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SATURDAY, August 29, 2015 / 14 Dhul Qa’ada 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certifi ed Company

Caesarean section must be the last resort: Expert

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Promoting awareness about the benefi ts of natural deliv-ery and risks of Caesarean section (C-section) is the key to discour-aging unnecessary surgical births in Oman, say health experts.

Babies can enter this world ei-ther through normal delivery or by C-section, but natural child-birth, is the way nature intended a woman to give birth, says an ex-pert at the Sultan Qaboos Univer-sity Hospital.

Speaking to the Times of Oman, Dr Tamima Rashid Al Dughaishi, senior consultant in maternal foetal medicine, said that Caesar-ean section can save lives when

medically required, but if it is performed unnecessarily, it can put women and their babies at risk of short and long-term health problems.

The numbersAccording to the data collected from institutions under the Min-istry of Health in Oman, 19.6 per cent of all the deliveries in 2013 were through C-section. The total

number of deliveries in 2013 was 66,557, out of which 11,822 were by Caesarean.

The World Health Organisation has stated that the Caesarean rate higher than 10 to 15 per cent is un-necessary regardless of location.

Dr Al Dughaishi, who is the president of the Omani Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, explained that a Caesarean de-livery can be either planned in

advance or performed as an emer-gency procedure. If a Caesarean is planned in advance, it is called ‘elective Caesarean’, she said.

Elective CaesareanShe added that elective Caesarean is scheduled either due to medi-cal reasons or when requested by mother in the absence of any med-ical indication, which is called ‘Caesarean on demand’.

‘Emergency Caesarean’ is per-formed when a natural delivery is planned but some complications occur during labour for either the baby or the mother, which make the surgery necessary, said Dr Al Dughaishi.

The Ministry of Health’s statis-tics show that in 2013, around 27 per cent of the total Caesareans were elective and around 73 per cent were emergency. >A3

Unless it’s medical

emergency, surgical

delivery should be

discouraged as it

puts the lives of both

mother, baby at risk

HM’s confers honour on Sudan envoy

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sul-tan Qaboos bin Said conferred Al Numan First Class Order on Awadh Mohammed Ahmed Ibn Ouf, outgoing ambassador of the Republic of Sudan to the Sultanate in appreciation of his good eff orts in serving the bilat-eral relations between the two countries.

The Order was handed over to the ambassador by His High-ness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said when he received him at his offi ce on Thursday. -ONA

G O O D S E R V I C E

STUNNING SCENERIES AND PERFECT GETAWAYSOman is a country blessed with relaxing getaways with stunning vistas. The beaches near Fins, along the coast between Quri-

yat and Tiwi, are wonderful places for camping. Photo -Sarah MacDonald See also >A2

SPORTSOman juniors hope to clinch GCC trophy

2 Fourteen years after they clinched the inaugural GCC Under-17

Championship, Oman juniors will be looking to lay their hands on only their second trophy when they play the fi nal of the regional junior football championship in the Doha on Saturday. >A11

MARKETOman launches new floating oil facility

3A new fl oating storage facility, with a 2.1 million barrel capacity at Mina

Al Fahal, for global customers of Oman Export Blend, was launched on Thursday by Oman Tank Terminal Company, a subsidiary of Oman Oil Company. The vessel itself will be operated by OSC. >B1

OMANNo reason to worry over non-oil exports

1The decrease in Omani non-oil exports is no cause for worry, an economist has

said. The value of Oman non-oil exports from January to April decreased 20 per cent against the same period last year. Its value during the fi rst four months of the year was OMR1.008 billion against OMR1.0260 billion in the same period last year. >A3

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

B5A picture is worth a thousand words

Graphics

Caesarean births in OmanPercentage of caesarean deliveries in total births in 2013

Total deliveries Total caesarean sections

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20122003

3.73.6

4

5.1

6

12.4

20.1

26.3

17.9

Infections

Cord prolapse

Chronic medical conditionMaternal exhaustion

Cephalopelvic disproportion

Dystocia

Bleeding

Malpresentation

Previous 2 LSCS

Foetal distress

Others

0.4

0.7

3,490 3,696

946

4,200

1,107

4,643

1,296

5,086

1,489

5,765

1,764

6,816

1,965

6976

2,139

7,173

2,548

8,140

2,580

900

Elective

Emergency

Total CS 11,822

66,557 Emergency

73.1%Elective26.9%

Trend in CS and its different types

Percentage of indicators for CS in 2011

11,822

Benefits for motherMother-child bonding Immediate breastfeeding Shorter hospital stay (24 hours) Quick recovery Less complications in future pregnancies

Risks for babyStillbirth (Baby being born dead) Sudden infant death syndromePremature birthLow birth-weight Breathing problems

Risks for mother

Risks associated with anaesthesiaLonger hospital stay (3 to 4 days)Excess bleedingInfection Blood clot Increased risk of complications infuture pregnancies

Caesarean section

Benefits for baby

Natural delivery

Baby comes when it is ready Lower risk of respiratory problemsStronger immunity system

Source: Ministry of Health, "Annual Health Report", 2012

Municipality warns against poor quality fruit, vegetable saleTARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Companies sell-ing fruits and vegetables in the Mawaleh fruit and vegetables market would be penalised heav-ily by the Muscat Municipality if they fl out health and hygiene standards.

The municipality has warned merchants in the markets over storing and packing substandard fruits and vegetables in cartons. Offi cials destroyed 3,071 cartons of grapes and 671 cartons of ap-ples at the Mawaleh market after they were found unfi t for human consumption. It was discovered that they were packing fresh fruits over the rotten ones.

Cheating consumers“The recent trend in the Sultan-ate where food merchants and distributors have been compro-mising on the health and hygiene of people has caused wide resent-ment among people,” said a cus-tomer. It is alleged that the com-pany along with the vendors was found cheating on consumers.

Jumaa Al Amri, assistant to the Director of Health Aff airs in the market’s administration said, “We have destroyed the grapes and apples since they were found unfi t for human consumption. One of the companies sold poor quality grapes to food vendors, repackaged them and sold them to customers.”

He explained that the vendors

would cheat customers by keep-ing good quality grapes on top and poor quality grapes beneath them inside wooden boxes.

Legal action“The market’s administration will initiate necessary legal ac-tion against the company. As for the vendors, we will co-ordinate with the Ministry of Manpower to prevent them from cheating on customers,” said Al Amri.

In 2013, the municipality offi -cials destroyed over 27,000 kilo-grammes of unfi t fruits and veg-etables during an inspection at the Mawaleh market and issued notices to the vendors.

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

‘Excessive use of bodybuilding supplements can harm health’ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Workout supple-ments, which are used in body-building and athletics, can have consequences on one’s health if used excessively, says an expert.

Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements used for various purposes such as weight gain, muscle growth and improv-ing athletic performance.

Those overusing these supple-ments should be ‘cautious’ as it may cause health problems in-cluding liver disorders, Dr Hish-am Al Dhahab, senior consultant gastroenterologist, and head of endoscopy unit at Royal Hospital, told the Times of Oman.

Necessary permitsThe sale of these supplements is being supervised and shops have to get the necessary permits but people are advised to avoid ex-cessive consumption, added Dr Al Dhahab, who is the chairman of the Oman Gastroenterology Society.

According to research present-ed at the American Psychological

Association’s 123rd Annual Con-vention, which was held recently, more men are turning to legal over-the-counter bodybuilding supplements to the point where it may qualify as an emerging eating disorder.

The American Psychological Association is the largest scien-tifi c and professional organisa-tion representing psychology in the United States (US), with more than 122,500 researchers, educa-tors, clinicians, consultants and students as its members.

Richard Achiro, PhD, Califor-nia School of Professional Psy-chology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles, US, who presented the research, said that a combination of factors appears to be driving risky misuse of legal workout supplements.

These factors include dissat-isfaction with the body, low self-esteem and gender role confl ict, in which an individual perceives that he is not living up to the strict limitations of masculinity dic-tated by modern culture, noted Achiro, according to the Ameri-can Psychological Association.

The chairman of the Oman Gastroenterology Society said that in general, gastrointestinal disorders are prevalent in Oman.

There are several causative fac-tors, but they are basically associ-ated with the change of lifestyle, which include lack of exercise, unhealthy eating habits, eating late at night and eating fast, said Dr Al Dhahab.

He advised people to exercise and adopt a healthy lifestyle and diet to avoid these disorders and consult the doctor if they face any health issues. >A3

E X E R C I S E C A U T I O N

Muscat Municipality offi cial

during and inspection drive.

Dr Hisham Al Dhahab, senior

consultant gastroenterologist,

at Royal Hospital.

‘OMAN COMMITTED TO CURRENCY PEG’Oman is committed to maintaining the peg of its currency against the US dollar despite the drop of oil prices, according to a Reuters news agency report. >B1

A2 S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

OMAN

Breathtaking beauty of Fins beachOman is a country

fi lled with relaxing

getaways with

stunning vistas.

The beaches near

Fins, along the coast

between Quriyat and

Tiwi, are wonderful

places for camping

or just spending a

few hours chilling.

Wherever you look

you will fi nd dramatic

skylines and pristine

turquoise waters.

It’s a favourite

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of Oman journalist

Sarah MacDonald who always goes

there, camera in hand.

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'Slide in non-oil exports not a cause for concern'

Times News Service

MUSCAT: The decrease in Omani non-oil exports is no cause for worry, said an economist.

The value of Oman non-oil ex-ports from January to April de-creased 20 per cent against the same period last year. Its value during the fi rst four months of the year amounted to OMR1.008 bil-lion against OMR1.0260 billion against the same period last year.

Reliable statistics showed a 33 per cent decrease in the value of re-exports from January to April against the same period last year, whereas the value of re-exports amounted to OMR1.694 billion compared to OMR1.034 billion.

Speaking to Al Shabiba, sister

publication of the Times of Oman, Dr Nasser bin Rashid Al Ma’wali, economic expert and academic researcher, said that the rate of Oman non-oil exports is linked to oil exports, particularly to govern-ment support for companies ex-porting non-oil products.

Al Ma’wali explained that as long as our oil exports are aff ected, the other sectors would also be af-fected, which included non-oil ex-ports.

He said that reduction in the val-ue of the non-oil exports remains as expected with no material eff ect on Oman’s economy, as non-oil ex-ports do not represent a huge fi g-ure in Oman’s total exports.

The list of countries to which Oman exports non-oil products includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE) followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Unit-ed States of America (USA).

Imports come downThese countries are aff ected by the decrease in oil prices which led them to reduce the value of their imports, said Ma’wali.

Ma’wali added that the reduc-tion in value of Oman non-oil ex-ports may aff ect the Muscat Secu-rities Market as it could aff ect the fi nancial positions of a number of companies.

To avoid the impact of a de-

crease in oil prices, we need to rationalise our expenses to diver-sify our sources of income and enhance the performance of the private sector, he said.

As of the end of April this year, Omani non-oil exports to the UAE amounted to OMR206.4 million, registering a decrease of 9.6 per cent against the same period last year. During the same period, non-oil exports to the KSA amounted to OMR136.2 million, a decrease of 18 per cent against the same period last year. Omani non-oil exports to the USA during the same period stood at OMR93.7 million, an in-crease of 10. 9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

An economic expert

and academic

researcher said

that the decrease

in Omani non-oil

exports is no cause

for worry as it is

linked to oil exports

ECONOMIC IMPACT: Reliable statistics showed a 33 per cent de-

crease in the value of re-exports from January to April against the

same period last year. – File photo

The rate of Oman non-

oil exports is linked to

oil exports, particularly

to government

support for companies

exporting non-oil

products

Dr Nasser Al Ma’waliEconomic expert

Higher birth rate has pushed up number of Caesarean deliveries in Oman, says Expert

Dr Al Dughaishi said that the number of Caesarean deliveries in Oman has increased over the past years, but fortunately the increase has not been very sharp compared to some other countries.

The expert attributed the in-crease to a number of reasons, in-cluding the overall increase in the birth rate in Oman, the increasing complexity of cases due to life-style-related health issues such as diabetes, hypertension and obe-sity, and the fact that a woman who has had a Caesarean is at increased risk of having it again in a future pregnancy.

Thankfully, the number of wom-en who demand a Caesarean deliv-ery in the absence of medical need is not very signifi cant in Oman as Omani culture still favours natural childbirth, said Dr Al Dughaishi.

In Omani culture, mothers are educating their children that they should deliver naturally, she not-ed, adding that it is a good thing as families in Oman are large and many mothers have multiple childbirths.

Dangerous trend“It is a very dangerous trend that in some countries a C-section is being considered a sign of open-mindedness and mothers are too concerned about their fi gure,” she said.

Dr Al Dughaishi added that such an attitude will have other conse-quences, such as women being dis-couraged to breastfeed their chil-dren, which is crucial for the baby.

The expert says that if a C-sec-tion is not medically required, nat-ural delivery has numerous advan-tages both for the mother and the child in the short and long term.

Natural birth benefi tsOne of the advantages is that ba-bies emerge when they are ready, she said, adding, “If labour starts naturally, then you know the foe-tus is ready to be born. It means its lungs and other major parts have fi nished maturing and the baby is able to survive without any medi-cal intervention.”

The baby is also at a lower risk of respiratory problems, said Dr Al Dughaishi.

When a baby is born through the natural process, the pressure helps to expel the amniotic fl uid in the baby’s lungs and makes it easy for the baby to breathe, she noted.

Also, there is always some bac-teria in the birth canal and passing through it, the baby passes through picks up protective bacteria that would help strengthen its immune

system, she added. Natural birth is also important for the bonding between the mother and the child.

“The birth process itself, despite being painful, is a journey of matu-rity and the experience will make the mother more mature to accept the child and take care of it,” said Dr Al Dughaishi.

In addition, if the mother de-livers the baby naturally, she is fully awake and will be able to get the skin-to-skin contact immedi-ately and also breastfeed the child shortly after the delivery, she said.

This is while the woman who has had a C-section, might be still under the infl uence of anaesthesia and will not be able to start breast-feeding immediately, she added.

Natural delivery also has many benefi ts for the mother, includ-ing a quick recovery and a shorter hospital stay.

The average duration of a stay for a woman who has had natu-ral delivery is 24 hours while it is around 3 to 4 days for a woman who has had C-section, Dr Al Dughaishi said, and added that the recovery time after natural deliv-ery is also much shorter.

A shorter hospital stay means that the mother and the baby get back home faster, lowering the stress levels for the entire family,

she added. Natural delivery also gives reassurance of similar de-liveries in the future and means no scar risk in future births, said the expert.

Risks of CaesareanDr Al Dughaishi also spoke about the risks of having a C-section both for the baby and the mother during the pregnancy and in the later stages of life.

A C-section is performed under anaesthesia, either local or gen-eral, which may have some risks associated with it, she said, add-ing that the mother will also not be able to walk around immediately after the operation.

She noted that the main risks to the mother when having a C-sec-tion include excess bleeding, infec-tion of the wound and infection of the womb lining, which can cause fever, womb pain and abnormal discharge.

“Also, there is always a risk of blood clots happening in the legs, which can be dangerous if part of the clot breaks off and travels to the lungs,” she said.

Damage to the bladder or the tube that connects the kidney and bladder is another risk, which may require further surgery, said Dr Al Dughaishi. She added that one or

more Caesarean sections can also increase a women’s risk of devel-oping complications if she gets pregnant again.

In addition, if a woman has de-livered through C-section in her two previous pregnancies, she is indicated for a repeat Caesarean section for all her deliveries.

Some studies have shown that women who have had one or more Caesarean sections are at a slightly higher risk of infertility and also ectopic pregnancy where a ferti-lised egg implants itself outside the womb, she added.

Asked if women are more likely to die during a Caesarean delivery than a natural birth, Dr Al Dughai-shi said that problems can arise in any birthing incident but some studies show that Caesarean in-creases a woman’s risk of pregnan-cy-related death.

High-risk pregnancyHowever, she said it must be taken into consideration that some-times a C-section is performed because the mother already has a high-risk pregnancy which has re-sulted in the need for the surgery. So it cannot be generalised, she added. Commenting on the risks of a Caesarean for the baby, Dr Al Dughaishi said that the baby may

be at a two-fold increased risk of stillbirth, a birth in which the baby is born dead.

Also, there are some reports showing that there is an increased risk of sudden infant death syn-drome after the delivery itself, added the expert.

Having one or more Caesarean sections can also increase the risk of the baby developing complica-tions in later pregnancies.

However, the risk of serious complications from a Caesarean section is only slightly higher than having a natural birth, she said.

Other complications may in-clude premature birth, neonatal intensive care admission and low birth-weight, she added.

“Babies born by Caesarean sec-tion may be more likely to have breathing problems at birth and even during childhood, such as asthma,” said Dr Al Dughaishi.

She also noted that some stud-ies have suggested a link between babies delivered by C-section and a greater risk of becoming obese as children and even as adults for rea-sons that remain unclear.

One possibility is that wom-en who are obese or have preg-nancy-related diabetes may be more likely to have a C-section, she clarifi ed.

Life-saving CaesareanDr Al Dughaishi said that a C-sec-tion can be necessary and life-sav-ing when natural delivery poses a risk to the mother or baby.

According to her, medical com-plications which may make it necessary to perform a C-section include abnormal issues related to placenta, a too narrow pelvis, pel-vis fracture which may have been caused by an accident, foetal heart abnormalities, bleeding, and uter-ine rupture, apart from infections, foetal distress, which is commonly caused by lack of oxygen to the baby, and failure to progress in la-bour. Also, a Caesarean might be necessary if the baby is not in an optimal delivery position, its head is too large or it has been diagnosed with a birth defect.

“If a woman has had two previ-ous C-section operations, she is indicated for a repeat C-section for all her deliveries,” noted Dr Al Dughaishi.

Twins may be delivered natu-rally depending on their positions and some other factors, she said, adding that multiples of three or more are indicated to be delivered by C-section.

More awarenessDr Al Dughaishi believes that al-though great eff orts have been made to promote natural child-birth, more campaigns are re-quired to raise public awareness about both natural and Caesarean delivery.

According to her, sometimes it is diffi cult to convince a woman not to have C-section when it is not necessary and in some cases it is hard to persuade the family of a woman when she requires Caesar-ean. When a woman is adamant to have C-section when it is not med-ically required, health educators in diff erent health institutions coun-sel them several times and even speak to the husband, she said.

Some women change their minds after learning about all the risks and benefi ts and the ser-vices off ered to them for a safe natural delivery.

The Omani Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has also been es-tablished to promote awareness and encourage natural childbirth among women, she added.

Besides, there are contraception campaigns which help increase the interval between two pregnan-cies, said Dr Al Dughaishi.

In her message to women she said that they should read a lot about natural and Caesarean delivery.

H E A L T H A D V I S O R Y

< FROM

A1

Avoid supplements

Dr Al Dhahab was the guest of honour at a multi-country live surgery medical conference, held recently by Lama Poly-clinic, which updated doctors in Oman on the latest techniques and developments in the fi eld of gastroenterology.

The conference, held in asso-ciation with India’s non-profi t Kread Foundation,provided a platform for members of the medical community to learn and ask questions from world-re-nowned Indian speakers and sur-geons performing the operations.

B O D Y B U I L D I N G

< FROM

A1

Airports register more

than 5.7 million fl iers

MUSCAT: The number of trav-ellers who passed through the Muscat and Salalah international airports till the end of July re-corded an increase of 11.8 per cent and 19.5 per cent, respec-tively, compared to the fi gures in the same period in 2014.

There were 6,246,329 passen-gers travelling through the two airports during the same period, according to initial data released

by the National Centre for Statis-tics and Information (NCSI).

The number of travellers pass-ing through Muscat International Airport till July, including transfer and transit passengers, increased to 5,707,270 on 53,483 fl ights. There were 47,230 international fl ights that passed through Mus-cat International Airport till July last, an increase of 14.4 per cent, as compared to fi gures in 2014.-ONA

C I V I L A V I A T I O N

TRAVEL HUB: There were 6,246,329 passengers travelling

through the Muscat and Salalah airports till the end of July.-ONA

The birth process itself, despite being painful, is a

journey of maturity and the experience will make

the mother more mature to accept the child and take

care of it. In addition, if the mother delivers the baby

naturally, she is fully awake and will be able to get the

skin-to-skin contact immediately and also breastfeed

the child shortly after the delivery. The main risks to

the mother when having a C-section include excess

bleeding, infection of the wound and infection of the

womb lining, which can cause fever, womb pain etc

Dr Tamima Rashid Al DughaishiSenior consultant, maternal fetal medicine at SQU Hospital

A4 S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

REGION

Abadi orders easier access to Baghdad’s fortified area

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Min-ister Haider Al Abadi on Friday ordered security forces to ease ac-cess to Baghdad’s fortifi ed Green Zone and main streets, in an ap-parent bid to improve daily life for ordinary Iraqis as the country braces for fresh protests.

The capital and many southern cities have witnessed demonstra-tions in recent weeks calling for provision of basic services, the trial of corrupt politicians, and the shake-up of a system riddled with graft and incompetence.

Thousands of people were heading to join Friday’s protests following a call from powerful majority sect cleric Moqtada Al Sadr. Security forces deployed in force to prevent violence, which has been limited in past weeks.

Partly in response to the pro-tests, Abadi is pushing reforms to a system he says has deprived Iraqis of basic services and undermined the fi ght against IS militants.

Combat corruptionHe has announced several meas-ures this month to combat cor-ruption and mismanagement in-cluding scrapping layers of senior government posts, cutting securi-ty details and other perks for offi -

cials, and encouraging corruption investigations.

On Friday, he directed military commanders to ease civilian ac-cess to the Green Zone, the central Baghdad district home to many government buildings and several Western embassies.

The 10-square-kilometre area on the bank of the Tigris River once housed the headquarters of the US occupation and before that one of Saddam Hussein’s republi-can palaces.

Checkpoints and concrete bar-riers have blocked bridges and highways leading to the neigh-bourhood for years, symbolising the disconnect between Iraq’s leadership and its people and wreaking havoc on traffi c in the city of 7 million people.

Abadi also ordered the elimi-

nation of no-go zones set up by militias and political parties in Baghdad and other cities in re-sponse to more than a decade of car bombings.

High priority But Friday’s edicts showed that security remained a high priority. Abadi called for a plan “to protect civilians... from being targeted by terrorism”, according to online statements, but did not identify specifi c measures or a timeline.

Bomb attacks, many of them claimed by IS, continue to strike the Iraqi capital.

At least six people were killed on Friday morning in a car bomb attack in the southern district of Zafaraniyah, police and medical sources said.

Abadi pledged in November to

remove concrete barriers from the capital, but movement in many areas remains constrained by the blast walls. He has man-aged to reduce the army’s secu-rity role in the city and lifted a nighttime curfew.

Illegally gained assets Abadi also ordered on Friday the formation of a legal committee to review the ownership of state properties and return illegally gained assets to the state. Critics say some offi cials have abused their authority to appropriate state-owned properties for per-sonal use.

Top majority sect cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, who wields authority few Iraqi politi-cians would openly challenge, has called on Abadi to “strike with an

iron fi st” against corruption. On Friday, he cautioned protest-

ers against letting personal goals distract from their demands while urging politicians to provide tangi-ble results of reform measures.

“The citizens have tried previ-ous promises and found nothing in reality that would solve the problems they have suff ered from for so long. They saw that these promises were only aimed at tem-porarily relieving their suff ering,” Sistani said in a sermon delivered by a spokesman.

The governors of Muthanna and Qadisiya, in Iraq’s oil-pro-ducing south, off ered to resign on Friday, offi cials said, follow-ing allegations of administrative and fi nancial wrongdoing. It was not immediately clear when they would leave their posts. — Reuters

Checkpoints and

concrete barriers

have blocked bridges

and highways

leading to the

neighbourhood for

years, symbolising

the disconnect

between Iraq’s

leadership and

its people

DEMAND FOR BASIC RIGHTS: Iraqi people shout slogans during a demonstration against the poor quality of basic services, and power

outages and calling for trial corrupt politicians in Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday. — Reuters

UN plans new Libya talks next week in Switzerland

SKHIRAT (MOROCCO): The United Nations plans a new round of talks between Libya’s warring factions next week in Geneva in an eff ort to form a unity government and end the country’s crisis, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

Western governments see a UN-backed peace deal as the only solution to chaos in Libya where two rival governments battle for control, leaving a security vacu-um which has been exploited by migrant smugglers and militants.

Months of negotiations have been stalled by hardliners on both sides and fi ghting among armed groups siding with the two loose factions that emerged four years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi .

In the latest delay, delegates from Tripoli’s self-declared gov-ernment dropped out of talks in Morocco this week, saying they needed a new negotiating team after a chief member resigned. But they said they would attend the next round with the rival interna-tionally recognized government.

Next roundSpeaking in Morocco, UN envoy for Libya Bernardino Leon said he expected both sides to return to the next round with names for the new unity government.

“I do not think it makes sense for any institution that wants to play a relevant role in Libya not to bring names,” Leon told reporters.

In the turmoil after the uprising against Gaddafi , a former rebel fac-tion called Libya Dawn took over the capital Tripoli last year, setting up its own government and rein-stating the old parliament.

The internationally recognised government and its elected parlia-ment now operate out of the east of the country, allied with another coalition of former anti-Gaddafi rebels. The UN deal on the table calls for a one-year-long govern-ment of national accord, where a council of ministers headed by a prime minister, and two deputies, will have executive authority.

