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HM mourns death of Saudi King, Fahd attends funeral

Staff Reporter

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said led the nation in mourning following the death of the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), who passed away before dawn on Friday.

An Oman News Agency (ONA) statement said, “His Majesty ex-pressed his sincere condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince Maqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and to the family of each of the Saudi royal brothers and people, praying to Allah the Almighty to rest the deceased soul in peace and grant the family patience and fortitude.”

His Majesty the Sultan also

ordered an offi cial mourning, a three-day holiday with fl ags in the country to be lowered to half-mast.

The statement from the Diwan of the Royal Court to ONA said that work in both the public and the private sector will be sus-pended on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with workers returning to their duties on January 26.

On behalf of His Majesty, His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Min-isters, attended the funeral of the late King Abdullah which was held in Riyadh on Friday afternoon.

He was accompanied by Yousuf

bin Alawi bin Abdullah, minister responsible for foreign aff airs, Sheikh Abdulmalik bin Abdul-lah bin Ali Al Khalili, minister of justice and Dr Ahmed bin Hilal Al Busaidi, the Sultanate’s ambassa-dor to the KSA.

Citizens and residents of the Sultanate expressed their grief on Twitter and Instagram. They shared the pictures of King Abdul-lah and the fl ag fl ying at half-mast at various government buildings in Oman. Many private and public events were cancelled as a mark of respect.

Sultan Al Abri, a Majlis Al Shu-ra member, expressed his sincere

condolences to the Al Saud family and the citizens of the KSA.

“The world has lost a great lead-er,” said Al Abri.

He added that King Abdul-lah has contributed positively to issues faced by the Arab and GCC countries.

“The development witnessed with regards to the Two Holy Mosques during his rule was re-ally signifi cant,” said Al Abri.

Salim Al Mashani, another Ma-jlis Al Shura member, said that it was a sad day for the Arab world.

Al Mashani said he was “one of the great leaders of the region and devoted his life to the service of

his nation and people. There have been positive outcomes in bilat-eral relations under the leader-ships of two leaders of Oman and Saudi,” he said.

Oman and Saudi Arabia have enjoyed deep-rooted and distin-guished relations and there have been positive outcomes. During a recent Oman-Saudi Investment Forum meet organised by Ithraa it was revealed that Oman’s trade ties with Saudi Arabia have seen a sharp rise since 2011, increasing by an overall 73 per cent, while the Oman’s non-oil exports to Saudi Arabia surged by 90 per cent in 2013. See also >A4

HM has declared a

three-day holiday

to mourn the Saudi

King’s death with

national fl ag to be

lowered at half-mast

RAHUL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Three computer labo-ratories at the Pakistan School Muscat (PSM) were named af-ter the three students who were killed in the horrifi c road accident a year ago, said a senior offi cial of the school on Thursday.

Two boys and a girl were killed when the bus on which they were travelling hit a vehicle belonging to the Muscat Municipality at Qurum Heights Road on January 22, 2014.

Laboratories namedSpeaking to Times of Oman, Principal of Pakistan School Muscat, Khalid Jatoon, said that the laboratories were named Fa-reeha Pervaiz Computer Labo-ratory, Syed Muhammad Fahad Computer Laboratory, and Mu-hammad Awais Nasir Computer Laboratory.

To keep their memories alive, students of the school got the names of their late friends’ in-scribed on chairs and placed them

where the three children used to sit. A special assembly was con-ducted on Thursday morning on the school premises to mourn the students and for the early recov-ery of the injured ones.

“The Pakistan School Muscat will always remember the Shu-hada of the January 22, 2014 trag-edy,” said one of the teachers.

Later, Adnan Shehzad, chair-man of the board of directors, along with Ataullah Niazi, senior principal, Khalid Jadoon, prin-cipal, Humaira Nadeem Sarwar, senior headmistress, Samina Khan, principal of Pakistan School Seeb, teachers and nu-merous students of the Pakistan School visited the residences of Faizal Abdul Aziz (15) and Jawad Habib (9) in Seeb who are under-going treatment in Pakistan and Muscat, respectively.

“We are with you. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help,” they told the parents of the children.

Pakistan school students also spoke of their shock following the prayer.

Shocking reality“A year after it is still impos-sible for us to accept that these children are no more. I still feel depressed when I think of that shocking day,” said a student.

Some parents said that they were deeply saddened by the loss of innocent lives.

“My heart sinks whenever my daughter is a little late from school. I worry that something may have happened to her as well,” said Mohammad Nasir, fa-ther of a student of the school.

Community members also held Quran Khwani at the Pakistan School Muscat.

“Prayers and recitation of the Holy Quran were organised on the school premises,” said A. H. Raja, Pakistan Social Club, vice-chairman.

F I R S T A N N I V E R S A R Y

SPECIAL PRAYER: A special assembly was organised on the Pakistan School Muscat premises on

Thursday morning to mourn the death of students killed in the accident one year ago and for the

early recovery of injured ones. Photo– A R Rajkumar/Times of Oman

HM sends condolences

HM’s message conveyedby Fahd

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of condolences and sympathy to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia on the death of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his heartfelt condolences and sympathy to King Salman, the bereaved fam-ily and the Saudi people, praying to Allah the Almighty to rest his soul in peace and grant his fami-ly patience to bear the loss. — ONA

RIYADH: On behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, His Highnes Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers attended the fu-neral of the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdul-lah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which was held at the Mosque of Imam Turki bin Abdullah in Riyadh on Friday.

Sayyid Fahd conveyed His Majesty’s condolences and sympathy to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. >A4

S A U D I A R A B I A

Members of Majlis support motorists on wider road shouldersFAHAD AL [email protected]

MUSCAT: Parking on road shoul-ders can lead to fatal accidents, but motorists have been complaining that in case of a breakdown they have no option but to park there.

Coming out in support of the motorists, Majlis Al Shura mem-bers have been urging authorities to widen road shoulders to enable motorists to park trucks and vehi-cles in case of an emergency.

In Oman, road shoulders are on the extreme right of the highways, separated from the slow lane by an uninterrupted line of white or re-fl ective paint.

Road shoulders are generally kept clear of motor vehicle traffi c. In the event of an emergency or breakdown, motorists should pull over to the road shoulder and stay clear of traffi c.

Ambulances and police vehicles are allowed to use the road shoul-ders to bypass traffi c.

On many roads, the gap between the yellow lane is big enough to park a small vehicle, but impossi-ble to park a heavy vehicle.

Traffi c safety experts feel that more space is required in the yellow lane especially on congest-ed roads.

Pointing out that the standard width of road shoulders on the Sultanate’s roads is 2 to 2.5 me-

tres, the Ministry of Transport and Communication has promised to consider the suggestion and en-quire into the issues raised by the Majlis Al Shura.

It might be easy to consider such points while constructing a new road but those options are limited when it comes to the already exist-ing roads in the Sultanate. On the other hand, installing a sign a little distance before to warn other driv-ers of a truck or car parked on the road shoulder is rare.

“Nobody cares about others on the road,” said Hussein Al Rahbi, working in the private sector.

“Most motorists and even truck drivers do not have signboards in their vehicles in case they park on the road shoulders. Such sign-boards can reduce fatal accidents that the Sultanate’s roads witness every day,” he added.

A reliable source at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) advised mo-torists to keep such signs to warn other vehicles when they park on the road shoulder.

“There are no fi nes for parking on road shoulders, but vehicles will be allowed to park for a lim-ited time before being taken into custody,” said the ROP source.

He explained that in case of any damage the motorist should fi x the problem immediately or call 9999 for the number of a tow truck to take his vehicle to the garage.

S M A L L S I Z E

A2Yiti’s golden sands and scenic beauty

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT

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

LAST RITES: His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers arrives in Riyadh to

take part in the funeral of Saudi King on Friday, left, and participating in the ceremonies, centre. The Omani fl ag fl ies at half mast on the

Central Bank of Oman building, in Muscat, on Friday.– Mohamed Al Rashdi, Salim Al Hashli, O K Mohammed Ali

Oman, Malaysia, Poland and Japan stormed into the semifi nals of the Hockey World League Round 2 tournament, here on Thursday and kept their respective Olympic qualifi cation dreams alive and kicking. >A12

OMAN FACE POLAND IN SEMIFINALS

Pakistan school honours victims, names three labs in memory of students

Indian couple killed in Seeb road accident

REJIMON [email protected]

MUSCAT: An Indian couple died in a road accident and two others, including their son, are battling for their life, social workers said on Friday.

The deceased have been iden-tifi ed as Mariama, 51, and Jose, 60, from Kerala.

“The accident happened at around 9am near Seeb. Mar-iama died on the spot while Jose succumbed to his injuries at around 8pm,” social workers said. “The couple’s son is bat-tling for his life in government hospital,” social workers added.

T W O O T H E R S H U R T

OMANHaitham meets Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow

1His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Heritage and

Culture received Alderman Alan Yarrow, Lord Mayor of the City of London and his accompanying delegation on Friday. >A3

MARKETEmerging-market rally on ECB stimulus move

2Stocks from Russia to Taiwan rose, sending an emerging-market equity

gauge to its best week since March, as European Central Bank stimulus boosted appetite for risk. >B1

EXTRAWhat weekend lie-in craving foretells

3People who fi nd it diffi cult to get out of bed at the weekends are more

likely to suff er from health problems such as obesity and diabetes compared to people who are up with the lark.>B8

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

A2 S AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

OMAN

Yiti’s easy-to-reach golden beaches

Yiti is one of the

most picturesque

spots situated close

to Muscat. The quiet

beach in Yiti is a

favourite spot for

those planning a

weekend outing. The

mountainous terrain

and breathtaking

scenery that

leads you to Yiti is

something not worth

missing. Shabin E captures the beauty

of the scenic spot

SCAN THIS FORMORE PHOTOS

A3

OMANS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

The aim of the concert, however, was not just to entertain the crowd, but to remind the audience of the importance of music and the need for more educational music events

Rehab Omar's concert pays tributes to Om Kolthoum

SARAH [email protected]

MUSCAT: Arabesque Interna-tional held its third event to draw attention and support for its Muscat Chamber Music Series, this time with a concert featur-ing the music of Egyptian diva Om Kolthoum.

The concert, held on Wednes-day evening at Al Bustan Palace - A Ritz-Carlton Hotel, starred Egyptian singer Rehab Omar and the Maged Sorour Ensemble for Arabic Music.

Like Om Kolthoum, Rehab Omar has a warm, rich voice with a very expressive tone. Her voice seemed to caress the lyr-

ics and she sang from her heart. The concert included a number of Om Kolthoum classics such as “Hayarti Qalbi Ma’ak (You Con-fused My Heart)”, “Inta Omri (You Are My Life)” and “Hajartak (I Left You).”

The audience was especially appreciative of Omar’s perfor-mance of “Inta Omri,” giving her loud cheers. A few people even rose to their feet applauded her, a sign of how moved they were by her voice. Though she has per-formed often, Omar seemed genu-inely touched by the audience’s

reaction, which was lovely to see. The musicians were also very

good. Maged Sorour, who organ-ised the ensemble, is a very fi ne qanun player who has performed with a number of Arab stars, in-cluding Wadih El Safi , Moham-med Abdu and Kadim Al Sahir.

He plays with obvious joy and sensitivity.

Om Kolthoum’s music has a very special place in the hearts of most Arabs, and there was no doubt the audience was thrilled with the concert. Whether the concert-goers were old enough to remember her weekly radio performances, or simply grew up listening to her songs, the evening surely brought back fond memo-ries for everyone.

The aim of the concert, how-ever, was not just to entertain the crowd which packed the Oman Auditorium, but to remind the au-dience of the importance of music

and the need for more educational music events and programmes, explained Arabesque Internation-al’s GM, Ahmed Abouzahra.

The purpose of the Muscat Chamber Music Series is to bring high-quality chamber music en-sembles to Muscat for one to three weeks to do education and out-reach activities, followed by a con-cert that will be free to the public.

For more information about the Muscat Chamber Music Series or to lend support to the initiative, contact Arabesque International at [email protected].

Om Kolthoum’s

music has a very

special place in the

hearts of most Arabs,

and the audience

at Wednesday's

concert was thrilled

HM sends cable of condolencesMUSCAT: His Majesty Sul-tan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of condolences to President Beji Caid Essebsi of the Tunisian Republic on the death of his brother Kamal Caid Essebsi. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere con-dolences and sympathy to President Essebsi and mem-bers of his family, praying to Allah to rest the bereaved’s soul in peace and grant his family patience.-ONA

HM gets thanks cable from AbeMUSCAT: His Majesty Sul-tan Qaboos Bin Said has re-ceived a cable of thanks from Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan in reply to His Maj-esty's congratulatory cable on the occasion of him being re-elected for the third time as a Prime Minister of Japan. In his cable, the Japanese Prime Minister expressed his thanks for His Majesty the Sultan's congratulations, expressing his happiness and delight on the continuous progress being witnessed by the good relations between the two friendly countries, looking forward to achieve stability and welfare for the two friendly peoples. -ONA

C A B L E S

Joint efforts to help patients at Al Nahda Hospital hailed

MUSCAT: Coordinated eff orts by the Public Authority of Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) and the Royal Oman Police (ROP) during the recent rains resulted in the successful transfer of pa-tients from Al Nahda Hospital to other hospitals nearby without any casualties.

These eff orts received wide at-tention during a follow-up by of-fi cials in the Sultanate, led by the Council of Ministers and the Min-istry of Finance, and Sheikh Saif bin Mohammed Al Shabibi, minis-ter of housing and chairman of the services sector, who also visited the hospital during the crisis.

Dr Mohammed bin Saif Al Hos-ni, undersecretary at the Ministry of Health for Health Aff airs and chairman of the Medical Response Sector, visited the Al Nahda Hos-pital to inspect the resumption of work. The hospital staff , personnel of PACDA, ROP and other sectors made tremendous eff orts to deal with the situation with a series of visits and meetings.

R A I N C R I S I S

Sayyid Haitham holds talks with Mayor of LondonMUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Min-ister of Heritage and Culture re-ceived in his offi ce on Thursday Alderman Alan Yarrow, Lord Mayor of the City of London and his accompanying delegation, currently visiting the Sultanate.

The two leaders exchanged viewpoints on the Sultanate’s vi-sion 2040 in terms of the invest-ment and economic opportunities to enhance cooperation and eco-nomic investment between the two countries in light of the cur-rent decline in oil price.

Trade exchangeAt the end of the meeting, Lord Alderman expressed his com-fort over the warm welcome he received in the Sultanate, wish-ing that the visit will be crowned with success and contribute in increasing the economic coop-eration and trade exchange for the two countries.

The meeting was attended by the delegation accompanying

the guest, which includes senior representatives from investment banks, asset managers, insur-ers and law fi rms, in addition to a number of offi cials at the Ministry

of Heritage and Culture.Meanwhile, Darwish bin

Isma’eel Al Balushi, Minister Responsible for Financial Af-fairs also received in his offi ce on

Thursday the visiting Lord Mayor.The meeting reviewed the ex-

isting historic relations between the two countries and discussed aspects of the joint cooperation

between the two sides, particu-larly in the fi nancial, economic, trade and investment areas. The meeting also touched on the in-vestment opportunities available in the real estate and medical ar-eas in the UK in which the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) can invest.

Financial hub The British offi cial explained that the UK, as a global fi nancial hub, hosts a number of leading and experienced companies that can support the GCC countries as they look forward to diversify their economies and proceed on their ambitious infrastructure projects.

The Lord Mayor expressed his, and his accompanying delega-tion's happiness on their visit to the Sultanate.

The meeting was attended by Mohammed Jawad bin Hassan bin Sulaiman, Advisor at the Fi-nance Ministry and Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Marshadi, CEO of SGRF. -ONA

E C O N O M I C D I P L O M A C Y

BOOSTING PARTNERSHIP : His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Minister of Heritage and

Culture and Alderman Alan Yarrow, Lord Mayor of the City of London exchanged viewpoints on the

Sultanate’s vision 2040 in terms of the investment and economic opportunities.–ONA

'Scope for medical journal for public'ELHAM [email protected]

MUSCAT: There is untapped potential for the publication of a medical journal intended for the general public in Oman to raise their awareness about health-related issues, says a member of a medical journal.

“It is a very good idea to have a journal related to the public to keep them informed about im-provements that are happening in Oman and spread awareness about diff erent diseases,” said Bishara Al Mahruqi, editorial as-sistant at Oman Medical Journal.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2015 international medical and healthcare exhibition and confer-ence in Muscat, Al Mahruqi said that the Oman Medical Journal, which is devoted to the medi-cal community, is a platform for knowledge and experience shar-ing and helps upgrade specialists in Oman in various specialties.

“The journal fi rst started in 1984 and was under the Ministry of Health and has been published under the Oman Medical Spe-cialty Board since its establish-ment in 2006,” she said, adding that the bi-monthly is distributed to health professionals in various institutions both locally and in-ternationally.

Al Mahruqi said that the jour-nal receives a large number of ar-ticles every year from specialists in Oman and abroad. “In 2014, we received 577 articles, but we pub-lish the most relevant ones and

what we think would interest the doctors,” he said.

According to her, the journal publishes diff erent types of arti-cles from various medical disci-plines, such as editorials, review articles, case reports, original articles, brief communications, clinical quiz, clinical notes and letters to the editor.

The journal provides help-ful information about important health-related issues such as ‘psy-chological impact of breast cancer diagnosis among Omani women’ or ‘breast cancer symptoms’, and Al Mahruqi believes that this in-formation can reach to the public if a special publication is created for them in which scientifi c ter-minology is not used.

Medical exhibitionThe three-day medical exhibition, which concluded on Wednes-

day, was held under the patron-age of the Ministry of Health and the exhibition brought together representatives from diff erent segments of the health sector to showcase the latest technologies, services and facilities and develop partnerships.

Free medical consultation was provided to visitors in various sections and their queries about seeking medical treatment abroad were answered.

Oman Medical Association, Oman Medical College and Oman Heart Association participated in the exhibition along with health institutes from Oman, Malay-sia, Iran and Tunisia in addition to Germany, Turkey, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. The United Kingdom, Pakistan, Ukraine, India, Australia and Switzerland are the others who participated.

M E D I C A L E X H I B I T I O N

MUSICAL FEAST: Like Om Kolthoum, Rehab Omar has a warm, rich voice with a very expressive tone. Her voice seemed to caress the

lyrics and she sang from her heart.–AR Rajkumar/TIMES OF OMAN

Ahmed Abouzahra., Arabesque International’s GM

HEALTH ISSUES: The exhibition brought together representatives

from diff erent segments of the health sector to showcase the lat-

est technologies.–TIMES OF OMAN

It is a very good idea to

have a journal related

to the public to keep

them informed about

improvements th

at are happening in

Oman and spread

awareness about

different diseases

Bishara Al MahruqiOman Medical Journal




REGION

Salman named new Saudi King as Abdullah passes away at 90

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia buried late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia on Friday as foreign leaders gathered in the capital for the funeral of the ruler of Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah died early Friday aged about 90.

He was replaced by his broth-er Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, who joined Gulf rulers and leaders including Oman’s His Highness Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for a funeral service at Riyadh’s Imam Turki bin Abdul-lah mosque.

The body was quickly moved to nearby Al Od public cemetery where it was buried. Citizens were invited to pledge allegiance to King Salman at the royal palace. Anoth-er of the late monarch’s brothers, Maqrin, was named crown prince.

In his fi rst public statement as the new ruler, 79-year-old King Salman vowed to “remain, with Allah’s strength, attached to the straight path that this state has walked since its establishment”. He called in televised remarks for “unity and solidarity” among Mus-lims and vowed to work in “the de-fence of the causes of our nation”.

Mohammed bin NayefMoving quickly to clear uncertain-ty over the transition to the next generation, King Salman named the interior minister, Prince Mo-hammed bin Nayef, as second in line to the throne. He also appoint-ed one of his own sons, Prince Mo-hammed, as defence minister.

President Barack Obama was quick to pay tribute to Abdullah

as a “valued” ally. “The closeness and strength of the partnership between our two countries is part of King Abdullah’s legacy,” Obama said in a statement shortly after the monarch’s death.

Vice President Joe Biden said on

Twitter he would lead a delegation to Saudi Arabia “to pay respect and off er condolences”. Other trib-utes came in from foreign leaders, with French President Francois Hollande hailing Abdullah as “a statesman whose work profoundly

marked the history of his country”. British Prime Minister David

Cameron said he was “deeply sad-dened” and that Abdullah would be remembered for “his commitment to peace and for strengthening understanding between faiths.”

Prince Charles of Wales is to travel to Riyadh as The Queen’s repre-sentative to pay his respects, the royal’s offi ce said.

Tehran off ered its condolences, saying Foreign Minister Moham-mad Javad Zarif would travel to

Riyadh to take part in offi cial cer-emonies on Saturday.

Canada’s Prime Minister Ste-phen Harper praised the late king as “an ardent defender of peace”.

And the foreign ministry in Spain hailed Abdullah as “a re-spected fi gure throughout the Middle East for his willingness to help resolve confl icts”.

DialogueGerman Chancellor Angela Mer-kel said Abdullah’s rule had been “fair and moderate”, praising him for aiding “dialogue between the Muslim world and the West”.

In the Middle East, Lebanon, which has close ties with Riyadh, spoke of losing “a defender and a partner” who had stood by Beirut “in diffi cult times”. Tunisia’s Presi-dent Beji Caid Essebsi said the king “ensured... support for causes of justice, peace and development in the Arab, Muslim and entire world”.

His country joined Algeria and Mauritania in announcing three days of mourning, while Cairo said its offi cial grieving would run for a whole week. — AFP

In his fi rst public

statement King

Salman vowed to

‘remain, with Allah’s

strength, attached

to the straight path

that this state has

walked since its

establishment’

BIDDING ADIEU: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia (centre, in glasses) attends

the funeral of the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh, on

Friday. — Reuters/Saudi Press Agency

TRANSITION: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman

bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia gives a speech following

the death of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin

Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh, on Friday. — Reuters/Saudi

Press Agency

PRAYERS: Dignitaries attend the funeral of late Custodian of the

Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi

Arabia, in Riyadh, on Friday. — ONA

Mubarak sons freed after end of termCAIRO: Two sons of Egypt’s ousted leader Hosni Mubarak seen as symbols of his era’s cor-ruption were freed from prison on Friday pending a graft retrial, state media reported. Alaa and Gamal Mubarak left jail early Fri-day after a court ordered their re-lease because they had served the maximum pretrial detention, the state-owned Al Ahram newspaper reported on its website

Mubarak, who was unseated in Egypt’s 2011 uprising, was con-victed by a lower court on corrup-tion charges with his two sons last year, with Alaa and Gamal receiv-ing four-year sentences. Their charges included embezzling at least $16 million (14 million euros) earmarked for the maintenance of presidential palaces.

The retrial of the former leader and his two sons was ordered this month and their lawyer Farid Al Deeb said at the time that the elder Mubarak, who is in a military hos-pital, would also be a free man.

But state media reported there had been no orders yet for his re-lease and there have been no signs of the 86-year-old leaving the hos-pital. Ahram reported that Alaa, 54, and Gamal, 51, were transport-ed from jail to a police station in northern Cairo before being freed.

They are both facing a sepa-rate trial for stock market ma-nipulation. In the last decade of Mubarak’s 30-year reign, Gamal in particular was seen as the likely successor of his father and headed the powerful policies committee of the now dissolved

National Democratic Party.The release of the Mubaraks

presents a dilemma for President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, a former army chief whom opponents accuse of

reviving Mubarak-era practices.His prime minister, Ibrahim

Mahlab, was a senior member of the National Democratic Party.

Sisi took power after ousting

Egypt’s fi rst post-revolution leader — extremist president Mohamed Morsi —in 2013 and won an elec-tion with massive support last year. — AFP

G R A F T R E T R I A L P E N D I N G

FREEDOM: Alaa, right, and Gamal Mubarak left jail early on Friday after a court ordered their release

because they had served the maximum pretrial detention, the state-owned ‘Al Ahram’ newspaper

reported on its website. — AFP fi le photo

Yemen crisis spirals after Hadi resignsSANAA: Yemen faced a dan-gerous power vacuum on Friday after its president announced his resignation over a deadly standoff with Houthi militia controlling the capital and law-makers called an emergency weekend session.

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, a key US ally in the fi ght against Al Qaeda, said late Thurs-day that he could no longer stay in offi ce as the country was in “total deadlock”.

Prime Minister Khalid Bahah also tendered his resignation, saying he did want to be part of the collapse of the country.

The fall of Hadi’s Western-backed government would raise fears of complete chaos engulfi ng Yemen, strategically located on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf.

A senior State Department offi cial said staffi ng at the US embassy in the capital Sanaa, al-ready thin after most of the dip-lomatic personnel were ordered to leave in September, would be further reduced.

Al Qaeda baseThe country is an important pow-er base for Al Qaeda in the Ara-bian Peninsula (AQAP), which claimed responsibility for this month’s deadly attack on French weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’.

Parliament is set to hold an ex-traordinary meeting to discuss Hadi’s resignation off er, which

needs to be approved by lawmak-ers to take eff ect. Hadi advisor Sultan Al Atwani told AFP that parliament would meet on Sun-day “at the earliest” because it is in recess and lawmakers need time to return.

Witnesses and security forces said that Houthi militiamen had encircled the parliament build-ing overnight, having already seized the presidential palace earlier this week. — AFP

S T A N D O F F

President Abdrabuh

Mansur Hadi, a key US

ally in the fight against

Al Qaeda, said late

Thursday that he could

no longer stay in office

as the country was

in ‘total deadlock’

With much sadness, we received the news of the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, a loss to the Arab and Islamic world

Mahmud Abbas, Palestinian president

Sayyid Fahd aslo con-veyed His Majesty’s mes-sage to Crown Prince Maqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the deceased fam-ily and brotherly people of Saudi Arabia on the death of the Saudi King, praying to Allah the Almighty to rest his soul in peace and grant his family and the Saudi people patience to bear the loss.

Sayyid Fahd returned from Riyadh after paying condolences on Friday.

King Salman bin Ab-dulaziz Al Saud expressed thanks and apprecia-tion for His Majesty the Sultan’s condolences and sympathy along with the condolences of the Omani people on the death of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques praying to Allah the Almighty to grant his Majesty the Sultan good health, happiness and a long life. - ONA

< FROM

A1 HM’s message conveyed

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INDIAS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

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India seeks energy sector investmentDAVOS: Having set a world re-cord with fastest roll-out of its fi nancial inclusion scheme ‘Jan Dhan’, the government expects its ambitious power sector pro-gramme to create more such re-cords, including by making India the world’s largest destination for renewable energy.

“We are giving the message of India story as a whole and we are looking at getting back to excite-ment to investing in India across the sectors,” said Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal, who is here to attend the World Eco-nomic Forum Annual Meeting.

“Clearly energy is one sector where there is lot of excitement and interest that I am seeing from across the world,” Goyal said in an interview. He is also in charge of the New and Renew-able Energy Ministry.

“The ambitious target that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set out for 24X7 power to every home and industry and commercial establishments and also adequate power to farmers to increase their farm output, this demonstrates the demand for power that is going to come out,” he said. Goyal, who is also holding a number of bilateral meetings with business and gov-ernment leaders from across the world on the sidelines of WEF summit, said that India is at the cusp of getting into another orbit in terms of renewable energy.

Similar is the case for power transmission and distribution sector as well as the energy ac-cess that has been lacking all these years, he added.

“All of this put together is a $250 billion opportunity. This $250 billion opportunity is what would kick-start the investment cycle,” he said.

Asked how much the govern-ment expects from foreign inves-tors, Goyal said, “Money is least of our concerns in terms of in-vestment that India is looking at”.

“My take is that money would fl ow once people get the confi -dence that their money is safe in India and the government policies are stable. There is a decisive gov-ernment and honest government”.

Focus on reformsNoting that all of these are attrib-utes that Modi has demonstrated in Gujarat as chief minister, Goyal said the fi rst eight months of the new government at Cen-tre has shown the world that the prime minster means business, is focussed on reforms as well as on speed and scale of expanding the business.

“My feeling is that the money would come from both within In-dia and from international inves-tors. I would not like to put a fi g-ure, but the kind of interest that I am seeing when people are meet-ing me here with their plans, that suggests that we would not have any diffi culty in getting $250 bil-lion invested in the electricity and renewable sector within the target period of 2019,” Goyal said.

When asked whether pow-er sector can achieve records similar to the Guinness Record achieved for Jan Dhan scheme of the government, Goyal replied in the affi rmative. - PTI

2 4 X 7 P O W E R

REPUBLIC DAY REHEARSALThe Indian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system rolls down Rajpath during the full Republic

Day Dress rehearsal, in New Delhi, on Friday. India celebrates Republic Day on January 26. - AFP



Safe havens in Pakistan not acceptable: Obama

NEW DELHI: In a stern message to Pakistan, US President Barack Obama has said the safe havens of terrorism within that country are “not acceptable” and that those behind the Mumbai attack must face justice.

Ahead of his visit here, Obama said the US will keep working with India for a future that delivers greater security, prosperity and dignity for all people.

