April 10, 2012 by Al Watan Daily

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

@alwatandaily

Issue No. 1400

20 PAGES

www.alwatandaily.com

150 Fils with IHT

Syria crackdown continues on eve of deadline

Conflict deepens as bloodshed spills across Lebanon, Turkey borders CAPITALS: The bloody conflict in Syria spilled across two tense borders Monday when gunfire from government forces killed a cameraman in Lebanon and wounded at least six people in a refugee camp in Turkey, authorities said. The violence came as a UN-brokered truce plan set to take effect on Tuesday all but collapsed, bolstering fears that the uprising could spark a broader conflagration by sucking in neighboring countries. International envoy Kofi Annan brokered a cease-fire, but the plan is in tatters. Syrian troops were meant to pull out of population centers by Tuesday morning, but President Bashar Assad’s government on Sunday introduced a new, last-minute demand - saying forces cannot withdraw without written guarantees from opposition fighters that they will lay down their arms. Syria’s main rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, rejected the government’s demand for a

written guarantee, but says it will abide by its promise under Annan’s plan to stop fighting as long as the regime does too. “We as protectors of the Syrian people announce a cease-fire against the regime’s army starting on the morning of April 10 and we will stick to this promise if the regime abides by the clauses of the initiative,” a member of the FSA’s military council said in a YouTube video. The Syrian opposition and Western leaders had been skeptical all along that Assad would live up to his commitment to a truce because he broke similar promises in the past and escalated attacks on opposition strongholds in the days leading up to the cease-fire deadline. In the latest violence, Ali Shaaban, a cameraman for the Al Jadeed television station, was filming in Lebanon’s northernWadi Khaled area when a bullet pierced his chest, Lebanese security officials said. The gunfire came from the nearby Syrian village of Armouta, the officials said.

Five new hospitals to be built to meet mounting need: Official KUWAIT: Tenders for establishment of five new hospitals will be publicized in June and August with cost of the mega venture projected at 900 million Kuwaiti dinars, said a ranking official of the Ministry of Public Labor on Monday. The new hospitals, to be known as Al-Jahraa, Maternity, Al-Razi, Ibn Sina and Children’s, will be new and fully equipped and independent entities and would not be extension of existing hospitals, said Husam Al-Tahous, the assistant undersecretary for sector of construction projects, in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). Three consultation accords have been worked out for execution of the venture and all bureaucratic procedures, papers and documents, necessary for the bidding, have been prepared, said Al-Tahous, putting cost of the three accords at KD 900,000. In an extensive presentation to KUNA, Al-Tahous indicated at a study worked out by the ministry to specify the state needs from the new hospitals, noting that it was determined that Al-Jahraa district would need a new hospital with a capacity of 1,000 beds. However, the chosen land plot for the project would have a space sufficient for only 800 beds, he said, hinting that a new project for a hospital of larger capacity would be examined. According to the study, with regard of the southern region, the capacity of Al-Addan Hospital should be enlarged to add 2,000 beds, Al-Tahous said, adding that another plot would be chosen for building an annex for the More on 3 hospital to serve the mounting needs.

Writer Al-Milaifi sentenced to seven years in jail

KUWAIT: Kuwait is mulling “many scenarios” in case the strategic Strait of Hormuz is closed, disrupting its vital oil exports, a top official said on Monday. “We are discussing many scenarios but we have not decided which” plan to adopt, the CEO of national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Faruq Al-Zanki, said without revealing specifics. “This is something that needs to be coordinated with the (Gulf Cooperation Council) GCC states,” Al-Zanki told reporters on the sidelines of a Gulf Petroleum Conference. Iran has frequently threatened to close the strategic strait, through where most Gulf oil exports pass, if it is militarily attacked over its controversial nuclear program. Zanki said KPC has been asked to look into this issue. “KPC has been asked to look into what we think (it can do about the possible closure of Hormuz) and this is something we are looking into,” Al-Zanki said. He said that such contingency scenarios were discussed by the GCC states in the past and “we need to re-visit it and come up with a specific plan, agreed by all” states. He declined to say if the GCC states were currently engaged in studies over More on 2 the possible closure of Hormuz.

Representative from Kuwaiti companies investing in the Sabah Al-Ahmad logistic city in the Philippines are seen with His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah after a meeting held on Monday, April 9, 2012. (KUNA) Mohammed Al-Salman & Mohammed Al-Khaldi Staff Writers

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah met with three senior officials of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) including Mubarak Al-Duwailah, Nasser Al-Sane’a and Mohammad Al-Olaim. Informed sources have affirmed that the meeting was held at the request of the ICM to discuss the latest developments in the local arena, foreign affairs and the performance of the executive and legislative authorities. A source told Al Watan, “His Highness the Amir has shown understanding for the political issues we have raised,” adding that His Highness also expressed opinion about the performance of political forces. Further, the meeting asserted the acceptance of constitutional democracy and the denouncement of sectarian discourse that preoccupies the country and causes unrest. According to the source, those present at the meeting reassured the Amir there are wise people in the country who are able to contain the situa-

North Korea readies longer range rocket, Japan, South wary

Tunisian demonstrators run for cover as police ﬁre tear gas to break up a protest in Tunis, Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

Facebook to buy photo-share app Instagram for $1 billion

NEW YORK: Facebook is spending $1 billion to buy the photo-sharing company Instagram in the social network’s largest acquisition ever. Instagram lets people apply filters to photos they snap with their mobile devices and share them with friends and strangers. Some of the filters make the photos look as if they’ve been taken in the 1970s or on Polaroid cameras. “This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. “We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all.” Facebook said it plans to keep Instagram running independently. That’s a departure from its tendency to buy small startups and integrate the technology -- or shut them down altogether just so it can hire talented engineers and developers. “We think the fact that Instagram is con-

Kuwait mulls plans to deal with Hormuz closure

Police clash with anti-government protesters in Tunis

TUNIS: Police clashed with thousands of anti-government protesters who tried to storm Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis on Monday, defying a ban on demonstrations in the area - a focal point of the revolt that ousted Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali over a year ago. About 2,000 protesters marching from the nearby headquarters of the main labor union, which has been at the forefront of opposition to the Islamist-led government, were met by riot police at the interior ministry on Bourguiba Avenue. The moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which won elections last year, is under pressure from secular parties and the labor union not to give religion too prominent a place in public life. More on 4

Sectarianism denounced in Amir-ICM meeting

Shaaban, who was born in 1980, died on the way to the hospital, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. His colleague, reporter Hussein Khreis, said the team heard heavy gunfire around them from all sides “falling like rain.” Shaaban was inside a car when he was struck, Khreis said. “If you see the car, you would think it was in a war zone,” Khreis said on Al Jadeed TV. “It is completely destroyed from the bullets.” He said they waited for more than two hours for the Lebanese army and some residents to come and pull them out to safety. “I ask forgiveness from Ali’s family because I couldn’t do anything for him,” he said, breaking into tears. Al Jadeed said that Syrian security officials dressed in civilian clothes fired more than 40 bullets at their staff, who were on Lebanese soil. Al Jadeed said on its Arabic Twitter account that the Lebanese military retrieved Shaaban’s See also 4 body from near the border.

nected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.” Facebook is paying cash and stock for San Franciscobased Instagram and hiring its roughly 10 employees. The deal is expected to close by the end of June. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook is expected to complete its initial public offering of stock next month. Getting Instagram is big win for Facebook as it works to harness people’s growing obsession with their mobile devices and sharing every moment of their life. Instagram was only available Apple devices until recently. An app for Android devices was released last week. -AP

tion and that all currents work for the best interest of the country. The source equally noted that the need for applying the law to all without discrimination was affirmed and that State institutions must assume their constitutional role in fighting corruption and implementing the law. Furthermore, His Highness the Amir applauded the role played by the private sector in enhancing the national economy, which fosters Kuwait’s financial and commercial status. His Highness made the comments as he received the investors at the Sabah Al-Ahmad logistic City in Philippines who made a presentation about the projects they intend to implement over the coming period. For his part, the Chairman of the Kuwait and Gulf League for Transport Saeed Dashti expressed gratitude to the Amir for his sponsorship of the said project. During its scheduled session today, the National Assembly will set a date to discuss the interpellation filed by MP Hussein Al-Qallaf against the Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak, which has already been included in Parliament’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 agenda.

France takes new look at radicalization in prisons

Autism linked to maternal obesity

NEW YORK: A new study of mothers and children in California finds that kids born to obese women are more likely to be diagnosed with autism or related developmental delays than the children of slimmer moms. The research, which was looking for effects on kids’ cognitive development from a variety of “metabolic conditions” in mom – including high blood pressure or diabetes – found the strongest links between obesity and autism-related disorders. Researchers also found ties between the other maternal metabolic conditions and developmental delays in kids. Although the study cannot prove that one condition causes the other, its authors, who published their results in the journal Pediatrics, caution that even the possibility is worrisome in light of rising US obesity rates. “If there is anything you can do to make yourself healthier, this is yet another reason for moms to consider,” said Paula Krakowiak, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, who led the study. Krakowiak and her colleagues looked at 1004 children who were between two and five years old, born in California and already participating in a study underway at UC Davis. Of those kids, 517 had an autism spectrum disorder and 172 had developmental delays. For Krakowiak’s study, the children’s diagnoses were confirmed by a reevaluation at the UC Davis MIND More on 15 Institute.

The chariot of God Bhairab is pulled through the city centre of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu during the Bisket festival April 9, 2012. The nine-day festival takes place over the Nepalese New Year, during which the devotees try to pull the chariot to their respective locations and the winners are believed to be blessed for the coming year with good fortune. (Reuters)

ALWATAN DAILY

kuwait

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

Amir receives investors of Kuwaiti Sectarianism denounced in Amir-ICM meeting logistic project in Philippines COntinued from page 1

The lawmakers may open a discussion for the motion or defer it in case that the minister is not ready. Sources close to Al-Qallaf confirmed his readiness to question the minister. However, it has been reported that the speakers in favor or against the interpellations have not been decided, though certain MPs such as Nabeel Al-Fadl and Falah Al-Sawagh have offered to speak at the session. The latter is likely to speak against the motion while the former is seen as supportive to the questioning. This comes at a time when the Majority Bloc decided to deal with the interpellation in the same way as it did with the prime minister’s. Sources informed Al Watan that there will be no vote of confidence, as lawmakers will only discuss the motion and listen to AlMubarak’s refutation of the issues contained therein. In the meantime, a parliamentary source revealed that MP Mohammad Hayef has given the Majority Bloc’s Coordinative Committee a three-day deadline to deal with the issues he contained in his interpellation against the Minister of Awqaf Jamal Al-Shahab, or else a motion will be filed to question him. Hayef, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to the said committee for understanding the issues highlighted in his motion. He described the issues as important and legal, for they are within the minister’s jurisdiction. “We anticipate the minister’s meeting with the Coordinative Committee to tackle the three issues mentioned in the motion,” the lawmaker was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Head of Coordinative Committee MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said that the committee adopted

Hayef’s interpellation and that it will meet soon with Al-Shahab, in order to discuss the points mentioned in the interpellation. Al-Harbash hoped that the minister would find solutions to the issues in his ministry in order to avoid an interpellation. He remarked that fellow MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei could not attend the committee’s meetings, but will meet with its members tomorrow to deliberate the interpellation he plans to file against Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud. It is worth noting that 29 members of the Majority Bloc had met at the diwaniya of Al-Tabtabaei. The gathering witnessed arguments between MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash and Faisal Al-Mislem, where Al-Mislem asked Hayef to reveal the issues that he will discuss in his interpellation. In other news, MP Saleh Ashour addressed questions to the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah concerning the admission conditions for the Police Academy and the criteria for applicants. He also inquired about the status of Kuwaitis who have been stripped of their citizenship although they were included in the 1965 census. For his part, MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel asked the interior minister the reasons behind failing to grant Nayef Al-Mutairi the Kuwaiti citizenship even though he fulfilled all the required conditions. Moreover, MP Mohammad Al-Saqr put forth a proposal which calls for transforming Kuwait into one single electoral constituency, in accordance with the lists system. He, however, conditioned that a list should not include less than five candidates and that the selection should not be based on tribal or sectarian grounds, while voters can choose only one candidate.

Al-Humoud says MoI doesn’t abuse power Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The First Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud AlSabah affirmed that he will never condone any abuse of power by his ministry, which will continue to exercise the authority bestowed on it in accordance with the law. Al-Humoud stated that the ministry is committed to the Constitution and the enforcement of the law, adding that he received clear instructions from His Highness the Amir to apply the law to all without discrimination. Speaking to reporters following a meeting with the Parliament’s Interior and Defense Committee on Monday, the minister said, “I was pleased to meet with the committee members who inquired about

certain issues related to the ministry.” Al-Humoud explained that the ministry will continue to discharge its responsibilities toward the citizens and residents alike. “Kuwait is blessed with security and safety and I pray to Gold that he doesn’t deny us the ability to preserve the country and pass it on to the future generations in the best shape,” the top official said. The minister expressed hope that the committee members were satisfied at the answers he provided regarding the questions they have raised. Reacting to a question about recurrent complaints about the Ministry of Interior’s abuse of power, Al-Humoud stressed that he will never accept abuse of power, adding that the enforcement of law is done through the Investigations Department and the Public Prosecution.

Kuwait mulls plans to deal with Hormuz closure KUWAIT: Kuwait is mulling “many scenarios” in case the strategic Strait of Hormuz is closed, disrupting its vital oil exports, a top official said on Monday. “We are discussing many scenarios but we have not decided which” plan to adopt, the CEO of national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Faruq AlZanki, said without revealing specifics. “This is something that needs to be coordinated with the (Gulf Cooperation Council) GCC states,” Al-Zanki told reporters on the sidelines of a Gulf Petroleum Conference. Iran has frequently threatened to close the strategic strait, through where most Gulf oil exports pass, if it is militarily attacked over its controversial nuclear program. Zanki said KPC has been asked to look into this issue. “KPC has been asked to look into what we think (it can do about the possible closure of Hormuz) and this is something we are looking into,” Al-Zanki said. He said that such contingency scenarios were dis-

cussed by the GCC states in the past and “we need to re-visit it and come up with a specific plan, agreed by all” states. He declined to say if the GCC states were currently engaged in studies over the possible closure of Hormuz. Kuwait pumps around 3.0 million barrels per day (bpd) and most of it is exported as crude and refined products through the Strait of Hormuz. The United Arab Emirates is currently constructing pipelines that would allow oil and gas exports to bypass the strait, at the mouth of the Gulf. In January, UAE Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen Al-Hameli said a Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, due to be finished by June, will have the capacity to pump 1.5 million bpd from fields in Abu Dhabi on the Gulf to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. Kuwait is also working on a gas terminal in the northern emirate of Fujairah to eliminate the need for gas tankers to pass through the Hormuz. -AFP

Electricity, Water Ministry signs contracts for Sabah Al-Ahmad city’s electrical infrastructure

Assistant Undersecretary for electrical networks in the ministry engineer Saleh Al-Musallam during a press conference held on Monday, April 9, 2012. (Al Watan)

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah with representatives of Kuwaiti companies investing in the Sabah Al-Ahmad logistic city in the Philippines. (KUNA)

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace Monday representatives of Kuwaiti companies investing in the Sabah Al-Ahmad logistic city in the Philippines.

Sheikh Sabah lauded the efforts of the companies for bolstering national economy, hoping that the project would be a success. The meeting was attended by Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Mohammad Daifallah

Sharar. The basic infrastructure for the project was recently finished with the construction phase commencing. The total cost of the project’s investments is likely to exceed three billion US dollars. -KUNA

MP Al-Harbash says Parliament is set for drastic reformation Mubarak Al-Begheili Staff Writer

KUWAIT: MP Jamaan Al-Harbash stressed that the formation of the National Assembly in 2012, which includes 35 opposition lawmakers, is a phenomenon that never occurred before in any previous parliaments. He highlighted the importance of having the majority commit to the road map and to work according to a reformative agenda in order to manage the reformation battle. He added, during a forum that was held two days ago at the diwaniya of MP Mohammad Al-Dallal, that the current National Assembly must address past incidents through investigative committees that are formed by lawmakers who weren’t elected through bribery. He noted that investigation committees are currently on cases that involve people in power who corrupted the political arena. He added that the interpellation requires one day, but the investigations committees will work relentlessly until the truth is revealed. He remarked that some current ministers are surrounded by question marks.

Moreover, he stated that the current National Assembly is expected to make drastic legislative reformations. He revealed that the plot, in which aims to dissolve the current National Assembly, will say that there has been an overlapping of interpellations from the majority and the minority lawmakers. However, he stressed that maintaining the current National Assembly for the coming two years will cause a reformative shift in Kuwait’s history. He added that the laws regarding the financial disclosure, reformation of electoral system, and the anti-corruption laws are achievements made by the current Parliament. He said that history will not have any mercy for majority MPs, if they fail to make any accomplishments during the current National Assembly. He stressed that the coherence of the majority bloc is very challenging, since it includes various stances and points of view. Furthermore, he noted that the majority bloc MPs have agreed to refrain from filing any interpellations before discussing it with the bloc, in order to work in

Writer Al-Milaifi sentenced to seven years in jail

Youssef Al-Youssef Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Court sentenced writer Mohammad Al-Milaifi to seven years in prison and hard labot, after accusing him of spreading false news overseas about the domestic affairs of Kuwait, where he claimed that there are divisions between the various sects and segments of the society. The suspect was also accused of disdaining and ridiculing the Shiite sect. The court also ordered Al-Milaifi to pay a 50 Kuwaiti dinars fine to MP Ahmad Lari for slandering him, and to pay KD 5,000 to each plaintiff. Lawyer Jaleel AlTabbakh commented on the verdict saying that it embodies the Kuwait’s judicial justice, since law is the sole means to extinguish any sedition caused by some individuals who are being financed by overseas powers with the aim of dividing the Kuwaiti society. In addition, lawyer Ali Al-Ali stressed that there will be more cases filed against the suspect, and that he will call for toughening the penalty against him in order to set an example to others.

synergistically. He added that the government had asked the majority bloc to have one of its MPs supporting His Highness Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak during the interpellation, but the bloc refused, and said that the premier should be able to convince the lawmakers through his responses. He added that the bloc refused to file interpellation against Al-Mubarak in a closed session, and insisted that the session be open. He explained that the bloc is currently attempting to submit 700 draft laws. In addition, he underlined the importance of permanent stability, and asked those in power to steer away from misappropriating public resources. Meanwhile, MP Mohammad Al-Dallal noted that Kuwait had deteriorated significantly, adding that the development plan was hampered and the law was rendered helpless before the previous parliamentary elections. He explained that the state is the central authority that ensures justice and equality. However, he warned against corruptors who seek to hinder the capabilities of the National Assembly.

First Gulf Cooperative Forum begins in Kuwait

KUWAIT: Under the patronage of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the First Gulf Cooperative Forum kicked off here on Monday. In his opening speech, Kuwait Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Lieutenant General Ahmad Al-Rujaib said the forum, themed “Gulf Cooperatives ... Past and Future” comes within the framework of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) approach of unifying policies of action in different domains. The forum is held on the sidelines of the Third Gulf Festival for Social Work, themed “quality and pioneering” on April 8-14. Al-Rujaib noted that social affairs and labor ministers of the six GCC member states are participating in the festival and forum. He underlined confidence that the forum would help reach unified resolution for developing everything related to cooperative societies work, particularly legislations and control. For his part, Saudi Social Affairs Minister and Head of the GCC Social Affairs and Labor Ministers Council Yousef bin Ahmed Al-Othaimeen said the forum aims to better implement social responsibility role of the cooperatives and enhancing peoples confidence in them. -KUNA

Minister of Amiri Diwan receives Zakat House orphans

Staff Writer and Agencies

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water signed on Monday contracts to complete the infrastructure of the residential city of Sabah Al-Ahmad worth about 216 million Kuwaiti dinars. Assistant Undersecretary for electrical networks in the ministry engineer Saleh Al-Musallam said in a press conference that the signing of these contracts complement a large part of construction contracts for electrical infrastructure in Sabah Al-Ahmad city, which is expected to consume about 2500 MW, almost 20 percent from a peak output power in the country. He said the projected amount to complete electrical infrastructure is more than 300 million dinars, including the main lines, adding that the signing of current contracts include KD 160 million for the stations and cables, KD 10 million for the sub-feeder line of the city

and KD 46 million for the lines of the main stations. He added that the city will be the first to be fed from the 400 kv stations where two contracts have been signed for the establishment of such stations, and two more stations would be signed soon. He stressed that the ministry is working hard to implement the project and finish it in a short time with no delay, since the area is expecting a population of half a million. Engineer Saleh praised the cooperation of Minister of Electricity and Water Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim and stressed that the project will be ready on time and will be energy saving concept Moreover, minister Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim stressed on the ministry’s goal is to implement an eco-friendly project that will save energy. He discussed in the press conference the ministry’s full intentions to create infrastructure that best fit in successful usage of water and electricity.

KUWAIT: Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah inaugurated on Monday the Fifth Orphans Forum, organized by Zakat House, in presence of orphans from 12 Arab and Muslim countries. According to the forum’s organizers, Sheikh Nasser invited the organizers to meet with the orphans from various countries, who are sponsored by the Zakat House, on the occasion of the Arab Orphans Day in order to stay in contact with them and honor them for their various outstanding and distinctive achievements. During the forum, Sheikh Nasser gave a welcoming speech to the attendance, calling the Amighty Allah to bless those orphans and grant them best of luck to reach higher educational levels. On his part, Muhammad Al-Otaibi, Director of Social Services Department at Zakat House, presented the Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs with a commemorative shield for this occasion. Afterwards, the meeting was concluded by an entertaining gala for the orphans. -KUNA

Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah visiting one of the orphans house on Monday, April 9, 2012. (KUNA)

ALWATAN DAILY

KUWAIT

tuesdAY, april 10, 2012

Five new hospitals to be built to meet mounting need: Official

Concept diagram of the hospital, to be known as Al-Jahraa (right) and a concept design for Al-Amiri Hospital. Tenders for establishment of five new hospitals will be publicized in June and August. (KUNA)

KUWAIT: Tenders for establishment of five new hospitals will be publicized in June and August with cost of the mega venture projected at 900 million Kuwaiti dinars, said a ranking official of the Ministry of Public Labor on Monday. The new hospitals, to be known as Al-Jahraa, Maternity, Al-Razi, Ibn Sina and Children’s, will be new and fully equipped and independent entities and would not be extension of existing hospitals, said Husam Al-Tahous, the assistant undersecretary for sector of construction projects, in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). Three consultation accords have been worked out for execution of the venture and all bureaucratic procedures, papers and documents, necessary for the bidding, have been prepared, said Al-Tahous, putting cost of the three accords at KD 900,000.

In an extensive presentation to KUNA, Al-Tahous indicated at a study worked out by the ministry to specify the state needs from the new hospitals, noting that it was determined that Al-Jahraa district would need a new hospital with a capacity of 1,000 beds. However, the chosen land plot for the project would have a space sufficient for only 800 beds, he said, hinting that a new project for a hospital of larger capacity would be examined. According to the study, with regard of the southern region, the capacity of Al-Addan Hospital should be enlarged to add 2,000 beds, Al-Tahous said, adding that another plot would be chosen for building an annex for the hospital to serve the mounting needs. The capital needs 800 beds, but the available plot of land adjacent to Al-Amiri Hospital would be enough to build an

annex with 600 beds only, thus the ministry opted to take charge of the responsibility of building a hospital at this location with a capacity of 250 beds. As to the new Maternity Hospital, it will have a capacity of 600 beds and located in Al-Sabah district, opposite the existing hospital. Needed documents for the project have been prepared and the relevant tender is due to be publicized soon. The Children’s Hospital, of a 500-bed capacity, will be situated west of the existing Children’s Hospital. Both AlRazi and Ibn Sina hospital will have 500-bed capacity. Al-Tahous indicated at strategic objective of securing up to 22 beds per 10, 000 citizens by 2030, and that was based on the number of population, 2.44 million, in 2009, with calculation of the average annual growth, estimated 2.93 percent.

Fourth ring road project to be divided into 2 sections KUWAIT: Undersecretary for Roads in the Ministry of Public Works Engineer Saud Al-Naqi said, “The development of the fourth ring road is going to be divided into two sections starting off at Shuwaikh University road to Khaldiya area, following the rest of the roads which are directed to the fourth ring road.” The engineer expressed, in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), that the project is going to be fully implemented once the approval

is granted from the Audit Bureau and regulators, with the full intention to complete the project in an efficient period. He stressed that a meeting will be conducted with the design consultant of the fourth ring road, in which data will be collected from the Municipality of Kuwait, along with the number of cars in Kuwait to fully create a successful result via the project that will in turn facilitate traffic flow dramatically.

Al-Naqi said that the roads will not be built on any personal space of any house, adding that the project will be fully implemented on state property, while also maintaining the privacy of the homes overlooking the bridges by placing barriers on top of the bridges. Finally Al-Naqi revealed the intention to allocate a single utility building for all the infrastructure services for roads such as water, sanitation and electricity. -KUNA

Current capacity of public hospitals in Kuwait stands at 18 beds per 10,000 persons. However, the mentioned study calls for hiking it to 25 beds per 10, 000 nationals, based on recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Needed hospital accommodation capacity will be secured with construction of the new hospitals, said AlTahous. He indicated at a plan to build a 500-bed hospital for personnel of the Ministry of Interior in Al-Sabah district - on a 90,000 square-meters plot of land. Designing work for this project is due in the summer and execution is scheduled in the summer of 2013. Construction of public hospitals in Kuwait dates back to 1949, when the late Amir Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah inaugurated the Amiri Hospital. -KUNA

FM receives letter from Iraqi counterpart on ties

Embassy in Japan participates in Arab charity Kuwait donates TOKYO: Kuwaiti Embassy in Japan participated in an annual bazaar organized by the Association of Arab Ambassadors Wives (Suwag) in Tokyo in the presence of Japanese Princess Tsuguko, the embassy said in a statement to Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) on Monday. Princess Tsuguko was received by spouse of Kuwaiti Ambassador Jamila Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi at the Kuwaiti pavilion, which showcased the country’s clothing, handicrafts and food products. Al-Otaibi gave her a full explanation of the items on display, which were highly acclaimed by the princess and the visitors. Al-Otaibi said that Kuwait Embassy is always keen

on participating in such occasions, whether by the embassy alone or the Suwag Society’s activities, in order to deliver a message to the Japanese people through exhibits from Arab in general and Kuwait in particular. The proceeds from the charity will be donated to the children in the eastern prefecture of Fukushima, which was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March last year, according to Al-Otaibi. She also hailed the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry for their cooperation, saying it affirms the keenness of ministry officials to facilitate Kuwaiti missions’ work abroad. -KUNA

Coco York, Mike del Ferro to perform at Kuwait Autism Center KUWAIT: In cooperation with the Kuwait Center for Autism, and in recognition of Autism Awareness and Jazz Appreciation month, the US Embassy of Kuwait invites people to attend a jazz performance by singer CoCo York and pianist Mike del Ferro. The performance will take place at the Kuwait Center for Autism auditorium at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday,

April 11, 2012. This was stated in a press release issued Monday. To show support for the Center and the children in celebration of these two great cultural and social occasions that are part of Kuwait and the United States of America, the show is open to the general public and is free of charge.

$1 million to UNHRC

CAIRO: Kuwait is keen to help Syrian refugees in the neighboring countries, said Representative of Kuwait to the Arab League Ambassador Jamal Mohammed Al-Ghoneim on Monday. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), he said the General Secretariat of the Arab League was notified that Kuwait will donate one million US dollars to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to aid the Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. Kuwaiti support comes in the framework implemented during the Conference of the Group of the Friends of the Syrian People, held in Turkey earlier this month, by Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, he added. Al-Ghoneim pointed out that the total sum of Kuwaiti donation to Syrian refugees amounted to $12 million delivered via charity organizations. He called on Arab League to notify the Arab countries on the contributions made by the Kuwaiti’s to Syrian refugees. -KUNA

Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Sabah (right) during a meeting with Iraqi Ambassador to Kuwait Mohammed Hussein Bahr Al-Ulum (left) on Monday, April 9, 2012. (KUNA)

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Sabah received a letter from Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on how to develop bilateral relations. The Iraqi letter, which also handled

several issues of mutual interest, was delivered to the Kuwaiti minister by Iraqi Ambassador to Kuwait Mohammed Hussein Bahr Al-Ulum. The meeting was also attended by several officials of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry. -KUNA

Kuwait, Bahrain ink MoU on Islamic endowments KUWAIT: The Awqaf (Islamic endowments) agencies of Kuwait and Bahrain have signed a memorandum of understanding for investing endowments and carrying out relevant joint programs. Under the MoU, a congenial framework is to be set out for developing means and ways of reinforcing cooperation between both countries’ Awqaf agencies, Kuwait’s General Secretariat

of Awqaf said in a press release on Monday. Both sides are expected to hold bilateral talks on how to put joint projects and programs in place within the framework of this agreement, it added. They will also exchange publications and reports, organize joint training courses and develop studies, research and activities, it pointed out. -KUNA

Top Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency official in Kuwait

KUWAIT: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) Executive Vice President Izumi Kobayashi said the Kuwaiti private sector has long been in the forefront with investment in ventures in developing countries and the agency is keen on cooperation to repeat such success stories. Interviewed by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Kobayashi said she is visiting Kuwait to encourage the private sector to consider development projects with MIGA guarantees in developing nations of the region. “MIGA has allocated over one billion US dollars to support insurance capabilities in the region to encourage direct foreign investment,” she said. There needs to be more awareness of private sector investment as a tool for growth and job creation, and the visit aims to share information on how MIGA tools alleviate the risk resulting from political factors, she pointed out further. Kobayashi remarked that she would be meeting government officials as well as private sector figures to promote MIGA projects, and most specifically promote a fund to finance projects in Gaza. “The MIGA is a member organization of the World Bank Group that offers political risk insurance. “I am visiting Kuwait with great interest in giving Kuwaiti investors, private portfolio managers, and banks access to some of the regions that are riskier but at the same time richer in opportunities for considerable growth.” Closer to home, she said

the young in the region are frustrated over few job opportunities, but noted that there is still opportunity for greater growth rates. “This, however, is only possible with higher rates of increase in private investment.” She said the events in the Middle East last year caused many investors to re-consider their steps. Investors who thought political stability a given were taken aback, and re-assessed their plans. “A MIGA survey indicated that 25 percent of investors put their projects on halt, while others either cancelled or pulled out of investments ongoing and in the pipe-lines.” Many Middle East countries were dependent on investments from Europe, which had trickled to a stop due to the European financial difficulties. These countries are now hard put to find willing lenders. As a result, the Middle East failed to see the same rates of technology transfer and job creation as other parts of the world, having secured only six percent of overall direct foreign investment. “Now more than ever, MIGA can guarantee investments against political risk in order to encourage return of these investments to the Middle East. Indeed, the agency already has a flexible plan ... After the uprising in Tunisia, we succeeded in supporting several development projects and we covered the delay in pay-back of sovereign dues totaling USD 200 million, which gave a positive signal.” The agency is particularly interested in upgrading infrastructure and basic services in develop-

ing nations with high political risk factors with the help of the private sector. The official gave the example of “a partnership to set up a sewage water treatment plant in Jordan with the aim of providing drinking water.” Kuwaiti investors have many opportunities to look into, particularly in Africa, Kobayashi said, and the fields of energy, mining, construction, and communications are particularly profitable. The agency can provide the guarantees, and “over half of the projects guaranteed last year had actually been in the poorest countries and some states that were fresh out of conflict and some that are still fragile.” In addition to protection against political conflict, MIGA can also offer Kuwaiti investors a level of protection against suit for damages. “We can use our position within the World Bank Group to interact with governments to defuse tensions before they blow up into crises and affect projects.” The agency currently provides some USD 495 million to projects in the Middle East and North Africa, “and the figure would most likely go up in the near future.” On Kuwait’s development plan, the official pointed out that the mega projects listed are long-term ventures and investments must be lured through state subsidy, as well as allowing direct foreign investment. “And this is where the agency comes in.” Kobayashil listed damage caused by conflict, seizure of property, change of policy, monetary difficulties

and currency exchange issues and limitations, and vandalism as cases where MIGA provides coverage. The guarantees provided last 3-15 years, she added, and can go up to 20 years in special cases where the nature of the projects involved justify it. MIGA guarantees as high as 90 percent of the investment money and up to 95 percent of the original loan. Investors are also able to file requests for guarantees without paying any fees, and are only required to supply documentation and details of the project once the investment and financing plans are finalized. An application can easily be filed through the agency’s website ‘www.miga.org” or regular post. “With the Middle East currently in need of new jobs for the young and measures to re-start growth, “it is our role now to help bring investors back to the region and to provide strong positive examples that would encourage new investments and projects,” Kobayashi said. MIGA is a member of the World Bank Group, founded in 1988 with a capital base of USD 1 billion. The agency has 175 members and aims to “promote foreign direct investment (FDI) into developing countries to help support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives.” It also “conduct(s) research and share(s) knowledge” to “support foreign direct investment into emerging markets.” -KUNA

ALWATAN DAILY

regional It’s the war...

