May 24, 2012

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012

@alwatandaily

Issue No. 1444

20 PAGES

www.alwatandaily.com

150 Fils with IHT

Al-Shamali faces questioning as uncertainty looms

Cabinet fails to attend yesterday’s session, denies resignation Staff Writers and Agencies

KUWAIT: The government boycotted the Parliament for a second day on Wednesday over a row with lawmakers about questioning the Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali. On Tuesday, all government ministers led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah walked out of the Parliament after lawmakers turned down the government’s request that AlShamali be questioned in two separate debates over alleged financial and administrative irregularities. The lawmakers said they wanted to merge the two allegations and have a single debate.

However, the ministers failed to attend the Parliament on Wednesday as well, forcing the cancellation of the session, even after lawmakers agreed that the two debates be held separately.

Kuwaiti MPs accuse the government of plotting to dissolve the opposition-dominated Parliament by refusing to attend its sessions because parliament sessions are illegal if no ministers attend, under the Kuwaiti law.

“The government boycott was the prelude to dissolving parliament which was elected just over three months ago,” said opposition MP Adel AlDamkhi, adding that “the government is preparing the Kuwaiti people to dissolve Parliament”.

Some MPs, however, consider the government’s decision to boycott Parliament is an attempt to “cover up and rescue corrupt officials.”

Moreover, there have been dramatic developments on Wednesday, most noticeably the unceremonious decision by MP Obeid Al-Wasmi to withdraw the interpellation motion he previously filed against Al-Shamali. An official source told Al

Watan that the finance minister will face the interpellation today (Thursday), and confirmed that none of the ministers will resign, though he made it clear that the government has not decided on the aftermath of the interpellation.

On the other hand, other government sources informed the paper that the minister is likely to resign after the interpellation, due to the prejudice he has been facing, in reference to the noconfidence motion. Other sources quoted Al-Shamali as saying that he has been waiting for this confrontation for years, and will reveal whatever he has without flattery. Amid this air of uncertainty, reports emerged that three motions of no confidence have been prepared, each signed by ten MPs with the aim of ‘intimidating the minister and dissuading him from facing the motion.”

A parliamentary source told Al Watan that the Majority Bloc agreed to abandon its plans to merge the two interpellations on the condition that the government gives assurances that the two motions will be discussed in sequence without the need for the minister to resign. Alternatively, the majority proposed that the government agree on debating the second interpellation first. However, the government rejected the request.

Commenting on this issue, MP Jamaan AlHarbash affirmed that Al-Sultan offered the discussion of the two interpellations in sequence without a merger, but the government ‘escaped.’

The lawmaker added that the Majority Bloc will convene a meeting today to make a decision, stressing that the documents in their possession will be shown even if Minister Al-Shamali goes.

In the meantime, there have been reports on internet sites that the minister has resigned, but

Egyptians vote for Mubarak successor in historic poll

CAIRO: Egyptians voted Wednesday in the country’s first free presidential elections, with Islamists and secularists vying for power with competing visions of an Egypt liberated of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak’s iron grip.

Long queues of people, many in a festive mood, wound their way outside polling stations across the country throughout the day after polls opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT). More than 50 million eligible voters have been called to choose one of 12 candidates wrestling to succeed ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Voting over two days is taking place at 13,000 polling stations, with initial results expected on Sunday. Voting ends at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on both days. A senior interior ministry official said police were on standby across the country and helping soldiers secure polling stations. The election marks the final phase of a tumultuous transition overseen by the ruling military council after Mubarak’s ouster in a popular uprising last year.

Pollsters say the large number of voters undecided between candidates reflecting radically different trends, and the novelty of a free presidential vote, More on 4 make Wednesday’s election almost impossible to call.

Morgan Stanley to adjust prices on Facebook trades NEW YORK: Morgan Stanley told brokers on Wednesday it is reviewing every Facebook Inc trade and will make price adjustments for retail customers who paid too much during the social network company’s debut last week, according to an internal memo. Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of Facebook’s initial public offering on Friday, in the memo also said “many” of the first-day trades have now been processed and are appearing in client accounts. The company did not specify how much it expected to pay in total price adjustments.

“All orders are currently being reviewed for best execution pricing,” the memo, which was obtained by Reuters, said. “We expect there will be a number of price adjustments. The largest adjustments will be processed first over the next several days and the remaining adjustments will be completed as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.” A “very limited number of orders” are still pending, but Morgan Stanley told its more than 17,000 brokers that it expects to have remaining orders resolved and booked Wednesday. Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the memo but declined to elaborate. -Reuters

Amir inaugurates Warba Bank, affirms supporting special cases

the news has not been officially confirmed until yesterday evening. After the breakdown of the negotiations that took place between the government and the majority, Al-Sultan emerged at the Chamber announcing that the scheduled parliamentary session has been adjourned due to the absence of government ministers apart from the Minister of Housing and National Assembly Affairs Shuaib Al-Muwaizri. Earlier, MP Obeid AlWasmi announced that he was withdrawing his interpellation motion against the finance minister, and expressed hope that the government would not come up with another pretext to prevent the discussion of the second interpellation.

