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SATURDAY, December 12, 2015 / 30 Safar 1437 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certifi ed Company

Speaking to the students of Sultan Qaboos University, 2000

FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN

We do not violate the rights of others and we do not speak of others. Everyone has his or her own approach, way of thinking, religion, etc. However, we do not have men of religion and for us there is no intermediary between us and Almighty God. The earth has been made a place of worship for Me and its soil pure. You can pray in any place and speak to your Lord anywhere. Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error.

‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’

Winter warmth comes at a high price for some

HASAN SHABAN AL LAWATIhassan@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: People in Oman are accidentally burning down their houses in an eff ort to stay warm this winter.

Speaking to the Times of Oman, a senior offi cial from Public Au-thority for Civil Defence (PAC-DA), said Omanis living in the villages often burn charcoal on grills, which are generally used for a barbecue in order to keep warm.

“This is one of the major causes of house fi res in winter as it not only burns their homes but also suff ocates them to death,” he said.

Interestingly, in Oman most houses do not have chimneys to ventilate smoke.

Among other reasons cited for the growing number of house fi res are the use of electric radiators and water heaters in winter.

“We’ve found that electric ra-diators must be causing most of the house fi res. When the tem-perature plummets, people warm themselves with these gadgets. There are chances of a fi re if the gadget is left switched on or unat-tended for a prolonged time,” the PACDA offi cial told the Times of Oman (TOO).

Reports show that 3,335 fi re incidents occurred in Oman in 2014, with 23 per cent of the incidents reported in housing facilities.

That year, 755 house fi res, 55 cases of building fi re and 57 cases

of apartment fi re were reported.The PACDA offi cial said most of

the house fi re incidents occurred in the north Al Batinah governo-rate. Fire incidents claimed the lives of 62 people and injured 104 people, they added.

Low quality water heatersAnother issue is the use of low-quality and used water heaters.

The PACDA offi cial said the use of hot water for showers during the cold season is an indispensa-ble necessity, which “must be ac-companied with a lot of caution and attention.”

“When a person chooses a wa-ter heater for a house or apart-ment, high-quality brands should be a priority and the house owner must make sure that it is installed by specialists,” the offi cials said while urging people to avoid counterfeit products.

Another PACDA offi cial said that if the water temperature inside the heater exceeded 90 degree Celsius, it could cause leakage inside the heater, which would increase the output pres-sure on the water evaporation process. “And that often ends up in an explosion,” he warned.

More AwarenessThe PACDA offi cial said the or-ganisation has launched cam-paigns at schools and other in-stitutions throughout the year to raise awareness.

Proper guidelines could en-sure safety when using water heaters, the offi cial said, adding, “One must ensure easy access to a water heater. The temperature shouldn’t exceed a maximum of 60 degree Celsius. Also, one needs to frequently check the thermo-stat,” he said.

Burning charcoal,

faulty electrical

equipment and

wiring are the major

cause of household

fi res in Oman

SPORTSTeam Oman to take on Ireland in T20

2Debutants Oman has been grouped with Bangladesh, Netherlands

and Ireland in Group A for the fi rst round matches of the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, according to ICC, which announced the groups and schedule for tournament. >A12

MARKETDow-DuPont merger to create $130b giant

3Chemicals giants DuPont and Dow Chemical agreed to merge in an all-

stock deal valuing the combined company at $130 billion, with plans to eventually split into three. The deal is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny. >B1

OMANSayyid Fahd back home after meeting

1His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister

for the Council of Ministers returned home on Thursday evening after leading, on behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Sultanate’s delegation at the 36th GCC Summit in Saudi Arabia. >A2

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

A2Murphy’s Legacy mesmerises Muscat

Haitham wishes success to Empty Quarter expeditionSALALAH: With the blessings of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said initi-ated the launch of the journey to Cross the Empty Quarter in Sala-lah as part of the Sultanate’s 45th National Day celebrations.

This journey is being made in recognition of the signifi cance of the historic journey that fi rst took place in 1930, and also comes in the context of the long standing ties between the member coun-tries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as close coopera-tion of Oman with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Kingdom.

While launching the journey, Sayyid Haitham—the Omani Patron, expressed his wishes of success to the explorers, bidding them farewell for a safe journey, and wishing them all the success in achieving their noble goals.

Team membersThe expedition team includes three Omani explorers; Moham-med Al Zadjali and Amur Al

Wahaibi, who along with British explorer Mark Evans, will walk for 1,300km to reach their des-tination, a journey which is ex-pected to last two months. The third Omani in the team is Ali bin Ahmed Al Mashili, a member of the Al Kathiri tribe that played such an important role in the original crossing of 1930.

Haitham commended the cour-age of the explorers, in undertak-ing this diffi cult challenge across the sands of the Empty Quarter, whilst also thanking Mark Evans, chief executive offi cer of Outward Bound Oman for organising the expedition and all those who had worked so hard to make the jour-ney a reality for almost two years.

Haitham also noted that when the original team of explorers had reached Qatar, starting from Salalah and crossing Saudi Ara-bia after being led by the British explorer Bertram Thomas and Sheikh Saleh bin Kalut, it was a global sensation, making it to the front pages of newspapers around the world. >A2

4 5 T H N A T I O N A L D A Y C E L E B R A T I O N S

HM sends greetings

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of greetings to Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya, on his country’s Inde-pendence Day anniversary. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sincere greet-ings and wishes of good health and happiness to the president and his country’s people further progress and prosperity. -ONA

C A B L E

fi re cases occurred in 2014, 23% of them in

housing facilities

3,335people died and 104

were injured in diff erent fi re incidents in 2014

62

Banker to core, artist at heartMOBIN MATHEW BLESSONmobinmathew@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Ibrahim Gailani, a contemporary artist living in Muscat boarded a plane to Mus-cat seven years ago. He was un-sure about his future, which in-volved taking up a corporate job at the Oman Arab Bank.

Already going through a trans-formation internally, Oman gave Gailani the room to establish his studio and emerge out of the “Ibrahim—the Corporate Execu-tive” shell as “Gailani—the Art-

ist.” Today, Gailani has become a complete brand in Oman that encompasses all things art. From “Curated by Gailani” events, to “Gailani Art Retreat” and to “Gailani Art Talks,” there is no escaping brand Gailani in Oman.

For Gailani, who is also a mem-ber of the Omani Society of Fine Arts, it has been a conscious ef-fort to bring art to the people, to off er insights to the non-artists, and use social media to spread the philosophy of art that has been the greatest success of Gailani.

Whether it is an art opening

of a 12-year-old student’s work, or judging 900 paintings by chil-dren for His Majesty the Sultan, to assembling street graffi ti artist, Gailani is always present. It is his commitment to the art scene in Oman that has gathered a lot of respect, even from those who oth-erwise may not favour his modern artistic style.

Perhaps it is that passion that has gotten translated into cyber space as his art website has won the 2014 Gold Award in the “Art & Culture” Category in the Sultan-ate of Oman. >A2

I B R A H I M G A I L A N I

Oil sector investment to continue: RumhyTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Oman government would continue to invest in drill-ing and exploration in oil and gas sector by launching new strategic projects to maximise its contri-bution to the economy during the next Five-Year Plan, Dr. Moham-med bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minis-ter of Oil and Gas, told a local Ara-bic daily.

He expressed confi dence that the oil reserves were suffi cient in terms of continuity of production for several more decades as the extraction is seven per cent of the total reserves.

He further said that the Minis-try of Oil and Gas was implement-ing important projects in coopera-tion with oil majors operating in the Sultanate to add value to pro-jects, which was aimed at boosting employment and training.

The ministry also wants to ac-cord great care to the welfare of the youth, he added.

The expected expenditure of the government programme for oil and gas exploration in 2015 has been pegged at about OMR407.1 million. The actual expected spending on government projects to develop and expand gas facili-ties and utilities by the end of 2015 stood at about OMR2160.1 million.

Al Rumhy also pointed out that the Ministry has invested in many development and infrastructure projects.

He also said the cost of gas pur-chase during the 8th Five-Year Plan is estimated to be about

OMR305 million. The expected actual spending for the transpor-tation of gas, paid by the Oman Gas Company, by the end of 2015 will be about OMR164.8 million.

The past years have shown the sector’s ability to innovate and adopt advanced technologies to enhance reserves and production.

This ability has led to the recent increase in reserves by harness-ing wells and reservoirs through facilities management, and ap-plication of secondary extraction techniques and enhanced oil re-covery methods and the attendant improvements in operations of rifting and drilling, as well as ad-ditions from new discoveries of oil and gas.

The minister further stated that the general objectives of the oil and gas sector during the 9th Five-Year Plan would be to boost the sector’s contribution to the diversifi cation of the economy through industries based in oil and gas. >A2

N E W S T R A T E G I C P R O J E C T S

Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al

Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas.

SUMMIT EXTENDED AS CLIMATE TALKS STUMBLEEff orts to craft a global accord to combat climate change stumbled on Friday with China and many other nations refusing to yield ground, forcing host France to extend the UN summit by a day. >A10

HM HOSTS DINNER ON ARMED FORCES DAYHis Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, hosted a din-

ner at Bait Al Barakah, yesterday, on the occasion of the Armed Forces Day. It was attended by

a number of ministers, advisors, commanders of SAF and ROP and senior military and civil

offi cers. The dinner was in recognition of the role the Sultan’s Armed Forces play in performing

their national duty and safeguarding the security and stability of the country.-ONA See also >A3

A2 S AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

OMANYou may have been to Muttrah Corniche umpteen times and yet missed completely these images depicting Oman’s various facets from past as well as the present

Corniche kaleidoscope >A3

MUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Dep-uty Prime Minister for the Coun-cil of Ministers returned home on Thursday evening after leading, on behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Sultanate’s delegation at the 36th Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC) Summit in Saudi Arabia.

The Summit concluded its de-liberations earlier on Thursday.

Sayyid Fahd sent a cable of thanks to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Sal-man bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and senior Saudi offi cials for being honoured to lead, on behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Sultanate’s delegation, at the 36th GCC Summit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

He wished them all the best and

hailed the brotherly spirit that prevailed at the GCC Summit, and mirrored the keenness to go ahead with the Gulf march to achieve its prospective goals.

He expressed thanks and appre-ciation for the warm reception and hospitality extended to him and his accompanying delegation.

Sayyid Fahd was received upon his return by a number of minis-ters. -ONA

3 6 T H G C C S U M M I T

HM’S REPRESENTATIVE: His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for

the Council of Ministers returned to Oman on Thursday. – ONA

Sayyid Fahd back home after taking part in GCC Summit

Sufi heritage of Gailani opens door to ‘Spiritual Art’“It has been a love aff air with Oman and the love and respect I have found as an artist has fuelled me to keep going, even as I take on the 5 Art project, along with my retreat and a tough corporate job because I want to give all I have to make some diff erence in this beau-tiful land I now call home,” Gailani told TOO.

Always dressed in elaborate scarves, necklaces and bracelets, with fl owing grey hair, his appear-ance makes a statement, and that statement continues to be his spir-itual philosophy and love for “be-ing present in the now.”

This passion of being “present in the now” and not taking the bag-gage of life forward are front and centre of Gailani’s extremely suc-cessful venture into Art Retreats. With over 500 attendees and 35 re-treats spread over two years, they have become a hub of creativity in Muscat, and indeed Oman.

The Gailani Art Retreats are a full-day “artistic escape” retreat that are held once a month and

bring together creative souls to paint global music rhythms.

Participants meditate, connect with their inner consciousness, and paint their feelings on can-vas, and then share with the en-tire group. One doesn’t need to be a trained artist for these retreats, just willing to let creativity fl ow.

Photographers, musician, writ-ers, doctors and lawyers also attend to let the blockages of their world be released through art. It is a full-day retreat, where a topic of the day is discussed and explored, with initial meditation, followed by a painting, listening to world music, and then a group discussion.

Gailani, who once attended an art retreat himself, said it really transformed both his art and his outlook, and hence decided to start his own retreats. Each retreat has a specifi c topic, and a customized music designed and arranged spe-cially for the retreat.

“Looking back, I could not have imaged the success,” Gailani said.

Gailani is a self-taught contem-

porary artist, whose journey to art is a path embarked upon through a collage of rebellion, debate, re-demption, and a search for inner strength.

As a child, “I could paint better than write,” recalled Gailani, who started as early as fi ve- year-old, but was not always encouraged for fear of being “a starving artist on

the streets.” Pressured to pursue a corporate career, Gailani stopped pursuing art altogether.

Twenty years later as a top exec-utive in the corporate world, when he found himself in extreme dark-ness, his life partner handed him a canvas and said “you have a lot to say, use this to say it” and the rest is history. Gailani refers to himself

as the “debating artist,” who com-ments on struggles of individuals and society in coming to terms with the demons we lock away. It’s a look at the steps we take on the diff erent paths we choose.

Gailani’s Sufi family roots emerge from Baghdad, Iraq. The Sufi heritage of Gailani has opened the door to what is currently being dubbed as “Spiritual Art.”

One of his greatest infl uences is the Mexican artist Frida Khalo. Gailani’s love for her work is a deeply personal one.

“Frida is my hero. Her journey of pain coupled with the vibrancy of colours and the constant self-re-fl ection struck me to my core and

has the greatest impact on the type of work I produce. In a strange way, I feel like I relive her life through her work and I fi nd her guiding me in mine,” Gailani said.

“Frida Khalo has been my big-gest inspiration in art, it is her life that inspired me to re-discovery my art and love for faces, and sto-ries around faces. Every story that

she painted impacted the core of my being,” he added.

He recently made a tribute painting for Frida in pop-art.

“I’ve titled this painting “My Warhol Frida–My Hero, My Strength” to not only pay tribute to her as my Idol, but to also pay tribute to the Andy Warhol style of pop-art painting that I have drawn inspiration from in my recent works,” Gailani explained.

“Bold,” “in your face,” “captivat-ing,” “repulsive” are some of the words used to describe Gailani’s work. Not known for being subtle, his canvas always makes a state-ment. Whether you love it or hate it aesthetically, you can’t walk past one of his works and not have an opinion about it.

“I always feel that art needs to evoke emotions it needs to scream out to you, it needs to touch you, it needs you to ask further questions, it needs you to demand answers. What art doesn’t need is for you to pass by with a casual glance,” Gailani said.

M E X I C A N A R T I S T ’ S I N F L U E N C E

< FROM

A1

Ibrahim Gailani with one of his paintings.

He also expressed hope that this expedition would gain similar attention and be followed by the youth around the world shed-ding light on important values and traits, including those of pa-tience, endurance, team work and innovation.

The launch event was attended by Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Al Rawas, Advisor to His Majesty the Sultan for Cultural Aff airs, Sayyid Mohammed bin Sultan bin Hamood Al Busaidi, Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Ham-ood Al Busaidi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs, Ambassador of Qatar Accredited to Oman, the Charge D’Aff aires of the Embassy Saudi Arabia to Oman and the Charge D’Aff aires of the Embassy of the United Kingdom to Oman and several top offi cials.

The Crossing of the Empty Quarter expedition aims to rec-reate the historic 1930s land-

crossing conducted solely on foot and camel. It also aims to inspire young Omanis and the youth of the Arabian Peninsula about the importance of preserving their heritage and culture, and embody the traits of responsibility, cour-age, endurance and self-reliance to overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

It is important to recognise, that this journey will use mod-ern-day technology. The offi cial website: www.crossingtheemp-tyquarter.com will be updated daily, using Thuraya satellite communications, and the offi cial application can be downloaded on to mobile phones to receive daily updates.

A weekly competition, details of which are also on the website, is already underway where any of the followers of the expedi-tion can win a spot in the Out-ward Bound Oman course to de-velop their own leadership and life skills.

E M P T Y Q U A R T E R E X P E D I T I O N

Omanisation

in oil and gas

The Ministry is also making ef-forts to translate these strategies by developing programmes to in-crease discoveries and raise natu-ral gas production to cover current and future needs.

Public-private partnership has paid well and resulted in devel-oping standard criteria for the in-country-value (ICV) for the oil companies tenders, he added.

ICV focuses on raising Omani-sation in the oil and gas sector and developing the human resources, along with enhancing local pro-duction of services and products to promote their consumption in the local market.

“The Ministry is considering implementing a number of impor-tant projects, including coordina-tion with oil companies to imple-ment an e-system for reporting ICVs by oil and gas sector. The pro-ject aims to identify the current gaps and consequently take neces-sary measures to reduce or fi ll this gap. It has also drafted a strategy for the development of local con-tractors in a bid to enhance their ability to compete and continue in the market,” Al Rumhy continued.

“Over the past years, the oil and gas sector has sought to keep pace with modern developments to en-hance reserves and production. The recent uptick in oil reserves and production is attributed to us-ing the best practices for managing wells, reservoirs, and applying the best secondary, enhanced oil re-covery methods,” he said.

E N H A N C I N G O U T P U T

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Murphy’s Legacy show enthralsMuscat audience

STAFF REPORTER

MUSCAT: Irish dance show, “Murphy’s Legacy,” mesmerised the audience at the Shangri La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa on Thursday.

Some of the world’s quickest; most expressive legs set out to fascinate a large audience.

In percussive dance shoes, they pounded the stage with sizzling rhythms.

The show had an amazing orig-inal soundtrack that fuses Irish dance with occasional contempo-rary tracks. The paced steps of the dancers surprised the audience and made them dance.

John Elliott, an international artist and music composer, set about composing the epic sound track for the show using inspira-tion from Gerry Conlon’s origi-

nal music pieces and some much loved traditional Irish music, which he then fused with his own amazing original tracks.

Journey of peaceThe fi rst character in Murphy’s Legacy leaves a troubled Ireland in search for peaceful times, only to be washed ashore on an is-land called Ishan, which is home to Isha’s and the Dark Souless Haidarass. The three become entangled and a journey of peace is fought by Isha’s and Murphy against the Haidarass.

The audience encored some of the dances of the Murphy’s Legacy team and enjoyed every

moment with Chris Hannon, the brain behind Murphy’s Legacy and the team.

“As a high profi le showcase for something that rarely gets that opportunity in this region, Mur-phy’s Legacy was brilliant and exciting. The long applause was well deserved,” said a dancer lov-er from Muscat.

“It was a great show and amaz-ing Irish dancing,” an enthusiast said. According to the organisers, they received a good response from the audience.

“They (the audience) are happy with quality of the show,” said Gordon Mackenzie, managing di-rector of Alive Entertainment.

The show had an

amazing original

soundtrack that

fuses Irish dance

with occasional

contemporary tracks

AMAZING SHOW: The paced steps of the dancers surprised the

audience and made them dance. – Supplied photo

HM sends greetings

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of greetings to President Roch Marc Kabore of the Republic of Burkina Faso on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sin-cere greetings along with his best wishes of good health and happiness to President Kabore and the friendly people of his country further progress and prosperity. -ONA

B U R K I N A F A S O

Shabab Oman returns

MUSCAT: Second Shabab Oman vessel of the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) has returned to the Sultanate following com-pletion of its 2nd international tour to India. A reception cer-emony was organised at Port Sultan Qaboos under the aus-pices of rear admiral Abdul-lah bin Khamis Al Raisi, Com-mander of the RNO. —ONA

R N O

HM receives greetings from Sayyid BadrMUSCAT: On the occasion of the Armed Forces Day (AFD), His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has received a cable of greet-ings from Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib Al Busaidi, Minister Responsible for Defence Aff airs.

In his cable, Sayyid Badr said that “On the occasion of the Armed Forces Day on behalf of the personnel of the Sultan’s Armed Forces, the Firaq Forces and all personnel of the Minis-try of Defence, I have the hon-our to express sincere greetings and wishes of good health and happiness.”

Wise leadershipThe Armed Forces Day which falls on December 11 every year is a glorious day in the record of the SAF for bringing stability, se-curity and prosperity that have covered all parts of our beloved country under the wise leader-ship of His Majesty the Sultan.

In his cable, Sayyid Badr said: “Across the years of the Blessed

Renaissance, the human resourc-es at the SAF have received the Royal Care of His Majesty the Sultan which makes them ef-fective and responsible person-nel and a national wealth for the country.

Qualifi ed personnelThe well-trained and qualifi ed personnel of the Sultan’s Armed Forces extend full cooperation to the other government institu-tions for the sake of comprehen-sive development, he said, adding that they would remain commit-ted to their role in the society inspired by Your Majesty’s Royal Directives and we are committed to safeguard the achievements of the Sultanate.

On the occasion, The Sultan’s Armed Forces personnel renew their loyalty to Your Majesty for further achievements under your Majesty’s wise leadership, pray-ing to Allah the Almighty to grant Your Majesty good health, happi-ness and a long life. -ONA

A R M E D F O R C E S D A Y

The historic trek < FROM

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CORNICHE KALEIDOSCOPESCAN THIS QR CODE TO INSTANTLY VISIT

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

You may have been to Muttrah Corniche umpteen times and yet missed

completely these images depicting Oman’s various facets from past

as well as the present, from its city life to its wildlife, from its crafts

to its trades. These close-up shots of the images on marble tiles at

the Corniche, taken by Times of Oman photographer AR Rajkumar, reveal in a striking manner diff erent aspects of life in the Sultanate

A3

OMANS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

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HIS MAJESTY THE SULTAN HOSTS DINNER ON THE OCCASION OF THE ARMED FORCES DAY

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A4 S AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

REGION

Turkey refuses to withdraw soldiers from Iraqi camp

ISTANBUL/BAGHDAD: Presi-dent Tayyip Erdogan declared on Friday he would not bow to Iraqi demands he withdraw Turkish troops from a camp close to the IS-held city of Mosul, and Baghdad said it would ask the UN Security Council to order them to leave.

A row over the deployment has soured relations between Ankara and Baghdad, which denies hav-ing agreed to it. Ankara says the troops were sent as part of an in-ternational mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fi ght IS.

The latest comments indicated continuing tensions despite the Turkish prime minister’s offi ce saying agreement was reached in talks with Iraq to deepen secu-rity cooperation and “reorganise” military personnel at the Bashiqa camp. “There is no way we can withdraw our soldiers from north-ern Iraq now,” Erdogan told a news conference. “There was a deploy-ment, not for combat, but to pro-tect soldiers providing training there.” “We will continue the train-

ing process decisively,” he said. Turkish military are helping to

train local Iraqi volunteers and Kurdish peshmerga who are pre-paring for a long-anticipated of-fensive to retake Mosul - a major northern city seized by IS over a year ago.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Min-ister Haider Al Abadi instructed his foreign ministry to lodge a for-mal complaint at the UN Security Council over the presence of the Turkish forces, asking it to order Turkey to withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately.

Earlier, Iraq’s top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, urged the

government to show “no toler-ance” for any infringement of the country’s sovereignty.

Sistani’s spokesman, Sheikh Abdul Mehdi Karbala’i, did not ex-plicitly name Turkey.

Sistani also said Iraq’s neigh-bours should not send any troops to Iraq “under the pretext of fi ght-ing terrorism”, except with the ap-proval of the Baghdad government. “The Iraqi government is responsi-ble for protecting Iraq’s sovereign-ty and must not tolerate any side that infringes upon on it, whatever the justifi cations and necessities,” Karbalai’i said in a weekly sermon. Sistani urged citizens to show re-

straint towards foreign residents of Iraq, after paramilitary groups threatened to use force against Turkey and target its interests to force it to pull out.

ReorganiseIn Ankara, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s offi ce said in a state-ment that Turkey had decided in talks with Iraqi offi cials to “reor-ganise” its military personnel at the Bashiqa camp.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry Un-dersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and National Intelligence Agency (MIT) head Hakan Fidan visited Baghdad on Thursday for talks

with Abadi on the issue. “Taking into account the Iraqi govern-ment’s sensitivity, the decision was taken to reorganise the mili-tary personnel in the protection force at the Bashiqa camp,” Davu-toglu’s offi ce said.

It did not say what the troop reorganisation would involve, but said agreement was reached to start work on creating mecha-nisms to deepen cooperation with the Iraqi government on security issues. Davutoglu said on Wednes-day the soldiers were sent to north-ern Iraq after a threat from IS mili-tants to Turkish military trainers in the area increased. — Reuters

Iraq’s Grand

Ayatollah Ali Al

Sistani urges

no tolerance

on sovereignty

infringement

Truck bombs claimed by IS kill more than 50 in SyriaBEIRUT: A triple truck bomb at-tack claimed by IS in northeast-ern Syria killed at least 50 people and wounded 80 others, a spokes-man for the Kurdish militia that controls the area said on Friday.

The town in the northeastern province of Hasaka is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which has been battling IS with the support of US-led air strikes.

Kurdish fi ghters have advanced against the militants in the last few weeks in Hasaka, notably taking over the town of Al Houl backed up by a US-backed rebel alliance that includes the YPG.

The three blasts, carried out by at least two suicide bombers, struck outside a hospital, at a marketplace and in a residential area in the town of Tel Tamer late on Thursday, the YPG’s Redur Xelil said via an internet mes-saging service. “There is massive destruction in the town and the number killed is between 50 and 60, all of them civilians,” he said.

IS later said in an online state-ment that three of its fi ghters driving three separate vehicles had detonated the suicide bombs targeting “bases” belonging to Kurdish fi ghters. Earlier the Brit-ain-based Syrian Observatory for

Human Rights gave a death toll of at least 22 people in the attack, saying that number was likely to increase. The Observatory said one of the bombs exploded near a health centre and another near a vegetable market. - Reuters

D E A D L Y A T T A C K

Libya’s rival factions set target date to sign UN deal

TUNIS: Libya’s rival factions have agreed to December 16 as a target date for signing a United Nations-backed national unity government agreement, the UN envoy said on Friday.

The UN has been negotiating for a year to get Libya’s two rival governments and armed factions to end a confl ict that has plunged the North African state into chaos four years after rebellion ousted Muammar Gaddafi . Successfully signing an agreement would open the way for the international com-munity to support Libya in the fi ght against IS, which has gained ground in the chaos and controls the western city of Sirte. But hard-liners in both camps have been re-sisting signing a deal and several past deadlines to sign have failed after opponents balked at details or demanded more concessions.

UN Libya envoy Martin Kobler praised representatives of both factions for announcing the agree-ment in Tunisia after two days of talks, though he acknowledged any new government would need to address many problems. For a year, Tripoli has been controlled by an armed faction called Libya Dawn, a coalition of former rebel brigades from Misrata and other armed factions in the capital, after they battled to force out rivals.