Asserting that his country has been unrelenting in its fi ght against terrorist groups, he said, “I’ve made it clear that even as the United States works with Pakistan to meet the threat of terrorism, safe havens within Pakistan are not acceptable and that those be-hind the Mumbai terrorist attack must face justice.”

His comment assumes signifi -

cance as India has recently been having renewed questions over Pakistan’s sincerity in ensuring punishment to the perpetrators of Mumbai attack of November 2008.

Strong messageThe questions arose after the at-tack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was granted bail in the case. Obama noted that like Indi-ans were tragically killed in the 9/11 attack in New York, Ameri-cans were also killed in the 26/11 attack in Mumbai.

To send a strong message to the Indian people that “we stand to-

gether in defence of our security and our way of life”, he had made Taj hotel in Mumbai his fi rst stop during his fi rst visit to India in 2010, he said in an e-mail inter-view to India Today.

Upbeat about his upcoming three-day visit to India which he described as a “natural partner”, Obama said he was proud to be the fi rst US President to visit this country twice. He said he saw it as an opportunity to work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make concrete progress and to “hope-fully begin a new era” in the history between our countries.

Recalling his unveiling his vi-sion during his last visit here, Obama said “While it’s true that progress has not always come as fast as we would have liked, we’ve succeeded in deepening the US-India relationship across the board.”

The US President said Modi’s election and his commitment to a new chapter in the relationship gives the two countries to further energise the partnership. “I’d like to think that the stars are aligned to fi nally realise the vision I out-lined in Parliament (of India)”.

Noting that no two nations agree on everything, he said, “so of course, sometimes India and the US will disagree. But I believe that we can work through any diff er-ences in a spirit of mutual respect”.

He said, “When those of us at the leadership level agree on action, our governments have to actu-ally implement our decisions. We have to make sure our words are matched by deeds.”

The two countries can work to-gether to reduce barriers to trade, investment, and high-tech col-laboration, he said, adding Ameri-can companies are ready to help build the infrastructure that will be the catalyst for the next wave of Indian growth.

He had special praise for Modi, saying “his remarkable life story — from tea-seller to prime minis-ter — is a refl ection of the deter-mination of the Indian people to succeed.” He added that Modi has a clear vision of big things that he wants India to achieve. -PTI

US President Barack

Obama said the US

will keep working

with India for a future

that delivers greater

security, prosperity

and dignity

for all people

Explosion in Bihar court leaves 2 deadPATNA: Two people — a woman and a police constable — were killed and more than a dozen in-jured in a bomb blast in a Bihar court on Friday.

It was not a terror attack but was aimed at helping two under-trial prisoners escape, police said.

Earlier, it was said that three people were killed but police later clarifi ed that one of four seriously injured was mistakenly identifi ed as dead initially due to panic.

A district police offi cer said a crude bomb exploded within the premises of the Ara civil court in Bhojpur district, about 60km from the Bihar capital.

The injured were rushed to the local civil hospital for treatment. Some of them were later referred to the Patna Medical College and Hospital when their condition deteriorated. Security in courts across the state was beefed up following the blast.

Additional Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey told the media that the bomb was car-ried by a woman, one of the vic-tims. “Police have found a mobile

phone near the mutilated body of the woman,” he said.

Pandey said it was neither an attack by terrorists nor by Mao-ists. “This incident was a crimi-nal act to help two undertrial prisoners escape when they were being brought to the court from the district jail,” he said. Pandey, however, denied that the woman was a suicide bomber. “It was a coincidence that the bomb ex-ploded in her bag when she was trying to adjust it,” he said. - IANS

B I H A R

When those of us at

the leadership level

agree on action, our

governments have to

actually implement our

decisions. We have to

make sure our words

are matched by deeds

Barack ObamaUS president

CRIMINAL ACT: Injured vic-

tims being treated in a govern-

ment hospital after a crude

bomb explosion in the civil

court premises in Ara, Bihar on

Friday. - PTI

A6

INDIAS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

The life and sacrifi ces of Netaji serve as beacon light for future generations. Our true homage to Netaji would be to work with dedication to make our country for whose sake Netaji sacrifi ced his everything, so strong, prosperous and progressive that it may one day become a great power in the world

Pranab Mukherjee, President

Reforms, tax stability in Jaitley’s sales pitch

DAVOS: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday hinted at not raising tax rates and providing in-centives for manufacturing in the coming general budget while as-serting that “structural changes” will have to be made to get the economy to 8-9 per cent growth.

Hard selling India to global in-vestors at the World Economic Fo-rum here, he also promised a stable tax regime that will not come up with unreasonable demands and change taxes retrospectively.

“In terms of incentivising manufacturing, it is very much on our agenda. Even though we had few days during the last Budget we did give to Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), National Investment and Manufacturing zone(NIMZ) and so on because we wanted the sector to pick up and that prior-ity is fairly high on our agenda,” he said speaking at a session on ‘In-dia’s Next Decade’.

Counter-productiveWhile referring to various revenue sources for the government in-cluding divestment, dividend and spectrum sale, the fi nance minis-ter said as economic activity picks up, the government’s capacity to raise revenue will also increase.

“I am not in favour of raising the rates of taxation as that could be-come counter-productive,” he told

reporters late on Friday. Jaitley ex-pressed confi dence that India was close to the point when investment will pick up as there are a large number of investors who are wait-ing to come in.

“They only want to be doubly sure about the credibility of the decision making process and the stability of the policies,” he said.

Speaking at Friday’s session, Jaitley said there was need to take a series of reforms as the last 10 years got lost out because of un-necessary debates.

“Now that opportunity has come back to us. Slowly we (BJP) are moving in the direction of having a good fi gure in the Rajya Sabha. The pro-reforms (groups) have won everywhere,” he said.

The slumping oil prices was an-other factor that was going in In-dia’s favour. Also many economies in the world, which were compet-ing with India, were not doing well.

“It is really possible for us to go back to the original capacity of high growth rate. As far as taxa-tion is concerned, the global com-munity and Indian tax payers want to be convinced that there will be a stable tax regime.

“I cannot come up with unrea-sonable demand and change taxes retrospectively. Such tax demands as such do not earn us any revenue and give us only bad name,” he said. “The message I am giving is that we will have a stable tax regime.”

To a question on whether it will be a ‘Big Bang’ Budget next month, he said he would not be swayed by such phrases used in television studios. If the sum total of all the steps the government has taken is taken into account, it would be much more than the big bang.

“The Budget will be a very im-portant occasion for the govern-ment but then the next 364 days are equally important. I am not tempering down the expectations. Look what happened in the last Budget that we presented. We an-nounced a particular direction in the Budget and that was followed up with a lot of activity and action over the next six months,” he said.

Talking about subsidies, Jaitley said a scheme has now been started from January 1 under which leakag-es will be plugged in the fi rst place. In the last 10 years, the government added to the expenditure based on rights-based approach, which was not the most logical approach.

“To have an erroneous impres-sion that increasing subsidised cylinders from 6 to 12 (per year) will win you elections...that just did not happen. Now consumers of gas cylinders are not the poorest in India,” he said.

The fi nance minister said if the money on additional gas cylinders went into India’s health and educ-tion sector, that would have had far more deserving priorities.

“Now we have to unravel this en-

tire process. That is a long journey.The government is here for the full term and we have just about start-ed,” he said.

Replying to questions on policy paralysis, he said one of the great set backs of the previous decades had been that the credibility of the government took a hit and therefore other structures became more powerful.

“CAG, CBI and courts all became more powerful. The general pre-sumption was that government was doing things for collateral consider-ation. This was the biggest setback for the government,” he said.

Jaitley said several decisions got held up for environmental and other reasons. Added to this was the Prevention of Corruption Act which had a pre-1991 economic reform era provision under every decision including honest decision can be brought under the ambit of the law.

“I know for certain for three extremely honest secretaries of Government of India are being in-vestigated, prosecuted by CBI for decisions taken during 10-12 years for purely commercial considera-tions. I believe time has come for us to review that law. Even sec-tion 31 needs a relook under which every honest decision can also go under the ambit of CBI.

“We need to empower civil serv-ants and public sector banks.” he said. - PTI

Hard selling India to

global investors at

the World Economic

Forum, at Davos the

Finance Minister

promised a stable

tax regime that

will not come up

with unreasonable

demands and change

taxes retrospectively

Now that opportunity has

come back to us. Slowly

we (BJP) are moving in the

direction of having a good

figure in the Rajya Sabha.

The pro-reforms (groups)

have won everywhere

Arun JaitleyFinance Minister

‘Adopt Netaji’s slogans of unity, faith’

NEW DELHI: The country’s youth should adopt Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s slogans of ‘unity, faith and sacrifi ce’, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday.

In his message to the Netaji Re-search Bureau, Kolkata, Pranab said the life and sacrifi ces of Sub-hash Chandra Bose act as a bea-con light for future generations and people should work towards making a strong, prosperous and progressive India.

The president asked the youths to once again adopt “the slogan of ‘Ittefaq, Itmad, Kurbani’ or Unity, Faith, Sacrifi ce as the clarion call of our nation.”

“The life and sacrifi ces of Netaji serve as beacon light for future generations. Our true homage to Netaji would be to work with dedication to make our country for whose sake Netaji sacrifi ced his everything, so strong, prosper-ous and progressive that it may one day become a great power in the world,” Pranab said in the message on Netaji’s 118th birth anniversary.

Netaji had believed that free India would become, by example, an alternative model for a post-

colonial world through economic equity and a social revolution in-spired by harmony between com-munities that had been misled into hostility, the President said.

Propelled by freedom of faith, gender equality and economic justice for all, India will become a modern nation, he said, remem-bering the freedom fi ghter.

The president said the place of Subhas Chandra Bose is “unique” in the history of India’s freedom struggle. Netaji was unanimously elected Rashtrapati of the 51st session of the Indian National

Congress held in Haripura in Feb-ruary 1938.

His Presidential address at the session was a masterpiece of vi-sion and action. He talked not only of freedom but also of reconstruc-tion and the need for planning by setting up a Planning Committee, Pranab said. Netaji had called for the gradual socialisation of the entire agricultural and industrial system and reminded delegates that “our chief national problems are eradication of poverty, illit-eracy and disease”, the President said. -PTI

1 1 8 T H B I R T H A N N I V E R S A R Y

PAYING TRIBUTES: People pay tribute to Netaji Subhash Chandra

Bose on the occasion of his 118th birth anniversary at Subhash

square, in Allahabad, on Friday. - PTI

Journalist Nalini Singh questioned in Sunanda’s deathNEW DELHI: Senior journalist Nalini Singh was questioned here in connection with the murder case of Sunanda Pushkar, Con-gress MP Shashi Tharoor’s wife, police said Friday.

Singh was called by the probe team led by Deputy Commission-er of Police Prem Nath at Sarojini Nagar police station, where she was questioned for over an hour.Singh said: “I met them (police) for about 80 minutes. This was my fi rst meeting with the police.”

“Police asked me the sequence of my talk with Sunanda, before her death. They also asked the IPL (Indian Premiere League) angle as well,” Singh said.

“I don’t know what she wanted to say. But she wanted to speak about the IPL,” the senior jour-nalist added.

“To understand background of the case, the probing team is calling people who are connected to it,” said Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi.

On the question of possibility of roping the Economic Off ense Wing into the case, Bassi said: “For understanding the background, if it is required, will do that.”

On Thursday, the investiga-tion team questioned another journalist, television anchor Ra-hul Kanwal of Headlines Today, to whom Pushkar had wanted to give an interview on certain un-disclosed issue.

Later, Kanwal posted the con-tents of his talk with police on so-cial media, stating Sunanda was keen to give an interview.

“On January 16, when the spat between Shashi Tharoor and Su-nanda splashed all over the news channels, I reached out to Sunan-da asking her if she was keen on doing an interview to talk about the ‘IPL scam’ she had been re-ferring to in her tweets,” Kanwal wrote in his Facebook account.

Both the journalists were ques-tioned soon after Bassi told me-dia on Thursday that they would take the help of those journalists who had talked to Sunanda be-fore her death to corroborate the sequence of events. Sunanda was found dead in a luxury hotel’s room here on January 17, 2014. Police said she was poisoned. A murder case was registered by the police against unknown people on Janu-ary 1 this year. - IANS

M U R D E R C A S E

CBI registers fresh case in coal scamNEW DELHI: The CBI on Fri-day registered a fresh case in its ongoing probe in the alleged coal allocation scam against Hindalco and conducted searches at four places in Mumbai and Odisha.

The agency registered the case against Indal, now Hin-dalco Industries, under sections of cheating, criminal conspiracy and Prevention of Corruption Act in its probe related to the al-location of Talabira I coal block to Hindalco in 1994.

Conducted searchesThe Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) teams also conducted searches at the offi ce premises of the company at four places, one in Mumbai and three in Odi-

sha, a CBI offi cial said. “Some incriminating documents have been seized during the searches,” he said.

“Allegations are that the coal was used in unauthorised man-ner in the existing power plant whereas allocation was done for expanding the capacity of new power plant.

“Further mining was started without mine opening permis-sion,” the offi cial added.

“The public servants facili-tated the allocation of coal block by not taking action against the unauthorised use despite their knowledge,” the offi cial said.

Earlier, the CBI registered 37 First Information Reports (FIR) in coal allocation cases. - IANS

P R O B E

PAKISTANS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5 A7

Government rejects industry demand to ban import of used carsISLAMABAD: The government has turned down the demand of local carmakers who sought im-position of a ban on the import of used cars in a bid to facilitate the consumers.

“Local carmakers want a ban on the import of used cars to strengthen their monopoly but the government has rejected it,” an of-fi cial said, adding the manufactur-ers had some reservations about the upcoming auto policy. The Pri-vatisation Commission chairman has been tasked with addressing their concerns.

According to offi cials, the gov-ernment will also introduce a tariff protection plan for the new entrants in the automobile manufacturing sector in the auto

policy to break the monopoly of ex-isting players.

Stakeholders have proposed that the government should intro-duce a lower entry threshold for new investments, create an ena-bling tariff structure for develop-ment and rationalise the auto im-port policy.

The Economic Coordination Committee, in a meeting held on October 2, 2013, suggested that they may give tariff protection for fi ve to seven years to the new entrants to break the existing mo-nopoly of players who are selling obsolete technology at high prices.

Offi cials said the government wanted to create an environment of competition by bringing more players into the auto industry,

which may result in a decline in vehicle prices.

However, some say local car-makers were operating at a low capacity due to lower demand for

cars in the country. But others ar-gue that they were operating at such a capacity in order to keep prices high with the law of demand and supply.

Prices of sedans in Pakistan were lower compared to India but prices of hatchbacks were higher compared to other countries.

Auto sectors of other countries have many players that increase competition due to which prices are kept low.

However in Pakistan, where a few manufacturers are domi-nant, the cost to the consumer is generally high.

The decision to introduce a new auto policy was taken by the gov-ernment when it noticed that the incentives had no eff ect on car prices, as assemblers took the en-tire advantage.

They also earn hefty profi ts on the advance deposited by consum-ers for car delivery.

Economic managers in the government have consistently criticised the car assemblers, say-ing that despite availability of abundant incentives, no commit-ment made to the government has been met.

The PML-N government wants that the new policy covers the fa-cilities being off ered to the auto in-dustry, the need for new entrants, the existing duty structure for im-port of motor vehicles, standards set by the Engineering Develop-ment Board and requirements of a long-term policy framework.

Offi cials said the government is working on a plan to reduce the time of car delivery so that consumers are not exploited. — Express Tribune

M O N O P O L Y A T T H R E A T

Concern over teachers carrying guns mounts

PESHAWAR: Political parties have raised serious concerns over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s decision to allow teachers to carry guns while teaching at school.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government had al-lowed teachers to carry licensed weapons to school in the after-math of the deadly Army Public School attack in which 150 people were killed.

Make matters worseLawmakers stated that the prov-ince has suff ered enough in the war against terror and allow-ing teachers to carry guns would

just make matters worse.“I don’t know how a child will

be able to get educated under the shadow of an AK-47,” said Awami National Party (ANP) Senator

Baz Muhammad Khan.Khan said the provincial gov-

ernment needed to devise a strat-egy to overcome militancy rather than equipping every citizen with

arms and ammunition. “This will have adverse eff ects on the minds of the children” Khan stressed.

Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and Jamiat-e-Ule-ma Islam (JUI) MPA Akram Khan Durrani said the provincial gov-ernment should have consulted all political parties before taking the decision.

Government is responsible“The government is responsible for the protection and security of its citizens, not the citizens them-selves,” Durrani said.

Qaumi Watan Party’s (QWP) Anisa Zeb Tahirkhili said the pro-vincial government should focus on the security of schools and should issue arms licenses to the security guards rather than allow-ing teachers to carry guns.

On the other hand, former Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minis-ter Shaukat Yusufzai clarifi ed that the provincial government never allowed teachers to carry guns, adding that their decision was being looked at with a very nega-tive approach.

“Look, the government is not capable of guarding every single citizen by deputing a police con-stable with him.

“Yes, if teachers approach us and ask us to issue them licence, we will not deny it, but it does not mean we ask them to carry guns,” Yousafzai said. — Express Tribune

The Pakistan

Tehreek-e-Insaf led

government had

allowed teachers

to carry licensed

weapons to school

in the aftermath of

Peshawar’s Army

Public School attack

in which 150 people

were killed

Look, the government is not capable of guarding

every single citizen by deputing a police constable

with him. Yes, if teachers approach us and ask us to

issue them licence, we will not deny it, but it does not

mean we ask them to carry guns

Shaukat YusufzaiFormer Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]

SHIFTING GEAR: Stakeholders have proposed that the government

should introduce a lower entry threshold for new investments, cre-

ate an enabling tariff structure for development and rationalise the

auto import policy. — Bloomberg News fi le photo

Iran gas pipeline workafter lifting of sanctionsISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have reached an understanding that they will start implementing the gas pipeline project soon after sanctions imposed by the United States are lifted.

“We have agreed with them (Iran) that we will execute the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project once the curbs are re-moved,” Petroleum Secretary Ar-shad Mirza told the Senate stand-ing committee on petroleum and natural resources in a meeting chaired by Muhammad Yousaf on Thursday.

“The agreement is between two nations under the umbrella of the United Nations, which bars us from implementation because of the embargo,” he said.

State Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Ka-mal told the panel that Pakistan could not aff ord sanctions while pushing ahead with the pipeline.

“The current petrol crisis has paralysed the country and you can imagine how we can face sanc-tions,” he said.

“Gas imports from Iran are subject to the lifting of sanctions, it’s in the national interest.”

The country has other choices as well to meet its growing en-ergy needs. It is working on the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pa-kistan and India (Tapi) gas pipe-line, Gwadar liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) pipeline and is also under-

taking measures to tap domestic oil and gas reserves.

Kamal said the Gwadar LNG pipeline would be connected to Iran after the restrictions on Teh-ran were removed. “We have not given up the project and talks are under way with Iran.”

The government was also in-creasingly focusing on exploiting the untapped domestic oil and gas deposits and gave targets to exploration companies to double the output in the next fi ve years, he said.

A steering committee will also meet next month in Islamabad to pick a consortium leader for un-

dertaking the Tapi project.Committee member and Paki-

stan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Jehangir Badar called the IP pipe-line the future of Pakistan, point-ing out that the previous govern-ment had not abandoned the project despite the sanctions. He suggested the government hold dialogue on the project.

Committee Chairman Mu-hammad Yousaf pointed out that Saifur Rehman, former head of the National Accountability Bu-reau (NAB), was reportedly a middleman between Pakistan and Qatar in striking an LNG supply deal.

Senator Abdul Nabi Bangash, member of the committee, agreed that Rehman was a middleman and the LNG agreement could not have gone ahead without his involvement.

Petroleum Secretary Mirza re-fused to comment on the matter, only saying talks with Qatar were going on in Doha and the petro-leum minister had also left to join the negotiations.

“It will take some time to fi nal-ise the LNG price.”

Responding to a question, Mir-za said the country was still facing shortage of petrol, but the situa-tion had stabilised.

He stressed that there was enough stock of furnace oil for meeting the needs of power plants. — Express Tribune

S T A L L E D P R O J E C T

The agreement is between

two nations under the

umbrella of the United

Nations, which bars us

from implementation

because of the embargo

Arshad MirzaPetroleum Secretary

The current petrol crisis has paralysed the country and you can imagine how we can face sanctions. Gas imports from Iran are subject to the lifting of sanctions, it’s in the national interest, said State Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal

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M Z I A U D D I N


The main objective of the kind of terrorism that Pakistan has been fac-ing over the last several years is to capture the hearts and minds of as many Pakistanis as

possible, and not the territory. The think-ing behind this approach is that territory would automatically fall into the hands of these ideologically driven terrorists once they have succeeded in achieving their key objective. And for achieving this key objec-tive of theirs, the terrorists depend more on the media rather than on the far and few terror attacks that they execute.

That is why they try to make each one of their attacks as dramatically bloody as they can, knowing very well that it would be im-possible for the media to ignore the ‘thrill-ers’. And they add to the drama by calling up media organisations to own up to the at-tacks. All this makes sensationally saleable copy for the ratings-driven media houses.

In the process, they help, without per-haps knowing it, the terrorists to win more recruits among the mentally feeble sec-tions of our youth who have been raised on some mythical versions of so-called Islam-ic history and at the same time terrorise the whole nation into a state of pathetic pulp.

The media houses that have tried to cover these attacks as professionally as possible so as to defuse their impact on the hearts and minds of the gullible citizens are known to have been taught new lessons on what is professional and what is not.

The media, therefore, has remained un-der severe pressure from these terror out-fi ts and in recent years, the country has won the dubious distinction of being one of world’s most dangerous countries for me-dia practitioners.

Working under all kinds of pressures, mostly from terrorist organisations and not the least from even those who have been promoting and supporting the falsehood of the ‘good’ Taliban and the ‘bad’ Taliban, and those who have been looking the other way as the so-called non-state actors car-ried out their activities beyond the borders of the country, the Pakistani media seemed to have become an unwilling partner

in the heinous game of the terrorists. Most media narratives of these terror

incidents, like the ones carried out against our security forces and their installations including the GHQ itself as well as air force and navy installations, ISI offi ces and po-lice training camps, have remained slanted in ways as to inspire the religiously half-baked young minds.

At times, the murderous incidents have been presented by our media as if the ter-rorists are playing the role of the Jack who killed the giant in the famous fable.

In our case, unfortunately, the state it-self, as well as its agencies, is viewed by these misled youth as the giant.

Over the period in question, the media, under pressure from terror quarters, had started referring to the terrorists not as ter-rorists but as ‘militants’ or ‘extremists’.

And in order to be seen to be presenting both sides of the story, it went to the extent of off ering space and time to the attackers of Malala Yousufzai to justify their heinous act which they did by quoting out-of-con-text religious injunctions.

Just imagine how this ‘balanced’ story must have seemed to the credulous sec-tions of our populace in whose eyes the so-called ‘secular’ government enjoyed no moral ascendency compared with the reverential-looking bearded terrorists, justifying their act.

Recently, even after the 20-point Na-tional Action Plan was announced, and the distinction between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban was removed, some media houses showed scenes in which a hero-like wel-come was being accorded to Zakiur Reh-man Lakhvi, a senior commander of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, as he was being brought to the courts from his place of de-tention. Thus, the media, without perhaps knowing what it is doing, has been playing a signifi cantly more lethal role than the auto-matic weapons in the hands of these terror-ists or their suicide jackets, in winning the hearts and minds of our misguided youth.

It is now time to stop using this slant and treat each terror story on merit.

In this war on terror, there is no other side. There is only one side and that is our side. - The Express Tribune

Well, this is our side of the terror story

At times, the murderous incidents have been presented by our media as if the terrorists are playing the role of the Jack who killed the giant in the famous fable. In our case, unfortunately, the state itself, as well as its agencies, is viewed by these misled youth as the giant

Letters, containing not more than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by mail (Times of Oman, P.O. Box 770, P.C. 112, Ruwi), by fax (24813153) or by e-mail ([email protected])

COMMENTARY

The government continued playing the blame game on January 19 over the petrol shortage in Punjab — which had its trickle-down eff ect in Karachi as well — with the fi nance minister re-

fusing to take responsibility, while the petroleum minister expressed a rare admission of guilt. The statements came after days of petroleum shortage gripped Punjab with panic trickling down to other cities as well, fi nally managing to engulf Karachi on January 19. This develop-ment strangely happens at a time when global crude oil prices have plunged more than 50 per cent over the past seven months, making it easier and cheaper for any oil-importing country to move towards building strategic reserves, and enabling businesses to target expan-sion as the cost of production goes down as well.

Instead, what Pakistanis got was an acute shortage of petrol, which could only be explained after taking all the factors into account — the government’s inept policies and traditional short-sightedness taking the top place. In recent times, the prime minister has been happy in announcing reduction in prices of petroleum products, looking to take credit for the relief. But, when it comes to building reserves or enforc-ing rules to get oil marketing companies to increase their stocks, the government seemed to have done nothing substantial. And now faced with this crisis, the authorities have labelled it a “conspiracy”. But a conspiracy hatched by whom? Even the PTI sit-ins have ended — the government’s go-to excuse for any shortcoming. On the one hand, the fi nance minister is looking to lure foreign investors in the power sec-tor; and, on the other, there is not enough fuel in major cities to run even small sedans. It is true that demand rose after consumers, already facing CNG shortage, said enough is enough and moved towards pet-rol as their new fuel. The eff ect of the price cut also led consumers to buy more. These concepts are taught on the fi rst day of any economics class. However, with oil getting cheaper, the quantity being imported remained conservative so as to avoid inventory losses, with no plan-ning seemingly done to account for the increased demand. People got a taste of living in the Stone Age. - The Express Tribune

Living in the Stone Age?

President Barack Obama calls David Cameron “bro”, just as Pres-ident George W Bush addressed Tony as “yo Blair”. We should not, though, assume that the transatlantic relationship is quite

as buddy-buddy as it was in the Blair era. It is looser, more pragmatic and business like now. Good. Of course, even at the height of Anglo-American co-operation, when our fi ghting forces were in the fi eld together in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was a somewhat lopsided aff air, as it was always bound to be. America is a superpower and Britain a medium-sized European one. The UK punched above its weight, thanks not least to the skill and professionalism of our servicemen and women. Sentiment was there, and is there still, in many quarters in Washington. Yet most Americans have never heard of this sup-posed “special relationship” with the UK. Recent administrations have regarded, variously, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as “special”. Generally, there has a been a tilt to-wards the Pacifi c. The British “special relationship” was always, from an American point of view, an optional extra. If it didn’t work, it could be adjusted, as when they withdrew co-operation over nuclear secrets after a series of spy scandals in the 1950s, and let the British be hung out to dry over Suez in 1956.

Things were not so very diff erent half a century on. In the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, it was made clear by hawks such as then Vice-Pres-ident Dick Cheney that the US was going to invade even if the British did not join, and whether or not we managed to persuade our EU part-ners the French to support a proper UN resolution. For Tony Blair, it was simply a matter of loyalty; he asked whether Britain should be on the side of the most powerful nation on earth, or against it – for him a rhetorical question. The decision for war in Iraq was probably made long before he consulted the Cabinet, still less Parliament, though we are still awaiting the report of the Chilcot Inquiry – scandalously de-layed – to tell us more about that.

The result of the Blair-Bush “special relationship” was thus an il-legal war, millions of innocent people dead and a toxic legacy that we know all too well today – a resurgent Taliban and the barbarities of Isis. So who wants a special relationship like the Bush-Blair one? Not Obama, and not Cameron, who always knew he would be unlikely to be able to replicate the closeness of Blair-Bush or Blair-Clinton, let alone Thatcher-Reagan, Churchill-Roosevelt or Macmillan-Kennedy. Sometimes the chemistry is there even when the politics are diver-gent; sometimes a very similar political outlook can count for noth-ing, as with Lyndon Johnson’s relationship with Harold Wilson. Both were social democratic reformers, but Wilson refused to send even a token battalion of kilted Scots Guards to get sniped at by the Viet Cong. - The Independent

Of a relationship that

still remains lopsided

Tigers, despite rise in their number, still remain few I don’t know whether I should feel elated or laugh at our own follies. Tiger lovers across the world have gone ecstatic. The population of the big cat in India has gone up to 2,226 from 1,706 when the last global census of the animal was undertaken in 2010. In eff ect, the tiger popula-tion in the country has gone up by 30 per cent and this is indeed a reason to feel happy. But is the current population of the big cat a matter to rejoice? The animal, the most beautiful and majestic in the world, is still veering on the verge of extinction. It is true that their number has risen because of measures being taken to stem their poaching. But poaching is still going on and 2,226 is still a very vulnerable number. A lot

more needs to be done to increase the tiger population to at least 10,000 in next twenty years. Minu DuttaMuttrah

Poor are now being eradicated, not poverty Sustainable development and eradication of poverty can be possible only when the inequality gap is reduced to minimum and benefi ts are widely shared. But alas! Still we have in our planet at least two fi fth of our race living on less than $1.25 a day. Rising tide has neither lifted all the boats nor has it reduced the widening gap of inequality. Instead, they have found that an easier alternative is eradication of the poor rather than poverty. In sharp contrast to this dismal and grim scenario

of global poverty the market for luxury goods catering to the 0.01 per cent mega rich people witnessed a double-digit growth since past four years albeit the fi nancial downturn.J. S. SubramaniamMumtaz

Deep down the facade India is undemocraticThe other day I heard someone telling with perceptible pride that he was born free in a free country and has grown up in one of the fi nest democratic atmospheres in the world. Normally, I would never pay attention to such rants but I was drawn into the conver-sation seeing the proud gentle-man was an Indian and is at least sixty years of age. I knew that the gentleman was in his youth when

former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi declared emer-gency on June 26, 1975. Rather than entering into any kind of argument with the gentleman I simply, by way of putting across a point of information, reminded him that even the leading among the founding fathers of Indian democracy B.R. Ambedkar said. “ Democracy in India is only a top dressing on Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic.” Had it not been so, we would not have been seeing the shameless infringement of the Hindu chau-vinists into the religious rights of Indians; assaults on media for telling the truth and attempts to gag the voices of dissents. Every single political party which have come to power have done these.Sumit ChatterjeeQurum

READERS’ FORUM

Posterity is as likely to be wrong as anyone else

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Criminal case and five-year political ban for Yingluck

BANGKOK: Thai authorities dealt a double blow to ousted prime minister Yingluck Shina-watra and her powerful family on Friday, banning her from politics for fi ve years and proceeding with criminal charges for negligence that could put her in jail.

