Random news and articles which you might not have read..
Random News and Articles
- HSBC Money Laundering
- I Like Money
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Canadian Visa requirements for the UAE
Well the ongoing spat between Canada and the UAE just got turned up a notch:
The UAE have announced Visa requirements for Canadians who wish to visit the UAE (source).
The requirements are many, and the fees are expensive.
The fee's are:
Multiple Entry Visa $1000 (Valid for 6 months, maximum stay in UAE 14 days each visit)
Long term Visa $500 (Valid for 3 months, not renewable)
Short term Visa $250 (Valid for 30 days, not renewable)
And, they must be paid by either Money Order, Certified Cheque or Draft Cheque with the correct amount in Canadian Currency needs to be made payble to the UAE Embassy, Ottawa. Yes, that's correct. Canadians have to apply for a UAE visit visa at the UAE Embassy in Ottawa.
There is no mention of what Canadians living in the GCC with valid resident visa's of their host GCC member country. I rang the Dubai Department of Naturalization and Residency and enquired about what Canadians with GCC visa's need to do for a visit visa to the UAE and was told that they must apply via the UAE Embassy in Canada. I'll talk to the UAE Embassy here in Oman next week and get a confirmation of that and update.
This, however, flies in the face of what is stated on their website here:
It states:
Passengers entry – expatriates living in GCC countries
This involves expatriates living in GCC countries and who are permitted to enter UAE territories
Required Documents: Original passport or e-gate card
Valid residence permit (as appearing on the passport) and issued by competent authorities in GCC countries
Fees & Collection:
AED 100
Special Notes:
N/A
This service shall be offered at:
Dubai International Airport – Terminal (1)
Dubai International Airport – Terminal (2)
Rashid Port
Jebel Ali Port
Shendagha Port
Al-Hamriyah Port
Hatta Border Point
So, basically, for those Canadians that live in the GCC (with a valid visa/resident card) are still in limbo as to what should be done for a visit visa to enter the UAE, and noticeably the Al Ain border point was not listed (presumably as that is not in the Emirate of Dubai).
You've just got to love the organization skills of the Emiratis, eh?
le fin.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Lots of local news!
Well it's Wednesday already - where did the week go?!
There's lots of little bits and pieces I wanted to blog, so I'm going to lump them all into this post because I think it'll be easier. Please do feel free to email me or tweet me bits of news if you would like me to share with everyone.
Crime in Muscat.
Rising crime in Muscat. You've all read the papers, the letters to the Editor in The Week, and so on. It seems that crime, specifically robberies, are on the rise here in Muscat. And the ROP appear to be struggling a little with this significant up-swing in break-ins. One person who contacted me informed me he had to wait 3 days to get a police report in order to file an insurance claim - surely these things should be issued on the spot by the attending officer? Just this morning, the ROP were called to the Etihad offices in Ruwi for a break-in. Apparently some bright spark thought he could nick himself an A380 or something!
So be sure you are vigilant. Ensure your doors and windows are locked, ensure your sliding doors are secured in a way that they can't be easily forced open from the outside, and ensure you do not leave anything of value in display inside your cars.
Eid.
Eid holidays have now been called: a nice cool 3 day haul for the Government, and 4 days for the Private sector. It will be a nice long weekend for sure! I read with interest the letter to the editor published in this weeks The Week about expatriate government employees being discriminated against due to their race. I fully agree with the author of the letter, but we all know nothing will change on that front.
Tom Millward.
Tomorrow, the 11th November, sees Tom Millward start his ride for charity around Oman. 3000 KM's starting at Qurum City Centre, at 11:11am. Tom is raising money to assist the Association of Early Intervention for Children with Disability in Oman. During his cycle he is also hoping to raise awareness of Oman as a destination for Cycling to the wider community. The cycle ride will take between 2 and 3 months to complete and will cover all sorts of terrain and areas including the difficult and unpredictable interior.
If you require further information or would like to donate towards this charity, please contact omanbycycle@hotmail.com or GSM 9761 3342.
Fancy coins.
There are two commemorative coins being minted to mark the 40th anniversary of Oman as we know it today. One is gold, and the other is silver, and will contain the Oman coat of arms and a special 40th anniversary logo - so keep your eyes out for them.
Bryan Adams.
It's long been rumoured, and has finally been officially announced: Bryan's coming to town on December the 18th. Tickets are RO 25 and are on sale now in all the usual outlets. Stay tuned for a free ticket give-away right here on Muscat Mutterings soon.
War of the Djz Final - Thursday night
In new nightclub Nuts & Bolts, on Thursday night there is the final of the 2010 War of the Djz competition.
It should be a laugh, so check it out, the finalists are really good at their craft and it will be a great night of musical entertainment!
Zouk.
Tonight, the ever-trendy Zouk bar are having their very own VJ (Video Jockey) play some fun videos with crowd interaction, and of course their signature House music pumping all night long. Remember - you pay RO 20 at the door and then you get RO 20 worth of food and drinks inside.
Muscat Rugby & Aussie Rules
This Friday afternoon, from 1:30pm sees an afternoon of fun on the Rugby ground. At 1:30 the Muscat Magpies play the Dubai Dingo's, then at 3pm the Muscat Rugby Club's U12 group have a demonstration game, and at 3:30pm we have Muscat RFC Men's Vs the Dubai Exiles. There will be a music system in the stands for spectators, as well as a bbq and drinks (non alcoholic ON the rugby pitch), then down in the clubhouse there are special offers on food and drinks available (including alcohol of course). It will be a fantastic day for everyone, please do come on down and show your support for our local expatriate community.
Royal Opera
There have been reports that the Royal Opera people have been over-selling events to ensure packed nights, with the slight problem that some people who paid for their tickets do not get to have a seat. Reportedly nearly 30 people were left standing at the Monday night performance. So if you're planning on going to the Opera - make sure you get there early to get a seat!
UAE & Canada
It seems that the on-going spat between the UAE and Canada has gone to the next level: The UAE have now announced that as of January 2nd 2011, all Canadian passport holders visiting the UAE will have to apply for a visa before-hand, and pay the Visa fee (presumably RO 20 a time). One does wonder what the end result of all this diplomatic arguing will be, but it's routed in the fact that the UAE want more than 6 landing slots at Canadian airports each week for it's two airlines (Etihad and Emirates currently have to share the 6 slots). Having personally been on many Etihad flights to Toronto, I can assure you those flights are always jammed full, and more flights would be a good thing. But Air Canada don't want the competition. It would seem that the sound business solution would be to sell more landing slots to the UAE - why is a private company (Air Canada) dictating the Government of Canada's policies on this?
That's all for this week - have a fabulous weekend everyone.
le fin.
There's lots of little bits and pieces I wanted to blog, so I'm going to lump them all into this post because I think it'll be easier. Please do feel free to email me or tweet me bits of news if you would like me to share with everyone.
Crime in Muscat.
Rising crime in Muscat. You've all read the papers, the letters to the Editor in The Week, and so on. It seems that crime, specifically robberies, are on the rise here in Muscat. And the ROP appear to be struggling a little with this significant up-swing in break-ins. One person who contacted me informed me he had to wait 3 days to get a police report in order to file an insurance claim - surely these things should be issued on the spot by the attending officer? Just this morning, the ROP were called to the Etihad offices in Ruwi for a break-in. Apparently some bright spark thought he could nick himself an A380 or something!
So be sure you are vigilant. Ensure your doors and windows are locked, ensure your sliding doors are secured in a way that they can't be easily forced open from the outside, and ensure you do not leave anything of value in display inside your cars.
