| Salalah bids farewell to Indian ambassador
MUSCAT — The Indian expatriate community and prominent local government officials in Salalah turned out in large numbers to accord a grand and heartfelt farewell to Indian Ambassador Ashok Kumar Attri and his wife Usha Kiran Attri at a glittering event held at Hamilton Plaza Hotel on Tuesday.
Manpreet Singh, Indian Embassy consular in Salalah, supported by Dr Debashish Bhattacharya, co-convener of the Maharashtrian community and several other Indians came in large numbers to extend their sincere gratitude to the ambassador and his wife for all the good work and help they provided to every Indian in Oman during their tenure here.
The ambassador, in his speech, with a magnitude of gratitude to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, praised his kindness and benevolence towards the Indian community in Oman.
Barclays and ABN Amro expect hostile bids as exclusive talks end
BARCLAYS and ABN Amro are prepared for a flurry of hostile bids to emerge after they announce the terms of their proposed, friendly merger agreement. But the additional pressure of a hostile predator may mean the full terms are not disclosed when the exclusivity agreement between the two banks expires on 18 April. One insider said: “The end of the exclusivity term has been misread as a deadline. “This is a complicated transaction and John Varley [chief executive of Barclays] is not going to be rushed to approve anything that has not been thoroughly investigated. .
Torana XU-1 will Test Auction Values
Enthusiasts around Australia are eagerly awaiting Shannons Sydney autumn auction on Monday May 7 to see whether Holdens iconic Torana XU-1 has caught the current Muscle Car collectors fever. While values of Bathurst HO Falcons, GTS 327 Monaros and Charger R/T E38 models have recently been soaring, the XU-1 has been the relative sleeper of the highly modified local cars that were built by Holden, Ford and Chrysler to battle at Bathurst in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Now, many believe the Toranas star is about to rise. Based on the sporty GTR model in the updated LJ Torana range, the GTR XU-1 was built as a Bathurst homologation special. Off the production line its 202-cid six cylinder engine produced 190HP (140kW) at 5600 rpm thanks to triple Stromberg carburetors, a revised camshaft and a lightened flywheel.
Federer swats Spain's Carlos
MONTE CARLO, April 22: Roger Federer ignored the distracting clatter of cutlery and a chattering lunchtime crowd on Saturday as he set up a second straight finals clash at the Monte Carlo Masters with Rafael Nadal. The Swiss applied the power to escape an early 1-3 deficit against two-time winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, defeating the Spaniard 6-3, 6-4. Holder Nadal, bidding to lift a third consecutive crown at the VIP venue, thrashed Czech tenth seed Tomas Berdych 6-0, 7-5. Federer got into trouble in the early going of his semi-final against Ferrero, a past master of the clay. While not blaming his mis-step on noise, the top seed did express quiet disgust with the celebrity suppers perched above the court on a terrace. "There were more than 7,000 people watching the match so I just think it would be nice if they (the diners) showed some more respect to the other fans that are watching the match and also the players," said the ten-time Grand Slam winner.
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