May 10, 2012

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012

@alwatandaily

Issue No. 1430

20 PAGES

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Blast strikes UN observer convoy in Syria

DERAA: A roadside blast hit troops escorting UN observers in Syria’s south on Wednesday, a day after envoy Kofi Annan warned that his peace plan could be the last chance to avoid civil war.

The explosive device, apparently planted underground, wounded six Syrian soldiers escorting the convoy as it entered the city of Deraa, cradle of a 14-month uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

Major General Robert Mood, the head of the 70-strong UN mission, was in the four-vehicle convoy but escaped unharmed along with 11 other observers and his spokesman Neeraj Singh, said an AFP photographer travelling with them. He said the observers’ work will continue as usual. An Associated Press reporter who was traveling in the UN convoy said the blast cracked the military truck’s windows and caused a plume of black smoke. The UN convoy was not hit. The explosion was more than 100 meters (330 feet) behind the convoy.

“We were driving behind the UN convoy as protection when a roadside bomb exploded, wounding a 1st Lieutenant and five troops,” a soldier who asked to be identified only by his first name, Yahya, told The Associated Press at the scene. At least three bloodied soldiers were rushed away. Mood said he does not know whether the blast was meant to target the observers or the military.

The Norwegian general said the attack was “a graphic example of violence that the Syrian people” were suffering on a daily basis.

“It is imperative that violence in all its forms must stop,” Mood was quoted as saying by Singh, who added: “We remain focused on our task.”

The opposition Syrian National Council accused the regime of being behind the blast, the latest breach of a month-old ceasefire agreement brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Annan.

“We believe the regime is using these tactics to try to push the observers out amid popular demands to increase their numbers,” SNC executive committee member Samir Nashar told AFP.

Parliament approves penal code amendments

Unprosecuted suspects should not remain in custody beyond 48 hours Staff Writers

A Syrian army injured soldier, (right) who was wounded after a roadside bomb hit his military truck, is seen carried by another vehicle to a hospital, in Deraa city, southern Syria, on Wednesday May 9, 2012. (AP)

“(Anti-regime) demonstrators want the observers, because they provide a safety guarantee.

In their presence, people can express themselves through peaceful protests,” said Nashar.

“We are used to the regime’s tactics of claims that there is terrorism and fundamentalism in Syria, which is not the case.” France strongly condemned the bombing. “We hold the Damascus regime responsible for the observers’ security,” said foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

In other violence, troops pounded rebels hiding out in Douma near Damascus, said the Syrian

Kuwaiti, Iraqi FMs discuss planned cooperation accords

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Bourse sectors receive new classification, modern procedures

Compiled by Al Watan Daily

KUWAIT: Leader of Data and Indexes Initiative Team at the Projects Management Office at Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) Sami Abdulaziz Al-Mejeil said that the countdown has started for the implementation of a package of modernizing procedures within KSE next week, specifically on May 13, including the inauguration of the X-stream trade system, approving a new index ‘Kuwait 15’ and launching a new website as a result of the new classification of companies listed on the bourse. He added that the new website will explain the bases and mechanism of this new classification in a simple way which could be understood by investors and dealers alike.

It should be noted that the new classification, like other procedures, is part of KSE’s quest to attain international standards applied by developed markets.

Therefore at the onset KSE has sought to obtain a license for this classification from FTSE, which provides this classification to more than 70,000 companies in More on 9 several stock markets across the globe.

Palestinians demand UN action on hunger strikers

Observatory for Human Rights.

In the village of Manshiya, near Deraa, several soldiers were killed and wounded when an explosion targeted their vehicle.

Clashes between regime forces and rebel groups killed one soldier in the village of Marata, northwestern Idlib province, said the watchdog.

Two security forces members were killed in eastern Deir El-Zor, the scene of heavy shooting and explosions, and a pro-regime gunman was killed in Aleppo, Syria’s second city in the north.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

RAMALLAH, PalestinianTerritories: Several dozen Palestinians on Wednesday blocked staff from entering UN offices in Ramallah to demand that UN chief Ban Ki-Moon take action over hunger striking prisoners.

The demonstrators, who blocked UN employees from entering the building, waved banners reading: “UNjust” and “UNfair.”

More than a third of the 4,700 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel are currently observing an open-ended hunger strike. Two of them are marking their 71st day without eating in protest at their being held without charge under a procedure known as administrative detention which allows Israel to hold susMore on 4 pects indefinitely for renewable periods of up to six months.

Nine men to be sentenced in UK child sex ring case

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US says 12,000 troops take part in Jordan war games

AMMAN: The US military said on Wednesday that 12,000 soldiers from 17 countries are taking part in this month’s military exercises in Jordan, seeking to enhance their abilities to meet “security challenges.” “The tactical execution of Eager Lion 2012 exercise will officially start on May 15,” Major Robert Bockholt, public affairs officer at Special Operations Command Central, told AFP. “Eager Lion is an annual, multi-national exercise designed to strengthen military-to-military relationships through a joint, whole-of-government, multinational approach integrating all instruments of national power to meet current and future complex national security challenges.” Bockholt did not say name the countries, which include US ally Jordan. “We acknowledge the right of each participating country to announce their participation in the exercise on their own terms,” he said. In April, the US Department of Defense said the exercise would

be held from May 7 to May 28. Bockholt said participants were gathering in Jordan from Monday to prepare for the land, sea and air exercise, which will be held in “various training locations.” “In all, there are more than 12,000 service members participating in the exercise,” he said.

Some local media reports have speculated that the war games are linked to the unrest in neighboring Syria, saying the troops seek to secure Jordan’s border.

“Execution of Eager Lion 2012 is not connected to any real-world event. It has nothing to do with Syria. It is just a coincidence,” Bockholt said.

The war games come as Jordan’s Special Operations Forces Exhibition is under way, displaying new technologies by defense manufacturers around the world.

Jordan is a major beneficiary of US military and economic aid, with Washington granting Amman $2.4 billion (1.85 billion euros) in the past five years, according to official figures. -AFP

FDA favors first drug for HIV prevention

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Russian jet with 50 aboard missing in Indonesia

JAKARTA: A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 on a demonstration flight with at least 50 people aboard went missing in a mountainous area south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday, officials said. “The plane disappeared from the radar around the Bogor area. We are still looking for it and we are uncertain whether it crashed,” said Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for the national search and rescue agency. The plane took off at 2:00 pm (0700 GMT) from east Jakarta’s Halim Dozens of young Palestinians block the main gate of the UN offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2012 to prevent the international organization’s staff from entering the premises during a protest in solidarity with fellow prisoners held in Israeli jails. (AFP)

KUWAIT: The Parliament on Wednesday endorsed significant amendments to the Penal Code with regard to remand procedures. Approved by 41 MPs, the new law stipulates that no suspect should remain in custody for more than 48 hours without a written order from a prosecutor to this effect. It also states that security forces should allow suspects to contact their lawyers or inform whoever they wish of their status during the period of remand. The law further stipulates that in the event that the investigation process necessitates the detention of a suspect to prevent them from fleeing or the interrogation being influenced, the suspect can be remanded for no more than 10 days of detention. Under the new law, the suspect reserves the right to appeal against his detention before the appropriate court.

The law has been already referred to the executive authority for enforcement.

In another development, the Parliament approved a proposal to assign the Audit Bureau to

probe the performance of investments by the Kuwait Fund for Development and the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).The Bureau is expected to seek the assistance of two specialized companies and it is due to submit its final report within three months. Similarly, the Parliament agreed to assign the Public Utilities Committee to probe a dubious increase in the cost of the new Airport Terminal and to follow up on the renovation of the State Grand Mosque. Likewise, the Education Committee has been tasked with probing the procedures of appointing senior officials at the Kuwait University and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The same committee will equally mount an inquiry into reasons for the delay of the University City Project.

It’s expected to submit reports to the Parliament on these matters within three months. Additionally, the Parliament assigned the Finance Committee to investigate the latest appointments in the oil sector. An investigation was also ordered into a contract involving the Ministry of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Health.

Perdanakusuma airport, which is used for some commercial and military flights, he said. “At 2:50 pm it dropped from 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) to 6,000 feet,” the agency added in a text message to AFP. Transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said the descent was intentional, and that the pilot was trying to head back to the Halim air field.

He said the flight went missing “in a mountainous area 10 nautical miles from More on 5 Bogor military airbase.”

Light from alien super-Earth seen for first time WASHINGTON: Light from an alien “super-Earth” twice the size of our own Earth has been detected by a NASA space telescope for the first time in what astronomers are calling a historic achievement, reports SPACE. NASA’s infrared Spitzer Space Telescope spotted light from the alien planet 55 Cancri e, which orbits a star 41 light-years from Earth. A day on the extra solar planet lasts just 18 hours.

The planet 55 Cancri e was first discovered in 2004 and is not a habitable world. Instead, it is known as a super-Earth because of its size: The world is about twice the width of Earth and is super-dense, with about eight times the mass of Earth.

But until now, scientists have never managed to detect the infrared light from More on 15 the super-Earth world.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II sits on the throne next to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the Chamber of the House of Lords as she waits to read the Queen’s Speech during the State Opening of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster in London on May 9, 2012. (AFP)

Germany weighs ban on Salafists after clashes

BERLIN: Germany is considering a legal ban on ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim groups, its interior minister said on Wednesday after violent clashes with the police, one of which was provoked by German ultra-rightists. Last weekend, Salafists turned on police protecting far-right antiIslam protesters during a regional election rally in the western German city of Bonn, injuring 29 officers, two of them seriously.

Police arrested 109 people.

The far-right protesters had infuriated the Salafists by waving banners showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

There have been similar clashes in other German towns in the past week, including in Cologne, where around 1,000 police were mobilized on Tuesday to keep Salafists and far-right activists far apart.

“We will use all the possibilities at the disposal of a constitutional state to oppose them (violent Salafists) wherever they fight against... our constitutional order,” Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told n-tv television. “Germany will not allow anybody to impose religious wars on us, neither radical Salafists nor farright parties such as the Pro NRW,” he said, referring to the ultra-nationalist that clashed with the Salafists in Bonn.

An interior ministry spokesman confirmed to Reuters that the government was examining the possibility of a ban on Salafist groups.

“However, there is nothing official yet,” he added. Friedrich said Germany was home to some 4,000 Salafists, not all of whom were violent. -Reuters

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ALWATAN DAILY

kuwait

THURsDAY, may 10, 2012

Kuwaiti, Iraqi FMs discuss planned cooperation accords NAM meeting begins with Kuwait’s participation

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: The foreign ministers of Kuwait and Iraq discussed on Wednesday prospected agreements for cooperation in security and oil and cultural sectors.

The talks between Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid AlSabah and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, were held at a meeting on the sidelines of the 17th ministerial meeting of the NonAligned Movement, currently hosted by the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

In a statement to journalists after the meeting, Zebari said he reviewed with Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid works of the Kuwaiti-Iraqi Ministerial Commission that has recently held a meeting in Baghdad.

The Iraqi minister added that he and the Kuwaiti official affirmed adherence to previously-signed accords and discussed a number of proposed accords, expected to be examined at the next meeting of the committee, such as those that tackle security and cultural coopera-

tion, protection of investments, averting double taxation and cooperation at joint oil fields.

Zebari indicated that His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, would pay a visit to Iraq by the year-end, noting that it would embody the good and brotherly ties bounding Kuwait and Iraq.

Separately, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid met with his Serb counterpart, Vuk Jeremic, discussing regional and international issues. The meeting was attended by several Kuwaiti officials and diplomats.

Furthermore, the 17th meeting of foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement got underwayon Wednesday with participation of 120 states represented by ministers and officials of lower level.

Kuwait is reported at the meeting by Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

The Kuwaiti delegation includes the ambassador to Egypt, Dr. Rashid Al-Hamad, Director of the Bureau of the Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Permanent Delegate to the Arab League Ambassador Jamal Al-Gghnem,

and Permanent Delegate at the UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi.

Junior officials of the participating states prepared at a meeting, on Tuesday, agenda of the final communique of the conference, including issues such as global disarmament, international security, terrorism, democracy, dialogue and cooperation between the North and the South, women affairs and water issues.

The proposed “final document” of the conference praises progress that has been achieved between Iraq and Kuwait for resolving issues of dissension, urges the two sides for further cooperation, calls on Iraq to honor relevant obligations, in line with UN resolutions.

As to the Middle East peace process, it rejects bids aimed at changing references of the peace process, Israeli schemes for imposing unilateral settlement, urges Lebanon to fully implement the 2006 UN resolution 1701, halting recurring Israeli breaches and urges Tel Aviv to withdraw from Lebanese territories.

It also calls on North and South Sudan to implement the peace accord, affirms respect of territorial sanctity of Libya, renews call for resolving the Somali conflict and pledges determination to face all forms of indiscrimination against women. -KUNA

Kuwait funding to Palestinians alleviates suffering

Kuwaiti Ambassador to Jordan Dr. Hamad Al-Duaij (left) handing Zakat Alquds Committee representative (right) a donation of $350,000 offered by Islamic Heritage Restoration Society on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. (KUNA)

AMMAN: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Jordan Dr. Hamad Al-Duaij handed Zakat Alquds Committee on Wednesday a donation of 350,000 US dollars offered

by Islamic Heritage Restoration Society (IHRS), and another valued $35,000 from International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO).

Al-Duaj told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that this donation is part of the support Kuwait offers to Palestine at the official and popular levels.

This BACKING contributes in reducing suffering of Palestinians, and helps in maintaining Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem.

Continuous funding of Kuwait to Jerusalem (Quds) Zakat Committee strengthens resistance of the Arab residents of the city, who are suffering from Israel’s occupation and its violent practices, aimed at Judaizing the Holy City and expelling its Arab inhabitants.

Financial support was offered from Kuwaiti Zakat House to complete building a mosque in Jerash governorate in Jordan, the ambassador said.

IICO also offers financial and material aid for needy families in Jordan.

The diplomat stressed on Kuwait’s keenness on supporting charity and humanitarian work at local and international levels.

Director of projects and orphan’s affairs department in Jerusalem (Quds) Zakat Committee Ashraf Salhab said Jerusalem “is enjoying special care from Kuwait under wise leadership of His Highess the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.” He hailed role of the Kuwaiti diplomatic mission in Jordan in facilitating work of Kuwaiti humanitarian committees in delivering aid to Palestinian people.

Quds Zakat Committee is a charitable independent organization that works to aid orphans, poor people, holds iftar meals and organizes Koran recitation courses. -KUNA

Cyprus seek closer economic cooperation with Kuwait ANKARA: Kuwaiti Ambassador in Cyprus Ahmad Al-Wehaib metWednesday Cypriot Minister of Finance Vasos Shiarly on how to reinforce bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

During the meeting, they also discussed cooperation in the investment field and ways and means of spurring businessmen from both countries to set up joint ventures, the Kuwaiti Embassy in Nicosia said in a release.

They also considered the Eurozone’s economic problems and the sovereign debt crisis in several European Union (EU) countries, it added.

The Kuwaiti ambassador stressed the importance of encouraging both sides’ investors and businessmen to capitalize on available investment opportunities, and provide a mutual congenial investment atmosphere.

He pointed out that both countries enjoy many investment and business potential to tap. -KUNA

Singapore-Kuwait eyes closer economic ties KUWAIT: Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is willing to reinforce economic and trade cooperation with Singapore, said an official on Wednesday.

Meeting a visiting Singaporean economic delegation, KCCI Board Member Wafaa Al-Qattami hoped that Kuwaiti-Singaporean economic relations do not match the level of bilateral historic ties.

She said Kuwait’s national development plan, which involves several projects in vital sectors, is a good opportunity for the Singaporean side to join them for the common interest of both sides.

The visiting Singaporean team consists of representatives from 15 companies operating in the domains of banks, logistics, furniture, oil, gas, construction, engineering, investment and shipping. -KUNA

Parliament approves penal code amendments CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

During deliberations on the formation of said investigatory panels, MP Mohammad Al-Saqr sharply criticized the government for its muted reaction to the formation of these panels and failure to defend civil servants. The MP went as far as describing the government as “shaky and weak.”

Minister of Housing Shuaib Al-Muwaizri responded to Al-Saqr, saying that insults are unacceptable. AlSaqr later apologized for using the words but insisted he couldn’t find proper terms to describe the government.

Meanwhile, the Parliament has formally asked the Public Utilities Committee to study the causes of the traffic crisis and to envisage and devise optimal solutions.

In other developments, MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel announced that he has given the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah a twoweek ultimatum to seriously deal with the issue of dual

citizenship and to review the files of those who have regained their Kuwaiti nationality after being stripped of it. “I swear to God that if he fails to address the issue of dual citizenship, I will make him get used to mounting the podium to face interpellation,” the outspoken MP was quoted as saying.

Al-Juwaihel added that he is in possession of documents (circulated to reporters) proving that citizen Mubarak Al-Ajmi, who has been stripped of his citizenship, regained it, though he still maintains his Saudi nationality.

In other news, MP Abdulhameed Dashti announced that he had filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General against MP Mubarak Al-Waalan, who alleged that he had a diplomatic Syrian passport. Dashti accused Al-Waalan of defamation and demanded an initial compensation of 5001 Kuwaiti dinars.

Dashti insisted that the documents exhibited by Al-Waalan are fake and urged the prosecution to request the immunity of the MP to be lifted so that he can face justice.

Photo of Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah (right) with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (left) on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. (KUNA)

Lawmakers seek to bar women from becoming judges

Room view photo of Tuesday’s Parliament session, May 8, 2012. (Al Watan)

MANAMA: Five Kuwaiti lawmakers are pushing for barring women from becoming judges under an amendment of the relevant legislation, reported Gulf News.

MPs Khaled Al-Sultan, Ammar AlAjmi, Abdulateef Al-Omair, Nayef AlMirdas and Mohammad Al-Kandari said in their proposal to the Parliament that the law should be amended to specify that judges should be only men.

The current law stipulates that judges in Kuwait have to be Muslims, but does not refer to their gender.

“We are concerned that the law article as it stands now allows women to become judges, and this is a matter of grave reservation and doubts,” the motion said, a local daily reported.

Several Islamists oppose allowing women to become judges, arguing that their decisions can be clouded by their

strong emotions.

However, local activists have called for the appointment of women to the judiciary, arguing that neither Islam nor Kuwaiti law barred women from being appointed judges.

Salma Al-Ajmi, a women’s rights activist and a lawyer, said in 2010 that Kuwait’s law stated that job of a judge was an entirely technical and professional matter. -Agencies

Scholarships for overseas education include disabled: Higher Education Yousef Al-Tarmi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The United States Ambassador to Kuwait Mathew Tueller stressed on the importance of overcoming daily hindrances in order to obtain quality education. He emphasized that picking a school for enrollment should be considered after deep thoughts. He added that it was important to select a university that meets the educational demands that would help shape the desired career and ambitions of the students, as it will also contribute in defining the personality of the student in order to become responsible person in a civilized society and cultured community.

Speaking in a forum held by the American Embassy in cooperation with

the Higher Education and the participation of the National Union of Kuwaiti Students and the Alumni Society United States branch, titled “Planning for the Future”, Tueller said that he himself came from a poor background, indicating that his grandfather worked hard to enroll in a well reputed university, a dream which Tueller pursued too.

On her part the representative of the Higher Education Wafa Al-Sarraf said that the ministry follows its overseas students closely to ascertain progress and that there are now 2,800 students enrolled under overseas scholarships. She also said that there are plans to increase this number to 3,000 or perhaps 4,000 by next year to the United States. As for the terms and conditions of the scholarships, Al-Sarraf said that first all participants

must be Kuwaiti nationals with last year at school grade no less 75 percent. She added that there are plans to include one year foundation course to learn English prior to any formal enrollment.

Similarly, the Director of the Public Authority for people with Disability Dr. Jassem Al-Tammar said that students with disabilities are no less unfortunate when it comes to learning and education, and thus contribute towards the country on equal foot like their counterparts.

“Therefore, students with disabilities may now apply to overseas scholarships in coordination with the Ministry of Higher Education as well as the EducationUSA organization to find out and explore the best US universities which can easily accommodate people with disabilities,” he remarked.

Delegation visits KFAED’s projects in Lebanon BEIRUT: A visiting delegation representing Society for Kuwait Media got a firsthand look on Wednesday at the achievements of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) in Lebanon.

The projects undertaken by KFAED in Lebanon assist in pushing ahead the socio-economic wheel in the country, said delegation member Mohammad AlKraidi, who lauded the close ties between Kuwait and Lebanon.

KFEAD has offered Lebanon 19 loans since 1966 worth about half a billion dollars, which have gone toward financing projects in the health, agriculture, transportation, and communication sectors as well as toward recompensing losses incurred by Lebanon as a result of Israeli aggression.

Moreover, KFAED overseas grants given by Kuwait to Lebanon, the last of which was in 2006, to the tune of 300 million US dollars. -KUNA

Group photo of the delegation representing Society for Kuwait Media visiting Lebanon on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. (KUNA)

ALWATAN DAILY

KUWAIT

THURSdAY, may 10, 2012

Amir patronizes Informatics Award ceremony

Interpellation motion filed against Interior Minister was meaningless: Al-Barrak Staff Writer & Agencies

KUWAIT: Member of Parliament (MP) Musallam Al-Barrak stressed that the interpellation filed against the Interior Minister was meaningless and that the MP who filed it was used to cause disunity in the Kuwaiti society but failed to do so.

Al-Barrak said in a press statement issued Wednesday, “The outcome of the interpellation showed that it was a meaningless interpellation and that the MP was used to cause disunity in the society”.

Al-Barrak said, “The MP attempted to mislead people and MPs, believing that the Abdullah Al-Salem Hall is similar to Scope or Al-Soor satellite channels, where he can say whatever he wants without facing anyone who can refute his claims.”

Al-Barrak said that nobody can speak in Abdullah Al-Salem Hall without providing documents which prove his claims. He added, “Therefore, the MP, who was supposed to speak for one hour and a half, could speak for only five minutes and then began to say words beyond comprehension.”

Addressing the electors in the MP’s electoral constituency, Al-Barrak said that those who elected this MP should know what happened on Tuesday. He wondered why some supporters failed the MP during the session although they stated before the session that the motion can topple governments.

Meanwhile, during its follow-up regular session on Wednesday, the National Assembly approved requests by the Public Prosecution to lift immunity of MPs Mohammad Al-Juwaihel and Nabil Al-Fadhl.

The prosecution had asked for lifting the immunity of the two legislators for misdemeanor cases related to the audio-visual media and the press.

Also Al-Barrak expressed his intention to direct 42 questions at the Minister of Foreign Affairs, noting that some are related to monetary allocations of an embassy used by a wife of an ambassador of Kuwait for personal use such as having massages and to buy expensive cigar and alcohol.

Group photo of the honored journalists of the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah’s 11th Informatics Award which was held on Wednesday, May 9, 2012.

(KUNA)

KUWAIT: A ceremony to honor the winners of Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah’s 11th Informatics Award was held, on Wednesday, under patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Sabah. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah attended the ceremony, held at the Marina Hotel, on behalf of the Amir.

His Highness the Crown Prince was received at the venue by Board of Trustees’ Chairperson Sheikha Aydah Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah and members of the board.

National Assembly Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun, former house speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi, and Deputy Chief of National Security Apparatus Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah were among the senior officials attending.

The ceremony was also attended by His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad AlSabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, and top state officials.

Addressing the gathering, Sheikha Aydah stressed “information identity” as “the” field of competition and excellence among aspiring nations today, noting this is the guiding notion for all prize activities aiming at furthering sustainable social development. Realizing that this is a most suitable vessel for inevitable human interaction and interdependence, the prize shifted from local to international scope for candidates and initiatives.

It is also befitting and an honor that the prize is managed by a host of volunteer experienced specialized figures, which stresses and brings together the priorities of social partnership and seeing to

future aspirations.

“The panel and those in the field of informatics are most grateful for the great care and support and encouragement by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlSabah, and National Guard Chief and patron of the prize His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali AlSabah,” she remarked.

Sheikha Aydah also addressed the winners of this year’s honors, and said their accomplishments merit great pride and wished them the best and expressed eagerness to see them accomplish even more for the great interest of humanity.

ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rod Beckstrom for his part said it was very fitting that Kuwait host such event, a country in the forefront of allowing internet access and use for its citizens in the Arabic speaking parts of the world.

The ceremony, he stressed, is in essence recognition of the creativity in the field of information technology. The prize is another initiative to Kuwait’s credit in this field, he stressed, and ICANN is most proud of its selection for recognition by the judging panel.

The internet is the greatest means of communication of our times, and is the biggest reserve of humanity’s history ... And in a very short period of time, the internet changed from a mere luxury to an essential tool in everyday activities around the world ... Already affecting every person on the planet through its use in relation to management of power, transport, and other vital services, the internet would in no time be used directly by all across the world.

He noted new technologies spring up every

day, with new devices and new concepts, and the world struggles to keep up. However, he added, there is only two percent Arabic content on the internet at present. This is despite the fact that over five percent of the world’s population and over 3.8 percent of internet users worldwide speak the language.

Still, he pointed out Arabic is the fastest growing language online, surpassing the growth of both English and German. There is also an ongoing effort by 2,500 volunteers across the Middle East working on an Arabic internet glossary. Domain names in Arabic, he said, would bring even greater potential for growth and contribution, and would introduce revolutionary change in how internet is used in the Arab World and beyond, the expert said.

Addressing the event patron His Highness the Amir and the Crown Prince present on his behalf, Beckstrom said recognition of the internet as a power and tool for economic growth, innovation, and advancement was most prudent, and ICANN pledges to support all efforts to keep it as such.

Member of the Award’s Higher organizing committee Saleh Abdullatif Al-Asousi meanwhile highlighted some award statistics. He pointed out that an overall 976 internet-related initiatives had been considered for the prize, from Kuwait and other Arab countries, 162 from Kuwait alone. He also added that 1,946 websites were registered for the different categories of the award.

There were 85 volunteers who organized this event by working in various committees and teams, he added.

The ceremony concluded with the presentation of the awards. -KUNA

Ambassador to China says ties gaining momentum in all spheres BEIJING: Kuwaiti Ambassador to China Saleh Al-Thuwaikh said that the ties between the two

nations are progressing in all spheres as “true partners in development upon launch of a new era of

Kuwaiti Ambassador to China Saleh Al-Thuwaikh among others on the sidelines of a banquet by the embassy honoring visiting Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby on Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

(KUNA)

Interior minister underlines importance of media for security

KUWAIT: First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Homoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Wednesday affirmed paramount role of the media “in forming the public opinion.” The minister, speaking during a meeting with Chief Editor of the daily newspaper, Al-Qabas, Walid Al-Nisef, said “creative and continuing interaction between the media and the security authority is an indispensible need for backing up security operations and enlightening nationals and residents.” The editor-in-chief of the mass-circulation was accompanied by Jassem Ashkenani and Abdul Salam Al-Awadhi. -KUNA

New cranes inaugurated at Shuaiba seaport KUWAIT: Visiting Shuaiba seaport to preside over the ceremony held to inaugurate the use of two new cranes, Minister of Communications Salem Al-Othaina told the press that the new cranes were part of a plan to receive several more in the near future.

“Five more new cranes would be received in June and several other ones would arrive subsequently through the month of September,” he said as he toured the port facilities.

He emphasized that what currently tops the ministry’s agenda include paving the way for privatizing all seaports in the country, once the privatization bill is of-

ficially endorsed.

Accompanying the minister in his tour was the director general of the Ports Authority Sheikh Sabah Al-Ali Al-Sabah, who said that the new cranes at the port indicate a positive step toward upgrading all ports’ facilities in the country. He touted the fact that up to 98.5 percent of employees and staff workers at the Shuaiba port were Kuwaiti nationals.

He noted that modernizing Kuwaiti seaports and equipping them with the latest paraphernalia to receive and export goods would in the long run enhance the overall performance of the national economy. -KUNA

joint action and cooperation.” The ambassador was speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) Tuesday night on the sidelines of a banquet by the embassy honoring visiting Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby.

The diplomat said there was a genuine desire on both sides to further cooperation and coordination and launch joint projects, both in China and beyond.

The ambassador pointed out the importance of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum which is the means to build a strategic cooperation between the Arab World and China, the world’s second largest economy after the US. The Forum efforts push forward political, trade, and cultural exchange and interaction, he stressed. “The two sides are therefore eager for the fifth round of the forum, due in Tunis late May,” Al-Thuwaikh said.

The Arab League Secretary General, Nabil AlAraby, for his part said this is an important forum that puts mutual goals into initiatives and measures on the ground. This is facilitated, he said, through the organized channels for dialogue and cooperation and clearly-motivated strategies adopted and proclaimed by the forum. -KUNA

Embassy honors Kuwaiti specialists Group photo of Kuwaiti doctors who have obtained the Saudi Medical Board Certification at the embassy in Riyadh on Wednesday, May 9, 2012.

(KUNA)

RIYADH: The Kuwaiti Charge d’Affaires at the embassy in Riyadh Theyab Al-Rashidi honored on Wednesday Kuwaiti doctors who have obtained the Saudi Medical Board Certification.

“Those doctors have obtained the highest academic certifications in various fields of medicine,” the Kuwaiti envoy said at the end of a dinner held, at the embassy, to honor those doctors.

He went on saying that Kuwait needs such quali-

3

fied doctors to improve the quality of health services in the country.

He praised the high level of cooperation of the various Saudi hospitals and medical centers in training the Kuwaiti physicians.

The Kuwaiti MDs, Tariq Al-Otaibi, Dulaim Al-Hajri, Basil Al-Shamiri, Nader Al-Asousi and Faisal Al-Shallal, expressed their anticipation to work harder to serve their country. -KUNA

Minister of Communications Salem Al-Othaina (center) during his tour at the Shuaiba seaport on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. (KUNA)

Sheikh Azzam receives Kuwaiti military delegation MANAMA: Kuwait’s ambassador to Bahrain Sheikh Azzam Mubarak Al-Sabah received on Wednesday a visiting delegation of Mubarak Al-Abdullah Joint Command and Staff College (MAJCSC), headed by Rear Admiral Nasser Al-Husseinan.

Addressing the Kuwaiti military delegation, currently on a visit to the Kingdom, Sheikh Azzam said such visits depict ties of brotherhood between the two countries, also noting that they constitute an opportunity for exchanging expertise in the military field.

He further affirmed significance of such visits for promoting coordination and enriching military education of officers.

-KUNA

Arab Media Forum carries weight in region: Kuwaiti figure DUBAI: The Arab Media Forum carries weight in the region since it has introduced the digital revolution to the various Arab media outlets, Kuwait’s former minister of information Dr. Saad bin Tiflah said on Wednesday.

Tiflah, who is participating as a keynote speaker in the forum, said importance of this event lies in ongoing assemblage of many media figures from all backgrounds and nationalities.

“No one can isolate the role played by the media in the ‘Arab Spring’ that contoured the political facade in the Arab region,” the former minister told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). “Hence, comes this forum that acknowledges this media influence,” he went on saying.

Saad bin Tiflah will be chairing today’s session which is named “Free Media, Free Struggle.” The two-day forum, currently held in Dubai, has attracted over 2,000 international journalists, media professionals and academics, representing a 43 percent increase compared to last year’s gathering.

The forum kicked off on Tuesday under patronage of Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Later on Wednesday, Sheikh Al-Maktoum will attend an award-giving ceremony to elite journalists. -KUNA

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ALWATAN DAILY

regional

Shafiq’s dilemma

THURsDAY, may 10, 2012

Blast strikes UN observer convoy in Syria CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

By Hossam Fathi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Will Ahmed Shafiq become the surprise of the approaching presidential elections?

What will he do after the Administrative Court at the State Council suspended the execution of the decision reached by the Supreme Presidential Elections Committee to refer the political isolation law to the Supreme Constitutional Court?

All legal opinions have been reshuffled, where some assert that Shafiq has been sidelined in the presidential elections race that begins in a few hours for Egyptians living overseas, while his legal councilor explained that the court verdict has nothing to do at all with Shafiq’s presidential candidacy. The councilor went on to say that the verdict did not mention Shafiq’s name, and stressed that the government will file an appeal to suspend the execution of the verdict, because the Supreme Constitutional Court is the only authority concerned with the political isolation law.

However, the problem still stands; what will Egyptians overseas who are supposed to vote within hours do? Will Shafiq’s name be there or will it be removed?

If his name is not removed, and he receives votes, but is included in the political isolation law, will the elections be conducted again? If his name is removed, the elections are held, and the court accepts his appeal, will the elections be conducted again? hossam@alwatan.com.kw Twitter:@hossamfathy66

Turkey refuses to extradite Iraqi vice-president ANKARA: Turkey will not extradite Iraq’s fugitive Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi, who is being tried in absentia in Baghdad accused of running a death squad, a senior official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

“We will not extradite someone whom we have supported since the very beginning,” deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

His comments came a day after Interpol issued an international Red Notice for the arrest of Hashemi, one of Iraq’s top Sunni Arab officials, on suspicion of “guiding and financing terrorist attacks”. “(Al-Hashemi) is currently in Turkey for health reasons,” Bozdag said. Al-Hashemi, who has been staying in Istanbul since April 9, insisted in a statement posted on his website Tuesday he was not above the law and was ready to appear in court if his security and a fair trial could be guaranteed.

Last week, Al-Hashemi’s trial was delayed to May 10 after his lawyers called for the case to be heard in a special court.

Al-Hashemi and his bodyguards face around 150 charges, including the killing of six judges and other senior officials, according to an Iraqi judicial spokesman. He has challenged the legitimacy of the trial and said his life is at risk in Baghdad. Interpol said the red notice, its highest possible alert, was issued following an Iraqi warrant made “as part of an investigation in which security forces seized bombing materials and arrested individuals”. -AFP

Jordan king wants early polls, opposition wary

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II, under pressure to meet popular demands for political changes, is pushing to hold crucial early elections before the end of 2012 but his opponents say his reforms do not go far enough. A week after appointing a new government to replace one he deemed too slow to act on reforms, the king on Monday approved an Independent Elections Commission to oversee the polls, headed by former UN special envoy to Libya and career diplomat, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib.

“Jordan has a historic opportunity to determine its future this year,” the king told lower house deputies, urging them to work with the government on laws governing political parties, elections and a constitutional court. “All these efforts will be meaningless if they do not result in holding fair and transparent parliamentary elections before the end of this year,” a palace statement quoted him as saying.

Jordanian officials insist the king is “determined and very serious” about reforms, but others, including the influential opposition Islamists, charge that steps taken to introduce political changes are still “marginal.” Laws on political parties and elections should be approved by parliament during its current session, which the king has extended to June 25 to pass key legislation. “The electoral law is now in the hands of parliament. Political powers and MPs should start a dialogue in order to choose the agreement on the law,” said Information Minister and government spokesman, Samih Maaytah.

“Of course this does not mean that all the demands of political powers must be met. The two sides should find a middle ground solution, and the government will support all reform efforts.”

