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MONDAY, July 13, 2015 / 26 Ramadan 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certifi ed Company

RAMADAN PRAYER TIMINGSDhuhr 12.18pmAsr 3.37pmMaghrib 7.02pmIsha 8.23pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.02am

IFTAR

7.02PM

FAJR

4.02AM

Eid freeze on hiring expats from ministry

FAHAD AL GHADANIfahadnews@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: All expat recruitment has been put on freeze by the Ministry of Manpower until after Eid with offi cials not issuing any new clearances.

As of yesterday, the ministry has stopped dealing with any new clearance transactions until the fi rst working day after the Eid Al Fitr holiday, said a reliable source at the ministry. He explained that the decision targets only new clearance transactions.

However, those who earlier ap-plied for clearance can proceed to the ministry to follow-up with their request.

“This is not new, as the Minis-try of Manpower usually carries out such decisions before Eid,” said the source. He also said that this is not a large issue, as it is a

matter of waiting only one week.Salim bin Said Al Ghatami, the

head of the Economic Commit-tee at the State Council, however, said the work should proceed un-til the last working day.

“I am not with such move and I feel if each unit will disrupt one of its services then half of the government units won’t produce (work) three days before each Eid holiday,” said Al Ghatami.

Responding to that, Rashid Khalfan, who owns a construc-tion company, wondered about the reasons behind such deci-sions. “The decision does not make any sense. Why do we have to wait for three more days, along with the fi ve Eid holiday days?” asked Rashid.

Further, he complained that such decisions are handed down without any reasons.

“These three days are working

days and if the Ministry of Man-power wants to disturb the work in any of its departments it should explain to the public the reasons behind that.

Similarly, Fawaz Ahmed, who is starting a business, said this is not fair for businessmen and investors.

“I am counting the minutes while I start my business, yet the Ministry of Manpower decides in seconds to waste three working days,” said Fawaz. He added that while it is only three days, for him and other small business owners, the days count as they pay month-ly rents for their business.

“I have been paying the shop rent for the last two months, as I expected to start my business af-ter only one month.

“But now I have to wait for more than one week to resume work on my documents with the authorities,” said Fawaz.

Last week Times of Oman reported how top Omani busi-ness men had called for an end to the ‘Come after Eid’ attitude that prevails.

Thasleem Khan, CEO and Managing Director of IPARK, said it is not going to make big im-pact on the business. “Companies here plan much ahead so I don’t think there would be much im-pact on the market,” he said.

Eid, Renaissance Day holidays announcedMUSCAT: For the employees at the ministries, public authori-ties and other departments of the State Administrative Appa-ratus and the private sector, Eid Al Fitr 1436 AH holiday will be from Thursday, 29th Ramadan 1436 AH corresponding to July 16, 2015 until Monday, July 20, 2015, declared Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud Al Busaidi, Minis-ter of the Diwan of Royal Court and Chairman of the Civil Ser-vice Council and Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of

Manpower on Sunday. Work will resume on Tuesday, July 21, 2015.

The text of the decision is as follows: “On the occasion of the blessed Eid Al Fitr 1436 AH, the Eid holiday for employees work-ing at the ministries, public au-thorities and other departments of the State’s Administrative Ap-paratus and private sector will be from Thursday, 29th Ramadan 1436 AH corresponding to July 16, 2015 until Monday, July 20, 2015. Work will resume on Tues-day, July 21, 2015.” >A2

M I N I S T R Y A N N O U N C E M E N T

A3Vehicle catches fi re at Ibri petrol station

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Ministry of

Manpower suspends

new clearances until

after Eid holidays

Decision on second-hand vehicle import leaves expats wonderingFAHAD AL GHADANIfahadnews@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Mixed reactions are being expressed over the decision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to allow expatriates liv-ing in Oman to import only one used vehicle in a year while allow-ing citizens to import an unlim-ited number of such used private cars, buses, trucks or motorbikes has elicited.

The decision also bars nation-als from importing vehicles older than seven years.

A reliable source in the minis-try explained that the not-older-than-seven-years rule was fair when compared to other Gulf countries which have kept this bar at fi ve years.

In the ministerial decision number 203/2015, Dr Ali bin Ma-soud bin Ali Al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, said an expat would be allowed to im-port a vehicle provided he or she

is above 18 years of age.“Non-Omanis should import

their vehicles using their civil number,” said Awadh bin Said Al Alawi, Director of Commercial Aff airs Department.

The decision aff ecting nation-als and expats was not welcomed by the public with the social me-dia witnessing a hashtag targeting the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s decision and discuss-ing it publicly.

Most people posting opinions under the hashtag wondered if there was no other way to regulate this market except through ban.

Some suggested that the minis-try could have gone in for stricter regulations and requirements in vehicles inspection rather than ban. >A6

M I N I S T E R I A L D E C I S I O N

The decision bars nationals

from importing vehicles older

than seven years. -ONA

MUSCAT: As an envoy of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said left on Sunday for Saudi Arabia to convey the condolences of His Majesty the Sultan on the death of Prince Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Minister of State, Mem-ber of the Council of Ministers, Advisor and Special Envoy of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Supervisor of Foreign Aff airs.

Sayyid Haitham is accom-panied by Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsi-ble for Foreign Aff airs, Sheikh Abdulmalik bin Abdullah Al Khalili, Minister of Justice and Dr Sayyid Ahmed bin Hilal bin Saud Al Busaidi, Sultanate’s am-bassador to the KSA. -ONA

H M ’ S E N V O Y

Sayyid Haitham heads to Saudi Arabia

OMANFive dead in accident

1Five people were killed and one injured in a collision between two vehicles. >A3

OMANDuqm investment

2 Sezad announces regulations to woo investment in Duqm. >A6

WORLDDivorce law in Iran

3Iran has changed a law to make divorce by mutual consent invalid. >A13

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

NATIONAL COMMITMENT: The Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work covers 15 fi elds, namely

economic, sports, social, childhood, youth, charitable work, environmental, heritage, health, media,

education, IT, civil defence, disabled, culture, arts literature and women.– Talib Al Wahaibi/TIMES OF OMAN

A2 M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

OMAN

6,258 expats to leave OmanTimes News Service MUSCAT: Three hundred and ninety nine workers left their jobs in the private sector while 83 do-mestic workers also quit their jobs in June according to the Ministry of Manpower.

Those who have transferred their services to another sponsor numbered 187, while 1,193 workers

changed the designation of their professions with the same sponsor.

Meanwhile 6,258 non-Omani labourers who wished to avail themselves of the amnesty for visa anomalies would be leaving the country while 6,985 expatriate workers have already been deport-ed from the Sultanate.

About 985 non-Omani workers have cleared their visa and other

procedural shortcomings in the private sector during the month of May. One hundred and forty eight workers have altered their visa and employment status to the pre-sent profession in the private sec-tor. Sixty one workers have altered their professions in the blue-col-lared workers category, 42 work-ers have transferred their services to another employer.

A M N E S T Y

Alila Jabal Akhdar bags global award

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Alila Jabal Akhdar won the award for Best Suite in the Hotel 50-200 rooms in the Global Category at The Interna-tional Hotel & Property Awards 2015 hosted in Italy.

The International Hotel & Property Awards are hosted by Design et Al, a leading interior design magazine based in the United Kingdom.

The results are based on vot-ing by industry professionals, readers, clients and customers.

The fi ve-star property contin-ues to set a high standard in the hospitality industry, receiving a number of prestigious awards for leisure tourism. Recognition has come locally and regionally, as well as from publications, in-cluding New York Post and U.S. Conde Nast Traveler.

Earlier, Alila Jabal Akhdar received the LEED Silver Cer-tifi cation in March this year at regional level in the Building Design and Construction rat-ing system for New Construc-tion by the U.S. Green Building Council, thus marking the fi rst development in Oman to have obtained the prestigious inter-national LEED certifi cation. In May, the resort was awarded the GCC Leisure and Tourism Project of the Year at the MEED Quality Awards 2015.

T O U R I S M S E C T O R

Blessed Renaissance Day holiday on July 23

The Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court and all employees of private sector extended their con-gratulations to His Majesty the Sultan on this blessed occasion, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty, grant him good health, happiness and a long life and for the return of this and similar occasions on His Majesty for many years to come and the Omani people and our dear coun-try further progress and welfare under His Majesty’s wise leader-ship and all Muslims prosperity and welfare.

In another decision, Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi and Shaikh Abdullah bin Nassir Al Bakri declared Thursday, July 23, 2015, as an offi cial holiday for employees at ministries, public authorities and other depart-ments of the state’s administra-tive apparatus and the private sector companies and establish-ments on account of Blessed Re-naissance Day.

The two senior ministers ex-tended their heartfelt congratula-tions to His Majesty the Sultan on

this glorious occasion, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty, grant him good health, happiness and a long life and for the return of this and similar oc-casions on His Majesty the Sultan for many years to come, wishing the Omani people and the coun-try further progress and welfare

under his wise leadership. The decisions allow employers and employees to agree on work ar-rangements to compensate this holiday, if necessity arises. The employees whose weekly off days coincide with the above men-tioned holidays should be com-pensated as well.

A N N O U N C E M E N T

Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary

Work to cover vital public issues

Times News Service MUSCAT: Winners of the 4th edition of Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work will be an-nounced on December 5, said Sheikh Mohammed bin Sa’ayed Al Kalbani, Minister of Social Devel-opment. He pointed out that the award as one of the fi rst awards to support voluntary work in Oman.

The announcement was made

at a press conference held on Sun-day at the Ministry to reveal the details of the award’s 4th edition.

Dr. Hamoud bin Ahmed Al-Yahya’ei, Director General of Social Welfare and Chairman of the Technical Committee for Sul-tan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work, said the award covers 15 fi elds, namely economic, sports, social, childhood, youth, charita-ble work, environmental, herit-

age, health, media, educational, IT, civil defence, disabled, culture, arts literature and women.

He added that submission of applications had begun on July 1 and will continue until August 30. Applications will be received in the Governorate of Muscat at the Association and Community Clubs at the Ministry and at the Departments of Social develop-ment in the governorate.

D A T E A N N O U N C E D

< FROM

A1

Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal

Al Busaidi and Shaikh

Abdullah bin Nassir

Al Bakri declared

Thursday, July 23,

2015, as an official

holiday on account

of Blessed

Renaissance Day

A3

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world with us

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Five killed in Jalan Bani Bu Ali road accidentFAHAD AL GHADANIfahadnews@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Five people were killed in an accident on Sunday morn-ing in the Al Sharqiyah region, ac-cording to a top offi cial of the Royal Oman Police (ROP). “The accident took place between two vehicles at about 4:38 am,” said the offi cial.

The accident occurred in the Al

Jawabi area in the wilaiyat of Ja-lan Bani Bu Ali and resulted in the death of fi ve nationals, including an 80 year-old man.

The offi cial said that the fi ve na-tionals who died in the accidents have been identifi ed as Marzooq Al Araimi, 21 years; Salim Al Jafari, 80 years; Juma Al Ghanbosi, 23 years; Mohammed Al Amri, 65 years; and Mahmood Al Araimi, 16

years. The accidents also resulted in national Hamad Al Ghanbosi, 20 years, being injured.

Oman recently witnessed a sig-nifi cant drop in traffi c accidents and, as a result, deaths and injuries also fell, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Informa-tion statistics (NCSI).

Further, statistics show that 2015 witnessed a drop of 10.6 per

cent in the number of deaths and a decrease of 8 per cent in the num-ber of casualties from vehicle acci-dents, compared to the same period in 2014. The traffi c accident rate also decreased by 14 per cent com-pared to last year.

Royal Oman Police (ROP) at-tributed the decrease in traffi c ac-cidents to improved traffi c control, as road users have become more

aware about the need to abide by traffi c rules. Traffi c awareness has led to a decline in the number of accidents, as well as installing speed radar.

ROP has called on motorists to abide by safety and traffi c rules to avoid fatal accidents. Experts says that the number of fatalities rise signifi cantly during the tourist season in Dhofar.

C O L L I S I O N

Oman has recently

witnessed a significant

drop in traffic accidents

and, as a result, deaths

and injuries also fell,

according to the

NCSI statistics

Car catches fi re at Ibri petrol station

Times News Service MUSCAT: A vehicle caught fi re on Sunday morning at a Shell petrol station in Hujairamat in Wilayat Ibri, offi cials have said.

Public Authority of Civil De-fence and Ambulance (PACDA) offi cials have informed that they extinguished the fi re, while no in-juries were reported.

Cause of fi re“The cause of the fi re has yet to be ascertained,” offi cials said. Ear-lier, PACDA advised motorists to exercise caution while fi lling their vehicles with petrol.

They also asked people not to smoke or talk on mobile phones at petrol stations.

Further, PACDA has urged the public to report any spillage of fuel to the staff at petrol stations.

They also asked petrol sta-tion attendants to ensure that fuel pump nozzles were removed from car fuel tanks before vehi-cles leave pumping stations.

On June 3, a car caught fi re around 8 am while refuelling in Bidbid. In another incident, a car caught fi re at a petrol station in Yanqul on June 2. Last month on June 16, there was also a fi re in a Ghubrah petrol station.

P U B L I C S E C U R I T Y

UP IN FLAMES: While no injuries were reported, the cause of the

fi re has yet to be ascertained.–Supplied photo

A4 M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

TODAY’S DUAA‘ O Allah, on this day, open for me the doors of the heavens, and lock the doors of Hell from me, help

me to recite the Quran, O the One who sends down tranquility into the hearts of believers.’

Hadith of the day‘AMR IBN AL-’AS reported

that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and

grant him peace, said, “The diff erence between our

fasting and the fasting of the people of the Book lies in the

eating of Suhur.” [Muslim]

As the curtain draws on this year’s Ramadan, a unique season of worship will soon get  over.  Before the advent of Ramadan we were de-lighted to welcome the Holy Month and as it gets over we look forward to next year’s

Ramadan Insha Allah. Fasting in this month, despite the intense heat in many countries and long hours in several others,  it has been such a joy to go through the fasting pe-riod.  It is this component  of willing obedience and com-pliance with an order which is in confl ict with our basic needs that gives fasting its unique place among all acts of worship. We should keep praying to Allah to accept our fasts and our worship which we did with zeal in the Holy Month of Ramadan. Now that Ramadan will soon be over and ourselves charged, it is time to plan out for the wor-ship for the next months.

Fasting has always be one of the form of worships that entails great rewards. Besides Ramadan, for which fast-ing is compulsory on every Muslim who has attained the age of puberty, Allah has off ered us many opportunities to fast in other months. Though these are not compulsory but voluntary yet they can bring transformation in our lives and earn rewards.

Adil Salahi, an eminent columnist on Islam, writes, “Fasting is such a great act of worship that God singles it out for a special reward which is measured only by God’s kindness and generosity, some people may wonder that the surest way of earning admission into heaven is to fast voluntarily, as frequently as possible. Having said that, it is important to know which days are recommended to fast. The fi rst thing that comes to mind here is that the Prophet (PBUH)  recommends us to fast six days after the end of Ramadan. We obviously cannot fast on the Eid day. The prohibition is for several reasons, one of which is that fasting on Eid day could be seen as an extension of Rama-dan, when no one can add to Ramadan any extra days. Although most scholars agree that the six recommended days should be in the month of Shawwal, some scholars argue that this is not necessary. The reason why six days have been chosen is that the general rule for the reward-ing of good actions gives every such action 10 times its worth. Hence, if one fasts the month of Ramadan, he is rewarded for fasting 10 months. Six more days of fasting earn the reward of fasting sixty days or two more months. That makes up for the whole year.”

Abu Ayyoub reported that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and

then follows it by fasting six days during the month of Shawwal will be rewarded as if he had fasted the entire year. [Muslim, At-Tirmithi, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood]. These days do not have to be at beginning of the month nor do they have to be consecutive. Hence, Muslims should seize this opportunity and fast these six days to get Allah’s reward.

Abu Qatadah said : the Messenger of Allah (PBUH)  said: “Fasting on the day of `Arafah is an expiation [of sins] for two years, the year preceding it and the year following it and the fasting the day of `Aashuraa’ is an expiation for the year preceding it. [Muslim, An-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawood].

`Amr Ibn Sharhabeel said : A man came to the Mes-senger of Allah (PBUH) and said: O Messenger of Allah! what do you say in a man who fasts the whole year [time], on this the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), said : I wish he would not eat anything during the year, he said what about two thirds of the year, he replied “more”, he said what about half of it, he said more and then said : Shall I not inform you of what takes away the whispers of the chest, they said yes tell us, he said “ fasting three days from every month. [an-Nasaa’i; Sahih]

Abu Tharr Al-Ghefari said: “The Messenger of Allah (PBUH), said: “Whoever fasts from every month three days, it is like fasting the whole year, then Allah revealed what backs this in His book “Whoever comes with a good deed, he is rewarded ten folds”, one day for ten. [Ibn Ma-jah and at-Tirmidhi].

Abu Tharr Al-Ghefari said: “The Messenger of Allah (PBUH)  said: “O Abu Tharr! if you fast three days of every month, then fast the 13th, the 14th and the 15th [these are call the Al-Ayaam Al-Beedh, the white days]”. [Ahmad, An-Nasaa’i and At-Tirmidhi; Sahih].

There are also suggestions that fasting on Mondays and Thursdays is recommended. This view is based on some reports which quote the Prophet as recommending that ̀ Aa’ishah said : The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) used to fast Mondays and Thursdays”. [An-Nasaa’i; Sahih]

Abu Hurairah reported that the most the Prophet (PBUH) would fast would be Monday and Thursday. He was asked about that and he said: “The deeds of people are presented to Allah on every Monday and Thursday. Allah forgives every Muslim except for those who are desert-ing one another. He says: “Leave them for later.” [Ahmad; Hasan]. But one can fast any days of the  month  if  he/she is not comfortable to fast on those days.

Voluntary fasting after Ramadan

Besides

Ramadan, for

which fasting

is compulsory

on every

Muslim who

has attained the

age of puberty,

Allah has

off ered us many

opportunities

to fast in other

months, writes

Aftab H. Kola

A5

OMANM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

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‘Breastfeeding mothers need healthy diet during fasting’

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Breastfeeding mothers who are health-wise able to fast should have a nutritious diet to avoid any negative impact on their own health as also that of the baby, said an expert.

Breastfeeding mothers can fast if they are not suff ering from any medical condition but should consult their doctor to take the right decision, said Saada Moham-med Al Mamari from the nutri-tion department of the Ministry of Health. They should not fast if they have certain medical condi-tions such as heart problems, renal failure or anaemia, Al Mamari told the Times of Oman.

During the fi rst 40 days after

delivery, mothers should not fast as they have not recovered com-pletely, she added.

According to her, fasting has some benefi ts like abdomen re-laxation and will not negatively aff ect breastfeeding if the mother receives proper nutrition, includ-ing carbohydrates and protein.

Fasting mothers can even col-lect their milk even while fasting and put it in the fridge to feed the baby, said Al Mamari.

Iftar foodDuring Iftar time, they should drink water or laban (yogurt drink) so that the milk fl ows again, she said, adding that three dates or fruit can be taken at the same time.The mother can also take soup or a small snack after a short break if she needs it but should avoid eat-

ing a big meal at once at Iftar time and instead divide it into smaller portions, she noted.

The expert also said caff eine, beverages containing gas, fast food as well as meals that are too sug-ary, too salty or too oily should be avoided as these negatively aff ect the stomach and the taste of milk.

Suhoor dietThe same things should be avoided during Suhoor time and Suhoor should be taken as late as possible, Al Mamari said, adding that ad-equate amount of fl uid should be taken by the mother.

Meals containing carbohydrates and proteins such as milk, eggs

and beans should be used and a lot of vegetables and fruits containing fi bre are essential for a good diet, she noted.

Oats are also a good source of nutrition, said Al Mamari.

If the fasting mother feels too tired or dizzy or is having a head-ache or blurred vision or any other problem, she should stop fasting, she said, adding that if the baby is not growing well, the mother should not keep fast.

Also, they should not fast if the quantity of milk in their breasts has decreased a lot, she noted.

High cholesterolIn addition, Al Mamari said any breastfeeding mother, who has high cholesterol should consult the doctor and take their medi-cines if prescribed and should fol-low a healthy diet.

Foods rich in fi bre such as fruits and vegetables are recommended, she said, adding that they should avoid red meat, yolk, corn oil, coco-nut oil and butter. They are advised to use olive oil or vegetable oil in-stead and take white meat such as fi sh and chicken, she noted.

If a breastfeeding mother has high blood pressure, she should re-duce her intake of food containing sodium, said Al Mamari.

Pregnant mothers should not fast during

Ramadan if they have certain medical

conditions such as heart problems, renal

failure or anaemia, says an expert

Fasting has some

benefits like abdomen

relaxation and will

not negatively affect

breastfeeding if the

mother receives

proper nutrition

Saada Mohammed Al MamariNutrition department, Ministry of Health

Doha to host metrology conference

MUSCAT: A two-day forum to exchange ideas on increasing awareness of the compliance of industrial measurements will be organised in Doha on December 15.

The fi rst GCC Metrology Forum meeting is being organ-ised by Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), Ministry of Environment in Qatar, GCC Standardisation Organisation (GSO) and Gulf Association for Metrology (GULFMET).

The two-day forum aims at providing an overview assess-ment of the requirements of Gulf industries and institutions for services in the fi eld of me-trology, in addition to reviewing the means to raise the national capacity in the fi eld of indus-trial standards.

The meeting also aims to ex-change ideas on attracting new activities and areas in metrol-ogy and international practices to enhance the infrastructure of measurement as a component of quality in the development of member states. The forum comes in response to the global reports for companies operat-ing in the automotive sector, electronics industry, power generation and others.– ONA

G C C F O R U M

NFC boosts ferry service for Eid rush

MUSCAT: The National Ferries Company (NFC) announced that it has increased the num-ber of trips of its ferry services during Eid Al Fitr holidays to Musandam, North Al Batinah, Muscat and Masirah Island in a bid to meet the rush of passen-gers during the holidays.

Ghazi bin Abdullah Al Zedjali, head of marketing and commu-nications at NFC, said that the increase in the number of trips is meant to meet the growing tourist activity by Omanis, ex-patriates and tourists during the Eid holidays.

During the holidays, the Mus-cat-Khasab-Muscat route will off er 1,552 seats and 320 vehi-cles. The company will operate eight trips between Muscat and Khasab with eff ect from Sunday till the weekend.

He added that during the holi-days there will be six trips off er-ing 624 seats and 120 vehicles between Shinas wilayat in the North Al Batinah governorate and Khasab wilayat in the Mu-sandam governorate.

“Due to the expected growth in demand for more services from Shannah to Masirah Is-land during the Eid holidays, there will be 12 trips daily be-tween Shannah and Masirah Island, off ering 1,232 seats and 304 vehicles, from the second Eid day,” added Al Zedjali.–ONA

H O L I D A Y S E A S O N

Be’ah opens landfi ll in Barka; waste consignment arrivesTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Municipal waste from various wilayats of South Al Batinah and some parts of Mus-cat Governorates started arriving at the Barka engineered landfi ll in South Al Batinah.

The waste is being transported by the Oman Environmental Ser-vices Holding company, Be’ah. Executive vice president for Mu-nicipal Waste Sector Hilal bin Khalfan Al Noumani said, “Barka landfi ll was built by a specialised company, in accordance with in-ternational environmental speci-fi cations and standards.”

“The landfi ll is now poised to receive nearly 1,100 tonnes of municipal waste per day in its fi rst phase, equivalent to 401,500 tonnes per year; with an over-all capacity for 1.5 million cu-bic metres of municipal waste”, he added.

Al Noumani further explained, “The main technical features of the landfi ll consists of cells that

are completely protected by High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) liners. These cells have a system for collecting leachate liquids and gases emitted from the de-composition of waste, which are collected and then processed in specialised treatment units at the landfi ll site, according to environ-mental control systems that oper-ate around the clock.

The landfi ll site includes scales

to weigh incoming trucks for col-lecting data on the quantities of municipal waste received daily at the landfi ll. The site also consists of an administration building, a dormitory for workers, a work-shop and a fuel station.

Al Noumani added that “Be’ah plans to have 12 to 13 engineered landfi lls in various Governorates of the Sultanate to replace the ex-isting old dumpsites.”

E C O A C T I O N

SAFE DUMP: The landfi ll is poised to receive nearly 1,100 tonnes

of municipal waste per day in its fi rst phase.–Supplied photo

A6

OMANM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Non-Omanis should import their vehicles using their civil number

Awadh bin Said Al Alawi, Director of Commercial Aff airs Department

Rules to attract investors, regulate Duqm’s urbanisation announced

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Two executive regu-lations to attract investment and organising and regulating ur-ban planning in Duqm were an-nounced by the Special Economic Zone Authority at Duqm (Sezad) on Sunday.

The new regulations, written by Yahya bin Said Al Jabri, chairman of Sezad, will be eff ective on Mon-day, after the authority publishes the regulations in the offi cial ga-zette, according to a press state-ment issued by Sezad.

The new regulation stipulates that a single ownership fi rm, a company, a branch operation or part of an overseas company exist-ing within the zone, must legalise their status within one year of ex-istence. This is applicable to pro-fessional and vocational agencies, as well.

The regulation, which consists of 22 clauses, governs the proce-dures for granting a licence to es-tablish companies.

Moreover, the licence for an eco-nomic activity will be subject to the approval of Duqm authorities. The project may not begin prepa-ration activities unless it applies for a preliminary approval from the authority. Sezad will study the licence application and verify that the application is complete, in terms of all required documents.

The issuance of the preliminary approval or rejection will be with-in 15 working days from the date of submission. No economic activity can commence before obtaining the fi nal licence.

The regulation stipulates that the interim approval of the appli-cation will also specify the condi-

tions that must be met until the date of the inspection of the estab-lishment, as required by law after completion of its preparations.

Preliminary approvalThe applicant, after meeting the conditions stipulated for granting the preliminary approval, must notify the Special Economic Zone Authority to obtain the fi nal li-cence and the authority will check that the conditions are met and issue the fi nal license within 15 days from the date of receiving the statement from the applicant.

The Duqm authority is author-ised to suspend the licence is-sued for a project or impose an

administrative fi ne not exceeding OMR100,000, or both penalties, if the project violates any licence conditions or laws in the Sultan-ate and the regulations issued by the authority.

In case the licencee ceased car-rying on the activity stipulated under the licence for more than three months without an accept-able reason or engaged in any ac-tivity that poses direct or indirect threats to public health or safety or the environment, and in case such violation persists after the suspen-sion of the licence or the imposi-tion of the fi ne, the authority may consider revoking the licence.

However, the regulations stipu-

late that the Duqm authority may not suspend the licence issued to a project before notifying the con-cerned parties of the violations.

The urban planning and con-struction licence regulations ap-ply to all urban development lands, projects and buildings in the Spe-cial Economic Zone Authority, except for projects of residential buildings constructed by persons on privately owned land.

These regulations consist of 28 articles to regulate the construc-tion of buildings in the Special Economic Zone Authority in Al Duqm and the conditions govern-ing such construction. Construc-tion of any structure or urban

project in the Special Economic Zone is prohibited before obtain-ing prior written approval.

General layoutThe regulations also stipulate that the main operator or devel-oper will be in charge of prepar-ing the general layout for the site stipulated under the relevant development contract, and the general layout will consist of or-ganisational drawings of all levels and in all respects, such as the de-tailed survey plans and the general architectural plan and detailed architectural plan.

The organisational plans shall be in accordance with Sezad’s vi-sion and approved planning cri-teria, and such plans will be pre-pared by specialised and qualifi ed engineering and consultation fi rms that are chartered to operate in the Sultanate of Oman.

The regulations stipulate that the main operator or developer will be in-charge of carrying out all the works and studies neces-sary to prepare the detailed survey and the Sezad shall provide the main operator or developer with the required information and shall avail them with free access to the work site.

The regulations did also stipu-late that in case of approving the detailed survey report, the main operator or developer will prepare the general site layout, which will include the drawings showing the various utilisations of the land and the construction provisions guide proposed for each area of use, along with the site development and management plan.

The new regulations

will be eff ective on

Monday after the

Sezad authority

publishes them in

the offi cial gazette

NEW RULES: The organisational plans shall be in accordance with Sezad’s vision and approved planning criteria and will be prepared by

specialised and qualifi ed engineering and consultation fi rms that are chartered to operate in Oman. – Supplied photos

I M P O R T O F V E H I C L E S

< FROM

A1 ‘Not the right move’

The public also wondered if the decision was based on any case study of accidents in the Sultan-ate or other related data. Some felt that this decision and others that are likely to follow are mere-ly ways to impose more taxes and support monopoly practices in the local market.

Commenting on the decision, Salim Al Sarhani, who works in the private sector, said the move was welcome but the Minister of Commerce and Industry should allow import of vehicles that are ten-year-old, or less.

“I wonder if the government is trying to complicate the import process gradually,” said Salim.

He said that the criteria should focus more on the condition of the vehicle rather than the year of its make.

Expatriates, however, said this was not the right decision. “My wife needs to drop my children off at their school. How will she travel now?” asked one such af-fected expatriate resident.

Another expat, M Ghosh, said people should be allowed to im-port unlimited number of sec-ond-hand vehicles.

“In a country where public transport is limited, expatriates should be allowed to buy un-limited number of second-hand vehicles as not everybody can buy new vehicles and everybody knows cars are cheaper in other countries,” he said.

Second-hand car makers are, however, happy. “This is the right decision as a lot of people do busi-ness in second-hand cars,” Mo-hammed Ibrahim Khalid, who deals in used cars, said.

The decision also banned the import of bicycles with a capacity less than 70 square centimetres unless a person has obtained a permit from the ministry. While

import of vehicles exceeding seven years from the date of manufacture is banned, import of trucks and buses that are old-er than ten years from the date of manufacture and equipment older than 15 years from the date of manufacture has also been banned. The decision allows the import of vehicles older than 30 years from the date of manufac-ture but the imported vehicles should meet the standards in force in the Sultanate.

The decision takes eff ect from 90 days after its publication in the offi cial gazette. The offi cial, however, added that there is no bar on the companies selling used vehicles.

Other trading, industrial and service establishments may also import used trucks and equip-ment for their own usage, pro-vided that the number and type of used trucks and equipment conforms to the activity of such establishments and their actual needs. Import of used motorbikes with engine capacity of less than 70 cubic centimetres, would re-quire a permit from the ministry.

Import of private vehicles old-er than seven years from the date of manufacture and buses more than ten years and equipment more than 15 years has, however, been prohibited. Import of clas-sic cars exceeding 30 years from the date of manufacture has been allowed. Imported vehicles shall have to conform to the specifi ca-tions applicable in Oman.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry explained that the decision was taken in coordina-tion with the authorities con-cerned with the local market de-velopment as well as to comply with the economic agreements among the Gulf Countries and lo-cal business laws.

OCCI meeting in

North Al Batinah

SOHAR: Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) branch in the Gover-norate of North Al Batinah or-ganised a meeting under the aegis of its Chairman Said bin Saleh Al Kiyumi. The meeting reviewed the agenda, including the approval of opening an of-fi ce for OCCI which will off er its services to the Port of Sohar, the Free Zone and the Industrial Zone in Sohar. -ONA

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

A7

REGIONM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Libya’s political parties agreeon peace accord

RABAT/TRIPOLI: Libyan polit-ical parties and members of civil society initialled a UN-proposed peace accord in Morocco on Sat-urday, despite the absence of a ri-val parliament not recognised by the international community.

“This is a step, but it is really an important step along the path to peace,” UN envoy Bernardino Leon said at a ceremony in the Moroccan resort of Skhirat mark-ing the agreement.

The deal was backed by mem-bers of Libya’s internationally recognised parliament, based in the eastern port city of Tobruk, as well as representatives of po-litical parties, municipalities and civil society groups.

No representatives attended from the rival parliament in Trip-oli -- controlled by hardline mili-tias since last year -- which has rejected a UN proposal to resolve Libya’s political crisis by forming of a national unity government and holding new elections.

Leon said the door remained open to groups that did not at-tend, and added that remaining contentious issues could be dis-cussed after the conclusion of

the holy month of Ramadan this month. Among these issues are a call for “respecting the judiciary”, a possible reference to a Supreme Court decision invalidating the parliament in the east, which was elected in June 2014.

Deal welcomedMeanwhile, European states wel-comed a UN peace deal initialled by some Libyan factions but not the opposition as a step towards restoring stability in the lawless North African country.

The European Union and Italy welcomed the agreement as a step toward restoring peace in Libya.

The UN Security Council has urged Libyan factions to sign on to Leon’s proposals in a bid to stem rising violence and the spread of radical organisations such as the IS militant group.

The militants have taken ad-vantage of the Libya’s divisions to establish itself in the country, close to Europe’s shores. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on his Twitter account that the agreement was an “important

step in eff orts to stabilise the re-gion and re-establish peace in this great country”. Renzi said that a solution to the confl ict in Libya was a “central” to battling “terror-ism and (illegal) immigration”.

Italy has repeatedly said an ac-cord would help stem the fl ow of migration to Europe from Africa via Libya -- where people smug-glers have stepped up their lucra-tive business.

The International Organiza-tion for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that some 150,000 mi-grants have crossed the Mediter-ranean to Europe so far this year, with nearly all landing in Italy.

EU foreign policy chief Fed-erica Mogherini also welcomed Saturday’s deal as “an important step towards restoring peace and stability in Libya” and urged the GNC to initial the agree-ment as well.

The Tobruk government, rec-ognised internationally, has welcomed what it called a “huge breakthrough”, urging all parties in Libya to overcome their diff er-ences and fi nalise the deal. — AFP

The deal was

backed by

members of Libya’s

internationally

recognised

parliament, based

in the eastern port

city of Tobruk

Egyptians give fi lm legend Omar Sharif solemn sendoff CAIRO: Close friends and family paid respects on Sunday to cinema legend Omar Sharif, who will for-ever be remembered as the epony-mous Doctor Zhivago, at a solemn funeral in his native Egypt.

Sharif, 83, died on Friday of a heart attack in an upmarket Cairo clinic after a struggle with Alzhei-mer’s disease.

The funeral was held at the grand mosque of Mushir Tantawi in an eastern neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital, where key reli-gious ceremonies are often held.

Sharif ’s remains will be buried later at El Sayeda Nafi sa cemetery in the city’s south.

The service was attended by a group of Sharif ’s relatives, friends and Egyptian actors, an AFP cor-

respondent reported. His body was draped in the Egyptian fl ag and a black shroud. Journalists outnumbered mourners, and there was no sign of any top government offi cials or Hollywood stars at the memorial service. “Omar Sharif represented Egypt to the world in the best possible way,” said Hus-sein Fahmy, a popular Egyptian actor who attended the funeral.

Zahi Hawass, the prominent archaeologist and former Egyp-tian antiquities minister, said he had “lost a close friend” while “the world lost a great actor”.

Sharif ’s death came six months after that of his ex-wife and iconic Egyptian actress, Faten Hama-ma, known as the “Lady of the Arabic Screen”.

Born Michel Demitri Shalhoub, a Christian, Sharif converted and marry Hamama — who he de-scribed as the only love of his life.

The couple had a son, Tarek,

who was deeply emotional during Sunday’s funeral.

