Observer & Busness 24 Jun 2012 - Oman Observer

Sunday, June 24, 2012/Shaaban 4, 1433 AH 

www.omanobserver.om editor@omanobserver.om 

Investors cast doubt on funds 

HEDGE fund investors have voiced their concerns 

about complex funds designed to protect against major 

market meltdowns, just as fears of a break-up of the 

euro zone have spurred huge interest in these products. 

So-called “tail risk” funds, also known as “black swan” 

strategies after the popular book by Nassim Nicholas 

Taleb, are supposed to hedge against rare events. 

STUDENTS of the 36th batch of the Sultan Qaboos Academy for Police Sciences are 

taking part in a four-day training session at Al Jabal Al Akhdar. See also page 5 

Fair criticism in media 

Fahmi bin Khalid al Harthy, Editor-in-Chief 

 

THE recent call by the Majlis not to jail journalists was widely welcomed by several 

segments of the society. The reason is not far to seek. Media plays a very important 

role in making sure that the wheels of development move smoothly and in harmony 

with the country’s ideals, values and aspirations. 

If the voice of media is silenced, no one would know where the country is heading to 

and what changes and improvements are required to keep it back on track in tune with the 

people’s aspirations and the national agenda laid down by our leader, His Majesty Sultan 

Qaboos. 

In fact, the media gives voice to the voiceless, holds a mirror to society and thereby allows 

everyone to have a say in the affairs of their country, which has been the key part of 

the consensual style of government of His Majesty the Sultan, and has been instrumental in 

promoting the development and diversification of the economy. 

Undoubtedly, the first and foremost duty of journalists is to serve the nation sincerely. In 

their equally reassuring and encouraging gesture of goodwill and appreciation, the government 

authorities and the Majlis have reaffirmed the impressive and crucial role journalists 

play in the country. 

Unfortunately it all came, while some official entities are dealing with the journalists as 

if they belong to an elite class of their own, which amounts to disrespect. 

This is so because these entities are unaware of the effective and positive role of journalism 

in leading the process of change, enlightenment, development, fighting corruption and 

the exploitation of public office for personal gains and interests. 

Hence it is not strange for this small group of officials to act in this unusual manner because 

they fear that their personal interests and positions can be in jeopardy. Free press and 

corruption in public life are two incompatible things that cannot coexist for long. 

We always remind and we will not get tired of reminding that change in this nation 

started with the outset of the blessed Omani Renaissance led by His Majesty the Sultan. 

This has set in motion a process of change that is well studied and successfully led to modernisation 

in the best way. 

His Majesty managed to transform Oman from a backward country full of challenges 

with hardly any amenities to one of the highly developed countries in the Arab world. 

His Majesty the Sultan’s astuteness and statesmanship was the main factor behind the 

country’s ascension to glory after overcoming all kinds of challenges and setbacks that 

faced the nation particularly at the beginning of the Renaissance era thanks to the people’s 

united efforts. To page 2 

23 28 18 

Majlis votes against lifting immunity of a member 

Plea to quiz minister later 

Majlis has entered a new phase 

Past ministers replied to queries 

Clear-cut definition under study 

MUSCAT — Shaikh Salem al Kaabi, 

Deputy Chairman of the Majlis 

Ash’shura, denied claims that the 

Ministry of Oil and Gas is among 

sovereign ministries like the Ministry 

of Defence or the Ministry of 

Interior. 

Al Kaabi pointed out that former 

ministers of oil and gas appeared before 

the Majlis Ash’shura, delivered 

statements about the performance of 

their ministries and answered que- 

 

MUSCAT — As many as 125 expatriates 

found to be HIV-positive were 

deported last year in line with the government’s 

policy of mandatorily repatriating 

migrant workers and foreigners 

 

MUSCAT — In view of the increasing 

traffic and adverse weather conditions 

in the Dhofar Governorate, 

the Royal Oman Police (ROP) has 

asked motorists to observe extra 

caution while visiting Salalah Tourism 

Festival. 

“During the festival which has 

already begun in Salalah, a huge 

turnout is expected and number of 

accidents also rise as more and more 

vehicles are seen on roads leading to 

MUSCAT — The Directorate-General 

for Combating 

Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 

at the Royal Oman 

Police (ROP) yesterday 

cracked down on a number 

of opium dens for drug smugglers 

and users at various sites 

MUSCAT — As many as 130 

women took part in a free training 

programme organised by the Oman 

Chamber of Commerce and Industry 

(OCCI) for job-seekers in the 

Governorate of Al Dhahirah. 

The three-week programme, 

which concluded at the OCCI 

ries raised by the Majlis members. 

Al Kaabi reaffirmed that the Oil 

and Gas Ministry is among the ministries 

that deliver services and manage 

the main resources of the state’s 

revenues. Therefore, the oil and gas 

sector is affecting the interests of all 

Omanis, he noted. 

The Majlis Ash’shura members 

yesterday rejected the request of 

the Public Prosecution Department 

to lift parliamentary immunity of 

found with the virus causing Aids. 

This compares with 110 deportations 

of HIV-positive expatriates in 

2010 and 137 a year earlier, according 

to a newly-released United Nations 

study of HIV/Aids trends around the 

world. 

festival venues, coupled with foggy 

weather and drizzle from time to 

time,” an official at the Public Relations 

Department, ROP, said. 

According to the statistics given 

by the ROP, large number of accidents 

takes place between Haima 

and Thumrait, during the khareef 

season each year and number of casualties 

also go up as it takes time to 

rush emergency medical aid. Haima 

and Thumrait are two important cities 

near Salalah lying in a radius of 

around 400 km. 

in the Governorate of Muscat, 

which resulted in the arrest of 

76 people. They were found 

in possession of drugs. 

The directorate-general 

also arrested one drug dealer 

in South Al Hail in the Wilayat 

of Seeb, To page 6 

branch in Yanqul yesterday, focused 

mainly on commercial transactions 

in English. 

The programme, carried out 

in co-operation with the Directorate-General 

of Education in the 

Dhahirah Governorate, was aimed 

at encouraging business women 

Dr Talib bin Ahmed al Maamari, 

member of the Majlis Ash’shura, 

because of a lawsuit filed by a citizen 

who claimed being insulted by 

the member. During secret ballot in 

yesterday’s session, attended by 66 

members, 32 members voted against 

lifting the immunity of the member, 

while 30 supported the request and 

two abstained. 

Al Kaabi explained that there 

are different views about the nature 

of what is known as a “sovereign 

ministry” and these views are being 

deliberated by the Majlis Ash’shura 

and other authorities. He said it is 

very important to have a clear-cut 

definition of what constitutes a 

“sovereign ministry” and a “service 

ministry” to know which ministers 

can be handed requests for information 

or clarification. To page 5 

Citing statistics furnished by the 

Health Ministry’s National Aids Programme, 

the UN report characterises 

HIV trends among expatriate workers 

as “reasonably stable”. All expatriates 

seeking residency in the Sultanate are 

compulsorily screened for HIV and 

ROP alerts Salalah visitors 

Sangakkara misses double ton 

KUMAR Sangakkara missed out on a double 

hundred by one run but his team ended the second 

day of the first Test on a high with Pakistan reeling 

at 48 for five at the close yesterday. Sri Lanka were 

dismissed for 472 shortly after tea with Sangakkara 

stranded on 199 not out made off 387 balls and 

including 18 fours and two sixes. 

“Controlling vehicle speed is 

the first step to avoid accidents followed 

by abstinence from using 

mobile phones and multi-tasking,” 

the official added. 

“Use fog lights when passing 

through the misty roads, one can use 

hazard light too during these situations. 

Moreover, one should pay full 

attention to driving.” 

Last year, there have been several 

requests to station ROP mobile 

hospitals at these two places to assist 

the road victims. To page 6 

to work more confidently, rely on 

themselves and add new economic 

activities to their businesses to help 

provide wider sources of livelihood 

for their families. The OCCI bears 

the full cost of this free-of-charge 

initiative and is planning more programmes. 

— ONA 

SHAIKH Salem al Kaabi 

125 HIV-positive expatriates deported 

76 drug dealers held Focus on database 

MUSCAT — The Ministry of Education yesterday 

launched the activities of the first Statistical 

Forum organised by the Directorate- 

General of Planning and Quality Control, 

represented by the Planning and Quality Control 

Department at the ministry. 

The forum is aimed at revising the statistical 

databases, ensuring their accuracy and 

exchanging experiences. Details, P2 

Free training for business women 

other infectious diseases before they 

are granted a residency permit. 

Screening results put HIV cases 

among expats at 106 cases in 2005, rising 

to 130 in 2006 and falling again to 

114 in 2007. It peaked at 140 cases in 

2008. To page 6 

News Briefs 

300 voted in Pakistan election. — P8 

Egypt poll result likely today. — P9 

Better fuel-saving technology. — P10 

Seeks support for candidature. — P11 

Climate plan fails again in Rio. — P12 

80 firms at expo 

SALALAH — An exhibition of Omani products 

opened at the Municipality Recreation 

Centre in Salalah. More than 80 companies 

are participating in the expo with their products 

and services at a pavillion. 

The exhibition is very important because 

the Omani products are very good in quality 

and stand at par with international products in 

their categories. Details, P6 

THE picture taken by the Omani photographer Khalil bin Ibrahim al Zadjali shows Royal Cavalry taking part in the joint musical parade in London. The works of Al Zedjali were displayed at an exhibition in London. Details, P7 

Prayer timing Fajr Dhuhr Asr Magrib Isha Weather Muscat M Nizwa Sohar Al Buraimi Sur Khasab Salalah 

EXCHANGE RATES 

GOLD 

Dollar per Omani Rial 

PRICE 

Muscat 03:54 am 12:14 pm 03:32 pm 07:02 pm 08:25 pm Max M 41 44 41 44 37 42 32 

Min 30 28 32 32 28 32 27 

Buying 0.382 Selling 0.388 $1,571.10

Deal signed to finance 

education programme 

MUSCAT — The Social Development 

Ministry yesterday 

signed an agreement with 

Oman Oil Company (OOC) 

to finance the diploma of special 

education programme in 

Sultan Qaboos University 

(SQU) for 20 female supervisors 

of Al Wafa Disabled Rehabilitation 

Centres, as well 

as supply and installation of 

interactive boards at the Disabled 

Care and Rehabilitation 

Centre in Al Khoudh and setting 

up of a greenhouse at the 

Childhood Care Centre. 

The agreement was signed 

on behalf of the ministry by 

Shaikh Ahmed bin Hashil al 

Maskri, Adviser of the Social 

Development Minister for 

Planning, while it was signed 

on behalf of the OOC by Mulham 

bin Bashir al Jarf, Deputy 

Chief Executive Officer of the 

OOC. 

Hamoud bin Ahmed al 

Yahya’ee, Director-General of 

the Social Care at the ministry 

said that the agreement comes 

within the partnership project 

in serving society, which is 

represented in assisting a 

number of female supervisors 

to carry out their duties in the 

best way. 

Mulham bin Bashir al Jarf 

said the agreement reflects 

the co-operation between the 

Social Development Ministry 

and the OOC as it also translates 

the company’s interest 

in partnership by adopting a 

number of social responsibility 

projects. — ONA 

Forum debates ed statistics, 

highlights need for accuracy 

MUSCAT — The Ministry of 

Education yesterday launched 

the first Statistical Forum 

organised by the Directorate 

General of Planning and 

Quality Control, represented 

by the Planning and Quality 

Control Department in the 

ministry. 

At the opening ceremony 

of the five-day forum, Said 

bin Ahmed al Zedjali, Director 

of the Statistics and Indi- 

cators Department at the Education 

Ministry, highlighted 

the importance of the forum, 

which aims at revising the 

statistical databases, ensuring 

their accuracy and exchanging 

experiences among educational 

governorates. 

The first day of the forum 

included five working papers 

on educational statistics as a 

requirement for qualitative 

and quantitative planning, 

the methods of collecting 

educational data, the statistical 

analysis and using time 

chains to forecast developments 

in the future and electronic 

archiving. 

The participants also discussed 

and analysed the data 

of the statistical book for the 

school year and highlighted 

the difficulties facing statisticians 

in the educational governorates. 

— ONA 

Fair criticism 

in media 

From page 1 

This historical achievement 

of the nation did not 

come out of vacuum. His 

Majesty has been and is 

still working day and night 

with a sole goal which is 

the progress of the nation 

with measured modernisation 

in a gradual and well 

thought out manner. 

Development and prosperity 

of the Omani citizen 

is at the core of all development 

efforts so that the 

current generation and the 

posterity enjoy the fruit of 

sustainable development 

and Oman regains its great 

position in the comity of 

nations. 

In this mission, it is the 

duty of all citizens to unite 

in the fight against all those 

who try to belittle the great 

successes that have been 

achieved under the leadership 

of His Majesty the 

Sultan or those who undermine 

this process by pursuing 

their own self interests. 

We always confirm that 

the journalistic work is 

complementary to all sincere 

efforts that target development. 

Hence we hope 

that this small group of officials 

change their ways 

and respect the press and 

the journalists and distance 

themselves from threatening 

because it is useless. 

The time of intimidation 

and misuse of power is 

gone, and for good. 

We reiterate that our objective 

is the common interest. 

May God keep Oman 

and the Omani people on 

the track in line with its 

cultural values of progress, 

broad mindedness, modesty, 

the spirit of service 

to the nation and may the 

country stay forever an oasis 

of peace and tolerance, 

stability and prosperity. 

2 OMAN 

OMAN DAILY Observer 

SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

Moving Forward 

Oman attends world heritage panel session 

By Ali Ahmed al Riyami 

MUSCAT — The Sultanate, represented 

by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, 

is participating in the 36th session of the 

World Heritage Committee that is being 

held in St Petersburg, Russia, from today 

until July 6. 

The ministry’s delegation is headed 

by Hassan bin Mohammed al Lawati, 

Director General of Antiquities and Museums, 

and includes Khamis bin Said al 

A’simi, Archaeologist, and Mohamed bin 

Khalfan al Issai, Tour Guide. 

The committee will consider a large 

number of topics related to world heritage, 

including cultural and historical 

concerns, especially with regard to those 

earmarked as endangered on the World 

Heritage List, as well as the current conditions 

of a number of sites on the list including 

Bahla Fort. 

They will also address research findings 

of the report submitted by the Ministry 

of Heritage and Culture on the efforts 

of the Sultanate in completing the fort’s 

ongoing restoration work in tandem with 

the adjacent traditional marketplace. 

As with any ministry, our chief 

role is to serve the nation. By 

being part of this award we 

proved we are doing just that 

Fatma Al Belushi 

Ministry of Civil Service 

«At the Ministry of Civil Service, we take great pride in the fact that we have participated in the Sultan 

Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment for the past two years. Our role is to serve the nation and its 

people and this award recognises our achievements, within and even beyond our nation’s borders.» 

Registration for the awards is available for public and private institutions until September 1, 2012. 

For registration and more information, please visit: www.ita.gov.om/hmaward 

The committee reiterated its previous 

resolutions on the importance of caring 

for the authenticity of the location so as 

to maintain the historical significance and 

cultural values of Bahla’s World Heritage 

listed site. 

Besides this, the commission will examine 

applications for new sites that are 

to be considered for incorporation into 

the list of World Heritage Sites. It includes 

the important city of Bethlehem, 

provided by the State of Palestine as their 

first registered site, since their registration 

of Jerusalem on to the list in 1981.

3 OMAN 



21 die in 152 road accidents 

MUSCAT — Twenty-one 

people were killed and 229 

injured in 152 accidents occurred 

last week during 

June 16 to 22. 

Collision between vehicles 

is the most common 

accidents during the same 

period as they stood at 74. 

Also there was a collision 

with a fixed body, 24 rollover 

accidents and 15 runover 

accidents. 

Prominent among these 

accidents was the collision of 

two vehicles, which occurred 

in the Wilayat of Ibri, in the 

Governorate of Al Dhahirah 

and led to the death of two 

people with moderate to severe 

injury to 10 others. 

The Governorates of 

Muscat and Al Dhahirah recorded 

the largest number 

of deaths over the past 

week, bringing the number 

of deaths in each of them to 

four people. 

While three died in the 

Governorate of North Al 

Batinah, two died in each of 

the Governorates of South 

and North Al Sharqiyah and 

South Al Batinah, one each 

died in the Governorates of 

Al Buraimi, Dhofar, Al Dakhiliyah 

and Al Wusta. 

Statistics released by the 

Royal Oman Police (ROP) 

Ambulance Unit showed 

that 179 cases were given 

emergency care. 

These included 16 serious 

cases, 111 moderate 

cases and 52 minor cases. 

ROP calls on all road users 

to abide by traffic rules and 

laws, exercise caution while 

using the road, observe the 

speed limit, avoid wrong 

overtaking and beware of 

road surprises. 

ROP also urges citizens 

and residents not to cross 

the road unless that place is 

designated for pedestrians 

crossing. 

It may be recalled that 32 

people died and 175 injured 

in 147 traffic accidents during 

June 9 to 17 in various 

governorates. 

The North and South Al 

Batinah recorded the largest 

number of deaths of eight 

people in each governorate, 

three people died in each 

of the governorates of Al 

Dakhliliyah, Al Wusta and 

North Al Sharqiyah, two 

people each died in the Governorates 

of Dhofar and Al 

Dhahirah, one person died 

in each of the Governorates 

of Muscat, Al Buraimi and 

South Al Sharqiyah.— ONA 

Looking for job, accommodation, 

vehicle, flats, furniture etc? Check 

out Classifieds page. It’s where 

buyers meet sellers.

PHILOSOPHERS say 

virtue is the desirable 

middle between two 

extremes — excess 

and deficiency. Generosity, for 

instance is a virtue in the middle 

between stinginess on one 

side and wasteful prodigality 

on the other side. The same is 

true for several traits like courage, 

which is a virtue in the 

middle between cowardice and 

recklessness, and so forth. 

4 OUTLOOK 



Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this page are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the opinion of the Observer. 

Stick between the two extremes 

Iman Ali Ibi Abi Talib says: 

“Refresh your mind from time 

to time, for a tired mind becomes 

blind”. It is impossible 

for anyone to work for twentyfour 

hours without rest intervals 

during which he relaxes 

and renews his energy for a 

new bout of activity. 

There should be some sort 

of balance between the two 

extremes, between hyperactivity 

and inactivity, and gener- 

Moderation is required in 

all aspects of life because 

everything has negative side as 

well as positive one and between 

these two extremes we have to 

opt for the middle ground. As 

a matter of fact pleasures lose 

value when taken excessively 

ally between excess and deficiency. 

Non-existence of such 

a balance can result in a lot of 

physical or psychological dis- 

Trying to shake off writer’s block! 

• I needed to write to feel, 

but without feeling, I couldn’t 

write. — Phyllis Koestenbaum 

• The art of writing is the 

art of discovering what you 

believe in. — Gustave Flaubert 

• When you shoot an arrow 

of truth, dip its point in honey. 

— Arabic Saying 

• Love in your heart wasn’t 

put there to stay. Love isn’t 

love, till you give it away. — 

Oscar Hammerstein 

• Writing is the only profession 

where no one considers 

you ridiculous if you earn no 

money. — Jules Renard 

• Students “learn to write 

by writing”, and often they are 

paralysed by rules and or in 

feelings of being insecure. — 

Lawrence Oliver 

HONESTLY speaking 

and Between Us 

Only! I have found 

lately that I am experiencing 

once again, after 

many years, what they call as 

the ‘writer’s block’. According 

to Wikipedia a ‘writer’s 

block’ is a condition primarily 

associated with writing as a 

profession, in which an author 

loses the ability to produce 

new work. The condition varies 

widely in intensity. 

It can be trivial, like a temporary 

difficulty in dealing 

with the task at hand in writing. 

At the other extreme, some 

such writers have been unable 

to work for years on end, and 

some have even abandoned totally 

their writing careers. 

There is usually something 

that triggers off this condition. 

Like having a fear of taking 

Ahmed Al Falahi 

dreemlife11@yahoo.com 

Majid Al Suleimany 

www.majidall.com 

a risk in writing (continued 

writing) — uncertainties in the 

pre-writing stage — judging 

versus generating ideas, unable 

to incubate ideas and or 

lack of motivation. 

It could also be due to 

something recent that is drastic 

or painful that had happened in 

the personal life of the writer, 

or even, as in many cases — 

external factors beyond the 

scope of the writer, like a sudden 

fear of writing and it’s possible 

consequences if one still 

wanted to continue writing! 

The ‘writer’s block’ is a 

common affliction that most 

writers will experience at one 

time or another in their lives. It 

is defined as an inability to begin 

or continue writing for reasons 

other than lack of basic 

skill or commitment. Because 

writers have various ways of 

writing — a variety of things 

can cause a writer to experience 

anxiety, and sometimes 

this anxiety leads to writer’s 

block. 

I do not know if you do go 

through these similar feelings 

and emotions? Because sometimes 

in life you just need to 

apply the brakes on that car 

you are driving and park away 

from the road in a safe distance. 

Metaphorically speaking 

— you look at how much 

petrol you still have in the car 

— engine oil and all the works 

and ask yourself the Big Question: 

Where am I driving this 

car to? And whether you actually 

know where you are going 

and for what reason and 

purpose? Looking at the Big 

Picture or as they say ‘Thinking 

out of the box!’ 

A ‘writer’s block’ is 

a condition primarily 

associated with writing 

as a profession, in 

which an author loses 

the ability to produce 

new work. The condition 

varies widely in intensity 

Ask yourself the fundamental 

question: Where is 

this road taking me now? And 

where am I coming from? Is 

this trip I am taking now really 

necessary, or if it was better 

and safer for me if I just had 

stayed at home and to lose my 

freedom to move and be mobile 

once again? And with all 

the pretensions, facades and 

acting going on — double 

deceptions, betrayals and let 

downs — to even good people 

that had sacrificed all they had 

for a bigger cause? 

Am I being punished because 

I am nice and feel for 

others? And those that do not 

care are being rewarded and 

complimented because they 

are not rocking the boat but 

towing the line. And doing 

what they are told without 

even raising an eyelid because 

it is simply not their concern 

nor are they bothered. 

And when they have to account 

later for everyone they 

just respond defensively and 

abruptly — I did what I was 

told to do. It is not my problem 

now! 

With the short memories 

we have we can conveniently 

forget the rubbish we have 

been pushing under the carpet 

for so long, hoping no one will 

see or notice? Till it piles up 

very high and start giving a 

horrible stench — and cannot 

be covered up anymore! 

No wonder I am now facing 

this writer’s block now! It 

also comes from watching too 

much television news — and 

also from reading too many 

newspapers — and that from 

the Internet too! It only leads 

to the confusion of what to 

write — seeing many of the 

subjects and topics that I have 

already covered in the last nine 

years of writing! 

If you have any ideas or 

suggestions please feel free 

to send them to me at majid@ 

majidalsuleimany.com — 

www.majidalsuleimany.com. 

May Allah protect and preserve 

us all — Amin. 

Take Care! 

orders. 

Moderation is required in all 

aspects of life because everything 

has negative side as well 

as positive one and between 

these two extremes we have to 

opt for the middle ground. As 

a matter of fact pleasures lose 

value when taken excessively. 

All inventions and technologies 

are blessings; one such 

example is the car, use it in a 

rational way and it gives you 

comfort and makes your life 

easier and more comfortable, 

misuse it by speeding and suffer 

the dire consequences that 

ensue, which could be a terrible 

accident that causes death 

or disability. 

Al Shabiba daily in its July 

11 issue quoted the Director 

of Cyber Crimes at the Public 

Prosecution Department, as 

saying the Department dealt 

with 200 cyber crimes, including 

defamation, abuse and 

hacking, which were committed 

in different governorates. 

The Internet technology is 

a means of serving people and 

facilitate their lives not being 

used as a crime tool. The Internet, 

like many things, can be a 

great virtue but some people 

are turning it into vice. This 

has prompted the legislators 

to enact regulatory laws for 

the use of Internet and other 

technological devices which 

are aimed at combating Internet 

crimes and protecting the 

people’s privacy. 

Article (16) of the Omani 

Law for Combating Cyber 

Crimes states: “A penalty of 

imprisonment of not less than 

one year but not exceeding 

three years and a fine of not 

less than one thousand rials, 

but not exceeding five thousand 

rials. Any one of these 

penalties shall be imposed 

on anyone who uses computer 

networks or information 

technology devices such as 

mobile applications, to violate 

the sanctity of private life or 

family life by taking pictures, 

spreading news or records, 

whether audible or visual, or 

in defamation or slander of 

others”. 

Life is a mixture of 

joy and sorrow 

Sausan Al Busaidiyah 

No one can be perfectly happy. 

When we go through bad times, 

we don’t see reason but see the 

bitter, sad and the black side 

of everything. We feel almost 

despaired and have those 

delusions and evil doubts. We 

even sometimes forget that Allah is 

always there for us; helping 

and aiding us in every 

moment of our life 

LIFE is a mixture of joy and sorrow, triumphs and failures. 

But the proportion of joy and sorrow is in our 

hands. Accept sorrow happily and live life with joy. 

That is to say, one would like to lead a virtuous life 

that would give happiness too. No one can be perfectly happy. 

When we go through bad times, we don’t see reason but see 

the bitter, sad and the black side of everything. We feel almost 

despaired and have those delusions and evil doubts. We even 

sometimes forget that Allah is always there for us; helping and 

aiding us in every moment of our life. In times of sorrow some 

people tend to isolate themselves from the world and some 

others take the extreme step of even ending their life. 

In life, we must consider that there is always some hope 

that can revive our lives and we must have faith that Allah will 

not forget us. In fact, Allah knows better what is good for us 

and He allowed this challenge to test our ability to face things 

and to test our sincerity and faith. 

Hope makes life sweet. As long as there is hope, there must 

be life. People have to generate good morals that will reflect in 

their attitude and interactions with other people. It is a known 

fact that smile and good words are the magical keys to open 

the closed doors. 

People also need to deal with other people and their attitudes 

with some wisdom so as to convert his or her life and 

other people’s lives into a happy and joyful one. The first lesson 

that we need to learn is how to be patient when we face 

troubles. We need to believe that this is only a step that will 

move us to a brighter future and thus we will be able to overcome 

any problem. 

The people around us can support us and give us warmth 

and security. These people are the ones who make the life more 

beautiful and easier. 

Coping with a changing generation 

THESE days there 

is a wide discussion 

about the 

conduct of the 

young people with some 

voices calling for straightening 

their behaviour and 

help them adopt a set of 

good morals. It seems to 

some that a whole generation 

of youths have diverted 

from the true and 

noble Omani values that 

have passed through generations 

and embraced an 

alien culture. Does this 

mean that we have failed 

to bring up our children to 

be good citizens and we 

have to admit our failure? 

It seems to me as though 

someone else took over 

the task of raising our 

offspring so they grew up 

with different values and 

alien conduct. 

This is a matter of 

great seriousness as we 

see our own sons going 

astray and abandoning 

the right path. The glowing 

headlines that appear 

in the press calling for the 

importance of restoring 

our genuine values are insufficient 

and unlikely to 

yield the desired effects. 

The press, at least so far, 

is not suggesting viable 

means by which we can 

alter this trend and set 

thing right. There should 

be more efforts to fight 

this emerging phenomenon, 

and this can only be 

Yahya Al Naabi 

done by searching for the 

root causes of this phenomenon 

so that we can 

adopt the suitable solutions 

to stave it off. 

What we read and hear 

today is mere obscuring 

of the real issues while 

the problem needs to be 

addressed by the entire 

society, including the official 

institutions. 

Recently, we developed 

the habit of calling 

every outstanding issue 

that threaten to tear the 

fabric of the society as 

‘alien’. This is because 

we fail in confronting the 

problems that face us and 

deal with them properly. 

As for the values of the 

youths we are all aware 

that the behaviour and 

conduct of any generation 

are shaped by their age. 

The values of the current 

generations are consistent 

with the spirit of the 

age. Values change with 

the change of time and 

each generation has a set 

of values different from 

those of the previous one. 

We have to know that the 

values have never been 

a holy scripture, they are 

rather a set of moral rules 

adopted by a society at 

a specific point of time. 

As such, these values are 

subject to change with the 

change in circumstances. 

The older generations 

have to strike a balance 

It seems to some that a 

whole generation of youths 

have diverted from the true 

and noble Omani values 

that have passed through 

generations and embraced 

an alien culture. Does this 

mean that we have failed to 

bring up our children to be 

good citizens and we have to 

admit our failure? It seems to 

me as though someone else 

took over the task of raising 

our offspring so they grew 

up with different values and 

alien conduct 

between their own believes 

and the emerging 

culture in all its aspects 

instead of rejecting the 

change and making a big 

fuss about it in different 

forums. 

The values of the new 

generations have a good 

side which is worthy of 

our attention and it is unfair 

to focus only on the 

negative side. We must 

have an overall view of 

the concerned matters and 

not to confine our judgement 

to a single side, 

overlooking other things. 

This is the only way to arrive 

at conclusive results. 

It is in the interest of no 

one to resort to provocative 

discussions, what is 

needed is a balanced view 

and rational opinions. 

Balance and moderation 

should be there when we 

take and receive, otherwise 

the result would be 

dire.

PDO supports craft skills 

training for 100 women 

By A Staff Reporter 

MUSCAT – Petroleum Development 

Oman (PDO) underlined 

its role as a national 

champion of socio-economic 

development at a joint signing 

ceremony for two work training 

schemes for 100 women 

living in the south of its concession 

area. 

The event in Salalah – 

held under the auspices of 

Shaikh Abdullah bin Saif al 

Mahrooqi, Deputy Governor 

of Dhofar – formally marked 

the Company’s commitment 

to supporting the training of 

70 women in leather craft in 

Rabkut (Wilayat of Thamrait) 

and 30 women in tailoring and 

embroidery in Wilayat Taqah. 

Shaikh Amour bin Salim 

Kishob, Wali of Thamrait, 

and Shaikh Bakeet bin Said 

Mohammed Muhsin, Wali of 

Taqah, were joined by Suleiman 

al Mantheri, PDO’s External 

Affairs and Communications 

Manager, to sign the 

agreements for the courses 

which will teach the women 

the necessary craft skills to 

make quality goods from 

which they can earn a living. 

Recently, PDO also cel- 

ebrated the ofcial opening of 

a Thursday market in Shaleem 

under the auspices of Shaikh 

Bakheet bin Salim al Maashani, 

Wali of Shaleem and Juzur 

Al Halaniyyat. PDO funded 

the construction of the market, 

with recently completed 

facility upgrades, as part of its 

Social Investment Programme 

to boost the commercial opportunities 

for local Omanis 

living in its concession area. 

The company also signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding 

with the Wali to sponsor 

the construction of a camel 

race track in Shaleem. In addition, 

PDO has recently agreed 

— in collaboration with the 

Ministry of Health — to support 

the expansion of the 

health centre in Shaleem into 

a hospital to provide essential 

health services to the community. 

Praising PDO’s support of 

the community, Bakheet bin 

Salim al Maashani said: “We 

are very grateful to PDO for 

its major contribution to our 

community. The livestock 

market will become a vital 

trading hub for those working 

in local agriculture and is further 

proof of the Company’s 

growing reputation as a good 

corporate citizen.” 

Engineer Suleiman al 

Mantheri, who promotes 

PDO’s Corporate Social Responsibility 

(CSR) drive, said: 

“PDO has a long-standing 

commitment to support social 

investment projects that deliver 

lasting and sustainable 

benets to local communities 

to help them develop and 

prosper.” 

PDO’s Social Investment 

Programme covers many areas 

and has recently shifted 

its focus towards training initiatives. 

During the course of 

2011, more than 600 people 

participated in PDO-funded 

training programmes, many of 

them in small towns and villages. 

The Company’s CSR efforts 

have been recognised 

ofcially on many occasions. 

The latest was on June 10 

when PDO received the Alam 

al-Iktisaad Wal A’mal (AIWA) 

Award for Excellence in Corporate 

Leadership for its ambitious 

plan to secure long-term 

sustainable commercial benets 

for Oman and to generate 

thousands of new employment 

opportunities. 

5 OMAN 



32 members reject 

lifting immunity 

By Bader al Kiyumi 

MUSCAT — The Majlis 

Ash’shura members yesterday 

rejected the request of 

the Public Prosecution Department 

to lift parliamentary 

immunity of Dr Talib bin 

Ahmed al Maamari, member 

of the Majlis Ash’shura because 

of a lawsuit led by a 

citizen who claimed being 

insulted by the member. During 

secret ballot in yesterday’s 

session, attended by 66 

members, 32 members voted 

Plea to quiz minister later 

From page 1 

“It is very important to 

clarify this confusion to the 

public and to the members of 

Majlis Ash’shura,” he added. 

The Majlis Ash’shura will 

be on vacation till November 

1, so there will be a problem 

about when to hold a session 

to hear the statement of the 

Minister of Oil and Gas if 

the government approved the 

request that the Majlis has 

ROP training 

MUSCAT — Students of 

the 36th batch of the Sultan 

Qaboos Academy for Police 

Sciences are taking part in 

a four-day training session 

at Al Jabal Al Akhdar. The 

programme, which began on 

June 21, covers physical endurance, 

security and combat 

abilities and live ammunition 

shooting. The students had to 

cross a steep mountain path 

from Wadi al Maaiden to the 

Combat Training Camp. 

against lifting the immunity 

of the member, while 30 supported 

the request and two 

abstained. 

The poll was held as part 

of the 21st meeting of the 

Majlis’s rst annual sitting 

of the 7th term (2011 – 2012) 

under the chairmanship of 

Shaikh Khalid bin Hilal al 

Maawali, Chairman of the 

Majlis Ash’shura. 

A member of the Majlis 

told the Observer that the 

Majlis Legal Committee has 

examined the request of the 

submitted. 

Al Kaabi proceeded saying 

that “There are also differences 

in the interpretation 

of a ‘request for information’ 

and these differences are being 

sorted out between the 

Majlis Ash’shura and the 

Ministry of Legal Affairs 

which believes that any request 

for information should 

be submitted by at least 15 

members and then approved 

by the majority of the Majlis 

Hunt for talented 

environmentalists 


MUSCAT — The Environment 

Society of Oman (ESO) 

is on the lookout for Oman’s 

brightest environmentalists 

with a talent for expressing 

themselves. 

This week ESO launched a 

search in the Sultanate’s colleges 

and universities to nd 

students with a passion for the 

environment, and for public 

speaking to participate in the 

rst Omani public speaking 

competition with a ‘green’ 

theme. 

Run in co-ordination with 

the UAE’s Emirates Environmental 

Group (EEG), the 

public speaking competition 

is the Omani round of a wider 

regional competition which 

EEG organises on an annual 

basis. This is the rst time that 

the competition has been held 

on a local level, and students 

in Oman will battle it out for a 

place in the regional competition, 

to be held in Dubai. 

Participating students 

must research a topic and prepare 

a presentation on one of 

the approved subjects for the 

competition: (a) “Every drop 

matters”; (b) My climate, my 

responsibility; (c) Consumerism 

and its effects on the environment; 

and (d) Social media 

and the environment: how far 

could they go to protect the 

environment? 

Dima Radwan, project 

Japan Fan 

Club lm 

MUSCAT — The Ambassador 

of Japan to the Sultanate, 

George Hisaeda, will be 

hosting the screening of a 

Japanese lm show, ‘Shall 

we dance?’, to mark the occasion 

of the rst Japan Fan 

Club meeting at his residence 

in Madinat Al Sultan 

Qaboos on June 26. 

The comedy-cum-drama 

musical, directed by Masayuki 

Suo, tells the story of 

bored accountant Sugiyama 

(Koji Yakusho), who on his 

evening commute always 

looks for the beautiful woman 

who gazes wistfully out 

the window of the Kishikawa 

School of Dancing. 

One night, he gets off 

the train, walks into the studio 

and signs up for a class. 

Soon, Sugiyama is so engrossed 

in his dancing; he 

practises his steps on the 

train platform and under 

his desk and becomes good 

enough for competition, 

compelling his wife to hire 

a private investigator to nd 

out why he stays out late and 

returns home smelling of 

perfume. 

The lm also features 

Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto 

Takenaka and Eri Watanabe. 

Public Prosecution Department 

to lift the immunity 

and listened to the statement 

of the member concerned. 

Accordingly, the panel sent 

its recommendation to the 

Majlis for further elaboration, 

according to the bylaw 

of the Majlis Ash’shura. 

At the meeting, the Majlis 

members listened to the 

members for and against the 

lifting of immunity. After the 

session, the member concerned 

left the hall and secret 

ballot was held. 

Ash’shura members, whereas 

the Majlis Ash’shura thinks 

that, according to the amendments 

issued by the Royal 

Decree which grants the 

Majlis more administrative 

and audit powers, there is no 

need for a majority vote. 

Al Kaabi conrmed that 

the Majlis Ash’shura has entered 

a new stage which allows 

the council to monitor 

the performance of some institutions 

of the state. 

manager at ESO explained 

the idea behind the competition: 

“At ESO one of our main 

objectives is to raise the level 

of awareness in our Omani 

society about environmental 

issues. From water conservation 

to anti-littering and turtle 

tagging to recycling, these 

are issues that affect each and 

every one of us and the more 

we all know about them, the 

more we can all do our bit to 

help. 

“Young people are the true 

voice of a nation; through the 

competition we hope that the 

students will not only learn 

more on their chosen topics, 

but that they will encourage 

positive action within 

their places of learning, all 

while building up their public 

speaking skills.” 

Open to all undergraduate 

students enrolled in an Omani 

college or university and under 

23 years of age, students 

who wish to participate must 

form a team from their college 

or university and register 

with ESO. Winners will receive 

a trophy and certicate 

and an ESO-funded place in 

the regional competition in 

Dubai. 

The deadline for registration 

is September 26, 2012 

and the competition will be 

held on November 3 and 4. 

All registration information is 

available on the ESO website: 

www.eso.org.om. 

Looking for job, accommodation, vehicle, 

ats, furniture etc? Check out Classieds 

page. It’s where buyers meet sellers.

From page 1 

along with an Asian woman 

who was helping him in pushing 

drugs among the addicts. 

She was caught with heroine, 

stimulants and some cash. 

Meanwhile, the directorate’s 

force also foiled an at- 

tempt to smuggle 5,800 Tramadol 

tablets through Muscat 

International Airport. 

One Arab passenger tried 

to hide the psychotropic substances 

inside his luggage and 

was apprehended during a 

regular check at the airport. 

Legal procedures were tak- 

en against the accused and were 

referred to the Public Prosecution 

for further investigation. 

ROP calls upon citizens and 

residents extend more co-operation 

to address this menace 

and notify policemen of any 

suspicious activities by drug 

dealers and users. — ONA 

6 OMAN 



Omani products on display at Salalah Tourism Festival 

Trade co-operation explored 

MUSCAT — Khalil bin Abdullah 

al Khonji, Chairman of 

Oman Chamber of Commerce 

and Industry (OCCI), received 

in his ofce yesterday a Dutch 

trade delegation led by Henry 

O. 

The delegation consisted of 

experts in food industries and 

other related elds. 

The meeting discussed 

possible and available areas 

of co-operation — mainly on 

food industries, agriculture 

and sh industries — between 

the Omani and Dutch private 

sectors. Al Khonji afrmed the 

Sultanate’s increasing focus 

on food security, highlighting 

the efforts being taken in this 

regard. 

He explained the role of the 

private sector in co-operating 

and co-ordinating with the 

government in this vital area, 

particularly in enhancing investments 

of the private sector 

in the food and sh industries, 

as well as promoting scientic 

research in this eld. 

He added that OCCI accords 

great attention to food 

security as specialised committees 

have been formed to 

discuss all relevant topics and 

adopt the proposals and visions 

that would promote contribution 

of the private sector 

in achieving food security in 

co-operation with the respective 

authorities. 

Al Khonji pointed out the 

76 drug dealers held in Muscat 

potential of beneting from 

the Dutch expertise in food 

safety, besides supporting the 

Sultanate to become a food industries 

centre and beneting 

from the potentials available 

in the free zones in the country. 

The head of the Dutch 

delegation shared some experiences 

and stressed the 

importance of holding such 

meetings to enhance co-operation. 

— ONA 

ROP alerts 

Salalah 

visitors 

From page 1 

They say that these two 

spots are least considered in 

terms of emergency medical 

support as well, according to 

the residents. 

Kulthum al Wuhaibiya, 

a teacher at an elementary 

school who travels to and 

fro Dhofar, says there were 

incidents that people had 

to travel several kilometres 

before they could reach the 

next hospital in Thumrait 

putting life of the injured at 

a stake. 

The ROP mobile hospital 

is equipped with most modern 

medical facilities and 

medical emergency response 

system. The 24-bedded mobile 

hospital is in perfect 

condition and is divided into 

several units such as operation 

theatre, ICU, surgery 

ward, nursing ward and 

laboratory. 

A dedicated team of medics 

and paramedics trained 

just for the purpose is accompanying 

each unit. While 

one has the facilities for conducting 

emergency surgery, 

others are not left behind but 

are equipped with resuscitation 

system and other medical 

support systems. 

This mobile medical facility 

needs to be placed for 

serving the society to extend 

emergency medical assistance 

as it can help reduce the 

fatalities to a great extent. At 

least until a fully edged 

hospital can be established 

here, a temporary medical 

facility of this sort is the 

need of the hour”. 

MUSCAT — Majlis Addawla 

has received an award 

for its website for being the 

best interactive platform on 

Facebook at the level of the 

Arab world in the “Academy 

Awards” in Jordan. 

A delegation led by 

Saeed al Mahrooqi, Manager, 

Administration of Majlis 

Addawla, and members 

Jalila al Jassasi, specialist, 

Site Management and Asila 

al Hadrami, Technical Information 

Specialist, received 

the accolade on behalf of the 

Majlis on June 19. 