By Hossam Fathi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: We direly need to use reason and avoid being carried away by our personal whims. We direly need to maximize our sense of being Egyptians and to realize that our decision to vote for a particular candidate can lay the first brick of building a new Egypt or the last nail in the coffin of an unfinished revolution. We need to ponder what we really aspire to for our children and our beloved ones. We need to desist from selfishness and narrow personal interests. We should be certain that we will all vanish but Egypt will perpetuate. Our children will never forgive us if we make a wrong choice for this may shatter their dreams for the country. The warm-up ahead of the presidential polls has already started for the key players. Presidential hopeful Khairat El-Shater described the candidature of Omar Suleiman as insulting to the revolution. He made the assertion during an interview with the “Yawm Al-Sabe” newspaper and repeated it during a similar encounter with Reuters. For his part, Suleiman revealed to his friend Mustafa Bakri that he had received death threats from the Muslim Brotherhood after he fielded his candidacy papers. He however reacted by saying, “If some think that these threats will deflect me, then they are deluded.” hossam@alwatan.com.kw Twitter:@hossamfathy66

NEWS IN BRIEF Tunisian smugglers released from Libyan custody TUNIS: Five Tunisian smugglers taken hostage by Libyan gunmen near the Ras Jdir border crossing were released on Sunday after negotiations with the military council in the western Libyan town of Zawiya, the official TAP news agency reported. The men, from the Tunisian border town of Ben Guerdane, were snatched on Saturday in what security sources said was a dispute over fuel smuggling. The incident highlighted the challenges Libya’s National Transitional Council has faced in imposing its authority over myriad armed groups since last year’s revolt that ousted Muammar Gaddafi after 42 years in power. -Reuters

US Navy deploys second aircraft carrier to Gulf DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: The US Navy says it has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf amid rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear program. Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said on Monday that the deployment of the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise along the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group marks only the fourth time in the past decade that the Navy has had two aircraft carriers operating at the same time in the region. The two carriers will support the American military operations in Afghanistan and anti-piracy efforts off Somalia’s coast and in the Gulf of Aden. -AP

Algeria says hostages still held, may shut Mali border ALGIERS: Algeria said on Monday it could not confirm a report that seven of its diplomats abducted in rebel-held northern Mali had been freed, and threatened to shut its border crossings to stop the chaos there spilling over. Algeria’s El Watan newspaper reported on Sunday that the seven were freed, but Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci was quoted by the official APS news agency as saying: “There is no information regarding the release.” The diplomats were abducted last week from the town of Gao, part of a swathe of territory in northern Mali now under the control of Tuareg-led separatists. -Reuters

Iran urges ‘honesty’ in crucial nuclear talks

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday urged “honesty” at crucial talks with world powers due to be held this week in order to defuse a tense international showdown over its disputed nuclear activities. “We hope the P5+1 will come to the negotiating table with honesty, and we also will make an honest effort so that both sides reach a win-win conclusion,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told the Iranian parliament’s website. Salehi warned the P5+1 group - consisting of UN Security Council members the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany - should not try to impose conditions on the talks before they begin on Saturday in Istanbul. The aim was that “Iran gain its rights and the P5+1 have its stated concerns alleviated” over Tehran’s nuclear program, he said. The United States and its allies fear Iran’s nuclear activities mask a drive towards atomic weapons capability something Tehran strenuously denies. The United States and Israel have threatened to launch attacks on Iran if diplomacy on the issue fails. Salehi rejected a weekend report in The New York Times newspaper quoting unnamed US and EU diplomats as saying the West was going into the talks with demands that Iran close an underground nuclear bunker in Fordo, and that it halt enriching uranium to 20 percent. “Those (demands) have been raised only by the media and we cannot make a judgment based on them,” Salehi said. “Putting forward preconditions before the meeting happens is equivalent to reaching a conclusion before the negotiations start. It is completely meaningless. No one will accept preconditions before the talks,” he added. Salehi did not speak about the venue of the talks or Iran’s see-sawing in recent days over whether the negotiations should be held in Istanbul. The foreign minister had initially said Iran favored Istanbul. But other Iranian officials and politicians last week said they were opting for Baghdad instead. The office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is representing the P5+1, on Monday confirmed that “we have agreed to launch talks in Istanbul on April 14.” Spokesman Michael Mann added: “We hope that this first round will produce a conducive environment for concrete progress.” Iran’s last talks with the P5+1 powers were also held in Istanbul, in January 2011, and ended in failure. -AFP

tuesDAY, april 10, 2012

Gunfire along Syrian borders kills journalist, wounds refugees BEIRUT: Security officials say a Lebanese journalist has been killed by gunfire along the Lebanese-Syrian border. The officials say Ali Shaaban, who works as a cameraman for Al Jadeed TV station, was shot Monday as he was filming in the northern Wadi Khaled area on the Lebanese side of the border. The gunfire apparently came from the Syrian side of the frontier. The officials say Shaaban was rushed to the hospital but died on the way. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Meanwhile, Syrian forces fired across the border Monday into a refugee camp in Turkey, wounding at least five people as a UN-brokered plan to end more than a year of violence this week all but collapsed, authorities said. Syrian activists said two people were killed, but the reports could not be immediately confirmed. The Syrian soldiers were believed to be firing at rebels who tried to escape to the refugee camp after ambushing a military checkpoint, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing a network of sources on the ground. Turkey shelters thousands of refugees who have fled Syria as the government tries to crush a revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad. The UN estimates some 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, when the uprising began. Monday’s shooting bolstered fears that the uprising could spark a broad conflagration by sucking in neighboring countries. There have been similar cross-border attacks into Lebanon, although Monday’s shooting was believed to be the first inside Turkey. Gunfire at Turkish border

The incident began at about before dawn on Monday when rebel fighters attacked Syrian soldiers manning a checkpoint near the Turkish border, killing six soldiers, said Rami AbdulRahman, a spokesman for the Observatory. The troops then kept firing as eight wounded rebels escaped to the camp that is just across

el group rejected the government’s demands. Naci Koru, Turkey’s deputy foreign minister, said the deadline for the withdrawal has become “void at this stage,” state-run TRT television reported. Annan visits refugee camp

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on April 9, 2012 shows Syrian troops deploying in Saqba on the outskirts of Damascus. (AFP)

the border in Turkey, sending bullets whizzing across the frontier into the camp, he said. According to the Observatory, the shooting wounded five people in the camp, which is next to the Oncupinar border post near the town of Kilis in Gaziantep province. The Observatory reported that two people later died of their injuries, but that could not be immediately confirmed. The province’s governor, Yusuf Odabas, said five people were wounded: three Syrians, one Turkish translator and one Turkish policeman. The translator had entered the camp to try to help calm an anti-Assad protest, he said. The governor said Turkish military forces did not return fire. The shooting prompted Turkey, which has been among Al-Assad’s harshest critics, to summon the Syrian charge d’affaires and call for an

immediate halt to the gunfire. Turkey hosts some 24,000 Syrian refugees, including hundreds of army defectors, and has floated the idea of setting up a buffer zone inside Syria if the flow of displaced people across its border becomes overwhelming. The two countries share a 911-kilometer (566-mile) border, and parts of southern Turkey near Syria are informal logistics bases for rebels, who collect food and other supplies in Turkey and deliver them to comrades inside Syria via smuggling routes. Syrian troops were meant to pull out of population centers by Tuesday morning, but the government on Sunday introduced a new demand - saying it cannot withdraw without written guarantees from opposition fighters that they will lay down their arms. Syria’s main reb-

Mubarak’s VP not seeking to ‘reinvent’ old regime CAIRO: Hosni Mubarak’s former vice president and spy chief said in comments published Monday that he would not attempt to “reinvent” the regime of his longtime mentor if he is elected president of Egypt. Omar Suleiman, who is running in the presidential elections slated for May 23-24, told state-owned AlAkhbar daily that restoring security would be his top priority as president. Next on his list would be to revive the country’s faltering economy, social justice and reinforcing freedom and democracy. He also sought to distance himself from the old regime and said the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down nearly 14 months ago has created a “new reality” that cannot be reversed. “The clock cannot be turned back and the revolution laid down a new reality that cannot be ignored,” Suleiman said. “And no one, no matter who he is, will be able to reinvent a regime that fell, folded and was rejected and revolted against.” Suleiman’s candidacy sets up a likely showdown in the elections between a key figure of the Mubarak regime and the Muslim Brotherhood - Egypt’s most powerful political group, which is fielding its former deputy

leader as candidate for president. The Brotherhood has blasted Suleiman’s candidacy. Its contender in the race, Khairat El-Shater, denounced on Monday what he said was a “reproduction of the old regime” and warned that any attempt to rig the May vote would unleash new street protests. “This is an offense to the revolution and a failure to realize the changes that have happened in the Egyptian people,” El-Shater told reporters. “This is an attempt to steal the revolution.” In the interview, Suleiman also projected himself as an opposition figure within the Mubarak regime, saying he had objected to many policies, laws and “what transpired” in 2010 parliamentary elections, which were probably the most rigged vote since Egypt’s 1953 overthrow of the monarchy. “Those who think that my candidacy for president means reinventing the former regime must realize that being the head of the General Intelligence Agency or vice president for a few days does not mean that I was part of an institution against which people revolted,” Suleiman said. -AP

Militants attack gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai

EL-ARISH: Militants on Monday blew up a gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula that transports fuel to neighboring Israel and Jordan, a senior Egyptian security official said. The attack was the 14th on the pipeline since last year’s popular uprising that ousted Egypt’s longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Previous bombings of the pipeline have been blamed on Islamist militants who have stepped up their activity in Sinai, taking advantage of a security vacuum caused by a thin police presence in the post-Mubarak era. Northern Sinai security chief Maj. Gen. Saleh Al-Masri said Monday’s blast hit a section of the pipeline outside the city of el-Arish but did not cause major damage or a fire since the gas flow had been cut following a blast on the pipeline last month. Al-Masri said the Interior Ministry would send an armored police brigade to guard the area and maintain security because the current number of policemen is not enough to control the vast desert region. But he said additional army units would still be needed, but because of Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel, reinforcements can only be deployed with Israel’s agreement. The number of Egyptian forces in demilitarized Sinai is regulated by the 1979 accord, which prohibits the deployment of military forces in the section of Sinai bordering Israel, leaving security in that area in the hands of lightly armed police and border guards. But in August, Egypt - acting with Israeli approval - deployed 2,000 more soldiers and police in the area following a spike in violence. -AP

Police clash with anti-government protesters in Tunis

Tunisian protesters and security forces clash on April 9, 2012 in Tunis. Tunisians were trying to join Habib Bourguiba Avenue to demonstrate against the government of Ennahdha. (AFP)

public life - and from Salafist parties wanting the opposite. Protesters on Monday also likened Ennahda to the Trabelsi family of Ben Ali’s wife Leila, widely blamed by Tunisians for the rampant corruption of the final years of his rule. “The people are sick of the new Trabelsis,” protesters chanted. Police beat back protesters with batons and fired tear gas to break up the crowd, chasing stone-throwing demonstrators down side streets in scenes reminiscent of the tactics used during Ben Ali’s 23 years as president, when Tunisia was a police state and freedoms severely restricted. “The people want the fall of the regime,” protesters chanted, echoing the demand that was coined in Tunisia dur-

Annan is scheduled to visit to one of the refugee camps in Hatay province, bordering Syria, on Tuesday afternoon, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said. Annan’s office confirmed the trip to Turkey. “Annan’s one-hour visit to Hatay tomorrow is critical, he will see the situation himself,” the TRT quoted Koru as saying on Monday. Annan has been on a serious diplomatic push to rally support for his cease-fire deal. The international community, which so far is unwilling to contemplate military intervention, has had little leverage over Syria. But Iran, Russia and China have been Assad’s strongest supporters. Annan already has traveled to Russia and China, and he was expected in Tehran on Tuesday. On Monday, Russia was hosting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem. Also Monday, Human Rights Watch said it has documented the killings by Syrian forces of 85 civilians, including women and children, and the summary executions of at least 16 wounded or captured opposition fighters. “In a desperate attempt to crush the uprising, Syrian forces have executed people in cold blood, civilians and opposition fighters alike,” said Ole Solvang, a researcher for the group. “They are doing it in broad daylight and in front of witnesses, evidently not concerned about any accountability for their crimes.” The New York-based group said it only included cases corroborated by witnesses, but has received many more reports of similar incidents. The allegations came as opposition activists reported that Syrian forces pressed ahead with raids and shelling attacks on the towns of Tel Rifaat in the northwest and Muhassan in the east of the country Monday. -AP

ing the 2011 revolution and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. “No fear, no terror, the street belongs to the people,” the crowds chanted as they confronted police. Hundreds more protesters were heading towards the central street from other areas after an online call to march on Bourguiba Avenue on the April 9 Martyrs’ Day holiday, marking the suppression of pro-independence demonstrators by French colonial troops in 1938. The interior ministry decided to ban rallies on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in late March after local hotels, restaurants and other businesses complained that repeated protests and counter-protests were snarling traffic and disrupting business. -Reuters

Yemeni army clashes with Islamists in south, 33 killed

ADEN: At least 33 people were killed on Monday when fighters from an Al-Qaeda-linked group attacked a military camp near the southern Yemen city of Lawdar, residents and local officials said. The fighting erupted when fighters from Ansar AlSharia launched a dawn attack on the camp, which is in Abyan province, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the southern port city of Aden. The group seized control of a significant amount of territory in Abyan during the turmoil that led to the replacement of President Ali Abdullah Saleh by his deputy, a deal that Saudi Arabia and Washington hope will prevent Al-Qaeda from getting a foothold near key oil shipping routes. Eighteen fighters were killed in Monday’s clash with the army and five when warplanes bombed a checkpoint they were holding, officials and residents said. Nine soldiers and one tribesman fighting alongside them were also killed. A military official said the army drove the fighters away from the area around the camp. The militants said in an emailed statement that none of their fighters was killed in the clash, and threatened to attack Lawdar. Mohammed Nasser, a resident of Lawdar, speaking by telephone with the sound of artillery and small arms fire audible, said the fighting lasted three hours. “It is not the first attempt (by the group) to take control, but it’s the biggest attack yet,” he said. A local official said tribal militiamen joined the fighting alongside the military, and that at least 10 soldiers and tribesmen were wounded. Yemen’s main airport in the capital, Sanaa, was paralyzed for a day after Hadi sacked the air force commander, a relative of Saleh, on Friday, and pro-Saleh officers responded by blockading the airport with vehicles. A government official said they backed down only after warnings from the United States and the Gulf countries which crafted the deal that made Hadi president. In the capital Sanaa, a military committee tasked with restructuring the armed forces oversaw the evacuation of troops and dismantling of some checkpoints belonging to rival divisions of the military, an official said. -Reuters

ALWATAN DAILY

WORLD

tuesdAY, april 10, 2012

Ex-KGB man wins South Ossetia presidential election TSKHINVALI: A pro-Russian former KGB officer won the presidency in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, where Moscow is trying to re-assert control, election officials said on Monday. Leonid Tibilov, 60, received about 54 percent of the votes in a runoff on Sunday against regional human rights ombudsman David Sanakoyev, election commission chief Bella Pliyeva said. Moscow recognized the tiny region of about 30,000 people as an independent nation after a 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, but it remains heavily dependent on Moscow’s financial help and military protection amid growing dissatisfaction over how funds are spent. “We will develop the relationship with Russia in all areas. We are aiming to make an old dream about the reunification of South and North Ossetia a reality,” Tibilov told reporters at a polling station in the region’s capital, Tskhinvali. North Ossetia is part of Russia and Tibilov’s call implies a de facto unification of the region with Russia, a move which analysts say Moscow is unlikely to make for now in order to avoid antagonizing the West, which accuses Russia of seeking to redraw borders by recognizing South Ossetia as independent.

Russia has spent about $1 billion supporting the impoverished region since the five-day war, which took place mostly on its territory. Many of its residents complain they have seen little sign of the money coming through. Tibilov, who headed South Ossetia’s security agency in the 1990s and is praised for his modest lifestyle, acknowledged in the course of his campaign that funds had been misappropriated and promised to crack down on corruption. Russia uses its influence on South Ossetia and another breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, to keep US-backed Georgia’s aspiration of joining NATO in check. Georgian entry to the Western military alliance is seen as problematic as long as the areas remain disputed territory. Georgia says the South Ossetian vote is illegitimate. South Ossetia, which has run its own affairs with Russian backing since the early 1990s, is recognized as independent by only a handful of nations, including Russia. A previous vote in South Ossetia in November was declared invalid after a candidate backed by the Kremlin and outgoing president Eduard Kokoity lost the poll and accused his opponent of violations. Neither candidate took part in the rerun. -Reuters

The presidential elections winner, former local head of the KGB security, Leonid Tibilov, 60, leading human rights ombudsman David Sanakoyev with about 55.8 percent of votes against his rival’s 41.3 after 67 percent of the ballots had been counted. (Reuters)

Pyongyang has also shifted its launch site, and the new, more sophisticated site on the west of the Korean peninsula

A staff member (1st, R)introduces the situation to the journalists in control and command center in Tongchang-ri base, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). DPRK announced last month its plan to launch the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite to mark the 100th birthday of late leader Kim Il Sung, which has triggered global concerns. (AP)

Pyongyang has also shifted its launch site, and the new, more sophisticated site on the west of the Korean peninsula reduces the risk of debris falling on Japan, which was overflown in a previous testlaunch of a missile. This launch will take the rocket down the west coast of the Korean peninsula. Japan, which fears a repeat of a 2009 firing over its territory, has put its missile batteries on alert to shoot the rocket down. “They have come pretty far on the question of range, but they still need a lot to resolve in the precision technology needed for (warhead) re-entry and guidance,” a South Korean military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said. The Unha-3 is likely the same threestage liquid-fueled ballistic missile the North fired in 2009 over Japan which eventually splashed down after a 3,800 km flight, military experts in South Korea said. The new rocket is believed to have a design range of more than 6,700 km (4,160 miles), and can carry a payload of up to 1,000 kg. At its closest point, Alaska in the

United States is about 5,000 km from North Korea. The launch will be the first at the Sohae rocket station, construction of which began in 2007. It is a large, sophisticated facility with specialized assembly and transport, according to analysis from military specialist consultancy IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly. While most international observers doubt that the Unha-2 rocket launched in 2009 managed to put a satellite into orbit, few experts believe there is a high risk the Unha-3 will land on a densely populated urban area. The biggest risks are a massive failure of the guidance system that could send the rocket north over China, the North’s main political and economic backer, or the destruct mechanism not functioning if it does veer off course, said Markus Schiller from Schmucker Technologie in Munich, an expert on North Korean missile systems. “There always is a residual risk, of course, that several things might go wrong and lead to unforeseen disaster ... but this risk is very low, actually approaching zero,” Schiller said in an emailed response to questions. -Reuters

SEOUL: South Korea’s police chief resigned on Monday following public fury at a bungled case in which a woman was raped and murdered after frantically calling police for help. National Police Agency chief Cho Hyun-Oh said he would step down to “take all responsibility... for unpardonable carelessness” by the police and asked the victim’s family for forgiveness. “I express my deepest regret at the police’s negligence which had such a horrendous result and attempts to cover it up with lies,” Cho told a press conference. -AFP

Six dead in Pakistan checkpoint raid

der Taliban rule. Waheed Muzhda, an Afghan analyst and former official in the Taliban government, said the US had suspected Zaeef of involvement in a terror plot last year. Zaeef was summoned to the presidential

North Korea readies longer range rocket, Japan, South wary

CHOLSAN: North Korea has readied a rocket for a launch from a forested valley in its remote northwest this week that will showcase the reclusive state’s ability to fire a missile with the capacity to hit the continental United States. Pyongyang says the rocket, to be launched this week, will only carry a weather satellite, but South Korea and the United States say it is a test of a ballistic missile. And although the risk of it veering off course is low, guidance remains its weakest point. In a rare move, reporters were taken to the new Sohae launch station, close to the border with China, where work was in progress to ready the 30-metre high Unha-3 rocket and its satellite. The threestage rocket was on the launch platform, indicating the launch will go ahead on plan between April 12-16. “Supreme Commander Kim Jong-un made a very bold decision, that is why you are allowed to be this close to the launch site,” site director Jang Myong Jin told visiting foreign journalists on Sunday. North Korea announced plans to launch the satellite-bearing rocket to coincide with the 100th birthday celebrations of its founder, Kim Il-sung, a move that will help cement the prestige of his grandson Kim Jong-un, who took power in December. The second stage booster is planned to separate in the seas to the west of the Philippines, about 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from the launch site, and experts say that represents the first possible landfall for the rocket if things go wrong. If North Korea does achieve a successful separation of the third stage - something it says it achieved in 2009, but most experts say failed to put a previous satellite into orbit - that would show it had improved its technology and the capacity to produce a missile that could carry an intercontinental nuclear warhead.

US experts to aid Pakistan rescue mission

South Korea police chief quits over bungled murder case

Zaeef emerged as the face of the Taliban government following the 9/11 attacks. (AP)

his government. Following the US invasion and the fall of Taliban, he was captured in Pakistan and sent to the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, where he was held for four years. Zaeef has never apologized for his role un-

NEWS IN BRIEF

ISLAMABAD: The US has sent a team of experts to help Pakistan search for 135 people buried since Saturday by a massive avalanche that engulfed a military complex in a mountain battleground close to the Indian border. The team of eight experts sent to Islamabad on Sunday will provide technical assistance, the Pakistan army said. At least 240 Pakistani soldiers and civilians worked at the site of the disaster at the entrance to the Siachen Glacier on Sunday with the aid of sniffer dogs and heavy machinery, the army said. -AFP

Former Taliban leader flees for safety KABUL: Abdul Sallam Zaeef, a former Taliban leader considered an important interlocutor in negotiations to bring the armed group to the discussion table, has fled the country for safety reasons. A source close to Zaeef told Al Jazeera that American forces had tried to search his Kabul home twice over allegations of involvement in an international terror plot, but his government-provided bodyguards had prevented their entry. “He found life in Kabul difficult, and he is currently in the United Arab Emirates. Twice they came to get him, who knows if they might kill him the third time,” the source said. An Afghan intelligence official confirmed that US forces tried to enter Zaeef’s home this month, but were prevented. “The checkpost outside his home belongs to us, so we were contacted when the US forces arrived,” the officials said. “We denied them entry, and we sent backup security to the area.” Zaeef was head of a provincial bank and a deputy minister during the Taliban government. At the time of the September 11, 2011 attacks on the United States, he was the regime’s ambassador to Pakistan, where he found himself at the centre of media attention, trying to defend

palace by President Hamid Karzai last year, Muzhda said, where he was questioned about hosting and aiding two Arabs who were allegedly plotting attacks in the US and Europe for the September 11 anniversary. “In front of Karzai, American officials had asked him about helping the two Arabs,” Muzhda claimed Zaeef telling him. “They [the American officials] told Zaeef that if an attack happened, he would be the prime suspect.” Zaeef, under close watch by the government since his release from Guantanamo, pleaded his innocence, according to Muzhda. He said the accusations against him were baseless. Muzhda said Zaeef feared for his life in the wake of the attempted raids on his home. Many of the Taliban prisoners freed from Guantanamo had been killed in night raids and that made Zaeef more nervous. Zaeef’s book on his time in Guantanamo, detailing accusations of mistreatment of prisoners, had also not endeared him to the US. But his name came up frequently as US authorities initiated peace talks with the Taliban. Though the armed group has agreed to negotiations brokered by the Gulf state of Qatar, the talks have stalled over US reluctance to free five Taliban leaders being held in Guantanamo. -AP

KHAPIYANGA: Around 20 militants attacked a military checkpost in Pakistan’s restive northwest, sparking a clash that left two soldiers and four militants dead, according to an official. The attack in part of the tribal badlands near the Afghan border was beaten off when troops responded with artillery and heavy weapons, a senior paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) official told AFP. The area is cut off to journalists and aid workers and it was not possible to confirm the death toll independently. -AFP

PNG vote to proceed in June, says election chief PORT MORESBY: Papua New Guinea’s electoral commissioner insisted Monday that the Pacific nation would go to the polls in June as planned, despite a parliamentary vote for a six-month delay. Andrew Trawen said he was seeking legal advice about last week’s vote by lawmakers to push back national elections by six months due to incomplete electoral rolls and security concerns. The move, supported by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, prompted warnings from neighboring Australia, the impoverished Pacific nation’s major aid donor. -AFP

Indonesia’s Aceh votes in test for fragile peace ACEH: Indonesia’s only province ruled by Islamic sharia laws elects its powerful governor on Monday in polls that will test a fragile peace following a 30-year separatist war. The elections in Aceh are the second since the province suffered 170,000 fatalities in the Asian tsunami of 2004, and since the war against Indonesian rule ended in 2005, having claimed 15,000 lives. Voters across the region will elect the governor - the top post in the province - as well as 17 district heads and deputies. Aceh, on the western edge of the scattered Indonesian archipelago, now enjoys autonomy and it remains an anomaly in a country where most of the 240 million people practice a moderate form of Islam. Alcohol is freely sold in the rest of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, but it is banned in Aceh. In some of the province’s regions, women are forbidden from wearing tight trousers. Gamblers and imbibers are publicly caned. Debate still churns in Aceh over whether adulterers should continue to be publicly flogged, or stoned to death. Irwandi Yusuf, 51, who was elected governor in December 2006 and is seeking a second five-year term, backs sharia but has opposed stricter enforcement, such as the harshest punishment for adultery. Among his four challengers are Teungku Ahmad Tajuddin, a 49-year-old Islamic schoolteacher who wants stricter sharia laws but is not considered a serious contender, and 71-year-old Zaini Abdullah, who is backed by the powerful Aceh Party and is a former

freedom fighter like Yusuf himself. “The election is clearly a competition between Irwandi... and the Aceh Party,” said Jakarta-based analyst Jan Lepeltak. Many Acehnese worry that the elections, which have been preceded by outbreaks of violence, could test a fragile peace that has prevailed since a deal ended the insurgency. Much of the election tension has centered around Yusuf, who like many other politicians had been a rebel with the now-defunct separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and his feud with the Aceh Party. A series of fatal shootings since December “have raised concerns that more violence between these two camps will follow,” the International Crisis Group said in a report. Aceh elections supervisory committee chairman Nyak Arief Fadhillah Syah said 57 cases of violence and intimidation had been reported so far, many involving supporters of Yusuf and Abdullah, whose party is comprised of former GAM rebels. “The potential for corruption is enormous, because of the possibility of terror and intimidation... to ensure victory for a particular candidate,” he said. Lepeltak said he believed the election “is a test for the maturity of the political process in Aceh.” They are Aceh’s second polls since the province was devastated by a tsunami in 2004 that killed 170,000 people in the province and the end in 2005 of a 30-year separatist war against Indonesian rule that claimed 15,000 lives. -AFP

France takes new look at radicalization in prisons PARIS: French authorities contend the gunman in a killing spree in Toulouse took the path to religious radicalization behind bars, with neither teacher nor network. The investigation will show whether gunman Mohamed Merah, who claimed Al-Qaeda links, acted alone in the three March attacks that killed seven people, and may help decipher his path to radical Islam. But in the meantime, his case has been seized upon by those who say the model for Islamist radicalization in prisons may be changing, away from networks of extremists and toward more individualized paths to radicalism. President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered a study on the evolving threat in prisons after last month’s killings, and the justice minister called for greater intelligence gathering in prisons and more Muslim prison chaplains. Tracking such “lone wolf” radicals presents prison authorities with a new challenge: detecting the Muslim inmate who is not just turning to religion but turning the corner to danger. Some worry that even tighter surveillance may carry the risk of a double-edged sword, stigmatizing a Muslim population already deprived of the means to properly practice their faith behind bars.

In countries from Europe to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, prisons have long been known as incubators for Islamist extremism, where selfproclaimed imams or convicted terrorists prey on vulnerable inmates. The problem is acute in France, the country with the largest Muslim population in western Europe, estimated at some 5 million, and, it is said, the most Muslim prisoners. France doesn’t count inmates by ethnicity or religion, but one expert estimates that about half of French inmates are Muslim, far greater than the proportion in the population at large. Yet there are only 151 Muslim prison chaplains to tend to the needs of prisoners of the Islamic faith, compared to 700 Roman Catholic chaplains. Islamic leaders say the dearth of chaplains and the failure to provide basics like halal food for imprisoned Muslims heightens the risk that inmates will feel rejected by the system and seek their own - possibly radical - path. This parallels the emergence of “lone wolf” terrorists in the world at large. Experts say the lone wolf phenomenon is in a way a testimony to successful Western intelligence, which has made it more difficult for networks to form - outside or inside prisons. -Reuters

ALWATAN DAILY

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tuesDAY, april 10, 2012

An India-Pakistan thaw?

Concessions might also be made on issues that do not involve vital national interests.

