Oman Community Blog

2011-12-27T09:44:00.001+04:00

to be continued in the nearest future

shinas street lights

2010-05-27T01:12:00.003+04:00

I had made a post complaining about the attack by unlicensed hooligan drivers of 2-wheelers attacking foreigner. I was a victim of one such attack, from which luckily I escaped without injuries.

I had also made a complaint to the ROP. However, I am yet to hear from them.

After the complaint, I noticed that the electric lamp posts were removed in the 1-km long stretch. It was just a coincidence, though!

For a moment, I thought it was in response to my complaint. By removing the street lights, the light-less scooters will have no chance of survival : so I thought that this was the right move in the right direction.

But this move became a menace for pedestrians like me as the entire area is totally dark and none can walk without light in the night.

Worse still, they have now replaced the lamp posts, but with less no. of support bolts on the foundation! It is a big mistake! Already one lamp post has fallen down. As the post is very long, collapses can happen unless properly anchored.

Now there are two problems - the bike hooligans continue their merry making and the increased risk of ill-fixed electric poles on the street! I was wrong to assume that my original problem would be solved; only one more problem was added to it!

Expat attacked in Shinas by bike hooligans

2010-04-18T08:48:00.002+04:00

I was attacked on Friday evening by a bike hooligan by throwing a bottle at my neck. Every evening the speeding bikers with no registration and no insurance are a menace in the locality. I wonder if it is possible to alert the police higher ups and start police patrols to control the bikers. Also the ROP must consider making it mandatory to register any powered vehicle. Will someone take up the issue and alert the powerful people in government?

Stolen Xterra Recovered!!!

2010-01-26T16:45:00.002+04:00

It was recovered in less than 30 hours, using, of all things, Blogs and Twitter.

Special thanks to @yasserameer for finding the stolen car, and @Shweman retweeting my initial request. I can't tell you how grateful the people who own the car are to both of you. Great Job Guys!

Now please go out there and Find my missing 50" Panasonic flat screen TV!!!!!

Stolen Cars and Crazy Crime

2010-01-26T10:44:00.003+04:00

Update: The Stolen Xterra was recovered thanks to an Alert Twitterer and blogger! Good Job guys!

The Crime here is getting ridiculous.

We have had at least seven break-ins in our small neighborhood alone, in the last three weeks. In the Last two months, 2 families with whom we are personally acquainted have had their cars stolen.

See Below for the forwarded email from some friends who have just had their new Exterra Nicked. Please keep your eyes peeled?

last night our house was broken into and the thief found a set of keys, and stole our 2009 Xterra Off Road. The truck has been modified by Tadmur Auto in Sharjah, with a custom skid plate, bigger tires, a lift and new suspension, so it is easy to spot.

Thank God the ROP are doing everything they can to reduce crime by hassling my housemaids and threatening arrest if they don't produce labor cards, and accusing any random Indian who has ever been in our house of robbery, simply on the Basis that they are Indian. The words that come to mind are unpublishable, even here.

Lock your doors guys, and keep your car keys somewhere safe.

Dead Blogs

2009-08-30T18:25:00.002+04:00

what is happening to blogging? Oman Community Blog and the UAE Community Blog are dead or breathing their last one, is it out of fashion to blog now? is everyone twittering only? or have all the blogging expats left the Gulf?

'Brave New Media' seminar on May 4 at Grand Hyatt Hotel

2009-04-28T17:35:00.002+04:00

MUSCAT - The territory once dominated by broadcast TV and print media is being swallowed up by subscription-based narrowcast digital television and the Internet, says Knowledge Oasis Muscat's (KOM) Knowledge Oasis Muscat's (KOM) Mulkie Al Hashmi and organizer of KOM's quarterly Digital Nation seminar program. The changing global media landscape will be the topic of discussion at KOM's 4 May Digital Nation seminar scheduled to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. (more)

Omani Society fo Writers & Literati Seminar Seminar on Freedom of Speech and Responsibility

2009-04-07T18:35:00.006+04:00

يسر الجمعية العمانية للكتّاب والأدباء دعوتكم لحضور ندوة (الكلمة .. بين فضاءات الحُرِّية وحدود المُساءلة) ..

الزمان: السبت والأحد 18/19 ابريل 2009م.
المكان: النادي الثقافي.
الوقت: السابعة مساءً.

اليوم الأول: الكتابة.. مضامين وإشكاليات (السبت – 18 من ابريل 2009م)

يدير الجلسة: الأستاذ سالم بن محمد المحروقي (رئيس مجلس إدارة النادي الثقافي، كاتب، وعضو الجمعية العمانية للكتاب والأدباء)
وتتناول الأوراق المندرجة تحت هذا العنوان الكتابة بأشكالها ومضامينها المختلفة سواء على مستوى الطرح الفكري المتنوع والمثير لإشكالات الرضى والسخط، أو على مستوى الصحافة والإعلام بأنواعها المكتوبة والمرئية، انتهاءً بمناقشة القوانين المحددة لهذا الجانب بالسلطنة.

م ------------ المحاضر ------ ---------المهنة -------- --------------------- عنوان الورقة
1 - د.صادق جواد سليمان – سفير سابق للسلطنة بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية و رئيس مركز الحوار العربي بواشنطن (الحرية والمسؤولية.. أيهما يأتي أولاً؟)
2 - د.أنور بن محمد الروَّاس - كاتب ورئيس قسم الإعلام بجامعة السلطان قابوس (القائم بالاتصال بين المهنية والمسؤولية)
3 - د.محمد بن مبارك العريمي - كاتب وصحفي (حرية الكلمة.. الواقع والطموح)
4 - الصحفي محمد بن علي البلوشي –كاتب و نائب مدير التحرير بجريدة الشبيبة (هامش الحريات المتوفرة في الصحافة العمانية المكتوبة.. تجربتي وأمثلة)
5 - المحامي خليفة بن سيف الهنائي– محامي وقاضي متقاعد (ثيمة الحرية في القوانين العمانية)
6 - المحامية بسمة بنت مبارك الكيومي – محامية (قراءة في كل من قانون المطبوعات والنشر والمادة 61 من قانون الاتصالات)
7 - حلقة نقاش

اليوم الثاني: الكتابة في الفضاء المعلوماتي وحريتها بين المحدودية واللامحدودية (الأحد 19 من ابريل 2009م).

يدير الجلسة: د. عبدالعزيز بن محمد الفارسي (طبيب، وعضو الجمعية العمانية للكتاب والأدباء)

وتتعلق بحرية الكتابة بالمواقع الإلكترونية مُتضمنةً أهمية وجود منتديات تناقش القضايا الاجتماعية والسياسية، وجدوى هذا النقاش في إثراء الواقع المعاش، والارتقاء بالشفافية بين المواطن والمسئول، مع طرح أمثلة على ما عانته وتعانيه هذه المنتديات مع المؤسسات الرسمية بالسلطنة من جانب، ومع الكاتب من جانب آخر.. ودورها كوسيط بينهما.
كذلك استعراض تجربة كتابة المدونات الإلكترونية، ليلي ذلك طرحا للرؤية القانونية حول النشر الإلكتروني بشكل عام.

م ------------ المحاضر ----- ----------المهنة ----- ------------ -------- عنوان الورقة

1 - الفاضل سعيد بن ناصر الراشدي – صاحب موقع سبلة العرب (تجربتي مع سبلة العرب)
2 - الفاضل موسى بن عبدالله الفرعي – مديرعام موقع سبلة عمان ..(سبلة عمان قبل المادة (61) وما بعدها)
3 - د.زكريا بن خليفة المحرمي – كاتب ومدوّن (محراب الفراشة.. وتجربتي مع التدوين الإلكتروني)
4 - المحامي يعقوب بن محمد الحارثي - باحث قانوني ومدوِّن (قراءة في النصوص القانونية الناظمة للنشر الصحفي الإلكتروني)
5 - د. محمد أبو عرّام – محامي (النشر الإلكتروني في عمان.. بين تطلعات المثقف وحدود القانون) -
حلقة نقاش

Seminar on Ali Mehdi's Poetry

2009-03-31T19:54:00.004+04:00

A seminar will be held on the subject of Ali Mehdi's poetry. It will include a poetry recital and the launch of his posthumous book, In The Dimmest of Light.

Details:

Date: April 15th, 2009
Time: 1pm
Place: Majan College, Muscat Hall 1st floor Block B

Please try to make it, and spread the word among Ali's friends.

Update

There's another event taking place earlier organized by Jama3at Al Tarjama at the Culture Club in Arabic. Details:

Date: April 4th, 2009
Time: 7pm
Place: The Culture Club

Moody’s foresees stable economic future for Oman

2009-02-18T13:27:00.005+04:00

According to an article published in Times of Oman recently, Oman is in a stable condition economically, and placed 36 out of the 180 or so countries in the list by IMF.

According to the article, the GDP (Purchase Power Parity) of Oman (per capita) is now almost USD 22,000. And Oman gets the A2 rating for economic stability because of transparency of the government in declaring assets and the track record of paying back liabilities on time.

Click HERE or on the title of the blog post to get to the original article.

Source: Times of Oman.

First paintball field in Oman

2009-02-15T00:53:00.002+04:00

Xtreme Sports is soon bringing the first professional paintball field in Oman. It will be located at the Shatti Al-Qurum area next to Oman Women Association, according to the Xtreme Sports website [Link].

I think this is exciting news for many.

Oman Wins 19th Gulf Cup - Live Pics

2009-01-17T21:37:00.014+04:00

YES WE WON!

Watch Finals Penalty Goals highlights here!

Photographs & Video by Aswath Sridhar

Winning final goal by Mohammed Rabeea

Lucky miss - Penalty by Saudi Arabia

Nail biting finish with penalty goals!!!

Gulf Cup Oman Vs Iraq -4-0 Hot Photos from the street

2009-01-07T21:05:00.016+04:00

HEARD the news? Oman Beats Iraq 4-0.

Yalla oman....GO Get the CUP!

Photo Courtesy: Aswath Sridhar. Watch his video tribute here.

Gulf Cup 19 : Oman 0-0 Kuwait

2009-01-05T06:37:00.002+04:00

We should be thankful we were not thrashed by a super-hatrik by Ahmed Ajab, he clearly missed 4 clear chances right infront of the goal. We should be thankful we have Ali Al-Habsi guarding our goal.

Yes, we missed two wonderful unmissable chances as well, yes, if Imad Al-Hosani did not dive and tried to control his balance at the begining of the match, we would have won. If our players tried to play as a team instead of individual skills we might have won. But these if's won't help.

We controlled the game with an average of 65% ball possession, but the opposing team were the most dangerous when it came to attacks. We were not sharp, we were not deciesive and our midfielders couldn't deliver the ball to our strikers.

I would like to compliment the Kuwaiti defense for their outstanding performance and sticking around with each other, not only that but the defenders had complete understanding with their goalkeeper, unlike our defenders who were humiliated and made our penalty box look like an empty street for Kuwaiti strikers to cruise around without any pressure.

The Kuwaiti team went there without having a heavy load on their shoulders, they were just told to go out there and get a satisfying result, draw, win or even lose without a huge difference, we don't want you to compete, we don't want you to bring the cup back home, just a satisfying performance. Which is why they went there and played calmly without being nervous or anything. They just gave it their best without any nerves. They played like the professionals they are. They had nothing to lose.

However, the opposite goes to our national team who know we expect a lot from them, they know they have to be winners of the cup and that they should do whatever it takes so when they stepped out to the pitch and started playing, that pressure affected them a lot, it's something psychological. They were nervous and did not know what to do, they did not know how to react to that pressure and instead of sucking it up, they let it control them. This goes for the whole team except the one and only Ali Al-Habsi.

Our midfield was too crowded, though the match was all about a battle in the midfield between both teams. Our defense was beyond messed up. They can never mark any of the Kuwaiti strikers. Our strikers just couldn't get the ball. I think Bader Al-Maimani should've stepped on the pitch way before the 80th minute, at the start of the second half would have made a difference I guess.

Fawzi Basheer was pushed back a lot, I don't recall seeing him attacking for some reason. Ahmed Hadid just came back from an injury I guess and started the game. That shouldn't happen.

Ismael Al-Ajmi was way out of his usual performance, the same goes to Hassan Muthafar and the rest.

This match was mostly based on the mental preparation of our national team. Mentally, I do not think they are ready. But this match may have made them ready. A draw could help them for the next match so they'd go with hunger and an appetite to score and win.

The performance was way below expected. We'll bounce back.

We love, because we believe, the team will never let us down.