Eid.
Eid holidays have now been called: a nice cool 3 day haul for the Government, and 4 days for the Private sector. It will be a nice long weekend for sure! I read with interest the letter to the editor published in this weeks The Week about expatriate government employees being discriminated against due to their race. I fully agree with the author of the letter, but we all know nothing will change on that front.
Tom Millward.
Tomorrow, the 11th November, sees Tom Millward start his ride for charity around Oman. 3000 KM's starting at Qurum City Centre, at 11:11am. Tom is raising money to assist the Association of Early Intervention for Children with Disability in Oman. During his cycle he is also hoping to raise awareness of Oman as a destination for Cycling to the wider community. The cycle ride will take between 2 and 3 months to complete and will cover all sorts of terrain and areas including the difficult and unpredictable interior.
If you require further information or would like to donate towards this charity, please contact omanbycycle@hotmail.com or GSM 9761 3342.
Fancy coins.
There are two commemorative coins being minted to mark the 40th anniversary of Oman as we know it today. One is gold, and the other is silver, and will contain the Oman coat of arms and a special 40th anniversary logo - so keep your eyes out for them.
Bryan Adams.
It's long been rumoured, and has finally been officially announced: Bryan's coming to town on December the 18th. Tickets are RO 25 and are on sale now in all the usual outlets. Stay tuned for a free ticket give-away right here on Muscat Mutterings soon.
War of the Djz Final - Thursday night
In new nightclub Nuts & Bolts, on Thursday night there is the final of the 2010 War of the Djz competition.
It should be a laugh, so check it out, the finalists are really good at their craft and it will be a great night of musical entertainment!
Zouk.
Tonight, the ever-trendy Zouk bar are having their very own VJ (Video Jockey) play some fun videos with crowd interaction, and of course their signature House music pumping all night long. Remember - you pay RO 20 at the door and then you get RO 20 worth of food and drinks inside.Muscat Rugby & Aussie Rules
This Friday afternoon, from 1:30pm sees an afternoon of fun on the Rugby ground. At 1:30 the Muscat Magpies play the Dubai Dingo's, then at 3pm the Muscat Rugby Club's U12 group have a demonstration game, and at 3:30pm we have Muscat RFC Men's Vs the Dubai Exiles. There will be a music system in the stands for spectators, as well as a bbq and drinks (non alcoholic ON the rugby pitch), then down in the clubhouse there are special offers on food and drinks available (including alcohol of course). It will be a fantastic day for everyone, please do come on down and show your support for our local expatriate community.Royal Opera
There have been reports that the Royal Opera people have been over-selling events to ensure packed nights, with the slight problem that some people who paid for their tickets do not get to have a seat. Reportedly nearly 30 people were left standing at the Monday night performance. So if you're planning on going to the Opera - make sure you get there early to get a seat!
UAE & Canada
It seems that the on-going spat between the UAE and Canada has gone to the next level: The UAE have now announced that as of January 2nd 2011, all Canadian passport holders visiting the UAE will have to apply for a visa before-hand, and pay the Visa fee (presumably RO 20 a time). One does wonder what the end result of all this diplomatic arguing will be, but it's routed in the fact that the UAE want more than 6 landing slots at Canadian airports each week for it's two airlines (Etihad and Emirates currently have to share the 6 slots). Having personally been on many Etihad flights to Toronto, I can assure you those flights are always jammed full, and more flights would be a good thing. But Air Canada don't want the competition. It would seem that the sound business solution would be to sell more landing slots to the UAE - why is a private company (Air Canada) dictating the Government of Canada's policies on this?
That's all for this week - have a fabulous weekend everyone.
le fin.
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Muscat Confidential gets blocked
It's already been blogged by Dhofari Gucci, Angry in Oman, Jet Driver & Muscato and tweeted by @blu_chi.
Omantel have kept their pimp hand strong, and given the Dragon a slap.
The dragon finally got blocked. My guess is that the women kissing picture probably provoked enough people to email through and say that they don't like that. Due to the time-frame of the story, and the fact that it's a Saturday (meaning the abuse email account had time to fill up over the weekend) it's probably only just been done because the people that control the filters at Omantel just noticed it. Or perhaps the filters are automatic based on the number of requests for a site to be blocked. Who knows?
So what's going to happen now?
One of a few things I guess.
1. Nothing, it will stay blocked.
2. It will stay blocked, but the dragon will start a new blog.
3. It will get unblocked.
If you want to do anything to help in the unblocking - fill out the form and submit it, as it's likely that if Omantel censorship team keep getting requests they'll open it again. Unless, of course, an instruction from high up has been issued, and then it'll never get opened again.
Gotta love censorship, not.
However, as Google is fantastic, you can still read his blog here.
And if you have facebook, you can read all of his articles on this facebook page (which seems to be regularly updated).
le fin.
Omantel have kept their pimp hand strong, and given the Dragon a slap.
The dragon finally got blocked. My guess is that the women kissing picture probably provoked enough people to email through and say that they don't like that. Due to the time-frame of the story, and the fact that it's a Saturday (meaning the abuse email account had time to fill up over the weekend) it's probably only just been done because the people that control the filters at Omantel just noticed it. Or perhaps the filters are automatic based on the number of requests for a site to be blocked. Who knows?
So what's going to happen now?
One of a few things I guess.
1. Nothing, it will stay blocked.
2. It will stay blocked, but the dragon will start a new blog.
3. It will get unblocked.
If you want to do anything to help in the unblocking - fill out the form and submit it, as it's likely that if Omantel censorship team keep getting requests they'll open it again. Unless, of course, an instruction from high up has been issued, and then it'll never get opened again.
Gotta love censorship, not.
However, as Google is fantastic, you can still read his blog here.
And if you have facebook, you can read all of his articles on this facebook page (which seems to be regularly updated).
le fin.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Bits n bobs
A few little things to post today:
1. Oman V Kuwait AFC game on March 3rd (Wednesday night).
For those that were up in arms over having to spend RO 1.000 to watch Oman play and support their nation, they got lucky. Omantel (22,000) and Bank Sohar (500) have purchased 22,500 of the total 25,000 tickets available for the game. If you are wearing an Oman FC shirt (or presumably sufficient local stuff) you will be admitted to the game for free. Pretty good move from Omantel, and a nice little spot for Bank Sohar, for comparatively little cash too. Bank Muscat et all may have missed a trick with that one.
Rather amusingly, those supporting Kuwait will have to pay, as will those who do not have any Oman gear on. I predict that no one will pay and everyone will just go for free. Time will tell. I wonder how tight security will be, as the SQ sports complex has not had a particularly good track record in that area. Any odds on how many minutes it'll be till we see a firework?!
2. Muscat RFC v French Navy on March 1st (Monday night) at 6:30pm
Local boys Muscat take on the Frogs in a friendly on Monday night. It should be a good game - the French will be looking for revenge from their last game a few months ago.
3. Muscat Daily.
Recently, the Dragon wrote a piece about the new local daily here, Muscat Daily. The Dragon made a few remarks that did ring true with me, and also irritated me a little because I was preparing another critique of the paper in a follow up to my initial review of the paper. I read the comments section to that particular article with a big smile - you have got to love the haters!
