Times of Oman - June 30, 2016

Founded 1975 . Volume 41 No. | Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group

June 30, 2016 24 Ramadan 1437 AH

THURSDAY

40111

RAMADAN PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr 12.16pmAsr 3.34pmMaghrib 7.03pmIsha 8.25pm

Fajr (Tomorrow) 3.56am

IFTAR7.03PM

FAJR3.56AM

FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN

On the occasion of 7th National Day, 1977

The defence of our holy religion, the preservation of the freedom of our beloved Oman, and the protection of our people is safe in your hands.

‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’

MORNING MINUTE

REJIMON K [email protected]

MUSCAT: A depression that formed over the northwest Ara-bian Sea and was moving towards the Omani coast, has weakened, global meteorologists reported.

However, Oman’s meteorology department has predicted rain for areas along the coast.

“The depression has moved slowly southwards, at a speed of 5km per hour during the past 12 hours, and weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over the northwest and adjoining west central Arabian Sea at 07:00 hours (Oman time) on Wednes-day,” the Indian meteorological

department reported.According to the Oman me-

teorology department, there are chances of rain in the Al Sharqiya and Al Wusta region.

Isolated rainJason Nicholls, a senior meteor-ologist at Accuweather.com, said remnants of the Tropical Cyclone 02A will bring isolated rain to South Oman.

“Isolated rain is possible in the south Arabian Peninsula into Fri-day,” the meteorologist said.

Further, the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) has is-sued a final advisory, saying the system will dissipate.

According to JTWC, the system

was centred 248 nautical miles off Masirah Island, as of Tuesday.

Meanwhile, residents of Ma-sirah Island said that even though it was windy and drizzling, there were no heavy rains to report.

Cloudy sky“Nothing happened, so far, as pre-dicted. We may get rain tonight. Skies are cloudy,” Biju MP, a busi-nessman in Masirah, said.

In June 2015, Masirah, Sur and many regions of Yemen were struck by tropical storm Ashobaa.

Hundreds of people had to be rescued from low lying areas in Sur and the nearby wilayats by Royal Oman Police personnel and helicopter rescue teams.

F O R E C A S T

HM receives greetingsMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of congratulations to President Joseph Kabila of the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo on the occasion of his country’s Inde-pendence Anniversary.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sin-cere congratulations and best wishes to President Kabila and his country’s people. -ONA

C O N G O

A3

Omani striker visits sick children in hospital

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

Depression over Arabian Sea weakens, coast to get rain

OMANCheer for 59 Al Sawadi workers

1Of the 73 Al Sawadi workers who were stranded without pay, 59

have received a favourable judgment from the court. >A3

OMANTalks held on GCC rail project in Riyadh

2Talks on the GCC rail network have been reportedly held among

the government officials in Riyadh. >A7

MARKETPDO raises $4b for project financing

3PDO, acting on behalf of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, has

successfully raised $4 billion from a group of international financial institutions. >B1

Special

Supplement

inside A8&9

SAFETY & SECURITY

Special

Supplement

inside

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DEEBA [email protected]

MUSCAT: Fake degree certifi-cates are routinely being used to land jobs in Oman, according to the department responsible for rooting out the cheats.

The Ministry of Higher Edu-cation sees so many fake docu-ments it has even classified the attempts to cheat into four cat-egories and a dedicated depart-ment vets all submissions.

Recently, the government an-nounced that all degrees obtained outside the Sultanate would have to be submitted to the Department of Qualification Equivalency and Recognition so that the authori-ties could verify credentials.

That rule applies to everyone working in Oman who obtained their position because of the qual-ification, whether expat or Omani.

The new rule was introduced to

monitor the quality of graduates working in the Sultanate.

More than 100 fake degrees have already been discovered. The ministry made no comment on consequences for those who have submitted the fraudulent papers.

“Ever since we put out our new legislation, which made equiva-lency compulsory for academic qualifications obtained from for-eign universities outside Oman, the ministry has been receiv-ing applications and has come across some cases of fraud cer-tificates this year,” Khadija Al Subhi from the department told the Times of Oman.

Earlier this year, the ministry had made an announcement on the importance of equivalency saying that, “Everyone who is em-ployed in Oman, both in the pub-lic and private sectors, has to get their qualification equalised by the Ministry.” >A6

As applicants have been cornering jobs by

submitting fake certificates, Oman has made

mandatory the screening of all degrees

Ministry unmasks fake degree‘graduates’

T E R R O R S T R I K E

Omani teenager drowns in SeebTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Body of a 14-year-old Omani boy, who reportedly drowned near Al Seeb, was re-covered while his friend aged 14 years was rescued by the Royal Oman Police.

Coastguards received a distress call on Wednesday from a citizen who reportedly saw the two young boys heading towards the sea for swimming in Sur Al Hadid area

for more than half an hour without coming back.

“An Omani national who saw them swimming, alerted others when they didn’t turn up after a long time around 6 in the morn-ing,” sources said.

Immediately, rescue teams were rushed to the site which found the first boy and gave him the first aid. He was transferred to Sultan Qa-boos University Hospital, while the other was found dead.

O N E R E S C U E D

Narrow escape for Oman-based US teacher in TurkeyDEEBA HASANdeeba@timesofoman

MUSCAT: An American who lives and works in Muscat had a narrow escape when his plane took off from Ataturk Airport in Turkey hours before Wednesday’s attacks occurred.

David Lazaro, 28, an English Language teacher, based in Oman, was on his way to the United States for a holiday, with a layover of over three hours at the airport in Turkey, the very same place where the attacks took place.

A bomb attack on Turkey’s Atat-urk Airport in Istanbul occurred last night and has left over 40 people dead and over 200 injured, with the toll still expected to rise.

Lazaro left Muscat at 6:20 in the morning on June 28 for Istan-bul on a Turkish Airlines flight and reached Turkey at 10.30am (Turkish time). “My layover was for three hours before I departed for Atlanta, the airport was very crowded with a very clear security presence,” he said. >A7

MUSCAT: Oman has condemned the terrorist attack on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey leading to a number of deaths and injuries, said a spokesper-son of the Foreign Minis-try. While Oman affirms its full support to the Tur-key in taking measures to protect its security and stability, it expresses its condolences and sympa-thy to the families of the victims, the government and people of Turkey and wishes speedy recovery for the injured. -ONA

Sultanate condemns airport blast

A2 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

OMAN‘Marriage among relatives adds to disabled numbers’

BABA [email protected]

MUSCAT: Consanguineous mar-riages - union between two indi-viduals who are related as second cousins or closer - could be the ma-jor reason for hearing loss among many hearing impaired people in the Sultanate, health experts and the association of the hearing im-paired said.

Oman ranks second after Saudi Arabia in the number of hearing impaired with one estimate sug-gesting more than 15,000 patients in the Sultanate. Consanguineous marriages are practiced in Oman and several Muslim countries in the region and in South Asia.

“Consanguineous marriages or parents who are related as cous-ins or second cousins is the prime cause of this disorder,” Yahya Al Barashdi, a member of the Oman Association for the Hearing Im-paired, told the Times of Oman.

“Then there are accidents, in-fections and other causes,” he said. Most of the hearing impaired pop-ulation in Oman is concentrated in Al Batinah region in the north

(5,000) and Muscat (4,000).

Previous studiesThere are no new studies on the subject though. Dr Mazin Al Kha-bouri, senior consultant, ENT, at the Ministry of Health and WHO (World Health Organisation) Con-sultant on global hearing loss pro-grammes who last surveyed the causes of “severe to profound deaf-ness in Oman’s paediatric popu-lation,” found 70 per cent of the hearing impaired children were offsprings of consanguineous mar-riages while 30 per cent from non-consanguineous unions.

“In those with consanguineous families, 70.16 per cent were first cousins’ marriages, 17.54 per cent were second cousins and 10.86 per centwere from the same tribe,” he told the Times.

He said the study was based on a national retrospective analysis of 1,400 questionnaires on the causes of hearing loss in Omani children, collected from 1986 to 2000. In the total cohort, 45 per cent had other affected family members. The study found that there was a greater chance of other relatives being af-fected in the consanguineous group as opposed to the non-consanguin-eous group (29.7 per cent versus 15.3 per cent).

Hearing screening“In most cases, the affected rela-tive was a hearing impaired sib-ling (67.8 per cent). We have demonstrated a higher rate of consanguinity among parents of deaf children in Oman and sug-gested that this indicated a higher frequency of autosomal recessive deafness in this population,” Al Khabouri said.

About Oman’s efforts to address the issue, he said it is among the first nations to undertake UNHS

(Universal Newborn Hearing Screening) as a national priority, an initiative launched as part of the national programme about ear care.

“The programme has evolved consistently and has been the main feeder for the Cochlear Im-plant programme,” he added. A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgical-ly implanted electronic device that offers a sense of sound to a person who is extremely hearing impaired or severely hard of hearing in both ears. “The Omani government, represented by the health min-istry, the education ministry and the social development ministry, is committed to help the deaf in all aspects,” Al Khabouri added.

90 per cent coverageHe said the programme has helped in bringing down the age at which Cochlear Implantation can take place. “The National Universal Newborn Hearing Screening pro-gramme has achieved close to 90 per cent coverage of hearing screening across all regions. This is short of the ideal which is 95 per cent but is nevertheless encourag-ing and amongst the best coverage when considered at the national level,” he said.

In another study, he said, 11,400 Omani people of all ages were sur-veyed to detect hearing disabilities and common ear diseases. It was concluded that 55.3 per thousand of the population had some de-gree of hearing impairment. The proportion percentage of bilateral deaf was more in males, he said.

According to the WHO, about 360 million people worldwide have disabling hearing losses re-sulting from genetic causes, com-plications at birth, infectious dis-eases, chronic ear infections, the use of particular drugs, exposure to excessive noise and ageing.

Consanguineous

marriages or parents

who are related as

cousins or second

cousins is the prime

cause of hearing

disorders, say experts

Brexit vote boosts gold as people seek safe haven

MOBIN MATHEW [email protected]

MUSCAT: Gold is the safest in-vestment in volatile markets, said experts and officials in Oman af-ter the sudden hike in prices due to the Brexit effect.

Last Friday, gold prices in-creased 5.5 per cent for a gram fol-lowing the Brexit vote, which cre-ated a new range for the precious metal in recent times, which is now showing some signs of an imminent drop.

“Gold is often perceived as a hedge against economic and fi-nancial risk,” Jose Chacko, an analyst in Muscat told the Times of Oman (TOO).

“Gold prices will trend higher in the third quarter as the full rami-fications of Brexit begin to be felt, but expect it to fall again in the fourth quarter after the U.S. elec-tion and as the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve) gets ready to hike again,” another market expert said.

On Friday, the rate for one gram gold increased to OMR16.35 from Thursday’s price of OMR15.50, after a majority of British vot-ers chose to leave the European

Union (EU). The reason for the increase in prices was investors wanting to put their money into so-called safe assets, according to experts and some jewellery shop employees.

“The outcome of the Brexit polls caught the financial markets off-guard and sent investors run-ning toward the precious metal,” a market expert noted.

The price for one gram of gold has dropped to OMR16.15 on Wednesday, compared with Fri-day. “The rise in price was a short term after effect of Brexit; gold is seen as a safe haven at times of market turmoil,” he stated.

Sales not affectedAccording to Anto Ignatious, country manager for jewellery brand Joy Alukkas, the price hike has not affected their sales so far.

“We are having normal busi-ness all around the country; there is neither a drop nor a rise in our sales,” Ignatious told TOO.

He further stated that experts in the market predict that prices may surge further at the end of this year. “This is the best time to invest in gold as the experts pre-

dict a hike in the price,” Ignatious asserted. “Even though there is no huge increase in sales as many residents are out of the country on vacation.”

According to Najeeb K, Oman regional head for jewellery brand Malabar Gold and Diamonds, there is a chance of a price in-crease in the coming days.

“I expect the precious metal to move on a volatile path, but there are indications that prices could continue to trade higher and test the $1,450 for an ounce (limit) before the end of the year,” an offi-cial in the jewellery business, who was unwilling to be quoted, said.

“We witnessed a pickup in our sales as the price started to fluctu-ate due to Brexit,” he added.

Safest investment“I bought it (gold) in the fear that the price may go up further in the coming days and if it goes up it will be a safe asset to earn more money at that time,” Roy Mathew, an Indian businessman in Muscat told TOO. “Gold may see some ups and downs; still it is the saf-est investment from a long term perspective, which made me to invest in it,” Mohammed Gafoor, another businessman said.

“We already had a plan to buy some gold this Eid, but when we came to know that the price may rise in the coming days, it made us buy it early,” a homemaker said.

Jewellery shops in Oman have also announced a lot of offers and bumper prizes for Ramadan cus-tomers to celebrate Eid-Al-Fitr.

Joy Alukkas is gifting an Audi car to one of its lucky customers as a bumper prize for this Eid-Al-Fitr. “A customer, who is spending more than OMR50, will earn a raf-fle coupon and a lucky one will get an Audi A3; 8 gram coins will also be given to five other lucky win-ners,” Ignatious said.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds is offering its customers the chance to win up to 10 kilograms of gold with every purchase of OMR50.

V O L A T I L E M A R K E T S

IMPACT: The outcome of the Brexit polls caught the financial

markets off-guard and sent investors running towards the

precious metal. – File

In those with consanguineous families, 70.16 per cent

were first cousins’ marriages, 17.54 per cent were second

cousins and 10.86 per centwere from the same tribe

Dr Mazin Al Khabouri, senior consultant

A3

OMANT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

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Cheer for 59 Al Sawadi workers

REJIMON [email protected]

MUSCAT: Of the 73 Al Sawadi workers who were stranded with-out pay when the resort that em-ployed them closed, 59 have re-ceived a favourable judgment from the court, while the remaining 14 are waiting for a final court ruling

on July 25. One worker, speaking to the Times of Oman, said, “59 have received a favourable judg-ment. They claimed they were paid only basic salaries. Soon, they will get their money.”

The workers were left without food, water and power after the resort closed on March 11, and said they had not received salaries for

the past year.Meanwhile, as the remaining

14 workers claimed additional pay, including annual leave, pub-lic holidays, overtime, working on off days, monthly allowances, and flight tickets claims, which they are eligible for, the court has di-rected officials to audit the settle-ment and has postponed the case until July 25.

“We have to deposit the money for the auditing and it has to be done before July 18. Every worker has to pay OMR100 for the audit-ing. If we do that, we will receive our pending salaries within 30 days from the judgment date, pro-vided there are no further appeals by the management company,” workers said.

After the plight of stranded workers was reported in the media, Oman trade union members came forward to support the workers by providing food and legal support. A popular Facebook page in Oman,

“What’s Happening Muscat Oman (WHMO),” also launched a cam-paign to collect food and other items for the stranded workers.

Since the beginning, WHMO members have been raising money

and collecting needed personal items for the stranded workers.Further, members of the group have paid some of the workers’ debts, in-cluding school fees and loans.

Currently, WHMO members are coordinating with other con-cerned people to raise the money required for the audit.

At present, Oman does not have a dedicated court to deal with labour disputes, which are, instead, han-dled in the general courts. However, a senior Ministry of Manpower (MoM) official has confirmed that a special court dedicated to set-tling labour disputes in Oman will be created soon. Salem Al Saadi, advisor to the MoM, told Times of Oman that the ministry is working to establish a labour disputes court.

59 stranded Al Sawadi workers will soon

get their full salary while 14 others who had

additional claims await the final court ruling

PROJECT GONE AWRY: The workers were left without food, water

and power after the resort closed on March 11, and said they had

not received salaries for the past year. – File photo

Year end completion for OMR5 million City Centre Qurum expansion projectTimes News Service

MUSCAT: City Centre Qurum’s OMR5 million-worth expansion project is expected to be complete by 2016, officials said on Tuesday.

The project will add 3,150 square metres of incremental leasable area to accommodate Centre Point, which will also in-clude brands, such as Babyshop, Splash, Lifestyle and Shoe Mart.

Officials also announced that the construction of the new car park structure on level 2, which can accommodate 177 additional vehicles, is now complete.

New facilities The new car park facilities will have direct access to Vox Cine-mas, Magic Planet, and the mall’s food court.

“The addition complements 170 parking spaces that were recently made available to shop-pers, resulting in a total of 1,055 parking spaces at the City Centre Qurum,” said Watfa Humaid Al

Harthy, senior mall manager at City Centre Qurum.

Officials also announced that well-loved animation charac-ters: Shaun, Blizter, the Farmer

and the flock of sheep will take to the stage to perform live for children and their families at the City Centre Qurum from July 7 to 9, before heading to City Centre

Muscat from July 12 to 16, at 5:00pm, 6:30pm, and 8:00pm.

Eid celebrations“To mark Eid-Al-Fitr, which cel-ebrates the spirit of togetherness and camaraderie, we are thrilled to create great family moments by delivering unforgettable experi-ences with international perfor-mances for the whole family to enjoy. Last year, we debuted Tom & Jerry in Oman, and this year we are very excited to be celebrating this very special time of the year, with performances by everyone’s favourite animated sheep, Shaun and his farm friends,” said Husam Al Mandhari, senior mall manag-er at City Centre Muscat.

“Shaun the Sheep is a global sensation and is sure to cap-ture children’s hearts and have them dancing along with other famous characters,” said Al Har-thy. “We look forward to wel-coming families and friends to join us for a jubilant celebration to mark Eid-Al-Fitr.”

DEEBA [email protected]

MUSCAT: Prominent Omani footballer Emad Al Hosni visited the children’s ward at Sohar Hos-pital recently during Qaranqasho, a celebration for children held across the Arab world on the fifteenth night of Ramadan.

At the hospital, Al Hosni dis-tributed gifts to sick children and spent time with them. The children were delighted to see Oman’s top footballer in their company, and were excited when greeted by him. Speaking to the Times of Oman, Al Hosni said he was pleased to visit these children and bring some hap-piness to them. “I felt great and happy on visiting these children,

and I think, as Omanis, it is our duty to visit these kids, celebrate with them and share joyous moments with them, as well as make them feel they are just like other kids who should play and enjoy. I think we must always come together with patients and support them whenever we can,” noted Al Hosni.

Al Hosni is one of Oman Na-tional football team’s most popu-lar players. He was previously signed by Charleroi, a Belgian football club.

R E T A I L

Q A R A N Q A S H O

Emad Al Hosni with a child at

Sohar Hospital. – Supplied

Cooking gas shortageHASAN SHABAN AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Musandam, the northern governorate of Oman, is running out of cooking gas af-ter a massive fire destroyed the main gas supplying company in the area. Ahmed Al Kamzari, assistant director of Daba Mu-nicipality said that he is left with only one cooking gas cylinder in his home. “There is another sup-plier in Khasab but it can’t pro-vide enough gas for the populated neighbourhoods,” he said, adding that Musandam municipal coun-cil members said that a solution was expected on Wednesday.

F I R E I M P A C T

...we are very excited to be celebrating this very special time of the year, with performances by everyone’s favourite animated sheep, Shaun and his farm friends

Omani striker visits sick children in Sohar hospital

Water supplyMUSCAT: Water supply will be disrupted in North Al Hail and Al Khoud of the Wilayat of Al Seeb on Thursday. Work is scheduled from 8 pm for a period of 18 hours in North Al Hail and for 19 hours in Al Khoud. -ONA

D I S R U P T I O N

A4 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

WHERE TO SPEND YOUR ZAKAT The literal meaning of Zakat is ‘to cleanse’. In the Islamic faith, Zakat means purifying your wealth for the will of Allah by acknowledging that everything we own belongs to Him and as a means of working towards the betterment of the Muslim Ummah (community). Though Zakat is not always financial, and can include everything from volunteering your time to giving an encouraging word to your fellow man, according to Islamic regulations, Zakat is 2.5% of one year’s total cumulative wealth (there are various ways of calculating what should be counted), and when it comes to these financial donations to the less fortunate, it can be difficult to decide which causes speak most to your heart. We hope these charitable spotlights will help you decide.

{ Association for the Welfare of Handicapped Children }W H AT T H E Y D O

The Association for the Welfare of Handicapped Children serves handicapped

children ages 6 to 14 through a comprehensive programme that includes education, health,

physical assistance, and academic services. It gives these children an opportunity to enjoy

life fully and to integrate into the community. The association also supports scientific

studies and research into the causes of disabilities.

W H E R EThe association was registered in 1991

pursuant to a Ministerial Decision No. 19/91 with the aim of reaching every Omani child

with any form of disability.

F I N D O U T M O R E A N D D O N AT E +968 2449 6502, +968 2449 6501

[email protected] donate.om

GLOBAL RAMADAN RECIPESMALAYSIA

{ Bubur Lambuk }

I N G R E D I E N T S2 tablespoons ghee

3 tablespoons oil Pounded:

2.5cm (1 inch) piece of ginger6 pieces shallot6 pieces garlic

Spice mix:2.5cm (1 inch) cinnamon stick

3 pieces cloves1 piece star anise

2 pieces cardamom

Blended ingredients:1 teaspoon cumin seed

1 teaspoon coriander seed1 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon black peppercorn

500gm beef (chopped into bite-size pieces)Water (to cover 2 fingers above rice, add more as needed)

200gm white rice2 stalks lemon grass

200ml thick coconut milkSalt to taste

Fried shallots, for garnish

P R E PA R AT I O NHeat oil and ghee in a deep pot. Add pounded ingredients

and stir-fry till fragrant.Add spice mix, blended ingredients and beef pieces.

Cook until meat is tender.

Pour in water before adding rice and lemon grass. Bring rice and water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer

till rice turns into the texture of porridge.

Add coconut milk and season to taste with salt.Serve dish with a sprinkle of fried shallots.

PLACE OF WORSHIP

Ramadan presents a great opportunity to go pray in beautiful houses of worship that you might not otherwise see. Whether for

Taraweeh prayers or Dhuhr, this month, take time to pay a visit to one of Muscat’s architectural monuments of faith.

{ Masjid Asmaa Bint Alawi Al Jamal Al Leil }

Have you ever wanted to pray in a place that exudes royal splendour? Then this mosque, located in the posh area

of Madinat Al Ilam, should be at the top of your list. The architectural masterpiece commonly known as the Asmaa mosque, was built in 1986 by Qais Al Zawawi and his sib-

lings, and named after their beloved mother, Asmaa. Every detail is crafted to perfection, from its green zigzag-y,

Islamic patterned floor, to the gigantic star-shaped foun-tain in the courtyard, to the tiny green accent lamps, and

perfectly manicured palm trees. The huge gilded dome and inscribed, gilded door are pure art. It’s a visual wonderland

that is a pleasure to linger and pray in.

*This mosque has a Ladies’ Prayer Hall

IFTAR

WORD

Described as the “Ummatan Wasatan” in the Holy Quran, the very definition of the Muslim community is one of mod-eration and justness. The word wasatiyyah is derived from al wasat, which means “just and unextreme”, and is defined as “moderate” or “the middle,” a fundamental concept for

Muslims whose faith is meant to be easy to practice and whose lives should be balanced, from religious obligations to

the enjoyment of life. “Do not chain your hand to your neck (so that you are mean in spending), nor stretch it out to the

utmost limit (so that you waste everything).” (Al Isra, 17:29)

TODAY’S VERSE

Indeed, the patient will be given their reward

without account.(Surah Al Zamr, 39:10)

pieces)re as needed)

20

F

p ,Cook until

pis tender.

gtill rice turns into the texture of porridge.

Add coconut milk and season to taste with salt.

{ }7:03 PM

A4 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

FASTING HEALTH TIPS

Many miss out on some of the benefits of fasting, because of the notion that fasting leaves the body weak and the mind foggy. The truth is, the body begins to adjust a few days into the fast and higher levels of en-

dorphins are released into the blood, which means that for those work-ing in climate controlled environments (as opposed to outdoors in the heat), the brain is primed to be more alert, happier, and more relaxed.

The mind and our perceptions are a powerful thing, so think about this research, and then really take stock of how you feel.

{ Al Wasatiyyah }

Moderation

A6


It was a dream come true moment for meSultan Ahmed Al Mahmodi, Omani film producer

They said, “Students who wish to continue their study abroad must get the ministry’s approval before pursuing the study.

“We can confirm that after the announcement, the number of applications for equivalency have increased, and our depart-ment is receiving many applica-tions from the Ministry of Man-power, and other private sector companies, compared with the period before the implemen-tation of the new legislation, where we received fewer appli-cations from them.”

According to the official, the Qualifications Equivalency and Recognition Department at MoHE is playing a major role in fighting fraud qualifications. “We encountered some cases of fraud qualifications this year.”

Al Subhi explained the types of fraud applications which the Ministry receives. “The depart-ment usually deals with four types of fraud qualifications:

Fraud in the entire qualifi-cation, which means that the qualification is deemed fake and the student did not take any classes at a higher educa-tion institution.

“Fraud in some parts of the degree, although it was obtained in a proper way and issued by a recognised educational institu-tion. “Fraud in a master’s or doc-torate degree, which requires the writing of a thesis, where stu-dents tend to buy research pa-pers from websites or from other people who write it for them. “Finally, there are indirect fraud cases, which involve fake qualifi-cations from diploma mills.”

Diploma or degree mills are defined as educational institu-tions that do not exist, or are commercial institutions, which are not licensed in their coun-tries to provide any academic programme, and they are not approved by the international accreditation bodies but offer degrees for money.

If a degree has to be equated by the Department of Qualifica-tions Equivalency and Recogni-tion, students would normally have earned the diploma, bach-elors or masters degrees in a full-time mode and at the main cam-pus of a university abroad.

“In cases where they have a different mode of study (irregu-lar attendance) throughout the study period, they need to make sure that this mode is approved by the ministry by getting the ministry’s approval before pursing any study.”

Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S

< FROM

A1Fake degrees

Entries invited for ROP traffic safety contest

TARIQ ZIAD AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Public and private sector companies, associations, individuals and wilayats have the chance to submit their creations and innovations for the Royal Oman Police’s (ROP’s) Traffic Safety Competition, which is now open for participation.

The competition, for which sub-missions and participation ends on July 31, 2017, is aimed at involving the society in promoting the prac-tices of traffic safety to prevent fur-ther accidents, as well as encour-age private sector companies and association partnerships to create awareness about the issue.

Generally the submissions must be clear about the goals they are trying to achieve, as well as their tie up with the competition’s

objectives. The projects must be operational and should have actu-ally had an impact on preventing traffic accidents.

Participants have been asked to submit their work and ideas by July 31, 2017 and the projects must have been operational from October 18, 2015 to become eligi-ble for participation.

Four categoriesParticipants will be divided into four categories: Public and Pri-vate Sector, Individuals, Associa-tions, such as charitable associa-tions, art associations, women’s guild etc., and Wilayats.

Public and private sector es-tablishments and associations’ projects must follow at least one aspect to ensure them a top place win.

They should be projects that serve society and help prevent

traffic accidents; projects that in-volve preparing and implement-ing awareness projects and traffic education and have a big impact on society are another type.

Individuals should submit pro-jects that are implemented for creating awareness about traffic to prevent traffic accidents. Cre-ate programmes, awareness ma-terials or technologies for traffic safety, which can be used when-ever deemed necessary; and any other creations, which contrib-utes to preventing accidents that are being implemented or are still in production.

“The ROP will buy the winners’ creations and innovations and claim ownership. The projects may very well help the ROP in tackling the accident issue,” said a senior ROP official.

He said the winners will receive cash prizes while public and pri-

vate sector companies will receive certificates and a traffic safety tro-phy for the first place winner.

“The individual winner will get OMR5,000, while the association winner will receive OMR7,000,” said the police official.

Second and third place win-ners will win OMR3,000 and OMR2,000 will be awarded to the person in the third spot in the in-dividual category.

The cash prize for second and third place for associations is OMR5,000 and OMR3,000, re-spectively.

Traffic safety boardWhen the Times of Oman asked how wilayats are expected to participate, the ROP official said wilayats have a traffic safety board and they have to come up with their projects like every-body else, so they will be compet-ing against other wilayats across the Sultanate.

The first, second and third prize for wilayats is OMR40,000, OMR30,000 and OMR20,000, while the rest will receive OMR5,000 for their efforts.

“Of course raising awareness is not enough, but it is one of the tools we have; and we have to make full use of it,” said the ROP official. According to data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), 54 peo-ple died in traffic accidents in May 2016, which included 33 Omanis and 21 expatriates.

Those who would like to par-ticipate must visit traffic.gov.om, email [email protected] or call 24510809 to inquire about the competition.

The competition, for

which submissions

and participation

ends on July 31, is

aimed at involving

the society in

promoting the

practices of traffic

safety

REJIMON. K [email protected]

MUSCAT: “It was a dream come true moment for me”, said Sul-tan Ahmed Al Mahmodi, the 27-year-old Omani film producer who wrote a poem on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign after meeting him in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Sultan travelled to India as an official guest of the Indian govern-

ment to submit his poem.“It was a great moment. Official-

ly, I was given only five minutes, but the meeting went up to 20 minutes. I never expected that. He advised me to visit cultural places of India and know more about India,” Sul-tan told Times of Oman by phone from India. Impressed with Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign and other initiatives, the young Omani film producer has shot a four-minute ‘visual poem’, which will be part of a movie to be released soon.

W R O T E A P O E M

HONOUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Sultan Ahmed Al Mahmodi from Oman, in New Delhi on Wednesday. - PTI

Dream comes true for the Omani writer

COMPETITION: Individuals should submit projects that are im-plemented for creating awareness about traffic to prevent traffic accidents. – Supplied picture

A7


Talks held on GCC rail projectBABA [email protected]

MUSCAT: Talks on the much-awaited Gulf Cooperation Coun-cil (GCC) railway network have been reportedly held between the senior government officials of the GCC region in Riyadh.

The six GCC nations had pre-viously considered linking their countries through a network of

railways by 2018. But a string of economic setbacks since last year meant the deadline is no longer achievable.

To renew focus on the rail link, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the GCC Gen-eral Secretariat in Riyadh on June 23.

Earlier in May, UAE’s Etihad Rail spokesperson told the Times of Oman that the country had

suspended the Stage two ten-der process, while it reviews the most appropriate option for the timing and delivery of this phase of the project.

“We continue to work closely with our partners and stakehold-ers on a national and GCC level to assess the timeline for Stage two delivery and relevant updates on this will be shared in due course,” the spokesperson had said.

R A I L W A Y N E T W O R K

‘Heard of attacks mid-air’

“We had extra security checks for people flying to the United States before we departed,” he added.

Lazaro said their flight was delayed by over an hour for a run-way change. “We were scheduled to take off at 2.05pm, but didn’t actually lift off until closer to 4pm. I am not sure this had to do with the attacks as I doubt they would let us take off (after the at-tacks had occurred).”He only heard of the attacks hours later while in mid-air. “We heard about it later on a CNN live stream offered on the flight’s entertainment package. One passenger asked a stewardess about it and she verbally confirmed that an attack had taken place, but didn’t know much about it.”

“The news report I listened to on the plane didn’t have many details, just some video feed of injured people. They were saying that 10 people are dead and 28 injured, but the number kept climbing.”

Lazaro had flown on the same route to the United States back in 2014 and said all had gone smoothly and that this incident will not stop him from using it again.

“I will take this route again, I love Istanbul and I’m happy even if I just get to see the air-port. Turkey is one of my favour-ite countries.”

Although he feels lucky to have escaped the horror faced by hun-dreds of other people at the Atat-urk airport, he feels sorry for the victims. “Of course I feel lucky to have left ahead of the attacks and

terribly sad for those who died and were injured.”

When he finally reached the United States, there were several police officials waiting at the gate and pulled aside some people. “When I went through immigra-tion, they took me to a question-ing room to talk about my flight and where I live and my purpose of travelling through Istanbul and if I knew anyone who active-ly sympathised with any party in the Syrian conflict.”

Other passengers on the same plane expressed shock and dis-may at the incident. When he finally got out of the airport in the United States, he was bom-barded with calls of concern from friends and family.

“Many of my friends messaged me from Oman and the USA and my family, especially my grand-parents were really concerned about me.”

A senior official from Turkish Airlines in Oman told the Times of Oman, “A flight from Istanbul landed in Muscat at 12.20am and was due to fly back soon af-ter, however when they came to know that the Ataturk airport was closed, they stayed back and only took off yesterday afternoon, more than 10 hours later.”

Around 150 were scheduled to fly to Turkey on the same plane, however, because of the delay about 35 people were adjusted in other airlines and around 100 people flew with Turkish Airlines in the afternoon. The passengers who were kept waiting because of the delay were moved to a hotel in Muscat,” the official added.

