative cultural prac-tices will change, and the number of women in top positions will gradually rise. Japan is experiencing a peculiar-ly Japanese type of gender revolution, but the revolution is real.
- NOAH SMITH / Bloomberg News
B5T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
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New 2016 Land Cruiser: Master of all terrains
MUSCAT: The launch of the brand new Toyota Land Cruiser has ushered in new benchmarks in performance across all terrains. The new 4WD continues totally unchallenged at the pinnacle of 4WD performance, within a pam-pering ambience of classy luxury.
A technically advanced luxury SUV with genuine off-road ca-pabilities, enhanced refinement and comfort for passengers. This world-beating, go-anywhere Land Cruiser is the ninth generation of Toyota’s legendary Land Cruiser SUV line and remains true to its illustrious heritage in being a thoroughbred off-roader, says a press release.
In the words of its master crea-tor, Sadayoshi Koyari, the chief engineer: “The Land Cruiser is a true go anywhere, all-terrain four-wheel drive SUV that has always exceeded expectations all around the globe.” Speaking in a similar vein, Takayuki Yoshitsugu, chief representative, Middle East and North Africa representative office, Toyota Motor Corporation, says “With a pedigree that can be traced
back over 50 years, the Land Cruis-er commands customer loyalty unmatched by any other SUV, and this new model proudly carries forward the vehicle’s legacy of phe-nomenal all-terrain performance and reliability.”
Indeed, the Land Cruiser is one of the most technically advanced four-wheel drive vehicles ever produced and is equipped with a series of advanced dynamic and handling features. These have been further extended in the new model with the world-first Turn Assist, which works in conjunc-tion with the Crawl Control func-tion, plus Multi-Terrain Select, Multi-Terrain Monitor and Tyre Angle Display.
In addition, the vehicle features four-wheel active height control and adaptive variable suspension (4-Wheel AHC and AVS), a fully adjustable system that provides spring rate control to give excep-tional performance off-road. It also regulates pitch and body roll on-road to maintain ride comfort and refinement. Aero Stabilizing Fins have also been added to the outer lens of the rear combination lamps, contributing to excellent handling and stability.
The heart of the new Land Cruiser’s capability is its 5.7-liter with dual VVT-i V8 engine, which
produces 362 horsepower and 54 Kg-m of torque. The Land Cruiser is the first large SUV segment model with genuine off-road capa-bilities to offer a smooth and quiet 8-speed Automatic Transmission.
The Land Cruiser’s new ad-vanced safety technology package called Toyota Safety Sense in-cludes items that are particularly effective in reducing risk of acci-dents. These include a Pre-Crash Safety system (PCS) that uses sensors to detect other vehicles or obstructions and warns the driver to perform evasive manoeuvres while automatically activating the brakes when there is a high prob-ability of a collision. Radar Cruise Control helps maintain a suitable vehicle-to-vehicle distance while following the preceding vehicle. A Lane Departure Alert (LDA) system warns the driver when the vehicle is unintentionally deviat-ing from its lane and Automatic High Beam (AHB) System detects oncoming headlamps and/or tail lamps of preceding vehicles and automatically switches to low beam to reduce glare.The 2016 Land Cruiser has a total of ten air-bags. Active headrests and a Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) System is also available.
The 2016 Land Cruiser is avail-able in 10 exterior colours.
A technically
advanced luxury
SUV with genuine
off-road capabilities,
enhanced refinement
and comfort for
passengers
Nissan Xterra available with attractive benefitsMUSCAT: The Nissan Xterra is designed with the intent of being a tough, essential SUV that inspires and facilitates outdoor enthusi-asts’ active lifestyles. All Xterra models feature an advanced 4.0-liter straight-six engine, rated at a muscular 270 horsepower, along with Nissan’s rugged “F-Alpha” ladder frame platform for adventure-ready performance, says a press release.
Auto enthusiasts can now avail exciting benefits on the Nissan Xterra that include cash gift up to OMR500, free insurance (Oman only), free service for two years or 20,000 kms (periodic main-tenance only), free registration, 6 years unlimited mileage war-ranty and easy and convenient financing options. Flexible EMIs can also be tailor made for any individual requirement from in-house auto finance team.
Interactive social media initia-tive: Customers can also get un-limited access to Nissan’s prestig-ious vehicle line up at the comfort of their homes or offices. Simply visit Nissan Oman’s facebook page i.e http://www.facebook.com/Sbanissanoman or send an SMS to get updated information on any of the vehicles from the house of Nissan.
NissanConnect uses hands-free technology, smartphone, and the Nissan’s display screen to help customers stay in touch with the outside world from inside their vehicle. It is loaded with features and compatibility with a growing list of apps that allows customers play music, keep tabs on social network, and navigate any city like a local.
The new Xterra is also known for its other key elements that in-clude 16” Off Road Wheel, Bilstein Shock Absorber, Off Road tire 265/75R16 OWL BFGoodrich,
Underneath its unique exterior design, every Xterra features a fully boxed, all-steel ladder frame and a rugged suspension featur-ing a steel double-wishbone front
suspension and solid axle leaf spring rear suspension, with sta-bilizer bars front and rear.
Two advanced transmissions are offered with the Xterra. An available electronically controlled 5-speed automatic transmission with an emphasis on acceleration, fuel economy and shift quality, or a 6-speed manual transmission tuned for driving performance and fuel economy.
Other driveline components include engine speed-sensitive power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering and 4-wheel vented disc brakes with Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD).
4x4 Adventure Park The Adventure Park is built at the Oman Automobile Associa-tion to address auto enthusiasts across interest levels and skill sets through multitude of engage-ment opportunities and promote the spirit of driving a Nissan SUV safely on the roads.
For the first time Nissan pro-motes this exclusive platform to nurture and hone driving skills of SUV owners in Oman. Also this is first of its kind off-roading expe-rience wherein auto enthusiasts and SUV owners will be invited at the specially created off road test-track. Under supervision of
experienced trainers the partici-pants will be taught the basics of off-road driving.
Xterra’s performance at the OAA 4x4 Adventure Park has been impeccable as the vehicle tops the list of safe maneuverabil-ity and enhanced driving tech-niques like cornering, braking, slalom etc.
Cruising comfortably on the highways, conquering desert dunes with ease, or maneuver-ing through the city at rush hour, Nissan Xterra offers unrivaled off-road capability and on road handling.
A senior official from SBA com-mented, “The Oman Automobile Association Adventure Park is a technical and demanding 4x4 track designed to demonstrate vehicles capabilities. This kind of driving requires low speed and very smooth driving manners, by a driver with knowledge and experience of off road driving. Depending on the vehicle used, capabilities are different and the way of driving has to be different as well and adapted to each vehi-cle.”
SBA is largely committed to supporting Nissan’s growth in the Sultanate through major empha-sis on customer satisfaction and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman.
P R O M O T I O N A L O F F E R S
Customers win exciting prizesat Lulu and Huawei lucky drawMUSCAT: Globally renowned smart communications manufac-turer Huawei awarded up to 200 grams worth of gold to winners of its ‘Get more than just a phone’ promotion, held recently. Also thrown in with the gold were a slew of exciting new products from Huawei, ranging from the Mate S, Huawei watch and the Talkband B2, says a press release.
“In the new era of smart phone communications Huawei is con-stantly proving that it is ahead of the smart phone evolution to bring customers more than just a phone. Thanks to our partnership with Lulu Hypermarkets which made our campaign a huge success we were able to generate greater in-terest for our products. We also congratulate the winners of the lucky draw; we thank them along with the customers who partici-pated in the promotion and appre-ciate their continued patronage,”
said Bill YuZhaoyuan, country di-rector-Consumer Business Group Oman, Huawei Tech. Investment (Oman).
The nation-wide campaign was held in 15 Lulu outlets across the Sultanate of Oman from Oc-tober 8 to November 7. Custom-ers were entered into a draw for every OMR50 spent on any Hua-wei product.
At the end of the month-long
campaign 12 winners were picked out of which there was one first prize comprising 200 grams of gold; one second prize of 100 grams of gold and two third prizes that awarded winners 50 grams worth of gold, each. There were three fourth place prizes consisting of the Huawei Mate S; five fifth place prizes of the Huawei watch and 10 sixth place prizes of the Huawei Talkband B2.
P R O M O T I O N
Oman alumni celebrates Jamia Millia Islamiã's Foundation Day MUSCAT: Jamia Alumni in Oman recently celebrated 95th Jamia Millia Islamiã Foundation Day at Indian Embassy Muscat. Indra Mani Pandey, ambassador of India, was the chief guest and delivered a very inspiring speech. The guest of honour was Vahora. Other distinguished guests in-cluded Naushad Ansari, Lateef Shahdad, Akbar Khan, Raza Imam, Neelu Rohra.
Jamia alumnus RJ Naved of Radio Mirchi was the special guest. Naved with his wit and humour won the hearts of the houseful audience and several rounds of applause. Syeda Tas-neem presented excellent docu-mentary on Jamia and Jamia Alumni. This included messages from Jamiates around the world, saya a press release..
Tufail Ahmad in his welcome address said that Jamia Alumni are able to put up such a grand
show due to hard work of the or-ganising team consisting of Aqeel Khan, Tabrez Khan, Syed Afzal, Altamash Khan, Shahid Husain, Saleem Javed, Asif Mehdi, Sha-habul Safvi, Farzan Sayeed who worked very hard to put up the grand show. Credit goes to all the families and well-wishers also
who extended exemplary support.Entertaining songs and ghazals
by Jamia Alumni and their family members followed. Tariq, Neha in guest appearance, Imtiyaz and Hiba added more life to the even-ing with rocking performances. The event ended with Tariq's song with children dance.
C O M M E M O R A T I O N
Burjeel Medical Centre inaugurates new MRI and Mammography UnitMUSCAT: Burjeel Medical Centre, Azaiba, part of the UAE-based VPS Healthcare Group, recently inaugurated its state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Im-aging (MRI) and Mammography facilities.
The official inauguration was held in the presence of Dr. Charles Stanford, senior director of VPS Healthcare; Clancey Po, CEO of Burjeel Hospital and Dr. Nabil De-bouni, medical director of Burjeel Hospital, Abu Dhabi, UAE, says a press release.
Dr. Charles Stanford said: “The opening of these new facili-ties reflects our commitment to providing top-class healthcare features that incorporate global standards in terms of the lat-est equipment installed and the technologies deployed.”
Clancey Po, CEO of Burjeel Hospital Abu Dhabi added: “We are proud to provide state-of-the-art diagnostic services that guarantee the well-being of our patients. The opening of our new MRI and Mammography Unit is in line with our vision
to provide a world-class health care system known for its out-standing medical services.”
“One of the features of our newly opened facilities is a top-performing high powered 1.5 Tesla MRI Ingenia designed to enhance clinical and operational
excellence and ultimately drive patient outcomes,” said Po.
The Ingenia MRI is the world’s first digital MRI system to meet complex imaging needs and pro-vides clinicians with optimized results. The Ingenia product suite is being used for screening, treatment planning and post-op-erative follow up.
Burjeel Medical Centre is also leading the way in mammogram technology by deploying latest equipment with exceptional im-aging quality—underscoring the centre’s commitment to provid-ing high-quality medical care and services within the community. Its mammography service pro-vides patients access to one of the country’s most premium facili-ties for physical screenings and early detection.
A D V A N C E D F A C I L I T I E S
Autumn-winter collections arrive at Muscat Grand MallMUSCAT: Fashion and acces-sories’ outlets at Muscat Grand Mall are showcasing their winter collections. Allowing customers to be in vogue, with the hottest trends this winter, apparel, shoes and accessories’ stores are on sale and ready to inspire style dur-ing the winter months with their newest collections. Beginning from crocheted ponchos and long winter dresses from light fabrics and warm hues to warm boots and leather footwear – Muscat Grand Mall is the one stop shop for all winter fashion needs. With a large number of apparel, shoes and ac-cessories outlets offering sale prices, customers will be spoilt for choice, says a press release.
Furthermore, visitors shop-ping at Muscat Grand Mall until December 31, 2015 can make the most of its ‘Shop & Win’ campaign. Under the promotion running on
occasion of the Sultanate’s 45th National Day, between November 01 and December 31, customers are eligible for the Shop & Win coupon for every OMR20 pur-chase at any store within Muscat Grand Mall. With every coupon shoppers will have the opportu-nity to win a grand prize of four Chevrolet Cruze cars, which will be given away to lucky winners through draws.
Throughout the holiday season, while adults make the most of the shopping specials from out-lets across Muscat Grand Mall, the kids can enjoy a movie at the three-screen City Cinemas, 5D Cinema, get a ride on board the ‘Express Train’ that takes them around the Mall or even spend time at WOW Kids or Happy Land - one of the largest entertainment parks for children located inside a mall in Muscat.
F A S H I O N W E A R
B6 T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
ROUND-UPSorento named ‘Middle East Car of Year 2015’
MUSCAT: “Arguably more prac-tical than an MPV, the latest Kia Sorento is the company’s best big SUV yet. Its seven-seater interior is comfortable and superbly prac-tical, while the car’s four-wheel-drive system and powerful engine make it an excellent tow car,” states Carbuyer, one of UK’s most authoritative and widely read au-tomotive reviewers.
In the Middle East, too, Sorento
has cut a broad swathe with its all-round features. Small wonder then, that Kia’s all-new Sorento has emerged as the winner of the coveted Public Car of the Year hon-our at the prestigious 2015 Middle East Car of the Year (MECOTY) Awards, says a press release.
The Kia Sorento received the highest number of public votes from across the region amongst all nominated vehicles. The results were recently announced at a gala award ceremony in Dubai.
The accolade comes soon after Kia Motors’ milestone of export-ing its 15 millionth vehicle in Au-gust 2015, coincidentally a 2016 Sorento with the United Arab
Emirates being the destination. The Middle East is one of Kia’s most successful markets as the region contributes significantly to the brand’s global sales volumes.
Commenting on the Sorento’s Public Car of the Year award, Alex Chung, president of Kia Mo-tors Middle East and Africa Re-gional Headquarters, said, “The people have spoken! The incred-ible vote of confidence from the Middle East customers them-selves is a fantastic achievement for all of us at Kia and will inspire us all to try even harder to satisfy the exacting standards of car buyers in this region.
“Receiving this award is a joy-
ous milestone for Kia as it signifies our cutting-edge innovativeness as a manufacturer. The aim we had with the Sorento was to set new standards in driver comfort, aes-thetics and automotive technology and we are now realising that ac-complishment. The award makes our efforts all the more meaningful and rewarding because it demon-strates the success and recogni-tion we have earned in the region. It is a tremendous moment for us also because of the quality of the cars we were competing against in this category, which shows that Kia is a pioneering leader in a market filled with exemplary brands,” Chung said after receiving the award.
MECOTY is regarded as the most prestigious award in the Middle East’s automotive indus-try. Leading global car brands competed in different categories including Group A (Sedan/ Execu-tive), Group B (SUV/Truck) and Group C (Performance).
The winners were determined by a judging panel comprising prominent automotive journalists from across the Middle East. In-cluded in the judging criteria was determining whether the nomi-nated vehicles met the demands of customers in the region.
The Kia Sorento
received the highest
number of public
votes from across the
region amongst all
nominated vehicles.
The results were
recently announced
at a gala award
ceremony in Dubai
New generation Geely
Emgrand has arrivedMUSCAT: After four years of being the most popular model of Geely in Oman, the new gen-eration Geely Emgrand 7 has ar-rived in Oman. With a sleek new elegant design and enhanced features which ensure a smooth ride, the Emgrand 7 is redefining the experience of driving. The Emgrand boasts performance features which elevate the be-loved car to a new level, says a press release.
The Emgrand 7 upgrade boasts a new 4G18N DVVT engine, im-proved Punch VT2 gearbox, and reverse camera with static lines amongst many other improve-ments. It also features cruise control, and a new navigation and GPS system. With these up-grades, the Emgrand 7 is a driver’s dream. The sleek new Emgrand 7 features keyless entry and start, as well as Bluetooth connectivity, making the Emgrand 7 the sleek-
est and most connected model yet. With auto A/C, the car is per-fect for Oman’s hot temperatures.
The Emgrand 7 is equipped with multiple safety configura-tions such as high-duty energy absorbent car body, 6 safety air bags, wide-angle reversing ra-dar and visual reversing system, which greatly increase passive safety performance.
A spokesperson from TAC comments, “Geely has been one of our flagship brands, and we are excited to welcome the sleek new Emgrand 7 to the country. Geely has established itself in Oman as a reliable brand that offers value, quality, safety and performance. We are proud to bring our cus-tomers the latest upgrade.”
By bringing the Geely range to the Sultanate, TAC has rein-forced its commitment to provide high-quality products and servic-es to its customers in Oman.
E L E G A N T D E S I G N
ISC Kerala Wing announces Indian Community FestivalMUSCAT: Indian Social Club-Muscat Kerala Wing announced the schedule of Indian Commu-nity Festival (ICF) 2015 to be held on November 26, 27 and 28 at Al Amerat Park.
Indian Community Festival is one of the largest social gath-erings in the Middle East with highest number of expatriate Indians turning up for the last 15 consecutive years.
Recorded foot fall over three consecutive days would be to the tune of 50,000 and growing over the years, says a press release.
For the Indian Community Festival 2015, Kerala Wing would mobilise artists from India Centre for Cultural Relations (ICCR), a body working under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, as a trib-ute to share the heritage of India in Oman.
The theme of Indian Com-munity Festival 2015 would be “Peaceful Coexistence” which em-phasizes the cordial living of vari-ous cultural diversities of India at varying political climates.
Noted film director and actor Ranjit will be the chief guest of the festivities and will be attend-ed by top ranking government
officials of Oman and Indian Em-bassy officials.
The legendary Kairali-Anan-thapuri award will be presented fas recognition for humanitarian work and outstanding contribu-tions to society.
The recipient of 2015 Kairali-Ananthapuri award will be Fr. Davis Chirammel, chairman of Kidney Federation of India, who focuses on the areas of organ dona-tions for the kidney failed patients across India.
Fr. Chirammel himself has donated one of his kidneys in a ground breaking gesture to-wards humanitarian venture that prompted many like minded people to donate similarly; which eventually led to form the Kidney Federation of India.
The Kidney Federation of India promotes, coordinates and con-ducts the organ donation cam-paigns across India which has wit-nessed a massive demand in organ transplants resulted from mild to acute organ failures.
Indian Social Club Kerala Wing and management of Ananthapuri group of restaurants feel honoured to host and recognise Fr. Chiram-mel and it is a rare privilege, the
organizers said.Parallel to the Indian Commu-
nity Festival, organizers are con-ducting a Science Project Contest for the school children below 17 years of age to be participated by the students. All international as well as Omani private schools will be displaying their scientific working models.
The Science Project Contest will also be held at the same ICF venue and is being managed by science and technology arm, the Muscat Science Fest.
The contest venue is open for children with no access restriction in the interest of promotion of sci-entific temperament and insights.
Besides the cultural events and Science Project Contest, the event will be facilitating a num-ber of booths for popular busi-ness houses of Oman, food courts, book stalls and fancy shops for the crowd to wander around and enjoy the festive mood.
The organizers have welcomed the people from all nationalities residing in Oman to come along and visit the festival and take home the cherished memories of the Indian community’s grand festival of the year.
C O M M U N I T Y E V E N T
ahlibank stages special celebration of 45th National DayMUSCAT: In celebration of Oman’s National Day and in recog-nition of the country’s tremendous achievements since its founding, ahlibank staged a special celebra-tion at its head office, which was decorated with Oman’s flags and a large banner of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
The day began with the playing of the Omani National Anthem fol-lowed by the sharing of halwa and qahwa. The entire ahlibank team was dressed in traditional Omani attire to express their collective sense of national pride and togeth-
erness, in celebrating life in Oman, says a press release.
The bank’s CEO Lloyd Mad-dock and senior management said: “As we celebrate National Day, we must remember that we are mov-ing closer each year to fulfilling the Vision 2020; a vision that is stead-ily becoming reality. Through the wisdom and foresight of this vi-brant country’s leadership, Oman is on the path to accomplish every-thing it has set out to, not least with a strong banking sector supporting the growing national economy.”