Reacting to this development, MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl accused Al-Wasmi of wasting two days of Parliament’s time by disrupting sessions. He added that the government remains firm on its position despite the latest move by Al-Wasmi and the majority to which he belongs. In a related development, Deputy Speaker Khaled Al-Sultan asserted that the current Parliament will serve out its four-year mandate, while MP Khaled AlTahous defiantly stated that the majority will not be intimidated by the dissolution of Parliament.

“If they are willing to disband the National Assembly, let them go ahead now,” the opposition MP was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, the Minister of Information Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah underscored on Wednesday the government’s commitment to the position taken on Tuesday, which stresses the need to believe in the proper application of the National Assembly’s bylaw that govern the relationship between the executive and legislative authorities.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahamd Al-Sabah during the inauguration of Warba Bank on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (KUNA)

KUWAIT: The official inauguration of Warba Bank branches was held, on Wednesday, under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah at Sheikha Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmad’s Hall at Marina Hotel.

His Highness the Amir was received at the venue by Central Bank of Kuwait Governor Dr. Mohammad Yousef Al-Hashil and Warba Bank

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

US missiles ‘kill four in Pakistan’

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Kuwait’s trade surplus with Japan widens 48.6% TOKYO: Kuwait’s trade surplus with Japan widened 48.6 percent in April to 136.1 billion Japanese yen (1.7 billion US dollars) from a year earlier, remaining in the black for the 51st month in a row, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

Kuwaiti overall exports to Japan jumped 53.5 percent to 147.3 billion yen ($1.8 billion) for the 12th straight month of gain, and imports from Japan also expanded 157.5 percent year-on-year to 11.2 billion yen ($140 million) for the seventh consecutive month of growth, the ministry said in a preliminary report. The Middle East’s trade surplus with Japan also widened 13.7 percent to 1.136 trillion yen ($14.2 billion) last month, with Japan-bound exports from the region rising 19.5 percent from a More on 9 year earlier to 1.321 trillion yen ($16.5 billion).

Chairman and Managing Director Jassar Dakheel Al-Jassar. His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Parliament Speaker Ahmad Al-Sadoun, former House Speaker Jassim Al-Kharafi, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad AlSabah and state’s senior official attended the inMore on 3, See also 9 augural ceremony.

Skin from heart attack patients transformed into beating heart cells

LONDON: Scientists have turned skin tissue from heart attack patients into fresh, beating heart cells in a first step towards a new therapy for the condition according to The Guardian.

The procedure may eventually help scores of people who survive heart attacks but are severely debilitated by damage to the organ. By creating new heart cells from a patient’s own tissues, doctors avoid the risk of the cells being rejected by the immune system once they are transplanted.

Though the cells were not considered safe enough to put back into patients, they appeared healthy in the laboratory and beat in time with other cells when im-

planted into rats. “We have shown that it’s possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young - the equivalent to the stage his heart cells were in when he was just born,” said Lior Gepstein, a cardiologist at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

The technique was first demonstrated with human cells in 2007, when two teams of scientists, Shinya Yamanaka in Japan, and James Thomson in the US, identified “pluripotency” genes that could wind back the clock for adult cells to a younger stage of More on 15 development.

Iran presents proposals to world powers in Baghdad

DUBAI: Iran has presented its own “comprehensive” package of proposals to six world powers during talks between the two sides over its disputed nuclear program, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. “In this session of negotiations, Iran presented to the P5+1 a package comprising five points that include a range of nuclear and non-nuclear issues,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported. “In the first session, the P5+1 presented its proposals to Iran, but apparently from the Iranian point of view this package is not balanced”.

Meanwhile, the US State Department confirmed that major powers unveiled a detailed proposal laying out steps Iran could take to build confidence that its nuclear program is solely peaceful. “The EU3+3 side put forward a detailed proposal which includes confidence-building measures that can pave the way for Iran to demonstrate that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington. “This approach would also include step-by-step reciprocal steps aimed at near-term action on our part if Iran takes its own steps,” Nuland added. The six major powers are Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. -Reuters

Churchill’s will among millions published online

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The Cisne Branco, from Brazil, sails by the Statue of Liberty, in New York, to participate in Fleet Week activities, Wednesday, May 23, 2012. This year’s event marks the bicentennial of the War of 1812. (AP)

Amnesty accuses UN council of ‘failed leadership’

Ukrainian municipal workers create a flower bed, shaped to represent the EURO 2012 mascot Slavko, in central Kiev, Wednesday, May 23, 2012.(AP)

LONDON: Rights group Amnesty International lambasted the United Nations Security Council on Thursday as “tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose”. In its annual report, Amnesty said the failure of world powers to take stronger action on Syria was evidence that a sclerotic security council was hamstrung by vested interests, and also warned of abuses arising from Europe’s economic crisis.