T U R K E Y A T T A C K

BAUSHER FIRE DOUSEDFirefighters put out a fire which engulfed a number of

caravans in Suaal area in the wilayat of Bausher. No cas-

ualties was reported in the incident, the Public Authority

for Civil Defence reported. -Supplied Photo

< FROM

A1

Shura approves amendments

MUSCAT: Majlis Al Shura ap-proved yesterday the proposed amendments to some articles of the law of the State Financial and Administrative Audit Institution.

It was submitted by the work-

ing group assigned to examine the annual report of the State Financial and Administrative Audit Institution. Majlis also approved the proposed amend-ment to the Law on Fishing and Protection of Living Aquatic Wealth submitted by the Com-mittee on Food and Water Se-curity at Majlis Al Shura. The 22nd regular meeting of the 1st annual sitting (2015-2016) of the 8th term (2015-2019) was chaired by Khalid bin Hilal Al Ma’awali, Chairman of Majlis Al Shura. The meeting decid-ed to refer them to the Council

of Ministers.Majlis Al Shura proceeded to

discuss the final report of the committee to address the reper-cussions of the economic crisis and its impact on the community.

Tawfiq bin Abdul Hussain Al Lawati, Head of the commit-tee and its coordinator read the report, which included many of the results of the meetings of the Committee with a number of stakeholders and specialists in this aspect.

The meeting approved a num-ber of recommendations included in the report. -ONA

Shura discussed the

impact of economic

crisis on community

TOP BRAZILIAN HONOUR FOR OMAN AMBASSADORThe interim president of Brazil, Michel Temer

awarded the national Order of Southern Cross

(prestige class) to Dr. Khalid bin Said Al Jaradi, the

Sultanate’s ambassador to Brazil, at the end of his

term. The order was conferred on the ambassador

by Fernando Abreu, Undersecretary of the Foreign

Ministry at a ceremony attended by a number of

diplomats and officials. —ONA

Oman reaffirms support to cause of PalestiniansGENEVA: The Sultanate reaf-firmed its full support to the Palestinian cause in Geneva yesterday.

The speech was delivered by Abdullah bin Nasser Al Rahbi, the Sultanate’s permanent en-voy to the UN and other Inter-national Organisations in Ge-neva at the UN International Conference for Israeli-Palestin-ian Peace Support.

Ambassador Al Rahbi wel-comed the convening of the conference on support of the Israeli-Palestinian peace, re-affirming the Sultanate’s sup-port to all that could lead to the achievement of targeted goals of the conference.

He said that the Sultanate believes in peace and calls for cementing ties and mutual re-spect. He also spoke on the Sul-tanate’s support for Arab and international efforts aimed at peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Sultanate has supported the peace process between the Arab and Israel since launched in 1991 and has supported the Arab Peace Initiative 2002, the statement said.

Ambassador Al Rahbi urged the international community to continue their efforts to force Israel to comply with the inter-national law. -ONA

G E N E V A

YOUR BIGGEST ROAD HAZARD IS IN YOUR HAND A TIMES OF OMAN

HANDS-FREE DRIVING INITIATIVE

One of the biggest mistakes that I saw homeowners and business owners make when thinking

about adding security was think-ing that door and window sensors are the end all be all to security sys-tems. The fact of the matter is, this is simply not true anymore. Mo-tion detector technology has come so far in recent years with new technology such as pet immune and advances in passive infrared technology (PIR). The recent ad-vances aren’t the only reason to go with motion detectors, but for the fact that it will significantly reduce the cost of your installation! Think about it this way: if you have 15 windows and 3 doors on the first floor of your home (the most im-portant floor to protect) then you are looking at 18 door/window sensors. If these are wireless, you are looking at roughly $50-80 per sensor plus the cost of installation (roughly 15 minutes apiece). This

does not include the cost of the panel hardware and peripheral devices as well such as keypads, keyfobs, the control panel itself and any other extras you would like. Just the cost of the door/window sensors would run you $900 minimum.

Another alternative would be to use motion detectors in stra-tegic locations (yes, even if you have a dog or cat.)

Installation costs less: It is not rocket science, the fewer number of sensors you use, the cheaper your installation is going to cost. If you can replace the 18 door/window sensors described in the example above with 4 well placed motion detectors, your installation cost will be greatly reduced.

Preventative maintenance: If your system is wired, this is not much of a concern. If you are like 80 per-cent of the population that are hav-ing wireless systems installed be-

cause they do not want wires run and holes drilled through walls and floors, then it is a life saver. Wire-less motion detectors need to run off batteries. Some run off AA bat-teries, but others run off specialty batteries such as the CR123. These will need to be replaced every 2-3 years if they are not in a high traf-fic area. Imagine the cost of paying a contractor to come in and change 18 batteries as opposed to 4. They are going to mark up the batteries and charge for the labor. At least purchase the batteries yourself.

Glassbreak? Say that you decide to go the route of having every door/window alarmed on the first floor. No one can possibly get into your house, right? Absolutely not. Someone can simply walk up and throw a brick through your win-dow, smash the glass out and climb through. The door and window sensors use a magnet to pull in a set of contacts, so they only know when a window or door opens

past a certain gap. An ideal setup would include window/door sen-sors with strategically placed glass break detectors to offer maximum protection. This of course is going to run your instal-lation cost through the roof!

False alarms are fun: It does not take much for a door or window contact to turn to the evil side and start giving off false alarms left and right. I had many customers that would call me for a service call because their front entry point was faulted and they had no idea why, the door was closed! Upon showing up and open-ing the door, either the magnet was just gone or the contact had come loose and had been getting smashed in the door for god knows how long. Talk about frustrating. Now imagine these false alarms occurring at odd hours, say 2AM, and the central station calling you or just dis-patching the police.

Pet immune: This has been one of the top reasons why people stayed away from motion detectors until recently. I would hear “Well I have dogs, so I can’t have motion detec-tors here.” This is simply not true. Most newer motion detectors can be bought with a pet immune op-tion. The motion detectors that I installed could go up to 100 lbs and unless you have a huge dog or gigan-tic cat, that should suffice. You can leave your home and fully arm it and not worry about pets setting off the alarm while you are away.

In conclusion, motion detectors are the way to go, hands down. Think about the layout of your home or of-fice and what the choke points are and place motion detectors there. If they smash the door in, they will not get far. If they break the glass and come through, surprise, there is a motion detector there! Motion detectors can even be used as entry sensors, although I would recom-mend a door contact on the main entry point. — Tyler Devoe/ EzineArticles.com

Why motion detectors are better than door

and window sensors!

Motion detectors are the way

to go, hands down. Think

about the layout of your home

or office and what the choke

points are and place motion

detectors there. Motion

detectors can even be used

as entry sensors and most

newer motion detectors

can be bought with a pet

immune option.

A8 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

So you are thinking of installing a home security system in your home. You know a little bit about how they work

and the different types of sensors. You immediately think that putting a door/window sensor on every window and door in the house

is the safest way to go and that there is no way that an intruder would possibly gain entry to your fortress. Wrong!

T I M E S O F O M A N

Shahzad [email protected]

MUSCAT: Due to increasing lev-els of security threats around the world, security at home, offices, institutions and public places, has assumed immense importance. On the other hand developments in technology and IT platforms have enabled many companies to offer advanced solutions to tackle the security threats.

In a security driven environ-ment, every customer looks for a simple yet sophisticated tech-nological system. The integrated security systems operate with single software, customizable, mobile applications.

Business International Group (BIG) offers its customers most advanced integrated video and security solutions in the market with unique built-in features. BIG offers full range of security solu-tions from CCTV, access control, intrusion detection, perimeter de-tection control, centralized moni-toring system solutions, automatic number plate recognition systems, automatic road barriers, blockers, parking management and guid-ance system, guard tour, public ad-dress / voice announcement, secu-rity intercom systems etc.,

BIG’s major focus is on de-signing, installing, testing, op-erating and maintain integrated system solutions for a wide va-riety of environments includ-ing governmental, educational institutions, health care, corpo-rates and hospitality sectors.

“We understand the system de-sign plays an integral part in the

level of performance, effective-ness and value of the complete system solution delivered to our clients. Offering intelligent design solutions, our In house team of ex-perienced design engineers car-ries out technical and innovative design for all system solutions offer by us,” said Shekhar Pandit, General Manager, Business Inter-national Group.

“BIG focuses on delivering inte-grated building solutions to meet customer requirements, enabling clients to manage their invest-ments more effectively. This is backed by a team of highly skilled professionals who are able to es-tablish shared visions and values with our partners and bring high complimentary capabilities to any project. Our uncompromising commitment to quality, reliability and safety means that we are a pre-ferred systems integrator to a ma-jority of the building contractors in the region,” Pandit added.

Over the years, BIG LLC has de-veloped a comprehensive range of maintenance services.

“Our maintenance service packages are available with a range of options designed to give our customers complete flex-ibility over the type of cover that best suits their requirements and budget. Our dedicated mainte-nance and support department is home to a team of highly skilled and experienced engineers who undergo a regular program of training, both in-house and with the major manufacturers.

There is increasing awareness about safety and security require-ments both at home and public

places. We are seeing more in-vestments in security and safety requirements than ever before.

Talking about the latest tech-nologies being used in the secu-rity systems, Pandit said every customer is looking for better and latest technology which is available in the market. When it comes to commercial security, it is very important for the cus-

tomer is given various options to choose from that can meet his re-quirements in terms of technical solution and budget.

“There are different ranges of CCTV cameras available from low cost to higher cost with dif-ferent features. There are HD cameras available with afforda-ble prices which can now replace the analog cameras.

The cameras with On-Board Video analytics, storage, built-in IR, HD resolution with intelligent band width management make the system architecture simple and re-liable platform,” he added.

“The CCTV on Cloud is also one of the latest technologies where all the videos can be stored on the cloud. This will reduce the com-plete IT infrastructure and system management cost.

In many corporates, the inte-grated security management sys-tem software will help the system operators in offering a user friendly and customizable solution. It gives more flexibility in security system operation where the operator can manage the complete security sys-tem like Access control, CCTV and intrusion detection systems from one platform. The trouble shooting and identifying the fault on the sys-tems becomes very simple and it can alert through e-mail, SMS etc.”

It is becoming essential that minimum security levels are provided at all public places and also in residential areas. The lo-cal regulations for such require-ments in terms of specifications, installation and maintenance can help public life become more safe and secured.

BIG leading the way in providing comprehensive security solutions

APTUS INFOTECH, one of the premier IT solutions providers in Oman, has been offering extensive, efficient yet cost-effective IT se-curity and external security solu-tions and services to both medium and large scale enterprises. Aptus Infotech, which started its opera-tions in 2001 under the name of Oriental Oryx LLC, has gained im-mense momentum within the past years for their impeccable IT solu-tions in the intensely competitive IT segment.

While shedding some light on the company’s vision at a recently held press conference in Oman, one of the top executives at Aptus Infotech, said: “Our vision is to be recognised and respected in the global IT market as a professional solution provider with constant innovation to make ‘IT’ better for its clients by being their strategic business partner.”

The executive further stated: “Security of sensitive informa-tion as well as its premises has always been the main concern of all business establishments; be it small or medium. We, as a pre-mier IT solutions and services provider, take the responsibility to offer flexible, comprehensive yet inexpensive technology solutions that comply with the standard of international quality”

In its fifteen years of operations, Aptus Infotech has catered to dif-ferent and distinctive needs of businesses all through industries like government agencies, corpo-rate houses and businesses asso-ciated with finance and banking, airport, real-estate, infrastructure Education Institutes and oil and gas industry.

Aptus Infotech specializes in the design and installation of structured cabling systems with an emphasis on new construc-tion and corporate relocations. Whether your network is ten com-puters or ten buildings in a cam-pus environment, Aptus can pro-

vide the copper and fiber cabling needed to connect voice and data across the LAN. Aptus also offers infrastructure design, structured cabling – indoor, outdoor, access control solution, wireless access point, IP network video surveil-lance, fiber optic installation, data center solution (including raised flooring, ceiling and partitions), IP network - VOIP, IPTV, civil works and electrical systems.

Aptus’ highly qualified and experienced team of network engineers, system designers, in-stallers, project managers, and assemblers has successfully com-pleted customised installations in a wide range of diverse and chal-lenging environments.

Aptus takes pride in build-ing secure and reliable networks using high quality fiber optic and copper cables, cabinets, patch panels, switches, routers and other accessories that make your network secure, strong and reliable. It offers unmatched support 24x7.

If one is looking for impeccable IT solutions and services in Oman, choosing Aptus Infotech is an ide-al option to go for. Aptus Infotech better understands how to exploit their experience in the arenas of IT security, external security and access control to bring solutions for any intricate or complicated technical problems. The company has a team of highly professional security experts who have both ability and capability to handle client-server and mainframe plat-forms in addition to quality and security monitoring of crucial IT and networking infrastructures. All the more, Aptus Infotech also provides value added services like consultancy and system support to give a complete peace of mind to all those business owners who are on the lookout to find network-ing infrastructure solutions. More information can be had at [email protected] and http://www.aptusinfotech.com/.

Aptus Infotech provides quality IT solutions

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

Our maintenance service

packages are available with a

range of options designed to

give our customers complete

flexibility over the type of

cover that best suits their

requirements and budget.

Our dedicated maintenance

and support department is

home to a team of highly

skilled and experienced

engineers.

Shekhar PanditGeneral Manager, BIG

A10

REGION T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

IS forces Syria rebels to retreat from border

AMMAN/BEIRUT: US-backed Syrian rebels were pushed back from the outskirts of an IS-held town on the border with Iraq and a nearby air base on Wednesday after the extremists mounted a counter- attack, two rebel sources said.

The New Syria Army rebel group had launched an operation on Tuesday aimed at capturing the town of Al Bukamal from IS.

One rebel source said S fighters had encircled the rebels in a sur-prise ambush.

They had suffered heavy casual-ties and weapons had been seized by the extremists, the source said.

“The news is not good. I can say our troops were trapped and suf-fered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken,” he said.

A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem Al Saloum, con-firmed the group’s fighters had retreated.”We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign has ended,” Saloum told Reuters.

Despite the retreat, Saloum said the fighters had at least suc-ceeded in evicting IS from large

swathes of desert territory around the town.

IS affiliated Amaq news agency had earlier said it had killed 40 re-bel fighters and captured 15 more in a counter-attack at the Hama-dan air base north west of the city.

The operation aiming to cap-ture Al Bukamal was meant to add to pressure on Is as it faces a separate, US-backed offensive in northern Syria aimed at driving it away from the Turkish border.

The New Syria Army was formed some 18 months ago from

insurgents driven from eastern Syria at the height of IS’ rapid ex-pansion in 2014.

Rebel sources say it has been trained with US support.

The Syrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights said the group’s offen-sive against IS was being mounted with the backing of Western spe-cial forces and US-led air strikes.

IS capture in 2014 of Al Buka-mal, just a few kilometres (miles) from the Iraqi frontier, effectively erased the border between Syria and Iraq.

The US-led campaign against IS has moved up a gear this month, with an alliance of militias includ-ing the Kurdish YPG launching a major offensive against the mili-tant group in the city of Manbij in northern Syria. In Iraq, the gov-ernment this week declared vic-tory over IS in Falluja.

US-run campsSyrian rebel sources say

the rebel force has received mili-tary training in US-run camps in Jordan, but most of their train-ing was now being conducted in a main base at Al Tanf, a Syrian town southwest of Al Bukamal at the border with Iraq.

The New Syria Army’s base in Al Tanf was hit twice earlier this month by Russian air strikes, even after the US military used emergency channels to ask Mos-cow to stop after the first strike, US officials say. — Reuters

The New Syria

Army rebel group

had launched an

operation on Tuesday

aimed at capturing

the town of Al

Bukamal near the

border with Iraq from

the militants

CONFLICT: Civilians inspect a burnt car at a site hit by an airstrike in the rebel-controlled city of

Idlib, Syria on Wednesday. — Reuters

The New Syria Army was formed some 18 months

ago from insurgents driven from eastern Syria at the

height of IS’ rapid expansion in 2014

Iraqi forces press towards key air base south of MosulBAGHDAD: Iraq’s military said it advanced through northern vil-lages held by IS on Wednesday, on its way to an airfield which could serve as the staging ground for a future offensive on Mosul, the the biggest city held by the militants.

Army and counter-terrorism forces recaptured Telol al-Baj, about 260 km (160 miles) north of Baghdad on the main north-south road on Tuesday, a senior commander participating in the offensive told Reuters.

US-led coalition air strikes have helped repel suicide car bomb attacks, the commander said. Both sides have suffered cas-ualties, but most militants have

fled into the desert, he added.The troops are now around 45

km from the airbase at Qayara, less than two weeks after they set out from the refinery town of Baiji, military officials said.

Retaking another refinery near Qayara with a production capac-ity of 16,000 barrels per day could also hit IS’ finances.

RecaptureThe military’s recovery this month of Falluja, west of Bagh-dad, lent fresh momentum to the campaign to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s largest northern city and the biggest anywhere within the jihadists’ self-proclaimed cali-

phate spanning large stretches of territory seized in Iraq and Syria.

Two years since that land-grab, the tide has begun to turn against IS as an array of forces lined up against it make inroads into their territory.

Prime Minister Haider Al Ab-adi has pledged to retake Mosul this year.

Slower progressArmy troops advancing sepa-rately on the eastern side of the Tigris river from Qayara have made slower progress, taking a handful of villages since setting out from Makhmour more than three months ago. — Reuters

I N S U R G E N C Y

UN-backed Yemen peace talks adjourn until July 15DUBAI: United Nations-me-diated talks to end more than a year of war in Yemen have adjourned and will reconvene in Kuwait on July 15 after Eid holiday, the UN envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said on Wednesday. A shaky ceasefire coinciding with negotiations has paused fighting which raged across the country,.

The talks bring together the Houthi movement and Yemen’s government, but have achieved little progress in over two months. “The two delegations will use the coming two weeks to meet their respective lead-erships,” Ould Cheikh Ahmed said. “(They) will then return to Kuwait on 15 July with practi-cal recommendations on how to implement the necessary mechanisms that will enable them to sign a peace accord and thus end the conflict in Yemen,” he said. — Reuters

C I V I L W A R

Pension reform draft bill

approved by upper house

RABAT: Morocco’s upper house of parliament on Tuesday ap-proved a draft pensions reform bill, members said, prompting labour unions to threaten legal action and step up protests against the meas-ure which is part of government ef-forts to fix public finances.

Morocco, helped to calm its pro-democracy demonstration in 2011 by stepping up spending on subsidies and salaries in the public sector.

This has drawn protests at home but also praise from international lenders.

Three members said the upper house approved the draft bill with

27 votes in favour and 21 against.The bill still needs to be passed

in a final vote in the lower house.However, Morocco’s four larg-

est labour unions said they would escalate their protest, having blocked it for months in parlia-ment’s upper house where they control a sixth of the seats.

Broken many law“We are taking it to the Constitu-tional court because the govern-ment has broken many laws to pass this bill,” said Abdelhak Hes-san, a member of the upper house from the Democratic Labour Con-federation (CDT). — Reuters

M O R O C C O

A11

INDIAT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

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NIA busts suspected IS terror module; 11 youths heldHYDERABAD: The NIA on Wednesday claimed to have bust-ed a “terror module” that is sus-pected to be linked to the IS group and detained 11 youths including a techie and some graduates after conducting searches at different locations in the old city here.

The NIA sleuths also recovered weapons, ammunition, urea, acid, some chemicals, electronic gadg-ets and other incriminating mate-rial besides Rs1.5 million in cash from their possession, officials of National Investigation Agency-and Hyderabad Police said, add-ing the youths were working at the behest of IS handlers.

“Searches were conducted by NIA over some suspected terror activities that were planned to be carried out in the city...11 youths including a techie have been de-tained and Rs15 lakh cash besides some explosive material has been seized from them,” a senior intel-ligence officer said.

Based on credible information that some youths hailing from Hyderabad and their accom-plices have entered into criminal conspiracy to wage war against India by collecting weapons and explosive materials to commit terrorist acts. - PTI

H Y D E R A B A D

Anti-submarine torpedo Varunastra inducted in navy

NEW DELHI: Indigenously-built heavyweight anti-subma-rine torpedo Varunastra has been successfully inducted in the navy, making India one of the eight countries to have the capability to design and build such a system.

Developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), a premier laboratory of Defence Research and Develop-ment Organisation(DRDO), the electric torpedo was on Wednes-day formally handed over to Indi-an Navy and the induction is set to be a “game-changer” boost for it.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the programme is not only a boost to country’s in-digenous capability but also an opportunity for export to other countries. Defence sources said sale of Varunastra, weighing around 1.25 tonnes that car-ries about 250 kg of explosives at a speed of around 40 nautical miles an hour, was also one of the issues that came up for discus-sion during Parrikar’s recent visit to Vietnam.

Having almost 95 per cent indigenous content, Varunas-tra, costing about Rs100-120 million per unit, is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines, both in deep and littoral waters in intense counter-measure environment.

“Successful induction of Varunastra into our navy will be a game-changer in favour of the warships in the sub-surface warfare. This landmark has put navy in elite club of navies across the globe that can boast of self-reliance in under water sensors and under water weapons,” Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said.

DevelopmentHe however rued that the de-velopment of this torpedo had “indeed being long”. “We need to work towards a reasonable time-frame from concept to realisation to address our capability gap in time,” he said.

On his part, DRDO chief S. Christopher said the normal ges-

tation period for development of such a technology was 10 years and they took a year extra as there were many issues since it was be-ing done for the first time. From availability of ships and subma-rines for testing to numerous aspects of technology, he listed a number of reasons that delayed the project.

Parrikar directed the DRDO not to have a hands-off ap-proach now that they have de-veloped the torpedo, and hand-ed over the technology to BDL for production.

“You cannot be a hospital where a child is born. You will have to stay along at least till the child is able to stand up and run around,” Parrikar said as he sug-gested placing a small DRDO team with state-run BDL for a limited period.

He rued that the light-weight torpedos did not come at par with the quality expectation of the navy. Parrikar also said that DRDO should also rope in a private company for future projects so that there is a good competition. The torpedo can be launched from Kolkata, Delhi, Teg, Talwar and Kamorta classes of ships.

They have conformal array transducer which can look at wider angles than other torpedos. Varunastra has been designed with latest technologies such as high-speed and long endur-ance propulsion, software driven intelligence, conformal array acoustic homing with wide look angle and advanced digital signal processing.

It is also having advanced au-tonomous guidance algorithms with low drift navigational aids, insensitive warhead which can operate in various combat scenarios.

Varunastra exercise variant has integrated instrumentation system for recording all the dy-namic parameters of the weapon, redundancy in recovery aids in case of emergency shut down or malfunction. — PTI

I N D I G E N O U S L Y - B U I L T

HANDING OVER CEREMONY: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar

hands over the replica of anti-submarine torpedo, ‘Varunastra’

to Naval Chief Sunil Lamba during its handing over ceremony in

New Delhi on Wednesday. DRDO DG S Christopher is also seen. - PTI

Model law cleared, shops can remain open 365 days

NEW DELHI: A model law that allows shops, malls and other es-tablishments to operate through-out the year received Cabinet ap-proval on Wednesday, which will give them the flexibility to open and shut at their convenience.

The law covers establishments employing 10 or more workers ex-cept manufacturing units and will provide freedom to operate 365

days with flexibility on timing to open and close.

It also provides for women to be employed on night shifts with ad-equate security and calls for better

working conditions for employees such as drinking water, canteen, first aid, lavatory and creche.

“The Model Shops and Estab-lishment (Regulation of Employ-

ment and Condition of Services) Bill 2016 has been cleared by the Cabinet,” a source said.

The model law will not require Parliament’s approval.

As per the proposal mooted by the Labour Ministry, the model law can be adopted by states with a provision of modifying it as per their requirement. The model law is aimed at generating additional employment as shops and estab-lishments will have freedom to operate for longer hours requiring more manpower.

ExemptionIt also provides exemption to highly-skilled workers like those in IT and bio-technology from daily working hours (9 hours) and weekly working hours (48 hours).

The law is designed to bring in uniformity in legislative provi-sions, making it easier for all the states to adopt it and ensure uni-form working conditions across the country. The Centre has been receiving suggestions from time to time to enact the model law, which the states could consider for enforcement either by adopt-ing the central law or necessary modification by the state law. - PTI

The law covers

establishments

employing 10 or

more workers except

manufacturing units

and will provide

freedom to operate

365 days with

flexibility on timing

to open and close

GENERATE ADDITIONAL EMPLOYMENT: A shopper gestures to a product while a store employee

looks on at the Bharti Wal-Mart Best Price wholesale store in Manawala, some 11kms from Amritsar.

The model law is aimed at generating additional employment as shops and establishments will

have freedom to operate for longer hours requiring more manpower. - AFP file photo

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#TRENDING

Quiet act of givingMohamed Bali

This article isn’t about war. It isn’t really about treatment either. It’s about a connection

between strangers.I recently visited hospital for victims

of war.To be exact, a reconstructive sur-

gical hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Amman. People who have been wounded in conflict and unrest are brought here from across the region.

Patients from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pal-estine, Egypt and Libya are treated here.

Their treatment does not depend on age, gender or political leaning. Every-one here is an equal, afforded the dignity a patient deserves.

Visiting this place, I was struck not by the differences in people and nationali-ties here, but by their similarities.

Patients here often undergo multi-ple complex surgical procedures, long courses of physiotherapy and psycho-logical health care treatment with the aim of restoring function and ability to bodies and lives. All the patients here have complicated injuries and many need to stay for a long time in order to recover. But aside from their treatment, they have something else in common – a desire to get better, a wish to go home.

During my visit, I met patients and I heard many stories, some were difficult, while others filled me with hope.

It is worth noting that since the pro-ject began in 2006, more than 9,000 surgeries have been performed and over 4,000 patients have been admitted.

But one story in particular struck me – a boy, now aged five had been admitted to the hospital more than a year ago.

A bombing in Syria had deprived him of the ability to walk and killed both his parents.

After 17 days of treatment in a field hospital, his grandmother was able to bring him to Jordan.

They ended up in Zaatari refugee camp, where an MSF doctor identified his need for treatment.

He arrived at MSF’s reconstructive sur-gery hospital in Amman in a wheelchair.

During his time in the hospital, he became an inspiration to patients and staff alike – he worked hard to recover, and by the time he left he was on his feet with a walker, climbing stairs and even playing. Stories like his are hard to forget.

While the patients here are united in a desire for recovery, they are not the only ones who share a connection. Every day people donate to MSF and to this facility, people from all walks of life and back-grounds.

Some give a little, others give a lot and they have different reasons for doing so.

But the size of the gift, or the reason-ing behind it isn’t what counts.

What matters is the desire to make a positive impact, and every contribution, no matter the size or reason, makes a dif-ference. This connects our donors and it extends to our patients.

They will probably never know one another, but they share a goal and they share the same hope.

The act of donation tends to be a quiet one. You don’t need a superhero cape to do it, and it probably won’t bring you fame. But for me, it is something remark-able. We live in uncertain times.

The news is full of desperate stories of war, famine and disaster.

It’s not easy to see what difference we can make. But every day, individuals across the world make a conscious de-cision to give, just because they want to help someone else. For me, this is the difference.

Finally, during the month of Ramadan, I wish you and your families a Ramadan Kareem and Eid Mubarak.

Mohamed Bali is the Executive Director in UAE for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). He has more than 13 years’ experience in humanitarian aids and development fields. In MSF, he is responsible for leading MSF-UAE in accomplishing its social mission of significantly participating in, and contrib-uting to, the effective provision of medical humanitarian assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health careHard to accept that professionals not getting salaries

This refers to article, Medics In SOS Plea Over Pay (June 27). It’s very hard to accept that prestigious professionals like doctors are suffering due to nonpayment of salaries. We can understand their

situation as its very difficult for us to mana-ge even a month without salary. By saying that they are not ready to compromise with their work ethics even in this harder times they proved they are the real life savers. Let’s hope this festival bring joy in there life. — Subbashini. M, Al Khuwair

How can a floatplane can land at Muscat airportThis refers to article Seawings launches seaplane service to Oman (June 28). I don’t understand how can a floatplane can land at Muscat airport? Floatplanes land on water.....obviously! Can somebody explain please? — Kathryn Chang Barker, Al Bustan via Facebook

Caring for workersThis refers to article Omani student

company creates a jacket to keep outdoor workers cool (June 28). It’s great that somebody thinking about workers. — John Kare, Muscat via Facebook

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1859: Jean Francois Gravelet aka Emile Blondin, a French daredevil, becomes the first man to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

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NISID HAJARI

Motivation is far more fundamental than the fact that India and China

still have an unresolved border. China’s rise has created a strong

incentive for countries with a stake in Asia to increase their cooperation with US, as well as each other, so that they can stand up to China’s political,

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RICHARD N. HAASS

Although pro-Brexit voters worry about the resulting pressure on

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flows that are the essence of globalisation. Some Brexit defenders

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with Canada and Mexico

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‘US committed to ensuring India’s NSG membership’NEW DELHI: The US is com-mitted to ensuring India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a top American diplomat said on Wednesday, expressing “regret” that his government was unsuccessful in making it a mem-ber of the grouping at its plenary in Seoul last week.

Calling India an “anchor of sta-bility” in the Asia Pacifc region, US Undersecretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon also said what China was doing in South China Sea is “madness” and it wants New Delhi to play a major role in the Indian Ocean.

During an interactive session at the Foreign Service Institute, he also said managing the rise of Chi-na was a major challenge and that the US wants to work with India to have a strong and comprehen-sive presence in the Indian Ocean.

Describing India a responsible and important player in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation, Shannon said, “We are committed to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We believe that through the kind of work we have done, the civil nuclear agreement, the way India conducted itself, it is worthy of this.”

ConsensusIn an apparent reference to Chi-na opposing India’s NSG bid, the official said one country can break consensus in a consensus-based organisation while assert-ing that such member should be held accountable.

“We understand that in a con-sensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be ac-countable, not isolated,” he said.

Last week, India had failed in its bid in getting entry into the elite atomic trading bloc in the face of strong China-led opposi-tion. Shannon, who met Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar earlier in the day, said India’s recent entry into the Missile Technology Con-trol Regime (MTCR) highlighted that the country is a “responsible and important player in the road to non- proliferation.”

“We regret, in Seoul we and India, were unable to open space necessary to allow India to move into the NSG at this moment,” he said.

He said both countries will have to work to ensure that In-dia’s bid is successful next time the issue is taken up by the NSG.

I think what we need to do going forward is, for both of us India and the US, sit down and take a call on what happened in Seoul, take a close look at the diplomatic pro-cess which is significant and see what more we can do to ensure that next time we are successful. When asked whether he thinks India will ratify the Paris climate deal before Obama administra-tion’s tenure got over and, at the same time, it will become a mem-ber of the NSG, he said “I hope so”.

He said India has given a com-mitment to ratify the climate deal.

Shannon said the US actively supports India’s entry into Aus-tralia Group as well as Wassenaar arrangement, which are key ex-port control regimes.

Holding that managing rise of China was a challenge, Shannon

said through South China Sea, Beijing plans to broaden it’s pres-ence in the Indian Ocean.

Big challenge“... the big challenge is how we manage rise of China,” he said while explaining China’s growing assertiveness in South China Sea including laying of air strips and positioning military aircraft.

At the same time, he added India is US’ natural partner and America’s intention was to work with it to have a strong compre-hensive presence in the strategic Indian Ocean region.

“We are looking for ways in which we can work with others in the region to watch China, to ensure it behaves in a responsi-ble fashion. Behaves in a fashion which is bound and constrained by commitment to rules and regu-lations,” the diplomat said, adding India could be more “ambitious” in pursuing its strategic goals.

He said the US hoped that it will be able to work with China and convince it that benefit lies in collaboration and developing a rule-based international order on the issue of South China Sea.

On the Indo-US defence and economic ties, Shannon said co-operation in both the areas was expanding rapidly, adding US’ relations with India are irrevers-ible and whoever comes to power after the Presidential polls will continue to strengthen the rela-tionship. Shannon said India and US will continue to work together to deal with challenges of terror-ism and climate change.

“We welcome India’s offer to host a summit on countering weapons of mass destruction and terror in 2018,” he said.

To a question on US interven-tions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the US official said, those were done considering the secu-rity situation. Giving example of growing bilateral trade ties, he said the US Overseas Private In-vestment Corporation expects to provide $170 million in finance to support low cost wireless broad-band service across India. - PTI

I N T E R A C T I V E S E S S I O N

Government gives employees, pensioners massive pay hikes

NEW DELHI: In a bonanza, 10 million government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5 times hike in basic pay and pen-sions under the 7th Pay Com-mission recommendations that will cost the exchequer annually Rs1.02 lakh crore, which the gov-ernment says will have a multi-plier effect on economy.

