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MONDAY, July 6, 2015 / 19 Ramadan 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

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REJIMON K reji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Dozens of patients are being hospitalised every day in the Sultanate of Oman for overeating at Iftar during the Holy Month of Ramadan, medics in Muscat said.

“We see an influx of patients with gastrointestinal ailments even after repeated warnings of not to feast after fasting. Of course, we agree that, after long

hours of fasting there will be an urge to eat more. But many fail to follow the rules. They overeat and rush to us for help,” said Basheer A., senior internist at Badr Al Sa-maa, Ruwi.

25 patients“At our centre, we receive around 25 patients daily with overeating ailments after fasting during the Holy Month. Last year also, it was the same.

“We advise people to control

the eating after fasting. But it seems that our advices fall on deaf ears,” Basheer said, adding that people should eat in stages while breaking fast and should not over stuff themselves.

The senior intern added that majority are admitted for indi-gestion, bloating and other stom-ach-related problems.

Another medic at Atlas hospi-tal in Ruwi said that they also re-ceive patients with gastric prob-lems during Ramadan. >A6

Dozens of people

every day seek

medical help due

to over-eating when

breaking their

fast at Iftar

HM sends condolences to Saudi King

HM sends greetings

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of condolences to the Custo-dian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on the death of Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Musa’ed bin Jalawi Al Saud, Governor of the Northern Bor-ders Province.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sin-cere condolences and sympathy to King Salman, praying to Al-lah the Almighty to rest the de-ceased’s soul in peace and grant his family patience. -ONA

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of congratulations to President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere congratulations and best wishes of good health and happiness to President Nazarbayev and the people of Kazakhstan further progress and prosperity.

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said also has sent a cable of congratulations to President Dr Ikililou Dhoinine of the Union of the Comoros on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere congratulations and best wishes of good health and happiness to President Dhoinine and the people of Comoros further pro-gress and prosperity. -ONA

C A B L E

K A Z A K H S T A N , C O M O R O S Hospitals heaving over ‘fast and feast’

FAITHFUL BREAK FAST AT SULTAN QABOOS MOSQUEHundreds of faithful gather at the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to break their fast in the evening on Friday. Times of Oman photographer O K Mohammed Ali has captured a time-lapse video of the men breaking their Ramadan fast.

You may have to wait a day for Eid this year

TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Omanis and oth-ers fasting for the Holy Month of Ramadan might have to wait one day longer for Eid Al Fitr, according to an official from the Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs.

“Seeing the moon on the 29th of Ramadan (July 16) will be dif-ficult, but not impossible. The moon sighting monitoring team will look for the moon on the 29th of Ramadan (July 16), de-spite the difficulty in seeing it,” said the official.

“The reason being that the time difference between the moonset and sunset will be only eight minutes, which is not enough to view the moon, whereas on Friday the 30th Ramadan (17th July), the moon will take 52 minutes to set,” he explained. Moonset is the pro-cess in which the moon goes be-low the horizon.

Further, the official said, that although it will be difficult to see the moon, there is still a slight possibility that it will appear on July 16. On July 17 (30th Rama-dan), the official noted that see-ing the moon is not necessary, since Ramadan is only for 30 days and Shawwal comes after it.

The astronomical new moon is predicted to appear on July 16, while the first day of Eid Al Fitr could be on either on July 17 or 18.

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OMANCause for hope amid gloom on FDI front

1Oman can improve its FDI attractiveness by taking the right steps amid a general

drop in Gulf investment inflow revealed by a UN report. >A2

OMANAssistive technology helping the disabled

2Assistive technologies have come a long way and are now helping persons

with disabilities excel at their workplace. >A6

WORLDGreeks defy Europe warnings, vote ‘No’

3 Greeks voted ‘No’ in a historic bailout referendum, defying

warnings from Europe rejecting new austerity terms. >A15

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C7Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat unleashed

A2 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

OMAN

Reasons for hope amid gloom on the FDI front

REJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: While the United Na-tion’s World Investment Report 2015 reveals a worrying drop in the Gulf’s inward investment inflows, experts in Oman said that, over-all, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) figures indicate an encour-aging picture, though much must be done to improve the situation.

“By cutting red tape wherever possible and by adopting best inter-national practices in the legal sys-tem, as well as in the labour market, Oman can improve its attractive-ness for FDI,” Fabio Scacciavillani, chief economist at Oman Invest-ment Fund, told Times of Oman. According to the report, Oman’s reported FDI inflow of nearly $1.2 billion in 2014 is down from the previous year’s $1.6 billion.

“The headline figures for FDI are notoriously volatile, especially for small economies like Oman, where one or two large invest-ments could distort the figures for a particular year. “Nevertheless, comparing the new normal with the pre-crisis situation, we observe that the net investment flow is now balanced, while in the past the out-wards investments were a mere fraction of the inflows,” Fabio said.

“Unfortunately, we do not have

the breakdown between the oil and non-oil sector, which would be useful to refine the analysis, but it is encouraging that green-field investments attract sizeable funds,” Fabio added.

The economist also said that, by and large, Oman is an economy that is financially well integrated into the global economy, with an FDI stock equivalent to a quarter of GDP and a growing willingness by Omani firms to venture abroad.

The UN’s investment report re-veals that the Gulf economies at-tracted some $20.7 billion in 2014, down from $22.5 billion in 2013. As a consequence, their share of the inflow of FDI has fallen from 50.3 per cent in 2013 to 48.1 per cent in 2014.

An official from World Wide Business House, an interna-tional business advisory firm in Oman, said that the fall in foreign direct investment in Oman has to

be addressed. “The Sultanate tries to attract investors by offering tax incentives and customs duty ex-emptions. The country benefits from a great political and macro-economic stability.

“However, the access to a lim-ited number of sectors and the various policies and regulatory pressure applied by the govern-ment, are some of the hindrances to foreign investments,” Dr An-chan C K, managing director at World Wide Business House, told Times of Oman. “Oman certainly has a great potential to attract FDI, however, serious methodol-ogy and structured strategies have to be adopted, as FDI inflows rep-resent a commitment on the part of investors to particular entities and industries and growth of the economy,” Anchan added.

Meanwhile, the UAE and Saudi Arabia made up an extraordinary 87 per cent of the total inward

FDI in the Gulf last year. As per reports, the UAE’s gross domes-tic product (GDP) is projected at $440 billion in 2015, up from $416 billion in 2014. This trans-lates into a growth rate of 4.4 per cent, which is undoubtedly a great trend for investors.

Following recent lackluster growth in the global economy, this year’s report shows that FDI in-flows in 2014 declined 16 per cent to $1.2 trillion. However, recovery is in sight in 2015 and beyond.

FDI flows today account for more than 40 per cent of external development financing to devel-oping and transitional economies.

Yet FDI flows to West Asia maintained their downward trend in 2014 for the sixth consecutive year, decreasing by 4 per cent to $43 billion. Turkey remained the largest FDI recipient in the re-gion, with flows registering a 2 per cent decrease to $12 billion.

According to the

UN report Oman’s

FDI inflow of nearly

$1.2 billion in 2014

is down from the

previous year’s

$1.6 billion

FDI inflows top five economies, 2014 Oman’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Investment report 2015

5- LEBANON($3.1 bn) 4- IRAQ ($4.8 bn)

3- SAUDIARABIA

($8 bn)

YEMEN

OMAN

2- UAE($10.1 bn)

QATARBAHRAIN

KUWAITJORDAN

Above $10 bn $1.0 to $9.9 bn $0.1 to $0.9 bn Below $0.1 bn

1- TURKEY ($12.1 bn)

SYRIA

Source: UNCTAD Graphics

FDI FLOWS FDI STOCKS

2011874 m

1,233 m

15,861 m

4,029 m

Inward Outward

(in US dollars)

20121,040 m

877 m

16,901 m

4,905 m

20131,626 m

1,384 m

18,527 m

6,289 m

20141,180 m

1,164 m

19,707 m

7,453 m

Armed forces, SQU ink pact on academic tiesMUSCAT: The Command and Staff College (CSC) of the Sultan’s Armed Forces (SAF) and Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) signed a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) on cooperation in the field of academic support and quality assurance.

The MoU was signed on behalf of SQU by Dr Ali bin Saud Al Bim-ani, Vice Chancellor of SQU and Air Commodore Nasser bin Ham-doon Al Harthy, Commandant of the SAF-CSC.

The MoU aims to promote aca-demic cooperation between the two sides in the areas of policies, academic systems, curricula, qual-

ity assurance, promotion of re-search cooperation in the areas of evaluating research projects and curricula and methods of scien-tific research, as well as techni-cal and technological coopera-tion to increase the prospects of scientific knowledge and profes-sional quality.

The agreement also aims at training and qualifying human resources of both sides in vari-ous scientific and technological fields, organising and benefiting from conferences, seminars, train-ing courses, workshops and other events, in addition to exchanging information.–ONA

R E S E A R C H P L A N S

Comparing the new normal with the pre-crisis situation, we observe that the net investment flow is now balancedFabio Scacciavillani, Chief Economist at OMAN Investment Fund

A3

OMANM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

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Sohar to get rehab centre for addicts

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Ground will be broken this year for a drug rehabilitation centre in Sohar, bringing hope to addicts and their families gripped by the growing problem of drug abuse. The rehabilitation centre is being established in a joint effort by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Jusoor, a non-profit social re-sponsibility organisation formed by Orpic, Sohar Aluminium and Vale, which aims to contribute to the development of the community through sustainable social projects.

The centre would be spread over 40,000 square metres, with the construction cost amounting to OMR1.6 million.

In an exclusive interview with the Times of Oman, Ali bin Saleh Al Hashar, chief executive officer of Jusoor, said the project com-menced last January with the for-mation of a committee from both sides to arrange for planning and implementation.

“With preliminary design from the MoH, an engineering consult-ant for the detailed design was selected in mid-January 2015,” he said, adding that SEMAC Engi-neering Consultancy was awarded the tender for designing the pro-ject in March this year. “The design is proceeding smoothly as per the plan with the consultant. The construction tender as well as excavation work are expected to start in the last quarter of the cur-rent year,” the official said.

First phaseAccording to Jusoor’s construc-tion plan, in the first phase, the centre would include four units for the rehabilitation of patients with a capacity of 40 beds, a multi-purpose hall with a playground for interior sports and training work-shops, meeting halls, prayer rooms, computer halls, a medical clinic, a building for security, a building for administration, external green spaces to provide comfort and ex-ternal sports courts.

Al Hashar noted that the ap-provals of the detailed design and contractor tender awarding are expected in August 2015.

The excavation will start in Sep-tember 2015 and the project is ex-pected to be completed in March 2017, he added.

Jusoor says that the project aims at bridging the gap between the services provided by the MoH and the support given by the pri-vate sector for treating drug vic-tims and integrating them into the society.

A Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) with the MoH was signed in 2014.

Asked about the challenges fac-ing the implementation of the project, Al Hashar said, “There are minor challenges with detailed de-sign production such as variations and approvals of the centre’s dif-ferent facilities plus the alignment between the project’s partners for the approval of the technical specifications.”

“These procedures could influ-

ence the progress of the project. It requires close follow-up and coop-eration which is being done thor-oughly at the moment,” he said.

According to Jusoor, the centre is expected to offer training and rehabilitation services for the pa-tients to reduce the risk of facing setbacks and to improve the func-tioning of those who recover from addiction.

Social problems One of the expected results of op-erating this centre is minimising the risk of diseases and medical and social problems associated with addiction to drugs and psy-chotropic substances and reduc-ing the potential risk of death due to overdose.

The project has been hailed by a number of authorities, includ-ing the National Commission on Drugs and Psychotropic Substanc-es Affairs.

“It is a good initiative, which will contribute to the community,” Dr Mahmoud Zaher Al Abri, the com-

mission’s secretary, told the Times of Oman.

According to Dr Al Abri, the to-tal number of drug addicts regis-tered by the end of 2013 was 4,079. The figure reached around 5,000 in 2014. However, the actual figure could be higher.

The number of addicts has been increasing and the average age of those affected is coming down, he said.

Oman is preparing a national strategic plan to tackle the scourge of drug abuse. The plan is being drawn up jointly by a number of authorities and is expected to be finalised in the coming months.

Apart from the drug rehabilita-tion centre, Jusoor has been im-plementing a number of projects to contribute to the development of the local community.

“Jusoor is committed towards the local community throughout its several sustainable projects. As part of its corporate social respon-sibility, it develops several projects every year,” said the chief execu-

tive officer of Jusoor. The projects could involve all the three found-ing companies or two of them. Even an individual company can be interested in a certain project, Al Hashar added.

Major projects “Currently, there are certain sus-tainable social projects undergo-ing at Jusoor, such as the con-struction of investment buildings for the Al Wafa Centre in Sohar, the development of Fizh Park to-gether with maintenance of two falajs of Falaj Al Qabail in Sohar and Al Subakh in Liwa as well as the internationally award-win-ning project called Narjis for In-dustrial Tailoring,” Ali bin Saleh Al Hashar added.

Jusoor founders also have the freedom to select their own pro-ject of interest such as the con-struction of investment buildings for the three clubs of Sohar, the Al Salam and Majees Project – adopt-ed by Sohar Aluminium and Orpic, Al Hashar explained.

The rehabilitation

centre would be

spread over 40,000

square metres, and

cost OMR1.6 million.

It is being established

by the Ministry of

Health and Jusoor,

a social body

GraphicsSource: Jusoor

NEW CENTRE FORDRUG REHABILITATION

Externalgreen spaces

to providecomfort

Multi-purpose hallwith a playground for

indoor games andtraining workshops

WorkshopSwimmingpool

Mosque

Ambulance

Reception

Counsellingarea

Shade

Mainentrance

Outdoorrecreation area

Muscat

SOHAR123

45beds

5 villaswith

40Each villa

has an areaof 723m2

Meeting hallsPrayer roomsComputer halls

The centrewill include

Construction

September2015

Starts

March2017

EndsParking (36 vehicles)

Parking (49 vehicles)

There are minor

challenges with detailed

design production such as

variations and approval...

It requires close follow-up

Ali bin Saleh Al HasharChief executive officer of Jusoor

Number of diabetics

expected to reach

350,000 by 2050

Staff Reporter

MUSCAT: By 2050 there are ex-pected to be 350,000 individuals in Oman living with type 2 diabe-tes, a new research has predicted.

A study recently reported in the Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal examined two decades of diabetes research throughout the Sultanate. The analysis revealed that currently Oman has an estimated 80 to 90,000 type 2 diabetics, but at the current rate of growth this will increase by 174% within 35 years.

“The Government should ex-pect to care for many people with diabetes; 350,000 by the year 2050. That means a huge financial burden for the Government in the years to come, which may not be economically sustainable,” said Dr Jawad Al Lawati, the study’s first author and a researcher at the Oman Ministry of Health.

Not awareThe study also revealed that two out of three Omani diabetics were not aware that they had dia-betes and are not receiving medi-cal care. Dr Jawad noted that this was a particular concern, since a lack of treatment can lead to a faster progression of the disease.

He speculated that the reason type 2 diabetes often goes unrec-ognised is two-fold. “On the one hand, it is a silent disease and is without clear symptoms for the first five to seven years,” he said.

“On the other hand” he added, “there are no sufficient large-scale educational programmes in Oman to increase awareness

about this silent, but serious con-dition. People do not usually have a periodic blood test, so the dis-ease often remains undiagnosed until a diabetes-related compli-cation strikes.”

Unexpected findingsDr Jawad and his research team were surprised to find a higher national rate of type 2 diabe-tes among men, than women. As Omani males are often seen playing football in public parks and on beaches, and the preva-lence of obesity is reportedly greater among Omani women, the researchers expected the op-posite results.

“Our findings may have to do with males being busier with work and participating in fewer healthy activities, or there may be genetic reasons which we don’t yet know of,” said the author. More studies are needed to inves-tigate the relationship between gender and diabetes in Oman.

Dr Jawad suggested that these programmes include strategies, such as controlling children’s advertising for unhealthy foods, taxing high-calorie foods, imple-menting more physical activities in schools, and creating public spaces that are safe and condu-cive to exercise.

Type 2 diabetes is reported to account for 90–95 per cent of diabetes cases worldwide. While type 1 diabetes cannot be pre-vented, type 2 generally develops in adulthood and is preventable through maintaining a healthy weight, eating a well-balanced diet and exercising regularly.

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

HEALTH ALARM: Diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin,

resulting in elevated blood sugar levels.

A4 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

TODAY’S DUAA‘O Allah, on this day, help me with its fasts and prayers, and keep me away

from mistakes and sins of the day, grant me that I remember You continu-

ously through the day, by Your assistance, O the Guide of those who stray.’

The Holy Quran stresses justice to be a supreme virtue. The cornerstone of the tenets of Islam is administra-tion of justice. According to a saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him),

Almighty Allah says, “O My slaves, I have for-bidden injustice for Myself and forbade it also for you. So avoid being unjust to one another.” (Saheeh Muslim).

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) declared: “There are seven categories of people whom God will shelter under His shade on the Day when there will be no shade except His. (One is) the just leader.” (Saheeh Muslim).

Little wonder then that Islam stresses on delivery of justice. (Saheeh Muslim). The Holy Quran further states, “God commands justice and fair dealing ...” (Quran 16:90).

Thus justice is one of the underpinnings of the order that has been established by Allah. This reality is also a foundation of a healthy social order. The Holy Quran considers jus-tice to be a supreme virtue and it is a basic objective of Islam to the degree that it stands next in order of priority to belief in Allah’s exclusive right to worship (Tawheed) and the truth of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophethood.

Allah says in that regard, “O, You who be-lieve! Be upright for Allah, witnesses to jus-tice; and do not let your hatred of a people move you to a position where you are unjust. Be just, that is closer to piety. Be mindful of Al-lah! Verily Allah is well informed concerning all that you do.” (Quran 4:135). And in another passage, the Holy Quran says, “O you who be-lieve, be upright for God, and (be) bearers of witness with justice!...” (Quran 5:8).

Therefore, one may sum up that justice is an obligation of Islam and injustice is forbid-den. The centrality of justice to the Quranic value system is displayed by the following verse: “Let not the hatred of a people swerve you away from justice. Be just, for this is clos-est to righteousness…” (Quran 5:8).

With regard to relations with non-Mus-lims, the Holy Quran further states: “God does not forbid you from doing good and be-ing just to those who have neither fought you over your faith nor evicted you from your homes...” (Quran 60:8).

The scholars of the Holy Quran have con-cluded that these rulings apply to all nations, followers of all faiths, as a matter of fact to all humanity.

According to the Holy Quran, justice is an obligation. That is why the Prophet (PBUH) was told: “…If you judge, judge between them with justice…” (Quran 5:42)

“We have revealed to you the scripture with the truth that you may judge between people by what God has taught you.” (Quran 4:105).

Furthermore, the Prophet (PBUH) was sent as a judge between peoples, and told: “…Say: I believe in the Scripture, which God has sent down, and I am commanded to judge justly between you...” (Quran 42:15). Thus, justice represents moral rectitude and fair-ness, since it means things should be where they belong.

The very fact that two of the attributes of Allah are closely linked to justice, apparently, underscores the significance of imparting justice to all. The two attributes are the Just (Al-Adil) and the Dispenser of Justice (Al-Muqsit).

The Holy Quran commands, “Allah com-mands justice, the doing of good, and liberal-ity to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He in-structs you, that ye may receive admonition.” (Al-Nahl 16:90).

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) underscored the importance of rulers being just in one of his famous sayings.

The Holy Quran warns believers against subjective factors or personal emotions leading them to deviate from the path of jus-tice, which is also the path of Islam, but it weighs heavily upon those who are required to adjudicate in disputes or to give judge-ment on other issues.

“O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah and be just witnesses and let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: That is nearer to piety, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is Well-Acquainted with what you do.” (Al-Maidah: 8).

The Prophet (PBUH) himself, when he was called upon to judge between litigants in civil matters, warned that one of them might be more eloquent in putting his case than the

other and thereby achieve an unjust settle-ment. “In such a case,” the Prophet (PBUH) said, “I will have given him a portion of hell-fire.” This is clearly a grave matter indicating that those who seek justice must themselves practise it without deviation even to their own hurt.

For a Muslim, his yardstick in his life is the Holy Quran together with the example of the Prophet (PBUH) and their reflection in the human heart. There is no higher aim for the Muslim than the cultivation of a God-fearing heart. From the sound heart comes sound judgement.

Once Fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib’s (RA) shield went missing after the battle of Siffin. He found it with a Christian man and it was instantly recognised by many because of its distinctive decorations and markings. Ali, who was already Caliph at the time, took the man to the judge as per the Islamic ruling instead of simply confiscating the shield. The judge asked the Christian man to respond to the allegation of the Amir al Mukminin (the Governor of the Muslims).

The Christian claimed that the shield was his, but also that Amir Al Mukminin was not a liar. To this, Ali replied that the judge had no right to refer to him as the “Amir al Muk-minin” when he was appearing before the judge as a normal citizen. He went on to say that the Christian man was in the right be-cause Ali had no evidence with him.

The judge ruled in favour of the Christian, who took the shield and left. A few steps lat-er, he came back, and he said “I bear witness what I saw now is the justice of Messengers and Prophets.

And the Amir Al Mukminin went to the judge to take his rights from me! I bear wit-ness there is no one worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad SAW is the Messenger of Allah.”

After embracing Islam, the man admitted, “The shield is yours. I followed the army, and in a certain time I took it from you.”

According to a saying of the Prophet, (PBUH) Almighty Allah says, “O My slaves, I have forbidden injustice for Myself and for-bade it also for you. So avoid being unjust to one another.” (Saheeh Muslim).

The concept of Justice in Islam

Part of the covenant with which Allah has bound the Muslim nation requires it to deal with other people on the basis of absolute justice which is never affected by feelings of love or hatred, or by a relationship, interest or feelings of any type, explains AFTAB H. KOLA

Hadith of the dayZAID IBN KHALID JUHNI related that the Prophet (PBUH) said: He who provides for the break-ing of the Siyam of another person earns the same merit as the one who was observing Siyam diminishing in any way the reward of the latter (Tirmidhi)

A5

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‘Even a small contribution matters’

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: ‘Many a little makes a mickle’ may well represent the source of inspiration for a long-serving volunteer at Sultan Qa-boos Grand Mosque, who has kept her passion alive until now.

When Farida Saif Al Jabri at-tended one of the speeches of the late Sheikh Khalfan Al Esry many years ago, she thought to herself that though she might not be a public speaker, she could do some-thing else, no matter how small, to make a difference.

Al Jabri was involved in activi-ties related to promoting Islam, even before the opening of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in 2001, so when she was offered the opportunity to pursue her passion at the mosque, she did not hesitate.

Since then, she has been work-ing as a volunteer at the Islamic Information Centre, which ex-plains to non-Muslims the teach-ings of Islam and its practices, and provides support to new Muslims in Oman.

“The late Sheikh Khalfan was one of the founders of the centre and was the one who inspired me. If you are not a public speaker, at least you can do something else to support it,” Al Jabri told Times of Oman.

She said that when the centre

first opened, the number of visi-tors was not very high, but now hundreds of visitors are received every day. “The centre was set up before 9/11. After 9/11, our activi-ties increased because there were a lot of misconceptions about Is-lam,” said Al Jabri. She says that visitors include foreign tourists, who have a different idea about Oman and some misconceptions about Islam, as well.

“They usually have so many questions about why women should cover themselves and whether it restricts their free-dom. Some also ask if women in Oman have the right to education and whether or not they can drive. They also ask whether women can choose their husband or not,” said Al Jabri. Volunteers at the centre do their best to provide correct information about Islam, and also the Sultanate, she noted, adding, “We try to separate certain cultur-al issues and traditions which are mixed with Islam.”

Visitors’ questions are answered in a friendly atmosphere and visi-tors are treated with Omani halwa

and kahwa, said Al Jabri. Many of the visitors are im-

pressed by the hospitality and generosity of Omanis during their visit to the country, she added.

Al Jabri says she has experi-enced many unforgettable mo-ments, though one of her most pleasant memories which always brings ‘tears of joy’ to her eyes is when a non-Muslim embraces Is-lam by reciting ‘shahada’, which is a Muslim profession of faith.

Volunteers at the centre provide essential support to new Muslims.

“The number of volunteers change throughout the year, but currently there are around 60 vol-unteers. Some 20 to 25 of them are men and the rest are women,” Al Jabri said.

These volunteers, who are de-scribed as a ‘treasure’ for the cen-tre, are from different countries

and speak different languages to assist with communications, in-cluding English, Italian, French, German and Tagalog, she said.

Some 15 to 20 of the volunteers are foreigners, she added.

Al Jabri finds it ‘difficult’ to ex-plain her feeling and the joy she receives from her job, but says it is a very ‘fulfilling’ experience and thinks it is the duty of every Mus-lim to invite others to Islam.

She also encourages more peo-ple to join the centre as volunteers, saying they can visit the centre and fill out a form to register.

Food, clothes distribution The centre is also involved in a number of other activities, espe-cially during Ramadan, such as the distribution of food and clothing to people from less privileged back-grounds.

“We distribute food through Fa-reeq Al Istiqama Al Khairi, which has been authorised by the minis-try of social affairs,” Al Jabri said.

Offering assistance is not only limited to Ramadan, having ben-efitted as many as 3,500 families,

she added. “We receive donations from families and organisations, and then volunteers, including children and young people, do the packing,” said Al Jabri, inviting more volunteers to join the team.

She noted that the point of col-lection is Al Tawbah Mosque in Ghubra, and also certain boxes with the logo of Fareeq Al Istiqama Al Khairi are available in some malls and local shops to collect money donations.

The centre also hosts Iftar gath-erings during Ramadan and in-vites both Muslims and non-Mus-lims, Al Jabri said.

Further, she mentioned that the centre has a gift shop and coffee shop, where visitors can purchase gifts, with their money being used to print books and fund other ac-tivities at the centre.

The working hours of the Islam-ic Information Centre are 9 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm.

The centre’s working hours during Ramadan are the same in the morning, while the cen-tre is opened as required during the evenings.

The Islamic

Information Centre,

explains to non-

Muslims the

teachings of Islam

and its practices,

and provides support

to new Muslims

in Oman

The centre was set up before 9/11. After 9/11, our activities increased because there were a lot of misconceptions about Islam. They usually have so many questions about why women should cover themselves and whether it restricts their freedom

Farida Saif Al JabriVolunteer at Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

OMAN EXPERIENCE: The visitors are impressed by the hospitality and generosity of Omanis during their visit to the country.–Supplied photo

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT

PHOTO GALLERYW W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M

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OMANM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

We believe everyone has something to give. If they can be creative, if

they can be flexible at work, if they are willing to learn more in their

fields, then ITA is welcoming and encouraging those talents

Ahmed Al Ramadhani, Director General of Human Resources at the ITA

Assistive technology empowering people with disabilities at work

SARAH MACDONALDsarah@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Sheikha Al Jassasi types something on her laptop and a voice reads “w w w dot google dot com.” The voice helps her navi-gate to the search bar, and then reads out the results as she clicks through them.

For Al Jassasi, who has been blind since birth, this voice makes using a computer possible.

Al Jassasi, who started as a translator and now works in the media department at the Informa-tion Technology Authority (ITA), says Assistive Technology has made a world of difference in the workplace. Her iPhone and com-puter both have voice applications that help her read emails and other documents, identify phone num-bers, and use programmes like the camera and YouTube.

“The technology is giving us a great opportunity to use our tal-ents and work independently. I can use the computer as any normal

person can use it and I can do my job as any other person,” explains Al Jassasi, who has a degree in English translation from SQU.

Aisha Baabood, Executive Di-rector of the White Hands Centre of Assistive Technology and Reha-bilitation, says there are many de-vices available to help people with disabilities.

Braille computersFor people with visual impair-ments there are Braille comput-ers, voice applications to read text, screen readers and magnifying devices, just to name a few. People with hearing impairments can use applications on their phones that translate sign language into text for others to read.

People with mobility impair-ments or paralysis have a variety of wheelchairs now, some which are equipped with technology to allow users to access computers.

Baabood says both the employ-

ees and employers need to be as-sessed to ensure they have the right assistive technology so they don’t invest in the wrong kind, but when the proper technology is provided, it can make a big differ-ence for people with disabilities on the job.

“We have to provide the right technology that can help [employ-ees with disabilities] function bet-ter,” she explains.

Baabood encourages employ-ers to follow the Omani labour law which states that 2 per cent of employees should be people with disabilities, and also recommends they hire people who will be able to live up to their potential and not just fill quotas. “You don’t want the person to feel frustrated or feel that they are just there because they are disabled. We want them to feel that they are valued and they are working because they are needed,” she says.

Ahmed Al Ramadhani, Direc-

tor General of Human Resources at the ITA, says Al Jassasi and an-other blind employee, Ali Al Amri, were not just hired in accordance with the law but because they were also top graduates at Sultan Qa-boos University who would benefit the organisation.

“We believe everyone has some-thing to give. If they can be crea-tive, if they can be flexible at work, if they are willing to learn more in their fields, then ITA is welcom-ing and encouraging those talents. Sheikha and Ali are both brilliant and they exceeded our expecta-tions,” he explains.

Worth the investmentThe ITA had to invest in some As-sistive Technology such as voice activated elevators and special computer applications but Al Ramadhani says it was well worth it. He says in the future the organi-sation would be happy to hire other people with disabilities, assuming they had the talents and skills re-quired, and invest in technologies to help them.

“They’re our employees so defi-nitely the ITA will invest in them. The investment wasn’t really an issue for the ITA since the ITA en-courages the use of technology in all levels. The ITA even subsidises some equipment for other organi-sations, the blind organisations and those who are in need of such technologies,” he says.

Al Ramadhani says it’s impor-tant for companies to empower employees with disabilities so they can perform to their utmost potential and he encourages other organisations to hire talented peo-

ple with disabilities and invest in them as the ITA has done.

“My advice to them is to not hesitate to recruit these people be-cause they are at the end our broth-ers and our sisters so we have to find a place for them in the society and in the workplace and business environment. Each one of them has certain capabilities where they can really give more in that field...and there are technologies in the market to allow them to do their jobs,” he says.

Barka Shahbal Al Bakry, a founding member of Al Noor Asso-ciation for the Blind, says the situ-ation for people with disabilities in Oman has definitely improved over the years. There are more as-sociations catering to different disabilities and more education and work opportunities.

She says more progress has been made in terms of education and employments. Until 2002 Oman used to send blind people to study in Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Ara-bia but the education was minimal.

“The education they received was very basic and did not pre-pare them for employment. As a result until five years ago most of them were employed as telephone operators. With development of technology, this profession is no longer in demand as it used to be, so we had to look for alternative opportunities,” Al Bakry explains.

“The development in technol-ogy and specially programs for the blind, has made a huge differ-ence and opened new horizons,” she adds.

Now blind people, and oth-ers with disabilities, are studying

more and earning degrees that make them strong candidates for the workforce. Al Bakry says a number of Omanis with visual impairments are currently doing postgraduate studies in a variety of subjects including IT and Inter-national Relations. Companies are also recruiting graduates with dis-abilities who have proven them-selves as top students.

Recognition“Slowly we are gaining recognition in the market too. The best em-ployers today [are] the Informa-tion Technology Authority (ITA) and Ooredoo telecom company,” Al Bakry notes.

Back at the ITA Al Jassasi says she hopes one day to be in a mana-gerial position where she can be a role model and leader for oth-ers in the company. She says dis-abilities should not prevent people from going out and following their dreams, especially since there are many Assistive Technologies to help them.

She says people with disabili-ties should work hard to improve themselves, learn how to use the Assistive Technologies, and go out and find the right job opportuni-ties rather than waiting for others to find jobs for them. Thanks to new technology, people with dis-abilities don’t have to be restricted from the workplace.

“I wouldn’t have dreamed that I would have a job in translation, for example, if the screen reader did not exist. The Assistive Tech-nology has really created many new job opportunities for us,” Al Jassasi says.

Assistive technology

has come in a big

way to help persons

with disabilities and

assisted them excel

in their fieldsBIG HELP: Ahmed Al Ramadhani, Director General of Human Re-

sources at the Information Technology Authority, left, and Sheikha

Al Jassasi working in the ITA media department.- Photos: O K Mohammed Ali

Al Batinah Expressway to be partially opened on July 14Staff Reporter

MUSCAT: Al Batinah Express-way, Oman’s first four-lane high-way, will be opened partially on July 14.

The 18-km-long stretch of the road connecting Halban Bridge and Barka will reduce the dis-tance for those travelling to the wilayats of Wadi al Maawil, Na-khl, Al Awabi, Al Rustaq, as well as to Ibri via Al Rustaq.

The road is part of a strategic highway connecting Oman to the United Arab Emirates. The route to the UAE will travel through Khatmat Mallaha in Shinas.

The highway has been designed in such away that there are no roundabouts or intersections. Instead, it has flyovers that do not hamper the traffic flow. One of the strategic projects being implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Expressway, scheduled for completion in 2017, will provide a solution to congestion problem.

F I R S T F O U R - L A N E H I G H W A Y

“Daily we receive three to five patients with gastric problems,” Dr VCP Mohamed, specialist Internal Medicine at Atlas Hos-pital Ruwi, said.

A medic in KIMS hospital Oman added, “We receive two or three patients with acidity problems daily during the Holy month of Ramadan,” Shashi Raj, medical superintendent at KIMS hospital, said.

Meanwhile, Nizar Saqafi, a religious scholar, said that con-trary to the spirit of fasting, more attention is given to food preparation during this month.

“According to Prophet Mu-hammad (PBUH), “Fast and you will gain health.” But contrary to the spirit of fasting, more atten-tion is given to food preparation during this month.

“This defeats the very pur-pose of fasting. Ramadan fasting is not only an act of worship to purify the soul from malice and malevolence and feel the hun-ger of the deprived, but also an act that cleanses the body. This act of purification results in psychological and physiological equilibrium, restoring harmony to the body, mind, and soul,” the religious scholar said.

News reports in the region also show that digestive distress is a region-wide problem during Ramadan. On Sunday, the Abu Dhabi-based news daily The Na-tional reported a story on “Iftar gorging leaves hundreds in hos-pital” and Qatar-based The Pen-insula reported “Avoid over-eat-ing during Ramadan” last month.

Quoting medics from hospi-tals, The National reported that at least 50 patients a day have been treated for gastroenteritis, vomiting, acute stomach pain, inflammation of the stomach.

R A M A D A N F A S T

< FROM

A1Acidity problem

Al Awabi

Rustaq

Ibri

Nakhl

Khatmat Mallaha(UAE border point)

Shinas

20km

Sohar Enlarged area

Halban

Barka

ROAD FROMBARKA TO HALBAN

Barka-Halban road will reduce travel time to Rustaq, Ibri

and Awabi

Muscat

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY LAUNCH

VIDEOW W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O M

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REGIONM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

We know he was a member of a dance club and was familiar with the tourism sector, having worked in it as an events organiserHabib Essid, Prime Minister

Saudi-led air strikes kill 30 shoppers in Yemen market

SANAA: Air strikes by Saudi-led forces killed 30 civilians in an attack on a market in northern Yemen on Sunday, the Houthi-run news agency Saba said, as UN me-diators pushed for a humanitarian pause in fighting that has killed nearly 3,000 since March.

Saba also said Houthi forces launched rockets against a num-ber of Saudi army positions, in-cluding a military airport in the southern city of Najran, in re-sponse to what it described as Saudi aggression against Yemen.

An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been pounding the Iran-backed Houthi forces and allied army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since March in a campaign to re-store exiled President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

Saba said the air strike targeted the Aahem market in Hajjah prov-ince, where preliminary figures showed that 30 civilians were killed and an unspecified number of people were wounded.

Citizens targeted“The Saudi targeted citizens while they were doing their shopping at Aahem market,” the agency quoted a security source in Hajjah as saying.