Under the proposed law, voters can cast three ballots: two for individual candidates in their governorates and one for a party or coalition nationwide, in line with a proportional representation system. It scraps a contested one-person-one-vote system and increases the number of seats in parliament to 138 from 120, including an expanded quota system for women from 12 to 15. However, only 15 seats can be contested by candidates representing political parties - the remainder are reserved for independents.

The opposition has harshly criticized the system, under which the country’s 23 political parties can only field five candidates each to compete for the 15 seats. The Islamists, trade unions and media have repeatedly attacked the one-person-one-vote system first adopted in 1993, which they say produces loyalist MPs who do not represent the people. -AFP

One civilian was killed and three wounded in heavy machinegun fire by regime forces in Tell Ain Al-Hamra, northwestern Idlib province, it said, adding a woman died in the central city of Hama from injuries suffered two days.

Security forces carried out arrest raids in Harasta, outside Damascus, and the villages of Al-Safira and Al-Hisan in Deir ElZor province, the watchdog added.

In neighboring Lebanon, cross-border gunfire from Syrian forces killed an elderly woman and wounded her daughter on Tuesday, an official said, a month after a Lebanese TV cameraman was killed in a similar shooting.

On Tuesday, Annan told the UN Security Council the priority in Syria was “to stop the killing,” and expressed concern that torture, mass arrests and other human rights violations were intensifying.

Regime forces “continue to press against the population,” despite a putative truce that started on April 12, but attacks are more discreet because of the presence of the UN military observers, diplomats quoted him as saying.

“The biggest priority, first of all we need to stop the killing,” Annan told reporters in Geneva.

Annan briefed the council on his efforts to get Assad to implement the plan, which he said was possibly “the last chance to avoid civil war.” He stressed, however, that the peace bid was not an “open-ended” opportunity for Assad, diplomats who attended the briefing said.

Annan plans to visit Damascus for a second time in the coming weeks, his spokesman said, though this depended on events on the ground. US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said Washington’s goal was still the removal of Al-Assad.

“The United States remains focused on increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and on Assad himself to step down,” Rice said.

Annan updated the UN body on the status of his six-point plan after UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned world powers were racing against time to prevent all-out civil war.

The current observers on the ground “have had a calming effect” and the deployment by the end of the month of a 300strong team would see a “much greater impact,” said the envoy.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile,

An injured Syrian army soldier, (left) walks next to his comrade after a roadside bomb hit their military truck, in Deraa city, southern Syria, Wednesday, May 9, 2012. (AP)

urged the UN to bolster its mission to as many as 3,000 - well past the 300 authorized under a Security Council resolution.

The Observatory said Tuesday that almost 12,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria since March 2011.

About 800 of them had died since the truce was supposed to have taken effect.

The United Nations has accused both the government and rebels of violating the ceasefire. -Agencies

Sudan warplanes bomb South Sudan Israel’s Knesset JUBA: Sudan resumed its aerial bombardment of South Sudan, violating international calls for a cessation of hostilities between the two countries, a South Sudanese military official said Wednesday.

Col. Kella Dual Kueth, deputy spokesman for the South Sudan military, said there were attacks Monday and Tuesday in the states of Upper Nile, Unity and Northern Bahr El Ghazal.

“Automatically it is a violation,” Kueth said.

“They always attack in the morning and (in the) evening, as usual.”

Kueth did not say how many bombs were dropped or how many people were killed in attacks launched

by Sudanese warplanes. He said he was not aware of any attacks Wednesday.

Khartoum has repeatedly denied it is carrying out a bombing campaign over southern territory, saying instead it is the victim of its southern neighbor’s aggression.

The UN Security Council last month approved a resolution threatening nonmilitary sanctions against Sudan and South Sudan if they do not stop escalating violence and return to negotiations.

The African Union is now trying to help the two Sudans reach a settlement and avoid a return to all-out war. Although Sudan has endorsed the AU’S roadmap to peace, it insists on the right to defend

itself militarily.

Kueth said the latest attacks suggest Sudan is not interested in peace talks with South Sudan.

“Maybe they want to decide not to go (for peace talks),” he said. “If they are genuine and really serious (about) making this peace process they could have gone before they attack. How could you attack and then you are going to a peace talk?”

The most recent fighting started last month after South Sudan’s brief capture of the oil-rich town of Heglig, which is claimed and has since been reoccupied by Sudan. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan last year but has outstanding issues with the north over oil revenue sharing and the border.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Sudan offered African tribesmen in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei its citizenship in an effort to woo them to the north.

Abyei’s fate was left unresolved when South Sudan split from Sudan.

In Khartoum, Interior Ministry official Salaheddin Khalifa told the official SUNA news agency the Sudanese government has decided that members of Abyei’s Dinka Ngok tribe can become northern citizens.

Abyei is home to the African, south-aligned Dinka Ngok tribe but the land is also used by nomadic Arab tribesmen from the north for grazing cattle. -AP

Palestinians demand UN action on hunger strikers

approves unity government JERUSALEM: The Israeli Knesset on Wednesday approved by 71 votes to 23 an agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition Kadima party to form Israel’s seventh national unity government.

The move puts Netanyahu at the helm of one of Israel’s largest ruling coalitions ever with an overwhelming 94 votes in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

The agreement was unveiled on Tuesday by Netanyahu and Shaul Mofaz, who took over leadership of the centre-right Kadima party only six weeks ago.

The Knesset was expected to approve the deal during its Wednesday afternoon session, after which Mofaz was to be sworn in as vice prime minister and minister within the premier’s office. Mofaz and Netanyahu negotiated the 11th-hour deal as the Knesset was voting on a motion to end its current session to clear the way for early elections this September rather than October 2013 as scheduled.

Under the deal, Kadima and Likud

will replace by the end of July a contentious law that allowed ultra-Orthodox Jews to defer their military service, with new legislation that would ensure a “fair” sharing of the burden of army service.

The deal also involves a commitment to renew the peace process, with Netanyahu saying he hoped the establishment of a new government would encourage the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after a hiatus of more than 20 months.

The deal, which caught both the political establishment and the media by surprise, is a coup not just for Netanyahu but also for Mofaz, an Iranian-born former general and one-time chief-of-staff who took over Kadima following faction primaries on March 28.

Although Kadima emerged as the largest party in parliament following the 2009 elections - taking 28 seats - it failed to form a government, and polls have suggested it stood to lose up to half them in any new election. -AFP

Lebanon tribunal allow 58 victims in Hariri case

THE HAGUE: A special UN-backed court probing the car bomb killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, said Wednesday it will allow 58 victims to take part in the case against the four accused.

“The pre-trial judge has determined that 58 of 73 victims of the Feb. 14, 2005 attack who applied to do so can now take part in the proceedings,” the Special Tribunal for Lebanon said in a statement.

Hariri, a billionaire politician and 22 others, including a suicide bomber were killed in a huge car bomb blast in Beirut as Hariri was on his way home.

The Hague-based STL in early February said it would put four members of the Shiite Hezbollah group on trial for the blast and have previously issued warrants for their arrests. But Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra remain at large and will be tried in absentia.

The STL’s registrar now will appoint representation for the victims who will remain anonymous unless judges order that their identity be revealed.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has dismissed the STL as a US-Israeli conspiracy and vowed that no member of Hezbollah would ever be found or arrested. The group denies involvement in the Hariri attack.

The STL is the only international court that has a mandate to try suspects in absentia. Created by a 2007 UN Security Council resolution at Lebanon’s request, the STL opened its doors in 2009 and is tasked with trying those suspected of responsibility for Hariri’s assassination. -AFP

Palestinian security forces monitor a protest by dozens of activists who blocked the main gate of the UN offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 9, 2012 to prevent the international organization’s staff from entering the premises. (AFP)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Several dozen Palestinians on Wednesday blocked staff from entering UN offices in Ramallah to demand that UN chief Ban Ki-Moon take action over hunger striking prisoners.

The demonstrators, who blocked UN employees from entering the building, waved banners reading: “UNjust” and “UNfair.”

More than a third of the 4,700 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel are currently observing an open-ended hunger strike. Two of them are marking their 71st day without eating in protest at their being held without charge under a procedure known as administrative detention which allows Israel to hold suspects indefinitely for renewable periods of up to six months.

The vast majority began refusing food on April 17 to demand improved conditions, including increased access to lawyers and family visits, an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention.

Until now, Israel has rejected all appeals lodged by the hunger strikers, has refused them family visits

and only briefly transferred one of them to a civilian hospital, sparking mounting protests from human rights groups as well as the UN. “We are disappointed with your silence since the start of this protest in December 2011,” protest organizers said in an open letter to Ban, referring to the month when a prisoner called Khader Adnan began a 66-day hunger strike which put the international spotlight on the issue of administrative detention.

“This contrasts starkly with your constant strong statements of support for the imprisoned Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit,” they said, referring to a soldier who was held captive by Gaza’s Hamas rulers for more than five years and released in October last year.

“We demand that you take a decisive stance against the Israeli violation of the prisoners’’ rights,” it said, demanding that the UN “encourage its member states to oppose these flagrant violations of their human rights.”

The office of Robert Serry, the UN’s Middle East envoy, had no immediate comment on the protest.

-AFP

Algeria denies EU observers access to national voters roll ALGIERS: The European Union (EU) mission in Algeria to monitor Thursday’s legislative polls will not be given access to the national voters registry, a government official said. The national roll contains “personal and confidential information whose release is banned under Algerian law,” a foreign affairs official told the ElMoudjahid newspaper on condition of anonymity. The diplomat was responding to repeated demands by the head of the EU mission, Jose Ignacio Salafranca, who said Monday it would be preferable if his team had access to the national roll.

Amid widespread suspicion of fraud by the regime, observers will only be granted access to registries at the regional (wilaya) level. “The European observation mission, just like other observation missions... needs to pursue its work in a discerning, impartial, objective and discreet way,” the diplomat warned.

A total of 500 observers - from the EU, African Union, Arab League and American organizations - will be scattered across the more than 48,000 polling stations in Africa’s largest country.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika invited foreign observers for the polls, which he has billed as the “dawn of a new era” and come after reforms initiated in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring that swept neighboring countries.

On Tuesday, the leader of an Islamist party contesting Thursday’s election said he feared fraud, arguing that the current voters roll represented 65 percent of the population, a higher rate than usual.

Turnout hit a record low of 35 percent during the 2007 parliamentary polls and, after a three-week campaign which saw all parties fail to draw large crowds, many Algerians predict the real turnout on Thursday will slump even lower. -AFP

ALWATAN DAILY

WORLD

thursdAY, may 10, 2012

At least 17 dead in Philippine department store fire MANILA: Seventeen shop staff sleeping in a Philippines department store were killed when a fire swept through the building before dawn on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Twenty-one female employees were trapped in the fire, with one person still missing and three surviving by jumping from a secondstorey window, the provincial fire department said.

Eleven bodies were recovered soon after the fire was put out, Chief Inspector Mario Palarca told AFP. Investigators later found six other corpses, one of his aides said.

“Twenty-one people were asleep on the second floor when the fire struck the ground floor. They could not find the emergency exit because of the huge volume of black smoke,” Palarca said by telephone.

Saleswoman Vicky Belez, one of the survivors, said she only survived because she was in the bathroom when the fire broke out.

“I was in the bathroom. Then I saw the huge

flames outside so I ran out immediately. There was a lot of smoke and the flames were already huge,” the 21-year-old said as doctors treated her burned arms.

Cashier Mylene Tolo, 22, said she narrowly made it out despite the blinding smoke and large flames, which left her with scorched arms.

“We were able to escape the fire because we were awakened by a loud explosion,” she said.

The fire occurred in a three-storey department store in Butuan, a city of 300,000 people on the southern island of Mindanao.

It is common in the Philippines for people in low-paid jobs to sleep at their place of work.

The store’s assistant supervisor, Berlita Ballestero, said there was only one emergency door linked to the employees’ living quarters.

“They must have had trouble getting out because there is only one fire exit,” she told AFP. Loren Catedral, operations officer at the civil defense office in Butuan told AFP the blaze started on the ground floor of the building. -AFP

Nine men to be sentenced in UK sex ring case

Top - Abdul Qayyum, Hamid Safi, Kabeer Hassan, Abdul Rauf; Bottom - Abdul Aziz, Mohammed Amin, Adil Khan, Mohammed Sajid. (AP)

LONDON: A judge in northwest England is set to sentence nine men of Pakistani and Afghan descent for luring girls as young as 13 years old into sexual encounters using alcohol and drugs.

The trial has heightened racial tensions in Britain and stirred protests among the far right. All of the victims were white.

The men were convicted Tuesday of sev-

eral charges, including rape, assault, sex trafficking and conspiracy. They will be sentenced Wednesday by judge Gerald Clifton at Liverpool Crown Court.

British police and the Crown Prosecution Service have apologized for delays in investigating the case. One of the victims first spoke out about the incidents in 2008, but prosecutors did not act until later. -AP

Russian jet with 50 aboard missing in Indonesia JAKARTA: A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 on a demonstration flight with at least 50 people aboard went missing in a mountainous area south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday, officials said.

“The plane disappeared from the radar around the Bogor area.We are still looking for it and we are uncertain whether it crashed,” said Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for the national search and rescue agency.

The plane took off at 2:00 pm (0700 GMT) from east Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma airport, which is used for some commercial and military flights, he said. “At 2:50 pm it dropped from 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) to 6,000 feet,” the agency added in a text message to AFP. Transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said the descent was intentional, and that the pilot was trying to head back to the Halim air field.

He said the flight went missing “in a mountainous area 10 nautical miles from Bogor military airbase.” The rescue agency spokesman said it was carrying 46 people but Dimitry Solodov, press attaché at the Russian embassy in Jakarta, said he could confirm 50 on board, eight of them Russian airline crew members, and some journalists.

A passenger list of 36 names posted at Halim airport showed that most of the people on board were Indonesian airline and aviation representatives, as well as five journalists

A handout photo provided by Sergey Dolya shows Russian Chief test pilot Alexander Yablontsev (left) sits in the cockpit of his Sukhoi Superjet 100 before during a demonstration flight in Indonesia, on May 8. (AFP)

and a representative of French aircraft engine maker SNECMA, with a Vietnamese name.

Herry Bakti, head of the transport ministry’s aviation division, said the aircraft was on the second of two demonstration flights, and those on board were invited guests.

Prakoso said a team of around 200 police, military and rescue workers were headed in vehicles and on foot towards Salak mountain where the plane went missing.

“A helicopter was sent earlier, but it returned because it was getting dark and raining. We will continue searching by air again first thing tomorrow,” he said.

The sprawling Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has a poor aviation safety record.

The official Antara news agency said that domestic Indonesian carrier Kartika Airlines and regional Sky Aviation had both placed orders for the Sukhoi Superjet.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 is a new passenger plane built by Russia in a bid to lift its civil aviation industry from a post-Soviet crisis.

The Superjet only made its first commercial flight last year and if a major accident is confirmed it would be the first disaster to involve the aircraft, which is made by legendary Russian planemaker Sukhoi. The plane is crucial to Russia’s hopes of becoming a major player in the modern aviation market and improving its image in an industry scarred by frequent crashes of ageing Soviet-era jets. -AFP

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NEWS IN BRIEF South Korea to urge North to stop GPS jamming SEOUL: South Korea said on Wednesday it would send formal complaints to North Korea and to UN agencies, urging Pyongyang to stop sending GPS jamming signals that have affected hundreds of civilian flights. The regulatory Korea Communications Commission will send a letter of complaint to Pyongyang while other agencies will contact the international organizations, the transport ministry said in a statement. The South says the North began the jamming in late April, affecting the GPS signals of aircraft using Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports or flying over the central area of the Korean peninsula. -AFP

Putin to parade: Russia will stand up for policies Seventeen shop staff sleeping in a Philippines department store were killed when a fire swept through the building before dawn on May 9, local authorities said. (AFP)

Greek leftist holds coalition talks, effort seen doomed ATHENS: Radical leftist Alexis Tsipras meets the leaders of Greece’s mainstream parties on Wednesday, with little chance of clinching a deal on a coalition government after he set tearing up an EU/IMF bailout deal as a condition.

A new election seems increasingly likely within weeks after two days of failed efforts to reach an agreement among parties deeply divided over whether to stick to a program that saved Greece from bankruptcy but caused steep economic hardship.

Tsipras, who has been tasked with trying to form a government after his party came second in Sunday’s election, will press his anti-bailout agenda by sending a letter to EU leaders saying that the rescue deal was no longer binding given the way Greeks had voted, two aides said.

Voters enraged by their country’s plight rejected the two parties which led Greece for decades - conservative New Democracy and Socialist PASOK. The two parties sent letters to the EU and IMF ahead of the election committing to stick to the reforms required in return for aid.

“He will say that the signatures of (conservative leader Antonis) Samaras and (socialist leader Evangelos) Venizelos committing to the program represent only 32 percent of voters and are not binding the Greek people to the program anymore,” Nikos Papas, head of Tsipras’ political office, told Reuters.

Tsipras, 37, will send the letter to European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Council President Herman von Rompuy, Papas said.

The remote chance of Tsipras forming a coalition faded even further on Tuesday when Samaras promptly rejected his demand to scrap the bailout, warning such a move could drive the debt-choked country out of the euro.

“Mr. Tsipras asked me to put my signature to the destruction of Greece. I will not do this,” Samaras said. “The country cannot afford to play with fire.”

Tsipras will meet Venizelos at 11:00 a.m.

EDT (1500 GMT) and Samaras at 1600 GMT. If, as increasingly seems likely, no politician is able to cobble together a majority in the 300seat parliament, a new election would have to be held in 3-4 weeks. Tsipras, the youngest Greek party leader, will be hoping for a stronger mandate in a new vote.

“After Samaras’s response to Tsipras today, that particular bridge has been exploded, burned,” said Theodore Couloumbis, political analyst for Athens-based think-tank ELIAMEP. Rivals for decades, New Democracy and PASOK had been ruling jointly in an uneasy coalition that negotiated last year’s bailout, which saw lenders demand ever-deeper spending cuts in a country already suffering its fifth year of recession.

Most Greeks say they want to keep the euro currency - widely seen as impossible without the bailout - but they are furious with the two mainstream political parties they blame for the recession, record high unemployment and endemic corruption.

Most believe cuts demanded by the EU and International Monetary Fund are only making the situation worse by increasing unemployment and preventing economic recovery. The euro, world shares, precious metals and oil all fell on Wednesday as Greece’s political deadlock further unsettled jittery investors worried that the country will again destabilize the euro zone, as it first did in 2009 when it triggered the bloc’s debt crisis.

On the streets of Athens, voters voiced exasperation over the lack of a deal between parties.

“They are all saying they don’t want to cooperate with anyone else. What does this show? All they care about is being prime minister, nobody cares about the country,” said Vasilia Konidary, who voted for Drasi, a tiny liberal party. Theoretically, it could still be possible for Tsipras to form a left-leaning coalition with PASOK, if New Democracy abstained in a confidence vote rather than opposing it. -Reuters

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the annual massive military parade in Red Square that the country will stand up for its positions. Putin’s short speech to some 14,000 servicemen and thousands of guests comes less than a week after the country’s military chief of staff warned Russia would consider pre-emptive strikes if a dispute with the United States over a Europe-based missile defense system worsens. Putin onWednesday did not mention any country specifically, but said “Russia consistently conducts its policy for strengthening security in the world and we have the great moral right to fundamentally and insistently right stand up for our position.” -AP

Four killed, 10 missing in Indonesian floods JAKARTA: Floods carrying volcanic debris swept through a town in eastern Indonesia Wednesday killing four people, including a nine-year-old child, and leaving 10 others missing, a government official said. A further 15 people were injured after floodwaters rampaged through 11 villages in Ternate City in North Maluku province, national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. “Following heavy rains during the night, volcanic floods hit early morning at 2:00 am (1700 GMT),” Nugroho said, adding that more than 280 people were evacuated to government offices and schools. “Four people have died, 10 are missing and 15 have been injured.

Fifty-eight families, or 284 people, have been evacuated,” he said. -AFP

Politician’s disappearance fuels Bangladesh crisis DHAKA: The night watchman was dozing in a wooden chair just after midnight on a deserted Bangladeshi street when he was startled by a scream. A group of men were pulling two people from a car and forcing them into a black microbus; “The two guys were shouting, ‘Save us,’” before the car pulled away, Lutfar Rahman said.

The abductions of an opposition politician and his driver last month have sparked Bangladesh’s biggest crisis in years, raised hostilities between the most prominent leaders of its fragile democracy and highlighted a series of seemingly political disappearances. On Wednesday, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its 17 allies would demonstrate across the country to restart its paused protests. No one has claimed responsibility for Elias Ali’s abduction, and no ransom has been demanded, the usual practice of criminal gangs in Bangladesh. -AP

Ukraine’s Tymoshenko moved from prison to hospital KHARKIV: Ukraine’s jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, whose plight in prison has soured relations between the country’s leadership and the West, was moved to a local hospital on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said.

Tymoshenko, 51, a former prime minister, was jailed last October for seven years for alleged abuse of power while in office, a charge she denied.

She says she is the victim of a vendetta by her rival, President Viktor Yanukovich.

The European Union and the United States have condemned her trial and sentencing as politically motivated and called for her to be released.

The outcry in the West intensified after Tymoshenko said she had been beaten in jail and went on hunger strike on April 20 in protest at the alleged ill-treatment. Authorities have denied she was mistreated.

Authorities refused to allow her to go abroad for treatment for chronic back pains after she turned down the services of state-appointed Ukrainian doctors. But under a compromise she agreed to move to a hospital in the eastern city of Kharkiv and receive treatment there from German doctors.

Her daughter, Yevgenia, said on Tuesday her mother would end her hunger strike under the supervision of a German doctor.

Reuters eyewitnesses said Tymoshenko was brought to a side entrance of the hospital by ambulance early on Wednesday morning in a heavily guarded convoy that included several police cars.

Two lines of white-coated hospital staff shielded her as she was carried into the hospital on a stretcher, preventing journalists and onlookers catching a glimpse of her.

Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s jailed and ailing ex-partner, has agreed to be treated in a local clinic in a move the government hopes could limit an EU boycott of its Euro 2012 football matches. (Reuters)

A few supporters nearby shouted out “Freedom for Yulia!”

Western outrage over the treatment of the charismatic politician, who led the Orange Revolution street protests in 2004 that doomed Yanukovich’s first bid for the presidency, has led to threats by European politicians to boycott the

European soccer championships which Ukraine is co-hosting next month.

Yanukovich on Tuesday called off a summit meeting of Central and Eastern European leaders, planned for Thursday and Friday, after several of them said they were staying away because of the Tymoshenko affair. -Reuters

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ALWATAN DAILY

OPINION

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012

Undermining the succession of democratic practice

Their logical demands were officially submitted during the tenure of a charismatic leader; the dear departed Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem who envisaged a resplendent vision for the country.

Shamlan Yousef Al-Esa

E

laborating further on my earlier article titled: “When religious movements devastate the social fabric,” it is common knowledge that some MPs affiliated to the Majority Bloc MPs have, time and again, proposed draft laws which could undermine the succession of the democratic practice; that has been in existence since the inception of the State of Kuwait. Among some these strange proposals was one that demanded the Islamization of laws which was submitted soon after the concerned MPs failed in their attempts to amend Article II of the Kuwaiti Constitution.

It was actually MP Al-Yahya who first proposed amendments in some of the basic articles in the Constitution in futile attempts to shower the Legislative Authority with more powers than the Executive Authority, such as giving the parliament the right to hold sessions even in the event that some ministers are absent. He also requested increasing the number of MPs from 50 to 75, without determining the actual number of ministers, who should represent one third of members required in parliament. I’m absolutely certain that such unconstitutional demands will never see the light of day simply because they contradict the Constitution.

However, because of the conspicuous silence maintained by the government and which simply succumbs to all demands put forth by tribal leaders and members of political Islam, I firmly believe that anything and everything is possible in this country.

The most important factor in ensuring success of any democratic practice is closely related to a number of basic elements, which are related to society and the state. Ever since the inception of democracy in the West, democracy has always been linked to political parties and free economy, in the sense that citizens in the West had to toil hard and pay their taxes to the state. This in turn actually encouraged citizens in the West, who compulsorily pay their taxes,

to demand participation in the political action and in the governance of their respective countries by monitoring the performance of the executive authorities; especially when it comes down to gauging how wisely the funds accrued from their taxes are invested and spent on public services and infrastructure.

Here in Kuwait, we are fortunate enough that since our ancestors were compelled to pay taxes before the discovery of oil; all those that belonged to the business class at that time demanded their participation in the political process in 1921 and 1938, under the pretext that in their capacity as taxpayers, it was their legal right to participate. And since their demands were logical taking into consideration the fact that they were a privileged tax-paying segment in society, their demands were officially submitted during the tenure of a charismatic leader who envisaged a resplendent vision for the country namely; the dear departed Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem, may God Almighty bless his soul. It was this respectable visionary who first gave his blessings to the Kuwaiti Constitution and subsequently embarked on the democratic process.

I would like to ask all those lawmakers who demand a change in the parliamentary system of governance what is the percentage of participation of Kuwaiti citizens in the country’s overall development. Do Kuwaiti citizens pay service or income taxes or other relevant taxes for services rendered to them by the government just like all other citizens in countries across the free world do? No they definitely don’t and it is here that all those problems arise.We are fully

A source of inspiration for other Muslim nations

aware of the fact that we are fortunate enough to be born in a welfare state; one in which the government ensures a host of cradle-to-the-grave facilities and incentives to citizens making them dependant on the state for practically everything without even having to toil for those freebies.

The discovery of oil, on the other hand, has enhanced the power of the state at the expense of society; further encouraging citizens to become totally reliant on others and rendering them to be lethargic in nature. Citizens are completely reliant on foreign labor in practically anything and everything, to the extent that the output of citizens in the labor sector does not exceed even a mere 15 percent.

Moreover, since a majority of citizens are employed in the government sector, which is totally unproductive, it surely implies that they too are unproductive living lei and unproductive; however, we demand democracy and the reduction of the powers of the executive authority.

MP Al-Yahya is fully aware of the fact that any attempts at switching over to a free and fully democratic system of governance will surely require the presence of free and social political parties; not religious parties. And since the formation or existence of political parties is not allowed in Kuwait, all those existing religious, national, sectarian or liberal parties are compelled to work through civil society institutions. In this kind of a scenario, how can we ever succeed in switching over to a parliamentary system of governance without the existence of secular or national parties?

It is also common knowledge that most of the MPs, who represent the majority, are arrogant and conceited since

they are fully aware of the fact and hence; firmly believe that their access to parliament automatically grants them the required power and influence to impose their will on the government and compel it to submit to all their demands even if they are illogical. This is the main reason why they are always eager to bring about constitutional amendments simply because they are fully aware of the fact that it is those very amendments that can give them power and influence at the expense of the best interests of the country and its citizens.

I appeal to all members of parliament to exercise at least a wee bit of humility in the best interests of the country and the welfare of its citizens. They have, time and again, distorted the once-glorious image of Kuwait and undermined the most important basics of democracy by attempting to impose a religious state of governance and most importantly; abusing and challenging the power and authority of His highness the Amir. I am absolutely certain that they will not stay in power for long unless they first accept and then enhance the concept of a constitutional civil state; one that guarantees freedoms and rights without discrimination.

On the other hand, the once fortified democratic institution in Kuwait is beginning to show dangerous cracks in its once-strong foundations rendering it to lose its efficacy and weaken its solidarity due to the unwarranted encroachment in the political field by all those Islamists coupled with the domination of Bedouns in civil society institutions. I cannot comprehend the reasons why they adamant on Islamizing the state by imposing their own set of moral rules and regulations on society especially since those very set of moral rules actually contradict with the principles of a host of freedoms; especially the freedom of expression and the people’s constitutional right to democratic rule. It’s high time they start concentrating on whatever they are adept at and leave the governance of the country to those that are qualified and efficient enough in governing it.

BU QUTADA & BU NABIL Alright MPs, show us your talents

Esam Abdulatif Al-Fulaij

You pointless, low class ... horrible man

There can be no doubt in one’s mind that such kindhearted gestures can only be forthcoming from Kuwait’s distinguished ruling family.

Oh I’ll show you! You phony, tacky...

T

he minute I laid my hands on an invitation card that was sent to me by the Zakat (Alms) House to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations of its establishment, my joy knew no bounds while I fondly recalled warm memories of the time when the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (May God Almighty rest his soul in peace) issued an Amiri decree calling for the establishment of the institution 30 years ago. Through that decree, the late Amir contributed a great deal towards lending his unstinted support for charitable work in the country. In fact, he was one of the first patrons who actually contributed towards the formation of the institution at that time.

I also recall some of the unsavory comments that were issued by some liberal writers at that time - whose only intention was to criticize any attempts at engaging in acts of charity by charitable organizations including the Zakat House. On the other hand, I also witnessed the honorable and worthy contributions of all those men and women; hailing from different walks of life and societies and who; despite nursing differences in thoughts, views and opinions, were unanimous in lending their support towards the welfare of the institution. They have donated generously towards its cause while Sheikh Salem Al-Ali always topped the list of donors at any given time.

The Zakat House has always exerted exemplary efforts in helping and supporting peoples across the world in times of natural disasters and calamities prompting it to receive several awards of recognition both locally and internationally like; ISO 9001, the Sheikh Salem AlAli Award for Information Systems, the Bahrain Prize for Humanitarian Work among a host of other equally recognized awards. The Zakat House has become a source of immense inspiration for many other Muslims countries across the world while encouraging them to also establish similar institutions.

Humane gestures, such as these, portray Kuwait’s immense contributions in the charitable field over the years prompting us to feel proud of our heritage and concern for the poor and the underprivileged. I was particularly overwhelmed when His Highness the Amir personally attended and patronized the celebration. Not many people are aware of the fact that the Zakat House has, over a period of six years, successfully completed the establishment of various projects in Egypt. We really offer our profound thanks and gratitude to officials of the Zakat House for exerting strenuous efforts in all their projects and wish them the best in all their future endeavors.

However, I noticed two distinct and honorable contributions during the celebration. The first was the remarkable participation of members of the ruling family not to mention the substantial donations that they offered towards supporting the institution while most importantly; it was the subdued humility of those members including His Highness the Crown Prince who honored the beneficent donors who donated generously. In fact, they went out of their way to accommodate the attendees by even offering their own seats in the front rows to old people. There can be no doubt in one’s mind that such kindhearted gestures can only be forthcoming from Kuwait’s distinguished ruling family.

In fact, even Sheikh Khalid Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, Chief of the Amiri Protocol Department drew my attention when I spotted him pasting the name tags of invited personalities onto reserved seats by himself. He even went a step further by ushering the old people to their seats in the front rows after which he chose to occupy a seat in the back row. This is called humility personified!.

Shut up!

You deviant, you idiot!

Shut your mouth, you *%#@ and $%#*!

Oh I do like you, but this is shameful behavior

You’re trying to destroy our manners hmm?

Niiicccceee ... niiiiiccceee, but you’re out , rejected

Mohmmed Thallab

mthallab@alwatan.com.kw

The bane of irrational interpellation motions Nabil Al-Fadhl

T

he recent interpellation motion that was filed against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah by MP Mohammad Al-Juwaihel is most certainly expected to die an untimely death even before its birth simply because members of the Majority Bloc are not only opposed to Al-Juwaihel’s intentions, but his practices as well. In fact, sentiments are rife that its members are also ready to abandon their reserved principles in the event that those principles do not harmonize with their goals.

And in another astonishing development and to the mock horror of all those present at the particular session; Al-Juwaihel, who was expected to launch a massive never-ending assault on the interior minister in an hour-anda-half long session, suddenly stopped short within a mere two minutes into his tirade. While all those who probably thought that he had momentarily paused to take in a breath of fresh air were sorely disappointed when he chose not to continue, others who were blissfully aware of the fact that he had absolutely nothing to go ahead; simply heaved a refreshing sigh of overwhelming relief.

Isn’t it indeed ridiculous that a man of his stature who had been touting his anticipated interpellation motion all over town over several days, suddenly stopped short after mounting the podium? What was he even thinking over the past several days when he threatened to grill the minister that made headlines in newspapers across the country? How could one start and conclude an interpellation within a time frame of two minutes that was expected to last over an hour? A hall that was packed to capacity; witnessed an eerie silence the moment AlJuwaihel chose to come to an abrupt stop. His action (or rather his inaction) not only puzzled all his supporters who had obviously attended the session to witness a dazzling display of fireworks; but literally shocked all those who had repeatedly advised him not to go ahead with the motion. In fact, Al-Juwaihel dropped another bombshell when during the course of the two minutes that he chose to speak, he barely managed to ask the minister just one question pertaining to some irregularities contained in the passport of one of the speaker`s sons although it is common knowledge that this particular issue had already been discussed and published by some media means.

In fact, the lawmaker has lost a golden opportunity by

choosing not to disclose a serious case of forgery that was witnessed in the citizenship file; bearing in mind the fact that the MP had earlier stated that he was in possession of several pieces of evidence pertinent to the case. I was sitting just next to MP Hussein Al-Qallaf when he tried to persuade Al-Juwaihel to remove the small placard that he had placed on the podium with the slogan “Kuwait is for Kuwaitis” scribbled on it. The MP however stood his ground and refused to entertain that request after which MP Khalid Sultan Al-Sultan who was presiding over the session; abruptly suspended it.

Soon after, while we were talking to Al-Juwaihel His Highness the Prime Minister personally approached Al-Juwaihel and requested him to remove the placard but he refused to budge. It was finally removed by one of our colleagues. This is not the first time that the MP has displayed the placard. He had also placed it during a previous session but fortunately, did not catch anyone’s attention. This time around, however, a huge hue and cry was raised and we somehow believe that all those who slammed his action were not against what was inscribed on the placard. It is evidently clear that they were simply against Al-Juwaihel himself.

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thursDAY, may 10, 2012

After austerity

Europe’s misguided search for growth Daniel Gros Project Syndicate

A

FILE -- People demonstrate against austerity cuts on the same day of the European Central Bank’s meeting, in Barcelona, Spain, May 3, 2012. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi offered little promise the bank would deliver quick help for the struggling eurozone economy and urged governments to stay the course on tough spending cuts. (AP)

There is no example of a large economy - and Europe is the world’s largest recovering as a result of austerity.

Joseph E. Stiglitz Project Syndicate

T

his year’s annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund made clear that Europe and the international community remain rudderless when it comes to economic policy. Financial leaders, from finance ministers to leaders of private financial institutions, reiterated the current mantra: the crisis countries have to get their houses in order, reduce their deficits, bring down their national debts, undertake structural reforms, and promote growth. Confidence, it was repeatedly said, needs to be restored.

It is a little precious to hear such pontifications from those who, at the helm of central banks, finance ministries, and private banks, steered the global financial system to the brink of ruin - and created the ongoing mess.

Worse, seldom is it explained how to square the circle. How can confidence be restored as the crisis economies plunge into recession?