The aim of the competition 

among websites was to 

promote creativity and reliability 

on ways of interacting 

with the public in the 

light of the new information 

technology changes within 

the professional and international 

standards. 

Khalid bin Salim al Saidi, 

Secretary General of Majlis 

Addawla, thanked the efforts 

of staff members for being a 

part of the award, saying 

“the achievement is because 

of the efforts of every single 

person concerned”. 


MUSCAT — The Kenya Embassy 

in Oman has launched 

its Service Charter, a social 

contract that binds both the 

diplomatic mission and the 

beneciaries of the services 

in the country, towards which 

each party has an obligation 

and role to play henceforth. 

The Charter outlines the 

goals, strategic objectives, priorities 

and strategies of attaining 

the diplomatic mission’s 

mandate of articulating and 

implementing Kenya’s foreign 

policy. 

The Charter is guided by 

the strategic plan of the embassy’s 

parent Ministry and 

is anchored on the ve interlinked 

pillars of Kenya’s foreign 

policy which includes; 

economic diplomacy, cultural 

By Kaushalendra Singh 

SALALAH — An exhibition 

of Omani products opened 

at the Municipality Recreation 

Centre in Salalah where 

month-long Salalah Tourism 

Festival (STF) is in progress. 

More than 80 companies are 

participating in the exhibition 

with their products and services 

in a pavillion dedicated 

to Omani products. 

The exhibition, which 

opened yesterday under the 

auspices of Dr Rasheed bin al 

Sa al Huraibi, Chairman of 

the Tender Board, is supported 

by Public Establishment 

for Industrial Estates (PEIE). 

Al Huraibi expressed satisfaction 

over the quality 

of products displayed at the 

exhibition and termed this 

to be a very good attempt to 

promote Omani products in 

event like Salalah Tourism 

Festival. 

“This is very important 

because our products are very 

good in quality and stand at 

par with international products 

in their categories,” he said. 

Hamood al Balushi, Director 

for Promotion of Omani 

Products said the PEIE 

had been active in promoting 

Omani products through 

diplomacy, environmental diplomacy, 

peace diplomacy and 

diaspora diplomacy. 

Speaking to the Observer 

on the sidelines of the launch, 

Yabesh O Monari (pictured), 

Charge D’ Affaires, Kenya 

Embassy in Muscat told: “The 

launching of the Service Charter 

is a signicant milestone in 

the journey towards service delivery 

by the Kenyan Embassy 

to its clients including the 

Kenyan community present in 

all possible media channels 

including newspapers, television 

as also through conferences 

and workshops. “We 

already have a department 

dedicated for the promotion 

of Omani products and we 

nd very good response from 

our consumers,” he said. 

The event is organised as 

part of the series of Omani 

Campaign 2012 exhibitions 

held in the various governorates 

of the Sultanate. The 

exhibition seeks to inspire 

citizens and residents to purchase 

local products and avail 

of the services, which are designed 

to serve the consumers 

in the best possible way. 

“This will eventually have 

a positive impact on the national 

economy. It also attempts 

to inform consumers 

on the local and international 

competitive capabilities of 

the Omani products. “The 

Omani products are displayed 

for sale in this year's 

participation in Salalah Tourism 

Festival unlike previous 

years, which were merely 

promotional participations,” 

said Al Balushi. 

OCTAL representatives 

Ahmad al Zuwameri and 

Jamal Mohammed Adam 

termed the participation in 

the Sultanate of Oman”. 

He added that the service 

charter is a social contract between 

the embassy and its customers 

and each party has an 

obligation and role to play. 

“Some of the basic services 

that we offer as outlined in our 

service charter includes promotion 

of economic diplomacy 

and to this end the Embassy 

will act as repertoire of knowledge 

and information on trade 

and investment opportunities 

in the Sultanate of Oman. 

In addition the Embassy 

co-ordinates and facilitates 

Kenyan trade missions in 

the Sultanate of Oman besides 

engaging in provision 

of conventional consular and 

immigration services including 

management of diaspora 

relations through arbitration 

of labour disputes involving 

Kenyan nationals employed in 

the Omani Products Exhibition 

as a “good opportunity 

to let people know about our 

products, as we have set very 

high standards for our products 

and we want everyone 

know what we do.” 

“Our company is growing 

well and receiving good response 

from local and international 

markets,” they said. 

The PEIE has signed an 

agreement with Oman International 

Trade and Exhibitions 

(OITE) to organise the 

Omani Products Expo as part 

of the consumer exhibition in 

the STF. This collaboration 

seeks to achieve the aspirations 

of both parties in establishing 

direct links with visitors 

to the festival through the 

consumer exhibition at STF 

and attract local and foreign 

consumers. 

The agreement is a continuation 

of collaborations 

between the PEIE and the 

private institutions, which 

extensively support Omani 

products. 

This exhibition is the 

eighth of this year's series of 

exhibitions of Omani products 

campaign across the Sultanate. 

— Picture by Hamed 

al Khatiri 

Majlis Addawla receives IT award for website 

125 HIV-positive expatriates deported 

From page 1 

Signicantly, the UN report characterises 

the overall HIV situation in the 

Sultanate as “low-prevalence”. Between 

1984, when the rst Omani HIV case was 

reported, and the end of 2011, a cumulative 

total of 2,164 Omani HIV cases have 

been documented. 

More than a third of these cases have 

since died of Aids. These deaths primarily 

represent cases detected in the early 

stages of the epidemic before the advent 

of antiretroviral treatment, the report said, 

adding that a total of 1,371 cases (63.4 per 

cent) were still alive as of end-2011. 

While males accounted for two-thirds 

(72.2 per cent) of all reported Omani HIV 

cases, the remainder were females. The 

large chunk of the cases (72 per cent) belonged 

to the age group of 25-59 years. 

Carriers in the age group of 15-24 years 

accounted for 17.4 per cent of the total, 

while 7.8 per cent comprised patients 

younger than 15 years, the report said. 

A total of 883,696 people were 

tested for HIV in 2012 under an extensive 

screening that covers, among other 

groups, all expatriates seeking employment 

or residency in the Sultanate. 

While expatriates accounted for 72 per 

cent of the tally, the rest comprised Omani 

nationals, the report said. Screening 

procedures also apply to blood donors, 

ante-natal care clients, patients aficted 

with tuberculosis and sexually transmitted 

infections, pre-employment screening 

of nationals and expatriates, pre-marital 

screening, food handlers (mainly expatriates), 

patients admitted to hospitals for invasive 

procedures and organ transplants, 

prisoners and those arrested by the police, 

and others. 

Since July 2009, the Ministry of 

Health has also been offering HIV testing 

and counselling services to all pregnant 

women with the aim of preventing-mother-to-child-transmission 

(PMTCT). This 

has contributed to a minimisation of HIV 

transmission from mother to child. 

As of end 2011, there were around 661 

infected cases receiving anti-retroviral 

treatment at the 15 treatment sites operated 

by the ministry around the Sultanate. 

The report cited “important achievements 

and successes” despite ongoing 

“challenges” in the national response to 

HIV. 

“Best practices that existed prior to 

2010 include free access to high-quality 

anti-retroviral treatment, with good lab 

support and well-trained staff, although 

time from collection of sample to knowing 

one’s status is long,” it said. 

Kenyan Embassy launches Mission Service Charter 

the host country”. 

In his speech after the 

launch, Monari said: “The 

presence of Kenyan Embassy 

in Oman is expected to foster 

strong bilateral relations between 

the two countries and 

peoples and also serves as an 

indication of strong will and 

commitment to enhance strong 

bilateral ties between Kenya 

and Oman. 

In our endeavour to promote 

economic diplomacy the 

Embassy will act as a source 

of knowledge and information 

on trade and investment 

opportunities in the Sultanate 

of Oman. In addition the 

Embassy co-ordinates and facilitates 

trade missions in the 

Sultanate. 

He urged all Kenyans living 

in the country to register 

with the Mission to offer consular 

services.

Photo gallery opens in London 

LONDON — Shaikh Abdulaziz 

bin Abdullah al Hinai, 

Sultanate’s Ambassador to the 

United Kingdom (UK), opened 

in London a photo gallery of 

Khalil bin Ibrahim al Zedjali. 

The photo gallery included 

photos that highlighted participation 

of the Royal Cavalry in 

the Diamond Jubilee celebrations 

of Queen Elizabeth II. 

The Royal Cavalry participated 

in the joint Musical 

Parade of the British Royal 

Retinue Cavalry in London. 

This is the rst photo gallery 

for the photographer, Khalil al 

Zedjali, who is considered as 

one of the elite photographers 

in the Sultanate. — ONA 

7 OMAN 



Workshop 

on patent 

systems 

MUSCAT — Activities 

of the workshop on the 

World Intellectual Property 

Organisation (WIPO) National 

Seminar on “Effective 

Use of Patent System 

to Promote Innovation,” 

begins today. 

The 2-day workshop is 

organised by the Ministry of 

Commerce and Industry in 

collaboration with WIPO. 

The Sultanate joined 

the WIPO in 1997 with a 

view to beneting from its 

experience on how to encourage 

intellectuals and 

creators develop their creations 

and innovations, guide 

them on how to protect their 

creations and innovations 

through co-operation with 

WIPO to help updating the 

existing Omani legislation 

and make them consistent 

with commerce-related intellectual 

property agreement. 

— ONA

NEWLY elected Raja Pervez Ashraf inspects a guard of honour at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad. — AFP 

300 cast votes in PM election 

ISLAMABAD — Of the 342 

members of the National Assembly, 

300 cast their votes 

in the election for the new 

prime minister. The winning 

candidate, Raja Pervez Ashraf 

of the PPP, bagged 211 votes 

with PML-N’s Sardar Mehtab 

Ahmad Khan securing 89. 

At the moment, four National 

Asssembly seats are lying 

vacant. Elections could not 

be held for the NA-42 seat in 

tribal areas because of the law 

and order situation while the 

seat vacated by former prime 

minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is 

yet to be filled. 

Membership of Farahnaz 

8 dead in 

Pak laundry 

attack 

ISLAMABAD — At least 

eight people were killed and 

two injured yesterday when 

unknown armed men opened 

firing in Pakistan’s southwestern 

provincial capital of 

Quetta. According to police, 

two armed motorcyclists 

barged into a laundry shop 

located in Kaley Faizabad, 

Sariab Road area of Quetta 

near Haq Bahu building and 

opened indiscriminate fire at 

the people present there. 

As a result of firing five 

persons were killed on the 

spot while five sustained injuries. 

The injured were shifted 

to Civil Hospital Quetta 

for treatment where three 

injured people succumbed 

to their wounds raising death 

toll to eight. 

“At least eight men were 

killed and another man was 

wounded,” senior police official 

Iskandar Tareen said. 

Initial investigations indicated 

that the victims were 

“settlers,” he said, referring 

to people who have settled in 

Baluchistan but come from 

other provinces of Pakistan. 

There was no claim of responsibility 

for the attack. 

Police believe that the 

shooting incident could be 

outcome of personal enmity. 

Meanwhile the citizens of 

Quetta have expressed grave 

concerns over uncontrolled 

target killing and performance 

of security forces to tackle the 

situation. The police registered 

a case against unknown 

murderers and started search 

for them. — Agencies 

KARACHI — The port of Pakistan’s 

southern city of Karachi 

for the first time in its long 

history of 125 years is going to 

have its own floating dock with 

a capacity of 2,500 tonnes for 

repair and maintenance of its 

large flotilla of dredgers, tugs, 

pilot boats, survey boats and 

other ancillary craft. 

Official sources said yesterday 

that the estimated cost 

of the floating dock in the 

world market would be around 

$10 million, and after awarding 

the contract, it is expected 

to become operational within 

a year. 

The Karachi Port had been 

Ispahani, a PPP lawmaker on 

reserved seat, has been suspended 

because of her dual 

nationality and the party is yet 

to nominate a member on the 

reserved seat which fell vacant 

with the death of Fouzia Wahab. 

The PML-N has 92 members 

in the assembly. Three 

of its members are out of the 

country and one abstained 

because of his differences 

with the party leadership. Of 

89 votes polled by Abbasi, 

88 were from his party while 

Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, who is 

head of his own faction of the 

PPP, also voted for him. 

Khwaja Mohammad Asif, 

Raja Mohammad Safdar Khan 

and Anusha Rehman Khan are 

abroad. Sardar Mohammad 

Mushtaq Khan, the PML-N 

lawmaker from Haripur, did 

not turn up to cast his vote as 

he is reportedly considering 

joining the ruling party. 

Others who did not attend 

the special session included 

ANP Chief Asfandyar Wali 

Kha, who also is out of the 

country, Kashmala Tariq, Humayun 

Saifullah of the Likeminded 

faction and former 

federal minister Amir Muqam 

who recently joined the 

PML-N. 

8 

SUBCONTINENT 


Awais Leghari, son of 

former President late Farooq 

Leghari, who has joined the 

PTI of Imran Khan, was also 

absent. All eight members of 

JUI-F though present in the 

house, abstained from voting. 

Talking to journalists outside 

the parliament after the 

election, Leader of the Opposition 

Chaudhry Nisar Ali 

Khan said time had come 

for new elections. But he 

declined to make any comment 

when asked about the 

new prime minister’s offer 

for talks with the opposition 

on holding free and fair elections. 

— Internews 

Top court to restart hearing 

cases against Zardari 

ISLAMABAD — Minutes 

before his election as the new 

prime minister of Pakistan, 

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf received 

a strong message from the 

country’s highest court about 

the corruption charges. 

According to the Supreme 

Court’s cause list issued yesterday, 

a three judge bench, 

led by Justice Nasirul Mulk, 

will resume hearing the National 

Reconciliation Ordinance 

(NRO) implementation 

case on Wednesday — the 

same case that led to the disqualification 

of Yusuf Raza 

Gilani as the premier. 

During the last two hearings 

of the NRO case on May 

depending on Karachi Shipyard 

and Engineering Works 

(KSEW) for maintenance and 

repair work of its large fleet of 

harbour marine craft. 

Due to heavy load of work 

at KSEW, many a times it 

caused long delays for repair 

and maintenance work of 

KPT’s vessels which resulted 

in huge operational losses to 

the port. 

The KPT chairman, Mohammad 

Hayat, at a recent 

meeting directed his technical 

team to invite bids from manufacturers 

and suppliers for procurement 

of the floating dock, 

sources added. 

3 and April 16, the bench abstained 

from passing any order 

in the case of appointments of 

several NRO beneficiaries to 

public offices. 

A judicial notice is expected 

to be served upon the new 

premier on June 27 to implement 

the directives contained 

in paragraphs 177 and 178 of 

the NRO judgment, regarding 

writing a letter to Swiss authorities. 

Gilani was charged with 

contempt by the Supreme 

Court for not writing a letter to 

Swiss authorities asking them 

to reopen graft cases against 

President Asif Ali Zardari. 

The court had made it clear 

Though the Karachi port 

has its own dry dock which 

was built in the year 1900 at 

Manora, it could only cater to 

the needs of repair and maintenance 

work of small boats. 

The dry dock at Manora is 

undergoing major repair and 

maintenance work, but port 

and shipping experts suggest 

that if the KPT is planning to 

have its own floating dock, it 

should stop wasting funds on 

refurbishment of the dry dock, 

particularly when it does not 

fully meet their requirements. 

However, experts are apprehensive 

about the capacity 

of the KPT for handling and 

to Gilani that the NRO verdict 

penned down by the full court 

on December 16, 2009, had 

given categorical directions 

in paragraphs 177 and 178 

regarding writing a letter to 

Swiss authorities. 

During the previous hearing 

of the NRO implementation 

case, the NAB chairman’s 

counsel, Shaiq Usmani, submitted 

three inquiry reports of 

NRO beneficiaries allegedly 

appointed by Gilani. 

The court, however, rejected 

the reports and ordered 

a complete record along with 

the summaries and dates of 

appointments. — Internews 

FAMILIES mourn the killing of their near ones outside a hospital in Quetta yesterday. 

Karachi port to have floating dock 

operating the floating dock 

because the port has no experience 

and required skilled 

manpower for running such a 

port facility. 

The KPT purchased a stateof-the-art 

trailer suction hopper 

dredger (TSHD) which 

remained functional only till 

such time as the technical staff 

of the Dutch supplier kept operating 

it, they pointed out. 

The experts said it is a brilliant 

idea for the port to have 

its own floating dock but the 

port authorities should evaluate 

as to who would operate it 

and if the port has the required 

expertise. — Internews 


Shifting focus for exports 

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s exports 

are gradually diversifying and its focus 

shifting from the United States and the 

European Union to Asia and Africa. Beijing 

is now emerging as one of the biggest 

markets for Pakistani products, after 

Washington, followed by the United Arab 

Emirates, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom 

and Germany. 

Pakistan has recently witnessed some 

‘geographical diversification’ in exports 

over the last few years. In 2005-06, about 

half (47 per cent) of its exports were concentrated 

in five markets, comprising of 

USA, Germany, UK, Hong Kong and the 

UAE, which have now shifted to other regions. 

Their market share has now fallen 

to about one-third. 

Pakistan’s exports to one of its main 

trading partners, the United States, have 

fallen during July-May 2011-12 by 2.95 

per cent to $3.579 billion. While Pakistan’s 

imports fell by 28.35 per cent to 

$727.76 million, leaving a $2.85 billion 

trade surplus in favour of Islamabad. 

China and Pakistan are in a free trade 

agreement (FTA) and their bilateral trade 

is increasing rapidly, but the trade balance 

is in China’s favour. During the period 

under review, Pakistani exports to China 

ISLAMABAD — The International 

Monetary Fund (IMF) 

has nominated Jeffry Franks as 

its mission chief for Pakistan 

after Adnan Mazarei relinquished 

his post on getting a 

promotion in the bureaucracy 

of the Washington-based multilateral 

financial institution. 

“The newly appointed 

mission chief for Pakistan is 

expected to visit the country 

by next month for holding 

introductory meetings with Islamabad’s 

political leadership 

as well as with economic managers,” 

said a senior official of 

the Finance Division. 

The IMF has not appointed 

US hopes new PM will 

get ties back on track 

WASHINGTON — The United 

States on Friday welcomed 

the election of a new prime 

minister in Pakistan eyeing an 

end to the political upheaval 

in its key regional Asian ally. 

“We are pleased that the 

leadership issue appears to 

have been settled,” State Department 

spokeswoman Victoria 

Nuland told reporters. 

“We obviously look forward 

to working with the new 

prime minister and hope that 

this will open space to continue 

to roll up our sleeves and 

get back on track with all of 

the things that we want to do 

with Pakistan.” 

Ties between Washington 

increased by 25.4 per cent to $1.847 billion 

in July-May 2011-12, while its imports 

stood at $3.857 billion. Pakistani 

imports from China were more than twice 

its exports to Beijing. 

Pakistani exports to UAE also increased 

by 9.64 per cent to $1.803 billion, 

while imports went up by 18 per cent 

to $6.078 billion. The trade deficit with 

UAE stood at a huge $4.275 billion during 

July-May 2011-12. 

A cursory look at the State Bank of 

Pakistan’s latest date shows that although 

Afghanistan is also emerging as a big 

exports market, yet its imports from Pakistan 

during the first eleven months of 

the outgoing fiscal fell by 25 per cent to 

$1.254 billion. Experts attribute the fall 

to be a result of the blockade of Nato 

supplies to Afghanistan since November 

2011. During these eleven months, Pakistan’s 

imports from Afghanistan stood at 

a negligible $11 million. 

Pakistan is striving to expand trade 

ties with India, which is supported by 

the former’s business community. During 

Jul-May 2011-12, Pakistani exports 

to India increased by 15.67 per cent to 

$310.53 million, while its imports fell by 

16.27 per cent to $1.144 billion. Though, 

IMF new mission chief 

any resident chief in Pakistan 

after Paul Ross left the country 

last year. 

Islamabad wants to initiate 

preliminary discussions prior 

to the annual meetings of IMF 

and the World Bank that will 

be held in Tokyo from October 

12 to 14, 2012. It is the desire 

of the economic team to go 

for a new loan package during 

the tenure of the interim set 

up but that might not suit the 

IMF, officials said. A senior 

official said that it was not yet 

finalised when the IMF’s mission 

would visit Pakistan for 

conducting post-programme 

monitoring (PPM) in a bid to 

and Islamabad have hit an alltime 

low following a series of 

events in 2011, including 

a Nato attack in November 

in which 24 Pakistani soldiers 

were killed and led Islamabad 

to shut down its border crossings 

into Afghanistan to US 

supply trucks, hampering the 

US and Nato effort against the 

Taliban. Talks to reopen the 

crossings — vital as the US 

draws down its forces in neighboring 

Afghanistan — have so 

far made little progress. 

In his first speech to parliament 

shortly after his election, 

Ashraf promised to develop 

“cordial relations” with 

the United States. — AFP 

gauge Islamabad’s ability to 

repay its outstanding loans. 

“In the next fiscal year 

Pakistan will have to repay 

around $3.9 billion to the 

IMF,” the official said. 

Sources said that the PPM 

was due in May 2012 for 

which an IMF mission was expected 

to visit Islamabad. Pakistan 

has paid back over $467 

million to the IMF in May and 

another instalment would be 

paid by end of this month. 

Pakistan has become eligible 

for PPM as the country’s 

outstanding IMF credit exceeds 

the 200 per cent quota 

threshold. — Internews 

AFGHAN female students attend a seminar aimed at reforming Afghanistan’s 

educational system in Kabul yesterday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for 

more internationalised schooling in his country among a rising fear of a braindrain of 

educated young Afghans before the 2014 withdrawal of foreign forces. — AFP 

DHAKA — German Foreign Minister 

Guido Westerwelle yesterday called upon 

Bangladeshi political actors to work together 

to further strengthen democracy 

and establish rule of law in the Muslimmajority 

South Asian country. 

“Free and fair election, freedom of 

expression and freedom of the press are 

the central pillar of democracy and we 

urge all political actors to work together 

to strengthen democracy and rule of law,” 

Westerwelle said at a joint press conference 

with his Bangladeshi counterpart, 

Dipu Moni, after official talks. 

Westerwelle, on a two-day visit in 

Dhaka, expressed concern over recent 

killings of political activists and said he 

expects the cases to be investigated and 

the perpetrators be brought to justice. 

KARACHI — The State 

Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has 

warned that fiscal pressures, 

energy shortages, low investment 

and weak external inflows 

will pose threats to the 

country’s economy in the next 

fiscal year. 

In its third quarterly report 

on the state of the economy 

released yesterday, the bank 

said it has raised its forecast 

for FY12 inflation by 0.5 percentage 

points. According to 

the SBP, inflation is expected 

to range between 10.5 and 

11.5 per cent during the current 

fiscal year 2011-12. 

The bank said that current 

The ruling Awami League of Prime 

Minister Sheikh Hasina and the opposition 

Bangladesh Nationalist Party of 

former prime minister Khaleda Zia have 

been at loggerheads over the method of 

the country’s next generation election, 

scheduled for early 2014. 

The opposition has taken to the street, 

demanding restoration of a system whereby 

a non-partisan administration conducts 

the polls, as has happened in the last three 

national elections. The Awami League 

opposes bringing that system back. 

The street protests left many people 

dead over the past two years. 

The German minister, who is also accompanied 

by a high-level business team, 

will seek investment prospect in Bangladesh 

while discussing co-operation on the 

some business circles want enhanced 

trade ties with New Delhi, yet they do not 

support awarding it the status of the most 

favoured nations (MFN) in the prevalent 

conditions of an energy crisis with its 

steep prices which make Pakistani products 

less competitive. 

During the period, Pakistani exports 

to the United Kingdom increased by 2.7 

per cent to $1.192 billion. The country’s 

imports during these eleven months remained 

almost static at $600 million. 

Besides, exports to the European Union’s 

major economy, Germany, fell less than a 

per cent to $1.062 billion, while our imports 

from it increased by 27 per cent to 

$1.09 billion. 

In the African region, exports to Kenya 

increased by 24 per cent to $208 million, 

to Tanzania by 37 per cent to $61.6 million, 

to Egypt by 77.7 per cent to $202.4 

million. While exports to Morocco increased 

by 64 per cent to $29.3 million. 

However, exports to Singapore fell by 

35.7 per cent to $130.64 million, to Turkey 

by 14.3 per cent to $574.2 million, 

to Hong Kong by 23.6 per cent to $475.6 

million and to Bangladesh they dipped by 

26 per cent to $611.9 million during the 

period under review. — Internews 

Family of 

five, 2 others 

killed in 

Afghanistan 

KABUL — Five members 

of a family were killed in 

an attack on their house in 

northern Afghanistan, the 

country’s Interior Ministry 

said yesterday while a bomb 

in a market left two people 

dead. 

“A group of insurgents on 

Friday night entered a house 

in Almar district of Faryab 

province, shooting dead five 

innocent members of a family,” 

the ministry said in a 

statement. 

An improvised bomb 

exploded at a music market 

in an Afghan city yesterday, 

leaving two people dead, 

officials said, a day after 

militants stormed a lakeside 

resort near Kabul, killing at 

least 20. 

The blast at the market in 

the eastern city of Jalalabad, 

close to the border with Pakistan, 

wounded four people, 

local government spokesman 

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said. 

Two of the casualties 

later died from their injuries, 

Sayed Afandi Sayedi, a senior 

doctor at the local hospital, 

said. 

Yesterday’s blast and Friday’s 

bloody 12-hour siege at 

a hotel popular with families 

will add to fears that the Taliban 

are seeking to re-impose 

their extreme moral code as 

the departure of foreign forces 

approaches. — Agencies 

Economy may be under 

pressure next fiscal year 

account deficit is likely to be 

between 1.5 and 2.5 per cent 

of gross domestic product 

during this fiscal year and 

fiscal deficit will exceed the 

revised target of 4.7 per cent 

and it will be between 5.5-6.5 

per cent of the GDP during 

FY12 as overall revenues are 

lower than expected. 

The report said although 

the economy has shown some 

recovery in terms of GDP 

growth, the key macro indicators 

still remain weak as persistent 

inflation and pressure 

on the fiscal and current accounts 

will be the major risks 

for the country’s economy. 

German minister in Bangladesh 

areas of climate change, energy security, 

renewable energy, health services, good 

governance and justice and law reforms. 

The minister assured Germany’s support 

to Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable 

countries to climate change effects, 

in its fight for protection. 

“We share strong commitments to 

reach a new globally binding agreement 

on climate protection,” Westerwelle said. 

Meeting between him and Hasina and 

members of civil society are scheduled. 

Germany, which provided Bangladesh 

with more than 2.5 billion dollars in development 

assistance in 40 years of their 

diplomatic relations, last week signed an 

agreement to support Bangladesh with 75 

million dollars in soft loans for a power 

project. — dpa

9 THE WORLD 



AN Egyptian throws water on demonstrators in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square yesterday with tensions soaring in Egypt. — AFP 

Disturbance in Gulf of Mexico is almost a tropical storm 

MIAMI — A weather disturbance in 

the central Gulf of Mexico was likely 

to develop into Tropical Storm Debby 

in the next day or two, forecasters at 

the US National Hurricane Centre said 

yesterday. 

The broad mass of low pressure and 

heavy thunderstorms had begun to develop 

a centre of circulation about 440 

km south-southeast of the mouth of the 

Mississippi River, the forecasters said. 

It would become a tropical storm if 

those swirling winds reach a sustained 

speed of 63 km per hour, and a buoy 

had already measured gusts near that 

level. 

“This system has a high chance, 

90 per cent, of becoming a tropical 

cyclone as it moves slowly northward 

during the next 48 hours,” the forecasters 

said. 

“Tropical storm watches or warnings 

could be required for a portion of 

the northern Gulf Coast over the week- 

Yemen army takes control 

ADEN — Yemeni troops 

took control yesterday of the 

southeastern town of Azzan, a 

known Al Qaeda bastion, after 

the group’s ghters left it a 

week ago, an ofcial said. 

Thirty-ve people, meanwhile, 

were killed in the 

southern Abyan province over 

the past 10 days in explosions 

from landmines laid by 

Al Qaeda ghters before they 

ed from the province, ofcials 

said. 

“Some 60 vehicles of army 

and security forces have been 

deployed across central Azzan,” 

a local government of- 

cial said, adding that army 

warplanes were seen ying 

over the area. 

Witnesses conrmed that 

Azzan, in the southeastern 

Shabwa province, was nally 

handed over to the army by a 

committee of tribal mediators 

to whom Al Qaeda ghters 

had initially passed over control. 

State news agency Saba 

said troops backed by armed 

militiamen had “claimed a nal 

victory over the Al Qaeda 

terrorist network, spreading 

state control to the city 

and overthrowing what was 

named the (Islamic) emirate 

of Azzan.” 

On June 17, Al Qaeda militants 

ed from Azzan, the last 

town in Yemen where they had 

established total control. 

Al Qaeda had declared 

an emirate in the desert town 

where hundreds of ghters 

were believed to have sought 

refuge after eeing their 

strongholds in nearby Abyan 

province. 

President Abdrabuh 

Mansur Hadi, quoted by Saba, 

hailed “the big victory over Al 

Qaeda elements of evil and 

terrorism” and urged Yemenis 

“to join ranks in the face 

of terrorism and its elements 

and to confront their criminal 

plots.” 

Taking advantage of a 

weakening central government 

control by an Arab 

Spring-inspired uprising last 

year, the militants had overrun 

most of Abyan, capturing Zinjibar, 

Jaar, Shuqra and several 

other villages. 

But on May 12, Yemen’s 

military launched an all-out 

offensive to recapture the 

province. The army and local 

militiamen have succeeded 

in taking over all of Abyan’s 

towns except for Mahfad 

where jihadists still have a 

strong presence. 

Landmines which the jihadists 

laid in Abyan before 

eeing have in the past 10 

days killed 27 people in the 

provincial capital Zinjibar and 

eight more on the outskirts of 

the town of Jaar, ofcials said 

yesterday. 

“Landmine explosions in 

Zinjibar have left 27 people 

dead since the army, backed 

by local militiamen, drove out 

Al Qaeda militants from the 

capital on June 13”, said Zinjibar 

deputy mayor Ghassan 

Shaikh. 

On Friday, the new army 

commander for southern Yemen, 

Major-General Naser al 

Taheri who replaced General 

Salem Ali Qoton, assassinated 

by an Al Qaeda suicide bomber 

last Monday, vowed to keep 

up the ght. — AFP 

end and interests in this area should 

continue to monitor the progress of this 

(low-pressure system).” 

Forecasting models diverged widely 

on its potential path. Some took it 

east over northern Florida while others 

swung it north towards the Alabama- 

Mississippi border or west over Texas 

or Mexico. 

Energy companies began shutting 

in production and evacuating workers 

from oil and gas platforms on Friday in 

the Gulf of Mexico, which is home to 

20 per cent of US oil production and 6 

per cent of natural gas output. 

A hurricane hunter plane was 

scheduled to check out the disturbance 

yesterday. 

The disturbance has brought heavy 

rain to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, 

western Cuba and southern Florida 

over the past few days and forecasters 

said there was a potential for local 

ooding in those areas. — AFP 

A CHILD looks on during an event organised by Kosovo’s 

Olympic Committee in the capital Pristina yesterday. 

The country, which declared independence from Serbia, 

is not formally recognised by the International Olympic 

Committee, and will not be participating in the 

London 2012 Olympic Games. — Reuters 

Tensions soar ahead 

of Egypt poll result 

By Salim al Jahwari 

from Cairo 

CAIRO — Tensions soared in 

Egypt yesterday a day before 

the result of a divisive presidential 

election and as the 

Muslim Brotherhood sparred 

with the ruling generals over 

what it sees as a military power 

grab. 

The electoral commission 

overseeing the divisive contest 

between Brotherhood candidate 

Mohamed Morsi and 

former prime minister Ahmed 

Shaq said it will announce 

the ofcial winner today. 

“Faruk Sultan, the head of 

the presidential election commission, 

will announce the 

results of the presidential election 

run-off today at 3 pm,” 

the commission’s secretary- 

general, Hatem Bagato, said. 

Impatient Brotherhood 

supporters have been out on 

Cairo’s Tahrir Square day and 

night since a call in midweek 

from their leaders to demand 

the current ruling generals 

cancel measures they say are 

of Qaeda bastion Azzan LARNACA — Three Cyp- 

President 

ousted 

ASUNCION — Paraguay’s 

Congress has removed President 

Fernando Lugo from 

ofce after a lightning-quick 

impeachment that he said 

was tantamount to a coup 

but pledged to accept. 

Lugo, a silver-haired 

former Roman Catholic 

bishop who quit the Church 

to run for president, was 

found guilty of mishandling 

armed clashes over a land 

eviction in which 17 police 

and peasant farmers were 

killed last week. 

Political allies deserted 

him as criticism mounted 

over last week’s bloodshed 

in the rural northeast, and 

the Senate voted 39-4 to oust 

him on Friday, a day after the 

lower house set the impeachment 

proceedings in motion. 

“Paraguay’s history has 

been profoundly wounded,” 

he said, moments before his 

vice-president and political 

opponent, Federico Franco, 

was sworn in to complete 

the last year of his presidency. 

— Reuters 

Row with Turkey simmers 

as Assad retains old guard 

DAMASCUS — Turkey yesterday played 

down the loss of a warplane to Syrian air 

defences as President Bashar al Assad 

announced a new government with key 

posts unchanged and at least 30 people 

were killed nationwide. 

Nato member Ankara said early yesterday 

one of its jets may have violated 

Syrian airspace, after Damascus con- 

rmed shooting down the F-4 Phantom, 

in comments seen as a bid to cool the latest 

spat between the former allies. 

“An unidentied aerial target violated 

Syrian airspace, coming from the west 

at a very low altitude and at high speed 

over territorial waters,” a Syrian military 

spokesman told the ofcial Sana news 

agency. 

Anti-aircraft batteries hit the plane 

about a kilometre from the coast and it 

crashed some 10 km off Latakia province, 

he added. 

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said 

it was not unusual for warplanes ying 

at high speed to cross maritime borders, 

stressing that such actions were not “illintentioned.” 

Naval forces from both nations were 

searching for the two missing crew. 

Key Turkish ministers were meeting 

to discuss future steps, a foreign ministry 

diplomat said, after Prime Minister 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara “will 

announce its nal position and take necessary 

steps with determination after the 

incident is entirely claried.” 

Meanwhile, Assad announced the 

formation of a new government with the 

key foreign, defence and interior ministry 

portfolios unchanged, as violence continued 

to rage across the country. 

The announcement came less than two 

months after controversial parliamentary 

elections boycotted by the opposition. 

“President Bashar al Assad has issued 

Decree 210 forming a new government 

under Prime Minister Dr Riad Hijab,” 

state television said. 

Foreign Minister Walid al Muallem 

will remain in his post, as will the defence 

and interior ministers, Daoud Rajha and 

Mohammad al Shaar. 

Rajha, in the post since August, was 

among those sanctioned by the United 

States for his role in the crackdown on 

Syrian protesters. 

The new cabinet of 34 assumes power 

amid an intensication of repression and 

clashes, which last week led to the halt of 

the United Nations observer mission. 

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory 

for Human Rights said at least 30 people, 

including 28 civilians, were killed by security 

forces across Syria yesterday, as 

the army pressed its campaign against 

dissident strongholds. 

On Friday, at least 116 people, among 

them 69 civilians, 31 members of proregime 

forces and six dissidents, died 

nationwide. 

Turkey-Syria relations were already 

strained by Erdogan’s outspoken condemnation 

of the Assad government’s 

bloody crackdown that rights activists say 

has killed more than 15,000 people since 

March last year. 

The downing of the F-4 is the most serious 

incident between the two countries 

since then, but in Ankara Deputy Prime 

Minister Bulent Arinc downplayed the 

tensions. 

“We should be calm... Yes, we accept 

this is a critical matter but we don’t have 

clear information,” he told Anatolia news 

agency, adding that the results of the ongoing 

investigation would be publicised 

“as soon as possible.” — AFP 

Ambush: 

5 killed 

riots and two Romanians — 

all private security guards for 

a local businessman — were 

shot dead in a maa-style 

ambush in the tourist resort 

of Ayia Napa yesterday. 

It is believed to be one of 

the worst gangland incidents 

of its kind on the Mediterranean 

island and unfolded 

near the resort’s popular 

main square. 

Police said the shooting 

took place at 3:30 am when 

ve people travelling in a car 

were red on by unknown 

assailants, causing it to crash 

into a parked vehicle. 

State broadcaster CyBC 

said four of the ve died instantly 

when they received 

gunshots to the head and 

chest, while the other died 

on the way to hospital. 

CyBC said the only witness 

to the cold-blooded 

killings was a British tourist, 

who was being questioned 

by police. 

Media reports said the police 

believe the attack was a 

“settling of scores” related to 

underworld crime. — AFP 

designed to hem in the powers 

of the man they believe was 

elected last weekend, Mohamed 

Morsy. 

Hundreds were there again 

yesterday, chanting “Victory 

for Morsy!” and “Morsy, 

Morsy”, before ofcials nally 

set a time for announcing 

the result. 

“We want the military 

council to announce the real 

results without forgery,” said 

Hassan Eissa, 43, an accountant 

from north of Cairo who 

was demonstrating on the 

square. He accused the army 

of reneging on promises to 

hand over when it dissolved 

the parliament on the eve of 

the presidential run-off and 

then took for itself legislative 

powers by decree. 

Both Morsi and Shaq 

have claimed victory in the 

election for a successor to 

Hosni Mubarak, sparking tensions 

between the rival camps 

that have deepened after the 

electoral commission delayed 

announcing the ofcial outcome. 

The delay in the announcement 

of the result of the June 

16-17 run-off, initially scheduled 

for Thursday, has raised 

suspicions that the outcome of 

the election is being negotiated 

rather than counted. 

As the ruling Supreme 

Council of the Armed Forces 

(SCAF) and the Brotherhood 

clashed publicly over recent 

measures that consolidated the 

army’s power, privately they 

have been engaged in talks, 

sources said. 

On Friday, the SCAF 

warned it would deal “with 

Mexico admits mistake in 

high-prole drug case 

MEXICO CITY — Mexico has admitted it had mistakenly 

claimed to have captured a son of Mexico’s most wanted drug 

lord, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, which the ruling party had 

hailed as a major victory in its war on cartels. 

Mexican marines seized the man on Thursday outside 

Guadalajara and ew him to Mexico City, where they paraded 

him in front of the media and identied him as Jesus Alfredo 

Guzman, alias “El Gordo” or “The Fat One.” 

The man’s lawyer, Veronica Guerrero, told a news conference 

earlier on Friday her client’s real name was Felix Beltran 

and that he was an innocent car dealer. 

The federal attorney general’s ofce said late on Friday the 

man arrested was indeed Beltran, without giving any further 

details. 

The mix-up is a major embarrassment for the government, 

which has been heavily criticised for failing to contain the violence 

and ow of drugs since President Felipe Calderon sent 

in the military to ght the cartels shortly after taking ofce in 

December 2006. 

Marines said they apprehended the man with an arsenal of 

ries, pistols and grenades and about $160,000 in cash. 

Javier Oliva, a political scientist from the National Autonomous 

University of Mexico, said the snafu showed how poor 

the co-ordination is between US intelligence agencies as well 

as their co-operation with Mexican counterparts. 

“This is really serious. Nothing like this has ever happened 

before,” he said, wondering how the agencies had gone public 

on the arrest without making the proper checks. “The main 

responsibility here lies with the DEA.” 

The arrest won praise from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, 

which has sought Jesus Alfredo Guzman since he 

was indicted for cocaine trafcking in 2009. — Reuters 

utmost rmness and strength” 

with any attempt to harm public 

interests, while the Brotherhood 

warned against tampering 

with the election results 

but said it had no intention of 

instigating violence. 

The Brotherhood rejects 

a constitutional declaration 

by the military which strips 

away any gains made by the 

group since the popular uprising 

which forced Mubarak to 

stand down. 

The document dissolves 

the parliament and gives the 

army a broad say in government 

policy and control over 

the new constitution. It was 

adopted just days after a justice 

ministry decree granted 

the army powers of arrest. 

Even if Mursi wins, the 

changes leave the Brotherhood 

with no parliament, no 

say in the constitution and a 

powerless president. 

“It’s a problem which we 

are trying to resolve,” one 

Brotherhood ofcial said. 

The election has polarised 

the nation, dividing those who 

fear a return to the old government 

under Shaq’s leadership 

from others who want to keep 

religion out of politics and 

fear the Brotherhood would 

stie personal freedoms. 

Shaq ran on a strong lawand-order 

platform, pledging 

to restore security and stability. 

Morsi, on the other hand, 

sought to allay the fears of 

secular groups and the country’s 

sizeable Coptic Christian 

minority by promising a 

diverse and inclusive political 

system. (With inputs from 

agencies) 

Israel kills Gazan 

as truce unravels 

GAZA — Israeli air raids on Hamas security targets in Gaza 

killed one and wounded 20 people yesterday, medical ofcials 

in the territory said, while increased rocket re by activists 

wounded an Israeli man. 

The escalating violence undermined a shaky truce brokered 

by Egypt on Wednesday, which sought to calm the new areup 

in ghting that began on Monday when an Israeli man and 

two gunmen were killed in a raid across Egypt’s Sinai. 

The Palestinian was killed in an Israeli air strike in northern 

Gaza, medical ofcials said. Israel conrmed the strike without 

providing further details, and denied a report that a sixyear-old 

Palestinian boy had also been killed in an air strike. 

