Latest news with #Omani
Observer
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Observer
Omani flavours captivate Mark Wiens
It began with a brief visit in 2016, but something about Oman lingered in the memory of Mark Wiens, the world-renowned travel and food vlogger and a full time travel eater. Known for his passionate reactions, on-the-ground street food adventures and a deep respect for culinary traditions, the American-born YouTuber has documented food cultures from across the globe. Years later, it was Muscat-based foodie and culture enthusiast Ahmed al Lawati who convinced Mark to return — this time, for an immersive gastronomic journey that would spotlight the heart and soul of Oman. 'Oman has incredible natural beauty, but remains one of the Gulf's best-kept secrets,' said Ahmed, who personally curated the itinerary. 'I wanted to show Mark the side of Oman that's not about luxury hotels, but about wadis, hidden villages and food that tells a story.' Mark Wiens helping to make Omani halwa in Nizwa Their journey took them from Salalah's green landscapes in the south to the golden deserts of Dhofar and all the way back to the bustle of Muscat's traditional eateries. Along the way, they sampled shuwa — a festive, slow-cooked lamb delicacy buried underground and cooked for hours — as well as madhbi, rice and grilled meat served hot off stones. Mark was visibly moved. 'The word that comes to mind is 'genuine',' he said. 'Omani people are genuinely friendly and hospitable. And the food? It's incredible.' Known for drawing millions of views per video, Mark captures more than just food — he tells stories. And in Oman, he found one worth sharing. Guided by Ahmed's local insight, he participated in age-old cooking traditions, joined villagers in preparation rituals and tasted spice-rich dishes influenced by centuries of trade and heritage. 'Food is food,' said Ahmed. 'But the preparation journey, the story behind it, is what makes Omani cuisine unforgettable.' One of the most unforgettable moments was preparing shuwa outdoors in the desert. 'It's not just a dish — it's a celebration,' said Mark. 'The variations of shuwa across Oman are astounding. Each has a unique flavour profile, yet all carry the essence of togetherness.' They also explored lesser-known dishes like paplo, a comforting rice-and-meat blend and maleh salad, made from dried, marinated fish. 'Paplo deserves international recognition,' Ahmed remarked. 'It's simple yet layered with flavour.' Mark, who has tasted everything from Thai street food to Tanzanian nyama choma, was especially impressed by Omani ingredients like dried lemons and date syrup. 'Dried lemons are my favourite. They perfume the dish in a way nothing else does,' he said. 'And Omani halwa — its complexity and craftsmanship blew me away.' The trip wasn't just about food — it was a cultural exchange. At every stop, Omanis recognised Mark, stopping him for selfies and thanking him for spotlighting their country. 'It showed us how powerful storytelling can be in promoting tourism and culture,' Ahmed noted. Global food blogger Mark Wiens and Ahmed al Lawati with freshly caught kingfish at Muttrah fish market Their collaboration aligns naturally with Oman's tourism vision: showcasing the Sultanate of Oman not just as a scenic escape, but as a living, breathing archive of traditions, tastes and tales. 'Videos like these are not only visual treats but tools for education and cultural exchange,' said Ahmed. Back in Bangkok, Mark reflects on the journey with warmth. 'You travel for food, but it's really about the people you meet along the way,' he said. 'Sharing meals, stories and laughter — that's the real journey.' And Oman? 'I brought back dates and halwa,' he smiled, 'but I'm already planning my return. There's so much more to discover.'
Observer
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Observer
Basketball team begin camp ahead of Asia Qualifiers
MUSCAT, JUNE 27 The Oman national U-16 basketball team has officially kicked off its training programme at an external camp in Bahrain, held at Al Manama Club, as part of its final preparations for the upcoming Gulf regional qualifiers for the FIBA Asia Cup. The qualifiers, scheduled to take place in Bahrain from July 7 to 12, will see only two teams from the Gulf advance to the continental finals. The training sessions are being led by Tunisian head coach Zouhair al Ayachi, with support from Omani assistant coach Ali al Balushi. All 15 players on the squad reported for duty with full commitment. Oman squad includes: Saddam al Sheezawi, Khuzaima al Shibli, Rashid al Eisai, Mohammed al Sheezawi, Abdulrahim al Roushdi, Elias al Obaidani, Al Mulhim al Obaidani, Abdusamad al Subaihi, Muhannad al Battashi, Nawar al Bahlouli, Adam al Hinai, Jaid al Kindi, Saif al Yahyai, Sami al Busaidy, and Sultan al Sinani. Accompanying the team are Ghasan al Busaidy, Director of National Teams and physiotherapist Amer al Zaidi, who is overseeing the players' physical condition and readiness. The first training session focused on technical drills and player cohesion, alongside fitness exercises aimed at boosting the team's physical readiness before the official matches begin. The coaching staff is working to enhance the team's tactical performance, assigning players to specific offensive and defensive roles and implementing strategies tailored to the group stage opponents. This training camp marks the final phase of a long term preparation programme that began before the holy month of Ramadhan. It included intensive weekly gatherings, adapted to the players' school commitments and culminated in a domestic training camp held in Al Buraimi from June 13 to 24. That camp featured practical implementation of tactical plays, with players split into two groups to practice offensive and defensive schemes. The technical staff has placed strong emphasis on improving both the physical and technical aspects of the team, aiming to elevate the overall performance. During earlier stages of the preparation, the team played several friendly matches against local clubs and basketball academies in the UAE, allowing the coaching staff to assess strengths and weaknesses and make necessary adjustments. Oman will compete in Group B of the qualifiers, alongside host Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Group A includes Qatar, UAE and Kuwait. According to the tournament format, the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals, with the winners of those matches earning direct qualification to the FIBA Asia Cup finals. The U-16 national team hopes to deliver a strong performance that reflects the progress of Omani basketball at the youth level, with aspirations to achieve a new milestone in the Gulf region and strengthen the country's record of international participation.
