April 4, 2012

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012

@alwatandaily

Issue No. 1394

www.alwatandaily.com

20 PAGES 150 Fils with IHT

New plan to have loan interest dropped Justice Bloc to submit loan bill, assigns advisers to prepare proposal

Mohammed Al-Salman & Mohammed Al-Khaldi Staff Writers

KUWAIT: Certain MPs within the Majority Bloc have continued to hint at questioning ministers. MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaie announced that he is still determined to file an interpellation motion against the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah over the issue of freedoms. He added that the motion will be made available to the Coordinative and Majority Blocs to determine their position and to express their standpoint. The MP further stated that the minister will be questioned over one main issue, which will be further elaborated to include issues pertaining to freedoms.

Meanwhile, MP Mohammad Hayef asserted that questioning the Minister of Awqaf Jamal Shehab concerning the places of worships will be filed ‘at any moment’ after the expiration of the ultimatum given to him. “The minister failed to issue any deci-

60% of Kuwait employees expect a raise in the next 12 months

88% state that the cost of living in the past year has increased KUWAIT: The latest MENA Salary Survey conducted

by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one jobsite, and YouGov, a research and consulting organization, has revealed that despite 48 percent of employees having been unhappy with their last pay rise, more than half believe that salaries in Kuwait are increasing.

A third of survey respondents (28 percent) in Kuwait have spent four to six years in their current industry, with a third (31 percent) having worked for their current employer for four to seven years. Four out of ten have between one and five people reporting directly to them, with a collective 71 percent stating that they are midway in terms of seniority (33 percent), or at a fairly senior level, but not yet at the top (38 percent).

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sion up to the last hours, and therefore we are no longer committed to our earlier announcement,” the lawmaker was quoted as saying. Hayef continued, “We don’t target a particular sect per se. However, the law should be applicable to all places of worship without discrimination.”

For his part, MP Ahmad Mutee stated that the Majority Bloc agreed that no interpellation should be filed until it is made available to it, and stressed that questioning the Awqaf minister is a constitutionally preserved right.

Additionally, MP Saleh Ashour welcomed the interpellation of the said minister and regarded the move as an opportunity to elaborately discuss all issues pertaining to mosques. He accused the government of being unfair with regard to the issuing of licenses, site allocations and the distribution of mosques, in accordance with the districts and the needs of the residents. “Once this dossier is opened, it will not be closed,” the MP warned.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Cancer-causing chemical found in smokeless tobacco

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200,000 flee Mali fighting

GENEVA: Some 200,000 people have fled fighting in Mali, where widespread looting in key northern towns has also forced the UN food agency to suspend its activities, UN agencies said Tuesday. “This 200,000 figure may rise,” warned a World Food Program spokeswoman. “Malian refugees have been crossing into Burkina Faso and Mauritania at an average rate of 400 people per day in the past week,” the UN refugee agency added.

About 107,000 people have also been displaced within Mali, where much of the north has fallen to Tuareg rebels since military rulers seized power in Bamako in a coup on March 22.

The World Food Program said it has suspended its activities in the north’s Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu and the central town of Mopti, amid widespread looting after insurgents captured the northern towns.”WFP staff have been staying at home,” said the UN food agency.

Earlier Tuesday, a French minister said the Tuareg rebels have been spotted near Mopti, and that the Malian army may be unable to stop their advance. -AFP

Syria steps up assault as UN moves to send monitors Russia: Syria has started observing peace plan

This image made from amateur video and released by Shaam News Network Monday, April 2, 2012, purports to show smoke rising from a building in Idlib, Syria. The Syrian government has sent troops backed by tanks into rebellious areas, hunting down activists and torching their homes and bulldozing others, opposition groups said. (AP)

Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 Al-Qaeda militants

SANAA: Yemeni government forces regained control of a strategic gateway in the south on Tuesday after intense, threeday shelling of Al-Qaeda hideouts in the area that left 43 militants dead, military and medical officials said.The military had stepped up attacks and airstrikes against Al-Qaeda in the mountainous area of AlRahha in the southern province of Lahj, a strategically important region that links the south with Yemen’s northern cities.

The offensive followed two consecutive surprise attacks by militants on Yemeni army bases in the area. The military officials told The Associated Press that the government forces are trying to reclaim key cities in Aden and Abyan provinces in the south that have been overrun by AlQaeda. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken advantage of a year of internal political turmoil and security vacuum in Yemen to expand their gains in the country’s south.

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CAPITALS: Fierce clashes erupted on Tuesday as Syria’s regime sent reinforcements into rebel areas despite a truce pledge, and the UN said it was rushing a team to Damascus to pave the way for peace monitors.

The surge in violence killed at least 10 people, mostly civilians in north and central Syria, and included a string of arson attacks on homes, activists and monitors said. It came a day after peace envoy Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council that President Bashar Al-Assad had given assurances he would “immediately” start pulling back his forces and complete a military withdrawal from urban areas by April 10.

Meanwhile, The Syrian government said it has begun implementing a UN envoy’s peace plan that requires it to withdraw its forces from towns and cities within a week, Russia’s Foreign Ministry See also 4 announced Tuesday.

Gulf Film Festival to open with Kuwaiti feature “Tora Bora”

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Children wearing traditional clothes and make-up attend a religious ceremony before entering monkhood at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon April 3, 2012. (Reuters)

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah greeted by school children of the national operetta during a ceremony which was held at Bayan Palace to honor members of the Constitution’s Constituent Council and national operetta on Monday, April 3, 2012.

Egypt Brotherhood candidate stirs unease CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood’s surprise decision to field a presidential candidate is stirring fears that the two biggest powers to emerge from the ouster of Hosni Mubarak - the Islamists and the military - are maneuvering to put in place a new rule in Egypt not much different from the old, authoritarian one.

If they succeed in divvying up the most important positions in government, the new leadership could be a blow to the hopes for an inclusive democracy that drove last year’s uprising against Mubarak. Opponents of the Brotherhood and military warn that the maneuvering could lead to a repeat of the Mubarak-era domination by a single party of all executive and legislative powers - only now with an Islamist tinge.

The Brotherhood controls nearly 50 percent of parliament and dominates the constituent assembly that is in charge of writing Egypt’s new constitution. Given its electoral strength, its candidate - Khairat El-Shater, the Brotherhood’s deputy head but in reality its strongest figure - instantly leaps to front-runner status for the presidency in the May 23-24 election.

“We didn’t have a revolution to end up with a dictatorship of the one party,” said the head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party, Ahmed Said. “If El-Shater is president, will he rule in the name of the people or according to the orders of the Brotherhood?”

The decision to field the Brotherhood’s strongman was a sur-

Clashes in rival towns kill 22 in western Libya TRIPOLI, Libya: Libyan officials say 22 people have been killed in clashes between Arab and ethnic Berber tribal fighters from two rival western towns despite attempts to broker a cease-fire.

The fighting erupted over the weekend between the Arab-majority town of Ragdalein and the Berber-dominated town of Zwara. The neighboring towns are located about 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the capital Tripoli.

Local Ragdalein official Rami Kaanan says 17 fighters and town residents have been killed in fighting on Tuesday, including two women and one infant.

Zwara spokesman Adel Kashbour says five people from his side have been killed and 49 wounded. Their clashes are the latest in a series of local rivalries that threaten to divide Libya along tribal and regional lines. -AP

prise even to many of its own members, some of whom have openly expressed disappointment that the group is breaking an earlier promise not to run. They worry the decision sacrifices the group’s credibility for short-term gains.

Liberals and secular leaders are fuming the group has abandoned its repeated promise to share power and fear it could monopolize rule, thwarting hopes for democracy. They worry eventually the Brotherhood may try to impose greater Islamic law restrictions and impose a new ruling elite of religious conservatives. Already, for example, a female Brotherhood lawmaker caused a stir by speaking out against the 4-year-old ban on female genital mutilation.

The Brotherhood clearly sees the presidency as vital to protect its political gains.

Since Mubarak’s fall, its plan has been to use parliament to wield authority, promote its long-term Islamist agenda, and ensure the new constitution gives greater powers to the legislature, weakening the president’s overwhelming authority. Two months after it convened, the Brotherhood has discovered that the parliament it dominates has little power, its attempts to replace the military-picked prime minister with its own have been blocked by the military, and competing Islamists were making their own bids for the presidency. -AP

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia to trade illegal immigration data

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New flying car successfully tested, cleared for takeoff NEW YORK: Drivers hoping to slip the surly -and traffic congested -- bonds of Earth moved a step closer to realizing their dream Monday, as a US firm said it had successfully tested a street-legal plane.

Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia said their production prototype “Transition” car-plane had completed an eight-minute test flight, clearing the way for it to hit the market within a year.

“With this flight, the team demonstrated an ability to accomplish what had been called an impossible dream,” said founder Carl Dietrich.

The two-seater craft, which has the rounded features of a Fiat 500 and collapsible wings, is on presale for $279,000 and some 100 vehicles have already been ordered.

While many companies have successfully built a flying car, none have succeeded in producing more than a handful of models.

But things have changed since the clunky Curtiss Autoplane hopped and spluttered into action in the More on 15 early 1900s.

The mythical creature fountain, designed by Niki de Saint Phalle, stand next to people enjoying the sunny weather Tuesday, April 3, 2012 in Duisburg, Germany. (AP)

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ALWATAN DAILY

kuwait

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

Amir attends ‘Protector of Constitution’ operetta Members of the Constituent Council honored during ceremony

KUWAIT: Under the Auspices of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, a ceremony and operetta under the title “Protector of the Constitution” was organized and managed by Al Watan TV at the Bayan Palace to honor members of the Constitution’s Constituent Council.

The ceremony was attended by His Highness the Crown Prince, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the former National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi, senior members of the ruling family, the Deputy Commander of the National Guard Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the former Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah among other senior state officials.

His Highness the Amir awarded the State’s highest insignia to the General Secretaries of the constituent Council as well as the constitutional experts.

Meanwhile, the Acting National Assembly Speaker Khaled Sultan, the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak and the Head of the Judiciary Council Justice Faisal AlMurshed have presented His Highness the Amir with commemorative gifts on the occasion.

This was followed by a national operetta where a group of school children from the Ministry of Education performed reflecting the solidarity of citizens in various phases and the role of the citizens in entrenching the concepts of democracy. -Agencies

Photos of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah during the ceremony which was held at the Bayan Palace to honor members of the Constitution’s Constituent Council and national operetta on Monday, April 3, 2012. (KUNA)

His Highness keen to interpret youth’s vision to reality: Al-Rubaian

Faisal Al-Yateem Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The Head of the Executive Office for the Youth National Project Dr. Jassem Al-Rubaian said that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah pays utmost attention and care to youth, which can be substantiated from the often repeated references he has made in his speeches.

“The last time His Highness the Amir had made reference to the youth was during the opening of the Ordinary Session of the 14th Legislative Term in the National Assembly last February.

His Highness’ care and interest have materialized in the form of several initiatives, most important of which is the involvement of youth in all fields including spheres of interest and listening to their demands. The Amir’s care and interest has also been materialized by the setting up of Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity, national Conference for the Development of Education as well as supporting all sports and cultural activities related to the youth in the country,” he explained.

Al-Rubaian’s statement came during a press conference held Tuesday morning in Al-Seif Palace where he added that the noble vision, as perceived by His Highness the Amir, would enable youth to participate and contribute towards the development and growth of the country.

“His Highness the Amir is keen to see that youth are working on the implementation of the future vision as well as the strategic aims and targets,” he added.

He went on to say that such future vision would be documented and then submitted to the Amir during a conference called for by His Highness and slated for next November.

“The Amir, on his part, will refer it to His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jabber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah for following up and implementation,” he noted.

Al- Rubaian went on to add that the maxims of such vision had already been set for the convenience of the youth as the vision should not run contrary to the Islamic beliefs, country’s constitution, customs and traditions.

He further pointed out that the strategic aims set for the project focuses on setting up communication channels between the political leadership and youth as well as improving and developing positive and healthy participation. Adding that it also focuses on improving the youth skills and potentials and input in the national progress of the society in order to underscore the Kuwaiti identity and patriotism as well as to fight off extremism and radicalism in all its forms.

Al-Rubaian also pointed out that to ensure the role of youth in society at different levels, a permanent council for that purpose representing youth in the country had been proposed and forwarded for approval.

He explained that for the permanent council to be up and running, it needs to accept applications from Kuwaiti youth between the ages 18 and 30, which means about 60 percent of youth in Kuwait.

He also said that a preliminary meeting for that purpose has outlined the most important priorities which mainly focus on subjects of interests such as economy, housing, health, environment, education, small enterprises, citizenship, social security, judicial, legal and administrative reform and further focus on human development by encouraging young people to lead and use their initiative.

As for the blue print related to the project, Al-Rubaian said that a renowned consultant was invited to assist with the production of such paper. Also, an executive office was set up for that purpose and is expected to include international experts so that youth would learn from their experience and ultimately contribute.

Several workshops are expected for wider participation.

KD 200 social bonuses for single students, KD 350 for married students

Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Local newspapers published on April 3 that there will be a social bonus for university students but stated inaccurate amounts, where the correct amounts are

200 Kuwaiti dinars assigned for single students and KD 350 for married students.

The dean’s office has submitted a list with the names of students entitled to this bonus in April to the Financial Affairs Department.

New plan to have loan interest dropped

Room view of recent Parliament session held March 29, 2012. (Al Watan) CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

MP Riadh Al-Adsani criticized what has been befalling Nahar AlHajeri, a Kuwaiti national who is being accused of burning the Iranian flag. He noted that the latter had played a heroic role during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. “Iran took no action when the Kuwaiti diplomats in Tehran were beaten up,” the lawmaker remarked. Moreover, Al-Adsani lamented the fact that the Kuwaiti flag is trampled upon in Iraq without any action by the Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, parliamentary blocs are due to hold intensive meetings to discuss their positions toward the pending interpellations. The Islamic Constitutional Movement is expected to convene to deliberate over their stance regarding plans to question the minister of Interior, Awqaf and Finance. A source within the bloc disclosed that discussions will be centered on the timing of the interpellations and the issues that will be highlighted. He added that the issue of filing interpellations is unquestionable.

In the same vein, the Islamic Salafist Alliance will also meet to discuss the interpellations and the worthiness of the issues which are up for questioning.

In another development, MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl urged a unified action regarding the continued violation of confidentiality by investigation committees. He reminded that the National Assembly Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun had once agreed to scrap an investigation committee into the coal issue, citing lack of confidentiality.

On the other hand, the Parliamentary Legislative Committee on Tuesday endorsed a draft law that provides for allowances for those laid off from the private sector. The committee equally approved a separate bill that calls for privileges for those working in the private sector.

The Committee Rapporteur MP Mohammad Al-Dallal explained that the committee also agreed to amendments to Audit Bureau law whereby the bureau can directly refer any case of direct violation to the Public Prosecutor. In addition, it approved a draft law to set up a committee for expediting mega development projects. On the other hand, the committee rejected a request to remove the immunity of MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl over a case it considered to be malicious.

Also, MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel addressed a barrage of questions to the interior minister demanding clarifications over alleged entry into

Recent photo of MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei during a Parliament session held March 29, 2012. (Al Watan)

the country of advanced assault arms through a border point. The lawmaker asked the minister to shed light on the number of arms and ammunitions seized by his ministry from 2009 to date.

In other news,Al Watan has learnt that the Justice Bloc plans to come up with a new proposal to have loan interests dropped. An informed source close to the bloc revealed that an advisor in Parliament has been assigned to draft a bill to have loans written off completely.

The source further stated that there has been a disagreement among MPs about the issue but an agreement was eventually reached to have fresh plans for the matter, which are to be prepared along with certain parliamentary advisers.

ALWATAN DAILY

KUWAIT

WEDNESdAY, april 4, 2012

Al-Fadhl calls for suspending bank deposits investigation committees

KTS: Public Fund Protection inclined to assign Audit Bureau to investigate diesel smuggling Mervat Abduldayem Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Transparency Society (KTS) said in its monthly report that the parliamentary Public Fund Protection Committee is inclined to assign the Audit Bureau to investigate in the progress regarding the case of diesel smuggling. He noted that its losses have reached the total cost of 2.5 million US dollars per day. KTS described the move as an “important step as it endorses the work of the Prosecution.”

Director of the KTS Salah Al-Ghazali said that the committee hadn’t accused any party except the expats who were charged and arrested.

He noted that the investigation didn’t include the five companies, to which diesel is dispensed and presumably they would be the companies through which diesel was smuggled, either partly or all, outside the country.

Al-Ghazali pointed out that there were two committees set up for similar purposes earlier, one in the estab-

Photo of Member of Parliament Nabeel Al-Fadhl speaking during a recent Parliament session held March 29, 2012. (Al Watan)

KUWAIT: The Member of Parliament (MP) Nabeel Al-Fadhl asked the parliament to endorse a clear stance against the parliamentary investigation committees which violated certain regulations that stipulate keeping confidentiality of investigations.

He disclosed in a press statement that the members of the two committees, that were formed to open an investigation regarding overseas money transfers and bank deposits, have violated article 54 as well as the

parliamentary convictions in Kuwait. He therefore called for suspending the task of the two committees “which transgressed on the dignity of civil servants during investigation.”

The lawmaker affirmed that he would defend the dignity of all people adding, “The members of the committees are ordinary people but were elected by citizens to become MPs, nevertheless they don`t have the right to transgress on the dignity of others.”

Political movement calls for supporting interpellation motion against finance minister

KUWAIT: Al-Masar Al-Ahli Movement called for supporting the interpellation motion that was submitted recently against the Minister of Finance Mustafa Jassem Al-Shamali due to corruption that was spread during the era of the former government wherein the minister was holding the same position. This was stated in a press release issued Tuesday.

On his part, the Head of the movement Engineer Abdulmanae Al-Sawan said in a press state-

ment that political fund was used for bribing a large number of executive directors, politicians and members of Parliament (MPs) although such practices undermine the social unity, adding that the misuse of public fund was also used for financing corrupt Media means and newspapers. He added that all figures or officials who were involved in such issue should be penalized before the public under the accusation of treasons, and asked MPs to endorse a clear stance about the corruption.

Ugandan President meets Kuwaiti parliament speaker KAMPALA: Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Tuesday met with Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Ahmad Al-Saadoun and his accompanying delegation.

During the meeting, President Museveni praised bilateral relations between Uganda and Kuwait, describing them as “historical.” He especially applauded a 100 million US dollar donation Kuwait had given out to the African Development Fund, at the time of the Iraqi invasion, praising the Kuwaiti government

for what it did, considering the circumstances.

On his part, Al-Saadoun praised Uganda’s political stances on Arab issues, notably in supporting a UN decision to condemn Zionism as racist behavior in guilt, condemnation, and rejection.

Al-Saadoun went on to affirm Kuwait’s role in assisting developing countries through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) in providing funds for the development of projects in those countries. -KUNA

Photo of National Assembly Speaker Ahmad AlSaadoun giving a speech in Kampala on Tuesday, March 3, 2012. (KUNA)

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia to trade illegal immigration data

RIYADH: The State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed an agreement on Tuesday to trade information in the area of illegal immigration.

Chairman of the Central System for the Remedy of Status of Illegal Residents (CSRSIR) Saleh Al-Fadhala told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that during his visit to the kingdom, the Kuwaiti delegation and host state official shared expertise in countering illegal immigration and addressing

its consequences and challenges.

The official added that many views had been discussed to limit this negative phenomenon and there was agreement on the importance of exchange of information to serve the interests of both countries.

Al-Fadhala expressed pleasure over his visit and urged Saudi officials to pay a similar visit to the State of Kuwait for further coordination and exchange of ideas on this dossier. -KUNA

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lishment and the other in the Ministry of Commerce but neither had made their findings public except through press leaks.

Meanwhile, the controversy continues since last month over the motives behind the specialized employment committee changing the criteria in the oil section and abandoning major qualifications which were approved of at the time of advertising for the jobs. There are reports that favoritism and parliamentary pressures towards such objective.

He said that forming an investigative committee for that purpose is something in the right direction only if it managed to overrule the unfair appointments so that people would feel the significance of such committees and that they seek to implement justice. It is also hoped that the Oil Minister’s decision to decentralize the recruitment and appointment process and to have such responsibility distributed on the entire sector companies so that problems are distributed unless it is closely controlled by internal audits apparatus.

Prosecution examines Prophet Mohammed slander case, interrogates suspect today Youssef Al-Youssef Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Informed sources revealed that the suspect accused of slandering Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), his wives, and his companions will undergo interrogations this morning by the Public Prosecution that has examined his file.

Meanwhile, the lawyers of the sus-

pect accused of burning the Iranian flag asked for authorization to visit their client who is detained at the Central Prison; especially after failing to meet him for the second consecutive day. The lawyers are also trying to issue official authorization papers from the Ministry of Justice that allows them to represent their client.

They revealed that the health of their client is deteriorating, since he has

been on hunger strike since his arrest.

In a related story, the Public Prosecution will begin interrogating the three suspects who surrendered to State Security after slandering His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Twitter. It is worth noting that the prosecution had issued arrest warrants against the suspects, which prompted the three of them to turn themselves in, while two others remain at large.

Labor Union: leaked data aims at circumventing parliamentary recommendations KUWAIT: The Head of Labor Union at Customs General Department Ahmad Al-Enzi expressed concerns, via a press release, as to how the Civil Service Council (CSC) allowed the leakage of information regarding civil servants of the department. The leaked information that was exposed by the media contained the salaries of civil servants as well as the recent salary raise, where it was compared to the cadre that was suggested previously by the union.

Al-Enzi affirmed that the published data includes inaccurate information.

He added that publishing such information aims at circumventing the recommendations of the National Assembly for solving the problem of customs employees, where the government has already promised to achieve the parliamentary recommendations.

He asked the official source to be punctual regarding the recent raise, noting that it pleases neither civil servants

nor the union requests.

He added that the CSC is pushing the union to seek the help of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to settle the problem through assessing the efforts of civil servants and the salaries they receive. He asked for respecting civil servants and their hard efforts, in addition to avoiding the release of any false news.

He also claimed that the government did not abide to its previous pledges regarding the workers’ rights.

Sri Lanka boosts promotion of professional, skilled workers during recent delegation visit Ricky Laxa Staff Writer

KUWAIT:The Embassy of Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotions and Welfare, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Sri Lanka’s top recruitment agencies held a three day table top meetings to discuss possibilities of increasing the number of skilled and professional workers in Kuwait.

The delegation was composed of twentytwo officials representing the top recruitment agencies in Sri Lanka. The Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Dilan Perera, Chairman of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Amal Senalankadhikara and Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kuwait C.A.H.M Wijeratne graced the summit meeting and dinner to mark the closing of the occasion Monday evening at the Crown Plaza Hotel.

Ambassador Wijeratne, in his interview with Al Watan Daily, said that the Sri Lankan delegation headed by Minister Perera and Chairperson Senalankadhikara came to Kuwait to meet local recruitment counterparts and to discuss the potentials of augmenting the number of Sri Lankan professional and skilled workers in the country. “Eighty percent of our workers in Kuwait are household helpers and laborers, however, recently we also increased the number of nurses with The Ministry of Health and a few in the education system such as professors and others,” commented the Envoy.

In recent news, he also announced that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa aims at fostering the promotion of the country’s human resources with relation to foreign deployment. Ambassador Wijeratne said that in the attempt to improve and cement the relations between the local recruitment offices in Sri Lanka and Kuwait. Minister Perera has trimmed down the number of recruitment agencies from 2,000 to 800 active and three hundred have been categorized and given stars based on their performances.Training facilities and institutes have been recommended to further enhance the knowledge of workers about Kuwait in the aspects of society, weather, traditions, law and others. Available funds have also been set to finance these training courses.

Group Photo of Chairman of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Amal Senalankadhikara and Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kuwait C.A.H.M Wijeratne with the delegation of top recruitment agencies in Sri Lanka on Monday, April 2, 2012. (Al Watan Daily)

“The recruitment agencies in Sri Lanka have tailored its human resources within our country and have not been engaged with the procedures of deploying outside and such is one of the purposes of this visit. To further understand a Sri Lankan employee, we would like to invite recruitment agencies and employers and visit the country and meet our people,” commented the Sri Lankan Envoy. To add, he said that what is important is the human factor involved in deploying a worker. He quoted, “If one worker suffers from non-payment of salary or harassment, the rest of those who receive support from the worker suffers. The table top meeting is essential for recruitment agents to meet and integrate policies in handling deployment of workers. It must be understood that what we exchange here are human beings and not simply products or items where care and respect are essential,” commented the Envoy.As for Chairperson Senalankadhikara, he stated that the President of Sri Lanka’s vision was to bring and promote the team of recruitment agencies to different countries, exchange ideas and promote deployment of skilled workers. Further he said that Kuwait has been a key country in providing good salaries for workers and

has indeed boosted the Sri Lankan workers partly due to Kuwaitis strong economic back-up. “English language is essential to our workers thus we will be integrating our training programs with intensive English language curriculum to further enhance our workers’ skills. To also protect our workers from agencies that would take advantage of them, we will be implementing insurances, thumb print identification and strengthen legal sectors although about five percent of these agencies are troublemakers” commented Senalankadhikara.

To conclude Ambassador Wijeratne affirmed that Kuwait government and His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has been very generous and supportive of his tenure as Envoy. The continuous repatriation of distressed workers currently housed at the shelter is evident of such. He also denied that the introduction of skilled workers in the country does not imply shutting down the deployment of household workers but to provide better training and education to be able to raise their status not just as household helpers but as a capable, educated and skilled worker. “We are aiming for quality service for our employers,” concluded the Sri Lankan Ambassador.

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ALWATAN DAILY

regional

What a great country!

By Hossam Fathi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: What’s up with this picture, people?

You accused the gentle candidate Hazem Abu Ismael of being unqualified to take part in the coming presidential election as he doesn’t meet one of the conditions for running!! This is just because his mother has already obtained the American citizenship, but the candidate affirmed that his mother has just obtained a permanent visa - green card - to live in the US and she has never obtained the citizenship, adding that only his brother and sister got the American citizenship. It isn’t a difficult matter to believe, after all he should know well whether his mother has acquired citizenship or not.

Meanwhile, an American cleric with Egyptian origin claimed that the mother of Hazem has obtained the American citizenship but we really can’t believe that!!

An Egyptian businessman said that Dr. Mohammad Said Al-Awa - another candidate - cannot run in the presidential election because his father has Syrian citizenship but the candidate denied that and confirmed that his father does not hold a Syrian citizenship, but that his grandfather did.

Suddenly, I felt that the whole country is confused, although all of us should be sure that Egypt is capable of including all those who have obtained other nationalities, or even if they come from a background of other nationalities, because they are now Egyptians, just like us. hossam@alwatan.com.kw Twitter:@hossamfathy66

Israeli PM sides with settlers occupying homes in West Bank

JERUSALEM: For the second time in weeks, Israel’s prime minister has sided with Jewish settlers trying to remain in West Bank homes they occupied illegally. Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government is dominated by hard-line parties, was staunchly backed by political allies who want to cement Israel’s hold on land the Palestinians claim for a future state. His critics accused him of trampling the rule of law.

On Monday, the military ordered settlers who occupied a house in the heart of the most volatile Palestinian city in the West Bank last week to leave the building by Tuesday afternoon because they had not received the required military approval to live there.

But hours later, Netanyahu asked Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the ultimate authority in the West Bank, to let the settlers stay while they “make their legal case,” the prime minister’s spokesman Mark Regev said. Regev did not explain why Netanyahu sought the delay, even though the settlers acknowledge they deliberately disregarded a requirement to obtain military approval for property purchases in the West Bank. Nor would he say how Barak replied.

Barak has not signaled his intentions.

Members of Netanyahu’s hawkish Likud Party applauded the Israeli leader’s move.

Cabinet Minister Limor Livnat told Israel Radio that Barak is “pursuing a policy of not letting Jews live in Judea and Samaria,” the biblical name for the West Bank. Lawmaker Zeev Elkin, in an interview with Army Radio, accused Barak, who heads a small centrist party of trying to curry favor with dovish voters. Netanyahu’s critics were equally vocal.

Dovish lawmaker Zehava Gal-On said the move proved Netanyahu does not want to make peace with the Palestinians, who see the West Bank as core of a future state and see all settlement there as undermining their statehood aspirations. The international community backs the Palestinian position.

Gal-On urged Barak to evacuate the settlers by Tuesday afternoon as originally ordered. “That is the test of the rule of law,” Gal-On, head of the Meretz Party, told Israel Radio. Netanyahu’s intercession came just weeks after his government tried to bypass an Israeli Supreme Court order to dismantle a large West Bank settler enclave by March 31. The enclave, Migron, was built without government authorization on privately held Palestinian land, in violation of Israeli law. The court rejected the government’s request to delay Migron’s evacuation until November 2015, saying that doing so would be tantamount to flouting the rule of law. It did, however, grant a four-month delay until Aug. 1. Netanyahu has said he will respect the court decision. Migron settlers, who zealously believe they have a God-given right to the West Bank, have said they will not go quietly.

The eviction order for the Hebron house similarly threatened to touch off a violent confrontation between security forces and a militant settler community. The biblical city is home to the traditional burial site of Abraham, the shared patriarch of both Jews and Muslims, and the only place where Jews live in the heart of a West Bank city. It has been a focus of Israeli-Arab violence for decades. Hebron settlers and their supporters have violently resisted similar eviction orders, retaliating with attacks against Palestinians. Israeli media speculated Monday that Netanyahu was eager to avoid the specter of Jewish soldiers and settlers clashing on the eve of the weeklong Passover holiday, which begins Friday night.

It was on the Passover holiday 44 years ago that Jews first resettled Hebron after Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians claim all three areas, including Gaza, which is now ruled by Palestinian Hamas militants, for a future state. About 850 settlers now live in Hebron in heavily guarded enclaves among 180,000 Palestinians. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers enforce a rigid separation between the two sides. Settlers say they bought the house they occupied last week from a Palestinian property owner, but the military said it had not yet ascertained whether the purchase was legitimate. -AP

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

Syria bolsters assault on rebels despite peace plan

DAMASCUS: Fierce clashes erupted Tuesday as Syria’s regime sent reinforcements into rebel areas and the West sought to warn Damascus of UN action unless it sticks to an agreement to pull back its armor.

Peace envoy Kofi Annan on Monday told the UN Security Council that President Bashar Al-Assad had agreed to “immediately” start pulling back his forces and complete the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons by April 10, US ambassador Susan Rice said.

The latest violence took place with Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger on a new mission to Syria -- his third since last year, when Damascus launched a crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests which the UN says has killed more than 9,000 people.

On Tuesday, monitoring groups reported that heavy fighting had engulfed opposition strongholds in the southern region of Daraa, northwestern Idlib province and areas around the capital.

Dozens of armored personnel carriers arrived in Dael, a town in Daraa province where the uprising began in March 2011, as well as in Zabadani, a bastion of the rebellion near the border with Lebanon.

Sayyed Mahmud, an activist in Dael reached by Skype, told AFP the situation was extremely tense in the town.

“They burned down 14 houses yesterday. They are arresting people and have sent in troop reinforcements,” he said.

“As part of the regime’s campaign to starve the people, troops are raiding homes, destroying food stocks and equipment,” he added. “For example, if they see a sewing machine, they destroy it.

“They go into bakeries and destroy the dough. There are 15hour power cuts a day.”

In Idlib, which borders Turkey, fighting was taking place on the outskirts of Taftanaz, where two civilians and one soldier were killed amid heavy machinegun fire and shelling, said the Observatory.