The House of Representatives will be the legislative body, but the accord also sees the creation of a 120-member State Council, consisting of 90 members of the Tripoli parliament. — Reuters

C O N F L I C T

‘You Stink’ protesters spell out demandsBEIRUT: Lebanese protesters who fi rst took to the streets over a trash crisis said on Friday they will call for new parliamentary elec-tions and the environment min-ister’s resignation at a weekend demonstration.

The “You Stink” campaign has called for a massive protest in cen-tral Beirut on Saturday to follow demonstrations last weekend that targeted not only a trash collection problem but also Lebanon’s stag-nant political scene.

At a news conference, the group said the demonstration would urge the resignation of Environment Minister Mohammed Mashnuq and new parliamentary elections.

The demonstrators would also call for trash collection to be handed over to local municipali-ties, and for accountability for the use of violence against protesters last week.

Asaad Thebian, a member of the campaign, said the protest would be non-partisan and open to all.

“We’re going out tomorrow from all areas, from all affi liations,” he said.

The “You Stink” campaign be-gan in response to a trash crisis that started with the closure of Lebanon’s largest landfi ll in mid-

July. The closure left trash piling up in the streets of the capital and beyond and saw public anger rise to unprecedented levels.

Fall of regimeLast weekend, several thousand demonstrators turned out on Sat-urday and Sunday for protests that included chants seeking the “fall of the regime,” in an echo of protests elsewhere in the region.

On both days, the initially peace-

ful protests descended into vio-lence between some demonstra-tors and security forces.

The campaign blamed “trouble-makers” for the unrest, which saw security forces pelted with rocks and lit fi reworks, and protesters hit by rubber bullets and water cannon fi re.

The group said Friday it had or-ganised a team to monitor Satur-day’s demonstration and prevent violence from breaking out.

The protest is to start at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) with a march from the interior ministry towards Mar-tyrs Square in downtown Beirut.

Though the demonstrations be-gan with frustration over the trash crisis, they have evolved into an outlet for anger about Lebanon’s entire political system. The coun-try’s parliament has twice extend-ed its mandate since the last elec-tions in 2009, and has been unable to elect a president since the post was vacated in May 2014. — AFP

L E B A N O N D E M O

CIVIC WOES: A fi refi ghter sprays water on a garbage pile that

caught fi re on a street in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday. — AFP

At a news conference,

the group said the

demonstration would

urge the resignation of

Environment Minister

Mohammed Mashnuq

and new parliamentary

election

50% of Syrians displaced, 20% have fl ed countryBEIRUT: Syria’s four-and-a-half year confl ict has driven half of the country’s people to fl ee their homes, with the number of those who have left the country approaching 20 per cent of the pre-war population.

At least 7.6 million people are displaced within Syria, which counted 23 million inhabitants at the start of the civil war.

More than four million have become refugees.

According to the head of UN humanitarian operations, aid in Syria continues to be blocked by belligerents, particularly in dif-fi cult-to-access zones or those occupied by regime or opposi-tion forces.

Some 4.6 million civilians live in these areas and 422,000 are living in a state of siege.

“This is the biggest refugee population from a single confl ict in a generation,” UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said in July.

“It is a population that needs the support of the world but is

instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty,” he said.

In July, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the number of ref-ugees had surged by one million in 10 months, forecasting that the total will reach 4.27 million by year end.

AssistanceMost of the refugees have gone to neighbouring countries but, with a lack of jobs and inad-equate humanitarian assistance, thousands are now seeking to emigrate to Europe. Turkey, at 1.8 million, and Lebanon, at 1.1 mil-lion, have so far taken in the larg-est number of refugees.

The UNHCR says another 600,000 are in Jordan, but the government there puts the num-ber at 1.4 million, a fi gure equal to 20 per cent of the kingdom’s population.

There are also 225,000 Syrians in Iraq and 137,000 in Egypt. — AFP

C I V I L W A R

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INDIAS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

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Nitish counters Modi’s special package with seven-point development planPATNA: To counter Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi’s Rs1.25 lakh crore special package for the east Indian state of Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday unveiled plans worth Rs2.70 lakh crore in the next fi ve years that in-clude free electricity and drinking water connection to every house-hold and a toilet in each house.

Taking a jibe at the PM’s special package, Kumar told a press con-ference here, “unlike the much hyped package which is nothing but repackaging of old schemes, my vision comprises programmes which are doable and I have worked out mobilisation of re-sources for it.”

Unveiling his seven-point de-velopment plan at the press con-ference, Kumar clarifi ed it was not a manifesto of either JD(U) or that of the secular alliance. “Its my ‘dil ki baat’ (talks from heart) and not ‘maan ki baat’ (talks of mind),” Kumar said. The seven-point development plan was in addition to the ongoing schemes in diff erent sectors, Kumar said.

CommitmentFaced with fl urry of questions if it was the manifesto of JD(U) or secular alliance comprising JD(U), RJD and Congress, Kumar answered in negative and said “its my commitment towards people and I know they have faith on me that I do what I say.”

When further grilled if RJD

and Congress share his vision, he said “I am the leader of the secu-lar alliance in the coming Bihar election.” Kumar’s seven-point development, has special focus on youth, women, unemployed, young entrepreneurs and on in-frastructure needs like drinking water, electricity and toilet.

Elaborating on the 7 points in his development plan, Kumar highlighted fi ve new programmes for youths, who constitute the bulk of the state’s population. The CM said youths in the age group of 20-25 would get Rs 1,000 monthly allowance twice for a period of nine months each to meet expens-es during search for jobs.

Every youth who has passed class XII would get a student

credit card with the help of which a loan of Rs 4 lakh from any bank could be availed. The state gov-ernment would provide 3 per cent interest subvention on the loan taken from this credit card, Ku-mar said. The state government would establish a Rs 500 crore Venture capital fund from which young entrepreneurs would get start up capital to set up manu-facturing units, he said. The CM promised to provide free wi-fi fa-cility in all colleges and universi-ties in the state.

He further said registration and modern employment consul-tancy centres would be opened in all 38 districts to provide basic computer education, language training and skill development to

1.5 crore youths in the state. The plans for youths would cost about Rs 49,800 crore in next fi ve years, he said, adding “he has in mind from where to mobilise the re-sources.” To give pace to women empowerment, Kumar said 35 per cent seats would be reserved for women in all state jobs. Presently, 35 per cent reservation is given to women in recruitment in police from constable upto Inspector level and this would be extended in all other state jobs, he added.

Power issueWith electricity emerging as a ma-jor election issue in Bihar, Kumar said all left out villages and habi-tations would be connected with electricity in next two years and after that state government on its own expenses would connect every house with the electricity. “Through increased availability of electricity the dream to illumi-nate every house in the state with 24 hour electricity would be real-ised,” Kumar said.

Future power projects would cost Rs 55,600 crore in fi ve years, he said. All houses in rural and urban areas would be connected with drinking water pipeline in next fi ve years, the Bihar chief minister said. A total of 1.95 crore households in rural areas and 16 lakh in urban areas would be ben-efi tted by this, he added. The pro-ject would cost Rs 47,700 crore in fi ve years. -PTI

B I H A R

PRESIDENT GREETS PEOPLE ON RAKSHA BANDHANSand artist Manas Sahoo makes a sand art on the eve of Raksha Bandhan with a message to protect mankind at Puri beach

on Friday. President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday greeted people on the eve of Raksha Bandhan, saying the festival under-

lines the need to enhance eff orts for welfare of women and a duty for men to ensure their safety and security in society. - PTI

Gujarat near normal as quota row toll rises to 10

AHMEDABAD: Soldiers and paramilitary forces remained de-ployed in Gujarat, where the situ-ation was near normal on Friday even as the death of a policemen took the toll in violence to 10.

Curfew has been lifted in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Meh-sana, Palanpur, Jamnagar, Vis-nagar and Unjha, which bore the brunt of violence in the wake of the Patidars’ agitation demand-ing caste-based reservation in education and employment. The army, paramilitary forces and Gu-jarat Police personnel kept a close watch as people trooped out for work and shopping for Saturday’s Raksha Bandhan festival.

Director General of Police P.C. Thakur told media persons that the deployment of the army and other security forces will con-tinue for some more time. Gov-ernment offi ces and private es-tablishments opened on Friday. Shops and commercial enter-prises reported bustling business for Raksha Bandhan and Jan-mashthami festival next week.

However, most schools and col-leges across the state remained closed as a precaution. They will

reopen on Monday, an offi cial said.Twenty-two-year-old com-

merce graduate Hardik Patel, who has galvanised the dominant Patel community in Gujarat on the reservation demand, on Fri-day threatened to intensify the agitation and decided to rope in Gujjars for support. Hardik in an interview to PTI also said his sole objective is the inclusion of Patel community in the Other Backward Class(OBC) category and not the abolition of the quota system.

Ahmedabad District Collector Rajkumar Beniwal said the Army continued fl ag march on roads in some city areas on Friday. “Army’s fl ag march continued today in sen-sitive areas where violence was re-ported,” Beniwal said.

‘Not for abolition’“We do not want reservation sys-tem to be abolished as it is being talked. We just want OBC quota for Patels,” Hardik said when asked about reports quoting him as saying that if Patels are not included the OBC category there should be total removal of the res-ervation system. Congress on the second day Friday tried to raise the issue in the state Assembly.

Three Congress MLAs were sus-pended by the Gujarat Assembly speaker while others walked out in protest from the House for shout-ing slogans against senior minister Nitin Patel, who had alleged that opposition party was responsible for the recent violence in the state.

On Thursday, 54 Congress MLAs were suspended for the day when they raised slogans over the quota stir. According to ADGP (Law and Order), P. P. Pandey, as many as 95 FIRs have been regis-tered in the state including around 40 FIRs in Ahmedabad in connec-tion with violence in which 10 peo-ple were killed. - Agencies

Hardik Patel said his

sole objective is the

inclusion of Patel

community in the

OBC category and not

the abolition of the

quota system

UNEASY CALM: Central Reserve Police Force soldiers march in

market areas as life returns to normalcy in the sensitive Bapunagar

area after the clashes, in Ahmedabad on Friday. - PTI

USAID India to launch

$5m project : Verma

NEW DELHI: USAID India will soon launch a fi ve million dollar project aimed at improving ma-ternal and child health care by aggregating best practices from both public and private sector.

US Ambassador to India Rich-ard Verma said the project will be called ‘global linkages’ that will serve as a sharing and learning platform on maternal and child policies and innovations.

“I am excited to announce that USAID India will soon launch a fi ve million dollar project called global linkages that will serve as a sharing, learning and partner-ship platform on maternal and child care practices, policies and innovations. “Based in India, the global linkages platform will ag-gregate best practices and innova-tions in maternal and child health from both public and private sec-tor here (India) as well and other countries,” Verma said during the concluding session of the two-day “Global Call to Action Summit 2015- ending preventable mater-nal and child deaths”.

Verma also said that US is fully committed to partnering “close-ly” with Indian government, private sector and civil society to identify “ground breaking” ap-proaches that can leapfrog con-ventional eff orts to reduce child and maternal deaths.

He said that in India, one has

already seen “compelling evi-dence” that by scaling up key in-terventions, one can save 4.3 million children and 128,000 women’s lives by 2020.

USAID is the lead US govern-ment agency that works to end extreme global poverty and en-able resilient, democratic socie-ties to realize their potential.

“The US-India strategic part-nership is a signifi cant contribu-tor to regional and global stability and prosperity. The two govern-ments are working together and leveraging the combined capaci-ties to assist other developing countries. “The triangular as-sistance which entails US-India collaboration addresses the chal-lenges of the developing coun-tries, showcases Indian leader-ship and knowhow and benefi ts developing countries in areas in-cluding health, energy, food secu-rity and women’s empowerment,” the US Ambassador to India said.

He also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s in-terview in a magazine recently in which he (Modi) had said that “US-India relationship is not just about fi nding ways in which we can help each other but rather its what India and US can do togeth-er for the world.”

He also applauded India for hosting the summit for the fi rst time outside the US. - PTI

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

Ex-servicemen reject government off er, boycott celebrationsNEW DELHI: Agitating ex-ser-vicemen on Friday boycotted the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1965 war after rejecting Govern-ment’s latest off er on resolving the vexed issue of one-rank-one-pension OROP over which they started protests 75 days ago.

“Whatever they have fi nally of-fered is not acceptable to us. Yes-terday what was told to us is no-where close to the defi nition” that had been decided and accepted by Parliament,” Maj Gen Satbir Singh (Retd), Chairman of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement said.

He said that the ex-servicemen have turned down government’s off er to increase pension every fi ve years instead of annually. “They were saying it will be done after fi ve years which is totally incor-rect because it will defeat the very defi nition of One Rank One Pen-sion,” Satbir said.

“We are also fi rm on our stand that the base year has to be 2013-14 and that payment should begin from April 1, 2014. OROP should not be left to the 7th Pay Commis-sion and the defi nition has to be the same as accepted by Parliament.”

Government is insisting that 2011 be made the base year while making it clear that there will be no three per cent annual increase.

It also wants payment to begin from April 1, 2015, which has been rejected by the veterans.

Unhappy with the prolonged de-lay by the Government in setting a timeframe for OROP, the veterans boycotted Friday’s golden jubilee celebrations of the 1965 war.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar drew fl ak from the vet-erans for his remarks that Gov-ernment needs “some time” to fi ll “small gaps” for implementation of OROP. - PTI

O N E R A N K O N E P E N S I O N

POLL SOPS: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar addressing a press

conference in Patna on Friday. - PTI

A6

INDIAS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

I will extend full cooperation to Mumbai police. I will get justice for her

Mikhail, brother of Sheena Bora

ONAM CELEBRATED WITH FESTIVE FERVOURWomen make a fl oral rangoli ‘Pookalam’ on the occasion of Onam festival in Coimbatore on Friday. Keralites across the

south Indian state as well as those living in others states or abroad on Friday celebrated the festival with traditional fervour

and gaiety. People off ered prayers in temples early in the morning while the day was marked by feast and festivities, includ-

ing programmes organised by various cultural organisations and institutions. - PTI

Noted Indian agriculture scientist awarded fi rst Sunhak Peace PrizeSEOUL: Noted Indian agriculture scientist Dr Modadugu Vijay Gup-ta, who has done pioneering work in aquaculture in India and sev-eral other countries, was on Friday awarded the fi rst Sunhak Peace Prize, billed as an alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with the President of Kiri-bati Islands.

Gupta, 76, shared the $1 million prize with President of Kiribati Is-lands Anote Tong here at a glitter-ing function which was attended

by invitees from all over the world.Tong, 63, the head of the Pa-

cifi c Ocean island nation which is facing dire prospects of being engulfed by rising sea waters by 2050, was chosen for the award for his dogged fi ght to end the car-bon emissions which are spelling doom for small island nations.

The awards were presented by South Korean religious leader Dr Hak Ja Han Moon, the wife of late Rev Sun Myung Moon, who insti-tuted the awards to recognise and

highlight the work of individuals making big eff orts for the better-ment of the people.

Hailing from Bapatla in Andhra Pradesh, Gupta, a biologist, was also the recipient of the World Food Prize in 2005 for develop-ment and dissemination of low-cost techniques for freshwater fi sh farming.

Before his retirement, he served as the Assistant Director General at WorldFish, an international fi sheries research institute under

the Consultative Group on Inter-national Agricultural Research based in Penang, Malaysia.

Aqua technologyStarting his career as a scientist in Indian Council Agriculture Re-search over three decades ago in Kolkata, Gupta worked in Laos, Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Philip-pines, Thailand pursuing his belief that the aqua technology which can provide food security and im-prove livelihoods of rural poor.

“I believed throughout my ca-reer that all the advanced fi sh farming technology which we cre-ated in laboratories should be tak-en to people, then only it can make a diff erence to their lives,” he told PTI after receiving the award.

Regarded as a rebel within the ranks of the agricultural scientist community in India, Gupta mostly worked with the UN and agricul-ture related international organi-sations in diff erent countries.

His work with rural commu-

nities in Bangladesh, a nation bestowed with lot of water re-sources, has made fi sh farming a major source of livelihood for mil-lions of rural poor, according to the organisers.

As a scientist advocating sus-tainable alternatives, Gupta said aquaculture should be seen as a major source of food security.

“There can be no peace with-out food security in the world. You cannot talk peace to a hungry man,” he said. - PTI

A Q U A C U L T U R E

Indrani’s ex-husband remanded in police custody till August 31MUMBAI: Sanjeev Khanna, for-mer husband of prime accused Indrani Mukerjea, was on Friday remanded in police custody after being charged with murder in the sensational Sheena Bora case and taken to an undisclosed location for joint interrogation with her and her driver.

Brought here from Kolkata last night, Khanna was produced in Bandra court and remanded to police custody till August 31 after being charged under Sections 364 (kidnapping), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evi-dence) and 120-B (conspiracy) of the IPC.

In what could be crucial in tak-ing the probe forward, police col-lected a few pieces of bones from J J Hospital, where it was sent in May 2012, a month after Sheena’s body was burnt and dumped there.

“The hospital sent its report in 2013 saying it can not determine the age, sex or cause of death on the basis of the bones sent by the Pen police,” Hospital Dean Dr T P Lahane said.

“Today, Khar police came to the hospital and collected the bones

from us”, Lahane said declining to make any comment when asked whether the samples could be vital forensic evidence in the case.

Sheena’s brother Mikhail, who had stated that the victim was In-drani’s daughter and not her sister, also landed here from Guwahati and promised to cooperate fully with the police in the probe.

“I will extend full cooperation to Mumbai police. I will get justice for her,” Mikhail said.

The police alleged in the court that Khanna had played an active role in the conspiracy and murder of 24-year-old Sheena and he had to be taken to the spot where she was killed on April 24, 2012. - PTI

S H E E N A B O R A M U R D E R C A S E

Government plans special session to pass crucial bills

PATNA: Observing that reform measures were required to sus-tain the economic growth of the country, the Centre on Friday said that it might convene a special session of Parliament next month to seek passage of the GST and other bills with cooperation from the opposition.

“It’s imperative that reforms measures like the GST bill, Land

Acquisition (amendment) bill, Negotiable Instruments (amend-ment) bill and others related to taxation has to be passed by Parliament to sustain economic growth in the country for which the Centre may convene spe-cial session of Parliament next month,” Parliamentary Aff airs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

He ruled out convening of joint session of Parliament for passage of crucial legislations saying these bills were in the nature of amend-ment bills which “have to be passed by both houses separately”.

Stating that the NDA govern-ment has “done its best” to accom-modate the opposition by refer-ring most of bills being objected to them to the select committees for examination of their objections, Naidu said that it was the turn of the opposition, more so the Con-gress and its allies to reciprocate and cooperate with the govern-ment in passage of these bills, in-cluding the GST, during the spe-cial session.

Observing that the NDA gov-ernment has succeeded to bring the economy, marred by fi scal, rev-enue, current account and trust

defi cits of the pre-BJP dispensa-tion, “back on rails”, the Union Minister said that more reformist measures, including roll out of the GST in 2016, was required to sus-tain India’s growth story.

Noting that the government has succeeding in getting the crucial reform bills, including the GST, passed by the Lok Sabha, Naidu said that these bills were pend-ing in the Upper House where the Congress-led opposition had been stalling its passage by not allowing the Rajya Sabha to function at all during the just-concluded mon-soon session.

“There is no point for the Con-gress and its allies to oppose the GST for the sake of opposition as passage of this crucial bill is nec-essary to reform taxation for ben-efi t of all,” he said.

Antagonistic standSimilarly, he said, the “antagonis-tic stand” of Congress and some other opposition parties on the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act, 2013 was “baffl ing” as the government has incorporated nine amendments suggested by the opposition even as 28 states have voiced their view favour-ing passage of the said bill so that infrastructure projects could be taken up at the earliest.

Justifying amendment moved by the NDA government in the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, Naidu said that the Congress had kept 13 key points out of the legislation which was necessary for acquisi-tion of land for speeding execu-tion of infrastructure projects.

Slamming Congress for its ad-versarial approach to pro-reform measures being proposed by the NDA government, Naidu said that the main opposition has not been able to “digest” the popular-ity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “so it does not want him and his government to succeed at all”. - PTI

He ruled out

convening of joint

session of Parliament

for passing the

crucial legislations

saying that most

of these bills were

amendment bills

which ‘have to be

passed by both

houses separately’

There is no point for the Congress and its allies

to oppose the GST for the sake of opposition

as passage of this crucial bill is necessary

to reform taxation for benefit of all

M Venkaiah NaiduParliamentary Affairs Minister

Accidental

deployment of

oxygen masks

forces Jet fl ight

to return

CHENNAI: A Delhi-bound Jet Airways fl ight carrying 165 pas-sengers and seven crew members onboard was forced to return here on Friday after the sudden deploy-ment of oxygen masks in two rows of the aircraft.

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated a probe into the inci-dent, which happened this morn-ing, sources said.

The probe would look into the reasons for the sudden deploy-ment of the oxygen masks on Jet Airways fl ight 9W-820,which could also be because of some maintenance issue, they said.The aircraft remained airborne for al-most twenty minutes before land-ing back at the Chennai airport at around 1030 hours, they said.

“The Oxygen masks came down from the ceiling panel above the seats in the two rows of the aircraft after some 20 minutes of the take off , forcing the pilot to return the plane back to Chennai,” the sourc-es said. Jet Airways, in a statement said that the fl ight came back to Chennai without completing its journey due to accidental deploy-ment of the oxygen masks. The aircraft was changed and the fl ight departed for its destination later on, the statement added. - PTI

P R O B E O R D E R E D

Sanjeev Khanna

A7

PAKISTANS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

IMF probing Pakistan claim on last year’s fi scal deficit

ISLAMABAD: In a move carry-ing far-reaching implications for a $6.2 billion bailout package, the International Monetary Fund is investigating Pakistan’s claim of restricting the federal budget defi -cit to 5.3 per cent of the total size of the national economy or Rs1.45 trillion in fi scal year 2015.

The IMF’s resident mission decided to reopen the books af-ter several independent experts publicly questioned the authen-ticity of the fi gure, claiming the defi cit was Rs1.8 trillion when

including the circular debt.The resident mission has gone

back to the drawing board and re-calculating the budget defi -cit fi gure for the last fi scal year 2014-15 that ended on June 30, said sources.

The Express Tribune sent a question to the IMF’s resi-dent mission on Monday, ask-ing whether it was true it was recalculating the 2015 budget defi cit fi gure.

After three days, the offi ce of resident representative Tokhir Mirzoev gave a brief statement

saying that they “would not com-ment at this point.”

SpeculationSpeculation about the accuracy of the government’s fi gures grew after the IMF published a glowing report, praising the Nawaz Ad-ministration’s reform eff orts.

In an op-ed piece appearing in a local daily, former State Bank gov-ernor Shahid Kardar stated that despite Pakistan’s failure to meet two key performance benchmarks of the programme, the IMF took a lenient view and granted waivers.

He said that in less than two years, the IMF gave 12 waivers to Islamabad, the largest number of waivers under any IMF pro-gramme. He argued that the gov-ernment was practicing an “una-shamed manipulation of data” to show a lower budget defi cit, an act in which the IMF was complicit.

“This decision of the Fund staff has, for the fi rst time in recent memory, reinforced the widening perception that the IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank are abettors of the govern-ment’s window-dressing scheme,”

he wrote. Kardar was not alone in his scathing criticism.

In an article published in the London-based Financial Times on Sunday, economist and for-mer fi nance minister Hafi z Pasha expressed similar views, saying, “In our close to 70 years’ history, we’ve never had a government that fudged statistics to the extent of this one.”

He said the actual 2015 budget defi cit including circular debt was closer to 8.5 per cent of GDP, not the 5.3 per cent the government claimed.

According to sources, dur-ing the IMF’s earlier analysis, it had treated the $1 billion raised through the secondary market of-fering of the government’s shares in Habib Bank as revenue, even though the 2000 Privatisation Ordinance requires such pro-ceeds to be treated as fi nancing, not revenue.

In addition, the IMF excluded the $1 billion Islamic Eurobond issued by the government from its external fi nancing.

A meeting of the Executive Board of the IMF is tentatively scheduled for early next month to allow the disbursement of next loan tranche of $500 million.

If 5.3 per cent fi gure turns out to be incorrect, the country may face problems in getting further loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. - Express Tribune

The International

Monetary Fund

is investigating

Pakistan’s claim of

restricting the federal

budget defi cit to 5.3

per cent of the total

size of the national

economy or Rs1.45

trillion in the

fi scal year 2015

Speculation about

the accuracy of

the government’s

figures grew after

the IMF published

a glowing report,

praising the Nawaz

Administration’s

reform efforts

Resham’s fi lm ‘Swaarangi’ banned by censor board

KARACHI: Pakistani fi lm Swaarangi which was all set to release on September 11 has been banned by Central Board of Film Certifi cation (CBFC).

“A panel decided that the fi lm can’t be screened in its present form for public viewing,” Chari-man CBFC, Mobashir Hasan said.

Based on real life events, Swaaraangi has been directed by Fida Hussain and shot in distant locations near Kalabagh, Punjab.

The storyline highlights the plight of drug addicts in Pakistan.

While the CBFC chairman did not go into details, rumour has it that the Resham-starrer has been banned for representing an ‘inap-propriate’ image of Pakistan.

However, none of the CBFC of-fi cials could confi rm this.

The decision was made by a panel of the CBFC and later a full-board meeting was called to recon-sider the decision in the presence of an extended 11-member panel.

All cinemas in the Islamabad Capital Territory and canton-ments around the country fall within the CBFC’s ambit.