How can growth be revived when austerity will almost surely mean a further decrease in aggregate demand, sending output and employment even lower?

This we should know by now: markets on their own are not stable. Not only do they repeatedly generate destabilizing asset bubbles, but, when demand weakens, forces that exacerbate the downturn come into play.

Unemployment, and fear that it will spread, drives down wages, incomes, and consumption - and thus total demand. Decreased rates of household formation - young Americans, for example, are increasingly moving back in with their parents - depress housing prices, leading to still more foreclosures. States with balanced-budget frameworks are forced to cut spending as tax revenues fall - an automatic destabilizer that Europe seems mindlessly bent on adopting.

There are alternative strategies. Some countries, like Germany, have room for fiscal maneuver. Using it for investment would en-

7

hance long-term growth, with positive spillovers to the rest of Europe. A long-recognized principle is that balanced expansion of taxes and spending stimulates the economy; if the program is well designed (taxes at the top, combined with spending on education), the increase in GDP and employment can be significant. Europe as a whole is not in bad fiscal shape; its debt-to-GDP ratio compares favorably with that of the United States. If each US state were totally responsible for its own budget, including paying all unemployment benefits, America, too, would be in fiscal crisis. The lesson is obvious: the whole is more than the sum of its parts. If Europe - particularly the European Central Bank - were to borrow, and re-lend the proceeds, the costs of servicing Europe’s debt would fall, creating room for the kinds of expenditure that would promote growth and employment.

There are already institutions within Europe, such as the European Investment Bank, that could help finance needed investments in the cash-starved economies. The EIB should expand its lending. There needs to be increased funds available to support small and medium-size enterprises - the main source of job creation in all economies - which is especially important, given that credit contraction by banks hits these enterprises especially hard. Europe’s single-minded focus on austerity is a result of a misdiagnosis of its problems.

Greece overspent, but Spain and Ireland had fiscal surpluses and low debt-to-GDP ratios before the crisis. Giving lectures about fiscal prudence is beside the point. Taking the lectures seriously - even adopting tight budget frameworks - can be counterproductive.

Regardless of whether Europe’s problems are temporary or fundamental - the eurozone, for example, is far from an “optimal”

currency area and tax competition in a freetrade and free-migration area can erode a viable state - austerity will make matters worse.

The consequences of Europe’s rush to austerity will be long-lasting and possibly severe. If the euro survives, it will come at the price of high unemployment and enormous suffering, especially in the crisis countries. And the crisis itself almost surely will spread. Firewalls won’t work, if kerosene is simultaneously thrown on the fire, as Europe seems committed to doing: there is no example of a large economy - and Europe is the world’s largest - recovering as a result of austerity.

As a result, society’s most valuable asset, its human capital, is being wasted and even destroyed. Young people who are long deprived of a decent job - and youth unemployment in some countries is approaching or exceeding 50 percent, and has been unacceptably high since 2008 - become alienated.

When they eventually find work, it will be at a much lower wage. Normally, youth is a time when skills get built up; now, it is a time when they atrophy. So many economies are vulnerable to natural disasters - earthquakes, floods, typhoons, hurricanes, tsunamis - that adding a man-made disaster is all the more tragic.

But that is what Europe is doing. Indeed, its leaders’ willful ignorance of the lessons of the past is criminal. The pain that Europe, especially its poor and young, is suffering is unnecessary. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

But delay in grasping it will be very costly, and Europe is running out of time. * Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University, a Nobel laureate in economics, and the author of Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy.

few months ago, 25 of the 27 members of the European Union solemnly signed a treaty that committed them to enshrining tough deficit limits in their national constitutions. This so-called “fiscal compact” was the key condition to get Germany to agree to increase substantially the funding for the eurozone’s rescue funds, and for the European Central Bank to conduct its ¤1 trillion “long-term refinancing operation” (LTRO), which was essential to stabilizing financial markets. Today, however, the eurozone’s attention has shifted to growth.

This is a recurring pattern in European politics: austerity is proclaimed and defended as the pre-condition for growth, but then, when a recession bites, growth becomes the precondition for continued austerity.

About 15 years ago, Europe endured a similar cycle. In the early 1990s, when the plans for the European Monetary Union (EMU) were drawn up, Germany insisted on a “Stability Pact” as a price for giving up the Deutschmark. When Europe fell into a deep recession after 1995, attention shifted to growth, and the “Stability Pact” became the “Stability and Growth Pact” (SGP) when the European Council adopted a resolution on “growth and employment” in 1997.

The need for growth is as strong today as it was 15 years ago. In Spain, the unemployment rate then was as high as it is now, and in Italy, it was higher in 1996 than it is today.

Politically, too, the background is the same: the “G” was inserted into the SGP under pressure primarily from a new French administration (at the time headed by Jacques Chirac). Today, France has again given the political impetus for a shift to growth. Making growth a political priority is uncontroversial (after all, who could be against it?).

But the real question is: what can Europe do to create growth? The honest answer is: rather little.

The key elements of a growth strategy discussed among Europe’s leaders these days are actually the same as in 1996-1997: labormarket reforms, strengthening of the internal market, more funding for the European Investment Bank (EIB) for lending to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), and more resources for infrastructure investment in poorer member states. The last two, in particular, attract a lot of attention because they involve more spending.

But circumstances are also quite different today. The EIB’s business model would have to be radically changed to make it useful to promote growth, because it lends only against government guarantees, whereas southern Europe’s fiscally stressed sovereigns cannot afford further burdens. Moreover, contrary to a popular misconception, the EIB cannot lend directly to SMEs. The EIB can only provide large banks with funding to lend to local SMEs. But the ECB is essentially already doing this with its threeyear LTRO loans.

There is also talk about a “Marshall Plan” for southern Europe. Fifteen years ago, there was a clear need for better infrastructure there. But, since then, the southern

Since then, the southern countries have had a decade of rather high infrastructure investment - more than 3 percent of GDP in Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

countries have had a decade of rather high infrastructure investment - more than 3 percent of GDP in Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

As a result, most countries in the EU’s south probably have a sufficient stock of infrastructure today. In fact, more infrastructure investment would actually make most sense in Germany, where infrastructure spending has been anemic (only 1.6 percent of GDP, or half the rate of Spain) for almost a decade.

That is why Germany’s famous Autobahnen are notoriously congested nowadays.

But one does not need European funding to finance infrastructure in Germany, where the government can raise funds at negative real cost. At the rates that it is paying today, the German government should be able to find many investment projects that yield a positive social rate of return. Given that Germany is close to full employment, more infrastructure spending there would probably suck in imports (and attract unemployed construction workers from Spain), contributing to much-needed rebalancing within the eurozone.

Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen, because infrastructure spending runs up against popular opposition. Indeed, such spending is decided at the local and regional level, where grass-roots opposition to any large project is strongest (it took more than 20 years, for example, to push through the modernization of Stuttgart’s railway station).

The urge to be seen to be “doing something” is leading Europe’s policymakers to rely on the few instruments with which the EU can claim to foster growth. But they should recognize that today’s growth crisis is different.

The real bargain should not be austerity plus a Marshall Plan for the south, but rather continued austerity plus labor-market reforms in the south, combined with more infrastructure investment in Germany and other AAA-rated countries like the Netherlands. Deep service-sector reforms in Germany would also help to unlock the country’s productivity potential and open its market to services exports from southern Europe.

That way, the South would have a chance to find jobs for its rather well-educated young people, whose only choice now is between unemployment and emigration. * Daniel Gros is Director of the Center for European Policy Studies.

What a euro growth pact should contain Hugo Dixon Reuters

I

t has become fashionable to talk about the need for a euro zone “growth compact” as weariness mounts over a diet of nothing but austerity. France’s new President Francois Hollande has popularized the idea. Even Mario Draghi has backed it. That gives the concept credibility as the European Central Bank president was one of the main supporters of the austerity-heavy “fiscal compact”, which requires governments to balance their budgets rapidly. Olli Rehn, the European Commission’s top economic official, has joined the bandwagon too: at the weekend, he advocated a pact to boost investment, while hinting that there may be scope to ease up a bit on the austerity.

But all this chit-chat won’t lead to much unless politicians are prepared to take unpleasant decisions on reforming labor, welfare and banking - measures which would boost growth in the long run. That has to be the quid pro quo for loosening the current fiscal squeeze or further easing monetary policy - measures that would help in the shorter term. Without such a grand bargain, any growth compact is likely to amount to little more than extra funds for investment. Rehn mentioned the main ideas at the weekend: using EU budget funds to guarantee lending to smaller firms; encouraging countries with fiscal surpluses to increase public investment; and boosting the capital of the European Investment Bank.

While these measures are worthy, they are not of the scale needed to change the course of one of the biggest economic crises in recent history.

The main guts of a growth compact ought to be somewhat looser fiscal and monetary policy married to deep structural reform. Look first at fiscal policy. It is great that policymakers such as Rehn seem to understand the dangers of an austerity spiral - where excessive budget squeezes crush the economy which in turn makes it harder to balance budgets and so requires further austerity. He says

For the ECB to be happy to pursue further monetary laxity, it will need to be convinced that governments are going to use the time they are being given wisely.

Europe’s fiscal rules are “not stupid”.

But even if Germany, Europe’s paymaster, can be persuaded to go along with a laxer interpretation of the rules, there is a limit to what will pass muster with the bond markets. While investors aren’t enamored with growth-crushing austerity, they won’t finance profligacy either. Credible long-term plans to rein in deficits and restore competitiveness are needed. With those in place bond investors would be happy if the European Commission allowed governments another year or so to balance budgets. The need for substantial change is not limited to countries already in crisis. In France, industry is increasingly uncompetitive and the government spends 57 percent of GDP. Tackling that ought to be the government’s priority, though it got little mention during the election campaign. Even Germany would benefit from reforming its weak services industries. Meanwhile, across Europe there needs to be a determined drive to deepen the region’s single market.

To gain the full benefits of monetary policy, there also needs to be a quid pro quo with the politicians. It’s important not to misinterpret Draghi’s new fondness for the word “growth”. The ECB is still keen on fiscal rectitude and is not signaling looser monetary policy. When Draghi talks about a growth compact, what he has in mind is structural reform - something that will not bear fruit for

some time. Indeed, Draghi talks about the need for a 10-year vision.

While the central bank has engaged in exceptional measures to prevent the system collapsing - buying government bonds and spraying cheap money at the banking system - it has done so with a heavy heart. It rightly fears that such monetary rescues reduce the pressure on both governments and banks to reform themselves. Germany’s Bundesbank is even calling for the ECB to prepare to exit from these exceptional measures. While it won’t get its way - Draghi has made clear he thinks it’s too early to do this - talk of an exit is already making the money markets and the banks nervous.

And that is undermining some of the benefits of the current loose policy. For the ECB to be happy to pursue further monetary laxity, it will need to be convinced that governments are going to use the time they are being given wisely. A priority is to recapitalize zombie banks. So long as lenders have weak balance sheets, they will find it hard to fund themselves in the markets and will therefore lack the confidence to finance growth.

The key short-term imperatives are in Spain and Greece. But weak balance sheets are not confined to these two countries. Other governments have shown themselves unwilling to impose higher capital requirements on their lenders. Last week, for example, both Germany and France argued for changes in the way the new Basel 3 capital rules are applied to Europe so that their banks won’t need to raise so much capital. If politicians could bring themselves to grasp the nettle on banking, lenders would find it easier to fund themselves in the markets and the ECB would be less grudging about providing emergency assistance if it was still needed.

The ideal growth compact would match reform of banks, labor and welfare with less short-term austerity and accommodative monetary policy and throw in some extra money for investment.

Given the difficult political choices required, such a deal won’t be easy to pull off. But the tectonic plates are shifting across Europe. Now is the time to push for it. *Hugo Dixon is a Reuters correspondent. The views expressed here are his own.

A file photo dated Aug. 27 2007 shows the building of the European Central Bank (ECB) behind the Euro sign logo in Frankfurt, Germany. The European Central Bank (ECB) left interest rates on hold at their historic low of one percent May 03 2012.

The decision by the ECB’s 23-head rate-setting council was in line with analysts’ forecasts. (Agencies)

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Sharq Sharq Mirgab Mirgab Mirgab Jahra Gate Sharq Mirgab Sharq Mirgab Sharq Mirgab Mirgab Jabriya Sharq Mirgab Sharq Sharq Sharq Salmiyah Jahra Gate Sharq Sharq UN Circle Mirgab Mirgab Mirgab Mirgab Mirgab Al-Jleeb Fahaheel Mirgab Mirgab Jahra Gate Sharq Fahaheel

Via

Shuwaikh 4th Ring Rd Airport Rd Ras Salmiyah 4th Ring Rd 4th Ring Rd Hawalli Shuwaikh Kheitan Farwaniyah 3rd Ring Rd King Faisal Rd Hawalli Hawalli Andalus Shuwaikh Shamiyah Nuzha Farwaniyah Farwaniyah Bayan Shuwaikh Shuwaikh Al Rai 6th Ring Rd Al Hasawi Sabah Salem 3rd Ring Rd Jahra Rd Shuwaikh UN Circle Jahra Rd Fahaheel Rd Hawalli Shuwaikh Ahmadi

KD 70 KD 140 KD 40 KD 40 KD 40 KD 40 KD 40

VISITORS RESIDENTS

H.S.C. Barium Enema Barium Meal O.C.G. Ultrasound Ultrasound desfruct M.R.I.

KD 40 KD 50 KD 45 KD 45 KD 15 KD 130 KD 245

KD 40 KD 35 KD 30 KD 30 KD 10 KD 65 KD 180

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C omm u nic a tions Telephone for Test & Complaints

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Tel.: Afghanistan 2532 9461 Algeria 2251 9220 Argentina 2537 9211 Austria 2255 2532 Australia 2232 2422 Azerbaijan 2535 5247 Bahrain 2531 8530 Bangladesh 2531 6042 / 3 Belgium 25722014 Bhutan 2251 6640 / 50 Bosnia 2539 2637 Brazil 2532 8610 Bulgaria 2531 4458 Canada 2256 3025 China 2533 3340 Cuba 2254 9361 Cyprus 2243 3075 Czech 2252 9018 Denmark 2534 1005 Egypt 2251 9956 Ethiopia 2533 4291 Eritrea 2531 7426 Finland 2531 2890 France 2257 1061 Germany 2252 0827 Greece 2481 7101 Georgia 2535 2909 Hungary 2532 3901 India 2253 0600 Indonesia 2483 9927 Iran 2256 0694 Italy 2535 6011 Japan 2530 9400 Kenya 25353314 / 25353362 Lebanon 2256 2103

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Police stations Tel.:

Abu Halifa 2371 7656 Ahmadi 2398 0304 Ardiya 2488 1273 Bayan 2538 7762 Dahar 2383 0500 Dahiya 2256 0855 Dasma 2253 1917 Fahaheel 2391 2959 Faiha 2255 2693 Farwaniya 2471 1977 Ferdous 2489 0583 Fintas 2390 4388 Hawalli 2264 1116 Jabriya 2531 5855 Jahra Ind. Area 2457 5565 / 2458 7392 Jahra North 2455 2295 Jleeb Al Shouyoukh 2431 1234 Keifan 2483 2839 Kheitan 2472 2590 Mina Abdullah 2326 1144 Nugra 2261 6662 Omariya 2474 2160

Ambulance

Central Adan Amiri Hospital Da’iya Fahaheel Farwaniya Farwaniya Jahra Mubarak Al Kabir Sabah Salmiya Shuaiba

23940600 / 23941455 22422366 22510854 23919098 24883000 24725149 24570583 25311437 24815000 25739011 23261927

Private Hospitals

Al-Rashid Hospital Dar Al-Shifa Hospital Hadi Clinic London Hospital Mowasat Hospital Salam Hospital

Qadsiya 2257 4386 Qurain 2542 3772 Rabiah 2474 2160 Rawda 2256 0058 Riqqa 2394 1958 Rumaithiya 2562 4123 Sabah Al-Salem 2551 7229 Sabahiya 2361 5619 Salhiya (Kuwait City) 2242 7157 Salmi 2457 6576 Salmiya 2572 6950 Salwa 2562 6950 Shamiya 2484 5953 Sharq 2244 2466 Shuaiba Ind. Area 2326 1789 Shuwaikh 2481 3726 / 2484 4842 Sulaibekhat 2487 6555 Sulaibiya 2467 0672 Sulaibiya Ind. Area 2467 2728 Surra 2531 2220 Tayma’a 2457 1700 Wafra 2381 0412 Waha 2455 7902 Zour 2395 0160

Adan General Hospital Al-Sabah Chest Hospital Al-Sabah Maternity Hospital Amiri General Hospital As’ad Al-Hamad Dermatology Center

Farwaniya General Hospital Ibn Sina Hospital Jahra General Hospital Mubarak Al-Kabeer General Hospital Subhan Renal Hospital Sulaibikhat Orthopedic Hospital

25624000 22802555 1828282 1883883 25726666 22533177

Private Health Centers/ Clinics

Boushahri Clinic British Medical Center Care Clinic International Clinic

Public Hospitals

cons u l a tes

Fax 2532 6274 2251 9497 2537 9212 2256 3052 2232 2430 2535 5246 2533 0882 2531 6041 2574 8389 2251 6550 2539 2106 2532 8613 2532 1453 2256 4167 2533 3341 2254 9360 2240 2971 2252 9021 2534 1007 2256 3877 2533 1179 2531 7429 2532 4198 2257 1058 2252 0763 2481 7103 2535 4707 2532 3904 2257 1192 2481 9250 2252 9868 2535 6030 2530 9401 25353316 2257 2182

centr a l 4 7 2 2 0 0 0

94904040

hospital charges

medical services

Call, sms, Email us

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23940600 24815000 24848067 22450080

1885544 23713100 22610666 25745111

Public Health Centers/ Clinics:

Dasman Clinic Faiha Polyclinic Farwaniya Polyclinic Hawalli Polyclinic Inaya Germen Medical Center Sabah Al-Salem Clinic Salmiya Polyclinic Shamiya Clinic Shuwaikh Clinic Yarmouk Clinic

24832067 24883000 24840300 24575300 25312700 24840027 24874240

22447602 22545188 24726033 22611645 25750777 25524821 25723500 25610660 24848913 25336482

DOCTORS & DENTISTS

I N PR I VAT E PR AC T ICE

Andrology, Male Infertility and Impotence Specialist Abdullatif A. Al Salim 2533 4438

Dermatologist & Venereologists Fahad I. Al Othman 2266 5166 Taibah M. Almonayes 2573 7477 Dr. Mohamed Bo Hamra 2266 5166

Dentists & Oral Surgeons Ahmed Al Balool 2262 2211 Badri K. Al Rayes 2574 2557 Duha Al Shaqan 2264 4614 Ebraheem Behbehani 2573 0000 Farida Al Herz 2257 3883 Maria Blanaru 2573 0000 Najat Essa-Bahman 2262 4595 Najeeb Kassim 2573 9277 Salwa A. Abdulsalam 2573 0000 Kuwait Medical Center 2575 9044 / 5 Endocrinologists Latifa Al Dowaisan Kamal Abdulaziz Al Shome

Gastroenterologist Mohamed A. Al Shimali 2532 2030 - 2263 9955 Urologist Fawzi Taher Abul Ali Yousef Mehdi

2565 0064 2533 3501

General Practitioner Dina Al Rifai 2533 3501 - 2533 3502 Obstetricians & Gynecologists Samira Al Awadi 2573 8055 Ma’asouma Maksheed 2573 1275 Mohamed Gamal 2534 9077 Mai Al Snan 2532 1171

2572 8004 2532 9924

Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeons Hossam Eldin Abdulfattah 2574 5056 Abdulmohsen Mousa Jafar 2565 5535

Cosmetic Surgeon Dr. Adel Quttainah

2562 5030 / 60

Ministries

Awqaf & Islamic Affairs Commerce & Industry Communications Defense Education Health Higher Education Electricity & Water Finance

2248 0000 2248 0000 2481 9033 2484 8300 2481 7702 2487 7422 2240 1300 2537 1000 2248 0000

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2242 5141 2530 1000 2241 5301 2248 0000 2241 5201 2242 8200 2248 0000 2538 5520

RESTAURANT • Café Library Lounge Al-Manshar Rotana Hotel Tel: 23931000 Hang.Out Lounge Galleria 2000 Tel: 25755588 Song Bird Café Hilton Kuwait Resort Tel: 23725500 Chit Chat Café Restaurant Safir Hotel & Residences -Fintas Tel: 25455555 Lounge Café Safir Hotel & Residences -Fintas Tel: 25455555 The English Tea Room Sheraton Hotel Tel: 1835555 Waterlemon Al-Raya Tel: 22244797 Marina Mall Tel: 22997666 Le Pain Quotidien Palms Beach Hotel Tel: 25633684 Marina Crescent Tel: 22244942 Avenues Tel: 24954632 • Casual Dining Applebee’s Bneid Al-Gar Tel: 22407536 Fintas Tel: 23714559 Burgerhub Gulf road Tel: 22464818 Chili’s Bneid Al-Gar Tel: 22452200 Chili’s Al-Bida’a Tel: 22253120/1 Hard Rock Café Salmiya Tel: 25710004 Ruby Tuesdays Bneid Al-Gar Tel: 22444454 T.G.I. Fridays Bneid Al-Gar Tel: 22544300

• Chinese China Hut Tel: 25656226 China Express Jabriya Tel: 25342399 Salwa Tel: 25653230 China House Salmiya Tel: 25713339 / 60 China Lake Al-Blajat St. Tel: 25713072 / 3 China Town Salmiya Tel: 25652541 Greens Al-Wafra Complex Tel: 22516031

Tel: 1815050 • French Le Notre Gulf Road Tel: 25758888 • Indian Dawat Restaurant Bneid Al Gar Tel: 22411728 Abu Halifa Tel: 23724251 Al Alamia Mall, Jahra Tel: 24554642 Taal Restaurant Salmiya Beda’ Tel: 22253142 Winner’s Salmiya Tel: 25739954 Abu Halifa Tel: 23711374 / 5 Riggae Tel: 24895501 / 2 Jahra Tel: 24560088/8800

Gulf Royal Tel: 23925390-Fintas 22622556-Hawalli 25710448-Salmiya 22244795-Marina

Asha’s Tel: 22244502/3/9 Marina Crescent Tel: 24954700

Noodles Salmiya Tel: 25712233

Bukhara Sheraton Hotel Tel: 22422055

The Peacock Radisson Blu Hotel Tel: 25673000

Tourist Restaurant Kuwait City Tel: 22411702

Noodle Factory Avenues Tel: 24954751

Mugal Mahal Farwaniya Tel: 24726126/7 Fintas Tel: 23915588 Salmiya Tel: 25722223/4 Sharq Tel: 22425132

• Continental Casper & Gambini’s Kuwait City Tel: 22430054 La Marina Sharq Mall Tel: 22426672 • Fast Food Burger King Tel: 22444466 Domino’s Pizza Tel: 1800800 Hardees Tel: 1888333 KFC Tel: 1888666 Little Caesar’s Tel: 1888855 Pizza Hut

Tikka Tel: 1822833 • International Al-Bustan Radisson Blu Hotel Tel: 25673000 Al-Hamra Sheraton Hotel Tel: 22422055 Al-Marsa Restaurant Le Meridien Tel: 22510999 Atrium Restaurant Courtyard Marriott Hotel

Tel: 22997000

L I S T I N G S

Beit 7 Kuwait City Tel: 22450871 Café Rio Al-Fanar Tel: 25732226 Dunes Ritz Hotel Tel: 22499911 Failaka Al-Manshar Rotana Hotel Tel: 23931000 La Brasserie JW Marriott Tel: 22455550 Ritz Shamiya Tel: 24820184 Shuwaikh Tel: 24844350 Square International Tel: 22437681 Test n’ Taste Villa Moda Tel: 24827010 Teatro Hilton Kuwait Resort Tel: 23725500

Kuwait City Tel: 22400737

Nino Gulf Road Tel: 22541900 Pizza Express Abdullah Al-Salem Tel: 22560273 Al-Bida’a Tel: 22253166 Airport Tel: 24342681 Tel: 23725500 Ricardo Sheraton Hotel Tel: 22422055 • Japanese Edo Shaab Tel: 22659590 Kei JW Marriott Hotel Tel: 22422650 Korea & Japan Restaurant New Park Hotel Tel: 25634200

Sakura Crowne Plaza Hotel Tel: 24742000

AlRoshinah Restaurant Safir Hotel & Residences -Fintas Tel: 25455555

Shogun The Palms Hotel Tel: 27070022

Il Forno Restaurant Courtyard Marriot Hotel Tel: 22997000 Johnny Carino’s Salmiya Tel: 22667050 La Piazza Kuwait City Tel: 24246639 Lorenzo

Manousha Salmiya Tel: 25722607 / 8

Al-Noukhaza Crowne Plaza Hotel Tel: 24742000

Fakhr Al-Din Restaurant Kuwait City Tel: 22423180

Villa Fairouz Shaab Tel: 22652030

Shrimpy Gulf Road Tel: 22563118 Totally Fish Marina Crescent Tel: 22244960/1

Garden New Park Hotel Tel: 25634200

Yeldes Palace Kuwait City Tel: 22455212

Kabab-Ji Tel: 1861616

Zahrat Tunis Hawalli Tel: 22662444/333

Mais Al-Ghanim Kuwait City Tel: 22402590

• Persian Kabab Al-Hijja Bnaid Al-Gar Tel: 22517512

Palm Palace Salmiya Tel: 25756331 Saj Express Kuwait City Tel: 22497822 Sarai Al-Bida’a Tel: 22253180/1 Shisha &

Sushi Club Al-Blajat St. Tel: 25712144 Wasabi Al-Bida’a Tel: 22253112 Kuwait City Tel: 22494000 • Lebanese Al-Berdawny Palace Tel: 25661117 Ayam Zaman Holiday Inn Tel: 18477777 Burg Al-Hamam Gulf Road Tel: 22529095

• Steak House Relais De L’Entrecote Al-Fanar Complex Tel: 25729600 Terrace Grill JW Marriott Hotel Tel: 22455550

Shabistan Crowne Plaza Hotel Tel: 24742000

The Gaucho Grill The Palms Hotel Tel: 25667370 -

• Seafood Al-Ahmadi Crowne Plaza Hotel Tel: 24742000

• Tex-Mex Chi Chi’s Salmiya Tel: 25625811

Al-Boom Radisson Blu Hotel Tel: 25756000

Tumbleweed Southern Grill Al-Bida’a Tel: 22253154/5

Maki Al-Blajat St. Tel: 25733561 Marina Waves Tel: 22244560

Flavors Restaurant Safir Hotel & Residences -Fintas Tel: 25455555

• Italian Ciro’s Pomodoro Kuwait City Tel: 22424004

Saj Express Kuwait City Tel: 22497822

Te l : 1 8 3 9 0 9 0

Salmiya - Jabriya - Keifan www.healthstop.com.kw

HOTELS

FIVE STAR Al-Manshar Rotana Hotel Crowne Plaza Kuwait Hilton Kuwait Resort JW Marriot Kuwait City Hotel Kempinski Julai’a Hotel & Resort The Regency Hotel & Resort Le Meridien Le Meridien Tower Marina Hotel Kuwait Movenpick Albid’a Movenpick Palms Beach Hotel & Spa Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts Refad Palace Safir International Hotel Kuwait Sheraton Kuwait Hotel & Towers Safir Hotel & Residences Kuwait

23931000 24772000 23725500 22455550 1 844 444 25766666 22510999 22831831 22244970 22253100 24610033 22824060 25673000 23908630 22530000 22422055 25455555

FOUR STAR Carlton Tower Hotel The Courtyard by Marriott Kuwait El Joan Resort Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait

22452740 22997000 23281897 22415001

Ghani Palace Hotel Holiday Inn Khalifa Resort Kuwait Continental Hotel New Park Hotel Al Bastaki Hotel Al Dana Hotel Heritage Village Palace Hotel Shiik Flamingo Hotel & Resort Swiss-Belhotel Plaza Kuwait

25710301 1 847 777 23280144 22527300 25634200 22555081 23902760 22520600 1 821 111 25725050 22436686

THREE STAR Imperial Hotel Oasis Hotel Safari House Hotel Second Home Hotel Spring Continental Hotel Ibis Hotel Salmiya Ibis Hotel Sharq

22528766 22465489 22443136 22532100 25742410 25713872 22928080

TWO STAR International Hotel Kuwait Residence Hotel

25741788 22467560

Oil’s fall deepens on euro zone worry, supply

LONDON: Brent crude oil slipped over a dollar towards 111 US dollars on Wednesday, on track for its longest losing streak in nearly two years, as political turmoil in the debt-laden euro zone deepened worries about prospects for fuel demand. Rising oil stocks in the United States, and increased production from Saudi Arabia at a time of economic gloom have also helped push oil down from levels near $126 per barrel in April. “The weakness in oil was the result of higher Saudi production and concerns for the US economy and a slow-down in China,” said Christopher Bellew at Jefferies Bache.

BUSINESS

THURSdAY, may 10, 2012

m ar ket watc h KUWAIT

DUBAI

QATAR

OMAN

ABU DHABI

0.51% 6452

1.9% 1527

0.7% 8605

1.0% 5743

0.3% 2481

See page 10

OIL MARKETS BAHRAIN 0.0% 1160

EGYPT

SAUDI

0.5% 5032

2.0% 7222

US Crude $96.42 $0.59 London Brent $111.90 $1.11 Kuwait Crude $109.00 $0.29 Information Courtesy: KAMCO

CURRENCIES US Dollar

British Pound

Saudi Riyal

Qatari Riyal

Indian Rupee

Euro

Japanese Yen

UAE Dirham

Bahraini Dinar

Philippine Peso

Buy 0.2783 Sell 0.2785 Buy 0.3601 Sell 0.3604

Buy 0.4474 Sell 0.4478

Buy 0.003497 Sell 0.0035

Buy 0.0742 Sell 0.0743

Buy 0.07576 Sell 0.07582

Buy 0.07649 Sell 0.07643 Buy 0.7382 Sell 0.73876

Buy 0.005181 Sell 0.005177 Buy 0.006536 Sell 0.006524

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

Bourse sectors receive new classification, modern procedures KSE sheds 33 points at closing Compiled by Al Watan Daily

KUWAIT: Leader of Data and Indexes Initiative Team at the Projects Management Office at Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) Sami Abdulaziz Al-Mejeil said that the countdown has started for the implementation of a package of modernizing procedures within KSE next week, specifically on May 13, including the inauguration of the X-stream trade system, approving a new index ‘Kuwait 15’ and launching a new website as a result of the new classification of companies listed on the bourse. He added that the new website will explain the bases and mech-

anism of this new classification in a simple way which could be understood by investors and dealers alike.

It should be noted that the new classification, like other procedures, is part of KSE’s quest to attain international standards applied by developed markets. Therefore at the onset KSE has sought to obtain a license for this classification from FTSE, which provides this classification to more than 70,000 companies in several stock markets across the globe.

The new classification will group companies listed at KSE into 25 sectors and industries, with a code for each category. The main standard of this classification is the nature of major activities conducted by the companies as well as the main source of income. On these bases, the companies will be listed in certain sectors which meet their major source of revenues.

The new classification, which will be effective as of

May 13, will result on radical changes in the current indexes of the market, due to changes in these sectors and the companies listed therein.. Therefore, it is normal that the new sector indices sectors start with two new basic points for the price index and the weighted index. The price index will start with 1000 points and the weighted index with 500 points, taking into account that the current two indices will continue without change - as change will be confined to sectors’ indices only. The new weight index (Kuwait 15) will be launched on the same date with 1000 points.

The classification process will be annually reviewed according to the changes of the bases of the classification of the companies, including changes in activities, sources of revenues and other standards.

The classification process is expected to make a qualitative leap in the stock exchange. Thanks to the new clas-

sification, evaluation of each industry and comparing it with similar industries in other markets will be possible, in addition to identifying precisely the effect of the performance of each industry on the performance of the market and the extent of solidarity between the economy and the performance of KSE’s sectors.

This will lead to rooting transparency and will increase confidence in the stock exchange, in addition to a decline of speculation rates, leading to attracting more foreign investments.

In more news, the price index of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), at closing of Wednesday’s session, shed 33 points putting the level at 6,451.5 points.

Weighted Index meanwhile stabilized at 417.75 points. Number of trades reached 4,223, value at 31,162,240 Kuwait dinars and volume of traded stocks 374,390,000.

EQUATE earns over $5.6 billion since inception DUBAI: Kuwait’s EQUATE Petrochemical Company has earned more than 5.6 billion US dollars since launch of its operations in 1997, said the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mohammed Hussein.

The company has paid back its capital seven folds, said Hussein in a statement to KUNA, on fringes of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Fourth Supply Chain Conference, held in Dubai. EQUATE, which employs some 700 Kuwaiti citizens, injects more than one billion dollars into various national economic sectors, he said, noting that it has contributed in growth of the conversion plastic industries at a proportion of up to 200 percent within only 11 years.

The Kuwaiti petrochemical sector could be developed further by upgrading production facilities, con-

struction of new ones or snatching acquisition opportunities abroad, the CEO added. Currently, Kuwait’s share in the overall petrochemicals’ production in the Gulf does not exceed five percent the conference tackles issues such as development of the sector.

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

VIVA achieves operating revenue of KD 94 million KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s newest and most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Kuwait. The AGM approved the company’s financial results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011 as well as approving the auditors’ report. The AGM also approved VIVA’s balance sheet and profit and loss accounts for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2011. This was mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.

Adel Al-Roumi, Chairman of the Board, said, “We are proud of the tremendous success we have achieved over the past three years, during which time the company has doubled its growth rate. We will continue to invest in our staff and in the infrastructure and technologies that have distinguished VIVA from its competitors and which have allowed us to develop so quickly.

VIVA has invested in assets worth 29 million Kuwaiti dinars in 2011, which led to a achieving an operating revenue of KD 94 million (representing 188 percent of the company’s capital) and with operating profit before the deducting the cost of depreciation, amortization expenses and financing expenses totaling KD 0.5 million; the company recorded a net loss of KD 14 million.

Regarding the listing of VIVA’s shares on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, Al-Roumi confirmed that the company had requested to apply for listing from the Capital Market Authority on 16 February, 2012 and has yet to receive their feedback.

Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran, VIVA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said, “In light of the fierce competition in the telecom sector in Kuwait, VIVA has been successful in attracting more than one million subscribers on its network in less than three years, attaining 20 percent of the Kuwaiti telecommunications market share by the end of 2011. I am also pleased to note that over the same period VIVA has become the second largest data service provider in Kuwait by providing ‘broadband’ services through various attractive and innovative smartphone packages.

