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1 Oman dining: Enjoy a
1 Pakistan hails His Majesty’s
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2 Drug smugglers arrested in
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2 Oman aviation: Crashed
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5 No sleep, a $5 meal: Samsung
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The world’s most dangerous flashpoint got much more dangerous on Thursday when China sent its lone aircraft carrier into the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan scrambled fighter jets in response. This is how accidental wars start: provocation and counterprovocation in an environment
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The changing of the guard on the 38th floor of the United Nations building in New York, with António Guterres taking over for Ban Kimoon as UN Secretary-General, has taken place at a time when notions about peace and conflict are undergoing a subtle change. In particular, the role of resources – and especially water
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Delay seen in introducing value added tax in the Gulf region.
@rjamali88 Another one of the waves crashing against the rocks. @ Yiti, Masqaţ, Oman https://www.instagram.com/p/ BPPiKcjBDBY/
Looking back on Barack
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ny assessment of Barack Obama’s eightyear US presidency should start at the beginning: his first inauguration, on January 20, 2009. The US economy was in free-fall: financial markets had seized up, GDP was shrinking, and employment was plummeting, with some 800,000 jobs being lost each month. And two ill-conceived and badly executed foreign wars were underway. In short, upon entering office, Obama confronted conditions more adverse than any incoming president had faced in many decades. True, Franklin D. Roosevelt inherited the Great Depression and Abraham Lincoln took office as the Civil War erupted. But who else entered the White House facing both an economic and a nationalsecurity crisis? To tackle the economic crisis, Obama launched a fiscal stimulus and rescue programmes for the financial system and the auto industry – policies that complemented and reinforced the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive and innovative monetary easing. Republicans nearly unanimously opposed the stimulus. And almost everybody was critical of the rescue programmes, urging Obama either to nationalise the banks and auto companies or let them collapse. Against all odds, the Obama administration made the middle path work. The recession ended in June 2009 – an achievement for which the administration did not get enough credit, despite the clarity of the turnaround. In the last quarter of 2008, economic output had declined by an astonishing 8.2 per cent per annum. Yet, almost immediately after the stimulus programme was implemented, the output decline and employment losses slowed sharply. The bottom came in June 2009, with output growth turning positive in the next quarter. Net job creation followed early in 2010. Employment growth persisted for the remainder of Obama’s time in office, reaching record-breaking levels: the US economy added more than 15 million jobs during Obama’s remaining years. By the latter part of Obama’s second term, unemployment had fallen by half, to below 5 per cent; wages were rising; and real median family incomes were finally increasing, by a record-high 5.2 per cent in the most recently reported year, with lower-income groups benefiting from even higher gains. True, the recovery was disappointingly long and slow. One reason was the depth and financial origins of the 2007-2008 crash. Another was the
efforts of the Republicans, who secured a majority in Congress in 2010, to block further stimulus, even though more infrastructure spending and well-designed tax cuts were precisely what the US economy needed in 2011-2014. Republicans, it seems, support fiscal expansion only when they control the White House. Obama managed two other major achievements before Republican obstructionism took hold: the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as “Obamacare”). Despite Republicans’ subsequent steps to weaken Dodd-Frank and the ACA, both reforms did much more good than most people realise. Dodd-Frank helped make a repeat of the 20072008 financial crisis less likely, and the ACA has given more than 20 million Americans access to health insurance while slowing the rise in overall health-care costs. The two wars that Obama inherited were intractable. But he made the difficult decisions that led to the elimination of the instigator of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Osama bin Laden – a goal that his predecessor, George W. Bush, in his eagerness to invade Iraq, had lost interest in pursuing. Moreover, in 2015, just as the press began labelling him a lame duck, Obama achieved a string of foreign-policy successes – namely, a much-needed nuclear agreement with Iran, normalisation of relations with Cuba, and agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). He also helped to secure a global deal to fight climate change, particularly by first achieving a breakthrough with China. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over the presidency this month, faces far easier conditions than Obama. Nevertheless, he has announced plans to reverse most, if not all, of Obama’s achievements. The TPP, for example, is dead. And four years from now will probably be too late to revive it, because by then East Asian countries may have been drawn into a China-led trade grouping instead. In some cases, however, Trump will run into obstacles in translating his crowd-pleasing sound bites into reality. In repealing Obamacare, for example, Republicans are likely to be stymied by the absence of an alternative that does not take away the health insurance of 20 million Americans or raise health-care costs. - Project Syndicate
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READERS’ FORUM Kandahar attack is not on UAE, but against humanity The Kandahar terrorist strike, in which five UAE officials involved in humanitarian and development initiatives were killed, was quite upsetting (January 12). It is obvious that people cannot accept escalation of such violence, as the campaign of human aggressiveness is seen on the rise in recent times. The region has been on the stride of development in every aspect of life, and such gruesome incidents should not be looked at targeting a particular country or the region. There should not be any compromise with a section of the ‘uncivilised community’ confronting with Scan this QR code arms and playing with the life of innocent to send letters to the people. In reality the Kandahar attack Readers’ Forum, is not on the UAE, but against humanity containing not more than 200 words with and all countries involved in aid works in full name, address Afghanistan and elsewhere in conflict-hit and telephone countries are directly affected. After the number, may be sent recent shooting in Turkey, which killed the by e-mail (akhtar@ timesofoman.com). Russian ambassador, diplomatic missions have become a target of militancy. The sad part is that despite the world has been so much developed and advancing in countering such threats, the increase in violence is a real concern. The lapse needs to be addressed for which all hands to be joined together and work unanimously. — Ramachandran Nair, Ruwi
QUOTE OF THE DAY Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.
GEORGE S. PATTON
Is the economics profession “in crisis”? Many policymakers, such as Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, believe that it is. Indeed, a decade ago, economists failed to see a massive storm on the horizon, until it culminated in the most destructive global financial crisis in nearly 80 years.
CLIPPINGS FROM OUR ARCHIVES JANUARY 2002 Majlis meet reviews minister’s reply MUSCAT: The Majlis Al Shura office yesterday held its fifth regular meeting of the year under the chairmanship of Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Qatabi, Majlis president. After approving the minutes of the previous meeting, the office reviewed the reply of the education minister on an enquiry on Al Dhuhr prayers at the basic education schools. The office reviewed the similar reply from the manpower minister who was inquired by the Majlis on retirement pensions.
PICTOGRAPH
FOREIGN TRADE NON-OIL PRODUCTS (in million Omani Rials) Total end of June 2015
2016
1,636.3 1,247.8
TODAY IN HISTORY INVITATION TO WRITERS We invite our readers to write articles on topics related to Oman. The articles should not exceed 800 words. Send us your article along with your picture to akhtar@timesofoman.com
1929: The US Senate ratifies the Kellogg-Briand anti-war pact. 1973: US President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action by US troops in Vietnam 1976: Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life in prison for her failed attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford. 0
2001: Wikipedia goes online.
Source National Centre for Statistics & Information