“Four civilians have been wounded and several homes torched,” it added. “Rebels managed to disable a troop carrier and have killed or wounded a number of government troops.”

In Damascus province, clashes were reported in the towns of Douma and in Zabadani, where the army was carrying out arrests and raiding homes.

The Britain-based Observatory has charged that the army is torching and looting rebel houses across the country in a deliberate campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.

In a briefing to the 15-member Security Council on Monday, UN-Arab League envoy Annan said that “no progress” had been made on reaching a ceasefire, according to diplomats.

The former UN chief said the Security Council had to start considering the deployment of an observer mission with a broad

Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad, after Friday prayers in Yabroud, near Damascus March 30, 2012. Picture taken March 30, 2012. (Reuters)

mandate to monitor events in Syria.

Syria’s UN envoy, Bashar Jaafari, confirmed the April 10 date had been agreed “by common accord” between Annan and his government.

Rice said the United States and other countries doubted Assad would commit to reining in his forces.

“Past experience would lead us to be skeptical and to worry that over the next several days, that rather than a diminution of the violence we might yet again see an escalation of the violence.

We certainly hope that is not so,” said Rice.

The partial implementation of Annan’s six-point peace plan would include a full cessation of hostilities within 48 hours of the deadline, diplomats said.

The United States, Britain and France were working on a Security Council declaration that would put a formal stamp on the April 10 deadline.

The statement -- a draft of which will be sent to Council members on Tuesday -- would warn Assad of possible “further measures” if he reneges on the promise made to Annan, one UN

diplomat told AFP. Russia has rejected the idea of a deadline for implementation of the peace plan, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying “ultimatums and artificial deadlines rarely help matters.”

Moscow, a Soviet-era ally of the Assad regime, said only the Security Council, where it wields veto power, could put any time restrictions on Syria’s compliance with the peace plan.

Kellenberger, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said he would meet officials including Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and examine measures for a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire - a condition set out in the Annan plan.

“I am determined to see the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent expand their presence, range and scope of activities to address the needs of vulnerable people,” he said in a statement ahead of his two-day trip to Syria.

Besides the humanitarian ceasefire, Annan’s plan also calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process, the right to demonstrate, and the release of people detained arbitrarily. -AFP

Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 Al-Qaeda militants SANAA: Yemeni government forces regained control of a strategic gateway in the south on Tuesday after intense, threeday shelling of Al-Qaeda hideouts in the area that left 43 militants dead, military and medical officials said.

The military had stepped up attacks and airstrikes against Al-Qaeda in the mountainous area of Al-Rahha in the southern province of Lahj, a strategically important region that links the south with Yemen’s northern cities.

The offensive followed two consecutive surprise attacks by militants on Yemeni army bases in the area.

The military officials told The Associated Press that the government forces are trying to reclaim key cities in Aden and Abyan provinces in the south that have been overrun by Al-Qaeda. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because

they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken advantage of a year of internal political turmoil and security vacuum in Yemen to expand their gains in the country’s south.

The militants have seized several towns and cities and entire swaths of land, and the military’s campaign has so far not managed to retake those areas.

Yemen’s uprising, inspired by Arab Spring revolts elsewhere, forced longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office in February. His successor, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, was later rubber-stamped as president in a nationwide vote. Hadi has vowed to fight Al-Qaeda while restructuring the armed forces in which Saleh’s loyalists and family members still hold key posts.

Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, known as

A militant suspected of being a member of Al-Qaeda mans a checkpoint in Azan in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa on March 31, 2012. (AFP)

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is one of the movement’s most dangerous offshoots.

Meanwhile, Islamist militants have claimed responsibility for blowing up an oil pipeline in Yemen late on Monday, the second such attack in four days launched in revenge for a US drone strike that killed five suspected Al-Qaeda militants.

Monday’s blast set fire to a pipeline that transports oil from the southern province of Shabwa to the Bir Ali terminal on the Gulf of Aden, an industry official said.

Friday’s explosion, which, shut the Yemen LNG terminal at the nearby Balhaf port, came hours after the missile strike on the militants’ car.

Ansar Al-Sharia, an armed group affiliated to Al-Qaeda, said in a text message on Tuesday that the latest pipeline explosion was part of “a chain of attacks” planned in response to the US strike.

Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged since anti-government protests last year created a power vacuum that militants have exploited. Al Qaeda has strengthened its hold on southern areas of the country after the uprising against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In the capital, Sanaa, President AbdRabbu Mansour Hadi on Tuesday met with a military committee tasked with restructuring the armed forces, which is rife with divisions between units controlled by Saleh’s relatives, those of a rebel general, and tribal militias in the capital.

The committee has struggled to enforce the dismantling of checkpoints erected in Sanaa by renegade general Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar and pro-Saleh troops and open fighting broke out in the capital last year between armed factions.

“The committee still has certain tasks that it has to fulfill to achieve stability, open roads that are being closed and protect power plants and oil and gas pipelines,” Hadi said on Tuesday, according to state news agency, Saba.

In a separate incident, security forces defused a bomb near a police station in Aden’s Mansoura neighborhood, a security official told Reuters, without giving further details. -Agencies

Government fails to halt western Libya militia clash TRIPOLI: Rival militias in western Libya attacked each other with heavy weapons for a third day on Tuesday, a local official said, after the government, struggling to impose its authority on the volatile country, failed to persuade the two sides to stop.

The clash between members of the Berber ethnic minority and their Arab neighbors around the town of Zuwara is typical of the ethnic and tribal disputes that have flared up since a revolt last year ended Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.

Militias from inside Zuwara, a predominantly Berber town on the Mediterranean coast about 120 km (75 miles) west of Libyan capital Tripoli, were exchanging

heavy weapons fire with fighters from the nearby Arab settlements of Al-Jumail and Regdalin, according to the official.

Iyoub Sofian, from the Zuwara local council, told Reuters one man was killed and five injured on the Zuwara side. “There are heavy clashes at the entrance to Regdalin, (and) heavy bombing from Al-Jumail on Zuwara,” he said.

He said representatives from the national army had tried to broker a ceasefire on Monday, but it did not hold.

“We stopped firing but Al-Jumail and Regdalin did not stop the bombing, so we received orders to attack,” said Sofian.

It was not immediately possible to contact fighters in Al-Jumail or Regdalin. The

Libyan deputy interior minister, contacted

by Reuters, declined to comment until later on Tuesday.

Zuwara lies on the main highway linking Tripoli to neighboring Tunisia, a vital supply route for the Libyan capital.

An Interior Ministry official told Reuters the confrontation had started on Sunday when a group of Zuwara men hunting for game accidentally shot someone from Al-Jumail. They were briefly detained, angering people in Zuwara.

In another confrontation that has underlined Libya’s fragility, about 150 people were killed in clashes over the past week between rival tribes in the southern city of Sabha. -Reuters

Iran ex-president urges better ties with Saudis

TEHRAN: Iran should forge better ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia to counter Western sanctions on Iranian oil, a former president who now chairs an advisory body to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged on Tuesday.

“If we had good relations with Saudi Arabia, would the West have been able to impose sanctions (on Iran’s oil)?” Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani asked in the latest issue of the International Studies Journal, a three-monthly Iranian publication.

“Only Saudi Arabia could fill the void left by Iran. (All they need do is) produce oil within their OPEC quota, and then no one would be able to harass us,” he said.

He also reiterated his longstanding position that Iran should resume diplomatic relations with the United States, which were cut off in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“If we negotiate with them (other world powers: Europe, China and Russia), why should we not talk with America?” he said, taking up an argument he said he asked in a letter years ago to the late founder of Iran’s Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

“The meaning of negotiation is not that we submit to them. We negotiate, and if they accept our positions or we accept theirs, then it is done.”

Rafsanjani, who was president 1989-1997, now chairs Iran’s Expediency Council, which is tasked with providing counsel to Khamenei.

He is seen as a pragmatic voice in the regime, but one who has lost much of his influence to hardliners who hold sway over the parliament and military.

“We do not need to have relations with the US as we are in best conditions. It is America that needs relations with Iran,” one hard-line MP, Hossein Ebrahim who is the deputy head of parliament’s foreign policy commission, was quoted as telling the Mehr news agency.

“Iran is considered to (hold) the key to American interests (in the region),” he said.

Saudi Arabia, a US ally that is also the biggest OPEC producer, is facilitating Western sanctions by promising to tap its spare capacity to make up for any imposed shortfall of Iranian oil exports.

The United States this year has been actively working to try to curb Iranian oil sales, which are vital for Tehran’s finances. Washington and its allies believe Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons capability, something the Islamic republic denies.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have long competed for influence over the Middle East. They remain divided by religion (Iran is Shiite while Saudi Arabia is Sunni) and by their relations with the United States. Rafsanjani said that “relations with Saudi Arabia are not a trivial matter” and stated: “I think it is still possible to form good relations (with Riyadh). But there are people who do not want this... some harsh remarks coming from both sides should be corrected.”

Iran is resisting Western efforts to make it yield on its nuclear program through sanctions.

Talks between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany are due to be held late next week to address the showdown. The last round of negotiations, held in Istanbul in January 2011, collapsed. -AFP

ALWATAN DAILY

WORLD

wednesdAY, april 4, 2012

Fire at Moscow market kills at least 17 migrant workers Blaze hits Russian skyscraper, no injuries

MOSCOW: A blaze at a market on the outskirts of Moscow on Tuesday killed 17 migrant workers sleeping in a metal shed on the premises, the city fire department said.

All were citizens of former Soviet nations in Central Asia, spokesman Sergei Vlasov said.

Several million migrants from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have come to Moscow in search of work. Many of them have found jobs in construction or at the city’s sprawling markets, which sell everything from clothes to construction materials.

Vlasov said the fire that broke out at the Kachalovsky market at 5 a.m. Tuesday tore through an insulated metal shed where the workers slept on bunk beds. The roof collapsed during the blaze, he said.

Investigators were still determining the cause of the fire, but said they suspected it may have started with electric heaters. A light snow fell overnight.

Sergei Gorbunov, the chief of the fire department in Moscow’s southeast district, said on Russian television that the workers were unable to exit through the one door connecting their living quarters with an adjacent storage hangar. He did not say why.

Video aired on television showed that the windows of the blue metal shed were barred and firefighters had pulled away strips of metal sheeting from one wall.

On Monday night, huge flames danced for hours on the top floors of an under-construction Moscow skyscraper that is to be Europe’s tallest, lighting up the night sky Monday. No injuries were reported in the blaze.

The fire at the eastern part of the Federation Tower complex was visible from much of the Russian capital’s western half. Two firefighting helicopters noisily circled the blaze, dumping huge buckets of water on the flames before the Emergencies Ministry said the fire had been stopped from spreading by about 11:30 p.m. (1930 GMT), some three hours after it broke out.

The fire, some 250 meters (880 feet) above streetlevel, was believed to have started when plastic sheeting came in contact with a spotlight illuminating a work area, Nikita Zhuravlev, a representative of project developer Potok8, told Associated Press Television News. He said a firefighting helicopter appeared to have spread the flames by flying too low over the fire.

The Federation Tower is part of a massive development on the banks of the Moscow River about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) west of the Kremlin.

When completed, it is to consist of two glasssheathed office towers flanking a mast reaching 560 meters.

The tower that caught on fire is to top out at 360 meters (1,150 feet tall).

That would make it Europe’s tallest building, exceeding the current record-holder, the 302-meter (990-foot) City of Capitals building in the same development as the Federation Tower, and yet another building in the complex, the Mercury City Tower, which is to reach 332 meters (1089 feet).

Russian news reports said the fire engulfed some 300 square meters (3200 square feet) at its height. It hit multiple floors, reportedly the 65th to 67th.

Firefighters were forced to climb stairs to reach the blaze because elevators are not yet in service, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. -AP

Bulgarian Muslims recall communist repression

KORNITSA: Ibrahim Byalk has had a bullet stuck in his arm for nearly four decades. It adds to the painful memories of communist repression in this quiet village in southern Bulgaria.

“It hurts sometimes when I move my arm, but it is nothing compared to the pain left in my mind,” said Byalk, looking over the square where he was shot on March 28, 1973. That day, police and army units stormed the village and opened fire on hundreds at people gathered in the square to protest the communist regime’s campaign to force Bulgaria’s Muslims to adopt non-Islamic names and break up their communities.

Villagers in traditional colorful dress gathered here last week to raise their hands in prayer in memory of the victims. The brutal crackdown left five men dead and more than 100 wounded. More than 70 families, including Byalk’s, were forced to leave their homes and settle in remote villages. “All we wanted was to keep our names and our faith,” said the 64-year-old Byalk. The events in Kornitsa were long one of communist-ruled Bulgaria’s many dark secrets. It was only after the regime fell in 1989, and the rights of Bulgaria’s Muslims were restored, that the truth surfaced.

Like many other Muslims, Byalk won’t reveal the new name he was forced to adopt - he says he has “forgotten.” Most often the new names would take the first two initials of the old Muslim one.

The forced renaming of Muslims began in 1973 in Kornitsa with its 1,800 ethnic Bulgarian Pomak Muslims and spread across the nation. Ethnic Turks, who form the other large group of Bulgarian Muslims, were equally harshly targeted in the assimilation campaign. The communists tried to snuff out Muslim identity in other ways. Education in Turkish was first limited, then suppressed. Talking Turkish in public, wearing the veil and circumcising boys were forbidden.

The repression culminated in 1985 when 310,000 ethnic Turks were forced to change their names. Protests grew and in August 1989 - as communism was crumbling across eastern Europe - Bulgaria forced 360,000 ethnic Turks to cross into Turkey.

Three months later the regime collapsed.

More than 22 years after the end of communism, Bulgarian authorities finally officially denounced the repression of Muslims, who form 10 percent of Bulgaria’s population of 7.4 million. In January, Parliament adopted a declaration condemning the violent assimilation of its Muslim population. It described the expulsion of people from villages and from the country as “a form of ethnic cleansing performed by the totalitarian regime.”

“I still cannot understand why they did this to us - to deprive us from our basic right to choose a name, a religion,” asked 74-year-old Bayram Geta. -AP

Malaysia panel calls for electoral overhaul

China detains 22 after Inner Mongolia protest: group

A helicopter releases water onto a fire at the top of the Federation Tower complex in the “Moscow City” business district in central Moscow, April 2. (Reuters)

BEIJING: Chinese police detained 22 ethnic Mongolians after hundreds of them protested against the seizure of land in Inner Mongolia, an overseas rights group said on Tuesday, in the latest case of unrest in the vast and remote northern region.

More than 80 police used “brutal force” on Monday to break up a demonstration by hundreds of Mongolians from Tulee village near the city of Tongliao, the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre said. The disturbance is likely to be another worry for China which already faces unrest among Muslim Uighur ethnic minority people in its far west and among ethnic Tibetans in the southwest. -Reuters

West Africa leaders hit Mali with sanctions

Some of the hostages have been held captive by the rebels for as long as 14 years.

(Reuters)

Guaviare departments,” Maria Cristina Rivera, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross said at the airport in Villavicencio, some 110km south of Bogota.

The mission was led by the Red Cross and

NEWS IN BRIEF

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian parliamentary panel on Tuesday cited widespread deficiencies in the country’s electoral system and backed changes that were championed by a mass vote-reform protest last year. The panel was set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in October, three months after police crushed the rally by tens of thousands in Kuala Lumpur, earning condemnation at home and abroad. The final report tabled in parliament recommends ensuring the independence of the Election Commission (EC) amid allegations of ruling-coalition bias, and allowing the opposition access to mainstream media, among other reforms.

-AFP

Colombia’s FARC rebels free hostages BOGOTA: Colombia’s FARC rebels have freed what they say are the last 10 members of the armed forces they held hostage in jungle prison camps for more than a decade.

Flown from a jungle rendezvous to Villavicencio city on Monday aboard a Brazilian air force helicopter emblazoned with the Red Cross logo, the freed men were united with their loved ones in a private area before the group was flown to Bogota, the capital, where other relatives were waiting.

They were escorted from the helicopter by nurses to awaiting relatives, smiling to the gathered throng. A few walked with difficulty and others jumped for joy on the tarmac.

One had brought along his pet capybara, a rodent native to South America’s jungles.

Some wore the Colombian flag over their shoulders. All looked newly shaven.

“I shouted! I jumped up and down!” said Olivia Solarte when she heard her 41-year-old son, police officer Trujillo had been freed. He’d been held since July 1999. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, had announced Monday’s liberation on Feb. 26 in tandem with a halt in ransom kidnappings as a revenue source.

But it comes after the group suffered some serious setbacks in recent months. Last month a military strike killed more than 60 fighters.

And late last year, the group’s influential leader, Alfonso Cano, was killed in another government strike.

Monday’s operation took place over several hours “in a rural area between Meta and

5

Colombians for Peace, an organization made up mostly of women.

The group has been working behind the scenes for many months to make “this humanitarian handover possible”, said Al Jazeera’s

Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Villavicencio. “To all those who worked for this liberation, thank you. To the 10 freed hostages, these victims of the intolerance and cruelty of the guerillas, we extend a welcome to freedom,” Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president, said.

“It has been an agonizing wait [for families], many were kidnapped years ago,” our correspondent said. Some of the captives have been held for as long as 14 years - at once or in several stages.

He said one of the people who arrived at the airport to show support for the NGO’s effort was Rigoberta Menchú, a Nobel prizewinning human rights advocate from Guatemala.

“We know that there are several others that have been released this way. And we know that beyond the releases Colombia should have peace. We feel what Colomboans feel now,” Menchú said.

Our correspondent said FARC was also holding civilians but added that it was not clear how many were in the rebels’ hands.

“It could be as little as 80 or 90, but some estimates are that it could be into the hundreds. Nobody really knows what the status of civilian hostages will be,” he said.

“There is a real hope that this hostage handover could open up doors of communication and dialogue between the FARC and the Colombian government, but it is unclear whether the government will want to engage in dialogue with the FARC.” -AFP

KAMPALA: West African leaders slapped crippling sanctions on Mali’s new junta ahead of emergency UN talks Tuesday on the troubled nation, half of which is now held by Tuareg rebels and Islamist fighters. As Mali slid further into chaos under military rulers who seized power on March 22, France called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. “It’s on for tomorrow,” Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the US mission at the United Nations, said Monday. His announcement came shortly after the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) tightened the stranglehold on the junta in a bid to force it to give up power. -AFP

US puts $10 million bounty on Pakistan militant NEW DELHI: The United States has put up a 10 million US dollarsreward to help arrest Pakistani Islamist leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, suspected of masterminding two spectacular attacks on India’s financial capital and its parliament.

The offer comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pakistan and increases pressure on Pakistan to take action against the former Arabic scholar, who has recently addressed rallies despite an Interpol warrant against him. India has long called for Saeed’s arrest and said the bounty - one of the highest on offer - was a sign the United States understood its security concerns. Only last week Saeed evaded police to address an anti-US rally in Islamabad. -Reuters

Myanmar, North Korea in focus as ASEAN summit starts Southeast Asian leaders call for lifting of Yangon sanctions

PHNOM PENH: Southeast Asian leaders met on Tuesday for an annual summit set to be dominated by Myanmar’s historic reforms, North Korea’s planned rocket launch and strategic maritime disputes with China.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asians (ASEAN) gathered in the Cambodian capital two days after by-elections in Myanmar saw pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi win her first seat in parliament.

Election monitors from Cambodia, which holds the ASEAN chair, have declared Sunday’s vote free and fair, and urged the West to lift sanctions imposed over the Myanmar military’s long record of rights abuses.

ASEAN foreign ministers applauded the “orderly” conduct of the polls during talks in Phnom Penh on Monday, setting the stage for a strong endorsement from the bloc’s leaders at Wednesday’s conclusion of the two-day summit.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the vote should contribute to the “reintegration of Myanmar into the global community”, a reference to the possible lifting of sanctions.

Myanmar’s human rights abuses and iron-fisted suppression of political dissent have often hijacked ASEAN gatherings in the past, much to the embarrassment of more democratic member-states.

But over the past 12 months the country’s quasi-civilian government, led by President Thein Sein, has freed hundreds of political prisoners, eased media restrictions and welcomed the opposition back to the political fold.

At the last ASEAN summit in November, the country was rewarded for its efforts by being promised the bloc’s chairmanship in 2014. Myanmar is eager too to win greater foreign investment with the prospect of sanctions being lifted.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- a grouping of nearly 600 million people from disparate economic and political systems.

The bloc has often been dismissed as a talking shop but it has assumed new strategic importance in light of Washington’s foreign policy “pivot” to Asia and the economic rise of China in recent years.

North Korea’s planned rocket launch - described by Pyongyang as a bid to send a satellite into orbit but con-

Presidents and prime ministers pose for a photograph during the opening ceremony of the 20th ASEAN summit and the celebration of the 45th Anniversary of ASEAN at the Peace Palace, in the Office of the Council of Ministers in Phnom Penh April 3. (Reuters)

demned by the United States and its allies as a thinly disguised missile test - is also looming over the Cambodia summit.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the ASEAN foreign ministers spoke with one voice against the nuclear-armed North’s launch plans.

The Philippines - which lies beneath the rocket’s proposed flight path - has lodged formal protests with Pyongyang’s representatives at the United Nations, in China and at ASEAN. “I think the countries that spoke on the topic... were all of the opinion that we should be discouraging (North Korea) from undertaking that launch,” Del Rosario said after the foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday.

Regional tensions with China over disputed islands in the South China Sea are another vexing issue for the ASEAN leaders, diplomats said.

China has competing territorial claims in the sea with ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The United States says it has a “national interest” in

keeping the vital trade route open to shipping.

The sea is a conduit for more than one-third of the world’s maritime trade and half its traffic in oil and gas, and major petroleum deposits are believed to lie below the seabed.

US ally the Philippines has been leading a push for ASEAN to form a united front and present China with a binding “code of conduct” in the sea, but other members argue that Beijing should be involved from the start.

There are also differences over the “internationalization” of the rival claims, with Cambodia insisting they are matters for quiet diplomacy between ASEAN and China but the Philippines asserting the primacy of international law.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asian leaders on Tuesday called for the lifting of international sanctions on Myanmar after the country’s historic by-elections, a senior Cambodian official said at a regional summit. Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “call for the lifting of all sanctions on Myanmar,” Cambodian Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh. -AFP

6

ALWATAN DAILY

OPINION

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

Once the Brotherhood is in power, a full exposure would ensue Fuad Al-Hashem

W

hen we were young, during our tender years, we used to hear that titles and names such as mullahs, mutawwas, mosque imams, are given to those who are spiritually on the right path and lead a good and God-fearing life. It was a common belief that those people are so right that whatever wishes they may make, it would come true because they are like saints. A local Kuwaiti proverb would sum up how this idea was instilled in our minds for many generations.

“They are so very godly, their prayers are answered instantly.” We truly believed then that they could even move more walls after they utter the godly magic words.

This was our belief then and it was unshakable indeed. We believed that even if the entire nations of the sayyids of Najaf and Karbala, the priests of the American Hospital Missionary, as well as the Jewish rabbis, would certainly fail to have their prayers answered as our mullas.

As it turned out now the only one who could really move walls and even destroy them is the General AlBadr, the man in charge of the removal and demolition of illegal constructions built on the State’s lands.

Anyway, the reason I have mentioned the prayers is nothing to do with the mullahs in Kuwait or General AlBader for that matter.

I am referring here not to the old customs and beliefs and certainly not the walls.

The Head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Sheikh Mohammad Badee, - may God sanctify his soul! May God protect him! - has declared that his party is nominating

The real democracy

A local Kuwaiti proverb would sum up how this idea was instilled in our minds for many generations.

Khayrat Al-Shater to the presidential post of the President of Egypt. The Spiritual figure-head of the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Mohammad Badee is nominating a former prisoner to be the future president of Egypt.

This is not all. Sheikh Badee warned that any sarcastic or false rumors about the man he is nominating would most certainly backfire on those who attempt to do so.

Sheikh Badee went on to explain that the retaliation would be in the form of prayers which would be answered because Khayrat Al-Shater is, like our old belief in the mullahs, a godly and saintly person.

Now this is not April fool’s day I promise you. This is not a joke either.

It is a true story which had been published in all mainstream newspapers in Egypt.

One caption which had attracted my attention says “Khayrat Al-Shater’s prayers are answered. Don’t mess with him!”

Khayrat Al-Shater is no ordinary person by any standards. Apart from his magic powers and saintly prayers, the man fled his country Egypt to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1981 where he set up a con business and managed to steal 17 million Saudi Riyals by laundering money.

Khayrat Al-Shater went back to Egypt where he did a similar thing. He set up a company which he called

Salsabil. He used the poor and their savings and managed once again to steal their life savings. He attained 35 million Egyptian pounds illegally and under false pretexts.

The then Deputy Manager of the Egyptian Intelligence Brigadier Omar Suleiman arrested Khayrat Al-Shater for his con activities.

After serving his sentence, he began a new career where he set up a militia of his own. He recruited people from the Muslim Brotherhood. He sought to demonstrate his power one day and decided that his militia would parade inside Al-Azhar Mosque. For this, he was arrested and sent to prison for eight years only to be released some days ago after a special pardon from the Military Council and in particular Field Marshal Tantawi.

The minute Khayrat Al-Shater was released; the Muslim Brotherhood announced his nomination to the post of presidency. I personally believe that the Egyptian Brotherhood should hold control of Egypt. Nay! They should hold control of the entire Middle East so that they would be exposed once and for all in the eyes of supporters and opponents alike.

I strongly believe that they, the Egyptian people will be standing against the Muslim Brotherhood with the probability of casting them away.

It is worth noting that the former inmate Khayrat AlShater is supported by Qatar, and that Sheikh Yousef Al-

Qardhawi is the middle man between Doha and Khayrat Al-Shater. Doha promised him millions of dollars to fund his election campaign.

Finally, let us move to local news. According to the Lebanese Al-Safir, the Kuwaiti government has sent a letter secretly to the dim-witted Bashar Al-Assad declaring their full support to him and his regime irrespective of what the country’s national newspapers are saying.

According to the Al-Safir, the message quite categorically states that the Kuwaiti government doesn’t wish to see the regime of the dim-witted Bashar Al-Assad toppled or ousted. The Lebanese Al-Safir also said that the message was sent through an intermediary but refused to divulge the identity of the middle man. Al-Safir promised to publish the news within days.

On my part, I say to the editor of Al-Safir Talal Salman that his news are far-fetched and that no one with the right mind would believe such nonsense. I may remind him that the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah AlKhaled Al-Sabah had attended Friends of Syria Conference which was held in Turkey some days ago. It was also the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled who described what he had seen as “tragic while the regime is persistently arrogant.” He then declared one million US dollars as aid for the refugees.

It seems that Talal Salman has decided to propagate for the Syrian regime forgetting all along that a Syrian bullet nearly missed his neck some 25 years ago. If you forget, I haven’t because I still remember the day when you showed it to me while we were eating humous and fatoush in Al-Raoushea.

BU QUTADA & BU NABIL i nt o a p po i n t t n a We w m p l o y e e s e yo u n g e s e c t o r th

Nawaf Sulaiman Al-Fuzai

A

s a part of our nature we are interested in foreign affairs far more than the internal affairs as well as observing the performance of the important governments in the world. Such governments are more involved in the democratic process and the transfer of power.

The elections at the different developed countries lead to achieving a main goal wherein the majority usually rules while the minority observes performance and the people observe and assess the performance of both the majority and the minority in order to support the best in the coming elections.

The votes of people will enable either the majority to pursue governance of the country or supporting the minority to replace the majority.

This is the real meaning of opposition.

The minority attempts to restore power through observing the performance of the majority through exposing its mistakes in order that the people change their mind in terms of voting for the majority.

In the whole world, there is not an opposition for the sake of opposition but there is an opposition to observe the performance of the majority that rules the country.

In Kuwait we have a different opposition which is opposition for the sake of opposition which means to show counter stances to the ruling majority but its real target is not serving the country or restoring power through legal means or through the votes of people.

According to the Kuwaiti constitution the parliament cannot force the premier to appoint certain ministers who are supported by the majority, therefore the majority might not be able to achieve its targets for many reasons: the first one is that opposition is not formed because its members have similar thoughts.

The members of opposition belong to different independent MPs who claim that they don`t belong to any political movement.

Those MPs have different thoughts from each other and they will not be able to become unified about all issues.

The second reason revolves around Jaber University wherein the university had to be established a long time ago but the hesitation of the government and delaying the project urged the National Assembly to intervene through endorsing a special law! If the parliamentary majority has ministers in the premier governments then such leading projects would not be interrupted and they would not need special laws to be carried out.

We support the idea that members of the ruling families hold some ministries who should also especially be well prepared through holding political positions as some of them will hold leading positions in the future but in the mean time some important ministries can be held by MPs. If we do that then the two sides, the majority and minority, will have a chance to prove their performance so that the Kuwaiti people assess performance.

After that the Kuwaiti people can vote for the qualified side that can administrate the country well.

The governments that were formed after liberating Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion are similar to the government that we aspire for but political conspiracies by certain sides which aim at dominating public funds interrupted its hard and sincere efforts.

Democracy means ruling the country in cooperation with others in which both majority and minority have to participate in administrating the country. We should not exclude any movements or blocs.

We want youths to enjoy their rights of holding senior positions

e s e i - - th ight g a n - - - - e r to r C h re d e t h s e c i v e qu s h a t th e r th a u o rk o y w to

You ----- visitors of my Diwaniya ---- I feel your enthusiasm ....

You’re most welcome to the sector

This is the oil sector ...... under the patronage of infirmary

Mohmmed Thallab

mthallab@alwatan.com.kw

The crisis of water and food Dr. Shamlan Yousef Al-Esa

T

he seventeenth annual conference of food and water security was held in the United Arab Emirates on 25th and 26th of March, 2012 under the patronage of the Lt General Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, wherein the conference had discussed 12 documents concerning the food and water crisis in the Arab world in general and the Gulf countries in particular.

What makes the conference an important memory is the new strategic challenges that the Gulf countries counter as the Gulf states are amongst the driest countries in the world and the most lack-

ing in natural water resources.

However, depending on desalinating sea water to obtain drinking water is an ineffective solution because desalination requires a big budget in addition to the rapid increase of consumption of fresh water and wasting of water too. The desalinated water in Kuwait represents more than 75 percent of fresh water in the Gulf countries which estimated 1.85 billion cubic meters.

Relevant studies indicate that 35 percent of water desalination stations are located in the Arabian countries particularly in the Gulf. Other relevant reports issued by the United Nations ranked the Gulf countries except for Oman, as states

that suffer from a sharp shortage of water. How can the Gulf States solve this problem and avoid the sharp shortage of water! Treating such a matter requires overcoming other problems such as the development of water desalination stations especially that most Gulf stations are old and require huge budgets. The second challenge is maintaining desalinated water wherein the third world countries lose 70 percent of water before it reaches consumers but the developed states lose just 10 percent.

The low fees of fresh water in Gulf countries encourages both citizens and expatriates to waste water while the cost of fresh water increases every year due to

an increase in the price of oil.

Moreover, the Gulf countries did not exert serious efforts to maintain groundwater and such water was wasted by some agricultural projects in desert areas although those areas don`t fit agriculture due to the high temperature which reaches to 50 degrees Celsius in the summer.

What can we do to conserve our water wealth! In reality we don`t have easy solutions for that apart from good cooperation of both citizens and expatriates to conserve water but citizens will not abide to that as long as the government could not force them to pay even the fees of water. Desalinating water by solar energy is a great idea but till now it costs too much.