Cinemas in other parts of Pa-kistan will receive certifi cation orders from their respective pro-vincial censor boards. Besides Re-sham, the fi lm stars Ayub Khosa, Naveed Akbar, Waseem Manzoor, Hamza Mushtaq and Shahzaib Jo-har. It was initially slated to release on August 28, but was later pushed to September 11. - Express Tribune

P L I G H T O F D R U G A D D I C T S

Government to address PPP’s concerns onformer minister’s arrest, Rangers actionISLAMABAD/KARACHI: A day after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) urged the govern-ment to respect the law and to adopt transparency in the way it is acting against the corrupt, Fed-eral Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said that they will address concerns of the main opposition party over former petroleum min-ister Dr Asim Hussain’s arrest and the ongoing Rangers crackdown in Sindh.

Rashid assured that the law en-forcement agencies will work with-in the ambit of law when carrying out operations in the province.

On Thursday, Leader of the Op-position in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah warned of ‘open war if anyone dared to touch PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.’

“Law will take its due course, government does not believe in any sort of retaliatory ac-tion against any political party,” Rashid said while speaking to the media in Lahore on Friday, Ex-press News reported.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Friday expressed con-cern over the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain.

Expressed displeasureThe Sindh chief minister ex-pressed his displeasure over the arrest during a meeting with Sindh Director General Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar, say-ing he should have been informed before the arrest, offi cial sources told The Express Tribune.

“Sindh CM and DG Rangers discussed matters pertaining to the law and order situation of the metropolis, as well as the re-cent arrest of Dr Asim Hussain,” sources said.

Further, the source added, DG Rangers also presented authentic documents to the provincial chief minister regarding the involve-

ment of Dr Asim in various cases.“It was decided earlier that all

information regarding the Kara-chi operation will be shared with me and no action will be taken without my consent,” sources quoted Qaim Ali Shah as saying.

On the contrary, CM House spokesperson termed the meeting ‘routine’ in the context of the on-going Karachi operation.

Rangers levelled terror-fi nanc-ing charges against Dr Asim Hus-sain while presenting him before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday. Offi cials of the para-military force informed the Ka-rachi ATC-III that they had taken Dr Asim into preventive custody for 90 days on charges of embez-zlement and using misappropri-ated funds in terrorist acts.

Dr Asim — who is currently serving as the chairman of the Higher Education Council (HEC)

in Sindh and is a close confi dante of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari — was picked up from his offi ce a day earlier by law enforcers clad in plain clothes. The arrest, at the time, was thought to be part of an anti-graft campaign which has already seen several individuals associated with PPP arrested on corruption charges. However, no government agency claimed re-sponsibility for the arrest.

Meanwhile, as PPP bigwigs like Dr Hussain face charges of corrup-tion, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has started prob-ing the import of liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) from Qatar by Pakistan State Oil (PSO), offi cials say.

Though Pakistan and Qatar have not signed any LNG supply deal, PSO has bought the fuel from Qatargas on spot-purchase basis.

In the fi rst phase, NAB started

investigation into the Engro LNG terminal deal and in the next phase focus has shifted to the pur-chase of six LNG cargoes by PSO and its sale to consumers.

According to offi cials, NAB in-vestigators visited head offi ces of PSO and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and questioned some offi cials.

They also seized the record per-taining to LNG purchase and its handing at the LNG terminal.

Being a public-sector procuring agency, PSO must strictly comply with the Public Procurement Reg-ulatory Authority (PPRA) rules for LNG import.

No procurement is allowed from only one supplier without giving a fair chance to others through an open and transparent tendering process like that under-taken by PSO for the import of all other products. - Express Tribune

K A R A C H I

CRACKDOWN: Paramilitary Soldiers display weapons and bomb-making material seized during an

operation, at Rangers Headquarters Karachi. Offi cials of the paramilitary force informed the Karachi

ATC-III that they had taken former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain into preventive custody for

90 days on charges of embezzlement and using misappropriated funds in terrorist acts. - Reuters fi le photo

PIA plans to lease seven new jets, expand fl eet sizeKARACHI: Pakistan Interna-tional Airlines (PIA) plans to lease seven new jets by year-end, aiming to increase the size of its fl eet to 42 aircraft; one of the largest ever, air-line’s Chairman Nasser N. A. Jaff er said on Thursday.

Despite massive debt and accu-mulated losses that have wiped off its entire equity, the national fl ag carrier has already leased 14 jets and turbo props in recent years.

“Not everything is right but we are trying to improve the situation by bringing in changes,” he said at a media briefi ng.

“With these aircraft we will serve more passengers. This is the fi rst time in PIA’s history that so many planes have been inducted in the fl eet in such a short span of time.” Right now the airline has 35 aircraft including 11 ATRs, nine Airbus 320s, nine Boeings 777s and six A310s.

Out of these, 30 aircraft are op-erational while fi ve await repair work. The jets that will join the fl eet over the next few months also include three Boeing 777s.

Jaff er said PIA has approached the government, which is the ma-jority shareholder, to restructure its balance sheet.

Shrinking share“Fortunately, we have people on our board who have some sugges-tions on how to restructure the air-line’s debt of Rs295 billion.”

About the continuous decline in PIA’s frequency and shrinking share in international passenger traffi c, he hoped the problem will be addressed with the addition of new aircraft.

However, the chairman, who was fl anked by Managing Direc-tor Shahnawaz Rehman and other senior offi cials, did not respond

to a question about how the air-line intends to counter growing penetration of Middle East-based airlines.

“The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has allowed these (foreign) airlines to operate more fl ights because it says we are not able to serve passengers. Obviously, if there is a demand for fi ve fl ights from a city and we can manage only two, then someone would come in to meet the demand.”

Without discussing much the proposed privatisation of PIA, he said the government was support-ing the management’s restructur-ing eff orts as evident from the $52 million it gave to lease the aircraft.

The renewed eff ort to take PIA out of losses has coincided with a sharp decline in jet fuel price.“We are lucky on that count. And that is how we have been able to off er dis-counts to customers.”

Addressing criticism that sur-rounds the hiring of fl ight in-structors on contract, Managing Director Rehman said it was a re-quirement as pilots needed train-ing for the A320s. - Express Tribune

B I G G E S T - E V E R

RESTRUCTURING: PIA Chairman

Nasser N. A. Jaff er said right

now the airline has 35 aircraft

including 11 ATRs, nine Airbus

320s, nine Boeings 777s and six

A310s. - Reuters fi le photo

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Fokke Obbema

With the Chinese economic miracle coming to an end, as shown by “Black Monday” and the devaluation of the

renminbi, one can feel a sense of relief in the West about this unexpected turn of events.

After all, most predictions indicated the Chinese economy would be able to overtake the US economy in the years to come. Political power would soon follow – the Chinese would “rule the world”, as some experts predicted. They would “buy up Europe”, the think-tank ECFR argued, after having already gobbled up chunks of Africa.

A rising China was something to be feared, according to China-bashers. Low pay and poor working conditions would await us, as European workers in the Greek port of Piraeus and the Italian textile industry of Prato, both dominated by Chinese investors, already can testify.

In the long run West’s most fundamental values (human rights, democracy) might even be undermined as a result of the economic power of a country whose leaders show little respect and even contempt for these values.

This analysis might seem over the top, but it is harder to counter the argument that China under its leader Xi Jinping has taken a course in the past three years which is at odds with western values. The infamous “Document no. 9”, adopted by the Central Committee of the CCP in 2013, views “universal values” as the West defends them as an attempt to weaken China. Within its own borders, the Chinese authorities have increased repression of human rights activists, Tibetan nationalists and dissidents. Censorship on the internet and in the media is rising. Internationally, China has taken up the habit of teaming up with Russia in the Security Council against the West, hindering a solution to the Syrian civil war, for instance. In its own region China’s new assertiveness, shown by its island-building activities and propped up by its increasing military strength, has brought fear to neighbouring countries. So how could we not feel secretly relieved about China’s economic setbacks and the apparent end to their enviable growth era? China’s economic misfortunes might not be so bad – it might tone down their increasing arrogance, one could be inclined to think.

In reality, China’s economic downturn will be far

from benefi cial to the West. Our interdependency is currently illustrated by the downturn of European stock markets in the wake of the collapse of the Shanghai Index. Ask American and European corporate leaders who have been able to sustain their profi ts in recent, diffi cult years thanks to excellent results in China.

Their biggest worry today is that China - despite a slight uptick - will not be able to stabilise its economy. A further slide might force CEOs of a wide variety of sectors (car makers, producers of luxury goods, industrial good companies) to cut jobs, both in China and at home. A large number of western small and medium size companies will suff er equally, as their exports to the Chinese market decline. Given the fact that China has contributed more than a third of global growth since 2008 the impact will be broad. If the country can no longer perform its role as engine of the world economy, job losses in the West are inevitable.

Apart from this rather selfi sh reason to wish China more economic health, it is important to note that China still has the largest number of poor people in the world, after India, despite decades of growth. From that perspective any feeling of relief about China’s woes is morally rather reprehensible. Not to mention the situation concerning human rights in China. True, its economic success did little to improve the plight of human rights activists, dissidents and others, but it is not hard to predict that an economic downturn will be even more unfavorable to them.

The Chinese population as a whole will be confronted with rising unemployment, increasing social tensions in an already tense country. Offi cial unemployment fi gures do not refl ect this and remain low (at 4 per cent for urban unemployment) but cannot be trusted. Certainly, unemployment will rise, if the economic downturn persists. That would be an ominous development, not only within China, but also for its foreign policy. When economic trouble becomes really serious, defl ecting attention to an enemy abroad might become tempting for China’s leadership. Suchstarting an international confl ict for internal reasons, could lead to disruption of trade fl ows around the world that would damage western interests even more.

Therefore, think twice before getting gleeful about China’s demise. — The Independent

OMAN POPULATIONPERCENTAGE

2015

Source: National Centre for Statistics & Information

March

Citizens56%

Expatriates44%

April

55.8% 44.2%

May

55.1% 44.9%

June

56.4% 43.6%

July

56.4% 43.6%

Adults need to understand and accept that children have deeper level of thinkingThis refers to the online story, Tech toys inspire (August 27). The article accurately describes present day life. It is not just techno-logical tools, which can be made through seeing children work them out. But it is just about everything. With the number of hours spent

on toys and electronic devices children of today have a much deeper level of think-ing. Universally, children of today are more advanced in many types of thinking. This is something which adults need to understand and accept.— Saleem Memood, Darsait

Pakistan needs a debate to work out its system of governanceThis refers to the online story, Pakistan arrests Zardari aide in Kara-chi operation (August 26). The military crackdown has been very successful. It has been something required for the 20 to 30 years. The politicians are behind the mess in the country and with that in mind a diff erent mode; of governance is needed. A debate on this needed. — Ali Mir, Muscat

Educate the political classThis refers to the online story, Pakistan arrests Zardari aide in Karachi operation (August 26). The authorities need to

be lauded for pursuing the crackdown. In my opinion, in order to mitigate the problems real education of the political class is needed.— Zahid Dilshad, Muscat

T I M E S O F O M A NS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5A8

Morally reprehensible to celebrate China woes

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4.3% rise in export of crude oilMUSCAT: According to the statistical bulletin issued by the Ministry of National Economy, Oman’s crude oil export during the fi rst fi ve months of the current year reached 130,221,900 barrels compared with 124,897,700 barrels during the corre-sponding period in 1999, showing a 4.3 per cent increase. The bulletin says that the crude oil price rose at the end of May this year by 102.2 per cent to $25.20 per barrel compared with $12.46 per barrel during the corresponding period last year.

1776: The Americans are defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York. 1813: The Allies defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden.

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2003: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing within 34,646,418 miles .

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a movement of those who feel the poor weren’t the people who caused the crash, so shouldn’t be

the people asked to pay for itbit.ly/odditiesofj eremycorbyn

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People are beginning to worry that a new wave of technological change will

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among armies of independent contractors

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Nuclear arms secured pact: Kim Jong-Un

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said nuclear weap-ons -- not negotiating skills -- se-cured this week’s “landmark” agreement with South Korea, as he dismissed a number of of-fi cials from a top military deci-sion-making body.

Chairing a meeting of the pow-erful Central Military Commis-sion (CMC), Kim credited the North with striking the deal that ended a tense military standoff with the South, Pyongyang’s of-fi cial KCNA news agency said on Friday. The agreement, reached after marathon day-night talks in the border truce village of Pan-munjom, pulled both sides back from the brink of an armed con-fl ict and committed them to start-ing an offi cial dialogue.

But Kim made it clear that sit-ting down to talks would not en-tail North Korea discussing the end of its nuclear weapons pro-gramme, which the young leader

said was key to maintaining peace in the fi rst place.

The Panmunjom agreement “was by no means something achieved on the negotiating ta-ble but thanks to the tremendous military muscle with the nuclear deterrent for self-defence”, Kim reportedly told the meeting.

The CMC, which is the rul-ing party’s top military policy-making body, handled the recent crisis, and the KCNA report sug-gested Kim may have ordered a mini purge afterwards.

The meeting “dismissed some members of the Central Military Commission and appointed new ones and dealt with an organi-sational matter,” it said, without elaborating on the reason for the dismissals. Since taking power in North Korea following the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in De-cember 2011, Kim Jong-Un has repeatedly reshuffl ed his senior military leaders.

The latest inter-Korean crisis had its roots in landmine blasts earlier this month that maimed two South Korean soldiers on

patrol along the border with the North. Seoul blamed Pyongyang and responded by switching on banks of giant speakers, which had lain silent for more than a decade, and blasting propaganda messages into North Korea.

Propaganda unitsThe North denied any involve-ment and threatened to attack the propaganda units as cross-border military tensions soared.

The agreement reached in Pan-munjom saw the North express regret -- but not admit responsi-bility -- for the maiming of the two soldiers, while the South ended the high-decibel broadcasts.

The talks were initiated by North Korea -- a fact that some analysts took as a sign that Pyong-yang had blinked fi rst in an esca-lating showdown that included a rare artillery exchange across the land border.

In his speech to the CMC, Kim acknowledged and embraced the fact Pyongyang had sought the ne-gotiations as evidence of its moral and strategic strength.

North Korea’s initiative, “put under control the situation which inched close to an armed confl ict, thereby clearing the dark clouds of war,” he said.

He underscored the need to channel “top priority eff orts” into strengthening North Korea’s mili-tary capability further.

While playing up Pyongyang’s role, Kim stressed that the pact was a “crucial landmark occasion” that off ered both Koreas a chance to move forward to better ties.

South Korea meanwhile, fl exed its military muscle on Friday, staging its largest-ever, live fi re drill with the United States that included a simulated mechanised assault into North Korean territory.

Some 3,000 US and South Ko-rean soldiers, around 100 tanks and armoured vehicles, 120 heavy guns, 45 helicopters and more than 40 jet fi ghters took part in the exercise -- 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the demilitarised zone, which splits the Korean peninsula between North and South. -AFP

The agreement,

reached after

marathon day-night

talks in the border

truce village of

Panmunjom, pulled

both sides back

from the brink of an

armed confl ict and

committed them

to starting an

offi cial dialogue

RELYING ON MUSCLE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un holds an enlarged meeting of the Central

Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Friday. -Reuters

Malaysia blocks site on rally eveKUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities have blocked access to the website of a civil society group that called for massive an-ti-government demonstrations this weekend, while a domestic news portal said the military could intervene if the protests get out of hand.

Pro-democracy group Bersih is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak over allegations of graft and fi nancial mismanagement at debt-laden state fund 1MDB and a multi-million-dollar donation made into his personal account.

Bersih’s web page, www.bersih.org, was not accessible in Ma-laysia on Friday, a day after the government said it would block sites that spread information and encourage people to join the two-day rally in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and two other cities.

Kuala Lumpur authorities have rejected Bersih’s applica-tion for a permit to protest, set-ting the stage for a possible show-down with security forces. Police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters at Bersih’s last big rally in 2012.

The Star newspaper said armed forces would intervene if the government declared a state of emergency during the rally. A military spokesman declined to

comment on the report.Security will be beefed up in

Kuala Lumpur and many roads will be closed as thousands of yellow-shirted protesters gather at fi ve sites on Saturday and pre-pare to converge in a central area.

On Friday, Najib criticised the rally organisers for holding the protest so close to independence day celebrations on Monday.

“There may be diff erences of opinion and belief among us, but the National Day should not be made a stage for political dis-putes,” he said in a blog post. “If they want to gather, they should pick a time and place that does not cause provocation.” -AFP

A N T I - G O V E R N M E N T D E M O N S T R A T I O N S

TOKYO: Wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt and clutching a mi-crophone, Aki Okuda stands be-fore a crowd, the pyramid-shaped roof of Japan’s parliament lit up against the night sky behind him.

“No War”, “Protect the Consti-tution”, “Abe - Quit!”, he chants in a hip-hop rhythm, echoed by the crowd.

Okuda, 23, is a founding member of a group of students that has be-come a fresh face of protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to enact a more robust defence policy - steps critics say violate the pacifi st constitution and could en-snare Japan in US-led wars.

Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) is also denting the image of Japanese students as either apolitical intro-verts, who left protests to their el-ders, or right wing geeks.

Japan has not seen signifi cant student protests since the 1960s, and civic demonstrations since then have been peopled primarily with greying left-wing activists.

That changed when SEALDs sprang to public notice by spon-soring weekly rallies near parlia-ment against unpopular defence

bills that Abe’s ruling bloc pushed through the lower house last month. The bills, based on a cabi-net resolution reinterpreting Ja-pan’s pacifi st constitution, could let troops fi ght abroad for the fi rst time since World War Two.

“If one government can change things just with their interpreta-tion, then the constitution itself is altered and the government can do whatever it wants,” Okuda, wear-ing a T-shirt with the motto “De-stroy Fascism”, said.

Unlike the Marxist students who took to Japan’s streets in the 1960s, SEALDs members shun violence. Their manifesto urges respect for the constitution, a ro-bust social safety net and peaceful security policies - concepts that opinion polls suggest resonate with many 70 years after Japan’s defeat in World War Two.

Public angst over the defence bills has eroded support for Abe, with polls showing those who oppose him outnumbering his supporters. But SEALDs is get-ting under the skin of right-wing nationalists, with blogs hint-ing that the group may harbour Chinese spies. -Reuters

U N P O P U L A R D E F E N C E B I L L S

NEW PACIFIST: Aki Okuda, right, founding member of the protest

group Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy talks to

supporters in central Tokyo, recently. -Reuters

Okuda, fresh face of protest against Japan premier Abe

Malaysian Prime Minister

Najib Razak. -AFP fi le photo

Five killed in Nepal landslidesKATHMANDU: Landslides trig-gered by heavy rainfall killed at least fi ve people in central Nepal, four of them in a shelter for survi-vors of a devastating earthquake, police said on Friday.

Rescuers in Nepal’s Nuwakot district are still searching for a nine-year-old boy missing since an overnight landslide crushed two bamboo and tin shelters built for families displaced by the April 25 quake.

“The landslide occurred around 2.00 am, burying the shel-ters while the victims were sleep-

ing inside,” said district police chief Siddhi Bikram Shah.

“We have recovered four bodies and have been searching for the missing boy since early morning,” Shah said.

Six quake victims injured in the accident have been taken to hos-pitals in Nuwakot and neighbour-ing Kathmandu for treatment, he said. In a separate incident, an 80-year-old woman died when a landslide slammed into her house in Nuwakot, he said.

Scores of people die from fl ood-ing and mudslides during the an-

nual monsoon season in Nepal.Experts warn that the Himala-

yan nation could see more land-slides this year after the 7.8-mag-nitude quake.

Heavy rainfall is also hamper-ing delivery of relief to mountain-ous villages reeling from April’s massive earthquake, which killed nearly 8,900 people and de-stroyed some 600,000 homes.

More than three dozen peo-ple lost their lives last month in multiple landslides in western and southern Nepal, including a student. -AFP

N A T U R A L C A L A M I T Y

IN HONOUR OF THAILAND PREMIER Philippine President

Benigno Aquino, left,

smiles as Thai First

Lady Naraporn Chan-

ocha, right, reacts while

watching a Bamboo

orchestra, during a

welcoming ceremony

for visiting Thai Prime

Minister General Pr-

ayuth Chan-ocha (not

pictured) in Manila on

Friday. -Reuters

Thai opposition slams draft constitution

BANGKOK: Thailand’s main op-position party denounced a mili-tary-backed draft constitution on Friday saying it “totally disregards the sovereignty of the Thai people”, a week before a junta-appointed council is due to vote on it.

The army seized power in a bloodless coup in 2014, toppling the remnants of the Puea Thai Party-led government of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shina-watra. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army chief led the coup, has ruled largely unchal-lenged since.

“This charter totally disregards the sovereignty of the Thai peo-ple,” the Puea Thai Party said in a statement. “The true power be-longs to agencies and mechanism which are designed to maintain the junta’s power without checks and balances.”

The National Reform Council (NRC) will vote on the draft on September 6 and if it passes, it will be put to a referendum in January. It needs the support of just over half the NRC’s 247 members.

Of particular concern is a pro-posal for a 23-member National Strategic Reform and Reconcilia-tion committee dominated by the military that allows security to intervene in a time of crisis. “Many provisions are contrary to global democratic principles and the rule of law,” Puea Thai said. -Reuters

A H E A D O F V O T E

A10

WORLD S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Greece vote set for September 20; poll sees Syriza aheadATHENS: Greece geared up on Friday for a snap election next month, with an opinion poll show-ing the leftist party Syriza ahead despite a wave of defections over the country’s massive new bailout.

President Prokopis Pavlopoulos signed a decree dissolving parlia-ment and confi rming the widely-expected date of September 20 for the crisis-hit country’s fi fth elec-tion in six years, a parliamentary statement said.

A caretaker government ap-pointed by Pavlopoulos to organ-ise the election took offi ce earlier on Friday with Greece’s top judge Vassiliki Thanou as prime minis-ter, replacing Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras who resigned last week.

Tsipras, who rode to power in January on a wave of popular

anger over austerity, is seeking re-election to implement more reforms demanded under the new 86-billion-euro ($96-billion) in-ternational rescue package.

3.5-point leadA poll in leftist newspaper Efi meri-da ton Syntakton gave Syriza only a slim 3.5-point lead over the con-servative New Democracy. The survey by pollsters ProRata said 23 per cent of voters would sup-port Syriza over 19.5 per cent for New Democracy. But more than a quarter of those polled said they were undecided. “Today the great electoral battle begins. The Greek people will give a strong mandate for the present and the future,” Tsipras said in a statement to the Syriza newspaper Avgi.

“Greece cannot turn back and will not turn back. It will only go forward,” he said For now how-ever, the country faces more re-cession, despite posting growth in the second quarter of the year, the new interim fi nance minister said on Friday. “The Greek economy has already entered a recession-ary phase. We hope it will not last long,” said George Chouliarakis, head of the state economic advi-sor council, and the top negotiator with Greece’s creditors.

Troubled economyThe past eight months since Syriza came to power have proved a roll-ercoaster for the troubled Greek economy. As talks broke down in June between Athens and its in-ternational creditors and Greeks

rejected austerity proposals in a referendum, the European Central Bank restricted its assistance to Greek banks, forcing the govern-ment to shut them down and im-pose capital controls to avert a run on deposits. Chouliarakis said his main aim over the next four weeks was “not to lose valuable time.”

He said he planned to “move forward with strengthening the Greek bank system as fast as pos-sible, further consolidate cred-ibility and confi dence in the econ-omy... and raise capital controls as fast as possible”. Until today, there was only one known photograph in circulation of Chouliarakis, a low-profi le ecoomics lecturer at Manchester University in England who prefers to work in the back-ground. — AFP

S E E K I N G C O N S E N S U S F O R B A I L O U T D E A L

STUTTERING DEMOCRACY: Greece’s newly appointed caretaker

Prime Minister Vassiliki Thanou, right, and President Prokopis Pav-

lopoulos, second right, attend the new government’s swearing-in

ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Athens, on Friday. — Reuters

Hungary arrests 4 as bodies of 71 migrants found in Austria

VIENNA: Hungary said Friday it has arrested four people over the discovery of 71 decomposing bod-ies in an abandoned truck in Aus-tria, another grim tragedy involv-ing migrants desperately seeking refuge in Europe.

In the horrifi c incident -- a rare occurrence on land in a prosper-ous country when so many mi-grants have died at sea -- Austrian police said the dead were likely Syrians and included a toddler and three young boys.

“Among these 71 people, there were 59 men, eight women and four children including a young girl one or two years old and three boys aged eight, nine or 10,” police spokesman Hans Peter Doskozil told a news conference.

He said the time and cause of death still had to be determined but there was a “certain prob-ability” they had suff ocated in the

truck, found Thursday on a motor-way near the Hungarian border.

Meanwhile, Libyan rescue workers recovered 76 bodies from yet another capsized boat crammed with people fl eeing across the Mediterranean from confl ict in the Middle East and Africa. The United Nations ref-ugee agency, UNHCR, said as many as 200 people on two boats were feared dead near the western port of Zuwara.

Hungarian police said they had arrested three Bulgarians and an Afghan and had raided several addresses and confi scated items over the Austria truck discovery.

A spokesman for Hungary’s chief prosecutor told AFP a court would decide on Saturday wheth-

er they would be detained beyond an initial 72-hour period.

Austria will likely seek to have the suspects extradited, possibly even on murder charges, the coun-try’s public prosecutor Johann Fuchs said.

Owner, driverDoskozil said those arrested in-cluded the owner of the vehicle and two drivers, and were likely “low-ranking members... of a Bul-garian-Hungarian human-traf-fi cking gang”.