The moves could stoke tension in the politically divided country still living under martial law after the military seized power in May, toppling the remnants of Yin-gluck’s government to end months of street protests.

The ban and the legal case are the latest twist in 10 years of tur-bulent politics that have pitted Yingluck and her brother Thak-sin, himself a former prime min-ister, against the royalist-military establishment which sees the Shi-nawatras as a threat and reviles their populist policies.

Yingluck will face criminal charges in the Supreme Court and if found guilty faces up to 10 years in jail, the Attorney General’s Of-fi ce said on Friday.

The charges against the coun-try’s fi rst female premier, who was removed from offi ce for abuse of power in May days before the

coup, concern her role in a scheme that paid farmers above market prices for rice and cost Thai-land billions of dollars. Yingluck vowed to fi ght the charges.

“Thai democracy has died along with the rule of law,” she said in a post on her Facebook page.

“I will fi ght until the end to prove my innocence, no matter what the outcome will be. And most impor-

tantly, I want to stand alongside the Thai people. Together we must bring Thailand prosperity, bring back democracy and truly build justice in Thai society.”

There was no sign of protests on the capital’s busy streets on Friday, as residents adhered to the junta’s ban on public gatherings.

Security was tightened around the parliament building where

the military-stacked legislature voted Yingluck guilty in a separate impeachment case for failing to exercise suffi cient oversight of the rice subsidy scheme.

The retroactive impeachment at the National Legislative As-sembly (NLA) carries with it a fi ve-year ban from politics.

Yingluck defended the rice scheme and disputed the charges in a hearing at the NLA on Thurs-day, but did not appear on Friday.

A vote to impeach required a three-fi fths majority among NLA members, who were hand-picked by the junta of coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Around 100 of the 220 members are former or serving military offi cers.

Prayuth said he had not ordered the NLA to vote against Yingluck, who remains popular among the rural poor that handed her a land-slide electoral victory in 2011 and benefi ted from the rice scheme.

The impeachment was expect-

ed by Yingluck supporters, who see the courts and NLA as biased and aligned with an establishment intent on blocking the Shinawatra family from politics.

“Yingluck’s case was not dealt with fairly,” said Thanawut Wichaidit, a spokesman for the pro-Yingluck United Front for De-mocracy against Dictatorship.

“The intention of these actions is for Yingluck and the entire Shi-nawatra family to be eradicated from Thai politics. I believe there is an invisible hand behind Yin-gluck’s impeachment.”

Around 150 members of the Shinawatra political movement have been banned from poli-tics in the last decade, including four who had served as prime ministers.

Protests unlikelyPrayuth’s government has urged Yingluck’s supporters to stay out of Bangkok this week over con-cerns of trouble, although a repeat of the protests that have dogged the country in recent years ap-pears unlikely.

Authorities have been quick to stifl e dissent, and political meet-ings are banned under martial law.

In a radio broadcast, Army Chief General Udomdej Sitabutr called on the population to respect the NLA vote, and a spokesman for the junta said it had seen no sign of unrest.

“Political gatherings cannot happen as we are still under mar-tial law,” junta spokesman Win-thai Suvaree said.

The government also asked Yingluck not to hold a press con-ference after the verdict on Fri-day, he said. Yingluck’s fortunes have been similar to those of her billionaire brother.

Both led populist governments toppled in coups, despite being elected in landslides, and both were subjected to legal action and street protests by pro-establish-ment activists. — Reuters

The former Thai

prime minister will

face criminal charges

in the Supreme Court

and if found guilty

faces up to 10 years

in jail, the Attorney

General’s Offi ce

said on Friday

DECISION TIME: National Legislative Assembly members vote on impeaching ousted former Prime

Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, at the Parliament, in Bangkok, on Saturday. — Reuters

Thai democracy has died

along with the rule of law

Yingluck ShinawatraThailand’s former prime minister

Sierra Leone lifts Ebola quarantines

FREETOWN: Sierra Leone on Friday lifted crippling nationwide restrictions on movement put in place at the height of the Ebola crisis, amid signs that the deadly epidemic was retreating.

The nation of six million had restricted travel for around half its population, sealing off six of its 14 districts and numerous tribal chiefdoms in response to an out-break which has killed more than 3,000 Sierra Leoneans.

“Restrictions on movement will be eased to support economic activity. As such, there will no longer be any district or chiefdom level restrictions on movement,” President Ernest Bai Koroma said in an address to the nation late Thursday.

Victory in sightKoroma pointed to a “steady downward trend” in new cases in recent weeks, adding that “victory is in sight” but cautioning against complacency.

The president said the travel bans would be removed from Fri-day and restrictions will be eased on Saturday trading hours in the hard-hit Western Area, which in-cludes the capital Freetown.

The move marks huge progress in a crisis which has seen com-merce all but grind to a halt, with travel restrictions hitting the ru-ral communities particularly hard and sparking warnings of a loom-ing food crisis.

Reopening schoolsSierra Leone is targeting zero new cases by March 31 of the dead-ly tropical fever that has killed around 9,000 West Africans over the past year, according to offi -cial data, although the real toll is thought to be signifi cantly higher.

The country announced on Thursday that it would end “risk payments” to healthcare workers dealing with Ebola by that date and reopen schools, with teaching ex-pected to resume in the third week of March. — AFP

H E A L T H C R I S I S

Taiwan toughens animal cruelty laws

TAIPEI: Taiwanese authori-ties toughened animal cruelty laws on Friday in the wake of the death of a performing hip-popotamus that once starred in a popular soap opera.

The new rules were drawn up after A Ho, a male hippo who regularly performed for specta-tors at a private zoo, died last month after breaking a leg and sustaining other injuries while being transported from the site.

The legislation, dubbed by the local media as the “A Ho clause”, doubles the maximum fi ne for intentionally causing serious injury or death to animals to $32,200 in addition to up to one year in prison, offi cials said.

The two-tonne beast was apparently panicked when he jumped from a moving truck, crushing its diaphragm and breaking a leg, only to sustain further injuries the following day when he was crushed in-side a container while returning home from medical treatment.

Television footage at the time showed the enormous animal lying on the road — where it re-mained for hours — with white fl uid oozing from its eyes after it leaped from the truck and bumped into a parked car. — AFP

D E A T H O F S T A R H I P P O

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WORLDS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

PROTEST AGAINST SETTLEMENTSA Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to return a tear gas canister fi red by Israeli troops during clashes following a demon-

stration against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, on Friday. - Reuters

Nepal PM blames Maoists for missed constitution deadline

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala on Fri-day accused opposition Maoists of turning parliament into a bat-tleground and derailing eff orts to secure agreement on a new constitution before a midnight deadline expired.

“The constituent assembly has become a showcase for agitation, vandalism and chaos,” said Koi-rala, at the end of a week which saw lawmakers come to blows in parliament as tensions rose over the delayed charter.

“Some political parties...have taken the route of strikes and pro-tests, seriously obstructing eff orts to write the constitution,” Koirala said in a televised address to the nation. Nepal’s parties have spent years locked in a stalemate over the charter while political power plays have confounded eff orts to reach an agreement, analysts say.

Opposition lawmakers led by former Maoist rebels this week blocked parliamentary proceed-

ings, storming into the well of the main chamber and shouting slogans, in a bid to prevent ruling party politicians from propos-ing a vote on disputed issues in the charter. “Announce a constitu-tion based on consensus,” lawmak-ers chanted.

Rifts widenParliament Speaker Subhash Nembang on Friday urged law-makers to end the disruption and instructed them to hammer out an agreement or be prepared for a vote, before adjourning the as-sembly until Sunday.

“People want answers from us, they are watching us and they are waiting,” Nembang said.

As political rifts have widened, the impoverished Himalayan na-tion has sunk deeper into paraly-sis and anger has spilled over on to

the streets, with opposition par-ties staging a nationwide strike since last Tuesday.

The constitution was intended to conclude a peace process begun in 2006 when Maoist guerrillas entered politics, ending a decade-long insurgency that left an esti-mated 16,000 people dead.

But six prime ministers and two elections later, political infi ghting has crippled eff orts to resolve the deadlock, analysts say.

“Individual leaders are cyni-cally holding the constitution hos-tage to their petty interests... they are basically jockeying for future positions as prime minister and president while negotiating our future,” said Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times weekly.

“Their ambitions have over-whelmed any push for an agree-ment...and they are unable to

compromise because of a ‘winner takes all’ attitude,” Dixit said.

A key sticking point concerns internal borders, with the oppo-sition pushing for provinces to be created along lines that could favour historically marginalised communities.

Other parties have attacked this model, calling it too divisive and a threat to national unity.

The ruling parties and their allies have the two-thirds parlia-mentary majority they need to approve a constitution without Maoist support.

But the former insurgents have warned of further confl ict if they fail to take opposition views into account.

Prime Minister Koirala said his party would make every eff ort “to forge consensus on the basis of team work and understanding”.

A missed deadline will prolong instability and deliver yet another blow to an economy which has seen annual GDP growth plum-met from 6.1 percent in 2008 to 3.6 percent in 2013, according to World Bank data.

“How will the country progress like this?” said Pradeep Jung Pan-dey, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“If there is no new constitution and all we will have are protests and instability, how can anyone make new investments or expand existing ones?” Pandey said.- AFP

The constitution was

intended to conclude

a peace process

begun in 2006 when

Maoist guerrillas

entered politics,

ending a decade-long

insurgency that

left an estimated

16,000 people dead

MAKING A POINT: Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, centre, delivers an address to the

nation in Kathmandu. Protests by Nepal’s opposition lawmakers threw parliament into chaos

after emergency talks failed to secure agreement on a new national constitution before the

deadline expired. -AFP

Widodo calls for calm after arrest of prominent graft fi ghterJAKARTA: Indonesian presi-dent Joko Widodo urged the na-tional police and the country’s most powerful anti-graft agency to avoid “friction” after the arrest of a prominent corruption fi ghter sparked an outcry on Friday.

The shock arrest of Bambang Widjojanto, deputy chief at the Corruption Eradication Commis-sion (KPK), comes about a week after the agency accused a high-ranking police general of corrup-tion, postponing his appointment as the country’s new police chief.

Hundreds of activists gathered for a noisy protest outside the KPK headquarters in Jakarta, claiming Widjojanto’s arrest for allegedly interfering in a legal case was po-lice acting out of revenge.

Indonesia’s millions of social media users called on Widodo, who made combating corruption a cornerstone of his leadership, to speak out with #WhereAreYouJo-kowi just trailing #SaveKPK as the top mentions on Twitter.

The president, speaking after meeting with the KPK chairman and deputy police chief, urged both parties to act objectively.

“As head of state I also asked the national police and KPK not to let friction occur when performing their duties,” Widodo told reporters.

Earlier national police spokes-man Ronny Sompie said Widjo-janto could face seven years in prison if found guilty of the allega-tions. He was accused of ordering witnesses to give false evidence

during a 2010 constitutional court challenge to a local election result, Sompie added.

Strong evidence“We have enough strong evidence of his suspected involvement in the case,” he said.

Sompie insisted the investiga-tion was focused on Widjojanto and unrelated to the KPK, an insti-tution that has butted heads with police in the past.

The KPK this month launched a corruption investigation into three-star general Budi Gunawan, who just days earlier had been named the sole pick for national police chief by Widodo.

The president refused to revoke Gunawan’s nomination, but later

postponed his appointment until the KPK investigation was com-plete. At the protest outside KPK headquarters, demonstrators were adamant Widjojanto’s arrest was retaliation for the Gunawan case.

“The arrest was symbolic of what is happening. The police are trying to kill the KPK,” 26-year-old lawyer Veronica Koman said.

Widjojanto was widely seen as a clean fi gure in a nation that has seen more than its share of high-profi le graft cases.

Anti-corruption group Trans-parency International ranked In-donesia 107th out of 175 countries in its annual corruption percep-tions index last year.

A number one ranking means the least corrupt. -AFP

I N T E R F E R I N G I N L E G A L C A S E

SOLIDARITY: Demonstrators gather outside the headquarters of the

Corruption Eradication Commission, in Jakarta, on Friday to show

support for Bambang Widjojanto, the deputy chief of Indonesia’s

most powerful anti-corruption body. - AFP

A key sticking point

concerns internal borders,

with the opposition

pushing for provinces

to be created along

lines that could favour

historically marginalised

communities. Other

parties have attacked

this model, calling it too

divisive and a threat

to national unity


Sri Lanka questions top judge over coup claims

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s chief jus-tice was questioned by criminal investigators on Friday following allegations that he tried to help the former president Mahinda Raja-pakse retain power illegally, a min-ister said.

Chief Justice Mohan Peiris was interviewed over a complaint that he and the former president alleg-edly conspired to keep the strong-man in power in a meeting at Ra-japakse’s home, Public Security minister John Amaratunga said.

“The chief justice was ques-tioned today about the (alleged) coup and a statement has been re-corded,” the minister told report-ers in Colombo. He added that in-vestigations were proceeding.

The questioning came after the chief justice was banned from a meeting of Asian legal experts in Colombo on Monday when Sri Lanka’s bar association threat-ened a boycott if he was allowed to participate.

AccusedPolice have opened a criminal in-vestigation into claims that the defeated strongman Rajapakse tried to use military force to stay in power as early results of the January 8 election showed he was headed for defeat.

There has been no public com-ment from the chief justice who had been seen in the company of Rajapakse and is accused of trying to legitimise a state of emergency after causing unrest at vote count-ing centres.

Rajapakse had appointed Pei-ris after impeaching the previous chief justice Shirani Bandara-nayake in January 2013 when her rulings went against his adminis-tration. New President Maithri-pala Sirisena, who was sworn in on January 9, has vowed to restore Bandaranayake to the role. - AFP

A L L E G A T I O N S

New Tunisia premier forms governmentTUNIS: Tunisian Prime Minis-ter-designate Habib Essid said on Friday he had formed a gov-ernment without any cabinet posts for moderates after ne-gotiations among secular party Nidaa Tounes and other smaller partners in parliament.

The full assembly must now vote to ratify the new cabinet.

Nidaa Tounes won the most seats in the October election, one of the last steps in Tunisia’s path to full democracy after its 2011 popular uprising.

Essid named Farhat Hacheni as defence minister and handed the fi nance portfolio to Lassaad Zarrouk, an independent econo-mist and director of an insurance company. Taieb Baccouche, a leading member of Nidaa Tounes, will be foreign minister.

Improve stability“They will work on the pro-gramme of Nidaa Tounes with the help of the other parties. It is a government for all Tunisians,” Essid said.

The Ennahda party, with the second largest number of seats in the assembly, had sought a unity government with Nidaa Tounes

to improve stability with the new government set to crack down on militants and tackle economic reforms. Nidaa Tounes leaders had not openly opposed a unity administration.

But Nidaa Tounes hardliners were against any alliance with Ennahda, who they blame for tur-moil during the fi rst government after the 2011 uprising.

Ennahda party leaders were consulting on Friday on whether to accept the new government.

Since the fall of leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisian poli-tics has often been dominated by compromises between secu-lar and conservative leaders to helped keep democratisation on track. No party has an outright majority in the new parliament, meaning political bargains and deal-making are needed to form coalitions and decide on govern-ment posts.

One of the most secular coun-tries in the Arab world, Tunisia has been held up as example of peaceful democratic evolution in an otherwise violence-ridden region, with free elections and a new constitution four years after Ben Ali’s overthrow. - AFP

C A B I N E T T O R A T I F Y

They will work on the programme of Nidaa Tounes with the help of the other parties. It is a government for all Tunisians

Habib Essid, Tunisian Prime Minister-designate

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015

SPOR S

Shock for Federer as Nadal and Sharapova blitz through

MELBOURNE: A stunned Roger Federer was dumped from the Aus-tralian Open Friday in his worst showing since 2001 as Rafael Na-dal and Maria Sharapova bounced back to stay in the title hunt. In the tournament’s biggest upset, the Swiss world number two had no answer to Italian Andreas Seppi, who he had conquered in their past 10 meetings.

“Just a bad day. I wish I could have played better but clearly it was tough losing the fi rst two sets,” Federer said after crashing out in the third round 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6 (7/5). “I had chances to get back into it but let it slip. It’s a dis-appointing loss.”

The defeat was the 17-time Grand Slam winner’s earliest exit in Melbourne in 14 years and aside from his second round Wimbledon fl op in 2013, was the Swiss legend’s worst performance at a major in more than a decade.

Federer was chasing his fi fth Australian Open crown, but has now not won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012.

He started sluggishly and when he was broken to love in the fi rst set, giving Seppi a 5-4 lead, it was clear something was amiss with Federer’s game.

“To beat Roger fi rst time, espe-cially in a Grand Slam, best-of-fi ve, is a special moment for me,” said the 46th ranked Seppi, who had only taken one set off him in their previous 10 matches. In contrast, Nadal was back to his best against Israel’s Dudi Sela, comfortably winning 6-1, 6-0, 7-5 after being pushed to the brink in a fi ve-set epic in the second round when he suff ered dizzy spells and cramps.

“The other night was one of the toughest times I have spent on the court and my body wasn’t very well and I felt very lucky to get through,” he said. “In general I think I was

playing better than I did the other day, I was feeling better tonight.”

Sharapova was also on fi re, blitz-ing past Zarina Diyaz of Kazakh-stan 6-1, 6-1 to erase memories of her big scare in the second round when she had to save two match points. “I started really focused, I knew I had a tough, long match previously, so I wanted to start off strong and fi nish strong,” said the Russian second seed.

Murray was also in form, easily beating Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-1, 7-5 and is yet to be seriously tested at Melbourne Park.

He will next meet Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov, who struggled against 2006 Open run-ner-up Marcos Baghdatis with the fi red-up Cypriot pushing him to fi ve gruelling sets.

Win means a lotMurray has now reached the round of 16 for the seventh consecutive year as he bids to track down an elusive Australian title after los-ing to Federer in the 2010 fi nal and Novak Djokovic in 2011 and 2013.

“Grigor has improved a lot over the last couple of years and it should be a fun match,” said the Scot. Dimitrov, Sharapova’s boyfriend, looked headed for defeat when Baghdatis won the third set before rallying to claim an exhausting 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Rising star Bouchard also pro-gressed, but made heavy work of downing France’s Caroline Garcia, taking 56 minutes to get through the fi rst set before moving up a gear to win 7-5, 6-0.

“I don’t think it was the prettiest tennis out there today,” admitted the seventh seeded Canadian, who has a big fan base in Australia.

Bouchard is seen as one of the new generation tipped to take the reins from the old guard of Ser-ena Williams and Sharapova, with Dimitrov regarded as a contender in the men’s game.

Third seed Simona Halep limped through against Ameri-can world number 258 Beth-anie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 7-5 and will next meet Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.

Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych was a more convincing winner, powering past Serb Viktor Troicki while women’s 10th seed Ekaterina Makarova also went through. - AFP

The defeat was the

17-time Grand Slam

winner Federer’s

earliest exit in

Melbourne in 14

years and aside from

his second round

Wimbledon

fl op in 2013

SHOCK EXIT: Switzerland’s Roger Federer reacts after losing his

men’s singles match against Italy’s Andreas Seppi. – AFP

JUBILANT: Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates after victory in his

men’s singles match against Israel’s Dudi Sela. – AFP

HOBART: Steve Smith’s incred-ible summer continued when he produced an unbeaten century to guide Australia to a three-wicket victory over England in a tri-series one-day international in Hobart on Friday.

Promoted to the captaincy with regular skipper George Bailey suspended for a second slow over rate breach in 12 months, Smith’s unbeaten 102 enabled Australia to chase down England’s imposing total of 303 for eight.

Australia, also missing the rested David Warner and Shane Watson, made 304 for seven to win with just one ball to spare and remain undefeated in the compe-tition, guaranteeing themselves a berth in Sunday’s fi nal.

Ian Bell’s brilliant 141 set up the England total, which appeared to be enough for much of the game.

England was still in pole posi-tion when Brad Haddin strode to the wicket for Australia with the home side at 216 for fi ve.

Another 88 runs were needed from 76 balls, but Haddin’s 42 off 29 balls as part of a quickfi re 71-run stand turned the game.

Smith, who hit four centuries in

Australia’s four-Test series against India that fi nished earlier in the month, faced 95 balls, hitting six fours and one six.

When the two sides previ-ously met earlier in the tourna-ment, England was beaten by four

wickets with more than 10 overs remaining.

However, England bounced back with an impressive nine-wicket win over India in Brisbane on Tuesday and carried that form into Friday’s innings. — AFP

T R I - S E R I E S

Ronchi, Elliott record stand sets up New Zealand winDUNEDIN: A record batting blitz by Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott set New Zealand up for an overwhelming 108-run win over Sri Lanka in their fi fth one-day international in Dunedin Friday.

In a stunning display of power hitting, Ronchi (170 not out) and Elliott (104 not out) bludgeoned an unbeaten 267 to lift New Zea-land from 93-5 to 360-5 in their 50 overs in a world record sixth-wicket stand. “It was an incred-ible batting performance by Luke and Grant,” said New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum. “Af-ter being 90-odd for fi ve, getting us through to that total was some-thing not witnessed too often.”

Sri Lanka skipper Lahiru Thiri-manne said the partnership made a mockery of their game plan on a green wicket.

“We thought we could get them out for under 200 but things went wrong for us,” he admitted.

Sri Lanka had their own centu-ry-maker in Tillakaratne Dilshan and looked to be in with a chance as long as he was at the crease.

But when Dilshan fell for 116 it sparked a spectacular collapse in which Sri Lanka lost eight wick-

ets for just 41 runs in eight overs. The end came with more than six overs remaining as, for the second game in a row, Sri Lanka showed little fi ght in the lower order to let New Zealand go 3-1 up in the

series. Faced with a daunting tar-get of 361 to win in Dunedin, Sri Lanka confi dently progressed to 93 before losing their fi rst wicket when stand-in captain Thiri-manne was removed for 45. — AFP

O D I S E R I E S

NEW ZEALANDM. Guptill c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 0 B. McCullum lbw Kulasekara 25 K. Williamson c Sangakkara b Perera 26 R. Taylor c Karunaratne b Thirimanne 20 G. Elliott not out 104 C. Anderson lbw Thirimanne 8 L Ronchi not out 170 Extras (lb 1, w 6) 7 Total (for 5 wickets, 50 overs) 360 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Guptill), 2-51 (McCul-lum), 3-60 (Williamson), 4-82 (Taylor), 5-93 (Anderson) Bowling: Kulasekara 10-0-71-2 (1w), Lakmal 10-0-93-0, Perera 10-0-49-1 (2w), Thirimanne 7-0-36-2 (3w), Senanayake 7-0-58-0, Mendis 2-0-21-0, Dilshan 4-0-31-0 SRI LANKAL. Thirimanne c Taylor b Elliott 45 Dilshan c N. McCullum b McClenaghan 116 K. Sangakkara c N. McCullum b Elliott 9 M. Jayawardene b Boult 30

N. Kulasekara c Ronchi b Boult 3 J. Mendis b Boult 18 D. Chandimal c Ronchi b McClenaghan 0 T. Perera c Williamson b Boult 0 D. Karunaratne c McCullum b Southee 12 S. Senanayake not out 3 S. Lakmal b Southee 0 Extras (b-4, lb-2, wd-10) 16 Total (for 10 wickets, 43.4 overs) 252 Fall of wickets: 1-93 (Thirimanne), 2-141 (Sangakkara), 3-211 (Jayawardene), 4-215 (Dilshan), 5-224 (Kulasekara), 6-233 (Chandimal), 7-234 (Perera), 8-245 (Men-dis), 9-252-Karunaratne), 10-252 (Lakmal). Bowling: Southee 7.4-0-42-2 (1w), Boult 10-0-44-4 (2w), N. McCullum 4-0-21-0, McClenaghan 8-0-56-2 (1w), Elliott 9-0-42-2 (1w), Anderson 5-0-41-0 (1w) Toss: Sri Lanka Result: New Zealand won by 108 runs Series: New Zealand lead 3-1 Umpires: Chris Gaff aney, Nigel Llong TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)

S C O R E B O A R D

Ton-up Smith helps Aussiesdefeat England once again

ENGLANDM. Ali c sub (Doherty) b Faulkner 46 I. Bell c Starc b Sandhu 141 J. Taylor c Faulkner b Henriques 5 J. Root c Finch b Cummins 69 E. Morgan c Haddin b Sandhu 0 J. Buttler run out 25 R. Bopara b Starc 7 C. Woakes run out 0 S. Broad not out 0 Extras (b-1, lb-4, w-5) 10 Total (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 303 Fall of wickets: 1-113 (Ali), 2-132 (Taylor), 3-253 (Bell), 4-254 (Morgan), 5-275 (Root), 6-303 (Bopara), 7-303 (Buttler), 8-303 (Woakes) Bowling: Starc 10-0-60-1, Cummins 10-0-74-1, Sandhu 10-0-49-2, Maxwell 3-0-22-0, Faulkner 10-0-59-1, Henriques 7-0-34-1 AUSTRALIAA. Finch b Ali 32 S. Marsh c Bell b Finn 45

S. Smith not out 102 C. White lbw Finn 0 G. Maxwell c Root b Ali 37 J. Faulkner c Bell b Woakes 35 B. Haddin c Bell b Woakes 42 M. Henriques run out 4 M. Starc not out 1 Extras (lb-3, w-3) 6 Total (7 wickets, 49.5 overs) 304 Fall of wicket: 1-76 (Finch) 2-92 (Marsh), 3-92 (White), 4-161 (Maxwell), 5-216 (Faulkner), 6-297 (Haddin), 7-302 (Henr-iques) Bowling: Woakes 9.5-0-58-2, Anderson 10-0-56-0, Broad 9-0-61-0, Ali 10-0-50-2, Finn 10-0-65-2, Bopara 1-0-11-0 Man of the match: S. Smith (AUS) Toss: Australia, who chose to bowl Umpires: Marais Erasmus (RSA), Simon Fry (AUS) TV umpire: John Ward (AUS) Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

S C O R E B O A R D

A12

SPORTSS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

Oman face Poland in semifinals

SINGAPORE: Oman, Malaysia, Poland and Japan stormed into the semifi nals of the Hockey World League Round 2 tournament, here on Thursday and kept their respective Olympic qualifi cation dreams alive and kicking.

Pool A runners-up Oman se-cured their place in the semifi nals in remarkable fashion with a shoot-out triumph over Bangladesh.

Bangladesh were just three min-utes away from victory when Mu-hanna Al Hasani levelled the score at 3-3 before confi rming his hero status by scoring what proved to be the decisive goal in the shoot-out.

Oman face stiff opposition (Po-land) in their semifi nal, coming up

against a team that has recorded four wins from four matches and netted 22 goals in the process.

Pool A winners and top seeds Malaysia claimed victory over Pool B’s bottom side Mexico, with striker Tengku Ahmad scoring four goals in the contest.

Tournament top scorer Faizal Saari also got his name on the score-sheet, taking his event tally to ten in just four matches.

“This is my highest scoring margin in an international tour-nament,” said 24-year-old Faizal, “but I hope to do even better and help the team win gold in this tournament.”

Malaysia’s opponent in the sem-ifi nal will be Asian rivals and Pool B runners-up Japan, a side that sits just three places below them in the FIH World Rankings.

Pool B winners Poland booked their place in the semis with a win over host nation Singapore, with talismanic captain and penalty corner expert Pawel Bratkowski fi nding the net for the fourth suc-cessive game with a brace to take his tournament total to seven.

The three highest fi nishers in the eight-team men’s tournament, will each be guaranteed a place in the semifi nal of this competi-tion, where coveted berths at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are up for grabs.