They set up a self-styled gov-ernment and reinstated the old parliament, known as the General National Congress. The interna-tionally-recognized government and the elected House of Repre-sentatives was forced to operate out of the east of the country. — Reuters

U N I T Y G O V E R N M E N T

UN Libya envoy Martin Kobler praised representatives of both factions for announcing the agreement in Tunisia after two days of talks, though he acknowledged any new government would need to address many problems.

CONTINUING TENSIONS: Iraq’s Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi, centre, tours the city of Tikrit after Iraq security forces regained control

from IS militants, in this April 1, 2015 photo. Abadi instructed his foreign ministry to lodge a formal complaint at the UN Security

Council over the presence of the Turkish forces. – Reuters fi les

DESTROYED: Kurdish fi ghters from the People’s Protection Units

inspect damage at a site hit by one of the three truck bombs, in

the YPG-controlled town of Tel Tamer, Syria. – Reuters

A5

INDIAS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

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End of road in sight for diesel-run cars in polluted DelhiNEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Fri-day said that no new diesel ve-hicles would be registered in the national capital.

This would be an interim step till the next date of hearing on Jan-uary 6, the tribunal said.

According to experts, there are about 500,000 diesel cars in Delhi.

The tribunal also questioned the Delhi government’s odd-even for-mula for vehicles to check air pol-lution, and said the move may not achieve the desired results.

The NGT also said that the odd-even formula may force people to buy two cars. The Delhi govern-ment had announced that private vehicles with odd and even regis-tration numbers will ply on odd

and even days of the week from January 1, with no such restric-tions on Sundays.

“In view of serious contribution of vehicular pollution to the air quality of National Capital Region of Delhi, it is important that the government should take a serious view and a decision on whether any diesel vehicle, old or new, should be registered in Delhi,” a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

“As an interim measure till the next date of posting subject to hearing of all the concerned par-ties, we direct that diesel vehicles of more than 10 years of age as al-ready directed, as well as new die-sel vehicle would not be registered in NCR Delhi,” the bench said.

The tribunal directed the Centre and state governments to consider not to buy diesel vehicles for use.

“We direct all public authorities, corporation, Delhi Development Authority, police and other public departments to prepare an action plan for phasing out diesel vehi-cles, particularly trucks, used by

all these bodies,” the bench added.It also directed that the action

plan must be placed before the tri-bunal on the next date of hearing.

“Although diesel vehicles pol-lute more than petrol cars, you cannot stop people from buying them. The demand for petrol cars will go up,” Vikram Tongad, found-

er-president of non-governmental organisation, Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE), said. “It is a short-term measure,” he added.

A government offi cial said they will take appropriate action after going through the order.

On the issue of waste-burning in the open, the tribunal said: “We direct all the corporations, DDA, cantonments and SHOs of po-lice stations concerned that they would ensure that no waste is burnt in the open and none is diso-beying the directions.”

The penalty for burning waste in the open is Rs5,000.

“We also direct that builders who keep their dust, sand, cement, bricks and other construction ma-

terials on public place and roads, as per the directions of the tribu-nal already issued, would not be permitted to do so,” it said.

Besides seizure of such mate-rials under the provision of the Municipal Corporation Act of Delhi, they would be liable to pay environmental compensation of Rs.50,000 for each violation, the tribunal added.

Delhi has close to 900,000 reg-istered vehicles, of which almost a third are cars. Around 1,500 new vehicles are added every day.

In April, the tribunal banned diesel vehicles of over 10 years old in the capital city.

In November 2014, the bench banned all vehicles that were more than 15 years old. - IANS

G R E E N T R I B U N A L S T E P S I N

Delhi has close to

900,000 registered

vehicles, of which almost

a third are cars

Abe arrives, green light for bullet train project expected

NEW DELHI: Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe on Friday arrived in the Indian capital on a three-day visit for annual summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which the two sides are expected to seal a Rs98,000 crore deal for India’s fi rst bullet train track and deliberate on a civil nuclear pact.

Abe, accompanied by a high-level delegation, was received at the airport by Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha.

In the ninth annual Indo-Japan

summit talks on Saturday, Modi and Abe will review implementa-tion of various decisions taken in course of last one year and are likely to focus on enhancing trade and investment between the two Asian economic powers.

Hours after he arrived, External Aff airs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on Abe during which a host of issues of mutual interest fi gured.

“Carrying forward a positive legacy of friendship and coopera-tion: EAM @SushmaSwaraj calls on Japanese PM @AbeShinzo,” External Aff airs Ministry Spokes-person Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Welcoming Abe, Modi de-

scribed him as a “phenomenal leader” and said his trip will fur-ther deepen the bilateral relations.

“Welcome to India @AbeShin-zo. Your visit will provide new strength and vigour to India-Ja-pan ties,” Modi tweeted.

Infrastructure projectsA number of agreements to ex-pand cooperation in a range of areas are expected to be signed on Saturday after the summit talks which is likely to deliberate on a number of infrastructure projects including the ambitious smart cit-ies initiative of Modi.

The bullet train network, set to

be fi nalised, will link the India’s fi nancial hub Mumbai with Ah-madabad, the capital of Modi’s home state, Gujarat.

Bullet train between the two cities will cut travel time on the 505 kilometre route from eight hours to around three. According to sources, the sides are working to make forward movement in the proposed nuclear deal.

After the talks, he will leave for Varanasi, which is Modi’s Parlia-mentary constituency, where he will attend Ganga Aarti at famous Dasaswamedh Ghat.

Modi will accompany Abe dur-ing his nearly four-and-a-half-

hour-long visit to Varanasi.Abe will return here in the even-

ing and depart on Sunday.The Japanese Prime Minister

had accompanied Modi during his visit to Kyoto last year.

At the last Summit meeting held in Tokyo last year, the two prime ministers had agreed to el-evate the relationship to “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.

Modi had visited Japan from August 30 to September 3 last year during which that country had announced doubling of its private and public investment in India to about $34 billion over a period of fi ve years.

During the summit talks last year, Modi and Abe had agreed to enhance defence and strategic co-operation to a new level and also decided to speed up negotiations on civil nuclear deal.

While agreeing on greater de-fence equipment and technology cooperation, the two sides had de-cided to expedite discussions on modalities for the sale of Japanese US-2 amphibian aircraft.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had held talks with top Japanese offi cials in Tokyo last month to fi -nalise agenda and other details of Abe’s visit here.

India and Japan have been ex-panding their economic and stra-tegic engagement in recent years resulting in cooperation in a vast swathe of fi elds including defence and security. The economic en-gagement witnessed signifi cant rise after both countries signed a a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2011. - PTI

A number of

agreements to

expand cooperation

in a range of areas

are expected to be

signed after the

summit talks which

is likely to deliberate

on a number of

infrastructure

projects including

the smart cities

initiative of Modi

ON FAST TRACK: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talks with Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj,

in New Delhi on Friday. - PTI

Expect sabotage but dialogue should go on, says ImranNEW DELHI: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Friday said he told Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi to expect sabotage by “vested interests” but stressed that talks between India and Pakistan should go on “uninterrupted”.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party chief, who met Modi here, wel-comed the resumption of talks be-tween the two countries.

“I told Prime Minsiter Modi that there would be elements who will try to derail the talks process. Will try to sabotage it. But he should resolve to carry forward the talks and not stop,” Khan said address-ing “Agenda AajTak”.

He said the leaderships of both the countries should explain to the people dividends of peace.

Khan said he had a very cordial and relaxed talks with Modi. “I have met and spoken to so many Prime Ministers and leaders. But I rarely had such relaxed talks as I had with Modi,” he said.

‘Hopeful and positive’The Pakistani politician added that he was “hopeful” and “posi-tive” about the fi nal outcome of the Indo-Pak talks.

Stressing that Kashmir is “doa-ble”, Khan referred to the progress made on the issue between former prime minister Manmohan Singh and the then Pakistani president Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf.

India and Pakistan had on Wednesday broken the ice in bilat-eral ties when they decided to have

a comprehensive dialogue during the visit of External Aff airs Min-ister Sushma Swaraj to Islamabad.

Khan stressed on the economic advantage of having a peaceful state of aff airs between the two countries. He said there is a con-sensus among the political lead-ership in Pakistan that talks with India should happen.

Seeking to refute assertions that the military is the real master in Pakistan, Khan said that even the military is on board.

He ruled out any scope of a coup or martial law in his country.

Despite playing with a straight bat on various issues, Khan ducked questions on LeT founder Hafi z Saeed and underworld don Da-wood Ibrahim very skillfully. -PTI

A G E N D A A A J T A K

Industrial output races to 5-year high

NEW DELHI: In a robust turna-round, Indian industrial output grew at fi ve-year high rate of 9.8 per cent in October on impressive performance of capital and con-sumer goods, possibly driven by Diwali season demand.

The latest IIP fi gure marks a signifi cant rebound from 3.84 per cent growth recorded in Septem-ber 2015 and a contraction of 2.7 per cent in October last year.

The previous high in the index of industrial production (IIP) was in October 2010 at 11.36 per cent.

As per data released by the Central Statistics Offi ce (CSO), the manufacturing sector, a key indicator of economic activity, grew 10.6 per cent year-on-year in October. The consumer durables segment grew at a whopping 42.2 per cent in October over the same month last year.

While the consumer goods cat-egory paced up at 18.4 per cent, capital goods grew at 16.1 per cent year-on-year.

“The latest IIP is very good. It’s a high number, good number and encouraging number. But one has to be a little bit careful in inter-preting this number... especially this month as there is a Diwali eff ect,” Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian told report-ers on Friday and expressed hope it would become a trend.

On IIP data, industry chamber Assocham said: “What is even more pleasing is a huge 16.1 per cent growth in capital goods, re-fl ecting revival in investment cy-cle and a robust expansion of 9 per cent in electricity generation, which follows solid improvement in coal production.” - PTI

R O B U S T T U R N A R O U N D

COURTESY CALL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan

in a meeting in New Delhi on Friday. - PTI

A6

INDIAS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

The cause I am fi ghting for is far greater because that’s where the cancer is

Subramanian Swamy, BJP leader

Anti-corruption champion risks wrecking tax reform

NEW DELHI: An anti-corrup-tion champion in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has vowed to send opposition leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to jail, denting already faint hopes of political compromise on a key tax reform.

Fresh developments in a three-year-old fraud case brought by Subramanian Swamy have over-shadowed attempts to bridge the political divide in search of an elu-sive deal that would create a tax union in the country.

Taking down a dynastyFor Swamy, taking down a dynasty synonymous with the founding of modern India is a bigger immedi-ate priority than passing a Goods and Services Tax (GST) that has in any case been years in the mak-

ing. He says he has the tacit sup-port of Modi, and the powerful fi nance minister has also voiced his approval.

Swamy, who has said the moth-er and son deserve to go to jail, said in an interview that the GST would not help the economy.

Fighting corruption, which he says has drained $1.5 trillion out of India, would.

“The cause I am fi ghting for is far greater because that’s where the cancer is,” said the 76-year-old Harvard-trained economist and ex-cabinet minister.

Swamy met Modi on Thurs-day and said the prime minister voiced no objections to his case against the Gandhis.

Senior aides to Modi say that he sympathised with the case.

“Modi-ji has always wanted

to pursue legal cases against the Gandhi family,” said one aide.

“This case could end the Gandhi supremacy, and that is good for us.” Modi has tried to undermine the Gandhis since trouncing Con-gress at the ballot box last year.

At the same time, he has pushed for economic reforms, including the GST, which the government says could add up to 2 percentage points to the size of the economy.

In his case, Swamy accuses the Gandhis of fraud, cheating, misap-propriation and criminal breach of trust in acquiring the assets of a company that had published a newspaper founded by Rahul’s great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru. He alleges that, through a series of debt and equity deals, a shell company that Sonia and Ra-hul controlled acquired property

worth about $300 million after paying just $75,000.

Angry mood in CongressThe Gandhis deny wrongdoing and allies say the deals caused no fi nancial harm to the Congress party. Irked by Swamy, Congress lawmakers have accused Modi’s government of waging a “political vendetta” against the Gandhis.

Parliament’s upper house, where Modi needs Congress sup-port to pass the GST, has been dis-rupted all of this week.

While there are still a few days for GST to be passed and it has been listed for debate next week, the angry mood in Congress and daily protests mean chances of that happening are fading.

Congress national spokesman Sanjay Jha said the political wran-

gling had “neutralised” Modi’s meeting with Sonia on Novem-ber 27, their fi rst since he became prime minister in May 2014, to seek a way forward on the GST.

Spectrum-allocation scamSwamy, who merged his small po-litical party with Modi’s in 2013, is best known for successfully run-ning a legal campaign against the last Congress government over a multi-billion-dollar spectrum-allocation scam.

In a blog post late on Thursday about the case, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley backed Swamy and criticised Congress for disrupt-ing parliamentary business be-cause of it.

“By disrupting democracy, the fi nancial web created by the Con-gress leaders cannot be undone,” he wrote. A judge had fi rst sum-moned the Gandhis last year.

They appealed to the Delhi High Court, which this week quashed their plea seeking exemption from a personal appearance.

The judge hearing the case has opined that it “smacked of crimi-nality”. They have been sum-moned to appear on December 19, at which they would either face detention or have to post bail, un-less Supreme Court intervenes.

Parliament’s winter session ends four days later.

Congress says the timing of the court’s action has been infl uenced by politics, but Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denies this.

“If they don’t turn up, issue a warrant and send them to jail,” Swamy said in the book-lined study of his South Delhi resi-dence, where case papers were scattered across his desk.

“(It) is a total open and shut case. They are suff ering from hu-bris.” - Reuters

For BJP leader

Subramanian Swamy,

taking down a

dynasty synonymous

with the founding

of modern India is

a bigger immediate

priority than passing

a Goods and Services

Tax that has in any

case been years

in the making

OPENING PANDORA’S BOX: Subramanian Swamy, then an opposition politician who brought the

petition to revoke the telecom licences issued in 2008, speaks with the media after a verdict outside

the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, in this February 2, 2012 fi le photo. - Reuters

Sonia did not want someone with independent mind as PM: PawarNEW DELHI: Sharad Pawar, who had opposed Sonia Gandhi’s for-eign origins in 1997 but patched up with her later, has now come out with details of how she had preferred P. V. Narasimha Rao to him in 1991 because she did not want “someone with an independ-ent mind” to be the prime min-ister and how their relationship lacked “warmth”.

He enumerates a number of instances when as Leader of the Congress group in the Lok Sabha he was constantly undermined by Sonia in her capacity as Congress President during 1996-97.

Pawar, who was a minister in the Union government for 10 years when UPA (United Progressive Alliance) was headed by Sonia, de-scribes as “shocking” an amend-ment” to the Congress Parliamen-tary Party constitution in the early 1990s “solely” to make her the CPP leader, even without being elected to Parliament.

These are disclosed in a book Life on my terms-From the Grass-roots and Corridors of Power, writ-ten by Pawar, which was formally released on Thursday night at a function in the presence of a gal-axy of political leaders including Sonia, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the President and Vice President to celebrate his 75th birthday.

Self-styled loyalistsHe says ‘Self-styled’ loyalists of 10, Janpath, where Gandhi’s resides, convinced Sonia that it would be better to back Rao in 1991 as prime minister over him as the “Gandhi family was not about to let some-one with independent mind” to get the top post, Pawar has claimed.

The loyalists including the late Arjun Singh, himself an aspir-ant for the prime minister’s post played a “clever trick” to convince Sonia Gandhi in the decision to choose Rao over Pawar, says the

NCP President, who became de-fence minister in Rao’s cabinet.

He says that his name was con-sidered for the top post in the party not only in Maharashtra but also in other states. He was personally more circumspect as he was aware that a lot depended on the inclina-tion of 10 Janpath.

“Though a senior leader, P. V. Narasimha Rao had withdrawn from mainstream politics for health reasons before the election.

Given his long experience, there were suggestions to bring him back following the unforeseen exit of Rajiv,” Pawar states in his book.

“Self styled loyalists of 10 Jan-

path started saying in private con-versations that Sharad Pawar’s election as prime minister would harm the ‘fi rst family’s’ interest in view of his young age.

“‘Woh Lambi Race Ka Ghoda Hoga’ (He will hold the reins for a very long time), they argued.Among them who played a clever trick were M. L. Fotedar, R. K. Dha-wan, Arjun Singh and V. George.

“They convinced Sonia Gandhi that it would be safer for her to back Narasimha Rao because he was old and not in a good shape. Arjun Singh himself aspired to become prime minister and hoped to suc-ceed Rao soon. Anyway, once Sonia had bought the coterie’s ‘bring Rao’ argument in 1991, the tide turned against me,” Pawar says.

Rao was ultimately chosen over Pawar with a lead of over 35 votes.

Later P. C. Alexander, a former principal secretary to Indira Gan-dhi and close confi dant of the fam-ily, brokered a meeting between

him and Rao with an off er of top three portfolios.

“He (Alexander) and I knew that I had been a strong contender but Gandhi family was not to let some-one with independent mind to get to the Prime Minister’s post,” adds Pawar. Giving instances of the na-ture of their relationship, Pawar says though he was among those few who invited her to become the Congress president, “there was lit-tle warmth between us. At the best our relations were cordial”.

“She relied heavily on just two or three people for running the party.There was some uneasiness with-in the Congress that the party had won the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats from my home state Maharashtra.”

Against this background, the “coterie” sought to drive a wedge between him and Gandhi by point-ing out how he had “defi ed” Indira Gandhi to form the PDF govern-ment in Maharashtra in 1978. - PTI

R E V E L A T I O N S

GOING STRONG: President Pranab Mukherjee with Vice President

Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases a book

on NCP chief Sharad Pawar, right, during his 75th birthday celebra-

tion at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday. - PTI

Proposal to hike federal budget for social sectors

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government on Friday proposed to raise its budget for sanitation and the fi ght against malnutrition and HIV/AIDS, months after New Delhi faced criticism that spend-ing cuts were crippling welfare programmes.

The budget increases for social sectors will come as a relief for the largely poor population in India, where many people, especially in remote towns and villages, lack access to basic healthcare and clean water. The federal govern-ment plans to raise its sanitation and drinking water budget by 60 per cent to $2.15 billion, while the child welfare budget will rise by a quarter to $2.68 billion.

The budget for fi ghting HIV/AIDS will rise by nearly a fi fth but the main health department’s funding will rise by just 2 per cent, according to a government docu-ment presented to parliament.

“The government seems to have realised that cutting social sector funds is actually resulting in lower health outcomes,” said Amir Ul-lah Khan, an economist at health research company Aequitas. “This was the need of the hour.”

Modi in February irked many of his own offi cials by slashing social spending to free up funds to build roads and highways, hoping states would fi ll the gap from the addi-tional share of taxes they receive from New Delhi.

But many individual states com-plained of a funding crunch to run vital social schemes and, as a re-sult, thousands of health workers received delayed salaries and a key scheme to fi ght child malnutrition suff ered. Critics had warned the spending shakeup could endanger the most vulnerable. - Reuters

W E L F A R E P R O G R A M M E S

A7

PAKISTANS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

Board of Investment would assist Al Motahaden Petroleum Refi neries in obtaining consents and permissions for development of the project, including acquisition of land and import of plant and machinery.

Pact for $500m refi nery signed

ISLAMABAD: Al Motahaden Petroleum Refi neries of the United Arab Emirates will invest $500 million in setting up an oil refi nery in Pakistan in an attempt to reduce imports and meet the country’s growing energy needs.

The refi nery will be set up pref-erably in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), enhance the country’s re-fi ning capacity and help boost economic development.

In this regard, a memorandum of understanding was signed by Al Motahaden Petroleum Refi n-eries and the Board of Invest-ment (BoI) on Thursday. BoI Secretary Iftikhar Babar and an offi cial of the UAE refi nery inked the agreement.

Petroleum and Natural Re-sources Minister Shahid Khaqan

Abbasi, BoI Chairman Miftah Ismail and the UAE ambassador were present at the ceremony.

CapacityThe refi nery would have the ca-pacity to process about 15,000 to 20,000 barrels of oil per day. Al Motahaden Petroleum Refi neries will form a consortium consisting of local and foreign companies to develop the project and make the required foreign direct invest-ment in Pakistan.

The initiative will support Pa-kistan’s eff orts to fulfi l its energy requirements and enhance eco-nomic development. It will en-

courage investors to develop such other projects through foreign di-rect investment and international expertise.

Speaking on the occasion, BoI Chairman Miftah Ismail assured the UAE investors of full assis-tance and support for getting the required administrative and reg-ulatory approvals.

He said the BoI would assist the company in obtaining consents and permissions for development of the project, including acquisi-tion of land and import of plant and machinery. He expressed the hope that the project would be completed on time. – Express Tribune

The refi nery will

enhance Pakistan’s

refi ning capacity and

help boost economic

development

Shaheen-III ballistic missile successfully test fi redRAWALPINDI: Pakistan on Fri-day conducted a successful test of the Shaheen-III surface-to-sur-face ballistic missile, a statement from Inter-Services Public Rela-tions (ISPR) confi rmed.

“The successful fl ight test with its impact point in the Arabian Sea, validating all the desired pa-rameters, was witnessed by senior offi cers from Strategic Plans Divi-sion, Strategic Forces, scientists and engineers of Strategic Organi-sations,” the statement said.

Peaceful co-existenceDirector General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General Mazhar Jamil lauded the eff orts of the scientists and engineers on achieving the signifi cant mile-stone. “Pakistan desires peace-ful co-existence in the region for which nuclear deterrence would further strengthen strategic sta-bility in South Asia,” he said.

Further, he appreciated the ded-ication and commitment of those involved in making the launch a success, while expressing confi -dence over Strategic Command and Control System and the Stra-tegic Forces’ operational prepar-edness to defend against any ag-gressive design.

Both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain have congratulated those involved on the successful test of the missile launch. - Express Tribune

S U R F A C E - T O - S U R F A C E

UN names Muniba Pakistan’s fi rst woman goodwill envoyISLAMABAD: The United Na-tions Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has named Muniba Mazari as Pa-kistan’s fi rst female Goodwill Am-bassador to advance gender equal-ity and empowerment of women.

Speaking on the occasion, Mu-niba Mazari said, “I am a strong supporter of UN Women and the role in ending gender-based dis-crimination, and to work towards gender equality.” In her new role as National Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women Pakistan, artist-activist-writer, singer and speaker, Muniba will dedicate her eff orts towards for the empowerment of women and girls. In a tweet,

Mazari said, “We need to educate both men and women that if we empower one woman, we empow-er whole generation!”

Muniba, who has been in the wheelchair for the last seven years

after a car accident that left her with spinal cord injury, has repre-sented the voice of women, men, girls and boys across Pakistan on important issues of gender ine-quality and discrimination.

ThrilledJamshed Kazi, Country Repre-sentative for UN Women Pakistan said while announcing Mazari’s name, “We are thrilled and hon-oured to have Muniba Mazari as UN Women Pakistan’s fi rst Good-will Ambassador.”

To mark the 16th Day of Activ-ism against gender-based vio-lence, Saudi Pak Tower turned or-ange in colour. – Express Tribune

E M P O W E R I N G W O M E N

READY TO DEFEND: This handout photograph released by Pakistan’s Inter Services Public Relations on December 11, 2015, shows a Shaheen III surface-to-surface ballistic

missile launching from an undisclosed location in Pakistan. – AFP/HO/Inter Services Public Relations

AGREEMENT: Al Motahaden Petroleum Refi neries will set up an

oil refi ning facility preferably in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. – AFP Files

Muniba Mazari. – Facebook

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Dr Song Jong-hwan

Thanks to media coverage, it is widely known the world over that Pakistan is a frequent victim of terrorism. While there

are many Korean businessmen living in Paki-stan, with Korean automobile companies doing good business in the country, their headquarters in Korea have been passive about the Pakistani market due to the negative image of the country conjured up by the media.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s government and the military are jointly committed to the National Action Plan to wipe out terrorism and extremism from the country.

However, this is going to be a long-drawn pro-cess. Because of media coverage on terrorist ac-tivities, Korea has understandably failed to no-tice its long-standing relationship with Pakistan, the glorious Pakistani culture and the country’s immense potential.

Not many in Korea would know that Paki-stan has world heritage sites, such as the an-cient city of Mohenjo Daro, or the ‘Mound of the Dead’, which represents the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the four major civilisations of the ancient world.

The relationship between the regions that now make up Korea and Pakistan can be traced back 1,700 years. The monk Maranatha travelled from Lahore to Korea, through China, to spread Bud-dhism in the Baekje kingdom in 384 AD.

The 8th century monk Hyecho from Korea wrote a travelogue called Memoirs of the pil-grimage to the fi ve kingdoms of India. Out of the fi ve kingdoms, three are located in the regions of Peshawar, Gilgit-Balitistan and Kashmir.

Pakistan provided us with food and medicine aid amounting to $300,000 during North Korea’s invasion in 1950.

Furthermore, when we were trying to set up our fi rst fi ve-year economic development plan, the then secretary of development planning in Pakistan advised our experts on economic devel-opment. From the end of the Second World War up until now, around 140 countries have gained independence.

Of all these countries, Korea was the fi rst to change from an aid-recipient country to a donor country. Korean per capita income in 1960 was

less than $80, but now it is more than $28,000. Korea’s trade volume has been more than $1 tril-lion since 2011. This progress is called the “Mira-cle of the Han River”. The Pakistani government and its people, whose per capita income in 2015 amounts to $1,513, want to learn from Korea’s success and promote trade and ties between the two countries.

As the Korean ambassador to Pakistan for the past two years, I am convinced that Pakistan can achieve the “Miracle of Indus River” if the coun-try follows the same path as we did earlier. This can happen if the world, including Korea, under-stands Pakistan’s huge potential.

Pakistan hosts the world’s second highest mountain in its northeast, and fertile agricul-tural land in the centre and south. It has an ir-rigation system spread across the country from north to south along the Indus River. Geopoliti-cally, Pakistan is strategically located, with land connections between South Asia, Central Asia, China and Middle East, and is close to the naval entry point of the Arabian Gulf.

Its population is the sixth largest in the world and is estimated to be almost 190 million, with almost 100 million youth, many of them con-versant in English with good computer skills. Furthermore, its land area is 3.5 times more than that of the Korean peninsula, it is rich in mineral resources and its production capacity in cotton, milk and wheat is at world class level.