The new scales of pay provide for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs7,000 per month to Rs18,000, while at the highest level i.e. secretary, it would go up from Rs90,000 to Rs250,000.

For Class 1 officers, the starting salary will be Rs56,100.

The Union Cabinet on Wednes-day accepted the recommenda-tion of Justice A. K.Mathur head-ed panel due to which there would be a recurring burden of Rs72,800 crore every year, while the current fiscal’s burden would be Rs84,933

crore in view of the fact that they would be implemented from Jan-uary 1, 2016.

Recommendations accepted While the Cabinet in its meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi, accepted the recom-mendations in respect of the hike in basic pay and pension, a deci-sion on its suggestions relating to allowances has been referred to a Committee headed by Fi-nance Secretary. Announcing the government’s decision, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said gov-ernment salaries have to be re-spectable in comparison to private sector, for which the Commission had engaged IIM-Ahmedabad for making a comparison.

“The recommendations of the Pay Commission with respect to pay and pension, have been ac-cepted by and large by the govern-ment. And those recommenda-

tions will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016, and the arrears would also be paid in this year,” he said.

The recommendations cover 4.7 million central government employees and 5.3 million pen-sioners. This include 1.4 million serving employees and 1.8 million pensioners in defence forces.

Allaying fears of government’s fiscal maths going wrong, Jaitley said the budget has provided for the anticipated expenditure and it did not come as a surprise.

Concerns have also been ex-pressed over the extra money in the economy pushing up inflation.

The minister admitted that there will be some inflationary pressure.

Maintaining that government cannot grudge a hike in salary for government staff after 10 years, he said, “when people get more mon-ey, it comes back in the system in

the form of taxation. Savings will increase...spending will go up”. The Pay Commission had recom-mended abolition of 53 out of 196 allowances that the government employees currently get and mod-eration in several others.

The scrapping of the allowanc-es was opposed by the Unions and so it has been referred to a Com-mittee of Secretaries.

The once in a decade pay hike has seen burden on exchequer rise from Rs17,000 crore in the 5th Pay Commission to Rs40,000 crore in the 6th and Rs102,100 crore in the 7th Pay Commission, Jaitley said.

While the Cabinet approved the Commission’s recommenda-tion of enhancing ceiling of house building loan from Rs750,000 to Rs2.5 million, the suggestion of deducting Rs1,500-5,000 per month towards group insurance was not accepted.

Rate of annual increment has

been retained at 3 per cent.Also interest free advances for

medical treatment, travel allow-ance and LTC have been retained.

“All other interest free advances have been abolished,” an official statement said.

Gratuity ceilingFor armed forces, gratuity ceiling has been doubled to Rs2 million and it would increase by 25 per cent whenever Dearness Allow-ance rises by 50 per cent.

Jaitley said the Cabinet has brought about a parity between defence personnel and Combined Armed Police Forces by providing an additional indexation.

“Government salaries have to come to at a respectable level so that the government is able to at-tract the best talent. Not neces-sarily in civil services alone but also other services and therefore irrevocable consequence of this would be a pressure on the Budget along with OROP recommenda-tions,” Jaitley said.

He said since there will be more money in the market to spend, it will generate more demand, that will help push economic growth.

Also additional savings will help economy, but in the flip side more money supply will lead to “inflationary pressure”.

The minister also announced Constitution of a separate com-mittee to look into anomalies aris-ing out of the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recom-mendation. Another panel would be set up to suggest streamlining the implementation of the Na-tional Pension System.

The 7th Pay Commission had in November last year recommend-ed an average 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay at junior levels, the lowest in 70 years.

The previous 6th Pay Com-mission had recommended a 20 per cent hike which the govern-ment doubled while implement-ing it in 2008. - PTI

The new scales

of pay provide for

entry-level basic

pay going up from

Rs7,000 per month

to Rs18,000, while at

the highest level i.e.

secretary, it would go

up from Rs90,000 to

Rs250,000. For Class

1 officers, the starting

salary will be

Rs56,100

We understand that in a consensus-based organisation, one country can break consensus. But in order to do so it must be accountable, not isolated

Tom ShannonUS undersecretary for political affairs

SPELLING OUT: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses at a press conference regarding the Union

Cabinet’s clearance of recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, in New Delhi on Wednesday. - PTI

Government confident of GST passage

NEW DELHI: Confident of gar-nering support of some opposition parties for the GST Bill, the gov-ernment on Wednesday asserted it has “enough” numbers for passage of the crucial legislation in the Monsoon Session of Parliament which will commence on July 18.

After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Af-fairs (CCPA), chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parlia-mentary Affairs Minister M. Ven-kaiah Naidu said, “We have a wider support and we have enough num-bers for GST but we would like to have all parties on board because it will have an effect on states.”

The session will conclude on August 12 and there will be a total of 20 working days during it.

Naidu said the session could also be extended or curtailed by two-three days depending on require-ment. He said that the government wants to get the bill passed by consensus and is making efforts in that direction but asserted that even if consensus is not there, “we must get it approved in this ses-sion”. Since Goods and Services Tax is a Constitution Amendment Bill, support of two-third of Rajya Sabha members is required for its passage. It means the government will require 164 votes.

Speaking separately, BJP sourc-es said that after the recent Rajya Sabha polls, the scenario has tilted in favour of the ruling alliance.

ConfidentA source said BJP’s strength has now risen to 54 from 46 and the to-tal strength of pro-GST members from the ruling alliance, support-ing independents and nominated members, will be about 81.

Besides, the ruling alliance is also confident of support of around 76 members from parties includ-ing Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal(United), Biju Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, NCP, DMK, RJD, TRS, INLD, IUML, JMM, Kerala Congress, JD(S) and YSR Congress. - PTI

M O N S O O N S E S S I O N

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PAKISTANT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

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ADB approves $600m loanISLAMABAD: The federal gov-ernment has embarked upon a dangerous path to build foreign currency reserves through bor-rowings. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $600 million loan package for Pakistan, increasing new loan contracts to $2.1 billion in just a week.

Under the latest programme, the ADB will disburse the first sub-program of $300 million in a cou-ple of days, according to a handout issued by the Manila-based lend-ing agency after the meeting of its board. The second tranche will be disbursed next year.

The $600 million, the ADB said, would help Pakistan roll out major structural reforms to improve the

performance and financial sus-tainability of its public sector en-terprises. The loan will be utilised in financing the budget instead of creating any asset.

Of the $300 million, an amount of $100 million has been borrowed at an interest rate of 2 per cent per annum for a period of 25 years. The remaining $200 million has been obtained at an interest rate equivalent to London Inter-bank Offered Rate plus 0.5 per cent for a period of 15 years.

In the past three years, there has been a drastic shift from getting projects loans used for asset build-ing towards policy loans meant for budget financing. The government and the ADB showed an unusual

haste on Tuesday and signed the agreement for the initial $300 mil-lion tranche within hours of its ap-proval from the ADB board.

Apparently, the purpose is to get the money before June 30 aimed at meeting a condition of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) on in-creasing foreign currency reserves held by the central bank. Instead of building foreign currency reserves through exports, the finance min-istry has been showing an increase in reserves by borrowing expensive foreign commercial loans.

As of June 17, the central bank’s own gross official reserves stood at $16.8 billion, out of which over $9 billion have been borrowed from various sources. - Express Tribune

F O R E X R E S E R V E S Malala Yousafzainow a millionaire

ISLAMABAD: The family of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai have become million-aires from her best-selling mem-oir and speaking engagements, a report claimed on Wednesday.

Four years after the teenager was shot on the bus to school in the Swat Valley, it has been re-vealed that a company set up to protect the rights to her life story has made a pre-tax profit of £1.1million.

Malala, who was 14 when shot by Taliban for her outspoken support for girls’ education, is a joint share-holder of the company, Salarzai.

The firm, whose other joint shareholders are her father Ziaud-din Yousafzai and her mother Toor Pekai, had £2.2million in the bank

by last August, reported The Times correspondent Fariha Karim.

Charitable fundHowever, it is to be noted that the London-based Salarzai, which was set up in 2013, is a sepa-rate operation to the charitable Malala Fund which aims to help girls safely complete secondary education worldwide, reported The Times.

Further, it was also claimed by Sun reporter Stephen Moyes that Malala will pay £200,000 in UK tax on her earnings last year. Her book I Am Malala, which was published in 2013 in Britain in a deal estimated at £2 million and has since sold at least 1.8 million copies worldwide, tells the story

of her growing up in Pakistan.‘In the book, Malala explained

how she had been ‘hypnotised by this talk of the big world beyond our valley’, but saw her future would be limited because she was a girl – even though her father wanted her to live freely.

Taliban attackWhen she was ten, the Taliban took control of the region, forbid-ding girls to attend school. She spoke up against them and was shot on her way home in 2012. However, Malala survived and was taken to Britain for treat-ment. She is settled there now and attends the private Edgbas-ton High School for Girls.

Malala has become a sought-after speaker since her horrifying ordeal, and a report by the Insti-tute for Policy Studies in Wash-ington DC claims she is paid a whopping £114,000 per speech.

Just last week Malala told a crowd in London’s Trafalgar Square at a memorial to Jo Cox that the murdered parliamentarian, who was killed earlier this month in West Yorkshire, was a ‘modern day suffragette’. – Express Tribune

Family of the Nobel

Peace Prize winner

have become

millionaires from her

best-selling memoir

and speaking

engagementsMalala Yousafzai. – File


Oil and gas discoveries touch a recordISLAMABAD: Pakistan has made the highest number of oil and gas discoveries in the cur-rent month as exploration com-panies found fresh hydrocarbon deposits in six wells that will add 50.1 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas and 2,359 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to the existing production levels.

Of these, major discoveries have been made in Sindh that al-ready has a big share in total gas output in the country.

Petroleum and Natural Re-sources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while speaking during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Petrole-

um and Natural Resources chaired by Bilal Ahmed Virk on Tuesday, said four discoveries were made in Sindh and the remaining two in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Two findsOf these, Oil and Gas Develop-ment Company made two finds, MOL Pakistan two and Petro-leum Exploration and United En-ergy Pakistan one each. The dis-coveries have shown presence of 31.6 mmcfd of gas and 339 bpd of crude oil in Sindh and 18.5 mmcfd of gas and 2,020 bpd of oil in K-P.

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines managing director Amjad Latif warned that the country’s gas re-

serves were depleting and no gas was available for the domestic consumers in Punjab. He pointed out that the purchasing cost of gas for domestic consumers stood at Rs510 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) but the consumers coming under the first slab were receiving it at Rs110 per mmbtu.

Eighty-five per cent of domestic consumers were paying less than 50 per cent of the cost of gas and the industrial and commercial consumers were cross-subsiding the domestic consumers, he said.

However, now industrial and commercial consumers were be-ing provided imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). - Express Tribune

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

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WORLDT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

Myanmar urgedto dismantle laws blocking free speech YANGON: Myanmar’s govern-ment, led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democ-racy (NLD), should amend and abolish laws that threaten free-dom of expression, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Wednesday.

Laws covering areas from tel-ecommunications to defamation have been used to arrest at least 70 people this month, said the re-port’s author, Linda Lakhdhir.

The arrests come despite re-forms by former President Thein Sein and the NLD, which won the November election in a landslide, giving it control of both houses of parliament and installing Suu Kyi as the country’s de facto leader.

“We think there has been a mixed bag of achievements on behalf of the new government,” said David Mathieson, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, referring to the NLD’s efforts to ease laws re-stricting freedom of speech.

Political prisonersWhile the NLD deserved credit for freeing many political prisoners, the ‘legal architecture of repres-sion’ that put them behind bars remained largely in place, Mathie-son added.

The NLD, made up of many for-mer activists and dissidents, has scrapped some restrictive laws and proposed changes to others, such as the Peaceful Assembly Law, which allows for protests that were barred under the junta, but still imposes limits, and is used to arrest and jail many demonstrators.

The NLD’s proposed changes to the law are an improvement, Hu-man Rights Watch has said, but they do not go far enough. The draft bill, being discussed in par-liament, would punish protesters for spreading “wrong” informa-tion and make it an offence.

Arrests of social media users whose posts are deemed distaste-ful have continued under Suu Kyi’s government. - Reuters

H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H Japan pledges broad policy support over Brexit shock

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on Wednes-day to use all available policy tools to keep the wheels of the economy turning as financial markets were gripped by uncertainty in the wake of Britain’s shock vote to exit the European Union.

The yen’s spike following the referendum has kept Japanese policymakers on edge as a strong-er currency threatens to put more pressure on the export-reliant economy, already reeling from weak demand at home and abroad.

Retail sales fell more than ex-pected in May, data showed earlier in the day, keeping policymakers under pressure to roll out more stimulus. “Consumer spending has been stagnant and the trend is likely to continue for a while due to slug-gish growth in wages,” said Hide-nobu Tokuda, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.

In a meeting to discuss post-Brexit market developments, Abe urged Bank of Japan (BoJ) gover-nor Haruhiko Kuroda to ensure the central bank provides ample funds to the market to prevent any

credit squeeze.“A sense of uncertainty and

worry about risks remain in the markets,” Abe told the meeting, the second between the govern-ment and the BoJ since the June 23 referendum.

The premier also called on Fi-nance Minister Taro Aso to keep a close watch on currency moves and respond flexibly to market de-velopments in coordination with Group of Seven economies.

Abe is expected to hold similar meetings regularly as Tokyo looks to put safeguards in place against po-tential instability in financial markets after Britain’s messy EU divorce.

The rush of money to safe ha-vens such as the yen has been stoked by fear Brexit would ad-versely affect Britain’s economy and undermine already fragile growth in the EU, causing more disruption in global investment and trade. Japan stepped up

threats to intervene to weaken the yen after the Brexit vote drove the currency to multi-year highs, but the risks of a costly failure may dissuade policymakers from matching their words with action.

Still, Masahiko Shibayama, an adviser to the premier, said uni-lateral yen-selling intervention cannot be ruled out to counter ex-cess speculation, adding that the central bank should stand ready to expand its already massive monetary stimulus.

“We won’t hesitate to take ac-tion against excess speculation,” he told Reuters in an interview. The dollar firmed to 102.63 yen on Wednesday, moving away from a 2-1/2-year low of 99.00 touched on Friday.

Former top BoJ economist Hideo Hayakawa told reporters the central bank could be forced into further easing at the July 28-29 policy meeting given prices are

undershooting its forecasts. How-ever, he shrugged off speculation about the BoJ holding an extra policy meeting before that.

StimulusThe BoJ is wary of rushing into expanding its monetary stimulus, preferring to wait and see if the market turmoil lasts long enough to threaten Japan’s economic recov-ery, sources say.

Hence, analysts see Abe’s meet-ings as more a symbolic move to show the public the government is doing what it can to contain dam-age ahead of a July 10 upper house election in Japan.

“There’s not a lot of policy tools left for authorities to reboot the economy. Therefore, Abe has no choice but hold meetings one after another at least until the July elec-tion,” said Yasuji Yajima, chief econ-omist at NLI Research Institute.

“If the yen spikes beyond 100

to the dollar, authorities would intervene in the currency market but I doubt whether it could have a lasting impact,” he said.

Japan’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in a year in the first quarter but analysts say growth will not pick up much for the rest of this year as slow wage gains weigh on consumption. Ex-ternal headwinds, such as weak emerging market demand and the yen’s gains, also cloud the outlook for exports.

Worried about the additional hit from Brexit, the government is willing to spend at least ¥10 tril-lion ($97.7 billion) on a stimulus package, sources said. - Reuters

Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe urged

Bank of Japan

governor Haruhiko

Kuroda to ensure

the central bank

provides ample

funds to the

market to prevent

any credit squeeze

PREVENTIVE MEASURES: Finance Minister Taro Aso, second from left, and Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda, left, discuss the

impact of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union, at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan stepped up threats to

intervene to weaken the yen after the Brexit vote drove the currency to multi-year highs. – AFP


ISTANBUL: Turkish investiga-tors pored over video footage and witness statements on Wednesday after three suspected IS suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul’s main airport, killing 41 people and wounding 239.

The attack on Europe’s third-busiest airport was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings this year in Turkey, part of the US-led coalition against IS and struggling to contain spillover from neigh-bouring Syria’s war.

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turn-ing point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had “no regard for faith or values”.

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned it in separate phone calls with Erdogan, his office said.

Five Saudis and two Iraqis were among the dead, a Turkish official said. Citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine were also among the 13 foreigners killed.

One attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving

for cover and trying to flee, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor be-low, witnesses and officials said.

Video footage showed one of the attackers inside the terminal building being shot, apparently by a police officer, before falling to the

ground as people scattered.The attacker then blew himself

up around 20 seconds later.

Jigsaw puzzle“It’s a jigsaw puzzle... The au-thorities are going through CCTV footage, witness statements,” a

Turkish official said. The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three bombers, whose torsos were ripped apart, had been com-pleted and that they may have been foreign nationals, without citing its sources.

Broken ceiling panels littered

the kerb outside the arrivals sec-tion of the international terminal.

Plates of glass had shattered, ex-posing the inside of the building, and electric cables dangled from the ceiling.

Cleanup crews swept up de-bris and armed police patrolled as

flights resumed.“This attack, targeting innocent

people, is a vile, planned terrorist act,” Prime Minister Binali Yildi-rim told reporters at the scene in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “There is initial evidence that each of the three suicide bombers blew themselves up after opening fire,” he said.

The attackers had come to the airport by taxi and preliminary find-ings pointed to IS responsibility.

No evidence Two US counterterrorism officials familiar with the early stages of in-vestigations said IS was at the top of the list of suspects even though there was no evidence yet.

No group had claimed responsi-bility more than 12 hours after the attack, which began around 9:50 p.m.(1850 GMT) on Tuesday.

Istanbul’s position bridging Eu-rope and Asia has made Ataturk airport, Turkey’s largest, a major transit hub for passengers across the world.

The Istanbul governor’s office said 109 of the 239 people hospi-talised had since been discharged, but the health minister said 41 were still in intensive care.

“There were little babies crying, people shouting, broken glass and blood all over the floor. It was very crowded, there was chaos.

It was traumatic,” said Diana Elt-ner, 29, a Swiss psychologist who was travelling from Zurich to Viet-nam but had been diverted to Istan-bul after she missed a connection.

Delayed travellers were sleeping on floors at the airport, a Reuters witness said, as some passengers and airport staff cried and hugged each other.

Police in kevlar vests with auto-matic weapons prowled the kerb-side as a handful of travellers and Turkish Airlines crew trickled in.

The national carrier said it had cancelled 340 flights although its departures resumed after 8:00 am (0500 GMT). — Reuters

IS rebels main suspect after suicide bombers kill 41 at Istanbul airportPresident Tayyip

Erdogan said the

attack should serve

as a turning point

in the global fight

against terrorism,

which he said had

‘no regard for faith or

values’

A16

WORLDT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

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INCONSOLABLE: Relatives of suicide attack victim Mohammad Eymen Demirci mourn on Wednesday in Istanbul during his funeral a day

after a suicide bombing and gun attack targeted Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, killing 41 people. — AFP

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6B

Muscat

5,779.59 + 18.27

+ 0.32%

Dubai

3,271.38- 12.54

- 0.38%

Abu Dhabi

4,417.03+ 9.87

+ 0.22%

Saudi Arabia

6,504.35+ 24.03

+ 0.37%

Kuwait

5,374.78- 0.43

- 0.01%

Bahrain

1,118.16+ 4.05

+ 0.36%

Qatar

9,817.31- 50.63

- 0.51%

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

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

Euro ............................................2.32

Pound ...........................................1.93

Indian Rs .............................. 175.81

Pak Rs ....................................267.24

Bangla Taka........................201.17* Rates are as of Jun 29

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs ................................... 175.70

Pakistan Rs ..............................271.70

Sri Lanka Rs ..................................N/A

Bangla Taka........................... 203.50

Phil Peso .................................... 121.85

* Rates as of Jun 29 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......16.85

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) ........16.51

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............159.25

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 149.75

* Rates as of Jun 29

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$45.53

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$45.33

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$48.35

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$45.68

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........$48.89

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ........$48.23

CRUDE OIL PRICE

DIGEST VIDEO

S CA N T H I S Q R CO D E TO I N STA N T LY L AU N C H T H E V I D EO

Top stories in one minute with our new daily Digest

Petroleum Development Oman raises $4b for project financing

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Petroleum Develop-ment Oman (PDO), acting on be-half of the Government of the Sul-tanate of Oman, has successfully raised $4 billion from a group of in-ternational financial institutions.

In an environment of continued low global oil prices, the financing

will be used to support the com-pany’s activities, which include the construction of major new oil and gas facilities providing long-term economic benefits for the Sultanate. The borrowing will take the form of a five-year pre-export facility, which was provided by a syndicate of international banks. HSBC Bank Oman acted as the sole International Financial Ad-visor. The loan was priced at 160 basis points over the London In-terbank Offered Rate (Libor).

Throughout the planning and syndication phases, PDO worked

closely with Oman’s Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Oil and Gas.

Signing ceremonyThe signing ceremony took place on Wednesday, with Dr. Moham-med bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Oman’s minister of Oil and Gas and PDO chairman presiding as the Guest of Honour. Al Rumhy was joined by Nasser bin Khamis Al Jashmi, undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance and PDO deputy chair-man, along with senior executives from PDO and HSBC.

PDO Managing Director Raoul Restucci said: “PDO has robust growth plans in place and we are determined to stay the course and to deliver on our long-term ambi-tions. The money raised will help us to finance our business plans, as well as create more jobs and train-ing opportunities for Omanis.”

“This competitive new source of funding will enable us to reduce reliance on government funding, so that it can redeploy resources to other areas of the economy,” he added. PDO plans to invest more than $20 billion over the next five

years to sustain the company’s long-term hydrocarbon output. Examples include the Rabab Har-weel Integrated Project, which is the company’s largest capital pro-ject and will enable the develop-ment of 240 million barrels of oil and 100 million barrels of conden-sate, along with the export of one trillion cubic feet of non-associat-ed sale gas, when production starts in 2019.

By ‘staying the course,’ PDO will also be able to sustain its commit-ment to creating jobs and training positions for Omanis through its National Objectives Programme.

For its debut visit to the interna-tional financial markets, PDO ini-tially planned to raise around $2.5 billion in the form of a club deal with a small group of lenders.

However, due to strong interest from the wider banking market, the facility was significantly over-subscribed to $4.3 billion. PDO elected to upsize the facility to $4 billion with the difference being used to scale back banks commit-ments. Haifa Al Khaifi, PDO’s fi-nance director said: “The positive response we received from the international banking commu-nity during our meetings was very pleasing and an endorsement of

PDO’s performance, activities and long-term business plans. Against this background and the competi-tive rate secured, we decided it was appropriate to increase the size of the borrowing.”

Andrew Long, chief executive officer of HSBC Bank Oman com-mented: “We are delighted that the full resources of the HSBC Group have been brought to bear in bringing PDO to the market for the first time.

This reflects our ability to assist the Sultanate of Oman in raising further its exposure in the interna-tional markets.

Having been present in the Sul-tanate for around 68 years, we have been able to link our local market knowledge and our strong rela-tionship with PDO with the broad technical capabilities that HSBC Group has in financing and advis-ing the oil and gas sector.”

The senior phase for the five-year pre-export facility comprised of Bank of China, HSBC Bank, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMor-gan, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Natixis, Société Générale, Stand-ard Chartered Bank and Sumito-mo Mitsui Banking Corporation, before the transaction went out to general syndication.

The financing will be

used to support the

company’s activities,

which include

the construction

of major new oil

and gas facilities

providing long-term

economic benefits

for the Sultanate

SIGNING CEREMONY: The borrowing will take the form of a five-year pre-export facility, which was

provided by a syndicate of international banks. — Supplied picture

OMAN CRUDE PRICES RISEOman Crude (August delivery) increased by 94 cents to $46.22 per barrel, said Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). The average price of Oman Crude (July delivery) stabilised at $44.33 per barrel, $4.93 higher than June delivery. – ONA

B2

MARKETT H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 1,998,582 ...... 278,871....................151 ............0.135 ........... 0.143 ...........0.135 ........... 0.140 ............. 0.130.............0.010 ............. 7.692 ................0.140 ..............0.140...................0.142 ...................12,600,000 .........0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS ........................................................... 431,132 ..........237,942..................... 97 ........... 0.540 ........... 0.566 ...........0.540........... 0.552 .............0.528 ........... 0.024 ............. 4.545 ................0.566 ..............0.558...................0.566...................30,360,000.........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 3,638,782 ...... 400,613....................117 ............0.108 ........... 0.112............0.108 ............0.110 ............. 0.106 ........... 0.004 ............. 3.774 ................0.110 .............. 0.110................... 0.111 ................... 31,897,870 .........0.100

OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ...........................12,000 ............... 1,392........................2 ............0.116 ........... 0.116 ............ 0.116 ............0.116 ............. 0.112 ............ 0.004 ............. 3.571 ................ 0.116 .............. 0.116................... 0.121 .................... 6,825,813 ..........0.100

OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 126,017 .............25,573......................18 ........... 0.202 ...........0.204 ...........0.202 .......... 0.203 ............. 0.197............ 0.006 ............. 3.046 ................0.203..............0.203...................0.204 ..................25,354,286 .........0.100

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 1,354,179 ...... 237,041................... 129 ............0.174 ........... 0.176 ...........0.172 ............0.175 ............. 0.170............ 0.005 ............. 2.941 ................0.176 .............. 0.176...................0.177 ...................30,625,430 .........0.100

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ...............................................87,300 ...............6,343........................8 ........... 0.073 ........... 0.073 ...........0.072........... 0.073 ............. 0.071............ 0.002 ............. 2.817 ................0.072 .............. 0.071...................0.072................... 12,775,000 .........0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 271,000 ........... 36,585..................... 10 ............0.135 ........... 0.135 ...........0.135 ............0.135 ............. 0.132............ 0.003 ............. 2.273 ................0.135 .............. 0.133...................0.135 ................... 16,453,125 .........0.100

OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 620,846 ..........177,057..................... 54 ........... 0.284 ........... 0.286 ...........0.283........... 0.285 .............0.280 ........... 0.005 ............. 1.786.................0.286..............0.284...................0.286 ..................82,835,541 .........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ............ 114,450 ............ 28,547......................17 ........... 0.247 ...........0.250 ...........0.247........... 0.249 .............0.246 ........... 0.003 ............. 1.220 ................0.250..............0.249...................0.250 ...................5,229,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK .................................................................... 300,000 ........... 54,500........................5 ............0.185 ........... 0.185 ...........0.180 ........... 0.182 ............. 0.180 ........... 0.002 ..............1.111 .................0.180 ..............0.180...................0.184 ..................259,356,578 ........0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ..........................63,230 .......... 103,310......................16 ............1.630 ........... 1.635............1.630 ............1.635 ............. 1.625 .............0.010 ............. 0.615 ................1.635 .............. 1.635...................1.645 ................1,226,250,000 ......0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 347,873.......... 132,148......................41 ........... 0.380 ...........0.380 ...........0.378 ........... 0.380 .............0.378 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.529 ................0.380..............0.378...................0.380 .................948,575,098........0.100

OM0000001145 ............PORT SERVICES CORPORATION ....................... 206,906 ........... 50,899........................6 ........... 0.246 ...........0.246 ...........0.246........... 0.246 .............0.246 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.246..............0.234...................0.244 ..................23,379,840 .........0.100

OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ...........................................................1,166 ............... 1,527........................2 ............1.310 ........... 1.310............ 1.310 ........... 1.300 .............1.300 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.310 .............. 1.310................... 1.315 ................. 260,000,000 .......0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ..................................... 1,000 .................. 238........................ 1 ........... 0.238 ........... 0.238 ...........0.238........... 0.239 .............0.239 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.238 ..............0.238...................0.240 .................352,472,725 ........0.100

OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN ...................................................... 75,275 ............... 7,377........................4 ........... 0.098 ........... 0.098 ...........0.098........... 0.098 .............0.098 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.098 ..............0.098...................0.099..................196,030,653 ........0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 241,999 ........... 47,228......................12 ............0.199 ........... 0.199 ...........0.193 ............0.195 ............. 0.195............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.193 .............. 0.193...................0.195 ...................39,000,000.........0.100

OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST ...................................................................... 20,133 ............. 11,436........................2 ........... 0.568 ........... 0.568 ...........0.568 ........... 0.568 .............0.568 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.568 ..............0.550...................0.568..................361,129,224 ........0.100

OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES .................................10,000 ...............2,520........................ 1 ........... 0.252 ........... 0.252 ...........0.252........... 0.252 .............0.252 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.252..............0.248...................0.252 ..................74,645,848 .........0.100

OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES .......................................... 105,281 .............22,951......................18 ............0.218 ........... 0.218 ...........0.218 ........... 0.218 ............. 0.218............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.218 .............. 0.216...................0.218 ...................13,342,532 .........0.100

OM0000002275 ...........SHELL OMAN MARKETING ...........................................20 .....................38........................ 1 ............1.895 ........... 1.895 ...........1.895 ............1.895 ............. 1.895 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.895 ..............1.860...................1.895 ..................180,025,000........0.100

OM0000002846 ...........GULF INV. SER. PREF SHARES ............................ 150,000 ............ 15,750........................ 1 ............0.105 ........... 0.105 ...........0.105 ........... 0.105 ............. 0.105............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.105 .............. 0.105...................0.000 ................... 9,596,032 ..........0.100

OM0000003000 ...........ALMAHA PETROLEUM PRODUCTS MAR. ......... 1,330 ............... 1,995........................ 1 ............1.500 ........... 1.500 ...........1.500 ........... 1.500 ............. 1.500 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.500 ..............1.500...................0.000 .................103,500,000 .......0.100

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 1,050,300 ...... 180,653........................4 ............0.175 ........... 0.175............0.172 ............0.172 ............. 0.172............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.172 .............. 0.173................... 0.174 ..................275,973,887 ........0.100

OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ....................................................... 9,634 ...............4,162........................3 ........... 0.432 ........... 0.432 ...........0.432........... 0.432 .............0.432 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.432 ..............0.432...................0.460 ..................26,136,000 .........0.100

OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER .................................................................... 110 .....................33........................ 1 ........... 0.300 ...........0.300 ...........0.300 .......... 0.300 .............0.300 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.300 .............0.282...................0.300 ..................66,303,000.........0.100

OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 666,349 ......... 488,051..................... 32 ............0.732 ........... 0.740 ...........0.732 ........... 0.732 ............. 0.732............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.740 .............. 0.736...................0.740 .................. 476,491,176 ........0.100

OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION .................................. 2,362 ..............11,101........................ 1 ........... 4.700 ........... 4.700 ...........4.700........... 4.700 .............4.700 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................4.700 ............. 0.000...................4.700................... 45,967,015 .........1.000

OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER ..........................................................590 ...................118........................ 1 ........... 0.200 ...........0.200 ...........0.200 .......... 0.210 .............0.210 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.200 ............ 0.200...................0.216 ..................150,025,331 ........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ................................................ 241,076 ......... 109,960......................21 ........... 0.442 ...........0.460 ...........0.442........... 0.456 .............0.456 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.460..............0.460...................0.470...................23,940,000 ........0.100

OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ................................ 70,000 .............17,440........................3 ........... 0.250 ...........0.250 ...........0.247........... 0.249 .............0.250 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.400 ...............0.247..............0.247...................0.250 ................. 24,900,000 ........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 12,218,922 ......2,693,397 .............780 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......32........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING.................................. 193,740 .............15,509......................16 ........... 0.080 ........... 0.081 ...........0.080........... 0.080 .............0.077 ........... 0.003 ............. 3.896 ................0.080..............0.079...................0.080 ................... 6,016,640 ..........0.100

OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. ....................86,104 ...............2,669........................7 ............0.031 ........... 0.031 ...........0.031 ............0.031 .............0.030 ............0.001 ............. 3.333 ................0.031 ..............0.030...................0.031 ....................2,635,000 ..........0.100

OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 1,142,829 ...... 181,324..................... 95 ............0.156 ........... 0.159 ...........0.156 ............0.159 ............. 0.156............ 0.003 ............. 1.923 ................0.159 .............. 0.159...................0.160 ..................232,553,632........0.100

OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK...............................................118,176 ...............6,888........................5 ........... 0.058 ........... 0.059 ...........0.058 ........... 0.058 .............0.057 ............0.001 ............. 1.754.................0.058 ..............0.058...................0.059...................58,000,000 ........0.100

OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ..................................................... 166,700...............9,964......................19 ........... 0.060 ........... 0.061 ...........0.059 ........... 0.060 .............0.059 ............0.001 ............. 1.695 ................0.059 ..............0.059...................0.061 .................... 7,500,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 832,848 ........... 63,544..................... 34 ........... 0.076 ........... 0.077 ...........0.075 ........... 0.076 .............0.075 ............0.001 ............. 1.333 ................0.077 ..............0.076...................0.077..................114,000,000........0.100

OM0000001152 ............OMAN NATIONAL ENGINE. INVT. ........................... 300 .....................59........................ 1 ............0.195 ........... 0.195 ...........0.195 ............0.195 ............. 0.195............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.195 .............. 0.177...................0.195 ...................19,500,000 .........0.100

OM0000001301 ............DHOFAR CATTLE FEED .............................................. 1,300 .................. 286........................2 ........... 0.220 ...........0.220 ...........0.220 .......... 0.225 .............0.225 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.220 ............ 0.000...................0.220 .................. 18,191,250 .........0.100

OM0000001400 ...........OMAN FLOUR MILLS ....................................................1,061 ..................620........................ 1 ........... 0.584 ........... 0.584 ...........0.584........... 0.554 .............0.554 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.584 ..............0.590...................0.600 ..................87,255,000 .........0.100

OM0000001723 ............OMAN ORIX LEASING ............................................. 440,000........... 49,280........................5 ............0.112 ........... 0.112............ 0.112 ............0.112 ............. 0.112 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.112 ...............0.111................... 0.112 ................... 28,116,413 .........0.100

OM0000001228 ............OMAN HOTELS AND TOURISM ........................... 22,090 ............... 8,748........................6 ........... 0.396 ........... 0.396 ...........0.396 ........... 0.396 .............0.438 ...........-0.042 ........... -9.589 ...............0.396 ............. 0.000...................0.396...................27,660,600 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 3,005,148 ......338,890....................191 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ...... 11........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS AND SUKUK MARKET ...................................................................................................................................................................... OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 ..............................................2,691 .................. 285........................ 1 ............0.106 ........... 0.106 ...........0.106 ........... 0.106 ............. 0.106 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.106 ..............0.106...................0.000 ..................33,882,124 .........0.100

OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ....................... 2,353 .................. 235........................ 1 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.100 ...........0.100 ............0.101 ............. 0.101 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.100 ..............0.100...................0.102 ...................32,740,323 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: ...................................................................................... 5,044 ...................521........................2 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 2........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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

O M A N S T O C K S

INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ........................................5,785.55 ............... 5,761.32 ....................5,779.59 ....................5,761.32 ..................18.27 ................... 0.32Financial Index .....................................7,276.42 ............... 7,219.86 ....................7,267.28 ....................7,219.86 ..................47.42 ................... 0.66Industrial Index .................................... 7,289.15 ...............7,263.43 ....................7,289.15 ....................7,256.16 ................. 32.99 ................... 0.45Services Index .......................................3,241.83 ...............3,225.77 ................... 3,238.99 ................... 3,225.77 ..................13.22 ................... 0.41MSM SHARIAH INDEX....................... 883.61 ..................880.95 .......................883.61 ...................... 880.95 ....................2.66 ...................0.30

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded15,229,114 ..................3,032,808 .....................973 ...............17,020,692,342 ................ 19 ........................2 ....................24 .........................45

MSM index ends higher

MUSCAT: Improved market activity drove the MSM30 Index to 5,779.59 points, up 0.32 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index in-creased 0.30 per cent to finish at 883.61 points. Galfar Engineering was the most active in terms of volume while Ooredoo was most active in terms of turnover.