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wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

Are US multinationals abandoning America?

Laura Tyson

Project Syndicate

A

t a recent conference in Washington, DC, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said that US policymakers should focus on productive activities that take place in the United States and employ American workers, not on corporations that are legally registered in the US but locate production elsewhere. He cited research by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who, more than 20 years ago, warned that as US multinational companies shifted employment and production abroad, their interests were diverging from the country’s economic interests.

It is easy to agree with Summers and Reich that national economic policy should concentrate on US competitiveness, not on the wellbeing of particular companies. But their sharp distinction between the country’s economic interests and the interests of US multinational companies is misleading.

In 2009, the latest year for which comprehensive data are available, there were just 2,226 US multinationals out of approximately 30 million businesses operating in the US. America’s multinationals tend to be large, capital-intensive, research-intensive, and trade-intensive, and they are responsible for a substantial and disproportionate share of US economic activity.

Indeed, in 2009, US multinationals accounted for 23 percent of value added in the American economy’s private (non-bank) sector, along with 30 percent of capital investment, 69 percent of research & development, 25 percent of employee compensation, 20 percent of employment, 51 percent of exports, and 42 percent of imports. In that year, the average compensation of the 22.2 million US workers employed by US multinationals was 68,118 US dollars - about 25 percent higher than the economy-wide average.

Equally important, the US operations of these firms accounted for 63 percent of their global sales, 68% of their global employment, 70 percent of their global capital investment, 77 percent of their total employee compensation, and 84 percent of their global R&D. The particularly high domestic shares for R&D and compensation indicate that US multinationals have strong incentives to keep their high-wage, research-intensive activities in the US - good news for America’s skilled workers and the country’s capacity for innovation.

FILE- The Wipro campus is seen in Bangalore, June 23, 2009. (Reuters)

Nonetheless, the data also reveal worrisome trends. First, although US multinationals’ shares of private-sector R&D and compensation were unchanged between 1999 and 2009, their shares of value added, capital investment, and employment declined. Moreover, their exports grew more slowly than total exports, their imports grew more quickly than total imports, and the multinational sector as a whole moved from a net trade surplus in 1999 to a net trade deficit in 2009.

Second, during the 2000’s, US multinationals expanded abroad more quickly than they did at home. As a result, from 1999 to 2009, the US share of their global operations fell by roughly 7-8 percentage points in value added,

The Arab world’s Silicon Valley?

David Rohde Reuters

L

ast November, dozens of young Arabs lined up for the chance to meet him. When he spoke of his struggles and triumphs, they hung on his every word. And when only one of the 50 attendees was chosen for training, some of the young Arabs grew frustrated and complained of being excluded.

A jihadist back from battling Americans in Afghanistan? A recruiter for al Qaeda’s North African affiliate? A Hamas member looking for volunteers to attack Israel?

No, the visitor was a Tunisian-American eBay executive who has worked for Apple and Oracle, and founded two Silicon Valley startups. His audience? Young Tunisian entrepreneurs and programmers who dream of turning this city into the Arab world’s Silicon Valley.

“There is a lot of potential,” Sami Ben Romdhane, the eBay executive, told me in a telephone interview this week. “I don’t see any difference between students who are graduating there and students who are graduating here and in Europe.”

Fourteen months after a Facebook-facilitated popular uprising here sparked the Arab Spring, the appeal of American technology remains overwhelming. But a sputtering economy, the emergence of hardline Islamic Salafist groups and the failure of the United States and its European allies to deliver on promises of assistance are prompting growing frustration and instability.

Tunisia’s revolution and its aftermath show how rapid technological change has altered economic, diplomatic and political dynamics worldwide. But outdated American notions of power particularly in Congress - are preventing the United States from keeping pace. A decades-long American practice of spending vastly more on military efforts than civilian ones is handicapping a vital attempt here to create a democratic, free-market country that is a model for the Arab world.

The United States’ strongest weapons against Islamic militancy are not CIA operatives, drones or infantry battalions. They are the modern, new high-tech office buildings that Hewlett-Packard, Fidelity, SunGard, Microsoft and Cisco have opened here in recent years. In the wake of the revolution, Tunisians dream of their country becoming a hub for cloud, big-data and open-government computing in the region.

“The revolution was through the Internet,” said Leila Charfi, a Tunisian who runs the Microsoft Innovation Center here. “People are hungry to use new technology and develop a new country with IT.” To be sure, the fate of Tunisia rests in the hands of Tunisians.

The country’s first democratically elected government since independence from France in 1956 is being criticized for indecisiveness. The economy is slowing in many areas for local reasons, not foreign ones. And the United States is providing 300 million US dollars in assistance to Tunisia, including 100 million US dollars announced on Thursday.

And while Washington is influential here, Europe is and will be the dominant foreign player. France, the former colonial power, is the country’s largest foreign investor. European countries provide the bulk of aid. And traditional exports to Europe are vital to Tunisia’s economy, particularly agricultural products, clothing and auto parts. But Tunisians - justly proud of their revolution - insist they are eager to serve as a model for the region. With little oil, they realize that economic innovation is the only way ahead. And they are looking to America’s high-tech industry for inspiration and training.

A closer look at the Silicon Valley executive’s visit revealed a well designed State Department program with too few resources.

Ben Romdhane, the executive, traveled to Tunisia under Partners for a New Beginning, an initiative launched by the Obama administration after the president’s 2009 address in Cairo. The program is designed to increase business, cultural and educational exchanges between the United States and the Arab world.

In conversations, Tunisians generally praised Obama’s ap-

capital investment, and employment, and by about 3-4 percentage points in R&D and compensation. The shrinking domestic share of their total employment - a share that also fell by four percentage points in the 1990’s - has fueled concerns that they have been relocating jobs to their foreign subsidiaries.

But the data tell a more complicated story. From 1999 to 2009, US multinationals in manufacturing cut their US employment by 2.1 million, or 23.5 percent, but increased employment in their foreign subsidiaries by only 230,000 (5.3 percent) - not nearly enough to explain the much larger decline in their US employment.

Moreover, US manufacturing companies

The country’s first democratically elected government since independence from France in 1956 is being criticized for indecisiveness. proach. They clamored for American business investment, tourists and exchange programs but said they opposed unilateral US military interventions or American meddling in their domestic politics. At the same time, they disparaged radical Islam and said they yearned for prosperity, modernity and a place in a high-tech global economy.

Yet the program that brought Ben Romdhane and 19 other American technology entrepreneurs and angel investors here is so small that the delegation members had to pay their own airfare and hotel bills. The prize for the one Tunisian entrepreneur chosen for mentoring was three months in the TechTown Incubator in Detroit, Michigan. The US government did not pay for the prize; the American Arab Chamber of Commerce in Detroit, Wayne State University and TechTown did.

Such a tepid effort shows how the US and its European allies risk losing the post-Arab Spring peace. Since the ouster of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, economic growth has dropped to near zero, foreign investment is down 30 percent and local businesses are desperate for a strong summer tourist season.

The prospects of Libya and Egypt are even bleaker, according to American officials. Tunisia holds by far the most promise of the Arab Spring countries. It has a population of only 10 million, a long history of moderation, universities that produce 6,000 engineers a year, millions of bilingual Arabic and French speakers, and centuries of interacting with Europe.

“We can have centers for excellence for IBM,Apple and Google for the region,” said Khalil Zahouani, a 34-year-old, Microsofttrained and Swiss-educated Tunisian entrepreneur who runs a 70person startup that provides computing services to European and Arab phone conglomerates. “It could be an outsourcing hub.”

To be fair, the State Department is mounting some innovative efforts. A 20 million US dollars enterprise fund has been created for Tunisia. Modeled after funds created for post-Communist Eastern Europe that made money for the US government, the fund will invest in promising Tunisian businesses. A separate eight million US dollars USAID program to train high-tech Tunisian entrepreneurs is planned as well. But those numbers are a tiny fraction of the 1.2 trillion US dollars the US spent on the American military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

In Tunisia’s impoverished interior today, there is little sense of change. In the town of Gafsa, unemployed people demanding jobs have blocked roads to the town’s phosphate mine, the fifth-largest in the world. Production is down 40 percent. And a Japanese company recently shut down its local factory after wildcat strikes.

In Sidi Bouzid, the farming town where Tunisia’s uprising began, the luster of the revolution is fading. At 85, Ahmad Kadachi is the dean of the town’s street vendors. Fifteen months ago, he was astonished when a fellow vendor - 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi - doused himself in gasoline, set himself on fire and sparked the Arab Spring.

As he sold tea from his ramshackle wooden cart, Kadachi called Bouazizi a hothead, while thanking him for the freedom he had brought. But he said Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyans were being denied a primary goal of their revolutions: prosperity.

“Everybody is talking and talking,” Kadachi told me. “No one is doing anything.”

Tunisians say they do not want handouts, loans or traditional aid. They want investment, exchange and a chance to be part of the world economy. So far, Washington’s antiquated focus on military might has let them down.

David Rohde is a Reuters columnist and former reporter for the New York Times. The views expressed are his own.

that were not multinationals slashed their employment by 3.3 million, or 52%, during the same period.

A growing body of research concludes that labor-saving technological change and outsourcing to foreign contract manufacturers were important factors behind the significant cyclically-adjusted decline in US manufacturing employment by both multinationals and other US companies in the 2000’s.

So, while US multinationals may not have been shifting jobs to their foreign subsidiaries, they, like other US companies, were probably outsourcing more of their production to foreign contractors in which they held no equity stake. Indeed, it is possible that such

7

arm’s-length outsourcing was a significant factor behind the 84% increase in imports by US multinationals and the 52 percent increase in private-sector imports that occurred between 1999 and 2009.

To understand domestic and foreign employment trends by US multinationals, it is also important to look at services. And here the data say something else. From 1999 to 2009, employment in US multinationals’ foreign subsidiaries increased by 2.8 million, or 36.2 percent.

But manufacturing accounted for only eight percent of this increase, while services accounted for the lion’s share. Moreover, US multinationals in services increased their employment both at home and abroad - by almost 1.2 million workers in their domestic operations and more than twice as many in their foreign subsidiaries.

During the 2000’s, rapid growth in emerging markets boosted business and consumer demand for many services in which US multinationals are strongly competitive. Since many of these services require face-to-face interaction with customers, US multinationals had to expand their foreign employment to satisfy demand in these markets. At the same time, their growing sales abroad boosted their US employment in such activities as advertising, design, R&D, and management.

Previous research has found that increases in employment in US multinationals’ foreign subsidiaries are positively correlated with increases in employment in their US operations: in other words, employment abroad complements employment at home, rather than substituting for it.

Facts, not perceptions, should guide policymaking where multinationals are concerned.

And the facts indicate that, despite decades of globalization, US multinationals continue to make significant contributions to US competitiveness - and to locate most of their economic activity at home, not abroad. What policymakers should really worry about are indications that the US may be losing its competitiveness as a location for this activity.

Laura Tyson, a former chair of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers, is a professor at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. This article draws on “A Warning Sign from Global Companies,” co-authored with Matt Slaughter, Harvard Business Review (March 2012).

Golden rules for the Eurozone Harold James Project Syndicate

T

he European Monetary Union, as many of its critics maintain, looks a lot like the pre-1913 gold standard, which imposed fixed exchange rates on extremely diverse economies. But is that resemblance as bad as it sounds, or as the euro’s critics insist?

The appeal of the historic gold standard lay in an institutional capacity to build confidence. A completely fixed exchange rate rules out monetary-policy initiative, and consequently makes adjustment to large external imbalances very difficult to carry out.

And the burden is unequal, because there is much more pressure on deficit countries to adjust via deflation than on creditor countries to allow higher inflation. Pessimists are especially worried by the unpleasant gold-standard analogies and lessons. They foresee years and even decades of slow growth in Europe.

Politically, too, the process of adjustment by deflation in deficit countries is so unpleasant and difficult that many pessimists think it will ultimately prove to be unsustainable. But critics of the euro should take the gold-standard analogy more seriously. Like any system in the real world, it was more complex, more interesting, and also filled with more real policy possibilities than textbook caricatures suggest.

First, there was no automatic deflationary pressure following from some alleged peculiarity of the adjustment mechanism. The question of overall deflationary - or inflationary - impact depended and still depends on the total quantity of money.

Thus, in periods after large new gold discoveries - for example, following the California Gold Rush of 1849, and again in the 1890’s, when new mining techniques opened up South African, Alaskan, and Australian reserves - the classical gold standard had a mild inflationary bias. In an era of paper money, however, the link to a physical stock of some precious metal - or, indeed, some other commodity - does not exist, and there should be no reason why a central bank cannot aim at an overall inflation rate. In fact, almost all modern central banks, including the European Central Bank, do precisely that.

The second lesson to be learned from the gold standard concerns the extent and limits of capitalmarket integration. In the early 1990’s, policymakers, market participants, and economists alike simply assumed that the European Community’s “1992 program” - the legislative framework for the single market, and thus for a single capital market - would create a new reality, within which the single currency would work its magic. From this followed an official obligation to treat all types of risk in the monetary union - bank risk or government risk - as identical.

But the history of the gold standard, and of other large common-currency areas, was more complex.

Despite the theoretical possibility of capital being sent over vast distances to other parts of the world, much capital remained local. Creditors and banks often preferred to do business with known borrowers, and where local jurisdictions could settle any disputes. In particular, a critical part of the gold standard was that individual national central banks set their own interest rates, with the aim of influencing the direction of capital movements. This became the central feature of the gold-standard world: a country that was losing gold reserves would tighten interest rates in order to attract money.

In particular, a critical part of the gold standard was that individual national central banks set their own interest rates, with the aim of influencing the direction of capital movements.

The gold-standard rules look very different from the modern practice of monetary union, which relies on a single uniform interest rate. That one-size-fits-all approach meant that interest rates in southern European countries were too low before 2009, and too high in northern Europe. A gold-standard rule would have produced higher rates for the southern European borrowers, which would have attracted funds to where capital might be productively used, and at the same time acted as a deterrent against purely speculative capital flows.

Since the 2008 financial crisis erupted, there has been something of a renationalization of financial behavior in Europe. Up to the late 1990’s and the advent of monetary union, most European Union sovereign debt was domestically held: in 1998, the overall ratio of foreign-held debt was only one-fifth. That ratio climbed rapidly in the aftermath of the euro’s introduction. In 2008, on the eve of the crisis, threequarters of Portuguese debt, one-half of Spanish and Greek debt, and more than two-fifths of Italian debt was held by foreigners, with foreign banks holding a significant proportion, especially in the case of Greece, Portugal, and Italy. One consequence of the ECB’s large-scale long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) has been that Italian banks are once again buying Italian government bonds, and Spanish banks are buying Spanish bonds.

German Economics Minister Philipp Rösler has made the fascinating suggestion that members of the European System of Central Banks should set their own interest rates (though, interestingly, he made this suggestion explicitly as a party politician, not as a government minister). Autonomous interest-rate determination would penalize banks that have borrowed in southern Europe from their national central banks. Meanwhile, the German Bundesbank would have lower rates, but southern European banks would be unlikely to have access to that credit for use in their own markets.

There are also signs that individual central banks are using the leeway that they have within the existing framework in order to carry out important policy shifts. The Bundesbank has stated that it will no longer accept bank securities as collateral from banks that have undergone a government recapitalization.

The new collateral requirements, together with tentative talk of autonomous interest rates, represents a remarkable incipient innovation. In the aftermath of the crisis, some policymakers are beginning to see that a monetary union is not necessarily identical with unfettered capital mobility. Recognition of diverse credit quality is a step back into the nineteenth-century world, and at the same time forward to a more market-oriented and less distorting currency policy. Different interest rates in different countries might open the door to a more stable eurozone.

Harold James is Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University and Professor of History at the European University Institute, Florence. He is the author of The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle.

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Private French lessons with an experienced teacher in all levels and with all age groups. Interested?

Please call: 97722008

21-03/21-04

Laptop repairs, Formats, anti-virus program and games.

SLR

Paints and wallpapers, professional work.

Tel:99795097

Interested parties may contact

60452716

SLR

20-03/20-04

I am an MBA holder with more then 23 years experience in Accounting, Analysis, and Business development. Responsibilities in India & Kuwait, now I am looking part time job after 6 pm from Sunday to Thursday, Friday & Saturdays full day free, if any suitable vacancies for me please contact 55710397.

Learn Arabic For foreigners to learn Arabic easily.

Contact: 66972388

SLR

Packing and moving services.

06-03/06-04

Required Sales person for men’s textiles shop with sales experience (speaks Arabic). Salary KD 160 + commission.

Tel: 66970789

Tel:65599091

SLR

24-01/24-02

Laptops rent,

Seeking qualified female Nail Technicians of Filipino Nationality. If interested please contact 99030565 or 25319812.

Tel: 66644270

16-01/16-02

Required sales person with knowledge of using the computer. Tel:66292269

SLR

Egyptian babysitter, baby sit kids from 1 years old to 4.

Tel:94996159

Required chef for Lebanese restaurant. Tel: 6509292697686366

SLR

Apartment in Abdullah Al Ahmad, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room and kitchen.

Tel:90958689.

Cars

30-01/30-02

02-04/02-05

Apartment in Salmiya, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, maid room, living room and kitchen, KD400.

Tel:67004704

Cars

Nissan Altima Tel:94915050

25/12 - 25-02

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

1/02-02/03

Items for sale

27-02/27-03

TREADMILL excellent condition, high-tech screen, KD 35.

Tel:90989840 Billiard table for sale in great condiditon.Tel:66666168

Contact: 67009278

Kitchen Equipment repairs 24hours.

Abu Mahmud: SLR

KD 50 KD 25 KD 60 KD 35 KD 10

Pictures and Information of all items available upon request…!!!

SLR

Satellite service, 24hours, covers all area.

WDLR

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

Satellite

Mudarrib Nafais : Contact: 65553012

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

Tuitions available with a qualified /experienced teacher in Hawalli for students from Class 1 to Class 7 in all subjects except Arabic.

27-02/27-03

- Flexible Timing - Reasonable Price - For all languages

Baby Items in “Excellent Condition” For Sale

Tuition available in Hawalli

Western Expat teacher certified, offering English lessons to adults or children. Preparation for exams, or Immigration, also available. Please call: 6556 7494

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

BUSINESS

wednesdAY, APRIL 4, 2012

m ar ket watc h KUWAIT 0.16% 6179

DUBAI 2.4% 1694

QATAR 0.2% 8853

OMAN

ABU DHABI

0.3% 5793

0.1% 2564

BAHRAIN

EGYPT

0.1% 1150

1.0% 4907

SAUDI 0.2% 7920

rising $2.21 in the previous session.

A combination of delays to North Sea loadings, quarterly fund allocations, ongoing uncertainty over Iran and US manufacturing data helped fuel Monday’s rally and is likely to keep prices elevated this week, traders and analysts said.

However, oil futures gave up some of Monday’s gains after the market digested more bearish US oil and gasoline demand data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Monday’s stronger-than-expected US manufacturing data from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) and Sunday’s Chinese PMI data had raised hopes of a pick up in demand for fuel.

But some skepticism set in following the softer demand data from the EIA. Although January’s demand figures were revised slightly higher, they were still down 4.5 percent year on year, and are at the lowest January level since 2001.

There are some fears that unless there is a strong positive number in the weekly jobs report, there could be a downward revision to the US gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the second quar-

CAPITALS: Price of Kuwaiti crude oil rose 18 US cents in Monday’s trading reaching level of 120.03 US dollars per barrel compared to $119.85 pb on Friday. Rise of the crude oil price was attributed to improvement of the Chinese economy performance, last month. Global financial markets have recently witnessed jitters, with regard of prices and stocks, as a result of debates about prospects of using oil reserves. Meanwhile, prices of oil on the international markets remained unstable, but generally bullish, buoyed by several unconventional factors, namely geopolitical issues, the Iranian file, activity of speculators and their tendency to exploit psychological jitters.

In more news, Brent crude futures were down eight cents to $125.35 a barrel by 1350 GMT, after settling up $2.55 on Monday at $125.43, then trading down over a dollar early in Tuesday’s session. US crude futures fell 61 cents to $104.62, after

US Crude $104.58 $0.65 London Brent $125.40 $0.03 Kuwait Crude $119.85 $0.18 Information Courtesy: KAMCO

ter. This is contributing to the bearish sentiment, although traders noted that volumes remained thin.

Disruption threat

The threat of further supply disruptions in the North Sea is helping to keep a floor under Brent, after British oil major BP said it had shut the Valhall platform in the North Sea last week.

This is creating loading delays for one of the four crude oil streams used for the global Brent price benchmark, traders said.

Traders and analysts also noted that oil futures sometimes benefit from an influx of investor flows at the start of a new quarter as asset allocators rotate into sectors that performed well in the previous quarter. The oil market is awaiting the weekly US inventories figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) later today. A Reuters poll of analysts has forecast that crude oil stockpiles will rise by 2.1 million barrels. Traders and investors will also be eyeing the minutes from the U.S Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting due today, for any hints of a third round of quantitative easing, which will be supportive for oil prices. -Agencies

Abu Dhabi fund Aabar doubles Arabtec stake, shares surge

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s state-owned fund Aabar Investments has nearly doubled its stake in Arabtec to 10.45 percent, a bourse filing showed on Tuesday, making it the largest shareholder in the Dubai builder and boosting its influence. Sovereign fund Aabar, which owns stakes in highprofile names such as German carmaker Daimler, commodities trader Glencore and Italy’s UniCredit, raised its Arabtec stake to 10.45 percent just weeks after it boosted its holding to 5.3 percent in early March.

Shares in Arabtec - which Aabar unsuccessfully tried to buy two years ago in a 1.7 billion US dollars deal for a 70-percent stake - jumped 13.3 percent on the Dubai bourse. The stock is up 89 percent year-to-date.

The latest stake increase was made through unit, Aabar Real Estate, the filing showed. “Aabar as the largest shareholder in the company could try to influence the management of the company and for the coming board meetings. It may try to materialize this increased stake in the shareholder structure,” said Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi.

“Now, there is speculation that they could increase their stake further,” Henin added.

Last month, Arabtec’s chief financial officer said the firm had no plans to renew talks with Aabar about taking a stake because its funding needs had eased.

Arabtec, the largest builder in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by market value, saw a three-fold rise in fourth-quarter net profit last month. Recently, the firm was awarded a $153 million contract for the expansion of the Dubai International Airport and also won three contracts in neighboring Abu Dhabi for 256 million UAE dirhams.

Arabtec has a joint venture in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Binladin Group and Prime International Group Services. Of its current backlog of 14 billion dirhams ($3.8 billion), 5.5 billion is in Saudi Arabia. -Reuters

CAPITALS: Japanese refiners have secured a clause in annual contracts with Iran that exempts them from incurring a penalty if international sanctions prevent crude buyers from taking delivery of Iranian oil, industry sources said on Tuesday. International sanctions are making it tough for refiners to find shippers for the oil, insurers to underwrite the trade, and banks to clear payments for Iran’s principal export.

Japan is Iran’s third-largest buyer.

See page 10

OIL MARKETS

Kuwaiti oil price rises to $119.85 Oil trades sideways as demand fears weigh

Japan, Iran add sanctions clause to oil deals

A man repairs the engine of a vehicle at his workshop in Lahore April 3, 2012. A study carried out by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed that six out of ten employed people in Pakistan are working in ‘vulnerable’ employment situations. (Reuters)

CURRENCIES US Dollar

British Pound

Saudi Riyal

Qatari Riyal

Indian Rupee

Euro

Japanese Yen

UAE Dirham

Bahraini Dinar

Philippine Peso

Buy 0.2775 Sell 0.278 Buy 0.3694 Sell 0.3701

Buy 0.4439 Sell 0.4447

Buy 0.003379 Sell 0.003386

Buy 0.074 Sell 0.0741

Buy 0.07557 Sell 0.07562

Buy 0.07640 Sell 0.07624 Buy 0.7363 Sell 0.73677

Buy 0.005476 Sell 0.005472 Buy 0.006518 Sell 0.006498

Prices in Kuwaiti fils As of April 3, 2012 Courtesy: KAMCO

Experts urges structural reforms in state budget

KUWAIT: Experts called Monday evening for changing the traditional way the budget was structured into a budget of programs and performances in order to address “structural” deficiencies and growing financial pressure on the general budget.

The experts, at a seminar organized by the Arab Planning Institute (API) about reality and challenges of financial policy in Kuwait, said the financial policies aimed at tackling economic problems.

They said the finance ministry was responsible for adopting sound financial policy.

Director of financial planning and budget at the finance ministry, Saleh AlSaraawi, called for reconsidering expenditures in the state budget in order to address structural deficiencies.

He explained that the state budget included the budgets of 29 ministries and government departments, as well as 14 affiliated and independent government bodies.

“The budgets of these bodies depend on the government backing and do not have the commercial shape in their structure,” he said.

One of the key structural deficiencies, he added, was complete dependence on oil as a major source of income, or 92 percent, and the rest were non-oil.

The government, said Al-Saraawi, considered the growth of non-oil income to 17 percent in the coming years. However, reaching this objective needed many measures “and none was implemented so far,” he added, like the failure of the state to levy taxes on citizens and low investment spending.

Al-Saraawi also noted that 43 percent of current expenditures were channeled to wages “which is considered a very high percentage compared with other expenditures.” He said 27 percent of the budget were government subsidies, or six billion Kuwaiti dinars.

Al-Saraawi said current spending levels required a 107 US dollars per oil barrel so the government could spend smoothly.

He said high spending levels were

coupled with accumulative deficit of KD 11 billion.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of Kuwait International Bank’s Board Dr. Sadeq Abul said the state’s financial policy was not in its “correct” framework.

Abul, also the Bank’s economic research director, said the private sector used to shoulder all economic and commercial activities in Kuwait. But as of 1973, he added, government spending started to widen because of financial surpluses.

The State’s financial policies, he continued to said, then created new “consumption” habits.

Abul said non-oil revenues resembled eight percent of overall income. “This is one percent of GDP and ... is extremely low.” Abul said budget structural deficiencies started to appear clearly when wages sky-rocketed by around 200 percent over the past 10 years, while general spending surged by 300 percent over the same period.

He said the state might take the risk, over the forthcoming years, to borrow from the general reserve or devalue the local currency.

For his part, professor of economics at Kuwait University (KU) Dr. Abbas Al-Mejren said financial and economic reforms should be carried out in parallel.

He said expansion in non-oil sectors like services, industry, agriculture and production “would not be effective” without backing of the oil sector.

Al-Mejren said the state’s spending on investment did not exceed 16 percent over the past 15 years, the lowest among the Gulf countries and developing nations.The professor called for diversifying income but to take into consideration the spending levels and the need to preserve surpluses.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Kawaz, an economist at API, said the financial policies aimed at addressing structural deficiencies in any local economy.

He said the state should consider imposing direct taxes on companies and the valued added tax (VAT), as well as boosting role of investment. -KUNA

60% of Kuwait employees expect a raise in the next 12 months Iran bans imports

88% state that the cost of living in the past year has increased

KUWAIT: The latest MENA Salary Survey conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one jobsite, and YouGov, a research and consulting organisation, has revealed that despite 48 percent of employees having been unhappy with their last pay rise, more than half believe that salaries in Kuwait are increasing.

About the respondents

A third of survey respondents (28 percent) in Kuwait have spent four to six years in their current industry, with a third (31 percent) having worked for their current employer for four to seven years. Four out of ten have between one and five people reporting directly to them, with a collective 71 percent stating that they are midway in terms of seniority (33 percent), or at a fairly senior level, but not yet at the top (38 percent). Over the past five years, 36 percent of respondents have held two jobs; 29 percent have held one job, while the remainder have held three (21 percent) or more (11 percent). On average, most people will stay in a job for two to three years (30 percent), or six or more years (31 percent).

In Kuwait, the preferred pay structure is entirely fixed-pay (57 percent), with popular incentives including those that are performance-based (57 percent), and professional training and development courses (32 percent).

Salary packages primarily (53 percent) consist of basic salary only, and six out of ten of respondents are currently moderately satisfied with their salary.

The most popular Kuwait salary benefits include personal medical insurance (35 percent), bonuses (30 percent), and personal annual air ticket (26 percent).

Salary comparisons, expectations

Six out of ten respondents in Kuwait state that

their current compensation is lower than that offered by other companies in the same industry. Almost half claim not to have received a raise in the last 12 months. Those who did receive a raise are predominantly unhappy with what they received; collectively, 48 percent claim to have been ‘unhappy’ or ‘very unhappy’. The majority of respondents (60 percent) expect to receive a raise in the coming year, 23 percent of which are looking at an additional 15 percent or more.

Cost of living, savings

According to 88 percent of survey respondents, the cost of living in Kuwait has increased in the last 12 months (between December 2010 - December 2011), of these 49 percent believe that it has increased by 15 percent or more. Food and beverage is believed to have increased the most, according to 42 percent respondents, followed by rent (34 percent).

A majority 82 percent believe that the cost of living will continue to rise in the coming year. On average, respondents claim that they received a 6.33 percent raise in the past year - while stating that their cost of living increased by an average of 21.39 percent.

Four out of 10 respondents are able to save more than 15 percent of their monthly salary, though 25 percent have been unable to save anything at all. A third (34 percent) manage to repatriate more than 15 percent of their salary.

“The survey’s results suggest that companies are still feeling the effects of the economic downturn, as they are generally not fully catering to the financial expectations of their employees or to their employees’ perceptions of the rising cost of living across the region,” said Suhail Masri, Vice President of Sales, Bayt.com. “Bayt.com’s in-depth surveys provide invaluable information about the MENA employment market, giving employers and job-seekers alike a realistic insight into the issues faced by their peers locally and elsewhere in the region.”

Perception of salaries in country

More than half of survey respondents (a collaborative 54 percent) believe that salaries in Kuwait are increasing either ‘marginally’ (29 percent of respondents) or ‘moderately’ (25 percent of re-

spondents). The most popular reason for this is perceived to be inflation and the rising cost of living (51 percent), followed by growth in opportunities and economic growth in the respondent’s country of residence (25 percent). Respondents meanwhile blame employer-friendly laws (26 percent) and poor corporate performance/profitability (25 percent) as being the top reasons for salaries not increasing however, 26 percent state that they do not know why there have been no increases.

Quality of Life

When comparing themselves to other people of a similar generation within Kuwait, 41 percent of respondents believe that their quality of life is about average, while 26 percent believe that they are somewhat better off. Almost a fifth (19 percent) of professionals believe that there is an excess of talent in Kuwait. To improve their situation, 56 percent will look for a better job in the same industry, while another 30 percent will look for a better job in a different industry.

“The survey respondents belief that there is an increase, however small, in salaries is a positive sign for the future. However, the fact that they also consider there to be an excess of talent suggests that unemployment levels are currently relatively high, and that competition for existing jobs is fierce,” said Sundip Chahal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), YouGov. Drivers of loyalty

Loyalty to employers is directly linked to salary package, according to 28 percent of Kuwait respondents. However, a larger group of 33 percent base their loyalty on their line manager. Opportunities for long-term career progression, senior management, colleagues and working environment, daily responsibilities, and training and development opportunities also factor highly.

Data for the Bayt.com Salary Survey March 2012 was collected online from March 1 to 13, 2012. Results are reported on a base of 16067 respondents.

Countries that participated are UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Pakistan.

of 600 goods, caps currency sales DUBAI: Iran has banned the importation of about 600 goods and only importers of essential items will henceforth benefit from preferential exchange rates, daily newspaper Sharq reported.

