Local news roundup

A few nuggets of news today:

1. Oman to Issue RO50 Million Bonds.

MUSCAT -- The Central Bank of Oman, or CBO has announced a new issue of government development bonds worth RO50 million. The bonds will have a maturity period of three years and will carry a coupon rate of 4 per cent a year.

The issue will be open for subscription from August 16 to 26 and the auction will be held on August 30. The issue/settlement date will be September 6 and maturity date September 6, 2012.

Investors can apply for the bonds through either the competitive or non-competitive bidding process via licensed banks operating in Oman. Those applying for more than RO1 worth of bonds can also submit their bids directly to CBO after getting them endorsed by their banks.

Not such a bad savings scheme for people with a bit of cash to spare. Knock it in now, and then when the kids are done school here in 3 years time there's a nice little chunk of change to send them off to university with. Or something. 4% isn't great, but it isn't bad either.

2. School's in Oman ready to tackle H1N1, "Swine Flu".

This is not exactly new news, as there were signals from the Indian School in Ghubra a week or more ago saying that the start of term was delayed due to fears over the flu. The article's main points are: Almost all schools are now equipped with isolated wards for dealing with pupils who may have the H1N1 virus; A temperature of 100.4 Fahrenheit and sudden cough are typical symptoms of the virus; a lot of meaningless fluff from the Indian School in Ghubra's Principal; the Sri Lankan school is starting it's term on August 27th; TAISM is starting on the 22nd August and in fact many schools in Muscat will be opening in the last week of August.

Bear in mind, there is a cold that is doing the rounds in Muscat at the moment. It starts with a sore throat, then clogged sinus' and a lot of sneezing, then a lot of mucus and blowing noses, and it finishes off with a cough. Some people get over it in 3-4 days, for others it's lasted over a week. Hand sanitizer and wash your hands before every meal is the order of the day (not that it isnt ever an order of the day, but when you sit down to lunch or dinner today... wash your hands before hand). Also when you go shopping, make sure you sanitize your hands when you're done with the cart and back in your car. It does make a difference.

Also note: The Ministry of Health “H1N1 hotline” numbers are: 92466642 and 92466422

3. Get Going - Official guide and atlas to Oman is published.

The Times of Oman have carried a story about the launch of this new book which details attractions all over the Sultanate and also has lots of information on the country as well. It seems to be a pretty useful book, but I've not been able to find any reference to it online yet, and haven't been to a book shop to browse it yet. I wonder if it's any good? It's a 308 page book detailing 985 destinations and 101 maps, so it's gotta be pretty decent, right?

4. Omans oil price for delivery in September is a rather strong $72.69

5. Oman bagged Gold and Bronze at Arab beach volleyball competition in Lebanon.

Oman beach volleyballers lived upto the reputation of being the best in the region by winning the top honours as well as bronze medal in the Arab Beach Volleyball Champion-ship in Lebanon yesterday. While the Oman ‘A’ team comprising Badr al Shubhi and Khalifa al Jabri clinched the gold, the ‘B’ team of Haitham al Shuraiki and Ahmed al Hosni bagged the bronze after competing with the best beach spikers of the Arab region.

After spectacular performances in the league stages, the two Omani teams, came with even better performanes in the semifinals played in yesterday’s first sessession. The teams, however, experienced contrasting results. The the ‘B’ team went down to a Bahraini pair after a closely contested match. The Omanis lost 2-1. In the other semifinal, the ‘A’ squad brushed aside the Lebanese challenge for a 2-0 victory.

Later in the day, Oman ‘B’ team’s Haitham and Ahmed overcame the disappointment of losig the semifinal and came up with a spirited display to defeat Lebanon 2-1 in the third-place match to clinch the bronze medal. The summit clash turned out to be an even more dramatic affair with Badr and Khalifa suffering the reverse in the first set which the Bahrainis won 21-18. But in the next two sets, Badr and Khalifa turned the heat on their rivals to win 21-14 and 15-4 to seal the gold.

Well done lads :)

That's all for today!

le fin