April 8, 2012 by Al Watan Daily

SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

@alwatandaily

Issue No. 1398

16 PAGES

www.alwatandaily.com

150 Fils with IHT

Syria deadline approaches, attacks continue

BEIRUT: Syrian government shelling and offensives against rebel-held towns killed at least 53 civilians across the country on Saturday, activists said, as the US posted online satellite images of troop deployments that cast further doubt on whether the regime intends to comply with an internationally sponsored peace plan. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has accepted a cease-fire deadline brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, which calls for his forces to pull out of towns and cities by Tuesday and for both government and rebels to lay down their arms by 6 a.m. local time Thursday. But the escalating violence of the past few days has fueled accusations that Al-Assad is rushing to stamp out as much of the year-old uprising against him as he can before next week’s ceasefire. The Syrian government said it has begun to withdraw forces ahead of the cease-fire but activists say no significant pullouts have taken place and troops, checkpoints and snipers remain in almost all major flashpoint towns and cities. “They are systematically trying to crush the revolt wherever they can and regardless of the human cost,” said activist Mohammad Saeed in the Damascus suburb of Douma. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said the Syrian government appears to have pulled back some of its forces from towns and cities but in

other places has kept in place or simply shifted around troops and armored vehicles. He said he was basing his information on satellite images before and after the alleged pullouts which were posted on the US Embassy Facebook page Saturday. Arrests, sweeps, and the artillery bombardment of opposition strongholds have continued, Ford’s statement said. “This is not the reduction in offensive Syrian government security operations that all agree must be the first step for the Annan initiative to succeed,” the late Friday statement said. “The regime and the Syrian people should know that we are watching. The regime cannot hide the truth,” it added. Ford was forced to leave Syria in February citing security concerns, and the US Embassy there was closed indefinitely. Western leaders along with the Syrian opposition have cast doubt on Al-Assad’s intentions, suggesting he is playing for time and is not serious about the plan, which aims to pave the way for talks between the regime and the opposition on a political solution. The government has launched offensives in several parts of the country in the past few days in a desperate attempt to crush the rebels. Opposition groups said at least 53 people were killed across Syria Saturday, most of them

Interpellations may cause split among ‘Majority’

Staff Writers

KUWAIT: Barely 48 hours before the Parliament discusses the interpellation motion filed by MP Hussein Al-Qallaf against the Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, suspense and anticipation arise amid reports suggesting that the motion might shatter the Parliamentary ‘Majority’. The Cabinet is discussing today the parliamentary interpellation and is looking into claims of violating Articles 7, 29, 37 in the Constitution as well as the government’s attitude towards some of the media channels. The parliamentary interpellation is expected to take place on Tuesday. Sources related to Al Watan that the Minister will deal with the questioning in similar fashion of that His Highness the Prime Minister when he answered all the questions against him. Speaking to Al Watan, Minister Al-Abdullah noted that the he will respond to the issues con-

in government shelling and clashes in the village of Al-Latamneh in the central Hama province. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed in the nearby Tibet al-Imam area. An amateur video posted by activists on the Internet showed Al-Latamneh residents crying “Allahu Akbar” as they held up a small girl, apparently dead. The video also shows the bodies of several men covered in white sheets lined up on the ground. In the nearby province of Homs, activists also reported shelling of the rebel-held areas of Rastan, Deir Baalabeh and Qusair, where they said at least three people including a mother and her son were killed. The Observatory also said 13 unidentified bodies were found in Deir Baalabeh and ten in Hreitan in the northern province of Idlib. In other violence, Lebanese security officials said six people were killed and 21 wounded in a rocket attack on a Lebanese bus after it crossed into Syria Saturday. The bus was carrying pilgrims to Iraq and was struck after it crossed the Joussiyeh border crossing in eastern Lebanon into Syria. The officials said five Syrians and a Lebanese were killed in the attack. It was not immediately clear who fired the rocket, or how many of the dead were on the More on 4 bus or bystanders.

Syrians wave Syrian Baath Party ﬂags during a march in Damascus to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Baath Party and in support of President Bashar Al-Assad on April 7, 2012. (AFP)

Iran capable of producing nuclear weapons: Lawmaker

tained in the motion in a transparent and constitutional manner. “All the questions being raised about the interpellation will be addressed at Parliament on Tuesday,” he told the paper. In another development, MP Osama Menawer revealed that the motions may cause friction among the majority. The lawmaker was however quick to add that the ‘Majority’ continues to agree on priorities and legislations. He added, “The ‘Majority’ remains in agreement with regard to discussing all the motions filed by its members, as he referred to a meeting to be held by the bloc at MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaie’s diwaniya today to discuss the interpellations and express a standpoint on them. For his part, MP Mohammad Al-Kandari said that the Popular Action Bloc should be morally committed to the agreement reached by the ‘Majority’ bloc concerning the interpellations filed by the members More on 2 in order to strengthen them.

Scientists find alternative to whale ambergris for perfume

Artifacts worth $3.2 million stolen from UK museum

Supporters of the Russian Communist Party hold a rally in Moscow April 7, 2012. Communist Party activists and supporters gathered in central Moscow to protest against policies conducted by Russian Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin and to demand fair elections, according to participants. (Reuters)

Avalanche buries 130 Pakistani soldiers on glacier

ISLAMABAD: An avalanche smashed into a Pakistani army base on a Himalayan glacier along the Indian border on Saturday, burying around 130 soldiers, the military said. Helicopters, sniffer dogs and troops were deployed to the remote Siachen Glacier to rescue those trapped, according to a military statement. The avalanche hit a battalion headquarters in the glacier’s Gayari sector at 5:45 a.m, according to a security official who didn’t give his name because he is not an official spokesman. Siachen is on the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region claimed by both India and Pakistan. Both countries station thousands of troops there, who brave viciously cold temperatures, altitude sickness and high winds for months at a time. Troops have been deployed at elevations of up to 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) and have skirmished intermittently since 1984, though the area has been quiet since a cease-fire in 2003. The glacier is known as the world’s highest battlefield. The headquarters in Gayari is the main gateway through which troops and supplies pass on their to other more remote outposts in the sector. It is situated in a valley between two high mountains, close to a military hospital, according More on 5 to an officer who was stationed there in 2003.

LONDON: Two Chinese artifacts with an estimated combined value of 2 million pounds (3.2 million US dollars) have been stolen from a British museum, authorities said Saturday. Two men and a woman from the West Midlands area have been arrested in connection with the Thursday night theft at Durham University’s Oriental Museum, but the items had not yet been recovered, police said. The northern England-based university confirmed that two “priceless” artifacts were stolen when thieves broke into a ground-floor gallery at the museum: a large jade bowl with a Chinese poem written inside that dates back to 1769, and a Dehua porcelain sculpture. “We are extremely upset to have fallen victim to such a serious crime,” museum curator Craig Barclay said in a statement. “The two pieces are highly significant in that they are fine examples of artifacts from the Qing Dynasty.” Police said they were still trying to locate “several outstanding suspects.” The museum will be closed until further notice, the university said. It was not immediately clear what security systems were in place at the museum prior to the theft. -AP

Artificial lakes in Um Al-Remam, Al-Rawdatain, Um Al-Aish proposed

First southern Africa female head of state sworn in

LILONGWE, Malawi: Prominent women’s rights campaigner Joyce Banda was sworn in as Malawi’s president on Saturday, becoming southern Africa’s first female head of state and raising hopes for a fresh start in the small, poor nation after the death of her mercurial predecessor. Banda, a 61-year-old policeman’s daughter who has won international recognition for championing the education of underprivileged girls, had served as vice president under Bingu wa Mutharika, who died on Thursday following a heart attack. She succeeded him under the terms of the constitution. Aid-dependent Malawi had slid into economic crisis over the last year, as Mutharika, a professorial but temperamental former World Bank economist, squabbled with major western donors

who then froze millions of dollars of assistance. Banda took the oath of office on Saturday in the Chinese-built National Assembly in the capital Lilongwe, as flags flew at half mast in mourning for Mutharika, whose death was only officially announced by Malawi’s government on Saturday. “I want all of us to move into the future with hope and a spirit of unity,” Banda, wearing a black, silver and pink robe and headdress, said amid loud applause and singing. In a sign that she has support across the political spectrum, opposition leaders had called for her to be swiftly sworn in as head of state and some 20 members of the national governing council of Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also expressed their backing for her. -Reuters

ICC prosecutor confident of 2012 Kony arrest UNITED NATIONS: The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he has “no doubt” that fugitive African warlord Joseph Kony will be arrested this year because the international spotlight has helped boost the hunt for the Lord’s Resistance Army leader. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the fact that 100 million people watched the first video about Kony’s crimes in just six days showed that “the world today understands that justice has to be done” - and he expressed hope that the world will put a spotlight on other fugitives including Sudan’s president and a Congolese army general to help bring them

before the court. “Twenty years ago, no one was talking about justice,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. “Now it’s a new thing.” Moreno-Ocampo cited three key decisions in the ongoing hunt for Kony - the Ugandan government’s renewed commitment of troops, the Central African Republic giving a green light for Ugandan soldiers to operate there, and US President Barack Obama’s dispatch of 100 US military advisers - mostly Army Special Forces - to help the Ugandans with logistics including helicopters and intelligence. -AP

Google creates a spectacle with ‘Project Glass’

Study says risk of back problems in teens carrying heavy backpacks

CAPITALS: Many teens carry school backpacks that exceed 10 percent to 15 percent of their body weight, which puts them at risk for back pain and related disorders, a new study says according to a report published by HealthDay News. The threat posed by the heavy weight is made greater by the fact that most teens don’t get enough exercise, according to the researchers. The study included more than 1,400 students, aged 12 to 17, in 11 schools in a province in northwestern Spain. The teens were first weighed with the backpack they normally carry to school and then weighed again without the backpack. The researchers also collected information about the students’ height, exercise levels, underlying health problems and back health. The average weight of the students’ backpacks was almost 7 kilograms (15.4

pounds). Nearly 62 percent of the students carried backpacks that exceeded 10 percent of their body weight, and 18 percent carried backpacks that exceeded 15 percent of their body weight. One in four students said they had experienced back pain for more than 15 days during the previous year. The most common problem was scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, which was diagnosed in 70 percent of the students with back pain. Low back pain and continuous and involuntary muscle contraction were also common problems. Girls were more likely to have back problems than boys, and their risk seemed to increase with age. Teens with the heaviest backpacks were 50 percent more likely to have back pain for longer than 15 days, compared to those with the lightest backpacks.

People take part in a pillow ﬁght ﬂashmob at the Brandenburg Gate that was organized over Facebook in Berlin, Germany, on April 7, 2012. (Reuters)

ALWATAN DAILY

kuwait

SUNDAY, april 8, 2012

Interpellations may cause split among ‘Majority’ Staff Writers

KUWAIT: Barely 48 hours before the Parliament discusses the interpellation motion filed by MP Hussein Al-Qallaf against the Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah, suspense and anticipation arise amid reports suggesting that the motion might shatter the Parliamentary ‘Majority’. The Cabinet is discussing today the parliamentary interpellation and is looking into claims of violating Articles 7, 29, 37 in the Constitution as well as the government’s attitude towards some of the media channels. The parliamentary interpellation is expected to take place on Tuesday. Sources related to Al Watan that the Minister will deal with the questioning in similar fashion of that His Highness the Prime Minister when he answered all the questions against him. Speaking to Al Watan, Minister Al-Abdullah noted that the he will respond to the issues contained in the motion in a transparent and constitutional manner. “All the questions being raised about the interpellation will be addressed at Parliament on Tuesday,” he told the paper. In another development, MP Osama Menawer revealed that the motions may cause friction among the majority. The lawmaker was

however quick to add that the ‘Majority’ continues to agree on priorities and legislations. He added, “The ‘Majority’ remains in agreement with regard to discussing all the motions filed by its members, as he referred to a meeting to be held by the bloc at MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaie’s diwaniya today to discuss the interpellations and express a standpoint on them. For his part, MP Mohammad Al-Kandari said that the Popular Action Bloc should be morally committed to the agreement reached by the ‘Majority’ bloc concerning the interpellations filed by the members in order to strengthen them. The lawmaker cautioned the Popular Action Bloc against alienating the majority in its plans to question the Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. Al-Kandari stressed that the members of the majority should always refer to the bloc and that different views should be entertained. “The interpellations filed by the ‘Minority’ are intended to hamper projects and shuffle cards as well as embarrass the ‘Majority’,” the MP said. He cited the interpellation that has been recently filed by MP Saleh Ashour against the prime minister, saying that the motion fell short of fixing the existing flaw. Al-Kandari also denied that the majority is pursuing a policy of exclusion, citing the fact that minority MPs are chairing leading com-

FILE -Lawmakers are seen taking part in National Assembly session that was held on March 29, 2012. (Al Watan)

mittees in Parliament. Lawmakers Marzouq AlGhanem, Adnan Abdulsamad, and Mohammad Al-Saqr, chair the Finance, Budget and Foreign Affairs Committees respectively. Meanwhile, MP Obeid Al-Wasmi has renewed his threat that he would file a motion

to question the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah unless the latter takes action in regard to the observations raised concerning the irregularities that have been recently uncovered. “It’s either that you don’t take decisions in

your ministry and accordingly you should quit or you are behind the malpractices and should therefore be held accountable,” the lawmaker was quoted as saying. In the meantime, MP Nayef Al-Ajmi urged the Cabinet to take serious action in controlling prices before the Civil Service Commission deposits the recently increased salaries. In another development, MP Ashour called on the information minister to take legal action against Islamic intellectual Dr. Abdullah AlNafeesi, while accusing the interior minister of selectivity in enforcing laws. For his part, MP Badr Al-Dahoum proposed that all civil servants who have been serving for more than 30 years be sent to retirement in enforcement of Civil Service Commissions law. The MP called on ministers not to cave in to pressure to extend the tenures of departmental heads, assistant undersecretaries and undersecretaries in order to pump fresh blood for further improvement. Moreover, MP Ali Al-Diqbasi addressed a number of questions to the Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Salah in which he inquired about the outcome of the investigation carried out by a committee charged with probing the irregularities in Free Trade Zone. The MP wanted to know about the recommendations made by the committee and the action taken concerning the issue.

Al-Damkhi: Artificial lakes in Um Al-Remam, Al-Rawdatain, Um Al-Aish proposed Mechanism needed for interpellations Mervat Abdul Dayem Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Engineer Meteb Al-Mutairi and Dr. Safa Zaman proposed digging artificial lakes to act as reservoir for surplus in drinking water, instead of spilling the water into the sea. The lakes will be dug in Um AlRemam, Al-Rawdatain and Um Al-Aish. The researchers explained that natural terrains can be used as artificial lakes after applying cement mixed with an isolating substance that preserves water. The location will be provided with water through Al-Sebbeyya station, because the northern tanks are located high on the Al-Sebbeyya Mountains, where water will flow into Um Al-Remam, then will flow into the rest of the lakes. They added that water can move either through an artificial river or huge pipes connected directly to the highest lake. Pipes will also link between Al-Metlaa tanks that are close to the location and Kuwait’s main network, which will allow for the maximum benefit from a huge reservoir that saves surplus water to be used in the future instead of being spilled into the sea. They noted that this project will be an integral part in the series of significant achievements made by Kuwait, and revealed that the world’s population has tripled during the last century. Water consumption has increased by 600 percent; especially after the increase in population that leads to more water consumption, while the supply remains stable. They remarked that water desalination is the main source for drinking water in Kuwait, in addition to underground water. They added that desalinated water is a strategic option that needs to be underlined,

and efforts need to be exerted to improve the technology used in water desalination while lowering the cost. They went on to say that the United Nations says that half the world’s population will suffer from thirst, and that drinking water does not exceed 0.3 percent of the water reservoir on earth. However, drinking water does not reach 20 percent of the world’s population. In addition, the UN states that 1.1 billion people cannot access drinking water, while 2.4 billion lack proper health equipment. The UN expects that the world will suffer acute shortage of water due to the growing consumptions rates that are triggered by the increase in the world’s population. The UN noted that in 20 years, scarcity of water will force India and the United States to lose their crops. Moreover, the researchers stated that their project discusses the current situation in Kuwait and the increasing rates of consumption; especially during the summer. They explained that the solution is to setup huge natural water tanks to preserve water surplus without any cost, which will solve the water consumption problem in Kuwait, and boost agriculture. This will lead to increasing agricultural production and food security, in addition to growing trees to act as wind breakers, setup touristic projects and resorts, and lower the temperature by 4 degrees Celsius. They remarked that there are several projects in Egypt and Libya, and asserted that these projects were very successful. They said that the authorities that will take advantage of this project are Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR), ministries of Electricity and Water, and Public Works, in addition to the oil sector and Kuwait Municipality.

Mohammad Al-Khaldi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Adel Al-Damkhi asserted that the Majority Bloc’s scheduled meeting today (Sunday) will discuss a specific mechanism for the interpellations to be filed by its members and the need for coordination amongst them. In a statement to Al Watan, the lawmaker indicated that when the Bloc

was formed, its agenda was clear, for it includes the passage of bills and the endorsement of schemes needed by the people of Kuwait in the coming period. According to him, these bills concern public freedoms, fight against corruption and enhancing development. “Each and every MP is entitled to filing an interpellation motion,” the MP assertively said. He however noted that the lawmakers need to be focused on the priorities set out by the majority.

Al-Damkhi also mentioned that oversight-oriented bills will remain a priority for the majority; hence they should be endorsed as soon as possible. He added that the said draft laws will be included in the Parliament’s agenda for this month, noting that the delay was due to the fact that the pertinent reports were not ready. “Nevertheless, all the reports will be finalized so that they can be approved this month.

Ministry of Electricity, Water to implement 7 mega projects Khaled Al-Otaibi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water has allocated 328 million Kuwaiti dinars to implement seven major projects in the fiscal year (FY) 20122013. The new projects include the importation, installation, operation and maintenance of gas units at old power stations in order to increase electricity and water

Small businesses are essential for development: Minister Safar

production and meet development and housing needs. The project also includes the importation, operation and maintenance of vapor turbine units at the Subiyya power station for electricity and water desalination. Also, the ministry plans to import, install and operate a gas turbine unit at the Southern Zour station for electricity and water desolation. At least 16 million dinar is earmarked for the project for a period of eight years and eight months.

Additionally, the ministry plans to desalinate seawater in order to produce 50 million empirical gallons in order to meet public demand. A tender will be floated and implemented to this effect. Projects include turning gas turbine stations into dual system to increase production by 500 megawatts, in addition to allocating KD 98 million to spend on the project this year. The project aims to increase power production, and to add 900 megawatts to the network.

Company breaches contract with American army pays KD 5 million

Ebtessam Saeed Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Court of Appeal obliged an American army subsidiary company in Kuwait to pay over five million Kuwaiti dinars to another plaintiff company, since the second company was bound to supply the first with equipment. The court ordered the first company to pay to the second company legal interest worth seven percent annually, effective the date of claiming payments. Plaintiff company lawyer Ali Al-Asfour said that he will appeal the court sentence, since his client seeks higher claim. It is worth noting that there is a verbal

agreement between the two companies, where the plaintiff company was bound to supply and execute construction materials and make constructions, in addition to supplying the American army with all its requirements. The defendant company had vowed to pay the bills issued by the plaintiff company regarding the supplies provided and constructions made in Kuwait and overseas for the benefit of the American army. However, the defendant company refrained from paying the bills issued by the plaintiff company, which prompted it to file a case. An expert from the Ministry of Justice called for the payment of over KD five million by the defendant to the plaintiff company.

Minister of Education handles Bedoun teachers’ issues

Abdul Aziz Al-Fadhli Staff Writer

Photo of Minister of Public Works and Minister of Development and Planning Dr. Fadhil Safar is seen attending the first session of Kuwait Investment Forum on Saturday, April 7, 2012. (KUNA) Jamal Ramadan Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The Minister of Public Works and Minister of Development and Planning Dr. Fadhil Safar said that there is almost a unanimous agreement that small businesses are significantly important and that a draft bill had been passed to the Fatwa and Legislation for endorsement which in turn will be passed to the Cabinet and the National Assembly for final approval. Dr. Fadhil’s statement came during the first session Kuwait Investment Forum held under the title “Investment in Kuwait: reality, Obstacles and Solutions” on Saturday. The minister explained that there are a large number of projects, more than the market can handle, and thus there is more need to look after small and private businesses which are part of the Fourth Objectives of the country’s development plans.

He also said that in order for the small businesses to succeed, there is a need to improve the administrative support, training programs, technical support and feasibility study as well as financial support and easy loans and introducing more shopping malls in the country. On his part, Arab Institute for Development and Planning Dr. Riyadh Jalili made presentation for small businesses as well medium businesses. He argued that small businesses will indeed resolve the issue of unemployment. Jalili also outlined the various obstacles and challenges facing small businesses such the right ideas for businesses, personal qualities of the project owner, the stages of the project progress, and good qualified administrative skills. Similarly, the General Manager of the Touristic Enterprise Hassan Al-Qanai said that investing in small businesses is part of the country’s development plans and growth. He praised the gov-

ernment’s policy of encouraging more and more people to getting involved in small businesses adding that this is done with the promise that one day they will have their own business. He also said that the best investment is human investment and people need to be trained for the right job and get the rights skills to do the job required from them. On his part, Industrial Bank Saad Al-Othman said that his bank has been supportive of small businesses stressing that small businesses contribute by no less than 40 percent of the total revenue. He also said that small businesses help in creating jobs. He added that the Industrial Bank has set a fund the capital of which is 50 million Kuwaiti Dinars solely for the subsidiary and funding of small businesses and thus 159 businesses were supported by the Bank at the cost of 15 million Kuwaiti Dinars.

KUWAIT: Sources revealed that Minister of Education Nayef Al-Hajraf will discuss the affairs of 70 Bedoun (Stateless Arabs) teachers who have passed tests and interviews that were held while former minister Moudhi Al-Humoud was in office. Al-Hajraf is handling the issue personally, since those teachers were officially accepted by the ministry. The accepted teachers have graduated from Kuwait University, Arab Open University, and GUST. Sources stated that most of them have Kuwaiti mothers and fathers working in the army. Sources mentioned that Al-Hajraf vowed to look into the issue and discuss it with Civil Service Commission to determine why the teachers’ list has not been approved.

MoH opens 3rd diabetes awareness day

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Minister of Health Dr. Ali Saad Al-Obeidi opened Saturday evening the activities of the third diabetes awareness day. The activities, being organized by the Amiri Hospital’s Diabetes Unit, aims to raise public awareness about the risks of the disease. Addressing the opening ceremony, the minister said the State of Kuwait was one of the advanced countries in health-

care services. “The Ministry of Health spares no effort to combat the disease and educate the people on how to prevent this serious disease through sound nutrition and sporting,” the minister affirmed. Meanwhile, Head of the Diabetes Unit Dr. Abdulnabi Al-Attar said the diabetes prevalence in Kuwait is the world’s third highest. -KUNA

ALWATAN DAILY

KUWAIT

sundAY, april 8, 2012

Human Rights objects Kuwait devotes special attention indefinite detention of prisoners to students: Ambassador Staff Writer

KUWAIT: In a press release made available to Al Watan, the Human Rights Fundamentals Society demanded that all rights of detainees must be observed as stated in the Kuwaiti Constitution. The Society is critical in the way the government is handling such issue, describing it as “selective”. The Society said that such approach is in blatant violation

of the principle of equality and justice. The Society went on to cite the Kuwaiti Constitution Article 9 where it states that any detainee must be presented before a judge and should be put on trial within reasonable period of time. It also states that the rule here is not detaining people for the sake of it. The Society urged the MPs to interfere and stop indefinite detention of prisoners.

