Downpour unleashes chaos in Muscat - Oman Daily Observer

SAN FRANCISCO — US surgeons
has successfully separated
conjoined two-year-old girls born
in the Philippines, bringing tears
to the eyes of their mother who
praised God for keeping them
alive.
A team of 20 doctors helped
by 15-20 operating staff at the Lucile
Packard Children’s Hospital
worked for 10 hours to separate
Angelina and Angelica Sabuco,
who had spent all of their lives so
far joined at the chest and abdomen.
“I thank God for everything;
words cannot express how the
family feels for the successful
separation of our twins, Angelica
and Angelina,” said their crying
mother Ginady Sabuco.
Lead surgeon Gary Hartman at
the hospital in the northern Californian
city of Palo Alto, said they
expected the girls to make a “complete
recovery.”
“We’re very pleased... It could
not have gone better,” he said.
“They’re very resilient. The
long-term prognosis is that we
would expect a happy, healthy set
of girls. We don’t see any barriers
6 OMAN/ASIA
OMAN DAILY Observer
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2011
Majlis Ash’shura elects panel members
MUSCAT — Majlis Ash'shura
yesterday held its first regular
sitting for the annual session
at its head quarters.The session
was chaired by Khalid bin
Hilal al Ma'awali, Chairman
of Majlis Ash'shura to eelect
members of Majlis Ash'shura
Office and the primary formation
for its permanent committees.
The session included completing
the procedural aspects
stipulated by Majlis Ash'shura
internal bylaws, electing members
of Majlis Ash'shura Office
temporary, the formation
of the permanent committees,
setting up a special committee
to draft the internal bylaw
of Majlis Ash'shura after the
majlis elected the chairman
and two deputies of Majlis
Ash'shura at the extra ordinary
session which was held on October
29.
The election of Majlis
Ash'shura membership resulted
in the winning of Maktoum
bin Sad al Mahri (47 votes),
Ahmed bin Mohammed al Busaidy
38 votes) Abdullah bin
Salim al Makhini (38 votes),
Mohammed bin Salim al Busaidy
(37 votes) Zayid bin
Khalfan al Abri 932 votes), Ali
bin Hamad al Badi (30 votes).
The election was done by di-
Gul Train track
to be upgraded
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan and Turkey have
decided to reduce travel time for a proposed
train project between Islamabad and Ankara
to 11 days from the earlier 16 days.
The proposed Gul Train project took a step
forward when the presidents of Pakistan and
Turkey agreed to further upgrade it during a
meeting held on the sidelines of the sixth trilateral
summit in Istanbul.
President Asif Ali Zardari participated
in the summit hosted in Istanbul by Turkish
President Abdullah Gul and also attended by
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
The project idea was first floated by Zardari
last year to enter into a joint venture for
locomotive manufacture in Pakistan for the
special cargo train service, reported Associated
Press of Pakistan.
President’s spokesperson Farhatullah
Babar said it was also decided that after the
successful upgradation of the existing track,
the second phase of the project will be
launched.
The second phase would include laying
of a entirely new railway track in Pakistan
specially for super fast goods train running at
over 150 km per hour speed, he said.
Islamabad considers
importing electricity
ISLAMABAD — Energy starved Pakistan
is in talks to import electricity from India to
overcome crippling power outages, a government
official said yesterday.
“Talks are under way between the two
countries to import electricity from India,” a
spokesman for the water and power ministry
said. “We are considering importing 500 megawatts
of electricity from India,” he added.
Pakistani Commerce Minister Amin Fahim,
during a recent visit to India, discussed
the possibility of importing electricity and
boosting trade ties, the spokesman said.
Discussions were at a preliminary stage and
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani
was expected to take up the matter with his
Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh later this
month at a regional summit in the Maldives.
Pakistan, with a population of 170 million,
produces only 80 per cent of its electricity
needs, starving industry that has slumped in
the face of recession.
The yawning energy shortfalls frequently
trigger violent protests across the country,
where opposition parties are setting in motion
campaigns designed to force elections earlier
than scheduled in February 2013. Last month
opposition lawmakers and activists staged a
sit-in outside the president’s house in protest
at perceived government inaction over the
nation’s energy crisis that sees power cuts of
sometimes longer than 10 hours a day.
rect secret ballot.
Majlis Ash'shura also
formed its five permanent
committees and distributed
members onto these committees
temporarily till the internal
bylaw of Majlis Ash'shura
is issued. While distributing
the members, Majlis Ash'shura
took into consideration the
desires and experiences of the
members. Each committee
will select a head and a deputy
from among its members.
Majlis Ash'shura has earlier
ISTANBUL — Fourteen
countries including neighbours
China, Pakistan and
India agreed yesterday at an
international conference to
co-operate in building the future
of war-torn Afghanistan,
a Turkish diplomat said.
“An agreement was
reached at a technical level,”
said the diplomat, naming the
initiative as the Istanbul process,
in order to build a secure
and stable Afghanistan.