The Israeli strikes followed the worst rocket assault in six 

days of ghting. Shrapnel from a rocket into the Israeli town 

of Sderot wounded an Israeli man in the neck just as he was 

trying to enter a concrete shelter. 

After a relatively calm period, more than 150 rockets have 

been red into Israel in the past week, the military said. 

At least 15 rockets were red at Israel yesterday, nearly 

three times as a day ago, and at least six others were intercepted 

by the Israeli missile defence system, the military said. 

Hamas’s military wing, which had not claimed responsibility 

for any of the rocket re in the past few days, said it 

was “ready to smash the Israeli arrogance in response to its 

aggression”. 

Hamas medical ofcials said a six-year-old Palestinian boy 

had been killed in an air strike and that a baby had been hurt in 

a separate raid near the Egyptian border. 

Lieutenant Col Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, 

said on Twitter that the report of Israeli responsibility 

in the death of the six-year-old was the result of “false 

rumours” and that the boy had died due to an explosion of 

ordnance belonging to Palestinians. — Reuters 

Docking 

today 

BEIJING — China, which 

sent three astronauts into 

orbit a week ago, said they 

would conduct the nation’s 

rst manual space docking 

today — a key step to building 

a space station. 

In a brief dispatch, 

the ofcial Xinhua news 

agency yesterday quoted 

an unnamed spokesman for 

China’s manned space programme 

as saying that the 

highly complex manoeuvre 

would take place at noon the 

following day. 

The technique is hard to 

master as it involves two 

vessels — placed in the same 

orbit and revolving around 

Earth at thousands of kilometres 

per hour — coming 

together very gently without 

destroying each other. 

China has carried out automatic 

dockings three times 

already, but the main goal 

of the current manned mission 

— China’s fourth — is 

to complete the rst manual 

‘kiss in space’. — AFP

BANGALORE — Karnataka 

Law and Parliamentary Affairs 

Minister Suresh Kumar 

(pictured) yesterday resigned 

following a controversy over 

allotment of a housing site in 

the city in alleged violation of 

rules governing government 

land. 

Chief Minister D V 

Sadananda Gowda, however, 

rejected Kumar’s resignation, 

asserting that he was aware of 

the issue and would consult 

ofcials concerned to ascertain 

the facts. 

“Suresh Kumar is one of 

those ministers who conduct 

themselves in a transparent 

manner. He has told me 

that he would take back the 

post only after his name was 

cleared but I think it is not 

necessary as I know the details 

of this case,” Gowda told 

reporters at his home-ofce 

after Kumar submitted the 

resignation letter. 

Claiming that Kumar 

was being wrongly targeted, 

Gowda said the purported 

controversy did not warrant 

his resignation and not even 

an investigation. 

“I think he (Kumar) is 

being wrongly targeted. So, 

I will not accept his resignation. 

There is also no need to 

order a probe,” Gowda observed. 

Reacting to a report in a 

English tabloid (Bangalore 

Mirror) based on a piece of 

information obtained by an 

activist through the Right to 

Information (RTI) Act, Kumar 

said later that he had 

resigned because he did not 

want to cause embarrassment 

to the ruling Bharatiya Janata 

Party (BJP) or its government 

and the chief minister. 

“Though I have explained 

to the chief minister the rea- 

son for resigning, I hope he 

would accept it as I had assured 

him to return to the post 

once my name is cleared,” 

Kumar told reporters at his 

house in the city’s north-west 

suburb. 

Asserting that he did no 

wrong in obtaining the site, 

measuring 4,000 square feet 

in the upscale Raj Mohan 

Vilas (RMV) area under the 

chief minister’s discretionary 

quota (‘G’ category), Kumar 

10 INDIA 



AN IndiGo Airlines A320 aircraft is parked on the tarmac at Bengaluru International Airport. — AFP 

Air India pilots to go the Anna way 

NEW DELHI — After 47 days 

of strike that caused Air India 

a revenue loss of about Rs 520 

crore, the pilots would now emulate 

Anna Hazare to ght injustice 

and pursue their demand 

by going on a fast from today. 

“We have received the mandatory 

clearances for going on 

a hunger strike. Eight members 

of our union will sit on fast 

from Sunday at Jantar Mantar 

here,” Rohit Kapahi, committee 

member of Indian Pilots’ Guild 

(IPG), said. 

“We along with our families 

will be there to support our colleagues. 

We want this strike to 

end, as soon as possible, but we 

will not come back to work till 

our 101 sacked colleagues are 

reinstated,” he said. 

The Air India management 

earlier sacked the pilots 

belonging to the IPG, which 

struck work on May 8 against 

the management move to train 

pilots from the erstwhile Indian 

Airlines in the merged entity on 

the soon-to-be-inducted Boeing-787 

Dreamliner. 

The pilots’ announcement 

on their “Anna-type” protest 

fast assumes signicance as 

this will be one of the rst instances 

in the country where 

highly paid professionals such 

as pilots would sit on a hunger 

strike. 

“Our colleagues who are 

going on the hunger strike 

will be led by Captain Aditya 

Mantralaya to be functional 

in three months: Bhujbal 

MUMBAI — The Maharashtra 

government’s re-ravaged 

administrative headquarters, 

Mantralaya, is expected to be 

fully functional within three 

months, Public Works Department 

Minister Chhagan 

Bhujbal said yesterday. 

A team of private experts 

which inspected the three 

lower oors of the groundplus-six 

oor building yesterday 

cleared them for normal 

functioning, the minister 

added. These would be put to 

normal use in three days. 

“We shall acquire reproof 

plywood, top quality 

modular furniture from reputed 

manufacturers, spartek 

tiles and other things to carry 

out interior repairs and renovation 

work on a war-footing,” 

Bhujbal said. 

“If everything goes as 

Australia, UP 

to expand ties 

NEW DELHI — The Australian 

government has expressed 

its willingness to 

strengthen bilateral ties with 

Uttar Pradesh and to transfer 

technology in areas like agriculture 

and agricultural research 

and energy, an ofcial 

release said. 

In a meeting with Uttar 

Pradesh Chief Minister 

Akhilesh Yadav here, Australian 

High Commissioner 

Peter Varghese submitted a 

list of proposals. 

Congratulating Akhilesh 

for the landslide win of his 

party in the state assembly 

elections, Varghese also expressed 

his country’s wish 

to work with institutes like 

the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur 

to improve 

the quality of rivers in Uttar 

Pradesh. 

He also expressed his 

country’s willingness to support 

the state in areas like 

food processing, food trade, 

coal and science and technology. 

The envoy also told 

the chief minister, who has 

himself studied in Australia, 

that Lucknow and Australia 

shared a common bond. He 

said that the Grifns, who designed 

the Australian capital 

Canberra, stayed in Lucknow 

for several years. 

per schedules, we plan to 

make Mantralaya fully operational 

as before within 

three months,” he told media 

persons after inspecting the 

building. 

The huge re on Thursday 

gutted large parts of the 

top four oors of the iconic 

building. 

The blaze was doused after 

nearly 27 hours and cooling 

operations will continue 

till next Thursday. 

The re claimed ve lives 

and left 16 injured, including 

several ofcials. 

Meanwhile, Chief Minister 

Prithviraj Chavan yesterday 

after inspecting the 

building said, “Efforts will 

be made to shift the ofces 

of CM and Dy CM, presently 

on the sixth oor, to the rst 

or second oor.” — IANS 

Singh Dhillon who is a senior 

commander. We will also provide 

our pay slips and show 

the world that we earn as per 

the industry norms and that no 

astronomical pays are given to 

us,” Kapahi said. 

On June 6, Civil Aviation 

Minister Ajit Singh told the pilots 

that while the government 

was ready to pore over their demands, 

the pilots would have to 

rst call off the “illegal strike”. 

At the same time, the airline has 

also started the process of hiring 

new pilots. 

“We are not waiting for them 

for ever. We earlier asked them 

(pilots) to come back and said 

that no one will be victimised. 

We had even given a chance to 

sacked pilots that they can also 

come back and we will take 

them back on a case-to-case basis,” 

the minister earlier said. 

“I have told them my stand, 

now they need to think,” Ajit 

Singh said. 

The airline on its part has issued 

advertisements on its website 

for hiring new pilots for a 

contract of ve years. 

The advertisements called 

for both commanders and copilots, 

who can operate Boeing 

777s, 747s and 737s. The applicants 

will have to go through an 

interview and ight simulator 

tests in Mumbai. 

The hiring process would 

end on July 23. Air India expects 

to hire nearly 100 pilots 

who, along with 90 more trainee 

pilots, meet the shortfall in 

the manpower. 

However, experts say that it 

will take Air India nearly four- 

ve months to get the trainee 

pilots trained as well as give 

orientation to the new joinees. 

The airline’s eet of Boeing’s 

ultra-long haul aircraft 

is being operated by executive 

pilots, who have complained of 

stress and fatigue. The executive 

pilots are not linked to the 

on-going agitation. 

Currently, the airline is operating 

only 38 of its original 

45 services. Among the seven 

axed international destinations 

are Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul 

and Toronto. — IANS 

Crackdown continues against 

errant bus operators in AP 

HYDERABAD — For the 

sixth day yesterday, transport 

authorities in Andhra Pradesh 

continued their drive against 

privately run commuter and 

school buses plying in violation 

of rules following an 

accident last week when 30 

people, including many IT 

professionals, were killed 

while travelling to Shirdi. 

The Road Transport Authority 

(RTA) ofcials seized 

buses since last Saturday in 

Hyderabad and other parts of 

the state which were plying in 

violation of rules. As many as 

99 buses belonged to private 

schools while nine vehicles of 

private travel operators have 

been seized. 

Ofcials said 22 buses each 

were seized in Hyderabad and 

Srikakulam districts. Large 

scale checking of vehicles was 

taken up in north coastal districts 

of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram 

and Visakhapatnam. 

The RTA ofcials have so 

far seized 207 travel and 310 

school buses for violation of 

various norms. The vehicles 

plying without tness certicates, 

permits and other necessary 

documents were seized. 

The drive was launched after 

30 passengers were killed 

when a bus of a private operator 

fell off a bridge in Maharashtra 

on June 16. The bus was 

on its way from Hyderabad 

to Shirdi in Maharashtra and 

carried a number of young IT 

professionals. 

Following the crackdown, 

several private operators have 

stopped plying buses. The operators 

alleged that the drive 

was badly affecting their business 

and causing hardship 

to people. They claim to be 

providing service to people as 

state-owned Road Transport 

Corporation (RTC) is unable 

to meet the demand. 

The RTA authorities, however, 

made it clear that the 

drive would continue till all 

the vehicles plying in violation 

of rules were seized. 

In another development, 

30 youths, including 15 girls, 

were arrested in a police raid 

on a rave party at a resort in 

the Hayatnagar suburb of Hyderabad. 

Children of some 

rich businessmen and bureaucrats 

are believed to be among 

those arrested. — IANS 

Karnataka minister quits, CM rejects 

said he was ready for any 

probe by the authorities concerned, 

including the judiciary. 

“I decided to step down 

as law minister after reading 

some allegations against me 

in a tabloid that I secured a 

housing site on government 

land in violation of the allotment 

laws. As I do not want 

to embarrass the party or the 

government, I felt I should 

not continue in the post till 

my name is cleared of the 

charges,” Kumar pointed out. 

In the light of similar or related 

allegations against a few 

of BJP’s former ministers and 

lawmakers being probed by 

investigation agencies at the 

state and central levels and in 

courts, Kumar said he had offered 

to return the site to the 

state-run Bangalore Development 

Agency (BDA). The 

agency allotted it in the city 

centre as an alternative to the 

one that was allotted to him 

earlier but freed from government 

control subsequently. 

“Moreover, when the alternative 

site was allotted, 

neither me nor my family 

members had any property 

in the city. I have also mentioned 

details in my afdavit 

led with the state Lokayukta 

on assets belonging to us,” 

Kumar recalled. 

1st plane using fuel-saving 

technology lands in Kochi 

NEW DELHI — No-frill carrier 

IndiGo yesterday became 

the rst Indian airline to carry 

out a landing at the Kochi airport 

using a system that allows 

an aircraft to be guided by a 

sophisticated on-board navigation 

system instead of groundbased 

radars. 

In carrying out this precision 

landing, an Airbus A-320 

aircraft used the Required Navigation 

Performance (RNP) 

approach, which provides accurate 

and shorter ight paths 

and secure trajectories. 

RNP, by allowing the use 

of on-board systems and satellite-based 

Global Positioning 

System (GPS), frees the plane 

from dependence on conventional 

ground-based navigation 

installations. An airline 

spokesperson said yesterday’s 

rst regular RNP ight was 

6E-345 from Bangalore to Kochi. 

RNP approach would con- 

By Ashraf Padanna 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 

— Police in Kerala yesterday 

quizzed Opposition Leader 

V S Achuthanandan for two 

hours in connection with 

the transfer of a high-value 

government land to his relative 

when he was the state’s 

chief minister during 2006- 

2011. 

Describing the move as a 

political vendetta by the Congress 

party-led government 

for exposing the 1991 palm 

oil import scam, the veteran 

Communist Party of India- 

Marxist (CPM) leader said the 

land was actually allotted by 

the late chief minister K Karunakaran. 

According to the Vigilance 

VETERAN actor Rajesh Khanna and his son-in-law Akshay Kumar (L) wave to 

well-wishers outside his Ashirwad bungalow in Mumbai. Ailing 

Rajesh Khanna was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital yesterday. — AFP 

Solar physicist 

wins US prize 

WASHINGTON — Dibyendu 

Nandi of the Indian Institute 

of Science Education and 

Research IISER), Kolkata has 

been awarded the prestigious 

Karen Harvey Prize for 2012 

by the American Astronomical 

Society (AAS). 

The rst scientist from 

the Asia Pacic to get the 

prize, Nandy was awarded 

for his “advances in the use 

of kinematic dynamo models 

to elucidate the typical 

and atypical solar cycle, and 

for his outstanding leadership 

within the solar physics 

and space climate communities.” 

The prize, according to 

an ofcial announcement, is 

in “recognition for a signicant 

contribution to the study 

of the sun, early in a person’s 

professional career.” 

“The main thrust of my 

discovery is that the sun’s 

memory regarding its past 

activity is very short. This 

implies that very long-term 

forecasting of solar activity 

and space weather is ruled 

out,” he told Asian Scientist 

magazine. 

Nandi said that he did his 

research at the IISER and 

a student from the Indian 

Institute of Science, Bangalore, 

Bidya Binay Karak, 

collaborated with him. 

tinue to be applied by IndiGo 

whenever its aircraft land at 

Kochi, with its entire eet being 

equipped with the system. 

Such landings would lead 

to the saving of 75 km of 

distance on each approach, 

amounting to the saving of approximately 

400 kg fuel per 

landing and therefore lesser 

emission of greenhouse gases, 

she said. 

IndiGo collaborated with 

Airbus subsidiary Quovadis 

and the Directorate-General of 

Civil Aviation to develop and 

implement the RNP procedure, 

after it was successfully 

validated on Airbus simulators 

and the planes. 

Commenting on the 

achievement, Aditya Ghosh, 

president, IndiGo said the 

company was looking forward 

to commercially ying RNP 

approaches at Kochi airport in 

the future. “This new technol- 

and Anti-Corruption Bureau 

(VACB), his government illegally 

allotted 2.33 acres of 

land in the northern Kasaragod 

district to his cousin’s son T K 

Soman, a retired army man, 

with the right to sell at the fag 

end of his tenure, allegedly 

disregarding objections from 

ofcials. 

This is the second time that 

the VACB sleuths are taking 

statements from Achuthanandan, 

who has been named the 

rst defendant in the case after 

a preliminary inquiry. The rst 

information report has already 

been led in a VACB court. 

“Karunakaran’s government 

allotted him land in 1977 

with a rider that it couldn’t 

be sold in 25 years and 33 

years had elapsed by the time 

Mastermind in Kerala 

CPM killing surrenders 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 

— A local Communist Party 

of India-Marxist (CPM) 

leader whom the police identify 

as the mastermind behind 

the May 4 killing of a Communist 

insurgent in Kerala’s 

Kozhikode district has surrendered. 

P K Kunjanandan, the 

CPM Panur Area Committee 

member who went into hiding 

since the police launched 

a manhunt for the killers of 

Revolutionary Marxist Party 

(RMP) founder T P Chandrasekharan, 

surfaced in the 

magistrate court in Vatakara 

yesterday. 

Six of the seven-member 

killer squad who are now in 

police custody had reportedly 

admitted to the interrogators 

that Kunjanandan 

wanted the execution immediately 

as the ‘renegade’ who 

was popular among the party 

cadres posed a threat to the 

party in the area. 

He arrived in an autorickshaw 

and sneaked into 

the court, evading the police, 

followed by his lawyers. 

The court remanded him 

to police custody for ten days 

for interrogation and ordered 

daily medical check-up as he 

feigned ill. 

ogy will enable tangible cost 

savings, which in turn will 

have a positive impact on our 

overall operational efciency. 

But more importantly, we are 

excited about partnering in 

this signicant step towards 

improving air trafc management 

in India and making it an 

even safer and greener environment 

to y in,’’ he added. 

RNP approaches, which can 

be own by all IndiGo aircraft, 

are a great way to achieve savings 

while promoting safety. 

This form of navigation has 

the necessary exibility to optimise 

and protect trajectories 

from terrain and obstacles. 

The RNP project in Kochi has 

been co-nanced by Airbus 

and the French Civil Aviation 

Authority. The task was led 

by Quovadis, a wholly owned 

Airbus subsidiary dedicated 

to performance-based navigation. 

— PTI 

Vigilance quizzes Achuthanandan 

when he got the title deed. 

So I waived that condition,” 

Achuthanandan told reporters 

after the meeting with the 

VACB team at his ofcial residence 

here. 

His revenue minister, 

K P Rajendran, four Indian 

Administrative Service 

(IAS) ofcials, including the 

then principal secretary to 

Achuthanandan, Sheela Thomas, 

and a member of his personal 

staff who helped him to 

bypass the rules are other defendants 

in the case. 

In June last year, the Oommen 

Chandy government, after 

examining all les related 

to the transfer of land to Soman, 

decided to cancel the 

allotment and instituted the 

probe. 

An upper court had the 

other day dismissed his application 

for anticipatory 

bail. 

The special investigation 

team (SIT) had on Friday 

taken three of the alleged 

killers to Kunjanandan’s 

house in one of the ‘party 

villages’ in Kannur for collecting 

evidence. 

They showed the team 

the room where the conspiracy 

took place and the place 

where he sat. 

He is believed to be the 

brain behind many political 

killings in the region and this 

is considered to be a price 

catch which could lead to the 

higher-ups. 

Home Minister T Radhakrishnan 

said the investigation 

was progressing 

satisfactorily on the right 

track and no one involved in 

the conspiracy, big shark or 

small fry, would be spared. 

Chandrasekharan’s widow, 

Rema, also expressed 

satisfaction in the course of 

investigations and expressed 

hope that all leaders involved 

in her husband’s killing, including 

those at the district 

and state-level, would be 

brought to book. 

— By Ashraf Padanna

MANESAR — More than 

60 hours after four-year-old 

Mahi fell into a 70-feet-deep 

borewell in a Manesar village 

in Haryana in the foothills of 

the Aravali ranges, hopes of her 

survival grew dimmer, even as 

the army and the police are racing 

against time to rescue the 

trapped girl. 

Rescue teams had no idea 

still how deep she has fallen. 

Indian Army engineers from 

Delhi and National Security 

Guard commandos, who are 

based in Manesar, were trying 

to rescue the child. The accident 

drew nationwide attention 

after wide coverage on TV. 

According to Chief Medical 

Ofcer Praveen Garg, the supply 

of oxygen was being provided 

through a pipe to Mahi, 

although there was no word 

about her condition. 

The incident came six years 

after a similar dramatic rescue 

of ve-year-old boy called 

Prince, who was saved 50 hours 

after falling into a 60-feet pit 

near Kurukshetra in Haryana, 

an event that was followed live 

on national television. 

Ground Penetrating Radar 

System (GPRS) were called to 

assist the rescue team on Friday. 

Earlier, a bore was dug parallel 

to the borewell in which 

Mahi is trapped. 

The gap between both the 

bores is about 8 feet. While 

digging the tunnel to reach 

the child, from new bore to 

borewell, a large piece of stone 

had became a barrier. Due to 

that, the rescue team missed the 

goal on Friday. 

As another tunnel was dug 

yesterday, the rescue team 

was facing the same problem. 

This time instead of cutting the 

stones by hands they were using 

hand cutter drill machine, 

an ofcial further added. 

If the current efforts fail 

then a fresh parallel bore would 

be needed, said an ofcial. 

Rescue personnel inside the 

tunnel carrying oxygen pipes 

with them were hardly able to 

stay for more than 5 to 10 minutes 

in the tunnel at a stretch. 

Rohtash Singh, the owner 

of the land where Mahi slipped 

and fell, has been charged but 

is absconding, DCP (South) 

Praveen Mehta said. 

Mahi slipped into a borewell 

near Manesar’s Industrial Model 

Township (IMT) on National 

Highway-8, when her family 

11 INDIA 



PRANAB Mukherjee during his visit to ancestral house in Mirati village yesterday. — AFP 

Pranab tries to woo Trinamool 

KOLKATA — Noting that 

his four-decade-long involvement 

in party politics 

was coming to an end, UPA 

presidential candidate Pranab 

Mukherjee yesterday announced 

he would quit as nance 

minister on June 26. He 

also sought to reach out to the 

Trinamool Congress, appealing 

for all undecided parties 

to support his candidature. 

In an obvious reference 

to the United Progressive 

Alliance (UPA) constituent 

Trinamool Congress, 

Mukherjee said that except 

one, all parties which are 

partners in the central government 

have supported him. 

“Except one, all parties 

which are partners of the government, 

are supporting me. 

Those giving outside support 

to the government like the 

Samajwadi Party and Bahujan 

Samaj Party, have also supported 

me,” he said outside 

his South Kolkata residence. 

Noting that parties not 

associated with the UPA, 

like the Communist Party 

of India-Marxist, the All India 

Forward Bloc, the Janata 

Dal-United and the Shiv 

Sena, also have backed him, 

Mukherjee reiterated his appeal 

to all undecided parties 

to extend their support to him 

for the top job. 

“Those who are yet to take 

a decision, I request them to 

25,000 people take J&K 

professional entrance test 

SRINAGAR — Over 25,000 

candidates yesterday sat for the 

common entrance test (CET) 

for various professional courses 

across Jammu and Kashmir, 

said an ofcial of the board for 

professional colleges. 

A Board of Professional 

Entrance Examinations (BOP- 

EE) ofcial said: “This year 

6,000 candidates more than 

last year are sitting for the CET 

that started simultaneously in 

Jammu and Srinagar today.” 

“We have 11,600 candidates 

taking the test from the 

Jammu region and 14,900 

from the Valley. The aspirants 

are competing for around 

4,000 seats in various professional 

colleges including medicine, 

engineering, agriculture, 

forestry, food technology and 

other courses.” 

The ofcial added that ying 

squads authorised by the 

Board were carrying out surprise 

inspections of various 

centres to ensure that exams 

are conducted fairly. 

The CET will continue tomorrow 

as well. 

Hundreds of anxious parents 

waited outside examination 

centres in the city to nd 

out how their wards had fared. 

“My daughter is taking the 

test for the second time. Last 

year she qualied for Bachelor 

of Dental Surgery (BDS), but 

did not join, as she wants to 

join the MBBS course. Hopefully 

she gets in this time”, 

said a parent here. 

Contingents of police have 

been deployed outside examination 

halls to ensure peaceful 

conduct of the test. — IANS 

support the UPA nominee,” 

said Mukherjee. 

The Trinamool, second 

largest constituent of the 

UPA, is yet to announce its 

stand on the presidential 

choice after its preferred candidate, 

former president A P 

J Abdul Kalam, declined to 

contest. However, Trinamool 

chief Mamata Banerjee has 

so far been rmly opposing 

Mukherjee’s bid for the country’s 

presidency. 

Earlier, speaking to reporters 

at his ancestral village 

Mirati in Birbhum district, 

Mukherjee said he would quit 

his central government and 

the Congress party posts. 

“I have been in politics for 

a long time. After becoming 

a presidential election candidate, 

I won’t have any party, 

I will not be in politics. This 

is a constitutional tradition,” 

he said. 

“I will relieve myself of 

the post of nance minister on 

June 26. I could not take such 

a decision earlier because the 

Prime Minister Manmohan 

Singh was out of the country. 

I have to perform some duties 

in the prime minister’s absence,” 

said the veteran politician, 

considered the number 

two in the UPA government 

and its chief trouble shooter. 

Mukherjee would return to 

Delhi today. 

“Then I will put in my pa- 

pers. I am still a Congressman 

and a member of its highest 

policy making body — the 

Working Committee. I will 

send my resignation from this 

post also to the Congress president 

(Sonia Gandhi). I shall 

then start my campaign.” 

“A big chapter in my fourdecade-old 

involvement in 

party politics has ended,” said 

the 76-year-old leader. 

Mukherjee is pitted against 

former Lok Sabha speaker 

Purno A Sangma, who has 

the backing of the Bharatiya 

Janata Party (BJP) and some 

constituents of the National 

Democratic Alliance (NDA), 

as also the AIADMK and the 

Biju Janata Dal. — IANS 

Staff increase mooted to 

address passport hassles 

NEW DELHI — Additional 

Secretary in the Ministry of 

External Affairs B K Gupta 

yesterday said that manpower 

issues in passport ofces 

were on the government’s 

agenda. 

“In 1992, we had issued 

two million passports, and 

in 2011 we issued seven 

million passports to people. 

However, the staff has not 

increased. Subsequently, 

manpower issues are on our 

agenda,” Gupta told reporters. 

Gupta said that the ministry 

is in talks with the 

Staff Selection Commission 

(SSC) of the Department 

of Personnel and Training 

(DoPT) for increasing the 

number of staff. 

“We are in touch with 

the SSC and the department 

has assured us that they 

will provide us 100 LDCs 

(lower division clerks). As 

far as higher ranked ofcials 

are concerned, we will take 

some ofcers on deputation,” 

Gupta said. 

Gupta said that with 

growing numbers of passport 

applicants every year, 77 

Passport Kendras have been 

set up across the country. 

“It was a huge challenge 

to set each Passport Kendra 

and out of these 77 Kendras, 

70 were set up in the past 40 

weeks,” said Gupta. 

“During summer vacations, 

many people apply for 

passports. Students apply for 

passports as the academic 

courses abroad start in the 

autumn. We have responded 

to this unique problem by 

opening Passport Mela,” 

said Gupta. 

The Passport Mela is being 

held in New Delhi, Ghaziabad, 

Bangalore, Chennai, 

Hyderabad, Lucknow and 

Amritsar, where ofces will 

be open on Saturday and 

Sunday to address the massive 

demand and complaints 

of delay in issuance of the 

travel document. 

“Any applicant can walk 

in with their application form 

and we will assist them. In 

fact, we are working weekends 

for this,” said Gupta. 

Girl remains trapped for over 60 hours 

RESCUE team consisting of the army, re brigade, police and other departments still working to save Mahi. 

was celebrating her birthday, 

around 11 pm on Wednesday. 

Mahi is the daughter of 

Niraj Uppadhyay, who hails 

from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh 

district. Niraj is a security 

supervisor at a factory in 

Manesar and was living in 

Kasan village with his wife Sonia 

and two-year-old daughter. 

— IANS 

Forex reserves grow 

to over $289 billion 

MUMBAI — India’s foreign 

exchange reserves (forex) 

grew by $2 billion to $289.39 

billion for the week ended 

June 15, ofcial data showed. 

The forex recovered in 

the week ended June 8 when 

it grew by $1.52 billion to 

$287.37 billion after falling 

for ve straight weeks. 

The reserves had plunged 

by $2.40 billion to $285.85 

billion for the week ended 

June 1, apparently due to the 

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 

selling dollars to defend the 

rupee. 

The reserves had also declined 

by $1.74 billion and 

$1.80 billion respectively in 

the previous two weeks of 

June 1. 

The RBI was believed 

to have been selling dollars 

during these weeks to curb 

NEW DELHI — India plans 

to unveil new measures tomorrow 

to boost the economy, 

Finance Minister Pranab 

Mukherjee said yesterday, a 

day after the rupee touched a 

new record low against the US 

dollar. 

The rupee fell to a record 

low of 57.32 against the dollar 

for the rst time on Friday, 

as global uncertainty pushed 

investors to the safe-haven US 

currency. 

“These are no doubts of 

signs of weakness in the Indian 

economy. I am concerned 

but not depressed,” Mukherjee 

told reporters in eastern city of 

Kolkata. 

“We will be able to take 

certain measures, which will 

THE government has set up 77 Passport Kendras across the country 

to address the massive demand and complaints of delay. 

Group to build 

500 schools 

KOLKATA — Round Table 

India (RTI), a non-prot organisation 

which has tie-ups 

with several state governments, 

will build 500 school 

blocks across the country in 

the next ve years, its president 

said yesterday. 

RTI will engage in the 

project in association with 

a central government programme, 

“Sarva Shiksha 

Abhiyan”. 

“Through our programme, 

‘Freedom Through 

Education’ (FTE), we have 

in the last 12 years built 

1,250 schools. We hope to 

build at least 100 school 

blocks every year for the 

next ve years,” RTI president 

Ashwini Kumar Hemadev 

told mediapersons 

here. 

“According to a report by 

World Literacy Foundation, 

illiteracy has been costing 

our economy around $53 

billion annually. There is 

income imbalance to the 

tune of 30 per cent to 42 per 

cent between a literate and 

an illiterate person. Through 

FTE we hope to cure this 

imbalance,” said Hemadev. 

The RTI, in its golden 

jubilee year, will be dedicating 

107 school blocks during 

the year. — IANS 

the slide in the rupee’s value 

which incidentally hit a new 

low on Friday at Rs 57.12 

against $1. 

Earlier, the partially convertible 

rupee slumped to a 

record low of 56.52 against 

the US dollar on May 31. 

It has weakened sharply in 

the last two months due to increased 

demands from oil importers 

and outow of money 

by the foreign institutional 

investors (FIIs), as poor gross 

domestic product (GDP) 

growth data dampened sentiment 

in the Indian markets. 

Foreign currency assets, 

the biggest component of the 

forex reserves kitty for the 

week ended June 15, grew by 

$1.93 billion to $256.52 billion, 

according to the RBI’s 

weekly statistical supplement. 

be announced on Monday, 

which will improve the market 

condition.” 

Mukherjee said the government 

had discussed the 

economic situation with the 

central bank governor. 

Conceding the pressures 

on the Indian economy, he 

said the GDP was 6.5 per cent, 

there was ination, besides 

depreciation in the value of 

the rupee vis-a-vis the dollar. 

“These are no doubt about 

signs of weakness of the Indian 

economy.” Linking the country’s 

economic situation to 

the global turmoil, Mukherjee 

said: “Please remember that 

when the whole world is in 

turmoil, no country can expect 

that there will be a pocket of 

Discord brewing in Bihar 

between BJP and JD-U 

PATNA — A vocal war is raging 

in Bihar between the two 

parties which rule the state — 

the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) 

and Bharatiya Janata Party 

(BJP). 

Chief Minister Nitish 

Kumar may be quiet after suddenly 

taking on his Gujarat 

counterpart Narendra Modi, 

but his known supporters are 

at their aggressive best vis-avis 

the BJP. 

BJP state leaders and ministers 

are not far behind, escalating 

a confrontation that has the 

potential to have repercussions 

on national politics. 

After 16 years of marriage, 

the BJP and JD-U are pulling 

apart like never before. Rural 

Works Minister Bhim Singh, a 

senior JD-U leader, has called 

the BJP “untouchable”. 

“The BJP was nowhere 

(on the national scene) before 

the JD-U joined the NDA in 

1996,” said Bhim Singh, who 

is considered a condant of 

Nitish Kumar. 

“It was JD-U that gave legitimacy 

to the BJP in national 

politics,” he added. “Until 

then, it only had the Shiv Sena 

as an ally. The BJP was seen as 

an untouchable until then.” 

Urban Development Minister 

Prem Kumar, a senior BJP 

leader, charged the JD-U with 

The RBI did not provide 

any reasons for the rise in the 

foreign currency assets. 

It said the assets expressed 

in US dollar terms included 

the effect of appreciation or 

depreciation of non-US currencies 

such as the pound 

sterling, euro and yen held in 

reserve. 

The value of gold reserves 

remained the same during the 

week under review at $25.58 

billion. The value had declined 

in the week ended June 

1 by $1.03 billion to $25.58 

billion. 

The value of special 

drawing rights (SDRs) grew 

by $25.7 million to $4.38 

billion and India’s reserves 

with the International Monetary 

Fund (IMF) increased 

by $58.3 million to $2.89 billion. 

— IANS 

Measures to spur growth 

development.” 

“And particularly a large 

economy like India which is 

third (largest) in (terms of) 

purchasing power parity, that 

economy cannot remain insulated 

from the external inuences,” 

he said. 

However, the minister 

said the country’s basic fundamentals 

were still strong 

with $8 billion owing into 

the country between January 

and June 2012 through the 

Foreign Institutional Investor 

(FII) route. 

In comparison, he said, the 

FII inow was negative in the 

period a year ago. He added 

that Foreign Direct Investment 

was between $46 billion 

and $48 billion. — dpa 

opportunism. 

“The BJP had never been 

untouchable to any non-Congress 

party,” he said. “They 

have enjoyed the fruits of 

power with the support of our 

party. Even BJP critics like 

Lalu Prasad came to power 

with BJP support.” 

Bihar BJP president C P 

Thakur said that JD-U leaders 

who were branding his party 

untouchable were themselves 

untouchable. 

It all began this week when 

Nitish Kumar told a newspaper 

that the National Democratic 

Alliance’s (NDA) prime ministerial 

candidate should be 

secular and widely acceptable. 

The remark made a storm, 

with BJP leaders and even 

Nitish supporters admitting 

that the chief minister’s comments 

were clearly directed at 

Modi — a man whose prime 

ministerial ambitions are 

known. 

Since then, leaders of the 

two parties have been at each 

other’s throats, in Bihar and 

elsewhere too. 

JD-U leader and Water Resources 

Minister Vijay Kumar 

Choudhary pointed out that 

Nitish Kumar never took 

Modi’s name but merely underlined 

the need for a secular 

prime minister. — IANS

12 

ANALYSIS/OPINION 



BRAZILIAN President Dilma Rousseff during the Women Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro. — AFP 

The future we all want 

By Richard Ingham 

THE outcome of the 

Rio+20 summit provides 

further proof 

that the nation-state system is 

failing badly in tackling global 

environmental threats, say 

analysts. 

The UN’s Conference on 

Sustainable Development had 

been billed as a once-in-a-generation 

chance to overhaul an 

economic model that had left 

a billion people in poverty and 

imperiled the biosphere. 

But veteran observers who 

watched the 10-day event drag 

to a close last Friday shook 

their heads in dismay. 

To them, it was a fresh failure 

by the United Nations system, 

after the near-disastrous 

2009 Copenhagen climate 

summit, to respond to eco-perils 

that are now approaching at 

express speed. 

“It’s a demonstration of 

political impotence, of system 

paralysis, and it makes me feel 

pessimistic about the system’s 

ability to deliver,” Laurence 

Tubiana, Director of a French 

think-tank, the Institute for 

By Laura MacInnis 

PRESIDENT Barack 

Obama revelled in the 

support of Latino leaders 

and took a swipe at his 

election rival Mitt Romney for 

giving mixed messages on how 

to handle illegal immigration. 

In a speech to Hispanic public 

officials meeting in Florida, 

Obama reminded the friendly 

audience that Romney had 

promised to veto the DREAM 

Act, which would help the children 

of illegal immigrants win 

citizenship. 

Obama told the National 

Association of Latino Elected 

and Appointed Officials conference 

that he chose last week 

to halt the possible deportations 

of 800,000 young illegal 

immigrants because Congress 

was stalling on the issue. 

“I refused to keep looking 

young people in the eye, deserving 

young people in the 

eye, and tell them tough luck,” 

he said, receiving a standing 

ovation from the crowd that 

gave Romney a cool reception 

the day before. 

“Your speaker from yesterday 

has a different view. In 

a speech he said that when he 

makes a promise to you, he’ll 

keep it. Well he has promised to 

veto the DREAM Act, and we 

should take him at his word,” 

the Democratic president said. 

Solutions for sustainable growth 

need sacrifice by all nations of the 

world, which gives any dissenter 

the chance to sabotage or weaken a 

radical deal on global warming 

Sustainable Development and 

International Relations (ID- 

DRI), said in an interview. 

“The multilateral process 

today is not delivering the urgent 

action we need,” WWF’s 

Jim Leape said in an email. 

“International action is in 

fact important, to galvanise a 

global response to these challenges, 

but it’s clear that we 

need to look to leadership in 

other places... that means looking 

for changes everywhere — 

communities, cities, national 

“I’m just sayin’,” he added, to 

laughter. 

A poll released last Friday 

by Latino Decisions and 

America’s Voice found Obama 

had a commanding lead over 

Romney among Hispanics in 

election battleground states 

including Florida, Colorado 

and Virginia. In the five states 

combined, Obama leads Romney 

among Hispanics by 63 per 

cent to 27 per cent. 

Obama’s recent focus on 

immigration has helped perk 

up his campaign, which sagged 

earlier in June as economic bad 

news rolled in and the president 

committed a misstep by claiming 

that the struggling private 

sector was in fact doing fine. 

governments and companies.” 

After a three-day summit of 

189 nation-states, the conference 

issued a 53-page declaration 

with the horizon-sweeping 

title “The Future We Want.” 

It itemised a distressingly 

long list of problems — from 

global warming, deforestation 

and fisheries collapse to water 

stress, pollution and biodiversity 

loss that scientists fear 

could turn into a mass extinction. 

But long months of textual 

trench warfare, as nations 

A rise by former Massachusetts 

Governor Romney 

in the polls appeared to slow 

this week, although a Pew Research 

Center survey on Friday 

put Obama’s lead at only 4 percentage 

points, from 7 points 

last May. 

Romney’s campaign suffered 

last Friday from new accusations 

about Bain Capital, 

where he made much of his 

$250 million fortune as a private 

equity executive in the 

1980s and ‘90s. 

The Washington Post reported 

that Bain invested in 

firms that specialised in relocating 

jobs done by American 

workers to new facilities in 

low-wage countries like China 

defended their own interests, 

meant radical proposals were 

either watered down or got the 

chop. They included a commitment 

to phase out subsidies for 

fossil fuels and demands for 

up to $30 billion a year to help 

poor countries grow in a sustainable 

way. 

Connie Hedegaard, the European 

commissioner for climate 

change, admitted that “to 

the normal citizen, it (the outcome) 

doesn’t sound a lot.” 

Even so, Europe had ce- 

and India. 

“(Romney) often says, ‘I 

know why jobs come and why 

jobs go.’ Well, yeah, one of the 

reasons they go is because you 

have firms who are counselling 

people on how to offshore and 

outsource their jobs, that’s one 

reason they go, so, yeah, he 

knows a lot about it,” Obama 

campaign adviser David Axelrod 

told reporters. 

Obama received standing 

ovations from much of 

the crowd in Florida when he 

talked about healthcare reform 

and his decision not to target 

young illegal immigrants for 

deportation. 

“This was an Obama crowd 

anyway. Even though Obama’s 

mented references to the green 

economy, which set an important 

precedent, “something to 

build on in the years to come,” 

she said. Observers said the 

most tangible success was a 

plan for “Sustainable Development 

Goals” to succeed the 

UN’s Millennium Development 

Goals, which touch on 

health, poverty and so on, after 

they expire in 2015. 

In an interview carried on 

its Geopolitics blog, Jeffrey 

Sachs, Director of the Earth In- 

not Latino, he hit on key cultural 

points — hardworking, 

education. That’s something 

we wear on our sleeves,” said 

Tony Cardenas, a Democratic 

city councilman from Los 

Angeles. 

Obama also pledged to 

make overhauling US immigration 

rules to better serve 

businesses and make life easier 

stitute at Columbia University 

in New York, said the MDGs 

had been an important catalyzer 

— but for ordinary citizens, 

not leaders. “They have been 

a global call to action that has 

mobilised millions of people 

around the world, as well as informed, 

nudged or pushed governments 

to take seriously the 

challenges of poverty, hunger 

and disease. “They thus teach 

us a lesson: we cannot rely on 

the politicians and the diplomats 

to get this job done.” 

After Copenhagen, some 

critics said the UN system was 

genetically incapable of coping 

with a global environment crisis. 

Solutions demand sacrifice 

by all nations, which gives any 

dissenter the chance to sabotage 

or weaken a radical deal. 

But Steve Sawyer, a former 

Greenpeace campaigner who 

is now secretary-general of 

a Brussels clean-energy lobby, 

the Global Wind Energy 

Council, said the UN still offered 

hope. 

“The UN system has lost its 

way,” crippled by the format 

determined by the victors of 

World War II, he argued. 

for families and workers core 

to his economic agenda in a 

second term. 

But Hispanics are still upset 

at his failure to deliver on comprehensive 

immigration reform 

and Latinos have been badly 

hit by the slow economy. “No 

election-year speech can cover 

up the president’s job-killing 

policies that have led to 11 per 

Presidential run-up 

No gainers in 

this election 

By Amulya Ganguli 

THE convoluted course 

which the Indian opposition 

party the 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 

followed before choosing 

Purno Sangma as its presidential 

candidate has not only exposed 

the fissures at its top but 

may have also paved the way 

for the disintegration of the 

National Democratic Alliance 

(NDA) that it leads. 