Kuwaiti Governor to visit Guangzhou to spur business GUANGZHOU: The upcoming visit of Kuwait City Governor Sheikh Ali Al-Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou will become a solid base to establish relations of friendship and

Kuwaiti Governor Sheikh Ali Al-Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah is set to visit the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on April 24, 2012. (KUNA)

development between the two cities, Kuwaiti Consul General in Guangzhou Abdulwahab Al-Sager said on Saturday. In a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Al-Sager said the capital governor’s four-day visit, from April 24, comes at the invitation of Mayor of Guangzhou Chen Jianhua and Guangzhou Party Secretary Wan Qingliang. “As Sheikh Jaber Al-Ali will be the first senior official from the Kuwaiti government to the Guangdong provincial government, his visit will establish friendly and fraternal relations between Kuwait City and the provincial capital of Guangzhou,” Al-Sager said, stressing significance of the visit. He explained that the two cities will sign a friendship and brotherhood treaty on April 25, which is expected to become a framework to advance the prosperity, development and joint investment in accordance with the principles of equality and mutual benefit. “The agreement will encourage bilateral cooperation and multi-shaped areas of economic, trade and industry, health, education, tourism, environmental protection and investment,” Al-Sager said, noting that Kuwaiti Capital Governor will be accompanied by senior officials from Kuwait’s oil and trade sectors and Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to the diplomat, the trade volume between the State of Kuwait and the entire Guangdong Province hit 12.1 billion US dollars in 2011, up 63 percent, while the value of trade between Kuwait and Guangzhou city alone during the January-February period this year reached over $121 million. -KUNA

Bosnia President stresses importance of ties with Kuwait SARAJEVO: Bosnia and Herzegovina President Bakir Izetbegovic stressed, on Saturday, the importance of bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation his country enjoys with the state of Kuwait. The Bosnian President said, during a meeting with the Kuwaiti Ambassador in his presidential headquarters in Sarajevo, that his country is looking forward to raise the level of political and economic cooperation with the Gulf state. This could be achieved by increasing the number of visits between the two countries, he added.

The upcoming visit of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister to Kuwait comes as a natural progression to the aforementioned political cooperation. He wished this collaboration would further prosper and advance to serve the best interest of both countries. On his part, Kuwaiti Ambassador to Sarajevo Mohammad Fadhel Khalaf lauded the level of relations that ties the two countries together and reiterated Kuwait’s support in funding projects that might uplift this Southeastern European country. -KUNA

Group photo of Sheikh Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah with Kuwaiti students studying at the Bahraini universities on Saturday, April 8, 2012. (KUNA)

MANAMA: The Kuwaiti government, which bases its development schemes on human resources, devotes special concern to its students abroad and follows up closely on their conditions, the Kuwaiti ambassador to Bahrain said. Sheikh Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah, in a statement he made during a meeting with Kuwaiti students studying at the

Bahraini universities, said the government continuously follows up on conditions of the students abroad and considers them as ambassadors of the State. The Kuwaiti youth in general, and the students in particular, constitute the real investment and the basis for realizing the aspired development, Sheikh Azzam said.

Kuwait hosts media courses Sunday KUWAIT: Scheduled international media courses are due to start on Sunday under sponsorship of Information Undersecretary Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Homoud Al-Sabah, with participation of state ministries and satellite television channels, the Ministry of Information said on Saturday. The courses will be held in coordination with the International Center for Neurolinguistic Programming for information dialogue. The programs to be presented during the workshop were approved by the American Board for Certification and other American scientific authorities. Sheikh Salman had stated to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the ministry, upon guidelines of Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, was seeking to upgrade skills of the young personnel. The ministry has granted two seats to each Kuwaiti satellite television station seeking to apply in the activities, in addi-

Information Undersecretary Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Homoud AlSabah. (KUNA)

tion to two seats to each information sector, the ministries of defense, interior and the National Guard. -KUNA

Political leadership of Kuwait supports and encourages the students to help them specialize in the fields, needed in the country. He urged the students studying at the Bahraini universities and colleges to persevere, and thanked the Bahraini government that offers various facilities for them. -KUNA

Two workers injured in KOC fire

KUWAIT: Two workers were injured on Saturday in a fire that broke out in a portable high-pressure air device, reported Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). The company said in a statement that the fire occurred at 11:20 in the morning local time which resulted in the wounding of two workers. They were rushed immediately to Ahmadi hospital and then to Al-Babtain Center for Burns and Plastic Surgery for treatment. The company said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the fire broke out while the crew was carrying out a periodical maintenance of a portable high-pressure air device. The company said it will form a team to investigate the cause of the accident. -KUNA

THIS WEEK IN KUWAIT’S HISTORY April 8

1964: Belgium inaugurates its embassy in Kuwait and its ambassador presents his credentials to the Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. 1964: Kuwait Medical Society, established in October 1963, is officially declared as an authority charged with upgrading the profession and shouldering the responsibility of securing good medical care in the country. 1968: The first edition of the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Seyassah is published. Ahmad Al-Jarallah, still in office, is the independent paper’s first editor-in-chief. 1997: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) commences actual Date Tree production. 2001: The Cabinet endorses a draft decree forming the higher committee for development and economic reforms, led by First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. 2006: The Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah inaugurates the opening of Al-Babtain Central Library for Arabic Poetry. The three-storey library includes 80,000 poetry books. April 9

1940: The Municipal Council agrees on making porters pay fees of one rupee per year. 1961: Kuwait sends a memo to the General Secretariat of the Arab League, informing it that it will be using the metric scale for measurements as response to the Arab League decision number 90 calling Arab states to implement this. 1962: The Amir, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues law 4 of 1962 on industrial patents. 1962: Gulf Insurance Company is established with a capital of 800,000 Kuwaiti dinars. 1977: Thailand opens its embassy in Kuwait. 1980: The first sports club for girls is opened. 1991: The UN Security Council issues resolution 689 which supports establishing a unit of UN international supervisors to watch over the Kuwaiti-Iraqi borders. 2004: The permanent Arab committee for weather forecast elects Kuwait’s Khalid Al-Shuaibi as the deputy chairman in its meetings held in Cairo. 2004: Former chairman and managing director of the Kuwait Airways Corporation Ahmad Faisal Al-Zabin officially heads the International Aviation Safety Association, as the first Arab to hold that post. A ceremony was held on

this occasion in London. 2007: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah inaugurates the Avenues Mall in Al-Rai area. The 395,000 square meters mall costed KD 650 million. April 10

1945: Morris Patrick is appointed in Kuwait as the new British Political Agent. He stays in office until August 15, 1947. 1960: Kuwait becomes full member of the International Maritime Consulting Organization. 1967: The Petrochemicals Industries Company exports the first shipment of ammonia to Saudi Arabia. 1972: The Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues a decree by law approving Kuwait’s membership in the protocol concerning immunity and privileges of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and its employees. 1972: The Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues a decree by law approving the Arab agreement of capital investment and movement, which was reached in Damascus on August 29, 1970. The move is in response to a resolution adopted by the Arab Economic Union Council in its 15th session in Damascus on August 26, 1970. 1988: The Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, inaugurates the meetings of the Executive Bureau of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The Bureau, according to the last OIC summit resolutions in Kuwait, is instructed to activate and coordinate works of OIC specialized bodies. 1995: The Meat Factory of the Livestock Transport and Trade Company is opened. It is the largest and most modern factory in the region. 2000: The Health Ministry announces the health insurance for expatriates project. Residency permits will only be approved after health insurance stamps. 2000: Kuwait Magic is inaugurated in Abu Halifa. The project, built over 98.486 square meters, includes a beach area, a children’s palace, a cultural village and public facilities. 2007: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issues law 78/2007 stating the Oil Ministry is responsible for the state’s oil resources and their development to increase national income.

April 11

1959: The Amir, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues Decree 3 of 1959 on Kuwaiti marine law. 1963: Kuwait witnesses the biggest demonstration ever, celebrating the unity of Egypt, Syria and Iraq. 1971: The Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues Law 6 of 1971 dividing Kuwait into 10 electoral districts; each constituency to elect five members in the National Assembly (Parliament). 1972: The Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues Law 19 of 1972 approving the agreement on establishing the Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC). 1975: Offices of an American insurance company in Kuwait are bombed. 2009: Kuwait’s national water polo team wins the second tournament for third world countries, beating Singapore 13-6 at the final game held at the Olympic pool at Kuwait Sports Stadium. April 12

1961: The Kuwaiti Dinar becomes the official currency instead of the Indian Rupee. 1963: The largest march takes place in Kuwait to celebrate the declaration of unity between Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. 1975: Kuwaiti-based US insurance company’s offices bombed. 1994: The first conference after the 1991 war of liberation of Kuwait opens, discusses the role of women in cultural, social, and economic development. April 13

1955: The social affairs department issues first workers identification cards in Kuwait on condition that they enter Kuwait legally. One rupee was set as a fee of issue. 1969: The cabinet issues a decision authorizing the state-owned Saving and Credit Bank to provide loan services to citizens mainly for purchasing homes or renovations. 1994: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issues two decrees, the first of which accepted the resignation of five ministers and the second was concerning a minor cabinet re-shuffle that brought in three elected MPs to the government. 1997: The Amiri diwan announces the demise of Sheikh Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah at the age of 50.

Sheikh Ali, who died in London from a heart attack, was the minister of defense in 1991-92 and minister of interior in 1994. 2003: Kuwaiti firefighters manage to put out the last oil well in Al-Rumeila oilfield in southern Iraq. April 14

1956: Khalid Zaid Al-Khalid passes away. Born in 1906, the famous pearl merchant in 1932 was the first board chairman of Kuwait Airways in 1954. 1960: The Amir, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, issues an Amiri decree re-naming the Department of Courts to the Department of Justice. 1967: Seven MPs tender their resignation contesting elections results. 1986: The Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, inaugurates the Al-Ajeeri Observatory Complex. 1988: The Swimming Pools Complex is inaugurated. 1993: The Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, decorates former US President George H.W. Bush with the State’s Mubarak the Great Medal. 1997: Kuwaiti citizenship is granted to 111 children of non-Kuwaiti martyrs in appreciation of their sacrifice for Kuwait. 2003: The National Assembly accepts the resignation of MP Sayyid Hassan Al-Qallaf in light of his questioning of the Minister of Electricity and Water and Social Affairs and Labor, Talal Al-Ayyar. 2004: The Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, issues Amiri Decree 88/2004 licensing the establishment of Boubyan Bank with a capital of KD 100 million. 2004: The Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, issues Amiri Decree 89/2004 licensing the establishment of Jazeera Airlines with a capital of KD 10 million. 2004: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Higher Environment Council Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah inaugurates the site of the landfill reclamation project in Al-Qurain area. 2008: Amiri decree 106/2008 to establish the Kuwait Institute for Science and Technology. 2008: The first issue of the daily “Al-Dar” newspaper hits the stands. The political daily is published by Al-Jabriya Printing and Distribution House, with Mohammad Abdullatif Hayat as its Editor-in-Chief.

ALWATAN DAILY

regional Muppet show

By Hossam Fathi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The Egyptian presidency rally is a circus, and what is ironic is that everyone is aware of what is going on under the table, yet no one knows who the magician is. Major General Omar Sulaiman had announced earlier on Wednesday that he will not run for presidency, and issued a statement to the people. However, before even the applause of the people faded, two days later, Sulaiman announced that he will run for presidency, since the goals of the revolution have not been fulfilled yet. Since that day, Egyptians have been divided into a group that has been weeping because Sulaiman was not running for presidency, and another group that is weeping because he will run for president. Of course, the Egyptian official media must have a role in that circus. Egyptian government television announced that the Muslim Brotherhood second in command, Khairat Al-Shater, has withdrawn from the presidency circus, in addition to Ahmed Shafeeq, in favor of Sulaiman. Those statements were viewed by millions of common Egyptians everywhere. However, Egyptians are sick and tired of the games played by those hiding behind the curtain. It is time for some transparency, before the situation explodes. hossam@alwatan.com.kw Twitter:@hossamfathy66

Hamas executes 3 in Gaza, including ‘traitor’

GAZA: Islamist group Hamas executed three men on Saturday, hanging two convicted murderers and a Gazan found guilty of collaborating with Israel, the Hamas-run ministry of interior said. It did not name the men and gave few details of the allegations against them, but said one of trio was convicted of kidnapping a boy, raping him and then killing him. It denounced the man who helped Israel as a “traitor”. The ministry said in a statement the families of the murder victims had refused to offer an amnesty to the killers. The executions were carried out “in accordance with our religion, rulings of the Palestinian law and in preserving the rights of citizens and achieving the security of the community”, the statement said. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, at least 11 prisoners have been executed and more than 30 death sentences have been handed down by the courts, including to numerous people charged with helping the Israeli security forces. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and its charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Under local law, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is meant to have the final say on whether executions should be carried out, but Hamas refuses any such consultations. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned the use of the death penalty in Gaza, but Hamas rejects such criticism. “The rulings were carried out ... after the defendants had been given their full right to defend themselves,” the interior ministry said. -Reuters

Rare air strike in Sudan’s Abyei injures one: UN

KHARTOUM: A rare air strike has occurred in the Abyei region contested by Sudan and South Sudan, injuring one woman, the United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) said in a weekly report monitored Saturday. The UN said it was the first reported aerial bombing in the Abyei area since last June, when Khartoum and southern officials signed an agreement to demilitarize the area along their disputed border. Four bombs were dropped on March 31 in Um Khariet, OCHA said in its online report which cited UN peacekeepers based in Abyei. Um Khariet is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Abyei town. OCHA, in its weekly bulletin for Sudan, said humanitarian agencies “are extremely concerned” that the bombing will negatively affect the return of displaced people north of the Bahr el Arab/Kiir River and the peace process in Abyei. “The majority of the 110,000 people displaced from Abyei in May 2011 have yet to return and cite the continued presence of armed forces, lack of clarity on the new administration, the destruction of infrastructure, the threat of landmines and lack of livelihoods as the main factors hindering their return,” OCHA said. Abyei, a fertile border district claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, was to vote on its future in January last year alongside a referendum on independence for the South. That southern ballot delivered a landslide for secession, and South Sudan gained independence in July after Africa’s longest war. Both sides were to keep troops out of Abyei until the vote on its future. But arguments over voter eligibility meant Abyei’s plebiscite did not happen, and Khartoum’s troops rolled in to expel the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army, sparking global condemnation. According to a January report by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Sudanese troops and police remain north of the river, while South Sudanese police are stationed below it. The UN Security Council has demanded that both sides withdraw their forces. The March 31 air strike occurred during a period of high tension between Sudan and the South, with Sudan alleging a southern troop buildup near oil-rich Heglig to the east of Um Khariet after earlier border clashes between the two nations, and accusations from the South that its border region had been bombed. -AFP

SUNDAY, april 8, 2012

Syria deadline approaches, attacks continue BEIRUT: Syrian government shelling and offensives against rebel-held towns killed at least 53 civilians across the country on Saturday, activists said, as the US posted online satellite images of troop deployments that cast further doubt on whether the regime intends to comply with an internationally sponsored peace plan. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has accepted a cease-fire deadline brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, which calls for his forces to pull out of towns and cities by Tuesday and for both government and rebels to lay down their arms by 6 a.m. local time Thursday. But the escalating violence of the past few days has fueled accusations that Al-Assad is rushing to stamp out as much of the year-old uprising against him as he can before next week’s cease-fire. The Syrian government said it has begun to withdraw forces ahead of the cease-fire but activists say no significant pullouts have taken place and troops, checkpoints and snipers remain in almost all major flashpoint towns and cities. “They are systematically trying to crush the revolt wherever they can and regardless of the human cost,” said activist Mohammad Saeed in the Damascus suburb of Douma. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said the Syrian government appears to have pulled back some of its forces from towns and cities but in other places has kept in place or simply shifted around troops and armored vehicles. He said he was basing his information on satellite images before and after the alleged pullouts which were posted on the US Embassy Facebook page Saturday. Arrests, sweeps, and the artillery bombardment of opposition strongholds have continued, Ford’s statement said. “This is not the reduction in offensive Syrian government security operations that all agree must be the first step for the Annan initiative to succeed,” the late Friday statement said. “The regime and the Syrian people should know that we are watching. The regime cannot hide the truth,” it added. Ford was forced to leave Syria in February citing security concerns, and the US Embassy

Hreitan in the northern province of Idlib. In other violence, Lebanese security officials said six people were killed and 21 wounded in a rocket attack on a Lebanese bus after it crossed into Syria Saturday. The bus was carrying pilgrims to Iraq and was struck after it crossed the Joussiyeh border crossing in eastern Lebanon into Syria. The officials said five Syrians and a Lebanese were killed in the attack. It was not immediately clear who fired the rocket, or how many of the dead were on the bus or bystanders. An offensive in Idlib over the past few days has triggered a massive wave of refugees who crossed the border to Turkey with horrific accounts of mass graves, massacres and burnedout homes. Activists have reported about 100 dead in the villages of Taftanaz and Killi, both in Idlib, in recent days. Baath celebratory rally

Syrians wave Syrian Baath Party flags during a march in Damascus to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Baath Party and in support of President Bashar Al-Assad on April 7, 2012. (AFP)

there was closed indefinitely. Western leaders along with the Syrian opposition have cast doubt on Al-Assad’s intentions, suggesting he is playing for time and is not serious about the plan, which aims to pave the way for talks between the regime and the opposition on a political solution. Multiple offensives

The government has launched offensives in several parts of the country in the past few days in a desperate attempt to crush the rebels. Opposition groups said at least 53 people were killed across Syria Saturday, most of them in government shelling and clashes in the village of Al-Latamneh in the central Hama prov-

ince. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed in the nearby Tibet al-Imam area. An amateur video posted by activists on the Internet showed Al-Latamneh residents crying “Allahu Akbar” as they held up a small girl, apparently dead. The video also shows the bodies of several men covered in white sheets lined up on the ground. In the nearby province of Homs, activists also reported shelling of the rebel-held areas of Rastan, Deir Baalabeh and Qusair, where they said at least three people including a mother and her son were killed. The Observatory also said 13 unidentified bodies were found in Deir Baalabeh and ten in

Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators turned out in the Syrian capital on Saturday to show their backing for Al-Assad’s ruling Baath party on the 65th anniversary of its creation. An AFP journalist said government supporters gathered in the central Sabaa Bahrat Square, waving the red, black and green national flag and portraits of Assad as patriotic music blared from loudspeakers. “God, Syria and Bashar - that’s all,” and “Shabiha (regime militiamen) for life, for you Al-Assad” were among the slogans they chanted. One young woman stood on a platform put up for the rally and shouted: “They called it a revolution and they are massacring people,” referring to the rebels battling Al-Assad’s regime. Supporters of the president also chanted “Death to Israel!” amid a sea of giant Baath party flags. The official SANA news agency reported similar demonstrations in other cities that “expressed the Syrian people, army and leadership’s steadfastness in the face of the conspiracy hatched against Syria.” It said the rallies also rejected “foreign interference in Syria’s internal affairs” and support for “the comprehensive reform program.” -Agencies

Iraqi head of controversial TV station to be tried

BAGHDAD: The head of Arrai TV, famed as the mouthpiece of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi before his death, will appear in an Iraqi court on May 13 on charges of “stealing state property,” his lawyer said on Saturday. Former Iraqi member of parliament Mishan Al-Juburi, 54, is accused along with his son Yazen, whose company allegedly failed to fulfil a contract to provide food for Iraqi forces guarding oil installations. Al-Juburi, a Sunni, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in absentia for embezzlement in

the case in 2007, but under Iraqi law is entitled to a new trial if he appears in court. He has meanwhile been cleared of terror charges stemming from a video aired on his channel showing how to make bombs, “because the investigating judge did not find any evidence to indicate that he is supporting or funding terrorism,” his lawyer Tareq Al-Maamuri told AFP. The video was aired by a Syrian employee who was promptly dismissed, Maamuri said. But Al-Juburi still faces the embezzlement

Iran capable of producing nuclear weapons: Lawmaker

TEHRAN: Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent lawmaker has said. Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam is a parliamentarian not a government official and his views do not represent the Iranian government’s policy. It however is the first time that such a prominent Iranian politician has publicly stated that Iran has the technological capability to produce a nuclear weapon. His assertion published on parliament’s website late Friday suggests that Iran is trying to show unity in its political establishment around its often repeated claims that it seeks world-class technological advances including nuclear expertise, but does not want to develop atomic arms as the US and its allies claim. The statement comes before planned talks beginning next week with the US and other world powers over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Moghadam said Iran can easily produce the highly enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs, but that it is not Tehran’s policy to go that route. “Iran has the scientific and technological capability to produce (a) nuclear weapon, but will never choose this path,” he said in remarks carried by the parliamentary website icana.ir. The US and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges, saying its program is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly insisted that his country is not seeking nuclear weapons, saying that holding such arms is a sin as well as “useless, harmful and dangerous.” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also asserted that if Iran one day decides to build nuclear weapons, it will do so openly and won’t fear anybody. However, he has also emphasized that Iran has no intention to weaponize what he describes as a peaceful nuclear program. Director of US National Intelligence James Clapper asserted in a January report to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Iran has the means to build a nuclear weapon but has not yet decided to follow through. US intelligence officials say they generally stand by a 2007 intelligence assessment that asserts Iran stopped comprehensive secret work on developing nuclear arms in 2003. But Britain, France, Germany, Israel and other US allies think such activities have continued past that date, a suspicion shared by the IAEA, which says in recent reports that some isolated and sporadic activities may be ongoing. However, the IAEA says there is no evidence to prove that Iran’s nuclear materials have been diverted towards weapons. Moghadam, the lawmaker, said that Iran has the means to produce 90-plus percent enrichment. “There is a possibility for Iran to easily achieve more than 90 percent enrichment,” icana.ir quoted Moghadam as saying. -AP

charge and had to pay 100 million Iraqi dinars (84,000 US dollars) in bail when he was in Iraq last month. Al-Juburi, who is currently in Syria, told AFP by telephone that he will return to Iraq next week, and that he plans to move his TV channel there. “I will be present for my trial, and my son will come later,” Al-Juburi said. His channel, currently housed in a 250square-metre (2,700-square-foot) hangar in his compound in Damascus, broadcast messages from Gadhafi while the Libyan leader was on

the run last year before he was caught and killed. With his tribal relations, Al-Juburi negotiated the entry of US and Kurdish non-combat forces into the north Iraq city of Mosul in 2003, and became governor of Nineveh province, in which it is located, for a few months. In March 2005, his candidacy for speaker of parliament was rejected by Shiite MPs, and a month later, Al-Juburi, who said he wanted to “represent the insurgency in parliament,” escaped a suicide bombing targeting his convoy. -AFP