After President Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2015, the secretary of the Eco-nomic Aff airs Division and I signed the 2015-17 Economic Development Cooperation Fund Framework Agreement amounting to $500 mil-lion, on October 2.

I am fully convinced that Pakistan will achieve the “Miracle of Indus River” by learning from the Korean experience of Saemaul Undong (the New Village Movement). Pakistan will be the emerg-ing blue ocean market for us, with Korean Air fl ying to the country and the export of Korean automobiles to the Pakistani market.

With this dream, no matter how dangerous the prevailing circumstances, we hope to continue making our best eff orts to promote economic ac-tivity between Pakistan and Korea.- Express Tribune

Serves him rightThis refers to the story ‘Landmark dumps Trump Brands’ (Decem-ber 10) and sincerely congratulate the Landmark management for taking this wise and quick decision which will be followed by many

other business houses soon. His call to ban all Muslims from entering US is a possible hallmark of fascism and his this statement must fall fl at on his mouth. Trump’s cam-paign has been marked with infl ammatory statements in the past too. During oneof his campaign speeches he even described illegal Mexican Immigrants as drug smugglers but later somehow escaped this kind of widespread adverse reaction. I am happy that almost all top world leaders have condemned his state-ment. More than 300,000 Britons have signed petition to ban his entry. The Rob-ert Gordon University which had awarded an honorary DBA degree to him has revoked its degree and Scotland has gone one step ahead to strip him of his status as a Scotland Business Ambassador. The high handedness of Trump is certainly going to

cost him dear all over the world and in my humble opinion he is not the right person to occupy the White House.My appeal to all those who support the human value of uncondi-tional universal brotherhood is to “DUMP THE TRUMP”. — Mohammad Osama Rawat, Ruwi

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Philippines risks Paris-style attack: Presidential hopeful

MANILA: The Philippines faces a growing risk of a Paris-style at-tack by foreign militants, the top contender to win elections next year has warned, but there is no threat of “World War Three” with China over a bitter South China Sea territorial dispute.

Rodrigo Duterte, a tough-talk-ing mayor of Davao City in the in-surgency-plagued south, has built a reputation for fi ghting crime. He told Reuters two new army divi-sions would be formed to tackle security threats if he replaces President Benigno Aquino in the election in May.

His views run contrary to Aqui-no’s government, which sees no links between IS militants and fi ve groups in the southern Phil-ippines - even though police have said the groups had pledged al-legiance to extremists in Syria and Iraq.

“I said terrorism will grow and grow and grow and it would be a national threat in the coming days, maybe earlier than later,” Duterte said in an interview late on Thursday.

Known as “the Punisher” for his hardline stance on crime - he has

even claimed to have killed petty criminals in Davao City - Duterte said the new army units would not be used against Maoist guerrillas or rebels.

“I will not allow the government to wage war against its own peo-ple,” he said.

Duterte says enhanced security is the only way to build a stable economy.

“It is not for the faint-hearted,” he said. “If you are a president and you are afraid of criminals, or you are afraid to kill crimi-nals, then you have no business being a president.”

Duterte’s opponents have been silent on his uncompromising ap-proach to crime but human rights

groups, including Amnesty Inter-national, are alarmed.

“No one can take the law into their own hands,” said Chito Gas-con, head of the government’s hu-man rights commission.

Separatists have fought the security forces for 45 years on Mindanao island, of which Davao is the largest city. Duterte, a sev-en-term mayor, acknowledges the risk of the confl ict growing or be-ing exploited by external forces.

“If you are from Mindanao, there are explosions here and there and if that happens nation-wide, I will not be caught with my pants down,” said Duterte.

“I will use the military and po-lice... because I have to keep our

country safe, secure, peaceful.”The message has struck a chord

with voters, about 54 million of whom are eligible to elect a presi-dent, vice president and more than 18,000 local government ex-ecutives and legislators.

A Social Weather Stations opinion poll published this month showed Duterte was the top-rated contender for 38 per cent of 1,200 respondents, more than twice the number who supported Aquino’s anointed successor, former inte-rior minister Manuel Roxas.

Duterte, a 70-year-old lawyer, also said he was open to bilateral talks with China to settle their hotly disputed claims in the South China Sea, another move contrary

to existing government policy.The Philippines has asked the

Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to affi rm its right to areas within 200 nautical miles of its coastline and Manila expects a favourable decision by mid-2016.

Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also all have rival claims with an increasingly muscular China in the South China Sea, which is believed to hold huge de-posits of oil and gas.

“We will have to talk, we will not go to war because we cannot aff ord it,” he said. “If I cannot get to talk with them because they would not sit down for a multilat-eral talks, then I would consider just talking to them.” — Reuters

Terrorism will grow

and grow and grow

and it would be a

national threat in the

coming days, maybe

earlier than later,

said Rodrigo Duterte,

frontrunner for

presidential election

Thousands of cyclists honour Thai kingBANGKOK: Thousands of cy-clists streamed through Bangkok on Friday to honour Thailand’s revered king in an outpouring of loyalty.

“Bike For Dad” is part of weeks of celebrations marking the birth-day of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning mon-arch, who turned 88 on December 5. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralong-korn, the king’s only son and heir, led a throng of cyclists on a 29km (18 miles) route starting in Bang-kok’s old quarter.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and several cabinet minis-ters joined the procession of yel-low-shirted riders. Yellow is the colour that represents the king.

Sharing the moment“Many people want to share this moment to send a sign to our king that we all love him very much,” said Nusara Anuntavanichaya, 44, who sat with her six-year-old daughter on the route, along with thousands of yellow-clad spec-tators. Many Thais see the king as a unifying fi gure in a country that has suff ered bouts of violent upheaval over the past decade as rival power networks, one closely associated with the royalist mili-tary, vie to run the country.

The king is in frail health and has not been seen in public since September 1. He is in a Bangkok hospital, where he has spent much of the past six years, and where doctors in August treated him for

what the Royal Household Bureau called “water on the brain”, or hy-drocephalus. The cyclists passed the hospital on their route.

The king is a constitutional monarch, with no formal politi-

cal powers, and long wielded im-mense infl uence.

The crown prince does not command the same devotion his father does, leading to apprehen-sion about the succession. He smiled at cheering crowds as he cycled past on Friday.

The military, since seizing power in a May 2014 coup, has zealously pursued anyone per-ceived to have defamed the royals, including senior military and po-

lice offi cers, under lese majeste, or royal insult, laws.

Two suspects have died in mili-tary custody during a police in-vestigation of corruption involv-ing “Bike For Dad” and another cycling event aimed at celebrating the royals.

Authorities said about 30,000 police and soldiers were on duty for the bike ride, which comes four months after a bomb at a city shrine killed 20 people.— Reuters

‘ B I K E F O R D A D ’

Beijing to step up air quality monitoring after ‘red alert’

BEIJING: China’s capital will step up air quality monitoring, a senior city offi cial said, after re-cent severe pollution prompted authorities to issue a fi rst smog “red alert”.

Rapid industrial growth and car ownership have led to surging lev-els of air pollution in major urban areas and Chinese researchers have identifi ed the problem as a major source of discontent.

Beijing was shrouded in acrid smog and under a pollution red alert for part of this week. A red alert is triggered when the govern-ment believes air quality will sur-pass a level of 200 on an air qual-ity index that measures various pollutants for at least three days. The US government deems a level of more than 200 “very unhealthy”.

Mobile monitoringThe city will double the number air-quality monitoring stations from 36 and will also dispatch “mobile monitoring vehicles”, the offi cial Xinhua news agency cited Beijing vice mayor Li Shixiang as saying. Li also said law enforce-ment of rules aimed at cutting pollution, such as suspending work at polluting businesses, should be improved. “There are enterprises that close while you check them and open soon after you leave,” he said.

A red alert triggers restrictions on vehicles while schools are closed, businesses recommended to allow fl exible hours and the government advises that all “large-scale, outdoor activity” be stopped.

China’s frequent problems with smog underscore the challenge facing the government as it strug-gles with the impact of a coal-burning power industry. Environ-mental Protection Minister Chen Jining has vowed to punish agen-cies and offi cials for any failure to quickly implement a pollution emergency response plan, state media has reported. — Reuters

R I S I N G P O L L U T I O N

TOUGH-TALKING MAYOR: Rodrigo Duterte, 70, seven-term mayor of Davao city, who has built a reputation for fi ghting crime in the

insurgency-plagued southern Philippines, displays his Certifi cate of Candidacy for President, outside the Commission on Elections in

Manila, Philippines. – Reuters

MARKING THE BIRTHDAY: People ride bicycles during a mass cycle event to honour King Bhumibol

Adulyadej in Narathiwat, southern Thailand on Friday. – AFP

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Burundi’s 12-year civil war, which ended in 2005, had pitted rebel groups of the Hutu majority, including one led by current President Pierre Nkurunziza, against what was then an army led by the Tutsi minority. Rwanda has the same ethnic mix.

Brawl erupts as lawmaker manhandles Ukraine’s PM

KIEV: Fighting broke out among members of Ukraine’s ruling coa-lition in parliament on Friday af-ter a member of President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc physically picked up Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk and pulled him from the podium.

Yatseniuk was defending his embattled government’s record when lawmaker Oleh Barna walked over to him, presenting him sarcastically with a bunch of red roses. Barna then grabbed him around the waist, lifting him off his feet and dragging him.

Members from Yatseniuk’s People Front party waded in, pushing Barna and throwing punches. Lawmakers from Po-roshenko’s bloc joined the fray and an angry brawl ensued for several minutes before deputies returned to their seats.

Deep divisionsThe incident exposed deep divi-sions in the pro-Europe coalition that have fuelled speculation the government could fall even as Ukraine’s Western backers warn that time is running out for Kiev to make good on its promises to root out endemic corruption and cronyism.

Yatseniuk is, like Poroshenko, a pivotal player in the pro-Western leadership that emerged after the downfall of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014. But support for him has fallen dramatically in the past year. “The atmosphere in the room provoked mentally unbalanced people. Oleh Barna served on the frontline and is therefore too impulsive, but that does not excuse his actions,” the head of Poroshenko’s bloc Yuriy

Lutsenko told journalists.The brawl interrupted a ques-

tion-and-answer session with Yatseniuk, 41, after he delivered a summary of the performance of his government, which after ex-actly one year in power is now no longer immune from being dis-missed by parliament.

“I told you a year ago that no-body is going to promise the moon,” Yatseniuk said, appearing to defend his cabinet from accusa-tions they have not made good on their reform promises.

“You have full constitutional right to vote on the question of dismissing Ukraine’s cabinet. Put it to the vote. I’ll accept the deci-sion of the Ukrainian parliament.

I’m not clinging to this chair,” he said. Opposition parties are call-ing for a no-confi dence motion to be tabled and commentators say enough votes could be gathered to dismiss the government, but a vote is not yet likely due to the lack of a candidate to replace Yat-seniuk. In an impassioned speech on Tuesday, US Vice President Joe Biden urged parliament to put their diff erences aside to ap-prove reforms, including critical tax and budget bills and judicial changes, without which he said Ukraine would fail to rebuild itself on transparent, democratic lines.

“The President, the Prime Min-ister, the members of this august body -- all of you must put aside

parochial diff erences...If you fail, the experiment fails,” he told par-liament. A disagreement over proposed tax amendments and the draft 2016 budget has delayed the disbursement of up to $4 bil-lion in international loans which Ukraine had hoped to secure to boost its war-torn fi nances before the end of the year.

Yatseniuk said the government had submitted a “compromise” tax reform bill and urged lawmak-ers to approve the amendments before the turn of the year.

Yatseniuk’s People’s Front par-ty triumphed in parliamentary elections in 2014, but the approval rating for the party is now around 1 per cent. — Reuters

A member of

President Petro

Poroshenko’s bloc

physically picked

up Prime Minister

Arseny Yatseniuk,

lifted him off his feet

and dragged him

Climate talks stumble, France extends summitPARIS: Eff orts to craft a global accord to combat climate change stumbled on Friday with China and many other nations refus-ing to yield ground, forcing host France to extend the UN summit by a day to overcome stubborn divisions.

Despite the delay, many ex-pressed hope the 195 nations meet-ing in Paris would grasp the strong-est agreement yet to bind both rich and poor to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions at the climax of four years of negotiations. “There are still a couple of very diffi cult issues that we’re working on,” US Secre-tary of State John Kerry told re-porters, saying there had been pro-gress in overnight talks. Fraught discussions overnight exposed deep divisions on issues including a proposed goal to phase out net greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of the century. China was among many nations laying out tough demands, resisting calls for early reviews of its plans to curb rising emissions.

French Foreign Minister Lau-rent Fabius conceded the two-

week summit would not end on Friday as planned.

He said a fi nal text, meant to chart a way to far wider use of greener energy such as wind and solar power, would now be pre-sented to nearly 200 nations for review only on Saturday, a day later than planned. “We are nearly

there. I’m optimistic,” Fabius told reporters in the early afternoon, fl anked by UN Secretary-Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon. “I’ll present a text tomorrow at 0900 (0800 GMT) to the parties that I’m sure will be adopted.”

Ban called a 27-page draft text already on the table “a good basis”

for a deal to help avert more pow-erful storms, droughts, and deser-tifi cation and rising sea levels. “I appeal to all parties to take a fi nal decision for humanity.”

Delegates said China opposed calls led by the United States and the European Union for all na-tions to review and update their national plans for curbing green-house gas emissions every fi ve years. President Xi Jinping has already promised that carbon di-oxide emissions from China’s rap-idly developing economy will start falling from around 2030, and does not want to revisit the target. Delegates said China had also re-asserted demands that developed nations do far more to curb green-house gas emissions, mostly the result of burning coal, gas and oil.

Gao Feng, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s special representative on climate change, played down diff erences between China and the United States, saying: “There are no special diff erences... A deal is getting closer.”

“In fact, we have been pushing all kinds of countries, whether it

is the EU or others. We wish they can all be more ambitious,” he said. Many other countries were also holding their ground.

Saudi Arabia said it would resist language in the draft calling for a rise in global temperatures to be limited to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. It fears that could jeopardise oil production.

The draft text, released on Thursday night, also proposes a target of “greenhouse gas emis-sions neutrality in the second half of the century”.

Several climate scientists said the text should focus more clearly on phasing out carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. They also noted the latest draft did not explicitly mention fossil fuels, the main man-made source of carbon dioxide. “Major countries have entrenched behind their red lines instead of advancing on compro-mise,” said Matthieu Orphelin, spokesman for the Nicolas Hulot Foundation. Hulot is French Pres-ident Francois Hollande’s envoy on climate change. — Reuters

G R E E N H O U S E G A S E M I S S I O N S

Trudeau welcomes first planeload of Syrian refugees in CanadaTORONTO: After months of promises and weeks of prepara-tion, the fi rst Canadian govern-ment planeload of Syrian refugees landed in Toronto on Thursday, aboard a military aircraft met by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau was elected to a sur-prise majority in October promis-ing to accept more refugees more quickly than the previous Con-servative government.

“This is a wonderful night, where we get to show not just a planeload of new Canadians what Canada is all about, we get to show the world how to open our hearts and welcome in people who are fl eeing extraordinarily diffi cult situations,” Trudeau told airport workers and volunteers standing by to meet the refugees.

Trudeau’s Liberal government scaled back the number of Syrian

migrants it will accept by year end after the attacks in Paris sparked concern that the election promise to bring in 25,000 by December 31 would not allow enough time for security checks.

The plane carrying 163 Syrian refugees touched down in Toronto just before midnight on Thursday and will be followed by a second military airlift to Montreal on Sat-urday. Trudeau has said 10,000 will be resettled by the end of the year and a further 15,000 by the end of February.

As Trudeau met the military air-craft amid tight security at a spe-

cial terminal, privately sponsored Syrian refugees were arriving on commercial fl ights at Toronto’s main terminal, greeted by spon-sors and ordinary Canadians who had come to the airport to welcome the much-anticipated newcomers. “They are very tired, but they are happy and hopeful,” said Soriya Dasir, a worker with Abraham Fes-tival, a group that sponsored a sin-gle mother and three children who had been living in a camp in Jor-dan for two years, as she escorted them past waiting media.

Toronto’s airport authority urged Canadians not to come to the airport to greet the refugees or drop off donations, saying: “We’re so proud that our community wants to help, but such a response would be very overwhelming for those arriving.”

The request did not deter

Shai Reef, 20, who held up a sign that read: “Welcome to Canada” in Arabic.

“I’m here to show my solidar-ity for and support of the Syrian people going through genocide in Syria,” Reef said.

Toronto’s mayor tweeted a wel-come, while the Toronto Star, the country’s largest newspaper, cov-ered its front page with a “Wel-come to Canada” banner headline in English and Arabic, along with an article explaining Canadian weather, ice hockey and slang.

The reception in Canada con-trasted sharply with that of the neighbouring United States, where fear of Syrian refugees fol-lowing the deadly November 13 Paris attacks spurred opposition to allowing them entry. Some US governors said their states would not accept Syrian refugees. — Reuters

N E W C O M E R S

Members of ISS crew land safely

ALMATY/CAPE CANAVERAL: Three International Space Station (ISS) crew members landed in the snowy steppe to the northeast of the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan on Friday, a NASA Television broad-cast showed.

A capsule carrying NASA as-tronaut Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Japan’s Kimiya Yui was found by a search and rescue group whose four helicopters braved very strong winds and low clouds to reach the touchdown site.

Lindgren, Kononenko and Yui have been in orbit for nearly fi ve months.

Left aboard the $100 billion sta-tion are US astronaut and com-mander Scott Kelly and Russian fl ight engineers Mikhail Kornien-ko and Sergey Volkov. — Reuters

Z H E Z K A Z G A N

Military sites attacked in Burundi, 12 rebels killed

NAIROBI: Gunmen attacked military sites in Burundi’s capital on Friday and 12 of the assailants were killed while 20 were arrested after heavy fi ghting, the army said.

Soldiers told Reuters at least fi ve of them were also killed, but an offi cial army spokesman said they were only wounded in the latest fl are-up in a nation Western pow-ers fear may be sliding back into ethnic confl ict.

The sound of fi ring echoed across the capital, Bujumbura, through Friday after heavy gun-fi re and blasts erupted in the early hours. Residents said streets were empty and police were out in force at a time when people normally head to work.

The outbreak of violence, the worst since a failed coup in May, is unnerving for a region that re-mains volatile two decades after the genocide in next-door Rwanda.

Till now, battle lines in Burun-di’s crisis have followed the po-litical divide. But Western powers and regional nations fear old eth-nic rifts could reopen.

Burundi’s 12-year civil war, which ended in 2005, had pitted rebel groups of the Hutu majority, including one led by current Presi-dent Pierre Nkurunziza, against what was then an army led by the Tutsi minority. Rwanda has the same ethnic mix.

Night-time gunfi re and sporadic blasts have become common in Bujumbura during a crisis set off in April by Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term, which opponents - of-ten known as ‘Sindumuja’ - said violated a deal that ended the civil war. Nkurunziza won a disputed election in July.

But residents said Friday’s fl are-up was much more intense.

“Sindumuja tried to attack military camps but they failed,” presidential media adviser Willy Nyamitwe wrote on Twitter, de-scribing the raids as “a diversion” to try to free prisoners. — Reuters

L A T E S T F L A R E - U P

IMPULSIVE ACTION: A deputy from the Ukrainian President’s political party attacks Ukrainian Prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, right,

during the annual report of the government in the Ukrainian Parliament on Friday. – AFP

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PROTEST: Women take part in a giant red line demonstration as

an act of climate disobedience from the COP21 Eiff el Tower rep-

lica down the Champs Elysee corridor during the World Climate

Change Conference 2015 in Le Bourget, France, on Friday. – Reuetrs

WARM GREETINGS: Syrian refugees are greeted by Canada’s Prime

Minister Justin Trudeau, left, on their arrival from Beirut at the

Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario,

Canada on Friday. – Reuters

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2015

Australia in control after Voges-Marsh record stand

HOBART: Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh combined for 449 runs and the sixth highest partnership in test cricket history to put Australia fi rmly in control after the second day of the fi rst Test against West Indies on Friday.

Voges hit a majestic 269 not out and Marsh a career-high 182 to claim the world record for a fourth-wicket stand, allowing Australia skipper Steve Smith li-cence to declare on 583 for four at lunch in Hobart.

Spinner Nathan Lyon (3-43) and paceman Josh Hazlewood led the charge as the Australian bowl-ers drove home the advantage in the rain-disrupted fi nal two ses-sions to reduce the tourists to 207-6 at stumps.

Darren Bravo gave a timely re-minder that West Indies do have some quality in a defi ant innings of 94 and will resume his 91-run partnership with Kemar Roach (31 not out) on day three looking to make further inroads into Aus-tralia’s 376-run lead.

The day, though, belonged to

Western Australians Voges and Marsh, who were scarcely trou-bled in the opening session when, having resumed on 438-3, they plundered runs and sent records tumbling almost at will in an epic stand.

“It was great to see those two do what they did,” Hazlewood told ABC radio.

“Voges especially from ball one just hit the ball so well and was scoring at quite a quick rate with-out even trying. Really happy for Shaun Marsh as well.”

The duo were separated when Marsh was caught at midwicket just before lunch, leaving them just two runs shy of the Austral-ian record set by Bill Ponsford and Donald Bradman for the second

wicket against England at the Oval in 1934.

Voges’s brilliant knock gave him his maiden test double century and overhauled the Bellerive Oval individual Test record of 209 that Ricky Ponting set against Pakistan in 2010.

Still in his fi rst year of Test cricket after making his debut against West Indies in June, Vog-es may have been aggrieved that the declaration robbed him of a chance to go for a triple.

The 36-year-old faced only 285 balls and hit 33 fours, including the one that took the partnership past the fourth-wicket record of 437 that Sri Lankans Mahela Jaya-wardene and Thilan Samaraweera scored against Pakistan in Kara-

chi in 2009. An attempted slog sweep by Marsh off left-arm spin-ner Jomel Warrican that went straight to Bravo at midwicket brought an end to a glorious part-nership and, a couple of overs later, the innings.

Hazlewood made an early breakthrough by trapping opener Kraigg Brathwaite lbw for two but it was not until Lyon came on that the West Indies wickets started tumbling. The 28-year-old, playing his 50th Test, dismissed Rajendra Chandrika (25), Marlon Samuels (9) and Jermaine Blackwood (0), the latter two in a wicket-maiden over shortly before tea.

Hazlewood claimed his second victim when he trapped Denesh Ramdin (8) lbw before Peter Siddle

took the fi nal wicket to fall when West Indies skipper Jason Holder (15) was also adjudged lbw by a de-livery that technology showed was going over the stumps. - Reuters

Voges hit a majestic

269 not out and

Marsh a career-high

182 to claim the

world record for a

fourth-wicket stand

Australia 1st innings:J. Burns b Gabriel 33 D. Warner c Ramdin b Warrican 64 S. Smith c Blackwood b Warrican 10A. Voges not out 269 S. Marsh c D. Bravo b Warrican 182 M. Marsh not out 1 Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-14, w-3) 24 Total (for 4 wickets decl., 114 overs) 583 Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-104, 3-121, 4-570Did not bat: P. Nevill, P. Siddle, J. Pat-tinson, J. Hazlewood, N. Lyon Bowling: J. Taylor 17-0-108-0 (nb-2, w-1); K. Roach 16-1-99-0 (nb-4, w-1); S. Gabriel 10-1-59-1 (nb-4); J. Holder 24-3-75-0 (nb-4, w-1); J. Warrican 28-1-158-3; K. Brathwaite 13-0-52-0; J. Blackwood 6-0-25-0West Indies 1st innings:K. Brathwaite lbw b Hazlewood 2R. Chandrika c Smith b Lyon 25D. Bravo not out 94M. Samuels c & b Lyon 9J. Blackwood c Burns b Lyon 0D. Ramdin b Hazlewood 8J. Holder lbw b Siddle 15K. Roach not out 31Extras (b-7, lb-10, nb-5, w-1) 23Total (for 6 wickets, 65 overs) 207Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-58, 3-78, 4-78, 5-89, 6-116, To bat: J. Taylor, J. Warrican, S. Gabriel Bowling: J. Hazlewood 16-4-43-2; J. Pattin-son 15-0-68-0 (nb-5, w-1); P. Siddle 12-5-22-1; N. Lyon 19-6-43-3; M. Marsh 3-1-14-0Umpires: Marais Erasmus & Ian Gould TV umpire: Chris Gaff aney Match referee: Chris Broad

S C O R E B O A R D

TON MAKERS: Australia’s Adam Voges, right, celebrates with team mate Shaun Marsh after getting his

double century against the West Indies during their cricket Test match in Hobart. – AP/PTI

Sri Lanka’s hopes rest with Chandimal DUNEDIN: Sri Lanka’s hopes of getting close to New Zealand’s fi rst innings total on Saturday rest on the shoulders of Dinesh Chandimal after he and Dimuth Karunaratne obstinately defi ed the Kiwi bowlers for much of the second day of the fi rst Test at University Oval in Dunedin.

Dismissed for 431 early in the fi rst session, the hosts reduced Sri Lanka to 29 for two when Karunaratne (84) and Chandi-mal combined in a patient 122-run partnership before the left-handed opener was dismissed in the fi nal session.

With Angelo Mathews falling for two, just fi ve runs later, Sri Lan-ka’s inexperienced side will now look to Chandimal to build on their close of play score of 197 for four and ensure they do not concede a mammoth fi rst innings lead.

The 26-year-old Chandimal, who is his country’s leading test run scorer in 2015 and assumed the mantle of the critical number four spot left by the retirement of Mahela Jayawardene, ended play on 83 and within sight of his sixth test century. New Zealand have only bowled one over with the second new ball, however, and opening bowler Trent Boult

felt there was still enough in the wicket to put pressure on Sri Lanka early on the third day.

“If we can get one early the cli-che is one brings two and we’ll be into the tail and that starts with (Rangana) Herath at eight,” Boult told reporters about the importance of breaking Chandi-mal’s partnership with Kithuru-wan Vithanage, who was on 10. “That’s the incentive. We’re look-ing to turn up and put a strong foot forward.”

Karunaratne and Chandimal had weathered a tough working over from New Zealand’s four-pronged pace attack and looked well settled to bat through until the close to drag their side closer to parity.

Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, however, managed to break their partnership when Karunaratne went to cut a de-livery that did not turn and only succeeded in getting an edge to wicketkeeper BJ Watling for his third catch of the innings.