Gulf Cup 19 - Muscat

2009-01-04T06:33:00.002+04:00

Less than 12 hours separate us from the opening match of the Arabian Gulf Cup 19. We Omanis have waited for that moment ever since Ismail Matar scored the winning goal against us in the Gulf Cup final back in 2006, in Abu Dhabi.

To the people in Oman, the gulf cup has started a few days or a week earlier. The preparations people have made from decorating their cars with Omani flags, slogans and pictures to decorating their houses and streets with the Omani flag and so on.

I really do hope we win this, we have it all this time. We have a great coach, we have the supporters, the crowd, the people, the land. This time we are playing at home. We gotta win this. We all should pray for the team to win this. We all know for a fact that everyone of us is expecting our national team to win this, we are all expecting to be in the final. That won't happen if we do not support the team and pray for them. Even if they don't, we should still be behind, supporting and thanking them.

To all of us, from Yemen to Iraq, Saudi Arabia to Oman, Bahrain to Qatar, Emirates to Kuwait. This Gulf Cup has a great value to us. To us, it counts as a World Cup. To us, it's the World Cup. This is the most valuable sporting event for us citizens of the Arabian Gulf.

I hope this Gulf Cup brings a lot of success, not only for the Omani national team, but it would be wonderful to have the most successful Arabian Gulf Cup to be achieved in Oman. I hope it is all positive no matter who the winner is, as long as the whole thing is a success.

To us Omanis, this is the time to grab the cup. We are hungry, ever since Doha 2004. We want this trophy and this time we have it all. Nothing can stop us but our own arrogance, the players should not get on the pitch thinking they've already won the match. Nor should they fear their opponents.

I wish you all a wonderful time at this Gulf Cup. Enjoy it while you're in Oman. All of us who are studying abroad want you to have a piece of it for us. Make it up for us. Sure it is hard to not be in Oman at this time, to most of us I think it would be once in a lifetime experience and have missed it.

Let's keep praying for Oman, let's keep cheering for Oman and finally..Let's paint the whole world RED, Green and White!

عمان نبض واحد

Discounts...Oh Really?!?

2009-01-04T00:16:00.001+04:00

While my shopping continues, I come across one after another shocker from the retailers in Muscat...this time it's the BHS outlet (Oh yes, the graphic details will not be withheld this time!)...

First they use a conversion factor of 0.9-0.95 for the Sterling to the Omani Rial (by converting GBP 50 to OMR 45 and GBP 40 to OMR 38)...and this time they've just gone too far, even if for a single product...

I went to BHS a couple of weeks ago...and saw jackets over there...there was a grey moleskin jacket for OMR 45.000....no surprises except that it was converted from GBP 50...

Now they put up a sale with good discounts on quite a few jackets...except that the only sizes you see on the racks are S,M, and then 2XL...there was no trace of L or XL in all designs except one...looks like they take away the nice ones when the discounts go up....not surprising to say the least...

And to top it up, the grey moleskin jacket is now tagged as...any guesses? here goes:

Was 90.000
Now 45.000

surprise surprise...the jacket was NEVER ever at OMR 90...in fact 45.000 is the price it was actually selling for without any discounts.

Have ethics and morals disappeared from these idiots? If they dont want to discount it, they can just stuff it with the other non-discounted stuff and say "Not included in sale"...but the deception to lure in the customer with "discount" that is not at all there is nothing but deceit and cheating. Simple as that.

I think the Ministry of Commerce should look into such dishonest practices...the retailers need to get Ministry approval before putting a sale...they should also submit price lists to the ministry and specify the discounts etc...

Other than that, there's little way out other than consumer awareness...perhaps some of the media houses should highlight such practices?

Ruwi Cinema Closes Down

2009-01-01T10:59:00.003+04:00

"Ruwi Cinema, one of Oman’s oldest cinema houses, closed down yesterday as part of Family Shopping Centre’s expansion plans. The management of Ruwi Cinema said they were undecided on an alternative location or a temporary theatre that could show movies.

“We have not yet decided on an alternative location or on a temporary venue,” Hussain M.V., manager of Ruwi Cinema, told Times of Oman. He said the owners of the building had given a notice asking them to move out by December 31, 2008.

He, however, requested movie enthusiasts to be patient till the management comes up with a new location in a few months. “We have all options at our hand either to rent a building or construct one. But it will take several months for a new theatre to come up,” he said.

Hussain said if they get sufficient space, they might even consider building a cinema hall with more screens and also increase the seating capacity. “But you know the rent these days is very high and so we have to think seriously before committing on that option,” he said. Whatever be the reasons behind the closure of one of the popular theatres in the city that has been showing movies for 11 years, there is no doubt that the fans will be the worst hit." [link]

Happy New Year Folks.

2008-12-31T16:59:00.004+04:00

I'm 4 months new to Oman, & days new to blogging, so learning the ettiquette/ functions etc.

I've been enjoying the writings of many of you over the last wee while, so good to be here,

Have a great night,

JSM.

Happy New Year to all!

2008-12-31T14:33:00.001+04:00

Here's wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year!

Funscrape.Com | More Happy New Year Comments

Nawras and UK networks??!!!!

2008-12-31T02:16:00.002+04:00

Hello,

Just a question…

Why does Nawras have contracts and dealings with some UK Mobile Networks/companies and don’t have with others?

I mean it makes hard to us who are in the UK and those who are having Nawras mobiles to send and received text messages!

For example, any one with Nawras can send texts to any network in UK but they cannot receive from any network from UK…its so annoying…which means its either us in here having to change the network sim card or the people in Oman changing to Oman mobile…

Anyone, knows any explanation to this kind of arrangements?

No To Plastic Bags

2008-12-25T04:49:00.003+04:00

Just thought of bringing this campaign by the Environment Society of Oman to the attention of all the readers of this blog.

Kudos to ESO on the great job.

Back To Basics

2008-12-22T14:19:00.000+04:00

The Omani commentatorship webspaces have retaliated with admirable force to Majlis Al-Shura's recent recommendations regarding changing the weekend days from the current Thursday-Firday to a Friday-Saturday.

The idea was first introduced a couple of years back by royal decree, and little has been done to it's benefit since. A while back, the banking sector inaugrated the trial to the new system with less than satisfactory results. The frustration of the public is owed to the current 4 day banking week. This would not be the case if the entire country moved to the Friday-Saturday weekend, where the regular 5 day banking week is restored, but the trial shift had not in any way suggested that the transition would be smooth, seamless, or beneficial.

My argument is .. Why bother ? The benefits gained by the transition while valid, seem unattractive enough to make such irreverseible change. If anything, it's going to accelerate downloading more of the traumatized global economy to Oman.

This post, however is not about praising the merits of the transition, or griping it's faults, it's about the Omani web arena's very open contempt to Majils Al-Shura's initative which opposed the shift to grounds of social, economical, and religous technicalities.

It seems that a lot of people simply forgot that these people are elected officials. Electors voted for these representatives affliating themselves to the agendas presented to them during elections, rendering criticism to that very agenda a logical fallacy. Whether this was the way it happened or not, it does not negate the fact that these official are now morally obligated to push forward whatever they were elected for, and if that was absolutly nothing, then the fault is beared on the elector.

Collectively, Shura studied, and discussed, the banking trial and came to the conclusion that the shift is not to our benefit, and that business should proceed as it previously was. Their views are only influencive, and not decisive. It's now up to the case to justify itself, which it's not doing too well.

I think this is a very cowardly move. There's much to criticize about the way our government handles some things, but it remains the fact the public choses not to excercise and deliever this criticism for irrational fear of the concerned officials. I think it's cowardly, because the people who are criticizing Shura this vehemently would not as readily criticize unelected governmental officials who have more influence and blame to some of these shortcomings.

Not only is it cowardly, I think it's also stupid of us all. The Omani public, rightly so, assumes the problem of Shura being the fact that they do not have decisive power and that some of that power should be delegated to them from whomever has it, but we're too stupid to realise that no such powers will ever be delegated if there's no respect to the process itself. If the Omani people show that they strongly prefer, respect and encourage the contribuitive process of decision making, some of the decision making power will definetly be delegated to the Majlis. This is not an egg and chick question, so we should stop making it one.

My name is Mohammed, and I shall be here all week.

Growing Omani blogosphere?

2008-12-21T21:29:00.011+04:00

Back in 2005 (I was still not a blogger back then, but I was a regular reader to many blogs), the Omani blogosphere had its own taste. There were many active Omani blogs, and blogging was just getting more and more popular in Oman. In 2005 there was even the Oman Blogs Award where The Muscatis got the first place. However, by the end of that year or maybe in mid-2006, these blogs suddenly became inactive for some unkown reasons. More and more blogs became inactive, and the hype of blogging was just lost and the Omani blogosphere became very dead. In 2007 and 2008 new blogs started appearing, especially in 2008. I think there is a very good number of Oman-based blogs today, especially blogs of expatriates who live in Oman and blogging about their experience in Oman. You might not agree with the "way" things are blogged in these blogs, but I think it's still good that the Omani blogosphere is growing again and now we have a fair number of active Omani blogs.

I have also seen a number of new Omani blogs in Arabic. In the Internet, there are only three major Omani forums in English and countless of Arabic ones. But for blogs, it's the other way around. About 15 months ago in our first bloggers gathering, Kishor asked me how does the blogging scene look like for Arabic Oman-based blogs, since he is a non-Arabic speaker and obviously will not know about Arabic blogs or forums. I told him that there were only a handful of Oman-based Arabic blogs, but countless of Arabic forums. Now, many Arabic blogs from Oman started appearing, and they're very active, to some extend. I think most of these bloggers used to be active writers in big Omani forums and they just saw that it was better to document their thoughts in their own blogs rather than forums! Either that's the case or not, it's very good to see a growing number of Arabic Oman-based blogs. Everyday I discover a new Arabic blog from Oman, and that's the very first reason why I'm typing this post.

Is the Omani blogosphere growing again? I think yes. And there's even a new flavor in the Omani blogosphere today, something that was not there back in 2005. Now we have expatriates blogging about their experiences in Oman, and we also have Arabic blogs that are very active. This is a new flavor, and a nice one if I may add. Below you will find links to some of the Arabic blogs from Oman. Since English blogs are easier to discover and they're pretty much known to almost everyone, I'm not including them in the list below. Whenever I discover a new Oman-based blog, I try adding it to the Blogroll of this community blog. But for the growing number of Arabic blogs which is a new thing to the Omani blogosphere, I'm creating this post for them. I hope we remain having these active blogs and have more active blogs in the Omani blogopshere so it becomes as effective as the blogosphere of neighboring countries in the Gulf region.

Links (in absolutely no particular order):

- Hamad Al-Ghaithi

- Muawiyah Al-Rawahi

- Oman name (عماني ممنوع من الكلام)

- Omani1970 (ليت لي جناح)

- Bin Mrhi

- Said Reviews (Said Al-Maskari)

- alwarda

- Fashkool2008

- Wahiba Sands

These are just the ones I discovered recently. Each day I discover more blogs, and someday I will try adding all these blogs to the blogroll here. I will even try separating the Arabic blogs from English ones, for those interested.

By the way, Blue-Chi blogged about a similar topic a couple of days ago, talking about his love with Arabic literature today due to the growing number of Arabic blogs from Oman. You can find it [here].

ReBlog : On Publication & Media

2008-12-20T09:59:00.002+04:00

At a very desperate attempt to reignite attention to the sad misanthropic episodes that my blog posts are, I am reblogging a post I wrote entitled "Under A Rock" which briefly discusses themes relevant to Publication in Oman, and New Media.

I haven't posted it here, only because it starts off being slightly personal.

For the faintly interested of you. The post can be found here. I will take comments both here and there.

Thanks.

Dubai: Has the bubble burst?

2008-11-28T19:26:00.000+04:00

Nov 27th 2008 | DUBAI
From The Economist print edition

As the sheen comes off glitzy Dubai, the other Gulf states are getting nervous too

http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12684897

“THEY said you couldn’t create islands in the middle of a city,” shouts a property advertisement over a jammed Dubai motorway. “We said, what’s next?” The range of answers has become gloomier by the week, as the debate moves from whether the Dubai property bubble will burst to just how bad it is going to get. Some nervous bankers think property prices could fall by 80% or so in the next year or so. A few months ago, rich foreigners who had bought villas in Dubai were complaining about the quality of the sand on their artificial beaches or the difficulty of getting water to circulate around the twiddly fronds of the man-made island shaped like a palm. Now prices for some smart developments have been cut by 40% since September, shares in property firms have lost 80% of their value since June, and big developers are laying people off.

The region’s banks will suffer too. Gulf policymakers are still making cheery statements about the region’s limited exposure to subprime loans but are quieter about heavy investments in inflated local property markets by regional banks, particularly Islamic ones. But worried banks are sharply reining in their mortgage lending. A series of arrests of senior businessmen as part of a fraud investigation is also making people twitchy. There is even talk of a coming “Gulf Enron”.