US dollar exchange rate stabilizes against Kuwaiti dinar KUWAIT: Exchange rate of the US dollar against the Kuwaiti dinar stabilized at 0.278 Kuwaiti dinars, whereas the euro dropped to KD 0.360, compared to Tuesday’s figures, said the daily bulletin of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) on Wednesday. Exchange rate of the Sterling pound settled at KD 0.449, and the Japanese yen remained unchanged, at KD 0.003. The Swiss franc slipped to KD 0.300.

Central banks chairmen and the political instability in Greece contributed greatly in the drop of major currencies to give the floor to the US dollar to dominate the exchange markets. -KUNA

“I would like to express my appreciation to all the VIVA family and our partners, customers and shareholders, who we owe our success in 2011,” added AlBadran.

Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Qatie, Chief Financial Officer said, “VIVA has exceeded its expectations in terms of attracting customers as well as its revenue.We expect to achieve continued growth in revenue, profits, and shareholders rights throughout 2012.”

The Ordinary General Meeting’s attendance was 50.07 percent of the number of ordinary shares of the company. VIVA’s share subscribers have reached 930 thousand shareholders.

The Board of Directors were nominated with a unanimous vote.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s representative observed that in accordance with Article 171, the company’s losses have exceeded 75 percent of its capital therefore requiring the company to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting.

Following General Meeting, VIVA’s Board of Directors held its first meeting for the second session to discuss the Board’s formation, which resulted in the appointment of Adel Al-Roumi as Chairman of the Board and Dr. Zeyad Al-Otaibi as Vice-Chairman.

VIVA has recorded a number of achievements this year that showcase the company’s progress and growth, these include being awarded the ISO certification for the second consecutive year, following a rigorous assessment of its quality management system and services provided to clients. VIVA also launched a number of services, including: the launch of VIVA Elite, a program providing customers with personal assistant services; the launch of a new range of data roaming packages so customers can now enjoy VIVA’s roaming services while travelling abroad in more than 50 countries; adding new enhancements to Kuwait’s fastest internet service that delivers data at speeds of up to 42.2 Mbps; and the launch of an exclusive prepaid plan which targets the youth, allowing them to enjoy VIVA’s latest telecom services at affordable prices.

A man sells pig balloons on a street in Shanghai on May 9, 2012. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) maintained its growth target for China at above eight percent for this year and next, despite a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. (AFP)

Dubai’s Arabtec Q1 net surges, beats view China State Construction says in $2 billion deal with Aabar

DUBAI: Arabtec Holding, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) largest construction firm by market value, more than tripled its first-quarter net profits, exceeding analysts’ forecasts, and said on Wednesday it was considering buying out its steel subsidiary.

The company, in which Abu Dhabi state-owned fund Aabar has a 10.5 percent stake, made a net profit of 84.1 million UAE dirhams (22.90 million US dollars) in the quarter, compared with 26.6 million dirhams in the corresponding period last year.

Revenue for the quarter rose slightly to 1.3 billion dirhams from 1.2 billion dirhams in the previous year, Arabtec said in

Japan’s Forex reserves up 1st time in three months TOKYO: Japan’s foreign exchange reserves totaled 1.290 trillion US dollars at the end of April, up 0.07 percent from a month earlier, marking the first monthly rise in three months and remaining the world’s second-largest, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

The increase was chiefly attributed to valuation gains in the government’s holdings of the US Treasuries, the ministry said. Other factors included a rise in gold prices.

Japan’s foreign exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies plus the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold. As of April 30, foreign currency reserves stood at $1.21 trillion, IMF reserves at $ 17.51 billion and gold at $40.60

billion. Japan’s foreign reserves are closely monitored for evidence of how Japanese authorities are managing vast foreign currency holdings, as the actions have significant impact on currency exchange rates and global bond markets, particularly in the US government bond market. The authorities did not intervene in currency markets to stem the yen’s rise after spending JPY 9.09 trillion ($114 billion) between October 28 and November 28, including the biggest ever single-day intervention on Oct. 31, when the Japanese currency hit a postwar high of 75.32 Japanese yen against dollar.

Japan is the only country with foreign reserves of more than one trillion dollars besides China, whose holdings hit a record of $3.305 trillion at the end of March, according to the latest comparable data. -KUNA

a bourse statement on Wednesday.

Arabtec’s quarterly profit easily beat estimates of four analysts polled by Reuters, who on average expected it to earn 40 million dirhams in the quarter.

The company also said it was considering buying out the remaining 45-percent stake held by three separate partners in its subsidiary, Gulf Steel Industries (GSI).

“The board provisionally authorized the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, Riad Kamal, to negotiate the best possible price for acquiring a further 45 percent in GSI so long as it did not exceed the valuation originally obtained on the said subsidiary,” Arabtec said in a separate statement.

It also named Aabar’s Khadem Al Qubaisi as chairman of the board. Qubaisi is also the chairman of Aabar.

Arabtec nominated four executives from Aabar to its board in April, a sign of the state fund’s growing influence in the company after it doubled its stake to over 10 percent.

The company has also won a $60 mil-

lion contract from Aabar after the stake hike.

Arabtec, along with a consortium of Turkey’s TAV Insaat and Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), were also identified as the preferred bidders for an estimated $3 billion contract to expand Abu Dhabi’s international airport.

Shares in Arabtec have more than doubled on the Dubai bourse so far in 2012 on the back of new contract wins and expectations of further stake increases by Aabar.

In more news, China State Construction Engineering Corp said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Aabar to develop real estate projects in Abu Dhabi for a total investment of two billion dollars.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd will provide Aabar with funding, while China State Construction will be the contractor for the projects, China State Construction said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange. -Agencies

Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala plans $5.5 billion spending in 2012

DUBAI: Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi government’s investment vehicle, expects to spend about 20.1 billion dirhams (5.47 billion US dollars) this year as its seeks to expand a diverse line of businesses ranging from oil and gas to semiconductors.

“The group currently anticipates that its capital and investment expenditure for 2012 is likely to be substantially in line with the 20.1 billion dirhams annual average for the past three years,” it said in a update of its bond program.

The state-owned fund, which has stakes in General Electric and private equity firm Carlyle, expects a majority of that expenditure to relate to its semiconductor unit Advanced Technology Invest-

ment (ATIC); its joint venture with General Electric; solar energy project Masdar and oil and gas projects. Its semiconductor unit ATIC had an accumulated deficit of 4.1 billion dirhams ($1.12 billion) as of the end of 2011 and made losses in the past two years, Mubadala said in the filing. “No assurance is given that ATIC will be profitable in 2012 or in subsequent years,” Mubadala said in a section highlighting the risks associated with the business in its bond prospectus. In a separate statement, Mubadala said ATIC was making further investments in boosting capacity and research in a bid to become a “profitable catalyst” for the emirate’s economic development. -Reuters

10

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

thursDAY, may 10, 2012

Oil’s fall deepens on euro zone worry, supply LONDON: Brent crude oil slipped over a dollar towards 111 US dollars on Wednesday, on track for its longest losing streak in nearly two years, as political turmoil in the debtladen euro zone deepened worries about prospects for fuel demand.

Rising oil stocks in the United States, and increased production from Saudi Arabia at a time of economic gloom have also helped push oil down from levels near $126 per barrel in April.

“The weakness in oil was the result of higher Saudi production and concerns for the US economy and a slow-down in China,” said Christopher Bellew at Jefferies Bache.

Brent crude was down $1.34 to $111.39 a barrel by 1121 GMT, dropping for a sixth straight session, its longest losing streak since the middle of 2010.

It was on track for its lowest close since late January. US crude was at $95.67, also down $1.34.

This week’s fall has been largely caused by renewed uncertainty about the future of the euro zone.

In Greece, a highly fractured parliament struggled to cobble together a coalition, with the Leftist candidate for prime minister opposing a bailout deal crucial to the economy.

This stoked fears about whether the euro zone would be able to pull itself out of a debt crisis, weighing on equities and commodities across the board.

Leadership changes in France and Greece fanned worries that the political uncertainty could threaten austerity plans seen by some as key to tackling the euro zone debt crisis.

Adding to the negative tone to global economic news, British retail sales fell at their fastest rate in more than a year in April and jobs growth slowed, nudging the economy closer to a third quarter of contraction.

However, while data from major global economies has been disappointing recently, Bellew highlighted data from Germany on Wednesday showing exports and imports both

rose to record monthly levels in March.

“It seems to me as if Brent will hold above $110 per barrel, and maybe rally to the $116 area if the speculators come back into the market.”

US crude stocks up

Higher Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production and rising crude stockpiles globally also weighed on oil prices.

Investors are now eyeing US government data later in the day to confirm industry statistics that showed a larger-thanexpected rise in crude inventories, already at their highest level since 1990.

In the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, domestic crude stocks jumped 7.8 million barrels in the week to May 4, according to industry group American Petroleum Institute. This is nearly four times the forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts.

“The total crude stocks already sit about three percent below all-time highs, so another build over 1.2 million barrels will likely be particularly bearish for prices,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi reiterated on Wednesday that there was a surplus of oil in the market, following his earlier comments that the world’s top exporter is pumping around 10 million barrels per day and is storing 80 million barrels to meet any sudden disruption in supplies.

“In light of the current economic environment, it appears that the Kingdom is still concerned that high oil prices will eat into demand and could dampen any economic recovery,” JBC Energy said in a note to clients.

Higher production from Saudi Arabia has partly filled a supply gap caused by lower imports from sanctions-hit Iran.

India has joined other Iranian crude buyers in Asia to cut back imports from the Islamic Republic. -Reuters

ADNOC eyes record sale term naphtha premiums SINGAPORE: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is expected to capitalize on the recent strong naphtha demand and ask for record premiums of at least 30 US dollars a ton for its one-year supplies in upcoming talks with buyers, traders said on Wednesday.

A tug-of-war will likely follow as buying ideas are in levels of mid-to-high $20s a ton to ADNOC’s formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

Buyers see soft demand ahead as alternative gas feedstock becomes more readily available. Formosa, Asia’s top naphtha buyer, is to shut a 700,000 tons per year (tpy) cracker on June 20 while CPC will permanently shut a 230,000 tpy cracker around end May. Its new 700,000 tpy cracker will only start up early next year.

Naphtha supplies are also expected to increase as Europe will push out more cargoes to Asia as refinery maintenance have mostly been completed in the West.

“Spot premiums on a FOB basis have been high recently. It is not surprising if ADNOC aims for $30 and above. But it is a tough call on where the market is headed,” said a Singapore-based trader.

Asia has been struggling with a shortage of supplies since the start of the year due to refinery maintenance, a lack of alternative gas feedstock and an unusually strong spot demand with buyers on a spree to ensure sufficient stocks.

The shortages became increasingly acute towards the end of first quarter, enabling India’s ONGC to fetch

a record premium of $59.50 a ton for a March cargo.

Premiums for cargoes lifting in May from India have since eased and reached an average of $44 a ton to Middle East quotes on a FOB basis. These values are still high, or about 63 percent more compared to cargoes lifting May 2011 at an average of $27 a ton.

“I expect ADNOC to ask for $30-$35 a ton for splitter grade but this will be a disaster for buyers,” said a North Asian trader.

Sellers said it is a price buyers have to pay to ensure smooth supplies and ride out the uncertainties ahead.

ADNOC, among the top three naphtha suppliers to Asia, exports about seven million tons of naphtha a year. It supplies three naphtha grades, mainly splitter naphtha, low-sulphur naphtha and pentane grade or light naphtha.

Its term customers include buyers from Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and India.

The talks will be held for a week starting on May 14 in Singapore.

The premiums garnered by ADNOC will set the pace for other upcoming negotiations which include those between Saudi Aramco, Asia’s top naphtha supplier, and its buyers, and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) with its customers.

“Demand is now weaker. Buyers will resist if ADNOC quotes very high offers. Premiums in the mid $20 a ton levels would be more acceptable than $30s,” said a third trader. -Reuters

NBK launches 2012 Summer Internship Program

Group picture of last year’s students

KUWAIT: In light of the tremendous success of the Summer Internship Program in the past years, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) is launching the first in a series of the 2012 Summer Internship Program on June 10, 2012. The two-week courses are specially designed for high school and college students between 15 and 20 years old, according to a press release on Wednesday.

NBK Public Relations Officer, Talal Adel Al-Turki said, “NBK views the Summer Internship Program as an extension of its educative initiatives as part of it social responsibility.”

“This annual program demonstrates the NBK’s long-standing social involvement as well as its national commitment towards providing the young generations

with the appropriate opportunities to experience how the actual professional banking issues and transactions are handled and processed”, Al-Turki added.

The Summer Internship Program consists of fivehour daily sessions and features a mixture of theoretical and practical training dedicated to providing the interns with invaluable knowledge on a variety of subjects such as; the teamwork, creative thinking, means of self expression and modern banking, in addition to helping them to have greater exposure to daily banking work procedures.

Online registration for the Summer Internship Program is open until May 31 through nbk.com and through NBK official page on Facebook & Twitter.

Abu Dhabi to invite bids for new power plant by September ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi will invite bids for a new independent water and power project (IWPP), its ninth facility, by September as the emirate boosts capacity to meet rising demand, two sources said on Wednesday.

The emirate’s top decision making body, the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, last month approved Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority’s (Adwea) plan to build a new IWPP at Mirfa, about 160 kilometers along the coast from the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) capital city. “Advisors for the project will be appointed first and the process of prequalifying companies will start in about three to four months,” a source at the stateowned utility told Reuters.

Power generation capacity at Mirfa will be at least 1500 MW and the desalination plant will produce about 60 million gallons per day (mgpd). Mirfa has an existing plant that produces about 250 MW of power and 34 mgpd of water.

“The existing plants are likely to be removed because they are not reliable,” said a second source. Both sources declined to be named as the information is not yet public. Currently, Abu Dhabi produces some 9000plus MW of power from its eight IWPPs, most of which is consumed within the emirate and about 22 percent exported to the northern emirates, according to latest Adwea statistics. -Reuters

FILE - John Pehrson returns the nozzle to the pump after filling up at a service station Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, in Mercer Island. Brent crude oil slipped below $112 on Wednesday, May 9, 2012, on track for its longest losing streak in nearly two years, as political turmoil in the debt-laden euro zone deepened worries about prospects for fuel demand. (AP)

South Africa Engen buys Saudi crude to replace Iran CAPITALS: Engen has turned to top oil exporter Saudi Aramco for additional crude after South Africa’s biggest buyer of Iranian crude halted imports from the Islamic Republic, trade sources said on Wednesday.

Engen, majority owned by Malaysian national oil company Petronas, will replace about half of the Iranian volumes with Saudi supplies and the remaining will be filled up from the spot market, mainly from West Africa, the sources said.

The refiner suspended an annual contract for 50,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude in March, joining a growing list of buyers bowing to Western pressure to cut business dealings with Tehran to isolate the country.

“The (Saudi) volume is on a spot basis and it does not fully cover their Iranian term volume,” a source familiar with the Saudi deal said.

Refiners would be able to replace Iranian crude with ease at this point as the market is well supplied with most other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members ramping up output while weak margins and a peak refinery maintenance season curb demand.

Saudi Arabia has ramped up production to prevent oil prices from skyrocketing and pledged to fill the vacuum left

by Iran as tightening sanctions from the United States and European Union deter buyers from lifting Iranian oil.

Engen is seeking mainly West African grades from the spot market to cover other import needs, they said.

The company had booked the tanker Bouboulina to load 950,000 barrels of Angolan Girassol crude on April 17, a shipping fixture showed.

Engen could not be immediately reached for comment.

Petronas

Petronas has also stopped buying Iranian crude for its Malacca refinery.

Petronas has turned to the Middle East spot crude market to replace the Iranian supply of about 10,000 bpd, sources said.

“Malacca is quite a dynamic refinery as it can take a lot of grades,” a source said, adding that the company can choose from a variety of Middle Eastern grades.

Some of the other grades that Malacca can use include Dubai, Eocene and Egyptian Belayim, a second source said.

Petronas has booked the tanker Stavanger Bay to load on May 8 about 500,000 barrels of Belayim crude from Wadi Feiran, a shipping fixture showed.

The tanker is scheduled to head to Malacca. -Reuters

Oil, gas sector short of critical talent in Middle East: Deloitte CAPITALS: In a Deloitte report entitled the Talent Edge 2020: Redrafting talent strategies for the uneven recovery, experts focused on the oil and gas sector, to gauge the talent trends in the growing industry. Of the key findings, the majority of the surveyed oil and gas executives anticipate a looming talent shortage in all skill categories, the most pressing of which is in operations (81 percent). This was mentioned in a press release on Wednesday.

The Deloitte report is based on the responses of 376 executives, 34 percent of which from Europe, Middle Eastand Africa, outlining key talent-related challenges across industries. Findings indicate that critical talent shortages, retention programs, and the growing reliance on discovering global talent are top concerns for oil and gas executives.

“We are witnessing a growing trend of oil and gas companies expanding into global and new markets as a top strategic priority. Moreover, talent management is no longer confined to the company’s country of operation; rather the search has gone global, to find skilled and critical talent,” commented Ghassan Turqieh,

Human Capital consulting partner at Deloitte in the Middle East.

Other findings included in the Deloitte report on talent shortages in the oil and gas sector, include: • Global talent management is front of mind. Surveyed oil and gas executives ranked finding the right people globally as their top talent priority, citing managing human capital (38 percent) and expanding into global and new markets (38 percent) as their companies’ most important strategic concerns.

• The sector is running short of critical talent. Executives find that a looming talent shortage in all skill categories exists in many fields, which include operations (81 percent), information technology (61 percent), risk and regulatory (62 percent), and research and development (60 percent).

• Surveyed oil and gas executives worry more about retention than leaders in other sectors, even though they see their retention programs as equally strong. 28 percent of the oil and gas respondents were very confident in the effectiveness of their retention strategies and programs, similar to the proportion in other sectors. Yet 38 percent of oil and gas

respondents expressed a very high level of concern about retaining critical talent over the next year, versus just 25 percent in the other sectors.

• Surveyed oil and gas executives put a high priority on finding scarce skills and managing global talent. Talent concerns that attract ‘the most management attention’ in the oil and gas sector include recruiting hard-to-find skill sets (38 percent versus 28 percent in other sectors), competing for talent globally and in emerging markets (30 percent versus 22 percent), and deploying critical talent around the world (28 percent versus 15 percent).

• Global talent mobility will likely continue to rise in importance. 32 percent of surveyed oil and gas executives believed that, in three years, deploying critical talent around the world will be even more of a top concern than it is today.

Many surveyed executives anticipate seeing across-the-board talent shortages over the course of 2012, and are developing plans to meet the challenge. The Deloitte report finds that critical talent shortages will continue in the coming years, becoming more of a top concern for executives, than it is today.

Gold hits 4-month low as crisis hurts euro LONDON: Gold fell for a third day on Wednesday, touching a four-month low and all but wiping out its gains for 2012 as the escalation in the euro zone debt crisis prompted investors to favor dollars and German government bonds as safe havens.

Political disarray in Greece, a change in the French presidency and renewed concerns about the resilience of the Spanish banking sector sent the euro to a 15-week low against the dollar and propelled German bond futures to record highs.

Spot gold was down 1.2 percent on the day at 1,585.30 US dollars an ounce at 1145 GMT, having lost more than three percent so far this week in its largest weekly slide since mid-March. “It’s not as though the escalation of the political risk in Europe is doing anything positive for gold prices at all, and this is totally different to how we were between 2008 and 2010, when all the correlations were totally reversed and the weakening of the euro actually led to a strengthening in the gold price,” Natixis head of commodity research Nic Brown said.

“This very much suggests that we are not getting demand

for gold from European investors.The dynamic is purely from the impact of the crisis on to the FX market and from that directly on to the gold price,” he said.

The gold price is on the verge of wiping out all the gains for 2012, with the year-to-date gain reduced to 1.4 percent from as much as 14 percent in late February.

This compares with an 8.4 percent advance in the S&P 500 and gains of nearly 10 percent in Chinese equities and nearly 6.5 percent in crude oil in 2012.

Fears grow in Europe

In Europe, radical leftist Alexis Tsipras was to meet the leaders of Greece’s mainstream parties on Wednesday to try to form a coalition government, after demanding they first agree to tear up the country’s EU/IMF bailout deal.

In Spain, Madrid will demand banks set aside another 35 billion euros ($45 billion) against loans to builders, financial sources said, as it battles to rebuild confidence in a sector where huge losses have raised fears the country may need an international bailout. -Reuters

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

11

thursDAY, may 10, 2012

Toyota profits tumble 30.5% in 2011, pledges recovery CAPITALS: Japan’s Toyota Motor said Wednesday net profit for the year to March fell 30.5 percent to 283.56 billion Japanese yen (3.56 billion US dollars), hit by last year’s quake-tsunami disaster and record flooding in Thailand.

But the country’s biggest automaker, also stung by the strong yen, pledged a sharp rebound in the current fiscal year, expecting net profit to more than double to 760 billion yen on surging demand in emerging markets.

Toyota also forecast operating profit to nearly triple year-on-year to 1.0 trillion yen as consumers opt for small and economically priced vehicles, as well as “green” models, a key segment for the manufacturer.

“Our vision is to establish a strong business foundation that will ensure profitability under any kind of difficult business environment,” company president Akio Toyoda said in a statement.

Toyoda later told a press briefing in Tokyo that “the new platform of sustainable growth has just begun.”

“I really hope this year will be peaceful so that our efforts start showing tangible results,” he added.

Japanese automakers were hammered last year by the March 11 quake-tsunami, which caused huge production problems, while the Thailand flooding months later sparked supply-chain headaches for firms with plants there.

The yen also hit a record high against the dollar in 2011 but began to weaken from early this year, a decline that will help exporters whose products become more expensive overseas when the currency strengthens. Toyota’s share price was unchanged Wednesday at 3,145 yen before the earnings results were released.

“Toyota’s forecasts look realistic,” said Tatsuya Mizuno, an auto analyst at Mizuno Credit Advisory in Tokyo.

“The company is out of the crisis that started in 2008 with the Lehman Brothers shock (at the start of the financial crisis), its profits are increasing, and it is moving in a good direction compared to previous years.”

But Mizuno also warned that Toyota

Credit Agricole’s private bank arm bullish on stocks, PE

FILE - The Bank of Japan building is reflected on Toyota Motor Corp’s Prius hybrid car in Tokyo in this February 18, 2010 file photo. Japan’s Toyota Motor said Wednesday net profit for the year to March fell 30.5 percent to 283.56 billion Japanese yen ($3.56 billion), hit by last year’s quake-tsunami disaster and record flooding in Thailand. (Reuters)

was lagging domestic rivals Honda and Nissan, while its efforts to turn hybrid vehicles into a major force outside Japan had yet to bear fruit.

“The relative position of Toyota is still weak in the global market, and in comparison to Nissan or Honda,” he said.

The firm, which said it sold 7.35 million vehicles in the year to March for total sales of 18.58 trillion yen, down 2.2 percent, lost its number one spot in the global carmakers’ league last year.

It had been the world’s biggest automaker since 2008 and sold 8.42 million vehicles in 2010.

But its 2011 figure leaves US giant General Motors, with about 9.0 million in unit sales, back on top after it emerged from bankruptcy, with Germany’s Volkswagen in second, selling more than 8.0 million vehicles.

Toyota has also been forced into dam-

age control in recent years after recalling millions of vehicles since 2009 over safety defects.

Despite the setbacks, Toyota said it was aiming to boost sales to 8.7 million vehicles globally in the fiscal year ending March 2013.

“We expect a great increase in sales mainly in North America and Asia this year, especially as we plan to roll out new models,” Satoshi Ozawa, Toyota’s executive vice president, told the news briefing.

The company is hoping some of its growth comes from environmentally friendly vehicles including what it said was the first all-electric sports utility vehicle on the market, which it unveiled this week.

The electric version of its popular RAV4 will be sold initially only in California with a base price of $49,800, with Toyota expecting to sell a modest 2,600 units over the next three years. -AFP

Date of Closing Prices:

Date of Closing Prices: 09 / 05 / 2012 For more information please contact “Global” at (+965) 180 42 42 or www.globalinv.net

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

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Low

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1,060 420 760 600 880 270 430 720 590

Global Index - Banking

Kw Investment Commercial Facilit.

Int'L Financial Adv. National Invest.

Kw Projects Ahlia Holding Coast Invest.

Int'L Investor Securities House Ind. & Fin. Inv. Securities Group Int'L Finance MARKAZ KMIFIC Aref Inv. Group Al AMAN Inv. ALOLA Inv. ALMAL Inv. Gulf Inv. House A'ayan Leasing Bayan Inv. GLOBAL Inv. Osoul Inv. KFIC KAMCO Nat. Int'l Holding Housing Finance MADAR Al Deera Holding Al Safat Inv. Al Salam Group Ekttitab Holding Al Qurain Holding Sokouk Holding Al-Madina Finance NOOR Tamdeen Inv. KW BH Int'l Exch.

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

104 53 146 325 58 102 118 37.5 146 51 34 40.0 69 41.5 255.0 92.0 63.0 31.5 67 58 51 112

460 -

460 -

Global Index - Insurance

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

58 110 130 248 36.0 236 164 132 41.0 93 1,020 74 23.0 63.0 86 65 71 84 38.0 66 170 48.0 36.0 42.0 43.0 40 60 350

Global Index - Real Estate

Nationl Ind Ind. Group Pipes Ind. & Oil Kuwait Cement Refrigeration Ind. Gulf Cables & Elec.

Heavy eng. & Ship.

Marine Services Portland Cement

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106 57 150 325 58 108 118 39.0 148 51 35 40.0 70 43.5 275.0 98.0 65.0 31.5 68 62 51 114

Global Index - Investment

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

230 120 445 186 1,360 270 -

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57 110 130 246 31.0 236 154 124 39.5 93 1,000 72 20.5 60.0 84 61 70 82 36.0 60 170 45.5 33.5 41.5 41.0 39 57 350

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226 120 430 180 1,340 265 -

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Last Close 179.51 6,451.50 Last Prev.

Close Close 1060 425 790 600 880 275 430 720 600 317.18

104 265 53 146 325 13.0 58 25.0 130 25.0 230 104 118 102 52 38.5 148 51 34.5 71 40.0 48.5 69 26.0 275 51 38.5 51 41.5 100 275.0 93.0 22.0 22.5 63.0 29.0 194 265 114 31.50 69 68 60 51 64 42.50 114 83.20 300 520 460 136 220 122 40.50 42.68

57 110 130 246 36.0 236 154 132 39.5 110 93 1,000 72 20.5 62.0 84 62 71 100 37.0 82 36.0 86 17.5 43.5 60 85 170 45.5 33.5 41.5 17.5 41.0 134 134 220 60 350 59.45

228 120 435 180 1,340 265 144 880

1060 430 760 580 880 270 430 720 600 315.68 106 265 57 148 330 13.0 58 25.0 130 25.0 230 108 118 102 52 40.0 146 51 35 71 40.0 48.5 69 26.0 275 51 38.5 51 44.0 100 280.0 97.0 22.0 22.5 66.0 29.0 194.0 265 114 33.50 69 67 58 51 64 42.50 114 83.92

Previous Close Change 179.56 -0.05 6,484.50 -33.00 Trading Activity Tran. Value(KD) Chng Volume

Last Bid

Last Ask

MTD YTD 0.11% 0.00% 4.65% 10.96% Div. Annual Close High Yield Low P/E

2,545,000 840,000 45,000 65,000 635,000 2,260,000 210,000 795,000 225,000 7,620,000

57 22 6 2 12 19 7 37 11 173

2,698,450 356,950 35,300 39,000 558,850 616,150 90,500 575,550 134,450 5,105,200

1,060 420 760 580 870 270 430 720 590

1,080 425 800 600 880 275 435 730 600

3.8% 0.0% 0.0% 2.5% 1.7% 1.8% 2.3% 2.1% 0.0% 2.0%

1,220 510 800 680 930 285 480 900 600 326.42

1,040 425 700 600 790 236 410 720 530 314.20

15.26 36.55 1240.61 18.04 33.01 26.31 13.14 26.03 130.71 19.26

-2 -4 -2 -5

60,000 13,920,000 1,120,000 60,000 680,000 11,120,000 40,000 1,920,000 2,700,000 1,320,000 12,080,000 160,000 80,000 3,040,000 9,930,000 1,240,000 4,880,000 80,000 80,000 2,160,000 200,000 3,200,000 70,070,000

3 185 26 3 13 177 1 21 30 23 81 2 2 33 276 22 77 1 2 44 5 56

104 260 53 144 320 57 100 116 37.5 146 50 34 37.5 69.0 238 270.0 93.0 63.0 178 31 69 66 59 50 110.0

106 265 54 148 325 59 230 104 118 102 38.0 148 51 35 40.5 71.0 41.5 275.0 94.0 64.0 188 280 32 68 61 51 114.0

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 6.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.8% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.6% 4.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.3%

112 285 67 182 345 18.5 69 25.0 130 36.0 230 122 120 102 52 35.5 150 65 35 71 44.0 48.5 70.0 26.0 295 65 39 51 47.5 104 270.0 130.0 25.0 33.5 96.0 29.0 190 310 114 32 89 73 60 59 64 42.5 140.0 85.99

104 255 40 144 295 11.5 50 25.0 130 21.0 230 99 102 50 52 24.0 106 47 21 71 28.5 48.5 64.0 26.0 242 51 36 51 26.0 61 99.0 19.5 19.0 16.0 38.0 29.0 154 255 114 26 58 50 51 47 64 42.5 106.0 74.96

16.16 10.02 0.00

1,083

6,280 765,480 164,960 19,500 39,440 1,163,440 4,720 73,520 395,200 67,320 416,160 6,400 5,560 128,200 2,649,850 115,860 311,600 2,520 5,400 130,480 10,200 358,520 6,840,610

30,000 30,000

2 2

13,800 13,800

275 470 450 136 28.0

300 510 460 142 -

6.7% 3.8% 5.4% 3.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 4.8%

325 610 540 148 220 134 40.5 44.91

280 520 450 102 220 102 40.5 42.22

3,720,000 1,560,000 140,000 100,000 560,000 80,000 340,000 360,000 2,320,000 80,000 195,000 520,000 56,720,000 14,880,000 7,960,000 1,680,000 1,880,000 400,000 14,320,000 5,400,000 60,000 15,520,000 1,680,000 880,000 9,440,000 560,000 800,000 460,000 142,615,000

36 26 5 4 6 4 9 6 26 2 11 9 305 129 33 33 30 8 118 106 1 70 15 10 90 5 19 21

1,137

213,280 171,600 18,200 24,640 18,200 18,880 54,200 45,200 92,800 7,440 195,100 38,240 1,221,160 922,000 676,840 105,840 132,400 33,240 520,840 337,960 10,200 727,120 58,800 36,560 389,120 22,240 47,200 161,000 6,300,300

56 108 128 246 32.5 234 150 132 93 1,000 72 61.0 84 62 69 37.0 82 86 42.0 60 80 160 45.5 33.5 41.0 38 57 345

57 110 130 248 36.0 236 162 134 39.5 110 94 1,020 74 20.5 62.0 85 63 71 100 39.5 83 36.0 90 43.5 61 89 180 46.5 35.0 42.0 41.0 40 60 350

0.0% 4.5% 0.0% 6.1% 0.0% 3.4% 0.0% 5.3% 0.0% 6.4% 0.0% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 6.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 5.9% 5.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.9%

63 118 152 246 37.5 250 130 100 52.0 120 104 1,080 85 20.0 68.0 97 75 73 90 38.0 92 23.0 91 17.5 45.0 70 80 174 52.0 39.5 40.5 28.5 25.5 134 40 220 70 480 60.26

47 97 108 200 28.5 224 114 77 27.0 108 94 840 62 11.0 35.0 77 54 52 74 33.0 59 13.5 87 17.5 31.0 57 64 116 27.5 22.0 25.0 17.5 15.0 134 31 220 49 270 49.06

1,480,000 1 480 000 20,000 460,000 280,000 25,000 360,000 -

15 1 26 12 4 27 -

336,000 336 000 2,400 202,050 50,800 33,800 96,500 -

226 118 435 180 1,320 260 134 870

228 120 440 182 1,360 265 146 880

0.0% 0 0% 0.0% 3.4% 0.0% 5.4% 3.8% 0.0% 7.4%

260 136 475 158 1,480 345 222 920

214 116 415 122 1,240 290 134 660

-

-

-4 1.52 -1 2.55.04.03.0-2.0 1 2 0.73-

300 520 460 136 220 122 40.50 42.68

Ex-D Ex-D Ex-D -

59 112 132 248 33.5 238 154 128 42.0 110 95 1,000 73 23.0 63.0 86 64 70 100 37.0 84 38.5 86 17.5 43.5 63 85 170 48.0 36.0 42.5 17.5 43.5 134 134 220 59 355 60.18

-2 -2 -2 -2 3 2.04 2.5-2 -1 2.51.02.0-2 1 -2 2.5-3 -3 2.51.02.5Ex-D 1 -5 0.74-

230 120 440 186 1,340 270 144 880

DTD -0.03% -0.51%

-5 30 20 5 1.50

-

-2 -5 -6 -5 -

Middle East

Lamotte said the bank was looking at expanding its Middle Eastern presence by making targeted hires and catering to the rich Arab and Indian community in the region. “We are hiring new relationship managers both to cover the Arab and the Indian community here. We will be selective in our hiring but the plan is to bring in people with product knowledge,” he said.

The Middle East and Africa wealth management sector grew 8.6 percent in 2010 and overall assets under management could grow to $6.7 trillion by 2015 helped by high oil prices, a study by the Boston Consulting Group in June last year showed.

About 20 percent of the bank’s overall assets was coming from the region, Lamotte said.

Credit Agricole and its larger French rivals have been racing to shrink their loan books after cheap dollar funding evaporated because of concern about the eurozone debt crisis and as tougher capital requirements approach. The private bank had lost some of its smaller clients amid the crisis but was winning some larger mandates which was helping to offset the loss, the executive said.

“We are bringing in a lot liquidity to the group.

The plan is to clearly grow the business in the medium-term,” “I am hopeful that we will increase our assets by the end of the year,” the executive said, but declined to give more details.

Lamotte said he did not expect the arm to be put on the block by its parent firm, which is trying to shore up its capital base. “Private banking does not consume capital. It’s the typical business you have to have in view of the Basel III regulations, so why sell it?” he said. -Reuters

05 / 01 / 2012

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

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

executive, Bernard Arnault, and regularly co-invest alongside the firm. Their strategy is very simple, buy the brands of tomorrow,” he said.

Credit Agricole Suisse reported a 0.4 percent rise in net profit to 85.9 million Swiss francs ($92.94 million) in the first half of 2011, while assets under management contracted 6.5 percent to 45 billion Swiss francs, largely due to the strength of the Swiss franc, according to the bank.

Trading Prices of Kuwait Stock Exchange Date of Closig Prices: 9/05/2012

Trading Prices of Kuwait StockStock Exchange Trading Prices of Kuwait Exchange

Global General Index KSE Price Index

DUBAI: Credit Agricole’s main private banking arm is betting aggressively on global equities and also prefers private equity investments to meet the demand of its entrepreneurial client base, its chief investment officer said in an interview.