The BJP’s problems arose 

because the party did not 

have a candidate of its own 

to start with, revealing its 

lack of preparedness for a 

major political battle. Since 

it would have been odd for 

a party which claims to be 

the national alternative to the 

Congress to give the latter a 

walkover in the presidential 

race, the BJP belatedly began 

to look around for someone 

— anyone — to stand on its 

behalf. 

But, since it initially found 

no one, it began to poach 

on the choices of others. 

These included, first, former 

president A P J Abdul Kalam, 

who was named by Mamata 

Banerjee and Mulayam 

Singh Yadav, and, secondly, 

Sangma, who was the choice 

of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister 

Jayalalithaa and Odisha Chief 

Minister Naveen Patnaik. 

Finally, only Sangma was 

left in the field as Kalam 

backed off, perhaps realising 

that his name hadn’t been 

proposed by ardent admirers 

but by anti-Congress 

elements who wanted to 

settle personal scores. But 

the emergence of the former 

Lok Sabha speaker as the 

candidate of a section of the 

non-Congress parties did not 

mean that the twists and turns 

in their camp had ended. 

For a start, the NDA fell 

apart because the Janata Dal- 

United (JD-U), the second 

most important constituent of 

the alliance, decided to support 

the United Progressive 

Alliance’s Pranab Mukherjee. 

But, intriguingly, so did the 

Shiv Sena, the NDA’s second 

saffron-tinted partner after 

the BJP. 

But, that’s not all. 

Although the BJP’s focus 

was on the presidential 

contest, the JD-U brought 

up the question of the prime 

ministerial aspirants as well 

evidently because the success 

or failure of the forthcoming 

battle were being seen 

as a testing ground for the 

2014 general election. And 

cent Hispanic unemployment 

and millions of Hispanics living 

in poverty,” Romney campaign 

spokesperson Amanda 

Henneberg said. 

There are more than 50 million 

people with Latin American 

roots living in the United 

States. Hispanics are the fastest-growing 

US minority group 

and could decisively influence 

to make the JD-U’s views 

absolutely clear, its leader, 

Nitish Kumar, asserted that 

only a secular person can be 

the NDA’s prime ministerial 

nominee. 

Perhaps sensing a parting 

of ways with the BJP on 

the presidential contest, the 

Bihar chief minister made 

the advance move apparently 

because Narendra Modi’s 

name was being touted as a 

prime ministerial candidate. 

To further clarify the JD-U’s 

position, a party member 

described Modi as a “fanatic” 

while Nitish Kumar disclosed 

that prime minister Atal 

Behari Vajpayee had thought 

of dismissing Modi after the 

Gujarat riots. 

The fallout from the 

presidential battle is therefore 

proving to be far more damaging 

to the BJP than to the 

Congress. While the latter has 

managed to defuse Mamata 

Banerjee’s revolt by weaning 

away Mulayam Singh Yadav 

from her side, the repercussions 

of the rupture in the 

NDA will be felt long after 

Pranab Mukherjee assumes 

charge as president. 

For one, the breach between 

the BJP and the JD-U 

will not be easy to heal, if 

only because Nitish Kumar 

may have developed prime 

ministerial ambitions of his 

own. If the NDA has to opt 

for a secular nominee, then 

he is the obvious choice. For 

another, if the BJP presumes 

that it will be able to widen 

the NDA by roping in Jayalalithaa 

and Patnaik, then 

it is probably living on false 

hopes because the Odisha 

chief minister is unlikely 

to have forgotten how the 

incidents in his state in 2008 

made him sever his ties with 

the BJP. 

To complicate matters, 

the Rashtriya Swayamsevak 

Sangh (RSS), the pater 

familias of the family, has 

stepped into the fray to ask 

why Modi cannot be prime 

minister. Interestingly, all 

through the rumpus, the BJP’s 

president, Nitin Gadkari, for 

whom the RSS secured a 

second term, was completely 

marginalised with the leading 

roles being played by the old 

warhorse, L K Advani, and 

his close follower, Sushma 

Swaraj. 

Incidentally, both of them 

had stayed away from the 

BJP’s recent rally in Mumbai 

apparently to express their 

unhappiness with Gadkari’s 

second term. 

Immigration reform, economy on agenda 

President Obama’s recent focus 

on immigration has helped perk 

up his campaign, which sagged 

earlier this month as bad economic 

news rolled in and the president 

committed a misstep by claiming 

that the struggling private sector 

was in fact doing very fine 

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Mitt Romney after an address in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. — Reuters 

the presidential election result 

in November. 

Romney angered many 

Hispanics during the primary 

season by saying illegal immigrants 

could “self deport” 

out of the country. He changed 

his tone at the NALEO conference 

last Thursday, stressing 

immigration was essential to 

economic prosperity.

Key to 

a major 

obstacle 

By W G Dunlop 

IRAQI Kurdistan’s efforts 

to ramp up its oil 

production and export 

capabilities opens new options 

for the region, which 

is in a months-long standoff 

with Baghdad. 

The dispute has seen 

Kurdistan president Massud 

Barzani launch a series of 

attacks against Prime Minister 

Nuri al Maliki, while 

the region cut off oil exports 

to Iraq in a payment dispute 

and refused to hand over 

Iraqi vice president who is 

wanted for allegedly running 

a death squad. 

Barzani has said he could 

resort to a referendum on 

its future if the crisis with 

Baghdad drags on. 

Kurdistan has its own 

government, security forces, 

borders and flag, but it is 

economically dependent on 

the Iraqi government, which 

is required to pay 17 per 

cent of the national budget 

to Kurdistan. 

The region has signed 

dozens of contracts with 

foreign oil firms aimed at 

boosting its oil sector in 

recent years, and said it 

intends to build pipelines 

that would give it an independent 

export capability 

— moves that could give it 

financial independence. The 

Iraqi government says all oil 

contracts must go through 

Baghdad. 

“It is becoming increasingly 

clear that the Kurds 

see expansion of (Kurdistan’s) 

oil sector as the key to 

future independence,” said 

Reidar Visser, an Iraq analyst 

and editor of the www. 

historiae.org website. 

“By signing those deals, 

the Kurds are looking at the 

long term, when it would be 

in their favour to split from 

Iraq proper by being financially 

independent,” said 

Ruba Husari, the editor of 

www.iraqoilforum.com. 

Iraqi Kurdistan does not 

currently have the ability 

to independently export oil, 

but the region has said that 

two pipelines are planned. 

A statement posted on 

the Kurdistan government 

website in May said that 

natural resources minister 

Ashti Hawrami had spoken 

about “plans for a new gas 

pipeline to supply Turkey’s 

BOTAS gas grid... and in the 

next 12 months, a millionbarrel 

oil pipeline to connect 

to the Ceyhan pipeline” 

that feeds an export terminal 

on Turkey’s Mediterranean 

coast. 

13 

ANALYSIS/OPINION 



GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel celebrates during the Euro 2012 football championships quarter-final match. — AFP 

Pain, agony compounded 

By Harry Papachristou and 

Alexandra Hudson 

GERMANY bead Greece 

in the Euro 2012 soccer 

tournament on Friday, 

rubbing salt in the wounds of a nation 

reeling from a dire economic 

crisis which many blame on Berlin. 

Greeks were aching for at least 

a measure of revenge against their 

euro zone tormentor in the needle 

match of the tournament’s quarterfinals, 

but it ended as yet another 

dashed dream with Germany rolling 

over their underdog rivals 4-2. 

The euro zone paymaster 

gave what many Germans see 

as a profligate and lazy state yet 

another lesson, this time on the 

pitch — perhaps revenge for political 

headache after headache in 

a regional debt crisis unleashed by 

Athens in 2009 that now threatens 

the survival of the entire common 

European currency. 

In restaurants and joints in Athens, 

a brief moment of hope when 

their team equalised with a stunning 

breakaway goal early in the 

second half caused ecstatic celebrations 

and the shouting against 

Germany, which is widely blamed 

for the painful conditions of an international 

bailout. 

“That’s how they do it, those 

who owe you... shove your loan,” 

the fans chanted. 

But they were soon stunned 

into silence as Germany ran riot 

with three more goals to establish 

total domination despite a successful 

late Greek penalty at the 

match in the Polish coastal city of 

Gdansk. Restaurants and joints in 

Athens emptied quickly after the 

match and the city was subdued. 

Christos Zois, spokesman for 

the anti-German Independent 

Greeks party, said on Twitter: “For 

a few minutes, we dreamed we 

could renegotiate the bailout. But 

then we got it rammed down our 

throat.” 

In viewing areas in Germany 

and at the match itself, German 

fans cheered Chancellor Angela 

Merkel as she celebrated her team’s 

goals from the stands. Nearly half a 

million fans reckoned to be watching 

the match on giant screens in 

front of Berlin’s Brandenburg 

Gate chanted: “Knock Greece out, 

Knock Greece out.” But Greeks 

yelled back at TV images of celebrations 

by Merkel. She is widely 

despised in the debt-laden country 

where a new government has just 

taken power vowing to soften the 

terms of the bailout despite steadfast 

opposition from Germany and 

other European powers. 

“At least we went down with 

dignity. Celebrating as childishly 

as that, Merkel showed she has 

none,” said Pavlos Hatzipavlou, a 

chemist watching in Athens. 

Greeks widely acknowledged 

the superiority of the powerful 

German team but were proud of 

their side and clapped when the 

game ended. 

“The Germans were clearly the 

better team, but we fought as best 

we could,” said Maria Markopoulou 

on the streets of Athens. 

Despite the sour atmosphere between 

the two nations, there were 

also voices of moderation. “It has 

nothing to do with politics, it’s just 

football,” said Lefteris Soultanis, 

25, in a cafe in the ancient Thissio 

neighbourhood of Athens. 

That sentiment was echoed 

among German fans in Berlin. 

“It’s fantastic but embarrassing 

for the Greek team,” said 

student Josef Pfeister, 22. “However, 

I think it is only sport, it has 

nothing to do with politics and the 

problem between Germany and 

Greece.” 

In Gdansk, Greeks looked dejected 

as they left the spectacular 

amber-hued stadium. But there 

was a friendly atmosphere between 

the two nations’ fans who stopped 

to take photos together and patted 

each other on the back. 

“This was an entertaining 

match with lots of goals and a great 

atmosphere. It was a fair game,” 

said German Joerg Himmler, 47. 

“Yes, there was all this hype be- 

forehand, but I think all the fans 

from Greece and Germany and 

Poland helped make it a really 

warm, friendly occasion — a football 

festival.” 

The match, played out in a 

once German city rebuilt in grand 

Hanseatic, gabled style from the 

ruins of World War Two, pitted 

two nations whose relations have 

rarely been so sour since that conflict. 

Only a small number of Greeks 

made the expensive trip to Gdansk, 

in contrast to an estimated 30,000 

Germans. 

Media in both countries built up 

the tension before the match with 

spiteful and mocking cartoons and 

provocative headlines. 

“Bye-bye Greeks, we can’t 

rescue you today!” the top-selling 

Bild proclaimed on its front page 

in Germany on Friday. 

“Bankrupt THEM,” blared 

leading Greek paper Sport Day. 

The respected daily Kathimerini 

underlined that the match 

was against a foe blamed for saddling 

Greece with a punitive austerity 

programme that has led to 

chronic unemployment and years 

of deep economic recession. 

“Whoever thinks today’s match 

is just a game is wrong,” the paper 

wrote, vowing it was “politics 

— maybe even war — by other 

means”. 

Putin will not ditch state capitalism 

By Douglas Busvine 

“ STATE capitalism is not 

our goal,” Vladimir 

Putin said in his first big 

speech on the economy since his 

return to the Kremlin, managing 

to leave investors at Russia’s premier 

business forum little wiser as 

to how serious he is about selling 

state assets. 

Privatisation has come to the 

fore as Russia’s most divisive 

policy issue since Putin, elected in 

March to a third term as president 

after four years as prime minister, 

named a new government last 

month. 

Although dire markets preclude 

major deals that would reduce the 

state’s 50 per cent share in Russia’s 

$1.8 trillion economy at the 

moment, the privatisation debate 

has caused a power realignment 

that could have far-reaching consequences. 

The kicker to Putin’s state capitalism 

quote was that private-sector 

monopolies should not replace 

state ones — a dig at the rushed 

sell-offs of the 1990s that handed 

the Soviet Union’s industrial legacy 

to a new breed of industrial 

oligarch. 

“Without healthy competition, 

a market economy shows a 

tendency to decay that is no less 

pronounced than the commandadministrative 

system,” Putin said 

on Thursday. 

Despite that scepticism, Prime 

Minister Dmitry Medvedev has 

committed to a string of sell-offs 

that, starting small, that would see 

the state exit entirely as owner of 

major firms such as oil major Rosneft 

within four years. 

Igor Sechin, the energy ‘tsar’ 

in Putin’s last government and 

recently named chief executive of 

Rosneft, has other ideas. Sechin 

has lobbied to create an energy 

commission subordinate to Putin 

that, sources said, may evolve into 

a separate centre of power that 

would further his goal of building 

a state energy champion. 

Oil bosses outnumbered bank 

CEOs at the St Petersburg forum, 

VLADIMIR Putin speaks at the annual Economic Forum in Saint-Petersburg. — AFP 

and it was they who were granted 

an audience with Putin, who himself 

has blessed recent oil exploration 

deals between Rosneft and 

Eni, Exxon Mobil and Statoil. 

But the 59-year-old Putin also 

made clear that the 25 per cent foreign 

share of output in the world’s 

largest oil-producing nation was 

quite sufficient. “We think we 

have great openness in our economy,” 

Putin told them. 

Medvedev’s privatisation ambitions 

collide with the realities 

of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, 

which has delivered a double 

whammy of rapid capital outflows 

and sliding oil prices that has pummelled 

Russian asset prices. 

That is keeping on hold the 

state’s proposed sale of a 7.6 

per cent stake in Sberbank, even 

though the Russian market leader 

has ridden out the global credit 

crunch to become Europe’s second-largest 

bank by equity market 

value. 

With Russian public finances 

still in rude health — sovereign 

debt is 10 per cent of gross domestic 

product — the government 

can afford to be a price-sensitive 

seller, investment bankers say. 

“The purpose of the privati- 

sation programme is a strategic 

process of continued liberalisation 

of the financial system,” said 

Nicholas Jordan, UBS’s CEO for 

Russia and the Commonwealth of 

Independent States. 

“It is not because the country 

needs the money. So, why sell certain 

precious jewels at what you 

think is not the right price?” 

Medvedev’s government has 

agreed to sell a stake of nearly 50 

per cent in the United Grain Company, 

a grain trader, to Russian investment 

group Summa, and further 

deals could follow in sectors 

that are not strategically sensitive. 

Rising social unrest 

By Simon Martelli 

KHARTOUM has seen an outburst 

of social unrest in the 

past week, driven by rampant 

inflation and simmering discontent, 

with the government determined to 

put down discontent led by Sudanese 

students that has strong historical 

resonance. 

The widening anti-government 

protests, which persist despite the 

security forces’ policy of dispersing 

them, began as a student demonstration 

outside the University of Khartoum 

on June 16 against the sharp rise 

in food and fuel prices and quickly 

spread to other universities in the 

capital. 

The University of Khartoum was 

the cradle of Sudan’s first post-independence 

unrest as protests there in 

1964 led to a mass uprising that toppled 

the military dictatorship then in 

power, in what became known as the 

October revolution. 

Opposition youth group Girifna 

published a story on its website on 

Monday entitled: “Khartoum University: 

heartbeat of the Sudanese revolution.” 

But the students now pushing 

for change face daunting challenges, 

particularly the tactics of the security 

forces and the infiltration of the 

universities by opponents, according 

to Nagi Musa, a medical student and 

member of Girifna (Arabic for ‘We’re 

fed up’). 

“It is extremely difficult to have 

any public activity... The government 

is trying to take the space inside the 

universities, because they think it’s 

a danger to them,” he said, describing 

how a group of students had 

visited one of the main campuses earlier 

that day carrying metal bars and 

knives. 

“The (ruling) National Congress 

Party has resources. It has money, and 

through this they employ a lot of security 

people,” said the student activist, 

who was detained for two weeks 

in January. 

The riot police and members of 

the National Intelligence and Security 

Service (NISS) have, as in the past, 

demonstrated a zero tolerance policy 

towards the protesters, firing tear gas, 

beating them with batons and making 

sweeping arrests. 

Amnesty International said on Friday 

that scores of activists had been 

detained since the demonstrations 

began. 

A senior member of the NISS said 

following his arrest at the University 

By Marianne Brown, dpa 

PATROLLING backstreets on 

the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh 

City, Huyhn Tieu Huong made 

another heart-breaking discovery. 

Partially concealed in a pile of rubbish 

and wrapped in newspapers was 

a tiny baby. 

“I heard her crying. She was very 

small, only about a day old,” she 

said. “We took her home and nursed 

her for a while. Then when she was 

strong enough we took her to hospital.” 

It was just another night’s work 

for Huong, who runs an orphanage for 

abandoned children in Binh Duong 

province. 

Thousands of infants have passed 

through her doors over the years, 

most of them offspring of workers in 

nearby garment factories. Each year 

she finds dozens of newborns left in 

the rubbish. 

“Sometimes the babies have been 

partially eaten by rats, some are crawling 

in ants,” Huong said. But things 

are changing. 

“The peak was in 2010 when I 

found 80 babies. Last year, I found 

40 and this year only 13 so far, so I 

am sure there will be a lot fewer this 

year.” The reason, she said, is better 

health services for workers. 

Around 80 per cent of factory 

workers in the garment industry are 

unmarried women aged between 18 

and 25, according to Marie Stopes 

International (MSI), which works 

with 24 international brands and their 

suppliers in Vietnam. It offers mobile 

services to factories and programmes 

to improve sexual health care for the 

employees. 

“Being far away from their families 

and alone, they are more likely to 

have sex,” said Nguyen Thi Le, director 

of an MSI clinic in Binh Duong. 

“At home, their families prevent them 

from getting too close to members of 

the opposite sex but at the factories 

there’s no one to do that so many have 

sex before marriage.” Huong, 28, 

does inventory for a Taiwanese shoe 

factory. She said it is contraception is 

considered women’s responsibility, 

but most are too shy to talk about sex 

if they are not married. 

“Many unmarried people at work 

have sex,” she said. “I know many 

people who live together as man and 

wife but aren’t married. After they 

have sex they use the emergency pill. 

If the woman is under 18 years old she 

doesn’t know how to protect herself.” 

of Khartoum for taking photos that 

the situation around the universities 

was “very sensitive.” 

The government actually closed 

the Khartoum university for more 

than two months earlier this year after 

students clashed with riot police 

in December, following a sit-in over 

a dispute over university fees that 

spilled into the surrounding streets. 

Sudanese academics say that despite 

the recent student demonstrations, the 

universities are not the hotbeds of political 

activism that they used to be. 

Omar a Bashir’s administration 

which celebrates 23 years in power 

next week, has successfully depoliticised 

the universities, says mathematics 

professor, Mohamed El Tom, who 

was expelled from the University of 

Khartoum in 1992. 

El-Tom, who has published research 

on the decline in higher education, 

says NCP supporters now 

dominate the student union and the 

administrative staff at the universities 

are government appointees. 

The policy of dramatically expanding 

higher education in the 1990s has 

also relentlessly undermined standards, 

helping to explain why students 

do not command the respect that they 

used to, says El-Tom. 

Another challenge for the activists 

is the fear among many Sudanese 

of the chaos that a revolution might 

usher in. But Hisham Bilal, a teaching 

assistant at the University of Khartoum, 

argues that the economic crisis 

has now enabled student protesters to 

forge a link with the street. 

“Put simply, hunger creates anger. 

So this could lead to more widespread 

social unrest,” he said. 

The protests remain small compared 

with the mass demonstrations 

that swept neighbouring Egypt last 

year and saw Hosni Mubarak quitting. 

But they come amid a rapidly deteriorating 

economic situation that has 

forced the government to announce 

drastic austerity measures and driven 

up the cost of living, especially for 

the poor who are already struggling to 

cope with high food prices. 

Musa, the activist with Girifna, 

believes that if any student 

gets killed this time, it could have a 

similar effect, recalling the death of 

student activist Ahmed al Qureshi 

in 1964 which sparked the October 

Revolution. 

“It will move a lot of people. I 

think it will have a big influence, and 

the government knows this and it is 

afraid,” he said. 

The ‘baby barometer’ 

Last year, MSI served nearly 3 million 

women with check-ups, contraceptives 

and safe abortions. However, 

suppliers to big brands have been 

resistant because they believe the 

services take up too much time, said 

Nguyen Thi Bich Hang, MSI country 

representative. 

“We tried to quantify the economic 

losses and consequences to them as a 

factory if they have more and more 

women leaving their work for unwanted 

pregnancy and unwanted births. If 

you factor in the economic costs to the 

factory and society of unwanted pregnancies, 

it’s huge,” she said. 

When the programme began in 

2005, a factory with 80,000 employees 

would average 500 births every 

quarter, one-third to unmarried mothers, 

Hang said. 

“Over time, the number is much 

lower,” she says. 

The message may be heard among 

international suppliers, but local companies 

are a different matter, said 

Vietnam-based economist Jonathan 

Pincus. 

“The large companies do not want 

to damage their brands after some bad 

experiences in the past, so they invite 

in international non-governmental 

organizations and the like to get the 

word out about working conditions,” 

he said. 

“The smaller companies have no 

interest in doing so because they have 

no brand name to protect and their 

buyers pretend that they do not know 

what is going on.” The National Assembly 

last week voted in favour of 

increasing maternity leave from four 

to six months beginning May 2013. 

Lotta Sylwander, country representative 

for Unicef, said that will not 

necessarily affect the number of abandoned 

babies, but is part of a larger 

effort to improve working conditions 

for women. 

She said pressure should be applied 

from the demand side. 

“If people know that this is now 

the law, then there will be demand and 

it will be very difficult for companies 

to get away with not complying with 

it,” Sylwander said. 

Tieu Huong said she dreams of being 

able to build a maternity clinic that 

could offer post-natal care, so mothers 

would be able to breastfeed babies and 

bond with them for two months. 

“The baby would be stronger and 

the mother would be less likely to 

abandon it,” she said. “No one loves 

a child like its mother.”

PORTA CABINS / TURNKEY CAMPS 

Our Services Manufacturing, Erection, Mobilization. 

Our Products Camps, Kitchens, Offices, Ablutions 

Phone 24503725 Fax 24503723 

Mobile 95228450 Mobile 99277505 

e-mail info@speedhouseoman.com 

Web www.speedhouseoman.com 

SPEED HOUSE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION LLC 

R 

CLASSIFIED SECTION 

RUWI: 24785668 

S 

ENT-A-CAR 

ENT-A-C 

Latest Model Cars — Excellent Service 

Saloon Cars, 4WD, Pick-ups, Buses 

Luxury Cars with Chauffeur 

Al Khuwair: 2448 9248/9648 

Ruwi: 24707074, Qurum: 24691110 

Mct. Airport: 24521189, 

Sohar: 26845565 

Salalah: 23296246, 

Sll.Airport 99323619 

SPECIAL Rates on 

New Cars & 4 WDs 

RENTING & LEASING 

Tours and Airport Transfer 

Tel: 24582663 

GSM: 95859497, 

Fax: 24582664, 

abcrent@omantel.net.om 

ERVICES 

SERVICES OOD NEWS NEW 

OR RENT 

HOOPOE SMART 

CARD SERVICES SE 

Sanad Servi Service Centre 

We provide the following 

services: Typing, clearing 

all transactions related to 

government departments 

and private sector, eg 

labour agreement for 

Omanis and expatriates, 

typing of labour 

card for expatriates, 

typing of visas and 

document clearing from 

immigration department, 

Ministry of Commerce 

& Industry, Ministry of 

Manpower, Commercial 

names reservation, 

renewal of commercial 

registration, renewal 

of OCCI membership, 

attestation of all 

documents from OCCI 

& Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs. Renewal of 

labour cards through 

electronic payment or 

cash payment. 

Please note you may 

deliver your transaction 

through our e-mail 

and our representative 

will deliver it to your 

ofce personally after 

completion. Our address 

is: Ruwi, near Gulf 

Transport Co. (GTC), 

Fax: 24793331, GSM: 

98793665 (Direct) 

99231500. 

E-mail: hoopoeoman@ 

gmail.com 

AL FAHAD 

TRANSLATION 

SERVICES 

Translation of all kinds 

of legal, medical, 

and other types of 

documents, Commercial 

Agencies, etc. Ruwi, 

near Gulf Transport Co 

(GTC), 

Fax: 24794286. GSM : 

98793665 (Direct) 

95959838. E-mail: 

bptland@gmail.com 

LANDRAIL 

TRADING & 

SERVICES 

(Smart Card) 

Ruwi, near Gulf 

Transport Co. (GTC), 

Fax: 24780244, Tel: 

24789117, GSM 

98793666 (Dir), 

96777170. E-mail: 

landrailoman@ 

gmail.com 

MARBLE 

CRYSTALLISATION, 

restore the original shine 

of your marble. 

24792998/ 

99314807. 

EXECUTIVE ofce 

services available: 

Modern furniture, 

personalised telephone 

line with receptionist 

services, Unlimited 

wireless Internet, 

P.O. Boxes address, 

executive conference 

room (10 people), prime 

location (Al Khuwair), 

complimentary tea & 

coffee, service duration 

quarterly. Contact: 

99463334/99201763/ 

24479400. 

T 

OURS 

MARINE Tourism 

92808636, e-mail: 

info@alainain.com 

SHAMPOO cleaning 

of mosque carpet and 

house majlis, sofa carpet 

and curtains, general 

cleaning all types of 

old and new building, 

gardening mosaic tiles 

polishing marbles and 

granites, house painting 

96642500. 

1. A/C, Fridge & 

Washing Machine 

Servicing & Repairing 

2. Painting, Plumbing, 

Electrical & Carpentry 

Works. Contact: 

97014234/ 97123569, 


CARPET, sofa 

shampooing, 

GUARANTEED 

CLEANING. 

24792998/ 99314807 

P.C.O. (PEST 

CONTROL OMAN 

CO. LLC) 

Professionals who 

specialise in all types 

of Pest Control 

Services & Snake 

control and 

Guaranteed Termite 

Control. Also 

available Gel 

treatment for 

Cockroaches. 

Suppliers of UK 

Pesticides Chemicals, 

Snake Repellent, 

Cockroach Gels and 

Peripel treated 

Mosquito Nets. 

24787606, 

24787503, 

Fax: 24787607. 

M 

ANPOWER 

ANPOWE 

FRIENDS 

MANPOWER: Filipino 

housemaids and all kinds 

of workers. 24489268 

Tel/Fax: 24478153. 

A 

W 

NNOUNCEMENT 

NNOUNC 

TANZANIAN English 

speaking housemaid on 

release 94027010. 

ANTED 

TOYOTA Tercel required 

92322898. 

F 

OR REN RENT/SALE 

DIRECTLY from the 

owner: new building 

composed of 5 ats 

located close to the Technical 

College, Nizwa. 

Rent: RO 930 monthly 

or selling: RO 135,000. 

Contact 96679950. 

G 

FREE FRE 

INFORMATION 

INFORM 

ABOUT ISLAM 

If you would like to 

know more about 

Islam, please call: 

Tel : 99425598, 

96050000, 99353988, 

99253818, 99341395, 

99379133, 

For ladies: 99415818, 

99321360, 99730723 

Or visit: 

www.islamfact.com 

AYURVEDIC Treatment, 

Yoga massage & 

slimming. Contact: 

92504980/ 24475280 , 

www.drsajjay.com 

FOR NRI. BOOKING 

open for villas in Aluva, 

Kochi, Kerala. Rs 50 

lacs onwards near UC 

College. Contact: 

98934705, or 

skprealty@yahoo.com. 

GO & Buy in China 

Buildiing 

Materials 

Furniture 

Electronics 

Altogether in one 

container. We have 

staff in China to help 

you! Contact: 

98528776. 

C 

ARGO 

HURRY! Ramadhan 

sailing. Cargo for 

ZANZIBAR, DAR 

ES SALAAM & 

MOMBASA. 

Maritime Shipping 

Agency. 

24834850/ 

99323513 

CARGO transfer with 

attractive price to all 

areas in the Sultanate 

and outside of Oman 

(by truck). 

Contact: 00968- 

99171758 

G 

UEST HOUSE HO 

MURAHIB HOTEL H 

APARTMENTS 

APARTMEN 

welcome our valuable 

GUESTS to our 

excellent location, 

AL KHUWAIR, near 

AL ZAWAWI 

MOSQUE, a single 

bedroom, a bedroom & 

majlis, two bedrooms & 

majlis 24478087, 

Fax: 24482454. 

QURUM BEACH 

HOTEL. 24564070. 

CLASSIFIED SECTION: 

F 

OMAN DAILY Observer SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

SAVILLS OMAN 

QUALITY homes 

for rent throughout 

Capital Area 

Muscat. Contact: 


www.sav-oman.com 

BRAND new Villa 

for Rent. Location: 

Mabella South, Phase 

4, Block 2. Land area: 

850m 2 , built up area: 

500m2. The villa 

consists of two stories 

that have sitting room, 

4 bedrooms, dining 

room, kitchen, 2 halls 

and 5 bathrooms and 

2 toilets, 2 balconies, 

car park and open yard. 

The villa is equipped 

with 12 AC units 

(General brand). The 

villa's surrounding 

walls and ceiling are 

provided with heat 

insulation material. 

Contact: 99860416. 

FLAT for rent at Al 

Wattayah behind 

Honda Showroom, 2 

bedrooms, 2 toilets, 

sitting hall and big 

kitchen with balcony. 

Rent RO 320 

98544508. 

FLAT at Mawaleh, 2 

bedrooms, RO 250/- 

99009179, 99466655. 

BASEMENT 500 sq 

mtrs in a 5 oor building 

behind Towell, Al 

Athaiba. RO 3.5 per 

metre. 99333479 or 

95215360. 

2 FLATS of 2 bedrooms 

in Bareeq Shatti Mall 

available in July 2012. 

One fully furnished with 

a fully equipped kitchen 

and the other unfurnished. 

RO 700 for the 

furnished and RO 650 

for the unfurnished. One 

parking at the basement 

for each at 99333479 

or 95215360. 

VILLA at Al Hail north, 

consists of 6 rooms + annex 

(bedroom + kitchen) 

97308773. 

A VILLA for rent consists 

of six large rooms 

near Baladiya Masjid. 

Please contact Felix. 

93957254 now. 

FLATS for families in Al 

Khuwair and Ruwi and 

Wadi Kabir and Darsait. 

92125648/ 96055889 / 

99355265. 

FLATS studio in Al Khuwair 

and Wadi Kabir. 

Contact 92125648/ 

96055889 / 99355265. 

FOR RENT 

9000M² of secured 

open land, with basic 

ofce and labour camp 

facilities in GHALA. 

To be leased for long 

and short term lease. 

Serious offers write to 

2275/112. 

Tel : 24791485/ 

92137157 

A VILLA consists of six 

large rooms near Baladiya 

Masjid, please contact 

Felix 93957245 now. 

DRIVING school car, 

Nissan Tiida, very 

good condition like 

new, RO 250 monthly 

99333479 or 

95215360. 

VILLAS AT AMERAT: 

Furnished 6 bedrooms 

with servant quarter & 

new 7 bedrooms with 

excellent nish. Contact 

99884921, 99345914. 

SPACIOUS new 4 

bedroom villa plus family 

hall, dining hall, 5 

bathrooms, housemaid 

room, at Al Hail north at 

prime location, behind 

Zamzam Hypermarket, 

good for 2 family. Contact 

92881136. 

A SPACIOUS room 

at PDO road, Qurum 

99654530. 

FLAT, 3 bedrooms 

in Al Wadi Kabir 

95700400. 

FOR Rent, 4 bedroom 

house in Wadi Adai with 

2 halls, 4 WC & kitchen, 

for family only. Contact 

93452446, 99412651. 

A HOUSE at Al 

Ansab/2, 4 bedrooms, 

a sitting room, a hall, 3 

bathrooms. Contact: 

99738278. 

OFFICES, shops, villa 

at Al Khuwair, ats at Al 

Khuwair, Wadi 

Kabir, MBD, 

Mumtaz, furnished/ 

unfurnished. 

96596348. 

2 BEDROOM at 

at Madinat al Alam 

with a small garden 

24704994, 99238012. 

VILLA at Madinat al 

Alam with sea view 

24704994, 99238012. 

SPACE available for rent 

in running hypermarket 

at good location in Ruwi 

99338587. 

Sulaiman Awlad Thani: 95181747 

Ali al Maashari: 99639264 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

F 

14 

NEW warehouse at Al 

Misfah area, 1,200 sqm, 

income RO 26,400. 

Price 260,000, contract 

for 5 years. Contact 

99009179, 99466655. 

NEW 3 deluxe villas 

at Qurum Heights, 

price 750,000. Contact 

99009179, 99466655. 

COMMERCIAL or 

residential land at Ghubra, 

behind Al Maya, 

2,700 sqm with plan for 

70 ats and showrooms. 

Contact 99009179, 

99466655. 

3 BEDROOM at in Al 

Hail near Caledonian 

College/Tabarak Private 

School. Monthly 

income RO 300. RO 55 

thousand 99333479 or 

95215360. 

AUDIO system, JVC 

RX5001V audio/video 

control receiver dolby 

pro-logic 3D phonic, 

pioneer graphic equaliser 

GR-333, Panasonic 

DVD player DVD-S2, 

Bose AM-5 speaker. 

92841193. 

B 

A 

Available on very GOOD prices 

CC. AVA AVAILABLE 

ONE room with A/C & 

independent bathroom, 

sharing kitchen & hall. 

Suitable for small family/executive 

looking 

for Mangalorian/Goan 

family/executive in 

Mumtaz area. Contact 

98887512 

SINGLE room for 

ex-bachelor near 

Toyota service, Ruwi. 

92841193. 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

HP 1050 3 in 1 Printer 

RO 15.500 only 

HP 2050 3 in 1 Printer 

RO 16.900 only 

HP OJ 4500 Printer 

RO 24.900 only 

HP Colour Laser M175a 3 in 1 

RO 109.900 only 

AII HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark, Samsung 

Cartridges also available. 

OR SAL SALE 

COFFEE Shop at Al 

Hail. 99323957. 

UYING & SSELLING 

USED furniture and 

shifting99320402 

S 

ALE/BUYING 

ALE/BUY 

USED furniture buying 

wall paper supply and 

xing, sale of all types of 

blinds, curtains, carpet. 

Yousuf 99834373. 

COMPUTER SUPPLIES 

Ruwi: 24792792 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

4 VILLAS (under 

construction) in one plot 

in Al Ansab phase 3. One 

has 5 bedrooms and 4 

bedrooms in each of the 

3 villas. All have extra 

maid room on the 3rd 

oor. RO 140 thousand 

for the big villa and 

RO 95 thousand each for 

the small villas. The big 

villa has provision for lift 

and small/kids swimming 

pool 99333479 or 

95215360. 

884 SQ mtrs residential 

commercial land in Al 

Ghubra north behind 

Waleed Pharmacy and 

near to Shell. RO 275 


95215360. 

ONE side of Twin villa 

in Al Ansab phase 3 near 

the roundabout. It has 5 

bedrooms, 3 oors and 

one extra small room and 

laundry outside. RO 115 


95215360. 

600 SQ mtrs residential 

land in Al Ghubra 

South, behind Al 

Waseet. The land has 

a 3 bedroom single 

storey house. RO 155 

thousand. 99333479 or 

95215360. 

D 

DIRECT: 24649594 - FAX : 24649590 

e-mail: classified@omandaily.om 

CLASSIFIED SECTION 

RUWI: 24785668 

Behind Royal Oman Police 

Adjacent to 

Dhofar Building 

RIVING SSCHOOL 

GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! GOOD PRICE!!! 

MORNING STAR 

DRIVING SCHOOL S 

— Learn driving 

manual/ automatic with 

professionally qualified 

male/ female trainees in 

brand new cars and 

flexible payments. Call: 

99043283, 

24478589, 24478505, 

www.chamberman.com/ 

member/morningstar 

www.morningstar.com 

al-haditha 

centre 

AUTO REPAIR 

CENTRE 

Quality Repairs & Maintenance of all 

types of Cars and Heavy vehicles 

(ROP approved Grade A Workshop) 

Telephone: 24595951/1414, Fax: 24597979. 

ILYA MANPOWER 

HOUSEMAIDS 

available from 

Philippines, 

Sri Lanka & 

Africa. All 

types of skilled 

workers (waiters, 

cooks, drivers, 

constructions, 

industrials, hotels 

& ministries.....) 

Tel/Fax 

22050086 — Hail 

Shimaly Al Jabri 

Blg. next to 

Bahja Mall. 

R 

OR RENT/INVEST. 

RENT 

EQUIRED EQUIRE 

BUSINESS FOR SALE 

CONTRACTING/CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOR SALE 

A very well established first grade company with experience 

since July 2008 which have a serious potential 

growth opportunities to expand this business through expected 

Contracts under negotiation. 

A total of existing 215 people resources including staff, 

labours, and clearances and all the vehicles, equipment, 

components, fixtures and supplies on hand are included in 

the purchase price. 

For further information, send e-mail to: 

cos4sale@hotmail.com 

F 

INDUSTRIAL land in 

Rusayil, 400m 2 divided 

1,000 m 2 , divided 1,000 

m2 for each land. Ready 

for industrial workshops 

99323957, 95490842, 

96554668. 

Investor is required: 

For Commercial/ 

Resident land at 

wilayat Al Suwaiq (Al 

Tharmad), 4,893 sq 

m on Muscat, Sohar 

road + a building (13 

shops + 4 ats (all 

are for rent). Annual 

income RO 24,000. 

A big surrounded 

space suitable for a lot 

of activities and for 

long-term investment. 

Contact 99221466, 

0097150-6676406. 

CLASSIFIEDS 

Continued on P-15

S 

ITUATION WANTED SITUATION WANTED SITUATION WANTED 

OMANI Electronics/Calibration 

Engineer (DIP), 20 

years experience in Royal 

Air Force as supervisor and 

completed training in USA 

and Air Force Technical 

College, seeks suitable 

placement 92673041. 

DIPLOMA civil engineer 

Indian male 26, 3.5 years 

experience in building 

construction, 1.5 years 

in Oman with Oman 

driving licence. Contact 

95989500. E-mail: 

cv.shihabedappal@gmail. 

com 

INDIAN male, senior accountant, 

B.Com, MBA 

Finance, 11 years experience 

in accounts & nance (4 years 

in Oman) having valid Omani 

D/L, seeks suitable placement 

98248377. 

B TECH Mechanical 

Engineer with two years 

experience, seeks suitable 

job. Contact e-mail: 

sujithadoor@yahoo.com 


INDIAN male, Commerce 

graduate, passed IATA 

foundation and consultant 

course is looking for a 

suitable placement. 

Contact 98925587. 

INDIAN female teacher, 

(B.Sc maths & MCA, C 

C++, VB, Oracle, MS 

Ofce), 2 years experience, 

teaching subjects: maths 

and computer science, 

presently on family 

visa, seeks suitable 

opportunities. Contact 

98011716. E-mail: 

jishatr@gmail.com 

INDIAN female, MBA, 

(Finance & Human 

Resources), 2 years 

experience in reputed 

organisation in India, 

presently on family visa, 

seeks suitable placement. 

Contact 98825245. E-mail: 

sharmy_palakeel@yahoo. 

co.in 

QUALIFIED nance 

controller with 10 

years experience in 

manufacturing, trading 

& construction in Oman 

looking for an opportunity 

96341326. 

INDIAN male, 32 years 

‘Steel Foreman’ having 

7 years Gulf experience 

in well reputed company 

working as cutting, 

bending and xing 

supervision of steel. 

Seeking immediately 

placement in well reputed 

company. Contact 

94105072. 

MBA male, 6 + years 

of experience in human 

resource, training & 

development, admin and 

projects. Looking for 

suitable position. Contact 

97603723. 

OMANI seeks position in 

HSE. E-mail: jeebal3000@ 

gmail.com 

ACCOUNTANT, Indian 

male, 27 years, MBA 

Finance with 6 years 

of working experience 

(2 years in Oman) in 

accounts, nance & 

purchase, seeks suitable 

placement. Contact 

93750815. 

MALE, having 5 years 

working experience as 

an ofce assistant and 

having bachelor degree, 

computer literate, MS 

Ofce, looking for suitable 

placement in Oman. 

Contact 92758192. 

E-mail: asifbhatti_53@ 

hotmail.com 

INDIAN male, 25 years, 

BA, MA (Arabic) with 

good knowledge in 

translation of Arabic & 

English, MS Ofce, seeks 

as a translator or suitable 

placement 95646785. 

FINANCE & accounts 

manager, 9 yrs Oman 

experience, 10 yrs India 

experience, excellent 

English & communication 

skills, nalisation, Audit, 

MIS, bank facilities, 

credit & collection, 

purchases, etc, seeks 

senior position in MNCs, 

reputed companies, 

immediate joining 

99283938. 

INDIAN male, 

B.Tech in electronics 

and communication 

engineering, looking 

for job. Contact 

92533114/93936878. 

E-mail: rijwingeorge@ 

gmail.com 

EXECUTIVE Secretary 

with 10 years experience 

(8 years in Oman), uent 

English spoken and 

written, familiar with 

electronic communication 

seeks placement. Contact 

99635059. 

BE (Electronics and 

Communications) and 

MBA, having experience 

in handling purchase 

and supply chain, seeks 

suitable placement in 

procurement/logistics, etc. 

E-mail: jesham12486@ 

gmail.com. 

PHARMACIST with MoH 

licence, seeks suitable 

placement in Muscat area 

99566311. 