While the stunning opacity of government economic data is increasing the air of uncertainty, Muhammad Alabbar, who heads Emaar, a giant state-controlled property developer, took the rare step of telling people how indebted the country is. Together, the government and state-owned enterprises owe $80 billion—148% of GDP. Dubai still has a far larger stock of assets, at least some of which are likely to be sold, to cover the debts, to Abu Dhabi or the federal sovereign-wealth fund of the seven-state United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the two richest.

The rest of the Gulf has met Dubai’s phenomenal boom with a mixture of envy and emulation. Now there are hints of pleasure at the idea that the epicentre of bullishness may be humbled. But there are worrying questions for the others, too. Could the Dubai property slump prove contagious? Will the Gulf Co-operation Council pull together to protect the region’s economy? Should its planned monetary union be set aside as governments focus on protecting their own currency?

Who do we listen to now?

Since everyone else has been trying to copy Dubai, it is unclear how economic policy should be reshaped if the model has to be rescued. Advisers who have been preaching free markets and foreign investment will have a tougher time as economic power shifts back to the more conservative, oil-rich governments such as Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

Political stability may be affected too. A worsening economy may encourage political reform, on the assumption that people can be more easily bought off in times of plenty. At a recent BBC debate in Doha, Qatar’s capital, on whether Gulf Arabs value profit over people, young Qataris said critics of their countries’ poor treatment of foreign workers should look on the bright side; local citizens benefit from large gifts of land and free university education. Since the oil boom began in 2003, mega-rich Qatar has ramped up public spending by an average of 28% per year; the less well-endowed states have had to make do with annual rises of some 15-20%.

Several GCC economies will go into budget deficits next year for the first time since at least 2002, including Saudi Arabia, whose budget is based on oil at around $50 a barrel but excludes the cost of Saudi Aramco’s massive programme of capacity expansion. Unemployment will rise as thousands more young people, many of them graduates with high expectations, enter the job market. Social unrest is likely to brew. The question is whether governments will meet it with repression or political concessions.

Obama tells his kids.....on the day before election

2008-11-23T13:12:00.004+04:00

Remember those unusual but wonderful letters to Mrs. Gandhi from Nehru? I was reminded of them when I read this online. This is apparently from Obama to his daughters: Malia and Natasha (aka Sasha).------------------

Tomorrow decides your future.

Daddy will head off tomorrow to a tiny little booth knowing this.

I have watched. I have consumed. I have weighed. I have analyzed (mommy would say I should add “obsessed” to this list as well).

But I have done all of this because every day I look at you both as two little humans capable of limitless goodness within and unlimited greatness in this world.

I want each of your dreams realized.I want your hopes fulfilled.I want you to look at the person leading our country and aspire to be like him or her, not someone you support because he’s (or she’s) “just like you.”

I know that tomorrow I hold in my index finger the power to push a button — along with millions of other mommies and daddies – that can help to make these hopes a reality.

But please know, regardless of the result, that little index finger of mine is guided solely by a vision of a better place for you.

You both are my world.

And tomorrow, I hope that I can make your world a better one.

Love,Daddy

Watch a nice Family Movie.

Muscat Confedential Not Blocked

2008-11-21T08:58:00.003+04:00

Updated. Muscat confidential Not blocked anymore. May I proffer my most profound Oppologies to you all.

It was blocked for at least an hour this morning, but comments indicate it's Omantel incompetence as opposed to a delibrate action.

The immedaite assumption that the bock is an incursion on our already limited freedoms, is pretty valid when one considers Omantel's habit of blocking websites they think we are too stupid to be exposed to.

Once again, Sorry for Jumping the gun!

Oman Mac Users Group

2008-11-19T17:28:00.002+04:00

Any one here a Mac user?

Would you be interested in joining up with other Mac users in Oman to set up an Oman Mac Users Group?

The goal of the user group is to begin as an informal group where members can get together occasionally and share experiences and advice regarding Macintosh platform. Eventually the group should set up an online presence and expand its membership and promote increased Mac usage in Oman. The group can leverage membership with the official Apple distributors in Oman to gain discounts on purchases for its members as well.

If interested please reply here.

BLOGGER Meet in real world

2008-11-17T15:08:00.006+04:00

Hello all Bloggers and Blog readers,

How about a casual meet?

All bloggers, blog readers, enthusiasts (even curious ones) are welcome. Hope to see some masquerade too!

Choose your dates: 17th / 18th / 19th December (just timing between eid hols and AGCC meet). Do make your response post here.

We are watching this space and taking a head count. Depending on the number location will be fixed and informed later.

You could also suggest what we can be in the Agenda. (Apart from refreshments :-0 )

Oman Blogosphere is calling you.............................

PS: Bloggers please post this news in your blogs too to widen the Net scourge. Tks.

HM's speech in the opening of Majlis Oman

2008-11-12T00:09:00.001+04:00

Part 1:

Part 2:

For those like me who missed His Majesty's speech in the annual opening of Majlis Oman (Council of Oman), it has already been uploaded on YouTube and you can see the full speech above. Beautiful speech.

May God bless His Majesty the Sultan and keep him for this great country. =)

KOM's blogging seminar on November 10

2008-10-29T18:12:00.001+04:00

MUSCAT: As part of Knowledge Oasis Muscat's (KOM) quarterly Digital Nation program and in partnership with Omania e-Commerce; Nawras; United Media Services; and Infocomm, KOM will host a free seminar on blogging scheduled for 7:30pm, Tuesday, 10 November at the Muscat Inter-Continental Hotel. (more)

The panelists for the seminar:

1. Abdullah Al Jufaili (Intilaaqah)

2. Raed Dawood (Nawras)

3. Haitham Al Busafi (Sultan Qaboos University)

4. Zaid Zabanoot (German University of Technology in Oman)

New era for Fixed-lines in Oman

2008-10-29T01:15:00.000+04:00

Oman’s Telecoms Regulatory Authority (TRA) has finally awarded the second fixed-line license tender to PCCW - Awaser Oman Consortium, and it’s coming to an end of monopoly for the majority state-owned Omantel. Pacific Century Cyber Works (PCCW), an Hong Kong-based telecom company joint venture with a Omani partner and Nawras, the 2nd mobile company had lost the bid tender.

That's means new job will be created soon for the Omani Market beside the five mobile reseller companies.

Representing Oman

2008-10-22T01:49:00.004+04:00

Many represent Oman in something to be proud of, be it our national team, tennis players, musicians and the list goes on and on... but this way?

I seriously find this annoying and so downgrading, insulting and offending to Oman and its people..Pictures speak a thousand words..

What would your view be on an Omani who appears on TV modeling some Bikinis and other revealing dresses?

Blogger Back!

2008-10-16T07:48:00.003+04:00

Quick one, Updating to say that as of last night, blogger appears to be working again.

The outage was due to Omantel Incompetence, I assume.

"Accidentally" Blocking blogger (for, um, like four days!!!!) was not a particularly good move, because it looks like something sinister, no matter what the actual reasons.

Anyway, We can all rejoice now because for the moment at least, blogger is up and runing again in Oman.

Blogger Blocked,

2008-10-15T13:10:00.003+04:00

Either Deliberately, or through thier legendary incompetence Omantel has Blocked Blogger access. If you know me, you will already know what I think about this sort of behavior, but since this is a community blog, I'll leave it to your imagination.

I suspect the block will be a temporary, and extremely annoying experience. I am praying for the AP or Reuters to pick up on the story and rain hell down on whatever moron thought this would be a good idea. Accedental or deliberate, it makes Oman look backwards, and puts us in the same league as fabulous places like Saudi, China, North Korea. Oh, wait, we're already in the same league as them on issues like Human Trafficking, so why not freedom of speech as well?

Blue Chi, or others who write for global voices, now would be a great time to update with this news. Please???

Some bloggers have already circumnavigated the block, others will figure it out soon enough.

Kishore has suggested sending emails to Omantel and the TRA, you can read his post here I have sent emails, and it would be great is everyone near and far could be kind enough to do the same.

I am ranting and raving about over on my blog, which you can read about Here

Muscato has also noticed that google services are acting a little funny.

The Undercover Dragon, in a psychic turn of events, posted a list of good ways to get around Omantel's rather feeble attempts to block our access to the outside world. Read it Here, before they decide to block the page entirely.

I would ask for your comments and feedback on the matter, except that they have also managed to block commenting functions on the blogs. SO even if somebody knows what is going on, they would have almost no way of sharing it.

If you want to keep updating your blog despite thier rather pathetic attempts to block access, check with Kishore, Read the Dargon't blog, or drop me an email OtherOman At Gmail dot Com and I"ll let you know a few easy ways to circumvent the block.

You could also migrate your blog to somewhere like wordpress, but then everybody will have to update thier bookmarks.

If you wish to allow commenting on your blog to continue, you can use a programme called Haloscan to replace your standard comments. www.haloscan.com

Good luck guys. And don't forget to email Omantel and the TRA.

Eid Greeting to all!

2008-09-30T23:10:00.003+04:00

Here's wishing everyone a very happy Eid Mubarak!

Funscrape.Com | More Eid Mubarak Comments

May this joyous occassion bring for all happiness and prosperity!

Blogging Problems

2008-09-28T06:43:00.001+04:00

Do you guys face a problem when trying to publish a blog? It takes a few days to get an article published sometimes and others its on the spot. The only way to check if the blog is not erased / lost is to go the Dashboard area and look for it in the edit section. How do you fix this problem?

2008-09-27T15:01:00.002+04:00

It is increasingly becoming difficult to get a house for rent in Muscat. In all the major news papers you will find more people looking for house, than the people looking for a job. Is this house hunt going to end at any point in time? Is there a workable solution for the same?

There has been a trend seen in charging an exorbitant amount as house rent, in addition to that one may have to pay 1 year / 6 months / 3 months advance. House owners even go up to taking post dated cheques for several months.

It makes me wonder if the situation is going to worsen…Is there an issue to shortage of houses? Its so unlikely, a long walk in the evening would make you realize, there are good many number of houses however very less takers, due to the challenges involved in taking a house for rent. When I think aloud “very less takers” may mean that there are houses that are bigger than you want and smaller than you wish…

Are people able to manage? Well, some may feel, yes – people are able to manage, and others may say otherwise. Whatever may be the thought, its going to be clearer day by day……

Ramadhan Greetings to all!

2008-08-30T13:24:00.004+04:00

It's almost time again when we enter into the blessed month of Ramadhan...

In Melbourne, Ramadhan starts from 1-sep-08 (Monday) and should finish by the 30th of sep...(runs over the course of September)...I'm not sure about timings for Muscat, but estinates point to a start from either the 1st or 2nd of september...

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Ramadhan Kareem...with a prayer that May the blessed month bring for all peace, tranquility and happiness... And May the Almighty accept out endeavours to gain his blessings and mercy. (Ameen)

Excerpts from Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System

2008-08-25T17:55:00.006+04:00

A recent trend in some of the private companies in Oman is “Communities of Practice”. Below are the excerpts regarding the same. Dr. Etienne Wenger is a globally recognized thought leader in the field of learning theory and its application to business.

You are an engineer working on two projects within your business unit. These are demanding projects and you give them your best. You respect your teammates and are accountable to your project managers. But when you face a problem that stretches your knowledge, you turn to people like Jake, Sylvia, and Robert. Even though they work on their own projects in other business units, they are your real colleagues. You all go back many years. They understand the issues you face and will explore new ideas with you. And even Julie, who now works for one of your suppliers, is only a phone call away. These are the people with whom you can discuss the latest developments in the field and troubleshoot each other's most difficult design challenges. If only you had more time for these kinds of interactions.

We all recognize knowledge as a key source of competitive advantage in the business world, but we still have little understanding of how to create and leverage it in practice. Traditional knowledge management approaches attempt to capture existing knowledge within formal systems, such as databases. Yet systematically addressing the kind of dynamic "knowing" that makes a difference in practice requires the participation of people who are fully engaged in the process of creating, refining, communicating, and using knowledge.

Even when people work for large organizations, they learn through their participation in more specific communities made up of people with whom they interact on a regular basis. These "communities of practice" are mostly informal and distinct from organizational units.

Defining Communities of Practice:
Communities of practice are everywhere. We all belong to a number of them—at work, at school, at home, in our hobbies. Some have a name, some don't. We are core members of some and we belong to others more peripherally. You may be a member of a band, or you may just come to rehearsals to hang around with the group. You may have just joined a community and are still trying to find your place in it or you may be a leader of a group in your company or college. Whatever form our participation takes, most of us are familiar with the experience of belonging to a community of practice.