The 30-year-old took his fourth catch when Tim Southee tempted Mathews with a full de-livery on leg stump and he got a faint inside edge before the ball also brushed his pad. — Reuters

T E S T S E R I E S

New Zealand 1st innings:M. Guptill c Chandimal b Mathews 156 T. Latham c&b Lakmal 22 K. Williamson c Karunaratne b Pradeep 88 R. Taylor lbw b Pradeep 8B. McCullum c Vithanage b Siriwardana 75M. Santner c Chandimal b Chameera 12B. Watling c Vithanage b Chameera 5D. Bracewell lbw b Pradeep 47T. Southee c Siriwardana b Lakmal 2N. Wagner c Jayasundara b Pradeep 7T. Boult not out 0 Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-1, w-1) 9Total (all out, 96.1 overs) 431 Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-229, 3-245, 4-334, 5-359, 6-365, 7-394, 8-399, 9-426,10-431Bowling: S. Lakmal 16-1-69-2; N. Pradeep 23.1-2-112-4; A. Mathews 9-2-28-1; D. Chameera 20-2-112-2 (w-1); R. Herath 19-1-46-0; U. Jayasundara 5-0-33-0 (nb-1);

M. Siriwardana 4-0-24-1Sri Lanka 1st innings:D. Karunaratne c Watling b Santner 84 K. Mendis c Watling b Boult 8 U. Jayasundara c Watling b Wagner 1 D. Chandimal not out 83 A. Mathews c Watling b Southee 2 K. Vithanage not out 10 Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-4) 9Total (for 4 wickets, 81 overs) 197 Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-29, 3-151, 4-156To bat: M. Siriwardana, R. Herath, D. Chameera, N. Pradeep, S. Lakmal Bowling: T. Boult 16-5-38-1; T. Southee 16-4-35-1; D. Bracewell 16-4-29-0 (nb-4); N. Wagner 13-2-53-1; M. Santner 19-6-37-1; K. Williamson 1-1-0-0 Umpires: Richard Kettleborough and Nigel LlongTV umpire: Paul Reiff el Match referee: David Boon

S C O R E B O A R D

Series won’t happen for a year if not held within January: PCB

KARACHI: PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has said if the proposed India-Pakistan bilat-eral series is not held within the next month it would not be possible to have one for the next one year.

“I don’t see the series happen-ing in the next one year if it is not held at this time as both teams have international commitment throughout 2016,” Khan said.

He also made it clear that the bilateral series with India that is still undecided and the World T20 were two separate things.

“This is a bilateral series be-tween two nations the World T20 is an ICC event.”

But the PCB chief said in an interview that the PCB will have to seek its government permis-sion to send the team to India for the World T20 in March.

“We are monitoring the situa-tion but given the current envi-ronment in India with regards to Pakistan we will have to ask our government for permission whether the security situation is ok for us to send our team,”he said. — PTI

I N D I A - P A K I S T A N C R I C K E T

Robin header

gives Delhi win

NEW DELHI: A disciplined and organised Delhi Dynamos rode on a Robin Singh’s header in the fi rst half to win 1-0 against FC Goa in the fi rst leg of the In-dian Super League’s fi rst semifi -nal here on Friday. Robin headed Dynamos ahead on 42th minute and the team preserved the lead for the rest of the contest and will march into the second leg at Goa on December 15 with the slim advantage. — IANS

I N D I A N S U P E R L E A G U E

A12

SPORTSS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

Team Oman to take on Ireland in World T20 opener in Dharamsala

Sports Editor

MUSCAT: Debutants Oman has been grouped with Bangladesh, Netherlands and Ireland in Group A for the fi rst round matches of the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, according to International Cricket Council, who announced the groups and schedule for the tournament.

The tournament will be staged across eight venues in India from March 8 and April 3.

A total of 58 tournament match-es, including 35 men’s matches and 23 women’s matches, will be played in the 27-day tournament in Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharam-sala, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi.

New Delhi and Mumbai will host the semifi nals on 30 and 31 March, respectively, while Eden Gardens in Kolkata will be the venue of the April 3 fi nal.

According to http www.icc-cricket.com, the men’s event will carry a total prize money of $5.6million, which is an 86 per cent increase from the 2014 tourna-ment, while the total prize money for the women’s event is $400,000, which is a 122 per cent increase from the Bangladesh event.

There have been fi ve diff erent winners of the men’s event while the England women’s team won the inaugural tournament at home in 2009 before Australia won three straight titles in the West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2010, 2012 and 2014, respectively.

According to the men’s event format, eight sides in two groups of four, will feature in the fi rst round matches with the group winners joining eight sides in the Super 10 stage (two groups of fi ve teams). The top two sides from both the Super 10 Groups will then qualify for the semifi nals. In the women’s event, the 10 sides will be divided into two groups and the top two

sides from each group will pro-gress to the semifi nals.

In Group B of the fi rst round men’s event, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong and Afghanistan are together.

In a double-header on the open-ing day on March 8, Zimbabwe will face Hong Kong in the afternoon match, to be followed by the even-ing match between Scotland and Afghanistan. Both the matches will be played in Nagpur.

The group winners will join Australia, England, New Zea-land, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and host India in the Super 10 stage, which will be played alongside the women’s event from March 15 to 28.

Oman, who will be based in Dharamsala for the fi rst round, opens their campaign with a match against

Ireland on March 9. They will next face Netherlands on March 11 and Bangladesh on March 13.

To qualify for the next round Oman has to top the group.

India, Pakistan in same groupMeanwhile, a Reuters report from

Mumbai said that hosts India will kick off the Super 10 stage of the World Twenty20 on March 15 in Nagpur against New Zealand.

Defending men’s champions Sri Lanka have been placed in group one of the Super 10 stage along with South Africa, West Indies, England and a qualifi er.

Group two of the Super 10 stage will see hosts India, who won the inaugural tournament in South Africa in 2007, pooled along-side arch-rivals Pakistan, Aus-tralia, New Zealand and another qualifi er.

The high-voltage match be-tween bitter neighbours India and Pakistan will be played on March 19 in picturesque Dharamsala.

ICC Chairman Mr Shashank Manohar, who attended the launch ceremony in Mumbai, said: “India is a country where cricket is a re-ligion and not many places can match the passion for the game like India. I am fully confi dent that the Board of Control for Cricket in India will deliver an outstanding world cricket event, just like the ICC Cricket World Cups in 1987, 1996 and 2011.

“The ICC and BCCI are fully committed and will work together to make this a memorable event. I invite fans from across the world to witness fast-paced cricket-ing action on the fi eld and enjoy the hospitality and culture of India, off it.”

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ICC World Twenty20 is an event which puts the world’s best cricketers in the shortest format of the game against each other in a nation ver-sus nation contest.

“The Twenty20 format provides the perfect vehicle by which the ICC can further globalise the game, providing international exposure and opportunity to our top Asso-ciate and Affi liate members. The ICC World Twenty20 event struc-ture is designed to provide highly competitive matches throughout, with eight evenly-matched sides fi ghting it out in the fi rst round and the best two then getting in the mix with the top eight ranked teams in the Super 10 stage where the in-tensity and competition will be of the very highest level.”

BCCI Secretary Mr Anurag

Thakur said: “We, as hosts, are fully prepared to organise one of the most entertaining spectacles in world cricket. We draw expe-rience from hosting three ICC Cricket World Cups and are ready to make the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 one of the most memo-rable events.

“Our preparations are in full swing, and BCCI and ICC is work-ing together to make it a lifetime experience for the players and the fans. India is a vibrant country – young, full of colour, energy and exuberance - and is very much like the concept of Twenty20 cricket itself. We would encourage every-one involved with the game to ex-perience the best of India.”

Tournament scheduleFirst round (group winners to progress to second round): Group A – Bangladesh, Netherlands, Ire-land and OmanGroup B – Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong and AfghanistanSecond round groups:Super 10 Group 1 – Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, England and winner group B (Q1B)

Super 10 Group 2 – India, Pakistan, Austral-ia, New Zealand and winner group A (Q1A)First round matches:March 8: Zimbabwe v Hong Kong, Nagpur; Scotland v Afghanistan, NagpurMarch 9: Bangladesh v Netherlands, Dhar-amsala; Ireland v Oman, DharamsalaMarch 10: Scotland v Zimbabwe, Nagpur; Hong Kong v Afghanistan, NagpurMarch 11: Netherlands v Oman, Dhar-amsala; Bangladesh v Ireland, DharamsalaMarch 12: Zimbabwe v Afghanistan, Nag-pur; Scotland v Hong Kong, NagpurMarch 13: Netherlands v Ireland, Dharam-sala; Bangladesh v Oman, Dharamsala.Super 10:March 15: New Zealand v India, NagpurMarch 16: West Indies v England, Mumbai; Pakistan v Q1A, KolkataMarch 17: Sri Lanka v Q1B, KolkataMarch 18: Australia v New Zealand, Dhar-amsala; South Africa v England, MumbaiMarch 19: India v Pakistan, DharamsalaMarch 20: South Africa v Q1B, Mumbai; Sri Lanka v West Indies, BengaluruMarch 21: Australia v Q1A, BengaluruMarch 22: New Zealand v Pakistan, MohaliMarch 23: England v Q1B, New Delhi; India v Q1A, BengaluruMarch 25: Pakistan v Australia, Mohali; South Africa v West Indies, NagpurMarch 26: Q1A v New Zealand, Kolkata; England v Sri Lanka, New DelhiMarch 27: India v Australia, Mohali; Q1B v West Indies NagpurMarch 28: South Africa v Sri Lanka, New DelhiMarch 30: Semifi nal (Super 10 Group 1 2nd v Super 10 Group 2 1st), New DelhiMarch 31: Semi-fi nal (Super 10 Group 1 1st v Super 10 Group 2 2nd), MumbaiApril 3: Final, Kolkata.

Oman has been

grouped with

Bangladesh, Ireland

and Netherlands

and will play all

the fi rst round

group matches

at Dharamsala

SMILING TRIO: Indian cricketers Shikhar Dhawan, left, Virat Kohli, centre, and Ajinkya Rahane, right,

smile while posing with the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 trophy. - AFP

ANNOUNCING FIXTURES: ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar speaks

during a ceremony to announce fi xtures of World T20 in Mumbai. – Reuters

Strong Sydney breeze brings out the best in The Wave, MuscatMUSCAT: A howling breeze proved merciless in Sydney on Fri-day curtailing the Extreme Sailing Series race programme but bring-ing out the best in The Wave, Mus-cat who moved up the rankings to be joint leaders with Oman Air close behind in third.

With winds in Sydney Harbour gusting 28 knots, race manage-ment and skippers had safety as their focus as the schedule was shortened to just four races and the fl eet limited to just six boats on the race course but Leigh McMillan and his crew on The Wave, Mus-cat, renowned for their high wind performance, claimed maximum points in two races to rise to the top with 83 points, sharing the lead with SAP Extreme Sailing Team.

McMillan, who is hoping to nail his third Extreme Sailing Series championship title on Sunday de-scribed the conditions as ‘aggressive’ saying a gust which led to the cap-size of Lino Sonego Team Italia had served as a wake-up call for his team.

“These were pretty unusual conditions with winds we don’t normally see in Sydney,” said Mc-Millan. “We are racing close to the shore so we are very conscious of safety. Conditions at the top of the course were very aggressive so we didn’t feel we could push very hard because we were always on the edge.

“In the fi rst race we didn’t re-ally pull the trigger so in the next races, we had to concentrate more on performance. It was pretty full on out there but it ended up being a

good day for us. “Our focus is pure-ly on trying to win so we have to concentrate on staying at the front and not falling behind.”

It had been a relief to fi nish the day without sustaining any dam-age added teammate Sarah Ayton, recently-crowned ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year.

Omani bowman Nasser Al Mashari added: “It was a tough day for our team and the strong winds required some more physi-cal work. There are two more days left and our focus is on winning the title and raising our national fl ag.”

While The Wave, Muscat and SAP Extreme Sailing Team share the lead on 83 points, Stevie Mor-rison’s Oman Air are snapping at their heels just three points behind

despite fi nding the conditions challenging.

The strong performances from The Wave, Muscat and Oman Air have placed the Sultanate of Oman fi rmly at the forefront of the sport-ing action attracting high levels of support from the massive crowds lining the harbour and from the Australian and global media and off the water, Oman is also grab-bing attention with the opening on Friday of Oman Sail’s special Oman Tourism Pavilion by His Excellency Dr. Hamad bin Ali bin Abdullah Al Alawi, Consul Gen-eral at the Sultanate’s Consulate in Australia, joined by Salim bin Adi Al Mamari - Director General of Tourism Promotion for the Minis-try of Tourism.

S A I L I N G

GREAT DAY: The Wave, Muscat skippered by Leigh McMillan with

team mates Pete Greenhalgh, Nasser Al Mashari, Sarah Ayton and

Ed Smyth cruising well. – Supplied photo

Oman Racing Team excel for Aston

Martin with pole at Yas Marina

ABU DHABI: Ahmad Al Harthy and fellow Oman Racing Team drivers Darren Turner and Jonny Adam made history for Aston Martin at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi after securing pole po-sition for the Gulf 12 Hours dur-ing the marque’s maiden appear-ance in the event.

Running superbly from the off throughout practice, Omani sportsman Al Harthy and his vastly experienced British team-mates went on to deliver sen-sational performances in their respective qualifying sessions to ensure a hugely important grid-topping start for the big race.

Adam, the reigning British GT Champion and, like Turner, an Aston Martin ‘factory’ driver, took the wheel of the No.44 Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 in the opening qualifying run and duly headed his session with a time of 2:09.341 seconds.

Ahmad ran in session two and produced an excellent fi fth fast-est time, a lap of 2:10.337 seconds, before Turner’s best of 2:09.388 seconds — third quickest in ses-sion three — meant the ORT en-try secured pole position by 0.083 seconds with an average time of 2:09.688 seconds.

“We did it!”, said an ecstatic Ah-mad immediately after qualify-ing, “This is a mega result for eve-ryone at the Oman Racing Team, to come to the Gulf 12 Hours for the fi rst time, the fi rst time for Aston Martin, and take pole posi-

tion is incredible – I’m absolutely delighted. It really is the perfect way to start and confi rmation of the great work everyone has done over the last couple of days.

“Everything went to plan, the team continued to work on the car and then Jonny and Darren both did the amazing job we all knew they would. I was very happy with my session, I’ve been working closely with my team-mates and improving throughout – my quali-fying lap was my best yet at Yas Marina so that is very positive.”

In addition to being Aston Martin’s fi rst outing in the Gulf 12 Hours, this year’s event also marks the fi rst race meeting in the Middle East for the full Oman Racing Team. Ahmad, who is the

Aston Martin Middle East and North Africa Ambassador, is also participating in the Gulf 12 Hours for the fi rst time.

Ahead of the fi nal contest, which is split into two six hour contests with a break of roughly two hours in between, the Oman Air, Oman Ministry of Sports Aff airs, Oore-doo, National Bank of Oman and Al Hashar Group-backed driver is relishing the prospect of deliver-ing a strong showing.

“It’s going to be a big challenge and a long race, I really am look-ing forward to it”, he added, “It’s been fantastic working with Dar-ren and Jonny, we have a great environment within the team and we’re all determined to push in-credibly hard for a big result.”

M O T O R S P O R T S

GOOD GOING: Ahmad Al Harthy and fellow Oman Racing Team

drivers made history for Aston Martin at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi

after securing pole position for the Gulf 12 Hours. – Supplied photo

BMARKE

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

STANDARD CHARTERED SHARE SALE RAISES $5.1BStandard Chartered raised about $5.1 billion after 96.8 per cent of the bank’s shareholders exercised their rights in a share sale on Friday, signaling confi dence in CEO Bill Winters’s strategy to turn around the Asia-focused lender. >B3

Dow-DuPont merger move to create $130b chemical giantNEW YORK: Chemical giants DuPont and Dow Chemical agreed to merge in an all-stock deal valu-ing the combined company at $130 billion, with plans to eventually split into three.

The deal, which is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny, allows the new company — to be called DowDuPont — to rejig assets based on the diverging fortunes of their businesses that make agriculture chemicals and plastics.

Falling demandDow and DuPont have been strug-gling to cope with falling demand for farm chemicals due to falling crop prices and a strong dollar, even as their plastics businesses have thrived thanks to low natu-ral gas prices. The companies said the proposed split would create businesses focused on agriculture, materials and specialty products. Dow and DuPont shareholders will each own about 50 per cent of DowDuPont, excluding preferred shares. DuPont CEO Ed Breen will be CEO of DowDuPont, and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris will be executive chairman.

DuPont shares were down four per cent at $71.50 in premarket trading on Friday, while Dow’s were up 1.5 per cent at $55.72.

A game-changer“This transaction is a game-changer for our industry and re-fl ects the culmination of a vision we have had for more than a dec-ade to bring together these two powerful innovation and mate-rial science leaders,” Liveris said in a statement.

Dow Chemical shareholders will get one DowDuPont share for each Dow Chemical share held, while DuPont shareholders will get 1.282 shares in DowDuPont for each DuPont share they own.

The companies said the split would “occur as soon as feasi-ble” and would likely happen 18-24 months after the deal closes, which is expected in the second half of 2016.

The combination will help the companies save about $3 billion in costs in the fi rst two years, with the possibility of saving another $1 billion, Dow and DuPont said.

The biggest of the three new

companies by revenue would be a material science company, which would cater to the packaging, transportation and infrastructure industries. The combined revenue for the materials business was

about $51 billion in 2014, on an ad-justed basis. The companies said a new specialty products company would focus on electronics. The combined adjusted revenue of that business was about $13 billion in

2014. The third business, selling seed and crop protection chemi-cals, generated adjusted revenue of about $19 billion.

DowDuPont’s board is expected to have 16 members, with each

company contributing eight direc-tors, the companies said.

In a separate announcement, Dow Chemical said it would buy the remaining stake in its 50-50 joint venture with Corning Inc , the supplier of Gorilla Glass for iPhones.

The transaction is expected to yield more than $1 billion in ad-ditional annual EBITDA at full run-rate synergies, Dow Chemical said. — Reuters

D O W D U P O N T

IEA expects global crude glut to last until late 2016

LONDON: The global oil sur-plus will persist at least until late 2016 as demand growth slows and Opec shows “renewed determina-tion” to maximise output, accord-ing to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), by eff ectively dropping production limits at its December 4 meeting, is displaying hardened resolve to maintain sales volumes even as prices fall in an oversupplied mar-ket, the agency said Friday in its monthly report. While its policy is hitting rivals, triggering the steep-est drop in non-Opec supply since

1992, world oil inventories will likely swell further once Iran re-stores exports on the completion of a deal to lift sanctions, it said.

Oil slumped to a six-year low below $40 a barrel in London af-ter Opec, which controls about 40 per cent of world supply, said it would keep pumping in excess of its old production limit. Saudi Arabia, the group’s most powerful member, has steered its strategy to pressure rivals in the US with lower prices.

“As inventories continue to swell into 2016, there will still be a lot of oil weighing on the mar-ket,” said the Paris- based agency,

which advises 29 nations on en-ergy policy. Opec’s decision last week “appears to signal a renewed determination to maximise low-cost Opec supply and drive out high-cost non-Opec production — regardless of price.”

Swelling inventoriesAbandoning output targets doesn’t mean Opec is about to further open the taps, as its big-gest members — Saudi Arabia and Iraq — are already pumping near record levels, the agency said. The group probably won’t bol-ster output until Iran completes an agreement on its nuclear pro-

gram that would lift sanctions on crude exports, the IEA predicted. Iran’s return will probably help to swell oil inventories by an “im-pressive” 300 million barrels, the agency said.

The accumulation of the sur-plus will actually slow next year to about half the pace observed in 2015 as non-Opec supply wilts and demand remains strong enough to absorb some of the ex-cess. The combination of rising consumption and an expansion in storage facilities means the world won’t run out of space to store the surplus crude, the agency said.

Strategy working

“There is evidence the Saudi-led strategy is starting to work,” the agency said. “Oil below $50 is clearly driving out non-Opec supply.” Production from outside Opec will contract by 600,000 barrels a day next year, compared with a surge of 2.4 million a day in 2014, the IEA predicted.

Oil demand growth will slow to 1.2 million barrels a day in 2016, down from a fi ve-year peak of 1.8 million reached this year, as the boost from cheap fuel prices wears off , IEA said. The agency’s 2016 estimates of demand and supply are unchanged from last month’s report. — Bloomberg News

Opec’s policy is

hitting rivals,

triggering the

steepest drop in

non-Opec supply

since 1992, world

oil inventories will

likely swell further

once Iran restores

exports on the

completion of a deal

to lift sanctions

Indian rupee hits 2-year trough against greenback

MUMBAI: Indian rupee fell back sharply after a strong overnight rally and ended with a 17 paise loss at 66.88 against the US dollar, the lowest level in more than two years in the face of strong demand for greenback.

Fresh dollar demand from im-porters drive by heavy capital out-fl ows and a steep fall in local equi-ties largely weighed on the rupee value. Some caution ahead of the key economic data — industrial production numbers for October — which is due later in the day also impacted the trade.

Market sentiments remained jittery with an imminent higher in-terest rate environment arising out of the US Federal Reserve’s action next week. Weak dollar overseas, however, limited the fall.

The home currency opened low-er at 66.80 per dollar compared to Thursday’s close of 66.71 at the In-terbank Foreign Exchange market on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers. Later, it recovered some lost ground and moved errat-ically in a range of 66.74 and 66.90 in afternoon trade before conclud-ing at 66.88, revealing a fall of 17 paise, or 0.25 per cent.

The Indian rupee had appreci-ated by 12 paise to end at 66.71.

Highly cautiousMarket participants are highly cautious at this juncture ahead of the much awaited Fed rate hike decision next week and the poten-tial impact on the country’s cur-rency as India will not be immune if global volatility increases, a forex dealer said. In worldwide trade, the dollar traded little changed against other major currencies ahead of US retail data despite robust US jobs data overnight.

China’s yuan dropped to its low-est level against the dollar in over four years impacted by economic slowdown and hefty capital out-fl ows even as the central bank steadily guides the currency lower.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England (BoE) decided to keep the bench-mark rate unchanged at 0.50 per cent as expected in the wake of slight deterioration in the outlook for the global economy and infl a-tionary pressure.

The dollar index, which tracks the world’s reserve currency against a basket of its peers, is down 0.14 per cent at 97.78.

Crude oil extended weakness for the fi fth consecutive day with the Brent contract closing below the $40 per barrel for the fi rst time since August 2004.

The stock market fl agship index Sensex plummeted over 208 points to end at 25,044.43 after overnight relief rally faltered on renewed worries about global growth woes amid falling oil prices. — PTI

C U R R E N C Y

US November retail sales rise highest in 4 monthsWASHINGTON: Retail sales climbed in November by the most in four months as American con-sumers put to work some of the money saved from the cheapest gasoline since early 2009.

The 0.2 per cent increase in November, less than forecast, fol-lowed a 0.1 per cent gain in the previous month, Commerce De-partment fi gures showed on Fri-day. Excluding purchases of autos and gasoline, retail purchases climbed 0.5 per cent, also the big-gest advance since July.

A labour market that’s put mil-lions back to work this year and propelled disposable income has also given households a lit-tle more to spend, a development that should help retailers during the holidays. Faster wage growth would provide an even bigger

boost for consumers and encour-age broad-based spending beyond big-ticket items such as autos and appliances. The median forecast of 80 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for a 0.3 per cent in-crease in sales. Estimates ranged from a 0.3 per cent decline to a 0.5 per cent pickup. There were no revisions to September or Octo-ber data. Eight of 13 major catego-ries showed increases last month. Those seeing an improvement in demand included Internet retail-ers, general merchandise stores, apparel shops and sporting-goods merchants. Restaurant sales climbed 0.7 per cent, the most since April. Receipts at gas sta-tions weighed on the retail sales fi gures in November, as the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline fell 6.7 per cent last month, based on data

from motoring group AAA. Re-ceipts at fi lling stations dropped 0.8 per cent. The retail sales data aren’t adjusted for changes in pricing.

Auto salesSales also fell at automobile deal-ers last month. The 0.4 per cent decrease, after a 0.3 per cent de-cline, is at odds with industry data from Ward’s Automotive Group showed sales of cars and light trucks in November exceeded an 18 million annualised rate for a record third straight month.

Based on the industry data, the appetite for new cars is fueled by an improving economy, along with carmakers using rebates and other off ers to draw shoppers to their showrooms and away from rivals. — Bloomberg News

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

MATERIAL SCIENCE LEADER: Sign at the entrance to the DuPont chemical plant is pictured in LaPorte,

Texas, 26 miles downtown Houston, in this November fi le photo. Dow Chemical and DuPont are in

merger talks, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. — Reuters

KEY POINTS Each co’s shareholders

to get about 50 pct of DowDuPont

DuPont CEO Breen to get top job at combined company

Dow CEO Liveris to be executive chairman

DuPont shares down 4% premarket, Dow up 1.5%

GLOOMY SCENARIO: Production from outside Opec will contract by 600,000 barrels a day next year, compared with a surge of 2.4 mil-

lion a day in 2014, the International Energy Agency predicted. — Bloomberg fi le picture

STRONG DEMAND: Eight of 13 major categories showed increases

last month. Those seeing an improvement in demand included

Internet retailers, general merchandise stores, apparel shops and

sporting-goods merchants. Restaurant sales climbed 0.7 per cent,

the most since April. — Bloomberg fi le picture

ED $5.1B

ut $5.1 bank’s hts

ling ’s

B2

MARKETS AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

China’s November lending beats analysts expectations

BEIJING: New loans and money supply grew faster than expected in China in November as interest rate cuts and higher government spending spurred more demand for credit, a welcome bright spot after a raft of disappointing eco-nomic data.

Chinese banks extended 708.9 billion yuan ($109.81 billion) of new loans last month, more than the 700 billion yuan economists had expected and up 38 percent from October.

Total social fi nancing, a broad-er measure of net new credit, more than doubled to 1.02 trillion yuan from the previous month, while broad money supply (M2) rose 13.7 per cent year-on-year, its strongest pace since June 2014 and up from 13.5 per centin October.

The stronger showing was led by increases in conventional lend-ing, bond issuance, and corporate fundraising via equity markets, while forms of credit associ-ated with riskier shadow banking products continued to decline, Friday’s date showed.

In addition, the new lending was dominated by the long-term and medium-term loans that Bei-

jing wants. They comprised 65 per cent of total new loans, up from 50 per cent in the fi rst nine months.