The Hill
19 hours ago
- Business
- The Hill
After strikes, Trump must provide maximum support for Iran's people
Israel's stated aim in its war with Iran was to 'eliminate' the Islamic Republic's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. And at this point, this is the only goal that President Trump officially espouses now after U.S. strikes have taken place. And that goal may satisfy the military side of the ledger. But politically, the confrontation ends only with the regime's collapse. It is critical that Americans understand why and resolve to embrace the menu of non-military policy options available to them to effect this outcome. The joint operation may have delayed Iran's nuclear program by years, yet airstrikes will never eliminate the regime's nuclear aspirations. The Islamic Republic will rebuild its program, which it views not as a bargaining chip, but rather as the insurance policy of an ideologically driven elite that believes survival hinges on the strategic immunity that a nuclear weapon provides. This conviction cannot be negotiated out of them, no matter how comforting it is for Westerners to pretend otherwise. Indeed, every previous cycle of sanctions, secret enrichment, incremental deals, and breakout has ended in the same place: with the regime richer and closer to a bomb, and the rest of the world more fatigued. Until the Israeli operation, this cycle appeared to be on a repeat loop. Only 24 hours before it started, Omani mediators and Trump himself, were still touting a sixth U.S.-Iran meeting in Muscat for the following Sunday. By dawn Friday, the negotiating table had been overturned by Israeli missiles enforcing Trump's 60-day deadline. Meanwhile, the regime's social foundations have been eroding. Official figures put year-on-year inflation at around 40 percent, and the rial has slid to almost 900,000 per dollar in the open market, losing more than a third of its value since January. Youth joblessness is still above twenty percent and labor-force participation keeps shrinking. Nationwide labor strike networks that outlasted three rounds of repression, in 2019, 2022 and 2024, have re-emerged, this time spearheaded by truckers and bakers. A public that already registers its contempt through mass protests, strikes, and election boycotts now watches the clerics squander millions on ballistic theatrics while Israel penetrates Tehran at its core. When nationwide protests reignite, Iranians will not take to the streets to demand a better deal in Muscat. Rather, they will continue to demand an end to clerical rule. Pre-strike warnings that U.S. involvement in the operation would spawn quagmires and body bags have been disproven. Yet a lasting victory requires an equally disciplined and non-kinetic campaign that erodes the regime's legitimacy, finances, grip on information, and arms of repression. Congress has drafted the blueprint. The bipartisan Maximum Support Act would redirect U.S. policy from shuttle diplomacy to tangible help for the Iranian people. The U.S. can pierce the regime's digital curtain with satellite direct-to-cell service and mass VPN distribution, ensuring videos from within Iran keep flowing and loosening Tehran's grip on the information space. Extending visa and asset bans to the spouses and children of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij, and Law Enforcement Command chiefs, would strengthen U.S. national security while sowing fractures inside the security apparatus. So would the establishment of a confidential relocation channel for officials willing to provide evidence of regime crimes, offering would-be defectors a lifeline and encouraging further elite fragmentation. This becomes increasingly relevant as fear among regime officials and scientists reaches an all-time high. Tehran has long treated its own population as a liability. When crisis shakes the Islamic Republic, the response is depressingly familiar: detention, torture, and execution. The post‑ceasefire dragnet, already marked by the arrest of hundreds and the targeting of religious and ethnic minorities, is likely only the opening act of what could become the regime's bloodiest escalation yet. The U.S. and its allies should act before the gallows can be built. They should diplomatically isolate the regime, sanction the judges and jailers who direct this terror, and expedite efforts to keep the internet alive inside Iran. At minimum, a clear public warning, echoing President Trump's 2020 tweet — 'DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS … the USA is watching … turn your internet back on' — would give Iranians vital moral encouragement. The Obama-era echo chamber created a false binary choice between a bad deal and total war. Today, Tucker Carlson and others are recycling this fallacy. But objectors from those weary of the long and expensive quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan should be eager to adopt these policies. These measures cost the U.S. no troops, no treasure, and no strategic distraction from other theaters, yet they strike at the regime's central nervous system. With respect to concerns about public U.S. support undermining the internal legitimacy of the protestors, these are understandable but misbegotten. Trump himself dispelled this notion during his first term, when his tweets in Persian went viral. Iranians already chant, 'Our enemy is here, they lie when they say it is America.' Iran