Members of a community are informally bound by what they do together—from engaging in lunchtime discussions to solving difficult problems—and by what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities. A community of practice is thus different from a community of interest or a geographical community, neither of which implies a shared practice. A community of practice defines itself along three dimensions:
What it is about – its joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members
How it functions – the relationships of mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity
What capability it has produced - the shared repertoire of communal resources (routines, sensibilities, artifacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) that members have developed over time.

Communities of practice develop around things that matter to people. As a result, their practices reflect the members' own understanding of what is important. Obviously, outside constraints or directives can influence this understanding, but even then, members develop practices that are their own response to these external influences. Even when a community's actions conform to an external mandate, it is the community—not the mandate—that produces the practice. In this sense, communities of practice are fundamentally self-organizing systems.

Day 1 @ Oman Community Blog

2008-08-24T16:49:00.002+04:00

Dear All,

My Name is Vipin Kumar. This is my first day in Oman Community Blog and am very exited to be a part of the community...!!!

Its been a little over 2 months I am in Muscat, however I feel as if I share a strong bonding with the soil....I am sure there are many people who share the same feeling about the city and the country.

I have done my graduation in Computer Science and Electronics. I started my career in MphasiS BPO, as a trainee customer service executive. MphasiS has an exceptional character as a company and I gained a lot in my 3 years tenure, grew as Unit Manager within 2 years, expanded my horizons into services sector, learnt to lead teams into achieving goals, motivating them, the number game of the industry.

The opportunity knocked and I moved into consulting as a HR Manager, worked in Zygon, Focus Management Consultants at various positions. Interacted with clients like IBM, Accenture, SAIC, EDS, Genpact, Professional Access, Zensar, GE.

With my specialization in recruitment, I am here to test my skills and add value to my company and the country (I would be very happy if I can accomplish this).

Photography being my passion, Oman is the best suited place for me, as close to my heart as my home country...

Thank you all...

Sultanate of Oman to embrace the Idol franchise

2008-08-23T14:03:00.000+04:00

In few months time Radio Sultanate of Oman and Al Sawadi Beach Resort will lunch its first singing talent show ‘Oman Idol’ as part of Idol franchise such as American Idol and Super Star, for residence of Sultanate of Oman only. The Shabiba wrote an article about it.

Sheikh Saud Bahwan Passes Away

2008-08-21T13:29:00.003+04:00

Al Mawaali, over at the Be in Oman Blog broke the story late yesterday.

The Arabic papers were sold out by the time I got to sultan center this morning, but the Times of Oman ( Here and Here) and the Tribune both had lovely eulogies, Far better than anything I could write here. In particular, the papers highlighted Sk Saud's many charitable endeavours. I think you all would agree, that he was a man of extrordinary generosity and business acumen.

According to the papers, Prayers will be performed at the Abu Bakr Mosque, Wattayah. His body will be carried to Al Amerat graveyard and condolences will be accepted at the mosque. In mourning, all the offices, divisions and branches of Saud Bahwan Group shall remain closed from August 20, and shall resume operations on Sunday August 24.

I counted 36 full pages of advertisements from various businesses in the English papers alone. I assume that these are being run instead of the regular adverts, and possibly at a discount. The rates for a full page b/w advert in Al Wattan are roughly 1,200 rials per day before any discount. Assuming a 40% discount, with six newspapers carrying 72 full pages of advertising , That's Maybe 51,000 Rials for Today's edition of the papers. I would expect just as many adverts in tomorow's edition . Call me a cynic, but I can't help wondering if the advertisement divisions of the newspapers high five one another every time someone important dies.

It seems to me that a better way to honor a man and family who gave so much to philanthropic endeavours would be to pull the advertisements for the day and instead donate, quietly, the amount that would have been spent on the advertisemsnts to one of the charities Sheikh Saud established. 100,000 rials in two days would improve the lives of countless disabled children, Diabetes patients, and the less fortunate famalies among us.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon--we belong to Allah and to Him do we return.

One Step Forward : Omantel

2008-08-21T11:47:00.002+04:00

Another step towards the right direction from Omantel...according to this article in the Times of Oman, Omantel is revamping the tariff scale for local calls and lowering IDD rates...

Bloggers gathering - August 2008

2008-08-02T00:31:00.004+04:00

We had yet another small gathering this evening at D'arcy's Kitchen in MQ. This gathering was unique, though, because we had an honor guest; our fellow blogger MMK080 from Qatar. He was in Oman during the weekend for his first time in the Sultanate, and on his last day in Oman we thought of having a small gathering. It was indeed nice having him between us, and it was an honor meeting him in real life. Hope that he liked his stay in Oman and enjoyed the special Omani hospotality. :-)

Anyways, the gathering was all organized quickly and just via e-mail in the last couple of days, when MMK080 announced last Tuesday that he will be in Oman for the weekend. I quickly e-mailed the bloggers I thought would be interested in meeting up, and they all responded. Everyone came except Muscati who was really looking forward to coming but couldn't make it since he was in Dubai, as he explained to us from the beginning. The bloggers who attended the gathering are: Al-Maawali, Kishor, Blue-Chi, MMK080 from Qatar, our great chief Del_Yahi from the Omani Cuisine, Conceptoo from Oman3D and of course, myself.

And guess what? Blue-Chi and Conceptoo, the founders of Oman3D, gave away some free t-shirts in the gathering carrying Oman3D's logo. So it wasn't only a nice gathering, but we got free t-shirts as well! :-p ..

Again we hope that MMK080 had enjoyed his time in the Sultanate. :-) Wishing to see him again in the future.

UAE Visa for non-GCC Nationals

2008-07-27T11:25:00.004+04:00

Is it true that from August the 1st onwards the UAE visit visa for non-GCC nationals is going to cost 50 rials instead of 10 rials only?

We're planning on going to Dubai for a short trip by car sometime in mid-August. Even though we're Oman residents (not citizens) and traveling to Dubai by car, we need a UAE visa which is issued just at the UAE borders and cost 10 rials per person. But I've been hearing from different people that they're raising the fees to 50 rials, does anyone have any idea about this?

If it's true, then I think we're canceling our plans. Because we'd end up paying over 200 rials just for visas for a 4 ~ 5 days visit! Ridiculous.

Happy Renaissance Day

2008-07-22T22:51:00.001+04:00

Happy 38th Renaissance Day :-)

Times of Oman is back online

2008-07-22T18:02:00.002+04:00

Finally, after being slugged with warning messages on both Google and FireFox 3 for a number of weeks, Times of Oman is back Online...

There is no noticeable change in the content/layout of the website though...it still looks like a website made by a 12-year old in 2 hours (!)

Two-wheeler Schumis

2008-07-16T12:59:00.000+04:00

These teenage kids zip around the roads between Wadi Kabir, Ruwi and Muttrah areas in the evenings, and cause a great bit of inconvenience to car drivers. Most of the time, they trespass into the highway and cause a flutter by their helter-skelter riding skills. Not content with highway, they often stay into pavement next to the highway. Call it adrenaline rush or teen passion, they are surely putting their lives at risk. Where are the ROP guys?

Sleepless in Muscat, RIP

2008-06-21T21:09:00.003+04:00

I received the sad news late this evening of the passing of Ali Mehdi, known to most of you as Sleepless in Muscat. Ali was without a doubt, Oman's most prolific blogger. He was also an aspiring poet who self-published two books of poetry, and a frequent columnist in The Week and online on the Times of Oman website. He posted frequently on Oman Forum as well. As a blogger, he contributed to a dazzling number of blogs in addition to his own many blogs. He was also the founder of the Oman Community Blog.

Ali's last post on his blog was on May 3rd. It was a poem called Passion's Death.. He fell ill shortly after and was admitted to hospital into Intensive Care where he remained till his passing earlier today. He was 29.

Deepest condolences to his family; our prayers are with them in this difficult time.

Tier three, again

2008-06-12T14:11:00.004+04:00

For the second year running, Oman has earned a place amongst the fabulous glitterati of Tier three on the US Dept of State Human Trafficking report. The only entities surprised by this are the ministry in charge of fixing it, and perhaps the courts. The media coverage and press release from the Ministry of Foreign affairs was so shocking, that if I were in charge I would haul up the Minister and departmental heads of the ROP and Courts and demand an explanation.

You can read the report here. One can and should question if the US is a good country to be evaluating the human rights of other nations (Git-mo Abu Gharib, etc...) but the observations in the report are a totally accurate analysis of the current Human rights situation in Oman.

I, personally, am ashamed and embarrassed, because I thought Oman was actually going to DO SOMETHING about human trafficking, instead of throwing a few conferences, issuing a decree which was never enforced and distributing a printed leaflet to illiterate labourers. How hard would it be to actually run an aggressive sting programme to bust companies and individuals who deny their employees their basic human rights? Follow that up with some aggressive prosecutions, some crippling fines, and jail time for the CEO's and sponsors convicted of sexual trafficking, Physical abuse, Non payment of Wages, and withholding Passports. Then publish their pictures in the paper. Front page. Next, set up a small shelter for Victims of human rights violations, as well as local victims of marital violence.

Congratulations one and all. This is certainly a proud moment for our glorious nation.

Show ?! Training ?

2008-05-15T03:31:00.000+04:00

I mistakenly come across this video on YouTube this morning. I'm not sure if it's real or it was just a show but for sure it was in SQU's campus. If it's for real then it's scary... and if it's just a show or whatever, then I don't understand why the shotguns and in a university campus?

OmanTel announces new ADSL packages

2008-04-27T18:14:00.006+04:00

So the pricing for the new ADSL packages are now announced and can be checked on OmanTel's official website. [Link]

As Muscati pointed out in my previous post, the 8 Mbps turned out to be close to 100 OR. 99 OR actually. It's crazy, even after considering the unlimited free downloads you get with that package. Nobody on his right mind will pay 99 OR on an Internet connection for personal usage.

The other four packages starting from 512 Kbps, 1 Mbps, 4 Mbps are reasonably priced I guess. You can check the packages in details [here].

And yeah.. according to the press release, your 384 Kb/s ADSL connection should automatically upgrade to 512 Kb/s with no charges.

So, what do you think of the pricing ?

Yet another interview with HM by a Kuwaiti newspaper...

2008-04-27T03:22:00.006+04:00

(ONA)

The same Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Al Jar Allah, editor-in-chief of Al Siyasa Kuwaiti newspaper, who interviewed His Majesty the Sultan two years ago, interviewed HM again on Saturday April the 26th, 2008.

It's a quite interesting interview. The highlights of the interview can be checked on Times of Oman newspaper by clicking here. And for Arabic readers, they can check the whole interview in details (Q&A) on the Kuwaiti newspaper: Al-Siyasa [Link].

I wonder why we don't have Omani journalists interviewing His Majesty as often? Or as a friend of mine said, maybe it is because we don't have such capable journalists in Oman?

OmanTel's 8 Mbps ADSL

2008-04-26T03:07:00.003+04:00

Does anyone have any idea about the new 8 Mbps and 16 Mbps ADSL packages OmanTel is offering?

The ad above was posted by someone on Sablat Oman (omania2.net), but unfortunately when I checked OmanTel's website it has nothing mentioned about these offers.

Any idea? information? recent news from OmanTel?

(YET) Another Inflation Record Smashed...(but is that all that is to the story?)

2008-04-14T19:12:00.004+04:00

Just when some are beginning to think it cant get much worse, in an article published by ITP's ArabianBusiness (click HERE to go to the article in full), inflation in Oman is racking up record upon record ever since the US Dollar started it's fateful slide for the worse...since then, the Omani Rial has lost close to 20% of it's value against some currencies (as I compared here), prices for food and other essential commodites have shot up through the roof (possibly more than just a roof this year)...

According to the article, "Inflation in Oman rose for a ninth month to 11.11% in February, the highest in at least 18 years"...

further adding that "Food, beverage and tobacco costs, which account for almost a third of the consumer price index, surged 19.6% in February, the Ministry of National Economy said on its website on Sunday. Food costs had jumped 17% in January"

And the response was just the usual rhetoric the Omani public has been hearing all along..."There is no quick fix," Omani Economy Minister Ahmad bin Abdul-Nabi Mekki told newswire Reuters on Sunday."We took measures of reducing imports and we also requested wholesalers to reduce prices. Inflation will take its natural course in 2008."

Oman's CPI is now at 120 points, up from 108 from the same point in time a year back. This is reportedly the highest level since 1990.

The final piece of data given is: "Inflation in Oman, which hit 10.12% in January, had risen by an average of 1% in the last 10 years.