Policymakers have been trying to boost productive investment through monetary easing with-out stimulating unhealthy specu-lation, which is often fueled by shorter-term fi nancing.

Beijing has been pushing hard to get bogged-down infrastruc-ture spending back on track to off -set slowing economic growth; in October fi scal expenditures rock-eted up 36.1 per cent, the biggest rise in over three years.

Outstanding loans rose by 14.9 per cent from a year ago, below expectations of 15.3 per cent and October’s 15.4 per cent.

Mixed pictureOther data earlier this week

showed downward pressure on

the world’s second-largest econ-omy persisted in November, wor-rying those who had expected activity to stabilise in the fourth quarter after a year-long fl urry of stimulus measures including both rate cuts and fi scal spending.

“Aside from seasonal factors driving up new loans, the rebound was weaker than expected and lower than the 852.7 billion yuan in November 2014, indicating that domestic demand remained soft and banks were cautious to pro-vide new loans amid rising credit risks,” wrote ANZ economists in a research note, calling for more rate cuts in response.

November exports fell for a fi fth consecutive month and im-ports declined for the 13th month straight, while weak consumer and producer prices raised con-

cerns that the economy could be sucked into a Japan-style defl a-tionary trap.

Activity data for November, in-cluding industrial output, invest-ment and retail sales, is due to be released on Saturday.

Bad loans on the riseCredit demand has softened in China along with the economy, while bad loans are on the rise, making banks more risk averse.

Many companies, especially in heavy industry, are saddled with overcapacity and are in no mood to take on new debt, especially given that analysts estimate that infl ation-adjusted lending rates are averaging around 10 per cent, far higher than returns on invest-ment in many sectors.

China’s central bank has cut

interest rates six times since last November and reduced the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves. The govern-ment has also eased restrictions on home buying to boost the slug-gish property market.

More support measures are ex-pected in coming months.

“As defl ationary pressure per-sists and capital outfl ows con-tinue, we expect the PBOC to cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points (bps) in the remainder of December as well as a total of 200 bps in 2016 to maintain adequate liquidity and support growth,” ANZ econo-mists said.

“Meanwhile, we expect the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) rates to be cut by at least 100bps next year.” — Reuters

Chinese banks

extended 708.9

billion yuan ($109.81

billion) of new loans

last month, more

than the 700 billion

yuan economists

had expected and up

38% from October

India’s Rajan expects Fed to raise rates

KOLKATA: Indian central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan ex-pects Federal Reserve policy mak-ers to increase interest rates by as much as a quarter point next week.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is looking at a 70 per cent to 75 per cent probability of a rate hike based on an assessment of market movements, Rajan told report-ers on Friday after a central bank board meeting in Kolkata. India is ready for any eventuality and the central bank will determine how much liquidity to supply, he said.

“The Fed has prepared the way very carefully for an increase, so likely at this point they will go ahead -- at least that is our bet-ting,” Rajan said. “I don’t know how much it would be. My guess is not more than 25 basis points, but it could be anywhere between 0 and 25 basis points, probably be-tween 1 and 25.”

Rajan, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, left the highest borrow-ing costs in major Asian econo-mies unchanged earlier this month as risks to his infl ation target increase. Goldman Sachs Group, Australia & New Zea-land Banking Group and Mizuho Bank expect him to keep India’s repurchase rate at 6.75 percent throughout 2016.

India’s world-beating 7.4 per cent pace of economic growth hasn’t prevented declines in stocks, bonds and currency as in-vestors brace for a looming US rate increase. The rupee has weakened 1.8 per cent against the dollar so far this quarter, one of Asia’s worst performances, while the S&P BSE Sensex is down 4.5 per cent in the same period.

Probability the Fed will increase its benchmark by its next meeting on Dec. 15-16 was 78 per cent, ac-cording to futures data compiled by Bloomberg. The calculation is based on the assumption the eff ec-tive federal funds rate will average 0.375 per cent after liftoff , com-pared with the current range of zero to 0.25 per cent. — Bloomberg News

R E S E R V E B A N K O F I N D I A

ROBUST DEMAND: A crane loads containers at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province in this January 2013 fi le photo. November

exports fell for a fi fth consecutive month and imports declined for the 13th month straight, while weak consumer and producer prices

raised concerns that the economy could be sucked into a Japan-style defl ationary trap. — Reuters

New changing face of the German economic miracleLONDON: For decades the im-age of the archetypal German household has been one of thrifty stoicism in the popular imagi-nation — a stereotype that has been actively encouraged by An-gela Merkel, who has often paid homage to the proverbial schwäbische hausfrau.

That might be changing. The German postwar economic mir-acle — the wirtschaftswunder — driven in no small part by the failure of worker pay to keep up with productivity gains is now undergoing a dramatic shift. With unemployment in the country at record lows and wages fi nally rising, analysts expect the driver of Europe’s largest economy to move from exports to consum-er spending.

As Hans-Werner Sinn, presi-dent of Germany’s Ifo institute, said on Wednesday: “Private con-sumption remains the pillar of the upswing [in 2016] because the income outlook of private house-holds continues to be good on the

back of a further improved labour market situation.”

Yet not everyone is convinced that this represents a structural shift away from the mercantilist policies of the recent past.

Regulation and reunifi cationAlthough Germany has been seen as a powerhouse economy over recent years, churning out solid GDP growth even as the euro- zone as a whole struggled to re-cover from the fi nancial crisis, in the late 1990s and the early 2000s the country was often called “the sick man of Europe.”

Growth averaged 1.2 per cent between 1998 and 2005, while unemployment climbed into dou-ble fi gures. In the background, signifi cant changes were afoot. In West Germany in the 1980s a combination of strong labour un-ions and stringent labour market regulation helped keep negotiat-ed wage settlements high even as the unemployment rate hovered around eight per cent.

That meant, in eff ect, West German industry was becoming less competitive as labour costs outstripped productivity growth and regulations kept potential workers out of the labour supply.

That all started to change in 1990s with the collapse of the So-viet Union and the reunifi cation with East Germany.

While this led to a period of painful adjustment — from 1993-2003 West Germany spent around 900 billion euros ($983 million in net transfers), it also saw the beginnings of a recovery in competitiveness that would only build momentum over the next two decades.

Consumer businesses also cut costs through a policy of domes-tic outsourcing, where employers used contractors, temp agencies and franchises rather than hiring employees directly.

So wages in those industries fell 10 per cent to 15 per cent, compared with similar jobs that weren’t outsourced. — Bloomberg News

E C O N O M Y

Greece struggles with creditors on banks’ non-performing loansATHENS: Greece is aiming for a deal with international lenders on Friday on the next set of reforms to unlock additional aid, but diff er-ences remain over how to handle banks’ bad loans.

Athens is struggling to keep non-performing loans to small business and consumers out of the clutches of so-called vulture funds that buy loan books of distressed debt at a discount and try to recov-er the money.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government started a new round of talks with euro zone institu-tions and the IMF this week on the bad loans, as well as splitting off the country’s power grid operator from dominant electricity utility PPC and making state sector wag-es dependent on performance.

Four systemic banksAfter successfully completing the recapitalisation of its four sys-temic banks and qualifying for two billion euros ($2.19 billion) in bail-out loans last month, Athens must enact this second set of reforms to qualify for one billion euros by the end of the month. Athens aims to pass the law by December 18, par-liament offi cials said.

“Our eff ort is to conclude talks on Friday,” said a government of-fi cial who participated in the talks with the heads of the EU/IMF

mission at a central Athens hotel.“The main hurdle is non-per-

forming loans. Our side is trying to exempt mortgages and small busi-ness and consumer loans from be-ing transferred to private funds.”

Talks were expected to drag on until late on Thursday and also cover the structure of a new priva-tisation fund which Germany and other creditors insisted on to pay down debt. Another government offi cial said there was convergence on public sector wages and an en-ergy ministry offi cial said Athens was also likely to reach agreement on the power grid operator.

Seperately, the government sub-mitted to the creditors an initial draft of a tough pension reform seen as the biggest political hurdle in the coming months for Tsipras’s

leftist-led coalition, with just a three-seat parliamentary majority.

The reform must be adopt-ed in January prior to the fi rst bailout review.

Five years of austerityAfter fi ve years of austerity in-cluding 12 pension cuts, the gov-ernment plans to increase social security contributions instead of slashing main pensions again. But the lenders have signalled reluc-tance, saying it could further dam-age employment.

Greece has pledged to cut spend-ing on pensions by one per cent of GDP or 1.8 billion euros next year. It says it can cover most of this amount from a recent retirement age increase but still needs to fi nd 600 million euros.

“Hell, there must be ways to fi nd those 600 million euros. It’s not 6 billion, it’s 600 million,” Tsipras said in a television interview on Monday after critics said he would struggle to avoid a new round of unpopular cuts.

If successful, the bailout review will open the way for talks on debt relief, which Tsipras urgently seeks to convince Greeks that their sacrifi ces are bearing fruit.

“If there is no deal now, for the one billion euros, everything else will be pushed back,” the fi rst offi -cial further said. — Reuters

B A N K I N G

GROWTH ENGINE: Growth in Germany averaged 1.2 per cent between 1998 and 2005, while unem-

ployment climbed into double fi gures. — Bloomberg fi le picture

VITAL FACTS Greece wants deal with

lenders on reforms this week

Non-peforming loans main sticking point in talks

Government submits key points of pension reform to lenders

B3S AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

MARKET

China’s Internet trio wields $80b deal fi repower in 2016TAIPEI: China’s three biggest Internet companies could be set for another record year of deals as their cash piles swell, unprofi table startups sell out and consolidation sweeps the crowded industry.

Alibaba Group Holding, Ten-cent Holdings and Baidu could draw on more than $80 billion for mergers and acquisitions in 2016, according to analysts at BNP Pari-bas. That could enable them to easily surpass the record $30 bil-lion spent this year according to Bloomberg data, as they buy their way into so-called online-to-of-fl ine Web services such as delivery services and physical retailing.

With the market for such ser-vices potentially worth more than $1 trillion in coming years, a shake-up is in the offi ng. The trio’s deals should quicken a consolida-tion along the lines of the $15 bil-lion merger of group-buying sites Meituan.com and Dianping.com and the creation of taxi-hailing gi-ant Didi Kuaidi, both of which in-volved Alibaba and Tencent.

The triumvirate known as BAT are seeking out new markets to

move beyond core businesses of e-commerce or advertising. Ali-baba alone would be able to spend as much as $38 billion on deals next year, analysts at BNP Pari-bas calculated based on available cash, its ability to take on debt and projected cash fl ows. By the same

measures, Tencent could deploy $35 billion and Baidu about $15 billion, analysts led by Vey-Sern Ling wrote in a report Thursday.

More deals to happen“There’s defi nitely potential for many more deals to happen,”

said Michelle Ma, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “BAT are consolidating and they’re going after smaller players which may struggle to survive on their own.”

Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are rapidly emerging as go-to buyers, with venture fi nancing becoming

more diffi cult to obtain in a slow-ing economy.

Many startups that had been burning cash through big incen-tives to draw customers are now facing pressure from their inves-tors to cut their losses.

Alibaba declined to comment on BNP’s calculations, while Tencent didn’t respond to an e-mailed re-quest for comment. Baidu doesn’t earmark a budget for deals, which can be done with cash or equity or both, Baidu investor relations of-fi cial Sharon Ng said in an e-mail.

“We need to see strong strategic rationale,’ she said.

Heavy subsidiesChina’s burgeoning market for “O2O” — online services delivered or fulfi lled in the physical world — is crammed with hundreds of small players providing everything from massages and food delivery to handyman services. In the rush to grow their user base, most, in-cluding Alibaba- and Tencent-backed operators, eschew profi ts and resort to heavy subsidies and marketing.

The overall market could be worth 10 trillion yuan ($1.6 tril-lion) eventually, HSBC analysts led by Chi Tsang wrote in a No-vember report.

Tencent, the maker of the We-Chat and QQ messaging apps, is ahead in deals this year, taking part in 37 completed or pending acquisitions totalling $16.3 bil-lion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Alibaba is close be-hind, with 27 deals that total $15 billion, while Baidu trails at 15 ac-quisitions for $878 million.

“Consolidation favours the strong,” BNP analysts led by Vey-Sern Ling said in a 40-page out-look on China’s Internet industry. “The merged entities benefi t from reduced competition, while BAT get to further their strategic goals and still benefi t from a broadened ecosystem.” — Bloomberg News

M E R G E R S A N D A C Q U I S I T I O N S

Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent

Holdings and Baidu could draw

on more than $80 billion for

mergers and acquisitions in

2016, according to analysts at

BNP Paribas. That could enable

them to easily surpass the

record $30 billion spent this year

according to Bloomberg data

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

‘Only small group of employees are to be blamed for emissions scandal’WOLFSBURG, (Germany): Volkswagen (VW) said on Thurs-day only a small group of employ-ees was responsible for cheating US diesel emissions tests and there was no indication board members were involved in the biggest business crisis in the car-maker’s history.

Chairman Hans Dieter Poet-sch said investigations into the aff air were going well, but the scandal was the result of a “chain of errors” and it would still take months to say which individuals were to blame.

Europe’s biggest motor man-ufacturer said it had agreed steps to improve oversight of engine-software development to avoid any future emissions test manipulations.

It also hoped to reach agree-ment with US environmental au-thorities in the next few days or weeks so the company can start to recall aff ected cars there. Co-operation with those authorities was described as “excellent”.

US emissions testsVW admitted in September it had cheated US emissions tests and installed software capable of de-ceiving regulators on up to 11 mil-lion diesel vehicles worldwide, news that wiped billions of euros off its market value and forced out its long-time CEO.

Some US lawmakers were heavily critical of the company in the following days when it blamed a handful of rogue engi-neers, even though investigations were only getting underway.

But VW’s reputation was given a boost on Wednesday when it said another scandal involving the understatement of carbon dioxide emissions was not as bad as feared. “One could argue they should have revealed what they know a lot sooner than two-and-a-half months after the crisis started, but they are raising their game now,” said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management think-tank.

“It will be important to main-tain that level of exchange with the public in coming months

to prove they’re serious about transparency.”

At 1625GMT, VW shares were up two per cent ay 134.4 euros, still down on their pre-scandal level of about 162 euros, but up from October’s low of around 86 euros.

Despite the scandal, orders so far this year were up by 3.5 per cent and Chief Executive Mat-thias Mueller said he was confi -dent drivers would get over their reluctance to buy the group’s ve-hicles in the coming weeks.

VW also said it was planning a new corporate structure that would be in place across the group by early 2017. The compa-ny was not considering the sale of any units to simplify its structure or raise money, and was happy with having 12 brands.

Scandal’s legal costsBut executives were still unable to estimate the scandal’s legal costs, for which they had so far made no provisions.

Analysts have said VW could have to pay out tens of billions of euros to cover regulatory fi nes, lawsuits and vehicle refi ts.

Mueller, who has not been to the United States since becom-ing chief executive after the scan-dal broke, said he would visit the country for the Detroit motor show in January and contact au-thorities while there. — Reuters

B U S I N E S S C R I S I S

IMPROVING OVERSIGHT: Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias

Mueller (right) and Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch laugh prior

to making a statement during a news conference in Wolfsburg,

Germany, on Thursday. — Reuters

VITAL STATS No board members said to

be involved

Will take months to identify those guilty

VW hopes to reach agreement with U.S. authorities

Mueller to visit Detroit motor show

Company plans major structural change

Standard Chartered share sale raises $5.1b

LONDON: Standard Chartered raised about $5.1 billion after 96.8 per cent of the bank’s share-holders exercised their rights in a share sale on Friday, signaling confi dence in Chief Executive Of-fi cer Bill Winters’s strategy to turn around the Asia-focused lender.

The new shares are scheduled to trade in Hong Kong on December

16, the London-based bank said in a statement on Friday.

Winters, 54, announced the rights issue in November as part of a plan to restore profi tability at a bank reeling from losses tied to bad loans after commodity prices slumped and economies from Chi-na to India cooled.

The CEO is also cutting 15,000

jobs to help save $2.9 billion by 2018, scrapped a second-half dividend and unveiled plans to restructure or exit $100 billion of risky assets.

Standard Chartered was little changed at 508.6 pence at 8:55am in London, following a 10 day los-ing streak and a 44 per cent decline this year. The stock in Hong Kong

sank 1.1 per cent on Friday. The 705 million new shares include those bought by Temasek Hold-ings, Standard Chartered’s larg-est shareholder, according to the statement. The Singaporean state-owned investment fi rm intended to take up rights for 15.8 per cent of the company’s existing share capi-tal, the bank said last month.

Of Temasek’s 17.2 per cent stake in Standard Chartered, 1.4 per-centage points has been loaned out, according to the British lend-er’s November fi ling on its capi-tal raising, reducing Temasek’s entitlement in the rights issue to 15.8 per cent.

The shares were loaned under the terms of a total return swap agreed in 2013 with Bank of Amer-ica, and which expires at the end of this year, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Stock declineA Temasek spokesman declined to comment. Mark Tsang, a Bank of America spokesman in Hong Kong, declined to comment.

The bank previously raised cap-ital in 2008 and 2010 to help fund its expansion under former CEO Peter Sands. This year’s rights is-sue was fully underwritten by JP-Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. — Bloomberg News

705 million new

shares include

those bought by

Singaporean state-

owned investment

fi rm, Temasek

Holdings, Standard

Chartered’s largest

shareholder, a

statement released

by the bank said Bill Winters, Chief Executive Offi cer, Standard Chartered. — Bloomberg

fi le picture

Jaguar Land Rover plans to invest $1.5bMUNICH: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) on a new car factory in Slovakia, expanding pro-duction capacity by one-third to take on larger luxury-vehicle pro-ducers BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

The plant, in the western Slo-vak city of Nitra, will start pro-ducing autos in late 2018 with an initial annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and a workforce of about 2,800 people.

That compares with Whit-ley, England-based Jaguar Land Rover’s deliveries last year of almost 462,700 vehicles. Con-struction is set to start next year, and the luxury-car unit of Tata Motors may eventually expand

the plant, the division said Friday in a statement.

Existing facilities“The new factory will comple-ment our existing facilities in the United Kingdom, China, India and Brazil, and marks the next step in the company’s strategy to become a truly global business,” Chief Ex-ecutive Offi cer Ralf Speth said in the statement.

Slovakia “has more than 300 suppliers in close proximity and an excellent logistics infrastructure. This confi rmed our decision that this country was the ideal loca-tion.” Other sites were considered in the US, Mexico and elsewhere in Europe. — Bloomberg News

N E W F A C T O R Y I N S L O V A K I A

ROBUST DEMAND: Jaguar Land Rover’s sales last year rose nine

per cent. It’s adding more cars, such as the Jaguar XE sedan and

Land Rover Discovery Sport SUV, to win buyers. — Bloomberg fi le picture

B4

FEATURES AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

LONDON HOUSING

DEMANDTO RISE

The brief respite seen in London’s tear-away housing market after

regulators imposed tighter lend-ing criteria last year is coming to an end.

Lower mortgage costs and a shortage of homes are fuelling speculation that values in the UK capital are set to spike again. Lenders are also loosening bor-rowing conditions, with loan-to-income ratios rising for the fi rst time in a year in the third quarter, according to the Bank of England. That’s prompting brokers to increase price fore-casts for London homes, which cost an average of 522,000 pounds ($808,000).

The turnaround risks un-dermining eff orts by central bank policy makers last Octo-ber to prevent a credit-fuelled housing bubble by restricting the amounts people can bor-row compared to their salary. The annual rate of house price growth in the capital slowed to 4.2 per cent in August from 17.4 per cent a year ago, government

when she applied for a loan to move from a two-bedroom fl at to a 305,000-pound three-bedroom house in the district of Upminster.

Overseas investorsThe limits by regulators haven’t been enough to permanently cool prices because cash rich overseas investors continue to buy, competing with locals in a market that is under supplied with property, according to Jer-emy Cook, the chief economist at London-based currency ex-change fi rm World First UK Ltd.

“It’s still more profi table for a Chinese or Asian buyer to buy a two-bed home to rent out than invest in their home stock markets,” Cook said in an inter-view. “The measures haven’t helped the man on the street here and prices will continue to grow until the government ad-dresses the problem of supply versus demand.”

Too expensiveMore than 80 per cent of Lon-doners think home prices are too expensive although they still expect them to rise further, according to a survey by ING Groep NV. The ratio of average home prices to earnings is now a record 12 times, more than

data shows. Home sales fell 14.3 per cent over the same period, according to researcher Lonres.

“Loan to income caps, and stricter mortgage lending prac-tices in general, have made it much tougher for individuals to get access to mortgages,” said Peter Dixon, a global economist at Commerzbank AG in London. “However, if you want to cool a market long term you need to bring other measures into play, for example raise rates or build more houses.”

Biggest threatBank of England  Governor Mark Carney said housing was the biggest threat to the econo-my when he limited the riskiest loans by requiring that no more than 15 per cent of new mort-gages could exceed a loan-to-income ratio of 4.5 times. The Financial Conduct Authority in April 2014 already required buyers to prove they can aff ord to make mortgage payments even if interest rates rise.

Marta Federici, 32, and her husband Dimitris Kemanes have felt the full force of the measures. The couple saved a down payment to buy their fi rst home and now fear being priced out of the market as they strug-gle to get a loan. “I went to see a mortgage adviser at my bank and found the experience com-pletely discouraging,” Federici said in a telephone interview. “He didn’t care how much of a deposit we had saved, he just fo-cused on our income.”

Alex Fryer, 34, said she was quizzed about her spending habits, including how much she spent at the hairdresser,

Lower mortgage

costs and a shortage

of homes are

fuelling speculation

that values in the

UK capital are set

to spike again.

Mortgage rates in the UK fell to 3.17 per cent on all outstanding debt in the

second quarter, the lowest since at least 2007

3.17%

twice the level of Birming-ham, the UK’s second city, researcher Hometrack says.

While 18,260 new homes were completed in London in the 12 months through March, the capital’s popula-tion increased by 122,000 people in the year through June 2014, according to the latest data available from the Greater London Authority.

“At the mid- and lower-range of the market, where domestic buyers tend to dominate, there remain high levels of demand facing up to restricted housing stock,” said Peter Rollings, chief executive offi cer at broker Marsh & Parsons. “We’re see-ing good activity when prop-erty is priced correctly.”

The lack of supply is the main reason why 40-year-old Londoner John Cook decided to buy a four-bedroom house in Streatham Hill. “The cur-rent government will not change the rules of the game in terms of housing supply in any signifi cant way,” he said.

Lower borrowing costs are also making it more attrac-tive to buy. Mortgage rates in the UK fell to 3.17 per cent on all outstanding debt in the second quarter, the lowest since at least 2007, and net advances climbed more than 10 per cent from a year earlier to 9.9 billion pounds.

Home salesHome sales rose in August for the fi rst time since April 2014, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Broker Hamptons International last month raised its house price forecast for London this year to 6 per cent from 1.5 per cent. A pick-up in sales and mort-gage lending is “healthy” and doesn’t translate directly into a rise in home prices which are already too high, accord-ing to Ed Stansfi eld, an econo-mist at Capital Economics in London “What would be a concern is if we were to see a return to laxer lending stand-ards that would result in fur-ther measures by authorities,” Stansfi eld said. – Bloomberg News

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

FamilySECTIONB L I F E STY L E S AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

While we tend to associate the holidays with to-getherness,

joyful occasions and feelings of warmth and happiness, the sea-son can also worsen feelings of loneliness and isolation for some people — especially older adults. Loneliness is not only bad for sen-iors’ mental health, it can aff ect their physical wellbeing as well.

The holidays can present fami-lies with an opportunity to spot signs of loneliness in their older family members and take steps to do something about it, says Dr Kevin O’Neil, chief medical offi cer of Brookdale Senior Liv-ing. “Isolation and loneliness in seniors can lead to debilitating depression, high blood pressure, dementia and shorter life spans. Time and time again we see that when seniors overcome loneli-

ness, make new friends and feel a part of a caring community, they're happier and their physical health improves.”

Research illustrates the link between loneliness and the ad-vancement of dementia, dete-rioration of physical health and shortened lifespans. Conversely, multiple studies show feeling connected and happy is good for your health and can lead to a long-er lifespan.

What’s more, happiness re-ally can be contagious. In fact, one study by researchers at the Uni-versity of California and Harvard University found surrounding yourself with happy people can make you more likely to become happy yourself.

Social connections are vital for people of all ages, O’Neil says. “Emotional ties are even more important for seniors, yet they are also more vulnerable to los-

ing those bonds through the death of a spouse, grown children busy with their own lives or the relo-cation of a long-time friend who moves closer to be near theirown family.”

As families gather for the holi-days, they should be alert to signs their elders are feeling lonely or isolated, including: • Your loved one has suff ered a

loss, either the death of a spouse or friend, or relocation of a long-time cohort.

• They give verbal cues, such as complaining they have no friends, feel confi ned to their home, have no one to talk to or severely miss a long-deceased companion.

• They exhibit signs of depres-sion, including trouble falling asleep, irritability, loss of appe-tite and disinterest in activities that used to excite them. •Their eating habits have

changed. Seniors who are feel-ing isolated and depressed may lose their appetite, or engage in unhealthful comfort eating.

• Personality or behavioural changes are evident. Your nor-mally stoic loved one has be-come tearful, a chatty person becomes quiet, or an out-going personality is now withdrawn.

• They become “clingy,” holding a handshake or hug longer than normal, and becoming upset when it’s time for a visit to end.

• They complain of pain or health issues that the doctor can’t ex-plain. In some cases, the “ill-ness” may be an attempt to get attention. In other cases, it can be a physical response to loneliness.

• A person who was once very ca- pable may begin to have diffi culty managing daily tasks or their fi nances.

It’s vital seniors stay connect-

ed, O’Neil says. “Every Brookdale Senior Living community has resident programming, activities and opportunities for seniors to develop closer relationships.”

He recommends some tactics to help seniors combat loneliness:• Get moving. Physical exercise

increases the body’s level of “feel good” hormones, and can contribute to improved sleep, as well as fewer aches and pains. Seniors should get 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise per day, and if you exercise with companions, you’re also reap-ing the social benefi ts of the activity.

• Sit down with a friend or fam-ily member and watch a funny movie or TV show together. Laughter’s positive eff ects on the mind and body are well documented. Laughing together improves mood and can make people feel more connected.