Austrian motorway mainte-nance workers alerted police af-ter noticing “decomposing body fl uids” dripping from the vehicle, Doskozil said.

Police were then confronted

by an overpowering stench and a mass of tangled limbs and foren-sics experts worked all night to clear out the vehicle.

The state of the corpses sug-gested that those inside had been dead for some time. Television images showed fl ies buzzing around the back of the vehicle in the baking sun. Austrian newspa-per Kurier carried a black front page with the headline: “Who will stop this madness?”

ShakenGerman Chancellor Angela Mer-kel, in Austria on Thursday for a summit with Balkan leaders on the migrant crisis, said those pre-sent were “shaken” by the “horri-ble” news.

“This is a warning to us to tackle this migrants issue quickly and in a European spirit, which means in a spirit of solidarity, and to fi nd so-lutions,” she said.

European Union leaders have struggled to get to grips with a cri-sis that has seen nearly 340,000 migrants cross the bloc’s borders this year -- not counting August -- and many have come from hot-spots like Iraq and Syria.

Millions of other refugees have sought refuge in places like Leba-non, Turkey and Jordan.

Special summitMerkel said on Friday that EU leaders could hold a special sum-mit on the crisis, but that such a gathering “must be able to take certain decisions”.

European interior and trans-port ministers gathering in Paris Saturday to discuss security measures following the thwarted train attack in France will also touch on the migration issue.

“If the stink from our car parks gets stronger perhaps we will fi -nally understand, not just in Aus-tria... that it is time to create safe routes to Europe, fast registra-tion and a swift and a fair sharing out (of migrants),” said Amnesty International’s Austrian chief Heinz Patzelt.

The United Nations said the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe has soared past 300,000 this year.

Over 2,500 men, women and children have drowned trying to reach EU nations after rickety overcrowded boats operated by often unscrupulous people-smug-glers capsised. — AFP

Among these 71

people, there were 59

men, eight women

and four children

including a young

girl one or two years

old and three boys

aged eight, nine or 10,

a police offi cial said

TRAGEDY: Body transportation trucks park next to a truck, right, in which more than 70 bodies were

found at a customs building with refrigeration facilities in Nickelsdorf, Austria, Friday. — Reuters

Myanmar parliament suspended

YANGON: Myanmar lawmakers on Friday held their last meetings at parliament as the body was sus-pended ahead of crucial general elections set to redraw the for-mer junta-ruled nation’s political landscape.

The combined houses of par-liament will reconvene only after the November 8 vote, the fi rst na-tionwide poll in a quarter of a cen-tury to be contested by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s hugely popular National League for De-mocracy (NLD).

“There will be no legislative meetings before the election in November,” Soe Yin of the ruling Union Solidarity and Develop-ment Party (USDP) told AFP, add-ing that parliament would only re-convene in an emergency.

Under Myanmar’s electoral sys-tem the current parliament will still be active until the end of Janu-ary 2016, when it will hand over to a new legislature that then selects a president.

Suu Kyi barredSuu Kyi is barred from the top political job by the constitution, drafted by the country’s former junta rulers, who kept her locked up for some 15 years as they tried to quash the democracy move-ment. — AFP

E L E C T I O N I N N O V E M B E R

Caretaker government formed in Turkey

ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday approved the make-up of the pro-visional cabinet that will run the country until November 1 elec-tions, including for the fi rst time two pro-Kurdish party MPs.

“Our president... approved the interim cabinet formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Mr Davutoglu,” the presidency said after a nearly one-hour meeting between Erdogan and Prime Min-ister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The lawmakers are from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) -- which is the fi rst time a Kurdish party has been rep-resented in government.

Repeat electionsThe newly appointed cabinet will not have to seek a vote of confi dence in the parliament ac-cording to the constitution. The president’s approval is considered enough. The repeat elections come after the ruling Justice and Devel-opment Party (AKP) co-founded by Erdogan failed to win an overall majority in a June vote and subse-quent talks to form a coalition gov-ernment broke down.

Pro-Kurdish lawmakersThe formation of a caretaker government to lead Turkey up to the polls is unprecedented in the country’s political history -- never before have post-poll coalition talks ended without results.

The pro-Kurdish lawmakers are Ali Haydar Konca, who will act as EU aff airs minister, and Muslum Dogan, tapped to be development minister, Davutoglu said in a press announcement. — AFP

S N A P P O L L S

FAST FORWARDPalestinian riders compete during a local horse race near the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday. According to the organisers, some 50 horses participated in

races throughout the day, attracting jockeys from across the West bank. — Reuters

SPOR S

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2015

Oman face Saudis with eye on second GCC U-17 crown

MUSCAT: Fourteen years after they clinched the inaugural GCC Under-17 Championship, Oman juniors will be looking to lay their hands on only their second trophy when they play the fi nal of the re-gional junior football championship in the Qatari capital on Saturday.

But at Doha’s Aspire Academy, Yacoub Al Sabahi-coached Oma-nis will be up against four-time champions Saudi Arabia.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 8 pm Oman time.

The fi nal will be preceded by the third place play-off between Qatar and Kuwait, who were beaten in Thursday’s semifi nals by Oman and Saudi Arabia respectively.

In the last four stage, Oman edged hosts Qatar 3-2 while Saudi Arabia accounted for Kuwait in a 4-0 result.

In the last edition played in 2013, Oman came close to winning their second title but were unfortunate-ly beaten in the fi nal by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

It was an heartbreaking experi-ence for the young Omanis back then as they lost on penalties after the teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the regulation time.

On Saturday, they will be look-ing to make amends to that unfor-tunate loss to arch-rivals UAE.

Though they will be up against a traditionally strong Saudis, who have so far won four titles same as the UAE, the Sultanate will carry the good form and will be more confi dent than their rivals thanks to their performances so far.

The Saudis had mixed results

in their Group B engagements as they won their fi rst match against Qatar but lost their second against the UAE before showing their true potential against the Kuwaitis in the semifi nals.

On the contrary, Oman have

been steady with their perfor-mances. They started their cam-paign with a 2-1 win over Kuwait and then outplayed Bahrain 2-0 to top Group A.

In the semifi nals, they had to dig deep to defeat hosts Qatar 3-2.

FocussedObviously, Oman team are now more confi dent and look more motivated.

But the need is to focus on the job at hand and that seemed to be the point stressed by coach Yacoub

Al Sabahi and assistant Hailal Al Aufi during Friday’s training.

The duo cautioned the players against repeating a few mistakes they committed during their semi-fi nal victory against Qatar.

The coach also urged the Om-ani boys to exploit the weakness of their Saudi counterparts. And those very aspects were also the main focus of their their training on Friday.

Meanwhile, coach Yacoub Al Sa-bahi said the team are ready to win the title. “The team are ready to continue with their good work and they are ready to give their best to seal the title,” he said.

“We will try to produce a better performance, it will be diff erent from the one we saw in our semifi -nal against Qatar,” he said.

The coach also revealed that the team are completely ready to pro-vide a good match worthy of their reputation.

“We started the tournament with a good performance and maintained that level till now. And now it is time to give cap that per-formance with the title,” he said.

Two years ago Oman

came close to add

to their fi rst GCC

U-16 title they won

back in 2001. On

that occasion they

were beaten via

penalties by the UAE.

On Saturday against

Saudi Arabia, they

will be looking to

make amends and

lay their hands on

the coveted trophy

CONFIDENT LOT: Members of Oman under-17 team pose for a group after their semifi nal victory over Qatar in the GCC Under-17 Football

Championship in Doha. Oman take on Saudi Arabia on Saturday. – Supplied photo

The team are ready

to continue with their

good work and they

are ready to give their

best to seal the title

Yacoub Al SabahiOman U-17 team coach

Rain ruins play after Sri Lanka rattle IndiaCOLOMBO: Sri Lanka gave India a scare before bad weather washed out a major part of the opening day’s play in the series-deciding third and fi nal Test in Colombo on Friday.

Just 15 overs were bowled in the 75 minutes of play possible be-fore lunch, during which Sri Lanka grabbed two early wickets after sending India in to bat on a greenish pitch under overcast conditions.

The tourists slipped to 14 for two in the fourth over before mov-ing to 50 without further loss, but heavy rain that lashed the Sinha-lese sports club prevented any fur-ther play in the day.

Cheteshwar Pujara was unbeat-en on 19 and skipper Virat Kohli was on 14, the pair having put on 36 for the third wicket to stymie the Sri Lankan attack.

The series is locked at 1-1 after Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs and India drew level with a 278-run win in the sec-ond match at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo on Monday.

The hard-working groundstaff , who had covered the entire fi eld, tried to dry the surface but their

eff orts were hampered by overcast skies. Bad weather has been fore-cast for the duration of the match, but India’a batting coach Sanjay Bangar predicted a “hard-fought” Test on what he said was a sport-ing wicket.

“We have hardly had one full session, so it is premature to even think of a result at this stage,” Bangar said. “This is going to be a really hard-fought and tight Test.

“We defi nitely want to bat well in the fi rst session tomorrow and take it from there.”

India lost second Test century-

maker Lokesh Rahul off the second ball of the game, bowled by Dham-mika Prasad with a sharp in-swing-er that the batsman wanted to leave.

Ajinkya Rahane made eight when he was given out leg-before off seamer Nuwan Pradeep in the fourth over. India would have been in further trouble at 33 for two had debutant wicket-keeper Kusal Perera not dropped Kohli down the leg-side off Pradeep.

The missed catch also cost the hosts fi ve penalty runs as the ball hit a helmet lying behind the ‘keeper.

The tourists were forced to make two changes for the series decider, replacing the injured duo of opener Murali Vijay and wick-et-keeper Wriddhiman Saha with Pujara and 32-year-old debutant Naman Ojha.

Sri Lanka replaced the retired Kumar Sangakkara with another left-hander, Upul Tharanga, and also included Pradeep and Perera.

The hosts left out Jehan Mubarak and Dushmantha Cha-meera from the side which lost the second Test. - AFP

C R I C K E T

India 1st innings:L. Rahul b Prasad 2C. Pujara not out 19A. Rahane lbw Pradeep 8V. Kohli not out 14Extras (w-1, nb-1, pen-5) 7 Total (2 wkts, 15 overs) 50Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-14.Bowling: Prasad 4-0-16-1 (nb-1), Pradeep 6-0-16-1 (w-1), Mathews 4-2-7-0, Herath 1-0-6-0.

S C O R E B O A R D

FIRST STRIKE: Sri Lanka’s Dhammika Prasad, center, celebrates after dismissing India’s Lokesh Rahul

on day one of their third Test match in Colombo on Friday. – AP/PTI

Chelsea chase Zhang: report

BEIJING: Chelsea have made an off er for China and Guang-zhou Evergrande defender Zhang Linpeng, Chinese media reported on Friday.

The Premier League champi-ons sent a contract on Wednes-day and hope to secure the 26-year-old right back before the summer transfer window closes on September 1, Titan said.

“I’m very happy and very excited to fi nally have this for-mal invitation,” the newspaper quoted Zhang as saying. - Reuters

C H I N A D E F E N D E R

BEIJING: Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers ran into the history books after scorching to world 200m glory on Friday, but there was no golden send-off for Aries Merritt before next week’s kidney transplant.

Schippers, the 100m silver-medallist, clocked an electrifying 21.63sec, the fourth fastest time in history, as she lunged at the line to beat Jamaica’s Elaine Thomp-son, who timed a personal best of 21.66sec — the fi fth fastest time ever.

It was a remarkable win for Schippers, 23, who eclipsed the European record of 21.71sec set by Marita Koch in 1979 and matched by fellow East German Heike Drechsler in 1986.

Only Americans Marion Jones and world record-holder Florence Griffi th-Joyner have run the 200m

faster than Schippers, who won hepathlon bronze at the Moscow worlds two years ago.

But Schippers was quick to dis-tance herself from doping allega-tions that plagued Koch, Drechsler, Jones and “Flo-Jo”.

“I know I’m clean and I work very hard for it,” said Schippers. “I do all the dope controls and I don’t want to say more than that.”

The Dutchwoman added: “I’m very happy with my time and the European record. I hoped com-ing here for the gold medal and a time under 22 seconds. I did it but I can’t believe it.”

Chinese gold However, there was no golden send-off for Merritt in the men’s 110m hurdles, his fi nal race before returning Saturday to the United States for a kidney transplant.

The Olympic champion and world record holder won bronze medal behind two-time European champion Sergey Shubenkov of Russia and Jamaican star Hansle Parchment.

“It means the world to me to be back here and to get a medal,” said Merritt, who will receive a kidney from his sister on Tuesday after

being diagnosed with a rare dis-ease in the wake of the 2013 worlds in Moscow.

“I am looking forward to my kid-ney transplant. My sister will give me one and this is why she did not come to Beijing — she didn’t want to endanger the transplantation.”

The evening’s two other medal events were shared between Ja-maica and the US, Danielle Wil-liams winning the 100m hurdles for the former and Tianna Bar-toletta crowned long jump world champion thanks to a fi nal eff ort of 7.14 metres. The fi rst gold medal of the day broke a win drought for hosts China as Liu Hong led Lu Xiuzhi to a one-two in the women’s 20 kilometres walk.

Liu timed 1:27.45 for gold with Lu on her shoulder. Ukraine’s Ly-udmyla Olyanovska took bronze at 28 seconds.

American Ashton Eaton sat in pole position of the gruelling mul-ti-discipline decathlon.

The world record-holder and defending champion, also reigning Olympic and two-time world in-door champion, timed 10.23sec in the opening 100m before leaping a best of 7.88m in the long jump, both leading performances.

Eaton, whose Canadian wife Brianne Theisen Eaton claimed silver behind Jessica Ennis-Hill in the women’s heptathlon, then managed a best of 14.53m in the shot put, 2.01m in the high jump and a scintillating 45sec dead for the 400m to leave him on 4,703 points overnight.

Canadian Damian Warner sat in second with 4,530 points, with Germany’s Rico Freimuth third (4,406), with Saturday’s second day of action comprising the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and fi nal strength-sapping 1500m.

“I was just trying to have fun!” said Eaton. “It’s all about having fun.”

Bolt mulls retirementMeanwhile, Usain Bolt said he might end his glittering career at next year’s Olympics after he com-pleted a world sprint double in Bei-jing — and got clattered by an elec-tric scooter into the bargain.

The towering Jamaican said he was only 50-50 about running at the next world championships in 2017 in London, and could re-tire at the Rio de Janeiro Olym-pic Games instead. “After Rio, as I said, my sponsors want me to go one more year, but my coach said, ‘Listen to me, if you’re not going to be serious about going to the world championships in London,’ then I shouldn’t do it,” he said.

“So it’s all about how I feel af-ter Rio, if I feel I can really put my body through one more season.

“If I’m going to be focused and I’m going to be determined. That will determine if I compete after Rio. So we’ll see how it goes.” - AFP

A12

SPORTSS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Al Mashari strikes as Oman edge Yemen in friendly matchMUSCAT: Oman recorded a soli-tary goal victory over Yemen in a friendly football match played at the Seeb Sports Stadium on Friday.

Frenchman Paul Le Guen-coached Omanis played the match as part of their preparations for the forthcoming joint qualifi ers for 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asia Cup.

Oman took control of the pro-ceedings from the beginning and scored a goal as early as 11th minute thanks to a fi ne eff ort by experienced midfi elder Moham-med Al Mashari.

However, Le Guen’s failed to take advantage of the early lead. Try as they did they could not break the Yemen defence and the scoreline remained the same till the fi nal whistle.

Oman, who have started their campaign in Group D with a 2-1 victory over India, will play their next World Cup and Asia Cup qualifi er against Turkmenistan at home on September 3.

Oman team will, however, be strengthened by that time with the arrival of their talismanic captain and goalkeeping great Ali Al Habsi.

Ali, who is busy with his engage-ments with English Champion-ship side Reading, will join the team on Saturday.

U19s begin trainingMeanwhile, Oman under-19 na-tional team began training ahead

of their participation in the GCC Under-19 Championship to be or-ganised in Doha.

According to information pro-vided by the Oman Football As-sociation (OFA), Rasheed Jaber-coached Omanis will train till September 1.

After that the team will leave for Qatari capital to take part in the

GCC championship, which will take place from September 3 to 12.

Oman are scheduled to begin their campaign on September 5 against Kuwait before meeting Qa-tar two days later.

Al Arouba includedMeanwhile, the OFA has an-nounced the fi xtures of the delayed

Omantel Professional League (OPL) and OPL Mazda Cup and in-terestingly Al Arouba, who refused to play in the recent Super Cup match, feature in the list.

The OFA is expected to take action against double winning Al Arouba who skipped the pre-match press conference and also failed to turn up for the Super Cup

match against Fanja. Al Arouba, who won both the OPL title and His Majesty’s Cup last season, re-fused to attend both as they were not happy with the scheduling with most of their key players busy with either national teams or mili-tary football squads.

Al Arouba offi cials also com-plained of lack of funds to clear the

dues of some of the players as there was no fi nancial assisstance com-ing from the OFA.

However, Al Arouba are includ-ed both in the OPL and Mazda Pro-fessional Cup fi xtures.

In the Mazda Professional Cup, which is scheduled to start on Sep-tember 5, Al Arouba are placed in Group B along with Sur and Muscat.

Group A comprises Al Nahda, Sohar, Saham and Al Khabourah. Fanja, who were declared the Super Cup winners following Al Arouba’s refusal to participate, are in Group B along with Al Mu-sannah, Al Shabab and Suwaiq. Dhofar, Al Nasr and Salalah are in Group D.

The OPL will start on Septem-ber 13 when Al Nasr take on Su-waiq in the fi rst match.

Mazda Professional Cup (fi rst two matchdays): Sept 5: Fanja vs Al Musannah; Suwaiq vs Al Shabab; Sohar vs Al Nahda; Sa-ham vs Al Khabourah; Al Nasr vs Salalah; Sur vs Muscat. Sept 6: Al Musannah vs Suwaiq; Al Shabab vs Fanja; Al Nahda vs Saham; Al Khabourah vs Sohar; Salalah vs Dhofar; Al Arouba vs Muscat.

OPL fi xtures( week one): Sept 13: Al Nasr vs Suwaiq; Fanja vs Muscat; Al Nahda vs Al Mu-sannah. September 14: Sohar vs Sur; Al Khabourah vs Saham; Al Shabab vs Dhofar; Salalah vs Al Arouba.

N A R R O W W I N

FIRST STRIKE: Oman’s Imad Al Hosni tries to dribble his way past two Yemen defenders during their friendly football match at the Seeb

Sports Stadium on Friday. – ISMAIL AL FARSI/Times of Oman

Subramanian squares off against Sagayraj in veterans’ fi nalMUSCAT: Top seed R. Subrama-nian and fourth seed Sagayaraj S. Advanced to the fi nal of the vet-erans’ singles at the Annual Table Tennis Tournament organised by the Indian Social Club Mus-cat and co-sponsored by Mus-cat Insurance Services (MIS) and Oman United Insurance Company (OUIC).

After overcoming resistance fourth seed Anoop Bheda in the opening game, Subramanian was on top of his game and wrapped up the next three games to win the semifi nal with scores of 12-10, 11-4, 11-1, 11-5 for a place in the fi nal.

In the second semifi nal, third seed Sagayaraj S had to work hard before overcoming a resolute Per-

cy Pereira with a 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4 verdict. Percy had come into the semi fi nal with a hard-fought 12-10, 15-13, 7-11, 7-11, 13-11 victory over fancied Simon Joseph and Sagayaraj earned his place in the last four with a convincing 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 win over Sanjeev Vyas and R. Subramanian downed Rajesh Mehta 11-8, 11-4, 11-3 in

the quarterfi nals. P. Sai Saran who fi nished on top of Group A of the round-robin league in the boys un-der-15 singles will take on Shounak Kelkar in the semifi nals. The sec-ond semifi nal will be between M.V. Sai Prem who defeated Shounak Kelkar in the last crucial league match to go to the top of Group B and he will take on Sanskar Dubey.

In a thrilling match of the boys under-17 singles, P. Sai Saran de-feated Armaan Sattikar 12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 and quali-fi ed for the semifi nals. In another league match of the same category Yash Tanna played aggressive ta-ble tennis and held his nerves to score a fi ne 14-12, 11-2, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8 victory over Armaan.

In another round-robin match, Pranav Vinod beat Shounak Kelkar 11-8, 5-11, 15-13, 12-10 while Ken-neth Vaz outp;layed Subash Pillai 11-5, 12-10, 11-5. Subash had ear-lier defeated Pranav Vinod 11-6, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-7 and Shounak Kelkar 11-7, 11-7, 11-9. Kenneth and Subash both qualifi ed for the semifi nals from Group A.

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

Schippers scorches BeijingSchippers, the

100m silver-

medallist, clocked an

electrifying 21.63sec,

as she lunged at the

line to beat Jamaica’s

Elaine Thompson,

who timed a personal

best of 21.66sec

MAKING HISTORY: Netherlands’

Dafne Schippers celebrates

after winning the women’s 200

metres gold at the at the World

Athletic Championships at the

“Bird’s Nest” National Stadium

in Beijing on Friday. – AFP

England’s Bell quits one-dayers

LONDON: England batsman Ian Bell is retiring from One-day Internationals (ODIs) to concentrate on prolonging his test career, the 33-year-old said on Friday.

Bell, who has scored an Eng-land record 5,416 runs in 161 One-dayer Internationals, was left out of the squad for the fi ve-match series against Australia starting next week.

He helped his team win this year’s Ashes, a record-equalling fi fth Test series victory for him over the Australians, but aver-aged only 26.87 with the bat.

“Deep down I probably knew I wasn’t ready to call time on my test career,” Bell wrote in the Metro newspaper.

Bell has scored 7,569 runs in 115 Tests at an average of 43, in-cluding 22 centuries.

“I’ve a huge amount still to give in the test arena and still have so many ambitions left to achieve, both from a personal and a team perspective,” he said.

“I would love nothing more than to go to Australia in two years’ time and right the wrongs of our last Ashes tour there,” the right-hander added in reference to the 5-0 whitewash last year.

“I’m not afraid of being dropped. I’m looking forward to challenging myself and putting myself into diffi cult situations against the best players in the world.” - Reuters

C R I C K E T

BMARKE

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

‘CHINESE ECONOMY IS NOT FALLING OFF A CLIFF’China’s economy may be slowing but it is “not falling off a cliff ”, the chief executive of Southeast Asia’s biggest bank said Friday. >B2

‘Oman’s economic growth projected to slow’Times News Service

MUSCAT: Oman’s economic growth is projected to slow to around three per cent over 2015-2016 period, down from the 4.9 per cent average between 2005 and 2014, international rating agency Moody’s Investor Service has said in a report.

The decline in economic growth projection is mainly due to pres-sure on revenue amid multi-year low oil price scenario. Crude oil revenue accounted for 48 per cent of nominal gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) on average between 2005 and 2014.

Lower oil pricesMoody’s also projected that Oman would report substantial fi scal defi cits in 2015 and 2016, at around 12 per cent of GDP, as government revenues will be negatively impacted by lower oil prices.

“We expect Oman’s fi scal defi -cits to widen from 2015 onwards, as hydrocarbon-related govern-ment revenues drop by more than 40 per cent this year. However,

Oman’s low government indebt-edness — at around 5 per cent of GDP in 2014 — gives it room to increase debt issuance to fi nance budget defi cits,” said Steff en Dyck, a senior analyst at Moody’s Investor Service.

While solid economic growth

continues to support Oman (A1 negative), its very high economic and fi scal reliance on the oil and gas sector and limited scope for fi scal reforms will add pressure to public fi nances in 2015-16, noted Moody’s Investors Service.

Moody’s estimates Oman’s

fi scal breakeven oil price — the price of oil at which the budget can be balanced — at $105 per barrel in 2015.

This is high compared to its peers, and almost double Moody’s base case projection of $55 a bar-rel for Brent in the same year, and

$57 per barrel in 2016, suggesting fi scal deterioration if oil prices remain subdued. According to Moody’s, the Sultanate’s high lev-els of current government spend-ing are not sustainable under a multi-year, low oil price scenario.

Sizeable fi nancial buff ersHowever, Moody’s notes that Oman has sizeable fi nancial buff -ers which the rating agency esti-mates at 82 per cent of 2014 gross domestic product.

In addition, Oman’s high do-mestic savings and healthy banking sector will continue to provide stable funding for the government, added Moody’s. As a result, liquidity risk is unlikely to signifi cantly aff ect government debt sustainability.

Moody’s notes that regional geo-political events pose low-probability but high-impact risks for Oman.

However, these risks are to some degree mitigated by Oman’s position as a neutral, mediating nation in the region, as well as its close relations with major global powers.

M O O D Y ’ S R E P O R T

FISCAL DEFICITS: Moody’s also projected that Oman would report substantial fi scal defi cits in 2015

and 2016, at around 12 per cent of GDP, as government revenues will be negatively impacted by

lower oil prices. — Times fi le picture

New fl oating storage facility at Omans’ Mina Al Fahal launched

Times News Service

MUSCAT: A new fl oating stor-age facility, with a 2.1 million bar-rel capacity at Mina Al Fahal, for global customers of Oman Export Blend, was launched on Thursday by Oman Tank Terminal Com-pany (OTTCO), a subsidiary of Oman Oil Company (OOC).

Three customers — China Oil,

Glencore and Oman Trading In-ternational (OTI) — have won bids for access to the facility on board a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), which will be provided and oper-ated by Oman Shipping Company (OSC). OTTCO’s fl oating storage facility, which was initiated and supported by Oman’s Ministry of Oil & Gas (MOG), has been de-veloped in partnership with OSC, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME).