I think the paper is ok on the whole. I had noticed that recently there has been a tendency to spout the usual sun-shine drivel that everything is great and there's nothing ever wrong here, but I figure that's more an effort to get some advertising, which is currently woefully low (just 3 ads in today's main paper, 2 of which were Government - MoT and Haya Water). I also do have to agree with the Dragon's comment about questioning whether the journalists there ever google any of the stories they publish. The story on the HPV vaccine now available at Muscat Private Hospital a few weeks ago was a case in point: some simple checking would have identified just how badly people were being ripped off. But the best bit is what wasn't printed or even suggested. HPV can only be contracted by sexually active women.... yeah I don't have to say any more now, do I? And to give the story front page coverage on what was essentially a glorified advertisement, that was a bit of a head-scratcher too. I wonder how much money Muscat Daily charged for that one?
A side-note that I was going to include in my follow-up on the paper: I noted that Apex Publishing recently bought a new press to handle printing of the Daily in-house (previously they were being printed on the same machines as the Oman Observer). I wonder if there's any more than meets the eye on that front?
4. Canadian Stampede, March 4th (Thursday) at 7:30pm
Very few tickets left. It's going to be a great party, I cant wait to have another bash at line-dancing. I suggest anyone anywhere near me wears steel-toe capped shoes.....
5. Oman Air now flying direct to Colombo.
Excellent news for the Sri Lankans, and anyone interested in visiting the country. Oman Air now flies direct to Colombo on Wednesdays and Fridays, and back on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Albeit the times are a bit awkward for a decent weekend trip: fly Wednesday morning at 0:15, landing at 05:40, and then leaving Colombo at 07:15 Friday morning, arriving back in Muscat at 11:55. The price including taxes is around RO 220.
6. Small news puff piece: Oman now has a suspension bridge! Due to be officially opened down in Sur sometime soon, the new bridge links the mainland Sur and the village of Aijah. It has been named Khor al Bath, which I thought was a rather peculiar name to give a bridge which is designed to keep you out of the water... but there we are :)
7. And finally, spotted by Muscati and subsequently tweeted earlier today. Another new interpretation on how to spell the name Al Athaiba:
heh.
And that's all for today. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. Good luck to USA and Canada tonight, in the Olympic Mens Ice Hockey final (Live on Eurosport at 00:45).
le fin.
1. Oman V Kuwait AFC game on March 3rd (Wednesday night).
For those that were up in arms over having to spend RO 1.000 to watch Oman play and support their nation, they got lucky. Omantel (22,000) and Bank Sohar (500) have purchased 22,500 of the total 25,000 tickets available for the game. If you are wearing an Oman FC shirt (or presumably sufficient local stuff) you will be admitted to the game for free. Pretty good move from Omantel, and a nice little spot for Bank Sohar, for comparatively little cash too. Bank Muscat et all may have missed a trick with that one.
Rather amusingly, those supporting Kuwait will have to pay, as will those who do not have any Oman gear on. I predict that no one will pay and everyone will just go for free. Time will tell. I wonder how tight security will be, as the SQ sports complex has not had a particularly good track record in that area. Any odds on how many minutes it'll be till we see a firework?!
2. Muscat RFC v French Navy on March 1st (Monday night) at 6:30pm
Local boys Muscat take on the Frogs in a friendly on Monday night. It should be a good game - the French will be looking for revenge from their last game a few months ago.
3. Muscat Daily.
Recently, the Dragon wrote a piece about the new local daily here, Muscat Daily. The Dragon made a few remarks that did ring true with me, and also irritated me a little because I was preparing another critique of the paper in a follow up to my initial review of the paper. I read the comments section to that particular article with a big smile - you have got to love the haters!
I think the paper is ok on the whole. I had noticed that recently there has been a tendency to spout the usual sun-shine drivel that everything is great and there's nothing ever wrong here, but I figure that's more an effort to get some advertising, which is currently woefully low (just 3 ads in today's main paper, 2 of which were Government - MoT and Haya Water). I also do have to agree with the Dragon's comment about questioning whether the journalists there ever google any of the stories they publish. The story on the HPV vaccine now available at Muscat Private Hospital a few weeks ago was a case in point: some simple checking would have identified just how badly people were being ripped off. But the best bit is what wasn't printed or even suggested. HPV can only be contracted by sexually active women.... yeah I don't have to say any more now, do I? And to give the story front page coverage on what was essentially a glorified advertisement, that was a bit of a head-scratcher too. I wonder how much money Muscat Daily charged for that one?
A side-note that I was going to include in my follow-up on the paper: I noted that Apex Publishing recently bought a new press to handle printing of the Daily in-house (previously they were being printed on the same machines as the Oman Observer). I wonder if there's any more than meets the eye on that front?
4. Canadian Stampede, March 4th (Thursday) at 7:30pm
Very few tickets left. It's going to be a great party, I cant wait to have another bash at line-dancing. I suggest anyone anywhere near me wears steel-toe capped shoes.....
5. Oman Air now flying direct to Colombo.
Excellent news for the Sri Lankans, and anyone interested in visiting the country. Oman Air now flies direct to Colombo on Wednesdays and Fridays, and back on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Albeit the times are a bit awkward for a decent weekend trip: fly Wednesday morning at 0:15, landing at 05:40, and then leaving Colombo at 07:15 Friday morning, arriving back in Muscat at 11:55. The price including taxes is around RO 220.
6. Small news puff piece: Oman now has a suspension bridge! Due to be officially opened down in Sur sometime soon, the new bridge links the mainland Sur and the village of Aijah. It has been named Khor al Bath, which I thought was a rather peculiar name to give a bridge which is designed to keep you out of the water... but there we are :)
7. And finally, spotted by Muscati and subsequently tweeted earlier today. Another new interpretation on how to spell the name Al Athaiba:
heh.
And that's all for today. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. Good luck to USA and Canada tonight, in the Olympic Mens Ice Hockey final (Live on Eurosport at 00:45).
le fin.
Monday, 11 January 2010
News roundup: Muscat soon to be smoke free
Thanks for all the contributions towards the 24hr muscat post, it's interesting to know there are so many 24hr places here in Muscat, please do contribute towards it if you know of a 24hr place that isn't listed either in the main article or in the very helpful comments.
Many of the Omani bloggers wrote recently on the seemingly hilarious (but not funny for those effected) ruling in the UAE courts with relation to the Sheik Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan's drug-fuelled bout of torture. It's like it's something out of a comedy show. My question to add to this on-going topic of discussion (mostly over at the Undercover Dragon's blog, but also noted Dhofari Gucci and Suburban's Other Oman) is this: So the guy was hocked up on drugs - why has he therefore not been charged with substance abuse? The laws in the UAE are so strict, that you don't even need to have taken them to be charged. Most famously, just having a trace of them, on your person, is enough to do some hard time (read the story of this poor guy who got sent down for 4 years for having 0.003g of cannabis on his shoe).
Then of course, there's the more recent story of a British muslim woman who was raped in the toilets by a staff member of The Address hotel. She reported the raping to the police, but all they were interested in was how frequently she had sex with her fiance. The authorities ended up charging her, and her fiancée for "illegal sex". Insanity. The British embassy had to intervene and specifically request that she at least be given proper medical care after the raping because the police had just locked her up in a cell. And the emirates are trying to be seen as a progressive state? Better try harder.
The repo market may just have arrived in Dubai. Barclays recently won the right to foreclose on a number of properties - this may prompt the start of a spate of foreclosures in the cash-strapped emirate, and thus maybe perhaps the cheap spin-off market of foreclosed properties being flogged off cheap in order to realise funds.
But now, the main story (courtesy of Muscat Daily).
Muscat Municipality is to ban smoking (and chewing / sniffing of tobacco) in commercial places from April 1st. Being somewhat cynical my first reaction was that it was an attempt at April Fools humour by the people at Muscat Daily, but it was only a fleeting thought as I realised that Muscat is being dragged into the 21st century.