• Make new connections. Sit with someone at lunch whom you don’t know well. Ask a neighbour to go for a walk with you. Join a club or social organisation.

• Help yourself feel better by help-ing others. Volunteering has many positive eff ects on men-tal health. When you volunteer your time to help others, you’ll feel good about your actions and also expand your opportunities to meet new people.

• Learn something new — it’s not only good for cognitive health, it gives you the chance to make new connections with other students. Take a craft class, go to a personal fi nance seminar or take a cooking class. Loneliness can be a serious

health issue for seniors, O’Neil says. “Fortunately, it’s also one of the most treatable.”—Courtesy of Brandpoint

Old Age Loneliness

FIND-IT-ALLB6 S AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

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

SHATTIIn the Heart of the Sea (3D) (Action) (PG12) Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy2:30, 9:15 PMBridge of Spies (Biography | Drama) (PG) Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda4:45 PMBus 657 (Action | Crime | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Dave Bautista2:45 PMThe Good Dinosaur (3D) (Animation | ) (U) 2:30, 4:30, 7:00 PMHyena Road (Drama | War) (15+) Cast: Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross4:45, 9:00, 11:30 PMHowl (Horror) (18+) Cast: Mark Huckerby, Nick Ostler10:15, 11:45 PMClose Range (Action | Crime) (12+) Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund, Caitlin8:30, 11:30 PMVictor Frankenstein (Horror | Drama) (12+) Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy6:30 PMZinzana (Arabic) (Crime | Drama) (PG12) Cast: Ali Suliman, Ahd, Saleh Bakri7:30 PM

MUSCAT GRAND MALLThe Good Dinosaur-3D (Animation) U11:00AM, 1:00, 2:30, 4:30 & 7:15PMGold Class: 7:00PMMacbeth (Drama | War) 12+Cast : Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard9:15 & 11:30PMGold Class :2:30 & 9:00PMClose Range (Action | Crime) 12+Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund3:00 & 11:30PMGold Class : 2:30 & 9:00PMIn the Heart of the Sea (Action) PG12

Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Cillian MurphyTiming : 12:15 & 9:00PMGold Class: 4:45 & 11:15PMThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay-2 : 3DCast : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson4:45PM; (Sci-Fi) PG12A Second Chance (Romance / Drama) PG12Cast : Bea Alonzo, John Lloyd Cruz

6:30PM

PANORAMA MALLIn The Heart of The Sea (Action)(3D (PG12)7:00, 9:15 pmIn The Heart of The Sea (Action, Adventure)(MX4D)(PG12)2:45, 5:45, 8:30, 11.30 PMIn The Heart of The Sea (Action, Adventure)(3D)(PG12)- VIP LOUNGECast : Chris Hemsworth, Cillian MurphyTimings : 8:45 PMCreed (Drama, Sport)(2D)(15+)4:30 pmBridge of Spies (Biography, Drama)(2D)(PG)9:00 pmHyena Road (2D)(15+)Cast: Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross3:15, 9:15, 11:30 pm

Lary Gaye (Comedy)(2D)(15+)Cast: Rebecca Romijn, Jessica Lowndes5:30 pmHarbinger Down (Horror, Sci-Fi)(2D)(15+)Cast: Lance Henriksen, Matt Winston7:30, 11:45 pmMacbeth (Drama, War)(2D)(12+)Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard2:45, 11:30 pmThe Godd Dinasaur (Animation)(3D)(U)2:30, 5:00, 7:00 pmHyena Road (2D)(15+)-VIP LOUNGECast: Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross3:45, 11:00 pmMacbeth (Drama, War)(2D)(12+)-VIP LOUNGECast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard6:30 pm

AZAIBA Close Range – 2D (12+) Action, Crime Cast – Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund12:15, 5:15, 9:15, 11:45 PMIn the Heart of the Sea – 2D (PG12) Action2:15, 11:55 PMSalt Mango Tree – 2D (PG) Comedy, Drama Cast – Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya12:00, 7:10, 9:30 PM

Hate Story – 2D (PG12)ThrillerCast – Zarine Khan, Sharman Joshi, Daisy2:00, 4:20, 6:40, 9:05, 11:30 PMPathemari – 2D (PG12) Drama12:15, 6:45 PMTamasha – 2D (PG12) Romance, Drama2:30, 4:35, 9:00, 11:00 PMPrem Ratan Dhan Payo – 2D (PG) Family3:00 PMBengal Tiger – 2D (TBC) Action Cast – Ravi Teja, Tamannaah, Rashi Khanna, Boman Irani12:00, 6:15 PM

RUWIScreen 1Hate Story 3 (Thriller) – PG12Cast : Zarine Khan, Daisy Shah, Karan Singh3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PMScreen 2Tamasha (Romance/Drama) – PG12Cast : Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor3.45, 9.45 PMPrem Ratan Dhan Payo (Drama) – PGCast : Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil NitinMukesh6.45 PM

Screen 3Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Family) – PG3.45, 9.45 PMSalt Mango Tree (Drama) – Malyalam – PGCast : Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya6.45 PM

SURClose Range (Action | Crime ) (12+)Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund, 3:15, 8:30, 11:45 PMHowl (Horror ) (18+)Cast: Mark Huckerby, Nick Ostler4:45, 10:00, 11:30 PMThe Good Dinosaur 3D ( Animation ( U ) 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 6:30 PMSalt Mango Tree ( Malayalam) ( PG) Cast : Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya12:30, 6:45 PMIn the Heart of the Sea 3D (Action) (PG12) 9:15 PM

SOHAR

In the Heart of the Sea - 3D (PG12) Action 6:25, 11:45 PMIn the Heart of the Sea - 2D (PG12) Action 3:00 PMVictor Frankenstein - 2D (12+) Drama Cast : Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy11:30 PMPathemari - 2D (M) (PG12) DramaCast : Mammoty, Joy Methew, Srinivasan12:45, 7:00 PMHate Story 3 - 2D (PG12) Thriller Cast : Zarine Khan, Sharman Joshi6:15 PMMacbeth - 2D (12+)Drama | War Cast : Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard12:30, 5:30, 7:30 PMThe Good Dinosaur - 2D (U) Animation 4:15 PMLarry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attandant - 2D (18+) ComedyCast : Rebecca Romijn, Jessica Lowndes4:30 PMBengal Tiger - 2D (Telgu) (TBC) Action12:00, 8:45PMHarbinger Down- 2D (15+) Horror | Sci-FiCast : Lance Henriksen, Matt Winston5:15, 11:30 PMZinzana - 2D (PG12) Crime | Drama | ThrillerCast : Ali Suliman, Ahd, Saleh Bakri2:30 , 9:30 PM

Salt Mango Tree - 2D (PG) Comedy | DramaCast : Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya 12:00, 9:00 PM

BURAIMIIn the Heart of the Sea– 3D (Action) (PG12)Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy5:15, 9:15PMClose Range– 2D (Action, Crime) (12+)Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund3:30, 9:45, 11:30PMThe Good Dinosaur – 3D (Animation) (U)Cast: Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand3:00, 5:00, 7:30PMHarbinger Down – 2D (Horror, Sci-Fi) (15+)Cast: Lance Henriksen, Matt Winston5:15, 11:45PMMacbeth– 2D (Drama, War) (12+)Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard3:15, 7:30, 9:30, 11:30PMSalt Mango Tree – 2D (Comedy, Drama) (PG)Cast: Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya7:00PM

SALALAH

In the Heart of the Sea (3D) (PG12) (Action) 12:00, 6:45, 11:15PMHyena Road (2D) (15+) (Drama | War) 10:00AM, 2:00, 9:00, 11:35PMClose Range (2D) (12+) (Action | Crime) 12:15, 8:15, 9:55, 11:55PMHowl (2D) (18+) (Horror) Cast: Mark Huckerby, Nick Ostler4:30, 10:05PM Creed (2D) (15+) (Drama | Sport)Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone 2:05PMThe Good Dinosaur (3D) (U) (Animation) 10:05AM, 12:10, 2:15, 6:15PMVoice Overs: Jeffrey Wright, FrancesTamasha (2D) (PG12) (Romance| Drama) 4:10PMLarry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attandant (2D) (18+) (Comedy) 10:30AM, 4:15PMCast: Rebecca Romijn, Jessica Lowndes, Stanley TucciZinzana (2D) (PG12) (Arabic) (Crime/Drama) Cast: Ali Suliman, Ahd, Saleh Bakri6:05PM Salt Mango Tree (2D) (PG) (Malayalam) Cast: Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya7:45PM

CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999

General Directorate of

Passport and Residence 24569603

Directorate General

of Customs 24521109

Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

Public Relations Admin 24560099

EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Afghanistan 24698 791/4

Algeria 24605 593

Bahrain 24 605 074/133

Bangladesh 24 698 660

Brazil 24640100

Brunei 24 603533

China 24 696782

Cyprus 24 699815

Egypt 24 600 982/411

France 24681 800

Germany 24835000

India 24684500

Indonesia 2469 1050

Iran 24 696 944/7

Iraq 24603642

Italy 24693727

Japan 24 601 028

Jordan 24692760/1/3

Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily

15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily

15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily

06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily

08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily

13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily

16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily

16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily

14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily

08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily

14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily

06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily

10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily

10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily

19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily

06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily

13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur

15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily

15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily

07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily

13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily

13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily

17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily

06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily

15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily

14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily

12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily

10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily

10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily

19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily

07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri

15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily

15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily

16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily

16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

@AZAIBA @SHATTI

Salt Mango Tree – 2D (PG) (Comedy, Drama) Cast: Biju Menon, Lakshmi Priya12:00, 7:10, 9:30 PM

@MGM

Macbeth (Drama | War) 12+Cast : Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard9:15 & 11:30PMGold Class : 2:30 & 9:00PM

Close Range (Action | Crime) (12+) Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund, Caitlin Keats8:30, 11:30 PM

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

Close Range (Action / Crime)Cast: Scott Adkins, Nick Chinlund, Caitlin Keats4.00, 8.15, 10.00 & 11.55 pm CP No : 3041 (12+)Howl (Horror)Cast: Ed Speleers, Holly Weston, Shauna Macdonald2.00, 6.00 & 10.00 pm CP No : 3042 (18+)Hyena Road (Drama / War)Cast: Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross, Clark Johnson1.30, 3.45, 7.45 & 11.55 pm CP No : 3043 (15+)In the Heart of the Sea (Action / Adventure / Biography) Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson6.00 pm CP No : 3031 (PG12)

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

Pathemari (Mal) (Rom/Drama) Cast: Mammootty, Jewel Mary & Srinivasn 6-30 Pm At Cinema Main; 9-45 PM At Cinema -3 Anarkali (Mal) (Rom/Drama) Cast: Prithviraj, Biju Menon & Priya Glor 3-30 Pm Cinema -2; 6-45 PM Cinema-3Amar Akbar Anthony (Mal) (Act/Drama) Cast : Prithviraj & Jaya Surya 3-45 Cinema -3; 10 Pm At Cinema Main Salt Mango Tree (Mal) (Com) Cast Biju Menon, Sohasani & Mani Ratnam 3-45, 6-45 & 9-45 Pm At Cinema -4 Bengal Tiger (Telugu) (Act) Cast : Ravi Teja, & Tamannaah 6-30 & 9-30 Pm Cinema-2 3-00 Pm At Cinema Main Next change: Dilwale (Hindi); Tanga Magan (Tamil); Bajirao Mastani (Hindi)

Programmes are subject to change

Dhuhr 12.05pm

Asr 3.06pm

Maghrib 5.26pm

Isha 6.42pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.19am

PRAYER TIMINGS

WEATHER

240

Maximum

180

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

30-60%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 17 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 lifestyle@timesofoman.com

AAVANTIKA KIRAN NAIR December 12, 2010

SHRIYAJA DODAMANI December 12, 2012

WITH LOVE

SILENCE prevailed in Aaliya’s house. Her mother Yasmin sat in the corner chair and tears were rolling down her eyes.

Aaliya’s father was busy over the phone. Aaliya was crying bit-terly in her room and Ali didn’t know what to say. A call from their hometown shook them. Aaliya’s maternal grandmother had sud-denly passed away.

The family was not at all pre-pared for this. It was just the other day when their granny had called to ask their well-being. She was fi t and fi ne and nobody could believe that such a thing could have hap-pened. Yasmin was totally shat-tered. She remembered the last time she spoke to her mother she had assured Yasmin not to worry for her as she was fi ne.

Yasmin felt miserable and so did everyone in the house. This was a sudden tragedy that the family was not prepared for at all. Aaliya’s father was busy calling the travel agent for the tickets. “We need four tickets to Islamabad,” his voice echoed in the hall.

Yasmin knew it was not the time to shed tears. She had to reach her place before the last rites were per-formed. She quickly went to her room to pack few essentials.

Yasmin was in midst of her packing when she heard a loud cry. It was Aaliya. She just couldn’t ac-cept the fact that her dear granny

was no more. “Mom, I think it’s a joke somebody is playing on us. It can’t be true,” saying this she broke down into tears once again.

Yasmin wiped her own tears to console her daughter. Aaliya was sensitive right from childhood and this news had aff ected her badly.

“My child, I know it’s very diffi -cult for you to accept this harsh re-ality, but it’s true. Your granny has

indeed passed away. Try to under-stand, no one would joke on such things,” she said.

Aaliya suddenly fl ared up. She was trembling and she screeched: “You are lying mom. Granny is there. I am sure,” Aaliya dashed out of the room and kept on repeating the same words.

Yasmin was shocked at her daughter’s sudden reaction. She

didn’t know how to comfort her, but at that moment she had more things to worry about.

The fl ight was late in the night and Yasmin got ready to head to-wards the airport. Aaliya didn’t come out of her room to say bye to her mum and Yasmin felt mis-erable. But she was already late. With tears in her eyes she got on to the car.

Next morning Aaliya’s father knocked at her door. “Aaliya, you are getting late for school,” he said.

But Aaliya didn’t respond. She lay on the bed clutching her gran-ny’s picture close to her chest.

Her father went at her bedside and gently patted her. “Aaliya, get up my child. I know you are feel-ing sad, but death is a natural part of life. We all have to accept it,” he said reassuringly.

But no words seemed to have reached Aaliya’s ears. Tears just trickled down. The whole day Aal-iya didn’t have a morsel. The house help pleaded her a lot, but Aaliya refused. This continued for the next two days.

Aaliya sat quietly in her room with her granny’s picture and that was all what she did. She didn’t go to school either. Her father started getting worried. He was think-ing about her when he got a call from Aaliya’s class teacher. “I am indeed very sorry to hear about the sudden death in your family. I pray that God gives all of you the strength to bear the loss,” she said.

The teacher went on to enquire about Aaliya and he told every-thing in detail. “Please send her to school. Once she is among her friends she will feel better,” her teacher reassured.

Aaliya was literally forced to go to school. There all her friends huddled round her and tried to

cheer her up in their own special ways. While Rehman cracked a sil-ly joke to see a smile on her face, Jia comforted her by her kind words. Aaliya didn’t say anything much. In the class too she kept quiet. She continued behaving like this for the next few days until one day her value education teacher called her. “Aaliya, what makes you so sad?” she asked fi rmly.

Aaliya looked at her teacher with tears in her eyes and said: “Ma’m why did granny leave us and go? Why do people die? Every-one says God listens to our prayers, but then why did he take away my granny. I always pray.”

The value education teacher stroked Aaliya’s hair and said: “Death happens to everyone at one point or another. It’s a part of life and we all have to learn to live with it. Your granny has gone, but she has left with you such wonderful memories that you can cherish all your life. Wherever she is now she would like you to be happy in life. Won’t you make her happy?”

Aaliya smiled for the fi rst time hearing this. “Ma’m is right. Granny never liked me being sad and if she sees me like this I am sure she would be very upset,” Aaliya thought.

She wiped her tears and grinned at her teacher. After all she couldn’t aff ord to make her dear granny sad. —swati@timesofoman.com

LIFESTYLEB7S AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

ACROSS1 Woodland creature 4 Health resort 7 Ties up the phone11 Search for 12 Royal symbol 13 Kitchen staple 14 Necessitated 16 Moonbeams 17 Hearty eater’s delight 18 Sulked angrily 20 Cookbook amt. 21 — — costs 23 Loud clamour 26 Spill the beans 27 Insinuate 28 Steep gulch 31 Spare tyre 33 Merry sound (hyph.) 34 Demand ID 35 Shoat’s home 36 Paper quantities 38 Novelty41 Sit-down occasions 43 Expound at length45 Hoosegow 47 Hull clinger 49 Coffee brewers 50 Geisha’s accessory 51 Disorderly collection 52 Prefix with byte 53 Fat cat’s bundle 54 City rtes.

Crossword Puzzle

Q u e s t i o n s & A n s w e r s

It’s better not to argue with...

Me (you’re gonna lose anyway)

If I had treasures I would

hide them...It’s a secret

One thing that puts me off ...

When I am at a restaurant and they

don’t have any fries or when I work hard and

get no reward

One movie/book I can watch/

read over and over again...

The Kite Runner (book)

When I’m in doubt...I Google

If I met an alien I would...

Ask her/his crush’s name!

One person I would trade

places with (real or fi citional)

Augustus Waters

I go crazy when...I’m with my friends and they start using

their phone

The scariest thing that I have done...

Nothing yet...

The best way to my heart is...

Books

If I win a lottery...I would buy a DSLR and Ray-Ban shades

and go on a world tour

If I have to describe myself

as a fl avour it would be...Pistachio

If I could go back in history, I would

like to meetMy grandmother

Send your contributions to lifestyle@timesofoman.com. A good quality photo is compulsory. Lifestyle reserves the right to

publish the contributions.

SAIMA SIDDIQ

DOWN1 Sandy ridges 2 Tavern sign (2 wds.)3 Depot info 4 Our sun 5 Built in advance 6 Entertainer Paula — 7 Distant past 8 Noted lamp owner9 Answer 10 Coast Guard alert 11 Bulk 15 Austria neighbour

19 Caesar’s 1,050 22 Way of Lao-tzu 24 Business abbr. 25 — degree 26 Glamorous wrap 27 Patricia Neal film28 Happy sighs 29 Willard’s pet 30 Like butter and mutter 31 Cooking spray brand32 Illegal burning

34 Greenish melon 36 Pharaoh’s deity 37 Funny bone locale 38 Aspect 39 Cartographer’s book 40 Low-pitched 42 Joy Adamson’s pet 44 Cheers 45 Pitcher 46 Jackie’s tycoon 48 Disposed of

AN

SWER

TO

PR

EVIO

US

PUZ

ZLE

STORYTIME

By Swati Dasgupta

One skill I would like to learn...

Basketball

Overly winter excitement @@winieariany

1 2 3

64

Coming to Terms With a Loss

B8

LIFESTYLES AT U R DAY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

All the words below appear in the puzzle - horizontally, vertically,

diagonally, even backward. Find them and circle their letters.

The leftover word spells the Teleword.

How to playFill empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area.

Answer to previous puzzle

SOLUTION

H A E D S Y U G G N I K O M S O D V M W S B A S S N A R C E R B O E H O L B W R T M H A I R I L E A A R R O T C E R I D O O R M R E E C R H D N R D E R G A O L V P L L U F I O E M I R J A I O S S L L A C O L O D A X E P I S E D N U O S A C M P W A I T I N G M O I D U A O H E A A O D E E U L V S G R T Y S R T E C N G I I H E H T I H T T T C T L N A I D N L O O H E A R A H E A O T N E P O N E R M R A U E N P E S I O N M A N Y E P Y R E C U D O R P

TelewordSudoku

Audio, Biography, Cartoon, Cinema, Clap, Comedies, Crowd, Cushion, Dark, Director, Documentary, Drama,

Full, Gala, Guide, Guys, Hear, Hobby, Horror, Laugh, Lineup, Local, Love, Major, Many, Meet, Motion, Noise,

Novel, Open, Popcorn, Producer, Rated, Reel, Relax, Review, Role, Rows, Schedule, Smoking, Sound, Stage,

Star, Stereo, Theme, Tray, Usher, Waiting, Watch, Western. Answer: Admission

CLUE: AT THE MOVIES SOLUTION: 9 LETTERS

Art for the Ages

Ch

ild

ren

up

to

th

e a

ge

of

16 w

ho

wo

uld

lik

e t

o h

av

e t

he

ir a

rt c

on

sid

ere

d

for

inc

lusio

n i

n “A

rt f

or

the

Ag

es”

ca

n e

-ma

il t

he

ir d

raw

ing

s

or

pa

inti

ng

s (

in jp

eg

or

tiff

fo

rma

t) t

o l

ife

sty

le@

tim

eso

fom

an

.co

m

Rheya M. Verghese, Grade 2, ISM

Divya Soni, Grade 9, ISM

Alfred Benoy, Grade 2, ISM

Dakshin CK Bharathi, Grade 10, ISM M. Abirami, Grade 9, ISM

Shloka Venu Seshan, Grade 2, ISG

Children’s Poetry

The Dreadful Floods

Aishwarya MertiaClass IXIndian School Muscat

High above is a sorrowful sky,I release a sudden sigh.I know your deadly devastationAnd why people rush towardsThe sinking station.

Just like a warrior’s bow,I’ll try to bring a rainbow.So you come to an end,And your path is bend.

Just because I’m the king,On my city, I won’t let you sing.My people’s hard work will go in vain,And many are still stuck in the train.

Birds Fly So High

Zara MusheerGrade 2Indian School Sohar

Birds fl y so high in the skyAnd we only lay.All of the birds have wingsAnd we only do things.If we just try to keep them with usThey will fl y away thus.So let’s keep the birdsUp in the skyAnd tell them bye, bye, bye.

Send your contributions for Children’s Poetry to lifestyle@timesofoman.com

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

CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E

C

C4 VACANCY CARGO C6

S AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

RENT C2

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

*Tourist visa arranged

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

Profs / jack. Contact 93219378

V. Nice fl at in Wadi Kabir. Contact:

95755953 /95555162

Shops for rent good for offi ces +

stores behind bldg, behind whole

sale center Al Amerat space 11 x4

meters R.O 250/- per month.

Contact: 92877449

4 B/R, 3 fl ats building in Azaiba

behind Al Meera. Contact: 99776071

/99057348

2 B/R fl at in Wattaya and Azaiba.

Contact: 99776071 /99057348

6 B/R villa for offi ce use in

Al Khoudh, 2 & 3 B/R fl at in

AL Khuwair for offi ce.

Contact: 99776071 /99057348

Single fl at sharing for Keralite

bachelor in Ruwi near Qaboos

Mosque R.O 95 (W/E).

Contact: 98478286

Big room attach bath kitchen in

Muscat near Palace R.O 90/-.

Contact: 95094028

1& 2 BHK fl ats for rent at Hamriya

Mabela and Al Khoud shop at Al

Khoud. Contact: 24834644 / GSM :

93994401 /02/03/3lines

C2 S AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDE

Showroom space available at MBD

area near old manpower building

ground fl oor 220 Sq.MTR Mezzanine

fl oor 320 SQ. mtrs, rent R.O 2650/-

per month. Contact: 99449885

02 BHK commercial / residential

(with split AC) fl ats at Honda Road.

Contact: 99342733 / 99795241

02 BHK residential fl at opposite

to Al Nadha hospital. Contact:

99342733 / 99795241

1000 sqm industrial land with com-

pound wall & two rooms at Misfah.

Contact: 99342733 / 99795241

1&2 BHK M.B.D R.O 280/- & 300/-.

Contact: 92144045

1,2 BHK Ghubra R.O 300/-, 325/- &

350/-. Contact: 97799175

1 BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/-.

Contact: 92144045

2 BHK Ghubra R.O 300/-.

Contact: 92144045

Luxurious 2 BHK fl at with 3 toilets,

store, equipped kitchen, splits, free

gym & party hall, 24 hrs security

at Mumtaz area Ruwi rent 375/-.

Contact: 92622506

1BR, 3BR Mars hypermarket

Wadi Kabir. Contact: 99338133 /

92103604

3 Room fl at in North Ghubra, 18

November Street with three toilets.

For residential or commercial use.

RO. 315/- Contact 94477222.

Urgent apartment for rent: First

Floor, Purpose built one bedroom,

bath, Kitchen with balcony and a

drawing & dinning. 2 Minutes walk

from Indian School Muscat.

Contact 99346265

2BHK near Oman house behind

Khimji H.O R.O 200/-.

Contact: 95865686

2BHK fl ats available for near PDO

gate no 2 Qurum. Contact: 94057023

Flats for rent at Al Mablah block

eight. Contact: 99445177

Restaurant for lease running

restaurant at excellent location in

Wadi Kabir is available on lease.

Contact: 93334685 / 91760712

1 Bed room in Al hail south R.O

130/- Monthly. Contact: 93993354

Flats shops & store for rent in

Ruwi Honda road Mumtaz.

Contact: 97293708 / 92433127

Flat in Wadi Kabir, 3 BHK rent

280/- R.O. Contact: 99330810

2BHK Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti

mosque. Contact: 97007934 /

92629232

1BHK Nr Oman house & Kmj H.O

Muttrah. Contact 99233116

Shop / offi ce Nr Oman house & Kmj

H.O Muttrah. Contact: 99233116

House for rent at Seeb Souq two

bedroom, majlis, sitting room,

kitchen & 2 bathroom.

Contact: 99700908

2 BHK Flats for rent Muttrah near

Oman house. Contact: 97007934 /

92629232

Store available in Honda road

Ruwi. Contact 99481931

1BHK fl at near Star Cinema 220/-.

Contact 99358589 /95570288

1/2/3 BHK Flats & Showrooms at Mutt rah, near Oman fl our mills,

10 min. from corniche. equipped with split/cassett e unit ACs, internet points, free-

to-air dish connecti on, CCTV monitored, basement parking. Rent RO.250/350/450

(Negoti able) per month.

Contact : 99229263; 93221054; 95215289

NEW Flats & Showrooms for Rent

FOR RENT2BHK,

3 washroom Flat with Split Air Conditioners -

Near Lulu Darsait

CONTACT : 93202733

2 BHK in Al Meera MKT building in

Al Khuwair available. Rent RO420.

Contact 94047434

One room and one BHK for rent in

AL Khuwair near Ibis hotel.