They divorced in 1974 when Sharif, already famous in his homeland, launched a career in Hollywood. He never remarried.

The winner of two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Ara-bia, Sharif captivated audiences worldwide for more than half a century. Sharif was known for his debonair style, raffi sh good looks

and often mischievous joie de vivre, but he will be remembered forever as the eponymous Doctor Zhivago. Tributes poured in after the news of Sharif ’s death.

“He was handsome, sophisticat-ed and charming. He was a proud Egyptian,” American star Barbra Streisand, who starred alongside Sharif in 1968’s Funny Girl, wrote on Facebook. “I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Omar, and I’m profoundly sad to hear of his passing.”

Fluent in six languages and also famous for his skills at playing the card game bridge, Sharif began acting in the 1950s. His most high-profi le roles were in the 1960s when he won an Oscar nomination for Lawrence of Arabia and Golden

Globes for the same fi lm and for Doctor Zhivago.

Sharif played the hero in the epic adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel of tortured passions during the Russian Revolution, with his son Tarek playing his younger self.

Sharif kept working over the fol-lowing decades, often in television movies, and in later years became equally renowned for his prow-ess as a bridge player and owner of thoroughbred racehorses. “I’d rather be playing bridge than mak-ing a bad movie,” he once said, be-fore announcing in 2006 that he had given up the game. Sharif had a triple heart bypass in 1992 and suf-fered a mild heart attack in 1994, according to the IMDb movie da-tabase website. — AFP

L A S T R I T E S

END OF AN ERA: A fi le picture of

fi lm star Omar Sharif. – AFP

AGREED: Members of the delegation from the government in the

eastern city of Tobruk sign the document during the UN-brokered

talks in Skhirat, near the Moroccan capital Rabat, on Saturday. – AFP

The funeral was held at the grand mosque of Mushir Tantawi in an eastern neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital, where key religious ceremonies are often held. Sharif’s remains will be buried later at El Sayeda Nafi sa cemetery in the city’s south.

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T I M E S O F O M A NM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5 T I M E S O F O M A NA8

INDIA

Defence agreement among four pacts with Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK: Voicing grave concern over rising trend of extremism and terrorism worldwide, India and Kyrgyzstan on Sunday signed four pacts including one to boost de-fence cooperation and hold annual joint military exercises.

The two countries also agreed to expeditiously consider sign-ing an agreement on “combat-ing international terrorism and other crimes”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived here on Saturday as part of his eight-day six-nation tour to Central Asia, emphasised the need to combat terrorism and extremism which he described as a threat without borders.

“We both seek a peaceful and secure neighbourhood at a time of challenges in our region. And, we

have shared interest in combating extremism and terrorism that has become a threat without borders,” he said in a joint press meet along with President Almazbek Atam-bayev after their talks.

The agreements include one on defence cooperation and culture.

Expressed concernTwo MoUs were also signed for cooperation between the Election Commissions of the two countries and on cooperation in the sphere of standards, a move that will help economic relations.

A joint statement released later said both sides “expressed grave concern at the rising trend of extremism, radicalism

and terrorism in the region and whole world”.

It said the Indian side highly ap-preciated the steps taken by the Kyrgyz government in combating terrorism and in retaining the sec-ular character of Kyrgyz society.

“The two sides agreed to expedi-tiously consider signing an agree-ment on ‘combating international terrorism and other crimes’,” the statement said.

The prime minister underlined that his visit to all fi ve countries in the region “demonstrates the im-portance that we attach to a new level of relationship with Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a key part of that vision”.

Noting that the bilateral de-

fence ties are strong, he said a joint exercise Khanjar 2015 has just been completed.

“We have decided to hold joint military exercises on an annual basis,” he said. Modi underlined that the new agreement on de-fence cooperation would provide a “framework to broaden bilateral engagement” which would also in-clude defence technology.

The defence agreement signed is aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation in defence, security, military education and training.

It also envisages conduct of joint military exercises, exchange of experience and information, and exchange of military observ-ers and instructors besides others.

Thanking Kyrgyzstan’s “strong support” to India’s candidature for permanent membership in an expanded UN Security Council, Modi sought Atambaev’s support for early completion of the re-forms in the world body.

Talking about military coop-eration, Modi said the IT Centre in the Kyrgyz Military Academy is an example of innovative coop-eration that is important to both countries.

CommitmentObserving that Kyrgystan’s com-mitment to the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions is truly laudable, he said it is a great pleas-ure for India to support this eff ort on the strength of its long experi-ence in this area.

“I will have the pleasure of handing over a small contribution of fi eld medical equipment to Kyr-gyz Armed Forces,” he said.

The Kyrgyz side expressed its appreciation to the Government of India for training Kyrgyz mili-tary offi cers for conducting vari-ous UN Peacekeeping courses, including by Centre for UN Peace-keeping in New Delhi, as well as for exchange of experience with Kyrgyz Armed Forces on the Level II UN Field Hospital of the Gen-eral Staff of the Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic. - PTI

The two countries

also agreed to

expeditiously

consider signing

an agreement

on ‘combating

international

terrorism and

other crimes’TAKING TIES TO THE NEXT LEVEL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kyrgyz President Almazbek

Atambayev witness the signing of an agreement between the electoral bodies of the two countries at

Ala-Archa State Residence in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Sunday. - PTI

Jaitley says 8-10% growth achievable, tax revenues growingMUMBAI: Pinning hopes on ‘rain deities’ to be kinder this year, Fi-nance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said a better monsoon would help check food infl ation, including in pulses.

Jaitley also said that rising tax revenues and improving macro-economic fundamentals would take economy to an accelerated growth trajectory, while 8-10 per cent GDP growth was also not out of sight.

“It appears that the rain deities may be kinder this year to us than they were last year,” Jaitley said.

He said that the Department of Agriculture expects a better rain-fall in most parts of the country to result in higher production of oil seeds and pulses, which at the moment are a cause of concern

in terms of infl ation. “I hope their estimates turn out to be true,” Jait-ley said, while expressing confi -dence that the monsoon should be good going ahead also, as was the case in June.

Data indicate recoveryOn tax revenues, Jaitley said, “There are some sporadic data which indi-cate a signifi cant recovery.”

“Yesterday’s indirect revenue data for the fi rst quarter did in-dicate that Customs Duty, Excise Duty, Service Tax, even without additional revenue measures were up 14.5 per cent over the past fi s-cal,” he said while speaking at the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Nabard Foundation Day celebrations here on Sunday.

The minister said that the over-all growth in indirect tax collec-tion would be 37 per cent if the additional revenue measures are taken into account. “The silver lin-

ing is that revenue situation may be more comfortable... compared to last year. And therefore with the ongoing reform process, and some more signifi cant changes

like GST in the pipeline, increased infra spending this year, empha-sis on smart cities, when all these initiatives get onto the fi eld, then our aspiration to cross that 8 per cent growth and get to the 8-10 per cent level is not something which is completely out of sight. “... (it is) something which may be immi-nently achievable,” he said.

ProjectionPointing to the recent IMF pro-jection of 7.5 per cent growth vis-a-vis the global growth projec-tion of 3.2-3.3 per cent this year, Jaitley said what we need is both higher growth and redistribution of resources.

“We need higher growth on one hand and we need to fl ag the concerns of the economy in those

sections where the benefi ts of that growth process must reach fi rst,” he said.

On Greece crisis, he noted that the world economy is pass-ing through troubled times. “We have the lesson from Greece to be learned. And the big message is that the countries must learn to spend within their means. If they didn’t do that then they will have unusual crisis confronting you. And therefore we are well tracked on a roadmap where our own fi scal defi cit, CAD are broadly coming under control and infl ation is un-der control.”

Last week IMF said pegged global economic growth at 3.2-3.3 per cent, while projecting India’s growth at 7.5 per cent for fi nancial year 2015. -PTI

E C O N O M Y

POSITIVE SIGNS: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley address a

gathering during the seminar on Mitigating Agrarian Distress and

enhancing farm income at Nabard in Mumbai on Sunday. - PTI

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Home page of Antrix website ‘hacked’

BENGALURU: The website of Indian Space Research Organi-sation’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited was report-edly hacked on Sunday and the space agency said eff orts are on to set it right.

“The home page of the Antrix Corporation Limited website seems to have been hacked and we have already intimated this to the offi cials (of Antrix) who are deal-ing with the problem,” a senior Isro offi cial said.

He said other pages of the web-site were fi ne. “Other pages are fi ne... however the offi cials at An-trix are trying to fi nd out the prob-lem and solve it,” he said.

Asked how much time it would require for the site to be set right, he said, “At this point I can only say that the offi cials are trying to fi x the problem.”

The offi cial, who did not wish to be identifi ed, however said the website is “under construction”.Asked if the Chinese were suspect-ed to be involved in the hacking, the offi cial said, “We cannot con-fi rm this also, but Antrix offi cials are looking into the glitch.”

The “hacking” comes two days after Isro successfully launched fi ve British commercial satellites onboard PSLV-C28 from Sri-harikota in its heaviest commer-cial mission.

Antrix is Isro’s marketing arm for promotion and commercializa-tion of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by Isro.

It provides space products and services to international custom-ers worldwide. - PTI

G L I T C H

T I M E S O F O M A N M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5T I M E S O F O M A N A9

INDIA

DILAPIDATED PALACE DEMOLISHEDFacade of the 18th century Shaukat Mahal palace being demolished by a Bhopal Municipal Corporation squad (not seen) after

wide cracks were seen on Sunday. The structure had recently developed cracks and a part of the ceiling had collapsed. - PTI

Nine killed as unabated rains sweep north India

NEW DELHI: At least nine per-sons were killed in incessant rains that swept across vast swathes of north India on Sunday triggering landslides and damaging houses in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and UP while several rivers were also fl owing close to the danger mark.

While six persons were killed in house collapse in Uttar Pradesh, two died after being hit by a land-slide in Kashmir.

In Uttarakhand capital Dehra-dun, a construction worker died and three others were injured after a restaurant collapsed due to rains.

The national capital seemingly

came to a standstill as rains con-tinued unabated for the fourth day running on Sunday. Waterlogging was witnessed in several parts of Delhi, submerging many low-lying areas and leading to traffi c snarls.

Several busy areas including ITO, Vikas Marg, South Extension, Khanpur, Mahipalpur, Hari Nagar, IIT crossing, Nehru Place, Yusuf Sarai Market and Munirka wit-nessed traffi c jams.

Safdarjung observatory re-ceived 68.6 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours till 8.30am while areas

under Lodhi road, Ayanagar, Ridge and Palam recorded 78.2 mm, 77.4 mm, 76.2 mm and 98.4 mm rain.

Highest rainfall this seasonTill Saturday, Delhi received 147.8 mm rainfall, the highest this sea-son. In some low-lying areas, rain-water fl ooded the basements of fl ats and residents had a harrow-ing time.

In UP’s Sitapur district, three persons, including a minor, were killed in two separate incidents of wall collapse. Two persons were

killed in Badaun and one died in Bareilly in separate incidents of house collapse.

In Jammu and Kashmir’s Pa-halgam district, two persons died after being hit by a landslide.

The pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kash-mir Himalayas was on Sunday sus-pended from both the routes due to inclement weather which also led to the closure of the vital Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

“The yatra has been suspended from both Baltal and Pahalgam routes due to rains which made the track slippery,” police said.

Flash-fl ood threat loomed large in the lower parts of Himachal Pradesh as all the major rivers -- Ravi, Beas and Sutlej -- and their tributaries were fl owing above the danger mark. The government has directed the deputy commis-sioners to remain prepared to meet any eventuality arising out of fl ash fl oods. Major rivers in UP and Himachal were also fl owing in spate due to the incessant rains. - PTI

The national capital

seemingly came to

a standstill as rains

continued unabated

for the fourth day

running on Sunday

WATER LOGGING: Vehicles move through a water logged road as

heavy rains lashed Meerut on Sunday. - PTI

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JD(U)-RJD alliance must work hard for Bihar polls: TyagiNEW DELHI: After BJP’s victo-ry in the recent legislative council election in the west Indian state Bihar, senior leader K. C. Tyagi on Sunday said that the Janata Dal (United)-Rashtrya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance will have to work hard and closely with each other for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

“The elections to the legislative council is not a mandate by the people. Common man does not take part in this election. Elected representatives take part. Hence, it is wrong to say that this is the trend for the upcoming Assembly elections,” Tyagi said.

AdmittedHowever, he admitted that the JD(U)-RJD combine will have to work harder and closely with each other for the Assembly elections.

The legislative council elec-tion results in Bihar brought jubi-lation to the state unit of BJP.

Party leaders said it had laid bare the writing on the wall for the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad Yadav alliance in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

BJP swept pollsThe party had swept the legis-lative council polls for 24 seats in an election, which was seen as a litmus test for the JD(U)-RJD combine.

“Assembly elections will see polls in 243 seats. The council election were in only 24 seats. I agree with the statement of BJP that this is a trailer.

“Many a times, the trailer of the fi lm is very good but the ac-tual fi lm turns out to be bad,” he told PTI in an interview.

The JD(U) General Secretary also said, “Amit Shah is wrong in claiming that BJP gave the fi rst OBC Prime Minister. Chaud-hary Charan Singh and H D Deve Gowda, hailing from OBC, had occupied the post earlier.” - PTI

U P C O M I N G P O L L S

Glare on chief ministers as parliament heads for monsoon session

NEW DELHI: In a departure from norms, controversies sur-rounding chief ministers, es-pecially those belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are likely to fi gure in Parliament in a big way when it meets for the Monsoon Session in July 21.

Opposition parties have giv-en indications that they would raise the issue of scams and con-troversies allegedly involving Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Mad-hya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh — all belonging to BJP — and demand their res-ignations. The opposition would take up the issues involving the chief ministers to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “silence” over the alleges scams and controversies.

Vyapam scamChouhan has been drawing fl ak over the Vyapam scam and Raje is embroiled in the Lalit Modi controversy while Singh is at the receiving end of Opposition at-tack over the alleged PDS scam in Chhattisgarh.

There has been no indication from the BJP so far about action against any of its chief ministers.

BJP, on its part, is likely to train its guns on Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of Congress, who is embroiled in cases of disproportionate assets.

The only Left Chief Minister in the country, Manik Sarkar of CPI-M, too may come under attack of Congress and BJP over the chit fund scam in Tripura. Chief Min-ister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party has been drawing fl ak over the law and order situation in the state follow-ing the murder of a journalist. Del-hi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of AAP is at loggerheads with the Centre over a variety of issues and is likely to come under attack from BJP and Congress.

Perhaps in no other Parlia-ment session in the past, the al-leged misdeeds of so many chief ministers have been raised. Odi-sha Chief Minister Naveen Pat-naik of the BJD and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress have seen several of their party col-leagues under scanner in chit fund scams. In the last Lok Sab-ha, an entire session was virtually washout over the Opposition de-mand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee in the 2G scam. - PTI

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Malala celebrates birthday by opening school for refugees

BEKAA VALLEY (LEBANON): Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday by opening a school for Syrian refugee girls and called on world leaders to invest in “books not bullets”.

Malala became a symbol of defi ance after she was shot on a school bus in Pakistan 2012 by the Taliban for advocating girls’ rights to education. She continued campaigning and won the Nobel in 2014.

“I decided to be in Lebanon because I believe that the voices of the Syrian refugees need to be heard and they have been ignored for so long,” Malala told Reuters in a schoolroom decorated with drawings of butterfl ies.

The Malala Fund, a non-profi t organisation that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. It can welcome up to 200 girls aged 14 to 18.

“Today on my fi rst day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s chil-dren, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Malala said in a speech.

Lebanon is home to 1.2 million of the 4 million refugees that have fl ed Syria’s war to neighbour-ing countries. There are about 500,000 Syrian school-age chil-

dren in Lebanon, but only a fi fth are in formal education.

Lebanon, which allows infor-mal settlements on land rented by refugees, says it can no longer

cope with the infl ux from Syria’s four-year confl ict. One in four liv-ing in Lebanon is a refugee.

The UN says the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries is expected to reach 4.27 million by the end of the year.

“In Lebanon as well as in Jor-dan, an increasing number of ref-

ugees are being turned back at the border,” Malala said.

“This is inhuman and this is shameful.”

Her father Ziauddin said he was proud she was carrying on her ac-tivism into adulthood.

“This is the mission we have taken for the last 8-9 years. A small moment for the education of girls in Swat Valley: it is spreading now all over the world,” he said.

Malala was feted with songs and a birthday cake. Moved to tears by the girls, she was modest when asked for advice. — Reuters

I decided to be in

Lebanon because

I believe that the

voices of the Syrian

refugees need to be

heard and they have

been ignored for so

long, said Malala

Yousafzai

ON A MISSION: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, centre, carries a sign commemorating her birthday at a school for Syrian

refugee girls, built by the NGO Kayany Foundation, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Sunday. — Reuters

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The Malala Fund paid for the school in the Bekaa

Valley, close to the Syrian border. It can welcome

up to 200 girls aged between 14 and 18

Detained minister shamed by own party

PESHAWAR: While the Minister for Mines and Minerals Ziaullah Afridi was busy nursing health is-sues after his arrest, his former colleagues in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf took to some public shaming.

Addressing at a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Fri-day, MPA Yasin Khalil said Afridi encouraged mining in Nowshera and Abbottabad despite a ban on the activity for the last few years. He added Afridi was involved in “mass corruption and missed his authority” on several occasions. “He transferred 14 senior offi cers without any reason and misused his authority,” he said.

Khalil said around 70 trucks with valuable cargo would be transported out of mines located in Abbottabad. Speaking about Now-shera, Khalil alleged about 22,000 tonnes of precious elements were taken out of mines in the district, thus causing losses worth billions to the government.

The PTI leader said the com-mission was free of political interference.

“It is PTI’s agenda to end cor-ruption and it will not even spare its own ministers or lawmakers,” he said. He added the minister could return to the party if he is in-nocent; otherwise there is no place for him in PTI.

Afridi was arrested on Thursday by the Ehtesab Commission (EC) in a corruption reference related to awarding mining contracts. An Ehtesab court remanded him into the custody of the commission for 13 days.

Dubbing the arrest of his client political victimisation, Afridi’s legal counsel said on Friday that his client’s detention would be challenged before the Peshawar High Court.

“The Ehtesab Commission is not a constitutional organisation and its very existence is arguable,” said counsel Mauzam Butt on Sat-urday. — Express Tribune

Z I A U L L A H A F R I D I

Balochistan set to deploy drones to track criminalsQUETTA: The Balochistan gov-ernment has decided on aerial surveillance of criminals in an attempt to stabilise the province which has been wracked by eth-nic, sectarian and militant vio-lence. It has written a letter to the federal government seeking per-mission to surveillance drones in the province.

The provincial authorities announced on Saturday that it would purchase drone cameras to monitor the activities of crimi-nals. Offi cials said the move was a part of the process of using mod-ern equipment to curb terrorism, especially in the provincial capi-tal, which is once again witness-ing an uptick in targeted killings and bomb explosions.

Seek permissionHome Secretary Akber Hussain Durrani told The Express Trib-une that the government has for-warded a summary to the federal government to seek permission

for fl ying surveillance drones to monitor criminals’ activi-ties. The federation’s approval is a prerequisite for using drones in Pakistan.

Target killers“Drone cameras will be highly useful and eff ective for surveil-lance of target killers and crimi-nals involved in bombings in the province,” Durrani said. The esti-mated cost for deploying the sys-tem is around Rs1.6 million.

He said special training pro-grammes would be started for the police to train them on how to operate the fl ying cameras. The government has intensifi ed its ac-tion against terrorists and their handlers involved in subversive activities in Quetta, he added.

Following the recent surge in violence in Quetta, the provincial government has already given in-structions to install 200 security cameras in diff erent areas of the provincial capital. — Express Tribune

B I D T O C U R B T E R R O R I S M

Drone cameras will be

highly useful and effective

for surveillance of target

killers and criminals

involved in bombings in the province, said Balochistan

Home Secretary Akber Hussain Durrani

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Hamish McRae

It is time to start thinking about Europe rather than Greece. At some stage the Greek rescue story will be settled – it may be settled quite

soon – and more normal life there will resume. But the outcome, whatever it is, cannot be stable. The main reason is that Greece’s debts are too great to be “sustainable”, which is a polite way of saying that they cannot be repaid. They will continue to over-hang not just European politics but also the entire eurozone economy. But those debts cannot be writ-ten off because that is against eurozone rules.

Wolfgang Schäuble, the German fi nance min-ister, put the point with characteristic direct-ness last week: “Debt sustainability is not feasible without a haircut, and I think the IMF is correct in saying that.” Then he added: “There cannot be a haircut because it would infringe the system of the European Union.”

Even when the banks reopen, and at the time of writing it was not clear when this would be, the debts will remain. You can fudge by stretching out the maturities still further and by giving even more concessionary rates.

The advantage of that is that the losses are not crystallised and eurozone taxpayers are not notion-ally out of pocket. But if you maintain the letter of the law, that the capital value of debt cannot be reduced, you are maintaining a fi ction. So, the out-come is unstable.

Unfortunately it is not just a matter of Greek debt, though this is the highest at 180 per cent of GDP un-der the Maastricht defi nition. The corresponding fi gure for Italy is 133 per cent, for Portugal 128 per cent and for Ireland 108 per cent. (And, let’s not for-get, for the UK it’s at 91 per cent.)

There is no hard rule as to what level of debt is sustainable, and at what stage such debt seriously undermines growth. Near zero interest rates make the burden more manageable, though they cre-ate other distortions. But rather than focus on the numerical level of debt, the thing to do is to look at growth and demography.

Crucially, if you can generate decent growth, debts can be chipped away. And if the size of the workforce rises, there will be more earners to do the chipping.

On growth, immediate prospects for Europe are not too dreadful. New forecasts from the Organisa-tion for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are encouraging. For example, Spain is ex-pected to grow at just under 3 per cent this year and

next, while Ireland may do a bit better at around 3.5 per cent both years. Spanish debt looks rather stuck, but Ireland’s debt, which peaked at 123 per cent of GDP in 2013, could be below 105 per cent next year. Portugal is forecast to grow at 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent, trimming its debts. But Italy is barely growing this year and may only manage 1 per cent next. National debt, as a result, barely moves.

You could summarise by saying that Ireland is the star performer, while the rest of fringe Europe is struggling. But note something else: Ireland’s recov-ery has been driven by exports. Its largest market is the US and its second largest, the UK. So, it has been able to escape the eurozone blues thanks to its non-euro zone exports.

We tend to lose sight, amid the high drama of Greece, of the more fundamental problem that the eurozone is only slowly pulling out of recession.

Look further ahead at demography, and concern mounts. Projections should be taken with a pinch of salt: remember how 30 years ago, the demographers thought the UK population would be shrinking by now? But UN fi gures for the changing workforce size by 2050 make troubling reading.

For example, the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland are all forecast to have in-creases in the working population over this period. By contrast Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain are all projected to have a shrinking work-force. Japan is the most extreme example, with the workforce shrinking by around 40 per cent, but in Germany the projection is for a workforce down 30 per cent, with Greece, Portugal and Italy down about 25 per cent.

Obviously the more Greeks and Italians who come to the UK, the US or the rest of the English-speaking world, the more dangerous this trend be-comes for continental Europe. Incidentally, both the previous Greek fi nance minister, Yanis Varou-fakis, and his successor, Euclid Tsakalotos, spent much of their lives in the UK.

You can see the shenanigans in Europe this weekend in terms of bailing out Greece and sav-ing the eurozone. Of course, that is the front-line story but behind it are longer-term and ultimately more important stories. They concern the sustain-ability of much European sovereign debt, not only Greece, and they concern the middle-term eco-nomic success of the entire eurozone, not just its southern fringe.

The European economy must do better, because if it doesn’t, its best young people will continue to leave. – The Independent

MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS IN OMAN

806

Source: National Centre for Statistics & Information

2004

total2004

total 2014

257549

2005 2531,080

2006 2461,572

2007 2942,206

2008 3252,895

2009 3593,612

2010 4144,192

2011 4324,377

2012 4654,813

2013 4965,122

2014 5295,665

In thousands

Pre-paid

Post-paid

6,194

Only one-used-car import rule doesn’t change muchThis refers to the online story Expatriates in Oman can now import only one used vehicle (July 11). I don’t understand how this makes any diff erence. In my opinion, most of expatriates are in favour of buying new cars from the local dealerships and options on second hand cars are also available locally. — Jaison Mathai, Muscat

Petrol station staff do not follow proper safety proceduresThis refers to the online story Car catches fi re at a petrol station in Oman (July 12). In India, a standard procedure is followed the pump personnel. In my opinion, while refuelling drivers and passengers should step out of the car and wait in a designated place. Addi-tionally, other staff of the petrol station wipe car glasses and clean the vehicles from inside free of cost. Here in Oman the staff should follow proper safety procedure. — Justin Sanctus, Muscat

Just switch off your car’s engine while fi lling petrol at a stationThis refers to the online story Car catches fi re at a petrol station in Oman (July 12). I am surprised that another incident has ta-ken place. Why can‘t people just switch off

the engine and stop talking on the mobiles while refi lling petrol. Life is more important than making calls. — Charishma Gupta, Ruwi

Zimbabwe played well against India This refers to the one-day cricket match between India and Zimbab-we. The African team played really well and I am surprised that they could not successfully complete the run chase. — Anil Gupta, Ruwi

T I M E S O F O M A NM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5A12

Greece not the last of Eurozone’s problems

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Sayyid Faisal opens youth work camp His Highness Sayyid Faisal bin Ali Al Said, minister of nation-al heritage and culture, presided over a ceremony at the Sul-tan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher yesterday, to mark the beginning of national youth work camps, which will be held in governorates of Muscat, Dhofar, and Dakhiliyah, Sharqiyah and Dhahirah regions, with the participation of 1,000 youths from all over the Sultanate. Inauguration of the Muscat camp was attended by members of the royal family, ministers, advis-ers and undersecretaries.

1691: William III defeats the allied Irish and French armies at the Battle of Aughrim, Ireland. 1794: British Admiral Lord Nelson loses his right eye at the siege of Calvi, in Corsica.

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In 1960, less than 10 per cent of Americans had earned bachelor’s degrees. Today, we’re up to nearly

a third. In the same period, African- Americans have gone from a college completion rate

of about 3 per cent to almost 20 per cent

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FREEMAN HRABOWSKI III

From the realm of urban security studies emerge three relatively young frameworks

for understanding confl icts in cities: Urban securitisation, new military urbanism and urbicide. It should be mentioned here that

all three require further academic debate

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Ministry of Manpower offi cials have warned that any companies not paying salaries early, by July 14, may face legal action.

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Iranian law to make divorce by mutual consent harder

TEHRAN: Iran has changed a law to make divorce by mutual consent invalid unless couples have fi rst undergone state-run counselling. It is the country’s lat-est move to tackle a rise in broken marriages.

The measures, reported by me-dia at the weekend, are contained in a new family law that a top of-fi cial said would be implemented by Iran’s judiciary.

“A decree of divorce by mutual consent, without counselling, is forbidden,” Parnian Ghavam, head of the judiciary’s social work and counselling offi ce, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

All Iranians fi ling for divorce would be obliged to go to a coun-sellor, she said.

“From now on, without this it will not be possible to register di-vorces of mutual consent.”

High divorce rateIran’s average divorce rate peaked at 21 per cent last year, with big cities showing far higher rates. One in three marriages fails in Tehran. In its northern quarter, home to the more affl uent West-ern-leaning metropolitan elite, the fi gure is more than 40 per cent. And most divorces are by mutual

consent. “The advisor’s intention is to decrease the rate of divorce, in particular the rate of divorces of mutual consent,” Ghavam was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The offi cial reasons for splitting up in Iran are a lack of aff ection, family interference, domestic vio-lence and drug addiction.

The new law says the aim of

counselling is “to consolidate the foundations of the family and prevent an increase in family con-fl icts and divorce and try to create peace and reconciliation”.

After counselling a couple, the state-appointed advisor’s role is to assess if either partner has be-havioural or character disorders.

If so the counsellor can rule that the couple needs more ses-sions and it is his or her word that a judge must act on in decid-ing whether or not to approve a divorce.

CounsellingThe judiciary reportedly has un-til February next year to fully es-tablish the marriage counselling service but it was now in force. Reformist newspaper Shargh re-ported on Sunday that there were more than 30,000 divorces in Teh-ran alone last year, 90 per cent of which were by mutual consent. The enactment of the compulsory counselling measures coincides with broader concern in Iran about family breakdown and ris-ing ages of those who get married.

Last month the government launched a matchmaking website in which clerics and professionals of good standing in their commu-nities, such as doctors and teach-ers, will try to pair off young men and women.

The move had been triggered by deep unease in the country, where relations outside marriage is forbidden, that the family unit is eroding and by fears of a potential fall in population.

At pains to point out it was not an online dating service, offi cials said the “Find Your Equal” web-site hoped to reverse a surge in numbers, currently 11 million, of young single adults.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wants Iran’s population of 80 million to nearly double to 150 million by 2050, last year also urged offi cials to take new steps to improve the birth rate. The government has since reversed past policies to control population growth, with legisla-tion to cancel subsidies for birth control measures and pills. — AFP

All Iranians fi ling

for divorce would

be obliged to go to

a counsellor. From

now on, without this

it will not be possible

to register divorces

by mutual consent

UK singer puts on 12 clothes to save luggage fee, collapses

LONDON: A British boyband singer collapsed with heat exhaus-tion during a fl ight while wearing 12 layers of clothing in a bid to beat the excess luggage fee, he said on Saturday.

James McElvar, 19, from the Scottish group Rewind, was about to board an easyJet fl ight from London Stansted to Glasgow on Wednesday when he was told he had one carry-on bag too many.

Staff said he was allowed to take only one bag on board, so would have to pay a £45 ($70, 63 euro) ex-cess charge or bin his second bag.

With his bandmates already aboard and just minutes to spare, he made a foolhardy snap decision, emptying his rucksack and don-ning the entire contents.

McElvar was wearing six T-shirts, four jumpers, two jackets, one pair of shorts, three pairs of jeans, two pairs of jogging bottoms and two hats.

“There was a lot of clothes,” he said on the band’s Twitter feed.

“It was very diffi cult to walk onto the plane. I managed to sit in the seat for a minute or two. But I just couldn’t take the heat.”

Barely able to move, he could not even get the seatbelt round him.

“I was sweating and they kept asking me to put the belt on but I couldn’t sort it,” he said. “It was just a nightmare I was having.”

As he was drenched in sweat and feeling sick, cabin crew laid him out, stripped down, on an empty row of seats, where he was violently sick and then fainted.

The singer has no memory of the rest of the fl ight and was taken off the plane at Glasgow Airport to a waiting ambulance. — AFP

E X C E S S L U G G A G E

The offi cial reasons for splitting up in Iran are a lack of aff ection, family interference, domestic violence and drug addiction.

TOUGHER RULES: An Iranian family poses for a picture in Tehran. Parnian Ghavam, head of the Iran’s

judiciary’s social work and counselling offi ce, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying, “A

decree of divorce by mutual consent, without counselling, is forbidden. All Iranians fi ling for divorce

would be obliged to go to a counsellor. From now on, without this it will not be possible to register

divorces of mutual consent.” – AFP

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Iran nuclear talks in final phase: Fabius

VIENNA: Talks between world powers and Iran on a historic nuclear deal entered on Sunday what France described as the “fi nal phase”, but Washington warned major issues must still be overcome.

Hopes grew that a break-through might fi nally be in sight after a fl urry of diplomatic activ-ity ahead of the latest deadline on Monday for an agreement. “I hope we are fi nally entering the fi nal phase of these marathon negotia-tions. I believe it,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told re-porters as he returned to Vienna on the haggle’s 16th day.

The talks seek to nail down a deal curbing Iran’s nuclear ac-tivities to make it extremely dif-fi cult for Tehran -- which denies any such goal -- to develop the atomic bomb.

In return Iran will be granted staggered relief from painful sanctions, although the six pow-

ers insist on the option of reim-posing the restrictions if Tehran breaches the deal.

Despite the air of optimism in the Austrian capital, US and Ira-nian offi cials dampened specula-tion that an agreement was immi-nent. “We have never speculated about the timing of anything dur-ing these negotiations, and we’re certainly not going to start now -- especially given the fact that ma-jor issues remain to be resolved in these talks,” a senior US State Department offi cial said.

Iranian diplomat Alireza Miry-ousefi , writing on Twitter, quoted a senior offi cial from Tehran as saying a deal by Sunday night was “logistically impossible” as the agreement being drawn up spanned 100 pages.

Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been em-broiled in talks with his Iranian

counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna since June 27, was cautiously upbeat. “I think we’re getting to some real decisions. So I will say, because we have a few tough things to do, I remain hopeful. Hopeful,” Kerry said, calling his latest meeting with Zarif “positive”.

Decisive hoursEU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini who chairs the P5+1 group -- the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- negotiating with Iran said on Twitter that these were the “de-cisive hours”. And a diplomatic source said Saturday as a fl urry of bilateral and multilateral meet-ings went deep into the night that “98 percent of the text is fi nished”.

Russian Foreign Minister Ser-gei Lavrov fl ew to join the talks in Vienna, his ministry said. British

Foreign Secretary Philip Ham-mond, however, left the talks on Sunday but was expected to re-turn the next morning.

Under the parameters of a framework deal reached in Laus-anne in April, Iran is to slash the number of its centrifuges from more than 19,000 to just over 6,000 and sharply cut its stocks of enriched uranium. Negotia-tors left the thorniest issues until last, including a mechanism for lifting interlocking EU, US and UN sanctions.

A new hurdle was thrown up in recent days, with the Iranian delegation insisting a UN arms embargo be lifted once a deal is reached. The talks have also stumbled on demands to give UN nuclear inspectors access to mili-tary sites, to probe suspicions Iran sought to develop nuclear weap-ons in the past. — AFP

Iranian diplomat

Alireza Miryousefi ,

writing on Twitter,

quoted a senior

offi cial from Tehran

as saying a deal

by Sunday night

was ‘logistically

impossible’ as the

agreement being

drawn up spanned

100 pages

END GAME: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius speaks to journalists in front of the Palais Co-

burg Hotel, where the Iran nuclear talks meetings are being held, in Vienna, Austria on Sunday. —AFP

NASA craft discovers heart shape on Pluto rusty red surfaceMIAMI: There’s a near-perfect heart shape on Pluto’s rusty red surface. The dwarf planet is dot-ted with bright points which may be ice caps, and a mysterious dark shape nicknamed “The Whale.”

Scientists are seeing all this for the fi rst time as a piano-sized NASA spacecraft, called New Ho-rizons, hurtles toward the distant celestial body on its way toward a historic fl yby on July 14.

“We’re at the ‘man in the moon’ stage of viewing Pluto,” said John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

“It’s easy to imagine you’re seeing familiar shapes in this bizarre collection of light and dark features. However, it’s too early to know what these features really are.”

But scientists expect those mysteries to be solved in coming days as the spacecraft closes in on Pluto, once considered the far-thest planet in the solar system be-fore it was reclassifi ed as a dwarf planet in 2006.

That same year, the New Hori-zons mission launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a journey of nearly 10 years and three bil-lion miles, becoming the fi rst spacecraft to explore this far-away frontier.