While the vessel itself will be operated by OSC, scheduling and nomination for the loading of crude oil will be managed by PDO. Ship-to-ship (STS) transfers will be ex-

ecuted by Fendercare Marine, an international specialised STS fi rm. The initiative makes OTTCO the fi rst storage company in the world to provide fl oating storage linked to an energy futures contract.

This initiative also makes DME the fi rst exchange in the world to incorporate fl oating storage at de-livery point for customers, thereby supporting the trading of DME Oman crude oil futures on the ex-change while strengthening its strong trading ecosystem to create more effi ciencies.

This new facility will also en-able buyers on the DME to store their oil and optimise market cir-cumstances to their benefi t giving

them additional fl exibility. Moreo-ver, the storage facility will enable buyers to face any unforeseen cir-cumstances by providing a viable storage option for the oil they have purchased.

Nasser Al Jashmi, Deputy Chairman of Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), said: “The fl oat-ing storage facility will deliver improved convenience to custom-ers of Oman Export Blend oil, and stands as a brilliant testimony to the Sultanate’s commitment to create a better, more effi cient oil trading environment.”

“With the launch of this facil-ity, buyers on DME will now have access to a world-class oil storage

hub that gives them unprecedent-ed fl exibility and control to capi-talize on favourable market condi-tions. We congratulate OTTCO on this landmark initiative which will dramatically augment the capac-ity for storage and exports of the Oman blend,” he added.

Unique projectSalim Al Aufi , Undersecretary of the Oman Ministry of Oil & Gas, added: “Linking fl oating storage to energy future contracts is what makes this project unique; with the commencement of this pro-ject we aim to support the posi-tive growth trend demonstrated by DME by introducing a new tool as well as creating value for Oman crude oil customers.”

Hilal Al Kharusi, Chairman of the Board of OTTCO, concluded: “OTTCO’s fl oating storage facil-ity is an important step in the in-troduction of our organisation to the global oil trading community, and the strong interest that we have had from bidders has been encouraging. As we continue to make progress towards the de-velopment of Ras Markaz Crude Park, I am pleased to say that we are already serving the needs of our crude oil customers.”

“This is an exciting time for

OTTCO, and we expect the fl oat-ing storage facility to add value to Oman Export Blend as a bench-mark, as well as directly benefi t-ting Oman’s crude oil market. I would like to thank the Ministry of Oil & Gas and the project stake-holders for their continuous sup-port for the project,” he added.

Commenting on the announce-ment of the successful bids, Said Al Maawali, Project Director, OTTCO, said: “We are delighted to announce the award of our fl oating storage facility at Mina Al Fahal. Ahead of the commissioning of the Ras Markaz Crude Oil Park, this is an ideal option for customers seek-ing to store Oman Export Blend in a strategic location on the Indian Ocean coastline. The OTTCO team has worked in partnership with MOG, OSC, PDO and DME to bring this project to the market, and I am proud to say that our joint eff orts have now come to fruition.”

OTTCO’s fl oating storage facil-ity has been introduced as an in-terim storage solution for select customers ahead of the commis-sioning of Ras Markaz Crude Oil Park. Once complete, the facility will cover an area of approximately 1,600 HA in Oman’s Al Wusta re-gion, approximately 70-km south of the Duqm Port.

Oman Tank Terminal

Company’s fl oating

storage facility has

been developed in

partnership with

Oman Shipping

Company, Petroleum

Development Oman

and the Dubai

Mercantile Exchange

STORAGE FACILITY: China Oil, Glencore and Oman Trading International have won bids for access to

the facility on board a Very Large Crude Carrier, which will be provided and operated by Oman Ship-

ping Company. — Bloomberg fi les (Picture for illustrative putpose only)

Oman committed to currency peg

despite cheap oil: Central bank chief

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Oman is commit-ted to maintaining the peg of its currency against the US dollar despite the drop of oil prices, ac-cording to a Reuters news agency report. “We are committed to keeping the Omani rial pegged to the US dollar,” Central Bank of Oman (CBO) executive president Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali. He did not elaborate.

The plunge of oil prices since mid-2014 has put heavy pressure on Oman’s state budget, causing one-year dollar/rial forwards to rise as high as 1,000 points this week, their highest since 2006, as some investors hedged against the risk of an eventual rial de-valuation.

Devaluing the rial could aid state fi nances by increasing the local currency value of oil exports. However, it would also raise the cost of the many imports on which Oman depends and could shake investor confi dence, so economists do not think authori-ties will abandon the peg.

They note that Oman has maintained the peg, set in 1986 at 0.3849 rial to the dollar, through past periods of extreme oil price weakness.

On Monday, credit rating agency Fitch cut its long-term is-suer default ratings for fi ve Oma-ni banks, saying the government had become less able to support the banking system.

But Zadjali noted that after the downgrade, Fitch had left the out-looks for the banks stable, and he said they did not face signifi cant fi nancial pressures.

“Omani banks are in an excel-lent position, and well covered fi nancially. They don’t need the government support, and will not be aff ected with the recent down-grading,” he further said.

E C O N O M Y

UNWAVERING STAND: Central Bank of Oman executive president

Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali. — Times fi le picture

US consumer spending rises in July

WASHINGTON: US consumer spending picked up a bit in July as households bought more automo-biles, off ering further evidence of strength in the economy that could keep the door open to a Federal Re-serve interest rate hike this year.

The Commerce Department said on Friday consumer spend-ing increased 0.3 per cent after an upwardly revised 0.3 per cent rise in June.

Consumer spending, which ac-counts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, was previ-ously reported to have gained 0.2 per cent in June.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending rising 0.4 per cent last month.

It was the latest report indicat-ing momentum in the economy as it confronted recent global fi nan-cial markets turbulence, sparked by concerns over a slowing Chi-nese economy, which has dimin-ished the chances of an interest rate increase next month. — Reuters

C O M M E R C E D E P A R T M E N T

B2

MARKETS AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

How the IMF’s Greek misadventure is changing the fundWA S H I N G T O N/AT H E N S : Many of the top brass of the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) al-ways had concerns about the plans to bail out Greece.

That much was clear as far back as May 9, 2010, when the IMF’s 24 directors gathered in Washington to sign-off on the fund’s participa-tion in the fi rst, 110-billion-euro ($125 billion) rescue alongside Eu-ropean institutions.

A Reuters examination of previ-ously unreported IMF board min-utes shows that a near majority of directors round the board table that day thought the Greek pro-gram would not work.

“We have serious doubts about the approach,” said Brazil’s then director Paulo Nogueira Batista.

He slammed IMF forecasts for Greece as overly optimistic — “Panglossian.” Arvind Virmani, the director from India at the time, said the programme imposed “a mammoth burden” that Greece’s economy “could hardly bear.”

But they and others who feared the IMF was walking into a quag-mire had little room for maneuver.

The fund’s powerful Manag-ing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and a handful of his advis-ers, feared Greece posed a threat to the wider euro zone fi nancial system. They had already decided to plunge into the crisis.

The doubters were given a blunt retort, according to the minutes.

No Plan B“Let me be clear on a couple of things,” said then Deputy Man-aging Director John Lipsky, who chaired the board meeting.”There is no Plan B. There is Plan A, and a determination to make Plan A suc-ceed. And this is it.”

Five years later, after the big-gest bailout in the fund’s history, Greece failed to make a $1.7 billion payment as required at the end of June — the fi rst advanced econo-my ever to default on the IMF.

Worse, after having received more than 240 billion euros in in-ternational aid, Greece’s economy is still in tatters. Europe agreed a further bailout of 86 billion euros this month. Fresh interviews with more than 20 senior offi cials, as

well as an extensive review of IMF board records, illuminate the tur-moil and divisions within the fund, then and now.

Flawed courseThey show Strauss-Kahn and his top advisers set the fund, which by tradition has always been led by a European, on a course known to be fl awed, and that non-European

shareholders doubted would work.To drive through the Greek bail-

out, the fund bent its own rules. It lifted an International Monetary Fund ban on the fund lending money to countries — like Greece — that were unable to pay their debts. It also allowed European politicians to dictate initial terms in the Greek rescue, ruling out a debt restructuring that could have

given Greece a fresh start. And it shaped economic forecasts to fi t political ends. The fallout still weighs on the fund.

The IMF now says it will not participate in the latest Greek bailout unless Europe allows debt restructuring on a scale Europe has so far rejected. Strauss-Kahn, who quit the fund in 2011, would not be interviewed for this article.

Little choiceBut supporters of the fund’s ac-tions say he and the fund had lit-tle choice other than to help in the Greek crisis. The fund went against its previous policy, they say, to prevent the Greek crisis causing wider fi nancial chaos.

“With Europe hanging in the balance... to say the fund would not be involved... would not have been acceptable,” said Siddharth Tiwari, who was secretary of the IMF executive board in 2010 and is now the head of the fund’s strat-egy, policy and review department. The Greek bailout did indeed stop “contagion” in fi nancial markets.

European banks escaped poten-

tially disastrous losses, and other deeply indebted European coun-tries stuck with their programs of economic reform. But Greece has paid a heavy price.

Worse off One senior IMF economist, while agreeing the fund had to intervene, said of the bailout: “Objectively we made Greece worse off ... You’re lending to a country that is already unable to pay its debt, and that is not our mandate.”

One reason IMF’s participation was troubled was because initially Europe wanted to keep the fund at a distance. Created as a global lender of last resort to help Euro-pean countries after World War Two, the International Monetary Fund rapidly moved to helping de-veloping nations around the globe.

Its typical “customers” are small, emerging economies need-ing loans as they implement struc-tural changes. Greece was diff er-ent: Though small within Europe’s economy, it was an advanced country that shared the euro cur-rency. — Reuter

B A I L O U T P L A N

‘Chinese economy is not falling off a cliff ’

SINGAPORE: China’s economy may be slowing but it is “not fall-ing off a cliff ”, the chief executive of Southeast Asia’s biggest bank said Friday. DBS Bank chief ex-ecutive Piyush Gupta also said he does not see a repeat of the 1997-1998 Asian fi nancial crisis aris-ing from the turmoil in Chinese markets because the region is on a far stronger footing than it was 18 years ago.

A slowdown in the Chinese economy, a sharp fall in share prices and the devaluation of the yuan against the US dollar have hammered fi nancial markets worldwide, underscoring China’s rising role as a global economic growth engine.

Sectoral issues“We’re not seeing the country, the economy or demand falling off a cliff ,” Gupta said during a luncheon with the Foreign Cor-respondents Association in Sin-gapore, referring to China.

DBS is Singapore’s leading bank and the largest inSoutheast Asia in terms of assets. “There are sectoral issues, some sectors will suff er and the country is slow-ing but it is not falling off a cliff .” Gupta said investors should take a broader look at China’s econ-omy, noting that the drag came

mainly from the industrial sector, in particular construction.

China’s services sector, which has taken on a bigger role in the economy, is expanding, result-ing in buoyant retail sales, he said. “If you look at the headline retail sales numbers for China, it’s still tracking 10-12 per cent (growth),” he said. “It used to be 12-14, it’s come off a tad but 10-12 per cent retail sales growth is not dramatically slow.”

Not a complete pictureGupta also noted that while there has been a focus on the decline in the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) in the country’s manu-facturing sector, less attention has been given to the PMI for services. China’s manufacturing PMI slumped to a 77-month low to 47.1 in August, according an in-dependent survey.

The fi gure, which dipped from July’s fi nal reading of 47.8, was the worst since a reading of 44.8 in March 2009. A fi gure above 50 signals growth, while anything below indicates contraction.

Gupta said manufacturing alone does not give a complete picture of the economy, which is shifting from a heavy reliance on exports to a greater role for do-mestic consumption. — AFP

DBS Bank chief

executive Piyush

Gupta also said he

does not see a repeat

of the 1997-1998

Asian fi nancial crisis

arising from the

turmoil in Chinese

markets because

the region is on a far

stronger footing than

it was 18 years ago

Euro-area confi dence rises

MADRID: Euro-area economic confi dence unexpectedly rose in August, defying a slowdown in China and renewed political un-certainty in Greece. An index of ex-ecutive and consumer confi dence increased to 104.2 in August from 104 in July, the European Com-mission said on Friday.

Economists predicted a decline to 103.8, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The report follows a roller-coaster week for markets on concerns Chi-na’s slowdown is deepening.

While Chinese authorities have taken steps to stimulate the world’s second-largest economy, cutting interest rates fi ve times in 10 months and devaluing the yuan, questions remain over whether it’s

heading for a hard landing after decades of surging growth.

For the euro area, “the pick-up in confi dence suggests the re-covery is continuing consistent with positive domestic funda-mentals,” said Nick Kounis, an economist at ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam, while noting that the survey would not have captured the most-recent market turmoil. Confi dence in the services sec-tor increased to 10.2 from 8.9 and beat the median estimate of 8.8 in a Bloomberg survey. Industrial confi dence in the region weak-ened to minus 3.7 from minus 2.9. A business-climate indica-tor dropped more than forecast, sliding to 0.21 in August from a revised 0.41 in July. — Bloomberg News

E U R O P E A N U N I O N

Asian stocks rise for second dayHONG KONG: Tokyo shares led Asian stock markets higher on Friday after a surprisingly up-beat US economic growth report buoyed investors following a pro-longed rout driven by concerns over China’s economy.

The dollar gained and oil prices rose on the back of the US growth report, while the yen came under pressure from data showing Ja-pan’s infl ation was fl at last month.

Tokyo stocks fi nished 3.03 per cent, or 561.88 points, higher at

19,136.32, while Shanghai gained 4.82 per cent, or 148.76 points, to 3,232.35.

Sydney closed 0.58 per cent, or 30.30 points, higher at 5,263.60, and Seoul gained 1.56 per cent, or 29.67 points, to fi nish at 1,937.67.

Only Hong Kong downHong Kong was the lone faller, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index dropping 1.04 per cent, or 226.15 points, to 21,612.39. The gains in Asia followed a second

straight day of advances on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones In-dustrial Average gaining 2.27 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 rising 2.43 per cent and the tech-rich Nasdaq adding 2.45 per cent.

They were boosted mainly by a United States economic growth report that showed the world’s biggest economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in the second quarter, sharply higher than the initial appraisal of a 2.3 per cent gain. — AFP

S T O C K M A R K E T S

MARKET JITTERS: The market jitters have raised speculation over

whether the European Central Bank might need to step up its mon-

etary stimulus to safeguard its infl ation goal. - Bloomberg fi le picture

DBS Bank chief executive Piyush Gupta. — Bloomberg fi le picture

SHANGHAI: Two of China’s biggest lenders, in-cluding the main foreign ex-change dealer Bank of China, reported fl at net profi ts for the fi rst half of 2015, due to the weak domestic economy and growing bad loans.

Bank of China (BOC) net profi t rose a mere 1.14 per cent year-on-year to 90.75 billion yuan ($14.18 billion), the bank said on Friday in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, where it is listed.

Sluggish growthThe bank said the global econ-omy experienced sluggish growth in the fi rst half and it was also seeking to adjust to China’s “new normal” — the authorities’ preferred term for slower but hopefully more sustainable expansion.

China’s economy grew 7.0

per cent in each of the fi rst two quarters, slowing from a 7.4 per cent expansion last year, which was its weakest since 1990.

BOC’s non-performing loans (NPLs) reached 125.05 billion yuan in the fi rst half, for an NPL ratio of 1.41 per cent by the end of June, higher than 1.18 per cent at the end of last year, the state-ment showed.

The bank’s stock price fell 3.53 per cent in Hong Kong and was unchanged in Shanghai on Friday before the results were announced.

Another of China’s “Big Four” state-owned banks, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), said its net profi t for the fi rst half rose only 0.3 per cent on-year to 104.32 billion yuan, a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange showed late on Thursday. — AFP

Biggest China banks report fl at fi rst-half net profi ts

B3S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Google rejects European Union’s anti-trust accusations as ‘wrong’

BRUSSELS: US Internet search giant Google on Thursday re-jected accusations by European Union (EU) anti-trust regulators that it illegally abuses its market dominance, in its fi rst formal re-action to allegations by Brussels earlier this year.

“We believe that the statement of objections’ preliminary con-

clusions are wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics,” Google general counsel Kent Walker said in a blog post, referring to the Eu-ropean Union’s offi cial complaint fi led in April.

By standing its ground in the formal response, Google leaves the daunting decision to further pursue one of the world’s most

far-reaching companies to EU Competition Commissioner Mar-grethe Vestager, a steely Dane and Europe’s top anti-trust regulator.

The stakes are huge for Google which if found at fault under EU anti-trust rules, could face a fi ne of up to 10 per cent of its annual sales — in Google’s case, $66 billion in 2014. “We’ve taken seriously the

concerns in the European Com-mission’s statement of objections that our innovations are anti-com-petitive,” Walker said.

“The response we fi led today shows why we believe those alle-gations are incorrect, and why we believe Google increases choice for European consumers and of-fers valuable opportunities for

businesses of all sizes,” he said. In April, Vestager formally accused Google of abusing its dominance in Europe where the brand holds an imposing 90 per cent of the search engine market, greater even than the US, where Google stands at 76 per cent. “The Com-mission can confi rm that it has today received Google’s reply to the statement of objections,” Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in a statement.“We will carefully consider Goog-le’s response before taking any decision on how to proceed and do not want to prejudge the fi nal out-come of the investigation,” he said.

Vestager, a former Danish fi -nance minister, has launched an-other high-profi le probe against Russian gas giant Gazprom and is also delving into the tax aff airs of major multinationals, including Apple, Amazon and Starbucks.

EU ‘ignores’ Amazon After three extensions, Google was given until August 31 to pro-vide its response, which it did in a 150-page legal document that carefully details the reasons for standing its ground.

In the argument, Google rejects EU accusations that it off ers prior-ity to its own shopping services or paid ads thus diverting search traf-

fi c from competitors such as Ama-zon and other national players.

But Google said the EU “doesn’t back up that claim, doesn’t coun-ter the signifi cant benefi ts to customers and advertisers, and doesn’t provide a clear legal theo-ry to connect claims with its pro-posed remedy.” Google insisted that the EU especially ignores the impact of shopping giants “like Amazon and eBay, who are the largest players in the space” and against which the search engine must compete fi ercely.

Moreover, Google said its search engine had helped bring “diverse new players, new investment and expanding consumer choice” with retail-driven traffi c increasing by 227 percent over the past decade.

The European Commission, which polices EU competition policy, launched the initial investi-gation into Google in 2010 follow-ing complaints from rivals such as Microsoft and Trip Advisor that it favoured its own companies when customers ran searches. — AFP

We believe that

the statement

of objections’

preliminary

conclusions are

wrong as a matter

of fact, law, and

economics, Google’s

general counsel

Kent Walker said

in a blog post

Consumer Reports gives best-ever rating to Tesla’s new electric carNEW YORK: A new Tesla elec-tric car has earned the best-ever vehicle rating from Consumer Reports, sending shares of the au-tomaker racing higher on Thurs-day. The new Tesla P85D “per-formed better in our tests than any other car ever has, breaking the Consumer Reports Ratings system,” said Mark Rechtin, au-tomotive editor for the consumer group. “With a six-fi gure price tag, the P85D is expensive, meaning its virtues will be experienced by a rare few.

But its signifi cance as a break-through model that is pushing the boundaries of both performance and fuel-effi ciency is dramatic.”

The four-wheel drive P85D, which is a modifi ed version of the Tesla S sedan, will cost upwards of $125,000 with typical equip-ment, Consumer Reports noted.

But the group said the break-throughs suggest positive things for the sector, with Tesla due to introduce its Model X crosso-ver in 2016, followed in 2018 by a “more attainable compact se-dan,” the Model 3, estimated to start at about $35,000.

Consumer Reports gave the P85D a 100/100 rating, topping the 99/100 rating of the Tesla S two years ago. Rechtin said the vehicle “initially scored 103 in the

Consumer Reports’ Ratings sys-tem, which by defi nition doesn’t go past 100... so we had to make changes to our scoring to account for it.”

The new vehicle was impres-sive in energy effi ciency, safety and performance, the group found. “The P85D is brutally quick, with instant acceleration,” Rechtin wrote, noting that it could reach 60 miles (100 kilome-tres) per hour in 3.5 seconds.

“The car’s thrust is force-

ful and immediate. Its near-instant g-forces can otherwise be achieved only by leaping off a building-literally. The accelera-tion “makes it frighteningly eerie in its silent velocity.

It’s so explosively quick that Tesla has created an ‘insane’ driving mode.”

Tesla shares jumped eight per cent in midday trade to $243.01, extending the spectacular mar-ket performance of the carmak-er, which produces only a small

number of coveted vehicles. Ear-lier this month, Tesla reported a quarter loss of $184 million as the electric carmaker geared up for expansion.

Tesla plans to invest about $1.5 billion this year to expand pro-duction capacity, construct its huge “Gigafactory” for batteries and expand its network of charg-ing stations. Tesla is also gearing up for a new project to adapt car batteries to store power in homes and businesses. — AFP

T E S L A P 8 5 D

India planning to revive drilling off Vietnam coastlineHANOI: India’s state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) plans to revive exploration activity in waters off Vietnam’s coastline that are also claimed by China, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The company has approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to drill explora-tory wells in a disputed part of the South China Sea that it acquired rights to in 2006, the person said, asking not to be identifi ed because the discussions are confi dential. ONGC last attempted drilling in 2009, three years before China in-vited bids for the same area.

The move to assert India’s com-mercial rights in a contested area may be a sign Modi is joining the US and other Asia-Pacifi c nations to check China’s territorial ambi-tions. Previous eff orts by Vietnam and the Philippines to explore in disputed parts of the South China Sea have led to clashes with China.

“It’s clear that India has inter-ests in the South China Sea as is evident by deepening maritime relations with the US and Japan,” said Ralf Emmers, associate dean at the S. Rajaratnam School of In-ternational Studies in Singapore. “And certainly China has been

more active in the Indian Ocean, making Delhi a bit nervous.”

China has stepped up eff orts to assert claims to more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea, which hosts $5 trillion in annual ship-ping. It is building artifi cial islands and runways in the area, fuelling tension and protests by fellow claimants.

China on Thursday again warned India to avoid any explora-tion activities in disputed areas.

“It’s illegal if any foreign enter-prise conducts activities in wa-ters under Chinese jurisdiction without permission,” the foreign ministry said in a faxed statement. Related parties should “avoid tak-ing actions that will make disputes complicated.”

The South China Sea is esti-mated to hold as much as 30 bil-lion metric tonnes of oil and 16 trillion cubic metres of gas, which would account for about one-third of China’s oil and gas re-sources, according to the offi cial Xinhua news agency.

ONGC Videsh — the New Delhi-based explorer’s overseas unit — hasn’t drilled a single well in Viet-nam’s oil and gas Block 128 since it was awarded rights nine years ago. — Bloomberg News

E X P L O R A T I O N A C T I V I T Y

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. — Bloomberg fi le picture

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

READY FOR THE ROAD: A Tesla S P85D electric vehicle, manufactured by Tesla Motors, on a display

by the Moscow Tesla Club at the Smolensky Passage shopping centre in Moscow. - Bloomberg fi le picture

B4

FEATURES AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

FACEBOOK FACIAL RECOGNITIONFacebook Inc. says this enhances the user experience. But privacy advocates say the company’s

technology - which was shut off in Europe and Canada after concerns were raised - should only be used with explicit permission

When you are identifi ed in a picture on Facebook, biomet-ric software remembers your face so it can be “tagged” in other photographs. Facebook Inc. says this enhances the

user experience. But privacy advocates say the company’s technology - which was shut off in Europe and Canada after concerns were raised - should only be used with explicit permission.

As commercial use of facial recognition technology grows to replace password log-ins, fi nd people in photos and some-day even customise displays for shoppers as they browse in stores, it’s raised pri-vacy questions. That’s one reason the US government is participating in a working group to develop rules for companies us-ing facial recognition - even if those are voluntary.

“Face recognition data can be collected without a person’s knowledge,” said Jen-nifer Lynch, an attorney for the Electron-ic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based privacy rights group. “It’s very rare for a fi ngerprint to be collected without your knowledge.”

Privacy groups such as Lynch’s last month cited the business community’s opposition to requiring prior consent as the reason they walked out on the govern-ment meetings. The Department of Com-merce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration plans to continue the process without most of the privacy advocates. “The process is the strongest when all interested parties par-ticipate and are willing to engage on all is-sues,” said Juliana Gruenwald, an agency spokeswoman.

Prior knowledgeFacebook defends its use of facial-recog-nition technology, a form of biometrics. It works by assigning numbers to physical characteristics such as distance between eyes, nose and ears in order to come up with a unique faceprint that can be used to identify someone when they’ve already been identifi ed through tagging.

The technology powers a photo feature called “tag suggestions” that is automati-cally turned on when users sign up for a

Facebook account. The suggestions are only made to a user’s friends.

“Tag suggestions make it easy for friends to tag each other in photos,” Facebook said in an e-mailed statement. “And when someone is alerted they’ve been tagged in a photo, it’s easier to take action, whether it’s commenting, contacting the person who shared it, or reporting it to Facebook.”

Users can opt-out at any time, Facebook said. But that requires that they change their settings.

Flawed policy“Facebook isn’t getting permission,” said Alvaro Bedoya, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology, who walked out on the US meetings. “Facial recognition is one of those categories of data where a very prominent and a very clear consent is necessary.”

The US government’s approach to reg-ulating use of face data by companies is inadequate, privacy activists said. They point to Europe, where strict privacy laws forced Facebook in 2012 to delete data collected for its tag-suggestion feature following a probe by Irish authorities. Tag suggestions have also been turned off in Canada.