Maddock continued: “We look
forward to seeing the nation con-tinuing on its path of growth and prosperity. On this occasion, we at ahlibank convey our heartfelt congratulations to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, the government, all Omanis, and indeed everyone that contributes towards the ful-filment of our aspirations and hopes.” ahlibank is recognized as a world-class financial entity com-mitted to maximizing the values of shareholders’, customers’ and employees’ through the delivery of innovative banking propositions, via convenient channels.
M E M O R A B L E D A Y
Hyundai Motor unveils first glimpse of G90 luxury sedanMUSCAT: Hyundai Motor has revealed the first rendering of its new range-topping G90 luxury sedan. The elegantly designed, technology packed model hints at the recently-launched Genesis brand’s design identity and future direction, says a press release.
Jin (James) Kim, vice presi-dent and head of operations for Hyundai Africa and Middle East, said: “The G90 concept images of this new luxury sedan are guaran-teed to instill confidence in our customer base which is continu-ously looking for world-class de-sign and new levels of luxury. This model will arrive next year and it will be the first of six new Genesis models which will launch in Afri-ca and the Middle East by 2020.”
Following the global announce-ment of the Genesis brand launch earlier this month, we are de-lighted to release these concept images of our new large luxury sedan. Africa and the Middle East has a taste for all things luxury therefore we are confident it will prove popular with our customer base across both regions when it launches next year.”
As the Genesis brand’s flag-ship model, G90 is a blueprint for
change and innovation that will distinguish the Genesis brand. Majoring on ‘human-centered’ technology combined with en-gaging driving dynamics, G90 boasts a raft of world-best safety features and technological inno-vations to set itself apart in the luxury market.
G90 also showcases the Gen-esis brand’s hallmark design style ‘Athletic Elegance’, interpreted by the newly-formed Prestige Design Division to bring graceful and profound elegance to G90’s significant proportions. Crowned
by the Genesis emblem, the grand radiator grille combined with so-phisticated headlamps commu-nicates the car’s dynamic, future-orientated character. A theme that flows along a body-length character line to the long and ag-ile rear lamp cluster completes the Athletic Elegance of G90.
Hyundai Motor created the Genesis brand for a new gen-eration of discerning consumers. Capitalizing on its success in the fast-growing global car market, Hyundai Motor will launch six new Genesis models by 2020.
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Bank Muscat celebrates 45 years of highly successful Renaissance
MUSCAT: Bank Muscat celebrat-ed the 45th National Day with gus-to as the head office and branches across all regions lined up various activities for the occasion in cele-brations reflecting the Omani sen-timents associated with the auspi-cious occasion. The opportunity was utilised by the employees to express gratitude and admiration for His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin
Said, the beloved leader of Oman, and commemorate the Renais-sance achievements of Oman, says a press release.
Brightly decorated with the na-tional colours of red, green and white, a festive atmosphere pre-vailed at the head office where the bank’s senior management team joined the celebrations in honour of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. The
highlights of the celebrations were live performances by the Oud Hob-byists Association band and a folk-lore band from Quriyat. The spe-cial al Mazyona 45th National Day draw was also held on the occasion in which big prizes totaling RO 450,000 were shared by 10 win-ners. Similar celebrations were also held in branches across the Sultanate as employees extended the traditional Omani hospitality to customers.
AbdulRazak Ali Issa, Chief Ex-ecutive, said: “Coinciding with the 45th National Day celebrations, Bank Muscat is proud to join the nation in congratulating and ex-tending best wishes to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the archi-tect of modern Oman. Since the be-ginning of the blessed Renaissance and during the last 45 years, the Sultanate has recorded significant achievements covering the eco-nomic and social dimensions as a result of the inspiring leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin
Said. Banking is one of the most important pillars of the Sultan-ate’s economy which has evolved over the years with new dynamics brought about by globalisation, liberalisation and technological innovations. Complementing the impressive achievements made by the Sultanate under the lead-ership of His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos, Bank Muscat remains com-mitted to contributing to further progress of the nation, prosperity and welfare for all.”
Marking Oman’s 45th Renais-sance anniversary, Bank Muscat had lined up year-long activities and initiatives. Notably, the 2015 al Mazyona Savings Scheme was structured on the thematic ‘45’ reflecting the Sultanate’s 45 years of Renaissance under the leader-ship of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, With RO 9 million prize money, the savings campaign was immensely successful as it reached out to peo-ple with the ‘Save more, Dream big’ call to action, guaranteeing
more for everyone to share in the biggest prize money in Oman and the region.
Highlighting partnership in the country’s development and pro-gress, Bank Muscat launched a pre-paid card in celebration of the 45th National Day. The special card featuring an attractive design with the national colours of white, red and green is available in all Bank Muscat branches across the Sultanate. A bank account is not a pre-requisite to acquire the pre-paid card, which can be used in Oman and abroad.
Coinciding with the 45th Na-tional Day celebrations, the bank also launched a special discount of 4.5 per cent for one day on 18 No-vember 2015 on comprehensive motor insurance policies taken from Bank Muscat branches.
Building up the tempo, the bank also launched competi-tions on social media. A competi-tion on Twitter posted questions daily asking people about Oman’s
achievements in the past 45 years. In all, 45 winners chosen through a draw will receive the bank’s lim-ited edition National Day prepaid cards pre-loaded with RO 50 each.
In another competition on In-stagram, the bank’s followers had the opportunity to share images that represent the thematic ‘45’ in celebration of the 45th Na-tional Day. Five winners will re-ceive the special edition National Day prepaid card pre-loaded with RO 100 each. The bank also col-laborated with popular Snapchat account oman.live which held competitions related to the 45th National Day.
As the nation’s flagship bank, Bank Muscat seizes every op-portunity, especially occasions of national importance, to reach out to citizens and residents across Oman. The corporate philosophy of the bank is underpinned by the rich Omani culture and traditions which finds true expression on oc-casions such as the National Day.
Brightly decorated with the national colours
of red, green and white, a festive atmosphere
prevailed at the head office where the
bank’s senior management team joined the
celebrations in honour of His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos bin Said
Brigrade Group to showcase new projects in India MUSCAT: One of the leading property developers based in Karnataka Brigade Group is vis-iting Muscat to promote their latest projects. The marketing officials of Brigade Group will be available to showcase their new property at Haffa House on November 20 and 21 from 10am till 8pm.
Brigade Group was established in 1986, with property develop-ment as its main focus. Today, Brigade Group is one of South India’s leading property devel-opers. Headquartered in Banga-lore, Brigade has branch offices
in several cities in South India, a representative office in Dubai and an accredited agent in the USA. The projects extend across several major cities in South In-dia: Bangalore, Chikmagalur, Hy-derabad, Mangalore and Mysore.
Once in a year, Brigade organ-ises Brigade Mega Home Fest where customers get a 5% dis-count on the booking amount, says a press release.
Brigade’s Representative of-fice, established eight years back in Dubai, caters to the residen-tial and commercial needs of the NRIs in the GCC market.
R E A L E S T A T E
NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS AT KHIMJI RAMDASKhimji Ramdas marked the glorious 45th National Day with the wonderful sounds of traditional music in a blissful atmosphere
of joy and jubilation. The directors and employees at the Head Office and all other locations joined in with pride and glory to
chronicle this momentous occasion. — Supplied photo
Discount sale in B.young store at Oman Avenues MallMUSCAT: B.young is one of the brands that Mustafa Sultan En-terprises has brought to Oman to its fashion savvy customers. The b.young label offers value for mon-ey and luxury for less. B.young is all about the creation of great fashion styles. With b.young you have the perfect opportunity to express your own personality through new and fresh styles all year around.
B.young is the popular brand of
Denmark based DK Company, DK Company has renowned and pop-ular brands like B.young, Fanca, ICHI, Blend and Cream.
During the sale period store is offering top of the line products at affordable pricing, 20 per cent discount on over 1200 products available in the store, this pro-motional campaign is to provide added benefit to the customers. The store offers stunning collec-
tion of dresses to today’s fashion conscious women, this sale is cer-tainly a great opportunity for the buyers to take home their favour-ite dresses for a never before pric-ing. With the launch of this promo-tion many items in the store can be purchased at extremely affordable prices. To take advantage of this sale please visit our store immedi-ately. DK Company based in Den-mark has multiple brands under
its brand portfolio. DK company brands are sold both in own stores and to a large number of wholesale customers, primarily in Europe. B.young has 150 stores worldwide.
Mustafa Sultan Enterprises to-day has diversified interests and is organized into various subsidi-aries, each an achiever, each an example of commitment to the highest ethical and professional standards.
S T Y L E F A S H I O N
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Blatter, Platini lose appeals against provisional FIFA 90 days bansZURICH: Suspended FIFA Pres-ident Sepp Blatter and European soccer chief Michel Platini have lost their appeals against provi-sional 90 days bans by the global soccer body’s ethics committee, FIFA said on Wednesday.
Blatter and Platini, who had been favourite to take over in Feb-ruary’s FIFA presidential elec-tion, were suspended on October 8., engulfed by a deepening cor-ruption scandal as the sport faces criminal investigations in Swit-zerland and the United States.
The decision by the FIFA Ap-peal Committee, which rejected the appeals “in full”, was a fur-ther blow to Frenchman Platini’s hopes of standing on February 26 because the electoral committee has said his registration will not be processed while he is suspended.
The former France captain and coach, who has been UEFA presi-dent since 2007, is not allowed to campaign or engage in any foot-ball-related activities until his suspension is lifted.
The only hope for Platini, who was banned with Blatter pending a full ethics committee investiga-tion into their conduct, is to take his case to the Court of Arbitra-tion for Sport (CAS).
If he won that appeal, the electoral committee has said it would review his case but, even then, there is still no guarantee that he would be able to stand in the election as it would depend on the timing.
Buffeted by a series of scandals over the last few years, FIFA was thrown into turmoil in May by the U.S. indictments of 14 football of-ficials, including two FIFA vice-
presidents, and sports marketing executives for alleged corruption.
Blatter, who has been at the head of FIFA since 1998, also faces criminal investigation in Switzerland over a two million Swiss franc ($2.1 million) pay-ment from FIFA to Platini. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
The payment was made in 2011 for work which Platini had completed nine years earlier, the Swiss attorney-general’s office has said, adding Platini was con-sidered to be “between a witness and an accused person.”
FIFA’s Ethics Committee has said it hopes to have completed the full investigation into Blatter and Platini in time for a final de-cision to be made on their cases by the end of their 90-day sus-pension period.
Both men could then face much longer bans if found guilty of contravening FIFA’s code of ethics which, in Platini’s case, would mean he also loses his po-sition as UEFA president. Five candidates have been accepted for the presidential election and the job of rebuilding the sport’s beleaguered governing body.
They are Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, Asian Foot-ball Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne of France, UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino of Switzerland and South Africa businessman Tokyo Sexwale.
Infantino entered the race a day before the deadline in late Oc-tober and is expected to withdraw if Platini is allowed back in. - Reuters
F O O T B A L L
Confident India clash with ‘strong’ Oman in last eight
KUANTAN: Following three consecutive victories in the group phase, a confident Indian hockey team is all geared up to face Oman in the quarterfinal of the eighth Junior Asia Cup at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Ma-laysia on Thursday.
India’s path to the knockouts so far has been laden with victo-ries over Japan (2-1), hosts Ma-laysia (5-4) and China 4-1. Har-manpreet Singh has been in good form, scoring five goals so far with Mandeep Singh and Manpreet following with two goals apiece.
“Yes, we are happy about what
we have achieved so far, but here on it’s a new tournament for us as we enter the knockout stage of the tournament,” said India coach Harendra Singh.
“We are aware that we enjoy an upper hand over our opponents in the quarterfinal but we cannot take this lightly, as it’s in such do-or-die situations where most of the upsets happen.
“Oman is a strong team and our boys are leaving no stones un-turned to give their 100 percent in the match. We plan to stick to our basics and do not intend to test or try any new techniques
or strategies especially in the knockout stages.”
India enter the quarterfinal as the table-toppers of Pool A while Oman did not even manage to win a single match, out of the three they played in Pool B.
In their final Pool B match, Oman were handed a 7-1 defeat by Paki-stan. The Sultanate squad, who are being coached by former German international Oliver Kurtz, went down to Bangladesh in a nine-goal thriller 5-4 in their second match.
In their opening match, Oman were beaten 5-2 by formidable South Korea. - Agencies
J R A S I A C U P H O C K E Y
BIG CHALLENGE: A file photo of Oman national team warming up during a training session.
REJECTED ‘IN FULL’: Sepp Blatter, left, and Michel Platini. – AFP
Adnan’s ton boosts Oman ahead of official T20 ties
T.K. [email protected]
MUSCAT: Adnan Ilyas’ swash-buckling century on the final day of the drawn three-day tour crick-et match against Afghanistan at the Ajman Oval on Wednesday has boosted the morale of the Sultan Ahmed-led Oman national cricket team, who are preparing for the World T20 Championship in In-dia and Asia Cup T20 qualifiers in Bangladesh.
“I am happy to have scored a century,” said Adnan, and he thanked the Almighty for winning back his brilliant aggressive form for which he is known for.
Having set 420 to win by Af-ghanistan, Adnan’s brilliance and Zeeshan Siddique’s patience en-sured that Oman force a draw at the end of the day. After Oman lost early wickets, Adnan Ilyas mixed caution with aggression to amass 107 runs, which had 11 hits to the fence and six towering sixes.
In contrast, Zeeshan Siddiqui, who was one of the stars in the World T20 Qualifiers in Ireland and Scotland early this year, was patience personified. He stuck to one end allowing Adnan full free-dom to play his shots. Zeeshan was unbeaten on 46, which came off 113 balls with nine boundaries.
Earlier, Afghanistan was jolted in the second innings by Ajay La-lcheta, who claimed four wickets before they declared at the score of 205 for five. For Afghanistan H. Shahidi (57), S. Shenwari (62 not out) and N. Jamal (36 not out) were the main stay.
Official ties from now onHaving played different formats of the game so far with mixed bag of exposure, Oman coach Duleep
Mendis sounded satisfied. And also feeling the sense of satisfac-tion were assistant coach Mazhar Khan and skipper Sultan Ahmed.
Oman is set to play five official T20 International matches, start-ing November 21 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and also an unofficial T20 tie against United Arab Emirates.
From now on the records of each Oman player will stand to be counted and the hope is to get some good numbers behind them before they reach Bangladesh for the Asia Cup T20 qualifiers in February, which will be the prelude to the all-important World T20 in March.
“So far so good,” said Mendis in his brief chat with Times Sport. “Playing different formats has helped us to test all the 20 players, and I am happy that some of them are striking form,” he said.
“However, we are still on the preparation ground and I don’t want the team to peak too early,” he added. “However, we will put in our best in the next five interna-tional matches.”
Duleep Mendis also hailed Ad-nan and Zeeshan for their con-trasting knocks against Afghani-stan. “Adnan was brilliant and Zeeshan was equally good. They batted according to the situation and this is what I expect from the boys,” he said. He also hailed the
bowling of Ajay Lalcheta and said: “It is nice to see each and every one chipping in.”
Mendis further stated that Jatinder Singh is doing as expect-ed and the others too have done well here and there. “There are no worries as such and the entire team is working hard.”
Getting into the grooveMeanwhile, skipper Sultan Ahmed also expressed his team are getting into the groove before the big stage events. “This preparation has been good. We did well in the first two-day match against UAE, we lost to PNG but bounced back to beat Nepal and we have also done well against Afghanistan,” said Sultan.
“I am confident that we will be far better in the official T20 matches from now on,” he added.
Sultan also added that Oman’s strength is the number of all-rounders present in the team, which is always vital during T20 clashes. “I am happy to see Adnan at his striking best,” said the skip-per while praising Lalcheta and Zeeshan too.
Assistant coach Mazhar Khan also voiced the same views, while saying the team is learning a lot from this preparatory trip to UAE.
“Oman has never played two-day and three-day matches and this experience will stand us good
in the future,” said Mazhar.“Our training sessions are going
on well and all players are gaining fitness. All the players are enthusi-astic on and off the field and that is helping a lot,” Mazhar said. “There is more scope of improvement.”
Oman’s official programme be-gins Saturday against Hong Kong.
Schedule (all matches at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi): Novem-ber 21: 1st T20 International — Hong Kong v Oman; November 22: Tour match T20 — United Arab Emirates v Oman; November 25: 2nd T20 In-ternational — Hong Kong v Oman; November 26: 3rd T20 International — Hong Kong v Oman; November 29: 1st T20 International — Afghanistan v Oman; November 30: 2nd T20 Inter-national — Afghanistan v Oman
Oman is set to
play five official
T20 International
matches, starting
November 21 at
the Sheikh Zayed
Stadium in Abu Dhabi
Afghanistan 1st innings: 393 all out (Noor Ali 113, Hashmatullah Shahidi 95, Sa-miullah Shenwaru 64, Khawar Ali 3 for 64, Ajay Lalcheta 3 for 85, Amir Ali 2 for 42).Oman 1st innings: 178 all out (Vaibhav Wategaonkar 34, Jatinder Singh 42, Sami-ullah Shenwari 6 for 64).Afghanistan 2nd innings:Noor Ali lbw Lalcheta 14M. Shahzad lbw Lalcheta 15S. Noori c S. Ahmed b K. Ali 17A. Stanikzai c A. Kaleem b Lalcheta 1H. Shahidi lbw Lalcheta 57S. Shenwari not out 62N. Jamal not out 36Extras (b-2) 2Total (5 wkts decl; 50 overs) 204Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-38, 3-40, 4-80, 5-116Bowling: Mohammad Nadeem 3-0-9-0; R. Ranpura 5-0-30-0; A. Lalcheta 19-5-41-4; Aamir Kaleem 9-2-26-0; Amir Ali 4-0-24-0; Khawar Ali 10-0-72-1Oman 2nd inningsA. Lalcheta b Y. Ahmadzai 0K. Ali c A. Stanikzai b S. Shirzad 8V. Wategaonkar c Shahzad b Y. Ahmadzai 12A. Ilyas c S. Noori b S. Shirzad 107 J. Singh b Y. Ahmadzai 4Z. Siddiqui not out 46A. Kaleem c S. Ashraf b A. Stanikzai 2S. Ahmed not out 4Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-1, nb-1) 10Total (6 wkts; 53 overs) 193Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-14, 3-24, 4-29, 5-182, 6-185Bowling: Sharafuddin Ashraf 12-4-35-0; Yamin Ahmadzai 8-3-22-3; Sayed Shirzad 9-2-25-2; Samiullah Shenwari 14-2-66-0; Shabir Noori 5-1-12-0; Asghar Stanikzai 5-0-25-1 Result: Match drawnToss: Afghanistan, who chose to batUmpires: Rabiul Hoque and Syed ShabirReserve umpire: Ahmed Shah Durrani
S C O R E B O A R D
107runs from 155 balls
11 fours, 6 sixes
ADNANILYAS
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As expected there was no play on the fifth and final day of the
second Test. Though the rains had relented there were early morning light showers which had made the uncovered part of the ground even softer than the previous day and so the umpires had little option than to call the game off. Fortunately not many had turned up at the ground in anticipation of what was going to happen but it must have been a massive disappointment for the hundreds of kids who had come on the earlier days to the ground excited about watching their heroes and getting inspired by them. The KSCA is one of the more progressive of the BCCI units but even they surprisingly did not show any urgency in trying to get the extra covers that would have covered the entire ground and enabled a start to the game. There were plenty of dry periods when the game could have been played if the entire ground had been covered.
Hopefully other units will learn from what happened in Bangalore. You cannot control the weather but you can be ready to take action that gives the best possible chance for the game to restart once the weather clears up. With the funds that each association now gets it must be made mandatory for them to have more than one supersop-per and covers that envelop the entire ground. Other options could be a lot more expensive like planting grass and laying a base under it which allows for quick drying. Under the forward looking Brijesh Patel, Karnataka can be the first association to show the way.