Yemeni ex-president’s loyalists attack airport

Yemeni forces patrol with an armored vehicle in the capital Sanaa on April 7, 2012. (AFP)

SANAA: Gunmen loyal to Yemen’s ousted president blasted buildings at the country’s main airport with anti-aircraft guns on Saturday, forcing authorities to shut it down, an airport official said. Armed tribesmen and troops in uniform driving pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons opened fire on a tower and destroyed it, he said. Then they surrounded the airport at the capital Sanaa, cut roads and sent passengers’ vehicles away. Authorities canceled flights, the official said. The attack comes a day after Yemen’s new President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fired key security officials appointed by ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh including his half brother, the air force commander Mohammed Saleh Al-Ahmar, and his nephew, Tariq, who headed the presidential guard. The siege of the airport highlights the challenges faced by Hadi, who has pledged to purge Saleh’s loyalists from the army, the security apparatus and key government posts. Saleh stepped down in February following a year-long uprising in which huge crowds rallied in city squares demanding an end to more than three decades of his authoritarian rule. After many false

starts and reversals, he finally in November signed a power-transfer deal backed by Washington and Gulf Arab states that gave him immunity from prosecution. Critics of the deal say it gave Saleh the ability to act as a president from behind the scenes and plot his comeback, possibly by sewing instability. On Thursday, Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed told parliament that Saleh is still giving orders to governors and security officials using headquarters of his son, Ahmed - the commander of the powerful Republican Guards- as his operation room. Saleh’s opponents are particularly worried about his loyalists who command military units. The army has recently suffered several defeats in its war against Al-Qaeda-linked militants who took control of several towns in the south of the country, and many believe that Saleh commanders may be actively sabotaging the campaign. The airport attack suggests that removing the commanders comes with its own set of dangers - if it is even possible. Aides to sacked air force commander Mohammed Saleh Al-Ahmar who held his post for more than 20 years say he will remain in the position and will not follow

orders until Hadi also fires some of the expresident’s opponents. His replacement is former Air Force commander Rashid AlHanad. They referred to Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who defected last year to the mass uprising that called for Saleh’s ouster and brought his First Armored Division to protect protesters. Also on Friday, Hadi sacked longtime Saleh loyalist Mohammed Ali Mohsen, the head of the Military’s Eastern Command, which is responsible for areas where AlQaeda is active. He was transferred to an administrative post. The changes however didn’t touch ex-president’s son Ahmed who kept command of the well-equipped Republican Guard, or his nephew, Yahia, the head of the Central Security Forces. On Tuesday, Saleh’s son carried internal reshuffles of his own, including appointing the now-ousted presidential guards’ commander Tariq Saleh as a commander of one of the biggest brigades in the Republican Guards.The appointments were reported by state TV even though Hadi’s aides said the president had never approved them. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press. -AP

ALWATAN DAILY

WORLD

sundAY, april 8, 2012

Avalanche buries First stage of North Korea 130 Pakistani soldiers on glacier rocket ‘may be on launch pad’

A Pakistani Army helicopter flying in the outskirts of Skardu, near the Siachen Glacier, said to be the world’s biggest. An avalanche buried as many as 130 Pakistani soldiers in the country’s Himalayan region, an army officer said April 07. The incident occurred early April 07 in the Siachen region that is disputed by India and Pakistan, about 100 kilometers north of Skardu. ‘Up to 130 soldiers were buried by the avalanche,’ said the officer who requested anonymity. ‘We have launched rescue operations with helicopters and experts have already been dispatched.’ (EPA)

ISLAMABAD: An avalanche smashed into a Pakistani army base on a Himalayan glacier along the Indian border on Saturday, burying around 130 soldiers, the military said. Helicopters, sniffer dogs and troops were deployed to the remote Siachen Glacier to rescue those trapped, according to a military statement. The avalanche hit a battalion headquarters in the glacier’s Gayari sector at 5:45 a.m, according to a security official who didn’t give his name because he is not an official spokesman. Siachen is on the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region claimed by both India and Pakistan. Both countries station thousands of troops there, who brave viciously cold temperatures, altitude sickness and high winds for months at a time. Troops have been deployed at elevations of up to 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) and have skirmished intermittently since 1984, though the area has been quiet since a ceasefire in 2003. The glacier is known as the world’s highest battlefield. The headquarters in Gayari is the main gateway

through which troops and supplies pass on their to other more remote outposts in the sector. It is situated in a valley between two high mountains, close to a military hospital, according to an officer who was stationed there in 2003. “I can’t comprehend how an avalanche can reach that place,” said the officer, who didn’t give his name because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “It was supposed to be safe.” More soldiers have died from the harsh weather than combat on the glacier, which was uninhabited before troops moved there. Conflict there began in 1984 when India occupied the heights of the 78-kilometer (49-mile)-long glacier, fearing Pakistan wanted to claim the territory. Pakistan also deployed its troops. Both armies remain entrenched despite the cease-fire, costing the povertystricken countries many millions of dollars each year. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since the partition of the subcontinent on independence from Britain in 1947. Two of the wars have been over Kashmir, which both claim in its entirety. -AP

PYONGYANG: North Korea may have moved the first stage of a long-range rocket on to its launch pad, ahead of its possible lift-off next week, according to a US specialist website. The 38 North website (38north.org) said an April 4 photo of the launch site at Tongchang-ri in the country’s northwest indicated the first stage of the Unha-3 rocket, while not visible, may be placed in the gantry. The impoverished communist state says its rocket will put a peaceful satellite into orbit but the United States, South Korea and other nations see it as a pretext for a long-range missile test banned by the United Nations. The website said that commercial satellite photographs reveal the gantry’s work platform is now covered and closed around the mobile launch stand, indicating work is being conducted inside. While this makes it impossible to determine whether the Unha-3 rocket or any part of it is erected on the pad, evidence suggests that the first stage has been placed as an expected launch nears, 38 North said. Recent fuelling activity seems to have been completed, with most of the empty fuel and oxidizer tanks apparently having been removed from buildings that supply the first stage, it said. Security has also been tightened with a barricade or security checkpoint set up for vehicles entering from the west, the

North Korea may have moved the first stage of a long-range rocket on to its launch pad. (Reuters)

only road to the launch pad from other main facilities at the range. The launch pad itself has been cleared, with objects previously seen near the gantry now removed, it said. The website, however, did not publish the satellite photos obtained from Geoeye on April 4 The satellite provider subsequently withdrew those pictures from its public catalogue and asked that they not be pub-

Myanmar president meets ethnic Karen rebels NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar’s president held his first meeting with Karen rebels on Saturday, officials said, as the government intensifies efforts to bolster peace with the country’s oldest insurgent group. The meeting is the latest sign that Myanmar is keen to cement a ceasefire in the war-torn eastern state, amid pressure from the international community to end

ethnic conflict as it considers lifting sanctions to reward recent reforms. Delegates from the Karen National Union (KNU) met President Thein Sein in the capital Naypyidaw, according to unnamed officials, following negotiations with ministers in Yangon on Friday. “It was the first meeting between the president and the KNU leaders,” an of-

Fresh sex scandal hits Australian military CANBERRA: The head of Australia’s prestigious military training college in Canberra on Saturday described the alleged rape of a civilian woman by a cadet as “completely abhorrent”. A 23-year-old army cadet has been charged over the incident in the grounds of the Royal Military College at Duntroon on Thursday. College commandant Brigadier David Luhrs said he had zero tolerance for such behavior. “Without making any judgement in this case, I can’t be any clearer when I say that the behaviour that is alleged to have taken place in this circumstance is completely abhorrent to me personally,” he said. “And (it) is entirely at odds with the values and the standards of behavior that I demand here at the Royal

Military College, and more importantly that the army demands of its future leaders.” The case is the latest scandal to hit the Australian Defense Force, which has been stung in recent years by a string of allegations of abusive and sexist behavior in its ranks. They include the high-profile case of a teenage female cadet who went to the media last year after she had sex with a fellow defence academy classmate who allegedly broadcast the encounter on Skype so his friends could watch. That incident prompted a string of reviews into defense culture which found that while progress had been made, there were still areas of weakness and more work was needed. -AFP

Mali’s coup leader to return power to constitutional rule

BAMAKO: Under intense pressure from the nations bordering Mali, the junior officer who seized control of the country in a coup last month signed an accord late Friday, agreeing to return the nation to constitutional rule. The announcement came only hours after separatist rebels in Mali’s distant north declared their independence, a move that further complicates a crisis that began 16 days ago when a group of disgruntled soldiers stormed the presidential palace, reversing two decades of democratic rule in the space of a day. On Friday, Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo emerged from his office inside the same military base where the mutiny began and which has acted as the de facto seat of government ever since the March 21 coup. Flanked by the ministers of neighboring nations, he read out the accord, stating that under Article 36 of Mali’s constitution the head of the national assembly becomes interim president in the event of a vacancy of power. The head of the parliament will form an interim government, which will organize new elections. “In the event of the vacancy of the presidency of the republic for whatever reason, or due to any absolute and definitive impediment,” Sanogo said, “the functions of the president of the republic will be exercised by the president of the National Assembly.” However, the accord did not say what role the military junta will play in the future. It also did not state when the head of the assembly will assume the post, or how long the transition will last before new elections are held. Dioncounda Traore, the head of the assembly, fled Mali after the coup. Although article 36 of the constitution

says elections should be held in no more than 40 days, the accord explains that that timeframe will likely be extended, due to rebellion which has turned the northern half of the country into a war zone. “Because of the exceptional circumstances that the country is going through, because of the institutional crisis and the armed rebellion in the north which have badly affected the functioning of the institutions of the republic and because of the impossibility of organizing elections in 40 days as set out under the constitution,” Sanogo said. “It is indispensable to organize a political transition with the aim of organizing free, democratic and transparent elections.” The declaration was welcomed by Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Djibrill Bassole, who flanked Sanogo while he read the accord. Bassole said afterwards that the nations bordering Mali had agreed to lift the crippling sanctions which went into effect earlier this week, including the closure of the country’s borders. Landlocked Mali imports all its fuel, and already many neighborhoods in Bamako had only electricity for half the day. A Western diplomat in Bamako, however, said that although he hoped for the best, he worried Sanogo could still make a U-turn. Neither the official nor the diplomat could be named because they had not been authorized to speak to the press. “We have to take a wait-and-see approach,” the diplomat said. “I certainly hope it’s true and that the country goes back to civilian rule so that Mali can get back on its feet.” The news comes just hours after Mali’s Tuareg rebels, who seized control of the country’s distant north in the chaotic aftermath of the coup in the capital, declared independence Friday of their Azawad nation. -AP

lished, it said. North Korea is preparing mass celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary on April 15 of the birth of Kim Il-Sung, the country’s first and “eternal” president and founder of the dynasty which has ruled uninterrupted since 1948. A successful satellite launch would burnish the image of his grandson Kim Jong-Un as he seeks to establish his credentials as a strong leader. -AFP

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein (left) shakes hands with representatives from the Karen National Union (KNU), including KNU General Secretary Naw Si Pho Ra Sein (2nd Left in purple) and KNU General Mutu Saipo (center), in Thein Sein’s private farm house in Naypyidaw April 7. (Reuters)

India rebels warn of ‘extreme steps’ over Italian captive ORISSA: Maoist rebels holding an Italian tour guide hostage in India have threatened “extreme steps” unless their demand for the release of their jailed comrades is met by Tuesday. The rebels in the eastern state of Orissa did not specify in a tape recording sent to media late on Friday what they might do, but in the past Maoists have mutilated and killed their captives. It is however the first time that the rebels have targeted foreigners. “We want a clear-cut written commitment from the government concerning our demands. We won’t release the Italian national until then,” rebel leader Sabyasachi Panda said in the audio message received by AFP. Otherwise, he said, they may take “extreme steps”. The Orissa state government has said it will free 27 prisoners in exchange for tour guide Paolo Bosusco and a local lawmaker who is being held in another part of the state by a separate branch of

the rebels. But the Maoists have rejected the list of prisoners the government has offered to free, saying the names do not include those insurgents the group wants released. They put a 96-hour deadline on their demands in the Saturday message. Bosusco, who runs a tour company in Orissa, was captured by the rebels on March 14 along with another Italian man, Claudio Colangelo, who was released 11 days later. The pair were kidnapped while trekking in the remote district of Kandhamal. The state’s chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, has called for Bosusco and the lawmaker to be released “immediately, unharmed and in good health.” The Maoists have been fighting a deadly low-intensity war against authorities for decades for what they say is the rights of tribal people and landless farmers. India’s government describes the guerrillas as the most serious internal security threat. -AFP

Undated photo shows Italian tour guide Paolo Bosusco (center) posing with tribal women at an undisclosed location in India. (AFP)

ficial with links to the peace talks told AFP. The official said six delegates -- including members of the armed wing of the group -- were taken “by special flight” for the landmark meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes. The KNU members have since returned to Yangon and are due to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Sunday, a week after she swept to victory in historic by-elections with her party -- seen as the culmination of burgeoning reforms by the government. Those changes, brought about since direct military rule ended last year, also saw the regime sign January’s ceasefire with the KNU, whose armed wing has been battling the government since 1949. Myanmar has also inked a number of similar deals with other rebels. But ongoing fighting in northern Kachin state has cast a shadow over the peace efforts, displacing tens of thousands of people since it sparked last year. Authorities postponed the by-elections in three constituencies in the state, citing security concerns, and rights groups have claimed serious abuses continue in the area. Myanmar has been gripped by civil war in parts of the country since independence from colonial rule in 1948 and the military used the conflict to justify an iron-fisted dictatorship that lasted for nearly half a century. -AFP

Malaysia arrests scores over China, Taiwan scam

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia arrested 83 people mostly from China and Taiwan over a huge scam that netted billions of dollars, a day after authorities busted a major betting and fraud ring, according to police. The suspects - 75 Taiwanese, six Chinese and two Malaysians - were held during raids on four bungalows in Serdang on the outskirts of capital Kuala Lumpur Friday, said federal commercial crime director Syed Ismail Syed Azizan. They are under investigation for running a fraud scheme, cheating people in China and Taiwan out of billions of dollars by calling them to settle phony credit card or other bank charges. “We believe there is local involvement in this case,” Syed Ismail said, adding all the suspects were under detention and the foreigners, who came to Malaysia in early March, faced deportation. Last year the syndicate is believed to have netted $3 billion in China alone with the scam, said Syed Ismail, who said he had been informed of the amount by Chinese police. The group originated in Macau but is believed to operate from other Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, Syed Ismail said. The arrests followed a separate bust on Thursday in Kajang, near Kuala Lumpur, of a football betting and fraud ring that police say could have raked in up to 1.3 billion US dollars. Police held about 150 people, almost all from China and Taiwan, following the Thursday raid. The arrests are the latest indication of rampant illegal sports betting in Asia. Syed Ismail said the Serdang syndicate targeted Friday was not involved in football betting but that police had to move quickly after the Kajang raid. -AFP

ALWATAN DAILY

OPINION

sunDAY, april 8, 2012

The Muslim Brotherhood movement Khalid Sayer Al-Otaibi

uring the last months an organized campaign was launched against the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in different Arab countries especially in the countries that Muslim Brotherhood has a real influence. By the way, I just want to highlight the fact that I have written this article before hearing the unfortunate statement of the cleric Abdurrahman Abdulkhaliq. I tried to avoid writing about that several times because I am afraid that I will not be fair while discussing such issues especially that I admire the policy of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. So, I felt that I would not be neutral but I will do my best to talk fairly about their plans, stances and statements. I have written this article because the campaign against the movement was launched by different sides and apparatuses which belong to different countries or other rival movements. The campaign urged me to write about that and to express my opinions about the various stances of the Muslim Brotherhood movements including the stances that I believe are wrong. Firstly, I would like to highlight the fact that the movement had played a historic role for the service of the nation and their countries and nobody can deny such a clear fact. I wrote this article against the rivals of the movement. When I describe the campaign against the movement

I have written this article because the campaign against the movement was launched by different sides and apparatuses which belong to different countries or other rival movements.

as an organized one I don`t mean that there is plotting and plans against the movement but I said that because the campaign is launched synchronically against the movements by different sides. Such campaign might happen because of the sudden rise of the movement during the Arab Spring. We are not surprised by such campaigns or even by criticizing or attacking the movement because the movement was targeted even before the reach to power and it is normal to witness more attacks after they got very prominent and they might reach the highest positions in different countries soon. The movement might face more criticism because it became at the present time the most prominent political movement in the Arab world particularly after achieving great successes in the elections of Tunisia, Libya,

Developing the educational process leads to having a promising generation

Morocco, Egypt, Yemen and Syria very soon God willing. The movement is like all other political movements which might commit mistakes. Let’s avoid accusations and the releasing of sarcastic statements against the movement in order to focus on a certain issue. I believe that the movement had committed a strategic mistake in the very issue. The preaching bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood movement is the same bureau that takes political decisions but I am sure that the movement is exerting serious efforts to separate the authority of preaching from that of taking decisions but such step might fail because some people believe that the two sides- preaching and policy- can`t be separated from each other. I disagree with those people and I am certain that a lot of the supporters of the movement agree with me.

BU QUTADA & BU NABIL Stage sit-ins...We don’t want the People’s Council

Stage demonstrations; we will not take part

It is not enough for the ministry that the Kuwaiti government pays the least expenses on the educational process in comparison with the other states!!

The people want to oust the president

Go...Go..President

Stage a revolution. We don’t want the presidency

How come.. Those who staged a revolution are clean-shaven.. and those who won are bearded?!

At least, our plan succeeded because we reached our goal

Fatima Hussein

bout four years ago I met a committee from the ministry of education in the city which I adore- Damascuswherein the committee headed to Syria in order to hire male and female teachers. The members of the committee were brilliant ones and smart and they could understand my surprise while seeing them. They discovered that I was surprised because of meeting the committee at the end of the summer vacation!! The committee travelled to Syria late due to the decisions of the ministry of education especially that the committees of the other Gulf countries had completed their tasks successfully before the Kuwait ones and they hire the best teachers and the Kuwaiti one could bring distinguished teachers because the teachers who got excellent marks were already hired even before the Kuwaiti committee reached Syria. I felt very sorry for that and when I returned to Kuwait I had written an article about that hoping the ministry to consider such matter well but I think that ministry officials did not read the article and if they read it then they did nothing to avoid such a mistake. It is not enough for the ministry that the Kuwaiti government pays the least expenses on the educational process in comparison with the other states!! Anyway, all we should understand is that the educational process is not merely a process for teaching students but it is a process for educating and preparing an entire generation. I, as a Kuwaiti citizen, have the right to question whether the ministry of education has strategic plans to meet the future need of the ministry for teachers?! Is such a matter impossible?! What a great picture! A picture was published by the different media sources recently wherein the Gulf Minister of Foreign Affairs needed to bend their necks or heads while speaking to the American Secretary of State. The other beautiful thing in the picture is that all Gulf ministers are tall therefore they need to bend their necks while speaking!! When I saw the picture I remembered a media conference which I attended in Washington in 1973 in which an American female activist asked for equalizing the salary of women with that of men. I was proud at that time to talk about the very issue saying that our small country- Kuwait- applies what the American activists was calling for. Now, after the lapse of years the different movements and sides conspire against women in Kuwait including MPs and the government and they plan to keep the woman away from positions of decision makers as well as destroying the trust that the Kuwaiti women could gain during the last years. If I were one of those ministers then I will feel jealous for the women of my country and I will support women as much as I can because the civilized countries can`t be built only by men and women have to contribute in that to achieve it successfully.

We have examples about that, such as the recent decision of the movement for nominating the candidate Khairat Al-Shatter to the presidential election wherein abandoning the pervious decision of the movement which indicated that the movement would not run in the presidential election but the movement changed its decision due to certain political circumstances which occurred after endorsing the first decision. This decision is acceptable in terms of policy which is usually changed according to the developments that occur in the country. Insisting on one opinion or decision in policy is a mistaken concept because certain developments might force the wisest politicians to change their minds or decisions. The origin of the movement is as a preaching and social movement which embeds its interests in policy but it is not good for the movement especially that the preaching bureau is the hub for taking decisions and such a step can be considered as a strategic mistake as well. I hope all old people and clerics of the movement to keep away of policy because their involvement always leads to committing mistakes and they in the meantime will give the opportunity to the young officials of the movements to lead the political process in which the movement has a large number of qualified youths who can achieve great successes in the political field.

Go..Go

Mohmmed Thallab

mthallab@alwatan.com.kw

Prominent MPs can play a significant role for strengthening ties amongst the society members Khalil Ali Haydar

number of MPs of the tribal electoral constituencies achieved great success while the last parliamentary election and some of them reaped tens of thousands of votes. The question is what such MPs will do amid a tribal atmosphere? Will they exploit success for gaining more popularity or will they dedicate their efforts for the service of the tribe? Will the MPs stop at this temporary victory and political glory or will they invest their trust for achieving positive changes in the lives of father, mothers, boys and girls. I followed up the high school results in the last few years to compare the results of students in arts studies and the scientific one. Al-Watan Newspaper has published results on July third, 2010 and then only found six girls from the tribes amongst the outstanding students of the scientific branch of high schools but the number of outstanding female students who also belong to different tribes was very huge as equals the outstanding students of art studies by three times! Al-Qabas Newspaper had also published on July 26th, 2011 the names of 1273 students who joined the scholarship of the higher education ministry but such huge numbers included a few female students of the different tribes and most of them headed to Bahrain and Jordan, not the USA and Ireland!! In fact, a significant number of female students of the

tribes study Islamic studies or join the faculty of education and some other art studies due to the conservative nature of society. Moreover, female students cannot even select the branch that they would like to study but sometimes they approve of studying in certain branches because of pressures by the family and husbands. Some members of tribes affirmed that families, brothers and husbands are the ones who determine the specialization that girls will study!! The prominent MPs who obtained many number of votes while the last parliamentary election can show the importance of scientific branches or studies such as biology, electronic engineering and many other specializations which girls can excel in. Female graduates can also study economic specializations like finance, marketing and investment in which such specializations open the door for the girls of tribes to be more prominent especially on the financial and social standards. If the tribes plan to hold senior positions in the country then they can focus on many different fields and not only the membership of the parliament, cooperative societies and non-government societies. Tribes can contribute more in the economic life of the country through encouraging their male and female members to join the private sector, banks and the leading companies as well. However, women can`t develop their skills and performance as well as their social status in a conservative environment like the tribal areas particularly if the women are not supported by their fathers, brothers or husbands.

There are other instructions which should be conveyed to women by women committees like the women committees during the parliamentary election in order to guide mothers and encourage them to follow up the different issues in the local arena to avoid only concentrating on elections and election results. Such instructions- if they are enhanced by prominent MPs- will lead to great changes in the coming generation and they will even contribute in solving some problems that youths face in those areas. How can youths plan for their future in a tribal environment!! What do youths want to do in their lives and what do they want to study? What are the political movements that attempt to attract the attention of the youths to join them and how could they avoid the negative stances of the very movements? Youths can do that if they have an interest in instructions and if they listen to the opinion of the academic MPs in which some academic MPs have great influence upon youths. They can persuade youths to focus more on their future but if the youths ignore that then they might become victims of the wrong guidance of family. Some prominent MPs can play a significant role for strengthening ties between Bedouin and the other urban citizens and other MPs can create a better understanding between the Sunnis and Shiites. We can also conduct visits amongst different families on one hand and youths on the other hand. All of us understand well that life can be peaceful and away from conflicts, worries and quarrels!