Shashi Tharoor Project Syndicate

ndia and Pakistan are enjoying one of the better periods in their turbulent relationship. Recent months have witnessed no terrorist incidents, no escalating rhetoric, and no diplomatic flashpoints. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari just made a successful, if brief, personal visit to India mainly to visit a famous shrine, but with a lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thrown in. Sixteen years after India granted Pakistan most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status, Pakistan is on the verge of reciprocating. The peace process is resuming, and the two sides are talking to each other cordially at all levels. And yet it is important to understand that the problems that have long beset the bilateral relationship will not be resolved overnight. Even if, by some miracle, the Pakistani civilian and military establishment suddenly saw the light, concluded that terrorism was bad for them, and decided to make common cause with India in eradicating it, the task would not be accomplished with a snap of the fingers. Extremism is not a tap that can be turned off at will.The proliferation of extremist ideologies, militant organizations, and training camps has acquired a momentum of its own. As Satyabrata Pal, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, put it:“These jihadi groups recruit from the millions of young Pakistanis who emerge from vernacular schools and madrassas, imbued with a hatred for the modern world, in which they do not have the skills to work. So while young Indians go to Silicon Valley and make a bomb for themselves, young Pakistanis go to the Swat Valley and make a bomb of themselves, the meanness of their lives justifying the end. Pakistan has betrayed its youth, which is its tragedy.” This is not a counsel of despair. It is, instead, an argument to offer a helping hand. A neighboring country full of desperate young men without hope or prospects, led by a malicious and self-aggrandizing military, is a permanent threat to India. If India can help Pakistan transcend these circumstances and develop a stake in mutually beneficial progress, it will be help-

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (right) shakes hands with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting in New Delhi April 8, 2012. (Reuters)

ing itself as well. Therein lies the slender hope of persuading Pakistan that India’s success can benefit it, too - that, rather than trying to undercut India and thwart its growth, Pakistan should recognize the advantages that might accrue to it in partnership with an increasingly prosperous India. Such an India can build on the generosity that it has often shown - for example, with its unilateral assignment of MFN status to Pakistan - by offering a market for Pakistani traders and industrialists, a creative umbrella for its artists and singers, and a home away from home for those seeking refuge from the realities of Pakistani life. Creating more points of contact - back-channel diplomacy conducted by special envoys (a formula used effectively by Singh and

Murder unincorporated Ian Buruma Project Syndicate

hat possessed the young French Muslim Mohammed Merah to murder three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi, and three soldiers, two of them fellow Muslims? What possessed another man, Anders Breivik, to gun down more than 60 teenagers in a Norwegian summer camp last year? These murder sprees are so unusual that people demand explanations. To call these killers “monsters,” as some were quick to do, sheds little light on the problem. They were not monsters; they were young men. And to dismiss them as madmen is equally evasive. If they were clinically insane, nothing more would need to be explained. Two accounts, both broadly socio-political, stand out. One was put forward by the controversial Muslim activist Tariq Ramadan. He blames French society. More specifically, he blames the fact that young Frenchmen of Muslim origin are marginalized on the grounds of their faith and the color of their skin. Even though these people have French passports, they are treated as unwanted foreigners.When French President Nicolas Sarkozy, himself the son of immigrants, says that there are too many foreigners in France, he drives young men like Merah farther into a corner. A tiny minority of such men might lash out in desperation. The other explanation, favored by Sarkozy, takes Merah at his word. He said that he was protesting French military operations in Muslim countries and avenging the killing of Palestinian children. He wanted to bring down the French state as an Islamic holy warrior. He was inspired by Al-Qaeda. So why not believe him? Hence Sarkozy’s decision to arrest other Muslim men suspected of Islamic extremism and bar certain imams from attending a religious conference in France. Those who view Islamic extremism as the problem also tend to hold up young killers like Merah as examples of failed integration. They never became sufficiently French. Immigrants must be forced to share “Western values.” Although no one would argue that Anders Breivik is insufficiently Norwegian, he, too, could be taken at his word. The rhetoric of xenophobic demagogues appears to have convinced him that he had to kill the children of the socialdemocratic elites in order to protect Western civilization against the dangers of multiculturalism and Islam. His murders were the extreme result of dangerous ideas. Neither explanation is entirely wrong. Many young Muslims feel unwanted in their countries of birth, and extreme language, whether used by Islamists or their opponents, helps to create an atmosphere conducive to violence. But both Ramadan and Sarkozy are too simplistic, for they reduce extraordinary murders to single explanations. Even when they are faced with rejection, most young

former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf), direct contact between the two militaries (of which there is little), and extensive people-topeople contact - is indispensable to the peace effort. Unfortunately, India responded to the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and other Pakistani provocations by tightening its visa restrictions and restricting other possibilities for cultural and social contact. This might be an area in which risks are worth taking, since the advantages of enhancing opportunities for Pakistanis in India outweigh the dangers; after all, the Mumbai terrorists did not apply for Indian visas before sneaking ashore with their guns and bombs. I strongly favor a liberal visa regime, which would require India to remove its current re-

Muslim men do not become mass murderers. Merah is too anomalous to serve as a typical example of anything, including racial or religious discrimination. Far from being a religious fanatic, Merah grew up as a petty criminal with no interest in religion. The appeal of Islamist extremism may have been its glorification of violence more than any religious content. He enjoyed watching jihadist videos of beheadings. He also tried to join the French army and the Foreign Legion. The army turned him down because of his criminal record. If the French wouldn’t have him, he would join the holy warriors: anything to give him a sense of power and an excuse to indulge his violent impulses. Many young men are drawn to the fantasy of violence; far fewer feel the need to act it out. Ideology can serve as an excuse or justification, but it is rarely the main source of individual acts of brutality. Murder sprees are more often than not a form of personal revenge - losers wishing to blow up the world around them, because they feel humiliated or rejected, whether socially, professionally, or sexually. Sometimes, the killers appear to lack any excuse at all, as in the case of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who in 1999 shot 12 fellow-students and a teacher at their high school in Columbine, Colorado. In that case, people blamed the sadistic video games and movies that the killers had been watching. Still, most enthusiasts of this type of entertainment do not actually go out and kill people. Breivik had fantasies of being a knight fighting the enemies of the West. Merah imagined that he was a jihadi. Who knows what the Columbine killers thought they were doing. But the reasons why they killed lie within them, and cannot be principally attributed to the entertainment or other materials that they consumed. Banning such materials has an aesthetic appeal, to be sure, and public figures who preach violence should always be condemned. Hate speech and violent ideology are not irrelevant. But to make too much of them in cases such as those of Merah or Breivik can be misleading. Censorship is unlikely to solve the problem. Banning Hitler’s Mein Kampf or forbidding the display of Nazi symbols has not stopped neo-Nazis in Germany from murdering immigrants. Suppressing violent pornography will not get rid of rapists or high-school killers. Preventing demagogues from ranting about Muslims or multi-culturalists will not deter a future Anders Breivik. And barring radical imams from entering France won’t stop another Merah from going on a murderous rampage. In fact, to compare Merah’s savage deeds to the killings of September 11, 2001, as Sarkozy has done, is to give the killer too much credit. There is no evidence that he is part of any organized group, or in the vanguard of a revolutionary movement. Using his case to stoke fear of an Islamic threat to society might make electoral sense for Sarkozy. But provoking fear is seldom the best recipe for avoiding further violence. On the contrary, it is more likely to fuel it. Ian Buruma is Professor of Democracy and Human Rights at Bard College, and the author of Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents.

strictions on which points of entry and exit Pakistani visa-holders can use, the number of places that may be visited, and onerous police reporting requirements. For starters, prominent Pakistanis in business, entertainment, and media could be made eligible for more rapid processing and multiple-entry visas. Some would argue that Pakistan will not reciprocate such one-sided generosity. That might be true, but India should not care. Parity with Pakistan would lower India’s standards. India should show a generosity of spirit that might persuade Pakistanis to rethink their attitude towards Indians. Concessions might also be made on issues that do not involve vital national interests. Specific problems like trade, the military standoff on the Siachen glacier, the territorial

boundary at Sir Creek, the dispute over water flows through the Wullar Barrage, and many other disagreements are amenable to resolution through dialogue. It seems silly that public passions in Pakistan are being stirred by false claims that India is diverting water from the Indus River; candid and open talk to the Pakistani public by Indian officials would help dispel such suspicions. More immediately, India should seize upon Pakistan’s newfound willingness to reciprocate India’s grant of MFN trade status by taking concrete steps to reduce non-tariff barriers, such as security inspections and clearances, that have limited Pakistani exports to India. India’s financial-services industry and its software professionals could offer their skills to Pakistani clients. They would gain a next-door market, while providing services that Pakistan could use to develop its own economy. These are all “easy wins” waiting to be pursued.The big questions - the Kashmir dispute and Pakistan’s use of terrorism as an instrument of policy - will require much more groundwork and step-by-step action for progress to be achieved. By adopting a position of accommodation, sensitivity, and pragmatic generosity, India might be able to shift the bilateral narrative away from its 65year-old logic of intractable hostility. Shashi Tharoor, a former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and UN Under-Secretary General, is a member of India’s parliament and the author of a dozen books, including India from Midnight to the Millennium and Nehru: the Invention of India.

The big easing Daniel Gros Project Syndicate

ore than three years after the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, who is doing more to bring about economic recovery, Europe or the United States? The US Federal Reserve has completed two rounds of so-called “quantitative easing,” whereas the European Central Bank has fired two shots from its big gun, the so-called long-term refinancing operation (LTRO), providing more than one trillion Euros (1.3 trillion US dollars) in low-cost financing to eurozone banks for three years. For some time, it was argued that the Fed had done more to stimulate the economy, because, using 2007 as the benchmark, it had expanded its balance sheet proportionally more than the ECB had done. But the ECB has now caught up. Its balance sheet amounts to roughly €2.8 trillion, or close to 30 percent of Eurozone GDP, compared to the Fed’s balance sheet of roughly 20 percent of US GDP. But there is a qualitative difference between the two that is more important than balance-sheet size: the Fed buys almost exclusively risk-free assets (like US government bonds), whereas the ECB has bought (much smaller quantities of) risky assets, for which the market was drying up. Moreover, the Fed lends very little to banks, whereas the ECB has lent massive amounts to weak banks (which could not obtain funding from the market). In short, quantitative easing is not the same thing as credit easing. The theory behind quantitative easing is that the central bank can lower long-term interest rates if it buys large amounts of longer-term government bonds with the deposits that it receives from banks. By contrast, the ECB’s credit easing is motivated by a practical concern: banks from some parts of the Euro-zone - namely, from the distressed countries on its periphery - have been effectively cut off from the inter-bank market. A simple way to evaluate the difference between the approaches of the world’s two biggest central banks is to evaluate the risks that they are taking on. When the Fed buys US government bonds, it does not incur any credit risk, but it is assuming interest-rate risk. The Fed acts like a typical bank engaging in what is called “maturity transformation”: it uses short-term deposits to finance the acquisition of long-term securities. With short-term deposit rates close to zero and long-term rates at around two percent the Fed is earning a nice “carry,” equal to about two percent per year

on bond purchases totaling roughly 1.5 trillion US dollars over the course of its quantitative easing, or about 30 billion US dollars. Any commercial bank contemplating a similar operation would have to take into account the risk that its cost of funds increases above the two percent yield that it earns on its assets. The Fed can determine its own cost of funds, because it can determine short-term interest rates. But the fact that it would inflict losses on itself by increasing rates is likely to reduce its room for maneuver. Its recent announcement that it will keep interests low for an extended period thus might have been motivated by more than concern about a sluggish recovery. By contrast, the ECB does not assume any maturity risk with its LTRO, because it has explicitly stated that it will charge banks the average of the interest rates that will materialize over the next three years. It does, however, take on credit risk, because is lending to banks that cannot obtain funding anywhere else. The large increase in the ECB’s balance sheet has led to concern that its LTRO might be stoking inflation. But this is not the case: the ECB has not expanded its net lending to the Euro-zone banking system, because the deposits that it receives from banks (about one trillion Euros) are almost as large as the amounts that it lends (€1.15 trillion). This implies that there is no inflationary danger, because the ECB is not creating any substantial new purchasing power for the banking system as a whole. The banks that are parking their money at the ECB (receiving only 0.25 percent interest) are clearly not the same ones that are taking out three-year loans at one percent. The deposits come largely from northern European banks (mainly German and Dutch), and LTRO loans go largely to banks in southern Europe (mainly Italy and Spain). In other words, the ECB has become the central counterparty to a banking system that is de facto segmented along national lines. The real problem for the ECB is that it is not properly insured against the credit risk that it is taking on. The 0.75 percent spread between deposit and lending rates (yielding 7.5 billion Euros per year) does not provide much of a cushion against the losses that are looming in Greece, where the ECB has 130 billion Euros at stake. The ECB had to act when the Euro-zone’s financial system was close to collapse at the end of last year. But its room for maneuver is even more restricted than that of the Fed. Its balance sheet is now saddled with huge credit risks over which it has very little control. It can only hope that politicians deliver the adjustments in southern Europe that would allow the LTRO’s recipient banks to survive. Daniel Gros is Director of the Center for European Policy Studies.

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news in pics

People walk under illuminated cherry blossoms in full bloom along the Chidorigafuchi moats in Tokyo April 9, 2012. (Reuters)

ALWATAN DAILY TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

A child sits on the wheel of a chariot of God Bhairab before pulling the chariot through the city center of Bhaktapur near Kathmandu during the Bisket festival April 9, 2012. (Reuters)

Firefighters inspect the aftermath of a fire in a warehouse on York Street near Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia on Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

North Korean women work in a thread factory in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

Pakistani girls collect water on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

A Yemeni man drives a bulldozer through a flood water from heavy rain in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

A decorated camel stands at a farm near the Jhajjar district in the northern Indian state of Haryana March 31, 2012. (Reuters)

In this photo released by Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Xinhua News Agency, people walk through terraced paddy fields in Yuanyang County of Honghe Hani-Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Yunnan Province, on Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

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Apartment in Jabriya, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living and kictehen.Tel: 66256814

Studio in Salwa, block 1, street 6, house360, KD260. Tel:66143662

Apartment in Manqaf, private entrance, 3 bedrooms, 3

Arabic Teacher

Super deluxe furniture apartment in Salmiya, 2 rooms, 2 baths, living room, kitchen and laundry room, KD500.Tel:25352200

Apartment in Hawalli, duplex furnished, great location, 2 master rooms, kitchen, living. Tel: 97720081

Apartment in Hawalli, 2 master rooms, kitchen, balcony and living room. Tel:60001848

69696177

Work/Employment

FOR RENT

Room available only for Filipino, single lady near Kuwait National English School, Hawally. Accessible to bus going to City and Sharq. New building with Pinoy TV Channel and large sala & dining area. Tel: 97197268

Slimming massage, manicure, pedicure, acrylic and nail extension. Please call

25/12 - 25-01

SLR

Professional gardening services.

Home Service Available

28-02/28-03

Serious buyers please contact 67002524

Tel: 9769364

contact Mr. Khaled Ph: 99619998 & 55619998

KD 50 KD 25 KD 60 KD 35 KD 10

Brand New Items…!!! 5) MOTHERCARE 2 position Baby Carrier – KD 5 (sold in MC for KD 10) 6) AVENT’s Award Winning ISIS Breast Pump Set (with 2 Bottles & Accessories) KD 20 (sold in MC for KD 30)

Tel: 93399180

TREADMILL excellent condition, high-tech screen, KD 35. Tel:90989840 Billiard table for sale in great condiditon.Tel:66666168

1) GRACO Baby Stroller (designed by Laura Ashley) 2) GRACO Baby Car Seat (designed by Laura Ashley) As a Set – both Stroller & Car Seat for 3) JUNIORS Car Seat (from Birth upto 18kgs) 4) JUNIORS Baby Tub + Stand

Birthdays and weddings

SLR

WDLR

Baby Items in “Excellent Condition” For Sale

Events planner

Satellite service, 24hours, covers all area.

Boston whalev super sport 150 boat.Tel:65880918

Mudarrib Nafais : Contact: 65553012

27-02/27-03

Satellite

miscellaneous

- Flexible Timing - Reasonable Price - For all languages

Call: 97292083

27-02/27-03

Tel: 60091481

Driving Instructors available for learners

GMC Yukon 1999, spacious and clean. KD 1700, price is negotiable. Tel:66694310 Nissan Maxima 2008, 6VS, KD 3200. Tel: 99997494 Nissan Maxima KD1500. Tel: 66565511

2004,

WDLR

Carpool service, female driver covers all Kuwait areas.

Website designer and management

Tel:60361977

SLR

Sewer system cleaning. Tel:66070166

Tel:66238890

SLR

Paints and wallpapers.

SLR

Baraka: Tel: 99881053

SLR

Kuwait producing 3 million barrels of crude per day

BUSINESS

tuesdAY, april 10, 2012

m ar ket watc h

OIL MARKETS

KUWAIT

DUBAI

QATAR

OMAN

ABU DHABI

BAHRAIN

EGYPT

SAUDI

0.55% 6120

0.7% 1658

0.3% 8757

0.2% 5829

0.5% 2547

0.3% 1139

2.7% 4594

0.3% 7698

US Crude $101.41 $1.90 London Brent $123.43 $0.11 Kuwait Crude $121.14 $0.29 Information Courtesy: KAMCO

See page 10

CURRENCIES US Dollar

Buy 0.2783 Sell 0.2788 Euro

Buy 0.3639 Sell 0.3646

British Pound

Buy 0.4414 Sell 0.4422 Japanese Yen

Buy 0.003419

Sell 0.003426

Saudi Riyal

Qatari Riyal

Indian Rupee

UAE Dirham

Bahraini Dinar

Philippine Peso

Buy 0.0742 Sell 0.0743

Buy 0.07576 Sell 0.0759

Buy 0.07658 Sell 0.07642 Buy 0.7381 Sell 0.73951

Buy 0.005451 Sell 0.00544 Buy 0.006529 Sell 0.006502

Prices in Kuwaiti fils as of April 9, 2012 Courtesy: KAMCO

Burgan Bank signs agreement to acquire Eurobank Tekfen Compiled by Al Watan Daily

CAPITALS: Burgan Bank entered an agreement to acquire a 99.26 percent stake in Eurobank Tekfen which is the Turkish arm of Eurobank EFG in 99 million Kuwaiti dinar (355 million US dollar) deal which will help shore up the struggling Greek lender’s capital base. Burgan Bank, the commercial banking arm of Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO), will also absorb $280 million of loans issued by EFG to the Turkish unit as part of the deal, it said in a bourse filing on Monday. Its shares rose 2.4 percent on the Kuwaiti bourse by 1025 GMT. According to a statement from the bank under the terms of the share purchase agreement (SPA), Burgan Bank has agreed to acquire the stake for a consideration value of KD 99 million representing 0.98x based on September 30th 2011 shareholders’ equity. Banking sources had told Reuters last week that the sale was imminent and Burgan was likely to offer Eurobank Tekfen’s book value of $350 million. Eurobank Tekfen, a partnership between EFG Eurobank and Turkey’s Tekfen Holding, was put up for sale last July by Greece’s second-largest bank. The sale comes as Greek banks, hit by the country’s sovereign debt crisis, look to boost their capital base to cope with a protracted recession and a rise in non-performing loans. Other possible deal targets include the Egyptian arm of Greece’s Piraeus Bank, valued at over $200 million, and which has attracted five suitors from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, two sources told Reuters last week. While Greek banks seek to shore themselves up in the face of protracted recession, Gulf investors have been looking at Turkey as a natural target in the face of unrest in the Middle East and debt crises in Europe and North America. Qatar National Bank for example was in talks to buy Dexia’s Turkish arm Denizbank in a deal said to be worth as much as six billion dollars, though the deal stalled over valuation, people familiar with the matter said. Positive outlook

Bankers are also awaiting the announcement of a mandate for the sale of National Bank of Greece’s Turkish arm Finansbank, despite the Greek lender saying it is no rush to sell the

EU-Kuwait trade exchange at 8.5 billion euro in 2011

Indian farmers use a boat to transport cucumbers to market along the River Ganges in Allahabad on April 9, 2012. Agriculture continues to dominate India’s economy with the “green revolution’ of the 1960’s propelling the nation towards self-sufficiency in food production. (AFP)

stake.The outlook for Turkey’s banking sector is seen as positive on the back of strong economic growth and increased spending by the large population, half of which is under the age of 30. Turkish banks are also well capitalized and have limited exposure to the euro zone. The deal - which also involves Tekfen Holding agreeing to sell its 29.26 percent stake in Eurobank Tekfen to Eurobank Holding - will raise EFG Eurobank’s Core Tier 1 capital ratio by about 60 basis points or about 300 million euros, the bank said. The Kuwaiti lender will use internal funds for the deal, which rests on final approval from the central bank in Kuwait and the

Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency in Turkey. Barclays and Goldman Sachs advised EFG Eurobank on the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2012 after regulatory approvals. Citigroup Inc advised Burgan. Eurobank Tekfen runs a network of 60 branches and ranks among the top 20 banks in Turkey by loans. Its loan portfolio stands at 1.5 billion euros (two billion dollars). EFG bought a 70 percent stake in Eurobank Tekfen in 2007. The latter made a net profit of 20.3 million Turkish lira ($11.4 million) in the first nine months of last year. Its balance sheet was 5.1 billion lira with deposits at 2.2 billion lira.

BRUSSELS: The 27-member European Union imported goods worth 4.79 billion euro from Kuwait and exported goods worth 3.70 billion euro in the year 2011, according to figures compiled by the EU statistical office, Eurostat. Netherlands with 2.32 billion euro was the leading importer from Kuwait in 2011. It was followed by UK with 1.61 billion, Spain 266 million euro, Denmark 102 million, Germany 94 million, France 79 million and Belgium 78 million. Germany was the leading exporter to Kuwait with 1.04 billion euro in 2011. It was followed by Italy with 580 million euro, UK with 551 million, Netherlands with 334 million, France with 326 million, Spain with 199 million and Belgium with 147 million euro. The bulk of EU imports from Kuwait were made up of crude oil, followed by small amounts of organic chemicals and plastic products. EU exports to Kuwait consisted of machinery and mechanical appliances, pharmaceutical products, electrical equipments, vehicles, clothing, iron and steel and ceramic products. -KUNA

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

tuesDAY, april 10, 2012

Kuwait producing 3 million barrels of crude per day Oil falls on Iran talks, US jobs data

CAPTALS: Kuwait is producing around three million barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil, leaving a spare capacity of about 150,000 bpd, the chairman of Kuwait Oil Company said on Monday. KOC plans to start surveys of offshore reservoirs this year, Sami Al-Rashid told journalists on the sidelines of a conference, as part of plans to raise Kuwait’s production capacity to four million barrels by 2020. Exploratory drilling could also start this year if the surveys are successful, he said. In other news, oil prices fell more than one US dollar on Monday after Iran agreed to resume talks over its nuclear program, easing fears of a supply disruption in the Middle East. Prices were also under pressure on concerns about the pace of US economic recovery after data last week showed US employers had hired far fewer workers in March than in previous months. Job growth in the world’s biggest oil consumer slowed to 120,000, the smallest increase since October. Brent crude was down $1.19 a barrel to $122.24 by 1110 GMT after slipping below $122 earlier in the day. US oil traded $1.46 a barrel lower at $101.85. “If there are some good vibrations from the Iranian talks and they don’t immediately break down, the markets will have hopes that the European Union may lighten the sanctions on Iran, at least on the insurance front,” said Olivier Jakob from Petromatrix. “At the moment, the sanctions are having a much stronger impact than anticipated, mostly through insurance, which could lead to a full interruption of Iranian oil flows,” he added. Iranian media and Western officials said talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, which collapsed more than a year ago, would begin on Saturday in Istanbul. Getting Iran to suspend high-level uranium enrichment

Questions are arising whether Tehran will be able to continue exporting oil at all as maritime insurance firms around the world walk away from covering tankers carrying Iranian oil. Worries that the stand-off between Tehran and the West would escalate and disrupt oil exports from the Middle East have boosted Brent prices by nearly $20 so far this year to a high of $128.40 touched last month. “The talks are good news. They are going to ease some stress from the oil market but not enough to bring oil below its current trading range,” said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives manager at Newedge Brokerage in Tokyo. Demand growth

FILE- An employee updates gas prices at a gas station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, April 14, 2010. Kuwait is producing around three million barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil, leaving a spare capacity of about 150,000 bpd, the chairman of Kuwait Oil Company said on Monday. (Reuters)

and close a nuclear facility built deep under a mountain near the holy city of Qom were “near-term priorities” for the United States and its allies, a senior US official said.

The EU will impose a full embargo on Iranian oil imports from July, while the United States is pressing major importers of Iranian oil in Asia to reduce purchases as well.

Oula Fuel Marketing achieves net profit of KD 4.06 million during 2011

China’s annual consumer inflation rose by a faster-thanexpected 3.6 percent in March, with volatile food prices leading the increase. The acceleration may not hurt the country’s oil demand growth, however. Economists saw the spike as temporary, reinforcing the view that Beijing has room to loosen credit and support economic growth. Concerns about demand growth from the United States and Europe as investors worry about the health of these economies are keeping a lid on oil prices. Last Friday’s US employment numbers were the latest to make markets nervous. Job growth was less than half the average monthly increase in the prior three months and way below the lowest estimate in a Reuters survey. Economists had expected an increase of 203,000 and the jobless rate to hold at 8.3 percent. “As markets were closed on Friday, today there is still some pricing in of weak non-farm payrolls,” said Jakob. Later this week events to determine investor sentiment, especially towards risk assets, will include the US Federal Reserve’s reaction to Friday’s job data, the start of firstquarter earnings season and China’s March GDP report. Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak in Stone Mountain, Georgia, at 23.15 GMT on Monday. -Agencies

Saudi to supply full May crude to Asia TOKYO: Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, will supply full contracted volumes of crude oil in May to at least one Asian term buyer, unchanged from April, an industry source familiar with the matter said on Monday. Saudi Arabia made no changes to the operational tolerance in the supply allocation, the source added, meaning buyers have the option of asking for cargoes to be loaded with up to 10 percent more or less crude than contracted.

The source declined to say whether his company would take the maximum volume permissible amid an anticipated supply fall from Iran, saying how to secure tankers is the first thing to consider. Saudi’s state oil firm Saudi Aramco said last week it had cut its flagship Arab Light May prices for Asian buyers by 35 cents to plus 2.45 US dollars per barrel versus the Oman/Brent average from April prices. -Reuters

Oman Air attributes $285 million loss to higher fuel cost Oula Fuel Marketing officials at the general assembly on Monday, April 9, 2012. Michael A. Kolarov Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Oula Fuel Marketing held their sixth general assembly which took place at its head offices where Chairman Abdulhussain Al-Sultan announced a net profit of 4,059,055 Kuwaiti dinars for the fiscal year ending on Dec. 31, 2011. This resulted in an earnings per share (EPS) of 12.41 Kuwaiti fils which is 41 percent higher than the EPS registered in 2010. Also in attendance was Managing Director Hamzah Bakhash in addition to a representative from the Ministry of Commerce and a large number of the company’s shareholders. Al-Sultan stated that the company’s total assets amounted to KD 55.394 million recording an increase of 18 percent over last year while company revenue has increased by 11 percent during 2011 and enhanced efficiency of operations resulted in improving gross profit by 34 percent. Al-Sultan went on to explain that while the company’s focus is on financial performance, “Oula places equal importance and attention on health, safety and environment (HSE) issues, development of stations and career development of employees.”

First was the development of fueling stations, highlighting that facelift work was completed on four additional stations bringing the number of stations to have undergone facelifts to 19 since the launch of the project in 2010. Al-Sultan also announced that the company is waiting on permits to be issued by the authorities to begin construction of two new stations in Kabed and Shauiba. It was also announced that Oula also completed the installation of Automatic Tank Gauging (ATG) system in all of its stations to become the first fuel retailer in Kuwait employ the system. Oula also succeeded in introducing a new filling system at 19 stations which allows the fueling of vehicles irrespective of the location of filling point on the vehicle. Al-Sultan told shareholders that Oula was noted among the top contenders in an evaluation conducted by The American Society of Safety Engineer (ASSE) - Kuwait chapter. The competition included 63 companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Oula also was awarded the certification by a KNPC appointed agency (DNV) to operate fuel service stations. Oula commitment towards HSE issues was further demonstrated by conducting 146 structured and scheduled site visits by

management staff to all company sites. In terms of internal re-structuring and corporate governance, the new structure which was developed by an international consultant is now being implemented. The company also introduced a performance monitoring technique employing the BSC approach. An internal audit exercise by a specialized international firm was conducted based on risk assessment criteria. Oula maintained a 100 percent Kuwaitzation of supervisory staff in stations, and achieved 61 percent Kuwaitzation in their head office. Oula’s efforts has resulted in employing 93 Kuwaiti nationals in the company in collaboration with Workforce restructuring program and the Executive branch of State. Al-Sultan emphasized that the company is serious about its social responsibility, stating that, “Oula has left its evident footprints in 2011 on the society and has worked hard to develop its strategy and get involved in different fields of the community through a number of sponsorships and events such as the Ramadan event in Hussain Makki Jouma Center for the children with cancer and sponsoring graduation project for a number of engineering students in Kuwait university and some private colleges.”