The other aspect that comes to mind is the futility of reserve players sitting idly by doing precious little once the final eleven is picked. The team manage-ment has started well by sending three players back to play Ranji Trophy but
why keep the others when local under-19 players can be called for the substitute duties. Here in Bangalore with Karnataka not playing the Ranji trophy it’s players were acting as substitutes which is how it should be. That also brings the ques-tion as to why pick a squad of 16 for a domestic Test match. Eventually it is go-ing to boil down to just one or two places in the final eleven so pick 13 but not 16 as that indicates that the selectors are playing on the safe side. Surely the pitch and the conditions will be known long before so pick the absolute minimum and don’t make entry in the In-dia team as easy as getting into a rickshaw.
The Australians have toured India with a party of 14 in the past and the home team has had 16 players in its squad which probably tells you why the Australian cap is so valued by its play-ers and why they are such a tough team to beat.
AB de Villiers’ 100th Test was thus a damp squib but for the batting masterclass that he provided on day one. — PMG
A damp squib but for AB’s masterclass on Day One
C O M M E N T A R Y
The KSCA is one of the
more progressive of
the BCCI units but even
they surprisingly did
not show any urgency
in trying to get the
extra covers that
would have covered
the entire ground
and enabled a start
De Villiers’ rain-ruined 100th Test ends in draw
BENGALURU: AB de Villiers’ 100th Test fizzled out into a tame draw on Wednesday with cyclonic rains and a wet outfield wiping out a fourth successive day in the sec-ond test between India and South Africa at Bengaluru’s M Chinnas-wamy Stadium.
The match had already seen three rained-out days on the trot and the morning drizzle prompt-ed the match officials to call off play around lunch time, with only 81 overs of the test bowled. India dominated what little play was possible on day one, bowling out South Africa for 214 before open-ers Shikhar Dhawan (45) and Mu-
rali Vijay (28) raised 80 runs with-out being separated.
“It’s a pity that we lost four days of the test match after being in such a strong position,” rued home captain Virat Kohli whose team will go into the third test at Nag-pur from Nov. 25 with a 1-0 lead in four-match series.
“Other than that, we have a lot of positives that we can take from day one, the biggest being Shikhar’s knock of 45-odd, him getting back into the flow and among the runs.
“He is an impact player, he has
done the job for us in the past and he is a very dangerous player. To have him back in confidence is always a boost for the team,” said Kohli who is leading India in his first home series.
Counterpart Hashim Amla was happy for De Villiers whose flu-ent 85 was the lone bright spot in the visitors’ poor batting display even though the Proteas skipper felt the match could have gone either way. “We did not do that very well but I think the game was poised. You just never know on day two or three how the game
would have panned out,” Amla said. Beaten inside three days on a turning track in the series opener in Mohali, South Africa betrayed spin vulnerability in Bangalore as well with eight of them succumb-ing to the Indian spinners in their first innings.
Amla said the team would strive to play better cricket in Nagpur.
“We got a long layoff for these rained-out days, everybody’s very keen to get back on the park. We are looking forward to Nagpur and hopefully play some better cricket.” - Reuters
The match had
already seen three
rained-out days
on the trot and the
morning drizzle
prompted the
match officials to
call off play around
lunch time, with
only 81 overs of
the Test bowled
THANK YOU, FOLKS: Indian Cricketers wave to the crowd after the match was called off due to wet
outfield during the fifth day of second Test match between India and South Africa. – PTI
It was disappointing not to get play after first day: KohliBENGALURU: India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday ex-pressed his disappointment at not getting any play for the last four days despite bowling out South Africa for 214 on the first day of the second cricket Test.
“It was very disappointing. The second and third day’s play being called off was very frustrating as we had a very good first day.
“Toughest part is to set up a Test match and build it from there on.
“We were on course to do that, to get control and capitalise on it. But as the weather turned out to be such, that we had no control over next four days,” the sadness was writ large on Virat Kohli’s face as he spoke to media at the post-match conference.
“Whether you have momentum or not, it is always annoying for any side to come to ground and have no play.
“The motive is to play positive cricket.
“To have a result in day and half was unrealistic but we thought that if we could get the fourth and fifth day, may be we could bat the fourth day and try and put pres-sure on them on the fifth day.
“We bowled the No 1 Test side out under 3 sessions on a decent batting track with no demons for sure. Thinking about weather can put you off but guys were in the zone.”
Kohli said that not much can be done about matches which are affected by inclement weather as logic of having reserve days does not hold good.
“I think in a Test match, if you lose four days, it will not be any good to have an extra reserve day. May be if we had lost one or two
days, you can bring in a change which makes sense. But if you have lost four days, then reserve day is of no logic. I don’t know what can be the solution,” he said.
“If you have rule, then it should be like, the number of days lost should be compensated but then it would mean losing four days turns this into a 9-day Test match,
which is unrealistic. I don’t think there would be any change as it had remained as it has been for years. You have to take it in your stride.” - PTI
T E S T S E R I E S
SEE YOU IN NAGPUR: India’s captain Virat Kohli, left, shakes hands with the South African captain
Hashim Amla after their second cricket Test match was called off due to rain and wet outfield. – Reuters
BENGALURU: India on Wednesday named an unchanged squad for the remaining two Tests against South Africa to be held from November 25 at Nagpur and
December 3 in Delhi. If Delhi fails to get the clearance, BCCI will shift the Test to Pune.
Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Mura-li Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma,
Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jade-ja, Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Lokesh Rahul, Stuart Binny and Gurkeerat Singh Mann. - IANS
India squad unchanged for last two Tests against South Africa
C3
SPORTST H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
Time is the great leveller.Death is the great
leveller.And, sometimes, rain is
the great leveller.You could call the rain
that wiped out play for four days in a row in the second Test at Bengaluru as a spoilsport, but it might not be completely true if you look beyond the obvious it has brought in, which was a disappointing draw.
The blessing of the rain in the last four days could be experienced if you consider the possibilities an absence of it could have conjured up.
At 80 without loss at end of play on day one after South Africa folded up for 214, India were on course for a big first innings lead and the writing was almost on the wall for the visitors.
A humiliating defeat in his 100th Test would have disturbed AB de Villiers for some time, and even if he wouldn’t show the disgust it wouldn’t have been easy for his family who had flown in to celebrate the milestone.
The beauty of the rain lies in the fact that it hap-pened after a full day of play that provided moments to celebrate for people on both sides. Indian bowlers stuck to the Mohali line and length to dismiss the South Africans half an hour after tea, giving openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay the freedom of confident ex-pression to get threateningly closer to a total that looked the least intimidating.
On the other hand, the hero of the moment was rel-ishing the love, respect and challenge thrown at him.
Coming in to bat in the 16th over with just 45 runs on the scoreboard for the loss of three wickets, including captain Hashim Amla, De Villiers fought a brave, solitary battle that almost took him to a dream century to mark the big occasion.
He didn’t score a century, but the 85 runs he notched up in a little more than two-and-a-half hours surely pleased the adoring fans and the cheering family members watching him from the VIP stands.
After the first day’s play, it looked like India were heading for a win. The question was not about De Villiers scoring a century — he might have, in the second innings — but it was about winning, especially for a man who declared just
a day before the landmark Test that he just didn’t give “a damn about 100 Test matches, 200 Test matches, 500 Test matches…I just want to win the game”. That would have been impossible without the blessing of the rain.
At home, South African cricketers are not celebrat-ed the way India hail and herald their Tendulkars and Kohlis.
There’s less hype and hyperbole as Steyns and De Villiers work their way up — it’s just business as usual.
On that count, De Villiers couldn’t have asked for a better place to play his 100th Test match.
Before the heavens opened up, and before the hero strolled to the crease on day one, people had performed pooja at temples in Bengaluru for an Indian victory and a De Villier’s century.
Not sure if someone had told ABD Senior about the pooja part of the De Villiers worship by the Bengaluru fans. That would have been icing on the milestone cake for the family who couldn’t believe the disappointment felt by the Indian fans who until then had been rending the air with the ABD.. ABD chants.
Now, over to Nagpur.Sunny weather has been
forecast for most days, but there are warnings of heavy clouds. And a confirmation from the “nice” guy that he’s not what you think he’s.
De Villiers, in his own words, is ready to sledge, in-timidate and do “whatever it takes to win”.Even if it means talking to the Indian skipper about his technique and little flaws “to get Virat off his game”.A De Villiers-Kohli spat on the field could spice up the proceedings in the next two Tests, and the many more to come in the future.
What a spicy prospect in the days of franchise loyalty!
The writer is a freelance contributor based in India. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman
The blessing of the rainC O M M E N T A R Y Dominant Nadal powers
past distracted Murray
LONDON: Rafa Nadal produced one of his best performances of the year to beat Andy Murray 6-4, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals and move within sight of the semifinals on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old 14-time Grand Slam champion looked more like the dominant player of old as he edged a tight first set at the O2 Arena before running away with the match.
With two wins out of two the Spaniard will be assured of one of the top two places in the Ilie Na-stase Group if Stanislas Wawrinka beats David Ferrer.
Murray, who beat Spaniard Fer-rer in his opener, faded badly in the second set after Nadal finally broke serve decisively in the 10th game having wasted several earlier opportunities.
Britain’s world No. 2, who has one eye on next week’s Davis Cup final in Belgium, looked distracted, surrendering nine points in a row early in the second set, and Na-dal needed no second invitation to press home his advantage.
Murray, who bizarrely trimmed his fringe during a changeover in the first set, can still reach the semis by beating Wawrinka in his final round-robin match on Friday.
Resurgent Nadal’s late-season form, including finals in Beijing and Basel, have lifted him to fifth in the world rankings, having fall-en to 10th during a torrid summer.
‘Djokovic still favourite’Novak Djokovic is still the favour-ite to claim a fourth consecutive ATP World Tour Finals title ac-cording to Roger Federer, despite him ending the Serb’s 23-match winning streak on Tuesday.
Serbian world No. 1 Djokovic had won his last 15 matches at the venue, his last 38 under a roof and has been untouchable since losing
to Federer in Cincinnati in August.But with his timing well off, he
was brushed aside 7-5, 6-2 by the 17-time Grand Slam champion who is already through to the sem-ifinals, probably as winner of the Stan Smith Group, with another round-robin match still to come.
Federer fully expects Djokovic to recover from the jolting defeat, how-ever, and he may well have to beat him again at the weekend if he is to claim a seventh title at the ATP’s season-ending showpiece event.
“Still to me Novak is the favour-ite for the tournament,” Federer told reporters. “Heavy favourite in the (Tomas) Berdych match (on
Thursday), in my opinion.“Then he should make his way to
the semis somehow. I don’t know exactly what he needs. And he’ll be the favourite in that probably, too, with the year he’s had. “He’s far from gone. The way I know Novak, he’s going to find a way to be tough-er to beat from now on.”
Federer has now won 50 match-es at the tournament, although he was said he was not expecting to beat Djokovic — an odd admission from a player who now leads their head-to-head 22-21.
“I wouldn’t have picked it maybe before the tournament, you know, just because of his really good re-
cord indoors, the year he’s had,” he said of the Serb who has won three of the year’s four grand slams together with Six Masters Series titles. Federer even managed to strike a blow before a ball was struck on Tuesday, sitting on the court-side chair which already had Djokovic’s towel draped on it.
Asked about it afterwards, he joked: “I’m not going to be pushed by a towel. I sat on that chair when I walked out against Tomas. I said, I’d like to sit here again.”
Djokovic also saw the funny side of it: “I don’t think it was a tactical approach. Messing me around be-fore even the first ball.” - Reuters
The 29-year-old
14-time Grand
Slam champion
looked more like the
dominant player of
old as he edged a
tight first set at the
O2 Arena before
running away
with the match
BACK TO HIS BEST: Spain’s Rafael Nadal hits return against Britain’s Andy Murray during their match
at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Wednesday. – AFP
Marsh, Pattinson, O’Keefe get Australia call-up for AdelaideSYDNEY: Top order batsman Shaun Marsh was called into the Australia squad for the third Test against New Zealand on Wednes-day along with pace bowler James Pattinson and left arm spinner Steve O’Keefe.
Marsh comes in as a like-for-like replacement for Usman Kha-waja, who will miss the Adelaide match with a hamstring injury, while Pattinson replaces Mitchell Johnson, who retired at the end of the second Test on Tuesday.
Australia will take a 1-0 se-ries lead to the Adelaide Oval for the world’s first day-night Test match, which starts on November 27, after a 208-run win in Bris-bane and a draw in Perth. Seamer Peter Siddle, who was included in the squad for the first two Tests but did not make the team, will be hoping to join Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the pace unit.
Pattinson might get his chance to play a first Test in nearly two years, however, as he is more of a strike bowler and skipper Steve Smith has suggested Hazlewood might need a rest to manage his workload. The 25-year-old right-arm quick bowler has played just 13 Tests since his debut against New Zealand four years ago as in-juries have taken their toll.
“James has made a good return to (Sheffield) Shield cricket fol-lowing his injury and has earned this recall,” head selector Rod Marsh said.
“He has worked incredibly hard and we are confident that he is ready to perform at Test level if selected.”
Left-armer O’Keefe, 30, played his only Test against Pakistan last year and has been included so Australia can pair him with off-spinner Nathan Lyon if the Ad-elaide Oval looks like being par-ticularly conducive to spin under the lights.
“We are unsure what condi-tions we will see there,” Marsh added. “Stephen was included in our squad that was to go to Bang-ladesh and if he should get an op-portunity, we think he will make the most of it.”
Marsh gets another chance to prove himself in Test cricket after failing with a duck and a two when
he batted at number four during the fourth Ashes Test earlier this year. The 32-year-old joins his all-rounder brother in the squad after a string of other candidates to replace Usman Khawaja failed to impress in Sheffield Shield matches over the weekend.
“Shaun was unlucky to miss out on the squad for the first two Tests and since then has scored consistently in Sheffield Shield, so we believe he deserves this op-portunity,” said Marsh.
Squad: David Warner, Joe Burns, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith (captain), Adam Voges, Mitch-ell Marsh, Peter Nevill (wick-etkeeper), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Steve O’Keefe. - Reuters
C R I C K E T
Marsh comes in as a like-for-like replacement for
Usman Khawaja, who will miss the Adelaide match
with a hamstring injury, while Pattinson replaces
Mitchell Johnson, who retired at the end of the
second Test on Tuesday. Left-armer O’Keefe, who
played his only Test against Pakistan last year, has
been included so Australia can pair him with Lyon
Sri Lanka pick uncapped opener Udara, Vandersay COLOMBO: Uncapped opener Udara Jayasundera’s consist-ency for the emerging team earned him a place in Sri Lan-ka’s 15-member test squad for the two-match series in New Zealand next month.
Rookie leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay was also rewarded for his impressive performance for the Sri Lankan emerging team. Starting on December 10, Sri Lanka will play two Tests, in Dunedin and Hamilton, fol-lowed by five one-dayers and two T20s in New Zealand.
Test squad: Angelo Mathews (capt), Kusal Mendis, Udara Jayasundera, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Milin-da Siriwardene, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhammika Pras-ad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Rangana Her-ath, Dilruwan Perera, Jeffrey Vandersay
ODI squad: A. Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, T. Dilshan, Kusal Perera, D. Chandimal, M. Siriwardene, D. Gunathilaka, Sachithra Senanayake, A. Mendis, D. Prasad, L. Malinga, Nu-wan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, D. Cha-meera, C. Kapugedera, J. Vandersay.
T20 squad: L. Malinga (capt), K. Perera, S. Jayasuriya, D. Chandimal, A. Mathews, M. Siriwardene, C. Ka-pugedera, K. Vithanage, T. Dilshan, N. Kulasekara, D. Chameera, Thisara Perera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Sachithra Senanayake, Isuru Udana. - Reuters
C R I C K E T
C4
SPORTST H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
COASTAL CRICKETERS LIFT AL SHAMS TROPHY
Coastal Cricketers defeated Mangalore Friends Sohar by three runs to lift the title at Al Shams Trophy cricket tournament
organised by Saham Challengers Club. In a closely-contested final, Coastal scored 61 runs in stipulated six overs and then
restricted Mangalore Friends to 58 runs. Earlier in the semifinals Coastal defeated Crystal Sohar and MFS beat Shining
Star. Issa Ali Musalem Al Badi, Abdul Latheef and Munner, members of KMCC Saham unit, distributed the prizes. Man of
the match award went to Sathish of Coastal while his teammates Sathish and Deepak were adjudged the best batsman and
bowler respectively. Nithin of MFS won the man of the series prize. — Supplied photo
Dubai–Muscat Challenge from November 20
MUSCAT: The second leg of the Dubai-Muscat Golf Challenge will be held in Muscat on November 20 and 21. What started as a group of friends going across the border to play some golf has turned into a semi-annual event with the com-ing together of avid golfers with business and professional back-grounds from the two cities.
The two-day tournament will be held at Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club and at the Almouj Golf Club with 14 golfers from each city. The first leg was held at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai in April 2015 with a golf round each at the famed Majlis and Fal-do courses.
Team Muscat comprises of
14 golfers that are part of a self named ‘020 Group”’ and are pri-marily members of the Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club.
The team members are Puli Sharma, Sachin Bawa, Charles Dolphin, Vikas Dixit, Humayun Kabir, Viren Agarwal, Mark Yap, Sumant Sunder, Ashish Sood, Pawan Singh, Waqar Ghulam,
Girish Chawla, Vishal Dhawan and Sanjoli Singh. “Following the recent NBO Golf Classic, there is a heightened sense of excitement and the Dubai-Muscat Golf Chal-lenge is another opportunity for the golfers from the two cities to engage with each other in a friend-ly yet competitive setting,’’ said one of the organisers.
G O L F
TWO-DAY TOURNAMENT: The second leg of the Muscat-Dubai Golf Challenge will be held at at Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club
and Almouj Golf Club. – Supplied photo
Bolt, Eaton, Taylor up for Athlete of the Year AwardLONDON: Usain Bolt, Ashton Eaton and Christian Taylor are the finalists for the 2015 World Athlete of the Year Award, the International Association of Ath-letics Federations (IAAF) said on Wednesday.
Jamaican sprinter Bolt re-tained his 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles at the world cham-pionships in Beijing in August.
The 29-year-old brushed off the challenge of his American rival Justin Gatlin to win the 100m in 9.79 seconds and clocked a world-leading time of 19.55 to clinch the 200m.
American decathlete Eaton, 27, won his second successive world gold with a world record 9,045 points, including a world decathlon best of 45 seconds for the 400m.
Triple jumper Taylor, 25, won the world crown with a North American record 18.12 metres, the second best jump in history.
Genzebe Dibaba, Dafne Schip-pers and Anita Wlodarczyk were nominated as the three finalists in the women’s category.
Ethiopia’s Dibaba won the 1,500 metres title in Beijing, hav-ing set a world record of three
minutes 50.07 seconds for the event a month earlier in Monaco. The 24-year-old also set a world indoor 5,000 metres record of 14:18.86 and took 5,000m bronze at the world championships.
Long listDutchwoman Schippers clocked a European and championship record of 21.63 seconds to win the world 200 metres title after clinching silver in the 100.
Polish hammer thrower Wlodarczyk, 30, won all 11 of her competitions, including the world title in China.
She also became the first wom-an to throw beyond 80 metres, setting a world record of 81.08 metres in Cetniewo in August.
An international panel of 10 experts assembled the finalists from a long list chosen by the IAAF family.
The awards are normally pre-sented at a gala in Monaco but it was cancelled this year in the wake of the recent doping scan-dal and investigation of former IAAF chief Lamine Diack by French authorities on suspicion of corruption and money laun-dering. - Reuters
A T H L E T I C SKolkata edge Chennai
KOLKATA: Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) came back from being a goal down to win 2-1 against Chennai-yin FC in an Indian Super League (ISL) encounter at the Salt Lake stadium here on Wednesday.
A 27th minute strike from Bra-zilian midfielder Raphael Augusto was cancelled out by ATK’s Samee-hg Doutie in added time of first half. Then it was Canadian marksman Iain Hume who found the winner for the hosts in the 63rd minute guiding home a Doutie cross.
With the win, Atletico now climb up to the second spot in the league
table with 17 points from 11 games whereas Chennaiyin are still lan-guishing at the bottom of the table with 10 points from 10 matches.
The contest lacked pace from the beginning. Both sides tried controlling the midfield but some poor passing led to the attacks get-ting nipped in the bud.
