Panel to review medical errors - Oman Daily Observer

By A Staff Reporter
MUSCAT — Oman Airports
Management Company
(OAMC) and DHL, the international
specialists and world’s
leading logistics company, announced
yesterday the launch
of a new cargo flights linking
Muscat International Airport
with Dubai Airports with the
inaugural flight planned for
Friday, March 1. The Boeing
757-200 aircraft will operate
a weekly schedule into Muscat
in collaboration with Oman’s
national carrier Oman Air.
Malcolm Macbeth, Middle
East & Africa Vice President
DHL Aviation said: “DHL’s
long-term vision is to increase
the number of weekly frequencies
coming to Muscat International
Airport where cargo and
logistics services are viewed
as an opportunity for growth
and development.
Receiving the first DHL
cargo aircraft is a unique op-
portunity that will enable
Muscat International Airport
to attract and receive other
cargo and logistics aircraft in
the future and boost the level
of growth and aircraft movements,”
added Macbeth.
The Boeing 757-200 aircraft
has a cargo capacity of
25 tonnes and links DHL’s
Dubai Hub with Oman, allowing
greater cargo connectivity
into the country.
OAMC announced recent-
ly the results of passenger, aircraft
and cargo traffic for the
year 2012, the passenger numbers
handled was 7.5 million
passengers with an increase
of 16 per cent compared to
the year 2011, cargo handled
was 113,270 tonnes with an
increase of 15 per cent compared
with the same period in
2011.
OAMC is working hard to
enhance the air cargo facilities
at Muscat International Air-
4
OMAN/THE WORLD
OMAN DAILY Observer
port in view of the recognized
increase in the number of passengers
and air cargo movements;
OAMC is providing
the required facilities to attract
more airlines to operate into
Muscat. Once the new airport
opens OAMC plans to transfer
Muscat International Airport
to a primary main air gateway
to the region. The new airport
will have the capacity to handle
260,000 cargo tones annually.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013
Royal Navy of Oman new batch graduates
MUSCAT — The Royal Navy of
Oman (RNO) yesterday celebrated
the graduation of a new recruits
batch under the patronage of Maj
Gen Matar bin Salim al Balushi,
Commander of the Royal Army
of Oman (RAO), in the pres-
MUSCAT — The Media
and Public Awareness Sector
at the National System
of Emergency Management
yesterday held a meeting
under the auspices of Qais
bin Ibrahim al Farsi, Editing
Manager at Oman News
Agency (Coordinator of the
Sector), in the presence of
Dr Mu'nis Mostafa al Shashtawi,
Advisor of Planning at
ence of Rear Admiral Abdullah
bin Khamis al Raisi, RNO Commander.
The chief guest in his speech
on the occasion said the ceremony
proves the real interest attached by
RNO to human resources, affirm-
Role of journalism in emergencies
the Ministry of Health, and
members of the media sector.
The meeting discussed the
plan of the sector, its strategic
objectives and reviewed
a number of areas related
to the sector in terms of the
participation of the satellite
channels and radio stations,
as well as role of the journalism
and society, besides the
ing that this new recruits will help
in upgrading the performance and
increase the productivity.
The ceremony began with a
military salute for the chief guest
who inspected the first row of the
graduates' column and pinned
co-operation of the local associations
and sport clubs to
achieve the desired goals.
The meeting comes within
the framework of interest
of the Executive Office of
the National Commission for
Civil Defence (NCCD) to set
up the awareness and media
programmes that protect the
society against risks of the
emergency cases. — ONA
Muscat to welcome first DHL cargo flight
medals of long service and good
conduct on a number of RNO commissioned
and non-commissioned
officers. Then, the graduates performed
a parade in the regular and
slow march.
The graduates also took the
From page 1
that 12 prepaid travel cards
were “compromised” on February
20, 2013. The transactions
are believed to have
taken place outside of the
Sultanate.
“No customers have suffered
any financial loss and
no other credit or debit cards
issued by Bank Muscat have
been affected. The Bank is
working with all stakeholders
to further investigate and
to establish any losses arising
from these transactions. We
will inform the market of any
material developments,” the
statement added.
A Bank Muscat official
said that the bank is investigating
the matter.