Rents rose 14.1% in February, down slightly from 14.3% in January,"

The article then goes into the defensive statements we've been hearing all along...there is an implicit message again that Oman does not intend to depeg or revalue the ailing Rial anytime soon...

What is surprising is the fact that the article mentions a Central Bank official as saying that Oman needs to slow down economic expansion...I dont see how that can be done without raising interest rates and reducing the money supply and liquidity in the market...

That said, I have a few thoughts of my own to add...I dont think Oman is alone in facing rapidly inflating food prices...Prices for food items have been rapidly increasing all around...I've noticed food items in Australia going up as well (Australia faces inflationary pressures as well and annual inflation is at around 3-4% despite measures by RBS including relentless interest rate rises, but some food items like Indian rice have shot up by as much as 20% over a period of months).

prices for food items (such as rice, wheat and perhaps all essential grains) have been rising sharply all over the world since the last year or so...prices are expected to stabilise a bit this year (since Australia is coming out from drought and expects to produce a healthy wheat crop this year) but to what extent they stabilise remains to be seen.

Damn, now what am I going to do with that Free Tibet banner?

2008-04-14T11:50:00.006+04:00

I was interested to read in yesterday's Times of Oman about the plans for today's Olympic torch relay. The media and the various ministries seem quite excited about it all, though I am slightly disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm shown by most of my friends and associates.

That's not what this post is about though. I laughed out loud when I read the following :

Oman announced yesterday that the nation is all geared up to host the most peaceful leg of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay tomorrow. The claim came from Oman Olympic Committee vice-chairman Habib bin Abdulnabi Macki, who addressed a large press gathering at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.
“Our security is tight and anyone trying to put a hurdle will be severely dealt with,” said Habib Macki. “The Royal Oman Police is ready to handle any such situations.”

Did you catch the pun? Hurdle! get it? Hurdle?

After I stopped laughing, I spent another twenty or thirty minutes marveling at his poor choice of words regarding how protesters will be treated. I can't believe that nobody prepped him for the question, or if they did that that was the quote he was supposed to give. That is textbook bad Public and Press Relations.

With the eyes of the world on us today, the OOC would have been well advised to trot out a someone more seasoned to deal with the media, or to have prepared statements that didn't quite present the plan for crowd control so bluntly.

That said, I think it's a real mark of distinction that Oman was chosen to host a leg of the relay. For those of you who want to attend, the relay starts off from the Dhow at the Al Bustan R/A at about 17:00 and continue along the coast through old muttrah, and up through the darsait heights area, then Past the refinery I think and down into Qurum. The relay is scheduled to finish amongst great fanfare and fireworks at around 20:30 tonight, in the floating theatre in Qurum park.

Be there or be square Hip Cats.

A slightly more Caustic version of this is Cross posted on my Blog, Other Oman

Where did the traffic go?

2008-03-23T11:24:00.003+04:00

According to an article published by Times of Oman, passenger traffic at Muscat International Airport saw a sharp decline towards the end of Feb-08 compared to the same period last year...

According to the article, "traffic fell by 23.9 per cent to 617,791 at the end of February 2008 against 812,600 passengers during the corresponding period in 2007,

The number of arriving passengers fell by 20.8 per cent...

The number of departing passengers via Muscat International Airport fell by 24.1 per cent "

Click here to read the full text.

The reasons cited by the article include withdrawal of Gulf Air and some airlines ceasing service to MCT.

Muscat Hils, Golf Country Club!!

2008-03-15T00:43:00.000+04:00

So the projects name is changed but why the hell is called in Arabic Muscat Hills instead of beng called 'Tilal Muscat' we are in Oman and names should be in Arabic....... westren names are not for us... this is really pissing me off

Another rant about inflation (or controlling the juggernaut)...and my own observations

2008-03-06T18:26:00.001+04:00

Another one added to the tally of a bajillion articles on inflation and what the government is doing to combat it was published in the Times of Oman recently...Click here to read it (it's a bit long).

Apparently the import of fish has been allowed, which will somehow drive down inflation. (It should drive down prices of fish and seafood, provided the imports are comparable in price to local produce. That aside, it should also calm the markets by balancing out supply/demand to an extent).

In my observation over the last year or so, I have noticed that inflation in Oman is not necessarily due to supply/demand...it is due to excessive liquidity in the market. This is due to the GCC states (except Kuwait) having to shadow US Monetary policy...while the US Federal reserve has cut interest rates form 5.25% to 3% from september onwards trying to ward of recession, the GCC countries are riding on a growth spurt fuelled by oil prices smashing new records everyday. This is practically a case of two economies moving in opposite directions but following the same policies.

This disparity in economic policies has driven up inflation in several ways...on one hand it creates a situation where a rapidly expanding economy meets excessive liquidity, excess money supply and low interest rates...when these combine together, it can drive up inflation very quickly...

Secondly, due to the OMR being pegged with the USD (at 1 USD = 0.385 OMR) and Oman shadowing the US economic policies, the value of the OMR has been dragged down to record lows against the major currencies...I'll cite a few examples:

Currency, Value in OMR 15-Dec 2006 , Value in OMR at 6-Mar-2008, % change from 2006 value

AUD OMR 0.300 OMR 0.360 (up 20%)
CAD OMR 0.332 OMR 0.390 (up 17.4%) [1]
EUR OMR 0.504 OMR 0.584 (up 15.8%)
GBP OMR 0.752 OMR 0.770 (up 2.4%)
JPY* 306.04 268.53 (up 14%) [2]
SGD OMR 0.250 OMR 0.277 (up 10.8%)
NZD OMR 0.266 OMR 0.307 (up 15.4%) [3]
CHF OMR 0.315 OMR 0.373 (up 18.41%)

[1] Canadian dollar attained parity with the USD in early November 2007, peaking at OMR 0.410
[2] The rate against JPY is expressed as OMR 1 to JPY/. Other currencies are 1 unit of foreign currency to OMR
[3] NZD value was reduced by some amount after intervention by RBNZ

(All rates sourced from HERE)

As it is clearly visible, the OMR has lost significantly to all major currencies except the UK Sterling. This means that all imports (be it shoes from European brands, your favourite meats from AUS/NZ, and the Cars from Toyota APAC which is based in Australia and manufactures most of the Camry units for the GCC region) have become significantly more expensive.

A an example,If you were paying OMR 3 per kilo for a A$10/kilo meat from Australia, you'll simply have to pay OMR 3.6 per kilo for the same product...

Not only has this depreciation of the OMR hurt the consumer in Oman, it has also reduced the attractiveness of the GCC region to expatriates, particularly from South Asia. On top of the spiralling cost of living, leaving less money with people to remit back home ( a large chunk of south asians do that), the depreciating currency creates further hindrance. As another example, 1 OMR was equal to almost 120 INR (Indian rupees) in dec 2006...and the current value stands at 1 OMR equaling almost 102 INR. This change of 17% in currency rates, coupled with the rapidly growing economies in South Asia (particularly India) where salaries are on an upward trend, will make it all the more difficult to attract talented people from the region. (The sporadic protests by construction workers over wages is another indication).

Looking at the data, isn't it getting obvious that if not detachment from the USD, a revaluation of the OMR makes sense? It will make imports cheaper and reduce the "imported inflation" in food items...As such, there is nothing stopping the Central bank from revaluing later should the USD appreciate again...but for the short-term, another US interest rate cut of 75 basis points (0.75%) from 3% to 2.25% is expected soon... will definitely pinch the USD even more...

Good news: Darsait roundabout will be a signalised junction soon

2008-03-04T15:57:00.003+04:00

MUSCAT -- Muscat Municipality is embarking on another phase of improvements to the city's road network, aimed at easing traffic flows, eliminating bottlenecks, and strengthening sections of the network that were damaged during last June's unusual weather conditions. The latest initiatives are targeted at improving the road network in Darsait, Qurum, Ghala and Seeb, among other areas of Muscat Governorate. In the biggest of these projects, Muscat Municipality will undertake a series of upgrades to the road network in the Darsait area at a total cost of around RO 2.9 million.

The improvements will help address perennial peak-hour congestion at the Bait Al Falaj (Darsait) roundabout, as well as streamline traffic flows into the surrounding residential neighbourhoods. Besides converting the Bait al Falaj (Darsait) roundabout into a signalised junction, Muscat Municipality is also constructing a new link road connecting the Qurum-Darsait carriageway to the Darsait road network. Consequently, vehicles bound for Darsait will no longer have to approach the soon-to-be signalised Darsait junction, but can instead use the new link road to directly gain access into Darsait.

The link road will start from near the popular picnic area adjoining the southbound section of the carriageway, and will feed into the Darsait road network. Additionally, a new service road will be constructed from the small roundabout at the entrance to Muscat Municipality in Darsait, and will lead up towards Pakistan School Muscat. The new road will help feed traffic into the Ruwi Church/Darsait Temple area, thereby easing the flow along the Darsait road. The Al Burj roundabout near Ruwi Church will also be converted into a signalised junction as part of the road improvements in the area.

Well-known construction firm Consolidated Contractors Company Oman (CCC) will undertake the road improvements at Darsait on behalf of Muscat Municipality on a 'Design and Construct' basis. Parsons have been named as design consultants in the project. CCC will also undertake repairs to a small section of Sultan Qaboos Street at Qurum that was swept away in flooding during the unusual weather conditions last June. The contractor will use micropiling to stabilise the slopes on either side of the carriageway that suffered a breach in the flooding, and was temporarily repaired soon thereafter.

Internet Subscribers in Oman grows...but what about the level of service?

2008-03-01T20:47:00.004+04:00

This is my first post in the blog in a long long while...now that I'm back in Melbourne, I'm reading Times of Oman more keenly and that sorta keeps me updated...here goes...

In an article published by Times of Oman (Click on the header of the post to get to the original...I wont copy-paste anything but figures), it said that the subscriber base for internet services in Oman is now just over 100,000 (102,657 to be precise)...which is still only a small fraction of our neighbours (i.e. UAE)....

However, what nobody has pointed out yet is the level of service from OmanTel...which has been less than stellar in recent (or even before recent) times...the speed on the ADSL is redundant at 384 kbps, which hardly fits the definition for "broadband" anymore...the charges are pretty high as well at OMR 12 line rent + OMR 1 per GB....

Connection drop-outs, slow response times, and sometimes the ADSL line behaving slower than dial-up is not unusual..

If anyone from OmanTel reads the blog, get this stuffed into the heads of your technical department: We need more speed AND more reliability.

(The original article is here)

Oman Air Rebranded

2008-02-24T21:27:00.002+04:00

Just like many others, I was not impressed with Oman Air's new brand identity, I did not understand what it meant at first, and I genuinely thought that all of their teasers that ran on the newspapers for the past week or so were made by the new Al Ahli Bank.

Oman Air, or whoever did the branding for them, clearly misunderstood what the problem is, there was nothing wrong with khanjar concept or with the choice of colours, why didn't they work with they had and remastered them instead of doing something totally random. Do they really think that using gold and silver will make them 'look' luxurious? And why in heaven's name didn't they change that ugly font?!

The brand is of course not only about the logo, but it is the image of the company within the consumers mind which is created by the quality of the service, the PR, and everything the company does. Changing the logo is the first step in telling all the consumers that Oman Air is changing, that is no longer that cheap-ass-service-company with old and dirty airplanes. But did this logo tell me anything such as that? I don't really know, I can' relate to it, I don't understand it, and I think that it looks ugly. I was discussing this with a friend earlier today, and he said that he really thinks that this logo suits Oman Air, it is a horrible logo for a horrible company.

A great number of Omani companies and institutions do not understand the importance of having a brand and the impact color and typography could have on consumers perception of their service. While new Omani companies such as Omran, Nawras, Oman Oil, and Bank Muscat, seem to know how to make the most effective use of the power of branding, the same cannot be said about Oman Mobile, OmanTel or Bank Sohar, and surely not Oman Air.

Muscat University ?

2008-02-22T07:38:00.014+04:00

I'm sure that some of you heard before about the project of Muscat University, probably two years back or so. Wasn't it just a union of some private colleges in Muscat like the Modern College of Science and Business, Muscat College and some other colleges? Since we heard of that union, did anybody hear of the project being canceled or the colleges not agreeing on the union? All I know that the last statement from the Ministry of Higher Education showed that the ministry was aiming for that project to be done and unify those private colleges together. Though, I have never heard that the project was canceled a long time ago, till today.

Apparently, the private colleges didn't come to an agreement. So the Ministry of Higher Education just canceled the project and took back the license of the university. And according to this article on Al-Shabiba newspaper, the Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry is willing to establish the Muscat University with a capital of 20 million Omani Rials. The project is still being studied and will most probably be announced during this year, 2008. The university will not have any of the private colleges in Muscat in it. It will be a new separated university with different majors (still not announced).