Credit Agricole Suisse, headquartered in Geneva, has about 40 billion euros (51.98 billion US dollars) in total assets and accounts for about half of the total private banking assets of the bank, which are all grouped under Credit Agricole Private Bank.

“What we are seeing is that investors are very interested in private equity and also quite interested in global equity,” Frederic Lamotte told Reuters while on a visit to Dubai.

“There is not much interest in fixed income.

Fixed income world now is about carry and there is no more capital gain.” Equities account for about 48 percent of Credit Agricole Suisse’s overall portfolio, the executive said. Lamotte, who began his private banking career in Saudi Arabia, believes several reasons justify the high allocation to stocks.

“Negative earnings revisions has come down or nearly stopped, valuation is reasonable and we still think there could be more liquidity coming in to the system this year,” he said. “Our allocation is quite aggressive but is it too much? I don’t think so.”

MSCI’s all-country world equity index has risen 5.7 percent year-to-date after dropping 9.4 percent last year. Among equity investments, Lamotte prefers technology companies in the United States and emerging market company stocks in Asia, followed

by Brazil and Russia. The bank’s European equity investments are confined to Germany and Switzerland, he said. Within the private equity sector, the bank picks third-party funds for clients and also coinvests with other private equity players. “Our clients are mostly successful entrepreneurs. They have built businesses themselves and understand the private equity model,” Lamotte said.

He said that he preferred luxury-related investments, food and agriculture and the industrial sector for co-investments. The bank has invested along with L Capital, a private equity manager backed by luxury goods group, LVMH. “We have very good relations with LVMH’s chief

14.46 0.00 8.73 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 46.63 0.00 0.00 73.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 16.31 0.00 0.00 0.00 19.36 20.94 16.18 527.23

0.00 0.00 5.69 14.28 13.38 13.67 10.96 22.12 66.32 64711.96 13.03 51.21 12.93 17.17 23.03 13.95 15.16 23.37 29.41 0.00 14.64 416.61

199.97 0.00 15.57 8.50 196.23 0.00 0.00 26.88 439.41 0.00 0.00 19.39

19.44 7.75 11.95 18.03 31.52

Shuaiba Industrial

-

Global General Index Metal Collecting Kuwait Foundry 355 KSE Price Index

350 248 88 Low 600 1,120 490 770 640 800 248 455 180 880 580 216 42 260 4071 170 300 1,020 12.5 52 405 - 740 82.0 - 325 108 154 - 106 154 - 2,260 124 108 49 - 320 370 31.0 - 88 -21.0 - 78 106 - 124 26.5 580 67.0

255 ACICO 91 United Industries Company High 610 Boubyan Petroch.

1,140 National Bank Gulf Glass Gulf Bank 495 Hilal Cement Commercial 770 Al Kout Ind.Bank Project Ahli Bank 640 K-PAK Ahli UnitedMaterial Bank 850 Building International 248 Nat. Ind.Co.Bank 460 Burgan Bank Equipment Holding 184 890 Kw Finance Industries House Consumer Boubyan Bank 590 Kuwait Gypsum Global Qurain Index - Banking220 Salbookh Trading 43 Kw Investment IKARUS 265 Commercial Facilit.

Boubyan Int'LAdv. Ind. 4172 Int'L Financial 174 National GlobalInvest.

Index - Industrial Kw Projects 300 1,020 National Cinema Ahlia Holding 13.5 Kw Hotels Coast Invest.

53 Agility 410 Int'L Investor Market Complexes Securities House ZAIN Ind. & Fin. Inv. - 740 Safat Energy 83.0 Securities Group Educational - Int'L Finance Group 325 Indep. Petroleum 110 MARKAZ National Cleaning 158 KMIFIC Sultan - 106 Int'L Inv. Center Group Arabi Group 164 Aref Inv. Group City GroupDar Investment - Tele.

2,300 AlWataniya AMAN Inv. Kw Gulf Link 128 ALOLA Inv. 110 Kw Cable ALMAL Inv.Vision 50 Automated System - Gulf Inv. House NAPESCO 320 A'ayan Leasing KCPCInv. 385 32.5 Bayan GLOBAL K.S.H Inv. Osoul Eyas Inv. GULFINVEST - 91 Hits Telecom KFIC -23.5 Al Safwa Holding KAMCO - Human Soft Int'l Leasing & Holding Inv. Privatization 78 Nat. Int'l Holding Nafaaes Holding 112 - Housing NationalFinance Slaughter MADAR Aref energy 126 26.5 AlSafwan Deera Holding 580 AlGulf Safat Inv. Petroleum 68.0 122.0 AlGulf Salam Group Franchising 36.5 114.0 34.0 41.0 - 39.0 Ekttitab Holding Credit & Collection -23.0 AlNational Qurain Holding -24.5 Ranges 16.5 Sokouk Holding 16.5 Burgan Well Drilling Al-Madina Finance 40.0 38.5 IFA H&R NOOR 1,720 1,680 Combinted Group Tamdeen Inv. 160 158 Jeeran Holding KW BH Int'l Exch.

Palms Agro 104 104 Taiba Kuwaiti Holding 76.0 79.0 Safat TEC Kuwait Syrian Mushrif Trading 106 104 Strategia 335 UPACChina Inv. 335 53 53 Kuwait ALAFCO 295 290 Manafae Inv. Al-Muwasat - Gulf North Africa - Mashaer Holding 270 275 Amwal Fuel AlOula Masar - 260 - 255 Future Comm.

Al-Imtiaz 132 - 124 118 114 Hayat Comm.

Global Index - Investment 69 66 Mubarrad Transport Kuwait --KuwaitInsurance Resorts - Gulf Insurance - Advanced Technolgy Ahlia Insurance 400 375 Yiaco Medical 112 Warba Insurance - 108 Al Jazeera Airways Kuwait Re-Ins. 222 Al Soor Fuel 228 First Takaful Ins. Future Kid Wethaq Insurance 275 KGL 275 Global Index - Insurance92 Al Nawadi 88 48 Kuwait R.E. 48 Alrai Media 124 128 United R.E. 100 - 100 Zima Holding 118 National 126 GlobalR.E. Index - Services 200 Salhia R.E. 204 LiveStock Pearl R.E. Trans.

Dana Al-Safat 22497 22495 Tamdeen R.E. United Poultry Ajial R.E. - Kw FoodStuff 1,400 1,360 Massaleh R.E. United Food Arab R.E. 30.0 30.0 Kout R.E. Food - - Union 96 ERESCO Global Index - Food 98 860 840 Mabani Sharjah Cement 89 89 75 74 INJAZZAT RE Gulf Cement 97 95 12.0 11.5 Inv. Holding Grp Um Quwain Cement Int'L Resorts 96 99 Fujaira Cement 78 77 Commercial R.E 118 118 Ras AlKheimah 70 65 Sanam R.E. ARIG 54 53 Aa'yan R.E United Gulf Bank 166 166 Aqar 300 Egypt Kw Holding 300 Kuwait R.E Holding Bahrain Kw Ins. 59 AL Mazaya 60 54.0 House 56.0 14.0 AlGulf DarFin. National R.E 14.0 InovestInt'L Holding 65 62 Themar - 170 Grand R.E Projects - 170 Ahli United Bank -58.0 Tijara & R.E Invest -58.0 Ithmaar Bank AlGlobal TameerIndex - Non-Kuwaiti Arkan Al-Kuwait R.E 70 70 Markaz Real Estate Safat Global AlInvestment Argan Int'L Funds 28.5 28.0 Abyaar Al-Bareeq Holding 23.5 - 23.5 Munshaat AFAQ First Dubai 26.0 - 25.5 Al-Shamel KBT 27.0 Al-Safat Real Estate 27.0 Manazel 16.536 15.536 Ajwan Real Estate REAM - - Specialities Group - Mena Real Inter.

Estate - Masaken Al Moudon Intl. R.E Dulaqan R.E Markaz Real Estate 57 56 Eid Food Kuwait Remal R.E 295 285 Maidan Clinic Global Index - Real Estate Flex Nationl Ind. Group 232 Dar Al-Thuraya Real E 242 Pipes Ind. & Oil Kw Medical Services 128 - 126 Kuwait Cement 455 450 Amar For Fin. & Leas.

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

Heavy & Ship.

Totaleng.

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

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Last Close Previous Close DTD - Change 216 216 216 -0.40% 132 177.24 -0.70 130 130 176.53 120 -15 5,754.20 20,000 2 -27.30 7,050 365 3505,726.90 345 -0.47% 365 1,140,000 50 288,720 250 250 248 250 Last Prev.

Trading Activity Last Last 2 320,000 8 28,720 88 90 91 89 Close Close Ask 610 Chng - Volume 760,000Tran.

23 Value(KD) 610 610 456,500 Bid600 3,796,050 - 1,120 - 1120 1120 69 3,377,500 1,140 1,000 1,000 1,080 20 495 495 - 830,000 407,950 490 495 222 222 770 770 10,000 1 7,700 - 770 780 415 415 390 640 -20 2 6,400 660 10,000 640 660 275 275 255 800 50 850 350,000 23 282,700 840 850 224 Ex-D 224 16 248 248 - 700,000 173,600 246 248 310 310 300 315 460 465 5 500,000 10 229,750 460 465 2 182 460,000 20 184 83,400 180 184 890 -10 880 1,280,000 66 1,127,050 880 870 102 102 590 590 607,850 1,035,000 33 590 580 128 Ex-D 128 319.37 319.54 8,092,500 6,639,050 0.17-2 216 3,140,000 24064 683,880 218 218 216 42 45 2,160,000 90,880 106 106 -23 --3 102 10642 188 188 188 194 260 265 -5 250,000 14 65,750 260 265 240,000 73 72 17,200 40 1,680,000 -1-1 67,160 41 13 6 4070 4073 170 1,040,000 20 172 -2 177,720 172 168 10,865,000 281 0.512,377,900 168.48 168.99 300 110,000 5 33,000 295 5 295 300 1 20 2,500 2,550 1,000 1,020 1,020 7,040,000 12.5 12.5 46 90,920 12.5 13.0 280 280 270 1,280,000 22 52 53 -1 67,280 51 52 410 350,000 14 142,900 -5 405 405 410 25.0 25.0 52 52 130 130 788,100 740 1,065,000 740 750 31.0 31.0 -38 - - 740 33.5 1.01,280,000 83.0 13 105,120 84.0 82.0 83.0 230 230 110 110 -102 102 - - - - - 35,750 325 110,000 325 -320 335 108 112 73,920 680,000 18 7 106 110 147,200 940,000 156 160 4.0154 156 50 50 -21 400,000 106 106 42,400 44.0 44.0 -17 - 104 - 108 119 6,180,000 990,800 156 158 156 158 52 52 --2 550 550 560 74 74 - - - - 125,000 2,260 286,150 2,300 2,300 2,320 28.5 28.5 - 40 -25 27.0 29.5 420,000 52,880 124 130 122 124 108 1417 54,920 108 --6 500,000 110 108 58 58 49 49.5 15,840 -1 320,000 4 49 50 295 295 290 315 23 - - 23 - - 21 24 320 3,200 10,000 320 325 310 71 - 71 -1 360 497,800 1,320,000 10 370 31.0 31.0 58,760 1,840,000 2276 375 370 31.0 32.5 48.5 - 48.5 - - 255 255 - 250 - - 68 68 -Ex-D - 64.0 260 260 20.5 20.5 - -4 -68 - 87 - 88 350,200 3,920,000 88 92 26.0 26.0 - -3 - - 21.0 46,240,000 23.5 21.0 188 1,045,880 244 - 244 - - - - 238 270 270 275 94 --2 94 -34 -78 -79 3,120,000 80 78 243,360 -3 51 51 -8 - 54 60,000 6,560 112 104 106 - 36 36 - - - - 154 154 184 -5 51 51 -2 126 124 140,000 17,600 128 126 26.5 26.5 24 6,360 - -50 240,000 26.0 27.0 580 630 20,000 11,600 580 75 75 -14 -67.0 67.0 600,000 40,240 68.0 67.0 8.0 120.0 112.0 1,305,280 120.0 2.5- 11,180,000 480,000 212 6 36.5 34.0 16,560 118.0 34.0 2.0- 39.5 41.5 24 77,080 1,920,000 39.0 120 120 130 19.0 19.0 - 1.020.0 18.0 145 755,720 24.5 23.5 32,080,000 23.5 23.0 16.5 5 7,920 16.5 480,000 16.0 16.5 255 255 242 255 39.0 0.510,640,000 93 419,440 38.5 38.5 39.0 400 400 400 375 29.0 29.0 302,500 1,680 1,680 31 513,000 1,700 1,680 160 2.0158 12,680 80,000 4 156 160 95 95 90 98 255 255 270 1 104 2,080 108 -4 20,000 102 118 114 114 3 79.0 79.0 18,840 -240,000 76.0 79.0 26.00 26.00 27 4- 0 3 680 000 386 760 104 108 4.03,680,000 386,760 102 104 68 -88 68 63 73 330 335 53,600 160,000 5.0 330 350 53 200,000 53 10,600 22 53 52 295 295 91,400 15 310,000 295 300 60 60 61 168 168 176 46.5 - - - - 46.5 47 - 280 270 157,700 580,000 -10 270 265 64 -15 64 69 255 18,100 255 70,000 42.50 - 42.50 -3 - 244 - 260 265 265 280 128 130 -2 1,240,000 38 157,920 - 124.0 128.0 114 44,720 116 2.0- 40,720,000 380,000 55810 116 114 76.02 0.1275.90 2,702,550 66 215,400 68 49 -2 3,160,000 66 65 - - 325 325 - 325 300 49.5 49.5 -51.0 48.0 - - 560 560 - 610 510 810 810 -750 485 485 460 500 395 1,100,700 100 375 20.0 2,810,000 400 395 118 -8 120,000 110 6 13,200 108 114 425 425 420 425 220 220 Ex-D 228 218 18,000 10 4 80,000 222 228 114 114 110 106 106 Ex-D 104 108 40.50 40.50 43.0 275 137,500 275 25 500,000 270 280 43.63 43.43 0.19-5 120,000 62 13,200 92 7,200 87 80,000 92 117 3,840 49 -1 4 48 80,000 120 480,000 60,760 124 49 48 126 124 92,000 9 100 99 1 920,000 100 99 98 98 383,920 124 120 4 105 3,100,000 126 122 1,181 738.71 8,408,330 737.40 111,715,000 1.32 12 104,680 200 204 -4 520,000 202 200 184 184 37.5 37.5 - - - - 37.5 46,080 97 480,000 96 -1 39 224 10.0100,000 22,400 234 22496 -95 136 136 128 146 - 120 - 120 - - 110 130 1,360 1,380 34,300 25,000 -20 1,360 1,380 82 -4 82 85 335 335 360 1 30.0 80,000 30.5 0.52,400 31.5 510 510 520 - 108 108 - - 112 118 31,160 4.0980,380 333.10 337.19 505,000 -1 320,000 98 97 813 95 98 1,656,950 10 1,935,000 850 57 860 860 870 3,560 89 40,000 1 89 87 89 2 8,960 120,000 2 75 73 76 71 97 2,840,000 272,160 96 33 -1 87 89 15 23,960 11.5 12.0 0.52,000,000 11.5 12.0 67 Ex-D 67 96 97 38.0 38.0 35.5 37.0 97 3,320,000 322,760 -5 59 102 3 18,520 78 77 1 240,000 77 79 118 118 20,000 1 2,360 98 97 67,400 17 1,000,000 65 70 -5 65 114 114 116 118 4 10,720 54 -1 55 200,000 53 54 166 170 40,000 6,640 120 112 90 --4 -2 90 91 5 9,000 300 295 30,000 178 -3 38.0 38.0 40.5 - 168 455 Ex-D 455 295 305 11 59 26,160 440,000 -4 63 60 56.0 2 1,045,920 54.0 191 18,880,000 1 80,000 1,120 14.0 14.5 0.514.5 13.5 - -5 -49 91 91 4,160,000 67 260,280 62 9455 9054 -2 17.5 17.5 - 62 27,200 170 170 160,000 - -5 -12 31.0 31.063.0 33.5 30.0 58.0 1,480,000 85,840 170.0 172.0 59 59 57 2,035,720 45.21 0.5444.67 30,970,000 353 -4 320,000 2 22,400 70 74 70 74 122 122 - - - 48.5 48.5 - - - 124 124 116 126 12 0.52,720,000 76,880 28.0 28.5 28.0 28.5 144 144 1.0- 80,000 1 1,880 23.5 24.5 25.0 23.5 106 106 0.5240,000 6,160 3 26.0 25.5 25.0 25.5 250 250 Ex-D 255 35,040,000 946,080 - 4 27.0 27.0 24.5 28.0 21.5 21.5 19.5 24.0 1,200,000 81 1.0- 19,240 16.5 15.5 15.534 16.038 2,880 36 80,000 36 - - - 134 134 130 510 510 480 500 - - - 134 134 29 3250 51 51 220 220 218 345 345 -1 240,000 6 13,520 57 58 55 57 90 90 47 610,850 295 290 5 2,110,000 290 295 1,960 1,960 1,960 0.02- - 53,085,000 - 332 4,151,200 49.73 49.75 39.5 39.5 242 -10 13,220,000 - 154 3,111,120 232 102.0 102.0 232 -102.0 128 - 140,000 6 17,800 128 12270 13080 75 75 470 20 50,000 2 22,550 450 455 465 55 55 150 150 150 80,000 1 2,880 1,460 -40 2,500 1 1,420 3,550 1,420 1,440 335 - 374,390,000335 310 340 4,223 31,162,240 212 212 216 Close Prev. Close Change 710 DTD 720 230,000 720 19 165,600 720 Ÿ 188.66 0.09 0.05% 180 188.74 180 178 190 Ÿ 181.463 0.82 104 0.45% 106 182.28-2 104 80,000 8,480 108 460 563.58 460 435 ź 564.82 -1.24 -0.22%

MTD YTD 0.0% 216 180 13.22 -1.55% -1.55% 0.0% 120 102 495 0.0% 315 -1.50% -1.50% 230 2.0% 196 31.03 Div. Annual Close 0.0% 102 79 36.84 Yield High630 Low550 P/E 0.0% 86.98 3.6% 1,120 14.74 1,400 1,100 4.0% 1,100 15.82 0.0% 510 490 33.95 6.8% 216 206 12.73 1.9% 790 770 88.62 340 9.94 8.4% 415 3.1% 660 640 17.34 0.0% 300 275 5.20 1.6% 850 790 29.68 228 35.32 2.2% 224 0.0% 255 248 23.59 260 25.33 325 3.2% 0.0% 475 46051 12.26 152 0.0% 2.3% 900 88093 25.07 102 0.0% 0.0% 590 590 18.88 128 112.24 128 5.5% 2.0% 18.61 222 318.41 210 13.27 0.0% 319.54 0.00 0.0% 0.0% 10651 10641 40.56 162 214 16.76 4.3% 8.5% 265 260 12.09 0.0% 0.0% 4288 4070 0.0% 174 170 88.93 163.04 13.86 174.76 2.7% 6.7% 305 295 12.13 19.14 910 4.1% 1,120 0.0% 13.5 12.5 1.33 280 0.0% 280 0.0% 54 52 430 15.68 340 7.4% 0.0% 25.0 25.0 0.00 65 41 0.00 0.0% 0.0% 130 130 900 690 11.15 8.8% 0.0% 36.0 31.0 81.0 45.0 0.0% 0.0% 230 230 110 110 58.86 0.0% 0.0% 102 102 0.00 295 350 0.0% 9.3% 116 108 170 19.93 110 3.2% 0.0% 50 50 0.00 102 136 0.0% 0.0% 44.0 44.0 0.00 13.18 132 0.0% 0.0% 52 5284 0.00 530 550 0.0% 0.0% 74 74 0.00 1,920 12.01 2,440 2.2% 0.0% 28.5 28.5 0.00 0.0% 132 0.0% 112 10895 0.00 0.0% 0.0% 5168 4958 230 21.81 8.5% 350 0.0% 23 22 7.8% 340 7.88 395 0.0% 71 71 0.00 2.7% 260 12.64 305 0.0% 31.5 31.0 0.0% 48.5 48.5 7.1% 255 12.82 260 0.0% 68.0 68.0 32.31 260 260 4.79 7.7% 0.0% 20.5 20.554 290.03 0.0% 132 0.0% 26.0 26.0 0.00 14.0 0.0% 23.5 0.0% 244 244 270 12.91 280 0.0% 0.0% 9484 9461 0.00 13.81 6.4% 0.0% 51 5184 116.80 0.0% 104 0.0% 36 36 0.00 154 9.95 0.0% 154 0.0% 51 5191 0.00 0.0% 120 0.0% 26.5 27.5 520 14.08 4.7% 710 0.0% 75 75 0.00 30.0 10.40 0.0% 78.0 99.0 0.0% 120.0 16.0 0.0% 28.5 19.5 0.0% 41.5 120 0.0% 140 19.0 0.0% 19.0 0.00 22.5 0.0% 12.0 0.0% 17.0 16.5 41.84 198 0.0% 275 0.0% 39.0 38.0 87.26 490 380 0.0% 0.0% 29.0 0.00 % 29.0 15.98 1,740 1,500 4.2% 156 8.28 3.8% 162 6.31 0.0% 89 73 255 22.77 255 5.1% 12.06 9.6% 126 86 11.92 114 0.0% 114 0.0% 78.0 57.0 26 0.0% 28 0 0% 0 00 0.0% 104 0.00 6880 43.00 0.0% 68 340 12.16 9.0% 270 53 0.0% 55 280 3.4% 315 3.86 60 0.0% 60 130 7.71 6.0% 168 47 10.8% 47 172 4.8% 9.60 305 64 0.0% 64 21.75 0.0% 305 265 42.5 0.00 0.0% 42.5 300 128.0 18.62 265 0.0% 0.0% 132.0 5.19 0.0% 124 75.90 70 10.01 2.4% 76.32 0.0% 72 51 16.97 6.2% 325 325 0.0% 62.0 44.0 21.56 12.90 4.5% 560 560 1.9% 770 640 33.57 9.91 5.2% 520 485 3.8% 390 12.95 345 17.37 9.1% 118 110 485 410 9.74 0.0% 296.83 220 220 2.7% 0.0% 270 236 16.77 0.0% 134 114 4.7% 14.64 98 114 40.5 0.0% 40.5 300 218 8.42 7.3% 12.60 4.7% 44.80 92 43.43 77 7.99 7.6% 37.20 0.0% 49 48 114 156 23.07 0.0% 12.83 0.0% 100 9994 0.0% 110 0.0% 120 22.21 128 791.90 705.36 11.28 12.2% 10.0% 200 17.83 208 182 15.27 222 0.0% 0.0% 37.5 37.5 114 0.0% 4.5% 234 22490 16.20 126 6.02 3.7% 136 0.0% 130 120 1,360 11.38 4.8% 1,500 6.1% 82 82 5.29 390 43.95 340 1.5% 0.0% 30.5 30.0 500 9.14 5.9% 610 6.5% 108 108 15.28 365.22 331.33 11.31 4.2% 0.0% 100 96 39.65 0.0% 860 840 21.70 0.0% 44 95 0.0% 76 73 55 0.0% 108 0.0% 0.00 12.5 11.5 73 43 31.13 10.4% 0.0% 38.0 38.0 46 0.0% 122 0.0% 78 14.56 77 118 10.58 8.5% 126 0.0% 75 65 102 0.0% 132 54 26.32 0.0% 55 172 0.0% 232 361.58 0.0% 90 90 6.7% 330 250 6.68 0.0% 38.0 38.0 5.5% 455 0.00 455 63 0.0% 59 0.0% 74.0 512.96 40.5 14.5 4.15 14.0 0.0% 0.0% 5.5% 91 91 17.5 17.5 0.0% 9.38 7.1% 0.0% 31.0 31.0 19.44 0.0% 0.0% 59 59 47.16 40.74 8.78 4.0% 0.0% 78 70 11.37 1,220 1,220 0.0% 0.00 48.5 48.5 0.0% 144 124 5.38 0.0% 29.0 28.0 27.28 0.0% 0.0% 24.5 23.5 4.7% 5.03 0.0% 26.0 25.5 6.0% 13.99 0.0% 28.5 27.0 0.0% 0.0% 16.5 15.5 0.0% 3.7% 134 134 23.07 5.6% 16.37 0.0% 32 32 0.0% 220 0.0% 220 18.82 0.0% 816.78 57 60 0.00 0.0% 0.0% 8.47 0.0% 295 270 0.00 0.0% 1.1% 49.86 49.73 16.27 0.0% 22.19 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.2% 0.0% 3.3% 0.7% 4.6% 3.0% 4.72% 2.4% 13.9% 5.6% 0.0% 4.3%

232 260 130 128 470 450 158 150 1,460 1,420 340 335 212 222 MTD 710 740 -0.20% 180 180 -0.52% 104 116 460 460 -0.14%

70.58 18.38

14.29 6.49 8.02 14.59 193.84 YTD 96.15 -0.42% 10.91 -4.11% 23.15 26.77 0.28%

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

12

ALWATAN DAILY thursday, may 10, 2012

April 2009 May21, 09, 2012

1% 6% Oman

113

Kuwait

Bahrain

-4%

Abu Dhabi

-2%

-6%

Qatar Oman

90

GCC Best Performers

Saudi

95 9-Feb-12 85

9-Mar-12

9-Apr-12

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

-6%-2

19-Apr-0

1

Country (Index)

% Chg.

YTD

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

Index 7,222

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

2,481 5,250

-0.3% -4.0%

Qa UAUAE Qatar (DSM Index) (ADSM Index)

8,605 2,695

-0.7% 0.6%

Ku Kuwait (KSE Weighted Index)

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

OmOman UAE(MSM (DFMIndex) Index)

Level 418

1,527 406

5,743 1,745

Ba Qa Bahrain Qatar(BSE (DSMIndex) Index)

1,160 5,590

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

1,972

Eg Egypt (EGX 30 Index)

OmOman (MSM Index)

Ba Bahrain (BSE Index)

M Morocco (Casa All Shares Index)

Eg Egypt (Hermes Egypt Index (HFI))*

Le Lebanon (Beirut SE Index)

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

Pa Palestine (Al-Quds Index)

M Morocco (Casa All Shares Index)*

Tu Tunisia (Tunis SE Index)

Le Lebanon (Beirut SE Index)* *Market Closed

Pa Palestine (Al-Quds Index)

5,032

5,478

1,681

10,333

463

1,181

2,825 465

10,621

5,099

1,094 546

Tu Tunisia (Tunis SE Index)* * Market Closed

3,282

52 Wk High

%-2.0% Chg.

52 Wk 7,931 High

12.5% YTD

0.0%

3.0%

0.4%

-0.3%

0.0%

-

2.2%

-0.1%

0.3%

-

-

0.9% -

112

12.33

10.70 9.99

0.72 1.52

8,892 5,148

8,071 2,137

106 122

127,131 69,783

1,383 12,627

1,129 4,230

0 196

17,390 65,352

2,212

1,921

10

27,144

12.85

-

63,640

7.67

1,754 787

6,233 5,860

1.4% -18.8%

38.9%

5,628

0.7%

-1.0%

-6.8%

-7.1%

8.5%

0.3%

12,109 2,903

12,203

2.4%

-2.5%

1,033

1,403

5,044 513

-3.3%

14,635

23.6%

739

7.2%

-7.2%

13.6%

5,115

2,119

3,418

1,301 316

46 718

5,419 1,433

11 305

3,587

1,572

10,218

328

1,164

2,551 465

9,406

-

4,091

1,043

-

2,837

-

407

9.10 8.85

4

1

12.71

3.23

1.56

9,885

15.95

0.85

2.15

9.22

59,990

1.10

18.36

8,507

2

1.29

6.31

33,782 2,497

5

1.57

15.20

10,514

1

1.68

8.07

55,952

67

1.37

9.50

18,727

2

3.95

6.47

2,079

13.85

101 Riyad Bank

-6.4%

115

410,265,822 124,686,731

Turnover (USD)

106,732,801

201 Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (KSA)

343,553,085 84,498,719 119,955,261 80,153,527

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

97,126,838

NBKNational Bank of Kuwait (KUW)

88,742,222

7,873,265

Turnover (SAR '000)

108

105

1,416,927,754

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

108

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

0.9%

29.90

-0.3%

1040.SSE Saudi Hollandi Bank

27.80

-0.7%

24.40

1120.SSE Al Rajhi Bank

-0.4%

75.50

Turnover (SAR) 1,538,701,967 4220.SSE Emaar the Economic City 467,637,584 4300.SSE Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co. 400,301,370 7030.SSE Zain - Saudi Arabia

20Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

316,912,446

42Emaar the Economic City

9-May-12

% Chg.

35.00

-1.0%

Worst Performers

1 Alinma Bank

9-Apr-12

Close

1080.SSE Arab National Bank

Highest Turnover 43Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

9-Mar-12

64,280,166

7,931 / 5,916 1010.SSE Riyad Bank

Tadawul Index 52 week High / Low

-6.8%

Turnover (USD)

MENA Highest Turnover

0.03

Advance/Decline Ratio

-4.7% -8.9%

SAR 24.70

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

77% 1060.SSE SABB

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

-6.2%

-4.6% -8.6%

SAR 13.70

7,222 (-2.0%)

Tadawul Index (% Chg.)

8.0%

SAR 19.85 SAR 48.00

EMAEmaar Properties (UAE) Best Performers

Summary

1.8%

8.0%

% Chg.

SAR 9.15 SAR 22.95

KFI Kuwait Finance House (KUW)

Rebased Performance

1.9% 8.6%

AED 3.16 -13.1% -5.1% KWD 0.265

GCC Highest Turnover

201 Basic Industries City Corp.(KSA) (KSA) 422Saudi Emaar the Economic

2.3% 8.8%

SAR 11.65% Chg. -6.1% Close

225 Saudi Industrial Inv. Grp.

2.50

3.5% 9.8%

SAR 12.10

430 Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

115 Alinma Bank (KSA)

1.92

SAUDI ARABIA *Market Closed

95 9-Feb-12

Close

422 Emaar the Economic City

1.77

0.86

8.67

6,576

MENA Worst Performers

0.90 201 425Saudi Jabal Basic OmarIndustries Development 1.74 Corp.Co.

9.96

15,024

OMR 0.720

GCC Worst Performers

1.93 FAC ART Arabtec Holding 1.37 Commercial Facilities Co. 1.59 703 Zain - Saudi Arabia 0.88 238 Rabigh Petrochem.

10.27 6.87

57,584

46

1.02 1.77

11.53 7.29

17,937 37,413

54

4,224

1.91

31,988 98,547

-1.9% 12.8%

QAR 21.60

BKMBankMuscat

PB

PB1.43

8.36 10.24

KWD 2.300

QGTQatar Gas Transport Co.

PE 17.04

65,605 264,263

KWD 0.275 QAR 6.35

NM Wataniya

100,656

16 2,183

0.8% 6.6%

5.1%

Mkt. Cap. 377,797 USD million

AED 0.90 OMR 0.703

KIB Kuwait International Bank KCB Al Khaliji Commercial Bank

Trailing

2,293 4,130

-1.0% 1.9%

-0.2%

396

Turnover 2,099 USD million

PE

KWD 0.600 SAR 5.60

SIBGalfar Sharjah Islamic Bank GEC Engineering & Contracting

Trailing

Mkt. Cap. USD million

2,775 10,090

12.8% -0.2%

0.0% 3.9%

52 Wk 5,916 Low

Turnover USD million

3.2% 9.3%

-1.9% 1.8%

-0.5%

461

52 Wk Low

% Chg.

KWD 4.0% Close0.790 % Chg.

ABK Al Ahli Bank Kuwait 3 428 Kingdom Hldg.ofCo.

Period's Liquidity Ratio (PLR x)*

Index Level

Close

4 CBKCommercial Bank of Kuwait

Period's Liquidity 1 Ratio (PLR x)

-1

MENA Indices Highlights

MENA Indices Highlights

MENA Best Performers

Dubai

-2%

9-May-12

Abu Dhabi

95

-2%

Tunisia Abu Dhabi

0%

-1%

Palestine Palestine

Abu Dhabi Bahrain

0%

104

100

0%

Kuwait

Saudi Dubai Dubai

Return DailyDaily Return (%)(%)

105

Dubai

Qatar Saudi

108

2%

Qatar Oman

105

0%

Qatar

Morocco

111

110

4%

Lebanon Oman

110

100

2% 6%

Kuwait Kuwait

113

DailyIndex Index Performance Snapshot Daily Performance Snapshot

Egypt Jordan Jordan

115115

Bull/Bear Indicator Bull/Bear Indicator

Bahrain Bahrain

Rebased RebasedPerformance Performance

300,615,803

70Zain - Saudi Arabia

4250.SSE Jabal Omar Development Co. 1140.SSE Bank AlBilad

Close

% Chg.

12.10

-6.2%

9.15

-4.7%

11.65 19.85 27.60

-6.1% -4.6%

-4.2%

Saudi SE

Quotes Company Name 1 Al Rajhi Bank

Close 75.50

Daily % Chg. -1.0%

High 76.00

Low 75.50

Turnover (SAR '000) 73,991

1 Alinma Bank

14.05

-2.8%

14.45

14.00

467,638

1 Arab National Bank

29.90

-0.3%

30.00

29.60

3,572

2 Almarai Co.

1 Bank AlBilad

1 Bank Al Jazira

66.75

27.60

26.10

-1.1%

-4.2%

-4.0%

67.50

28.90

27.00

66.75

47,640

27.10

75,962 2,577

26.10

17,548

11.55

1,538,702

65.50

46,785

Volume ('000) 977

52-Week High

% Change

Low

on high

67.25

71.75

48.41

2,716

32.90

17.20

-16.1%

39.0%

48.8%

69

40.00

30.00

-7.5%

9.9%

13.60

6.20

16.25

119

33.70

710

663

31.90

8.7%

-9.4%

15.75

-18.2%

37.00

4 Emaar the Economic City

12.10

-6.2%

12.95

12.05

316,912

19.75

179,880

11.80

21,252

1,771

21.85

36,667

1,664

28.20

21.20

-22.5%

48.60

20,618

422

56.75

42.40

-13.8%

31.30

43,597

24.25

98.00

57.25

29.30

21.42

7 Etihad Etisalat Co.

4 Jabal Omar Development Co. 4 Jarir Marketing Co.

4 Kingdom Holding Co.

2 National Industrialization Co.

65.75

19.85

152.25 11.80

33.60

2 Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co.

21.85

1 Samba Financial Grp.

48.90

1 Riyad Bank

2 Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co.