This is to include:
Shopping malls, entertainment venues (read: bars), and other places of leisure (read: restaurants).
Having just given up smoking (again) on Jan 1st, I'm rather pleased about it. How about you?
I will be entertained to see what the following establishments (off the top of my head) are going to do about it: Al Ghazal, Copacabana, Safari, Al Falaj, RBG, All restaurants in malls, Feenies pub, and many more....
It's about time though, really. I wonder if it'll be enforced?
le fin.
Many of the Omani bloggers wrote recently on the seemingly hilarious (but not funny for those effected) ruling in the UAE courts with relation to the Sheik Issa bin Zayed Al Nahyan's drug-fuelled bout of torture. It's like it's something out of a comedy show. My question to add to this on-going topic of discussion (mostly over at the Undercover Dragon's blog, but also noted Dhofari Gucci and Suburban's Other Oman) is this: So the guy was hocked up on drugs - why has he therefore not been charged with substance abuse? The laws in the UAE are so strict, that you don't even need to have taken them to be charged. Most famously, just having a trace of them, on your person, is enough to do some hard time (read the story of this poor guy who got sent down for 4 years for having 0.003g of cannabis on his shoe).
Then of course, there's the more recent story of a British muslim woman who was raped in the toilets by a staff member of The Address hotel. She reported the raping to the police, but all they were interested in was how frequently she had sex with her fiance. The authorities ended up charging her, and her fiancée for "illegal sex". Insanity. The British embassy had to intervene and specifically request that she at least be given proper medical care after the raping because the police had just locked her up in a cell. And the emirates are trying to be seen as a progressive state? Better try harder.
The repo market may just have arrived in Dubai. Barclays recently won the right to foreclose on a number of properties - this may prompt the start of a spate of foreclosures in the cash-strapped emirate, and thus maybe perhaps the cheap spin-off market of foreclosed properties being flogged off cheap in order to realise funds.
But now, the main story (courtesy of Muscat Daily).
Muscat Municipality is to ban smoking (and chewing / sniffing of tobacco) in commercial places from April 1st. Being somewhat cynical my first reaction was that it was an attempt at April Fools humour by the people at Muscat Daily, but it was only a fleeting thought as I realised that Muscat is being dragged into the 21st century.
This is to include:
Shopping malls, entertainment venues (read: bars), and other places of leisure (read: restaurants).
Having just given up smoking (again) on Jan 1st, I'm rather pleased about it. How about you?
I will be entertained to see what the following establishments (off the top of my head) are going to do about it: Al Ghazal, Copacabana, Safari, Al Falaj, RBG, All restaurants in malls, Feenies pub, and many more....
It's about time though, really. I wonder if it'll be enforced?
le fin.
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
A little bit more on the Emergency at the Airport/Wave
Recently, a lot of us left Muscat for the Eid vacation. A lot of us decided to jump on a plane and go somewhere. Whilst having a drink with a friend recently, he repeated to me a story so colourful I might as well share it here.
Is it true? Who knows? Have I confirmed it? Hell no.
So take it with a pinch of salt, but perhaps there are elements of truth in it.
The Emergency Response test that was conducted recently at the end of The Wave development and had tons of people scared that there had indeed been a plane crash (rather unfortunately timed with the broken news story of the entire Oman Air Traffic Control system going wrong due to a rather unfortunate "rookie error" of a junior IT technician installing an update incorrectly).
Apparently, according to an overheard conversation on a plane journey during Eid, the entire event was secretly filmed and screened for HM live. The first ROP officer on scene, rather amusingly, got out of his car, took a look at the fire, and then promptly got in his car and drove off! HAHA! A comment was made about that particular officer breaking rocks before the end of the day.
It appeared that the people having the discussion on the plane worked for, or were linked to in some way, a consultancy firm assessing the abilities of the Sultanates emergency services. In direct contradiction to the press reports, it was noted in this overheard conversation that the tests were, in fact, a complete failure, and that "more tests will be carried out in the next 12 months".
A wild and crazy number of up to 20 'tests' are supposed to be carried out here in the next 12-24 months. I think that's a bit over the top, but perhaps we'll see more emergency response tests in the coming months. The next test is rumoured to be a bomb (not a real bomb) being let off somewhere in the region. I'd say a good spot to do a test would be somewhere in the Ministries area in Wizarat.
I guess if it happens, then the rumour will turn out to be true!
le fin.
Is it true? Who knows? Have I confirmed it? Hell no.
So take it with a pinch of salt, but perhaps there are elements of truth in it.
The Emergency Response test that was conducted recently at the end of The Wave development and had tons of people scared that there had indeed been a plane crash (rather unfortunately timed with the broken news story of the entire Oman Air Traffic Control system going wrong due to a rather unfortunate "rookie error" of a junior IT technician installing an update incorrectly).
Apparently, according to an overheard conversation on a plane journey during Eid, the entire event was secretly filmed and screened for HM live. The first ROP officer on scene, rather amusingly, got out of his car, took a look at the fire, and then promptly got in his car and drove off! HAHA! A comment was made about that particular officer breaking rocks before the end of the day.
It appeared that the people having the discussion on the plane worked for, or were linked to in some way, a consultancy firm assessing the abilities of the Sultanates emergency services. In direct contradiction to the press reports, it was noted in this overheard conversation that the tests were, in fact, a complete failure, and that "more tests will be carried out in the next 12 months".
A wild and crazy number of up to 20 'tests' are supposed to be carried out here in the next 12-24 months. I think that's a bit over the top, but perhaps we'll see more emergency response tests in the coming months. The next test is rumoured to be a bomb (not a real bomb) being let off somewhere in the region. I'd say a good spot to do a test would be somewhere in the Ministries area in Wizarat.
I guess if it happens, then the rumour will turn out to be true!
le fin.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Emergency at the Airport...
This morning a drill was held in The Wave site area for what to do if there's a plane crash. The Army ran the drill. Tyres were burned to simulate a crashed airplane and then the support services practiced what they'd do if there was an emergency. So Fire, Ambulance and the regular police all carried out roles in the exercise.
Update: Oman Air's website has published this exercise on their website, presumably as a part of the test.
In other news, the Australian football team arrived today ahead of tomorrow's match against Oman. They landed this morning and presumably saw the drill... heh.
The Muscat Magpies, the Aussie Rules football team here in Muscat, face down the Dubai Heat today at the Muscat Rugby Club's field at 3pm.
Thats all for now :)
le fin
Update: Oman Air's website has published this exercise on their website, presumably as a part of the test.
In other news, the Australian football team arrived today ahead of tomorrow's match against Oman. They landed this morning and presumably saw the drill... heh.
The Muscat Magpies, the Aussie Rules football team here in Muscat, face down the Dubai Heat today at the Muscat Rugby Club's field at 3pm.
Thats all for now :)
le fin
Monday, 26 October 2009
News roundup.
Well it's been a pretty busy few days, with lots of things going on both in the office and on the personal front. I have to say though that the weather lately has been great :)
So, yesterday, finally, MC3 (that's the Passenger Terminal Building at Muscat International Airport) was tendered. J&P came in the lowest price, with CCC following as second lowest. I guess the technical evaluation will now have started and assuming that J&P tick all the boxes that need to be ticked, they will be awarded the job, they're certainly a very competent Contractor. If you're thinking about a move to a new place in Azaiba or al Hail, do it now because I suspect that with the influx of people working on MC3, demand for housing in these areas is going to increase. Well done to The Sultan Center for seeing a market, and opening a supermarket right in Azaiba. I'm sure their money-printing press is working over-time at the moment.