Surprisingly, the end of the article says that the Council of Higher Education has withdrawn the license of establishing Muscat University which was just a unity of some of the private colleges in Muscat, and the project was canceled because the colleges did not come to an agreement. That was surprising because we never got to know about that before. But it's not something strange anyways. A lot of things happening in the country are not reported hence we don't get to know about them...

Why did the colleges fail to come to an agreement after all this time? Did not His Majesty provide 17 million Omani Rials last July to support this project? Where did the 17 million Omani Rials go if the project is canceled? A lot of questions arose after reading that tiny bit information on Al-Shabiba newspaper which was mentioned in the very end of the article.

Identify the logos

2008-02-17T11:39:00.002+04:00

Can you identify the following logos?

Free advertisements?

2008-02-15T17:21:00.005+04:00

There are two things you need to perceive here, not only that they hinder those seeking a ride on the shores but also tourists with dogs. Frankly, no one pays attention as far as I can tell. You can spot a rover on the back; many other vehicles can be seen down the area too.

Now the interesting part is the advertisement that has been placed on the board itself. Well, click here to have a better view.

Who knows, we might have stop signs with ads too in the near future.

Grab it before it's gone

2008-02-11T20:11:00.001+04:00

Whoever wants the dance that was performed for the kids in Muscat Festival, Grab it before it's gone.

RE: Muscat Festival's Embarrassing Show

2008-02-11T17:57:00.000+04:00

Here's what Sheikh/Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Khalili, The Mufti of the Sultanate had to say about the dance everybody has been talking about during Muscat festival.

It starts from minute 2.50 if you're not bothered to hear it all.

Oman Tourism Hotline

2008-02-11T08:19:00.000+04:00

An advert on the paper was made today to announce the Ministry of Tourism's new Tourism Call Centre which should answer all queries regarding tourism in Oman and will provide info on tourist attractions around the country. The Tourism Call Centre will have Arabic and English speaking staff should start operating on the 16th of Feb and can be reached on the free number 800 777 99. Lets all call them on the 16th and see well they do. :P

HM's Royal Directives

2008-02-10T04:15:00.000+04:00

MUSCAT — His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has issued royal orders to make available basic food commodities all over the Sultanate urgently, reduce the price of one tonne of flour by RO25, give the recommendations of the ministerial committee in charge of handling property rents hike at the nearest possible time, raise the salaries of employees of the state administrative apparatus units and social security families with effect from this month. The statement issued by the Diwan of Royal Court yesterday reads as follows:

Having reviewed the study prepared by the ministerial committee set up to alleviate the impact of price hike, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ordered the following:

- Make available basic food commodities all over the Sultanate urgently. The respective departments should devise a sound mechanism to ensure that retail traders do not raise the prices of these commodities, enhance market monitoring and combat monopoly.

- Reduce the price of one tonne of flour by RO25.

- The ministerial committee in charge of devising a mechanism to solve the issue of property rents hike should give its recommendations at the nearest possible time.

- The consumer protection department shall report directly to the minister of commerce and industry.

- Increase the salaries of the state administrative apparatus units of the ministries, government departments, organizations, public authorities, public establishments and other juristic personalities with effect from this month as follows:

A. The salary of employees on financial Grades 8, 9, 10 and its equivalent to be raised by 7 per cent of the basic.

B. The salary of employees on financial Grade 11 and its equivalent to be raised by 8 per cent of the basic.

C. The salary of employees on financial Grade 12 and its equivalent to be raised by 12 per cent of the basic.

D. The salary of employees on financial Grade 13 and its equivalent to be raised by 21 per cent of the basic.

E. The salary of employees on financial Grade 14 and its equivalent to be raised by 43 per cent of the basic.

F. The rest of the employees of the state administrative apparatus units from the ministries, governmental units, military and security units, organizations, public organizations, public authorities and other juristic personalities by 5 per cent of the basic salary.

G. Raise the social security families salaries by 10 per cent.

His Majesty the Sultan also ordered the respective authorities to conduct the actuary studies to improve the financial allocations for employees retired from the governmental sector also.

Source: Times of Oman
Pic Source: ONA

10 Kittens and a Lion

2008-02-06T21:47:00.000+04:00

We all were excited for this match. It was a Do or Die for sure even if it was the first match of the group stage. I admit I was very optimistic about this match, I thought the team would be fueled up and pumped up for this encounter. What more do they want? A stadium which has a capacity of 65,000 was filled up for them. Everyone there for them and a match to prove themselves again, yet all we get as a nation from these so-called professionals is a bad start to the road to Johannesburg.

From the start of the match Bahrain were attacking our open defense, running around in our side of the pitch as if they were on an empty parking lot. Our passing was sure very bad, no pass accuracy at all.

We might ask ourselves what went wrong in the team. The thing is we wouldn't know that. Don't blame the referee like the commentator did in the match. Every tackle got the commentator
blaming the referee for anything that happened.

Our midfield was shattered, Fawzi Basheer who had an attacking role on the midfield was held way back in the midfield line. There was absolutely no way the ball could reach the strikers from the midfield. Any player gets the ball and has absolutely no one to pass it to as all the rest are marked.

Our left side of the defense was like an open road. I remember one strike were the Bahraini striker easily got past in between 3 of our defenders. Good thing it wasn't a goal.

I was disappointed by the performance of all the players except one, that is Ali Al-Habsi for sure. He saved a few definite goals and the goal that was scored was not his fault but the defenders fault. Whenever a corner is played there should be two defenders between the goalkeeper, each defender marking the area of each goal post. But only the left of our goalkeeper was protected and the right side was not.

This is our first defeat in Oman since 4 years now. There was no sense of patriotism in our players today. Only Ali Al-Habsi showed that, the rest were being outplayed and seemed lost in the pitch. If only they had that sense of patriotism they would've done something about the outcome of the match today.

Speaking of Patriotism, if only you guys watched UAE's match against Kuwait today. I watched it right after Oman's match finished. That was football, that was team-work and in that match I found what I call patriotism. All the players in UAE and Kuwait (despite being 2-0 down) were giving it their all. Sadly we don't have that in our football players.

The funny thing was watching our players diving after every tackle they got from the Bahraini players. Also another funny thing is, during the 1st half and a part of the 2nd half the referee was surely on our side.

Bahrain played a good match, even though they were a bit dirty and tried to waste a lot of time. Macala sure knew how to handle the game and Bravo to him for that. He closed all the flanks, locked down Oman's midfield and marked our key players.

I just hope this loss has a good impact on our players rather than put them down. Yes this was our chance but there is no use crying over spilled milk right now. We have to focus on our coming matches and try our best to snatch every point we can get. This is not over yet, Bahrain have a bad record when it comes to home matches, so let's hope for the best.

Congratulations to Bahrain for this win, they sure deserved it.

The 10 kittens are the rest of the players, The lion is Ali Al-Habsi.

The Road to South Africa: Oman x Bahrain

2008-02-06T04:00:00.000+04:00

Date: 6/2/2008
Venue: Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex - Bowshar, Muscat.
Time: 18:30 (Oman timing)
Match: Oman x Bahrain

Oman:

I think by now our National team needs no introduction. It is now considered as one of the best in Asia. Our national team booked it's place in Asia's best since 2004 in the Asian Federations Cup which was held in China. Even though in that tournament we did not move further than the group stage due to referee favourism (what a coincidence? He was Bahraini). The road to success was continued in 2005 at Qatar when we were beaten only once in the group stage and topped the group. Then comes the Semi finals and we came with a wonderful come back against Bahrain and reached the finals against hosts Qatar. But it appears that the rule of thumb in the Gulf Cup is that the host has to win. Same scenario happened in Abu Dhabi last year. But let's not complain, that is football. Let me just add that in my opinion our squad was at it's peak in Doha back in 2005. That is my personal opinion and many will disagree. Then came the 2007 Asian Federations Cup last summer. We actually held Australia, a team that reached the last 16 stage in the world cup in Germany back in 2006 and was knocked out by world champions Italy who had a very hard time to knock them out (comes from a die-hard Azzurri fan). Somehow, we could not advance to the second stage of the Asian Federations Cup, how couldn't we snatch that? I still don't know. It was quite shocking.

Here is the chance, we have to snatch it as this generation of players may never repeat itself. This is our golden generation but now we are suffering a problem, the same problem the best football national team is suffering as well, Brazil. As you can see, I guess 90% of our players are professionals outside Oman, yes it is great for them and we are all happy for them but here comes the problem, the club they play for is what feeds them and their families, so to continue that they have to be careful and try their best not to get injured. They might even snub the national team for the club they play for and that has happened in Brazil. The thing is, when all our players still played for Oman they all played from their hearts, they were all patriots. Now I want to ask you, do you see this patriotism in them after they all moved to Qatar and Bahrain? The only patriots I see in the pitch are: Ali Al-Habsi, Hussein Mudhafar and Ahmed Hadid who I guess all are professionals in other countries. Let us just hope that patriotism is back today on the pitch against Bahrain, months later against Japan and Thailand.

We might feel quite insecure about the national team since many changes have been made in the spine of the team and the thinking mind of the team such as the coach. But let's hope for the best. The question is, does this new coach have something new to offer for our national team?

Bahrain:

The Bahraini national team is one of the newcomers in Asian football. A team that was filled with surprises, they have preformed excellently in China's 2004 Asian Federations Cup and made it to the 4th position. even in Gulf Cup 17 and Gulf Cup 18 where they were knocked out by our national team on both occasions in the semi-finals. We all know that Bahrain was the closest Arabian team (after Saudi Arabia that is) to qualify to the World Cup 2006 in Germany as they reached the last stage of qualification but lost against Trinidad & Tobago.

Unlike us, Bahrain have more experience in the World Cup Qualifications as they have reached the final stage of qualifications. Let alone that they haven't changed anything in their team's spine, their coach hasn't been changed. I guess as Omani's we all know him, Milan Maccalla. Milan Maccalla has coached us for 5 years, he knows every single strength and weakness for sure. That would be an important factor.

The Coaches:

Ribas:
Julio Cesar Ribas, Uruguayan. This is his first match with the Omani national team (I'm not counting friendly matches). This is his first experience with national teams as he always coached club teams. This is his chance to shine. The coach sure is pumped up as he came to coach a national team like Oman. If he manages to take them to South Africa, then for sure oil-barons Saudi Arabia or sky-scrapers U.A.E will have their millions ready to lure this manage their football teams. Sure he is aware that his rival knows every weakness and strength of his team. So will he be able to lead the students (our footballers) to beat their professor(Maccalla)?

Maccalla:
Milan Maccalla, comes from Czech Republic. Our coach for 5 years until he got the sack. Maccalla still did not achieve the Bahraini dream. He disappointed them in 2007 Asian Cup and is looking forward to lift that heavy load off his shoulders. Again I am repeating he knows every single strength and weakness of his opponents. He knows the stadium pretty well, he knows the players pretty well and knows the fans pretty well. So will the Professor beat his students this time?

I expect a pretty intense match, a match where Bahrain would be defending mostly and rely on counter-attacks while our national team attacking and hold the ball possession with their fast passing.

Our national team should find the way to the Bahraini goal quite easily if they continued striking and giving too much pressure to the Bahraini defense. I also expect our defense tomorrow to be solid.

However, we will be suffering a major blow as one of the key-players in our national team will not be featuring in tomorrow's match due to injury. I guess he is just like Andrea Pirlo for Italy. Ahmed Hadid is the start of every strike and the first on the defense wall. Let's hope his replacement does the job today.

Other matches to keep an eye on tomorrow are:
Qatar x Australia
Iraq x China
Thailand x Japan
UAE x Kuwait

Good luck and may Oman win tomorrow. I would urge you all in Oman to go watch the match tomorrow. I just wish I was there for our national team, for Oman. If I could then I would certainly go to this match. Nothing will stop me from watching this match, it will be 14:30 here in England and I will go to my friends apartment to watch it.

May the best win.

Now open: 'Great Kabab Factory' and 'Mirchi'

2008-02-05T14:49:00.000+04:00

The Great Kabab Factory has opened an outlet in Al Khuwair (Opposite to Radisson SAS hotel), and has on offer a range of delectable kababs, biriyani, Indian bread and desserts. The veg platter costs RO 6.9 and non-veg platter RO 7.9.

Mirchi, an Indian specialty restaurant, has opened at Ramee Guestline Hotel, Qurum (near Crown Plaza Hotel).