Saudi king slams stock market manipulation

JEDDAH: King Abdullah has ordered a crackdown on manipulation of Saudi Arabia’s booming stock market, insisting action should be taken if necessary against improper trading by members of the royal family, the daily Alsharq newspaper reported on Monday. In an unusual message to the chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the king said trading rules should be applied to everyone including royals, the newspaper reported. The country’s extended royal family has thousands of members. “With the current return of investors to the stock market, there has been a return of some violations that require investigation and accountability, requiring violators’ cases to be looked at by the specialized legal authority,” the newspaper quoted the king as telling Ab-

dulrahman Al-Tuwaijri. King Abdullah was also quoted as saying some of the violations were being committed by members of the royal family, who had continued their actions despite warnings, putting them in a position to be investigated and even taken to court. A spokesman for the CMA declined to comment. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy with no elected parliament, and the most senior positions are occupied by high-ranking royals, some of whom also have extensive business interests. The country’s stock market has soared this year and trading turnover has increased several-fold because of strong economic growth on the back of high oil prices, hopes that authorities will open the market to direct

foreign investment, and an influx of speculative money. The benchmark index is up 19 percent since the end of last year, though it pulled back 1.8 percent on Sunday and continued sliding on Monday as word of the Alsharq report reached investors, traders said. The market, which is the largest bourse in the Arab world, crashed in 2006, hurting tens of thousands of Saudis, many of whom blamed the government for not protecting them from the clout of big investors. The CMA subsequently imposed hefty fines on some violators of trading rules. The government has become more anxious to preserve social stability since last year’s Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East, although Saudi Arabia largely escaped serious unrest. -Reuters

MUSCAT: Oman Air reported a hike in losses for 2011 from about 202 million US dollars to some $285 million, and the flag carrier attributed the spike to fuel cost rising by 38 percent, which increased expenditures considerably. Chairman of Oman Air’s Board of Directors Darwish bin Ismail Al-Balushi in a press statement said the carrier has made some progress despite the losses, pointing out a 35 percent increase in revenue in 2011 as well as an increase of 16 percent in number of passengers. The official said the carrier continued its rapid expansion, introduced new aircraft, and further enhanced the quality of its products and services. It also invested

in training, agreed a number of partnerships and joint ventures, and taken a series of measures to improve efficiency. The carrier said that average seat factor rose to 72.7 percent, and that the newly introduced aircraft can operate from short runways and have higher fuel efficiency, designed to serve short routes. Oman Air currently operates international routes to destinations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, India, Bangladesh, Bangkok, Pakistan, Malaysia, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as to Cairo, Beirut, Amman, London, and Paris. The Omani government owns an 82 percent stake in the carrier, and the private sector holds the other 18 percent. -KUNA

Gold rebounds after US jobs data lifts easing hopes CAPITALS: Gold prices rose on Monday, recovering from last week’s more than two percent drop, after disappointing US jobs data revived hopes for fresh monetary easing and a spike in Chinese inflation boosted appetite for the metal. Market watchers said a report on Friday showing that US employers had hired far fewer workers in March than in previous months could keep the door open for the Federal Reserve to provide more monetary support for a still sluggish economy. “Our economists note the report had an undeniably weak tone and will raise doubts about the strength of the labor market,” said Barclays Capital in a note on Monday. “While (they) do not believe that this report alone will propel renewed policy action in April, the door to further quantitative easing remains ajar and may shift the decision point to the June FOMC (meeting) as the Fed continues to monitor the incoming data.” Ultra-loose US monetary policy keeps real interest rates, and consequently the opportunity costs of holding non-yielding bullion, at rock bottom and was a major factor in driving gold prices to record highs last year. Spot gold was up 0.6 percent at 1,640.90 US dollars an ounce at 1100 GMT, while US gold futures for April delivery were up $12.10 an ounce at $1,642.20. Trading was thin, with most European financial markets closed for the Easter holidays. A higher-than-expected reading on China’s annual inflation in March supported sentiment in gold. Analysts also dismissed the possibility that the data would dissuade Beijing from its pro-growth monetary policy. “If we see more RRR (reserve requirement ratio) cuts, it will be positive for gold as it will raise inflation outlook down the road,” said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures. China’s physical gold demand jumped 20 percent last year, compared with a seven percent overall rise in global demand, according to the World Gold Council. Analysts have predicted China will take over from In-

dia as the world’s top gold consumer this year. Beware of dollar

Despite the sluggish payrolls data, analysts said a generally improving US economy and a dragging euro zone debt crisis could lead to further dollar strength, which in the short term might weigh on commodities priced in the greenback, including gold. The dollar index held steady on Monday after sliding on the US jobs data in the previous session. But the dollar still managed to post a 1.3 percent gain last week. “The pattern we’ve seen over the past few months, namely a strong US and a weaker Europe, is likely to continue to keep the dollar supported,” said Li of Shanghai CIFCO. Data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission echoed the sentiment. Speculators cut their bullish bets on gold futures and options in the week ended April 3. In the physical market, jewelers in India called off their three-week-old strike on Saturday, an industry official said, on assurances from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the government would consider scrapping a budget proposal to levy excise duty on unbranded jewelry. Gold traders in India booked some deals after a three-week strike, seeking to replenish stocks for a gold-buying festival slated later in the month. The sharp drops in prices in the past week attracted some physical buying interest from China, traders said. “Premiums in China were much higher, and that attracted quite a bit of buying,” said a Shanghai-based trader. Buying has slowed as prices have pulled back from a near three-month low of $1,611.80 an ounce hit last week, traders said. Among other precious metals, silver was down 0.3 percent at $31.63 an ounce, spot platinum was up 1.3 percent at $1,611.24 an ounce and spot palladium was up 1.2 percent at $645.97 an ounce. -Reuters

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

Qatar builds up Xstrata stake ahead of Glencore deal DUBAI: Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has increased its stake in Xstrata to just over five percent, potentially making it easier for commodities trader Glencore to buy the Anglo-Swiss miner. The tiny Gulf Arab state, a keen commodities investor, is now Xstrata’s third-largest shareholder behind Glencore and asset manager BlackRock Inc., giving it exposure to a metals powerhouse after missing out on other recent deals. Qatar has also bought stakes in luxury goods house LVMH and oil company Total, in a recent spending spree using its natural gas riches to diversify economic risk. It also owns shares in Credit Suisse and the upmarket Harrods department store. Several major shareholders have opposed Glencore’s 41 billion US dollar bid for Xstrata but bankers said Qatar would be a passive investor, unlikely to stand in the way. The deal must be backed by 75 percent of shareholders excluding Glencore. “Getting the Qataris on board will be good for Glencore. They are not activist investors and won’t be looking at gaining management influence. But they are opportunistic and won’t commit a pound unless they are seeing clear benefits,” said a Dubai-based banker. Regulatory filings showed that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) built up its Xstrata holding, worth $2.65 billion at current prices, through stock market transactions from around three percent when Glencore announced its bid. No immediate comment was available from the Qatar fund. Glencore plans to buy Xstrata in an all-share transaction that could create a combined group worth more than 50 billion Sterling pounds ($79 billion), shaking up the industry with its biggest deal to date. Key Xstrata shareholders including Standard Life Investments and Schroders are seeking better terms from Glencore. Glencore, the world’s largest diversified commodities trader, already owns 34 percent of Xstrata. A tie-up between the two has long been expected as Glencore wants to add more mines to its trading clout. Under the terms of the transaction, Xstrata shareholders other than Glencore would hold 45 percent of the new company, to be named Glencore Xstrata International, even though Xstrata assets would comprise about 65 percent of the combined group’s asset value.

stake. “The cash stake is about 4.75 percent and it is the derivatives position which has seen the stake go up by five percent. It’s not normal of Qatar to go above the five-percent threshold...they could end up owning more,” said the banker. Another banker said that Qatar, among the richest countries in the world per capita, would likely buy more. “These companies are on top of QIA’s shopping list and the sector is very strategic...we wouldn’t be surprised if this happens gradually in the coming few months,” he said. Glencore is the top Xstrata shareholder with a 33.65-percent stake, followed by BlackRock which has a 5.43 percent ownership in the miner. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, estimated to have assets of around $100 billion, is widely seen as the most aggressive in the world, ploughing gas dollars into a range of Western assets including automakers, prime real estate and global banks. It is known to be an enthusiastic investor in commodities. Qatar Holding, the sovereign wealth fund’s investment arm, missed out on a $1 billion investment in European Goldfields last year after

Top of the shopping list

the company instead agreed on a $2.4 billion takeover by Canadian group Eldorado Gold. Qatar surprised many observers by passing on the Glencore initial public offering last year as rival Abu Dhabi fund Aabar bought into the flotation. Glencore shares have fallen 22 percent since their listing in May last year, and Xstrata shares have lost 20 percent over the same period, so Qatar’s current purchase will give it a sizeable stake in the merged entity at a significant discount. “This is typical Qatar. They prefer to be the largest minority investors and are not keen on management control. Obviously, they are seeing value in this. Qataris like commodities generally and Glencore shares have fallen off the cliff post its IPO (initial public offering),” said the first banker. In recent weeks, the fund has also picked up minority stakes in conglomerate Lagardere as well as LVMH and Total. Bankers and sovereign wealth fund experts describe the sovereign fund as an opportunistic investor, seeking favorable terms with downside protection for the cash it deploys. -Reuters

Trading Prices of Kuwait Exchange Trading Prices of Kuwait Stock Stock Exchange Date of Closing Prices: 09 / 04 / 2012 For more information please contact “Global” at (+965) 180 42 42 or www.globalinv.net

Company

High

Low

National Bank Gulf Bank Commercial Bank Ahli Bank Ahli United Bank International Bank Burgan Bank Kw Finance House Boubyan Bank

1,060

1,060 415 600 820 260 405 710 550

Kw Investment Commercial Facilit. Int'L Financial Adv. National Invest. Kw Projects Ahlia Holding Coast Invest. Int'L Investor Securities House Ind. & Fin. Inv. Securities Group Int'L Finance MARKAZ KMIFIC Aref Inv. Group Al AMAN Inv. ALOLA Inv. ALMAL Inv. Gulf Inv. House A'ayan Leasing Bayan Inv. GLOBAL Inv. Osoul Inv. KFIC KAMCO Nat. Int'l Holding Housing Finance MADAR Al Deera Holding Al Safat Inv. Al Salam Group Ekttitab Holding Al Qurain Holding Sokouk Holding Al-Madina Finance NOOR Tamdeen Inv. Int'll Exch KW BH Int Exch.

104 285 158 335 112 144 50 64 39.0 -

435 610 820 275 420 740 560

Global Index - Banking

Taiba Kuwaiti Holding

Kuwait Syrian Strategia Kuwait China Inv. Manafae Inv. Gulf North Africa Amwal Al Masar Al-Imtiaz

250.0 108.0

80.0 180 285 66 51 51 126

Global Index - Investment

Kuwait Insurance Gulf Insurance Ahlia Insurance Warba Insurance Kuwait Re-Ins. First Takaful Ins. Wethaq Insurance

Global Index - Insurance

Kuwait R.E. United R.E. National R.E. Salhia R.E. Pearl R.E. Tamdeen R.E. Ajial R.E. Massaleh R.E. Arab R.E. Union R.E. ERESCO Mabani INJAZZAT RE Inv. Holding Grp Int'L Resorts Commercial R.E Sanam R.E. Aa'yan R.E Aqar Kuwait R.E Holding AL Mazaya Al Dar National R.E Themar Int'L Holding Grand R.E Projects Tijara & R.E Invest Al Tameer Arkan Al-Kuwait R.E Al Argan Int'L Abyaar Munshaat First Dubai KBT Manazel REAM Mena Real Estate Al Moudon Intl. R.E Markaz Real Estate Kuwait Remal R.E

56 112 118 242 36.0 95

1,060

15.0 64.0 93 59 67 79 87 18.5 37.0 70 41.5 36.5 21.5 52 355

Global Index - Real Estate

Nationl Ind. Group Pipes Ind. & Oil Kuwait Cement Refrigeration Ind. Gulf Cables & Elec. Heavy eng. & Ship. Marine Services Portland Cement Shuaiba Industrial Metal Collecting Kuwait Foundry

ź Ÿ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź Ÿ ź Ÿ

224 116 450 124

1,280

300 890 -

102 280 152 330 112 140 48 64 37.5 242.0 100.0 74.0 180 285 65 49 49 118

ź Ÿ ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ź ź

ŷ ŷ ŷ

54 112 116 234 34.5 94 1,060 15.0 60.0 91 57 65 73 84 18.0 36.0 70 39.5 34.5 19.5 51 345

ź ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ź ź ŷ Ÿ ź ź ź ź Ÿ ŷ ź Ÿ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ź ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ź ź ź

220 114 450 124 1,280 295 880 -

ź ź Ÿ ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ

Last Close 175.21 6,120.00 Last Prev. Close Close 1060 435 790 610 820 270 420 720 560 314.20

104 285 52 154 335 13.0 55 25.0 130 25.0 230 99 112 102 52 26.0 140 48 26.5 71 36.0 48.5 64 26.0 242 61 38.5 51 38.5 100 242.0 102.0 22.0 22.5 74.0 29.0 180 285 114 28.00 80 65 51 48.5 64 42.50 118 82.02 300 560 500 148 220 122 40.50 44.17

54 112 116 234 32.5 240 118 91 34.5 110 95 1,060 72 15.0 62.0 91 57 65 75 36.0 84 18.0 87 17.5 36.0 70 80 164 40.0 28.5 34.5 17.5 19.5 134 134 220 51 345 56.56

222 116 450 124 1,280 295 140 890 216 106 315

1080 430 790 610 820 275 410 740 550 316.79 106 280 52 160 340 13.0 55 25.0 130 25.0 230 99 112 102 52 26.0 144 51 26.5 71 36.0 48.5 64 26.0 242 61 38.5 51 39.5 100 255.0 110.0 22.0 22.5 79.0 29.0 182.0 310 114 28.00 80 67 51 52 64 42.50 128 83.40 300 560 500 148 220 122 40.50 44.17

Previous Close Change 176.74 -1.53 -33.60 6,153.60 Trading Activity Chng Volume Tran. Value(KD)

Date of Closing Prices:

DTD -0.87% -0.55%

Last Bid

Last Ask

MTD YTD -4.36% -2.29% 5.26% -0.73% Div. Annual Close Low P/E Yield High

27 22 3 2 84 53 109 62 362

699,600 312,250 9,050 8,200 2,201,900 1,247,100 1,198,350 997,300 6,673,750

1,040 415 600 810 265 415 710 560

1,060 435 620 820 270 420 720 570

3.8% 0.0% 1.9% 3.3% 1.7% 0.0% 0.0% 2.8% 0.0% 2.0%

1,220 510 800 680 920 285 480 900 590 326.42

1,060 425 700 600 790 236 410 720 530 314.20

15.34 31.33 90.92 17.36 30.07 25.68 11.76 22.15 106.53 18.30

120,000 360,000 1,060,000 1,140,000 800,000 12,360,000 3,600,000 160,000 4,880,000 2,520,000 11,260,000 24,400,000 20,000 10 000 10,000 1,120,000 200,000 640,000 2,480,000 67,130,000

6 14 34 24 4 95 30 2 47 58 236 358 1 1 7 3 7 80

102 280 150 330 110 138 34.0 60.0 255 37.5 100.0 178 28 64 50 49 118.0

106 285 154 335 230 114 95 140 49 36.5 66.0 59 38.5 242.0 102.0 74.0 184 295 30 65 51 51 122.0

0.0% 7.7% 0.0% 0.0% 6.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3% 4 6% 4.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 10.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.4%

112 285 67 182 345 18.5 69 25.0 130 36.0 230 122 120 102 52 35.5 144 65 35 71 44.0 48.5 70.0 26.0 244 62 39 51 47.5 104 270.0 130.0 25.0 33.5 96.0 29.0 190 310 114 32 89 73 60 59 64 42.5 140.0 85.99

104 255 40 154 295 11.5 50 25.0 130 21.0 230 99 102 50 52 24.0 106 47 21 71 28.5 48.5 64.0 26.0 242 51 36 51 26.0 61 99.0 19.5 19.0 16.0 38.0 29.0 154 255 114 26 58 50 51 47 64 42.5 112.0 74.96

39.80 13.26

1,007

12,400 101,550 161,760 381,350 89,600 1,745,880 177,240 10,240 186,280 616,520 1,162,400 1,854,600 3,600 2 850 2,850 73,480 9,960 31,960 303,760 6,925,430

Ex-D Ex-D Ex-D Ex-D -

255 480 500 30.0

300 520 540 150 43.0

6.7% 4.5% 5.0% 6.8% 2.7% 0.0% 0.0% 4.7%

325 610 540 148 220 134 40.5 44.91

280 550 450 102 220 102 40.5 42.22

15.67 12.90 10.21 23.37 296.83

-3 -2 -6 -

3,480,000 300,000 640,000 600,000 5,040,000 320,000 307,500 7,120,000 17,600,000 2,240,000 1,320,000 440,000 1,000,000 600,000 3,600,000 880,000 240,000 32,320,000 1,600,000 4,080,000 280,000 960,000 84,967,500

42 7 22 29 46 3 21 36 160 18 30 8 14 11 38 11 1 151 19 35 7 40 749

192,000 33,600 75,040 143,760 174,840 30,360 325,950 106,800 1,101,560 205,240 77,040 28,800 76,720 50,840 65,680 31,960 16,800 1,289,280 56,800 83,160 14,440 331,750 4,512,420

54 110 114 234 232 88 34.0 94 1,060 70 15.0 61.0 90 57 65 75 83 17.5 87 35.5 75 154 39.5 34.5 19.5 31 50 340

55 112 118 240 244 35.0 96 1,080 72 62.0 92 58 66 84 18.5 97 36.5 72 85 174 40.0 35.5 20.0 130 34 52 345

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.5% 0.0% 4.2% 0.0% 5.5% 0.0% 6.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.0%

63 118 152 246 37.5 250 130 100 52.0 120 104 1,080 85 20.0 67.0 94 75 73 90 38.0 92 23.0 91 17.5 45.0 70 80 174 52.0 39.5 39.0 28.5 25.5 134 34 220 70 480 57.93

47 97 108 200 32.5 224 114 77 27.0 108 94 840 62 11.0 35.0 77 56 52 74 33.0 59 13.5 87 17.5 31.0 57 64 116 27.5 22.0 25.0 17.5 15.0 134 31 220 49 270 49.06

41.85 14.37 20.78 20.86

3,240,000 220,000 10,000 120,000 7,500 50,000 120,000 -

59 9 1 4 3 3 12 -

717,560 25,400 4,500 14,880 9,600 14,900 106,300 -

220 114 440 122 1,240 285 140 880 104 295

222 116 445 124 1,280 295 144 890 216 110 335

0.0% 0.0% 2.2% 4.0% 5.1% 3.4% 3.6% 11.2% 4.6% 0.0% 6.3%

260 136 470 158 1,480 345 222 920 216 120 495

214 116 415 124 1,280 295 140 660 180 102 315

67.53

-2 5 -6 -5 -4 -3 -

1.013.08.05.02.025 025.0-2 -4 -10 1.38-

57 112 118 240 32.5 240 118 91 36.5 110 96 1,080 72 12.5 64.0 94 58 67 74 36.0 86 17.5 87 17.5 37.5 70 80 164 42.0 28.5 35.0 17.5 21.0 134 134 220 53 350 57.44

2.0-1 -20 2.5 2.0-3 -1 -2 1 -2 0.5 1.5-2 0.51.5Ex-D -2 -5 0.88-

226 118 440 124 1,300 300 140 890 216 106 315

-4 -2 10 -20 -5 -

from 4th place to become the Gulf’s least attractive destination for expatriates in 2011, behind Kuwait and Oman. The study also shows that, as a result of Western countries facing high unemployment and low pay rises, employers in the Gulf are finding it easier to hire Western nationals rather than Asian candidates. However, according to interview findings, some employers are facing difficulty attracting Western candidates because they perceive the region to be unsafe, following widespread media coverage of the Arab Spring. This year’s survey also highlights the fact that governments across the region are making the nationalization of expatriate jobs a top priority and are embracing various schemes to do this. The survey noted that more innovative approaches are now being tried in some Gulf countries, introducing elements of choice, competition and commercial incentive. Across the GCC, average private sector salary increase has remained stable but much lower than pre-recession levels, according to GulfTalent.com. Oman saw the highest salary increase in 2011 (6.5 percent) prompted in part by widespread strikes by Omani nationals and a pay hike awarded by the government to public sector employees. Saudi Arabia and Qatar saw increases of 6.0 percent and 5.6 percent respectively on the back of strong economic developments.The UAE experienced an average increase of 4.9 percent, while Bahrain had the region’s lowest salary increase, of only 4.5 percent. However, real salary increases, consisting of average pay rise net of inflation, was highest in the UAE and Bahrain. In real terms, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had the lowest salary increases. Among job categories, human resource professionals enjoyed the highest pay rise, while administration and marketing were the lowest. Among sectors, healthcare and retail offered the highest pay rises, while real estate had the lowest. In 2012, Gulf employers expect similar salary increases to last year, with Qatar leading the way.

05 / 01 / 2012

For more Information please contact "Global" at (+965) 180 42 42 or www.globalinv.net

660,000 740,000 15,000 10,000 8,250,000 3,050,000 1,650,000 1,805,000 16,180,000

-20 5 -5 10 -20 10 2.59-

DUBAI: The Gulf region continues to create jobs despite the impact of the Arab Spring in 2011, according to a survey by Dubai-based online recruitment firm, GulfTalent.com. This was mentioned in a press release on Monday. The 2012 edition of ‘Employment and Salary Trends in the Gulf’ released by GulfTalent.com shows that Saudi Arabia is the leader in job creation, thanks to its strong economic growth and massive government investment. Some 62 percent of firms increased their headcount last year compared with 55 percent in 2010, the survey shows. Next was Oman, where 56 percent of firms created new jobs, 1 percent down on the previous year. Qatar also saw 51 percent of employers creating new jobs, reflecting the continued strength of the Qatari economy. In Kuwait, the percentage of firms that created new jobs in 2011 more than doubled compared to 2010, rising by 26 percent to reach 51 percent. Over the same period, the UAE also saw the number of firms creating new jobs jump by 15 percent to reach 37 percent. The GulfTalent.com survey also revealed that Dubai’s share of regional recruitment activity has started to increase after two years of slowdown, due to a combination of jobs growth and churn. In Bahrain, however, severe political tensions continue to negatively impact the job market. According to GulfTalent. com, only eight percent of firms reported any new jobs being created last year, down from 23 percent in 2010.The survey highlights that the oil and gas, healthcare and retail sectors are enjoying the largest headcount expansion, while banking and construction fare the worst. GulfTalent.com’s survey shows that the UAE and Qatar remain prime destinations for expatriates, with Saudi Arabia in third place. According to the survey findings, the UAE strengthened its position as the most popular destination among Gulf-based expatriates, with Dubai overwhelmingly remaining the most attractive city. Qatar remained in second place in terms of popularity with expatriates. Hit by domestic unrest, Bahrain dropped

Trading Prices of Kuwait Stock Exchange Date of Closig Prices: 9/04/2012

For more Information please contact "Global" at (+965) 180 42 42 or www.globalinv.net ź

Gulf countries continue to create jobs despite Arab Spring

FILE - Swiss commodities trader Glencore’s logo is seen in front of its headquarters in Baar, near Zurich, Feb. 6, 2012. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has increased its stake in Xstrata to just over five percent, potentially making it easier for commodities trader Glencore to buy the Anglo-Swiss miner. (Reuters)

Bankers said Qatar is likely to keep building its

Global General Index KSE Price Index

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

80.56 13.55 1.39 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 30.41 0.00 139.70 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.00 9.44 25 44 25.44 11.92 50.59

0.00 4.79 13.63

12.81

17.36 5.87 15.57 38.83 26.74 0.00 16.99 31.68

5.33 22.57 12.99 7.12 40.43

23.07 18.82 0.00 0.00 18.87

18.38 5.85 7.06 128.01 118.86 13.09 23.59 20.17

212 212 Last Close ŷ 83 176.5388 źź 620 620 ŷ ź 5,726.90 1,100 1,100 Gulf Glass ŷ Last Prev. 216 216 HilalCompany Cement ŷ Close 415 415 Al Kout Ind. Project High ŷ Close 275 275 1,140 1120 1120 K-PAK Bank National ŷ ŷ 495 495 Gulf BankMaterial 495 224 224 ŷ Building 770 770 Commercial Bank 770 ŷ 300 300 300 Nat. Ind.Co. ŷ 640 660 Ahli Bank 640 źź 100 102 104 Equipment Holding 800 850 Ahli United Bank 850 Ÿŷ 33 33 Mena Holding 248 248 International Bank 248 ŷ 102 102 Consumer Industries ŷ 460 465 460 Burgan ź 128 128 Kuwait Bank Gypsum 890 880 890 Kw Finance House źź 216 212 214 Qurain 590 590 Boubyan Bank 590 ŷ 44 44 Salbookh Trading ŷ 319.54 źŷ 319.37 Global 202 202 IKARUSIndex - Banking 75 70 70 106 106 Boubyan Int'L Ind. ź Kw Investment ŷ 260 265 265 260 źź Commercial Facilit. 165.82 166.80 Global Index - Industrial 40 41 41 40 ź Int'L Financial Adv. 910 910 NationalInvest. Cinema 170 172 174 National 170 - źŷ 280 280 KwProjects Hotels 300 295 300 - Ÿŷ Kw 300 395 400 395 12.5 390 ŷź Agility 12.5 12.5 Ahlia Holding 13.5 52 52 Market Complexes 52 53 Coast Invest. 53 52 - źŷ 690 700 ZAIN 25.0 25.0 -690 -680 ŷź Int'L Investor 76.0 74.0 76.0 73.0 Safat Energy 130 130 Securities House - ŷź 110 110 Educational - ŷŷ 31.0 31.0 Ind. & Fin. Inv.Group 340 340 230 230 Indep. Petroleum -Securities Group - - ŷŷ 102 102 148 150 Int'L Finance - ŷź 152 144 National Cleaning 108 112 110 MARKAZ 108 102 106 104 Sultan Center 102 ŷź 50 50 KMIFIC - ŷŷ 102 102 102 Arabi Group 102 44.0 44.0 Int'L Group 550 550 CityInv. Group - ŷŷ 52 52 Aref Inv. Group - ŷŸ 2,220 2,200 2,220 2,200 Wataniya Tele. 74 74 Investment Dar - ŷŷ 112 112 116 Kw Gulf Link 112 28.5 28.5 Al AMAN Inv. 58 58 Kw Cable Vision - ŷŷ 108 108 ALOLA Inv. 110 108 300 300 - ŷŷ Automated System 49 49.5 ALMAL Inv. 50 49 ź 370 370 NAPESCO 23 23 Gulf Inv. House - ŷ 290 280 290 KCPC 280 Ÿ 71 71 - ŷ A'ayan Leasing 255 255 K.S.H - ŷ 31.0 31.0 31.0 ŷ 32.5 Bayan Inv. 260 260 Eyas ŷ 48.5 48.5 GLOBAL Inv. ŷ 102 112 Hits Telecom 68 68 -112 -102 ŷź Osoul Inv. 17.5 17.0 17.5 Al Safwa Holding 20.5 20.5 -16.5 ŷź GULFINVEST 270 270 Human Soft - ŷŷ 26.0 26.0 KFIC 78 77 Privatization Holding 78 76 244 244 KAMCO - ŷź 84 89 Nafaaes Holding 84 84 94 94 Int'l Leasing & Inv. - ŷź 154 154 National Slaughter 51 51 - - ŷŷ Nat. Int'l Holding -104 104 104 Aref energy 102 36 36 - ŷŷ Housing Finance 51 51 600 600 MADAR -Safwan - - ŷŷ 26.5 26.5 26.5 Al Deera Holding 78.0 75.0 79.0 26.5 Gulf Petroleum 73.0 ŷź 75 75 Al Safat Inv. 23.5 23.5 -Gulf Franchising - - ŷŷ 122.0 - 114.0 - Ÿŷ 120.0 112.0 Al Salam 120 120 Credit & Group Collection 39.5 41.5 41.0 Ekttitab Holding 17.5 18.5 National Ranges 19.0 39.0 17.5 źŸ 19.0 19.0 Al QurainWell Holding 260 260 Burgan Drilling - ŷŷ 16.5 16.5 16.5 - 16.5 - ŷŷ Sokouk Holding 400 400 IFA H&R 39.0 38.5 Al-Madina Finance 40.0 1,680 1,740 1,740 38.5 1,680 źŸ Combinted Group 29.0 29.0 NOOR 80 80 - ŷŷ Jeeran Holding 160 158 Tamdeen Inv. 160 158 ź 114 114 114 114 ŷ Palms Agro 255 255 KW BH Int'l Exch. - ŷ 74.0 74.0 Safat TEC ŷ 114 114 Taiba Kuwaiti Holding - ŷ 87 85 87 85 Mushrif Trading ź 26.00 26.00 Kuwait Syrian - ŷ 325 325 UPAC 68 68 -Strategia - - ŷŷ 310 300 ALAFCO 300 310 53 53 53 53 ŷź Kuwait China Inv. 160 160 Al-Muwasat 60 60 -- - ŷŷ Manafae Inv. 285 280 Mashaer 280 275 46.5 46.5 Gulf NorthHolding Africa - ŷź 275 275 Oula Fuel 280 275 ŷ 64 64 Amwal - ŷ 285 285 Future - ŷŷ 42.50 42.50 Al MasarComm. 102 99 Hayat Comm. 99 102 128 130 Ÿ 124 ź Al-Imtiaz 132 59 60 Mubarrad Transport 61 59 źź 75.90 76.02 Global Index - Investment 48.0 50.0 Kuwait Resorts 51.0 48.0 ź 325 325 Kuwait Insurance - ŷ 770 750 770 Advanced Technolgy 770 Ÿ 560 560 - ŷ Gulf Insurance 370 370 Yiaco Medical 485 485 -- - ŷŷ Ahlia Insurance 460 460 Al Jazeera Airways 440 źŷ 460 118 110 112 108 Warba Insurance 242 242 Al Soor Fuel 242 242 ŷ 220 220 Kuwait Re-Ins. 98 98 Future Kid ŷ 114 114 First Takaful Ins. - ŷ 300 300 K G L Insurance 40.50 40.50 Wethaq -310 -290 ŷŷ ACICO

United Industries Global General Index 86 620 Boubyan Petroch. KSE Price Index

78 Al Nawadi Global Index - Insurance Alrai Media Kuwait R.E. 48 Zima Holding

83 620 Low 1,120 490 770 300 640 100 800 248 455 880 212 580 70 -

78 ź - ŷ 48 - ź ŷ

100 United R.E. 100 Global R.E. Index - Services 118 National 126 200 Salhia R.E. Trans. 204 LiveStock - 95 Pearl -102 DanaR.E. Al-Safat 224 224 Tamdeen R.E. United Poultry Ajial R.E. 1,420 Kw FoodStuff 1,400 -Massaleh R.E. -United Food Arab 30.0 600 30.0 KoutR.E. Food 580 Union R.E. Global Index - Food 98 96 ERESCO Sharjah Cement 860 840 Mabani 75 74 INJAZZAT RE Gulf Cement 95 99 Inv. UmHolding QuwainGrp Cement 12.0 70 11.5 69 Int'L Resorts Fujaira Cement 90 90 78 77 Commercial R.E Ras AlKheimah 70 65 Sanam ARIG R.E. 54 53 Aa'yan UnitedR.E Gulf Bank 182 166 Aqar 300 Egypt Kw Holding 300 Kuwait R.E Holding Bahrain Kw Ins. 59 AL Mazaya 60 Gulf Fin. House 59.0 54.0 14.0 Al Dar National R.E 14.0 Inovest Int'L Holding 67 63 Themar Ahli United Bank -166 Grand R.E Projects -166 Ithmaar Bank 25.0 -24.0 Tijara & R.E Invest Al Tameer Global Index - Non-Kuwaiti Arkan Al-Kuwait R.E 70 70 Markaz Real Estate Safat Global Investment Al Argan Int'L Funds 28.5 28.0 Abyaar Al-Bareeq Holding 23.5 - 23.5 Munshaat AFAQ First Dubai 26.0 - 25.5 Al-Shamel KBT 27.0 Al-Safat Real Estate 27.0 Manazel 16.5 - 15.5 Ajwan Real Estate REAM Specialities Group 390 395 Mena Real Estate Masaken Inter. Al Moudon Intl. R.E Dulaqan R.E Markaz Real Estate 57 56 Eid Food Kuwait Remal R.E 295 285

Maidan Clinic

Global Index - Real Estate Flex

Nationl Ind. Group 232 Dar Al-Thuraya Real E 242 Pipes Ind. & Oil 126 Kw Medical Services 128 Kuwait Cement 455 450 Amar For Fin. & Leas. Refrigeration Ind. Total Parallel Market 1,420 1,420 Gulf Cables & Elec. Heavy & Ship. Totaleng. Market Marine Services 720 Portland 720 Global Cement Special Indices Shuaiba GlobalIndustrial Index - Kuwaiti Co.'s 104 Metal Collecting 110 Cap. Global Index - 10 Large Kuwait Foundry -

Global Index - Islamic

Ÿ ź Ÿ źŷ ŷ ź ź ŷ Ÿ ŷ ŷ źŷ ŷ Ÿ ź Ÿŷ Ÿź źź ŷ ź Ÿŷ źŷ źŸ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ź ź ź ŷ

ź ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ źŷ źŷ ź ŷ ŷ źŷ ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ Ÿ ŷ ź źŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ

78 43.43 120 48 98 100 705.36 124

200 188 37.5 95 224 130 120 1,400 82 340 30.0 580 108 343.53 97 85 860 75 97 11.5 69 38.0 90 78 122 65 112 54 176 90 300 38.0 455 59 55.0 14.0 64 91 166 17.5 24.0 31.0 59 41.60 70 122 48.5 124 28.0 144 23.5 106 25.5 250 27.0 22.0 15.5 33 134 395 134 51 220 345 57 106 295 2,260 49.73

40.5

232 93.0 128 65 450 60 150 1,420 335 212 720 180 ź 104 ź 460 ź

78 43.63 120 49 98 99 710.75 120

204 188 37.5 100 234 130 120 1,380 82 340 30.5 580 108 340.30 98 85 850 73 99 12.0 71 38.0 95 77 122 70 112 55 172 90 300 38.0 455 63 59.0 14.5 66 91 168 17.5 31.025.0 59 42.07 74 122 48.5 124 28.5 144 24.5 106 26.0 250 27.0 22.0 16.5 33 134 400 134 51 220 345 58 106 290 2,260 49.75