It was a comedy of errors which resulted in the first goal for the visitors as Brazilian midfielder Augusto was first tackled by Tiri but he got up quickly and chased the ball. He then evaded a tackle from Augustine and then skipped past a diving Arnab Mondal before slotting the ball in.
Surprisingly, there were three sliding tackles from three defend-ers but none could get a touch on the ball. However, the hosts were quick to re-gather their thoughts and
started pressing forward in num-bers. A long ball from Tiri in the 35th minute was flicked on by Iain Hume, Doutie was through on goal but Chennaiyin defender Dhanachan-dra Singh’s last minute challenge was enough to clear away the danger.
Next it was Hume who tried his luck with a header but it fizzed just over the woodwork.
But their hardwork paid off a few minutes later as Doutie found the back of the net through a maze of players. It was a Gavilan Martin-ez free-kick which was punched away by custodian Karanjit Singh but the sphere fell in the way for the South African medio who un-leashed a piledriver. At halftime the scoreline read 1-1.
Early in the second half, Chen-naiyin FC stepped on the gas. First it was a chance for Brazilian star
Elano but his effort was just off target and then he laid one in the path of Fikru but ATK goalkeeper Karanjit Singh was quick to come off his line and grab the ball.
Just after the hour mark the home side broke out into one of their trademark counter attacks, Doutie after being released on the right darted forward and then sent in a delightful ball into the six-yard. All Hume had to do was get a touch and he obliged by guiding his flick home.
Doutie was again in the thick of things as he squared one for Gavi-lan inside the box but the latter’s effort was blocked.
Chennaiyin tried hard in the last few minutes but could not find the net but the hosts remained strong and did not let go of the one goal advantage. - IANS
A 27th minute
strike from Brazilian
Augusto was
cancelled out by
ATK’s Sameehg
Doutie in added time
of first half. Then
Iain Hume found the
winner for the hosts
in the 63rd minute
WINNER: Atleco de Kolkata’s Iain Hume, right, scores a goal aganist Chennaiyin FC during their ISL
match in Kolkata on Wednesday. – PTI
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SPORTST H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
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Murali, Percy, Girish clearfirst hurdlesMUSCAT: R. Murali, Percy Pereira and KK Girish got through their first round match-es in the men’s singles at the Falcon Insurance Company-sponsored Annual Tennis Tour-nament organised by the Indian Social Club (ISC) Muscat with convincing victories.
R. Murali, the No. 4 seed, eased to a 8-0 victory over Ven-katesa Babu and Percy Pereira had to withstand some good strong serves but was not trou-bled too much on the way to ousting Shyam Kolluru 8-3. KK Girish played a steady all-round game to hand Dominic Kennedy an 8-0 drubbing.
The second seeded team of Mohan Kannan and KK Girish advanced to the semifinal of the men’s doubles after over-coming the combo of Amaan Kazi and Ayaan Malhotra 8-1 in the quarter finals.
It was a clash between the raw talents of the teenagers and the seasoned team of Mohan and Girish.
Although Amaan and Ayaan posed no real threat to their op-ponents, but the winners had a word of praise for the way the teenagers approached their first match as a doubles team.
In another men’s doubles match, the duo of Percy Pereira and Yash Tanna defeated Deep-ak and Varun 8-3.
I S C T E N N I S
MUSCAT: Oman teams recorded victories at the ongoing GCC Jun-ior (under-16 and under-12) Ten-nis Championships in Doha.
According to information pro-vided by Oman Tennis Association on Wednesday, Oman under-16 team defeated Kuwait team 2-1 for their second victory of the cham-pionships and the Sultanate’s under-12 squad edged Bahrain with a similar 2-1 margin to open their account.
Oman under-16 team, who had earlier defeated Bahrain, were given a rousing start by Younis Al Rawahi defeated Kuwait’s Hussain Ali Jamal.
Kuwait, however, levelled the tie when Fuad Falah defeated Abdul-lah Al Barwani 2-6, 7-6 (6), 5/7. He
was near to win but certain mis-takes deprived him of victory in this match.
In the decisive doubles rubber, Abdallah Al Barwani and Younes Al Rawahy
The Sultanate’s under-12 team,
who lost to Saudi Arabia in the first round, bounced back to defeat Bahrain. In the first singles, Azzan bin Marwan Al Hajri defeated Bahrain’s Ali Al Shareef 6-4, 6-4.
Despite losing the doubles match, Oman clinched the tie
thanks to Muneer Tufail Al Raw-ahy’s 6-1, 6-1 victory over Moham-med Al Khan.
Oman under-16 team will next lock horns with hosts Qatar while the under-12 squad will take on their Kuwaiti counterparts.
While Oman under-16
team defeated Kuwait
for their second
victory, the under-12
squad tasted their
first success with a
win over Bahrain
National Finance and Volvo Trucks & Buses Open golf on Friday
MUSCAT: The National Finance, one of the leading financial compa-nies, in association with Interna-tional Heavy Equipments (IHE), the official dealers of Volvo Trucks and Buses, will be organising their third Open Golf Tournament on Friday.
The organisers unveiled recent-ly the tournament trophy during a ceremony at Ghala Golf Club. They also announced a host of prizes, including awards in men’s, ladies and junior divisions as well as prizes for the nearest to the pin and the longest drive.
Speaking on the occasion, Ziyad Al Zubair, Director of Ghala Golf Club, said: “Since our first event, we have seen a significant increase in the number of participants. Even though the competition was open to all OGC members with a regis-tered handicap, with only 100 slots available this time, we had to fol-low a first come first serve policy.”
“We are indeed delighted with this response. We have some of the best golf courses in the country. With the support of professional
trainers and ongoing endeavors like these conducted by National Finance and Volvo, we believe we have been successful in putting Oman on the map of prominent golf destinations in the world.”
“The tournament endeavors to bring together golfers from differ-ent clubs for a healthy challenge, as well as gives them a platform to network amongst each other,” said Robert Pancras, CEO of National Finance. “This event has always been very well received, stirring a new excitement among amateur golfers to take up the challenge.”
Following the 18-hole stroke play or medal play scoring pattern, the competition will be open to all golfers with a verifiable handicap.
Promoted as an event for pas-sionate golfers, the competition is open to both members of Ghala Golf Club and non-members who can register for a slightly higher fee which would entitle them to be a part of the grand gala dinner and an exclusive goodie bag from the organisers. To encourage the
sport among the youth, junior golf-ers with a handicap are allowed to enter the tournament at no cost. Golfers interested in registering for the event can call the Ghala Golf Club Pro Shop on 92194957.
Meanwhile, Ram Mohan, GM-Commercial Group at Zubair Auto Group, said: “We are very excited to be a part of Ghala Golf Club’s in-itiative to promote golf in Oman, as a part of Zubair Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.
“Golf, a sport originally enjoyed by royals, has evolved today as a common man’s sport which the cor-porates are using for networking.
“In Oman, several golf pro-grammes are underway to promote the sport and this tournament is a true demonstration of the same where in juniors will pay no entry fee to participate in the champion-ship. The success and growing par-ticipation rate we see for the Open Tournament gives us the confi-dence that we will see more of our homegrown golfers on the interna-tional greens one day.”
T H I R D E D I T I O N
PART OF CSR: Officials pose with the trophies during the unveiling ceremony. – Supplied photo
EXCELLENT SHOW: The Omani players pose for a group photo along with Oman Tennis Association
officials after the second round action at the GCC Junior Tennis Championships in Doha. – Supplied photo
Younis Al Rawahi
Abdullah Al Barwani
OMAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CELEBRATES NATIONAL DAYThe Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) organised a ceremony to celebrate the Sultanate’s
45th National Day at the committee’s headquarters on Wednesday. OOC Secretary-General
Taha Al Kishry, who is also the chairman of the Oman Swimming Association, cut a cake
during the ceremony, which was attended by all the staff and other officials of the OOC.
Messi looking sharp but still a Clasico doubt, says SuarezBARCELONA: Barcelona for-ward Lionel Messi is looking sharp in training but remains a doubt for Saturday’s ‘El Clasico’ against Real Madrid, teammate Luis Suarez said.
Messi is in a fitness battle hav-ing returned to training on Mon-day following a knee injury he picked up at the end of September.
“Whether he plays or not is down to the coach, the medics and how he feels but he has been look-ing sharp in training. However, it is the type of injury where there are risks for the future,” Suarez said on Wednesday.
“Messi is a player that makes a difference in all games and in
Clasicos he has always made a big impact but we will have to see if he is ready.”
In the absence of the four times World Player of the Year, Suarez and Neymar have excelled and propelled Barcelona to a three-point lead over Real Mardid at the top of La Liga.
Still Suarez is in no doubt over the value of Messi for the clash.
“Leo is above any other player due to what he has achieved and what he is still doing,” said Suarez.
“Ney is amazing, behind Messi and could easily be the second best in the world. At the moment he is playing incredibly and it is great to see.
“We knew that we were going to be without Leo and that we had to be strong both physically and mentally. We have lost some points as have Madrid but we are happy because we have picked up good results without the best player in the world.”
While Barca are looking for a seventh straight win between La Liga and the Champions League, Real need to battle back after de-feat away to Sevilla before the in-ternational break when they were weak defensively.
“You never know what can hap-pen in these types of games and when you start as favourite it can often go wrong,” said Suarez. - Reuters
F O O T B A L L
Oman teams record victories at GCC tennis tournament
JONAH LOMUC6
SPORTST H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
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Less than three weeks after the All Blacks emerged tri-umphant at rugby’s most
successful World Cup, the sport was plunged into mourning fol-lowing the untimely death of one its favourite sons, Jonah Lomu, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 40.
Although Lomu never managed to get his hands on the Webb Ellis Cup, no-one contributed more to the tournament’s ongoing ascend-ancy than the giant New Zealand winger, who became the sport’s first truly global superstar.
Millions who had never watched or followed rugby, were captivated by Lomu, a seemingly unstoppa-ble force of nature who burst on to the international stage at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa.
New Zealand would go on to lose to the Springboks in a hard-fought final but Lomu’s impact at that tournament had changed the game forever. An imposing mountain of a man with speed to burn, he sin-gle-handedly destroyed opposition defences, scoring seven tries in the tournament and creating a tem-plate for future wingers and the need for new defensive patterns.
He scored four times in the sem-ifinal against England, famously trampling over fullback Mike Catt for his first touchdown and every time he got the ball, the crowd rose to their feet in anticipation as he set off in full-flight and swatted aside opposing players.
Then, in one of the most poign-ant rugby matches ever played, Lomu was thwarted by a South African team that gang-tackled him, inspired by Nelson Mandela and his vision for the new rainbow nation. Hollywood made a movie about the Springboks’ win that came just a year after the end of apartheid, entitled Invictus.
Such was the universal admi-ration of Lomu that not even the scriptwriters could cast him as the villain to Mandela’s dreams of uniting his country.
Just 20 at the time, Lomu was later able to grasp the magnitude of that historic match, acknowl-edging that the result meant more to the nation of South Africa than him getting a World Cup winner’s medal. For the game of rugby, Lomu’s arrival could not have come at a better time. Less than two months after the final, the In-ternational Rugby Board agreed to end the sport’s amateur status and embraced professionalism.
New competitions were formed and players began raking in the cash as governing bodies signed lu-crative television deals and spon-sorship endorsements, attracting bigger crowds to the game.
Illness arrivesLomu was the biggest attraction of all but his health was already fail-ing him. Before the end of 1995,
the winger was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a rare kid-ney disease. He began receiving treatment and missed a handful of matches over the next few years but remained a formidable pres-ence on the pitch when he was fit and returned to his best for the 1999 World Cup in Britain, Ireland and France.
For the second time in a row, he finished as the tournament’s lead-ing try scorer, running in eight touchdowns, including two in the semifinal against France at Twick-
enham. But just as in Johannes-burg four years earlier, fate con-spired against Lomu and the All Blacks lost to the French in what remains one of the biggest upsets in rugby history.
Already a legendary figure in rugby, Lomu never played at the World Cup again as the disease be-gan to worsen and threaten his life. He played his last international in 2002, ending a career in which he scored 37 tries in 63 Test appear-ances. By 2003 he was undergoing dialysis for 21 hours each week and
a year later he had a kidney trans-plant after a New Zealand radio host donated the organ to keep him alive. By 2011, the replacement kidney stopped functioning and he was on a donor list for another but there was no sign his life was in imminent danger. A gentle giant off the field, Lomu married three times and had two young sons.
He was in England last month with his family to see the All Blacks win the World Cup and was posting photos of himself holidaying in Dubai on his twitter
feed just days ago. Lomu’s legacy to the sport of rugby went beyond his feats on the field. From hum-ble beginnings in his native New Zealand, he inspired generations of people the world over as much with humility as his intimidat-ing physical powers. The official cause of his death has not been confirmed yet but the rugby world is united in grieving his loss, with heartfelt tributes flooding in from all over the globe for a man who seemed invincible on the pitch but died too young. - Reuters
Millions who had
never watched or
followed rugby,
were captivated by
Lomu, a seemingly
unstoppable force of
nature who burst on
to the international
stage at the 1995
World Cup
in South Africa
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Rugby would prob-ably not have the commercial clout it currently enjoys in the rugby world had Jonah Lomu not pulled on the famous All Blacks jersey, chief executive Steve Tew said on Wednesday.
Lomu became rugby’s first global superstar after his per-formances at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa.
The former winger had just returned to New Zealand after attending the World Cup in England. “We should reflect on the amazing contribution that Jonah made,” Tew said after expressing the sorrow at Lomu’s death.”I think it’s fair to say that his bursting onto the international stage took the game to another level.
“(It) was probably an impor-tant spark for the game getting the opportunity to go fully professional because of what he did at the ’95 World Cup certainly turned heads.
“I know that the television channels certainly saw rugby as an opportunity to put some more very rich content on
board after that World Cup.”Rugby union turned profes-
sional after the 1995 World Cup, principally due to a war between television moguls for sports rights. A story current at the time was that Lomu’s ex-ploits so impressed News Corp head Rupert Murdoch that he told one of his television execu-tives “we have to get this guy”.
Murdoch’s company later secured a $555 million 10-year agreement for rights to televise a new southern hemisphere competition involving New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The International Rug-by Board, now World Rugby, later declared the sport ‘open’ for professionalism on the back of the TV contract. While TV revenue has formed the backbone of rugby revenues in New Zealand, the All Blacks also have a significant apparel agreement with Adidas, which came into effect in 1999.
“I think our Adidas contract probably was initiated by (former Adidas head) Robert Louis-Dreyfus seeing him (Lomu) play in the World Cup,” Tew added.
Estimates put that agree-ment, extended in 2008 until 2019, at about $25 million a year, while American insurer AIG re-portedly paid about $80million in 2012 to have their logo placed on the front of the jersey.
South Africans mourn Lomu was also revered in South Africa where the winger’s performances at the World Cup in 1995 wrote him into the country’s rugby folklore. Seen as a fearsome opponent on the field and the consummate gentleman off it, Lomu became a hero to many in South Africa
where there is still strong support for the All Blacks over the Springboks among the black community.
From government ministers, to the South African Rugby Union, players past and present, and fans, there is a deep sense of genuine sorrow at his passing. A player Lomu formed a special bond with in recent times is former Bok scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen, himself now confined to a wheelchair as he battles with a form of Motor Neurone Disease.
Bound by their shared fears for their respective futures due to poor health, their reunion earlier in 2015, filmed for the documentary ‘Jonah Lomu: Back to South Africa’, was an emotional one.
“Promise me you’ll keep fighting because I will,” Lomu told Van der Westhuizen at its conclusion.
“Difficult to write with eyes full of tears on my eye tracker. Thank you for everything, Jonah. RIP my dear friend!” Van der Westhuizen tweeted on Wednesday. - Reuters
Tweet all about it
SCAN TTHIHISSS S S S S S S TOTOTOTOTOTOTOOTOTTOTOOTOTOOOOTTOTOOOTOTTTOOOOOTTT INSTSTTTTTTTANANANANANANANNANANANNANANNNNANNNNNNNNNNNNNAANAAAANNAANAAAANNNNAANTTTTTTTLTLLLTLLLLLTTTTLLTLLTTTTTLTTTLTTTTLTTTLTLTLLYYYYY Y YYY YYYLALALALALALAALAAALAALAAAAAAAAALALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUNUUUNUNUNUUNUNUUNUNUNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNUUUUUNUNCCCHCHCHCHCHCHHHH TTTTTTWWTWTTTTTTTTWWWWIITITITITITITITITTTTTTTTTTTTTTETETTETETETEERRRRR R PAPAPAGEGEGEEEGEGE
s than three weeks after e All Blacks emerged tri-
mphant at rugby’s most ul World Cup, the sport nged into mourning fol-he untimely death of one urite sons, Jonah Lomu,
ed away on Wednesday at f 40.gh Lomu never managed hands on the Webb Ellis
one contributed more to nament’s ongoing ascend-n the giant New Zealand who became the sport’s y global superstar.ns who had never watched ed rugby, were captivated
u, a seemingly unstoppa-of nature who burst on to national stage at the 1995 up in South Africa.ealand would go on to lose ringboks in a hard-fought
Lomu’s impact at that ent had changed the game
An imposing mountain of ith speed to burn, he sin-edly destroyed opposition scoring seven tries in the
ent and creating a tem-future wingers and the
new defensive patterns.red four times in the sem-ainst England, famously g over fullback Mike Catt rst touchdown and every ot the ball, the crowd rose
feet in anticipation as he n full-flight and swatted posing players.in one of the most poign-y matches ever played, as thwarted by a South team that gang-tackled
pired by Nelson Mandela ision for the new rainbow
Hollywood made a movie e Springboks’ win that
st a year after the end of d, entitled Invictus. was the universal admi-
Lomu that not even the iters could cast him as n to Mandela’s dreams of is country.0 at the time, Lomu was e to grasp the magnitude historic match, acknowl-hat the result meant more
tion of South Africa than ng a World Cup winner’s
For the game of rugby, arrival could not have a better time. Less than ths after the final, the In-
nal Rugby Board agreed to port’s amateur status and d professionalism.ompetitions were formed ers began raking in the
overning bodies signed lu-elevision deals and spon-endorsements, attracting owds to the game.
arrivesas the biggest attraction of
s health was already fail-Before the end of 1995,
the winger was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a rare kid-ney disease. He began receiving treatment and missed a handful of matches over the next few years but remained a formidable pres-ence on the pitch when he was fit and returned to his best for the 1999 World Cup in Britain, Ireland and France.
For the second time in a row, hefinished as the tournament’s lead-ing try scorer, running in eight touchdowns, including two in the semifinal against France at Twick-
enham. But just as in Johannes-burg four years earlier, fate con-spired against Lomu and the All Blacks lost to the French in what remains one of the biggest upsets in rugby history.
Already a legendary figure inrugby, Lomu never played at the World Cup again as the disease be-gan to worsen and threaten his life.He played his last international in2002, ending a career in which hescored 37 tries in 63 Test appear-ances. By 2003 he was undergoing dialysis for 21 hours each week and
a year later he had a kidney trans-plant after a New Zealand radio host donated the organ to keep him alive. By 2011, the replacement kidney stopped functioning and he was on a donor list for another but there was no sign his life was in imminent danger. A gentle giant off the field, Lomu married three times and had two young sons.
He was in England last month with his family to see the All Blacks win the World Cup and was posting photos of himself holidaying in Dubai on his twitter
feed just days ago. Lomu’s legacy to the sport of rugby went beyond his feats on the field. From hum-ble beginnings in his native New Zealand, he inspired generations of people the world over as much with humility as his intimidat-ing physical powers. The official cause of his death has not been confirmed yet but the rugby world is united in grieving his loss, with heartfelt tributes flooding in from all over the globe for a man who seemed invincible on the pitch but died too young. - Reuters
Millions who had
never watched or
followed rugby,
were captivated by
Lomu, a seemingly
unstoppable force of
nature who burst on
to the international
stage at the 1995
World Cup
in South Africa
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Rugby would prob-ably not have the commercial clout it currently enjoys in therugby world had Jonah Lomu not pulled on the famous AllBlacks jersey, chief executiveSteve Tew said on Wednesday.
Lomu became rugby’s firstglobal superstar after his per-formances at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa.