HE Abdullah Abbas to Patronage Oman x Bahrain

2008-02-03T07:54:00.000+04:00

Our national team's encounter against Bahrain on Wednesday the 6th of February will be held under the patronage of HE Abdullah Abbas, Head of Muscat Municipality. The match will be held at 18:30 in Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bowshar. The match is considered as the 3rd round of the 2010 World Cup Qualification, the World Cup will be held in South Africa.

The F.A. has sent invitations to a number of officials who are interested in the Sport event and to presidents of Omani football clubs.

The gates will be open to our loyal fans to come and support their national team on this huge event for the country. As this is a very important event for Omani football especially at this generation of players the national team has at the moment. Winning this game would highly affect the players and motivate them. So they need the loyal fans' support. I would like to urge you all to be there for the team. Just like you were all there in 2004 against Japan.

It is now certain that key-player Ahmed Hadid will miss this encounter due to the injury he suffered in the friendly humiliating match against Kuwait last week. This injury will leave him off the football pitch for 3 weeks according to tests he underwent.

The coach has chosen 22 players for the squad against Bahrain and they are as follows:
Imad Ali Al-Hosani, Fawzi Bin Bashir, Ismail Al-Ajmy, Ahmed Hadid, Ahmed bin Mubarak Al-Muhaijri, Khalifa bin Ayel Al-Nofali, Bader Al-Maimani, Mohamed Rabi'a Al-Nobi (C), Hashim bin Saleh Al-Balushi, Nabil bin Aashoor, Talal bin Khalfan Al-Farsi, Mohamed bin Mubarak Al-Hinai, Issam bin Fayel, Hussein Mudhafar, Bader bin Juma'a Al-Alawi, Mohamed bin Huwaidi, Hani Al-Dhabit, Ali bin Sleyum Al-Farsi, Mohamed bin Abdullah Al-Sheba, Hussein bin Ali Fareh, Ali Al-Habsi and Juma'a Darwish.

Good luck to the team and Inshallah this event will have it's own coverage in OCB.

Way To Go, Muscat Municipality!

2008-02-02T09:14:00.000+04:00

I was discussing Muscat Festival with a friend, and he brought this video up. I checked it out on YouTube and got the shock of my life.

I want to clear out that whenever someone criticizes Muscat Festival, I ask that person to give them a break, they are improving year by year. But this just proves me wrong. When will these people behind organizing the festival ever learn? Who is to blame?

The video you are about to see is just disgusting, to all. Let alone KIDS! This particular show is supposed to be for kids.

I'll let you guys judge this. As I really have absolutely no comment for this.

Where is our great "History" .. Where are our "Traditions" .. Is this a part of our "Heritage"?

Way to go, Muscat Municipality! Someone seriously has to complain!

Shah Rukh Khan to rock Muscat

2008-01-29T13:36:00.000+04:00

According to our little birdie, Indian and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is most likely to perform in Muscat during the concluding day of the Muscat Festival celebrations on Feb. 15, 2008. For starters, Shah Rukh is known to have a huge Omani fan base.

Saudi Law to control illegal online activity

2008-01-28T10:31:00.000+04:00

Here is news about Saudi promoting new laws for controlling the use of technology for terrorism, fraud, pornography, defamation, violating religious values and disregarding public etiquette.

They had earlier arrested Fouad Al Farhan, a 32-year-old which was considered a the first of its type there. http://www.itp.net/news/507409

Now the law make its even more strict and The new law also covers the religious and social use of information and communications technology. Read more at http://www.itp.net/news/509250-saudi-tightens-grip-on-internet-use.

Temptations lead to havoc

2008-01-25T09:25:00.000+04:00

While some of us enjoy new releases such as Blackberry and the 3G phones with Nawras networks, we can't seem to relax.

Just hear this news about a yet to be controlled mobile worm infecting Symbian S60 operating system devices, including Nokia 6600, 6630, 6680, 7610, N70 and N72 phones.

If sorting your infection is not enough, it is alarming to think of these worms self-spreading them to every contact in the address book. Some how I feel vulnerable with technology no matter how much I read or do for precaution: there is always a new danger round the corner and I pay dearly for the comfort I want.

For those interested in reading more about worms, their history an their morphing versions for various modes of online communications click online to my blog post http://digitaloman.blogspot.com/2008/01/computer-worms-are-more-malicious.html

New and Improved Penalties for Driving Like an Ass.

2008-01-21T10:54:00.000+04:00

Arabic readers will see in the above photos the latest and greatest driving improvment measures from our beloved ROP.

Following, for the benefit of the non arabic readers, is an appalingly translated summary courtesy of me. Please, if someone could provide a more detailed translation I would be so, so, so, thrilled.

The one on the right is the official report / circular issued by attourney general, from back in November. It kind of highlights some undesirable driving behaviors. Red light runing, cutting in / overtaking on the yellow lane, Drifting or stunts ??? It pretty much says that these offenses are serious, dangerous, and waaaay impolite, reccomending much stronger penalties for offenders.

The one on the left is the follow up decision taken by the Attourney general, (I am pleased to not that it's the first decision of the year!!!) that states that due to the problems and accidents caused buy people driving in an impolite way on the yellow lines and running red lights and Drifting? Racing? Cruising (help?) ? that offenders who are caught doing these things will be put in jail for up to 48 hours and thier car will be taken away until the case comes to prosecution. If the car is borrowed the owner can petition for the release of the car, and the driver has to give his lisence up. I don't see a maditory fine specified anywhere.

Azzam daily carried the article today, you can read it here.

I am especially excited to see that overtaking in the yellow lane is among the offenses. ROP, if you are reading this, you could take away 75% of the vehicles belonging to Ministry employees if you set up a shakedown on ministry street around 14:15 each afternoon.

I hope the ROP agresssively enforces this, with stings, speed traps, and checkpoints. If they can do this with speeding and reckless driving I think it would have an impact on next year's road accident fatalities.

* Updated, thanks to Amjad for the PDF and the link. *

How many Omanias are there?

2008-01-21T05:59:00.000+04:00

I'm really confused. Since Saeed Al-Rashdi (founder of Sablat Al-Arab - omania.net) decided to close down the forum after the famous incident of Sablat Al-Arab, other people started opening forums with similar domains to the original Sabla and some of them even with similar themes to the original Arabic sabla. However, day by day, they are really increasing. So far, these are the Omanias I came across:

-www.omania2.net

-www.omanya.net

-www.omanya.com

-www.omanianet.net

Any more omanias?

Dead Whale in Darsait Beach

2008-01-17T05:44:00.000+04:00

Members of the Royal Navy of Oman try to pull a dead whale out of the sea along the coast of Darsait village in Muscat, January 16, 2008.

According to Oman's Ministry of Environment, the whale was killed after a collision with an oil tanker and DNA samples will be taken before it is buried.

REUTERS (OMAN)

Anybody heard of/witnessed this?

Three Rials for a bottle of water?

2008-01-14T15:05:00.000+04:00

I am currently working on a review of the restaurant at the chedi, but for today, I will share one major grievance with you. Bottled water.

Our recent visits the The restaurant in the Chedi Muscat, started off on the wrong foot with something as simple as water. They used to serve locally bottled Arwa or Tanuf, in big or small bottles, for a 200% mark up over the cost anywhere else. Fair enough, this is the Chedi.

Now, they sell 750 ml glass bottles of still water, imported from Scotland, for a whopping 2.8 rials, which is slightly more than Seven US dollars. It's just water. It's not particularly great water, but it's fancy, pretentious, expensive water that required many tonnes of fossil fuels to extract, bottle, and ship it here.

Additionally, they won't sell any other type of water, nothing local, nothing cheap, and our requests for a pitcher of tap water were initially refused. They have a good scheme here, knowing full well that tourists are terrified of drinking tap water, and so will pay the extortionate rates for bottled water.

The attitude from the staff was that the Chedi is too good to serve water from plastic bottles, or to offer filtered tap water. Thus, I was rather surprised to see that the complementary water inside the suite for which we had paid RO 350 per night ( 900 USD!!!) was Arwa, in plastic bottles. So it's ok to serve water in plastic bottles in a 350 rial suite, but not in the restaurant...because in the restaurant, you can charge the guests an arm and a leg for it. It's a rip off, pure and simple, not to mention an absolute waste of resources.

If the Chedi wanted to get serious about being an environmentally conscious hotel, they would serve filtered tap water, for 100bz a glass, with the money collected going to the Environmental society of Oman, or some other charity. They could offer the guests the option of buying the premium water, and quite a few would go for it, for the snob factor.

Kids, when you go to the Chedi, do me a favor and complain long and loud about the bottled water issue. Demand tap water. I think if they get enough complaints, they might be willing to change the policy when their contract expires with the Scottish company next year. Maybe.

This is also Cross Posted over at my blog, Other Oman

For real?

2008-01-09T16:54:00.001+04:00

I'm totally lovin' the new "middle road" which was opened this week and takes you from a new intersection in Al Khuwair where the Zakher roundabout used to be right down the center of Al Khuwair and then through the sand dunes of what used to be 3urooq until you stop at a new intersection in Bausher close to the sports stadium without having to go through the traffic of the highway. The road is still not entirely ready. They're still building some flyovers which will connect the newly opened road and extend it all the way to Hawasna filling station in Death Valley road. When construction ends later this year, the road will run from Madinat Qaboos all the way to Bausher without any stops.

However while driving there today I noticed that they had changed all the speed signs from 80 to 50. For real?!! I tried to slow down to 50 and just couldn't. How can you drive 50 km/h on a two lane road?!!

Black Helicopters. Blaaaack helicopters!

2008-01-08T15:32:00.000+04:00

Has anybody noticed an increase in helicopters over the capital the last few days? Any thoughts?

I think It's either an increase in routine training of RAFO pilots, or GW Bush is going to be stopping through Muscat during his upcoming middle east junket.

Either that or a giant government spying conspiracy, where they are using the helicopters to read our minds and predict future crimes. I, for one, am lining my cap with tinfoil right now.

Just kidding. Do you guys think Bush wil be stopping here?

171 baisas

2008-01-02T20:17:00.000+04:00

As far as I know Oman's smallest currency denomination is the 5 baisa. What's up with this pricing?

Gulf Common Market

2008-01-02T09:36:00.000+04:00

Hot on news is the formation of the Common market among the 6 GCC countries, of which Omna is a member.

This will have economic, social and financial impact within these economies. For example it will be easy for GCC residents can buy property and start business within any of the GCC countries. The member countries will benefit from free trade relations among each other which will be a great boost for several industries. Even the corporate tax within these countries can become equal and thus cutting competion between the members.

Any ideas as to what will be other effects of this?

Live flight information at the click of a mouse

2007-12-30T14:56:00.000+04:00

MUSCAT — Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) SAOC has relaunched its website www.omanairports.com with a new look and feel. The main features of the new website include a live flight information menu and a flight timetable (plan your trip).

The live flight information product features an updated interface, with the airport flight information system which incorporates real time flight status that displays live arrival and departure details for all domestic and international flights operated from/to Muscat International Airport. (more)

UAE launches electronic immigration link with Oman

2007-12-30T13:25:00.000+04:00

In order to ease immigration process between UAE & Oman, on 26 of December 2007. UAE has launched electronic immigration link with Oman IN Order to reduce process delay and ease commute as Thousands of passengers cross the border between the two countries daily.

The electronic immigration link is now on trial base in border checkpoints between Ras Al Khaimah and Oman and after a while it will be lunched in the other border checkpoints between UAE & Oman.

Community IT Training

2007-12-30T10:33:00.001+04:00

IT skills is almost like a normal reading and writijng skill these days. Soon we will be digitally illiterate if we do not know the following:
- How to prepare a word doucment
- How to use spread sheets like Excel to make basic number calculations
- How to browse the websites and of course blogs
- Have and email account: receive and send emails

Is there a way to measure what part of the society is digitally literate? Just postin to invite useful and practical suggestions.

Road deaths, injuries up despite safety measures

2007-12-27T14:25:00.000+04:00

Despite the wave of new security masures like speed cameras etc, injuries and road deaths in Oman have been going up, according to an article published in Times of Oman...

"data released by the Directorate-General of Traffic, the Royal Oman Police (ROP), show 635 deaths on Oman roads in the first 10 months of 2007 compared to 566 in October last year, an increase of 12.2 per cent."

The report also added:

"During the period (January-October 2007) under review, the number of Omanis died on roads stood 9.8 per cent higher at 471 (382 men and 89 women), and the number of expatriates died stood at 19.7 per cent higher at 164 (148 men and 16 women).

Further, the number of people injured rose by 16.4 per cent to 6,742 in October 2007 compared to 5,792 in October in 2006. The number of Omanis injured increased by 18.1 per cent to 5,663 comprising 4,079 men and 1,584 women. The number of expatriates injured increased by 8.4 per cent to 1,079 comprising 925 men and 154 women."

