Cases of cyber blackmail rise sharply in Oman

Muscat: Omanis continue to fall victim to cyber blackmail despite the intensive campaigns launched by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to curb the trend.

This year alone, 161 cyber blackmailing cases have been registered, according to the TRA. Forty-five per cent of those cases included sexual and financial blackmail, and 90 per cent of the victims were male. By contrast, only two such cases

Two female students drown in Qatar University pool

Muscat: Two Qatar University students — an Omani and a Qatari — died on Tuesday after drowning in a swimming pool attached to the university’s dormitory for female students, according to the university’s Twitter account.

The Omani student identified as Reem Al Kalbani, 19, was found dead in the pool with her Qatari friend, Noora Al Hidous.

Qatari media reports said that Al Hindous was trying to save Al Kalbani when she drowned, too.

Authorities took the bodies of the two students to conduct autopsies. The university said that it is following up with the authorities regarding the

Pakistan passes long-awaited anti-honour killing legislation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan passed long-awaited legislation on Thursday closing a loophole that allowed people who killed for “honour” to walk free, three months after the murder of a social media star by her brother sparked international revulsion.

The legislation, passed unanimously by the National Assembly, mandates life imprisonment even if the victim’s relatives forgive the murderer.

The assembly also passed a bill increasing the punishments for some rape offences, mandating DNA testing and making the rape of a minor or the disabled punishable by life imprisonment or death.

Hurricane Matthew leaves 108 people dead

Cape Canaveral, Florida: A strengthening Hurricane Matthew steamed toward Florida with winds of 140 mph Thursday as hundreds of thousands of people across the Southeast boarded up their homes and fled inland to escape the most powerful storm to threaten the Atlantic coast in more than a decade.

Some 108 people were killed by the storm, mostly in Haiti, and thousands were displaced after it smashed homes and inundated neighbourhoods earlier in the week.

Colombia tipped for Nobel Peace Prize after deal to end war

Oslo: A Colombian peace accord ending a half-century of war is widely tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize next week, returning the award to its roots after a run of wins for organisations including the European Union.

The prize might be shared by President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist FARC rebel leader Timochenko — the nom de guerre of Rodrigo Londono — after they signed a deal on Sept. 26 to end a war that killed a quarter of a million people.

Gunmen ambush Mexican military convoy, kill 5 soldiers

Culiacan, Mexico: The sons of imprisoned drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman were probably behind a grenade attack on a military convoy in northern Mexico on Friday, killing five soldiers, authorities said.

Some 60 gunmen, who also fired several rounds from assault rifles, freed a wounded suspect who was being escorted by the soldiers in an ambulance during the predawn ambush in Culiacan, capital of the state of Sinaloa, state and military officials said.

Hillary Clinton hits Donald Trump over Cuba dealings

Chicago: Democrat Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump Thursday of breaking the law by violating the US trade embargo with Cuba, slamming her rival as dishonest and willing to put his interests before the country.

Clinton said Trump’s business interests in Cuba in the 1990s “appear to violate US law, certainly flout American foreign policy,” as she accused him of misleading American voters.

Newsweek earlier reported that Trump hotel and casino executives spent $68,000 while trying to get a foothold in Cuba during a trip in 1998.

That was well before the United States

Trump injects Bill Clinton scandals into 2016 race

BEDFORD, N.H.: Donald Trump is warning voters that a Hillary Clinton victory would bring her husband’s sex scandal back to the White House.

Injecting Clinton’s marital troubles into the 2016 campaign was Trump’s latest effort to bounce back from Monday night’s debate performance, which has been widely panned as lacklustre. In contrast, Clinton has delivered a mostly positive message in the days since her debate performance re-energised her candidacy.

Clinton is stressing that her plans will solve the kind of kitchen-sink problems facing American families — the high

Why did Trump go on offensive against former beauty queen?

Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump increased his attacks on a former beauty queen with a vague and unsubstantiated allegation about a sex tape in predawn Twitter posts on Friday, and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton denounced him as “unhinged.”