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views

sunDAY, april 8, 2012

The Persian knot Joschka Fischer Project Syndicate

he negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, over Iran’s nuclear program are entering a new, and probably decisive, stage. The negotiations have been going on for almost a decade, with long interruptions, and whether a breakthrough will come this time is anyone’s guess. But the situation has never been as serious as it is today, and peace hangs in the balance. After the recent visits by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to Washington, DC, and by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran, a foggy situation is nonetheless becoming clearer. It appears that US President Barack Obama has won time by drawing a line in the sand - the start of an explicit Iranian nuclearweapons program - and by assuring Israel of America’s readiness for military action should negotiations fail. Moreover, in view of the danger of a military confrontation, the United States, together with Europe and other partners, has implemented tough new “smart” sanctions aimed at Iran’s oil exports - its main source of income while largely isolating the Islamic Republic from the international payment system. Iran urgently needs the oil revenue, and, without participation in the payments system, its international trade is grinding to a halt. Barter transactions and suitcases full of cash are not a viable alternative.

Statecraft via Twitter Chrystia Freeland Reuters

t turns out you can govern in 140 characters. Social media is often accused of coarsening our public discourse and of making us stupid. But some innovative public leaders are taking to their keyboards and finding that the payoff is a direct and personal connection with their communities. To understand how statecraft by Twitter works, I spoke to three avid practitioners, who are spread around the globe and work at different levels of government: Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of Sweden; Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia; and Naheed Nenshi, the mayor of Calgary, Alberta. Bildt is a veteran blogger, but he was dubious about Web 2.0, as the social-media revolution is sometimes called. “I was rather skeptical on Twitter,” he told me. “I thought, ‘What can you say in 140 characters?’” But Bildt, who has more than 116,000 followers, soon found Twitter to be “very useful” and also “fun.” “As a matter of fact, you can say something in 140 characters,” he said. “The restriction isn’t as absolute as I had thought.” One way Bildt uses Twitter is promote his bigger-think pieces. “A lot of the tweets are links,” he said. “If I write an op-ed, then I can tweet it.” Bildt combines his Twitter posts with a blog. Twitter is for links and instant comments; the blog is for longer, more considered arguments. Bildt tweets in English and blogs in Swedish. One of Bildt’s followers is McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia. He likes the way Bildt mixes life and work, one moment tweeting about Syria and the next gently complaining about the long line for takeoff at the Istanbul airport. “The thing I feel most nervous about is blending the personal and the professional,” McFaul said. “That’s new to me. I’m learning where the lines are.” For instance, McFaul, who is originally from Bozeman, Montana, posted a picture of himself and his wife dancing to country music played by a Montana band in Spaso House, the ambassador’s residence in Moscow. “I never would have done that three years ago,” McFaul said. “And yet the guys say any time there is something personal or something with a photo or video it gets much more pickup or retweets than a statement on Syria.” “The guys” to whom McFaul refers are the US State Department’s social-media team, led by Alec Ross, who is the senior adviser on innovation for Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state. Ross spearheads the State Department’s enthusiastic social-media campaign. As McFaul postedearlier this week, quoting Mrs. Clinton: “Our ambassadors are blogging and tweeting, and every embassy has a social-media presence.” Indeed, Ross’s influence is global - Bildt said that the American briefed the Swedish diplomatic corps at its annual meeting last summer. Like Bildt, McFaul has a multilingual, multiplatform social-media strategy. McFaul is a Twitter newbie. In just over two months, he has about 850 posts and more than 22,700 followers. He blogs when he has a more complicated point to make and uses Facebook when he wants to converse with a community. He tries to write mostly in Russian, but occasionally uses the Latin alphabet if his Cyrillic keyboard isn’t handy, and will post in English if he wants to communicate with his followers outside Russia. Bildt has found that by integrating social media into his normal routines - he writes blog posts in the car or on the plane and “has it in the back of my mind all the time” - “it is not so time-consuming.” For McFaul, who is writing chiefly in a foreign language, social media amounts to a second shift: “I have my day job as a conventional ambassador, and then starting at 10 pm until I

In light of the complexity of external factors, it will be important not to overload the nuclear negotiations with issues that the talks are not designed to resolve. So Iran’s economy is being shaken to the core. Furthermore, the US seems to have communicated in a credible manner both the seriousness of the situation and its own intentions to the Iranian leadership via various channels. So, if this round of negotiations, too, should fail, a great - and entirely foreseeable - tragedy could begin to unfold. The good news is that all of the parties involved seem to be aware of this, which should focus official minds on a serious negotiation process and a diplomatic solution. Moreover, it should be clear soon enough whether Iran is serious about a compromise this time, because there are ample benchmarks. The content of such a compromise is more or less clear: acceptance of low-grade uranium enrichment by Iran for non-military purposes, and enhanced and verifiable safeguards, such export of low-grade enriched uranium for further processing and stronger and more extensive inspection rights for the International Atomic Energy Agency inside Iran. For example, the IAEA would gain access to previously closed Iranian nuclear facilities. Of course, a compromise would not address the Iranian regime’s domestic behavior and regional ambitions

McFaul’s moonlighting role as social-media ambassador has particular relevance in Russia, where the government controls much of the traditional media, especially television, and civil society has moved to the Internet in response. get tired I interact on social media.” McFaul’s moonlighting role as social-media ambassador has particular relevance in Russia, where the government controls much of the traditional media, especially television, and civil society has moved to the Internet in response. As a result, McFaul says, social media is more than a tool for communication - it is also a well positioned window into the national debate. McFaul’s social-media outreach has not protected him from controversy. Indeed, Russian leaders, including President-elect Vladimir V. Putin, have been suspicious from the outset of McFaul, who is a longtime student and occasional advocate of democratization. Just this week, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov accused McFaul of arrogance for remarks made to a Russian news agency about missile defense. But his social-media presence has given McFaul the tools to reach beyond the sometimes hostile national media and speak to any Russians who care to listen. Naheed Nenshi, the mayor of Calgary, couldn’t operate in a more different environment. He is an elected leader in a Western democracy. But he, too, has found that social media gives him the power to get his message across directly, without relying on mainstream media platforms. Nenshi has a salty style - he once said on Twitter that a critic should “look into pharmaceuticals” for his “limpness” issue - that has earned him more than 53,000 Twitter followers, including foreign fans who say if they lived in Calgary they would vote for Nenshi. In a city of just over one million, that gives the mayor a loud and independent megaphone. “The really interesting piece about all of this is the way it disintermediates the traditional media,” Nenshi said. “I’m well on my way to having more Twitter followers than one of the Calgary newspapers has readers. It puts my interactions with the media in a new light.” Chrystia Freeland is the editor of Thomson Reuters Digital. The opinions expressed are her own.

- a source of shared angst for Israel and the Arab Gulf states, first and foremost Saudi Arabia. But, with no one seriously prepared to go to war for regime change in Iran, particularly after the decade-long misadventure in Iraq, no one should weigh down the negotiations with futile aspirations. This applies equally to Iran, where some influential people still think that the US can be forced out of the Middle East, and that the status quo can be changed to install Iran as the region’s hegemonic power. This illusion, no less than Western hopes of regime change in Iran, could be seriously pursued only at an indefensibly high risk of war and regional chaos. Other significant factors will play an important role in deciding the outcome of these negotiations. The first concerns Iranian domestic politics and the ongoing power struggle within the regime - a struggle that scuttled a diplomatic solution once before, because neither conservatives nor reformers were willing to afford President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a diplomatic triumph. One can only hope that, in view of the seriousness of the situation, this route to failure will be closed off. Developments in Syria, Iran’s last remaining ally in the

region, are equally likely to play a role. The fall of President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime would amount to a strategic debacle for Iran, which would then be faced by a united front of Arab states, supported by Turkey, the US, and, in a way, by Israel. Iran would then find it difficult to maintain its foothold in Lebanon, and its position would become more complicated even in Iraq, despite its Shia majority. In short, its quest for regional predominance would collapse. In light of the complexity of external factors, it will be important not to overload the nuclear negotiations with issues that the talks are not designed to resolve. Syria, the future of Iran’s regime, the situation in the Persian Gulf and in the wider region: all of these problems must be addressed at a different level and at another time if the risk of war over Iran’s nuclear program is to be contained or avoided. Ever since Alexander the Great memorably solved the puzzle of the Gordian knot with just a blow of his sword, people have dreamed of a simple military solution to complex problems. But, all too often, applying military force to a problem leads to more problems. In Iraq, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld demonstrated that using military force only as a last resort is not merely an ethical and moral imperative, but one based on Realpolitik as well. There are times when using military force becomes unavoidable, but it should never be chosen as an alternative to diplomacy. That is certainly true for today’s “Persian Knot.” Yet that choice - war or diplomacy - now confronts both sides. Joschka Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader in the German Green Party for almost 20 years.

Christianity’s Via Dolorosa

Pakistani Christians attend a Mass on Good Friday in a church in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, April 6, 2012. (AP)

There is an obvious reticence by international bodies even to acknowledge the problem. Fiorello Provera Project Syndicate

ecently, the human-rights activist, former Dutch politician, and Somali exile Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote about a global war on Christians in Muslim countries. She discussed at length the appalling phenomenon of violent intolerance towards Christian communities, and cast blame on the international community and prominent NGOs for failing to address this problem. In almost every part of the world, reports emerge on a daily basis of Christian communities falling victim to harassment and persecution. In Nigeria, on February 26, three Christians were killed and dozens wounded after a car bomb exploded close to a church in the northern town of Jos. At least 500 people have died during the last year in attacks attributed to the violent Islamist group Boko Haram, which has called for all Christians to leave northern Nigeria. In East African states such as Sudan, Christians have been given an April 8 deadline to leave the north. The ultimatum will affect up to 700,000 Christians who were born in South Sudan before it became independent last year. In Eritrea, it is reported that 2,000-3,000 Christians are in detention, and that many have been tortured. But the Middle East remains the most dangerous place for Christians to live, and attacks occur with frightening regularity. Egypt’s Copts and Iraq’s dwindling Christian community feel the pressure the most. Depending on the outcome of events in Syria, many wonder about the fate of that country’s vibrant Christian community. In Iran, members of so-called “house churches” (independent assemblies of Christians who meet in private homes because of their fear of oppression) are rounded up and imprisoned. In 2012, the organization Open Doors, which is devoted to focusing on the plight of Christians, designated Muslim-majority countries - including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and even the Maldives - as some of the world’s worst offenders. In Pakistan, the country’s notorious blasphemy laws are frequently used against Christians to settle personal scores or extort financial gain. The shocking assassinations of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister for minority affairs, and the governor of Punjab province, Salmaan Taseer, ensured that anyone who speaks out on this topic can expect swift retribution. Yet the problem is not limited to the Muslim world. In China, according to the organization The Voice of the Martyrs, persecution of Christians rose significantly from 2010 to 2011. Unofficial

house churches are especially vulnerable to official harassment or raids by the authorities. But the world’s top offender remains North Korea, where Christians are subject to the worst forms of abuse, with reports that at least 25 percent endure slave-like conditions in labor camps. In Vietnam, the indigenous Degar people, also called Montagnards, are viewed with suspicion for their Christian faith, and the government is responsible for numerous cases of torture and abuse, while hundreds of Degar women have been subject to forced sterilization. Even in countries that are heralded for their openness and tolerance, such as India, Christian groups have been subject to attacks. During 2011, at least 1,000 cases of anti-Christian violence were reported across the country. In January, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hindu fundamentalists attacked an evangelical pastor whom they accused of forcible conversions. As bad as anti-Christian violence and intimidation is, indifference to the plight of Christian groups under threat is widespread among governments, the media, and even ordinary citizens. A smattering of Christian NGOs works to publicize the issue, but mainstream human-rights organizations have largely neglected to highlight cases of explicit anti-Christian attacks and persecution. There is an obvious reticence by international bodies even to acknowledge the problem. But according to the Pew Forum, at least 10 percent of the world’s Christians - 200 million people in 133 countries - live in societies as a minority group. Unless action is taken to address the issue, hundreds of communities that simply wish to practice their religion peacefully will face profound psychological and demographic consequences, fleeing into exile to preserve their faith. The European Union, the United States, and the world’s other democracies have the capacity to raise the issue of religious persecution; what they lack is the will. The EU should follow the example of the US State Department, which publishes a comprehensive annual report on religious freedom around the world. Another possibility is to raise the issue through bilateral agreements with countries where Christians are persecuted. That way, it would become clear that these states cannot operate with impunity when it comes to their religious minorities, whether they profess Christianity or any other faith. Fiorello Provera is Vice-Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

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suNdAY, april 8, 2012

BUSINESS

KSE ends week with 0.32% retreat, both indices in red

Kuwait’s trade surplus tops KD 5.755 billion in Q4 2011

Kuwait: Do we know where we’re going?

GCC economies poised to grow by 4% in 2012

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s trade balance in the fourth quarter of 2011 showed a surplus of 5.755 billion Kuwaiti dinars, according to an economic report issued here on Saturday. The value of commodity exports in the period in question amounted to KD 7.724 billion, 93.5 percent of which are in oil exports, said Alshall Weekly Economic Report, citing the latest data of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK). The total value of last year exports topped nearly KD 28.556 billion 93.5 percent of which are in oil exports. Kuwait’s non-military commodity imports in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011 amounted to KD 1.969 billion and the total value of such imports over the last year topped KD 6.972 billion. The trade surplus in Q1 - 2011 stood at KD 4.610 billion before growing in Q2 - 2011 to 5.552 billion and some KD 5.667 in Q3 - 2011. The surplus in the whole year amounted to KD 21.584 billion which shows a record high and an increase by 68.7 percent from the previous year figure of KD 12.797 billion. In more news, recent data on the government spending and business activities in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) show that these countries will maintain a growth rate as high as four percent in 2012, an economic report said Saturday. The robust growth resulted from the rising prices of oil and the increasing oil exports as well as the expanding government spending, according to the monthly report of the Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) for April. Regarding the government spending, the report said the GCC countries, notably Kuwait, continued boosting salaries of civil servants to meet the popular demands but such a move has negative economic results. Among the demerits of pay increments are the weakening of relationship between the productivity of an em-

Kamel Al-Harami Independent energy analyst Exclusive to Al Watan Daily

Acehnese fishermen take a rest after fishing in Banda Aceh on April 7, 2012. Indonesian consumers were slightly less confident in the economy in March as they saw higher price pressures in the next three to six months due to a possible fuel price hike, a central bank survey showed on Saturday. (AFP)

ployee and their pay, the expansion of the salaries chapter in the state budget and the rising of inflation rates. As for the unemployment rates in the GCC countries, the GIC report said the recent data of the Saudi Ministry of Labor showed more than one million people get unemployment benefits under the ‘Hafeth’ (incentive) program which started in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011. Under the Hafeth program a job seeker is entitled to nearly 533 US dollars social assistance which expands the government spending by some $1.4 billion. Dealing with the GCC stock markets, the report noted that global rating agency Standard and Poor’s boosted

KOC’s oil explorations attains significant success in 2011

KUWAIT: Chairman and Managing Director of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) Sami Al-Rasheed said Saturday the success rate of the company’s explorations for oil reserves in 2011 topped 100 percent. “KOC’s operations led to the discovery of large quantities of light crude and associated gas,” Al-Rasheed told reporters on the occasion of the Gulf Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (GPCE-2012), due to be held here on April 9-10 under the patronage, and in the presence, of Kuwaiti Minister of Oil Hani Abdulaziz Hussein. “This success is the fruit of the strategy of the company which prioritizes the human resources and manipulates the latest hi-tech achievements in collaboration with global companies,” he noted. Kuwait plans to expand its oil output capacity to four million barrels a day by 2020 and maintain this level through 2030. “The country also plans to increase the free gas output capacity to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day, the heavy oil to 270,000 barrels daily which means adding to its daily production 750,000 barrels of oil, 1.5 billion cubic feet of free gas by 2030,” AlRasheed explained. Dealing with KOC efforts to protect environment, he said the company managed last year to reduce the burning of associated gas to just 1.3 percent compared to 17 percent five years ago “which constitutes an all-time record low.” The GPCE-2012 is an opportunity to interact with key player in the hydrocarbon industry in Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as prominent decision and policy-makers in this vital sector. The two-day gathering will be organized by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) in collaboration with regional and global energy organizations such as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). -KUNA

Iran oil development fund could reach $55 billion DUBAI: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday the country’s sovereign wealth fund could reach 55 billion US dollars by March next year if oil prices kept high, in an apparent bid to defend his economic record in the face of increasing isolation. Washington and the European Union have stepped up sanctions on the Islamic Republic, alarmed by its disputed nuclear program. Iran earned up to $100 billion in oil revenue last year but an EU embargo set to come into force in July could put a major dent in future income. The president has also faced criticism inside Iran for his handling of the economy, particularly over his withdrawal of generous food and energy subsidies in favor of cash handouts - a move that critics say has fuelled inflation and increased hardship. Iran’s National Development Fund - which is currently valued at around $35 billion - was set up by Ahmadinejad’s government last year to collect some of the proceeds from the country’s oil and gas industries for the benefit of future generations. A minimum of 20 percent of its reserves is supposed to be invested abroad. “Taking into the account the upward movement of oil prices, Iran’s National Development Fund could reach 55 billion by the end of the (Persian) year (March 2013),” The Iranian state news agency quoted the president as saying during a visit to north-eastern Iran. “For the first time in history ... (the) government

Dubai Metro helps boost property value by 34%

DUBAI: The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) stated that the Dubai Metro project, since operated in 2009, has had a positive contribution to the appreciation of the value of lands and commercial properties in the vicinity of the metro stations as well as areas linked by the feeder bus service by as much as seven to 34 percent, according to a local daily Khaleej Times. Abdul Mohsin Younes, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RTA Strategy and Corporate Governance Sector said: “The RTA Strategic Planning Department studied the impact of the metro stations on the surrounding lands and properties in coordination with the Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), which provided the data about the rates of lands and properties in areas close or far from the metro stations.” The study revealed that the value of lands and properties adjacent to the metro stations has soared since the operation of the metro and reached in some cases up to 34 percent as a result of the high demand for buying lands and renting properties in close proximity to the metro stations. This is attributed to the ease of mobility, and the provision of multi transit options at lower costs of transit aboard the Dubai Metro, which is characterized by absolute minimal fares and high efficiency across the city, particularly for those inhabiting near the metro stations. “This explains the huge impact of the transit

the GCC stocks by 6.44 percent last March, thus taking the total gains to 16.47 percent on annual basis. Therefore, the GCC stock markets are rated among the world’s best. The weighted index of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) went up by 2.64 percent in March and by 3.6 percent on annual basis. The service and banking sectors led the gainers while other sectors posted losses in March. The Saudi Tadawul and the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai stock exchanges led the recovery in the GCC region and are poised to continue the positive performance while the KSE and Qatar grew at lower pace, the report added. -Agencies

network on the economy of the emirate, and reflects the importance of the metro in pushing up the economic development drive in the field of property development, and stimulating the tourist and commercial movement in various parts of the Dubai. The study monitored the changes in rates of these lands and commercial properties in 2011 compared to the rates prevailing in 2009 before the opening of the metro; which illustrate the importance of the Metro in boosting the market value of lands and properties, particularly in the surrounds of the metro stations. “A comparative study with the experiments of countries which have made advanced progresses in mass transit systems, particularly the metro, such as the UK, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, and the US, revealed that public transit means in general have a positive impact on appreciating the value and rents of properties, and that such rates made remarkable hikes ranging from three to 50 percent,” added Younes. “In less than three years, the Dubai Metro has generated high economic returns highlighted by its ability of enhancing the competitiveness of the emirate as regards the attraction of commercial activities as well as the local and international events spanning conferences, sports events, and cycling races. Moreover, it contributed to augmenting the revenues generated by advertising activities, naming of stations and leasing of commercial outlets,” concluded Younes. -Agencies

has been able to save a proportion of its oil revenues while previous governments spent all revenues every year,” Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad added the 20 percent of oil revenues set aside in the past would increase to 23 and 26 percent in the following two years. Previous governments had contributed to the Oil Stabilization Fund which was created in the year 2000 to support the national budget during oil price fluctuations. Its funds have been transferred to the National Development Fund. Sanctions against Iran aim to hurt Iran’s energy industry and its financial sector, forcing oil companies to choose between buying Iran crude or continuing business in the United States. Companies that want to continue trading with Iran have encountered increasing difficulties in meeting oil payments. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently said that the wide-ranging sanctions against Iran could reduce its oil exports by as much as one million barrels per day, or 40 percent, from the middle of the year. Western powers have ratcheted up sanctions to force Tehran to abandon uranium enrichment which they suspect is part of a program to development nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied the accusations. Iran is due to hold further negotiations with Western powers next week in an effort to find a solution but the time and date of the talks have still not be finalized. -Reuters

KUWAIT: In the last few years, in every regional and international report you will find Kuwait is the lowest in ranking. The last two reports were on education and development and in both we came in last and are at the bottom. In education we go to school 32 weeks a year while in Europe it stands at 39 weeks. Moreover, in terms of average teaching hours per annum, Kuwait is the lowest with 235 hours against, 1200 hours in Indonesia, 1000 hours in India, and 750 hours in Egypt. We in Kuwait however, have the highest number of private teaching at homes. This can be translated into poor teachers and a lack of interest by the students and their parents. This is the situation of our education which should be the cornerstone for our future youth developments. Other sectors are more or less the same with sad stories of ranking that are below average. This is despite the fact that Kuwait has been generating more cash year by year over the last 10 years, with a per capita of income in the region of 38,000 US dollars - equivalent to an average Swedish income. What a comparison in terms of productivity, efficiency and contribution! Now, let’s turn to Kuwait’s performance in terms of information technology (IT) and in particular quality of information provided. Again we ranked the lowest within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the 12th among the Arab the world and 62nd among 142 countries from all over the world. What an embarrassment! Does anyone care or takes note of it? This is the same sad story of our Kuwait - the more money we earn the more we go backward. The concern is how we can develop our country without becoming heavily dependent on oil as the sole source of income since on every occasion we just increase salaries equally to every employee to be fair. Our concern is how certain are we that oil prices will hit the $215 level by 2030, and that we will secure three million barrels per day of constant crude oil production. The next 20 years are going to be different from now and the rapid demand on oil may decline in view of the recent surge in developments of shale gas by US and China that could last them many years to come. Our concern is our future generations and whether it will be prepared to meet the fierce competition with other nationalities in securing job opportunities. Kuwait is the least supportive oil producing country in terms of its private sector, this in accordance with the latest Moody’s report. It stated further that Kuwait is not attracting international investors unlike its other neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. It is also not taking advantaging in utilizing the cash and funds of others to finance its mega projects in line with other cash rich countries. So even in attracting others cash we score low. Just as in any field we Kuwaitis are scoring the lowest. Yes, we are able to invest our surplus cash wisely in many parts of the world. Our investments however are not helping us in creating job opportunities, nor to develop and advance our education, health and humans resources, while others do both. What is happening to us and towards what future are we going? Exactly how is our future youth and generation going to survive? It’s a very hard question for us to answer. We are unable to answer. But we have to pave the road for them, even this we fail to do. Any chance of further optimism, not really! The author of this article can be reached at naftikuwaiti@yahoo.com Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions presented in the column are the company’s own and do not necessarily represent those of Al Watan Daily and its staff.