Top gainer was Al Sharqia In-vestment, up 9.55 per cent while top loser on Wednesday was Oman Hotels & Tourism, down 9.59 per cent.

A total number of 973 trades were executed on Wednesday, generating turnover of OMR3.0 million with 15.2 million shares changing hands. Out of 45 trad-ed securities, 19 advanced, two declined and 24 remained un-changed. At the session close, GCC & Arab Investors were net buyers for OMR92,000 fol-lowed by foreign investors for OMR91,000 while Omani inves-tors switched to net sellers for OMR183,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index had strong

gain of 0.66 per cent to close at 7,267.28 points. Al Sharqia In-vestments, Gulf Investment Services, Al Anwar Holding, Al Madina Takaful and Oman & Emirates Holding gained 7.69 per cent, 3.57 per cent, 2.94 per cent, 2.82 per cent and 2.27 per cent respectively. Oman United Insurance retreated 0.40 per cent to close at OMR0.249.

Industrial Index ended at 7,289.15 points, up 0.45 per cent. Al Hassan Engineering, Gal-far Engineering, Construction Materials, Al Jazeera Steel and Oman Fisheries gained 3.90 per cent, 3.77 per cent, 3.33 per cent, 3.05 per cent and 1.69 per cent respectively.

Services Index gained 0.41 per cent to close at 3,238.99 points. National Gas, Phoenix Power, Re-naissance Services and Omantel increased 4.55 per cent, 1.92 per cent, 1.79 per cent and 0.62 per cent respectively. Oman Hotels & Tourism, down 9.59 per cent was the only loser. — United Securities

Top gainer was Al Sharqia Investment, up

9.55 per cent while top loser was Oman

Hotels & Tourism, down 9.59 per cent

Saudi Arabia moves up in real estate transparencyTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Saudi Arabia has moved up the rankings to finish in the ‘Semi-Transparent’ cat-egory for the first time in the JLL and LaSalle Investment Manage-ment’s 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI).

Strong advances over the past two years have seen Saudi Arabia(63rd) and Egypt (65th) move into the dynamic ‘Semi-Transparent’ group, which is largely dominated by large emerg-ing markets, including the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and all four ofthe fast-growing MIST economies (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey). Dubai (48th) has retained its position as the most transparent real estate market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with Abu Dhabi (59th) following closely behind, according to the report.

“This is very good news for Sau-

di Arabia,” said Jamil Ghaznawi, National Director and Country Head of JLL Saudi Arabia.

“Moving into this category for the first time shows the advances the Kingdom is making and is an indication of the focus the coun-try has on strengthening corpo-rate governance, transparency and market data.”

The 10 countries identified as ‘Highly Transparent’ by GRETI account for 75 per cent of global investment into commercial real estate, highlighting the extent to which transparency drives real estate investment decisions.

A number of key factors are driving progress and frame the broader issues raised by both high and low transparency.

Capital allocations to real es-tate are growing. JLL forecasts that within the next decade in excess of $1 trillion will be target-ing the sector, compared to $700 billion now. This growth means investors are demanding fur-

ther improvements in real estate transparency, expecting stand-ards in real estate to be on a par with other asset classes.

There is a growing recognition that transparent real estate prac-tices play a significant role in capital formation, municipal fi-nance, and as a foundation to im-prove the quality of life in many communities.

This foundation includes secu-rity of property ownership, safe housing and workplaces and the ability to trust agents to act hon-estly and professionally.

Technology is both a driver of the digitisation of all kinds of real estate data and also an enabler in disseminating and analysing this data; improvements in data capture techniques are allowing a more granular and timely assess-ment of real estate markets.

The JLL report also highlights a number of factors which will in-fluence real estate transparency in the next several years.

T R A N S P A R E N C Y I N D E X

L’azurde listed on Saudi bourse

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alter-native investment products, on Wednesday announced the suc-cessful listing of its Gulf Oppor-tunity Fund I portfolio company, L’azurde Company for Jewellery (L’azurde), on the Saudi Stock Ex-change. L’azurde is the first major-ity private equity-owned business

in Saudi Arabia to list on Tadawul.Mohammed Al-Shroogi, Co-

CEO of Investcorp and Chairman of L’azurde, said: “L’azurde has been an outstanding investment and success story forInvestcorp. Since acquiring the business in early 2009, our Corporate In-vestment team in Bahrain, along with our partners from Eastgate Capital and The National Inves-tor, have worked closely with

L’azurde’s management team to drivegrowthinto new markets and expand the product offering, im-prove operational and capital ef-ficiency as well as institutionalise the businessthrough a number of senior management hires and by implementing a robust corporate governance framework.”

L’azurde is the largest manufac-turer and wholesaler of gold jewel-lery in the Middle East.

S A U D I S T O C K E X C H A N G E

Muscat Securities Market. – Times file picture

B3T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

MARKETNew rules for capital adequacy requirements issued by CMA

Times News Service

MUSCAT: An important ad-ministrative decision was issued on the new rules for capital ad-equacy for companies operating in securities, to enhance their risk management in the capital market, such as market volatility risks, settlement risk, credit risk, operation risks and liquidity risk through robust requirements and control systems.

Sheikh Abullah Salim Al Sal-mi, executive president of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said: “Compliance with capital adequacy requirements (CAR) is

the safety valve for licensed com-panies and is a key instrument for risk management, as well as being a message from the company to its clients of its ability to discharge the obligations toward them, which would enhance the level of confidence between them.”

Capital adequacyHe added that due to the im-portance of such requirements to control capital adequacy for financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and the companies operating in secu-rities, the regulators of such in-stitutions worldwide regulate the same through monitoring capital adequacy of companies and their ability to encounter the risks for the stability of the financial sys-tem. He pointed out that the new CAR were issued after a thorough review of the requirement, which were applied for more than a dec-ade in view of the new concepts of risk management and complex processes of stock markets, as well as the advances in technol-ogy and operating systems of the licensed companies.

The new requirements observe the element of capital adequacy, which are related to the level of risks the companies are exposed to, as well as the consolidated fi-nancial statements of the compa-

nies to ensure better valuation of the levels of risks relating to the assets of subsidiaries and their fi-nancial obligations.

Liquidity risksThey also take into account the liquidity risks of the portfolios of licensed companies and the secu-rities held as collateral for margin financing.

Exposure ratios were reduced for their relative importance in curbing the risks the companies

are exposed to by increasing the hedging ratio in the capital buffer from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the annual expenses, also for sub-ordinated loans at the same ratio, while reducing the percentage for real-estate assets, profits and commissions, as well as owner-ship in profitable companies not listed on the market due to their reduced level of risks.

He concluded that the compa-nies must apply the CAR soundly and monitor capital adequacy to

ensure early intervention in the event of any default, which would expose the company.

New requirementsThe new requirements require the companies to maintain 100 per cent adequacy and continu-ous monitoring systems to ensure maintaining the required ratio. The routine capital adequacy re-port is obligatory on a monthly basis in 10 working days from the end of each month. CMA may re-quire additional reports on capital adequacy signed by a member of the top management and the com-pliance officer.

Where the capital adequacy falls below 100 per cent, the com-pany shall top it up within 30 days and shall adopt a recovery plan de-termined by the Executive Presi-dent of CMA. CMA has also urged the licensed companies to take the required actions to transform cap-ital adequacy calculation through the electronic system linked to the internal systems of the company in not more than six months from the date of the decision.

Compliance with

capital adequacy

rules key instrument

for risk management,

executive president

of the Capital Market

Authority said

Sheikh Abullah Salim Al Salmi, executive president of the Capital

Market Authority. — Supplied picture


Oman fourth in Arab region logistics indexMUSCAT: Oman was ranked 4th in the Arab World and 48th world-wide in terms of Logistics Perfor-mance Index. The Sultanate got 3.23 points out of 5 points, advanc-ing 11th positions between 2014 and 2016 in the index, according to the report issued by the World Bank on June 28.

This reflects the Sultanate’s progress in the majority of the sub-indicators that constitutes the main six indicators of the index, namely Customs, Infrastructure, International Shipment, Logis-tics Quality, Tracking and Tracing and Timeliness.

Notable progressThe report explained that the most notable progress achieved by the Sultanate’s standing was in logis-tics quality index as it advanced 35 positions from 73 worldwide rank-ing in 2014 to 38 in 2016, as well as the tracking and tracing index where it advanced from 23 posi-tions from the 80 world-ranking in 2014 to 57 in 2016.

The Logistics Performance In-dex is issued by the World Bank. A global survey is conducted eve-ry two years in order to provide a comprehensive perception to identify the threats and opportu-nities that face the countries of the world in the field of logistics per-formance. — ONA

W O R L D B A N K R E P O R T

Wall Street on Saudi Arabia charm offensive drive chasing record dealsDUBAI: When news broke in January that Saudi Arabia was considering an initial public of-fering (IPO) of its state-owned oil company, the first reaction on Wall Street was shock. Then calls began pouring into Dubai — the Middle East’s financial hub — from senior bankers in London and New York.

Investment banks around the world are clamouring to join what promises to be a bonanza, and not just the IPO of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, which could be valued at upward of $2 trillion. The kingdom is planning to sell hundreds of state assets to bolster its finances and reduce its depend-ence on oil. That includes as much as $15 billion of bonds.

Saudi Arabia looks even more promising with investment bank-ing in a global slump and Britain’s vote to exit the European Un-ion set to deter deal-making for months to come.

“Saudi Arabia is close to the top, if not at the top, of the agenda for banks,” said Christopher Wheeler, a London-based analyst with At-lantic Equities in London. “Where else is there at the moment?”

Fees paid to banks in the king-dom jumped by almost a third to about $100 million in the first five months of the year, according to New York-based research firm Freeman. While that’s a fraction of what investment banks generate in the US and Europe, the work of diversifying the kingdom’s econo-my is just getting started.

International banks elbowing for position are adding staff, dis-patching top executives to Riyadh and promoting Saudis to senior roles. Among the biggest banks, HSBC Holdings and JPMorgan Chase appear to have a head start.

HSBC is working on the privati-sation of the Saudi Stock Exchange and the potential breakup of Saudi Electricity Co., people with knowl-edge of the matter have said.

Stuart Gulliver, chief executive officer of the London-based bank, travels to the kingdom regularly

to meet decision makers, said a person familiar with his visits who asked not to be identified discuss-ing internal matters.

Influential rolesTwo HSBC bankers recently jumped to government roles. Mo-hammad Al Tuwaijri, CEO for the Middle East, was appointed depu-ty economy and planning minister in May. Fahad Al Saif, general man-ager of global banking and markets at HSBC’s Saudi British Bank, is starting a debt management of-fice that will be responsible for the kingdom’s first international bond sale. HSBC and JPMorgan, along with Citigroup, were picked just days ago to arrange that offer-ing, people with knowledge of the matter said. Officials at the three firms declined to comment on their Saudi operations.

JPMorgan advised the Saudi Public Investment Fund on its $3.5 billion investment in Uber Tech-nologies Inc. this month. It also has an advisory role on Aramco, people familiar with the matter said in April. The largest US bank set out at the beginning of the year to increase its Saudi staff of 65

by about 10 per cent, said Bader Alamoudi, CEO of its local invest-ment-banking unit, in a January interview.

‘Huge potential’Deutsche Bank, which has about 80 people in the country, named Jamal Al Kishi, a Saudi national, as CEO for the Middle East and Af-rica earlier this year.

“We view Saudi as a core growth market with huge potential for global investment banks,” said Tamim Jabr, Deutsche Bank’s head of corporate and investment-banking coverage in Saudi Arabia.

Morgan Stanley President Colm Kelleher, who travelled to Ri-yadh in May, told Saudi Arabia’s al-Eqtisadiah newspaper that his visit was to reaffirm the bank’s commitment to the Saudi market at a time when the country’s future is being shaped. An official at the New York-based firm declined to comment.

The big banks are vying not just with each other, but also with smaller firms. Verus Partners, a London-based advisory boutique co-founded by former Citigroup bankers Mark Aplin and Andrew

Elliott, helped Saudi Arabia secure its first loan in 15 years in April, when the government raised $10 billion from banks.

Michael Klein, another ex-Cit-igroup investment banker, is ad-vising Aramco on it’s IPO, people with knowledge of the matter said in April. Klein’s firm is providing strategic advice to the govern-ment, while JPMorgan is working on preparations for the IPO and may be among the banks that un-derwrite the offering, the people said. “It’s going to be a fees feast for investment banks,” said John Sfa-kianakis, the Jeddah-based head of economic research at the Gulf Research Center, a think tank. “No one else in the Middle East, and maybe even emerging mar-kets globally, is embarking on such deep reforms.”

The Aramco IPO alone would generate at least $50 million in banking fees, according to an esti-mate from Freeman. The kingdom provides a bright spot in an other-wise dismal landscape for invest-ment banks, whose earnings are under pressure from record-low interest rates and escalating capi-tal requirements. — Bloomberg News

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

Top airlines to invest

more in cyber security

Times News Service

MUSCAT: As the connected world of travel becomes a real-ity 91 per cent of airlines plan to invest in cyber security pro-grammes over the next three years.

This is according to the SITA Airline IT Trends 2016 Survey published on Wednesday. The level of commitment to cyber se-curity reflects the consensus that a lot is being done in this area but there is always more to do.

SITA, the travel technology provider to the air transport in-dustry, carried out its survey among the world’s top 200 air-lines, and discovered that cyber security at airlines is progress-ing. Three years ago less than half of airlines (47 per cent) said they were making advanced prepara-tions to manage cyber risks — today this has doubled to 91 per cent.

The focus on cyber security also reflects the move to the ‘In-

ternet of Things’ (IoT) in which a vast number of physical ob-jects will become connected to the internet. This enables track-ing, data collection, analysis and control, which necessitates more security. An overwhelming ma-jority of airlines (68 per cent) are investing in IoT programs in the next three years, up from 57 per cent this time last year.

A key area of IoT investment is in connected aircraft which 46 per cent of airlines believe will give a better passenger experi-ence. Today 37 per cent of air-lines operate connected aircraft and this will jump to two thirds by 2019. Currently ‘Internet via passenger devices’ is the service offered by most (33 per cent). Over the next three years big in-creases in services are expected with more than half of airlines planning to provide destination services and duty-free shopping apps, while 70 per cent plan to provide multi-media file stream-ing on passenger devices.

S I T A R E P O R T

ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION: International banks elbowing for position are adding staff, dispatching

top executives to Riyadh and promoting Saudis to senior roles. — Bloomberg file picture

Sony hikes sales goal

TOKYO: Sony expects the prof-itability of its games division to rise as the Japanese company prepares to launch a virtual-real-ity (VR) headset to complement its PlayStation and streaming services. The company is target-ing an operating profit margin of 8 to 10 per cent for its games and network services division in the year ending March 2018, up from 5 to 6 per cent previously.

It raised its target for revenue at that unit to between 1.8 trillion yen ($17.6 billion) and 1.9 trillion yen, up from 1.4 trillion yen to 1.6 trillion yen previously.

Since taking the helm four years ago, Kazuo Hirai has led Sony through a painful shift away from consumer electronics, cut-

ting thousands of jobs and sell-ing the company’s Vaio personal computer brand. The focus on games, movies and network ser-vices has boosted profitability. Reflecting changing priorities, the company on Wednesday cut its forecasts for sales and oper-ating profit margin target at the mobile division.

“Games and network services are the biggest growth drivers in our mid-term plan,” Hirai told re-porters in Tokyo.

“Beyond just games, VR offers an opportunity to make full use of multiple Sony technologies, such as cameras and shooting, content production capabilities and en-tertainment assets.”

— Bloomberg News

G A M E S D I V I S I O N

B4

FEATURET H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

Greg Mankiw, a Har-vard economist and a respected voice in eco-nomic policy-making, recently wrote a New York Times article

discussing five possible expla-nations for slow growth in rich countries. The final possibility he discusses is one that I haven’t seen much in recent years — the notion that government deficits slow economic growth.

Five years ago, it was common to hear claims that too much government borrowing would hurt growth — an idea known as expansionary austerity. Much of the research cited by the pro-ponents of this theory was done by scholars at the International Monetary Fund. But during the past few years, there have been quite a few questions about the IMF’s past cheerleading for belt-tightening.

The IMF’s job is to lend to countries in distress. But it also tries to make its loans condi-tional on countries implement-ing policy reforms to fix the problems that got the country into a crisis in the first place. For a long time, it viewed govern-

ment deficits as a major source of trouble. After episodes like the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the IMF would press borrowers to cut government spending.

But the fund came under increasing criticism for this approach. The principles of Keynesian fiscal policy — which have slowly been coming back into vogue — say that tighten-ing spending is the worst thing you can do in the middle of a recession. More generally, it isn’t clear just how austerity is supposed to work its positive magic. The main claim seems to be the rather vague idea that lower budget deficits increase business confidence.

Some pieces of research seemed to support austerity pol-icies. Work by economists Car-men Reinhart and Kenneth Ro-goff — the latter of whom served as the IMF’s chief economist from 2001 to 2003 — purported to show that countries that bor-rowed more grew more slowly. But in 2013, this research was widely discredited when a num-ber of errors were discovered. Subsequent analysis, including some by my doctoral adviser

Miles Kimball, showed that there isn’t any evidence that high debt causes low growth.

Another paper on the aus-terity side — and one of the pa-pers Mankiw cites in his Times column — was a 2002 study by Olivier Blanchard and Roberto Perotti. They found that when government spending goes up, business investment goes down. That pro-austerity result con-tradicts a lot of other papers —but it was very influential in part because of the prestige of Blan-chard, who is a towering figure in macroeconomics (and was the IMF’s chief economist from 2008 to 2015).

But in recent years, Blan-chard has shifted his stance. In a 2013 paper with Daniel Leigh, he showed that the IMF had been consistently wrong in its forecasts of the effects of aus-terity. The more beneficial the IMF predicted that austerity would be, the more incorrect its predictions were!

Blanchard and Leigh conclude that fiscal multipliers — the mainstay of Keynesian policy — are much higher than they had previously thought. In other

words, each dollar of stimulus spending produces much more than an additional dollar of eco-nomic output. The IMF’s 2012 World Economic Outlook, while it still pays lip service to the val-ue of fiscal consolidation, dem-onstrates the shift in thinking:

[Economic] activity has dis-appointed in a number of econo-mies undertaking fiscal consoli-dation…. So a natural question is whether the negative short-term effects of fiscal cutbacks have been larger than [we] ex-pected because fiscal multipli-ers were underestimated…[our new] results suggest that actual fiscal multipliers were larger than [our] forecasters assumed.

This paper isn’t a one-shot mea culpa. The IMF’s overall policy position has changed a lot in the past few years. A 2015 paper by Fund econo-mists Abdul Abiad, Davide Furceri and Petia Topalova found that government invest-ment boosts the private sector rather than crowd it out. In 2010, the IMF admitted that its demands exacerbated the pain of South Korea’s finan-cial crisis in the 1990s. And in

2016, the Fund released a re-port questioning whether its entire economic philosophy had major weaknesses.

As we all know by now, cer-tainty is very hard to come by in macroeconomics. Cross-country comparisons are natu-rally unreliable creatures, since nations aren’t very similar, and because spillovers from coun-try to country are common. The IMF’s new conclusions about fiscal policy might even-tually prove to be as wrong as its old ones — in fact, people were quick to point out weak-nesses as soon as Blanchard and Leigh’s paper came out.

But there are two larger points here. The first is that because the International Monetary Fund has reversed its pro-austerity stance, people citing the IMF ought to recognise this. Mankiw treats the expansionary auster-ity argument as though it’s still a popular hypothesis, when some of its biggest proponents have now turned against it. That means no one should be taking the idea as seriously as some took it several years ago.— Bloomberg News

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Ramadan promo adds to Escalade’s appeal

MUSCAT: Cadillac - OTE has an-nounced its Ramadan promotion scheme which is one of the most at-tractive in the segment.

The Cadillac Escalade is all about unique craftsmanship and a philosophy that takes on a new dimension. With the new Esca-lade, Cadillac sets the standard for sports utility vehicles. Its boldly designed exterior turns heads while its cut-and-sewn interior surrounds each passenger with authentic materials and hi-tech amenities. Painstakingly crafted, the Escalade evokes confidence and moves with an undeniable presence, says a press release.

Ramadan benefits So what can Cadillac Escalade cus-tomers expect this Ramadan? The offer entitles them for cash gift of up to OMR3,000, a gold voucher worth OMR250, free insurance ( valid across Oman and UAE), free registration and 3.29% inter-est rate per annum for six years through in-house finance. If that’s not all, customers will benefit from the regional four years/100,000km free service and maintenance (whichever is earlier) and 4 years roadside assistance program that is valid across the GCC.

One of the most agile SUVs in the market today, the Escalade combines benchmark perfor-mance with sophistication and luxury. The Cadillac Escalade rep-

resents best-in-class engineering, design and refinement that trans-form raw power into a virtuoso performance.

Beast in a beauty The 6.2L V8 engine is the beast in-side the beauty that produces 429 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque. The Es-calade achieves optimum V8 fuel economy with the help of its active fuel management, which deacti-vates four cylinders when added power is not needed, such as at cruising speed.

Crafted to formArtisans capture the essence of ab-solute luxury within each Escalade by dramatically layering fabrics and textures specifically chosen to com-plement one another. The hand-wrapped and cross-stitched heated steering wheel, dressed in leather, adds a personal touch. Exception-ally comfortable and supportive leather seating surfaces create a new level of Escalade sophistica-tion. The center console, armrest and instrument panel trim are also taut, cut-and-sewn masterpieces.

Each interior theme inspired the designers to choose the perfect genuine wood accompaniment. Jet Black is paired with exotic Santos Palisander. Shale received a dis-tinctive American Walnut. I a simi-lar vein, the Kona Brown is comple-mented with a Natural Finish Elm that will only grow richer with time.

Advanced forward lightingThere’s brilliance behind the bril-liance. Full LED headlamps in-cluding industry-first Total Inter-nal Reflectance LED high-beam technology use less power while supplying greater performance and produce an exclusive and vibrant razor-like vertical light signature. In addition, cornering lamps on the Premium Collection engage when sensors indicate the vehicle is turning, projecting light to the side of the vehicle to better illuminate your path.

Safety first There’s safety in numbers, and the Escalade is equipped with seven airbags. Strategically located and delivering broadened protection from all four directions. Includ-ing the first ever luxury SUV front centre air bag - a front row inboard airbag designed to help reduce the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger in a side impact collision. Seven is now so much more than just a lucky number.

Safety starts with a strong foun-dation. And every Escalade has one, including a safety cage con-structed using ultra-high-strength steel alloys. Safety is further en-hanced with crumple zones de-signed to help protect you and your passengers when the unexpected happens. Vehicle protection is se-rious business. So, we’ve equipped the luxury and premium collec-

tions with the seriously protective theft-deterrent package, including glass breakage, interior motion and inclination sensors, door lock shields and a self-powered horn.

Aesthetic perfection Available 22-inch wheels don’t just turn heads. They’re crafted with a full-forming process to help save weight while creating a strong wheel. And the tires on Escalade have been engineered to balance incredible traction and optimal fuel economy. The available Rear-Seat Entertainment System fea-tures a large 9” screen (two screens in ESV), along with first-in-class Blu-ray playback. Add in MP3 ca-pability and two sets of wireless headphones, and the occupants are in for hours of enjoyment.

Driver assist package This available package has a pleth-ora of safety and security features. Luxury and premium collections offer the lane keep assist, rear cross traffic, side blind zone alert, safety alert seat and forward collision alert. Combine it with rear vision camera, rain sense automatic wip-ers and intellibeam headlamps, and safety features become much more than mere options.

OTE commitment OTE is the exclusive dealer for Ca-dillac in Oman. With 25 years of presence in Oman, the OTE Group upholds traditional Omani values of fairness, entrepreneurship and above all, genuine respect for peo-ple. The OTE motto ‘Symbol of Care’ is reflected in every aspect of how we conduct our business. Walk into our showroom and ser-vice centres across Oman and you will be assisted by professional and knowledgeable advisors who will ensure your satisfaction. It is our promise of ‘Care’ that inspires us to offer the most premium af-tersales and ownership experience for our customers.

The Cadillac Escalade

is all about unique

craftsmanship and a

philosophy that takes

on a new dimension

Al Hashar offers more reasons to celebrate with Daewoo trucksMUSCAT: Al Hashar and Compa-ny, exclusive distributor of Daewoo trucks in Oman, offers itscustom-ers more reasons to celebrate this season. The Daewoo V3TVF Prime mover is now available with a lim-ited period special offer.

A special price of OMR32,500 is being offered along with free insur-ance and registration (first year), Free service upto 30,000km and to cement it further a warranty of two years or 200,000km, whichever is earlier, says a press release.

Daewoo V3TVF Prime Mover is a 85 ton 85 ton Gross combination weight (GCW) long haulage prime mover, which can be used for tow-ing Flat bed, Low bed, Tipper,

Tanker, Bulker and Freezer trail-ers, to name a few. Equipped with a Doosan V-type 8 cylinder engine producing 415 HP, ZF gearbox, 3.5’ Jost king pin, 400 litre fuel tank, 12R24-18PR tyre sizes and

Daewoo trucks have been de-lighting customers worldwide. More than 2000 trucks plying on Oman roads, bears testimony to the high performance and low maintenance costs. Daewoo trucks deliver “Absolute value for money” truly maximising the revenue of the owner.

The Daewoo truck range con-sists of various models. Rigid chas-sis are available in 20.5 ton to 48 ton GVW capacity in 4X2, 6X4 &

8X4 drive configurations. Prime movers are available in the 45 ton, 85 ton and 100 ton GCW capacities in 4X2 & 6X4 drive configurations. 100 ton prime mover is also avail-able with Automatic transmission.

With over four decades of pres-ence in the Sultanate’s auto sec-tor, Al Hashar offers an unparal-leled network of sales, service and parts outlets across the Sultanate: in Muscat, Sohar, Salalah, Sur, Ni-zwa and Ibri, with additional spare parts outlets in Ruwi, Wadi Kabir and Mabelah.

The service network is further supported by our mobile service facility, delivering a range of onsite service solutions.

P R O M O T I O N

KR blood donation drive draws

huge participation once again

MUSCAT: To support the hu-manitarian cause and to raise public awareness on the impor-tance of blood donation, Khimji Ramdas (KR) has been conduct-ing annual voluntary blood drives during the holy month of Rama-dan under the supervision of the Central Blood Bank of Oman, Ministry of Health.

The blood donation camp that was held recently witnessed ac-tive participation of the KR employees.

Over the last eight years more than 2,400 pints of blood have been donated by KR staff together with their friends and families who chose to step forward and donate blood, says a press release.

Anil Khimji, director of KR, said: “We would once again like to express our appreciation and gratitude to all those who have come forward this year – and over the past years - to support the no-ble cause of blood donation dur-ing the holy month of Ramadan.”

Saving lives through blood donation is a principle that is strongly advocated and supported by every member of the Khimji Ramdas family.

Previous blood drives conduct-ed by the Khimji Ramdas Group have helped replenish and main-tain crucial reserves that save scores of lives every day.

N O B L E C A U S E

We would once again like to express our appreciation and gratitude to all those who have come forward this year, and over the past years, to support the noble cause of blood donation during the holy month of Ramadan

Anil KhimjiDirector of Khimji Ramdas

KIMS HOSTS ANNUAL IFTARIn an amicable and festive atmosphere attended by

a number of high level guests along with representa-

tives of the local media and top management, Kims

Oman Hospital, hosted its Ramadan Iftar at Hormuz

Grand in Muscat, recently. — Supplied picture

MGM holds Qaranqashow celebrations for children

MUSCAT: Muscat Grand Mall (MGM), with the cooperation of Ooredoo, QNB and Orpic, or-ganised a number of celebratory activities to mark Qaranqashow which falls in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan.

The events, taking place over four consecutive nights, were popular among visitors of the mall and experienced high turn-out rates. During the 14th and 15th nights of Ramadan, Oore-doo organised a special event supported by MGM, followed by another event the following evening hosted by QNB. The final event was held jointly by Orpic and MGM on the 17th night of the holy month of Ramadan, says a press release.

A core value of Muscat Grand

Mall is sharing joy with the so-ciety and thus the management was enthusiastic to celebrate Qaranqashow, a favourite event for children in the GCC with its history rooted in the heritage of the region.

This year, MGM extended the event to four nights in order to make the most of this special time of year by providing a num-ber of entertaining activities and competitions.

MGM extended its gratitude to all the participants involved in the Qaranqashow celebrations which involved joyful events for families who saw happiness in the eyes of their children. MGM also extended its gratitude to Ooredoo, QNB and Orpic for their valued contributions to the event.

S P E C I A L T I M E

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Attractive offer on Toyota RAV4

MUSCAT: The Toyota RAV4 is a popular model, sold in more than 150 countries and regions around the world.

In Oman, thanks to the ‘Biggest Excitement Ever’ promotion, the 2016YM model of RAV4 is now available with an attractive cash-back, a gift voucher for use at a prominent shopping mall and a chance to participate in a grand raffle with Toyota Prius E as the grand prize! (Conditions apply; exact details are available at the showroom), says a press release.

“The time to rush is now, be-cause the promotion ends on July 21,” said the spokesperson, “Those who have been thinking of owning a

shiny, new RAV4 should do so now and get all the exciting benefits!”

The Toyota RAV4 has many thrilling attributes that add to the joy of driving. These include sporty leather seat material, 6.1” display audio with 6-speakers, LED rear combination lamps, power back door, 6-speed multi-mode automatic transmission and a TFT multi information display.