However, the net number of road accidents has gone down:

"Statistics, however, show a 7.5 per cent fall in road accidents at 7,124 compared to 7,705 in October last year, thanks to the stringent government measures. "

The full article can be accessed by clicking on the title of this blog entry.

Expat forum added on Oman Forum

2007-12-23T22:24:00.000+04:00

We've added a new forum called Oman Expat Info forum on Oman Forum. This new forum was added to accommodate the recent increase in posts from expats who are either newly arrived in Oman and need information or advice on schools, clinics, where to buy stuff, etc; or people outside who get job offers in Oman and are looking for advice on whether the offers are competitive and so on.

Admin Note

2007-12-17T12:08:00.000+04:00

Dear OCB members,

We kindly request you when copying news items or press releases to keep the copied material to a minimum. Please try to quote only the most relevant lines or paragraph from the item and add a link to the full article for those who want to read it. There's no need to copy the full article unless the source is not accessible by the members (i.e. subscription only).

Oman Community Blog is a place for your thoughts, comments and ideas. Let's keep the cut and paste stuff to a minimum.

Thanks.

Oman Mobile launches BlackBerry in Oman

2007-12-16T00:44:00.000+04:00

From the press release:

On the occasion, Dr Amer Al Rawas, managing director of Oman Mobile said: “BlackBerry is a unique and powerful tool that provides seamless connectivity for our customers, even while they are travelling. Business users can readily appreciate the importance of staying in touch while on the go anywhere in Oman. Oman Mobile customers can also use their BlackBerry internationally for data roaming with 37 operators in 20 countries such as the AGCC, the UK, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and many more as well as the normal roaming facilities for voice in 142 countries with 325 operators. This reinforces the fact that BlackBerry is the must-have business tool for mobile email and communications. BlackBerry can help businesses outperform their competition by increasing user productivity and efficiency, and enhancing customer service. We are delighted to be the first to offer this brilliant service to our customers.”

Designed for corporate customers, BlackBerry® Enterprise Server tightly integrates with Microsoft® Exchange, IBM Lotus® Domino® and Novell® GroupWise® and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data.

...............................

Oman Mobile will be offering various solutions for the corporate users including the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution which is a complete wireless platform to extend the benefits of a company’s messaging and collaboration environment and other tools to mobile professionals. The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution provides push-based access to e-mail; calendar, contacts, tasks and notes; instant messaging; web-based applications and services and enterprise applications.

The BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution is also built with corporate data security in mind. It features an end-to-end security model designed to seamlessly protect your corporate information from attack as users send and receive email and access data wirelessly. It safeguards the integrity, confidentiality and authenticity of your corporate data with a strong encryption scheme that keeps data encrypted while it is in transit between the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server and BlackBerry® smartphones.

Additional features of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server include:

Ability to download a variety of image formats (JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF and PNG) and store them on the handheld

Image manipulation controls (pan, zoom and rotate)

Ability to search the address book, calendar, memo pad, tasks and messages applications simultaneously

Support for additional fields and categories within the address book, memo pad and task applications

Cradle-free wireless sent items synchronization between a user’s BlackBerry handheld and desktop PC

Ability to tentatively accept calendar appointments on the BlackBerry handheld with or without comments and be notified of meeting conflicts

Oman Mobile also offers BlackBerry® Internet Service for individuals and smaller businesses. The BlackBerry® Internet Service is activated with an Oman Mobile subscription tariff. With this solution, you can be up and running in just a few steps, regardless of e-mail account type — and without IT support. It’s the easiest way for individuals and small businesses to start using BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry push technology allows receipt of email effortlessly because messages are automatically pushed to a device. Customers can access up to 10 e-mail accounts be these for work or personal use, plus an optional, new BlackBerry e-mail address that comes with your BlackBerry smartphone. Browse websites and instant message on your BlackBerry smartphone just as you would on your desktop browser. Stay organised with access to your latest calendar, address book; task and memo pad information and access contacts from your existing desktop organizer.

[link]
____________________________________________________________

Good to see Omantel picking up the pace...(but when will they speed up this net?)

ITA Journey Across the Sultanate

2007-12-12T23:31:00.000+04:00

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 1:23:29 AM Oman Time

MUSCAT — The noted IT expert, Tariq Hilal Al Barwani, yesterday announced the first of its kind initiative in the Sultanate branded as “ITA Journey Across the Sultanate”.

This Information Technology Awareness journey across the country is a move set to digitise and promote the use, benefit and career of technology in the community.

In a statement here, Tariq said: “The Information and Communication Technology medium is a potential engine to empower everyone from poor to rich, student to professional, and private to government sector as well as to increase their access to quality education. Everybody should know what this rich medium holds in store”.

The main objective of the “ITA Journey Across the Sultanate” initiative is to educate the public, nourish the innovation to the community and promote digital literacy across the country.

The project will be carried out in two phases, starting from Muscat and then the next in Salalah. The initiative is being sponsored and supported by Tariq’s father who has been coaching and guiding him since childhood.

Tariq will be travelling with his father’s 4WD throughout the Sultanate during his annual leave at work in Nawras. Initially, he will be visiting Nizwa College of Technology to conduct a presentation on IT Security, Careers and the Future on December 16.

He is also scheduled to visit Musannah College of Technology and Sohar Unversity in January to discuss about the several aspects of software development and innovation, Oman German University of Technology in February and the Middle East College of Technology in Rusayl.

Tariq was invited by several schools, colleges and companies several times to conduct presentations and seminars at Deslie Training Institute, Oman Training Institute, Indian School Al Ghubra, Muscat Private School, Muscat College and Shatti Qurum School for Girls, on different topics under the umbrella of ICT. His last presentation on IT careers and technologies at the Sultan Qaboos University two weeks ago had received tremendous response from the audience which triggered the idea of “ITA Journey Across Oman”.

“The ITA initiative that I am set to embark on this week is from the northern most region to the southernmost region of the Sultanate, ensuring that I solidify His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s Progressive Vision to transform the Sultanate into a Knowledge Society and build a knowledge-based economy,” said Tariq.

Oman has all the root stocks to become the Gulf ICT (information and communication technology) hub, Tariq said.

Apart from this initiative, Tariq has also introduced, along with the Ministry of Information, the first and only information technology programme called ‘CyberTalk’ for the Oman Radio FM 90.4. The programme is aired live every Thursday from 4-6pm where it presents the latest local and international IT news, best of breed topics, quizzes and question and answers session. A similar programme called ‘Raqmyaat’ for the Oman TV Channel 2 was also introduced for the local TV.

Tariq is currently pursuing his doctorate of management of organisation with specialisation in Information Technology.

PEIE OMG Seminar on Value Stream Mapping

2007-12-10T20:46:00.001+04:00

PEIE will hold the last of its Oman Manufacturing Group seminars next week on Sunday the 16th of December at 7.30pm at the Crowne Plaza. The seminar will discuss value stream mapping and lean manufacturing processes, two techniques used to reduce manufacturing bottlenecks and increase organizational efficiency. Attendance is open to all and dinner will be served.

Domino’s debuts in Muscat

2007-12-08T12:26:00.000+04:00

Location: Al Khuwair service road (between Omantel and Al Jadeed stores)

Digital Nation seminar on Dec 9

2007-12-04T15:46:00.000+04:00

The Knowledge Oasis Muscat's forthcoming Digital Nation seminar will be held on December 9, 2007.

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Knowledge Oasis Muscat, Building 1, first floor, Muscat Hall

Supported by Ericsson, Nawras, Microsoft, HP, Infoline, SAP Arabia, Infocomm and Omania e-Commerce, Digital Nation seminar is entitled “iGeneration: Embracing the Digital World” which will look at “Millennials” - youngsters born between 1980 and 2000 - and their use of the Internet and the communication tools that the public and private sector need to use to reach this tech savvy generation.

The Digital Nation seminar is open to all and free of charge. To register, e-mail your name and contact co-ordinates to: info@kom.om

Two Omanis conquer ‘Roof of Africa — Kilimanjaro’

2007-12-04T12:53:00.000+04:00

By Hamdi Essa
Saturday, December 01, 2007 1:19:18 AM Oman Time

MUSCAT — It’s 8am on Sunday, July 22. A special and extraordinary moment of pride for Oman, and of course, for two brave Omanis — Hamad bin Hamoud Al Harthy and Salim bin Humaid Al Mahrooqi.

Exactly at 8am on Sunday, these two gentlemen conquered Kilimanjaro, the peak of Africa, with the Omani flag fluttering. The 5,895-metre above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, and the world’s highest freestanding mountain, the Roof of Africa.

Kilimanjaro is located 205 miles south of Equator and stands on the Tanzanian’s northern border with Kenya. Times of Oman and Al Shabiba were the media sponsors for this fabulous story of mountaineering, an unprecedented Omani adventure. Hamad bin Hamoud Al Harthy, aged 46, has four children and works as director of projects department at banking major BankMuscat.

Salim bin Humaid Al Mahrooqi, aged 37, is a member of the board of Al Maha Company. The two adventurers’ relation began since childhood, and they share the love of adventures and challenges.

The idea of climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro began in 2005 in Tanzania while Al Harthy and Al Mahrooqi were on their way from Arusha to Darussalam, where they had an amazing view of the giant mountain.

“To prepare ourselves well for the climb, we practised climbing several mountains in the Sultanate, and attended a sports programme for improving physical fitness,” proud climbers said.

“Our mission to the top of the mountain cost RO12,000, which was borne by us. We made contacts with a company specialised in organising journeys to Kilimanjaro. The company had provided us with a team to accompany us to the Kilimanjaro.”

Speaking on being on the foot of Kilimanjaro prior to the climb, they said, it was a journey to the unknown; “we were full of enthusiasm and encouraged by the well preparations for the climb”.

On the climb, they walked 8-12km every day before they had a break for lunch. “At six in the evening, the team accompanying us prepares the camp and lunch, and we rest and prepare our daily report to Times of Oman and Al Shabiba. The climb to the peak took us seven days.”

Speaking on day seven of the climb, they said it was dark and freezing while approaching the peak. Speaking on their new adventure, they said they were planning to be the first Omanis to reach the peak of Mount Everest. “But this requires finance,” they added. “Now, we present the issue of reaching the peak of Mount Everest to all authorities and companies for possible sponsorship and financing the journey,” Al Harthy and Al Mahrooqi added.

Though mount Kilimanjaro was familiar to the local tribes, it remained undocumented for the rest of the world for many years till the early sightings by Rebman in 1845 to the successful attempt in 1889 by German geographer Hans Meyer and Austrian mountain climber Ludwig Purtscheller who till date are regarded to be the first to climb Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro structure is composed of three volcanoes — Kibo standing at 19,340 feet, Mawenzi at 16,896 feet and Shira standing at 13,000 feet. Till date there has not been any last known recorded volcanic eruption from any of the volcanic peaks. Kilimanjaro supports five major eco-zones including rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine desert and glaciers.

<<>>

Is UNDP’s ranking system biased?

2007-12-03T15:28:00.000+04:00

(Infographic: Kishor Cariappa)

The Human Development Report for 2007-08 has been released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Oman continues to be dubbed a country at high level of human development. Here are a few surprises.

# Oman’s human development index (HDI) of 0.814 puts it just below Antigua and Barbuda (0.815) and Trinidad and Tobago (0.814).

# Oman’s life expectancy of 75 years is clubbed between Qatar (75) and Argentina (74.8), while South Africa and Lesotho have higher adult literacy than Oman.

Will this kind of ranking give the true picture?

Does this sound promising?

2007-11-26T16:11:00.000+04:00

Council of Ministers reviews increase in prices of commodities

MUSCAT — In the light of the great attention given by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in ensuring the welfare of all the citizens and in a bid to cope with the current global economic developments and their direct impact on the prices of some commodities in the local market, the Council of Ministers yesterday held a meeting to study the different aspects of these phenomena. The council discussed the possibility of identifying some practical solutions that could alleviate the impact of such phenomena on citizens and expatriates. The Council of Ministers also reviewed the external and internal causes for the price rise in some commodities and how to deal with them in the near future, taking into consideration the interest of the consumers, traders and external forces.

While the government follows with concern the global economic changes, it assesses the positive and negative impact of such economic changes. The cooperation of the citizens with the government in understanding the nature of such developments is an important step towards handling and alleviating the impact of such changes. In this connection, the Council of Ministers has decided to set up a ministerial committee to be headed by the minister of national economy and deputy chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council with the minister of fisheries, the minister of commerce and industry, the minister of agriculture and chairman of OCCI as members to alleviate the impact of these phenomena.

- ONA