EQUATE names Mohammad Husain as President, CEO KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company has named Mohammad Husain as its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), succeeding Hamad Al-Terkait who served in that role from 2001. This was stated in a press release on Saturday. With over 30 years of extensive professional service, Husain held various leading posts, administrative and technical, at Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) and finally at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) as Deputy Chairman & Deputy Managing Director for Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery. Having served at several leadership positions and board memberships, Husain’s overall competencies and areas of expertise include exploration, development and production of oil and gas, petrochemical and downstream activities, as well as corporate planning and strategy development. On this occasion, Husain expressed utmost appreciation to Al-Terkait for his pioneering leadership of EQUATE, noting “EQUATE will continue being a true embodiment of ‘Partners in Success’ at all levels within and outside Kuwait through its world-class human resources and business excellence.”

Mohammad Husain (left) and Hamad Al-Terkait

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing pro-

duction in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

sunDAY, april 8, 2012

KSE ends week with 0.32% retreat, both indices in red KSE weekly activity, April 5, 2011

Services sector was the least declining as its index closed at 14,009.8 points with a 0.10 percent decrease. On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Investment sector, achieving 1.28 percent growth rate as its index closed at 3,994.0 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Real estate sector’s index closed at 2,208.6 points recording 0.37 percent increase.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone.The price index ended last week with a decrease amounted to 0.32 percent, while the weighted index retreated by 2.48 percent compared to the closings of the week before. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 3.22 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching 33.34 million Kuwaiti dinars, whereas trading volume average was 315.70 million shares, recording decrease of 5.92 percent. The market performance marked with a limited hesitation during last week, along with selling trend, particularly for those companies who announced negative 2011 financial results, and especially in the Investment sector, which recorded the highest losses among KSE listed companies. The market was also affected by some selling deals on some leading and operational stocks, which caused the weighted index to suffer more losses than the price index. Moreover, the legal announcement period has ended, the number of declared companies reached 82 percent so far. The total number of declared companies reached 169 out of 205 listed companies, realizing approximately KD 1.34 billion, with a decline of 24.75 percent

a decrease in their respective market capitalization except for one sector. The Services sector headed the decliners list as its total market capitalization reached KD 6.56 billion, decreasing by 5.98 percent. The Non Kuwaiti Companies sector was the second in terms of recorded decline with 3.49 percent decrease after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 1.70 billion. The third place was for the Food sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 683.76 million by the end of the week, recording a decline of 2.13 percent. The Industry sector was the least declining with 0.34 percent recorded decrease after its market capitalization amounted to KD 2.18 billion. On the other hand, the Investment sector was last week’s only gainer as its total market capitalization increased by 0.49 percent to reach, by the end of the week, KD 2.16 billion.

Sectors’ activity

compared to same companies’ results for 2010. By the end of the week, the price index closed at 6,145.5 points, down by 0.32 percent from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 2.48 percent weekly loss after closing at 409.77 points. Sectors’ indices

Six of KSE’s sectors ended last week in

The Real estate sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 489.16 million shares changing hands, representing 30.99 percent of the total market trading volume. The Services sector was second in terms trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 25.48 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 402.26 million shares. On the other hand, the Services sector’s stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 46.73 million or 28.04 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Banks sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of KD 35.90 million represented 21.54 percent of the total market trading value.

the red zone, while the other two recorded increases. The Non-Kuwaiti Companies sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.39 percent to end the week’s activity at 5,849.3 points. The Banks sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.74 percent, closing at 11,348.8 points, followed by the Insurance sector, as its index closed at 2,670.9 points at a loss of 1.09 percent. The

Disclaimer: This report has been prepared and issued by the Studies & Research Department @ Bayan Investment Company on the basis of publicly available information, internal data, and other sources considered reliable. While great care has been taken to ensure that the facts stated are accurate, neither Bayan Investment Company nor any of its employees shall be in any way responsible for the contents. This report is not an offer to buy or sell any of the securities referred in the report.

Market capitalization

KSE total market capitalization declined by 2.56 percent during last week to reach KD 28.08 billion, as all of KSE’s sectors recorded

Asian inflation eases, but monetary policy will remain prudent

Benchmark

ź KSE - Price Index ź KSE - Weighted Index ź KSE - KAMCO TRW Index Ÿ Saudi Stock Exchange (TADAWUL) Ÿ Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Ÿ Dubai Financial Market Ÿ Qatar Exchange ź Bahrain Bourse Ÿ Muscat Securities Market Total GCC Equity Markets

Closing

6,145.5 409.8

2,609.7

7,895.4

Weekly

Return (%) YTD-12 Return

(0.32%)

(2.48%)

(1.62%) 1.45%

2,559.0

0.23%

1,686.5

8,825.2

1,141.3 5,827.2

Benchmark

2.28%

0.39%

(0.97%) 2.41%

5.7%

23.0%

2,992,689

19,125,135

6.5%

277,819

107,407

24.6%

1,560,921

630,883

0.5%

53,747

441,699

(0.2%) 2.3%

1,742 202,193

822 81,319

Ÿ 5- Samba Financial Group Ÿ 6- Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. Ÿ 7- Kingdom Holding Co. Ÿ 8- Al-Etihad Etisalat Co. ź 9- Riyad Bank ź 10- SABB

0.610 0.415

109.00

(7.6%) 1.8%

0.0% 3.7%

0.0%

(6.2%) (3.5%)

ő 5- Abu Dhabi National Energy Ÿ 6- Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank ź 7- Union National Bank ő 8- National Bank of Ras Al-Khaimah Ÿ 9- National Bank of Fujairah ź 10- AL DAR Properties Co.

0.16% (0.22%)

127,418

346

0.68%

178

0.14%

(162) 345

(0.97%) 2.06%

50,985

16,546 17,089

804,467

(2,627)

(0.33%)

Weekly

Return (%)

1.4%

(2.4%)

14.70

(7.0%)

40.50

56.25

200.00

12.60

66.25

25.40 36.30

0.2%

0.4%

5.0%

1.2%

2.3%

(1.2%) (0.5%)

8.83

8.73

9.67 3.26 1.33

3.49

3.06 5.00

4.51 1.17

Weekly

Return (%)

(0.7%)

(2.6%)

(0.6%) 5.2% 0.0%

2.0%

(2.5%) 0.0%

10.0% (4.1%)

4,615

2,996

2,236

1,119

1,005 979

958

923 641

Market Cap.

(SAR Mln)

327,000 120,750

81,000

61,249

50,625

50,000

46,694

46,375

38,100 36,300

7,880

8,437

15.3

1.8

3.4%

14,295

10,659

10.5

1.4

8.4%

7,975

6,173

27.8

1.6

1.8%

3,550

1,575

36.5

2.4

0.0%

230

507

3.1

1.4

2.2%

1.9

0.0%

3,640

1,982

4.1

0.0%

125

102

30.4

3.2

1.6%

135 5,470

83 2,265

18.3 12.7

1.8 1.3

2.3% 2.2%

Volume

(000's shrs)

Value

(000's SAR)

(AED Mln)

69,781

33,825

29,010

18,242

8,279

8,253

7,637

6,927

4,961 4,780

Trailing

P/E (X)

Trailing

P/B (X)

Dividend

Yield (%)

2,783,351

11.2

2.4

4.6%

8,465

691,050

16.4

3.7

4.0%

7,227

296,575

10.4

1.7

4.9%

40,306

624,525

27.6

1.2

4.8%

2,349

132,534

11.8

1.8

2.9%

1,478

287,233

12.2

6.1

6.5%

13,058

165,794

73.0

1.8

1.0%

7,554

507,665

9.1

2.5

4.9%

2,219 1,023

57,159 37,461

12.1 12.6

1.3 2.1

5.1% 1.5%

Volume

The West continues to battle its economic slump with loose monetary conditions. In the US, the Federal Reserve confirmed that the policy interest rate will remain unchanged until 2014. The European Central Bank has offered an unlimited supply of loans at low interest rates to the financial sector in order to fend off contagion. Given these conditions, Asia still

Prepared by Fatema Akashah - For more information please visit: www.kcic-asia.com or email: research@kcicasia.com. KCIC is an Asia-focused investment company. Licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Kuwait, it facilitates capital flows between the Middle East and emerging Asia by providing financial and advisory services, and managing third party capital. Important Disclaimer: The information contained in this report is prepared by the Research Department of the Kuwait China Investment Company (KCIC) and is believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not warranted. Research recommendations do not constitute financial advice nor extend offers to participate in any specific investment on any particular terms. Investors should consider this material as only a single factor in making their decisions.

FebͲ12

DeecͲ11

OcctͲ11

JunͲ11

AugͲ11

ApprͲ11

FebͲ11

OcctͲ10

DeecͲ10

JunͲ10

AugͲ10

ApprͲ10

FebͲ10

OcctͲ09

DeecͲ09

JunͲ09

AugͲ09

ApprͲ09

What are the economic and financial implications?

P/E (X)

24.01

P/B (X)

1.28

Dividend

www.kcicͲasia.com/research

faces the risk of rising commodity prices and strong capital inflows; because of the interest rate differentials, investors will find it more profitable to invest in Asian securities with high interest rates versus the low rates in the West. Asian inflation has slowed down significantly, but fast loosening will quickly bring back inflation.Also, as trade is still a major driver of Asian growth, and Western economies are demanding less due to their slowdown, Asia is at risk of lower growth. Asian economies could risk

Dubai Financial Market (DFM)

Top 10 Largest Companies by Market Cap in Dubai Price

Yield (%)

2.9%

Value

P/E (X)

Trailing

P/B (X)

9.87

33.93 12.18

10.36 12.48 16.14

2.15

3.3%

1.08

4.6%

0.97

2.6%

1.83

3.6%

0.90 1.56

5.2% 4.4%

1.89

2.9%

(AED)

Ÿ 1- EMAAR Properties

Beta

1.44

1.58

1.47

0.88 1.21

0.80 1.50

1.03

0.72 1.34

Beta

1.23

1.06

0.83 0.76

0.68

1.08 0.82

0.99

0.75 0.73

Dividend

(000's shrs)

(000's AED)

Yield (%)

6,629

58,743

12.0

1.8

7.9%

1,923

16,741

9.1

1.3

2.5%

2,266

21,974

7.8

1.1

5.2%

4,974

16,144

6.0

0.8

6.1%

4,165

5,580

11.0

0.7

7.5%

442

1,535

7.1

1.0

7.0%

1,758

5,495

5.1

0.6

0.0%

3,009

15,046

5.8

1.5

5.0%

2 72,377

9 85,930

17.7 7.4

2.4 0.7

2.2% 4.3%

Beta

1.00

1.17

1.31

1.30 1.34

1.24 1.13

0.14

NA 1.52

ő 3- Mashreq Bank ź 4- Emirates Integrated Telecom. Ÿ 5- Dubai Financial Market ź 6- Dubai Islamic Bank ź 7- Commercial Bank of Dubai Ÿ 8- Arabtec Holding P.J.S.C. ź 9- Air Arabia Co. Ÿ 10- Dubai Investment

ROE YTD Price

7.3%

2.860

(6.2%)

91.45

0.0%

3.110

(2.2%)

1.210

5.2%

2.060

(2.4%)

2.800

(2.1%)

3.440

17.0%

0.714 0.908

(0.3%) 3.1%

(AED Mln)

19,797

15,895

15,462

14,217

9,680

7,822 5,707

5,143

3,332 3,242

Top 10 Largest Qatari Companies by Market Cap Price

Chg. (%)

13.0%

7.8%

12.9%

(14.9%)

6.2%

(5.9%)

7.1%

(12.4%)

39.6%

17.0%

0.2%

0.0%

3.3%

(5.1%)

12.0%

10.0%

10.3% 11.3%

(0.7%) (6.1%)

(QAR)

Ÿ 1- Qatar National Bank Ÿ 2- Industries Qatar Ÿ 3- Ezdan Real Estate Co. ź 4- Qatar Telecom. (Q-Tel) ő 5- Masraf Al Rayan ź 6- Commercial Bank of Qatar Ÿ 7- Qatar Islamic Bank Ÿ 8- Qatar Electricity & Water Co. ź 9- Qatar Fuel Co. (Wokod) ź 10- Doha Bank

135.50

Return (%)

0.3%

142.40

1.4%

19.98

0.4%

130.00

(3.7%)

27.55

0.0%

Market Cap.

(QAR Mln)

94,813

78,320

52,997

29,744

20,663

76.50

(0.4%)

18,930

145.80

0.6%

14,580

77.10

0.3%

244.10 60.40

(0.4%) (0.8%)

18,218 12,687 12,485

Top 10 Largest Bahraini Companies by Market Cap Price

Chg. (%)

(BHD)

21.2%

13.2%

22.5%

15.8%

16.7%

19.8%

4.3%

5.8%

15.3%

20.7%

ő 5- National Bank of Bahrain

50.1%

13.6%

ő 6- Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait

2.5%

42.4%

ő 7- Al Baraka Banking (Price in USD)

27.6%

26.2%

ő 8- United Gulf Bank

10.4% 16.8%

9.0% (10.8%)

ź 11 Ahli United Bank (Price in USD) ź 2- Aluminum Bahrain Ÿ 3- Bahrain Telecommunications Co. ő 4- Arab Banking Corp. (Price in USD)

ő 9- Investcorp Bank (Price in USD) ő 10- Gulf Hotels Group

0 605 0.605

Return (%)

(4 4%) (4.4%)

(0.9%)

0.440

1.4%

0.420

0.0%

0.570

0.0%

0.420

0.0%

0.930

0.0%

0.304

0.0%

796.95 0.720

0.0% 0.0%

Market Cap.

(BHD Mln)

1 194 1,194 809

634 492 488 358 356 254

240 119

Muscat Securities Market (MSM)

ROE YTD Price

Top 10 Largest Omani Companies by Market Cap Price

Chg. (%)

(3.3%)

(OMR)

ź 1- Bank Muscat

14.0%

7.6%

13.9%

25.2%

13.7%

17.3%

Ÿ 4- Omani Qatari Telecom (NAWRAS)

6.0%

10.8%

ź 5- National Bank of Oman

13.5%

10.4%

ź 6- Oman International Bank

Ÿ 2- Oman Telecom Co. Ÿ 3- Bank Dhofar

11.7%

5.9%

25.6%

20.0%

Ÿ 8- Raysut Cement

13.6% 9.1%

(0.9%) 80.3%

Ÿ 9- Ahli Bank Ÿ 10- Oman Cement Co.

Ÿ 7- Shell Oman Marketing

0.623

1.298

0.461

0.604

0.291

0.268

2.300

0.991

0.205 0.571

Value

Return (%)

(2.5%) 0.4%

4.8%

0.8%

(0.3%) (3.2%) 2.2%

6.4%

2.0% 6.1%

Market Cap.

(OMR Mln)

1,119 974

P/E (X)

Trailing

P/B (X)

Dividend

(000's AED)

169,234

540,536

11.0

0.6

3.9%

8,061

23,817

6.3

0.5

7.0%

18.8

1.3

2.2%

Yield (%)

5,597

17,875

13.0

2.3

4.8%

202,833

244,136

1.3

0.0%

14,263

29,725

7.7

0.9

6.1%

401

1,124

6.9

0.9

6.8%

165,204

567,836

19.7

1.7

1.5%

30,135 39,305

21,483 35,462

10.9 16.0

0.6 0.4

6.3% 5.5%

Volume

Trailing

P/E (X)

Trailing

P/B (X)

Dividend

(000's shrs)

(000's QAR)

1,225

166,913

12.6

2.3

2.7%

770

108,629

9.9

3.0

5.3%

556

153.4

1.9

0.8%

Yield (%)

402

53,006

11.4

1.4

1.8%

5,512

150,736

14.7

2.4

4.0%

621

47,810

10.0

1.3

7.8%

434

33,606

13.3

1.6

5.8%

127

18,473

11.2

4.8

4.5%

142 276

34,897 16,841

11.0 10.1

2.6 1.8

3.3% 7.5%

Volume

Trailing

P/E (X)

Trailing

P/B (X)

Dividend

(000's shrs)

(000's BHD)

10 2 10.2

12 1.2

4 7% 4.7%

131

3.8

1.0

11.8%

211

7.9

1.3

9.1%

6.4

0.4

0.0%

10.7

1.8

5.3%

11.2

1.5

6.0%

8.0

0.8

8.6%

Yield (%)

457.5

1.2

0.0%

0 0

121.3 15.2

0.6 2.2

0.0% 4.2%

Volume

(000's shrs)

(000's OMR)

4,376

2,722

Trailing

P/E (X)

9.5

Trailing

P/B (X)

1.3

Dividend

Yield (%)

3.5%

507

643

836

8.7

2.0

7.7%

878

396.1

36.3

2.2

1.3%

322

541

326

8.3

3.0

6.3%

927

271

9.4

1.1

5.9%

335

14.6

1.5

4.1%

393

263

230

198

196 189

1.40

5.7%

0.61

0.05

0.98

1.61

1.15 0.27

1.31

1.01 1.23

Chg. (%)

26.5%

7.2%

(2.7%)

6.7%

(9.9%)

17.6%

7.6%

-0.1%

44.0%

11.1%

6.2%

13.0%

(3.4%)

8.8%

116.4%

5.8% 2.4%

21.8% 50.1%

Beta

0.85 1.07

0.53

0.64

0.85

1.14

1.03 0.79

0.71 1.04

ROE YTD Price

Chg. (%)

17.9%

(1.7%)

30.2%

6.8%

1.2%

(11.7%)

12.4%

69.7%

16.6%

(0.5%)

13.2%

(8.0%)

12.2%

(7.6%)

42.9%

4.0%

24.0% 17.5%

25.4% (4.8%)

Beta

2 11 2.11

0.93

0.76 0.57 0.33 0.76 0.50

0.48 0.07

ROE YTD Price

Chg. (%)

12 2% 12.2%

(9 0%) (9.0%)

26.2%

(13.6%)

15.8%

12.2%

5.7%

0.0%

16.6%

(0.9%)

13.4%

1.4%

9.8%

(14.7%)

0.3%

1.3%

0.5% 14.6%

0.0% 6.7%

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples

Value

ROE YTD Price

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples

Value

Beta

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples

Value

Weekly Trading Indicators

Weekly

Trailing

(000's shrs)

Weekly Trading Indicators

Weekly

0.570

Volume

Weekly Trading Indicators

Weekly

Bahrain Bourse

ROE YTD Price

14.8%

3.250

Return (%)

Market Cap.

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples

Weekly Trading Indicators

Weekly

Qatar Exchange (QE)

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples Trailing

16.30

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples

25,499

Weekly Trading Indicators

Market Cap.

FebͲ09

Ͳ80

OcctͲ08

Ͳ60

DeecͲ08

Ͳ40

JunͲ08

Ͳ20

AugͲ08

FebͲ08

Risk & Return

Valuation Multiples

Weekly Trading Indicators

80.50

(AED)

Ÿ 4- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

672 (176)

Yield (%)

Price

ź 3- First Gulf Bank

78,543

P/B (X)

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)

ź 2- National Bank Of Abu Dhabi

20,998,301

408,606

P/E (X)

Top 10 Largest Companies by Market Cap in Abu Dhabi

ź 1- Emirates Telecom. Co.

(3.51%)

(000's KD)

(SAR)

ź 4- Saudi Electricity Co.

(%)

(3,829)

(000's shrs)

Price

Ÿ 3- Saudi Telecom

(USD Mln)

(KD Mln)

Saudi Stock Exchange (TADAWUL)

ź 2- Al-Rajhi Bank

105,279

Return (%)

(1.3%)

ź 2- Emirates NBD

0.9%

Top 10 Largest Saudi Companies by Market Cap

Ÿ 1- Saudi Basic Industries Corp

(USD Mln)

611,038

(KWD)

0.810

ź 9- Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait ź 10- Burgan Bank

(000's USD)

Dividend

(1.9%)

Source: KCIC Research on Bloomberg and DataStream, 2012.

Trailing Trailing

Trailing

0.560

ő 8- Ahli United Bank (Kuwait)

(000's shrs)

1,578,483

Weekly Chg.

Trailing

0.790

Ÿ 7- Boubyan Bank

Current

Value

2.220

ő 6- Commercial Bank of Kuwait

Value

Volume

0.425

ź 4- Gulf Bank Ÿ 5- National Mobile Telecom. Co.

Volume

6,667,593

Agriculture Prices (rhs)

Valuation Multiples

Market Cap.

0.770

ź 3- Kuwait Finance House

Market Cap.

Weekly Trading Indicators

(13.6%)

Energy Prices (rhs)

5-Mar-2012

Weekly

0.700

Asia Inflation

5-Apr-12

Price

1.060

ź 1- National Bank of Kuwait ź 2- ZAIN

100

1.0%

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE)

Top 10 Largest Kuwaiti Companies by Market Cap

% chg, YoY

KAMCO Research

Weekly Trading Indicators

Index

% chg, YoY

KAMCO Research GCC Week No.14 GCC Equity EquityMarkets MarketsReport Reportforfor Week No. 14 GCC Equity Markets Weekly Performance

Since 2008

What does the indicator tell us?

Inflation is the year on year increase in the price of a basket of goods and services. This basket is referred to as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket and is determined based on the consumer’s spending habits. In general, the compositions of the CPI basket is different between developed and developing nations: while a developed economy’s CPI basket is more evenly distributed between food, housing, utilities, services and leisure activities, people in developing nations spend most of their income on basic needs such as food, shelter and energy. As such, in the developing nations, food prices have a larger weight in the CPI basket. In Asia, food prices make up 30-40 percent of the CPI basket; hence, rising food prices have a stronger effect on inflation in Asia that in the West. In order to prevent inflation, the monetary authorities tend to hike their policy interest rates to make lending and borrowing more expensive, reigning in economic activity. When economic activity slows inflation eases as the demand for various products slows down.

stagflation, where economic growth is weak but inflation is high because of structural issues. Inflation could become stuck in the economy if monetary policy is looser than necessary. Given these uncertainties and dangers, countries like China will loosen only when necessary, and will do it selectively and very gradually. Although Asian economies are well-positioned for further loosening, markets should take into consideration that inflation risks still exist and Asian Central Banks will be very cautious with their loosening during 2012.

Inflation in Asia

ApprͲ08

Market analysts are hoping for more loosening so that investors can enjoy another strong rally that resulted from increased liquidity in 2010. Contrary to what many investors in the financial markets expect, Asian monetary policy in 2012 will not look like that of 2009 because there are still some significant inflationary risks ahead due to the West’s loose monetary actions.

Why is this graph important?