40.5

- Change Previous Close DTD MTD YTD 208 218 4.7% 224 196 24.45 -5 1,160,000 28 84 0.0% 83 102 83 30.17 -0.40% -1.55% 177.24 -0.7097,000 -1.55% - 5,754.20 65,000 5 -27.3040,300 620 610 5.6% 630 550 -1.50% 88.41 -0.47% -1.50% 1,200 3.6% 1,400 1,100 16.54 Trading Activity - Last - Last224 Div. 4.6% Annual 216 Close 206 11.21 High415 Low340 P/E 9.20 Chng - Volume -Tran. - Value(KD) - Bid390 Ask - Yield 4.8% 3,796,050 - 1,120 - 69 3,377,500 7.3% 300 1,100 275 13.23 1,140 - 3.6% 1,120 14.74 20 830,000 407,950 490 495 - 0.0% 510 490 33.95 Ex-D 0.0% 228 224 27.09 10,000 11 7,700 - 770 780 790 770 88.62 3,000 10,000 2.7% 295 310 1.9% 260 325 19.25 -20-2 221 6,400 10,000 640 660 660 64051 17.34 960,000 97,080 102 3.1% 0.0% 100 110 47.93 50 350,000 23 282,700 840 850 - 1.6% 85033 79033 29.68 0.0% 0.00 16 - 700,000 173,600 246 248 - 0.0% 255 24893 23.59 102 0.0% -5 500,000 10 229,750 460 465 - 0.0% 475 460 12.26 Ex-D 128 17.06 128 9.4% -10-4 1,280,000 6614 1,127,050 880 900 880 25.07 870 1,220,000 260,640 214 2.3% 222 212 210 8.55 0.0% 607,850 - 1,035,000 33 590 - 0.0% 580 59051 59041 112.24 0.0% 8,092,500 - 240 6,639,050 18.61 0.17- 200 214 318.41 162 11.86 0.0% 319.54 208 2.0% 40,000 2,800 0.0% -1 --5 102 10675 0.0% 10688 10670 40.56 -5 250,000 14 65,750 260 265 8.5% 265 260 12.09 1,393,960 7,222,500 161 174.76 163.04 10.60 0.982.8% -1 -2 5 -

1,680,000 13 1,040,000 20 110,000 5 300,000 7,040,000 4615 1,280,000 22 3,040,000 148 2,320,000 26 - - - - 2,000,000 55 680,000 1859 1,660,000 -4 80,000 - - 17 55,000 1,760,000 57 - - 14 500,000 320,000 4 920,000 52 1,840,000 22 - - 26,360,000 385 4,960,000 46 - - 1,560,000 28 40,000 -1 - - 160,000 -8 - - 2 240,000 16,080,000 220 - - 11,180,000 - 212 24 1,920,000 275 50,240,000 - - 5 480,000 10,640,000 9353 335,000 - - 80,000 4 20,000 1 2,840,000 7 - 2,330,000 200,000 257 - 1,450,000 -49 50,000 -5 - - 480,000 1,240,000 3816 2,200,000 55847 40,720,000

-5 -1 - -10 2.0--2.0--4 - 20 - - -1 Ex-D 10 - -10 1 --1 --5 - - - - 3.0-8.0 2.01.0 0.560 2.02.0--10 - --5 - - -3.0 2 -1 0.129 2.0640,000 1 20.0 5,000 - - - 11 160,000 -8 120,000 6 100,000 Ex-D -5 - - - 115 4,520,000 - Ex-D 40,000 0.19120,000 61 1 -1 80,000 9 1 920,000 1,773 126,705,000 5.404 105 3,100,000 12 -4 520,000 --5 3,300,000 47 3 10.0100,000 Ex-D -9 110,000 20 - - - 14 80,000 0.5- 75,000 3,485,000 60 3.24 -

-1 320,000 8 10 1,935,000 57 29 120,000 2-2 600,000 1515 0.52,000,000 880,000 -2 -6 - -5 400,000 3 1 240,000 17 1,000,000 -5 414 -1 4 200,000 520,000 - -3 30,000 - - Ex-D 11 440,000 -4 21,480,000 274 -4 1 80,000 0.57,720,000 126 - -2 560,000 2 10 7,920,000 64 - -1 0.4740,110,000 521 -4 320,000 2 - - 12 0.5- 2,720,000 1.0- 80,000 1 0.5240,000 3 Ex-D 35,040,000 - 4 1,200,000 8 1.0- - -5 60,000 2 -1 240,000 6 47 5 2,110,000 0.0253,085,000 332

Ex-D

242 -10 13,220,000 - 154 93.0 128 - 140,000 6 65 470 -20 50,000 2 60 150 60,000 1,460 -40 2,500 12 335 - 345,800,0004,633 212 Prev Close Prev. 720 Close 230,000 19 180 184.76 186.35 106 178.27-2 80,000 179.703 460 -

546.47

554.38

67,160 40 910 177,720 168 33,000 295 117,900 390 90,920 12.5 67,280 51 2,096,750 - 680 170,760 73.0 - - - 294,560 146 73,920 106 169,920 100 8,160 100 - 121,750 2,220 199,440 112 - 27.0 54,920 108 290 15,840 49 345 21 265,550 285 58,760 31.0 2,772,320 64.0 84,160 -16.5 - 119,320 -76 3,360 - - - 16,520 102 - 550 6,360 26.0 1,214,240 73.0 - 21.0 1,305,280 - 118.0 77,080 -18.0 921,040 - 18.0 7,920 16.0 375 419,440 38.5 579,450 1,720 - - 79 12,680 156 2,280 110 73.0 246,760 85 320 - 63 707,850 295 10,600 52 - - 401,450 275 13,800 275 - - 260 48,360 124.099 157,920 132,480 59 2,702,550

31,240 3,850 - 71,250 13,200 24,200 - 1,358,450 3,120 13,200 3,840 92,000 12,200,290 383,920

104,680 320,520 22,400 154,300 - 2,400 43,650 518,470 31,160 1,656,950 8,960 58,280 23,960 61,320 36,000 18,520 67,400 10,720 88,200 9,000 - 26,160 1,214,320 1,120 503,840 92,960 192,560 2,256,480 22,400 - 76,880 1,880 6,160 946,080 19,240 23,450 13,520 610,850 4,151,200

300 510 350 460 445 108 242 -93 - 295

76 112 48 -

99 122 200 182 126 110 1,380 - - 580 112 95 86081 7181 11.597 35.569 77 120 53 178 - 285 13.5 9055 - 64 164.0 30.0 70 116 28.0 23.5 25.0 24.5 15.531 385 29 218 55 290

3,111,120 -17,800 122 22,550 455 150 23,450 1,420 3,550 310 34,480,800 Change 710 165,600 178 -1.59 8,480 -1.43 104 435

-7.92

40 0.0% 4.4% 172 - 0.0% 0.0% 300 - 6.7% 395 0.0% 10.1% 13.0 0.0% 52 - 0.0% 29.0% - 690 0.0% 0.0% 74.0 0.0% 0.0% 33.5 - 0.0% 340 8.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 148 110 0.0% 102 9.3% 0.0% 0.0% 102 - 530 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2,240 2.3% 0.0% 0.0% 114 29.558 0.0% 0.0% 110 8.3% 325 0.0% 50 5.4% - 0.0% 24 0.0% 1.7% 290 0.0% 6.1% 32.5 0.0% 3.8% - 0.0% 0.0% - 102 0.0% 0.0% -17.0 0.0% 0.0% - 280 0.0% 0.0% 78 238 0.0% 0.0% -92 0.0% 5.2% 184 0.0% 54 0.0% 104 0.0% 0.0% 590 3.7% 27.0 75.0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 23.5 0.0% 120.0 - 0.0% 0.0% 39.0 18.5 0.0% 0.0% 20.0 275 0.0% 0.0% 16.5 400 0.0% 0.0% 39.0 1,740 0.0% 4.0% % - 85 0.0% 0.0% 3.8% 160 114 7.0% 270 5.1% 75.0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 87 0.0% 27 9 2% 340 9.2% 73 0.0% 3.3% 300 0.0% 53 170 0.0% 4.4% 61 280 10.8% 0.0% 47 280 0.0% 0.0% 69 8.8% - 275 0.0% 102 9.8% 128.0 0.0% 60 2.4% 0.0%

49.0

325 750 610 390 500 460 114 244 110 300 43.0

80 122 49 106

0.0%

6.2% 0.0% 4.5% 2.7% 5.2% 0.0% 9.1% 0.0% 2.7% 0.0% 0.0% 1.7% 0.0% 6.4% 4.7%

0.0%

0.0% 0.0% 100 0.0% 12.8% 126 0.0% 202 0.0% 190 10.0% 37.596 0.0% 5.3% 224 - 4.5% 0.0% 0.0% 130 1,400 4.6% 6.1% 85 1.5% 360 31.5 3.4% 600 0.0% 6.5% 118 4.1% 0.0% 98 5.9% 87085 0.0% 7685 0.0% 10.3% 12.098 0.0% 0.0% 37.070 0.0% 0.0% 7990 0.0% 8.2% 65 124 0.0% 6.7% 54 120 0.0% 0.0% 91 180 0.0% 10.0% 40.5 300 0.0% 7.7% 60 0.0% 0.0% 14.5 0.0% 0.0% 9456 5.5% 65 6.0% 0.0% 166.0 0.0% 0.0% 33.5 57 0.0% 4.3% 74 0.0% 0.0% 126 0.0% 28.5 - 0.0% 0.0% 25.0 - 0.0% 0.0% 25.5 - 0.0% 3.2% 28.0 0.0% 23.0 0.0% 16.033 0.0% 0.0% 130 1.8% 400 3.7% 0.0% 32 0.0% 50 0.0% 0.0% 57 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 295 0.0% 1.1%

232 93.0 13070 465 1,440 340 216 DTD 720 190 -0.85% 108 -0.80% -

-1.43%

0.0%

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.2% 8.3% 3.3% 0.7% 4.6% 3.0% 4.84% 2.4% 13.9% 5.6% 0.0% 4.3%

42 40 910 1,120 174 170 280 280 305 295 430 340 13.5 12.5 5465 5241 900 690 25.0 25.0 81.0 45.0 130 130 110 110 36.0 31.0 295 345 230 230 102 102 154 110 116 108 102 136 50 5084 110 44.0 44.0 530 550 52 52 1,920 2,280 74 7495 126 28.568 28.558 112 108 230 350 51 49 340 395 23 22 260 305 71 71 260 255 31.5 31.0 260 260 48.5 48.5 132 68.0 68.054 23.5 14.0 20.5 20.5 280 270 26.0 26.0 84 244 24461 104 94 9484 154 154 51 51 120 36 3691 51 51 520 710 26.5 27.5 30.0 78.0 75 75 28.5 16.0 99.0 120.0 140 120 19.5 41.5 19.5 12.0 19.0 19.0 198 275 17.0 16.5 490 380 39.0 38.0 1,740 1,500 29.073 29.089 156 162 124 86 255 255 78.0 57.0 114 114 80 104 26 28 340 270 68 68 280 315 53 55 130 160 60 60 172 285 47 47 265 305 64 64 300 265 42.5 42.5 102 128.070 132.0 76.32 72 75.90 51

62.0

44.0

325 325 770 640 560 560 345 390 520 485 410 485 118 110 270 236 220 220 114 134 11498 300 218 40.5 40.5 44.80 92 43.43 77

156 49 110 100 791.90 128

114 4894 99 705.36 120

200 208 182 222 37.5 37.590 114 234 224 130 126 130 120 1,500 1,380 82 82 390 340 30.5 30.0 610 500 108 108 365.22 340.30 100 96 86095 84044 76 7355 108 12.573 11.543 38.0 38.0 46 122 78 77 126 118 75 65 132 102 54 55 232 172 90 90 330 250 38.0 38.0 455 455 63 59 74.0 40.5 14.5 14.0 91 91 17.5 17.5 31.0 31.0 59 59 47.16 40.74 78 70 1,220 1,220 48.5 48.5 144 124 29.0 28.0 24.5 23.5 26.0 25.5 28.5 27.0 16.5 15.5 134 134 32 32 220 220 57 60 295 270 49.86 49.73

232 260 130 128 470 450 158 150 1,460 1,420 340 335 212 222 MTD 710 740 180 180 -4.35% 104 116 -6.31% 460 460

-2.35%

15.58 88.93 12.13 13.15 1.33 10.57 0.00 23.89 0.00 19.93 0.00 25.21 0.00 55.09 0.00 14.37 0.00 0.00 0.00 14.98

7.04 10.09 11.74 9.19 376.60 32.31 0.00

13.80 0.00 12.64

0.00 9.60 116.80 0.00 0.00 14.91

6.91

0.00

0.00 73.05 87.26 19.03 0.00 3.31 8.28 9.75

22.77 11.92

9.59

60 55 60.55 43.00

5.01 9.60 9.25 23.31 17.39 0.00

5.19 10.01

3.36

16.97 30.14 12.90 11.90 9.91 8.20 17.37 16.90 296.83

10.92 7.92 5.89 12.60 10.71

37.20 12.83 11.18 22.21 17.83

16.20 5.72

11.09

5.29 22.14

10.76

15.28 10.92 39.65 21.70 0.00 14.56 9.76 26.32 27.50

6.82 8.10 36.62

4.15

8.89

75.43 19.44 9.34

11.37 0.00 5.38 27.28

20.67 9.93 23.07 13.56 18.82 63.06 0.00 11.03 0.00 16.27

16.24

70.58 18.38

12.81 6.49 8.02 14.03 193.84 YTD 96.15 10.91 -2.52% 23.15 -6.22% 26.77

-2.76%

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

ALWATAN DAILY tuesday, april 10, 2012

April 21, 2009 April 09, 2012

1% 6%

1% 6% Oman Qatar

2% -1%

112

-3%

Bahrain

Qatar

-4%

Oman Saudi

Bahrain

-6%

Abu Dhabi Dubai

Saudi

95 9-Jan-12 85

9-Feb-12

9-Mar-12

-1%

9-Apr-12

-6% -2

S&P Pan 3-Feb-09 Arab Large/ 18-Feb-09 Mid Composite S&P 20-Mar-09 GCC Large/ Mid Composite 19-Jan-09 5-Mar-09 4-Apr-09 19-Apr-0

GCC Best Performers

Kuwait

MENA Best Performers

1 Period's Liquidity 1 Ratio (PLR x)

-1

MENA Indices Highlights Country (Index)

Index Level

% Chg.

YTD

Sa Saudi Arabia (Tadawul All Share Index) Country (Index)

Index 7,698 Level

UASa UAE (ADX Index) Saudi Arabia (Tadawul All Share Index)

2,547 5,250

-0.5% -4.0%

QaUAUAE Qatar (DSM Index) (ADSM Index)

8,757 2,695

-0.3% 0.6%

BaQa Bahrain Qatar (BSE (DSMIndex) Index)

1,139 5,590

-0.3% 3.9%

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

2,003

Ku Kuwait (KSE Weighted Index)

UAE (DFM(KSE Index) Ku Kuwait Weighted Index)

OmOman UAE(MSM (DFMIndex) Index)

406

1,658 406

5,829 1,745

Eg Egypt (EGX 30 Index)

OmOman (MSM Index)

Ba Bahrain (BSE Index)

M Morocco (Casa All Shares Index)

Eg Egypt (Hermes Egypt Index (HFI))*

Le Lebanon (Beirut SE Index)*

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

Pa Palestine (Al-Quds Index)

M Morocco (Casa All Shares Index)*

Tu Tunisia (Tunis SE Index)*

Le Lebanon (Beirut SE Index)* *Market Closed

Pa Palestine (Al-Quds Index)

4,594

5,478

1,681

10,530

463

1,203

2,825 469

10,621

5,036

1,094 546

Tu TunisiaClosed (Tunis SE Index)* * Market

3,282

52 Wk High

%-0.3% Chg.

-0.9%

0.1%

0.4% -

2.2%

-1.2% -

0.9% -

Mkt.397,873 Cap. USD million

124

13.34

98,346

8,071 2,137

60 122

125,739 69,783

11.65 7.29

1,419 12,627

1,129 4,230

0 196

17,070 65,352

9.22 8.85

2,239

1,921

1,754 787

6,406 5,860

-0.4% -18.8%

26.8%

5,628

0.7%

12,109

0.5%

-6.8%

2,903

-5.3%

8.5%

15 305

3,587

4,224

5,044

2,551

1,414

2.4%

513

4,091

23.6%

739

407

2,119

13.6%

3,418

465

5,036

-7.2%

1,164

14,635

18,048 37,413

9,406

1,043

2,837

13.80

63,640

7.67

18,727

1.63

1.29

3.32

1.56

6.39

33,782

12.71

10,005

15.60

2,464

0.86

2.15

9.16

59,990

1.15

18.36

8,507

1.68

15.54

10,676

1.28

8.07

57,249

3.95

1.78

6.47

2,079

0.86

8.67

6,576

MENA Worst Performers

2.50

13.85

1.92

SAUDI ARABIA *Market Closed

KWD 0.102 SAR 22.95

225 Saudi Industrial Inv. Grp.

101 Riyad Bank

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

120

SAR 24.70

-6.4%

115

184,044,368

173,267,879

430 Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co. (KSA)

343,553,085 171,723,305 119,955,261 134,821,377

115 703Alinma Zain - Bank Saudi(KSA) Arabia (KSA)

97,126,838

NBKNational Bank of Kuwait (KUW)

1,492,141,254

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

88,742,222

7020.SSE Etihad Etisalat Co. 1060.SSE SABB

43Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

644,013,909

20Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

9-Apr-12

12.90

% Chg.

2.0%

13.15

1.9%

52.75

1.9%

66.50

1.5%

36.50

Turnover (SAR) 1,263,098,323 2250.SSE Saudi Industrial Investment Grp. 690,221,592 1150.SSE Alinma Bank 649,806,527 1140.SSE Bank AlBilad

42Emaar the Economic City

9-Mar-12

1.4%

Worst Performers

1 Alinma Bank

9-Feb-12

64,280,166

4220.SSE Emaar the Economic City

Highest Turnover

105

-6.8%

Turnover (USD)

201 (KSA) 201Saudi SaudiBasic BasicIndustries IndustriesCorp. Corp. (KSA)

11,685,973

-3.8% -8.9%

336,799,276

422 Emaar the Economic City (KSA)

7,931 / 5,916 2290.SSE Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co.

Tadawul Index 52 week High / Low

Turnover (SAR '000)

-5.3%

Turnover (USD)

MENA Highest Turnover

0.76

% Chg.

-3.8% -8.6%

115 Alinma Bank (KSA)

90% 4300.SSE Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

Advance/Decline Ratio

2.3%

8.0%

KWD 0.154 SAR 48.00

SAR 13.70

GCC Highest Turnover

7,698 (-0.3%)

Tadawul Index (% Chg.)

125

2.4% 8.6%

SAR 23.45 -13.1% -3.9% KWD 0.265

EMAEmaar Properties (UAE) Best Performers

Summary

3.4% 8.8%

AED 0.96% Chg. -4.0% Close

KFI Kuwait Finance House (KUW)

Rebased Performance

95 9-Jan-12

USD 0.090

ARKArkan Building Materials Co.

3.6% 9.8%

8.0%

ITH Ithmaar Bank

0.88 201 NINNational Investments Company 1.74 Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

9.50

27,561

OMR 0.720

GCC Worst Performers

1.90 FAC 225Commercial Saudi Industrial Investment Grp. 1.37 Facilities Co. 1.59 SULSultan Center Food Products Co. 0.88 238 Rabigh Petrochem.

9.24

15,024

1.05 1.77

10.66 6.87

54,728

328

-3.3%

5.8%

34,642 98,547

1,572

10,512

-1.7%

70 718

5,419 1,433

12,203

1,033

2.2%

1,301 316

2.05

0.78 1.52

8,892 5,148

QAR 21.60

BKMBankMuscat

10.66 9.99

-0.2% 12.8%

AED 0.88

QGTQatar Gas Transport Co.

PB1.39

8.88 10.24

KWD 0.420 QAR 6.35

SIB Sharjah Islamic Bank

PE 13.73

67,269 264,263

0.46 OMRAED 0.703

BURBurgan Bank KCB Al Khaliji Commercial Bank

Trailing

16 2,183

2.4% 6.6%

5.1%

Turnover 3,116 USD million

KWD5.60 1.740 SAR

UPP UnionEngineering Properties & Contracting GEC Galfar

Trailing

2,293 4,130

-0.2% 1.9%

0.1%

396

Mkt. Cap. USD million

2,775 10,090

22.5% -0.2%

-2.7%

467

525,916 Wk Low

Turnover USD million

6.0% 9.3%

-0.7% 1.8%

0.2%

52 Wk 7,931 High

19.9% YTD

52 Wk Low

% Chg.

QAR 8.04% Chg. 6.8% Close

CGKingdom Combined GrpCo. Contracting Co. 3 428 Hldg.

Period's Liquidity Ratio (PLR x)*

MENA Indices Highlights

4 VFQVodafone Qatar

Abu Dhabi

95 100

-2%

Palestine Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi

105

-2%

Dubai Palestine

100

Kuwait

Saudi Dubai

Return DailyDaily Return (%)(%)

Dubai

Saudi Qatar

105

110

Qatar Oman

115 111

4% 0%

Morocco

115110

Kuwait Oman

113

Jordan Kuwait

113

DailyIndex Index Performance Snapshot Daily Performance Snapshot

Egypt Jordan

120115

Bull/Bear Indicator Bull/Bear Indicator

Bahrain Bahrain

Rebased RebasedPerformance Performance

505,620,610

70Zain - Saudi Arabia

3030.SSE Saudi Cement Co.

1030.SSE Saudi Investment Bank

23.45

% Chg.

15.55

-3.9%

-2.5%

32.30

-1.8%

19.85

-1.2%

87.50

-1.7%

Saudi SE

Quotes Company Name 1 Al Rajhi Bank

Close 78.00

% Chg.

-1.0%

Daily High

79.00

Low

77.50

Turnover (SAR '000) 135,074

1 Alinma Bank

15.55

-2.5%

15.80

15.30

1,263,098

1 Arab National Bank

31.50

-0.3%

31.50

31.00

3,196

2 Almarai Co.

1 Bank AlBilad

1 Bank Al Jazira

67.00

32.30

31.30

0.0%

-1.8%

0.3%

67.75

32.90

31.90

66.00

53,109

31.50

134,658 8,398

30.10

91,204

12.50

649,807

65.00

81,519 2,843

1 Banque Saudi Fransi

38.90

-0.3%

39.00

38.00

4 Emaar the Economic City

13.15

1.9%

13.40

12.85

690,222

18.50

59,253

12.00

17,615

24.90

61,360

53.00

18,515

4 Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co. 7 Etihad Etisalat Co.

4 Jabal Omar Development Co. 4 Jarir Marketing Co.

4 Kingdom Holding Co.

2 National Industrialization Co.

2 Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co.

1 Riyad Bank

1 Samba Financial Grp.

2 Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co.

1 Saudi Arabian Mining Co.

2 Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

3 Saudi Cement Co.

5 Saudi Electricity Co.

1 Saudi Hollandi Bank

22 Saudi Industrial Investment Grp.

2 Saudi International Petrochemical Co. 1 Saudi Investment Bank 2 Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. 7 Saudi Telecom Co. 2 Savola Group Co. 0 3 Southern Province Cement Co. 0 1 SABB 3 Yamama Saudi Cement Co.

2 Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co. 7 Zain - Saudi Arabia

12.90

66.50

18.90

2.0%

1.5%

0.5%

12.95

67.00

19.00

154.25

-0.8%

155.75

153.50

39.30

-0.5%

39.40

38.50

34,217

24.90

-0.8%

25.30

24.80

15,987

197.00

0.3%

197.00

193.00

42,511

12.40

25.60

54.25

0.4%

0.8%

-0.5%

36.20

-1.1%

87.50

-1.7%

28.80

0.0%

105.25

14.80

12.40

25.70

54.25

37.30

35.50

62,800

-0.7%

105.25

104.25

644,014

0.3%

14.80

14.50

95,002

22.85

37,466

19.60

3,429

23.45

-3.9%

19.85

-1.2%

89.25

28.80

23.60

86.00

28.60

4,720

782

0.4%

23.45

22.80

35,681

19.15

-0.8%

19.35

18.90

310,762

35.00

0.9%

34.60

11,922

35.00

8,079

23.35

40.00

0.0%

20.00

40.00

35.40

39.80

37,652

98.00

0.0%

99.25

96.00

4,287

49.10

-0.6%

49.20

48.40

31,371

10.00

-1.0%

10.25

9.90

505,621

36.50

52.75

1.4%

1.9%

36.50

53.00

50.25

76,041

Volume ('000) 1,732

81,228

52-Week

High

82.75

16.25

Low

67.25 9.05

on high

-5.7%

-4.3%

% Change YTD

12.2%

66.3%

12 mths

117,000,000 15,410,000

13.5

9,690,000

29.6

55.5%

114.50

67.00

-41.5%

-32.3%

-28.5%

4,169

32.90

17.20

-1.8%

62.7%

66.1%

2,914 216

34.90

31.90

27.9%

78.9%

50.00

-6.9%

-2.6%

-5.3%

40.1%

34.1%

45,952,941

7.6%

22,425,600

29.80

26.90

56.75

200.00

6,119

112.50

6,419

16.30

23.10 42.40

165.00

-14.1% -7.4%

-4.4%

-1.5%

10.1%

14.6%

6.9%

-5.3%

11.9%

9.9%

16.4%

-4.0%

-3.5%

43.1%

43.7%

98.00

52.75

-10.7%

21.5%

65.1%

29.30

21.42

-1.7%

16.0%

11.1%

1,528

24.45

17.75

16,228

21.30

173

37.50

21.20

-3.4%

24.25

1,598

27.20

21.00

87.75

12.85

-6.4%

-9.2%

18.55

-13.8%

15.55

-5.5%

9.4%

6.5%

23.4%

23.70

-1.4%

106.75

61.25

639

83.25

47.50

-41.0%

-29.9%

-10.3%

5.25

-13.0%

80.2%

41.8%

1,442

50,562

46.30

56.00

11.50

34.20

41.60

-8.2%

-21.2% -5.8%

12.0

6.0

48,825,000

33,485,000

11.3 nmf

10.8

1.7 2.0

2.3

13,387,500

16.1

4.1

11,430,720

11.3

1.5

2.8%

221

35.50

-3.1%

49,250,000

18.3%

33.00

2.8

1.2

61,665,588

41.30

nmf

1.8

11.9

12.1%

4.6%

nmf

37,350,000

10,917,500

10.1%

1.9

2.0

-2.0%

-10.1%

2.5

9.0

22.9%

15.50

nmf

1.5

21,906,939

315,750,000

2.9%

9.2

10.2

10,552,500

18.5%

nmf

1.8

18.0

-3.5%

-4.5%

12.1

9,255,000

-1.4%

941

341

46,550,000

7.05

-22.6%

1.6

2.8

0.9

11,177,500

13.10

34.30

2.3

12.8

92.0%

57.4%

1.5

13,932,000

17,565,660

10.8%

12.3

3.6

2.0

38.3%

-0.8%

nmf

34.7

35,166,295

55.6%

98.00

15.9

9,390,000

-2.8%

-6.2%

216

26,775,000

11.10

50.75

23,325,000

20.15

871

1,735

26.7%

-3.3%

155.50

341

34.4%

6.20

642

77.9%

13.60

68.25

2,397

56.1%

15.5%

6.05

-9.5%

84.7%

-2.8%

1,226

1,421

-1.9%

14.5%

30.00

13.85

3,135

15.75

-9.7%

40.00

50,373

52,488

26.60

Trailing

1.0%

793

101

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

27.8

20.0

1.2

1.8

8,561,667

12.1

1.5

28,725,000

nmf

1.9

80,000,000

10.5

1.7

31.6%

-10.3%

-19.8%

36,500,000

12.6

2.1

3.9%

29,671,875

9.3

2.8

19.9%

59.4%

13,720,000 9,942,750

14,000,000

14.7

1.3

22.0% 14.0%

17,500,000

15.4

15.3

13.5 nmf

2.3 5.2

2.9 3.3

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

ALWATAN DAILY tuesday, april 10, 2012

KUWAIT Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 6,120 (-0.6%)

KSE General Index (% Chg.)

120

406 (-0.9%)

KSE Weighted Index (% Chg.)

44%

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price 115

0.50

Advance/Decline Ratio

115

BURG.KSE Burgan Bank

KCEM.KSE Kuwait Cement Co.

9-Feb-12

9-Mar-12

Turnover (KWD) 2,201,900

K Kuwait International Bank

9-Apr-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

2.4%

0.450

2.3%

0.560

1.8%

0.285

1.8%

Worst Performers

ZA Zain Kuwait

2,096,750

K Kuwait Finance House

1,198,350

1,247,100

B Burgan Bank

95 9-Jan-12

3.6%

27,418,803

Highest Turnover 103

% Chg.

0.420

34,437

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

100

1.740

467 / 396 FACIL.KSE Commercial Facilities Co.

KSE Weighted Index 52 week High / Low

Turnover (KWD '000)

105

Combined Grp Contracting Co.

6,523 / 5,694 BOUBYAN. Boubyan Bank

KSE General Index 52 week High / Low

110

CGC.KSE

997,300

B Boubyan Bank

SULTAN.KSSultan Center Food Products Co.

0.102

NINV.KSE National Investments Company

% Chg.

-3.8%

0.154

ALAFCO.KSAlafco Aviation Lease and Fin. Co.

-3.8%

0.300

ALTIJARIA The Commercial Real Estate Co.

-3.2%

0.091

KFIN.KSE Kuwait Finance House

-3.2%

0.720

-2.7%

KSE Weighted Index

Quotes Company Name

A Agility

0.395

T Al Themar Intl. Holding Co.

0.087

A AREF Energy Holding Co.

0.104

A Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait

0.610

A Alafco Aviation Lease and Fin. Co. B Boubyan Bank

B Boubyan Petrochemical Co.

-1.3%

0.0% -

0.300

-3.2%

0.560

1.8%

0.620

B Burgan Bank

0.420

A Burgan Co. for Well Drilling

0.260

C Commercial Bank of Kuwait

0.790

C Combined Grp Contracting Co. F Commercial Facilities Co. G Global Investment House

0.390

0.610

0.600

0.310

0.435

0.657

0.104

233,931

0.550

997

1,805

0.620

0.530

-9.7%

-5.1%

-3.4%

979,012

0.405

1,247

3,050

0.524

0.410

-19.8%

-7.1%

-10.8% -3.3%

160

0.124

0.630

102

360

0.395

0.255

-27.8%

9.6%

0.435

1.2%

0.435

0.415

312

740

0.552

0.425

-21.2%

-10.5%

0.495

0.285

-19.2%

-15.8%

0.096

-59.1%

-2.9%

0.236

-15.1%

0.099

1.280

0.940

0.055

0.450

1.5%

1.420

1.400

0.0%

0.890

0.880

106

1.060

-1.9%

1.060

326

1.060

-1.9%

1.060

700

660

N National Industries Grp. Holding

0.222

-1.8%

0.220

718

3,240

0.285

N National Real Estate Co.

0.116

-1.7%

0.116

640

0.168

0.212

-1.9%

0.212

261

0.102

170

-2.7%

K Kuwait International Bank

0.270

-1.8%

K Kuwait Projects Co. (Holding)

0.335

1.400

0.890

0.033

S Salhia Real Estate Co.

S Sultan Center Food Products Co. T Tamdeen Real Estate Co.