The former winger had justreturned to New Zealand afterattending the World Cup inEngland. “We should reflecton the amazing contributionthat Jonah made,” Tew saidafter expressing the sorrow atLomu’s death.”I think it’s fair to say that his bursting onto the international stage tookthe game to another level.
“(It) was probably an impor-tant spark for the game getting the opportunity to go fully professional because of whathe did at the ’95 World Cup certainly turned heads.
“I know that the television channels certainly saw rugby as an opportunity to put somemore very rich content on
board after that World Cup.”Rugby union turned profes-
sional after the 1995 World Cup, principally due to a war between television moguls for sports rights. A story current at the time was that Lomu’s ex-ploits so impressed News Corp head Rupert Murdoch that he told one of his television execu-tives “we have to get this guy”.
Murdoch’s company later secured a $555 million 10-year agreement for rights to televise a new southern hemisphere competition involving New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The International Rug-by Board, now World Rugby, later declared the sport ‘open’for professionalism on the back of the TV contract. While TV revenue has formed the backbone of rugby revenues in New Zealand, the All Blacks also have a significant apparel agreement with Adidas, which came into effect in 1999.
“I think our Adidas contract probably was initiated by (former Adidas head) RobertLouis-Dreyfus seeing him (Lomu) play in the World Cup,” Tew added.
Estimates put that agree-ment, extended in 2008 until 2019, at about $25 million a year, while American insurer AIG re-portedly paid about $80million in 2012 to have their logo placed on the front of the jersey.
South Africans mourn Lomu was also revered in South Africa where the winger’s performances at the World Cup in 1995 wrote him into the country’s rugby folklore. Seen as a fearsome opponent on the field and the consummate gentleman off it, Lomu became a hero to many in South Africa
where there is still strong support for the All Blacks over the Springboks among the black community.
From governmentministers, to the South African Rugby Union, players past and present, and fans, there is a deep sense of genuine sorrow at his passing. A player Lomu formed a special bond with in recent times is former Bok scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen, himself now confined to a wheelchair as he battles with a form of Motor Neurone Disease.
Bound by their shared fearsfor their respective futures due to poor health, their reunion earlier in 2015, filmed for the documentary ‘Jonah Lomu: Back to South Africa’, was an emotional one.
“Promise me you’ll keep fighting because I will,” Lomu told Van der Westhuizen at its conclusion.
“Difficult to write with eyesfull of tears on my eye tracker. Thank you for everything, Jonah. RIP my dear friend!” Van der Westhuizen tweeted on Wednesday. - Reuters
THE GENTLE GIANT WHO CHANGED RUGBY FOREVER
‘Lomu’s exploits a catalyst for professional rugby’
WWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
CultureSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
I try to surprise myself in every film, says famous Indian cinematographer Jomon T John
CALLING THE SHOTSSTORY: NISHAD PADIYARATH
PHOTOGRAPHY: TOBIN THOMAS
LIFESTYLEC8 T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
He is just 13 movies old, but Jomon T. John has established a firm footing in the Indian film industry. The
mesmerising visuals of Beautiful, Thattathin Marayathu, Thira and Ennu Ninte Moideen, to name a few of his movies, speak volumes about the cinematographer’s un-canny knack in capturing the beauty of the subject and surround-ing in all its splendour.
No wonder, then, that Jomon has become a much sought after cam-eraman in a short span. “My journey has been unexpectedly quick,” he confesses while taking a trip down the memory lane.
In fact, this interview was scheduled to be held three years ago soon after the release of That-tathin Marayathu, but Joe (as he is fondly called) was busy with different projects. When he fi-nally got time to talk, he looked exhausted. However, he sprang to life when asked about the chal-lenges of filming, his controversial remarks on some of the theatres in Kerala, from where he hails, and his upcoming projects.
Excerpts:
‘Ennu Ninte Moideen’ is by far the biggest work in your career so far. Each frame of the film gave the viewers something unique in its colour tone, but you were left shattered after watching the film in a theatre in Kerala. You had even criticised theatre owners for poor projection systems. How did you feel while viewing your work?I was shocked and hurt because there was so much of hard work that went into making of the film. By crit-icising the theatre owners, I did not mean to hurt anyone. I know Kerala has some of the best cinema houses that showcase exceptional viewing experience. But there are theatres that need to be upgraded. Film tech-nicians take care of even the minute details, using the best and the most modern technologies available with an aim to provide superior visual experience. But all the money and effort are wasted when it fails to reach the audience. After watching the movie, I gave an interview to a leading newspaper. And I did re-ceive good support from the people concerned and, of course, the fans. I hope things will change in future.
Cinema is an integral part of In-dian culture. It actually binds the country together. But has the habit of going to the cinema reduced in recent times among the audience?Indian film industry has become more vibrant than ever. And it still
attracts plenty of crowd to thea-tres. Bahubali’s collection exceeded Rs20 million in a theatre in Kerala, which is the highest from a single Indian cinema house. It’s a good example. If you give fans the best quality viewing facilities, they will certainly come to watch in large numbers. When we have sup-portive producers, talented and ambitious directors, artistes and other technicians, why does all the effort fail to reach the audi-ence? It is unfortunate that we have no regulations to monitor this. I know that the scenario is not going to change overnight.
You sprang a surprise many years ago by shooting a film with a still camera. Since then, you have been coming up with new ideas, themes and techniques. You are now 13 films old. Wannabe cinematogra-phers look up to you these days. Looking back, how do you evaluate your journey so far?Have I really come a long way? Frankly, I never thought my work
would get noticed. These days you really need someone to push you to enter films but in my case, it was all a blessing. I started by using a still camera because the subject of that film demanded a realistic feel. It inspired youngsters to make short films with still cameras. That itself is an achievement. Looking back, my journey has been unexpect-edly quick. I realised that I am just 13 films old. Each work I did was challenging and in all these films, I tried to surprise myself.
Good cinema is not just all about screenplay or the actors. It’s also about good images. That’s what makes legends, such as Balu Mahendra, P. C. Sreeram, Santosh Sivan and Surata Mitra look different from the rest.
Do you think filmmakers should have a strong grasp over cinema-tography to better communicate their needs or vision to a cinema-tographer?It is always good to work with a film-maker who knows the visual me-dium. You can’t just turn the camera on and capture the image that is al-ready there. You need to think about the scene and whether it is dark or light. A good filmmaker should have an artistic idea.
Is that why you love to work with your close friend and director Vineeth Sreenivasan? Vineeth is a close friend. He is a good writer and a brilliant director. Interestingly, we share the same ideas while making a film. I can easily sense what he wants in his film. That’s when you really enjoy your work. My next project is with Vineeth and it will be shot in Dubai. The film is
titled Jacobine Swargarajyam.
Do you think cinematography has become less of an art?I don’t think so. The only thing that people see as art these days is the visual treat in the movie. Film lovers appreciated my work in Ennu Ninte Moideen as it is visually beautiful. I still believe it’s an art.
Do you have any plans to direct a movie?Discussions are on and I will make a film sometime next year. But I haven’t finalised the script.
What is your advice to young cinematographers? I have learnt that a good cinematogra-pher needs to lead from the front and not imitate. You can make mistakes, but you need to learn from them. A good cinematographer needs to be a good observer. Every day I get to learn many things about camera, because I still believe I am a stu-dent of cinematography. Everything is changing in terms of technique. Those lessons are never-ending. For me, cinematography is a passion than a profession.
I have learnt that a good cinematographer needs to lead from the front and not imitate. You can make mistakes, but you need to learn from them
LIFESTYLEC9T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
SO TO SPEAK
SALEHAL-SHAIBANY
Give and Get Respect Never the one to
pass up a good opportunity, or so I thought un-til that night, I
sat close to a man who stroked a sheesha (a smoking pipe) as if it were a precious commodity. We were sitting with half a dozen fellow journalists in a tent that was erected in a five-star hotel.
“It is the most ridiculous tent I have ever seen,” the man told us. “My grandfather used to make the best tents in the country.”
His remarks, full of scorn, forced us to inspect the tent very closely. I must agree that it did not look authentic but I didn’t think anybody sitting under the roof cared much about its origin.
“It is just a way of trying to stir an old sentiment and make mon-ey,” he added.
He pulled the pipe closer. There was a boiling sound com-
ing from the depths of the hideous thing which he particularly took plea sure in showing off.
Then he gestured to a pass-ing waiter and demanded to see
the manager. The manager, a tall and dis-
tinguished looking Frenchman, came to us and politely inquired if he could be of service.
“What’s the idea of inviting us here in this tent?” he asked. His voice had the obvious sarcasm that embarrassed us all.
The manager told him that he was looking to impress journal-ists in the traditional setting.
“Well, you are wrong,” the jour-nalist said. “You have not impressed us at all. This is not the way to put up a tent and the food you offered to us is not traditional.”
I turned to the other journal-ists who looked embarrassed at his outburst.
The Frenchman, as a good businessman and host, tried to diffuse the potential confronta-tion and said that he admired the man’s honesty.
“I respect your opinion,” he told him. “I’m not going to influ-ence you in anyway in the words you would choose for your arti-cle about this event.”
However, I thought I should
put the record straight as far as local tradition was concerned.
“We also appreciate the ho-tel’s effort in this arrangement. I can also assure you that you have been a perfect host throughout this evening,” I told the manager.
Another journalist decided to help me out before the angry man spoke again.
“The food is good and I am sure the menu will improve,” he said.
I thought the smoking jour-nalist was on our side, too. As the man tried to contradict what we were saying, the smoke choked him and he began to cough un-controllably.
His face turned into a sickly colour and he appeared to be out of breath. The ordeal took the breath out of his determi-nation to ruin the party on that pleasant evening.
“Is this not what you eat at home for dinner?” the manager asked anxiously . We assured him that the food was fine but even finer was the atmosphere.
When the rude man finally recovered, the manager had al-ready left us.
He glared at us and said, quite angrily, “he won’t get me. I would write what I saw and ate in tomorrow’s edition. He won’t get me to give him a free advertisement.”
“But he gave you a free meal and smoke. Why don’t you ac-cept that as a token of his re-spect?” I told him.
I think that shut him up.
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Visit Muscat City Centre to see famous Omani artists in action
We also appreciate the hotel’s effort in this arrangement. I can also assure you that you have been a perfect host
He’s 40, but David Beckham feels he’s 21
He’s 40, but former football star David Beckham says he still feels 21 in his heart and mind. Beckham cel-ebrated his 40th birthday with a break and a bash in Morocco earlier this year. “It just felt like another birthday, to be honest. A lit-tle bit of a bigger birthday... I don’t feel any different to when I turned 21. I still feel young at heart and in my head as well, and I think that’s important,” Beckham said. Beckham retired from his sporting career in 2013 and now his life revolves around being a stay-at-home father to his children, sons Brooklyn, 16, Romeo, 13, Cruz, 10, and four-year-old daughter Harper.
Julianne Moore to star in ‘Wonderstruck’
Actress Julianne Moore will reunite with her Far From Heaven director Todd Haynes for upcoming film Wonderstruck, an adap-tation of an eponymous children’s book by Brian Selznick. The book, part prose and part black and white illustrations, tells the story of two children, both deaf, from different time periods, one from 1927, one from 1977, who run away to New York. Despite a gap of decades, they are connect-ed by a mystery waiting to be solved. Selznick, whose book The Invention of Hugo Cabret was adapted into the 2011 Martin Scorsese film Hugo, also wrote the script for the new movie.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Memento’ to be remade
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s 2000 neo-noir psy-chological thriller film Me-mento, which inspired Bolly-wood film Ghajini, is getting remade. AMBI Pictures has announced it will finance and produce the remake. The company has the remake rights due to its acquisition of the library of Exclusive Media Group. -IANS
HOLLYWOOD
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FIND-IT-ALLC10 T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman
SHATTI
Spectre (Action | Thriller) (PG12) Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz2:30, 9:15, 11:55 PMThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay-2 (3D) (Adventure | Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson3:15, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30 PMThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay-2 (2D) (Adventure | Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson4:15, 6:45 PMSecret in their Eyes (Mystery | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman2:15, 7:15, 9:30, 11.45 PMA Perfect Day (Drama) (PG) Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins5:15 PM
MUSCAT GRAND MALL
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-2 : 3D (Adventure/Sci-Fi) PG12Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson1:00, 3:45, 8:45, 11:30 PMGold Class : 3:00, 8:30, 11:15 PMHatched: Chicks Gone Wild : 2D (Anima-tion/Fantasy) (PG)12:15PMSecret in their Eyes : 2D (Thriller) (12+)Cast : Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts1:45, 6:30 & 11:45PMA Perfect Day : 2D (Drama) (PG)Cast : Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins6:45PMSpectre : 2D (Action/Thriller) PG12Cast : Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz4:00 & 9:00PMGold Class : 5:45PM
PANORAMA MALL
Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 (PG12)Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson2:00, 5:15, 8:30, 11:45 pm (Action)Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 – (Ac-tion) (PG12) VIP LOUNGE 3:00, 8:15, 11:00 pmHunger Games: Mockingjay part 2 (Action, Adventure)(4D)(PG12)Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth2:00, 5:15, 8:30, 11:45 pmSpectre (Action, Adventure) (PG12)8:45 /11:30 pmSpectre (Action, Adventure)(PG12) VIP LOUNGE: 05:30 pmPrem Ratan Dhan Payo (Hindi, Family)(PG)5:15, 8:30 pmSecret In Their Eyes (Mystery, Thriller)(2D)(12+)Cast : Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts2:30, 11:45 pmA Perfect Day (Drama)(2D)(PG)Cast : Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko
4:45 pmEYAL HARIFA (Arabic, Comedy)(2D)(PG12)6:45 pm
AZAIBA
Spectra – 2D (PG12) Action, ThrillerCast – Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes4:00, 11:30 PMVedalam – 2D (PG) Action, MasalaCast – Ajith Kumar, Shruti Hasan3:00, 8:30 PMPrem Ratan Dhan Payo – 2D (PG) FamilyCast – Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor2:00, 5:05, 8:15, 10:00, 11:30 PMHatched: Chicks Gone Wild – 2D (PG) Animation, Fantasy2:30 PMThe Hunger Game : Mocking Jay Part 2 – 3D (PG12) Adventure, Sci-Fi Cast – Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson2:15, 4:45, 6:45, 9:15, 11:45 PMAmar Akbar Anthony - 2D (12+) Comedy Cast – Prithviraj Sukumaran, Namitha5:45, 7:15 PM
RUWI
Screen 1Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Family) – PGCast : – Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor2.00, 5.15, 8.30, 11.45 PMScreen 2The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 – 2D (Action/Sci Fic) – PG12Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson3.30, 6.30, 9.00, 11.45 PMScreen 3Amar Akbar Anthony- Malayalam – PG12Cast : – Prithiviraj, Jaya Surya6.30, 9.00, 11.30 PMSpectre (Action) – PG12Cast : Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes3.45 PM
SUR
The Hunger Game - Mockingjay 2 3D (Action | Adventure | Sci Fi ) (PG12)Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson3:00, 6:00, 9:30, 11:30 PMTiger House (Action ) (12+)Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Gougray Scott
5:25, 8:30, 10:00, 11:55 PMPrem Ratan Dhan Payo (Family) (PG) Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor3:00 PMAmar Akbar Anthony( Malayalam) (12+)Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaram, Jayasurya7:00 PM
SOHARSpectre - 2D (PG12) Action |ThrillerCast : Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes3:00, 6:15 PMPrem Ratan Dhan Payo - 2D (PG) FamilyCast : Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor2:30, 8:15, 10:30 PMThe Hunger Game : Mocking Jay Part 2 - 3D (PG12) Adventure, Sci-FiCast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson3:15, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30 PMThe Hunger Game : Mocking Jay Part 2 - 2D (PG12) Adventure, Sci-FiCast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson 7:50 PMSecret in Their Eyes - 2D (12+) Mystery Cast : Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman 2:30 , 5:45 , 11:45 PMTiger House - 2D (12+) Action |DramaCast : Kaya Scodelario, Dougray Scott 4:40 , 11:30 PMA Perfect Day - 2D (PG) DramaCast : Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins5:45 PMAmar Akbar Anthony - 2D (M) (12+) ThrillerCast : Prithviraj Sukumaran, Namitha 9:00 PM
BURAIMI
The Hunger Game: Mocking Jay– 3D
(Adventure, Sci-Fi) (PG12)
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson,
Liam Hemsworth
3:00, 6:15, 9:00, 11:30PM
Tiger House – 2D (Action, Crime, Drama)
(12+)
Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Dougray Scott, Ed
Skrein
5:00, 7:30 11:15PM
Secret in Their Eyes – 2D (Mystery,
Thriller) (12+)
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia
Roberts
3:00, 5:30, 9:00, 11:45PM
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo– 2D (Family) (PG)
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin
Mukesh
3:15, 8:45PM
Amar Akbar Anthony– 2D (Comedy,
Thriller) (12+)
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Namitha,
Jayasurya, Indrajith
6:15PM
SALALAH
The Hunger Game : Mocking Jay Part 2 (3D) (PG12) (Adventure, Sci-Fi)
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson,
Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson
10:45AM, 6:30, 9:00, 11:35PM
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2
(2D) (PG12) (Adventure/Sc-Fi)
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson,
Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson
3:30PM
Spectre (2D) (PG12) (Action /Thriller)
Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes
12:30, 3:10PM
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2D) (PG) (Family)
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor
11:00AM, 8:00, 11:15PM
A Perfect Day (2D) (PG) (Drama)
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins
1:35, 6:00PM
Secret in Their Eyes (2D) (12+) (Thriller)
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman
10:30AM, 2:15, 11:55PM
Eyal Harifa (2D) (PG12) (Arabic)(Comedy)
7:15PM
Amar Akbar Anthony (2D) (12+) (Malay-
alam)( Comedy/ Thriller)
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Namitha,
Jayasurya, Indrajith
9:15PM
Vedalam (2D) (PG) (Tamil) (Action | Masala)
Cast: Ajith Kumar, Shruti Hasan, Laxmi Menon
4:25PM
CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW
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PHARMACIES
Round the clock
Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24782666
Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542
Salalah 23291635;
Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585
Muscat Region
Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766
Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691
Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740
Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080
Dhofar Region
Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,
Salalah 23291635
HOSPITALS
Al Amal Medical & Health Care
Centre 24485052
Atlas Hospital
Ruwi 24811743/
Ghubra 24504000
Al Musafir Specialised
Medical Clinic 24706453
Hatat Polyclinic LLC,
Ruwi 24563641
Azaiba 24499269
Sohar 2683006
Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2
Al Massaraat Clinic &
Laboratory 24566435
Al Makook Medical
Coordinance Centre 24499434
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24787766, 24787780
Capital Polyclinic 24707549
Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,
Ruwi 24799760/1/2
Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740
Ceregem National Raak 24485633
Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217
Elixir Health Centre 24565802
Emirates Medical Centre 24604540
1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274
Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340
International Medical
Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5
Kims Oman Hospital 24760100
24 Hrs Emergency 24760123
Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128
MBD 24799077
Al Khuwair 24478818
Magrabi Eye and
Ear Hospital 24568870
Muscat Private Hospital 24583600
Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment
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Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000
AIRLINE OFFICES
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(24 hours) 24519456/24519223
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LISTINGS
LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)
15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily
15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily
15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily
06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily
08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri
13:00 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
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
@SHATTI @RUWI
Secret in their Eyes (Mystery | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole KidmanTiming: 2:15, 7:15, 9:30, 11.45 PM
@PANORAMA MALL
Hunger Games : Mockingjay part 2 (Action, Adventure) (PG12)Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam HemsworthTimings : 2:00, 5:15, 8:30, 11:45 pm VIP Lounge: 3:00, 8:15, 11:00 pm
Amar Akbar Anthony- Malayalam (PG12)Cast : Prithiviraj, Jaya SuryaTiming: 6.30, 9.00, 11.30 PM
Dhuhr 11.57pmAsr 3.04pmMaghrib 5.26pmIsha 6.39pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.05am
PRAYER TIMINGS
BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (Adventure / Sci-Fi) Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth2.00, 4.30, 7.00, 9.30 & 11.55 pm CP No: 3015 (PG12)Tiger House (Action / Crime / Drama) Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Dougray Scott, Ed Skrein12.30, 10.00 & 11.55 pm CP No: 3016 (12+)Spectre (Action / Adventure / Thriller)Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes2.30 p.m. CP No: 2965 (PG12)Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Hindi / Drama)Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher7.00 pm CP No: 2996 (PG)A Perfect Day (Drama) Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins, Olga Kurylenko12.30 & 5.00 pm CP No : 3017 (PG)
STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776Website: www.isurf.co.om
Amar Akbar Anthony (Mal) (Act/Drama) Cast: Prithviraj, Jaya Surya, Indrajith & Namitha 3-00, 6-30 & 10-00 Pm Cinema Main Vedalam (Tamil) Act Cast: Ajith, Shruthi Hassan & Lakshmi Menon 3-30, 6-30 & 9-30 Pm Cinema – 2 Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Hindi ) (Act) Cast : Salman Khan,Sonam Kapoo6-45 & 9-45 Pm Cinema- 4 Akhil (Telugu) (Rom/Act)Cast : Akhil Akkineni & Sayesha Saigal 3-45 Pm At Cinema - 4 Thoonga Vanam (Tamil) Thriller Cast : Kamal Hassan & Trisha 3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 pm At Cinema-3Next Change: Aatagara (Kanada Film) on 20/11/2015 at 6-00 PM Friday Programmes are subject to change
WEATHER
290
Maximum
220
Minimum
TEMPERATURE
30-70%RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to [email protected]
KEBIN ROY
November 19, 2008
KEVIN ROY
November 19, 2008
PARTHIV NIDHEESH
November 19, 2010
AVANI AJEESH
November 20, 2012
KESIYA ROY
November 19, 2008
SAMIRA SHAIKH
November 19, 2002
AVEERAL GOLASH
November 19, 1999
FATIMA AL BALUSHI
November 17, 2014
WITH LOVE
LIFESTYLEC11T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
GHAWIBAZAAR
BUY LOCAL: OMANI ROSE WATERFarmers in Jebel Akhdar produce the highest
quality rose water, which is used to prepare culinary
delights, celebratory purposes and medicinal use.