Oman secured

their place in

the semifi nals in

remarkable fashion

with a shoot-

out triumph over

Bangladesh

HAPPY MOMENT: Oman players celebrate a goal during one of the

matches of the World Hockey League in Singapore. – FIH

UAE stun Japan on penaltiesSYDNEY: Japan were sent crashing out of the Asian Cup on Friday as the United Arab Emir-ates shocked the defending cham-pions 5-4 on penalties after a pul-sating quarterfi nal.

Substitute Ismail Ahmed de-livered the knockout blow after Japanese superstars Keisuke Hon-da and Shinji Kagawa had both missed their spot-kicks, sending the UAE through to the last four af-ter a war of attrition in Sydney that fi nished 1-1 following extra time.

The Gulf side, enjoying their best run at the Asian Cup since fi nishing runners-up in 1996, will face hosts Australia in the semi-fi nals after a stunning victory over the Blue Samurai.

“Our opponents played the game of their lives,” Japan coach Javier Aguirre told reporters, ac-cusing the UAE of parking the bus.

“Once they scored they defend-ed for 110 minutes with 11 players behind the ball.

“I couldn’t have asked for any-thing more from my players,” added the Mexican, whose future is set to come under even closer scrutiny as he prepares for a court appearance in Valencia next month over match-fi xing allega-tions dating back to his time in Spain. “Once it goes to penalties, anything can happen. It’s a lottery and in large part comes down to luck. We were the better team in all areas.”

The Emirates exploded from the blocks, striker Ali Mabkhout smashing home a fi erce volley after just seven minutes for his fourth goal of the tournament, but refusing to celebrate out of respect for Saudi King Abdullah, who died earlier in the day.

With Japan teetering on the brink of a shock defeat, however, substitute Gaku Shibasaki rifl ed in the equaliser from the edge of the box after 81 minutes.

The UAE players, wearing black armbands in honour of the late Saudi monarch, frustrated Japan with their intricate passing in the fi rst half, playmaker Omar Ab-dulrahman pulling the strings in midfi eld.

Route one Mabkhout’s opener came via route one, however, as he raced onto a long ball from Amer Abdulrah-man to lash a right-foot past Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima.

The Japanese, in contrast, looked tired and bereft of ideas af-ter Aguirre named an unchanged team for a fourth game in a row, and only the introduction of fresh legs after the interval swung the momentum.

Substitute Yoshinori Muto wasted a golden opportunity to re-store parity when he headed wide from point-blank range, before Kagawa forced a smart save from UAE keeper Majed Naser.

Captain Makoto Hasebe and Honda came close as Japan threw everything at their obdurate op-ponents, Kagawa again fi ring wide as the referee blew to signal the end of normal time.

Japan, who captured a record fourth Asian Cup in 2011, almost snatched the winner when Shiba-saki’s free kick fl ashed wide, but

the UAE hung on to force a shoot-out where, of all people, Honda and Kagawa gifted Ahmed the chance to become a hero.

“We knew it would be very tough and I told the players that it’s not always pretty football that wins games,” said UAE coach Mahdi Ali. “I told them some-

times to have to win with heart and spirit. My players were fan-tastic. They fought for 120 min-utes. To beat the champions will give us a lot of confi dence for the game with Australia.”

Honda, whose opening kick in the penalty shootout, ballooned embarrassingly high, made no se-

cret of his annoyance at Japan’s failure to break down the UAE.

“That was a game we had to win,” he fumed. “It was an ex-tremely diffi cult game and it took us by surprise so mentally we fell short. We couldn’t handle the pressure on us to win the tourna-ment.” - AFP

A S I A N C U P 2 0 1 5

THE WINNER: UAE’s Ismail Ahmed, left, celebrates his match winning penalty kick as Japan’s goal-

keeper Eiji Kawashima reacts during the penalty shoot out in their Asian Cup quarterfi nal soccer

match at the Stadium Australia in Sydney. – Reuters

CANBERRA: Salam Shakir scored the winning spot-kick as Iraq stunned 10-man Iran 7-6 on penalties to reach the Asian Cup semis in a match of high drama between the arch-rivals on Friday.

In a sensational quarterfi nal at Canberra Stadium, the sides were locked at 1-1 at full-time before Iran twice came from behind in extra-time to force penalties. Iran had been a man down since Mehrdad Pooladi was sent off for a second yel-low card late in the fi rst half, sparking a furious reaction from coach Carlos Queiroz.

But their heroics were in vain when Vahid Amiry struck the post with the 15th spot-kick, and Shakir stepped up to coolly slot the winner for the 2007 champions.

Iraq now go into a semifi nal against South Korea, while three-time winners Iran were left fuming at the abrupt end to their promising campaign.

“You can imagine how I feel but I cannot express it because if I say what I feel and tell the truth about what everyone saw in the game I will get pun-ished,” coach Queiroz said.

“I am very proud of the way my players fought, they are in my heart and deserve every respect,” he added.

Iraqi coach Radhi She-naishil said it would be dif-fi cult for his team to recover in

time for Monday’s semi-fi nal, but he backed his team to go all the way to a second title.

“We have (one) less day to prepare than South Korea and recovering in time is now our main focus,” said Shenaishil, on loan for the Asian Cup from Qatar Sports Club. “But in the semis, anything can happen, and all four teams have the same chance to lift the trophy.”

Iran started well and Sardar Azmoun powered a header past goalkeeper Jalal Hassan for a 1-0 lead on 24 minutes, before they were were contro-versially reduced to 10 men.

Pooladi was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for simulation from Austral-ian referee Ben Williams — a target of Queiroz’s wrath ear-lier in the tournament.

Iraq goalkeeper Hassan

pushed Pooladi in the chest, sending the Iranian left-back falling to the ground — far too easily in the opinion of Wil-liams, who gave him a caution.

But the referee appeared to have forgotten that he had already booked Pooladi earlier in the half, and having been reminded, reached for his red card a good while afterwards.

The furious Queiroz, fi ned $3,000 for criticising Williams after the group win over Bah-rain, had to be restrained as he tried to talk to the referee going into half-time.

“The coaching staff instilled so much confi dence in me to score two penalties,” said man-of-the-match Ismael.

“This win can have such a positive impact on our country because of all the diffi culties back home,” he added. - AFP

Iraq shock 10-man Iran in penalties thriller

OVER THE MOON: Iraq’s Salam Shakir (obsured) celebrates

scoring the match winning penalty with teammates. – Reuters

BMARKE

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

APPLE CHIEF GOT TWICE HIS 2013 PAY IN 2014Apple CEO’s package includes salary of $1.75 million and $6.7 million in non-equity incentive compensation for the fi scal year that ended in September, the company said. >B3

Offi cial pegs Egypt’s chance of reaching FDI target at 80%CAIRO: Egypt has an 80 percent chance of reaching its goal for for-eign direct investments in 2015, said Ashraf Salman, the minister overseeing new business ven-tures in North Africa’s largest economy.

Salman is targeting $8 billion to $10 billion in outside invest-ments during this fi scal year, up from $4.2 billion in 2014, as he tries to sell Egypt as an attractive destination for global money after the turmoil that followed the Arab Spring protests of 2011. While the benchmark EGX 30 stock index has jumped almost 40 per cent over the past 12 months on opti-mism President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s policies will spur growth, Egypt is struggling with high debt and political uncertainty which led to the army’s ousting of Islam-ist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.

“I am comfortable with a prob-ability of 80 percent” that the country will achieve its target by the end of fi scal year 2015, Salman, who is minister for in-

vestment, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York on January 22. We need “to make the investment climate more attractive,” he said. “We need a serious legislation re-form that was started by trying to scrutinize the laws that have rela-tion with investment.”

Foreign direct investments (FDI) climbed to about $1.8 bil-lion in the fi rst quarter of the cur-rent fi scal year compared with $745 million a year earlier, and tourism revenue rose to $2.1 bil-lion from $931 million, according to the central bank. The country has the second-largest debt bur-den relative to gross domestic product in the Middle East and Africa region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Egypt’s economy has been stuck in its deepest slump for two decades since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak as persistent turmoil deterred in-vestments and tourism, one of the country’s largest industries.

The Egyptian pound declined

to a record this week after the central bank cut interest rates. The country’s foreign reserves dropped to $15.3 billion in De-cember from $15.9 billion in the previous month. That’s less than half of their level before the revolt against Mubarak four years ago, even after billions of dollars of aid from Gulf Arab allies.

Gross domestic product will expand about four per cent this fi scal year, up from 2.2 per cent in 2014, the minister said. That still compares with growth of more than fi ve per cent prior to the 2011 uprising. Economists are on average forecasting an ex-pansion of 3.4 per cent, according to a Bloomberg survey. Egypt’s stock market was the world’s fourth-best performer in the past year among 93 indexes tracked by Bloomberg.

“The market was very receptive to the economic and social reform program that was undertaken by the government since the election of the president,” Salman further said. — Bloomberg News

E C O N O M Y

Saudi expected not to swerve from recent oil output policyDUBAI: Saudi Arabia, under its new leadership, is likey to stick to its re-cent oil policy of maintaining produc-tion levels to preserve market share even at the cost of depressing prices, say experts. With production of 9.5 million barrels a day and exports of seven million, Saudi Arabia ac-counts for more than a 10th of glob-al supply and a fi fth of crude sold internationally. The kingdom’s re-fusal to surrender market share to rising US output has contributed to the worst slump in prices since the global credit crisis of 2008.

“The Saudi leadership has already taken the tough decision to live with lower oil prices,” Florence Eid-Oak-den, chief economist at London-based consultants Arabia Monitor, said by phone.

Brent rallyBrent crude oil, the global bench-mark, rose as much as 2.6 per cent to $49.80 a barrel in London on Friday. West Texas Intermediate rallied as much as 3.1 per cent.

The price gain following the an-nouncement of the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Ab-dullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s death is temporary because it won’t alter the nation’s policies and US oil out-put will continue rising, Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, said in an television interview with BloombergHT in Da-vos on Friday.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s said on Saudi national tel-evision on Friday that he will main-

tain the policies of his predecessor.

Slow growthIn his previous capacity as crown prince, he read a speech on behalf of the late monarch on January 6 that confi rmed the continuity of the country’s oil policy in the face of market “tensions” caused by slow growth in the global economy.

“These tensions aren’t new to the oil market, and we’ve dealt with them in the past with a solid will, with wisdom and experience, and we will deal with the current developments in the oil markets in the same way,” he said.

Oil slumped 48 per cent in 2014 as Opec’s 12 members refused to cut output and yield market share in the face of rising US production.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark, fell on January 5 to less than $50 a barrel for the fi rst time since April 2009. It trad-ed at $46.56 at 9:18am in London, a 0.5 per cent gain from Thursday’s closing price.

Market shareWith oil revenue accounting for 46 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s gross do-mestic product, “it is possible that this policy could be relaxed in 2015 because it is very costly fi nancially and is taking its toll on many Arab countries that Riyadh doesn’t wish to destabilise,” said Francis Perrin, the director of Paris-based energy consultants Stratener, in a January 6 e-mail. Ali Al Naimi, the oil min-ister of Saudi Arabia, led the Or-

ganisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to its November 27 decision to keep production un-changed, ignoring pleas for a cut in the group’s output by Venezuela, Algeria and other members that depend on higher oil prices to bal-ance their budgets.

“If I reduce, what happens to my market share? The price will go up, and the Russians, the Brazilians, US shale oil producers will take my share,” Al Naimi told the Middle East Economic Survey last month. “Whether it goes down to $20 a barrel, $40 a barrel, $50 a barrel, $60 a barrel, it is irrelevant,” he further added.

Saudi crude production aver-aged about 9.7 million barrels last year, according to data compiled

by Bloomberg.The kingdom, with a population

of 29 million, has $736.23 billion in reserve assets, or six per cent of the world’s total, data compiled by Bloomb-erg show. The government forecast its budget defi cit for this year will widen to 145 billion riyals ($39 billion) from 54 billion riyals in 2014.

The defi citThe country will plug the defi cit by borrowing and drawing on its fi nancial reserves and will con-tinue to spend on major projects including railroads, electricity, de-salination and universities, the of-fi cial Saudi Press Agency reported on December 25, citing Economy Minister Mohammad Al-Jasser. —

Bloomberg News

C R U D E S U P P L I E S

Emerging markets rally on ECB’s stimulus move

LONDON: Stocks from Russia to Taiwan rose, sending an emerg-ing-market equity gauge to its best week since March, as Euro-pean Central Bank (ECB) stimu-lus boosted appetite for risk. Rus-sian shares climbed with oil after Saudi King Abdullah died.

The dollar-denominated RTS Index rose to the highest level in four weeks as potash producer OAO Uralkali jumped 8.5 per cent in Moscow. An index of Hong Kong-traded Chinese mainland shares increased to a 3 1/2-year high. Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing led gains among technology shares after Goldman Sachs Group raised its price esti-mate. The rouble trimmed its fi rst weekly advance this month.

ECB planAn ECB plan to buy as much as 60 billion euros ($68 billion) of bonds a month through September 2016 is supporting demand for devel-oping-nation assets, boosting the MSCI Emerging Markets Index 0.8 per cent to 991.78 at 1:38pm in London. The gauge, up 3.6 percent this week, is also climbing after

better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data underscored the success of stimulus measures.

“EM is reacting to the ECB’s QE announcement on Thurs-day and also the stabilisation in some commodity prices such as oil,” Michael Wang, a strategist at Amiya Capital in London, said by e-mail. “There an element of the Saudi succession risk pushing the oil price up today.”

While markets in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) were shut for the weekend, oil rose as much as 2.6 per cent in London

after the Saudi royal court an-nounced King Abdullah’s death in a statement. Crown Prince Sal-man bin Abdulaziz succeeds Ab-dullah on the throne.

The Saudi riyal, which is pegged to the US dollar, fell to the lowest level since October 2008, and forwards weakened. The depre-ciation may be temporary as the succession plans are expected to be smooth, Bloomberg strategist Mark Cudmore said.

The biggest oil producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) led

Opec’s decision to maintain its oil-production quota at a meeting in November, worsening a global glut. The gain in Brent crude on Friday trimmed its weekly decline to 1.8 per cent, supporting stocks and currencies in countries that rely heavily on oil and gas indus-tries, including Russia.

The RTS advanced 1.3 per cent, bringing the weekly increase to 7.5 per cent. The rouble weakened 0.5 per cent, after gaining as much as 1.9 per cent against the dollar.

It trimmed increases after Interfax reported that rebels in Ukraine’s Donetsk region ruled out talks for a truce. Ger-man Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed Russia for undermining neighbouring Ukraine’s sover-eignty and cited “many setbacks” in peace eff orts as the death toll in the confl ict jumped.

Bonds rallyProspects that the ECB will fl ood markets with euros helped lift stock indexes in India and the Czech Republic by at least 0.9 per cent. All but one of 24 developing-nation currencies strengthened against the euro, while fi ve-year government bonds in Russia, Hungary and Poland rallied, with the Polish yield falling to a record low. The rate on Hungarian 10-year securities fell below three per cent for the fi rst time.

The yuan weakened 0.3 per cent after China’s central bank lowered the currency’s reference rate by the most since March. Brazil’s real was headed for its third straight weekly gain as higher local inter-est rates made the currency more attractive. — Bloomberg News

Dollar-denominated

RTS Index rose to

the highest level in

four weeks. An index

of Hong Kong-traded

Chinese mainland

shares increased.

While markets in

the Gulf Cooperation

Council were shut for

the weekend, oil rose

as much as 2.6 per

cent in London

Quantitative easing to be open-ended, says ECB

DAVOS: The European Central Bank’s asset-purchase programme will continue past September 2016 if it hasn’t met its infl ation objec-tives by then, Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said.

“We are open-ended,” Visco said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua and Guy Johnson at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “If we see that there diffi culties in achieving this target that we have, then we have to con-tinue.”

ECB President Mario Draghi pledged on Thursday to buy 60 bil-lion euros ($68 billion) a month of assets including government bonds through September 2016, adding that buying will “in any case be conducted until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of infl ation.” The quantitative-eas-ing package is designed to stave off a defl ationary spiral in the 19-na-tion currency bloc by fl ooding the region with liquidity and pushing investors into riskier assets.

The euro fell to the lowest in more than 11 years after the de-cision. The single currency was down 0.2 per cent at $1.1341 at 8:50am Frankfurt time.

“The exchange rate is not a tar-get for the monetary policy but it is an important channel as the port-folio rebalancing will increase the supply of money,” Visco said in the interview.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger were against implementing QE now, according to euro-area cen-tral-bank offi cials. — Bloomberg News

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

ROBUST DEMAND: An ECB plan to buy as much as 60 billion euros ($68 billion) of bonds a month

through September 2016 is supporting demand for developing-nation assets, boosting the MSCI

Emerging Markets Index 0.8 per cent to 991.78 at 1:38pm in London. — Bloomberg fi le picture

B2

FEATURES AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

Mr. Jacques Malan weaves his Toyota Land Cruiser through thorn trees in South Africa’s dusty bush-

veld, stops and points at an asset he says could be worth $5 million. It’s a buff alo calf named Manyara.

“This little guy has all the potential to become one of the biggest in the coun-try,” the 52-year-old game farmer said as he pointed at the calf ’s milky white horns. “The genetics are superb,” Ma-lan said dressed in khaki shorts and a shirt with his name embossed on it. Manyara is the half-brother of Horizon, South Africa’s biggest-horned disease-free buff alo bull, who earned his name from his 55-inch wide horns. Malan sold Horizon for a then- record 26 mil-lion rand ($2.4 million) in 2012 and he’s betting that Manyara, named after a Tanzanian lake, is worth even more.

Record prices, which have risen fi ve-fold in six years, are a product of South Africa’s booming game ranching busi-ness in which the country’s wealthi-est, including Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and luxury-goods billion-aire Johann Rupert, compete to breed the biggest and rarest animals to gener-ate revenue from hunting. Some crit-ics say the price surge is a bubble. Two hundred years ago African buff aloes regularly had horns spanning more than 60 inches, almost the length of two baseball bats, Malan said. Hunting has now eliminated the largest animals from the gene pool with a horn spread of 40 inches today considered big.

Lion Circle“We breed them to be able to breed back the top genetics,” Malan said in an interview at his farm called Lumarie, where he has bolstered his security by circling his house with a cage contain-ing three lions. “We’re not here to cre-ate something that was never there be-fore, we’re trying to replace.”

Horn size is king in an industry un-derpinned by hunters from the U.S. and Europe who are demanding -- and pay-ing for -- ever larger and more diverse trophies. A prime western Zambian sa-ble, a black-and-white antelope known for its grooved, arching horns, can cost 5 million rand, while a white kudu bull is worth 1 million rand.

Some of the color variants are from recessive genes and occur only rarely in the wild.

The buff alo trade and genetic en-hancement are booming in South Af-

rica because of its unique game-owner-ship laws, according to Peter Oberem, president of Wildlife Ranching South Africa. South Africa and Namibia are the only countries in Africa that allow grant individuals full property rights to wild animals.

Mystery Buff alo“The buff alo in this country are pri-vately owned, therefore people wish to manage those assets in a way to pre-serve them and also to maintain or im-prove their value,” Oberem said. “In the rest of Africa that’s not the case.” Ru-pert, South Africa’s second-richest per-son, led a group of investors that paid a record 40 million rand for Mystery, a buff alo with a horn span of more than 53 inches, in 2013. Ramaphosa made an unsuccessful 19.5 million rand bid for a buff alo cow and calf at a 2012 auction.

At an auction near Bela-Bela in Lim-popo Province in August, the biggest-ever buff alo sale, more than 70 of the animals were sold for 70 million rand. The average buff alo price was 883,556 rand in 2013, up from 183,050 rand in 2008, according to Vleissentraal Game Auction data compiled by Richard York, a breeder of golden wildebeest.

These prices are being infl ated by wealthy breeders trading between each other and aren’t underpinned by wider demand for hunting, according to Chris Niehaus, a former chief executive of-fi cer of the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association.

Bubble Building?“In my opinion it’s a bubble. I under-stand fi nancial markets and I can see

a bubble when one raises its head,” Niehaus, who is also a former CEO of HSBC Holdings Plc’s South Africa unit, said by phone. “These people who are playing a fi nancial shell game between each other are putting one of the great-est conservation success stories in the world at risk.”

South Africa’s population of large mammals has ballooned to about 24 million the most since the 19th cen-tury, and up from 575,000 in the early 1960s, according to Wouter van Hoven, an emeritus professor at the Univer-sity of Pretoria. The primary reason is due to the country’s ownership laws, enshrined in the Game Theft Act of 1991, that allow people to own, invest, breed and hunt, according to WRSA’s Oberem. Malan says that’s an unfair to describe game farming as a bubble because it isn’t driven by debt-fueled investments like U.S. real estate. While the price of assets such as property move up and down with the health of the economy breeding off ers fi nancial exits, he said.

Manhattan-Sized“You pay a million rand for a cow and the prices drop 50 percent, how do you recover your money? You breed it out,” he said. “Instead of taking you one year to get your money back, it might take you three years.”

Touring through Lumarie, a game farm that’s larger than Manhattan’s land mass, Malan spots another multi-million-dollar asset, the 50-inch horns of Manyara’s brother, who’s a perfect stud for breeding with heifers.

“There’s Serengeti,” Malan says,

swinging his 4x4 toward the 9-year-old brother, who’s standing among a group of heifers who he’ll mate with. “He’s the boss, not for sale. He would be worth 30 million rand.” Buff alo breeding is part science, part experience, says Malan. African buff aloes can stand 1.5 meters (5 foot) at the shoulder and weigh 750 kilograms (1,653 pounds).

Negligible ContributionSuch approaches to breeding risks reducing the genetic variation of the animals and losing important traits for survival, according to Cindy Harper of the University of Pretoria’s Veterinary Genetics Laboratory.

“Captive-bred animals can lose their ability to adapt to natural vegeta-tion, drought and lose their responses to predators,” Harper said by phone. “They could be losing the ability to de-fend themselves, physiologically and immunologically, against diseases, they could be losing the ability to pro-tect themselves from predators,” said Wildlife Trade and Ranching Project Manager Andrew Taylor. “If you end up domesticating them, the benefi t for conservation is negligible.”

Unresponsive Old-TimerSerengeti’s and Horizon’s sought-after genes come from their 21-year-old fa-ther Brits, who was found resting un-der a thorny acacia tree and ignored Malan’s attempts to mimic the guttural grunts of a buff alo.

Diseases such as tuberculosis and foot-and-mouth, are among Malan’s greatest concerns, so new buff alo must be inspected by a vet before they are in-troduced to his property, while his staff regularly usher game into bomas, or an-imal enclosures, where they are dipped to kill ticks which can carry disease.

A major reason why Malan’s and other game farmers’ stock of animals is so valuable is because they are mostly healthy. Soon after leaving the highway to re-enter his farm, Malan spots a herd of 22 buff aloes who share about 80 hec-tares (198 acres) of his land.

In the cluster worth around 80 mil-lion rand, he spots his next superstar and marvels at his 45-inch horns and huge body of the four-year-old calf.

“What I like about him is not only his length but look at his body on the horn,” he said leaning from his window. “His horn mass is great. He hasn’t got a name yet. He’s got to prove himself here before he gets the opportunity of breed-ing.” - Christopher Spillane and Kevin Crowley

B U F F A L O H O R N S W O R T H

M I L L I O N S

The buffalo in this

country are privately

owned, therefore people

wish to manage those

assets in a way to

preserve them and also

to maintain or improve

their value, in the rest of

Africa that’s not the case.

Peter Oberempresident of Wildlife Ranching

South Africa

B3S AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

MARKET

Sony to delay earnings reportTOKYO: Sony is delaying the release of its fi nal quarterly earn-ings, citing the disruption of ac-counting systems last year during a crippling cyber-attack on the company’s fi lm studio.

The attack, which US offi cials have blamed on North Korean hackers angered over the Seth Rogen spy-caper comedy “The In-terview,” left the company unable to produce a full third-quarter re-

port by the expected on February 16 deadline, Sony said.

The company instead sought permission to fi le its fi nal earn-ings statement March 31, last day of the fi scal year.

Sony still plans to update inves-tors, analysts and the media on earnings and outlook “to the ex-tent reasonably possible” for oth-er units — including smartphones and TVs — while completing the

accounting for Sony Pictures En-tertainment.

Critical fi nancial and account-ing applications at Sony Pictures Entertainment weren’t expected to be functional until early next month.

The February 4 report would include October data for Sony Pictures and forecasts for No-vember and December, a compa-ny spokesman said. - Bloomberg News

Q U A R T E R L Y R E S U L T

Apple chief got twice his 2013 pay in 2014

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Chief Executive Offi cer Tim Cook re-ceived compensation valued at $9.22 million last year, more than double his pay in 2013, as opti-mism for new products pushed the iPhone maker’s stock to a re-cord.

The company also said Mickey Drexler, CEO and chairman of J. Crew Group Inc., will retire from Apple’s board, where he’s served as a director since 1999. A re-placement wasn’t named.

Cook’s package includes salary of $1.75 million and $6.7 million in non-equity incentive compen-sation for the fi scal year that end-ed in September, the Cupertino, California-based company said Thursday in a fi ling with the US Securities and Exchange Com-mission. Cook was granted a pay package valued at $4.25 million in 2013.

Major milestoneConfi dence in Apple has grown since Cook unveiled larger- screened iPhones in September and slimmer, faster iPad tab-lets in October. The company’s stock rose as high as $119.75 in November, sending its market

capitalisation to more than $700 billion, a milestone that no other U.S. company has reached. Cook also rolled out a mobile-payment system called Apple Pay, and this year will debut the company’s fi rst smartwatch.

Holiday salesApple in October forecast that revenue in the fi nal three months of 2014 would be $63.5 billion to $66.5 billion. That would exceed Apple’s holiday sales of $57.6 billion for the end of 2013. The company will report fi rst-quarter earnings on Jan. 27. Apple fi n-ished fi scal 2014 posting full-year net income of $39.5 billion, an in-crease from $37 billion in 2013.

Stock awardsCook, who joined Apple in 1998, was named CEO in August 2011 to succeed co-founder Steve Jobs, who died later that year. Cook re-ceived compensation in 2011 of $378 million, one of the biggest pay packages on record, boosted by $376.2 million in stock awards that he’ll get over a decade.

The CEO’s compensation last year included security expenses of $699,133, the fi rst time Apple

disclosed those type of costs for Cook.

Compensation packageAngela Ahrendts, hired last year to run Apple’s retail and online stores from Burberry Group Plc, where she was CEO, received a 2014 compensation package worth $73.4 million. That in-cludes $70 million worth of stock. Her salary was $411,538.

Luca Maestri, who was promoted to chief fi nancial offi cer last year, received pay worth $14 million, in-cluding a $717,211 salary and $11.3 million in stock. Eddy Cue, head of Internet software and services, and Jeff Williams, head of operations, both received packages worth about $24 million, including salaries of $947,596 and stock worth $20 mil-lion. — Bloomberg News

Apple CEO’s

package includes

salary of $1.75

million and $6.7

million in non-

equity incentive

compensation for

the fi scal year that

ended in September,

the Cupertino,

California-based

company said in a

fi ling with the SEC

Google planning to become wireless operator in the USSAN FRANCISCO: Google’s plan to become a wireless service pro-vider means stiff er competition for Verizon Communications and AT&T at a time when price pres-sure is already shrinking margins in the US mobile-phone industry.

Google wants to off er service directly to consumers and will use Sprint’s wireless network, accord-ing to a person with knowledge of the matter. Google also plans to use T-Mobile’s network, according to technology blog The Informa-tion and the Wall Street Journal.

Through the arrangements, Google would become what’s known as mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. Google would pay for capacity on a carrier’s net-work and then sell the service to its own customers. The service could be up and running this year, ac-cording to another person. When it does start, here are the ripple ef-fects for customers and the entire US mobile- phone industry:

Sprint, T-MobileFor Sprint and T-Mobile, the ar-rangement provides extra revenue that can be used to upgrade net-works and improve the quality of calls and data. That’s a boon not only for Google’s future customers, but also Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s existing user base. The deal could add up to as much as $1 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and am-ortisation for Sprint and T-Mobile to split in 2018, according to Kevin Smithen, an analyst with Macquarie Securities USA Inc.

Sprint may get the lion’s share of

that revenue because it has more excess capacity, Smithen wrote in a January 21 research note.

Sprint is especially keen to partner with Google. Masayoshi Son, the presi-dent of SoftBank, which bought Sprint in 2013, was integral in facilitating the talks between Sprint and Google, ac-cording to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Verizon, AT&TAnything that helps call quality at Sprint and T-Mobile gives those companies extra ammunition for wooing customers from AT&T and Verizon, their larger competitors. Added profi t would also give the companies more leeway to under-cut AT&T and Verizon on price.

“Like everything else, you have to watch your friends more closely than your enemies, so we will be watching Google closely,” Verizon Chief Fi-nancial Offi cer Fran Shammo said of Google’s reported plans.

Asked whether Google might also partner with Verizon, Sham-mo said only that the companies have many discussions. He de-clined to confi rm whether the pair had discussed Google reselling Ve-rizon’s wireless service.