A The Commercial Real Estate Co. S The Securities House N Wataniya

Z Zain Kuwait

0.300 0.154 0.275

-1.5% -

0.740

0.275 0.335 -

0.260

2,202

0.330

381

-3.8%

0.158

0.152

162 14

0.118

0.280

0.275

0.234

-2.5%

0.242

0.234

0.240

-3.8%

0.214

0.104 0.093

0.091

205

2.220

0.9%

2.220

2.200

122

0.690

-1.4%

0.690

0.680

-5.2%

-28.6%

8,250

0.350

0.236

-22.9%

1,140

0.425

0.295

-21.2%

1.620

1.380

1.580

0.660

1.080

0.700

1.145

1,060

0.909

-13.6%

-47.8%

0.056

0.9

-10.5%

1,145,393

37.4

2.7

-11.1%

181,553

nmf

54,503

1,004,898 64,309

268,712

-5.4%

-6.7%

-23.6%

-8.3%

1.9

600

0.246

0.200

-4.9%

12.5%

16.7

0.9

18.2%

23.0%

166,968

2.280

1.800

-2.6%

14.4%

23.3%

1,118,953

0.690

-50.0%

-23.3%

-50.0%

0.6

119,977

-3.2%

1.380

nmf

2.1

0.067

3,040

0.7

22.3

59,041

0.0%

nmf

90,667

233,200

0.0%

2.1

0.8

0.094

0.0%

0.1

15.2

nmf

2,240

2.3

134,937

-19.0%

0.7

1.3

-15.0%

14.2

24.5

16.5%

-5.9%

1.3

103,861

-0.9%

4.3%

25.8

4.0

-25.0%

-11.1%

1.2

28.3

0.093

0.216

34.7

588,964

0.136

0.270

0.8

1.3

1,660 -

0.7

31.9

0.9%

nmf

80,905

287,512

-5.5%

3.8

11.7

4,614,707

13.7%

1.6

562,803

0.5%

-9.4%

7.4

1.9

21,780

-31.0%

3.1

20.1

0.0%

-47.8%

nmf

286,945

426,431

-10.5%

1.9

nmf

-14.1%

-9.1%

nmf

63,719

9.8%

-12.9%

1.0

3.9

280,078

7.1%

37.2

9.6

-15.6%

-14.6%

1.2

101,200

5.9%

0.0%

34.3

1.0

2,090,998

53.6%

1.1

18.0

-26.6%

-38.0%

nmf

151,500 79,485

-16.6%

-22.1%

-6.2%

300,762

-61.2%

-26.2%

0.265

0.186

10.8

-2.2%

0.360

0.226

152,978

283.3%

4.1%

0.154

4.2

1.1%

-7.4%

0.295

16.9

46.4%

23.3%

-11.8%

0.192

168,137

18.8%

-1.9%

0.260

1.5

-23.8%

25.4%

0.340

12.8

-9.9%

-43.7%

0.0%

648,886

32.4%

-13.6%

1.0

4.2

-26.9%

-0.8%

1.9

nmf

-16.0%

0.0%

0.5

18.3

78,000

-44.7%

0.0%

1,220

2,097

-5.6%

-29.3%

308

0.415

-24.7%

0.720

120

-3.2%

0.130

0.630

110

144

0.091

0.285

-10.9%

1.019

0.300

0.118

-16.0%

1,650

0.300

0.224

0.485

154

0.0%

0.102

1,198

160 -

0.710

0.136

0.242

0.450

1.280

0.214

2.3%

0.242

0.019

1.700

0.700

15.3

1.5

17.0%

22.6%

0.280

0.720

A Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Co.

-38.1%

5.9

-17.5%

10.7%

0.285

K Kuwait Finance House

O Oula Fuel Marketing Co.

-1.6%

-1.9%

1.8%

0.440

N National Investments Company

0.198

-16.1%

0.285

0.460

N National Industries Co.

0.520

0.420

0.0%

N National Bank of Kuwait

0.085

10.1%

0.400

88,088

-16.7%

-10.5%

-13.0%

923,076

-4.8%

1.300

413,501

-21.1%

3.9%

0.280

1.945

Trailing

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

5.0%

-4.4%

335

0.460

M Mena Holding

-3.0%

579

JAJazeera Airways

M Mabanee Co.

-16.3%

12 mths

5.3%

1.680

P Kuwait Portland Cement Co.

0.079

-7.2%

YTD

1.740

0.202

F Kuwait Food Co.

0.590

-9.2%

% Change

3.6%

IK Ikarus Petroleum Industries Co.

K Kuwait Cement Co.

0.248

on high

1.740

-1.5%

K KIPCO Asset Management Co.

Low

0.380

0.620

300

High

2,330

0.620 0.420

118 -

52-Week

Volume ('000)

708

0.0%

0.560

Turnover (KWD '000)

0.300

0.102

1.280

IF International Finance Co.

0.395

Low

0.104

C Gulf Cable and Electrical Industries Co.

IF IFA Hotels & Resorts

High

0.0%

2.4%

0.049

G Gulf Bank

Daily

% Chg.

12.9 nmf

89,549

18.1

88,400

nmf

2,972,199

1.1 0.9

0.9

15.9

0.7

7.0

3.1

1.4

10.4

1.4

UAE Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,658 (-0.7%)

DFM Index (% Chg.)

135

2,547 (-0.5%)

ADSM Index (% Chg.)

Advance/Decline Ratio

124

DFM Index 52 week High / Low

2,775 / 2,293

ADSM Index 52 week High / Low

315,972

Turnover (AED '000)

105

TATamweel

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

9-Mar-12 Abu Dhabi SE

22,054,999

D Dubai Financial Market

9-Apr-12

3.4%

0.88

2.3%

3.35

1.8%

1.35

#N/A

0.0%

#N/A

Turnover (AED) 59,975,008 ARKAN.AD Arkan Building Materials Co. 45,451,645 DFM.DFM Dubai Financial Market 34,426,973 TAMWEEL Tamweel

E Emaar Properties

9-Feb-12

% Chg.

#N/A

Worst Performers

A Arabtec Holding

95 9-Jan-12

#N/A

Highest Turnover

108

0.46

402,901,803

Market Cap. (AED '000)

115

Union Properties

68% SIB.ADSM Sharjah Islamic Bank 0.19 ARTC.DFM Arabtec Holding 1,754 / 1,301 TAQA.ADS Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

125

UPP.DFM

19,699,281

A Air Arabia

DU.DFM

0.96

% Chg.

1.17

1.34

2.96

ALDAR.AD ALDAR Properties

1.17

-4.0% -3.3%

-2.9%

-2.6%

-1.7%

Dubai FM

Quotes Company Name

A Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

3.25

T Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

1.35

A Air Arabia

0.71

A Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

A Abu Dhabi National Hotels A ALDAR Properties

3.42

2.19

Daily

% Chg.

-0.3%

-1.2%

0.71

19,699

27,670

D du

0.40

2.96

S Sorouh Real Estate Co.

1.74

0.71

-44.8%

-5.0%

-45.8%

1,680,000

nmf

1.0

0.0%

0.50

0.49

1,613

3,254

-29.6%

11.1%

-24.2%

-1.2%

-2.6%

-0.9%

-0.3%

-1.0%

0.0% -

1.78

1.80 -

0.41

3.04

1.78 -

0.40

2.96

9.50

1.18 -

8.70 -

3,563 6,949

22,055 4,177

471

1.96

1.69

3.24

2.76

-10.4%

8,813

0.46

0.20

-11.4%

2,316

18,599 2,064

0.71

3.30

1.46

2.31

0.34

2.80

-19.9%

1.88

-13.0%

2.65

-38.9%

6.98

45,452

14,127

3.49

2.41

8.70

13,370

1,527

11.20

8.64

1.17

1.56

9.50 -

8.65 -

1,045 -

3,654 -

288

733

110 -

4.63

10.75

0.67

102.00

74.70

4.70

2.91

327

1.02

0.80

421 -

9.00

2.39

-10.3%

0.68

3.20

2,091

-8.7%

7.38

-0.6%

5.0%

89.2% 2.4%

-18.4%

-11.6%

23.0%

15.5%

-10.3%

-9.9%

-4.1%

-24.4% -3.6%

-4.0%

66.2% 7.0%

-0.9%

122.2%

0.44

12,008

26,243

0.50

0.24

-7.1%

78.3%

-1.6%

U United Arab Bank

3.95

3.4%

3.02

0.47 -

2.95 -

1,031 -

344 -

3.90

5.00

2.82

3.28

-23.1%

-21.0%

3.8%

8.5%

nmf

0.6

13,531,429

12.3

9,360,000

7,632,079

nmf

7.6

0.4

2.2

1.3

0.8

1.8

968,894

nmf

-16.3%

22.4%

15,728,502

28,500,000 -

12.1%

33,631,167 2,848,000

41.8%

-13.3%

-10.1%

2,328,534

11.9

37.6%

0.53

0.9

6.5

69,257,786

-24.0%

1.49

7.2

3,301,001

-14.1%

0.67

25,564

1.54

1.4

0.6

-22.6%

34,427

4,551

1.1

10.9

-1.7%

4.8%

12.4

0.7

19,613,788

-25.5%

-13.7%

7.4

0.6%

1.63

1.32

5,317

-4.2%

-3.7%

-21.8%

1.37

1.16

63.2%

-6.5%

25.3%

2,620,739

5,911,221

3.6%

-7.7%

4,779,601

1.5%

-10.7%

-2.9%

1.18

-4.3%

39.3%

0.87

3.00

* Closing Prices, Turnover and Market Cap. in USD

8.80

844

7,156

0.89

U Union National Bank

0.46

3.24

2.3%

-1.7%

U Union Properties

nmf

128

-0.6%

1.34

1,530,000

-22.0%

0.3

0.6

123

1.17

T Tamweel

0.0%

27.2%

8.7

0.94

8.68

0.88

12.2

2,190,000

1.00

0.0%

2.83

S Sharjah Islamic Bank

3,290,024

-19.8%

1.2

1.1

-4.0%

2.86

N National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain

-4.9%

-0.5%

0.8

1.7

-1.1%

4.51

12.9

7.0

19.7

2.83

N National Bank of Fujairah

8,403,750

8,087,294

5,008,250

E Emirates NBD

N National Bank of Abu Dhabi

-30.4%

-8.2%

12.9%

6.0

139.3%

2.01

91.45

0.0%

0.76

18,185,691

110.7%

2.04

M Mashreq

0.0%

1.68

26.5%

-7.7%

-1.0%

1.18

20.3%

1.24

2.01

G Gulf Cement Co.

-8.6%

-25.5%

Trailing

Market Cap. (AED '000)

3.63

D Dubai Islamic Bank

9.50

12.5%

2.02 0.57

8.2%

-17.2%

2.94

0.77

16.9%

12 mths

17,923

1.17

F First Gulf Bank

1.14

-3.7%

YTD

59,975

1.20

8.76

1.63

2.92

-2.1%

% Change

3.20

-3.3%

E Etisalat

3.55

2.59

on high

3.44

1.18

1.17

3.22

3.32

Low

8,340

D Dubai Financial Market

E Emaar Properties

52-Week

High

1.15

0.50

D Deyaar Development Co.

580

0.72

D Dana Gas

2.90

1,984

0.0%

0.96

C Commercial Bank of Dubai

3.40

850

1,618

A Arkan Building Materials Co.

1.79

2,760 2,190

1.8%

A Aramex

3.23

Volume ('000)

1.33

3.35

A Arabtec Holding

3.48

Turnover (AED '000)

1.37

-1.7%

1.02

3.30

Low

0.0%

1.17

A Amlak Finance

High

0.0%

6.2

7.7

18.8

8.9

0.9

2,134,440

8.5

9.2

1,340,000

13.2

57.5%

1,548,754

nmf

-25.5%

7,486,875

3,935,785

0.8

1.3

17.7

35.4% -2.9%

1.1

9.1

4,961,000

3,071,250

0.5

5.0

11.9

2.4

0.5

0.6 0.7

0.6

1.9

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

ALWATAN DAILY tuesday, april 10, 2012

QATAR Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 8,757 (-0.3%)

DSM Index (% Chg.)

120

Advance/Decline Ratio

115

457,804,066

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

ERES.DSMEzdan Real Estate Co.

Highest Turnover

100

Turnover (QAR) 25,067,640 AHCS.DSMAamal Co. 13,161,231 QGTS.DSMQatar Gas Transport Co. 12,423,343 IQCD.DSM Industries Qatar

V Vodafone Qatar

Q Qatar Gas Transport Co. MMasraf Al Rayan 9-Feb-12

9-Mar-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

11,566,306

Q Qatar National Bank

9-Apr-12

% Chg.

6.8%

129.00

0.4%

51.80

0.2%

16.50

0.0%

19.80

-0.3%

Worst Performers

90 9-Jan-12

8.04

8,892 / 8,071 QIIK.DSM Qatar International Islamic Bank 217,724 KCBK.DSMAl Khalij Commercial Bank

DSM 52 week High / Low

Turnover (QAR '000)

110

50% VFQS.DSM Vodafone Qatar 0.27 QTEL.DSM Qatar Telecom

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

11,400,804

Q Qatar Telecom

17.14

% Chg.

-1.4%

17.60

-0.9%

27.20

-0.6%

140.50

MARK.DSMMasraf Al Rayan DHBK.DSMDoha Bank

-0.9%

60.00

-0.5%

Doha SM

Quotes Company Name

A Aamal Co.

17.14

Daily

% Chg.

-1.4%

Low

17.03

693

28.15

6,897

60.00

1,468

141.70

140.50

10,983

17.69

K Al Khalij Commercial Bank

16.50

C The Commercial Bank of Qatar

75.60

-0.3%

76.00

75.50

E Ezdan Real Estate Co.

19.80

-0.3%

19.80

19.58

B Barwa Real Estate Co.

28.15

D Doha Bank

60.00

0.0%

High

-0.4% -0.5%

IQIndustries Qatar

140.50

-0.9%

Q Qatar Electricity & Water Co.

146.00

M Masraf Al Rayan

27.20

Q Qatar Gas Transport Co.

Q Qatar International Islamic Bank

17.60

-0.9%

76.90

-0.4%

75.50

-0.4%

8.04

6.8%

51.80

Q Qatar Islamic Bank

Q Qatar National Bank

134.40

Q Qatar Telecom

129.00

Q Qatar Navigation V Vodafone Qatar

-0.6%

0.2%

Turnover (QAR '000)

16.52

28.35 60.10

27.30

17.75

52.50

77.00

12,423

17.57

13,161

51.10

7,389

-0.4%

134.50

133.90

0.4%

130.90

128.50

11,401

8.19

-28.9%

16.06

35.35

28.00

YTD

7.8%

12 mths

8,484,300

-20.5%

10,953,859

-12.9%

-3.9%

-12.5% -0.5%

18,706,946

52,519,435

-20.4%

-6.0%

68.00

-11.6%

-10.0%

24.97

18.60

-20.7%

-10.8%

-14.1%

-3.2%

-2.3%

12.9%

67.00

50.00

148.50

118.80

153.50

129.50

142

56.20

45.50

141.73

122.24

168.50

128.50

746 33 65

3,155

28.10

-10.4% -5.4%

22.50

19.58

85.30 87.50

-4.9%

16.59

-10.1%

76.30

-9.8%

-7.8%

-5.2%

69.90

8.12

-13.7%

-23.4%

7.24

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

-4.4%

85.50

457

25,068

7.52

on high

15.40

% Change

4,887

75.20

Low

18.95

2,525

11,566

24.09

245

125

27.15

High

550

76.80

75.90

163

16.41

52-Week

Volume ('000)

-1.0%

-6.4%

5.6% 4.6%

0.5%

-4.1%

-8.8%

-2.7%

-1.3%

-8.4%

6.5%

5,940,000

3.4%

0.1%

1.5

12.2

1.1

9.1

0.9

9.9

1.3

9.7

2.9

11.2

4.8

10.0%

7,840,901

9,747,654

-8.5%

18,170,947

-11.2%

8,646,653

94,043,636

29,515,200

0.8%

77,275,000

20,400,000

-13.0%

17.2

10.0

14,600,000

10.9%

12,401,868

6.2%

-5.6%

Trailing

6,797,016

1.8

nmf

1.9

14.5

2.4

11.7

6.7

12.0

1.6

13.3

1.6

12.5

2.2

12.3

0.8

11.4

1.4

nmf

1.0

OMAN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 5,829 (-0.2%)

MSM Index (% Chg.)

120

37% BKMB.MSMBank Muscat

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

1.00

Advance/Decline Ratio

115

MSM 52 week High / Low

6,948,497

Market Cap (OMR '000)

147,138

O Oman Telecommunications Co. 9-Mar-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

82,205

R Renaissance Services

9-Apr-12

0.5%

0.58

0.4%

0.47

0.0%

#N/A

Turnover (OMR) 798,081 OTEL.MSMOman Telecommunications Co. 185,800 RNSS.MSMRenaissance Services

O Oman Cement Co.

9-Feb-12

% Chg.

#N/A

Worst Performers

B Bank Muscat

90 9-Jan-12

#N/A

Highest Turnover

102

100

0.63

OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co.

6,406 / 5,419 BKDB.MSMBank Dhofar 5,737 #N/A #N/A

Turnover (OMR '000)

110

56,513

R Raysut Cement Co.

#N/A #N/A

1.29

% Chg.

-0.7%

0.59

#N/A

-0.7%

#N/A

BKDB.MSMBank Dhofar

#N/A

0.47

0.0%

Muscat SM

Quotes Company Name

Daily

% Chg.

B Bank Dhofar

0.473

N National Bank of Oman

0.292

O Oman Telecommunications Co.

1.286

-0.7%

R Renaissance Services

0.588

-0.7%

B Bank Muscat

0.628

O Oman Cement Co.

0.575

R Raysut Cement Co.

0.991

0.0%

High

Turnover (OMR '000)

Low

0.475

0.472

0.5%

0.632

0.622

798

0.4%

0.576

0.573

186

0.991

0.0%

0.293

1.289

0.992

0.590

0.291

1.283

147

0.587

52-Week

Volume ('000)

High

0.549

Low

1,270

0.679

0.572

323

0.608

0.416

0.324

114 57

-13.8%

0.291

1.425

0.458

4.0%

-5.7%

-5.4%

33.1%

-9.8%

30.4%

-9.8%

0.711

1.094

YTD

-7.5%

-9.9%

1.041

1.099

140

on high

0.423

% Change

-46.3%

-6.4%

12 mths

Market Cap. (OMR '000)

-11.1%

520,355

-2.8%

1,128,386

0.0%

-3.3%

-1.8%

16.4%

7.9%

-41.9%

13.0

2.3

9.6

1.3

190,252

14.9

1.3

198,200

13.2

323,543

964,500

-9.8%

Trailing

165,872

9.5

1.2

8.6

2.0

1.9

nmf

1.0

BAHRAIN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,139 (-0.3%)

BSE Index (% Chg.)

120

26% BATELCO.BBahrain Telecommunications Co. 0.50 AUB.BSE Ahli United Bank

% of stocks trading above 1 yr avg. price

Advance/Decline Ratio

115

1,419 / 1,129 ITHMR.BSE Ithmaar Bank 114 #N/A #N/A

BSE 52 week High / Low Turnover (BHD '000)

110

6,435,489

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

Highest Turnover

101

100

12,703

A Ahli United Bank

9-Mar-12

B Albaraka Banking Grp.

9-Apr-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

Bahrain SE

% Chg.

2.3%

0.60

-1.6%

0.09

-5.3%

#N/A

Turnover (BHD) 23,818 ITHMR.BSE Ithmaar Bank 20,600 AUB.BSE Ahli United Bank

IT Ithmaar Bank

9-Feb-12

0.45

#N/A

Worst Performers

B Bahrain Telecommunications Co.

90 9-Jan-12

#N/A

0.09

BATELCO.BBahrain Telecommunications Co.

BARKA.BS Albaraka Banking Grp. #N/A

#N/A

% Chg.

0.60

0.45

0.93 #N/A

-5.3%

-1.6%

2.3%

#N/A

Quotes Company Name

A Ahli United Bank*

0.600

A Arab Banking Corp.*

0.420

B Albaraka Banking Grp.* B Bahrain Islamic Bank

B Bahrain Telecommunications Co. B BBK

IN Investcorp Bank* IT Ithmaar Bank*

N National Bank of Bahrain U United Gulf Bank

* Closing Prices, Turnover and Market Cap. in USD

0.930 0.090

0.450

0.420 797

Daily

% Chg.

-1.6% -

2.3% -

0.090

-5.3%

0.304

0.570

High

0.600 -

0.450 -

Low

0.600 -

0.448

0.090

Volume ('000)

34 -

0.090 -

Turnover (BHD '000)

High

0.680

-11.8%

0.116

0.082

-22.4%

0.105

on high

-14.6%

700 -

0.599

0.857

0.570 0.492

Low

1.089

52-Week

0.428 797

0.625 0.424

0.420 0.380

-26.3% -8.5%

% Change YTD

-0.5%

1,306,200

-6.6%

648,000

-22.4%

-14.3%

38.5%

0.270

-28.3%

1.3%

-8.8%

-26.3%

0.0%

14.8%

0.065

0.560

3,140,133

-14.6%

0.0%

-1.9%

0.0%

-8.1%

-0.4%

0.390 797

12 mths

1.4%

0.0%

-0.9%

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

0.0%

-30.0%

-21.7% -9.5%

-25.1%

943,462

Trailing

10.1 8.0 6.4

84,571

nmf

357,570

11.2

240,999

nmf

637,560

487,555

253,707

1.2

0.8 0.4

0.8

8.1

1.3

4.5

0.6

10.7

1.8

nmf

1.5 0.4

1.2

LIFE

The causes of corns Corns are thick calluses that form on the feet, and they can be quite painful. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lists these possible causes: •Wearing shoes that are too tight and squeeze the feet. •Wearing shoes that are too loose and allow the foot to slide around. •Having a stitch or seam inside a shoe that rubs against the toes. •Wearing socks that don’t fit your feet well. •Having a deformity of the toes, including a hammer toe or claw toe.

TUESDAY, april 10, 2012

Children born to obese moms may face higher autism risk NEW YORK: A new study of mothers and children in California finds that kids born to obese women are more likely to be diagnosed with autism or related developmental delays than the children of slimmer moms. The research, which was looking for effects on kids’ cognitive development from a variety of “metabolic conditions” in mom -- including high blood pressure or diabetes -- found the strongest links between obesity and autism-related disorders. Researchers also found ties between the other maternal metabolic conditions and developmental delays in kids. Although the study cannot prove that one condition causes the other, its authors, who published their results in the journal Pediatrics, caution that even the possibility is worrisome in light of rising US obesity rates. “If there is anything you can do to make yourself healthier, this is yet another reason for moms to consider,” said Paula Krakowiak, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, who led the study. Krakowiak and her colleagues looked at 1004 children who were between two and five years old, born in California and already participating in a study underway at UC Davis. Of those kids, 517 had an autism spectrum disorder and 172 had developmental delays. For Krakowiak’s study, the children’s diagnoses were confirmed by a reevaluation at the UC Davis MIND Institute. Autism is attributed to atypical brain development and characterized by a group of symptoms that include problems with socialization, communication and behavior. Milder versions of autism, such as Asperger’s syndrome and related conditions, form a “spectrum” of autism-related disorders. In addition, impairments in any one of the autism-related cognitive skill areas are considered developmental delays. Among the kids in the study with an autism spectrum disorder, 48 were born to mothers with Type 2 or gestational diabetes, 111 to mothers who were obese and 148 to moms with any sort of metabolic condition, like high blood pressure. For children with a developmental delay, 20 were born

An autistic child peers from between curtains at the Consulting Centre for Autism in Amman, March 30, 2010. (Reuters)

to mothers with Type 2 or gestational diabetes, 41 to mothers who were obese and 60 to moms with any sort of metabolic condition. Overall, the connection between diabetes in a mother and her child being diagnosed with autism was not significant, but the researchers did find links between a moth-

Two childhood obesity genes discovered NEW YORK: Researchers have linked two new genes with an increased risk of obesity in children, a new study says according to LiveScience. The genes show a strong association with childhood obesity, the researchers say. Previous studies have identified genes associated with obesity in adults, and in children with extreme obesity due to an underlying condition, but the new study is the first to link genes with childhood obesity in the general population. “We see a clear genetic signature to childhood obesity, showing there is more than just an environmental component to this disease,” said study researcher Struan Grant, associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It’s still not clear how the genes act to increase obesity risk, Grant said, but they operate in the gut. The study, conducted by an international group of researchers, was published online Sunday in the journal Nature Genetics. Since 1980, childhood obesity has tripled in the United States, and currently, one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While factors such as unhealthy foods and lack of physical activity have contributed to the rise in childhood obesity rates, studies of families and twins show obesity has a genetic component as well, the researchers said. Grant and colleagues analyzed genetic information collected during 14 studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. They first scanned the genomes of 5,530 obese children, and 8,300 children who were not obese. They found eight new genetic markers associated with childhood obesity. To validate their findings, the researchers studied these markers in an additional 2,000 obese and 4,000 nonobese children, and found two markers were linked with childhood obesity. A gene called OLFM4 on chromosome 13, and one called HOXB5 on chromosome 17 were the closest genes to the markers. Additional research is needed to confirm these genes are, in fact, the ones that play a role in child obesity, and that the link is not due to other nearby genes, the researchers said. “This work opens up new avenues to explore the genetics of common childhood obesity,” Grant said. “Much work remains to be done, but these findings may ultimately be useful in helping to design future preventive interventions and treatments for children, based on their individual genomes,” he said.

er being obese or having any other metabolic condition and her child having autism. Developmental delays were associated with both obesity and diabetes, along with having any other metabolic condition. “There is definitely an association present and it adds to the reasons for finding ways to lower

Rising ocean temperatures prime Amazon rainforest for fire MOYOBAMBA, Peru: Scientists used to think the Amazon was too wet to burn but a warming Atlantic Ocean is drawing moisture away from the rainforest according to Scientific American Karina Pinasco watched in dismay as flames on a hillside at the edge of town lit up the sky one night in October 2010. A farmer had intended to clear a few hectares of land to plant coffee bushes, but the fire - set during an unusually hot, dry spell - quickly got out of hand. Propelled by winds and high temperatures, it burned for 10 days, charring more than 250 acres of land. “We realized we weren’t prepared,” says Pinasco, a biologist who heads Amazónicos por la Amazonía, a local environmental organization. “The firefighters weren’t trained. It was the rain that finally put it out.” Scientists used to think the rainforest, especially in the western Amazon, was too wet to burn. But major fire seasons in 2005 and 2010 made them reconsider. Fires are a major source of carbon emissions in the Amazon, and scientists are beginning to worry that the region could become a net emitter, instead of a carbon sink. New findings link rising ocean temperatures off the northern coast of Brazil to changing weather patterns: As the Atlantic warms, it draws moisture away from the forest, priming the region for bigger fires. “We are reaching a tipping point in terms of drought, beyond which these forests can catch fire,” says Daniel Nepstad, international program director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute in Brasília, Brazil. The 2005 drought - considered a once-in-a-century event - resulted in unprecedented wildfires in Acre, the western Brazilian state bordering Peru. Flames scorched the tree canopy, and at one point the front face of the fire stretched nearly seven miles. As many as 1.2 million acres of forests were affected in Acre and the neighboring regions of Pando in Bolivia and Madre de Dios in Peru. Officials estimated upwards of $100 million in economic damages. But the forest loss wasn’t the only concern for the Acre state government, said Foster Brown, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center and a professor at the Federal University of Acre in Rio

Branco, the state capital. Choking smoke spiked respiratory ailments in the region and canceled flights. Just five years later, another once-a-century drought struck, and fires spread out of control, especially in Acre, Bolivia’s Pando region and Brazil’s Mato Grosso state. Acre was better prepared, but in Bolivia, smoke from more than 20,000 fires reduced visibility and shut airports in several towns. The Bolivian government declared a state of emergency as more than 3.5 million acres of forest burned. In Mato Grosso, fires destroyed at least 100 homes. Gigatons of carbon

The 2005 fires added 1.6 gigatons of carbon to the atmosphere, according to a study by Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds, who put emissions from the more widespread 2010 fires at 2.2 gigatons. In a normal year, the Amazon forests store 0.4 gigatons of carbon a year in the trees and soil, meaning that two bad seasons like 2005 and 2010 could wipe out a decade of gain, according to Lewis’ calculations. And as humans push further into an increasingly drier Amazon, the problem could worsen. In the western Amazon, humans are the chief source of sparks. With new roads being built and paved through once-inaccessible areas, Peru’s Amazonian regions now have some of the country’s highest population growth rates. Many of the newcomers clear a little land to farm, and where there are farms, there is fire. Researchers now think the key lies not in the Pacific - or, at least, not entirely - but in the north tropical Atlantic Ocean, off Brazil’s northern coast. When sea surface temperatures in that area warms, moisture-bearing winds shift northward, said Katia Fernandes of Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Heavier rains fall in the northern Amazon, while the southwest gets a drought. Fernandes thinks she can predict those droughts. Looking at droughts over the past few decades, she found that ocean temperatures rose about three months before the dry spell set in - enough time for scientists to issue a warning so governments can prohibit burning during especially dry periods. That could help farmers tip Amazonian forests back to the carbon sink side of the scale.

obesity rates or diabetes rates and make greater efforts to change lifestyle factors,” said Krakowiak. The new findings come on the heels of a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that estimated every one in 88 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder. That number represents about a 25 percent increase from the agency’s last report in 2006. Meanwhile, Krakowiak and her colleagues note that nearly 60 percent of US women of childbearing age (20-39 years) are overweight, one-third are obese and 16 percent have socalled metabolic syndrome -- a constellation of symptoms, including high blood pressure and insulin resistance, that raise heart disease risk.Although no one can say the nation’s rising obesity rate is to blame for the prevalence of autism, Krakowiak said the parallel increases did catch her attention. “That was definitely one area that I took note of too. I knew obesity rates and diabetes rates were rising, and autism rates were too,” she said. Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist in the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami, told Reuters Health that she thinks it’s natural for people to draw a connection between the two rising rates. “There is a lot that is unknown and studies like these really help us figure out the questions that need to be answered,” said Gardener, who has investigated risk factors for autism in the past. But Gardener warns that she believes researchers are far away from understanding what might create a link between obesity and autism. Krakowiak told Reuters Health there are a few theories, such as that vascular problems and an overabundance of inflammatory proteins in obesity, could be crucial in a baby’s brain development. Regardless of how strong the association is or isn’t, Gardener said there is enough evidence to encourage moms-to-be to get healthy. “Even though this association is far from being proven, there is plenty of evidence that obesity and insulin resistance can have health consequence for mothers and fetuses,” Gardener told Reuters Health. -Reuters

Gene discovery may move stomach cancer treatment forward

CONNECTICUT: An international team of researchers has identified hundreds of new genes that are mutated in stomach cancer, in a finding they say could lead to treatments tailored to the genetic make-up of individual stomach tumors according to HealthDay News. Stomach cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide and kills more than 700,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization. Treatment is often difficult and unsuccessful. In the United States, less than one-quarter of stomach cancer patients survive more than five years after diagnosis. “Until now, the genetic abnormalities that cause stomach cancers are still largely unknown, which partially explain the overall poor treatment outcome,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Patrick Tan, an associate professor in the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, in a Duke University Medical Center news release. Tan, who leads the Genomic Oncology Program at the Cancer Sciences Institute of Singapore, and colleagues from the National Cancer Center of Singapore used DNA sequencing technology to analyze tumor and normal tissue from stomach cancer patients. They identified more than 600 genes that were previously unknown to be mutated in stomach cancer. Further analysis revealed that two genes -FAT4 and ARID1A -- were mutated in 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively, of stomach cancers. In some patients, portions of the chromosome containing the two genes were missing. This provides further evidence that genetic defects affecting the two genes occur frequently in stomach cancer. In lab experiments, the researchers found that changing the functioning of the two genes altered the growth of stomach cancer cells. “More research is required to realize the clinical implications of these findings. ARID1A and FAT4 are likely also involved in many other cancer types, not just stomach cancer,” Tan said.