Pain
ting
: You
suf A
l Nah
wi
WHATOmani rose water is in huge demand during Rama-
dan as it is used for preparing the fast breaking
meal. It is also used for flavouring drinks, custards,
jellies, and providing fragrance to a glass of tea
and Omani halwa. Rose water is an essential ingre-
dient in the preparation of traditional cosmetics,
such as black kohl.
WHODamask rose (scientific name Rosa X damascene)
that grows only near the summit of Jebel Akhdar, a
popular hill station in Oman, is used for the manufac-
ture of Omani rose water. Farmers pluck roses from
the mountains and distil it in the traditional mud ov-
ens called ‘Al duhjan’. The fragrant petals are allowed
to simmer gently for about four hours in a vessel
called ‘Al burmah’ that is covered by another vessel
made of copper. When it boils, water flows from the
petals into the copper vessel. The rose water is col-
lected in a large pot known as ‘Al karas’ which is kept
for 30 days.
HOW MUCHOmani rose water’s unique smoky, ashy smell is
particularly desired in Gulf countries. It fetches the
highest price, costing between OMR6 and OMR7
for 375ml. Shops in Nizwa souq sell rose water
produced by Jebel Akhdar farmers.
Have a favourite Omani product or shop? Tell us about it: [email protected]
STORY PATRICIA GROVES
The colours in this exhibition, pull together ele-ments of Oman”, says Gallery Sa-
rah manager, Farah Asqul as she surveys the show titled ‘Another World’ that she shares with fellow Omani artists, Yousuf Al Nahwi and Saleh Al Alawi.
The Gallery is on fire on the far wall with the blazing colours of works by Saleh. In one painting, Omani women in brightly pat-terned costumes have congre-gated in front of Al Alam Palace against an explosion of reds and orange in a balloon-filled sky. Ti-tled ‘The Birth of Happiness’, it’s a perfect picture for the 45th Na-tional Day. Another Saleh paint-ing turns a traditional mud-brick village into a sensual feast of pink,
mauve, purple, yellow and green with a Mediterranean palette that could have come from Matisse.
One painting in a pair of play-ful mixed media works by You-suf Al Nahwi on the theme of His Majesty’s love of singing features the old green Land Rover that His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said once drove. Musical notes flow out of the tyres and rise in the air from the back of the vehicle as a fantasy driver rolls along.
Across the way are two large works in oil on steel where camels gallop out of the frame. Yousuf’s works are striking for more than their dynamism – the effect of oil painting on steel is to give the im-ages an otherworldly caste that goes beyond canvas.
Farah presents a series of mixed media canvasses, one of which was inspired by the art of Sarah White for whom the Gallery is named. “Sarah favoured these colours and
layered forms as you see in this work. It’s a wonderful feeling to sense Sarah’s presence.”
Elements in Farah’s canvasses are spray-painted on hand-cut stencils. The star of the series is undoubtedly the stunning work which depicts an electrical tower against a windy, blood-red sky. “I looked at these steel giants tower-ing over the landscape and they seemed so magical. They are haz-ardous to people and the more powerful for that — and yet they are so beautiful.”
Bait Al Zubair’s general man-ager caught the essence of the ex-hibition: “What I find fascinating is that three Omanis with very different perspectives are all cele-brating the diversity and beauty of this country, exploring its culture with powerful and varied symbols — the oil rig, the palace, the village, the electric pylon, camels, the old truck, the oud.”
Elements of Oman in ‘Another World’
Works of three talented Omani artists, Yousuf Al Nahwi, Saleh Al Alawi
and Farah Asqul, will be on display at Gallery Sarah till December 7
Sarah White favoured these colours and layered forms as you see in this work. It’s a wonderful feeling to sense Sarah’s presence in the Gallery
Farah AsqulArtist & Manager, Gallery Sarah
Watch Omani artists in action at City Centre outlets
MAJID AL FUTTAIM’S leading lifestyle destinations in the Sultanate, City Cen-tre Qurum and City Centre Seeb, are celebrating the 45th National Day with a series of cultural activities. The high-light is the community arts initiative, Art of C, which will conclude today (Nov 19). Organised in collaboration with Oman Society for Fine Arts as part of the Fine Arts Festival “Watani Lawhati”, the event saw country’s re-spected artists, representing 11 governorates, demonstrat-ing national pride using a va-riety of artistic mediums. The works will be displayed at dif-ferent areas of the [email protected]
I N N E W S
Phot
ogra
phy:
Tal
ib A
l Wah
aibi
LIFESTYLEC12 T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
Come November 24, the Stal Gallery & Studio will play host to a unique art project in which 10 emerging artists will
transform 10 Red Bull coolers into unique pieces of art as part of the Can-vas Cooler Project. Artists Raya Al Maskary, Safiya Al Bahlani, Mala Yag-nesh, Farah Asqul, Tahira Fida, Liubov Nikitina, Rawan Al Mahrouqi, Sarah Al Balushi, Yasser Al Danki and Taher Al Battashi will participate in the pro-ject, which will be curated by Hassan Al Meer and Ibrahim Gailani. This is for the first time that Red Bull Curates event is happening in Oman.
KNOW THE CURATORSHassan Al Meer is one of the lead-ing artists in Oman, who uses video and installation art as a new form to express his ideas which have been inspired by personal experience and childhood memories with an impres-sionable sense of spirituality.
Ibrahim Gailani is the founder of Gailani Art Retreat, and he manages art events, curates several art exhibi-tions, judges several art-competitions and also exhibits his own collection.
KNOW THE ARTISTS Artist Sarah Al Balushi loves to portray people’s lives through con-ceptual art. Al Balushi likes explor-ing street life through photography and conceptual art.
Rawan Al Mahrouqi is fond of ex-ploring and experimenting with anima-tion, installation art and film making. The themes that Al Mahrouqi is inter-ested in are life and death, the human experience, and society.
Taher Al Battashi is a graffiti artist, DJ and producer. He is mostly into vis-ual art as a collective. He is interested in everything that is large scale or out of the norm. He enjoys simplicity in creating a piece or creating one that resembles organised chaos. Besides the ordinary forms of art, sound is his favourite form of art.
After having overcome disability, Safiya Al Bahlani not only paints but is a creative designer and an inspira-tional and motivational public speak-er. Safiya uses digital art to convey a di-alogue on values of society and shows both its importance and its challenges in the modern world where the new generation is focused on socially dis-connecting through tools of social media. Her quest for spirituality has stemmed from her recent “body-map” art series that aim at seeking accept-ance beyond limitations of form.
Nikitina Liubov is a multidiscipli-nary artist working on illustrations, sculpture, paintings and handicrafts to mention just a few. Her works don’t represent a subject, as it is, they tell stories, stories that relate to a wide audience, stories that capture the curiosity of many.
Raya Al Maskary translates into the depiction of faces and emotions in her style of art – there is a constant story that unfolds in all her faces painted that seek answers to the true self of being. “We all strive to fit in to the societies norms, and therefore we create masks accordingly, whether for friendship, love or simply a desire to fit-in. While the real us lies hidden deep inside and sometimes neglected to the point that we lose touch to the deep aspects of who we really are”
Mala Yagnesh is a believer in spir-itual attainment and her art is a state-ment into slowing down and taking time for reflection. “Sometimes in the rush of making life happen you forget to pause and really align yourself to your dream. My paintings are a re-minder to pause and listen to the ele-ments of nature around us and just let go - don’t be scared, don’t be resistant, just let the universe guide you.”
Farah Asqul is an expressionist painter who explores cultural narra-tive and symbolism in Arabia; she uses mixed media to reflect her vision of hybrid art and multi-cultural identity. Her creative narrative reflects her vi-sion of identity and aesthetics, cultur-al diaspora, hybrid existence and the blending of cultural boundaries. She expresses her hybrid state and physi-cal and psychological release through art and loves to reflect that even if one faces adversity, one can rise again.
Tahira Fida’s art is a play on geo-metric patterns that make up one of the three nonfigural types of decora-tion in Islamic art, which also include calligraphy and vegetal patterns. Her patterns pay homage to nonfigural or-namentation and geometric patterns associated with Islamic art and their aniconic quality. She uses scripts from different languages in her art along with her abstract designs to deliver a message of going back to the roots.
Yasser Al Danki, award-winning Omani artist, will also join the unique [email protected]
10 AR
TISTS
, 10 CO
OLER
S, ON
E VEN
UE
WHAT: Red Bull Canvas Cooler Project
WHERE: Stal Gallery, Muscat (+968 2460 0396)
WHEN: November 24, 8pm to 9.30pm
Stal
Gal
lery
to h
ost u
niqu
e Red
Bul
l Can
vas C
oole
r Pro
ject
on N
ovem
ber 2
4
Sometimes in the rush of making life happen you forget to pause and really align yourself to your dream. My paintings are a reminder to pause and listen to the elements of nature around us and just let go - don’t be scared, don’t be resistant, just let the universe guide you.
Mala Yagnesh Artist
Ibrahim Gailani Artist/Curator
Hassan Al Meer Artist/Curator
Phot
ogra
phy:
Sup
plie
d
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 D6
T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
RENT D2
*Tourist visa arranged
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461
FOR RENT
Luxurious 2 BHK flat with 3 toilets ,
store , equipped kitchen & split A.C s
at Mumtaz area with free
GYM & party, hall rent 410 R.O.
Contact: 92622506
Studio flat for rent at Wadi Kabir
behind Muscat bakery, building No.
337, Way No. 150.
Contact: 99373290/24815012
D2 T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
DAILY GUIDE
Furnished rooms attached bath
for Indian bachelor Al Falaj
area - Ruwi & for lady in Wadi
Kabir near Mars Hypermarket -
96202458/96761960
Air conditioned two bedroom flats
centrally located at AL Khuwair
are available for rent. Contact:
93888666/24493666 /99228454
Urgent apartment for rent: First
Floor, Purpose built one bedroom,
bath, Kitchen with balcony and a
drawing & dinning. 2 Minutes walk
from Indian School Muscat.
Contact - 99346265
Beautiful villa directly on beach in
best location in Shatti Qurum 1800
OMR. Contact: 95887572
Spacious 2 BHK flat on Penthouse
behind Sultan Center, Azaiba –
RO.425/- p.m.
Contact: 99849325/99824803
One / two, B/R RES / Comm. direct-
ly from own ER near medical college
Bausher. Contact: 92158031
2 BHK flat in North Ghobrah. 18 No-
vember Street. RO 295/- For office or
residential use. Contact 94477222
1000 sqm Industrial land with
compound wall & 2 rooms at Misfah.
Contact: 99342733 / 99795241
Flats and Houses for rent in Wadi
Kabir and Sidab best price.
Contact: 95555162/95755953
Sohar: 3BHK AND 4BHK FLATS, R.O
200 and R.O 215 respectively. (New
Building with CCTV camera with
Split A/C). #: 99881426 / 92123699
Flat for rent in CBD area - Ruwi
Two rooms and a large hall•Office spaces for rent in Al Hail on
the main road On the same building
of Al Khamis Shoes at Al Hail
•2 bed room flats in Qurum 29 for
rent next to ABA New building
-split AC - Good location
Contact No: 96177505
Flats for rent near Indian school in
Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122
Deluxe beach front villa at AL
Hail North with 5 bedrooms and
staff quarter having excellent
finishes is available for immediate
occupation. Contact: 93888666/
244493666/99228454
1BHK new bldg with A/C curtains
near Khimji mart MBD. Contact:
99061408 /99024039
2BHK near Oman house behind
Khimji, H.O. Contact: 95865686
02 BHK Commercial / residential
(with split AC) flat at Honda road.
Contact: 99342733 / 99795241
Fully furnished office space in As -
Assalah Tower Ghobra.
Contact 98202001
New Building in Muttrah, 2 B/D
Room Flat + Setting Room, 3 Baths+
Kitchen with split unit Ac’s. Behind
Khimjis main office/opposite to
Oman House Call 99419712
Deluxe , spacious & air conditioned
two bedroom flats with good qual-
ity finishes , wardrobes & secured
basement parking are available for
rent in Azaiba north , close to 18th
November street. Contact: 93888666
/24493666/99228454
1BHK flat near Star Cinema 220/-.
Contact 99358589 /95570288
New warehouse for rent at Ghala
Ind. Area. 800 & 2500 approx sqms
near Hotel Al-Madinah Holiday Gha-
la. Container can enter. Immediate
access to roads & highways.
Contact : 94583320
Three bedroom fully furnished
apartment in UAE Cornish area.
Contact: 99326318
1+ 2+ 3BHK Darsait.
Contact: 99024730
Villa at Al.Khuwair having six
bedrooms, six bathrooms, sitting,
dinning, hall, kitchen Etc.
Contact - 24833972/ 24833974/
99367448
One room with kitchen & bathroom
at W/ Kabir R.O 100/.
Contact: 99384640
Shops for rent behind the building
good for offices +stores space 11 x 4
Meters behind Sultan Center
Al Amerat R.O 250/- PER Month.
Contact: 92877449
Single BHK flat available in
Honda road Ruwi. Contact -
24833972/24833974/99367448
New villa at Mawalah south 5 bed
room, family hall, Majlis, bath.
Contact: 99332367
Fully furnished luxury 2 bed room
flat for rent at Ghala for short or
long term basis. Contact: 99886386
/99881653
02 BHK Residential flat opposite to
Al Nahda Hospital.
Contact 99342733 / 99795241
Store for rent Misfah Industrial
area 100sqm RO.350/- .
Contact - 99617464
DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5 D3
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR RENT
FOR HIRE WITH OPERATORS1. Back Hoe Loaders (Shovels): 5 Nos
2. 10 Tons Vibratory Roller Compactor: 1 No.
3. 42 Mtrs. Concrete Pump Putzmeister: 1 No.
4. 45 Cbm Tippers: 2 Nos
5. 50 M height, 50 Boom tower cranes: 5 Nos.
Please contact – Mr. Ravi on 96529679Email – [email protected] / [email protected]
For Rent Flats in Darsait -
94051789-97201688
For Rent Flats in Ghala Heights -
94051789-97201688
For Rent Flats in Wadi Kabir -
94051789-97201688
For Rent Fully Furnished
apartments in Boucher (35) -
94051789-97201688
For Rent flats in Muttrah-
Contact – 94051789-97201688
Offices for Rent Gala-
Contact –94051789-97201688
For Rent Duplex villa in Qurum
29- 94051789-97201688
For Rent Offices & Showrooms in
Al Khoud- 94051789-97201688
For Rent offices in Qurum op-
posite city center- 94051789-
97201688
For Rent Mini Furnished Apart-
ment in Qurum- 94051789-
97201688
For Rent Flats in Mawalah
south-94051789-97201688
For Rent brand new villas in
Al Ansab- 94051789-97201688
For Rent Offices & Showrooms in
Muttrah -94051789-97201688
3BHK Qurum P.D.O light 350/-.
Contact: 99342661
New pent house 219 meters,
3 bedrooms Each own toilet , serv-
ant room with toilet laundry area ,
kitchen with store elevator avail-
able AL Khuwair 39
rent R.O 575/- family only.
Contact: 99207840
1BHK flat Darsait near MCT Munici-
pality 220/-. Contact: 99342661
1 BHK Nr Oman house and Khimji
H.O Muttrah. Contact: 99233116
Villa for rent in Wadi Kabir.
Contact: 95562646
2 & 3 BHK Al Khuwair.
Contact: 99024730
3 Bedroom flat at Al Khuwair.
Contact: 99447257/97014234
2BHK Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti
mosque. Contact: 97007934/
92629232
Flats available for rent 1 & 2 BHK
flats with spilt A/C kitchen & big hall
available for rent AL Khuwair near
Muscat holiday. Contact: 94227178
2 bedrooms flat with hall, 2
bathrooms in Darsait near Muscat
Municipality. Contact: 92584715 /
24700120
Flat for Rent 1/2 BHK Flat at Mut-
trah, near Oman flour mills, 10 min.
from Corniche.Equipped with split
unit ACs, internet points, free-to-air
dish connection, CCTV monitored,
basement parking. Rent RO.250/350
per month. Contact: 99229263;
93221054; 95215289
2 BHK Honda road Ruwi.
Contact: 99224748 /99332297
1& 2 BHK C.B.D. Contact: 99024730
House rent 7 rooms, 7 toilets in each
room, with A/C, 2 rooms for reserved
kitchen offices medical clinic or any
other purpose. Contact: 92992901
For rent in Al Khuwair 33/1, 2 Bed
Rooms 1 Family Hall, 1 Bathroom,
1 Kitchen & Full split unit.
Contact no 99315515
2 Bedroom villa for rent in Madinat
Qaboos, with swimming room
children’s play area, parking ECT.
Contact: 92447365
2 BHK flats for rent near PDO Gate
No.2 with spilt AC. Contact: 94057023
1000 SQM industrial land in Ghala
suitable for workhouse work shop.
Contact: 92584715 /24700120
2 BHK Flats for rent Mut-
trah near Oman house. Contact:
97007934/92629232
Used Hiab truck 15 ton and forklift
3and 5 ton. Contact: 99326318
Shop for sale Ghala Sanaiya main
Junction (prime location) shop for
sale. Contact: 92696479
Sale house & office furniture &
electronic items. Contact : 99834373/
96642500/22010080
6 shops in South Mawalah
Contact: 96420432
Coffee shop for rent Jifnain.
Contact: 93340597
Studio in souk Al Khoud behind
of Al Ahali bank with 2 BR toilet+
kitchen in 2 floor 160RO.
Contact 99738881
Room in Al Mwalih very close to
Wave. Contact: 95192927
Flats and shops for rent in Ruwi
Honda road Mumtaz area. Contact:
97293708 /92433127
For rent Seeb 1 room, 2 rooms,
3 rooms , with all supplements,
including water electricity and
sewage also. We provide the fol-
lowing services free plumber and
electrician 2 cleaner for garbage our
price on your hand, just call on
Farahat: 98020768
Hilal: 96541283
New flats for rent Darsait Al Sahel.
Contact: 99311525 / 92533356
Villa with 5 rooms, two sitting
rooms, 5 toilets and kitchen at
Al Hail North. Contact: 91130875
Flats in Wadi Kabir.