“We are coming up on the cul-mination of all this eff ort, all this planning,” said Joe Peterson, a sci-ence operations leader for the New Horizons mission.

“Very soon we are going to go by Pluto and get the actual goods.”

Fastest spacecraftThe closest fl yby is scheduled for July 14 at 7:50 am (1150 GMT), when New Horizons passes within 6,200 miles (9,977 kilometers) of Pluto.

Moving at a speed of 30,800 miles (49,570 kilometers) per hour, it is the fastest spacecraft ever launched.

The $700 million unmanned spacecraft has seven sophisticated science instruments and cameras that are collecting data daily and sending it back to Earth.

Comprehensive picture“The instruments on New Hori-zons were all designed to work to-gether to give us a comprehensive picture of the Pluto system,” said Cathy Olkin, deputy project scien-tist for New Horizons.

They include three optical in-struments, two plasma instru-ments, a dust sensor and a radio science receiver.

Together they will help scien-tists study Pluto’s geology, surface composition, temperature and atmosphere -- as well as its fi ve moons. — AFP

F I N A L F R O N T I E R

Scientists are seeing

all this for the first

time as a piano-sized

NASA spacecraft, called

New Horizons, hurtles

toward the distant

celestial body on its

way toward a historic

flyby on July 14

Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike freed

ARRABA: Israel on Sunday released a Palestinian prisoner who staged a 56-day hunger strike which brought him near death in a protest against the controversial procedure allow-ing detainees to be held indefi -nitely without charge.

Khader Adnan was greeted to a hero’s welcome in his village near Jenin, in the northern oc-cupied West Bank, that includ-ed fi reworks, songs and fl ags for Islamic Jihad, the fi ghters’ movement to which Israel says he belongs.

Residents wore shirts don-ning Adnan’s picture.

The bespectacled 37-year-old, thin and with a long beard, was released before dawn in an apparent eff ort to limit atten-tion to the move, initially ex-pected at midday.

A spokeswoman for the Is-raeli Prison Authority con-fi rmed the release but provided no other details.

Islamic Jihad congratulated Adnan in a statement for his “victory” and said a celebration was being organised in his vil-lage of Arraba.

Adnan had been held for a year under administrative de-tention, which allows impris-onment without charge for re-newable periods of six months indefi nitely.

Of the 5,686 Palestinian prisoners currently held by Is-rael, 379 are detained under the procedure.

His hunger strike, which had brought him near death by the time it concluded last month, had sparked warnings from the Palestinian government that it held Israel responsible for his fate.

Regular protests were organ-ised in support of him. — AFP

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Ramadan festival breathes new life into old JeddahJEDDAH: Residents of the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah are slowly returning to its historic centre, where a Ramadan cultural fes-tival and UN heritage status are giving new life to the old quarter.

Last year the United Nations added Jeddah to its UNESCO global heritage list, acknowledg-ing its distinctive architecture, which evolved from the city’s centuries-old role as a global trading hub and the gateway for pilgrims visiting the holy sites.

The cultural festival that be-gan on June 18, the fi rst day of the Holy Month of Ramadan, co-incides with a broader tourism drive in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is targeting its own citizens as well as the mil-lions of people from around the world who undertake religious visits.

Bring back life“We wanted to bring life back to this area after its people had abandoned it, and we achieved that,” Jeddah’s Deputy Governor Mohammed Al Wafi told AFP among the festival crowds.

He said a number of homes in the old quarter had already been renovated, but much work still needs to be done in the historic

heart of the kingdom’s second-largest city.

Among old Jeddah’s most fa-mous attractions is the Sharbatly House, made of coral, where leg-endary British First World War intelligence offi cer T.E. Law-rence stayed in 1917.

Like other buildings in the district, which also includes centuries-old mosques, it fell into disrepair before the quarter’s UNESCO listing began to spark a revival.

At own expenseSami Nawar, head of the historic area known to residents as Al Bal-ad, said several prominent fami-lies are among those who have reconstructed homes at their own expense, and more than 700 restoration licences have been granted over the last fi ve years. Tourism and fi nance ministry of-fi cials are looking at how to help other owners fund their renova-tions, possibly through loans, Na-war said. — AFP

H I S T O R I C C E N T R E

HERITAGE SITE: Historical buildings are seen in the UNESCO-

listed heritage site in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah. - AFP

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ISTANBUL: A Kurdish militant group on Sunday threatened to target dams harnessing hydro-electric power in southeastern Turkey, accusing the government of violating a fragile ceasefi re.

The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) said in a statement quoted by the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency that the building of the dams was aimed at dis-placing people and to help the Turkish military rather than creating energy.

Turkish forces and the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have largely observed a cease-fi re since 2013 but tensions have fl ared again in the last months as the parties remain short of a fi nal deal.

The KCK — considered the urban wing of the PKK — said it would use all means, including guerrilla attacks, to prevent the construction of dams.

“From now on, all the dams and vehicles used in the construction will be targeted by our guerrilla forces,” the KCK said, urging con-

tractors involved in new projects to leave the areas.

The public “should know that our guerrilla forces will use their right of resistance against con-struction of dams and outposts for military purposes”, the state-ment added.

ProjectsThe KCK said that while it had

demonstrated great responsibil-ity in observing the ceasefi re, the Turkish state had failed to ob-serve the conditions of the truce.

It said there was no need to build additional hydroelectric dams in the region. Turkey argues the projects are needed to im-prove its energy self-suffi ciency.

Kurds, widely seen as the world’s largest stateless people,

are Turkey’s largest minority and the main group in the southeast of the country.

The PKK waged a decades-long insurgency for self-rule that claimed tens of thousands of lives but declared a truce in 2013 after the government opened secret peace negotiations with its jailed chief Abdullah Ocalan.

However Kurds have become increasingly frustrated with the government’s policy on Syria, as Ankara refuses to support the Kurdish groups fi ghting IS group militants inside Syria.

The tensions come as the main pro-Kurdish party in Turkey -- the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) -- scored a breakthrough in June elections to take 80 seats in parliament. - AFP

A15

WORLDM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Militants threaten to attack Turkey damsThe Kurdistan

Communities Union

— considered the

urban wing of the

Kurdistan Workers’

Party — said it

would use all means,

including guerrilla

attacks, to prevent

the construction

of dams

DISPLACING PEOPLE: Women Kurdistan Workers Party members patrolling on the front line in the

Makhmur area, near Mosul, during the ongoing confl ict against IS militants in this picture taken on

August 21, 2014. The Kurdistan Communities Union said in a statement quoted by the pro-Kurdish

Firat news agency that the building of the dams was aimed at displacing people and to help the

Turkish military rather than creating energy. - AFP

Blow to truce as Saudi-led planeshit Houthi rebels

SANAA: Saudi-led warplanes bombarded Yemeni rebels at dawn on Sunday, witnesses said, in a new blow to a UN-proposed truce in the impoverished coun-try where millions are threatened with famine.

At least 10 people were killed in air strikes overnight in Yemen, relatives and medical sources said.

Air strikes hit the Houthi stronghold of Saada in Yemen’s north, as well as other rebel posi-tions south of the capital Sanaa and in the southern province of Lahj, residents said.

There were no immediate re-ports of any casualties.

The UN-proposed humanitar-ian truce technically went into eff ect at 2059GMT on Friday and is supposed to run until July 17, the last day of the holy month of Ramadan. But the ceasefi re, much needed to rush food supplies to a

population threatened by famine, has been fl outed by strikes con-ducted by the Saudi-led coalition and fi ghting on the ground.

The ceasefi re was declared after UN chief Ban Ki-moon received assurances from exiled Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and the Houthis that it would be respected.

The coalition said it has not re-ceived a formal request from Ha-di’s government to observe a truce, while the rebels said before the ceasefi re went into eff ect they had little hope it would succeed.

More than a week ago the Unit-ed Nations declared Yemen a lev-el-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale, with nearly half the country facing a food cri-sis. The UN says the confl ict has killed more than 3,200 people, about half of them civilians, since late March. - AFP

Y E M E N

DEVASTATION: A wedding hall destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike

in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Sunday. - Reuters

A16

WORLDM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

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Ash clouds cause fresh misery to tourists in Bali

DENPASAR (INDONESIA): The airport on the Indonesian resort island of Bali reopened on Sunday after an erupting volcano forced its closure for the second time in just a few days and caused fresh travel misery for stranded holidaymakers.

Mount Raung on Indonesia’s main island of Java has been erupt-ing for weeks, and on Thursday a cloud of drifting ash forced the closure of Bali airport during peak holiday season, and four others.

The airport on the resort island, a top holiday destination that at-tracts millions of foreign tourists every year, reopened two days later as the ash drifted away, al-lowing some passengers to board fl ights home and others to arrive.

However the cloud returned on Sunday morning, forcing authori-ties to shut the airport again. But the new closure lasted just a few hours and the airport was reo-pened in the afternoon as the ash shifted, the government said.

“Full, normal operations have resumed, however planes are to fl y in and out from a westerly di-rection to avoid the ash,” trans-

port ministry spokesman J. A. Barata told AFP.

Thousands of tourists who were visiting the tropical island famed for its palm-fringed beach-es found themselves waiting for days at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport, near the island’s capital Den-pasar, anxiously watching depar-ture boards, sitting and sleeping on the fl oor.

Sense of chaosThe second closure added to the sense of chaos as many holiday-makers had headed to the airport to catch fl ights which had been delayed by the fi rst shutdown. “Someone just said the airport was closed for at least six hours ... gotta be kidding,” said one strand-

ed tourist, Steve Dunthorne, on Twitter, after hearing the news about the second closure.

“Standing in queue for check-in like a lemon. Staff look as con-fused as passengers.”

The disruption comes at a bad time, with many Australians stuck in Bali after heading there for the school break and millions of Indonesian tourists setting off on holiday ahead of the celebra-tion of Eid Al Fitr next week.

Another airport on Java serv-ing domestic routes remained shut on Sunday, Barata said. The other three originally closed on Thursday, including the in-ternational airport on popular Lombok island, east of Bali, had reopened earlier.

After Bali airport reopened on Sunday, Indonesian national fl ag carrier Garuda said that fl ights di-verted due to the ash cloud would head back, while budget airline AirAsia announced services from the island were resuming. — AFP

Mount Raung in

Indonesia has been

erupting for weeks,

and a cloud of ash

forced the closure of

Bali airport during

peak holiday season

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

DRIFTING ASH CLOUDS: A resident leaves a village in Banyu-

wangi on Sunday, as the 3,300-metre Mount Raung volcano emits

a column of ash and steam as seen from Banyuwangi, located in

eastern Java island. – AFP

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5B

Muscat

6,458.36 + 21.61

+ 0.34%

Dubai

4,015.27- 2.03

- 0.05%

Abu Dhabi

4,730.54+ 22.60

+ 0.48%

Saudi Arabia

9,253.41- 28.35

- 0.31%

Kuwait

6,173.91+ 34.69

+ 0.57%

Bahrain

1,331.41 - 3.13

- 0.23%

Qatar

11,896.02+ 15.20

+ 0.13%

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

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

Euro ............................................2.30

Pound ...........................................1.66

Indian Rs .............................164.23

Pak Rs ...................................259.88

Bangla Taka.......................199.48* Rates are as of July 12

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs .................................. 164.50

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

Sri Lanka Rs .......................... 346.35

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

Phil Peso .....................................116.75

* Rates as of July 12 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......14.90

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

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............ 140.75

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

* Rates as of July 12

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

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

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$58.50

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$58.30

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) .........$60.16

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$58.40

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........ $58.72

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ........$52.82

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

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Bank Muscat wins ‘Best Bank in Oman’ awardTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the lead-ing fi nancial institution in the Sul-tanate, has won the ‘Best Bank in Oman’ award by Euromoney.

AbdulRazak Ali Issa, Chief Ex-ecutive, said: “Time and again, the performance of Bank Muscat is endorsed by the global banking community and we are delighted

to receive yet another endorse-ment from Euromoney refl ecting the consistency of performance and the innovative strategies which have cemented the bank’s reputation in a tough market. Year on year, the bank adopts new ini-tiatives to stretch its operational excellence. Going forward, Bank Muscat will ensure it retains the competitive edge in the market.”

Stemming from its fl agship posi-tion, Bank Muscat aims to deliver reliable, dynamic and innovative banking services. Driven by ro-bust policies to achieve global best practices, Bank Muscat is focused on strategic initiatives to confront challenges and further increase its market share. The bank prides itself in its deep understanding of customer needs, off ering fi nan-

cial expertise and guidance at all levels. A multi-award winning organisation, Bank Muscat holds the rare distinction of being con-sistently voted the ‘Best Bank in Oman’ by all leading local, regional and global institutions.

Euromoney evaluated the bank’s product mix, fi nancial performance, asset and revenue quality, customer satisfaction, IT

systems and off erings. The bank’s endeavour to achieve and sustain quality products and services have helped it gain recognition from the regional and global fi nancial com-munity for several years in a row.

Euromoney awards are recog-nised as one of the most prestig-ious international banking awards given to institutions that demon-strate leadership and innovation.

E U R O M O N E Y H O N O U R

AbdulRazak Ali Issa, chief

executive, Bank Muscat

MSM lags behind other GCC bourses

A E JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Muscat bourse lagged behind other regional stock mar-kets in terms of performance in the second quarter of this year, mainly on account of change in valuation, corporate perfor-mance and liquidity.

Among seven stock markets in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, fi ve bourses were in positive territory, while two markets lost ground in the second quarter.

Muscat bourse edged up 2.99 per cent to 6,424.60 in the three month period ending June, 2015, while Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia surged ahead by 16.3 per cent, 5.7 per

cent, 4.18 per cent and 3.52 per cent, respectively.

Kuwaiti and Bahraini markets were the only two GCC bourses to lose ground.

Two bourses fallBahrain and Kuwait declined by 5.66 per cent and 1.26 per cent, respectively, in the second quar-ter of 2015.

Following a strong market correction that was triggered by the drop in oil prices late last year, and that extended well into the fi rst quarter of 2015, most regional markets saw a notable rebound in the second quarter. Markets seem to have gained from stabilising crude oil prices and a relatively calmer geopo-litical climate. >B4

Among seven stock markets in the Gulf

Cooperation Council countries, fi ve bourses

were in positive territory, while two markets

lost ground in the second quarter

Trend in Gulf bourses in the second quarter

Source: Al Maha Financial Services Graphics

General Index (June-end, 2015) Change (%)

Qatar

12,201

4.2%

Saudi Arabia

9,087

3.2%

Muscat

6,425

2.9%

Kuwait

6,203

-1.2%

Abu Dhabi

4,723

5.7%

Dubai

4,087

16.3%

Bahrain

1,368

-5.6%

B2

MARKETM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

China’s growth slows to 6.9% in second quarter: SurveyBEIJING: China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed fur-ther in the second quarter, a survey has found, as a slowdown in invest-ment and trade weighed on the world’s second-largest economy.

The median forecast in a poll of 14 economists indicates GDP ex-panded 6.9 per cent in April-June, marginally down from seven per cent in the fi rst three months of this year.

That would be the worst quar-terly result since the fi rst three months of 2009, in the depths of the global fi nancial crisis, when China’s economy expanded by 6.6 per cent. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) will release the offi cial GDP fi gures for the fi rst quarter of 2015 on Wednesday.

China’s volatile stock markets have grabbed headlines this month after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell more than 30 per cent in less than four weeks, before reversing course in the last two trading days.

But economists are focused on more fundamental issues when as-sessing its overall health.

“According to the fi gures we have now, economic activities re-mained very sluggish, particularly fi xed-asset investment, which grew 11.4 per cent in May this year, a multi-year low,” Liu Li-Gang, Hong Kong-based ANZ econo-mist, said of the second-quarter performance. “Exports were weak and imports were even more so,” he added

Downward pressureChinese authorities want invest-ment to slow as part of their plan to diversify economic growth away from big-ticket projects to increas-ingly wealthy consumers. But too fast a deceleration can be harmful. “The economy is still under quite big downward pressure,” said Li Ruoyu, an analyst at the State In-formation Centre, a government

think-tank in Beijing, also citing weak investment.

New restrictions on local gov-ernment debt and fi nance vehicles have limited lower-level authori-ties’ ability to fund infrastructure projects, she said. “The implicit guarantees of the local govern-ments are gone, hurting their bor-rowing abilities.”

The stock market turmoil could

also create new risks in China’s fi -nancial system, which faces numer-ous other challenges such as high corporate debt and an opaque “shad-ow banking” sector. But the swings in equities are largely seen as having little eff ect on the real economy — a key driver of global growth — and unlikely to prove a major detriment to private spending.

“Given that the stock market didn’t provide any noticeable boost to spending on the way up, there is no reason to expect it to be a drag on the way down,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, China econo-mist at Capital Economics, wrote in a report.

“With only a small and relatively wealthy portion of Chinese house-holds exposed to the stock market,

we aren’t particularly concerned about the impact of recent big falls in equity prices on consumption.”

Rate cuts For this year as a whole, the survey predicts growth at a median 7 per cent, more optimistic than a fore-cast of 6.8 per cent in a similar poll in April and in line with the gov-ernment’s offi cial target of “about 7 per cent”.

China last year recorded its slowest annual growth since 1990, expanding 7.4 per cent, down from 7.7 per cent in 2013. The Interna-tional Monetary Fund lowered its 2015 global economic growth fore-cast on Thursday, citing a quarter-ly contraction early this year in the United States. - AFP

E C O N O M Y

Indian government seeks to mobilise Rs24b for Air IndiaNEW DELHI: India’s Civil Avia-tion Ministry is making eff orts to secure about Rs24 billion for Air India through supplementary budgetary allocations and recovery of dues worth Rs6 billion related to use of its planes for VVIP travel.

Out of the total, around Rs18 billion is being sought to meet the funding shortfall faced by the cash-starved national carrier. Ef-forts are being made to secure funds for Air India as the supple-mentary demands of ministries would be considered during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning July 21.

A ministry offi cial said it is looking at recovering about Rs5-6 billion from some ministries for using Air India planes for VVIP travel. Most of the dues are to be paid by the External Aff airs and Home Ministries, he added.

According to the offi cial, till re-cently, the amount due from vari-ous ministries stood at around Rs9 billion and, after some payments were made, the outstanding now is about Rs5 to 6 billion.

To ensure that the dues get cleared at the earliest, the Civil

Aviation Ministry is impressing upon the ministries that are yet to pay to seek that money by way of supplementary demand for grants, the offi cial said.

Additional fundsAir India aircraft are used by the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, external aff airs and home ministers, among other VVIPs. Besides, the Ministry is pitching for additional funds for Air India, which was allocated Rs 2,500 crore in the federal budget 2015-16. The amount was well short of nearly Rs43 billion sought by the Minis-try for the national carrier.

The ministry wants to make up for the shortfall of Rs18 billion through supplementary demand for grants. Loss-making Air India, whose debt burden is about Rs400 billion, is surviving on a bailout package approved in 2012.

The erstwhile United Progres-sive Alliance dispensation had in April 2012 approved Air India’s turnaround plan, with a commit-ted public funding of Rs 302 bil-lion, staggered over a period of nine years, with some specifi c riders. - PTI

A V I A T I O N Indonesia eyes return to Opec after 50 years

JAKARTA: Indonesia is seek-ing to rejoin Opec to get access to cheaper oil supplies as demand soars and domestic production falls, but critics say the move is an unwelcome distraction from eff orts to overhaul the country’s troubled energy sector.

Resource-rich Indonesia, South-east Asia’s largest economy, was part of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) for almost 50 years until sus-pending its membership in 2009 af-ter becoming a net oil importer.

The switch to becoming an im-porter came as domestic demand soared and output dropped due to a lack of investment from foreign companies, put off by complex regulations, corruption and grow-ing economic nationalism.

With oil imports surging as the economy booms and the energy sector still in urgent need of re-

form, the government is looking for cheaper supplies and has tak-en the unusual step for an oil im-porter of requesting to rejoin the 12-member exporting group.

“It is only natural that we should build relations with exporters,” Energy Minister Sudirman Said said before heading to an Opec meeting at the organisation’s headquarters in Vienna last month, where he was seeking to have the suspension lifted. After the meeting, the energy ministry said that some Opec members had backed Indonesia rejoining.

Opec has refused to comment but analysts said the group, which has members from the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, is likely to welcome an applicant from Asia.

“We understand the applica-tion is viewed favourably because Indonesia would again provide

OPEC with a member nation in Asia and thus broaden the geo-political base of the group,” Ann-Louise Hittle, vice president of Macro Oils research at Wood Mackenzie, said.

The Opec statute states that “any country with a substantial net export of crude petroleum” can become a full member. But it also says associate membership is possible for countries who do no qualify as full members, the course Indonesia is likely to pur-sue, analysts believe.

Just giving upObservers also say Ecuador has set a precedent for Indonesia, by suspending its membership in 1992 and rejoining in 2007.

But some observers questioned the wisdom of the move, suggest-ing that trying to rejoin Opec and source cheaper supplies from

outside Indonesia could slow the momentum of the government’s attempts to reform the corruption-tainted, domestic oil and gas sector.

When reform-minded Presi-dent Joko Widodo took power last year, he set up a team to look at overhauling the sector, which critics have said is plagued by a shadowy “oil mafi a” who skim off huge, illicit profi ts.

Some progress has been made. In May, state-owned energy com-pany Pertamina said it would dis-band its oil-trading arm Petral, which supplies one third of the country’s daily oil needs but has been dogged for years by concerns about a lack of transparency. - AFP

Southeast Asia’s

largest economy

was part of Opec

for almost 50 years

until suspending its

membership in 2009

after becoming a net

oil importer

$7 billion energy fund told to shun wind power in AustraliaMELBOURNE: Wind farming in Australia suff ered another set-back with the government ban-ning its A$10 billion ($7.4 billion) renewable energy fund from in-vesting in the industry.

The government sent a letter to the Clean Energy Finance Cor-poration outlining proposed new investment priorities, including a shift away from wind power, Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb said Sunday in an interview on Sky News television.

The fund should be “investing in new and emerging technolo-gies and certainly not existing wind farms,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott later told reporters in Darwin. His government’s policy is to eventually abolish the fund, he said.

Last month, the government outlined plans to appoint a com-missioner to oversee wind farms and is backing research into whether they damage people’s health. Abbott has labeled wind farms as ugly and noisy.

The decision to prohibit new wind investment is “an extraor-dinary and prolonged attack on a viable industry,” Australian Wind Alliance National Coordinator Andrew Bray said in an e-mailed statement. Abbott is “hammer-ing in the fi nal nail to the coffi n of wind-energy investment him-self,” he said.

The fund has a mandate to fo-cus on innovation in “the renew-

able energy space, and not on mature technologies like wind, which can source funds in the commercial market,” Robb said. Plans to change the fund’s invest-ment mandate were fi rst reported earlier by ‘The Age’ newspaper.

Global eff ortsAbbott has shown limited enthu-siasm to join the United States and China in broader global ef-forts to address climate change. Australia, the biggest coal ex-porter, has been urged by France to set an ambitious target to curb greenhouse gas emissions before a global deal to be signed in Paris in December.

An announcement by Australia last month of a new renewable energy target will unlock invest-ments of more than A$10 bil-lion in new renewable projects, according to General Electric. The country will seek to produce 33,000 gigawatt hours of electric-ity from large-scale renewable energy projects by 2020.

About one-third of all proposals to Australia’s clean energy fund relate to wind technology, accord-ing to its website. The corpora-tion has acted as a debt provider with other lenders for wind pro-jects including the AGL Energy-operated Macarthur wind farm in Victoria state, it said. - Bloomberg News

A L T E R N A T I V E E N E R G Y

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

DOMESTIC OIL OUTPUT FALLS: Indonesia is seeking to rejoin Opec to get access to cheaper oil sup-

plies as demand soars and domestic production falls. - File picture

CENTRAL BANK‘S INTEREST RATE CUT The People‘s Bank of China, the central bank, has cut

benchmark interest rates four times since November and also took steps to encourage banks to make more loans. Such measures can take time before growth reacts.

UNDER CRITICISM: The decision to prohibit new wind

investment is “an extraordinary and prolonged attack on

a viable industry,” said Australian Wind Alliance National

Coordinator Andrew Bray. –File picture

B3M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Dubizzle is now OLX company

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Two weeks ago, Dubiz-zle platforms (website and mobile app) started carrying a new mes-sage on the product that states ‘Dubizzle is an OLX company,’ the message appears underneath the Dubizzle logo across the site and the mobile app.

This step is a testament to the amazing decade Dubizzle had in this region, a success that has reached new levels, being glob-ally recognised as part of the OLX family. Dubizzle has built the most recognised and popular on-line brand in the Middle East over the past decade.

Abdallah Touqan, senior PR and Communications Lead at Dubiz-zle said: “‘Dubizzle is an OLX com-pany’ means that we are aligned with our sister companies around the globe in terms of best practice and shared resources – enabling us to deliver the best user experience. While keeping the brand local. A great combination of global versus local that will defi nitely benefi t the user.” The objective of becoming an OLX company is to stay con-nected with and become part of the world’s leading network of on-line classifi eds platforms.

Already millions of people around the world have used OLX to sell their things within local communities in places like India, Brazil, Portugal and now the Mid-dle East. “Now we can share infor-mation rapidly and exchange best practice with the other online clas-sifi eds platforms within the OLX global network. We believe that together we can accomplish much more than we would as entirely separate entities,” Touqan added.

O N L I N E S H O P P I N G Iran trade with GCC poised to grow if sanctions lifted

KUWAIT CITY: Iran should boost trade with its Gulf neigh-bours if a deal on its nuclear programme sees sanctions and an oil embargo lifted, but higher Iranian crude production could worsen tensions within Opec, analysts here said.

As of Saturday, the prospects of such a deal were still very much in question, with no sign of an end to a nail-biting deadlock after 15 straight days of negotia-tions in Vienna between Iran and major world powers.

Iran’s oil exports plummeted as a result of the embargo imposed by the US and European Union, dropping from about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in mid-2012 to about 1.2 million bpd now.

Fellow Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Copuntries) members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait

and the United Arab Emirates boosted production to make up for that, keeping supply levels stable. Iranian offi cials have said Tehran is looking to return to pre-embar-go levels, though experts say pro-duction increases will take time.

“All additional Iranian pro-duction will go to export but this will not aggravate the surplus on the market because the increase will be gradual,” said Jassem Al Saadun, head of Kuwait’s Al Shall Economic Consultants.

Fight for quotas“I think it may take Iran a few years before reaching the target of an additional one million barrels.” Saudi Jadwa Investments said in a recent report that Iran would add just 150,000 bpd by the fourth quarter of this year.

“We do not see this (lifting of

sanctions) resulting in Iranian crude fl ooding the market in the near-term,” Jadwa said. Eventual-ly though, Iran will be able to reach pre-embargo levels, setting the stage for a showdown within Opec.

Some Opec countries, espe-cially Gulf nations, have been

pumping furiously in a bid to keep the oil price down and drive out competitors, especially United States shale producers. Saudi Ara-bia alone is producing 10.3 million bpd — about a third of the Opec output ceiling.

Experts say that once Iran reaches its previous production levels, Saudi Arabia and others will not be keen to reduce their shares of production. Opec has already seen tensions high, with poorer members such as Alge-ria, Angola, Venezuela and Libya pushing for overall output to be re-duced so prices can rise and they can boost revenues.

“The real problem starts when Opec members begin to fi ght for quotas amid oversupply and mar-ket share disputes,” Saadun said.

“If Iran, Venezuela, Algeria and Libya — all of which need to pump

more — enter into a dispute with the Gulf producers, then it could be the end for Opec,” he said. How-ever, when it comes to trade with the six countries of the Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC), Iran’s new economic freedom is expected to lead to a boost.

Trade from DubaiMore than 80 per cent of Iran’s trade with the bloc is with the UAE, and Tehran is the UAE’s fourth-largest trading partner. Most of that trade originates from Dubai, home to a 400,000-strong Iranian community that runs a large business network.

UAE Economy Minister Sul-tan al-Mansouri said in June that trade exchange with Iran rose to $17 billion (€15.5 billion) last year but remains lower than a record $23 billion in 2011 before sanc-tions began to bite.

The vice-president of the Ira-nian Business Council in Dubai, Hossein Haghighi, said he expect-ed a surge in trade after the lifting of sanctions.

Within the fi rst year, total trade between the UAE and Iran is likely “to go up by between 15 and 20 percent”, Haghighi said. Trade ties are also likely to grow with the Sultanate of Oman, which has maintained good relations with the Islamic republic. - AFP

Prospects of such a

deal were still very

much in question,

with no sign of an

end to a nail-biting

deadlock after 15

days of negotiations

in Vienna

Greece bailout talks haltedBRUSSELS: Greece on Sunday faced a fi nal EU summit to clinch a deal that would stop Athens crashing out of the euro after di-vided eurozone ministers halted ‘very diffi cult’ talks on a new bail-out overnight.

Saturday’s meeting of the Euro-group, comprising fi nance minis-ters from the 19-nation single cur-rency area, was supposed to pave the way for all 28 European Union leaders to sign a fi nal agreement at an emergency summit the follow-ing day, billed as the last chance to keep Greece in the euro.

But sceptical nations demand-ed more commitments from Ath-ens, with a German government document showing Berlin has drawn up plans for Greece to tem-porarily leave the eurozone, while Finland reportedly decided not to accept any new rescue plan for debt-laden Greece.

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijs-selbloem said the “issue of cred-ibility and trust was discussed” by ministers, who are wary of the Greek government’s commitment to enacting the new reforms which

closely resemble those rejected by voters in a surprise referendum.

“We haven’t concluded our dis-cussions. It is still very diffi cult but work is still in progress,” said Dijsselbloem after nine hours of gruelling talks, adding that they would resume Sunday morning at 0900 GMT.

Finnish Finance Minister Al-exander Stubb was more upbeat, despite reports that Finland’s par-liament has decided it will not al-

low the government to accept any new bailout deal for Greece.

Not easy“We are making good progress,” he said. EU Commissioner for economic aff airs Pierre Moscovi-ci, who has been among the most sympathetic to Greece’s plight, said: “I am always hopeful.”

Creditor institutions have called a new reform plan from leftist Greek Prime Minister

Alexis Tsipras for a third bailout worth more than 80 billion euros ($89 billion) a positive step for-ward after months of wranglings.

Pension cutsThe proposals, including pension cuts and tax hikes, were approved by the Greek parliament in the early hours of Saturday despite opposition within Tsipras’s rul-ing radical Syriza party. But Ger-many’s hardline Finance Minis-ter Wolfgang Schaeuble poured cold water on early optimism at the start of the talks, accusing Athens of repeatedly reneging on its commitments.

“Defi nitely we cannot trust promises,” Schaeuble said. “In the last months hope has been de-stroyed in an incredible way, even up to just a few hours ago.”

Germany’s fi nance ministry has drawn up a paper envisaging Greece leaving the eurozone for fi ve years if it fails to improve its bailout proposals. A European source said, however, that the document was not distributed at Saturday’s meeting. - AFP

E U R O Z O N E

Smartphone sales set to

top 155m units in 2015

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Smartphone shipments in Middle East and Africa (MEA) are set to reach 155 million units in 2015 after increasing 66 per cent year-on-year during the fi rst quar-ter to reach more than 36 million units, according to the Internation-al Data Corporation (IDC), a global technology consulting fi rm.

The company’s fi rst quarter Mobile Phone Tracker’ shows that smartphones accounted for 63 per cent of the handsets shipped in the Middle East during the quar-ter and 47 per cent in Africa. This comes at the expense of feature phones, which suff ered year-on-year declines of around 20 per cent in both regions and will make up just 27 per cent of the overall MEA handset market by the end of 2019, IDC said in a research note.

The growth in smartphones in the MEA region is being spurred by Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, with the two platforms ac-counting for over 95 per cent of the smartphones shipped in the

fi rst quarter of 2015. Shipments of devices featuring these operating systems increased by a combined 67 per cent year-on-year.

In the Middle East, Android currently represents 80 per cent of market’s volume, while iOS ac-counts for 17 per cent; in Africa, these fi gures stand at 89 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

Nabila Popal, research manager for IDC’s Mobile Phone Tracker in the Middle East, Africa, and Tur-key. “This has resulted in phones priced under $200 accounting for about 36 per cent of the Middle East smartphone marke.”