1 Saudi Arabian Mining Co.

2 Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

24.40

181.25 31.50

99.00

-1.5%

-4.6%

-1.1%

-3.7%

-1.2%

-2.0%

12.45

66.75

20.65

154.75 12.25

34.00

22.25

152.00

11,214

33.60

37,720

-0.4%

24.60

24.00

10,377

-1.4%

184.25

181.00

16,133

-1.0%

99.75

98.00

400,301

13.15

62,553

23.05

27,386

17.55

4,729

-1.2%

-2.8%

49.40

32.40

19,034

3 Saudi Cement Co.

89.50

-1.4%

90.50

89.50

1 Saudi Hollandi Bank

27.80

-0.7%

28.00

27.30

2 1 Saudi Investment Bank 2 Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. 7 Saudi Telecom Co. 2

20.75

-2.6%

21.25

20.55

28,880

16.90

111,989

34.00

12,858

34.50

5,689

5 Saudi Electricity Co.

22 Saudi Industrial Investment Grp.

Saudi International Petrochemical Co.

Savola Group Co. 0 3 Southern Province Cement Co. 0 1 SABB 3 Yamama Saudi Cement Co.

2 Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co.

7 Zain - Saudi Arabia

13.15

23.40 17.55

16.90

-1.9%

-1.9% -3.8%

-1.5%

13.40

23.75 18.45

17.15

1,598

41.30

-1.2%

41.80

41.20

24,981

98.50

-3.0%

101.50

98.50

5,447

47.60

-1.9%

48.60

47.50

43,699

9.05

300,616

34.00 35.00

49.80 9.15

-2.0% 0.9%

-2.8%

-4.7%

34.80

35.50

50.75 9.60

49.60

68,671

126,981

13.85

709

25,218

8,958 73

1,117 430

1.6

72.9%

10,285,000

-5.1%

25.2%

25.8%

165.00

106.67

13.10

50.75

26.90

12,582,000

46,025,000

-13.3%

63.4%

39.3%

18,448,590

7.05

-9.9%

33.3%

38.0%

43,729,411

34.00

23.10

4,052

109.75

87.75

4,708

16.30

37.50

7,830,000

11.10

165.00

58

11.2

50.00

-7.7%

-33.8%

9.3%

-17.4%

42.7%

-10.9%

9,135,000

18,729,597

-6.0%

-21.7%

19,140,600

4.9%

-9.4%

44,010,000

-16.0%

24.5%

12.9%

-8.7%

24.3%

53.6%

-5.1%

11.9%

10.5%

-9.3%

-9.4% -9.8%

12.85

-19.3%

4.7%

3.0% 2.9%

-5.4%

3.7

1.5

33,448,661

69.25

22.90

1.3

-1.6%

36.6% 30.9%

64.6%

11.7

3.5

2.4

60.7%

-11.0%

25,415,000

48.9

25.3

-15.9%

200.00

212

54.0%

21,075,000

8,280,000

6.05

88

1,374

23.3

-11.3%

37.50

-6.1%

26,700,000

26.60

-1.3%

11.65

24.8%

39.1%

37.00

PB

15.3

50.3%

16.6%

Trailing PE

113,250,000

-13.5% -7.0%

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

-0.3%

9.05

1 Banque Saudi Fransi

4 Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

8.6%

12 mths

82.75

32,783

-8.8%

YTD

-5.4%

36,600,000

28.9

11.4 nmf

8.7

nmf

16.9 nmf

7.8

1.7

0.8

1.4

2.5

2.0

9.4

1.6

1.6

nmf

2.3

10.2

1.5

11.6

1.2

0.7%

45,312,500

11.1

5.0

-9.0%

297,000,000

10.3

2.0

-3.7%

54,790,709

22.7

1.1

29,137,500

13,693,500

11,033,820

47.3

14.5

10.9

1.7

4.7

1.5

1,171

26.10

18.55

-10.3%

23.2%

-10.0%

10,530,000

21.2

1.7

263

21.00

15.55

-16.4%

8.7%

-7.9%

9,652,500

13.6

1.1

1,384 6,586 602

373

24.45

21.30

42.60

35.50

17.75

15.50

33.00

23.70

55

106.75

67.00

909

83.25

47.50

162

1,372

32,039

37.00

56.25

11.50

27.82

41.60 5.25

-15.1%

-20.7%

5.3%

-2.9%

-2.1%

-6.1%

-3.1%

22.2%

14.7%

-7.7%

14.5%

47.0%

-42.8%

-32.0%

-19.3%

-20.4%

64.9%

31.7%

-4.2%

-5.4%

-11.5%

18.5%

14.4%

13.2%

21.9%

7,608,333

25,350,000

82,600,000

17,000,000

13,790,000

10.3 nmf

1.4

1.7

9.6

1.7

14.5

5.6

13.4

2.1

5.1%

35,000,000

11.7

2.0

-0.9%

28,012,500

8.8

2.5

9,639,000

12,810,000

11.5 nmf

2.8 3.3

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

13

ALWATAN DAILY thursday, may 10, 2012

KUWAIT Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 6,452 (-0.5%)

KSE General Index (% Chg.)

115

418 (0.0%)

KSE Weighted Index (% Chg.)

54%

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

KSE General Index 52 week High / Low

104

Highest Turnover

100

Turnover (KWD) 2,698,450 1,163,440

IFInternational Finance Co.

9-Mar-12

9-Apr-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

ZA Zain Kuwait

788,100

A The Commercial Real Estate Co.

676,840

683,880

A Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Co.

9-May-12

3.5%

0.275

1.9%

0.126

1.6%

2.300

1.8%

Worst Performers

N National Bank of Kuwait

95 9-Feb-12

4.0%

0.600

28,012,558

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

105

Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait

31,145

Turnover (KWD '000)

% Chg.

0.790

462 / 396 AREFENRGAREF Energy Holding Co.

KSE Weighted Index 52 week High / Low

108

ABK.KSE

Commercial Bank of Kuwait

0.50 KIB.KSE Kuwait International Bank 6,523 / 5,694 NMTC.KSE Wataniya

Advance/Decline Ratio

110

Close CBK.KSE

Close IFC.KSE

International Finance Co.

NRE.KSE

National Real Estate Co.

% Chg.

0.104

-3.7%

ALTIJARIA The Commercial Real Estate Co.

0.084

-2.3%

KPROJ.KSEKuwait Projects Co. (Holding)

0.325

-1.5%

0.130

FOOD.KSE Kuwait Food Co.

-1.5%

1.360

-1.5%

KSE Weighted Index

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

A Agility

0.405

-1.2%

T Al Themar Intl. Holding Co.

0.086

-

A AREF Energy Holding Co.

0.126

A Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait

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

B Boubyan Petrochemical Co. B Burgan Bank

0.600

0.600

0.0%

0.600

0.590

134

0.430

91

0.0%

4.0% -

-

0.425

-1.2%

0.400

-

JAJazeera Airways

0.425

0.0% -

0.104

-3.7%

0.275

-

-

0.435

-1.1%

1.360

-1.5%

K Kuwait Finance House

0.720

K Kuwait International Bank

0.275

K Kuwait Projects Co. (Holding)

0.325

P Kuwait Portland Cement Co.

-

0.265

0.188

F Kuwait Food Co.

0.0%

1.680

IK Ikarus Petroleum Industries Co.

K Kuwait Cement Co.

0.0%

0.430

1.340

K KIPCO Asset Management Co.

1.6%

0.610

C Gulf Cable and Electrical Industries Co.

IF International Finance Co.

-

0.880

0.126 0.610 -

-

-

1.720

1.680

0.800

0.760

-

-

-

-1.6%

-

-

0.102

1,163

-

-

-

-

-

0.445

0.430 1.360

34

0.720

576

1.9%

0.275

0.270

616

-1.5%

0.325

0.325

20

-

-

-

0.051

0.019

1.640

1.240

0.214

11,120

0.242

-

0.315

-

202

-3.9%

0.236

0.415

-57.0%

-12.7%

-28.7%

0.909

-7.4%

N National Industries Grp. Holding

0.228

-0.9%

0.230

0.226

336

1,480

0.280

0.192

N National Real Estate Co.

0.130

-1.5%

0.130

0.130

18

140

0.168

0.056

0.216

684

N National Investments Company O Oula Fuel Marketing Co.

A Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Co. S Salhia Real Estate Co.

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

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

0.146 0.255

-1.4%

0.146

165 18

0.0%

0.260

0.255

0.246

-0.8%

0.248

0.246

25

0.236

-0.8%

0.236

19

0.130

-

0.218 0.106 0.084

0.9%

0.220

0.0%

0.106

0.106

42

-2.3%

0.086

0.084

677

2.260

286

2.300

Z Zain Kuwait

0.150

1.8%

0.740

0.0%

0.236 -

2.300

0.740

-

0.340

1,120

0.260

0.280

70

nmf

0.144

10.6%

30.6%

2.0%

232.0%

-5.4%

-27.5%

-8.1%

-11.7%

12.7%

16.8

0.9

102,850

9.7

4.0

19.4

1.9

72,408

277,380

12.1%

-16.7%

434,387

14.5

79,996

0.7

nmf

24.1

546,723

3.7

nmf

285,265

0.9

1.6

11.4

1.9

1.4

31.5

1.3

0.8

4.1%

-5.9%

4,614,707

15.2

2.0

-18.6%

-12.3%

-17.1%

295,283

nmf

0.8

-22.6%

1.6%

27.5%

0.0%

-8.8%

-47.9%

0.0%

10.7%

-15.1%

0.0%

18.3%

18.3%

0.093

-22.1%

7,960

0.097

0.067

125

2.480

1.880

-

18.3%

154,124

-7.3%

18.6%

15.0%

1,159,275

-17.8%

-36.2%

0.6

1.0

9.1%

-36.2%

0.7

nmf

17.6

-13.4%

0.0%

nmf

126,130 61,356

0.0%

1.4

2.1

-10.2%

0.0%

25.3

21.7

-11.7%

-7.5%

0.1

88,277

239,800

2.6%

2.3

127,927

5.8%

-12.6%

1.9%

107,323

-47.9%

-0.8%

-3.5%

21,780

-8.8%

0.200

0.690

141,000

-19.1%

0.248

1.160

3.5

1.6

7.8%

-17.7%

-

1.9

nmf

26.9

-15.0%

-

1.0

nmf

2,090,998

-29.2%

0.216

1.5

7.7

83,500

-38.9%

1.2

11.8

-26.6%

0.242

0.270

36.5

281,308

1.9%

0.360

0.186

53,454

64,309

-59.2%

-6.6%

33.8

1.4

4.2

0.136

1,065

0.0%

4.3

nmf

295,911

1,004,898

-26.4%

nmf

29.4

400

-

-14.1%

1.5

611,189

0.226

80

-45.7%

5.8

44.7%

3,140 100

788

0.740

-

-

-

-

181,553

94,500

5.2%

-19.3%

27.9%

1.145

-

-

-1.2%

5.0%

-5.6%

-2.0%

2,545

-

-

2.6

23.9%

2,698

-

39.7

-17.7%

1.060

-

1,119,062

-38.9%

1.080

0.310

-18.9%

0.0%

0.281

0.660

0.0%

N National Industries Co.

0.9

0.395

1.060

-

10.0

60

0.691

-

142,242

1.9%

-21.4%

1.020

-

4.0

0.236

195

0.033

16.4

0.350

195

N National Bank of Kuwait

162,339

2,260

1.440

1.0

-11.2%

-13.6%

-

1.9

6.3%

-26.6%

-16.0%

nmf

0.5

20.0

664,336

0.720

1.340

87,075

907,944

-14.9%

8.9%

0.981

1.620

-17.3%

-8.7%

-4.9%

795 25

15.7

1,048,941

-15.8%

-12.4%

423,969

0.0%

-19.2%

0.096

PB

1.3%

1.7%

18.9%

0.285

-12.2%

PE

230,033

-12.6%

-18.3%

Trailing

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

-20.3%

0.0%

-29.3%

12 mths

-6.3%

-15.1%

1.000

M Mena Holding

-5.5%

20.3%

1.020

1.000

-4.6%

-39.3%

0.0%

M Mabanee Co.

8.0%

-23.0%

0.128

0.610

YTD

0.425

0.138

0.485

460

-13.6%

0.255

0.495

-

0.730

1.400

25

-3.2%

1.300

0.700

0.552

-4.5%

-17.9%

0.930

0.375

-8.7%

0.410

0.198

1.945

-

-

-

0.420

-

0.108

-

0.530

0.524

45

-

0.085

0.630

-

303

0.0%

-

0.530

513

0.580

0.132

210

34

-17.3%

0.610

-

1.340

0.079

225

-

-

0.104

-20.3%

840

1.360

-5.8%

0.280

357

0.420

0.248

0.370

-

-

0.425

0.430

310

760

35

on high

0.657

140

457

0.600

0.435

% Change

Low

65

-

18

0.124

52-Week High

350

39 91

0.049

IF IFA Hotels & Resorts

-

0.600 0.290

0.790

G Gulf Bank

-

0.600

Volume ('000)

143

0.295

C Commercial Bank of Kuwait G Global Investment House

0.405

0.0%

0.255

F Commercial Facilities Co.

0.410

Turnover (KWD '000)

0.295

A Burgan Co. for Well Drilling

C Combined Grp Contracting Co.

3.5%

Low

13.3 nmf

88,056

23.0

88,400

nmf

3,187,576

1.2

1.6

0.9

14.6

0.6

7.0

11.0

1.5

11.2

1.5

UAE Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,527 (-1.9%)

DFM Index (% Chg.)

125

2,481 (-0.3%)

ADSM Index (% Chg.)

Advance/Decline Ratio

DFM Index 52 week High / Low

9-Mar-12 S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

9-Apr-12

E Emaar Properties

Abu Dhabi SE

13,760,581

TATamweel

9-May-12

0.0%

#N/A

#N/A

8.86

-0.1%

Worst Performers

A ALDAR Properties

95 9-Feb-12

1.20

Turnover (AED) 48,661,171 ARTC.DFM Arabtec Holding 27,521,705 SOROUH.A Sorouh Real Estate Co. 15,014,105 TAMWEEL Tamweel

A Arabtec Holding

101

1.3%

386,423,103

Highest Turnover

105

2.3%

3.16

233,889

Market Cap. (AED '000) 108

% Chg.

0.90

2,775 / 2,293 FGB.ADSM First Gulf Bank

ADSM Index 52 week High / Low

Turnover (AED '000)

105

Sharjah Islamic Bank

41% ADCB.ADS Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank 0.11 TAQA.ADS Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. 1,754 / 1,301 #N/A #N/A

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

115

Close SIB.ADSM

12,355,389

E Etisalat

UPP.DFM

Close

% Chg.

3.16 1.03

1.15

Union Properties

0.39

DANA.ADS Dana Gas

0.42

-5.1%

-3.7%

-3.4%

-2.7%

-2.3%

Dubai FM

Quotes Company Name

Close

A Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

3.16

T Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

1.20

A Air Arabia

0.60

A Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

A Abu Dhabi National Hotels A ALDAR Properties A Amlak Finance

3.16

2.10

1.09 1.02

Daily % Chg.

High

Low

Turnover (AED '000)

1.3%

3.18

3.10

1,276

0.0%

1.22

1.18

-0.3%

0.61

0.60

-0.3% -

-1.8% -

3.32 -

1.10 -

3.15 -

798

665

1.40

1.14

2,597

4,316

1,963 -

-14.3%

0.0%

-14.3%

7,470,000

11.4

1.0

2,800,020

10.4

2.90

1.98

-27.6%

-4.5%

-27.6%

2,100,000

0.57

-20.5%

135.3%

119

1.45

0.71

-40.0%

-13.9%

-38.3%

-39.1%

-6.7%

-36.4%

0.35

543

1.80 -

2,414 -

-

1,328

-

1.96

-

1.69

0.0%

-7.1%

-

3.24

2.67

-13.5%

1,562

0.46

0.20

-24.2%

6,116

0.69

0.34

1.03

-1.9%

1.05

3.06

1,399

D Dubai Financial Market

1.02

9,035

8,700

1.32

0.68

-22.0%

D Dubai Islamic Bank

1.96

-1.0%

1.99

1.95

12,294

6,228

2.26

1.88

-13.3%

E Emirates NBD

2.77

-0.4%

2.78

2.77

2.65

-40.2%

E Emaar Properties E Etisalat F First Gulf Bank

G Gulf Cement Co. M Mashreq

N National Bank of Abu Dhabi N National Bank of Fujairah

N National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain S Sharjah Islamic Bank

S Sorouh Real Estate Co. T Tamweel

2.95

8.62 8.86

1.18

67.00

-

-

-0.6%

1.75

-

4.95 0.90 1.03 1.15

2.97

U United Arab Bank

3.95

* Closing Prices, Turnover and Market Cap. in USD

-0.2% -0.1%

8.85

U Union National Bank U Union Properties

-2.0%

0.39

-

3.03

8.65 8.89

-

-

8.85 -

2.95

27,522

8.56 8.80

12,355 2,199

-

-

8.84 -

7,179

-

455

9,207

2,583

1,433 248

-

-

-

-

-

799 -

360

90

-

3.30

4.63

2.80

2.41

11.20 10.75

8.57 6.98

102.00

67.00

4.95

3.00

1.02

0.80

1.46

9.00

2.24

0.67

7.38

-15.2%

1.1%

1.4%

62.0% 6.6%

22.6% 1.0%

-10.6%

14.8%

-23.0% 0.0%

-5.6% 0.0%

-19.2%

8.8%

9.1%

90.7%

0.39

1,566

3,934

0.50

0.24

-20.8%

51.9%

-

-

2.95

1,409

-

-

475 -

3.90

4.50

14,080,000

12.8

8,240,000 7,442,226

2.82

3.28

0.0%

-12.2%

0.0%

8.5%

5.5

nmf

4.7

0.3

2.3

1.1

0.8

-5.8%

17,969,154

9.1

0.6

-16.7% 0.0%

68,150,927 26,580,000

11.7 7.1

1.8 1.0

-10.3%

15,395,036

968,894 -

6.2%

34,289,842

8.8%

2.3%

8.7

nmf

13.8

8.3

0.9

2,182,950

8.3

7.6

1,150,000

12.4

-1.0%

1,319,808

nmf

-12.2%

7,412,006

3,935,785

0.8

0.9

1.3

18.5

16.2% 0.0%

0.4

9.0

5,445,000

2,703,750

-22.8%

0.40

0.5

-26.4%

0.53

2.98

nmf

21.2%

1.49

1.4

1,993,410

-29.0%

7.1%

12.0

1.1

0.9

0.67

-11.8%

nmf

7.1

2,772,841

2,800,000

11,741

0.0%

0.9

-8.9%

13,761

-2.7%

nmf

2,664,662

-3.3%

1.15

1.45

1,522,500

-21.9%

1.20

9,947

1.7

1.63

-3.4%

10,287

0.5

19.5

1,530,000

-5.8%

-14.5%

0.0%

0.3

4,960,410

16.9%

-9.3%

8.4

1.1

0.6

5,707,386

-18.9%

6.5

4.8

-5.1%

66.2%

-34.0%

0.90 1.02

-0.5%

-30.8%

-34.3% -1.7%

0.0%

-5.8%

0.90 1.06

400

3.63

0.0%

2.3%

-3.7%

-17.8%

108.7%

2,571

3.09

2.4%

-8.6%

0.41

-0.3%

7,472,471

1.18

0.43

3.08

-0.6%

3.46

-

-2.3%

D du

0.0%

14,873

-

0.42

0.35

0.8

-11.0%

4,452,791

D Dana Gas

-2.3%

5.4

-27.3%

103

0.35

17,682,088

18.5%

0.83

D Deyaar Development Co.

11.3%

-27.3%

0.92 -

13.7%

-

0.76

PB

-4.8%

0.76

-1.1% -

PE

1.50

0.87 2.80

2.92

Trailing

Market Cap. (AED '000)

13,832

A Arkan Building Materials Co. C Commercial Bank of Dubai

3.55

12 mths

15,014 48,661

1.83

621

YTD

1.07 3.16

-0.6%

on high

2.69

3.38

1.82

% Change

Low

3.32

-5.1%

A Aramex

52-Week High

404

3.16

A Arabtec Holding

Volume ('000)

4.9

11.4

2.7

0.5

0.4

0.5

0.7

0.6

2.0

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

14

ALWATAN DAILY thursday, may 10, 2012

QATAR Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 8,605 (-0.7%)

DSM Index (% Chg.)

115

DSM 52 week High / Low

44% AHCS.DSMAamal Co. 0.07 KCBK.DSMAl Khalij Commercial Bank 8,892 / 8,071 QNBK.DSMQatar National Bank

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

462,946,960

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price Advance/Decline Ratio

110

387,211

Turnover (QAR '000)

108

Close

% Chg.

16.96

0.1%

16.30

0.0%

133.30

QTEL.DSM Qatar Telecom

-0.1%

137.00

BRES.DSMBarwa Real Estate Co.

-0.2%

26.75

-0.2%

105

Highest Turnover 100

Worst Performers Turnover (QAR) 40,892,297 ERES.DSMEzdan Real Estate Co. 33,003,631 IQCD.DSM Industries Qatar

Q Qatar Telecom

99

IQIndustries Qatar

30,805,019

MMasraf Al Rayan 95 9-Feb-12

9-Mar-12

9-Apr-12

9-May-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

17,481,798

C The Commercial Bank of Qatar

9,912,961

B Barwa Real Estate Co.

Close

% Chg.

20.59

MARK.DSMMasraf Al Rayan

QIIK.DSM Qatar International Islamic Bank

DHBK.DSMDoha Bank

-1.9%

141.50

-1.8%

50.90

-1.2%

26.80

-1.3%

57.30

-1.0%

Doha SM

Quotes Company Name A Aamal Co.

Close 16.96

Daily % Chg.

High

0.1%

K Al Khalij Commercial Bank

16.30

C The Commercial Bank of Qatar

72.00

-0.4%

E Ezdan Real Estate Co.

20.59

-1.9%

B Barwa Real Estate Co. D Doha Bank

26.75 57.30

0.0%

-0.2% -1.0%

Turnover (QAR '000)

Low

17.45

16.90

8,507

26.65

9,913

16.30

1,056

72.40

72.00

17,482

21.08

20.25

573

16.35

26.90 57.50

57.00

2,516

IQIndustries Qatar

141.50

-1.8%

144.20

141.00

33,004

Q Qatar Electricity & Water Co.

141.00

-0.7%

142.00

141.00

5,618

-1.2%

51.10

50.90

839

M Masraf Al Rayan

Q Qatar Gas Transport Co.

Q Qatar International Islamic Bank Q Qatar Islamic Bank

26.80 16.20

-0.6%

78.10

-0.6%

50.90

Q Qatar National Bank

133.30

Q Qatar Telecom

137.00

Q Qatar Navigation

67.70

V Vodafone Qatar

-1.3%

8.68

27.10

16.32 78.90

26.80

30,805

16.20

6,009

78.00

8,107

67.60

2,806

-0.1%

133.50

133.20

8,347

-0.2%

138.90

136.60

40,892

-0.7%

-0.6%

68.80 8.82

Volume ('000) 497 65

370

% Change

Low

21.90

on high

14.00

18.01

32.55

-9.5%

0.0%

-5.1%

12 mths

-10.7%

-17.4%

50.00

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

28

24.97

18.60

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

9,234,720

-9.4%

-17.8%

68.00

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

0.0%

26.75

85.50

67.00

YTD

0.0%

16.06

242 44

5,868,000

10,409,084

Trailing PE

PB

19.1

1.1

7.6

0.0%

17,816,139

9.3

0.0%

54,614,907

nmf

11,843,784

1.6

12.0

0.9

1.3

9.3

1.8

2.0

233

148.50

118.80

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

77,825,000

10.1

3.2

40

148.00

129.50

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

14,100,000

10.4

4.7

16

56.20

45.50

63

141.73

122.73

299

140.40

64.09

1,144 370 103 41

5,635

8.65

52-Week High

646

28.10

22.50

18.47 85.30

87.50 9.22

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

16.27

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

76.30

-8.4%

-7.4%

67.70

-22.6%

7.24

0.0%

0.0%

-5.9% -2.4%

20,100,000

14.0

2.4

8,972,273

10.9

4.6

-3.3%

18,454,499

12.9

1.7

-11.5%

-19.9%

7,753,356

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

-3.5%

113.8%

0.0%

7,704,669

5.4%

93,273,934

89.3%

31,345,600 7,338,072

11.5

1.7

11.9

2.2

10.7

0.7

12.4

1.5

nmf

1.1

OMAN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 5,743 (-1.0%)

MSM Index (% Chg.)

115

42% BKDB.MSMBank Dhofar

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

0.17

Advance/Decline Ratio Turnover (OMR '000)

6,905,697

Market Cap (OMR '000)

108

% Chg.

0.44

RCCI.MSM Raysut Cement Co.

6,233 / 5,419 OTEL.MSMOman Telecommunications Co. 4,263 NBOB.MSMNational Bank of Oman

MSM 52 week High / Low

110

Close

OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co.

0.5%

1.23

-0.3%

0.29

-1.0%

1.29

-0.5%

0.66

-1.3%

105

Highest Turnover

102 100

Worst Performers Turnover (OMR) 2,089,921 BKMB.MSMBank Muscat 163,687 RNSS.MSMRenaissance Services

B Bank Muscat

R Raysut Cement Co.

120,312

O Oman Cement Co.

95 9-Feb-12

9-Mar-12

9-Apr-12

9-May-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

92,948

R Renaissance Services

92,378

B Bank Dhofar

Close

% Chg.

0.59

OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co.

-3.8%

0.59

-2.6%

0.29

-1.0%

0.66

NBOB.MSMNational Bank of Oman

OTEL.MSMOman Telecommunications Co.

-1.3%

1.29

-0.5%

Muscat SM

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

Low

B Bank Dhofar

0.442

N National Bank of Oman

0.290

O Oman Telecommunications Co.

1.292

-0.5%

1.299

1.287

R Renaissance Services

0.589

-2.6%

0.592

0.585

B Bank Muscat

0.588

O Oman Cement Co.

R Raysut Cement Co.

0.661 1.226

0.5%

0.443

0.441

-1.0%

0.291

0.290

-3.8%

-1.3% -0.3%

Turnover (OMR '000)

0.611 0.670 1.231

Volume ('000)

92

0.582

2,090

0.651

120

1.222

164

209

3,557

5

17

182

48

High

% Change

Low

0.541

on high

0.423

0.671

-18.3%

0.572

0.324

0.290

0.693

YTD

0.416

-4.0%

53.0%

-1.9%

61.3%

1.041

-9.3%

158

1.006

0.458

-41.5%

0.711

-7.1%

-4.6%

1.425

1.250

-19.5%

-11.7%

-10.5%

12 mths

-2.9%

-12.4%

37

133

93

52-Week

Market Cap. (OMR '000)

-10.1%

PB

12.1

321,327

8.9

15.9

245,200

14.6

15.7%

969,000

8.1%

-41.4%

166,154

2.1

8.6

218,707

-1.3%

14.6%

PE

486,251

1,056,515

12.6%

Trailing

1.2 1.2

1.5

8.7

2.0

nmf

1.0

2.5

BAHRAIN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,160 (0.0%)

BSE Index (% Chg.)

120

32%

% of stocks trading above 1 yr avg. price

-

Advance/Decline Ratio

1,383 / 1,129

BSE 52 week High / Low

30

Turnover (BHD '000)

110

#

90 9-Feb-12

9-Mar-12 9-Apr-12 S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A #N/A #N/A

#

9-May-12 Bahrain SE

#

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

Worst Performers Turnover (BHD) AUB.BSE #N/A #N/A

A Ahli United Bank

#

% Chg.

#N/A

Highest Turnover

102

100

6,555,957

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

108

Close #N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

Close Ahli United Bank

% Chg.

0.61 -

#N/A #N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A #N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

Low

Turnover (BHD '000)

A Ahli United Bank*

0.610

-

-

-

-

A Arab Banking Corp.*

0.460

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

B Albaraka Banking Grp.* B Bahrain Islamic Bank

B Bahrain Telecommunications Co. B BBK

IN Investcorp Bank* IT Ithmaar Bank*

N National Bank of Bahrain U United Gulf Bank

* Closing Prices, Turnover and Market Cap. in USD

0.930 0.090

0.466

0.400 797

0.220

0.550

0.260

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Volume ('000)

52-Week High

% Change

Low

on high

YTD

-

0.676

0.599

-9.8%

-

0.530

0.420

-13.2%

0.380

-4.1%

18.9%

0.0%

0.0%

-

-

1.029 0.116 0.486 0.420 797

0.857 0.082 0.390 797

-9.1%

3,192,469

9.5%

-19.3%

1,430,600

-3.3%

671,040

-30.0%

637,560

-6.0%

470,448

-0.4%

-22.4%

0.0%

-3.4%

-9.6%

-22.4% -3.8%

-

0.240

0.065

-8.3%

238.5%

158.8%

-

0.424

0.260

-38.7%

-13.3%

-30.1%

-

0.600

0.545

-8.3%

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

1.2%

-9.6%

-4.8%

12 mths

-4.3%

943,462

Trailing PE

PB

10.1

1.3

8.0

0.8

84,571

nmf

0.8

340,542

10.6

589,108

216,986

6.8

0.4

8.5

1.3

4.5

0.6

10.2

1.7

nmf

nmf

1.4 1.0 1.0

LIFE

Help Prevent Chronic Ear Infections Chronic ear infections are common in young children. But there are steps parents can take to help keep these painful infections from coming back, says the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: • Tell your child to avoid people who are smoking.

• Don’t let your child go to bed with a bottle.

• Make sure your child gets all necessary vaccinations, and keep your child away from others who are sick.

• Make sure your child washes his or her hands regularly.

• If your child continues to get regular ear infections, talk to your pediatrician about additional steps to help prevent them.

thursdAY, MAY 10, 2012

Light from alien super-Earth seen for first time WASHINGTON: Light from an alien “super-Earth” twice the size of our own Earth has been detected by a NASA space telescope for the first time in what astronomers are calling a historic achievement, reports SPACE. NASA’s infrared Spitzer Space Telescope spotted light from the alien planet 55 Cancri e, which orbits a star 41 light-years from Earth. A day on the extra solar planet lasts just 18 hours.

The planet 55 Cancri e was first discovered in 2004 and is not a habitable world. Instead, it is known as a super-Earth because of its size: The world is about twice the width of Earth and is super-dense, with about eight times the mass of Earth. But until now, scientists have never managed to detect the infrared light from the super-Earth world.

“Spitzer has amazed us yet again,” said Spitzer program scientist Bill Danch of NASA headquarters in Washington in a statement recently. “The spacecraft is pioneering the study of atmospheres of distant planets and paving the way for NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to apply a similar technique on potentially habitable planets.”

Spitzer first detected infrared light from an alien planet in 2005. But that world was “hot Jupiter,” a gas giant planet much larger than 55 Cancri e that orbited extremely close to its parent star. While other telescopes have performed similar feats since then, Spitzer’s view of the 55 Cancri e is the first time the light from a rocky super-Earth type planet has been seen, researchers said.

Since the discovery of 55 Cancri e, astronomers have pinned down increasingly strange features about the planet.

The researchers already knew it was part of an alien solar system containing five exoplanets centered on the star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer (The Crab).

FILE - This artist’s concept shows the super-Earth planet 55 Cancri e. (AFP)

But 55 Cancri e stood out because it is ultra-dense and orbits extremely close to its parent star; about 26 times closer than the distance between Mercury and our own sun.

The new Spitzer observations revealed that the star-fac-

FDA favors first drug for HIV prevention WASHINGTON: A pill that has long been used to treat HIV has moved one step closer to becoming the first drug approved to prevent healthy people from becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that Gilead Sciences’ Truvada appears to be safe and effective for HIV prevention. It concluded that taking the pill daily could spare patients “infection with a serious and life-threatening illness that requires lifelong treatment.”

On Thursday a panel of FDA advisers will consider the review when it votes on whether Truvada should be approved as a preventative treatment for people who are at high risk of contracting HIV through sexual intercourse. The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, but it usually does.

An estimated 1.2 million Americans have HIV, which attacks the immune system and, unless treated with antiviral drugs, develops into AIDS, a fatal condition in which the body cannot fight off infections. If Truvada is approved, it would be a major breakthrough in the 30-year campaign against the AIDS epidemic.

There have been no other drugs proven to prevent HIV and a vaccine is believed to be decades away.

Gilead Sciences Inc., based in Foster City, Calif., has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are infected with the virus.

The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread. Doctors usually prescribe the medications as part of a drug cocktail that makes it harder for the virus to reproduce. Patients with low viral levels have reduced symptoms and are far less

One in six cancers worldwide caused by infections

NEW YORK: One in six cancer cases worldwide is caused by an infection, according to estimates from a new study, reports LiveScience.

Of the 12.7 million cases of cancer that occurred in 2008, about 2 million, or 16 percent, were caused by an infectious agent such as human papillomaviruses (HPV), hepatitis B virus, and Epstein-Barr virus, the study found. Most cases of infection-related cancer are preventable, the researchers say. For instance, available vaccines protect against major strains of HPV, which causes cervical cancer, and against hepatitis B, which can cause liver cancer.

The majority of infection-related cancer cases occur in less developed regions of the world, the study found.

Cancer is typically considered a noncommunicable disease (something you cannot “catch”), but “a sizable proportion of its causation is infectious,” the researchers write in the May issue of the journal The Lancet. Approaches to preventing and controlling cancer that treat it only as a noncommunicable disease will not be sufficient, the researchers said. The researchers, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, used data on the incidence of 27 cancers in 184 countries. The fraction of infection-related cancers varied widely around the world, from 3.3 percent in Australia and New Zealand and 4 percent in North America, to 32.7 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. About 23 percent of cancers in developing countries are caused by infectious agents, compared with 7.4 percent in developed countries.

Helicobacter pylori bacteria (which infect the gut), hepatitis B and C viruses and human papillomaviruses were responsible for 1.9 million cancer cases. About half of all cases of infection-related cancer in women were cases of cervical cancer.

The findings show “the potential for preventive and therapeutic programs in less developed countries to significantly reduce the global burden of cancer and the vast disparities across regions and countries,” Dr. Goodarz Danaei, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

“Since effective and relatively low-cost vaccines for HPV and [hepatitis B] are available, increasing coverage should be a priority for health systems in high-burden countries,” Danaei said.

likely to develop AIDS. Researchers first reported that Truvada could prevent people from contracting HIV in 2010. A threeyear study found that daily doses cut the risk of infection in healthy men by 44 percent, when accompanied by condoms and counseling. Another study found that Truvada reduced infection by 75 percent in couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not.

Because Truvada is already on the market to manage HIV, some doctors already prescribe it as a preventive measure. But FDA approval would allow the drugmaker Gilead Sciences to formally market its drug for that use.

FDA reviewers on Tuesday said that patients must be diligent about taking the pill every day if using it as a preventative measure. Adherence to the medication was less than perfect in clinical trials, and reviewers said that patients in the real world may forget to take their medication even more than those in clinical studies.