“Of signifi cant privacy concern is the fact that Facebook has the ability to com-bine facial biometric data with extensive information about users, including bio-graphic data, location data, and associa-tions with ‘friends,’” Canada’s Offi ce of the Privacy Commissioner said in a 2013 re-port on facial recognition technology.

Google, MicrosoftBedoya, who formerly advised Democrat-ic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota on privacy policy, said other Web companies get consent. He mentioned Google Inc., which gives users of its Google applica-tion the option to use face identifi cation by turning on the “fi nd my face” feature. Companies such as Microsoft Corp., which is building facial recognition into Windows 10, and MasterCard, with its plan for selfi e verifi cation for online pay-ments, require the download of an app or the purchase of hardware. Those acts can

verify consent, privacy advocates say.“It’s a complicated question,” said Carl

Szabo, policy counsel for NetChoice, an as-sociation of Web companies such as Face-book, Google and Yahoo! Inc. “My concern is that if we go down this road, we’re not go-ing to give this technology the opportunity to fl ourish and provide some of the really cool innovations that I can’t even think of today.” Facebook fi rst started using fa-cial recognition by licensing technology from another company, Face.com, which it acquired in 2012. Last month, Facebook introduced a new standalone app using the same technology as in tag suggestions called Moments, which groups photos in a user’s smartphone based on the faces identifi ed. Photos can be shared with spe-cifi c friends, as opposed to uploading them to Facebook. The Menlo Park, California company’s current policy on facial recog-nition has made it the subject of a pending lawsuit in Illinois, which along with Texas has some of the nation’s strictest biomet-ric privacy laws.

Facebook lawsuitThe lawsuit argues that Facebook didn’t notify users when updating its terms of service to disclose that the company col-lects facial data on users tagged in photos. Photo publishing site Shutterfl y Inc. is the subject of another pending lawsuit in Il-linois that takes issue with the company’s photo tagging feature. The fear that facial data can be used to track people may be overblown. It reveals “less information about your habits than most customers would reveal by carrying around a mobile phone that also tracks and shares location data,” Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan think tank, said in an e- mail. Coming up with rules for the technology is not “black and white,” said Nick Ahrens, vice president of privacy and cybersecurity at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which has members including Nike Inc., J. Crew Group Inc., Dillard’s Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

“I think transparency is the name of the game,” said Ahrens. But, “I don’t know if a sign on the door is the answer.”

– Bloomberg News

Name : ________________

Password : ______________

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FACIAL RECOGNITION IN PROGRESS..........

87%

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

FamilySECTIONB L I F E STY L E S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

AvigyanBhattacharya

is just 13 but he has al-ready taken his fi rst step to conquer the world of art. A student of Indian

SchoolMuscat, Avigyan has

been painting from theage of six.

His fi rst SoloArt Exhibition was

recently held in Muscat where he exhibited 35 paintings showcasing Oman’s breathtaking

landscapes, abstract and modern painting, and

portraits.Here are few from his impressive collection.

PHOTOS BYSHABIN E.

FIND-IT-ALLB6 S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999

General Directorate of

Passport and Residence 24569603

Directorate General

of Customs 24521109

Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

Public Relations Admin 24560099

EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Afghanistan 24698 791/4

Algeria 24605 593

Bahrain 24 605 074/133

Bangladesh 24 698 660

Brazil 24640100

Brunei 24 603533

China 24 696782

Cyprus 24 699815

Egypt 24 600 982/411

France 24681 800

Germany 24835000

India 24684500

Indonesia 2469 1050

Iran 24 696 944/7

Iraq 24603642

Italy 24693727

Japan 24 601 028

Jordan 24692760/1/3

Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

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

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

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

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68. www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTI

Hitman – Agent 47 (Action, Crime)(PG12)Cast : Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto3:15, 7:45, 9:45, 11:45 pmThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Action)(12+)Cast : Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer5:00, 11:55 pmMission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2D)(Action, Adventure) (PG12)Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy 5:15 pm Evolution Man (Animation)(3D) PGVoice Overs : Jamel Debbouze, Mélissa Theuriau, Arié Elmaleh1:00, 3:00 pmSouthpaw (Action, Drama)(15+)Cast : Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence1:00, 9:15, 11:45 pmNo Escape (Action, Thriller)(12+)Cast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson1:30, 7:15 pmPhantom (Action, Drama)(HINDI) PGCast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Rajesh Tailang3:30, 6:15, 9:00 pm

MUSCAT GRAND MALLHitman: Agent 47 2D (Action, Crime) (PG12)Cast : Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto5:00, 9:45 & 11:45PMGold Class : 4:30, 9:15 & 11:15PMSouthpaw 2D (Action, Drama) (15+)Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence12:30 & 9:30PMNo Escape 2D (Action, Thriller) (12+)Cast : Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson10:00AM & 11:55PMEvolution Man 3D (Animation) (PG)10:45AM & 3:15PMPhantom 2D (Action, Drama, Thriller) (PG)

Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Rajesh Tailang7:00PMGold Class: 1:45 & 6:30PMWe Are Your Friends 2D (Drama, Music)Cast: Zac Efron, Wes Bentley, Emily Ratajkowski 5:15PM (TBC)The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 2D (Action ) (12+)Cast : Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer2:45 & 7:15PMMission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 2D 12:45PM

AZAIBA

Phantom - 2D (PG) Action, Drama, Thriller Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Rajesh Tailang2:15, 5:00, 7:45, 10:30 PMHitman: Agent 47 – 2D (PG12) Action, Crime, Cast: Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto 12:15, 3:00, 7:15, 9:15, 11:15 PMSouthpaw – 2D (15+) Action, Drama, SportCast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence11:45 AM, 2:00, 5:00, 9:30 PMNo Escape – 2D (12+) Action, Thriller

Cast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson3:20, 11:55 PMEvolution Man – 3D (PG) Animation 11:45 AM, 1:30, 5:15 PMLoham – 2D (TBC) ActionCast: Mohanlal, Andrea Jeremiah, Siddique4:15, 9:30 PMThani Oruvan – 2D (PG12) Action, RomanceCast: Jayam Ravi, Arvind Swamy, Nayanthara, Ganesh Venkatraman, 6:40 PMThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. – 2D (12+) ActionCast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer12:45, 7:15, 11:55 PM

RUWISCREEN 1Phantom (Action) – PGCast: Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PMSCREEN 2Baahubali: The Beginning (Action) – 12+Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka 1.00, 6.45 PMBrothers (Drama/ Sports) – 12+Cast: Akshay Kumar, Jackie Shroff, Sidharth M3.45 PMHitman Agent 47 (Action/Crimer) – PG12

Cast: Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, Hannah9.45 PMSCREEN 3Karachi To Lahore - Urdu(Comedy) – PGCast: Shehzad Sheikh, Ayesha Omer1.00, 6.45, 9.45 PMHitman Agent 47 (Action/Crime) – PG123.45 PM

SOHARMission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - 2D (PG12) Action; 4:30 PMThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. - 2D (12+) Action 2:15, 11:45 PMHitman Agent 47 - 2D (PG12) Action, Crime Cast: Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary 12:30, 3:15, 7:30, 9:30, 11:30 PMSouthpaw - 2D (15+) Action, Drama, Sport Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams 12:15, 5:15, 7:00, 11:55 PMNo Escape - 2D (12+) Action, ThrillerCast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson2:30, 6:30, 9:50 PMEvolution Man - 3D (PG) Animation3:00, 4:45 PMHabib Al Arad - 2D (Arb) (TBC) DramaCast: Faisal Al Omeri & Abdullah Al Torkoman4:30 PM

Phantom - 2D (H) (PG) Action, Drama, ThrillerCast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Rajesh Tailang 12:30, 8:30, 11:15 PM Loham - 2D (M) (TBC) ActionCast: Mohanlal, Andrea Jeremiah, Siddique12:30, 9:15 PMThani Oruvan - 2D (T) (TBC) ActionCast: Jayam Ravi, Arvind Swamy, Nayanthara 6:55 PM

BURAIMI

The Man from U.N.C.L.E – 2D (Action) 7:10PM (12+)Hitman Agent 47 – 2D (Action) (12+)Cast: Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, Hannah2:00, 3:35, 5:20, 9:45, 11:45PMStung – 2D (Comedy/Horror/Romance) (15+)Cast: Clifton Collins, Florentine, Matt O’Leary2:00, 7:20PMEvolution Man– 3D (Animation) (PG12)Cast: Jamel Debbouze, Melissa Theuriau, Patrice Thibaud3:45, 5:15PMNo Escape – 2D (Action / Thriller) (12+)Cast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson5:30, 11:45PMPhantom – 2D (Action / Thriller) (PG)Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif

2:30, 7:05, 9:00, 11:30PMLoham – 2D (Thriller) (PG)Cast: Mohanlal, Andrea Jeremiah9:20PM

SURHitman Agent 47 (Action | Crime) (PG12) 5:45, 10:00, 11:55 PMNo Escape (Action | Thriller) (12+) CP#Cast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson5:00, 11:45 PMPhantom (Hindi) (Action | Drama) (PG) Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Rajesh Tailang12:00, 7:00, 9:30 PMEvolution Man (3D) (Animation) (PG) CP#2:15, 4:00 PMLoham (Mal) (Action) (TBC) CP#Cast: Mohanlal, Andrea Jeremiah, Siddique11:45am, 7:30 PMThe Man from U.N.C.L.E (Action) (12+) 2:30 PM

SALALAH

Hitman Agent 47 (2D) (PG12) (Action) 10:45AM, 12:00, 7:00, 10:00, 11:45PMSouthpaw (2D) (15+) (Action/Drama/Sport) Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, 2:00, 7:45, 9:40PMNo Escape (2D) (12+) (Action/Thriller) Cast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson10:00AM, 3:30, 11:55PMEvolution Man (2015) (Original French Movie) (3D) (PG) (Animation) 10:15AM, 1:45PMPhantom (2D) (PG) (Hindi) (Action/Drama) Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Rajesh Tailang4:15, 8:50, 11:35PMLoham (2D) (TBC) (Malayalam) (Action) Cast: Mohanlal, Andrea Jeremiah, Siddique7:15PMThani Oruvan (2D) (PG12) (Tamil) (Action) Cast: Jayam Ravi, Arvind Swamy, Nayanthara, Ganesh Venkatraman2:15PMWe Are Your Friends (2D) (15+) (Drama) Cast: Zac Efron, Wes Bentley, Emily12:30PMMission: Impossible- Rogue Nation (2D) 5:25PM (PG12) (Action) The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2D) (12+) (Action) Cast: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander11:50AM, 5:05PM

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation 2D (Action, Adventure, Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy5.45 pm CP No: 1953 (PG12)Brothers (Hindi )( Thriller )Cast: Akshay Kumar, Jackie Shroff, Sidharth Malhotra1.30 p.mCP No: 2110 (12+) MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (Action /Adventure) Cast: Alicia Vikander, Henry Cavil, Armmie Hammer2.00 p.m. & 8.15 p.mCP NO: 2121 (12+)No Escape ( Action/ Thriller ) Cast: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson4.15, 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 p.m.CP No: 2128 ( 12+ )Stung ( Comedy/Romance/Horror ) Cast: Clifton Collins Jr., Jessica Cook, Tony de Maeyer4.00, 6.15, 10.15 & 11.55 pmCP No: 2129 ( 15+ )

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776Website: www.isurf.co.om

Loham (Mal) ( ACT )Cast: Mohanlal, Andrea & Renji panikkar3-00 & 10-00 Pm At Cinema Main; 6-30 Pm At Cinema-2 Thani Oruvan (Tamil) (Act\Drama )Cast: Jayam Ravi,Nayanthara & Arvind Swami6-30 Pm Cinema Main; 3-30 & 9-30 Pm Cinema-2 ; 9-45 Pm At Cinema - 3Kick 2 ( Telugu ) ( Rom/Act)Cast: Ravi Teja & Rakul Preet Singh 3-45 & 6-45 Pm at Cinema- 3; 9-45 Pm Cinema- 4Madura Naranga (Mal) ( Rom/com )Cast: Kunchako Boban, Biju Menon & 3-45, 6-45 Pm At Cinema - 4NEXT CHANGE: Double Barrel (Mal) Programmes are subject to change

3:15, 7:45, 9:45, 11:45 pm 12:30, 9:15 PM 3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PM

@MGM @SHATTI @SOHAR @RUWI

Hitman – Agent 47 (Action, Crime)(PG12)Cast : Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto

12:30 & 9:30 PM

Southpaw(Action)(12+)Cast : Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams

Lohan - 2D (M) (PG) (Action)Cast : Mohanlal, Andrea Jeremiah, Siddique

Phantom (Action) – PGCast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif

PRAYER TIMINGS

Dhuhr 12.13pm

Asr 3.40pm

Maghrib 6.34pm

Isha 7.46pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.30am

WEATHER

38Maximum

31Minimum

TEMPERATURE

50-95%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

ADARSH AJIKUMARAugust 29, 2003

JENNIFER MARY JASONAugust 28, 2001

LIFESTYLEB7S AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

ACROSS

1 Beat with a stick 5 Balsam — 8 Contract proviso 12 Missouri neighbour 13 Viper 14 Solar plexus 15 Cheerful tone 16 Forwarded 18 Gist 20 Lead, in the lab 21 Minuscule 22 Tarzan’s moniker 26 Rub it in 29 Explosive 30 Cable network 31 Tariff 32 Gathered dust 33 Chenille item 34 Turkish potentate 35 Good disguise 36 Rx amounts 37 Buck 39 Mongkut portrayer 40 “It,” in Innsbruck 41 Wildlife study 45 Temple neighbour 49 “—Suede Shoes” 50 Nose stimulus 51 Compass dir. 52 — mater 53 Household members 54 Olive in the comics 55 Reckless

Crossword Puzzle

Q u e s t i o n s & A n s w e r s

It’s better not to argue with...

Elders

If I had treasures I would

hide them...Not to be disclosed

One thing that puts me off ...

When others tell me that I have put on

weight

One movie/book I can watch/

read over and over again...

Titanic

When I’m in doubt...

I browse the Net

If I met an alien I would... Smile at it

One person I would trade

places with (real or fi citional)

Steve Jobs

I go crazy when...I don’t fi nd the size of the dress of my own

choice

The scariest thing that I have done...I don’t get scared

when I decide to do something

The best way to my heart is...

Generosity

If I win a lottery...I would venture out for a small business

If I have to describe myself

as a fl avour it would be...Strawberry

If I could go back in history,

I would like to meet...

Walter Elias Disney

Send your contributions to lifestyle@timesofoman.com. A good quality photo is compulsory. Lifestyle reserves the right to

publish the contributions.

AARTHI KANNAN

DOWN1 Put back in the archives 2 Hi’s comic-strip wife 3 Night hunters 4 Entrance 5 Comedy 6 Psychic’s intro (2 wds.) 7 LP speed 8 Navajo or Hopi 9 Sushi-bar selection 10 Road map no.

11 Glove sz. 17 Client mtg. 19 Mesh 22 Colony member 23 Electrical units 24 Singer Lane 25 Thumbs-down votes 26 Very willing 27 Construction toy28 Elongated circle 29 Chasing game 32 Boot-camp sentence ender

33 Auto safety device 35 Get ready to eat 36 Couple 38 Knowing looks 39 Call from the Alps 41 Wacky 42 Earthen jar 43 Teeth supporters44 You bet! 45 Fussy dresser 46 Pindar forte 47 Spoil 48 Help-wanted abbr.

AN

SWER

TO

PR

EVIO

US

PUZ

ZLE

STORYTIME

By Swati Dasgupta

One skill I would like to learn...

Mimicry

Omani Sunny Days

Endless Counting by Cdur Carloman

Jamila and Aasila’s giggles were loud enough to be heard in the corridors. School had just reo-pened after a long break

and they were very excited to meet their friends. But these were not the only reasons that made the twins happy. Their cute little cous-in, Aarshi, was coming on a visit.

Aarshi was six years old and Jamila and Aasila loved her. “We are surely going to have a great time, isn’t it Jamila?” Aasila asked. “Of course, you remember last time when we had visited them she was so small and would always chatter, Jamila said.

Remembering the beautiful memories the sisters soon dozed off to sleep.

The next day Aarshi and her parents arrived late in the after-noon. Jamila and Aasila jumped out of joy seeing their little cousin. Jamila ran and hugged her tight. “Oh! Aarshu, you look so cute and so is your ponytail,” she said.

The house soon echoed with laughter, as the children got busy with their games and play.

Aarshi had brought with her

a bag full of her favourite toys. Jamila’s eyes suddenly fell on a little doll in her bag. The blonde hair, the pink dress and the cute little shoes of the doll attracted her. The moment she reached over to take the doll Aarshi gave a loud scream. “It’s mine, don’t touch it!”

Saying this she snatched the doll from Jamila’s hands and sat in an-other corner of the playroom. Jami-la was taken aback by such a rude behaviour from her cousin whom she loved so much. She stood still for a while, staring at Aarshi.

“You should learn to share Aar-shi,” saying this she rushed out of the room.

Aasila was silently watching all this and didn’t like Aarshi’s be-haviour at all. She went near her and lovingly tried to explain. But Aarshi was in no mood to listen. “That’s my doll. No one can play with it,” she scowled.

Aasila knew there was no point talking to Aarshi and she too walked out of the room feeling hurt.

The same evening Jamila and Aasila’s father decided to take them to the park. Aarshi was delighted to

see so many children in the park and as soon as she entered the gates she ran to play with the ball that some children were playing with.

After some time she got tired and sat on the mat that their parents had spread. Jamila and Aasila were busy discussing the Powerpuff Girls. Aar-shi gave a pleasant smile and took out a big packet of candies from her bag.

Wow! Jamila jumped! “These candies look simply yum.” She ex-

claimed in delight. “Hey Aarshi, from where did you

get them? We have been searching for these candies for quite some time but couldn’t fi nd.

“One uncle from papa’s offi ce came home for dinner and he had given me,” she said.

Aarshi’s mother heard their con-versation said, “Aarshi, give some to Jamila and Aasila. You all can have a nice candy treat,” she added.

Suddenly Aarshi’s expression changed. “These are mine. Why should I give it to anyone? She wrapped her arms around the pack-et and frowned.

Aarshi’s mother felt embar-rassed at her child’s behaviour. She was just about to say some-thing further when Aarshi walked away with the packet.

A week had past and Aarshi con-tinued behaving in similar man-ner. Jamila and Aasila initially tried to explain their little sister but seeing her tantrums they just avoided her.

One day Aarshi barged into her mum’s room as her mother was talk-ing her afternoon siesta. “Mom, I am getting bored,” Aarshi said loudly.

“What happened dear?” her mom enquired.

“Mom, I have fi nished playing with my doll, colouring my draw-ing sheets, arranging the blocks. Now I don’t know what to do. I even built a house with the blocks but no one seems to be interested in seeing it,” she complained.

“My dear, you spent the whole day playing all by yourself. You built a house with the blocks but no

one is there to appreciate it. That’s because you are not sharing,” her mum explained.

“But why should I mom. They are mine, isn’t it!” Aarshi argued.

“Yes, they are but when some-thing belongs to us it doesn’t mean that we will keep it to ourselves. Happiness doubles when you share. If you had shared your toys with Jamila and Aasila they would have played with you and together you would have had a great time, isn’t it!” her mom explained.

Mom, is it too late now? Aarshi looked upset. “It’s never too late when you do something good in life.

Aarshi ran to Jamila and Aasila’s room and knocked hard. “I am sorry. Please come back and play with me. I promise to share my toys with, said Aarshi innocently.

Aasila smiled. “Okay, as long as you share. We will also bring some games we have and we can play with them too.” They played together happily for hours.

Aarshi was happier because she’d shared her toys and her sis-ters allowed her to play with what-ever she wanted. -swati@timesofoman.com

HAPPINESS DOUBLES WHEN YOU SHARE

B8

LIFESTYLES AT U R DAY, AU G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

All the words below appear in the puzzle - horizontally, vertically,

diagonally, even backward. Find them and circle their letters.

The leftover word spells the Teleword.

How to playFill empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area.

Answer to previous puzzle

SOLUTION

E U N I V E R S E G A Y O V A Y N H K K O G A N U R B A N S T L T U R R O B E R T O O P S T I B E R I U S B E N N E T T O N N K R A K B J I I E B N A C D N I C P P R A W D O O P R S E O S M O R T M T N I L I S U L G S T O P I E E T R S N H L O N N M A Y S S C G E E E I U F I U C A R A I E X E N C P V U L C A N R F M B S A N N K Q A K N A Y R B L A A P M E K N B Y M E D A C A E R N A I I V O K E H C H R I S E D A C E D R A O B A T T L E K T S S E

TelewordSudoku

Aboard, Abrams, Academy, Bana, Battle, Bennett, Bones, Bryan, Burk, Captain, Chekov, Chris, Drama,

Enterprise, Fiction, Gene, IMAX, James, Kirk, Klingon, Kogan, Lindelof, Nimoy, Olsen, Pine, Quinto,

Robau, Roberto, Romulan, Sarek, Science, Scotty, Space, Speed, Spock, Starfleet, Starship, Sulu, Tiberius,

Uhura, Universe, Urban, Voyage, Vulcan, Warp, Winona. Answer: Trekkies

CLUE: STAR TREK (2009 FILM) SOLUTION: 8 LETTERS

Children’s PoetryArt for the Ages

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Joy Rion D’Souza, Grade 5, ISM

Hani Jääskeläinen, Grade 7, BSM

Manya S Talati, Grade 6, ISWK

Divya Soni, Grade 9, ISM

Anusha Jose, Grade 9, ISM

The Story of Life

Vidhika ShahGrade XIndian School Al Ghubra CBSE i

Be the anchor of your own lifeLife is hard, life is toughBut nothing should bring you downExcept yourself.Make friends, be carefreeHave fun, create memoriesChange and modifyBut never let anyone else kill your personality tonight.An anchor is meant to stop youBut make sure that the anchor is only youDon’t let that anchor be anyone elseBecause you’re the captain of your ship.Friends will enter and leaveGrades will go up and downLife is a rollercoasterBut my friend, it is a wonderful one.You will love the rideRegardless of the drops and spinsYou will scream your lungs outBut will have the satisfactionThat you made it through, once it’s overBut just make sure to rememberThat life is not yet over.Be who you are and never changeIf you aren’t acceptedThen it’s time to be the change.For everyone possesses a beauty of some kindIt’s time you fi nd yoursBecause it’s your time to shine.Make sure to wake up every morningAnd remember to thank the sunFor it has given youA shine to kill the numb.

Send your contributions for Children’s Poetry to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

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

C

C4 VACANCY CARGO C7

S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

RENT C2

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

We have small building for rent in

Bowshar commercial building can

be used as staff accommodation or

store. # 93782735 / 99208033

We have 2BHK in Ghubra 18th

November Street near sea 2 rooms

sitting, hall, Kitchen & 3 bathrooms.

Contact : 93782735 / 99208033

We have fl ats, offi ces, shops, ware-

house, basement for rent in Ghubra,

Al Khuwair, Ghala, Azaiba, Maibela.

Contact : 93329476 / 99208033

We have offi ces for rent in Ghala

brand new building.

Contact: 93782735 / 99208033

Brand new 1, 2 BHK fl ats in

Al Ghubra & Ruwi. Contact: 97616158

Room with A.C Al Khuwair R.O 120/-.

Contact: 97799175

1BHK Al Falaj. Contact: 97799175 /

92144045

1BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/-. Contact:

97799175

Barka store 100 m2 available.

Contact: 93393967

1000 sq mtrs industrial land for rent

in Ghala suitable for warehouse etc.

Contact: 24700120 / 92584715

2 BHK fl at in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

3 BHK fl at in Azaiba. Contact

99792181

We have 3BHK fully furnished

villa in Ghubra 18th November near

Automatic Restaurant. Contact:

93782735/ 99208033

We have 2BHK fully furnished

in Bareeq Al Shatti Qurum near

Opera House. Contact : 93782735 /

99208033

New 1 & 2 BHK Flat in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181

3, 4, 5 BHK villa in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

New 1 & 2 BHK Flat in Ghobra.

Contact 99792181

2BHK villa for rent RO: 250/month,

near Galfar Training Institute and

beach in North Al Hail.

Contact 99745628 / 99314242

2000 Sqr mtrs Store in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99792181

C2 S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

2BHK with split A/C in MSQ Opp.

Al Fair. Contact : 96708000

1 BHK with split A/C in Darsait,

opp. Muscat Municipality.

Contact : 96708000

3BR villa, sitting, dining & hall,

Azaiba behind Al Meera H- Market.

Contact: 99259977 / 95033008

1BHK, Darsait, walking distance

to ISM , neat and clean building,

ground fl oor, OMR 260/- per month

rent Call IQRAR on 99076557

2BHK at Al Khodh 2 rooms,

1hall, 2 bathrooms & kitchen.

Contact: 99224748 / 99332297

3 bedrooms, 1 hall at Wadi Kabir

near Kuwaiti Masjid.

Contact: 99224748 / 99332297

1BHK, 2BHK, 3BHK new fl at available

at Mabela in front of Modern English

School Contact: 96239126

2 BHK Ghubra R.O 325/-.

Contact: 97799175 / 92144045

1,2,3 BHK fl ats. Contact: 92144045

/ 97799175

2BHK Mumtaz R.O 300/-.

Contact: 92144045 /97799175

House for rent in Sidab 8 rooms, 6

toilets RO 550/-. Contact: 96606679

/ 99856551

2 BHK Apartment for rent near MSQ

area. Contact 92888063

Darsait next to ISM, 2 bedroom

brand new building R.O 300/-.

