RADIO

Western pop music has been banned from the official English-language radio broadcast during the official working hours of the Sultanate of Oman, an official of the sultanate said. Instead, listeners of state-run Radio Sultanate of Oman on Wednesday heard classical music played from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. “It was not deemed suitable for disco music to be piped through civil servants’ offices,” said the official. “But Beethoven and Mozart is OK.” As it happens, Sultan Qaboos, the 48-year-old British-educated leader of the oil-rich Persian Gulf country, is a fan of classical music and opera.