Iran’s energy-reliant economy is reeling from international sanctions aimed at stifling its lucrative oil exports. As a result, hard currency inflows have shrunk and the Iranian rial’s value against the US dollar plunged, forcing Tehran to take steps to preserve its foreign currency reserves.

Sharq quoted Hamid Safdel, director of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, as saying that the 600 items temporarily banned have domestic equivalents. It did not specify the goods in question.

Importers of 180 luxury products will now have to buy foreign currency at the market rate instead of getting it at the official rate from state banks. The rial moves around 20,000 to the dollar on the market, well above the official rate of 12,260.

Despite frequent bans and restrictions, foreign goods are readily available in Iran. Many are shipped in by smugglers from nearby countries.

Iran’s imports fell 4 percent to $61.8 billion in the Iranian calendar year that ended on March 19, while non-oil exports surged by 29 percent to $43.8 billion, data from the Customs Administration (www.

irica.gov.ir) showed. Non-oil exports account for around a fifth of total exports.

The United Arab Emirates led exports to Iran with 31.9 percent of the total, followed by China with 11.9 percent.

Iran’s main export markets included China, which took 16.7 percent of non-oil exports, Iraq with 15.3 percent, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 13.4 percent and India with 8.2 percent.

Last month, the Islamic republic, which faces sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, allowed the battered rial to trade freely, which analysts said was an attempt to revive foreign trade and attract a fresh supply of dollars to the market.

Before the new round of sanctions against Tehran, the International Monetary Fund forecast Iran’s oil and natural gas exports would jump to $102.9 billion in the 2011-2012 calendar year from an estimated $81.1 billion in the previous year.

Overall exports were projected to soar by over 21 percent to $142.9 billion and imports rise 8 percent to $101.4 billion.

The United States has exempted Japan and 10 European Union nations from financial sanctions over their imports from Iran, citing their efforts to significantly cut purchases, while Iran’s top customers China and India remain at risk of such penalties. -Reuters

KSE closes trade in red, with 9.8 point drop KUWAIT: Main indices of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) dropped at closing of Tuesday’s session with the price index down 9.8 points, reaching 6,179.2 points.

Weighted index dropped 1.84 points to the level of 416.03 points. Number of trades reached 5,172, value of traded stocks 39 million Kuwaiti dinars and volume of deals

386.3 million shares. Trading began at Kuwait Stock Exchange, Tuesday, in red with the price index at 6,188.9 points down with 0.1 points, while the weighted index came to 417.81 points, down 0.06 points.

Trades came to 1,099 transactions by the time with value of KD 9.4 million and involving 86.6 million shares. -KUNA

10

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

Japan, Iran add sanctions clause to oil deals Greek refiner stops Iranian oil buys, banking a problem

CAPITALS: Japanese refiners have secured a clause in annual contracts with Iran that exempts them from incurring a penalty if international sanctions prevent crude buyers from taking delivery of Iranian oil, industry sources said on Tuesday.

International sanctions are making it tough for refiners to find shippers for the oil, insurers to underwrite the trade, and banks to clear payments for Iran’s principal export.

Japan is Iran’s third-largest buyer. The Asian country’s refiners have negotiated the inclusion of sanctions in a clause usually limited to exempting buyers and sellers from liability due to fires, accidents and natural calamities.

The force majeure clause would exempt Japan’s refiners from liability if they were unable to import crude due to the increasingly stringent sanctions.

Western powers are using sanctions to force Iran to halt its nuclear program, which they suspect Tehran is using to develop weapons. Iran says it needs nuclear technology to supply power.

“The clause does not list details, but the buyers can invoke the clause if they are unable to lift Iranian crude due to sanctions,” one source said on condition of anonymity.

Japanese buyers have been in negotiation with Iran for months to renew their annual contracts for 2012. Most contracts in Japan and India start from April.

Cuts imports from Iran

Inability to find insurance cover for ships is already hurting Iran’s oil exports. India’s largest shipping company was forced to cancel an Iranian oil shipment in February because its European insurers refused to provide coverage for the vessel.

From July, European insurers and reinsurers will be

FILE - An Iranian worker walks in the partially constructed site which is part of South Pars gas field, on the northern coast in Assalouyeh, Iran, Monday, July 19, 2010. Japanese refiners have secured a clause in annual contracts with Iran that exempts them from incurring a penalty if international sanctions prevent crude buyers from taking delivery of Iranian oil, industry sources said on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. (AP)

barred from indemnifying ships carrying Iranian crude and oil products.

That may make business difficult for Japan’s P&I club, an insurance provider for shipping companies, which large-

Etihad Airways revenues surge 28% in Q1 CAPITALS: Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi’s flagship carrier which is due to get its first Airbus A380 superjumbo in 2014 posted a 27 percent rise in revenue to 989 million US dollars over the corresponding period in 2011 and passenger numbers soaring by 500,000 to 2.4 million.

Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said, “We met all our revenue targets and budget estimates in the first quarter, despite the challenging economic conditions confronting the international community.

The airlines said it wants more clarity from the planemaker about wing cracks on the aircraft.

European air safety regulators ordered checks in February for Airbus A380 wing cracks for the entire superjumbo fleet after safety engineers found cracks in almost all the planes inspected.

“Obviously we are very concerned about this defect. They have given us assurances

that they’ve been rectified ... we need them to be qualified,” Etihad chief executive James Hogan told reporters at the firm’s Abu Dhabi headquarters.

Larger rival Emirates, the world’s largest operator of the A380, said in March it planned to seek compensation from Airbus after complaining of widespread disruption and an expected loss of revenue.

Etihad has an order of 10 Airbus A380s pending, with the first due for delivery at the end of 2014.

Unlisted Etihad has been on an acquisition spree recently and reported higher first-quarter revenues on Tuesday on increased passenger numbers and network expansion.

It acquired 30 percent of Germany’s Air Berlin last year and took a 40-percent stake in Air Seychelles in February.

But Hogan said the carrier was not interested in buying a stake in loss-making Air France and there were no current discussions

with Irish airline Aer Lingus.

“We continue to look at opportunities.

That’s reflected in what we did with Air Berlin and Air Seychelles,” said Hogan who told an Irish newspaper in February that Etihad was interested in talks with the Irish government over its 25-percent stake in Aer Lingus.

When asked if active talks were going on over Aer Lingus, he said: “There are no talks.”

Hogan said the airline expected to generate revenues of $5 billion in 2012 and to be profitable over the year. The carrier posted its first annual profit in 2011 since its creation nine years ago, notching up a small $14 million profit.

“There are challenges in our region. But I’m bullish and hope to achieve profits this year,” Hogan said.

Average seat factor, a measure of capacity utilization, was 76.5 percent for the first quarter and the airline carried 2.36 million passengers during the period. -Agencies

ly depends on the European reinsurance market to hedge risks.

Japan has cut Iranian imports even as oil demand has risen because of reconstruction work. The country is also depending more on oil to meet power demand as nuclear reactors shut down following the March 2011 earthquake.

At least three Japanese firms including two oil refiners, which together buy around 40,000 barrels per day, will not lift any Iranian crude in April, industry sources said. These firms do not lift Iranian oil every month.

The United States exempted Japan, along with and 10 other EU nations, from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil. Soon after the exemption, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Japan would continue to cut imports of Iranian oil.

The European Union last month allowed some insurance on Iranian shipments headed for destinations other than Europe to be exempted from sanctions until July 1.

Meanwhile, Greece’s top refiner Hellenic Petroleum has suspended purchases of Iranian crude in April as approaching sanctions on Tehran have made banking payments virtually impossible, a senior source at the firm said.

Greece’s financial difficulties have made Athens reluctant to reduce its purchases of Iranian crude, which is cheap, ahead of a EU-wide embargo that is due to come into force on July 1.

But the source at the refiner, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said no European Union banks were willing to handle the business any more, forcing it to suspend buying this month.

“We were using a Turkish bank all the time but we have to use an EU corresponding bank to make the payment from our Greek bank to the Turkish one and the EU banks are refusing that,” the source told Reuters.

“It is very unlikely we will lift (Iranian oil) in May. We can’t pay. If we can later, we will respect our contract but only lift the minimum,” he added.

Hellenic declined to comment. -Agencies

NBK offers real estate services in Paris CAPITALS: National Bank of Kuwait Paris (NBK Paris) provides real estate services in Paris to allow customers to easily own, rent and lease properties with legal consultations in the Paris district, with the chance to finance the property up to 70 percent of its value.

This was stated in a press release on Tuesday.

“NBK offers great real estate services both in Paris and London, aiming to make all real estate services more convenient. In a simple and straightforward procedure, customers can now buy and sell, lease or rent, settle bills, receive real estate assessments and many other services with our competitive prices,” explained NBK Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, Isam J. Al-Sager.

Al Sager added, “NBK has built solid business relationships with trustworthy real estate agencies, to

provide convenience and reliability for all our customers. We provide all the services necessary to make their stay abroad easy.” Furthermore, “We finance up to 70 percent of the value of the property which will be held as security.”

NBK, with the largest international network of any Kuwaiti bank, provides customers with the best investment opportunities and services. NBK’s network extends to having more than 176 branches worldwide. NBK’s international network includes many of the world’s leading financial centers such as London, New York, Paris and Singapore, as well as China (Shanghai). Meanwhile, regional coverage extends to Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

HSBC continues to give loans to customers in the region

AAOIFI proposes Islamic finance accounting changes DUBAI: The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) has proposed more detailed accounting standards for real estate while increasing disclosure for Islamic banks’ investment accounts.

The move by the Bahrain-based AAOIFI, one of the main standard-setting bodies in Islamic finance, suggests it is responding to the same kind of pressure to tighten standards that has been seen in the conventional finance industry since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008.

Both proposals were discussed at a public hearing for industry participants in Manama and there will be another hearing in Doha on April 12. They could become effective as early as July this year and would be applied retroactively.

The new real estate standards focus on valuation methodology, clarifying the differences between mark-to-market values and book values, and specifying how to treat buildings that are still under construction. Disclosure requirements are increased.

“Complex accounting issues have evolved in line with the expansion of the real estate sector,” AAOIFI said, making the current standards look “very basic”.

Islamic investment houses across the Gulf have been under increased investor scrutiny over their exposure to the real estate sector and their approach to valuing those assets.

Bahraini investment house Arcapita, a major real estate investor, filed for US bankruptcy protection last month ahead

of the maturing of a 1.1 billion US dollar Islamic facility. AAOIFI standards are applied in Bahrain and used as guidelines in many other national jurisdictions.

Accounting arbitrage

AAOIFI also proposed merging two of its existing standards for Islamic banks’ investment accounts, saying it wanted to eliminate “accounting arbitrage”. The investment accounts are the equivalent of deposit accounts at conventional banks, and are a major source of funds for Islamic banks.

Current requirements for banks to disclose risks surrounding the accounts are insufficient, considering the risk that investors are taking, AAOIFI said.

-Reuters

KEPCO aims to double UAE nuclear plant sales SEOUL: Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) said it will begin talks next year with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a new deal for four nuclear power plants, and plans to spend 800 billion South Korean won (706.06 million US dollars) this year on overseas resources development including acquisitions.

President and Chief Executive Kim Joong-kyum told reporters late on Monday that KEPCO would begin exclusive talks with the UAE next year to build four nuclear plants to be completed by 2021, in addition to an existing deal for four reactors, aiming to conclude negotiations by the end of next year.

A KEPCO deal for an additional four

nuclear power plants in the UAE, taking the total to eight, would cement its reach in the Middle East market.

Kim said the state-run utility would start construction on an initial four nuclear power plants on July 1, advancing the start date by four months, pending regulatory approval by June 30, with completion scheduled for 2017-2020.

“As far as I know, the UAE has not held talks with other countries,” Kim said, referring to the prospective deal. “Our efficiency will increase as we build the first four; we will achieve cost competitiveness if the same type of reactor is chosen ... we can shorten construction time, meaning earlier returns on investment.”

“KEPCO has also been in talks with

Retraction

On Thursday March 29, Al Watan Daily printed an interview on page 10 with Suleiman Jassir Al-Herbish, Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). The interview stated that Al-Herbish proposed the establishment of the fund, however, we would like to correct that.The OFID is the intergovernmental development finance

India, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Turkey and Vietnam over possible reactor exports, although any deals are unlikely to be signed this year,” he said.

Oil-exporting UAE awarded the contract for four reactors to a consortium of Korean companies led by KEPCO in December 2009. Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said at the time that the KEPCO team would design, build and help operate four 1,400-megawatt nuclear power units, putting the value of construction, commissioning and fuel loads at about $20 billion.

ENEC said last month that it hoped to start building the first plant in the fourth quarter, if regulatory approval was received by the third quarter. -Reuters

institution established in 1976 by the Member States of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

OFID was conceived at the Conference of the Sovereigns and Heads of State of OPEC Member Countries, which was held in Algiers, Algeria, in March 1975.

We apologize for the confusion.

(from left) Tim Reid, Regional Head of Commercial Banking for the Middle East in HSBC and Thomas Senior Manager-Global and Commercial Banking at HSBC. Nancy Oteifa Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Middle East Bank in Kuwait held a Media Roundtable event at their premises to discuss HSBC commercial banking in Kuwait, the event included topics such as HSBC commitment in Kuwait, HSBC international connectivity, HSBC continuing presence in Kuwait.

The event was attended by Tim Reid Regional Head of Commercial Banking for the Middle East in HSBC and Saul Thomas Senior Manager-Global and Commercial Banking at HSBC. Reid started the event by saying, “The commercial banking business is in the heart of what HSBC does.

Around the world we are a commercial banking business which last year, 2011, generated a profit before taxes of 7.9 billion US dollars. We focus on customers in the cooperate market around the world. Our role is to finance needs of customers.”

Speaking about the bank’s objectives he commented, “Our objective here is to work with our customers and to find financial solution to the challenges our customers face in their business and find ways to work with them and collaborate across the geographical regions.”

He noted that the bank has a strong presence in Kuwait, “We are the largest international bank here in Kuwait and we have a strong team that deliver products and services to our cooperate customers here in Kuwait. When I look into the region, the HSBC objective is to focus on the fast growing markets of the world.

The MENA region is right in the heart of that strategy.

We have a region here that sits almost 60 percent of the world’s oil and 25 percent of the world’s gas and that

creates a wealth of natural resources that enable the country to invest in infrastructure and even overseas.

This is an attractive region for HSBC customers to do business in.”

“In terms of our business in Kuwait we are looking to help our corporate customers as they execute their strategy and work with them across a range of products to grow their business, the segments of the market where we can be the most competitive and we can add value is trade, foreign exchange and those customers who operating across borders,” said Reid.

“The bank has a number of keys strategic objectives, one is on trade finance where we look to work with customers who are importing and exporting and to work with them in the trade commerce business, and we expect here in the Middle East to do our part in this business, we also look at providing cash money solutions, the ability to operate accounts across the region or across the world.”

He stressed that this region is important for HSBC. “We expect to see growth despite the economic situation due to the Arab spring, we are convinced that we can achieve growth in this region and that this region will prosper as a result of the natural resources that it has.” About suspending the retail business in Kuwait, Reid answered that this was an internal decision taken

by HSBC and it has nothing to do with the authorities in Kuwait Answering a question on reducing lending in the Gulf Reid said, “No we didn’t reduce our lending’s in the Gulf, where our strategy in the region is to support and grow our business in the Gulf. Our customers in the region are over 43,000 customers.”

“Our plan for 2012 is to focus on our customer base and provide more services to our customers and to expand the business here in Kuwait and in the region.”

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

UAE March business activity improves Banks jostle for roles in Abu Dhabi property merger

(Photo by D.Amara)

DUBAI: Growth in business activity in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) non-oil private sector edged up slightly in March after slipping to a two-month low in the previous month, a purchasing managers’ survey showed on Tuesday.

The Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures the performance of the manufacturing and services sectors, increased to 52.3 points last month from 52.0 in February. The adjusted index remains above the 50-point mark which separates growth from contraction, the survey of 400 private sector firms showed.

“The data is still painting a picture of an economy that is stable, not one that is gaining momentum,” said Simon Williams, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at HSBC. UAE firms saw output growth increase to 53.4 points from a five-month low of 52.5 in February, but new orders fell to a three-month low of 56.5 points in March, the survey showed.

Job creation across the UAE non-oil private sector gained pace in March with the latest increase the most pronounced since October 2011. However, the rise in headcounts was only marginal and below the series average.

“Employment still looks sluggish, wages flat and export demand soft. Another month of flat output prices is good news for consumers, but continues the pressure on producers who are having to absorb higher input costs,” Williams said.

UAE non-oil private firms left their output prices broadly unchanged in March because of strong market competition and caution towards demand. But last month marked two years of continuous input price inflation; the latest rise was strong and above the series trend, reflecting further increases in both purchase and employee costs, the survey showed.

A Reuters poll of economists conducted in March forecast consumer price inflation would climb to two percent this

FILE - An undated file photo of Dubai’s Business Bay. Growth in business activity in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) non-oil private sector edged up slightly in March after slipping to a two-month low in the previous month, a purchasing managers’ survey showed on Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

year from 0.9 percent in both 2011 and 2010, while the UAE’s economy would see output growth slowing to 3.1 percent from the 4.9 percent rate estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2011. In more news, global banks, including the likes of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase, are jostling to win the advisory mandate for Abu Dhabi’s statebacked merger of its two property developers, a ticket seen opening doors in the wealthy emirate.

Abu Dhabi is contemplating merging local developers Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate in a state-backed tie-up that could create a company worth some 15 billion US dollars in assets.

Mandate announcements for the proposed transaction are imminent, according to bankers who have pitched for the role, and even though the deal value and potential fees from advising are not massive, bankers are keen to get into the good books of the oil-rich Emirate in the hopes of gaining future business.

“There is very little M&A (mergers

and acquisitions) activity happening in the region and you don’t want to miss out on the one where Abu Dhabi is involved,” a Dubai-based banking source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“At the end of the day, it’s not going to be how much money you make out of this deal, but how much you can in future if you win this one.”

Other banks that have pitched for the advisory role include Banc of America, Citigroup Inc, HSBC and Standard Chartered among others, according to bankers familiar with the matter. Analysts say the deal, outlined in March, is aimed at shoring up Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, which has a big stake in struggling Aldar, and stabilizing the Emirate’s brittle real estate market.

A tie-up is seen as complicated, however, given the massive land banks the two companies hold and the work involved in arriving at a deal structure.

Abu Dhabi accounts for the vast majority of the UAE’s crude oil production and ranks amongst the top producers in

Company

ź

High

Low

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

1,080

1,060 450 610 810 260 410 770 530

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.

106 280 166 340 116 142 53 35.5 42.0 -

450 630 820 270 415 790 540

Global Index - Banking

Ÿ

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

72.0 178 68 53 132

106 280 164 335 114 140 52 35.5 40.5 260.0 104.0 70.0 178 67 53 128

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

500 -

500 -

Taiba Kuwaiti Holding

265.0 112.0

Global Index - Investment

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

59 114 126 255 40.0 99

1,080

75 62.0 93 61 70 88 20.0 40.5 44.0 37.5 23.0 52 360

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

240 122 -

1,340

148 880 106 -

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

ź

ŷ ŷ ź

58 114 122 246 38.0 99 1,040 74 59.0 91 59 68 84 18.5 38.5 42.0 36.0 21.0 51 355

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

234 120 1,320 148 870 106 -

ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ź Ÿ ŷ ź ŷ

1080 450 790 630 810 260 415 780 540 320.81

106 280 52 164 340 13.0 55 25.0 130 25.0 230 99 114 102 52 26.0 140 52 26.5 71 35.5 48.5 64 26.0 242 52 38.5 51 40.5 100 265.0 110.0 22.0 22.5 72.0 29.0 178 290 114 28.50 80 67 56 53 64 42.50 128 83.39 300 560 500 148 220 122 40.50 44.17

59 114 124 246 32.5 244 118 91 38.0 110 99 1,060 74 12.5 62.0 92 59 68 74 36.0 88 19.5 87 17.5 40.5 57 80 174 42.5 28.5 37.0 17.5 21.5 134 134 220 52 355 57.68

238 122 450 126 1,340 305 148 880 216 106 360

1080 455 790 600 820 255 420 780 540 320.37

Previous Close Change 180.37 -0.81 -9.80 6,189.00 Trading Activity Chng Volume Tran. Value(KD)

DTD -0.45% -0.16%

Last Bid

Last Ask

MTD YTD -1.99% 0.14% 6.28% 0.23% Div. Annual Close Low P/E Yield High

-5 30 -10 5 -5 0.44

825,000 380,000 10,000 60,000 6,070,000 1,430,000 1,465,000 875,000 11,115,000

38 7 2 6 70 20 83 21 247

890,350 171,000 6,200 49,150 1,595,050 593,200 1,145,650 463,800 4,914,400

1,060 445 610 810 260 410 770 530

1,080 450 630 820 265 415 780 540

3.7% 0.0% 1.9% 3.2% 1.7% 0.0% 0.0% 2.6% 0.0% 2.0%

1,220 510 800 680 920 260 480 900 590 326.42

1,060 450 700 600 790 236 415 770 530 317.17

15.63 32.41 90.92 17.93 29.70 24.73 11.62 24.00 102.73 18.82

-5 -2 -

1 21 15 49 23 70 63 2 100 111 264 268 6 6 11 89

106 275 164 335 114 140 51 35.5 61.0 40.5 260.0 110.0 71.0 176 29 75 67 53 128.0

108 285 166 340 240 116 96 142 52 37.5 69.0 57 41.0 265.0 112.0 72.0 180 295 31 85 68 60 54 130.0

0.0% 7.9% 0.0% 0.0% 5.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.8% 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% 3.4% 4 5% 4.5% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 9.4% 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 35.5 140 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 29.0 190 290 114 32 89 73 60 59 64 42.5 140.0 85.99

104 255 40 158 295 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

40.56 13.02

1,099

2,120 190,400 69,280 649,950 109,480 974,000 202,480 5,680 416,200 566,450 1,521,200 1,226,320 32,040 40,400 25,440 586,760 6,618,200

300 530 530 144 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

106 285 52 166 340 13.0 55 25.0 130 25.0 230 99 114 102 52 26.0 138 53 26.5 71 36.0 48.5 64 26.0 242 52 38.5 51 40.5 100 265.0 106.0 22.0 22.5 68.0 29.0 176.0 290 114 28.50 80 67 56 52 64 42.50 132 83.58

4.0 4.0 2.0 1 -4 0.19-

20,000 680,000 420,000 1,940,000 960,000 6,900,000 3,880,000 160,000 10,160,000 2,160,000 13,980,000 17,360,000 180,000 600,000 480,000 4,520,000 64,400,000

300 560 520 148 220 122 40.50 44.67

Ex-D Ex-D -20 Ex-D Ex-D 0.51-

10,000 10,000

1 1

5,000 5,000

255 480 495 28.5

1,240,000 200,000 940,000 2,810,000 0.5 4,560,000 320,000 -20 1,337,500 480,000 34,680,000 2.0 2 1,760,000 1,120,000 -2 480,000 960,000 5 6,080,000 1.0 2.5 6,480,000 -2 46,560,000 1.5 4,240,000 11,120,000 0.5 Ex-D 520,000 -5 660,000 0.25- 126,547,500

16 4 32 81 46 7 74 12 329 21 23 10 15 62 56 228 44 83 10 26

58 114 122 246 238 108 90 37.5 98 1,040 73 61.0 91 59 68 69 85 19.0 87 40.5 75 164 42.0 36.5 21.5 31 51 350

59 116 126 250 242 138 38.0 120 100 1,060 75 62.0 92 60 69 88 19.5 97 85 42.5 37.0 22.0 130 34 53 355

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.1% 0.0% 4.1% 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 59 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

45.72 14.63 22.21 21.93

1,179

71,960 22,800 116,840 701,130 177,760 31,680 1,426,900 35,760 2,094,840 161,440 67,240 32,920 82,560 117,320 258,080 1,994,920 156,280 244,800 26,800 234,350 8,056,380

55 23 6 5 7 1 -

605,080 77,880 53,400 14,800 109,500 2,120 -

234 120 445 126 1,320 300 870 106 355

238 122 455 134 1,340 310 148 880 216 112 365

0.0% 0.0% 2.2% 4.0% 4.9% 3.3% 3.4% 11.4% 4.6% 0.0% 5.6%

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

214 120 415 126 1,340 305 146 660 180 102 355

72.40

59 116 126 246 32.5 244 118 91 37.5 110 99 1,080 74 12.5 60.0 90 59 70 74 36.0 83 18.5 87 17.5 38.0 57 80 174 44.5 28.5 35.5 17.5 21.0 134 134 220 52 360 57.93 238 122 450 126 1,360 305 158 860 216 108 360

-

-

-

-

2 -1 -1

-

-2 -2 -

-20 -10 20 -2 -

2,560,000 640,000 40,000 100,000 125,000 20,000 -

PMI falls slightly in March

CAPITALS: Saudi Arabia’s long-awaited opening of its stock market to foreigners will be “gradual”, the country’s capital market regulator said on Tuesday.

“It is still within our strategy, but it should be done in an orderly and gradual manner to make sure it does not impact the market’s stability,” Abdulrahman Al-Tuwaijri, chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), said at a meeting with executives from listed companies that was attended by reporters. “This gradual manner will happen, but we need time to make it happen in a safe and orderly manner. We also need to make sure it will not have any negative impact on the market.”

The plan to widen foreign access to Saudi shares via limited direct ownership has helped to boost the stock market in the last several months. Analysts have predicted the market, the largest in the Arab world, could open this year, but the CMA has not given a date and Al-Tuwaijri did not say anything concrete about timing on Tuesday.

Foreigners can already buy Saudi shares through swap deals made by international investment banks, and via a small number of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The CMA is considering allowing qualified foreign investors to take a capped share in each Saudi company, with international buyers able to own a total of around 20 percent of the market’s value, according to proposals circulated to the financial industry last year.

“Foreign investors already exist in the market through swap agreements...also ETFs are available for foreign investors,” Tuwaijri noted at the meeting in the offices of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce.

“The percentage of foreign investors is still low at three to four percent,” he added. Meanwhile, growth in business activity in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector fell to a three-month low in March, but remained in line with the survey’s long-term average, a survey of over 400 private companies published on Tuesday showed.

The SABB Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, slid to 58.73 in March from 59.62 in February. The seasonally adjusted index stayed well above the 50-point mark distinguishing growth from contraction.

New order growth was the slowest since December, at 66.87 in March against 68.58 in February. But data compiler Markit said absolute growth was still strong, reflecting favorable economic conditions across the Gulf Arab oil exporting countries; foreign demand was solid “but anecdotal evidence indicated a divergence between new export business growth from clients in the Middle East and weaker spending from European customers,” it said. -Agencies

Three-layer mandate

Bankers say mandates for the proposed merger could be awarded by Aldar, Sorouh and also the executive committee in Abu Dhabi reviewing the deal.

Abu Dhabi may decide to appoint a single bank for the entire deal, a second banking source who has pitched for the mandate said. Discussions involving the structure of the deal and the banks to be appointed are happening at the highest level in Abu Dhabi, the banker added.

“Its a three-way structure that they are discussing but ... a single bank may get the entire deal,” the banker said.

At the time of the announcement on the proposed merger, the companies said a decision would be made within three months.

Aldar has relied heavily on the government over the past 18 months for funding. Abu Dhabi has spent more than $10 billion on the company, equivalent to the amount it deployed to rescue Dubai from a default in 2009.

The emirate, which accounts for more than half of the UAE’s economy, is also spending billions of dollars on infrastructure, housing and education, while closely reviewing state-linked entities and overseas investments. -Reuters

05 / 01 / 2012

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

For more Information please contact "Global" at (+965) 180 42 42 or www.globalinv.net Last Close 179.55 6,179.20 Last Prev.

Close Close

the world.

The Emirate has previously bought multi-billion dollar stakes in companies such as Barclays and Citigroup and is said to be in talks to buy a stake in Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Deal activity in the Gulf Arab region hit a rough patch in the wake of the financial crisis as an era of leverage buyouts waned and several high-profile investments suffered heavy losses. Several deals have been shelved recently mainly due to discrepancies in valuation expectations between buyers and sellers.

Middle East M&A volumes slumped 43 percent in 2011 to $10.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. Fee income from advising clients on deals fell 37 percent to $221 million, adding further pressure on international banks to justify their previous ambitious expansion in the region.

Date of Closing Prices:

Date of Closing Prices: 03 / 04 / 2012 For more information please contact “Global” at (+965) 180 42 42 or www.globalinv.net ź

Saudi CMA head says stock market opening to be gradual

Trading Prices of Kuwait Stock Exchange Date of Closig Prices: 3/04/2012

Trading Prices of Kuwait Exchange Trading Prices of Kuwait StockStock Exchange

Global General Index KSE Price Index

11

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012

85.79 13.75 1.39 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 30.41 0.00 119.09 0.00 0.00 0.00

0.00 9.33 25 89 25.89 11.92 50.59

0.00 5.19 13.87

12.81

17.65 5.87 15.57 40.46 26.74 0.00 17.18 33.14

5.78 25.39 12.99 7.55 42.96

23.07 18.82 0.00 0.00 19.29

18.38 6.12 7.30 135.32 117.52 13.09 23.59 20.95

Last Close 216 212 ź źŷ 89 176.5389 6205,726.90 620 źŷ 1,100 1,100 Gulf Glass ŷ Last Prev.

216 216 HilalCompany Cement ŷ Close Close High 340 340 Al Kout Ind. Project ŷ 1,140 1120 1120 National ŷ 275 275 K-PAK Bank ŷ 495 495 Gulf BankMaterial 495 ŷ 224 224 Building 770 770 Commercial 770 ŷ 290 300 300 Nat. Ind.Co.Bank ź 640 660 Ahli Bank 640 ź 110 108 110 Equipment Holding Ÿ 800 850 Ahli United Bank 850 Ÿ 33 33 Mena Holding ŷ 248 248 International Bank 248 ŷ 102 102 Consumer Industries ŷ 460 465 460 Burgan Bank ź 128 128 Kuwait Gypsum 890 880 890 Kw Finance House ź 216 214 216 Qurain Bank Ÿ 590 590 Boubyan 590 ŷ 44 44 Salbookh Trading ŷ 319.37 319.54 ź Global Index - Banking 204 208 206 IKARUS ź 106 106 Kw Investment -ŷ 75 75 Boubyan Int'L Ind. ŷ 260 265 265 260 źź Commercial Facilit.

169.64 168.92 Global Index - Industrial 40 41 41 40 ź Int'L Financial Adv. 960 960 NationalInvest.

Cinema 170 172 174 National 170 - źŷ 280 280 KwProjects Hotels 300 295 300 - Ÿŷ Kw 300 405 405 12.5 12.5 405 12.5 400 ŷŷ Agility Ahlia Holding 13.5 52 53 52 52 Coast Invest.

53 52 - źŷ Market Complexes 25.0 25.0 -770 -740 ŷź Int'L Investor 750 770 ZAIN 130 130 Securities House - ŷŷ 76.0 76.0 77.0 75.0 Safat Energy 31.0 31.0 Ind. & Fin. Inv.Group 110 110 Educational - ŷŷ 230 230 -Securities Group - - ŷŷ 340 340 Indep. Petroleum 102 102 Int'L Finance ŷ 154 148 156 146 Ÿ National Cleaning 108 112 110 MARKAZ 108 104 106 106 Sultan Center 104 ŷź 50 50 KMIFIC - ŷź 108 110 108 Arabi Group 108 44.0 44.0 Int'L Inv. Group 550 550 City Group - ŷŷ 52 52 Aref Inv. Group - ŷ 2,200 2,220 2,200 2,200 ź Wataniya Tele.