Contact: 99376454
2BHK flats / offices & shops for rent
in a brand new building at Honda
Road. Contact: 91165807
Flat for rent at Wadi Al Kabir next
Al Hassan.co, 2 bedroom, 3 WS,
1 sitting room. Contact: 99210008
2 BHK flat available for rent in
Darsait. Contact: 99357586
Brand new residential flats in Wadi
Kabir near Muscat football club,
have 2 bedroom family hall, 2 toilets,
Kitchen with spilt AC for 250/- R.O.
Contact: 95999904 / 98585889 /
92383886
600 SQT commercial flat for rent
opposite Oman flourmill Darsait
more details. Contact: 91214849/
99364735
1BHK flat spilt with A/C Al Khu-
wair, 230/-. Contact: 99358589 /
95570288
Al Mawalh villa for rent
17 bedrooms, all attached toilet, 2
big hall, 1 big kitchen, outside 1 kitch-
en 1 PVT room near (Mac Donald).
Contact: 99654252 /95566475
Villa in Arjan complex near Seeb
stadium 4BHK, 1 living room,
1 majles, 1 extra room in ground
floor. Contact 93219597
High performance fork lift with au-
tomatic functions, plus Isuzu engine
and one year warranty. Model 2015.
Contact: 98883445
Running barber shop for sale in Ruwi
with all equipments.
Contact: 99343735
For Sale: Equipped carpentry work-
shop with 10 working employees at
Sohar. Contact: 95728453
For sale Fully Furnished apart-
ments in Bousher (35) - 95056808-
97201688
For sale villas in Al Khoud -
95056808-97201688
For Sale Luxury Apartments in
Bousher (35) - 95056808-97201688
Used steel racks (slotted angle
shelves) for sale in lot.
Contact: 24703981
Six unused rack mount (4U) PC i5
with original windows 7 for sale.
Please Contact: 99206367 or
Beauty parlor for sale Muttrah.
Contact: 93142676
60,000 Sq Mtrs Agriculture Land in
Misfah can be changed to Industrial
Land. OMR 29 per Square Meter.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360
Beauty parlour at Mabela for sale.
Contact: 96131261
A running restaurant for sale near
Oman oil petrol Pump Al Uqdah
(Barka). Contact: 990590103
5 plots of fertile agriculture lands in
Misfah East totaling 4,532 sq mtrs
having date trees and using Falaj
water for irrigation. OMR 158 Thou-
sand for all 5 plots. Tel: 99333479 or
95215360
400 sq mtrs Commercial/Residen-
tial land in Mabela Phase 5 Block 2.
OMR 155 Thousand. Tel: 99333479
or 95215360
For sale 8 Apartments (Total area
850 SQM approximate) in “Bait Al
Noor” occupying two full floors
(7th and 8th floors). The building
is opposite to GMC car showroom
facing the main road (Sultan Qaboos
Road). Excellent location for best
visibility of signboard for any corpo-
rate. Contact 94194071 for details.
2,688 sq mtrs commercial land in
MBD North. OMR 1.39 Million.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360
ACC. AVAILABLE
ACC. WANTED
ACC. AVAILABLE
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, sitting
room, Kitchen & store including
utilities bills at Al hail. #92817777
Spacious room semi furnished with
attached bath near Ruwi Rounda-
bout. Contact: 96612979
Sharing accommodation rooms
AL Khuwair. Contact: 99743569
/97004265
1 Bedroom with bathroom available
for rent. Only Indian female.
Contact - 92394614
Sharing accommodation available
near dolphin village in Bausher.
Contact: 99169512
Independent rooms in Qurum /AL
Hail. Contact 95529970
Single room W/ bath near Al Falaj
hotel. Contact: 99643845
1 Bedroom with attached Bath, fully
furnished, separate entrance at Mab-
ela for ladies only. Contact : 99634841
Single room bathroom in Darsait
R.O 140/-. Contact: 93289652
AVAILABLE
Party & Wedding equipment rentals.
Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-
ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,
Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes,
Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound Sys-
tems and spectacular lighting. Call
Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering and
Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound & Light.
ww.tunesoman.com,
E-mail: [email protected]
BUYING
Excellent running building
materials shop cum showroom
and store for sales in Wadi Kabir.
Contact: 98871547/93412622
Single room for expat Indian bach-
elors near Al Aktham restaurant
Al khuwair for RO 120. Water and elec-
tricity included. Contact: 98803261
Accommodation available for 50 to
100 labours, Misfah Industrial area.
Contact – 99617464
Room for rent available in a flat for
Executive bachelor at Azaiba behind
Al Meera Hypermarket Azaiba with
attached bath with Cot & A/C, rent
RO 175/- per month including Water
& Electricity. Contact 96404166 /
97433992
Big room available near Hamriya R/A
for Muslim couple / small family / Ex-
ecutive bachelor rent 150/- per month
including W+ E. Contact 99495131
Single room for rent at Mumtaz
area. Contact: 96916398 / 95212017
MV SALE
Volvo prime – mover 6x4 sleeper
Gap, model 2000 to inspection.
Contact: Mr. Mohammed
AL Harthy 99427071
Tucson automatic 2009 model
black color very good conduction
registration up to 2016 price R.O
2950/-. Contact: 98196845
Prado 2010 expat driver white
color condition. Contact: 91396776
/91396589
Toyota Yaris 1.3 automatic, 2007
model, blue colour, 71000 kms,
manual window with automatic
door. Registration up to Feb. 2016.
Price RO 2000. Contact 92140757.
Toyota Yaris, 1.3 automatic, hatch-
back, 2009 model, white colour,
27000kms, manual window with
automatic door, Registration up to
Sept. 2016, Price RO 3000.
Contact 92140757.
MATRIMONIAL
Seeking alliance for our son
from Muslim families. Interested
families Contact: 99889590
Sharing Accommodation Required
for Executive Lady in Darsait /
Wadikabir. Contact: 99360615
DAILY GUIDED4 T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
DESIGNER
DOMESTIC HELP
ENGINEER/TECH/MECH
DRIVER
MEDICAL
MEDICAL
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ARCHITECT
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
SALES / MARKETING
Urgently required one experi-enced house Driver to work in
capital area. Contact: 93888666/
24493666/ 99228454
Omani driver with heavy license
send CV to [email protected].
Contact: 98813893
We require Omani driver with valid
visa, Cont: 92680323/91425640.
Wanted driver. Contact 91025698
DRIVER
ADMIN
ADMIN
ADMIN
Canary clinic MBBS Indian female doctor with 3 years experi-
ence MOH license if she has. Good
offer salary. Contact 94395199
Email: [email protected] Wanted, Gynecologist, G.P, Pharmacist and Lab Technician for a polyclinic in North Bathina.
Contact: 95081010
Email: [email protected]
Required a Pharmacist for newly
opened pharmacy near Sohar.
The candidate should be B. Pharm
Graduate with Oman MOH license
or with prometric exam passed
and currently in Oman.
Contact - 91305460
Medical CARE Centre, Al Seeb,
requires General Practitioners
and Pharmacist, Please Mail CV-
[email protected] or call
97884856.
Wanted Staff Nurses (female) with
or without license for a poly clinic
near Sohar. Excellent salary and ac-
commodation. Contact – 99006915/
Email – [email protected]
Required a Female Staff Nurse with MOH license for a high class
dermatology center in Barka
(Muscat). Interested candidates
places send your CV to
Indian Pediatrician required for
reputed medical centre in Dubai.
Proffered DHA passed candidate,
send CV: [email protected]
CATERING
DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN
SECT. /OFFICE
Civil diploma holder with driving
license for a construction company.
Contact: 99169512
Civil Engineer min 10yr experi-
ence. Send your CV to
Sales Engineer: Mechanical
Engineering holder with 2-4 years’
Exp. in Sales, preferably in Metal
fabrication Company.
Omani D/L is a must. Contact:
Instrumentation & controls Technician with 2-3 years experi-
ence preferably in water sector and
having valid driving license Send
CV to [email protected] or
call Ph:+968 99450811
Wanted female Gynecologist, female
Staff Nurse – 2 no., Dental Asst, female
Lab Tech from India or Filipino with
MOH license & data flow for Al Saadi
Specialized Medical Centre in Mussana.
Contact 92025033, [email protected]
Heavy duty driver (Exp 3years)
seeking suitable job. Contact
91372623
Pakistan male light vehicle driver
8 yrs GCC exp looking for job.
Contact: 96393805
Light duty driver looking for job.
Contact: 98356230
Driver job wanted please.
Contact: 96393082
Driver with car looking for job.
Contact: 96692774
Experienced Light Duty Driver,
Fluent in English, Arabic Well
knowledge of Oman Areas Seeking
Suitable placement 97950869
Driver (light & heavy duty) valid
gulf /Indian) looking job.
Contact: 95175192
Bangladesh driver looking for job.
Contact: 98503237
Light driver, looking for job.
Contact: 98372745/99090362
Bangladeshi male light vehicle
driver with 2 yrs exp looking for job.
Contact: 93761597
Light driver. Contact:
95084826
WANTEDCivil Engineer (Building Construction)
2 Nos
Qualification: BE in Civil Engineering
Electro Mechanical Engineer (Building
Services)1 No.
Qualification: BE in Electrical or
Mechanical Engineering
Send detailed resume to
MISCELLANEOUS
SKILLED
AutoCAD d/ man 7 years exp in
GRC gypsum marble.
Contact: 96967862
Creative Designer with 8+ years
experience in web, graphic, video
editing, outsourcing looking for a
suitable placement in a reputed
company. Contact 97276004
Draughtsman , Indian , male
I.T.I Civil 7 years experience in
architectural & structural drafting
( building) in Oman seeking place-
ment release available.
Contact: 96127374
Email: [email protected]
Auto Cad Draughtsman having 8
yrs Oman exp in civil consultancy
firm seek for immediate place-
ment. Contact - 99452117
25 years male BA. English , Quali-
fied as mast in digital anima-
tion having 5 yrs ex in character
animation specialized Auto Desk
mago and motion building
software knowledge,
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 97917357
Professional architect 3ds max
(interior, exterior) looking for pri-
vate work. Contact: 96041201
Architect with bachelor degree 4
years experience in architectural de-
sign (interior & exterior) professional
in (3D Max- Archicad - AutoCAD -
Photoshop). Contact 96041201
Email: [email protected]
Indian Trailer Driver holding
Omani driving license with release
letter. Contact: 99462980
Indian female, MBA HR & Finance,
having 1 year experience, seeking
suitable placement. Currently in
Oman. Contact: 96052366.
Part Time Accounting, Business
Management Consultancy, Ac-
counts Finalization, Audit Prepara-
tion, Internal Audit, Accounting
System for New Companies,
Contact: 96975454,
email :[email protected]
Accountant job wanted 8 years
experience 5 years in Indian 3
years in Oman knowledge of tally
ERP- 9 NOC available.
Contact: 91162503
25 years experience in account,
sales cum marketing , administra-
tion in poultry industry seeking
suitable placement immediately.
Contact: +91970475855/
+968 96500893 Email:
28/male/MBA- finance/B.Com -Ac-
countant with 4 years of Dubai/In-
dia experience looking for a suitable
placement. Contact: 90187483
Experienced Female Senior
Accountant looking for suitable
alternative. Contact: 99849325
Sr. accountant M.com (finance)
2 yrs in Oman seeking suitable
placement NOC Available with
immediate joining.
Contact: 92404608
Email: [email protected]
Chief Accountant 25 years experi-
enced, for the last 7 years working
as Chief Accountant seeks
immediate placement.
Contact: 95598477/98803439
Certified Public Accountant, Filipino Male 26 years old, Bache-
lor of Science in Accountancy with
5 yrs. of experience now on visit
visa. Looking for suitable opening.
Contact: +968 91409308 Email:
ACCA Member / B.com (3.7 years
experience) looking audit / ac-
counts job. Contact: 97769145
Email: [email protected]
Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp
looking job. Contact: 99531802
Sales & Marketing Executive required. Contact – 94786784 /
Email: [email protected]
Required van Sales man cum delivery executive with 1-2 yrs exp
& valid GCC driving license.
Please post your resume to:
Required Sales Executive 2 - 3
years’ OMAN experience in corporate
sales preferably in office and busi-
ness supplies such as stationery, IT
Consumables. Experience of meeting
business owners, IT and purchasing
decision makers. Ability to make
appointments with the decision
makers. OMAN driving license. To
apply – Please mail Resume:
Indian female M.Tech electron-
ics IELTS 6.5 experience in VLSI
project training seeks placement
in education / training /
Admin field in family visa now.
Contact: 90195131
Email: [email protected]
Female Indian 9+ yrs experience
in administration customer sup-
port office coordination with good
computer skill now on visit visa
looking for suitable openings.
Contact: 99285440
10 years Gulf & 4 years Oman ex-
perience in HR / Admin & logistics
fluent in Arabic / English with D/L
looking for suitable position.
Contact 95824598
Indian female, Masters in HR,
having 4 + years Oman experience
in media management and HR,
looking for openings in HR, Educa-
tion, Admin, Corporate communi-
cations. Contact 98252030
Indian male with 20 years in
Oman in the field of language in-
stitute (admin registrar, Acct clerk)
seeking a suitable position NOC
available. Contact: 96553961
Email: [email protected]
Qualification B.com accounting
BE mechanical engineer course
completed experience 17 years HR
administration, parches store,
quality assurance.
Contact: 93820512 Email:
Indian Female, MBA-HR having
8+ experience in Administration/
HR, Customer Support, Office Coor-
dinator with good Computer skill,
Now on Visit Visa, looking for suit-
able position. Contact: 90196235
Indian male MBA- UK 18 yrs Gulf
exp in Administration/ HR & Pub-
lic relationship. Fluent in Arabic/
English with D/L. Looking for suit-
able position. Contact - 99897280
HR/ Recruitment specialist with
8 years Oman experience in entire
gamut of HR functions like resource
planning , recruitment , HR policies
& procedures, performing appraisal,
expatriate affairs , exit interviews &
ticketing. Contact 93825307
Email: [email protected]
Required Filipino cashiers and
merchandising staff for convenient
stores in Muscat. Call: 93380543
Urgently required for a reputed
company in Oman (Tyre, Battery
& Lubricant division) Sr. Execu-tives/Executive-5 nos (Sohar, Ni-
zwa & Muscat), Techno Commer-cial Professional-5nos, Driver (Omani)-1no. Required minimum
3-5 yrs experience in the same
field with market exposure hold-
ing valid Omani driving license
or GCC. Kindly fwd your CV’s to
Contact: (+968)93891700
Wanted immediately for Salalah, Accountant with 2/3 years experi-
ence Sales man with experience
in rent a car, HR Officer apply with
bio to [email protected]
A leading institution in Muscat requires a Teacher for Indian
Classical Dance. The candidate
should be well qualified and
experienced. Send your resume to
Wanted Civil Engineer, with mini-
mum 4 years experience in Oman
supervising building construction.
Noc and D/L Must. Send CV to
Wanted Urgently for Contractor Civil Engineer (Road Construc-
tion). Quantity Surveyor.
Land Surveyor Accountant.
Please send your CV to
Experience part time Accountant
in management, accounts, finance
audit tax. Contact: 95857199
Indian female 5+ yrs Oman exp in
Accounts tally looking for suitable
placement in W.K to Qurum area.
Contact: 95580416
Accountant Pakistani male age
29 yrs MBA banking & finance
having 4 years Oman experience
seeking suitable placement driv-
ing license. Contact: 95089565
CMA & CIA professional Finance Manager with 10 years middle
eastern experience, inclusive of
Managerial experience with lead-
ing F&B companies. For further
information, kindly
Contact: + 971566561199
Email: [email protected]
Indian Chartered Accountant
having 7 year experience in MIS,
Budgeting, Taxation, ERP, Cost
Accounting, Liasing with Big 4
Auditors, Cash Flow etc. working
as Asst. Manager - Finance. NOC
Available; contact:91789950
Part time accountant services
from senior accountant M.com
15 years Oman exp.
Contact: 97441960
Indian male B.Tech, MBA MNC
experience looking for finance
profile. Contact : 96891640545
Part time Accountant services
available to handle all accounts
related work up to finalization on
monthly basis. Contact: 96247295
Male 24 yrs MBA in marketing
fiancé seeking immediate place-
ment. Contact: 96112920
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with
13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman
in manufacturing, trading &
contracting Cos, capable of
handling all accounting, finance,
banking, L/C, import, export &
finalization seeks placement. NOC
Available. Call+968-98932752,
mail:[email protected]
B.SC Hons (finance & accounts)
having 2 years experience in ac-
counts, male looking for suitable job
on visit visa. Contact: 91420128
Accountant, Indian Male, 15 Years
experience (8 years in Oman with
Driving License & NOC) seeks suit-
able placement, Contact 94117616,
91238272 Email:
We require Male/Female Omani Administrator (Front Office)
with valid visa,
Cont: 92680323/91425640.
CATERING
Chinese/ Arab/ shwamar cook & helper wanted. Contact 95529970
Omani receptionist required receptionist, well presented with
excellent communications skills
and telephone manner, fluent in
Arabic and English required for
Ruwi office candidates should
be familiar with Ms English and
Arabic office suite.
Send CV and covering email to
Mason, 3-4 yrs in fitting tiles,
bathroom fittings i.e. bathtub,
shower tray & WC with plaster-
ing. Trade certificate is required.
Contact: 24813822
Accountant Indian female having
5 years exp in finalization, audit
and administration in GCC pres-
ently in Muscat seeking suitable
position. Contact 97323574
Email: sreeja@[email protected]
Indian lady, bachelor degree in
Preparatory Programme (BPP) and
Bachelor of Commerce (BCom),
completed training course in
MS Word, Excel, Power Point and
Outlook from KTI looking for full
time / part time job opportunity
in Oman.
Contact 92437568, 96795853,
Email: [email protected]
Male Indian 27, working as
finance analyst having three years
Oman experience with Driving li-
cense looking for suitable position.
Mob:98097009,
Required licensed lady G.P .or Gynecologist male Asst. Pharma-cist, lab technician for a clinic in
Salalah. Contact: 93129219 Email:
A reputed Wellness Center is
looking for MOH licensed or Pro-metric Passed Physiotherapist, Nurse and Occupational therapy. Please send your CV to :
Required experienced part / full time house keeper for company
CEO. Contact: 98458542
Well experienced aluminum fabricator. Contact 24505708
/92248407
Need excellent cook & housekeeper. Contact Whatsapp: 95887572
We are looking for Chief Finan-cial Officer, Male 40- 45 years old,
Bachelor of Science in Account-
ancy with 5 - 15 yrs. of experience.
Contact: +968 24702133
Email: [email protected]
1. Service Administrator: A qualifi ed Electro/Automobile/Electric Diploma holder with
minimum 2 years’ experience on deskjobs such as preparing
quotation, supplier correspondence, warranty claims etc. Age between 25 – 30.
2. Accountant: A qualifi ed B.Com/M.Com/C.A. Inter accountant with minimum 4 years’
experience in accounting with banking knowledge.
Age between 25-30.
Attractive Salary and terms Off ered
VACANCY
Candidates with NOC or on visit visa can apply, please drop your CV at
26 yrs male, MBA, 3+ years experi-
ence in Administration in MNC,
seeks suitable placement.
Contact 95041201
Email: [email protected]
DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5 D5
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR
MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR
MEDICAL
HOSPITALITY
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
MISCELLANEOUS
IT
Dutch male qualified commer-
cial pilot (Faa-ME-IR certified) is
looking for job openings in middle
east. [email protected]
MBA (marketing) with 17 years
experience in freight forwarding/
logistics industry in GCC & Oman.
Presently working as branch manag-
er in Muscat. Looking for a suitable
position. Release and NOC available.
Contact: 99856331
Purchase Officer with 8 years experi-
ence in Oman having Oman D/L and
NOC, looking for urgently placement.
Contact: 96174564
Indian Male Civil Architectural / structural AutoCAD draughtsman
with 18 years experience in Oman
having a D/L, seeking immediate
placement. NOC is available.
Contact: 96385545 Email:
Civil Engineer 11 years experience
in construction, having driving
license & NOC. Contact: 94194399
Email: [email protected]
Engineer Mechanical (BR) Indian
male, with NDT Level 2 (ASNT),
works, 2 years above experience
(as mechanical QC Engineer and
SME Engineer) seeking suitable
placement (on visit visa). Contact:
90249803 / 00919446048596
Email: [email protected]
Civil Engineer diploma holder 1
years experience site supervision
level 2, 2D, 3D Revit languages
English, Malayalam and Hindi Tamil
looking challenging career.