Residents confirmed an air strike on the market but gave no figures on casualties, saying the Houthis closed off the area and were transporting casual-ties to hospitals. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for a comment.

On the attacks on Saudi mili-tary positions, Saba said that the Yemeni army launched several strikes on Al Sharafa army camp and the military airport in Najran and on tanks stationed north of the Al Khoba region of the Saudi province of Jizan.

It said one Saudi soldier was killed at an observation tower in Dhahran Aseer, where an ar-moured vehicle was also destroyed, while a tank was destroyed and dozens of soldiers were wounded at Al Makhrooq post in Najran when it was attacked with artillery and rocket fire.

The fighting occurred as UN en-voy arrived in the rebel-held capi-tal Sanaa to press efforts to broker a ceasefire.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in Sanaa for talks with the rebels and their allies on his ceasefire plans.

He told reporters at the airport that he was hoping “rapidly to se-

cure a humanitarian truce” which could pave the way for a “peaceful settlement of the crisis which has turned into a catastrophe.”

On Wednesday, the United Nations declared Yemen a level three emergency, the highest on its scale. On Friday, the United Nations alerted aid groups to be prepared for a possible humani-tarian pause in fighting in Yemen that would allow them to deliver help to some of the 21 million people in need.

The United Nations organised a five-day humanitarian pause in May, but aid groups said the truce was not long enough to cover all the need of Yemen. More than 21.1 million people -- over 80 per cent of Yemen’s population -- are in need of aid, with 13 million facing food shortages. More than 2,800 people have been killed in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country since March, according to UN figures. — Agencies

Houthi forces

launched rockets

against a number

of Saudi army

positions, including

a military airport

in the southern

city of Najran

‘Tunisia attacker had worked in tourism’TUNIS: The Tunisian gunman behind the June 26 attack at a resort that killed 38 foreigners had worked in the tourism in-dustry, Prime Minister Habib Essid said in an interview pub-lished on Sunday.

“We know he was a member of a dance club and was familiar with the tourism sector, having worked in it as an events organ-iser,” Essid told the French-lan-guage newspaper La Presse.

Shooting spreeTourists fled in horror as 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov assault rifle from in-side a furled beach umbrella and went on a shooting spree outside a five-star hotel. The attack at Port El Kantaoui, north of Sousse,

killed 30 Britons, three Irish na-tionals, two Germans, one Bel-gian, one Portuguese and a Rus-sian. The assailant was himself later shot dead by police.

Both the authorities and rela-tives later described the gunman as having been an apparently nor-mal young Tunisian who had been keen on breakdancing.

A resident near where his par-ents live in the town of Gaafour had previously told AFP that Rezgui worked “in tourism in the area of Kantaoui”, where the attack is thought to have been planned, although there had been no confirmation of this from an-other source.

The attack on the beach and around the swimming pools of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel was

claimed by the IS militant group.On Saturday, eight days after

the deadly rampage, President Beji Caid Essebsi declared a state of emergency, saying the attack had left Tunisia facing a “special type of war”.

Victim of ‘brainwashing’Meanwhile, Rezgui’s mother claimed in an interview with Brit-ain’s Sunday Times that her son was a victim of “brainwashing” who previously would not have hurt a mouse. “When they told me my son had killed all these people I said no, it’s impossible,” Radhia Manai, 49, told The Sunday Times on Saturday.

“I can’t believe it,” his mother added. “Once there was a mouse in the house and I asked Seifed-

dine to kill it and he refused say-ing, ‘I can’t kill anything.’

“Almighty bless the victims, all those people and their poor fami-lies, and I feel so sorry but I want to tell them it wasn’t my son who did this, it was another Seifeddine.”

Talking at her home in the farming town of Gaafour, she ac-cused militants of “brainwash-ing” her son and claimed he too was “a victim like all the others”.

“I want to know who is the head of all this, who did this to him and I want them to go to prison or be killed,” she added.

The gunman’s father Hakim Rezgui told the paper his son liked breakdancing and “talk-ing about football -- he liked Real Madrid, Liverpool and Man United”. — Agencies

R E V E A L E D

Syrian forces enter rebel-held townDAMASCUS/BEIRUT: Syr-ian government forces backed by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement on Sunday entered Zabadani, the last rebel-held town in the Qala-mun region on the Lebanese bor-der, state media said.

The advance was also con-firmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, and reported by Hezbollah’s Al Manar television station.

“Heroic army forces in coop-eration with the Lebanese re-sistance took control of the Al Jamaiyat neighbourhood in west-ern Zabadani and the Al Sultana neighbourhood in the east of the city,” state television said in a breaking news alert.

“Operations are continuing

with dozens of terrorists killed and wounded,” it added.

The Britain-based Observatory confirmed that regime forces and Hezbollah had entered the city, adding that army helicopters had dropped at least 12 barrel bombs on the town since Sunday morn-ing. It said at least 14 regime forces and Hezbollah fighters had been killed in fighting for the town over the past 24 hours, along with at least 11 rebels.

Hezbollah’s Al Manar televi-sion aired what it said was footage of its fighters and Syrian soldiers entering the town. Zabadani is around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the capital and was one of the first towns to fall into rebel hands in early 2012. — Agencies

Z A B A D A N I T O W N

Kuwait mulls charging more than 40 in mosque attack

Iran deploys home-built long-range radar system

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait is con-sidering charging more than 40 people in connection with a dead-ly suicide bombing in a mosque claimed by the IS militant group, a security official said on Sunday.

“More than 40 suspects, includ-ing a number of women, have been referred to the public prosecu-tion,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

“Now, it is up to the prosecution whether to press charges against all of them or not,” the official said.

The Saudi bomber killed 26 peo-ple and wounded 227 in the June 26 attack in the capital Kuwait City. Among the defendants are the alleged driver of the bomber and the alleged owner of the house where the driver stayed.

Last month’s attack was the first in the country to be claimed by IS, which controls swathes of neigh-bouring Iraq and Syria. — AFP

DUBAI: Iran says it has deployed a new domestically built long-range radar system, signalling a strengthening of its air defences.

Brigadier General Farzad Esmai-li, commander of the Islamic Revo-lutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) air defence force, unveiled the Ghadir phased-array radar in Ahwaz city in southwestern Khuzestan province near the Iraq border, state televi-sion said late on Saturday.

Iran says the Ghadir unit is de-signed and manufactured entirely inside the country and can detect a plane at 600km (373 miles) and a ballistic missile at 1,100km.

In comments suggesting the radar can also identify minia-ture unmanned drone aircraft, Esmaili was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying: “Discov-ering and tracking micro aerial vehicles (MAV)... is one of the special qualities of the Ghadir ra-dar system.” — Reuters

S U I C I D E B O M B I N G

B O O S T I N G D E F E N C E

INJURED IN SHELLING: An injured Yemeni man is treated at a hospital on Sunday, following shelling by Houthi rebels and their allies in Aden’s loyalist-held Dar Saad suburb. – AFP

AIMING FOR PEACE: United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, checks his mobile phone upon his ar-rival at Sanaa’s international airport on Sunday. – AFP

A8

INDIAM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

We are doing everything possible to make enterprise and

innovation easier. We have covered substantial ground in

the last 14 months and want to do a lot more in the future

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

EIGHT MISSING AS BOAT CAPSIZES IN MORADABADLocals search for bodies at river Dhela in Moradabad on Sunday. Eight people were aboard a boat when it overturned . - PTI

Top cops were discouraged from acting against 1984 anti-Sikh riotersNEW DELHI: Top police offic-ers who undertook rare deterrent action against the killings on the streets of Delhi following the as-sassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 ran into a wall of disapproval from the police leadership, according to a new book.

Some of the most dramatic po-lice action came from additional deputy commissioner Maxwell Pereira, who ordered firing outside Sisganj gurdwara on the morning of November 1. One man was killed in the firing but that firing ended up saving the historic gurdwara.

But what followed left Pereira shaken, Pereira tells journalist and author Sanjay Suri in the book 1984 -The Anti-Sikh Violence and After being released on Tuesday.

“After the incident, I informed the control room immediately that I have opened fire and I have killed a person,” Pereira is quoted as saying.

“These are matters of record, these are matters of importance that have to be known. Especially if you have opened fire, you need to inform the control room. What troubled me was that there was pin-drop silence. There was no response coming from the control room.” Amod Kanth, then deputy commissioner for central district, is quoted as saying there was no direction from police headquar-ters on dealing with the imminent violence.

CensuredKanth, who ordered firm action in his district, says he was censured for it at a meeting at the police headquarters later. “The discus-sion was very clear,” he is quoted as saying in the book. “I was told that this was premature.”

In another incident, an inspec-tor from the Delhi Armed Police fired in the air to scare away at-tackers at Nand Nagri in east Delhi, Shamsher Deol, then dep-uty commissioner attached to the Delhi Armed Police, is quoted as saying. The inspector was told he would get into trouble for tak-ing action. He immediately went on leave, not before buying three bullets from an army unit in Delhi Cantonment.

“He managed to replace the three bullets fired from the .303 ri-fle,” Deol is quoted as saying.

“He wanted to show he had actu-ally never fired, he wanted to col-lect proof that all his bullets were intact. He was saying he had acted against the nation.”

Assistant commissioner of po-lice Keval Singh took early action against looters on the evening of October 31. Seeing the situation go out of hand, he asked for permis-sion at 8.32 pm to open fire.

That permission never came.Fifty minutes later, at 9.22pm.,

came a message that he was being taken off duty.

Suri argues that the signals were

clear from top levels that the police action against looters and killers would not be welcomed.

‘Passive aggression’Such failure was ultimately en-sured by “passive aggression” from Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded his slain mother as prime minister, the book claims.

Suri puts together interviews, records and his own experiences

as witness to make the case that the killing itself was actively or-ganised by senior leaders from the Congress party — unchecked by the top leadership. Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as prime minister on the evening of October 31.

Suri says his firmest action against the killing came at 5.30 pm on the evening of November 2 when he summoned then Lt. Gov-ernor P.G. Gavai and said all kill-

ings must end within 15 minutes.By then, almost all the killing

was done, Suri says in his book.Rajiv Gandhi did make speech-

es, but “the Sikhs of Delhi did not need to hear speeches on the right thing to do, they needed the right thing done”, says Suri in the book.

He says that Rajiv Gandhi “fol-lowed up with decisions that were guaranteed to deny justice later”.The first such was the order to cut

short an inquiry into the killings by Ved Marwah, later the police com-missioner.

That inquiry was on the point of nailing top officers in an official re-cord of widespread police failures.

It was Rajiv Gandhi who ended that inquiry, the book says.

“It’s inconceivable that the prime minister might open the newspaper one morning to find that some junior official had taken such a decision unknown to him.”

The book argues that action against at least some of the guilty was still possible on the basis of two sets of records: one showing police awareness of the violence, and the other the failure to act on that awareness. Taken together these point to criminal negligence that is actionable under the Indian Penal Code, Suri argues.

Specifically, he says criminal prosecution against government-controlled Doordarshan is still possible for “holding the mega-phone” to calls for murder.

The book cites records to say that on its own admission Doord-arshan broadcast that call 18 times, though Suri says people who watched television that morning say it was more than that.

Prosecution must be launched to bring some official acknowl-edgment of massive wrongdoing by the government that led to the murder of 3,000 Sikhs in the city, the book says. - IANS

B O O K

REVELATION: Police use a water cannon to disperse Sikh protesters during a demonstration in front

of Congress party headquarters in New Delhi in this photo taken on April 21, 2014. Hundreds of Sikhs

protesters demonstrated demanding an action against Congress party leader Captain Amarinder

Singh for his remarks on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. - Reuters file photo

PM promises to make

India innovation hub

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday prom-ised to do everything possible to make enterprise and innovation easier so that India emerges as an innovation hub and keeps pace with the fast changing world.

“The world is changing, quick-er than ever before and we cannot remain oblivious to that. If we don’t innovate, if we don’t come up with cutting edge products there will be stagnation,” he said in a ‘Digital Dialogue’, and added, “On the part of the government, I assure absolute support.”

Responding to numerous sug-gestions with regard to digitalisa-tion received through the day on a specially-created platform on social media, the prime minister said, “We are doing everything possible to make enterprise and innovation easier. We have cov-ered substantial ground in the last 14 months and want to do a lot more in the future.”

He said his government wants India to emerge as the innova-tion hub where the next big ideas emerge, driven by the power of technology.

EncouragedExhorting people to keep inno-vating as “innovation is what will help us grow faster”, the Prime Minister particularly encour-aged the start-ups, saying they are “the engines of exponential growth, manifesting the power of innovation”. He said that several big companies of today

are start-ups of yesterday.”They were born with a spirit

of enterprise and adventure kept alive due to hard work and perse-verance and today have become shining beacons of innovation,” he noted.

To a question on challenges to the road map of Digital India, Modi said, “When we have taken up such an ambitious initiative and that too at such a large scale, there will be several challenges.

“But, we should neither un-derestimate these challenges nor should we get overwhelmed by them. We must be laser-focused on our Mission and that is what we are doing.”

Talking about the challenges, he mentioned access and af-fordable access as also skills and knowledge.

“We have to empower our citi-zens with the skills and knowl-edge to use digital applications and services. We also have to volunteer time and effort to share digital skills so that our fellow citizens who have recently been digitally empowered get to know how to use this powerful medium and are able to get the maximum out of this medium,” he added.

Another challenge, he said, is reforming the citizen-govern-ment interface and the processes of governance.

“A Digital-First model of gov-ernance will not only bring in efficiency and transparency but also will also dramatically reduce corruption,” he said. - PTI

D I G I T A L D I A L O G U E

‘Bringing Dawood back is a matter of doing, not talking’AHMEDABAD: Union Minis-ter of State for Food Processing Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on Sunday said the issue of bringing back underworld don Dawood Ibra-him to India was a “matter of do-ing and not talking.”

To a query by reporters here that the Centre wants to bring back Dawood to India, but his aide Chhota Shakeel has report-edly said the government cannot nab him, Jyoti said much more has been spoken on the issue.

“This is a matter of doing, not talking,” she further said.

Willing to surrenderNotably, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani had recently stated that Dawood, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, was willing to surrender to Indian authorities but Sharad Pawar, the then chief minister heading

a Congress government in Maha-rashtra, had rejected the offer.

ConditionalsHowever, the Nationalist Con-gress Party (NCP) chief had on Saturday said that Jethma-lani had contacted him over Da-wood’s willingness to surrender, but conditions put forward for it were not acceptable to the state government. The offer was made during Pawar’s tenure as chief minister in 1990s.

Proposal“It is true that Ram Jethmalani had given a proposal about Da-wood’s willingness to return. But there was a condition that Da-wood should not be kept in jail.Rather he be allowed to remain in a house. This was not acceptable.We said he had to face the law,” Pawar had told reporters. - PTI

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

Jaitley for GST, land bill passage in next session

NEW DELHI: Amid the likeli-hood of a stormy session of In-dian Parliament, Finance Minis-ter Arun Jaitley on Sunday made a strong case for passage of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) and land acquisition bills saying they were necessary to create jobs and remove poverty.

“The latest data suggest that the investment cycle is slowly turn-ing around and stalled projects are being unblocked at a faster pace. Passing the GST and reforming the land law will accelerate this investment turnaround,” he said in his Facebook post.

Jaitley’s appeal for passage of

the GST and land acquisition bills comes against the backdrop of the Lalit Modi row that has snow-balled into a major controversy involving two senior leaders of the BJP. The monsoon session of Par-liament begins on July 21.

With the Congress party stick-ing to its demand for the resigna-tions of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Chief Minis-ter of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, the nearly four-week long ses-sion of Parliament that is sched-uled to last till August 13 is likely to be stormy.

While the Goods and Services Tax Bill is being scrutinised by a select committee of the Rajya

Sabha, the Land Acquisition bill is being discussed by the joint com-mittee of Parliament.

Both the committees are ex-pected to submit their reports at the beginning of the next session.In his comments on the Socio Eco-nomic and Caste Census (SECC), which painted a very grim picture of the rural India,

Jaitley said that NDA govern-ment was trying to create con-ditions for accelerating growth to 8-10 per cent through a set of measures.

“...the government is creating the conditions for greater private investment: implementing the GST and creating a common mar-

ket, reforming the land law, easing the costs of doing business, and unblocking stalled projects are all measures that will improve the conditions for investment,” the minister said.

The data has revealed that one out of three families living in vil-lages is landless and depends on manual labour for livelihood.

Meanwhile, holding that there was “no chance” of Parliament passing the Centre’s controversial Land Acquisition Bill in its coming monsoon session, National Demo-cratic Alliance (NDA) constituent PMK on Sunday asked the Naren-dra Modi-led government to with-draw the bill. - PTI

While the Goods and

Services Tax Bill is

being scrutinised by

a select committee of

the Rajya Sabha, the

Land Acquisition bill

is being discussed by

the joint committee

of Parliament

The latest data suggest that the investment cycle is

slowly turning around and stalled projects are being

unblocked at a faster pace. Passing the GST

and reforming the land law will accelerate

this investment turnaround

Arun JaitleyFinance Minister

A9

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Medical college dean linked to Vyapam probe found dead

NEW DELHI/BHOPAL: The Dean of a Jabalpur medical col-lege, said to be probing fake ex-aminees in the Vyapam scam, was found dead in a Delhi hotel on Sunday, adding yet another murky twist to the scandal.

The death of Dr Arun Sharma, Dean of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, came to light a day after an investigative jour-nalist with a leading Delhi-based news channel died under myste-rious circumstances soon after he had interviewed parents of a girl found dead after her name figured in the massive admission and re-cruitment scandal.

Second dean to have diedPolice said Sharma’s body was found at a hotel in south-west Delhi’s Dwarka by the staff who opened the room using a duplicate

key after he did not answer repeat-ed knocks on the door.

An almost empty bottle of al-cohol and vomit was found in the room. Forensic evidence has been collected and his body sent for post mortem. Asked about report-ed links of Sharma with Vyapam scam, Joint Commissioner of Po-lice (South West) Dipender Pathak said police is “covering all the an-gles” in its investigation.

Incidentally, Sharma was the second Dean of the medical college to have died under mysterious cir-cumstances in the last one year.

D. K. Sakalle, who was inquiring into admissions of candidates for whose proxies had allegedly ap-peared in the Pre-Medical Test, had been found burnt at his residence.

“Dr Sharma was found dead at his room in a hotel in Delhi. We are shocked at the death. He was a very close to Dr Sakalle,” Indian Medical Association (IMA) Jabalpur dis-trict president Sudhir Tiwari said.

Tiwari claimed Sharma had

wept at the funeral pyre of Sakalle, claiming the latter had not com-mitted suicide, as concluded by police after investigation.

“I suspect that Sharma too might have been killed,” Tiwari said in Jabalpur, and said he had learnt two days back that the Dean had submitted a report relating to the Vyapam scam to the Special Task Force (STF) probing it.

An investigative journalist with a TV channel Akshay Singh had died in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua district on Saturday soon after having interviewed the parents of the deceased girl Namrata Damor, whose body had been found under near railway tracks in Ujjain dis-trict on January 7, 2012.

Minutes after the interview, 38-year-old Akshay Singh started frothing at the mouth.

He was rushed to civil hospital and later to a private hospital, but doctors failed to revive him.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said

the government will write to the High Court-appointed SIT prob-ing the Vyapam scam to “thor-oughly investigate” the death of Singh, a journalist with the TV to-day group.

Fair inquiry Meanwhile, the government on Sunday said that a “very fair in-quiry” should be conducted to put to rest all doubts over the mysteri-ous death of TV journalist Akshay Singh while covering the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh even as Congress wanted a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case.

“Since various issues are being raised with respect to the circum-stances of this death, it would be absolutely important that a very fair inquiry is held so that all doubts can be put to rest,” Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

In a tweet, the minister also condoled the “sad and untimely” demise of the 38-year-old jour-

nalist and said that his “thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family”. Terming the incident as “extremely shocking” and ques-tioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” on “scams”, Con-gress spokesperson RPN Singh said, “It is very simple for the state government or chief minister of Madhya Pradesh to write a letter for a CBI inquiry and the central government will act on it.”

He said, “If we see the scams — be it the Vyapam scam, the rice scam in Chhattisgarh or what is happening in Rajasthan, with min-isters in the Modi government, the prime minister seems to be not breaking his silence.

“It seems that he has given tacit support to all these scams. It is ex-tremely evident.” Congress further alleged that it “seems the Prime Minister is only interested in sav-ing all these people and even when journalists are dying... it seems he tweets on everything in the world except this.” - PTI

The death of Dr

Arun Sharma came

to light a day after

an investigative

journalist died

under mysterious

circumstances

soon after he had

interviewed parents

of a girl found dead

after her name figured

in the admission and

recruitment scandal

Since various issues are being raised with respect to the circumstances of this death, it would be absolutely important that a very fair inquiry is held so that all doubts can be put to restArun JaitleyFinance MinisterDEMANDING PROBE: Congress activists staging a day-long hunger strike demanding a CBI probe into

the deaths of the MPPEB scam accused in Bhopal on Sunday. - PTI

Five new FIRs filed in coal scam probeNEW DELHI: The Enforce-ment Directorate (ED) of India has registered five fresh money laundering cases against firms in various parts of the country as part of its criminal probe in the Coal scam case.

The latest FIRs have been lodged by the central probe agency against firms based in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Delhi, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, official sources said.

They said the ED took cog-nisance of existing CBI FIRs against these firms before launching separate cases under the provisions of the Preven-tion of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). With these new cases, the agency has till now regis-tered over 40 criminal cases in this probe, investigated paral-lely by the Central Bureau of In-vestigation (CBI). They agency will now begin the process of issuing summons to the execu-tives and owners of these firms to record their statements even as it plans to attach some assets of these firms under anti-mon-ey laundering laws, they said.

QuestionedThe agency has also questioned former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao who has been named along with other private parties in one of the coal scam probe cases. It has also seized assets worth nearly Rs20 billion as part of these investi-gations till now.

“Some more attachments of assets, including immovable properties and fixed deposits of those individuals and compa-nies named in the ED FIRs, will be done,” the sources said.

While the Supreme Court is monitoring the probe of both ED and CBI, the special inves-tigation team ( SIT) on black money too is reviewing the overall investigations and coor-dination between the two cen-tral agencies in these cases. - PTI

M O N E Y L A U N D E R I N G

Complaint against Lalit Modi over tweets defaming President, aideNEW DELHI: Rashtrapati Bha-wan has filed a complaint with Delhi Police against former In-dian Premier League (IPL) Com-missioner Lalit Modi for post-ing “defamatory” tweets against President of India, Pranab Mukherjee and his Secretary Omita Paul.

The complaint sent to Del-hi Police Commissioner from the President’s Secretariat has screen shots of June 23 and June 25 tweets annexed to it, besides an 80-page file that the former IPL chief, being probed by the En-forcement Directorate for alleged money laundering, had attached to his twitter posts.

The document shows a picture of the president, his secretary and businessman Vivek Nagpal, who Modi alleged, had taken favours

from Mukherjee during his days in the Finance Ministry.

Legal opinion soughtModi had alleged that Mukherjee, in his stint as Finance Minister, pushed Enforcement Directorate to act against him after he raised questions about the shareholding pattern in Kochi franchise of IPL cricket tournament leading to the resignation of Shashi Tharoor from the Union government.

Bassi has forwarded the com-plaint to the Economic Offences Wing (EoW) of Delhi Police for necessary action, official sources said, adding no case has been reg-istered so far.

Legal opinion is being sought whether the case could be regis-tered under section 499 and 500 of Indian Penal Code for criminal

defamation as the tweets intend-ed to bring disrepute to the Presi-dent and his office.

The other option available with the Delhi Police could be to ap-proach a local court seeking a re-straint order for social network-ing site ‘Twitter’ to block the page.

According to section 499 “Whoever, by words either spo-ken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representa-tions, makes or publishes any im-putation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputa-tion of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.”

It carries a simple imprison-ment for a period of two years or fine. - PTI

F I N A N C E M I N I S T R Y D A Y S

SUSPICIOUS FOREIGN DHOW INTERCEPTEDThe occupants of the ship which the Coast Guard intercepted as a suspicious foreign fish-

ing ‘dhow’, seen off the Alapuzha coast and brought to Vizhinam, on Sunday. A 12-member

crew from Iran who were in the dhow have been taken into custody by Kerala police and

are being interrogated. A Coast Guard official said that the interception was based on

intelligence inputs from central and state agencies, including Kerala police. - PTI

A10 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

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DNA barcodes to be used curb illegal wildlife trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to employ DNA barcodes — a way to identify species to curb illegal wildlife trade as smugglers come up with new techniques to trans-port endangered species by misla-belling them.

The Directorate of Biodiversity at the Ministry of Climate Change said that illegal wildlife trade

was on the rise as most coun-tries did not employ scientific tools for proper identification of protected species.

Taking advantage of the loop-hole, officials on duty help indi-viduals smuggle consignments of protected species, labelled as non-protected species.

Advanced scientific tools such as DNA barcoding are considered most accurate and precise.

“The DNA barcoding is gaining wide acceptance because of its va-lidity to identify species based on sequence matching,” Directorate

of Biodiversity Director Naeem Ashraf Raja told The Express Trib-une on Saturday.

He said that molecular methods including DNA barcoding was be-ing used to detect cross-border movement of endangered species internationally.

In Pakistan, Raja said the same technology was being used to detect endangered turtles, which were being smuggled from the country.

“A consignment labelled as fish meat was intercepted at a Paki-stan port and was tested for its

source, using the DNA barcod-ing with fish-specific primers. Sequence from this consignment matched 99 per cent with those from Lissemys punctata (Indian flap-shelled turtle) — species listed by the Convention on In-ternational Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),” he said.

“The DNA barcoding helps con-trol illegal trade and smuggling of protected species under false pre-tenses,” Raja said.

He said that since issuance of a notification empowering the Sindh Wildlife Department

to protect turtles and tortoise of Chelonia order, many con-signments of turtles had been confiscated.

Recently, over 200 black-pond turtles destined for Bangkok black market were confiscated at the Karachi port and smuggling of turtles of the same species was foiled at the Chinese border, which were send back to Paki-stan and were released in their natural habitat.

“Now the smugglers have de-vised new means to carry out their illicit trade and instead of smuggling live turtles, they smuggle turtle parts by labeling them as fish meat — a legal trade mark,” said Raja.

InterceptedHe said that in March a consign-ment of turtles including shells, bones, skulls and dried meat un-der the label fish meat was inter-cepted at the Karachi port. The shipment weighing about 1,900kg roughly comprising 4,000 turtles was worth approximately $60mil-lion, Raja said.

These species of turtles are native to the Indus River and listed in the Convention on In-ternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).— Express Tribune

The Directorate of

Biodiversity at the

Ministry of Climate

Change said that

illegal wildlife trade

was on the rise as

most countries did

not employ scientific

tools for proper

identification of

protected species

A consignment labelled as fish meat was intercepted

at a Pakistan port and was tested for its source, using

the DNA barcoding with fish-specific primers. Sequence

from this consignment matched 99 per cent with

those from Lissemys punctata (Indian flap-shelled turtle) — species listed by the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). DNA barcoding

helps control illegal trade and smuggling of protected species under false labels,

said Directorate of Biodiversity Director Naeem Ashraf Raja

In insurgency-hit Pashtun belt, music embraces words of warPESHAWAR: A lover’s eyes compared to a drone strike, a smile to a suicide bomb and lips to fire.

The violence of Pakistan’s bloody insurgency has been in-jected into catchy pop lyrics after more than a decade of war against extremists opposed to all forms of song and dance.

Some of the hit songs are re-garded as deeply poignant in the country’s Pashtun belt -- but oth-ers are criticised as sensational-ist, and accused of capitalising on the brutality.

“Come, look straight into my eyes, attack my heart, come de-stroy everything, come destroy everything,” croons popular singer Rahim Shah in the video to “Shaba Tabahi Oka” (Come On Destroy Everything), as the fa-mous Pashto-language film hero Arbaaz Khan dances.

An actress gyrates her hips in response, singing: “Look at me, bomb my heart, come destroy everything.”

Bombs in her eyesThen the hero, jumping, rolling and dancing, replies: “My Laila is carrying bombs in her eyes, you are killing me with your eyes, your lips are on fire -- your short top is killing me and your trousers are tight.”

The song, which accompanies the popular 2012 Pashto film “Ghaddar” (Traitor), is still a top hit on video websites such as You-Tube and Dailymotion.

Pashto is the main language of northwest Pakistan, which has borne the brunt of the country’s bloody decade-long battle with homegrown extremist insurgents -- and the focus of the CIA’s drone

missile campaign against militant commanders.

The frequency of the violence people have witnessed in that time has seeped into popular cul-ture, artists say, leaving a some-times incongruous mark on the region’s cultural output.

In another Pashto movie, “Da Khkulo Badshahi Da” (Beautiful Are Always Crowned), released in 2014, a wiggling actress sings at the centre of a group of armed men, some dancing.

“My lips are sugary, I sing sweet songs,” she says, before singing the song’s title lyric: “I at-tack with my eyes, as lethal as a drone strike.”

Cashing in on bloodshedNot everyone is impressed. Popu-lar Pashto singer Bakhtiar Khat-tak said some artists were cash-ing in on the bloodshed that has become an everyday feature of life since the extremist insurgency rose up in 2004.

“It is true that poets write what they see in society but some film

makers are deliberately mix-ing violence and vulgarity in songs,” he said.

“Despite substandard poetry, a segment of the society like such songs, it’s now a market trend, they (producers) do it to get more business.”

Other songs set against the backdrop of war, however, are considered moving.

Singer Zafar Iqrar penned a song asking his lover not to return to their home village, abandoned because of an army operation.

“Oh my beloved do not come to the village -- here everyone is mourning, you will feel ashamed -- here, division and hate rule supreme.”

Pashto-language poet and writer Rokhan Yousafzai said the taste for such songs reflect-ed the experiences many peo-ple had been through over the past decade.

“No doubt the language is of-fensive, the scenes are vulgar but despite that ordinary people like such songs and movies,” he said.

“It’s a fact that violence has af-fected our society, our culture, po-etry and film songs.”

Aslam Taseer Afridi, a Pashto language poet and professor of history who also heads a govern-ment college in the Khyber tribal district, said the conflict in the region has not only affected mu-sic but ingrained itself even in the games children play.

“You see when the kids play, one group act like soldiers and the others act like militants and these are the psychological effects of this dilemma on our society,” he said.

Sometimes singers are inspired to create music for peace.— AFP

C U L T U R A L R E S I S T A N C E

PEACE OR WAR: In this picture taken on April 22, 2015, Pakistani popular Pashto singer Bakhtiar

Khattak, right, records a song at a studio in Peshawar.— AFP

Some of the hit songs

are regarded as deeply

poignant in the country’s

Pashtun belt -- but

others are criticised as

sensationalist, and

accused of capitalising

on the brutality

Taliban attacks kill 7 soldiersDERA ISMAIL KHAN: Taliban ambushes and bombings killed at least seven Pakistani soldiers in the northwest as the military made a new push into the militants’ last major stronghold near the border with Afghanistan, intelligence of-ficers said on Sunday.

Pakistan began a major offen-sive in North Waziristan last sum-mer to drive out Pakistani Taliban and other extremist militants who launch attacks on government and civilian targets.

The army is meeting fierce re-sistance as it moves further into the lower-lying areas of the Shaw-al Valley, the Taliban’s last strong-hold, military officials said.

Pakistan’s army chief, General Raheel Sharif, visited troops on Friday and said the initial phase around the surrounding peaks of the Shawal Valley was successful and it was now time to begin a final push into the lower areas.

“We will not stop unless we achieve our end objective of a ter-ror-free Pakistan,” he said.

Militants ambushed a military convoy on Saturday in the valley’s

Pir Ghr area, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, intelli-gence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Azam Tariq saying five soldiers were killed.

The intelligence officials added that troops moving from both the North and South Waziristan sides into the Shawal Valley were encountering tough resistance from militants.

The heavily forested ravines in the area are dotted with Tali-

ban hideouts and the area is a key smuggling route into neighbouring Afghanistan.

Two other attacks in the north-west killed five more soldiers out-side the Shawal Valley.

The first, a remote-controlled bomb attack on army vehicles in North Waziristan, killed three and injured six.

A second bomb attack on a mili-tary vehicle in South Waziristan killed two others, the military of-ficials said.

The Pakistani Taliban had con-trolled almost all of the northwest-ern region of North Waziristan before troops launched their of-fensive last year. Many militants have fled to other parts of Pakistan, and some into Afghanistan, com-plicating the US-backed Kabul government’s fight against its own Taliban insurgency. — Reuters

S H A W A L V A L L E Y

The army is meeting fierce

resistance as it moves

further into the lower-lying

areas of the Shawal Valley,

Taliban’s last stronghold,

military officials said

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100 children fall sick after being served unhealthy food

ISLAMABAD: Around 100 chil-dren on Sunday fell seriously ill after taking substandard food that caused excessive vomiting and partial unconsciousness.

The children sheltered by Pa-kistan Sweet Homes located in Islamabad were rushed to Paki-stan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for medical treatment, Ex-press News reported.

“The condition of the children is now stable while some of them se-verely affected are being provided further medical treatment,” said patron-in-chief of the shelter ser-vice, Zamarud Khan while speak-ing to reporters. He further said that the children were served with bread and milk for breakfast and there had been no reports of any contamination in the food.

Food poisoningMeanwhile, spokesperson for PIMS confirmed that the children fell ill as a result of food poisoning. “About 60 per cent suffered from food poisoning but there condition is now stable,” said Dr Aisha.

Sweet Homes is a project of Pakistan Baitul Mal and works to provide under privileged children a space to live as well as educate and engage them in extracurricu-lar activities. — Express Tribune

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Devone L. Boggan

In 2007, this city of about 100,000 people, north of Berkeley, had the dubious distinction of be-ing the ninth most dangerous in America. That

year saw a total of 47 homicides. In some neigh-bourhoods, gunfire was almost a daily event.

At one point, the City Council considered asking the governor to declare a state of emergency and send in the National Guard. Instead, in 2007, the city created the Office of Neighborhood Safety. (I am the founding director.) Our mission was sim-ple: To tackle this epidemic of gun violence that was killing so many young men, mostly in our mi-nority communities.

We modelled our approach on “Cure Violence,” a community outreach programme in Chicago founded by the epidemiologist Gary Slutkin. The Chicago project evolved from the Operation Ceasefire programme begun in Boston in the mid-1990s, since replicated in scores of cities across America.

Many of these were successful at reducing gun violence, but we felt that they were too law-en-forcement-driven and lacked the social services to help the most vulnerable in our neighbourhoods.

The young people on the streets saw Ceasefire as a police initiative and little more. These were the young men who became our clients, those whom we’d identified as especially at risk - either of being a shooter or of being shot.

This was easier than you might think.A police liaison officer told us this startling

fact: An estimated 70 per cent of shootings and homicides in Richmond in 2009 were caused by just 17 individuals, primarily African-American and Hispanic-American men between the ages of 16 and 25.

We employed street-savvy staff members, whom we called neighbourhood change agents. Think of their work as a kinder version of stop-and-frisk, more like stop-and-blend with the profile subjects, to build healthy, consistent relationships with those most likely to shoot or be a victim of gunfire.

Once we’d identified the city’s potentially most lethal young men, we invited them to a meeting (the first was in 2010). Then came the big innova-tion of the Operation Peacemaker fellowship pro-gramme. We offered those young men a partner-ship deal: We would pay them - yes, pay them - not to pull the trigger.

The deal we offered was this: If they kept their commitment to us for six months - attended meet-ings, stayed out of trouble, responded to our men-

toring - they became eligible to earn up to $1,000 a month for a maximum of nine months.