74 74 Investment Dar - ŷ 112 110 110 Ÿ 114 Kw Gulf Link 28.5 28.5 Al AMAN Inv. ŷ 63 63 Kw Cable 108 108 ALOLA Inv.Vision 110 108 - ŷŷ 300 300 Automated System ŷ 49 49.5 ALMAL Inv. 50 49 ź 370 370 NAPESCO 23 23 -Gulf Inv. House - - ŷŷ 290 285 280 290 KCPC Leasing 71 71 - ŷŸ A'ayan 255 255 K.S.HInv. 31.0 31.0 32.5 - 31.0 - ŷŷ Bayan 260 260 - ŷŷ Eyas 48.5 48.5 GLOBAL Inv. 112 108 Hits Telecom 68 68 -112 -108 ŷŸ Osoul Inv. 18.0 17.5 18.0 Al Safwa Holding 20.5 20.5 -17.5 ŷź GULFINVEST 26.0 270 270 26.0 KFIC Human Soft - ŷŷ 244 244 KAMCO - ŷŷ 80 80 Privatization Holding 79 80 94 94 Int'l Leasing & Inv. -- - ŷŷ 91 91 Nafaaes Holding 51 51 - - ŷŷ Nat. Int'l Holding -154 154 National Slaughter 36 36 - ŷź Housing Finance 110 108 110 108 Aref energy 51 51 MADAR -- - ŷŷ 600 600 Safwan 26.5 26.5 26.5 Al Deera Holding 26.5 ŷ 71.0 75.0 76.0 70.0 Ÿ Gulf Petroleum 75 75 Al Safat Inv. 22.5 22.5 - - ŷŷ -Gulf Franchising 122.0 120.0 112.0 Al Salam 120 120 Credit & Group Collection - 114.0 - Ÿŷ 39.5 41.5 39.0 ź 41.0 Ekttitab Holding 15.0 15.0 National Ranges ŷ 19.0 19.0 Al Qurain Holding ŷ 260 260 Burgan Well Drilling - ŷ 16.5 16.5 16.5 Sokouk Holding 16.5 ŷ 390 400 410 38.5 IFA H&R 390 ź 39.0 38.5 Al-Madina Finance 40.0 ź 1,600 1,600 1,600 1,600 Combinted Group ź 29.0 29.0 NOOR ŷ 80 80 Jeeran Holding ŷ 160 158 Tamdeen Inv. 160 158 ź 124 118 120 118 Palms 255 255 KW BH Agro Int'l Exch.

- ŷź 76.0 75.0 76.0 Safat TEC 75.0 Ÿ 114 114 Taiba Kuwaiti Holding - ŷ 90 89 90 89 Mushrif Trading 26.00 26.00 Kuwait Syrian - ŷź 335 335 UPAC 68 68 -Strategia - - ŷŷ 305 305 ALAFCO 305 305 53 53 53 53 ŷŷ Kuwait China Inv. 160 160 60 60 Al-Muwasat -- - ŷŷ Manafae Inv. 46.5 46.5 Gulf NorthHolding Africa - ŷŸ 270 280 Mashaer 280 265 64 64 Amwal - ŷŸ 280 275 Oula Fuel 280 275 42.50 42.50 Al MasarComm.

285 285 Future - ŷŷ 128 130 124 Al-Imtiaz 132 90 87 Hayat Comm.

90 źŸ 90 76.02 63 62 Global Index - Investment Mubarrad Transport 64 62 źŸ 75.90 52.0 54.0 KuwaitInsurance Resorts 53.0 52.0 325 325 Kuwait - ŷź 750 740 750 Advanced Technolgy 750 Ÿ 560 560 - ŷ Gulf Insurance 360 370 Yiaco Medical 360 360 485 485 - ŷź Ahlia Insurance 460 470 Al Jazeera Airways 455 źź 460 118 110 112 108 Warba Insurance 246 246 Al Soor Fuel 220 220 --- ŷ Kuwait Re-Ins. 114 114 98 98 First Takaful -- - ŷŷ Future Kid Ins. 40.50 40.50 Wethaq -295 -280 ŷŸ 285 290 K G L Insurance 92 92 - ź Al Nawadi 43.63 43.43 Global Index - Insurance 118 118 Alrai Media 118 118 49 48 48 źŷ Kuwait R.E. 48 94 96 96 Zima Holding 96 ŸŸ 100 99 100 United R.E. 100 ACICO

212

Global General Index 89 United Industries 620 Boubyan Petroch.

KSE Price Index

212 89 620 Low 1,120 490 770 290 640 106 800 248 455 880 214 580 204 --

Global R.E. Index - Services 118 National 126 200 Salhia R.E. Trans.

204 LiveStock 188 184 - 99 Pearl -104 DanaR.E. Al-Safat 224 224 Tamdeen R.E. United Poultry Ajial R.E. Kw FoodStuff Massaleh R.E. United Food Arab R.E. 30.0 30.0 Kout Food Union R.E. Global Index - Food 98 96 ERESCO 860 840 Mabani Sharjah Cement 75 74 INJAZZAT RE Gulf Cement 96 97 Inv. UmHolding QuwainGrp Cement 12.0 69 11.5 69 Int'L Resorts Fujaira Cement 89 89 78 77 Commercial R.E 122 Ras AlKheimah 122 70 65 Sanam R.E. ARIG 54 53 Aa'yan R.E United Gulf Bank 190 188 Aqar Egypt Kw Holding Kuwait R.E Holding Bahrain Kw Ins. 59 AL Mazaya 60 Gulf Fin. House 68.0 61.0 14.0 Al Dar National R.E 14.0 Inovest Int'L Holding 64 62 Themar -170 Grand R.E Projects -170 Ahli United Bank -26.5 Tijara & R.E Invest Ithmaar Bank 27.5 Al Tameer Global Index - Non-Kuwaiti Arkan Al-Kuwait R.E 70 70 Markaz Real Estate Safat Global Al Argan Int'L Funds Investment 28.5 28.0 Abyaar Al-Bareeq Holding 23.5 23.5 Munshaat AFAQ 25.5 First Dubai 26.0 Al-Shamel KBT 27.0 27.0 Al-Safat Real Estate 16.5 Manazel 15.5 32 Ajwan Real Estate 32 REAM Specialities Group 395 400 Mena Real Estate Masaken Al Moudon Inter.

Intl. R.E --Dulaqan R.EEstate Markaz Real 57 56 Eid Food Kuwait Remal R.E 295 285 2,260 2,260 Maidan Index Clinic - Real Estate Global

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

Nationl Ind. Group 232 Dar Al-Thuraya Real E 242 Pipes Ind. & Oil 128 126 Kw Medical Services Kuwait Cement 455 450 Amar For Fin. & Leas.

-Refrigeration Ind. 1,420 1,420 Total Parallel Market Gulf Cables & Elec.

Heavy eng. & Ship.

Total Services Market Marine 720 Portland 720 Global Cement Special Indices Shuaiba Industrial Global Index - Kuwaiti Co.'s 104 Metal Collecting 110 Global Index - 10 Large- Cap. Kuwait Foundry

ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ź

Flex

Global Index - Islamic

-

-

ŷ ŷ ź Ÿ ŷ Ÿ ŷ ŷ ŷ źŷ Ÿŷ źŷ

ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ

732.65 124

200 188 37.5 100 224 130 120 1,440 82 340 30.0 580 108 352.13 97 860 86 75 96 11.5 69 38.0 89 78 122 65 112 54 188 90 300 38.0 455 59 61.0 14.0 91 62 17.5 170 31.0 26.5 59 42.66 70 122 48.5 124 28.0 144 23.5 106 25.5 250 27.0 22.0 15.5 32 134 400 134 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

742.49 120

204 184 37.5 98 234 130 120 1,440 82 340 30.5 580 108 351.42 98 850 86 73 99 12.0 70 38.0 93 77 120 70 112 55 198 90 300 38.0 455 63 66.0 14.5 91 63 17.5 172 31.027.5 59 43.41 74 122 48.5 124 28.5 144 24.5 106 26.0 250 27.0 22.0 16.5 31 134 395 134 51 220 345 58 106 290 2,260 49.75

40.5

Close DTD MTD YTD -Previous 4 20,000 1 Change4,240 210 218 4.7% 224 196 24.45 -0.40% -1.55% 177.24 -0.7017,800 -1.55% 200,000 5 88 89 0.0% 102 88 32.35 - 5,754.20 127,100 5 -27.30 205,000 620 5.6% 620 550 88.41 -1.50% -0.47% 630 -1.50% 1,200 3.6% 1,400 1,100 16.54 Trading Activity Div. Annual Close Last Last 4.6% 216 206 11.21 Volume Tran. Value(KD) Bid Ask Yield High Low P/E Chng 365 5.9% 350 340 7.54 3,796,050 - 1,120 - 69 3,377,500 1,140 1,120 14.74 300 3.6% 7.3% 300 1,100 275 13.23 20 830,000 407,950 490 495 - 0.0% 510 490 33.95 Ex-D 0.0% 228 224 27.09 10,000 16 7,700 770 780 790 770 88.62 -10 160,000 46,700 2.8% 260 325 18.61 285 295 1.9% -20 2 220 6,400 10,000 640 660 660 64051 17.34 83,520 780,000 110 3.1% 0.0% 106 110 52.72 50 350,000 23 282,700 840 850 1.6% 850 790 29.68 0.0% 33 33 0.00 16 700,000 173,600 246 248 0.0% 255 248 23.59 102 93 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 1,280,000 66 1,127,050 880 2.3% 900 880 25.07 870 297,440 1,380,000 222 216 218 0.0% 210 112.24 8.71 0.0% 607,850 -2 1,035,000 3337 590 580 590 590 51 41 0.0% 8,092,500 6,639,050 2.0% 319.54 318.41 18.61 0.17240 49,000 240,000 10 -4 214 162 11.98 202 204 0.0% - - - - 10273 10676 0.0% 10688 10670 40.56 0.0% -5 250,000 14 65,750 260 265 8.5% 265 260 12.09 6,470,000 181 0.73174.76 163.04 10.72 1,488,580 2.7% 1,680,000 1,040,000 110,000 360,000 7,040,000 1,280,000 -1 - -20 4,660,000 2,280,000 -- -- -6,080,000 6.0 --2 680,000 1,080,000 --2 120,000 67,500 -20 2,900,000 2 - 500,000 -1 320,000 - - 180,000 -5 1,840,000 - - 18,060,000 4 4,400,000 - -1 - - 1,160,000 - - - - --2 440,000 - - - 4.0 240,000 18,360,000 - -8.0 - 11,180,000 2.01,920,000 480,000 30,000 10 0.510,640,000 97,500 - -10 2.0- 80,000 40,000 - -6 1.0 640,000 1.0320,000 -- 730,000 - 200,000 - - 10 1,900,000 -5 40,000 - - -3.0 2 1,240,000 40,000 0.12-1 40,720,000 2,040,000 -1 -2 5 -

2.010.0 -10 10 --8 Ex-D - -5 Ex-D 0.19-1 12 9.844

160,000 -4 5,000 -1 30,000 -2 290,000 120,000 615 - - - - 95 2,270,000 120,000 6 20,000 11 80,000 240,000 92 920,000 1,444 69,040,000 105 3,100,000 12 520,000 14 280,000 8,380,000 135 3 100,000 1 80,000 8,660,000 149 320,000 8

-4 4 -2 10.0Ex-D 0.50.71 -1 10 1,935,000 120,000 2-3 720,000 0.52,000,000 360,000 -1 - -4 160,000 1 240,000 2 20,000 1,000,000 -5 -1 200,000 -10 40,000 - Ex-D 440,000 -4 79,080,000 5 80,000 0.5- -1 10,080,000 - -2 320,000 - -1 9,280,000 0.75100,060,000 -4 320,000 - - 0.52,720,000 1.080,000 0.5240,000 Ex-D 35,040,000 1,200,000 1.01 80,000 5 290,000 - - -1 240,000 5 2,110,000 2,500 0.02- - 53,085,000

Ex-D

13 20 5 4625 22 163 30 - - 153 1841 -4 12 108 14 4 - 14 22 - 336 39 - 23 - - 18 - 2 219 - 212 24 5 3 93 11 4 -2 -8 -4 - 211 - 64 -2 - 38 1 55833

-

57 215 15 6 -4 3 1 17 4 2 - 11 612 1 137 -4 91 872 2 - - 12 1 3 4 8 1 21 - 6 47 332 1

-

242 -10 13,220,000 - 154 93.0 128 140,000 6 65 470 -20 50,000 2 60 150 - - - 372,500 1,460 -40 2,500 123 335 5,172 212 - 386,302,500720 Close 230,000 19 Prev Close Prev.

180 189.33 190.04 106 -2 80,000 3 184.85 460 183.95 -

560.48

560.82

67,160 40 910 177,720 168 33,000 295 145,200 90,920 400 12.5 67,280 51 - 750 3,523,400 172,840 75.0 - - 315 917,280 152 73,920 106 113,680 104 12,960 108 148,500 2,180 327,040 112 27.0 54,920 108 285 15,840 49 350 - 21 51,450 285 58,760 31.0 - 1,963,120 110 64.0 78,640 -17.5 - -79 91,920 - - - - 47,960 108 - 560 6,360 26.0 1,354,280 74.0 - 22.5 1,305,280 - 118.0 77,080 18.0 7,920 16.0 11,950 385 419,440 38.5 156,000 1,580 12,680 15676 4,760 116 48,520 74.0 28,560 -89 330 - 63 222,650 300 10,600 52 - - 515,850 275 11,050 275 - - 260 157,920 3,600 124.087 2,702,550 129,560 63

8,400 3,750 10,800 132,500 13,200 - - 653,050 13,200 2,360 3,840 23,040 92,000 10,914,670 383,920

104,680 52,280 848,320 22,400 2,400 900,600 31,160 1,656,950 8,960 69,200 23,960 24,840 14,240 18,520 2,440 67,400 10,720 7,560 - 26,160 5,107,600 1,120 634,240 54,400 249,520 6,164,040 22,400 - - 76,880 1,880 6,160 946,080 19,240 2,520 114,600 - 13,520 610,850 5,650 4,151,200

-

300 510 360 460 455 108 242 - - 285

77 118 48 99 -

122 200 186 - 99 126 110 1,440 530 112 95 86084 7184 11.595 35.569 77 89 120 53 106 305 13.5 90 - 62 30.0 170.0 70 116 28.0 23.5 25.0 24.5 15.5 31 395 29 218 55 290 -

-

-

3,111,120 -17,800 122 22,550 455 - 150 122,770 3,550 1,420 310 39,061,870 165,600 Change 710 178 -0.71 8,480 104 -0.90 435

-0.34

40 0.0% 960 0.0% 4.2% 172 0.0% 300 - 6.7% 405 0.0% 9.9% 13.0 52 - 0.0% 0.0% - 760 0.0% 26.7% 0.0% 0.0% 76.0 33.5 - 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 345 8.8% 0.0% 0.0% 154 110 0.0% 106 9.3% 0.0% 0.0% 110 0.0% 550 0.0% 0.0% 2,200 2.3% 0.0% 0.0% 114 29.5 0.0% 0.0% 11066 0.0% 8.3% 320 50 0.0% 5.4% 24 - 0.0% 1.7% 290 0.0% 6.1% 32.5 - 0.0% 3.8% - 0.0% 0.0% - 112 0.0% 0.0% -18.0 0.0% 0.0% - 0.0% 23880 0.0% 0.0% -93 0.0% 0.0% 54 5.2% 184 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 110 0.0% 590 3.7% 0.0% 27.0 75.0 0.0% 0.0% 24.0 0.0% 120.0 130 0.0% 0.0% 39.0 0.0% 0.0% 20.0 0.0% 0.0% 270 16.5 0.0% 0.0% 400 0.0% 39.0 1,600 4.4% 0.0% % 83 0.0% 3.8% 160 6.8% 122 5.1% 270 76.0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2790 0.0% 9 0% 340 0.0% 9.0% 73 3.3% 310 0.0% 53 170 0.0% 4.4% 61 47 280 10.8% 0.0% 69 280 0.0% 0.0% - 285 0.0% 8.8% 128.090 0.0% 11.1% 64 2.4% 0.0%

52.0 325 790 610 370 500 460 114 244 110 106 43.0 290

83 120 49 10098

126 202 190 37.5 100 224 130 1,480 85 365 31.5 590 118 98 87086 7686 12.096 37.070 79 92 65 122 54 118 91 188 40.5 315 60 14.5 9461 - 63 33.5 172.0 57 74 126 28.5 25.0 25.5 28.0 22.0 16.0 33 130 400 32 -50 57 29599

43.0

232 93.0 130 70 465 - 1,440 340 216 720 DTD 190 -0.37% 108 -0.49% -

-0.06%

0.0% 6.2% 0.0% 4.5% 2.8% 5.2% 0.0% 9.1% 0.0% 2.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.7% 5.4% 4.7%

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 12.3% 0.0% 10.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.0% 4.5% 0.0% 0.0% 4.5% 6.1% 1.5% 0.0% 3.4% 6.5% 4.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.8% 0.0% 10.4% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 8.2% 0.0% 6.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 10.0% 0.0% 7.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.5% 0.0% 5.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 4.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.7% 1.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.1% 0.0%

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.2% 8.3% 3.3% 0.7% 4.6% 3.0% 4.72% 2.4% 13.9% 5.6% 0.0% 4.3%

42 40 960 1,120 174 170 280 280 305 295 430 340 13.5 12.5 5465 5241 25.0 25.0 900 750 130 130 81.0 45.0 36.0 31.0 110 110 230 230 295 345 102 102 154 110 116 108 104 136 50 5084 110 44.0 44.0 530 550 52 52 1,920 2,280 74 74 95 126 28.5 28.5 11268 10863 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 26.0 26.0 280 270 24484 24461 94 9490 104 51 51 154 154 36 3691 120 51 51 520 710 26.5 27.5 30.0 75.0 75 75 28.5 16.0 99.0 120.0 140 120 19.5 41.5 19.5 12.0 19.0 19.0 275 198 17.0 16.5 490 390 39.0 38.0 1,620 1,500 29.0 29.0 89 15673 162 124 25586 255 78.0 57.0 114 114 104 2680 28 340 270 68 68 280 315 53 55 130 160 60 60 47 47 172 280 64 64 265 305 42.5 42.5 300 265 132.090 128.070 76.32 72 75.90 51

44.0 62.0 325 325 750 640 560 560 345 390 520 485 410 485 118 110 270 236 220 220 134 11498 114 40.5 40.5 295 218 44.80 92 43.43 80

114 156 49 48 110 100 9994 791.90 732.65 120 128 200 208 182 222 37.5 37.590 114 234 224 130 126 130 120 1,500 1,420 82 82 390 340 30.5 30.0 610 500 108 108 365.22 345.74 100 96 86095 84044 76 7355 108 12.573 11.543 38.0 38.0 122 46 78 77 126 118 75 65 132 102 54 55 232 188 90 90 330 250 38.0 38.0 455 455 63 59 40.5 74.0 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 49.8649.73-

-

232 260 130 128 470 450 158 150 1,460 1,420 340 335 212 222 710 740 MTD 180 -1.99% 180 104 116 -3.33% 460 460

0.15%

16.44 88.93 12.13 13.48 1.33 0.00 11.48

23.89 0.00 20.73 0.00 26.69 0.00 55.09 0.00 14.24 0.00 0.00 0.00

14.98 7.04 10.09 0.00 11.74 9.19 413.52 32.31 0.00 13.80

13.13

0.00 116.80 9.60 0.00 0.00 14.91

6.91

0.00

0.00 73.05 85.08 17.50 0.00 3.31 8.28 10.09 22.77 11.92

10.04

62 41 62.41 43.00

5.09 9.60 9.25 23.73 0.00 17.39

5.19 10.01

3.64 16.97 29.36 12.90 11.58 9.91 8.20 17.37 17.18 296.83

10.92 7.65

6.61 12.60

10.54 37.20 12.83 11.65 22.21 17.83 16.20

5.72 11.40 22.14 10.76 15.28 11.20 39.65 5.29

21.70

0.00 14.56

9.76

26.32

29.37 6.82 8.10 40.62 4.15 9.10

19.44 83.29

9.58

11.37 0.00 5.38 27.28

20.67 9.93 23.07

13.73

18.82 63.06 0.00 11.03 0.00 16.27

16.24

70.58 18.38

12.91 6.49 8.02 14.45 193.84 96.15 YTD 10.91 -0.11% 23.15 -3.23% 26.77

-0.27%

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

12

ALWATAN DAILY wednesday, april 4, 2012

April 21, 2009 April 03, 2012

3% 6%

3% 6%

Qatar

Dubai

-1%

Qatar

90

-4%

Kuwait

-2%

-6%

GCC Best Performers

Saudi

95 3-Jan-12 85

3-Feb-12

3-Mar-12

MENA Best Performers

-3%

3-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

1 Period's Liquidity 1 Ratio (PLR x)

-1

MENA Indices Highlights Country (Index)

Index Level

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

Index 7,920 Level

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

2,564 5,250

Ku Kuwait (KSE Weighted Index)

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

QaUAUAE Qatar (DSM Index) (ADSM Index)

416

1,694 406

% Chg.

YTD

0.2% % Chg. -0.4%

0.1% -4.0%

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

1,998

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) * Market Closed

5,478

1,681

10,848

463

1,205

2,825 487

10,621

4,872

1,094 546

Tu TunisiaClosed (Tunis SE Index)* * Market

3,282

0.9% 12.8%

8,892 5,148

1.7% 6.6%

-0.1% 3.9%

4,907

2,775 10,090

0.3% 1.9%

1,150 5,590

-1.0%

5.1%

0.1%

0.4%

-0.5%

-1.6%

-

2.2%

-0.3%

0.4%

-

-

0.9% -

467

6.7% 9.3%

25.1% -0.2%

BaQa Bahrain Qatar (BSE (DSMIndex) Index)

Eg Egypt (EGX 30 Index)

2.6%

2.4% 1.8%

-0.2% 0.6%

5,793 1,745

52 Wk 7,908 High

23.4% YTD

8,853 2,695

OmOman UAE(MSM (DFMIndex) Index)

52 Wk High

0.6% -18.8%

0.7%

-6.8%

8.5%

24 2,183

67,722 264,263

8,071 2,137

81 122

126,964 69,783

0 196

17,237 65,352

5,628

3,587

66

4,224

5,044

2,551

1,414 513

1,164 465

-3.3%

14,635 4,873

4,091

23.6%

739

407

2.4%

-7.2%

2,119

13.6%

3,418

-

9,406

-

1,043

-

2,837

-

13.73

2.12

0.80 1.52

9.31 8.85

63,640

7.67

18,727

1

5

9,866

1.29

3.44

1.56

6.40

0.86

12.71

2,551

2.15

9.56

59,990

1.20

18.36

3.95

14.98

8,507

2

1.62

16.02

10,699

33,782

1

1.68

8.07

59,884

67

1.35

9.50

13.79

1.71

6.47

2,079

0.86

8.67

6,576

MENA Worst Performers

2.50

13.85

1.92

SAUDI ARABIA *Market Closed

125

KWD 0.750 SAR 22.95

225 Saudi Industrial Inv. Grp.

101 Riyad Bank

117

115

SAR 24.70

-6.4%

160,127,815

146,677,139

703 Zain - Saudi Arabia (KSA)

343,553,085 117,109,130 119,955,261 108,474,272

115 201Alinma Saudi Bank Basic(KSA) Industries Corp. (KSA)

97,126,838

NBKNational Bank of Kuwait (KUW)

1,539,083,522

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

88,742,222

70Zain - Saudi Arabia

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

439,194,371

23Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co.

3-Apr-12

71.50

% Chg.

10.0%

89.25

3050.SSE Southern Province Cement Co. 1150.SSE Alinma Bank

Turnover (SAR) 1,306,200,851 5110.SSE Saudi Electricity Co. 600,527,344 7020.SSE Etihad Etisalat Co. 550,083,275 1120.SSE Al Rajhi Bank

43Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

3-Mar-12

Close

3.2%

37.00

2.8%

15.65

2.6%

94.00

2.7%

Worst Performers

1 Alinma Bank

3-Feb-12

64,280,166

3030.SSE Saudi Cement Co.

Highest Turnover

105

-6.8%

Turnover (USD)

201 Industries Corp. (KSA) 235Saudi SaudiBasic Kayan Petrochemical Co. (KSA)

14,482,203

Turnover (SAR '000)

-2.6% -8.9%

348,292,364

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

7,908 / 5,916 1211.SSE Saudi Arabian Mining Co.

Tadawul Index 52 week High / Low

-5.4%

Turnover (USD)

MENA Highest Turnover

1.14

Advance/Decline Ratio

% Chg.

-2.5% -8.6%

115 Alinma Bank (KSA)

92% 2280.SSE Almarai Co.

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

5.0%

8.0%

KWD 0.390 SAR 48.00

SAR 13.70

GCC Highest Turnover

7,920 (0.2%)

Tadawul Index (% Chg.)

123

5.0% 8.6%

KWD 0.290 -13.1% -3.3% KWD 0.265

EMAEmaar Properties (UAE) Best Performers

Summary

6.0% 8.8%

AED 2.90% Chg. -5.2% Close

KFI Kuwait Finance House (KUW)

Rebased Performance

95 3-Jan-12

SAR 14.95

EM Emirates NBD

10.0% 9.8%

8.0%

Close

511 Saudi Electricity Co.

0.89 201 IFASaudi IFA Hotels Resorts Corp.

1.74 Basic & Industries

9.65

27,545

OMR 0.720

GCC Worst Performers

1.92 FAC NICNational Industries 1.37 Commercial FacilitiesCo. Co. 1.58 ZAI Zain Kuwait 0.88 238 Rabigh Petrochem.

10.60 6.87

15,024

4

1.06 1.77

11.78 7.29

QAR 21.60

BKMBankMuscat

PB

10.86 9.99

57,454

USD 0.633

QGTQatar Gas Transport Co.

35,344 98,547

8.97 10.24

KWD 0.630 QAR 6.35

AUBAhli United Bank

PB1.42

30

328

Trailing

Trailing

18,068 37,413

1.23 OMRAED 0.703

ABKAl Ahli Bank of Kuwait KCB Al Khaliji Commercial Bank

PE 14.09

12

1,572

PE

SAR5.60 71.50 SAR

DFM DubaiEngineering Financial Market GEC Galfar & Contracting

101,033

46

1,921

10,785

2.4%

183 718

1,129 4,230

12,203

2.1%

141

18 305

1,033

2.4%

2,293 4,130

396

5,419 1,433

2,903

-2.4%

Mkt.410,389 Cap. USD million

6,406 5,860

2,246

Mkt. Cap. USD million

Turnover 3,862 USD million

1,301 316

12,109

0.2%

525,916 Wk Low

Turnover USD million

1,754 787

1,419 12,627

35.5%

52 Wk Low

% Chg.

AED 3.45% Chg. 15.0% Close

228Kingdom Almarai Co. 3 428 Hldg. Co.

Period's Liquidity Ratio (PLR x)*

MENA Indices Highlights

Close

4 ARTArabtec Holding

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi

95 100

-2%

Palestine

0%

105

0%

Dubai

Return DailyDaily Return (%)(%)

Oman

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi Saudi Bahrain Bahrain

0%

100

0%

Kuwait

Palestine

105

110

2% 1%

Saudi Dubai

114

Qatar Saudi

111

4% 2%

Oman Qatar

115110

Oman Dubai

Kuwait Oman

117 113

Jordan Kuwait

113

DailyIndex Index Performance Snapshot Daily Performance Snapshot

Jordan Egypt

120115

Bull/Bear Indicator Bull/Bear Indicator

Bahrain Bahrain

Rebased RebasedPerformance Performance

406,811,063

20Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

Close

14.95

% Chg.

66.75

1140.SSE Bank AlBilad

2350.SSE Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co.

-5.4%

-2.2%

80.50

-1.8%

20.60

-1.0%

28.90

-1.0%

Saudi SE

Quotes Company Name 1 Al Rajhi Bank

Close 80.50

1 Alinma Bank

15.65

1 Arab National Bank

33.40

2 Almarai Co.

1 Bank AlBilad

1 Bank Al Jazira

% Chg.

-1.8%

High

82.00

Low

80.25

Turnover (SAR '000) 171,156

2.6%

15.95

15.20

1,306,201

-0.6%

33.60

33.10

3,045

71.50

10.0%

28.90

-1.0%

29.80

Daily

0.3%

71.50

29.20

29.80

65.50

333,972

28.50

17,290 4,225

29.10

31,136

12.65

600,527

66.50

50,203

Volume ('000) 2,116

16.25

91

34.90

4,756 601

1,058

49.70

-0.2%

50.75

49.60

4 Emaar the Economic City

13.05

2.0%

13.20

12.70

299,145

19.30

104,295

5,367

12.15

13,313

1,081

26.40

89,759

56.00

13,957

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

66.75

19.40

154.00 12.35

50.75

0.4%

-2.2%

-0.5%

19.60

7,862

154.50

153.00

0.5%

51.00

50.25

55,844

1.2%

-0.8%

56.25

-0.4%

37.00

2.8%

194.00

68.25

0.3%

26.60

25.80

13.15

12.45

26.90

0.4%

26.00

25.60

13,089

1.0%

194.00

192.00

69,525

56.75

37.30

35.90

79,840

0.0%

110.25

109.25

406,811

14.95

-5.4%

15.15

14.90

128,637

25.00

-0.8%

20.40

0.5%

109.50 89.25

29.30 24.45

20.60 40.90

35.30

94.00

36.70

51.00

55.50

10.40

3.2%

0.0%

89.25

29.40

25.50

86.75

29.10

24.95

37,005

660

52,735

1.2%

24.70

24.25

116,671

-1.0%

20.85

20.40

439,194

34.70

26,067

36.60

4,938

-0.7%

0.0%

2.7%

0.0%

2.0%

-0.9% -1.0%

20.60

41.50

35.40

95.00

36.90

52.75

56.50 10.65

20.30

4,454

40.80

66,823

92.25

12,028

50.75

121,880

10.35

550,083

54.75

95,381

82.75

83,315

1 Banque Saudi Fransi

4 Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

52-Week

High

85

71.50

29.20

30.10

Low

67.25

17.20

15.75

-1.0%

45.6%

2.5

33.0%

27.1%

27.8%

6.20

-4.0%

77.6%

51

155.00

95.33

1,104

50.50

6.05

11.10 7.05

33.60

-6.9%

-2.2%

-3.7%

-0.6% -5.7%

0.5%

21.20

-10.7%

42.40

-0.9%

507

26.90

23.10

360

192.75

165.00

3,707

112.50

8,557

16.30

36.10

26.5

77.9%

13.60

56.75

8,670,000

24.25 87.75

-4.1%

0.6%

47.8%

54.8%

18.1%

29.80

2.4

75.8%

-0.6%

50.00

417

-1.0%

37.50

13.10

14.4

-4.0%

50.00

20.15

16,445,000

21.5%

25.6%

59.7%

10.6% 39.5%

35.7%

10.7%

-1.9%

10.2%

3.5%

7.5%

-0.4%

2.5%

46.2%

47.4%

-2.7%

13.8%

68.4%

29.30

21.42

0.0%

18.0%

16.8%

4,768

24.45

17.75

0.0%

24.1%

8.4%

21,312

21.30

15.50

-3.3%

18.4%

9.9%

23

2,090 218

27.20

21.00

1,630

41.30

128

106.75

2,356

83.25

740

135

1,720

52,324

35.50

46.30

56.00

11.50

18.55

-8.1%

15.55

-2.9%

33.00

-1.0%

23.70

60.75

34.20

-0.6%

-11.9%

-20.7%

7.6%

31.6% 26.3%

21.0%

23.0% 9.3%

8.8%

5.25

-9.6%

87.4%

-0.9%

-6.8%

46.5%

9.2

nmf

1.5

2.5

2.0

10.2

28,289,495

11.6

2.6

38,700,000

12.3

1.3

48,500,000

11.8

5.9

23,301,600

50,625,000

34,225,000

nmf

nmf

11.8 nmf

11.2

1.8

2.9

1.8

2.0

2.4

13,655,250

16.4

4.2

11,629,170

11.5

1.6

8,965,000

12.7

1.6

30,900,000

nmf

2.0

11,250,000

81,800,000

54.1%

nmf

1.8

18.0

4.1%

27.4%

12.3

9,240,000

45,767,646

11,220,000

26.1%

-27.1%

18,030,360

0.2%

-19.5%

-38.7%

41.60

5.3%

-9.8%

47.50

46,725,000

62,290,578

24.0%

-8.3%

0.9

6.4%

-8.9%

12.85

12.8

328,500,000

52.50

1.7

13,932,000

2.8%

98.00

1.5

1.9

11,092,500

61.0%

13.1

3.7

33.0

89.1%

38.3%

nmf

8,940,000

35,943,751

47.3%

20.7%

28,390,000

1.4%

24.7%

14.4%

23,475,000

16.4

PB

29.8%

-4.3%

0.0%

Trailing

PE

120,750,000

26.60

47.44

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

4.9%

57.3%

68.25

2,180

15.8%

12 mths

67.4%

745

247

YTD

-3.7%

13.85

3,366

-2.7%

% Change

9.05

46,314

22,963

on high

17,650,000

13,160,000

36,700,000

28.0

21.3 15.9

10.7

14.8

14.7

12.7

10,327,500

14.0

14,560,000

nmf

31,218,750

9.8

1.2

1.9 1.3

1.7

2.3

5.0

2.1

3.1

3.0

3.4

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

13

ALWATAN DAILY wednesday, april 4, 2012

KUWAIT Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 6,179 (-0.2%)

KSE General Index (% Chg.)