Contact: 98058242
Email: [email protected]
B.E civil Engineer having 5 years
experience in Oman with construc-
tion companies need suitable place-
ment. Contact: 98180524
Mechanical Engineer, 24 yrs Indian
male, 2yrs experience (L+T Port)
as maintenance Engineer sear cit-
ing for a suitable job on visit visa.
Contact: +968 92685011 Email:
Indian Male 34yrs diploma (EEE)
available with 13 yrs experience in
electrical power plant on LV & HV,
and can work with electrical
drawings currently on visit visa.
Contact: 93502487
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male, 23 years PG dip in
petroleum engineering & B.Tech in
mechanical engineering, holding
UAE driving license seeks suitable
placement immediately.
Contact: 95880127 / 95084905
Email: [email protected]
B.Sc in Civil Engineer 12 yrs exp in
Dubai and South Africa on construc-
tion and infrastructure having Dubai
license currently on visit looking
suitable position. Contact: 91206763
Email: [email protected]
Indian 25yrs Mechanical Engineer
HVAC with 2 years Oman with Oman
driving license. Contact: 99104427
B.Tech Safety Engineer, 10 years
exp, NOC available, seeking suitable
placement, Mob: 97061817, Email:
Indian Male, 24 Mechanical en-
gineer having good knowledge in
HVAC looking for suitable place-
ment. Contact: 95434381 Email:
M.Tech Civil, certificate attested,
Indian, 18.8 year experience seeks
suitable position. Contact: 98327311
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male, 22yrs, Mechanical
Engineer looking for a Suitable job.
Contact: 91502510 / 98504980.
25 Years experienced MEP profes-
sional is available to associate
with nationals to set up & run mep
consultancy or contracting busi-
ness with full p/l responsibility,
full investment expected by the
national. contact – 97754141
B.sc Civil Engineer 8 years experi-
ence including 6 years in Oman hav-
ing D/L seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 98475572
Email: [email protected]
Indian lady master bachelor degree
computer science & engineering 2
yrs experience project trainee seek-
ing suitable job. Contact: 94528019
Email: [email protected]
B.E (EEE) 4 years experience as an
MEP site Engineer. Contact: 96649586
Email: [email protected]
BRT 4 years job experience
physiotherapist looking for. Contact:
96649586 / +919704178267
Email : [email protected]
Young Indian Male electrical
engineer having 1.4 yrs of experi-
ence in India, currently on visit-
ing visa. Looking for placement.
Mob.93924395, Email:
SENIOR SALES ENGINEER (B.E.
Mechanical, MBA-Mktg) - 6yrs expe-
rience in Industrial Products and
Services with NOC and GCC Driving
License looking for the challenging
opportunities. Join immediately.
GSM: 94596639
E-mail:[email protected]
SKILLED / UNSKILLED
MISCELLANEOUS
Indian Dentist having 7 years experi-
ence prometric cleared seeking suit-
able placement. Contact: 95706223
Male staff Nurse, 4 years of hospital
experience in Oman with MOH
license and driving license.
Contact: 99502456/ 99831657
Staff Nurse with MOH license. Look-
ing for an opportunity in Muscat.
Release / NOC letter available.
Contact 98508515
Indian female General Nurse with
3 yrs exp with Oman prometric 63%
looking for a suitable placement.
Currently on visit visa staying in
Sohar. Contact: 94493227
Email: [email protected]
Indian female dentist prometric
cleared seeking suitable
openings in Muscat.
Contact: 95585807/92880267
Indian Female Dentist with 7 year
experience in MOH seeks suitable
placement preferably in Muscat
region. Contact : 94003843
SALES / MARKETING
Looking for job, steel, fabricator &
helper. Contact : 93015630
Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fitter
gulf & Indian exp looking job.
Contact: 95175192
Electrician, plumber (exp gulf /
Indian) looking job. # 95175192
Looking for job, Mason, carpenter,
election and helper.
Contact: 93015630
SALES / MARKETING
Indian male, MBA with 8 yrs experi-
ence in sales and marketing with
Omani D/L , NOC available.
Contact: 96746107
Sales Engineer 5 years experience
looking for a placement.
Contact: 91411043
Young, 24 years, MBA graduate (HR
& Mktg) with experience, working in
Salalah, NOC available,
seeks suitable placement in muscat.
Gsm 9205-1929
Keralite with NOC/DL seek BDM
Position. Contact- 96795603
25 years male M.B.A qualified exec-
utive looking for sales & marketing
job well experienced on visit visa for
one month which will expire on
8 / DEC/ 2015. Contact: 93189290
Sales & marketing professional
with 10 years woks experience in
UAE / Oman, working in a 4 star
hotel & 5 star airlines, valid driving
license, NOC available on visit visa.
Contact: 95544612
Indian male looking part / full time
marketing job with driving license,
fluent English job visa.
Contact: 94742666s
Net work Engineer with experience
degree in computer science, CCNA,
MCSA. Contact: 92346191
Oracle ADF Developer: Msc (IT), 2
yrs of Experience in Software De-
velopment (Oracle ADF, sql, pl/sql),
Oracle OCA & SQL Expert, Currently
on visit visa. Contact :
+968 93755858 / 92141644. Email :
IT Indian male B.Tech computers,
networking 1 years experience in Da-
tabase support on visit. #96376061
Email: [email protected]
Male 26 years , BSc IT with years
4 years experience , currently on
visit visa looking for any IT support
job. Knowledge of hardware & net
working, environment, program-
ming languages, Linux environ-
ment. Contact: + 968 95369856
/968 24781651 Email:
Indian male , IT professional,
8 yrs experience including GCC in
windows server, computer hard-
ware, networking & office adminis-
tration seeking suitable placement.
Contact 95994227
Hardware & net working, 2 years
exp. Contact: 96244031
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
Indian female BED, BCA & IELTS Cer-
tified with 5 yr U.A.E exp & 6 months
Oman exp in teaching primary &
secondary looking for a teachers job
Email: [email protected]
contact: 97384206
SECT/OFFICE
Electronics and communication
Engineer B.Tech Indian male (23)
having 1 year experience CCNA,
MCSA trained seeking suitable job
currently on visit visa.
Contact: 00968 91282138
Email: [email protected]
Electrical Engineer 13 years experi-
ence HV/ LV in Oman 5 years, Oman
valid D/L to NOC.
Contact: + 0091- 9946570903
Email: [email protected]
Ref: no-Oman 97095094
Indian Male 22 yrs B.Tech me-
chanical engineer seeks suitable
placement as sales / procurement/
project engineer.
Contact: 96618390
Sudanese Electrical Engineer. Contact: 97452159 Email:
Indian male 24, B.E. Civil Eng’g with
2 years experience as Structural
Engineer looking for suitable job in
Muscat. 97355352
Sudanese male Mechanical
Engineer 7 years experience (HVAC,
fighting, energy) PMP certificate.
Contact: 97986890
Indian lady 25 electrical Engineer
with a dynamic and vibrant person-
ality seeks employment
opportunities in Muscat has worked
for 3 years in tendering & Estima-
tion department.
Contact: 97710156
Email: [email protected]
Electrical (MEP) Engineer (diploma) having 16 years (6 years
in Oman ) in MEP site experience
civil & MEP procurement and MEP
QS NOC available cable to join im-
mediate. Contact: 96533493
Civil Engineer 7 years experience,
Driving license, NOC available.
Contact - 98078095
Medical Lab Technologist 5 years
experience willing to work in Oman.
Contact: 97007930
Road and construction Engineer
with 5 years exp in Oman.
Contact: 97646908
Mechanical Engineer M.tech 2
years experience HVAC design
Engineer Revet MEP, AutoCAD.
Contact: 90150913 Email:
Indian female M.Tech (electrical
power system) having gulf experi-
ence in family visa seeking suitable
placements in Oman.
Contact: 91001194 /94306164
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
in Oman as a project engineer for
governmental & private projects.
Contact – 90164912
Electrical Engineer Indian Male
2.5Years Experience Looking for
suitable Job. Contact: 91845173
Email:[email protected]
Mechanical Engineer (UK),
28 years old male, looking for suit-
able placement with 4 years experi-
enced and with valid Oman driving
license, NOC available immediate
availability. Contact: +96897612297
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 25 years, B-Tech Grad-
uate with two years experience in
Oman as Civil Engineer in a reputed
construction company. Looking for
suitable jobs. Resident card will ex-
pired on 06-01-2016.NOC available.
Seeking immediate placements.
Contact: 96179737/97076972,
email:[email protected]
Indian male B.Tech electrical 2
years experience seeks placement.
Contact: 93570984
Email: [email protected]
Omani Mechanical Engineer/ GPA-3.49 graduated in 2013.
GSM#95276154 / 99201710
Construction machinery repairs
Engineer, 4 years experience with
driving license. Contact 94001961
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: [email protected]
Indian female accountant 5 years
of experience in accounting tally,
office coordination,
And admin, currently on visit visa.
seeking suitable placement
Contact: 95684179
Indian male 23yr BA TTM (travel
and tourism management) with
advanced diploma in supply chain
logistics and shipping manage-
ment, exp in logistics (cha) seek-
ing in suitable placement.
currently on visit visa(oman)
Contact;90291092
email: [email protected]
Indian male, 36 years old. More
than 12 years of Oman experience
in office boy and store keeper
filed can speak Arabic (excellent),
understand English, Hindi, Malay-
alam etc. Contact: 95060792
B.E Civil (first class) site / project
Engineer with 3 years of experience
in residential building projects Ms.
Office AutoCAD on visit visa valid
till Dec 2nd (week), looking for a
suitable job. Contact: 96692175
Email Id: [email protected] Indian female, 26, M.sc biotechnol-
ogy now in family visa
seeks suitable placement.
Contact: 95210498/99850321/
93093466
24 years Indian female MSC -
Biotechnology 1 year exp.in clinical
microbiology, worked in ICRISAT
for project work as Trainee, looking
for suitable job. Contact: 92619048
Email: [email protected]
Omani national with bachelor in
management looking for suitable
placement please call: 91908052 or
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 26, 4 years experience
in sales and marketing D/L , seeking
suitable placement.
Contact: 95737733
Email: [email protected]
Purchase experienced 8 years in
Construction Company Indian male
45 yrs, release & D/L available.
Contact: 90268183 / 96987234
Indian male, 25 yrs, 1 year experi-
ence in auditing and 10 month in
sales. Currently on visit visa seeking
suitable placement.
Contact: 97142538
Indian Male 32, MBA (Marketing &
Finance) with 10 years experience
in Marketing of Banking Products &
Insurance Industry.
Seeking for a Job in Oman.
Contact: 93576980, 97750460
Email: [email protected]
Indian male Twelve years sales
experience FMCG Industry, AS sales
man having valid driving license
looking for the suitable placement
immediately NOC available.
Contact: 99735501
Looking for a job, I have two years
experience now, visiting visa for 3
months looking in accounts sales,
admin, Arabic fluency in typing
speaking writing, with show my
talent please do needful. Contact:
+968-97240204 /968- 95770412
Email: [email protected]
Looking for Senior Sales Engineer
job having 11 years of experience in
automobile and civil material
testing equipment sales having
GCC license. Contact 94137387/
96250490
Indian male MBA Marketing and HR
B.com Graduate 8 months experi-
ence in Indian seeking suitable
placement, currently visit visa.
Contact: 91987119
Indian male 31 yrs MBA
(Marketing) having more 7 years
experience in marketing &
distribution in frozen food / FMCG.
Contact: 94143370
Female Indian 27 yrs, MBA ( gold
medalist) having more than 5 years
exp as a coordinator of sales &
marketing , operations , billing &
payment follow up of IT / Electronic
products, knowledge of ERP.
Contact: 97242901
Indian female B.Sc Maths, B.Ed, PGDCA , having 5 years
experience in teaching 2 years
experience in office work looking for
suitable job on visit visa.
Contact: 92594844/95705724
The Business Development Manager,
Iraqi, Experience 15 Years Inside and
outside Oman following activities:
construction(Very strong and quali-
fied to bringing business for civil
work Or any type of the construction
work for many million per year with
a good experience in pricing and col-
lect payment and cash management
of the company & marketing projects
& investments& tenders & real estate.
Contact: - 92385033
Manager MBA (Finance) 13+ yrs
experience in Oman with knowledge
of finance admin purchase logistics
costing looking for suitable position
with D/L. Contact : 93826090
Email: [email protected]
The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years Inside and
outside Oman following activities:
tenders& real estate& construction &
marketing projects& investments&
transportation & Marine services&
companies management& develop
business. Contact :- 92385033
Indian male 22 years B.com gradu-
ate, looking for a job, particularly in
sales, currently in Oman an family
visa and also possess a valid Oman
driving license. Contact: 9854698
Indian Male-MBA Marketing
13 years experience seeking
suitable placement in any sectors
call: 92009780
Email: [email protected]
Marketing Executive MBA 3 years
experience in Sales looking for suit-
able placement. Contact: 91345727
Marketing Executive/Merchan-
diser, Omani License, BA 8 years
Experience in Multinational Groups.
Contact 97601343
DAILY GUIDED6 T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
*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
RENT A CAR
Best Rates for Saloon. Tel: 99826300 / 97869042, [email protected]
Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with
Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine
Tours contact 98029602, 92808636
TOURS
SITUATION WANTEDCARGO
SITUATION WANT-CARGO
ABDULHAKIM AL BIMANI
TRADING & CONTRACTOR
Expert in Shipping cargo by sea & air
to Zanzibar, Pemba, Dar es Salam in
Tanzania, Burundi, Th e Philippines,
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
Reasonable price.
Contact: 97440625/95416662Email: [email protected]
DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5 D7
SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES
A/C maintenance, installation
spilt A.C and maintenance window
A/C and ducted and package the
reunites.
Contact: Asad Abbas 98667326
GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing, Con-
tact 99314807/24792998
Water proofing ABUQABAS-
Contact 99320217/24788722
Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile
polishing, pest control & anti-
termite treatment, general clean-
ing painting,Plumbing, Electrical,
shifting. Contact Mundhir Al-Rizaiqi
trading. L.L.C. Contact: 24810137,
99450130
Window & split unit A.C servicing &
repairing. Contact: 99557080
Split & window unit A.C servicing &
maintenance. Contact: 96236476
House shifting & transporting.
Contact 92490422
MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of
your marble. Contact 24793614/
99314807
Window & split unit A.C ser-
vicing & maintenance. Contact
93769089 / 95323517
Split & window A/c servicing &
maintenance. Contact: 93769089 /
95323517
Cleaning & carpet shampooing,
Ocean Center LLC.
Contact: 99884591
Pest control treatments. Ocean Center LLC.
Contact: 99344723
House shifting. Contact:
99657644/98518013
Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles
polishing, carpet shampooing,
maintenance. contact ABU QABAS-
99320217 /24788722
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next
day’s publication. * Subject to space availability
WEBSITE
WEB, ERP and Business Intel-
ligence (BI) creation and manage-
ment at rock bottom price.
Contact: http//webviewoman
CLASSES
IELTS & TOEFL
Academic / General
Target Band 8
TQT Institute.
Ph # 24480800 / 99347202
Karate and self defense classes
at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per
month twice a week Monday and
Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM
CONTACT 98294551
Spoken Arabic class for Non
Arabic Speakers & English
class for Malayalam Speakers
in Azaiba and Ruwi earn in two months
tion guaranteed
Tel: 95244310
COMPUTER
LOST
CHANGE OF NAME
Classes for Spoken EnglishTOEFL / GRE / GMAT / SAT
Excellent Guidance and Coaching Satisfaction Guaranteed
IELTS PREPARATION Target Band 8.0
EAGLES INSTITUTE92325542 | 93657915 | 93657917 | Email: [email protected]
NRI
NRIVilla for Sale in Chennai OMR - Nav-
alur . 5 BHK, Gated Community with
24 hrs security, swimming pool, Car
park for sale in Chennai. Ready to
occupy. Interested buyers (NRI) may
Contact - 99103433
Plot for Sale; 30 cents of hous-
ing plot with boundary wall and
Well with Electricity connection
and motor. Roads at three side
in Puthanchirra – Mala bye pass.
Interested parties – contact - + 968
99416088 or 919740956198
Ayurvedic treatment for joint
pain, backache, paralysis, massage
steambath, obesity, Spondylitis,
Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic, 18 No-
vember Street Azaiba.
Contact: 99639695 / 98342990
Ayurvedic treatment for backache,
paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,
All Season (Vaidyaratnam).
Contact 24475280 / 95371664 /
92504980 www.siddhayur.com
FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know
more about Islam, please call:
99425598, 99250777, 99353988,
99253818, 99341395, and
99379133. For ladies: 99415818,
99321360, 99730723
Orvisit:www.islamfact.com
Balloons for all occasions birthday,
celebration, grand opening, wedding,
party, national day all type of bal-
loons, designs work please Contact:
95194801 /96594592
GOOD NEWS
MANPOWER
Housemaid, cooks waiter , helper
driver ( light & heavy ) mason
carpenter steel fitter, skilled &
unskilled categories , immigra-
tion service from India & Philip-
pine. Contact: Al Aidi Manpower
24484232/99531802 Email:
SITUATION WANT-ED
BUSINESS
Sub contractor available for shut-
tering & steel works, hill cutting &
filling works. Contact: 93299940
Ware house space for rent at Gha-
la and Barka up to 20000/- Sqm.
Contact: 99509460 / 93731363
Spacious 2BHK flat for sale in
Hebbal Bangalore. Contact: 96263157
DRIVING
Learn driving with professional.
Contact: 94022250
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation. Contact 99508282
Transportation. Contact: 95190627
Transportation.. Contact:94510847
Transportation available Ruwi to
Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.
Contact: 91103909
Golam Sarowar has lost Bangla-
deshi Passport No. AB 6503885.
Finder please handover to ROP
Abdul Rasheed has lost Bangla-
deshi Passport No. AA 5640959.
Finder please handover to ROP
Iqbal Muhammad has lost Pa-
kistan Passport No. BZ 1339281.
Finder please handover to ROP
Ashtiyaq has lost Pakistan Pass-
port No. KG 491693. Finder please
handover to ROP
Sahadath Hossain has lost Bang-
ladeshi Passport No. AB 9182193.
Finder please handover to ROP
Sopon Mohammed Hossain has
lost Bangladeshi Passport No. AB
6004616. Finder please handover
to ROP
Deluar Hossain has lost Bang-
ladeshi Passport No. F 0819831.
Finder please handover to ROP
Parvin Banu has lost Indian Pass-
port No. G 8484911. Finder please
handover to ROP
Mustafa Shahzad has lost Paki-
stan Passport No. AA 3960923.
Finder please handover to ROP
I. SHAHINABI VALANGATTU PARAMBIL MOHAMMED HASHIM
(holder of Indian Passport
No.K0383214) daughter of
MOHAMMED HASHIM
ELLATH VALANGATTU
PARAMBIL having permanent
residence in VALANGATTU
PARAMBIL, EDAKKAZHIYOOR;
CHAVAKKAD; THRISSUR; KERALA;
680515 (complete postal address
in India) and presently residing
in OMAN NATIONAL ENGINEER-
ING & INVESTMENT COMPANY
SAOG; PO BOX NO.1393; PC 112;
RUWI (complete postal address in
Oman) intend to change my name
from SHAHINABI VALANGATTU
PARAMBIL MOHAMMED HASHIM
(old name) to NEENU RARISH
(given name) CHAKARAYAN (sur-
name) (new name) for all practical
purpose. Any objection towards
my name change may please be
communicated to Embassy of
India,Muscat,Diplomatic Quarters,
Al Khuwair,P.Box No.1727,
Postal Code 112,Ruwi,
Sultanate of Oman.
Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont
Maintenance services electric,
plumbing and A/C. Contact:
96524904 / 94285064
A/C Maintenance & servicing,
fridge, washing machine & dish
washer repairing, painting &
cleaning services, electrical &
plumbing. Contact: 99447257
/97014234 / 24504281
D8 T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9, 2 0 1 5
DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624