GoogleThe company has been mum on its plans. Even so, Google could end up being the biggest winner. It could use MVNO arrangements to market and refi ne an array of tools, including search, maps and e-mail, delivered via Android, the most popular smartphone operating system globally. - Bloomberg News

S T I F F E R C O M P E T I T I O N

Apple Chief Executive Offi cer Tim Cook. — Bloomberg fi le picture

SAN FRANCISCO: The cost of Tim Cook skipping vacation last year: $56,923.

That was the amount in holiday cash-out pay that the Apple CEO received last fi scal year, according to the company’s proxy fi led with the US Securities and Ex-change Commission (SEC) on Thursday. The number was included in Cook’s total $9.22 million compensation package for 2014.

Cook’s vacation cash-out pay — a statistic that only shows up in a handful of company fi lings, according to data compiled by Bloomb-erg — is higher than in 2013, when he received $35,000 for unused days off .

While Cook’s base salary rose 25 per cent last year to

$1.75 million, the amount he received for cashing in vaca-tion time rose 63 per cent. That suggests the CEO took even less days of rest and rec-reation in 2014 than in 2013.

Apple didn’t disclose how many vacation days Cook was eligible for in the proxy and a spokeswoman at the company declined to comment on the CEO’s holiday habits.

“It’s fairly rare to see that in proxy statements today,” Frank Glassner, CEO of Veri-tas Executive Compensation Consultants, said in a phone interview from Hawaii. “Apple, along with other companies that are inter-ested in being granular about best practices, doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned.” - Bloomberg News

Running Apple leaves Cook with $56,923 of unused vacation time


– Bloomberg fi le picture

MARKETS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

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India’s foreign exchange reserves rise to recordMUMBAI: India’s foreign-ex-change reserves rose to a record as policy makers looked to pro-tect the economy against outfl ows from a probable increase in US in-terest rates.

Holdings climbed $2.7 billion in the week ended on January 16 to $322.14 billion, a Reserve Bank of India statement showed today. Foreign funds, buoyed by near-ze-ro borrowing costs in Europe and the US, poured $42 billion into

Indian stocks and bonds last year.India’s larger currency stock-

pile and narrowing trade defi cit reduces vulnerability to external shocks, providing Governor Ra-ghuram Rajan room to cut interest rates this month for the fi rst time since May 2013. The increase in reserves over the past year is the fastest among the largest emerg-ing markets.

“It’s critical to augment re-serves,” said Sujan Hajra, an econ-

omist at Anand Rathi Financial Services in Mumbai.

“They will provide a buff er against a selloff when the Federal Reserve hikes rates or if there is more global turmoil.”

The rupee has surged about 12 per cent from an all-time low in August 2013, when Morgan Stan-ley dubbed the currencies of In-dia, South Africa, Brazil, Indone-sia and Turkey as the “fragile fi ve” because of their diffi culties in

drawing capital to fi nance defi cits.Since then, Rajan has lured

infl ows by off ering discounted dollar-swaps to banks and over-seas investors bought a record $26 billion of Indian bonds last year on optimism the most stable government in 30 years will help improve fi nances in Asia’s third-largest economy.

India’s foreign-exchange re-serves rose about 10 per cent in the past 12 months, while Brazil

saw holdings decline by 0.4 per cent to $374 billion and in Russia they fell by 28 percent to $339 bil-lion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China’s reserves rose 0.6 per cent to $3.8 trillion.

The primacy of US-based funds in Indian debt may cause adverse eff ects in case of unexpected changes in US monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of India said in its fi nancial stability report on De-cember 29. — Bloomberg News

E C O N O M Y

Indian billionaires in battle for airwaves

NEW DELHI: A bidding war for mobile phone licences will pit some of the wealthiest Indians against each other, putting at risk their eff orts to reduce debt.

An auction starting on Febru-ary 25 may raise as much as Rs960 billion ($15.6 billion) from service providers including those con-trolled by billionaires Kumar Man-galam Birla, Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani, according to ICRA. With Rs250 billion to be paid upfront, the local arm of Moody’s Investors Service says companies will need to borrow to renew permits.

“Each will look to protect its own turf,” Sabyasachi Majum-dar, ICRA’s senior vice-president in New Delhi, said by e- mail on January 21

“This is a replacement cost, which only weighs down balance sheets without necessarily add-ing to cash fl ows.”

An aggressive auction would

undo some of the debt-reduction progress made by the companies in the past year, ICRA said in a Janu-ary 9 note.

The yield on Bharti Airtel’s 2023 dollar bonds has risen eight basis points since touching a record low of 3.81 per cent on January 15. Mit-tal’s phone company had success-fully trimmed debt by 11 per cent in six months ended September, after it surged sevenfold in the previous four years.

Debt reductionBirla’s Idea reduced debt by 20 per cent in the six months ended September, data compiled by Bloomberg show, and Anil Am-bani’s Reliance Communications cut borrowings by 24 per cent. Idea’s debt almost tripled in the four years ended March 2014, while that of Reliance Communi-cations rose 41 per cent.

Idea faces the expiry of 92 per

cent of its permits in the most popular 900 megahertz frequency band, according to ICRA, while all licenses held in this category by Re-liance Communications are due for renewal compared with 57 per cent for Vodafone’s Indian unit.

Vodafone India spokesman Suresh Rangarajan, Bharti’s Ashutosh Sharma and Idea’s Ra-jat Mukarji declined to comment on how the companies plan to fund spectrum payouts. Reliance Communications’ media offi ce didn’t respond to an e-mail seek-ing comment.

Service providers may face competition from Mukesh Am-bani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm, which plans to start off ering fourth-generation mobile phone services this year. Bidding by the company helped the Indian ex-chequer raise the equivalent of $9.8 billion at a similar auction a year ago. A spokesman for Reli-

ance Jio didn’t reply to an e-mail seeking comment on whether it will bid for spectrum next month.

Reliance Jio“Potential new entrants such as Reliance could infl ate the premium over reserve prices,” Praveen Menon, a New York-based sector analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a January 16 e- mail.

The reserve price is a govern-ment decided level at which the auction starts. While such costs in India are comparable to those in the US, according to a Janu-ary 8 report by Menon, average revenue per user is less than six per cent of that of their Ameri-can counterparts and price com-petition over the past decade has eroded profi tability.

“Three of the major opera-tors of telecom services whose second-generation licence in some circles are expiring are in a desperate situation and would have to bid aggressively to gain

the spectrum or go out of busi-ness,” the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of In-dia said in a January 8 statement. The industry lobby group said it has “cautioned the government against trying to maximise price discovery.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is targeting raising the equivalent of $10.2 billion from this year’s sale as it seeks to narrow the budget defi cit to a seven-year low. Finance Min-ister Arun Jaitley aims to cut the shortfall to 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product in the fi scal year ending March. - Bloomberg News

An auction starting

on February 25 may

raise as much as

$15.6 billion from

telecom service

providers including

those controlled by

billionaires Kumar

Mangalam Birla,

Sunil Mittal and Anil

Ambani, according

to ICRA

HP, investors to revise autonomy claims accord

NEW YORK: Hewlett-Packard (HP), having failed twice to win court approval for its settle-ment with shareholders over the botched Autonomy Corp. acquisi-tion, is going for a third try with a new accord shielding executives from blame over the almost $9 bil-lion debacle.

A revised settlement agreement fi led in federal court in San Fran-cisco on Thursday by attorneys for the company and investors would protect Hewlett-Packard and its management from any fu-ture shareholder lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for the 2012 writedown. An earlier ver-sion of the settlement that would have insulated executives from what a judge called a “staggering” scope of potential lawsuits that have nothing to do with the Auton-omy deal was rejected last month. US District Judge Charles Breyer, who must approve the new agree-ment, said the previous agreement had little benefi t for shareholders and didn’t protect their interests.

“Only claims that have been or could have been asserted related to the Autonomy acquisition are be-ing released, which is both ‘fair and reasonable,’” Mark Molumphy, an attorney for investors, said in a court fi ling on Thursday.

In the underlying suit, share-holders said Hewlett-Packard ex-ecutives ignored warnings about accounting irregularities at Au-tonomy and failed to properly vet its fi nances.

The corporate governance re-forms contained in the new settle-ment would apply to both entities to be formed when Hewlett-Packard splits into two companies, according to the fi ling. The reforms include the creation of a senior executive- led risk management committee, modi-fi cations to board-level oversight of mergers and acquisitions and a new due diligence policy for mergers. -

Bloomberg News

U S C O U R T

Sensex rallies to new record for fourth day on ECB stimulusMUMBAI: Indian stocks ad-vanced to a record for a fourth day, with the benchmark index com-pleting its biggest weekly rally in eight months, as the European Central Bank (ECB) expanded its stimulus programme.

Tata Power advanced the most on the S&P BSE Sensex, while Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile-phone operator, climbed to a two-month high. Tata Motors, owner of Jaguar Land Rover, climbed to an all-time high. Engineering com-pany Larsen & Toubro increased to its highest level since July. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries ad-vanced for a seventh day.

The Sensex rallied 0.9 per cent to 29,278.84 at the close, taking the week’s increase to 4.1 per cent,

the most since June. Asian and European equities climbed after ECB President Mario Draghi an-nounced an expanded stimulus plan and kept interest rates at re-cord lows, boosting speculation capital fl ows to emerging-market assets will increase.

“Much of what we are seeing is on expectation of what central banks would be doing going for-ward,” Atif Latif, a director of trad-ing at Guardian Stockbrokers in London, told Bloomberg TV India on Friday. “Risk appetite is moving up and things are looking positive.”

Foreigners bought a net $346 million of local shares on January 21, the most since Dec. 8, accord-ing to data compiled by Bloomberg. That took this year’s purchases to

$782.5 million, the most among eight Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg.

Tata Power, the biggest genera-tor outside state control, surged 6.7 per cent, the most since May 19. Bharti soared 3.8 per cent to its highest level since December 2.

Housing Development Finance Corp., the biggest mortgage lend-

er, added 0.8 per cent to a record. Tata Motors jumped 3.9 per cent. Larsen increased 2.9 per cent. Sun Pharmaceutical rose to a record.

The Sensex has climbed 6.5 per cent this month, the best perform-er in the world in dollar terms, after the central bank lowered its main interest rate for the fi rst time in 20 months on January 15, and

the International Monetary Fund said this week that India will be the world’s fastest-growing major economy in the year ending March 2017. The gauge’s 50-day historical volatility index rose to the highest since July.

Its 14-day relative strength in-dex, which tracks how rapidly prices rose or fell during the speci-fi ed period, was at 72.5. Some in-vestors see readings of more than 70 as a signal to sell.

Rupee ends higher The rupee ended higher by 28 pai-se at 61.42 against the US currency on fresh selling of dollars

by banks and exporters on per-sistent foreign capital infl ows into equity market.

Banks and exporters preferred to reduce their dollar position on hopes of further capital infl ows as foreign portfolio investors infused $107.22 million on Thursday as per the SEBI’s record.

The rupee opened higher at 61.45 per dollar as against the last closing level of 61.70 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and hovered in a range of 61.3650 and 61.6050 dur-ing the day.

It closed at 61.42 per dollar, showing a gain of 28 paise of 0.45 per cent. The dollar index was up by 0.82 per cent against a basket of six major global rivals. In the global market, the euro fell to the lowest in more than 11 years ver-sus the dollar. — Agencies

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

US law allowing more oil export, a challenge of Opec members

NEW YORK: Enterprise Product Partners is looking to sell a year’s supply of US ultra-light oil to the global market, signalling another challenge for Opec as it contends with the US shale boom.

The company in Texas is off ering to export 600,000 barrels a month of condensate from March, accord-ing to a tender document obtained by Bloomberg News. Enterprise re-ceived government approval in 2014 to ship the lightly processed oil from US shale formations. Rick Rainey, a Houston-based spokesman, didn’t respond to calls or an e-mail seeking comment.

The Obama administration last month signalled that companies can legally export stabilised con-densate without government ap-proval, a move that Citigroup said may encourage shale drilling and thwart Saudi Arabia’s strategy to curb US production. With Ameri-can companies pumping at the fastest rate in more than three dec-ades, members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) are maintaining output to defend market share.

“The supply situation for US condensate won’t change dra-matically,” Ken Hasegawa, an en-ergy trading manager at Newedge Group in Tokyo, said by phone. “They will continue to bring more cargoes into Asia. There’s a com-paratively bigger pool of buyers here,” he further added.

The US produced 9.19 million barrels a day through January 9, the most in weekly records dating back to January 1983, according to the Energy Information Adminis-tration. The nation’s oil boom has been driven by a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which has unlocked shale formations from Texas to North Dakota.

Export guidelinesCondensate can be exported if it is run through a distillation tower, which boils off volatile gases from the oil, US government guide-lines published last month on the website of the Commerce Depart-ment’s Bureau of Industry and Security showed. That may boost supplies ready to be sold overseas to as much as one million barrels a day by the end of 2015, according to Citigroup.

While the guidelines were the fi rst public explanation of steps companies can take to avoid vio-lating export laws, they didn’t end the ban on most crude exports, which Congress adopted in 1975 in response to the Arab oil embargo. Lawmakers in Washington are try-ing to end a 40-year-old law that restricts overseas oil shipments to just a few markets. — Bloomberg News

O I L S U P P L I E S

SPECTRUM SALE: The reserve price is a government decided level

at which the auction starts. — Bloomberg fi le picture


The Sensex rallied 0.9 per cent to 29,278.84 at the

close, taking the week’s increase to 4.1 per cent, the

most since June.

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONB LIFE & STYLE S AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

Forget the critics, the box offi ce receipts and the Oscars, what really makes a fi lm into a masterpiece is how many passing references it generates in subsequent fi lms made by oth-er directors, scientists have discovered.

An analysis of nearly 15,500 fi lms found that it was possible to predict which ones would be considered among the greatest ever

made by looking at how often its themes, images or overall message are picked up by other directors many years later. The researchers said that the “automated method” of working out the cultural, artistic or his-torical signifi cance of fi lms could even be applied to

other spheres of artistic and scientifi c creativity, from literature to physics.

“The reason we say it’s automated is because as long as you’ve got the information in digi-

tal form you don’t need to answer questions of anyone you just load the computer code

to get the answer,” said Professor Luis Amaral of Northwestern University in

Evanston, Illinois. Typical methods of assessing a fi lm’s “impact”, such as sales, downloads or media attention, are not as good at predicting a fi lm’s long-term success as its infl uence on other directors, who appear to be useful arbiters of long-term cinema quality, the study found.

“Directors keep coming back to movies that are signifi cant. If you show a little bit of Psycho, such as referencing the shower scene, you are putting that whole movie in front of the viewer of the new mov-

ie,” Professor Amaral said. “There is something about a movie that is hid-

den to us, but there are measurable things, such as critic ratings, awards

and referencing by other fi lmmakers, that hint at this hidden element – a mov-

ie’s signifi cance,” he said.“We fi nd that ultimately it is the crea-

tors, the fi lmmakers themselves, who will determine which movies are important, not

the expert critics… movie critics can be over-confi dent in spotting important works, and

they have bias. Our method is as objective as it gets,” he added. The scientists suggested that the longer the time lag between a fi lm’s release and its subsequent reference in another fi lm, the more signifi cant it will be as a measure of long-term success.

They only included references made 25 years after a fi lm’s release to ensure long-term infl uences. The fi lms that produced some of the most long-lived infl u-ences are The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Psycho, Casa-blanca and Gone with the Wind.

The study analysed 42,794 citations in the fi lm da-tabase that connect one fi lm to another, such as the dialogue about not wanting to be with a man who runs a bar in Casablanca in the 1989 fi lm When Harry Met Sally, which was a reference to the 1942 fi lm Casa-blanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Berg-man. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed the 15,425 American-produced fi lms listed in the Internet Movie Database to see whether there were any useful mark-ers for predicting whether a fi lm makes it onto the prestigious US National Film Registry of the US Li-brary of Congress.

The registry is like a cinema hall of fame and cur-rently includes just 625 fi lms “of enduring importance to American culture” as judged by experts on the US National Film Preservation Board. Their judgement is based on whether the fi lms are “culturally, historically or aesthetically signifi cant”.

The scientists, who usually work in the spheres of mathematics, engineering and physics, looked at a range of factors, such as box offi ce receipts and critics’ reviews, to see if there was a signifi cant correlation with a fi lm’s inclusion in the National Film Registry and other factors relating to a fi lm’s apparent success.

They found box offi ce receipts was not a particular-ly good predictor, citing for instance the commercial failure of some otherwise classic fi lms, such as Duck Soup, the 1933 fi lm considered to be the greatest made by the Marx Brothers.

Other factors, such as critical reviews and Oscar successes, were equally inadequate when it came to predicting long-term success, the study found. Oscars, for instance, were often a refl ection of a fi lm’s imme-diate popularity and the amount of time and money spent on studio promotion, the scientists said. — Steve

Connor/The Independent

REFERENCESMATTER

Film references

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ENTERTAINMENTB6 S AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

FRANCESCO Petrarch, a 14th-century Italian poet, said, “A short cut to riches is to subtract from our desires.”

At the bridge table, a short cut — a short suit — will make you wealthier if — an important if — you have a fi t with partner.

Look at today’s North hand. After partner opens one spade, what should North respond?

If you count shortage points, add three for a singleton when you have at least a nine-card fi t. So, the North hand is worth 11 support points, which is ideal for a three-spade limit raise.

If you count losers, the North hand has eight: two spades, two hearts, one diamond and three clubs. (No suit has more than three losers.) Eight losers is also the number for a game-invitational limit raise.

Then South, who knows that his excellent diamond suit will provide discards, immediately uses Roman Key-Card Blackwood. North replies fi ve hearts, showing two key-cards (two aces, or one ace and the trump king) and denying the trump queen. Now South knows that six spades is high enough.

West leads the club queen. What should declarer do?

The play ought to be straight-forward. South should win with his club ace and draw two rounds of trumps. When they break 3-1, he turns to diamonds, discarding dummy’s last two clubs as quickly as possible. Declarer ruff s his fourth diamond in the dummy, cashes the heart ace, trumps a heart back to hand and ruff s his remaining club in the dummy. Then he can claim, his hand containing two trumps and a high diamond. West takes only one trump trick.

— By Phillip Alder

Short suits are great with a fi t

B I G N A T E

B O R N L O S E R

M A R M A D U K E

A C E S O N B R I D G E

K I D S P O T H E A L T H C A P S U L EC R O S S W O R D

Ans

wer

to p

revi

ous

puzz

le

WITH LOVE 4 3 5 8 9 7

9 5 4 2 3 6 2

3 7 6 1 6 7 2 3 9 5

7 2 2 9 6 1 4 6 8 4 2 7

9 5 8 1 6 3 7 2 4 2 7 6 4 5 9 3 1 8 4 3 1 7 2 8 6 9 5

8 9 4 3 1 7 2 5 6 5 1 2 8 4 6 9 7 3 7 6 3 5 9 2 8 4 1

6 2 5 9 8 4 1 3 7 3 4 9 6 7 1 5 8 2 1 8 7 2 3 5 4 6 9

Previous puzzle Solution

HOW TO PLAY Fill the empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area. — Seven Galaxies

S U D O K U

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are

celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number

and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi

or through e-mail to [email protected]

29 Blissful spot31 Zeus’ wife32 Mythical archer33 Go out with39 — Lee cakes41 Snub43 Eric Clapton

classic45 Tentlike dwelling46 Popular one-

named singer47 Excuse me!49 — a premium51 Kan. neighbour52 “The,” to

Wolfgang54 Bleat55 Left Bank pal56 Mount a gemstone59 Tin, in formulas

ACROSS

1 Cote dweller 5 Get real! (2 wds.) 9 Channels 2-1312 — forest or gauge13 Petruchio’s bride14 Water, on the

Seine15 Craft17 Bellyaches19 Solar wind

components21 Annoys22 — and means25 Seeps slowly28 Slackens off 30 Prickled34 Sort35 Prince Harry’s

mom36 Qt. fraction37 Hurler’s stat38 Wane40 Loud squawker42 Viewpoint44 Loosen, as a grip45 Orbital period48 Sheik, usually50 Inconvenient53 Band instruments

57 Reuben bread58 Fish without

scales60 Reputation61 Woolen cap62 Popular muffi n

choice63 — accompli

DOWN 1 JAMA readers 2 Acorn bearer 3 IV plus III 4 Join the army 5 Nome’s st. 6 Right to decide

(hyph.) 7 Give — — shot 8 Not masc. 9 Swerve10 Pay attention11 Minor argument16 Behold!18 File label, maybe20 Pushing ahead22 Go like a siren23 Competent24 Shaggy beasts26 Parka feature27 Sundance Kid’s

girl

SUGEETH DHAMODARANJanuary 24, 2004

RITHIK FELECIAN PERERAJanuary 24, 2003

C I N E M A S C H E D U L E

BAHJA CINEMA

STARS CINEMA

Film Information - 24540856 / Advance Booking - 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

For More Information 24789032, 24786776 Website: www.isurf.co.om

Film information 24791641 / 24786776

American Sniper (Action) Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner3.30, 7.30, 9.30 & 11.55 pmCP No: 2015 /181 (15+)Mortdecai (Action/comedy) Cast: Johny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Mc Gregore 4.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pm CP No: 2015/182 (12+)Reach Me (Drama) Cast: Lawren Chan, Sylvester Stallon, Kyra Sedgwick2.00 & 5.45pm CP No: 2015/180 (15+) Taken 3: (Action) Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker 7.30 pm; CP No: 2015/153 (12+)Barbie in Princess Power (PG) (Animation) Voice Overs: Britt Irvin, Michael Kopsa2.00 & 6.00pm; CP No: 2015/179

“I” (Tamil) ( Action\Thriller) Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson 3:00, 6:30 & 10:00 pm Cinema MainBaby - Hindi - (Thriller | Act) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, Rana Daggubati, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon3:45, 6:45 & 9:45pm Cinema 3Mylanchi Monchulla Veedu (Mal) (Rom/Com) Cast: Jayram & Asif Ali3:30, 6:30 & 9:30pm Cinema 2Chinnadana Nee Kosam (Tel)(Com)Cast: Nitin Reddy & Misnti3:45 pm Cinema 4P K (Hindi) (Comedy) Cast: Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt 6:45 & 9:45pm Cinema-4 NEXT CHANGE: Nagaravaridhi Naduvil Najaan

American Sniper (2D) (Act ) (15+) Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller12:15, 2:45, 7:00, 9:15, 11:45 pmMortdecai (2D)(Act | Crime) (12+) Cast: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor5:15, 9:30, 7:15 pmBaby (2D)(Action | Crime) (12+)Cast: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Tapsee Pannu12:45, 9:00 pmBarbie in Princess Power (2D)(Animation) (PG)Voice Overs: Rebecca Husain, Britt Irvin2:00, 3:45 pmThe Book of Life (3D)(Animation) Voice Overs: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana3:30, 5:15 pm (TBC)The Book of Life (2D)(Animation) (TBC); 12:15, 2:00 pmReach Me (2D)( Drama) (15+) Cast: Lauren Cohan, Kyra Sedgwick5:15 pmWolf Creek 2 (2D)(Horror) (18+) Cast: John Jarratt, Ryan Corr7:00, 11:55pmTaken 3 (2D) (Action | Crime) (12+) Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker11:30 pm

Voice Overs: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana11:45 am & 3:30 pmGold Class: 12pmThe Book Of Life (2D)(Animation/Adventure) (PG)10:00 amTaken-3 (2D) (Action/Thriller) (12+)Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker5:15 pmMortdecai (2D) (Act/Comedy) (12+)Cast: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor1:30 & 7:15 pmGold Class: 1:45 & 6:15 pmAmerican Sniper (2D) (Act) (15+)Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller6:15, 9:15 & 11:45pmGold Class: 3:45 & 11:15 pmBaby (Hindi) (2D) (Action/Crime) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tapsee Pannu11:45 am & 8:45 pmGold Class: 8:15 pmWolf Creek (2D)(Horror) (18+)Cast: John Jarratt, Ryan Corr4:15 & 11:45 pm

Barbie In Princess Power (2D) (Animation) (PG)Voice Overs: Rebecca Husain, Britt Irvin, Michael Kopsa10:15 am & 2:45 pmThe Book Of Life (3D)(Animation/Adventure) (PG)

SCREEN 1Baby - Hindi - (Thriller | Act) (12+ )Cast: Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, Rana Daggubati, Anupam Kher3.30, 6.45, 9.45 pmSCREEN 2Baby - Hindi - (Thriller | Act) (12+ )Cast: Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, 1.00 pmDolly Ki Dolly (Com | Drama ) (TBC)Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma4.00, 8.30, 10.30 pmAlone - Hindi - ( Horror) (18+ )Cast: Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh

Mortdecai– 2D (12+) (Act | Com)Cast: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor2:45, 7:15, 9:00 pmAmerican Sniper– 2D (15+) (Action )Cast: Bradley Cooper, Kyle Gallner12:15, 3:00, 4:45, 9:15, 11:45 pmThe Book of Life– 2D (PG)(Animation | Adventure)Cast: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana1:30, 3:15 pmThe Book of Life– 3D (PG) (Animation | Adventure)5:00, 6:45pmBaby – 2D (12+) (Act | Crime) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tapsee Pannu12:00, 8:30, 11:00 pmTaken 3 – 2D (12+) (Act | Crime) Cast: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace; 11:30 pmBarbie in Princess Power– 2D (PG) (Animation)Voice Overs: Rebecca Husain, Britt12:00, 3:15, 4:45 pmI (Tamil) – 2D (12+) (Action | Fantasy) Cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson 6:15pmDolly Ki Doli– 2D (Com)Cast: Malaika Arora, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sonam Kapoor1:15, 9:30 pmWolf Creek 2– 2D (18+) (Horror)

The Book of Life (3D) (Anim ) (TBC)Cast: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana2:15, 4:30 pmTaken 3 (Act | Thriller) (12+)Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace2:15, 11:30 pmI (Tamil) (Act | Fantasy | Ro) (12+)Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson, Upen Patel; 05:30 pm[REC] 3: Genesis (Horror) (15+)Cast: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martín, Ismael Martínez; 4:00 pmMortdecai (Action | Comedy) (12+)Cast: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor2:30, 6:45, 9:15 pmAmerican Sniper (Action | Biography | Drama) (15+)Cast: Bradley Cooper, Kyle Gallner4:15, 9:00, 11:45pmBaby(Hindi) (Action | Crime | Mystery) (12+)Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tapsee Pannu6:15, 8:45, 11:15 pm

American Sniper (2D) ( Act ) (12+) Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner.3:30, 9:00, 11:30 pmThe Book of Life (3D)(Adv ) Cast: Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana

Taken 3 (2D/12+) (Act/Crime) 9:15pmAmerican Sniper (2D/15+) (Act/Bio) Cast: Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner11:30 am, 9:15, 11:45 pmBarbie in Princess Power (2D) (Animation) 2:00pmThe Book of Life (2D/TBC) (Animation/Adventure) 11:15 am The Book of Life (3D/TBC) (Animation/Adventure) 3:30, 5:30pm Mortdecai (2D/12+) (Act/Com)1:00, 5:15, 7:15 pmWolf Creek 2 (2D/18+) (Horror) 7:15, 11:30 pm I – (Tamil) (2D/12+) (Act/Fantasy) 3:30pmDolly Ki Doli (2D/TBC) (Com/Rom) Cast: Malaika Arora, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sonam Kapoor6:45 pmBaby (2D/12) (Action/Crime) 12:30, 8:40 pm

12:15, 2:00 pmI (Tamil) (Act | Fantasy) (12+) Cast: ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram, Amy Jackson, Upen Patel; 3:45 pmTaken-3 (Action | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace6:00 pmBaby (Hindi) ( Act / Mystery ) (12+) 8:00, 11:00 pmMortdecai ( English ) (Act ) (12+) Cast: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow 7:00pm

Grover; 6.00 pmSCREEN 3Dolly Ki Dolly (Com | Drama ) (TBC)1:00pmP. K (Comedy) (PG)Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma 3.45, 6.45 pmAlone - Hindi - (Thriller) (18+)9.45 pm

Cast: John Jarratt, Ryan Corr7:00, 11:30 pm[REC] 3: Genesis– 2D (15+)HorrorCast: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martín, Ismael Martínez5:30 pm

FIND-IT-ALL

PHARMACIESRound the clockAl Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334; Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666; Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635; Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra: 24503585; Ruwi 24811715Muscat RegionApollo, Al Hamriya. Tel: 24787766Muscat, A Seeb Market. Tel: 24421691Muscat, Al Khuwair. Tel: 24485740Muscat, Al Hail South. Tel: 4537080Dhofar RegionMuscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah. Tel: 23291635

HOSPITALSAl Amal Medical & Health Care Centre: 24485052Atlas Hospital: Ruwi: 24811743/ Ghubra: 24504000Al Musafi r Specialised Medical Clinic: 24706453Hatat Polyclinic LLC,Ruwi: 24563641, Azaiba: 24499269, Sohar: 2683006Al Raff ah Hospital: 24618900/1/2Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory: 24566435Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre: 24499434Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24787766, 24787780Capital Polyclinic: 24707549Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi: 24799760/1/2Capital Clinic, Seeb: 24420740Ceregem National Raak: 24485633Dr Harub’s Clinic: 24563217Elixir Health Centre: 24565802Emirates Medical Centre: 246045401st Chiropractic Centre: 24472274Hamdan Hospital: 23212340International Medical Centre LLC: 24794501/2/3/4/5Kims Oman Hospital: 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency: 24760123Lama Polyclinic, Sohar: 26751128, MBD: 24799077, Al Khuwair: 24478818Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital: 24568870Muscat Private Hospital: 24583600Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair: 24477666Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC: 22004000

ROYAL OMAN POLICEEmergencies and inquiries: 9999General Directorate of Passport and Residence: 24569603Directorate General of Customs: 24521109Traffi c violations inquiries: 24510228Public Relations Admin: 24560099

ACCOMMODATIONAl Bahjah Hotel: 24424400Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311Al Qurum Resort: 24605945Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979Beach Hotel: 24696601Bowshar Hotel: 24491105Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660Crystal Suites: 24826100Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234Haff a House Hotel: 24707207Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123InterContinental Muscat: 24680000Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900Marina Hotel: 24711711Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565Mina Hotel: 24711828Muttrah Hotel: 24798401

Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199Oman Dive Centre: 24824240Park Inn: 24507888Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443Ruwi Hotel: 24704244Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666The Chedi Muscat: 24524400The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570

AIRLINE OFFICESMuscat Airport Flight information (24 hours): 24519456/24519223Aerofl ot: 24704455, Air Arabia: 24700828, Air France: 24562153, Air India: 24799801, Air New Zealand: 24700732, Biman Bangladesh Airlines: 24701128, British Airways: 24568777, Cathay Pacifi c: 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, Turkish Airlines: 24703033

MUSEUMSBait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fi sh market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pmNatural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm; Thursday: 9am to 1pmMuseum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday - 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmOman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thurs: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., [email protected] from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmSohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pmMuscat Gate Museum: at Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

Dhuhr 12.24pm

Asr 3.31pm

Maghrib 5.52pm

Isha 7.06pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.32am

Sunset 5:47pm

Sunrise (Tomorrow) 6.50am

High tide 11:10am 6.18am

Low tide 5.33pm 12.04pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

B7S AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

W E A T H E R

OMAN

Max 22Min 13

Max 22Min 15

Max 23Min 16

Max 24Min 8

Max 23Min 17Max 21

Min 7

Max 23Min 10

Max 26 Min 16

Clear to partly cloudy skies over Musandam and South Sharqiyah governorates and the coastal areas of Oman Sea and mainly clear over rest of the Sultanate.