The current generation RAV4 has been ‘Fungineered’ by Toyota engi-neers. Its unique design, emotional appeal and appointments are testi-mony to Toyota’s clever innovations.

The exterior has been recre-ated to be more dynamic, bold and upscale –18” alloy wheels set off a sleek new grille and bumper along

with new Bi-beam LED headlamps & attractive daytime running lights, aero stabilising fins, aero-dynamic roof rails - all add to its unique external design.

The 2.5-litre four-cylinder en-gine in the RAV4 uses Dual VVT-i technology that enhances power delivery efficiency via a 6-speed gearbox. The technology works by controlling both intake and exhaust timings to produce 177 horsepower.

The RAV4’s interior has a premi-um, urban look with soft-touch ac-cents and driver-centric controls.

In Oman, the nationwide parts and service network of Saud Bahwan Automotive supports Toy-ota’s outstanding product quality.

Thanks to the ‘Biggest

Excitement Ever’

promotion, the 2016

model of RAV4 is now

available with a host

of benefits

Danube Group distributes 3,000 Iftar meals everydayDUBAI: Since the time Danube was established, the group has been promoting community ini-tiatives. During Ramadan, Dan-ube has always been keen to share the values of the holy month and to lift up the spirit of the labourers working in the region.

Many Danube employees have volunteered to distribute Iftar meals at various locations in Dubai, Sharjah, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. They rightly believe that it is a great initiative to ap-preciate the hard work and efforts of the labourers who contribute to the development of a country. Some of the employees have been involved in charitable works over the years and the idea is to devote their services to the community’s needy and less fortunate people, says a press release.

Faizal Latif, a volunteer said, “If everyone in the entire world did one small thing to help another, anything at all and did so whole-heartedly and sincerely, the world would be a very different place. Keeping these sensibilities I par-ticipate in Iftar meal distribution every day, during the holy month. And I respect Danube manage-ment’s decision to earmark more than 75,000 Iftar meals for distri-bution across sites.”

Asif Maniar, another volunteer

said, “I believe volunteering is a great way to positively impact the well- being of the society we live in. Volunteering goes beyond, age, gender, level of education or skill set, and can be practiced in any form or shape. During the holy month of Ramadan, after finishing office early I would get some rest and later in the evening would go to help at the locations where Dan-ube distributes Iftar meals.”

Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman, Danube Group re-membered, “Ramadan is a time of goodwill, charity and reflection, which can be practiced by any-

one. I believe it as a good time to reflect on my own faith or spiritu-ality, or simply think about how I can be more selfless, generous and compassionate. We distrib-ute 3,000 Iftar meals every day for 30 days during Ramadan to poor and needy. Many locations across Dubai, Sharjah, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman receive a total of more than 90,000 Iftar meals contain-ing chicken biryani, samosas, dates, water, and laban from us. During Ramadan, one of our most popular yearly initiatives also concludes - we hold a lucky draw among blue-collared workers whereby two winners win a Haj trip each and eight winners win themselves Umrah tours.”

Apart from serving Iftar meals to more than 90,000 labourers during the holy month of Ramadan, Dan-ube works relentlessly the whole year and focus on overall commu-nity development in the region.

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Bank Muscat launches ‘Terhal’ travel package

MUSCAT: Coinciding with the summer holidays, and in line with the bank’s ‘Let’s do more’ vision, Bank Muscat, has launched ‘Ter-hal’, travel services with special banking features and facilities.

Oman’s first-of-its-kind prod-uct is in alignment with strategies aimed at providing a distinct bank-ing experience aimed at customers interested in tourism and travel, says a press release.

Bank Muscat will target Oman’s fast-growing tourism and travel sector, with its high number of travellers in the Sultanate, espe-cially during summer holidays. Customers will be able to obtain finance up to OMR10,000, at 3.5% interest rate, repayable over 12 months. Terhal customers will receive a Bank Muscat Oman Air

credit card plus a superior travel insurance package.

In addition, customers will ben-efit from superior travel insurance package comprising lost passport, flight postponement or cancella-tion, emergency medical expenses and services, plus personal inci-dents and lost luggage. Custom-ers will also receive Bank Muscat Oman Air credit card and earn Oman Air’s free Sindbad miles.

Commenting on the occasion, Abdullah Tamman Al Maashani, deputy general manager – Insti-tutional Sales & Products Devel-opment at Bank Muscat said: “We aim to provide the best banking services and products to all cus-tomers while assisting them to draw up ideal financial plans. Bank Muscat is proud to launch yet an-other unique product to meet our customers’ travel needs with com-

petitive interest rates.”Al Maashani added: “Terhal is

designed to help its customers pre-pare themselves financially and avail special offers during their holidays. BankMuscat continues adding value to its services and products, in line with a firm com-mitment to all its customers.”

Bank Muscat will improve its fi-nancing programmes and projects as part of the bank’s development strategies and objectives. Recent-ly, the bank launched a diverse range of products for its valued customers, such as Zaffaa mar-riage loan which addresses a long-felt social need, extending a help-ing hand to Omani youth requiring financial support to conduct their marriage. The bank also launched Shahadati educational finance, de-signed to help Omani youth pursue their higher education either in Oman or abroad without financial constraints; to achieve their career advancement with relevant educa-tional qualifications.

As the flagship bank, Bank Mus-cat actively contributes to the National Economy development, representing state-of-the-art in-tegrated services and products through its branches, as well as traditional and electronic bank-ing channels across the Sultan-ate. The mission being to create added-value for every individual and the country.

Customers will be

able to obtain finance

up to OMR10,000, at

3.5% interest rate,

repayable over 12

months

Bank Muscat is proud

to launch yet another

unique product to meet

our customers’ travel

needs with competitive

interest rates

Abdullah Al MaashaniDeputy general manager – Institutional Sales & Products Development

Attractive promo offers from Al ZainMUSCAT: Al Zain Farms, pro-ducers of farm fresh eggs, has launched a grand ‘Scratch & Win’ promotion till July 17 on the oc-casion of its first anniversary and Eid Al Fitr.

In addition to the ‘Scratch & Win’ promotion, some addition-al promotional offers have also been launched where its custom-ers will get an opportunity to win high value gifts like laptops, LED TVs, washing machines, micro-waves, etc, says a press release.

Consumers will find a scratch card in the egg trays. The scheme is being promoted through all leading hypermarkets and regu-lar outlets. Customers from dif-ferent locations in Muscat have already started getting lots of at-tractive gifts.

For every purchase of eggs from 30’s and 15’s eggs SKUs, the customers get a ‘Scratch & Win’ coupon through which they can

win prizes instantly. Winners can claim their prizes till August 15. Consumers can buy more and more Al Zain brand eggs and can increase their chances to win the grand prizes.

Al Zain Farm was established in 2013 and started its commercial production in 2015. The company has designed and built fully au-tomated poultry farm with latest hi-tech European equipment and machineries at Bumsikha, near Sinaw. It has committed to robust investments in infrastructure facilities and employing compe-tent personnel. All the workers in the farm are periodically trained with food hygiene practices that encompass both hygiene and food safety. The farm is HACCP and ISO 21000 certified.

Al Zain follows all quality measures and truly gives fresh-ness to its consumers in the form of healthy poultry products.

‘ S C R A T C H & W I N ’

Zubair SEC’s Ramadan ‘Tajribati’ series receives positive responseMUSCAT: The multiple even-ing sessions organised as part of Zubair Small Enterprises Centre (Zubair SEC)’s Ramadan ‘Tajri-bati’ series received positive re-sponse from members of the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in the Sultanate.

The sessions deliberated on top-ics of relevance to the SMEs and reflected on challenges and future opportunities for them. Zubair SEC’s multiple evening sessions mulled over topics such as the role of the media in the success of SMEs; the importance of having a strong corporate identity and branding; and people management and retention. The Ramadan ‘Ta-jribati’ sessions hosted a number of qualified speakers in each of these topic as well as a group of Zubair SEC’s members who shared their insight and experience in these ar-eas, says a press release.

Ramadan 2016 marks a year since Zubair SEC launched the ‘Tajribati’ initiative that facilitates transparent constructive discus-sion on topics of high importance to the SMEs sector in the country.

The first Tajribati session of Ramadan focused on the signifi-cant role that the media can play in featuring and promoting SMEs

and voicing their hopes and aspi-rations. Speakers included promi-nent media professionals such as Ali Al Matani, Salem Al Habsi, Chairman of GCC Sport Journal-ism (chairman, GCC Union for Sports Media), Awad Baqweir, chairman of Omani Journalists Association and also Muna Al Khusaibi, a member of Zubair SEC and Founder of Kidani.

The second session highlighted the importance of branding and

corporate identity for SMEs. The session hosted experts in branding and marketing communications including Jum’aa Al Saleh, head of Corporate Identity at Bank Muscat and Antoine Aoun, head of Market-ing Communications at Z-Corp. Both presented strategic insights on the best way to approach branding and also cost efficient ways to tackle the issue. They also stressed on the importance of having a corporate image and branding that suits the

product or service being marketed. Zubair SEC’s Member Zubaida Al Harthy, founder of Al Qabas Dental Centre, was a guest speaker at the session to share her experience as an owner of a small business. Zubai-da shared the method she adopted for branding as a small enterprise. She quantified that good branding helped her secure better market positioning and achieve a solid im-pression in the market.

The third Tajribati session de-

liberated on the topic of people’s management. The session re-flected on the best approaches to attract employees, develop their skills, and retain them through good policies and cost efficient mo-tivational practices. Guest speak-ers included Dr Mohammed Al Buloushi, HR director at Al Ghalbi International for Engineering and Contracting; Haitham Al Mamari, People Development Senior Man-ager at Oman Oil Marketing Com-pany; Hani Al Khusaibi, Regional HR Manager at GlassPoint Solar and Zubair SEC member Ali Al Rashdi, founder of Muaawana.

Talking about the Tajribati jour-ney so far, Lina Hussein, head of Communication and Social Impact at Zubair SEC said, “This Rama-dan we celebrate a year since we launched the Tajribati initiative that aims at achieving and promot-ing positive constructive debate and dialogue. The sessions have echoed very well and widely and we have been very pleased with the re-sults so far. We are in utmost grati-tude to the wonderful speakers who we have hosted in these sessions throughout the past year. Whether market and industry experts, or members of Zubair SEC, their con-tribution and shared insight is the

main reason for the success of the Tajribati sessions.”

She also added, “We have also been very encouraged with the dis-cussions and inputs by all who at-tended our sessions; the questions asked and arguments put forward. The attentiveness demonstrated and the interest in others’ opinions reflected the elegant and profes-sional SME society we have in this country.” Lina explained, “We con-tinuously incorporate the lessons learnt at each stage to keep devel-oping our advisory, dialogue and networking platforms at Zubair SEC. We renew our commitment to remain a solid platform and a guiding beacon for our members, entrepreneurs and SME owners in general in Oman.”

The ‘Tajribati’ series serves as a unique platform to connect business experts with start-up owners and new entrepreneurs to exchange views, discuss common challenges and share best prac-tices. The sessions are run in a cor-dial environment that allows for discussing diverse points of view. It provides a platform for interac-tion between owners and stake-holders from different sectors and different sizes of business, which further enriches the debate.

B E N E F I T I N G S M E S

GAC conducts roadshows across Oman this Ramadan

MUSCAT: General Automotive Company (GAC), the official dis-tributors of Mitsubishi vehicles in Oman, in order to promote its vari-ous models and its ongoing Rama-dan offer, has conducted several roadshows across the country.

Over the course of one month, the roadshows visited various pub-lic locations in Ibri, Ibra, Sinaw, Barka, Sohar, Sumail, Nizwa, Sur and Salalah. The roadshows put on display all the vehicles available as part of the Mitsubishi Ramadan offer, including the new Montero Sport, while also offering any visi-tors the opportunity to test drive each of them.

Commenting on the roadshows, Manoj Ranade, general manager of GAC said, “These roadshows were conducted on predetermined days at each location. We also conduct-ed the mat areas popular with the public, providing them with a con-venient opportunity to get a feel of each of these vehicles and test them first hand without having to visit the showroom.”

As part of Mitsubishi’s Rama-dan offer customers who purchase a Mitsubishi Lancer EX, Attrage, Outlander, Montero Sport, Pajero or L200 before the offer comes to a close on July 24 will enjoy the benefits of a combination of free

insurance for the first year, up to a six years/100,000km service pack-age, free registration, six years free roadside assistance, six years un-limited mileage warranty and a cash gift of up to OMR3,000.

Customers will also be presented with a special Ramadan gift with every purchase. Additionally, for five weeks, with the first draw held on June 6, anyone who test drives a Mitsubishi will be entered into a weekly draw with a chance to win a brand new iPhone 6S. Further-more, any customer who visits the showroom during the holy month of Ramadan will also be entered into a separate weekly cash prize draw.

P R O M O T I N G I T S M O D E L S

The roadshows put on

display all the vehicles

available as part of the

Mitsubishi Ramadan offer,

including the new Montero

Sport, while also offering

any visitors the opportunity

to test drive each of them

Continental brings safety into focusMUSCAT: Coinciding with Ram-adan and its associated shift in traffic patterns in the region, Con-tinental, the premium German tyre manufacturer and long-ded-icated advocate of greater safety on the roads, has released a set of driving tips to highlight the need to exercise caution while driving.

At a time when people in the Middle East are even more fo-cused on self-control and gen-erosity, the holy month also pro-vides an opportunity for drivers to reflect on and improve their own behaviour on the roads. By developing a series of driving tips tailored to the region, Continental endeavours to help drivers lower the number of road traffic acci-dents in the region and ultimately achieve their goal of Vision Zero: an ambitious global campaign to achieve zero fatalities, zero in-juries and zero accidents, says a press release.

Globally, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of prevent-able death, claiming more than 1.2 million lives per year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a recent report on the global status of road safety. The third such report conducted by the United Nations’ health agen-cy, provides startling data on road traffic injuries.

The Middle East has one of the highest rates of road traffic fatali-

ties, with estimated rates of 12.8, 10.9, and 27.4 deaths resulting from road accidents per 100,000 population in Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia respec-tively. This is a stark comparison to countries leading international standards for road safety such as Sweden (2.8), the United Kingdom (2.9) and the Netherlands (3.4).

With rising temperatures in the Middle East region, and the potential of additional side effects for those fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, drivers need to be especially careful.

Additionally, traffic patterns, that see the number of cars on the roads soar as people travel to break their fast at Iftar, present drivers with a greater need than usual to consider a number of skills and demonstrate certain at-titudes while driving.

To help stay safe on the roads this Ramadan, Continental rec-ommends:

1. Avoiding the overuse of cruise control as the lack of en-gagement can lead to a drowsy driver losing concentration at the wheel, especially making long journeys in the hours before Iftar, when blood sugar levels and hy-dration are naturally at their low-est when fasting.

2. Avoiding driving one hour be-fore sunset, where possible, as peo-ple may be driving at higher speeds,

rushing home in time for Iftar.3. Having consistent meal times

and a regular exercise routine. This will help adjustment to an al-tered schedule and reduce the pos-sibility of tiredness while driving.

4. Using a windscreen sun shade and turning the steering wheel 180 degrees before getting out of the car. This ensures that the side held while driving is safely in the shade. The windscreen shade works to keep the car interior cooler, lower-ing the risk of dehydration.

5. Ensuring your car is parked safely at prayer time, so that it doesn’t impede the traffic flow; as this can lead to congestion and accidents.

6. Staying alert for road sight pedestrians as many people may be distributing free beverages and meals to drivers during Iftar.

7. Being visible on the roads by ensuring that headlights, tail-lights, and signal lights are clean and working properly.

8. Checking tyre pressure when the vehicle is cold for an accurate reading. Tyres will warm up while driving, which naturally increas-es pressure.

9. Keeping a safe distance by maintaining a sufficient gap of two-three seconds from the ve-hicle in front, extending that time to four seconds for motorcycles and allowing for slower reaction times for tired drivers.

R A M A D A N D R I V I N G T I P S

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It’s like wheel of fortuneIt might be a bold theory, but

Euro 2016 in France is like a wheel of fortune when it comes

to the tournament’s favorites.Wasn’t England’s young and

prosperous team one of them? Croatia? A team full of top class players, working for the big guns in club-football. Take a look at Spain. World champion in 2010, Euro-pean champion in 2008 and 2012. Who predicted them not to make it at least as far as the semifinal?

Now all those well sounding names are out as early as after the round of the last 16, reports Xinhua.

It works the other way around as well. Underdogs, that surprised or favorites that seemed to be out of energy in the group stage already.

Tournament host France didn’t seem to work well. It was a tough job against Ireland. But the French train is picking up speed and enthusiasm in France is slowly growing. Belgium is a team with great names in football that stand for exceptional quality. It was a clear 4-0 win over Hungary that seemed to reanimate a team that seemed to have lost its faith before the knock-out stage began.

Italy’s squad wasn’t one of the top dogs in all predictions until the 2-0 victory over Spain. How should the oldest squad turn into a team no-body can beat? Now Italy’s troops made up of football-grandfathers turned into the biggest tournament favourites having to face another big one such as Germany.

We don’t want to start talking about Iceland’s stunning vic-

tory over a poor England. It was a sensation, maybe one of the big-gest football history has ever pro-duced, now challenging France in the quarterfinals.

Who said it is going to be boring? To be honest many did. First the boring roars grew when the group stage stared with 24 teams. How much fun did football fans around the globe have watching underdogs of football? When the round of the last 16 teams started, complains returned. Iceland? Ok, nice to have, but who needs teams like Iceland. Northern Ireland? Ok, but how could they make it that far?

Euro 2016 is full of surprises. The round of the last 16 was no exception: Poland having difficul-ties against Switzerland (5-4 af-ter penalties). Then Wales came around the corner with their narrow 1-0 over Northern Ire-land. Croatia, one of the secret fa-vorites, got beaten 1-0 by Portugal. England was embarrassed by an underdog-underdog like Iceland 2-1. A squad of millionaires and experienced professionals did not find an answer to get over a bunch of low-budget players with tons of passion in their hearts.

Wasn’t there anything happen-ing that was predictable?

Germany was, to some extent. Though the 2014 world champion had to go through a difficult qualifi-cation campaign for Euro 2016, the team of head coach Joachim Loew seems to strengthen its reputation to be what you call a tournament-squad. As in the group stage, in the

last 16 it was obvious that many of the bigger football teams often face defensively minded opponents of smaller football teams. This was one result of a survey by the “Tech-nical Commission” of the Euro-pean football association UEFA, put together of football coaches of several countries, so called “Tech-nical Observers”. Besides Thomas Schaaf (former coach of Werder Bremen), a football coaching leg-end like Sir Alex Ferguson and the former French international Alain Giresse are members.

“It is similar to what we see in the Champions League or nation-al leagues throughout Europe,” Schaaf said. More interesting, Schaaf said, would be the develop-ment that would see a significant change up front. Positions would more and more overlap, “you can’t tell anymore at first glance, who is the central striker, who is the man along the flank, who is an offen-sive midfielder. Positions become blurred,” 55-year old Schaaf said.

On top, the UEFA-Commis-sion noticed several outstanding goalkeeper performances. The 38-year-old Italian goaltender Gianluigi Buffon is a shining ex-ample for world class goal keep-ing and now faces Germany in the quarterfinals where Poland meets Portugal, Wales challenges Bel-gium and France will have to beat tournament- rocking Iceland.

Maybe the wheel of fortune will start to turn around again after the quarterfinals and we see new favourites emerging. - IANS

W H O W I L L W I N ?

BIGGEST THREAT Polish rear guard wary of Ronaldo

MARSEILLE: Poland have an im-pressive defensive record at Euro 2016 but standing in their way to a semifinal spot is arguably one of sport’s greatest-ever athletes, Cristiano Ronaldo.

The monstrous Polish centre back pairing of Michal Pazdan and Kamil Glik face their toughest challenge yet when they come up against Portugal in the last-eight clash in Marseille on Thursday, though their previous matches have not provided much by way of preparation for facing the Real Madrid star.

Describing 29-year-old Ron-aldo as the “perfect athlete”, U.S. lifestyle magazine Men’s Health says he hits speeds of more than 32 kph, jumps nearly a metre in the air off one leg, runs an average of 16 km per match and hits more winners in the last 20 minutes than anyone else.

He is the only player to have scored a goal in four Euros going back to 2004 and, while he strug-gled to find his feet early in this year’s tournament, there are signs that he is back to his sublime best.

He scored twice in Portugal’s last group match against Hungary — an audacious back heel and a towering header — and has had a hand in two of his country’s other three goals, most importantly the shot that set up Ricardo Quares-ma to score the easiest of extra-time winners in their last-16 win over Croatia.

For their part, Poland are good shotstoppers.

They have conceded just three goals all year and only one in the Euros, an outrageous bicycle kick by Switzerland’s Xherdan Sha-qiri in their round-of-16 tie which they eventually won on penalties. Only Germany still have a clean sheet in Euro 2016.

Poland’s matches in France so far will have done little to prepare them for the pace, power and su-perhuman heading ability that Ronaldo possesses, however.

Their top-ranked opponents to date, Germany, fielded the diminu-tive Mario Goetze in their group-stage stalemate and the ‘false nine’ presented little trouble in the box, constantly dropping back into midfield to pick up the ball.

Other group matches against Northern Ireland, who did not get a decent effort on target, and

Ukraine, who departed after fail-ing to score in any of their games, were fairly straightforward.

The late Shaqiri wonder goal in their last outing did unsettle the Poles, with Switzerland gaining the upper hand in extra time. But the rearguard held firm, forcing the tie to penalties.

That defence will have to be im-maculate again if Poland are to have a chance of progressing because they have offered little up front.

They have scored two goals fewer than any other team in the last eight with hitman Robert Le-wandowski, the leading scorer in Euro 2016 qualifying with 13 goals, mustering just two attempts on target so far, both in the last match.

The captain’s opening penalty in the shootout, which left the goal-keeper stranded as it flew into the

top right corner, could be the con-fidence boost he needs.

It is the scintillating left winger Kamil Grosicki who presents the biggest danger for Portugal’s age-ing but experienced defence led by 33-year-old Pepe.

For Polish coach Adam Nawal-ka, the Ronaldo factor presents a tactical conundrum. Is he pre-pared to press high in search of a goal, knowing that a wrong step could unleash the Portuguese counter-attack, or does he sit back and risk becoming just a spectator to another Ronaldo masterclass?

Whoever wins on Thursday will play either Wales or Belgium next, seen as the easier route to the final with hosts France, world champi-ons Germany, Italy and surprise quarterfinalists Iceland on the other side of the draw. - Reuters

The monstrous Polish

centre back pairing

of Michal Pazdan and

Kamil Glik face their

toughest challenge

yet when they come

up against Portugal

in the last-eight clash

in Marseille

on Thursday

WARMING UP: Portugal’s players take part in a training session at the team’s base camp

in Marcoussis, outskirts of Paris. -AFP

PEP TALK: Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Poland’s coach Adam Nawalka during training. – Reuters

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Describing 29-year-old Ronaldo as the ‘perfect athlete’, U.S. lifestyle magazine Men’s Health says he hits speeds of more than 32kph, jumps nearly a metre in the air off one leg, runs an average of 16km per match and hits more winners in the last 20 minutes than anyone else

C2 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

PORTUGAL’S FONTE ENJOYING FIRST TOURNAMENT AT 32

Bruising Chiellini’s tough exterior hides a softer centrePARIS: When Britain’s voters sent shockwaves through the con-tinent last week by voting to leave the European Union, most foot-ballers who were asked about it shrugged their shoulders and said it was nothing to do with them.

England’s Harry Kane said he and his team mates did not know enough to comment and they would have to “wait and see”, while Spain’s Nolito wondered whether “Brexit” was the name of a dance.

But when Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini was asked for an opin-ion, he gave a thoughtful response which might have put many politi-cians to shame.

“I fear the domino effect after the initial shock,” he said. “And what

will happen if all the countries, from now on, start holding referen-dums where they vote to leave?

“After all the effort that was made to create a union, this is a symptom of discontent which is felt everywhere and leads to a vote for change, even when there is no

programme or logic. It’s a very bad sign that has come from the UK.”

Chiellini, famously bitten by Uruguay forward Luis Suarez during a 2014 World Cup match, comes across as a typically bruis-ing centre back but off the field, the Italy defender is a quiet and

dignified figure. On the field, he is the key component in the so-called three-man BBC defence alongside Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bo-nucci who play together both for Italy and Juventus.

The trio have now been together for five years at Juventus, winning five successive Serie A league titles.

“I go hunting for my opponents high up the field, and I put stock in physical one-on-ones and winning individual duels,” Chiellini told the Guardian in an interview.

Sweden forward Zlatan Ibrahi-movic tends to agree. “He doesn’t leave you any space. He doesn’t let you breathe,” he said.

Chiellini also gets forward and scores goals, including the first in

the 2-0 win against Spain which took Italy into Saturday’s quarter-final against Germany.

But away from the pitch, Chiel-lini, who has played under four dif-ferent Italy coaches, is a changed personality. He has a degree in economics and commerce and his official website lists his academic qualifications above his playing ca-reer. He had considered studying medicine but said it would have taken up too much time.

It was typical of him to forgive Suarez for the biting incident, saying that the Uruguayan’s ban, of four months plus nine interna-tional matches, was too harsh.

“Inside me there are no feelings of joy, revenge or anger against Su-

arez for an incident that happened on the pitch and that’s done,” said Chiellini. “I sincerely hope that he will be allowed to stay close to his team mates during the games be-cause such a ban is really alienat-ing for a player.”

Sweden midfielder Albin Ek-dal told how he saw both sides of Chiellini when they played to-gether at Juventus. “He treated me not so much as a little brother but as a youth player when I got there. He drove me to training when I did not have a driving license,” he said.

“He knows that himself but eve-ry team needs a player like that,” Ekdal added. “He likes to play-act and influence the referees. It’s classic Italian stuff.” - Reuters

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

COOL CUSTOMER: Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini is a dignified figure. – Reuters

France fans want more kisses for Grizou’s boot

PARIS: When Dimitri Payet knelt down on the Lyon pitch to kiss Antoine Griezmann’s left boot in France’s 2-1 win over Ireland for a place in the quarterfinals of Euro 2016, many fans felt they were wit-nessing something more than just another bizarre goal celebration.

Griezmann’s double strike on Sunday came as a relief for the France fans, who had been worry-ing that a gruelling season might have taken its toll on the 25-year-old who had started the competi-tion with below-par performances.

The boot-kissing came after Griezmann had scored his second goal of the night to seal victory and join Gareth Bale of Wales and Alva-ro Morata of Spain at the top of the tournament’s scorers’ table with three goals. The supporters will hope that the gesture will become the equivalent of the head-kissing

ritual between defender Laurent Blanc and goalkeeper Fabien Bar-thez that provided some of the most iconic moments in France’s 1998 World Cup triumph on home soil.

“I’m not the saviour, it was a team effort”, he added, knowing that the fans will want more of the same from him when France face

Iceland in Paris on Sunday for a place in the semifinals.

Simeone praiseThe Atletico Madrid forward could be excused for feeling tired when the tournament started, having scored 22 goals in 38 games this season for his club, who went all the way to the Cham-pions League final.

His performances led Atletico coach Diego Simeone to say he felt his disciplined, hard-working striker was one of the top three players in the world.

Griezmann, who was still a teen-ager when he moved to Spanish side Real Sociedad before joining Atleti-co in 2014, was relatively unknown in France for years and did not win his first cap until March 2014, when coach Didier Deschamps called him up for a 2-0 friendly win against the Netherlands.

Thirty more caps and 10 goals later, his relatively frail body and boyish looks have become fa-miliar and the fans were quick to adopt “Grizou”, as they affec-tionately call him. They felt for him after hearing that his sister, Maud, was at the rock concert at the Bataclan hall when 90 people were killed in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. She escaped unhurt.

“The serious moments are now,” said Patrice Evra. - Reuters

Griezmann will

be back in the

showcase arena

to face surprise

package Iceland on

Sunday and another

kiss on his boot

would be excellent

news for France

BIZARRE CELEBRATION: Dimitri Payet kissing Antoine Griez-mann’s boot after the later scored his second goal. – Reuters

C3T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

BELGIUM’S KOMPANY SHOCKED BY ENGLAND’S ‘COLLECTIVE FAILURE’

Y

‘Mr Indestructible’ shows England what they missed

PARIS: There was a collective intake of breath in the stands and a string of worried faces in the dugout as Wales captain Ashley Williams lay flat on the turf in the closing stages of their Euro 2016 victory over Northern Ireland.

Williams collided heav-ily with a team mate as the sec-onds ticked away at the Parc des Princes with Wales leading 1-0 and a place in the quarterfinals within touching distance.

Substitute James Collins was readied to enter the fray but Wil-liams insisted he would stay on the field.

It was exactly what you would expect from a player who had fea-tured in every minute of Wales’s European Championship, from the qualifying campaign through to the tournament finals.

Gareth Bale may be Wales’s star attraction but Williams is their leader and he boasts a formidable appetite for battle.

The Swansea City centre back was pictured celebrating after the final whistle with his arm in a sling and there were fears he would miss Friday’s quarter-final clash against Belgium in Lille.

Instead, his fitness was con-firmed when he returned to training on Tuesday, one day ahead of schedule.

That was typical for a player who has made more Premier League appearances for his club since 2011 than anyone else in the English top flight.

Williams is one of the sport’s great scrappers and his career has been as far away as one could imagine from the image of the pampered Premier League player whose livelihood was handed to them on a plate at a young age.

Football’s scrap heapWilliams had to claw his way up through the game’s lower ranks having been dumped on football’s scrap heap at the age of 16 when he was released by West Brom-wich Albion.

He was playing for non-league Hednesford Town at 19 and left fourth-tier Stockport County four years later to join Swansea, who were then going for promotion in the division above.

It was during this early part of his career that the English-born Williams started on his journey to becoming Wales’s defensive linchpin.

By chance, former Wales youth coach Brian Flynn went to watch their current goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, who was then on loan at Stockport.

“He liked me during the game and recognised that I had a

Welsh surname,” Williams said ahead of their group-stage match against England.

A Welsh grandfather on his mother’s side meant Williams would be eligible to play for Wales and a phone call from then manager John Toshack sealed the deal.

England’s loss was Wales’s gain.What would Roy Hodgson’s

forlorn side have given for Wil-liams’s assured presence as Eng-land came into Euro 2016 with a makeshift centre back pairing and exited with their tails be-tween their legs after an embar-rassing 2-1 defeat to Iceland?

Former England centre back Rio Ferdinand is certainly a fan. “How one of the top four teams haven’t signed Ashley Williams amazes me,” he said towards the end of last season.

With Williams at the heart of their defence, Wales have shut out Russia and Northern Ireland in their last two games at Euro 2016 and a third successive clean sheet could see them reach the semifinals of a major tournament for the first time.

Should they do this, the man hailed as Wales’s ‘Mr Indestruct-ible’ might find himself in high demand. - Reuters

Williams is one of

the sport’s great

scrappers and his

career has been

as far away as one

could imagine from

the image of the

pampered Premier

League player whose

livelihood was

handed to them on a

plate at a young age

BRAVE HEART: Wales’ captain Ashley Williams has been hailed as Mr. Indestructable.

LILLE: Neil Taylor and Chris Gunter will happily put family dilemmas aside when they represent Wales on Friday in a Euro 2016 quarterfinal against favoured Belgium. Taylor revealed he bought tickets for Thurs-day’s Beyonce concert in Cardiff months ago as a birthday present for his wife.

Fellow defender Gunter could meanwhile miss his brother’s wedding on July 7 in Cancun, Mexico, if they win and reach the semifinals in which they would play on July 6. But the pair will gladly give up those obliga-tions as Wales are living the dream by still being in the tournament.

“We don’t care, we are de-lighted to be in the quarter-finals of the cup here,” Taylor said. “The whole of Wales is on a little bit of a standstill waiting for each game to come round.”

Tens of thousands of Belgium fans are expected to invade the northern French city of Lille, which is just 20

kilometres from the Belgian border, and the place where Hazard started his career at the local LOSC club, winning the French league in 2011.

Hazard stood out in the big win over Hungary, scoring the third goal and setting up two others.

Hazard missed Tuesday training with a thigh muscle problem but coach Marc Wil-mots is upbeat he can return to team training Thursday and play the next day, while defender Thomas Vermaelen is suspended.

Chelsea playmaker Hazard hopes that Belgium’s golden generation can pro-gress further and possibly emulate the class of 1980, which reached the final.

“We have got to the quarters, we are delighted. We will try to carry on in the same vein,” Hazard said.