Predictably, this was controversial: Not eve-ryone was a fan of this cash-for-peace strategy. We had skeptics and critics aplenty, including on the City Council. It was a bold measure, but would it work?

Shyeed, age 19, was one of Richmond’s most wanted. He had been tutored by his father and un-cles to regard south Richmond as his. Like all sides in the confused gang wars, he had lost comrades and felt obliged to avenge them.

For Shyeed to attend was a coup for us. He was respected. As another would-be fellow said, “Shy-eed don’t fear pulling that trigger.” When I saw him walk into that first meeting, I had imagined him bigger, harder-looking, mean and cold. Instead, he was small and had a great smile.

He was wary at first. Either I was police (because of my haircut), he thought, or a “big pimp” because of my “fine threads.” Either way, he quipped, “Show me how to do you.”

The idea of a cash incentive to change behaviour is not hard to grasp. The social context for our pro-spective fellows was a laundry list of deprivation and dysfunction: High unemployment, fragment-ed families, inadequate education and a heavy dose of substance abuse.

The proportion of families living below the pov-erty level in the neighbourhoods where we focused our efforts was 25 per cent - nearly double the aver-age rate in Richmond.

In most other cities, the law enforcement re-sponse to high rates of firearm assaults is stuck in a destructive cycle of police sweeps and mass incar-ceration. That strategy costs taxpayers a great deal, for little return. In US, it is estimated that in 2012 gun violence cost more than $229 billion. The av-erage cost to taxpayers of every gun homicide in America is nearly $400,000.

In contrast, the costs of our programme were modest. In practice, we have rarely needed to pay the full amount offered under the terms of our deal: Just over half our fellowship participants receive payments, usually in the $300 to $700 range. So if our programme prevented gun deaths, there could be little argument about cost-effectiveness.

It did. In the first year of Operation Peacemak-er, homicides in Richmond fell to 22 (from 45 in 2009). In five years of our programme, through 2014, we have seen the number of homicides in Richmond, which had averaged 40 a year, more than halved; firearm assaults in general fell by a similar proportion. - The New York Times

Source: theglobaleconomy.com

The unemployment rate can fall to4-5 per cent during boom times.

When the economy goes into recession, then unemployment can be much

higher sometimes evenin the double digits

Oman unemployment

19917.5 %

20018.7 %

20137.9 %

19946.9 %

0

2

4

6

8

Goods bought at duty-free shops added to total weightThis refers to the news report Duty-free buys count in luggage weight, say airline officials and travel agents in Oman (July 4). In my observation, this has been the case with many other airlines for a long time. Many times I have experienced that while travel-ling if one takes along a carry on and one handbag or laptop bag their weight includes the duty-free goods bought. — Daniel Nash, Muscat

Duty-free rule a loss for airportsThis refers to the news report Duty-free buys count in luggage weight, say airline officials and travel agents in Oman (July 4). My reaction to this report is that one should not anymore buy goods from duty free shops considering the fact that they are cheaper in the city’s market. This will help save paying extra money for the luggage. This rule is a loss for the airports, not for the passengers. — Shahul Hameed , Muscat

Traffic fine counter is before the e-gate at the airport This refers to the news report Expats must clear traffic fines before leaving Oman, reiterates police (July 4). I believe there is a traffic fine counter

before the e-gate. The time taken to clear the counter depends on the time one is travelling.— Fazlul Karim, Muscat

Islamabad unable mitigate power crisis This refers to the power crisis in Pakistan. I believe Islamabad is unable to follow through its plan on this. — M. Hamid, Muscat

T I M E S O F O M A NM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5A12

Paying cash to control gun related violence

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Pact signed with Japan to tap mineral reserves The Sultanate and the Japanese government have signed an agreement within the context of a technical cooperation programme between the two governments. According to the agreement, the Japanese government, represented by the Jap-anese Agency for International Cooperation and Metal Min-ing Agency of Japan (MMAJ), will conduct a detailed study on the commercial potential of copper and other mineral reserves which have already been discovered in the wilayats of Yanqul and Al Khabourah.

1776: The US declaration of independence is first printed by John Dunlop in Philadelphia . 1839: British naval forces bombard Dingai on Zhoushan Island in China and occupy it.

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1950: American forces engage the North Koreans for the first time at Osan, South Korea

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In a concrete jungle like Karachi, where parks and green belts

are illegally taken over by the land mafia, the recent heatwave and high death toll should be a wake-up call. The city can now

add global warming to its long list of woes

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Vietnam’s political system does not mirror that of the

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Late in the afternoon on Thursday, a fire broke out in a residential apartment in Darsait. The firefighters from the nearby unit rushed to the spot and rescued the members from the flat

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2 You might have to wait for Eid, says Oman religious affairs officialbit.ly/waitforeid

3 Muscat Airport facelift plan on trackbit.ly/muscatairportfacelift

4 Expats must clear traffic fines before leaving Oman, reiterates policebit.ly/trafficfinesbeforeleaving

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WORLDM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report published on

Friday said that investigators had traced nearly $700

million to bank accounts they believed belonged to

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak.

A13

Ensure proper disposal of garbage.

Don’t litter a beautiful country like OMAN.

Egypt to take legal action on reporting ‘false’ tolls

CAIRO: Egypt may take legal ac-tion against journalists who re-port “false” military death tolls in militant attacks that contradict official statements, if a new anti-terrorism law is approved, offi-cials told AFP on Sunday.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who called for tougher laws fol-lowing the assassination of his top prosecutor last week, is expected to approve the law within days.

The cabinet has already ap-proved the draft law. Article 33 of the draft law, published in several

Egyptian newspapers, stipulates a minimum two-year sentence for “reporting false information on terrorist attacks that contradicts official statements”.

The law also opens up the pos-sibility of deportation and house arrest. Two officials, includ-ing Justice Minister Ahmed Al Zind, confirmed the wording of

the law. Zind said the law was prompted in part by coverage of IS militant group attacks on Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula on July 1.

The military spokesman said 21 soldiers and more than 100 mili-tants were killed in the attacks and ensuing clashes, after secu-rity officials said dozens more sol-diers had been killed.

The government has accused foreign media who reported the higher death toll of exaggerating troop casualties. “The day of the attack in Sinai some sites pub-lished 17, then 25, then 40, then 100 dead,” Zind said.

‘Reports affected morale’Zind said such reports affected the “morale” of the country. “There was no choice but to impose some standards,” he said. “The govern-ment has the duty to defend citi-zens from wrong information.”

“I hope no one interprets this as a restriction on media freedoms. It’s just about numbers (in death tolls),” he said. “If the army says 10 died, don’t report 20.”

The country has been fighting a militant insurgency in Sinai since the army, then led by Sisi, over-threw former president Moham-ed Morsi in 2013. The attacks have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, while more than 1,400 people, mostly Morsi supporters, have been killed in a crackdown on protests. — AFP

The law stipulates

a minimum two-

year sentence for

‘reporting false

information on

terrorist attacks that

contradicts official

statements’

Malaysia’s opposition demands debate on graft allegationsKUALA LUMPUR: Two of Ma-laysia’s main opposition parties on Sunday demanded an emergency sitting of parliament to discuss Prime Minister Najib Razak’s fu-ture as tensions mounted over a report that linked him to probes into alleged corruption involving state fund 1MDB.

A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) re-port published on Friday said that

investigators had traced nearly $700 million to bank accounts they believed belonged to the prime minister. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Najib denied taking any money from the debt-laden state fund or any other entity for personal gain.

However, the pressure was back on him on Saturday after the coun-try’s attorney-general said he had

received documents from a task force investigating 1MDB that were “connected to allegations” that money was transferred into Najib’s account. “With the attorney-gener-al’s confirmation, the WSJ allega-tion against Najib has assumed an even more serious character and import, sparking a political and government crisis of the first mag-nitude never seen in Malaysia’s 58-

year history,” Lim Kit Siang, the op-position Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) parliamentary leader, said in a statement. Members of Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), have closed ranks behind the prime minister, who had already been on a back foot over the mismanagement of 1MDB and his handling of the economy.

However, the DAP and opposi-

tion People’s Justice Party (PKR) sought to stoke the furore, urging the speaker of parliament’s lower house to call an emergency sit-ting on Tuesday. DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago said he and 72 others, including representatives of political parties and non-gov-ernmental organisations, had also lodged a police report. “We have asked that the police investigate

the WSJ’s assertion that billions were deposited in Najib’s personal account and take necessary ac-tions,” he said.

1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, has debt of nearly $11.6 billion. Even before the WSJ report it was the subject of separate investigations by the central bank, auditor general, police and the Pub-lic Accounts Committee. — Agencies

P O L I T I C A L C R I S I S

UK announces memorial for Tunisia beach attack victims

LONDON: The 30 British victims of last week’s Tunisian beach at-tack are to receive a permanent memorial funded by fines on banks, Prime Minister David Cam-eron announced on Sunday.

There will be a separate site of remembrance for all Britons who have been victims of overseas ter-rorism, he added.

“Those who lost their lives in Tunisia last week were innocent victims of a brutal terrorist atroc-ity,” he said.

“It is right that we mark and commemorate them and others murdered by terrorists overseas, appropriately and support the loved ones they have left behind in every way we can.”

LocationThe location and design of the memorial will be decided over the coming months, said Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother Jonathan was killed in the Bali bombing of 2002.

The memorials will be funded by banking fines levied by the Fi-nancial Conduct Authority.

The final five British victims of the Tunisia beach shooting arrived home on Saturday, on board an RAF C-17 aircraft. — AFP

I N R E M E M B R A N C E

WEAPONS SEIZED: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, centre, inspects weapons, found with mili-

tants, after visiting Sinai peninsula to inspect troops, on Saturday. – Reuters/The Egyptian Presidency/Handout

A14

GLOBAL EYEM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

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HUNGARY: A general view shows the Red Bull Air Race World Championship as British pilot Paul Bonhomme files with his Edge 540 V2 in Budapest, Hungary, on Sunday. — Reuters

SPAIN Harley Davidson motorcyclists ride through the streets of

Barcelona, Spain, during the “Great Flag Parade” of the Barcelona

Harley Days 2015 on Saturday. The three-day event gathers thou-

sands of riders and fans from all over Europe. — AFP

THE NETHERLANDS: A man wearing a Tour de France best climber’s jersey practises flyboarding before the start of the 166-km second

stage of the 102nd Tour de France cycling race from Utrecht to Zeeland, The Netherlands, on Sunday. — Reuters

FRANCE: People paddle their homemade rafts with bathtubs in the middle as they compete in a race on Sunday next to an artificial

beach in the centre of Strasbourg, eastern France. -AFP

CANADA: Vehicles carrying evacuees from wildfires near La Ronge

drive south on Highway 2 in Weyakwin, Canada, on Sunday in a

picture provided by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways.

— Reuters/Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways

CHINA: A worker tries to clear blue-green algae from Chaohu Lake,

Hefei, Anhui province, China, on Saturday. — Reuters/Stringer

ATHENS: Greeks voted over-whelmingly “No” on Sunday in a historic bailout referendum, partial results showed, defying warnings from across Europe that rejecting new austerity terms for fresh financial aid would set their country on a path out of the euro.

With nearly a fifth of the votes counted, official figures showed 60.4 per cent of Greeks on course to reject a bailout offer from credi-tors that was the official issue of the ballot. The figures showed the Yes vote drew 40.1 per cent. An of-ficial projection of the final result is expected at 1800 GMT.

ArgumentOfficials from the Greek govern-ment, which had argued that a ‘No’ vote would strengthen its hand to secure a better deal from interna-tional creditors after months of wrangling, immediately said they would try to restart talks with Eu-ropean partners.

“The negotiations which will start must be concluded very soon,

even within 48 hours,” govern-ment spokesman Gabriel Sakel-laridis told Greek television.” We will undertake every effort to seal it soon.” Euclid Tsakalotos, the government’s chief negotiator said talks could restart as early as Sun-day evening.

Many of Athens’ partners have warned over the past week that a ‘No’ vote would mean cutting bridges with Europe and driving Greece’s crippled financial sys-

tem into outright bankruptcy, dra-matically worsening the country’s 5-year-long depression.

If confirmed, the result would also deliver a hammer blow to the European Union’s grand sin-gle currency project. Intended to be permanent and unbreakable when it was created 15 years ago, the euro zone could now be on the point of losing its first member with the risk of further unravelling to come.

“I believe such a result can be used as a strong negotiating tool so that Europeans can understand that we are not a colony,” said Ne-feli Dimou, a 23-year-old student in Athens.

Run out of moneyGreek banks, which have been closed all week and rationing withdrawals from cash machines, are expected to run out of money within days unless the European Central Bank provides an emer-gency lifeline.

Finance Minister Yanis Var-oufakis is due to meet top Greek bankers later on Sunday and State Minister Nikos Pappas, one of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s closest aides, said it was “absolute-ly necessary” to restore liquidity to the banking system now that the vote is over. — Reuters

A15

WORLDM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

Greeks on course to defy Europe warningWith nearly a fifth of

the votes counted,

official figures

showed 60.4% of

Greeks on course to

reject a bailout offer

from creditors that

was the official issue

of the ballot. The

figures showed the

Yes vote drew 40.1%

FUTURE AT STAKE: Polling officials count the ballots at a polling station in Athens on Sunday. — AFP

Now is the time to strike Iran deal, says KerryVIENNA: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday it was “now time” to seal a historic nu-clear deal with Iran as ministers were flying back to Vienna ahead of a looming deadline.

Addressing reporters, Kerry stressed that after almost two years of negotiations and on the ninth day of these latest talks “genuine progress” had been made.

But upping the pressure af-ter three meetings just alone on Sunday with his Iranian coun-terpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, he warned the fate of the nego-tiations still swung in the balance and “could go either way.”

The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Britain were expected back in the Austrian capital later on Sunday, with their Chinese counterpart possibly due on Monday.

“I want to be absolutely clear with everybody, we are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues,” Kerry said, standing at a podium in the searing sun, his crutches due to a broken leg by his side.

The global powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Rus-sia and the United States -- are trying to pin down a deal put-ting a nuclear bomb out of Iran’s reach in return for lifting a web of sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Sanctions reliefOn one of the thorniest issues -- choreographing the nuclear steps to be taken by Iran in ex-change for reciprocal sanctions relief -- a compromise may be emerging, at least among experts thrashing out the complex final accord.

“There are still differences,” an Iranian official insisted, however, while a Western diplomat said on UN sanctions -- as opposed to

EU and US ones -- there was “no agreement yet”.

The deal between Iran and the P5+1 would end a standoff dat-ing back to 2002 when dissidents first revealed undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran. Officials have stressed all week that this is the endgame, and after missing sev-eral deadlines they are not plan-ning to extend the quotes again.

Finish the job“Extending the talks is not an op-tion for anyone... We are trying to finish the job,” Iran’s lead negoti-ator Abbas Araghchi told Iranian TV late Saturday, saying there was a “positive atmosphere”.

But he too had warned: “If we reach an agreement that respects our red lines then there will be a deal. Otherwise we prefer to return home to Tehran empty-handed.” — AFP

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

If all sides were prepared to make hard choices, then ‘we could get an agreement this week. But if they are not made, we will not,’ Kerry warned, adding that if there was ‘absolute intransigence’ the US would walk away

Billy Joel in surprise weddingNEW YORK: US pop legend Billy Joel married longtime girlfriend Alexis Roderick in a surprise wedding Saturday, popping their nuptials on unsuspecting guests at a July 4 holiday party, the sing-er’s publicist said.

The wedding, which took place on Joel’s Long Island estate, was officiated by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Joel and Roderick “surprised

guests at their annual July 4th party by exchanging vows in front of their family and close friends,” said a statement sent to AFP by Joel’s publicist Claire Mercuri.

Christie BrinkleyAmong the guests were actor Kevin James and Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel -- whom he had with his second wife, former su-permodel Christie Brinkley. — AFP

J U L Y 4 H O L I D A Y P A R T Y

Billy Joel

Officials from the Greek government, which had argued that a

‘No’ vote would strengthen its hand to secure a better deal from

international creditors after months of wrangling, immediately

said they would try to restart talks with European partners

A16

WORLDM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

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12 dead in China building collapse

BEIJING: Twelve people died af-ter a shoe factory collapsed in east-ern China, state media reported on Sunday, with more than 40 escap-ing on their own or being rescued.

More than 50 people were in the four-storey building in the city

of Wenling in Zhejiang province when it came down on Saturday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Thirty-three suffered injuries, four of them serious, the report

said. Nine others escaped un-harmed, it added. The cause of the collapse was being investigated.

“There was no premonition,” the report quoted worker Yang Zhong-kun as saying.

“I heard a ‘bang’ and saw the building collapse.”

Yang added that water flowed down from a large fishing pool on the roof of the building, while oth-er employees said leaking water

was reported before the building gave way, Xinhua said.

A total of 53 fire trucks, 302 rescuers and five rescue dogs re-sponded to the shoe factory col-lapse, the report said.

Lax safety proceduresPhotos circulating on Chinese social media showed a man being carried on a stretcher by what ap-peared to be police officers, while rescuers and other personnel stood on top of the rubble.

Building collapses and other industrial accidents are not un-common in China, where many structures and facilities are old, safety procedures can be lax

and rebuilding has not kept up with the country’s remarkable economic growth.

China’s top safety watchdog in May blamed poor construction and weak safety standards for a fire at a nursing home that left 38 people dead.

In April, almost 30,000 people were evacuated after a fire broke out in a Chinese chemical plant which blazed for nearly 50 hours before the flames were finally extinguished.

And in November, a fire at a coal mine in northeastern China killed 26 workers, in one of the coun-try’s most highly accident-prone industries. - AFP

More than 50 people

were in the four-

storey building in

the city of Wenling

in Zhejiang province

when it came

down on Saturday

afternoon, Xinhua

news agency reportedRESCUE OPERATION: Rescuers looking for survivors in the debris of a collapsed building in Wenling, east China’s Zhejiang province on Saturday. - AFP

Tropical Storm Linfa strikes northern Philippines

MANILA: Floods inundated towns in the northern Philip-pines as Tropical Storm Linfa struck the northern edge of the archipelago, where relief agen-cies were braced for disaster on Sunday.

The region’s civil defence chief Chito Castro said that at least 11 coastal towns had been affected by floodwaters and swelling rivers as Linfa passed over the area.

“The rain is strong, the wind is strong. Major roads are im-passable. Some houses are half-covered (with water), some are completely covered,” he told reporters.

He said there were still no reports of casualties from the storm, but this could be because the focus was on relief efforts.

Power has also been knocked out in large areas of the north, hampering communications.

The storm, packing maxi-mum winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, is moving northwest at nine kilometres per hour and is expected to curve northwards, moving off Luzon by Sunday evening.

National civil defence chief Alexander Pama said “we have pre-positioned the items neces-sary” in case the storm prompts any massive evacuations.

The disaster-plagued Phil-ippines is hit by about 20 ty-phoons and storms each year, many of them deadly.

Among the worst in recent memory was Super Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the cen-tral Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,350 people dead or missing. - AFP

I N C L E M E N T W E A T H E R

Suicide bomber

kills 5 in Nigeria

church attack

KANO (Nigeria): A suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday inside a church in the restive northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum, killing five worshippers, a police officer and witness said.

The bomber entered the un-completed Redeemed Christian Church at 9:55am in the Jigawa area on the outskirts of the city in Yobe state and detonated his explosives, killing the worship-pers, including a woman and her two children as well as the pastor, they said.

“Four worshippers died in-stantly while the fifth victim gave up shortly after she was taken to hospital,” a police of-ficer involved in the evacuation told AFP.

Disguised as worshipperWitness Garba Manu said the bomber arrived at the church on a motorised rickshaw disguised as a worshipper and detonated his explosives as soon as he en-tered the church. - AFP

I N S U R G E N C Y

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Major Omani firms expected to post fall in profits, revenues A. E. JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Major Omani com-panies that constitute the MSM 30 Index are likely to post a fall in revenues for the second quarter of this year, along with a dip in net earnings, as compared to the same period in 2014.

Revenues among Muscat Se-curities Market (MSM) Index

companies, including investment holding firms, are estimated at OMR879.29 million for the sec-ond quarter of this year, a decline of 2.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis and 3.4 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the Gulf Baader Capital Markets said in a research note on Sunday.

This decline is mainly due to the sluggish trend on the MSM in the second quarter. The decline

in share prices on the MSM has affected the portfolio investment income of all companies.

Earnings of these companies in the second quarter are anticipated to reach OMR163.02 million, a de-cline of 8.4 per cent year-on-year. An anticipated fall in earnings is due to dismal earnings estimate from banks, investment holding companies and certain industry and services sector majors.

The total income of MSM 30 Index companies, excluding hold-ing firms, is projected to fall 2.7 per cent to OMR846.49 million for the three-month period,on a year-on-year basis. However, the fall in in-come is reported to be1.6 per cent, when revenues are compared to the previous quarter.

Further, the earnings of MSM 30 companies, excluding invest-ment holding firms, are expected

to fall by 8.2 per cent to OMR152.2 million, according to Gulf Baader Capital Markets.

Meanwhile, banking sector revenues are estimated to fall by 1.1 per cent on a year-on-year ba-sis, and 0.9 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Also, earnings are set to decline by 4.1 per cent year-on-year and 1.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Banking sec-tor credit addition was estimated

at OMR700 million in the second quarter, an increase of 4 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

For the second quarter, the in-vestment holding firms are antici-pated to report a significant decline in revenue, reaching 4.3 per cent year-on-year,owing to range bound equity market performances both in the local and regional markets. Earnings of investment holding companies are estimated to fall.

S E C O N D Q U A R T E R

Islamic banks’ finances surge ahead 107 per cent

A. E. JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman’s Islamic banks and window operations have shown a robust growth of 107 per cent in financing at OMR1,265.8 million for the first four months of 2015, from merely OMR611.1 mil-lion in the same period last year.

Such robust growth in Islamic finance shows that Sharia-com-pliant banks are able to establish

themselves in the market and are able to overcome their teeth-ing problems. Further, two Is-lamic banks and window opera-tions of conventional banks have launched innovative products to attract Omani customers, besides opening several branches in dif-ferent parts of the country.

Total customer deposits held by Islamic institutions also shot up by 194.5 per cent to OMR847.3 mil-lion by the end of April 2015, from

OMR287.7 million for the same period last year, according to the latest monthly bulletin released by the Central Bank of Oman.

More branchesThere has been considerable in-creases in the number of branches and assets held by these entities. Islamic banks are opening up new segments and players and,

thus, adding to the competitive environment, not only in terms of efficiencies and innovations, but by also providing consumers the benefit of choosing between both conventional and Islamic banking products.

In Oman, two Islamic banks – Bank Nizwa and Alizz Islamic Bank – along with the window operations of six conventional

banks, have scores of branches across the country.

The total assets of Islamic banks and windows stood at OMR1,371 million at the end of December 2014, an increase of 68.2 per cent over the previous year.

Islamic banking entities pro-vided financing of OMR1,049.5 million as of the end of 2014, com-pared to OMR434.3 million one year earlier. Together, Islamic banks and windows brought down their combined net losses to OM-ROMR4.4 million last year, from a net loss of OMR13.86 million in the previous year.

Financing touched OMR1,265.8 million for

the first four months of 2015, from merely

OMR611.1 million in the same period last year

Phoenix Power to pay dividend;shares firm upTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Phoenix Power Com-pany board on Sunday announced that it would distribute a cash divi-dend of 1.7 baisas per share, allo-cated from the company’s retained earnings from last year.

Those shareholders registered with the Muscat Clearing and De-pository Company, as of July 15, 2015, are eligible for the dividend.

Share prices of Phoenix Power surged ahead 1.97 per cent to 155 baisas, amid 10.45 million shares changing hands on the Muscat Se-curities Market.

There was better demand for the stock, especially from institutional investors.

S T O C K M A R K E T

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Philippines plans to sell $750 million global bonds next yearMANILA: Global bonds worth $750 million may be offered by the Philippines in 2016 while seeking to keep domestic funding elevated.

The Asian nation plans to bor-row P747 billion ($16.6 billion) next year, and will probably sell P33 billion of global bonds, Treas-urer Roberto Tan said in a July 4 interview at the Clark economic zone in Pampanga, a province north of Manila. About P643 bil-

lion, or 86 per cent, will be raised locally as the market remains very liquid, Tan said.

The Philippines has increased reliance on the local market to fund its budget as money supply almost doubled in the five years under President Benigno Aquino. A steady flow of remittance by overseas workers and revenue from the outsourcing industry boosted liquidity to P7.6 trillion in

May, compared to about P4 trillion at the end of 2009.

“The government has cut foreign debt component to 34 per cent of the total, reducing our vulnerability to fluctuations in the foreign curren-cy,” Tan said in a speech at an event by the National Association of Se-curities Broker Salesmen Inc. “Am-ple domestic liquidity has allowed government to source majority of its financing requirement locally.”

Changing environmentOf the P104 billion, the nation plans to raise internationally in 2016, P71 billion will probably come from official development loans, Tan said, citing preliminary data pending approval from the economic team.

In 2016, local debt sales may increase by 9 per cent to P643 bil-lion, compared to P590 billion this year, while external borrowing

may drop by 6 per cent from P111 billion, according to Tan.

“The environment is changing and there are potential risks, such as threats of an El Nino and rising US rates,” BDO Unibank market strategist Jonathan Ravelas said. “It makes sense to borrow now to prefund next year’s requirement.”

The Philippines sold $2 billion worth of 25-year notes in Janu-ary at a record-low coupon for the

country’s similar-dated overseas debt, using $1.5 billion to finance the purchase of shorter-dated se-curities to extend maturity.

The nation is looking out for the possibility of a similar debt exchange, as well as opportuni-ties for selling overseas debt ear-lier than its typical schedule at the start of the year, Tan said. The government wants to hold debt ex-change this quarter. - Bloomberg News

S O V E R E I G N D E B T

Report on China economy reviewed by World Bank

BEIJING: World Bank has re-moved a sharply critical portion from a recently released report on China’s economy that called for reform of its financial system, saying the section had not been adequately reviewed and that its wording was inappropriate.

On Wednesday, the Washing-ton-based institution released its China Economic Update report in Beijing, which included a section urging the country to accelerate reform of its state-dominated fi-nancial sector.

In blunt language, the World Bank warned that failure to ad-dress the issue could end “three

decades of stellar performance” for the world’s second-largest economy. “Wasteful investment, overindebtedness, and a weakly regulated shadow-banking sys-tem,” had to be addressed for China’s broader reform agenda to succeed, it said.

The organisation, however, said in an update to the report posted on its website on Friday that the section had been removed as it had not undergone proper vetting procedures. Contacted in Beijing for further comment on Sunday, the World Bank provided a state-ment by Bert Hofman, its country director for China.

“The decision to withdraw this section of the report was taken be-cause it did not fully follow our in-ternal review and clearance pro-cesses and therefore its tone was not consistent with our standard of discourse with member govern-ments,” Hofman said.

Full transparency“To ensure full transparency, we disclosed the change on our web-site and in the updated report. We will continue to provide analysis and advice on China’s financial sector going forward.” Hofman also said that the World Bank has previously identified financial re-

form as “critical” for the country’s development.

He added that China has acted on decisions taken at an important Communist Party meeting in 2013 by pursuing changes including liberalising lending rates, taking steps to curtail so-called shadow banking practices and providing more access to foreign investors to the country’s capital markets.

“Taken together, these are criti-cal reforms that move China to-ward a more market based alloca-tion of capital,” he said.

The expunged section of the report had noted that the Chinese state exerts strong control over a majority of commercial bank as-sets, “making it an outlier by in-ternational standards”.

In some cases, it added, authori-ties were simultaneously owners, regulators and customers of banks. “Financial reform will only prove effective if it removes the distorted incentives and poor governance structures that have affected how financial resources are mobilised and allocated,” it said. - AFP

World Bank has

removed a sharply

critical portion from

a report on China’s

economy that called

for reform of its

financial system

UK’s private sector growth falls LONDON: Growth in Britain’s private sector eased to its low-est level since the end of last year during the three months to June, although optimism among com-panies surged, according to the Confederation of British Industry.

The CBI said on Saturday its monthly growth indicator — based on separate surveys of manufac-turers, retailers and services — fell to +14 in June, its lowest since De-cember, from +33 in May.

While manufacturing growth ticked up, the pace of expansion in services companies comprising the bulk of Britain’s private sec-tor rowed back from a more than nine-year high in the three months to May. Despite June’s slowdown, output expectations for the next three months rose to their highest level since last August.

“Activity over the quarter as a whole has been good,” said Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s direc-

tor of economics. “We expect the economy to sustain a solid pace of growth over the remainder of the year as lower oil prices and infla-tion continue to boost real in-comes and consumer spending.”

Britain’s economy expanded 0.4 per cent from April through June, slightly more than previ-ously thought, according to of-ficial data on Tuesday. The CBI identified the Greek crisis as the most immediate risk. - Reuters

E C O N O M Y

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Wamda unveils $75m venture capital regional growth fund

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Wamda Capital has launched a $75 million regional growth stage venture fund, Wam-da Mena Ventures I, the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

The fund has completed its first close with leading regional and international investors, includ-ing the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, the Abraaj Group, Crescent Enterprises and Zain Group.

“This new fund is indicative of investor confidence in the region,” commented Fadi Ghandour, exec-utive chairman, Wamda Capital.

“It fills an emerging equity funding gap facing entrepreneurs, which inhibits otherwise scal-able companies from unlocking market potential and becoming regional and global successes,” the official said.

With the launch of the fund, Wamda Capital is poised to be-come the Mena region’s premier venture capital firm with invest-ment teams on the ground in the region’s innovation hubs of Dubai, Amman and Beirut with a pres-ence planned in Cairo.

As entrepreneurs, the invest-ment team understood that the lack of emerging equity financ-ing inhibits growth in start-ups. Wamda Mena Ventures I builds on the success of the team’s seed

stage investment vehicle Mena Venture Investments, the region’s largest seed stage investment fund. Wamda Capital’s core strat-egy is to target investments in high growth and capital efficient technology start-ups led by excep-tional entrepreneurs – leaders in their markets.

GCC marketsWamda Capital’s key value propo-sition to its portfolio is the ability to provide on-going and in-depth strategic support, access to lu-crative markets in the Gulf Co-operaton Council (GCC) through unique partnership programs and in-depth subject matter expertise in key segments such as e-com-merce, digital content, fin-tech and enterprise e-offerings.

Wamda Capital’s investment team has an unrivalled breadth of experience, each having been deeply involved in building entre-preneurial companies.

Wamda Capital is led by Fadi Ghandour, the founder of Aramex, who has been instrumental in the development of the ecosystem by supporting entrepreneurial activ-ity in the Arab world for over 20 years.

Ghandour was one of the found-ing investors in Maktoob, the tar-get of the most prominent tech-nology start-up exit in Mena. He has also worked to align partici-pants in the region’s still nascent entrepreneurship ecosystem such

as Endeavor, Injaz, Oasis 500 and others, while funding and scaling start-ups and establishing entre-preneurship platforms with im-pact beyond funding.

Wamda PlatformThe Wamda Platform, launched during the hallmark ‘Celebra-tion of Entrepreneurship’ event in 2010, has been the base for the

team’s reach into the ecosystem. Ghandour is supported by three partners, namely Khaled Talhou-ni, Walid Faza and Lana Alamat. Habib Haddad, chief executive of-ficer of the Wamda Platform, will be engaged with the new fund as a venture partner.

“The tech sector is being fuelled by rising demand and has the po-tential to drive development, em-

ployment and innovation across the region,” added Ghandour.

“We have been working with tech entrepreneurs from the very early stages of this industry and will be continuing our jour-ney. Working through the fund to complete the cycle to maturity, starting from early stage invest-ing, to growth, we will be looking to scale startups beyond Mena borders and create successful ex-its,” he noted.

“We are at the cusp of an incred-ible phase of growth in the Mena region’s tech sector,” he added.

Wamda Capital launches the fund with investments in three companies, namely News Group International, Jamalon and Little BitsElectronics.

Wamda Capital is poised to become the

Mena region’s premier venture capital firm

with investment teams in Dubai, Amman,

Beirut and with a presence planned in Cairo

Saudi’s non-oil

sector declines

to six-year low on

slowing economy

RIYADH: An indicator of growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil indus-tries fell in June to the lowest level in six years as the biggest Arab economy loses momentum.

The Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 56.1 from 57 in May, driven by a weak increase in new orders and slower output growth, the Dubai-based bank said in a report re-leased on Sunday.

The same measure for the Unit-ed Arab Emirates fell to 54.7 in June, the lowest in 22 months.

Saudi Arabia’s PMI index has dropped in four of the first six months this year as the world’s biggest oil exporter grapples with the plunge in crude prices. The kingdom is also leading a coalition bombing rebels in Yemen.

While the drop shows “slower momentum” in non-oil sector growth, “it is important to note that these sectors are still growing at a robust rate,” Khatija Haque, head of Middle East and North Africa research at Emirates NBD, wrote in the report.

Oil productionThe increase in Saudi Arabia’s oil production should also “further support activity in the non-oil pri-vate sector,” even with lower oil prices, Haque wrote.

In the UAE, Emirates NBD at-tributed some of the slowdown in June to the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims working hours are reduced. “It is dif-ficult to determine whether the sof-tening will continue,” Haque wrote.

The PMI, which is seasonally adjusted, is based on data com-piled from monthly replies to questionnaires sent to executives in 400 companies in manufactur-ing, services, construction and other non-oil sectors.

A level over 50 indicates an in-crease, while below 50 points to a decrease. - Bloomberg News

E C O N O M Y

China freezes initial share offerings in a bid to stabilise marketSHANGHAI: China is suspending initial public offerings (IPOs), cre-ating a market stabilisation fund and telling investors not to panic in an effort to shore up its stock market, which has had the largest three-week drop since 1992.

According to company filings to the exchanges on Saturday even-ing, 10 companies will suspend IPOs on the Shanghai Stock Ex-change and 18 will do the same at the Shenzen Stock Exchange.

The move was ordered at a meet-ing of the State Council, China’s cabinet, and will be enforced by the China Securities Regulatory Com-mission, the financial magazine Caijing reported on its website on Saturday, without saying how it ob-tained the information or how long the planned freeze would last.

Calls to the press office of Chi-na’s State Council went unan-

swered outside regular business hours. Halting IPOs may stem the diversion of funds away from cur-rent listings. The move came hours after major Chinese brokerage firms pledged billions of dollars to form a stock market rescue fund.

Abrupt endThe People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Com-munist Party, urged investors to stay calm. Moves to stabilise the market take time to transmit, the paper said on Weibo, China’s Twit-ter-like microblogging site.

“During this process, inves-tors should have confidence and patience, instead of losing their minds and not knowing what to do amid anxiety and panic,” it said.

The Shanghai Composite In-dex fell 5.8 per cent on Friday to 3,686.92, bringing the decline

since its June 12 peak to 29 per cent. More than $2.8 trillion of value has been erased from the Chinese stock market during that time, an abrupt end to the longest bull market in the nation’s history.

Stocks entered a bear market on June 29 as leveraged investors headed for the exits; China’s secu-rities regulator that day urged in-vestors to be rational.

The Shanghai gauge had surged

more than 150 per cent in the 12 months prior to June 12 as inves-tors assessed that monetary stim-ulus would revive China’s econo-my. Strategists at BlackRock Inc., Credit Suisse and Bank of Amer-ica all said in June that Chinese equities were in a bubble.

Market manipulationFunds will be returned to investors on Monday for the new offerings that had already started the sub-scription process, the companies said in filings to the exchanges.

With the Shanghai gauge tum-bling more than twice as fast as any other index worldwide, regu-lators also pledged to investigate potential market manipulation and have unveiled other measures to comfort the nation’s 90 million individual investors. The govern-ment on Friday said it planned to

make it more expensive to specu-late on stock index futures.

