MUSCAT — On behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tareq al Said presided over a reading of the life story of Prophet Muhammed at Al Mawlid Hall at Al Alam Palace yesterday on the occasion of the Prophet’s Birthday anniversary. The ceremony was attended by the chairmen

By Khalifa al Mayahi - MUSCAT — The work on the maintenance of the underground dam at Wadi Bani Kharoos has started and will last about six months. The works are being executed by Muna Noor Engineering Company. It is worth mentioning that the dam was built in 2009 but it was affected by adverse weat

By Sulaiman al Rashdi - MUSCAT — The Oman Medical Society (OMS) has called on the authorities concerned to open the doors for physicians and give them the chance to contribute to the improvement of medical services. Dr Waleed bin Khalid al Zadjali, OMS Chairman, said some issues are delaying the imp

By Kabeer Yousuf - MUSCAT — The families in and around the capital city seem to have made the most of the holidays which were followed by the weekend as the two important venues of the Muscat Festival where a large number of activities are currently on witnessed huge turnouts in the last few days.

MUNICH — Italian prime minister yesterday warned the euro zone crisis was pulling the continent apart, amid warnings from Australia and the World Bank that the turmoil could sideline Europe. As leaders at the Munich Security Conference turned their attention to the euro zone crisis — in the words of

MANILA — A 6-magnitude quake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines yesterday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued. The quake hit at 9:09 pm local time (13:09 GMT) off the island of Samar, at a depth of 60 km around 100 km north of the city of Guiuan, USGS said.

NEW DELHI — An Indian judge yesterday threw out a petition to prosecute the country’s home minister over a huge telecom corruption scandal, bringing some relief to the government. The plea “to summon Chidambaram as an accused is dismissed,” Special Judge O P Saini told the courtroom in a brief state

Gesture reflects concern for families - MUSCAT — On the occasion of the anniversary of Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has issued Royal amnesty in favour of 78 prisoners who were convicted for various cases. The 78 inmates who benefited from the Royal pardon included 48 Omanis

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has sent a cable of greetings to President Mahendra Rajapakse of Sri Lanka on the occasion of his country’s Independence Day. His Majesty the Sultan expressed his best wishes to President Rajapakse and the friendly people of Sri Lanka. — ONA

MUSCAT — The Omani banking system in 2011 continued to exhibit an upward trend exhibiting sustained economic growth. Till November 2011, total assets of commercial banks in the Sultanate increased by 14.4 per cent to RO 17,934 million compared to RO 15,679 million during the corresponding period in