“Wales we know very well. We played them in the qualifiers, they are a very tough team to face. But we will prepare well and try to go and win in Lille. — dpa

Wales brush family dilemmas aside for date with Belgium

RED DRAGON INSPIRES BALEDINARD: Gareth Bale, the world’s most expensive fooballer, said the Welsh Dragon on his shirt pro-vides his prime motivation as the team prepare for what he believes is their biggest game for nearly 60 years at Euro 2016 on Friday.

With neighbours England still conducting a post-mortem over their embarrassing exit, Bale is delighted that Wales are the last team from Britain still in the tournament, praising their to-getherness before the quarterfinal against Belgium.

“I’m very happy we’re the last home nation left. It’s our time to shine,” he said. “We’ve already got one over England. We’re very hap-py and proud to fly the flag.

“We know about the 1958 quar-terfinal [in the World Cup against Brazil] but since then it’s the big-gest game, one we’re looking for-ward to and excited about.”

Asked what his motivation was, Bale, who cost Real Madrid 90 mil-lion pounds ($121.50 million) and is reported to earn around 250,000 pounds ($337,500.00) per week at Real Madrid, replied: “The Dragon on my shirt. That’s all I need.”

Bale has arguably had the biggest impact of any player in ensuring a quarter-final berth for his team.

In qualifying, he played a ma-jor part in Wales’ 11 goals, scoring seven and setting up two. He has scored three of their seven goals in France and set up the own goal

against Northern Ireland in the group stage.

Yet Bale bats off suggestions that Wales are a one-man team, or even a two-man if you in-clude their other star, Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey.

“We’ve got fantastic players all the way through,” he said. “We know we have more than two good players, we’ve a very good team

and we’re not in the last eight for no reason.”

One of Bale’s goals in qualifying came in the 1-0 win over Belgium, a result he said gives his side confi-dence in Friday’s rematch.

“We’ve beaten them before and we’re happy with that. It’s my most important Welsh goal, especially at the time,” he said.

Bale said that victory had played an important part in the team’s progress to unchartered territory.

“Yes, from beating Belgium —No.2 in the world at time — it gives you ex-tra confidence and takes you to the next level,” he said. “We’ve gone up a level and taken our game on.”

“Playing more games and gel-ling even more makes you better. It was a changing moment for us as a team and we’re still riding off the confidence.”

If Belgium manager Marc Wil-mots is to be believed, Bale should not expect to be man-marked on Friday, a potentially risky strategy against a player who has proved such a destructive force for his team. Bale is not predicting vic-tory, but he does believe Belgium will face a unified team who are quite capable of reaching their first tournament semifinal.

“Our strength is togetherness,” he said. “If someone gives the ball away we’ll hunt it together — eve-ryone does their share. We know our strengths and exactly what needs to be done.” - Reuters

W E L S H H E R O

OUR TIME TO SHINE: Gareth Bale says he looks up to the Welsh Dragon on his shirt.

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

SPOR S

OEC FACE SIALKOT XI IN FINALOEC will face Sialkot XI in the final of the NMC Inde-

pendence Cup 2016 with wins over National Gas and

Asfandyar XI respectively. The tournament organised

by Oman Indo-Pak Friends at the Azaiba Cultural sports

ground is sponsored by National Metal Cans. Brief scores:

Asfandyar XI 34 for 8 in 8 overs (Naveed 15, Wasif 2 for

10, Muneeb 2 for 6) lost to Sialkot XI 38 for 2 in 5.2 overs

(Mani 19 no). National Gas 48 for 7 in 8 overs (Waseem

21,Deepak 11, Adnan Dani 4 for 8, Shani 2 for 14) lost to

OEC 49 for 4 in 7.3 overs (Aquib ilyas 32). — Supplied photo

Bisya Lions, DHL notch contrasting winsMUSCAT: Al Nahdha had a win and a loss in the Omantel Rama-dan Cricket Tournament organ-ised by the Pakistan Social Club at the Pakistan School Muscat ground on Tuesday night. Al Nah-

dha beat Lahore Badshah in the MRI ball category, while they lost to Bisya Lions in the Tape Ball Cat-egory. In the other match DHL de-feated Rajasthan Royals.

Brief scores (MRI): DHL 67 for 6 in 8 overs

(Hassan 26, Hasham 3 for 7) beat Rajasthan Roy-als 53 for 8 in 8 overs (Safeer 17, Arshad 2 for 10, Mustafa 2 for 12) by 14 runs. Man of the match: Arshad of DHL. Al Nahdha 64 for 5 in 8 overs (Nadeem 18, Imran 11, Faizan 2 for 17) beat La-hore Badshah 37 for 5 in 8 overs (Imran 1 for 2) by

27 runs. Man of the match: Imran of Al Nahdha Tape Ball category: Al Nahdha 79 for 5 wkt

in 8 overs ( Abdul Rauf 56, Shani 2 for 15) lost to Bisya Lions 80 for 1 in 5.4 overs (Ihsan 33 not out, Yasir 31 not out) by 9 wickets. Man of the match: Ihsan of Bisya Lions.

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

Classy Federer ends Willis fairytale; easy for Djokovic

LONDON: Novak Djokovic brushed past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5) on Wednesday to book his place in the third round of Wimbledon.

The defending champion, aim-ing for his third consecutive title, played well within himself and was rarely troubled during the sec-ond-round match.

Mannarino, ranked 55, put up spirited resistance in the third set to force a tiebreak but was ulti-mately swept off Centre Court by the Serbian’s laser-guided ground-strokes. World number one Djoko-vic holds all four grand slam titles and has another historic mark in his sights.

The 29-year-old is aiming to be-come the first man since Rod La-ver in 1969 to achieve the calendar Grand Slam — winning the four majors in a single season.

“I have to be very grateful to have the opportunity to make the history of the sport,” the world number one told reporters.

“Knowing that I won 30 in a row, it’s very pleasing. I want to keep on going. Let’s see where it takes me.

“Every single record that I man-aged to achieve in the last couple of years is important,” he added. “Eve-ry next one that I have a possibility to achieve is more motivation.”

Later, seven-time champion Roger Federer ended the fairytale Wimbledon run of British qualifier Marcus Willis with an emphatic

6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory.For once though, the storyline

belonged to his opponent as the 772nd-ranked underdog Willis, the talk of the tournament so far, basked in the limelight on a day he will never forget.

Federer played the role of pan-tomime villain in a 25-minute first set as he denied Willis a game.

But thereafter the 25-year-old Briton, cheered on by his friends at courtside, played a full part in some entertaining action under the showcourt’s closed roof.

When Willis, who got through six qualifying rounds and then beat Ricardas Berankis in round one, finally got on the scoreboard in the second game of the second set the roar could be heard all over the grounds.

He kept Federer on his toes with some audacious drop shots and slices and fought right to the end.

Federer looked a little relieved when he broke for a 5-4 lead in the third set and congratulated Willis warmly after his opponent sliced a final backhand long in the following game.

Sweet revengeAustrian tyro Dominic Thiem took sweet revenge on unseeded Flori-an Mayer, dodging the showers to dispatch the veteran German 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in just over 1-1/2 hours of

cut-and-thrust Tennis.Mixing his trademark power

groundstrokes with dropshots and deft touches at the net, the 22-year-old number eight seed broke his opponent once in each set in a first-round match that was twice interrupted by rain.

Thiem wrapped things up on his first match point when Mayer hit a service return long, the Aus-trian having benefited earlier in the game from a service ace that Hawkeye showed had just clipped the centre line.

Berdych winsTomas Berdych battled the ele-ments and a gritty display by un-seeded Croatian Ivan Dodig at a rain-ravaged Wimbledon, sealing a four-set victory he admitted should have been his the previous day.

The 10th-seeded Czech, on the hunt for a new coach after split-ting with Dani Vallverdu following May’s Italian Open, won 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(2) — one of only two matches completed by mid-after-noon as the weather cut a swathe through the programme for the second day running.

“The situation right now, it’s fine to me, and (a coach is) defi-nitely something that I’m looking for,” he told reporters, adding he wanted a long-term working rela-tionship rather than one focused

on individual tournaments.“First of all, I should have been

done (with the match) already yesterday,” he said.

Konta’s firstBritish Number One Johanna Konta won her first Wimble-don match at the fifth attempt on Wednesday, seeing off Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 6-1, 7-5 after a rain delay. Konta, who was ranked 126th in the world at last year’s tournament, has risen quickly up the Tennis ladder to be seeded 16 this year.

Easy for Radwanska Number three seed Agnieska Radwanska eased through her rain-delayed first-round match at Wimbledon on Wednesday, beat-ing Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 6-1. Radwanska, who reached the final in 2012, has never lost a first-round match on the Wim-bledon grass and she kept up that record, sealing victory on her third match point.

Happy MooreWild card Tara Moore praised the influence of her mental coach Tony Lekic after the Briton registered a first ever singles victory when she beat Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second round encounter against Svetlana Kuznetsova. — Reuters

Federer played the

role of pantomime

villain in a 25-minute

first set as he denied

Willis a game

PLAY AND MISS: Seven-time champion Roger Federer reaches but

misses a return from Britain’s Marcus Willis. – AFP

JUBILANT: Novak Djokovic cel-

ebrates beating Mannarino. – AFP

World T20 main draw set to expand to ‘Super 12’EDINBURGH: The Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC) is most likely to add two more teams to the main draw of the reinstated World Twenty20 in 2018. Discussions at the as-sociates meeting of the ongo-ing ICC annual conference in Edinburgh also indicated that representatives of the associate nations on the ICC board may get full voting rights as well.

“What I have heard de-scribed is that two teams will go through from each first group to create a Super 12,” Tim Cutler, the Hong Kong Cricket Asso-ciation chief executive said.

“That seems to be the agreed format at the moment. Hope-fully that means with two more going through, potentially two more could come into the quali-fiers to make 18 but the sound of it at the moment is it’s going to be 16 into 12. It’s a move in the right direction.”

In better news for the associ-ates, there is a motion to give their three representatives on the ICC full voting privileges. ICC chair-man Shashank Manohar made the announcement and it could be ratified later in the week.

“Everything we’re hearing from the ICC chairman really does point towards a new era in ICC governance and the struc-tures behind that,” Cutler said.

“We talk about one man, one vote, are we going to have a 105-member federation with votes? Highly unlikely in the short term but if we do get to a point where the three Associate directors have a vote each, that really does shift the paradigm that was the ICC board and re-ally moving things in the right direction where emerging na-tions really do have a true voice at the top table.” — IANS

C R I C K E T

C5

SPORTST H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

Rosberg eyes Austrian hat-trick

SPIELBERG: Nico Rosberg is the only current Formula One driver to have won in Austria and Mercedes’ championship leader intends to keep it that way on Sun-day by completing his hat-trick in Red Bull’s backyard.

The German arrives at the scenic Red Bull Ring buoyed by a victory in Baku which restored his lead over team mate and triple champion Lewis Hamilton to 24 points with 13 rounds remaining.

“Baku was a good weekend for me. I really felt at one with the car,” said Rosberg, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday.

“I can’t wait to see what it can do in Spielberg. To have two wins from two races at any track is pretty special, so if I could make it three in three that would be awesome.

“It’s a short run to the first corner there and generally my starts and first corners have been strong this season, so if I can qualify well there’s a good chance

of a top result. I’m looking for-ward to the weekend.”

Rosberg dominated in Azer-baijan, leading all the way from pole position and also setting the fastest lap.

Yet he has never started from the front in Austria, winning last year from second on the grid and third in 2014 when Williams swept the front row.

Hamilton, who finished fifth in Baku after starting 10th, will be looking to do much better at what

he calls an ‘old school track’.“It’s fast, with a good flow to it.

It’s tough to overtake but there are places you can try something dif-ferent so that’s a good challenge,” he said.

“It’s definitely a big advantage starting up front there, though, so I need to get back on it in qualify-ing and do a better job than last time out.”

Red Bull, who own the southern circuit, will be thinking along the same lines while also braced for

another tough afternoon.Australian Daniel Ricciardo

was eighth and 10th in the last two editions of the race as the former champions’ highest finisher.

Team principal Christian Horner expected another challeng-ing day at a power-sensitive circuit more likely to favour Mercedes-engined rivals with Force India and Williams in the mix along with Rosberg’s Silver Arrows.

Only Mercedes-powered cars have finished in the top three

since the race returned to the calendar in 2014 after an 11-year break, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel fourth last season.

“Maybe there’ll be a chicane on the straight this year,” joked Horner.

“But thereafter we’ve got cir-cuits that we know will come back towards us so it’s sort of get through Austria, damage limita-tion, before getting into the likes of Hungary, Silverstone, Hocken-heim etc.” - Reuters

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CONFIDENT: Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s German driver Nico Rosberg poses inside a historic Mercedes race car during the

Hockenheim-Ring Media Day at the race track in Hockenheim. The German Grand Prix will take place on July 31, 2016. – AFP

Kumble wants Indian bowlers to think as leadersBENGALURU: Presenting a fair idea of his leadership style in the role of India coach, Anil Kumble today said he will try to inculcate self belief in his bowlers as he wants them to develop as leaders.

Kumble, himself an inspiring figure in his playing days, today had his first interaction with the players after taking over as chief coach as the training camp for the West Indies tour began here.

“I will try and observe how the team is shaping up and at this point in time, I would like to look at the bowlers. That is something I am looking at...Get closer to the bowlers and understand what their needs are and then probably looking at bringing in a fast bowl-ing coach. That is a consideration I am thinking of. Bowling is one area where I can contribute,” Kumble said at a press conference.

“When I was a player, I used to feel that you are the captain of your own bowling, which I would like to try and inculcate, especially in the

bowling group. That is important. All of them must believe that they are leaders,” he added.

The former India captain, who ended his career as the third-high-est wicket taker in the world, said he understands the role of a men-tor and insisted he would be qui-etly helping the playing by staying in the background.

“Looking at the challenges in the field, I will try to prepare the team. We, the support staff would be working in the background. Play-ers will be in the front. I have been the player and now I am the coach, so I understand both the roles well. It is a different role and I certainly understand the role,” he said.

“The role of staying in the back-ground and it is the captain who takes all the calls on the field. I can only assist him in giving him what-ever necessary informations in terms of strategy, be it preparation. And whatever experience I have as a captain and player,” Kumble added.

The 45-year-old new coach said

that it was important to communi-cate with all the players, including the ones who would not make it to the playing XI.

“It’s the captain who is incharge.

As a coach I need to organise prep-arations for the team and giving informed input to captain and the team to strategise better, inclusive of every player. It’s not just 11 who

are going to play but also six or sev-en who are not going to play.

“I was dropped and not chosen for a tour, I understand being the most important member of the team to be dropped. I understand that communications during such times is critical for a coach to pick up the phone and say ‘dont worry’. Hopefully I will succeed in com-municating with the players.”

‘Not about me or Shastri’Graciously skirting the contro-versy surrounding the snub Ravi Shastri received during his job in-terview, the newly-appointed In-dian coach Anil Kumble today said it’s the players who are the most significant part of the system and no one else.

Saurav Ganguly, one of the three members of the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), had absented himself when Shastri ap-peared for the interview, leaving the former Team India Director miffed.

Kumble, speaking to media on

his first day as coach, said neither he nor Shastri or any other official is as important as the players.

“I was the first one to call Ravi after chosen as the head coach. He did a wonderful job with the In-dian team. And it’s not about Ravi or me or anyone else. It’s about the players, it’s about the team,” Kum-ble said during his first press con-ference as Team India coach.

“From my point of view, we all want Indian team to do well, and perform at its best. We all believe that India team has the potential to dominate all three formats. He was part of this journey and (now) I am part of this journey. That’s all what I have to say. He congratu-lated me and I told him we have a fantastic team.

“It could be somebody else to-morrow. I am not permanent here in this role. I have an opportunity to make a difference and I have an opportunity to be part of a journey. I am privileged and honoured to be part of this journey,” he said. — PTI

C R I C K E T

Looking at the challenges in the field, I will try to prepare the team

Anil KumbleIndian cricket coach

Pearson pulls out of Rio GamesSYDNEY: Australia’s Olympic sprint hurdles champion Sally Pearson said she was ‘gutted’ af-ter a hamstring tendon tear she picked up in training forced her to pull out of the Rio de Janeiro Games on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old, who won gold in the 100 metres hurdles at the London Olympics, had bat-tled back after being sidelined for a year by a shattered wrist only to suffer the hamstring in-jury training at her base on the Gold Coast.

“It’s a hard time for me at the moment. I’m disappointed and I’m gutted,” Pearson told Australia’s Nine Network on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, it is the big-gest sporting event in the world that I am going to be missing out on and I can’t be a part of. It’s devastating that I can’t be at Rio as the Olympic champ.”

Pearson’s hopes of defending her title at the Aug. 5-21 Games had looked slim after a fall at the Golden Gala meeting in Rome last year shattered her wrist so badly, she feared her left forearm might need to be amputated.

The 2011 world champion, who also won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, missed the back end of the 2015 season as a result of the fall and only re-turned to racing in Europe early this month. — Reuters

Z I K A S C A R E

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

CultureSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

The magnificent 12-seater dining table will grab your at-tention when you enter this antique store. The 100-year-old English table carved in mahogany and restored to

perfection, is a beauty to behold, dis-played with a rare English porcelain 76-piece dinner set, including large meat platters, soup tureens, dinner plates, soup bowls and sauce bowls, also of the same age.

A large mirror, gilded in 23-carat gold, stands tall above a marble top jardinière base reflecting the vast range of beautiful antiques in the hall, including an English, giltwood convex butler’s mirror, a brass and copper samovar-tea urn, a beautiful pair of French giltwood tables and a wonderful large mahogany writing desk with a gold tooled leather top,

all from the 19th century. Welcome to the Richwood An-

tiques founded by Rosemary Whelan, an accomplished antique trader from Ireland.

It was in 2010 that Rosemary ar-rived in Muscat, having spent 25 years in the antique trade in Ireland. Launching a business in Oman was not her priority until she discovered there were no European antique retailers supplying quality original furniture in the Sultanate. “I came here to be with my husband and children. I wanted to enjoy the sun and the surroundings. But I couldn’t hold back. It sowed the seeds of setting up a business ven-ture,” she reminisces.

An exhibition at Bait Al Zubair Museum followed in 2011. “It was an attempt to gauge the response to

European antiques, and it exceeded even my wildest expectations. It gave me the confidence to launch Richwood Antiques.”

Rosemary used her vast busi-ness connections to ship the goods from different parts of Europe. Now, her store boasts of a huge collection of original 19th century antiques, with prices ranging from OMR100 to 19,000. “I used all my good offic-es to import my finest stock from Dublin, London and Paris. People in Oman value the quality of my pieces. It is a pleasure to interact with them,” she said.

Rosemary feels that people in Oman, like their counterparts elsewhere, aspire to own beautiful things. “My customers want to en-joy using and looking at their pur-chase at home and know they have

made an investment. High quality and rare antiques can increase in value over time, even through re-cession they can hold their value.”

For a professional trader, who sold her first piece of antique fur-niture at the age of 18 and has been running the business for more than 25 years, it will not be tough to ensure the quality of her merchandise. “Experience taught me how to evaluate and ensure the quality of a piece. Looking at a piece of old European furniture, I can identify when it was made by the timber, the patina, the style and how it is constructed. All the factors including rarity decide the value of the item.”

Most of the furniture pieces at her store are made from mahogany, the tropical hardwood known for

its strength. “You won’t get modern furniture made from real mahoga-ny these days. The mahogany tree is now a protected species and it is a criminal offence to cut it down.”

South America was a major ex-porter of high quality Mahogany in the 18th and 19th century. The processing of the wood was ardu-ous and time consuming. “Trees, often 500 hundred years old, were logged, and floated down river for many weeks, then prepped and loaded on ships which sailed for many months before being unload-ed and sent to timber yards across Europe. By the time the timber was used by furniture makers it was hard and seasoned. With the scarcity of mahogany today, mod-ern furniture makers are forced to rely on weaker, mass produced,

forced grown timbers (a fast grow-ing variety),” she says.

The enthusiasm among an-tique lovers in Oman has inspired her to create a website that pro-vides detailed information about her collection. “After the Bait Al Zubair exhibition, I got plenty of queries. I realised that the best way to give people access to the store is to build a website. It is an online gallery where people can view my current stock. I will up-date the website whenever a new collection arrives and of course you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram too.”[email protected] : ROSEMARY WHELAN

+968-9591 7944

facebook.com/RichwoodAntiques

instagram.com/RichwoodAntiques/

Meet Rosemary Whelan, an accomplished antique trader in Europe,

who has introduced many of her exquisite pieces to the Omani market.

Antiques from Around the WorldStory T. A. Ameerudheen

Photos Supplied

FIND-IT-ALLC7 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999

General Directorate of

Passport and Residence 24569603

Directorate General

of Customs 24521109

Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

Public Relations Admin 24560099

EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Afghanistan 24698 791/4

Algeria 24605 593

Bahrain 24 605 074/133

Bangladesh 24 698 660

Brazil 24640100

Brunei 24 603533

China 24 696782

Cyprus 24 699815

Egypt 24 600 982/411

France 24681 800

Germany 24835000

India 24684500

Indonesia 2469 1050

Iran 24 696 944/7

Iraq 24603642

Italy 24693727

Japan 24 601 028

Jordan 24692760/1/3

Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES (ROUND THE CLOCK)

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care Centre

24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al Hayat International Hospital, Al Ghubra

22004000, 94267068/97049520

Al Hayat Clinic, Al Hail 22009455

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

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 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 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



TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)


SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)



13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur



TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)



13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri





TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)


TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)



TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)



TO SUR (ROUTE 55)



TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily


TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)





TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)


DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)


TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)



13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri



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

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTINow You See Me 2 (2D) (Action | Comedy | Thriller) (PG12) Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson9:00 PMThe Crew (2D) (Action | Adventure | Drama) (PG12) Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte, Sergey Shakurov11:30 PMElvis & Nixon (Comedy | History) (PG12) Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer9:45 PMRabid Dogs (Action | Drama | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Gouix11:30 PMThe Curse of Sleeping Beauty (2D) (Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller) (18+) Cast: Ethan Peck, India Eisley, Natalie Hall9:45 PMGhosthunters (2D) (Comedy | Mystery | Family) (PG) Cast: Liz Fenning, Anna Harr, Stephen Manley11:30 PM

MUSCAT GRAND MALLElvis & Nixon - (2D) (Comedy | History) Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer9:30 & 11:30PM (PG12)Elvis & Nixon - (2D) (Comedy | History) (PG12) GOLD CLASS11:15PMThe Crew - (2D) (Action | Adventure | Drama) (PG12) GOLD CLASSCast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte, Sergey9:00PM

The Crew - (2D) (Action | Adventure | Drama) (PG12)Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte, Sergey Shakurov9:15PMThe Asian Connection - (2D) (Action) (15+)Cast: Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose Melody Depp11:45PM

PANORAMA MALLElvis & Nixon - (2D) (Comedy | History) (PG12)Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer9:30 & 11:15PMElvis & Nixon - (2D) (Comedy | History) (PG12) VIP LOUNGECast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer10:30PMRabid Dogs - (2D) (12+) (Action | Drama | Thriller) (PG12) VIP LOUNGECast: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Gouix11:45PMThe Jungle Book - (3D) Adventure | Drama|

Family) (PG) MX4DCast: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley9:15PMThe Crew - (2D) (Action | Adventure | Drama) (PG12)Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte11:15PMNow You See Me 2 - (2D) (Action | Comedy |Thriller ) (PG12)Cast: Michael Jai White, Steven Seagal, Pim Bubear11:30PMUdta Punjab - (2D) (Crime | Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh9:00PMWarcraft - (4D) (Action| Adventure | Fantasy) (PG12)Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster9:15PM

AZAIBA School Bus (Mal) (2D) (Thriller | Drama) (PG) Cast: Aakash Muraleedharan, Angelina Roshan, Kunchacko Boban9:00, 10:00 PM7 Hours To Go (Hindi) (2D) (Thriller) (12+) Cast: Sandeepa Dhar, Shiv Pandit, Vipin Sharma

9:15, 11:30 PMUdta Punjab (Hindi) (2D) (Crime | Thriller) (PG12) Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh9:00, 11:35 PMHouseful 3 (Hindi) (2D) (Romance | Comedy) (PG12) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Jacquline Fernandes, Ritesh Deshmukh, Abhishek Bacchan11:45 PM

RUWIScreen 1Udta Punjab - (2D) (Crime | Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh10:00PMScreen 2Housefull 3 (2D) (Comedy / Drama) –PG12Cast : Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Nargis Fakhri, Jacqueline Fernandez10.00 PMScreen 3Te3n (2D) (Hindi | Thriller ) (PG12)Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vidya Balan10:30PM

SURThe Crew ( Action | Adventure | Drama) Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudute, Sergey Shakurov9:15PM (PG12)Rabid Dogs ( Action ) ( 12+ ) Cast: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Gouix.9:15 PMSchool Bus ( Mal | Drama | Thriller ) (PG) Cast Kunchacko Boban, Aakash Muraleed-haran, Angelina Roshan.11:30 PMGhosthunters ( Comedy | Family ( PG ) Cast : Liz Fenning, Anna Harr, Stephen Manley.11:45 PM

SOHARThe Crew - (2D) (Action | Drama) (PG12)Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte, Sergey9:00 & 11:45PMThe Asian Connection - (2D) (Action) (15+)Cast:Steven Seagal, Michael Jai White, Pim11:45PMUdta Punjab - (2D) (Crime | Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh11:15PMThe Call Up - (2D) (Action | Sci-Fi) (PG12)

Cast: Morfydd Clark, Chris Obi9:30PMKammati Paadam - (2D) (Mal| Crime) (12+)Cast: Dulquer Salman, Shaun Romy10:00PMOka Manasu - Telugu (2D) (Romance | Comedy) (TBC)Cast: Niharika Konidela, Naga Shourya, Niharika Konidela9:00 PM

BURAIMISchool Bus PG (Malayalam) (Family | Drama)Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Jayasurya, Aparna Gopinath9:00 PMRabid Dogs 12+ (Action | Drama | Thriller)Cast: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Gouix11:45 PM Udta Punjab PG12 (Crime | Thriller)Cast: Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh11:15 PMGhosthunters PG (Comedy | Family | Fantasy)Cast: Liz Fenning, Anna Harr, Stephen Manley 9:30 PMIntruders 15+ (Drama| Horror | Thriller)Cast: Rory Culkin, Leticia Jimenez, Jack Kesy11:45 PMThe Crew PG12 (Action | Adventure | Drama)Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte, Sergey Shakurov9:15 PM

SALALAHThe Crew (PG12) (Action |Drama) Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte, Sergey9:00, 11:45 PM Elvis And Nixon (PG12) (Comedy | History) Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer9:30 PMUdta Punjab (PG12) (Thriller | Crime) Cast: Shaid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt11:15 PMRabid Dogs (12+) (Action | Drama | Thriller) Cast: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Gouix9:15 PMSchool Bus (PG) (Malayalam |Thriller) Cast: Aakash Muraleedharan, Kunchacko Boban11:15 PM

CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking

24540855

Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

The Asian Connection (Action)Cast: Steven Seagal, Michael Jai White, Pim Bubear11.45 p.m.CP No : 1764 (15+)Intruder (Horror/Thriller)Cast: Justin Amnet, Steven Beckingham, Teressa Decher11.45 p.m.CP No : 1785 (15+)The Curse of Sleeping Beauty (Fantasy/ Thriller)Cast: Ethan Peck, India Eisley, Natalia Hall9.30 p.m.CP No : 1786 (18+)Ghosthunters (Comedy / Family/ Fantasy) Cast: Anke, Milo Parker, Bastian Pastewka9.30 p.m.CP No : 1787 (PG)

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776

Website: www.isurf.co.om

School Bus ( Mal)( Thriller) Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Jayasurya & Aparna Gopinath 10-00 PM Cinema MainUdta Punjab ( Hindi) (Act) Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor & Alia Bhatt 9-30 PM Cinema- 4Gentleman ( Telugu) ( Drama\ Comedy) Cast : Nani & Surabhi Thomas 9-45 pm Cinema -3 Kammati Paadam ( Mal) (Act\Drama) (Only Thursday) Cast : Dulquer Salmaan & Vinayakan 9-30 Pm Cinema 2Jackson Durai (Tamil) ( Horror\Comedy) ( From Friday) Cast: Sibiraj, Sathyaraj & Bindu Madhavi 9-30 pm Cinema -2Next Change: Sultan (Hindi); Happy Wedding (Mal) Programmes are subject to change

@ AZAIBA

School Bus (Mal) (2D) (Thriller | Drama) (PG) Cast: Aakash Muraleedharan, Angelina Roshan, Kunchacko Boban9:00, 10:00 PM

@ PANORAMA MALL

Elvis & Nixon - (2D) (Comedy | History) (PG12)Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer9:30 & 11:15PM

@ SHATTI

The Curse of Sleeping Beauty (2D) (Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller) (18+) Cast: Ethan Peck, India Eisley, Natalie Hall9:45 PM

@ BURAIMI

Ghosthunters PG (Comedy | Family | Fantasy)Cast: Liz Fenning, Anna Harr, Stephen Manley 9:30 PM

WEATHER

38Maximum

330

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

80-30%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

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

S. K. AKSHAYAJune 30, 2010

CHRISTA MARIAM TIJOJuly 1, 2014

SARAH PHILIPJune 30, 2005

RYAN GHOSHJuly 1, 2006

WITH LOVE

LIFESTYLEC8 T H U R S DAY, J U N E 3 0, 2 0 1 6

There are many ways one can feel useless. As I write this column, I have my left

hand hanging limp by my side. As I type with my right hand index finger, there are series of small but sharp pains shooting up my left shoulder.

I try to be philosophical about my injury but my mind wanders away blaming many things that brought the pain. Were the heavy planks of woods I lifted tore my muscles? Or was it the lumpy pillows?

Perhaps it was the old mattress that went way past its useful days. In my despair, I went deep in my pocket and bought a new bed com-plete with new sets of pillows. I was also infuriated about how ca-sual my doctor had been. He prescri-bed me painkillers that did not do

me any good. I woke up in the middle of the night completely disoriented with pain. Panic seized me and I bol-ted from my bed and walked down the stairs not knowing exactly what I was doing.

My heart raced as I clutched my arm and I started pacing up and down convinced that I was going to die. Of course I would have benefit-ed if I stayed calm but I refused to sit down because I was afraid I was going to lose consciousness if I did.

Somewhere in the fuzziness of the confusion, I knew I needed some powerful distraction.

Anything that would keep my mind away from the pain. I looked around but there was only the tele-vision, a newspaper, and the sofas which I dare not sit. The ticking of the clock was getting louder and

somehow the silence of the night was frightening. I started lifting the cushions and opening draws in a desperate attempt to find some-thing that would divert me away from disturbing thoughts. I put my

hand on the chest and the speed the heart was hammering behind my ribs was really putting the pa-nic mode in a high gear. I thought of the telephone and the ambu-lance but decided I was going to

give it a few more minutes. There was nothing else to do for me but to get back to the bedroom and wake up my wife. Somewhere in the deep state of confusion, I thought it was not proper for me to pass on my trouble to someone else. I was capable of sorting it out by myself and that’s where I was wrong.

I reached a hand for her shoulder and quickly snatched it back. No, I said to myself, the worse moment would pass and all I had to do was stay calm. Then a morbid thought entered my head. It was the left arm that hurt and I was having a heart attack.

I woke her up and confessed how sick I was. The first thing she did was to stop me from pacing up and down.

She asked me to relax and I took a few deep breaths. Ten mi-

nutes passed, my heart started beating normal and the blind pa-nic disappeared to be replaced with a small anxiety.

I did the ECG the next morning and I was given an all clear but the doctor prescribed me more powerful pain killers.

They have eased the shoulder pain but I now believe that staying calm all the time helps. I was in an unfamiliar territory a few nights ago but the terrible ordeal taught me to accept sudden changes and not fight them.

It was the thought that I was help-lessly pinned down with a tempora-ry physical disability that got me in a blind panic. I take things as they come now and not even the Third World War would make me bolt from my bed in the dead of the night.

COLUMN

SO TO SPEAKSALEH AL SHAIBANY

In a Blind Panic

The Doha Film Institute has announced that the fourth edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Fes-tival will be held from

November 30 to December 5, 2016.

‘Ajyal’, Arabic for ‘generations’,

brings people of all ages together

through screenings and events

that inspire creative interaction

and stimulate cinematic dialogue.

Youth participation is at the heart of

the Festival, which provides young

people between the ages of 8 and 21

with an opportunity to watch, ana-

lyse and discuss films from all over

the world, developing critical think-

ing, self-expression, and an appre-

ciation of cinema. Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Execu-

tive Officer of the Doha Film Insti-

tute and Director of the Ajyal Youth

Film Festival, said: “We look for-

ward to building on the successes

of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival that

proved that films can do more than

just entertain; it can educate, inspire

and bring communities together.