The Securities Association of China said Saturday in a statement on its website that a group of 21 brokerage firms led by Citic Secu-rities will invest the equivalent of 15 per cent of their net assets as of the end of June, or no less than 120 billion yuan ($19.3 billion) in total, to set up a stock-market fund.

The fund will invest in ex-change-traded funds of highly cap-italised stocks, it said. The funds should be available on Monday, ‘Caijing’ said in a separate report.

In another development, top executives from 25 Chinese mu-tual funds, including China Asset Management and E Fund Man-agement, promised to “actively” buy stock funds and hold them for at least one year, according to a statement - Bloomberg News

S T O C K M A R K E T

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

UPBEAT: Wamda Capital executive chairman Fadi Ghandour said that the launch of the fund fills an

emerging equity funding gap facing entrepreneurs, which inhibits otherwise scalable companies

from unlocking market potential and becoming regional and global successes. - Bloomberg News

Wamda Capital’s key value proposition to its portfolio is the ability to provide on-going and in-depth strategic support, access to lucrative markets in GCC through unique partnerships programmes and in-depth subject matter expertise in e-commerce, digital content and enterprise e-offerings.

RESCUE FUND: The move came hours after major Chinese brokerage

firms pledged billions of dollars to form a stock market rescue fund.

– Bloomberg News

B4

MARKETM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

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MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY, JULY 5

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 1,912,427 ......399,238................... 101 ........... 0.205 ........... 0.210 ...........0.205........... 0.209 .............0.201 ........... 0.008 ............. 3.980 ................0.208..............0.207...................0.208 .................. 31,365,675 .........0.100

OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT .....................................22,725 ............... 1,672........................7 ........... 0.073 ........... 0.074 ...........0.073 ........... 0.074 .............0.072 ........... 0.002 ............. 2.778 ................0.074 ..............0.074...................0.075 ...................15,329,202 .........0.100

OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 902,400 ......... 127,928..................... 36 ............0.141 ........... 0.142 ........... 0.141 ........... 0.142 ............. 0.139............ 0.003 ............. 2.158 ................ 0.141 .............. 0.141...................0.143 .................... 8,355,737 ..........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ..................................................29,974 ............... 6,061........................7 ........... 0.200 ...........0.204 ...........0.200 .......... 0.202 ............. 0.198............ 0.004 .............2.020 ................0.204 ............ 0.204...................0.210 .................. 136,327,261 ........0.100

OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .....................................................59,761 .............12,065........................6 ............0.199 ...........0.202 ...........0.199 ........... 0.202 ............. 0.198............ 0.004 .............2.020 ................0.202 ............ 0.202...................0.206 .................144,310,081 ........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 1,442,721 ...... 184,757..................... 70 ............0.128 ........... 0.129 ...........0.128 ........... 0.128 ............. 0.126............ 0.002 ............. 1.587 ................0.128 ..............0.126...................0.128 ....................37,117,522 .........0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,758,052 ...... 213,906..................... 52 ............0.122 ........... 0.122 ........... 0.121 ........... 0.122 ............. 0.121 .............0.001 ............. 0.826 ................0.121 ..............0.120................... 0.121 ................... 14,868,750 .........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ............. 54,800 .............12,854......................11 ........... 0.232 ........... 0.236 ...........0.232........... 0.235 .............0.234 ............0.001 ............. 0.427 ................0.234..............0.233...................0.234 ...................4,935,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 349,456 .........194,309......................15 ........... 0.554 ........... 0.558 ...........0.554 ........... 0.556 .............0.554 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.361 ................0.556 ..............0.556...................0.558 ................1,274,253,364 ......0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ..........................45,023 .............78,665......................15 ............1.740 ............1.755 ............1.740 ............1.745 ............. 1.740 ............ 0.005 ............. 0.287 ................ 1.755 ...............1.755................... 1.765 ................1,308,750,000 ......0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ..................................... 1,500 .................. 504........................ 1 ........... 0.336 ........... 0.336 ...........0.336 ........... 0.336 .............0.336 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.336 ..............0.308...................0.338..................450,478,644 .......0.100

OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ...................................... 79,710 .......... 183,333........................6 ........... 2.300 ...........2.300 ...........2.300 .......... 2.300 .............2.300 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................2.300 .............2.250...................2.300 ................ 206,310,000 .......0.100

OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .......................................................... 250,630 ......... 131,330........................2 ........... 0.524 ........... 0.524 ...........0.524........... 0.524 .............0.524 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.524..............0.524...................0.550..................173,377,300 ........0.100

OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ..................................................100 .....................36........................ 1 ........... 0.364 ...........0.364 ...........0.364........... 0.370 .............0.370 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.364..............0.368...................0.400 ..................22,645,581 .........0.100

OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING .......................... 9,223 ................1,157........................2 ............0.125 ........... 0.126 ...........0.125 ............0.125 ............. 0.125............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.126 .............. 0.125...................0.126 .................... 3,750,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 170,507.............21,679......................17 ............0.127 ........... 0.128 ...........0.127 ............0.127 ............. 0.127............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.127 .............. 0.127...................0.128 ...................11,430,000 .........0.100

OM0000002614 ............ONIC. HOLDING ............................................................ 33,916 ............ 16,280........................ 1 ........... 0.480 ...........0.480 ...........0.480........... 0.480 .............0.480 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.480..............0.480...................0.486...................83,243,160 .........0.100

OM0000002804 ...........ASAFFA FOODS ........................................................... 362,163 ......... 311,460........................3 ........... 0.860 ...........0.860 ...........0.860........... 0.860 .............0.860 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.860............. 0.000...................0.860 ................ 103,200,000 .......0.100

OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES .......................................98,855 .............27,976......................13 ........... 0.283 ........... 0.283 ...........0.283........... 0.283 .............0.283 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.283............. 0.280...................0.283 ..................79,832,730 .........0.100

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 793,727.......... 150,808..................... 26 ............0.190 ........... 0.190 ...........0.190 ........... 0.190 ............. 0.190 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.190 ..............0.190...................0.192 ..................273,873,600........0.100

OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ....................................................... 5,253 ...............2,259........................3 ........... 0.430 ........... 0.430 ...........0.430........... 0.430 .............0.430 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.430..............0.430...................0.450...................26,015,000 .........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS .................................................... 2,647 ............... 1,468........................9 ........... 0.554 ........... 0.556 ...........0.554 ........... 0.558 .............0.558 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.554 ..............0.554...................0.558 ...................29,295,000 .........0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE ................56,140 ............. 11,859......................11 ............0.212 ........... 0.212 ........... 0.211 ............0.211 ............. 0.212 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.472 ...............0.211 ..............0.210...................0.212 .................. 42,200,000 ........0.100

OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 526,900 .........406,664..................... 27 ............0.772 ........... 0.772 ...........0.768 ........... 0.772 ............. 0.776............-0.004 ............-0.515................0.772 .............. 0.768...................0.772 ................. 502,528,946 .......0.100

OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .................................................. 3,852 ...............9,878........................3 ........... 2.550 ........... 2.570 ...........2.550........... 2.565 .............2.580 ...........-0.015 ........... -0.581................2.570 ..............2.570...................2.580 .................244,847,705 ........1.000

OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ...........................................................7,239 .............10,859........................4 ............1.500 ........... 1.500 ...........1.500 ........... 1.500 ............. 1.520............-0.020 ............-1.316 ................1.500 ..............1.500...................1.520 ................. 300,000,000 .......0.100

OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN ..................................................... 20,000 .............. 2,640........................ 1 ............0.132 ........... 0.132 ...........0.132 ........... 0.132 ............. 0.135 ............-0.003 ........... -2.222 ...............0.132 .............. 0.133...................0.136 ................. 264,041,288 .......0.100

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ................................................. 8,422 .................. 733........................2 ........... 0.087 ........... 0.087 ...........0.087 ........... 0.087 .............0.089 ...........-0.002 ........... -2.247 ...............0.087 ..............0.087...................0.091 ...................15,225,000 .........0.100

OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. ...... 40,000 ............84,000........................2 ........... 2.100 ........... 2.100 ...........2.100 ........... 2.100 .............2.190 ...........-0.090 ............-4.110................2.100 ..............2.100...................2.200 ................ 144,900,000 .......0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 9,048,123 .. 2,606,377...................454 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......29........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 10,453,180 ......1,623,073 ..............783 ............0.153 ........... 0.157 ...........0.153 ............0.155 ............. 0.152............ 0.003 ............. 1.974 ................0.156 .............. 0.156...................0.157 ..................226,703,226 .......0.100

OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING.................................. 124,939 ............12,538......................11 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.101............0.100 ........... 0.100 .............0.099 ............0.001 ............. 1.010 ................0.100 ..............0.099................... 0.101 .................... 7,520,800 ..........0.100

OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES .......................................................29,588 ............... 1,625........................5 ............0.055 ........... 0.055 ...........0.054........... 0.055 .............0.055 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.054..............0.054...................0.055....................6,875,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004776 ...........TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE .............................. 19,780 ............... 2,196........................5 ............0.111 ............0.111 ............ 0.111 ............0.111.............. 0.111 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.111 ...............0.111................... 0.119 ................... 11,100,000 .........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA .................................................................. 72,651 ...............5,368......................12 ........... 0.074 ........... 0.075 ...........0.073 ........... 0.074 .............0.075 ...........-0.001 ............-1.333................0.073 ..............0.073...................0.074..................111,000,000 ........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 10,700,138 .......1,644,799 ............. 816 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 5........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS MARKET ........................................................................................................................................................................................ OM0000004487 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES BONDS3.75 ................ 1,500 ...................216........................ 1 ............0.144 ........... 0.144 ...........0.144 ............0.145 ............. 0.145............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.144 ............. 0.000...................0.144 ................... 61,355,543 .........0.100

OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 ........................................... 16,303 ............... 1,663........................2 ............0.102 ........... 0.102 ...........0.102 ........... 0.102 .............0.102 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.102 ..............0.102...................0.105 ...................32,603,553 .........0.100

OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ....................... 8,465 .................. 838........................ 1 ........... 0.099 ........... 0.099 ...........0.099........... 0.099 .............0.099 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.099 ..............0.099...................0.100...................32,092,000 ........0.100

OM0000004602 ...........BANK MUSCAT CONV. BONDS 4.5 ....................... 50,000 ...............5,300........................ 1 ............0.106 ........... 0.106 ...........0.106 ........... 0.106 ............. 0.108 ...........-0.002 ........... -1.852................0.106 ..............0.106...................0.108 ...................32,091,406 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: ....................................................................................76,268 ............... 8,017........................5 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 4........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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

O M A N S T O C K S

INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ....................................... 6,446.88 .............. 6,428.68 ...................6,434.42 ...................6,443.96 .................. -9.54 .................. -0.15Financial Index .....................................7,832.58 ...............7,805.55 ....................7,808.16 ................... 7,805.55 .................... 2.61 ................... 0.03Industrial Index ................................... 8,338.82 ............... 8,327.76 ................... 8,338.36 ...................8,336.93 .................... 1.43 ...................0.02Services Index ...................................... 3,456.89 .............. 3,440.30 ................... 3,449.32 ...................3,456.89 ...................-7.57 .................. -0.22MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................993.57 .................. 991.36 .......................991.52 ...................... 993.49 ...................-1.97 .................. -0.20

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded19,824,529 ................. 4,259,193 ..................1,275 ................15,057,767,904 ................ 12 ........................9 .................... 17 .........................38

MSM index edges down

MUSCAT: Oman’s general index - MSM30 Index - declined 0.15 per cent to close at 6,434.42 points. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 991.52 points, down by 0.20 per cent.

Phoenix Power remained the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. The top gainer was Al Anwar Holding, up by 3.98 per cent, while Al Maha Petrole-um, down by 4.11 per cent, was the day’s top loser.

As many as 1,275 trades were executed during the day’s trad-ing session generating turnover of OMR4.25 million with over 19.8 million shares changing hands. Out of 38 traded securities, 12 advanced, nine declined and 17 remained unchanged. GCC and Arab investors were net buyers for OMR77,000 followed by Omani Investors for OMR29,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR106,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index ended the day at 7,808.16 points, up by 0.03 per cent. Al Anwar Holding, Al Madina Investments, Gulf Investment Ser-vices, Oman & Emirates Holding and Bank Muscat have increased by 3.98 per cent, 2.78 per cent, 2.16 per cent, 0.83 per cent and 0.36 per cent, respectively. Al Madina Takaful, HSBC Bank and Bank Nizwa de-clined by 2.25 per cent, 2.22 per cent and 1.33 per cent, respectively.

Industrial Index remained largely flat at 8,338.36 points, up by 0.02 per cent. Galfar Engineering, Al Hassan Engineering and Gulf International Chemicals moved up by 1.59 per cent, 1.01 per cent and 0.43 per cent, respectively.

Raysut Cement, down by 1.32 per cent, was the only sector loser.

Services Sector Index had losses of 0.22 per cent to close at 3,449.32 points. Al Batinah Power, Al Su-wadi Power, Phoenix Power and Oman Telecommunications Com-pany (Omantel) gained by 2.02 per cent, 2.02 per cent, 1.97 per cent and 0.29 per cent, respectively. Al Maha Petroleum, Sembcorp Sala-lah, Ooredoo and OIFC declined by 4.11 per cent, 0.58 per cent, 0.52 per cent and 0.47 per cent, respectively.

Almarai net profit risesSaudi Arabia’s Almarai, the Gulf region’s largest dairy company, re-ported an 22.41 per cent increase in second-quarter net profit on Sunday. Almarai made a profit of 530.4 million riyals ($141.43 mil-lion)in the three months to June 30, up from 433.3 million riyals in the year-earlier period, according to a bourse statement.

Second-quarter sales growth of 11 per cent and a 442.9 million ri-yals gain from an insurance claim related to an earlier bakery fire helped lift results.

The dairy firm in May said its board approved a capital invest-ment plan which will reach 21 bil-ion riyals ($5.6 billion) in the next five years.

Saudi Basic Industries Corpo-ration (Sabic) said on Sunday it had completed the formation of a joint venture with Korean petro-chemical manufacturer SK Global Chemical Company to produce polyethylene products.

- United Securities/Agencies

The top gainer was Al Anwar Holding, up by

3.98 per cent, while Al Maha Petroleum, down

by 4.11 per cent, was the day’s top loser

British minister finds £12b welfare cuts in state budgetLONDON: Britain’s finance min-ister George Osborne on Sunday said he had found all £12 billion of welfare cuts he needs as part of his plan to balance the budget by 2017/18, speaking ahead of his budget announcement on Wednesday.

The budget is Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives’ clearest chance in almost two decades to remould Britain into a low-tax, small-state economy after an unexpectedly decisive election victory.

To meet his target, Osborne says he needs to cut the annual welfare bill by £12 billion ($18.69 billion), make £13 billion of de-partmental spending reductions, and to raise an extra £5 billion by clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance.

“We have found that £12 billion of savings in welfare that we said we’d be able to find,” Osborne said on BBC television, without speci-fying full details. “We’ve got to have a welfare system that is fair to those who need it, but also fair to those who pay for it.”

Signalling possible areas for cuts, he said tax credits, used to top up earnings for the low-paid, had become a “very, very expen-sive system” and that housing benefits were a “major compo-nent” of government spending. But the opposition Labour Party

warned against “self-defeating” spending cuts.

“On the deficit we need, of course, sensible savings but I want to see proper welfare reforms, proper public services that aren’t self-defeating, that aren’t going to cost much more for the country in the long term,” Labour spokesman Chris Leslie told the BBC.

Political incentiveEconomist Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said Osborne’s po-litical incentive to deliver the cuts straight after the election was to give himself the fiscal room to cut taxes or increase spending before the next election, in 2020.

Osborne said that households outside London would be subject to a lower cap than previously thought on the total amount of benefits they can receive. The cap will be reduced to £23,000 for those in London, in line with pre-election promises, but he did not set out the lower ceiling that would apply elsewhere.

He said those on high incomes in subsidised local authority hous-ing would have to start paying closer to the market rental rates.

The ‘Sunday Times’ reported that Osborne plans to launch a 650 million-pound raid on the BBC to help cover the country’s benefits bill. - Reuters

E C O N O M Y

BALANCING ACT: Britain’s finance minister George Osborne said

that households outside London would be subject to a lower cap

than previously thought on the total amount of benefits they can

receive. — Bloomberg file picture

Lifting of trade sanctions on Iran

imminent after progress in dialogue

VIENNA: A nuclear deal with Iran looks imminent after a log-jam over monitoring was broken and with foreign ministers set to rejoin United States Secretary of State John Kerry in a record ninth-straight day of talks on Sunday.

Kerry began morning meetings at Vienna’s Palais Coburg with Iranian Foreign Minister Moham-med Javad Zarif, a US administra-tion official said. The impending agreement could be announced as early as Monday, according to two Western officials who asked not to be named in line with rules.

“The extension of negotiations is not a desired alternative for any of the parties,” Zarif ’s deputy, Ab-bas Araghchi, said Saturday on

state television. “All parties in-volved are determined to come to a conclusive end.”

20th round of talksThis is the 20th round of high-level talks since US President Barack Obama and Iranian President Has-san Rouhani opened negotiations nearly two years ago.

After Jonh Kerry negotiated for eight straight days at the previ-ous round in Lausanne, Swit-zerland, diplomatic historians called it the longest continuous senior-level meeting since the 1978 Camp David accords.

Foreign ministers from the other five nations attending talks -- China, France, Germany, Russia

and the UK — will begin returning this afternoon in an attempt to fi-nalize an agreement by Tuesday.

Much of the past week has involved discussions with In-ternational Atomic Energy Agency director general Yukiya Amano. While the IAEA isn’t for-mally a party to the negotiations, it will play a key role in implement-ing a final accord.

Amano said Saturday that his agency, now in the 12th year of an investigation into possible mili-tary dimensions of Iran’s nuclear past, can provide its assessment by December. “With the cooperation of Iran, I believe we can issue a re-port by the end of the year,” Amano told reporters. - Bloomberg News

S A N C T I O N S

W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O MSECTION

E- IMESTECH STUFFTECH STUFF

BA CHECKUP FOR MICROSOFT’S WINDOWS 10Microsoft says Windows 10 is “designed to be compatible with the vast majority of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices,” but this is no guarantee that everything will work. However, you can use the same Get Windows 10 app you used to reserve your copy of the system to get a rough idea of potential compatibility issues.

M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

S M A R T P H O N E A P P S

Apple music is weak on social networking and strong on design

SLOW DOWNENJOY THE RIDE

WHEN I VISITED Microsoft many years ago, an employee cheekily compared designing Microsoft Office to “making a pizza that feeds a billion peo-ple.” At Apple, the company has a different saying: “There are a thousand ‘no’s’ for every ‘yes.’” In other words, they vigorously debate a feature before it shows up in a product.

But Apple Music, the compa-ny’s reboot of iTunes released recently for Apple devices and personal computers (including Windows), sounds like a pizza straight out of Microsoft’s kitchen. Apple said “yes” to cramming every popular meth-od of consuming music into one app: a streaming service similar to Spotify; radio fea-tures that compete with Inter-net and satellite services like Pandora and Sirius XM; and its old music player for listening to downloaded songs.

Add to that list the playlists curated by Apple employees and content partners like Roll-ing Stone, along with Connect, a social network for musicians to interact with fans, and you have a complex bundle of soft-ware and services.

After a day with Apple Music, I found it to be a multifaceted package that was confusing in some ways but intuitive where it mattered most. Its approach to design is generally friendlier to users than similar streaming services, and choosing a song to listen to is quick and easy. But Apple dropped the ball with so-cial networking, an area it has long misunderstood.

When you open Apple Mu-sic, Apple tells you about the focus of the new service: play-lists made for you. The first screen has a neighbourhood of magenta bubbles inviting you to touch your favourite gen-res and choose some of your favourite artistes. From there, the app ushers you to For You, a section of playlists it generated based on your selections.

So-called human curation is the heart and soul of Apple Mu-sic. When Apple introduced the app in June, executives like Jimmy Iovine boasted about the novelty of Apple playlists that were curated by people, ‘not just algorithms’.

Apple’s picks for me brought up playlists like “The Smiths: Ballads” and Wilco’s album “Being There.” Not bad for a first swab of my stuck-in-the-past music palette.

The playlists are easy to choose from, with big, im-mersive graphics of album art, labelled with clean captions describing the year when each album was released. You can add favourite playlists to the My Music section for easy ac-cess later, and you can also save songs or playlists to be playable

without an Internet connec-tion. Just as important as the design of the app is the time it takes to pick and play a song.

In this way, Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, plays an impor-tant role.

Siri understands commands like “Play songs by Feist” or “Play instrumentals,” and is set to get smarter in iOS 9, the next version of Apple’s software system for iPhones and iPads coming this fall. Voice control-ling is ideal for picking music while on the go, especially when driving.

Radio sectionThe radio section, on the other hand, can be confusing. Fea-tured prominently on top of the radio section is Beats 1, Apple’s new live radio station hosted by in-house producers, like Zane Lowe, Britain’s influential ra-dio DJ. It lacks Apple brand-ing to communicate that it is a station led by Apple staff; it also doesn’t adhere to a specific genre. The channel shows a list of “upcoming shows” with vague descriptions, so it will be tough to predict when Apple’s DJs will play music that suits your tastes.

Adding to the confusion, below the Beats 1 station are channels for other online ra-dio stations that are not from Apple staff, like country music and NPR news.

The weakness of Apple Music is Connect, the social network for musicians, which allows art-ists to upload media, like post-ings about their concert dates or album releases. Fans can follow artists and “love” or comment on these posts.

But the artistes I followed, like Kings of Leon, Belle and Sebas-tian and Sonic Youth, used Con-nect as a portal to upload seem-ingly arbitrary photos and link to places where people could buy their iTunes albums. And they didn’t appear to be social-ising with fans. That’s not a so-cial network; it’s a broadcasting platform. Within hours of Apple Music’s release, users of the so-cial news site Reddit posted in-structions on removing Connect from the app.

Connect also does not allow consumers to connect with one another and listen to other playlists, the modern equiva-lent of sharing a mixtape with your friend, which was popu-larised by Spotify.

To use the pizza metaphor again, Apple’s streaming music simply looks more appetising than Spotify’s. Both compa-nies’ services are complex in terms of features, and both have access to roughly 30 mil-lion songs — but Apple does a better job arranging the “top-pings.” - BRIAN X. CHEN/ The New York

Times News Service

Ride the subway, sit in a coffee shop or just walk down the street and you’ll see people wear-ing earphones. They are

everywhere. In some settings, you’re the odd man out if you don’t have wires dangling from your ears.

Putting aside what this means for sociability, let’s instead consider why so many of the earphones peo-ple are wearing are so junky. Why would you pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for a phone, tablet or laptop only to plug in a pair of cheap earbuds?

Your earphones may be even more important than your device in delivering the nuances and resolu-tion of streaming or stored audio, so it’s worth investing in a decent pair. It’s possible to capture the opening and closing of a butterfly’s wings with recording technology, but you will miss out if your earphones are only slightly more sophisticated than cans on the end of a string.

Moreover, poor quality earphones can cause hearing loss. “People tend to turn up the volume too high when they are wearing low-grade earphones because the sound is less clear and distorted,” said Chris Connaker, founder of Computerau-diophile.com, a website dedicated to information about digital audio. “A better quality earphone can save your hearing.”

There are three kinds of ear-phones: over- or around-ear, which are the earmuff type, often called headphones; on-ear, which rest on the ear but don’t cup it; and in-ear, which go in the ear’s concha (the hollow part) as earbuds do, or actu-ally go into the ear canal, as do so-called in-ear monitors.

Which one you choose depends on what’s comfortable, where you plan to listen, what you plan to lis-ten to and, of course, your budget. Higher prices tend to indicate bet-ter quality sound and materials, or possibly customisation, such as earpieces by JH Audio and Noble Audio, which can cost $400 to more than $1,000 and are molded to pre-cisely fit your ear — like those you see musicians wearing onstage.

But you don’t have to spend a for-

tune to step up your aural experi-ence. Something like the Sennheis-er CX 300-II universal fit in-ear monitor delivers respectable clarity and enjoyable sound. And unlike the devices you plug them into, which will most likely be obsolete or wear out in three years or so, good earphones endure.

Noisy environmentsIf you’re going to be listening in noisy environments like a subway or crowded office, you most likely want in-ear monitors or over-ear earphones. Popular manufacturers include Sennheiser, Shure, Mas-ter & Dynamic and OPPO. Look for “closed-back” models, which don’t have any vents or openings in them so they keep out competing environ-mental noise while sparing others

from hearing the mosquito like ver-sion of whatever you’re listening to.

Closed-back earphones with ac-tive noise canceling by manufactur-ers like Bose and Phiaton product a nullifying frequency to block intru-sive sounds. But be aware that what you gain in cancelling environmen-tal racket, you lose in the crispness of the audio you’re playing.

Earphones such as the Parrot Zik 2.0 come with an app that allows you to ad-just various aspects of what you’re hear-ing using a five-band equaliser, much like an audio engineer.

For listening in quiet, isolated en-vironments like your home, “open-back” earphones, usually over- or on-ear, are your best bet. They allow sound to pass through them rather than be contained within them, and thus don’t have the slight distorting reverb that can occur in closed-back models. As a result, they are au-diophiles’ top choice because they sound truer to life. Sennheiser, AKG, Fostex, Grado and Audio-Technica make versions that reviewers con-sistently praise.

Exercisers are likely to want fit-ness earphones such as the Jaybird BlueBuds ($170) and Bose Sound-Sport. They are sturdier, sweat- and water-resistant and tend to stay put. Some models, like the Sennheiser

PMX 686 SPORTS series, allow just enough outside noise so that you can hear a car or person around you. Some fitness earphones have wireless ver-sions, although they never sound quite as good as their wired counter-parts because of the degradation in the signal from source to earpiece.

Low quality MP3sIt also makes a difference what you are listening to. If you’re listening to lower-quality MP3s or a low-resolu-tion free music streaming service, it’s going to sound pretty lousy no matter how good your earphones are. Conversely, if you’re paying for premium MP3s or higher-res-olution streams from services like Spotify, Pandora, Tidal or Rdio, you’re not going to hear the im-provement wearing earbuds you picked up at a mall kiosk.

Another thing to consider is whether you want your earphones to come with a microphone so that you can use them to talk on the phone, record your voice or use video-calling services like Skype. Many earphones on the market do, but be sure to check the specifica-tions since some do not or may need an adapter or special cable to work with some devices. - KATE MURPHY/The

New York Times News Service

It is possible to

capture the opening

and closing of a

butterfly’s wings with

recording technology,

but you will miss out

if your earphones are

only slightly more

sophisticated than

cans on the end of a

string

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LISTENING UP AND TUNING OUT

B6 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UPRamadan comes withspecial prices on Jeep

MUSCAT: During the month of generosity, Dhofar Automotive is offering customers the stylish and performance-oriented Jeep range of vehicles at unbeatable prices.

Customers buying a Jeep during the holy month of Ramadan will be eligible to an amazing cash gift of up to OMR3,600 depending on the variant chosen by them, says a press release.

Built on more than 70 years of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic SUV with class-leading capability, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek ex-traordinary journeys.

The Jeep brand delivers an open

invitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence. The Jeep lineup in Oman consists of the Cherokee, Compass, Grand Cherokee, and Wrangler.

The Jeep Cherokee offers cus-tomers the unique combination of legendary Jeep 4x4 capability, su-perior on-road ride and handling, cutting-edge, revolutionary design, world-class craftsmanship, innova-tive technology, new levels of effi-ciency, entertainment and comfort plus five-star safety features. The industry-first rear axle disconnect improves fuel efficiency when 4x4 capability isn’t needed.

Offering the packaging and in-terior flexibility of an SUV with the performance, handling, fuel economy and price of a compact car, the Jeep Compass boasts more than 30 safety and secu-rity features, including standard

front-seat-mounted side air bags, side-curtain air bags for all rows, electronic stability programme (ESC), electronic roll mitiga-tion, four-wheel anti-lock brakes, LATCH child seat anchors and available ParkView rear backup camera. The Jeep Compass also offers an array of clever features that consumers will appreciate, whether commuting to work, driv-ing in challenging conditions, or exploring new trails or out-of-the-way places.

The most awarded SUV ever and the vehicle that has long defined what a premium SUV should be, the Jeep Grand Chero-kee delivers an unprecedented driving range, choice of leading powertrain options, legendary benchmark capability, world-class craftsmanship, premium on-road driving dynamics, and a host of advanced user-friendly technology and safety features.

The Jeep Wrangler delivers a

unique combination of best-in-class off-road capability, open-air freedom and convenience, 6 speed manual / 5 speed automatic transmission that contributes to outstanding on-road and off-road driving dynamics, fuel-efficient engine, world-class refinement and a host of innovative safety and advanced technology offerings. The result is an efficient vehicle created to attract youthful and ad-venturous customers around the world to the Jeep brand.

Fantastic offers“Whether identified by their own-ership of multiple Jeep vehicles, or their regular attendance at events such as the Jeep Jamboree, or by their abundance of Jeep gear, all Jeep owners have one common trait: a Jeep vehicle delivering benchmark, all-weather capability that allows them to go anywhere and do anything,” averred Chris Edwards, general manager of Dho-far Automotive. “We have some fantastic offers lined up on the Jeep range this Ramadan, and wel-come customers to visit our show-room to learn more about them.”

Valid till August 17, Dhofar Auto-motive’s Ramadan promotion cov-ers all brands of Dhofar Automotive including Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. Dhofar Au-tomotive showrooms will be open from Saturday to Thursday be-tween 8am to 1pm and 8pm to 12am during the month of Ramadan.

Customers buying a

Jeep during the holy

month of Ramadan

will be eligible to an

amazing cash gift

of up to OMR3,600

depending on the

variant chosen

by them

Stylish GMC Acadia inspires ‘confidence’MUSCAT: GMC Middle East has launched its Total Confidence Package on the GMC Acadia pre-mium mid-size crossover and with it offers customers an en-hanced ownership experience.

The Total Confidence Package, coupled with the Ramadan pro-motion, further spoils the cus-tomers by offering free 60,000km service, complimentary registra-tion for the first year along with five years extended warranty, free 500 litres petrol and a 40-inch Samsung LED TV takeaway. To top it, the starting price is OMR13, 995 and is available on all GMC Acadia trims including SLE, SLT and the range topping Acadia Denali through all GMC dealers across the region, says a press release.

“The Total Confidence Pack-age is a very attractive deal, right from the price to the additional benefits, that brings the much coveted Acadia within reach of those who have always inspired to buy a GMC Acadia,” stated Virendra Agarwal, CEO Moosa Abdul Rahman Hassan & Co, ex-clusive distributors of the GMC brand in the Sultanate.

The GMC Acadia midsize crossover stands out for its flex-ibility, spaciousness and func-tionality within a confident de-sign package that illustrates the brand’s ‘Commands Respect’ philosophy. The Acadia Denali builds on those attributes with higher levels of luxury and style.

For 2015, the Acadia has added

a new trio of exterior colours — crimson red tintcoat, dark sap-phire blue metallic and midnight amethyst metallic along with a new 20-inch wheel design.

Acadia’s line-up includes the SLE, SLT and the Denali mod-els, with eight-passenger con-figurations. All Acadia models are equipped with a 288hp 3.6L V-6 engine and a six-speed trans-mission powertrain that includes performance and fuel economy optimising technology.

The Acadia’s interior function-ality has become a family staple, including the Smart Slide seat-ing system, which allows easy access to the third row for both seven- and eight-passenger seat-ing configurations. Additionally, the second and third row still fold flat for class-leading maximum cargo space.

The spacious interior of the GMC Acadia is complemented with the user friendly and fea-ture rich IntelliLink infotain-ment system. IntelliLink uses Bluetooth or USB to connect the driver smartphone to Acadia’s high-resolution, full-colour touch screen display. IntelliLink allows smartphone control via voice activation and steering wheel-mounted controls, and streaming stereo audio from the phone. Most importantly, Intel-liLink enables seamless integra-tion of stowed portable devices with Acadia’s infotainment sys-tem, allowing minimum driver distractions.

T O T A L C O N F I D E N C E P A C K A G E

Bank Sohar auto loan special scheme progressing very wellMUSCAT: Bank Sohar, in celebra-tion of the holy month of Rama-dan, is offering a limited time offer for their Al Mumayaz Auto Loan which will run from June 17 to July 31 for this Ramadan season. As part of the offer, customers who purchase a new or used vehicle during the holy month and finance it through the bank’s Al Mumayaz Auto Loan facility will be eligible for interest rate starting from just 3.5% based on the tenor of the loan, says a press release.

Commenting on the special of-fer, R. Narasimhan, DGM and head of Retail Banking at Bank Sohar, said: “The holy month of Ramadan is the season when many people are looking to purchase a new ve-hicle, capitalising on the variety of special offers presented to them by automotive dealerships. The new offer coinciding with the fes-tive season on our auto loan,with specialinterest rate, will no doubt

serve as another value added ben-efit to our customers; one that will greatly help when purchasing the car of their dreams.”

Insurance optionAl Mumayaz auto loan offers both Omanis and expatriates auto fi-nancing solutions and one hour loan approvals for new and used cars for up to 80% of their value. Fi-nance is available with no medical requirement for insurance of loans up to a certain limit. There is also

no requirement for a salary trans-fer as loans can be granted against post-dated cheques. Al Mumayaz auto finance also provides an in-surance option for customers who prefer to avail it through the bank.

In order to serve customers ef-fectively the bank has opened a special evening counter open from 8pm to 11pm at Qurum Commer-cial Area where the bank’s Privi-lege Banking Unit is located. The service, which was also in effect during last year’s Ramadan, was

well received by the bank’s custom-ers. The reintroduction of this of-fer not only provides the bank with an opportunity to serve its existing customers, but also introduce its product to other potential custom-ers. To further facilitate its cus-tomer, representatives from the bank also took time to visit various showrooms to better understand customer preferences,finance op-tions and more.

“Our Al Mumayaz Auto Loan service provides customers with an extremely quick and hassle-free finance solution with a quick turnaround of 1 hour for sanction.

“Together with our offer, it showcases the bank’s commitment towards customising products and services based on an in-depth un-derstanding of customers’ needs and meeting their expectations; thereby continually improving their overall banking experience,” added Narasimhan.

A L M U M A Y A Z R A M A D A N O F F E R

BankDhofar launches several CSR initiativesMUSCAT: Within the frame-work of its corporate social re-sponsibility (CSR), and to fur-ther strengthen its position as an effective and responsible member of the community, BankDhofar has launched a number of charitable initia-tives during the holy month of Ramadan.

In collaboration with Dar Al Atta’a Association, BankDho-far Mujtamaie volunteer team members distributed Ramadan ration packs to 300 families in Sohar, Quriyat, Sidab, Tanuf and Ibri. The charitable initia-tive aimed to further support low-income families with the additional expenses during the holy month, says a press release.

Sami Omar Al Zadjali, head of Marketing & Corporate Commu-nications at BankDhofar, high-lighted the bank’s efforts and role as an integrated member of the community and an influ-ential player in the social well-being and development. “These initiatives by BankDhofar are part of our on-going scheme to extend our support to various segments of society. We believe in our social responsibility as a corporate and we recognise and support the individual ef-forts and commitment of our team members. Thus, as an or-ganisation, we encourage our members of staff to participate and engage in charitable causes and play an effective role in the

development of the community, adding value to every social ser-vice activity we do and setting an example of a responsible and positively effective member of the community.”

In another initiative, Bank-Dhofar joined hands with the Ministry of Awqaf and Reli-gious Affairs to facilitate Zakat payment through the bank’s in-stant mobile banking services and instant Internet banking services that are available to all BankDhofar customers, or through BankDhofar cash de-posit machines and branches across the Sultanate that are available to all users. Users can also contribute to the ‘Iftar Programme’ through the same channels or deposit directly to a designated bank account throughout the holy month of Ramadan.