EXPECTED WINDS: Along Oman Sea coasts winds will be northerly to northeasterly light to moderate while over rest of Sultanate it will be northerly to northwesterly light to moderate occasionally fresh along Arabian Sea coasts.SEA STATE: Moderate along the southeastern coast with

maximum wave height of 2.0 metres. Light to moderate along Musandam and Oman Sea coasts with maximum wave height of 1.5 metres.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during fog formation.THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Clear to partly cloudy skies over Musandam and South Sharqiyah governorates and the coastal areas of Oman Sea with chance of isolated rains.

Max Min

GULFAbu Dhabi 22 15Doha 21 15Dubai 22 14Kuwait 22 5Manama 20 15Riyadh 24 9

WORLDAthens 16 11Baghdad 20 8Beijing 3 -7Berlin 1 -1Boston 3 -2Cairo 26 14Colombo 30 23Frankfurt 2 0Hong Kong 19 16Istanbul 12 7Johannesburg 28 15Kuala Lumpur 32 23Lisbon 14 6Paris 7 0Perth 29 17Singapore 30 24Tokyo 10 1Toronto 2 -7

WORLD

Max 3Min -3

Max 17Min 10

Max 7Min 0

Max 24Min 12

Max 26Min 13

Max 31Min 29

Max 0Min -6

Max 26Min 22

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41)06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41)07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (Route 62)06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (Route 62)12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201)06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201)07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (Route 100)07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (Route 100)07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (Route 102)15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (Route 102)15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

LISTINGS

Source: www.met.gov.om

SATURDAY

FLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY406 CAIRO 0005WY676 JEDDAH 0005WY648 KUWAIT 0010WY816 BANGKOK 0015WY916 SALALAH 0150PK225 KARACHI 0210TK774 ISTANBUL 0215PK229 LAHORE 0215QR1132 DOHA 0345ET624 ADDIS ABABA 0350EK866 DUBAI 0355GF560 BAHRAIN 0405EY384 ABU DHABI 0405FZ041 DUBAI 0415MS930 CAIRO 0430WY902 SALALAH 0630WY668 DOHA 0635WY638 ABU DHABI 0650WY658 BAHRAIN 0700WY686 RIYADH 0700WY412 AMMAN 0705WY644 KUWAIT 0715WY114 FRANKFURT 0715WY122 MUNICH 0715WY154 ZURICH 0720WY692 DAMMAM 0725WY674 JEDDAH 0730WY142 MALPENSA 0745WY672 MEDINA 0745WY132 PARIS 0800WY602 DUBAI 0805WY202 BOMBAY 0815WY432 TEHRAN 0815WY102 LONDON HEATHROW 0820WY422 BEIRUT 0830FZ043 DUBAI 0850WY274 JAIPUR 0855G9114 SHARJAH 0915WY242 DELHI 0920WY236 HYDERABAD 0920PK191 TURBAT 0930WY346 ISLAM ABBAD 0940EK862 DUBAI 0940WY252 MADRAS 0940IX443 COCHIN 1010QR1128 DOHA 1010EY382 ABU DHABI 1015IX549 TRIVANDRUM 10209W530 TRIVANDRUM 1035WY342 LAHORE 1100WY604 DUBAI 1110FZ037 DUBAI 1200IX337 CALICUT 1210WY268 LUCKNOW 1210PA450 LAHORE 1215WY904 SALALAH 1215WY3302 MUKHAIZNA 1230BG023 DACCA 1245WY326 KARACHI 1255NL771 PESHAWAR 1300WY606 DUBAI 1330WY632 ABU DHABI 1330WY918 KHASAB 1400IX817 MANGALORE-ABU DHABI 1440WY906 SALALAH 1445WY656 BAHRAIN 1530WY328 LAHORE 1550SV532 JEDDAH 1550FZ045 DUBAI 1555MP95 AMSTERDAM 1645WY204 BOMBAY 1710WY292 CALICUT 1720WY246 DELHI 1730WY610 DUBAI 1730WY3304 MUKHAIZNA 1730WY284 BANGALORE 1740WY232 HYDERABAD 1740WY216 TRIVANDRUM 1740QR1126 DOHA 1745EK864 DUBAI 1800GF564 BAHRAIN 1810G9116 SHARJAH 1915FZ047 DUBAI 1945WY614 DUBAI 2030WY914 SALALAH 2035WY386 MALE 2110KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA 2120AI973 DELHI 2125WY624 DUBAI 2125WY312 CHITTAGONG 21256.00E+81 BOMBAY 21309W534 COCHIN 2140FZ049 DUBAI 2145WY374 COLOMBO 2150WY254 MADRAS 2155AI907 MADRAS 2200WY224 COCHIN 2205QR1134 DOHA 2210UL205 COLOMBO 2225WY338 KATHMANDU 2235GF566 BAHRAIN 2240EY388 ABU DHABI 2250WY814 BANGKOK 2250BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI 2255WY908 SALALAH 2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY 2310WY662 DOHA 2315LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI 23209W540 BOMBAY 2325WY654 BAHRAIN 2330LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI 2330WY116 FRANKFURT 2335WY612 DUBAI 2335WY928 SALALAH 2345WY636 ABU DHABI 2350WY696 DAMMAM 2350WY696 DAMMAM 2350WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 2355

SUNDAY

FLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA

WY406 CAIRO 0005WY676 JEDDAH 0005WY682 RIYADH 0005WY648 KUWAIT 0010WY904 SALALAH 0015WY816 BANGKOK 0015WY824 KUALA LUMPUR 0055WY916 SALALAH 01504H583 DACCA 0200NL669 SIALKOT 0200TK776 ISTANBUL-BAHRAIN 0300QR1132 DOHA 0345ET624 ADDIS ABABA 0350EK866 DUBAI 0355GF560 BAHRAIN 0405EY384 ABU DHABI 0405FZ041 DUBAI 0415WY324 KARACHI 0540WY686 RIYADH 0600WY902 SALALAH 06304H584 DOHA 0640WY638 ABU DHABI 0650WY658 BAHRAIN 0700WY668 DOHA 0710WY674 JEDDAH 0730WY602 DUBAI 0805WY202 BOMBAY 0815WY102 LONDON HEATHROW 0820FZ043 DUBAI 0850WY274 JAIPUR 0855NL768 LAHORE 0900G9114 SHARJAH 0915WY236 HYDERABAD 0920WY242 DELHI 0920WY226 COCHIN 0930EK862 DUBAI 0940WY252 MADRAS 0940WY212 TRIVANDRUM 0940WY346 ISLAM ABBAD 0955QR1128 DOHA 1010EY382 ABU DHABI 1015IX549 TRIVANDRUM 1020WY3302 MUKHAIZNA 1045WY282 BANGALORE 1100WY3922 DUQUM OMAN 1105WY604 DUBAI 1110G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA 1120WY372 COLOMBO 1130FZ037 DUBAI 1200WY424 BEIRUT 1205IX337 CALICUT 1210PK223 PESHAWAR 1220WY606 DUBAI 1330WY918 KHASAB 1440WY906 SALALAH 1445WY812 BANGKOK 1525WY656 BAHRAIN 1530WY632 ABU DHABI 1535FZ045 DUBAI 1555WY204 BOMBAY 1710WY292 CALICUT 1720WY610 DUBAI 1730WY246 DELHI 1730WY264 LUCKNOW 1735WY232 HYDERABAD 1740WY664 DOHA 1745QR1126 DOHA 1745GF564 BAHRAIN 1810WY3306 MUKHAIZNA 1845G9116 SHARJAH 1915WY254 MADRAS 1920TG507 BANGKOK-KARACHI 1935FZ047 DUBAI 1945WY434 TEHRAN 2000WY614 DUBAI 2030WY914 SALALAH 2035WY386 MALE 2110WY152 ZURICH 2110WY312 CHITTAGONG 2115WY116 FRANKFURT 2115WY124 MUNICH 2115KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA 2120WY144 MALPENSA 2120AI973 DELHI 2125WY624 DUBAI 21256.00E+81 BOMBAY 2130WY134 PARIS 2130WY414 AMMAN 2135FZ049 DUBAI 2145AI907 MADRAS 2200QR1134 DOHA 2210UL205 COLOMBO 2225GF566 BAHRAIN 2240EY388 ABU DHABI 2250BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI 2255WY908 SALALAH 2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY 2310WY648 KUWAIT 2315LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI 23209W540 BOMBAY 2325WY654 BAHRAIN 2330LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI 2330WY612 DUBAI 2335WY696 DAMMAM 2350WY910 SALALAH 2355WY928 SALALAH 2355WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 2355

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY 0005LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH 00209W539 BOMBAY 0025BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW 0025SG062 AHMEDABAD 0030LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT 0050WY685 RIYADH 0105WY251 MADRAS 0110WY201 BOMBAY 0120WY235 HYDERABAD 0135WY273 JAIPUR 0140WY345 ISLAM ABBAD 0150WY601 DUBAI 0150WY241 DELHI 0155WY431 TEHRAN 0155WY643 KUWAIT 0200WY637 ABU DHABI 0205WY657 BAHRAIN 0205WY115 FRANKFURT 0215WY667 DOHA 0220WY691 DAMMAM 0235TK775 ISTANBUL 0310PK226 KARACHI 0310PK230 LAHORE 0315WY267 LUCKNOW 0355ET625 ADDIS ABABA 0450EK867 DUBAI 0455FZ042 DUBAI 0510QR1133 DOHA 0520EY385 ABU DHABI 0525MS931 CAIRO 0530GF561 BAHRAIN 0745WY603 DUBAI 0800WY903 SALALAH 0800WY3301 MUKHAIZNA 0800WY325 KARACHI 0820WY813 BANGKOK 0855WY215 TRIVANDRUM 0920WY291 CALICUT 0920WY327 LAHORE 0920WY823 KUALA LUMPUR 0930FZ044 DUBAI 0935WY385 MALE 0940WY283 BANGALORE 0940WY231 HYDERABAD 0955WY245 DELHI 0955G9115 SHARJAH 1005WY815 BANGKOK 1010PK192 TURBAT-GWADUR 1015WY373 COLOMBO 1020WY605 DUBAI 1030WY905 SALALAH 1030WY631 ABU DHABI 1030WY203 BOMBAY 1030WY311 CHITTAGONG 1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 1045WY917 KHASAB 1050EK863 DUBAI 1055EY383 ABU DHABI 1105WY655 BAHRAIN 1110IX554 TRIVANDRUM 1110QR1129 DOHA 1115IX442 COCHIN 11159W533 COCHIN 1135WY337 KATHMANDU 1310IX350 CALICUT 1310WY253 MADRAS 1315PA451 LAHORE 1315FZ038 DUBAI 1315WY3303 MUKHAIZNA 1330WY101 LONDON HEATHROW 1330WY223 COCHIN 1355WY927 SALALAH 1415BG024 CHITTAGONG-DACCA 1415WY609 DUBAI 1420NL668 SIALKOT 1430WY405 CAIRO 1430IX818 MANGALORE 1530WY675 JEDDAH 1630WY913 SALALAH 1630SV533 RIYADH-JEDDAH 1650WY613 DUBAI 1700FZ046 DUBAI 1700MP95 DUBAI WORLD CENTRE- SINGAPORE 1815WY623 DUBAI 1820QR1127 DOHA 1845WY681 RIYADH 1845WY907 SALALAH 1850GF565 BAHRAIN 1855WY661 DOHA 1900WY647 KUWAIT 1900WY653 BAHRAIN 1910WY695 DAMMAM 1910EK865 DUBAI 1915G9117 SHARJAH 2005WY611 DUBAI 2025WY635 ABU DHABI 2030FZ048 DUBAI 2040WY915 SALALAH 2135FZ050 DUBAI 2225KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM 22309W529 TRIVANDRUM 22406.00E+82 BOMBAY 2245AI908 MADRAS 2300AI974 DELHI 2310QR1135 DOHA 2320GF567 BAHRAIN 2325UL206 COLOMBO 2335EY381 ABU DHABI 2350WY901 SALALAH 2350WY673 JEDDAH 2350

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD AI986 BOMBAY 0005LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH 0020BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW 00259W539 BOMBAY 0025LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT 0050WY685 RIYADH 0105WY811 BANGKOK 0105WY323 KARACHI 0105WY211 TRIVANDRUM 0110WY251 MADRAS 0110WY201 BOMBAY 0120WY225 COCHIN 0125WY235 HYDERABAD 0135WY273 JAIPUR 0140WY601 DUBAI 0150WY341 LAHORE 0150WY151 ZURICH 0155WY241 DELHI 0155WY281 BANGALORE 0200WY423 BEIRUT 0200WY657 BAHRAIN 0205WY637 ABU DHABI 0205WY371 COLOMBO 0210WY123 MUNICH 0210WY133 PARIS 0215WY115 FRANKFURT 0215WY667 DOHA 0220WY143 MALPENSA 0225WY345 ISLAM ABBAD 02504H584 DUBAI-DACCA 0300NL772 PESHAWAR 0330TK777 BAHRAIN-ISTANBUL 0350ET625 ADDIS ABABA 0450EK867 DUBAI 0455FZ042 DUBAI 0510QR1133 DOHA 0520EY385 ABU DHABI 0525WY3301 MUKHAIZNA 0715WY3921 DUQUM OMAN 07204H584 DACCA 0740GF561 BAHRAIN 0745WY903 SALALAH 0800WY603 DUBAI 0800WY291 CALICUT 0920WY263 LUCKNOW 0920FZ044 DUBAI 0935WY245 DELHI 0955WY231 HYDERABAD 0955G9115 SHARJAH 1005WY905 SALALAH 1030WY203 BOMBAY 1030NL769 LAHORE 1030WY605 DUBAI 1030WY253 MADRAS 1040WY311 CHITTAGONG 1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM 1045EK863 DUBAI 1055EY383 ABU DHABI 1105IX554 TRIVANDRUM 1110WY655 BAHRAIN 1110QR1129 DOHA 1115WY3303 MUKHAIZNA 1115WY917 KHASAB 1140WY331 KATHMANDU 1205G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA 1210WY631 ABU DHABI 1225IX350 CALICUT 1310FZ038 DUBAI 1315PK224 PESHAWAR 1320WY663 DOHA 1330WY413 AMMAN 1330WY101 LONDON HEATHROW 1330WY433 TEHRAN 1340WY927 SALALAH 1415WY609 DUBAI 1420WY405 CAIRO 1430WY3305 MUKHAIZNA 1515WY675 JEDDAH 1630WY913 SALALAH 1630FZ046 DUBAI 1700WY613 DUBAI 1700WY623 DUBAI 1820WY681 RIYADH 1845QR1127 DOHA 1845WY907 SALALAH 1850GF565 BAHRAIN 1855WY647 KUWAIT 1900WY661 DOHA 1900WY695 DAMMAM 1910WY653 BAHRAIN 1910WY909 SALALAH 1940G9117 SHARJAH 2005WY611 DUBAI 2025WY635 ABU DHABI 2030FZ048 DUBAI 2040TG508 KARACHI-BANGKOK 2040WY825 KUALA LUMPUR 2110WY915 SALALAH 2135FZ050 DUBAI 2225KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM 2230WY817 BANGKOK 22356.00E+82 BOMBAY 2245AI908 MADRAS 2300AI974 DELHI 2310QR1135 DOHA 2320GF567 BAHRAIN 2325UL206 COLOMBO 2335EY381 ABU DHABI 2350WY673 JEDDAH 2350WY901 SALALAH 2350WY671 MEDINA 2350

A I R L I N E S

BORN today, you have a remarkably sensitive side that is not always on display. As a result, others may not be aware when they off end you or do that which you cannot abide. You’re not the kind to express your displeasure very often — at least not to individuals directly. Rather, you will slowly turn away from those who repeatedly do you wrong, leaving them to wonder what it is they may have done. You can, however, be won back by the repentant, those who understand that you have been hurt and who do what they can to ease the wound and rekindle your aff ection and favour. Once you accept an apology from someone, you consider the off ence wiped away. You’re never one to hold grudges against those who have seen the error of their ways.

Despite this sensitivity that many consider a dominant personality trait, you can sometimes be something of a bull in a china shop, storming through life with bluster and bravado. This may actually be only a guise, carefully crafted to protect you from hurt feelings or too much emotional sensitivity.

Also born on this date are: Ernest Borgnine, actor; John Belushi, actor and comedian; Neil Diamond, singer-songwriter; Mary Lou Retton, Olympic gymnast; Matthew Lillard, actor; Sharon Tate, actress; Aaron Neville, singer; Warren Zevon, singer-songwriter; Maria Tallchief, ballerina; Brian Cushing, football player; Nastassja Kinski, model and actress; Oral Roberts, televangelist; Edith Wharton, novelist.

A routine event becomes much more enjoyable quite by accident. Those who choose to accompany you will be surprised by your attitude.

VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22]

LIBRA [SEPT. 23-OCT. 22] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL[S[[[S[S[S[[S[SS[SSSS[S[[[[SSSSSSSSSS

SCORPIO [OCT. 23-NOV. 21] S[

SAGITTARIUS [NOV. 22-DEC. 21] S[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18]

Mind your manners. Do things in a way that attracts the right kind of attention. Don’t let anyone trick you in any way.

You’re entering a phase in which you may be required to test certain assumptions and beliefs before you can proceed according to plan.

You’re eager to see things progress according to plan, but be prepared: You’re not likely to get your way with absolutely everything.

Are you sure that you know what is expected of you? Take the time to read the fi ne print so that you’re not taken by surprise.

You can provide another with exactly what is needed, but at the same time, you will be giving yourself something of value, too.

Are you following the script to the letter? Today, even a single improvisation on your part can have far-reaching ramifi cations.

You don’t really believe that others will look the other way when you break with tradition and do something unconventional, do you?

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]

A

You can shake things up a bit and really up the ante for those who have become complacent. There’s no need to be conservative.

GEMINI [MAY 21-JUNE 20]

CANCER [JUNE 21-JULY 22]

LEO [JULY 23-AUG. 22]

CAPRICORN [DEC. 22-JAN 19]

Y O U R B I R T H D A Y

ARIES [March 21-APRIL 19]

TAURUS [APRIL 20-MAY 20]

You’ll feel good about what lies ahead, but toward midday, you may suspect that not everything is as it seems. Investigate closely.

You may be thinking a great deal about something that happened some time ago. Today you’ll come to an unsettling conclusion.

You may have to have eyes in the back of your head in order to keep track of all that is going on around you. Pay attention!

B8

EXTRAS AT U R DAY, JA N UA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

I’m doing variety of fi lms this year: Priyanka Chopra

DURING 2014, Priyanka Chopra was seen in two fi lms — action crime thriller Gunday and Mary Kom. But this year, she’ll be seen in four diff erent kinds of fi lms and the National Award-winning actress is looking forward to it. “This year I’m doing very good fi lms. I’m very very excited about it. This year Dil Dhadakne Do will release, which is a very contemporary story of a dysfunc-tional family. Then Bajirao Mastani will come... in which I play Indian Peshwa queen. Then I’m also doing Gangajal 2 and Mad-amji,” the actress said at the 60th Filmfare red carpet event. In Gangajal 2, I’m playing Ajay’s (Ajay Devgn) female counter-part. So, in Gangajal 2 I’m playing cop and in Madamji, I’m playing an item dancer. There is very nice variations of fi lms,” Priyanka added. Priyanka believes that she has always been a risk-taker in her career.

Working with Salman helped improve my Hindi: Jacqueline

SRI LANKAN origin actress Jacqueline Fernandez, who dubbed her own dialogues in Hindi in Kick opposite Salman Khan, says that her command over the language improved a lot after working with the Bol-lywood superstar. The actress was present at an event when she was asked about the major diff erence that she noticed in her career after working with Salman in Kick and she said: “Actually my Hindi improved so

much after working with Salman. He used to push me a lot in all the interviews that we did during the promotions. He wouldn’t allow me to speak in English. He is very inspiring...I felt like I was re-launched in the industry again. He had been such a great support, so encouraging...It was defi nitely a new beginning for me and I owe him a lot for that,” she added. On the fi lm front, Jacqueline will next be seen opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal in Roy. The fi lm is set to release on February 13. - IANS

B R I E F S

People who fi nd it diffi cult to get out of bed at the week-ends are more likely to suff er from chronic health

problems such as obesity and diabetes compared to individu-als who are up with the lark even when they do not have to go to work, a study has found.

Scientists said that people with “social jet-leg” – when sleeping patterns diff er signifi -cantly between work days and rest days – may suff er from a chronic metabolic disturbance that causes them to pile on the pounds and to develop diabetes and other health problems.

The researchers found an asso-ciation between social jet-leg and body fat when they analysed the sleeping patterns and weight of more than 800 people who have been followed for many years as part of the Dunedin Longitudinal Study in New Zealand.

Although they cannot say that social jet-leg causes obesity, the scientists believe that the link supports the idea that people whose body clocks are perpetu-ally out of synch with their work patterns are putting their metab-olism under strain, which mani-fests itself as obesity and other chronic disorders.

“Obesity, as with many com-plex health problems, is the result of a number of factors and our study suggests that social jet-lag is one of the factors that needs to be taken into account,” said Mi-chael Parson of the Mammalian Genetics Unit at the Medical Re-search Council in Harwell.

“Social jet-lag is an under re-searched but potentially key con-tributor to why living against our internal body clock has an impact on our health,” said Dr Parson, who is the lead author of the study published in the Interna-tional Journal of Obesity.

“Our research confi rms fi nd-

ings from a previous that con-nected people with more severe social jet-lag to increases in self-reported body mass index [body fat], but this is the fi rst study to suggest this diff erence in sleep-ing times and also increase the risk for obesity-related disease,” he said. The body’s internal clock runs on a “circadian rhythm” of about 24 hours but some people are considered “owls”, being more alert and active in the evening, while others are “larks”, being at their best in the morning.

Although many people tend to sleep in at the weekends when they do not have to go to work, the tendency for social “jet lag” with their work-day routine can diff er markedly between individuals. It was this diff erence between week-day and weekend sleep pat-terns that the study analysed, Dr Parson said.

“We found that for every two hours of social jet-lag we saw an average increase of about 2.5kg

(5lbs) in fat mass among those individuals. We think this relates to the daily rhythm regulating the expression of about 10 per of the body’s genes, many of which are involved in fat metabolism,” he said.

“It’s compatible with the hy-pothesis. As little as two hours of social jet-lag can increase the risk of health biomarkers such as obe-sity and diabetes,” he explained.

The researchers suggest that policies on working hours, such as the introduction of fl exi-time, could be introduced to refl ect the possible health risk for people who have to work against their body clocks.

Terrie Moffi tt, a co-author of the study, said: “Further research that determines this association could help to inform obesity pre-vention by infl uencing policies and practices that contribute to social jet-lag, such as work sched-ules and daylight savings.” — Steve

Connor/The Independent

FANCY A LIE-INON WEEKENDS? People with sleeping patterns which diff er signifi cantly between work days and rest

days may suff er from a chronic metabolic disturbance that causes them to gain weight

and to develop diabetes and other health problems

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, J A N UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

RENT C2

DAILY GUIDEEmail: [email protected] classifi [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

2 BR fl at for rent in Wadi Kabir next

to Al Maha Petrol Pump.

Rent RO 300 pm. contact 99440826

Fully furnished rooms for rent for

family. Contact 99251975,

Al Khuwair

2 bedrooms fl ats available at

Ghubrah, near Grand Mall, close to

Atlas Hospital, next to Diwan’s offi ce.

Contact 24562526, 99833747

For rent new fl at in Wadi Adai.

Contact 99345137

1,000 sq mtrs industrial land

in Misfah Industrial area near to

Khanco. OMR 1,500 Monthly. It has

Electricity and boundary wall.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

3 bedroom residential villa in Al

Khuwair near to Zakher Mall. Has

shaded car park. Can be used for

offi ce or other commercial purposes.

OMR 690 Monthly. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Ghubrah, 2 BHK, 3 bath new build-

ing, rent RO 380/- per month.

Contact 98266157

Flat deluxe in Al Amerat Mahaj 4, 3

rooms with 3 toilets.

Contact 99672604

Luxurious fl at with AC’s, 2 bed-

rooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen with

store & family hall. # 93366421

2 bedroom fully furnished luxurious

fl at for rent at Ghala for long term or

short term basis. Contact 97762321

1, 2, 3, BHK in Al khuwair.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK in Bowsher, Ghobra.

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHK in Ruwi. Contact 99792181

180 Sqr mtrs Showroom in CBD.

Contact 99792181

100 &190 Sqr Mtrs offi ce space in

Alkhuwair. Contact 99792181

New 4 Bhk Villa in Madhinat Ilham.

Contact 99792181

For store, workshop in Wadi Kabir

Industrial Area 5/5 m.

Contact 99374977

2 bedrooms fl at with hall,

2 bathrooms in Darsait near

Muscat Municipality.

Contact 24700120, 92584715

2 shops, store accommodation,

Barka Sanayya opposite Al Khalili.

Contact 92423401

C2 S AT U R D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

1&2 BHK fl at & Shop for rent at MBD,

Hamriya, Hallat sad, Al Khoudh area.

Contact: 24834644, 93994401, 02, 03

150 Sqm Store, Darsait, RO 300/-.

Contact 95076261

1 BHK near Medical, Darsait,

RO 175/-. Contact 98748925

Studio, Al Athaibah, ground fl oor,

1 BHK, hall, 2 bathrooms, family only.

RO 250/-. Contact 92479515

Flat, Al Ghubrah near Indian School,

2 BHK , RO 325, family only, 3 bath-

room, living room. Contact 92479515

Villa Al Athaibah near Oman post,

3 BHK hall, living room, maids room,

split A/c, family only, RO 600/-.

Contact 92479515

Offi ce space for rent in Ruwi,

OMR 500. Contact 91120552

Flat for rent in Al Khuwair 33.

Contact 99003626

One bedroom fl at, Muttrah,

Corniche. Contact 99414644

1 BHK with A/C, Al Ghubrah,

RO 275/-. Contact 92144045

Family villa & fl ats at Al Ansab and

Awabi. Contact 98458542

2 BHK fl ats Muttrah near Oman

House. Contact 97007934 /

92629232

1 BHK at Ghobrah - Near Indian

School. Contact: 99014885

Al Qurum heights Sea view.

# 99249069 / 92888376/ 93201688

3 fl ats in Mabellah for rent.

Contact 99445177

500 Sq Mtrs industrial land, lev-

eled, ready to use with boundary

wall, in Misfah industrial Area, block

2 near Baladiyah Camp, RO 600/-,

monthly. Contact 94030814

1000 Sq Mtrs, Industrial Land for

rent in Ghala suitable for warehouse

workshop etc. Contact 24700120,

92584715

Flat in Darsait. Contact 99326879

New bldg 3 BR fl ats located at

Darsait, Muscat close to Kims Pvt

Hospital. Contact 92020004 /

99800838

Offi ce space & store, CBD 20059.