Some patient advocacy groups say the drug is an important new option to prevent HIV, alongside condoms, counseling and other measures. Last month, advocacy group AIDS United and more than a dozen other groups sent a letter to the FDA, urging approval of Truvada.

But support for FDA approval is not unanimous.

Although the FDA is legally barred from considering cost when reviewing drugs, health care providers have raised concerns about Truvada’s price tag: $900 a month, or just under $11,000 per year. -AP

ing side of 55 Cancri e is extremely hot, with temperatures reaching up to 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit (1,726 degrees Celsius).

The planet is likely a dark world that lacks the substan-

tial atmosphere needed to warm its nighttime side, researchers said. And to top it all off, the planet is oozing.

Past observations of the planet by the Spitzer Space Telescope have suggested that one-fifth of 55 Cancri e is made up of lighter elements, including water. But the extreme temperatures and pressures on 55 Cancri e would create what scientists call a “supercritical fluid” state.

Supercritical fluids can be imagined as a gas in a liquid state, which can occur under extreme pressures and temperatures. On Earth, water can become a supercritical fluid inside some steam engines.

Spitzer’s new look at 55 Cancri e is consistent with supercritical-fluid waterworld theory. The planet is likely a rocky world covered with water in a supercritical fluid state and topped off with a steam blanket, researchers said.

“It could be very similar to Neptune, if you pulled Neptune in toward our sun and watched its atmosphere boil away,” said the study’s principal investigator Michaël Gillon of Université de Liège in Belgium. The lead author is Brice-Olivier Demory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The research is detailed in the Astrophysical Journal.

NASA’s $770 million Spitzer Space Telescope launched in 2003 and is currently in an extended mission to study the universe in infrared light. During that extended mission, telescope engineers modified several settings on the observatory to optimize its alien planet vision, NASA officials said.

The space agency’s next major infrared space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope slated to launch in 2018, could potentially reveal even more details about 55 Cancri e and other similar super-Earth planets.

Salt a leading killer worldwide, scientists say RIO DE JANEIRO: Want to save a few million premature deaths each year? Regulate salt, said researchers at the World Nutrition Rio2012 meeting held here last week according to LiveScience.

“Salt [added to food] is the major cause of high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is the major cause of death worldwide,” said Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary, University of London. “The evidence for salt [in causing premature death] is overwhelming, equivalent to the onus of smoking.”

Salt, or sodium chloride, is essential for human health; we need about 350 milligrams of sodium daily, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That’s about the weight of half a raisin. Unfortunately, Americans consume on average about 3,500 milligrams of sodium daily.

Most of that sodium comes not from the saltshaker but rather from processed foods, in amounts unrealized by most consumers. A bag of potato chips might be an obvious culprit; one serving contains more than 250 milligrams of sodium. But so does a single slice of store-bought bread or a bowl of breakfast cereal. The bigger offenders are canned vegetables, canned soups and frozen dinners, each with around 1,000 milligrams of sodium.

Worse yet is just about any meal eaten out; fast foods in particular can contain over 2,000 milligrams of sodium in each meal.

Reducing daily sodium intake by 2,000 milligrams at the population level could prevent 1.25 million deaths from stroke and almost 3 million deaths from cardiovascular dis-

ease each year, according to an analysis published in the British Medical Journal in 2009. A 1,200-milligram reduction could save up to $24 billion annually in US health costs, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2010.

But the consumer can only be so educated, said MacGregor and other experts at a special session on sodium. They recommend that the food industry step up efforts to gradually reduce salt in the food supply, either through voluntary agreements or government regulation.

Branka Legetic of the Pan American Health Organization, another presenter, warned that efforts to reduce sodium must not interfere with the immensely effective iodized salt campaigns. Salt fortified with iodine has nearly eliminated iodine deficiency and associated diseases such as goiter, which was epidemic in the United States as recent as 100 years ago. Legetic is a proponent of salt reduction, however, and she leads efforts by PAHO and the World Health Organization to reduce salt intake by 15 percent by 2020.

Even modest salt reductions can make great gains in public health, L’Abbé said. This is because most people are only at elevated risk of high blood pressure; and they are at the stage where a lower-salt diet can moderate that risk, she said. A smaller percentage of people already have very high blood pressure, and many of them now must rely on expensive medication to stay alive.

Most countries have educational campaigns to raise awareness of excess salt, Legetic said, and there has been some success in reducing the amount of salt used at home.

World’s smallest mammoth discovered in Crete

FILE - These dwarf mammoths were not woolly mammoths. (Agencies)

PARIS: The smallest-ever mammoth roamed Crete up to 3.5 million years ago, measuring some four feet (just over a meter) at the shoulder, the size of a baby elephant today, said a study published Wednesday. Mammuthus creticus weighed in at about 310 kilograms (680 pounds) and probably had no woolly coat unlike some of its relatives, study author Victoria Herridge told AFP, adding that the animal was “probably quite cute.” “If you were to reconstruct it, I would say OK, make it look a bit like a baby elephant but probably chunkier ... with sort of thicker limbs, stockier, and as an adult it would have had curly tusks. “The nearest image you’re going to get is a baby Asian elephant, but with tusks.” Compared with its extinct cousins, whose shoulder height could exceed four meters and whose name in English has

become synonymous with extreme bulk, this version was “tiny,” said Herridge, of London’s Natural History Museum’s paleontology department.

“I suppose if you were to meet one you’d be a bit intimidated, because they’d still be a meter tall with tusks.” The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, said Mammuthus creticus is an early example of a phenomenon known as insular dwarfism -- animals evolving smaller in isolated environments.

It probably descended from either Mammuthus meridionalis or Mammuthus rumanus, the two earliest European mammoths, Herridge said. These adapted to warmer weather and did not have woolly coats. Dwarf mammoths tended to share the physical characteristics of the infant versions of their ancestors rather than be-

ing scaled-down versions of their bigger peers, the scientist added.

“The earliest they (the dwarfs) could have gotten to Crete would have been about 3.5 million years ago, so that gives us like an upper bracket, but we don’t know whether they were there then,” she added, noting that little fossil evidence existed apart from tusk samples. Its teeth suggested the creature probably ate a mixture of plants.The findings of Herridge and her team confirm earlier scientific assertions that the animal previously known as Palaeoloxodan creticus, which lived on Crete, was a mammoth and not a dwarf in the straight-tusked elephant family. The elephant is the closest modern relative of the mammoth, a generally huge, woolly mammal believed to have died out with the last Ice Age. -AFP

Bipolar symptoms may begin in teen years NEW YORK: The number of teenagers who have experienced mania -- a hallmark of bipolar disorder -- is close to the number of adults estimated to have the mood disorder, suggesting that for many the condition begins during adolescence, according to a new study.“The traditional wisdom has been that mania begins in your 20s and 30s,” said Kathleen Ries Merikangas, the study’s lead author and chief of the genetic epidemiology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health.

“I think the important thing is for people to recognize that mania does occur in adolescents,” she said. Mania is a mood disorder characterized by excessive energy, a lack of sleep and sometimes risky and impulsive behaviors.

The most common diagnostic definition of bipolar disorder includes alternate cycles of mania and depression, though one type of bipolar diagnosis involves mania alone. Merikangas said there have been smaller studies estimating how common mania is among children, and she and her colleagues sought to get a better handle on national rates of the disorder in kids.

The study included more than 10,000 teenagers who went through extensive interviews about their moods and behavior.The research team found that 2.5 percent met the criteria for having had mania and depression, and 2.2 percent of teens had experienced it within the last 12 months.

“I think that our data suggest that bipolar disorder is more common in adolescents than previous studies had shown,” Merikangas told Reuters.

She said it could be because the questions used during the interviews were somewhat broader than what earlier surveys had asked. But all children considered to have a mood disorder in her study met the criteria for diagnosis in the DSM-IV, the standard diagnostic manual for psychiatry.

Merikangas and her colleagues point out in their report, published recently in the Archives of General Psychiatry, that the rates of mood disorders they found among teenagers are close to what is seen in adults. -Reuters

16

ALWATAN DAILY

CULTURE

thursDAY, may 10, 2012

DAI stages ‘Akhnaton’, a contemporary take on ancient history

Lamiaa Refaie as Queen Ty and Hamad Al Jenaie as Amenhotep 111.

‘Akhnaton is based on history but it is not meant to be a documentary... It is a factual piece of art’ Onilda Fernandes Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Given the current turmoil in Egypt, you can imagine an opera writer seizing on the story of ancient ruler ‘Akhnaton’ for its contemporary relevance. Staged at Dar Al-Athar-Al-Islamiyyah’s (DAI) Al-Maidan Cultural Centre in Maidan Hawalli on May 9 and 10, the drama unfolds the life of the head of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt, who defied the ancient traditions of his people--a dramatic change in a country that was used to continuity, as constant as the flow of the Nile. “I wrote it in response to the Egyptian revolution,” shares Hooda Shawa, the writer of Akhnaton with Al Watan Daily during their final rehearsal.

“The opening scene shows the theft of a statue of Akhnaton which actually took place on the 28th of January along with a number of other artifacts. Fortunately it was found in a garbage dump on Maidan Tahrir and returned.”

Shawa explains how the pharaoh’s ambitious vision of a new belief, a new name and a new world of art and architecture in a city dedicated to the Aton, intrigued her. It created a rift with the powerful establishment and such a move shook the very pillars of society. “He was a visionary

The orchestra headed by Samy Ibrahim, rehearsing at the Al-Maidan Cultural Centre on May 8, 2012.

with enlightened ideas but he imposed them on the people.

Nonetheless, when you think about it, Egypt today, on the eve of elections still has a great multitude of voices that prove again that Egypt’s strength lies in its variety of ideas, religions, sects, which is what the people want. This piece hopefully reflects that.”

The remarkable story of Akhnaton and his beautiful wife Nefertiti has thus been retold in a production that aims to transport one and all to the sights and sounds of ancient Egypt though with a contemporary twist. Says Shawa, “Akhnaton is based on history but it is not meant to be a documentary or a history lesson. It is a factual piece of art, a glimpse into the past which funnily enough might resonate today. The events to bring down Akhnaton, the conflict between the priesthood and military, are the dynamics of the military and religious parties, as we speak, which actually also took place 3000 years ago.”

Primarily meant to dazzle the audience, Shawa insists that the music, costumes and action have been put together to form an entertaining spectacle that is pleasing to the eye and ear, rather than a mere political saga. “Ancient Egypt has always been a compelling topic and I think it has not been done enough in Kuwait, so we all are very excited about it.”

A prominent writer of Arabic children’s literature and screenplays, a couple of which have been award winning,

Hooda Shawa, the writer of the play “Akhnaton.”

Shawa is very passionate about youth theater and realized after she wrote Akhnaton that she would require a strong team of talented people to pull this off. “I knew Alison Shan Price, and though it was written in Arabic which was new to her, we decided to make it work. We got together local talent, auditioned them, had music composed that was later changed or adapted, and overall it has been a learning process for all of us here.

The music was very important since it had to be original and organic from the region but Samy Ibrahim is amazing!

The orchestra is mostly composed of students from the Institute of Music and the cast is by and large professional who have studied at the Institute of Drama. Fortunately, DAI agreed for us to be part of the 17th year cultural program and stage this for two nights.”

The other sponsors are Special Events, who offered technical solutions; ASP took care of the fees of the actors, Projacs, and Sheraton Kuwait who lend space to hold auditions. “And of course, Sheraton gave us their harp and harpist, the only one in Kuwait, which was very crucial to the play and makes a big difference,” informed Shawa.

Alison Shan Price, the Artistic Director explained the roles of the creative team of Akhnaton, to Al Watan Daily, which consists of Yousef Al-Hashash, an award winning director, Samy Ibrahim, composer, musical director and international performer, Suzy Beidoun, director of design,

Ancient Egypt has always been a compelling topic and I think it has not been done enough in Kuwait.

In UAE, horses are big business as well as passion

DUBAI: When an economic crisis in Uruguay strained the finances of Pio Olascoaga Amaya’s family farm, he found salvation halfway across the world: the horse racing industry of Dubai.

Olascoaga took one of his horses from Uruguay to try his luck in an endurance race in Spain. After the horse finished third, he was able to sell it to a trainer working for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler and an avid sponsor, owner and rider of horses.

That led to Olascoaga opening business ties with Dubai and 10 years later, at the age of 31, he helps run a family business selling Uruguayan-reared horses with Arabian blood to the United Arab Emirates. He acts as an agent for other farms in Uruguay as well as his own farm, which has 600 horses.

“If I sell a horse in Uruguay for let’s say $20,000 on average, here you can sell at a minimum $40,000,” he said. The margin makes it worth paying the $10,000 cost of transporting a horse by plane from Uruguay to Dubai, more than 17 hours away.

“Here in the UAE is the Formula One of horses. They need horses all the time, and from all around the world,” Olascoaga said after making a presentation to Saudi owners at an Arabian horse fair in Dubai. As the oil-rich Gulf economies boom, the hobbies of its wealthy local populations tend to become big business - and nowhere is that more true than for horses, a traditional passion of the region’s Bedouin tribes.

Dubai, with its large tourist sector and web of international transport links, has emerged as the focus of the horse business in the region. The business took a hit in 2009-2010, when Dubai was forced to begin restructuring billions of dollars of corporate debt, but has since bounced back with the local economy; the Dubai World Cup race, launched in 1996, attracted 65,000 spectators this year.

“This is something very important for Dubai, for tourism,” said Saeed H. Al-Tayer, chairman of Meydan Group, which operates the opulent racecourse where the World Cup is held. He said the racecourse had a capacity of 85,000 but this could in future be expanded to 120,000 if needed.

The UAE is famous for endurance races across the desert by “drinkers of the wind”, as locals sometimes refer to Arabian horses. About 50 races of 80-240 kilometers (50-150 miles) are held in the cooler months between October and March; riders use scarves to shield their faces from the dust of dozens of vehicles which accompany the race to supply water. Some 2,000 active endurance horses and 87 racing stables are listed by the Emirates Equestrian Federation; that compares to 800 such horses in France, where long-distance riding is also popular and which has a human population about eight times the size, data from the Federation Equestre Internationale shows.

Dubai is also a world power in flat racing; its annual World Cup in March is the world’s richest race with a $10 million purse.

The average flat race in the UAE during 2010 offered 100,073 euros ($130,000) of prize money, the highest level in the world, according to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

Even show jumping, historically more of a focus in Western countries, has been growing in the UAE. One recent show jumping competition offered 260,000 dirhams ($70,800) of prize money, while show jumping horses bought for as little as $5,000 in Eastern Europe can fetch prices of $80,000 in the UAE if they perform well. -Reuters

Artist builds ‘Berlin wall’ dividing rich and poor

A man writes at the art work “Peace Wall” by Macedonian artist Nada Prlja erected as part of the Berlin Art Biennale art festival block the Friedrichstrasse street, in Berlin, May 8, 2012.

(Reuters)

BERLIN: A few paces from where the Berlin wall once divided the city’s communist East from the West a Macedonian artist has built a new barrier, this time to separate the rich from the poor.

Nada Prlja’s black stone wall, called the “Peace Wall”, is 12 meters (yards) long and 5 meters high and bisects Berlin’s central Friedrichstrasse, just south of Checkpoint Charlie, a famous former Cold War border post and today a major tourist attraction.

“The new wall underlines the gap between the upper Friedrichstrasse - characterized by fancy shops and expensive flats - and the poor southern part of the road which heads to the multi-ethnic Kreuzberg district,” said Denhardt von Harling, spokesman for Berlin’s Art Biennale show.

The Peace Wall, is part of the Biennale, which this year focuses on political art, and will stand for two months.

The art installation is intended to challenge the gentrification underway in the area over the last few years and highlight the huge wealth gap.

The 3.3 km Friedrichstrasse passes through the heart of Berlin’s rebuilt city centre. Just beyond the site of the former wall glittering glass office blocks begin to give way to 1970s social housing, luxury boutiques are replaced by charity shops and the crowds of tourists and office workers disappear.

The sudden change is uncanny.

“A wall is a symbol of division, and is in itself capable of highlighting invisible gaps,” said Prlja. “’What are the major causes of gaps in our society?’ I asked myself,” the artist said, adding she identified social segregation, poverty and origins.

Prlja’s wall has brought mixed reactions.

“I really do not like it” says Younes Alkhatib, a barber on the “poor side” of Friedrichstrasse.

“I come from Palestine and this wall reminds me of what happened in Israel. Divisions always spread a negative message...Pointing out divisions does not help to solve them.”

Hawach Amim, another Palestinian who works on the “poor side” said: “That black wall makes me think of a funeral.” “When I look at it I think of the previous Berlin Wall. Raising walls makes people enemies”.

Prlja concedes her installation may stir fears by making people face reality, but she said she wants them to look at the “Peace Wall” and fight for their rights.

There is also praise for her work. “The wall is really a good idea”, says Frank Wille, store manager in a charity shop. “It really addresses the problem we have been experiencing in the Friedrichstrasse for years. The street is visibly divided. This time art has fulfilled its task of being bold, provocative and socially engaged.”

-Reuters

Bassem Al-Othman, director of voice and assistant director, and Chaza Halwani and Roni Haddad, the chief Akhnaton designers. “We have all worked together to get from page to stage. Most of the cast you see here have tremendous talent and some of the others have actually received training in martial arts, voice, comedy, etc. They are very proud of their occupation and a number of them already hold media professions,” explained Price.

Having worked on the play for almost a year now, the entire cast of 40 including the orchestra has been rehearsing every day for the last few months for nothing less than 5 hours. “We are very grateful to Sulayman Al-Bassam for providing us with rehearsal space. It’s very useful to have a stage and of course this is Sheikha Hussah’s gift to the nation. She donates her theater and gives everyone a chance to learn Arab culture,” explains Price.

The booming voices which reverberated throughout the auditorium, a full blown orchestra that provided the foreboding, haunting music to the cast while they determinedly rehearsed on stage, a day before they were to go live, was all a clear testament to the resource of talent available in Kuwait. “All that the people require here is a vehicle to perform, star and shine really,” insists Shawa. “There will definitely be more plays to expect now that I know what people are capable of. It’s unfortunate that the education system here does not support or even encourage the arts.

The curriculum is curtailing music and dance and I sincerely hope things change. However, initiatives such as these certainly help.”

Akhnaton will be staged this evening at DAI at 7 p.m. for no charge. All are invited.

Jimmy Choo launches street style blog

PARIS: Jimmy Choo has teamed up with top fashion photographer Eddie Newton to launch new site Choo 24:7 Stylemakers, where both amateur snappers and professionals can upload their street style pictures. Responding to the growing interest in street style photography and the social aspect of sharing fashion via blogs such as “Lookbook. nu,” “24:7 Stylemakers” invites visitors to submit images of themselves wearing Jimmy Choo shoes and accessories in a way that illustrates their personal style. It has echoes of British label Burberry’s successful “The Art of the Trench” site, which launched back in 2009, inviting photographers (including Scott Schuman of street style site “The Sartorialist”) and trench coat owners to submit images of the classic springtime staple being worn by everyday people with panache.

A selection of the best Choo pictures will appear at choo247.com, where they can also be shared via social networks including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Instagram pictures tagged “#choo247” will also feature. There’s a consumer element too, as visitors can click on a link to shop similar styles via the Jimmy Choo site. -AFP

Warhol painting of Elvis heads to auction in NY

NEW YORK: An Andy Warhol portrait of Elvis Presley as a cowboy is being sold at a New York City auction. Sotheby’s says the “Double Elvis (Ferus Type)” will be sold Wednesday night during a contemporary art sale. The silver silkscreen painting shows the rock and roll heartthrob armed and shooting from the hip. A shadowy Elvis figure is faintly visible in the background.

It was exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1963, the year it was created. The auction house said it’s the first “Double Elvis” to appear on the market since 1995. The sale estimate is $30 million to $50 million. Sotheby’s identified the seller only as a private collector. Warhol produced a series of 22 images of Elvis. Nine are in museum collections. -AP

FILE - This undated image provided by Sotheby’s shows Andy Warhol’s portrait of Elvis Presley depicted as a cowboy. (AP)

ALWATAN DAILY

entertainment Song Of The Day

Fahad AlSabah Staff Writer

Song: Pale September Artist: Fiona Apple Album: Tidal Genre: Trip-Hop/Alternative In short: It has been seven long years since Fiona Apple’s latest offering, Extraordinary Machine, was released, but it seems like her music has never left us or ever was forgotten.

Tidal, her impeccable debut, has been certified 3x Platinum for shipping over three million copies; the album has that timeless quality you find in Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, and Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation, as each song tells a story separately, while all of them combined flow like a grand, intricate play.

To listen to the song visit www.alwatandaily.com E-mail your feedback to falsabah@alwatandaily.com

The Buzz Avengers to return to big screen in sequel The runaway success of “The Avengers” movie landed the crime-fighting Marvel superhero team a return date to theaters. Hot off the movie’s record-setting debut, Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday an “Avengers” sequel is in the works, though no release date is set. The movie debuted with a staggering $207.4 million from US and Canadian theaters over the weekend, the biggest debut in film history. Globally, the film has pulled in $702.2 million. The second “Avengers” movie will follow a previously announced “Thor” and “Iron Man” sequels coming in 2013 and a new “Captain America” movie in 2014, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told industry analysts. -Reuters

Brad Pitt tapped to star in Chanel perfume ads Brad Pitt is the new face of Chanel’s No. 5 perfume. The French-based company announced Wednesday that the 48year-old actor will star in an upcoming ad campaign for its signature women’s scent. Other famous names who have been the face of Chanel include Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman and Audrey Tautou. Chanel’s founding designer, the late Coco Chanel, also modeled in ads in 1937 for what is now the company’s oldest fragrance. It remains one of the world’s top-selling perfumes. Pitt, a former People magazine Sexiest Man Alive, is engaged to long-time companion Angelina Jolie. -AP

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012

Jermaine Paul crowned season winner on The Voice NEWYORK: Jermaine Paul of Team Blake won TV singing contest “The Voice” on Tuesday night, taking home a recording contract with Universal Republic Records, a $100,000 cash prize, and a shot at his dream of singing stardom.

Paul collapsed into a hug from his coach Blake Shelton and wiped away tears as he thanked his wife, children, and all of the people who voted for him, ending his speech by exclaiming “nobody but Jesus!”

The former backup singer for Alicia Keys took center stage as he sang R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” to close out the show, which he also sang in his final performance on Monday’s penultimate episode of the show. Paul received embraces from his wife and family members as he sang.

Paul beat out fellow contestants Juliet Simms of Team Cee Lo (Green), Tony Lucca of Team Adam (Levine), and Chris Mann of Team Christina (Aguilera). Host Carson Daly revealed that Paul edged out second place fi-

nalist Simms by fewer than four percentage points.

Tuesday’s special two-hour finale included a plethora of performances from stars such as Justin Bieber, Lady Antebellum, Flo Rida, and Hall & Oates. Contestants previously voted off the show were invited back to perform with the four finalists.

“The Voice” became one of the mostwatched TV shows in the United States earlier this season and was seen a challenge to Fox’s top-rated singing show “American Idol.”

During the season, it proved very competitive against “Idol,” especially in the coveted 18-49 viewer group where the two shows are in a close race to be the most-watched program.

But “Idol” draws many millions more total viewers than “The Voice” - an average audience size of 19.2 million this season compared to 14.8 million for “The Voice”, according to figures from the two TV networks.

-Reuters

LONDON: Discovery Communications reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by losses at the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), sending its shares down 6.5 percent.

OWN, the joint venture with the “queen of talk” that is struggling with lackluster ratings, was part of the reason Discovery reported a nearly 30 percent decline in first-quarter earnings.

“We have a long way to go,” Discovery President and Chief Executive David Zaslav said on a conference call with analysts about OWN. “We remain confident in the growth potential of this network.”

OWN has slashed costs by cutting 30 employees and canceling its heavily hyped Rosie O’Donnell talk show. It recently came out with a new slate of reality

shows to help the network find its legs.

Discovery expects the network’s cash flow to break even during the second half of 2013, Zaslav said on the call.

Discovery reported first-quarter earnings per share of 57 cents, 3 cents below analysts’ average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose 16 percent to $1.1 billion. Analysts expected $1.06 billion.

The challenges at OWN overshadowed Discovery’s revenue growth, boosted by strong ad sales and distribution deals with the likes of Amazon and Netflix for its content from other cable networks such as Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet. “I thought the results were outstanding,” Morningstar analyst Michael Corty said, citing increases at

NEW YORK: Nick Jonas tried hard but couldn’t keep Broadway’s “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in business.

Producers of the musical said Tuesday they they were reluctantly handing it a pink slip after several months of lackluster box office revenue. Its final performance will be May 20.

When it closes, the revival will have played just over 500 performances since it opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in

February 2011. It quickly recouped its $9 million initial investment that December, thanks to its then-star Daniel Radcliffe.

Jonas, best known as part of the Jonas Brothers boy band, took over the lead this January and had committed to staying until at least July 1, but ticket sales took a noticeable hit. Last week, the box office took in just $368,000 out of a potential gross of $1,394,000.

“My producing partners and I are extremely grateful to the unbelievably tal-

Hayley Atwell of Captain America wins new role

Country singer Martina McBride will sing the national anthem at the May 27 Indianapolis 500. McBride’s website announced her selection Wednesday. The Grammy-winning singer is a four-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year and three-time Academy of Country Music Female Vocalist of the Year. She has sold more than 18 million albums and had six No. 1 singles. McBride says singing the national anthem at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a “huge honor.” Speedway spokesman Doug Boles tells The Indianapolis Star that officials wanted a performer who would sing the national anthem in the traditional manner. -AP

‘R.I.P’ to rumors she’s dating Drake: Rita Ora Jay-Z’s protege Rita Ora says she’s not dating Drake, they’re just good friends. She did, however, fall in love with a track he wrote, “R.I.P.” It’s Ora’s debut single in the U.K., where it’s No. 1 on iTunes. The Kosovo-born singer had a party in London on Tuesday to celebrate. Ora says she loved the track the moment she heard it, but she’s only pals with Drake. Ora says: “We’re really good friends actually ... He has my back so it’s really nice to know I have a guy that’s a good friend like that.” The 21-year-old is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and is now on the radar of the paparazzi, who hung around outside the party. Ora says, “I’m like, oh my God, they care!”

-AP

its domestic and international divisions.

“The Oprah issue -- that shouldn’t be a surprise, it takes time for a network like that to grow.” Executives did not wave any flags signaling a slowdown and raised the full-year revenue forecast. Discovery now expects revenue of $4.55 billion to $4.65 billion, up from its prior forecast of $4.45 billion to $4.58 billion.

Advertising revenue at its US Networks, which jumped 13 percent in the first quarter, is expected to grow in the high single digits in the second quarter.

The company also announced a $1 billion increase to its existing stock repurchase program, to $3 billion.

Discovery’s shares fell $3.52, or 6.5 percent, to $50.56 in late-morning Nasdaq trading. -Reuters

Tracy Morgan ‘fine’ after Denver health scare

LOS ANGELES: For the second time this year, high altitudes wreaked havoc on “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan, who had to be briefly hospitalized on Saturday when he became dehydrated and suffered flu-like symptoms in Denver.

But the comedian, who had to miss a scheduled standup performance in Denver Saturday because of the illness, is now back in New York City and feeling fine, his rep tells TheWrap.

TMZ.com first reported the news.

Morgan himself updated fans on Twitter Monday, writing, “Feeling a little better ... had to call in sick on Saturday. I’m sorry I had to cancel.

Love you Denver. I’ll make it up to you.”

Morgan had to be hospitalized in Park City, Utah in January, after he collapsed during an awards ceremony at the Sundance Film Festival.

-Reuters

Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business to close

Founding Grateful Dead member Bill Kreutzmann has a long, strange story to tell. The drummer is working on a memoir scheduled to be published in 2015 by St. Martin’s Press, the publisher announced Wednesday. The book, currently untitled, will include reflections on his “deep bond” with the late Jerry Garcia and memories of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers. Kreutzmann, who turned 66 this week, helped form the Dead in the mid-1960s along with Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. -AP

Martina McBride to sing national anthem at Indy

FILE - Singer Jermaine Paul performs at the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux July 17, 2008. (Reuters)

Discovery profit falls, hurt by Oprah’s OWN

Grateful Dead drummer has book deal

Hayley Atwell of “Captain America: The First Avenger” will be starring in a new film with a somewhat familiar title.

Intandem Films said Wednesday that Atwell has been cast in “10 Things I Hate About Life,” a romantic comedy to be written and directed by Gil Junger. Junger directed the hit 1999 movie “10 Things I Hate About You,” which starred Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Intandem will produce “10 Things I Hate About Life” with Mad Chance Productions, according to literary and talent agency APA. -AP

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In this undated publicity image released by The Hartman Group, Nick Jonas and Rob Bartlett perform in a scene from “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York. (AP)

ented company of actors and skillful crew that have given vibrant life to this show for over 500 performances,” producer Michael McCabe said in a statement.

The show was nominated for eight Tony Awards last year, and John Larroquette, in his Broadway debut, won the award for best actor in a featured role in a musical. Radcliffe was not nominated, even though the “Harry Potter” star packed the theater and earned new respect for his energy and enthusiasm.

This “How to Succeed in Business” production celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prizewinning musical and was the third time it has made it to Broadway. The last time, Matthew Broderick played amoral corporate climber J. Pierrepont Finch, the role later played by Radcliffe and Jonas.

Tony- and Emmy Award-winner Rob Ashford, fresh off his winning “Promises, Promises,” was given raves as the director and choreographer of the “How to Succeed in Business” revival. He nicely leveraged a delightfully cynical book about corporate behavior that resonates today.

Songs by Frank Loesser included the hit “Brotherhood of Man.” “We could not have asked for a better vision of this legendary show than Rob Ashford’s joyous production which literally sent audiences dancing out into the streets,” producer John Gore said in a statement. “I am certain the original creators would be proud of this chapter in the legacy of this great show.” -AP

Duel Dancing elimination sees Fegan, Gilbert depart

LOS ANGELES: “Dancing with the Stars” said goodbye to both Disney actor Roshon Fegan and television actress Melissa Gilbert in the season’s first double elimination on Tuesday night.

Neither departure was shocking as both previously showed signs of trouble. On Monday, Gilbert earned the lowest total score from the judges for the second straight week despite a foxtrot that was hailed as her “best dance ever” by judge Carrie Ann Inaba. And just last week, Fegan was up for elimination against Jaleel White, who was eventually sent home. Dancers are judged by a combination of judges’ scores and audience voting.

After his elimination on Tuesday, Fegan’s professional partner Chelsie Hightower said he had been “a joy to work with.”

For her part, Gilbert had struggled through more than just low scores this season. Last month, she suffered a mild concussion and whiplash while performing a paso doble, and her relationship with dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy also saw its share of ups and downs. In the end, Gilbert called Chmerkovskiy “an incredible teacher, an incredible friend.”

“I can’t even describe what a learning and growing experience this has been,” said Gilbert, who celebrated her 48th birthday Tuesday night. She called the show “a real blessing and a joy.”

Musical guest Chris Brown took the stage to perform his single “Turn up the Music” from his upcoming album “Fortune.”

Four celebrities will compete in next week’s semi-finals telenovela actorWilliam Levy, NFL star Donald Driver, singer Katherine Jenkins and TV host Maria Menounos. -Reuters

FILE - Comedian Tracy Morgan from the television series “30 Rock” arrives at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington May 1, 2010. (Reuters)

Dustin Hoffman joins roll-call of celebrity heroes LONDON: A London lawyer has credited actor Dustin Hoffman for saving his life when he suffered a heart attack while jogging in the city’s Hyde Park, becoming the latest celebrity in recent weeks to help rescue a person in crisis. Sam Dempster, 27, told Britain’s Sun newspaper on Tuesday that Hoffman came to his aid when he collapsed in the park 10 days ago, and called emergency services. “I have no memory of what happened. The paramedics told me I had been saved by Dustin Hoffman. It’s unbelievable,” Dempster was quoted as saying. Paramedics told the newspaper that the “Rain Man” star, 74, called emergency services and tended to Dempster as he waited for them to arrive.

Hoffman, who has a home nearby, left only after they had re-started Dempster’s heart. Hoffman’s Los Angeles-based representative confirmed the account. Hoffman is the latest celebrity turned Good Samaritan in recent weeks. “Black Swan” actress Mila Kunis cared for a man who collapsed and had a seizure while working at her Los Angeles home last weekend, celebrity website TMZ. com reported on Tuesday. “Grey’s Anatomy” star Patrick Dempsey helped to pry a teenager from a car wreck in Malibu last month, and actor Ryan Gosling grabbed a British woman to stop her from being hit by a car in Manhattan in April.

-Reuters

Prometheus to be released with ‘R’ rating

Chelsie Hightower and Roshon Fegan attend the ‘Dancing With The Stars’ After Party on April 2, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.

(AFP)

LOS ANGELES: Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror film will hit theaters with an R rating on June 8.

20th Century Fox has decided to let the R rating that it received from the MPAA’s ratings board stand, rather than to make cuts for a PG-13 or lower rating. The rating means that “Prometheus” can’t be seen by moviegoers 17 and under without a parent or guardian - a potential liability for a big-budget film with a potential big appeal to a younger audience. The film, which stars “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” actress Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Guy Pearce in a late 21stcentury tale about a spaceship crew exploring an advanced alien civilization in order to learn more about the origins of humanity, received the R rating because of “sci-fi violence including some intense images, and brief language.” -Reuters

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ALWATAN DAILY

AROUND TOWN / TIME OUT

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2012

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

Feature o f

graffiti

the day

moderately confused

Indian Community School welcomes visiting Indian dignitaries

KUWAIT: Indian Community School (Senior) Salmiya students got a rare opportunity to interact with visiting dignitaries, Mr. N. Gopalaswamy IAS (Retd), Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and Mr. V. Ponraj, Advisor to former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam, on Thursday May 3, 2012.

The event was graced by Mr. Ashok Kalra, the Honorary Chairman of ICSK, Board of Trustees, Mr. Rajan Daniel, Honorary Secretary, Mr. Vijay Karayil, Honorary Joint Secretary of ICSK Board of Trustees, Mr. Lamba, Council of Elders, ICSK Board of Trustees and other distinguished Board Members.

Dr. V. Binumon, Principal, Indian Community School Senior Branch welcomed the gathering. Mr. Ashok Kalra, the Honorary Chairman of ICSK Board of Trustees, in his presidential address gave a kaleidoscopic view on the glory of ICSK. He also mentioned that the Golden Jubilee celebration of school coincided with the State of Kuwait’s 50th year of Independence Day celebrations.

Mr. V. Ponraj the guest speaker who is the advisor to the former

Month a t

Sudoku

Elementary President Shri A.P.J. Abdul Kalam spoke extensively about the Former President and his great vision “Mission - 2020” for India.

He stressed that the youth of today are the most powerful resources on earth.

They should have great aim in life, acquire knowledge continuously and be perseverant to achieve their goals.

