Oman: Sultan Qaboos appears in public

Omani state media broadcast pictures of Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said as he attended a foundation stone ceremony on 14 July, looking very thin but remarkably well for a man thought to have recently had extensive treatment for cancer. Television footage showed the sultan walking around an exhibition outlining plans for a museum to document Oman through the ages; he walked strongly, and showed interest in the models and pictures and people around him. After laying the cornerstone of the museum, Qaboos drove off – taking the wheel himself, in his trademark manner – in a Range Rover with a number 1 licence plate.