While the West is struggling to find growth, Asia is currently more worried about inflation as its economies show steady recovery. After the 2008 rash of the financial markets, governments lifted their economies back on their feet with loose monetary policy in 2009, by lowering their interest rates and allowing inflows of liquidity, most significantly from the West. Buying activity across the world and across asset classes went into a frenzy, as money was easily and cheaply accessible. Because of Asia’s strong economic fundamentals, capital inflows into the region were gaining speed and prices of global commodities shot up, as shown in the graph above. Inflation in Asia took off from a low of 1.3 percent in May 2009, to a high of almost six percent in August 2011, because of high food and energy prices. As inflation sped up in the first half of 2010, Asian central banks began to actively control inflation by raising the policy interest rates that had been lowered during the crisis. The rebalancing of the monetary policy combined with the calm after the liquidity rush helped ease inflation. Eventually, base effect also came into play, i.e. as growth of high prices compared to already high prices a year ago began to ease. In the first quarter of 2012, inflation in Asia averaged around 4.2 percent and continues to slow into the first half of the year. Today, inflation has slowed enough so that Asian economies are starting to ease their policies once again to encourage a steady recovery.

145

18.3

7.7

5.1%

272

262

13.3

1.9

5.0%

1,024 1,379

209 775

10.7 14.8

1.6 1.3

0.0% 5.3%

Beta

1.10

0.88

0.66

1.30

1.02

ROE YTD Price

Chg. (%)

13.5%

(18.7%)

22.6%

(0.8%)

6.1%

(15.7%)

28.4%

(7.1%)

0.99

12.2%

(9.1%)

10.4%

(4.3%)

0.97

42.1%

(3.9%)

14.6%

30.4%

10.9% 8.6%

(22.6%) 32.2%

0.38

0.81 0.99

LIFE

Control portion sizes at home

Limiting the amount of food you eat is key to losing weight and maintaining weight loss. The Cleveland Clinic suggests how to control portion sizes at home: * Serve your food on smaller dishes. * Serve smaller portion sizes, and skip second helpings. * Pack leftovers in single-serving containers. Freeze any leftovers. * Always dish out a serving, rather than eating right out of a carton. * Keep food not yet served away from where you’re eating.

sunDAY, april 8, 2012

Scientists find alternative to whale ambergris for perfume Resistant malaria spreads rapidly to Thai-Myanmar border

FILE-Workers put the final touches on perfume bottles. A product from fir trees and yeast may soon replace ambergris, a kind of whale barf, to make expensive perfume, scientists said Thursday. (AFP)

FRANCE: A product from fir trees and yeast may soon replace ambergris, a kind of whale barf, to make expensive perfume, scientists said Thursday. For centuries, perfume makers have prized ambergris for its ability to prevent scent from dissipating. The wax-like substance is secreted by sperm whales to protect their digestive systems from sharp objects. When the animals vomit, the ambergris reacts with salty ocean water and eventually washes ashore in chunks that can look like rocks. Featured in Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick,” it is a stuff of legend that still garners small fortunes for those who find it on the shores of the Atlantic, Pacific

and Caribbean. Scientists have long sought alternatives for industrial uses because ambergris is rare, costly at $10,000 a kilogram, and could “be a factor in whale hunting,” Joerg Bohlmann, a professor at the University of British Columbia, told AFP. Bohlmann says cis-abienol, a component of sage and fir trees, can serve the same purpose as ambergris in scented products -- but until now isolating it from the rest of the sage or fir plant has been difficult. “We’ve now discovered that a gene from balsam fir is much more efficient at producing such natural compounds, which could make production of this bio-product less expensive and more sustainable,”

Emotional issues may follow motor problems in kids

NEW YORK: A new study suggests the way kids with severe coordination problems see themselves may influence their emotional wellbeing later in life. Coordination issues – sometimes diagnosed as developmental coordination disorder (DCD) – prevent people from accomplishing everyday tasks, such as using scissors or buttoning their shirts. The disorder can lead to frustration at school, at home and on the playground. “Traditionally it was believed that children would outgrow any motor problems but there is now much evidence that these difficulties may continue into adolescence and beyond,” wrote Daniela Rigoli, the study’s lead author and a researcher at Curtin University in Western Australia, in an email. For the new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, Rigoli and her colleagues decided to see if, and how, the link between coordination and emotional issues like anxiety and depression is influenced by the way children with DCD see themselves. Boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years old were recruited from five randomly selected secondary schools and through advertisements. The 93 adolescents were tested for their coordination – manual dexterity, aiming, catching and balance – and filled out a questionnaire about their “self perceptions.” The questions covered the teens’ social, academic and physical abilities, and their physical appearance. The participants also answered questions on anxiety and mood. Of the 38 girls and 55 boys, five tested positive for a “significant movement disability.” Another two scored within the “at risk” category, which meant they had or potentially had some minor movement problems. Of those with definite or possible movement disorders, one student in the at-risk category had slightly increased depressive symptoms, and two students with movement disabilities reported high levels of depressive symptoms. According to Rigoli, the findings suggest that the way children think of themselves is what ties motor coordination to current and future emotional wellbeing. “For example, if a child with motor difficulties also has negative beliefs about their social and academic competence, this may act as a risk factor for further emotional difficulties such as increased anxiety or depressive symptoms,” she told Reuters Health. The opposite is true for adolescents with positive thoughts, which is why Rigoli said promoting positive beliefs in the abilities of children with DCD may help avoid emotional problems. In Canada, almost 400,000 children have DCD, according to estimates by the CanChild program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. “It’s important to recognize that it is actually a chronic health condition,” said Cheryl Missiuna, a professor at McMaster University and director of CanChild, which offers tools and training about DCD to teachers and families. Missiuna said the program aims to teach those involved with children who have DCD so that they can adapt to the kids’ needs. For example, Missiuna said students with DCD may have trouble writing for long periods of time and should be allowed to use a typewriter. She also said it’s important to encourage children with DCD to find sports they can excel in – usually ones with repetitive motions like swimming or bicycling – because DCD kids tend to become overweight as they get older. Rigoli said the new study’s findings suggest that aiming and catching, as well as balance skills – but not manual dexterity – are linked with emotional wellbeing down the line. She added that encouraging kids with DCD to participate in sports that focus on physical activity and enjoyment would give them a chance to practice their motor skills. “(It) may also provide opportunity to promote positive social experiences, and in turn enhance feelings of competency and the emotional well-being of these children,” she told Reuters Health.-Reuters

Bohlmann said in a statement. The gene research, by Bohlmann and his colleague Philipp Zerbe, was published Thursday in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Bohlmann said the gene can now be introduced into yeast and grown on a large scale to produce cis-abrienol. Bohlmann said he expects consumers will prefer the plant-based product to ambergris. “If you ask people what they prefer, a component on their skin from whale vomit, or resin from a fragrantly-smelling tree, they may not say the first choice.” The University of British Columbia will license a bio-tech company to commercialize the product, he told AFP. -AFP

FRANCE: Deadly malaria that is resistant to drug treatment has spread rapidly from Cambodia to the border between Thailand and Myanmar, raising concerns of an uncontrollable epidemic, scientists said Thursday. A pair of studies published in The Lancet and the journal Science showed how the disease is moving fast into new territory and identified a region of the parasite’s genome that may be responsible for mutating in order to survive. Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease commonly caused by a parasite, Plasmodium falciparum that kills up to 1.2 million people a year, according to 2010 estimates by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Seattle. Malaria that was resistant to treatment with the current standard therapy, artemisinin, was confirmed in Cambodia in 2006 and has since surged 800 kilometers westward to the ThailandMyanmar border, the researchers said. By studying 3,202 patients along the northwestern border of Thailand near Myanmar from 2001 and 2010 and measuring the time it took them to clear malaria infections from their blood after treatment, scientists were able to show a steady increase in drug resistance. The number of slow-clearing infections rose from 0.6 percent of cases treated in 2001 to 20 percent in 2010. In western Cambodia, 42 percent of malaria cases were resistant between 2007 and 2010, indicating that the Thailand-Myanmar region was swiftly catching up to Cambodia’s rates. “Genetically determined artemisinin resistance in P. falciparum emerged along the Thailand-Myanmar border at least eight years ago and has since increased substantially,” said The Lancet study. “At this rate of increase, resistance will reach rates reported in western Cambodia in two to six years.” The research in the journal Science focused

on what was making these parasites different, and found that a region on chromosome 13 of the parasite was strongly associated with slow clearance of infection. They sequenced the genomes of 91 P. falciparum parasites from Cambodia and western Thailand and compared them to parasites from Laos, where resistance to the latest artemisininbased drugs has not yet emerged. They found seven genes that may be responsible for making the parasite resistant to drugs, and which may explain up to 35 percent of the growing resistance in Southeast Asia. “We have now seen the emergence of malaria resistant to our best drugs, and these resistant parasites are not confined to western Cambodia,” said leader of the study Francois Nosten, director of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit that studies and treats malaria in the Thai-Myanmar region. “This is very worrying indeed and suggests that we are in a race against time to control malaria in these regions before drug resistance worsens and develops and spreads further.” The death toll from malaria has been declining in Africa – the part of the world worst hit by the disease – in recent years, largely due to the increased use of artemisinin drugs and the widening distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets. But if resistance spreads to artemisinin therapies – used alone or taken in combination with other anti-malarials – some experts are concerned that a resurgence of drug-resistant malaria could return to Africa. Researchers say a new anti-malaria drug is not expected to appear on the world market before the next decade is up. The two studies were funded by the Wellcome Trust and the US National Institutes of Health, and included scientists from Mahidol University, Bangkok; the Centre for Tropical Medicine at Britain’s Oxford University; and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in the United States. -AFP

Tobacco display ban comes into force in England FRANCE: A ban on tobacco displays in large shops and supermarkets came into force in England on Friday, meaning such stores must hide cigarettes from public view. Under the new rules, all tobacco products must be kept out of sight except when staff are serving customers or restocking. The display ban applies to shops covering more than 280 square meters. Those in breach of the law could face a fine up to £5,000 ($7,930, 6,070 euros) or even imprisonment. Smaller stores are exempt from the ban until 2015. “We cannot ignore the fact that young people are recruited into smoking by colorful, eye-catching, cigarette displays,” health minister Anne Milton said. “Most adult smokers started smoking as teenagers and we need to stop this trend. “Banning displays of cigarettes and tobacco will help young people resist the pressure to start smoking and help the thousands of adults in England who are currently trying to quit.” It is illegal to sell tobacco in Britain to anyone under the age of 18, though different parts of the United Kingdom have their own legislation regarding smoking. Smoking in enclosed public places was banned in England in July 2007. The government is consulting on introducing plain packaging for packets of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley told BBC television: “We want to arrive at a place where we no longer see smoking as a normal part of life. We’re doing it by stages with constant, active pressure. “The culture is about moving to a place where... people don’t encounter it normally: they don’t see it in their big supermarkets, they don’t see people smoking in public places, they don’t see tobacco vending machines.” Around a fifth of adults in Britain are smokers. -AFP

Ice shelf in Antarctica has shrunk by 85% FRANCE: A vast ice shelf in the Antarctic Peninsula, a hotspot for global warming, has shrunk by 85 percent in 17 years, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday. Images taken by its Envisat satellite show that the so-called Larsen B ice shelf decreased from 11,512 square kilometers in 1995, an area about the size of the Gulf state of Qatar, to only 1,670 sq km today. Larsen B is one of three ice shelves that run from north to south along the eastern side of the peninsula, the tongue of land that projects towards South America. From 1995 to 2002, Larsen B experienced several calving events in which parts of the shelf broke away. It had a major breakup in 2002 when half of the remainder disintegrated. Larsen A broke up in January 1995. “Larsen C so far has been stable in area, but satellite observations have shown thinning and an increasing duration of melt events in summer,” the agency said in a press release. Ice shelves are thick floating mats of ice, attached to the shore, that are created by the runoff into the sea from glaciers. Scientists say they are extremely sensitive to changes in atmospheric temperature and can be hollowed out from below by warmer ocean currents. The northern Antarctic Peninsula has been subject to atmospheric warming about 2.5 degrees Celsius over the last 50 years, a figure that is several times greater than the global average. Ice shelves are not the same as ice sheets, the vast blanket of frozen water that covers Antarctica. If these melted, even partially, they would drive up sea levels, threatening small island states and coastal cities. But the scientific evidence is that the ice sheets so far are stable. “These observations are very relevant for measuring the future behavior of the much larger ice masses of West Antarctica if warming spreads further south,” ESA quoted Helmut Rott, a professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, as saying. -AFP

FILE-Cigarette packs on display at a kiosk in 2010. A ban on tobacco displays in large shops and supermarkets has come into force in England, meaning such stores must hide cigarettes from public view. (AFP)

Pregnancy length may influence severity of autism CAPITALS: Children with autism who were born either prematurely or several weeks late may experience more severe symptoms than kids with autism who were born on time, according to a new study, reveals HealthDay News. These children also may be more likely to inflict self-injury, researchers found. Although the reasons their symptoms are more severe remain unknown, the study suggested it may have something to do with what caused the children to be born before 36 weeks’ gestation or after 42 weeks. “With preterm and post-term babies, there is something underlying that is altering the genetic expression of autism,” Tammy Movsas, a postdoctoral epidemiology fellow at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, said in a university news release. “The outside environment in which a preterm baby continues to mature is very different than the environment that the baby would have experienced in utero,” she said. “This change in environment may be part of the reason why there is a difference in autistic severity in this set of infants.” The researchers examined an online database of 4,200 mothers with children with autism, ranging in age from 4 to 21 years. They grouped the children into one of four categories based on the timing of their birth: very preterm (fewer than 34 weeks’ gestation), preterm (34 to 37 weeks), standard (37 to 42 weeks) and postterm (more than 42 weeks). The mothers completed questionnaires about their child’s symptoms. The study revealed very preterm, preterm and post-term children with autism had significantly more severe cases than

children with autism who were born between 37 and 42 weeks gestation. Although the study found a link between length of pregnancy and autism severity, it did not show a cause-and-effect relationship. “Normal gestation age of birth seems to mitigate the severity of autism spectrum disorder symptoms, and the types of autistic traits tend to be different depending on age at birth,” Movsas said. For babies born late, the study’s authors said prolonged exposure to hormones, higher rates of problems with the placenta and Cesarean section could play a role in the severity of a child’s autism. On the other hand, the study also revealed that very preterm babies show an increase in the mannerisms associated with autism. Nigel Paneth, an epidemiologist at Michigan State, said that although autism has a strong genetic component, the findings indicate that something about pregnancy or the perinatal period may affect how autism manifests itself. “This adds to our earlier finding that prematurity is a major risk factor for autism spectrum disorder and may help us understand if anything can be done during early life to prevent or alleviate autism spectrum disorder,” he said in the news release. The study was published online April 3 in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders. No one knows what causes autism. Other research published this week found that spontaneous genetic mutations and older fathers may influence a small number of autism cases. According to recent figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 88 US children has some form of the neurological disorder.

ALWATAN DAILY

Technology

APP OF THE WEEK

SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

Google creates a spectacle with ‘Project Glass’

Jumanah Al-Ghadban Staff Writer

App: Madonna Category: Music Price: Free Platform: iOS Works with: iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Briefly: Everything you ever wanted to know about Madonna is now available via the official Madonna app. You can stay updated with her videos, photos, twitter updates, music, and so much more. It takes the word “being a fan” to a whole other level with this app. So if you’re a Madonna fan download this app and enjoy everything at your fingertips.

TECH TALK Twitter goes to court to fight spammers: Twitter filed a lawsuit on Thursday in a US court against five websites that it accuses of creating tools for spamming, as the social media firm battles a wave of automated tweets barraging real users with anything from Viagra ads to virus-ridden links. Often billed as a service to help a Twitter account gain followers, websites can take control of an account, known as a bot, that follows or sends automated tweets at real users in the hope that some will follow the bot back or click through links the bot has sent out. -Reuters Amazon.com shop offers Kindle books in Spanish: Online retail titan Amazon. com on Thursday opened a virtual shop specializing in Spanish-language digital books for its popular Kindle electronic reading tablets. US Kindle users seeking digital books in Spanish could buy them at amazon.com/tiendakindle. -AFP Toshiba to build new NAND chip plant: media: Toshiba Corp plans to build a new NAND flash memory plant in Japan as early as this summer as demand for mobile devices continues to expand, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on Wednesday. -Reuters Anonymous says it will hack more Chinese sites: The hacking group Anonymous said Friday it would continue targeting China, after announcing it had hacked hundreds of Chinese websites to protest against Internet censorship in the country. -AFP Google defends privacy policy to European watchdog: Web search giant Google Inc defended its new privacy policy as lawful and cited measures to educate users about it, in a letter sent on Thursday to French data protection regulators investigating its approach. Google sent responses to half of the questions asked by France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique (CNIL) about three weeks ago in the form of an 18-page letter and a lengthy annex. It will provide the rest by April 15. -Reuters YouTube to offer Paramount movie rentals: Even courtroom adversaries can be partners in the nascent online movie rental business. YouTube announced a movie rental partnership with Paramount Pictures on Wednesday, despite the online video website’s long-running litigation with Paramount parent company Viacom Inc. YouTube said it would offer online rentals of nearly 500 Paramount films, including “Hugo” and “The Godfather,” rounding out its growing catalog of feature-length movies. -Reuters

This image released by Google shows eyewear that meshes the online world with the real world. Google gave the world a glimpse of its vision for letting people look at life through Internet-tinted glasses. (AP)

NEW YORK: If you think texting while walking is dangerous, just wait until everyone starts wearing Google’s futuristic, Internet-connected glasses. Directions to your destination appear literally before your eyes. You can talk to friends over video chat, take a photo or even buy a few things online as you walk around. These glasses can do anything a smartphone or tablet computer does now -and then some. Google gave a glimpse of “Project Glass” in a video and blog post this week. Still in an early prototype stage, the glasses open up endless possibilities - as well as challenges to safety, privacy and fashion sensibility. The prototypes have a sleek wrap-around look and appear nothing like clunky 3D glasses. But if Google isn’t careful, they could be dismissed as a kind of Bluetooth earpiece of the future, a fashion faux-pas where bulky looks outweigh marginal utility. In development for a couple of years, the project is the brainchild of Google X, the online search-leader’s secret facility that spawned the self-driving car and could one day let people ride

In this combination of images made from the Google[x] group’s “Project Glass” video launched earlier this week on YouTube, the viewer looks through an early prototype of Google’s futuristic Internet-connected glasses. (AP)

elevators into space. If it takes off, it could bring reality another step closer to science fiction, where the line between human and machine blurs. At its best, the goal is to make your life easier by putting the tools now at your fingertips in front of your eyes. “There is a lot of data about the world that would be great if more people had access to as they are walking down the street,” said Jason Tester, research director at the nonprofit Institute For the Future in Palo Alto, California. That said, “once that information is not only at our fingertips but literally in our field of view, it may become too much.” Always-on smartphones with their constant Twitter feeds, real-time weather updates and “Angry Birds” games are already leaving people with a sense of information overload. But at least you can put your smartphone away. Having all that in front of your eyes could become too much. “Sometimes you want to stop and smell the roses,” said Scott Steinberg, CEO of technology consulting company TechSavvy Global. “It doesn’t mean you want to call up every single fact

about them on the Internet.” Still, it doesn’t take much to imagine the possibilities.What if you could instantly see the Facebook profile of the person sitting next to you on the bus? Read the ingredient list and calorie count of a sandwich by looking at it? Snap a photo with a blink? Look through your wall to find out where electrical leads are, so you know where to drill? Wearing the glasses could turn the Internet into a tool in the same way that our memory is a tool now, mused science fiction writer and computer scientist Vernor Vinge. His 2006 book, “Rainbow’s End,” set in the not-so-distant future, has people interacting with the world through their contact lenses, as if they had a smart phone embedded in their eyes. “Things we used to think were magic, we now take for granted: the ability to get a map instantly, to find information quickly and easily, to choose any video from millions on YouTube rather than just a few TV channels,” Google CEO Larry Page wrote in a letter on the company’s website Thursday. In Google’s video, a man wearing the spectacles is shown getting subway information, ar-

ranging to meet a friend for coffee and navigating the inside of a bookstore, all with the help of the glasses. It ends with playing the ukulele for a woman and showing her the sunset through a video chat. Google posted the video and short blog post about Project Glass on Wednesday, asking people to offer feedback through its Google Plus social network. By Thursday, about 500 people did, voicing a mix of amazement and concern about the new technology. What if people used it in cars and got distracted? What about the effect on your vision of having a screen so close to your eye? Some asked for prototypes, but Google isn’t giving those out just yet. The company didn’t say when regular people can expect to get their hands on a piece of Project Glass, but going by how quickly Google tends to come out with new products, it may not be long. Enderle estimates it could be about six months to a year before broader tests are coming, and a year or more for the first version of the product. With such an immersive device as this, that sort of speed could be dangerous, he cautions. -AP

RIM launches Mass Effect 3 fans promised expanded ending software to accommodate Apple users

TORONTO: Research In Motion on Tuesday launched software that enables its large “enterprise” customers to manage Apple and other rival devices through the same servers as they use for the BlackBerry smartphone and Playbook tablet. The new Mobile Fusion software, first announced in November, is a recognition by RIM of a growing preference by many users inside big corporations and government to access professional communications over their personal devices, often the Apple iPhone or iPad, or devices running Google’s Android. RIM, which long dominated the so-called enterprise market, has watched the BlackBerry’s market share steadily erode in recent years. Unable to arrest the trend, the company now aims to generate a fresh revenue stream from it. Mobile Fusion will cost $99 per user to license and $4 per user a month, with discounts available for bulk orders. In a second announcement on Tuesday that highlights RIM’s eroding market position, it said its PlayBook tablet now boasts 15,000 applications - still just a tiny fraction of the number available on the iPad. One of the biggest complaints about RIM’s products is the dearth of content and applications. A recent survey from Appcelerator and IDC showed less than 16 percent of developers were “very interested” in creating programs for RIM, compared with 90 percent for Apple and 80 percent for Android. But that appeal has started to fade. As rival devices have grown in popularity, in part because of the wealth of apps available for them, companies have started to hire third-party management services from the likes of Good Technology and Mobile Iron to replicate the features of RIM’s enterprise network. Fusion is largely RIM’s response to that reality. -Reuters

PARIS: Fans of hit videogame “Mass Effect 3” will get “more closure” to the end of the saga in add-on software to be available free for download in the months ahead. The studio behind the epic science fiction action trilogy made the promise on Thursday in response to a campaign by players demanding a happier ending. “Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding,” said BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka, who manages the studio now owned by US videogame titan Electronic Arts. ‘Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut’ downloadable content will provide “answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe,” he added. Originally launched in 2007, the final installment in the “Mass Effect” trilogy was released on March 5 and snapped up by fans. The games pit the main character, a male or female version of Commander Shepard depending on player preference, against an ancient race of machines called “Reapers” intent on wiping out organic life in the cosmos. Allies made or friends lost in one game changes who is at the side of a player’s character, and thus their options, in sequels. Players can opt to not import characters’ reputations from earlier games so they can start fresh. The trilogy was designed with varying endings to key plots to allow players

In this video game image released by Electronic Arts, a scene is shown from “Mass Effect 3.” (AP)

to virtual feel the consequences of in-game decisions. “We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending,” ME3 executive producer Casey Hudson explained in a BioWare website forum. “To do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way,” he continued, in a reference to the heroic character whose choices and actions are controlled by players in all three titles. A “Demand a Better Ending for Mass Effect 3” page at social networking website

gears

2013 Santa Fe, new styling inside and out

Compiled by Jameel W. Karaki Staff Writer

CAPITALS: Hyundai has unveiled its all-new 2013 Santa Fe crossovers at the 2012 New York auto show. The 2013 Santa Fe gains new styling inside and out, as well as a seven passenger option. The entry-level version of the Santa Fe will continue as a five-passenger model for 2013 dubbed the Santa Fe Sport but buyers will now have the option of a seven-seater model, known simply as the Santa Fe. Performance:

The 2013 Santa Fe gains new styling inside and out, as well as a seven passenger option. (Agencies)

The two Santa Fes don’t share a single power plant. The shorter Santa Fe Sport goes for an all four-cylinder lineup, starting with a 2.4-liter 190 hp I-4 making an estimated 181 lb-ft of torque. The optional power plant is Hyundai’s now familiar 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4, which produces 264 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque under the hood of the Santa Fe Sport 2.0T. The 8.5-inch longer Santa Fe gets a slightly a powerful engine the 3.3liter 290-hp V-6 ripped straight from the new Azera. All three engines are hooked up to a six-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is standard, while allwheel drive with torque vectoring is available. Fuel economy was a major focus with the 2013 Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport.Though larger than before, thanks to the increased use of lightweight high-tensile steel, curb weight has dropped but fuel economy, for

Facebook had logged more than 60,000 “likes” by Friday and a “@RetakeME3” account at Twitter had 5,954 followers. “We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game,” Hudson said in a release. Players were promised a cinematic epilogue providing insights to what becomes of their beloved characters. “Extended Cut” will be available online for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles as well as for versions of the game played on personal computers. -AFP

Apple’s iPad tops Consumer Reports’ list despite heat issue the most part, has improved. Hyundai expects frontdrive Santa Fe Sports equipped with the 2.4-liter I-4 to achieve 23/33 mpg city/highway, and front-drive turbo models to get 23/31 mpg. Hyundai expects the V-6powered Santa Fe to score 19/26 mpg in EPA testing. For comparison, the outgoing Santa Fe scored 20/28 mpg with the I-4, and 20/26 mpg with the V-6. All 2013 Santa Fes come standard with Hyundai’s Active ECO system. Technologies

Hyundai incorporated a few new driver-oriented technologies into the new Santa Fe and Santa Fe Sport, including its new all-wheel-drive system with Torque Vectoring Cornering Control, or TVCC for short. Hyundai’s TVCC can distribute torque as needed to any single wheel at any time, allowing the system to reduce unwanted understeer or oversteer. Interior

The interior of the two Santa Fes have a flowing center stack that’s typical of Hyundai. Both models offer Hyundai’s third-generation navigation system on a multifunction eight-inch touch-screen display. Hyundai’s Blue Link service (think OnStar) is standard on all Santa Fe models, while the long-wheelbase Santa Fe gets blind spot detection. Other available features include a panoramic sunroof, push-button start with keyless entry, and heated seats front and rear.