Trump’s refusal to drop his invective against Alicia Machado, the Miss Universe from Venezuela whom he criticised for gaining weight after she

Trump under fire after sending nasty tweets about ‘disgusting’ ex-Miss Universe

Washington: Donald Trump came under intense scrutiny Friday after he disparaged former Miss Universe Alicia Machado in a series of scathing early morning statements on Twitter, including an accusation that she had appeared in a sex tape.

His rival, Hillary Clinton, swiftly seized upon the attacks to characterise Trump as “unhinged.”

The Republican presidential nominee called Machado “disgusting” and a “con” and raised questions about her past in a series of tweets fired off

Kuwaitis welcome court ruling on oil price hike

Manama: The ruling by the administrative court in Kuwait that the increase in the oil prices implemented on September 1 was not legal has prompted lawmakers to call on the government to reconsider its decision.

The court on Wednesday observed that the decision violated the law, but did not rule for suspending it, meaning the new oil prices are still in place.

On social media, Kuwaitis welcomed the court ruling as a first step towards scrapping the hike in the prices ranging between 40 and 80 per cent.

Bahrain king gets lifetime achievement award

Manama: King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa has been conferred the C3 Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony in New York.

The award was bestowed on the Bahraini monarch “in recognition of his continued achievements and incessant efforts in all fields, notably in development, respect for religious pluralism in Bahrain and his interest in bolstering Bahrain-US ties at all levels, making of them an exemplary model of relations among nations, based on strong and clear foundations.”

Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa received the award

Iran releases Canadian-Iranian professor held since June

Muscat: A Canadian-Iranian retired professor was released from prison on “humanitarian grounds” and flown out of Iran on Monday, Iran’s state-run news agency said, ending her months of detention alongside other dual nationals swept up by hardliners in the security services.

Dr Homa Hoodfar was flown to Oman, the brief report from the Irna news agency said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed her release in a statement, thanking Italy, Switzerland and Oman for their help in the matter.

Oman said on Monday that it had

School in Qatar wades into controversy over Israeli flag

Manama: A school in Qatar has apologised to the education ministry for displaying an Israeli flag in one of its corridors.

The ministry was alerted about the flag by angry parents who took to social media to call for the removal of the Israeli banner put up in Doha College, one of the oldest British curriculum schools in Qatar with 1,800 students between the ages of three and 18 from more than 70 nationalities.

Reports in Qatar said that officials from the education ministry contacted the school and the administration promptly removed the flag and formally apologised.

The school said that it had displayed all the flags of the United Nations member countries to celebrate the beginning of the new academic year.

The ministry on its Twitter account confirmed the school’s apology over the inconvenience caused by the Israeli flag and its prompt removal.

The ministry also confirmed that the display of the flags was part of the school’s celebration of the new academic year.

Qataris on social media called for a stricter monitoring of the international schools in the country and for making it mandatory for them to raise the Qatari flag at the morning assembly of the students and teachers that precedes the start of the school day.

Qatar established diplomatic relations with the Israeli regime in 1996, but broke them off between 2008 and 2009.

9/11 widow sues Saudi Arabia

A woman widowed when her husband was killed at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 sued Saudi Arabia just two days after the US Congress enacted legislation allowing Americans to sue foreign governments for allegedly being involved in terrorist attacks on US soil.

Stephanie Ross DeSimone alleged the kingdom provided material support to Al Qaida and its leader, Osama Bin Laden, in a complaint filed Friday at a US court in Washington. Her suit is also filed on behalf of the couple’s daughter. DeSimone was pregnant when Navy Commander Patrick Dunn was killed.

A US commission that investigated the 2001 attacks said in a 2004 report that it “found no evidence that the Saudi government, as an institution, or senior officials within the Saudi government funded Al Qaida”.

The Saudi embassy didn’t immediately reply to an e-mailed message seeking comment on the suit.

The case is DeSimone v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 16-cv-1944, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).