Among the 14 countries
involved are Turkey, Iran, Pakistan,
China, Russia and India,
and several states, said the
diplomat. The initiative aims
at helping Afghanistan in various
areas including security,
reconstruction, health and the
fight against trafficking, the
source added.
President Hamid Karzai
formed a technical committee
from its employees under the
supervision of Shaikh Ali bin
Nasser al Mahrouqi, Secretary-
General of Majlis Ash'shura to
organise and conduct the secret
ballot and sorting out of
votes to select complementary
members for Majlis Ash'shura
Office and the classification of
the membership of the permanent
committees.
The Chairman of Majlis
Ash'shura advised the members
of receiving the state's draft
told the conference that the
Afghan government aims to
have its own forces providing
security for half the population
by the end of the year.
Karzai said he would soon
announce new areas where the
Afghan army and police were
taking over security duties
from the Nato-led International
Security Assistance Force.
The Afghan president
described the conference —
which is being attended by 26
countries — as a “significant
milestone” on the road to enhanced
co-operation on security
in the region.
ISAF began handing over
operational control in July
and intends to complete the
exercise by the end of 2014,
by which time international
troops should have been withdrawn.
budget for the fiscal year 2012,
which was referred by the government.
Majlis Ash'shura will
study the draft budge and raise
its visions and remarks about
it. As per the powers of Majlis
Ash’shura, that the state draft
budget be presented to Majlis
Ash'shura which will raise its
visions and remarks on the
draft budget within 30 days
from receiving it.
Each committee held a
meeting to select the head and
deputy head.
14 countries agree to
co-operate with Kabul
Afghan officials indicated
last week that security responsibility
of 17 of the country’s
34 provinces would soon be
handed over in part or completely.
The Istanbul conference is
one of a series of preparatory
meetings ahead of the Afghanistan
Conference, to be held in
Bonn on December 5.
The gathering takes place
a day after a trilateral summit
hosted by Gul brought together
the presidents of Afghanistan
and Pakistan in a bid to
ease tensions and promote
co-operation between the two
neighbours. Tuesday’s talks
saw Afghanistan and Pakistan
agree to co-operate with an
investigation into the murder
of former Afghan leader and
peace negotiator Burhanuddin
Rabbani. — AFP
Said bin Ghanim bin Said
al Miqbali was elected as Head
of the Legal Committee, Nasser
bin Khamis bin Mohammed
al Khumaisi as Deputy Head.
Saleem bin Ali bin Saleem
al Hakmani was selected as
Head of the Economic Committee
and Ali bin Abdullah bin
Ali al Badi as Deputy Head.
Ali bin Khafan bin Salman
al Qutaiti was elected as
Head of the Health and Social
Affairs Committee and Talal
bin Rajab bin Ghaloum al Matroushi
as Deputy Head.
Khalid bin Hilal bin Hamad
al Nabhani was elected as Head
of the Education Committee
and Mohammed bin Rashid al
Qanobi as Deputy Head.
Humaid bin Ali bin Humaid
al Nasri was elected as Head of
the Services and Local Communities
Development Committee
and Khalfan bin Salim
bin Ahmed al Ghunaimi as
deputy Head.
The expanded economic
committee held its first meeting
to study the draft budget
of the state for the fiscal year
2012 to prepare the report on
the draft budget before submitting
it to the Council during
the period stipulated in the
latest amendments to the Basic
Law of the State issued by the
Joy as conjoined twins separated
CONJOINED twins Angelica (R) and Angelina Sabuco
with their mother Ginady. — AFP
Royal Decree No 99/2011.
Khalid bin Hilal al Maawali,
Chairman of Majlis
Ash'shura started the session
with a speech where he said
that the 7th term of Majlis
Ash'shura marks the beginning
of a new stage of growth and
expansion of its legislative and
audit powers.
He pointed out that the great
legislative and audit powers
granted to Majlis Ash'shura
and the contents of the royal
speech of His Majesty the Sultan
at the first annual convening
of the Council of Oman's
fifth term held at Hisn Al Shomoukh
in the Wilayat of Manah
will act as a real work plan
for the coming stage.
Khalid bin Hilal al
Ma'awali, Chairman of Majlis
Ash'shura expressed sincere
thanks and appreciation to
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos
for the generous grant and
the continuous care for Shura
and its establishments, as per
His Majesty's wise policy and
progressive approach in laying
the strong foundations of
Shura which has reached a
great stage of remarkable safe
development that places the
Shura experience among the
comprehensive democratic
practice. — ONA
PAKISTANI Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar speaks to media after attending the Istanbul
Conference for Afghanistan at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. Afghan President Hamid Karzai
warned that there would be no hope for peace in his nation without help from its neighbours. — AFP
to a complete recovery.”
The twins are in intensive care
and sedated and are likely to spend
a week in the ICU and another
week in hospital if all goes well,
the hospital said. Hartman told
reporters the surgery took slightly
longer than anticipated, with the
riskiest part, dividing the girls’ livers,
going slowly but smoothly.
“There was really no blood loss
during that part of the procedure,”
he said, adding: “We were able to
close the abdominal muscles without
a graft, and the chest closure
also went better than we anticipated.”