Contact 99024730

New warehouse for rent at Ghala

ind. area. 578 & 1200 sqms near.

hotel al-madinah holiday, Ghala.

Container can enter, immediate ac-

cess to roads & highways.

Contact : 92078090

For rent at Al Khuwair, 4 bedrooms,

3 bathrooms, sitting, dining, kitchen

split A/C near Rawasco, 1st fl oor.

Rent 480 PDC. Contact 99879939

2 BHK, Darsait near Kims Hospital.

Contact 99024730

For rent at Ruwi, 2 bedrooms, 2

bathrooms, sitting, dining, kitchen

with A/C near Al Falaj Hotel, Ruwi,

Way 2116 building 577, rent RO 275,

PDC. Contact 99879939

For rent at Al Khuwair, 1 room with

bathroom (Independent), near Raw-

asco with split A/C, 2nd fl oor, rent RO

125 PDC. Contact 99879939

Flat for rent Ghubrah South, ground

fl oor fl at, 3 bedrooms, majlis, family

hall, RO 425/-. Contact 94669711

2 BHK Commercial, Al Khuwair,

RO 375/-. Contact 92144045

6 shops in Mabela Industrial Area.

Each Front Shop OMR 400 and Side

Shop OMR 300Monthly.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Fully furnished one bedroom

penthouse Wadi Kabir behind Sana

Hassan, weekly RO.140/- Monthly

RO 350/- Contact – 99349990

1,000 sq mtrs industrial land in

Misfah Industrial area near to Khan

co. OMR 1,500 Monthly. Electricity

and boundary wall will be provided.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Family room available for rent at

Muttrah Souq. Contact 24712088 /

99022790

Flat, shops, basement, Ruwi-MBD

Area, Honda Road.

Contact 96942749, 92433127

2 BHK, Al Khuwair. #99024730

Spacious well maintained 2 BHK at

Rex Road from 1st February.

Contact 92227165

2 BHK, CBD. Contact 99024730

Offi ce space with cassette type A/C’s

with free internet at al Khuwair near

KM Hypermarket. Contact 99460330

1 & 2 BHK & villa 3 BR-Darsait near

ISM & ISD. Contact 99024730

1 BHK, 2 BHK, Ghala, new bldg.

Contact 99024730

1 BHK, Wadi Kabir. # 99024730

Flat for Rent in Ruwi, Bareeq Shatti,

Mawalah.# 92521080, 98899916

6 bedroom villas at Al Ansab

(nr Express highway).

Contact 99199365

Villas & fl ats & stores. Contact

99776071 / 99057348

2 BHK Pent House with split A/C

in all rooms, very spacious balcony

with sea & city view RO 350, 2 BHK

RO 340, Bldg #1619, Way #1322

adjacent to Indian Nursery Darsait.

Contact 99476728 / 99831047

Villa, ground fl oor in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99743569, 97004265

1 BHK bedroom fl at in Wadi Kabir

neat Kuwaiti Mosque RO 200/-.

Contact 95094028

Abu Adnan Tower - fl at for rent

available at Al Mabelah, 2 B/R,

1 hall, 2 toilets, 1 kitchen.

Contact 95566475 / 99654252

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

2 BHK fl at for rent RO.350/- at

Al Khuwair near Sultan Taimur

Mosque. Contact – 98893294

1 BHK with attached toilet & bath-

room behind Bank Muscat at

Wadi Kabir. Contact 99373290,

24815012

OFFICES FOR RENT

Contact: 97377355 / 95530121, Email id: [email protected]

- Premium offices to let a very good location on the main road very close to Zakher Mall, Al Khawiar. Business Center has offices with sizes of 50m2, 110m2, 180m2, 207m2, 230m2, 437m2.- Showroom also available at Business Center, Area 500m2 with central A/c. - Offices with Central Air-conditions, Security System with CCTV cameras, and Security presence in the building.

3BHK, (3 bathroom and big hall)

opp. Apollo Hospital, Hamariya R/A

(OMR 300/-) Contact 91181761

Showroom space available in

Qurum. Road Facing prime location.

commercially viable and aff ordable.

Contact- 98839950

Twin villa at Al-Kuwair 33. Six

rooms with bathrooms. 670 OMR,

contact: 99414767. Families only.

We have 3 BHK apartment in Al

Khuwair 28 Muna Complex with

swimming pool, gym, covered car

parking, prime location, good for

European & Indian Families. Contact

93782735 / 99208033

We have 2 BHK fl ats in Ghala, 2 BHK

offi ces in Ghala, 100 SQM open space

offi ce in Ghala. Full furnished offi ce in

Ghala, 4 BHK villa in Al Khuwair 33. #

93782735 / 99208033

We have 2 BHK luxury fl ats with 3

toilets in Ghala for rent, very spa-

cious, building on main road, huge

parking, good for families, 20 fl ats

available. # 93782735 / 99208033

We have 3 BHK fl at in Ghubah North

close to sea with balcony, very nice

location. #93782735 / 99208033

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 5 C3

FOR RENT

FOR SALE

1 BHK residential fl at at Honda road.

2 BHK residential fl at opposite to

Al Nahdha hospital. Contact93219590

Flat for rent 2 bedrooms one hall in

South Al Hail. RO 270. #93221474

1 BHK fl at Qurum RO.270/- with

split A/C. Contact – 99358589 /

95570288 /97079146

2 BHK fl at at Al Khuwair RO.370/-

with split A/C. Contact – 99358589 /

95570288 /97079146

If require fl ats for rent in Wadi

Kabir please send messages through

Whatsapp or call – 99376454

Luxury 2 bed room villa at Bausher-

AL Ansab Phase 3.Call. 99324456

2 BHK at Al Azaiba, Building No.5145

Way 4470. Contact 99224748,

99425665

We have 1 BHK, 2 BHK, 3 BHK fl ats,

4, 5 bedrooms villa, open space offi c-

es & shops available in Ghala, Gho-

brah, Qurum, Mabela, Ruwi, Darsait,

Mumtaz, Wadi Kabir. All brand new

buildings & very aff ordable prices.

Contact 93782735 / 99208033

For rent apartments: An apartment

in old Muscat at Oman Arab Bank’s

building. 3 bedrooms + 3 bathrooms,

dining room, living room and a

kitchen. Air conditioned apartments.

2 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms, living

room, dining room area and kitchen

in an excellent location in

Al Khuwair opposite the court of fi rst

instance. For further information

call 97072976

Apartments in Al Khuwair new area

each apartment contains (2 bedrooms

+ living room) for RO 365. # 93181111

3 bedroom furnished Executive

Apartment @Al Khuwair 25, 2 BR

fully furnished Executive Apartment

@Azaiba near Zubair Showroom, 2

BR fully furnished executive Apart-

ment @Al Khuwair 33 near Zakher

Mall. Please contact : Atlas Real

Estate & Rent A Car LLC, 99249069

/ 92888376 / 93201688,

email : [email protected]

Industrial Land in Misfah.

Contact 93009999

Flats and shops. Contact 93009999

For rent (fl ats), 2 bedrooms + hall

+kitchen, location: South Al Mawaleh.

Contact 99870020

1 / 3 BHK Flat Ghobrah, close to ISG

Way 4041, building 4390.

Contact 99319880

Show room on the main road Saham

center total area 450 m sq.

Contact: 99366558 / 99334226

Flats/villas owned by ROP pension

fund available for rent in Muscat.

Contact 99349526

Flats ground fl oor, 3 Rooms & AC,

kitchen, hall, in Al Mabaila South.

Contact 99377290

2 B/ R Fully Furnished Executive Apart-

ment @ Al Khuwair 33 Near Zaker Mall.

3 Bedroom Furnished executive apart-

ment @ Al Khuwair 25. 5 B/R Luxury

Fully Furnished villas at Azaiba with

servants, 3 Bedroom Unfurnished Villa

@ Mawalah South Area 6 with Servant

Quarter, 5 Bedroom Unfurnished Villa

@ An Apartment that resembles a

penthouse has 2 rooms with 2 toilets,

living room & an elegant balcony.

Fully furnished, suited for families.

Final price RO.300/- Mabela 8 near

German University. #99888400

New Villa for Rent Two fl oors

newly built villa in Maabillah, 8 Full-

fl edged Residential Area 6 Rooms, 8

Toilets, excellent fi nishing spacious

Kitchen, Big Dining Rooms in Both

Floors, Easy Access to Muscat and

Sohar using Maabillah Bridge.

Contact 92828303

For sale carpentry workshop with

labor clearance in Wadi Al Kabir.

Contact 99345137

2 Prime Movers Man 2008 with 40

ton petrol tank each working at the

moment in Al Maha. Price OMR 35

Thousand each. Tel: 97000155 or

92688692

Used fi rst class offi ce furniture for

immediate sale. 3 Offi ce Tables +

Side Tables, Steel cabinets, Confer-

ence Table + Chairs etc. Excellent

condition. Ideal for small start ups.

Contact: 92193885

Sales of Indian Schools girls uni-

form readymade, stitching facility,

contact our showroom : Fashion

park, opp. Happy Centre, Ruwi.

Contact 95717201 / 95331600,

Email : muscatfi [email protected]

Dental clinic for sale in

Sohar. Contact immediately

99705760,92625962

Well running fast food and coff ee

shop for sale or rent in Al Khuwair.

Contact 97646492

Sale of used commercial kitchen

equipment in Ghala. #99024519

600 sq mtrs residential land in Mis-

fah Phase 2. OMR 25 Thousand. Tel :

99333479 or 95215360

Sinaw Gift House & Shopping

Center for sale at Sinaw in good con-

dition, with very good business op-

portunities. # 99738014, 95652642

Good running boutique and ladies

tailoring shop in MBD Area for im-

mediate sale. Contact 95123679,

99885298

Toshiba Laptop I 3, 3 GB ram, 500 GB

hard disk with graphics card, in very

good condition. Contact 94412557

Running Medical Centre with

full equipments is available for

sale. Those interested can contact

98994208.

If you have any empty land, plot,

building, villa to sell. Contact with all

information : [email protected]

Restaurant for leasing/sale in

Al Hail. Contact 94148970,

94148972, 97820877

Beauty Salon, Wadi Kabir, Al Hassan

Co. Contact 95241147, 96700192

Darsait Business Offi ce furniture,

Isuzu 4 ton brand new.

Contact 91391363

A/C spares shop for sale in Seeb.

Contact 92693304 / 91445876

Villa for sale in new Al Khoudh.

Contact 99778773

Clinic for sale. Contact 99824232,

email : modern.medicalclinic@gmail.

com

23,886 Sq Mtrs Agriculture land

with water well in Al Salwa, Barka.

OMR 260 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

I room with attached toilet in Al Hail

for bachelor, rent RO 100 to RO 130/-.

Contact 97661432

Industrial empty plots 1000 –

15000 sqm are available in Misfah /

Jiff nain rent for long lease, RO 1.200

per sq mt. Contact 96789522

2 BHK with window A/C in Al Khoudh

rent RO 250/-. Contact 97661432

Constructed warehouse 3000 sq mt

with boundary wall & gate in Misfah

ready for lease or rent for long term.

Rent RO 3.500 per sq. mt. #96789522

A newly opened Barber Shop for

sale at upcoming industrial zone in

Misfah. Expat leaving Oman.

Genuine buyers call 93833107

(Sale Price Negotiable)

Running Workshop for Tiles /

Marble & Granite cutting & skirting

in Wadi Kabir for immediate sale.

Contact 99105492

Household items on sale.

Contact 93833107

Port cabins – New & refurnished

Porta cabin for sale and rent.

Contact 96723468

Flats for Sale in Bowshar: OMR

35 Thousand 1 bedroom. OMR 45

Thousand 2 bedroom. Monthly

income 1 bedroom OMR 270 and 2

bedroom OMR 350. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

Sale!, all household items, like fridge,

freezer, cooking range, washing

machine, window/split A/Cs, LCD TV,

Laptop, tab and many more for attrac-

tive prices. Location :

near Toyota service Center, Honda

Road. Contact - 97048983, 95293643

New fully equipped 2 chair dental

clinic in Seeb area for immediate

sale. MOH approved. #94514045

3 fl oor commercial building in Mutt-

rah behind Police. Generating income

of OMR 18 Thousand annually. 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

ACC. AVAILABLE

Sharing room with A/c and attached

toilet available for non cooking

bachelors for male/ Female. opp. of

Al nada hospital service road, Street

name- Hellat Al Saad, bldg.no. 1670.

Contact no. 96913801

Ghubrah furnished room with

attached bath, dish, wi-fi available for

executive person. Contact 98266157

Furnished room with AC for expat,

Al Khuwair. Contact 99689315 /

97004265

Room available in Ruwi near Badr

Al Samaa for Executive bachelor or

couple, RO 125/- including W/E.

Contact 92196783

Furnished sharing one room with

bath at Darsait near ISM.

Contact 95257213

1 room balcony toilet for Indian lady

/ small family near Khimji Institute

(NIIT) near Ruwi Church.

Contact # 99746379

Independent room, kitchen and

bathroom available near Ruwi

roundabout. Contact 99016562

4 bedrooms house and one bedroom

attached bathroom sharing kitchen

in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 96639246

Spacious semi-furnished room with

separate entrance, attached wash-

room for non-cooking Indian Bach-

elor near ISG. Contact 95146361,

92657598

Single room attached bathroom,

kitchen, split A/C, Al Ghubrah near

Mars Hypermarket, OR 180/-.

Contact 95094028

Single room available for exec

bachelor, Muttrah opp Oman House.

Contact 93340125

Independent rooms in Qurum/

Al Hail. Contact 95529970

Furnished single room with

attached bathroom near Mars

Hypermarket, Al Ghubrah.

Contact 97312111, RO 150/-

per month

Independent room furnished

Executive at Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99336206

Rooms for rent in Al Hail, front of

the Wave. Contact 95192927

Room with separate toilet and WiFi,

Wadi Kabir near pencil building.

Contact 93416854

2 Bedroom fl at for offi ces with

furniture near Al Manaf Hotel, Ghala.

Contact 99525743, 99439705

Excellent 3 bedrooms , 2 sitting

rooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen & store

with A/C. 92817777

AVAILABLE

Established Restaurant for rent with

sponsorship.Contact 97628242

Party & Wedding equipment rent-

als. Full line, from Tables, Linen

& Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers,

Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chaf-

ing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large

Sound Systems and spectacular

lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for

Catering and Croyden 9623 5555

for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.

com, E-mail: [email protected]

DAILY GUIDEC4 S AT U R D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

DRIVER

Email: [email protected] classifi [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

ADMIN/HR

ENGINEERS

Light Driver having own visa looking

for job as driver Contact 92303692

Light driver & delivery boy available. Experience & Graduate.

Contact 98987475

Offi ce Executive light driver, 2 yrs exp. Contact 93408758

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 94077119

Driver with car. Contact 91452930

Indian Driver need job with car.

Contact 91254539

Light vehicle driver looking for job,

experience 2 yrs. Contact 94195818

LV Driver- 2 yrs Exp-know

English- Contact 95292064

Light vehicle driver looking for job.

Contact 95141473

Light Driver looking for job.

Contact 92787245

Driver seeking job. #99805236

6 Years experience light duty driver.

Contact – 96736744

Light driver looking for job.

Contact 92791678

Indian male on Visit Visa. Expert

in ELV systems, Instrumentation,

PID controllers, Embedded systems,

Electronics CAD. 20years experi-

ence. Contact 98915066

Indian Civil Engineer, M.Tech in

Construction Management, Pri-

mavera Expert looking for suitable

placement. Contact 92550987

Indian female, Electrical Engineer

(family visa) M-Tech in Power Sys-

tem having 1 yr experience seeking

suitable placement.#94306164

Project Engineer (B.E Civil) having

10 yrs experience in Interior fi t out

industry looking for suitable open-

ing from reputed companies (NOC

available) from current employer.

Contact 91403433

Chemical Engr with experience in

analytical instrumentation, bulk

drugs and herbal production.

Contact [email protected]

Aircraft Maintenance Technician with one year experience seeks

suitable placement. Contact

[email protected]

Generator maintenance in charge

with 4 yrs experience with

Cummins, caterpillar, kirloskar

and voltas. Contact - email:

[email protected]

Mechanical Engineer,(BE in

Mechanical) with Certifi ed quality

controller - NDT level 2 qualifi ed

as per ASNT - SNT-TC-I A, having

experience as quality control en-

gineer in India, presently on visit

visa, seeks suitable placement .

Cont : [email protected] /

95405033

Indian male, (MCA, B.Sc Maths)

locally available with 4 yrs experi-

ence in Software Engineering (IOS

Development) also experienced

IT & Maths Teacher.

Contact 93396053, 93927437,

email: [email protected]

Indian male, 28 yrs, Electrical En-

gineer, 5 yrs Gulf Oman experience

in HV and LV Installation work

seeking placement. NOC available.

Contact 91391587

Diploma Civil Engineer, Indian

male, 29, 4 yrs experience in

building construction fi eld, 2

yrs experience with consulting

company in Oman driving license

and release available from cur-

rent company. Contact 93282447,

[email protected]

Diploma in Civil Engineer, 6 yrs

experience in Oman with D/L.

Contact 94052815

Mechanical Engineer, Indian

male, 6 yrs experience, 3 yrs in

GCC, seeking suitable opening in

Oil & Gas Sector, have valid GCC

D/L. email : [email protected],

Contact 91228398

B. Tech Civil Eng. 3 yrs exp in

Oman with driving license.

Contact 93733627.

Mail id : [email protected],

[email protected]

Building Construction Sr. Site

Supervisor looking for better oppor-

tunity since March 2010 in Oman

with Omani D/L. Contact 93061107

Diploma in Civil Engineer, 20 yrs in

Oman with D/L. Contact 94677220

39, Indian Male, Diploma in

Mechanical Engineering, 6 yrs

experience steel fabrication,

maintenance of heavy equipments

in Oman, 10 yrs in India, having

Omani Driving License, NOC avail-

able. Contact 96728805,


Diploma in Civil Engineer, 15 yrs

Oman experience (total 28 yrs) look-

ing for senior position with valid D/L,

NOC available. Contact 99013465

Pakistani male, 41 yrs Electrical

Foreman, 9 yrs exp in Gulf seeking

employment for suitable position.

NOC release. Contact 99562454,

92896190

HSE Offi cer, 8 yrs experience

NEBOSH OSHA having NOC,

seeking good opportunity.

Contact 98640063

Indian Female, 24, UK Gradu-

ate - MSc Digital Communication

Network Engineering with B.Tech

Electronics and Communication

with Omani Driving License, seeks

suitable placement. #95408113

Sudanese Mechanical Engineer, 3 yrs experience in HVAC fi re

fi ghting, NOC and driving license

available. Contact 91135140

EDUCATION

Indian male MBA 32 yrs having

10 yrs of exp seeking suitable place-

ment in Admin/ HR/ Operations/

Coordination/ Logistics etc. Holding

valid Oman D/L .Contact - 99054786

Indian female Graduation in

computer Science having 2 yrs

experience in Oman seeking for

suitable job in Admin/HR,


or contact 92014628

Post Graduate Indian male, MBA

(Hospital Administration) hav-

ing 4 Years experience in hospital

administration looking for suitable

placement. Currently on visit.

Contact: 96701543, 92945632

HR & Admin Assistant, 26 yrs

Indian male having 6+Yrs of experi-

ence looking for suitable position.

Contact 93264616

Indian female with excellent

communication skills, confi dent,

dedicated to work and enthusiastic.

Knowledge about ms offi ce. Has

6 years of experience in cus-

tomer service, telecommunication,

HR.Looking for immediate place-

ment. Contact # 97348819

ACCOUNT. & FINANCEACCOUNT. & FINANCE

MANAGER

ARCHI./ DRAUGHTSMAN

Dentist required to work urgently in

dreams clinic at Al Khoud and must

be resident in Sultanate of Oman.

Please send your CV to the following

email – [email protected] /

[email protected] /

[email protected]

Mobile – 99882340 / 24545914

Wanted Pharmacist (B.Pharm), Staff Nurses (female), Dental Tech-nician (Acrylic, Ceramic & veneer

experience), with or without MOH

license for a polyclinic near Sohar.

Excellent Salary package.

Contact 99006915,

[email protected]

DESIGNER

DESIGNER

DOMESTIC HELPER

AutoCAD Interior Designer / de-

tailer, 9 yrs GCC experience seeking

for a suitable opening in a reputed

company, NOC available from current

employer. Contact 92110589

Indian female, 25yrs Bsc-

FASHION DESIGNING, 3yers

experience in designing fi eld and

teaching. looking for a sutable

placement. Contact: 98785310.

Email: [email protected]

A reputed Catering Company in

Muscat urgently requires Omani heavy truck (Freezer) drivers – 4 yrs experience with PDO license

will mostly be preferred. Interested

candidates send CV to :

email : [email protected] or

fax : 24478123, GSM : 99869949 /

95892831

Wanted driver. Contact

95112461

DRIVER

BEAUTY

CATERING

We are looking for a part time accountant for our offi ce . Must

have knowledge of Tally soft ware

. Working hour is fl exible , but not

after 5 pm .Please contact by e-

mail : [email protected] /

mobile + 968 99338105

Required experienced Account-ant Tally, excellent English &

driving license. Contact –

[email protected] /

24497762 / 92192510

ADMIN

MECHANICAL

Construction Company requires female executive assistant, with

good computer and communica-

tion skills, advanced English,

fl uent Arabic. Please send your CV

[email protected]

Indian female, 25 yrs, bachelors of

businesses management, having

experience of 5 years as a fund/

fi nancial administration, on visit

visa,looking for suitable placement.

Contact 94662416

[email protected]

Indian male having 14 years

of experience in Various dept.

(stockbroking Dealing, Back Offi ce

Accounts, Dmat, Settlement, Risk

management, Maintaining Books of

accounts ETC).Having Good Com-

puter Knowledge seeking suitable

placement. # +91 9820240094

Email Id: [email protected],

Indian Male 25 years B.Com hav-

ing 3 years of exp of Oman in Ac-

counts/Administration.Well versed

with computer knowledge looking

for suitable position. Immidi-

ately available. Contact:93207867


Omani Trainers & OJT’s for Mechanical / Electrical / Instru-mentation & Business with suitable

qualifi cation and min 5 yrs experi-

ence in Oil & Gas. Very attractive

salary off ered. Suitable candidates

send your CV to

[email protected]

Required laboratory technician &

4 nurse Filipina (female) for health

center in Sohar. Contact: 92369417,

Email: shafi [email protected]

Wanted Female Staff Nurse with

MOH Licence/Prometric passed can-

didates (immediate placement)for a

Medical Clinic in Muscat area

Contact :+ 968 98185250

e mail:fi zashafi [email protected]

Wanted Physiotherapist and Lab Technician to work in medical cent-

er in AlSeeb. Contact 99023006

Required the following staff s for a

medical complex in Salalah urgently

1) Female Gynecologist, Arab Nationality, 2) Male Pharmacist, Indian, 3) Lab Technician, Indian. Those interested kindly

contact 97413418, 92732491.

Please send your resume to

[email protected]

Wanted female physiotherapist with MOH License. Send CV at Email

: [email protected]

General practitioner Doctor is

required to work urgently in Dreams

Clinic at Al Khoudh and must be

resident in the Sultanate of Oman.

Please send your CV to the following

email: [email protected],

[email protected] &

info@towersinternationalgroups.

com, Mobile 99882340,

Tel: 24545914

Urgently required a GP Doctor with MOH license for a leading Med-

ical Clinic. # 92008272 / 96602188,


Urgently required an experienced Pharmacist with MOH License for a

reputed Pharmacy in Muscat.

Please send CV to

[email protected]

SALES / MARKETING

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Accountant, Indian Male, B.Com,

MBA presently working in Oman

since 9 yrs having suitable change,

NOC/Release available. #94134085,


Indian Male, MBA, B.com Hav-

ing 7 yrs of experience in fi nance

Department (Trading & Logistics)

with knowledge of ERP & Tally, and

Oman valid D/L. NOC is available

looking for suitable Position contact

No.99279626 Email ID:

[email protected]

Indian male, BE MBA PMP having

20 yrs exp in Civil Residential Com-

mercial Infra Construction and con-

tract management looking for role in

Project / Program Management. NOC


Accounts Manager, 8 yrs experi-

ence in trade, construction and real

estate looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact 94669596

Indian male, B.Com with 2 yrs Oman

exp & 4.5 yrs Accounts exp looking

for suitable placement in Accounts

with NOC letter. Email :

[email protected]

Part time Accounts & Finalization

job. Contact 96536955

Pakistani Male MBA having 4 years

experience in Accounting looking

for job.NOC Available. # 95610772

Accountant, B.Com, MBA, In-

dian male, having 4 yrs GCC exp in

similar fi eld, valid Omani D/L & NOC

available. shinuyesodharan@gmail.

com, contact : 91719385

Indian male, 24 yrs MBA, having

2 yrs of experience in fi nancial ac-

counting fi nalization, knowledge of

Tally, ERP, focus, wings, PEACHTREE,

MS Excel, Payroll, currently on visit

visa seeking suitable placement

available immediately.

Contact 91058205, email :

[email protected]

Indian male, 29 yrs, Accounts /

Administrator, 1.8 yrs exp in Gulf

seeking employment for suitable

position. NOC available.

Contact 93581182

Pakistani male, 25 yrs, MBA

Finance, 1.6 yrs exp in Accounts

seeking placement in Accounts,

Administration or Business Manage-

ment. Contact 92651927 / 94250149

Male, 4 yrs of experience as Finan-

cial Analyst looking for suitable

position. Contact 94140728

B.Com Graduate, 3 yrs experience

in Accounts, Indian male, looking for

accounts or suitable job.

Contact- [email protected],

93975526

Part time Accountant with 15 yrs

exp in Accounting, Auditing, Taxa-

tion Management.#95857199

Finance Manager, CPA, with more

than 15 yrs. of experience in GCC.

Fully knowledgeable in Finance,

General & Management Accounting .

NOC available. Contact 96209331

Accounts part time works upto fi na-

lization & fi nalization works.

Contact 96247295

Accountant / Auditor, Srilankan

male 27, having 3+ yrs experience

looking for suitable placement.

Contact 93556320

Indian Male, MBA 2 yrs experience

in Accounts, Admin & HR on visit

visa. Contact 92045306

India Accountant: Male, M com,

7 Yrs experience in Accounts up to

fi nalization, having knowledge of

ERP, Tally, seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact:93950138


English Teacher (M.A, B.Ed) Indian

female with 2yrs of experience look-

ing for suitable position # - 91507099.

28 yrs Indian male, M.Arch, 3.5 yrs

exp in Green Building Architecture

seeking placement. #91540113,


AutoCAD jobs, Preparing Working/

Shop Drawings & Civil Quantity Sur-

veying jobs. Contact : 92758095

Male Accouuntant required in

Ghala. Candidates present

in Oman only. # 99454425,


A well reputed fabrication &

machining workshop Company in

Oman requires experienced

(5 yrs) Machinist in Milling,

turning & surface grinding.

Contact 99228046,


Urgently required AC Mechanic. Contact 97075347 / 99747684

SIT.WANTED

Required part time web designer

with experience in CMS back-

ground. Send your CV & sample

work to [email protected]

Urgently required Interior Designer qualifi ed with minimum

5 yrs experience, capable to execute

internal / external decorations to work

for a leading construction company.

Email : [email protected]

or fax : 24479675

House driver for Salalah. Contact

95600011, 99081190

European woman looking for

someone to look after baby.

Contact 99797290

European Family looking for maid and or cook. Email: [email protected]

Brand new restaurant requires: Restaurant Managers – Degree

/ Diploma in Hotel Manage-

ment with minimum 5/6 yrs Gulf

experience. Omani / Yamani cook

minimum 5 yrs experience.

Interested candidates send CV to :

Email : [email protected] or

fax : 24478123, GSM : 95892831

Required driver with car, looking

for a person with experience in

making gift boxes and special

packing. Send CV to

[email protected]

Bangladeshi male, Arabic cook, 10

yrs experience UAE, 2 yrs Oman.

Contact 94360784

Urgently required a dynamic Marketing Executive for a furniture

company. Should posses a valid

Omani Driving License. #97164554 /

[email protected]

Urgently needed, Projects Sales Executives (3), Store Helpers (2), kitchen carpenters (2), Offi ce Assistants/Secretary (2) (All male only) for a leading building

material trading company. Candi-

dates with right education, experi-

ence and D/L (Sales), please email

CV to [email protected]

Urgently required Sales Personnel (full time / part time) - 5 to 10 yrs

experience in Building Materials,

knowledge of Arabic is an advan-

tage, should have car. Email :

[email protected]

Reputed Building Materials Company looking for Outdoor Sales Executive having valid Omani D/L

with more than 2 yrs Local Sales

Experience in Tiles/Sanitaryware.

Please fax your CV to 24798709 /


Looking for outdoor salesman for heavy equipments.

Contact- 93292015, 99656542

Highly reputed Perfume Company requires Omani Sales girl promoters. Contact 95663682,

92956876

Indian male, 32 years, M. Com.