ACCOUNTANT 

ve years experience 

handling accounting up to 

nalisation, seeks part-time 

job. Contact 95968160. 

INDIAN male, diploma in 

automobile engineering, 

having Oman experience 

in pre-owned car with 

18 yrs experience, seeks 


95095530 

Mailing Address: OBSERVER CLASSIFIEDS SECTION, P.O. Box 974, Muscat, P.C. 100 

Location: OEPPA HEAD OFFICE, Medinat Al Alam, 

Near Ministry of Information 24649 593, 594, 594, 595, 596, 597 

& OEPPA Ruwi Office, Next to Dhofar Bldg, Behind Ruwi Police Station 24785668 

15 

CLASSIFIEDS 


ARCHITECT, 3 years 

in Oman, experience in 

construction nishes 

and drawings, uent 

AutoCAD, Photoshop 

and 3D: 97164803 

INDIAN male with 5 

yrs experience in Oman 

& 17 yrs experience in 

India with own business, 

presently working as 

showroom incharge, 

looking for suitable 


99133255. E-mail: 

priayraman28@yahoo.com 

INDIAN Draftsman, 

having 10 years exp (4 

years in Oman) in 

architectural, interior 

decorators works, seeks 

suitable placement. 

Contact: 95934829. 

M.TECH in construction 

engg & management, 

B.Tech in civil, Indian 

male having 8 years of 

experience in tendering 

and contracts, planning 

with P3 and other software 

in Dubai and India on 

visit visa, seeks suitable 

placement. 97701845. 

E-mail: rabbayalam@ 

gmail.com 

DIPLOMA in mechanical 

engineer, having more 

than 12 years experience 

in fabrication (pressure 

vessel, heat exchanger, 

column, reactor, 

transformer). Contact 

92660457. 

INDIAN female MCom 

graduate experienced as 

Accounts Assistant with 

computer literate, Tally 

and banking, seeks suitable 

placement. 95357969 

ACCOUNTS Manager 


(Oman & Dubai) with 

GCC licence, seeks 

immediate placement. 

Contact: 93946545. 

MBA marketing, + 

8 years experience in 

nance, administration, 

SAP, Oracle, Focus, 

GCC driving licence. 

98200126. 

SUDANESE B.E. 

Electronics & 

Communication (Anna 

University, India), good 

knowledge in R F planning 

& optimisation (2G, 

3G), BTS 3900, RTN 

Installation with CCNA 

97620210 


diploma in automobile 

engineering having Gulf 

experience in transport, 

logistics, operation 

maintenance, seeks 

suitable position in 

transport 

operation supervisory/ 

sales position. Contact 

93732699. 

QUALIFIED nance 

controller with 10 years 

experience in contracting, 

manufacturing and 

trading, looking for an 

opportunity and available 

to join immediately. 

Contact 96341326. 


SENIOR accounting 

professional with 25 

years excellent 

experience looking for a 

senior job immediately. 

Local release available 

99359254. 

20 YEARS experienced 

professional in business 

development of construction 

chemical, water 

proong and coating industry, 

who is well versed 

in UAE & Oman market, 

seeks senior management 

level position in a reputed 

organisation. Contact 

99420769. 

A PAKISTANI national 

Chemical Engineer, having 

internship in fertilizers 

& chemicals with 1 year 

job experience in sugar 

sector, recently working 

in Salalah, seeks better 

placement. 93848364. 


Accountant in Oman with 

computer background 

with valid Omani 

driving licence, seeks for 

placement. 96323749, 

95194404. 

LOOKING for part-time 

job with any reputed 

company/personals for 

admin/HR/secretarial 

works, having computer 

knowledge and well 

versed in Arabic language 

and any contract wised 

documents work also will 

be completed. Call: 

95331600 

INDIAN Project 

Engineer with 15 years of 

experience, seeks suitable 

placement in reputed 

consultancy, contracting 

company in senior 

position, please contact 

96592025. 

SENIOR Accountant, 

Indian male, B.Com, 

PGDCA, 10 yrs experience 

in accounts, nance up to 

nalisation. Well-versed 

with MIS reporting, Tally 

& ERP, 5 yrs experience 

in Oman. Contact 

95593273. 


on visit visa, 6 months 

experience as Accounts 

Assistant and in Marketing. 

BBA (Bachelor of Business 

Administration) and DIFA 

(Diploma in Indian and 

Foreign Accounting), 

languages known English, 

Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil. 

93129142. E-mail: 

cheriyanprince@gmail.com 

BUSINESS Development 

Manager, 16 years 

experience in oil & 

gas, petrochemical, 

environmental, laboratory 

and calibration services. 

Contact: sssbusiness@ 

yahoo.com 

BE (Electronics & 

Communication Engineer), 

Indian male, 24 yrs 

experience in India, ongoing 

MBA, CCNA 

completed, on visit visa, 


Contact 93807203, 

E-mail: thejus2310@ 

gmail.com 

BACHELOR of 

Engineering in 

Computer Science with 

5 years experience in 

multinational company, 

business development, 

SAP & people soft. 

Good knowledge in 

Photoshop, Web design, 

seminar presentations. 

Holding advance 

diploma in human 

resource management, 

presently in Oman. 

E-mail: bd.hbk1983@ 

gmail.com. Contact 

94200105. 

SRI Lankan male, 

currently working in 

Oman, holding diplomas 

in HR and Business 

Management, having 5 

years experience in Gulf 

and 7 years in Sri Lanka 

in HR/Administration/ 

Purchasing/Sales 

Administration, good 

knowledge of IT, seeks 

suitable placement 

98878815 E-mail: 

domi292003@yahoo.com. 

WELL-qualied nance 

controller with 10 years 

experience in reputable 

manufacturing, contracting 

& trading companies in 

Oman, looking for an 

opportunity, currently in 

Sri Lanka, available to 

join immediately. Please 

contact 0094778560312, 

gunaratnac@gmail.com. 

Local 97195540. 

AUTOCAD Draughtsman, 

Indian male, 25 years 

having 2 years Oman 

experience in MEP 

draughtsmen, seeks for 

placement. Contact: 

93233427, 99504816. 


B.Tech, worked as 

Graduate Trainee Engineer 

at Innite Shipping and 

Engg Pvt Ltd from 2 

August 2011 to 12 April 

2012, knowing Autocad, 

Autodesk inventor, 

Solidworks, MS Ofce, 

Ansys analysis software, 


frederick_000@yahoo. 

co.in 

INDIAN male, Technical 

Project Manager, 

B-Tech in Electrical and 

Electronics, history of 

entrepreneurship and 

experience with energy 

management projects, 

electrical machines 

and installations, 7 

years experience, seeks 


98567230, 99622930, 

dilu.mohan@gmail.com 


Indian male, 3 years 

worked as bank operation 

ofcer in international 

bank in Bahrain, 7 years 

experience in Middle 

East in leading reputed 

companies as Operation 

Manger/Admin Manager, 

in various departments 

(Audit/nance/Admin/ 

Accounts/operation). 

Presently working as 

operation and admin 

manager in Oman, seeking 

for suitable position. 

Contact: 98519020. 

S 

ITUATION VACANT 

URGENTLY required for 

a construction 

company 

1. 1 Project Ma Manager - 1 

No, Graduate in Civil 

Engineer with 10 years in 

execution of projects; 2. 

Quantity Surveyor - 1 

No, Graduate/diploma in 

Civil Engineering with 10 

years in Quantity Surveying; 

3. Site Engineer 

- 3 Nos, Diploma in Civil 

Engineering with 10 years 

in execution; 4. Electrical 

Engineer - 1 No, 

Graduate in Electrical 

Engineering with 5 years 

experience. Candidates 

with valid Omani driving 

licence will be given preference. 

Please send CV to 

admin@pctoman.com or 

Fax to 24502112. 

EXPERIENCED English, 

math and science teachers 

are required for a private 

school. 99360842, 


URGENTLY required 

Workshop Managers 

— 2 Nos for a leading 

Transport Company — 

Crane Division and Truck 

Division. The candidates 

should have good technical 

background dealing 

with repair & maintenance 

of cranes, forklifts and 

trucks with minimum 

managerial experience of 

5 years plus in a transport 

company in similar capacity. 

Send your detailed 

resume with photograph 

to shidhany@omantel.net. 

om or ahmed.suliman@ 

sultan-s.com 

S 

ITUATION WANTED 

BSC, MCA, Indian male, 

2 years experience in IT 

industry, seeks suitable 

position 93883120. 


BBA (degree), DIFA 

(diploma in Indian & 

foreign accounting), 

6 months work experience 

in marketing and as 

accounts assistant, on visit 

visa 93129142. 

FINANCE manager, 

15 years + experience 

(Oman & India) in 

project nancing MIS, 

management accounts, 

budget costing, ERP, 

project feasibility study, 

business promotion 

etc, seeks immediate 


92439941 E-mail: 

georaji9@hotmail.com 

HR Manager/ 

Administration Manager 


in Oman. Contact 

92719485. 

PROFESSIONAL 

videographer with good 

editing system available 

for functions and events 

99011423. 

INDIAN female, 26, 

B.Tech in Electrical & 

Electronics, 4½ years of 

experience as business 

analyst in telecom 

domain, currently 

working in a leading 

MNC in Bangalore, 

looking for suitable 

opportunities in Muscat, 

98567230, 24593202. 

A COMPANY at 

Wilayat of Sur requires 

a Supervisor for 

cleaning department 

with experience. 

For inquiry call 

25540330. 25542760. 

URGENTLY required 11 

kV cable jointer with certicate. 

Please send your 

details to: hr@altaher.com 

— Fax 24605001. 

URGENTLY required 

experienced personnel 

for a rapidly growing 

organisation: 1 

Accountant. Experienced 

candidates please e-mail 

CV to: aston@omantel. 

net.om 

REQUIRED Abaya 

Tailor. Contact. 


REQUIRED Henna 

Specialist to work in a 

beauty salon. Contact. 


VACANCIES — Required 

a Dentist to work 

in a private clinic in 

Muscat with experience 

not less than 5 years. 

Also required a Nurse or 

Dental assistant. Contact 

99785084. 

FILIPINO female looking 

for job placement for 

sales and marketing, 

knows Tally, Excel, 

administration job. 

Contact: 93421264. 

MALE, having bachelor 

degree and 5 yrs working 

experience as an ofce 

assistant, good knowledge 

of MS Ofce, seeks 

suitable placement in 

Oman 92758192, 

E-mail: asifbhatti_53@ 

hotmail.com 

B.TECH computer 

engineer with good 

knowledge in Java Asp 

Net C, Oracle SQLC++, 

MS Ofce, Windows 

& Linux, on visit visa, 

experience as system 

administrator, looking for 

placement in software, 

networking. Contact 

97638112. 

U 

MRAH/HAJ 

MRAH/HA 

AL Hikmani 

for 

HAJ and UMRAH UM 

— With a hhost 

of 

services including 

the following: Hiring 

luxurious coaches, 

arranging weekly trips, 

preparing visas for 

expats at cost-effective 

price, including 

transport, housing, 

meals and visits to 

shrine locations. Land 

and air trips weekly. 

(99311310, 24566016, 

99361982, 99707248, 

99322124.

FLIGHT LIGHT SSCHEDULE 

CHEDULE 

ARRIVALS ALS S — SUNDAY SSUNDAY 

Flight No Aircraft From om / Via STA 

WY614 B737-8 Dubai 0005 

WY648 B737-8 Kuwait 0015 

WY682 B737-8 Riyadh 0015 

WY717 B737-8 Zanzibar-Dar-es-Salaam 0015 

WY648 B737-8 Kuwait 0015 

WY824 A330-200 Kuala Lumpur 0100 

NL771 B737-2 Peshawar 0130 

IX141 B737-8 Amritsar 0140 

PK223 A310 Sialkot-Peshawar 0230 

KU677 A320 Kuwait-Dubai 0230 

QR170 A320 Doha 0315 

EY384 A320 Abu Dhabi 0350 

EK866 B777 Dubai 0355 

FZ041 B737-8 Dubai 0415 

GF560 E190 Bahrain 0425 

RJ600 A319 Amman 0505 

WY662 E175AR Doha 0700 

WY114 A330-200 Frankfurt 0725 

FZ043 B737-8 Dubai 0740 

WY632 ATR42 Abu Dhabi 0800 

WY602 B737-7 Dubai 0800 

WY914 B737-8 Salalah 0800 

WY202 B737-8 Bombay 0800 

NL669 B737-2 Sialkot 0830 

WY274 B737-8 Jaipur 0840 

WY238 B737-8 Hyderabad 0850 

WY102 A330-300 London Heathrow 0900 

WY254 B737-8 Madras 0920 

WY262 B737-8 Lucknow 0920 

WY218 B737-8 Trivandrum 0925 

WY224 B737-8 Cochin 0925 

EK862 B777 Dubai 0930 

QR166 A321 Doha 0950 

G9113 A320 Sharjah 0955 


9W530 B737-8 Trivandrum 1045 

WY3302 ATR42 Mukhaizna 1045 

IX549 B737-8 Trivandrum 1050 

WY604 E175AR Dubai 1100 

WY336 B737-8 Kathmandu 1140 


IX337 B737-8 Calicut 1255 

WY918 ATR42 Khasab 1315 

WY606 B737-8 Dubai 1330 

WY924 B737-8 Salalah 1440 

WY324 B737-8 Karachi 1440 


MP097 B747F Amsterdam 1600 

WY654 E175AR Bahrain 1615 

WY204 B737-8 Bombay 1655 


QR164 A321 Doha 1735 

WY608 B737-8 Dubai 1740 

WY298 B737-8 Calicut 1750 

WY664 B737-7 Doha 1800 

WY284 B737-8 Bangalore 1800 

GF564 A319 Bahrain 1810 


TG507 A330 Bangkok-Karachi 1900 

G9117 A320 Sharjah 1905 

WY374 B737-8 Colombo 1905 

WY316 B737-8 Chittagong 1910 


FZ047 B737-8 Dubai 2020 

WY124 A330-300 Munich 2030 

WY142 A330-200 Malpensa 2040 

KL449 A330 Amsterdam-Abu Dhabi 2045 

WY134 A330-200 Paris 2045 

AI973 A320 Delhi 2125 

BA073 B777 London Heathrow-Abu Dhabi 2130 

WY616 B737-8 Dubai 2145 

AI907 A319 Madras 2200 

LH618 A340 Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi 2215 

QR168 A320 Doha 2235 


LX242 A330 Zurich-Dubai 2235 

GF566 B737-7 Bahrain 2250 

WY624 ATR42 Al Ain 2305 


WY668 B737-7 Doha 2310 

AI985 A321 Ahmedabad-Bombay 2310 

WY672 B737-8 Jeddah 2315 

WY636 B737-8 Abu Dhabi 2315 

WY686 B737-8 Dammam 2320 

WY423 B737-8 Beirut-Amman 2325 

9W534 B737-8 Cochin 2330 

WY816 A330-200 Bangkok 2335 

9W540 B737-8 Bombay 2340 

QUOTATIONS FOR TODAY 

Leadership is a matter of having people look at 

you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. 

If you’re in control, they’re in control. 

— Tom Landry 

Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, 

without which confidence and ability to perform 

shall cease to exist. 

— Mary Kay Ash 

CINEMA 

FILM INFORMATION 

www.citycinemaoman.net 

AL BAHJA CINEMA: 

24540856, 24540855. 

AL NASR CINEMA: 

24831358, 24831809 (after 3pm) 

AL SHATTI PLAZA: 

24607360, 24692656 (after 2pm) 

STARS CINEMA: 

24791641, 24792360 

MAJLIS A’SHURA 

ADDRESSES 

Keep in touch with Majlis Ash’shura’s 

news. 

Log on to the Majlis’s website: 

www.shura.om 

and the Majlis’s 

e-mail: info@shura.om 

Or write to the Majlis’s postal address: 

P O Box 981 

Postal Code 111, Muscat 

Tel: 24510344 / 24521427/ 

Fax 24510560 

INFORMATION 

MINISTRY WEBSITES 

Ministry: www.omanet.om 

Oman TV: 

www.oman-tv.gov.om 

Oman Radio: 

www.oman-radio.gov.om 

Omani Centre for Traditional Music: 

www.octm-folk.gov.om 

OMAN RADIO 

06.00 am Opening, Royal Anthem, The Holy Quran, 

Preview of Morning Programme, Weather Forecast, 

Pharmacies on Duty; 06.15 Good Morning Oman; 

07.00 News Bulletin; 07.10 Good Morning Oman 

(Sat-Wed); 10.00 News Headlines; 10.02 Piano; 

11.00 Instrumental Music; 11.30 Light Classical 

Music; 12.00 News Headlines; 12.02 Artist of the 

Day (June); 12.07 Mid Day Edition - June; 02.30 

News Bulletin; 02.40 Behind The Wheel (Laxmi); 

04.00 News Headlines; 04.02 Omanesque (Laxmi); 

06.30 News Bulletin; 06.40 Out in Oman; 07.00 

Premium League (Murtadha) Live; 08.00 News 

Headlines; 08.02 The Oasis (Frank); 10.00 News 

Bulletin; 10.10 Euro Hits; 11.00 Selector Part 1 

(Repeat); 12.00 Selector Part 2 (Repeat); 12.40 

News Summary; 12.45 The Holy Quran; 01.00 

National Anthem, Close Down. 

Flight No Aircraft 

DEPARTURES 

To / Via STD 

BA072 B777 Abu Dhabi-London Heathrow 0001 

AI986 A321 Bombay-Ahmedabad 0005 

WY113 A330-300 Frankfurt 0045 

9W539 B737-8 Bombay 0045 

KQ318 B737-8 Nairobi 0050 

WY253 B737-8 Madras 0115 

WY601 B737-7 Dubai 0115 

WY217 B737-8 Trivandrum 0115 

WY237 B737-8 Hyderabad 0120 

WY223 B737-8 Cochin 0120 


WY261 B737-8 Lucknow 0125 

WY661 E175AR Doha 0130 

WY241 B737-8 Delhi 0130 

WY201 B737-8 Bombay 0130 

9W529 B737-8 Trivandrum 0130 

WY123 A330-300 Munich 0200 

WY141 A330-200 Malpensa 0200 

WY273 B737-8 Jaipur 0205 

NL668 B737-2 Sialkot 0215 

IX816 B737-8 Abu Dhabi-Mangalore 0220 

WY133 A330-200 Paris 0230 

WY335 B737-8 Kathmandu 0235 

PK224 A310 Peshawar-Sialkot 0330 

FZ042 B737-8 Dubai 0500 

EK867 B777 Dubai 0500 


KU678 A320 Dubai-Kuwait 0540 

QR171 A320 Doha 0550 



RJ601 A319 Amman 0715 


FZ044 B737-8 Dubai 0820 

WY315 B737-8 Chittagong 0900 

NL772 B737-2 Peshawar 0930 

WY373 B737-8 Colombo 1000 

WY297 B737-8 Calicut 1005 

WY815 A330-200 Bangkok 1010 

WY283 B737-8 Bangalore 1015 

WY323 B737-8 Karachi 1020 

WY605 B737-8 Dubai 1030 

WY917 ATR42 Khasab 1030 

WY923 B737-8 Salalah 1035 

G9114 A320 Sharjah 1035 

WY203 B737-8 Bombay 1040 

EK863 B777 Dubai 1045 


QR167 A321 Doha 1055 


9W533 B737-8 Cochin 1145 

IX554 B737-8 Cochin-Trivandrum 1150 


WY823 A330-300 Kuala Lumpur 1300 

WY423 B737-8 Beirut-Amman 1310 

WY405 B737-8 Cairo 1310 


WY663 B737-7 Doha 1330 


IX350 B737-8 Calicut 1355 

WY101 A330-300 London Heathrow 1400 

WY607 B737-8 Dubai 1440 


WY671 B737-8 Jeddah 1540 


MP097 B747F Sharjah-Hong Kong 1800 

WY615 B737-8 Dubai 1805 

QR165 A321 Doha 1840 

GF565 A319 Bahrain 1855 

WY685 B737-8 Dammam 1905 

WY647 B737-8 Kuwait 1905 

WY681 B737-8 Riyadh 1910 

WY667 B737-7 Doha 1910 


G9118 A320 Sharjah 1945 

TG508 A330 Karachi-Bangkok 2005 

WY927 B737-8 Salalah 2010 

WY635 B737-8 Abu Dhabi 2015 

WY623 ATR42 Al Ain 2015 

WY613 B737-7 Dubai 2045 

FZ048 B737-8 Dubai 2105 

KL450 A330 Abu Dhabi-Amsterdam 2200 

WY817 A330-300 Bangkok 2205 

WY913 B737-8 Salalah 2245 

AI908 A319 Madras 2300 

AI974 A320 Delhi 2310 


LX243 A330 Dubai-Zurich 2335 

QR169 A320 Doha 2335 

GF567 B737-7 Bahrain 2345 

LH619 A340 Abu Dhabi-Frankfurt 2355 

CRYPTIC PUZZLE 

ACROSS 

1 Those all pulled out with 

arresting effect? (5) 

6 A well balanced game (5) 

9 The realistic viewer has 

no such illusions! (7) 

10 Without a happy woman, 

the thing doesn’t work 

(2,3) 

11 Bird-like fielder? (5) 

12 Many a target will make 

demands (5) 

13 Money going inland? (7) 

15 Catch coming back from 

the bank (3) 

17 Water with a pronounced 

odour (4) 

18 Ridicule makes one stare 

wildly around! (6) 

19 A basis for footwork (5) 

20 Was rude to a busman! 

(6) 

22 Carry a note into a bar (4) 

24 Harlesden boy? (3) 

25 Put down by a puzzler? 

(7) 

26 She takes as much as she 

can hold on the Fourth of 

July (5) 

27 This subject comes first, I 

see (5) 

28 Secondary highway, but 

wide (5) 

29 An old-fashined rotter (7) 

30 Men consume half a loaf 

with fruit (5) 

31 It grows shaky when 

there’s a wind (5) 

DOWN 

2 The flute player did so 

also, Edward (6) 

3 It’s worse when the rope 

tangles round the back of 

tractor (6) 

4 Look soppy without work 

(3) 

5 A passage in Paisley (5) 

6 Even without Al, it would 

still be wonderful (7) 

7 Almost a lump of 

chemical (4) 

8 Low place where some 

fellows go in a car (6) 

12 No longer terribly crude? 

(5) 

13 Sort of jelly for boys (5) 

16 

INFORMATION/LEISURE SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

PHARMACIES 

PHARM 

24-HOUR SERVICE 

Al Hashar H h ph, h Ruwi 24783334 

Muscat ph, Ruwi, 24702542 

Al Sarooj, 24695536 

Scientific ph, Qurum, 24566601 

Ruwi, 24702850 

DAY DUTY 

Muscat Muscat 24456344 

Al Hashar 24714687 

Crown 24542118 

Scientific 24480230 

Sur Ibn Al Nafees 

25544779 

Ibri Muscat 25689025 

Buraimi The Modern 

25650755 

Nizwa Basmat Nizwa 

25431060 

Salalah Al Eman 23290170 

NIGHT DUTY 

Muscat Scientific 24451195 

Apollo 24787766 

Muscat 24535977 

Muscat 24485740 

Sur City Centre 25542965 

Ibri Al Hekma 25688177 

Buraimi Fajr Al Khaleej 

25654321 

Barka Scientific 26883673 

Rustaq Bader Al Jashm 

26875798 

Samayil Belquees 25352186 

Nizwa Badr Al Samaa 

25447777 

Salalah Abu Al Dahab 

23291303 

KHOULA HOSPITAL VISITING HOURS 

Private & Other Wards 

Working Days: 16:00-18:00. Weekends & Public 

Holidays: 10:-12:00, 16:00-18:00 

ICU 

Working Days: 16:00-17:00. Weekends & Public 

Holidays: 16:00-17:00 

Special Care Baby Unit 

Working Days: Parents may visit at any time. 

Weekends & Public Holidays: Parents may visit 

at any time 

14 The Romans imagined 

her to be heavenly (5) 

15 Cold-hearted but getting 

better (5) 

16 Hirsute poet out East (5) 

18 She wants, say, about 

fifty quid (5) 

19 A flier (“Big Bill”) to 

help you across the road 

(7) 

21 Earlier, minced beef 

containing a certain 

amount of pork (6) 

22 Stays on the stage? (6) 

23 Give the water treatment 

(6) 

25 Loud musical instrument? 

(5) 

26 If upset, act like a dog! 

(4) 

28 Big-headed artist many 

women have a use for (3) 

EASY PUZZLE 

ACROSS 

1 Once more (5) 

6 Surrenders (5) 

9 In name only (7) 

10 Scottish landowner (5) 

11 Drip hot fat over (5) 

12 Glossy fabric (5) 

13 Fuss (7) 

CROSSWORD 

15 Weaken (3) 

17 Among (4) 

18 Rubbish (6) 

19 Celestial body (5) 

20 Black eye, informally (6) 

22 Info (4) 

24 Nevertheless (3) 

25 Burial (7) 

26 Step (5) 

27 Country (5) 

28 Pointer (5) 

29 Local language (7) 

30 Place of safety (5) 

31 Not these! (5) 

DOWN 

2 Boy’s name (6) 

3 Incursion (6) 

4 Signal agreement (3) 

5 Cheroot, say (5) 

6 Furniture item (7) 

7 Style and vigour (4) 

8 Crowd actors (6) 

12 Spanish man (5) 

13 Plant (5) 

14 Restrict (5) 

15 Sucrose (5) 

16 Of the foot (5) 

18 Happen again (5) 

19 Sure (7) 

21 Rupture (6) 

22 Scarcity (6) 

Hospital. . . . . . Board . . . . . . . Emergency 

Royal. . . . . . . .24599000 . . . .24590491 

Health Services Department 

Muttrah . . . . . .24797602 

Quriyat . . . . . .24845001 . . . .24845003 

SQH, Salalah .23211555 . . . .23211151 

Police . . . . . . .24603988 . . . .24603980 

Al Nahda. . . . .24831255 . . . .24837800 

Ibn Sina . . . . .24876322 . . . .24877361 

Nizwa . . . . . . .25439361 . . . .25425033 

Al Rustaq . . . .26875055 . . . .26877186 

Sumayil. . . . . .25350055 . . . .25350022 

Izki . . . . . . . . .25340033 . . . .25340033 

Haima . . . . . . .23436013 . . . .23436055 

Sohar . . . . . . .26840022 . . . .26840099 

23 Claws (6) 

25 Young female horse (5) 

26 Flank (4) 

28 Perform (3) 

YESTERDAY’S 

CRYPTIC SOLUTIONS 

ACROSS: 3, S-tea-l 8, Ar- 

Ray 10, Nahum 11, Oil 12, 

Craig 13, Ex-plain 15, Metal 

18, Bit 19, Marina 21, 

Cod-ic-I-L 22, AI-Ry. 23, 

Cert 24, Merited 26, Stamen 

29, M-EN 31, Y-UK-on 32, 

Panties 34, Ratel 35, Rag 

36, L-I-lac 37, Tan-go 38, 

Level. 

DOWN: 1, Pr-OX-y 2, Ball 

boy 4, Turn 5, Animal 6, 

Lager 7, Human 9, Rip 12, 

C-itiz-en 14, AI-D 16, Tired 

17, Laity 19, Mini-Mal 

20, Dai’s-y 21, Creak 23, 

Central 24, M-EN-ace 25, 

Ten 27, Tur-I-n 28, M-oral 

30, P-egg-y 32, Peke (peak) 

33, Ian. 

YESTERDAY’S EASY 

SOLUTIONS 

ACROSS: 3. Clots; 8. 

Decay; 10. Aisle; 11. Ray; 

12. Nerve; 13. Octopus; 15. 

Event; 18. Nip; 19. Brenda; 

21. Mention; 22. Whet; 

23. Pest; 24. Launder; 26. 

Primal; 29. Con; 31. Satan; 

32. Senator; 34. Icons; 35. 

Low; 36. Blame; 37. Straw; 

38. Steps. 

DOWN: 1. Mercy; 2. 

Bayonet; 4. Lees; 5. 

Tavern; 6. Sieve; 7. Eland; 

9. Cat; 12. Nuptial; 14. Pin; 

16. Enter; 17. Taste; 19. 

Bounces; 20. Swaps/Swops; 

21. Merit; 23. Penalty; 24. 

Lancet; 25. Don; 27. Rally; 

28. Maims; 30. Rowan; 32. 

Snap; 33. Tor. 

IF IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY: After a period of hesitation you will become more resolute and 

decisive in the coming year. Although you will still bear in mind the need for caution in some 

actions. You will have to rely on other sources of help in certain quarters. 

CANCER 

(June 22-July 21) 

If you agreed to take part in 

an enterprise involving other 

people, you must endeavour 

to fulfil your promise as much depends on 

this venture. 

LEO 

(July 22-August 21) 

The unqualified success of 

a former fellow student may 

encourage you to change your mind and 

resume the career which you thought might 

not be productive enough. 

VIRGO 

(August 22- 

September 22) 

Don’t let an appeal to your 

emotions affect your judgement, 

where logical reasoning and realistic 

approach is vital to the right decision. 

LIBRA 

(September 23- 

October 22) 

If you are tempted to gamble, 

make sure you cannot lose more than you 

can afford. This will enable you to keep 

your gambling on a fun level. 

YOUR STARS 

SCORPIO 

(October 23- 

November 21) 

An obstreperous youngster 

needs a good telling off once in a while 

even though it is against your nature to be 

severe. 

SAGITTARIUS 

(November 22- 

December 21) 

The week may nish with a 

spot of bother at work, but it will not spoil 

the pleasure of the weekend to which you 

are looking forward so much. 

CAPRICORN 

(December 22- 

January 20) 

Arrangements for a forthcoming 

party are getting off to a slow start, 

but by the time the day arrives, prospects 

will be most exciting. 

AQUARIUS 

(January 21-Feb 19) 

There are ways of contacting 

long lost friends, so go 

through ofcial channels if you feel 

strongly that you need to know how 

things are going with them. 

PISCES 

(February 20-March 20) 

In order not to shock an 

elderly relative, it may be 

best to withhold some of the truth 

when reporting an incident about the 

family. 

ARIES 

(March 21-April 20) 

Repay some money you 

owe before it slips your 

mind. You don’t want to get a reputation 

of being a person who doesn’t settle 

debts. 

TAURUS 

(April 21-May 20) 

This is a frustrating time 

for you, so try and relax, 

don’t force the pace at work 

and socially. Plans made over the weekend 

will make you feel happier. 

GEMINI 

(May 21-June 21) 

When making plans for the 

future, don’t be too much 

inuenced by the past, but rather keep the 

needs of the present to the forefront of 

your ideas. 

OTHER HOSPITALS 

Al Buraimi . . . .25650855 . . . .25652319 

Sur . . . . . . . . .25440244 . . . .25461373 

Tanam. . . . . . .25499011 . . . .25499033 

Masirah. . . . . .25404018 . . . .25404018 

Ibra . . . . . . . . .25470533 . . . .25470535 

Adam . . . . . . .25434167 . . . .25434055 

Bidiya . . . . . . .25483535 . . . .25483535 

Ibri. . . . . . . . . .25491011 . . . .25491990 

Saham . . . . . .26854427 . . . .26855148 

Khasab . . . . . .26830187 . . . .26830187 

Dibba . . . . . . .26836443 . . . .26836443 

Burkha . . . . . .26828397 . . . .26828397 

Sinaw . . . . . . .25474338 

ACROSS 

3 Start (5) 

9 Bomb-hole (6) 

10 Reel (6) 

11 Domesticated (5) 

12 Finished (4) 

15 Mirth (4) 

17 Diminished (7) 

20 Consume (3) 

21 Number (5) 

23 Fastened (4) 

25 Denomination (4) 

26 Wandered (5) 

28 Day (3) 

30 Refurbish (7) 

33 Following (4) 

35 Suspended (4) 

36 Sham (5) 

38 Trial (6) 

39 Respect (6) 

40 Renovate (5) 

DOWN 

1 Performer (5) 

2 Rushed (5) 

3 Wager (3) 

4 Deleted (6) 

5 Detail (4) 

FAISAL BIN ALI AL SAID MUSEUM, 


MUSEUM OF OMANI HERITAGE, 


CHILDREN’S SCIENCE MUSEUM. 


NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, 


NATIONAL MUSEUM, Tel: 24701289 

SULTAN’S ARMED FORCES 

MUSEUM, Tel: 24312646 

CURRENCY MUSEUM, 


MUSCAT GATE MUSEUM, 

Tel: 24739005. 

OMANI-FRENCH MUSEUM (Bait 

Fransa), Tel: 24736613 

BAIT AL ZUBAIR, Tel: 24736688 

BAIT A’NAMAN, Tel: 24641300 

SOHAR FORT MUSEUM. 

Tel: 26844758 

NAHKAL FORT, Tel: 26781384 

BAIT AL MAKHAM. Tel: 24641300 

BAIT ADAM MUSEUM, QURUM, 

Tel: 24605033, 24605013 

OIL AND GAS EXHIBITION 

CENTRE AND PLANE-TARIUM, 


PLANETARIUM, Tel: 24675542. 

AQUARIUM at the Marine Science 

and Fisheries Centre (located next to 

Marina Bandar Rowdha, Sidab). 

SALALAH MUSEUM, Tel: 23294549 

CULTURAL CENTRE, Tel: 23294549. 

SUR MARITIME MUSEUM, 


BAIT AL BARANDA, Tel: 24714262. 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

6 Bow (3) 

7 Musty (5) 

8 Salute (5) 

13 Trace (7) 

14 Sovereign (5) 

16 Oriental (7) 

18 Frogman (5) 

M USEUMS IN OMAN 

19 Man’s (3) 

22 Cogs (5) 

24 Cur (3) 

27 Modest (6) 

28 Irritate (5) 

29 Ooze (5) 

31 Exterior (5) 

CARTOONS 

ROYAL OMAN POLICE 

EMERGENCY 9 9 9 9 

DG of Passports & Residency, 24569603 

DG of Customs, 24714626 

Traffic offences, 24510227/228 

ROP Public Relations, 24569270 

Consumer Complaints Cell, 24817013 

Muscat Governorate Headquarters, 24560021 

Muscat, 24736611 

Wattayah, 24677990 

Ruwi, 24701099 

Muttrah, 24712211 

Bausher, 24600099 

Al Amerat, 24875999 

Qurayat, 24845555 

A’Seeb, 24420099 

Al-Athaiba, 24521099 

AI-Khodh, 24425012 

Directorate of the University Security, 24513999 

Directorate of Traffic Muscat, 24567898 

Al Batinah Headquarters, 26840096 

Al Rustaq Division, 26875099 

Al Dakhiliyah, 25425099 

Nizwa Division, 25425099 

Samayil Division, 25350099 

Al Sharqiyah Headquarters, 25545070 

Ibra Division, 25570100 

Al Dhahirah Headquarters, 25650099 

Al Buraimi Division, 25650199 

Ibri Division, 25689099 

Al Wusta Headquarters, 23436099 

Haima Division, 23436211 

Special Task Force, 24560088 

Coastguard Headquarters, 24714888 

Dhofar Governorate Headquarters, 23234599 

Salalah Police Station, 23290099 

Thamrait Division, 23279099 

Musandam Governorate Headquarters, 

26730299 

Khasab Division, 26731502 

ROP websites: www.rop.gov.om, www.ropoman. 

net and 

e-mail: ropnet@omantel.net.om 

32 Heron (5) 

34 Only (4) 

36 Ban (3) 

37 Stitch (3) 

YESTERDAY’S 

QUICK SOLUTION 

ACROSS: 1, Accent 5, 

Murder 9, Eaten 10, 

Asleep 11, Listen 12, 

Depot 14, Eden 17, Don 

18, Mire 20, Dared 22, 

Solid 23, Wizened 24, 

Ached 26, Tenet 29, Tear 

30, Fad 32, Lane 33, Water 

35, Abroad 36, Marina 

37, Debut 38, Nudged 

39, Repent. 

DOWN: 1, Amazed 2, 

Caller 3, Need 4, Taped 

5, Melon 6, Unit 7, Detail 

8, Rented 13, Polecat 

15, Dance 16, Newer 18, 

Model 19, Risen 21, Did 

22, Set 24, Attain 25, Hatred 

27, Native 28, Tenant 

30, Faded 31, Demur 

33, Wade 34, Rate. 

ADAM @ HOME by Brian Basset 

CALVIN AND HOBBES by Bill Watterson 

GARFIELD by Jim Davis 

STONE SOUP by Jan Eliot

17 SPORT 



Vettel on pole in Valencia 

VALENCIA, Spain — Sebastian 

Vettel took a third 

successive pole position for 

Red Bull after clocking the 

fastest time during yesterday's 

qualifying session for today's 

European Grand Prix. 

It was also the 24-year-old's 

third successive pole in Valencia, 

his third pole of the year 

and 33rd of his career, equalling 

F1 legends Alain Prost 

and Jim Clark. 

The defending drivers' 

champion struggled for pace 

on Friday and was forced to 

use an extra set of tyres in Q2 

to escape the cut — a gamble 

that paid off after a stunning 

lap towards the end of the final 

session secured his place 

on the front row beside second-fastestLewis 

Hamilton of 

McLaren. 

Rampant All Blacks thrash Ireland 

HAMILTON — New Zealand's 

60-0 demolition of 

Ireland at Waikato Stadium 

yesterday not only maintained 

their 107-year unbeaten record 

against the tourists, it showed 

the All Blacks are well on 

track in a rebuilding phase 

towards defending the World 

Cup in 2015. 

The world champions 

scored nine tries in Hamilton 

in their record-breaking win, 

while test newcomers Sam 

Cane at flanker, lock Luke 

Romano and flyhalf Beauden 

Barrett all showed they were 

more than capable of stepping 

up to the international level. 

Coupled with the superb 

play of flyhalf Aaron Cruden, 

who has now firmly cemented 

himself as Daniel Carter's natural 

successor, and of scrumhalf 

Aaron Smith, All Blacks 

coach Steve Hansen was more 

than happy with the series. 

"You have got to be happy. 

It's not too many days you get 

60-0," Hansen said in a televised 

interview. "But we will 

keep our feet on the floor and 

stay humble, enjoy the mo- 

Farah pulls 

out of British 

trials 

BIRMINGHAM, England 

— Mo Farah became 

the latest British athlete 

to withdraw from the UK 

Olympic trials when he 

pulled out of the 1,500 metres 

final. Farah ran in Friday's 

heats and qualified 

comfortably for the final. 

But the 29-year-old, 

the reigning world 5,000m 

champion, has now decided 

to concentrate on defending 

his European 5,000m 

title in Helsinki next week 

as he builds towards a gold 

medal bid at the London 

Olympics. 

Farah's exit came less 

than a day after Britain's 

former world triple 

jump champion Phillips 

Idowu announced he 

would not compete at all 

in Birmingham following 

an injury suffered in Oregon. 

— AFP 

SEBASTIAN Vettel drives during the qualifying session at the Valencia Circuit yesterday. — Reuters 

"Oh yes, we did the right 

thing in the end — it was a 

challenge, but well worth 

it" he shouted over the team 

radio. 

Vettel clocked a fastest lap 

time of one minute 38.086 at 

the Valencia street circuit, over 

three tenths faster than Hamilton 

and third-placed Pastor 

Maldonado of Williams. 

Vettel admitted he was surprised 

to have taken pole in 

such a dominant fashion. 

He said: "We had to put a 

second set of options in Q2. 

It was the right call because 

I don't think my first lap was 

good enough." 

"I knew going at the end (of 

the session(, if the track comes 

in a little more, it should be 

good enough to have a look at 

pole. 

ment for what it is... and look 

to improve the next time we 

play." Ireland, who have never 

beaten New Zealand, gave the 

All Blacks a major fright last 

week before losing 22-19 and 

after the world champions 

LONDON — Japan midfielder 

Shinji Kagawa has joined 

Manchester United on a fouryear 

deal from German champions 

Borussia Dortmund, 

the Premier League side announced 

on Friday. 

The 23-year-old passed a 

medical earlier on Friday and 

veteran United manager Sir 

Alex Ferguson was confident 

Kagawa would enjoy a successful 

spell with the English 

giants. 

"Shinji is an exciting young 

midfielder with great skill, vision 

and a good eye for goal," 

said Ferguson. 

"I am delighted he has chosen 

to come to United. I believe 

he will make an impact 

upon the team very quickly as 

he is suited to United's style of 

play. 

"We are all looking forward 

to working with him." 

Kagawa's arrival was a 

boost for United, who were 

within minutes of retaining 

their Premier League title last 

"In the end it was a surprising 

gap. The boys have been 

working hard in the garage 

and at the factory to bring new 

parts. They seem to work. I'm 

looking forward to the race 

tomorrow." 

Hamilton, 14th fastest on 

Friday, admitted he did not 

think he had the pace to qualify 

so high up the order and expects 

a strong challenge from 

Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean 

and Kimi Raikkonen who 

start fourth and fifth today. 

"I expected to be lot further 

back because we struggled all 

weekend with the set-up," explained 

Hamilton. 

"The guys did a great job to 

get me a gap, and the car felt 

pretty good but I think the gap 

is quite big here. 

"Looking at the grid, be- 

made six changes to their side, 

two things could have occurred 

in Hamilton yesterday. 

The first scenario was that 

Ireland could have stuck with 

the same formula and pushed 

for their first victory against 

season until a late winner on 

the final day for Manchester 

City in a 3-2 win over Queens 

Park Rangers saw their crosstown 

rivals crowned champions 

instead. 

United also needed to 

strengthen their midfield given 

Darren Fletcher has still to 

recover from a bowel complaint 

and there are also concerns 

regarding the fitness of 

Anderson. 