One of the key initiatives of the

Doha Film Institute in developing

Arab voices is fostering an under-

standing and appreciation of positive

cinema among children and youth.

This is reflected in the Ajyal Jurors,

whereby youth from across the world,

celebrate world cinema through

dialogue and discussion, challenging

their thought process and helping

shape perceptions about issues af-

fecting today’s youth.” The third Ajyal Youth Film Festi-

val hosted nearly 600 young jurors

of 45 nationalities, alongside a dy-

namic public programme of screen-

ings and events which included the

MENA premiere of Hany Abu As-

sad’s The Idol, the world premiere

of Bilal, the first animated feature

from the GCC region and the first

of its kind inclusive cinema experi-

ence in the region, the screening of

Hero and the Message to mark UN

International Day of Persons with

Disabilities. The film programme featured

80 films from 36 countries along

with 50 public screenings and a

range of interactive panels, master-

classes and workshops designed to

educate, engage and entertain. The

line-up included the Middle East

Premieres of Pixar Animation Stu-

dios The Good Dinosaur, Berlin Film

Festival Golden Bear-winner, Jafar

Panahi’s Taxi, one of the final an-

ime sensations from Ghibli Studios,

When Marnie Was There, Doha Film

Institute grantee Lamb by Yared

Zeleke and Cannes Un Certain Re-

gard opener An, by Japanese direc-

tor and Qumra 2016 master Naomi

Kawase, along with a programme of

17 films by Qatar-based filmmakers

that screened in the popular Made

in Qatar section. The festival also

presented the third edition of the

Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit,

hosted by the Doha Film Institute

in partnership with Italy’s Giffoni

Experience, where it showcased

its Planet-Y initiative with five

projects that will be nurtured in

the coming months to promote

the inclusive growth of youth tal-

ent around the world, especially in

conflict areas. Ajyal 2015 also hosted the ‘Ajy-

al Creativity Hub’ which offered

guests an opportunity to explore

an out-of-cinema experience,

helping them discover the latest

in technology, the media arts and

world cultures. The Ajyal Creativ-

ity Hub hosted specially curated

workshops, performances and fun

activities devised to spark the

imagination and promote crea-

tivity. Key components of the Ajyal

Creativity Hub, which is free for the

public to attend, include the popu-

lar Sandbox digital exhibition space,

Family Weekend activities, and the

festival’s special 2015 initiative –

Geekdom: Video Game Exhibition.

YOUTH FILM FESTThe Doha event, to be held from November 30 to December 5, will provide young

film enthusiasts to watch, analyse, and discuss films from all over the world.

We look forward to building

on the successes of the

Ajyal Youth Film Festival

that proved that films can

do more than just entertain;

it can educate, inspire and

bring communities together

—[email protected]

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

T H U R S D AY, J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 1 6

RENT D2

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

D2 T H U R S D AY, J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 1 6

DAILY GUIDE

*Tourist visa arranged

Spacious 4BHK with split A/C’S, 4

bathrooms & storeroom, near Church

roundabout, Mumtaz area.

Rent:R.O 575, Contact:99349672

Office for rent in Al Ansab near

bank Muscat. Contact: 99466173

3 Rooms, 2 Toilets Flat for Rent.

18 November Street. Near Mars

Hypermarket and The Chedi.

Ghobrah -Good for Commercial or

Residential use. OMR 295/- month.

Call 94477222

Flats for rent, location: Dar-

sait AENT. Contact: 99885957 /

24488075

2 BHK flat near Indian school

Wadi Kabir. Contact – 24714625/

91173997

Villa available –Built up 300m2,

3 bedrooms, sitting, family lounge,

kitchen, 3 toilets, near 100 meters

from Indian School Sohar-

Contact: 26843530, 95856630

2 BHK flat in AL Ghobrah near

Indian school. Contact: 95933961

Studio & 1 BHK flats in Al Khuwair

rent 170/- & 200/-.

Contact: 97616158

3 bedroom well maintained flat (vil-

la type only 2 flats in one bldg) in

Al Khuwair, behind Al Aktham res-

taurant villa no 1839, Way no 3922

block 239. Contact: 99462980

Home for rent (4 bed room), Ruwi.

Contact: 95178248

2 BHK, 1 hall and Mawaleh north

Masjid Sadiq Al Amin. Contact:

99224748 / 99425665

5 Rooms, 2 hall villa 18th Nov road

north Azaiba.

Contact: 99224748 /99425665

One bed room flat for rent near

Indian School Darsait. Contact:

99322363/95453813/95806611

2 BHK, 1 Hall & seating room

Athaibah. Contact: 99224748 /

99425665

Two bedrooms flat behind Ger-

man Embassy nearer to Al Nahdha

hospital. Contact: 99203954

2 Bedroom, 1 sitting room, 1 toilet,

1 kitchen at Darsait.

Contact: 99022487

3 BHK Al Khuwair. R.O 375/-.

Contact: 97799175

1BHK Ghobrah R.O 250/-. Contact:

97799175 /92144045

1.2.3 BHK flats & villas. Contact:

92144045/ 97799175

Flats for rent near Indian school in

Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99777122

1BHK Darsait 200/- R.O.

Contact: 99342661

Store in Mabela industrial area

100m2. Contact: 99342661

2 BHK near Oman House Muttrah.

Contact: 99233116

10 studio apartments & 12 fully

furnished executive apartments

ready for occupation - location at

Falaj Al Qabail -

Contact 22092638 /94532131;

Email: [email protected]

Room for rent one bed room with

separate toilet Qurum, Mars hyper

market building.

Content: 96570147

2 bed rooms flat in Wattaya

OMR 300/-. Contact: 99202602

I BHK Flat -3 Nos at Hamriya – R.O.

175/-3 Bed Room/ 3 Bath room/

Very big sitting area/ kitchen

- Villa 1st floor with A/C at Al

Khuwair Near Rayyan Residence.

R.O 360/-For families. Contact:

94934353 - 9 am to 7 Pm.

Email – [email protected]

1 BHK near Oman house Muttrah.

Contact: 99233116

Shop for good location on main

road behind whole sale Al Amerat

Space 11 MT long, 4 MT wide.

Contact: 92877449

Room with attached bathroom,

sharing, kitchen for executive

bachelor / lady or couple in Wadi

Kabir near Kuwaiti Masjid, Please

Contact: 96510226/98404827

2 BHK flat at Darsait behind KIMS

hospital. Contact: 92141514

Villa for rent at Azaiba, near al

Meera hypermarket. 4 Bedrooms,

3 toilets, kitchen, sitting room and

dining room. This will include

curtains and air conditioners.

Sharing is allowed ro.500/-.

Please call 99469203

2 Bed room, 2 bath room, 1 hall

and kitchen behind Bank Muscat

for rent. Contact: 99313533

New flats for rent Muscat

Al Zafarania, split units AC , all

rooms & bed room R.O 200/-,

3 bedroom R.O 300/- negotiable.

Contact: 93393755

House in Darsait, 3 rooms,

1 bathroom, kitchen with A/C.

Contact: 95522405

Single room flat near Jibroo

roundabout on Road Muttrah:

99373290, 24815012

Rooms for rent single rooms with

A/C & bath attached available at

Rex Road Indian bachelor and

family (couple) from 1st July 2016.

Contact: 99116286

Large building with 14 rooms &

big open shed in a compound in

Ghobrah near Mars hypermarket.

Good for staff accommodation and

stores. Please call 98048207 /

99261773

1 BHK fully furnish flat in Hamriya

for short terms. Contact – 99792181

1 BHK flat in Al Khuwair for

2 months. Contact – 99792181

1 Room for sharing accommoda-

tion in Al Khuwair.

Contact - 99792181

3 & 5 BHK villa staff accommoda-

tion in Al Khuwair.

Contact - 99792181

Flats, shops & store for rent in

MBD area Ruwi, Mumtaz area.

Contact: 97293708 / 92433127

Offices and flats in Ghala.

Contact 94051789 / 97201688

New villa for rent Al Hail north

neat to Ramez near to Main road

open sitting room with washing

area 3 family hall, dining room

, kitchen with store , laundry

5 BR with bathrooms. Contact:

93387732 / 99259977

2 BHK sea view flat Darsait.

Contact: 95311488

2 BHK specious flat behind Bank

Muscat Wadi Kabir near Indian

School: 99373290, 24815012

Flats in Darsait. Contact 94051789 / 97201688

Ghubra & Al Khuwair, 1 bed room,

hall. Contact: 90991079

Flats in Muttrah. Contact

94051789 / 97201688

Flats for rent in Mumtaz,

2 bedrooms , hall Way no 3352

building no. 3447 & 3668.

Contact: 90991079

Two bedrooms flat behind Ger-

man Embassy near to Al Nahda

Hospital. Contact: 99209354

Wadi Kabeer Industrial 80 sm

show rooms for rent 400/- R.O.

Contact: 99879939

Fully Furnished apartments in

Boucher (35). Contact 94051789 /

97201688

2000 sqft land with p/cabin,

toilets at YETI. Contact 99221683

/ 92830110

Offices & Showrooms in Al Khood.

Contact 94051789 / 97201688

Villa in Al Khuwair, 6 rooms,

living room & hall.

Contact: 91153933

Deluxe two bedroom flat at

Mumtaz area, two bathrooms, good

size living/dining room, modern

kitchen and a guest bathroom.

Contact 99310375

3BHK, 2BHK and 1BHK flats with

split air conditioners are available

for rent in new building in AL Qurum,

near Rose garden. Interested persons

may content on Phone Nos. 95133331

/ 96722449

1 BHK near medical Darsait, Mut-

trah house R.O 180/-

. Contact: 95076261

Villa for rent in South Mabellah,

3 bedrooms, sitting room, family

Lounge, kitchen, three Toilets Contact

92212212 between 10 AM to 5 PM.

Ruwi office space for rent,

Saravana Bhava Building.

Contact: 95729549

2 BHK with Split A/C in MSQ, Bareeq

Al Shatti, Al Ghobrah near Indian

school. Content: 96708000

1 BHK Flats are available near Lulu

Darsait (Opp. to Min. of Defense)

Contact: 93202733 / 94771769

New flat for rent separate property

in Al Mawaleh South 3, 3 bedrooms

, 3 bathrooms , hall, Kitchen & store.

All are with A/C split unit.

Contact: Whatsapp 98575157

Flat for rent in Al Mawaleh South

3, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, hall,

kitchen & store with air condition.

Contact 98575157

2 BHK one bath one toilet separate

near ISM Darsait close to Al Noor

hypermarket and Muscat pharma-

cy. Contact: 99354975 / 99065900

DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 1 6 D3

Flats in Qurum. Contact 94051789

/ 97201688

Flats in Ghobrah. Contact

94051789 / 97201688

Brand new villas in Al Ansab.

Contact 94051789-97201688

Flats in Al khuwair. Contact 94051789-97201688

Villa for rent at Azaiba, near Al

Meera hypermarket, 4 bedrooms,

3 toilets, kitchen, sitting room

and dining room, this will include

curtains and air conditioners.

RO 520/-. Contact 99469203

Flat for rent 2 BHK in Darsait

North near Indian School about

200 mtrs, rent RO 300/-.

Contact: 94101134

3 BHK flat at Azaiba, Opp. Sultan

Centre. Contact 99261522

Shop for rent at Wadi Kabir Indus-

trial area. Contact: 99888390

Flat for rent in South AlGhubrah

3 rooms, hall and 3 toilets, kitchen

rent 450/-. Contact: 99335580

1 B/R Fully Furnished Luxury

Apartment @ Al Khuwair 33, 2

B/R Fully Furnished Luxury

Apartment @ Al Khuwair 33, 4

B/R Unfurnished Apartment with

attached Split A/C @ Azaiba. For

Short Term or Long Term lease.

Contact: Atlas Real Estate & Rent A

Car LLC : 99249069 / 94617563/

99436312/ 92888376,


2BHK split A/C 200/- Monthly

& 1BHK spilt A/C 150/- monthly

new building good location Barka

Market. contact 99342661

Flat in Al Khuwair opp grand mall

4 room 3 toilet + hall kitchen in 3

floor 400. Contact 99420346

2 BHK flat at Wadi Kabir behind

Pioneer Hotel apartment.

Contact: 99857332 /99261522

Rent flat near Ruwi Badar Al

Sama, 2 bed rooms, attach bath-

room, big hall, and big kitchen.

Contact - 99345137

Rent flat in Wada Adai, one bed

room with toilet, big kitchen, hall

with A/C. Contact 99345137

3000 Sqr mtrs compound land in

Misfah. Contact 99792181

1700 sqr mtrs open Land + small

store + garage for Rent in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181

2 bed rooms flat with hall,

2 bathrooms in Darsait near

Muscat Municipality.

Contact: 92584715/ 24700120

Flat for rent 2 BHK 2 split A/C,

2 toilets, Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti

Masjid. Contact: 97007934 /

92629232

2BHK Big Size Flat Behind Bank

Muscat, Wadi Kabir. Near ISWK.

97826454, 24815012.

House in North Al Hail with 3

rooms, living room, hall, 4 toilets

300 RO. Contact 99738881 /

99439568

Warehouse at Wadikabir - total

area 3500 sqm - covered ware-

house (500sqm), office, ac-

commodation (1000sqm), open

area (2000sqm) please contact:

99273774 - 99202278

1BHK at Hamriya near Muscat

Pharmacy & 2 BHK at Mawaleh

FOR SALE

Dental chairs for sale sparingly

used dental units for sale.

Contact Mr. Ansari 92616343.

Kumar 99570284

Shop for sale and electronic Ruwi

high street main road side shop

exit in good reputed building.

Contact: 95238577 / 95178297

Well running computer shop for

sale in Al Seeb Souq near Ooredoo

showroom 30Sqm, 2 shutters.

Contact: 92501276

Dental chair for sale in Salalah.

Contact – 99082092

Laundry / empty shop near

Camellia Café, CBD, Ruwi.

Contact: 92868123 /92841089

Tender Board Construction

Company for lease / Run.

Contact: 92868123 / 92841089

HD Scaffoldings, Shuttering

Jacks, Wooden Planks, Shuttering

wood assorted, Tower hoist (lift),

Concrete Mixer, Bending Machine,

Steel Fabrication Machinery

(Searing/Cutting, lathe & Welding)

including tools for immediate sale:

Contact 99273774/ 99202278

Luxury Apartments in Boucher

(35) / Ghala / Qurum. Contact

95056808 / 97201688

Shop for sale opp Towell Service

Center, Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99221683

1No brand new containerized

package type STP 100 m3/ day

with blower equipments (suitable

for camps). Serious Buyers may.

Contact: 99445367

Book Shop in a busy shopping

mall for sale, interested parties

please contact 99851255

Single colorful Bed and Sofa for

Sale at Al Khuwair.

Contact 92881849 /

What`s up No 97290565

Steel Scrap materials for im-

mediate sale. Contact: 99273774/

99202278

Space for printing press avail-

able at wadikabir with or without

machinery. Contact 99328430

Almost new beach/ garden

lounge chairs /bar stools/ counter.

Photos can be sent 95865457

Restaurant for sale heart of Ruwi.

Contact 93687466

Shop for sale at Ruwi high street.

Contact: 98787853

Urgent sale of steel scrap only

serious buyers kindly contact

+968 96725423

for viewing the items.

Shop for sale near Oman House,

Muttrah. Contact 99024362.

FOR SALESHUTTERING

PLYWOOD

SIZE : 4’ X 8’ X 18MM

GSM:92835445,93205253,93205423

MV SALE

FOR RENT

Nissan Pathfinder 2013 No-2 lady

driven KM 50.000 power sterns

auto transmission power window

R.O 6500/- Contact: 99157377

Mitsubishi Outlander 2008 model

4 cylinder, 2.4lt, Metallic grey ,

135000km , excellent condition ,

expat driven , single owner Price

R.O 3.500/- Neg.

Contact: 99330486

TOYOTA CAMRY : Good

condition,Colour White, Make

2004, Automatic Transmission,

Done 236000 Kms. #93667236

Audi Q3. Expat lady Dr driven

(Ibra). Excellent condition, Silver

color, done 69000kms.New tyres.

Extended warranty and free ser-

vicing up to feb2018. OMR 9500.

Contact - 97609733

Izuzu 3 ton vehicle model 2013 &

Izuzu 4 ton vehicle model 2008.

Contact: 99719124 /24454550

Mazda Portege 323, 2002 model

for sale. Contact: 99719298

Toyota Corolla, 2010 Model,

134000 Km, good condition at

RO 3350. Call 95230586

Toyota Corolla 1.8xli Automatic

2007 July 113000Kms Expat driv-

en excellent condition RO.2750

Contact: 98924106

Mazda 6, model 2005, company

maintained excellent condition.

Price RO 1250/- Mazda 2, model 2014, 45,000km, for sale.

Price RO 2950/-

Call: 95244761

Mazda6, 2.5L (classic model,

2014) expat driven, excellent

condition , 80.000km , mulkiya till

march 2017, RO 5.700 ( Negotia-

ble). Contact: 99415861

Toyota Prado, 2009 model,

6 cylinder, single expat owner

used, white pearl color, km 287k

Contact- 99318152

Nissan Qashqai 2013 Kms 30,000 VGC comprehensive

Insurance UAE / Oman.

Contact: 96995430

ACC. AVAILABLE

WANTED

Partner / investor 20% - 30%

share transfer running building

construction company.

Contact 93163157

Urgently required looking to

immediately buy used Grit blast-

ing & airless spray equipment 1

No each. Contact: 968 24810930

/ 93203772 / 93203773 /

93203778

IELTS Coaching (academic)

required nearby wadi Kabir area.

Please call on mobile or msg on

Whats up.

Mobile # 92927880/99012165

AVAILABLE

Well spoken, well experienced (Us

base experience) catering staff

available for annual contractual

hiring and immediate mobilization.

Continental cook, Indian cook, south

Indian cook, chapatti Maker, waiter,

kitchen boys cleaner. Contact:

97226179

Party & Wedding equipment rent-

als. Full line, from Tables, Linen

& Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers,

Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware,

Chafing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to

Large Sound Systems and spec-

tacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606

2222 for Catering and Croyden

9623 5555 for Sound & Light.

ww.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: [email protected]

Furnished apartment for rent,

two rooms, majlis, hall, kitchen.

Near Carrefour al-mawalah.

Contact 99336776

Two rooms near khimji supermar-

ket (Darsait). Contact: 92147907

2 BHK villa for rent 600 meters

behind Carrefour / city center

Seeb. Contact: 99311979 (Francis)

Sharing room at Ruwi for R.O 50/-.

Contact: 99385287

One single room available for

executive bachelor at CBO area

fully furnished and WIFI available.

Contact 92779732

Sharing accommodation avail-

able for bachelor / family at Ruwi.

Contact: 99008436

Furnished room with TV, A/C

fridge at Hilat, Al Saad near main

road. Contact: 95714202

Furnished room available with

attached bath and balcony, near

MBD area. Contact: 97636432

Single room executives Wadi

Kabir. Contact: 99336206

Accommodation available in a

villa for south Indian family, one

bedroom, hall, kitchen north

Ghobrah. Contact: 99209160

2 Rooms (furnished) toilet, kitch-

en for small family or bachelor,

Hamriya. Contact: 98335050

Room for rent with sharing, kitch-

en in Al Khuwair behind Burger

King. Contact: 92994415

2 BHK available Mumtaz area

Ruwi. Contact: 99269751

Fully furnished room available

for executive bachelors opp. Star

Cinema. Contact 92886715

Independent room in Qurum /

Hail. Contact: 96229522

Room, bath room for executives in

Wadi kabir. Contact 99336206

One room available in 2BHK in

Al Falaj area for Executive bach-

elor only. Contact 99131742.

Furnished room attached bath

for Indian bachelor, Al-Falaj

Ruwi & lady Wadi Kabir near

Mars hypermarket. Contact:

96202458/96761960

1 BHK appartment for rent in Al

Khoud Shabiya near mazoon mosque

for rent (next to alkhoud medical

center and squ) MOB: 93913224

Sharing Accommodation avail-

able for working ladies opposite

Al Nadhah Hospital. Preferably

Indians. Room with seperate toilet

and sharing kitchen.RO.90.

Contact 96524717

Room with attached bathroom for

a family in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 97167857

Furnish bedroom with attach

bathroom for executive bachelor.

Contact: 97704794

Room available in Mumtaz area

1 room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen &

1 room, common bathroom.

Interested please contact

92680041 Mr. Altaf

Room available for Executive

bachelor at Al Hail.

Contact: 96234708

Room with attached bathroom

and sharing kitchen available for

Executive bachelor or small family

at wadikabir. Contact 93049849

BUYING

Bobcat available for rent.

Contact 97623299

Buying cars for cash.

Contact 90202090

SITUATION WANTEDBUSINESS

INVESTOR PARTNER REQUIRED

Please contact – 95213273Email:

muscatcoff [email protected]

For a successfully Catering Restaurant

Investor cum Partner is required.

Investor with fi xed returns also welcome.

ONE STOP SHOP BUSINESS

SERVICES

Public Relation Service (PRO)

Document Clearance,

Business setup,

Formation new Companies,

LLC Companies,

Investor Visa, Legal Services.

Contact Saleh:

96723485

WEB, ERP and Business Intel-

ligence (BI) creation and manage-

ment at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon

for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

near Mosque Sadiq Al Amin.

Contact: 99224748 / 99332297

Flat for rent in Al Khoud, 2 rooms

& hall. Contact: 91763665

2BHK split A/C for rent Muttrah

near Oman House.

Contact: 97007934 / 92629232

1 Bed room, sharing K& T, R.O

100, 2 bedrooms , sharing K& T

R.O 200/- in AL Khuwair.

Contact 95154331

Flats in Wadi Kabir. Contact

94051789 / 97201688

02 BHK residential flat opposite

to Al Nahdha hospital.

Contact: 99342733 /99795241

Flat for Rent 2 bed room Near

ISM muscat Indian Scoole

Darsate Tel : 00 968 95158570

Plot at Barka next to Germany

College & next to Aramex Com-

pany, next to Bahwan Warehouse,

next to Omasco warehouse 37,074

SQM2 required 0.250 Baiza per

SQM. Contact: 99888390

Labor Camp available with all

facilities near Sohar Port.

Contact: 98050654 / 99015826

5 BHK Villa in Al Khuwair,

for Staff Accommodation.

Contact 99792181

2 & 3 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair &

Ghubra. Contact 99792181

4 BHK Villa in Bowsher Heights.

Contact 99792181

Furnished office (61M2) for sale

/ rent Al Khuwair near Zawawi

Mosque. Contact: 95611569

Sharing accommodation

near ISD. Contact: 99657340

ACC. AVAILABLE

FOR HIRE

New Volvo Trailor available for

rent to UAE every alternative days,

50 ton capacity with reasonable

rent contact.99318152/

email- Ahastco @gmail.com

NRI

Land for Immediate sale 19 cents

residential land at Bakery J

unction near valsala hospital,

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala,

India, for sale. Tar road frontage

with lorry access.

Contact: 98469311/96179737

Ready to occupy just completed

3 BHK in Chennai -Pallikkaranai

:1600sqft ,builders lcs city makers

,high quality construction ,

woodwork done, part of 64 apts all

3bhk in 4 blocks gated community

with swimming pool/gym/com-

mon hall/2 car parking. Genuine

buyers call rag @99235815 or

email: [email protected]

NRI Property for Sale: 774Sq .

2 BHK flat with OC ready at Palava

City Casa Rio, Dombivili, Mumbai

Contact : 97003326, 96791085

ACC. WANTED

Urgently required Villa with 8

rooms near Bausher/Ghala/Al

Ansab area for accommodation of

Staff from a reputed company in

Oman. Interested party may

contact - Mr. Pramith 99694150

Accommodation Wanted for an

Executive Bachelor, Single Flat /

Sharing Room @ Wadi Kabir.

Pls call: 93883674 / 98103169

DAILY GUIDED4 T H U R S D AY, J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 1 6

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

DRIVER

DESIGNER

ENGI./TECH./MECH.

ENGI./TECHNICIAN

ACCOUNTS

CATERING

BEAUTICIAN

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

SALES / MARKETING

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ARCHITECT

DOMESTIC HELPER

ARCHITECT

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

IT

Tailor shop requires Master Cutter & hand embroidery.

Contact – 99359700

Required Indian Mason – 5 nos., eligibility (minimum 5 yrs experi-

ence in road construction field).

Contact: 99882127


Required Shop Sales man + Hard-ware Technician for IT Company

with minimum 2 years experience.

Contact: 98825806 / 98825806,


IMMEDIATE - Housemaid wanted for an Indian Family - husband,

wife and 2 girls. Visa, accommoda-

tion and all other requirements

will be provided. Please call me on

92725141.

House maid for Omani family.

Contact: 99773100

Wanted service Technicians for

diesel generators and diesel air

compressors for a fast growing

rental company persons having

thorough knowledge with Perkins

/ Cummins engines,

ELGI compressors with Oman

driving preferred.

Contact: 95443350/95041935

Urgently Require BE civil En-gineer with 2+ years experience

and Omani driving license must ,

Salary R.O300/- Send CV to

[email protected] or

Contact: 24565337

Electrician with qualification

and experience.

Contact: Fax: 24727481


A medical centre is looking to hire immediately a talented Nurse to join our successful team,

required 3 years of experience,

Oman prometric, data flow. Send

your CV to- [email protected] or

Whatsapp - 91254820

Wanted staff nurse with MOH

license, immediate appointment,

to work in a private clinic. Perma-

nent post or locum. All Nationals

can apply. Salary negotiable, free

accommodation available.

Contact – 99048170/ 94870029

Required GP Doctors, gynecology, X ray tech staff nurses. Contact: 99681325 Email:

[email protected]

Wanted for Ibra clinic lab Tech-nicians gynecologist physician lady medical officer MOH license

and NOC needed or prometric with

high score and dataflow.

Contact - 99373493

[email protected]

GP doctor needed for reputed clin-

ic. Preferably with MOH license or

with Dataflow & Paramatics pass

Contact: 95388934

Required gynecologist GEN: practitioner lady lab Technician and pharmacologist immediately

for a clinic in Suwaiq.

Contact: 95081010


Wanted Staff Nurse for

a dermatology clinic in Muscat .

Must have MOH license and NOC.

Attractive salary offered. Email:

[email protected]

Wanted Sales Man for an eleva-

tor company 3 yrs exp English

language must has NOC required

send resume to pioneersoverall.

[email protected]

Contact: 968 94496661

Required outdoor Sales/ Market-ing Executive with experience

in selling Technical- Mechanical

products/ building materials &

hardware/ auto parts. Graduate

with Oman license preferred.

Apply to: [email protected] or

fax to: 24799615

Advertising & interior company required Sales Executive with

driving /L send CV to

[email protected]

Require Salesman with D/L for

construction, Ind materials,

hydraulic hoses & fittings.

Contact 99221683 / 92830110

Required smart, young, dynamic Sales & Marketing Executive hav-

ing 2-3 years sales experience for

a reputed manufacturing company

in Oman, having its Head Office in

Ruwi. Experience in building mate-

rials is an added advantage. Omani

Driving License and NOC is a must.

Attractive remuneration package.

Apply with photograph to

E-mail: [email protected]

Required female person to work

at the retail shop/Marketing.

Please send your CV on e mail:

[email protected]

Required marketing / PR manager

for a modern restaurant group in

Oman , proficient in illustrator &

Photoshop charismatic , proactive ,

creative & flexible excellent writing

/ Editing skills degree in relevant

area fluent in English. Send CV to

[email protected]

Urgently required south Indian cooks with NOC, having suitable

experienced. Contact: 94268319

/97408945


Shawarma / grill / Salad / Chi-nese, Cook. Contact: 96229522

Shawarma / grill / Salad / Asian Cook. Contact: 95529970

WANTED Female Gynaecologist,

Female GP- Two Female Staff Nurse (From India or Pilipino)and One

Female Dental Assist and

Female Lab Technician. With MOH Licence and Data Flow for

Al Saadi Specilised Medical Centre, Musanna.Contact # 92025033,

Email : [email protected]

A foodstuff distribution company in Muscat is looking for an Accountant. The candidate should

have good communication skills,

in depth knowledge of MS office

application & tally. Email us at

[email protected]

A leading cosmetic company in

Muscat is looking for an

Accountant – Email: us on

[email protected]

An Omani Audit firm is seeking audit partner to join the firm, the

candidate should be completed any

certificate course CIA,CPA, CA, ACC,

and 4 years’ experience, interested

candidates to submit their CVs to :

[email protected]

Part time Accountant available to

handle all accounts up to finaliza-

tion and audit work.

Contact: 95804210

Indian male B.Com graduate

looking for suitable placement in

accounts, office Administration &

marketing, 12 years experience,

NOC available Oman D/L.

Contact: 95804210

Part time Accountant up to finali-

zation auditing available after

4 pm. Contact: 91126314

Sudanese GIS Analyst hold mas-

ter in RS & GIS Resident have an

experience in accounting & store

management. Contact: 97943738

Indian 20 years well experienced

accounts & finance professional

looking for immediate placement

NOC available. Contact: 94546455


Young Indian male (25) with

B.Com degree on visit visa with

D/L and N.O.C for simple opportu-

nities preferably in accounting.

Contact : 96324484

7 Years experience as Financial

Analyst, MBA in finance. Respon-

sibilities- research contributor,

financial statement analysis,

generating MIS & efficiency report,

managing TAT, business & clients.

On visit visa in Muscat.

Contact- 90191628 / 96175780

Part Time Accounting, Audit

Preparation, Internal Audit, Monthly

Reports, Accounting set up for new

companies, GSM: 96975454,


Part time accounting workers up

to finalization, on monthly basis &

yearly finalization works.

Contact : 96247295

ACCA qualified professional lady with 5 years experience in finance

management accounts is looking

for a suitable placement NOC can

be Contact: 94521899

28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com -

Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/

India experience looking for a

suitable placement.

Contact : 90187483

[email protected]

Indian female 28 yrs B.Com 4 yrs

experience in MNC’s currently in

Muscat seeking suitable place-

ment in Finance / Admin.

Contact :94743790

Accountant available with NOC,

7 years experience in Oman.

Ready to join immediately.

Contact 98263394

ACCA member with 6 yrs of experi-

ence in Oman looking for a suitable

job in finance. Contact: 99284193

Well experienced Account M.Com

available with NOC, Tally & ERP.

Contact : 99035707

Indian male 34 yrs, M.Com –

Finance with 5 yrs experience in

Accounts in India, presently in

visiting visa looking for a suitable

placement. Contact: 93671785


Indian male 34 Yrs, Dual MBA

Finance and marketing with IT

skills, 7+ yrs of experience,

Looking for suitable placement.

contact 94879615,Email-

[email protected]

Construction Company looking for Architect with experience in

Oman. Contact 97192707

Required Beautician for Beauty

Saloon at Ghobrah. Clearance / visa

available. Contact no. 95924910

Beauty salon needs lady for

henna. Contact: 93336061

Indian male 31 chartered account-

ant with 2 years Oman experience

looking for suitable placement NOC

available. Contact: 96357827


Indian male B.COM, MBA 4 years in

Larsen & Toubro total 26 years gulf

experience English, Arabic speaking

driving license NOC available.

Contact: 95588565

Accountant Having 5 Years expe-

rience in reputed companies.

Currently working in Muscat

(NOC AVAILABLE) GSM.91367217

Email [email protected]

Indian/MBA/male Chief Accountant 18Yrs Experi-

ence, MIS, C.Flow, Budgeting,

ERP, Cost accounting &Liasing

with auditors. NOC available.

Contact: 92254691/97826674


Indian (Male) having 17+years

Experience in Trading & Health-

care seeking senior Position in

Accounts (11 years GCC Experi-

ence)currently on Resident Visa

(NOC Available) and has a valid

Omani Driving Licence. Contact:

91335026; [email protected]

ADMIN

Indian male age 26, Accountant

one year experience in accounts

looking for suitable job. Contact -

Email: Anishkhan991867@gmail.

Com Mobile: +968 9565 9415

Qualified and experienced MBA

post graduate with proven work

exposure in Middle East & India,

having more than 5.5 years of rich

experience in accounts , project

coordination and administration in

(3.5 years UAE experience) oil and

gas projects is currently looking for

suitable job. Contact 93953613,

[email protected]

Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in

commerce, overall 5 yrs exp in

accounts/ finance field. On visit

visa. Immediately available.

Contact 92836216 /

[email protected]

Indian male 31 chartered Accountant having 2 years Oman

experience looking for suitable

placement in finance and audit

field NOC available.