Advanced

Intermediate

He exulted that India by the year 2030 will no longer depend on fossil fuels and by 2050 will be the 4th largest economy in the world.

He urged the ignited minds of our Matrubhoomi to dream big.

After the speech the esteemed guest speakers had an interactive session with the students and responded eloquently to all queries put forth to them.

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

a glance of individuals in Kuwait with common interest of improving their communications and leadership skills. For information please call: Khaled Al-Hashem - President at 65588824 or Rhea Usman - VP Membership at 90024115.

Fayre trade May 12/ 10 a.m. -4 p.m. / Sadu House: Welcome to the fayre! A great day out for all the family. Do your summer souvenir shopping in the wonderful surroundings of Sadu house. Games for the kids, raffle, free admission. Relax after shopping with a scone and a nice cup of tea in the Diwaniya coffee shop.

Art and photography, handicrafts and gifts, jewelry rugs and carpets, sadu weaving, frankincense and myrrh, books, fashion. Supporting 5 charities. For more info: Fayretradeq8@yahoo.com Facebook: Fayre Trade Kuwait.

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

Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main

Golden era club May 11 and 25/ 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. / Rumaithiya: Golden Era Club presents ‘The Eight Fold Path to Yoga’. Yoga here! Yoga there! Yoga everywhere! Yet, few comprehend Yoga’s true nature! Join Yoga Guru - Aacharya Shashikala Pushkarna - on this unique journey to the true ‘union’ between the mind, body and spirit. All seniors (60+) are cordially invited. Venue- House #34, next to Abu-Tammam Intermediate School for Boys, Sate Alhusari St., Block 2, Rumaithiya. For registration call 97172788/ 66208183 or drop a line to goldenera60@yahoo.com

May 18/ 7 p.m. / Maidan Hawally: Indian Cultural Society presents” Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main” with renowned playback singer from Bollywood Abhijeet and world fame theater cum comedy king Umar Sharif from Pakistan. The Chief Guest for the event will be Ambassador of India, Kuwait. Also guest of honor will be prominent personalities from Kuwait and respected embassies from different countries. It will take place at Dr. Kamil Al Rayes Auditorium, AIS opposite Police Station. Contact numbers for your assistance and information: 97270386, 94450833.

Bread baking course

International bazaar

April 19- May 10/ 6 p.m.-8 p.m. /TIES Center: TIES Ladies Club invites all ladies the unique course of preparing the ancient traditional food “The Bread Baking”. Baking of different kinds of breads will be demonstrated including Old English Toast, Italian Bread Stick, Strawberry Sweet Heart and many more. For more information please contact us on 97228860/2523015/6 or emailinfo@tiescenter.net.

May 26/ 10 a.m.-3 p.m. / TIES Center: Stop by and have the opportunity to see and even own some international antiques on display and taste the delicious foods on display. Also have your name inscribed in Arabic calligraphy at no cost and have a taste of our Arabic ice cream. Various items will be available for sale, such as pashmina shawls, accessories, jewelry, Mexican food, Indian food, cosmetics, cookies, handbags, traditional Kuwaiti - style dresses and many more. For more information please contact 2523105/6 or 97228860

Aim high May 10/ 7 p.m. - 9 p.m./ Jabriya: Toastmasters Club would like to take this opportunity to invite you to a showcase meeting which is a part of a membership campaign drive to be held on Thursday at the Jabriya Public Library. The goals of the membership drive are; to promote Aim High meetings, to attract new members and to encourage members to invite guests to the club. This is a great opportunity for members and guests to meet and network with a cross section

Open House for Indian Citizens Ambassador of India would be holding an Open House for Indian citizens to address their problems\grievances on Wednesdays of the second and the fourth weeks of every month between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs in the Embassy. In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day. To ensure timely action/follow-up by the Embassy, it is requested that, wherever possible, Indian citizens should exhaust the existing channels of interaction/grievance redressal and bring their problems/issues in writing with supporting documents.

Royal Thai Embassy

Waist Watchers Every Tuesday/ 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. / British Ladies Society: Meetings are based on the world’s most successful healthy eating plan. Weekly meetings include private weigh in, motivational talks, recipes to try, and cooking demonstrations.

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Dilbert

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

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

Nancy

Horoscopes Aries: March 21 - April 19

You just can’t do everything at once, Aries. How do you expect to reduce your stress and recuperate while at the same time continue to be a superstar performer in every area of your life? Don’t pressure yourself to perform today. If you do, you’re likely to deplete your reserves even further. Take it easy, rest, and relax! You’ve really earned this little break.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20

This is a good moment to adapt your logic and reason to reality, Taurus. If you don’t, you’re going to run into some intellectual problems. Everyone knows you find new ideas plentiful, but unless you have plans to be a novelist, link your thinking to reality. The “pie in the sky” thinking that you engage in isn’t particularly useful to the rest of us living in the real world.

Gemini: May 21- June 21

It’s going to be difficult talking to you today, Gemini.

You, who can be easily influenced by others, will be listening to and criticizing everything that people say. Nothing emotional or vague is going to get into your head. It’s as if you’ve installed an extremely fine filter that lets in only what you allow. You’re going to appear to be a real expert.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Have you been reviewing your family history lately, Cancer? Of special interest will be your cultural background. What educational, social and religious environment are you born into? What are its values? Do you feel a strong affinity with them now or are those views different from the ones you usually hold? These are some interesting avenues of thought for today.

Leo: July 23 - August 22

It’s time to elevate your sense of self, Leo. You’re just as good as anyone else, so why don’t you believe it? The problem is that you’re very sensitive about having an ego. Even though you know everyone does, you punish yourself for its existence! This is a noble idea, but it doesn’t do you any good. You’ll never be perfect and neither will anyone else. Don’t worry.

Virgo: August 23 - September 22

Today your intellectual and expressive abilities should receive a boost from the planets. It’s an excellent time to organize all your thoughts about presenting your projects to a possible collaborator. In terms of your private life, it’s also a good time to examine the latest events, certain aspects of which are still partially misunderstood.

Libra: September 23 - October 22

Overall, the forecast for today is fairly good. The aspects seem to favor figuring out the meaning of all that’s transpired over the past several weeks. It’s an opportunity for you to take a leisurely look at the distance you’ve covered moving toward your goals. Since it’s an auspicious day for social activities why not get together with friends to discuss latest events?

Scorpio: October 23 - November 21

Have you felt somewhat lost for the past few days?

The fog may lift today and enable you to situate yourself at last. You’re probably eager to settle a question that has been nagging you and interfered with your judgment. However, you should be patient, especially if it has to do with emotional matters. Try to understand, but don’t take any immediate action right now.

Sagittarius: November 22 - December 21

You may have been feeling somewhat disillusioned.

Perhaps you lost sight of your goals or misplaced your faith in yourself. You’ll feel some relief today. This is an opportunity to end what has been a somewhat apathetic and moody phase and begin a new one that’s based on work and meditation.

Capricorn: December 22 - January 19

You might be tempted to settle certain matters by radical means. The visionary part of you means you’re painfully aware of the world’s wrongs. You see no reason not to take action to correct them.

But the forces in play are so powerful that you can’t expect to institute a new order in one day. If you have an emotional question to resolve, it would be better to wait.

Aquarius: January 20 - February 18

Today will be fairly calm in terms of outside events, but your inner world is likely to be in a rush of activity. Today you wish you could find the solution to your heartaches as well as all your career predicaments. You’d like to achieve some supreme understanding of the events that took place over the past month. Force your brain to slow down as haste makes waste.

Pisces: February 19 - March 20

You have a lot of thinking to do about your professional goals.You’ll go over the elements to see if there isn’t some way to approach things differently. Are there new paths you could try or ways to improve things? Your mind will go a thousand miles a minute today.You will be totally exhausted because of all the questions you ask!

ALWATAN DAILY

SPORTS

thursDAY, may 10, 2012

19

Basketball

Nuggets avoid elimination, Pacers beat Magic hold off Lakers 102-99 105-87, advance to 2nd round

Danilo Gallinari (center) of the Denver Nuggets goes up for a shot against Andrew Bynum (left) and Pau Gasol (right) of the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half in Game Five of the 2012 NBA Playoffs on May 8, 2012.

(AFP)

LOS ANGELES: JaVale McGee went out with the attitude that Game 5 was the last game of his life. The other Denver Nuggets played their own mental games, some drawing inspiration from Lakers center Andrew Bynum’s comment about how closeout playoff games can sometimes be easy.

The Nuggets went deep into their motivational wells for an impressive win at Staples Center, and not even Kobe Bryant could prevent the Lakers from getting on a plane back to Denver.

Andre Miller scored 24 points, including two free throws with 12.8 seconds left, and Denver survived Bryant’s late scoring barrage in a 43-point performance, avoiding playoff elimination with a 102-99 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night and trimming the Lakers’ series lead to 3-2.

McGee had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the sixth-seeded Nuggets, who barely survived a frenetic finish. Denver had a 15-point lead midway through the fourth quarter against the lifeless Lakers, but Bryant engineered a swift comeback before his final three shots missed.

“I was just glad we didn’t go to overtime,” Miller said. “There was too much energy in the building. A veteran team like that will fight their way back, and they know how to finish games.We found a way to contain them.”

Bryant scored 12 points over the final 4:45, hitting four 3-pointers that trimmed the Nuggets’ lead to 9896 with 59 seconds left. Bryant then missed a potential tying 5-footer and a 3-pointer, but Denver missed two of four free throws before Ramon Sessions hit a 3-pointer with 12.8 seconds left, trimming the Nuggets’ lead to one point.

Los Angeles had two more chances to tie after the veteran Miller’s free throws, but Bryant and Sessions missed 3-pointers near the buzzer.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Denver. The thirdseeded Lakers are one win from a second-round date with Oklahoma City, but they’ve still got work to do.

Coach George Karl gratefully fed Bynum’s offhanded post-practice comment to his players, and they played like a team that isn’t going anywhere.

McGee threw down a mind-boggling array of dunks and converted alley-oop passes while dominating the

Lakers’ superstar duo of 7-footers. McGee dunked on a 60-foot alley-oop pass from Miller early in the fourth quarter, and he stared down the Lakers’ fans after dunking while getting fouled with 6:35 to play.

Arron Afflalo scored a career playoff-high 19 points and Danilo Gallinari added 14 for the Nuggets, while rookie Kenneth Faried had 10 points and nine rebounds. Miller scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and 17 in the second half, calmly leading his young teammates to the win.

The Nuggets still must win two games to advance to the second round for just the second time in nine years, but they have already accomplished something rare by winning Game 5. Los Angeles had closed out a playoff series on the first try in 11 of its previous 12 opportunities, and the Lakers won 12 of their last 13 closeout games under departed coach Phil Jackson.

Bynum had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who lost a closeout playoff game at home for the first time since May 4, 2006, against Phoenix.

The Lakers thought they had taken control of the series with a final-minute rally to win a tight Game 4, but the Nuggets have outplayed the third-seeded Lakers for long stretches of the series. Denver was sharper and more determined from the opening tip in Game 5, while the Lakers played a disorganized, disinterested 3 1/2 quarters until the late rally.

The Lakers never trailed in the first two games of the series, but they never led in Game 5 after their very first basket made it 2-0. Denver enforced its preferred speedy tempo on the walk-it-up Lakers for long stretches, repeatedly beating the Lakers back with fast breaks and sharp passes.

Pau Gasol had just nine points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, while Matt Barnes scored 11 points.

The Lakers failed to complete their first playoff series victory under Brown exactly one year after Dallas swept the Lakers in the second round of last year’s postseason, ending 11-time NBA champion coach Jackson’s career - for now, anyway.

Los Angeles’ loss means starting forward Metta World Peace will finish his seven-game suspension during the first round. World Peace was banned for viciously elbowing Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the Lakers’ penultimate regular-season game. -AP

Olympics

Spain recession will not affect Madrid 2020 Olympics bid BERLIN: Madrid will not pull out of the bidding process for the 2020 Olympics despite Spain tipping into recession late last month, a senior bid official said on Tuesday.

Spain is under intense pressure from its European peers to streamline theeuro zone’s fourth largest economy, reduce a huge public deficit and fix a banking system battered by a four-year economic slump and a burst property bubble.

Italian capital Rome had also started bidding for the 2020 Olympics before their government pulled the plug on the candidacy in February, saying it could not provide financial guarantees as they worked towards heading off their own debt crisis.

Following Rome’s surprise withdrawal there have been concerns that Madrid’s bid could also be affected by the debt crisis in Spain, where the economy slipped into recession in the first quarter in late April.

“Madrid has absolutely no intention of backing out of bidding for the Games. This is not going to be Rome II,” the bid’s CEO of international relations Theresa Zabell told Reuters in an interview.

“We will be in Buenos Aires next year with a strong bid.” The International Olympic Committee will elect the winning bid for the world’s biggest multisports extravaganza in September 2013 in Argentina, with Istanbul, Azeri capital Baku, Qatar’s Doha and Tokyo also in the running.

Madrid is bidding for the third consecutive time after losing out to London for the 2012 Games and Rio de Janeiro for 2016.

“The economic situation is an extra item that did not exist in the last bids,” said Zabell, a winner of two Olympic sailing gold medals. “Bidding for the Olympic Games is not a cost. It is an invest-

ment in our country. Not only in material but also in morale.”

Madrid’s bid has all but six venues already in place, but has decided to shift the focus from past bids on to the Games’ sporting aspect.

Spanish athletes have enjoyed massive success internationally in recent years, especially the national soccer and basketball teams, with the country’s tennis players also lifting several titles.

Madrid is also keen to push their capabilities as hosts and point to the fact that in the last ten years the city has played host to 85 European championships and 77 world championships.

“Few cities can boast of holding so many international events of such a large category,” she said.

In the coming two years the Spanish capital will host six more world championships for Olympic sports.

“We really need the Games. We have a high percent of unemployment and we need the Games to get the country moving,” Zabell said.

“Unemployment for people under 25 years is very high and they are the best qualified generation of people we have in the history of Spain and we need to give them their first job opportunity. There is no better force to change than the Games.” Zabell said Madrid’s bid was also the only one from the heart of Europe and would provide a safe return after the first South American Games in 2016.

“New countries are trying to bid for the Games that traditionally did not bid before,” said Zabell.

“But I personally don’t think the Olympic Games can go from new countries (Brazil in 2016) to new countries. They have to come back to countries where they know the Games will be a quality experience.” -Reuters

INDIANAPOLIS: It was just like old times at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Finally.

After years of losing and players finding trouble, the Indiana Pacersfinally gave their fans something to really cheer about.

Danny Granger scored 25 points to help the Pacers defeat the Orlando Magic 105-87 on Tuesday night and clinch their firstround Eastern Conference playoff series 4-1.

“I’m just so happy for our fans,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “They’ve endured a lot those years when we struggled. To finally see us come back and have a winning team again and somebody that has a chance to do something special this year.

That’s what they deserve. Pacers basketball is back.”

The Pacers will play Miami or New York in the second round.

Miami leads that series 3-1, and as the final minutes ticked away, fans began chanting, “Beat the Heat.”

It was a tough series for Orlando, which played all five games without All-Star center Dwight Howard because of a back injury.

They took the opener, then watched Indiana put together its first series win since 2005 and its first clincher on its home court since the first round of the 2000 playoffs. No player on Indiana’s roster had won a playoff series while playing for the Pacers.

Granger finally got his first series win in year seven. Perhaps fans should take it easy on him - it took Reggie Miller six years.

Darren Collison scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and George Hill added 15 points for the Pacers, who trailed by two at the end of the third quarter but outscored the Magic 36-16 in the final 12 minutes.

Collison’s complete dominance of Orlando point guard Jameer Nelson in the fourth quarter turned the game. Indiana had no answers for three quarters before Collison, who had lost his starting job late in the season, entered the game and took over. Collison made all seven of his shots in the fourth quarter and had four assists. Nelson made 1 of 5 shots in the period and missed both of his 3-point tries.

In Game 4, Indiana blew a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter before pulling out a win in overtime. This time, the Pacers shot 75 percent in the final 12 minutes.

Nelson led Orlando with 27 points and made 5 of 8 3-pointers. Glen Davis, a thorn in Indiana’s side throughout the series, scored 15 but made just 6 of 17 shots. The Magic, who made just 5 of 16 shots in the fourth quarter, didn’t want to use Howard’s absence as an excuse.

Orlando surprised Indiana in Game 1, forced overtime in Game 4 and led heading into the final quarter of their season.

Collison made a layup and hit a 3-pointer to give the Pacers a 78-73 lead with 9:33 to play. After Nelson drained another 3, Collison came back with a layup, then Leandro Barbosa’s steal and layup pushed Indiana’s lead to 87-80 with 6:49 to play and forced an Orlando timeout. A few minutes later, Paul George stole an inbounds pass and found Granger under the

Indiana Pacers guard Darren Collison (center) shoots between Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson (left) and forward Ryan Anderson during the second half of Game five of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. (AP)

hoop for a layup and a 91-80 lead. The Pacers dominated from there.

Indiana led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but as was the case throughout the series, it didn’t last. Orlando got hot late in the half, and a 3-pointer by Jason Richardson and a bucket by Davis cut Indiana’s lead to 48-47. Indiana’s Roy Hibbert made a hook shot to push the lead back to three at the break.

Orlando tied the game at 61 on a fadeaway by Davis before a three by Nelson gave Orlando a 66-64 lead. Nelson hit another three in the closing seconds - he had 15 points in the quarter - to give Orlando a 71-69 lead. Hill added nine points in the period to keep the Pacers in the game before Collison and Granger put it away. -AP

Formula one

Room at the top for another winner LONDON: Formula One’s European season fires up in Spain this weekend with Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber leading a fistful of drivers jostling to become the fifth different winner in five races.

What was the most predictable of races, with Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya used in pre-season testing and holding no surprises for even the rookies on the starting grid, now looks far from clear-cut.

Four drivers have taken it in turn to win and lead the championship since the opener in Australia in March, with Webber’s double world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel the current man on top.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso - now looking forward to the buzz of a home race with what could be a much quicker car after recent developments - and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg have also won. There have been eight different drivers from six teams on the podium so far.

Not since 1983, when Rosberg’s father Keke was racing and a year before Niki Lauda clinched his third title, has a campaign started with five different winners but history could well repeat itself on Sunday.

McLaren’s Hamilton, the 2008 champion who was on pole in the first two races of 2012, must surely stand on top of the podium again before long and the return to Europe could be the time.

“We had a great race there last year, I pushed Sebastian all the way to the finish.

I think we have a comparatively stronger car this year, so I hope we can have another strong race,” said the Briton, second in Spain last year.

“I think it’s going to be one of the toughest tracks of the year for overtaking, but I’ll be hoping for a strong performance in qualifying in order to make it as straightforward as possible in the race.”

Red Bull’s Webber has started on pole for the past two years in Spain, and won in 2010 at a circuit where the top slot has translated into victory in 10 of the last 11 races, and knows he has the car to do it again.

“I like the Barcelona track, we do a lot of work there and it’s a track that’s been good to me in the past...so I’m looking for a strong weekend,” said the Australian.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion with Ferrari now on a comeback with Lotus, was second last month at a troubled Bahrain race with French team mate Romain Grosjean third. Both have to be considered So too does seven-times champion Michael Schumacher, even if he has not been on the podium since he made his return in 2010 and has been critical of the Pirelli tires, given that Mercedes team mate Rosberg won in China. Schumacher has won more often than any other driver

in Barcelona, six times in all.

Barcelona has long been held up as a benchmark, an acid test where the championship moves up a gear, but in such a close field with the cars divided by mere fractions of a second even that may no longer be the case.

“Usually Barcelona is a pretty good indicator of car performance: if a car works well there it tends to work well in most places,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner told autosport.com after testing in Italy last week.

“Whether that still applies this year, who knows? I’m sure most teams are bringing upgrades of varying degree.

“It is the first European race so traditionally that’s where teams will introduce new components to their cars and we’re no different to that. It will be fascinating to see the evolution amongst the teams.”

McLaren are hoping to have a higher nose on their car after trying out the change at the Mugello test while Lotus were fastest in Mugello with Grosjean.

“We’ve been able to look after our tires quite well during the races so far but the Barcelona track is very abrasive, especially for the front left tire,” said Lotus team principal Eric Boullier.

“Maybe we’ll do a better job than our rivals in this area. The only question mark is our performance relative to the temperature.” -Reuters

Schumacher says Pirelli tires are a yolk LONDON: Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher has criticized Pirelli’s Formula One tires by saying they make him feel like he is driving on raw eggs.

The seven times world champion, who has not stood on the podium since he began his comeback in 2010, told CNN in an

FILE- Pirelli soft (yellow) and medium (white) compound tires are seen during previews to the European Formula One Grand Prix at the Valencia Street Circuit on July 23, 2011.

(AFP)

interview that the Italian tires were having too much of an effect on racing. “They are so peaky and so special that we don’t put the cars or ourselves to the limit,” he said ahead of this week’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, the start of the European season after four long-haul races.

“We drive like on raw eggs and don’t want to stress the tires at all. Otherwise you just overdo it and then you go nowhere,” said the 43-year-old German, who won his titles with Benetton and Ferrari.

Pirelli replaced Japanese brand Bridgestone as sole supplier at the end of the 2010 season and have been credited for livening up the racing with tires that are less hard-wearing.

Schumacher, whose team mate and compatriot Nico Rosberg won in China last month for the first victory by a Mercedes works team driver since 1955, had also criticized the tires after the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Formula One’s most successful driver had complained then that drivers could not push their cars to the limit because of the need to save the tires.

Pirelli responded to the criticism last month with disappointment and pointed out that the former Ferrari driver had seemed happy enough before the season started.

“Others were getting on with the job and getting their tires to work. His comments during winter testing were that he was very happy with the tires, and now he seems to have changed his tune,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery. -Reuters

THURsDAY, may 10, 2012

SPORTS

Sports Editors Highlight

HALLE, Germany: Roger Federer has had his name on the trophy. Now he has it on the street sign as well. The town of Halle in western Germany hosts the Gerry Weber Open, a grass court tournament that serves as a Wimbledon warm-up. Federer has won at Halle five times and has a “lifetime contract” with the tournament - if the Swiss great plays a pre-Wimbledon event, then it is the one in Halle.

Since the start of May, a street leading to the stadium, known as Weststrasse, is now called the Roger-Federer-Allee.

Tournament officials released a letter from Federer in which he said he is “extremely humbled” by the gesture, calling it an ‘’amazing honor.”

Federer, a former No. 1 now ranked third, has won 16 Grand Slam titles. -AP

Football

Euro 2012 a political headache for Ukraine KIEV, Ukraine: The June Euro 2012 football championship was Ukraine’s chance to shine: forge closer ties with the West, boost its international standing and aid its struggling economy. Instead, it’s turned into a major headache.

In a move reminiscent of the Cold War, top EU officials have vowed to boycott matches held in Ukraine over the alleged mistreatment of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Critics warn that fans may be put off by exorbitant Ukrainian hotel prices and that the cash-strapped government has endangered the country by spending as much as $14 billion US dollars on the championship.

“This was a chance to show off the country because a thousand journalists will come here” said Oleh Rybachuk, a member of Tymoshenko’s first Cabinet who has turned into a civic activist. “Now those thousand journalists will come and write about a million problems. The image, political and economic benefits - I don’t see any,” Rybachuk said.

Ukraine was awarded the Euro 2012 championship along with neighboring Poland in 2007 in a decision meant to reward and promote the two football-loving ex-Communist Eastern European countries, with Poland already a proud member of the EU and Ukraine aspiring to join.

Back then, the Ukrainian economy was booming and the West was infatuated with the country after the 2004 prodemocracy mass protests known as the Orange Revolution brought to power a pro-Western government. Ukraine is an entirely different story today.

Tymoshenko, the charismatic blond-braided Orange Revolution heroine and the top opposition leader, is serving a seven-year prison sentence for abuse of office.Western countries decried the conviction last year as politically motivated persecution by the regime of President Viktor Yanukovych, whose fraud-tainted election victory Tymoshenko helped overthrow in 2004. Tymoshenko, 51, has been on a hunger strike for more than two weeks after prison guards allegedly folded her in a bed sheet and punched her in the stomach, as she screamed for help. She was already suffer-

FILE - Policemen stand guard at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev on April 27, 2012 during an anti-terrorist drill of the Ukrainian secret services. (AFP)

ing from debilitating back pain.

Photographs of large bruises on Tymoshenko’s abdomen and arms released by the country’s top human rights official, shocked the international community and prompted top EU

Loew to remain in Germany hot seat until 2014 BERLIN: Germany coach Joachim Loew will remain in his post until 2014 even if his side fail to win Euro 2012, the German football federation (DFB) said Wednesday. Loew has been coach of Germany since July 2006 and has steered them to the Euro 2008 final, where they were beaten by Spain, and a third place finish at the 2010 World Cup behind Spain and the Netherlands. Loew’’s side remain among the favorites for victory in the Euro Championship in Poland and Ukraine on June 8-July 1. DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach believes the 52-year-old Loew and his gen-

eral manager, Oliver Bierhoff, are doing an “excellent” job. “We all agree that in Loew and Bierhoff we have the best pair possible,” said Niersbach in an interview with Sport Bild, published on Monday. “They both do excellent jobs and so we see no reason to change a winning formula. If we have to suffer disappointment, we are strong enough to stand up and face it.”

Germany underlined their Euro 2012 co-favorites status with a flawless qualifying campaign. In their opening matches of Group B Loew’s side will come up against Portugal, the Netherlands and Denmark. -AFP

Chelsea’s top-four hopes end in defeat LONDON: Chelsea must win the Champions League to play in Europe’s elite club competition next season after a 4-1 defeat at Liverpool on Tuesday ended their hopes of qualifying via the Premier League.

Stand-in manager Roberto Di Matteo made eight changes to the team that beat Liverpool 2-1 in Saturday’s FA Cup final and they were picked apart by the rampant home side who gained some revenge for their Wembley disappointment.

With one match remaining, Chelsea are five points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and four behind fifth-placed Newcastle United, both of whom are in a final-day scrap with Arsenal to determine the Champions League qualifiers.

It is the first time Chelsea will have finished outside the top four since the 2001-02 season, although they could still grab a place in next year’s Champions League if they beat Bayern Munich in the final on May 19. Should that happen, the team that finishes fourth in the Premier League would be deprived of a Champions League qualifying round tie and be bumped down to the Europa League.

Di Matteo said he had no regrets about making eight changes from his Cup final side for the game at Anfield despite his team beginning the night still in contention for a top-four berth.

“I have no regrets, the effort was there but we came up against an inspired Liverpool side,” Di Matteo, who left out the likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and Juan Mata, told Sky Sports.

“We have had some very intense games, the last one three days ago. It’s hard to keep getting yourself going every three days. Since I’ve been in charge we’ve

Liverpool’s Daniel Agger (right) challenges Chelsea’s Fernando Torres during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield in Liverpool, May 8, 2012.

(Reuters)

played every three days and it’s been a big ask and a big demand. I just thought with fresh legs and new energy we could have had a better chance tonight.” Chelsea captain John Terry, who is suspended for the clash with Bayern, was selected but had a woeful night.

After 19 minutes he allowed Luis Suarez to dance past him and cut back a pass which Michael Essien could only turn into his own net and six minutes later his slip allowed Jordan Henderson a clear run on goal to slot home Liverpool’s second.

Daniel Agger’s header made it 3-0 before the half hour mark and Stewart Downing struck a penalty against the post just before halftime as Liverpool ran riot. Ramires pulled a goal back for the visitors, who had hit the post through Branislav Ivanovic’s header when it was 0-0, shortly after halftime but Liverpool remained in control. A poor clearance by Chelsea keeper Ross Turnbull, in for the rested Petr Cech, allowed Jonjo Shelvey to calmly fire a sublime shot into an empty net from 30 metres just past the hour.

Andy Carroll wasted a chance to extend Liverpool’s lead while Agger also headed wide late on as the hosts ended a disappointing home league season on a high.

“That performance was on a par with many this season but we’ve not had the results those deserve,” said Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, whose side have managed just six league victories at Anfield from 19 matches.

Liverpool’s win saw them leapfrog Fulham into eighth place on goal difference and they can still finish above Everton if their result at Swansea City on Sunday is better than that achieved by their city rivals at home to Newcastle United. -Reuters

officials, including European Union President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, as well as the governments of Austria and Belgium to cancel plans to attend football matches in Ukraine. Ger-

man Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested she would only visit Ukraine during the championships if Tymoshenko’s treatment improves.

“The lack of senior foreign officials attending the tournament is embarrassing for Yanukovych’s government and will continue to generate bad press for the country,” said Alex Brideau, a Ukraine analyst at Eurasia Group, a USbased firm that advises on geopolitical risk.

In a further embarrassment, Ukraine had to cancel a regional cooperation forum of central and eastern European states after more than a dozen leaders refused to attend over the Tymoshenko case. Financially, the country is also in a bad shape.

The global financial crisis nearly destroyed Ukraine’s economy, causing gross domestic product to plunge some 15 percent in 2009 and it has not fully recovered. A $15.6 billion US dollars rescue a loan from the International Monetary Fund has been frozen for over a year due to Yanukovych’s reluctance to carry out unpopular austerity measures. In this situation many wonder if Ukraine can afford Euro 2012.

The government says it has spent some $4.3 billion US dollars on building stadiums and upgrading roads and rail transport for the championship, but total figures that would include construction of government-subsidized hotels, promotional campaigns and staff training have not been released.

The Kiev-based consultancy Davinci Analytic Group estimates that Ukraine will spend a total of least $14 billion on hosting the championship, most of it coming from government coffers.

The group estimates that up to $8 billion of that amount will not be returned in the medium term, as tourism is unlikely to significantly rise after the championship. Co-host Poland will spend even more on upgrading its infrastructure to host the event, according to official figures, but 40 percent of that will be covered by EU funds. -AP

Spain’s Puyol rules himself out of Euro SPAIN: Spanish defender Carles Puyol said Wednesday impending knee surgery will rule him out of the Euro 2012 squad but he is not ready to end his international career.

The 34-year-old Barcelona captain, whose header against Germany famously took Spain into the final of a victorious 2010 World Cup campaign, said he expects to undergo the operation on Saturday. Asked if he could still join the Euro squad, he told a news conference: “It would be very difficult. Those who are fittest have to go. It would be unfair to take a player who is not at 100 percent.”

Puyol said he would have to wait to see how the operation goes: “But I think it is impossible.”

The long-haired defender is to undergo a knee arthroscopy, in which a tiny camera is inserted through small incisions and damaged tissue can be repaired or removed. He faces a six-week recovery. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has said he will release a provisional line-up on May 15 for the team going to Poland and Ukraine and a definitive list on May 27. Spain, who are defending their European title, play their first game on June 10 against Italy.

Puyol, who has 99 caps for Spain, does not seem ready to end his playing days with the national squad.

“My plan is to carry on for many more years. But you have to take it season by season. We will see how I am at the start of the next season. But I am convinced I will come back fine, perfectly fit,” he said. Puyol could not say whether the Euro 2008 campaign was his last in the competition.

“I don’t now if it was my last European Championship. But I want to retire on the field and not in the operating room,” he added. “On Saturday I will go into the operating theatre and on Sunday I will start working on my recovery.”

Asked about his ambition to earn a 100th cap for Spain, Puyol said: “For now the only thing I am thinking about is getting back to 100 percent, and then if there is a chance to play the 100th game, I would be delighted.”

The knee surgery means Puyol will also miss the final of the domestic King’s Cup competition on May 25, when Barcelona face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish capital’s Vicente Calderon stadium.

His absence will be keenly felt in the Spain squad, already hit by doubts over Puyol’s Barcelona team-mate, striker David Villa, who broke his leg December 15 in Barcelona’s Club World Cup semi-final win over Al Sadd.

While Del Bosque said Friday he would keep a spot open for the 30-year-old Villa until the last moment to see if he recovers in time, the Spaniard said Tuesday Villa’s lack of match time, even if

fit, would pose a problem.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has said Villa’s recovery is going “very well” and that he hopes the striker, dubbed King David for his 51 goals in 82 internationals, will be able to join the Euro 2012 squad. -AFP

Three Serie A clubs among 22 named in betting probe

Juve set for star wars row with federation

ROME: Serie A’s Atalanta, Novara and Siena were among 22 clubs told on Wednesday that they will face investigations over the possible manipulation of matches.

Former European Cup finalists Sampdoria, now playing in Serie B, were also named along with 52 players, the Italian federation (FIGC) said in a statement.

They have been referred to the FIGC’s disciplinary committee following investigations by magistrates in the northern city of Cremona which began in December.

Italian media reported that there is likely to be a huge sports trial in the next few months. The FIGC listed 33 matches, nearly all in Serie B but including two in the Coppa Italia, as being under suspicion of manipulation over the last few seasons.

Atalanta, Novara and Siena were all playing in Serie B at the time of the alleged match manipulation. Atalanta began this season with minus six points after they were among 17 clubs to have points deducted last August over match-fixing. Former Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni, banned for three-and-a-half years in the same verdict and arrested last December, was among the 52 players listed in the latest investigation, the FIGC said. In April, former Bari defender Andrea Masiello was arrested in connection with alleged match-fixing in Serie A last season.

Eight of Masiello’s team mates from Bari last season were also being investigated by police over the possible manipulation of matches.

Bari’s chief prosecutor Antonio Laudati said investigations suggested a total of five matches had been manipulated during the 2010-2011 season and 2009-2010. -Reuters

FILE - Spain’s national soccer team coach Vicente del Bosque (center), Carles Puyol (left) and Gerard Pique are seen at the end of their training session at La Rosaleda stadium, Feb. 28, 2012. (Reuters)

ROME: Serie A champions Juventus could be set for a row with league and federation bosses, if plans to embroider their shirt emblems with a third star to symbolize a 30th league championship win come to fruition. Even before Juventus secured their 28th league crown last week the Turin-based club were insisting they would soon be celebrating their 30th championship triumph. After their decisive 2-0 win at Cagliari on Sunday Juventus players drank from bottles of champagne brazenly labeled with the number 30. The club’s official website also claims the team have won 30 Serie A titles. Officially, though, Juve have won only 28 titles having been stripped of the two they won in 2005 and 2006 following their involvement in the “Calciopoli” match-fixing scandal which implicated a number of top referees.

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, 37, has stoked the embers by promising “a surprise” would appear on next season’s kit. While some interpret that to mean they will appear with a third star on their club badge next season, Italian football federation (FIGC) chief Giancarlo Abete says he is unmoved.

“If it becomes a problem, the Federation will respond in accordance with the rules and the history of all clubs,” he said.

French legend Michel Platini, the president of European football’s ruling body UEFA and a former Juventus player in the 1980s, told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper: “It’s a problem for the Italians. Some regard the campaign as an attempt by Agnelli, scion of the Fiat car dynasty who took over the club presidency from his father Umberto, to woo Juventus fans in what is only his second year in charge. Others seem happy to accept the 2005-2006 sanctions as reality.” -AFP