has among the most pro-American dissidents anywhere in the world. Washington must not distance itself from any upcoming protest movements, as that would only feed the narrative that no great power truly backs the Iranian people. In the regime's eyes, the U.S. is already implicated. Sanctions, snap‑back debates, and now the air campaign are factoring into Tehran's domestic calculus. Pretending neutrality or turning a blind eye simply defaults to a policy of helping the regime survive. This is why Iranians have begged Trump not to make a deal with the regime, with one spray-painting on a wall inside the country, 'President Trump, don't sell us out!' The recent attacks have bought time, yet that time can quickly evaporate. The current window can be squandered attempting to resurrect a charred negotiation file, or it can be invested in the only strategy with a chance to shut the nuclear program for good. The Iranian people will be ready. And the U.S. should ensure they have every tool they need when they are ready. Military considerations aside, there are ways to do so without risking a U.S. soldier or spending a dollar of U.S. taxpayer money. Give them the chance.
Spectator
a day ago
- Business
- Spectator
How Qatar helped Trump broker peace in Iran
Qatar is basking in its latest diplomatic success. On Monday evening, Qatari diplomats brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. This truce remains intact despite Iran's parliamentary vote to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog and brinkmanship over alleged breaches of the ceasefire. Qatar's success was the product of years of tenacious diplomacy and capitalisation on time-tested partnerships with the key warring parties. During the summer of 2022, Qatar hosted indirect nuclear negotiations between US and Iranian officials. While these talks did not produce immediate results, Qatar continued its efforts. In August 2023, Qatar facilitated a US-Iran hostage deal that led to the unfreezing of $6 billion (£4.4 billion) in sanctioned Iranian funds and the release of five captive Americans. Qatar transformed a moment of grave peril into a historic opportunity for peace in the Middle East After President Donald Trump's return to the White House in January, Qatari officials discreetly engaged with their Omani counterparts on facilitating nuclear talks between the US and Iran. On 20 May, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani warned of the dire consequences of a 'nuclear race or round of escalation next to our countries' and suggested a trilateral format involving Oman, the US and Iran. When Israel instigated its Operation Rising Lion offensive against Iranian military infrastructure on 13 June, Qatar convened talks between energy companies on the war's economic fallout and coolly responded to the Iranian missile attack on its Al Udeid base to prevent an escalation spiral. The Qatar-brokered ceasefire deal is the culmination of an extraordinary comeback story which has seen Qatar transform vilification into grudging praise from Trump's closest allies. It also underscores Qatar's integral place within the grand strategies of Western powers in the Middle East and efficacy as a conflict arbiter in numerous global theatres of instability. Before Trump's inauguration, there were widespread expectations that his second presidency would witness a downturn in US-Qatar relations. Pressure groups accusing Qatar of supporting Hamas and of mediating between Israel and Hamas in bad faith had gained traction. These organisations influenced the views of key members of the Republican party. Bitter memories of Trump's initial alignment with the 2017 Saudi Arabia-led blockade against Qatar and dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reportedly stopped Saudi Arabia and the UAE from invading Qatar, lingered uncomfortably on the horizon. Despite the negative signals emanating from his closest allies and past conduct, Trump had incrementally developed a much more sanguine view of Qatar's regional role and a warm relationship with its Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Trump admired Qatar's role in brokering an end to the US's forever war in Afghanistan and growing investment footprint in the American economy. During their September 2024 meeting at his Palm Beach mansion Mar-a-Lago, Trump hailed the Qatari Emir's commitment to peace in the Middle East and pledged that his return to the White House would make US-Qatar relations 'even stronger'. Trump's historic two-day visit to Doha last month, the first by a sitting US president since George W. Bush gave his infamous 2003 'mission accomplished' speech at Al Udeid, energised Qatar's allies and detractors within the Maga universe in equal measure. US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff was undoubtedly a tacit supporter of the trip, as he had recently hailed Qatar's 'well-motivated' involvement in regional diplomacy. Qatar's offering of $243.5 billion (£177.4 billion) in economic deals to the US and pledge to invest $10 billion (£7.2 billion) in the Al Udeid base gratified Trump. For Qatar's critics, reports that it was in talks with the US for Doha to transfer a Boeing 747 for Trump to use as Air Force One became an obsessive point of focus. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz warned that the Qatari jet raised 'significant espionage and surveillance problems' and framed Trump's acceptance of it as a national security threat. In a not-so-implicit jab at Witkoff, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton lambasted Qatar's hosting of Hamas and warned that it was a less reliable US partner than Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Qatar's brokering of the Israel-Iran ceasefire deal will not end its divisive reputation, but it does underscore its ability to serve as a trouble-shooter and force-multiplier for the US in the Middle East. It is a vindication for Trump's decision to entrust the emirate with high-stakes diplomacy and should soften the strident criticisms of Witkoff in the conservative media echo chamber. Qatar's success will also elevate its status as a partner for the United Kingdom and counter the criticisms that accompanied Sheikh Tamim's state visit to London in December 2024. A recent Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) report revealed that Qatar contributes £120 billion per year to the British economy. As the UK edges closer to a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and seeks global partners to burnish its Global Britain agenda, Qatar has strategic value. It is little wonder that Prime Minister Keir Starmer consulted with Sheikh Tamim after the Al Udeid attacks and discussed facilitating the swift resolution of the Gaza war. Aside from shoring up its Western partnerships, Qatar's diplomatic success was a triumph for its national identity construction mission. As a relatively new country that only earned its independence in 1971 and a small nation with 330,000 native citizens, Qatar's outsized role as a conflict arbiter is a profound point of national pride. Mediation is even ensconced within Article 7 of the Qatari constitution. The trauma of Iran's attack created a palpable patriotic rally on the streets of Doha and Qatar's diplomatic achievement augmented that nationalist upsurge. The momentum generated by Qatar's arbitration triumph has already extended to other conflict theatres. On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari declared that Qatar had been in touch with 'all sides' of the Gaza war and hailed Trump's sincerity about a potential Israel-Hamas ceasefire. As the families of Israeli hostages clamoured for the Israel-Iran ceasefire to lead to a truce-hostage deal in Gaza, Qatari diplomacy has highly visible allies. Beyond the Middle East, Qatar's global mediation efforts have received a shot in the arm. As Trump's efforts to facilitate US-Russia dialogue and an end to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine blew up in smoke, Qatari diplomats continue to broker the return of abducted Ukrainian children to their families. Earlier this month, Qatar advanced a draft peace proposal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda-backed M-23 rebels. This plan follows months of Qatari shuttle diplomacy in the eastern Congo crisis and serves as a roadmap to end the DRC's three decades of bloody internecine strife. During the darkest phase of the US and Israel's war with Iran, Qatar transformed a moment of grave peril into a historic opportunity for peace in the Middle East. Now is the time for Trump to build on this success and fulfil his vow to be America's peace president.
Observer
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Observer
Oman participates in London Design Biennale 2025
LONDON: The Sultanate of Oman is participating in London Design Biennale 2025, which runs until June 29. Oman's contribution is represented by the creative artwork Memory Grid by engineer and designer Haitham al Busafi, which won the award for best design at this global exhibition. The participation aligns with the efforts of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth to showcase Omani culture globally and transform Oman's cultural landscape into a hub of creativity and cultural diversity, in line with the executive plan of the Cultural Strategy 2021–2040. Ibrahim bin Saif Bani Oraba, Assistant Director-General of Arts, emphasised that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth has developed its vision through ambitious plans to position Oman as a leader in various cultural fields internationally. This stems from the foundations of Oman Vision 2040 and the Cultural Strategy, which serves as a strategic framework for the nation's cultural endeavours. Through its participation in the London Design Biennale 2025, the ministry ensured a distinctive presence in every detail, including a pivotal role for Omani youth in this global platform. Engineer and designer Haitham al Busafi was selected to create the artwork, while Zawraq Group — a youth-led small and medium enterprise — was appointed as the pavilion's evaluator. Eng Al Busafi expressed profound pride and gratitude upon receiving the Best Design Award for Memory Grid as Oman's representative at the London Design Biennale 2025. He described the moment as a historic achievement for Oman, embodying the nation's heritage and contemporary vision where tradition meets innovation. He explained that Memory Network is an immersive installation featuring transparent, machine-crafted replicas of traditional Omani pottery arranged in a pattern reminiscent of data centres. Meanwhile, Za'eema al Adawi stated that selecting Zawraq Group as the artistic evaluator was both an opportunity and a tool for youth empowerment, enabling their representation at this major artistic forum. - ONA