It also has not really been publicised, but I'm blogging it anyway, Galfar some how managed to get awarded the Ras Al Hadd Airport Contract. I'm literally blown away, how can a Contractor who has consistently failed to meet a single deadline on any of their infrastructure projects continue to be awarded work? Incredible, really.
So these ROP fines... officially it's still not true, unofficially, its pretty obvious something big is going on: New ROP cars, new cameras, red-light camers, and presumably the ROP themselves are undergoing more training in how to police traffic - but who knows? So increased fines are actually a good idea, it's a stronger deterrant. RO 10 is not a significant deterrent, if you're driving a nice car and speeding, a flash for 10 is a minor annoyance, nothing more, and so it doesnt deter people as much as it used to. Inflation and all that. 10 fines costing RO 100, versus 10 fines costing RO 350, suddenly thats in the range of an annual insurance premium, and people will take more notice of their speed.
People are starting to talk about Eid 2 holidays. From what I've been told so far, it looks like we'll get saturday - tuesday off (including a day for the National Day). Flights back to Europe are being booked already, with many people opting to take leave on the Wednesday and get 9 days vacation. I guess time will tell. I plan to spend Eid 2 camping here in Oman.
Finally, on Oman Forum, user Supermacs posted a rather amusing flowchart, copied below for your entertainment.
The flowchart came from this website.
So, yesterday, finally, MC3 (that's the Passenger Terminal Building at Muscat International Airport) was tendered. J&P came in the lowest price, with CCC following as second lowest. I guess the technical evaluation will now have started and assuming that J&P tick all the boxes that need to be ticked, they will be awarded the job, they're certainly a very competent Contractor. If you're thinking about a move to a new place in Azaiba or al Hail, do it now because I suspect that with the influx of people working on MC3, demand for housing in these areas is going to increase. Well done to The Sultan Center for seeing a market, and opening a supermarket right in Azaiba. I'm sure their money-printing press is working over-time at the moment.
It also has not really been publicised, but I'm blogging it anyway, Galfar some how managed to get awarded the Ras Al Hadd Airport Contract. I'm literally blown away, how can a Contractor who has consistently failed to meet a single deadline on any of their infrastructure projects continue to be awarded work? Incredible, really.
So these ROP fines... officially it's still not true, unofficially, its pretty obvious something big is going on: New ROP cars, new cameras, red-light camers, and presumably the ROP themselves are undergoing more training in how to police traffic - but who knows? So increased fines are actually a good idea, it's a stronger deterrant. RO 10 is not a significant deterrent, if you're driving a nice car and speeding, a flash for 10 is a minor annoyance, nothing more, and so it doesnt deter people as much as it used to. Inflation and all that. 10 fines costing RO 100, versus 10 fines costing RO 350, suddenly thats in the range of an annual insurance premium, and people will take more notice of their speed.
People are starting to talk about Eid 2 holidays. From what I've been told so far, it looks like we'll get saturday - tuesday off (including a day for the National Day). Flights back to Europe are being booked already, with many people opting to take leave on the Wednesday and get 9 days vacation. I guess time will tell. I plan to spend Eid 2 camping here in Oman.
Finally, on Oman Forum, user Supermacs posted a rather amusing flowchart, copied below for your entertainment.
The flowchart came from this website.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Welcome back....
Hello everyone,
Just back to work today after a lovely 2 week vacation in a far away land. Some speculation is going round that I am secretly the Dragon from Muscat Confidential, and that the Dragon is Angry's wife/male partner, depending on who you talk to.
Nonsense!
Not a lot to share with you all except that I've heard some talk that the speeding fine is being increased from RO 10 to RO 35, and that the new increased fines came into effect on the 24th of October.
Muscat also beat Doha at the rugby on the weekend, well done guys :)
le fin
Just back to work today after a lovely 2 week vacation in a far away land. Some speculation is going round that I am secretly the Dragon from Muscat Confidential, and that the Dragon is Angry's wife/male partner, depending on who you talk to.
Nonsense!
Not a lot to share with you all except that I've heard some talk that the speeding fine is being increased from RO 10 to RO 35, and that the new increased fines came into effect on the 24th of October.
Muscat also beat Doha at the rugby on the weekend, well done guys :)
le fin
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Al Fair, Beach Party, and other things
First up, something I'm following up on when I first blogged about it here. Al Fair, and the pork products in their pork rooms. Recently I was visiting the CCC branch of Al Fair - and I was at first pleased to see a clear policy regarding fresh pork products stuck onto the wall in the little room for non-muslims.
Here's three pictures covering it all (it was a pretty comprehensive policy I must say).
Great, right? Wrong. Take a look at this piece of meat, it's blue. Why is it so hard for these people to understand that selling rotten meat is not going to do them any favours. I can think of more than a few countries around the world where there would be pretty stiff fines levied against the owners of this shop. Having a policy is all well and great, but you've got to actually follow it, just sticking it on the wall is not good enough!
Moving on now. During Eid, and as I had mentioned in a previous post, the wife and I went for a stroll on Qantab Beach, and just because it's such a nice place, I thought I'd share a picture of it with you all:
And to continue the picture theme, here's one overlooking the fantastic Bandar Kiran links area between Yiti and Seifa.
It's times like these when I'm happy that I live here - people pay big bucks to vacation in places like this, and for us, it's just a short drive on the weekend!
This Thursday, there is a Red Bull hosted party called Sunset Chill Vol. 2 at the Oman Dive Center just down the road from the Shang. It starts at 1 PM and runs until 1 AM Friday morning. For more Info & Reservation Please Call: 95119499, 24824240 - Tickets are RO 10.000 per person and include a free drink.
Muscat RFC are playing the Royal Navy's HMS Kent at the MRFC grounds tomorrow night at 18:30 - so come on down for an evening of rugby and drinking with the Navy lads.
le fin
Here's three pictures covering it all (it was a pretty comprehensive policy I must say).
Great, right? Wrong. Take a look at this piece of meat, it's blue. Why is it so hard for these people to understand that selling rotten meat is not going to do them any favours. I can think of more than a few countries around the world where there would be pretty stiff fines levied against the owners of this shop. Having a policy is all well and great, but you've got to actually follow it, just sticking it on the wall is not good enough!
Moving on now. During Eid, and as I had mentioned in a previous post, the wife and I went for a stroll on Qantab Beach, and just because it's such a nice place, I thought I'd share a picture of it with you all:
And to continue the picture theme, here's one overlooking the fantastic Bandar Kiran links area between Yiti and Seifa.
It's times like these when I'm happy that I live here - people pay big bucks to vacation in places like this, and for us, it's just a short drive on the weekend!
This Thursday, there is a Red Bull hosted party called Sunset Chill Vol. 2 at the Oman Dive Center just down the road from the Shang. It starts at 1 PM and runs until 1 AM Friday morning. For more Info & Reservation Please Call: 95119499, 24824240 - Tickets are RO 10.000 per person and include a free drink.
Muscat RFC are playing the Royal Navy's HMS Kent at the MRFC grounds tomorrow night at 18:30 - so come on down for an evening of rugby and drinking with the Navy lads.
le fin
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Education Ministry studying impact of short school term
Is it just me, or does the title of this blog post just strike you as.... incredibly stupid? You mean the Education Ministry is studying the impact of a shortened school term? Really? They have to study it?
