MUSCAT, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Oman's Sultan Qaboos on Sunday ordered a government reshuffle that affected a number of technical ministries. Following is the new cabinet list after the changes.

- Head of state, prime minister, foreign, defence and finance minister, and commander-in-chief of armed forces: Sultan Qaboos bin Said

- Minister responsible for foreign affairs: Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah

- Interior minister: Saud bin Ibrahim al-Busaidi

- Minister responsible for defence affairs: Sayed Badr bin Saud bin Hareb al-Busaidi

MUSCAT, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Oman's Sultan Qaboos on Sunday ordered a government reshuffle that affected a number of technical ministries and split two ministries into two departments, the official ONA news agency reported.

Decrees issued by the ruler of the Gulf sultanate created a ministry of environment and climate affairs, which will be headed by Hmoud bin Faisal al-Busaidi, and a fisheries ministry headed by Sheikh Mohammad bin Ali al-Qatbi, ONA said.

Qatbi was hitherto governor of Dhofar province and minister of state without portfolio.

WASHINGTON, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - The top American diplomat for Middle East affairs will travel to France, Libya and Oman next week for discussions on a wide range of issues, the State Department said Thursday.

David Welch's first stop will be Paris, where his topics of discussions with French counterparts will include Syria, which has been implicated in a UN probe over the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, and efforts to resolve the Palestinian question, the department said.

MUSCAT, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - The annual summit of oil-rich Gulf Arab states will be held in Qatar in early December, not in Oman as previously planned, the secretary general of the pro-Western Gulf Cooperation Council said on Monday.

Qatar and its Gulf partners have agreed to a request by Oman that the GCC summit take place in Doha, on the understanding that Muscat will host the 2008 gathering, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah told AFP by telephone.

CAIRO, July 29, 2007 (AFP) - Oman said on Sunday that Iran did not pose a threat to the Gulf region, as the United States prepares to announce an arms package for Gulf states aimed at addressing Tehran's growing military might.

'We do not see that Iran poses a threat to the Gulf region,' Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Omani minister responsible for foreign affairs, told reporters after meeting Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.

'Iran is a neighbouring state and we have a common interest which is to maintain stability and security in the region,' he said.