By Hasan Kamoonpuri - MUSCAT — A major 245-bed state-of-the-art psychiatric hospital is now in its final stages of completion at Al Hashiya in the Wilayat Al Amerat. Sources in the office of the Minister of Health, Dr Ahmad bin Muhammad al Saeedy, said the new psychiatric hospital will have a special focus on the total treatment and rehabilitation programme, through which the patients are expected to maintain the best possible quality of healthy life, fulfil their family responsibilities, and remain as productive as possible.

By A Staff Reporter - MUSCAT — Majan Shopping Exhibition 2010, a 10-day consumer exhibition, received good response as a large number of customers visited the shopping extravaganza on the opening day. The exhibition opened yesterday at the Oman International Exhibition Centre. The exhibition is represented by more than 18 countries such as Oman, Syria, Egypt, China, Thailand, India, Turkey, Pakistan, Africa, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bangladesh and Vietnam. The stalls put up by them are offering the best choices at the best prices of the season.

The Oman Riders Club had organised ‘Oman Riders Club’s Renaissance Day Event’ on Friday to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Renaissance Day with 50 bikes. There were 50 bikers who started from Oman Automobile Club 3.30 pm with Oman flags and reached Zubair Automotive, Athaiba then to Al Alam Palace and finally reached Al Falaj Hotel at 6:30 pm. “Think before you drive” brochures were distributed to the public as part of ongoing global campaign for Road Safety.

ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad yesterday, killing all 152 people on board, officials said, in the worst aviation accident in Pakistan. The Airbus 321, belonging to a private airline crashed into a heavily wooded and hard-to-access hillside while flying from the southern port city of Karachi. Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said 115 bodies had been recovered so far but bad weather and difficult terrain above the city had hampered search efforts. “Unfortunately, no one survived...,” Kaira told a news conference.