M I D D L E E A S T & A F R I C A

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

DECLINING EXPORTS: Experts said that once Iran reaches its previous production levels, Saudi Ara-

bia and others will not be keen to reduce their shares of production. Opec has already seen tensions

high, with members pushing for overall output to be reduced. – File picture

barrels per day was Iran’s oil exports now, a drop from 2.2m barrels per day in mid-2012 as a result of the embargo imposed by the US and

European Union

1.2m

DEADLOCK: Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, right, with

International Monetary Fund managing director Christine La-

garde, in Brussel, yesterday. – AFP

Nabila Popal. – Supplied picture

B4

MARKETM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY, JULY 12

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 7,833,690 ... 1,774,352.................. 400 ........... 0.220 ........... 0.231 ...........0.220 .......... 0.227 ............. 0.218............ 0.009 ............. 4.128 ................0.231 ..............0.230...................0.231 ...................34,067,025 .........0.100

OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ........... 513,024 ............67,190..................... 84 ............0.129 ........... 0.132 ...........0.129 ............0.131 ............. 0.126............ 0.005 ............. 3.968 ................0.132 .............. 0.132...................0.134 ................... 11,790,000 .........0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .............................................................85,044 ............ 32,078..................... 30 ........... 0.370 ........... 0.384 ...........0.370 ........... 0.378 .............0.366 ............0.012 ............. 3.279 ................0.382..............0.380...................0.388...................18,900,000 .........0.100

OM0000001517 ............HSBC BANK OMAN .................................................... 265,000 ........... 35,980......................12 ............0.135 ........... 0.136 ...........0.135 ............0.136 ............. 0.133............ 0.003 ............. 2.256 ................0.136 .............. 0.136...................0.138 ................. 272,042,539 .......0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ................................................ 115,446 ............64,604..................... 37 ............0.558 ........... 0.560 ...........0.558 ........... 0.560 .............0.550 ............0.010 ..............1.818.................0.560..............0.560...................0.564...................29,400,000.........0.100

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 291,557.............61,855..................... 26 ............0.210 ........... 0.213 ...........0.210 ........... 0.212 .............0.209 ........... 0.003 ............. 1.435 ................ 0.211 .............. 0.211...................0.213 .................. 42,400,000 ........0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ........... 1,274,179 ...... 155,407..................... 62 ............0.122 ........... 0.123 ........... 0.121 ........... 0.122 ............. 0.121 .............0.001 ............. 0.826 ................ 0.121 .............. 0.121...................0.123 ................... 14,868,750 .........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 455,966 ........... 59,045..................... 38 ............0.129 ........... 0.131 ............0.129 ........... 0.129 ............. 0.128.............0.001 ............. 0.781.................0.130 ..............0.129...................0.130 ................... 37,407,502 .........0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 423,000 ......... 239,635......................19 ........... 0.562 ........... 0.568 ...........0.562........... 0.566 .............0.562 ........... 0.004 ............. 0.712 ................0.568 ..............0.562...................0.568.................1,297,171,590 ......0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 250,000 ........... 83,978..................... 10 ........... 0.334 ........... 0.338 ...........0.334........... 0.336 .............0.334 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.599 ................0.338 ..............0.336...................0.000 .................450,478,644 .......0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ..........................53,692 ............ 93,923......................16 ............1.735 ........... 1.750............ 1.735 ............1.750 ............. 1.740 .............0.010 ............. 0.575 ................ 1.750 .............. 1.740................... 1.750 ................1,312,500,000 ......0.100

OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 155,000 ........... 63,240........................9 ........... 0.408 ...........0.408 ...........0.408........... 0.408 .............0.406 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.493 ................0.408..............0.406...................0.418 ..................120,855,182 ........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ..................................................40,530 ...............8,592......................11 ............0.212 ........... 0.212 ...........0.212 ........... 0.212 ............. 0.211 .............0.001 ............. 0.474 ................0.212 ..............0.212...................0.216 .................. 143,076,135 ........0.100

OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................... 41,359 ............... 8,768......................14 ............0.212 ........... 0.212 ...........0.212 ........... 0.212 ............. 0.211 .............0.001 ............. 0.474 ................0.212 ..............0.212...................0.214 .................. 151,454,144 ........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS .............. 11,252 ...............2,624........................3 ........... 0.234 ...........0.234 ...........0.233 ........... 0.233 .............0.232 ............0.001 ............. 0.431 ................0.233 ..............0.233...................0.238....................4,893,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST .................................................................... 1,000,000..... 480,000........................3 ........... 0.480 ...........0.480 ...........0.480........... 0.480 .............0.480 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.480..............0.480...................0.000 .................177,800,304 ........0.100

OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ...................... 149,059.............17,902..................... 23 ............0.120 ........... 0.122 ........... 0.119 ........... 0.120 .............0.120 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.122 .............. 0.121...................0.123 ....................3,600,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002614 ............ONIC. HOLDING ............................................................41,000 .............19,680........................3 ........... 0.480 ...........0.480 ...........0.480........... 0.480 .............0.480 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.480..............0.480...................0.498...................83,243,160 .........0.100

OM0000003281 ............TAAGEER FINANCE ......................................................1,198 ...................173........................ 1 ............0.144 ........... 0.144 ...........0.144 ........... 0.146 ............. 0.146............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.144 .............. 0.145................... 0.155 ...................37,024,140 .........0.100

OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ...................................... 183 .................. 677........................ 1 ............3.700 ........... 3.700 ...........3.700 ........... 3.700 ............. 3.700 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................3.700 ..............3.700...................3.800 .................. 36,186,799 .........1.000

OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES .......................... 45,000 ............... 6,310........................6 ............0.141 ........... 0.141............0.140 ........... 0.140 ............. 0.141 ............-0.001 ........... -0.709 ...............0.140 .............. 0.139...................0.140 ....................8,238,050 ..........0.100

OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES .......................................67,226 .............18,530......................14 ........... 0.277 ........... 0.277 ...........0.274 ........... 0.276 .............0.279 ...........-0.003 ............-1.075 ................0.275 ..............0.274...................0.275................... 77,858,069 .........0.100

OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ................................... 153,534 ............. 11,056......................14 ........... 0.072 ........... 0.073 ...........0.071 ........... 0.072 .............0.073 ...........-0.001 ........... -1.370................0.073 ..............0.072...................0.073...................14,914,900 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 13,265,939 .....3,305,598...............836 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......23........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ..................................................................66,476 ...............4,979........................8 ........... 0.074 ........... 0.075 ...........0.074 ........... 0.075 .............0.073 ........... 0.002 ............. 2.740 ................0.075 ..............0.074...................0.075 ..................112,500,000 ........0.100

OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 12,328,129 ......1,913,040 ..............374 ............0.153 ........... 0.156 ...........0.153 ............0.155 ............. 0.153 ............ 0.002 ............. 1.307 ................0.156 .............. 0.155...................0.156 ..................226,703,226 .......0.100

OM0000004776 ...........TAKAFUL OMAN INSURANCE ..............................12,494 ............... 1,437........................3 ............0.115 ........... 0.115 ............ 0.115 ............0.115 ............. 0.114 .............0.001 ............. 0.877 ................ 0.115 ...............0.115................... 0.118 ...................11,500,000 .........0.100

OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES .......................................................92,685 ...............4,912........................7 ........... 0.053 ........... 0.053 ...........0.053 ........... 0.053 .............0.053 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.053 ..............0.052...................0.053....................6,625,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001723 ............OMAN ORIX LEASING ...............................................10,000 ...............1,500........................ 1 ............0.150 ........... 0.150 ...........0.150 ........... 0.150 ............. 0.150............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.150 .............. 0.147...................0.150 ...................36,207,606 .........0.100

OM0000001301 ............DHOFAR CATTLE FEED ............................................ 13,570 ...............2,334........................ 1 ............0.172 ........... 0.172 ...........0.172 ............0.172 ............. 0.175 ............-0.003 ............-1.714 ................0.172 .............. 0.172................... 0.181 ...................13,244,000 .........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 12,523,354 ......1,928,202 .............394 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 6........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000003810 ............BANK MUSCAT SUBORDINATED BONDS ...... 100,000 .........105,000........................ 1 ............1.050 ........... 1.050 ...........1.050 ........... 1.050 ............. 1.050............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.050 ............. 0.000...................0.000 ..................78,750,000 .........1.000

OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ................... 454,306 ........... 44,976........................5 ........... 0.099 ........... 0.099 ...........0.099........... 0.099 .............0.099 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.099 ..............0.099...................0.100...................32,092,000 ........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 554,306 ......... 149,976........................6 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... 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 ....................................... 6,458.40 ...............6,437.30 ................... 6,458.36 ................... 6,436.75 .................. 21.61 ...................0.34Financial Index .....................................7,868.50 ............... 7,805.51 ....................7,868.12 ................... 7,800.56 ..................67.56 ................... 0.87Industrial Index ....................................8,301.17 .............. 8,276.09 ................... 8,300.15 ...................8,276.09 ................. 24.06 ...................0.29Services Index .......................................3,479.57 ...............3,473.63 ................... 3,478.40 ................... 3,473.63 .................... 4.77 ................... 0.14MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................988.44 ..................986.30 ...................... 988.44 ...................... 986.30 .................... 2.14 ...................0.22

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded26,343,599 ..................5,383,777 ................. 1,236 ............... 15,096,786,607 ................ 18 ........................4 ..................... 9 ..........................31

MSM index ends higher

MUSCAT: Oman’s general in-dex - MSM30 Index - opened the week on a strong note at 6,458.36 points, up by 0.34 per cent. The MSM Shariah Index also moved uo by 0.22 oer cent at 988.

Phoenix Power remained the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Al Anwar Holding, up by 4.13 per cent was the top gainer while Dhofar Cat-tlefeed, down by 1.71 per cent was the top loser.

As many as 1,236 trades were executed in the session gener-ating a turnover of OMR5.38 million with over 26.3 million shares changing hands. Out of 31 traded securities, 18 advanced, 4 declined and 9 remained un-changed. GCC and Arab inves-tors were net buyers to the tune of OMR951,000 worth of shares followed by foreign investors at OMR13,000. Omani investors,

who were net sellers, sold equi-ties amounting to OMR965,000.

Financial Index advanced 0.87 per cent to close at 7,868.12 points. Al Anwar Holding, Al Sharqia Investments, Bank Ni-zwa, HSBC Bank and Takaful Oman increased 4.13 per cent, 3.97 per cent, 2.74 per cent, 2.26 per cent and 0.88 per cent respec-tively. Al Madina Investments and Gulf Investment Services de-clined 1.37 per cent and 0.71 per cent respectively.

Industrial Index gained 0.29 per cent to end the session at 8,300.15 points. Al Maha Ceram-ics, Galfar Engineering, Al Anwar Ceramics and Gulf International Chemicals gained 1.82 per cent, 0.78 per cent, 0.49 per cent and 0.43 per cent respectively.

Dhofar Cattlefeed declined 1.71 per cent to close at OMR0.172.

- United Securities

Al Anwar Holding, up by 4.13 per cent was the

top gainer, while Dhofar Cattlefeed, down by

1.71 per cent, lost the most on Sunday

Gulf stocks riseDUBAI: Stocks in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rose to the highest in two weeks on bets Greece may secure a deal and after equities in China rebounded.

The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the region’s top 200 equities, climbed 0.5 per cent in Riyadh. Kuwait’s SE Price Index of equities advanced 0.6 per cent, the most in the region.

“We’re seeing some positive mo-mentum in our local markets on optimism of a solution to Greece’s current debt problems and after Chinese stocks bounced back,” Muhammad Shabbir, the head of equities at Rasmala Investment Bank, said by phone from Dubai.

“Anything that impacts growth in Europe will aff ect the global economy, which has a direct im-pact on the regional oil exports,” he added. - Bloomberg News

G R E E K O P T I M I S M

High crude oil prices helped improve sentiments in region

“Higher oil prices in the second quarter of 2015 along with Saudi Arabia opening its market to for-eigners helped in improving the investor sentiment in the re-gion. Saudi Arabia and Dubai are among the more liquid markets in the region having a higher in-vestor base,” said Dhruwa Mit-tal, head of research, Shurooq Securities Company.

According to Mittal, three ma-jor factors that will infl uence the market trend in the immediate future are the proposed Iran-United States deal, developments on Greece debt deal and how the recent crash in the Chinese Stock market which eroded 33 per cent of market value in a fort night due to stretched valuations will spread to other emerging markets is to be seen. Lifting of sanctions on Iran will bring in more oil to the market keeping oil prices under pressure.

Suresh Kumar, head of re-search at Al Maha Financial Services said that the most im-portant factor that is going to in-fl uence the market trend would be oil price. He added that crude oil production of Opec countries is the highest now and US output is also growing.

Suresh Kumar said that ma-jority of regional markets out-performed their counterparts in the US and Europe in the second

quarter. As far as Oman bourse is concerned, he said the growth in profi tability of listed compa-nies is not very promising, which is a major factor in determining the market trend this year. There could be a range bound move, with a negative bias.

In the coming months, regional markets are likely to continue to be focused on oil price develop-ments. Oil prices remain an im-portant factor, especially for the economies with weaker fi scal po-sitions. Other markets with larger fi scal buff ers are likely to see more

limited impact of large changes in oil prices. In those markets, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, the economies appear more resilient in the current low oil price environment, as govern-ments renew commitments to boost or maintain capital spending and are determined to move for-ward on their development plans.

The MSCI GCC total return in-dex was up 4.6 per cent.

GCC markets’ capitalisation stood at $1.1 trillion, having added $88 billion by the end of second quarter of 2015.

S T O C K M A R K E T

< FROM

B1

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTION

E- IMESTECH STUFFTECH STUFF

BGOOGLE EARTH CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARYGoogle Earth, the company’s 3-D map software, celebrated its 10th birthday last week with the introduction of a few new features, including new content for the Earth View Web gallery of high-resolution landscape images. An update for the Earth View extension for the Chrome browser, which shows a new satellite photo each time a new browser tab is opened, is also available.

M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

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

Protecting the smartphone data with some fortifi cations

SLOW DOWNENJOY THE RIDE

SMARTPHONES have a million practical uses, which means they are jammed with credit card numbers, website passwords and other personal information that can tempt thieves or hackers. While phones have built-in protection, you can always add a little more in the form of security apps.

There is a bonanza of such apps, especially for phones based on Google’s Android software. Because of Android’s open nature, phones based on that operating system can be vulnerable to viruses and mal-ware attacks.

Avast Mobile Security is a free app that provides virus scanning tools to check apps on your phone and fi les on your phone’s memory card. It can remove threats it fi nds and can also detect and try to foil potential hackings that hap-pen over Wi-Fi. If you lose your phone or it gets stolen, Avast has web tools to let you track your phone’s whereabouts, and you can make the device emit a siren sound.

It has a straightforward, if rather boring, interface, but it does require some time to set up and maintain. Avast also of-fers a paid $15-a-year version that includes geo-fencing — your phone will emit an alarm if it is carried outside a certain area — plus other extras like cloud backups of your data.

Lookout Security and An-tivirus is free for Android de-vices, and its more modern user interface may make using it feel less of a chore. Lookout has many of the same features as Avast, including tools to fi nd a lost or stolen phone, plus vi-rus scanning. The free version includes cloud-based backups of all your contact information. The paid version can wipe data from your lost device remotely, and can even take a photo of someone who tries to use your phone. Such extras cost $30 a year, which is expensive for an app that’s not quite as sophis-ticated as its rivals. Lookout also has an iOS app, but most of its features are already off ered free in iOS.

Apple’s iPhones and iPads are thought to be less vulnera-ble to viruses than Android de-vices, but they are equally full of personal information. If you use a free app like 1Password, much of your data can be put behind another security wall to keep it safe.

The app acts as a secure vault for data you have on your phone, including website user names and passwords and credit card information. It can also store secure text notes that can be read only inside the app. Then you need to remember only one password — the mas-ter password for 1Password itself — instead of having to re-

member all your myriad login details.

The 1Password app encrypts all the information so that if your phone falls into the wrong hands, it would prove diffi cult for someone to maliciously ex-ploit your information. Extras include a password genera-tor that can create passwords more secure than those you might create yourself, and it can sync all your passwords and information across your devices. 1Password also has an Apple Watch extension, which can show you password and payment data on your wrist.

The 1Password user inter-face can be confusing, and for the most secure website browsing, you have to use the special browser built into the app. To get the full range of features, including the ability to store driver’s license details, you have to upgrade to the Pro version for $5. The version available for Android devices is almost the same as the iOS edition, but it lacks some de-sign fi nesse and features like support for Android Wear smartwatches. LastPass is an equivalent password manager app that’s free for iOS. It’s my favourite for its modern de-sign and ease of navigation. It can securely store and enter your passwords and website logins, credit card informa-tion, secure notes and more, and is protected with encryp-tion and a master password. The app also has an Apple Watch version. Your LastPass account makes it easy to ac-cess all your data across dif-ferent devices. A family shar-ing option allows you to give someone you trust access to some of your data.

But the family sharing and other features are available only if you buy the Pro upgrade for $12, and the app has been criticised by some app store re-viewers for not having as many features as the desktop edi-tion of LastPass. The Android edition of LastPass is broadly similar. — KIT EATON/The New York

Times News Service

Back when people communicated more often through physi-cal letters, there was a strong market for

perfumed stationery. One sniff, it is said, could bring a rush of memories or longings.

Now communication is digital and instant. You can watch videos and hear voices of your loved ones. But smell? Not so much.

There are some signs that could be changing. Product de-velopers are preparing to off er a variety of items to consumers that will allow scent to become a part of digital messaging.

This fall, the start-up Vapor Communications, for example, will introduce several devices to include subtle scents with books, movies and clothing. And the com-pany will start mass production of its oPhone Duo, a tabletop device that can emit scents based on how an iPhone photo is labelled.

Another company, Scentee, al-ready has a scent product on the market. The product, also called Scentee, is a cartridge that plugs into a smartphone’s headphone jack. It can be set up with an app to emit a puff of fragrance when a text message or email arrives.

Companies have long tried in-jecting scents into the modern entertainment and messaging world. Movie theatres worked for decades on ways to make aroma part of the viewing experience. A half century ago, Smell-O-Vision and AromaRama released scents in time with the fi lm through the theatre seats or air vents.

But the smells tended to linger and become muddled with other smells. By the second act, theatre-goers couldn’t tell them apart.

Vapor Communications says it has overcome that problem with a system that includes small plastic pellets with scents that are activated when air fl ows over them. The scent is not dis-persed widely; users have to lean in close, as if sniffi ng a fl ower, to smell anything at all.

The idea is to keep the scent message as personal as possible while avoiding complaints from others in the room who object to the smell or have perfume allergies, said David Edwards, one of three founders of Vapor Communications.

“To be able to deliver scent like iPod delivers sound is really where we’re at,” he said. “Creat-ing that meaningful experience that is just yours and not your

neighbour’s is the goal.” All of the products depend on a small pellet called an oChip — the “o” in the product names is for olfactory. In the oPhone, each chip contains from one to four aromas. The chips are sold in packets of eight, grouped into “families” of similar smells, called Coff ee, Foodie and Memory. A person who wants to describe the smell of a pasta sauce, for example, could choose notes of tomato, rosemary and parsley, which would then command the player to position those chips so the air would fl ow over them, com-bining the scents. Enough aromas are available, the company said, to create over 300,000 distinct smells. Each chip lasts for about 1,000 uses and costs about $2.

To receive a scent on the oPhone Duo, a tabletop receiver is necessary. The aluminium and plastic device is about the size of a shoe box. Once the oChips are inserted, the player is ready to re-ceive a scent message.

The process for sending a scented message begins when the sender tags a picture with the oSnap iPhone app. To tag a photo, the sender selects up to eight aromas to be mixed within the receiver. Once the message is sent, the person on the receiv-ing end can tap for the scent to be played. The app tells the receiver which scents to position over the air fl ow, a fan whirs and the ma-chine emits the aroma from one of two small towers.

The Duo has been available since last fall from the company’s website to people willing to take a survey and pay $650. As large-scale manufacturing begins, it will cost $350 and be available through onotes.com beginning Nov. 16.

The size of the Duo makes it most practical for home use, Ed-wards said. The company said it would introduce the Uno, a more portable and simpler model, in 2016. The app, oSnap, is free, but only for iPhones. It will not be

available for Android users until at least 2016.

The Scentee, which has been on the market for about two years, is a much simpler product. For $70, the suggested retail price, buyers get a small white dongle that plugs into a smartphone’s headphone jack as well as three scent cartridg-es. The liquid fragrance cartridges are converted into aerosol by a tiny motor. They come in coff ee, straw-berry, lavender, rose and rosemary, and can be bought separately for $7.50 each. Each cartridge is good for about 200 sprays. With the Scentee app, users can select the spray intervals and duration. A quick adjustment in settings can make Scentee puff out an aroma when a text or email arrives, or when a post is “liked” on Face-book. The scent is determined by which cartridge the person re-ceiving the message has clipped onto the phone at that moment. —

ROXIE HAMMILL AND MIKE HENDRICKS/The New

York Times News Service

Product developers

are preparing to off er

a variety of items

to consumers that

will allow scent to

become a part of

digital messaging

Sweet smells of your smartphone messages

This fall Vapor

Communications,

will introduce several

devices to include

subtle scents with

books, movies and

clothing. And the

company will start

mass production of its

oPhone Duo, a tabletop

device that can emit

scents based on how an

iPhone photo is labelled

B6 M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

ROUND-UP

Vacations picks winners of ‘Big Summer Sale’

MUSCAT: Vacations, the out-bound holidays division of Travel Point, Oman’s largest travel and hospitality company, announced the 30 grand prize winners of the Big Summer Sale Campaign held recently, as part of their summer holiday travel activity for the year.

First-of-its-kindTravel Point completed the fi rst-of-its-kind and largest ever out-bound holidays summer sale cam-paign in Oman — ‘The Big Summer Sale’ with resounding success in fi ve diff erent regions in Oman namely, Salalah, Nizwa, Sohar, Sur and Muscat, says a press release.

The campaign started on March 26 and lasted until May 26. Cus-tomers purchasing their summer vacations from Travel Point dur-ing this period were entitled to en-ter the raffl e draw to be one among the 30 grand prize winners which were announced and awarded at the Travel Point Offi ce, Said Plaza in Qurum.

The event was presented by Oman Air and powered by Honda.

The 30 lucky winners are:Salalah - 1. Rasheed Al Balushi

(HONDA TRX 90 Quad Bike) 2. Amer Musalam Amer Jid (Oman Air Air Ticket) 3. Said Salim (Oman Air Air Ticket) 4. Madiyan Oman Marjan (Vacation Pack-age) 5. Maryam Farhan (Vacation Package) 6. Hamid Salim Al Mahri (Vacation Package)

Nizwa 1. Waleed Said Al Aamri (Honda

TRX 90 Quad Bike) 2. Sulaiman Al Hadidi (Oman Air Air Ticket) 3. Ahmed Khalfan Al Rawahi (Oman Air Air Ticket) 4. Saif Al Baimani (Vacation Package) 5. Sulaiman Mohammed (Vacation Package) 6. Moosa Khalfan Al Rawahi (Vacation Package)

Sohar 1. Alharith Al Rashaidi (Hon-

da TRX 90 Quad Bike) 2. Suhail Rashid (Oman Air Air Ticket) 3. Husam Al Balushi (Oman Air Air Ticket) 4. Nassra Al Balushi (Vacation Package) 5. Khalid Al Rashaidi (Vacation Package) 6. Al Modatsam Al Balushi (Vaca-tion Package)

Sur 1. Khalid Al Riyami (Honda TRX

90 Quad Bike) 2. Saayid Al Maskari (Oman Air Air Ticket) 3. Abdullah Al Gheilani (Oman Air Air Ticket) 4. Mohammed Al Maskari (Vaca-tion Package) 5. Saleh Bin Nasser

Humood (Vacation Package) 6. Said Salim Al Rashdi (Vacation Package)

Muscat1. Nuha Abdul Aziz Al Balushi

(Honda TRX 90 Quad Bike) 2. Yahya Al Malki (Oman Air Air

Ticket) 3. Issaq Al Maskari (Oman Air Air Ticket) 4. Suchita Shroff (Vacation Package) 5. Abdul Wa-hab Al Araimi (Vacation Package) 6. Adila Sulaiman Al Mandhari (Vacation Package).

Whatsapp contestTravel Point also ran a special ‘Win a Trip for 2 to the Maldives’ Whatsapp contest which was open to all in which thousands of partic-ipants send a whatsapp text ‘I need a summer holiday’ on 92087552 to enter the draw.

The lucky winner randomly picked was Noha Al Balushi who won the dream package to Mal-dives! The winner was also award-ed during the presentation cer-emony in the Qurum offi ce.

Updates from the entire cam-paign and pictures can be seen on the social media pages of travelpointoman.

PartnersThe company was grateful to all partners of the campaign namely, Oman’s National Carrier Oman

Air as the main sponsor and Honda (Omasco Services) as the silver partner. The Hotel Partners Shangri La Hotels and Resorts, Damac Maison Hotels & Resorts, Jumeirah Group, Vichy Spa Ho-tel, Vivanta Bentota Sri Lanka by Taj. The campaign was been backed by Times of Oman and Al Shabiba, Oman’s leading dailies as media partner.

The support partners of the Big Summer Sale were Cox & Kings, Education First, Tamarind Tours India, Disneyland Paris, Disney Cruise Line, Rail Europe, Jet Wing Holidays, Thomas Cook India, Swagatam Tours Private Limited India, Kuoni Group of Travel Ex-perts, Sri Lankan Holidays, 360 Experience, Tour East Australia, Walkers Tours, Marhaba Services, Printemps, Heli Dubai, Princess Cruises, Norweignan Cruise Line and Star Curises. Tourism Offi ces of Abu Dhabi, Germany, Switzer-land also supported this event. The company is currently off ering great deals and discounts for the upcoming Eid holiday season.

O U T B O U N D H O L I D A Y S

Toyota SUVs now come with attractive benefi ts

MUSCAT: In the toughest of ter-rain and while pitted against the elements of nature, Toyota SUV range models have proved their mettle. Now, these legendary per-formers are available with a host of benefi ts during the Toyota ‘Extra Large Benefi ts! Extra Large Hap-piness!’ campaign.

These include: Insurance for a year (Oman only), a ser-vice package for up to three years/30,000km, (whichever is earlier; covering three services at 10,000km. Service intervals for petrol models based on normal op-erating conditions and six services at 5,000km. Service interval for Diesel models), fi rst year of regis-tration and 1,000 litres of fuel. In lieu of the above, customers can choose to avail of a cash gift of up to OMR1,000, says a press release.

And that’s not all. Every Toyota customer gets a gift voucher and a chance to take part in an amaz-ing raffl e which has nine units of all-new 2016 Camry GL Executive as a part of the campaign. (These benefi ts are model specifi c and may vary accordingly)

This exciting campaign will run until August 5. Benefi ts are ap-plicable for all purchases except those made by government organi-sations and ministries.

Weekly raffl e draws started from June 14 and will be held until Au-gust 9, on all Sundays, except the one that falls on July 19. Custom-ers will be eligible for raffl e only

upon taking delivery of the vehicle during the campaign period after completing necessary formalities and not against booking.

Legendary quality and reliabili-ty of Toyota SUVs have made them a part of people’s lives in Oman.

Consider, for example, the Toy-ota Land Cruiser. For many years, the Land Cruiser has remained totally unchallenged as the symbol of the most desired-for qualities in a 4WD. All-terrain capability; rug-ged reliability and soothing com-fort are its hallmarks. Powered by a massive 5.7-litre V8 engine, the Land Cruiser is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. Its off -road capabilities are bolstered by a long list of equipment like ki-netic dynamic suspension system (KDSS), crawl control system, multi-terrain select and more. The Land Cruiser has luxurious interi-ors that seamlessly blend high qual-ity and user friendly functionality.

Another ace in Toyota’s SUV range is the Sequoia. Honoured with many awards the formidable Sequoia is equipped with a 5.7 litre, dual VVT-i, V8 i-Force engine that churns out class-topping horse-power and torque, the Sequoia off ers an impressive array of lead-ing-edge features. Available with 8 seats (with a third row versatile seater for 3 adults), the Sequoia also has a ten-way adjustable driver power seat with memory function - enabling diverse seat arrangements for the second and

third row of seats. Born with the Toyota Land

Cruiser DNA in its bloodline, the Prado takes Toyota’s enviable 4WD legacy way further. That explains why it is a top-seller in more than 170 countries and regions around the world. Drivability, reliabil-ity and functionality are all here in abundance. Throw-in superior on-road and off -road performance and it is not hard to tell that this 4WD is one-of-a-kind. The Prado also off ers top-end features includ-ing cruise control, steering angle display, active headrest, power& telescopic steering column, side step with illumination, smart en-try and push-button start, rear view camera with display on audio system, retractable outer mirrors (with turn signal); moonroof and daytime running lights.

Toyota FJ CruiserA midsize SUV, the Toyota FJ Cruiser focuses on off -road perfor-mance and a style that invokes its heritage. The FJ is equipped with the powerful and muscular 4 Litre, V6 petrol with dual VVTi engine which whips up a massive 268 HP. Optimally matched with the drive train is the superior and sporty 5-speed, super ECT (Automatic) transmission, designed to deliver excellent performance, smooth gear shifting and lower noise lev-els. FJ’s classy touches include a leather steering wheel with silver accents, audio control, Bluetooth

switches/telephone kit, water repellent fabric seats, USB + aux-iliary port, cruise control, 8-way adjustable driver seat, keyless en-try system, 10-speaker JBL audio system with subwoofer.

A ‘refi ned soul in a muscular body, decked-out for urban ad-ventures’ the Fortuner TRD Spor-tivo has some excitingly new ad-ditions. These include a stylish front bumper spoiler, rear and roof spoiler, an imposing TRD Spor-tivo emblem and muffl er cutter. Livening-up the entire package is a TRD side tape stripe. Interest-ingly, TRD means Toyota Racing Development. It is meant for Spe-cial Edition vehicles, with high-performance parts and accesso-ries that are used by Toyota racing teams, worldwide. The Fortuner TRD Sportivo’s splendid form is further adorned with chrome ra-diator grille, HID headlamps and magnifi cent 17” Alloy Wheels. En-gineered for the discerning driver, Fortuner TRD Sportivo’s com-fortable cabin is equipped with an ergonomic interface – a horizon-tal-theme instrument panel set within strikingly beautiful black Woodgrain panelling.

RAV4 is a global model that is sold in more than 150 countries and regions globally. The RAV4 is equipped with a 2.5 litre four-cylinder engine with Dual VVT-i technology which enhances power delivery effi ciency by controlling both intake and exhaust timings to produce 177 horsepower with a 6-speed multi-mode automatic transmission. The RAV4 features a sporty, strong front design that emphasizes the boldness of the model. It is equipped with xenon headlamps with attractive daytime running lights, aero stabilising fi ns, aerodynamic roof rails, fl oor mounted spare wheels, moon-roof and rear parking sensors.

In Oman, Toyota’s outstanding product quality is supported by the nationwide parts and service net-work of Saud Bahwan Automotive.

This exciting ‘Extra

Large Benefi ts! Extra

Large Happiness!’

campaign will run

until August 5

Ramadan benefi ts add to convenience of owning a CapturMUSCAT: Renault from the house of Suhail Bahwan Automo-biles has announced mega Rama-dan surprises on select Renault models. The Renault Captur is agile, dynamic and elegant both inside and out. Drawing on Re-nault’s expertise, it explores new territory in terms of design, com-fort, equipment and pleasure, says a press release.

2015 Ramadan highlights: • Scratch & Win (Two assured gifts)

1. With a unique scratch and win card, customers are eligible to win assured high value gifts from any one of the products comprising LG 65” Ultra High Defi nition LED Curve TV, Apple iPhone 6-16GB, Lenovo Laptop-Intel Core i5 or a LG 42” LED TV.

2. Customers will also be eligible to win an assured ser-vice package gift up to fi ve years/100,000km periodic main-tenance service (with minimum assured service package of two years/30,000km periodic main-tenance service)• Cash gifts: Customers will also walk away with assured cash gift of OMR500 on purchasing the Renault Captur 1.2LTurbo• Other benefi ts: Customers will be entitled to receive free reg-istration for fi rst year for Oman only and free extended warranty period of up to six years/ unlim-ited mileage. Further, customers will also re-

ceive AAA Roadside Assistance card for the fi rst year only and as supported by AAA Oman. • Grand raffl e drawCustomers purchasing any of the Renault models during the Ram-adan month will also get a chance to enter a mega raffl e draw which will be held on August 23. The grand prize winner will walk away with a new 2015 Renault Duster 2L PE.

Suhail Bahwan Automobiles designed the Ramadan scheme to add to the pleasure and con-venience of owning a Renault model and ensure hassle and worry-free driving at all times. Customers can also avail easy fi nancing option with attractive interest rates.

Captivating CapturIt is a crossover packed with a turbocharged engine for those occasional bursts of controlled fun. The engine producing 120 BHP and 190 Nm of torque is mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox. Made in Spain, the Re-nault Captur stands out from the crowd by delivering the best of three diff erent worlds: The ex-pressive styling and driving po-sition of an SUV, the cabin space and modular interior of an MPV and the agility and driving enjoy-ment of a compact saloon car.

SBA is largely committed to supporting Renault Oman’s growth in the Sultanate.

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

B7M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

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RECRUIT

Owning a Hyundai more convenient this Ramadan

MUSCAT: In keeping with the spirit of Ramadan and as part of the on-going OTE - Hyundai Ram-adan promotion, all Hyundai mod-els are now available with Zero percent interest for fi nance upto two years well packaged along with a bunch of off ers which in-clude cash as gift upto OMR1,000, fi ve years/100,000km service, in-surance and assured gifts such as 4 grams gold coin for fi rst 2,500 cus-tomers, LG Home theatre and one raffl e coupon to participate in a fortnightly raffl e for half kilo gold.

All these are in addition to a very attractive price. Promotion elements may vary for diff er-ent models, exact details can be checked out at any of the Hyundai showrooms closer to you, says a press release.

Zero percent interest off ers Hyundai customers now the choice and benefi t of owning the car now with the host of goodies, whereas the payment can be made over a period of two years through equal monthly instalments and without any additional interest costs. This makes owning a Hyundai more convenient this Ramadan.

Hyundai’s amazing range of se-

dan cars and SUVs off er a wide choice to the customers starting from entry level to luxury sedans, all well equipped with premium features and stylish design have made a mark amongst the buyers. As Hyundai models are designed to cater to the diverse lifestyles of consumers and to deliver greater benefi ts and value, they have be-come immensely popular across the segments. By the end of 2014, award-winning Elantra has sold more than 10 million units globally and numbers are steadily increas-ing. Elantra is one of only 10 cars in the history of the auto industry, to reach 10 million sales. In the lux-ury segment, the all-new Genesis has recently passed a global sales fi gure of 100,000 units, within just 18 months of its launch.

Hyundai Motor’s well recog-nised Fluidic Sculpture design philosophy has given new dimen-sion to the aesthetics and sophis-tication of quality and appear-ance. This has not only increased the customer preference towards Hyundai, but also has resulted in popular models such as Sonata winning prestigious Red Dot De-sign Awards for the year 2015, the Good Design award, etc. These are a testimony to Hyundai’s continued commitment to deliv-ering quality cars with leading design and performance at an

unprecedented value.Hyundai’s SUV range not only

delivers the all-around versatil-ity that SUV buyers need and also the fi nest balance of attributes and price within their classes, and they are undoubtedly the best choices for most consumers. Santa Fe with its bold design, class-lead-ing safety features continues to win numerous awards across the globe. These awards are a dem-onstration of strong appreciation and acceptance of the SUV.

Hyundai provides new values and experiences to customers of today through its ‘Modern pre-mium’ brand direction, that are unique to the brand and also go beyond what customers expect by combining exceptional perfor-mance with reasonable price and emotional elegance. Hyundai is globally recognised for its sophis-ticated product design, uncompro-mising quality, safety technology and exceptional value. Hyundai, today, ranks among the top auto-motive brands in the world, and has already overtaken several global majors in quality.

Hyundai’s dedication to en-hance the customer buying experi-ence has been resulting in the con-sistent rank improvement over the years in the J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Stud-ySM. Hyundai models have been

securing high rankings in their-respective segments for initial quality and are also one of the top-shopped vehicles in the segment, thereby establishing a great resale value in the market place. These not only aid in getting a good resale value for the initial buyer but also has resulted in high demand in the used car market.

Hyundai’s ability to understand people’s desires and respond quickly to the changing needs of its customers by off ering prod-ucts with futuristic global design and cutting-edge technology has touched the hearts of millions of customers worldwide and is mov-ing fast towards becoming the most beloved brand across the globe. One has to test drive and discover what millions of satisfi ed Hyundai owners already experi-ence and enjoy – Hyundai stands for uncompromising quality.

Hyundai has a strong presence in the passenger vehicles category in Oman with its wide range of Se-dans and SUVs off ered with various engine options and trim options. Hyundai off ers a full array of sedans in Oman including: Accent, Elantra, Sonata and Azera while trend set-ters for the modern youth continue to be the Veloster and Veloster Tur-bo. Its ‘i’ series denotes the com-pact range designed to meet smart mobility needs and features the Grand i10, i20, i30 and i40. Hyun-dai SUV range - Tucson, Santa Fe and Grand Santa Fe are defi nitely the pick of the lot. Centennial and Genesis in the luxury car segment have been well received and are go-ing from strength to strength.

OTE Group is the exclusive dealer of Hyundai in Oman. With a nationwide network of show-rooms and service centres, OTE Group ensures that Hyundai cus-tomers are never far from getting high quality service.

Zero percent interest

off ers Hyundai

customers the choice

and benefi t of owning

the car now with a

host of goodies and

exciting deals

Hamdan Group hosts Iftar for employeesMUSCAT: Hamdan Group, one of the largest corporate con-glomerates from the Sultanate of Oman, hosted its annual Iftar gathering at Massa Hall, Ham-dan Plaza Hotel, Salalah in cel-ebration of the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan.

The grand Iftar gathering was organised as an expression of the company’s gratitude to its employees for their continuous support, and sharing a solid busi-ness relationship with them, says a press release.

