From jduester at yahoo.com Tue Jan 5 09:07:44 2010 From: jduester at yahoo.com (Joachim Duester) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 01:07:44 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Oman-L] Oman: projects will drive demand for foreign workers Message-ID: <930572.73324.qm@web37904.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Project boom needs foreign labour: Oman Source: Reuters, 5 January 2010 Oman's spending on new projects, spurred by the recovery of oil prices, will raise the demand for foreign labour in 2010, the sultanate?s national economy minister said yesterday. The Gulf Arab country expects to create 4,000 jobs in 2010 for nationals through the RO937m ($ 2.4bn) allocated for new projects, but Ahmad Makki said the projects will also drive demand for foreign workers. "We will need more expatriates to keep up with the pace of the development from new projects next year," Makki told reporters, without giving figures for foreign workers. "There are not enough nationals to fulfil all the jobs in demand." According to the latest national economy statistics, there are 852,000 foreign workers in Oman, five times the number of nationals working in the private sector. Foreign workers make up nearly 30 percent of Oman?s population of 2.9 million people. Industry analysts said the sultanate depended heavily on foreign labour in the construction sector, where nationals lacked expertise or were not willing to take on jobs. "We don?t have enough experts in civil engineering to cater for the rising demands," Rashid Alawi, managing partner at Muscat Investments Co said. "Young Omanis also are not willing to work as labourers because they see it as demeaning." Oman has allocated an expenditure of RO7.18bn in 2010, up from RO6.42bn a year earlier. From jduester at oman.org Thu Jan 14 16:08:42 2010 From: jduester at oman.org (Joachim Duester) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:08:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Oman-L] Scientific cooperation Oman-Kuwait Message-ID: <754251.16180.qm@web37907.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Oman, Kuwait to conduct research on quakes Source: Khaleej Times, 12 January 2010 Oman's Sultan Qaboos University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) will conduct joint research on earthquakes under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between them. According to the deal, inked by Dr Ali bin Saud al-Bimani, Vice-Chancellor of SQU, and Dr Naji Mohammed Al Mutairi, Director-General of the institute, the two institutes will encourage technology collaboration and research related to earthquakes and seismic activities. A joint database on earthquake activities in Oman and Kuwait will be established and there will be a continuous exchange of seismic data between the two institutions. The MoU calls for organising joint symposia and conferences on earthquakes and seismology at regular intervals and joint training workshops for specialists in the area working in SQU and the KISR. The patents and rights of inventions and discoveries resulting from the joint research activities and studies will belong to the two institutions together and will be used for the benefit of the two countries, the MoU said. Meanwhile, experts from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) gave lectures on various aspects of the global economic crisis at SQU. The series of lectures, presided over by Sayyida Dr Mona bint Fahad Al Said, Assistant Vice-Chancellor for External Cooperation, were attended by academics from various universities and colleges, bankers and key officials of financial institutions in the country. ? From wealsowalk at aol.com Thu Jan 14 18:28:48 2010 From: wealsowalk at aol.com (wealsowalk at aol.com) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:28:48 -0500 Subject: [Oman-L] Scientific cooperation Oman-Kuwait In-Reply-To: <754251.16180.qm@web37907.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <754251.16180.qm@web37907.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <8CC635E8B8E27AD-424C-2181F@webmail-d039.sysops.aol.com> There is an unpublished correlation between full moon rising and setting with earthquake frequency. It is tidal pull on the faults. Bill Isakson El Cerrito, CA, USA -----Original Message----- From: Joachim Duester To: oman-l at oman.org Sent: Thu, Jan 14, 2010 8:08 am Subject: [Oman-L] Scientific cooperation Oman-Kuwait Oman, Kuwait to conduct research on quakes ource: Khaleej Times, 12 January 2010 man's Sultan Qaboos University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research KISR) will conduct joint research on earthquakes under a memorandum of nderstanding (MoU) signed between them. According to the deal, inked by Dr Ali bin Saud al-Bimani, Vice-Chancellor of QU, and Dr Naji Mohammed Al Mutairi, Director-General of the institute, the two nstitutes will encourage technology collaboration and research related to arthquakes and seismic activities. A joint database on earthquake activities in Oman and Kuwait will be established nd there will be a continuous exchange of seismic data between the two nstitutions. The MoU calls for organising joint symposia and conferences on earthquakes and eismology at regular intervals and joint training workshops for specialists in he area working in SQU and the KISR. The patents and rights of inventions and discoveries resulting from the joint esearch activities and studies will belong to the two institutions together and ill be used for the benefit of the two countries, the MoU said. Meanwhile, experts from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) gave lectures on arious aspects of the global economic crisis at SQU. The series of lectures, presided over by Sayyida Dr Mona bint Fahad Al Said, ssistant Vice-Chancellor for External Cooperation, were attended