Contact: 95724975

House for rent in Hamriya of 2

fl oors, fl ats vacant with 4 rooms,

balcony 3 toilets, 1 kitchen R.O

300/- per month , Omani families

only. Contact: 96266768

Single BHK fl at available in Honda

road Ruwi. Contact - 24833972/

24833974/99367448

1 BHK available at Al Khoud in

Baskin Robbins building. RO 200/-

Contact: 97261418, 99478492,

98181649

Flats for rent in Wadi Kabeer.

Contact: 99388994

Flats for rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99376454

600 SQT commercial fl at for rent

opposite Oman fl ourmill Darsait

more details. Contact: 91214849/

99364735

7 Bedrooms villa in Ghobrah North.

Contact - 96420432

For Rent Offi ces & Showrooms

in Al Khoud-Contact 94051789-

97201688

For Rent Offi ces & Showrooms

in Muttrah -Contact - 94051789-

97201688

For Rent Fully Furnished

apartments in Boucher (35) -

94051789-97201688

For Rent Mini Furnished Apart-

ment in Qurum- 94051789-

97201688

2 Bedrooms Flat for rent in front of

Indian School Ghubra.

Contact: 92197959 / 92502497

2 Bedroom Townhouse with Swim-

ming pool, free Wi-Fi for Rent near

British Council in Madinat Sul-

tan Qaboos. Contact: 92197959 /

92502497.

Showroom / Offi ce for rent located

in Prime location of Azaiba Main

Highway. Contact: 92197959 /

92502497.

2 Bedrooms Flat for rent located in

Prime location of Al Khuwair.

Contact: 92197959 / 24527852.

Villa for rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 95562646

Rent for fl at in Wadi Adai, big

room big hall one toilet, one

Kitchen. Contact : 99345137

Flat villa type for rent - in al

khuwair 33/, 4 Bed Rooms .4 bath

Rooms, 1 Family Hall, 1 Dining

Room, 1 Living Room, 1 Kitchen,

Store. Contact 99315515

1& 2 BHK CBD Ruwi Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 99024730

Flat for Rent 1/2 BHK Flat at Mut-

trah, near Oman fl our mills, 10 min.

from Corniche.Equipped with split

unit ACs, internet points, free-to-air

dish connection, CCTV monitored,

basement parking. Rent RO.250/350

per month. Contact: 99229263;

93221054; 95215289

One fl ats for rent 2 bedroom all

with bath al Ghobrah north near In-

dian school (hot burger restaurant)

tell 9976610

For Rent Flats in Ghala Heights -

94051789-97201688

GENERAL ELECTRONICS SERVICES LLC

CONTACT: 99627299 / 93327841

BRING HOME - LIVE MUSIC & CINEMA

HOME THEATER&

KARAOKE

TRANSPORTATION7 Ton/ 10 Ton- Trailer

Local transport- MCT- UAE

Contact96609857

Amir Ali

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 C3

FOR SALE

FOR RENT

FOR SALE

Beauty Salon for urgent sale in

Azaiba prime location behind

Al Fardan building. With sponsor and

1 staff and 1 ready visa clearance.

Call: 95318629 / 95169411

Sports shop for sale at Ruwi.

Contact: 98453599 /93050776

Top Quality sparingly used Outdoor

Catering & Bakery Equipments in-

cluding chairs etc for sale in Muscat

.Please call for viewing 99471085.

Serious buyers only.

Scrap available for sale, power cables

& accessories. Contact – 24446399 /

Email – ravi.ztc@omzest.com Zawawi

Trading Road no.8 Rusayl

Barber shop for sale in Ghubra.

Contact 92955874

3Ton Forklift, Special made for

Oman market, Japanese Isuze C240

Engine, Cascade side shifter, High

amount exhaust, 3m lifting height,

Solid tyres, One year warranty.

Contact: 98883445

ACC. AVAILABLE

Spacious separate room with A/c

and Bed, for non-cooking Asian

bachelor, behind Shell fi lling sta-

tion, Ghobrah round about.

Contact: 94263390

Furnished sharing accommodation

in ruwi near O.K. Center for non-

cooking indian bachelor.

Gsm 9880-5474

Spacious separate room with A/c

and Bed, for non-cooking Asian

bachelor, behind Shell fi lling sta-

tion, Ghoubra round about.

Contact: 94263390

2BHK Hamriya round about main

road rent R.O 170/- PM.

Contact: 99513510

Single bed room with attached

bath, separate entrance, Honda road

near NBO for ex bachelors.

Contact: 91410434

Big room available near Hamriya

R/A for Muslim couple / small

family / Executive bachelor rent

150/- per month including W+ E.

Contact : 99495131

Furnished room in new building

for working Muslim lady/

Muslim couple only. Location

AINT, Darsait.

Contact - 99008069

1 Bedroom with bathroom avail-

able for rent. Only Indian female.

Contact - 92394614

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, sitting

room, Kitchen & store including

utilities bills at Al hail.

Contact 92817777

Single room bathroom in Darsait

R.O 140/-. Contact: 93289652

Single room for expat Indian bach-

elors near Al Aktham restaurant

Al khuwair for RO 120. Water and

electricity included.

Contact : 98803261

1 Bedroom with attached Bath,

fully furnished, separate entrance

at Mabela for ladies only.

Contact: 99634841

ACC. WANTED

Sharing Accommodation Required

for Non cooking Executive Lady in

Darsait /Ruwi/Wadikabir.

Contact 99360615

FOR HIRE NRI

MV SALE

Jeep Wrangler 2012 20,000km,

Expat from new, dealer serviced,

RO6500 Contact 99440320

Sohar

Single owner Ford Escape 2012

white, 2.5L, 10100 kms. All tyres

recently replaced, Comprehensive

insurance including UAE Mul-

kiya valid Oct 2016. OMR 5250

92320155

divadmuscat@gmail.com

Toyota Yaris, Model 2006, KM

38000, Expat driven, all services

at Toyota. Very clean. RO.2300.

Contact 93430580

Grand Cherokee full A/M 2009

model KM 90,000 only

excellent condition.

Contact: 99869897

Mitsubishi Pajero 380CC full

option 2008 model 137,000 km

Expat driven white maintained

Mitsubishi workshop.

Contact: 99513510

Honda Accord 2012, 60,000 km,

good condition, RO 5600,

expat leaving Oman.

Contact 99577462.

Prado 2010 expat driven good

condition. Contact: 91396589

/91396776

FOR SALE or rent Tata Dawoo

Truck 12 ton 2014 Model.

Contact: 92719681

Chaverlet Epica 2004 model

RO -700, for sale.

Contact 92194205

BMW 318/ 2003 for sale.

Contact 96364990

Ford focus, automatic, 2010

model, silver colour, expat driven,

58000 kms, dealer serviced, regis-

tration till sep 2016,

price ro 2750.

Contact- 93207590

AVAILABLE

LOST

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirting,

Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery, Crockery,

Glassware, Chafi ng Dishes, Ice Sculp-

tures, to Large Sound Systems and

spectacular lighting. Call Andrea 9606

2222 for Catering and Croyden 9623

5555 for Sound & Light. ww.tunesoman.

com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

Available offi ce space in Prime

location on 18th November Street,

Azaiba Kindly. Contact: 99288664

WANTED

Required commercial villa from

Azaiba to Al Khoud area adjacent

to main Roads.

Contact: 92640246/91395738

We have laundry for sale in Ghala

prime location 3 visa clearances

available. Contact: 93782735 /

99208033

Darsait small Business & offi ce fur-

niture for sale special price 5 gallon

per bottles. Contact: 99869897

Land for sale in Goa Indian Verna

near big mosque RS 30 lakh nego-

tiable. Contact: 99468166

Shop for sale at Ghala Sanaya main

junction (prime location) shop for

sale. Contact: Kamil 92696479

Running barber shop for sale in

Ruwi with all equipments.

Contact: 99343735

60,000 Sq Mtrs Agriculture Land in

Misfah, can be changed to Industrial

Land. OMR 29 Per Square Meter.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

400 sq mtrs Commercial/Residen-

tial land in Maabela Phase 5 Block 2.

OMR 155 Thousand. Tel: 99333479

or 95215360

5 plots of fertile agriculture lands in

Misfah East totaling 4,532 sq mtrs

having date trees and using falaj

water for irrigation. OMR 158 Thou-

sand for all 5 plots. Tel: 99333479 or

95215360

2,688 sq mtrs commercial land in

MBD North. OMR 1.39 Million.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Window AC 30 Nos (general make

all good conditions), refrigerator,

freezer & mess equipments for sale.

Contact: 98064113/ 99315878 Quo-

tation fax on: 24448101 /24448103

Immediate sale of well running

pharmacy at prime location.

Contact- 99627621, 99516236

Bobcat available for rent.

Contact – 97623299

Toyota Coaster 32 seater bus with

driver available on monthly lease

rent. Contact – 99705821 /

brightsilverllc@gmail.com

Car with driver available for rent.

Contact: 93015630

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation. Contact: 98505294

Muttrah to Bausher. Contact:

99022790/24712088

Transportation. Contact: 95190627

Transportation available Ruwi to

Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909

Indian Granite 600x300x20 - 15000 sq mts

Indian Granite Slabs - 20000 Sq mts

Our factory yard at Ghala Industrial area.

STOCK CLEARANCE SALE

Contact 99337723 / 95118906

SCRAP EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

We have scrap equipment for sale more than 20 years old.

Interested Parti es please contact Mr.A.Ronish,

GSM 91296439Al Jauf LLC. P.O.Box 1880,

Postal Code 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman

Contact 24814222 or 97112510 for appointment

AL RAZI AYURVEDIC CLINIC Near Khimji Mart, MBD Area, Ruwi Our Ayurvedic Treatment includes

Abhyangam, Kizhi Massage, Shirodhara, Vasti , Udwarthnam

50% Discount on full body massage.

Ayurvedic treatment for joint

pain, backache, paralysis, massage

steambath, obesity, Spondylitis,

Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic,

18 November Street Azaiba.

Contact: 99639695 / 98342990

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know

more about Islam, please call:

99425598, 99250777, 99353988,

99253818, 99341395, and 99379133.

For ladies: 99415818, 99321360,

99730723 Orvisit:www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

Contact 24475280 / 95371664 /

92504980 www.siddhayur.com

GOOD NEWS

SITUATION WANT-

ED

BUSINESS

MANPOWER

MANPOWER Tile Masons, Masons, Electricians, Plumbers, False Ceiling / Gypsum Works and Carpenters required

immediately on Labor supply basis.Interested parti es please contact

GSM: 96775023 / 96775024

We will register LLC. trade license

for foreign investors and do all

actions. Contact: 92833566

Plot for sale Shadnagar Municipal-

ity, Mahboob Nagar District, walk

able distance to existing colonies,

national highway and basic ameni-

ties at reasonable price. Contact –

0091 8686631669

33 Cents facing national highway

kuriachira, best location for shop-

ping complex, fl at, cinema theater,

hospital, auditorium. Also house plots

at Guruvayoor 22.0 Cents, Mundoor

5.225 & 7.070, Paramangalam 8.330

& 6.0 Nadathara by pass 9.0 And pal-

akkal 4.450 Cents. Contact: 91637137

/ 00919746573948

Fancy villa for sale at pathanamthitta,

kerala. Visit kenindi.Wix.Com/house

for details. Contact 94533975

Plot, propeties for sale in prime

location in pune

95272138,(+918390982975)

Luxurious villas in a Gated community with all the modern facili�es at

Vakathanam By-Pass (MC road-NH 220)Web: www.royalcastles.inemail: info@royalcastles.in

+968 92855909, +91 9961 11 9988

royal castles royal castles vakathanam, kottayamvakathanam, kottayam

MATRIMONIAL

23 Years Malayalee Christian

girl born & educated in Bangalore,

seeking suitable alliances from well

settled Keralite Malayalee Christian

boys. Contact - 99494371

Muslim Girl, M.B.B.S 23 years 5’

4” fair, looking for suitable alliance

from Doctors from Kerala / Tamil

Nadu. Contact: 00968 98553628

RCSC MOH Nurse 27 yrs hailing from

Kanjirappally Dioces looking for suit-

able alliance. #92801093 / 94005802

Business in Oman for Sale

Profi table business in Oman running since 20 years

having more than 3 outlets in various locations.

Serious parties may send email to :sprtnft ns@gmail.com

For sale villas in Al Khoud -

95056808-97201688

Sale house & offi ce furniture & elec-

tronic items. Contact : 99834373/

96642500/22010080

For Sale Luxury Apartments in

Bousher (35) Contact: 95056808-

97201688

For sale Fully Furnished apartments

in Bousher (35) Contact: 95056808-

97201688

Beauty parlor for sale Muttrah.

Contact: 93142676

Somon Mofi z has lost Bangladeshi

Passport No. E 1446243. Finder

please handover to ROP

Md Aklus Ali has lost Bangladeshi

Passport No. C0223240. Finder

please handover to ROP

Abdul Awal Serajul Islam has lost

Bangladeshi Passport No.

E 1160696. Finder please handover

to ROP

Kulsum Begum has lost Bangla-

deshi Passport No. AF 4979802.

Finder please handover to ROP

Zulfi qar Ahmed has lost Pakistani

Passport No. YE 1157901. Finder

please handover to ROP

Rashid Mahmood has lost Paki-

stani Passport No. UT 0158251.

Finder please handover to ROP

Jandros Gnanamuthan has lost

Indian Passport No. F5989867.

Finder please handover to ROP

For Rent Flats in Wadi Kabir -

94051789-97201688

Offi ces for Rent Gala-

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DAILY GUIDEC4 S AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

EDUCATION

ENGINEER

DRIVER

MEDICAL

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

CATERING

DRIVER

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ARCHITECT /AUTOCAD

TECHNICIAN /MECH.

SALES / MARKETING

ADMIN

ADMIN

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN

WANTEDCivil Engineer (Building Construction) 2 Nos

Qualification: BE in Civil Engineering

Electro Mechanical Engineer (Building Services)1 No.

Qualification: BE in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering

Send detailed resume to sskpvr@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Civil Draughtsman with 12 yrs

experience 9 yrs Gulf exp.

Contact: 93528255 Email:

bijumudackamannil@gmail.com

25 years male BA. English , Quali-

fi ed as mast in digital animation

having 5 yrs ex in character

animation specialized Auto Desk

mago and motion building software

knowledge, seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact: 97917357

Professional architect 3ds max

(interior, exterior) looking for pri-

vate work. Contact: 96041201

Interior Designer Experienced

knows 3D max Photoshop:

Contact 93837973

Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp

looking job. Contact: 99531802

Egyptian woman resident has con-

siderable experience in the adminis-

tration and Secretarial Executive for

companies. Contact: 97221126

HR/ Admin with total 7 years GCC

experience looking for immediate

change over with suitable position

NOC available. Contact 95521535

Email: kbino110@gmail.com

10 years experience in secretarial

/ Admin job. Contact: 94868626

Indian male 27Yrs, having total

7+ yrs of experience in HR/ Admin

looking for suitable position.

Contact 91507099

Indian female, Masters in HR,

having 4 + years Oman experience

in media management and HR,

looking for openings in HR, Educa-

tion, Admin, Corporate communi-

cations. Contact 98252030

Looking for Executi ve Sales

and Sales Engineers with experience in

earthmoving equipments, cruchers, quarry & mining

industry. Email:

applyinggchr@gmail.com

Sales Ladies wanted for Ladies Boutique. Age: 20-35 yrs.

Al Khoudh. Send CV to

sameer916@hotmail.com

or call 91159905

Urgently required for a reputed

company in Oman (Tyre, Battery

& Lubricant division) Sr. Execu-tives/Executive-5 nos (Sohar, Ni-

zwa & Muscat), Techno Commer-cial Professional-5nos, Driver (Omani)-1no. Required minimum

3-5 yrs experience in the same

fi eld with market exposure hold-

ing valid Omani driving license

or GCC. Kindly fwd your CV’s to

ashwin@taasintl.org

Contact: (+968)93891700

Instrumentation & controls Technician with 2-3 years

experience preferably in water

sector and having valid driving

license Send CV to

shiju@spec-link.com or

call Ph:+968 99450811

Experienced Omani female required as Accountant Cum Secretary. Send CV to

s.safar@celarwater.com

We are looking for Chief Finan-cial Offi cer, Male 40- 45 years old,

Bachelor of Science in Account-

ancy with 5 - 15 yrs. of experience.

Contact: +968 24702133

Email: admin-dept@daud.om

1. Service Administrator: A qualifi ed Electro/Automobile/Electric Diploma holder with minimum 2 years’ experience on deskjobs such as preparing

quotation, supplier correspondence, warranty claims etc. Age between 25 – 30.2. Accountant:

A qualifi ed B.Com/M.Com/C.A. Inter accountant with minimum 4 years’ experience in accounting with banking knowledge.

Age between 25-30.Attractive Salary and terms Off ered

VACANCY

Candidates with NOC or on visit visa can apply, please drop your CV at careerhr1972@gmail.com

SECT. /OFFICE

Urgently required Female Secretary : Oman based

leading manufacturing company

has immediate requirement Grad-

uate with min. 5 yrs of experience

& capable to handle Manage-

ment offi ce work independently

& Secretarial work, knowledge of

computers & accounts will be an

advantage. Age limit upto 30 yrs.

Send CVs to

vacancyinoman123@gmail.com

Looking for a FOREIGN STAFF has

experience in Oman in real estate

fi eld. Interested contact:

Mobile: 99109094

Email: aburashid94dd@gmail.com

Indian male , B.Com, 21 yrs, ac-

countant with 1 and half years ex-

perience looking for suitable job for

more discussion. Contact: 96512733

Email: azazahemad1994@gmail.com

CPA AUS with 5 years PWC exp in

fi eld of accountant fi nance audit

seeking urgent placement now

available on visit visa.

Contact 94150073

Accountant, Indian Male, 15 Years

experience (8 Years in Oman with

Driving License & NOC) Seeks suit-

able placement, Contact 94117616,

91238272

Email: praveen78oman@gmail.com

Hard working and 2 years

experienced Indian male MBA

(fi n & mktg) on visit visa looking

suitable jobs. Contact: 93279943

/ 97876709

Indian male 20 years in Oman

experience with language institute

(registrar, admin, account clerk)

seeking a suitable position. NOC

available. Contact: 96553961

Email: u.m.sulfi @gmail.com

Chief Accountant IndianMale,

B.Com Graduate+ PGDCA, Total

18 Years Experience, 13 Year in

GCC, 7 Years in Oman. Exposure in

Tally ERP9, Peach Tree, MS Offi ce.

Having NOC Available for Immedi-

ate Joining. Contact - 97060826

Email-tomnedum71@yahoo.co.in

Accountant Indian female, 26

yrs, B.Com 2 yrs experience in ac-

counting, purchase vouchers, bank

reconciliation. Contact: 95690207

Email: pereira.rita08@gmail.com

Chartered Accountant with ICWA

Inter having 5 years experience

in Finance, Accounts, Costing,

Budgeting, Insurance, Treasury &

Banking operations - NOC Avail-

able + Oman Driving License

Contact : 97881548

Email-fi nancecost2@gmail.com

Accountant Experienced Indian

B. Com looking for suitable posi-

tions please call 91422074

Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in

commerce, overall 5 yrs exp in ac-

counts/ fi nance fi eld. On visit visa.

Immediately available.

Contact – 92836216 /

muhammad.tausif623@gmail.com

25 years (20 years in Oman & 5

years in Indian) well experienced

fi nance controller seeking for

suitable position, with valid Oman

driving license. Contact: 99756765

Indian male 29yrs M.com (fi -

nance) MBA (Finance & HR) ICWA

(pursuing) 5 yrs experience in

accounts, tally sage sap on visit-

ing visa looking for suitable job.

Contact: 92840519/98450609

Indian lady, bachelor degree in

Preparatory Programme (BPP) and

Bachelor of Commerce (BCom),

completed training course in MS

Word, Excel, Power Point and Out-

look from KTI looking for full time /

part time job opportunity in Oman.

Contact 92437568, 96795853,

Email: linda_navs@yahoo.com

Light duty driver. Contact:

98505294

Wanted driver. Contact 91025698

Experienced Civil Foreman with

driving license. Visa available.

Contact: 99169512

Civil Site Supervisor for telecom

tower projects across Oman. Send

CV to fyjo@spec-link.com or call

+968 9946 7227

A Grade Construction company in

Muscat urgently requires “Safety Offi cer”. Send C.V hr.azatllc@gmail.

com or fax C.V to 24422458

Urgently Required: Civil Engi-neer with an experience minimum

in 5 years in building construc-

tion, MUST have NOC and immedi-

ately join. Apply,

fax 00968–24605955, emails

sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com.

Required Diploma Civil Engr, 2-5 years experience in Oman D/

License. Contact: 99814741

Required Project Manager (Civil

– degree) for a reputed construc-

tion company, with at least 7 yrs

experience in Gulf & GCC license.

Contact 968 94144230 or mail:

slvjob2015@gmail.com

Required Project Engineer (Civil

– Diploma) for a reputed construc-

tion company, with 5 to 7 yrs of

experience in Gulf & GCC license.

Contact 968 94144230 or

mail: slvjob2015@gmail.com

Required Electrical industrial Technician and SW/ Gear panel technician with minimum

2-5 years Gulf experience.

Contact: 99262678

Urgently required senior pur-chaser civil expats candidate,

must have at least 10 years of

experience in similar fi eld. Email:

samtrading@altaher.com address

P.O. Box 1413, PC 112, Ruwi

A well known private school is in need of English, Mathematics,

Science and Computer Teachers. Contact: 96910649

Email: staffi ng.oman@gmail.com

Wanted a Staff Nurse with MOH

license for a well running clinic in

Seeb. Contact: 99442701

Required a male Pharmacist with MOH license for a medical

center in Azaiba Muscat, excellent

English and valid Omani driving

license. Interested candidates

please send your CV to

mdcjobs2015@gmail.com

Required a Philippino or Indian female cleaner for a medical

center in Azaiba , Muscat. Inter-

ested candidates please send your

CV to: mdcjobs2015@gmail.com

Wanted Dentist with license for

leave vacancy for 2 months Jan 15

to March 15. Contact: 92520054

GP, Pediatrics, Gynecologist doctors, Nurses urgently need to

work in Polyclinic in Sur,

with MOH/Prometric pass

also can apply.

Dr. Raji: GSM : 99567864

Wanted GP Doctor with MOH

license, job location in Muscat with

good salary and benefi ts. Drop your

cv at careerhr1972@gmail.com.

EDUCATION

Indian, Female 27 Years; B.Sc, B.Ed

- Chemistry, 3 years’ experience in

teaching fi eld, seeking for Suitable

placements. Contact: 93216103;

Email:laksshmi1988@gmail.com

A reputed Dairy Company in Oman is looking for following Vacancies.

Please forward your CV’s to vacancy097@gmail.com

Van Salesman: 3 Year experience with NOCDrivers – Omani National Only: 2 year experience with Valid Omani D/LDebt collector: Omani National with 4 years experience with Valid Omani D/L

Urgently required Project Man-agers, Civil Engineers, Foreman, Electrical Engineer, electrical quantity surveyors for a reputed

construction company. Send your

CVs to mohamed@oasisgrace.com

Contact: 99881459 / 24826566

can send fax: 24812226

Traveling agency Manager Director. Contact: 92223669

AutoCAD D/man Experienced.

Contact : 93837973

Urgently required cold room refrigeration Technician must

know up to commissioning gulf

experience preferred .Pls forward

CV to nasmatmasirah@gmail.com

Contact: 97982623/ 95183616

Instrumentation & controls Technician with 2-3 years

experience preferably in water

sector and having valid driving

license call Ph:+968 99450811

Send CV to shiju@spec-link.com

URGENTLY REQUIRED Sales Executi ve - Ladies

(Omani/ Expat) With oman D/L 2 years of

Experience in the same Field.

Gym Instructor - Ladies (Omani/ Expat)

Waitress - Ladies Massage Lady

For a reputed four star hotelPlease send CV at

hoteljbs@gmail.com, Fax -24593277

REQUIRE AN OUTDOOR

CATERING SUPERVISOR For a restaurant in Muscat.Th e candidate must have 3 to 5 years of experience

in this fi eld.A valid Omani driving licence.

Fluency in spoken English.

CONTACT - 91170489

We are looking for a SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE

For ELV Systems with Oman Market Sales track record in the fi eld of CCTV,

Security, Access Control Systems, Age around 30 years with at least

3 years of successful Sales Career in the Security fi eld. Should have excellent communicati on skills + able to scope client requirements + prepare Tender

Responses. Oman D/L and NOC required.

Pls Send your CV to jobs@bishara.com or Fax : 24794807

We are looking for a Business Development Manager

With Oman market experience in Scienti fi c Laboratory Equipment / Digital Signage / New Business

development and sales. Age around 35 years with at least 3 years of

proven track record in one of the above fi elds. Should have excellent

communicati on skills. Oman D/L and NOC required.

Pls Send your CV to jobs@bishara.com or Fax : 24794807

Experienced Light Duty Driver,

Fluent in English, Arabic Well

knowledge of Oman Areas Seeking

Suitable placement 97950869

Pakistani with light duty driver

license seeks job.

Contact: 92789805

3 years experience driver avail-

able. Contact: 95859247

Looking for driver job.

Contact: 98219182

3 years driving experience in

Muscat languages known English,

Arabic, Hindi and Bengali.

Contact 97462781

11yrs exp light duty driver look-

ing for job. Contact: 94554450

Light driver, looking for job.

Contact: 98372745/99090362

Looking for Job driving.

Contact: 97418036

Driver with new car looking for

job.contact: 95873286

Driver (light & heavy duty) valid

gulf /Indian) looking job.

Contact: 95175192

URGENTLY REQUIRED RECEPTIONIST

• Omanis Only (preferably female)• Must speak English fl uently• Ability to handle Offi ce/Admin works• Good knowledge of computers

Interested candidates please send CV to:

hilalproperti es@hilalprp.com.omor contact 24600688/

Fax: 24600683

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with

13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman

in manufacturing, trading &

contracting Cos, capable of

handling all accounting, fi nance,

banking, L/C, import, export &

fi nalization seeks placement. NOC

Available. Call+968-98932752,

mail:jjohnmuscat@hotmail.com

12 years of Oman experienced

chief accountant looking for

suitable position.

Contact: 99513082

28/ male MBA – fi nance /B.com –

accountant with 4 years of Dubai

/ India experience looking for a

suitable placement.