Community development and social involvement is one of the key pillars in BankDhofar operational strategy. The com-bination of the thorough vision of the bank’s executive manage-ment, the comprehensive op-erational strategy that revolves around following best interna-tional banking practices and providing best customer expe-rience, as well as commitment to community development and contribution to the growth of the national economy, placed BankDhofar on top of the list of best banks in the region.

C H A R I T Y A T I T S B E S T

Nissan Xterra comes with advanced featuresMUSCAT: The Nissan Xterra from the house of Suhail Bahwan Auto-mobiles is designed with the intent of being a tough, essential SUV that inspires and facilitate outdoor en-thusiasts’ active lifestyles.

All Xterra models feature an advanced 4.0-litre straight-six engine, rated at a muscular 270 horsepower, along with Nissan’s rugged “F-Alpha” ladder frame platform for adventure-ready per-formance, says a press release.

Benefit highlights

gifts): Customers buying the Nis-san Xterra will receive a ‘Scratch & Win’ card which will entitle them to two assured gifts compris-ing of free service up to lifetime of the car (minimum assured 1 year/ 10,000 km PMS) and free fuel up to OMR1,000/- (minimum assured of OMR50/-

walk away with assured cash gifts up to OMR1000/- (minimum as-sured of OMR500/-)

-sures customers free insurance, free registration, six years’ extend-ed warranty, easy financing op-tions, a loan term up to eight years and attractive interest rates.

of 2015: This year Nissan has in-troduced another exciting line up of Ramadan benefit for their val-ued customers. Customers who

already own a Nissan model and are making a second purchase will receive additional incentives from SBA where customers enjoy 10,000km additional service, they will receive special interest privi-lege card and also be eligible for any trade-in benefits.

can avail special EMI rate start-ing from OMR192/- on the Nissan XTERRA

2 Nissan Altima as grand raffle draw prize

The grand raffle draw from Nissan is being held in associa-tion with Al Wisal and Merge FM where participants can enter the draw to win a sleek Nissan Altima (2 vehicles to be won); just SMS <Nissan Altima> to 90448. The lucky winner can walk away with a brand new Nissan Altima.

Easy financing options SBA designed the Ramadan scheme to add to the pleasure

and convenience of owning a Nis-san model and ensure hassle and worry-free driving at all times. Ni-ssan customers can also avail easy financing option of a loan term up to 8 years with attractive interest rates from Bank Muscat. Flexible EMI’s can also be tailor made for any individual requirement from in-house Auto Finance team.

Unique NissanConnectNissanConnect uses hands-free technology, smartphone, and the Nissan’s display screen to help customers stay in touch with the outside world from inside their vehicle. It’s loaded with features and compatibility with a growing list of apps that allows customers play music, keep tabs on social network, and navigate any city like a local.

Once logged in, customers have to connect to Nissan through Bluetooth or the USB port. The Quick Start Guide helps to select

from a list of supported apps, and NissanConnectSM automatically installs them.

Comfort and convenience Standard interior features in-clude sporty reclining front bucket seats, footrest, dual front and rear 20-ounce cup holders, power win-dows, power locks, power mirrors, remote keyless entry and cruise control with steering wheel-mounted controls. It also comes with driver seat height adjustment and lumbar support.

Xterra’s signature exterior styl-ing features include large flared fenders, a versatile roof rack with latchable lid and a rear bumper design with side steps for easy ac-cess to the roof rack. It also offers a large, powerful looking hood and headlights and Nissan SUV-style angled strut grille.

The vehicle also features Chrome ORVM and Fr. fog lamps. 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.

SBA is largely committed to supporting Nissan’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on customer satisfaction and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman.

R A M A D A N B E N E F I T S

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Bank Muscat receives great response for al Wathbah’s Ramadan SME Souq

MUSCAT: al Wathbah Ramadan Souq, organised by the Public Au-thority of SME (Riyada) in col-laboration with Bank Muscat, was concluded July 4.

Abdul Razak Ali Issa, chief ex-ecutive, Bank Muscat, inaugurated the souq organised at Bank Muscat head office as part of cultural and social events lined up during the holy month of Ramadan.

The souq showcased products and services of Omani women entrepreneurs. More than 100 ex-hibitors participated in the Souq showcasing home-made products, including clothes, accessories, food items, home decorations and much more, offering a unique shopping experience to visitors. The souq was a big success, as it offered a public platform for Om-ani entrepreneurs to exhibit their

work, says a press release.

Unique opportunityAbdul Razak Ali Issa said: “Bank Muscat is proud to be associated with al Wathbah Ramadan Souq to enhance support to the SME sector, especially women en-trepreneurs in Oman. I take the opportunity to thank the Public Authority of SME (Riyada) for organising this function, which aims at creating a unique market-ing and networking opportunity, empowering women entrepre-neurs to chart successful busi-ness ventures.

Acknowledges“Bank Muscat acknowledges that the development of Oman signifi-cantly hinges on the role played by women and that they need to be

provided the required support to realise their full potential.

“The bank remains committed to pursuing a well-defined strategy in line with the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to support the SME sector in Oman.”

Encouraging women entrepreneursIlham Al Hamaid, AGM – SME Credit, Marketing and Regional Corporates, said: “Bank Muscat has launched a series of initiatives as part of a comprehensive strat-egy to support SMEs in Oman. The bank supports and encourages women entrepreneurs to earn a living through home-based busi-ness activities. From time to time, the bank organises and supports such events with the aim of en-couraging women entrepreneurs, creating unique opportunities to market their products and become financially independent.”

Over the years, Bank Muscat has taken several strategic steps to strengthen the small and me-dium enterprises (SME) sec-tor in Oman. al Wathbah, Bank Muscat’s SME department, has been very dynamic in financing businesses and strengthening the SME foundation in Oman. Serv-ing as building blocks for existing and prospective entrepreneurs, these initiatives assume im-portance in the backdrop of the priority accorded by the govern-ment to develop the SME sector in Oman.

Aimed at strengthening the SME sector, Bank Muscat offers a comprehensive suite of tailor-made finance solutions. The bank also regularly conducts workshops and seminars to equip SMEs to identify business opportunities and tackle challenges.

The support to SMEs and wom-en empowerment initiatives stem from the bank’s commitment to create self-employment oppor-tunities for youth who consti-tute more than 50 per cent of the country’s population.

More than

100 exhibitors

participated in the al

Wathbah Ramadan

Souq, organised by

the Public Authority

of SME showcasing

home-made

products, including

clothes, accessories,

food items, home

decorations and

much more, offering

a unique shopping

experience to visitors

BADR AL SAMAA HOSTS ANNUAL IFTARAnnual Iftar gathering organised by Badr Al Samaa healthcare group was held in Majan Ballroom of Al Bustan Palace Hotel. It was attended by officials from various ministries, embassies and corporates. — Supplied photos

Land Rover safety research projects to reduce accidentsMUSCAT: Jaguar Land Rover re-vealed a range of new road safety technology research projects that are being developed to reduce the number of accidents caused by drivers who are stressed, dis-tracted and not concentrating on the road ahead.

The Jaguar Land Rover ‘Sixth Sense’ research projects uti-lises advanced technology, from sports, medicine and aerospace, to monitor the driver’s heart rate, respiration and levels of brain activity to identify driver stress, fatigue and lack of concentration. The UK-based team is also look-ing at innovations that would re-duce the amount of time the driv-er’s eyes are off the road whilst driving, and how to communicate with the driver via pulses and vi-brations through the accelerator pedal, says a press release.

Dr Wolfgang Epple, director of Research and Technology, Jag-uar Land Rover, said: “We believe some of the technologies cur-rently being used in aerospace and medicine could help im-prove road safety and enhance the driving experience. The car is becoming more intelligent and more able to utilise cutting-edge sensors. These research projects are investigating how we could exploit this for the benefit of our customers and other road users.

“One key piece of new research is to see how we could measure brainwaves to monitor if the driv-er is alert and concentrating on driving. Even if the eyes are on the road, a lack of concentration or a daydream will mean the driver isn’t paying attention to the driv-ing task. They may miss a warning icon or sound, or be less aware of other road users so we are looking at how we could identify this and prevent it causing an accident.”

Mind Sense researchThe basis of Jaguar Land Rover’s Mind Sense research is to see if a car could effectively read the brainwaves that indicate a driv-er is beginning to daydream, or feeling sleepy, whilst driving.

The human brain continually generates four or more distinct brainwaves at different frequen-cies. By continually monitor-ing which type of brainwave is dominant, an on-board computer could potentially assess whether a driver is focused, daydreaming, sleepy, or distracted.

“If brain activity indicates a daydream or poor concentration, then the steering wheel or pedals could vibrate to raise the driver’s awareness and re-engage them with driving,” added Dr Epple. “If Mind Sense does not detect a surge in brain activity following the car displaying a warning icon or sound, then it could display it again, or communicate with the driver in a different way, to ensure the driver is made aware of a po-tential hazard.”

Driver wellness monitoringJaguar Land Rover is assessing how a vehicle could monitor the well-being of the driver using a medical-grade sensor embedded in the seat of a Jaguar XJ. The sensor, which was originally de-veloped for use in hospitals, has been adapted for in-car use and detects vibrations from the driv-er’s heart beat and breathing.

“As we develop more autono-mous driving technologies, there will be instances when the au-tonomous car needs to hand con-trol back to the driver,” added Dr Epple. “To do this safely the car will need to know if the driver is alert and well enough to take over. So our research team is look-

ing at the potential for a range of driver monitoring technologies to give the car enough information to support this decision. If the car detects severe health issues, or simply how alert the driver is, then the car could take steps to ensure the driver is focused enough on the driving task to take over.”

Dr Epple said, “The driver will instinctively look at the infotain-ment screen or dashboard when pressing buttons to select naviga-tion, music or the telephone. It’s intuitive. So our research is look-ing at how we could take a current infotainment screen and increase the speed and efficiency of this interaction to minimise the time the driver’s eyes are away from the road and their hand is off the steering wheel.”

Predictive Infotainment Screen prototype uses cameras embed-ded in the car to track the driver’s hand movements and this enables the system to predict which button the driver intends to press. This al-lows successful button selection to take place in mid-air, which means users wouldn’t have to touch the screen itself. In user trials this increases the speed of successful button selection by 22 per cent and therefore reduces the amount of time the driver is looking at the screen with their eyes off the road.

Haptic Accelerator PedalHaptics could also be used to com-municate with the driver through the accelerator pedal to increase the speed of response and to en-sure the correct action is taken.

A D V A N C E D T E C H N O L O G Y

Lulu announces winners of second Dream Drive drawMUSCAT: The wave of excite-ment and surprises continues at Lulu as the second set of lucky draw winners of its Dream Drive campaign were announced at their Lulu Al Bandar Mawaleh outlet last week.

The draw results were an-nounced by officials amidst a group of eager customers who waited with bated breath to know who the lucky winners would be, says a press release.

The second draw saw Roja take home the second of the 6 brand new BMW X5 35is. Thirty other winners also took home amazing gifts products from Ikon. Hamood Ali Al Felaithi was lucky to win the Ikon 48” LED TV, Sultan Saif H Nebhani won the Ikon automatic washing machine, Muhammed Amar Muhammed won the Ikon air cooler, S. K. Muhammed took home the Ikon halogen air fryer and Adhil Abdul Manam won the Ikon tablet.

With four more lucky draws still remaining at various Lulu outlets, there is every reason for custom-ers to still cling on to their hopes of

being a part of the winning lot dur-ing the two-month promotion.

Expressing his joy after the win, a customer said: “I am extremely overjoyed to have won the grand prize and be part of the most sought-after promotions in the country. Dreams do come true and I am thankful to Lulu for making it happen in my life. Every year my family waits for this promotion and we collect as many coupons as we can to win the exciting prizes. This year I am lucky enough to drive home the grand prize. I am thrilled beyond words. This victory has just

made my day, he added.Commenting on the second

draw, Ananth A. V., regional direc-tor, Lulu Hypermarkets Oman, said: “Firstly, I would like to con-gratulate all the winners of the second draw. I am delighted that the second draw too has attracted huge participation and the feed-back the promotion has gener-ated till date is indeed remarkable. With four more lucky draws to go, I am sure the enthusiasm and ex-citement will continue to double up in the coming days of the pro-motional period.”

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Toyota launches AC check-up offer

MUSCAT: “It is that time of the year when the demand on your car’s cooling and AC systems are the greatest. Hence, it is best to have Toyota experts take a look at the air-conditioning system of your car and offer you free ad-vice; ensuring that even when the summer heat is blazing, you are breathing cool and easy,” advised a Toyota spokesperson talking about ‘Al-Ardh Al-Mumaiz- 2015’, the popular annual campaign from Toyota Service and Parts available across all Oman until July 17.

“Our experts will ensure you not only have an efficiently run-ning AC in your car but that you also get additional benefits,” the spokesperson added.

Indeed, it is for this reason that Toyota Service and Parts is pro-viding many benefits to Toyota and Daihatsu vehicle owners that include free 7 point AC check up with a diagnostic report, free AC gas top-up (if no leakage is observed), special price for AC evaporator cleaning including AC blower motor cleaning us-ing Toyota Genuine evaporator cleaner with a warranty of six

months/10,000km on all AC re-pair jobs carried out. (Conditions apply – For more details please contact Toyota service outlets), says a press release.

According to the spokesper-son, “Genuine Toyota evaporator cleaner helps to clean AC evapo-rator from dust and micro-organ-isms deposited in the AC evapora-tor coil ensuring supply of healthy and clean air inside the passenger compartment of the car.”

‘Al Ardh Al Mumaiz 2015’Apart from this, a lot of excite-ment is centred around the an-nual Toyota service and parts campaign — Al Ardh Al Mu-maiz 2015. A computerised sys-tem generates one free eRaffle chance for those customers who bring their vehicle and partici-pate in the AC check-up cam-paign, to win exciting prizes. Additional eRaffle chances are generated against each OMR10 spent (one eRaffle chance for every OMR10)on service/ repair invoices at Toyota service during the campaign period.

The campaign also offers addi-tional benefits to the customer’s

enrolled under Toyota Thiqah Loyalty Programme. Toyota and Daihatsu customers can enrol their vehicle for the Thiqah pro-gramme and get one free eRaf-fle chance to win exciting prizes. There are several value added services available as a part of the promotion, at special rates. The customers not only get the Thiqah points equal to the amount spent on VAS products but also get eR-affle chances at the rate of one raf-fle chance for OMR10 spent.

Latest smartphones such as Apple iPhone 6 (16GB), HTC One (M8) and Samsung A700 are to be won in the eRaffle. In addition there are 10 consolation prizes of 1,000 Thiqah points each to 10 winners (Equivalent in value of OMR100 each), that can be re-deemed for service/ repair bills at Toyota Service outlets.

This campaign is yet another offering from the customer-ori-ented Toyota Service and Parts. Internationally recognised and award-winning Toyota Service continues to serve customers all across Oman, creating a re-warding ownership experience with the very best of equipment and experts.

The world-class Toyota Ser-vice facility at Wattayah has an integrated service facility extend-ing over 30,000sq m, four level workshops with a hi-tech diag-nostic centre, drive through air-conditioned receiving area with eight express lanes and 24-hour service, round-the-year.

The various offerings of Toyota Service, such as the Advantage Toyota Service Package, have led to highest customer satisfac-tion levels. The nationwide sales, service and parts network of the Saud Bahwan Group enhances the confidence of Toyota owners. With expert Toyota Service care; a Toyota continues to run at its best. The smiles on the custom-ers’ faces say it all, “Toyota Ser-vice ... The One to Trust.”

A computerised system generates one free

eRaffle chance for customers who bring

their vehicle and participate in the AC

check-up campaign to win exciting prizes.

Additional eRaffle chances are generated

against each OMR10 spent (one eRaffle

chance for every OMR10)on service/repair

invoices at Toyota service during the

campaign period

Bank Sohar supports Dar Al Atta’aMUSCAT: Stemming from its strong believe to support the com-munity, Bank Sohar has made a significant contribution to Dar Al Atta’a organisation for the 5th con-secutive year.

The donation was made to-wards assisting the organisation in providing Iftar during the holy month of Ramadan together with providing Eid necessities for ap-proximately 300 children, says a press release.

The donation cheque was hand-ed over at Dar Al Atta’a head office to Shatha Abbas, board member and head of events committee at Dar Al Atta’a by Munira Ab-dulnabi Macki, DGM of Human Resource and Corporate Support of Bank Soharin the presence of Mazin Mahmood Al Raisi, AGM and head of Marketing and Pub-licity at Bank Sohar.

Speaking on the rationale be-hind this donation, Munira Ab-dulnabi Macki commented, “Be-ing a local bank, we share a strong desire to play a full and active role in the community and have always been committed towards

helping improve the quality of life of those in need. With Ramadan being a time of solidarity and Eid a time of joy and celebration, we wanted to do our part to ensure that as many people as possible within our community get to ex-perience both as they were meant to. We are confident that through our donation to Dar Al Atta’a, this objective will be achieved.”

Thanking Bank Sohar for its support, Maryam Al Zadjali, chair-person of Dar Al Atta’a said, “On behalf of everyone at Dar Al Atta’a, I would like to thank Bank Sohar for its generosity and support, not just for this donation but also for

the continuous support we have received from them in the past.

“It has always been our desire to be the charity of choice in the Sul-tanate that addresses poverty by empowering the underprivileged. Bank Sohar support has been in-valuable towards furthering our cause and bringing smiles to the faces of those that have been less fortunate; creating lasting, posi-tive change in their lives.”

Bank Sohar strives to ensure that its contributions are carefully planned and evaluated in order to diversify and reach out to the maximum number of people, espe-cially those in most need of it.

B I G D O N A T I O N

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SECTIONC M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

GREIPEL WINS AS NIBALI, QUINTANA LOSE TIMEAndre Greipel won the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday as reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali and fellow favourite Nairo Quintana lost time. >C4

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Big four star on ‘manic Monday’

LONDON: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray remain on course for the Wimbledon semi-finals ahead of ‘manic Monday’ when the last-16 takes place. Six of the top 10 seeds are safely into the business end of the tournament after a first week which saw seventh seed Milos Raonic and 10th-seeded Rafael Nadal defeated on court. Fifth seed Kei Nishikori withdrew before the second round with a calf injury while eighth-seeded David Ferrer pulled out before the first round.

Defending Djokovic will face South African 14th seed Kevin Anderson in the fourth round, de-fending a 4-1 career lead.

Anderson won their first meet-ing in 2008 but since then it’s been the world number one who has been on top winning the next four without dropping a set, including a straight sets win at Wimbledon in the second round four years ago.

“I think he is probably playing the tennis of his life,” said Djokovic who hasn’t dropped a set so far at the tournament so far and also cap-tured the 2011 title. “He’s reached the highest ranking now in his ca-reer. He keeps on going forward.

“It will be a match of very small margins that will be decided by a few points. So I need to be able to get as many returns back in play.”

Federer, 33, chasing a record eighth Wimbledon and 18th ma-jor, has dropped just one set so

far, in his third round win over Sam Groth. The Swiss, playing his 17th successive Wimbledon, faces Spanish 20th seed Roberto Bau-tista Agut who was voted the most improved player of 2014. He is in the fourth round for the first time.

However, he has lost both of his matches against Federer without winning a set including a fourth round loss to the Swiss at the 2014 US Open. Murray, the 2013 champi-on tackles 36-year-old Ivo Karlovic, the oldest man to make the fourth round at the All England Club since compatriot Niki Pilic in 1976.

The 23rd seed is also the oldest to reach the last-16 of any of the four Grand Slams since 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open. “It’s a great feeling. I really like what I do. I’m just having fun. So if I’m able to do this at my age, it is unbelievable still,” said Karlovic who has rained down 136 aces in three matches. Murray needed treatment on his right shoulder in his four-set win over Andreas Seppi on Saturday but then reeled off the last six games of the match. He will takes a 5-0 career lead into Monday’s clash with Karlovic. “It will be a very different match from Seppi. Ivo is going to be coming to the net a lot,” said Murray.

Fourth seed and French Open champion Wawrinka faces Belgian 16th seed David Goffin who has made the fourth round at Wimble-don for the first time. - AFP

Six of the top 10 seeds are safely into the

business end of the tournament after a first

week which saw seventh seed Milos Raonic

and 10th-seeded Rafael Nadal defeated on court

LONDON: With her heart rac-ing as she stood two points from defeat in her third round match at Wimbledon, Serena Williams looked in serious danger of missing out on a 26th on-court date with older sister Venus.

For a fleeting second, the American even contemplated finding “a dance class” while she “hung around to watch Venus play” as brave Brit Heather Watson looked like she would deny the sisters a chance to re-new their Wimbledon rivalry by toppling the world number one.

Those dance classes were soon a distant memory as U.S., Australian and French Open champion Serena kept alive her dreams of completing the “Ser-ena Slam” by setting up a fifth All England Club showdown with her sister.

A contest that will feature two women who between them

have hoisted the Rosewater Dish 10 times since 2000 has the potential to be a classic but could very well turn out to be the ultimate anti-climax as has been the case in many of their previous meetings.

“I’m one of the few people that has experienced what it’s like to play, in my case, my brother (Patrick) on the tour,” said American great John McEnroe. “I know this is wrong but I thought to myself if I lose to my brother I’m going to go and jump off the top of the Empire State Building.

“I love my brother and it should be that if you’re going to lose to anyone, you want it to be your brother. But there is some weird dynamics.

“I’ve always been amazed that Serena and Venus have been able to handle it so well because the older person is sup-

posed to win. Serena is feeling a lot of pressure as she’s going for history, go for the grand slam, so Venus has got an opportunity.”

Serena leads their overall head-to-head 14-11, and is 3-2 at the grasscourt major having won their last grand slam meet-ing in straight sets in the 2009 Wimbledon final.

Not everyone was sure if Serena was engaging in some mind games when she declared Venus was “in better form than I am and I think she has a little bit of an advantage going into that match. “I’m playing the toughest player I’ve played in women’s tennis. That’s never fun.” Five-times champion Venus, however, took that ob-servation with a pinch of salt.

“There’s no easy points against Serena. No matter how Serena’s playing, she knows how to win,” said 16th seed

Venus, who a year ago snapped a run of five successive losses to her sister in their last meeting in Montreal. What is true is that Venus’s progress has been drama free and her run includes a 6-0, 6-0 walloping of the unfortunate Madison Brengle in the opening round.

The one thing they both agreed was that it was “unfortu-nate the match was so soon” as Monday’s clash will be the first time they have met at the All England Club before the semi-finals. “We’ll leave everything out on the court. When it’s done, we’ll go back to regular life,” Serena, seeking a 21st major, said about a rivalry that is now in its 17th year.

“I mean, she’s my sister today. She’s my sister next week. She’s my sister next year. I think that’s a little more important than a match. - Reuters

Williamses renew rivalry as little sister eyes Serena Slam

SIBLING RIVALRY: Venus Williams, left, and Serena Williams is all set for a showdown at All England Club. – Reuters,, AFP

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‘New’ England face acid test

LONDON: England will face the ultimate test of their stated de-sire to play bold and aggressive cricket as they bid to regain the Ashes from Australia in a five-match series that starts in Cardiff on Wednesday.

With their new Australian coach, Trevor Bayliss, telling them the only way they can defeat the Aussies is to “fight fire with fire”, England have certainly talked a good game as they look to turn the tables on an Australia side who beat their arch-rivals 5-0 during the last Ashes series ‘Down Under’ in 2013/14.

But can England match the ag-gression of Australia and will they have to if they are to win the series?

On paper, at least, Australia — even after Ryan Harris’s injury-induced retirement on Saturday — have quicker bowlers in the likes of left-armers Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc than England’s new-ball duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

And with their top order boast-ing the likes of dynamic opener David Warner, Steven Smith, now the number one ranked batsman

in Test cricket, and captain Mi-chael Clarke, Australia also appear to have a faster scoring top order than England’s leading quartet of Adam Lyth, skipper Alastair Cook, Gary Ballance and Ian Bell, who have been accused of being ‘one-paced’ batsmen.

Nevertheless number five Joe Root has often shown he’s com-fortable upping the tempo -- some-thing for which England should be grateful given Kevin Pietersen’s ongoing exile.

‘Haven’t kept up’England were much praised for the attacking manner they dis-played during a recent 3-2 one-day series victory over New Zealand, a series Cook missed.

Former Sri Lanka and New South Wales coach Bayliss in-sisted England had to take their white-ball approach into the Test

arena. “The way the game has been played over the last five or 10 years you could argue that maybe we haven’t kept up to date as some of the other teams,” he said.

“Whether you like it or not the T20 format and the one-day for-mat do have a bearing on the way the game is played at Test level. It’s that philosophy of being positive and aggressive.”

Bayliss, however, said this was not the same thing as being reck-less, a point echoed by England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who said Thursday: “It’s not all about hit-ting fours and sixes, it’s about hav-ing intent in everything you do.”

During England’s 124-run win over New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s in May, contrasting sec-ond innings hundreds from Cook and Stokes laid the platform for victory with the captain batting in classic opening fashion to make

162 off 345 balls while Stokes blasted 101 off 92.

Cook is often portrayed as an inherently cautious captain, cer-tainly when compared to Clarke, and even faced flak when England won the 2013 Ashes 3-0.

Australia all-rounder Shane Watson questioned the England skipper’s capacity to be proactive in the field, saying: “I’m not sure if that’s exactly in Alastair Cook’s DNA to be really able to put a game on the line.”

But Broad made the valid point that captaincy style was often heavily influenced by the make-up of a side.

“You may see a decent shift,” Broad said. “You have to captain the players you have in your side and we have these newer guys who like to play attacking, free-flowing, exciting cricket.

“Cooky can roll with that and is

excited about rolling with that.”Australia have not won an Ashes

series in Britain since 2001 and much will depend on how their fast bowlers adapt to generally less responsive pitches and their batsmen cope with the swinging ball, if conditions are conducive to aerial movement.

Clarke, one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation, has made three previous tours of Eng-land and ended up losing the Ashes on each occasion.

“I’ve played for long enough and I’m realistic enough to know that playing here is a really tough chal-lenge,” said Clarke.

“Look at our record over the last 10-15 years (in England) — it’s cer-tainly not what we’d like as an Aus-tralian team.

“But there’s good reasons for that... England are very tough to beat at home.” - AFP

With their new

Australian coach,

Trevor Bayliss,

telling them the

only way they can

defeat the Aussies

is to “fight fire with

fire”, England have

certainly talked a

good game as they

look to turn the tables

on an Australia side

who beat their arch-

rivals 5-0 during

the last Ashes

series ‘Down Under’

in 2013/14

India go down to Britain, settle for fourth spot

ANTWERP: India were thumped 5-1 by Great Britain in the third place playoff at the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi Finals at the Brasschaat Municipal Park here on Sunday.

For Britain, Alastair Brog-don, Chris Griffiths, Ashley Jackson, Adam Dixon and skip-per Barry Middleton got on the scoresheet, while only Rupinder Pal Singh scored for the losers.

In the first few minutes, both sides tested each other’s defenc-es by some pacy movements in and around the ‘D’ but it was Britain who drew first blood in the 11th minute of the game through a penalty corner.

Brogdon did not falter with a rebound attempt that beat P.R. Sreejesh all ends up.

India managed to get some possession back but the passes lacked accuracy and did not help much in finding the equal-iser, But, at the other end, Grif-fiths led his team ahead with an instinctive flick after latching onto a pass from Nick Catlin.

Britain went into half-time leading 2-0. After the breather, there was no respite for the In-dians as the opposition stepped on the gas again.

What followed were three goals in a space of seven min-utes, as Jackson, Dixon and Bar-ry, all found the back of the net.

While Jackson’s was a bril-liant field goal set up from a counter attack, Dixon’s was from a penalty corner as he eas-ily deflected the ball past India’s custodian Srejeesh.

The skipper then rammed home the fifth. In the dying sec-onds of the game, Rupinder got a consolation goal for India.

“I think we started very poor-ly and gave GB too much of an advantage,” said India captain Sardar Singh after the defeat.

“We are playing with a new strategy and it took some time to adjust, but we have some young players who have done very well playing against higher ranked teams and learned a lot,” he said.

Savita starsMeanwhile on the distaff side, custodian Savita emerged a sav-iour by blocking half-a-dozen goal-bearing chances as India enhanced their Olympic quali-fication, following a 1-0 victory over Japan in the fifth-place playoff in the women hockey on Saturday. The match-winner for India came in the 13th minute from Rani Rampal, who capi-talised on a rebound from the Japanese goalkeeper after the initial shot from Vandana Ka-tariya in open play was blocked.

But the star of the day for In-dia was Savita, who firmly stood between repeated Japanese raids and the Indian goal, often diving to either side to block firm shots. In the last quarter itself, Japan forced five penalty corners and laid a seize on the Indian circle, but could not get a shot past Savita.- Agencies

HOCKEY

LONDON: When Steven Smith made his Ashes debut in Perth during England’s victorious 2010/11 tour of Australia he was, following prompting from then captain Ricky Ponting, clear on his role in the team.

“I’ve been told that I’ve got to come into the side and be fun,” Smith said. “For me, it’s about having energy in the field and making sure I’m having fun and making sure everyone else around is having fun, whether it be telling a joke or something like that.”

It seemed an extraordinary thing for him to say in public. His words didn’t seem to offer much hope of a lengthy career for a leg-spinning all-rounder, particularly one with an unor-thodox batting technique, and were duly mocked by England.

But roll on a few years and the situation is very different. Smith is now the world’s num-ber one ranked Test batsman, with five hundreds in his last six Tests at an aver-age of 131.5.

Now the task of for Smith, who as the son of an English mother was courted by

county side Surrey with the aim of becoming England qualified, is much more straightforward: it is to score runs and plenty of them as Australia bid to win their first Ashes series in Eng-land in 14 years. “I remember Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell getting into me quite a bit,” Smith, now Australia’s vice-captain, told reporters as he recalled his first experience of playing against England.

“I don’t think they really

rated the way I played... Maybe I’ve changed their views now.”

Certainly the type of criticism Smith has faced in the lead-up to this Ashes has altered. England paceman Stu-art Broad, while acknowledging the Australian’s recent run of form, questioned whether Smith could continue to make big scores in a relatively new position of No 3 in English conditions, which tend to assist swing, and against a Dukes ball which is reputed to move more than other brands. “It’s the pre-Ashes when guys come out and say a lot of things,” said Smith of Broad’s comments.

“I’m just going to try to go out there and do the things I’ve been doing for the last 12 or 13 months and score runs. I’d just like my bat to do the talking.

“I’ve enjoyed batting at three and had a bit of success there against West Indies but over here will be a bigger challenge,”

added Smith, who scored 199 and 54 in his most

recent Test — Aus-tralia’s 277-run

win in Jamaica last month.

“(England) is

probably one of the harder plac-es in the world to bat against the new ball and I’m going to have to make sure my game is ready to go,” added Smith ahead of the first Test against England in Cardiff starting on Wednes-day. Smith’s batting style at the crease, complete with a large trigger movement across the stumps and a wafting blade, which seems to have little hope of coming down straight, will never appeal to cricket purists.

But he insisted he had refined his method over the years.

“When I played the Ashes in 2010-11, my technique probably wasn’t up to it, I was probably playing at balls I didn’t need to be,” the 26-year-old said.

“I looked at a bit of footage, what I needed to improve. Since then my technique has tightened up a lot and my general mindset around batting and batting long periods has certainly changed. “I got rid of a tap that I used to have, just be-fore the bowler bowled to me. I was getting myself too high, my balance was out, my stroke-play was out, everything was out of sync, so I am a lot more still at the crease now. — AFP

Joker Smith eager to have last Ashes laugh

Harris one of best: Clarke

LONDON: Test captain Mi-chael Clarke labelled Ryan Harris “as good as anyone who has played for Australia” after the fast bowler announced his retirement. “I’ve said through my career that he is my number one pick bowler in any team I’ve played with,” Clarke said. - Reuters

CR I CKET

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Hosts on top, thanks to skipper Mathews

PALLEKELE: Skipper Angelo Mathews battled his way to an un-beaten 77 as Sri Lanka seized the advantage in the series-deciding third and final Test against Paki-stan in Pallekele on Sunday.

The hosts gained a first innings lead of 63 runs and then recovered from 35-3 in their second knock to post 228-5 by stumps on a rain-interrupted, but absorbing, third day’s play. Mathews led from the front against a tiring Pakistani at-tack, adding 45 for the fourth wicket with Upul Tharanga (48) and 81 for the fifth with Jehan Mubarak (35).

Mubarak marked his recall to the Test side after almost eight years with a gutsy 35 before he was caught at short-leg off Yasir Shah in the final session. Dinesh Chan-dimal returned to form with 39 not out, helping his captain put on 67 for the sixth wicket before bad light ended the day’s play early.

Sri Lanka will begin the fourth day with a commanding overall lead of 291 runs with five wickets in hand, having a clear advantage on the wearing pitch to break the 1-1 deadlock in the series.

Left-arm seamer Rahat Ali grabbed two quick wickets and new ball partner Ehsan Adil took one to leave Sri Lanka tottering in the morning session.

Rahat bowled first innings cen-tury-maker Dimuth Karunaratne for 10 and yorked Lahiru Thiri-manne for no score in an inspired eight-over opening spell.

In between, Ehsan had Kaushal Silva caught in the slips by a diving Misbah-ul Haq for three.

Tharanga and Mathews re-paired the early damage on either side of lunch before Yasir broke the partnership.

Having had a leg-before review turned down by the TV umpire off the previous ball, the leg-spinner forced Tharanga to edge the next delivery to Azhar Ali at short-leg.

Play was held up twice by pass-ing showers in the morning ses-sion and once again before tea, keeping the hard-working ground staff on their toes as they rushed in the covers to guard both the wicket and the outfield. Earlier, the tour-ists added six runs to their over-night score of 209-9 before they were all out for 215 in the day’s second over in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 278.

Pakistan’s six runs in the morn-ing all came off the bat of Sarfraz Ahmed, who remained unbeaten on 78. Last man Imran Khan, who had not faced a ball in four pre-vious Tests, survived for seven deliveries before he was bowled by off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal for zero. Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep fin-

ished with three wickets each. Pakistan won the first Test in

Galle by 10 wickets and Sri Lanka took the second in Colombo by seven wickets. - AFP

Sri Lanka will begin

the fourth day with a

commanding overall

lead of 291 runs

with five wickets

in hand, having a

clear advantage on

the wearing pitch to

break the 1-1 deadlock

in the series

Sri Lanka 1st innings: 278 (D. Karunaratne 130, U. Tharanga 46; Yasir Shah 5-78, Rahat Ali 3-74)Pakistan 1st innings (overnight 209-9):Shan Masood lbw b Prasad 13Ahmed Shehzad c Chandimal b Pradeep 21Azhar Ali c Karunaratne b Pradeep 52Younis Khan run out 3Asad Shafiq lbw b Prasad 15Sarfraz Ahmed not out 78Misbah-ul Haq lbw b Pradeep 6Ehsan Adil lbw b Kaushal 0Yasir Shah c Chandimal b Prasad 18Rahat Ali lbw b Kaushal 2Imran Khan b Kaushal 0Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-2) 7Total (all out, 66 overs) 215Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Masood), 2-40 (Shehzad), 3-45 (Younis), 4-91 (Shafiq), 5-135 (Azhar), 6-151 (Misbah), 7-152 (Ehsan), 8-197 (Yasir), 9-202 (Rahat), 10-215 (Imran).Bowling: Prasad 19-1-78-3 (w1), Lakmal 14-1-64-0 (nb2), Pradeep 15-5-29-3, Mathews 4-1-3-0, Kaushal 14-1-37-3.Sri Lanka 2nd innings:D. Karunaratne b Rahat 10K. Silva c Misbah b Ehsan 3U. Tharanga c Azhar b Yasir 48L. Thirimanne b Rahat 0A. Mathews not out 77J. Mubarak c Azhar b Yasir 35D. Chandimal not out 39Extras (b-4, lb-9, w-3) 16Total (for five wickets, 69.4 overs) 228Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Karunaratne), 2-22 (Silva), 3-35 (Thirimanne), 4-80 (Tharanga), 5-161 (Mubarak).Bowling: Rahat 15-3-58-2 (w1), Ehsan 14-4-46-1 (w1), Imran 10.4-2-27-0 (w1), Yasir 25-4-70-2, Azhar 5-1-14-0Position: Sri Lanka lead by 291 runs with five wickets in handToss: PakistanUmpires: Ian Gould and Paul ReiffelTV umpire: Sundaram Ravi (IND)Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

S C O R E B O A R D

STUBBORN KNOCK: Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews plays a shot

during the third day of the third and final Test match against Paki-

stan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. – AFP

Du Plessis sets up win for S. AfricaDHAKA: Skipper Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten half century to set up a crushing 52-run win for South Africa over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 internation-al in Dhaka on Sunday. Du Plessis helped the visitors recover from a shaky start with an unbeaten 79 off 61 balls, his sixth half-cen-tury in Twenty20 internationals, which included eight fours.