120 117

416 (-0.4%)

Advance/Decline Ratio

0.40 ALTIJARIA The Commercial Real Estate Co. 6,523 / 5,694 KIB.KSE Kuwait International Bank

49%

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

115

KSE General Index 52 week High / Low

Turnover (KWD) 3,523,400

K Kuwait International Bank

1,595,050

K Kuwait Finance House

1,145,650

1,426,900

MMabanee Co. 3-Mar-12

3-Apr-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

% Chg.

5.0%

0.880

2.3%

0.092

2.2%

0.260

2.0%

0.280

1.8%

Worst Performers

Zain Kuwait ZA

100

3-Feb-12

PCEM.KSE Kuwait Portland Cement Co.

Highest Turnover

104

0.630

28,087,244

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

95 3-Jan-12

Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait

39,145

Turnover (KWD '000)

105

ABK.KSE

467 / 396 OULAFUELOula Fuel Marketing Co.

KSE Weighted Index 52 week High / Low

110

Close

KSE Weighted Index (% Chg.)

890,350

N National Bank of Kuwait

Close

NICBM.KSENational Industries Co.

0.290

ZAIN.KSE Zain Kuwait

% Chg.

-3.3%

0.750

IFAHR.KSEIFA Hotels & Resorts JAZEERA.KJazeera Airways

-2.6%

0.390

-2.5%

0.204

-1.9%

0.460

IKARUS.KSIkarus Petroleum Industries Co.

-2.1%

KSE Weighted Index

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily

% Chg.

A Agility

0.405

T Al Themar Intl. Holding Co.

0.087

A AREF Energy Holding Co.

0.108

-1.8%

0.620

0.0%

A Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait

0.0%

0.630

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

0.581

0.104

0.079

-4.1%

-16.3%

8.0%

0.2%

-4.4%

12 mths

Trailing

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

6.6%

423,969

-14.7%

88,088

8.4%

953,341

-3.2%

-11.6%

237,830

0.0%

0.540

0.530

464

875

0.620

0.530

-12.9%

-8.5%

-3.6%

944,047

0.415

-1.2%

0.415

0.410

593

1,430

0.524

0.415

-20.8%

-6.3%

641,161

1.600

0.0%

1.600

1.600

156

98

1.945

1.300

-17.7%

0.280

-1.8%

0.280

0.280

190

680

0.395

0.255

-29.1%

0.450

-1.1%

0.450

0.450

171

380

0.552

0.390

-2.5%

0.410

0.390

12

30

0.495

0.485

0.242

IK Ikarus Petroleum Industries Co.

0.204

JAJazeera Airways

0.460

K Kuwait Cement Co.

-

0.657

-6.9%

YTD

-19.7%

1.340

K KIPCO Asset Management Co.

-

10

0.248

% Change

0.280

C Gulf Cable and Electrical Industries Co.

IF International Finance Co.

-

6

0.435

on high

0.380

0.049

IF IFA Hotels & Resorts

-

360

Low

730

0.790

G Gulf Bank

0.610

145

52-Week

High

223

C Commercial Bank of Kuwait G Global Investment House

0.630

Volume ('000)

0.305

0.260

F Commercial Facilities Co.

0.400

Turnover (KWD '000)

0.305

A Burgan Co. for Well Drilling

C Combined Grp Contracting Co.

-

0.405

Low

0.0%

0.305 0.540

B Boubyan Petrochemical Co.

5.0%

High

0.099 0.242

-

-

-1.5%

-1.9% -

-2.1% -

0.450

-

0.110

0.108

0.620

0.620

-

-

-

-

-

-

1.340

0.206 -

-

-

-

-

-

240

133

290

-

0.198

0.940

0.700

0.055

0.019 0.448

1.700

-

-

10.7%

24.0%

-38.1%

22.6%

-44.7%

-16.0%

0.0%

-10.9%

-8.2%

1.3%

-11.1%

7.7%

-27.3%

0.0%

-21.2%

-17.9%

0.096

-59.1%

-2.9%

0.236

-16.6%

0.415

-3.6%

0.0%

0.285

0.118

0.630

1.9%

-7.4%

0.136

0.290

-14.3%

-18.5%

1.340

0.214

-

-

0.500

0.420

40

-

0.085

0.620

-

49

-

0.126

205

0.204

-

-

127

53

0.455

-

440

1.320

-

0.460

48

-21.2% -4.7% -5.2%

-28.6%

1.9

nmf

1.0

6.0

nmf

300,762

34.3

54,503

26.7

1.6

1.1

nmf

4.2

1.2

12.7

1.4 1.0

4.2

150,294

10.6

0.9

-5.5%

1,184,889

38.7

2.8

-14.3%

177,014

nmf

-16.0%

1,004,898

25.6%

20.0%

47.8%

-2.2%

0.5

18.9

81,000

PB

19.4

-13.0%

-0.8%

15.7

154,609

-5.6%

1.1%

PE

64,309

281,308

-61.2% -15.1%

nmf

3.1

7.7

1.6

3.7

18.2

1.0

101,200

9.6

3.9

nmf

63,719

-22.5%

1.9

153,000 79,485

277.0%

nmf

286,945

0.7

nmf

0.8

20.8

2.1

K Kuwait Finance House

0.780

0.0%

0.790

0.770

1,146

1,465

1.019

0.759

-23.5%

-6.4%

-19.0%

2,265,248

37.6

1.2

K Kuwait International Bank

0.260

2.0%

0.270

0.260

1,595

6,070

0.350

0.236

-25.7%

2.0%

-16.1%

269,705

24.9

1.3

K Kuwait Projects Co. (Holding)

0.340

0.0%

0.340

0.335

650

1,940

0.425

0.295

-20.0%

11.5%

-2.9%

432,795

14.4

0.8

-

-

0.0%

21,780

F Kuwait Food Co.

1.440

P Kuwait Portland Cement Co. M Mabanee Co.

M Mena Holding

0.880

N National Industries 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

1.040

1,427

125

1.420

1.580

53.6%

-5.7%

6.1%

2.4%

4,701,777

15.5

2.2

-6.7%

308,234

nmf

0.8

0.0%

0.240

0.234

605

2,560

0.285

0.192

-16.5%

-8.5%

-1.6%

0.126

0.122

117

940

0.168

0.056

-26.2%

-3.1%

0.214

297

1,380

0.104

114

0.290

-3.3%

0.164

-1.2%

0.280 0.216 0.246

0.300

0.290

0.166

0.164

1.8%

0.280

0.275

0.0%

0.255

0.246

-

-

0.9%

0.216

2.2%

0.093

0.091

161

2.200

-0.9%

2.200

2.200

149

0.130

0.750

-

-2.6%

-

-

0.770

0.740

-

-14.7% -44.4%

3.6%

-12.1%

-4.7%

-40.4%

0.360

0.265

-22.2%

-6.7%

2,810

0.246

0.200

0.0%

18.3%

-

0.270

0.216

0.176

0.136

-4.4%

126,130

17.6

-4.3%

91,041

18.4

-16.1%

60,198

0.8

nmf

2.5%

-13.3%

1.3

nmf

22.7

-23.5%

0.1

35.0

237,600

4.0

2.3

92,316

21.3%

1.3

28.3

143,699

-6.7%

0.9%

6.1%

100,399

27.8%

0.093

-9.6%

588,964

31.5

0.5

2.2

13.1

1.1

1.0

nmf

0.9 0.9

1,760

0.094

0.067

-2.1%

19.5%

24.3%

168,803

16.0

0.7

68

2.280

1.760

-3.5%

13.4%

23.6%

1,108,872

3.1

1.4

-

3,523

0.158

0.226

1,080

-

0.260

0.295

40

701

0.092

0.340

420

11

-1.9% -

160

69

0.104 0.244

0.106

47

0.0%

79,996

2.0

23.3%

0.0%

-38.7%

12.1

-1.9%

0.909

-

578,883

23.9%

1.145

-

0.680

-2.7%

-44.3%

825

-

1.080

-2.7%

890

-

1,338

0.660

-11.1%

1.060

0.124

S Salhia Real Estate Co.

110

1.620

1.080

-

1.080

0.870

-

0.0%

N National Real Estate Co.

A Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Co.

0.880

-

1.080 0.238

O Oula Fuel Marketing Co.

-

-1.9%

N National Industries Grp. Holding N National Investments Company

2.3%

-

1.060 0.033

N National Bank of Kuwait

-

-

4,660

-

1.380

0.750

0.0%

-45.7%

0.0%

-16.7%

0.0%

88,400

-44.0%

3,230,651

nmf

7.0

11.3

1.6

UAE Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,694 (2.4%)

DFM Index (% Chg.)

130

2,564 (0.1%)

ADSM Index (% Chg.)

120

Advance/Decline Ratio

DFM Index 52 week High / Low

2,775 / 2,293 UPP.DFM

ADSM Index 52 week High / Low

117

762,037

Turnover (AED '000)

106

Highest Turnover

100

D Dubai Financial Market

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

3-Mar-12 Abu Dhabi SE

21,260,418

S Sorouh Real Estate Co.

3-Apr-12

6.0%

3.18

3.6%

0.44

2.8%

1.19

Union Properties

Turnover (AED) 194,077,907 EMIRATES Emirates NBD 154,787,307 AIRARABIA Air Arabia 77,368,862 FGB.ADSM First Gulf Bank

E Emaar Properties

3-Feb-12

15.0%

1.23

3.5%

Worst Performers

A Arabtec Holding

90 3-Jan-12

% Chg.

407,300,459

Market Cap. (AED '000)

110

3.45

77% DFM.DFM Dubai Financial Market 4.33 EMAAR.DF Emaar Properties 1,754 / 1,301 SOROUH.A Sorouh Real Estate Co.

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

123

Close

ARTC.DFM Arabtec Holding

19,311,420

A ALDAR Properties

#N/A

#N/A

Close

2.90

% Chg.

0.71 9.71

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

-5.2% -1.0%

-0.1%

#N/A

#N/A

Dubai FM

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily

% Chg.

A Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

3.28

T Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

1.34

0.0%

A Air Arabia

0.71

-1.0%

A Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

A Abu Dhabi National Hotels A ALDAR Properties

3.44

2.19

0.3% -

1.26

3,902

2,906

0.72

0.71

3,953

5,536

-

D du

0.44

3.21

0.0%

1.02

0.95

89

89

1.77

0.71

-43.5%

-1.0%

-40.5%

1,750,000

nmf

1.1

0.0%

0.50

0.49

-29.6%

11.1%

-23.1%

0.0% -

1.4%

0.0%

1.79 -

0.44

3.24

1.78 -

0.43

3.19

1,003 -

3,453

11,386 4,859

77,369

9.71

-0.1%

9.60

5,646

91.45

-

3.6%

3.19

0.0%

8.92

1.8%

1.15

8.71

0.1%

1.78

-

-

-

9.80 -

8.78 -

-

8,583

3.09

154,787

8.80

11,595

1.15

202

8.67

4,632

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1.19

3.5%

1.22

1.14

21,260

U Union National Bank

3.13

0.0%

3.15

3.12

1,087

U United Arab Bank

3.70

-

U Union Properties

* Closing Prices, Turnover and Market Cap. in USD

1.25 0.44

0.6

1.7

10,528

T Tamweel

0.7

20.3

2.90

S Sorouh Real Estate Co.

7.6

5,157,750

2.99

0.94

0.3

150.7%

-5.2%

S Sharjah Islamic Bank

8.7

117.0%

2.90

N National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain

2,190,000

-5.4%

-5.0%

E Emirates NBD

4.51

12.4

-19.5%

1.2

1.1

1.24

2.07

N National Bank of Fujairah

3,327,357

-0.5%

0.8

3.63

2.12

N National Bank of Abu Dhabi

12.8

7.0

58,899

-

1.5%

M Mashreq

8,341,500

8,134,588

PB

194,078

-

2.10

1.15

-25.5%

0.57

-9.5%

5.2%

6.1

3.02

-

D Dubai Islamic Bank

G Gulf Cement Co.

21.7%

2.02

18,353,559

3.45

-

1.16

F First Gulf Bank

-7.5%

2.94

30.2%

4,861,304

1.23

8.86

11.7%

PE

-22.7%

6.0%

E Etisalat

-17.8%

-

0.77

8.9%

Trailing

Market Cap. (AED '000)

29.3%

1.23

3.18

1.14

-3.1%

18.0%

12 mths

-29.2%

D Dubai Financial Market

E Emaar Properties

1.63

2.92

YTD

0.76

0.50

D Deyaar Development Co.

3.55

-1.2%

% Change

1.68

D Dana Gas

2.80

-

93

2.52

on high

16,193

1.00

C Commercial Bank of Dubai

-

321

3.32

Low

19,311

A Arkan Building Materials Co.

1.79

3.41

903

52-Week

High

1.16

15.0%

A Aramex

Volume ('000)

1.35

3.46

3.45

1.02

Turnover (AED '000) 2,962

1.21

A Arabtec Holding

Low

3.25

3.31

0.9%

A Amlak Finance

1.19

1.6%

High

2.5% 2.8%

1.26 0.45 -

1.23

15,071

0.43

7,876

-

-

-

561 -

6,972

26,069 1,510

64,160 4,092

-

1.96

-

1.69

2.76

-13.5%

0.46

0.20

-4.4%

0.71

3.30

1.46

2.31

0.34

2.80

0.68

1.88

3.49

2.41

1,309

11.20

8.64

175

1.56

0.67

582

4.63

10.75

4.70

2.91

-

1.02

0.80

2.39

17,867

1.54

347

3.90

12,087 17,987 -

1.49

0.50 5.30

7.22

-26.3%

-10.3% -3.2%

-4.0%

-25.5%

0.67

-22.7%

2.82

-19.7%

0.24

3.28

104.2% 11.1%

46.4% 8.2%

-3.0%

1.63

0.53

1.4%

-20.9%

-9.7%

-

-0.6%

23.7%

6.98

74.70

-

-9.1%

0.0%

-8.9%

-37.4%

102.00 9.00

-2.7%

-15.8%

2.65

-

532

-8.7%

3.24

49,021 3,603

0.0%

-7.8%

-0.6%

1,530,000 2,620,739

-2.0%

5,707,386

81.3% 2.2%

-6.1%

-5.8%

6.9

0.9

2,513,430

nmf

0.7

14,674,286

13.4

2.4

3,301,001

9,840,000

7,973,813

1.8

944,261

nmf

29,130,000

20.7%

33,747,404

-1.7%

-11.0%

2,848,000

40.0%

-12.5%

8.3%

7.6%

1.6%

0.9

12.0

7.4%

70.9%

7.9

1.3

70,048,400

16,117,547

-17.9%

-10.9%

nmf

0.4

-14.8%

62.0%

107.3%

6.5

0.6

19.1%

11.9%

1.4

10.8

25.7%

-0.9%

12.4

1.1

19,370,138

-11.9%

-9.9%

nmf

-0.9%

-1.4%

-16.1%

-30.2%

0.0%

22.4% 3.7%

-

6.4

7.9

18.8 9.1

0.5

1.1

0.8

1.3

1.3

4,961,000

17.7

9.3%

2,279,970

9.1

0.5

26.3%

1,250,000

12.3

0.5

1,484,784

nmf

45.5%

-34.5%

3,123,750 7,811,306

3,686,685

8.9 9.3

5.2

11.2

2.4

0.9 0.5 0.7

0.6

1.8

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

14

ALWATAN DAILY wednesday, april 4, 2012

QATAR Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 8,853 (-0.2%)

DSM Index (% Chg.)

120

50% QNNS.DSMQatar Navigation 0.63 QIIK.DSM Qatar International Islamic Bank 8,892 / 8,071 BRES.DSMBarwa Real Estate Co. 294,566 ERES.DSMEzdan Real Estate Co.

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

117

Advance/Decline Ratio

DSM 52 week High / Low Turnover (QAR '000)

110

462,352,787

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

IQCD.DSM Industries Qatar

Highest Turnover

100

Turnover (QAR) 24,289,418 QEWS.DSMQatar Electricity & Water Co. 17,630,847 MARK.DSMMasraf Al Rayan

B Barwa Real Estate Co. MMasraf Al Rayan

16,162,932

IQIndustries Qatar

3-Feb-12

3-Mar-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

15,647,049

Q Qatar Gas Transport Co.

3-Apr-12

76.30

% Chg.

1.1%

51.10

0.6%

28.80

0.5%

19.90

0.5%

142.00

0.3%

Worst Performers

100

90 3-Jan-12

Close

14,533,589

Q Qatar National Bank

Close

145.20

% Chg.

-1.6%

27.60

QIBK.DSM Qatar Islamic Bank

QNBK.DSMQatar National Bank

-0.5%

77.00

-0.5%

17.81

-0.5%

136.80

QGTS.DSMQatar Gas Transport Co.

-0.5%

Doha SM

Quotes Company Name

Close

A Aamal Co.

16.71

K Al Khalij Commercial Bank

16.50

C The Commercial Bank of Qatar

77.30

E Ezdan Real Estate Co.

19.90

B Barwa Real Estate Co.

28.80

D Doha Bank

61.20

IQIndustries Qatar

142.00

Q Qatar Electricity & Water Co.

145.20

M Masraf Al Rayan

27.60

Q Qatar Gas Transport Co.

Q Qatar International Islamic Bank

0.0% 0.5%

29.05

28.60

24,289

60.70

3,405

0.5%

19.90

19.90

32

-0.3%

61.30

0.3%

142.50

141.80

16,163

-1.6%

146.50

144.00

7,191

0.6%

51.10

50.10

7,475

-0.5%

27.85

17.97 77.40

27.50

17,631

17.79

15,647

-0.5%

137.30

136.50

14,534

-0.4%

132.70

131.60

11,880

0.0%

75.10

7.55

7.50

High

24.09

65

Low

on high

15.40

18.99

841

-30.6%

16.06

35.90

28.00

% Change YTD

5.1%

12 mths

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

-6.0%

8,271,450

-19.8%

11,206,790

-9.6%

-8.0%

2.9%

19,127,605

10.2 nmf

-3.8%

68.00

2

24.97

18.60

-20.3%

-10.4%

-14.2%

52,784,684

22.50

-1.8%

-0.9%

22.5%

20,700,000

50.00

114

148.50

118.80

50

153.50

129.50

147

56.20

45.20

106

141.73

116.55

90

168.50

132.00

639

875 44

7,954

104

8,013

1,064

28.10

19.58

-8.7%

-4.4%

-5.4%

16.59

85.30

-9.0%

-9.1%

76.30

87.50 8.12

16.8

-13.0%

85.50

67.00

PE

-3.9%

-19.8%

5,940,000

Trailing

-13.1%

182 56

3,386

77.00

77.00

29

1,064

16.45

14,003

1.1%

7.53

16.50

52-Week

Volume ('000)

484

16.71

75.90

76.30

132.00

Low

16.82

77.30

-0.5%

Q Qatar Telecom

High

Turnover (QAR '000)

0.0%

77.00

136.80

V Vodafone Qatar

-0.1%

-0.5%

Q Qatar National Bank Q Qatar Navigation

% Chg.

17.81

51.10

Q Qatar Islamic Bank

Daily

-9.7%

-3.5%

-4.5%

6.8% 4.0%

1.7%

-5.4%

-8.7%

-1.0%

6.1%

3.6%

14,520,000

13.1%

7,734,943

-3.5%

9,863,962

1.4

12.2

1.1

9.3

0.9

1.3

10.2

1.8

1.9

9.8

3.0

11.2

4.8

11.8

1.6

14.7

2.4

11.8

6.8

-4.9%

18,194,576 8,738,273

12.4

0.8

6,365,862

nmf

1.0

17.0%

-12.8%

-0.3%

-12.0%

7.24

-7.3%

-0.3%

-3.2%

-6.3%

78,100,000

5.2%

69.90

-21.7%

12,649,905

PB

95,722,987

-4.3%

30,201,600

13.3

1.6

12.7

2.3

11.7

1.4

OMAN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 5,793 (0.3%)

MSM Index (% Chg.)

120

37% RCCI.MSM Raysut Cement Co. - BKDB.MSMBank Dhofar

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

117

Advance/Decline Ratio Turnover (OMR '000)

6,956,005

Market Cap (OMR '000)

166,009

B Bank Dhofar

3-Mar-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

133,672

O Oman Cement Co.

3-Apr-12

0.9%

0.56

0.7%

0.60

0.3%

0.62

Turnover (OMR) 595,293 NBOB.MSMNational Bank of Oman 348,405 OTEL.MSMOman Telecommunications Co.

O Oman Telecommunications Co.

3-Feb-12

1.0%

0.3%

Worst Performers

B Bank Muscat

90 3-Jan-12

% Chg.

0.44

BKMB.MSMBank Muscat

Highest Turnover

101

100

0.97

6,406 / 5,419 OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co. 6,824 RNSS.MSMRenaissance Services

MSM 52 week High / Low

110

Close

121,045

R Renaissance Services

Close

0.29

% Chg.

0.0%

1.30

BKMB.MSMBank Muscat

0.2%

0.62

RNSS.MSMRenaissance Services

0.3%

0.60

OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co.

0.3%

0.56

0.7%

Muscat SM

Quotes Company Name

Close

B Bank Dhofar

0.443

N National Bank of Oman

0.293

O Oman Telecommunications Co.

1.302

R Renaissance Services

0.602

B Bank Muscat

O Oman Cement Co.

R Raysut Cement Co.

Daily

% Chg.

0.9%

High

Turnover (OMR '000)

Low

0.456

0.439

166

0.293

43

0.622

0.3%

0.625

0.619

595

0.561

0.7%

0.564

0.560

134

0.971

8

0.971

0.0%

0.2% 1.0% 0.3%

0.296

1.309 0.972 0.608

1.300

348

0.597

121

52-Week

Volume ('000) 375

High

0.552

Low

957

0.679

0.572

238

0.608

0.416

147

0.324

268 8

-19.7% -8.4%

0.292

1.425

-9.6%

1.041

1.099

201

on high

0.423

0.458

YTD

-2.6% -6.6% -6.1%

-7.7%

29.9%

-11.6%

27.8%

-8.6%

0.711

1.094

% Change

-45.0%

-0.5%

10.5%

12 mths

Market Cap. (OMR '000)

-19.7%

487,352

Trailing

PE

12.2

-1.0%

1,117,606

-2.4%

185,620

14.5

194,200

13.0

-8.4%

324,651

17.9%

976,500

-10.8%

-39.7%

169,821

PB

2.1

9.5

1.3

9.5

1.2

8.7

2.0

1.3 1.9

nmf

1.0

BAHRAIN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,150 (-0.1%)

BSE Index (% Chg.)

120

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

% of stocks trading above 1 yr avg. price

117

Advance/Decline Ratio

1,419 / 1,129

BSE 52 week High / Low

51

Turnover (BHD '000)

110

6,498,395

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

1,153

A Ahli United Bank

3-Mar-12

B Albaraka Banking Grp.

3-Apr-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

#N/A

#

Bahrain SE

#N/A

% Chg.

5.0%

0.43

0.0%

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

Turnover (BHD) 14,318 BATELCO.BBahrain Telecommunications Co. 7,183 AUB.BSE Ahli United Bank

B Bahrain Telecommunications Co.

3-Feb-12

#N/A

#N/A

0.63

#N/A

Worst Performers

IT Ithmaar Bank 90 3-Jan-12

#N/A

Highest Turnover

101

100

#N/A

Close

#N/A

#N/A

-

BARKA.BS Albaraka Banking Grp. #N/A

#N/A

#N/A

Close

0.43

% Chg.

0.63

0.93 #N/A

#N/A

#N/A

0.0%

5.0%

#N/A

#N/A

Quotes Company Name

Close

A Ahli United Bank*

0.633

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

0.434

0.420 797

Daily

% Chg.

5.0% -

0.0% -

0.095

0.0%

0.304

-

0.570

-

High

0.633 -

0.434 -

Low

0.633 -

-

-

-

-

-

0.434

-

-

-

0.095

-

-

-

52-Week

Volume ('000) 3 -

-

-

0.095 -

Turnover (BHD '000)

5

14

-

0.680

1.089 0.570 0.116

Low

0.599

on high

-6.9%

0.857

-14.6%

0.082

-22.4%

0.420

-9.5%

46.2%

-

0.424

0.270

-28.3%

1.3%

-

0.630

797

0.560

0.0%

-9.5%

-26.3%

1,306,200

-8.4%

624,960

-22.4%

0.065

797

3,312,841

0.0%

10.7% 1.4%

0.0%

-0.9%

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

-3.1%

-14.6%

0.0%

0.105

-

-3.7%

12 mths

-0.4%

200

0.390

-11.8%

5.0%

0.492

0.436

0.380

-26.3%

YTD

33

-

19

High

% Change

-6.7%

-30.0%

-17.4%

-13.0%

-24.0%

943,462

Trailing

PE

10.7 8.0 6.4

84,571

nmf

357,570

11.2

254,388

nmf

637,560

487,555

253,707

7.8

PB

1.3

0.8 0.4

0.8

1.2

1.5

4.5

0.6

10.7

1.8

nmf

0.4

1.2

LIFE

More reasons to quit smoking

As soon as you quit smoking, you begin to reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, lung disease and stroke.

Quitting the habit also will boost your quality of life, the womenshealth.gov website says, mentioning these examples: •You’ll have more energy, will breathe easier and will have better lung performance during physical activity. •You’ll have improved senses of taste and smell. •The stains on your fingers will start to fade. •Your clothes, hair and breath won’t smell of smoke. •Your skin will appear healthier, and your dental health will improve. •You’ll feel better about yourself once you’ve quit.

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

Our ancestors used fire a million years ago: Study NEW YORK: When did our ancestors first use fire? That’s been a long-running debate, and now a new study concludes the earliest firm evidence comes from about 1 million years ago in a South African cave.

The ash and burnt bone samples found there suggest fires frequently burned in that spot, researchers said Monday.

Over the years, some experts have cited evidence of fire from as long as 1.5 million years ago, and some have argued it was used even earlier, a key step toward evolution of a larger brain. It’s a tricky issue. Even if you find evidence of an ancient blaze, how do you know it wasn’t just a wildfire?

The new research makes “a pretty strong case” for the site in South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave, said Francesco Berna of Boston University, who presents the work with colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

One expert said the new finding should be considered together with a previous discovery nearby, of about the same age. Burnt bones also have been found in the Swartkrans cave, not far from the new site, and the combination makes a stronger case than either one alone, said Anne Skinner of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., who was not involved in the new study.

Another expert unconnected with the work, Wil Roebroeks of Leiden University in The Netherlands, said by email that while the new research does not provide “rock solid” evidence, it suggests our ancestors probably did use fire there at that time.

The ancestors probably brought burning material from natural blazes into the cave to establish the fires, said Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto, a study author. Stone

FILE - Researchers found evidence of human fire use in South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave (shown here), a massive cavern located near the edge of the Kalahari Desert. (AP)

tools at the site suggest the ancestors were Homo erectus, a species known from as early as about 2 million years ago.

The scientists didn’t find signs of fire prepa-

Cancer-causing chemical found in smokeless tobacco NEW YORK: A chemical in smokeless tobacco products has been found to cause cancer, according to a new study in animals reports LiveScience. The chemical was a strong inducer of oral tumors, the study showed.

While use of smokeless tobacco products has been strongly linked to the development of cancer, no specific chemical in the products had been identified as a strong oral-cancer causing agent until now, the researchers say.

The chemical, called (S)-N’-nitrosonornicotine, or (S)-NNN, “is the only chemical in smokeless tobacco known to cause oral cancer,” study researcher Silvia Balbo, a cancer researcher at the University of Minnesota, said in a statement. The finding may explain how smokeless tobacco products cause cancer, Balbo said.

Balbo said the findings are an affirmation that tobacco products should be avoided. Smokeless tabacco products are already required to carry warning labels saying the products can cause mouth cancer or are not a safe alternative to cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration says.

The most common type of smokeless tobacco product is moist snuff placed in the mouth.

Previous studies have suggested that a group of chemicals called nitrosamines, of which (S)-NNN is a member, cause various types of cancer in animals, but no study has looked at the carcinogenicity of (S)NNNspecifically, the researchers say.

Balbo and colleagues administered (S)-NNN to 24 rats. The rats were given (S)-NNN or tap water. The total dose was approximately equivalent to the amount of (S)-NNN to which a smokeless tobacco user would be exposed from chronic use of these products.

All 24 rats given (S)-NNN had esophageal tumors and oral tumors, and died within 17 months.

“Measures should be taken to reduce this chemical in smokeless tobacco,” Balbo said.

In future studies, Balbo said she and her colleagues hope to identify other carcinogens in smokeless tobacco, and to understand what levels of these chemicals are present in smokeless tobacco products.

ration, like a hearth or a deep pit. But Berna said it’s unlikely the fires were simply natural blazes, such as from lightning strikes.

That’s because the evidence shows repeat-

ed fires burned deep inside the cave, he said.

The cave entrance is almost 100 feet away, and because of changes in the cave over the past 1 million years, the entrance was apparently

New flying car successfully tested, cleared for takeoff

NEW YORK: Drivers hoping to slip the surly – and traffic congested – bonds of Earth moved a step closer to realizing their dream Monday, as a US firm said it had successfully tested a street-legal plane.

Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia said their production prototype “Transition” carplane had completed an eight-minute test flight, clearing the way for it to hit the market within a year. “With this flight, the team demonstrated an ability to accomplish what had been called an impossible dream,” said founder Carl Dietrich.

The two-seater craft, which has the rounded features of a Fiat 500 and collapsible wings, is on presale for $279,000 and some 100 vehicles have already been ordered.

While many companies have successfully built a flying car, none have succeeded in producing more than a handful of models.

But things have changed since the clunky Curtiss Autoplane hopped and spluttered into action in the early 1900s. New materials and computer-aided design mean today’s flying

cars are cheaper and lighter to build.

They also look more like “Blade Runner” than “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

The successful test flight has given hope to aficionados that this staple of science fiction is a step closer to reality.

“Is it going to be like the Jetsons with everyone driving one in five years? No,” admitted Winfield Keller, vice president of The International Flying Car Association, a trade group.

“But we are getting to the point where 10, maybe 15 years from now that the people owning and operating (them) will be everyday people.”

In the meantime manufacturers hope they can build something that appeals to border security agencies, the police or the military, as well as hobbyists.

Terrafugia is targeting pilots looking for a bit more flexibility and fewer hangar fees.

Spanning 90 inches (2.3m) the same as a car, it fits into a normal-sized garage, before unfurling a 26 foot (8m) wingspan.

The Transition, they say offers unparalleled

World repository of human genetics now hosted by Amazon

From his home observatory in Connellsville, Pa., avid astrophotographer Bill Snyder took this stunning photo of the so-called “tadpoles” of the emission nebula IC410 on Jan. 15. IC410 is located roughly 12,000 light-years away toward the constellation Auriga. The tadpoles in this image are actually about 10 light-years long and are potential sites of star formation. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

The nebula itself surrounds the young cluster of stars called NGC 1893. This cluster energizes the denser, cooler gas making up the tadpoles. Their unique shape is sculpted by wind and radiation from the cluster stars. Snyder used a TMB130mm telescope equipped with an Apogee U8300 camera, as well as a mount and several filters to create this view of IC410. He had a total exposure time of more than 14 hours to capture this view of the nebula. (AFP)

even farther away when the fires burned, he said. In contrast, he said, the bones at Swartkrans could have been burned by a natural fire in the open before winding up in that cave.

The scientists also found no sign that the Wonderwerk cave fires were ignited by spontaneous combustion of bat guano, which they called a rare but documented event.

Berna and colleagues describe animal bones that show discoloring and a chemical signature of being heated. They also report microscopic bits of ash in excavated dirt from the cave, indicating burning of light material like leaves, grasses and twigs. And they found evidence of heating in samples of fractured stone.

Several lines of evidence suggest the material was heated within the cave rather than blown or washed in from outside.

It’s not clear what the fires were used for.

While the burnt bones suggest cooking, the ancestors might have eaten the meat raw and tossed the bones into the fire, Berna noted.

Other possible uses might be warmth, light and protection from wild animals, he said.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Roebroeks and Paola Villa of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder, said that while the new study probably demonstrates use of fire, they’d like to see signs of preparations like a hearth to be sure.

In any case, they said, the work does not show that human ancestors were using fire regularly throughout their range that long ago. In a paper published last year, they traced such habitual use of fire to about 400,000 years ago.

Berna said researchers will return to the Wonderwerk cave this summer and pursue hints that fires were used there even earlier than their paper suggests. -AP

NEW YORK: The US National Institutes of Health announced that it’ll be hosting data from its 1,000 Genomes Project for free on Amazon’s cloud service according to LiveScience. The 1,000 Genomes Project is the world’s largest database of human genetics. It was created to act as a “reference population,” including people of different ethnicities around the world, and it captures all the major ways in which humankind varies genetically.

Now that they are hosted on Amazon’s servers, the data in 1000 Genomes will be easier and cheaper for scientists to obtain and analyze. “[The Amazon hosting] makes the data available to researchers in a way that is more useful and that avoids the researcher having to spend lots of money on storing the data themselves, on their local systems,” Eric Schadt, director of the genomics institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, wrote to LiveScience in an email.

“This is definitely cool.”

In spite of its name, the project actually holds genetic information from 1,700 anonymous people, with 900 more to come this year. The main difficulty with the database is that it’s so large - 200 terabytes, an amount that would fill 30,000 DVDs. The information in the database has always been freely available at 1000genomes.org, but before the Amazon hosting deal, scientists had to pay for the Internet bandwidth and storage space to download the data, Schadt explained. People who did not have access to the powerful computers needed to store 1,000 Genome’s data couldn’t read the data at all.

Amazon Web Services also offers its superpowered computing resources to researchers who want to do calculations on the enormous genetics database. For that, Amazon will charge. The company charged one pharmaceutical client $1,279 an hour to run very large calculations, the New York Times’ Bits blog reported. Yet researchers may still find it to be worth the price. “Many will be willing to bear this cost because it is far less expensive than buying 500 terabytes of disk storage and a modest-sized computer cluster to analyze those data locally,” Schadt wrote.

By making this genomics data more accessible and affordable to researchers, the Amazon deal may ultimately help scientists predict diseases more reliably, based on a person’s genetics, Schadt wrote.

freedom of movement, with a range of 490 miles (787 kilometers) and without the need to check bags.

But to take advantage, would-be owners will need to have both a driver’s and pilot’s license – with a minimum of 20 hours of flying time.

The craft needs 2,500 feet (762 meters) of runway for takeoff, meaning pulling onto the shoulder and escaping the traffic is not really an option.

“The Transition Street-Legal Airplane is now a significant step closer to being a commercial reality,” the company said.

At least two other companies are racing to bring an autoplane to the market.

Dutch company PAL-V has tested a prototype gyrocopter-style car. It hopes to now build a full production prototype and to have the first deliveries by 2014.

California-based Moller International has built a personal vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, although it requires a little more training to operate.

College education leads to better health

LONDON: A report card released on Tuesday ranking the relative health of people in more than 3,000 US counties showed that those with more college-educated residents had fewer premature deaths and fewer reports of being in poor or fair health.

The study, published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, only compared counties within their respective states because the data researchers used had been collected using different methods in different areas.

But nationally, better-educated counties also were associated with less smoking, less physical inactivity and obesity, fewer teen births, fewer preventable hospital stays, and a lower number of children in poverty. The study also found that excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages rates were highest in the northern states such as Wisconsin, while rates of teen births, sexually transmitted diseases and children in poverty are highest in the southern states.

Motor vehicle crash deaths are lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest, the study found, while unemployment rates are lowest in the Northeast, Midwest and central Plains.

Pat Remington, an associate dean at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who served as the study’s director, said factors such as joblessness and poverty were “absolutely connected” with the wider community’s overall health.

“If you’re unemployed, you’re likely to be without insurance and to have a lot of stress in your life,” Remington said “You often give up hope and that often leads to substance abuse and other self-destructive behaviors. So all these things are part of a web of health.”

The researchers ranked more than 3,000 counties by more than 30 different measures, including quality of healthcare, smoking and obesity rates, and a variety of social and economic factors, including high school graduation rates.

“High school dropout rates may not be directly related to cancer or heart disease, but they are indirectly related,” Remington said.

“If you have a community with a high number of high school dropouts, with a high unemployment rate and with children living in poverty, you can absolutely predict that poor health outcomes will be coming down the road.” -Reuters

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ALWATAN DAILY

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, april 4, 2012

First rice pudding store opens in Kuwait Onilda Fernandes Staff Writer

KUWAIT: “Rice pudding has been around for a long time, especially in Europe but I was inspired when I visited New York and found a store exclusively selling rice pudding,” said Abdullah S, Kuwaiti proprietor of the first store dedicated to selling rice pudding in Kuwait.

Passionate about cooking in general, Abdullah immediately started toying with the idea of opening a similar shop in Kuwait as well. “I mean, why not?! Asians are more familiar with rice than the Americans and it seemed like a much needed concept here.”

It soon became an obsession for the young entrepreneur and after spending two months holed up in the kitchen; Abdullah opened ‘Rice Pudding Factory’ just a few weeks ago.

Located at the Al Nuzha supermarket branch, block 3, next to Starbucks, the Rice Pudding Factory offers five cold and two hot flavors in various sizes with different toppings.

“There is White Original, which is like vanilla, Raspberry Cheesecake, Cookies & Cream, Tiramisu, and Cacao which need to be eaten cold. While there is Caramel Praline and Chocotula which is eaten hot,” explains Abdullah who conceptualized everything about the store from scratch.

The basic ingredients in rice pudding of course are rice and milk but like an ice cream or frozen yoghurt store, Rice Pudding Factory also offers recommended toppings and syrups for each flavor. “For instance, we would suggest having the Raspberry Cheesecake with toppings such as biscuit crumble, rock jam or raspberry and caramel syrup, and white chocolate sauce as it will give you a similar experience as biting into a cheesecake. Likewise, the White Original will taste best with toppings of mixed fruits, oatmeal coconut crumble and buttery pound cake and caramel sauce,” says Abdullah, who insists he did a lot of research before coming up with all these options. And some of them are signature toppings. It isn’t everyday you would come by topping flavors such as Cloud, Granola or Cotton Bites, to name a few. And in addition, one can mix flavors to get a different effect. “Like a mixture of vanilla and chocolate will give you a ‘Kinder’ taste or tiramisu and cacao will generate a ‘mocha’ sort of flavor,” shares Abdullah, adding that White Original, Raspberry and Chocotula

are the fast selling flavors as of now.

Two chefs prepare Abdullah’s recipes, while his mind works overtime and especially these days, as he intends to introduce new flavors for the month of Ramadan. “We just opened this store, so I don’t want to introduce new flavors just yet. Let people get used to these and hopefully they will like what we have to offer soon. The new ones will contain more Arabic ingredients but cooked in American way with possibly additions of rosewater, cardamom, and some other exclusive Arabic toppings which are not yet finalized.”

The sizes of the cups have been centered on the Rice Pudding Factory’s tagline, “It’s what happiness tastes like” and have been named ‘joy’ which is the small size, ‘charm’ for the medium, ‘delight’ for the large and ‘Happy Box’ consists of six ‘joy’ sizes. Starting at KD 1.450, the joy size offers two toppings and with the bigger size and extra toppings, the rates increase. “We have kept all our containers in the form of flat boxes so that the toppings can be savored right until the very end, instead of just eating it all up initially with nothing reaching the bottom. All the fla-

vors are freshly cooked every day, so our customers can take it home and store it, if they like which in my opinion; rice pudding tastes better on the next day. My partner, my nephew, who usually mans the store and myself are usually around to explain all this to the customer which definitely generates a better experience for them as well,” says Abdullah.

With grains of rice motifs running on the walls and counters, and the color blue highlighting the basic theme of the store, Abdullah hopes this new concept will catch on. “Blue has to do with the color of whole milk packet, and as for the store, it’s going to take time I am sure because it is a new experience for the people of Kuwait.

But rice pudding being a comfort and feel good food, so far we have already had a number of repeated customers. And we are excited at the idea of offering something new to this State. There are new concept restaurants and sweet shops opening every other day around here, but most of it don’t offer too much variation. And though franchises are undoubtedly less risky, it feels good to introduce something unique,” concludes Abdullah.

Art is ‘world’s greatest currency’, says Hirst LONDON: Some artists prefer not to talk about the value of their work. Damien Hirst clearly revels in it, going so far as to call art “the greatest currency in the world”.

On the eve of Hirst’s first major retrospective in his native Britain, he hit back at a leading critic who dismissed him as a conman and advised anyone owning his work to sell it fast. Julian Spalding, a curator and critic who has just written a short book called “Con Art - Why you ought to sell your Damien Hirsts while you can”, went on the attack last week with articles in at least two national newspapers.

They were designed to coincide both with the release of his book and the opening this week of an exhibition at Tate Modern tracing Hirst’s journey from a student at Goldsmiths College to the world’s most commercially successful living artist.

Spalding questioned whether Hirst, known for his shark suspended in formaldehyde, a diamond-encrusted skull, spot paintings and medicine cabinets, was an artist at all and described his works, which fetch millions at auction, as “worthless financially”.

Hirst, speaking on Monday to a small group of journalists at the Tate Modern gallery overlooking the river Thames, was clearly used to such jibes and brushed Spalding’s criticism aside with a grin.

“It’s like, you say ‘sell your Hirst’. I say ‘don’t sell your Hirsts, hang on to them.’ If you look at the numbers ...

“It’s always healthy to have both views -- people love it, people hate it. I once said as long as they spell my name right I don’t mind.

As I’ve got older I don’t really mind if they spell my name right either.

“Andy Warhol said that great thing didn’t he? ‘Don’t read your reviews, weigh them’.”

Smell of decay and money

The fact that Hirst quoted Warhol was hardly surprising -- both artists have been commercially canny and saw the value of their works as inextricably linked to the art itself. Hirst’s spot paintings, for example, are made by employees and untouched by the artist, a fact that did not prevent them becoming status symbols for the rich and famous.

The artist has come to embody the spirit of 1990s London where his works, often given intriguing titles, appealed to hedge fund

British artist Damien Hirst poses next to his triptych “Doorways to the Kingdom of Heaven” (2007), at the Tate Modern gallery in London April 2, 2012. (Reuters)

managers and oligarchs as well as an art world clamoring for new ideas.

Championed early on by collector Charles Saatchi, Bristol-born Hirst personifies conspicuous consumption, yet the 46-year-old, with a fortune estimated at over 200 million pounds, insisted that the art came first.

“I’m one of those lucky artists that makes money in their lifetime, and makes lots of money,” he said. “I’m not afraid of that but I think the goal’s always been to make art and not money. Making money is a by-product, a very happy by-product.

“I think art’s the greatest currency in the world. Gold, diamonds, art -- I think they are equal ... I think it’s a great thing to invest in.”

The show itself focuses on some of Hirst’s most important early works with a view to putting his later series into context.

The first spot painting, for example, was made in 1986 and, instead of the precise grid of equally spaced, equally sized circles of different hues comes a slap-dash affair with paint dripping down a canvas of rows of irregular shapes.

Two years later Hirst conceived and curated the “Freeze” exhibition of his work and that of fellow students, an early and impor-

tant step towards establishing him as the leading figure in the influential “Young British Artists” (YBA) movement. By 1995 he was a famous artist, winning the coveted Turner Prize and, in his acceptance speech, reminding the world of his humble academic background and rebellious spirit.

“It’s amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw,” he said.

The chainsaw referred to “Mother and Child, Divided”, a bisected cow and calf which went on display at the Turner show and provoked widespread criticism. Another Hirst work featuring a rotting cow and bull was banned in New York because of fears it would “prompt vomiting among visitors”.

It was leading US dealer Larry Gagosian who showcased Hirst in the United States, presenting the “No Sense of Absolute Corruption” show in New York in 1996.

Hirst’s mother encouraged his passion for drawing as an adolescent, but was less tolerant of his taste in music and fashion -- she melted one of his Sex Pistols albums into the shape of a fruit bowl, according to online biographies, and cut up his “bondage” trousers.

-Reuters

Rice pudding and some of the toppings on display at the Rice Pudding Factory.

Rice Pudding lovers can contact 55479001 for more details or follow Twitter: @RicePuddingFtry

China artist Ai Weiwei sets up home webcams

FRANCE: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said Tuesday he had set up four live webcams in his home in a symbolic reference to the 24-hour police surveillance he has been subjected to since his detention a year ago.

Ai -- whose activism has made him a longstanding thorn in the side of Chinese authorities -- disappeared into custody on April 3 last year as police rounded up dissidents amid online calls for Arab-style protests in China.

He was eventually released in June, but was given a one-year probation during which he cannot leave Beijing, and has been subjected to constant police surveillance.

“In my life, there is so much surveillance and monitoring -- my phone, my computer...

Our office has been searched, I have been searched, every day I am being followed, there are surveillance cameras in front of my house,” he said. “So I was wondering, why don’t I put some (cameras) in there so people can see all my activities. I can do that and I hope the other party (authorities) can also show some transparency,” he told AFP. When he was released, the 54-year-old was charged with tax evasion linked to Fake Cultural Development Ltd -- a company founded by Ai but owned by his wife.

But he has denied the charge and insists it is an attempt to silence his activism. Lawyers for the firm have also pointed out inconsistencies in the case. “Until now, there have been no clear answers as to why they put me in this kind of situation,” he said.

The webcams project includes a camera set up over his bed and one at his desk, and can be accessed on http://weiweicam.com.

The artist has previously angered authorities with his investigation into the collapse of schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and into a 2010 fire at a Shanghai high-rise that killed dozens. His art work has sold worldwide and he was named the world’s most powerful art figure by influential British magazine Art Review last year. Ai said he was “doing OK” a year after his detention, adding he had regained all the weight he lost in detention and was preparing an exhibition due to take place in Washington DC in the autumn.

His one-year probation, meanwhile, is expected to end on June 22.

On that day, “I’m supposed to be a free man, unless they accuse me again and put me in jail. Otherwise, I should be free. But I don’t know, it’s never really clear,” he said. -AFP

Swazi king demands birthday cows from subjects FRANCE: Swazi King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, has ordered his impoverished subjects to give him cows for his birthday celebrations this month, the home affairs minister said Monday. Chiefs from the Shiselweni region, where the celebrations will be held, will have to canvas their subjects for cattle to be slaughtered for the king, who turns 44 on April 19, Prince Gcokoma said. “Chiefs from the Shiselweni, as hosts, are expected to provide cattle to be slaughtered on the day,” Gcokoma told AFP. “They are fully aware of the fundamental role they’re expected to play as they are the ones who will be hosting the king on his memorable day.”

Gcokoma said the country’s precarious finances meant the government did not have enough in the budget to pay for the event, which was cancelled last year due to the crippling fiscal crisis that

has left the kingdom struggling to pay wages.

But the government this year has nonetheless pledged to make a contribution toward the five million rands ($652,000, 490,000 Euros) budgeted for the celebrations. Mswati is rated by Forbes magazine as among the world’s 15 richest monarchs, with a personal fortune of more than $100 million. He has 13 wives, each with their own palace. But 60 percent of his subjects live on less than two dollars a day in one of the world’s poorest countries, which is bordered on three sides by the continent’s economic powerhouse South Africa.

Swaziland’s banned opposition party Pudemo has demanded that the kingdom cancel the birthday party. “We call for the celebrations to be cancelled and the resources channelled to the provision of scholarships for deprived students,” party spokesman Zakhele Mabuza said. -AFP

Titanic museum launched in Southampton, England SOUTHAMPTON, England: Most people associate the drama of the Titanic with icebergs, lifeboats, and flares fired into the night. Few think of the heartbreak that took place as news of the tragedy filtered home.

Curators of Southampton’s new SeaCity Museum - opening April 10 - hope to tell the story of the shattered city that the infamous ship left behind when it sank on April 15, 1912.

“This is Southampton’s Titanic story,” said exhibition manager Dan Matthews, who gave journalists a tour Tuesday.

Southampton, one of England’s premier passenger ports, lost some 500 residents when the White Star liner sank beneath the waves. Many here initially refused to believe the

news that the ship was no more. But soon the town was in shock, with flags lowered to half mast and an open air service that drew tens of thousands of mourners.

SeaCity explores the lives of Southampton’s working-class crew, and the impact that their tragedy had on the city’s families. It does so by offering a virtual tour of the ship, one introduced by a slightly eerie recording of a child calling out: “Byebye, have a good time!”

Inside, visitors can follow the careers of various crew members - from cooks to stewards and watchmen.

Recordings from survivors - played into a dark, chilly room - provide an unsettling conclusion to the tour.

The museum also explores the legend that grew up around the doomed vessel. Among the souve-

nirs and memorabilia: A “Tubtanic” bath plug; Iceberg Brewery beer mugs; and, if beer isn’t your thing, a “Gin and Titonic” ice cube tray.

The Southhampton museum is merely the latest in a string of Titanic offerings. Last Saturday, Belfast opened its impressive 100-million pound ($160 million, €120 million) Titanic Belfast visitor center to celebrate the city where the doomed ship was built.

With 100,000 tickets already sold, Belfast is betting the center will deliver a lasting tourism boost to the conflict-scarred city. Officials hope the center’s stunning exterior - four jutting prows of the ship, lined in silver steel paneling, six stories high will create an icon that people will come to associate with Belfast, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. -AP

FILE - In this April 10, 1912 file photo, the Titanic departs Southampton, England on its maiden Atlantic voyage. April 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, just five days after it left Southampton on its maiden voyage to New York. (AP)

ALWATAN DAILY

entertainment Song Of The Day

Fahad AlSabah Staff Writer

Song: Summer Love Artist: Justin Timberlake Album: FutureSex/LoveSounds Genre: Pop/R&B In short: It is safe to say that Timbaland, with the help of Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, has revolutionized pop music in 2006 with FutureSex/LoveSounds and Loose. Back then, Timberlake’s album sounded like something you’d not expect to hear for 10 more years, but that sound has quickly become the norm thereafter.

To listen to the song visit www.alwatandaily.com E-mail your feedback to falsabah@alwatandaily.com

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

17

Gulf Film Festival to open with Kuwaiti feature Tora Bora Kuwait: The fifth Gulf Film Festival, the home of bold, contemporary and experimental cinema from the Arabian peninsula, will open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in less than a fortnight with the screening of “Tora Bora”, a Kuwaiti feature film that revolves around a brainwashed young man’s decision to join extremist forces in Afghanistan, and his parents’ agonized search for him; according to the press release.

The fiction drama, from Kuwaiti filmmaker Walid Al Awadi, will launch the festival on April 10 at Grand Cinemas Dubai Festival City, and also kickstart its Abu Dhabi screenings on April 12. The Festival continues until April 16 in Dubai, and until April 14 at the Abu Dhabi Theatre in the capital’s corniche district.

“Tora Bora”, which is competing in the Festival’s Gulf feature competition, is one of six Kuwaiti films shortlisted for the 5th Gulf Film Festival. The film, which debuted at the Cannes Film Market and screened to critical acclaim in Kuwait, will make its international premiere at the Festival.

An additional seven films from Oman will also be screened, including a co-production of Oman and Kuwait. Eight of the 13 films will make their world premiere at the festival, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture).

The Kuwait lineup also includes the world premiere of “Al Salhiyah,” directed by Sadeq

Handout photo of Kuwaiti actor Saad Al Faraj in the movie “Tora Bora.”

Behbehani. Competing in the Official Gulf Shorts, the film is a throwback to the times when love and loyalty truly mattered. Set in the Al Salhiyah neighborhood in Kuwait City, the film follows the life of an aging businessman (played by renowned actor Mohammed Jaber) and the office that is a repository of many of his memories.

The multiple-award winning short “Won-

derland: A True Story” by Kuwait’s Dana Al Mojil will also compete in the Festival’s shorts competition. An adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ that is set in Kuwait, the adventure fantasy highlights the similarities between the social and political situation in modern Kuwait and Wonderland.

Meqdad Al Kout, who won the Special

Jury Prize at GFF 2009 for his film “Banana,” has joined hands with Mousaed Khaled, an award-winning Kuwaiti actor, to co-direct “Someone,” a short fiction which also makes its world premiere in the Official Gulf Shorts competition. It charts one day in the life of a man, who goes through his daily routine with one of his friends.

Abdulaziz AlBallam’s “The Doctor Asked Me” is making its GCC premiere in the Festival’s Lights segment, a showcase of trendsetting films from the region. Narrated from the perspective of a man who is sharing his story with a doctor, the film explores how the storytelling process can lead to personal catharsis.

The last Kuwaiti film in the Festival’s Gulf shorts competition, “I Wish We Were Dancers” by Mohammed Walid Ayyad, is a silent film and a celebration of grace, portraying the life of a girl with multiple sclerosis who is confined to a wheelchair but nonetheless has vivid dreams of becoming a ballerina.

“Panda,” directed by Jassim Al Nofaly and an Oman-Kuwait co-production, makes its world premiere at GFF, as part of its Gulf shorts competition. Ziad, the protagonist, is getting married in a few hours and has to bid farewell to the most important thing in his life: the panda that has been his lifelong companion.

GFF 2012 will be held 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.

The Buzz Sarah Palin: Anyone but Obama in the White House Sarah Palin doesn’t sound too gung-ho about Mitt Romney as the GOP presidential candidate, but she insists that anyone is better than Barack Obama in the White House. Anybody “would be infinitely better than what we have today,” Palin said Tuesday on the “Today” show. The 2008 vice presidential candidate was responding, sort of, to host Matt Lauer asking if she is happy with Romney as the presumptive Republican nominee. When Lauer asked her why voters should put Obama out of office when recent signs suggest things are improving under his economic policies, Palin replied: “They aren’t getting better fast enough.” Palin, who was interviewed during the NBC morning show’s first hour, was scheduled to serve as guest co-host in the second hour. -AP

Oprah admits ‘101 mistakes’ with OWN, vows to go on

BOSTON: News Corp faces a call to appoint an independent board chairman on concerns Rupert Murdoch’s media company needs to pursue more reforms to deal with its phone-hacking scandal and other issues.

The proxy proposal, filed by Christian Brothers Investment Services, is likely to fan an ongoing controversy over governance at the company.

Although unlikely to get a majority of votes, the nonbinding resolution filed last month could put pressure on the board to remove Murdoch, currently News Corp’s chief executive, from his other role as chairman of the company, the sponsor said. With current arrangements, the company is “stepping into the scandal with a flawed corporate governance structure,” Julie Tanner, who oversees socially responsible investing at Christian Brothers in New York, said in a telephone interview.

A News Corp spokesman declined to comment.

Separately, News Corp director Viet Dinh spoke on a panel on corporate boards at a Washington, D.C. event on Monday and defended his role overseeing an internal probe into allegations of bribery and phone-hacking.

Dinh acknowledged he is godfather to one of Murdoch’s grandchildren, but said that should not make him less than independent.

Trailer from Houston’s new film, makes its debut Viewers got a first glimpse of Whitney Houston’s upcoming film Monday when NBC’s “Today” show premiered a trailer for the much-awaited release, and a fuller clip debuted on Yahoo! Movies. A remake of the 1976 original, “Sparkle” stars Houston as the mother of three girls who form a singing group and struggle with fame and drug addiction.

The trailer displayed the daughters, including “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks, in performance. Houston is prominent throughout, at one point singing the classic gospel song “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.” Debra Martin Chase, who is a producer of the film, said she had mixed emotions with the trailer’s release; the movie is scheduled for release Aug. 17. -AP

Actor Alec Baldwin engaged to marry Hilaria Thomas Alec Baldwin is giving marriage another shot. The actor popped the question over the weekend to his 28-year-old yoga instructor girlfriend, Hilaria Thomas. They began dating last year. His publicist Matthew Hiltzik made the engagement announcement over Twitter. Baldwin, who once starred in a film called “The Marrying Man,” turns 54 on Tuesday and an engagement, says Hiltzik, is a “great way to celebrate!”

Baldwin was previously married to Kim Basinger. They have a daughter together named Ireland. -AP

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic sues sony for $5 million “Weird Al” Yankovic says that Sony Music Entertainment owes him to the tune of $5 million. In a lawsuit filed Friday in US District Court in New York, the “Eat It” musical parodist claims that Sony has shortchanged him on royalties with a variety of improper accounting practices. He is seeking a judgment somewhere north of $5 million.The suit, which was filed by Yankovic’s company Ear Booker Enterprises, claims breach of contract and breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing, and makes numerous claims against Sony. In addition to seeking more than $5 million in damages to be determined by a jury trial, Yankovic is seeking interest, attorneys’ fees and court costs, and an order for Sony to provide a full accounting. -Reuters

Amy Brenneman to star off-Broadway this spring Amy Brenneman plans to return to an off-Broadway stage this spring in the play “Rapture, Blister, Burn.” The star of such TV shows as “Private Practice,” ‘’Judging Amy” and “NYPD Blue” will appear in a Playwrights Horizons production of Gina Gionfriddo’s comedy opposite Kellie Overbey. Playwrights Horizons announced Monday that the play, directed by Peter DuBois, will begin previews on May 18 with an opening set for June 12. It ends its run June 24. In the play, two women covet each other’s life. Playwrights Horizons, which commissioned the play, calls it “an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th century feminist ideals.” -AP

Martin Sheen to play Charlie’s dad on new TV show Martin Sheen won’t have to do much research for his upcoming role on son Charlie Sheen’s new TV show “Anger Management”: He’ll play the father of Charlie Sheen’s character, Charlie. Charlie Sheen plays a therapist with more troubles than some of his patients. Among them: a difficult relationship with his father, Charlie Sheen told “Access Hollywood.” -Reuters

News Corp faces proxy call for independent chairman

Targeting Independent Chairs

In this image released by CBS, Oprah Winfrey appears on “CBS This Morning,” with co-host Charlie Rose, Monday, April 2, 2012 in New York. (AP)

NEW YORK: Oprah Winfrey admitted on Monday that she had made mistakes while creating her cable channel but promised the fledging OWN television network would still succeed with a new strategy.

The talk show host, who recently laid off 30 staffers at the 15-month-old network after poor ratings, told “CBS This Morning” that she had been ill-prepared for the venture.

“The idea of creating a network was something that I’d wanted to do, had I’d known that it was this difficult, I might have done something else,” she told the morning program co-hosted by her longtime close friend Gayle King.

Winfrey, 58, had appeared unstoppable in her career with a 25-year reign on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” but when questioned about whether she seriously would have never taken on the project, she replied, “Oh absolutely.”

“I did not think it was going to be easy ... but if I knew then what I know now I might have made some different choices. I would say if I was writing a book about it, I could call the book ‘101 mistakes.’”

Within the top five mistakes?

“Launching when we really were not ready to launch,” she said. “It’s like having the wedding when you know you are not ready and you are walking down the aisle, and you are saying, ‘I don’t know ... maybe we should have postponed it.’” Now she realizes she should have waited to launch the network until she finished her duties hosting “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which ended in May 2011.

OWN, a joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications, has struggled to find a sizeable audience since its launch in January 2011.

But Winfrey defended herself saying she had initially warned partner Discovery that “the thing

that I am most worried about is who is going to lead this train, because I can’t do it.”

Now, she said, such is her commitment to the network that she will not be available to campaign for President Barack Obama in his re-election bid in a step back from her influential campaigning for Obama in late 2007.

OWN saw a 21 percent rise in total daily viewers in the first quarter of 2012 after Winfrey appeared more on the channel. But it is still attracting only 180,000 viewers a day.

In March the network laid off 30 production staffers and canceled comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show after just five months due to sagging ratings.

Winfrey admitted that along with the layoffs, the bad press about the channel’s struggles had hurt but later added that she felt better about her network OWN today than she ever has.

“Our strategy is to do what we should have done at the beginning and that is to build one show, one hour, one night at a time and then move to the next night,” she said.

Lately Winfrey boosted primetime ratings with high-profile interviews including Whitney Houston’s family, Lady Gaga, rocker Steven Tyler and mega-church pastor Joel Osteen.

When asked if audiences would see more of her, she replied, “I said from the beginning, this channel can’t be based upon me, it has to be based upon my philosophy, my ideas” and vowed not to end the network or her general life aims.

“I believe that I am here to fulfill a calling, that because I am a female who is African American who has been so blessed in the world, there is never going to be a time to quit,” she said. “I will die in the midst of doing what I love to do and that is using my voice and using my life to try to inspire other people to live the best of theirs,” she added. -Reuters

Titanic director says ocean ‘alien world’ PARIS: Fresh from his journey to the deepest point of the Pacific in a solo submarine dive, Hollywood director James Cameron has spoken to Australian schoolchildren, answering questions on how fast his craft could travel to how he went to the toilet.