by academics rom various universities and colleges, bankers and key officials of financial nstitutions in the country. ? _______________________________________________ man-L mailing list man-L at oman.org ttp://oman.org/mailman/listinfo/oman-l -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://oman.org/pipermail/oman-l/attachments/20100114/0500e4f8/attachment.html From ahkoerper at gmail.com Sat Jan 16 18:21:09 2010 From: ahkoerper at gmail.com (Alyssa Koerper) Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:21:09 +0400 Subject: [Oman-L] Car for sale In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I hope I'm doing this right--I'm new to the Oman-L thing. I am scheduled to leave Oman and head back to the U.S. in a few weeks, and I have a car that I'm trying to sell. It's a 2008 Toyota Yaris. I bought it new from Toyota in November 2008. It's a great car and has never given me any problems. It still has about a year and a half of free Toyota services, and the insurance is paid for until next November. The reason it's been so hard to sell to people who have shown interest is that it's a Yaris hatchback (which people keep saying is only for women) but it's manual--NOT automatic (which people keep saying is only for men). Maybe I'll have better luck on finding an interested expat by posting here. If anyone is interested or has questions, I can be reached at ahkoerper at gmail.com or by phone at 98144193. Thanks a lot! Alyssa Koerper -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://oman.org/pipermail/oman-l/attachments/20100116/5d07713c/attachment.htm From tikki.ferguson at utoronto.ca Fri Jan 15 13:34:35 2010 From: tikki.ferguson at utoronto.ca (tikki.ferguson at utoronto.ca) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:34:35 +0000 Subject: [Oman-L] M.E.S.S. Message-ID: <20100115133435.tm1vd1pqo8ks8cok@webmail.utoronto.ca> Hello! I just found this!.... [ I thought that Muscat English Speaking School only changed their name to = British School Muscat. It's the same school, isn't it? ----- Original Message -----=20 From: David E. Kingston=20 To: oman-l at oman.org=20 Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 19:19 Subject: Re: [Oman-l] M.E.S.S. ] ...and yes, it just changed names in like 1978 or so! Were you, David, at the school in the 70s? My brother Don and I were there then! Tikki Ferguson From kingkongharrison at hotmail.com Mon Jan 18 13:10:06 2010 From: kingkongharrison at hotmail.com (Richard Harrison) Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:10:06 +0000 Subject: [Oman-L] M.E.S.S. In-Reply-To: <20100115133435.tm1vd1pqo8ks8cok@webmail.utoronto.ca> References: <20100115133435.tm1vd1pqo8ks8cok@webmail.utoronto.ca> Message-ID: Yes its the same school. The name was changed in around 1989/90 - but will double check on exact year and get back to you. > Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:34:35 +0000 > From: tikki.ferguson at utoronto.ca > To: oman-l at oman.org > Subject: [Oman-L] M.E.S.S. > > Hello! > > I just found this!.... > > [ > I thought that Muscat English Speaking School only changed their name to > British School Muscat. It's the same school, isn't it? > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: David E. Kingston > To: oman-l at oman.org > Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 19:19 > Subject: Re: [Oman-l] M.E.S.S. > ] > > ...and yes, it just changed names in like 1978 or so! > > Were you, David, at the school in the 70s? My brother Don and I were > there then! > > Tikki Ferguson > > _______________________________________________ > Oman-L mailing list > Oman-L at oman.org > http://oman.org/mailman/listinfo/oman-l _________________________________________________________________ Tell us your greatest, weirdest and funniest Hotmail stories http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://oman.org/pipermail/oman-l/attachments/20100118/9701e835/attachment.html From jduester at oman.org Wed Jan 27 10:47:42 2010 From: jduester at oman.org (Joachim Duester) Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:47:42 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Oman-L] Illegal workers given two-month grace period to leave without fine Message-ID: <856528.20012.qm@web37903.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Khaleej Times, 27 January 2010 An estimated 125,000 illegal expatriate workers in Oman will get another opportunity to leave the country without legal action or fines following an extension of the amnesty announced by the government earlier. According to Omani Manpower Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Nasser al-Bakri, overstaying expatriate workers will get a two-month grace period beginning February 1. The exemption covers all foreigners whose labour cards were not renewed by December 2009. Bakri said the move was in continuation of the efforts to organise the labour market and assist employers in systematising their workforce. Oman had amended its Labour Law last year to say that those who employed illegal workers would be held accountable along with the employees. Sponsors of illegal workers would also be fined. With the new regulation, many companies stopped employing illegal or irregular workers, as labour checking began both in private offices and in residential areas. A large number of workers in the low-level category were left without jobs. According to Bakri, extending the amnesty was necessary. Many employers wanted to seize the chance to organise their establishments in accordance with the Omani Labour Law. Illegal expatriate workers are mainly from India. The Indian Envoy in Oman, Anil Wadhwa, welcomed the move. Already, more than 17,000 illegals are reported to have given their names to the embassy for repatriation. Ministry statistics say expatriates in the private sector number 1.05 million as of January this year.