“I share my greetings and warm wishes to all fellow em-ployees of Hamdan Group who are in love with the magnifi cent and peaceful country. I think there is no better way to celebrate and commemorate this than to do Iftar together with my fellow employees,” said Sheikh Abdul-lah Hamed Al Ghafri, Vice Chair-man, Hamdan Group, as he wel-comed the guests.

“Such Iftar parties will be or-ganised in other parts of the Sul-tanate of Oman where Hamdan Group is having its business op-erations. Hosting Iftar is a noble work and we are doing it to give message of harmony to the soci-ety,” Al Ghafri said.

Hamdan Group invited all its employees for annual Iftar gath-

ering from across its diversifi ed business units in Salalah. Annual Iftar gathering 2015 was attend-ed by 250 plus employees.

Hamdan Group is part of one of the largest corporate conglomer-ates from the Sultanate of Oman. The group commenced its busi-ness operations in the year 1975 and has mirrored the growth of the Sultanate of Oman and con-tributed signifi cantly to the Om-ani economy.

Hamdan Group offi cials Sheikh Abdullah Hamed Al Ghafri (Vice Chairman), Ammar Al Ghafri (Deputy Chief Executive Offi cer), Rajput (Chief Financial Offi cer & Managing Director) and Awadh Said Musallam Khawar (Tech-nical Consultant) greeted the guests as the evening descended and the Iftar gathering start-ed. They exchanged Ramadan greetings with all employees and community leaders.

Wrapping up the celebrations, Al Ghafri expressed appreciation to all the guests for making the day special with their presence. He said, “Ramadan is a perfect time to show our gratitude, especially to those who matter to us. I would like to express my gratitude to all our business stake holders and media friends; and we share our success to all of you.”

G E T - T O G E T H E R

Sohar Islamic organises IftarMUSCAT: In celebration of the holy month of Ramadan and in or-der to reaffi rm its commitment to understand customer needs and expectations, Sohar Islamic - Bank Sohar’s Islamic Banking Window, recently hosted an exclusive Iftar event for its customers at Crowne Plaza hotel, Sohar.

The Iftar event, which took place recently was attended by Mazin Mahmood Al Raisi – AGM and Head Marketing & Public-ity, Bilal Fiaz, Head of Retail and Branches at Sohar Islamic, Mazin Mahmood Al Raisi – AGM and Head Marketing & Publicity and Talib Ali Al Balushi, Chief Branch Manager – Sohar Islamic Falaj Al Qabail Branch along with Sohar

Islamic team and customers.Speaking at the event, Moham-

mad Haris, AGM and head of So-har Islamic said, “As we mark the blessed days of this holy month, we hosted this event to reiterate our ap-preciation to Sohar Islamic custom-ers and our recognition of their con-tinuous support. It is their support

together with the confi dence they have placed in Sohar Islamic and the products and services that we pro-vide that has ensured our success over the past two years. Building on this success, we will continue to provide customer with the best pos-sible Shari’ah compliant banking services and fi nancial solutions to meet their needs and expectations.”

“We always look for opportuni-ties to obtain valuable feedback from our clients and work together with them in order to identify areas where we need to improve our ser-vices to meet their expectations. This meeting was one such oppor-tunity and we look forward to or-ganising many more similar events in the near future,” he added.

H O L Y M O N T H

Salalah Marriott Resort off ers relaxing Eid getaway packageSALALAH: Stay at the 5-Star resort in Mirbat this Eid and take a stress free break from the crowded city lights, enjoy the monsoon ‘Khareef ’ season this year with your family at Marriott’s beach resort.

Book your relaxing Eid geta-way package at OMR109, stay in a superior sea view room for two adults and two kids (below fi ve years). Get a 30 per cent discount on all spa products and free 25 min massage at the Frankincense Spa — an express massage for you and your spouse that relieves ten-sion, eases stress and improves

energy fl ow through your body. Avail 20 per cent discount on

food and beverage outlets and stay connected with high speed Internet access. This special off er is valid from July 17 to 25, says a press release.

With its guests’ best interests in mind, Salalah Marriott Resort in Oman recently enhanced its in-room entertainment off ering with the introduction of state-of-the-art high defi nition TVs. The property now off ers its guests 40” and 48” HD TV’s with impressive picture and sound quality.

Complementing this is the

wide variety of channels pro-vided, promising hours of en-tertainment. Adding to this, the property also recently upgraded its Internet connection and now off ers Wi-Fi in its rooms at a rea-sonable price. Guests can select from two speeds according to their budget.

Located in Mirbat and owned by Dhofar Tourism, Salalah Marriott Resort houses a variety of luxurious facilities, 237 spa-cious rooms, suites and beach chalets, six Marriott resort res-taurants, a health club and spa and much more.

L U X U R Y S T A Y

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BankDhofar claims ‘Website of the Year - Oman’ accolade

SINGAPORE: BankDhofar, the leading fi nancial institution in the Sultanate of Oman, has re-ceived ‘Website of the Year – Oman’ award at the Retail Bank-ing Awards – Asian Banking and Finance Awards 2015.

The award was received by Sami Omar Al Zadjali, head of Market-ing & Corporate Communications at BankDhofar, during a high-pro-fi le event that was held recently at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore with the participation of over 200 bank-

ers from more than 30 countries, says a press release.

“We are very honoured to be part of this prestigious event, and I would like to thank the organis-ers for such a successful organi-sation. BankDhofar continues to lead with the most innova-tive banking solutions, applying state-of-the-art technology and providing a wide variety of the best banking services that are ac-cessible to our customers wher-ever they are through our website

and other e-channels. “Today BankDhofar is consid-

ered one of the best banks in the region, catering for customers’ needs and requirements, and set-ting the standards for the best customers experience within the banking industry in the Sultanate,” said Al Zadjali.

The awards aim to honour Asia’s outstanding banks and top performing fi nancial institutions, highlighting excellence in vari-

ous aspects of the banking and fi nance sector.

“This year marks that 10th year of our Retail Banking Awards, and the 4th year of our Wholesale Banking Awards. ABF is immense-ly proud to have produced a long and esteemed roster of winners composed solely of Asia’s most im-pressive banks,” said Tim Charl-ton, editor-in-chief of ABF.

Designed with an up-to-date look and feel that refl ects the

bank’s brand and image, BankD-hofar website (www.BankDhofar.com) provides a platform that of-fers a range of services to cater for customers’ needs and banking requirements.

The bundles of convenient and instant services that are available at the website include accounts information, Credit Cards services (payment, block, activation, etc.), American Express Card payment, funds transfer (self-transfer, transfer within the Bank, trans-fer to local banks, remittance – transfers outside Oman), loan payment, standing instruction, bill payments (water/electricity/phone/Internet), mobile phone bill payment (Hayyak, Ooredoo) and top-up (Hayyak, Ooredoo, FRiENDi), service request, ac-count opening request, account statement request, balance cer-tifi cate registration, cheque book request, pay order request, fi xed deposit foreclosure and renewal, loan pre-closure simulation, loan request, request for ATM card, ATM and CDM locator, among many other services.

The award was received by Sami Omar

Al Zadjali, head of Marketing & Corporate

Communications at BankDhofar, during a

high-profi le event held recently at Shangri-La

Hotel Singapore with the participation of over

200 bankers from more than 30 countries

KIMS off ers special care at Neonatal Unit

MUSCAT: KIMS Oman Hospi-tal (KOH) provides full care for pre-mature babies and critical cases at its Neonatology depart-ment. Neonatology department at KIMS Oman is equipped with advanced medical equipment and constitutes of 4 bedded Ne-onatal Care Unit with ventilator and SPAP support. It also off ers full management of extreme pre-mature babies of 28 weeks and above, says a press release.

“KIMS Oman is very proud of its Neonatal department and highly experienced and profes-sional doctors. It consists of state-of-the-art facilities and off ering full care to pre-mature babies,” said Dr Hussam Akoum, chief operating offi cer at KOH.

The department is managed by a highly skilled medical staff , headed by the highly experi-enced Dr. Srinivasababu Subra-manian, MBBS, M.D, Pediatrics, who has a Neonatal fellowship from Australia. He is highly ex-perienced in Neonatal monitor-ing, well baby OP clinic, IP ser-vices, 24 hours paediatrics and neonatal emergency as well as immunisation and vaccination.

H E A L T H C A R E

Omantel extends support to Salalah Tourism FestivalMUSCAT: Omantel will take part in Salalah Tourism Festival 2015 as the main sponsor to sup-port the most prominent tour-ism event in the region. Omantel is making great eff orts to ensure that everything is in place to re-ceive the festival visitors and meet their needs for communica-tion services, says a press release.

Commenting on the sponsor-ship, Mohammed Hassan Al La-wati, events manager at Oman-tel, said “Omantel always seeks to have a strong presence at the various social events especially Salalah Tourism Festival which will be launched this year on 23rd of July to coincide with the anniversary of the blessed Re-naissance Day.”

“Omantel’s sponsorship for this year’s event, which comes under the theme ‘Oman, love and peace’ is one of the initiatives done by the company to support national events and enhance its ties with the members of our society. Moreover, Omantel will provide a number of promo-tional off ers to enrich customers’ experiences,” he added.

Commenting on the prepara-

tions made by Omantel to ensure meeting the needs of the visitors during Salalah Festival 2015, Al Lawatia said, “Preparations are underway to receive the festival’s visitors and provide them with all kinds of support throughout the

outlet at the Municipality Recrea-tion Centre in Sahel Ateen as well as at the other outlets in Dhofar Governorate. We are also devel-oping a number of surprises and events that will surely bring joy to our customers.”

M A I N S P O N S O R

Renna introduces Ramadan off ers

MUSCAT: After the continu-ous success of Renna Mobile’s various international calling promotions, their ‘Ramadan of-fers’ give valued customers more convenient options.

Renna’s current Ramadan pro-motion allows subscribers to call India and Bangladesh for 80 min-utes for just OMR2 and to call Pakistan for 75 minutes for just OMR2. Further the Ramadan of-fer gives subscribers the oppor-tunity to avail 50% extra data and enjoy 1.5GB for just OMR2.5 for a month, says a press release.

Renna has another internation-

al off er for the rest of the countries with a compatible price starting from 39Bz/min.

Raed Haddadin, CEO, Renna said, “Renna has consistently been

off ering great value to customers on their Internet off ers during the holy month of Ramadan. Our mar-ket research shows that there is a huge demand by our Asian expats on Internet.

“We therefore make sure that our customer’s get the best Inter-net rates and we want to further reward them by giving them the ability to choose from our var-ied offers. We had best Internet package in the market in the form of 1GB at OMR2.5 and dur-ing the holy month of Ramadan we are off ering even better i.e. 1.5GB at OMR2.5.”

C O N V E N I E N T O P T I O N S

We are also developing

a number of surprises

and events that will

surely bring joy to our

customers

Mohammed Al LawatiEvents manager at Omantel

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

ZEESHAN BLITZ HELPS OMAN BEAT CANADAOman opener Zeeshan Maqsood blasted an unbeaten 86 off just 41 balls as Oman chased down a stiff revised target of 135 with ease in a truncated ICC World T20 Qualifi er 2015 match in New Williamfi eld on Sunday. >C3

Djokovic shatters Federer’s dream

LONDON: Defending champion Novak Djokovic won a third Wim-bledon title and a ninth Grand Slam crown on Sunday, ruthlessly shattering Roger Federer’s bid for a record eighth All England Club triumph.

World number one Djokovic won 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (10/12), 6-4, 6-3 to add this year’s Wimbledon title to the Australian Open he cap-tured in January.

It was a cathartic moment for Djokovic just a month after his heartbreaking French Open fi nal defeat against Stan Wawrinka — a loss that denied him the only ma-jor title he has yet to win.

“It’s a big challenge playing against Roger. A lot of players of my generation have looked up to him and followed his lead,” said Djokovic who now has the same number of Wimbledon titles as coach Boris Becker who won his fi rst 30 years ago.

“I knew coming on the court that Roger is going to play like he al-ways plays, at his best when it mat-ters the most. He makes you work hard every single point.”

For 33-year-old Federer, it was a bitterly disappointing end to his

bid to become the oldest Wimble-don champion of the Open Era.

The 17-time major winner has now gone three years since his last Grand Slam triumph, at Wimble-don in 2012.

“Novak played not only good to-day but the whole two weeks, the whole year, last year and the year before that,” said Federer.

Federer had his opportunities but he could only convert one of seven break points in the match and as he pressed, he committed 35 unforced errors to Djokovic’s 16.

In a rollercoaster rematch of last year’s fi nal, Federer was 4-2 up in the fi rst set and had two set points.

He then had to save seven set points in the second set before bravely levelling the contest.

However, Djokovic, fi ve years Federer’s junior, stepped on the gas and raced away to the title.

Sunday’s fi nal was the pair’s 40th career meeting and 12th in the Grand Slams. Djokovic was playing in his 17th major fi nal compared to Federer’s 26th.

Seven set pointsBut despite Federer’s majestic

triumph over Andy Murray in the semi-fi nals, which suggested he was not ready for the retirement home just yet, Sunday’s real-ity check looks certain to leave the Swiss thwarted in his quest to add to his record 17 Grand Slam title collection.

In front of a Royal Box crammed with tennis and Hollywood A-lis-ters, including Bjorn Borg, Rod La-ver, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugh Grant and Bradley Cooper, Federer was in the early ascendancy.

He broke for a 4-2 lead but Djok-ovic hit straight back condemning the Swiss to just his second lost service game in 94 served up at the tournament. Federer then saw two set points disappear in the 12th game, both saved courtesy of back-to-back 120mph serves.

Djokovic capitalised on his es-cape, racing through the tiebreak-er with six consecutive points to claim the opener when Federer served up a double fault. The Serb committed just three unforced er-rors in the fi rst set, a key statistic in what would always be a tight en-counter. By contrast, Federer hit 11, the same as he suff ered throughout

his semifi nal win over Murray.Federer wasted two break points

in the fi fth and 11th games of the second set having saved a fi rst set point in the 10th. That paved the way for a titanic tiebreak where the 33-year-old saved six more set points before levelling the fi nal on his second set point.

At 12/10, it was the longest tie-break in a Wimbledon fi nal since 2000 when Pat Rafter faced Pete Sampras with the set taking 65 gripping minutes to complete.

To his credit, Djokovic swiftly recovered, breaking for a 2-1 lead in the third set which became 3-2 when rain forced them off for 20 minutes. The world number one confi dently wrapped up the set 6-4 with just two unforced errors even if the brief stoppage had dampened the fi reworks of the second set.

Djokovic was strangling the life out of Federer’s game and another break gave him a 3-2 lead in the fourth set. The title was his on the stroke of the third hour with a sweeping forehand into an open court. As has become the Serb’s tradition, he celebrated by pulling out a piece of Centre Court grass and eating it. - AFP

World number one

Djokovic won 7-6

(7/1), 6-7 (10/12), 6-4,

6-3 to add this year’s

Wimbledon title

to the Australian

Open he captured

in January

PERFECT POSE: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic holds the winner’s trophy

on the centre court balcony after his men’s singles fi nal victory. – AFP

MUNCHING A BUNCH: Novak Djokovic of Serbia eats some grass off Centre Court after beating Roger

Federer in the men’s singles fi nal. – Reuters

C2

SPORTSM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

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Feels amazing to wake up as champion, says SaniaNEW DELHI: “It’s an amazing feeling to wake up as Wimbledon champion,” said Sania Mirza after crowning herself to glory following a historic triumph at the most cov-eted Grand Slam championship.

Sania and ‘Swiss Miss’ Martina Hingis scripted a grand comeback after trailing 2-5 in the fi nal set of the women’s doubles fi nal and the Indian said the match brought the best out of all four players.

They eked out a 5-7 7-6(4) 7-5 win over familiar rivals Ekaterina Ma-karova and Elena Vesnina after bat-tling hard for two hours and 25 min-utes at the hallowed Centre Court.

“It was the best match you could have asked for in the fi nal, all four of us put everything out there. We played amazing tennis. I am glad that we came out on top. It’s amaz-ing feeling to wake up as Wimble-don champions,” Sania told PTI during an exclusive interaction from London.

Sania said she was in no mood to rest as she has already trained her eyes on the hard court season, leading up to the US Open — last

Grand Slam of a calender year.“I am looking forward towards

bigger and better things. Soon hard court season will start again. I just have to keep working hard,” she said.

Sania, who recently became

world number one in doubles, now has won titles at all Grand Slam events. She won three mixed dou-bles (two with Mahesh Bhupathi and the other with Bruno Soares) and the fi rst ever women’s doubles

on Saturday. “This is something, we dream of and try to achieve. I am very fortunate that I have been able to achieve it in my career. I am really happy to have played Wim-bledon fi nal and won it,” she said.

Vesnina, who has paired with Sania and even reached French Open fi nal with the Indian in 2011, was terrifi c at the net, often came out with audacious volley winners.

The 28-year-old Sania said Ma-karova and Vesnina were no easy nuts to crack.

“They were playing their best tennis and so were we. We started very aggressively and played a great tie-break in the second set and to come back from 2-5 in the fi nal set was amazing, we kept telling each other that all we have to get is one break and we had to become little bit more aggressive which we did,” she said, recount-ing the tussle in the summit clash.

It was third fi nal that Sania and Hingis played with the Russian pair and they have emerged cham-pions all the times. Sania said the Russians played better at Wimble-don than what they did in earlier summit clashes.

“This surface makes a big diff er-ence. At Indian Wells and Miami, we played on hard courts. Grass courts suits them better because

they served pretty big. Our big strength is return and it sort of ne-gated that.”

Asked about her preference of courts, she said, “I like grass a lot but hard courts are still remains my favourite,” concluded India’s greatest ever female tennis player.

Meanwhile, Bollywood celeb-rities including superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhishek Bachchan congratulated tennis star Sania Mirza for becom-ing the fi rst Indian to win the Wim-bledon women’s doubles title with her Swiss partner Martina Hingis.

Shah Rukh, 49, took to Twitter to wish Mirza on her well deserved win. “And happiness by @Mir-zaSania & Hingis. Well done well deserved well played. Love to you.”

Filmmaker-actor Farhan said, “Outstanding Win! Wow! Congrat-ulations @MirzaSania @mhingis you both rocked centre court today!”

“Congratulations Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis for winning at Wimbledon. Sania you con-tinue to make us proud,” actor Abhishek wrote. — PTI

W I M B L E D O N

PERFECT PAIR: Martina Hingis of Switzerland, left, and Sania Mirza of India hold their trophies after

winning the women’s doubles fi nal against Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Elena Vesnina of Russia

at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon. – AP/PTI

Calendar Slam no sweat for Serena

LONDON: Wimbledon cham-pion Serena Williams insists she can cope with the pressure of go-ing for an historic calendar Grand Slam on home turf at the US Open.

Williams is within touch-ing distance of becoming the fi rst woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four major titles in the same year following her

sixth Wimbledon triumph. The 33-year-old American recovered from a slow start to ease to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza that gave her a 21st Grand Slam crown on Saturday and made her the oldest woman to win a major in the Open era.

But Serena had barely fi nished parading the Venus Rosewater Dish around Centre Court before her thoughts turned to New York and the tantalising prospect of becoming only the fourth woman ever to complete a calender year sweep of the sport’s top prizes.

“I did the whole walk around the court. I was peaceful, feeling really good, then maybe a little after that I started thinking about New York,” she said.

“I just thought, Oh, man, I’ve won New York three times in a row. I hope this isn’t the year that I go down. I want to do well there.

“I feel like if I can do the Serena Slam, I will be okay heading into

the (calendar) Grand Slam.“Like I always say, there’s 127

other players (in the tournament) that don’t want to see me win. Nothing personal, they just want to win.

“But I really don’t feel like I have anything to lose. I’ve kind

of solidifi ed my place at No. 1, so we’ll just go from there.”

During her Wimbledon run, Wil-liams tried to insulate herself from outside pressures by refusing to an-swer questions about her success-ful attempt to win a ‘Serena Slam’ — holding all four majors at once.

The six-time US Open winner acknowledged the scrutiny will be even more intense at Flushing Meadows, but once again she will try to focus on each match rather than the legacy-defi ning success at her fi ngertips.

“It’s huge. But I haven’t done it. I have the Serena Slam now, which is amazing. But, you know, it’s dif-ferent to actually have something and then try to accomplish it,” she said. “Of course I’m going to try to do the best I can, but I don’t have the Grand Slam in my hands.

“I can’t really feel that if it’s not there. Hopefully I’ll do well at the Open and then I can answer that question.” — AFP

Williams is within

touching distance of

becoming the fi rst

woman since Steffi

Graf in 1988 to win

all four major title

Serena Williams

Marquez’s domination in Germany continuesSACHSENRING: Two-time defending world champion Marc Marquez’ extraordinary record at the Sachsenring continued on Sunday as he won the German MotoGP for only his second win of the season. The 22-year-old Span-iard — winning his sixth race in six years on the circuit — led home Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa with championship leader Valen-tino Rossi third on a Yamaha.

Rossi, seeking a 10th world ti-tle and seventh in the 500cc/Mo-toGP category, extended his lead over team-mate Jorge Lorenzo who fi nished fourth to 13 points.

The championship is at the halfway mark and takes a break for three weeks with the next race the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Early on there was little in-dication of what would unfold in terms of Honda’s race domi-nance. Lorenzo had produced a blistering start to move from the inside to the outside and sweep past Pedrosa and Marquez while Rossi made up two places to

move into fourth by the end of the fi rst of the 30 laps including ‘Ma-niac Joe’ Iannone.

The exuberant Italian perhaps pressing too hard on the gas had a wobble on the second lap when he was bounced out of his saddle, but with an open mouthed anx-ious looking team chief Lin Jarvis he managed to regather himself. Rossi brought the crowd to their feet with 26 laps remaining as he eased past Pedrosa while Mar-quez struck back at Lorenzo over-taking him to move into the lead.

Marquez moved clear as Rossi fought out a duel with his team-mate Lorenzo, the Italian seem-ingly getting the better of him at the penultimate corner of the sixth lap only for the Spaniard to hit back immediately and refus-ing to lie down. All this played into Marquez’ hands but Rossi made no mistake a lap later to pass Lorenzo and this time the latter had no riposte leaving ‘Il Dottore’ a free piece of tarmac to ride after the leader. - AFP

M O T O R S P O R T S

C3

SPORTSM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Zeeshan’s blitz helps Oman swamp CanadaWILLIAMFIELD: Oman open-er Zeeshan Maqsood blasted an unbeaten 86 off just 41 balls as Oman chased down a stiff re-vised target of 135 with ease in a truncated ICC World Twenty20 Qualifi er 2015 match in New Wil-liamfi eld on Sunday, according to an ICC report. Asked to bat, Can-ada put up an intimidating 133 for 3 in a match reduced to 13 overs-a-side after rain delayed the start of proceedings, thanks to a half-century from Nitish Kumar (52).

Maqsood’s blitz took Oman over the line with 10 balls to spare, as it reached 135 for 3 in 11.2 overs and completed an eight-wicket victory on the D-L Method. By the time Canada could manage a breakthrough, in the fi fth over of the innings, when Khanwar Ali was caught off Jeremy Gordon for 16, Oman had already raced away to 65 in 4.2 overs.

Nitish struck in the very next over when he had Jatinder singh caught for eight. But in the eight deliveries between the two dis-missals, Oman had already col-lected another 16 runs. It was then the turn of Mehran Khan to play second fi ddle to Maqsood. Mehran contributed nine in a

third-wicket partnership of 35 off just 15 balls. When Mehran fell to Cecil Pervez, the right-arm me-dium pacer, Oman needed just 19 more runs for victory.

Vaibhav Wategaonkar (6 not out) and Maqsood knocked off the requisite runs easily. Earlier, Ruvindu Gunasekara and Rizwan Chemma got Canada off to a brisk start, putting on 30 in three overs. Mohammed Nadeem, the right-arm medium pacer, broke through when he had Cheema caught.

Nitish then joined Gunasekara in a stand worth 29 when Aamir Kaleem, the left-arm spinner, had Gunasekara caught behind.

Navneet Dhaliwal joined Ni-tish and the duo changed the course of the innings by putting on 69 for the third wicket in just 36 balls. Nitish fell with three balls left in the innings when he was caught behind off Rajeshku-mar Ranpura’s right-arm fast-medium bowling.

Nitish struck four boundaries and three sixes. Dhaliwal ended with 28 not out off 20 balls that included two boundaries.

Brief Scores: Oman 135 for 3 (Zeeshan Maqsood 86*) beat Canada 133 for 3 (Nit-ish 52) by seven wickets. — ICC

I C C W O R L D T 2 0 Q U A L I F I E R S

OMAN’S HERO: Zeeshan Maqsood receiving the man of the match

award after his scintillating unbeaten knock of 86. – ICC

India claim ODI series with facile 62-run win

HARARE: India rode on a solid all-round performance to comfort-ably crush Zimbabwe by 62 runs in the second One Day International, thereby taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match cricket se-ries, here Sunday.

Batting fi rst, India scored a de-cent 271 for eight in 50 overs large-ly due to a 112-run opening stand between Murali Vijay (72) and skipper Ajinkya Rahane (63), who hit patient half-centuries to set up a fi ghting target.

In reply, Zimbabwe managed to score only 209 in 49 overs as the bowlers maintained their stran-glehold on the opposition through-out the entire duration of the hosts’ innings. Losing three wickets in the fi rst 11 overs including skipper and last match’s centurion Elton Chigumbura (9) turned the match decisively in India’s favour.

Chamu Chibhabha (72, 100 balls) top-scored but that was nev-er going to enough for the home team to cross the fi nishing line in this match. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with fi gures of 4 for 33 in 10 overs and along with Dhawal Kulkarni (1/39 in 9 overs) provided initial break-throughs while spinners Harbha-jan Singh (1/29 in 10 overs) and Axar Patel (1/40 in 10 overs) kept a tight leash on batsmen during the middle overs.

Unlike the fi rst match, Indian team were far better in both de-partments as they upped their

game by a few notches. While the new fi elding rule topped by cau-tious approach from the batsmen meant that India did not pile up a mammoth total but one that was good enough to have Zimbabwe being pushed back to the wall.

During Indian batting, both Vi-jay and Rahane took a safety fi rst approach against the white duke ball that was doing bit in the air and off the pitch in cool conditions.

Playing for their places when the fi rst team players come back, it was understandable that both Ra-hane and Vijay had a strike-rate of less than 80.

When Zimbabwe batted, it was Dhawal Kulkarni, who struck the fi rst blow removing Vusimuzi Sibanda (2), who was caught at point by Vijay. The experienced Hamilton Masakadza (5) gave a regulation catch to Robin Uthappa behind the stumps of Kumar.

Later Zimbabwe could hardly get away as spinners Harbhajan Singh and Axar Patel locked them up with good bowling. - PTI

Zimbabwe found

quick scoring diffi cult

from the start of

their reply and were

eventually bowled

out for 209 with an

over remaining in

their innings after

India posted 271

for 8 wickets

INDIAA. Rahane c Sikandar Raza b Chibhabha 63M. Vijay c sub (Waller) b Madziva 72A. Rayudu c sub (Waller) b Sikandar Raza 41M. Tiwary c Vitori b Tiripano 22R. Uthappa b Madziva 13S. Binny c Sikandar Raza b Vitori 25K. Jadhav c Mutumbami b Madziva 16Harbhajan Singh not out 5A. Patel c Sikandar Raza b Madziva 1B. Kumar not out 0Extras (w-13) 13Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 271Fall of wickets: 1-112 (Rahane), 2-159 (Vi-jay), 3-203 (Rayudu), 4-205 (Tiwary), 5-233 (Uthappa), 6-264 (Binny), 7-266 (Jadhav), 8-269 (Patel).Did not bat: D. Kulkarni.Bowling: Vitori 8-0-47-1, Tiripano 9-0-42-1, Madziva 10-0-49-4, Williams 5-0-23-0, Cremer 5-0-32-0, Chibhabha 5-0-27-1, Ma-sakadza 4-0-26-0, Sikandar Raza 4-0-25-1.ZIMBABWEV. Sibanda c Vijay b Kulkarni 2C. Chibhabha run out 72H. Masakadza c Uthappa b Kumar 5

E. Chigumbura c Rahane b Kumar 9S. Williams b Patel 20Sikandar Raza c Uthappa b Harbhajan 18R. Mutumbami c Patel b Binny 32G. Cremer c Rahane b Kumar 27N. Madziva run out 0D. Tiripano c Patel b Kumar 6B. Vitori not out 8Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-2) 10Total (all out, 49 overs) 209Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Sibanda), 2-31 (Masakadza), 3-43 (Chigumbura), 4-95 (Wil-liams), 5-130 (Chibhabha), 6-132 (Sikandar Raza), 7-184 (Mutumbami), 8-186 (Madziva), 9-195 (Cremer), 10-209 (Tiripano).Bowling: Kumar 10-3-33-4, Kulkarni 9-1-39-1, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-29-1, Binny 7-0-42-1, Patel 10-1-40-1, Vijay 3-0-18-0.Toss: ZimbabweUmpires: Simon Fry (AUS) and Jeremiah Matibiri (ZIM)TV umpire: Langton Rusere (ZIM)Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)Result: India won by 62 runs.Series: India lead the three-match series 2-0.

S C O R E B O A R D

CELEBRATION: Indian players celebrate convincing win over Zimbabwe in the second One-day Inter-

national match in Harare. – AP/PTI

C4

SPORTSM O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Bangladesh crush Proteas to level series

DHAKA: Bangladesh thrashed South Africa by seven wickets in the second one-day international on Sunday to tie the three-match series at 1-1 after an inspired bowl-ing performance saw the Proteas bundled out for 162, their lowest total against the hosts.

Teenage fast bowler Mustafi zur Rahman and off -spinner Nasir Hossain picked up three wickets each as the tourists were all out in 46 overs after winning the toss and opting to bat fi rst on a slug-gish pitch at Mirpur. Bangladesh lost two early wickets to Kagiso

Rabada in their chase but opener Soumya Sarkar (88 not out) and Mahmudullah (50) added 135 for the third to ensure the hosts con-tinued their fi ne form in the 50-over version of the game at home.

Bangladesh blanked Pakistan and then defeated twice world champions India in their last two ODI series and Sunday’s victory

was only their second in the for-mat against South Africa, who won the fi rst match of the series by eight wickets.

The hosts romped to the target with more than 22 overs to spare and the win also sealed their spot amongst the top eight-ranked na-tions for next year’s Champions Trophy in England.

Rabada, who took six wickets on debut in the last match, gave South Africa some hope by dismissing Tamim Iqbal in his fi rst over and Litton Das in his second but it was not enough.

Mahmudullah fell with Bang-ladesh four runs from victory and Sarkar took them over the line with a six off leg-spinner Imran

Tahir. Left-handed Sarkar also hit 13 fours during his 79-ball unbeat-en knock. Earlier, the South Afri-can batsmen failed to fi nd any mo-mentum against the disciplined Bangladesh attack and managed to cross the 100-run mark only in the 32nd over.

Mustafi zur, who won the man of the series award against India with 13 wickets from three matches,

struck the fi rst blow by dismissing Quinton de Kock in the fi fth over as South Africa kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Faf du Plessis was the highest scorer for South Africa with 41 while Farhaan Behardien’s 36 en-sured the team crossed the 150-run mark. Chittagong will host the third and fi nal ODI of the series on Wednesday. - Reuters

Soumya Sarkar

(88 not out) and

Mahmudullah (50)

added 135 for the

third to ensure the

hosts continued their

fi ne form in the 50-

over version of the

game at home

SOUTH AFRICAH. Amla b Rubel 22Q. de Kock c Sabbir b Mustafi zur 2F. du Plessis c Sarkar b Nasir 41R. Rossouw b Nasir 4D. Miller c Mortaza b Mahmudullah 9J. Duminy c Sabbir b Mustafi zur 13F. Behardien c Nasir b Mortaza 36C. Morris lbw b Rubel 12K. Rabada b Mustafi zur 10K. Abbott lbw b Nasir 5I. Tahir not out 1Extras (lb-4, w-3) 7Total (all out; 46 overs) 162Fall of wickets: 1-16 (de Kock), 2-45 (Amla), 3-59 (Rossouw), 4-74 (Miller), 5-93 (du Plessis), 6-100 (Duminy), 7-116 (Morris). 8-138 (Rabada), 9-160 (Abbott), 10-162 (Behardien)Bowling: Mustafi zur 10-1-38-3 Mortaza 5-0-17-1 (w1), Shakib 10-0-30-0, Rubel 9-2-34-2, Nasir 8-0-26-3, Mahmudullah 4-0-13-1 (w2)BANGLADESHTamim Iqbal b Rabada 5

Soumya Sarkar not out 88Litton Das b Rabada 17Mahmudullah c Amla b Abbott 50Shakib Al Hasan not out 0Extras (w5, nb2) 7Total (for three wickets; 27.4 overs) 167Did not bat: Mushfi qur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Mustafi zur RahimFall of wickets: 1-5 (Tamim), 2-24 (Das), 3-159 (Mahmudullah)Bowling: Abbott 5-0-22-1, Rabada 7-0-45-2 (nb1, w5), Morris 3-0-29-0 (nb1), Imran 8.4-1-40-0, Duminy 2-0-20-0, Behardien 2-0-11-0

Result: Bangladesh won by seven wicketsSeries result: Bangladesh and South Africa tied at 1-1Toss: South AfricaUmpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG) and Enamul Haque (BAN)TV Umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)Match Referee: David Boon (AUS)

S C O R E B O A R D

STARS OF THE DAY: Bangladesh batsmen Soumya Sarkar, right, celebrates victory with teammate

Mohammed Mahmudullah during the second One-day International match. – AFP

Lehmann hints at changesCARDIFF: Australia coach Darren Lehmann has said the tourists are prepared to make changes for the second Ashes Test, amid speculation all-rounder Shane Watson is set to be dropped. England won the series opener by a crushing 169 runs with more than a day to spare in Cardiff on Saturday.

The match saw Watson twice out in familiar fashion, lbw in both innings for modest scores of 30 and 19, while Australia cap-tain Michael Clarke only utilised his medium-paced bowling for 13 overs in the match.

Shane Watson has now fallen lbw 39 times during the course of a 59-match Test career repeat-edly blighted by injuries, and has only passed 50 twice in his last 16 innings With fellow seam-bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, 11 years Watson’s junior, waiting in the wings Australia do have a ready-made alterna-tive and Lehmann indicated it was one the tourists were considering deploying at Lord’s, where the second Test starts on Thursday.

“At the end of day you don’t want to be getting out lbw all the time and you want to make more runs,” Lehmann said Sunday. “Shane would be disappointed, so are we. “It’s one of those things where you have to fi nd

a way and that’s something we probably didn’t do as a batting group, not just Shane.

“We’ll certainly look at the wicket and work out the best XI to win in those conditions and it means making changes, we’ll make changes.

“That won’t be an issue for the selection panel. It’s going to be a tight call heading into the second Test,” the former Australia bats-man, whose side thrashed Eng-land 5-0 on home soil in 2013/14, added. “We can’t control what just happened, what we can do is learn from it and make the right decisions going forward,” said Lehmann, looking to guide Aus-tralia to their fi rst Ashes series win in Britain in 14 years.