It’s already been a very record-breaking hot year WASHINGTON: It’s been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records weren’t just broken, they were deep-fried. Temperatures in the lower 48 states were 8.6 degrees above normal for March and 6 degrees higher than average for the first three months of the year, according to calculations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That far exceeds the old records. The magnitude of how unusual the year has been in the US has alarmed some meteorologists who have warned about global warming. One climate scientist said it’s the weather equivalent of a baseball player on steroids, with old records obliterated. “Everybody has this uneasy feeling. This is weird. This is not good,” said Jerry Meehl, a climate scientist who specializes in extreme weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “It’s a guilty pleasure. You’re out enjoying this nice March weather, but you know it’s not a good thing.” It’s not just March. “It’s been ongoing for several months,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Ashville, N.C. Meteorologists say an unusual confluence of several weather patterns, including La Nina, was the direct cause of the warm start to 2012. While individual events can’t be blamed on global warming, Couch said this is like the ex-

tremes that are supposed to get more frequent because of manmade climate change from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. It’s important to note that this unusual winter heat is mostly a North America phenomenon. Much of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere has been cold, said NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling. The first quarter of 2012 broke the January-March record by 1.4 degrees. Usually records are broken by just one- or two-tenths of a degree. US temperature records date to 1895. The atypical heat goes back even further. The US winter of 2010-2011 was slightly cooler than normal and one of the snowiest in recent years, but after that things started heating up. The summer of 2011 was the second warmest summer on record. The winter that just ended, which in some places was called the year without winter, was the fourth warmest on record. Since last April, it’s been the hottest 12-month stretch on record, Crouch said. But the month where the warmth turned especially weird was March. Normally, March averages 42.5 degrees across the country. This year, the average was 51.1, which is closer to the average for April. Only one other time - in January 2006 - was the country as a whole that much hotter than normal for an entire month. The “icebox of America,” International Falls, Minn., saw temperatures in the 70s for five days in March, and there

were only three days of below zero temperatures all month. In March, at least 7,775 weather stations across the nation broke daily high temperature records and another 7,517 broke records for night-time heat. Combined, that’s more high temperature records broken in one month than ever before, Crouch said. “When you look at what’s happened in March this year, it’s beyond unbelievable,” said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver. NOAA climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi compared the increase in weather extremes to baseball players on steroids: You can’t say an individual homer is because of steroids, but they are hit more often and the long-held records for home runs fall. They seem to be falling far more often because of global warming, said NASA top climate scientist James Hansen. In a paper he submitted to the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and posted on a physics research archive, Hansen shows that heat extremes aren’t just increasing but happening far more often than scientists thought. What used to be a 1-in-400 hot temperature record is now a 1 in 10 occurrence, essentially 40 times more likely, said Hansen. The warmth in March is an ideal illustration of this, said Hansen, who also has become an activist in fighting fossil fuels. Weaver, who reviewed the Hansen paper, called it “one of the most stunning examples of evidence of global warming.” -AP

FILE - In this March 25, 2012, file photo a couple enjoy a sunny afternoon against the backdrop of the Midtown skyline from Piedmont Park in Atlanta. (AP)

ALWATAN DAILY

CULTURE

tuesDAY, april 10, 2012

Georgia’s Stalin museum to focus on his atrocities

A bust of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin sits inside a museum dedicated to him in the town of Gori, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP)

GORI, Georgia: A museum that has honored Josef Stalin in Georgia since 1937 is being remodeled to exhibit the atrocities that were committed during the Soviet dictator’s rule. Georgian Culture Minister Nika Rurua said Monday that his nation, which became independent in 1991, can no longer host a museum “glorifying the Soviet dictator.” Stalin was born Josef Dzhugashvili in the central Georgian town of Gori in 1879, and the museum opened here in 1937, at the height of purges that were later dubbed the Great Terror. The gigantic museum includes the house where Stalin was born and some 47,000 exhibits, including his personal belongings and death masks. It remained open despite the de-Stalinization campaign and denunciation of his personality cult declared by Stalin’s successor Nikita Khrushchev in 1956. But in post-Soviet Georgia, whose pro-Western government has been actively removing traces of Soviet past, the museum seemed like an anachronism that mostly at-

tracted foreign tourists and a few die-hard Communists. Stalin, who died in 1953, remains a divisive issue in the former Soviet Union. He is still revered by many who say he led the Soviet Union to victory in World War II and turned a struggling nation into a superpower. Some of his most ardent supporters are still found in Gori. “Stalin was a great man. He defeated Nazism,” said Gori native Archil Dzhikvaishvili, 65. “As to the purges, they did take place, but there were significantly fewer victims than the number we hear today.” According to the prominent Russian right group Memorial, Stalin ordered the deaths of at least 724,000 people, while millions died as a result of the forced labor system in Gulags, the Soviet prison system. Millions of others, including entire ethnic groups such as Chechens and Volga Germans, were forcibly resettled, mostly to Soviet Central Asia. Many of Stalin’s victims were ethnic Georgians, including his former Bolshevik Party comrades who witnessed his rise to power in the 1920s. -AP

Israel bars German writer Grass from visiting over poem JERUSALEM/BERLIN: Israel declared Nobel Prizewinning German author Guenter Grass “persona non grata” on Sunday over a poem in which the former SS soldier described the Jewish state as a threat to world peace. Grass would be barred from visiting for his “attempt to inflame hatred against the State of Israel and people of Israel, and thus to advance the idea to which he was publicly affiliated in his past donning of the SS uniform,” Interior Minister Eli Yishai said in a statement. In the poem published by a German newspaper last week, Grass, 84, condemned his country’s arms sales to Israel and said the Jewish state must not be allowed to launch military strikes against Iran. Israel, widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear weapons, has threatened to take military action, with or without U.S. support, to halt what it sees as a nuclear threat from Iran. Tehran says it is developing nuclear technology for purely peaceful purposes, but its calls for Israel’s destruction, support for Islamist guerrillas on its borders and questioning of the Nazi genocide have stirred international war jitters. The poem, titled “What Must Be Said,” was condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear program as a threat akin to the Holocaust. Grass’s words were also denounced by mainstream political parties in Germany, where any strong condem-

nation of Israel is taboo because of the of the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust. The author said in a weekend interview that, in retrospect, he would have phrased his poem differently to “make it clearer that I am primarily talking about the (Netanyahu) government.” “I have often supported Israel, I have often been in the country and want the country to exist and at last find peace with its neighbors,” he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. Grass had urged Germans for decades to come to terms with their Nazi past but his moral authority has never fully recovered after his belated admission in 2006 that he had once served in Hitler’s Waffen SS. “Why do I say only now... that the nuclear power Israel endangers an already fragile world peace? Because that must be said which may already be too late to say tomorrow,” Grass wrote in the German-language poem. “Also because we - as Germans burdened enough - may become a subcontractor to a crime that is foreseeable.” In a response in Bild am Sonntag newspaper, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said: “Putting Israel and Iran on the same moral level is not ingenious but absurd.” Yishai, who heads an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party in Netanyahu’s conservative coalition government, suggested that Grass go to Iran, “where he would find a sympathetic audience should he want to continue disseminating his warped and mendacious work.” -Reuters

US demands Sotheby’s give up ancient Cambodian statue LONDON: US prosecutors on Wednesday filed suit demanding auctioneer Sotheby’s forfeit a 10th-century sandstone statue the government says was looted from a Cambodian temple. The statue, known as the Duryodhana, is believed to have been stolen from the Prasat Chen temple at Koh Ker in Cambodia sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said in a statement. The Duryodhana “was looted from the country during a period of upheaval and unrest,” Bharara said. “With today’s action, we are taking an important step toward reuniting this ancient artifact with its rightful owners.” If successful in the suit, the United States plans to return the statue to Cambodia. Koh Ker was the capital of the Khmer empire in the first half of the 10th century, the civil complaint said. The remote jungle site, which once housed a complex of temples, sanctuaries, a terraced

pyramid-temple and towers, is about 200 miles north of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. The Duryodhana once stood on a pedestal near the entry to the western pavilion of Prasat Chen, a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. The feet of the statue remain there today. In 1975, a private collector in Belgium bought the Duryodhana from an auction house in the United Kingdom, according to the government’s court filing. In March 2010 Sotheby’s agreed to sell the statue at auction and imported it to the United States the next month, making arrangements to sell the statue, despite knowing that it was stolen from Koh Ker, Bharara said. In March 2011, immediately before the planned auction, the Cambodian government asked Sotheby’s to pull the statue from auction, Bharara said. Sotheby’s withdrew the statue from the auction, but it remains in its possession. Sotheby’s disputed the government’s

claims. “This sculpture was legally imported into the United States and all relevant facts were openly declared,” the company said in a statement. “We have researched this sculpture extensively and have never seen nor been presented with any evidence that specifies when the sculpture left Cambodia over the last one thousand years nor is there any such evidence in this complaint.” “We have been in active discussions for a year with both the US and Cambodian governments, and we had assured them that we would voluntarily maintain possession of this statue pending further discussion,” the company said. “Given that Cambodia has always expressed its desire to resolve this situation amicably, and that we had an understanding with the US Attorney’s Office that no action would be filed pending further discussion towards a resolution of this matter, we are disappointed that this action has been filed and we intend to defend it vigorously.” -Reuters

Mutilation helps Kosovo’s Dervish prove their faith PRIZREN, Kosovo: The children pierce their cheeks with oversized needles, while adults do it with small metal rods. Some even stick thicker bars into their bodies. This is how the Dervish in Prizren prove their faith. The Rufai Dervish order is famous far beyond the borders of Kosovo. They were there long before the former Serbian province hit the headlines in the 1990s after its outbreak of ethnic bloodshed. Their annual dance was banned in Turkey nine decades ago, but the centuriesold tradition continues in Kosovo, as well as among their brethren in the region, in Macedonia, Albania and Bosnia. With white felt caps on their heads and dressed in black tunics, some 130 of them huddle on prayer carpets in the narrow Tekke - the place of gathering for the Sufi Muslim brotherhood - in Prizren, in southern Kosovo, waiting for Shejh Adrihusein Shekhu. When he arrives, he explains to the congregation in Albanian, Turkish and Serbian that they are gathered to celebrate the birthday of their order’s founder, Ali. The ceremony, three-and-ahalf hours long, is capped with a tranceinducing whirling dance and the selfmutilation. A liberal wing of the Sufi Muslims, the Dervish profess love and tolerance for others, regardless of their religions. They despise fundamentalists and terrorists. During the first two hours of the celebration, the shejh and his followers sing and pray without a pause. Then he preaches, urging for tolerance and “love for all people.” Then bonbons are handed to all, to relax throats, which are running raw, before the singing commences. An hour later, Shehu signals his Dervish to stand up, and all began to whirl ecstatically to the sound of drums and cymbals. At one moment, he beckons a young - perhaps 10 years old - Dervish to approach. He then sticks a large needle through both of the boy’s cheeks.

FILE - It might seem to outsiders like an unnecessary torment but hundreds of youngsters gather in southern Kosovo to pierce themselves with needles. (dpa)

There is no blood visible and the child shows no pain in his apparently deep trance, as he falls back into the ranks and continues dancing, with the needle jutting from his face. Around 10 other boys come to Shehu to have their cheeks pierced. The older Dervish puncture their jowls and other body parts by themselves. As the tempo accelerates even further and the dance becomes more fervent, a few Dervish even whirl with long sticks protruding from their necks. Then the Shejh begins removing needles from the young Dervish. After he plucks a needle out, he presses the puncture wound briefly with his thumbs and releases the boy. He repeats the process, one boy after another. Just a few droplets of blood can be seen on some, but the older men, who pierced themselves with large sticks,

bleed thin red rivulets. The point of the self-mutilation, they explain later, is to fight the body in order to liberate the soul. “Man must overcome his body, its biochemical functions, to free the soul, so it can be with god and in god,” one says. A medical explanation that the persistent whirling drains some parts of the body from blood, allowing nearly bloodless piercing, hardly satisfies those who see the dance. In the end, Shehu invites his flock for tea. Dressed in everyday street clothes, they discuss everyday matters - marriages, farming and also politics and religion. Each member of the order has taken advice from the shejh. The title is inherited from father to son across generations and Sheh’s son has already for years been growing into the role, designated to him by birth. When his father passes away, the order will be in safe hands. -dpa

TRAVEL

Bypass Tokyo and head for some fine climbing country

KAMIKOCHI, Japan: Mount Fuji in Japan is regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful mountains. With its even flanks and almost symmetrical cone, Fuji, or Fujisan, has also been revered as a sacred site since time immemorial. Europeans are familiar with the prominent silhouette of this 3,776-meter-high peak, which stands as a potent symbol of the Far Eastern country, although many may refer to Fujiyama - an incorrect translation of the Japanese pictogram for mountain. Less known outside Japan is that most of the Japanese archipelago consists of fine climbing territory. Visitors who travel to Japan inevitably see mainly the cities. Travel guidebooks tend to focus on the sights in Tokyo, Koyto and Nara with the result that many tourists remain oblivious to the country’s often breathtaking rural landscapes. These areas of outstanding natural beauty come complete with stunning views of mountain chains, lakes and vast swathes of forest and are often located quite close to large centers of population. “The mountains shape our lives on a daily basis,” said Hideo Koshigaya. The 65-year-old Japanese is an accomplished alpinist with international experience. When he is not scaling peaks he is in charge of the mountaineering equipment department at a store in Tokyo. “The people who venerate these mountains began climbing them hundreds of years ago,” said Koshigaya. The peaks are also dotted with shrines to the Shinto natural religion, which regards Fuji as a holy place. Between July and August thousands of people trek to the top of Mount Fuji. Those who want to miss out the crowds might turn their attention to the Japanese alps instead. The rocky landscape with many peaks soaring 3,000 or more metres is a magnet for hikers, climbers and other outdoor

FILE - An unusually cloudless view of Mount Fuji. With its symmetrical form and snow-covered volcanic peak, Mount Fuji has been venerated since time immemorial. (dpa)

enthusiasts. The area offers tranquil woodlands, waterfalls and cliff faces while in some places snow remains on the ground around the year. Many travelers make a bee-line for Kamikochi. The lofty plateau is surrounded by the summits of the Hotaka Renpo range. This protected habitat is home to wild goats and butterflies, and trout can be found in the crystal-clear waters of the streams.

Japan’s mountains may not be as tall as many in the European Alps but they should not be underestimated. Sudden changes of weather can cause problems, even for experienced climbers and there are fatalities every year. Bears are a feature of the more remote corners of Japanese mountain ranges. Signs at the beginning of trails warn of the possible peril ahead. Free-roaming monkeys can be an annoyance.

The best way to avoid their unwanted attention is by packing away any food. On the way to Okuhotakadake visitors are bound to come across the creatures. There’s plenty of scope for climbing in Japan. Alongside free climbing and conventional climbing with ropes there are opportunities to indulge in sawanobori, the art of scaling waterfalls back to the source of the river. One of the best known and challenging routes can be found at Tanigawadake (1,977 meters). The rock faces here are very slippery, said Koshigaya. Since the area was first explored in the 1930s, about 780 people have plunged to their deaths. Many Japanese head for the peaks in the winter months but it pays to be well-prepared. In Hotaka for instance, temperatures can fall to -30 degrees centigrade and it can be chilly even in the autumn. The Karasawa alpine hut offers refuge from the elements and like most of its kind in Japan, the accommodation is clean and cozy. The arduous part of the climb begins after a good night’s sleep. The ascent to the next hut costs a good deal of energy before it is time to pitch a tent on one of the narrow rock terraces. It is well worth waking early the next morning since the view of the sunrise across the mountains is overwhelming. From here on climbers have to pick their way over rocks and along narrow paths before reaching Okuhotakadake or the other summits. Those who want a bird’s eye view of the landscape without so much physical exertion might like to head for national parks such as Fuji-Hakone-Izu, Nikko or Chichibu-Tama-Kai. They are all within easy reach of Tokyo. Japan has another 20 national parks to offer, including the Shiretoko peninsula on Hokkaido island which is a UNESCO-listed natural heritage site. The unspoiled countryside stretches from here to the Okinawa islands down south. -dpa

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Song: Escapade Artist: Janet Jackson Album: Rhythm Nation 1814 Genre: R&B In short: Summer is around the corner and approaching rapidly, which only means one thing: Escapade. To listen to the song visit www.alwatandaily.com E-mail your feedback to falsabah@alwatandaily.com

The Buzz Barbra Streisand won’t sing at Obama’s LA fund-raiser Barbra Streisand is still backing President Obama’s re-election campaign, but she won’t be singing for the president on his next fund-raising stop in Southern California. Published reports had suggested that the singer -- who has lent her lungs to Democrats dating back to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson -- would entertain at a May 10 event to be hosted by DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg. Party officials have set a $2 million goal for the event. But a source close to Streisand told Reuters that she will not be performing. Streisand sang at a fund-raiser for Obama at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 2008, when the president went on to take in $2.8 million from the entertainment industry. The support from Hollywood has dropped off, to $1.5 million in 2011, but party officials hope the election season kick-starts the fund-raising efforts. Vice President Joe Biden will open the re-election campaign’s next Southern California tour with a $2,500-a-head party in Santa Barbara on April 20. -Reuters

tuesDAY, april 10, 2012

Distinguished filmmakers, cultural luminaries on jury panels of Gulf Film Festival KUWAIT: The fifth Gulf Film Festival, the home of bold, experimental and contemporary cinema from the Arabian peninsula, today announced the two jury panels that will select the winners of the its flagship Gulf Competition, Gulf Student Competition and the International Shorts Competition. Nearly half a million Dirhams will be distributed as prize money to the winners in the various categories; according to press release. One of the key platforms of the festival aimed at encouraging regional and international talent, the competitions have drawn thousands of entries from all over the world. All shortlisted films are being screened during GFF, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), from April 10 to 16, 2012, at Grand Cinemas, Dubai Festival City. A weekend of screenings is also scheduled for April 12 to 14 at the Abu Dhabi Theatre in the capital. Films in the Official Gulf Competition will be evaluated by a jury comprising Iraqi theatre director Jawad Al Assadi, Saudi Arabian filmmaker Abdullah Al-Eyaf and UAE media personality, theatre director and author Jamal Matar. The International Shorts Competition and the Gulf Student Competition jury comprises of Tampere Film Festival Finland Director Jukka-Pekka Laakso, Emirati filmmaker and writer Jamal Salim, and Egyptian film critic Essam Zakarea. Al Assadi, a leading theatre personality in the Arab world, is also an essayist and playwright. His prominent works include “Ras Al Malik Jaber 1984,” “Café Abu

Handout photo of Tampere Film Festival Finland director Jukka-Pekka Laakso as one of the selected jurors at the 5th Gulf Film Festival.

Hamda 1986,” “Forget Hamlet (Ophelia’s Window) 1994,” “Two Women Servants 1994,”and “Woman of War 2001.” He also published two anthologies on theatre “Khashabat Al Nass” in 1998 and “Al Mawt Nassan.” His work has been translated into English, Russian and French. An award-winning filmmaker, Abdullah Al-Eyaf is one of the pioneering figures in the Saudi Arabian film industry. With four films to his credit, Al-Eyaf’s short film

“Aayesh” won the first prize in the Official Gulf Competition at GFF 2010. He debuted with “Cinema 500 km,” a film that discussed the ban on cinemas in the Kingdom, and followed up with “A Frame and Matar,” both screened at various film festivals. He contributes a weekly column to “Al Riyadh” and edits a weekly film page in “Al Watan.” Emirati media personality Jamal Matar, also an author and award-winning theatre

Hudson star power to complicate murder trial

Country star Jake Owen is engaged Country star Jake Owen is officially off the market! The 30year-old crooner had a big surprise for his girlfriend Lacey Buchanan when he took the stage at a charity performance in his Vero Beach, Fla., hometown Saturday: A marriage proposal; reported US Weekly. Getting down on one knee when singing “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You,” Owen asked Buchanan to be his wife, Taste of Country reports, but the proposal was so spontaneous that he didn’t even have a ring. “I’m a happy man. Life is complete,” Owen tweeted after Buchanan said she’d be his wife. The couple met on the set of Owen’s video for “Eight Second Ride.” Buchanan also appeared in his video for “Barefoot Blue Jean Night.”

Extras sought for Matt Damon ‘anti-fracking blockbuster’ Hollywood star Matt Damon is hunting for some “great character faces” for a feature film he is making with director Gus Van Sant said to be critical about fracking for natural gas. In a notice seen Friday on the website of the Pittsburgh Film Office in Philadelphia, the casting team of “Promised Land” announced an open audition for paid extras on Saturday at a local convention center. “We are especially searching for great character faces, farmer looks, senior citizens, baseball players, upscale men and women with formal wear, teens and kids,” it said. “Promised Land” stars Damon -- who Van Sant directed in “Good Will Hunting” -- in a story he cowrote about a businessman who “experiences live-changing events after arriving in a small town,” the IMDb.com website said. Filming gets underway April 23, according to a Facebook page set up by the casting team in Pennsylvania, one of the eastern US states where fracking for gas is under way. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial process by which high-pressure injections of water, sand and chemicals are used to blast through rock to release oil and gas trapped inside. Pennsylvania filmmaker Josh Fox raised concerns about fracking’s disputed impact on the environment, particularly underground sources of water, in his Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary “Gasland.” -AFP

Teen Mom’s Leah Messer marries Jeremy Calvert Leah Messer is once again a married woman! Nearly one year after filing to divorce first husband Corey Simms, mom of twins Messer, 19, tied the knot with fiance Jeremy Calvert Wednesday in Catlettsburg, Ky., local news outlet The Daily Independent reports; according to Us Weekly. Swapping vows in front of MTV cameras at the Catlettsburg Wedding Chapel, Messer and Calvert asked their mothers to serve as witnesses to the ceremony, officiated by Rev. Marty Gute. Approximately 15-20 guests -- including cameramen, producers and Messer’s twins -- were in attendance. “Everybody was happy and joyful and took a ton of pictures,” Gute told The Independent. “I think they wanted to keep it out of the news, but the producer said he knew it would hit Facebook soon. He asked my daughter not to tweet about it, though.” According to Gute, the couple is expected to have another larger ceremony at a later date. “We have a really good connection,” Messer gushed to Us Weekly about her beau, who proposed last Christmas as Messer’s 2-year-old twins, Ali and Aleeah looked on. “It’s different from Corey and my relationship, because we were kinda like forcing it...With Jeremy, you know when you’re supposed to be with somebody and you’re not.”

Singer Jennifer Hudson performs during the benefit “Songs From the Silverscreen” to raise funds for The Rainforest Trust at Carnegie Hall in New York, April 3, 2012. (Reuters)

CHICAGO: Accustomed to wearing Vera Wang gowns on red carpets, singing at the Grammys or autographing her weight-loss memoir, Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson will take on a new role under a very different spotlight - in Chicago’s drab criminal courts building at the trial of the man charged with murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew. The Hollywood star’s presence, and the accompanying media hubbub, is bound to affect the proceedings, which begin Monday. That’s when presiding Judge Charles Burns plans to start questioning would-be jurors one by one, trying to weed out anyone who could be swayed by Hudson’s celebrity status. Hudson is expected to be at the trial every day once testimony begins, court officials say, and she’s on the 300-name list of witnesses who could testify. While the judge will warn prospective jurors to avoid watching TV coverage of the trial, they may see Hudson on “American Idol” on Thursday. Legal experts widely agree on the No. 1 challenge at trials involving megastars: It’s identifying 12 jurors able and willing to assess guilt solely on what they hear in court. Hudson will need to refrain from overt displays of emotion as potentially starstruck jurors’ eyes dart back at her, said Gerald Uelmen, a defense attorney at O.J. Simpson’s murder trial. “The risk is that jurors may be watching her rather than testifying witnesses, and they could be influenced by how she reacts,” he said. “She would be well advised not to engage in any facial expressions or outbursts. That could be grounds for a mistrial.” Prosecutors say William Balfour, the 30year-old estranged husband of Hudson’s sister, shot the family in a jealous rage because Julia Hudson was dating another man. Jennifer Hudson, also 30, and Balfour grew up in the same South Side neighborhood. The bodies of Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and brother, Jason Hudson, 29, were found shot to death in the family’s home on Oct. 24, 2008. The body of her nephew, Julian King, was found days later in a vehicle several miles away. Balfour’s attorneys have said the evidence is circumstantial, though prosecutors say proof he committed the crime will include gun resi-

due found on his car’s steering wheel. Adored by many Chicagoans, Hudson will pose a stark contrast to Balfour, a short man with a long criminal record. He was a one-time Gangster Disciples gang member and known by his street name, “Flex,” according to court documents. The dilemma posed by Balfour’s trial became clear last week, when 150 potential jurors filled out their questionnaires in court. Nine of the 66 questions dealt with Hudson’s career: Would-be jurors were asked if they’d ever seen her Academy Award-winning film “Dreamgirls” and if they belong to an organization for which Hudson is a spokesperson, presumably a reference to Weight Watchers. It was obvious many potential jurors had heard of the killings, some gasping when the judge first read the name of the case. And when Burns asked if anyone felt they couldn’t hear the evidence “without sympathy, bias or prejudice” to step up, he looked on with apparent alarm as five, 15, then 20 people rose. He finally told everyone to sit down and disregard the question, for now. The history of high-profile trials - from Simpson’s to Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray - suggests it’s hard to dim the celebrity glow. But Burns, known as a competent but quick-tempered judge, wants to ensure the buzz doesn’t undercut Balfour’s right to a fair trial. He’s made it clear he won’t tolerate disruptions. He’s barred tweeting from inside court because he fears feverish typing would distract jurors. He’s imposed gag orders on attorneys. Cameras also won’t be allowed in the courtroom, though that won’t stop the media circus outside. Chicago isn’t a paparazzi hot spot, but cameramen are likely to swoop in from New York or Los Angeles, said Ray Murray, an associate journalism professor at Oklahoma State University who studies paparazzi. The defense could ask Burns to bar Hudson from court - possibly on grounds she is a potential witness - which would be a rare but not unheard of request. But Uelmen says the judge would be reluctant to tell a daughter she can’t attend the trial of the man accused of killing her mother. Hudson’s publicity firm did not respond to requests for comment. -AP

director, rounds out the Gulf competition jury. Laakso is director and board president of the Tampere Film Festival in Finland, one of the best-known and longest-running short film festivals in the world. His contribution to cinema also extends to managing a non-profit arthouse cinema and film criticism. He is a member of his nation’s National Council for Cinema and National Council for the Arts. Award-winning Emirati author and filmmaker Salim is no stranger to the Gulf Film Festival: his film “Slow Death” won Special Mention at the GFF 2011 Official Gulf Competition. A leading Egyptian film critic, Essam Zakarea is the artistic director of Asly Masry Film Festival, an independent film festival organised in the framework of the EU co-funded project ‘Rising Stars - Itinerant Cinema in Egypt.’ Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Gulf Film Festival Director, said: “We are honored to have an eminent jury of international film professionals and cultural thought leaders to evaluate the short-listed entries of the Gulf Film Festival. The overwhelming response to the festival competitions is a mark of the eagerness of filmmakers worldwide to be part of the festival. This year, we have witnessed an impressive increase in the number of entries to the Official Gulf Competition, a positive indicator of the regional film industry attracting more talent.” GFF 2012 will be held from April 10 to 16, 2012, at the InterContinental Hotel, Crowne Plaza and Grand Festival Cinemas at Dubai Festival City, and from April 12 to 14 at the Abu Dhabi Theatre on the corniche.

Veteran CBS journalist Mike Wallace dead at 93

NEW YORK: Mike Wallace, the grand inquisitor of CBS’s “60 Minutes” news show who once declared there was “no such thing as an indiscreet question,” has died at the age of 93, the network said on Sunday. Wallace died on Saturday evening with his family by his side at Waveny Care Center in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he spent the past few years, CBS said in a statement and on its Sunday morning news broadcast. Wallace left his full-time role at “60 Minutes” in 2006 after 38 years and was given the title correspondent emeritus and a part-time contributor role. His last interview was with Roger Clemens, the star baseball pitcher accused of steroid use, in 2008. A special “60 Minutes” program dedicated to Wallace will be aired April 15. Just about anyone who made news during the past six decades - in the United States, but often abroad too - had to submit to a grilling by Wallace. As a part-time correspondent, his most notable interview was with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran. It took place 27 years after his sit-down with that country’s Ayatollah Khomeini, and earned Wallace his 21st Emmy. In almost 40 years on “60 Minutes,” the ground-breaking investigative journalism program, he worked on some 800 reports and developed a relent-

less on-air style that was often more interrogation than interview. Wallace also drew criticism for his go-for-the-throat style and the theatrics that sometimes accompanied it. He also became caught up in a $120 million libel suit that resulted in no judgment against him or CBS but triggered a case of depression that led him to attempt suicide. Wallace interviewed every US president since John F. Kennedy - with the exception of George W. Bush - and dozens of other world leaders like Yasser Arafat, Ayatollah Khomeini and Deng Xiaoping. Other interview subjects included everyone from Malcolm X to Janis Joplin, Martin Luther King Jr., Johnny Carson, Vladimir Horowitz and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. When Wallace prefaced a question with “Forgive me for asking ...” or responded to a dubious answer with “Oh, come on,” “60 Minutes” viewers knew he was about to get tough. His sometimesabrasive manner resulted in the nickname “Mike Malice,” and some viewers will always remember him as the man who made diva Barbra Streisand cry on camera. Wallace, who was married four times, had a daughter, Pauline, and son, Chris, also a television journalist. Another son, Peter, died in a mountain-climbing accident in 1962. -Reuters

FILE - Mike Wallace, Co-Editor 60 MINUTES, and CBS NEWS Correspondent is pictured in this 2001 CBS photograph. (AP)

Loud and clear: Urban enjoys benefits of surgery NASHVILLE: Worried he might lose some of his singing ability, Keith Urban actually emerged from his surgery to remove a polyp and a nodule from his vocal cords with benefits he never imagined. “I think if a footballer in their 40s was given their knees back like they were in their early 20s, that’s kind of how I feel right now,” Urban said. “It’s an extraordinary feeling of freedom.” Thousands of fans will get to hear the results for themselves when the Australian country music star takes the stage during the All For The Hall benefit Tuesday at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. It’s one of the handful of times Urban has sung in public since his surgery late last year. Urban says he had issues with his vocal cords for years, but they were never serious enough to address. When a polyp

developed, though, he began to have troubles with his voice. He had to push hard to reach the notes he used to hit even just a few years ago and he began to lose his falsetto, a key ingredient in his best songs. All that changed almost immediately after the surgery and Urban has been working with a vocal coach to strengthen his voice. He recently performed a 90minute set at the Houston Rodeo, putting himself through a successful workout that showed no ill effects from the surgery. The surgery also freed Urban in other ways. He found that his songwriting changed with his voice and he began imposing limits, something no writer wants to do. For instance, on his last album “Get Closer” he eliminated those falsetto hooks at the ends of choruses that drive his fans crazy. -AP

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AROUND TOWN / TIME OUT

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

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GUST sponsors instructor Ahmad Al-Majed on 2012 Absa Cape Epic

KUWAIT: The Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) sponsored instructor Ahmad Al-Majed on his recent conquest of conquering the 2012 Absa Cape Epic, which is considered the largest full-service mountain bike stage race in the world, an 8-day, approximately 800 km race on the nature of the Western Cape and around 15,000meters of climbing over some of the most “magnificent passes in South Africa.” Ahmad Al-Majed, is one part of the first Arab team to participate in the race in the past 10 years. As the official website states, the Absa Cape Epic takes place every year around the last week of March and the first week of April and every year, the route changes every year, and welcomes new aspiring amateur and professional mountain bikers from around the world. GUST is an avid supporter of sports and took the opportunity to sponsor Mr. Al-Majed on this adventure. In the Absa Cape Epic, the athletes’ satisfaction, well-being and enjoyment of the race are the organizers’ primary goals

Month a t

The ninth edition of the race kicked off with a 27-kilometer prologue. The event saw 1,200 excited riders from 46 countries enjoy sunny weather with the first group

of riders starting their 8-day journey at 6:45 a.m. According to Dr. Basil Bonner, the Mediclinic Race Doctor, the 2012 Absa Cape Epic was the toughest Cape Epic he has experienced, stating: “We saw more clavicle fractures than the average for previous races. The route was dry, rocky and very technical and riders came off their bikes more often.” After eight days of uphill climbs and slopes of seemingly never-ending miles, Ahmad AlMajed completed the race: “I have no idea how we managed to finish that race. It was the toughest experience we ever had! It was 60 hours and 8 minutes of hammering on the bike trying our best to cross the South African mountains. It was a great experience. Thank God we came back in one piece. Nevertheless, I’m not sure if I’d want to do it again!” GUST is honored to have sponsored this journey and continuously encourages their students and staff to participate in sports and athletics to ensure a well-rounded and wholesome lifestyle.

