Carol O’Callaghan meets the man behind a thousand store fronts — the principal of architecture and design company, Douglas Wallace Consultants, and a man who’s become better known as a judge in ‘Home of the Year’.

Barry Coughlan looks at the best travel deals this week.

Click and Go has a number of special offers on the run to include a November deal to Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, prices starting from €349 for a week at the Vista Oasis Apartments.

Efforts to bring Yemen’s warring factions together to discuss their conflict have made some progress, officials said yesterday, as warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition mounted more air strikes against the dominant Houthi group.

A Swiss solar-powered plane took off from Abu Dhabi, marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel.

A Swiss solar-powered plane has taken off from Abu Dhabi at the start of the first ever attempt to fly around the world without using a drop of fuel.

Ports of Call:

CANARIES & MADEIRA – 7 nights €639pp

MSC Cruise Sale Now On!!

MSC Lirica is a cruise ship for those who remain unmoved by glitzy interiors and the ‘biggest and brashest is best’ school of cruise ship design.

Cruising sceptic Diane McDermott spent a week around Dubai and its environs, taking in dubious marketplaces, majestic building, and the Brilliance of the Seas.

Two Americans jailed as spies in Iran will be released today after a US$1m bail-for-freedom deal was approved by the courts clearing the way for the release of the men after more than two years in custody.

AUSTRALIAN HIKING TRAIL SUITABLE FOR ALL

Protests demanding economic reforms by Oman’s ruler have reached a key oil region in Oman, Government officials said.

EMBATTLED Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, under intense pressure to quit, was slapped with an EU visa ban while ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was also hit by travel restrictions.

Protesters set a supermarket on fire and gathered at several sites in a seaside town in Oman today in a third consecutive day of unrest which has included deadly clashes in the Gulf nation.

OMANI security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters demanding political reforms yesterday, killing at least two people in the strategic Gulf country, police officials said.

Omani security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters demanding political reforms today, killing at least one person in the strategic Gulf country, police officials said.

ETIHAD Airways is offering customers in Ireland the chance to buy two business class tickets for the price of one, but there are only a couple of days left in the sale.

DUBLIN is the 42nd most expensive city in the world to live in, according to a worldwide survey of 214 cities.

THOSE who are into cruises will be thrilled by a Royal Caribbean International’s offering of a 14-night fly/cruise on Brilliance of the Seas sailing through the exotic Middle-East to the tropical waters of the Mediterranean.

IRISH-RUN duty free stores in Russia have stocked more than 100,000 bottles of vodka for the legion of soccer fans travelling to the Champions League Final.

At least 12 people have died from Cyclone Gonu in the Arabian Peninsula sultanate, a spokesman for the Royal Oman Police told Oman TV today.

Cyclone Gonu battered Oman’s coast yesterday with fierce winds and torrential rains, forcing thousands from their homes and shutting down oil installations before heading towards the world’s most important crude oil tanker route.

Thousands of people have fled low-lying areas in Oman as the strongest cyclone to hit the region in 60 years heads towards the oil-rich Persian Gulf, with southern Iran next in its path.

TOUR America has launched a brochure for the Hawaiian islands, which underlines how the Irish are becoming more discerning.

A Galway woman today became the 20 millionth passenger to travel through Dublin Airport this year.

SWISSAIR is offering special fares from Dublin to a range of long-haul destinations (via Zurich). Bookings must be made before October 31, for travel to be completed by January 31.

Passengers today made the best of an uncertain situation as British Airways tried to clear the Heathrow flight backlog.

A Gulf Air Boeing-332 en route from London made an emergency landing in north-western Iran this morning after its cockpit reported a passenger’s heart failure, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

A security court in Muscat, Oman, today convicted 30 Omanis of plotting to overthrow their government and the sole other defendant on trial of a lesser crime, sentencing them to prison terms ranging from one to 20 years in prison.

A state security court today convicted 31 people of plotting to overthrow the government and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from one to 20 years in prison.

An Indonesian tsunami victim was plucked out of choppy waters by a passing cargo ship after surviving nearly two weeks at sea, officials said today.

A COURT in Oman has sentenced an American woman to death for murdering her husband.

An Omani court today convicted an American woman of murdering her husband and sentenced her to death, according to a court statement.

Britian's Prince of Wales is on his way back to the UK to face the escalating crisis surrounding him.

The show went on for the Prince of Wales today after he was dramatically named as the senior Royal allegedly involved in a compromising incident witnessed by a servant.

A bus crash killed 46 people in southern Oman when the vehicle veered off a mountain road and crashed into a valley.

Royal Marine commandos could be ordered to attack caves in Afghanistan to ‘‘smoke out’’ Osama bin Laden, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon suggested tonight.

British Airways executives have agreed to cut their pay by up to 15% in a move to help the airline through ‘‘difficult times’’ in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

British Airways is scrapping or suspending 190 services, including 36 flights to America, after the US terror attacks.

Tamil Tiger rebels armed with mortars have attacked Sri Lanka's international airport and adjoining air force base.