Rains coming, and HSBC.co.om got defaced

HSBC Oman's website got defaced today, by some nefarious Moroccan "hackers" and it appears some users on Nawras still can't get access at the time of blogging today. Here is the actual direct link for people trying to get onto HSBC but can't : http://www.hsbc.co.om/1/2/personal (it's working fine for people on Omantel connections)

The "hacking" (technically a defacement) has been recorded on the archive for such things, Zone-H, but it's not yet been verified as a "genuine" defacement - presumably because the admins are asleep...

Another poke in the eye for HSBC on the back of growing rumours of customer dissatisfaction after the recent merger with OIB.

Interestingly, English Sabla has been down for a similar reason for a number of days as well, apparently some Iraqi hackers have been enjoying themselves a bit too much. Oman Forum remains up, though :)

Also, it's been threatening to rain for days, and according to Accuweather it will rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. Weather Underground is predicting more or less the same, but also saying there's a 40% chance of rain today as well..... so hold off on the car washing until next week!

More later!

le fin.

Rain is coming

Just a little post to mention that there is a 90% chance of rain tomorrow here in Muscat, according to Accuweather and Weatherunderground...... so dont wash your car tomorrow! Also high chances of thunderstorms too!

More soon!

le fin.

End of the world tomorrow

Just a little post to show the weather forecast for tomorrow. Better have a good night tonight then!

le fin.

Looks like rain

Not much else to blog about today, but it is very cloudy over the capital today... and according to the chaps at Weather Underground, there's a good chance it might rain today. I knew it would, I just washed my car.

Only other thing I wanted to say was to spare a thought for those effected by the tragedy that happened in a Connecticut school yesterday. Just ridiculous, yet another reason for stronger gun control in the USA. Sigh.

More soon.

le fin.

Rainy weather ahead?

Well it rained a little last week, and a quick look over at AccuWeather shows thunderstorms in store for the rest of the week with a return to sunny weather by Friday. No need to run off like headless chickens and buy all the water from Al Fair again though, it seems mostly electrical storms with a side order of drizzle, the worst day currently predicated to be tomorrow, Tuesday.

So I guess the order of the week should be... don't bother to wash your car. I should have known, seeing as I just washed my car today. Typical.

In other news, local blog How to live like an Omani Princess has blogged today about some cheap hotels in town you may want to consider if you are visiting Oman on a budget, or for some reason need a cheap room in the city. I thought it was some pretty good information that's otherwise hard to find on t'internet.

More soon!

le fin.

Sand storm expected by 1pm

The DG of meteorology and air transport has issued an official letter (in arabic below) warning of a sand storm that is due to hit shortly.

Here is a satellite picture of the storm making it's way down the coast to the capital. Apparently visibility should drop to between 500m and 0m, so be careful when driving. The letter from the MET people also says to expect widespread dust (lol) between today and Wednesday, and to avoid going into the sea. So things should be all cleared up by the weekend. Nice.

More soon.

le fin.

It's official: Private Sector work week now 5 days, EID holidays announced

Well it's been quite the morning so far.

The Public Sector has had significant amendments to the labour laws, here's my sumary:

1. Workers now get 30 days leave a year (it used to be 15 for the first year, and then 30)
2. Workers get 6 days emergency leave.
3. The working day is to be 9 hours a day, 45 hours a week. People can work up to 12 hours per day if they choose to, but for over-time to be paid it is base rate + 25%.
4. Women get 50 days maternity leave for up to 3 children during service, which can be taken before and after birth - 50 days max in total. No Maternity leave for men is mentioned.

Thats better than it was, so it's good to see strong development in the labour laws here, I'm sure there are a lot of happy campers out there today. And grumpy Contractors.

Now, Eid has been announced as Sunday 6th November, and holidays are as follows:

Government Sector: Saturday 5th - Wednesday 9th, returning to work on the 12th November
Private Sector: Saturday 5th - Tuesday 8th, returning to work on the 9th November

Now, there is also a rain cloud coming to Muscat, via Masirah (which is where it's at right now). Nothing to get excited about, its just going to rain and thunder a fair bit over the next few days.

Special thanks to @BaderHinai

Snake Gorge should be nice and full of water for the Eid holidays then. Result.

If you have not already, why not have a go at winning the 2 VIP tickets to JaySean / Shontelle concert on Wednesday November 9th that I'm giving away, click here for more details - it's free to enter and I don't give the email addresses to anyone.

One last question - does anyone know why Costa Coffee in MQ stinks like shit? It's really gross in there.

le fin.

Lady sailors, Opera & weekend activities

Here we are again Wednesday, you lovely day, you bring such hope to me each week :)

Earlier this week I attended a tweetup launch of the Oman Sail's Women's Sailing Programme (sic). I was quite genuinely surprised to learn that over 6000 Omani kids in the last 3.5 years have received sailing lessons through Oman Sail, with over half of them being girls (that bit didnt surprise me so much). Oman Sail's new Womens Sailing Program is targeting a bid for the 2020 Olympics with this grassroots sailing initiative.