Off-spinner JP Duminy (2-11), medium pacer David Wiese (2-12) and fast bowler Kagiso Raba-da (2-28) then put in a combined effort to dismiss Bangladesh for 96 runs on a slow wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Shakib Al Hasan was the only batsman to offer some kind of resistance with 26 off 30 balls while debutante Litton Das made 22 off 33 balls. Bangladesh lost both their openers for 13 runs but

seemed to have recovered when Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim (17) put 37 runs for the second wicket.

The game decisively swung the Proteas’ way when Duminy dis-missed Rahim and Sabbir Rah-man (4) in his successive overs and spinner Phangiso removed Nasir Hossain for one as Bangla-desh collapsed from 2-50 to 5-57.

Earlier, opting to bat first, South Africa struggled to keep the scoreboard rolling.

Bangladesh started with spin-ners from both ends and struck almost immediately with left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny dis-missing AB de Villiers in the very first over for two.

Du Plessis said he was happy to play the match-winning knock on a difficult wicket. “It’s a knock that you’d like to play as a batter,” he said after the game.” - AFP

T W E N T Y 2 0

BALL ON GROUND BAT IN AIR: South African captain Faf du Ples-

sis loses his bat as he plays a shot during the first T20 match

against Bangladesh. – AFP

SOUTH AFRICAA. de Villiers c Mortaza b Sunny 2Q. de Kock c Das b Nasir 12F. du Plessis not out 79J. Duminy c Nasir b Sunny 18D. Miller lbw b Shakib 1R. Rossouw not out 31Extras (lb-2, w-2, nb-1) 5Total (20 overs; four wickets) 148Did not bat: D. Wiese, W. Parnell, K. Ab-bott, A. Phangiso, K. RabadaFall of wickets: 1-2 (de Villiers), 2-31 (de Kock), 3-77 (Duminy), 4-90 (Miller)Bowling: Sunny 3-0-19-2, Nasir 4-0-37-1(w2), Shakib 4-0-24-1, Mustafizur 4-0-30-0 (nb1), Gazi 2-0-16-0, Mortaza 3-0-20-0BANGLADESHTamim Iqbal c de Kock b Abbott 5Soumya Sarkar c Duminy b Rabada 7Shakib Al Hasan c Parnell b Wiese 26Mushfiqur Rahim c Miller b Duminy 17Sabbir Rahman c de Kock b Duminy 4

Nasir Hossain c Rossouw b Phangiso 1Litton Das c de Villiers b Weise 22Mashrafe Mortaza c de Villiers b Rabada 5Sohag Gazi run out 3Arafat Sunny not out 1Mustafizur Rahman b Parnell 1Extras (lb-2, w-2) 4Total (all out 18.5 overs) 96Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Tamim), 2-13 (Soumya), 3-50 (Rahim), 4-56 (Sabbir), 5-57 (Nasir), 6-71 (Shakib), 7-86 (Mortaza), 8-93 (Gazi), 9-94 (Das), 10-96( Mustafizur)Bowling: Abbott 2-0-10-1(w1), Rabada 3-0-28-2, Parnell 2.5-0-12-1, Wiese 3-0-12-2(w1), Phangiso 4-0-21-1, Duminy 4-0-11-2Result: South Africa won by 52 runsSeries: South Africa lead 2-match series 1-0Toss: South AfricaUmpires: Enamul Haque (BAN) and Sharfoudoulla Saikat (BAN)TV Umpire: Anisur Rahman (BAN)Match Referee: David Boon (AUS)

S C O R E B O A R D Virat has a ‘lot of qualities to match his aggression’

NEW DELHI: He has always admired Virat Kohli’s batting qualities and Sir Vivian Richards feels that one should not be too critical of the Indian Test cap-tain’s on-field aggression as he possesses the “quality” to match his attitude.

“I see nothing wrong in Virat’s attitude. He is very different from (MS) Dhoni. I believe if you are showing passion and aggression on the field, you should have the game quality to match that. Virat has the quality. He can give back as good as he gets. I like people who have stomach for a good fight and Virat is one of them,” Richards, one of the greatest to have ever played the game, told

PTI during an interview. “Virat brings in a lot of vibrancy and the future of Indian cricket looks bright,” he added.

Asked about Kohli’s failure in England against the moving deliv-ery and the recent slump in ODIs, the legend dismissed the notion of any kind of technical glitch in his batting. “He is still a very young man. He is only 26. There is so much more to come from him. Whatever I have seen of Virat, he looks like a young man, who wants to improve his game. When you play international cricket, there will be a few problems here and there. But there are two things you need — positive attitude and tenacity,” the 63-year-old said. - PTI

V I V R I C H A R D S S A Y S

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SPORTSM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

Team Coorg beat Qurum to clinch Al Rehwan TPL CupMUSCAT: The excitement and thrill of the first edition of Telli-cherry Premier League (TPL) for football organised by the Stadium brothers at Al Ahli-Sidab Club, came to an end on Friday, when Team Coorg defeated Qurum FC 4-3 in a most exciting final.

After conceding a goal to QFC in the initial stage of the game, Team Coorg came back strongly to win the match, thanks to the brilliant form of their star forward Auroith Patnayak, who scored eight times in the tournament.

Twelve teams took part in the tournament and as per the tourna-ment rules and regulations all the players should be from the Kannur district, a football crazy district in the northern part of Kerala with only two players allowed from out-side Kannur district.

Team Coorg had entered the tournament as a guest team and they had won the heart of the huge spectators who had attended the

event which was held for five days in the week ends. The tournament was conducted in association with United Thalessery Sports Club (UTSC), Oman wing.

Earlier in the semifinals, Team Coorg beat Al Nahla LLC by 2-1 and Qurum FC beat Teleboys, one of the favorites in the tournament through penalties, which was de-cided at sudden death. Unfortu-

nately Sandeep of Teleboys hit the goal post much to the delight of the QFC team, who qualified for the summit clash.

Saif Mubarak Al Mamari, ad-ministration director of Al Re-hwan Contractors was the chief guest and P.M.Jabir, a noted per-sonality among the Tellicherry community residing in Oman and well known social worker was the

guest of honour. Another noted Tellicherrian Shamsudeen Mali-ayakkal and Sureya Sameer, direc-tor of Foodlands Restaurant were also present for the function and gave away the prizes.

During the break an exhibition match was played with a funny title called Dates XI vs Kava XI which the latter won 2-0.

Rizin Hashim of Stadium

Brothers gave a memento to Saif Mubarak Al Maamari and thanked Al Rehwan for their great support extended to them.

He also thanked Asian Money Exchange, Al Fahwan Printers and Pocari (Muscat Pharmacy) for their support. He specially thanked Foodlands for hosting the winning team and both teams who took part in the exhibition match

for a dinner party. UTSC members were presented a memento by the officials of Stadium brothers for the technical support and notes sports enthusiast, Jawis Ahmad of UTSC was presented a memento for his contribution to sports in Oman and back home in Tellicher-ry. Salih Thacher’s commentary kept the entire stadium lively.

Auroith Patnayak of Team Co-org won the top scorer and the man of the tournament award.

While Jawad of Teleboys grabbed the best goal keeper award, the man of the final award was giv-en to Achaya of Team Coorg. Sahil Iqbal of Athlento Mahe FC won the most promising young player. Faiz APM, of Stadium brothers said “We the members of Stadium Brothers played together at the Tellicherry Muncipality Stadium during our childhood. This tourna-ment takes us down memory lane yet again. We thank Al Ahli-Sidab Club for their wonderful support.”

F O O T B A L L

CHAMPIONS: Team Coorg celebrates after winning the TPL Cup. RUNNERS-UP: Qurum FC have their moment of joy. – Supplied photos

Lewis Hamilton’s lead grows with home win

SILVERSTONE: Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton won his second successive British Grand Prix on Sunday to extend his lead in the championship stand-ings over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton — the first British driver since David Coulthard in 1999/2000 to post successive wins in the race — came home 10 seconds clear of Rosberg in yet an-other Mercedes 1-2, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in third.

Hamilton — whose victory was watched by 140,000 people the largest attendance since 1992 —took his points tally to 194 and a lead of 17 over Rosberg, who had narrowed the gap to 10 prior to this weekend.

Recovering after losing his pole position advantage at the start,

Hamilton stormed back into con-tention and regained the lead with a superbly-executed pit-stop to win by 10.956 seconds.

It was his third win in his home race, his fifth win this year and the 38th win of his career.

Four-time champion Vettel took full advantage of the changing con-ditions with an equally well-timed stop to switch to intermediate tyres during the showers to finish third. “Thank you everyone for coming out today and making my weekend,” said Hamilton, praising the fans.

“I really wanted to do it for you guys. I am so thankful for all the support. I could see all the fans on

every lap in the corner of my eye and they spurred me on.

“My clutch was good this time! But we had quite poor grip at the start -- the same for Nico, but it made the race more exciting. I just kept pushing and, for the first time in my career, I made the perfect choice tyre-wise!

“How do I feel? I am so elated you cannot imagine. I felt tears on the last lap, I was just hoping I could do it for all the guys. Thanks for all the support. Now let’s party...”

Rosberg accepted his defeat gracefully. “I was pushing hard to try and catch Lewis under difficult conditions,” he said. “But he made the better call and that is where I

lost it. Fair play to him.”Vettel admitted the typically

English weather conditions had played in his favour.

“Without the rain, we would not be on the podium. We kept our head down and were patient enough until the rain poured down,” said Vettel.

“That is England for you! We made the right choices and the team did a great job.”

Brazilian Felipe Massa, who had led from the start until lap 20, ended up finishing fourth ahead of his Williams team-mate Finn Valtteri Bottas.

The race was punctuated by a Safety Car on the opening lap after a multiple collision that removed both Lotus cars and Fernando Alonso’s luckless team-mate Brit-on Jenson Button.

The grid was busy with British royalty and celebrities, including three of former pop sensations The Spice Girls — one of whom Geri Halliwell is married to Red Bull boss Christian Horner — be-fore the start.

When the lights went out, Massa made an astonishing start from third, his Williams streaking between the two Mercedes men to take the lead. Bottas followed, but Hamilton resisted and, after a scrap through the opening corners, the champion regained second.

Behind them, on a tumultuous opening lap, a multiple crash at the Village loop corner saw the two Lotuses collide and the two McLaren Hondas do the same.

Of the four, only Alonso survived and, following a lengthy pit stop, he re-joined the fray and eventually finished 10th.

“There was nothing Fernando could do, he didn’t drive into me,” said Button.” — AFP

Recovering after

losing his pole

position advantage

at the start, Hamilton

stormed back into

contention and

regained the lead

with a superbly-

executed pit-

stop to win by

10.956 seconds

PROUD WINNER: British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton cele-

brates with the trophy after winning the British Formula One Grand

Prix at Silverstone circuit. – AP/PTI

Greipel wins stage as Nibali and Quintana lose timeZEELAND: Andre Greipel won the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday as reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali and fellow favourite Nairo Quintana lost time. Greipel edged out Pe-ter Sagan by a fraction of a wheel length at the end of the 166km stage from Utrecht to Zeeland in the Netherlands.

Fabian Cancellara took third and four bonus seconds to snare the yellow jersey off Australia’s Rohan Dennis. Tony Martin, who started the day in second, one place and one second ahead of Cancellara, could only finish ninth and now trails the Swiss Trek rid-er by three seconds, with Tom Du-moulin third overall at 6sec.

But it was crashes and cross-winds in driving rain that made the real difference as Chris Froome, the 2013 champion, and twice winner Alberto Contador put significant time into Nibali

and Quintana. After a four-man breakaway of Czech Jan Barta, Stef Clement of the Netherlands and Frenchmen Perrig Queme-neur and Armindo Fonseca was reeled in within the first 100km, the next 10km saw the main dra-ma take place.

Already 60km into the race the crosswinds created the first split in the peloton, with former world champion Rui Costa of Portugal and former Vuelta a Espana win-ner Alejandro Valverde caught out.

They got back up to the front group but crashes, a searing pace and the inclement weather from 60km to 50km to go saw first Quintana and then Nibali also left behind.

Quintana’s group quickly lost a minute while Nibali was caught in no-man’s land in a small group that, while just 20sec off the front peloton, didn’t have enough man-power to close the gap. — AFP

T O U R D E F R A N C E

HURRAH: Germany’s Andre Greipel celebrates as he crosses the

finish line at the end of the 166 km second stage of the 102nd

edition of the Tour de France. – AFP

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SPORTSM O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

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Zubair Corporation supports Oman Golf camp in Sweden

MUSCAT: The Zubair Corpora-tion supported the summer camp organised by Oman Golf for a group of young golfers as a train-ing camp to be held abroad for two weeks next August in Sweden at the Volkswagen Golf course.

This support comes from the Zubair Corporation based on its strategy to support and develop Omani sports, and its vision in the importance of the private sector

partnership with the sports sector to contribute in the establishment and development of various sports in the Sultanate.

The Zubair Corporation diver-sify its support to the various lo-cal sports and it takes great inter-est in the young generation for its conviction that high achievements can be made by young sportsmen if provided by sufficient care and space to hone their talents and eventually form the coming gener-ation of young sportsmen for a bet-ter future of sports in Oman and higher achievements on the local and international level.

Ziyad Mohammad Al Zubair, board member of the Zubair Cor-poration, said: “Supporting Omani sports is a strategic objective for the Zubair Corporation as its strat-egy aims to support various kinds

of sports in order to diversify and include a wider variety of sports and bring out and shed light on particular sports that require more care and support”.

He added: “This support along with the Oman Golf Committee, in essence, exceeds the simple con-cept of support and participation for the firm belief of the Zubair Corporation that effective partner-ship with the Omani sports sector should target the promising young Omanis to represent and raise the name of Oman in the local, inter-national and regional competi-tions and uphold the Omani sports among its counterparts in various countries around the world.

“This partnership shall remain continuance and ambitious to achieve a true addition to the game of golf in Oman”.

Oman Golf Chairman Mundhir Al Barwani had a meeting with offi-cials of Zubair Corporation to final-ise the details of the arrangement.

Al Barwani said, “I am glad that Zubair Corporation has come for-ward to sponsor the summer camp. This is the most important prepar-atory event for the Omani boys be-fore the regional and international events coming up in October and onwards. At this time of the year, golf generally takes a backseat in the Sultanate because of the sum-mer’s heat.

“Therefore, this summer camp in the comparatively cooler condi-tions of Sweden is a big opportuni-ty for the boys to hone their skills as some big tournaments are coming up starting this September.

“We are proud to have The Zubair Corporation on board as our

partner in this venture.”The meeting was also attend-

ed by Oman Golf vice chairman Ahmed Al Jhdhamy, who hoped this partnership would blossom further and benefit golf in Oman in the long run. Al Jhdhamy said, “The Zubair Corporation’s ini-tiative is a clear indication of how keen they are to shape the future of golf as a fast-growing sport in Oman. I am confident they will continue to lead the charge in the OGC’s bid to produce future golf-ing champions.”

The Zubair Corporation has supported a range of sports ac-tivities during this year in vari-ous sports activities and events that took place in the recent sports season such as supporting the final Asian Beach Handball Champion-ship held in Muscat this year.

This support comes

from the Zubair

Corporation based on

its strategy to support

and develop Omani

sports, and its vision

in the importance

of the private sector

partnership with

the sports sector

to contribute in the

establishment and

development of

various sports

in the Sultanate

SUPPORT FOR GOLF: Young Oman golfers with Oman Golf officials and Zubair Corporation officials after the latter promised support for a

summer camp in Sweden next month. – Supplied photo

TWO GOOD WINS FOR AL NAFEESA IN AL TURKI/NMC CUP TOURNEYAl Nafeesa Jewellers won the League match as well

as the knock-out match of the 6th Al Turki/NMC Cup

2015. In the League encounter Al Nafeesa Jewelers beat

Shanfari XI by 44 runs. Al Nafeesa scored 72 for 4 in

8 overs with man of the match Naveed (in picture) top

scoring. Shanfair in reply were restricted to 28 for 8 in 8

overs with Lucky and Amir Hussain scalping two wickets

each. In the knock-out, Al Nafeesa trounced Cheers XI by

9 wickets. Chasing Cheers’ 54 for 4, Al Nafeesa reached

57 for 1 in 5 overs. Man of the match Farhan Khan (in

picture) made 25. — Supplied photo

Agha XI, Bisya CC notch victoriesMUSCAT: Agha XI and Bisya CC win in the Pakistan Social Club organised Omantel Ramadan Cricket Tournament 2015 be-ing played at the Pakistan School ground. In the first match, Bisya CC hammered Star XI by a big margin of 72 runs. Batting first Bisya CC scored 89 for 3 in 8 overs with Waseen (46) and Tiklo (24) contributing with the bat.

Adil and Najam chipped in with one wicket each for Star XI, who in reply were bowled out for 36. Snakat claimed four wickets for 2 runs and was adjudged the man of the match. His four wickets also included a hat-trick, second of the tournament. In other match Agha XI beat Gitacs by 19 runs. Batting first Agha XI set a decent total of 83 for 5 in 8 overs with Ijaz (41) top scoring. Jjahanzaib contibut-ed 19 runs, while Aawais claimed two wickets for 10 runs.

In reply, Giatcs managed to score 64 for 5 in 8 overs, 19 less than the target. Contributions came from Usamn (20) and Jabran (11). Ijaz was declared the man of the match.

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

Blatter says to limit travel until ‘everything cleared up’

BERLIN: Sepp Blatter, the head of Fifa which is mired in corrup-tion allegations, told a German newspaper Sunday that he won’t take travel risks until the situa-tion is “cleared up”.

“As long as not everything is cleared up, I will not take any travel risk,” Blatter, 79, said, with-out giving details, in comments reported by Welt am Sonntag newspaper. He announced on June 2, just days after being re-elected, that he would step down from the Fifa presidency at an extraordinary congress to be held between December this year and March 2016.

The decision followed a crisis that engulfed Fifa with 18 peo-ple indicted in the United States on football-related corruption charges involving millions of dollars in bribes. Blatter has re-peatedly pleaded his innocence.

Blatter will not attend the fi-nal of the Women’s World Cup in Canada later Sunday, his US lawyer said last week.

It is the first time since Blat-ter’s election as Fifa president in 1998 that he has missed the climax of the showpiece event.

However Blatter indicated to Welt am Sonntag that he did plan to travel to Russia at the end of the month for the draw for the 2018 World Cup quali-fiers. He also told the German newspaper there had been “political interventions” over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. — AFP

F O O T B A L L

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Messi-Maradona debate rumbles onSANTIAGO: Another tournament, another shattering defeat, and another round of unfa-vourable comparisons to Diego Maradona. Lionel Messi was left reflecting on another bitterly famil-iar failure here Saturday after Argentina suffered an agonizing penalty shoot-out defeat to Chile in the Copa America final.

It was the second time in 12 months Messi had finished on the losing side in a major final follow-ing Argentina’s extra-time loss to Germany at the World Cup last year. “This generation is desperate to win a title with the national team,” Messi had said before this year’s Copa America. “As a team, we deserve to win something and it would mean so much after the World Cup where we came so close.” Satur-day’s defeat will reignite the debate about where Messi deserves to be ranked in the pantheon of the very greatest players to have graced the sport. For many, his extraor-dinary achievements at club level with Barcelona over the past decade have

already guaranteed him a place alongside Pele and Diego Maradona. Oth-ers insist that his failure to lead his country to international glory puts him just behind Pele and Maradona, who won four World Cups between them. Statistically at least, Messi outscores Maradona in almost every department, with 46 goals in 103 interna-tional appearances com-pared to Maradona’s 34 goals in 91 games. At club level Messi has amassed 412 goals in 482 games, compared to Maradona’s 312 in 588 matches. Messi has won three European Cups with Barcelona; the famous trophy is con-spicuously absent from Maradona’s CV.

Messi has been named world footballer of the year four times; Mara-dona earned the acco-lade only once. Yet the arguments invariably circle back to trophies at international level.

Although Messi played a key role in Argentina reaching the final of last year’s World Cup in Bra-zil, his achievements at international level have

not seared themselves in the memory in the way that Maradona’s did during his displays in the 1986 World Cup. Mara-dona is largely credited with single-handedly guiding Argentina to that World Cup title in Mexico, scoring a series of memorable individual goals against England and Belgium along the way. Even in the 1986 final, when he was well-shackled by Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, Mara-dona was able to prove a decisive influence, supply-ing the sublime first time pass to set up the game’s winning goal.

Messi can justifiably reflect, however, that the margins are impossibly fine. In both last year’s World Cup final and this year’s Copa America final, Messi had helped create gilt-edged chances for Gonzalo Higuain that the striker squandered on each occasion. Had either of those gone in -- and helped Argentina to victory instead of defeat -- Messi’s right to be bracketed with Mara-dona and Pele would not be in doubt. - AFP

Argentina’s title quest continues

SANTIAGO: Former Argentina and Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa says you learn more from defeat than victory. So Chile will be eter-nally grateful to the Argentine for having sowed the seeds of their first Copa America triumph, car-ried through by his disciple and compatriot Jorge Sampaoli.

Bielsa changed perennial losers Chile’s mentality and built a team that reached the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010 —their first appearance in 12 years.

They reached the last 16 in both competitions, but more than half of Sampaoli’s team that won the Copa America beating Argentina on penalties after their goalless stalemate had played in Bielsa’s team in South Africa five years ago.

Argentina, meanwhile, cannot quite seem to learn from a string of lost finals, including the 2004 Copa America under Bielsa, de-spite boasting the world’s best player in Lionel Messi.

Messi’s failure with Argentina raises again the debate of how best to have him play for his country when he carries all before him with Barcelona. It would appear to justi-fy unfavourable comparisons with Diego Maradona, who led Argenti-na to their second World Cup title

in 1986. Messi is a brilliant player who has enjoyed so much success with Barcelona also because he has been accompanied by some great players — first Ronaldinho, then several Spanish World Cup winners notably Xavi and Andres Iniesta, now Brazilian Neymar and Uruguan Luis Suarez.

Would Messi have done as well, breaking scoring records galore and winning tons of silverware at another club? Would he have been able to do what Maradona did at Napoli and lift the southern Italian club out of mid-table mediocrity and make the sum of its parts bet-ter than the individuals, inspiring them to two Serie A titles?

Former Argentina coach Sergio Batista fell on his sword when he said he wanted Argentina to play like Barcelona before their igno-minious quarterfinal loss on pen-alties to Uruguay in the 2011.

But he must have had a point, that Messi needed the right con-text to bring out the best in him for Argentina and his successors on the bench have continued with the quest without quite finding the key.

Coach Gerardo Martino sees his own team as a work in progress to-wards the ultimate goal, the World Cup in 2018. — Reuters

Messi’s failure raises again the debate of how

best to have him play for his country

The downfall of Lionel Messi plotted by Argentine SampaoliSANTIAGO: It took an Ar-gentine, Jorge Sampaoli, to plot Chile’s triumph in the Copa America final against his own country.

Lionel Messi and Argentina’s other “Fantasticos” lost their nerve in Santiago’s Estadio Na-cional as they sought their first major international title for 22 years.

Chile’s coach Sampaoli stayed true to his live wire reputation, jumping up and down on the touchline urging stars Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal to at-tack so they could win their first South American championship.

“We had to play a great game against one of the world’s best teams for the quality of players. We should have won in 90 min-utes, but ended up getting justice in a shootout,” Sampaoli told a press conference after Saturday’s win in Sangtiago.

Since taking over, Jorge Sam-paoli, 55, has transformed Chile’s national side into true global com-petitors. As well as Saturday’s South American title, Chile also reached the last 16 at last year’s World Cup and were unlucky not to go further.

But when he arrived in Decem-ber 2012, Chile had lost three World Cup qualifiers in a row and despite the presence of stars such

as Sanchez seemed like a disor-ganized rabble.

“From the first game, Chile were playing to win the Copa America,” Sampaoili said.

“The team confronted and

overcame rivals to win the Copa America through leadership, hard work and discipline. That is the merit of the players that I have fortune to train,” added the coach after the 4-1 penalty shootout vic-

tory. Sampaoli said that Chile are capable of even better.

“People are now starting to dream. We have done something great today and qualifying for the (2018) World Cup will be Chile’s next target,” he said.

Though born near Argentina’s second city of Rosida, Sampaoli made his name mainly as a coach of teams in Peru and Ecuador.

But after his own footballing career was cut short at 19 by a double leg fracture, Sampaoli ce-mented his reputation imposing an attacking style that he learned from his hero Marcelo Bielsa, another Argentine who once coached Chile.

Sampaoli has an all-Argentine staff helping him with the Chilean players. But despite reports indi-cating he would like to take over his own country’s team, Sampaoli insists he will stay with Chile at least for the 2018 World Cup in Russia — as long as they qualify.

“My duty is linked to the fate of this country and these players,” Sampaoli said before the Copa America final.

“I don’t have Chilean national-ity, but I am excited by the chance to make Chile champions,” he went on.

“The coaching staff are all Ar-gentine, but we all want Chile to be champions.” - AFP

C O P A A M E R I C A

LIVEWIRE: Chile’s coach Jorge Sampaoli stayed true to his live

wire reputation to spur Chile to a fantastic win. – Reuters

U N L E A S H I N G H E L L

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

GearSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

It sits quietly, patiently, like a beast stalking its prey. Then, the touch of a red key awakens its ferocious roar. Meet the new Challenger, outfitted with an unprecedented 707-horsepower engine, powerful muscle car on the planet.

By Faisal Mohammed Naim

LIFESTYLEC8 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

As is customary with Dodge, the name for their latest and great-est Challenger model is military-derived;

from the WWII Hellcat fighter air-craft and tank destroyers. Dodge’s history of militarised engine moni-kers — Tigershark, Apache, Viper — is strong, and particularly well suited for this mega-muscled car. The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is out of the proverbial bag. Under the hood it packs the most powerful production V8 engine ever. The 6.2 litre supercharger Hemi V8 churns out a behemoth 707 bhp, and an earth pounding 880Nm of torque.

The end-result is a monster with a low 3 second timing for 0-100 kmph, and the ability to clock the quarter mile run in 10.8 seconds. The top speed for the Hellcat is a whopping 320km an hour (track speed). Terrifyingly fast and in-credibly powerful, the Hellcat is a true beast in every sense.

Unlike the other two American Muscle cars (the Mustang and the Camero), the Challenger Hellcat doesn’t have a ton of styling to dif-ferentiate it from the base Chal-lenger V6 variant. Paying tribute to the original 70s Challenger, the line features a unique front fas-cia, front splitter, rear spoiler, and chrome exhaust tips. The massive air-scoops up front not only add to the macho style, but also feed the engine, the intercooler and the front brakes of the SRT Hellcat.

The SRT has an aluminium hood with heat extractors flank-ing a scoop, a lowered grille brow, a deeper splitter, and a taller spoiler, but here’s very little ornamenta-tion to suggest nutso power aside from the “SUPERCHARGED” badges and small cat emblem.

Once it starts moving though, you’ll feel the difference. Deliver-ing its insane power to the wheels is the robust TorqueFlite HP90 eight-speed automatic transmis-sion - first time mated to any Challenger, and steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters activate new rev-matching technology during downshifts. For the more confident or old school power lovers, there is the bang shift option with Tremec 6-speed manual transmission with a larger, higher-capacity clutch. There’s a little Viper in the Chal-lenger SRT Hellcat. To tame all that power, the Hellcat engages

15.4-inch six-pot Brembo brakes on the front wheels; the largest Chrysler has ever put on a produc-tion car.

The Hellcat has also stepped up its interior game. Material qual-ity is up across the board, and the dashboard has gone from rental-car-flat to sports-car-intimate, with a wraparound feel created by the new centre stack that’s angled toward the driver.

Another cool touch is the Per-formance Pages feature on the ex-cellent 8.4-inch Uconnect touch-screen system. Standard on the Hellcat, Performance Pages in-cludes a built-in acceleration tim-er, and you can even see real-time readouts for both hp and torque while you’re driving. The 7-inch Driver Information Display calls out vital information and can be personalised to driver preference.

Your cockpit is highlighted with heritage-inspired touches, including classic gauge faces and a sweeping centre console, and the luxurious Laguna leather and Alcantara appointments are avail-able for the first time. To ensure maximum comfort, heated and ventilated seats and a 360-degree heated steering wheel round out the standard package.

Dialing in the driving pleasure are the three drive modes: Street, Sport, or Track. Between the drive modes and other driver-selectable settings, the Hellcat offers more than 125 potential configurations.There is also the Eco-mode, which focuses on maximising the fuel economy. And to reign yourself in, there are two keys to the Challeng-er’s heart: A red one to unleash its full fury, and a black fob key that imposes a 500-hp ceiling.

A 2.75-inch exhaust system uses resonators front and rear, with electronically controlled valves. The amount of flow is dictated by the drive modes — in track mode, it’s gloriously loud, but in the de-fault setup at a highway cruise it avoids the annoying drone.

All that power and blinding speed make the Hellcat incredibly fun to drive. But it’s a kind of fun that’s always tinged with a bit of fear. You’ll laugh out loud during hard acceleration on a big empty road, but it will be a nervous laugh, and when you’re done, your eyes will dart around, as you wipe your sweaty palms, to make sure no one with a badge saw what you just did.

Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

Engine6.2-litre supercharged Hemi V8Power: 707 bhp at 6000 RPM/ 880Nm torque at 4000 RPM

PerformanceTop speed: 320 km/hAcceleration 0-100 km: 3.5 seconds

Fuel consumptionFuel consumption: 18.08 l/100km City 10.7 l/100km Highway

Power transmissionDrive type: Rear-Wheel DriveTransmission type: TorqueFlite Eight-Speed Automatic, Tremec six-speed manual

VolumeCurb Weight: 4,449 PoundsSeating capacity: 5

Available this fall at Dhofar Automotive

There’s very little ornamentation

to suggest nutso power. The idea perhaps seems

to be: Once it starts moving, you’ll know

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Scan to see the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Promo

LIFESTYLEC9M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

ProtectionLeathers are the clear winner when it comes to protection, with their solid composition, snug fit, and tight armour. The thick texture of the leather gives good protection even in the non-armoured areas.

The mesh fit being not so snug could also displace the protec-tion guards during the impact in-creasing the risk of injury. Also, although armoured at the elbows, shoulders, and back, still the fabric of the jackets is quite vulnerable, making the rider prone to lacera-tions in case of sliding crash. Leather: Mesh:

Comfort Though the snug fit of leather jack-ets makes you safer, it also makes you feel stiff. Leathers also have more weight and might sit heavy on your shoulders. Remember black also attracts heat, so while leather looks cool on the outside; it’s usually pretty hot on the inside on a summer day.

Mesh on the other hand are very light-weight, and quite pli-able. With excellent breathabil-ity and optimal airflow, the mesh jackets keep you pretty cool on the inside as well.Leather:Mesh:

TECHSUPPORT

The best photo editing appsPhone editing apps have be-come big business these days, thanks to smartphones. Smart-phones have contributed gen-erously in the growth of these apps, by focusing on giving their users better quality cameras, thus creating the need to edit photos on one’s phone instead of on a computer after down-loading. But there are some fan-tastic apps for Android phones and iPhones, here are three of the best out there for both. Top three apps for Android phones:

Photo Editor by Aviary

This app is simple and fantastic to use. It is probably the

only app you’ll ever need for simple and quick photo edit-ing on your android smart phones. The Aviary Premium gives users a little more ben-efit if you are looking for more from the app.

Autodesk PixlrUsers can focus sole-ly on what matters most, the photos. Pixlr touts hundreds

of effects, powerful editing tools, and handfuls of collage options that support abso-lute creative freedom. With over 600+ effects and dozens of collage options, it can keep you engaged with its features.

Adobe LightroomThe Lightroom ap-plication for An-droid Adobe pro-

vides an incredible amount of effects, filters, and tools. It however requires users to possess the desktop version of Adobe Lightroom 5 — as well as an Adobe Creative Cloud account. The app is way ahead of other apps in terms of its in-credible quality.

Top three apps for iPhones:PhotoShop Touch

One app favourited by iPhone users is the ‘PhotoShop Touch’.

It gives you the liberty to tweak your images for everything from brightness, contrast, saturation to toning down the highlights. The mobile adobe photoshop has some amazing filters that give you almost everything that you need.

Tin TypeThe age of selfies is here to stay, hugely popular with the

younger generation, they are al-ways on the look out to get the perfect shot. When photograph-ing yourself or someone else, you could splash your clicks with Sepia, monochrome and painted colour effects. There is also Cinamatic for shooting and uploading videos.

Slow Fast SlowSure to be a favour-ite with people who like to do some tricks

with their videos. The Slow Fast Slow video editing app lets you play and slow down the tempo of your videos.

Have tech queries? Ask Mahran Shaukat Ali, mahran@timesofoman.com

DurabilityMost leather jackets are sturdy, and hold up very well in a crash. They may be fit to ride even after multiple crashes – albeit with a few extra scuffs.

Almost all mesh jackets are ar-moured and the outer shell is typ-ically A1, and if you crash, the jacket should protect you; but it will be torn up and will need to be replaced, after a single nasty incident. Leather: Mesh:

Weather adaptability Leather jackets can be quite com-fortable for cold weather riding. But in hot weather, donning the leathers could be quite a test of faith, trapping much of heat in-side. If you are still looking for leather in hot weather, perforation is your friend. The tiny holes in the leather will flow plenty of air, keeping you comfortable – as long as you are moving. In wet weather too, leather can end up leaving you soaking wet, although there are certain leather treatments and oils you can use to mitigate this.

Apart from excellent airflow, the biggest advantage of mesh is the availability of waterproof options. A waterproof jacket can keep you very warm and comfortable in cold weather, and also keeps you dry if the skies open up. Zippered vents can help keep you comfortable in warmer weather, too. Leather: Mesh:

Faisal Mohammed Naimfaisal@timesofoman.com

Riding jackets are quintessential and inseparable elements of your riding gear, in both the safety and style quotient. The two most popular variants are leather and mesh. Yeah we agree leather is the boss; it makes you look absolutely hot. But

given the Muscat weather, we are pretty sure it will make you feel even hotter, with leather holding in the heat like nothing else. But then again, mesh hasn’t got the kind of protection or durability of sturdy leather. Motorcycle gear is a compromise of one type or another. What you might be giving in protection in extreme situations, you gain in all day comfort, so no one piece of gear is perfect for all roads and all riders. So, which to buy? As you can tell, we’re torn too. It’s time for a head to head comparison to break down the pros and cons.