Contact: 93393967

4 bedroom villa with 3 maid room,

big compound & parking area. Ideal

for kindergarten or expat tenants

residency. Contact:24566217 /

24564686

2BHK near Indian School Darsait

RO 275/-. Contact: 95094028

Commercial / residential 2 BHK fl at

and 1BHK at Honda road residential

2BHK fl at at opposite to Al Na-

dha hospital. Contact: 99342733 /

99795241

2 BHK available Mumtaz area Ruwi

1BHK , Ghubra near Al Maha hotel.

Contact: 99269751

Villa for rent, 4 spacious bath

attached bed room, private swimming

pool, gymnasium (common) electrical

equipment with free maintenance

secured command at

Madinat Al Illam. Contact: 98027975

2 BHK close to Indian School

Kindergarten Wadikabir RO 320.

Contact: 99476728 / 98484415

Spacious 1 BHK fl at opp. Muscat

Municipality Darsait with 2 bath-

rooms available for rent OMR 250

per month direct from owner from

Sept1st onwards. Contact 97785037

For rent if require fl ats for rent in

Wadi Kabir please send me

messages through Whatsapp.

Contact: 99376454

Shop/ comm./ Resi building 1&2 bed

fl at available in Wadi Kabir (near

Lulu) one bedroom fl ats 200/- Wadi

Kabir & Misfa land for rent 1000

SQM Al Khuwair 6 bedroom villa

900/- . Contact: 99451168

3BHK Flats & 6BHK Villa in Azaibah.

Contact : 96775026

250 sq mtrs restaurant for rent in

Plaza Hotel, Walja Ruwi.

Contact 99326339

1 BR fl at at Darsait, near ISM.

Contact 99237971 / 99320633

Readymade offi ce space for rent

(100sm) in Bank Melli Iran building,

MBA area Ruwi opposite Center

Point. Contact: 99011352

Furnished room for rent at

Al Khuwair R.O 225/- for family only.

Contact: 99251975

Flats for rent in Al Khuwair, Al hail,

Wadi Kabir, Al Falaj, MBD, and Mut-

trah. Contact: 99119699 / 95250300

/ 24813002

250 Sqr mtrs showroom in CBD.

Contact 99792181

Spacious 2BHK Flat with Split

A/c’s behind Sultan Center, Azaiba –

RO.425/- p.m. Contact: 99824803 /

99849325

3BHK well maintained fl at (villa

type) G. fl oor split A/C separate en-

trance, parking, and compound

available in Al Khuwair behind Sagar

Polyclinic Way no. 3922, Block 239,

Villa No. 1839. Contact: 99253125

5000 & 10000 Sqr mtrs in open

Land in Wadi Kabir. # 99792181

Deluxe 1, 2, 3 bedroom fl ats in

Wadi Kabir, Ruwi, Al Khuwair area.

Contact: 24707340 / 95282986

/99472457

Fully furnished 3 BHK accommo-

dation with all spacious rooms in a

villa at Darsait near ISD.

Contact: 9526 5289 / 9604 8422

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5 C3

WANTED

FOR RENT

Apartments for Rent in Nizwa

behind Nizwa Hospital. 99530985

92513668

Offi ce & retail space available -

Alasfoor Plaza, Qurum.

Contact: 24566217 / 24564686

1bedroom attached toilet, kitchen,

family in Al Khuwair RO 140.

Contact: 95154331

1BHK in Darsait, RO 220.

Contact: 99342661

2BHK in Ghubra South 330 R.O

with A/C. Contact: 99342661

2 BHK pent-house having very spa-

cious balcony with sea & city view

RO 325 and 1BHK RO 240, adjacent

to Indian Nursery Darsait.

Contact : 99476728 / 98484415

Flats in Al Khuwair 33 &

Wadi Al Kabir. Contact: 92800007

Flat for rent near Al Nahdha Hospi-

tal in Hamriya. Contact: 97380548 /

99680499

Flat in Al Khuwair 3 rooms + Majlis

ground fl oor. Contact: 99242119

3 Bedroom fl at with 3 attached

toilets, split A/C, brand new

available, behind Kims Hospital.

Contact 95225662

A fl at for rent in Al Khuwair 33, 2

rooms and sitting room and all the

necessary things. Contact: 92277419

SELL/BUY

LOST

Looking for purchase of a resi-

dential building with minimum 25

unoccupied fl ats in Ghala, Bousher,

Azaiba, Ghubrah. Contact: 99261522

Used furniture & Electronic items, offi ce & house. Contact: 99834373

/96642500

An Amazing excellent land for sale

in Barka at Al Muraysi attached to

road open from 3 sides and sur-

rounded by houses and commercial

shops and others. Ready for con-

struction to build twin villa for good

investment from owner land size

677. Contact: 91010668

Expat leaving bedroom set, fridge,

table, sofa etc. Contact: 93393967

Pest control and cleaning building

company for sale with all permit and

offi ce. Contact : 96996938

JCB boom loader 540/170, 17 MTR

2008 model excellent condition.

Contact: 97677133

Fully equipped Beauty Parlor for

sale in Amerat behind Sultan Center.

Contact : 98600130 / 24881211

2,560 sq mtrs industrial land in

Wadi Kabir main road, First line on

way to Al Bustan hotel. Possible to

make petrol station or hotel. OMR

990 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Wall papers, grass carpets sale

& fi xing. Contact: 99834373 /

96642500

400 sq mtrs Commercial/Residen-

tial land in Maabela Phase 5 Block 2.

OMR 140 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

Flat 2bedrooms+majlis in Ghubra.

Contact:99242119

4 bedrooms villa with 2 halls, 4

bathrooms in Darsait behind Khimjis

mart. Contact: 24700120 / 92584715

BHK Flat in Azaiba. Contact 99385835 / 99428143

Flats shops & stores for rent at

Al Amerat. Contact: 96278724

4 BHK single villa in Al Khuwair.

Contact: 97616158

I BHK Flat -4 Nos at Hamriya – R.O.

200/- . 2 BHK - 2 Nos / 1 BHK- 2 Nos,

at Wattayya R/A near the mosque-

for Families. Contact 96457757 -

9 am to 7 Pm.

House for rent in Sidab at reasonable

rent. #: 95555162 / 95755953

1 & two bedroom fl ats available for

rent in wadi-kabir (opp: pencil bldg),

ideal for company staff / families -

bulk corporate deal possible.

Contact 97677170

3 bedrooms villa excellent area at

Mobilah. Contact 99879872

Flat for rent with AC in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 95555162 /95755953

3 BHK, 3 bathrooms, 2 balcony,

nr. Al Hassan W/Kabir RO 330/-.

Contact :99384640

Flat for rent in Mabellah 8th.

Contact: 97147240

2BHK & 1BHK fl ats available

in Darsait. Contact : 99357586 /

97500025

Flats for rent at Darsait near to

Ministry of Sports.

Interested candidates please

Contact 00968-92225523

1 &2 BHK fl ats for rent at Wadi Kabir,

Wadi Adai, Hamriya and Al Khoud

areas, shop for rent at

Wadi Adai Round about.

Contact: 24834644,

GSM 93994401 /02/03 lines

3 Bedroom fl at in Wadi Kabeer and

2 bedroom villa in Sidab- Muscat.

Contact: 95755953

Fabulous AC fl at at Al Khoud 3 bed-

rooms, hall and kitchen RO 270/-

for rent. Contact: 99334699

Brand new villa Bosher 37, 4 BHK.

Contact: 91936034

Bath attached room for rent

Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569

1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in Mis-

fah Industrial area near to Khanco.

OMR 1,500 Monthly. It has Electricity

and boundary wall. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Used Fabrication machinery for

sale : Fabrication machinery and

tools in excellent condition for im-

mediate sale. Contact 94652485/

99273774/ 99202278

5 Flats of 1 bedroom for Sale in

Boushar: OMR 35 Thousand each.

Monthly income OMR 270

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Forklift sale. Contact:

99763831

Shop for sale in Ruwi High street,

Contact 96078411

60,000 Sq Mtrs Agriculture Land in

Misfah, can be changed to Industrial

Land. OMR 29 Per Square Meter.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

3 fl oor commercial building in

Muttrah behind Police. Generating

income of OMR 18 Thousand annu-

ally. Neat and well maintained. Built

on 197 sq mtrs land. 2 tailor shops

on ground fl oor and 6 fl ats. OMR

207 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land

with water well in Al Salwa, Barka.

OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

Fully furnished sharing Executive

bachelor at Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99325387

Family sharing accommodation

available in Al Khodh. Contact :

98292798

Separate room with A/c, Small

Fridge and Bed, for non-cooking

Asian bachelor, behind Shell fi lling

station, Ghoubra round about.

Contact: 94263390

Semi furnished rooms in

AL Khuwair with car parking.

Contact : 92888337

Furnished room for IND EXE

bachelor near Al Khuwair R/A.

Contact : 99659513

Furnished room available in Ruwi.

Contact: 92435784

Sharing accommodation for Filipina

on Seeb for couple / working ladies.

Contact: 92959251

Fully furnished room with attached

bath for Executive bachelor, behind

Al Meera Hypermarket, Azaiba,

RO 150/-. Contact 99455735

Furnished room for rent at

Al Khuwair RO 225/- for family only.

Contact 99251975

Single rooms with attached bath

available at Ruwi.

Contact 98049288 / 8091089

Fully furnished 1BHK with all

household items in Darsait near

Lulu on monthly Basis. Contact :

99378397/99493500

1 bedroom, hall, kitchen & toilet

available for family near ISD Darsait

(Indians only) with wi-fi facility.

RO 150/- per month + Electricity &

Water. Contact 93661570

Sharing accommodation in CBD

area for non cooking Executive

bachelors, wifi free, advance deposit.

Contact 91852710

Sharing accommodation available

for working lady or couples near

Ruwi Church. Contact: 92837206

Room for rent with sharing

bathroom & kitchen at Al Khuwair,

behind Golden Spoon Restaurant.

Contact 92994415

Furnished room for Indian Bachelor

in Al Falaj area (Ruwi) & Lady in

Wadi Kabir (near Al Maya).

Contact 96761960

Fully furnished room for a decent

expatriate. independent kitchen,

bathroom in Wadi Adai.

Contact 96243086 at 5p.m.

Room attached toilet and kitchen

near Indian School Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 95345537

ACC. AVAILABLE

Shop/ offi ce, near Khimji H.O.

Muttrah. Contact 99233116

2 BHK near Khimji H.O. Muttrah.

Contact 99233116

2BK Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti

Mosque. Contact 97007934 /

92629232

Brand new bldg in Walja 1 BHK, 2

BHK & shops. Contact 98218279

2 rooms, 2 toilets, kitchen in Al

Ansab. Contact 94229023

Basement available in MBD, Ruwi.

Contact 99713489

Flat for rent in Wadi Kabir near

Indian Primary School 2 B & 1K.

Contact 92222922

Pent house for rent 1 sitting,

1 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen

RO 225/-, location Al Khuwair, near

DHL Courier. Contact 95620900 /

92976722

Brand new fl at 2 bedrooms with 1

Majlis, 3 bathrooms, kitchen in South

Ghubra behind Oman oil RO 350/-.

Contact 95367767

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

Indian coca requirement with expe-

rience. Contact: 99209264

We have complete offi ce furniture

for sale very nice & aff ordable price .

Contact : 93782735 / 99208033

Villa for rent in Al Khuwair 33,

8 bedrooms & 5 bathrooms with

parking area near Taimur Mosque.

Contact: 99366624

Room with toilet in Bowshar.

Contact: 96961306

Flat and show room for rent Al

Khuwair 33, Al Ghubrah, Darsait

and Jibroo. Contact: 24485240 /

24485241 / 93651633 / 92109563

Room for rent. Contact Farahat

98020768, Hilal: 96541263

House in Muscat, near Muscat

temple. Contact : 97711551

Flat for rent penthouse Al Amerat

Al Mahaj. Contact: 92738298

Mohammad Yosub has lost Bangla-

desh passport No AC 4249971. Finder

please handover to ROP.

AVAILABLE

FOR EXPATS

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. ww.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

From owner plot of land near

Zanzibar, airport price RO 15000.

Contact 99348943

DAILY GUIDEC4 S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

DOMESTIC HELPER

ENGINEER

ENGINEER

EDUCATION

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

ACCOUNTANT

ADMIN

BEAUTY

Required a House Maid preferably

Muslim for a very reputed Omani

Family in Muscat. Should be able to

speak in Hindi / Arabic.

Contact 95216563

Indian family required full time Indian Housemaid, visa available.

Contact : 93228657

Wanted housekeeper at a Nursery –

Muscat – Amerat, skill and commit-

ment and behavior. Fax: 24700677

Tel: 99085844 /99010504

Email: school.oman@yahoo.com

Require qualify caregiver for an

orderly mother. Contact 99425200

Urgently required Accountant Gulf

experience to handle accounts up to

fi nalization. Contact : 99658756

Urgently required Junior Accountant. Please send CV:

hr.azatllc@gmail.com

DRIVER

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Required Beautician for a beauty

salon in Muscat (visa available).

Contact: 97605308

Required experienced Hairdressers / full beauticians with

exp in Ghubrah. Contact:97964519 /

94241385

DRIVER

ADMIN

MISCELLANEOUS

MEDICAL

A well known private school is in

need of Physics, English, Math-ematics, Science and Kindergarten Teachers. Contact: 96910649

Email: staffi ng.oman@gmail.com

Post Graduate researcher required. Contact 99229700

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION

WANTEDSIT. WANTED

K.Design LLC requires “2d & 3d Draftsman” with minimum 3 yrs

experience. Send CV to

k.designoman@gmail.com

DRAFTSMAN

IT

Leading IT Company in search of

computer professionals with hands

on experience in PC & laptop repair.

Send CV to vacancyready@gmail.com

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

Urgently required Network & Security Engineer with minimum

experience of 5 years, valid driving

license & NOC, the candidate should

have experience in the following

data & voice cabling design struc-

ture, network project management,

Data Center cabling installation,

CCTV & Security Systems installa-

tion, operation, and maintenance.

Email: hussainmrj@gmail.com

Leading construction company requires two Civil Engineer with

minimum 5 years site experience in

gulf. require gulf license and NOC.

Send your CV to

degree.engineer2015@gmail.com

MEP Engineer on urgent basis

required for immediate placement.

Please contact tgi17@omantel.net.om

Automatic block factory requires qualifi ed Engineer (Electrome-

chanical) degree & diploma to

operate new stationary block

factory. Contact 97092070,

email : alomranmcpllc@yahoo.com

Indian male having 5 years of

experience in Oman as accountant

cum offi ce administrator with Omani

driving license looking for a new

placement. Contact: 94173818, email:

nibinkjames@gmail.com

Fresher looking for a career

opportunity B.Com good physique,

quick learner English speaking.

Contact: 93368464

Accountant with more than 6 years

experience in SAOG company look-

ing for middle management position.

Strong English/Arabic correspond-

ence. Valid DL. NOC available.

Contact 91116924

Indian CA with 15 yrs exp. working

as Head of Finance for US MNC. NOC

Available - 94047434

Filipino, 29 years, Male, BS Com-

merce major in Financial Account-

ing, 5years experience: Accounts

PAYABLE/RECEIVABLE/PAYROLL,

Excellent Communication/MS

Offi ce/Accounting Software skills.

Contact: 95057206/

patrick110486@yahoo.com

Indian male B.Com Graduate 24

years looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact: 97219505

25 years male BBA (Hons) CFAC

ACCA having 3 years experience

as top management operations,

Accounts seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact : 92829595

Email: saqib4u1@hotmail.com

Young, energetic 24 yrs, ACCA

fi nalist, Advanced diploma in Ac-

counting and business, seeking

suitable placement in accounts, fi -

nance or audit. Contact: 92430152

Email: rau_dey@yahoo.com

M.Com female good knowledge in

computer and tally 4 years experi-

ence in accounts and Administra-

tion seeks suitable placement on

visit visa. Contact: 96992431 /

99450130

Accountant Indian male B.Com

7 years experience (Accounting)

fi nance costing, auditing with NOC

& valid driving license seeking

placement. Contact: 96722257

Email: mudassir.pal@gmail.com

Indian CA 10yrs of Oman experi-

ence in treasury, fi nancial report-

ing, consolidation, ERP implemen-

tation in Trading, construction,

Oil & Gas sectors. NOC available.

Email: caramdas.s5@gmail.com

GSM: 91310237

12 yrs of Oman experienced Chief

Accountant looking for immediate

placement. Contact 99513082

10+ yrs UAE experienced Fin.

Controller looking for a job change.

Contact 98006226

Email: devan801@gmail.com

C.A article ship completed Indian

female presently on visit visa looks

for opening in Sur, fi nance/ Audit /

Accounts. Contact: 93915733

ACCA and MBA (fi nance) from UK,

3.5 years experience in opera-

tion, holding D/L (Oman) looking

for suitable position ready to join

immediately. Contact : 95575614,

Email: ahammadmds@gmail.com

Indian male B.Com looking for

Accounts, indoor sales,

Offi ce Assistant, Store keeper,

Contact - 98295101

Indian Male MBA with Experience

in Accounts, Admin, Sales,

Contact – 91520930

Indian male MBA Graduate 24 yrs, 1

yr. experienced Accountant seeking

suitable job. Contact: 94083260-

jithinnambiar777@gmail.com

Female (Filipina) Accountant, Audit,

Finance, Bookkeeper, 15 yrs experi-

ence, on tourist visa,

looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 96944976,

email: precyr_tupasi@yahoo.com

Indian male MBA Finance / HR 1

yr experience in Indian currently

on visiting visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 93416031

Email: ashin.shams@gmail.com

Certifi ed Public Accountant, Filipino Male 26 years, Bachelor

of Science in Accountancy with

5 yrs. of experience now on visit

visa, Looking for suitable opening.

Contact: +968 91409308 Email:

kennethalcedo07@gmail.com

Accounts fi nance Indian male 35

yrs B.Com, M.B.A tally exp 9.7 yrs

exp 1.5 yr Oman family visa N.O.C

available. Contact : 93257426.

Email: sibigeorgep@gmail.com

Established real estate company looking for male or female property agents for leasing and sales of the

property. Applicant must be Graduate,

possess Omani or GCC driving license.

Having oman market experience.

Apply with NOC. Attractive salary

+commission. Send your CV:

property@ labdmarkmuscat.com

Required Indian or Pakistani calligrapher & Painter (staff accommodation)

Contact# 24480487/24483493

Waterproofi ng technicians required. Contact 92888337

Rig Operator/Technician/Driver/Security Positions in Musandam.

Must have Oil fi eld experience

Good Communication Skills. Please

email your resume in Arabic and

English to HR@petroteloman.com

Interior design & fi t-out company

based on Muscat Grand Mall looking

for : (part/Fulltime) Project manager , Site Engineer , Site Supervisor CVs to be sent to :

alzahi.oman@gmail.com

INTERIOR DECORATING

Urgently required for a Medical Centre GP doctor, Gynecologist, Male Nurse, female Nurses, Assis-tant Pharmacist with MOH license,

salary negotiable. Send your CV:

moc.hrd2015@gmail.com,

Contact 92681842

Dental Surgeon, Orthodontist, Staff Nurses (female) with or without

MOH license for a polyclinic near

Sohar. Excellent salary & commis-

sion. Contact 99006915,

Email : alhinaee.clinic@yahoo.com

Medical CARE Centre, Multi Spe-cialty Clinic, Seeb, requires General Practioner, Medical Lab Technician & Pharmacist. Send CV at Email

: sarita_h23@yahoo.com or call

97884856

Urgently Required Experienced GP Doctor, Gynecologist, Female Nurses with MOH license & NOC for

a reputed specialized center based

in Muscat. Please forward your CV to

alqaimtrd@gmail.com

Immediately required lady Doctor (DGO) or GP with Gynecology experi-ence & lab technician. Contact 99310590.

Email : tjmaluke@gmail.com

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

Accountant with more than 30

years experience in both fi nancial

and cost accounting seek part time

assignment in Muscat or Sohar.

Contact 98598099

Finance Manager, 22 yrs Oman

experience. NOC available. Contact

91302906 / 91335205

Part time accountant services

available. Contact:93438100

Chief Financial Offi cer 16 yrs of Man-

agement exp with MNCs in Pakistan,

expert in fi nancial reporting sap/

oracle implementing & optimization,

Treasury, taxation, team work and

change Management. #91936637

Email : rizwanfarooq.pk@gmail.com

Indian 24 years MBA fi nance

2 years experience seeking suitable

placement. Contact: 98222753

Email - shemeejup@gmail.com

FMCG professional with 18 yrs Gulf

experience in commercial / opera-

tions looking for opening.

Contact 92787747 / 92168401

Indian female B.Tech (EEE) MBA

fi nance with 1and half years experi-

ence as Bank Offi cer in India seeking

suitable placement.

Contact: 91358676 / 98157895

Email: sujivu88@gmail.com

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

Indian Female Chartered Account-

ant [ACCA] looking for suitable

placement. Contact: 99342077

Indian male, 10 yrs experience, 6

yrs in Oman, with Oman driving li-

cense, having NOC, seeking suitable

job. Contact 96012973

Accountant, Indian male, B.Com,

PGDSE with 12 yrs of experience cur-

rently on visiting visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact 92750853,

email : vinoykjospeh@gmail.com

7 yrs experience as Store keeper

in Pakistan, 2 yrs experience as

Accounts Assistant, B.Com from

Karachi University, MS Offi ce,

operating system 98,2000, XP

professional Windows 7, Internet.

Contact 91235746

A well established organization

in Muscat is looking for an experi-

enced lady Administrative Assistant.

Candidate with around 6 years of

experience and excellent command

of English language is requested to

send CV to:

recruitmentmuscat@yahoo.com

Experienced Driver with car or

without car. Visa available.

GSM 942 888 63 / 9905 3844

Driver required for a Company, 2 yrs

experience. Visa available. Contact

24479922

Experienced Expat Driver with valid

Oman driving license required imme-

diately for an Omani family in MSQ.

Contact 24607772 / 99054998

Driver heavy duty required urgent-ly for trailer. Oman / GCC experience

must. Those ready for immediate

joining. Contact: 99310859

IT – pre sales & marketing in Oman

Governmental organizations. Send

CV to masoud@iranrayaneh.com

Accomplished Sales Executives/Telemarketing Executives for

leading Digital Media Enterprise.

jobs@interacoman.com

Furniture fi eld experienced Salesman with license.

Contact - 99345159, 91398378 ,

E-Mail - agsan2005@gmail.com

Indian male 2+yrs oman exp in HR.

joing immediatly. release available.

Contact :93671437

14 years of Gulf experience in HR /

Admin & logistics fl uent in Arabic /

English with D/L looking for suitable

position. Contact: 95824598

Indian male 27Yrs, Having total

6 yrs of experience in HR/ Admin

looking for suitable position.

Contact 91507099.

Indian male MCA, MSCE 2012 certi-

fi ed and Microsoft Exchange server

administration with experience as

System Administrator (windows)

looking for a job currently in Oman

on visit visa. Contact: 92745708

Email: nabeelmmkty@gmail.com

Purchase, Admin, Indian male, 15

yrs Gulf experience. #95435370

Indian female MBA, 3 Year Experi-

ence in Admin MIS , Family Visa.

#98234427, jkjsmith01@gmail.com

Female 25, MSc (Wood Science &

tech) MBA HRM, fresher well versed

in English, Hindi and Malayalam,

seeking for suitable placement in

any related industries. #98401389

Email: thajnakp@gmail.com

An Indian lady, MBA in HR &

marketing with 4 yrs experience in

teaching, seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact 91108766 / 97447825

Chartered CIPD HR Professional

having 5 years of experience in

Oman seeking suitable job.

Call +971552071501.

Master degree HRM professional

having excellent experience in fi -

nance and management and having

8 yrs experience looking for suitable

placement. # 92955453 / 91213269

Oman/Qatar experienced Indian lady

available for immediate placement

HR / Admin/ front offi ce/ reception/

document controller/ insurance

coordinator. # 0097470057238

shinuemil@gmail.com

Required Foreman (MEP) with 4

to 5 Years experience, for main-

tenance of Building, Having valid

Omani Driving License.

Contact 94422083

email : moolankara@yahoo.com

Urgently required for leading

company: Civil Engineer : 8 yrs experience, Planning Engineer : 8 yrs experience, Surveyor : 8 yrs experience, Draftsman & AutoCAD : 5 yrs experience. Fax: 24478522,

email : gh1.careers@gmail.com

A reputed printing & advertising fi rm in muscat urgently requires

male / female sales executives

Contact : 99619552 ,

email : hocsigns@gmail.com

Required urgently Energetic Marketing executive for acquiring

new customers. Should possess a

Valid Omani DL. Contact 96545020.

Business intelligence / Global Mar-keting management specialist with

9 years of experience developing

brand value & managing overall pro-

jects to achieve business objectives

seeking suitable position on family

visit. Contact: 91902154

Looking for Outdoor Salesman for

heavy equipment spare parts.

Contact - 93292015,

Email: mail.om@gulfcenter.co

Required Marketing Executive. Contact 24816774 / 99020458

Sales Executive Industrial products :

2-3 yrs of exp. with good communica-

tion & computer skills. D/L is must.

Send resume to salescvv@hotmail.com

H.T. V Driver, Pakistani experience,

6 yrs, seeks work in company only.

Contact 93985087

Light duty driver, 8 yrs exp.

