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The answer for this week's Twitter quiz is ... ... Muscat , in Oman. @guardiancities Muscat? ...

Two beatable teams in Oman and Kuwait, but heavyweights South Korea will be thinking they can go all the way So the football gods can be merciful. After giving Australia a nightmare draw for June, Januarys home-served fare looks much more inviting: two beatable teams and one heavyweight to provide some hype and headlines. ...

s new ministers are women Scotland: MPs to examine civil service impartiality ahead of referendum Westminster's public administration select committee has launched an inquiry into the role of the civil service in the lead up to the vote on Scottish independence in September. The inquiry comes after Scottish finance secretary John Swinney complained that advice given to George Osborne from top Treasury...

Qaboos bin Said al Said issues royal pardon to estimated 50 protesters in effort to salve unrest inspired by Arab spring The sultan of Oman has pardoned all dissidents who were jailed for defaming him or taking part in protests, in the latest effort to defuse unrest inspired by the Arab spring. Oman's state news agency did not say how many prisoners would be freed, but activists say courts sentenced...

Officials confirm that widow, daughter and two sons of the late Libyan leader, two of whom are wanted by Interpol, are in Oman Oman has granted asylum to some members of Muammar Gaddafi's family, two of whom are wanted by Interpol, an Omani official said on Monday, but Libya said it was too early to talk about any possible extradition requests. Algeria said last week that the widow of the late Libyan...

Finnish couple and an Austrian man were taken hostage in capital Sana'a in December 2011 Yemeni kidnappers have released a Finnish couple and an Austrian man missing since being taken hostage in the capital Sana'a in December 2012, a senior Yemeni security source has said. The source told Reuters the trio were freed on Wednesday night after an intervention by authorities in neighbouring Oman. "The...

Four men believed to have led the storming of the British embassy in Tehran last year have been replaced Iran has dismissed four commanders of its informal voluntary Basij milita who were involved in the storming of the British embassy in Tehran last year. The men were believed to be leaders of a mob that ransacked the embassy and its separate residential compound, the Qolhak Gardens, last November....

War, protest, western intervention and elections have changed parts of the Arab world greatly in the last 10 years. Roll over the countries below to see the state of the region and its leaders in 2002 and today...

UK's largest defence contractor close to securing order from Oman for 12 Typhoon jets to build on relationship with Saudi Arabia In the wake of the failed £25bn merger with the Franco-German owner of Airbus, EADS , BAE Systems and its investors are looking beyond the western world. The UK's largest defence contractor sees the Middle East as an important growth market, building on the substantial...

Small gestures could make a big difference, with adversaries having many shared interests in the region - analysis ...

s get-together of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Kuwait, with predictable expressions of dismay about what it called the ongoing "genocide" in Syria and — more interestingly — a guarded welcome for the "new orientation" of Iran's leadership and the recent Geneva agreement on its nuclear programme. Initial reactions to Geneva were cautious. Saudi Arabia took noticeably longer than the five other GCC...

immoral' The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) will next month consider a proposal from Kuwait to introduce medical checks to prevent transgender people from entering the six-member Arab countries as migrant workers. The Saudi-based Arab News reported this week that authorities in Kuwait's ministry of health have proposed "genetic tests" aimed at detecting transsexuals who wish to enter and work in Bahrain,...

s sultan, Qaboos bin Said Al Said. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's new foreign minister, officially greeted Sultan Qaboos at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on Sunday, and then saw him off personally on Tuesday. While the sultanate, which lies across the Gulf of Oman from Iran, has limited geopolitical importance, its ruler's trip received heavy coverage in the Iranian media – a level of attention no doubt...

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus could have come from camels, prompting further investigation into camel meat The Sars-like virus that has infected 94 people who have lived in or had links to the Middle East, and killed almost half of them – including a 38-year-old man who died in the UK reportedly after exposure to a relative who visited Mecca, Saudi Arabia – could have come from camels,...

s fourth visit to region in two months US secretary of state John Kerry arrives in the Holy Land this week on his fourth visit in two months amid deepening scepticism on all sides about his chances of breathing life back into the moribund peace process, and an acknowledgement by European diplomats that there is no "Plan B" in place in the event of its failure. The British foreign secretary William...

s Dee Caffari, a seasoned skipper. "We all took part in the same scheme," says Raya al‑Habsi, 24, a business school graduate and one of the team. "Before September 2011 we had never tried this sport, indeed barely even heard of it. To begin with my brothers used to come along to see what the training sessions involved. When they realised I was having fun and was physically up to the challenge, they...

s president Age: 36. Appearance: Oh, lovely, just lovely. Perfection, really. You sound nervous? Do I? And you keep looking over your shoulder. Is something amiss? No, not at all. She's not behind me, is she? No. This wouldn't be anything to do with the fact that she is the daughter of the late, apocalyptically cruel and violent Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi , would it? Actually,...

The sultan of Oman has issued a pardon for about 50 bloggers and human rights activists who were recently sentenced to long jail terms on charges of defamation, cyber-crime or illegal assembly. The Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said it was "relieved" to learn of the pardons issued by the sultan, Qaboos bin Said Al-Said. Some 20 of the sentenced prisoners went...

A photographic highlight selected by the picture desk. Omani children wait in the shade at Nizwa Fort before greeting the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Karin Andreasson ...

s biggest weapons importers, lack the tools to prevent corruption in the arms trade, according to an unprecedented international study of national defence ministries and armed forces. A number of Britain's most lucrative existing and potential markets for arms, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Oman, are among countries where there is "a very high risk" of corruption, says Transparency International...