‘Big decision’Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting told Sky Sports that Watson’s place was under threat, saying: “There’s a very big deci-sion that needs to be made there...Watson hasn’t bowled a lot in this Test.”

Australia have fi tness con-cerns over Mitchell Starc, their best bowler in Cardiff despite playing most of the match with a right ankle injury.

The left-arm paceman took seven wickets on a slow Sophia Gardens pitch and now has just four days to be fi t in time for

Lord’s “We’ll see how he pulls up but he’s going to have to be 100 percent,” said Lehmann.

There have been suggestions that pitches for the series will be deliberately slow in order to nullify the threat of Australia’s fast bowlers, appreciably quicker than their England counterparts. “We know what we’re going to get in terms of wickets,” said Lehmann. “Everyone says we’d love a little more pace and yes, that would be true, but we’re not going to get it and there’s no point asking,” added Lehmann, who played county cricket in England for Yorkshire.

“You’d hope for more at ‘the home of cricket (Lord’s)...I’d just like you to be able to bowl a bouncer on day one.”

But former England wicket-keeper Matt Prior said talk of ‘pitch-doctoring’ was nonsense.

“All this talk of the Cardiff pitch being engineered to help our bowlers is just ridiculous,” Prior wrote in his Independent on Sunday column.

“Cardiff is slow and low and al-ways has been -- it’s like turning up at the Gabba (in Brisbane) or Perth and moaning that it’s quick and bouncy and then accusing Australia of doctoring pitches.

“The whole idea of us prepar-ing pitches to nullify the Aussie quicks is a joke.” - AFP

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RUWI KINGS CLINCH AL TURKI/NMC LEAGUE CUPRuwi Kings defeated Abu Dhabi Travel to emerge champions of the League contest of the 6th Al Turki/NMC Cup 2015 tournament at the Al Rifa ground at Azaiba beach. The sponsors of the tourna-

ment are Al Turki Enterprises and National Metal Cans. Ruwi Kings won the match by seven wickets after chasing down Abu Dhabi Travel’s 51 in 6 overs. Man of the match Sahil was unbeaten on 14

while Giri and Aslam contributed 15 and 10 respectively. Sahil also won the man of the tournament award, Sherbaz of Asad XI was adjudged best bowler and Giri best batsman. The Fair Play Trophy

went to Martin from National Gas. — Supplied photos

Pit-stop mishap at Spa costs Al Harthy’s ORT vital points

MUSCAT: Ahmad Al Harthy de-parted Spa-Francorchamps on Sat-urday wondering what might have been wrong in round fi ve of the Avon Tyres British GT Champion-ship after a costly mishap during the driver change pit-stop robbed the No.2 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of a possible podium result.

Having qualifi ed sixth fastest for the two-hour contest, hopes were high in the Oman Racing Team of a strong race performance but after losing well over a minute during the mandatory pit visit at the halfway point, Ahmad and team-mate Daniel Lloyd had to settle for 11th position.

Just missing out on the points-paying top 10, the duo were crest-fallen after 120 minutes of chal-lenging action having been in with a chance of fi ghting for a second Brit-ish GT podium fi nish of the year.

“When it was time to come into the pits the Safety Car was on track and our sister car also pit-ted at the same time”, explained the Muscat racer, “Unfortunately, there was a mishap which cost us about a minute and 20 seconds so that was the end of the race for us right there. We were predicted to come out of the pits in about P3 or P4 but we were P16, so any chance of points was gone really.”

From the third row of the grid at the rolling start, Ahmad got away cleanly and enjoyed a strong fi rst lap to climb into the top four. Ini-tially running within 0.5 seconds of Jon Minshaw’s BMW, the Oma-ni then had diffi culties keeping his

challengers behind, especially on the long Kemmel Straight, due to the extra ballast he and Lloyd have to carry in their car.

Although slipping back to sev-enth position by the end of lap eight, as the fuel tank got lighter the Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa ambassador was able to pick-up his pace once more and he moved back into the top fi ve pri-or to the deployment of the Safety Car on lap 13.

Racing resumed on lap 16 with approximately 40 minutes having elapsed but the Safety Car was re-quired again almost immediately when two GT4 class cars tangled at Turn 13. With the race staying under caution for several laps, the pit-stop window opened for driver changes while the Safety Car re-mained on track and so the entire GT3 upper order dived into the pit-lane straight away.

Frustratingly for Ahmad and Lloyd, though, fi fth position be-came 16th place after the conges-tion in the pits cost them a signifi -cant amount of time. During the second hour, Lloyd worked hard to try and limit the damage but with huge chunks of time to make up the team had to be satisfi ed with 11th position after two hours of competition.

“Off the start I made up two po-sitions which I was happy with but then the extra weight came into play and it was tough to keep people be-hind”, said Oman Air, Oman Minis-try of Sports Aff airs, Ooredoo, Na-tional Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-supported driver Ahmad, “The pace came back as the car got lighter but then the pit-stop prob-lem meant any hopes were gone.

“It’s unfortunate but one of those things and this emphasises how everything has to work per-

fectly, on track and in the pits with the team, for things to go right for you. We’re obviously disappointed as a podium, certainly a top four or fi ve fi nish, was possible this week-end – but it wasn’t to be.”

Next on the British GT calendar is a visit to Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit in the UK, over the weekend 1st/2nd August, for the 120-minute sixth round of the 2015 season.

Having qualifi ed

sixth fastest for the

two-hour contest,

hopes were high in

the Oman Racing

Team of a strong

race performance but

after losing well over

a minute during the

mandatory pit visit

at the halfway point,

Ahmad and team-

mate Daniel Lloyd

had to settle

for 11th position

PIT STOP THAT PROVED COSTLY: The driver change stop at the pits claimed more time which cost the

Oman Racing Team dearly. – Supplied photo

It’s unfortunate but one

of those things and

this emphasises how

everything has to work

perfectly for things

to go right for you

Ahmad Al HarthyOman Racing Team

Internationalchess tourneyin Salalah from August 3

MUSCAT: The Oman Chess Committee (OCC) continues its preparations for the kick-off of the Salalah International Open Chess Championship.

OCC has started receiving ap-plications for participation in the championship at Rotana Ho-tel, Salalah. The championship is being held within the activi-ties of Khareef Salalah Festival with the support of BankMus-cat and Salalah Methanol from August 3 to 6. Registration shall continue to August 1.

The championship will be or-ganised as part of OCC eff orts for dissemination of the game and will provide the local chess players with the opportunity to keep in touch with the interna-tional chess players.

The championship is expect-ed to attract players from all countries mainly from the GCC states, Arab countries and resi-dents of the Sultanate.

The championship shall com-prise nine rounds at the rate of three rounds a day. The rules of the International Chess Federa-tion (FIDE) shall apply to the championship.

C H E S S

Fanni Qatar bound

PARIS: Marseille’s French in-ternational defender Rod Fanni, out of contract with the Ligue 1 side, has signed for two seasons with Al Arabi, the Qatari club confi rmed on Saturday. The 33-year-old, who has fi ve caps for France, previously played for Ligue 1 sides Lens, Nice and Rennes. Fanni joined Marseille in 2011. - AFP

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Froome in control despite Sky’s miss

PLUMELEC: Chris Froome stayed fi rmly on track for the Tour de France title when he retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after the ninth stage, a 28-kilome-tre team time trial won by the slim-mest of margins by BMC Racing on Sunday.

Heading into Monday’s rest day, Froome has the edge over his main rivals, who were hoping to take advantage of the Briton’s sup-posed weaknesses in the tricky

opening block of racing. The 2013 champion will now be keen to all but wrap up the race as it goes into the mountains — the Pyrenees in the second week and the Alps in the third.

On Sunday, BMC Racing clocked 32 minutes 15 seconds to beat Sky by one second and Froome now leads American Tejay van Garderen by 12 seconds overall.

“If you had told me I’d be in yel-low at this point I would not have

believed it,” Froome told reporters.“It’s defi nitely not for me to be

attacking at the moment. Right now the biggest rival is Tejay van Garderen.”

According to France’s Thibaut Pinot, third in last year’s Tour,

“Froome is as strong as in 2013”.“I’d like to think so,” Froome

replied. BMC Racing leader Van Garderen is not giving up hope, though. We knew we were on a good one, on a perfect day we would have taken yellow too, but

still a great win. In a perfect world I would have taken the jersey,” said Van Garderen, who was hoping to become the fi rst American since the disgraced Floyd Landis in 2006 to be Tour overall leader.

Movistar took third place, four

seconds behind, as Colombian climber Nairo Quintana limited the damage caused by Froome and Van Garderen, even gaining ground on Spain’s Alberto Con-tador and struggling defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy.

Contador’s Tinkoff -Saxo team were fourth, 28 seconds adrift, and Nibali’s Astana outfi t ended up fi fth, 35 seconds off the pace after a demanding time trial that ended up the Cote de Cadoudal, a brutal 1.7-km ascent at an average gradi-ent of 6.2 percent.

Contador, looking to achieve a rare Giro d’Italia/Tour double, is fi fth overall 1:03 behind Froome, while Quintana, regarded as the Briton’s toughest opponent in the climbs, is ninth and 1:59 off the pace.

The title is further slipping away from Nibali as the Italian again lost time on his main rivals. He is now 13th, 2:22 behind Froome. - Reuters

BMC Racing clocked 32 minutes 15 seconds

to beat Sky by one second and Froome

now leads American Tejay van Garderen

by 12 seconds overall

TIME-TRIAL WINNERS: Riders of the USA’s BMC Racing cycling team compete in the 28km team time-

trial, the ninth stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Vannes and Plumelec. – AFP

FOODLANDS HOSTS CHAMPIONS TEAM COORGSevens football champions Team Coorg was hosted by the management of Foodlands

restaurant at Al Khuwair. The team members of Team Coorg with the families attended

the party and thanked Foodlands for their support. “Team Coorg played some great foot-

ball and we are proud to host the champions,” said Suraya Sameer, Director of Foodlands.

Noted sports commentator Salih Thacher was also a special invitee for the function. Team

Coorg had won the championship beating Qurum FC in the fi nal at Al Ahli-Sidab Club

recently. The event was organised by Stadium Brothers. — Supplied photo

End of an era as Saint Iker leaves Real Madrid for PortoMADRID: Real Madrid’s em-blematic captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas is set to leave the club for FC Porto after 25 years during which he won everything in the game with the Spanish giants.

“Real Madrid and FC Porto have agreed the transfer of Iker Casil-las to the Portuguese club,” Real Madrid said in a statement on Sat-urday after three days of intense negotiations. At 34 years Casillas leaves a club with which he grew up, joining Real’s youth academy aged nine in 1990 and winning 19 trophies during his 16 seasons as a professional.

“One of the best goalkeepers in this club is not just leaving, today the greatest goalkeeper in the his-tory of the club and in the history of Spanish football is moving on to a new stage in his footballing ca-reer,” the statement said.

Casillas had two years left on his contract, but the highly-anticipat-ed transfer is seen as an historic turning point for the club who are reported to be trying to recruit Manchester United’s 24-year-old Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea in a bid to rejuvenate after fi nish-ing second in La Liga last season behind Barcelona, who also won the Champions League title.

“Iker is leaving, but his legacy is here forever. His attitude and actions in the 725 games he played in the our jersey shine a light on the path for those who dream of being part of this team,” the statement said.

“For Real Madrid today is a day, above all, of thanks and recogni-tion .... This goodbye evokes thou-sands of sensations and memories charged with hope, anticipation, sacrifi ce, strength and unique tri-umph,” the club said.

In 2010 Casillas made front pages worldwide in a photograph of him raising the World Cup in South Africa after leading Spain to

the title for the fi rst time.But last summer the image was

of a dejected Casillas on his knees as a rout by the Netherlands helped dump Spain out of the World Cup.

With Madrid, Casillas had en-chanted the Bernabeu Stadium for years with his catlike refl exes, gravity-defying saves and fearless one-on-ones, earning the nick-name “Saint Iker” from fans.

A World Cup winner and two-time European champion with Spain, Casillas had clinched fi ve Spanish titles, three Champions League trophies and two King’s Cup crowns. - AFP

F O O T B A L L

EMOTIONAL: Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas cries as he

hands a press conference at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. – AFP

Lahm rues Schweinsteiger’s United switch

BERLIN: Bayern Munich skip-per Philipp Lahm says it is an “ab-solute pity” that Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger is poised to join Manchester United after undergoing a medical on Sunday.

Bayern announced on Saturday that they had agreed a transfer fee with United for the 30-year-old

defensive midfi elder, who is set to quit after 17 years to sign a three-year deal with the English club.

According to both the German and UK media, United will pay Bayern around £14m (19.47m euros, $21.72m) and will see Sch-weinsteiger work again under for-mer Bayern handler and presently

Manchester United manager Lou-is van Gaal. The English giants are reported to be eager to complete the deal soon so that Schwein-steiger can join them when they fl y out on their north American tour on Monday. Bayern meanwhile are left to contemplate life with-out their midfi eld dynamo. - AFP

F O O T B A L L

Real boss ‘forced Casillas out’

MADRID: Departing Real Madrid captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas was forced out by club president Florentino Perez and is too good to play for a “third-tier” side like Porto, his parents were quoted as saying on Sunday. Real announced on Saturday that Casillas, 34, was leaving after 16 seasons in the fi rst team to join the Portuguese club and his exit is widely ex-pected to prompt the arrival of the decade-younger David De Gea from Manchester United.

Real published a glowing homage to Casillas on their website, calling him “the great-est goalkeeper in the history of the club and in the history of Spanish football”.

However, in an interview with daily El Mundo, Casillas’s parents Jose Luis and Mari Carmen said their son had been badly treated by Perez since he returned for a second stint as president in 2009. — Reuters

P A R E N T S S A Y

BY FAISAL MOHAMMED NAIM

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

GearSECTIONC L I F E STY L E M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

BY FAISALL MMMMMOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

We took the latest

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R

out for a spin to see

if it really delivered all

that it promised.

Boy we were amazed...

LIFESTYLEC8 M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Ever since the litre-class wars fl ared up more than a decade ago, the motor-bike world has progressed (or aggressed, we might say) by leaps and bounds. Manufacturers lavished so much attention on sup-

ping-up their lean mean machines that things fi nally came to a head with something of a gentlemen’s accord in the form of an agreement made in 2000 among the major mo-torcycle manufacturers to limit the speed of their bikes to 300km/h.

With the possibility of mak-ing their rides any faster gone, the manufacturers shifted their focus to making the bikes quicker (de-creasing the time it takes to reach top speed).

When these speed demons began turning lethal, technology stepped in to tame them. Leading the pack of the modern, tech-loaded “Japa-nese Four” (Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki) is the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

The 2015 ZX-10R is a race-inspired bike with heaps of tech-nological goodies, making it the ultimate track beast. Now is in its fourth generation (referred to as gen4 by Kawi buff s), the 10R was redesigned from the previous gen-eration in 2011. The gen4 got an Ohlins steering damper in 2013, but the biggest change for 2015 was the introduction of Kawasaki’s traction control and ABS systems, along with improved suspension.

A 998cc liquid-cooled, inline four, 16-valve DOHC motor is sup-plied fuel by large 47mm throttle bodies and sub-throttle valves, and secondary injectors for im-proved top-end power. Power out-put has gone to whooping 209 PS (with RAM Air) at 13,000rpm, and 112Nm of torque at 11,500rpm. The bike is also equipped with ti-tanium headers that are reported to be very close to the race-spec headers, thus eliminating the need to buy a full system if an ex-haust upgrade is wanted.

The Zed-X10 is a steady winner on Sunday, but how does it handle

Monday through Friday? Racing success obviously doesn’t guarantee that a sport bike is the best choice for the real-world consumer. Is it comfortable enough to commute on or to take on longer rides?

Luckily, Fairtrade Auto (Mus-cat’s authorised Kawasaki dealer) granted me the honour of road test-ing a brand new, special edition ZX-10R to determine if the bike worked as well for mere mortals as it did for the likes of Jonathan Rea. A crazy schedule meant I had just one day to familiarise myself with the ZX-10R.

For my fi rst ride, I headed out to the Al Bustan area, my personal proving ground with its terrain of highs and lows and minimal traf-fi c of the roads. The Ninja felt like it was dialed in just for me, even at 250 pounds with gear (heavy me).

As I rolled into the beautiful hills of Qantab at fi ve in the morning, the conditions were pretty good for rid-ing, at least by Muscat standards. The bike was doing extremely well in the dynamic conditions. The ag-gressive profi le of the tyres comple-mented the already-quick handling characteristics of the ZX-10R.

This bike needs far less input on turn-in than many of the other 1000cc bikes. I even turned in and was on the apex too early a few times, because the response to my inputs was so fast.

The Kawasaki’s tall stock gear-ing feels a bit mismatched at some points, especially at the elevated turns, but that doesn’t mean the Zed-X isn’t fast.

I fl ew in the indicated low 150kmph range as I crested along Qantab road and I found myself wishing that the long run up to Al Bustan road from Wadi Kabir was just a little longer, as the Kawi began to pull harder and harder in third gear, to well above 180kmph.

The tall gearing also means there isn’t as much power at lower speeds, which makes for a less jerky ride in heavy traffi c and a more forgiving throttle. Given the small margin for error on public roads, the taller gearing feels like a safety feature.

Both ABS and non-ABS models have dual, semi-fl oating 310mm petal discs with four-piston radial-mounted callipers up front and a single 220mm petal disc with an aluminium, single-piston calliper on the rear wheel.

The Kawasaki Intelligent anti-lock Braking System (KIBS) comes in handy (supplied on the ABS model): No worries giving it a sud-den throttle at the traffi c signal, or when the so-called “hot under 4 seconds, 0 to 100kmph” coupe tries whirring past you.

Wonderful for public road ap-plications, the KIBS proves to be close to flawless. I couldn’t get the rear to lift in panic-braking simu-lations and the surging feel at the lever is minimal, even at the high sensitivity setting.

The bike felt compact as I tra-versed traffi c during rush hour, but without the wrist-busting ge-ometry of most 600s. Adjustable handle bars are a nice feature to let you find your personal sweet spot. With my five-foot, ten-inch frame, I reached the controls past the small gas tank easily, not requiring any adjustments (the paunch though was a problem, pushing against the tank).

The suspension did an adequate job of soaking up highway bumps, and was much more forgiving than

most of the competition. The stock positioning never left my back sore, not even after an almost 500km round trip ride to the beautiful Ras Al Jinns to watch turtles.

Other race-inspired bits, like the position of the LED tach, race mode display, titanium headers, and cas-sette transmission, eliminate the need for mandatory aftermarket upgrades. A slip-on exhaust is all that is needed.

Multiple functions on the LCD display are quite helpful. The in-dicated fuel consumption and av-erage mileage were very accurate, compared to my calculations.

The bodywork is sleek and sharp. The 10R is designed with very few bodywork screws showing. Mark-ing the 30th anniversary of the brand’s fl agship Ninja line, the 2015 variant comes with custom paint job and an anniversary badge on the fuel tank.

After a day well spent on the road, I was convinced that the ZX-10R is a top contender for best stock litre bike. Even though it was my fi rst time on the bike, I was able to con-quer twisties and hairpin bends, as well as unleash the throttle with ease, which shows how easy it is to ride the ZX-10R and become one with the bike.

The only low I found in the bike is a buzzing sound coming from the upper section of the plastics at low rpms. I couldn’t pin point if it was a fl ap for the intake, or just loose plastics buzzing from the low-end vibration from the motor. But this issue was only mildly annoying.

Riders of the ZX-10R will have to get used to riding the clutch when launching from a stop, whether at the traffi c light or the race track. The gearbox simply doesn’t like to hook up like other litre bikes. My racer friend said the same thing about launches, but maintains that the bike makes up for it on the power and handling within the first couple of turns.

All in all, the ZX-10R, Kawasaki perfectly lives up to the reputation that precedes it, both on the race track and on the street. —Faisal@TimesofOman.com

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R

Engine998cc liquid-cooled, inline four, 16-valve DOHCPower: 200.1 PS/13,000rpmWith Ram Air 209.9 PS/ 13,000rpmMaximum torque: 112 Nm/ 11,500rpm

PerformanceTop Speed: 300km/h (ECU restricted)0 - 100 kmph: 2.9 sec

ColoursAnniversary model Lime Green/Pearl Stardust White paint with 30th Anniversary badges Metallic Matte Carbon Gray/Flat Ebony

Authorised Dealer Fairtrade Auto, Al Khuwair

My first time on the bike,

I was able to conquer

twisties and hairpin bends,

as well as unleash the

throttle with ease, which

shows how easy it is to ride

the ZX-10R and become one

with the bike

Ride safe, and always use a helmet. Do not over-speed: It kills.

PHOT

OGR

APH

Y: K

awas

aki M

otor

s Co

rp.

Scan to see

Ninja ZX-10R

promo video

LIFESTYLEC9M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

LINE UP

ConclusionThe FDR-X1000V is certain to have GoPro looking over its shoulder, with its true 4K video shooting at 30 frames per second. But unfortunately, due to a cumbersome interface and other hard-to-overlook fl aws, this cam’s bark is bigger than its bite.

Even when we just look at the hard-ware, Sony’s 4K Action Cam – while greatly improved – still can’t compete with GoPro’s fl agship camera. The Hero 4 Black simply off ers better con-trols, a wider range of accessories; not to mention cool extras and better div-ing depth.

Sony’s clearly moving in the right direction, and this is a company that makes some of the best camcorders around. GoPro should be worried since Sony will likely continue closing the gap with future action cams. But, for the time being, the X1000V just isn’t there yet.

TOO Verdict: GoPro. It is still the boss.

See you next Monday with more exciting stuff.

GoPro Hero 4B l a c k E d i t i o n

SONYFDR-X1000V

For years, “action camera” was synonymous with GoPro. And for good reason, quite curiously, none of the other prominent brands had entered the segment. That lock on the market is now over as Sony has caught up with the undisputed champ with its

FDR-X1000V 4K. With cheap Chinese variants posing no threat to the GoPro, Sony’s new-

est off ering looks like it might be one of the fi rst legitimate alternatives. It has image quality that almost beats that of the GoPro’s, noticeably-better audio quality, and a longer battery life. But is it really a better option given that the GoPro still scores signifi cantly higher in accessories and ease of use – requisites of for perfect hi-action shoots?

It’s time for a line-up. Here’s our head to head comparison of the latest action cameras from both the brands: the GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition and Sony FDR-X1000V 4K.

Faisal Naim breaks it down. Hit us with your pick on facebook/Times of Oman

Image qualityDetail and sharpnessWhen it comes to detail, overall the Sony FDR-X1000V deliv-ers more resolution or apparent sharpness than the GoPro Hero 4 when it comes to 4k and even in slow motion modes. It is still generating down-scaling artefacts at 1920/1080 at 120p and at 720p 240fps.GoPro: Sony:

ColourThe colour is very saturated in the Sony FDR. In low light it beats the GoPro easily when it comes to de-tail. It is still no low light champ but it does off er better perfor-mance than the Hero 4 Black.GoPro: Sony:

Dynamic rangeWhile Sony edges out in detail, the dynamic range retained by the Hero 4 Black is wider than the compression on the Sony. For colour grading it is clear the Go-Pro Hero 4 does indeed win. The dynamic range in bright spots and dark spots seems better retained in the GoPro. The Sony just cuts out too quickly due to the S curve applied to the video stream.GoPro: Sony:

EcosystemHousingsWhen it comes to design, Sony didn’t depart from the layout it has had used with its previous action cams. The body is rounded with very few edges with a fl at bottom – allowing it to stand on its own.

While Sony improved how deep you can dive with it – up from 16 feet to 32 feet – the GoPro case can still dive 99 feet deeper. Moreover, the Sony has a much bulkier mass than the slim GoPro casing.

Fortunately for anyone shooting near water, this Sony is splash-re-sistant right out of the box; no case needed. Not using the case allows for better audio and better im-age quality since you don’t have to worry about an additional element for the lens to shoot through. But undoing the Sony case is quite a burden. Whereas in case of GoPro, it’s a piece of cake.GoPro: Sony:

MountsA key criteria for adventurers in choosing a camera is its versatility for mounting. There are very few spots where the X1000V would be better or even as good for mounting as the GoPro. The only exception is in narrow areas, as it is thinner than the GoPro from the front.GoPro: Sony:

AccessoriesThe GoPro accessory ecosystem is far more extensive, and has multi-ple options for many of the mounts. Sony, although thorough, can’t compete with the sheer volume of options the GoPro off ers – not even close.GoPro: Sony:

Form factor/Ease of useMenu operation Disappointingly, the controls are unnecessarily complicated on th Sony, and feature a burdensome amount of sub-menus. Even a simple task like turning on/off the WiFi requires at least 12 button press-es while navigating 3 submenus. Compare to that, the GoPro is less complex and much easier to operate despite having one less button.GoPro: Sony:

Battery lifeSony scores well above the GoPro with a battery that lasts 30% longer while shooting at 10AD and 60p. The Sony houses a 4999maH battery whereas the GoPro has a 1999maH. GoPro: Sony:

Hot Ramadan deals from Chinese car brands

Chinese carmakers are fi nding many takers with their attractive deals this Ramadan. With suave features and sleek designs, at lower price tags, the cars are proving to be a defi nite bargain.

MG Authorised dealer: Mohsin Haider Darwish LLC

Free serviceFree comprehensive insuranceFree registration5 years/120,000km warranty5 years AAA roadside assistance GEELY Authorised Dealer: Towell Auto Centre LLC

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Free service for 18 months/ 30,000kmFree comprehensive insurance and registrationGuaranteed buyback3 years/100,000km warranty5 years AAA roadside assistance

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Hero 4 Black

Edition

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PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Appolo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Hamdan Hospital 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

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

CINEMA SCHEDULE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily

15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily

15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily

06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily

08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily

13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily

16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily

16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily

14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily

08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily

14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily

06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily

10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily

10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily

19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily

06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily

13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur

15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily

15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6pm) 24567664 | 68. www.citycinemaoman.net facebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTI

Jurassic World (Action, Adventure) (3D) (PG12)Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, 9:30 pm

I Am Soldier (Action, Thriller) (PG)Cast: Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke, Alex Reid9:45 pm

The Hoarder (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt11:30 pm

Pressure (Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Danny Huston, Matthew Goode, Joe Cole11:45 pm

Baahubali (Action, Adventure) (12+)Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty9:45 pm

MUSCAT GRAND MALLJurassic World (3D) (Action/Adventure) (PG12)Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard9:15 pmGold Class: 9:00 pm

I Am Soldier (2D) (Action, War) (PG)Cast: Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke , Alex Reid11:50 pmGold Class 11:15 pm

The Break Up Playlist (2D) (Drama/Romance) (TBC)Cast: Teddy Corpuz, Sarah Geronimo, Rio Locsin11:30 pm

Baahubali (2D): ( Action /Adventure) (12+)Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati , Anushka Shetty9:00 pm

RUWI

SCREEN 1

Baahubali: The Beginning (Action/Adven-ture/History ) – 12+Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty9.45 pm

SCREEN 2

ABCD-2 (Dance/Musical ) – PGCast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor and Prabhudeva9.45 pm

SCREEN 3

Dil Dhadakne Do (Romance/Drama/Comedy ) – PG12Cast: Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Shefali Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra 9.30 pm

SOHAR

I Am Soldier - 2D (PG) Action | Thriller | WarCast : Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke, Alex Reid9:30 pm

The Hoarder - 2D (15+) Horror | ThrillerCast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt11:30 pm

The Pact II - 2D (15+) Horror| Mystery | Thriller Cast: Caity Lotz, Camilla Luddington, Scott Michael Foster11:50 pm

Oru Second Class Yathra - 2D (PG12) Comedy | Thriller Cast: Vineeth, Nikki Galrani, Chemban Jose, Nedumudi Venu9:15 pm

Baahubali: The Beginning - 2D (Hindi) (12+) Action | Adventure | HistoryCast : Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty9:00 PM

Baahubali: The Beginning - 2D (Telugu)

(12+) Action | Adventure | HistoryCast : Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty11:15 pm

BURAIMI

I Am Soldier- 2D (Action, Thriller, War) (PG)Cast: Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke, Alex Reid9:45 pm

The Hoarder – 2D (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt11:30 pm

Baahubali: The Beginning – 2D (Action, Adventure, History) (12+)Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty9:30 pm

Pressure – 2D (Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Danny Huston, Matthew Goode, Joe Cole9:30 pm

The Pact II – 2D (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Caity Lotz, Camilla Luddington, Scott

Michael Foster11:15 pm

SUR

I Am Soldier (Action / Thriller / War) (PG) Cast: Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke, Alex Reid9:15 pm

The Hoarder ( Horror / Thriller) (15+) Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt11:45 pm

Oru Second Class Yatra (Mal) (Comedy / Drama) (PG12) Cast: Vineeth, Nikki Galrani, Chemban Jose, Nedumudi Venu11:00 pm

Baahubali (Hindi) (Action / Adventure / History) (12+) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty9:00 pm

SALALAH

I Am Soldier (2D) (PG) (Action, Thriller, War )

Cast: Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke, Alex Reid9:30, 11:00 pm

The Hoarder (2D) (15+) (Horror, Thriller) Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt11:15 pm

Pressure (2D) (PG12) (Thriller) Cast: Danny Huston, Matthew Goode, Joe Cole9:00, 11:45 pm

Oru Second Class Yathra (2D) (PG12) (Comedy, Thriller) Cast: Vineeth, Nikki Galrani, Chemban Jose, Nedumudi Venu 9:00 pm

Baahubali: The Beginning - Hindi (2D) (12+) (Action, Adventure, History) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty9:00 pm

Baahubali: The Beginning - Telugu (2D) (12+) (Action, Adventure, History) Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty11:00 pm

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

I Am Soldier ( Action / Thriller/War )Cast: Tom Hughes, Neol Clarck, Alex Reid11.45 pm CP No: 1717 ( PG)

The Hoarder ( Horror /Thriller)Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt9.30 & 11.45 pmCP No: 1718 (15+)

Jurassic World (Action / Adventure ) Cast: Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, Ty Simkin9.30 pmCP No: 1495 (PG 12)

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776Website: www.isurf.co.om

Baahubali (Telugu) Action, Adventure) (12+)

Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka

Shetty

9:30pm at Cinema Main

Papanasam (Tamil) (Drama/Family/

Thriller) – PG12

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami Tadimalla,

Kalabhavan Mani

9:30 pm at Cinema 2

Oru Second Class Yatra (Mal) (Comedy /

Drama) (PG12)

Cast: Vineeth, Nikki Galrani, Chemban Jose,

Nedumudi Venu

9:45 pm at Cinema 3Premam (Mal) (Comedy) Cast: Nivin Pauly, Anupama Parameshwaran and Sai Pallavi

9.45 pm at Cinema 4Next Change: Baahubali (Tamil), Maari (Tamil), Neena (Mal) (Programmes are subject to change)

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily

07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily

13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily

13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily

17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily

06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily

15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily

14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily

12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily

10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily

10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily

19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily

07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri

15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily

15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily

16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily

16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

Gold Class: 11:15 pm 11:30 pm 9:45 pm 11:15 pm 9:00 pm

@MGM @SHATTI @RUWI @BURAIMI @SALALAH

I AM SOLDIER (2D) (Action, War) (PG)Cast: Tom Hughes, Noel Clarke , Alex Reid

THE HOARDER (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Mischa Barton, Robert Knepper, Charlotte Salt

BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING (Action/Adventure/History ) (12+)Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty

THE PACT II (2D) (15+) (Horror| Mystery | Thriller) Cast: Caity Lotz, Camilla Luddington, Scott Michael Foster

ORU SECOND CLASS YATHRA (2D) (PG12) (Comedy, Thriller) Cast: Vineeth, Nikki Galrani, Chemban Jose, Nedumudi Venu

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

WEATHER

350

Maximum

330

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

50-75%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 extra@timesofoman.com

WITH LOVE

LIFESTYLEC11M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

We all love our cars, and I know you try to take the best possi-ble care of yours

with on-time services and even weekly washes and waxes. That’s wonderful, but how well is your car being serviced? Just as important as ensuring that your ride is being serviced at regu-lar intervals, is ensuring it is being serviced properly. This is especially true when you opt for aftermarket garages for servicing (as most of us do) over authorised service centres to save a bit of dough. But how much of a diff erence could there be? A service is a service, right? Well, imagine you are down with a fever and your doctor treats you for an upset stomach — will it help much? As an informed patient, rest assured you would change your doctor directly and get the right medicine as soon as you could. So when it comes to the health of your vehicle, the fi rst order of business is getting to know a bit about your car. Start by going through that booklet called a service manual that comes along with the car, the one most likely living in your glove box in brand new condition. It doesn’t take much time to go through it, and the rewards are many. The manual has detailed instructions about servic-ing and effi cient upkeep of the car

Most important is to know which components are to be inspected, and which are to be replaced on every service as each periodic service has

diff erent checklist. Your mechanic might end up changing all the basic components (plugs, oil and air fi l-ter) or might end up changing none, suggesting the parts have still got enough life in them, merely due to lack of expertise. But, if you are well-informed, you won’t end up just being a listener, you will be-come an active part of your car’s maintenance. This is the surest way to protect your valuable asset against ill-informed or ill-inten-tioned mechanics.

The best favour you could extend to your beloved car is to be patient and have it serviced in front of you (those few hours spent amidst the stench of spent oil and petrol will save you many a precious ones af-terwards). Rest assured you will not have to worry about whether or not the job was carried out well if you are there to watch the process.

That said, the most important element of an eff ective service, and one in which you can be easily de-ceived, is the engine oil.

How much do you value the en-gine in your car? The life of your en-gine depends in no small part on the

quality of the oil you put in it. People typically don’t pay much attention to their oil — Oil is oil, right? Wrong!

Engine oil plays a crucial role in the combustion engine. Without it, the parts won’t be able to move freely, the seals will dry up and crack and little bits of dirt and metal will clog the works. Without engine oil, the whole combustion process will grind to a halt.

Most drivers know their engine needs oil just like it needs gasoline, but how much, what kind and how often to add it can seem like a mys-tery. It is intimidating when you see those bottles of engine oil lined up along the shelves, each promis-ing to keep your engine cleaner, improve your fuel effi ciency, and more. And every one of them has cryptic letters and numbers on the front. And most of us go by the me-chanic’s dictum, when it comes to choosing one. Wrong again.

Use only, only the grade of oil rec-ommended in the owner’s manual. It will usually have a designation such as 5W 30 or 10W 40 (or any other like SAE ratings). Those let-ters and numbers tell you what the

oil’s viscosity rating is (some people call this the oil’s weight). Viscos-ity is a measure of how easily the oil fl ows — is it thick or thin? Your en-gine will perform optimally only if the recommended grade is used.

Remember, the mechanic might advise you that they are all the same, and that there is no point in putting expensive oil in the car. Obliging to that is killing your ride. It’s important enough that I’ll say it again: Strictly go with the oil weight recommended in your car manual.

Also be sure to pay attention to the quality of the oil. A mineral based and synthetic engine oil of the same grade might perform dif-ferently under varied conditions. Mostly, modern high performance cars come with a recommendation of synthetic oil, as mineral oils can-not withstand the high stress and friction of the components, espe-cially under high temperatures, re-sulting in loss of lubrication.

