Sunday, February 27, 2011

the After protests effects in Oman!

Sohar Globe roundabout where protests started

So it has been really crazy, what's going on in the protests in Oman especially in Sohar which was the main focus for the media circus. After the violence and vandalism drama that happened by some of the protesters, immediate responses were taken by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos.

I was live-tweeting the royal orders and decrees as they were announced on Oman TV and you can also follow the updates on twitter by following the #Oman and #Sohar hashtags. Also you can check Muscat Mutterings blog for the protests coverage as well as Dhofari Gucci blog . In the meanwhile I'll repost my previous tweets here and translate them.

  1. A committee will be formed to agree on terms of expanding the Majlis Al Shura authority
  2. Royal Orders: providing jobs for 50 thousand Omani citizens.
  3. royal orders to the minister of Diwan of royal courts to go listen to the protesters requirements and demands
  4. taking the necessary steps for The State Audit Institution to have it's role increased.
  5. Royal orders: distributing a monthly salary amount of 150 R.O for jobseekers registered in manpower until employment
  6. there will be a number of ministers from members of the Majlis A'Shura with effect from the next term
  7. Release of all protesters that have been jailed,& ONA was informed of 1 death during the recent events in Sohar
that's from what I have tweeted and translated to english. I beleive there are more detailed decrees and orders that you can check them out on the Oman News Agency website 

cheers,
M

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Royal Orders & Decrees in Oman 2011

Oman Flag
As of today 26th of Feb. 2011, the Oman news agency have published some new royal decrees and some interesting  news with royal orders.

They were basically 4 Royal orders which are summarized in the following :

  1. Establishing an independent Consumer Protection Authority.
  2. Considering the possibility of establishment cooperative societies.
  3. Reducing the contribution of the civil service employees at the pension system from 8% to 7% per month, of their basic salaries plus 75% of the housing, electricity and water allowances.
  4. Increase the monthly financial allocations for the students at the public colleges and institutes. 

So congrats for the students, too bad I finished my studies in college before I get the allowance increase :p and let's hope that the consumer protection authority will make a great impact in Oman, we have been waiting for this to happen from along time! 


Please Note: Royal Decrees of Cabinet reshuffle have been Revoked after recent events proceeding the protests on 27th of Feb. 2011

Now for the Royal decrees there are many changes in the structural positions in the government sector : His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has issued five Royal Decrees as follows:


  • Royal Decree No. 13/2011 On Government Reshuffle
  1. Article One: Appoints Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al Busaidi as a Minister of Civil Service
  2. Article Two: Appoints Maqbool bin Ali bin Sultan as a Minister of Transport and Communications
  3. Article Three: Appoints Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah al Harthy as a Minister of Environment and Climate Affairs
  4. Article Four: Appoints Mohammed bin Nassir bin Mansoor al Kusaibi as a Minister of Commerce and Industry
  5. Article Five: Appoints Eng. Mohsen bin Mohammed bin Ali al Sheikh as a Minister of Tourism
  6. Article Six: Appoints Dr. Madeeha bint Ahmed bin Nassir al Shibaniyah as a Minister of Education
  7. Article Seven: The decree takes effect from its date of issue.
  • Royal Decree No. 14/2011 Appointing State Advisors
  1. Article One: Appoints Dr. Khamis bin Mubarak al Alawi as the State Advisor
  2. Article Two: Appoints Yahya bin Saud bin Mansoor al Sulaimi as the State Advisor
  3. Article Three: The decree takes effect from its date of issue.
  • Royal Decree No. 15/2011 Appointing Secretary General for the Ministry of National Economy
  1. Article One: Appoints Sheikh al Fadal bin Mohammed bin Ahmed al Harthy as a Secretary General of the Ministry of National Economy with a Minister Grade.
  2. Article Two: The decree takes effect from its date of issue.
  • Royal Decree No. 16/2011 Appointing Members in the State Council
  1. Article One: Appoints Sayyid Hamad bin Hilal al Busaidi as a member in the State Council
  2. Article Two: Appoints Mohammed bin Hamoud bin Zahir al Toobi as a member in the State Council
  3. Article Three: The decree takes effect from its date of issue.
  • Royal Decree No. 17/2011 Appointing Undersecretaries at the Ministry of Manpower
  1. Article One: Appoints Dr. Muna bint Salim bin Khalfan al Jardaniyah as an Undersecretary of the Ministry of Manpower for Technical Education and Vocational Training
  2. Article Two: Appoints Mohammed bin Khamis bin Abdullah al A'mri as Undersecretary of the Manpower Ministry for Labour Affairs

cheers,
M

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Egyptian Revolution sense of humor

There have been many jokes, pranks and stories after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Many have called it the humorous revolution for what the people of Egypt have carried out through the protests and their sense of humor in doing so. In this post I'll present several videos on which were done by Egyptians during the revolution and I thought they were hilarious. 