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc’s new iPad topped Consumer Reports’ list of tablets despite the influential watchdog stoking doubts two weeks ago by saying the latest iteration of the bestselling tablet threw off more heat when used heavily. The widely followed group that reviews everything from electronics to cars, said on Monday that it did not find the higher temperatures to be cause for concern. The nonprofit organization also tested the iPad for concerns about poor battery recharging when playing an intense video game. “The problem was limited to times when the device was playing a demanding game with the screen fully bright,” it said. Consumer Reports had earlier found that the new iPad reached temperatures of 116 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius) after 45 minutes of running an intense action game. That meant the new iPad was hotter by up to 13 degrees Fahrenheit than the previous model under similar conditions. The third iteration of the iPad is off to a strong start with sales of more than 3 million units since it hit store shelves last month. The group generated headlines in 2010 when it said it could not recommend the iPhone 4 to buyers due to signal reception issues. Reviews for the new iPad have generally been good. The latest version from Apple is not a complete redesign of the iPad 2, but takes advantage of faster 4G wireless technology and has a sharper display. The iPad’s “retina” display impressed Consumer Reports, which said the tablet had “achieved the highest score we’ve ever recorded for color accuracy in a tablet.” -Reuters

ALWATAN DAILY

entertainment Song Of The Day

Fahad AlSabah Staff Writer

Song: Gone And Never Coming Back Artist: Melanie Fiona Album: The MF Life Genre: R&B In short: Melanie Fiona snatched her first No. 1 album on the Billboard R&B albums chart with The MF Life, deservingly so. The album’s lead single, “Gone And Never Coming Back”, was met with lukewarm reception, but the fault lies with radio stations and listeners for not appreciating a song like this. If you’re in the mood for a big soulful number, this one’s for you. To listen to the song visit www.alwatandaily.com E-mail your feedback to falsabah@alwatandaily.com

The Buzz Bravo plans Silicon Valley reality show Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook’s founder, is working with Bravo on a TV show about Silicon Valley. Bravo says “Silicon Valley” is a working title for the show, which follows young professionals in real life working to create the next big thing in tech. Going by a short preview on Bravo’s website, this involves drinking, driving fast cars and bragging about money. Bravo hasn’t said when it would start running the show. But it has already gotten criticism. Sarah Lacy, a former editor with the technology blog TechCrunch, calls the show unconscionable and compares it to “Jersey Shore.” Randi Zuckerberg left Facebook last year to work on her own ventures. Mark Zuckerberg remains with the company as CEO. -AP

Jimmy Smits rolls into Sons of Anarchy

KUWAIT: Yemen’s contemporary society finds its echoes in the films that are being screened at the fifth Gulf Film Festival being held from April 10 to 16, 2012, at Dubai Festival City’s Grand Cinemas, with free admission for the public, says a press release. Three films have been short-listed for the festival’s Official Gulf Shorts and Gulf Student Shorts competitions of which two are making their world premiere in Dubai. 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 festival has traditionally served as the first platform for cinema from Yemen, especially by the country’s emerging filmmakers. This year, director Samer Alnamri makes the world premiere of ‘Hidden Fences’, a short documentary that competes in the Official Gulf Shorts program. The film explores the lives of marginalized people, who face societal discrimination and are also victims of violence. Their plight, often unknown to the world and seldom discussed in any developmental forums, is presented from the perspective of a Yemeni writer, who portrays their lives in his novel. Competing in the Gulf Student Shorts competition is Abdulla Hedeajan’s ‘Asleep Dad’, also a world premiere. The short fiction is a disturbing tale of a youngster, who on his first day at school is asked about the profession of his father. What follows is a disruptive debate between the boy and the teacher, and the boy must now seek true answers from his father. Another story that examines individual life versus societal pressure is ‘The Easiest Way of Suicide’, directed by Ezah Saleh Ganab, which makes its GCC premiere at GFF 2012. As the title suggests, the film is about a group of people who, unknown and unprompted, discover a way to end their lives.

The wife of film producer Bob Weinstein has filed for divorce in New York and is seeking an order of protection. Court papers say Anne Weinstein is seeking the protection order because she fears “bodily harm.” A spokesman for Bob Weinstein says his wife was reacting to a family intervention to get her to deal with a drinking problem. He says there is no abuse. The two married in 2000. Anne Weinstein is a former book editor. They have two children. Bob Weinstein and his brother Harvey are New York natives and Hollywood mainstays who run their own film company after breaking off from Disney and Miramax, which they helped found. They have been involved highly successful films such as “Pulp Fiction,” ‘’The English Patient,” and “Shakespeare in Love.” -AP

TV actress Park Overall running for Senate “Empty Nest” sitcom star Park Overall is adding her name to the list of actors-turned-politicians with a run for a Senate seat inTennessee. “I have officially filed (papers) to run against Bob Corker for the US Senate,” Overall told The Greenville Sun on Thursday. “Somebody had to do it and if nobody else will do it, I will do it.” Let’s hope that’s not her campaign slogan. Tennessee native Overall, 55, is best known as sassy nurse Laverne on the 1988-1995 NBC sitcom “Empty Nest,” a spin-off of “The Golden Girls.” She also had recurring roles on “Reba” and “The Critic,” and starred in Lifetime movies “Fifteen and Pregnant” and “The Price of a Broken Heart,” about a wife who sues her husband’s mistress. -Reuters

A still from the film ‘The Easiest Way of Suicide’, directed by Ezah Saleh Ganab.

GFF 2012 presents a rich showcase of films from across the Arabian peninsula as well as international shorts in its incompetition segments. The festival also has a diverse program

Uzbekistan’s first daughter to release new album ALMATY, Kazakhstan: The jet-setting daughter of Uzbekistan’s aging authoritarian president says she’s releasing a new music album. Gulnara Karimova, who is alternately admired and despised by her fellow countrymen in the former Soviet Central Asian republic, wrote on Twitter that the songs on the album are based on her own life experiences. Karimova has frequently been touted as a potential successor to her iron-fisted, long-ruling father, 74-year old former Communist Party boss Islam Karimov. But so far, at least, the 39-year-old

Stars go to boot camp in new reality TV show

Bob Weinstein’s wife files for divorce in NY

Yemeni filmmakers present the plight of marginalized communities at 5th GFF

Jimmy Smits is heading for outlaw territory. Former “NYPD Blue” star Smits has signed on for a season-long arc on FX’s biker drama “Sons of Anarchy.” Smits will play Neron “Nero” Padilla, a gang member who ends up mentoring newly installed SAMCRO president Jackson “Jax” Teller. Smits recently starred as Supreme Court justice-turned-private attorney Cyrus Garza in the short-lived NBC series “Outlaw,” and he had an arc as assistant district attorney on the Showtime series “Dexter” in 2008. The fifth season of “Sons of Anarchy” will premiere in September. -Reuters

“Law and Order” executive producer Wolf and reality TV guru Burnett are teaming up for a new NBC reality show that will put celebrities through their paces -- all for a good cause. “Stars Earn Stripes” will bring nine celebrities from the film, music and sports world to “a top-notch, secret military training facility,” where they’ll be paired with trainers to prepare for a weekly challenge. The challenges, culled from actual exercises from the armed services, will range from hostage rescues to properly placing a laser target on a mountaintop. Prize money will be donated to a military charity. “I think this is a unique opportunity to pay a tribute to our troops and first responders who put their lives on the line every day,” Wolf said of the new venture. “Mark and I are looking forward to working together as we bring this exciting, dramatic and entertaining competition to viewers.” “When I see someone in a military uniform I make it a point to approach them, shake their hand and say five words ... ‘thank you for your service,’” Burnett, whose reality TV bona fides include “Survivor,” “The Voice” and many others, added. “Stars Earn Stripes” is a high energy, fun, action show, but at its heart it is all about those five words: ‘Thank you for your service’. Our celebrities are going to experience the high adrenaline that special forces and law enforcement encounter and will realize how very hard and scary it is to do those jobs.” -Reuters

sunDAY, april 8, 2012

FILE - In this Saturday, April 2, 2011 file photo, Gulnara Karimova seen just after a display of creations of ‘Guli’ collections at the Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia. (AP)

appears to prefer fashion design and pop music to political maneuvering. Karimova did not say when the album will be released, although she has already uploaded one track to the Internet. “All my songs are spoken for different moments of my life,” Karimova wrote in English on her Twitter account. “The music is an experiment from trip-hop to soft rock and even pop.” Karimova performs under the name GooGoosha, which is reportedly her father’s favorite nickname for her. In an earlier stage of her onand-off pop career, she performed the Latin classic “Besame Mucho” with Spanish crooner Julio Igelsias. Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim nation of almost 28 million people, is strategically placed along a key transportation route supplying US-led coalition troops in neighboring Afghanistan. The country is rich in natural gas and gold and is one of the world largest cotton producers, making it potentially attractive to investors. Many in Uzbekistan remain mired in crushing poverty, however, making Karimova’s opulent lifestyle the subject of heated criticism. A recent Russian edition of celebrity magazine Hello! includes a lavish spread on Karimova’s country home near the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Last year, the producers of New York’s Fashion Week canceled a show by Karimova under pressure from a human rights group protesting child labor in her homeland. While Karimova is feted in Uzbekistan as a diplomat, academic and philanthropist devoted to the cause of disadvantaged women and children, her many critics say she has used her power to forcibly take over businesses in the country. -AP

Current TV countersues Olbermann, seeks damages LOS ANGELES: Current TV offered its rebuttal to a scathing lawsuit filed by Keith Olbermann by filing a countersuit Friday detailing alleged bad behavior by its former talk show host and seeking a judge’s ruling that he is not entitled to any more money from the network. The network’s filing accuses Olbermann of breaching his contract by disclosing terms of the lucrative deal, refusing to cooperate in promoting the show and taking days off without permission. The countersuit comes one day after Olbermann sued his former employer, claiming it violated his agreement, engaged in shoddy production values and owed him more than $50 million. “Current seeks a determination that it is no longer obligated to pay a dime to Mr. Olbermann who, having already been paid handsomely for showing up sporadically and utterly failing to keep his end of the bargain, now seeks to be paid tens of millions more for not working at all,” the filing states. The network and Olbermann have been at odds for months, and the dispute has escalated in the days since the former “Countdown” host was fired last week. Olbermann’s attorney Patricia Glaser said of Current’s countersuit: “No merit. No defense. And in our view, no problem.” Current’s suit claims Olbermann has damaged the network and will continue to do so. It seeks unspecified damages. The networks’ filing paints Olbermann as a petulant figure after he was hired to be Current’s signature host, rejecting seven limousine companies, refusing to cooperate in promotional discussions and taking vacations with little notice. The complaint claims Olbermann wrote to Current

co-founder Joel Hyatt to complain about a problem with a guest, “Give me a name so I know which of them to kill with my bare hands,” and threw a glass mug on the set, which prompted a complaint from the set’s landlord. After two days of court filings, it was clear neither side was pulling punches in its description of the other. Olbermann’s lawsuit repeatedly attacked the network and described Hyatt and co-founder Al Gore as “dilettantes portraying entertainment industry executives.” “Olbermann deeply regrets his decision to put his trust in Hyatt and Gore,” the lawsuit claims. “Current had neither the desire nor the ability to produce a first rate news commentary show. Olbermann did not join Current to ruin his hard-won reputation and appear on a show that was an embarrassment.” His lawsuit described a litany of technical issues, including shoddy equipment that wouldn’t work if it rained, “terrible sound and filming” of the show, segments that abruptly dropped off the air, busted teleprompters and an earpiece that repeatedly malfunctioned. Current’s filing Friday claims Olbermann refused to cooperate in discussions about improving the set, and in general refused to promote the network. Olbermann’s lawsuit denied several of the claims, including that he leaked information about his contract and that his absences were unauthorized. The former host, who claims he may be owed $70 million or more when the case is over, took to Twitter after reading Current’s countersuit. “After reading the Current filing my attorneys and I think it should be subtitled ‘How To Try To Pound The Table ... And Miss,’” Olbermann posted. -AP

on children’s films as well as trend-setting international shorts and compelling feature films presented in the Intersections and Lights segments.

Supermodel Heidi Klum divorces singer Seal

FILE-Model Heidi Klum and husband singer Seal pose on arrival at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California in this Feb. 13, 2011 file photo. (Reuters)

FRANCE: German supermodel Heidi Klum filed for divorce from her singer husband Seal, two and a half months after the pair announced their separation, spokesmen for the pair said. Klum cited “irreconcilable differences” in her divorce petition filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, which shows that the pair signed a post-nuptial agreement, according to the TMZ celebrity news website. The couple vowed to be “civil” for the sake of the children when they announced their split in January, with Seal saying it was “difficult” but made easier because of their continued feelings for each other. In divorce papers published by TMZ, Klum asks for joint legal custody of their four children -- two boys and two girls, aged 7, 6, 5 and 2 -- but she wants primary physical custody, with Seal getting visitation rights. The legal papers were made in Klum’s married name Heidi Samuel -- Seal is listed by his name Henry Samuel -- and the German model is asking to restore her maiden name, Klum, which she has always used professionally in any case.

The couple married in 2005 and have three children together. Seal, best known for hits such as “Kiss from a Rose” and “Crazy,” also adopted Klum’s daughter from a previous relationship with ex Formula One boss Flavio Briatore. They announced their split in a statement issued via Klum’s German publicist, saying: “While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul-searching we have decided to separate.” Seal echoed that in a television interview. Asked about a risk that their separation could turn nasty, he said: “We’re just not those kind of people, we never really have been. “Of course it’s a difficult situation that we have to handle right now, and it’s never easy, but you know, in terms of our love and respect for each other, that hasn’t changed at all. Klum, 38, and Seal, 49, were famous for renewing their vows every year on their wedding anniversary. But the model raised eyebrows when she attended the Golden Globes awards ceremony in January without her husband. -AFP

Indian Bollywood film actors Shazan Padamsee, (behind left), Asin (behind center) and Akshay Kumar (behind right), cast members of Hindi film ‘Housefull 2’, pose during a special charity screening for Cancer Aid Foundation in Mumbai on April 6, 2012. (AFP)

ALWATAN DAILY

AROUND TOWN / TIME OUT

SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012

If you have an event you wish to include, please email: aroundtown@alwatandaily.com

Feature o f

graffiti

the day

moderately confused

Pakistani ambassador visits Kuwait museum

Sudoku

Intermediate Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kuwait Iftekhar Aziz recently visited Kuwait’s House for National Works. The Ambassador visited different parts of the museum where the museum staff gave him a detailed briefing on significant events related to country’s history including the war of liberation against the Iraqi invasion. The Ambassador also met the President of the museum Yousef Al-Amiri and held detailed discussion on issues of mutual interest. Amiri apprised the Ambassador about various developments related to the museum especially the plans to move the museum to a new location. He said that the design work of the

Month a t

Advanced

Elementary

project was already completed while the construction work was expected to start soon. The Ambassador thanked the president for arranging the visit. He said that Pakistan and Kuwait enjoyed brotherly relations which were cemented by the bond of religion. He said that the two countries always stood by each other in difficult times. He referred to the section of the museum reserved for Pakistan and said this reflected the acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by the Pakistani soldiers for their Kuwaiti brothers during the war of liberation. He also assured the president of Embassy’s continued support for museum’s future endeavors.

General A n n o u n c e m e n t s

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

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

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

Golden era club

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the occasion of the Easter holiday, the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Kuwait would like to inform the public that the Embassy will be closed on Sunday, April 8 and Monday April 9, 2012. The Embassy will resume its normal duties on Tuesday April 10, 2012.

French Embassy

Brainbang session

The French Embassy in Kuwait will be closed on Sunday April 8, 2012 for Easter holidays.

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

Embassy of the Slovak Republic

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

Today you could receive a lucky career break of some kind that brings some extra money your way, Aries. The downside is that you might have to put in many extra hours. Your good fortune could cause temporary problems in your personal life. Your significant other and family members could be disgruntled. Point out that it may be inconvenient now, but everyone will be better off in the long run. Taurus: April 20 - May 20

An unexpected visit from someone who lives far away is likely to throw your schedule off kilter,Taurus. Even though you’ll be glad to see your friend, the visit could require a lot of calls to break appointments and postpone meetings. Once that’s done, however, you’ll have a good visit. You and your friend should each have a lot to report. You’ll talk for hours. Relax and have some fun! Gemini: May 21- June 21

An unexpected financial setback could have you reeling at first, Gemini. Perhaps an emergency, such as a toothache or car breakdown, requires a substantial expenditure that you hadn’t planned for. You can probably find a way to deal with the crisis. You may have resources to draw upon that you aren’t aware of now.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

You could be feeling restless and frustrated due to a temporary separation from a partner, Cancer, perhaps a business partner but more likely a romantic one. Phone contact could be difficult as well, because you could both be busy and keep missing each other. Find something fascinating to do that will take your mind off the situation. Get together with friends and have some fun. Leo: July 23 - August 22

A rather disconcerting rumor about your job could reach your ears, Leo. Perhaps you’ll hear that the company is being sold or undergoing a shakeup in the hierarchy. You might get caught up in a frenzy of worry about whether or not you’ll stay on. Before jumping to any conclusions, phone someone who knows what’s going on and find out the truth. What you’ve heard is probably just gossip. Virgo: August 23 - September 22

A number of great ideas either for new creative projects or enhancing ongoing ones could pop into your head during the day, Virgo. If you don’t write them down immediately, they could just as easily pop right out again, never to return! With all your responsibilities, you could have a rather frantic day.

Libra: September 23 - October 22

A person with whom you work, probably a woman, could leave suddenly without notice or stated reason, Libra. This could be confusing, and you might find yourself wondering if there are changes within the company that you know nothing about. Try to learn exactly why this person left. If you can’t ask him or her directly, discreetly ask someone who might know. Scorpio: October 23 - November 21

Someone you’ve wanted to hear from for a long time, perhaps an old friend who lives far away, could ring you up today while you’re out, Scorpio. You’ll be happy to get the message, but it could result in a frustrating game of phone tag throughout the day. Don’t get so irritated you give up. Keep trying. You’ll eventually touch base, and you’ll be glad you did! Sagittarius: November 22 - December 21

A rather upsetting dream could disturb your sleep tonight, Sagittarius. When you wake up and focus on the real world, it could seem so bizarre as to not be worthy of serious consideration. Nonetheless, write it down. After some time has passed, go over the symbols and see what they suggest to you.

Capricorn: December 22 - January 19

A colleague or possibly a romantic partner could be in a rather touchy mood today, Capricorn.Therefore, you might find this person difficult to deal with. You could get a bit irritated and wonder if this person is worth the aggravation he or she is causing you. Don’t do anything foolish. This mood will pass. Try to stay out of your friend’s way, if possible. All should be back to normal by tomorrow. Aquarius: January 20 - February 18

You tend to be very intuitive, Aquarius, but today you could find your psychic abilities short-circuit. If you give readings, don’t schedule any for today. This isn’t to say your abilities are blocked, but they aren’t as dependable as they usually are. Likewise, your imagination isn’t as reliable either. Don’t worry. This is just typical writer’s or artist’s block. You’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. Pisces: February 19 - March 20

Some rather upsetting news about a friend could come to you today, Pisces, probably over the phone. This could be the truth, but more likely the facts have been distorted in the retelling. In fact, what you’re hearing may actually be nothing more than gossip. Phone someone who might know what’s really going on.