Mineral oil is less expensive than the synthetic oil, which is en-gineered to allow for more miles between oil changes, and has addi-tives to help keep the oil clean and functioning for longer durations. It’s also more stable at higher and lower temperatures than mineral oil.

See not that complex after all? Surprise your mechanic next time you visit his workshop. Being an informed customer pays. Trust me on that.Have a question for The Educated Motorist? Get in touch at faisal@timesofoman.com

T E C H B R I E F S

A bug is behind sudden Instagram popularity

Did your last snap on Instagram earn you hundreds of new follow-ers? Well, that was thanks to a bug. And since the bug has been fi xed, you are probably left with the same old fi gure of followers. Instagram said that a bug had caused some us-ers’ follower counts to increase, but

this was a bug that’s being fi xed. That increase in people’s follower count will disappear once the bug is completely fi xed, TechCrunch reported. A search on Twitter showed many users with smaller fol-lowings also saw an instant increase over the last day or so. Some were confused about whether those were real people who followed them or if Instagram was hacked. “Some people’s follower counts (as shown on their profi les) have spiked (incorrectly) due to a bug. We’re fi xing the bug and counts will be made accurate once we’ve got it fi xed,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Play video games to elevate mood and for stress reliefJust around 20 minutes of video games after a hectic day at of-fi ce can provide you quick stress relief, says a study. The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, however, said that choosing violent games to bust stress may be problematic as they may increase aggressive outcomes. The study authored by assistant professor Karyn Riddle from the University of Wiscon-sin-Madison and two of its graduate students looked at how video games may be used to manage emotions. The participants included 82 students. Half of the participants were asked to play a frustrating video game while the other half skipped the frustrating game and went directly to the next phase of the study.

Graphene based fi lm to cool computers, smartphones

Almost half of the total energy used in running a computer goes in cooling it down. That is going to change now. Researchers at Chalm-ers University of Technology, Swe-den, have developed a method for effi ciently cooling electronics using graphene-based fi lm. Getting rid of

excess heat in effi cient ways is imperative to prolonging electronic lifespan, experts said. The fi lm is attachable to electronic compo-nents made of silicon and has a thermal conductivity capacity that is four times that of copper. A team led by professor Johan Liu from Chalmers University had earlier shown that graphene can have a cooling eff ect on silicon-based electronics, but the challenge was to stick a thick layer of graphene to silicon chips. -IANS

SERVICING Know Before You Go

How much do you value the engine in your car?

The life of your engine depends in no small part on

the quality of the oil you put in it

By Faisal Mohammed Naimfaisal@timesofoman.com

THE

EDUCATED

MOTORIST

The future of storage

Let’s say you are a movie buff or a techie geek with tonnes of movies or software to store and share, you might often fi nd yourself short on storage space to accommo-date your whims and fancies (all those fi lled up hard drives lying around your desk bear testimony to that). There is a never ending space crunch, from computer pro-grammes to software to your ever expanding library. More than a mere space issue, personal com-puters may also often be unable to do all the heavy-lifting when it comes to running applications, storing, and securing private data. Using external drives as a solution can prove to be quite expensive. If this sounds all too familiar, it might be time for you to look into “The Cloud.” Instead of saving your personal or business data on your com-puter’s limited hard drive, you could go online and send your digital belongings to data cen-tres, where there’s practically unlimited storage space. This option is known as cloud com-

puting. A general term, cloud computing involves delivering hosted services over the Internet.

“The Cloud” is a network of computers that work together and help store and process enor-mous amounts of data globally across data centres. As long as you have an Internet connection, you can access your fi les anytime, on any device. It also presents you with resources that could help you with your business.

The cloud is quite useful as a personal and business storage space. Big tech companies like Amazon and Google own and op-erate cloud computing platforms and off er space on their clouds to other businesses. The only thing the user’s computer needs to be able to use this resource is the cloud computing system’s inter-face software, which can be as simple as a Web browser.

The software and storage for your account doesn’t exist on your computer — it’s on the provider’s server — so all it takes is an e-mail account to get started with cloud computing. Approximately 90 per cent of global Internet users are al-ready on the cloud in some manner or the other, which is a pretty good indication that the days of external hard drives, and storage headaches in general, may be numbered.(Credit: BI Intelligence).

Have tech queries? Ask Mahran Shaukat Ali mahran@timesofoman.com

C L O U D C O M P U T I N G

LIFESTYLEC12 M O N DAY, J U LY 1 3, 2 0 1 5

2 new users join Facebook every second using smartphones or tablets

SMARTS ON THE GOWith their ease of use, smartphones and tablets are really taking over the tech scenario.

Here are 10 interesting facts:

Over

tablets will be sold by the end of 2015

At least 50% of consumers will use

2 or MOREDEVICES

in their purchase process

100 hoursof video are uploaded to YouTube every minute via smartphones

of mobile searches lead to action, 50% lead to a purchase

BY THE NUMBERS

People who use phones and tablets to access the Internet will outnumber those who use a PC in

80% of smartphone owners use their device in stores to shop

of all local searchesare conducted on mobile. People search while on the move

85% of users say social networks help them decide what to purchase

60% of mobile users expect a

website to loadin less than

seconds

50%

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

CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E

D

D4 VACANCY CARGO D7

M O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5

RENT D2

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

1BHK, Darsait, walking distance to

ISM , neat and clean building, ground

fl oor, OMR 260/- per month rent

Call IQRAR on 99076557

Fully furnished 3 BHK accommo-

dation with all spacious rooms in a

villa at Darsait near ISD.

Contact: 9526 5289 / 9604 8422

Furnished room for rent at

Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975

Villa AL Ghobrah, 6 bedroom 1200/-

R.O. Contact: 99340055/97557555

3BHK, 3 bathrooms, 2 balconies,

nr. Al Hassan W/ Kabir R.O 350/-.

Contact: 99384640

Flats shops for rent in

Ruwi MBD area Mumtaz area.

Contact: 97293708 / 92433127

2BHK at Al Khodh, 2BHK at Wadi

Kabir 2 room, 1hall, dining, 2

bathrooms. Contact: 99224748 /

99332297

Store in Wadi Kabir 1900 SQM.

Contact: 99473751 / 91471067

1BHK Darsait R.O 225/-. Contact: 92144045

1BHK Wadi Kabeer, RO 225/-.

Contact: 92144045

2BHK Darsait R.O 300/-.

Contact: 92144045

2BHK Ghubra R.O 250/-. Contact:

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1,2,3 BHK. Contact: 97799175

2 bedrooms apartments for rent in

Al Khuwair and Ghubra. Call Yel-

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www.muscat-realty.com

3 Bedroom fl at in Wadi Kabeer and

2 bedroom villa in Sidab- Muscat.

Contact: 95755953

Spacious 2- BR fl at in MBD.

Contact 99713489

For rent offi ce CBD fl at in Ruwi.

Contact: 92820734 / 95345909

Residential /commercial 2 B/R

near Medical College Bausher from

Owner. Contact: 92158031

256 sq mtrs restaurant for rent in

Plaza Hotel, Walja Ruwi.

Contact 99326339

1BHK close to ISWKG Wadi Kabir

Bldg # 1690 R.O 250/-. #99476728

3 BHK Flat in Azaiba.

Contact 99792181

Studio Flat in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181

1 BHK Flat in Honda Road (Ruwi).

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHK fl at in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

Labour Camp + Store in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99792181

Flat with A/C in the South Al Ma-

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consists of 2 rooms, hall, 2 bathrooms

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Good fl at villa type at Mobeileah

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New building in Wadi Kabir, 2 bed-

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3 bed room fl at near ONTC Ruwi.

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Six bed room twin villa Al Athaiba.

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D2 M O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5

4 bed room fl at at Al Hail South.

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from owner. Tel 97600322

alnehang@gmail.com

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair 33,

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parking area near Taimur Mosque.

Contact: 99366624

1BHK with A/C Mumtaz. R.O 250/-.

Contact 97799175

Fabulous AC fl at at Al Khoud 3 bed-

rooms, hall and kitchen RO 270/-

for rent. Contact: 99334699

2 BHK fl at in Al Ansab with

split A/C. RO.250/- Contact – 93191111

2BHK near Oman house behind

Khimji, H.O. Contact: 95865686

3000 sq mtrs Industrial landß,

in Barka Sanaiya, with electricity

400KW, shed, staff accommodation

and offi ce. Ready to start any kind

of factory. Contact 99384255.

2 Rooms & 2 bathrooms with

kitchen near al meera hyper mar-

kets, azaiba for executive bachelors

/ family. Gsm : 942 888 63

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new fl at

available at Mabela in front of Mod-

ern English School

Contact: 96239126

2 BHK commercial /

residential fl at at Honda Road.

Contact: 99342733/99795241

Small old house for rent Al Ghobrah.

Contact 95112461

Fully furnished 1BHK with all

household items in Darsait near

Lulu on monthly Basis. Contact :

99378397/99493500

Room with bath, kitchen

Al Khuwair. Contact: 99743569/

97004265

Furnished room AL Khuwair for In-

dian Sri Lankan. Contact: 96536307

Accommodation available with

Keralite family near W.K main

school. Contact: 95882866

/96575016

Fully furnished room in Ruwi for

non cooking ex- bachelor.

Contact 94412557

Single furnished room, attached

bathroom in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 92155261

Rooms for rent in Seeb for couple /

single/ working ladies.

Contact: 96996938

DAILY GUIDE

FOR RENTBuilding In Rusail Industrial

comprising a store divisible area 266 sq. meters.

The building includes Studios

residence.Preferably to be leased to

one company.

Mob + 968 96177505

506sqm space with mezzanine

available for rent in AL Wadi Al

Kabir, Suitable for carpentry / Auto

workshop and / or electrical shop

interested parties may.

Contact: 24703981

Bath attached room for rent

Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569

For rent if require fl ats for rent in

Wadi Kabir please send me mes-

sages through Whatsapp.

Contact: 99376454

Flat for rent in Mabellah 8th.

Contact: 97147240

2BHK with split AC at Al Khuwair

33. Contact: 94057023

Offi ce space at Alasfoor Plaza

Qurum. Contact : 24566217

/24564686

Flat in South Al Hail, 2 bedrooms,

Majlis, 2 bathrooms, kitchen RO

250/-. Contact 93221474

Flat in Ruwi Mumtaz 2 BHK

RO 300 or 1 BHK 250 RO.

Contact 98588240

2BHK with split AC near PDO Gate

no -2 at Qurum. Contact: 94057023

Luxury 3 BHK fl at in Al Wattaya

with split A/C & private parking.

RO.500/- Contact – 93191111

2 bed rooms, kitchen, toilet & car

park in Al Khuwair R.O 200/- .

Contact 95154331

Deluxe furnished / unfurnished

fl ats Qurum. Contact: 24566217 /

24564686

Commercial 3 BHK fl at in Al Ghobra

18 Nov Street. RO 700/-

Contact 93191111

2 BHK fl at in Al Azaiba near sea,

with split A/C. RO.340/- # 93191111

Villa of 5 BHK in Al Ansab with split

A/C. RO.650/- Contact – 93191111

For rent in Qantab European style 4

bedrooms, 4 baths, Guest toilet, fully

equipped modern kitchen, covered

car park for two cars, approximately

150 meters from the beach. For

enquiries, please Contact: Yasser at

92606005

Independent rooms in Qurum /

Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Full furnished single /sharing room

for Exe. bachelor at Rex Road near

Kamat with WIFI available.

Contact 92873832

Furnished room for Indian couples

or family near Honda Road (Walja).

Contact 98952904

Available sharing accommodation

for non cooking Executive bachelor

near Indian School Al Ghoubra with

Keralite family. Contact 91697955

Furnished room attached bath for

lady in Wadikabir (Mars Hypermar-

ket) – 95941515

Furnished bedroom with separate

bathroom and kitchen on sharing in

Darsait for Ex- bachelors.

Contact : 95376096

Fully furnished room for a decent

expatriate. independent kitchen,

bathroom in Wadi Adai.

Contact 96243086 at 5p.m.

For sharing accommodation room

with toilet attached, kitchen sharing

near clean building next to main

road near Indian school Wadi Kabir,

Indian couples family or bachelor.

Contact: 95345537 / 94672007

Furnished room with attached bath-

room in W/K. Contact: 97167857

Sharing for non cooking executive

bachelor in CBD area WIFI free,

Advance deposit. Contact: 95094504

Deluxe 1, 2 BHK fl ats in Darsait,

AL Khuwair 1deal for offi ce &

residence. Contact 99369081

/99142314

Flat at Darsait. Contact 99326879

Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir with

3 rooms. Contact : 98555580 /

92800007

1BHK fl ats at Muttrah near Oman

house. Contact : 93231403

House in Amerat near to Makah

hypermarket with three room,

5toilets, kitchen and hall 430/-.

Contact: 92747078

Villa with two fl oors in (Hay Al

Arjan) in AL Khoud with 4 bedrooms,

hall, Majles, kitchen & one room in

ground fl oor. Contact: 93219597

Room with A.C AL Khuwair

R.O 120/- Contact: 97799175

Flats for rent near Indian school in

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99777122

One & two bedroom apartments

available for rent, near avenge

mall, close to Atlas hospital next to

Diwans offi ce, South Ghobrah.

Contact: 99833747

A parlour well settled / well

equipped in running position at

Ghobrah for sale. Contact immedi-

ately on 97498898

FOR SALE

A parlour well settled/well equipped

in running position at Ghubra for sale.

Contact immediately on 97498898

DAILY GUIDEM O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5 D3

FOR SALE

BUYING/SELLING

MOTOR VEHICLE FOR SALE

Toyota Corolla 1.8 ltr GLI excellent

condition 28,000 kms.

Contact: 97717152

Touareg 2011 Oman cars, 114000

KM, silver, 8500/-R.O. #92857111

Toyota Prado 2008, Toyota Corolla

2009, Honda CRV 2009, low mileage

available at Bombay Medical, behind

Ruwi Police Station. #99326339

Prado ,2012. Contact : 99336093

Peugeot 206-2007 Model, expat

driven. Contact 99209285

Sportage, 2013. Contact:99336093

Land Cruiser 2012. Contact:

99336093

2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40

ton petrol tank each working at the

moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35

Thousand each. Contact 97000155

or 92688692

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done

till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

All type of car scanner available

easy car diagnostic for professional

and self use Authorize LAUNCH

and Autel dealer. GSM:92393972

www.omancartools.com

Used furniture & Electronic items,

offi ce & house. Contact: 99834373

SITUATION WANT-MATRIMONIAL

Equipped kitchen showroom

company for sale at Ghubrah, Muscat.

6 visa available,

Contact owner at 96303747

House hold items. Contact: 97094797

Darsait near labor card Medical

business furnished offi ce for sale,

rent R.O 260/- p/m.

Contact: 91211117

Ladies beauty parlor sale in Mut-

trah, above Ahla supermarket.

Contact: 93231403

Used Super market Gandola RO

40.000 PER meter, double tube light

RO 2.000 per piece.

Contact: 96441670

Coff ee shop at Liwa main road.

Contact : 99515419

Turkish MDF door with frame for

sale, size 210 x 100 Price: RO 75/-.

Contact: 95899296 / 92141514

Total Station Survey Instrument

S3 2” / Servo/ Trimble access

bundle - batch 9101025 – not used.

Contact: 94282782 / 95425747

RC SC girl (Kerala) 28 yrs, 154cm

BSC Nurse working in Oman (SQUH)

seeks alliances from prottessionaly

qualifi ed employers.

Contact: 96228192

Kerala Christian Orthodox boy 29/185 Staff Nurse MOH Muscat

seeks suitable alliances.

Contact: 99461264

Indian Kerala male 31 years

Hindu Ezhava working in Muscat

looking for life partner.

Contact: 99893119

Kerala Nair girl, B.Com, 22 yrs, 5.2”

very fair, slim, (Star Uthrattathi)

Presently working in infosis, Chen-

nai. Financially sound, from parents

of nair boys from Trissur, Palakkad

and Eranakulam & Calicut dist. .

Contact :0091 8301865688

email: raveendrandr@yahoo.com

Alliance invited for a Nair girl 24 yrs, 5ft, 1”, fair, slim, B.Tech gradu-

ate reputed family of Ernakulam

dist. (Star Thiruvonam Sudha-

jathakam) fi nancially sound, from

parents of B.Tech nair boys from

Trissur, Palakkad and Eranakulam

dist. . Contact 00919495924302

email: raveendrandr@yahoo.com

3 cents plots-(12nos.) at walk-

able distance from Kovalm

Jn.,Trivandrum,Lorry site near to

main road-Bus route, for immediate

sale. 3 cents- 15 lakhs only.

Call 00968-95036240,

0091-9961034763 or

email- cfhd1@ yahoo.com

Centre For Housing Development-Trivandrum: Group of senior and

retired Engineers and Architects

provides service in the fi eld of

Design and Supervision of buildings

in Kerala.For appointments, E-mail

your site location and building

requirements to cfhd@ymail.com. or

call 00968-95036240,

0091-9961034763.

38 cents plot with 2BHK house by

the river bank in Thrissur Dist. near

Irinjalakuda (Karavanoor).

Contact: 99347089

500 acre agricultural land suitable

for rubber plantation for sale in Rat-

nagiri Maharashtra. price 2 lakh per

acre, rubber board approved land,

minimum purchase 20 acre.

We provide care taking by expe-

rienced Malayalee team for your

plantation. please call ,

prasad 95760790

NRI

6 bedroom, 6 bath rooms, sitting &

dining villa at Qurum.

Contact: 99342733

Sale & repair of Tyres 315/80

R 22.5 & 12.00 R 24.

Contact: 97477128

Brand new 4 BHK plus Maids room

in Barka, 2 Kms from Lulu.

Contact: 99347089

Well established medium size con-

struction company for sale. Equip-

ments, 30 employees &

ongoing projects.

Serious buyers only 99412020

Salon for sale in Muttrah next to

Muttrah Health Center 2/500 -R.O .

Contact: 99012807

Wall papers, grass carpets sale

& fi xing. Contact 99834373 /

97102699

Commercial land for sale 3000 m

in quriyat road main high way can

use as a petrol station license

available asking price 350,000

For more information

please call on 99070701

with out name

BUSINESS

New company seek partnership.

Contact: 96996938

General Investors. Gsm-99674870

2013 NISSAN MAXIMA FOR SALE.Single Owner,10 Months full cover

Insurance (UAE & Oman), 15,000

Km only. Intrested buyers can Call/

Whatsapp on 95692099

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting,

Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery,

Glassware, Chafi ng Dishes, Ice Sculp-

tures, to Large Sound Systems and spec-

tacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222

for Catering and Croyden 9623 5555 for

Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

DAILY GUIDED4 M O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

CATERING

DESIGNER

ADMIN

ENGINEER

ENGINEER

EDUCATION

EDUCATION

SALES / MARKETING

TOURS

DESIGNER

AUTO CAD/DRAUGHTS-

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Secretary (Female), Experience:

Minimum 1 - 2 years. Forward CV

to hr@barikgroup.com

Required Offi ce Assistant

160+25+Acc, Contact 99454425

Mechanical Engineer, Indian 24

with 2 yrs experience in HVAC- MEP

Revit – MEP, AutoCAD – MEP Navis

solid works Catia PRO-E primavera.

Contact: 96975382

Email: bonny491@gmail.com

MBA having 4years Gulf experience

in Coordination with contracting

company .NOC Available.

Ph: 95405885

Indian female, BE, Civil engineer

with 1 year experience looking for

suitable vacancy, on visit.

Contact 95139583,

Email : aisushetty09@gmail.com

SAP – SCM.MM Consultant B.Tech.

(Chemical), from NIT, working with

oil industry, seeks employment.

Contact: 98049288

Iraqi Civil Engineer, 12 years expe-

rience with Omani driving license.

Contact: 94695595

Degree holder Civil Engineer hav-

ing 10 years experience with driving

license looking for better position.

Contact 98451844

Email: zahid_ruet@hotmail.com

Indian male, 38 years old, DME –

Mechanical Maintenance Techni-

cian 11 years Oman experience.

Ready for NOC, VISA transfer, ready

to join immediately, Mob +968

95612870, seeniselvan@gmail.com

Indian male, 34 years old, DEE –

Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman

experience. Ready for NOC , VISA

transfer and valid Oman driving

license light, ready to join imme-

diately. Contact +91 9740679094,

kulasekar1980@gmail.com

Indian male Safety Offi cer, 4+

years experience diploma in fi re &

safety Eng seeks suitable post.

Contact: 98843139

ACCOUNTANT

BEAUTY

Indian CA with 15 yrs exp working

as Finance Head of MNC looking for

Job. NOC Available. 94047434

Indian male, 30 years, CMA(Inter),M.com, 4 out of 7 years

experience in Oman in Auditing/

Accounts/ Finance. Having NOC

and valid Oman D/L.

Contact: 96746420 ,

Email: sijuthampi@ymail.com

Indian male 32 years MBA, 6 out

of 14 years experience in Oman in

accounts / fi nance having NOC and

Valid Oman driving license last date

in Oman 01/AUG/2015.

Contact: 94051463

Email: gkvenkatesh83@gmail.com

Assist Accountant Indian (m) 2

years experience in Oman looking

for a job immediate joining, cur-

rently working in Oman. Contact

Shaheed Shamsadin : 98427810

Accountant, Indian male, 10 years

experience in Oman. Can do upto

fi nalization and knowledge of Tally

ERP9 can be joined immediately

with NOC. Contact: 94134085 Email:

muscatoman95@yahoo.com

Married lady 25 years, Master

Accounts having 5 years experience

in Indian looking for full / part time

job. Contact: 95140332 /93223050

family visa holder.

Contact 95140332

Indian male, well experienced in

Accounts and Admin looking for a

suitable vacancy.

Contact : 98717938

Indian female, M.Com Finance, DCA,

3 years experience in Accounts /

fi nance& knowledge in ERP & Tally

seeking suitable position in corpo-

rate fi nance / banking / consulting.

Email: prapullasuvarna@gmail.com

Contact: 96953705

now in family visa.

Indian male with total 5 year

experience (2 years experience in

Accountant cum sales co ordinator

in a FMCG Company in Oman) in

accounts fi eld and NOC available.

Looking for suitable job

Contact 92130188

Indian male, B.Com, Accountant,

10 yrs in Oman experience in

Accounts, knowledge of Tally ERP 9,

focus RT having NOC & D/L,

looking for suitable job.

Contact 93086105

Male 26 yrs, MBA in Accounts

and Finance, 2 years Experience in

Management and Accounts Fields,

and 1 year experience in Operations

in Oman Looking for a suitable job.

Contact 94374745

Indian male 22 yrs B. Com Graduate

1 year exp in Accounts, currently on

visit visa. Looking for suitable job.

Contact 94341848 /

Email – mohdhaji7272@gmail.com

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in

fi nance/accounts/ auditing. Special-

ized in accounts payable dept, Ora-

cle app user, profi cient in Sap (fi co)

end user & tally 9.0. lean &six sigma

certifi ed trainer on visit visa.

Contact – 91967213 / 99064780

Motivated and energetic male 25

having 4 years of experience in

fi nance with Master’s degree in Eco-

nomics and CAT Certifi ed seeking

opportunity in Accounts/fi nance/

audit in a reputable organization.

Cell no: 00968-94626209

E-Mail: omerjawedshah@gmail.com

Sudanese Accountant seeking

job in Nizwa state experience 10

years 3 years in Saudi Arabia, 7

yrs in Sudan. Contact : 97796394 /

94003247

Accountant 8 yrs experience

looking part time job.

Contact 99867456

Indian Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

fi nalization, having knowledge

of ERP, Tally, seeks suitable

placment.Contact 93950138

Email: lijinrajan123@gmail.com

Chinese/ Arab/ continental cook & helper wanted. Contact 95529970

Required experience Waiter / Supervisor/ Juice maker, Shawarma maker. Contact: 95395378

Traditional Omani restaurant requires: Waitress for restaurant. Delivery man with bike license

preferred. Interested candidates send

CV to: Email: omanhari@yahoo.com

Contact: 95892831

Urgently required Accountant B. Com with 4-6 years Gulf experience

in construction fi eld and good knowl-

edge in FOCUS accounting software.

Send CV : pccllcoman@gmail.com

Urgently required a part – time female Accountant fl uent in English

with 2-3 years experience in Tally.

Email: mhca@mhabibgroup.com

Fax: 24564459

Urgently required femaleaccountant with an experience

minimum 3years Email CV on

cv.hrcharity@gmail.com

Urgently required Junior Account-ant. Please send CV:

hr.azatllc@gmail.com

SKILLED

IT

DRIVER

Urgently required an Electrician for an interiors fi tout company with

NOC available. Gulf experience is

must. Call 95103518 or send your CV

: to.shaista@gmail.com

Urgently required experienced sub-contractors for Marble Floor-

ing / Marble Cladding / Grinding /

Carving works. Contact 92884177 /

99485595

Urgently required a silk Screen printer with good knowledge and

release letter or NOC. Contact:

93280288 or send CV to

albayanstamps@gmail.com

Indian female B.Sc- Fashion De-

signer 21 years, fresher, One month

internship in a garment industry

2015 University best designer award

holder. Now looking for a creative

job, currently on residential visa.

Contact: 98297940 / 99741604.

Email : zintasabu@gmail.com

Architect and Interior designer, 8

years exp capable of managing turn

key projects, design, BOQ, Execution.

NOC available. Contact : 95273166

AutoCAD Draughts man seeks

Employment. Contact: 91889873

Electrical draftsman AutoCAD

switch gear & MEP control panel

7 years experience Qatar.

Contact: 92546203/96228100

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

SITUATION WANT-

EDSIT. WANTED

Vacancy for lady Receptionist

at Sinaw Hala Medical Center - Flu-

ency in English and Arabic Omani

or non Omani. Contact: 25524180 /

91362141 Email:

halamedicalgroup@gmail.com

Urgently Required: Administration with an experience minimum in

3 years in building construction,

required immediately join and MUST

have NOC.Apply, fax 00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com.

MANAGER

Urgently required Sales Executive and interior designer for furnish-

ing company with Valid Oman D/L

and minimum 3 years experience.

Contact: 93231403/

rainbowfurnishing156@gmail.com

Experience building material Salesman required in Amerat shop.

Contact : 99641900

Required Sales man - 1 Person Quali-

fi cation. Gulf Experienced - Minimum

5 Years with Oman Driving Licence

Language - English Education:- Any

Degree Further Contact :

Mr. Abdul Hameed

Nashabat - Mobile No: 97414307 and

-92807399 amn@yaqeeneng.com

Urgently required female Sales Promoters individual with pleasant

personality, excellent communica-

tions & presentation skills & experi-

ence in selling perfumes cosmetics

and skincare products would be

preferred. Send your CV & details

with recent photograph to

info@mawaridoman.com

or fax no 24127484/ Tel: 24127485

Tyre / Spare parts outdoor Sales Executive with experience required

driving license and NOC. Send CV to

ptf_25@hotmail.com

Wanted part time female Sales Executive with D/L for a reputed

company. Contact 94688874

A leading marketing company is

looking for outdoor Sales Execu-tives on part time or full time basis

in Salalah. Contact 92760281 /

96436719

Looking for Outdoor Salesman for

heavy equipment spare parts.

Contact - 93292015,

Email: mail.om@gulfcenter.co

Urgently required Sales and Marketing Executive for Graphic de-

signing company. Contact: 96727631

mail: smartgraphic518@gmail.com

Minimum 2 years of experience

with valid gulf light driving license

interested candidates please

Contact: 99222086 /98585851

Required male or female candidate with 5 years experience in renting

of properties. Interested candidates

may please mail to

alqurumprop@gmail.com

DRIVER

DRIVER

Urgently Required: Male – handles overall store operations of the Su-

permarket, Prior Experience a MUST,

knowledgeable in MSOffi ce. Send CV

to chanda@dolphin-oman.com or

fax to 244-92718.

Mason, C.C.T.V, Technician, Electrician cum Plumber.Contact - 99383044

Indian Female MBA, 3 years experi-

ence in Admin MIS, Family Visa.

Contact 98234427,

jkjsmith01@gmail.com

A Lady with 5 years experience in

HR/Admin is looking for suitable job

and can join immediately.

Contact : 94465835

Indian female with 1 half

years experience in MBA / HR seeks

suitable placement.

Contact 99257214

Male with 2 years’ experience in

Admin Works, fl uent in Arabic and

English, Computer knowledge,

preferably with driving license.

Working hours 6am to 2pm or 2pm

to 10 pm daily

Email: jayan@ra.cc or 99661980

Indian female with 10 yrs of experi-

ence in HR/Banking/Operations

seeks a suitable placement.

Can be contacted on 98919015 or

sherianne.coelho@gmail.com

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00

noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

Required exp. employee for travel

agency in Saham.

Contact :93655939 / 92900021

Urgently required Project Engineer for a reputed Construction Company

in Muscat with Civil Engineering

Degree/Diploma, 6 to 10 years expe-

rience, holding Oman/GCC Driving

License.E.mail: assaud@omantel.net.

om or FAX: 24953530

Fire and Safety Technician with

NIFE or equivalent Diploma holder

preference to those having D/L. Send

CV to visionansara@gmail.com

Required MEP Diploma Engineer specialized in building maintenance.

Fluent in English and computer

holding valid Omani driving license

& NOC. Send CV to

Email: info@alrabiyahrealestate.com

to arrange interview

Urgently Required: Civil Engineer with an experience minimum in

5 years in building construction,

MUST have NOC and immediately

join. Apply, fax 00968–24605955,

emails sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com

Construction Company in Oman

urgently requires following candi-

dates: BE Civil Engineer, minimum

3-5 years gulf experience & Civil site foreman, minimum 5 years gulf

experience, diploma not required.

Email: applyforoman@gmail.com

Leading Construction Company requires Quantity Surveyor (QS)

with 4-6 yrs Gulf experience. Send

your CV : qsmuscat2015@gmail.com

(NOC required).

Required a part time steel Struc-tural Design Engineer for a reputed

steel fabrication company in

Muscat. Interested person may

Contact : 99451158

IND male WEB developer 5 yrs exp

B.Tech (comp science) PHP, HTML

MYSQL Java script CSS.

Contact: 95990529

Email: renjith341@gmail.com

Required Beautician for a parlor

in Ghubra. Contact: 94241385 /

97244766

Wanted experienced Beautician

for beauty parlor in Al Amerat 3.

Contact: 91107337

Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437

ADMIN

CATERING

Looking for a Sales Engineer (Me-

chanical) with 2 to 3 year relevant

experience in the Oman market

with driving license .

Please forward your CV to :

mbdeast@gmail.com

Required for Engineering consul-

tancy offi ce a Supervision Staff for road project at Ibri region: Civil Engineer (B.Sc) RE with 12

years experience & Land Surveyor

(Diploma) with 8 years experience.

Please email CV & certifi cate copy to

alsarh@omantel.net.om

Required Civil Engineer (build-

ings) Oman experience 5+ years,

BOQ+ Tendering + site supervision.

Contact: 95218004

Email: alhilalint@yahoo.com

Construction Company in Oman

urgently requires the following:

B.Sc Civil Engineer, minimum 3-5

yrs Gulf experience. Civil Site Fore-man, minimum 5 yrs experience

with operating knowledge of Tally.

Please Email CV ;

applyforoman@gmail.com

Designer required for wooden

joinery company with excellent

knowledge of 3D Max, 2D Autocad.

Contact: 94249047

Email: mfqazi@gmail.com

English medium private school in

Sinaw urgently required English & Science teachers. Send CV :

saminternationalschoolsinaw@

gmail.com Contact: 98927055

Professional Teacher Qualifi ed

M.Com Post Graduate in fi nance for

teaching Accounting subject.

Contact: 91251210

Indian male 38 yrs Senior Chef de.

De. Party pastry exp 15 yrs in fi ve

star hotels, 10 yrs exp Oman get NOC

looking for job in hotel & bakery.

Contact: 96460519

MISCELLANEOUS

Required urgently experienced Gardener and building care taker. Contact: 99231676

Well established company in

selling chocolate, Arabian sweets

and fresh fl owers, opening ITS fi rst

branch in Muscat seeking:

1- sweets and chocolates Sales man 2- fl ower arranger (Asian/

Filipino Nationality)

Contact: 94490011

Email: labelleoman@gmail.com

A company from UAE require 2 merchandisers in retail food

supply, store keeper with English

and invoicing experience. Email:

yesterdaysun@hotmail.com

Indian (Kerala) light driver seeking

for job, 12 years experience Oman.

Contact: 98175321

Pakistan male (27) light driver

seeking job, 4 years experience in

Oman. Contact 96346582

Light duty driver with 2 yrs experi-

ence looking for job.

Contact: 96342684

Light driver. Contact: 96961993

Indian (Kerala) light driver seek-

ing for job, 5 yrs experience in

Oman. Contact: 98029273

Looking for driving job. Contact: 98219182

Driver: 15 years Driving Experi-

ence in Saudi Arabia, Looking for

suitable place, Contact.. 91624908,

93540898

Driver available with car and with-

out car Education, B. A exp. 5 years,

language Hindi, Arabic, English.

Contact: 98522914

Bangladeshi male light driver seeking suitable placement 1 yr

experience. Contact: 94158238

Driver available with car driver &

without car. Contact 96771598 /

94039796

Wanted driver. Contact: 95112461

Driver required for a Company, 2

years experience. Visa available.

Contact 24479922

Driver heavy duty required urgent-ly for trailer. Oman / GCC experience

must. Those ready for immediate

joining. Contact: 95637296

MEDICAL

Wanted female doctor GP. Interested

candidates can forward your CV to

jayakumar.velu@alnabaholding.com

Required MOH licensed lady G.P Dentist Pharmacist, Asst Pharma-cist for Salalah based pharmacy

and clinic. Contact: 92732491 Email:

clinicrecruitment2015@gmail.com

Vacancy Lab Technician for inquiry

or send CV zmczahara@yahoo.com

Contact 24571094

Fax: 24571097

Required Prometric passed nurse to

join clinic from end August.

Contact: 99352793

ADVERTISING

Looking for JOB. I have done BS

Hons in Mass communication and

media, Specialised in Public Rela-

tions and Advertising. I have upto

1 year of experience. Immediate

Available. Open for any JOB.

Sultan Zafar #97034134

Driver, 42 yrs seeks for suitable

job KSA, 12 years Oman 4 years,.

Contact: 95796030

Heavy duty driver with PDO license,

5 yrs Intl. exp. Contact: 95546585

Light driver. Contact:95779594

Driver looking for job. #99507039

Pakistani driving available.

Contact : 96913836

DAILY GUIDEM O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5 D5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

MEDICAL

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Indian male, B.E ( computer science

engineer), MBA (fi nance), OCA certi-

fi ed, having 5 years of experience in

oracle Dba/ oracle apps Dba, seeks

a suitable position in the fi eld of IT.

Contact: 96212062

email: zubairkhan11@gmail.com

Well experienced MOH Licensed

Indian GP Doctor looking for locum /

permanent position in the

Capital area. Contact 98140024

email:drgpoman@yahoo.com

Indian male, B.com, diploma in ma-

terial management, 12+ years exp in

international / local purchase, ware

housing 4 logistics seeks suitable

placement NOC available.