The “Titanic” filmmaker, who last month plunged seven miles (11 kilometers) to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, told students at Perth’s Roseworth Primary School that science had been his favorite subject.

In particular, he was intrigued by astronomy,

the Perth Now website reported him as saying during a video chat Tuesday via satellite from a ship lying in the Pacific off the coast of Guam. “I knew I was probably not going to be an astronaut and travel to another planet, but I knew there was something very much like another planet right here on earth, and that’s underwater,” Cameron said. “Sometimes when you’re on a coral reef or a deep-sea dive, you see animals that are so colorful, so amazing and so different to anything you could have imagined, then you realize there is an alien world here on earth.” -AFP

Christian Brothers manages about $4 billion, mainly for Catholic institutional clients. It is among a group of activists gaining traction in their drive to reform corporate governance. Last year, pressure from Christian Brothers convinced Goldman Sachs Group Inc to make the leading board role of presiding director more powerful.

This year, groups allied with Christian Brothers’ work have made independent chairmen a priority for shareholder resolutions. The highest-profile is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which recently won further changes from Goldman Sachs Group Inc and has targeted other companies, including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Janus Capital Group.

Under Murdoch, News Corp has grown to become one of the world’s most powerful media companies, but also has drawn increasing scrutiny over newsgathering practices at some of its publications and questions about how much senior executives knew of abuses. Last week, it also faced reports that one of its television units had promoted piracy attacks on rivals, which the company denied. Matters came to a head last July when News Corp abruptly closed the News of the World tabloid amid scrutiny of the use of private investigators, and several top News Corp executives left. The events happened too late for Christian Brothers to file a proxy proposal related to corporate governance in time for News Corp’s 2011 annual meeting, held in October, Tanner said. Noting that support, and significant opposition from shareholders to the election of four directors last year, Tanner said she hoped the recently filed measure might gain more than 30 percent support at the meeting expected this fall. Such support could lead News Corp’s board to reduce Murdoch’s role, she said. -Reuters

Don Rickles to receive Johnny Carson Award

FILE - Comedian Don Rickles speaks at the Hollywood Walk of Fame star presentation ceremony for director John Lasseter, in Hollywood, California, Nov. 1, 2011.

(AFP)

NEW YORK: He’s known for his comedic insults, but Don Rickles will be complimented when he receives a special honor at the second annual Comedy Awards this month. The 85-year-old has been chosen to receive the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence. Jon Stewart will present Rickles with the award.

Rickles credits Carson for giving him his big break on “The Tonight Show”

when he first appeared in 1965. He went on to be a frequent guest, appearing more than 100 times and would even fill-in for Carson. Rickles is the second recipient of the award. Last year it went to David Letterman. The Comedy Awards will take place April 28 and will air on Comedy Central on May 6. The event celebrates the world of comedy from stand-up to film to TV. -AP

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ALWATAN DAILY

AROUND TOWN / TIME OUT

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012

If you have an event you wish to include, please email: aroundtown@alwatandaily.com

Feature o f

graffiti

the day

moderately confused

Dar Al Shifa Hospital sponsors Kuwait Medica 2012 conference and exhibition

KUWAIT: Dar Al Shifa Hospital announced that it is the silver sponsor of the upcoming Kuwait Medica 2012 Conference & Exhibition, which is taking place from April 16-18 in Courtyard by Marriott, Kuwait City.

Dr. MohamedWagih El-Deeb, Head of Ophthalmology Department at Dar Al Shifa Hospital, and Dr. Muhammad Al-Azemi, Consultant in nephrology, blood pressure and Internal Medicine, will be participating in the Health Awareness Camp at the conference. They will also be available for general consultation from 5 to 9 p.m.

Covering the topic of lasik procedure and what comes after the procedure, Dr. El-Deeb added, “The lasik procedure is quickly gaining momentum as a popular means of dealing with weak eyesight amongst all ages,” he said. “Naturally the technology and methodology of lasik is also changing at a fast pace. I believe that all patients must be well-informed about their conditions and treatments, which is why it is important for us at Dar Al Shifa Hospital to be present at Kuwait Medica.”

Dr. El-Deeb holds a Ph.D. in ophthalmology, and he is also an associate professor of Ophthalmology at Cairo University, a fellow of Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh as well as Alicante Institute of Refractive Surgery in Spain. He is also a member of the European and American Societies of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

An expert in his field, Dr.Al-Azemi will be taking on diabetes and kidney diseases as main points of discussion during the health awareness camp. “Though everyone knows of the diseases there are a lot of misconceptions, that can cause some to miss out on warning signs, and others who know they have the disease feel like

Month a t

Sudoku there is no real cure,” he noted. “True understanding of the diseases and treatment methods has improved significantly in the recent years, and it is great to be able to share that with a wider audience,” he added.

Besides his post at Dar Al Shifa, Dr. Al-Azemi is a member of the Canadian board for Nephrology, the American Board for Blood pressure disease, and the American and Canadian Boards of Internal Medicine.

Other consultants from the dermatology and dietary department will also be participating in addition to the hospital training department. They will be available for free consultation and to showcase the different services offered by the hospital between April 16 and 18 during the allocated exhibition timings.

Elementary

Intermediate

Advanced

General A n n o u n c e m e n t s

a glance imprint, within each thumb impression he has formulated a pseudo-calligraphic narrative of life experiences on luminous and luxurious enamel weaves.

Golden era club 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

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

K’S PATH’s last Shelter Open Day Kuwaiti cuisine March 15-April 5/6 p.m. - 8 p.m./TIES Center: TIES Ladies Club invites you to our Kuwaiti cuisine classes which will start soon. Join us for a one month cooking program where you will learn to cook real Kuwaiti food. All ladies are invited to join our classes and let your family enjoy the mouth watering Kuwaiti cuisine. For more information/registration, contact 25231015/6.

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 countries. His body of work consists of a central iconic image that of a finger

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

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.

On the occasion of Easter Sunday, the South African Embassy will be closed from Sunday, April 8, 2012 to Monday, April 9, 2012. The Embassy will resume its normal working hours on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, from Sunday to Thursday. Please note that the working hours will be from 8h00 to 16h00 and the Consular Section operation hours will from 8h30 to 12h30.

Embassy of India

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

South African Embassy closure

The Embassy of India will remain closed on April 5, 2012 on account of “Mahavir Jayanti”.

Embassy of Korea The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6. Contact: 25378621/2/3/4/5. The embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Morning: 8 a.m. 12:30 p.m. Lunch break: 12:30 p.m. - 1 p.m. Afternoon: 1 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Nancy

Horoscopes Aries: March 21 - April 19

You could hesitate to take the initiative, Aries. Instead, you’d rather wait and see how things pan out before you make a major move. Your movements are hindered in some way, although you may not be sure why. It’s best to go with your intuition and not question too much. Just know that you’re better off taking the safer route rather than walking too far out on the thin ice.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20

You could feel increasingly uncomfortable as the day goes on, Taurus. Perhaps you’re tongue-tied in conversations - quite rare for you. The problem is that you simply don’t know what to say, or if you do, you don’t feel comfortable saying it in front of these people.

Perhaps you feel you’ve lost your edge. Don’t despair. This is only a passing phase.

Gemini: May 21- June 21

You could lapse into pessimism, Gemini. Suddenly the glass appears half empty and everything looks bleak. You feel like you’re going around in circles.

You might ask yourself what you’re doing it all for anyway. You can talk yourself out of this mood as easily as you talked yourself into it.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

You might be much more aware of yourself than usual and hyper-alert to every move you make today, especially around others, Cancer. You’re feeling self-conscious about your words, and you could be constantly wondering if you’re saying the right thing to the right person at the right time. Too much self-analysis of could drive you completely insane if you aren’t careful.

Leo: July 23 - August 22

Your attitude is calm and matter-of-fact when talking to others, Leo. You tell it like it is while omitting the frills and fantasies. You have no reason to hide the truth, so you’re happy to disclose information to any willing listener. Be careful, because you could get into someone else’s private business uninvited. If you hear some secret information, you could tell it to others who definitely shouldn’t hear it.

Virgo: August 23 - September 22

You’re likely to have tremendous concentration that seems to have materialized out of nowhere.

Use this to your advantage, Virgo, because it may not last long. You’re usually blown from one thing to another like a leaf in the wind, and it’s hard for you to settle on one project or issue for an extended time.

Libra: September 23 - October 22

Be careful about shutting yourself off from the rest of the world, Libra. You might hesitate to talk to people. You could have the feeling that they’re unworthy of your time. Perhaps you feel that your problems are more important and that others are too concerned with superficial things to understand the true depth of your nature.

Isolating yourself certainly isn’t going to remedy the situation.

Scorpio: October 23 - November 21

You might talk as if you possess many lifetimes of wisdom, Scorpio. Perhaps you do, but that doesn’t mean you should be arrogant about it. Your words might have the tone of a sage schooled in every subject.As a result, you could grow frustrated with others who act immature or uneducated. It isn’t your job to judge. Help others understand the bigger picture instead of assume they’re unworthy.

Sagittarius: November 22 - December 21

Once you’ve made up your mind, Sagittarius, it’s doubtful that anyone can change it. You’re set in your ways and your plans are set in stone. Having this solid base to stand on will let others support you effectively. You’re trustworthy and predictable. Others can depend on you and know where they stand in relation to you.

Capricorn: December 22 - January 19

You might be hard and cold when it comes to the facts, Capricorn, and you could come across as tough and rather harsh. In reality, this often just masks your sensitive interior. Perhaps you’re insecure about your feelings and how you express yourself. People might never know this because you’re so good at showing only the strong-willed, electric side of your personality.

Aquarius: January 20 - February 18

You’re likely to be feeling a bit lonely, perhaps even isolated, Aquarius. Maybe you think no one else has your same wild thoughts running through their heads. You’d be surprised to learn how many people do. It’s unlikely, however, that you’ll share these thoughts with anyone, especially now. Don’t feel like you have to. Just know that you aren’t alone and that you have a network of support at all times.

Pisces: February 19 - March 20

If you have the opportunity to teach someone a lesson, Pisces, feel free to do so. There’s probably someone in your world who could use a bit of instruction now. You’ll have the patience and clarity of words to straighten things out and make the correct path obvious. Don’t be stingy with your knowledge.

ALWATAN DAILY

SPORTS

wednesDAY, april 4, 2012

19

Tennis

I’m just as good as last year’ warns Djokovic KEY BISCAYNE, Florida: Novak Djokovic may not be able to match last year’s sensational 41-match winning streak but the world number one believes he is in just as good form heading into the claycourt season.

The Serb successfully defended his Sony Ericsson Open title with a 6-1 7-6 win over Britain’s Andy Murray in Sunday’s final at the Miami Masters Series event where he never dropped a set during the two-week tournament.

“I feel that being number one and having (had) the best year of my career in 2011, I’m playing at the peak of my form and I’m playing the best tennis that I have played,” Djokovic, 24, told reporters after his victory at Crandon Park.

“So I have to use that as much as I can, coming into every tournament that I play. The competition is getting stronger, I believe.

Everybody is so professional nowadays.

You have the top players playing in all the top events. That wasn’t the case maybe five, 10 years ago. So that makes it even tougher for anybody to win a title. But I’m ready for it.”

Djokovic’s win at Miami last year came in the midst of an extraordinary run of victories that began with the Australian Open and ended in June with a loss to Roger Federer in the French Open semifinal.

“The season was incredible, especially the opening five, six months of the year. Every year is different. I’m coming in this year with a grand glam win and now a Miami win, couple of semi-finals. I think I’m playing equally well as I did 12 months ago,” said Djokovic.

“But again, it’s different. I still want to fight for every title, like everybody else. I have this positive mindset, not really defending or calculating how many points I can lose and things like that. So every tournament for me is equally important.”

English funding cut as Wimbledon fails to grow grassroots

Novak Djokovic of Serbia holds the winners trophy after defeating Andy Murray of Great Britain at the Sony Ericsson Open, April 1, 2012. (AFP)

Now the tour moves to the clay courts and Djokovic, who needs a win at the French Open to complete a career grand slam, says he is relishing the change of surface.

Cricket

Tendulkar quits as IPL Mumbai captain

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday stepped down as Mumbai Indians skipper on the eve of the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying he needed a “break from the responsibility of captaincy”.

The batting superstar, who led Mumbai in all of the previous four editions of the IPL, will be replaced by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh as captain in the Twenty20 tournament that starts on Wednesday.

“The Mumbai Indians is more than a team.

It is like a family to me. At this point of time, I feel I need a break from the responsibility of captaincy,” Tendulkar, who turns 39 this month, said in a statement.

Tendulkar, who smashed an unprecedented 100th international century during the Asia Cup in Dhaka last month, said the new captain would have his wholehearted support.

“After due consideration, I discussed my intention to hand over the captaincy of the team to Harbhajan Singh,” he said.

Tendulkar, who has brushed aside any speculation about his retirement, holds four batting world records, most runs and centuries in Tests and one-day internationals.

Mumbai, who lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the play-off last year, will clash with defending champions Chennai Super Kings in their opening match in Chennai on Wednesday.

Harbhajan said he was looking forward to leading the team.

“Mumbai Indians is a great team with explosive talent and promising youngsters,” said Harbhajan. “I am committed to do the very best and look forward to leading the team to play to its full potential during the season.”

Harbhajan is not new to captaincy, having already led the Mumbai Indians to the Twenty20 Champions League triumph last year. -AFP

“Knowing that I had such a great clay court season last year and some clay court wins in major events gives me confidence prior to this one.” -Reuters

moaned their lack of impact in a sport which largely began in Britain. World number four Murray, from Scotland, has been a rare success story but is still to win a grand slam title which also eluded previous British beacon Tim Henman.

The women’s game in the UK has struggled even more with Virginia Wade’s 1977 Wimbledon win now a long time ago.

Every year Britain is gripped by tennis fever for the two weeks of Wimbledon when public courts are deluged with excited youngsters wielding brand new rackets but the interest soon fades once football season begins and the dark nights roll in.

That happens despite Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and, to a lesser degree Murray, serving up some of the best tennis the world has ever seen in recent Wimbledons.

Spain does not boast a grand slam tournament but has five men in the top 20 compared to Britain’s one. -Reuters

Jayawardene frustrates England with another ton COLOMBO: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene once again led from the front, hitting his second century in as many tests to steer his side to 238 for six on the opening day of the second and final match against England on Tuesday.

The home team, 1-0 up in the series, won the toss for the second straight test but it was England who were most satisfied by the end of the day.

Paceman James Anderson took three early wickets to reduce Sri Lanka to 30 for three before Jayawardene came to the rescue, stroking 11 fours and one six in his 105. It was the 34-year-old right-hander’s 31st test hundred and his eighth against England, the most he has scored against any country. Angelo Mathews, back in the side after injury, was unbeaten on 41 at the close while Suraj Randiv was five not out.

Jayawardene, who made 180 in the first test in Galle and batted without blemish here, was trapped leg before by Graeme Swann late in the day after the spinner went round the wicket and straighted one to the Sri Lankan skipper.

The batsman opted to review the decision but the ‘Hawk-eye’ technology showed the ball was going on to hit the top of his leg stump after pitching outside off.

England then picked up a wicket with the second new ball when fast bowler Steven Finn had Prasanna Jayawardene caught behind by Matt Prior for seven.

Earlier, skipper Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera pulled Sri Lanka out of trouble with a fourth-wicket stand of 124 after Anderson had removed Tillakaratne Dilshan (14), Lahiru Thirimanne (eight) and Kumar Sangakkara for a duck.

Samaraweera, who was hit on the head by Finn when he ducked into a bouncer, made a composed 54

Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka hits out past Andrew Strauss of England during day 1 of the second test match between Sri Lanka and England, April 3, 2012. (AFP)

with five fours until he was trapped leg before by Tim Bresnan, the ball skidding through to beat his forward defensive prod. The pitch offered early assistance to the seamers and Dilshan hit two consecutive fours off Anderson before the opener was caught behind.

Sangakkara then suffered his second successive first-

Basketball

Clippers win 6th in a row, 94-75 at Mavericks DALLAS: Randy Foye had 28 points with a career-high eight 3-pointers and the Los Angeles Clippers won their sixth consecutive game, 94-75 over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night for their longest winning streak in two decades.

Blake Griffin had 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Clippers, who last won six in a row in March 1992. Griffin had scored 20 points in each of the previous six games, but still had his 33rd double-double this season.

After Brandan Wright’s tip-in capped an 8-0 run for the Mavericks to get within

LONDON: The United Kingdom Lawn Tennis Association has had its funding cut after a series of mesmerising Wimbledon finals and the success of Andy Murray failed to inspire Britons to take up the sport.

Sport England, the governmentbacked development agency, said in a statement on Tuesday that Britain’s tennis body had agreed to accept a reduction of 530,000 pounds in the light of disappointing participation figures.

A survey showed the average number of English adults playing tennis at least once a week has declined from 487,500 in 2007/08 to 375,800 in the latest update.

“No decision to reduce funding is taken lightly, but Sport England has been clear that failure to achieve the agreed growth in a sport would lead to a governing body’s overall funding levels being reviewed,” Sport England Chief Executive Jennie Price said.

British tennis fans have long be-

76-62 with about 71/2 minutes left, Foye responded with a 3-pointer. Jason Terry then made another basket for Dallas, only to have Foy make another 3, his eighth to match the franchise record.

Quentin Richardson made 8 of 11 3-pointers while scoring 36 points for the Clippers at Boston on Feb. 4, 2004.

Caron Butler, part of the Mavericks’ championship team last season, had 13 points for the Clippers, who had lost 10 consecutive games in Dallas since 2006.

Nick Young had 10 points.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with

Dallas Mavericks’ Vince Carter (25) attempts to get a shot off against Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Bledsoe, Blake Griffin (32) and Bobby Simmons (21), April 2, 2012. (AP)

19 points, while Jason Terry had 15.

Los Angeles entered the game fourth in the Western Conference, just ahead of the defending NBA champions.

Had the playoffs been starting, it would have been a first-round game - in Los Angeles. Good thing for the Mavericks there are still more than three weeks left in the regular season.

The Mavs, who lost two of three in the regular season against the Clippers, slipped to sixth place in the Western Conference.

They are a half-game behind Memphis, who they play twice in their next three games, including Wednesday night at home.

Dallas was without veteran guard Jason Kidd and forward Lamar Odom. Kidd isn’t expected to play this week, meaning he could miss his third four-game stretch this season.

As usual, Griffin had some highlight dunks. He punctuated his night with a high-flying gem in the closing minutes.

Griffin’s first dunk came 5 minutes into the game, when Butler had a steal and pass to Griffin for a breakaway slam. Griffin made the shot even as Delonte West, filling in as the starter for Kidd, reached over and slapped down on his head.

The Clippers then went ahead to stay on a tip-in by DeAndre Jordan and Butler’s short bank shot. A 3-pointer by Foye stretched the lead to 25-15 with less than 2 minutes left in the first quarter.

Young’s only points before a late 3-pointer had been seven in a row in a 75second span midway through the second quarter for a 35-23 Clippers lead. Dallas had only 33 points at halftime, its secondlowest scoring first half of the season. -AP

ball duck when he edged Anderson to Andrew Strauss at first slip and the visiting captain held on to a juggling catch. Thirimanne was trapped leg before, offering his pad to a delivery that pitched outside the off stump but swung back in. Opener Thirimanne reviewed the decision and failed to get it overturned. -Reuters

Formula one

Formula One driver Vettel confident of bouncing back

Red Bull-Renault’s Sebastian Vettel poses with the Grand Prix of the Academy of Sports he received during the Awards Ceremony, April 2, 2012. (AFP)

PARIS: Germany’s two-time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel said on Monday his rivals should beware because he would bounce back in the next two Grand Prix’ China and Bahrain.

The 24-year-old lies sixth after two races, 17 points adrift of leader Spain’s two-time champion Fernando Alonso, having finished second in the opening race in Australia before failing to finish in the points in the rain-affected Malysian race.

However, Vettel who will defend his world title would be the first driver to win the title three successive times, said he wasn’t too concerned by the early season showing of him and his previously allconquering Red Bull car.

“I’m confident for the next two races (the Chinese GP in Shanghai on April 15 and Bahrain on April

22),” said Vettel, who was here to accept the Sports Academy Grand Prix prize voted by 50 sporting personalities for the most outstanding sporting achievement of 2011. “We had a good race in Australia and in Malysia it was a bit chaotic. It’s a shame I didn’t get a point in Malaysia,” added Vettel, who moaned after the race that Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan was an idiot after a collision between the two cost him any chance of a points finish.

Vettel, though, said that the season was young and there was plenty to come from him and his car.

“There are a lot of races to come and should be in good shape,” he said. “Today I had a couple of hours in our simulator in order to prepare for China and Bahrain. However, we have to prove it on the circuits themselves.” -AFP

WEDNesdAY, april 4, 2012

SPORTS

Sports Editors Highlight LONDON: Manchester United’s South Korean midfielder Park Ji-Sung has predicted that an Asian country will bring home the World Cup within a decade. Park told the China Daily that Asian teams still had a way to go before they could triumph in football’s most prestigious tournament, but said they were improving quickly.

“There is a gap between us and the world-class level, so we still have to improve. But in the past few years, the quality of Asian football has got better and we have proved we can deal with world-class teams,” he said. Asia’s best performance yet in the World Cup was in 2002, when South Korea, playing as co-hosts with Park in the side reached the semi-finals. The next World Cup will be held in 2014 in Brazil, followed by Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. -AFP

Football

Stakes high for Chelsea against Benfica in Europe LONDON: Chelsea defends a narrow first-leg lead over Benfica in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday knowing that winning the title for the first time may be its only chance of securing a place in next year’s competition.

The Blues are five points behind a qualifying spot with only seven games left in England’s Premier League, so players are well aware of the importance of not letting slip a 1-0 lead over the Portuguese side.

Chelsea has never failed to reach for the Champions League since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the west London club in 2003, and the financial reward for playing in Europe’s top club competition leads to an odd situation where repeated qualification is as sought after as the glory of actually winning it. “We have to be aware that Benfica at home is still to get through,” midfielder Frank Lampard said.

“Then we will potentially face Barcelona or AC Milan in the semifinal and then we have the final.

“To win them all to try to confirm our Champions League status for next year, it is a risky card, albeit one well within our means.”

Chelsea does still have a chance of qualifying via its Premier League position, but needs fellow Champions League regular Arsenal or Tottenham to stumble badly if it is to make the top four.

“We have to fight on both levels,” Lampard told BBC Radio. “Where we are now in the table, we’re disappointed to not be fighting for first or second but you have to understand that you can’t have it your own way every year.”

Chelsea warmed up with a 4-2 Premier League win at Aston Villa, with Spain striker Fernando Torres scoring his first league goal since September.

Torres is almost certain to start at Stamford Bridge, while Lampard may again be on the bench. Interim coach Roberto Di Matteo has concerns over the availability of David Luiz’s ankle injury and Didier Drogba’s foot problem.

Two-time European champion Benfica has only one fit central defender for its attempt to reach a first semifinal in 22 years. Injuries to Jardel, Garay and Miguel Victor have left Luisao without a partner.

Coach Jorge Jesus is expected to drop midfielder Javi Garcia into the back four and put Serbia international Nemanja Matic in a defensive midfield role.

Argentine playmaker Pablo Aimar returns to action after missing last weekend’s 2-1 win over Portuguese title rival Braga through suspension.

Benfica lies second in the Portuguese championship, one point behind leader FC Porto with five rounds to play. -AP

APOEL need miracle against Madrid in Champions

Chelsea’s Fernando Torres (center) shoots at goal during the UEFA Champions League football match between Benfica and Chelsea, March 27, 2012.

(AFP)

Liverpool ‘in crisis’, says ex-striker Aldridge LONDON: Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has insisted his old club are “in a crisis” following last weekend’s defeat by Newcastle, their sixth loss in seven Premier League games.

Liverpool have won this season’s League Cup and return to Wembley a week on Saturday for an FA Cup semifinal with Merseyside rivals Everton.

However, their 2-0 loss to Newcastle left Liverpool eighth in the table, with the five-times European champions 16 points off a place in next season’s Champions League and only seven Premier League matches remaining this season. Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge claims the Reds are now a club “in crisis”.

“There is no getting away from the fact that Liverpool are now in a crisis,” Aldridge, who played under manager Kenny Dalglish in the 1980s during the Anfield great’s first spell in charge, wrote in Tuesday’s Liverpool Echo.

“To lose six out of seven in the league is something the club won’t ever tolerate, we can’t tolerate that. To have picked up just eight points out of 36 since the turn of the year is shambolic, that’s relegation form.”

Aldridge added the bulk of the blame rested with the players, rather than Dalglish, who has nevertheless come under fire for his transfer market dealings, with Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan

Henderson and Charlie Adam, who between them cost some £85 million, having so far failed to produce the goods.

“The team just seems to have lost their belief,” said Aldridge. “You can blame the manager and the coaching staff but at the end of the day it comes down to the players. They are getting paid unbelievable amounts of money and aren’t producing the goods. They need to realise how lucky they are and start doing it or their Anfield careers won’t last much longer.”

He added: “More than anything I want to see some pride. That’s all we’re playing for in the league now but there doesn’t seem to be much pride around.”

-AFP

Eto’o drops case against Barca for 3 million euro payout

FILE - Real Madrid’s Kaka (center) is congratulated by team mate after scoring a goal against APOEL during their Champions League quarter-final, March 27, 2012. (Reuters)

MADRID: Real Madrid should reach its second straight Champions League semifinals under coach Jose Mourinho barring a catastrophic collapse against Cypriot team APOEL Nicosia on Wednesday.

Madrid cruised to a 3-0 win away to open the quarterfinal and the Spanish powerhouse has won 26 of 27 series in which it has opened away with a triumph, including all three after taking the first match by such a score. APOEL, meanwhile, has never overcome such a deficit in 10 previous ties.

The Spanish league leader’s potent attack has been on display in its last three straight wins, with Cristiano Ronaldo taking his season tally to 47 goals, including a league-leading 37 after a pair in Saturday’s 5-1 rout at Osasuna.

Karim Benzema is enjoying his best season since joining Madrid in 2009, the France striker scoring 27 in all competitions this season including seven in Europe.

Madrid’s strikers have combined for 98 goals overall this season when factoring in Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain’s 24, putting the club on course to smashing its own 22-year-old record of most goals scored in a league.

The attack has also been boosted by the return of Argentina forward Angel di Maria, who went on as a late substitute at Osasuna for only his second appearance of 2012.

Mourinho could juggle his lineup once again with an important match against Valencia looming on Satur-

day, as Esteban Granero, Raul Albiol, Raphael Varane and Nuri Sahin all showed they could fill in aptly in the past two games when regulars like Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira, Lassana Diarra and Pepe were missing. Kaka could also return after being rested against Osasuna.

“I try to find the best combinations for the team,” said Mourinho, who may not risk Di Maria against the Cypriot side, however. “In Cyprus, for example, Alonso didn’t play so I went with Sahin. Against Osasuna, despite Nuri’s great game, I preferred Granero.”

APOEL is the first Cypriot team to go this far in the competition and is coming off a 2-1 win over AC Omonia in its domestic league.

“It was an important victory for us at a crucial juncture in the championship when it’s nearing the end,” APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic said. “It was a difficult week and a difficult match that very much depended on our will, disposition and concentration.”

Jovanovic is without striker Ivan Trickovski and defender Marcelo Oliveira, while defender Savvas Poursaitides will travel to the Spanish capital. The visitors plan to dig in to keep Madrid’s attack from running rampant.

“We’re not going to Madrid for a holiday. The players will try their best to achieve the best possible result,” APOEL President Phivos Erotokritou said. “No one believed it then (that APOEL would reach the quarterfinals). But we got this far justly, no one handed it to us. We earned it.” -AP

Havutcu reappointed coach of slumping Besiktas

ISTANBUL: Besiktas have replaced Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal with his predecessor Tayfur Havutcu, the club said on Tuesday, two days after the slumping Istanbul club lost at home to relegation-threatened Samsunspor.

Besiktas initially promoted Carvalhal from his assistant role when Havutcu was arrested after the club became involved in a last year’s match-fixing scandal that threw the domestic league into turmoil.

Havutcu was detained during the probe, in which 93 people including the chairman of champions Fenerbahce, are being tried in an Istanbul court.

Carvalhal remained head coach after Havutcu was released pending trial with eight other suspects in December following the submission of a matchfixing indictment to the court.

Besiktas, currently fourth in the standings - 20 points behind leaders Galatasaray, issued a statement on its website thanking the Portuguese coach for his services to the club.

The team had won only two of its last 11 matches under Carvalhal and was knocked out of the Europa League by Atletico Madrid last month.

-Reuters

BARCELONA: Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has dropped his legal case against Barcelona after having demanded three million Euros ($3.99 million US dollars) he said was owed from his transfer to Inter Milan in July 2009, the Spanish club said on Tuesday.

“Barcelona would like to make public their thanks to Samuel Eto’o for his willingness to bring this contentious issue to an end,” the European champions said in a statement.

“He was one of the greatest goal-scorers in the club’s history.” The Cameroon forward, who is now with Russian Pre-

mier League Anzhi Makhachkala, went to Inter as part of a swap deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Swede Ibrahimovic, now with AC Milan, cost Barca a fee of 46 million Euros while Eto’o was valued at 20 million Euros.

Eto’o had based his demand on Spanish Players Union (AFE) rules, whereby a player has the right to claim 15 percent of any transfer fee.

Barca’s legal services countered by saying the AFE ruling was only applicable to transfers between Spanish clubs.

-Reuters

De Gea form comes just in time for title-chasing United LONDON: David de Gea’s recent good form could be a key element in Manchester United retaining their Premier League title after the previously jittery Spaniard showed he is not the latest goalkeeping dud signed by Alex Ferguson.

The 21-year-old made three excellent saves in Monday’s 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers which sent the champions five points clear of second-placed Manchester City with seven games left.

In the corresponding fixture in December, when lowly Blackburn won 3-2 at Old Trafford, De Gea was all over the place and gave United fans nightmare recollections of misfits down the years such as Massimo Taibi and Roy Carroll.

Apart from the great Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar, who retired last year, Ferguson has a poor record in picking keepers with Fabien Barthez and Mark Bosnich among those who also largely flopped.

De Gea, the 18 million pound signing from Atletico Madrid, whose gangly frame contrasts with the girth of Schmeichel, has won his manager over.

“David de Gea made three fantastic saves to keep us in the game,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.

“David has done his bit for the team.

He has really grown in stature the boy. He was outstanding.”

Part of the reason for De Gea’s im-

provement possibly lies with the fact that Anders Lindegaard, his rival for the goalkeeping jersey all season, has been out with injury in recent weeks therefore guaranteeing him a start.

Ferguson was previously rotating his keepers but it did little to boost De Gea’s confidence when he was trying to get used to the extra pace of the Premier League.

De Gea has also had a settled pair of centre backs in front of him of late, with Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand finding form at the right time for United.

Liverpool’s Pepe Reina is in shaky form and could even open the door for De Gea to grab the third goakeeping spot in Spain’s Euro 2012 squad. -Reuters

FILE - Manchester United’s goalkeeper David de Gea retrieves the ball during an English Premier League football match against Newcastle United, Nov. 26, 2011. (AFP)