A new boat (its probably not called a boat) was also introduced, the Al Thuraya, which is the name of a star cluster, known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters and its appearance in the sky was critical as it marked the start of the sailing season. Personally I thought it meant the name of the satellite phone they have on board to call for help in case of emergencies :)

Best of luck to them, it's good to see investment in sports and culture.

Next up, it's been a busy week for local bloggers, will a welcome return of the Jet Driver and it appears that the Undercover Dragon has been busy too. The Jet Driver has been commenting on the new "Shatti hamster wheel" that is developing at The Wave, the selection process for overseas scholarships for students and more recently questionable HSE policies at QCC. All good reading.

The Dragon, as well as Dhofari Gucci, have both commented on the recent Royal Decree 95/2011 (duplicated below in italics) pertaining to the publication laws in the Sultanate. Now, you can read the Dragon's and Dhofari Gucci's opinions on this by clicking the links in this sentence. Personally, I feel that this law amendment is short-sighted and does not bode well for the future of this country. It's now illegal to publish anything, "which may prejudice the safety of the state or its internal or external security" of the Sultanate. That's delightfully vague. I suspect that if riots were to occur again, it'd be illegal to write about them. Here's the text from the Decree:




Article 26: It is prohibited to publish anything which may prejudice the safety of the state or its internal or external security or all that relates to military and security apparatuses, their bylaws and internal regulations, any documents or information or news or official secret communications, either by publication through visual, audio or print media or through the Internet or any means of the information technology unless a permission is obtained from the competent authority. It is also prohibited to publish the wordings of the agreements and treaties concluded by the government before they are published in the official gazette. Article 2: The Decree comes into force from the day following its date of publishing in the gazette.

Say goodbye to the fledgling journalism we were just starting to see here then. It does make you scratch your head doesn't it? Stifling the Public voice worked so well in Egypt, Libya and other places, didn't it? I only hope that this law is not used to hide those that are abusing the Public through corruption.

Moving on then.

Oh yes, it's Wednesday. And that means the weekend, and what a weekend it is! The Royal Opera House is having it's season opener this Friday the 14th October at 8:00pm with Opera Turnadot by Puccini. both the Friday and Saturday performances are SOLD OUT but there are odd tickets up for sale here and there - check Muscat Buy or Sell. The VIP opening of the Opera House is TONIGHT, and the roads WILL BE CLOSED for His Majesty to travel to the venue from approximately 6:30ish until sometime after then... probably 7:00... so make sure you are where you need to be before then.

The Chedi have launched their special Opera packages, as well as their Friday brunch, details of which are below. Prices start at RO 18++ for a 2 course meal, and RO 23++ for their Friday brunches.

It seems that the Grand Hyatt are also getting in on the Opera act (!) and also have launched their special opera deal which is RO 20++ for a 3 course meal and a glass of wine.

No word yet on what O Sole Mio & the other hotels are going to do yet, but I'll share them if I find out.

Speaking of the Hyatt... dont forget it's free cosmo's for girls between 6-10 tonight (and every night) at the John Barry Bar and the Safari Bar, along with the 40% discount on selected beverages between 6-10.

This Friday see MRFC in their 4th home game of the season play Doha at 3:30pm - at 2:20pm the Muscat Pirates U12 rugby players will be having an exhibition game, so please come down and support them. Speaking of the Rugby Club, many of you may know that the clubhouse was closed, and so the Hyatt have kindly granted a new home for the MRFC in the soon to be renamed Habana Bar (underneath Safari Bar).

Just a little note for Oman Mobile users... the 500MB Data plan that used to be RO 12 is now upgraded to 1GB and RO 5 a month... and those that use BlackBerry on Oman Mobile will receive a 10% discount on their bill for October 2011.

It seems that there is a sandstorm brewing as well... so be careful when you drive home - I'd advise leaving now.

Have a great weekend everyone!

le fin.

An update on the Cyclone.

Just a little update for those wondering about this Cyclone Keila...

There is no cyclone at the moment, but there is a storm about 65 KM West of Mumbai. No need to worry, it probably will not even rain here.

You can check the Joint Typhoon Warning Center for accurate and up to date information specifically for the cyclone. You can also check the Weather Underground website for the weather forecast for Muscat.

So no need to worry about anything storm-related!

le fin.

Just a quickie: Rain / Thunderstorms predicted for Friday/Saturday.

There has been lots of emails and text messages flying around the country lately about a large thunderstorm that may hi Oman soon.

For up to date and accurate weather information for Oman, I strongly recommend you check the Weather Underground website.

It is currently predicting a 50% chance of Thunderstorms on Friday and a 70% chance on Saturday.

le fin.