The official added, “The
bank is committed to transparency
and in line with the
best Corporate Governance
and Compliance practices,
made the disclosure on Mus-
EU gives Kiev until May to prove it wants to look West
BRUSSELS — EU leaders
yesterday gave visiting
Ukraine President Viktor
Yanukovich until May to show
his nation had made progress
towards political reform if it is
serious about clinching a free
trade deal which would move
it away from Moscow's orbit.
Both the European Union
and Ukraine are keen to cut
their dependency on gas giant
Russia, but Ukraine has yet to
make a clear choice between
closer EU ties or tighter links
with Moscow.
The EU has set a November
target for signing an ambitious
free trade and political association
agreement that would
anchor Ukraine in the Western
camp, but says a deal is conditional
on improved human
rights and addressing "politically
motivated convictions"
- a reference to the jailing of
former Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko, Yanukovich's
arch rival.
After talks with Yanukovich
in Brussels on Monday,
European Council President
Herman Van Rompuy told a
news conference that EU authorities
still needed to see
tangible progress "at the latest
by May".
The May deadline was chosen
because some time would
be needed after that to tie up
any loose ends if an agreement
is to be signed in November.
EU leaders also made clear
Ukraine had to make a choice
as membership of the EU's
free trade agreement was incompatible
with belonging to
Moscow's Customs Union.
"What we have to be clear
about is one country cannot at
the same time be a member of
a customs union and be in a ...
free trade area with the European
Union. This is not pos-
sible," European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso
said.
"But I believe there are
some pragmatic ways to address
this issue."
Yanukovich said he was
working on finding a "model
of co-operation" with the customs
union, which could form
the basis of a compromise.
Ukraine, a transit state for
nearly 70 per cent of all Russian
gas shipped to the European
Union, and itself heavily
reliant on Russian supplies,
has repeatedly clashed with
Moscow over its gas bills.
Russia has said it would
only lower the price of gas to
Ukraine if it allows Moscow
to take over its pipeline network
or if it joins the Russialed
Customs Union trade bloc.
The European Union signed
an outline agreement yesterday
to provide Ukraine with
Bank Muscat cards safe
up to 610 million euros ($803
million) in "macro-financial
assistance", but made it conditional
on Ukraine meeting
International Monetary Fund
terms. It did not specify
whether the money would be
a loan or a grant.
Ukraine's relationship with
the IMF is potentially complicated
by Yanukovich's pledge
to keep down gas prices for
domestic customers as the
IMF has insisted Ukraine
should reduce the amount it
spends on subsidising prices
to cut its budget deficit.
In the past, Ukraine's quarrels
with Moscow over gas
prices have led to supply disruptions
to the European Union,
which depends on Russia
for roughly a quarter of its
gas.
All parties are seeking to
increase their options.
— Reuters
cat Securities Market (MSM)
informing about the compromise
of 12 Bank Muscat prepaid
travel cards. The bank as
mentioned in the disclosure is
investigating the matter. On
detection of the development,
the bank launched immediate
action and business relating
to all operations, especially
credit and debit cards, continues
as normal. The bank has a
strong system in place to address
such developments. No
customers are affected from
this development and transactions
relating to the bank’s
debit and credit cards are also
not affected.
The bank is the leading
financial institution in Oman
and enjoys strong financial
strength and this incident will
not affect the growth of the
bank. We reiterate that this is
an isolated incident which has
not affected the bank’s debit
and credit card operations.”
oath of loyalty and chanted thrice
Long Live His Majesty Sultan Qaboos,
the Supreme Commander of
the Armed Forces.
The graduation ceremony was
attended by Maj Gen Sulaiman bin
Mohammed al-Harthy, Assistant
Inspector General of Police and
Customs for Administrative and
Financial Affairs, Brigadier Awadh
bin Mohammed al Meshaikhi, Deputy
Commandant of the National
Defence College, Shaikh Hilal bin
Said al Hajri, Governor of South
Al Batinah, members of the Majlises,
walis of the Governorate of
South Al Batinah, senior officers at
the Sultan's Armed Forces (SAF),
Royal Guard of Oman (RGO),
Royal Oman Police (ROP) and a
number of invitees. — ONA
OMAN Telugu community recently celebrated Sankranti festival. On this occasion, the community felicitated blood
donors from the Chiru Mega Youth Force, who donated blood at Baushar Blood Bank on a number of
occasions. Mementos were distributed by Nagendrababu, brother of Indian union minister Chiranjeevi.
The Telugu community also honoured veteran Telugu actor Kota Srinivasa Rao on this occasion.