Midfielder Paul Scholes 

cause it's so hot the Lotuses 

look massively competitive — 

they'll be ones to watch out for 

tomorrow." 

Nico Rosberg of Mercedes 

took sixth for Mercedes ahead 

of Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber 

and Nico Hulkenberg of 

Williams. 

Jenson Button made it to 

the top ten for the first time 

in three races in the second 

McLaren but will have to settle 

for ninth ahead of fellow Briton 

Paul Di Resta, the Force India 

driver looked set for a top 

five start but locked his brakes 

towards the end of his best lap 

and wound up tenth. 

Monaco Grand Prix winner 

Australian Mark Webber 

failed to make the cut after Q1 

after having trouble with his 

car setup. 

ALL BLACKS’ Sonny Bill Williams skips past Ireland’s defence in Hamilton yesterday. 

the All Blacks since they began 

playing tests in 1905. 

The second option was 

what many New Zealand fans 

call a 'blacklash'. And the 

world champions delivered. 

They upped their intensity, 

Japan’s Kagawa joins United 

abandoned his retirement 

half-way through last season 

and, together with fellow Old 

Trafford veteran Ryan Giggs, 

has signed on for a further 

year with United. 

But in Kagawa the Red 

Devils have a highly-regarded 

young player. 

He helped Dortmund land 

successive German titles and 

scored 17 goals as they completed 

a domestic double last 

season. Kagawa, having been 

ruled out of the Olympic football 

tournament in London, 

is set to feature in United's 

pre-season tour of South Africa 

and China. 

"This is a challenge I am 

really looking forward to," 

said Kagawa. 

"The Premier League is the 

best league in the world and 

Manchester United is such a 

massive club. 

"This is a really exciting 

time for me. I can't wait to 

meet the team and start playing." 

— AFP 

The struggling 35-year-old 

will start 19th. 

"We had no DRS!" explained 

Webber, "We only 

managed four laps today. We 

put the options on because 

things were getting desperate, 

but it didn't work out and it's a 

bda time for us." 

Both Ferrari drivers Fernando 

Alonso and Felipe 

Massa failed to make the top 

ten shooutout, while Michael 

Schumacher wound up splitting 

the two Ferraris and will 

start 12th for Mercedes. 

Williams driver Bruno Senna 

was 14th ahead of Sergio 

Perez in the second Sauber. 

Marussia driver German 

Timo Glock was unwell and 

did not compete, he will start 

at the back of the grid in 

24th. — AFP 

smashed into the rucks, driving 

Irish attackers back of the 

ball, recycled their own ball 

quickly and their line defence 

was immaculate. 

Unlike last week when 

Ireland's tacklers were able to 

attack the ball, the All Blacks 

managed to get their hands 

free numerous times and find 

runners off their shoulder. 

None more so than Cruden, 

whose slender build belies his 

strength, with three majestic 

offloads when taking the ball 

to the line, setting up tries 

for Cane and for Sonny Bill 

Williams. While he went off 

injured with what Hansen described 

as an "Achilles' tweak" 

during the first half, his replacement 

Barrett proved he 

was not overawed by his test 

debut as he calmly slotted into 

the pivotal flyhalf position, 

earning praise from captain 

Richie McCaw. 

The previous largest margin 

was 53 points, when the All 

Blacks won 59-6 in 1992. It was 

the third time in their 27 tests 

that the All Blacks have held 

Ireland scoreless. — Reuters 

Harley helps 

Scotland edge 

Samoa 17-16 

APIA — Debutant loose 

forward Rob Harley scored 

a try in stoppage time as 

Scotland snatched a 17-16 

victory over Pacific Nations 

Cup champions Samoa yesterday. 

The 22-year-old was 

put clear from replacement 

scrumhalf Mike Blair's pass, 

and flyhalf Greig Laidlaw 

slotted the conversion 

|to give the visitors the 

narrow victory, ensuring 

the Scots return home from 

their three-match southern 

hemisphere tour 

unbeaten. 

Andy Robinson's team 

also upset Australia 9-8 in 

Newcastle on June 5, then 

held off a furious late challenge 

by Fiji in Lautoka 

last week to win 37-25, 

with debutant winger Tim 

Visser scoring two tries. 

— Reuters 

Oilers take 

Yakupov with 

No 1 pick 

PITTSBURGH — The Edmonton 

Oilers took Russian 

sniper Nail Yakupov with 

the No 1 pick at the National 

Hockey League (NHL) draft 

on Friday, dashing speculation 

the team would deal the 

selection. 

Yakupov, a dazzling 

skater rated the best offensive 

player available, had 

31 goals and 69 points in 

42 games last season for the 

Ontario Hockey League's 

Sarnia Sting. 

His addition gives the Oilers 

a trio of young, dynamic 

forwards, after they used the 

first overall selection in 2011 

on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 

and the top pick in 2010 on 

Taylor Hall. 

"The natural ability, the 

skill set that Nail has is elite 

and we've been talking about 

elite athletes coming to our 

organisation," Oilers general 

manager Steve Tambellini 

told reporters at Pittsburgh's 

Consol Energy Center. 

"He's dangerous, he's 

hungry to score goals and I 

think he's a pretty good fit 

with the people we already 

have." The Columbus Blue 

Jackets, who earlier in the 

day sent three later round 

picks to the Philadelphia 

Flyers for netminder Sergei 

Bobrovsky, held onto the 

second overall selection and 

used it on Canadian defenseman 

Ryan Murray. 

The Montreal Canadiens, 

picking third, grabbed 

Yakupov's compatriot and 

Sting team mate centre Alex 

Galchenyuk before the focus 

shifted back to defensemen 

with a record eight blueliners 

taken in the first 10 selections. 

Picking fourth, the New 

York Islanders started a run 

of seven consecutive defensemen 

taking Griffin Reinhart 

while the Toronto Maple 

Leafs went for Morgan 

Reilly at No 5. — Reuters 

Wallabies sweep series 

SYDNEY — Australia relied 

on the boot of Berrick Barnes 

to edge Wales 20-19 in a 

bruising third Test yesterday 

and secure a 3-0 whitewash in 

a series that was anything but 

one-sided. 

Wales number eight Ryan 

Jones and Australia centre 

Rob Horne scored second half 

tries, but in a match dominated 

by the whistle of referee Craig 

Joubert it was the five penalties 

from rejuvenated flyhalf 

Barnes that gave the Wallabies 

a seventh successive win over 

the Welsh. 

Australia had already 

wrapped up the series with 

victories in Brisbane and Melbourne 

and, as in those two 

tests, they were pushed to 

the limit by the Six Nations 

champions, this time in front 

of 43,000 fans at the Sydney 

Football Stadium. 

"I think we showed composure 

at the critical moments," 

said Wallabies coach 

Robbie Deans. "It was a good 

test match played between two 

good sides. 

"There was plenty going 

Barangay Ginebra-Oman to face 

Pinoy Kargo in basketball final 

MUSCAT — The stage is now 

set for the final showdown 

between basketball powerhouses 

Barangay Ginebra- 

Oman and Pinoy Kargo in 

the fourth season of the Seeb 

Basketball League (SBL) 

to held at the Seeb Club Indoor 

Basketball Courts in Al 

Swede Jacobson leads at 

Travelers Championship 

CROMWELL, Connecticut 

— Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson 

prolonged his love affair with 

the Travelers Championship 

when the title-holder grabbed 

the lead in a rain-hit second 

round on Friday. 

Jacobson picked up four 

birdies and an eagle in a fourunder 

66 for a nine-under total 

of 131, his sixth straight 

round of 66 or better on the 

TPC River Highlands layout. 

US Open champion Webb 

Simpson shot a 69 to remain 

within striking distance, four 

strokes behind the Swede on 

135. Rain stopped play for the 

day in mid-afternoon and 77 

players must return on Saturday 

morning to complete their 

rounds. 

Jacobson went out in the 

early groups and after opening 

with a par on the 10th, his 

first hole, went birdie-birdieeagle 

to soar up the leaderboard, 

the run highlighted by 

a 40-foot putt for eagle on the 

par-five 13th. 

"I started off really good 

today. It was good to get into a 

good start and get things running 

straight away," he said. 

Jacobson dropped shots at 

the 14th and his final hole but 

AUCKLAND — Eight-time 

world champion Sebastien 

Loeb survived a day-long battle 

against charging Citroen 

teammate Mikko Hirvonen to 

retain the lead by 6.4 seconds 

on the second day of Rally 

New Zealand yesterday. 

Petter Solberg enjoyed a 

trouble-free day to overtake 

fellow Ford driver Evgeny 

Novikov and move into third 

place 1 min 33.3 sec behind 

Loeb. 

Loeb extended his slender 

lead over Hirvonen by 

two seconds on the day and 

admitted to trouble with the 

arduous 11th stage. 

on out there, it just showed 

the desperation of both teams. 

Wales wanted to get the win 

and we wanted to finish the 

series." 

Wales, who had 14 points 

from the kicking of Leigh 

Halfpenny, were seeking just 

their second win over the Wallabies 

in Australia, and a first 

since 1969, but will return 

home empty-handed after a 

tough series at the end of a 

long season. 

"It's 3-0, it's a whitewash, 

we're not hiding from that, but 

... my overall feeling is immense 

pride in the players," 

said Wales caretaker coach 

Rob Howley, whose team 

were outscored by a combined 

11 points over the three tests. 

On a sunny winter afternoon, 

the stage was set perfectly 

for a thrilling contest 

between two young sides who 

like to run the ball but Joubert 

stopped play with a regularity 

that prevented any tempo 

building. 

"Sometimes I thought there 

were three referees out there, 

to be honest," joked Howley. 

Khoudh on Friday. 

The first game starts at 3 

p.m between FPI LLC and 

CCC-Builders for the third 

place while the final is slated 

to begin at 5 p.m. 

In the semifinals both 

teams showcased their might 

and prowess and won their re- 

added two birdies in his last 

nine holes to be well placed 

in his bid for a second PGA 

Tour title. 

"Last year I really felt like 

things started to click at the 

US Open and similar this time 

around," he said. 

"I do like the course, but 

I liked it the first three times 

I came here and I missed the 

cut. So I think it's more important 

the way I am playing." 

Australian Nathan Green 

started with two bogeys before 

bouncing back with birdies on 

five of the next seven holes. 

He was three-under through 

nine and one shot off the lead 

at eight-under overall. 

Charley Hoffman opened 

with a par at the 10th before 

reeling off five consecutive 

birdies to join Green at eightunder. 

"It was a nice five-hole 

run," Hoffman said. "I wish I 

could have kept it going a little 

longer, but obviously I'll 

be in a good frame of mind 

going into tomorrow." 

Americans Blake Adams 

(64) and Roland Thatcher 

(67), and Australian Stuart 

Appleby (65), were a shot 

further adrift at seven-under 

133. — Reuters 

Loeb extends lead in Auckland 

"It's been difficult this afternoon, 

very slippery and 

I really don't like that Girls 

High School stage," he said. 

M-Sport Ford driver Ott 

Tanak is fifth ahead of Citroen 

Junior driver Thierry Neuville 

with Spain's Mini driver Dani 

Sordo seventh. 

Factory Ford driver Jari- 

Matti Latvala, who lost 

ground with an off-road diversion 

on the first day, won 

two stages on Saturday to lie 

in eighth place. 

The final day of the rally 

today contains seven special 

stages covering 61.33 kilometres. 

— AFP 

The South African referee 

allowed absolutely no leeway 

at the key battleground of the 

breakdown and the ensuing 

slew of penalties saw the sides 

locked at 9-9 after 25 minutes, 

Barnes putting Australia ahead 

three times before Halfpenny 

replied for the tourists. 

Australia dominated territory 

and possession as they 

had in the first two tests and 

there was more bad news for 

Wales when captain Sam Warburton 

departed after half an 

hour with a concussion sustained 

after tackling Pat Mc- 

Cabe. 

Barnes put the home side 

back in front at 12-9 a minute 

before halftime, which came 

up with Wales flyhalf Rhys 

Priestland's failed attempt to 

level the scores once again 

with a drop goal. 

The second half opened 

with more attacking rugby 

from both sides but two promising 

Welsh attacks near the 

Australia line were halted 

when Joubert blew for the 

15th and 16th penalties of the 

contest. — Reuters 

spective divisions, Barangay 

Ginebra-Oman (BGO) demolishing 

the CCC-Builders 91- 

58 and Pinoy Kargo prevailed 

over the Future Pipes Industries 

(FPI) 92-71 yesterday. 

In the opening Inter-College 

friendship exhibition game, 

Sohar defeated Ibra 81-41.

By Sanjay Chakhaiyar 

MUSCAT — Oman started their Under- 

22 Asian Cup qualifying campaign on 

a disappointing note going down to the 

UAE at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex 

yesterday. 

In a rather lacklustre Group ‘A’ match, 

Oman were handed a 2-0 defeat by their 

arch-rivals. 

After a goalless first session, the UAE 

took control of the match to earn full 

points with Younus Ahmad and Jamal 

Ibrahim Hussain finding the target in 60th 

and 73rd minutes. 

‘‘I’m not fully satisfied with this result 

and I feel my boys’ performance was not 

as good as I had expected probably because 

of the high humidity,’’ said Badir 

Salem, the UAE coach at the post-match 

press conference. 

However, the UAE coach had a word 

of praise for the hosts. ‘‘I thought the 

Omanis are a strong team but I presume it 

was not their day,’’ commented Salem. 

Initially, both the teams struggled in 

hot and humid conditions. However, the 

UAE wrested the initiative 15 minutes 

into the second half when Younus Ahmad 

came up with powerful left-footer which 

was bang on target giving no chance to 

a hapless Omani custodian Abdullah al 

Maamari who dived full length to his left 

but of no avail. 

The visitors upped the pressure from 

there on and soon striker Jamal Ibrahim 

Hussain, who had come in as a substitute 

a few minute earlier, increased the margin 

with a fine strike. 

Oman’s French coach Philippe Burle 

while admiring the visiting team blamed 

the poor defensive tactics of his boys for 

the defeat. 

Earlier, the Group ‘A’ qualifying event 

was kicked off by India and Lebanon at 

18 SPORT 



India rout Lebanon, Iraq blank Turkmenistan in U-22 Asian Cup qualifiers 

Oman make disappointing start 

OMAN’S Mubarak Humaid al Maqbali (right) vies 

with an UAE player at the SQSC yesterday. 

Portugal players 

in training 

ground bust-up 

OPALENICA, Poland — 

Portugal Winger Ricardo 

Quaresma and defender 

Miguel Lopes had a training 

ground bust-up, the 

Portuguese press reported 

yesterday, days ahead of 

their semifinal appearance at 

Euro 2012. 

During one drill, Quaresma 

was pushed to the ground 

by Lopes whereupon the 

winger kicked out at the defender's 

legs. Team-mates 

quickly stepped in to prevent 

the situation getting worse. 

Defender Ricardo Costa 

stood in front of Quaresma 

to calm him down while 

coach Paulo Bento also got 

involved. 

"It's just normal things 

that happen in training," 

Costa said at a news conference 

later. "Things got a bit 

heated between two players. 

We're pumped up, we always 

want to win and sometimes 

small things happen. 

"Everything's sorted now. 

We all want to play (in the 

semifinal) and sometimes 

stuff happens." 

Portugal beat the Czech 

Republic 1-0 in the first 

Euro 2012 quarterfinal on 

Thursday. — AFP 

GDANSK — Germany 

crushed Greece 4-2 in a onesided 

Euro 2012 quarterfinal 

on Friday and set up a last-four 

clash against England or Italy 

with their 15th successive win 

in competitive matches. 

The Germans, who will 

have to wait until today to find 

out their semifinal opponents, 

have won all five European 

Championship quarterfinals 

they have played and they 

have reached the final on the 

four previous occasions. 

In a one-sided contest, Germany 

took the lead through 

captain Philipp Lahm late 

in the first half and survived 

a scare 10 minutes after the 

restart when rank outsiders 

Greece levelled with a breakaway 

goal from Giorgos Samaras. 

But the three-time European 

champions, who had never 

previously scored four goals 

in a match at the tournament, 

were in no mood for an upset 

and three goals in 13 minutes 

kept them on track for their 

first title in 16 years. 

Greece cut the deficit with 

a late Dimitris Salpingidis 

penalty. 

"We made it unnecessarily 

difficult for us," said Lahm, 

who has scored for his country 

once every two years since 

Germany’s Gundogan 

limps out of training 

GDANSK, Poland — Euro 

2012 semifinalists Germany 

suffered an injury scare yesterday 

as midfielder Ilkay 

Gundogan limped out of 

training after damaging his 

left ankle. 

The 21-year-old Borussia 

Dortmund midfielder, who has 

yet to make an appearance at 

Euro 2012, left yesterday afternoon's 

training session with 

his ankle heavily strapped. 

"There is nothing torn or broken," 

said team spokesman 

Harald Stenger, who said the 

joint was sprained. 

Forward Lukas Podolski 

was the only other player to 

miss training as he stayed in 

the hotel to rest having been 

left on the bench for Germany's 

4-2 victory over Greece 

in Friday's quarterfinal. 

ROLLS REUS READY TO 

GO FULL THROTTLE 

Meanwhile, attacking midfielder 

Marco Reus, who is 

dubbed ‘Rolls Reus’, has said 

he is ready to go full throttle 

in the side’s bid to win the European 

title. 

2004 to take his tally to five. 

"We had huge chances to go 

into the lead in the first quarter 

hour. We got into the lead but 

gifted it away. 

"We were too slow at times 

and made too many easy mistakes 

but the important thing is 

that we are in the semifinals. 

For the Greeks, shock 2004 

European champions, it was 

an expected end to their campaign 

after advancing to the 

last eight with a surprise 1-0 

win over Russia. 

KRAKOW, Poland — England and Italy, 

two teams packed with experience 

but spiced by youth and some volatility, 

meet in Kiev today in probably the most 

intriguing of the Euro 2012 quarterfinal 

ties. 

Clashing for the first time in more 

than a decade, England have met Italy 

only twice at major tournaments with the 

Italians winning a 1980 European Championship 

group game 1-0 in Turin and a 

1990 World Cup third-place playoff 2-1 

in Bari. 

Both teams, enjoying unbeaten runs 

in competitive fixtures lasting 11 and 13 

games respectively, are built on sound defence 

and counter-attack. 

Both use flexible versions of 4-4-2 and 

have thoughtful and pragmatic managers 

in Roy Hodgson and Cesare Prandelli. 

For England, where the Premier 

League has ushered in a financial boom, 

cosmopolitan coaching and many world 

class players, it is a chance to prove their 

game has progressed since they lost 2-1 to 

Italy at Leeds, in March, 2002. 

Italian coaches have heavily influenced 

the English domestic boom. 

Men like Gianluca Vialli, Carlo Ancelotti 

and Roberto Di Matteo at Chelsea 

and Manchester City's Roberto Mancini 

have stamped their style on their teams 

and have been successful, with Di Matteo 

winning the Champions League and 

the same venue with the former emerging 

5-2. 

India opened the score in the 16th 

minute when Manandeep Singh met a 

cross from Lalrindika to send the ball past 

Lebanese custodian Nazih Hassan. 

Six minutes from the break, Alwyn 

George doubled India’s lead when fired 

past an onrushing Nazih Hassan. 

However, the Lebanese managed to 

reduced to the margin through a fine effort 

by substitute Omar Kurdi. 

But there was no stopping the Indians, 

as two minutes later Alwyn scored his 

second to make it 3-1. 

In the 69th minute, Abdul Fattah 

scored Lebanon’s second goal. But once 

again it took just two minutes for India 

to find the target, and this time it was Jeje 

Lalpekhlua who scored the first of his two 

"We could have held the ball 

more and maybe taken a few 

more chances," said Greece 

coach Fernando Santos. "But 

we did not manage to breathe. 

We did not have the space to 

breathe. They pressed us all 

the time." 

The match billed as the euro 

zone battle, pitting debt-ridden 

Greece against its northern 

paymaster, was always expected 

to be dominated by the Germans 

with the Greeks missing 

creative midfielder and captain 

Giorgos Karagounis through 

suspension and it lived up to 

its billing from the start. 

The Germans, cheered on 

by their Chancellor Angela 

Merkel in the stands, started 

at a high tempo with Andre 

Schuerrle and Marco Reus, 

replacing Lukas Podolski and 

Thomas Mueller, charging 

down the wings. 

But after battering the 

Greek goal for more than half 

an hour they had failed to get 

the early goal they wanted. 

Mancini the Premier League title in 

2012. 

Yet, as English football has embraced 

the Italian way, Italy has moved in the 

other direction, seeking to instill more 

dynamic and open attacking play into a 

tradition of slow, defensive asphyxiation. 

This sense of flux will be embodied 

today by teams with sound defences and 

outstanding goalkeepers — a relative 

newcomer for England in Joe Hart, 25, 

and a seasoned veteran for Italy in Gianluigi 

Buffon, 34, set to make his 118th 

international appearance. 

Both teams also have Manchesterbased 

potential firecrackers in Wayne 

Rooney, of United, who came back from 

suspension to score England's winner 

against Ukraine. and Mario Balotelli, of 

City, who scored as a substitute against 

Ireland. 

Rooney's return has added threat to 

England's attack without disturbing a 

smothering system that has earned Hodgson 

— whose peripatetic career has included 

two spells at Inter Milan — the 

soubriquet 'the English Italian', after he 

was praised as 'intelligent, clever, experienced 

and cunning' by Mancini in La 

Gazzetta dello Sport. 

Prandelli, like Hodgson, has kept his 

cards close to his chest on whether he will 

retain the 4-3-1-2 system used to defeat 

Ireland or revert to a three-man defence 

goals. Lalpekhlua netted his second in the 

90th minute to complete a 5-2 victory for 

India. 

In another match played at the ROP 

Stadium, Iraq defeated Turkmenistan 

4-0. 

The top two from each of the seven 

group as well as the best third-placed 

squad will make it to the finals. The yet 

to announced hosts, who will be awarded 

an automatic berth, will complete the 16team 

list for the championships. 

The finals of the inaugural championship 

is scheduled for January 2014 with 

Oman and Thailand in the race to host the 

event. 

June 25 fixtures: UAE vs Turkmenistan 

at SQSC (5.00 pm), Iraq vs India at 

ROP Stadium (7.45 pm), Oman vs Lebanon 

at SQSC (8.00 pm). 

Germany crush Greece en route to semis 

Reus marked his first Euro 

2012 start for Germany with 

a second-half goal in Friday’s 

4-2 quarterfinal win over 

Greece and his eye-catching 

display has seen him nicknamed 

‘Rolls Reus’ by both 

the British and German media. 

“Nicknames aren’t something 

you can influence, I just 

want to put my foot on the gas 

for the team now,” quipped 

the 23-year-old. 

With his spiky, blond haircut 

and ear-ring, Reus is part 

of the new crop of rising German 

stars who have already 

achieved pin-up status back 

in Germany. 

But despite his cool composure, 

Reus was briefly 

stumped when a female Chinese 

reporter bluntly told him 

he had a better haircut than 

team-mate Mario Gomez. 

“I always try to look my 

best. Mario also has a beautiful 

hair-do, but as I just said 

nothing surpasses mine,” he 

replied. 

Or, in short, Reus’ rules. 

INDIA’S Alwyn George (left) controls the ball in front of Lebanon’s 

Mohammed Jaafar. — Pictures by Mohammed Mahjoub 

GERMANY’S Miroslav Klose (centre) celebrates after scoring a goal against Greece. 

Germany coach Joachim 

Loew, who fielded a more 

offensive team with Miroslav 

Klose replacing Mario 

Gomez, had urged patience 

and it paid off when Lahm released 

a trademark swerving 

shot from 25 metres to beat 

keeper Michalis Sifakis. 

Merkel jumped to her feet 

to celebrate as her lucky charm 

tag for Germany worked yet 

again. 

Despite the scoreline the 

Germans made it hard for 

themselves with sloppy passing 

and wayward finishing. 

Greece, with their youngest 

ever squad for a European 

championship at an average of 

26 years, refused to surrender 

and hit back at the start of the 

second half as Salpingidis burst 

down the right and crossed for 

Giorgos Samaras to level. 

But Germany's Sami 

Khedira volleyed in on the 

hour to settle any nerves. 

Klose headed in another 

four minutes later with his 64th 

international goal, leaving him 

four short of Gerd Mueller's 

German all-time record of 68. 

With the Greeks pummelled 

into submission, Reus 

struck in the 74th before Salpingidis 

converted a spot-kick 

a minute from time to claim a 

minor consolation. — Reuters 

England face rare and intriguing Italy test 

adopted in the previous group games. 

He must also decide whether to continue 

with Antonio Di Natale as the main 

striker or recall Balotelli to face his clubmates 

Joleon Lescott and Hart. Midfielder 

Thiago Motta is a slight doubt with a 

hamstring strain. 

Fullbacks Ignazio Abate and Federico 

Balzaretti are expected to keep their places 

while central defender Leonardo Bonucci 

is set to start in place of the injured 

Giorgio Chiellini. 

England are expected to be unchanged. 

"From our point of view, there is an 

understanding that we are a good team," 

said Bonucci. "But we know that to go all 

the way, we also need luck. We've got to 

be careful against this England, who are 

increasingly playing like Italy, focusing 

on details in defence." 

In the only previous meeting of the 

two teams at a European Championship 

finals, Italy won 1-0 on home soil in Turin 

in 1980. Like many of their confrontations, 

it was cagey, dramatic and physical. 

This should be no different. 

Scott Parker, who has emerged as the 

heart of England's midfield, said: "We 

have done a lot of research, seen them 

play and know what to expect. Italy are 

a very good team and we know we will 

have to be right up for it to get a result." 

— Reuters 

Sangakkara misses 

double century, 

Pakistan 48 for 5 

GALLE — Kumar Sangakkara 

missed out on a double 

hundred by one run but his 

team ended the second day of 

the first Test on a high with 

Pakistan reeling at 48 for five 

at the close yesterday. 

Sri Lanka were dismissed 

for 472 shortly after tea with 

Sangakkara stranded on 199 

not out made off 387 balls 

and including 18 fours and 

two sixes. 

Pakistan were rocked 

by Nuwan Kulasekara who 

snapped up the wickets of 

Taufiq Umar lbw for nine and 

Azhar Ali for a golden duck 

caught behind by Prasanna 

Jayawardene. 

Stand-in skipper Mohammed 

Hafeez and Younis Khan 

took the score to 43 when 

off-spinner Suraj Randiv 

made a double strike by trapping 

Hafeez lbw for 20 and 

sending back nightwatchman 

Saeed Ajmal caught first ball 

off bat and pad by Tharanga 

Paranavitana. 

Left-arm spinner Rangana 

Herath joined the party when 

he forced Asad Shafiq to edge 

a catch behind the wicket to 

Jayawardene for a duck. 

At stumps Younis Khan 

was unbeaten on 15 and Mohammed 

Ayub on one. 

Sri Lanka's innings was 

built around Sangakkara's 

29th Test hundred which 

nearly brought him joint second 

on the all-time list with 

West Indian Brian Lara on 

nine Test double hundreds. 

A blunder by the scoreboard 

had Sangakkara celebrating 

his double century 

with when he slog-swept 

Ajmal for six but actually his 

score was 199. 

When told by his teammates 

that he still required 

one run he tried desperately to 

steal a single off the final ball 

of the over but failed. 

That left last man Nuwan 

Pradeep exposed to Hafeez 

and after defending the first 

ball Pradeep was bowled to 

end the Sri Lanka innings. 

Pakistan fought back in 

the afternoon session through 

their spinners to restrict Sri 

Lanka to 439 for eight at tea. 

Sri Lanka scored 73 runs 

and lost three wickets, squandering 

some of their advantage 

having resumed the day 

on a commanding 300 for 

two. 

Off-spinner Hafeez broke 

a threatening sixth-wicket 

stand of 80 between San- 

EASTBOURNE — Andy 

Roddick won his first title 

in over a year when he defeated 

defending champion 

Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2 yesterday 

to win the Eastbourne 

grasscourt title, a perfectlytimed 

boost ahead of Wimbledon. 

The American, a threetime 

finalist at the All England 

Club, was joined as a 

new champion on the south 

coast by Austrian Tamira 

Paszek, who saved five 

match points to beat world 

No 8 Angelique Kerber 5-7, 

6-3, 7-5 in the women's final. 

Former world No 1 Roddick, 

aged 29 and ranked 

33rd, has been troubled by 

injury and illness for the past 

several seasons but may have 

turned a corner with his 72minute 

confidence-building 

win over the Italian. 

He came to the event as 

a wildcard after losing his 

sixth match in a row last 

week in an early Queen's 

club exit. 

Roddick's victory means 

that he has won at last one 

title for the past 12 seasons. 

The American now owns 

31 trophies from 51 finals 

having won his last grasscourt 

title at Queen's five 

years ago. 

Roddick will be seeded 

30 at Wimbledon, which 

starts tomorrow, where he 

starts against Briton Jamie 

Baker. 

The American had a 

modest five aces yesterday, 

but broke Seppi five times as 

he played his first final since 

gakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene 

(48), who drove at a 

ball that spun and offered an 

outside edge to wicketkeeper 

Adnan Akmal. 

Left-arm spinner Rehman 

caught Suraj Randiv (8) off 

his own bowling and Hafeez 

picked up his second wicket 

when he removed the scoreless 

Kulasekara on the stroke 

of tea. 

The morning session was 

dominated by Ajmal who 

claimed his sixth five-wicket 

haul in tests with figures of 

five for 146. 

The 34-year-old spinner 

captured three wickets for 10 

runs off 22 balls. 

Pakistan's new ball bowlers 

Umar Gul and Junaid 

Khan once again toiled without 

luck, prompting Hafeez to 

introduce Ajmal after seven 

overs of seam and the spinner 

did not let down his skipper. 

The top-ranked Test spinner 

struck a crucial blow 

when he bowled Mahela 

Jayawardene for 62 when the 

Sri Lanka captain fluffed a 

slog-sweep. 

The spinner then lured 

Thilan Samaraweera (6) out 

of his crease with a doosra to 

get him stumped and Ajmal 

caught Angelo Mathews for a 

duck from the next delivery. 

SCOREBOARD 

Sri Lanka 1st innings 

(overnight 300 for 2) 

K Sangakkara (not out) ............ 199 

M Jayawardene b Ajmal ............ 62 

T Samaraweera st Akmal b Ajmal 6 

A Mathews c & b Ajmal .............. 0 

P Jayawardene c Akmal 

b Hafeez ............ 48 

S Randiv c & b Rehman .............. 8 

N Kulasekara c Ayub b Hafeez .... 0 

R Herath run out .......................... 0 

N Pradeep b Hafeez ..................... 0 

Extras: (b-10, lb-7, nb-2, w-5) .. 24 

Total: (all out, 153.2 overs) ..... 472 

Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-187, 3-315, 

4-335, 5-335, 6-415, 7-438, 8-439, 

9-455. 

Bowling: Gul 27-8-76-0 (nb-2, 

w-5), Junaid 18-5-52-0, Hafeez 

19.2-3-55-3, Ajmal 46-9-146-5, 

Rehman 43-7-126-1. 

Pakistan 1st innings 

M Hafeez lbw Randiv ................ 20 

T Umer lbw Kulasekara ............... 9 

A Ali c P Jayawardene 

b Kulasekara ...................... 0 

Younis Khan (not out) ................ 15 

S Ajmal c Paranavitana b Randiv 0 

A Shafiq c P Jayawardene 

b Herath ......................... 0 

M Ayub (not out) .......................... 1 

Extras: (lb-2, w-1) ...................... 3 

Total: (5 wkts, 24 overs) ........... 48 

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-17, 3-43, 

4-43, 5-44. 

Bowling: Kulasekara 7-3-15-2 

(w-1), Pradeep 4-1-17-0, Herath 

8-3-9-1, Mathews 2-2-0-0, Randiv 

3-0-5-2. 

Roddick, Paszek win 

Eastbourne titles 

ANDY RODDICK 

winning in Memphis in February, 

2011. 

Paszek, ranked 59th, who 

had come onto the grass with 

just two wins from 15 matches 

this season, did what she 

has done best in recovering 

from disaster against Kerber. 

Paszek's momentum could 

not be stopped by a lower 

calf injury which she had 

taped late in the match after 

a slip on the grass. 

She carried on to claim 

her third career title after last 

winning one in September, 

2010, in Quebec. 

"I was feeling a bit weird 

on court. But you have to get 

on with things which aren't 

perfect. So I just tried to 

keep hanging in there," she 

said. 

"I've always known I'm a 

fighter, I always believed in 

myself," said the winner. In 

practise everything has been 

working, and now it was just 

a matter of getting that aggression 

and pleasure to play 

on court. It just all fitted together 

this week."

KIEV — In stark contrast to the days 

when English soccer hooligans terrorised 

Europe, not one English fan has been arrested 

at Euro 2012, Andy Holt, head of 

the uniformed British police squad at the 

tournament, said yesterday. 

The assistant chief constable said in an 

interview that police were taking nothing 

for granted ahead of today's quarterfinal 

with Italy, and they would make special 

provision if England reached a semifinal 

against Germany in Warsaw. 

The uniformed officer, speaking outside 

the giant fan zone in central Kiev, said 

police expected about 6,000 fans for to- 

19 SPORT 



‘No English fans arrested at Euro’ 

UEFA fines 

Russia, 

opens case 

against 

Portugal 

WARSAW — UEFA 

yesterday fined the Russian 

football federation 

35,000 euros ($44,000) 

over the behaviour of 

fans at the Euro 2012 

match against Greece in 

Warsaw. 

UEFA's control and 

disciplinary body imposed 

the fine 'for the setting 

off and throwing of 

fireworks by spectators, 

and displaying of illicit 

banners' at the Group 'A' 

match on June 16. 

European football's 

organising body meanwhile 

opened disciplinary 

proceedings against 

the Portuguese football 

federation after a fan attempted 

to invade the 

pitch in the quarterfinal 

match against the Czech 

Republic in Warsaw on 

Thursday. 

The control and disciplinary 

body will deal 

with the case tomorrow. 

day's England match, the biggest number 

so far following their group games against 

France, Sweden and Ukraine. 

"There have been no arrests of England 

fans I am pleased to say. We have worked 

very hard with both the embassy and consular 

services and are very happy. 

"Of course, UEFA fined the English 

FA for the fans behaviour at the Sweden 

game, but that was inside the stadium not 

outside and there have been no incidents 

outside." 

"We have also worked very hard with 

the Ukrainian authorities and UEFA itself 

to get even better policing and stewarding 

at the ground but, overall, there have been 

no real problems." 

The English FA was fined 5,000 euros 

($6,300) after England fans tried to invade 

the Kiev pitch during the 3-2 win 

over Sweden on June 15 in their last 

Group 'D' game. 

If England reach the semifinals, plans 

are already in place to deal with what 

would be a high-profile match against 

Germany, he explained. 

"We have a senior office in Poland 

already working with the stadium and 

Polish police authorities planning for that 

match if it should take place. — Reuters


MUSCAT — National Bank of 

Oman (NBO) and Duqm Development 

Company (DDC) 

have signed a long-term loan 

facility agreement to provide 

funding for the development 

of the Frontier Town Project 

Phase I, which involves developing 

a residential township 

consisting of apartments, vil- 

OTE launches 

LG Multi V III 

AC units 

Page 22 

las and other common amenities 

for the management and 

staff of Oman Drydock Company 

(ODC). 

The project being developed 

by Duqm Development 

Company is based on a long- 

term commitment by Oman 

Drydock Company to lease 

the properties built in Phase 

I. The project started in 2011, 

is progressing well and is due 

for completion by the end of 

2012. 

National Bank of Oman is 

the sole arranger and provider 

of this large credit facility. 

DDC’s frontier town project 

is the first major project to be 

funded by a bank and NBO is 

indeed proud to achieve this 

distinction. 

NBO recently hosted a 

formal ceremony to mark the 

Sunday, June 24, 2012 

NBO gives long-term funding 

to Duqm Frontier Project 

NEW YORK — The euro 

got a boost yesterday as four 

European leaders pledged 

130 billion euros ($163 billion) 

to promote growth. 

The euro hit $1.2571, up 

around 0.3 per cent for the 

day after a slump earlier. The 

dollar was broadly weaker 

as currencies reclaimed 

some ground lost against the 

greenback. 

"The buck on Thursday 

had rallied about one per cent 

against a currency basket after 

a spate of weak data from 

around the globe touched off 

worries about an accelerat- 

BankMuscat with Salalah Festival 

BANKMUSCAT, the flagship financial institution in the Sultanate, 

joined the nation in celebrating the monsoon splendour and 

cultural heritage of Oman as Salalah Tourism Festival got off to 

a fine start in the summer capital of Oman. A large contingent of 

senior BankMuscat officials attended the ceremony. Page 22 

ing downturn in growth," 

said Travelex analysts. 

Earlier, the leaders of 

Germany, France, Italy and 

Spain looked to soothe global 

worries with promises to 

kickstart growth in the bloc's 

floundering economies. 

French President Francois 

Hollande said the other 

leaders of Germany, Italy 

and Spain agreed to mobilise 

"one per cent of European 

GDP, that is 120 to 

130 billion euros, to support 

growth" — a move Germany's 

Angela Merkel hailed as 

"an important signal". 

"We need to work closer 

together politically, especially 

in the euro zone. Whoever 

has a common currency must 

also have coherent policies. 

That is also a lesson from the 

last two years," Merkel said. 

Italian Prime Minister 

Mario Monti said the four 

leaders had agreed that 

boosting growth in the euro 

zone was key to restoring 

confidence. 

"The first objective we 

agree on is to relaunch 

growth, investments and to 

create jobs," Monti said. 

"The euro is here to stay 

successful financial close of 

this credit facility, at the Grand 

Hyatt Muscat. 

The evening was attended 

by Board members and senior 

management teams of NBO 

and DDC. Also present at the 

function were senior management 

members of ODC and 

Duqm Special Economic Zone 

Authority and other distinguished 

guests. 

Euro gets bump from stimulus deal 

and we all mean it. The great 

project which has been successful 

until now, the euro, is 

irreversible," he added. 

In a sign of continued discord, 

however, Hollande said 

there could be "no transfer of 

sovereignty without greater 

solidarity" within the euro 

zone. 

Giving up sovereignty 

would be required for deeper 

fiscal integration in the euro 

zone, which Merkel is pushing 

for, but France wants financial 

burden sharing to be a 

higher priority. — Agencies 

Moody’s downgrade provides 

edge for safe-haven banks 

LONDON/NEW YORK — 

Major ratings downgrades by 

Moody's will further divide the 

world's biggest banks based 

on their strength and access to 

cheap customer deposits. 

The ratings, released on 

Thursday by Moody's Investors 

Service, gave a competitive 

advantage to "safe-haven" 

banks that fund themselves 

with stable, low-cost customer 

deposits, while worsening the 

outlook for weaker banks that 

rely more on capital markets 

for their funding. 

Stock and credit markets reacted 

mildly after Moody's cut 

the ratings of 15 of the world's 

biggest banks, as the cuts had 

been widely anticipated. 

The cost of insuring against 

default for each of the five biggest 

US investment banks fell 

on relief that Moody's was 

not harsher, said Otis Casey, 

research director at Markit in 

New York. 

The KBW index of US 

bank stocks rose 1.4 per cent 

on Friday in New York. European 

bank shares rose 0.1 

per cent. Shares of New Yorkbased 

Morgan Stanley were 

up 1.3 per cent after initially 

jumping more than 3 per cent 

in reaction to its rating having 

been cut less than feared. 

Aside from the immediate 

market moves, the downgrades 

reinforce a trend that has seen 

weaker banks punished for 

their risk-taking, while strong- 

TOURISTS walk past a Bank of America banking centre in Times Square in 

New York yesterday. — Reuters 

er banks are rewarded for conservative 

funding models, ensuring 

lower costs and higher 

margins. 

Not only will funding costs 

rise for the worst-rated banks, 

but trading partners are bound 

to ask for more collateral — 

and steer business to those 

perceived to be financially 

stronger. 

"These downgrades will increase 

the cost of doing business 

for banks, either through 

reduced, or more costly, access 

to funding or the need 

to lodge extra collateral with 

creditors," said Daiwa Capital 

Markets analyst Michael Symonds 

Moody's gave the highest 

ratings to HSBC, Royal Bank 

of Canada and JPMorgan, 

which it said had stronger 

"shock absorbers" than their 

peers. 

All three are regarded as 

safe-haven banks, funded by 

deposits from millions of retail 

customers and relying less 

than riskier banks on capital 

markets for short-term financing. 

Moody's gave the lowest 

credit ratings to banks that 

have been affected by problems 

with their risk management 

or whose capital buffers 

are not as strong as those of 

their rivals. 

Those include Morgan 

Stanley and others with few 

retail deposits, as well as 

banks such as Bank of America 

, Citigroup and Royal Bank 

of Scotland, which despite 

having big deposit bases have 

gotten into trouble by combining 

their retail business with 

riskier investment banking. 

— Reuters 

Ahmed Musalmi, NBO’s 

Deputy Chief Executive Officer 

said: “NBO is an active 

player in the project financing 

market in the Sultanate 

and has led and participated 

in a number of successful infrastructure, 

power and petrochemical 

projects in Oman. 

We reiterate our commitment 

to projects of national importance 

keeping in mind the 

vision and guidance of His 

Majesty Sultan Qaboos. We 

firmly believe that Duqm as 

the emerging hub will soon be 

the ideal model town displaying 

His Majesty’s vision for 

the nation. 

We greatly value our relationship 

with Duqm Development 

Company and we look 

forward to continuing this mutually 

beneficial relationship. 