Is this a case of a vast wedge of kids not knowing their ABC's and how that's going to affect them? I can see it now in 13 years time, when these kids graduate - "Oh yeah man, I was part of the class of '09-10, we never learned the alphabet because we were at home because of the swine flu".
Really. Come on guys. You need to study the impact of a shortened term? Is it not painfully obvious? Modules don't get taught, key core learning areas are not achieved, kids remain uneducated. It's not rocket science, and takes about, oh, I don't know, maybe a 2 hour meeting to hash out all the possible outcomes of not teaching kids various items in their syllabus?
Another 3 people have "officially" died from H1N1 in Oman in the last 10 days, I guess that brings the official count to 21. The World Health Organization issued its latest weekly bulletin on Friday, wherein it said the disease had killed at least 3,917 people in 191 countries since it emerged in April. 3,917 people have lost their lives - which is terrible - but I think more people died in that same time frame from a whole raft of causes - starvation, aids, cancer, traffic and so on. Is it really sensible to keep the schools closed? I have said it before and I'll say it again - if you are going to cancel the Muscat Festival, and keep the schools closed, then you should also ban gatherings at Mosques, close the Malls and cancel all football matches. Hypocrisy.
Speaking of footie, the HM cup started on Friday, and Muscat won their first game against Jalaan in Nizwa 3-0. Good for them :)
Hopefully everyone had a nice time during Eid, and in response to some comments in previous blog posts... no, I had a "Staycation" this Eid. The highlight of my Eid is a toss-up between:
1. A friends misfortune as he totally wrecked his front axle on his Hummer H3 trying to get up the hill from Bandar Kiran. 5 hours of towing finally got him up the hill.... and onto a flat-bed truck. The poor bugger, I hope the repair bill isn't too bad. I suspect it will be though :(
2. Visiting Bahrain. Those crazy Saudi's really do drive like maniacs. It was cooler there than it was here in Muscat.
3. Managing to sleep until 2pm on one day. It reminded me of days at university when I used to feel a sense of achievement at having gotten out of bed in time to watch Neighbours at 1:30 in the afternoon :)
Thats all for today.
le fin
Is this a case of a vast wedge of kids not knowing their ABC's and how that's going to affect them? I can see it now in 13 years time, when these kids graduate - "Oh yeah man, I was part of the class of '09-10, we never learned the alphabet because we were at home because of the swine flu".
Really. Come on guys. You need to study the impact of a shortened term? Is it not painfully obvious? Modules don't get taught, key core learning areas are not achieved, kids remain uneducated. It's not rocket science, and takes about, oh, I don't know, maybe a 2 hour meeting to hash out all the possible outcomes of not teaching kids various items in their syllabus?
Another 3 people have "officially" died from H1N1 in Oman in the last 10 days, I guess that brings the official count to 21. The World Health Organization issued its latest weekly bulletin on Friday, wherein it said the disease had killed at least 3,917 people in 191 countries since it emerged in April. 3,917 people have lost their lives - which is terrible - but I think more people died in that same time frame from a whole raft of causes - starvation, aids, cancer, traffic and so on. Is it really sensible to keep the schools closed? I have said it before and I'll say it again - if you are going to cancel the Muscat Festival, and keep the schools closed, then you should also ban gatherings at Mosques, close the Malls and cancel all football matches. Hypocrisy.
Speaking of footie, the HM cup started on Friday, and Muscat won their first game against Jalaan in Nizwa 3-0. Good for them :)
Hopefully everyone had a nice time during Eid, and in response to some comments in previous blog posts... no, I had a "Staycation" this Eid. The highlight of my Eid is a toss-up between:
1. A friends misfortune as he totally wrecked his front axle on his Hummer H3 trying to get up the hill from Bandar Kiran. 5 hours of towing finally got him up the hill.... and onto a flat-bed truck. The poor bugger, I hope the repair bill isn't too bad. I suspect it will be though :(
2. Visiting Bahrain. Those crazy Saudi's really do drive like maniacs. It was cooler there than it was here in Muscat.
3. Managing to sleep until 2pm on one day. It reminded me of days at university when I used to feel a sense of achievement at having gotten out of bed in time to watch Neighbours at 1:30 in the afternoon :)
Thats all for today.
le fin
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Local news roundup
A few nuggets of news for you all today:
1. Eid holidays have been announced. They are Saturday - Wednesday for the Government sector, and Sunday - Thursday for the Private sector. Both groups of workers returning to work on Saturday 26th September.
2. Mains water will be turned off on the 3rd and 4th days of Eid. If Eid is called on Sunday, then I guess the water will be turned off Tuesday and Wednesday, or maybe Wednesday and Thursday. the effected areas are: Muscat, Muttrah, Al Ameraat, Al Khyuwair, Madinat Qaboos, Al Shatti, Baushar from 9am on the 3rd day of Eid to 9pm on the 4th day of Eid. The reason given was to fix a pump at the Al Gubra station.
3. Oman public schools have delayed the start of school AGAIN. Here is the official notice (in Arabic) from the Ministry of Education. Perhaps they should be renamed the Ministry of not Educating. The new dates are now as follows:
Class 1-4 open date 7/11
Class 5-7 31/10
Class 8-10 17/10
Class 11-12 open date 3/10
The reason? H1N1.
4. The plans for the new Al-Amerat - Wadi Adai road have been floating around the Internet for a few days. The new road looks like it'll be a lot better. Also, the back road from Al Amerat to Al Khuwair is progressing as well. Expect land values in Al Amerat to increase once the two roads are open.
5. Oman Air took delivery of their first A330-200 recently, and it landed in Seeb yesterday. The plane is setup for Business Class and Economy Class,with a total passenger capacity of 216 (20 Business class, 196 cattle class).
6. 2 more people died in Oman from H1N1 - bringing the official toll to 18. No guessing what the unofficial toll is, but compared to the infection rate, its really nothing to get too worried about. The massive over-reaction from the Government to cancel Muscat Festival, and continue delaying the start of School is a bit heavy-handed in my opinion. In the same vein - they should cancel all football matches, gatherings at large mosques, close down all the malls. Where do you draw the line? I'm sorry but this is just nonsense.
7. Oman have joined the International Atomic Energy Agency with a view to obtaining Nuclear Power Generation technology for the Sultanate. The No. 2 chap from the Foreign Ministry, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidy was in Vienna yesterday to give a speech to the IAEA's 53rd general conference session.
8. In a final nod towards the Ramadan driving bonanza - I counted 24 seperate accidents that occured between the ministries road and the 18th November St in the last few weeks. On top of that, there have been 7 major accidents that I've counted on the SQ highway between Azaiba and Al Khuwair. It'll be interesting to see The Week's reported figures on traffic accidents in the sultanate during Ramadan.
Thats all for today. Have a great week off everyone :)
le fin
1. Eid holidays have been announced. They are Saturday - Wednesday for the Government sector, and Sunday - Thursday for the Private sector. Both groups of workers returning to work on Saturday 26th September.
2. Mains water will be turned off on the 3rd and 4th days of Eid. If Eid is called on Sunday, then I guess the water will be turned off Tuesday and Wednesday, or maybe Wednesday and Thursday. the effected areas are: Muscat, Muttrah, Al Ameraat, Al Khyuwair, Madinat Qaboos, Al Shatti, Baushar from 9am on the 3rd day of Eid to 9pm on the 4th day of Eid. The reason given was to fix a pump at the Al Gubra station.
3. Oman public schools have delayed the start of school AGAIN. Here is the official notice (in Arabic) from the Ministry of Education. Perhaps they should be renamed the Ministry of not Educating. The new dates are now as follows:
Class 1-4 open date 7/11
Class 5-7 31/10
Class 8-10 17/10
Class 11-12 open date 3/10
The reason? H1N1.