LEATHER What leather does very, very well, is protect you from road rash. While textile materials have really come a long way, leather is still king when it comes to sliding down the pavement. Sport leather jack-ets will also be more snugly fitted to your body, keeping your armour in place better and resisting sliding up that could expose your body in a crash. Leather riding jackets are available in a very wide range of styles. From a classic 1950s biker jacket, vintage designs, or full on road race level jackets, there’s a leather jacket style for just about everyone.

MESHVersatile mesh riding jackets have become very popular in the few years that they’ve been on the market, and with good reason. Mesh is a very wel-come solution to hot-weather riding for those of who like to have more than just the T between skin and asphalt.

The enthusiasm for mesh however, has been somewhat tempered by concerns that the fabrics don’t protect as well as leather, and that the com-monly used open weave mesh may have a greater potential for catching something during a slide, which could result in serious damage in the form of broken bones or worse.

Responding to the concerns, prominent brands like Revit, Alpinestar, and Icon, have developed ma-terial with a tighter weave, a fit that mimics motor-cycle racing leathers, and jackets that contain high quality armour that offer what they claim to be the most protective hot weather jackets on the market.

And the winner is...Obviously picking a jacket can be a very personal choice – and getting a jacket that suits your style, matches your bike, and is comfortable for where you are riding is key.

If you intend on riding at higher speeds, or simply prefer the clas-sic look, then go with leather. But leathers can be bothersome given the weather in Oman. Price is another factor; the leathers cost more than double the price of mesh on average. If you are on a more limited budget or need to be protected in a variety of weather conditions, then mesh may be the best way for you to go.

One easy solution, if you have plenty of money to spend, could be buying a different jacket for different moods, bike, road (or track), and weather condition that you plan on riding. At the end of the day, the gear that you wear is better than the more protective one that you leave home because it was too much bother to put on.

TOO Verdict: On road in Muscat? Our money’s on mesh.

See you next Monday with more. Ride smart and safe.

ROADTESTED

Buying Guide

Leather Vs

Mesh JacketsPHOT

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FIND-IT-ALL

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999

General Directorate of

Passport and Residence 24569603

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of Customs 24521109

Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

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EMBASSIES IN OMAN

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UAE 24400000

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PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Appolo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Hamdan Hospital 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

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

CINEMA SCHEDULE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily

15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily

15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily

06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily

08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily

13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily

16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily

16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily

14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily

08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily

14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily

06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily

10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily

10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily

19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily

06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily

13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur

15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily

15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6pm) 24567664 | 68 .

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SHATTI

Jurassic World (Action, Adventure) (3D)

(PG12)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty

Simpkins,

9:15 pm

Cold in July (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

11:30 pm

Sword Of Vengeance (Action) (15+)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric

9:30 pm

Dark Summer (Horror, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Peter Stormare, Grace Phipps, Keir

Gilchrist

11:15 pm

Papanasam (Drama, Family)(PG12)

Cast : Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9:45 pm

MUSCAT GRAND MALL

Jurassic World (3D) (Action/Adventure)

(PG12)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard

11:15 pm

Gold Class: 9:00 pm

Just The Way You Are (2D) (Dance/Ro-

mance) (12+) (Language - Tagalog)

Cast: Enrique Gil, Liza Soberano, Yves Flores

9:15 pm

Papanasam (2D) ( Drama/Thriller) (PG12)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9:30 pm

Cold in July (2D) (Crime, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

Gold Class 11:15 pm

RUWI

SCREEN 1ABCD-2 (Dance/Musical ) – PG

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor and

Prabhudeva, 9.45 pm

SCREEN 2Second Hand Husband

(Comedy/Romance) – PG

Cast: Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja, Dharmendra,

Geeta Basra, 9.00 pm

Dil Dhadakne Do (Romance/Drama/

Comedy ) – PG12

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Shefali

Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra

11.00 pm

SCREEN 3Papanasam (Tamil) (Drama/Family/Thriller) – PG12

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9.30

SOHAR

Jurassic World (3D) (PG12) (Action

|Adventure | Sci-Fi)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty

Simpkins, 11:30 pm

Cold in July (2D) (Crime, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson

9:15, 11:55 pm

Sword Of Vengeance (Action) (15+) (2D)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric, 9:45 pm

Dark Summer (Horror, Thriller) (15+) (2D)

Cast: Peter Stormare, Grace Phipps, Keir

Gilchrist, 11:30 pm

Papanasam(Tamil) (Drama/Family/Thriller)

– PG12 (2D)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani

9.30 pm

Laila O Laila - 2D (M) (PG12) Action | Thriller

Cast : Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew

9:00 pm

BURAIMI

Cold in July - 2D (Crime/ Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Sheppard, Don

Johnson

9:30 pm

Sword of Vengeance – 2D (Action) (15+)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric

11:30 pm

Papanasam– 2D (Drama/Family/Thriller)

(PG12)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 9:30 pm

Laila O Laila – 2D (Action/Thriller) (PG12)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew, 9:00 pm

Dark Summer - 2D (Horror/Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Peter Stormare, Grace Phipps, Keir

Gilchrist

Timings: 11:55 pm

SUR

Cold in July (Crime / Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson.

9:30 pm

Sword Of Vengeance ( Action ) (15+)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Wdward Akrout, Misa

Beric., 11:30 pm

Laila O Laila (Mal) (Action / Thriller) (PG12)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew

10.30 pm

SALALAH

Jurassic World (3D) (PG12) (Action,

Adventure, Sci-Fi )

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty

9:15 pm

Cold in July (2D) (15+) (Crime, Thriller)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson, 11:30 pm

Second Hand Husband (2D) (PG) (Comedy,

Romance)

Cast: Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja, Dharmendra

9:00 pm

Papanasam (2D) (PG12) (Drama, Family,

Thriller)

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani, 11:00 pm

Laila O Laila (2D) (PG12) (Action, Thriller)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew, 9:00 pm

Sword of Vengeance (2D) (15+) (Action)

Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout, Misa

Beric, 11:55 pm

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance

Booking 24540855

Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

Jurassic World (Action / Adventure)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, Ty Simkins

9.30 pm

CP No: 1495 (PG12)

Guardian (Action, Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Sarah Carter, Tio Pakusodewo, Nino

Fernandez

11:45 pm

CP No: 1613

Cold in July (Crime / Thriller) (15+)

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don

Johnson.

9:30 & 11:45 pm

CP No: 659 (15+)

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776

Website: www.isurf.co.om

Premam (Mal) (Comedy)

Cast: Nivin Pauly, Anupama Parameshwaran

and Sai Pallavi

10:00 pm at Cinema Main

Papanasam (Tamil) (Drama/Family/

Thriller) – PG12

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani

9:30 pm at Cinema 2

Laila O Laila (Mal) (Romance / Thriller)

Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj, Joy

Mathew

9.45 pm at Cinema 3

Kakka Muttai (Tamil)

Cast: Ramesh & Silam Barasan

9.45 pm at Cinema 4

NEXT CHANGE: 2nd Class Yatra (Mal)

Bahubali (Telugu)

(Programmes are subject to change)

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily

07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily

13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily

13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily

17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily

06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily

15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily

14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily

12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily

10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily

10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily

19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily

07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri

15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily

15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily

16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily

16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

Gold Class: 11:15 pm 9:30 pm 9:00 pm 10:30 pm 9:30 pm

@MGM @SHATTI @RUWI @SUR @BURAIMI

COLD IN JULY (2D) (Crime, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard Don Johnson

SWORD OF VENGEANCE (Action) (15+)Cast: Stanley Weber, Edward Akrout Misa Beric, 9:30 pm

SECOND HAND HUSBAND (Comedy/Romance) – PGCast: Gippy Grewal, Tina Ahuja

LAILA O LAILA (Mal) (Action / Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul

PAPANASAM 2D (Drama/Family (PG12)Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla, Kalabhavan Mani, 9:30 pm

C10 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

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

WITH LOVE

WEATHER

450

Maximum

350

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

15-65%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

LIFESTYLEC11M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

AVOIDTHATSLAP

Tank slap is a loss of con-trol that happens when the front wheel breaks traction, becomes air-borne, or somehow

leaves the track of the rear wheel in a frightening chain reaction. Every bike naturally wants to go straight (or tip), so when the front wheel leaves the track of the rear wheel, the front forks pull hard to get back in line. This causes the front forks to have too much momentum and sling past the straight line and to the other side, starting the process over again.

Okay, in layman terms a tank-slapper, also known as speed wob-ble, head shake, death wobble, and shimmy, looks and feels like a horse trying to buck its rider, and it usu-ally happens at speeds of around 30kmph - sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower. Tank slap can also result from hitting an im-perfection on the road surface such as the slight bump at the end of your driveway. And while sometimes you can correct yourself, other times you just can’t.

It’s either your fault or the motorcycle’s. If the front suspen-sion rebounds and compression is way off it can possibly bounce the weight off the front tyre. Grabbing a handful of throttle as you speed-shift into a higher gear can cause the front wheel to be airborne

without you knowing it. If you have a death grip on the bars when this happens and unconsciously push the handlebars, it can cause a tank slapper. The bike can also be set up wrong. Too high in the front or too hard suspension in the rear, these issues can be a root cause of the problem, but again, it centres on the wheels coming out of line.

A lot of riders twist the throt-tle hard and unknowingly push or pull on the handlebars. When the power of the bike lifts the weight off the front end, you guessed it, a tank slapper can ensue.

A common cause for sport bikes is too much power. The front forks are designed to take little effort and precise placement to work prop-erly. Having an overly firm grip on the bars or forcing too much weight onto them can cause a tank slapper when power lifts the front end. Oh, and coming back down off a wheelie the wrong way can throw you into a mean death wobble.

Preventing tank slapper from ever happening is a better bet than trying to get out of one. The first thing to do is to make sure your bike is set up properly and wants to go straight. Mismatched tyres, im-proper balancing, bent front wheel, or a cocked wheel can definitely cause issues.

Installing a steering damper in place is the best way to minimise

or in fact eliminate the risk of tank slap. Ohlins offers custom dampers for most sportbikes.

Finally, avoid wheelies: They are the culprits behind most of the slaps riders get.

You didn’t listen, you popped that wheelie and caught a head shake. So, how to get out of one? Some rid-ers suggest letting off the power and manoeuvring the bike with your hips. Experts say lifting off the gas is the best method, as even if you can’t save it at least you’re going slower when you lay it down. Hold firmly to both grips and absorb the ‘har-monic feedback’ into your arms - i.e., dampen them - and aggressively use your front brake.

While some advise you tackle the slap by accelerating the bike even further and lifting off the front-wheel – performing a wheelie that you can try to land better, this is not advisable.

Rest assured, but this trick is go-ing to get you into worse trouble than you were in when the tank-slapper first began. When you come back down from the wheelie, going faster than you were before, the front-end will in all probability get a severe jolt. What do you think the odds are of going into another tank-slapper then? Yep, high. Take my ad-vice, and slow it down first.

Have a question for The Educated Motorist?

Get in touch at faisal@timesofoman.com

By Faisal Mohammed Naimfaisal@timesofoman.com

THEEDUCATED

MOTORIST

Bump into a hump and

you might end up

experiencing the nastiest

side effect of flying on

two-wheels… Holding on to

your wits is the key to get

out of it

T E C H N E W S

NASA cuts live feed as UFOs fly past earth: Report

Mysterious footage reportedly depicting three UFOs racing by our Earth has been a big hit on You-Tube. The 4-minute video titled UFO Mysteries: UFOs, Angels Or Biological Creatures Seen Leaving The Earth? was uploaded a week ago and has over 214,000 views. The

video, reportedly shot from the International Space Station (ISS), shows three unidentified flying objects (UFOs) shooting upward out of Earth’s atmosphere. But the moment the lights appear to blast off the planet, the video feed is cut by Nasa, with a message displaying on screen stating: “Please stand by.” “The High Defini-tion Earth Viewing experiment is either switching cameras, or we are experiencing a temporary loss of signal with the International Space Station,” it says. There are some sharp reactions to the video and Nasa action. “Bingo! Caught them red-handed leaving Earth’s orbit,” wrote commenter Michael Clottey. Nasa, however, has not provided any explanation for the curious lights.

New mobile technology can help blind people ‘see’ Computer scientists are developing new adaptive mobile tech-nology that could enable blind and visually-impaired people to ‘see’ through their smartphone or tablet. A team from University of Lincoln in Britain plans to use colour and depth sensor technol-ogy inside new smartphones and tablets to enable 3D mapping and localisation, navigation and object recognition. The team will then develop the best interface to relay that to users — whether that is vibrations, sounds or the spoken word.

First 3D heart printed using multiple imaging techniques

Heart experts, have successfully integrated two common imaging techniques to produce the first 3D anatomic model of a patient’s heart. This is the first time the integration of computed tomography (CT) and 3D transesophageal echocardiogra-phy (3DTEE) has successfully been

used for printing a hybrid 3D model of heart. The study also opens the way for these techniques to be used in combination with a third tool — magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). “This is a huge leap for individualised medicine in cardiology and congenital heart disease. The technology could be beneficial to cardiologists and surgeons,” said Dr Joseph Vettukattil from Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Michigan. He presented the results at the CSI 2015 congress in Frankfurt, Germany recently. -IANS

Avoid

the slap.

Check out

the video

LIFESTYLEC12 M O N DAY, J U LY 6, 2 0 1 5

Social media has got businesses thinking

Social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram have become very popular among the younger generation of people. Generation Y has shown more confidence than the older gen-eration when it comes to shop-ping online. While older people perhaps are more likely to stick to traditional methods of shop-ping, this may all change in the near future with statistics showing an upward swing in shopping trends online.

Changes in the social factors have impacted in many different ways. The social aspect focuses on the forces within the soci-ety. Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and the media are social factors or influencers that shape your perception and buying

habits. These factors affect our attitudes, opinions and interests. So, it can impact sales of product and revenues earned. Thanks to smart phones, consumers have now started to research retail products including local (prod-ucts) way before they proceed to buy, according to a June 2014 study by Ninth Decimal.

Retailers must listen out for customers looking for informa-tion, and then give it to them promptly. There are sites which let users know how quickly que-ries or enquiries have been dealt with. (Facebook now has a page responsiveness feature which lets visitors seeking information on pages of businesses, brands know the response rate and the likelihood of their queries be-

ing answered). Retailers need to quickly adapt to the changing culture and adapt to the social media platforms or they will have to lose out on the opportunities. The ability to reach targeted audi-ences for marketers and retailers has now become huge. They say, habit drives 95 per cent of cus-tomer behaviour online, both con-sciously and unconsciously (bi-zshifts-trends.com); the ones who can read the endless possibilities and embrace digital marketing can steer their business to new heights. Nearly seventy per cent will make a mobile purchase every time they are targeted and digital word of mouth is something that can guarantee a degree of loyalty, says empirical evidence.— Mahran Shaukat Ali / mahran@timesofoman.com

T H I N K I N G F U T U R E

10 incredible statisticsabout the world of Internet

BY THE NUMBERS

There are more mobile devices than people on earth

Wi-Fi speeds

have increased

significantly with

each release.

11a / 54Mbps / 1999

11n / 450Mbps /

2009 11ac-wave1

/ 1.3Gbps / 2012

Wi-Fi / mobile data consumption is 44% higher on

of people say 1 week without

Wi-Fi would leave them grumpier

than 1 week without coffee

Most businesses are

planning to increase

Wi-Fi capacity by at

least 20 in 2014. 75%

of the increase is to

support mobile devices

and BYOD users

The base version of 802.11 / Wi-Fi protocol

was released in

of enterprises allow

their employees to bring

their own devices

into the enterprise today

Numerous US football

stadiums support over

Wi-Fi connections

in a single game

of 2-year olds use mobile devices.

Average age for first cellphone is now 13

screens

and larger

Smartphone users spend an average of

iPhone users average 90 minutes a day

W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O MSECTION

CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E

D

D4 VACANCY CARGO D7

M O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon

for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

92@34237_con_04-07-2015_p01-p08

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

Furnished room for rent at

Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975

Villa AL Ghobrah, 6 bedroom 1200/-

R.O. Contact: 99340055/97557555

Flat with A/C in the South Al Mabel-

la close to the Mosque Al Tawab con-

sists of 2 rooms, hall, 2 bathrooms

and kitchen. Contact: 99388995

2 bedrooms apartments for rent

in Al Khuwair and Ghubra. Call Yel-

low Bird property on 24615375 /

97137989 or visit

www.muscat-realty.com

Good flat villa type at Mobeileah

Senaiya. Contact : 99879872

New building in Wadi Kabir, 2 bed-

room flats. Contact: 99313274

3 bed room flat near ONTC Ruwi.

Contact: 99653336

Residential /commercial 2 B/R

near Medical College Bausher from

Owner. Contact: 92158031

256 sq mtrs restaurant for rent in

Plaza Hotel, Walja Ruwi.

Contact 99326339

Six bed room twin villa Al Athaiba.

Contact: 99207840

4 bed room flat at Al Hail South.

Contact: 99207840

Three new three bedrooms flats

with servants rooms Al Khuwair 39.

Contact: 99207840

1 Villa & 3 big Flats of 2/3 BHK with

hall, Kitchen & ACs Al Khoudh 6,

Close to express way, from owner.

Tel 97600322 alnehang@gmail.com

1BHK with A/C Mumtaz. R.O 250/-.

Contact 97799175

Fabulous AC flat at Al Khoud 3 bed-

rooms, hall and kitchen RO 270/- for

rent. Contact: 99334699

2BHK near Oman house behind

Khimji, H.O. Contact: 95865686

Flat for rent in Walja Ruwi, 2

bedrooms, 2 toilets and kitchen for

further enquiry. Contact: 95464607

Room for rent, street 18Nov. Azaiba.

Contact: 99785561

For rent in Qantab European style 4

bedrooms, 4 baths, Guest toilet, fully

equipped modern kitchen, covered

car park for two cars, approximately

150 meters from the beach. For

enquiries, please Contact: Yasser at

92606005

Deluxe 3 BHK Penthouse with

Seaview, ideal for office / residence

at Qurum near PDO.

Contact: 9772 1313 / 9507 0421

2BHK / I BHK newly renovated flats

at Wattaya R/O – Near the Mosque

for Families. Preferably for one

company. Contact : 96457757 -

9 am to 7 Pm.

Flats shops and store for rent in

Ruwi, MBD Honda road.

Contact 97293708 / 92433127

Flats for rent near Indian School in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122

4 BHK single villa in Al Khuwair.

Contact: 97616158

2 BHK flat in Al Ansab with

split A/C. RO.250/-

Contact – 93191111

506sqm space with mezzanine

available for rent in AL Wadi Al

Kabir, Suitable for carpentry / Auto

workshop and / or electrical shop

interested parties may.

Contact: 24703981

D2 M O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5

For rent if require flats for rent in

Wadi Kabir please send me mes-

sages through Whatsapp.

Contact: 99376454

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair 33,

8 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms with

parking area near Taimur Mosque.

Contact: 99366624

Office space at Alasfoor Plaza

Qurum. Contact : 24566217

/24564686

2 BHK Flats for rent Muttrah

near Oman house.

Contact: 97009734/92629232

Flat in South Al Hail, 2 bedrooms,

Majlis, 2 bathrooms, kitchen RO

250/-. Contact 93221474

Flat in Ruwi Mumtaz 2 BHK

RO 300 or 1 BHK 250 RO.

Contact 98588240

Luxury 3 BHK flat in Al Wattaya

with split A/C & private parking.

RO.500/- Contact – 93191111

Bath attached room for rent

Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569

Commercial 3 BHK flat in Al Ghobra

18 Nov Street. RO 700/-

Contact 93191111

2 BHK flat in Al Azaiba near sea,

with split A/C. RO.340/-

Contact 93191111

3000 sq mtrs Industrial landß,

in Barka Sanaiya, with electricity

400KW, shed, staff accommodation

and office. Ready to start any kind

of factory. Contact 99384255.

FOR SALE

BUYING/SELLING

Rooms available with separate

bathroom for executive bachelors in

azaiba near al meera hyper market.

Gsm 99053844

ACC. AVAILABLE

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new flat avail-

able at Mabela in front of Modern

English School Contact: 96239126

Deluxe 1, 2 BHK flats in Darsait,

AL Khuwair 1deal for office &

residence. Contact 99369081

/99142314

ACC. WANTED

Required a room in Darsait / Wadi-

Kabir /Ruwi area. #95405033

Equipped kitchen showroom com-

pany for sale at Ghubrah, Muscat.

6 visa available, Contact owner at

96303747

House hold items. Contact: 97094797

Salon for sale in Muttrah next to

Muttrah Health Center 2/500 -R.O .

Contact: 99012807

Brand new 4 BHK plus Maids room

in Barka, 2 Kms from Lulu.

Contact: 99347089

Well established medium size

construction company for sale.

Equipments, 30 employees & ongo-

ing projects. Serious buyers only

99412020

Wall papers, grass carpets sale

& fixing. Contact: 99834373 /

97102699

Turkish MDF door with frame for

sale, size 210 x 100 Price: RO 75/-.

Contact: 95899296 / 92141514

6 bedroom, 6 bath rooms, sitting &

dining villa at Qurum.

Contact: 99342733

Commercial land for sale 3000 m

in quriyat road main high way can

use as a petrol station license

available asking price 350,000

For more information please call on

99070701 with out name

2 BHK commercial /

residential flat at Honda Road.

Contact: 99342733/99795241

Small old house for rent Al Ghobrah.

Contact 95112461

Furnished room for Indian couples

or family near Honda Road (Walja).

Contact 98952904

Fully furnished room in Ruwi for

non cooking ex- bachelor.

Contact 94412557

Furnished bedroom with separate

bathroom and kitchen on sharing in

Darsait for Ex- bachelors.

Contact : 95376096

Furnished room attached bath room

& kitchen for Executive bachelor /

family, Honda road near NBO bank

Ruwi. Contact: 98582078

Fully furnished room for a decent

expatriate. independent kitchen,

bathroom in Wadi Adai.

Contact 96243086 at 5p.m.

For sharing accommodation room

with toilet attached, kitchen sharing

near clean building next to main

road near Indian school Wadi Kabir,

Indian couples family or bachelor.

Contact: 95345537 / 94672007

Furnished room attached bath for

lady in Wadikabir (Mars Hypermar-

ket) – 95941515

Furnished room with attached bath-

room in W/K. Contact: 97167857

Sharing for non cooking executive

bachelor in CBD area WIFI free,

Advance deposit.

Contact: 95094504

Spacious room with bathroom and

kitchen. Contact: 91214537

Single room rear Oman house

Muttrah. Contact: 97477670

Spacious bedroom, T& K in Wadi

Kabir. Contact: 96098443

Single room with sharing kitchen

available for executive bachelor near

Saud Bahwan Residency Complex,

Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99024362,

93166353.

DAILY GUIDE

FOR RENTBuilding In Rusail Industrial

comprising a store divisible area 266 sq. meters.

The building includes Studios

residence.Preferably to be leased to

one company.

Mob + 968 96177505

Flat at Darsait. Contact 99326879

2BHK with split AC near PDO Gate

no -2 at Qurum. Contact: 94057023

Flat for rent in Mabellah 8th.

Contact: 97147240

2BHK with split AC at Al Khuwair

33. Contact: 94057023

All type of car scanner available

easy car diagnostic for professional

and self use Authorize LAUNCH

and Autel dealer. GSM:92393972

www.omancartools.com

Used furniture & Electronic items,

office & house. Contact: 99834373

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting,

Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery,

Glassware, Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculp-

tures, to Large Sound Systems and spec-

tacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222

for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for

Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

A/C room with separate balcony

and big wardrobe available for

non-cooking bachelor in CBD area

(near Stars cinema).

Rent OMR125 inclusive of electricity

and water charges.

Contact 96568110

Villa of 5 BHK in Al Ansab with split

A/C. RO.650/- Contact – 93191111

2 bed rooms, kitchen, toilet & car

park in Al Khuwair R.O 200/- .

Contact 95154331

Deluxe furnished / unfurnished

flats Qurum. Contact: 24566217 /

24564686

1.5 Acre full or as plots available for

sale at Mulanthuruthy 18 Km from

Ernakulam Asphalt road frontage.

Contact : 99235701

Email: jacobmathew@gmail.com

Fully decorated & Equipped kitchen

cabinet and marble showroom for

sale at Mabela industrial area road

no – 10 only serious buyers can.

Contact: 99337670/97763560

Shawarma Double burner for sale.

Contact: 95395378

DAILY GUIDEM O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5 D3

MOTOR VEHICLE FOR SALE

Toyota Camry 2.5glx, first registered

2013. Expat lady owner.

Contact 98149979

Suzuki Desire 2015, silver colour,

17000 km, excellent condition, 4

months old for just R.O 3,500/-.

Contact: 96473187

Toyota Prado 2008, Toyota Corolla

2009, Honda CRV 2009, low mileage

available at Bombay Medical, behind

Ruwi Police Station. #99326339

Chevrolet Epica 2008 very good

condition. Contact 92802299

Prado ,2012. Contact : 99336093

Sportage, 2013. Contact:

99336093

Peugeot 206-2007 Model, expat

driven. Contact 99209285

Land Cruiser 2012. Contact

99336093

2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40

ton petrol tank each working at the

moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35

Thousand each. Contact 97000155

or 92688692

NRI

CHANGE OF NAME

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00

noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to

space availability

SITUATION WANT-MATRIMONIAL

SITUATION WANT-MATRIMONIAL

Christian CSI Syrian boy, 31/178,

fair, working as Business Develop-

ment Officer in a reputed company

Muscat. Suitable proposals solic-

ited. Email: jamesmails2010@gmail.

com Contact: 98582078,

M4 - Marry - 4083713

Kerala Hindu Ezhava girl (28 yrs,

164 cm), Staff Nurse (MOH), seeks

suitable alliance from Graduates /

professionally qualified boys.

Contact: 91 9746343275 /

+91 9747801255

I Punnathuparambil Thankappan Shaju (name exactly as in present

passport) son of Thankappan

presently residing at the following

address in Al Suwaiq, P.B No. 234,

P.C No.320, Sultanate of Oman and

having permanent address in India

P.T. Shaju, Punnathuparambil (H)

Near Sreelakshmi Oil Mills, Meladur

P.O Thrissur Kerala 680741 (as per

present passport), holder of Indian

passport No. F 3839639 date of

issue 04/07/2005 place of issue

Cochin hereby solemnly affirm and

declare that Mini (name of my wife

appearing as my passport) and the

name of my wife Annamma Shaju

appearing as per her Indian pass-

port No . G 3723592 are the same

individuals and not two different

individuals. Any objection towards

name change of my wife may please

be communicated to Embassy of In-

dia, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters, Al

Khuwair, P.Box No. 1727, Postal Code

112, Ruwi , Sultanate of Oman.

38 cents plot with 2BHK house by

the river bank in Thrissur Dist. near

Irinjalakuda (Karavanoor).

Contact: 99347089

500 acre agricultural land suitable

for rubber plantation for sale in Rat-

nagiri Maharashtra. price 2 lakh per

acre, rubber board approved land,

minimum purchase 20 acre. We

provide care taking by experienced

Malayalee team for your plantation.

please call , prasad 95760790

Indian Kerala male 31 years Hindu

Ezhava working in Muscat

looking for life partner.

Contact: 99893119

Kerala Nair girl, B.Com, 22 yrs, 5.2”

very fair, slim, (Star Uthrattathi)

Presently working in infosis, Chen-

nai. Financially sound, from parents

of nair boys from Trissur, Palakkad

and Eranakulam & Calicut dist. .

Contact :0091 8301865688

email: raveendrandr@yahoo.com

DAILY GUIDED4 M O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

CATERING

ADMIN

ENGINEER

ENGINEER

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

TOURS

AUTO CAD/DRAUGHTS-

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Wanted Office Assistant- Indian

male with good knowledge in MS

Word & Excel. Contact 99107632.

Required Office Assistant

160+25+Acc, Contact 99454425

ACCOUNTANT

BEAUTY

Indian CA with 15 yrs exp working

as Finance Head of MNC looking for

Job. NOC Available. 94047434

Indian male, B.Com, Accountant,

10 yrs in Oman experience in Ac-

counts, knowledge of Tally ERP 9,

focus RT having NOC & D/L, looking

for suitable job. Contact 93086105

Male 26 yrs, MBA in Accounts

and Finance, 2 years Experience in

Management and Accounts Fields,

and 1 year experience in Operations

in Oman Looking for a suitable job.

Contact 94374745

Indian male 32 years MBA, 6 out

of 14 years experience in Oman in

accounts / finance having NOC and

Valid Oman driving license last date

in Oman 01/AUG/2015.

Contact: 94051463

Email: gkvenkatesh83@gmail.com

Indian male, B.Com 1 year experi-

ence in Accounts, on visit visa.

Contact 98295101

Indian male, 30 years, CMA

(Inter),M.com.4 out of 7 years

experience in Oman in Auditing/

Accounts/ Finance. Having NOC and

valid Oman D/L. Contact: 96746420

, Email: sijuthampi@ymail.com

Part Time Accounting, Accounts

Finalization, Audit Preparation,

Internal Audit, Onsite Tally

Training, Inventory Management

Contact : 96975454,

email : ibfc.gcc@gmail.com

Dynamic, Young Accountant

Professional with CPA and ACCA (in

progress) 2/3 years experience up

to finalization of accounts. currently

in Oman on visit. Contact: 94704330

/ 99094531

Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Graduate

1 year exp in Accounts, currently on

visit visa. Looking for suitable job.

Contact 94341848 /

Email – mohdhaji7272@gmail.com

Diploma in Computer 10 years expe-

rience as an Accountant, female now

in visit visa. Contact: 95453643

Accountant Indian male, 9 years

experience in Oman can do up to

finalization. NOC available can be

joined immediately.

Contact: 94134085

Email: muscatoman95@yahoo.com

Sudanese Accountant seeking

job in Nizwa state experience 10

years 3 years in Saudi Arabia, 7

yrs in Sudan. Contact : 97796394 /

94003247

Reduced experience Waiter / Supervisor/ Juice maker, Shawarma maker. Contact:

95395378

Traditional Omani restaurant requires: Waitress for restaurant. Delivery man with bike license

preferred. Interested candidates send

CV to: Email: omanhari@yahoo.com

Contact: 95892831

Family in Muscat seeking to hire an experienced butler. Hotel experi-

ence is preferred. Candidate must

hold a valid driver’s license.

Please send CV’s on

vacancyinmuscat@gmail.com

Finance Manager required : looking

for an experienced CA / Finance

Manager with knowledge of the

local market, able to take charge of

the companies finance department ,

must hold valid GCC driving license,

NOC required. E mail CV to

omanrecruitment1@gmail.com

Urgently required a part – time female Accountant fluent in English

with 2-3 years experience in Tally.

Email: mhca@mhabibgroup.com

Fax: 24564459

Urgently required female accountant with an experience

minimum 3years Email CV on

cv.hrcharity@gmail.com

Urgently required Junior Account-ant. Please send CV:

hr.azatllc@gmail.com

MEDICAL

SKILLED

IT

Urgent! Omani healthcare com-

pany looking for a smart proactive marketing executive cum product

specialist with strong English com-

munication skills, healthcare back-

ground and marketing experience

in medical/pharmacy/microbiology/

biotechnology field. Omani driving

license is a must. Mail your CV to:

vacancymedeq@gmail.com

Required for a reputed Medical

Center in Al Khuwair. General Practi-tioner Doctor, X- Ray technician. Please send CV: absmc2013@gmail.

com Fax: 24488660

Driver required for a Company,

2 years experience. Visa available.

Contact 24479922

Driver available with car and with-

out car Education, B. A exp. 5 years,

language Hindi, Arabic, English.

Contact: 98522914

Driver needed, preferably female.

Must hold valid driving license.

Contact 95591068

Required Omani Driver light / heavy duty & Marketing Executive. Contact: 24816774 /

99020458

DRIVER

Urgently required experienced sub-contractors for Marble Floor-

ing / Marble Cladding / Grinding /

Carving works . Contact : 92884177 /

99485595

Urgently required a silk Screen printer with good knowledge and

release letter or NOC. Contact:

93280288 or send CV to

albayanstamps@gmail.com

Electrical draftsman AutoCAD

switch gear & MEP control panel

7 years experience Qatar. Contact:

92546203/96228100

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

Vacancy for Omani PRO Email:

abid673@yahoo.com Mob 94192526

Urgently Required: Administra-tion with an experience minimum

in 3 years in building construc-

tion, required immediately join

and MUST have NOC.Apply, fax

00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com.

MANAGER

Commercial Manager required, looking for experienced Commercial

Manager with in depth knowledge

/ contacts within the local market,

must be able to deal professionally

with clients. Must hold valid GCC

driving license, NOC required. Email

CV to omanrecruitment1@gmail.com

Marketing Manager required, looking for experienced Marketing

Manager to work in the insurance

field, preferable to hold CMA license,

must hold valid GCC driving license,

NOC required. Contact : 99315069

Urgently required female Sales Promoters individual with pleasant

personality, excellent communica-

tions & presentation skills & experi-

ence in selling perfumes cosmetics

and skincare products would be

preferred. Send your CV & details

with recent photograph to

info@mawaridoman.com

or fax no 24127484/ Tel: 24127485

Wanted part time female Sales Executive with D/L for a reputed

company. Contact 94688874

A leading marketing company is

looking for outdoor Sales Execu-tives on part time or full time basis

in Salalah. # 92760281 / 96436719

Required Sales Executive with

minimum 2 years experience in Rice

/ FMCG sales. Email:

careerwithparamount@gmail.com

Looking for Outdoor Salesman for

heavy equipment spare parts.

Contact - 93292015,

Email: mail.om@gulfcenter.co

Required Sales man - 1 Person Quali-

fication. Gulf Experienced - Minimum

5 Years with Oman Driving Licence

Language - English Education:- Any

Degree Further Contact :

Mr. Abdul Hameed

Nashabat - Mobile No: 97414307 and

-92807399 amn@yaqeeneng.com

Urgently required Sales and Marketing Executive for Graphic de-

signing company. Contact: 96727631

mail: smartgraphic518@gmail.com

Required 1 male 1 female experi-

ence minimum 2 years, preferable

experience in travel tourism, good

work ethic, driving license, and

knows English & Arabic. Forward

your resume or CV to:

misfartourism@gmail.com

A reputed media company required female Marketing Executives with

minimum 3 years experiences in

Public relations, publishing &

advertising (with driving license).

Contact: 93946622 or FW: CV

job0808@gmail.com

Required male or female candidate with 5 years experience in renting

of properties. Interested candidates

may please mail to

alqurumprop@gmail.com

Well established company in

selling chocolate, Arabian sweets

and fresh flowers, opening ITS first

branch in Muscat seeking:

1- sweets and chocolates Sales man 2- flower arranger (Asian/ Filipino Nationality)

Contact: 94490011

Email: labelleoman@gmail.com

A company from UAE require 2 merchandisers in retail food

supply, store keeper with English

and invoicing experience. Email:

yesterdaysun@hotmail.com

Urgently Required: Male – handles overall store operations of the Su-

permarket, Prior Experience a MUST,

knowledgeable in MSOffice. Send CV

to chanda@dolphin-oman.com or

fax to 244-92718.

Mason, C.C.T.V, Technician, Electrician cum Plumber. Contact - 99383044

A reputed shipping and forwarding company urgently require Opera-tions Executive valid Omani D/L is

must. Experienced hands in ship-

ping field are preferred. Send your

CV to applymd2015@gmail.com

Minimum 2 years of experience

with valid gulf light driving license

interested candidates please

Contact: 99222086 /98585851

Required exp. employee for travel agency in Saham.

Contact :93655939 / 92900021

Required 2 male 2 female experience minimum 2 years, preferable experi-

ence in Travel tourism, good work ethic, fluent English, French, German

(Dutch), Italian. Forward your resume or CV to:

misfartourism@gmail.com

Looking for a Sales Engineer (Me-

chanical) with 2 to 3 year relevant

experience in the Oman market

with driving license .