On behalf of the Board of Directors 

and the CEO of NBO, 

I take this opportunity to thank 

DDC for their confidence and 

faith in the bank to structure 

and deliver this facility.” 

Speaking on the occasion, 

Ahmed Sulaiman al Maimani, 

Chairman of the Board of Directors 

of DDC, added: “I take 

this opportunity to express our 

sincere appreciation and satisfaction 

to NBO for their professionalism 

and commitment 

to the project. We look forward 

to a long-term mutually 

beneficial relationship.” 

Big four agree on growth package 

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel resisted pressure for common 

euro zone bonds or a more flexible use of Europe’s rescue 

funds but agreed with leaders of France, Italy and Spain on a 

130 billion euros ($156 billion) package to revive growth. The 

measures are already at work in Brussels. Page 24 

Huawei denies using Chinese 

subsidies to grab business 

ST PETERSBURG — Huawei 

Technologies Co Ltd, the 

world's No 2 telecom gear 

maker, has denied using Chinese 

subsidies to gain global 

market share after it was accused 

by US lawmakers and 

EU officials of unfair competition. 

Huawei and cross-town 

rival ZTE Corp have come 

under close scrutiny by US 

lawmakers and the European 

Commission, which say both 

are able to use subsidies to bid 

for contracts at lower prices 

than Western competitors. 

Both companies rose to 

prominence rapidly over the 

past few years, clinching contracts 

with major telecom carriers 

and sometimes edging 

out European rivals Ericsson, 

Alcatel Lucent SA and Nokia 

Siemens Networks. 

"It's not true that Huawei 

uses subsidies to gain market 

share," Chen Lifang, Huawei's 

global board director, 

said in an interview on the 

sidelines of a business event 

at St Petersburg in Russia. 

"We receive legal subsidies. 

Like European countries, 

China also gives out 

subsidies for R&D-related activities. 

Huawei has taken part 

in such European and Chinese 

schemes," said Chen, a member 

of Huawei's 13-person 

board. 

Huawei, together with the 

world No 5 telecom equipment 

maker ZTE, denied accepting 

illegal subsidies earlier 

this year, but this is the first 

time a Huawei board member 

has commented about the 

issue. The head of the US 

House of Representatives' 

Intelligence Committee this 

week said apart from the investigation 

on subsidies, legislation 

could be proposed to 

deal with any related national 

security threats. 

In May, EU diplomats said 

the trade bloc would like to 

take action against Huawei 

and ZTE on the grounds that 

they receive illegal state subsidies 

that allow them to sell 

equipment at lower prices. 

Analysts said Chinese telecoms 

equipment makers had 

also the support from policy 

banks, such as China Development 

Bank CHDB.UL, 

which provided low interest 

rate loans for network infrastructure 

projects in emerging 

economies. 

Chen brushed off rumours 

that Huawei did not need to 

pay back such loans. 

"Our competitors even 

spread rumours that we 

needn't repay these loans. This 

is impossible and untrue," she 

said late on Friday. 

She said Huawei usually 

worked with Chinese and foreign 

banks in project financing 

and loans, and was transparent 

in the process. In 2011, 

Huawei borrowed $4.6 billion 

from banks, with more than 70 

per cent from overseas banks 

and less than 20 per cent from 

Chinese lenders, Chen said. 

"These banks usually 

make necessary risk assessments 

before agreeing to the 

loans. All of such loans have 

also been audited." 

Huawei has been successful 

in selling telecom equipment 

in Europe and emerging 

economies in Asia and Africa, 

expanding its presence in the 

mobile phone and enterprise 

segments. — Reuters


MUSCAT — BankMuscat, the 

flagship financial institution in 

the Sultanate, joined the nation 

in celebrating the monsoon 

splendour and cultural 

heritage of Oman as Salalah 

Tourism Festival got off to a 

fine start in the summer capital 

of Oman. A large contingent of 

senior BankMuscat officials, 

including Management Ex- 

ecutives, attended the opening 

ceremony of the festival. 

Yasir Salim Tabook, Regional 

Manager — Dhofar, 

said: “As the nation’s leading 

financial institution, Bank- 

Muscat seeks to utilise all 

opportunities in reaching out 

to people, offering them an 

enriching experience. Salalah 

Tourism Festival perfectly 

fits into the corporate ethos 

of BankMuscat in serving 

the largest banking family in 

Oman as well as visitors from 

the region and around the 

world. While Salalah offers a 

rewarding experience to enjoy 

nature’s bounty, BankMuscat 

complements this experience 

by facilitating banking convenience 

to all.” 

BankMuscat stalls adorn 

the festival venues where the 

bank personnel are on hand to 

familiarise visitors on various 

special promotions and campaigns 

linked to services and 

products offered by the bank. 

BankMuscat ATMs and CDMs 

offer superior levels of banking 

convenience and connectivity 

to visitors and tourists. 

Excitement has already 

started building up for Oman’s 

popular al Mazyona Savings 

Account holders as the second 

quarterly prize draw of RO 

300,000 will be held on July 5 

22 OMAN SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

BankMuscat enhances appeal of Salalah Tourism Festival 

Knowledge Oman appoints 

Chief Operating Officer 


MUSCAT — Knowledge 

Oman, the leading community 

knowledge sharing platform 

in the Sultanate, has appointed 

Rym Aoudia (pictured) as 

the Chief Operating Officer 

(COO) as part of the recent 

growth of its operational activities 

in the community. 

"We have built a solid 

foundation over the past few 

years and the scale of our 

projects has increased dramatically. 

As part of maintaining 

the operational excellence, 

we have created a new COO 

role to oversee and support the 

day to day operations that are 

important to the growth of our 

organisation. 

We are pleased to appoint 

Rym who has demonstrated 

excellent leadership, a passion 

for developing community 

initiatives and a strong commitment 

to delivering results", 

said Tariq Hilal al Barwani, 


MUSCAT — Taking yet one 

more step as part of reaching 

its targeted $10 billion in 

global sales by 2014, the OTE 

group along with LG Electronics 

(LG) unveiled its new 

Multi V III commercial air- 

conditioner, which is meant 

for large-scale facilities such 

as commercial buildings, 

office complexes, schools, 

mosques, residential buildings 

and retailers. The third generation 

of the popular Multi V 

series, the new air-conditioner 

will be LG’s flagship product 

in the region, where demand 

for energy-saving technology 

is growing fast. 

The launch of the Multi 

V III, the company’s most 

advanced commercial HVAC 

solution, is a central part of 

LG Air Conditioning Company’s 

plan to secure $10 billion 

in global sales by 2014. 

With its advanced efficient 

cooling system, the Multi V 

III is expected to gain significant 

market share throughout 

the GCC. 

“As a company with a 

strong focus on producing 

energy-efficient products, we 

CEO and President of Knowledge 

Oman. 

Rym is an MBA candidate 

with a Bachelor’s and Master’s 

degree in Language and 

Literature. 

She has previously worked 

in the communications industry, 

in the areas of advertising, 

marketing and PR with Whitepoint 

Media Advertising and 

GoGoNet digital marketing. 

Rym is currently employed as 

feel that the Multi V III addresses 

all the major HVAC 

requirements of businesses 

in the Gulf,” said D Y Kim, 

President of LG Electronics 

Gulf FZE. “With this product, 

we are in a strong position to 

work with our business part- 

the Head of Business Development 

and Alliances at Prosper 

Management Consultancy, 

managing the company's partnerships, 

service portfolio and 

business development team in 

the region, while contributing 

to delivering training workshops. 

Committed to community 

development, Rym launched a 

children’s cultural initiative in 

2004, named Atfaaluna, which 

served children from different 

countries through its online 

platform in three different languages 

to showcase children’s 

creativity and provided relevant 

information to families 

and specialists for learning 

and networking. 

In 2010, Rym launched 

the Khayaali project in Oman 

through a series of events that 

promoted local artists and talent, 

benefiting the nationals 

and residents of the country 

looking for a creative space to 

engage and grow. 

ners in the region to make LG 

the leading provider of smart 

and efficient HVAC solutions. 

Our experts at LG Academy, 

Dubai impart training to business 

partners and contractors 

of regions towards specifying, 

installing, commissioning and 

ACCA to 

highlight 

accountancy 

career 


MUSCAT — The opportunities 

presented by a career 

in accountancy or finance 

will be outlined in an event 

organised by ACCA (the 

Association of Chartered 

Certified Accountants) and 

sponsored by leading tuition 

providers in Muscat tonight, 

June 24. 

The information session, 

which will focus on the 

ACCA Qualification, which 

is globally recognised and is 

equivalent to a UK Master’s 

degree, will take place in 

Haffa House Hotel Muscat 

from 7pm to 8pm. 

The event is sponsored by 

the College of Banking and 

Financial Studies, the National 

Training Institute and 

the Polyglot Institute, all of 

which are ACCA Approved 

Learning Providers. 

maintenance of commercial 

air-conditioners”. 

The Multi V III boasts 

three key consumer benefits; 

higher energy efficiency, larger 

capacity and longer piping 

design. The unit’s energy 

efficiency, boosted by LG’s 

as part of the Salalah Tourism 

Festival celebrations. 

A high point in the calendar 

of big prizes from BankMuscat, 

al Mazyona offers one of 

the biggest prize money in 

the savings scheme history in 

Oman. 

Salalah Tourism Festival 

is directed towards supporting 

Oman's tourism industry 

and offering fun and entertainment 

for citizens, residents 


MUSCAT — Renaissance subsidiary, 

Topaz Marine Engineering 

(Topaz), a UAE-based 

full service ship building, ship 

repair and engineering services 

company, confirms it has been 

commissioned by the Government 

of Sharjah’s Royal Court 

(Al Diwan Al Amiri) to build 

and deliver one Catamaran 

passenger ferry boat. 

With a focus on passenger 

luxury and efficiency, the 

Catamaran will be designed to 

accommodate 40 people, with 

passengers all seated on the 

main deck. 

It will be used to transport 

people between mainland 

Sharjah and the Abu Musa 

Island, situated 70 kilometres 

offshore. The ferry will 

be built at Topaz’s Nicocraft 

Shipyard in Abu Dhabi and is 

scheduled for delivery in Janu- 

unique V-Scroll inverter, Cyclone 

Sub-cooling Circuit and 

new refrigerant distributor, 

delivers a COP (coefficient 

of performance) level 1 of 4.6 

for heating and 4.3 for cooling 

— some of the highest in the 

industry. LG’s new Multi V 

and visitors. In all the previous 

editions of Salalah Tourism 

Festival, BankMuscat has 

been closely involved with the 

popular family holiday event. 

“The partnership with Salalah 

Tourism Festival is an earnest 

attempt by BankMuscat 

to propagate the core family 

values held dear by Omanis,” 

Yasir Salim Tabook said. 

“BankMuscat is committed 

to making Salalah Tourism 

ary 2013. 

Thomas Bower, Managing 

Director of Topaz Marine 

Engineering, commented: 

“Ferry boats are becoming 

increasingly common across 

the Gulf countries and Topaz 

is responding to this demand 

by working to worldwide 

standards and developing new 

designs which offer the very 

best in luxury, high speed, 

manoeuvrability and excellent 

sea keeping characteristics to 

make this kind of transportation 

more safe and comfortable. 

Securing this contract 

comes as testament to our 

competitive advantage and we 

III can help building owners 

reduce their operational costs 

and be friendlier to the environment 

while still providing 

reliable cooling in extremely 

hot and humid regions. 

“Brands are built not only 

on the back of great products 

and constant innovation but 

also great service. We at OTE 

Group ensure that customers 

get a wide range of prompt, 

effective and high quality 

after-sales service”, said Ajay 

Chopra, Managing Director, 

OTE Group of Companies. 

Another advanced feature 

of the Multi V III is the 

increased piping length of 

1,000m, which gives architects 

greater flexibility in locating 

the condensing unit. In 

addition, its 16HP capacity 

per unit (with a maximum of 

48HP with four connected 

units) and smaller space requirement 

make it easier, 

more efficient and cheaper to 

install and maintain. 

LG is launching a more 

energy efficient product line 

which feeds into the Sustainability 

and Energy Awareness 

Programmes globally, thus 

making it easier for engineers, 

contractors and developers to 

Festival a great success. As 

main sponsor of the annual celebrations, 

BankMuscat aims 

to unite citizens, residents and 

visitors in sharing the good 

times and discovering the joy 

of being connected. While endowed 

with a global outlook, 

BankMuscat remains Omani 

at heart. We seek to serve as a 

focal point in the preservation 

of Oman’s rich heritage and 

culture, encouraging people 

look forward to winning more 

as we continue to expand our 

services in this growing niche 

market.” 


has had an excellent start to 

the year. It has recently delivered 

two 18 metre Catamaran 

ferry boats to a client in the 

UK and completed the delivery 

of two wind farm support 

vessels (WFSV) to ASP Work 

Boats Ltd. 

Topaz is also completing 

the delivery of two Anchor 

Handling Supply (AHTS) 

vessels, Topaz Dignity and Topaz 

Triumph on behalf of BP, 

which are due to be deployed 

achieve their environmental 

objective as well as reduce 

their operating costs. 

OTE Group is the exclusive 

dealer of LG range of 

electronics and home appliances 

in Oman. 

OTE Group is a part of the 

to maintain a strong link to the 

glorious legacy, thereby reinforcing 

the Sultanate’s distinct 

cultural character,” Tabook 

said. 

Salalah Tourism Festival 

has succeeded in serving as 

a window to Oman’s heritage 

and culture. “We strongly 

believe the presence of Bank- 

Muscat will complement in 

making the event a memorable 

experience,” Tabook added. 

Topaz wins ferry contract for 

Sharjah government 

in the Caspian Sea on longterm 

contracts. 

Furthermore, Topaz was 

awarded a contract from GAC 

Group to provide completion 

services for two crew/cargo 

vessels. 


and its sister company, Topaz 

Oil and Gas Engineering, covers 

fabrication and construction; 

maintenance services; 

ship building and marine repair 

for the offshore support vessel 

and engineering services. 

The companies are part of 

Topaz Energy and Marine, 

a wholly-owned subsidiary 

of Renaissance Services, a 

Muscat-based oilfield services 

company and are both regional 

leaders in undertaking turnkey 

engineering, procurement 

and construction projects with 

over 35 years of experience 

operating in MENA and more 

recently in the Caspian. 

OTE launches LG Multi V III, the greenest commercial AC units 

social fabric here in Oman 

and hence customer satisfaction 

is its top priority. It is this 

philosophy of team OTE that 

goes beyond market share 

and profits to come together 

and make OTE — a symbol 

of care.

MUSCAT — Predicted to 

drum-up enthusiasm in Oman's 

automobile market, two Special 

Edition Kia models have 

been launched. Not only are 

Sorento Stylo and Cerato Star 

feature-packed and stylish, 

they are also available at affordable 

price points, making 

them the right choice. 

At a special event graced 

by the presence of Il Won, 

DGM-Sales, KMC, Middle 

East and Africa D S Chung, 

GM — Service, Kia Motors, 

Middle East and Africa Region 

and distinguished guests, two 

sparklingly new Kia models 

'Sorento Stylo' and 'Cerato 

Star' were launched in Oman. 

Re-designed with standout 

styling, the new models 

convey a sense of solidity and 

maturity. With distinctive exterior, 

sophisticated interior and 

numerous advanced comfort/ 

safety features, the new models 

enhance Kia’s reputation 

for delivering great value. 

Presenting the new Kia 

models to the audience, Won 

remarked, “We are proud to 

introduce the Cerato Star and 

Sorento Stylo, two Special 

Editions exclusively for the 

Oman market. True to our 

brand slogan ‘The Power to 

Surprise’ the Special Edition 

models have features that will 

delight the customers.” 

“Sorento Stylo comes 

equipped with Panoramic 

Sunroof, rear-view camera 

and back warning sensors, 

power driver seat, side-step 

board, chrome-package, dual 

front auto and rear A/C, multi-control 

steering and more. 

The new Cerato Star comes 

equipped with daytime running 

lights, 15" alloy wheels, 

Bluetooth, rear-view camera 

and back-warning sensors, 

amongst many others,” he added, 

“I hope your first impression 

of the Sorento Stylo and 

Cerato Star is a pleasant one.” 

Following Won's speech, a 

senior spokesperson from Reliable 

International Automo- 

23 

OMAN/INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

Grand entry of Kia’s new ‘Special Editions’ 

Carlyle in talks to refinance 

$1.9bn Coates Hire debt 

HONG KONG — US private 

equity fund Carlyle Group 

is in talks with banks to refinance 

A$1.9 billion ($1.9 

billion) in loans used to buy 

out Australian equipment hire 

company Coates Hire Ltd, 

two sources familiar with the 

matter said. 

Carlyle borrowed the money 

in 2008 to fund its A$1.7 

billion buyout of Coates, its 

first leveraged acquisition in 

Australia, said the sources, 

who declined to be named as 

LONDON — Hedge fund 

investors have voiced their 

concerns about complex funds 

designed to protect against major 

market meltdowns, just as 

fears of a break-up of the euro 

zone have spurred huge interest 

in these products. 

So-called "tail risk" funds, 

also known as "black swan" 

strategies after the popular 

book by Nassim Nicholas 

Taleb, are supposed to hedge 

against rare but dangerous 

events, such as the market selloff 

following Lehman Brothers' 

demise. 

But the GAIM 2012 hedge 

fund conference last week in 

Monaco revealed widespread 

doubts about whether such 

funds can perform as they are 

expected to, leaving investors 

dangerously exposed to a 

deepening global debt crisis. 

"You guys better figure out 

how, while hedging tail risk, 

you're not letting liquidity 

risk sneak in the back door ... 

you don't know how to get out 

and we've just had a liquidity 

event not so long ago," one in- 

they were not authorised to 

speak to the media. 

Carlyle is among a number 

of private equity funds in the 

Asia Pacific that have been in 

talks to refinance debt, as frozen 

IPO markets and a lack of 

strategic buyers have left the 

funds holding assets longer 

than the usual three to five 

years. 

The cost of leveraged debt 

has risen in recent years — 

for new leveraged buyouts, 

margins can be twice as high 

vestor told a panel of managers 

discussing their funds on 

Wednesday. 

He accused firms who offer 

the strategies of not knowing 

how to exit their positions, 

particularly if markets seize 

up and liquidity in the derivatives 

markets these funds trade 

evaporates. 

Tail risk is defined as the 

probability of rare events. 

Pension funds and family 

offices, still smarting from the 

huge losses they suffered in the 

2008-2009 financial crisis and 

fearing another blow-up is just 

around the corner, are handing 

over billions of dollars to bank 

and fund providers promising 

protection — many without really 

knowing if the funds will 

pay out when they need them 

to. 

Dozens of different strategies 

can carry the tail-risk tag, 

many of them using complex 

mathematics which leave investors 

puzzled about how 

they work. 

In their most simple form, 

the funds buy "put" options 

— and refinancing of existing 

loans at higher interest rates 

will add to the debt burden of 

the companies and squeeze returns 

of private equity funds, 

sources say. 

The fact that Carlyle is 

looking for three-year money 

indicates the firm is protecting 

itself against an even 

longer wait for an exit, said 

one of the sources. KKR has 

previously been in talks to refinance 

debt at Bis Industries 

in Australia. — Reuters 

— contracts which give them 

the right to sell an underlying 

stock or security on expectations 

of a drop in price. 

Under the terms of the contract, 

the seller of the put — 

such as an investment bank — 

is obliged to buy the asset from 

biles shared his views, stating, 

“As a brand, Kia is the fastest 

growing in the world — with 

a commanding global presence. 

It has 12 manufacturing/ 

assembly plants in 9 countries 

and specialised R&D/Design 

Centres in Japan, US and Germany. 

Kia's extensive network 

of distributors/dealers in 172 

countries reaches Kia quality 

to the farthest corners of the 

globe.” 

Praising Kia's master designer, 

Peter Schreyer, he 

added, “Leading German car 

designer of international fame 

spearheads the designing of 

new Kia vehicles. All our 

models offer quality excellence 

and have won numerous 

awards worldwide. This means 

better resale value as the brand 

grows further. In the near future, 

we hope to reach 3.5 million 

sales by 2016, be a top tier 

automotive brand and global 

brand, continue to be an early 

adopter of upcoming technology, 

always be at the forefront 

in delivering stylish cars with 

unmatched features at reasonable 

cost of ownership.” 

Following the presentation, 

thrilling films showcasing the 

models were presented at the 

the fund at a pre-determined 

price, earning the fund a profit 

if prices have slumped below 

that level. 

Other funds, however, bundle 

these traditional tail-risk 

hedges with bets on indexes 

that track volatility rather than 

end of which a dramatic unveiling 

revealed the sparkling new 

stars in all their glory. Such 

was the effect that many eager 

guests could be seen milling 

around the new models. 

Later, new customers were 

symbolically handed over the 

keys to their new Kia cars. “It 

has awesome styling, is safe; 

easy to handle and so comfortable! 

For the price tag it 

comes with, it really offers 

phenomenal value,” said one 

of the early-bird owners of the 

new Cerato Star. Similar views 

were expressed by the proud 

owner of the Sorento Stylo. 

Thanking the audience for 

their presence at the launch 

event, a Kia spokesperson 

drew the curtains on the ceremony 

by inviting the audience 

get a closer look at the new 

models. 

Reliable International Automotive, 

the distributor for Kia 

in Oman provides a rewarding 

ownership experience for 

customers. Excellent product 

attributes and an unmatched 

after sales support of 18 sales 

outlets, 19 service centres and 

easily accessible 28 parts outlets 

ensure their absolute satisfaction, 

every mile of the way. 

Adidas eyes Crossfit workout for Reebok 

WARSAW — Adidas will 

use a tough keep-fit trend and 

retro products to grow sales at 

Reebok to 3 billion euros ($3.8 

billion) by 2015, after the unit 

was hit by a fraud scandal in 

India and the loss of its NFL 

American football contract, its 

CEO said. 

With Reebok's sales down 7 

per cent in the first quarter and 

annual sales expected to fall 

from 2011's 1.96 billion euros, 

its performance contrasts 

sharply with the rest of the 

Adidas group, which expects 

overall sales to rise nearly 10 

per cent in 2012. 

"We want to increase Reebok 

sales in 2013. Anything 

else will be a disappointment," 

Herbert Hainer, CEO 

of the world's second largest 

sportswear group behind Nike 

(NKE.N), told journalists in 

Warsaw. 

Along with the NFL contract 

loss, a rush for its Easytone 

toning shoes, favoured by 

women looking to tone their 

legs, has petered out as the 

market became flooded with 

rivals and US authorities challenged 

the health benefits. 

Hainer said that Adidas did 

not want Reebok to be seen as 

Investors cast doubt on ‘end of world’ hedge strategies 

protection from falling prices. 

Another worried investor at 

the conference said managers 

were getting confused in their 

terminology and execution, increasing 

their exposure to risk 

instead of minimising it. 

"You can have a market fall- 

a women-only brand, and that 

a tie-up with gruelling armydeveloped 

Crossfit, a fitness 

regime currently sweeping 

the US, along with more retro 

Classics products should help 

regain it some lustre. Hainer 

added the group should be in 

a position to give an update on 

the fraud case in India, which 

it estimates will cost it almost 

200 million euros, with quarterly 

results in August. 

For now, Hainer is confident 

the sporting goods industry 

will continue to be shielded 

from the economic misery 

sweeping Europe, saying that 

ing very slowly by 1 per cent 

a week for 36 weeks, then up 

1 per cent a week for another 

36 weeks, and you will have a 

tail event but you'll lose money 

like hell being long volatility 

on a variance swap," he said. 

"You guys should figure out 

its products were still selling 

well in debt-ridden countries 

like Spain. "Our products are 

not so expensive that people 

can't afford them and the children 

always seem to have the 

money for iPhones or soccer 

jerseys or both," he said. 

His comments came after 

Adidas lifted its outlook for 

soccer sales this year, driven 

by the Euro 2012 soccer tournament 

taking place in Poland 

and the Ukraine. 

"All in all, I'm very happy 

with the business in 2012, and 

we expect to meet our group 

targets," he said. 

the difference between volatility 

and tail risk, which you 

tend to put together." 

A variance swap is a product 

that lets the owner hedge 

the risk of volatility of an underlying 

security or index. 

With so many different 

strategies on offer, it is difficult 

to estimate just how much 

investors have riding on these 

models. 

But JP Morgan Chase & 

Co's global asset allocation 

group estimates assets in tailrisk 

hedge funds ballooned to 

about $38 billion in April last 

year from less than $500 million 

prior to the Lehman collapse. 

As demand for tail-risk type 

derivatives has soared, so have 

their prices. Some fund managers 

said they were now actively 

betting against these tailrisk 

trades, believing investors 

wowed by these products have 

created a bubble in prices. Jane 

ANALYSIS 

Adidas also hit the headlines 

this week after pulling a 

controversial shackled sneaker 

and with a New York man 

claiming he was duped about 

the potential fitness benefits 

of a line of shoes designed to 

mimic the effect of running 

barefoot. 

Hainer shrugged off the 

suit, saying that such complaints 

were common. "But 

this does illustrate why we 

want to ensure our products 

with a performance element are 

sold only by specialist retailers 

with the necessary training and 

knowledge." — Reuters 

Buchan, CEO of fund of funds 

house PAAMCO, is investing 

in managers that are selling 

puts, often on US equities. 

"There is tremendous fear 

and risk aversion in the market 

right now. It's pushing rates 

down, it's also pushing the 

price of puts very, very high. If 

you are willing to invest for the 

long term and not just worry 

about the short-term fear, you 

can actually make some really 

good money," she said. 

Roberto Giuffrida, head of 

global business development 

at asset manager Permal, also 

highlighted the cost of such 

funds. "We are certainly getting 

inquiries for tail-risk type 

strategies ... but we advise clients 

to combine pure optionbased 

strategies with macro 

funds so that they can mitigate 

against the very expensive carry 

(of tail-risk investments)." 

— Reuters

24 

OMAN/INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

Europe’s big four agree on $156bn growth package 

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome. — Reuters 

ROME — German Chancellor 

Angela Merkel resisted pressure 

for common euro zone 

bonds or a more flexible use 

of Europe's rescue funds but 

agreed with leaders of France, 

Italy and Spain on a 130 billion 

euros ($156 billion) package to 

Buyout groups team up to 

bid for food group Iglo 

LONDON — Blackstone and 

BC Partners are jointly bidding 

for frozen foods group Iglo, 

hoping to divide the spoils rather 

than fight it out in what could 

be Europe's largest buyout of 

the year, a person familiar with 

situation said yesterday. 

The two private equity 

groups were the last in the 

frame for the Birds Eye Fish 

Fingers maker, which seller 

Permira hopes will fetch 2.8 

billion euros ($3.5 billion) 

when binding bids are tabled 

on Thursday. 

Rival PAI Partners pulled 

out of the process last month, 

unable to meet the asking price 

or find a partner for a joint bid, 

sources familiar with the situation 

have said previously. 

Blackstone declined to 

comment. BC Partners and 

Permira were not available for 

comment. 

Thai firm Charoen Pok- 

revive growth. 

After four-way talks in 

Rome's Renaissance Villa 

Madama, Italian Prime Minister 

Mario Monti said the European 

Union should adopt progrowth 

measures worth about 

1 per cent of the region's gross 

phand Foods has been on the 

sidelines of the auction but is 

not seen as interested in the 

whole group, which is Europe's 

largest frozen foods producer 

and twice the size of its nearest 

rival, some of the sources said. 

Iglo sold over 2 billion fish 

fingers in 2011 — enough to 

circle the earth five times — 

and enough frozen peas to fill 

40 Olympic swimming pools. 

Speculation had been rife 

that the two remaining bidders 

could join forces, splitting 

an equity investment that 

could top 700 million euros 

and potentially forcing down 

the price. 

By working together, Blackstone 

and BC will be in a position 

to table a lower final offer 

rather than "blow each other's 

brains out" by attempting to 

outbid one another, another 

person familiar with the situation 

said. 

domestic product at a crucial 

summit next week. 

But the three others made 

no perceptible progress in 

pushing Merkel, who leads Europe's 

most powerful economy 

and the main contributor to its 

rescue funds, towards mutu- 

Germany forms EU group 

to unveil transactions tax 

LUXEMBOURG — Germany 

will work with a core group of 

European Union countries on 

introducing a financial transactions 

tax, its finance minister 

said yesterday, after efforts 

to get an agreement among all 

27 EU countries fell short. 

Finance Minister Wolfgang 

Schaeuble said 10 countries 

were prepared to use an 

EU process known as 'enhanced 

co-operation' to push 

ahead with developing the tax, 

which Britain and other states, 

including some in the euro 

zone, oppose. 

Enhanced co-operation requires 

at least 9 EU countries 

to agree to work on a proposal. 

France, Italy and Spain are 

all behind Germany with the 

initiative, German Chancellor 

Angela Merkel said after a 

meeting with her counterparts 

in Rome. 

Revenue from such a tax, 

which some analysts estimate 

could raise more than 50 billion 

euros a year depending 

on the number of countries 

that participate, could be used 

to finance initiatives such as a 

fund to wind down bad banks. 

"My impression is that 

quite a number of member 

states strongly support the 

proposal of an FTT (Financial 

Transactions Tax) in principle," 

Schaeuble said after a 

meeting of EU finance ministers 

in Luxembourg. "We 

should give it a try." 

Denmark, which holds the 

rotating presidency of the EU, 

has tried for months to broker 

an agreement on an FTT but 

acknowledged on Friday that 

it would not be possible to do 

it among all 27 countries given 

the divisiveness of the issue. 

"What was promising was 

that a number of countries 

expressed interest in going 

forward with enhanced cooperation," 

said Margrethe 

Vestager, Denmark's minister 

for economic affairs, who 

added that Schaeuble's mention 

of 10 countries was about 

right. 

"If there are nine, the 

(European) Commission can 

come up with a new proposal. 

Nine or more countries have 

expressed interest in enhanced 

co-operation," she said. 

So far, the debate about 

such a tax has centred on a 

blueprint written by the European 

Commission for a tax on 

stocks, bonds and derivatives 

trades from 2014 that its own 

research said could raise up to 

57 billion euros a year. 

Spain's economy minister 

said his country stood firmly 

behind the proposal. "We are 

determined to start the enhanced 

co-operation," Luis de 

Guindos told reporters. Austria 

also supports the proposal. 

But many ministers were 

critical of the idea, with some 

signalling that they could even 

challenge a smaller group of 

countries introducing such a 

tax if it negatively impacted 

on those not participating. 

"We are not convinced of 

the case," Michael Noonan, 

Ireland's finance minister, told 

the meeting. "The proposals 

being made are not acceptable 

to us in particular if applied to 

fewer than 27." 

"When there are only two 

bidders and the equity cheque 

is quite big it makes a lot of 

sense to team up because you 

take all of the competition out 

of the process," a third person 

said. It leaves seller Permira 

with a tough decision as it tries 

to extract the highest price for a 

business bought from Unilever 

in 2006 for 1.7 billion euros. 

Iglo bolted on another frozen 

food group — Findus Italy — 

in 2010. Blackstone already 

owns the Birds Eye brand in 

the United States through its 

Pinnacle foods business. 

Permira has been hoping 

for about 2.8 billion euros from 

the sale, which would equate to 

about 8 times earnings before 

interest, tax, depreciation and 

amortisation (EBITDA), projected 

to beat 350 million euros 

in 2012. The company reported 

EBITDA of 326 million euros 

for 2011. — Reuters 

alising Europe's debts or using 

existing bailout resources 

more flexibly. 

"Growth can only have 

solid roots if there is fiscal 

discipline, but fiscal discipline 

can be maintained only if there 

is growth and job creation," 

Monti told a joint news conference 

after talks that lasted just 

an hour and 40 minutes. 

The measures, already in 

the works in Brussels, include 

increasing the European Investment 

Bank's capital, redirecting 

unspent EU regional 

aid funds and launching project 

bonds to co-finance major public 

investment programmes. 

No new steps were announced 

on Friday. 

The four leaders did agree 

to move ahead on creating a 

tax on financial transactions 

even though not all EU members 

will be on board. About a 

dozen EU states support setting 

up the so-called "Tobin tax", 

more than the nine required 

to go ahead as a group within 

the EU, a French presidential 

source said. 

Merkel made no mention, 

however, of any move towards 

mutualising past euro zone 

debt or new borrowing. 

French President Francois 

Hollande voiced impatience 

with Berlin's reluctance, saying 

it should not take 10 years 

to create jointly underwritten 

euro bonds. 

He said greater solidarity 

was needed among member 

states before they abandon 

more sovereignty to EU institutions. 

"I consider euro bonds 

to be an option ... but not in 

10 years," Hollande said in 

US tax collections 

take plunges 

WASHINGTON — A report 

from the US Internal 

Revenue Service's troubled 

whistleblower programme 

said tax collections from 

tipsters fell sharply last 

year, prompting a US lawmaker 

on Friday to say he 

may delay two Treasury Department 

nominees until the 

programme improves. 

The IRS whistleblower office 

gathers information from 

people who want to alert the 

tax-collecting agency about 

tax cheating. Whistleblowers 

can get monetary rewards 

under the IRS programme, 

which was thoroughly overhauled 

in 2006. 

Over the years, the office 

has brought in hundreds 

of millions of dollars in tax 

revenue for the government 

that would not have been 

collected without whistleblower 

tips. 

But in fiscal 2011, the 

IRS collected only $48 million 

through the programme, 

down from $464 million in 

fiscal 2010, the agency reported 

to Congress on June 

15. That level of revenue 

collection was the lowest 

since at least fiscal 2004. 

The federal fiscal year ends 

on September 30. 

The drop in collections 

coincided with a decline in 

new whistleblower cases. 

"The IRS is exploring 

ways to make the process 

more timely," said IRS 

Dean Patterson on Friday, 

adding that whistleblower 

cases can take up to seven 

years to resolve. 

Republican Senator 

Charles Grassley, who wrote 

the 2006 legislation that 

overhauled the programme, 

said the report showed the 

IRS is driving away whistleblowers. 

"The way the IRS 

and Treasury Department 

have handled the whistleblower 

programme enacted 

more than five years ago 

is inexcusable," Grassley 

said in a June 21 statement. 

— Reuters 

a direct challenge to Merkel. 

"There can be no transfer of 

sovereignty if there is not an 

improvement in solidarity." 

The German position essentially 

amounts to the reverse. 

Merkel argues that members 

of the 17-nation currency union 

must transfer control over 

national budget and economic 

policies to Brussels before 

Germany would consider common 

debt issuance. 

"Liability and control belong 

together," she said, citing 

as an example that EU treaties 

ruled out letting euro zone 

rescue funds lend directly to 

Spanish banks because only 

the Spanish state could enforce 

conditions on the banks. 

The contrasting comments 

left much work for diplomats 

to produce a convincing blueprint 

for closer fiscal and banking 

union at a full EU summit 

next Thursday and Friday, 

which Monti called a defining 

moment in the crisis. 

That plan is expected to 

include the first steps towards 

a banking union, starting by 

putting the European Central 

Bank in charge of supervising 

large cross-border euro zone 

banks. 

Without progress on bank 

sector integration or other financial 

stability measures, 

France is not ready to commit 

to ratifying an EU budget 

discipline pact agreed earlier 

WASHINGTON — The United 

States yesterday demanded that 

Argentina "immediately" end 

an import licensing regime and 

other curbs that have frustrated 

foreign suppliers, and expressed 

concerns about a "sweeping 

new import restriction" Indonesia 

has imposed. 

The comments came in remarks 

by a US official at the 

World Trade Organization in 

Geneva. 

Rachel Bae, a US attache, 

took a notably harder line with 

Argentina, which is already the 

target of a WTO suit filed by 

the European Union over steps 

the South American nation has 

taken to discourage imports. 

Those include an import licensing 

regime and an obligation 

on companies to balance 

imports with exports. 

"Our hope is that Argentina 

will acknowledge our concerns 

and terminate these import-restrictive 

measures and practices 

immediately," she said, according 

to a text of her remarks 

made available in Washington. 

"In short, our question for 

this year, French diplomatic 

sources said. Dangerously 

high Spanish borrowing costs 

eased a little on market hopes 

for policy initiatives at the 

Brussels summit. 

The European Central Bank 

took a supportive step on Friday, 

relaxing its collateral rules 

to let financial institutions 

pledge a wider range of assets 

in exchange for cash. The 

move helps counter the impact 

of credit rating downgrades. 

If it falls short, Madrid may 

be pushed closer to eventually 

needing a sovereign bailout. 

Without a convincing result, 

"there would be progressively 

greater speculative attacks 

on individual countries, 

with harassment of the weaker 

countries", Monti said in an interview 

with several European 

newspapers ahead of the minisummit. 

"A large part of Europe 

would find itself having to 

continue to put up with very 

high interest rates that would 

then impact on the states and 

also indirectly on firms. This is 

the direct opposite of what is 

needed for economic growth," 

he said. 

The technocratic Italian 

premier, who needs a success 

to shore up his weakening 

domestic authority, sounded 

slightly more optimistic after 

the talks, saying next week's 

summit should "put at ease 

Argentina, again today, is: 

When will the government put 

an end to the non-transparent 

and restrictive measures and 

practices that have been the 

source of such long-standing 

irritation and growing frustration 

to so many of Argentina's 

fellow WTO members?" 

Argentina maintains its 

measures are consistent with 

WTO rules and complained 

on Friday that other members 

are unfairly singling it out by 

continually bringing them up, a 

trade diplomat said. 

Nineteen WTO members 

objected to Argentina's policies 

at the March 30 meeting 

of the WTO Trade and Goods 

Council, and the United States, 

the EU, Japan, Turkey, Switzerland, 

Australia, Colombia, New 

Zealand, Israel, Malaysia, Taiwan 

and Hong Kong reinforced 

those concerns on Friday, the 

diplomat said. 

Bae began her remarks on 

Indonesia by stressing it "is an 

important partner of the United 

States." 

But the Southeast Asian 

the financial markets' expectations", 

switching to English to 

add: "The euro is here to stay 

and we all mean it." 

Spanish Prime Minister 

Mariano Rajoy, on the brink 

of requesting up to 100 billion 

euros in euro zone rescue 

funds to recapitalise struggling 

banks, said the four had agreed 

"to use any necessary mechanism 

to obtain financial stability 

in the euro zone". 

An audit released on Thursday 

found Spanish banks 

would need up to 62 billion 

euros in extra capital to weather 

adverse circumstances. 

After a meeting of euro 

zone finance ministers late on 

Thursday, IMF chief Christine 

Lagarde demanded rapid 

progress on a number of other 

fronts, raising the heat on 

Merkel. Lagarde said a banking 

union was a top priority, 

alongside fiscal union and the 

principle of mutualising debt. 

Germany refuses to countenance 

common bond issuance 

and will not soften until economic 

union is complete. It is 

also opposed to the early introduction 

of a bloc-wide bank 

deposit guarantee scheme. 

While Spain's needs are 

most pressing — its medium 

term borrowing costs hit a euro 

era high at auction on Thursday 

— the political stakes may 

be higher for Italy's Monti. 

— Reuters 

US raps Argentina, Indonesia 

import curbs at WTO 

nation has introduced a large 

number of new trade and investment 

restrictions "that threaten 

to make Indonesia's market impenetrable," 

Bae said. 

Those include "a sweeping 

new import restriction" known 

as Regulation 27 that the United 

States understands is intended 

to implement "an Indonesia 

Supreme Court finding that 

imports 'clash' with domestic 

products and interfere with national 

development objectives," 

she said. 

Bae noted "the substance 

of the Supreme Court's decision 

raises thought-provoking 

questions about the openness 

of Indonesia's economy and its 

ability to fulfil its WTO commitments." 

She also expressed concern 

about import licensing requirements 

that Indonesia has imposed 

on a long list of products, 

including many of interest to 

the United States, such as livestock 

products, textiles and 

clothing and consumers goods 

like electronics, appliances and 

food and beverages. — Reuters 

TEL: 24601003, 24600586 • FAX: 24600736 

• WEBSITE: www.salalahport.com

THE prodigious artistry 

of students of The 

British School Muscat 

I’m focused on Miss World 

title: Vanya Mishra 

Page 28 

(BSM) was on show as part of 

the 2012 ‘Artefacts’ Limited 

Edition' Art & Design Exhibi- 

Psoriasis tied to higher risk of 

diabetes: study 

Page 27 

tion held at The Omani Society 

for Fine Arts recently. 

Ali Abdul Khaliq, Qatar 

Airways Regional Manager 

for the Arabian Peninsula and 

Iran, presided at the opening 

ceremony of BSM's annual 

Art & Design exhibition. 

Artefacts ‘Limited Edition’ 

Art & Design Exhibition 2012 

is now in its ninth consecutive 

year, and the overall aim of 

Artefacts each year is to promote 

and exhibit the creative 

skills of senior school students 

studying Art & Design at The 

British School Muscat, to the 

people living in and around 

the capital area. 

A full range of exciting and 

original work was on display 

at The Omani Society for Fine 

Arts, covering all age groups 

in the senior school, including 

the talented examination students, 

aged 16 to 18, studying 

GCSE, AS and A2 Level examinations 

in Art & Design. 

Introductory speeches were 

made by the Principal, Kai 

Vacher and Ali Abdul Khaliq, 

Qatar Airways Regional Manager 

for the Arabian Peninsula 

and Iran. 

The Principal applauded 

the students on the high quality 

of work on show. It's only 

when you live with an art 

student and you can see their 

dedication and total involvement 

in the project that you 

realise how much research and 

effort goes into every design 

and creation, he commented. 