4. The plans for the new Al-Amerat - Wadi Adai road have been floating around the Internet for a few days. The new road looks like it'll be a lot better. Also, the back road from Al Amerat to Al Khuwair is progressing as well. Expect land values in Al Amerat to increase once the two roads are open.
5. Oman Air took delivery of their first A330-200 recently, and it landed in Seeb yesterday. The plane is setup for Business Class and Economy Class,with a total passenger capacity of 216 (20 Business class, 196 cattle class).
6. 2 more people died in Oman from H1N1 - bringing the official toll to 18. No guessing what the unofficial toll is, but compared to the infection rate, its really nothing to get too worried about. The massive over-reaction from the Government to cancel Muscat Festival, and continue delaying the start of School is a bit heavy-handed in my opinion. In the same vein - they should cancel all football matches, gatherings at large mosques, close down all the malls. Where do you draw the line? I'm sorry but this is just nonsense.
7. Oman have joined the International Atomic Energy Agency with a view to obtaining Nuclear Power Generation technology for the Sultanate. The No. 2 chap from the Foreign Ministry, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidy was in Vienna yesterday to give a speech to the IAEA's 53rd general conference session.
8. In a final nod towards the Ramadan driving bonanza - I counted 24 seperate accidents that occured between the ministries road and the 18th November St in the last few weeks. On top of that, there have been 7 major accidents that I've counted on the SQ highway between Azaiba and Al Khuwair. It'll be interesting to see The Week's reported figures on traffic accidents in the sultanate during Ramadan.
Thats all for today. Have a great week off everyone :)
le fin
Monday, 14 September 2009
Just a quickie: Muscat Festival 2010 cancelled
Just a quick story here for local fans of the Muscat Festival (of parking really really badly).
Whatever will they cancel next?
"Sultan bin Hamdoun al Harthy, Chairman of Muscat Municipality and head of the Muscat Festival's organising committee, has announced the cancellation of Muscat Festival 2010. In a statement to Oman News Agency, Al Harthy attributed the cancellation to a government decision to limit instances of public gatherings as a preventive measure to combat the spread of H1N1 virus. Al Harthy noted that Muscat Festival, which is growing into a grand annual event, attracts thousands of visitors from different countries. Hence its cancellation in 2010 would ensure the protection of public health and safety".
Whatever will they cancel next?
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Saturday again, and fresh gossip on The Wave
Well what another great Ramadan weekend. It's a shame the bars are closed, but the house parties can be fun too :)
Now, at one of these house parties I head the following latest twist on the Nick Smith - Ex-CEO of The Wave rumour. I'm positive it's a rumour, but its fun anyway so here we go:
There was a senior Omani employed by The Wave (no names, of course!) who was pushed out by the board. This ex-employee has a court case against The Wave for unfair dismissal. Now that Nick Smith has resigned, people have speculated that this ex-employee of The Wave had some "dirt" on Nick Smith and threatened to expose him unless he resigned. And so Mr Smith resigned.
Classic Muscat Muttering, that one, I think :)
No clue if it's true, but a pretty big bomb-shell if it was, cos it would mean that Mr Nick Smith was bent and doing who-knows-what on the side.
In other news, Apex Publishing - the people behind The Week, are launching a new Daily newspaper. In October apparently, it'll certainly be an interesting read, with what is rumoured to be 10 pages every day devoted to local news. Certainly sounds interesting, and if they deliver on this rumour, it'll blow every other local rag out of the water.
A final note: Angry in Oman, Dhofari Gucci, and myself were the test guinea pigs for OmanForum's latest venture - publishing local bloggers work to the forum. A good idea, but tainted. Angry In Oman certainly didnt like this one bit, with a somewhat fiery blog on the subject in her blog today. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci hasnt made any comments on this yet, so perhaps she didnt know. The latest development to this (quite frankly pretty decent idea in it's rawest form) is that the forum head-honcho Neo has closed it down for further discussion. So any other fellow bloggers out there, watch out!
Now, at one of these house parties I head the following latest twist on the Nick Smith - Ex-CEO of The Wave rumour. I'm positive it's a rumour, but its fun anyway so here we go:
There was a senior Omani employed by The Wave (no names, of course!) who was pushed out by the board. This ex-employee has a court case against The Wave for unfair dismissal. Now that Nick Smith has resigned, people have speculated that this ex-employee of The Wave had some "dirt" on Nick Smith and threatened to expose him unless he resigned. And so Mr Smith resigned.
Classic Muscat Muttering, that one, I think :)
No clue if it's true, but a pretty big bomb-shell if it was, cos it would mean that Mr Nick Smith was bent and doing who-knows-what on the side.
In other news, Apex Publishing - the people behind The Week, are launching a new Daily newspaper. In October apparently, it'll certainly be an interesting read, with what is rumoured to be 10 pages every day devoted to local news. Certainly sounds interesting, and if they deliver on this rumour, it'll blow every other local rag out of the water.
A final note: Angry in Oman, Dhofari Gucci, and myself were the test guinea pigs for OmanForum's latest venture - publishing local bloggers work to the forum. A good idea, but tainted. Angry In Oman certainly didnt like this one bit, with a somewhat fiery blog on the subject in her blog today. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci hasnt made any comments on this yet, so perhaps she didnt know. The latest development to this (quite frankly pretty decent idea in it's rawest form) is that the forum head-honcho Neo has closed it down for further discussion. So any other fellow bloggers out there, watch out!
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Local news roundup
A few nuggets of news today:
Number 1:
Omani inflation slowed to a four year low of 1.8 percent in July, the economy ministry said yesterday, without giving a breakdown of the consumer price index. The inflation rate fell from 2.9 percent in June, the ministry said on its Web site. Inflation in the Sultanate was last below 1.8 percent in August 2005, according to data compiled from the ministry. (Source)
It's odd how inflation is going down, yet somehow grocery costs are still going up here. Hmmmm.
Well at least rents are not getting any worse, and, as some readers of this blog may of read recently - my landlord decided not to increase my rent this year - phew!
And, item number 2:
Number 1:
Omani inflation slowed to a four year low of 1.8 percent in July, the economy ministry said yesterday, without giving a breakdown of the consumer price index. The inflation rate fell from 2.9 percent in June, the ministry said on its Web site. Inflation in the Sultanate was last below 1.8 percent in August 2005, according to data compiled from the ministry. (Source)
It's odd how inflation is going down, yet somehow grocery costs are still going up here. Hmmmm.
Well at least rents are not getting any worse, and, as some readers of this blog may of read recently - my landlord decided not to increase my rent this year - phew!
And, item number 2:
Oman is renewing efforts to privatise its electricity sector, after the world financial crisis and lower oil prices delayed the programme and pushed the country’s budget into deficit. Muscat, which 15 years ago became the first Gulf Arab state to allow private investors to develop power plants, in 2006 set a target of selling off all government stakes in electricity projects by this year. But buyers did not step forward as quickly as expected. Now, facing an expected 15 per cent annual increase in its power requirements until 2020, the sultanate plans to increase its electrical generating capacity and strengthen its power grid with 3 billion rials (US$7.8bn) of new projects to be built over the next six years. It hopes private-sector investors will help it foot the bill. (Source)
So I guess all those GE turbines are going to be paid for by some non-Omani companies. Well, I should hazard a guess that unless it's the suppliers (GE in this case) or another Gulf Arab State company, I cant really see the financial benefit of anyone investing into this market. And at the same time it's a constantly rising bill that the Government has to foot each year, so no wonder they want to get shot of it!