Contact: 96477638 / 96477638

Production Manager 13 years

experience in cast Aluminium fab.

fi eld and good track record seeking

for a suitable job. NOC ready in Hand.

Contact: 96392319

Indian male, with 8 yrs exp. in

Oman (BA- Graduate) working as

a project Sales Coordinator, with

Oman D/L, looking for suitable job,

ready to join immediately with NOC.

Contact 95245057

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

HOSPITALITY Female Dentist Indian, Prometric

passed 63%,4 years of work experi-

ence, immediately available to join.

Contact 97469553,

nazianbaig@gmail.com

Indian male GP doctor, 12 years

experience parametric passed with

74% seeks suitable post.

Email: ppdr2020@gmail.com.

Contact 97985325

Indian female Dentist MOH Oman

passed seeking a suitable place-

ment in capital region.

Contact– 91377681

hashimsarawat@gmail.com

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf ex-

perience) looking for a suitable job

(NOC available) Contact-93344378

TOURS & TRAVELS

25 Indian female B.S.C. Fashion

Technology. 5 years experience in

textile industry as a merchandiser

and good in fashion marketing. Cur-

rently available on visit visa, seek-

ing for a suitable job. # 96990368.

Email: simmy.missy@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25,

3 years experience in site, CAD, 3d,

MS Project, Seeking job in Oman. #

92875345, jubincivileng@gmail.com

Indian male accountants, 12 years

experience, tally also. Looking for a

part time/ full time job in accounts

or purchase. Contact- 98983122

Indian Female 2yrs exp. in Ac-

countant 5 yrs exp. in Electron-

ics, seeking suitable Job. Cont

97162705,93705090

Indian male, 14 years Experience in

maintenance & Supervisor in hotel

fi eld (Electrical, Ac Mechanical &

Plumber). NOC available #95253640

email = hareeshma24@yahoo.com

Female Candidate: Having experi-

ence (ISRO India) in Administration

(seeking suitable opportunities

&presently in Oman Mob:97239854,

Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com

Diploma civil Engineer seek-

ing jobs(positions suits me:

civil engineer ,site engineer,qa/qc

engineer,land surveyor ,total sta-

tion, auto level,draftsman (autocad,

microstation) mob:97239854,

Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com

MOH Indian Dentist 10 years experi-

ence in Oman. Can speak Arabic, has

driving license. Contact 98995321

or ventureoman007@gmail.com

BRANCH-HEAD, MBA-BBA, Indian

Male having experience in UAE,

India, Oman total 5 years (including

MNC), looking for similar or same

openings.NOC available.

Mobile :92700670,

E mail:catanalur131@gmail.com

Qualifi ed Native speaking male

English Teacher with 18 years

experience seeks position. Salary

Negotiable. Whatsapp on +968 9334

1047 / +968 93952732 or e-mail me

on nadgov@gmail.com

Indian female, IATA, B. Sc, look-

ing for suitable placement.Con-

tact-95514305, E mail id-

raveendranmala@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT, Indian male, 29

years, 8 years experience. Presently

working in Oman as a Senior Ac-

countant with Oman Driving license.

NOC available seek suitable opportu-

nity. GSM: 98184170

Electrical Engineer, B. Sc degree,

Filipino, 15 years experience in oil

& gas, power plant, substation, EPC

projects, testing & commissioning,

O & M with Oman D/L light.

Contact: 97090934

Electrical Engineer Indian male 29

years, having 5 years of experience

in industrial automation and utility

maintenance in India (MRF Tyres)

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 92789995

Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

Structural Engineer of 2 years &

7 months experience, specialized

in Structural Design and Site Su-

pervision looking for a job. Contact:

94634906 / 94370767

Email: muazomer45@gmail.com

Indian Civil Engineer (buildings)

available immediately as supply

contract. Contact: 93263834

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Btech computer science graduate

2015 passout.. Android application

marketing.. Having good communi-

cation skills and mindset to work in

a team. Contact 91024385

Engineer with 3 yrs experience in

Indian in MEP, HVAC& mechanical

maintained fi eld on visit visa looking

for suitable job. Contact 99191535

Email: fareed029@gmail.com

B.E in ECE worked as Junior Scientist

Trainee in Chennai worked as System

Admin in Berik Honda Nagger coil

worked at Technical Support in Sam-

sung Service, presently in Bangalore.

Contact : 0091 7026267513

Indian female 23, B.Tech (Electrical

& Electronics) & Diploma in

Electrical CAD on Visit Visa seeks

suitable placement.

Contact: 99278410 / 94027398,

Email: renju.raghavan7@gmail.com

Indian female, B.Tech biotechnology with strong computer

skills and 2 years experience as

associate research analyst (Media

Monitoring) in Nasdaq Oman seek-

ing growth oriented jobs. Contact

92044603 /918056169148 or

angeline.babithac@gmail.com.

Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP)

need suitable job of construction

12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

12 yrs exp FREELANCE 2d, 3d

Draughtsman (holding Omani driv-

ing license). Contact : 93790601

Sudanese male, 31 year, have 3 year

Diploma in Electrical Engineer, 6

years experience in construction and

electrical plant.

Mobile No ; +96894549609

Freelance Graphic Designer availa-

ble to assist in Photoshop, Illustrator,

InDesign and Corel Draw Projects.

Contact : 95811820

Indian Female Lawyer 36 Yrs

having 11 yrs experience presently

working in Oman as Legal Advisor

seeks placement in Legal/HR/Admin

NOC available Contact-94436960

Email: famidakhan123@gmail.com

23, Male, ACCA Affi liate, 2 years+

experience in Audit and Finance

in audit fi rm, Looking for suitable

permanent placement, NOC release

Available. Contact: #95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

MBA - (F), M.Com, B.COM. Indian fe-

male having knowledge of accounts

with Tally looking for part time or

full time job. Presently on family

visa. Contact :- 91892264.

Email:- yashicapandya@gmail.com

Indian Female 10 years exp as cook

in Oman. South Indian & Gujarati

special looking for part-time job

Contact 96733187.

Indian male-28 Years, Diploma in

Electrical Egg, having gulf experi-

ence. Specialization on Electrical

Installation and Maintenance, Opera-

tion. 7 years experience seeks for

suitable placement.

Mob – 968-95334580. E-mail

-sunilkumar257.sk23@gmail.com

Seeking Teaching Position. Quali-

fi ed and experienced Native English

speaking teacher seeking posi-

tion in Muscat, I have a Teaching

Diploma , two Honours Degrees

and a CELTA Certifi cate. Position

at Language school will be suit-

able. Will e-mail CV. Whatsapp only

+96893952732

MBA (F), B.COM. Indian female

having knowledge of accounts with

Tally looking for full or part time

job. presently on family visit visa.

Contact :- 96259171.

Email:- bhumicapandya@gmail.com

Indian female MCA, 24 years seek-

ing suitable job. Contact 93439467

IT professional MCA Oracle certi-

fi ed 6 months training of PLSQL

data warehousing, PHP, 3 months

trained seeking job at good com-

pany. Contact: 95694330 Email:

monakashyap001@gmail.com

B.E Computer Science, Indian male

looking for suitable job in the fi eld

of software or information technol-

ogy having good knowledge in Java,

ASP. Net, MS Sql, MS Word.

Contact: 91986919 Email:

dileep2468.a@gmail.com

Indian male 25 yrs exp in Adminis-

tration, Telecom, Optical Fiber Com-

munication, Networking, MS Offi ce.

Seeks any job. On visit visa.

Contact 91385373 /

sridharbsnlma1455@gmail.com

Network system Engineer B.E / ECE

+ CCNA & Ms certifi ed with 4+ yrs exp

looking for a job. Currently in Oman

on visit visa. Contact: 92589502

Email: careersjegan

IT

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian male MBA 7 years experi-

ence in Hospitality industry, opera-

tion, sales & marketing looking for

suitable vacancy. Contact 92115860

Email vibin.py@gmail.com

MBA from UK with 9 yrs experience

in London, Dubai & Mumbai. Special-

ized GCC experience in top real estate

co & bank with driving license. NOC

available. #968 95168205,

dubaihomes1@gmail.com

Young Bangladeshi male 26 know-

ing coff ee shop work as watering

sandwich making juice marking

etc presently in Bangladesh if any

employer need please Contact

behalf of candidate with his brother.

Contact: 92278538

Indian male seeking job, 8 years

experience in Qatar in clerical/ad-

ministration/documents controlling

fi elds. Willing to work in customer

care or sale also. Qatar driving

license available. Job preferred in

Sohar and surrounding cities.

Contact 93285117

Management professional experienced in profi table manage-

ment with organization skills with

over 21+yrs exp. in Bombay, Saudi

Arabia, Dubai, UAE & in Oman11 yrs

as GM Publications, Printing, Media

& Advertising in entire operations,

Sales marketing & etc. Looking for a

reputed organization for a challeng-

ing position any industry, can Join

immediately with NOC. Contact :

+968 98864706/99574638 Mail :

akdas_uae@yahoo.com

Looking for Sales Assistant job

(having Oman driving license).

Contact: 95872634

Looking for Sales Assistant job

(having Oman driving license).

Contact : 95872634

Indian male MBA Graduate 10

years experience in Sales and Mar-

keting (Tyre Industry and Electri-

cal Industry) looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 96065164 Email:

pradeesh123in@yahoo.co.in

Indian male 31 visionary business

strategist having over 8+ years of

global experience seeking a chal-

lenging position that utilizes my

years of experience currently on

visit. Contact: 91902154

Indian male. 27, Post Graduate, 5+

yrs exp in Oman in Sales & Credit

Control, with valid Oman driving

License, NOC available, looking for

suitable placements. Ph: 9199 3376

Indian Male, B.Com Graduate,

23, with experience in Sales looking

for suitable placements. .

Contact 98371144

Indian male Graduate with 18 years

experience in Sales and Marketing

currently on visit visa seeks suit-

able placement. Contact : 91996486

/ 99732070

6 years experienced male holding

Masters Degree with experience in

customer relationship, real estate,

Sales and IT. Contact: 98823248

Email: sajjadhussain@yahoo.com

Market research / Hospitality In-

dian male Graduate with nearly 30

yrs experience in Market research &

hospitality industry. NOC available.

Contact: 99347089

Indian male Diploma, Civil engineer

4.3 year experience at building

construction and consulting

company with Oman driving licence

and N.O.C available seeking suitable

placement Contact 95989500

email cv.shihabedappal@gmail.com

Indian female, Ph. D in Mech. Engg,

B.Sc, B.Ed, M.Sc & M.Phil in Physics

having 6 yrs Malaysia University/

College teaching exp +1 yr experi-

ence for research fellow seeking

good position in Oman. Contact

97793859 / 93621114,

sreejayarejil@gmail.com

4 Years experienced (Money

exchange services & Hospitality

services in Oman & India) - Indian

male 27 years, graduate in Hospital-

ity science, fl uent in English, Hindi

& Arabic seeks suitable placement.

Contacts: 91383167

Indian male auto cad draughtsman

(civil) 8 years experience seeking for

part time job Mobile 99070584,

E mail: remluvp@gmail.com

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male,29 years.8 years experience

.Presently working in Oman as a Sen-

ior Accountant with oman Driving

license. NOC available, seek suitable

opportunity. GSM: 97705854

Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer Sci-

ence) (Diploma Computer Engineer-

ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle PL-

SQL , MS SQL-server, MS visual studio

VBA, network. Contact :91415886

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT sup-

port, Networking, Security systems,

Server support, IT sales and market-

ing. Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91033395

Indian Male, 34 years old, DEE –

Electrical Supervisor 10 years Oman

experience. Ready for NOC , VISA

transfer and valid Oman driving

licence light, ready to join immedi-

ately, Mob +91 9740679094,

kulasekar1980@gmail.com

Indian 6 years experience as Sales

Executive with 2 years visa, driving

license seek suitable job.

Contact 92233068

Indian male Oman D/L 2 years

Saudi experience in electrical, fi re

and safety one year Oman logistic

management experience.

Contact : 91233475

Female Postgraduate searching

suitable job. Contact 97792820

Bangladeshi Post Graduate seeks

a job good command in English and

computer ready to take the chal-

lenge. Contact 93982627

Email: saymun.riyad@gmail.com

Filipino Male looking for a job &

have experience in sales, waiter,

barista, technical support / customer

service with good communication

skills. Contact 91789465

Indian Female with over 9 yrs

experience with good

communication skills seeks jobs in

customer service or sales fi eld.

Contact : 96108289,

Email - shijipaul84@gmail.com

Part- Time Accountant, well experi-

ence senior accountant ,doing all

type of accounting works, Finaliza-

tion, Budgeting available.

Contact: :98803439

13 Years UAE experienced in

MNC & reputed fi rms logistics

distribution looking for a suitable

placement, on visit visa

contact 99838743,

gani.dawood@gmail.com

Male Indian BBM Graduate 8 years

experience in logistics and ware

housing in a reputed company valid

driving license NOC available

looking for suitable position.

Contact : 96311786

Email: ubinfs@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male 45+ yrs , 20 yrs exp as

sales supervisor in India looking for

indoor sales /stores /cashier or any

suitable placement can speak Hindi

, English, Malayalam, Tamil, kan-

nada can join immediately on visit

visa. Contact 93086105/33016546

Pakistani male 34 yrs Intermedi-

ate 2 yrs exp in sales & marketing

in Oman. Looking for suitable job.

Contact - 92146864

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D6 M O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5

24 years, Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3 yrs of experience

is seeking suitable placement in

Muscat, currently on visit visa &

ready to join immediately. Kindly

contact him on 98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Indian Male, 38 years old, DME –

Mechanical Maintenance Technician

11 years Oman experience. Ready for

NOC , VISA transfer, ready to join im-

mediately, Mob +968 95612870,

seeniselvan@gmail.com

BSc Graduate, INDIAN male ,

seeking suitable jobs.

GSM: +91-8589820233.

MAIL ID: prajinap45@gmail.com

Young Indian Chartered Accountant,

female, Having 6 years experience in

Oman and India. Accounts and Finance

Manager, Auditor. Urgently seeking

suitable positions.# 92530131,

jobcareer44@gmail.com

Tunisian women looking for a job,

khnows english,frensh, italian and

arabic. Contact: 91171838

Indian male 25 years B.tech comput-

ers (Having 3 years of experience in

customer service/Admin/IT Support)

looking for suitable position. Visa

Transfer/NOC Available immediate

to join. Contact: 98402389,

Mail: naresh6672@gmail.com

Manager, Young Indian Male, MBA,

BBA. Having excellent manage-

rial experience (around 5 years) in

leading Multi-National-Company.

Looking for suitable positions.

Contact: 92700670,

fardhaan@gmail.com

Available for part time accounting

job, contact 99196621

Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with One

year three months Teaching

experience. Subject: EnglishSeeking

for a Better placement.

Now working in Oman.

Contact 93961142, 92184408,

Email:-anoopkesavan78@gmail.com

ACCOUNTANT: Indian male 25 hav-

ing 4years experience in accounting

& having well knowledge in tally.

Contact:968094535881,

0091 9037622048

Email: vishnuraj889@gmail.com

ACCA Affi liate, 2.5years experience

in Audit/Finance in Global Big6

Firms and Oil company in Oman,

Looking for suitable permanent

placement. Release NOC Available.

Contact: #95140445,

a.saran891@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer, 29, Indian Male,

having 7+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable placement

in any Oman. Contact - 97693456.

Mail ID : venkatbadri23@gmail.com

BE. Biomedical Engineer, 5 years

experience in the same fi eld (Hos-

pital/company)looking for suitable

placement. Contact:92084807

Email:bonnygeorge1005@gmail.com

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER – Indian

male seeking Electrical Engineer job

with 2 years’ experience.

Contact: 94263445, E mail –

janardhanan53@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MISCELLANEOUS

PART TIME ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male, M. Com, 35 years, 12 Years

exp. in Accounts, 8 years in Oman.

Knowledge upto fi nalization. Having

valid D/L, seeks suitable Placement.

GSM: 96249124

Egyptian Civil Engineer, total expe-

rience 7 years - 2 years experience

in Oman. I am looking for Project

Engineer, I have good experience in

site & offi ce works.

Contact number:91148708

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com.

Filipino Male looking for a job &

have experience in sales, waiter,

barista, technical support / customer

service with good communication

skills. # 91789465

ACCOUNTING – Indian male seeking

accounting job with 2 years

experience in accounting.

Contact: 94263445, E mail –

contactantonyxavieranand@gmail.

com

Sudanese male: 27 yrs, 2 years ex-

perience in accounting, other experi-

ence (purchasing – HR - Coordinat-

ing and Offi ce Management), looking

for a job Omani Driving License,

NOC. Contact: 94174403

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Sudanese male (B.Sc, computer sci-

ence) (diploma computer engineer-

ing), 6 yrs. experience DBA oracle

PL-SQL, MS SQL - Server, MS visual

studio vba, network.

Contact 91415886

Syrian male 3yrs. exp in IT support,

Networking, Security systems, Serv-

er support, IT sales and marketing.

Valid Omani D/L seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91055584

Over 15 years experience in Gulf.

Interior Architect, Lebanese Nation-

ality, on visit visa seeking a suitable

Placement. 96268005.

PRODUCTION OPERATOR – Indian

male seeking production operator or

related jobs with 4 years of experi-

ence in oil & gas fi eld.

Contact 94263445.

Email: tonyxavier4u@gmail.com

Indian Keralite Male 35 looking for

Scaff olding supervisor post having 5

years of Supervisor and HSE experi-

ence in GCC Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Fluent in English Arabic and Hindi .

Contact 96155921, or mail

fysal.nellaya@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 yrs, having 7 years

Gulf + Indian experience in HR and

Admin fi eld, looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact: 97914340,

Email: rajkv3086@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 years MSM, B. Com

having 6years experience in Gulf and

India as a HR and Admin looking for

suitable placement.#97914340.

Email: rajkv30@gmail.com

B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer Suda-

nese 3 yrs of exp. In industrial fi eld

available in muscat on vist visa

seeking suitable job .

Contact: 95868922, Email:

almouthanaosman@yahoo.com

IT system and Printer engineer ME,

5Years bank IT Management exp in

India looking for full time job visit

visa contact 94462150

Indian male with 8 yrs experience in

FMCG in Oman as Sales Supervisor

looking for suitable placement.

NOC available. Gsm: 96495206

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

MCA IT Professional Indian Female

seek placement in Teaching/ Non

Teaching fi eld. Presently on visit

visa. 9588 7051,

ashwininakod@gmail.com

ACCA Affi liate, Indian, 2.5Years

experience in Audit/ Finance in Big

6 Audit Firm and Oil Accounting in

PDO, For Permanent Placement for

Finance or Accounts or Audit. Re-

lease NOC Available on hand.

Contact #95140445,

a.saran891@gmail.com

Finance ACCA Affi liate, Worked as

an Auditor with 2.5 Years Experience

in reputed fi rm, Handled independ-

ent audit/fi nance assignments, Look-

ing for permanent placement, NOC

available. Contact 95140445.

a.saran891@gmail.com

Piping Design Engineer, Indian

male 27, looking for suitable place-

ment in Piping Design & Engineer-

ing. Having 7 years of experience in

AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS

(11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact :

97351786 / 96143708, E-mail :

mohammednazeer07@gmail.com

Sudanese male (B.Sc Computer sci-

ence) (diploma computer engineer-

ing) 6 yrs. experience DBA Oracle pl-

sql, MS sql-server ,ms visual studio

vba, network. Contact :91415886

Indian Male, Graduate, 11 years

Sales experience in Lighting /

Industrial products, ready to join im-

mediately. GSM: 9710 5356

Indian heavy duty driver with 8

years experience in oman available

with NOC. GSM : 93601943

GSM : 94496457

Indian male, 28 yrs MBA (HR/M) 2

years experience in Indian Oman in

HR & admin seeks suitable place-

ments. NOC available.

Contact 97484159

Email: rameshkapa86@gmail.com

M.Sc 3+ years exp from France &

India in IT Support Engineer / Hard-

ware & Networking / Server support

/ scientifi c system support looking

for suitable positions. Indian, male

on visit visa, contact 98898781/

anoopys@gmail.com

Looking for managerial post (full

time ), More than Ten years of expe-

rience in Team Development ,Train-

ing, planning, Administration, Sales

& Marketing, Advertisement and

Credit Control and Logistics. Contact

91076608 / 99322748. Release &

noc available

Indian male, 34years having 10

years of experience in Sales, Sales

Coordination and Administration.

Experienced in SAP and

MS Offi ce. NOC available.

Contact # 94686594

Indian Male MBA Marketing/HRM

3 year experience with Omani D/L,

seeking suitable jobs.

Contact: 97424188

email: dharwesh@gmail.com

Indian, Male, 23 years, BE Electri-

cal, having 2 years experience in

Electrical Works-H.T. cabling etc, &

Construction, looking for a suitable

placement. Contact +968 96927880

(Oman), +91 9765376109 (India),

Email: rahulrevi6@gmail.com

Indian Female M.Com with Com-

puter Skills and Four Month Experi-

ence as Accountant ,Currently On

Family Visa Looking for a Suitable

Placement, Available Immediately.

Contact : 95846642,

Email : dhanyashree91@yahoo.com

ACCA Affi liate, Experience in audit/

fi nance of 2.5 years in Big 6 Firm

and Oil industry, looking for suitable

permanent placement, Release NOC

available. Contact: #95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

B.Tech Computer Engineer Wanted

job to work on(IT/Banking/Admin-

istrator/Technical/Offi ce works)

having NOC with the limited time

from (04/06/2015 to 13/06/2015).

Mobile:98402389

email:naresh6672@gmail.com

British Beauty Therapist looking

for suitable position. #:97175240

Highly Qualifi ed & Experienced

Finance Manager Pakistani with

USA , UK & Canadian Degrees , CPA

,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA ,IFA- Financial

Consultants Canada , Corporate An-

alyst USA Professional of Banking ,

Audits ,ERPs & Profi t Maximizations

( NOC available ) call 94 504505 –

94403270

27 year Indian female who has 4

years of experience with logistics

function in distribution of spares

for both heavy machinery & wind

turbine parts. Kindly contact me on

+91 9790769104

E-mail: joemohana@yahoo.co.in

Indian male Executive Secretary

having vast experience in admin,

logistics & procurement well versed

with computer .seek suitable place-

ment. Contact : 99514286

Indian male MBA (U.K), 10 Years

of experience in Admin, Sales, HR,

stores and logistics seeks suitable

placement. Contact 99271903.

Indian Female MCA, 4 plus Years

of experience in Web designing, Ad-

min, P.A, seeks suitable placement.

Contact 99486374

8 Years successful experience,

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, Indian

male,29 years. Presently working in

Oman as a Senior Accountant

with oman Driving license seeks suit-

able opportunity. GSM: 97705854

7 and half years experience working

accounts / inventory manager looking

suitable job. Contact: 96991782

Email: srinivasu.sp@gmail.com

Indian female , MCA BCA, certifi ca-

tion PL SQL , 6months training PHP,

date warehouse looking for suitable

placement. #95694330 Email:

mondkashyapodl@gmail.com

B.Com with more than 5 yrs exp.

looking for an accounts part tome

job work. know with tally.

Email-shilpa_62@yahoo.com

Part- time accountant, well experi-

ence senior accountant , doing all

type of accounting works, fi naliza-

tion, budgeting available.

Contact : 98803439

Indian male, looking for a part time

accounting job. Having additional

knowledge & experience in

HR admin & purchase.

Contact 99196621

Indian Female, 24yrs, M.COM (Ac-

counts) having 3yrs experience

in Accounts, HR, Administration,

Customer Service. Good Computer

Profi ciency. Seeking Suitable Posi-

tion. Visa Transfer/NOC Available.

Contact: 99654913

HSE Advisor, NEBOSH IGC, Indian

male, 4 years experience in con-

struction and oil fi elds, seeking suit-

able jobs. Gsm: 97458900,

Mail: miroshbabu@gmail.com

Highly Experienced Finance Man-

ager, CPA ,ACCA-UK . MBA-USA , Pro-

fessional of Banking, Audits , ERPs

Sap , Management as Team Leader

and Problem Solver call 94 504505

/ 94403270

Indian male MBA Finance presently

OMAN IN visit visa, 26 years, look-

ing for an accountant job.

Contact 95240641, email Id

mohammadabdulazharuddin@

gmail.com

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male,

having 9+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable place-

ment in any gulf region. Contact

+968 99276601 & 97693456. email :

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

MEP Quantity Surveyor-Estimation-

Project, 10 Years Experience

(3 years in Oman). Having NOC &

Oman D/L, looking for suitable job,

Contact - 98291626

Indian house maid looking full time

job. Contact : 98254909

B.E. Civil Engineer age 27, total 3

years of experience in Mumbai look-

ing for placement asap in oman now

on visit visa of 1 month ph 9571 3441

Email. Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3

year Diploma in electrical engineer,

5 years experience in diff erent activ-

ities . Mobile No ; +96894549609

ACCA affi liate, with 2.5 years

experience in Big6 audit fi rm and

Oil industry, looking for permanent

placement in Accounts/Audit.

Release available Contact :95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

Indian Female, Commerce Gradu-

ate, Total 9 yrs of experience in

India. worked as Accounts Assistant

and Business executive seeking for

suitable placement.

Tel : 96173533/24222457

Email : topranidivya@gmail.com

Indian Male, 29 years, CCNP, MCITP

having Bachelor degree and 6 years

of experience in Networking looking

for job. 96760618 /

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Female Executive Assistant/Execu-

tive Secretary with 27+ experience,

worked with top management/Board

in fi nancial services with shorthand

skills & Omani driving license,

seeks suitable placement.

call 95941515

B.E. Civil Engineer from India with

3 years of experience looking for

suitable vacancy in oman now on

visit visa. Contact 9571 3441,

Email . Khatrialeem@gmail.com

Indian male 21 IT Eng. networking &

computer hardware diploma, 1 year

experience, currently on visit visa

looking for a suitable job.

Contact 96036273

email: faizanfarooqui23@gmail.com

Indian, 32 years, completed M.A.

English, M.Sc. Psychology and B.Ed

in English. Searching for suitable job

in the fi eld of teaching. To

Contact: 00968 99869535

Email: sahadkeyi33@gmail.com

Indian Male 24 years, Looking for a

Suitable Job in Telecom / Network-

ing. 1 year sales experience. MSc.

Communications Engineering &

Valid Driving license. Ph: 91280121.

Email: jackrprasad@yahoo.com

26 years Indian male with MBA &

PGDFM, Total 3.8 years experience

in Administration, seeking suit-

able placement in any gulf region.

Holding Oman valid driving license.

Contact :94501423

DAILY GUIDEM O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5 D7

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

TOURS

GOOD NEWS

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis massage, steam

bath, obesity, spondylitis IDEAL ,

CARE Ayurvedic Clinic 18 November

street, Azaiba. Contact 99639695 /

99117987

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. If you would like to know more

about Islam, please call: 99425598,

96050000, 99353988, 99253818,

99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723

Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /

92504980

www.siddhayur.com

Butter cup rent a car presents fantastic off ers all vehicles are model 2016.

Contact : 97249449

DRIVING

Learn driving with professional

only automatic. Contact 94022250

RENT A CAR

SITUATION WANT-MANPOWER

TRANSPORTATION

Pick & drop anytime in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99764307

Transportation. Contact: 96538078

Transportation. Contact:98522914

Transportation. Contact 99508282

Transportation. Contact: 98244078

Pick & Drop any time. # 97014786

FOR HIRE

Volvo 12 Ton Truck for monthly

rent. Contact: 98713900

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done

till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space

availability

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 M O N D AY, J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 1 5

Electronics and instrumentation

Engineer 28 year Indian male, elec-

trical, electronic, industrial, building

& automation exp of 4+ yrs in India.

Contact - 93154156

CCNP Network Professional with 6 years experience having

Bachelors degree on visit visa looking

for suitable job. #96760618 email:

varghese.manthara@gmail.com

Civil Engineer, Diploma, Male 25, 3

years experience in site, CAD, 3d, MS

Project, Seeking job in Oman.

Contact 92875345,

jubincivileng@gmail.com

Indian male, total experience is 5

years in Retail industry. Currently

supervisor in Sun and sand sports

Muscat City centre.

Contact : 96994345.

Email : jsp.jsr85@gmail.com

Indian Male 34 years Mechanical

Engineer 3 years of Experience seek-

ing suitable placement immediately

Contact: 91991435, 93310821

Indian female with MBA (Finance)

on visit visa, seeks immediate place-

ment. Phone: 968-98430089

Indian female B.ED & BCA looking

for a suitable placement in school

or admin offi ce, having 5 yrs exp in

same fi eld. Contact – 97384206 /

rani_sweet786@live.com

CCNP Network Professional with 6

years experience having Bachelors

degree on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact: 96 76 06 18

Indian male, 28 years, 7 years

experience in transporting & heavy

equipment renting company. Having

Omani driving license seeks suitable

positions. Contact 94410485

Indian male, Engineer, BE Mechani-

cal, having with 21 years of experi-

ence in India and 13 years in Oman,

In production, project management,

quality control and assurance and

MR for ISO and API Standards look-

ing out for a suitable placement

in Oman. GSM: 00968 97311616.

E-MAIL: fahazasa@yahoo.com

Indian male, post graduate, currently

in Oman on visit visa. Seeks suitable

placement.Contact 92388346

Sudanese male, 31 year old, have 3

year Diploma in electrical engineer,

5 year experience in diff erent activi-

ties. Contact; +96894549609

Indian female MBA Finance cur-

rently on visit visa. Seeks immediate

placement. Phone: 968-98430089

More than Ten years of experience

in Sales & Marketing, Advertisement

and Credit Control and Logistics&

Administration.

Contact; 91076608 / 99322748

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

House shifting. Contact

99708138

Carpet, curtain, sofa, fl oor,

cleaning, shampooing, marble &

mosaic tiles grinding, polishing

and painting. Contact : 93630133 /

95821193

House shifting packing.

99657644 / 98518013

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-ter-

mite treatment, general cleaning

painting, Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir

Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.

# 24810137, 99450130

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

CLASSES

CLASSES

COMPUTER

IELTS preparation course, unlock

your educational and career oppor-

tunities with eagles to achieve your

required band.

Contact 91979343.

Admission Open: CAMBRIDGE /

BILINGUAL CURRICULUM

admission started in Al Burj Private

School, Azaiba for KG and Grade I to

IV. Please register soonest.

Contact: 93211417 / 92887809.

Learn Cup cakes, exotic cakes, Icing

decorations, handicrafts.

Contact 95941515

Split & window A.C servic-

ing & maintenance. Contact

93769089/95323517

Air condition maintenance split

and window services AC specialist

ducted and package type unites.

Contact: 98667326

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet

& sofa shampooing, Contact

99314807/24792998

Split & widow unit A.C servicing &

repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split & window unit A.C servicing &

maintenance.

Contact: 96236476

Window & split unit A.C servicing &

maintenance. Contact : 93769089 /

95323517

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance.Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

Carpet, Sofa Shampooing. Ocean

Center LLC. Contact: 99884591

AC servicing maintenance fi xing.

Contact: 99540621

A/C Maintenance & servicing, fridge,

washing machine & dish washer re-

pairing, painting & cleaning services,

electrical & plumbing.

Contact: 99447257 / 97014234 /

24504281

Pest control Treatments, termites,

cockroaches, bedbugs Ocean Center

LLC. Contact: 99344723

SITUATION WANTED

Hair dressing, facial massage &

other beauty treatment for women.

Contact: 94689448

FOR LADIES

8 yrs exp Site supervisor cum 2d,

3d Draughtsman (holding Omani

driving license) seeking job.

Contact : 93790601

24 year Indian Chartered Account-

ant male with 3yrs of experience is

seeking suitable placement in Mus-

cat, currently on visit visa & ready

to join immediately. Contact him on

98201476 or email at

lokeshkaluri@gmail.com

Finance ACCA Affi liate, 2.5 years

experience in audit/fi nance and oil

company in reputed fi rms. Looking

for suitable permanent place-

ment. Release available. Contact

95140445, a.saran891@gmail.com

B.E Biomedical Engineer, having 5

years of experience in Diagnostics

division seeking suitable position.

94151658

MCA IT Professional Indian Female

seek placement in Teaching/ Non

Teaching fi eld. Presently on visit

visa. Contact 9588 7051,

Email: ashwininakod@gmail

Indian female BA graduate. My total

experience is 4 and half year in Call

Center looking for jobs in admin and

HR. Contact : 96089143,

Email: sharanjit_kaur2009@yahoo.

com

Key Account Executive, Indian

male, currently working with a

reputed FMCG company Oman is

looking for a placement asap, NOC

will be given. Valid Omani driving

license. Total experience in Oman is

12yrs and particularly in Sales is 8

1/2 years. Contact 95589765 Email :

agnelfrancis@yahoo.co.in

25 Indian female, B.Sc fashion tech-

nologist, 5 years exp in merchandis-

ing, familiar with fashion marketing

& designing. Currently available on

visit visa, seeking for a visual mer-

chandising job. Contact : 96990368,

email jumshi@gmail.com

Indian male, MBA marketing &

fi nance with B com & diploma in

IFRS seeks job. Contact 99469726 /

99469729

Sudanese male BSC Telecommuni-

cations Engineer , 4 years experi-

ence in telecom fi eld

Contact 97783092,

Email: Alrsheed88@hotmail.com

Working as Senior Accountant,4 yrs.exp.in oman, relevant computer

skills, Audit, Accounting upto fi na-

lization, valid oman driving license,

languages known Arabic, Hindi.

NOC available can join immediately.

Tel: (+968) 96339599, E-mail-

(ahmedmohdkhan@gmail.com)

Indian male 60 years old have 30

years Muscat experience in all offi ce

works with Omani driving license.

Contact: 99024055

Mechanical Engineer, Indian, (B.E.)

on visit visa, seeking suitable post.

Contact :99534733

Email: rajesh92prince@gmail.com

Civil autocad draughtsman part

time work for job mob :96023726

Sudanese male BSC Telecommuni-

cations Engineer, 4 years experience

in telecom fi eld.Contact : 97783092,

Email: alrsheed88@hotmail.com

Indian female, B.Com. knowledge of

MS Offi ce &Tally, 4yrs experience in

Accounts &admin dept. looking for good

placement in any fi eld.

Contact: 98928220

Piping Design Engineer, Indian

male 27, looking for suitable place-

ment in Piping Design & Engineer-

ing. Having 7 years of experience in

AutoCAD. Also familiar with PDMS

(11.6 Version),CAESAR ll. Contact :

97351786 / 96143708, E-mail :

mohammednazeer07@gmail.com

Senior IT Professional, Indian Male,

more than 17 yrs. of experience in

software development(PB, Oracle,

SAP ABAP) and IT Support with valid

Oman DL and NOC available

Contact : 92193867,

Email : cp.prasad@gmail.com

23,Male, ACCA with 2.5 years ex-

perience in Big6 audit fi rm and Oil/

Gas,looking for permanent place-

ment in Accounts/Audit.

Contact 95140445

a.saran891@gmail.com

Male, 19 years of experience in

Finance and Administration cur-

rently on visit visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 99720132/

abidrafi 33@hotmail.com