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a glance countries. His body of work consists of a central iconic image that of a finger imprint, within each thumb impression he has formulated a pseudo-calligraphic narrative of life experiences on luminous and luxurious enamel weaves.

Help save animals April 10/ 7 p.m. /The AWARE Center: The AWARE Center cordially invites you to its lecture entitled, “you can help us save animals in Kuwait,” on Tuesday by Claudia Farkas Al-Rashoud & Nadia Al-Kandari. With the inhumane ongoing official policy of poisoning stray dogs & cats, the status of animal rights in Kuwait has reached a new low. For more information, call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.

K’S PATH invites applicants for the adoption of pets Sepp is a Domestic Long Haired (DLH) male cat. He will be 2-years-old April 2012. This friendly, laid-back boy loves a good cuddle and likes a high vantage point in a cat tree or ledge to look out from. He would do best in a home with children over 12 years of age. To adopt, contact +965 67006122 or visit the website www.kspath.org

Golden era club

K’S PATH’s last Shelter Open Day April 14/ 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. / Wafra: This is a great opportunity for visitors to interact and socialize with our dogs and cats for adoption, get acquainted with K’S PATH’s work in animal welfare and habitat protection through a shelter tour, and meet K’S PATH’s growing team of volunteers and staff. We will also hold an educational session for children on Kuwait’s desert and marine species followed by a crafts session to build a model desert and marine habitat.

Arabic course March 11-April 19/ TIES Center: TIES Center is glad to announce the start of Arabic courses. We offer classes for all levels, from beginners to advance and also introduced new classes called Kuwait dialect. TIES Arabic classes are intended for all expatriates who wish to learn Arabic for whatever purposebusiness, basic communication, as a second language or simply as a hobby. For more information/registration, contact 97228860/97793440.

Dar Al Funoon hosts artist Karim Ghidinelli April 2- 19/ 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. / Dar Al Funoon: Born in Italy in 1976, Karim spent his childhood in this city; he went to middle school and high school in African

April 13/ 5 p.m. -7 p.m. /Rumaithiya: Join the Golden Era club for a fascinating Earth Day activity. Come armed with old newspapers, a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue. You also get to join Dr. Leos on a fascinating journey through a jewel nestled in central Europe, ranking high in human development. Seniors (60+) don’t miss out on the adventure! Venue- House #34, next to Abu-Tammam Intermediate School for Boys, Sate Alhusari St., Block 2, Rumaithiya. For details call 97172788/ 66208183 or drop a line to goldenera60@yahoo.com

Mario is a gentle and affectionate 6-years-young Spitz male. This friendly boy does great with people and dogs of all ages.

New Toastmasters Club Second and fourth Tuesday/ 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. / Jabriya: A new Toastmasters Club is being formed and encouraging new members to join. Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. It is a non-profit international organization dedicated to improve member’s communication and leadership skills by attending and participating toastmasters meetings. For more information, please contact Khaled Al-Hashem at 65588824.

Royal Thai Embassy The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait wishes to invite Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 -25317531, Ext: 14.

Brainbang session October 7-April/ 11:45 a.m. -1:45 p.m. /Salmiya: BRAINBANG, the creative arm of Friends of CRY Club (FOCC) invites all students aged 11 and above, to join us fortnightly on Fridays. The areas of development are: Creativity in learning, tools and techniques to empower your mind, profile based learning, activity, fun, games and worksheet based assignments, practical experiments, mind gymnastics and application of learning techniques to conventional study. E-mail: brainbang@focckwt.org or call 25660835/25618471/97677820.

Dilbert

The Philippine Embassy The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait announces that the Department or Foreign Affairs is advising all passport applicants to claim their passports within six (6) months from the date of application. Otherwise, unclaimed passports shall be cancelled and sent back to the Department for disposal. The Embassy will continue to entertain last minute claimants for such unclaimed passports within the next two months before finally canceling the passport in accordance with the directive of the Department.

Nancy

Horoscopes Aries: March 21 - April 19

A strong desire to meet with a romantic partner could come over you today, Aries. However, you might not be able to reach your friend. He or she could be busy and unable to respond to phone messages or emails. Nonetheless, don’t get too frustrated. If you persist, the two of you will eventually touch base. If you can’t see each other today, make arrangements for tomorrow. Taurus: April 20 - May 20

A moody family member could have you confused, Taurus, and you might not be able to discern the best way to find out what’s bothering him or her. Don’t overanalyze the situation. The best way is probably just to come right out and tactfully speak your mind. You’ll probably find that this person simply has some minor problems to work through - nothing serious enough to worry about. Gemini: May 21- June 21

You might want to spend most of today outside, Gemini, perhaps taking a walk through a park. You could have some serious thinking to do and feel the best recourse is to be by yourself for a while. Decisions won’t come easily today, so don’t try to force them. Just enjoy being out in the fresh air.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Money problems could be on your mind, Cancer, perhaps more so than necessary. You might have a tendency to blow them out of proportion and think they’re worse than they are. Try to make a special effort to be objective. You might need to cut a few corners and devise a few temporary economy measures, but your situation should be back to normal within a week or two. Relax! Leo: July 23 - August 22

Today you could look in the mirror and panic about your appearance, Leo. You might be feeling a little under the weather and look a little tired. Nonetheless, you probably look a lot better than you think you do. Don’t fall into the trap of blowing every little flaw out of proportion. A little rest is probably all you need in order to look like yourself again. Virgo: August 23 - September 22

Your artistic abilities could seem a bit blocked today. You could be anxious to complete a half-finished project, but at this point you may have no idea where to go with it. Don’t panic! Do something else for a day or two and ideas will probably flow as if by magic. If you don’t have a tight deadline, there’s no rush to complete the work now.

Libra: September 23 - October 22

Today you could have a strong desire to get out and socialize, Libra. You could well spend a lot of time on the phone trying to reach some friends, but not have much luck with it. If they’re busy, a frustrating game of phone tag could result. You might try just dropping by. Even if he or she can’t see you right then, you can make arrangements for later. Scorpio: October 23 - November 21

Today you could receive an invitation to a social event that you’ll really want to attend, Scorpio. People could be there who might turn out to be important contacts. Nonetheless, you might find that other responsibilities interfere with your plans, and experience a wave of disappointment. If you’re creative, you will find a way to fulfill your obligations and attend the event, too. Think about it! Sagittarius: November 22 - December 21

An opportunity to travel to a place you’ve always wanted to visit, perhaps for business reasons, could come your way today, Sagittarius. This could be very exciting, but you might have some difficulty making the arrangements. Flights could be full, hotels too costly, and responsibilities at home might need attention.

Capricorn: December 22 - January 19

Daydreams full of adventure, perhaps involving travel, could take up a lot of your time today, Capricorn. You’re probably bored with your situation and longing to do something to break your routine. You might have no idea how you can escape from everything right now. Don’t force it. Spend the afternoon in a place you don’t usually visit. You’ll come up with a workable idea in due time. Go for it! Aquarius: January 20 - February 18

Your desire to see a romantic partner could be very strong today, Aquarius. However, if you ask, you might be turned down. Don’t jump to the conclusion that your friend doesn’t want to see you. If he or she says there are responsibilities to attend to, believe it! You might have to wait until another day, but that’s probably the worst that will happen. Have a little faith and hang in there! Pisces: February 19 - March 20

Overindulgence in food and drink over the past few days could be causing you to feel a little out of sorts today, Pisces. You might even wonder if the fun was worth it! A little careful attention to yourself will have you back to normal in no time. Don’t be surprised, however, if another opportunity to live it up presents itself! Take care.

ALWATAN DAILY

SPORTS

tuesDAY, april 10, 2012

Basketball

Knicks edge Bulls in OT to spoil Rose’s return NEWYORK: Carmelo Anthony called it a statement game, and the message should be clear for the Chicago Bulls. If they do meet in the playoffs, the Bulls better finish off Anthony and the Knicks when they have the chance. Anthony scored 43 points, his most since coming to New York last February, and made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 8.2 seconds left in overtime as the Knicks spoiled the return to the lineup for a rusty Derrick Rose and beat the Bulls 100-99 on Sunday. Anthony tied it with a 3 late in regulation and scored the final five points of overtime in his signature performance since coming to New York last February. He only had the chance to pull it out because the Bulls missed four straight free throws in the final 34 seconds of regulation. The Bulls trailed by 21 in the first quarter, fought back to lead by 10 in the fourth, then lost for the third time in four games despite having their starting five together for only the 11th time this season. Their NBA-best record fell to 43-14. Rose scored 29 points after missing the previous 12 games with a strained right groin, but he shot only 8 of 26 from the field and missed a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left in regulation and the Bulls ahead by three. The Knicks increased their lead over Milwaukee to one game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They travel to Chicago on Tuesday, visit Milwaukee on Wednesday, and close a difficult week by hosting Miami next Sunday. Iman Shumpert scored 15 points and JR Smith had 14 despite 6-of-22 shooting for the Knicks, still without the injured Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin but with a sensational effort from Anthony,

Baron Davis (85) of the New York Knicks drives past Derrick Rose (1) of the Chicago Bulls at the Madison Square Garden on April 8, 2012. (AFP)

who made 16 of 31 shots. Chandler grabbed 16 rebounds. Carlos Boozer had 13 points and 16 boards for the Bulls, who fell to 9-2 with their regular starting five. Rose committed eight of Chicago’s 20 turnovers. Rose had only seven points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first half, then scored 14 in the third quarter. After trailing the entire game, Chicago finally took its first lead in

the final minute of the period, later going ahead 89-80 on Rose’s four-point play with 5:04 remaining in the fourth. Anthony rushed up the floor and pulled up for a long 3 that tied it at 91 with 11 seconds remaining, and it went to overtime when Rose missed everything on a jumper. Chicago took a pair of four-point leads on baskets by Rose, but was shut out after his jumper with 2:51 remaining.

Anthony gave the Knicks a 100-99 lead with 8.2 seconds remaining and the Bulls had trouble getting into their offense on the final possession, with Rose forced to shoot and miss a tough runner as time expired. Chicago’s lack of cohesion was obvious early. Chicago missed 11 of its first 12 shots and perhaps let the struggles affect its usual rock-solid defense. -AP

Without Wade, Heat ease past Pistons, 98-75

MIAMI: LeBron James scored 26 points, Chris Bosh finished with 22 points and nine rebounds, and the Miami Heat steadily pulled away to beat the Detroit Pistons 98-75 on Sunday night. James Jones scored 18 on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range for Miami, which played without Dwyane Wade for the 11th time this season.Wade sat out with right ankle soreness, which the team said was caused by an awkward landing on a missed dunk attempt against Memphis on Friday night. The Heat are now 10-1 when Wade is sidelined this season, and are 18-1 in their last 19 home games. Detroit rookie Brandon Knight, playing as a pro in the city where he was born for the first time, scored 16 for the Pistons. Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey added 11 apiece for Detroit. Miami’s win, combined with Chicago’s overtime loss at New York earlier Sunday, pulled the Heat (40-15) within two games of the Bulls (43-14) for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The teams have two more head-to-head meetings, the first of those in Chicago on Thursday night. Besides Wade’s absence, there were two lineup issues of note for Miami. First, Mike Miller returned after missing 14 games with a sprained left ankle. Secondly, with slumping Norris Cole out of the rotation Sunday until the final minutes in part because of a 2-for-21 slump, Jones got meaningful minutes again. He made them count, too. Detroit led 21-19 after a sleepy first quarter but James gave the Heat a boost from long range to get the offense going in the second. Jones made his first three 3-point attempts in the second quarter, after not making a single first-half basket since March 20, helping spark a 31-point period by Miami. A 15-5 run midway through the second, capped by a putback dunk by James, put Miami up 42-32 with 3:40 left. The margin was still 10 at halftime, before Detroit’s offense went from cool to downright cold. The Pistons started 1 for 10 from the floor in the first 9 minutes of the second half, and that drought eliminated any guesswork regarding the outcome as Miami turned a 10-point halftime lead into a 22-point cushion. James had nine points in what was a 17-5 run to start the third quarter, the run ending when James found Shane Battier under the basket for a layup that put Miami up 67-45. -AP

Tennis

Serena dominates, Venus improves at Family Circle

Serena Williams of the United States celebrates her win over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during the finals of the Family Circle Cup Tennis Championship in Charleston, April 8, 2012. (Reuters)

CHARLESTON: Serena gained a title, Venus found a renewed belief in her game and both showed a calm confidence at the Family Circle Cup born of perspective and enduring difficult times. Serena capped a dominant week with a powerful performance in the finals Sunday, defeating Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-1 to win the championship. It was Serena Williams’ 40th career tournament title and her first win on clay since taking this event in 2008. Sister Venus has similar hopes. The 31-year-old star and seventime grand slam winner was playing just her second tournament since an autoimmune disease kept her sidelined for more than six months.Venus Williams reached the quarterfinals in her return at the Sony Ericsson Open and did the same here, showing off some solid tennis of her own in her first clay-court event in two years. Venus nearly made it to the semifinals, missing out on her first matchup with Serena since 2009 when Samantha Stosur rallied to win. Still, Venus’ effort moved her up about 60 spots in the rankings from where she started last month at 134th in the world. “I’ve never been so happy to be ranked 70,” Venus said with a smile. It was that sort of tournament for the Williams sisters, who both showed an easy grace throughout the Family Circle. Serena, 30, said she’s got plenty on her plate off the court which keeps her mind free for tennis when it’s time to compete. Williams spoke of re-launching her clothing line on a TV shopping network and papers she’s got due for school that she hasn’t done. She’s even thought of moving to Paris, which she’s said several times is her favorite city. There was a time when about the only priority for both sisters was coming out on top. The two have combined for 20 grand slam titles, Serena has 13, Venus seven and their matchups were can’tmiss affairs for the sport. During one stretch in 2002 and 2003, Serena won five grand slam championships and beat Venus in the finals of each. They tried to stoke up some fire for the potential semifinal meeting, but none of it got very far. Serena was more pointed than Venus about going after the French Open title, only one of Serena’s major championships came at Roland Garros and how the Family Circle win was a great starting point. -AP

Big John targets French Open surprise PARIS: John Isner is developing such a strong affection for claycourt tennis that he is emerging as a dangerous outsider for the French Open. Isner steered the United States into the Davis Cup semi-finals at the weekend, beating Gilles Simon and then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets on the famous clay courts of the Monte Carlo Country Club. France had been warned of the 26-year-old’s ability after Isner defeated Roger Federer, also on clay, in February’s first round 5-0 Davis Cup whitewash of Switzerland. Just for good measure, Isner has also beaten world number one Novak Djokovic this year in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters albeit on a more familiar hard court.

“I like playing on clay,” said Isner. “I played three of my best matches this year, my best wins have come on clay. It’s a surface I enjoy playing on and a surface I feel I can do very well on.” His big, power game has been at home on Europe’s notoriously slow clay courts, in his 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-3 win over Tsonga, he fired down 16 aces and unleashed 56 winners. France and Switzerland may have been stunned by 6ft 9in (2.06m) Isner’s claycourt prowess, but not USA captain Jim Courier, who knows his way around the grueling, slow surface, winning back-to-back French Opens in 1991 and 1992. “I am not surprised by the way John has played. We

were hoping he could be at this kind of level and he was. He was exceptional,” said Courier. “He is continuing to progress. He was a lot stronger than he was against Switzerland. My players are comfortable on all surfaces, they understand clay courts.” The USA, 32-time Davis Cup champions, face a third road trip in this year’s tournament when they travel to face defending champions Spain in September’s semifinals. They have the unenviable task of ending Spain’s 23-tie unbeaten run on home soil. But world number 11 Isner, who pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets in a first round defeat at the 2011 French Open, relishes the challenges ahead, believing that his game measures up to all of his rivals. -AFP

Formula one

Cricket

Formula One teams ‘ready to quit’ Bahrain Grand Prix

Kallis aims for one last World Cup push

LONDON: Concerns over security in Bahrain have led to F1 teams planning for the abandonment of the April 22 Grand Prix, The Times have reported. The race, which was cancelled in 2011 with the Arab spring protests at their height, was expected to go ahead, but in recent days calls for its cancellation have grown louder. The Times have reported that engineers, mechanics and catering staff for the teams have been issued with two sets of flight tickets as they prepare to fly out for back-to-back races. One set of tickets has been issued with a return immediately after the Chinese Grand Prix, which takes place in Shanghai on Saturday, the other includes a journey onwards to Bahrain for the following week’s race and a return from the capital Manama. MPs in the UK have already spoken out against the Grand Prix being staged, and clashes at the weekend have escalated the concerns. As protestors clashed with police at the weekend while more than 5,000 people demonstrated in the north of the capital Manama to demand the release

of a jailed activist on hunger strike, the International Automobile Federation made clear that it was aware of the latest events. The kingdom has been in turmoil for more than a year with regular opposition party marches and rallies and clashes between riot police and youths in Shi’ite districts involving tear gas and petrol bombs. Bahrain circuit authorities say the Formula One race, the country’s only global sporting event, contributes some $220 million directly to the local economy and $400-500 million indirectly and are adamant it should go ahead as a force for unification. F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone gathered leading British-based team bosses in a show of support in London last month with Bahrain officials and the country’s ambassador. Bahrain, the first Middle Eastern country to host a Formula One race, has a strong presence in the sport. Sheikh Abdulla bin Isa al-Khalifa sits on the FIA’s decision-making motor sport council while Bahrain also owns 50 percent of McLaren. -Reuters

Men walk past anti-Formula One graffiti in the village of Barbar, west of Manama April 5, 2012. (Reuters)

South African cricketer Jacques Kallis (center) runs safe during the second one-day International match between South Africa and Sri Lanka at the Buffalo Park, Jan. 14, 2012. (AFP)

NEW DELHI: Veteran South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis has vowed to defy age and history, saying he wants to win the 2015 World Cup for his country before calling it a day. Since their post-apartheid debut in cricket’s one-day showpiece in 1992, South Africa have never made it to the World Cup final, famously wilting under pressure several times despite boasting some hugely talented teams. Kallis, 36, who is playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL), said he was confident he would remain fit for the next World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. “My primary target is to help Team Kolkata win the IPL. But when it comes to international commitments, I want to win the World Cup for South Africa,” Kallis told the Times of India on Monday. “In my cricketing career, I have achieved all success, but the only thing that has eluded me is the World Cup.” Also read: Kallis’ unlimited talent Why his place in limited overs cricket is

underrated Kallis, who has figured in five World Cups, can draw inspiration from Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar, who was part of his country’s World Cup-winning side last year on his sixth and probably last attempt at the age of 37. The South African all-rounder, who has scored 12,379 runs in 152 Tests and 11,498 runs in 321 one-day internationals, said he had not thought of quitting the game and his aim was to stay fit. He has also grabbed 276 Test and 270 oneday wickets. “No, I have no such plans (to retire),” said Kallis, who was part of the South African side that lost to New Zealand in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Dhaka. “I think I still have three to four years of cricket left in me. As of now, I have no such intentions. This IPL is important for me as far as fitness is concerned. All my life, I have walked on to the field as a fully fit cricketer, and I want to maintain it throughout. My aim is to stay fit during the IPL and then focus on other commitments.” -AFP

tuesday, april 10, 2012

SPORTS

Sports Editors Highlight PARIS: Olympique Marseille have lost 10 of their last 11 matches and their biggest supporters group wants that miserable run to continue on Wednesday. With Marseille already out of the Ligue 1 running, the fans group are desperate to stop bitter rivals Paris St Germain winning the title and have called on their club to lose to Montpellier to strengthen the leaders’ position. Montpellier, who have a superior goal difference, and PSG are on 63 points with seven games left, while Marseille are 23 points off the pace in ninth after losing 2-1 at PSG on Sunday. Marseille fans still wince at the memory of the 1999 title race when PSG’s 3-2 defeat to Girondins Bordeaux in the last round of matches denied Marseille the championship. -Reuters

Football

Title heading back to United after City lose

Madrid faces Atletico derby as league lead shrinks

Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs, right, is tackled by Manchester City’s Gareth Barry during their English Premier League soccer match at the Emirates stadium, London, April 8, 2012. (AP)

LONDON: Manchester United are all but certain to retain their Premier League title after opening an eight-point lead by beating Queens Park Rangers 2-0 on Sunday while second-placed Manchester City crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal. A 15th-minute penalty from Wayne Rooney and a long-range Paul Scholes strike in the second half secured the points for United against relegation-threatened QPR who had Shaun Derry controversially sent off at Old Trafford. Mikel Arteta’s fierce low drive in the 87th minute broke City’s hearts at Arsenal. A bleak day for City ended with the volatile Mario Balotelli being dismissed in the dying minutes for a second yellow card after a nasty challenge on Bacary Sagna. Manager Roberto Mancini said his fellow Italian now faced a lengthy ban and in any case he would not pick him again this season.Although neither Mancini nor Unit-

ed manager Alex Ferguson would declare the title race over, the leaders would have to collapse dramatically in the remaining six games to avoid becoming champions for the 20th time. United’s victory over QPR was their eighth in succession in the league. Ferguson’s team have 79 points from 32 games while City, who have won just once in the last five matches, are on 71. Mancini looked like he was at the end of his tether with striker Balotelli after City’s defeat while also refusing to concede the title race was over. Neither City nor Arsenal played particularly well in the rain at the Emirates but the home team improved as the match progressed and hit the woodwork three times before Arteta’s goal. Arsenal are now two points clear of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the race for an automatic Champions League

Title on the line when Dortmund hosts Bayern

FILE - Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery (right) is challenged by Borussia Dortmund’s Mario Goetze during their German Bundesliga first division soccer match, Nov. 19, 2011. (Reuters)

FRANKFURT, Germany: The Bundesliga title will be on the line when Borussia Dortmund hosts Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the most anticipated match of the season. Defending champion Dortmund holds a three-point lead going into the showdown, with five matches remaining. Bayern, however, has a better goal difference and would take over first place with a win before 80,000 mostly hostile fans. Dortmund is undefeated in 23 matches and is coming off a 3-1 win in Wolfsburg. Bayern looked lethargic in a 2-1 win at home over lowly Augsburg on Saturday. Dortmund’s coach Juergen Klopp has tried to play down the importance of the match. But Dortmund’s two subsequent matches are against Schalke and Borussia Moenchengladbach, the two teams right behind Bayern in the standings, and a defeat on Wednesday would be hard to make up. After strong performances to reach the semifinals of the Champions League, Bayern has plodded through some matches in the Bundesliga but it has collected wins. Mario Gomez, who scored both goals against Augsburg, tops the scorers’ list with 25 goals. Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski is not far behind at 19. Dort-

mund hopes to establish itself as the longterm rival to Bayern, the historically most dominant team in the Bundesliga. After cruising through to the title last season, Dortmund got off to a poor start. But it picked up speed just as Bayern went through a midseason slump and surged into the top. Bayern has been creeping back and has won its last five matches to put itself in position to determine its own fate. Bayern has lost the last three matches against Dortmund, “but by now we know the strengths and the weaknesses of Dortmund,” Schweinsteiger added. “When we do what the coach tells us, we can win there. Dortmund has a super team, however, and every one of us will have to play at his best.” After failing to win a trophy last season, Bayern is on course for a treble. If it can overcome Real Madrid, it will be in the Champions League final, which will be played in its stadium next month. Bayern also has another date with Dortmund when the sides meet in the German Cup final. Dortmund can win the domestic double for the first time. In Tuesday’s matches of the 30th round, it’s: Hertha Berlin vs. Freiburg, Augsburg vs. Stuttgart, Mainz vs. Cologne and Werder Bremen vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach. -AP

berth. Balotelli was lucky to stay on the field after a rash 20th-minute studs-up challenge on Alex Song. He was then booked for a bad tackle on Sagna before being sent off late in the game. While problems have dogged City’s title challenge recently, United seem to be sailing serenely on. Although they got a helping hand with Derry’s 14th-minute sending-off, they were vastly superior to QPR. “It was a good win and three points and we now have a better goal difference than City so it’s been a good day,” said Ferguson. QPR manager Mark Hughes, the former United striker, said his club would appeal against the dismissal which occurred when winger Ashley Young, who appeared to be offside, seemed to dive following the softest of touches from Derry. QPR are fourth from bottom on 28 points. -Reuters

Juventus now has the edge over AC Milan

ROME: All of a sudden, it’s anyone’s guess who will win the Italian league. Two weeks ago, AC Milan appeared to be cruising toward its second consecutive title with a four-point lead over Juventus. Now, the Turin club is one point in front with seven rounds remaining-and holds the tiebreaker with a win and a draw head-to-head. “Everything depends on us now,” said Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who transferred from Milan to Juventus in the offseason. “A one-point lead at this point of the season means a lot. But we’re taking it match by match, because a false step can occur at any moment. The percentages remain 50-50.” But if recent form is any indication, Juventus holds the edge. Juventus has outscored opponents 12-0 in its last four matches-all victories-and has a 36-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, with its last loss coming against Parma at the end of last season. Juventus has not won Serie A since having the 2005 and 2006 titles stripped for its role in the 2006 match-fixing scandal. The last title it still holds came in 2003, when Marcello Lippi was in charge. Milan slumped to a 1-1 draw with Catania and a 2-1 loss at home to Fiorentina in its last two league matches, and split those with a defeat to Barcelona that eliminated it from the Champions League quarterfinals. Milan last trailed just a couple months ago, but then took the lead in mid-February when Juve’s match with Bologna was postponed due to a snowstorm. This time, the lead change came courtesy of a last-minute defensive lapse by Milan, which allowed Fiorentina striker Amauri to score his first goal since transferring from Juventus in January. Amauri could end up being an unlikely hero for Juventus, which spurned him and didn’t even allow him to train with the first team during his final months with the team. Amauri’s goal has also set off speculation that Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri could be at risk of losing his job, one season after ending rival Inter Milan’s run of five straight titles. While Juventus is relatively healthy, Milan is desperately hoping that Mark van Bommel and Clarence Seedorf return from minor injuries with Massimo Ambrosini, Alberto Aquilani and Daniele Bonera all suspended. -AP

BARCELONA, Spain: With its lead over Barcelona crumbling, league pacesetter Real Madrid faces a crucial Spanish capital derby at an Atletico Madrid eager to break a run of 22 games without a victory over its crosstown rivals on Wednesday. Three draws in its last five games have cut Madrid’s once commanding advantage of 10 points down to four, and Barcelona will have a shot at pulling even closer on Tuesday at home against Getafe. Madrid’s visit to Vicente Calderon stadium is even more important with it set to travel to Barcelona in less than two weeks. “The gap with Barcelona has been reduced, but now we just have to keep moving forward,” said Madrid captain Iker Casillas. “The derby will be a special match. After so long without beating us, for them it will also be a vital game. Real Madrid can lose this league because mathematically it isn’t over. Each match is a final.” Atletico hasn’t beaten Madrid since 1999, and Madrid’s dominance has only increased over time with wins in each their last seven meetings. For Atletico to have a chance it will need to repeat Valencia’s feat on Sunday when it held Madrid’s potent attack in check for a 0-0 draw. Jose Mourinho’s Madrid has scored a leaguehigh 100 goals so far this season - 74 of those coming from the trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema-and is on pace

to break the all-time league record of 107. While struggling away, coach Diego Simeone has his Atletico playing well at home where it has won three in a row. Atletico will be without in-form forward Eduardo Salvio, defender Miranda and midfielder Mario Suarez due to suspension. Getafe dealt Barcelona its first loss of the season in November thanks to Juan Valera’s secondhalf goal when the modest side was able to stifle the European champions by packing its area with defenders. Barcelona should have an easier time of breaking down Getafe’s defense at home where it has not lost since September of 2010. Barcelona will be without suspended midfielder Cesc Fabregas, while defenders Gerard Pique and Dani Alves are both doubtful because of injury. The defending champions will be able to count on prolific scorer Lionel Messi as it seeks a tenth straight league win. The Argentina forward leads the Spanish league with 38 goals, one more than Madrid’s Ronaldo. Both are vying to break the Portuguese international’s league record of 40 set last season. Third-place Valencia will look to build on its draw at Madrid on Wednesday as it welcomes the explosive Rayo Vallecano, fresh off a 6-0 rout of Osasuna over the weekend. -AP

FILE - Mesut Ozil (left) of Real Madrid takes on Felipe Luis of Atletico Madrid during the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Nov. 26, 2011. (AFP)

Spain’s David Villa, get fast with adidas KUWAIT: Spanish Football superstar David Villa teamed up with boxer Alexis Vastine to create a boxing inspired training work-out to make him deadlier on the pitch. Supported by the adizero range of lightweight footwear and apparel, Villa’s boxing training program promotes speed, agility and responsiveness, and is available for download via the adidas miCoach website. During discussions between adidas and David Villa last year, it became apparent that Villa was keen to explore ways to become even faster. Adidas-sponsored boxer Alexis Vastine, who is renowned for his quickness in the ring, was asked to provide expert advice, and worked with Villa to create a speed-focused, boxing inspired training regime. Jad Chouman, Head of Marketing, adidas Emerging markets said: “Top athletes don’t train purely for training’s sake - they train because it helps them get better at their chosen sport. Boxing training has become increasingly used by non-boxers as a way of making them faster, fitter, leaner, and mentally tougher. At adidas we not only support our consumers and athletes with great footwear and apparel, we try to help them train smarter, by bringing athletes together from different sports, to see what they can learn from each other. “ With David Villa’s recent leg injury, he has become even more focused on off-pitch strength and conditioning training as he targets a return to full fitness for the Euro 2012 Finals. “I really enjoyed the fun and useful fun boxing session, I hope to repeat it very soon because I had a great time thanks to my fantastic teacher, Alexis Vastine,” says David. The Villa boxing training workout stimulates all muscle groups, and provides a wide combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Focusing primarily on short-burst, explosive training, each exercise is designed help athletes reach their potential and become as fastest they can be. “A good workout becomes a great workout when athletes have the right equipment. Therefore, adidas equipped Villa with the adizero range of apparel and footwear. The adizero F50 trainer he wears is the lightest training shoe in the adidas locker.These shoes

David Villa poses for the camera

have a breathable, lightweight sprint-web construction for ultra-comfortable support and help athletes feel lighter and more nimble. Like Villa’s adidas training tee shirt, all our adizero products are designed to feel as if they’re a natural part of your body in motion,” says Kolja Orzeszko, adidas’ Category Manager for Men’s Training. Boxing inspired training plans form the focus of the upcoming adidas Training Academy being held in Mexico City from March 8-11, 2012. Held twice a year in various locations, adidas brings together professional trainers, athletes and keen sportspeople to showcase the latest training techniques and athletic products. -Agencies