7 out of 9 years experience in Oman

in Accounts/fi nance. Having NOC and

valid Oman D/L. Contact 98277143,


Jordanian Engineer Electrical 7 yrs

exp. Consulting, site & shop drawing

works. Ready to join immediately.

Worked in UAE & Saudi Arabia.

Contact - 00971555594733

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

Urgently required Beautician visa available. Contact 97172334

Wanted Accountant part time job

in Company,

email : [email protected],

[email protected]

A reputed Electrical Material Company is looking for dynamic & hardworking salesman with

minimum 2 yrs experience in same

fi eld of GCC with valid GCC Driving

License for its Mussanah offi ce

for Al-Batina Region. Send CV to

[email protected],

contact : 98534685, 26868984

Required an experienced person who has ideas to start a new

business in electrical fi eld or supply

with minimum cost.

Contact 99426421

SALES / MARKETING

Indian Female, B.com, 2year Indi-

an Exp. in Accounts, strong in Tally

ERP 9,MS Offi ce, looking for suit-

able position. Part time/Full time.

Contact-95939129, 99104579,

mail:[email protected]

Indian Female, B. Com, 2year

Indian Exp. in Accounts, strong in

Tally ERP 9,MS Offi ce, looking for

suitable position.

Part time/Full time. Contact no:

95939129, 99104579,

[email protected]

Indian Male, 31 years of Rich

Oman experience in Multifunction-

al Management, Administration,

Business Development, Purchase

& Operations, seeking suitable

Manager/Supervisory Position.Visa

transfer/NOC Available.

Contact : 95036410

26 years male, MBA Finance &

Marketing, 1 year experience in

marketing. Looking for sales job.

Contact: 95437921

31 years, male with Gulf Experi-

enced Microsoft Certifi ed Solu-

tion Associate, Have GCC driving

license, looking for a suitable job

as Network/System Administrator.

Phone: +968 93927126, 99853614,


Mechanical Engineer with 10+

years experience currently on visit

visa looking for a Operation Man-

ager/Branch Manager position in

reputed organizations. #95757845

Indian female, Accountant. having

+5 years experience in Oman till

Nov 2014. seeking suitable place-

ment. NOC available. currently in

family visa. Contact :98447045,

email:[email protected]

IT supports 6 yrs experience, male,

Filipino Desktop Support, Backup

administrator, Wireless Networking,

server admin. #- +96896126502

Indian male, 26 yrs - MBA Gradu-

ate with 3 yrs of Experience in

Banking ( Standard Chartered Bank

Scope International - Operations)

&Coff ee Vending Machine (Fresh

& Honest Cafe ltd - Operations)

on Visit Visa seeking placement.

Contact 91267867

Indian male 23 yrs, 4 yrs experi-

enced in Architectural Draughts-

man looking for a suitable Post

GSM:96023726, Email

[email protected]

INDIAN, B.E Mechanical Engineer, 2 years job experience in Oman

in pipeline fi eld, fl uent in English,

Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, with

valid Omani driving license (light)

searching for job. Contact 99871470

Male 28, seven & half an year ex-

perience. Worked as maintenance

division co-ordinator, purchaser’s

assistant, and offi ce administra-

tion works. Valid driving license.

Contact 94454847

Indian male, 25yrs, MBA in mar-

keting from Delhi with 1 year ex-

perience in operation department,

currently on visit visa seeking suit-

able placements. Ph 97334359


Civil Engineer, B.E in civil ,

Approx. two year experience in

Oman, Pakistani age 29 years.

Contact : 94389853 Email :

[email protected]

Male 28, seven & half an year ex-

perience. Worked as maintenance

division co-ordinator, purchaser’s

assistant, and offi ce administra-

tion works. Valid driving license.

94454847

Indian, female, Pharmacist avail-

able with NOC and MOH License,

preferably in Muscat. # 9439 1355.

Senior Accounts Professional,

Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com,

MBA (Fin) 8 years in Oman, with

valid Oman DL and NOC available.

Capable to handle accounts up to

fi nalization. Contact 9602 3965.


DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECHNICAL MEDICAL

MEDICAL

MECHANICAL/TECH.

SECRETARIAL/OFFICE

Indian female, well experienced

in secretarial, administration,

customer care & supervisory jobs.

5 years experience in Muscat.

Immediately available for joining.

Contact: 92139298

TOUR / TRAVELS

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Civil foreman maintenance D/L,

12 yrs in Oman, 2 yrs in Kuwait.

Contact 96405865, 99534138,

India - +91 7589248550,

+91 9464255409, email:

[email protected]

Seeking job, BTech Instrumenta-

tion, 12 years experience Design,

FEED, Detailed engineering, Oil

& Gas, Instrumentation systems,

Oman Driving license.

Email :- [email protected]

Mobile:- 00968 99048130

Indian female, 25 yrs, B.Com with

computer Application,

1 yr experience as Accountant,

looking for suitable job.

Contact 98847165

Graduate, Indian, having 6 yrs

experience in Sales with D/L, NOC


Sales & Marketing Indian male

MBA (marketing & sales) business

development experience at all levels

of management. Currently on visit

visa. Contact – 91272819

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

MBA Finance, 7 yrs exp in Financial

& Banking Sector seeks suitable

position with Driving License.

Contact 98371903

Quality Assurance Offi cer, ISO

Quality System Internal Auditor, BSc

Graduate, female 27, with 4 years

experience seeks suitable placement.

Contact [email protected]

Microbiologist & Quality Assurance Executive, BSc Graduate, female, 27

with 4 yrs experience in food industry

looking for a suitable placement.


Logistics Offi cer, Experience in

Store keeping. Contact : 99505934

BCA Graduate, Indian male with 1yr

of exp in System Admin, IT Support,

Network Admin and 1yr exp as sales

Executive.CCNA,MCSE .looking for

suitable job. # 95938303

email- [email protected]

IT Professional, 7 yrs exp in Sys-

tem Administration, IT Support,

Networking etc. currently on visit

visa. Contact 94064579,


Indian Female, 28 yrs Staff Nurse,

7 yrs of experience (4 yrs in Gulf)

presently working in India, Oman

Prometric passed 63%, valid BLS &

ACLS certifi cates, looking for

suitable job in Muscat area.


or call 93137898

Female Pharmacist with MOH

license seeking suitable job

Contact 93215380

Female dentist with MOH license

and with Noc looking for suitable

placement in Muscat region

Contact no. 99147426

Lab Technician, Civil (8yrs Gulf

experience) looking for a suitable job

(NOC available) Contact-93344378

Indian male, B.Sc nurse with critical

care specialization, 16 yrs experi-

ence including GCC Oman Prometric

passed, seeking for good posting.

Contact 91124083, 96132494

Indian female Nurse, 4 yrs experi-

ence Prometric passed, seeking for

good posting.#92917448, 97362119

Diploma of Associate Civil Engi-

neering, Diploma of AutoCad, having

3.5 yrs experience, 2 yrs experience

of Oman in Building Construction,

valid transferrable ID Card.

Contact 94378581

Indian B.Tech Mechanical Engi-neer, 26 yrs, 4 yrs experience in

HVAC/MEP. Contact 94669629,

[email protected]

26, female, B.Tech in Electronics &

biomedical engineering with 1 And

Half yrs experience in medical fi eld

is seeking suitable job openings.

Email : [email protected],

ph : 94652908

Telecommunication Engineer with

5 yrs experience in the Gulf.

Contact 95219822

Electrical Project Engineer, 4 yrs

experience OHL, Substations, Oil &

Gas fi eld, AutoCAD. D/L available.

Contact 95120225

Civil Engineer with 12 years Experi-

ence Looking For Job.

Contact 98162295

Indian male, 26 yrs B-Tech (ECE)

with MBA in Marketing / HR looking

for a suitable placement. Currently

on visit visa valid up to 30 January

2015. Contact 93754428,


DAE (Civil) having 3.5 years Experi-

ence 2 years from Oman with driving

licences, seeking for suitable position

in Construction fi eld NOC and release

available . Contact 96968554


M. Tech Electrical Eng. Female,

now in visit visa.

Contact +968-94654481.

Quantity Surveyor (Civil Building)

looking for Part time job Contact

no:-94391712 E-mail address-

[email protected]

Indian Male, IT Support Engineer,

2 yrs in Oman & 5 yrs Indian experi-

ence. Contact 97311847

Civil Engineer B Tech, Site Engineer

Experienced, Drafting on Visit Visa

Ph : 91642050

Looking Part time Job in HVAC-

93198128

Experienced female Electrical

Engineer.Contact 93800906

IATA Certifi ed experienced

Indian Lady looking for job.

Currently on visit.

Contact 94613747, 91339846

Indian male Graduate with 20+

years of Administration, Operations

& Management experience in IT,

Oil & Gas & Hospitality Industry. 12

years in Oman with vast contacts,

very strong management, opera-

tional, communication and interper-

sonal skills, can handle any size of

business and projects whether it’s in

initial stage or established. Can join

immediately. Local release available

on request. Contact: 9906 4589

Indian male, having 18 yrs experi-

ence in “Automatic door opening

and closing system.” From Riyadh

as Manager and Department Head.

Contact +97466912692

Techno Commercial Manager, Indian, well experienced in Oman.

Vast knowledge in Operations,

Business development, Logistic /

Purchase, General administration.

Looking for suitable opening.

NOC Possible, Contact - 96599704

Project Manager more than 20 yrs

experience, 15 yrs in Sultanate of

Oman in construction fi eld.

Contact 93385789

Qualifi ed Manager: (12+ yrs. Oman

Exp.) Vast knowledge in A/c &

Admin, Costing, Banking, Credit

Control, Insurance, International

Purchase/Logistics & Finance, With

D/L looking for suitable position.

Gsm: 93826090


Indian female with nine years of

experience in 5 Star hotels as

Assistant Food & Beverage Manager

looking for a suitable placement

in a reputed Star hotel.

Contact 91219787

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

B.E Mechanical Engineer, Indian

Male, 29, 5 years experience in

steel fabrication fi eld (piping and

structural) as site engineer. Looking

for suitable placement. #96115463.

[email protected].

INFORMATION TECH

INFORMATION TECH

HOSPITALITY

MBA (Systems) with MCSA Certi-

fi ed having more than 10 years of

experience in Computer Hardware &

Networking , Specialization in Serv-

er Confi guration, Windows Server

2012, Redhat Linux Enterprise

6.0, VPN Firewall, Router, & CCTV

Installation and Maintenance seeks

suitable placement. Now in visit

visa & back to India on 26/01/15.

E-mail : [email protected] &

Mob#+968 95642554

ERP Specialist, 14 yrs exp, Indian

male, (VB.NET & SQL Server) able

to handle in-house development

single handedly. Release/NOC avail-

able, valid D/L. Contact 93047636

M.Tech-IT professional, Indian

Male specialist in Networking,

Confi guring maintaining and man-

aging servers, Exp in confi guring

cisco products, Knowledge in SQL

database. Contact:+968 98536430,

+968 98743886

Indian Male 23 yrs – IT / Pre-

post Sales Consultant / Business

Analyst / Web Designing. 2 yrs. exp.

Languages-HTML5, WebRTC, Java,

CSS, C++, .Net, SQL, Oracle, ERP-Mi-

crosoft Dynamics CRM. Looking for

suitable job. Contact: 98802504,

email:[email protected]

Indian male, 32 yrs, total 8+ yrs expe-

rience with 4+ yrs experience of Sales

and Marketing in Oman, seeking job.

NOC available. #95731981

US / AUS IT educated, 16 yrs

experience in Business Develop-

ment, Sales, Marketing, HR/Admin

looking for suitable position. Contact

93649932 in Muscat

MBA, 26 years male, 4 Year Experi-

ence (1year Banking experience in

UAE) seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 94600128 Email:

[email protected]

Filipino Male, 26 yrs old looking for

any job in restaurant or hotel or Sales

or fi nance and having exp total of 8

yrs in all these fi elds. #92156753

MBA Graduate with valid Omani D/L

looking for suitable job. # 94143683

MBA with 6 yrs experience in Sales

& Marketing with Omani Driving

License seeks suitable placement.

Contact 94685706

Croatan Woman, 12 yrs experience

in Sales. Contact 99797290

18 yrs Oman experience in Building

Materials seeking suitable place-

ment, NOC available. # 93105775

Indian male having 6 yrs experi-

ence of working in Oman with Ad-

vertising, Interiors, Events, Purchase

& Accounts valid Oman D/L looking

for suitable job. Contact 98851980

Indian male, MBA 9+ yrs Oman exp

in Sales & Marketing in FMCG (F &

B) sector on a Supervisor / manage-

rial role with D/L & Local NOC avail-

able. Contact 97912789

Young female, having experience

of working in Oman with expertise

in the fi eld of Event Management,

Advertising, Marketing and Hotel

Management. Currently on a visit

visa. Seeking for a suitable Job.

Contact 96153578

Indian male, 25yrs, MBA in HR/

Marketing.6yrs exp with MNC and

pharma. Presently in family visit

visa looking for suitable placements.

Contact no-94657379/ 96645182

Indian male, B.Com, 20 yrs experi-

ence in Sales & Marketing having

UAE light D/L looking for suitable

post. Contact +91 9946699062,


Indian male, 26, MBA Marketing,

1 yr GCC experience Oman, license.

Contact +91 9946308583,

[email protected]

Indian MBA-Marketing & Systems

Manager having 6 yrs experience

in Solar System & Inverters seek-

ing suitable placements. Contact

97892269 / 99046313

Pakistani male, 34, College 2 yrs,

2 yrs experience as Sales Repre-

sentative, 3 yrs experience as Clerk

/ Offi ce Assistant, 3 yrs experience

as Salesman in Oman, Computer

Skills : Excel, BUSY, ERP, languages

known – English, Arabic, Hindi and

Urdu. Contact 96763346

Pakistani Graduate have a two years

experience in sales/marketing in

Muscat. Have a valid driving license.

Fluent in English and Arabic.

Need a suitable position.

Contact 95919265

SALES / MARKETING

SIT.WANTED

30 year Indian male MSW- HR

,with 5 yrs Professional experience

in HR in Construction Oil & Gas

Oman seeking suitable placement.

Contact me in 93488914

Diploma Holder, Now working as

logistic coordinator/ salesman

with one year experience, seeking

for Suitable Jobs in Oman, NOC

available, Trying for License.

Contact 94440370

Indian male, 4 Years experienced

in Architectural & Structural

Draughtsman, looking for a suit-

able Post GSM:96023726, Email

:[email protected]

Accountant ,Indian male,24 years.

Presently working in Oman as

Accountant.2 years experience

in Accounts with oman Driving li-

cense. NOC available..Seek suitable

opportunity. GSM: 93409315

Indian male 25 B.Tech (IT)

Engineer 2.5 years experience in

hardware networking. Currently on

visit visa, looking for suitable job.

Contact - 94359564

Indian male, B.com with tally,

having 11 years experience in ac-

counting, looking for a part time

job. contact.96423671

Post Graduate Indian male, MBA

(Hospital Administration) hav-

ing 4 yrs. experience in hospital

administration looking for suitable

placement. Currently on visit.

Contact: 96701543, 92945632

PROCUREMENT OFFICER-Indian

33yrs, 7yrs Exp. in Oman in

(ROAD,CIV,MEP & Others) Contg &

Trdg Co. Visa will Exp in Feb-15.

M: 94064650,

Email:[email protected]

Indian Male, 31 years of Rich Oman

experience in Multifunctional Man-

agement, Administration, Business

Development, Purchase & Opera-

tions seeking suitable Manager/

Supervisory Position. Visa transfer/

NOC Available. GSM: 95036410

Seeking for immediate placement

as a manager- projects, sales,

marketing, product, business

development job for BE- MBA, 12

years Oman experience with D/L.

#96040977, [email protected]

AutoCAD draughtsman (Architect

ural+Structural+Plumbing & HVAC)

having more than 12 years Oman

experience seeking work as a

FREELANCER. Contact - 91620107

Electrical Technician with

7 yrs experience in the fi eld of oil &

gas. Contact 96946044 /

94682982

Indian Electronics & Com-

munication with transmission

project, embedded designing,

telecommunication experience

(3 yrs) having visit visa looking

for suitable placement in Oman.

Contact Mohammed Arshad Khan

– 93398772, email :

[email protected]

Indian male, 27 yrs, B.Tech Me-

chanical, 1 yr pipeline experience

seeking job in any mechanical fi eld,

NOC available, available in Oman till

31st Jan. Contact 95982207,

[email protected]

SALES / MARKETING

Indian Male, MBA in Marketing and

Finance, 10 years’ Sales & Business

Development Experience with valid

D/L of Oman & UAE looking for a

suitable placement. NOC Available.

Contact: 93969961

e-mail [email protected]

MATRIMONIAL

Keralite girl, 26 (160), BSC Nurse at

South America seeks suitable alli-

ance. Contact 94413100, 98335340

Proposals are invited from parents

of professionally qualifi ed Nair Boys

for 24 year old Upper Middle Class

Nair girl hail from Trivandrum, (171

cm, Star-Bharani) employed in a

reputed Company in Oman. Contact:

0968-9950 2593 /99798041.

(KM ID.2844689)

NRI

Land for sale, 36 cents in Kak-

kanad near Athani. 5 lacs/cent

and 6 acre land near Veliyam,

Kottarakkara. 30 lacs/acre. Seri-

ous buyers only call – 99886386 /

+919645888877

M.Sc International Tourism &

hotel management UK Graduated

with Omani D/L seeking job as

CRE, tour operations & marketing

in hospitality & tourism industry.

Contact 91640428

Indian male, 30 yrs, 8 yrs + experi-

ence in Sales & Marketing,


Contact 95601197

Indian Male having 7 yrs in experi-

ence in Oman Sales & Marketing Of-

fi ce Automation Printer, Copier, MFP,

IT products & Stationery. Looking for

Suitable Placement NOC Available

Contact :97384748

Oracle certifi ed BE (CS) Indian male

with skills in OCA (DBA, SQL10g,


Contact 98436022/99848874


Young Energetic Male, with Oman

work experience in the fi eld of Sales/

Marketing and Administration.

Currently on a visit visa seeking

suitable position. Contact 97832289.

[email protected]

15 years experience in Business

Development , marketing, purchase –

UAE & Oman-staff coordination, doc-

umentation, civil & technical mainte-

nance, -valid GCC license-looking for

working partnership or management

post. Contact:91568362 /

Email [email protected]

Indian Male, 7 yrs experience in

building materials trading having

Oman D/L, immediate release avail-

able. Contact 98676713

LOST

CHANGE OF NAME

I, Sahul Hameed Mohamed Hus-sain (holder of Indian Passport

No.F 3699238) son of Sahul Ha-

meed having permanent address

in Thiruneela Gudi post main road

Tanfore, Tamil Nadu (complete

postal address in India) and pres-

ently residing in Wadi Kabir, P.O.

Box 693, P.C 114, Sultanate of Oman

(complete postal address in Oman)

intend to change my name from

Sahul Hameed Mohamed Hus-

sain (old name) to Sahul Hameed

Jahir Hussain (new name) for all

practical purposes. Any objection

towards my name change may

please be communicated to Em-

bassy of India, Muscat, Diplomatic

Quarters, Al Khuwair, P.B. No 1727,

Postal Code 112, Ruwi,

Sultanate of Oman.

I, Jagdish Ghante (holder of Indian

Passport No.G7852416) son of

Devidasrao Ghante having perma-

nent address in R/O Khanapur (K)

TQ Basvakaltan Dist – Bidar, Kar-

nataka 585347 (complete postal

address in India) and presently

residing in Ruwi, CCC-TAV JV, P.O.

Box 614, P.C 100, Ruwi (complete

postal address in Oman) intend

to change my name from Jagdish

Ghante (old name) to Abdulrah-

man Shaikh (new name) for all

practical purposes. I have changed

my religion from Hindu to Muslim.

Any objection towards my name

change may please be communi-

cated to Embassy of India, Muscat,

Diplomatic Quarters, Al Khuwair,

P.B. No 1727, Postal Code 112, Ruwi,

Sultanate of Oman.

I, Shaik Nasima Bi (holder of

Indian Passport No.H-6844173)

son of Shaik Abdul Karim having

permanent address in H/N 373

Baina, Vasco-Dagama, Mormugao,

Goa (complete postal address in

India) and presently residing in

Al Khuwair, H.No 480, W No.-5125

(complete postal address in Oman)

intend to change my name from

Shaik Nasima Bi (old name) to

Shaik Nassima Bi (new name) for

all practical purposes. Any objec-

tion towards my name change may

please be communicated to Em-

bassy of India, Muscat, Diplomatic

Quarters, Al Khuwair, P.B. No 1727,

Postal Code 112, Ruwi,

Sultanate of Oman.

I, Nasima Bi Shaik holder of pass-

port No H 6844173 issued at Panaji

on 21/1/2010, permanent resident

of H/N 373 Baina, Vasco Da Gama,

Mormugao, Goa and currently

residing in Muscat Oman, hereby

declare that name of father and

mother in my ppt no H 6844173

has been mentioned as Shaik Ad-

bul Karim and Nazira Bi. I hereby

declare that correct name of my

father is Abdul Karim vide his ppt

No. K 845788 issued at Muscat on

06/02/2013 and correct name of

my mother is Nagirambi as per her

passport No. K 8458789 issued at

Muscat on 06/02/2013. I declare

that Shaik Abdul Karim and Abdul

Karim as well as Nazira Bi and

Nagirambi are one and the same

person. Any objection towards this

may please be communicated to

Embassy of India, Muscat,

Diplomatic Quarters, Al Khuwair,

P.B. No 172, Postal Code 112, Ruwi,

Sultanate of Oman.

Omer Asmat Khan has lost

Pakistani Passport No. LQ4127211.

Finder please handover to ROP

Villa for sale 2200 sq ft in 8 cent.

Kottayam. Contact: 92652534

For Astrological consultation,

Jathakam.Contact 99860435 /

97102599

GOOD NEWS

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments &

massage, Ayurvedic clinic at Al Khu-

wair. Contact 24478618 / 97263637

/93309131

B.Tech IT Professional, Indian

Male with 3 yrs of Exp. In System

Admin, IT Support, Networking,

Installing Active Directory, DHCP,

DNS,RAS, confi guring maintaining

and managing servers,

confi guring cisco routers, Exp in

handling SQL database,

With Valid Driving Licence.

Contact - 968 98863507

IT Prof, MCA having 6+ yrs exp,

seeks suitable position.

Contact 94543668

IT Professional, Indian male, B.Sc

Graduate with 4+ yrs Gulf (UAE)

good exp in System Administration,

IT Support, Server Desktop, laptop,

smartboard, datashow biometric,

CCTV, currently on visit visa.

Contact 98936548,


Male Nurse -prometric exam passed

and valid till feb21-5year experience.

Allwyn David-

[email protected]

Contact 94686268, 92800101

Indian female, 26, Pharmacist with

MOH license, 3.5 yrs of experience

in India, seeking suitable placement.

Contact 94474924,


Indian male Pharmacist (B.Pharma) 5 1/2 years experience in Oman

seeking suitable placement in

Muscat. NOC from the present

employer available.

Contact +968 98525100

Medical- Indian female, 27 yrs,

masters in hospital administra-

tion, fellowship in HTA studied in a

super specialty medical sciences

and research center in India and

done project in an established

hospital in sultanate of Oman.

Contact 93200827, 91026506

We are looking for construction com-

pany at any level to buy. #97413496

Looking for purchase of Used Portable Compressor (350 CFM,

7 Bar Pressure) powered with Diesel

run Generator.

Kindly Contact 99014686 or

[email protected]

Looking for commercial lands for

sale in Al Ghobrah North (urgent

serious buyers, commercial lands in

al Ghobrah North (corners prime loca-

tion). Contact 91155779

BUYING/SELLING

WANTED

Urgently Required 5000 used

shuttering Jacks for Construction

Company. Contact: 92867677

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624





SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your

marble. # 24793614/ 99314807

Cleaning services, carpet & sofa

shampooing, marble restoration

(grinding) and polishing, pest

control, fogging service. Contact

99448057, 95401996

Cheapest Prices, all types window,

curtains and blind. #99539521

Computer service/ AMC/ Net-

working. Contact 93552434

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Door to Door Computers repair

specialist laptop software Website

cartridges. Contact 99199376

A.M Trading Pest control.Contact 99067923

GULF INTERNATIONAL LLC

all kind of pest control. #92326955

Painting Interlock plumbing

maintenance. Contact 92142319

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house

cleaning. # 99542979 / 98855815

Split & window A/C servicing &


A/C service, repair and mainte-

nance works. Contact 95356877,

93937368. Al Sahib Modern Projects

House shifting. #99557080, 96236476

For All Your Maintenance Solutions,

A/c Servicing & Fixing, Painting,

Cleaning, Electric. #99002390

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house clean-

ing. Contact 99542979 / 98855815

For All Your Maintenance Solutions,

A/c Servicing & Fixing, Painting,

Cleaning, Electric. # 99002390

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Civil Maintenance, Painting Elec-

tric, Plumbing, Decor, Tile Fixing,

Lecithin Copra Board fl at stifl ing ,

Carpet Cleaning and A/C Servic-

ing.# 97897831 (Indian keralite)

Waterproofi ng, light weight Screed,

Antitermite and MS Fabrication.

Contact 92888337

Electrical Plumbing Painting

Contract and Maintenance.

Contact 98456535

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

Maintenance – 1) A/C Mainte-

nance, 2)fridge, washing machine

& dish washer repairing, 3)paint-

ing & cleaning services, 4)electri-

cal & plumbing carpentry work.

#99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281

CLASSES

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

COMPUTER

Al Manar Vocational pleased to an-

nounce at vocational short and long

term courses in tailoring, cooking

and internal design. Contact us now :

24698070 or 91144335

Fast & Right Way - For all PR

related works – permanent Visa

stamping, family visiting visa hold-

ers, clients contacts – with NOC let-

ter with signed & sealed photocopy

documents . Contact 91568362

For HT cable jointing and termina-

tion works 33KV/11KV. #99056438 /


BUSINESS

BUSINESS

We assist in new business set up

local sponsorship, real estate ser-

vices, assist in company formation

services. Contact - 93166088

My client needs to buy Residential

land or villa in Al Ghubra Bahar Fac-

tory area. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Split & window unit A/C servicing &

repairing. Contact 99557080

Window & split unit A/C servicing &


Wanted dentist or investor to buy a

well-running dental clinic in Sohar

immediately. Contact 92625962,

95904234

Catering services We do industrial

catering service, Canteen/ mess,

3 times packed meals,

and all types of catering events.

Contact 92188777/99249899

PRO services. Contact 99368907

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT IS-LAM. If you would like to know more

about Islam, please call: 99425598,

96050000, 99353988, 99253818,

99341395, and 99379133. For ladies:

99415818, 99321360, 99730723

Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371554 /

92504980 , www.siddhayur.com

GOOD NEWS

GOOD NEWS

Ayurvedic treatment for joint pain,

backache, paralysis, massage,

steam bath, obesity, spondylitis,

ideal care Ayurvedic Clinic, 18

November Street, Azaiba. Contact

99639695 / 99117987


DAILY GUIDE

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise

with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours Contact- 98029602,

92808636

TOURS

RENT A CAR

DRIVING

M.V. FOR SALE

Renault Safrane 2011, Excellent con-

dition OMR3400. Contact 94015245

Pajero 3.8 v6 full option, 2008

model expat driven single owner, ex-

cellent condition, accident free, 217k.

Contact - 92590781

Lexus GS300, 2006. Contact

93218349

Tucson V-6, 2007, automatic

RO 2500/-. Contact 99384640

L/R Discovery, 2003,

KM 1,60,000. Contact 99238877TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact 93405941

We can give best price for trans-

portation to shift the material from

DUBAI to OMAN and local OMAN

areas. (Less 25 ton wait Dubai

To OMAN Only 170/OMR). GSM

91006589,97754600 ASIF ALI



Labor Pick & drop. #92218001



Transportation available. # 95570429

Pick & drop anytime in al Khuwair.

Contact 99764307

Toyota Yaris 1.5, 2010 single owner

84,000 kms, fully automatic, 100%.

Service history with dealer.

Contact 93876159

30 seater Toyota Bus, 2014, white

color for sale. Contact 98888999 /

96341946

Chevrolet van model 2000 for

sale, RO 1400/-. Contact 96789522

Prado 2012. Contact 99336093

FOR HIRE

TRUCK FOR HIREIsuzu 10 ton cargo body truck

(2012 FVR) with UAE experienced driver

available for long term / short term rent.

Contact: 95346950

PDO approval truck for hire. Contact

99350915

50 seater bus with PDO specifi ca-

tion for rent or lease. # 99839898

Running truck wash for rent in

Ouhi Sunia Sohar. Serious people

can. Contact on 97864747

MANPOWER

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION


Pick & Drop any time. #97014786



Transportation available

99159277


Transportation Available

Contact 97180655






Party booking & sugges�ons 99320065, 99341643

Indian, Arabic, Chinese dishes, Buffet Lunch

(On Friday)Indoor & Outdoor, Catering, Party hall

availableTake Away & Home Delivery

Documents

Times of Oman