Please forward your CV to :

mbdeast@gmail.com

Urgently Required: Civil Engineer with an experience minimum in

5 years in building construction,

MUST have NOC and immediately

join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com

Required a part time steel Struc-tural Design Engineer for a reputed

steel fabrication company in

Muscat. Interested person may

Contact : 99451158

Leading Construction Company requires Quantity Surveyor (QS)

with 4-6 yrs Gulf experience. Send

your CV : qsmuscat2015@gmail.com

(NOC required).

Quantity Surveyor (Civil & MEP) -1 No., Project Engineer – 1No both

with 7 yrs. Gulf experience.

Contact /

Email: omaniantrad@gmail.com

Required Civil Engineer (build-

ings) Oman experience 5+ years,

BOQ+ Tendering + site supervision.

Contact: 95218004

Email: alhilalint@yahoo.com

Construction Company in Oman

urgently requires following candi-

dates: BE Civil Engineer, minimum

3-5 years gulf experience & Civil site foreman, minimum 5 years gulf

experience, diploma not required.

Email: applyforoman@gmail.com

Leading Construction Company requires Project Engineer, Degree

holder with minimum 5 to 6 years

experience in building construction

line. (NOC require) Send your CV to –

degree.engineer2015@gmail.com

Required Civil Engineer (BE/ B.

Tech) with minimum 2 years GCC

experience and valid Oman driving

license. Email:

careerwithparamount@gmail.com

Construction Company in Oman

urgently requires the following:

B.Sc Civil Engineer, minimum 3-5

yrs Gulf experience. Civil Site Fore-man, minimum 5 yrs experience

with operating knowledge of Tally.

Please Email CV ;

applyforoman@gmail.com

IND male WEB developer 5 yrs exp

B.Tech (comp science) PHP, HTML

MYSQL Java script CSS.

Contact: 95990529

Email: renjith341@gmail.com

Wanted experienced Beautician for

beauty parlor in Al Amerat 3.

Contact: 91107337

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian male with total 5 year experi-

ence (2 years experience in Account-

ant cum sales co ordinator in a FMCG

Company in Oman) in accounts field

and NOC available. Looking for

suitable job Contact 92130188

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Indian female 25 MBA looking for

a suitable opening in Accounts,

Admin/Hr. Contact 97013375

Accountant 8 yrs experience

looking part time job.

Contact 99867456

Young, energetic 24, ACCA finalist,

Advanced diploma in Accounting

and business, seeking suitable

placement in accounts, finance or

audit. Contact: 92430152

Email: rau_dey@yahoo.com

Motivated and energetic male 25

having 4 years of experience in

finance with Master’s degree in Eco-

nomics and CAT Certified seeking

opportunity in Accounts/finance/

audit in a reputable organization.

Cell no: 00968-94626209 E-Mail:

omerjawedshah@gmail.com

MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in

finance/accounts/ auditing. Special-

ized in accounts payable dept, Ora-

cle app user, proficient in Sap (fico)

end user & tally 9.0. lean &six sigma

certified trainer on visit visa.

Contact – 91967213 / 99064780

Indian Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

finalization, having knowledge

of ERP, Tally, seeks suitable

placment.Contact 93950138

Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437

ADMIN

Required for Engineering consul-

tancy office a Supervision Staff for road project at Ibri region: Civil Engineer (B.Sc) RE with 12

years experience & Land Surveyor

(Diploma) with 8 years experience.

Please email CV & certificate copy to

alsarh@omantel.net.om

DRIVER

Pakistani driving available.

Contact : 96913836

DAILY GUIDEM O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5 D5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

DESIGNER

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

DEEE - Electrical Supervisor

10 years Oman experience. Ready for

NOC, visa transfer and valued Oman

red board light driving license.

Contact: 968 95298437

Mechanical Engineer, Indian 24

with 2 yrs experience in HVAC- MEP

Revit – MEP, AutoCAD – MEP Navis

solid works Catia PRO-E primavera.

Contact: 96975382

Email: bonny491@gmail.com

Indian female, BE, Civil engineer

with 1 year experience looking for

suitable vacancy, on visit.

Contact 95139583,

Email : aisushetty09@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer Indian male 29

years, having 5 years of experience

in industrial automation and utility

maintenance in India (MRF Tyres)

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92789995

Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

B.E in ECE worked as Junior Scien-

tist Trainee in Chennai worked as

System Admin in Berik Honda

Nagger coil worked at Technical

Support in Samsung Service, pres-

ently in Bangalore.

Contact : 0091 7026267513

Indian female 23, B.Tech (Electrical

& Electronics) & Diploma in

Electrical CAD on Visit Visa seeks

suitable placement.

Contact: 99278410 / 94027398,

Email: renju.raghavan7@gmail.com

Indian Civil Engineer (buildings)

available immediately as supply

contract. Contact: 93263834

Civil Engineer, 8 years experience

BOQ establishing, 5 years experience

in Oman Building and S.T.P experi-

ence, good knowledge of computer,

MS Excel, AutoCAD .

Contact: 99471944

Indian male Civil (B.E) with 2 yrs

well known E tabs staad, safe look-

ing for structural position. Contact:

98768045 / 96698342 Email:

qadeertom@gmail.com

26 years Oman experienced person

in automobiles, showroom & work-

shop areas seeks suitable replace-

ment. currently working as General

Manager in a local company.

Contact no: +968-92009700

CARPENTER-15 years gulf exp. In-

dian male looking for suitable post.

Present working in Crown Plaza.

NOC available. Please contact Jacob

96940120. jacob.sabu11@gmail.com

Chemical Engineer with 04 years

experience in petrochemical refinery

sector seeking for & suitable position

in petrochemical oil & gas, refinery

EPC Companies. #00968 91748400

Indian female, B.Tech biotechnology with strong computer

skills and 2 years experience as

associate research analyst (Media

Monitoring) in Nasdaq Oman seek-

ing growth oriented jobs. Contact

92044603 /918056169148 or

angeline.babithac@gmail.com.

MEDICAL

MISCELLANEOUS

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Indian male, B.E ( computer science

engineer), MBA (finance), OCA certi-

fied, having 5 years of experience in

oracle Dba/ oracle apps Dba, seeks

a suitable position in the field of IT.

Contact: 96212062

email: zubairkhan11@gmail.com

Well experienced MOH Licensed

Indian GP Doctor looking for locum /

permanent position in the

Capital area. Contact 98140024

email:drgpoman@yahoo.com

Architect and Interior designer, 8

years exp capable of managing turn

key projects, design, BOQ, Execution.

NOC available. Contact : 95273166

Interior Designer: Indian male 31,

8 years exp. in GCC, NOC available.

95217586

ADMIN

Production Manager 13 years

experience in cast Aluminium fab.

field and good track record seeking

for a suitable job. NOC ready in Hand.

Contact: 96392319

Indian male, with 8 yrs exp. in

Oman (BA- Graduate) working as

a project Sales Coordinator, with

Oman D/L, looking for suitable job,

ready to join immediately with NOC.

Contact 95245057

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Light driver. Contact: 96961993

Heavy duty driver with PDO license,

5 yrs Intl. exp. Contact: 95546585

Bangladeshi male light driver seeking suitable placement 1 yr

experience. Contact: 94158238

Driver available with car driver &

without car. Contact 96771598 /

94039796

Pakistani male (27) light driver

seeking job, 4 years experience in

Oman. Contact 96346582

Driver, 42 yrs seeks for suitable

job KSA, 12 years Oman 4 years,.

Contact: 95796030

Light driver. Contact: 95779594

Light Driver experience 4 yrs.

Contact: 98779907

Looking for driving job. Contact: 98219182

Driver looking for job. Contact

99507039

DRIVER

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Indian Female MBA, 3 years experi-

ence in Admin MIS, Family Visa.

Contact 98234427,

jkjsmith01@gmail.com

Indian male , 16 years of experience

and knowledge of tally also having

driving license and release, looking

for suitable positio n.

Contact : 96425101

Omani hard working have 6 years

experience as PRO and 4 years

as Admin officer and transport in

change with 6 years as safety office

on driving good English and PDO /

DL seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 92959251

A Lady with 5 years experience in

HR/Admin is looking for suitable job

and can join immediately.

Contact : 94465835

Indian male, MBA, HR seeking

immediate placement, on visit

visa. Contact 92624333. Email :

sheikhadnan@gmail.com

System administrator with 3 years

experience hold a degree, MCITP,

CCNA , CCTV biometric ,

seeking job in a company.

Contact: 99630084/98129845

Indian female with 10 yrs of experi-

ence in HR/Banking/Operations

seeks a suitable placement.

Can be contacted on 98919015 or

sherianne.coelho@gmail.com

Indian female Dentist MOH Oman

passed seeking a suitable place-

ment in capital region.

Contact– 91377681

hashimsarawat@gmail.com

Indian male Radiographer 3+ years

of experience Diploma in Radiologi-

cal technology, looking for suitable

post. Contact: 98843139

M.Sc Nursing in Obstetrics and

Gynecology 3 yrs exp in teaching &

2 yrs at bed side looking for suitable

position, Indian female on visit visa.

Contact: 96220839

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable

job (NOC available)

Contact-93344378

TOURS & TRAVELS

25 Indian female B.S.C. Fashion

Technology. 5 years experience in

textile industry as a merchandiser

and good in fashion marketing.

Currently available on visit visa,

seeking for a suitable job.

Contact 96990368.

Email: simmy.missy@gmail.com

MBA - (F), M.Com, B.COM. Indian fe-

male having knowledge of accounts

with Tally looking for part time or

full time job. Presently on family

visa. Contact :- 91892264.

Email:- yashicapandya@gmail.com

Indian Female 10 years exp as cook

in Oman. South Indian & Gujarati

special looking for part-time job

Contact 96733187.

Indian male-28 Years, Diploma in

Electrical Egg, having gulf experi-

ence. Specialization on Electrical

Installation and Maintenance, Opera-

tion. 7 years experience seeks for

suitable placement.

Mob – 968-95334580. E-mail

-sunilkumar257.sk23@gmail.com

Indian male auto cad draughtsman

(civil) 8 years experience seeking for

part time job Mobile no:

00968 99070584,

E mail: remluvp@gmail.com

Seeking Teaching Position. Quali-

fied and experienced Native English

speaking teacher seeking posi-

tion in Muscat, I have a Teaching

Diploma , two Honours Degrees

and a CELTA Certificate. Position

at Language school will be suit-

able. Will e-mail CV. Whatsapp only

+96893952732

MBA (F), B.COM. Indian female

having knowledge of accounts with

Tally looking for full or part time

job. presently on family visit visa.

Contact :- 96259171.

Email:- bhumicapandya@gmail.com

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male,29 years.8 years experience

.Presently working in Oman as a

Senior Accountant with oman Driv-

ing license. NOC available, seek suit-

able opportunity. GSM: 97705854

Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer Sci-

ence) (Diploma Computer Engineer-

ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle PL-

SQL , MS SQL-server, MS visual studio

VBA, network. Contact :91415886

BSc Graduate, INDIAN male ,

seeking suitable jobs.

GSM: +91-8589820233.

MAIL ID: prajinap45@gmail.com

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support,

Networking, Security systems, Serv-

er support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91033395

Indian Male, 38 years old, DME –

Mechanical Maintenance Technician

11 years Oman experience. Ready for

NOC , VISA transfer, ready to join im-

mediately, Mob +968 95612870,

seeniselvan@gmail.com

Indian Male, 34 years old, DEE –

Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman

experience. Ready for NOC , VISA

transfer and valid Oman driving

licence light, ready to join immedi-

ately, Mob +91 9740679094,

kulasekar1980@gmail.com

24 years, Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3 yrs of experience

is seeking suitable placement in

Muscat, currently on visit visa &

ready to join immediately. Kindly

contact him on 98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Indian male 25 years B.tech com-

puters (Having 3 years of experience

in customer service/Admin/IT Sup-

port) looking for suitable position.

Visa Transfer/NOC Available im-

mediate to join. Contact: 98402389,

Mail: naresh6672@gmail.com

Indian Male Web developer with

5 year experience. Indian, Male, 27

years, B Tech(Computer science),

professional in php, html, mysql,

javascript, css. Contact:95990529

Email:renjith341@gmail.com

An experienced person who can

handle complete office activities and

purchases looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact: 92360524

Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need

suitable job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Btech computer science graduate

2015 passout.. Android application

marketing.. Having good communi-

cation skills and mindset to work in

a team. Contact 91024385

Engineer with 3 yrs experience in

Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical

maintained field on visit visa looking

for suitable job.

Contact 99191535

Email: fareed029@gmail.com

Female Postgraduate searching

suitable job. Contact 97792820

Indian male Oman D/L 2 years

Saudi experience in electrical, fire

and safety one year Oman logistic

management experience.

Contact : 91233475

Bangladeshi Post Graduate seeks

a job good command in English and

computer ready to take the chal-

lenge. Contact 93982627 Email:

saymun.riyad@gmail.com

B.E computer science, female,

2 years experience in IT/ HR/Admin-

istration with GCC driving license,

looking job suitable vacancy in IT/

HR/ Administration filed.

Contact: 97738624

Filipino Male looking for a job &

have experience in sales, waiter,

barista, technical support / customer

service with good communication

skills. Contact 91789465

Indian material controller/ store

keeper seeking job in Oman NOC /

Release available.

Contact: 91946174

Indian Female with over 9 yrs ex-

perience with good communication

skills seeks jobs in customer service

or sales field. Contact : 96108289,

shijipaul84@gmail.com

Part- Time Accountant, well experi-

ence senior accountant ,doing all

type of accounting works, Finaliza-

tion, Budgeting available.

Contact: :98803439

13 Years UAE experienced in MNC &

reputed firms logistics distribution

looking for a suitable placement, on

visit visa contact 99838743,

gani.dawood@gmail.com

Male Indian BBM Graduate 8 years

experience in logistics and ware

housing in a reputed company valid

driving license NOC available

looking for suitable position.

Contact : 96311786

Email: ubinfs@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING

Indian female (MTECH) having Gulf

experience in family visa seeking

suitable placement in Oman.

Contact : 94306164 / 91001194

Indian male MBA 7 years experience

in Hospitality industry, operation,

sales & marketing looking for suitable

vacancy. Contact 92115860

Email vibin.py@gmail.com

Market research / Hospitality

Indian male Graduate with nearly 30

yrs experience in Market research &

hospitality industry. NOC available.

Contact: 99347089

Indian 6 years experience as Sales

Executive with 2 years visa, driving

license seek suitable job.

Contact 92233068

6 years experienced male holding

Masters Degree with experience in

customer relationship, real estate,

Sales and IT. Contact: 98823248

Email: sajjadhussain@yahoo.com

Indian male Graduate with 18 years

experience in Sales and Marketing

currently on visit visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact : 91996486 /

99732070

Indian male looking for Sales

Executive job 2 years experience

in Indian completed B.B.A (visiting

visa). Contact : 95462921

Pakistani male 34 yrs Intermedi-

ate 2 yrs exp in sales & marketing

in Oman. Looking for suitable job.

Contact - 92146864

Indian male. 27, Post Graduate, 5+

yrs exp in Oman in Sales & Credit

Control, with valid Oman driving

License, NOC available, looking for

suitable placements. Ph: 9199 3376

Indian Male, B.Com Graduate,

23, with experience in Sales looking

for suitable placements. .

Contact 98371144

Indian male 45+ yrs , 20 yrs exp as

sales supervisor in India looking for

indoor sales /stores /cashier or any

suitable placement can speak Hindi

, English, Malayalam, Tamil, kannada

can join immediately on visit visa.

Contact 93086105/33016546

BE. Biomedical Engineer, 5 years

experience in the same field (Hos-

pital/company)looking for suitable

placement. Contact:92084807

Email:bonnygeorge1005@gmail.com

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER – Indian

male seeking Electrical Engineer job

with 2 years’ experience.

Contact: 94263445, E mail –

janardhanan53@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 hav-

ing 4years experience in accounting

& having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968094535881,

0091 9037622048

Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

ACCA Affiliate, 2.5years experience

in Audit/Finance in Global Big6

Firms and Oil company in Oman,

Looking for suitable permanent

placement. Release NOC Available.

Contact: #95140445,

a.saran891@gmail.com

Manager, Young Indian Male, MBA,

BBA. Having excellent manage-

rial experience (around 5 years) in

leading Multi-National-Company.

Looking for suitable positions.

Contact: 92700670,

fardhaan@gmail.com

Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with One

year three months Teaching

experience. Subject: EnglishSeeking

for a Better placement.

Now working in Oman.

Contact 93961142, 92184408,

Email:-anoopkesavan78@gmail.com

Sudanese/ 26 years/ master of

clinical pharmacy(1st class)/ 1 year

experience/live in India/excellent

communication in English(IELTS

Certificate) and arabic/

pharmacist license/

hassan_kassala@hotmail.com

00919600413966-96387227

Electrical Engineer, 29, Indian Male,

having 7+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable

placement in any Oman.

Contact - 97693456.

Mail ID : venkatbadri23@gmail.com

32 years, Filipina with experience

in Teleperformance, Manila call

centre, now working as Waitress in

Qatar seeking suitable post.

Contact 99022484

24 Years, indian male 2.5 Years ex-

perience in admin & accounts, dubai.

Currently on visit visa. Seeking suit-

able placement in admin & accounts.

M: 93016252 EMAIL:

shahabaskp@gmail.com

Indian male, MBA with 20 years of

experience in back office operation,

risk and operational management,

financial management for Finance

and Trading companies. Presently

available on visit visa.

Contact: 91276221

CCNA MCITP network support /net-

work technician with 2 years experi-

ence indian male having bachelors

degree on visit visa.

Contact : 93080871

sean.f.peters@outlook.com

Video Editor 29 years Indian male

with 8 years experience on visit visa

looking for a suitable placement

contact: 91275969

leomoorkoth@gmail.com

Omani male , BBA ,with 6 year

experience in HR &Admin looking for

opportunity in HR & Admin in Mus-

cat. Joint date after one month notice

period . Mobile 92223279

Indian male 25 yrs exp in Administra-

tion, Telecom, Optical Fiber Communi-

cation, Networking, MS Office. Seeks

any job. On visit visa. # 91385373 /

sridharbsnlma1455@gmail.com

Computer Networking/Facility

Mgmt 5 Yrs of Exp Holds B.E(ECE),

CCNA Looking for Good Opportunity,

Indian - Visit Visa. Contact 91911792/

arafakdnl@gmail.com

Network system Engineer B.E / ECE

+ CCNA & Ms certified with 4+ yrs exp

looking for a job. Currently in Oman

on visit visa. Contact: 92589502

Email: careersjegan

IT

Tanzanian male, 25 yrs Accountant

successful experience in Tanzania

looking for suitable placement in any

field. Contact : 96710154

Content Executive, freshers with

good communication skills and will-

ingness to learn may apply on

job@socioholics.com

ADVERTISING

Looking for JOB. I have done BS

Hons in Mass communication and

media, Specialised in Public Rela-

tions and Advertising. I have upto

1 year of experience. Immediate

Available. Open for any JOB. Sultan

Zafar #97034134

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D6 M O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5

Filipino Male looking for a job &

have experience in sales, waiter,

barista, technical support / customer

service with good communication

skills. # 91789465

PART TIME ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male, M. Com, 35 years, 12 Years

exp. in Accounts, 8 years in Oman.

Knowledge upto finalization. Having

valid D/L, seeks suitable Placement.

GSM: 96249124

Egyptian Civil Engineer, total expe-

rience 7 years - 2 years experience

in Oman. I am looking for Project

Engineer, I have good experience in

site & office works.

Contact number:91148708

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com.

ACCOUNTING – Indian male seeking

accounting job with 2 years

experience in accounting.

Contact: 94263445, E mail –

contactantonyxavieranand@gmail.

com

Sudanese male: 27 yrs, 2 years ex-

perience in accounting, other experi-

ence (purchasing – HR - Coordinat-

ing and Office Management), looking

for a job Omani Driving License,

NOC. Contact: 94174403

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Sudanese male (B.Sc, computer sci-

ence) (diploma computer engineer-

ing), 6 yrs. experience DBA oracle

PL-SQL, MS SQL - Server, MS visual

studio vba, network. # 91415886

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support,

Networking, Security systems, Serv-

er support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91055584

Over 15 years experience in Gulf.

Interior Architect, Lebanese Nation-

ality, on visit visa seeking a suitable

Placement. 96268005.

PRODUCTION OPERATOR – Indian

male seeking production operator or

related jobs with 4 years of experi-

ence in oil & gas field. #94263445.

Email: tonyxavier4u@gmail.com

Indian Keralite Male 35 looking for

Scaffolding supervisor post having 5

years of Supervisor and HSE experi-

ence in GCC Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Fluent in English Arabic and Hindi .

Contact 96155921, or mail

fysal.nellaya@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 yrs, having 7 years

Gulf + Indian experience in HR and

Admin field, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact: 97914340,

Email: rajkv3086@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 years MSM, B. Com

having 6years experience in Gulf

and India as a HR and Admin looking

for suitable placement.# :97914340.

Email: rajkv30@gmail.com

B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer Suda-

nese 3 yrs of exp. In industrial field

available in muscat on vist visa

seeking suitable job .

Contact: 95868922, Email:

almouthanaosman@yahoo.com

IT system and Printer engineer ME,

5Years bank IT Management exp in

India looking for full time job visit

visa contact 94462150

Indian male with 8 yrs experience

in FMCG in Oman as Sales Supervi-

sor looking for suitable placement.

NOC available. Gsm: 96495206

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

MCA IT Professional Indian Female

seek placement in Teaching/ Non

Teaching field. Presently on visit

visa. 9588 7051,

ashwininakod@gmail.com

ACCA Affiliate, Indian, 2.5Years

experience in Audit/ Finance in Big

6 Audit Firm and Oil Accounting in

PDO, For Permanent Placement for

Finance or Accounts or Audit. Re-

lease NOC Available on hand.

Contact #95140445,

a.saran891@gmail.com

Finance ACCA Affiliate, Worked as

an Auditor with 2.5 Years Experience

in reputed firm, Handled independ-

ent audit/finance assignments, Look-

ing for permanent placement, NOC

available. #95140445.

a.saran891@gmail.com

Piping Design Engineer, Indian

male 27, looking for suitable place-

ment in Piping Design & Engineer-

ing. Having 7 years of experience in

AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS

(11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact :

97351786 / 96143708, E-mail :

mohammednazeer07@gmail.com

Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer sci-

ence) (diploma computer engineer-

ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle pl-

sql, MS sql-server ,ms visual studio

vba, network. Contact :91415886

Indian Male, Graduate, 11 years

Sales experience in Lighting /

Industrial products, ready to join im-

mediately. GSM: 9710 5356

Indian heavy duty driver with 8

years experience in oman available

with NOC. GSM : 93601943

GSM : 94496457

Indian male, 28 yrs MBA (HR/M) 2

years experience in Indian Oman in

HR & admin seeks suitable place-

ments. NOC available.

Contact 97484159

Email: rameshkapa86@gmail.com

M.Sc 3+ years exp from France &

India in IT Support Engineer / Hard-

ware & Networking / Server support

/ scientific system support looking

for suitable positions. Indian, male

on visit visa, contact 98898781/

anoopys@gmail.com

Looking for managerial post (full

time ), More than Ten years of expe-

rience in Team Development ,Train-

ing, planning, Administration, Sales

& Marketing, Advertisement and

Credit Control and Logistics. Contact

91076608 / 99322748. Release &

noc available

Indian male, 34years having 10

years of experience in Sales, Sales

Coordination and Administration.

Experienced in SAP and

MS Office. NOC available.

Contact # 94686594

Indian Male MBA Marketing/HRM

3 year experience with Omani D/L,

seeking suitable jobs.

Contact: 97424188

email: dharwesh@gmail.com

Indian, Male, 23 years, BE Electri-

cal, having 2 years experience in

Electrical Works-H.T. cabling etc,

& Construction, looking for a suit-

able placement. # +968 96927880

(Oman), +91 9765376109 (India),

Email: rahulrevi6@gmail.com

Indian Female M.Com with Com-

puter Skills and Four Month Experi-

ence as Accountant ,Currently On

Family Visa Looking for a Suitable

Placement, Available Immediately.

Contact : 95846642,

Email : dhanyashree91@yahoo.com

Omani Mechanical Engineer, has

3 years experience ,has HSE, H2S,

Riggers/Banks men Permit, Drawing

/ cad, SCBA, Safety Leadership and

Initial Fire Response Courses. good

with computer and English language

looking for suitable job.

Contact 99224319-98454500

Indian male 22 Mechanical Diploma

holder Engg with HVAC certified,

having 1 year exp. seeking suitable

position. Currently available on visit

visa. Contact - 92835952

Indian male Diploma, Civil engineer

4.3 year experience at building

construction and consulting

company with Oman driving licence

and N.O.C available seeking suitable

placement Contact 95989500

email cv.shihabedappal@gmail.com

Business development Manager/Executive. Preferably minimum of

2 years experience. Valid driving

licence can apply on

job@socioholics.com

Having 9+ years exp. in Admin,

Purchase, Stores & Warehouse in re-

puted companies. Presently working

in Muscat and seeking for suitable

placement. Contact +968 97693456.

email : muralimahdav77@gmail.com

Innovative Indian Male 29, B.E &

M.Tech Web designer / developer

with over 5.5 years of work experi-

ence in HTML 5, CSS 3, SEO, Digital

marketing (DFP & DCM), Magento,

CMS, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Can join ASAP. # 00968 9630 3055

/ email: aditya.khandkar@gmail.com

10 YEAR Experienced PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER.

Currently working at Kerala, India.

Seeks placement.

Contact: 95872030 ,

email: - sajith3969@gmail.com

Indian male 48yrs with driving

license looking for a job to work as

driver / salesman. Residing at Al

Khoudh. Contact: 99551310

Young Indian Chartered Accountant,

female, Having 6 years experience in

Oman and India. Accounts and Finance

Manager, Auditor. Urgently seeking

suitable positions.# 92530131,

jobcareer44@gmail.com

Tunisian women looking for a job,

khnows english,frensh, italian and

arabic. Contact: 91171838

Indian female Nurse with 5 yrs of

experience, presently working in

Oman, seeking for suitable place-

ment. NOC available can join imme-

diately. Contact: 98329941

Email: ancyanish2011@gmail.com

Looking for part time jobs in Mus-

cat, Auto cad Draughtsman (Civil).

contact:-+968-99070584

email: remluvp@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ACCA Affiliate, Experience in audit/

finance of 2.5 years in Big 6 Firm

and Oil industry, looking for suitable

permanent placement, Release NOC

available. Contact: #95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

B.Tech Computer Engineer Wanted

job to work on(IT/Banking/Admin-

istrator/Technical/Office works)

having NOC with the limited time

from (04/06/2015 to 13/06/2015).

Mobile:98402389

email:naresh6672@gmail.com

British Beauty Therapist looking

for suitable position. please contact

:97175240

Highly Qualified & Experienced

Finance Manager Pakistani with

USA , UK & Canadian Degrees , CPA

,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA ,IFA- Finan-

cial Consultants Canada , Corporate

Analyst USA Professional of Bank-

ing , Audits ,ERPs & Profit Maximi-

zations ( NOC available ) call 94

504505 – 94403270

27 year Indian female who has 4

years of experience with logistics

function in distribution of spares

for both heavy machinery & wind

turbine parts. Kindly contact me on

+91 9790769104

E-mail: joemohana@yahoo.co.in

Indian male Executive Secretary

having vast experience in admin,

logistics & procurement well versed

with computer .seek suitable place-

ment. Contact : 99514286

Indian male MBA (U.K), 10 Years

of experience in Admin, Sales, HR,

stores and logistics seeks suitable

placement. Contact 99271903.

Indian Female MCA, 4 plus Years

of experience in Web designing, Ad-

min, P.A, seeks suitable placement.

Contact 99486374

8 Years successful experience,

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male,29 years. Presently working in

Oman as a Senior Accountant

with oman Driving license seeks suit-

able opportunity. GSM: 97705854

7 and half years experience working

accounts / inventory manager look-

ing suitable job. Contact: 96991782

Email: srinivasu.sp@gmail.com

Indian female , MCA BCA, certifica-

tion PL SQL , 6months training PHP,

date warehouse looking for suitable

placement. #95694330 Email:

mondkashyapodl@gmail.com

B.Com with more than 5 yrs exp.

looking for an accounts part tome

job work. know with tally.

Email-shilpa_62@yahoo.com

Part- time accountant, well experi-

ence senior accountant , doing all

type of accounting works, finaliza-

tion, budgeting available.

Contact : 98803439

Indian male, looking for a part time

accounting job. Having additional

knowledge & experience in

HR admin & purchase.

Contact 99196621

Indian Female, 24yrs, M.COM (Ac-

counts) having 3yrs experience

in Accounts, HR, Administration,

Customer Service. Good Computer

Proficiency. Seeking Suitable Posi-

tion. Visa Transfer/NOC Available.

Contact: 99654913

HSE Advisor, NEBOSH IGC, Indian

male, 4 years experience in con-

struction and oil fields, seeking suit-

able jobs. Gsm: 97458900,

Mail: miroshbabu@gmail.com

Highly Experienced Finance Man-

ager, CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA , Pro-

fessional of Banking, Audits , ERPs

Sap , Management as Team Leader

and Problem Solver call 94 504505

/ 94403270

Indian male MBA Finance presently

OMAN IN visit visa, 26 years, looking

for an accountant job. # 95240641,

email Id mohammadabdulazharud-

din@gmail.com

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male,

having 9+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable place-

ment in any gulf region. Contact

+968 99276601 & 97693456. email :

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

MEP Quantity Surveyor-Estimation-

Project, 10 Years Experience

(3 years in Oman). Having NOC &

Oman D/L, looking for suitable job,

Contact - 98291626

Indian house maid looking full time

job. Contact : 98254909

B.E. Civil Engineer age 27, total 3

years of experience in Mumbai look-

ing for placement asap in oman now

on visit visa of 1 month ph 9571 3441

Email. Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3

year Diploma in electrical engineer,

5 years experience in different ac-

tivities . Mobile No ; +96894549609

ACCA affiliate, with 2.5 years

experience in Big6 audit firm and

Oil industry, looking for permanent

placement in Accounts/Audit.

Release available Contact :95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

Indian Female, Commerce Graduate,

Total 9 yrs of experience in India.

worked as Accounts Assistant and

Business executive seeking for suit-

able placement.

Tel : 96173533/24222457

Email : topranidivya@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Female Executive Assistant/Execu-

tive Secretary with 27+ experience,

worked with top management/Board

in financial services with shorthand

skills & Omani driving license,

seeks suitable placement.

call 95941515

B.E. Civil Engineer from India with

3 years of experience looking for

suitable vacancy in oman now on

visit visa. Contact 9571 3441,

Email . Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian male 21 IT Eng. networking &

computer hardware diploma, 1 year

experience, currently on visit visa

looking for a suitable job.# 96036273

email: faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com

8 yrs exp Site supervisor cum 2d,

3d Draughtsman (holding Omani

driving license) seeking job.

Contact : 93790601

Indian, 32 years, completed M.A.

English, M.Sc. Psychology and B.Ed

in English. Searching for suitable job

in the field of teaching. To

Contact: 00968 99869535

Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com

26 years Indian male with MBA &

PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience

in Administration, seeking suit-

able placement in any gulf region.

Holding Oman valid driving license.

Contact :94501423

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Finance ACCA Affiliate, 2.5 years

experience in audit/finance and oil

company in reputed firms. Look-

ing for suitable permanent place-

ment. Release available. Contact

95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDEM O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5 D7

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

TOURS

GOOD NEWS

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL ,

CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November

street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 /

99117987

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. If you would like to know more

about Islam, please call: 99425598,

96050000, 99353988, 99253818,

99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723

Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /

92504980 www.siddhayur.com

Butter cup rent a car presents fantastic offers all vehicles are model 2016.

Contact : 97249449

DRIVING

Learn driving with professional

only automatic. Contact 94022250

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. *

Subject to space availability

RENT A CAR

SITUATION WANT-MANPOWER

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact: 96538078

Transportation. Contact:

98522914

Transportation. Contact 99508282

Transportation. Contact:

98244078

Pick & Drop any time. Contact:

97014786

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 M O N D AY, J U LY 6 , 2 0 1 5

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

House shifting. Contact 99708138

Carpet, curtain, sofa, floor,

cleaning, shampooing, marble &

mosaic tiles grinding, polishing

and painting. Contact : 93630133 /

95821193

House shifting packing.

99657644 / 98518013

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-ter-

mite treatment, general cleaning

painting, Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir

Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.

# 24810137, 99450130

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

CLASSES

CLASSES

COMPUTER

ACCOUNTANTS AND CONSULTANTSWE ARE PROVIDING

ACCOUNTING/ AUDITINGTAX/ CONSULTING

CONTACT: 24 567 251 / 95 498 033

Admission Open: CAMBRIDGE /

BILINGUAL CURRICULUM

admission started in Al Burj Private

School, Azaiba for KG and Grade I to

IV. Please register soonest.

Contact: 93211417 / 92887809.

Split & window A.C servic-

ing & maintenance. Contact

93769089/95323517

Air condition maintenance split

and window services AC specialist

ducted and package type unites.

Contact: 98667326

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet

& sofa shampooing, Contact

99314807/24792998

Split & widow unit A.C servicing &

repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split & window unit A.C servicing &

maintenance.

Contact: 96236476

Window & split unit A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact : 93769089 /

95323517

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance.Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

Carpet, Sofa Shampooing. Ocean

Center LLC. Contact: 99884591

AC servicing maintenance fixing.

Contact: 99540621

BUSINESS

Required investor for new

company. Contact: 96996938

General Investors. Gsm-99674870

Learn Cup cakes, exotic cakes, Ic-

ing decorations, handicrafts.

Contact 95941515

A/C Maintenance & servicing, fridge,

washing machine & dish washer

repairing, painting & cleaning ser-

vices, electrical & plumbing. Contact:

99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

Pest control Treatments, termites,

cockroaches, bedbugs Ocean Center

LLC. Contact: 99344723

B.E Biomedical Engineer, having 5

years of experience in Diagnostics

division seeking suitable position.

94151658

SIT.WANTED

Indian female MA. B.Ed. with one

year three months teaching experi-

ence. Subject: English Seeking for a

Better placement. Now working in

Oman Contact: 93961142, 92184408

Email:anoopkesavan78@gmail.com

B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer Suda-

nese 3 yrs of exp. In industrial field

available in Muscat on visit visa

seeking suitable job .

Contact: 95868922, Email:

almouthanaosman@yahoo.com

Indian Male MBA with two year

experience in H.R as a H.R As-

sistant, Now in India, Seeking

for an urgent suitable position.

Contact:-98620260 / 93895992 ,

Email:-deepakmb4@gmail.com

Indian male auto cad draughts-

man (civil) 8 years experience,

seeking for part time job mobile no:

0096899070584

email: remluvp@gmail.com

8 years successful experience.

Senior Accountant, Indian male,

29 years, presently working in oman

as a senior accountant with oman

driving license. NOC available.

seek suitable opportunity.

gsm: 97705854

Electronics and instrumentation

Engineer 28 year Indian male, elec-

trical, electronic, industrial, building

& automation exp of 4+ yrs in India.

Contact - 93154156

CCNP Network Professional with 6 years experience having

Bachelors degree on visit visa looking

for suitable job. #96760618 email:

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25, 3

years experience in site, CAD, 3d, MS

Project, Seeking job in Oman.

Contact 92875345,

jubincivileng@gmail.com

Indian male, total experience is 5

years in Retail industry. Currently

supervisor in Sun and sand sports

Muscat City centre.

Contact : 96994345.

Email : jsp.jsr85@gmail.com