Contact: 96357827 Email:

[email protected]

Urgently required a Graphic designer with 2 years experience

in graphic designing, Photoshop,

illustrator. Send CV to


Advertising and signboard making company required fresh or

experience Graphic designer send CV to

[email protected]

Sudanese Accountant, Alexandria

University Graduate bachelor of

commerce Diploma of Marketing

professional photographer worked

in PR and social media for 2 years

looking for a job in public relations

media, social media or marketing.

Contact: 96976240

Accountant 8Years Experience

with D/L and NOC.

Contact: 97712084

Indian, Kerala Male B.COM & B.PE,

Currently on Visit Visa. Looking for a

suitable job in Accounts, Store Keep-

er, Sales etc. Ready to join as early

as possible. Contact: 96988923

email:- [email protected]

Wanted a experience Driver for Capital and Interior work.

Gsm : 942-888-63

Required Omani Driver

for a restaurant. Contact 95929911

Looking for a full time driver with

valid Omani license. # 95454033

Required urgently driver, experi-

ence Omani or expat drivers with

P.D.O. license. Contact: 98242478

Architect and 3D visualize three

years experience 1.5 in Oman flu-

ent in Arabic and English have Om-

ani driving license looking for job

with consultancy office or interior

design firm. Contact: 94673937

Architect Engineer seeking for

suitable job, 8 years experience.

GSM : 96075000, Email :

[email protected]

Indian female diploma architect

6 years exp in Oman Engineering

consultancy, valid Oman driving

license. Contact: 96683293 /

97750870

DESIGNER

DESIGNER

Interior design supervisor 6 yrs

experience valid Oman license

NOC / release available. Contact:

92508926

Indian male age 24, B.Com.

Accountant having 2 year experi-

ence and currently in Muscat.

Looking for suitable placement in fi-

nance or Audit. Contact: 90766307


Indian Male 22 , Graduate , Spe-

cialized in Tally ERP 9.0, SAP B 1&

Professional in Indian & Foreign

Accounting (CPIFA) with 1 year

work experience , on visit visa in

Muscat , Contact no:91782545

EDUCATION/TRAINING

A leading chain of franchise restaurant requires

ACCOUNTANT CUM ADMIN

Send your

Urgently required experienced and trained kindergarten Teach-er for a well reputed bilingual

school in Mabela area Muscat

interested and suitable candidates

must reply to


Required English, computer and science female Teachers up to

grad 4. Contact - 95054916,

[email protected].

contact time after 5PM

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Advertising company required Graphic designer knowledge of

designing, Photoshop, illustrator,

coral draw & Salesman with D/L. Send CV to

[email protected]

Contact No: 94771366/ 95338210

Required candidates for following

posts: Accountant, Storekeeper, Foreman Building Maintenance, Van-salesman (water), Helpers. Candidates with Omani driving

license preferred.

Contact 99273774/99202278

MEDICAL

Indian female 33 years with 9.5

years experience (1yr in Oman) as

Executive Secretary, Administra-

tion, Sales Coordinator, and HR

coordinator seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact 97985059

[email protected]

Indian Female, MBA-HR having

8+ experience in Administration/

HR, Customer Support, Office Coor-

dinator with good Computer skill,

Now on Visit Visa,looking for suit-

able position. Contact: 90196235

With 15 years of gulf experience in

HR- Admin logistics looking for suit-

able position fluent in Arabic & Eng


Indian male 21 yrs Graduate in

business administration (BBA)

with computer knowledge (hard-

ware & software) seeks suitable

employment immediately.

Contact: 98085633 / 98898504

Indian female, MSC more than 6

years Oman experience in office

coordination, administration &

managerial, clerical jobs looking

for a suitable position.

Contact: 91303124

Indian female, 27, MCA, 2 yrs

experience in Administration and

HR in India & Oman. Currently in

family visa seeking suitable jobs

preferably in Muscat.

Contact.99417993

Indian/ 23yrs female/ 5yrs GCC

experience with NOC looking for a

suitable position in HR/Admin

/ Accounts/ BD.

Contact +96890656997

Indian female with nearly 10 years

of Oman experience in Administra-

tion & HR, seeking suitable place-

ment. NOC available.

Contact: 99242841

Filipino HRD especialist /

material controller supervisor with

18 yrs experience looking for suit-

able job in Oman. Contact: (+968)

98037142 / (+968) 92659817

Indian female MBA / HR, 2.5

experience seeking suitable job.

Contact: 99257214

Indian female MBA fin & HR now

on visit visa looking for suitable


Supervisor required for Con-

struction Company having Omani

driving license, fresher’s can apply.

Contact: 92888337

Branch Manger required to

manage entire Business.

[email protected] 99110080

Urgently required a Purchase Manager to handle all the procure-

ments for a reputed Ready-mix

concrete Company, having its

branches all over Oman. The

candidate should possess required

experience, product knowledge

and excellent communication

skills. Interested candidates may

send their CV to sndakshin@gmail.

com / Contact: 99256757

IT Engineer, min 4 years experi-

ence in Biometric Attendance Sys-

tem and CCTV camera, preferably

with D/L. Apply to hr@unitedsys-

temsit.com or call 99423442.

Qualified and experience Technician required for the kitch-

en restaurant equipments. Who

can repair hot and cold equip-

ments will be preferred. Contact:

Email: [email protected] /

Fax: 24727481

Care Medical Centre Al Seeb

requires Gynecologist and General Practitioner. Mail CV to:

[email protected]

Urgently required experienced female Lab Technician, with knowl-

edge of histopathology & cytology,

with MOH release, for a well-known

laboratory in Al Khuwair.

Contact: 95271561/98893034

Testing / Protection Engi-neer with minimum 05 years

of experience and should have

Oman DCRP license, Interested

candidates send resume to

[email protected]

CCTV & Burglar alarm Techni-cian. Urgently looking for an

Expatriate with minimum 5 years

experience with NOC. Email your

CV with recent Photograph to:

[email protected]

Looking for Female Journalistic or advertising & media back-

ground. Contact- 99342237 /

9394 6622/


13 years experience driver.

Contact 95068976

Indian Male MBA (UK), 9 years experience in Dubai/London/Mumbai in Management Consulting,

Sales & Marketing, Business Development for Real Estate/Banking

seeks similar placement with D/L.

Contact: 95168205


SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

HOSPITALITYMISCELLANEOUS PROJECT ENGINEER - CIVIL - 13

years experience in construction at

Oman seeking suitable position -

NOC available - Contact 94427535

([email protected])

Diploma in Mechanical Engg, 10 years exp in steel fabrication

site work with valid Oman driving

license. Contact: 94696192

B.Sc Civil Engineer 7 years gulf

experience total experience 9 years

having GCC D/L seeking for suitable

replacement local release available.

Contact: 98628515/ 98289234


B.E Electrical Engineer, Age 28 yrs.

5.5 yrs experience. 2 yrs in OMAN

as site supervisor/ site engineer,

with valid GCC license.



Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp

seeks suitable position ina reputed

company. NOC available.

Contact 96789711

B.E Mechanical Engineer, age 24

with almost 1 year experience as

Production Shift Engineer, has

achieved training on HVAC

Engineering design and has good

hands on software like AutoCAD

and HAP.Currently in Oman on a

visit visa, looking for a suitable

placement.Contact: 95065955


Mechanical diploma, Indian male

26, 4 years experienced MEP

supervisor seeks suitable openings

NOC / Release available.

Contact: 97901559

Civil Engineer 8 years experience

Structural buildings marine. Avail-

able NOC release. Contact: 92451323.


Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience

in designing, assembling, com-

missioning execution etc having

valid GCC license too looking for a

suitable. Contact: 00968-98052942


Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian

male 24 years with 1+years Indian

experience,(Certified in Staad

Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).

Looking for a Suitable position.

Available In Sultanate of Oman

(Muscat) on Visit Visa.

Contact 92157694. E-mail:

[email protected]

An Iraqi civil with more than

30 years experience in (Iraq and

G.C.C) looking for a job, (N.O.C)



Indian male, Mechanical

Engineer having 1year experi-

ence, on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact:97416564,

Email:[email protected]

Mechanical Engineer with one

year’s experience as Asst. Piping

Engineer having good knowl-

edge of PIPING DESIGNS, PDMS,

SP3D, AUTOCAD, PRO-ENGINEER

WILDFIRE, DS CATIA, JAVA

SCRIPTS etc, looking for suit-

able opportunity. Contact: +968-

99200724/24496072.

Fresh Engineering graduate M-

Tech in mechanical Automation

and automobile Engineering now

in Oman on visit seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 95853514 /

98280794

Fresh Engineering graduate

B.Tech mechanical engineer-

ing now in Oman on visit seeks

suitable placement. Contact:

95853514/98280172

Indian male MBA Finance & Marketing 25 yrs

having 1.9 years of experience Finance & Marketing

Contact: 95206140/ 96992013 Email:

[email protected]

ENGINEER W

B.E Mechanical Engineer, age

33 with 6+ years experience in

GCC in MEP building construc-

tion field (execution and design of

HVAC,firefighting,plumbing),

with D/L, NOC available

Contact 96978380,


Construction Machinery repairs

Engineer, 5 years, driving license,

Contact - 94001961

Agriculture Engineer 2 8rs, with

5 yrsexp in the field of agriculture,

landscaping & irrigation. Since 2

yrs working in different projects.

Having valid UAE driving license.

Currently in Oman (Salalah) on

visit visa. Contact – 94120190 /

[email protected]

Architectural Draftsmen diploma

in construction technology with 6

years experience in drafting and

detailing as per British standard

in Oman with valid Omani license

looking for suitable opportunity

Noc available. Call 94375897.

Autocad works freelance, MEP, Civil

works, Interior, 2d/3d, BOQ etc.

Contact 97103168

Revit, Autocad D/man, expected

salary 200 OMR PH :92279784

Filipino Senior Revit/AutoCAD

Draftsman with 20 years profes-

sional experience is looking for suit-

able job in Oman. Please Contact:

96489798, (+974) 66653780.

An M (M FWA

I

M F

SAP Business Objects / Data

Warehousing professional. 10

years experience with top IT

global companies (HP and Accen-

ture) in team leading roles. Oman

Family visa. Looking for jobs in

Muscat. Contact: 91487199

BSC Software Engineer 2 years

experience in ASPN. NET, C#, SQI

server, mysql , crystal report, visual

studio , capable of Jave, Php, HTML

and roid looking for suitable vacan-

cy. # 90696220/ 92729744

Indian male ERP Consultant 15

yrs exp, 11 yrs in gulf looking for

IT management jobs, local release,

Oman D/L. Contact: 94618761

Indian female, MCA currently on

family visit visa skills in ASP ,

NET , DBMS, AutoCAD civil seeks

suitable placement NT, Interested

in teaching. Contact: 90417133


Indian male 22 years B.A. Anima-

tion & Graphic Adobe suites and

Maya, seeking suitable placement.


[email protected]

Female, 31, B.Tech- ECE/CCNA/

GSM, 5 yrs Oman experience in IT

support (AD, exchange, TMG, UNIS

Server admin, In-house apps sup-

port, project placement, Transfer


Indian Male, MCA Graduate, 15

yrs exp in ERP, CSM Certified,

seeking suitable role.NOC Avail-

able. Contact : GSM : 90189284


Indian female M.Sc Computer

Science seeking suitable place-

ment in Muscat area. #98660672

SAP Business Objects / Data

Warehousing professional. 10

years experience with top 5 IT

global companies (HP and Accen-

ture) in team leading roles. Oman

family visa. Looking for jobs in

Muscat. Phone: 91487199

IT Support Engineer, Exp 3 years

in Oman 2 years in India.

Contact: 94672759

Indian male 4 years experience in

IT as Programmer / Web Support/

CCNA/ Network on visit visa seek-

ing placement. Contact: 93069694


3 years experience in IT Software

field, seeking suitable jobs.

Contact: 96350234, Email :

[email protected]

Indian male 31yrs old with hotel

management degree, 3 yrs experi-

ence in F&B services at 5 star hotel

Dubai, 05 yrs in American 06 star

cruise liner has butler. Has Oman

driving license. Contact- 99859150.

Electrical Engineer: Indian male

30 years, having 5 years of experi-

ence in industrial automation &

utility maintenance in Indian,

holding valid Oman D/L.


[email protected]

Indian male BE Mechanical with

11 years experience in Automo-

tive Engineering and Industrial

Maintenance in Oman with valid

driving license seeks suitable job.

On release in Oman-92880593

Civil Engineer B.Tech with 6+

years in supervision designing

planning and QC expert in Mech,

civil software. Contact: 90719263

Project co-odinater & AutoCAD

draftsman Indian male, 8 yrs exp

in Oman in civil, interior, precast-

ing with D/L & NOC.

Contact: 92188496, Email:

[email protected]

Quantity surveyor (B.E Civil) 5+

years experience in buildings

and mosque N.O.C available ready

to join immediately. Contact:

+97826597 / +919171430681


For preparing Civil / MEP Auto CAD drawings.

Contact -93480346.


Civil Engineer 7 years experience,

Driving license, NOC available.

Contact- 98078095

Electrical Engineer B.Tech, Indian

available in Oman, 2+ years Oman

exp (MEP) Light D/L.

Contact - 93832935

Diploma Civil Engineering (certifi-

cate attested) 6 years Oman experi-

ence as interior work site in charge

/ quantity surveyor NOC/ Release

available.Contact: 93120433

Civil Engr. Diploma 8 yrs exp in

construction & consultancy with

auto cad. D/L.Contact: 93060770


Civil Engineer, Indian male 4

Years experience in Oman & India.

Looking for Permanent Placement

in Oman. NOC Available, Contact:

+96895984661,+96891455949

Civil Quantity Surveyor with 3yr

UAE experience seeking job.

UAE driving license holder.


+96895641991; +971557969671

Civil Engineer 8 years experience

in Oman as a project engineer for

governmental & private projects.

Contact – 90164912

Young Indian, Engineering in

Bio-technology, Bio-chemical and

Chemical, looking for a challenging

placement in Oman.

Contact 97607000. Email:

[email protected]

Mech. Engineer 10 years GCC

exp automobile / oil & gas / const

project / plant, equip machinery in

charge with driving license NOC.

Contact: 95774585

Light driver job exp 4 years, know

Hindi, English, Arabic, Education

B.A. Contact: 98522914

Light Driver / Supervisor Fluent in

English & Arabic, Well knowledge

of Muscat Areas Looking for

suitable placement.

Contact Tariq: 97950869

Driver light duty (house or com-

pany) valid Gulf D/L looking job.

Contact- 95175192

Pakistani driver with car Subaru

2004 model. Contact: 99667817

Driver with Electrician 4 years

experience looking for job.

Contact: 97456062

Pakistani driver with 3 years

experience, seeking for placement

familiar with Batinah & Sharqiyah

regions. Contact 99832706

Looking for driver job.

Contact: 99035942 /97383016

Looking for job driver. Contact: 94158238

Six years experienced light duty

vehicle driver looking for a suit-

able placement. Contact: 96362871

Driver with light duty license 10

yrs exp. Contact: 94566432

Driver with car. Contact:93346085

Bangladeshi driver looking for job.

Contact: 97418036

Experience driver 12 years experi-

ence in GCC, seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact: 93722881

IT

DRIVER

DIETICIAN

Indian male B.com MBA 4 years in

L &T total 26 years gulf experi-

enced English & Arabic speaking

driving license with NOC.

Contact: 95588565

Indian candidate with 15 years

experience in Facility Manage-

ment (Soft Service) looking for

part time assignments / Consul-

tancy Opportunities.

Contact- 98469311/96179737

27, Indian female B.com gradu-

ate with 4 years experience in

procurement and purchases on

family visa looking for immediate

and suitable placement.

Contact: 95828986

Sudanese 27 yrs BSC in IT having

Omani driving in resident visa

experience in Administration P.R.O

general account and tourism

language Arabic and English.

Contact: 94907717


Indian looking for a job in the

trade 27 years of age for a friendly

college degree. Contact: 96424192

Sudanese male bachelor geology

and mining with 3 years experi-

ence in MUD logging and training

in soil investigation.

Contact: 92956848

BS in Electrical Engineering, Experience: 5 years(Power Plants).


[email protected]

Indian male 28yrs Bcom 3yrs

exp. in warehouse operations

(including pharmaceutical). Well

knowledge in WMS & ERP, looking

for suitable job. Ph. 95576686,

E: [email protected] (UAE visa

holder, currently in Oman)

Indian male, 28, post graduate,

6+ yrs exp in Oman in sales (back

office) & credit control with valid

Oman D/L looking for suitable lace-

ments. NOC available. # 92066 523

Indian Female, 25 Years - MSc

Biotechnology, 1yr exp. in Clinical Mi-

crobiology & 6 months working exp.

in international crop reserch

institute of semi arid crops (ICRISAT)

Looking for suitable job.

Contact 92619048,


MEDICAL

Indian Male with 13 Years Oman

Experience as Assistant Pharma-

cist with Valid MOH License and

Oman D/L is looking for a Suitable

Job in Muscat Area. NOC available.

Please Contact: 92121414

Sri Lankan female qualified in UK

with BSC (Hons) pharmacology and

MSC pharmaceutical science with

management studies having one

year experience in Sir Lanka, look-

ing suitable placement in regulatory

affairs, clinical research / trials,

Pharmacologist, pharmacovigilance

and research. #99550318

Indian female dentist specialized

Endodontist, looking for suitable

placement. Parametric completed.

Contact: 96410448

MANAGER/SUPER.

Chief Accountant/Finance Manager

– Indian male, CA Finalist, having

20 years’ experience in Finance,

Accounts, Audit, Finalization of Ac-

counts, preparation of Project Reports

etc., looking for immediate placement.

12 yrs. in Oman in Construction and

Consultancy co., have Omani D/L,

knows Tally. Contact 94041048,


Indian male - 8 yrs exp as HSE of-

fice/supervisor -on visit visa- seeks

suitable opening in Sohar - Contact

94532131 / 98317698;


8 Years experienced camp boss

worked in SAOG CO. Looking for

suitable position. NOC available.

Contact - 94298945

Civil Engineer (QS) 2 yrs exp

seeking job UAE D/L.

Contact: +96895641991

Electrical Engineer 5 years

experience substations oil & Gas

water projects fluency in Arabic &

English & English driving license


Indian male Civil Engg. 11 years

experience having Omani driving

license, NOC available.

Contact: 95797286


Chemical Engineer with MBA &

experience looking for job.

Contact: 94908977

Mechanical Engineer, B.Tech

(Post Graduate) looking for suita-

ble placement. Contact: 99576846

mail: [email protected]

Mechanical Engineer 7 years

experience plumbing firefighting

water pipeline projects fluency in

Arabic and English driving license


Architect Engineer seeking for

suitable job 4 years experience

currently working in Muscat, NOC


Electronics & telecommunication

BE Indian male having skills in

electronics communication, net-

working , embedded having 2 years

experience looking for suitable po-

sition available in Oman on family

visit visa. Contact: 93051918 Email:

[email protected]

Indian male, Structural Engineer

looking for job in structural design

field. Having 6 years of experi-

ence in design field. Residing in



B.Tech Civil Engineer 2 years

experience on visit seeks urgent


Electrical Engineer with 16 years

experience in switchgear / trans-

former / over head lines & trading,

looking for sales / procurement &

project planning & Execution with

NOC & D/L. Contact: 95994727


Civil Engineer, young Indian

having almost 2 years experience

looking for a challenging position

seeks suitable position in Oman/

GCC. Please contact 92718490,

Email ID: [email protected]

Indian female dietician with 3

years experience in India seeking

a suitable placement preferable in


EDUCATION/TRAINING

ENGG. / SUPERVISOR

Female B. Ed English teacher, 7 yrs exp seeking suitable

placement. Contact 99739415 /

92091528

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Indian, 20 years experience in

Oman as personal assistant / office

manager / executive secretary /

administrator / business develop-

ment asst. seeks job change. Release

available. Contact 99168054.

Lady Secretary / Sales Co-coor-

dinator 12 years experience in

Oman in reputed companies, seek

immediate Employment.

Call: 95244761

Looking for part time job Secre-tarial / Data Entry / Documenta-

tion available every day after 5:00

pm Friday / Saturday full day area

preferred Ruwi/ CBD/ MBD /

Al Khuwair. Contact: 90414827

Indian female BE, 3 years office

assistant experience, seeking

placement.Contact-90655903

Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech)

Indian male with 2 year experi-

ence, AREA OF INTEREST Work on

Oil Rigs, Work as an QA/QC inspec-

tor, Ultrasonic testing,

Radiographic testing.

Contact: +91 9567526566


Indian Female, 25 Years - MSc

Looking for suitable job.

Mobile: 92619048,


SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Electrician, plumber, helper, In-

dian & gulf exp looking job.

Contact - 95175192

Mason, sh/carpenter, steel fitter,

with medical. Contact- 95175192 or

mail, [email protected]

Indian mechanical supervisor (diploma) 17 yrs experience in pet-

rochemical construction (fabrica-

tion erection) in all steel structural

and mechanical jobs, on visit visa

seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 90924467


Indian male 24 ,B.E ( E.C.E ) grad-

uate with 3 years of experience in

the fields of BMS and Low current

systems and has good knowledge

about Electronic Security Systems,

currently working in Oman, NOC

Available. Contact:-94737033/

[email protected]

Electrical & Electronics Engr,

knows autocad & revit.

PH: 93837973

Pakistani male Diploma Civil

Engineer 4yrs exp in Oman bull-

ing & mega projects, valid license

Oman. Contact: 98921022

Sr. Electrical Engineer with17+

yrs of exceptional exp in spear

heading strategic planning and

project management initiatives &

executing various high rise resi-

dential & commercial building as

well as roads and highway project

with proficiency in installation,

seeking a challenging position in

a dynamic organization.

Contact 96570891

Indian female 25years M.E (pow-

er electronics) 3years experience

in teaching profession looking for

suitable job. Contact no 97003267

& 94214909


Mechanical Engineer (Sudanese)

3 years experience : Fire fighting,

HSE, Design, Production.

Contact: 93642704


Civil Engineer (Indian male)

5 years experience in Oman with

valid Omani driving license & NOC

looking for suitable opportunity.

Contact: 93101283

Sr. Quantity surveyor B.Tech (Civil

Tech) above 8 years (7 years in

Oman) having driving license NOC


Senior Land Surveyor 23 yrs

Oman, UAE & Egypt GPS, T.S

Construction roads infrastructure

oil feed electric works OHL, UGC

grid , primary substation process-

ing data. Contact: 95326927 /

92928981


Indian male B-tech 8 years experi-

ence as senior electrical project

engineer / QC engineer on visit

visa seeks suitable placement.

Contact 94094543


Site Supervisor, Diploma in

Civil Engg (cert attested) knows

autocad revit, salary exp: 250

Ph : 92279784

DAILY GUIDED6 T H U R S D AY, J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 1 6

Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

Indian male 3.5 yr experience in

Oman sales and purchase having

valid Oman driving license seeking

for suitable job. Contact 91076676

Sales representative with 7 years

experience and valid Oman driving

license, NOC or release avail-

able-99695780

Indian male 26 years of experi-

ence of sales & marketing in surgi-

cal and laboratory equipments.

Looking for good replacement.

Contact – 92015894 / 95774854

Indian female, MBA Marketing

with 4 years experience with

4 years experience with Oman

experience, NOC and D/L looking

for suitable opening with visa.

Contact: 92460623

SALES / MARKETING

Indian Male, MBA marketing 5

yrs exp. in sales & 4 yrs in FMCG

sector, looking for best opportu-

nity. NOC available.

Contact: 96001877

Indian male 33 having 6 yrs exp

in Oman & 4 yes exp in Qatar hav-

ing valid Oman D/L seeks opportu-

nity in sales & business develop-

ment. Contact: 98260607 Email:

[email protected]

35 years male, Lebanese hold-

ing British passport, 10 years

of experience in procurement,

Omani Government tenders, setup

marketing plans & strategies,

importing, Organizing events,

management, have car, NOC avail-

able. Contact 94123939


SITUATION WANTEDCOMPUTER/WEB./ EDUCATION/CLASSES

Karate and self defense classes

at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per

month twice a week Monday and

Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM.

Contact: 98294551

Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English

class for Malayalam Speakers in Azaiba and Ruwi

earn in two monthstion guaranteed

Tel: 95244310

Filipino Male, 28 years Old. Looking

for job, Have experience in Rent

a Car/ Cargo & Logistics / Real

Estate/ Customer Care Executive /

Sale Executive & Marketing/ Shop

In- Charge. Hard working w/ good

computer and communication skill.

GSM: 97761075

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SERVICES

MY

Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont

Maintenance services electric,

plumbing and A/C. Contact:

96524904 /94285064

A/C Maintenance & Servicing,

Fridge, Washing machine & Dish

washer repairing, Painting & Clean-

ing services, Electrical & plumbing.

Contact 99447257 / 97014234 /

24504281

Split unit A/C & window unit A.C

servicing & maintenance.

Contact: 96236476

WE SERVE OMAN

Marble crystallization & grinding, Ocean center LLC

Contact: 99344723

Cleaning services sofa shampoo,

carpet shampoo, new house, old

house. Contact: 92179395

Marble crystallization & grinding, cleaning & carpet shampooing.

Ocean center LLC.

Contact 99344723

Window & split unit A.C servicing

& repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split unit & window unit A.C ser-

vicing & maintenance.

Contact: 93769089 / 95323517

Split & window A/C servicing,

repairing, installation ducted, pack-

age etc. Contact Abbas : 98667326

CAD drawings Archi/ MEP

CAD – comply BIM.

Contact: 91233975

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control &

anti-termite treatment, general

cleaning painting,Plumbing,

Electrical, shifting. Contact Mun-

dhir Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.

Contact: 24810137, 99450130

House shifting packing. Contact: 99657644/98518013

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

All Maintenance and services

electric, CCTV Camera, Plumbing

A/C service and gas installation,

painting tiles. Contact: 96524904 /

94285064

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Pest control treatments, Ocean center LLC

Contact 99344723

Pest control Gulfa international.

Contact: 92326955

House shifting. Contact

99708138

Indian Male, 26 M.Com with

4 yrs of Experience in Accounting

& Administration in a Financial

Company in India, seeks suitable

job, Currently in India.

Contact India:-+918907212253

Akhil:-93626288, Email:

[email protected]

Sales 2 years B.Com

male 24 yrs, Indian.

Contact: 00968 94212636

[email protected]

Indian female 29 years Post Grad-

uate with computer Knowledge 2

years of Oman experience in coor-

dinator & 5 years of experience in

customer service, client relation

officer with excellent communica-

tion skill seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 95337665

Oil &gas experienced Indian lady

with 6 years in sales & market-

ing to PDO and having valid

Omani driving license. Contact

96143430/99875919

Indian male 1 yr exp in sales

automotive (TBL) looking for best

opportunity , NOC available.

Contact: 97793879


Indian male Graduate with 18

years of Marketing experience

presently in Oman on family visit

visa, looking for best opportunity.

Contact: 96168687


Indian male graduate, 10 years

experience Oman seeks job in

Sales & Marketing. #92133277

Indian male MBA 5 yrs experience

in Oman and India seeking suitable

position in marketing & sales



Indian male 24 B.com, 2years of

experience in sales & admin &

proficient in M.S Office, Excel.

Contact: 98613373


Indian Male MBA, 5 years Build-

ing Materials Project Sales experi-

ence in Oman, NOC available, seek-

ing for placement.

Contact - 90655903,99325544

B. Com 2 years experience in

Sales Marketing Logistics

Accounts and Front office

Contact 95506048

Indian Male, Experienced in

FMCG & other kind of Sales,

looking for suitable placement in

Foodstuff/FMCG Industry with

valid GCC license. Immediately

available. Contact: 94625495.

Indian male 37 years MBA

graduate in marketing with 9yrs of

experience in UAE in field of brand

promotions & marketing with UAE

D/L on a visit seeking suitable

position. Conatct 95792820


TOURS

RENT A CAR

25 - 50 seater bus with PDO &

BP specification for monthly rent

& small car with driver. Contact

99839898

Al Ibtisama rent & leasing. Contact: 91374879 / 96627562/

99382001/ 24751177/ 24751188

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with

Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours contact 98029602,

92808636

We arrange tours & accommoda-

tion at all the beautiful places in

Oman. Contact 99839898

SIT. WANTED

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATIONTransportation. Contact: 91703829

Transportation available Ruwi to

Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909

Transportation available Al Khu-

wair, Ghobrah, Azaiba, Al Hail & Al

Khoud. Drop & pick.

Contact: 95250161

Gulf link rent car get the best rate

daily weekly monthly & long term.

Contact: Tel: 24348106 G.S.M:

98265073 /96023931


Transportation required from

Qurum to WadiKabir at afternoon

only 1 PM. Contact - 99012165

Transportation. Contact:96538078

Transportation. Contact 99508282

Transportation. Contact 92015894

Transportation. Contact94510847

Indian Male B-Com graduate

2 year experience in various

Fields Valid Oman Driving License.

Looking for any suitable post.

Please contact: 94409500

Indian male 25 years- BE- Com-

puter Engineer with CISA and

CCNA, having 3 years work experi-

ence in Oman, valid Omani driving

license, seeking for suitable place-

ment in IT companies or Audit

companies for IT Audit job, NOC

can be obtained.Contact:99253011

Indian Male, B.Com + Dip. Logistics

2year experience looking for a job

in Accounts/Logistics Field. Pres-

ently on Visit Visa

Mobile: 93884951/

Email:[email protected]

Transportation. available.

For ladies Contact 92430239

GOOD NEWS

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know

more about Islam, please call:

99425598, 99250777, 99353988,

99253818, 99341395, and

99379133. For ladies: 99415818,

99321360, 99730723

Orvisit:www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for joint

pain, backache, paralysis, mas-

sage, steambath, obesity, Spondy-

litis, Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic,

18 November Street, Azaiba.

Contact: 99639695 / 97397320

Ayurvedic treatment for back-

ache, paralysis, arthritis etc

& massage, All Season (Vaid-

yaratnam). Contact:24475280 /

95371664 / 92504980

www.siddhayur.com

DRIVING

FOR LADIES

MATRIMONIAL

Parent of Palakkad based Hindu

Nair / Menon boy aged 29 star

pooram, under graduate presently

working in Oman seeking alliance

from parents undergraduate /

graduate nair / menon girl age 21-

23 Contact: 99312383 after 7 pm

Christian Evangelical girl, 27, 150

cm. ICWA, M.Com, working in a

MNC Trivandrum. Seeks suitable

proposals. Contact – 96040125/

97889342

Parents of 28 yrs, Indian Boy

from Mumbai, ACCA working as

a senior accountant in Muscat,

seeks alliance from an Indian

Sunni Muslim family. Contact-

(parent): 96408642 email id:

[email protected]

Maternal uncle of Indian Sunni

Muslim girl aged 21, beautiful, tall

and pursuing M.Sc, Urdu speaking

hailing from Chennai seeks

suitable alliance.

Contact: 97047811

Christian divorce, male 40.

Contact by Whatsapp: 91346321

Parents of 28 yrs, Indian Boy

from Mumbai, ACCA working as

a senior accountant in Muscat,

seeks alliance from an Indian

Sunni Muslim family. Contact

no. (Parent): 96408642 email id:

[email protected]

Ezhava male, 31yrs, height 5.6,

star Magham, B. Tech aeronauti-

cal, administrative professional,

parents in Oman, native Aluva

(ekm). Mob-99550870

Parent of Thrissur based Hindu

Ezhava girl aged 20, Slim,Atham

star, Studying for B. Pharm seek-

ing alliance from well employed

Graduates, preferably in Engineer-

ing Contact :96425102

MANPOWER

Manpower available: cleaning

male/female staff, loading unload-

ing and helpers staff available on

contract basis. Contact- 94636086

Home service available, (Threading, facial, waxing,

head massage) R0. 20

Contact 99619409

*Classified Advertisement space booking with

text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s

publication. * Subject to space

availability

Ezhava male, 31yrs, height 5.6,

Star Magham, B-Tech Aeronauti-

cal, administrative professional,

parents in Oman, native Aluva

(Ekm). Contact 99550870

Indian male Roman Catholic 40yrs divorcee working in Mus-

cat. Seeks suitable alliance from

widow/ divorcee/ single.

Contact 96059801.

Malankara Catholic Male Nurse (28) from Thiruvalla working in

Nizwa Private Co. Alliance invites

parents/nurses working in Oman.

Contact 968 98267338,

0091 9287215726

D8 T H U R S D AY, J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 1 6

DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Times of Oman - June 30, 2016

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Transcript of Times of Oman - June 30, 2016