The first video was done by an Egyptian blogger and movie maker called Ashraf Hamdy (blog). His latest videos was about a recently famous internet activist called Wael Ghonim. (twitter). After his release from  prison and getting interviewed in a numerous number of channels he was accused of many things which was summarized in this video in a sarcastic way. The original video is in Arabic but I managed to find an English subtitled version.

 (Arabic version ) الحقيقة وراء وائل غنيم



The truth behind Wael Ghonim (English subtitled version )




Another video that I would like to share was a clip from a TV report done by BBC Arabic news channel (website, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook). It was a summary of what happened during the Revolution and the humorous parts of it. Unfortunately I couldn't find the video on their official Youtube channel, so the video was uploaded several times online by random people. I'm still searching for a subtitled version though.



So what do you think? I personally salute every Egyptian that went through these rough times and was able to make a joke out of it. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to fight claiming your rights and seeking your freedom.

This post will be updated with new video clips when I get more. please don't hesitate to share with me any video you think is worth watching.

cheers,

M

Thursday, February 10, 2011

What democracy means to "Gaddafi"!!

Do you remember this special dude in the photo?

I just came across a really funny youtube video of  This dude who is : Muammar Al-Gaddafi , the de facto leader of Libya  and thought of sharing it with you guyz.

it was part of an interview conducted by Aljazeera channel and I'm not really sure when it was aired exactly, so here's the video :


I didn't find a subtitled version of the video so I'll translate what he generally said in it.

He basically was playing an Arabic language genius trying to explain what the word democracy really means. It means -he says- "demo-karasy" , demo as in dohama2 = meaning idiots and Karasy means chairs in Arabic. so According to him, the elected presidents out of democratic elections are basically idiots elected to sit on their chairs!

yes it sounds really stupid and it's one of the many "great" things this dude says! just youtube him!

quick update, I got this reply on twitter after I posted my blog which really is true and I couldn't agree more about it since Gaddafi himself was on the "chair" of power for over 40 years! the comment was via @3abdulaziz :
There's no-one who exemplifies his definition than him, he has been in power (in kursy) for more than 40 years!


cheers,
M

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Updates ( Family, Design and Politics? )

It's been a while since I last published a blog post, but I promised myself to try post more often in the near future. My last blog post "Quran Stand" was supposed to be updated since forever, I will try to catch up with several updates in this blog post so bare with me people I know you can handle it!.

First of all, the Quran Stand picture I posted was in a very special day to my family and myself. we decided to surprise our parents with a small party in an attempt to honor and celebrate their presence, wisdom and blessings upon us throughout the years. It's easy these days to get absorbed and swallowed up with what's happening around us and how life can be so hectic trying to get ourselves through the day. It wasn't tied up to a special date or anything like a "mothers/fathers day" but what was important is having the chance to remind ourselves on how much we appreciate and love our parents.
As I come from a really big family "mashallah" it was important to include the kids - nephew's and nieces- to be part of this celebration to teach them as they grow up how family is important and of course; the respect of the elderly!


The party had many segments, competitions, kids games, gifts and even speeches! it was more like a festival than a small party! oh yeah we take our parties very seriously. that's how my family role
At the end I swear it was all worth it as I saw the expressions of joy and satisfaction on my parent's faces! I've never seen my dad that emotional before and it was all worth it! and these my friends were the highlights of that event.

Second of all, I'd like to mention that my blog's banner is really really, REALLY old. I desperately need to update it as it doesn't represent my blog here and sounds more commercial-like than a normal blog! Yes I know I need to redesign it as soon as I find time to change it with the blog's theme. Just try to ignore it in the meanwhile until I get off my lazy bottom and change it!. 

Last but not least, I think you are all aware of what's going on in the Middle-east in the past couple of weeks. Media with all it's forms and ways everywhere is so occupied with what's happening in Egypt right now after Tunisia and many Arab countries who are on their way in making history!.I've never underestimated the importance and significance of what's happening these days but I gotta say I recently went through a twitter hard discussion/misunderstanding on what's occupying our youth's attention at the moment. I was too absorbed defending my own female ego to realize that media can distract us from seeing the bigger picture and what's really important.That will need a whole new blog post to keep up with such important events happening around.

until my next blog post, be yourself but don't get too carried away with your own ego to realize what's right from wrong.

cheers,

M