The only real method for adequate power generation here in the desert is Nuclear. License it from the French, they're pretty handy with their nuclear power generation. The Americans might even go along with it too, although I'm sure our good friends accross the pond, Iran, might not be too pleased about such a development. Burning hydro-carbons to fuel the nations soaring power requirements is like shooting itself in the foot. Much better to convice Jean-Paul and his chums to come on down and build a nuclear power station or two, and of course operate it and so on and so forth. And Oman are currently in the early stages of building coal fired power stations, to come on stream in 2015. Where's the coal going to come from?
Number 3:
According to the Times of Oman, 9 people have now died as a result of H1N1 here in Oman. (Source) Funny, that. Fellow Omani blogger (with a slight obsession with cows) Dhofari Gucci has been mentioning here and there of poor people who have died down in Salalah. It seem evident that the official numbers do not seem to tally with the unofficial numbers. Hmmm.
Number 4:
Blue City. Well I guess I should share the news here with you all. Blue City's bonds were successfully purchased by Essdar Capital. It is unclear exactly how many of the bonds were purchased, but the news release does not say they purchased all the bonds, just those that were tendered prior to the Expiration Time. I guess time will tell if the money taps are turned back on, but from what I can tell, there is a lot of work under way on site, so good news - I think. More on that soon.
On a final note, the roads are now busier. School started. I think I can hear a collective sigh of relief from parents around town. Unfortunately it now means my 5 minute commute has become a rather unsavoury 8 minute commute. Life can be so hard sometimes ;)
le fin
Monday, 17 August 2009
Just a few thoughts
Not a lot to talk about today, so a few thoughts to share:
1. Oman Air
So when do these new planes actually arrive? Currently the "new" planes being operated to Heathrow and back are on wet lease from Jet Airways (for reportedly about $2 million per plane per month). Apparently Jet Airways are in talks with Oman Air to make these "dry" lease deals, which should drop the monthly cost to about $1 million, but then Oman Air have to provide more stuff, like staff. Presumably.
There's been discussion of new destinations, and I believe that Oman Air will be flying to: Paris, Franfurt, Colombo and The Maldives. Nice, flying to Paris will mean it'll be much easier to get to the villa in the South for France.
2. The Wave
As no doubt other bloggers will discuss in the coming days, apparently there are some whole-sale changes underway at the management of The Wave. Officially, Nick Smith (former CEO) has "retired".
3. H1N1
So it seems more and more people are getting this. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci has blogged that there have been some deaths down in Salalah, and many more in intensive care. Scary business. Make sure you keep washing your hands through out your day! I do have to wonder about the seriousness of the situation in Saudi this year with people on Hajj.
Busy day again today... be sure to add any information via a comment to my Cost of Living post!
le fin
1. Oman Air
So when do these new planes actually arrive? Currently the "new" planes being operated to Heathrow and back are on wet lease from Jet Airways (for reportedly about $2 million per plane per month). Apparently Jet Airways are in talks with Oman Air to make these "dry" lease deals, which should drop the monthly cost to about $1 million, but then Oman Air have to provide more stuff, like staff. Presumably.
There's been discussion of new destinations, and I believe that Oman Air will be flying to: Paris, Franfurt, Colombo and The Maldives. Nice, flying to Paris will mean it'll be much easier to get to the villa in the South for France.
2. The Wave
As no doubt other bloggers will discuss in the coming days, apparently there are some whole-sale changes underway at the management of The Wave. Officially, Nick Smith (former CEO) has "retired".
3. H1N1
So it seems more and more people are getting this. Nadia @ Dhofari Gucci has blogged that there have been some deaths down in Salalah, and many more in intensive care. Scary business. Make sure you keep washing your hands through out your day! I do have to wonder about the seriousness of the situation in Saudi this year with people on Hajj.
Busy day again today... be sure to add any information via a comment to my Cost of Living post!
le fin
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Not a lot going on.
It's summer, and yesterday I was particularly busy in the office so the blog had to take a back seat.
And there's really not much going on anyway.
There is, apparently, a rather large debate going on in the Arabic Omani bloggersphere concerning education scholarships. The topic is being discussed in English here on the Oman Forum. I'll let you read it there if you're interested - I especially found it amusing that Mr Abdullah Abbas (the previous head of Muscat Municipality, and rumoured to of been "creative" with his building permits) had a full scholarship awarded to his son "at his behest". I liked that, no beating about the bush - his kid gets a full scholarship because he asked for one. hahaha. Lovely.
In other news, over on Kishor Cariappa's (now neglected) blog, he witnessed an accident outside the Sheraton, where someone who presumably suffers from traffic-light colour blindness felt the need to run a red and subsequently get T-boned, taking out a traffic light in the process. Nice to see that our journalist is actually blogging again. Stupid Twitter.
The Three Amigo's night at the Rugby Club was a blinder, over 200 people came through the doors and the band were entertaining (it might of had something to do with the bottle of vodka each of them had drunk with a straw!). I was delighted to find out that they were also mostly Canadian. I suggested they come down and play at the Canadian Stampede, because the last Canadian Stampede here at the PDO rec centre was a thinly-disguised excuse for a bunch of non-Canadians to get together and have a party. Which is great and all, but reportedly actual Cannucks were a tad thin on the ground (report by Angry In Oman). And apparently very little Canadian music was played either, even by the imported DJ. Seemed a bit pointless if you ask me.
Did anyone see any of the metorites? I'm told that there were a few to see.
Essdar Capital have succeeded in buying some of the bonds on Blue City, but it is not clear how many. More on that as it happens. Maybe.
le fin
And there's really not much going on anyway.
There is, apparently, a rather large debate going on in the Arabic Omani bloggersphere concerning education scholarships. The topic is being discussed in English here on the Oman Forum. I'll let you read it there if you're interested - I especially found it amusing that Mr Abdullah Abbas (the previous head of Muscat Municipality, and rumoured to of been "creative" with his building permits) had a full scholarship awarded to his son "at his behest". I liked that, no beating about the bush - his kid gets a full scholarship because he asked for one. hahaha. Lovely.
In other news, over on Kishor Cariappa's (now neglected) blog, he witnessed an accident outside the Sheraton, where someone who presumably suffers from traffic-light colour blindness felt the need to run a red and subsequently get T-boned, taking out a traffic light in the process. Nice to see that our journalist is actually blogging again. Stupid Twitter.
The Three Amigo's night at the Rugby Club was a blinder, over 200 people came through the doors and the band were entertaining (it might of had something to do with the bottle of vodka each of them had drunk with a straw!). I was delighted to find out that they were also mostly Canadian. I suggested they come down and play at the Canadian Stampede, because the last Canadian Stampede here at the PDO rec centre was a thinly-disguised excuse for a bunch of non-Canadians to get together and have a party. Which is great and all, but reportedly actual Cannucks were a tad thin on the ground (report by Angry In Oman). And apparently very little Canadian music was played either, even by the imported DJ. Seemed a bit pointless if you ask me.
Did anyone see any of the metorites? I'm told that there were a few to see.
Essdar Capital have succeeded in buying some of the bonds on Blue City, but it is not clear how many. More on that as it happens. Maybe.
le fin
Monday, 10 August 2009
Local news roundup
A few nuggets of news today:
1. Oman to Issue RO50 Million Bonds.
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.
Well done lads :)
That's all for today!
le fin
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.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.
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.
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)