Plastic surgeon Peter Lorenz,
who led the reconstruction procedures,
said there would be relatively
little sign of the twins’ past,
after the operation.
“They will have a long scar
from the middle of their chests
down to the belly button, a straight
line,” the surgeon said, adding:
“That’s all that will show.”
The girls, who turned two in
August, were joined at the chest
and belly but had separate brains,
hearts, kidneys, stomachs and intestines.
— AFP
Al Nahda Hospital
patients shifted
By Staff Reporters, ONA
MUSCAT — All inpatients
and medical and administrative
staff of Al Nahda Hospital
have been shifted to Khoula
Hospital and the Royal Hospital
due to floods which inundated
Al Nahda Hospital, said
an official at the Royal Oman
Police (ROP), who confirmed
that none were injured or suffered
side-effects in the process.
The official pointed out
that ROP personnel used ambulance
vehicles of the ROP
and the Ministry of health in
conducting the operation.
In the area of Darsait, a
school named Durrat al Sharq
was also inundated and police
rescued all 20 pupils and
teachers, shifting them to a
safer place, the official said.
A man stranded in his
flooded house in Wadi al
Msaila, Wilayat of Jaalan
Bani Bu Ali, and a number
of people whose houses were
inundated in the niyabat of al
Ash’khara, in Al Sharqiyah,
were rescued by civil defence
personnel of the ROP.
The civil defence unit in
the Wilayat of Al Rustaq rescued
a family whose vehicle
got stuck in Wadi al Saleel.
In the Wilayat of Samayil,
Dakhiliyah Governorate, men
of the Directorate General of
Civil Defence rescued 12 people
who were stranded by the
flood waters of Wadi al Hobe.
A similar operation was
conducted by the civil defence
unit in the Wilayat of Al Suwaiq,
Batinah Governorate,
where three men were rescued
when the vehicle they were
travelling in got washed away
by the gushing waters of Wadi
Ghaleel Al Masa’eed. The
men were in a stable condition,
said the ROP official.
In the Wilayat of Mahout, Al
Wusta Governorate, seven
families were shifted from
their homes which were inun-
Maoists hail ‘historic’
deal as path to peace
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s
former Maoist rebels yesterday
said that a deal to integrate
thousands of their fighters
into the army will finally
set the country on the road to
peace, five years after the end
of civil war. The breakthrough
deal on the status of 19,000
rebel fighters, who have been
confined to camps since the
end of hostilities, raises hopes
that the deadlock on drafting
a new constitution can finally
be broken.
“This is a historic step towards
competing the peace
process and drafting the constitution,”
Dinanath Sharma,
a spokesman for the ruling
Maoist party, said.
“This will help implement
the remaining tasks (of the
peace process) and lead to a
practical conclusion.”
Nepal has had a barely
functioning government since
the end of the 10-year conflict
in 2006 that claimed 16,000
lives and the abolition of the
monarchy in 2008.
dated by rainwater.
In the Wilayat of Al Musanaa,
a ROP civil defence
team rescued four men who
got stranded in floods.
In the Governorate of Muscat,
the ROP and the Muscat
Municipality were all out in
full mobilisation to help bring
back normalcy and to ensure
safety and security of the people
of Oman.
In places like Ruwi and
Hamariya that bore the brunt
of adverse weather, a team of
ROP officials were seen airlifting
stranded people in the
water-clogged areas.
An ROP spokesperson said,
“We are all set to face any adversities
and are keeping vigil
while diverting the traffic and
placing traffic warnings across
the wadi areas.”
Meanwhile, several of
Muscat Municipality workers
were busy removing water
since Tuesday as was seen in
Muttrah roundabout and many
other parts of the governorate.
Municipality workers were
seen removing silt and debris
left behind by rainwater
which swept through roads
after gushing in from nearby
wadis.
Muscat Municipality officials
further indicated that
cleaning up of the Yiti road
which was shattered totally
will be cleaned from today.
The civic authority had
formed field teams in the
wake of the last year’s floods
and are following up the
|restoration process, according
to a Muscat Municipality
source.
Additionally, the various
departments under the instructions
of the Municipality have
been provided with all necessary
equipment and devices
to clear roads and pavements.
Water clogs on road and at the
sites of dams in different locations
are being pumped out.
Uprooted trees are removed
and traffic made smoother.
Lawmakers in the constituent
assembly, where the Maoist
party is the biggest group
but does not have a majority,
have wrangled for three years
over the peace deal, sapping
the optimism seen at the end
of the fighting.
“After more than three
years of prolonged political
deadlock which almost
derailed Nepal’s transition,
parties have finally managed
to get the peace and constitutional
process back on track,”
Kathmandu-based political
commentator Prashant Jha
said, describing the deal as
“historic”.
Under the agreement, the
army will take in 6,500 former
fighters and the remainder will
receive a pay-off of between
500,000 and 800,000 Nepali
rupees ($6,300-$10,200).
The US hailed the “landmark”
breakthrough and
called on leaders to implement
its terms, while the
United Nations also broadly
welcomed the deal.