ALWATAN DAILY

SPORTS

SUNDAY, april 8, 2012

Basketball

Duncan scores Memphis Grizzlies snap Miami Heat’s home win streak 19 to lead Spurs past Hornets SAN ANTONIO: The San Antonio Spurs rose to the top of the Western Conference standings by overpowering the weakest team in the conference. Tim Duncan scored 19 points to lead San Antonio to a 128-103 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night, giving the Spurs their 10th straight win. Manu Ginobili and Patty Mills scored 14 points apiece, and Stephen Jackson and Gary Neal each added 13 for the Spurs, who scored 72 points in the first half and swept the four-game season series. The win, coupled with Oklahoma City’s loss to Indiana, moved the Spurs percentage points ahead of the Thunder for first place in the West. The Spurs were prevented from clinching their 15th consecutive playoff berth when Houston beat the Los Angeles Lakers later Friday. The

last time the Spurs didn’t make the playoffs was in 1996-97, the season before Duncan arrived. Eric Gordon, playing in only his second game in three months, scored 31 points to lead the Hornets, who have lost four of their last five games. Marco Belinelli had 15 points, Carl Landry scored 13, and Greivis Vasquez added 12. San Antonio jumped out to a 72-45 halftime lead and was never threatened the second half. As a result, the Spurs, who have played much of the season without Ginobili because of injuries, sit atop the West. The easy win gave the Spurs their second streak of at least 10 victories - they won 11 straight earlier this season - and also allowed coach Gregg Popovich to rest his stars.

Popovich has carefully managed minutes all season in anticipation of the playoffs, something easier to do now with a bench strengthened by the additions of Mills, Jackson and Boris Diaw. The Spurs’ reserves, led by Ginobili, scored 82 points, allowing Duncan to play only 20 minutes and Parker just 16. Ginobili played 21. The Hornets, meanwhile, were without point guard Jarrett Jack for the second straight game. Jack, who has a right foot sprain, averages 15.6 points and 6.3 assists per game. Against the Spurs, Jack had been particularly effective, averaging 26.5 points and 7.0 assists in two games. Ginobili scored 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the first half to help San Antonio take its big lead. The Spurs outscored the Hornets 38-21 in the second quarter to essentially put the game away. -AP

Tennis

No all-Williams matchup after Stosur win

Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade (3) moves against Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay (32) and Gilbert Arenas during their NBA basketball game in Miami, Florida April 6, 2012. (Reuters)

MIAMI: Dwyane Wade knew during pregame warmups that the Miami Heat were going to have a long night. By the end of the first quarter, the Memphis Grizzlies let everyone else know that Wade was right. Rudy Gay scored 17 points, Zach Randolph had 14 points and 14 rebounds off the bench, and the Grizzlies put seven players in double figures to snap Miami’s 17game home winning streak by beating the Heat 97-82 on Friday night. Memphis led wire-to-wire, the first team to do that on Miami’s home floor since Boston on Nov. 11, 2010. LeBron James finished with 21 points, six assists and six rebounds for the Heat, who failed in a bid to match the franchise’s longest home win streak, set in the 2004-05 season. Miami committed 11 turnovers in the first quarter - its most in any period since Feb. 14, 2006 - and never recovered. Wade scored 20 points, Chris Bosh added 19 and Terrel Harris scored 10 for Miami, which last lost at home on Jan. 22 to Milwaukee. Miami (39-15) fell three games behind Chicago (4313) in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Heat have 12 games left, the Bulls have 10, and the teams go head-to-head twice more before the postseason begins. The Heat struggled shooting the ball again, finishing at 40 percent.

It was the second time in two weeks that Memphis got seven players into double figures. Another good sign for the Grizzlies: Arenas had been 3 for 13 from 3-point range in his first six games with Memphis, but was 4 for 5 on Friday. Memphis came into the night only two games out of fourth in the Western Conference, and coach Lionel Hollins talked beforehand about the importance of getting sharper heading into the postseason. His team must have listened, because it came out flying. The Grizzlies led 25-12 after the first quarter behind nine points from Gay. By halftime, the lead was 48-32, the second-lowest scoring first half for the Heat since the first game of the Big Three era, the opener at Boston last season. Wade missed two dunks in the first half, shooting 1 for 7. Midway through the second quarter, Bosh was shooting 4 for 5 and Harris 2 for 2 off the bench - while everyone else in a Miami uniform was shooting 1 for 17 at that point. There were chances in the third for Miami to get the lead into single digits, all of them thwarted. Arenas’ fourth 3-pointer of the night came with 9:40 left, giving the Grizzlies an 81-64 lead. Mayo stretched the lead to 86-66 with another 3-pointer midway through the fourth, and the Grizzlies soon finished it off. -AP

Cricket

Swann fires England to big win in Sri Lanka

CHARLESTON: Reigning US Open champion Samantha Stosur put the latest matchup in the Williams sisters’ sibling rivalry on hold by rallying past Venus Williams at the Family Circle Cup. The second-seeded Stosur won five of the last six games for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals on a chilly, windy Friday at the season’s first claycourt event. Stosur now has a chance at knocking out both Williams sisters on consecutive days when she meets Serena in Saturday’s semifinals. While Stosur had never beaten Venus Williams before, she’s had success against Serena. Stosur beat her to win the US Open title last September and won their only match on clay in the 2010 French Open quarters. Serena Williams advanced when Sabine Lisicki twisted her left ankle early in the opening set and had to withdraw after five games. The buzz for a Williams’ sisters showdown had grown all week as the two Americans moved through the draw. Both came into Friday without losing a set and appeared ready to settle some family business at the Family Circle Tennis Center. This was Venus Williams’ first claycourt tournament since 2010 and her second event since a bout with the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome kept her out of the game since last summer’s US Open. Stosur is seeking her second Family Circle Cup title in three years. Stosur came out fast for a 5-2 lead in the opening set. Williams mishit Stosur’s 113 mph serve on set point. That’s when Stosur’s own service game began to fall apart. She struggled to get the ball in play and Williams took full advantage of Sto-

Samantha Stosur, of Australia, returns a shot to Venus Williams during their quarterfinals match at the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament in Charleston, April 6, 2012. (AP)

sur’s slower second serves. Stosur had the chance to go up 3-1 in the set, but sent a forehand wide. Venus Williams eventually won to tie the set at 2-all and closed it out by winning four of the next six games. Williams carried the momentum into the final set and held serve to lead 2-1. Stosur, though, regained her accuracy and Williams began to tire. Stosur only lost two points over the final two games. Willilams slowly walked to the net after her service return went wide on match point. Early on, it looked as if Serena Williams might have a fight on her hands as Lisicki stood toe-to-toe with the 13-time Grand Slam winner. However, as Lisicki

moved to her left after a shot, she apparently hurt her left ankle and fell to the court. She immediately got up and called for the trainer, who re-taped her ankle so the 22-year-old German could continue. It was obvious Lisicki couldn’t move as she had. She played three more games before retiring in tears. Serena Williams came over to console Lisicki, hugging her near the net and applauding along with the crowd as she left stadium court. Ninth-seeded Lucie Safarova ousted No. 4 seed Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 6-3. Safarova will meet No. 14 seed Polona Hercog in the semifinals. Hercog defeated 13thseeded Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-2. -Reuters

Formula one

F1’s Hamilton says consistency is key this time

England’s Graeme Swann celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Prasanna Jayawardene, with his team mates during the final day of the second test cricket match between England and Sri Lanka, April 7, 2012 (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Graeme Swann claimed a match haul of 10 wickets as England roared to a seriesleveling win over Sri Lanka in the second and final Test on Saturday to retain their number one ranking. Swann followed his four wickets in the first innings with six in the second as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 278 at the stroke of lunch on the fifth day at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo. England, set a modest target of 94, coasted home by eight wickets despite a brief stutter at 31-2 following the dismissals of skipper Andrew Strauss for no score and Jonathan Trott for five. Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen carried the tourists home with a brisk third-wicket stand of 66 in 69 balls, amid wild celebrations from some 5,000 travelling English fans at the ground. Left-hander Cook remained unbeaten on 49 and Pietersen, who hit a century in the first innings, smashed 42 not out from 28 balls, signalling his team’s emphatic victory with a six off Tillakaratne Dilshan. “We are still number one, for a while yet, hopefully,” said Strauss, who has been under pressure for both his leadership skills and his poor form with the bat. “The most important thing was winning the game. We did not want to walk away from Sri Lanka having lost the series. I’m delighted by the way the guys reacted to the challenge. At the end of the day this will look like

a reasonably comfortable victory, but we all know how hard we had to work for that. It’s been a tough winter and we’re delighted to come through at the end of it.” It was England’s first win in five Tests on their Asian sojourn this year after being thrashed 3-0 by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates and losing the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. The ICC confirmed that England and South Africa were level at the top of the Test charts with 116 rating points, but Strauss’ men nudged ahead when the ratings were calculated beyond the decimal point. Sri Lanka, currently ranked sixth, paid the price for not reaching 300 in either innings of the match and will remain without a series win since 2009, when they beat New Zealand at home. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene, who ended with 354 runs in four innings at an average of 88.50 with two hundreds and a half-century, was declared the man of the series. Jayawardene paid rich tribute to Swann, saying he was one of the best spinners he had faced. “We knew going into the series that Anderson and Swann would be the main threats because they can bowl well in any conditions,” he said. “It was a hardfought series. We made mistakes and we have to learn from that and become more consistent going forward.” -AFP

LONDON: After a year of rollercoaster emotions, with results to match, Lewis Hamilton said he has learned the value of consistency after two podium finishes in the opening races of this season’s Formula One world championship. The 27-year-old has taken pole position in each of the season-opening events in Australia and Malaysia for McLaren, but wound up third each time. “I won’t deny that I’m disappointed to have had two pole positions and not to have been able to convert either of them into victories. But I prefer to think of it that luck just hasn’t been on my side, and that it will swing my way sooner or later. I also think this last year has taught me the value of consistency , it’s no use chasing a great result if you can’t back it up with another strong finish the following week. So maybe I’m just playing myself in gently. After all, in 2007, I didn’t win a race until the sixth round and I was in the hunt for the title all through the year. I still don’t think the pecking order has settled down yet, so it’s important to get some good results in the bag while we can. It will be very interesting to see how the order has shaken itself out over the last three weeks - it’s going to be an interesting weekend when we go to China.” Hamilton believes that he and his McLaren will be in a position to fight for victory again in China next week, but he

McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car round a corner during the third practice session of the Formula One Korean Grand Prix in Yeongam, Oct. 15, 2011. (AFP)

conceded he is ready to settle for a points finish again if victory is out of reach. “I’m looking at the championship as a whole, although, of course, I’d love to win every race. It’s more important to be in a good points-scoring position at every race. I think the first two races have shown that, as a team, we’re definitely in positions to win. I think Malaysia was a good example of how to pick up points when you’re looking at the championship - and

that was something I really took away as a positive from that race. But yes I’ll be heading to China looking to win - but it’s just as important to pick up some good points if, for whatever reason, a win isn’t on the cards.” Hamilton won in Shanghai in his titlewinning season in 2008 and again last year so he will chasing a third victory at the Chinese track. He is the only driver to win there more than once. -AFP

Schumacher, Rosberg tread carefully to China

CAPITALS: Michael Schumacher and his Mercedes partner Nico Rosberg hope their team have found a solution to their tire-wear problems and can battle for glory in next weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Both German drivers have shone in qualifying and looked very fast ahead of the season-opening races in Australia and Malaysia, but failed to turn speed and potential into points. They were challenging for the front row of the grid at both races, but ended

with just one point between them. But team boss Ross Brawn believes the team could have resolved their problems ahead of the third event of the year in Shanghai - where seven-times champion Schumacher will be aiming for his 69th pole and 92nd career win. Brawn said: “A lot of hard work and analysis has taken place back at the factory since our return, and I hope to see these efforts pay dividends next Sunday in Shanghai with a performance which reflects the capa-

bilities of the F1 W03. We hope that the weekend will prove more successful than the first two races of the season where our race results did not match expectations after a positive start to both weekends.” Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug added: “Michael’s second row qualifying positions were less than half a second from pole in Australia and Malaysia. But at both events we did not convert our qualifying speed into a consistent race performance on Sunday. -AFP

SUNdAY, april 8, 2012

SPORTS

Sports Editors Highlight SCOTLAND: Celtic hammered Kilmarnock 6-0 away to clinch the Scottish league title on Saturday and end the three-year reign of Glasgow rivals Rangers, who were deducted 10 points in February for entering financial administration. Left back Charlie Mulgrew scored twice and set up Glenn Loovens and Gary Hooper for two more before Joe Ledley and Hooper added the gloss as Neil Lennon’s side gained revenge on Kilmarnock for last month’s League Cup final defeat. Celtic, also in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup against Hearts next weekend, lead bitter foes Rangers by an unassailable 18 points with five games left. Rangers beat St Mirren 3-1. Celtic’s next home game is against Rangers but it has already been decided they will receive the league trophy on another occasion in order not to inflame tensions. -AFP

Football

Serie A leader AC Milan beaten 2-1 by Fiorentina ROME: AC Milan allowed a 90th-minute goal by Fiorentina striker Amauri to lose 2-1 at home on Saturday and extend its struggles after being eliminated from Europe by Barcelona four days ago. The loss kept Milan only two points ahead of Juventus at the top of Serie A, and gave the Turin side a chance to take the lead when it visited Palermo later. Milan took the lead with a penalty from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 31st at the San Siro but Stevan Jovetic equalized in the 47th after taking advantage of a Milan defensive lapse. Amauri then finished off an exchange with Jovetic for his first goal since transferring from Juventus in January. Elsewhere, Inter Milan drew 2-2 with 10-man Cagliari in its second match under new manager Andrea Stramaccioni. In a match played in Trieste because of a dispute between Cagliari and its city council over renovating Sant’Elia Stadium, Davide Astori put Cagliari ahead with an acrobatic effort five minutes in and Diego Milito equalized a minute later, slipping behind the defense and spinning around before finding the target. Chilean forward Mauricio Pinilla restored Cagliari’s lead with a bouncing header in the 61st but was then shown his second yellow card for excessive cele-

brations and Esteban Cambiasso drew Inter level again three minutes later, taking a pass from Diego Forlan and scoring with a difficult shot using the outside of his foot. Also, Udinese beat Parma 3-1 to draw level with Lazio for third place, which carries the final Champions League berth. Ghana forward Kwadwo Asamoah scored twice for Udinese and Antonio Di Natale also found the net for his 20th goal of the season, second only to Ibrahimovic’s 23. Lazio hosted fifth-place Napoli later. Roma’s chances of finishing third took a major hit with a 4-2 loss at Lecce, which is still in the relegation zone. Colombian forward Luis Muriel and David Di Michele each scored twice for Lecce, which led 4-0 before Bojan Krkic and Erik Lamela added late goals for the visitors. In other matches, US international Michael Bradley scored his first Serie A goal as Chievo Verona beat 10man Catania 3-2; Mattia Destro scored an added-time winner in Siena’s 2-1 win at Atalanta; Bologna was held to 0-0 at last-place Cesena; and Giuseppe Mascara replied to Rodrigo Palacio in a 1-1 draw between Novara and Genoa. All 10 Italian league matches were being played on Saturday due to the Easter holiday. -AP

Spurs held to goalless draw at Sunderland

Sunderland’s Michael Turner (left) heads the ball at the goal as Tottenham Hotspur’s Sandro (center) and William Gallas challenge him during their English Premier League soccer match, April 7, 2012. (Reuters)

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur suffered a potential blip in their pursuit of third spot in the Premier League after a dire 0-0 draw at Sunderland on Saturday. The point put Spurs into the last automatic Champions League spot but Arsenal can move back into third with a draw at home to second-placed Manchester City on Sunday. Spurs should have taken the lead when Aaron Lennon dissected the Black Cats defence with a lovely through ball which Rafael Van der Vaart latched onto but his chipped effort was cleared off the line. Both managers opted for unchanged teams as Martin O’Neill stuck with the same side which drew 3-3 with Manchester City last week.While Harry Redknapp chose the same 11 that beat Swansea last Sunday. Tottenham began the game strongly and dominated possession for the opening five minutes which lead to a long range chance for Benoit Assou-Ekotto who struck the ball from 25-yards with power and the ball crept just past the post. Spurs had a shout for a penalty turned down by referee Chris Foy after Emmanuel Adebayor’s header from six-yards appeared to strike the arm of Phil Bardsley stopping the ball on its way to the net. After Redknapp’s side dominance in the early stages Sunderland began to creep into the game and forced some pressure through the boot of Sebastian Larsson

who hit three dangerous balls in succession into the Brad Friedel’s area which were well dealt with by the Tottenham defence. The Black Cats also had a penalty claim turned down from Foy when it appeared Parker handled in the area when trying to clear the ball which had O’Neill and his players up in arms at the decision as the referee waved play on. Spurs tried to regain their control of the game towards the end of the half, as they looked to give Gareth Bale as much of the ball as possible as for the majority of first period he was anonymous. However Sunderland defended deep and with resilience to ensure Redknapp’s side could not create anything meaningful as the half ended goalless. Rafael van der Vaart had two half chances for the visitors, who have lost some of their verve since manager Harry Redknapp was made the bookmakers’ favourite for the vacant England job. In-form Newcastle United, who won 2-0 at Swansea City on Friday to go fifth, are three points behind Spurs while Chelsea are also pushing for third and host Wigan Athletic later. Eighth-placed Sunderland, flying since manager Martin O’Neill took over in December, had their own penalty shout when the ball clipped Scott Parker on the arm but the referee was again unmoved. -Reuters

City boss Mancini admits future not secure

LONDON: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has conceded if his side miss out on the Premier League title this season he may lose his job. The 47-year-old Italian accepted that despite delivering the FA Cup last season and guiding them to their first genuine title challenge for years this season failure to land it may end his term less than three years after taking up the post. Mancini, who lost his previous job at Inter Milan only days after they won their third consecutive Serie A title under his stewardship, said he hoped club chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak would acknowledge the huge progress the club had made since he replaced Mark Hughes. “I hope so because of what’s happened over the last two years,” said Mancini, whose side set the pace for most of the season before a recent slump saw the title race swing the way of defending champions and bitter rivals Manchester United. But I know football very well and I left Inter after winning seven trophies in four years. In football anything can happen. The same regarding my future. I

don’t have a problem with that.” Mancini, who has admitted that should United beat QPR on Sunday and his side lose to Arsenal leaving them eight points behind the title race would be over ending dreams of a first league crown since 1968, said whatever happened he was proud of the way the team had progressed. “I started this job two and a half years ago and since that moment we have improved a lot as a team, players and a club,” said the former Sampdoria and Italy attacking midfielder, who was capped 36 times. “I’ve been in this world a long time and I know you can lose the title. But it’s important to me that the squad have improved a lot. I don’t decide this my future I do the best for my job and after I don’t decide the situation.” Whether Mancini survives or not City will definitely be losing their highly-rated technical director Mike Rigg, who according to ‘The Times’ has agreed to join another Premier League club after successfully overhauling the scouting system since his arrival in June 2008. -AFP

Players of ACF Fiorentina celebrates as Zlatan Ibrahimovic (left) of AC Milan looks dejected during the Serie A match between AC Milan and ACF Fiorentina, April 7, 2012. (AFP)

Dortmund and Bayern both win in Bundesliga BERLIN: Bayern Munich thanked a Mario Gomez brace as they stayed in the Bundesliga title hunt with a 2-1 win over Augsburg on Saturday - but the Bavarians still trail Dortmund by three points after the table-toppers won 3-1 at Wolfsburg. Bayern are the record title winners with 22 crowns but reigning champions Dortmund are in pole position for an eighth title with 66 points from 29 games with just five rounds of action remaining. Dortmund took the lead in the 22nd minute with a right-footed effort from Robert Lewandowski set up by Ivan Perisic, and four minutes after the restart Ilkay Gundogan made it 2-0. But Wolfsburg, in midtable and looking a pale shadow of the side who shocked the nation by lifting the championship in 2009, gave themselves hope with a goal on the hour mark from a Mario Mandzukic header. However, the hosts were dealt a blow when Alexander Madlung was sent off late for a second booking and there was still time for Lewandoswki to bag his second goal of the game and make the points safe. The win preserves the cushion Dortmund, held to a 4-4 draw last week by Stuttgart, needed ahead of Wednesday’s summit meeting with Bayern, who got off to a flier with Gomez on target after just 24 seconds, firing in at the second attempt after Frank Ribery’s cross had found him lurking. Relegation-threatened Augsburg recovered from that early shock, however, and Koo Ja-cheol deservedly leveled in the 23rd minute after Axel Bellinghausen beat Philipp Lahm for speed down the left flank and crossed into the box where South Korean Koo did the rest. Gomez finally got Bayern out of jail

and ended dogged Augsburg resistence on the hour when Lahm made up for his earlier error by feeding Arjen Robben and the Dutch flier played in Gomez for a typically predatory finish and his 25th goal of the season to leave the battling visitors just a point above the drop zone. Elsewhere, Stuttgart were among the goals again as they hammered Mainz 4-1 to stay fifth - albeit eight points behind

Borussia Moenchengladbach, who were later hosting Hertha Berlin seeking a win to go level with third-placed Schalke. Schalke, nine points behind Bayern, host Hanover on Sunday. Cologne remain in the drop zone following a 1-1 home draw with Werder Bremen, who remain two points off Stuttgart in sixth as both chase European berths next season. -AFP

Bayern’s Mario Gomez controls the ball and scores his side’s opening goal during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg in Munich, April 7, 2012. (AP)

Mata’s late goal seals Chelsea win over Wigan LONDON: Juan Mata’s last-minute winner saw Chelsea strengthen their bid for Champions League football next season, as they beat Wigan 2-1 in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Victory saw Chelsea, who could qualify for the Champions League as of right by winning this season’s edition (they face champions Barcelona in the semi-finals) move above Newcastle and left them just two points behind fourth-placed Arsenal. Only the top three teams in the Premier League are guaranteed places in the Champions League proper, with the fourth-placed side set for a qualifying round. Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic volleyed home in the 62nd minute to break the deadlock and the goal stood despite furious Wigan protests that he was offside. Barely a minute later the Serbian defender then preserved Chelsea’s lead with a goal-line clearance. But Wigan, who remained in the bottom three, equalized when Mohamed Diame struck eight minutes from time. However, Chelsea grabbed a winner late in the match when, after Fernando Torres’s volley hit the post, the ball struck Mata on the chest and trickled in. League Cup winners and FA Cup semi-finalists Liverpool saw a run of three straight league defeats end with a 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa. Brazilian keeper Alexander Doni, making his Liverpool debut in the absence of the suspended Pepe Reina, flapped at a 10th minute cross from former Reds defender Stephen Warnock and Chris Herd turned in the loose ball. But Luis Suarez, who’d seen a header hit the post, equalized eight minutes from time when he nodded in from close range. West Brom ensured Blackburn Rovers

remained in the bottom three with a 3-0 win at the Hawthorns. Martin Olsson’s own-goal gave the Baggies, managed by former Blackburn boss Roy Hodgson, a seventh-minute lead before Marc-Antoine Fortune’s 69th minute close-range shot made the game safe. Liam Ridgewell added a third give minutes from time. Mid-table Fulham left Bolton looking over their shoulders at the drop zone with a 3-0 win that featured two goals from

Clint Dempsey. United States midfielder Dempsey gave the Londoners the lead with a brilliant 25-yard free-kick in the 30th minute before heading in Damien Duff’s cross on the stroke of half-time. Mahamadou Diarra’s first goal for Fulham, 10 minutes from time, put the result beyond doubt. Elsewhere Everton and Norwich shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw. -AFP

Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea celebrates after scoring against Wigan Athletic during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London, April 7, 2012. (Reuters)