Nicole Richie to 

launch fragrance 

Page 28 

Play and learn at Salalah 

Tourism Festival 

Page 26 

Fea ures 

Sunday, June 24, 2012 

Around 70 final pieces of 

artwork of different types of 

media were on display, (ma- 

terial that was sponsored by 

Qatar Airways and framed by 

Anjan Chowdhury) along with 

sketchbooks and portfolios of 

supporting studies. 

It was clear to see that the 

students had covered a multitude 

of topics and techniques, 

including Local Culture, 

Natural Forms, the Visual Elements 

and Personal Studies. 

Besides traditional painting 

skills, a variety of multi-media 

techniques, including surface 

and relief, textiles, print and 

stitched work were also evident 

in the exhibition. 

Principal Vacher first 

thanked Qatar Airways for 

their continued support, over 

the past four years, in sponsoring 

the Artefacts Exhibition 

which he described as one 

of the main highlights of the 

British School's end of school 

term events. 

He further thanked the 

Omani Society of fine Arts for 

their generosity in providing 

this excellent venue over the 

past nine years, Oman Printers 

for printing the brochures, and 

Bader Catering for the refreshments. 

The Principal heaped praise 

on The British School’s Art & 

Design faculty for its ‘exceptionally 

high quality of teaching’, 

noting in particular Jennifer 

Rogers for her work with 

the younger Key Stage Three 

students and Rachel Connor, 

Head of Art & Design, for her 

excellent teaching, and the organisational 

skills of Roshan 

Nowroji over the past nine 

years. 

High praise, good wishes 

and thanks were also given 

to Rachel Connor, as she prepares 

to depart the school and 

Oman to retire from teaching 

and return to the UK. He said 

she would be greatly missed! 

Ali Abdul Khaliq went on 

to join Principal Vacher in 

praising the students and staff 

involved in the wonderful 

event year after year and said 

he and Qatar Airways were 

After dating for 15 years, 

Jon has no plans to wed 

Page 28 

‘Artefacts 2012’ showcases students’ artistic skills 

A full range of exciting and original work was on display at The 

Omani Society for Fine Arts, covering all age groups in the senior 

school, including the talented examination students, aged 16 to 

18, studying GCSE, AS and A2 Level examinations in Art & Design 

Artefacts ‘Limited Edition’ Art 

& Design Exhibition 2012 is 

now in its ninth consecutive 

year, and the overall aim 

of Artefacts each year is to 

promote and exhibit the skills 

of senior school students 

studying Art & Design at The 

British School Muscat, to the 

people living in and around 

the capital area 

honoured to be associated with 

this yearly celebration. Khaliq 

also announced a prize — an 

air ticket to any destination 

covered by Qatar Airways — 

for the winning piece of art. 

After the opening speeches, 

diplomats, parents, stu- 

dents and guests enjoyed the 

freedom to roam the two gal- 

leries of the Fine Arts Society 

to view the exciting work.

26 SPOTLIGHT SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

Play and learn at Salalah Tourism Festival 

By Kaushalendra Singh 

THESE school students 

are confident, communicative 

and convincing 

while explaining their projects 

which they are handling at the 

children’s pavilion of Salalah 

Tourism Festival. 

They have come here from 

various schools of the Sultanate 

and 10 out of 27 are those 

whose projects have been selected 

as top 10 child science 

projects at a recently held competition 

organised by the Ministry 

of Education. 

Yusuf Said al Amri, Knowledge 

Development Specialist 

at the Ministry of Education, 

terms this to be a nice idea to 

instil a sense of confidence 

among the students by letting 

them participate in a big event 

like Salalah Tourism Festival. 

Yusuf says every child has 

something special and proper 

exposure makes them confident. 

“There are many such 

programmes going on under 

the Ministry of Education and 

there is no doubt about it that 

we are evolving day by day,” 

he says. 

Shehab bin Suilaman al 

Fari, a class IX student from 

Al Hawai Mohammed al Azdi, 

looks smaller than his age when 

he says he is in class IX and is 

to be promoted to class X when 

the school reopens after the 

summer vacation. 

He has come to the Festival 

with a science project and an 

equipment which explains how 

to measure height, depth and 

width with the help of compass, 

measurement tape laser 

InterContinental awarded 

for blood donation drive 

INTERCONTINENTAL Muscat has received an award from 

the Ministry of Health last week at the Blood Donors Day, 

for being active in supporting the community in regularly 

donating blood. So far the hotel has participated in 18 blood 

donation campaign since 2005. 

‘Mazda summer check’ offer 

KEEPING your car cool 

in the blistering summer 

heat can be a daunting task, 

but thanks to Mazda’s free 

‘summer check’ offer, you can 

now ensure that both you and 

your car are cool this summer! 

Under the ‘Mazda summer 

check’ offer, you don’t just get 

a free AC check-up for your 

Mazda; you get a whole lot 

more. During the course of the offer, you can get a free engine 

temperature check-up, full washing on every repair, and a free 

AC top-up too. This offer is valid until July 31, 2012. 

Annurag Chawla, Head of Marketing and Communications, 

Towell Auto Centre, sole distributors of Mazda in 

Oman says, “We understand that with the harsh summer 

upon us, the AC’s of an automobile can take a beating and 

make driving tough. We are giving our customers a never before 

opportunity to grab this fabulous offer and encourage all 

of them to get their AC’s checked and serviced.” 

and calculator. “It is very easy 

with this equipment to solve 

big calculations where height, 

depth and width are involved. 

And it is very easy to let others 

understand about the instrument,” 

he says. 

Zahra al Habsi has come 

from Al Mamara al Talim al 

Assasi School to participate 

in the festival with her project 

which explains how to measure 

an area with the help of a ruler. 

She has sets of rulers combined 

with each other and it is very 

easy to make shapes like triangle, 

rectangle, square etc. And 

the calculation here is very 

easy as the shapes are made of 

measurement scales. 

“This has been derived to 

make students understand the 

shape management and their 

calculations,” says Zahra, a 

student of class X. 

Musab Rashid al Muqbali, a 

class IX student of Mohammed 

Sulaiman al Ghafri School, has 

designed his project to help students 

memorise and understand 

home works and help teachers 

to design courses so that students 

understand them easily. 

His project had earned 

first prize in the recently held 

completion organised by the 

Ministry of Education. He has 

derived a waterboard for beginners 

“as they love to play with 

water and it is easy for them to 

understand lessons if they are 

provided with a waterboard,” 

he says. 

Omar Humaid al Jaradi of 

Kaab bin Sur School (Class X) 

has a fire resistant car which 

can be used in the event of 

fire. His car emits gas that ex- 

tinguishes fire. It is fitted with 

wireless mobiles which the fire 

victims can use for alarm in the 

event of fire. 

The girls, it seems, have 

taken charge of environment 

at the children pavilion at the 

festival. Abha al Balushi and 

Aisha al Falahi are showcasing 

solar and irrigation projects respectively. 

Abha was found convincing 

the visitors to save energy and 

promote solar energy for pollution 

free environment, while 

Aisha has a method through 

which water can be saved by 

reusing waste water and she 

suggests to use natural items 

to manage insects in farms and 

gardens. 

“For example, the powder 

of Neem and garlic are very 

good anti insect items. By us- 

ing such items we can reduce 

use of chemicals and eat vegetables 

and fruits, which do not 

have chemical contents,” explains 

Aisha, who is a class XI 

student of Durra al Hashmya 

School. 

It was good to see the tiny 

tots managing the children pavilion 

and requesting the visitors 

to go out of the tent “quickly” 

for half an hour when a TV 

crew was about to be there to 

shoot the talented students. 

Many Scouts and Guides 

were involved in managing the 

floor while some of them were 

themselves busy in watching 

the entertainment shows being 

held in the pavilion. 

It is good time also for parents 

to have their children take 

a round of the pavilion and 

watch their excitement. 

Vale programme promotes social responsibility 

DRIVEN by its commitment to create 

value in the societies where 

it is present, Vale supported an 

extensive corporate social responsibility 

workshop for local government and 

community representatives in Sohar and 

Liwa. The six-day programme aimed to 

promote the cultivation of sustainable 

social development projects. 

Conducted by Glory Makers Intellectual 

Development, a consultancy and 

training firm focusing on social behaviour, 

the sessions provided a comprehensive 

understanding in the field of social 

responsibility while showcasing successful 

initiatives in the Sultanate. The 

programme also included practical training 

of various tools and skills required 

to develop a systematic, effective and 

realisable social strategy. 

“Vale’s CSR policy is based on three 

pillars; being a sustainable operator, a 

catalyst for local development and an 

agent of change in the north Al Batinah 

community. We are a company that un- 

derstands the importance of balancing 

the social, environmental and economic 

aspects of our business to leave a lasting 

legacy for the Sultanate’s future generations,” 

said Marcos Beluco, Vale’s 

Country Manager. 

“Our strategy is to work in an integrated 

manner with the government and 

society to identify opportunities, utilise 

resources and adopt innovative solutions 

to enhance the quality of life where we 

operate, through open dialogue and constant 

engagement. This workshop will 

empower community members with the 

necessary means to develop their own 

ideas and initiatives for potential social 

projects and development of partnerships.” 

Participants included representatives 

from the Ministry of Social Development, 

Ministry of Education and Ministry 

of Health, along with members 

from Al Wafaa Voluntary Centre and the 

Omani Women’s Association. They were 

required to prepare and present a sustain- 

able social development project proposal 

based on their first-hand knowledge 

and understanding of the community’s 

needs. 

The training was conducted by 

Ahmed Awdah, a renowned public relations 

and communications expert specialising 

in community engagement and 

volunteerism, and Saleh Hamoori, an 

ISO 2000 certified social responsibility 

expert and a consultant on institutional 

excellence and human resources with 20 

years of experience. 

Going beyond the impact management 

of its operations, Vale’s Social Responsibility 

Agenda in Sultanate focuses 

on education for work, entrepreneurship, 

health and environment as well as 

sports and culture. To date, the company 

along with strategic government and private 

partners has implemented flagship 

programmes in the areas of agricultural 

research, marine diversification, youth 

leadership and community development. 

On The 

Airwaves 

By Lakshmi Kothaneth 

lkairwaves@gmail.com 

Celebrating the year 

of the children 

“ W E write what we see,” young Mohammed a 

member of Shurta Sageer said as I asked about 

the young writers’ contribution in their magazine, a 

publication for children from Royal Oman Police in 

2004. 

Shurta Sageer is one of the participants at the 

Children’s exhibition, a major attraction of Salalah 

Tourism Festival 2012. This is the year of children as 

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos declared earlier and appropriately 

this year’s festival theme as children. The 

exhibition has young participants who are school 

students from all over Oman with inventions to their 

credit and art that leaves you awestruck. There are 12 

participants with 20 projects. 

As the festival has just begun, Radio Sultanate of 

Oman 90.4 FM has been attracted to this exhibition 

since the opening night. 

We are on air live every evening 6 to 7 pm except 

on Fridays. 

Young Omar is another participant who has a concept 

for fire safety — a remote controlled miniature 

four wheeler with a container filled with CO2. There 

is a hear piece through which the firefighters can 

hear calls for help if there is any need. This means 

they can respond immediately. Once the miniature 

vehicle enters the scene it will release CO2 from its 

container. 

There are other inventors — senior students who 

are looking at a variety of fields such as agriculture 

where the students have worked on a way to depend 

less on soil, and yet another student along with his 

team-mates have come up with a new idea to produce 

distilled water that won an award in UK. Then, of 

course, we met 15-year-old Ali from Mazyouna who 

has taken up his childhood passion of playing with 

sand to develop art on sand. Every evening he is busy 

entertaining visitors with beautiful drawings on sand 

with quick strokes. His canvas is the glass with light 

underneath, his medium is sand and the brush — his 

fingers. People are busy taking pictures on their mobile 

phones, especially when he writes their name in 

calligraphy. 

On the other side just at the entrance of Gate 

number one, people are still busy taking family pictures 

right in front of it. 

Made with 50,000 roses colouring the wall with 

their radiant features in red, white and green is a 

scene to watch. The red roses reminds you of the 

Sultan Qaboos rose. 

Are you wondering about the green roses? Amidst 

the crowd I rushed to get closer to the roses. Beautiful 

ivory coloured roses dipped in green colour is the 

third national colour. 

June 21st of course, is also considered the date of 

arrival of monsoon in Dhofar Governorate and it is 

also considered the longest day of summer. Although 

we have been experiencing gentle showers in the 

mornings the greenery is just in the beginning stages. 

The weather is cool and pleasant and Salalah is all 

set to receive guests and it is for us to explore. You 

can see the sights on Sultanate of Oman Television 

after 8 pm News in English and the sounds on Radio 

Sultanate of Oman 90.4 FM. 

Park Inn by Radisson 

is Green Key certified 

PARK Inn by Radisson Muscat, as one of only two 

Green Key certified hotels in Muscat, renewed its 

certification for this year that was reviewed by Nicolas 

Dubrocard, International Green Key Co-ordinator, who 

checked all the requirements and criteria to be a certified 

hotel. 

“We are committed to continue what has been started. 

The hotel wants to further demonstrate to our staff, 

clients, suppliers and owners, the significance and importance 

of a strong group-wide environmental strategy,” 

says Faiza al Balushi, Responsible Co-ordinator of the 

hotel. 

The Green Key ecolabel, which recognises commitment 

to ethical, healthy, sustainable and responsible business 

processes, is awarded to tourism and leisure establishments 

that meet certain conditions laid out under the 

programme. 

Any business that applies for the certification must 

meet certain strict criteria, including environmental education 

for employees and guests, general environmental 

management, optimal waste treatment and responsible 

water and energy management systems. 

Rabih Zein, General Manager, The Park Inn by 

Radisson Muscat said, “Thanks to our preparedness and 

the whole-hearted participation of our entire staff, we 

were successful in meeting the stringent requirements expected 

of us. The hotel is and continues to be passionate 

about being an active participant in the growth and development 

of its local community.”

PEOPLE’S 

PLATFORM 

HATS off to the Ministry of Tourism and 

Net Tours for arranging a wonderful trip 

to Jabal Akhdhar. It was a mind blowing 

experience with 40 Four Wheels going like a 

canvoy being led by the OmanRiders Bike, ROP 

vehicles and an ambulance in tow. 

The well-organised and very safe trip was enjoyed 

by everyone. A very active guide to motivate 

people and bring them together. It was also 

nice to see the Director of Tourism and his officials, 

senior officials of the village, ROP officials 

and the media taking keen interest in seeing that 

those who participated were well taken care of. 

Local Omanis gave us a very warm welcome by 

their traditional dance and songis The icing on 

the cake was the games organised in the end like 

the tug-of-war, treasure hunt and the marathon. 

It was nice to see the OmanRiders team win the 

tug-of-war. We were very lucky to have taken part 

in this event. Thanks to all concerned for making 

this happen. We look forward to many more such 

trips organised under the initiative of Ministry of 

Tourism. We understand this is also a promotion 

under the banner of ‘Muscat Arab Tourism Capital 

2012’. Definitely Muscat is the Arab Tourism 

Capital. 

— Badr 

Editor: Jabal Akhdhar is always an enjoyable 

place to bask in the natural wonders of nature. 

Add to this experience the safety factor provided 

by the concerned people. I must say you are lucky 

indeed. 

Exploitation by schools 

Indian Schools here are shamelessly 

SOME exploiting their teachers. When a new teacher 

is locally recruited they are forced to join duty 

immediately even before their employment visa 

is processed. Although they are made to work 

like any regular staff they are paid only half their 

promised salary until they get their employment 

visa. These teachers also do not get the perks of 

a regular employee like medical cover, annual 

leave, air ticket, housing allowance or transport 

FOOD CORNER 

Paco Roncero’s take on 

molecular gastronomy 

SPANISH chef Paco 

Roncero’s new 

restaurant in Hong Kong 

now has to prove to the 

city’s discerning diners that 

his nouvelle cuisine is by no 

means pretentious. 

The two Michelinstarred 

chef, who gained 

recognition as Chef Ferran 

Adria’s most famous disciple, 

opened View 62 on June 

15, a revolving restaurant at 

the 62nd floor of Hopewell 

Centre in Hong Kong. 

Roncero spoke about his 

passion and taking risks in 

creating new dishes, and 

convincing his diners to discover 

nouvelle cuisine — 

his name for his own version 

of European cuisine. 

How has Ferran Adria 

influenced you and where 

have you gone beyond 

Adria? 

Ferran Adria provided 

me with an insight into molecular, 

innovative cuisine. 

He helped me view food as 

a new form and not just as 

an object. I have taken those 

skills and through progression 

and experimentation, I 

have reached a totally new 

space in cooking which I refer 

to as Nouvelle Cuisine. 

You’re really interested 

in olive oil — why? 

There is nothing better 

in this world than pure, 

delicious Spanish olive oil. 

Through experimentation I 

have also realized the many 

ways in which I can modify 

olive oil to make it into a new 

and different product altogether. 

For example, through 

freezing and extracting the 

fat, I am able to produce a 

healthy butter form of olive 

oil. Not only is olive oil so 

much healthier than butter, 

the taste is exquisite. This 

means the options are endless 

— as is the flavour.” 

How far can the limits 

of using olive oil be 

stretched? 

Of course to develop a 

product, it is reliant on experimentation, 

exploring 

and researching new ways in 

which olive oil can be pro- 

duced, presented and modified. 

I enjoy experimenting 

and as it’s my favourite 

product I strive to create 

new tastes, sensations and 

forms all the time. Combining 

these various forms with 

different foods also creates 

new dishes. For example, 

potatoes can be mashed, 

fried, boiled, cooked — if 

you were to mix all these 

different forms with olive 

oil, there would still be a 

unique taste to each. I hope 

I will always be able to discover 

new things.” 

What are the influences 

on your cooking overall? 

I use influences from 

all over the world, it’s part 

of the process. Of course ,a 

huge amount of my cooking 

holds Spanish traditions and 

influences but coming to 

Hong Kong, I will definitely 

be seeking and researching 

traditional produce and 

working with it to form new 

dishes. My menu changes 

all the time and this is due 

to new influences from 

travelling and experimentation. 

My process starts 

with a single product — a 

carrot, an apple, a piece of 

fish. From there, I try a million 

methods to change it 

into something totally new 

whilst keeping the essence 

of its flavour and its being.” 

Is the whole idea of nouvelle 

cuisine a bit precious 

or pretentious, why or why 

not? What can this say to 

Asia and how has Asia influenced 

you — if at all? 

I believe that anything 

can be molecular, hence 

why I refuse to use this to 

describe my cooking. The 

act of making anything 

from a variety of products 

has an element of ‘molecular-ness’. 

My goal is to go 

one step further and create 

something new and different 

— something that has 

never been done before. 

Yes, the process it precious 

and meticulous, but by no 

means pretentious. It’s ambitious 

and risky but that is 

what I love. — Reuters 

Entree Chilean Sea Bass with Green Bean Sauce and 

Iberico Air by Spanish chef Paco Roncero 

allowance. The hapless teachers agree to these 

terms, lest they are denied the job. The school, then 

with the connivance of the Indian Schools’ Board 

of Directors, deliberately delays forwarding the 

teachers’ documents to the concerned authorities to 

get the necessary clearance for the visa. The longer 

it takes for the teacher to get their visa, the more the 

school is benefitted. The school takes an average 

of six to 14 months for processing the documents, 

27 

LETTERS/HEALTH SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

A memorable trip to Jabal Akhdhar with full safety gear 

depending on how much the teacher pressurises 

the school authorities. At any time of the year, 

there are at least five to eight teachers working 

Psoriasis tied to higher 

risk of diabetes: study 

PEOPLE with the chronic 

skin condition psoriasis 

may be more likely 

to develop type 2 diabetes as 

well, according to an international 

study involving more 

than half a million people. 

Researchers, whose results 

appeared in the Archives of 

Dermatology, found that this 

was especially true in those 

with severe psoriasis, who 

were 46 per cent more likely 

to get a diabetes diagnosis than 

of Directors and put an end to this racket. 

— Naseer 

Editor: It is indeed a cruel joke that is being 

played on the newly recruited teachers. On can 

understand the plight that they have to endure for 

no fault of theirs. I really hope that a competent 

authority takes up the issue. 

Need to have responsible media 

THE media works as safety valve between 

the society and the government. It spreads 

the messages of the government’s policies 

among the masses. It also establishes two-way 

communication by providing people’s reaction 

over certain policies or situations. Hence in 

today’s world media has become an important 

mode of good governance. A responsible media is 

the need of the time. 

— Ramesh 

Editor: No one can deny the role of media in 

today’s society. Since it has an important role to 

play in society building, the media should play a 

responsible and neutral role. 

Heritage and culture 

THERE are many interesting features in 

this year’s Salalah Tourism Festival. As an 

expatriate this is my first experience in the festival 

and I was very happy that Oman is so serious about 

its heritage and culture. The Heritage Village 

Oman has been nicely portrayed. This gives the 

visitor an idea about the country’s development 

in a short span of time. One good thing I noticed 

is the Omani people’s pride in their heritage. It is 

really something rare. 

— Mukesh 

Editor: Oman is proud of its heritage and cul- 

without an employment visa in most of the Indian ture. While doing development projects we do not 

schools. It is high time the Education and Labour forget our past with is nicely preserved. Hope our 

ministries rein these Indian schools and their Board future generation also carry on the practise. 

Do you have a word of appreciation for any services you received? Or suggestions for improvement? Observer is giving you 

an opportunity to rant or rave about anything and everything around you: Please write to: 

people without the condition, 

after weight and other health 

measures were taken into account. 

Psoriasis is characterised 

by itchy, painful plaques on 

the skin. Previous studies have 

suggested the condition is tied 

to a higher chance of having 

heart disease or suffering a 

heart attack or stroke, while 

other reports have hinted at a 

link between psoriasis and diabetes 

as well. 

Tel: 24649451, Fax: 24649469; e-mail: observerfeatures@gmail.com 

“We already knew that some 

of the risk factors for psoriasis 

and diabetes are similar, like 

weight,” said Rahat Azfar, at 

the University of Pennsylvania 

in Philadelphia and lead author 

of the study. 

“We do think that psoriasis 

itself makes people at higher 

risk.” For the study, Azfar 

and her colleagues consulted 

five years’ worth of electronic 

medical records from about 

108,000 adults in the UK with 

psoriasis, and about 400,000 

without. None of them had 

diabetes at the outset. 

They found that 3.7 per cent 

of those with psoriasis were diagnosed 

with diabetes over the 

course of the study, compared 

with 3.4 per cent of the comparison 

group. 

When patients’ age, weight 

and high blood pressure were 

accounted for, psoriasis was 

still tied to a higher chance of 

developing diabetes, especially 

among the 6,200 people with 

severe psoriasis. In that group, 

6.3 per cent were diagnosed 

with diabetes. 

According to the study 

team, the body-wide inflammation 

that is seen both in 

people with psoriasis and type 

2 diabetes may explain the link 

between the two conditions. 

Azfar said psoriasis may induce 

that chronic inflamma- 

A bio-compound that acts 

as exercise booster 

RESVERATROL, a biocompound 

found in 

some fruits, nuts and 

red wine, is likely to boost 

exercise training and performance, 

says a new research. 

Principal investigator Jason 

Dyck from the University 

of Alberta and his team found 

that high doses of resveratrol 

improved physical performance, 

heart function and muscle 

strength in lab models. 

“We were excited when we 

saw that resveratrol showed 

results similar to what you 

would see from extensive 

endurance exercise training,” 

says Dyck, researcher in paediatrics 

and pharmacology. 

“We immediately saw the 

potential for this and thought 

that we identified ‘improved 

exercise performance in a 

pill’,” the Journal of Physiology 

reports. 

Dyck and team will soon 

start starting testing resveratrol 

on diabetics with heart failure 

to see if the natural compound 

can improve heart function 

for this patient group. The 10week 

study is expected to start 

within the next few months, 

according to an Alberta statement. 

“I think resveratrol could 

help patient populations who 

want to exercise but are physi- 

cally incapable. Resveratrol 

could mimic exercise for them 

or improve the benefits of the 

modest amount of exercise that 

they can do,” says Dyck. “It 

is very satisfying to progress 

from basic research in a lab 

to testing in people, in a short 

period of time.” — IANS 

tion through changes in the 

bloodstream, thus upping the 

risk of diabetes. 

It could also be that people 

with psoriasis are more depressed 

or exercise less, helping 

to explain the difference 

in diabetes rates, said Robert 

Kirsner, a dermatologist from 

the University of Miami Miller 

School of Medicine who has 

studied psoriasis but was not 

involved in the study. 

So far, the data cannot 

prove that psoriasis directly 

causes diabetes. And there 

have not been any studies to 

show definitively whether the 

ointments, pills or injections 

used to treat psoriasis have any 

impact on a patient’s chance of 

getting diabetes, Azfar added. 

Kirsner said that patients 

with psoriasis should talk with 

their doctors about other ways 

to reduce their diabetes risks, 

such as by adopting a healthier 

lifestyle. 

“The study suggests that 

patients with psoriasis perhaps 

should be followed more closely 

and may want to adhere to a 

better diet and all those things 

to prevent diabetes,” he said. 

Two of the researchers reported 

financial relationships 

with pharmaceutical companies, 

including those that 

make diabetes and psoriasis 

drugs. — Reuters 

Skin care after 

a workout 

S PORT may be a natural 

elixir for beautiful skin, 

but people who stay active by 

jogging, cycling, swimming 

or any other kind of athletics 

that makes them sweat know 

that the skin is subjected to a 

lot of stress. 

Staying active helps 

make the skin look better because 

the tissue is supplied 

with oxygen and has the 

benefit of better blood circulation, 

making it tighter, 

said Heike M Falkenstein, 

a cosmetician. To use these 

advantages optimally, sports 

enthusiasts should take the 

right precautions before exercising 

and follow the right 

steps afterwards as well. 

“The type of care depends 

on the individual skin 

type and the condition of the 

skin. Dry skin requires another 

type of care than mixed 

skin,” said Elena Helfenbein, 

an expert with the German 

association of cosmeticians. 

“It’s important for sporty 

people to regularly cleanse 

their skin and remove any 

grease, sweat and chlorine.” 

HEALTHY 

FOODS 

By Mini Padikkal 

The golden fruit 

SADLY, we have always overlooked apricots in favour 

of other common fruits like apple, orange, pear or 

banana. The apricot is just as healthy as those other fruits, 

may be even healthier. 

Aside from the many health benefits of the apricot, it 

is also a wonderful diet food, providing a large amount of 

healthy nutrition to the body as well as keeping down caloric 

intake, as they are very low in calories as compared 

to other fruits (only about 50 calories for three fresh apricots)! 

These are just some of the health benefits of apricots: 

Apricots are one of the best natural sources of vitamin A 

and beta carotene particularly in their dried form. Just a 

handful of apricots easily meets 100 per cent of the recommended 

daily allowance (RDA) of beta carotene and, 

depending on the variety, the carotenoid content can reach 

over 16,000 micrograms in just three fresh apricots. Beta-carotene, 

cryptoxanthin, and gamma-carotene are the 

predominant carotenoids. Rich in vitamin A, a powerful 

antioxidant that prevents free radical damage to eye tissue, 

apricots help to promote good vision. Studies have shown 

that those who had the highest vitamin A intake reduced 

their risk of developing cataracts by 40 per cent. Apricot 

contain a range of carotenes: beta-carotene for cancer prevention; 

lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health; and cryptoxanthin, 

which may help to maintain bone health. 

Apricots are also good source of potassium, vitamin C 

and fibre, and contain abundant phytochemicals such as 

D-glucaric acid, chlorogenic acid, geraniol, quercetin and 

lycopene. The antioxidant lycopene found in apricots gives 

the fruit its golden orange colour. 

♦ Potassium is a mineral that is abundant in apricots 

needed by every cell, tissue and organ in the body to function 

properly. Potassium is thought to play a role in bone 

formation, heart function, muscle contraction, lowering 

blood pressure and reducing the risk of stroke. 

♦ Apricots are also ideal for weight maintenance as they 

are a good source of fibre and are fat-free. The semi-dried 

fruit is a very good source of potassium and iron, although 

the drying process diminishes the vitamin C and carotene 

content. Dried apricots, because they contain less water are 

higher in calories than fresh ones, but they are an ideal energy-giving 

snack. Both fresh and dried apricots are highly 

nutritious and have a low glycaemic index, making them an 

excellent food for sweet-toothed dieters. 

♦ Apricot juice is very cooling drink. It is very beneficial 

when you are running with high fever. 

♦ Eating apricots also keeps the skin younger looking, 

due to the high antioxidant content in the fruit. 

♦ Apricots are high in iron, which can help to treat anaemia. 

Apricots also help the body to produce haemoglobin, 

which can be beneficial to women who have heavy periods. 

Apricots (around 100g) are as beneficial to the blood as 

250 grams of liver, and more palatable to most. Apricots 

are a good food choice for pregnant women as a natural 

source of iron. 

Consuming apricots daily with your breakfast gives 

you lot of energy. It gives a good flavour to your pancake, 

chicken or vegetable stew or green salad. Apricot juice is 

not only quenches your thirst but also eliminates waste 

products from your body. 

Fresh apricots need to be fully ripe to maximise their 

carotene content, and cooking them helps the carotene and 

soluble fibre to be better absorbed in the body. For use in 

cooking or preparing for preserving, place whole apricots 

into boiling water for about thirty seconds, peel, pit and 

halve or slice. Dried apricots are good in couscous and salads, 

and can be stewed then served with yogurt. Apricots 

may be the poor relations on the fruit stall, coming third to 

peaches and nectarines, but their health benefits put them 

in the gold medal position. These small fruits are big on 

health benefits, so add them to your basket next time you 

shop. 

— The writer is a dietician at Atlas Star Medical 

Centre, Al Khuwair, Muscat

28 

ENTERTAINMENT SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012 

I’m focused on Miss World title: Vanya Mishra 

Mirren, Joplin, Bardem 

to get Hollywood stars 

BRITISH actress Helen Mirren, (pictured) Spain's 

Javier Bardem and 1970s rock icon Janis Joplin are 

among celebrities set to get their stars on the Hollywood 

Walk of Fame next year, organisers said. 

Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Jane Lynch 

are also among the 24 honorees for 2013, while music stars 

include The Backstreet Boys, Usher and Luther Vandross, 

the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced. 

"The Walk of Fame committee is proud to announce 

next year's honorees whose additions to the world famous 

Hollywood Walk of Fame will bring everlasting memories 

of their star power, talent, and popularity," it said. 

The Chamber of Commerce meets every June to select 

roughly 20 honorees from hundreds of nominations. Those 

picked get the glory but also have to pay $30,000 for the 

upkeep of the stars, which line Hollywood Boulevard and 

nearby streets in downtown Tinseltown, drawing millions 

of tourists every year. — AFP 

After dating for 15 years, 

Jon has no plans to wed 

ACTOR Jon Hamm, who has been dating actress Jennifer 

Westfeldt (pictured) for 15 years, says marriage is not 

a part of their plans as they are happy as they are. 

"We have talked about it, and we never say never. But it 

seems to us that weddings are sometimes more for the couple's 

family than for the couple themselves," femalefirst. 

co.uk quoted Hamm as saying. 

"Besides, neither of us has the greatest family history to 

point to in that department. Jen's parents' marriage ended 

when she was very young, my parents' marriage was over 

by the time I was two," added Hamm.Westfeldt, 42, agrees 

with Hamm. 

"We don't need 

a piece of paper 

to prove anything 

to ourselves or to 

anyone else. Our 

relationship we 

have is working 

for us, and we're in 

no hurry to change 

it," she said. 

Brad Pitt buys 

graffiti art: Actor 

Brad Pitt has 

bought three pieces 

from new graffiti 

artist Bambi — a 

canvas of Prince 

William and his 

wife Duchess 

Catherine, one of 

Queen Elizabeth 

and another picture 

of Amy Winehouse. 

— IANS 

Veena confident about playing double role 

PAKISTANI actress Veena 

Malik is excited about 

playing a double role in 

her debut Bollywood film Daal 

Mein Kuch Kaala Hai. She says 

she is confident she will pull it 

off well as she has real life dual 

identities as well. 

"Playing a double role in 

reel life is a new thing for me. 

But in real life, I actually play 

the double role of two girls inside 

me — one is Zahida Malik 

and other is Veena Malik," Veena 

said in a press statement. 

"I am sure if I can play a 

double role in real life, it will be 

exciting to play a double role in 

a movie," she added. 

The actress, who became 

popular in India after her stint 

on Bigg Boss 4, has also signed 

the Telugu version of the 

Bollywood hit The Dirty Picture. 

She will even feature in 

Hindi movies Mumbai 125 km 

and Zindagi 50-50. 

LIKE many Chinese 

girls her age, Qi Ji enjoys 

singing and dancing 

and dreams of becoming 

a star. But rather than trying 

to make a start in vast and 

crowded China, she is pinning 

her hopes on Taiwan. 

The 18-year-old is the first 

of many Chinese contestants 

expected to enter a Taiwanese 

reality show aimed at creating 

a girl band that producers hope 

can rival supergroups such as 

Japan's AKB48 or South Korea's 

Girls' Generation. 

With such televised contests 

now a major part of the 

global music industry, in Asia 

they are spurring a migration 

of talent between countries as 

performers and producers look 

to crack domestic, regional 

and global markets. 

For Qi, who grew up in 

northeast China and attended 

a performing art school in 

HIMANGINI Singh Yadu 

has broken India's 12year-long 

dry spell by 

winning the Miss Asia Pacific 

title. Vanya Mishra (pictured) 

says it's a proud moment for 

the country and she hopes to 

replicate the feat by triumphing 

at the Miss World pageant 

in China. 

"Every win at an international 

pageant is a proud moment 

for India. At this time I'm 

just focused on my Miss World 

title and I hope I win millions 

of heart with the win," Vanya, 

winner of the Pantaloons Femina 

Miss India world 2012, said 

while speaking on Himangini's 

win. 

The Chandigarh girl, an engineering 

graduate, is right now 

concentrating on the August 18 

contest in China. 

"I am all set for D-day. The 

preparation is going in full 

swing. You are groomed from 

head to toe to compete with 

other representatives from different 

countries. I'm definitely 

going to put my best foot forward," 

she said. 

The beauty queen, whose 

interest lies in badminton, music, 

dance and books, said the 

grooming sessions needed a lot 

of hard work and it's difficult 

for a girl of her age to get into 

that mode. 

Beijing, this could offer a 

once-in-a-lifetime chance for a 

fast track to stardom in China's 

market of 1.3 billion people — 

and perhaps beyond. 

"Many young Chinese people 

like me dream of becoming 

a star," Qi said prior to a 

recording session for "Asian 

Idol Group Competition" aired 

in mid-May. 

"Well, definitely it's difficult 

for a girl of my age to get into 

the mode of 13 days of strenuous 

grooming session. I am an 

engineering student, I can easily 

bunk my classes, but I was 

not allowed to bunk grooming 

sessions. It was difficult, but I 

am satisfied with the outcome. 

It helped in exploring hidden 

beauty," she added. 

In 2000, Priyanka Chopra 

won the Miss World title and 

after 12 years another international 

crown has come home. 

A lot has been written about the 

continuous disappointments on 

the global stage. 

Vanya said: "People get very 

judgemental sitting at home. 

It's very easy to say that the girl 

didn't perform well on the stage. 

For me, it's all about timings as 

being on stage and competing 

with so many girls takes a lot of 

courage." 

The 19-year-old further added: 

"Losing doesn't mean that 

previous Miss India winners 

were not beautiful, but then at 

the end of the day there can just 

be one winner and everybody 

else would be left behind." 

There are many beauty 

queens who entered Bollywood, 

but Vanya feels that a platform 

like a beauty pageant opens 

other avenues. 

Sushmita hails Himangini’s 

"I hope to start in Taiwan 

and eventually have a career 

both here and in China." 

Growing numbers of 

young Chinese performers are 

coming to Taiwan in search of 

a big break, reversing a trend 

that saw famous Taiwanese 

performers such as A-Mei and 

Jay Chou focus on China. 

The show's producer Lee 

win as best gift: Sushmita Sen 

is proud of Himangini Singh 

Yadu, who was crowned Miss 

Asia Pacific in Busan, Korea, 

and said that she has got the 

best gift for everyone. Himangini 

won the title on June 16 and 

when she returned on Thursday, 

Sushmita was at the airport to 

receive her. 

“It’s a proud moment for India, 

Himangini Singh has made 

us all very proud by winning 

this title because we have been 

waiting for a win on the international 

stage for a long time 

now,” the 36-year-old told reporters 

at the airport. 

Indore girl Himangini is a 

product of Sushmita’s organisation 

“I Am She — Miss Universe 

India” and is the first Indian 

girl to win an international 

beauty pageant in 12 years. 

“She has given us the biggest 

gift. Her life starts now 

because today once again an Indian 

beauty has been recognised 

and given a place on the world 

map and that is one of the greatest 

achievements,” Sushmita 

added. 

When Himangini was 

quizzed about her plans to enter 

Bollywood, she said: “I am 

committed with the organisation 

for a year and I’ll think about 

it when I get good projects.” 

— IANS 

Roshan Seth back with Ek 

Tha Tiger: Actor Roshan Seth, 

known for playing Jawaharlal 

Nehru in Richard Attenborough's 

Gandhi, will return to the 

big screen with Kabir Khan's 

Ek Tha Tiger. The 70-year-old 

actor, who was last seen in a 

cameo in Mani Ratnam's Guru 

2007, will be seen as Salman 

Khan's mentor in the film. 

"Roshan Seth has lately 

been doing very little acting 

work, and by choice. Besides 

Guru he has not done a single 

Hindi film in ages, and certainly 

not a mainstream commercial 

film," said a source close to the 

project. Kabir and Seth's association 

goes back a long way. 

"Seth has done the voiceover 

for every single documentary 

that Kabir Khan has made. 

When Kabir turned feature film 

director with Kabul Express, he 

again went to Seth to do the voiceover," 

said the source. 

Asian reality stars go overseas in search of fame 

Fang-ju, the mastermind behind 

reality shows both in his 

native Taiwan and in China, is 

holding auditions in several 

major Chinese cities this summer 

to select more contestants 

to come to Taipei. 

"Taiwan has a special allure 

as many young Chinese idolise 

Taiwanese singers. They think 

that making a mark here could 

turn them into pop divas such 

as Taiwan's Jolin Tsai and Elva 

Hsiao," Lee said. 

"We hope to combine Taiwan 

and China's strength to 

create a pop idol group so that 

our idols won't be replaced by 

the Japanese or South Koreans," 

he said. The most successful 

case so far is arguably 

Hu Xia, a 22-year-old from 

Guangxi in southwestern China, 

who was signed by Sony 

Music Taiwan after winning 

the One Million Star singing 

contest in 2010. — AFP 

Nicole Richie to launch fragrance 

SOCIALITE Nicole Richie is launching 

a new fragrance by the name 

Nicole, featuring amber, cashmere 

woods and vanilla smells. The scent is 

inspired by the different layers of the fragrances 

her mother used to wear. 

"I have a very traditional Southern 

mom, who never left the house without lotion. 

Over her lotion went oil and perfume. 

She put it together from head to toe. It was 

not just a one-dimensional smell — there 

were many different layers," contactmusic.com 

quoted her as saying. 

The 30-year-old star was keen for the 

outer box of her scent to represent different 

layers of a woman. 

"I am very particular in the way that 

I create. We are in an interesting time 

right now where women aren't just one 

thing, there are many different parts to a 

woman. So I wanted to create a very in- 

tricate bottle that was still elegant, but not 

so in-your-face girly at the same time," 

she said. 

The scent also contains hints of Seville 

orange, Moroccan rose, lily of the valley, 

sandalwood and sugared patchouli. The 

scent will hit shelves in September and the 

bottles will be available for $55 and $69. 

James Marsden to be daddy again: 

Actor James Marsden, who separated 

from his wife Lisa Linde last year, is all 

geared up to be daddy for the third time. 

Apparently, the mother-to-be is a model 

who Marsden was dating shortly after his 

split with Linde. 

"A girl he dated after he separated 

from his wife has told him she is four 

months pregnant. She is very excited to 

be a mom," a source told eonline.com. 

The 38-year-old has two children with 

his estranged wife, son Jack Holden and 

a daughter Mary James. His wife Linde 

filed for divorce in September last year 

after being married for more than 11 

years. — IANS 

Chief Executive Officer DR IBRAHIM BIN AHMED AL KINDI. Editor-in-Chief FAHMI BIN KHALID AL HARTHY 

Printers and Publishers OMAN ESTABLISHMENT FOR PRESS, PUBLICATION AND ADVERTISING 

Actress Brittany Snow arrives for the movie premiere 

TED at Grauman’s Chinese theatre in Hollywood. — AFP 

Bollywood actresses Shajan Padamsee and Sonakshi Sinha 

(below) attend a product launch in Mumbai. — AFP 

Actress Emily Mortimer attends the after party for 

HBO’s New Series Newsroom in Los Angeles. — AFP 

Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising; P.O. Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman; Tel: 24649444, 24649450, 24649451, 24604563, 24699437 Fax: 24699643 Website: omanobserver.om 

e-mail: editor@omanobserver.om Salalah Office: Tel: 23292633, Fax: 23293909 Nizwa Office: Tel: 25411099, P.O. Box 955, P.C. 611 ADVERTISING: AL OMANEYA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS, P.O. Box 3303, 

Postal Code 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman, Tel: SWITCHBOARD: 24649444, DIRECT: 24649430/24649437/24649401, Fax: 24649434 DISTRIBUTION AGENT: AL OMANEYA FOR DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING, 

P.O. Box 974, P.C. 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, Tel: 24649351/24649360, Fax: 24649379, subscribe@omandaily.om

Observer & Busness 24 Jun 2012 - Oman Observer

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?