Contact: 90187483 Email:

shobinkarikkan1987@gmail.com

Indian male B.Com Accountant

10 yrs in Oman exp in accounts,

knowledge of sales, purchase, ad-

min, hr, tally ERP & focus RT. Hav-

ing NOC & D/L, looking for suitable

job. Contact - 93086105

Senior Accounts Admin Manager

B.com M.com 25 years experience

accounts up to fi nalization holding

light duty license seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 93064975

Accountant Bachelor of

commerce English, 2 years

experience visit visa. Contact:

98584398/ 95539923

Male Indian with 7 years experi-

ence in accounting & 6 years expe-

rience in sales and marketing very

good knowledge of tally currently in

Muscat on a visit visa. # 96148427

Email: jijokurianp@gmail.com

Indian male 26 years B.Com C.A

Inter tally ERP’s 3 years experi-

ence in accounts, audit on visit

visa. Contact: 90185373

Email: shaheervahid@gmail.com

Engineering Company based in Oman (Muscat)is looking urgently to hire

the following positi on:

Fax NO. 24596440 Email:therecuiter@hotmail.com

Positi on: Accountant (Omani Only)

(Bachelor or Diploma )Experience: 2 to 3 years

An Indian female HOUSEMAID

(Muslim) to take care of an

Omani lady. Salary best in the industry.

URGENTLY REQUIRED

Contact - 99250595 or mail to

tc.subi@yahoo.com

Urgently required Salesman with

2 years experience in electrical

outdoor sales in Oman D/L and

NOC must. Contact: 91373200

Email: oman@sentorsupplies.com

Kitchen cabinet manufacturing company is looking sales person, most have Oman D/L and must

know any kitchen designed software

and two years experience.

Contact: 93326636

Civil Engineer (BE) having total

5 years experience in building

construction looking for a suitable

placement. D/L available

Contact# 94450270

Indian male, 24 years, M.tech in

Electronics and Communication

CCNA Certifi ed , currently on visit

visa seeking a relevant job.

(Certifi cates attested).

Contact: 93814376

Email: robinplakezhil@gmail.com

Indian female civil engineer B.Tech

having 3 years experience sound

knowledge of software, REVIT

STAD PRO structural detailing cur-

rently on family visa seeks suitable

placement. Contact: 95345591

CA (Inter), MBA, 25 yrs exp. in

Accounts, Sales, Marketing &

Administration in poultry industry

seeks suitable placement imme-

diately. Contact 91 9704075855,

+968 96500893, Email : sanaullah.

sheikh@rediff mail.com

28/male/MBA - Finance/B.Com -

Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/

india experience looking for a

suitable placement. shobinkarik-

kan1987@gmail.com 90187483

Indian male MBA 2 years experi-

ence on visit visa.

Contact: 90196322 Email:

nithinvarghese19@gmail.com

DOMESTIC HELP

House maid looking for job.

Contact: 98257659

Urgently required Philipina Nurse with MOH license at

prometric parsed.

Contact: 99724013

Indian male MBA- UK 18 yrs Gulf

exp in Administration/ HR & Pub-

lic relationship. Fluent in Arabic/

English with D/L. Looking for

suitable position.

Contact - 99897280

Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+

experience in Administration/HR,

Customer Support, Offi ce Coordina-

tor with good Computer skill, Now

on Visit Visa, looking for suitable

position. Contact: 90196235

29 male MCA qualifi ed 4.6 years

experienced skilled in system ad-

ministration and basic networking,

seeking job in IT Admin iteration

now on visiting visa.

Contact: +96892805363 Email:

anukkuttan1986@gmail.com

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00

noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to

space availability

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 C5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

Female Engineer material /

controller 3 years experience in

road companies, with D/L.

Contact: 98001764

Road and Construction Engineer with 5 years exp in Oman.

Contact: 97646908

Civil Engineer with 6 years exp

in Oman. Contact: 9324103 Email:

mohamedf91987@gmail.com

Male, B.E in industrial & production

engineering, 8 years experience

(5 years in oil & gas) and 3 years

in available currently on visit visa,

seeking immediate placement.

Contact: 97863823

Indian male, 38 yrs old diploma in

engineering with 9 yrs gulf experi-

ence looking placement in admin

offi ce management IT co-ordination,

marketing fi elds having Oman D/L

NOC available. Contact: 90187927

Email: blessam2@yahoo.com

Indian female 22 years old electri-

cal engineer fresher currently in

Oman visit visa B.Tech knowledge in

AutoCAD /ECAD seeking placement

in electrical related fi eld.

Contact: 90372125

Email: limisha93@gmail.com

Indian female on visit visa master

of engineering (M.E) in computer

science with 2 years experience

software trainee, worked as math-

ematics and IT Teacher seeking

for suitable job. Contact: 94528019

Email: indhu101291@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech)

Indian m with good knowledge in

MEP, currently in Oman on visit visa

looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 90154793

Email: sangu.vazhoor@gmail.com

Indian Male 23 years B.Tech Civil

having 2 years experience in quan-

tity survey and site management

looking for suitable placement

Contact:- 95042656

Diploma in Mechanical Eng piping

system in AutoCAD work, 21+ years

experience with Driving license.

Contact: 95267113

Email: rkakkaryil@gmail.com

Project Engineer 6 years experience

in Oman, construction

(site manager) fl uent Arabic, English

and good Hindi. Tele 97858589

Indian male, Mechanical Engineer

having 1Year experience, on visit

visa looking for suitable job.

Contact: 97416564,

Email: jovinmathias@gmail.com

Indian male 24 yrs bachelor me-

chanical 2 yr experience looking for

job. Contact: 95179021 /

96974981

Email: atharhussain54@gmail.com

Bldg . Const site Supervisor since

MAR 2010 working in Oman, with

Omani D/L, looking for suitable

placement. Contact 93061107

B.Tech Computer Science and En-

gineering female 2 years experience

in teaching fi eld and management

skills seeks suitable placement on

visit. Contact 93371834 /

97378922

Indian male 23 yrs old PG Diplo-

ma in Petroleum Engineering and

B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering

having UAE driving license on

visit visa seeks suitable

placement immediately.

Contact: 95880127 / 95084905

Email: vijith2573459@gmail.com

Sr. Civil Engineer, Indian male

with 22 yrs of experience in

building construction, pipeline

work specialist in tendering, bill-

ing, quantity surveying with Gulf

experience.

Email : rafi ksimna@gmail.com

Sr. Electrical Engineer (MEP)

having 18 years of experience

(10 years in Gulf) seeks suitable

placement in the fi eld of Building

Construction and HV/LV/Cable

Installations. NOC available for

contact GSM :92203584,

email: sajisivan@gmail.com

Indian male IT, CCNA, RHCE, MCITP,

3 years experience have GCC driving

license seeking suitable position on

visit visa (until 27th Dec).

Contact: 93311963

Email: sajal035@gmail.com

Indian male 20 plus years experi-

ence intonation resource customer

management IT business develop-

ment transformation D / license

NOC transfer seeks senior dost re-

puted company. Contact: 91719892

Email: mmjoman@gmail.com

An Indian male 27yrs, B. Tech in

(Computer Science) 6 years of exp in

technical support, troubleshooting

and managing seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact:- 97483775,

email:- mir.jak89@gmail.com

IT

IT

Well experienced team available to provide feasibility reports & business solutions, product

development, risk management methods for startups, progressive,

defunct operations. Creating of ERP modules.

Contact - 93343251 Email: profi toman@gmail.com

A result oriented professional B.E.(Mech), 30+ years experience in

Oil & Gas Projects, Fabricati on, R & M and Services. Seeking job as

GM, CEO, Country Head. NOC & immediate availability.

Phone : +91 9773828663, Email : jvp291367@yahoo.com

MANAGER/ SUPERVISOR

SALES / MARKETING

MEDICAL

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

TOURS & TRAVELS

MBA In Operations Management

Indian male : MBA in Lean Opera-

tions And Systems with 3 years of

experience seeks suitable placement

in Oman. Contact : 0096894369897

The Business Development Man-

ager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years

Inside and outside Oman follow-

ing activities: construction(Very

strong and qualifi ed to bringing

business for civil work Or any

type of the construction work for

many million per year with a good

experience in pricing and collect

payment and cash management of

the company & marketing projects

& investments& tenders & real

estate. Contact: - 92385033

Indian male, with experience in

operations management, information

security, purchase & stores mgmt,

hold UAE driving license, on visit visa,

seeks suitable job. Contact : 91904541

Email: naushers@yahoo.com

Sudanese male Manager &

Accountant master degree in Eco-

nomics, 15 years experience in ac-

counts and Banking looking for job.

Contact: 97396088 / 96436517

The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 15

Years Inside and outside Oman

following activities: tenders& real

estate& construction & marketing

projects& investments& trans-

portation & Marine services&

companies management& develop

business. Contact :- 92385033

An experienced Staff Nurse with

MOH license and data fl ow cleared

looking for job, NOC available.

Contact: 97045785 / 98899146

Indian female , Masters in Nursing

Specialized in Medical & Surgi-

cal with 1.3 years of nursing tutor

experience after MSC & 1.5 years

of clinical experience after BSC

seeks suitable vacancy near Sohar.

Currently in Oman on family joining

visa. Contact 93217746 ; Email:

thomasalexander1983@gmail.com

Experienced prometric cleared

Indian female dentist seeks suit-

able placement in Muscat.

Contact: 94673720 /92880267

An experienced Sudanese female Dentist with MOH license look-

ing for job. Contact: 96436517

/97396088

Palestinian dentist looking for job

in Muscat privet hospitals , poly-

clinics or dental centers – 15 yrs

experience out Muscat at privet

hospitals or polyclinics.

Contact: 96951750

Male Nurse, Experienced, Pass

Prometric (Oman) 93837973

HOSPITALITY

Hospitality/Hotel/ Restaurants

Dynamic result oriented hospital-

ity professional with 20 years of

international exp. MBA in Hotel

Management, specializing in Hotel/

Restaurant start ups, concepts &

Franchise development with proven

records. Seeking for Challenging

positions in reputed groups as GM/

COO/CEO/Business Head. (NOC

available) Contact: 96059470

Dutch male qualifi ed commer-

cial pilot (Faa-ME-IR certifi ed) is

looking for job openings in middle

east. rutjestom@outlook.com

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male 22 years B.Com Grad-

uate residing in Oman on family

visa with a valid Oman driving

license, looking for a job in sales /

marketing. Contact: 98504698

Indian male with more than 14 yrs

of experience in business develop-

ment / marketing valid Omani D/L

, looking for Managerial position in

business development / market-

ing. Contact : 93400177

Indian male 23 years with 4 years

experience in Purchase and Sales,

graduate in EC, currently on visit-

ing visa, seeking suitable job in

Oman. Contact: 96761020. Email:

adikmuthumuttam@gmail.com

Indian male, with experience in

sales, marketing, and client rela-

tion, with UAE driving license,

on visit visa, seeks suitable job.

Contact: 95269818

Email: naushers@yahoo.com

Indian male, MBA Finance & Mar-

keting 28 yrs,6+ Exp, with Driving

license, Hospital Phrma Herbal

Marketing, construction A/c &

sales , F&B industry, 93379044

Indian male, MBA Marketing

having 2.5 years Sales experience

immediately looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 91415145, Email:

shariqs88@gmail.com

Indian male 29 yrs, BHM , 6 years

overall 3 yrs in Oman in sales with

D/L. NOC available to join immedi-

ately. Contact: 92594055

Indian male 46 years, Sales

Manager experience in modular

kitchens & furnitures.

Contact: 94522616

Sales & marketing building mate-

rials (G. hardware, tiver, steel etc)

Indian male fl uent English, Arabic,

Malayalam etc GCC D/L 8 years

exp available release letter or NOC.

Contact: 92882101

Email: sameermoul@gmail.com

Indian male having 5 years Oman

experience in coordination level

seeking any suitable post. NOC

available and can join immediately

as the visa issued. # 92889617

24 years, Graduate on visit visa

with diploma in advertising

fi lm making from Zee Institute

Mumbai and with two years work

experience in digital marketing

social media & event management

seeks suitable placement. Contact:

98257207 / 99747481

Indian male sales marketing with

G.C.C license 7 years exp.

Contact: 98097459

Email: shl_kami@yahoo.com

Civil Engineer 8 years experience

in Oman as a project engineer for

governmental & private projects.

Contact – 90164912

Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian

male 24 years with 1+years Indian

experience,(Certifi ed in Staad

Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).

Looking for a Suitable position.

Available In Sultanate of Oman

(Muscat) on Visit Visa.

Contact: 92835952. E-mail:

mohammedamair.bin@gmail.com

Hygiene Offi cer/QC, B.Tech

Bio tech. HACCP LVL. 2 &3.Expe-

rienced in Food & water industry.

92940218

Mechanical Engineer with 3 Yrs

experience in international Oil

& Gas company looking for job

Contacts: Tel: 90164236 Email:

mustafaoshi-62@hotmail.com

Civil maintenance painting, tile

works decor works, plumbing, elec-

tric, shop furnishing carpentary

works and all other maintenance.

Contact 97897831, 92112094

(Indian, Keralite)

29 yrs Indian male B.E (ECE) with

more than 5 yrs experience in

Oman with valid D/L.

Contact 96652145

Indian male, B.Tech Engineer, 6.5 years exp, PHP Developer

working in UAE seeking a relevant

post. Email: jibycj@gmail.com

Contact: + 971563801785

Electrical Engineer Indian male

29 years, having 5 years of experi-

ence in industrial automation and

utility maintenance in India (MRF

Tyres) seeking suitable place-

ment. Contact: 92789995 Email:

akhilabrahmlktr@gamil.com

Telecommunication Engineer looking to obtain a job in the speci-

fi ed fi eld, Sudanese nationality

with a valid residence.

Contact 95000024

7 Yrs Exp. PM in Mech. Engg in the

fi eld of Building Const. Oil & Gas

Seeking Job.94625598

B. E Mech, MBA project & design

management around 2 years

experience seeks suitable position

in automobile oil & gas, any other

industries. Contact: 93360821

Mechanical Engineer (BE) 25

years, Indian male with NDT

level2, 2 years above experi-

ence (as QC Engineer and Site

Engineer) seeking suitable

placement. Contact: 90249803 /

00919446048596

Email: naveenbasheer@gmail.com

Civil Engineer with 5 years in

Oman with 5 years in Oman with driv-

ing license (Sudanese with bachelor

degree). Contact: 91448244

B. Tech Safety Engineer, 10 years

exp, NOC available, seeking suit-

able placement. Mob: 97061817,

Email: jayanammu1977@gmail.com

16 years experienced civil Engi-

neer B.Tech including 8 yr experi-

ence in Oman with D/L seeking

suitable placement.

Contact: 99802579

BE civil Engineer (4 years exp)

Indian male looking for job (site

Engineer, planning estimation, QS,

job (primavera, Ms excel) available

in Oman for interview. Contac:

97214512 /92822310

Email: sreeragsgk@gmail.com

(expected CTC 350 Rial)

Electrical Engineer (B.E) with 8

years experience valid Omani driv-

ing license looking for job.

Contact: 93909951

Bachelor Civil Engineer 6 Years

in Oman experience Valid Driving

License seeks suitable placement

Phone 97619722

Email – golamrob@yahoo.com

Mechanical Engineer M.Tech 2

years experience as HVAC design

engineer rev IT M.E.P AutoCAD.

Contact: 91050913 Email:

rahmanmechengg@yahoo.com

Mechanic Tractor Diesel Engines

& Hydraulic, 25 years Experience

in Multinational Companies.

Contact - 91685048

Civil Engineer 6 yrs Exp in Oman

with license. Contact: 98975518

Sri Lankan Engineer (27 Years

old) – B.Sc Engineering (Hon)

Mining / Geotechnical Presently in

Muscat, 1.5 years

experience. Contact 91295802 /

acmfaslan123@gmail.com

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Masonry / fi nishing foreman 20

years experience NOC available.

Contact: 98435309/

India + 91 9446958838

Indian male, having 15 yrs of exp

in site supervising, telephone line,

supervising with valid D/L, looking

for job. Contact: 93931162

Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fi tter

gulf & Indian exp looking job.

Contact: 95175192

Electrician, plumber (exp gulf /

Indian) looking job.

Contact 95175192

Manager Post of Family Visa, MBA

14 years Experience (2 Years in

Oman) in Multinational Groups in

Sales & Marketing. M.Z. 96220975

Indian male 38 yrs, 11 yrs exp

Oman worked as a Sales & MKT in

Medical consumables items,

looking for any suitable job D/L

Oman NOC available.

Contact: 99501046

Purchase offi cer with 8 years exp

in Oman having D/L & NOC

looking for urgently placement.

Contact: 96174564

email: azhar_5012@yahoo.co.in

Indian male MBA 7 yrs ex in sales

& marketing with Omani D/L N.O.C

available. Contact: 93431039

Indian male 40 yrs MBA market-

ing having 18 years of experience

sales fi led 11 years in Oman with a

leading tyre trading company

having Oman driving license

seeking suitable placement.

Contact: 94743828

Email: barretjohnr@gmail.com

Indian male, 24, MB Marketing

and HR, I year experience. On visit

visa. Looking for suitable job.

Contact 94014073

Indian male MBA holder one year

experience looking for job sales

& marketing & any offi ce related

with. Contact: 97138592 Email:

mohammedathish24@gmail.com

Indian male MBA with 15 years

experience in sales / customer

care, looking for suitable position

currently Oman on visit visa. Con-

tact 98144691/93891423 Email:

satishvelage@gmail.com

Indian Male 32, MBA (Marketing

& Finance) with 10 years experi-

ence in Marketing of Banking

Products & Insurance Industry.

Seeking for a Job in Oman.

Contact: 93576980, 97750460

Email: senthil.cbe83@gmail.com

12 years of experience in Oman;

marketing strategies & operations,

logistics, government tenders,

public relations & dealing with

international companies -4 years

of experience in UK, engineering

CNC & industrial areas, have dual

nationality, fl uent in English &

Arabic speaking and writing ,

(I can travel abroad easily without

visa, for fi nalizing business or any

other purpose). Contact: 94123939

Marketing Executive/Merchan-

diser, Omani License, BA 8 years

Experience in Multinational

Groups. Contact 97601343

10 yrs exp in Oman in logistics/

purchase-have Oman D/L-looking

for suitable placement-

contact 96410767

email: harishkts@yahoo.com

Candidate with communication &

analytical skills. Contact 90187827

Indian male 30 yrs, 6 years experi-

ence in Oman, Oman driving license,

BSc, food technology (food sciences)

and M.B.A. Contact 93405643

24 years Indian female MSC -

Biotechnology 1 year exp.in clinical

microbiology, worked in icrisat

for project work as Trainee, looking

for suitable job. Contact: 92619048

Email: anusreeg1991@gmail.com

MBA (marketing) with 17 years

experience in freight forwarding/

logistics industry in GCC & Oman.

Presently working as branch

manager in Muscat. Looking for

a suitable position. Release and

NOC available. Contact: 99856331

ACCOUNTANT with 8 years of experience (working in Oman since Jan 2013) is looking for a

change.Experienced in all aspect of

accounting up to fi nalization of accounts. NOC will be availableContact: 95503646

Indian female 24 yrs, Bachelor in

Travel & Tourism and 2 year exp in

Oman as ticketing executive.GDS-

Sabre, Amdeus, Galilio. seeking

suitable job.contact- 95883404

Indian lady with release paper.

searching for admin or accounts

asst or showroom sales job.

Contact 94417080

Secretary MBA Indian male 5 years

exp in India, 1 yr exp as Secretary

/ document controller in tendering

dept in Oman seeking urgent place-

ment. Contact 91566118 / 93089367

Structural Draughtsman having

10 years experience in engineer-

ing consultancies N.O.C available.

Contact: 00968 97612846

Mechanical Engineer (UK) , 28

years old male, having 4 years

experience in Oman looking for

suitable placement with valid Oman

D/L immediate available,

NOC available.

Contact: 968 97612297 Email:

ymirza11@caledonian.ac.uk

Hardware & net working, 2 years

exp. Contact: 96244031

Female, 24yrs, B-tech Computer

Science, currently on visit,1yr

experience and certifi ed special

training .skills in software testing

,management,administration,jav

a,oracleDB,Android,C++,C.seeking

suitable placement.

Contact:98741930,

amruthamohandas515@gmail.com

System Support Engineer qualifi -

cation (BCA) bachelor of computer

application professional certifi ca-

tion Microsoft certifi ed Engineer

windows 2012 certifi ed,hardware

and networking two years experi-

ence in system support engineer.

Contact: 95492886

Email: samips49@gmail.com

Structural Steel Supervisor / foreman 12 and half experience in

overseas, I.T.I fi tter,

NOC available. Contact: 96195185

India: 917356668511

Omani 6 years excellent exp look-

ing for opening in IT.

Contact: 95356166

Well experienced instructor avail-

able & teach stadpro primavera P6

for 2 months. Contact: 94412557

Indian female M.Com qualifi ed

CME (INTER) good communica-

tion & computer skills fresher

presently in Muscat seeking

placement. Contact: 90387811

Email: ghazalasuhan@yahoo.com

Sit Lankan male 22 yrs seek-

ing immediate employment in

the travel & tourism sector IATA/

UFTAA qualifi ed 2+ years at

extensive experience.

Contact: 90202538 / 99743569

Email: donheshan69@live.com

B.Tech (IT) Indian male 29 years

having 4 years experience in soft-

ware support, hardware & network-

ing in Oman looking for IT / Admin

job in Oman. NOC available with

valid Oman D/L. Contact: 91906494

Email: rajanit1988@gmail.com

Indian male B.Tech (ECE) MCSE,

CCNA having 1.5 years of experi-

ence seeks job. Contact: 99257702

Email: jithu.m.moolayil@gmail.com

CCNA MCITP network sup-

port /network technician with

2 years experience Indian male

having bachelors degree on

visit visa. Contact : 93080871

sean.f.peters@outlook.com

Indian female 29, BCA, MCA, ASP.

Net certifi ed SAP - ABAP certifi ed

having 1.5 yrs of experience, seek-

ing placement. Contact: 99109121

Email: ashamaryphilip@gmail.com

Age 28 years experience 2years &

8 month in IT accounting technical

skill, java, J.S.P tally Peachtree M.S

excel, SQL ,Working java program-

mer India , accountant , Dubai

,Qualifi cation MCA, B.C.A mathe-

matic visit visa. Contact: 95673451

Graduate, computer literate,

experienced in sales, credit control,

accounts, Omani D/L , seeks suit-

able placement. Gsm 9880-5474

Project Manager in Mechanical

Engg. (M.sc.) with 8 years experi-

ence in Building Construction,

oil & gas seeking job-94625598

(nima.azimzadeh@gmail.com)

Indian male 23yr BA TTM(Travel

and Tourism Management) with

Advanced Diploma in Supply

Chain Logistics and Shipping

Management, Experienced in

Logistics(Customs Clearance)

seeking in suitable placement.

Currently on visit visa (Oman)

Contact; 90291092

email: iyas.adhur@gmail.com

Driver Cum Salesman Profes-

sional, Indian male having 7

Years of Experience in Oman

Having Valid Driving License

working as a Offi ce Driver, Look-

ing for a suitable Position, NOC

available. Contact: 99680429

Email:anzarkutty1975@gmail.com

31 year Indian male PG in HR

,with 5 yrs Professional experi-

ence in HR in Construction Oil &

Gas Oman seeking for a suitable

placement(NOC Available).Kindly

contact me on 93488914, email-

Kaarthickshankar@gmail.com

MISCELLANEOUS

DAILY GUIDEC6 S AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with

Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain

Marine Tours contact 98029602,

92808636

TOURS

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

ABDULHAKIM AL BIMANI TRADING & CONTRACTOR

Expert in Shipping cargo by sea & air to Zanzibar, Pemba, Dar es Salam in Tanzania, Burundi, Th e Philippines,

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.Reasonable price.

Contact: 97440625/95416662Email: abdulhakimalbimani@hotmail.com

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability

Classes for Spoken EnglishTOEFL / GRE / GMAT / SAT

Excellent Guidance and Coaching Satisfaction Guaranteed

IELTS PREPARATION Target Band 8.0

EAGLES INSTITUTE92325542 | 93657915 | 93657917 | Email: engominst@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDES AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5 C7

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

A/C maintenance, installation

spilt A.C and maintenance window

A/C and ducted and package the

reunites. Contact: Asad Abbas

98667326

We are doing electrical, plumber,

painting, & carpentering work any

type of job small or big. Contact:

99208033 / 93782735

Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

A/C Maintenance & servicing,

fridge, washing machine & dish

washer repairing, painting &

cleaning services, electrical &

plumbing. Contact: 99447257

/97014234 / 24504281

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.

Contact: 24810137, 99450130

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

Cleaning & Carpet Shampooing, Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723

Pest Control Treatments. Ocean Center LLC.

Contact: 99344723

House shifting. Contact:

99657644/98518013

SERVICESWe Provide Cleaners,

Offi ce boys, Cleaning Contracts, General cleaning etc.

Al Mudakhir Nati onal Est. LLC Contact : 94277020

*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00

noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to

space availability

Split & window A/c servicing &

maintenance. Contact : 93769089 /

95323517

Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont

Maintenance services electric,

plumbing and A/C.

Contact: 96524904 / 94285064

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

CLASSES

IELTS & TOEFL

Academic / General

Target Band 8

TQT Institute.

Ph #

24480800 / 99347202

Karate and self defense classes at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per month

twice a week Monday and Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM. CONTACT 98294551

Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English

class for Malayalam Speakers in Azaiba and Ruwi

• Learn in two months• Satisfaction guaranteed

Tel: 95244310

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intel-

ligence (BI) creation and manage-

ment at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

Rental car. Contact: 92516090

Marble grinding resurfacing &

ceiling crystallization / polishing

general cleaning of villas & fl ats.

Terrazzo fl oor scrubbing, ceil-

ing, polishing & buffi ng. Contact:

98598280 /94134784

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/

24792998

Cleaning Sofa shampoo

carpet shampoo house.

Contact: 92179395

Debt collection services your

money we collect value com-

mercial services. Fax: 00968-

24783669 Contact: 00968-

2479815 /00968- 24701422

/00968- 94665476 Email:

salim@valuedbtcollection.com

COMPUTER

DRIVING

Learn driving with professional.

Contact: 94022250

C8 S AT U R D AY, D E C E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 5

DAILY GUIDEEmail: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifi eds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624