Pope changes law to allow early conclave
VATICAN CITY — A senior
cardinal resigned under duress
yesterday and Pope Benedict
took the rare step of changing
Vatican law to allow his successor
to be elected early, adding
to a sense of crisis within
the Roman Catholic Church.
With just three days left
before Benedict becomes the
first pope in some six centuries
to step down, he accepted the
resignation of Britain's only
cardinal elector, Archbishop
Keith O'Brien, who was to
have voted for the next pope.
O'Brien, who retains the
title of cardinal, has denied
allegations that he behaved
inappropriately with priests
over a period of 30 years, but
said he was quitting the job of
archbishop of Edinburgh.
He could have attended the
conclave despite his resignation,
but said he would stay
away because he did not want
Film-maker
killed in
plane crash
NAIROBI — A Kenyan
ecologist and a Canadian
film-maker were killed in a
plane crash near Mt Kenya,
officials said yesterday.
Anthony King, the conservationist,
was piloting
the plane when it went down
on Sunday. The 44-year-old
was widely respected in the
local ecological community
and was working on national
conservation programmes.
Canadian John Driftmier
was working on a show
for the Discovery Channel
called Dangerous Flights,
according to Jamie Roberts
of Tropic Air, which took
responsibility for rescue
operations. The two people
were the only passengers on
the small aircraft. — dpa
media attention to be focused
on himself instead of the process
of choosing the next leader
of the 1.2 billion-member
Church.
O'Brien's dramatic selfexclusion
came as the Vatican
continued to resist calls by
some Catholics to stop other
cardinals tainted by scandals,
such as US Cardinal Roger
Mahony, from taking part.
Catholic activists have petitioned
Mahony to exclude
himself from the conclave so
as not to insult survivors of
abuse by priests committed
while he was archbishop of
Los Angeles.
In that post from 1985 until
2011, Mahony worked to
send priests known to be abusers
out of state to shield them
from law enforcement scrutiny
in the 1980s, according to
church files unsealed under a
US court order last month.
Kidnapped family
appears in video
DAKAR — A video appearing
to show seven French
citizens, including four children,
kidnapped in Cameroon
last week was posted
on the YouTube website yesterday.
"We have been taken
by Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna
Lidda'awati wal-Jihad," one
of the male hostages said in
the video, referring to the
name in of Nigeria's Boko
Haram.
"They want the liberation
of their brothers in Cameroon
and their women imprisoned
in Nigeria."
The kidnapping last Tuesday
of the seven French nationals
in Cameroon's far
north, near the border with
Nigeria, highlighted the risk
to French citizens in Africa
"O'Brien's recusal is also
important as a precedent," said
Terence McKiernan, of BishopAccountability.org,
a USbased
documentation centre
on child abuse by priests.
"Many cardinals scheduled
to join the conclave have been
involved as bishops in handling
cases of clergy abuse,
and some of them have done
such a bad job that they too
should recuse themselves from
the conclave," he said.
Benedict changed parts of a
1996 constitution issued by his
predecessor John Paul so that
cardinals could begin a secret
conclave to choose a successor
earlier than the 15 days after
the papacy becomes vacant,
as prescribed by the previous
law.
The change means that in
pre-conclave meetings starting
on March 1, a day after Benedict
leaves on Thursday, they
since Paris sent troops into
Mali.
"The president of France
has launched a war," said one
of the apparent kidnappers,
warning the hostages would
be killed if their demands
were not met.
France's foreign ministry
said it was still trying to
verify the authenticity of the
video. Cameroon's Communication
Minister Issa Tchiroma
Bakary said he could
not comment because his
government was not aware
of the video.
The governor of Cameroon's
Far North Region,
Augustine Fonka Awa, said
he was not aware of any
Boko Haram members being
held in the country.
— Reuters
can themselves decide when
to start.
Some cardinals believe
a conclave, held in secret in
the Vatican's Sistine Chapel,
should start sooner than March
15 in order to reduce the time
in which the Church will be
without a leader at a time of
crisis.
But some in the Church
believe that an early conclave
would give an advantage to
cardinals already in Rome and
working in the Curia, the Vatican's
central administration
and the focus of accusations
of ineptitude and alleged scandals
that some Italian newspapers
speculate in unsourced
reports led Benedict to step
down. The Vatican says the
reports are false.
The Vatican appears to be
aiming to have a new pope
elected by mid-March and installed
before Palm Sunday.