Contact: 96736744

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text,

should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.

* Subject to space availability

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5 C5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

DOMESTIC HELPER

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

Male NURSE, FILIPINO, with MOH LICENSE and NOC.

Contact: 94756418

email: rojiebrian.moral@yahoo.com

M.Sc Microbiologist, Indian female,

3 yrs experience seeking suitable

placement in Medical Lab food or

water. Contact 92302719

Male Nurse, B.Sc Nursing, experi-

enced, passed prometric exam

PH : 93837973

Veterinary Doctor with 10 yrs

experience, looking for job.

Contact 92533579

BA degree Nursing professional

having excellent looking for suit-

able placement. Contact 92955453

/91213269

SALES / MARKETING

EDUCATION

IT

MEDICAL

DRIVER

DESIGNER

Looking for a job as IT Adminis-

trator having 3 yrs exp in Oman.

Contact : 95850691

Indian female, B.Tech, IT (now in

Muscat on visit visa) with total

2 yrs experience (1.3 yrs in TCS,

India) seeks suitable placement.

Contact 93949541 / 93738083,

email : joantoms91@gmail.com

B.E (Computer) degree Engineer, complete schooling in Muscat, male,

Indian with 1 yr experience needs

job in software / networking / Java/

Web design or Marketing.

Contact 97136248 / 99313821

Sudanese female IT Tech. Support,

Demographic, English fl uent exp.

11.6 yrs. Contact: 96659392

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

PROJECTS

DRAUGHTSMAN

HOSPITALITY

HOSPITALITY

Indian male 8 yrs experienced con-

struction purchase seeks suitable

placement with NOC.

Contact 95621614

MBA (Marketing and HR) Indian

male looking for a suitable job

2 years experience in Oman with a

valid GCC driving license

Contact : 97353936

Email: shimithpg@gmail.com

US, MBA, looking for job in Sales

and Hospitality, 2 years experience

in Oman with driving license and

NOC Currently on notice period.

Contact: 95585345

Email: jobyisaac@gmail.com

Indian male with fi ve years experi-

ence of call centre in customer ser-

vice and sales looking for suitable

position. Contact: 90198176

Sales and marketing - male 27 yrs,

2 years experience seeking suitable

placement with Oman D/L.

Contact: 95642740

Email: shaijichakkara@gmail.com

Post graduate 6+ yrs of experience

in credit controller marketing look-

ing for suitable job, valid Oman driv-

ing license, own car. NOC available.

Contact 95327018

Indian male, MBA, Marketing

having 5 yrs experience in Sales/

Marketing in Oman seeks suitable

placement. D/L & NOC available.

Contact 93815477

Sales man, experienced , knows

arabic , hindi ph : 99506977

Indian male Graduate with 2 yrs

exp in sales advertising, presently

on visiting visa looking for suitable

opening. Contact: 95462921

Indian male, 2 yrs exp. in Sales

with D/L seeks suitable placement.

Contact 92055093

MBA, HR & Marketing, Indian, male,

25 yrs, fresher, on visit visa seeks

placement. Contact 94736649 /

98207564,

Email : dvengels8191@gmail.com

Diploma holder in Aviation Hospital-

ity & travel management, Indian male

seeking for suitable position, pres-

ently in Oman. Contact 97309707

Autocad Dman , Diploma in

civil, exp, knows 2d, 3d, revit

PH:98195161

NETWORK/NETWORK SECURITY ENGG. Graduate in B.Tech CS. Have 5.3

years of experience in Network and

Security devices. Certifi ed on CCNA,

CCNP, MCITP and CCIE Sec. Written

passed. NOC available. Can join imme-

diately. Contact +974-55297089,

e-mail: rejad.hashim@gmail.com

Indian 22 years male, Mechanical

Engineer, B.Tech has done internships,

born and brought up in Oman with

Omani driving license, seeking suit-

able jobs. Contact: 92791637 Email:

ashwinsureshkotturethu@gmail.com

Indian mechanical Engineer 31

yrs, 8+ experience in sales & BD

including GCC, having Oman driving

license & NOC. Contact: 97116858

Email: menonamit1984@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer, B.Sc. degree/B.

Tech, 4 years experience. Looking for

suitable placement. Available in visit

visa. Contact: 94739355,

Email: mahin.eee@gmail.com

MSC Electronics Female, 24 years,

1 year experience in MR Scan

Testing on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact 91111675

B.E in Mechanical post Gradua-

tion Diploma in piping Engineering.

Contact : 94786570

Email: asim.hajwani6@gmail.com

Indian job in procurement & con-

tract, have “13” years purchase &

contract experience in infrastructure

& energy sector. NOC is available.

Contact-91237036

25 years experience in Civil Engi-

neering looking for job at

consultancy from for suitable position.

Contact : 97803710

Civil Engineer 7 years experience

in Oman also have vehicle driving

license. Contact: 92480604

WELDER, TIG, ARC, 6G experienced

in GCC PH :95068064

Upholsery / Sofa makers GCC well

experienced, knows Hindi and

Arabic ph :99506977

36 yrs, Indian, male, X Ray, Welder

looking for job, 8 yrs experience

in TIG & ARC Welding, presently

on visit visa.Contact 91360190 /

91843992

Indian looking for Supervisor,

Safety offi cer, Camp boss or Sales

Executive. Contact 94003617

Management Professional account-

able, responsible for profi table man-

agement can handle the entire op-

erations, HR/Recruitment, Business

development & Sales & marketing &

etc, Great organizational skills with

over 23+yrs exp. in Bombay, Saudi

Arabia, Dubai-UAE & Oman(11yrs)

as General Manager - Publications,

Printing,Media. open to any industry,

can Join immediately w/NOC.

Contact : +968 98864706/99574638

Mail : akdas_uae@yahoo.com

TOURS & TRAVELS

SKILLED/ UNSKILLED

Five years experience in Travel

fi eld ,BCom., IATA & pursuing MBA,

Presently working in the Travel

Desk of (ITC managed) Five Star

Hotel in India, looking for a suitable

position in the Middleeast.

pls contact 9470 5767

11 yrs experience in travel fi eld

B.Com, IATA, MCSE working for

Qatar Airways, Sales reservation

ticketing driving license & NOC

available. Contact 92954613

Building construction supervisor looking for small Omani company

to handle independently or suitable

placement in good company with

Oman D/L. Contact 93061107

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,

open for Sales & Marketing also.

Contact 95245057

House maid looking for job.

Contact: 99879576

House maid cum cook Keralite .

Contact: 94297839

Philippina Maid is looking for

Domestic job or Baby seater with

experience on Nursing age and all

work in the house. Call : 96369299

Procurement Manager 25+ yrs ex-

perience Indian with NOC+ D/L seeks

placement. Contact: 97073942

Project Program & Service Man-

agement Indian male looking for

suitable placement having 15 years

of experience. Contact : 9686678027

Email: dileepmnair@yahoo.com

Supervisor fabrication. 30 years

experienced in oil and gas industry

with thorough knowledge of PDO

procedures. contact 99365694,

92362946, 99208102 email:

tapasroy21@yahoo . com

Supervisor / Forman interior / elec-

trical with Oman driving license.

Contact: 98767559

Young BA looking for a job as

Secretary / document controller,

typewriting 40 W.PM shorthand also

available. NOC from the present co.

available. Contact: 93085851

Net working & Hardware Engineer

on visit looking for immediate place-

ment. Contact: 95634573

Civil Engineer (diploma) 3.5 yrs exp,

seeking for placement.

Contact: 95200650

Electrical Engr, female, B Tech

(Elec), experienced in all LV/

HV systems, currently working,

NOC available for local transfer.

phone-92109335

Jordanian Mechanical Engineer, Expertise in Manufacturing, Design,

Steel Work, AutoCad, SolidWork

3D. Nesting/ Plasma Cutting,

Sales. Speaking English & Russian.

GSM#90198575/99201710

Indian fresher BE Mechanical

engineer having work in project

of design and development of

biodiesel plant seeks immediate

placement. At present on visit visa.

Mo- 96636035

email - ashishthanki14@gmail.com

(BS Electronics) Electronics Engi-

neer searching for job experience

with Huawie & HNL as Intern in site

maintenance. Contact: 91803545

A male Civil Engineer with 10 years

experience (03 years in Oman) in

building projects execution, billing,

contractual correspondence &

tendering of projects is available.

The interested person can

Contact: 968 91320917

Indian male 24 years B.Tech com-

puter science & Engg fresher, having

valid Oman D/L fl uent in English &

Hindi, smart & dedicated to work

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 97327551 / 99330159

Indian Mechanical Engineer with

PG diploma in Quality & Manage-

ment, 3 yrs experience seeks place-

ment. Contact: 99493890 mail:

subashpalamittam@hotmail.com

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer with

2 years experience in HV AC and

plumbing - nikhilchandpm@gmail.

com ; GSM: 97654489

Civil Engg, B.Tech fresher Indian

male currently on visit visa seeks

suitable placement. # 91702450

Email: tijoct2015@hotmail.com

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

B.E in Mechanical Engineering with 2 years experience seeking for

suitable job. Contact 919946739156

Email: ram332096@gmail.com

B.Tech Electrical & electronics with

1 year experience seeking for suit-

able job. Contact: +91 949788348

Email: rakesh1.mohan@gmail.com

Pakistani B.E (Chemical) Engineer

having more than 02 years experi-

ence in process Industry seeks im-

mediate placement in any industry

at present on visit visa. Contact:

94350586 / 97637840

Civil Engineer (B. Tech) Indian fe-

male, 2 yrs exp (1 yr in Oman) seeks

suitable position. Contact: 93911895

Instrumentation Engineer, nearly

4 yrs experience in oil &

gas industry, seeks job in Oman.

Contact 90198210,

Email : terinsam@gmail.com

Indian male 31yrs BE. Mech. 8 yrs

exp Sales & marketing. Valid D/L

NOC available. Contact : 97116858

Indian male, B.Tech, Mechanical En-

gineer having 2 yrs experience seek-

ing suitable job. Contact 94768977,

syedomer363@gmail.com

Indian Male, 24, UK Graduate - MSc

(Eng.) Environmental Engineering

and Project Management with B.Eng.

Biotechnology. Holding Valid Omani

Driving License, looking for suitable

placement. Contact +968 99452305

Civil Engineer Pakistani 12+ 2 yrs

Oman exp. Oman D/L seeks place-

ment. Contact: 94392616

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

Mechanical Engineer, 23 yrs, male,

having knowledge in HVAC seeks

suitable placement.

Contact 95434381, Email :

shuhaibusman313@gmail.com

M.A, B.Ed Indian female 27 yrs,

looking suitable teaching profession

having 2 years experience.

Contact: 95838183

Email: manslyas916@gmail.com

Driving job. Contact: 99109458

Light duty driver seeks placement.

Contact: 95032692

Light vehicle Driver 5 years of ex-

perience, with Oman driving license

looking for a job. Contact: 97319805

/ 92171166

Light Duty Driver with 2 yrs exp. in

Oman. Contact 96420742

Looking for driving job driving

experience more than 3 years.

Contact: 97459022

Indian light duty driver. Contact: 94269229

Indian driver, 30 years, 8 years in

Oman exp GCC, D/L with NOC.

Contact: 93100297 / 92547440

Driver with car able to do documen-

tation work & documents delivery.

Contact : 95365938

Looking for driver job English, Ara-

bic, and Hindi Lang, 8 years Muscat

experience. Contact: 98802079

Looking for a job as light driver 3

years experience in Oman, lan-

guages Arabic, Hindi, and English.

Contact 97311715

Driver light. Contact: 94182497

Light duty driver with 3 months

experience requires suitable

placement. Contact: 96409814 /

97384115

Driver available with car.

Contact 96771598

Light Driver. Contact 95779594,

Ruwi

Sri Lankan driver. Contact:

97387112

Indian male, looking for Heavy

Driver job, holding Kuwait driving

license. Contact 98136170

Indian male, 24 years Graphic

designer one year experience, B. Sc

Multimedia Animation on visit visa

in Oman, seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact: 93681417

Sudanese Electrical Engineer.

Email : mohamedkarrar.mk@gmail.

com, contact 97452159

BE Mechanical Engineer, 22 yrs,

Indian male on permanent visa &

valid driving license looking for suit-

able job in Oman. Contact 91652927

/ 99680181,

Email : fawaris.09@gmail.com

Bangladeshi male, BSC Engg in

Civil, total 3 years experience, 2

years in Oman, looking for job.

Contact: 00968 94038642 ;

email: shaikhhasib.ce@gmail.com

Pakistani male, Diploma in civil,

total 6 years experience , 4 years in

Oman, with valid D/L, looking for job.

Contact: +968 98568934;

Emai: eng.arfan54@yahoo.com

SUPERVISOR: Indian male site

supervisor (AIR CONDITIONING)

25 years of experience with valid

Oman Driving license,

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 97498809, 93391910

Email: hilariankj@gmail.com

Indian male, Supervisor Electrician

Diploma 8 yrs in Oman. NOC avail-

able. Contact 95057068,

jratheesh@yahoo.com

Electrical Eng. Degree (MEP) need suit-

able job of construction 12 yrs exp.

Email: mohd.ateeq.khan@gmail.com

Indian male, B.Tech, B.Tech (Elec-

tronics) MBA (Marketing) having

1 yr experience as Deputy Manager

Sales in Fortune 100 MNC currently

on visit visa seeks suitable job.

Contact 96967234,

Email: lijotitus111@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer, Indian male,

29 yrs having 5 yrs of experience in

industrial automation & utility

maintenance in India (MRF yres)

seeks suitable placement.

Contact 92789995, Email :

akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

Btech computer science graduate

2015 passout.. Android application

marketing.. Having good communi-

cation skills and mindset to work in

a team. Contact 91024385

Civil Engineer Indian male 10 yrs

exp having Omani D/L looking

for suitable placement. Contact:

94194399 (shiblyrock@gmail.com)

Indian male, 30 yrs, Diploma in Civil

Engineer, 5 yrs exp. at building con-

struction & consulting company with

Oman driving license. NOC available

seeks suitable placement.

Contact 95989500,

cv.shihabedappal@gmail.com

Indian male 25MBA having 4years

Gulf experience in Coordination with

contracting company .NOC Available.

Looking for(Store,Coordination,Admin

,Backoffi ce) Jobs Ph:95405885

Mechanical Engineer, 2 yrs

experience in Automobile services.

Contact 98182081

Indian Mechanical Engineer (QA/

QC) Engineer with 5 yrs of experi-

ence in oil & gas, mining & manu-

facturing sector, keyskills – NDT,

Welding Inspection, Quality control,

inspection etc. Contact 91176122,

Email : khajanaseer07@yahoo.co.in

Electrical and Electronics Engineer with one year experience and GCC

licence holder seeking a job

mail – shyjalpk@gmail.com

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Indian male, 14 yrs Experience in

Maintenance & Supervisor in hotel

fi eld ( Electrical . Ac Mechanical &

Plumber ) N O C available

mob : 95253640 . email =

hareeshma24@yahoo.com

Indian-22 years Male, Mechanical

Engineer, B.Tech, has done intern-

ships, born and brought up in Oman,

with Omani Driving License, seeking

suitable jobs. Contact 92791637.

E-mail:

ashwinsureshkotturethu@gmail.com

Senior Accountant Indian male

Graduate CA Articleship completed

18 years of experience currently on

visit visa seeks suitable placement

contact.97498809,93391910

Email.hilariankj@gmail.com

Indian male, 30 yrs, B.Com with

Tally, 8 yrs experience with Oman

driving license experience in Ac-

counts & sales seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact 96470171

Electrical Maintenance Engineer,

29, Indian Male, having 7+ years exp.

in reputed companies. Seeking suit-

able placement in Oman.

Contact - 98440637. Mail ID :

venkatbadri23@gmail.com

Indian male 22 years, Looking for

suitable placement in Hardware and

Networking fi eld, 1 year exp. in india

an have done training in al ameen

computers. With good communica-

tion skill, Qualifi cation is Diploma

in Electronics and Communication.

Contact : - 95632209,95068075,

Email- fairozhuded13@gmail.com

Sudanese 29 male (Bsc com-

puter science, diploma computer

engineering), 6 yrs. experience ,

dba oracle pl-sql , ms sql-server ,ms

visual studio vba, network, Omani

Driver licence language English,

Arabic. Email:chastity643@gmail.

com, Mob:91415886

Indian Male, 28, B.Com, 6+ yrs exp

in Accounts, 2 yrs in Oman with

Valid Oman D/L, NOC available.

Contact: 9719 4864

Having 9+ years exp. in Admin &

HR in reputed companies. Presently

working in Muscat and seeking for

suitable placement.

Contact No.: 97693456. email :

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

Pakistani, Male, Pak, Exp 14 Years

in Accounts, IT & Administration,

looking for a better position in Oman,

already working in Prestigious

Construction Company. Contact:-

95983711.Join.mtmali@gmail.com

Indian male 24 years,B. Tech (Elec-

trical & Electronic) having 2 years

working experience as an Electrical

site Engineer, currently on visit visa.

Seeking suitable placement. Contact

no. 98045482, Email: mastan-

shaik1008@gmail.com

Indian male 23 years, B. Tech (Elec-

trical & Electronic) having 4 years

working experience as an Electrical

site Engineer, currently on visit visa.

Seeking suitable placement.

Contact no. 98045482 Email:

mastanshaik1008@gmail.com

Male, 32, having 7 years experience

in New Car sales and rental. Cur-

rently working for one of the most

reputed Brand in India is seeking a

suitable change.

Contact +91 9045232273

Looking for managerial post (full

time ) ,More than Ten years of

experience in Team Development

,Training ,Planing, Administration,

Sales & Marketing, Advertisement

and Credit Control and Logistics.

Contact 91076608 /+919048648108

NOC available

Sales Representative or Purchase

offi cer. Indian male 31 years,

Looking for suitable placement in

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES and

OILFIELD INDUSTRIES. Having 7

years of gulf experience in

FASTENERS and BUILDING MATE-

RIAL. Having a valid D/L.

Contact: 00968 92480985,

Email: fayubeig@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,

email:catanalur131@gmail.com

Accounts Head/Manager looking

for job with Gulf Experience (NOC

available). Contact : 94164650.

email: msaleem.kr@gmail.com

Indian Male, 28, B.Com, 6+ yrs exp

in Accounts, 2 yrs in Oman with

Valid Oman D/L, NOC available.

Contact: 9719 4864

Housemaid looking for job. Cont :

95587492

Filipino (Male), 33 yrs/old, 9 yrs.

experience in marine transporta-

tion (seaman/deck crew), & 3 yrs. in

sales (electronic devices) currently

on visit visa & looking for a suitable

employment. GSM: 94750459

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

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.

Contact 91383167

Rent a car Incharge 39 yrs, Indian

15 yrs experience in UAE with UAE

D/L seeks placement in any suitable

post. Contact 99431708

29 years femaile (MBA-Finance)

with 4 + years experience (India &

Oman) in administration & teaching

seeking suitable placement in an es-

tablished organization. # 96371655.

Sales Representative or Purchase

offi cer. Indian male 31 years,

looking for suitable placement in

construction industries and oilfi eld

industries. Having 7 years of gulf

experience in fasteners and building

material. Having a valid driving

license. Contact: 00968 92480985,

Email: fayubeig@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

C6 S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine

Tours Contact- 98029602, 92808636

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

TOURS

Car for rent. Contact:

92516090

Butter cup rent a car competitive

prices new car 2016.

Contact: 97249449

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

MOTOR VEHICLE FOR SALE

Diplomat used car for sale Toyota

Corolla 2010 model, mileage 19,950/-

, price R.O 3500 /- (negotiable).

Contact: Mohamed Azgar 95751844

/ 95863739

Nissan Xterra 2010 Expat owned

90,000 k, clean car.

Contact: 93393967

Sportage, 2013. Contact 99336093

Prado ,2012. Contact : 99336093

HONDA CR-V 2008, purchased

2009, 4WD, Full option, No.1 model,

Cruise control, leather seats, Sun

roof, 1,23,000KMS, OMR 5000/-,

expat leaving, for sale at SOHAR,

Contact Samuel 99108311

Mazda 3,1.6, 2008 Automatic,

accident free, single owner.

Contact: 92030516

Land Cruiser 2012.

Contact 99336093

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5 C7

Working partners required for Farm

Based Trading. Contact: 94151791

Seeking fi nancial investor / partner

for short term Governmental

construction project of 1.5 million

Riyal Omani. Contact : 99881303

New company seek partnership.

Contact: 96996938

General Investors. Gsm-99674870

SITUATION WANT-

ED

BUSINESS

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

Split & widow unit A.C servicing &

repairing. Contact: 99557080

Split & window unit A.C servicing

& maintenance. Contact: 96236476

Window & split unit A.C ser-

vicing & maintenance. Contact

93769089 / 95323517

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

Split window cassette AC

unit servicing, maintenance.

Contact: 99540621

One stop shop business services : Public Relation (PRO) formation new

companies, LLC companies, Investor

visa, business setup, prepare

businesses & companies accounts,

legal services, representing

you and your company.

Contact: Saleh : 96723485

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

General cleaning & Shampooing.

Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723 / 99357908

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

Split & window A.C servic-

ing & maintenance. Contact

93769089/95323517

All maintenance & repairs. Contact Rizwan: 99429071,

RMPM Trading.

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intel-

ligence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

COMPUTER

CLASSES

Admission started in a private

school, Darsait (Mount Zion Group

of Institutions CBSE 1) for KG and

grade 1 to 4 please register soonest.

Contact: 92088325 /

24799938

GOOD NEWS

MATRIMONIAL

Seeking alliance for our son from

Muslim families. Interested families

Contact: 99889590

A respectable Sunni Muslim family

from Hyderabad, India invites pro-

posal for their daughter, 26 years,

MSc, very fair. Contact 93671857

Sunni Muslim girl, Indian origin,

20 yrs BA graduate from Oman,

good looking homely with good

religious values, seeking alliances

from Muslim professionals,

well settled in Oman or Middle East.

Contact: 99644760 or

Email: ghulamuzma23@gmail.com

A/C Technician, all refrigerator

items, installation.

Contact: 92279370

Pest control Treatments, Cockroaches, Ants ,Rodents &

Termites. Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99357908 / 99344723.

Air condition maintenance split

and window A/C split a/c ducted and

package type units.

Contact: 98667326

General cleaning in buildings villas

all types interior, exterior, polishing

dry cleaning carpets, rugs, marble

etc. #94134784 / 98598280

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

House shifting & packing. Contact: 99657644 /98518013

A/C Maintenance & servicing, fridge,

washing machine & dish washer re-

pairing, painting & cleaning services,

electrical & plumbing. # 99447257 /

97014234 / 24504281

DRIVING

Driver for Automatic Transmis-

sion. Contact: 99040813

NRI

Ayuredic massage backache, joint

pain, neck pain etc. # 98254909

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam). Contact

24475280 / 95371664 / 92504980

www.siddhayur.com

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know

more about Islam, please call:

99425598, 99250777, 99353988,

99253818, 99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723 Orvisit:www.islamfact.com

TRANSPORTATION

Driver with car. Contact: 94004667

Pick & drop anytime in Al Ghubra.

Contact: 97681599

Transport available in Ghala, Ruwi ,

Ghubra, Al Khuwair & Azaiba.

Contact: 91495819

Transportation. Contact 99664703

Transportation available.

Contact 95570429

Transport. Contact: 95190627

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

An NRI wants to sell his proper-

ties, in Ernakulam (6 cent villa near

Amrita hospital), Trivandrum (plot

near Kowdiar Palace), Trivandrum

(plot near Kumarapuram Jn.) and

Pandalam (opposite Ayyappa temple

by the side of MC road).

Please call: 94052733 or 94070407

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet

& sofa shampooing, Contact

99314807/24792998

SITUATION WANT-

EDSIT. WANTED

Pakistani, Male, Pak, Exp 14 Years

in Accounts, IT & Administration,

looking for a better position in Oman,

already working in Prestigious

Construction Company. # 95983711.

Join.mtmali@gmail.com

Indian male MBA fi nance and mar-

keting. Having 2 year experienced in

accounting, looking for suitable job

opportunities. Available on visit can

join immediately. Cont: 94676974

Email: anfalruk@gmail.com

SALES MANAGER (MECHANICAL

ENGINEER)-Over 5 yrs in Oman, with

experience in Industrial Products &

Services with Noc & driving license

looking for the challenging oppor-

tunities. Notice period Ends on 27th

August -2015 . GSM - 95291830

ACCOUNTANT, Male, 8 years experi-

ence .Presently working in Oman

as a Senior Accountant with Oman

Driving license. NOC available seeks

suitable opportunity. GSM: 98184170

Sales Representative or Purchase

offi cer. Indian male 30 years,

Looking for suitable placement in

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES and

OILFIELD INDUSTRIES. Having 5

years of gulf experience in FASTEN-

ERS and BUILDING MATERIAL. with

good communication skills.

Contact: 00968 97756269,

Email: razzakbmt@gmail.com

INDIAN MALE 23 YEARS,B. Tech

(Electrical & Electronic) having 4

years working experience as an Elec-

trical site Engineer, currently on visit

visa. Seeking suitable placement.

Contact no. 98045482

21 years, B. Com, graduate male

‘fresher’ well versed in English, Hindi,

Tamil and Malayalam with Driving

license looking for a suitable job.

Contact: 96799287

Filipino (male), 37 yrs. old, having

8yrs. experience in Operation (Shipping

& Logistics) currently on visit visa look-

ing for suitable job.#97121525

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

C8 S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2 9, 2 0 1 5