Permanent security council members Russia, a key arms supplier to Syria, and China have shielded Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad from tough sanctions.

The United Nations says at least 9,000 civilians have been killed in Assad’s crackdown on a March 2011 uprising. Amnesty said the Security Council had failed to fulfill its mandate to take “prompt and effective” action to preserve international peace and security.

Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty told Reuters the security council should be reformed so that

a veto could not be used to block action in cases of gross human rights violations. “The issue of the failed leadership of the security council - the most damning example is Syria. It’s a live tragedy unfolding in front of our eyes,” Shetty said.

“There must be a way in which, when it comes to human rights abuse on the scale we’re talking about, the use of veto powers is simply not acceptable,” he said, adding that the number of UN observers in Syria should be boosted from the current 260. Amnesty said it hopes global leaders will redeem themselves at a U.N. meeting in July to agree an Arms Trade Treaty, by taking strong action to stop weapons reaching human rights violators. Amnesty says the security council’s five permanent members - Britain, the United States, China, Russia and France - account for some 70 percent of the global arms trade. “The UN meeting ... will be an acid test for politicians to place rights over self-

interest and profit,” Amnesty said.

The rights group also said tough austerity measures in Europe should not relieve states of their responsibilities. “They have a minimum core obligation to make sure that the basic economic social rights of the population are not affected, particularly the poorest sections of society,” Shetty said, referring to plans to cut health, housing and welfare spending. “Unfortunately decisions are being made without any consideration of the human rights impact,” he added. “Historically we’ve seen that at times of economic crisis you’ll start looking for scapegoats. The migrants, the refugees, the groups who practice a different religion,” Shetty said.

Protests against austerity cuts and against global economic inequality have erupted around the world, such as the Occupy movement, and Amnesty says some European countries and the United States have used excessive force to quell unrest. -Reuters

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ALWATAN DAILY

kuwait

THURsDAY, may 24, 2012

MP Al-Wasmi withdraws interpellation to end futile controversy Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Member of Parliament (MP) Obaid AlWasmi withdrew his interpellation that he had planned to file against the Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali during the Parliamentary session held on Wednesday. He explained that the government had stated that the questioning filed by three MPs violates the bylaw, and asserted that the merging is not possible, since it violates Article 137. He added that although he is sure that the matter is Constitutional, he chose to discuss two separate interpellations. However, despite that, the government did not attend the session. He went on to say that because he respects the Kuwaiti people and because he refuses to be part of a plot made by the government, he decided to withdraw the interpellation he had filed. He noted that Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali will have to face the second interpellation enlisted on the schedule. He mentioned that by withdrawing the interpellation, he has ended a futile controversy, and apologized to the Kuwaiti people about what had occurred in the past two sessions. He renewed his vow to protect the Constitution and respect his authorities. He hoped that the government would, for once, prove that it respects the Constitution.

Moreover, he said that he cannot be held accountable for the government’s “illogical statements to the

public onion”. He asserted that the National Assembly is not responsible for the incompetency of institutions, but it is the government that has no plans, not the minister himself. He stressed that the majority is capable of withdrawing trust and calling for a no-cooperation vote, which makes it unable to file an interpellation.

Furthermore, he stated that if His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak believes that the bylaw is superior to the Constitution, then he does not deserve to be the premier. He criticized the government for stating that it rejects attempts to enforce certain stances on it and rejects the violation of Article 137 of the bylaw that has multiple interpretations. Despite that, the government had said that the interpellation filed against Al-Mubarak is unconstitutional.

Local media and analysts say Al-Shamali may step down rather than face a vote of no confidence or risk triggering a deeper political crisis.

The minister was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday when contacted by telephone.

“This is a political show. If he goes through one “grilling” session, I think he will resign afterwards because it is almost certain he cannot win a confidence vote,” said Ghanim Al-Najjar, political science professor at Kuwait University.

“If not there is a possibility of a snap election, this is growing by the hour,” he said.

Political activists call for establishing elections authority Hamad Al-Azmi Staff Writer

KUWAIT: A number of political activists affirmed that Kuwait’s democracy suffers from clear faults as well as wrong practices, calling for establishing a public authority that would act as a watchdog for enhancing democracy. They said that authority will be responsible for following up and organizing elections. They politicians, during a symposium held by the Free Voice Gathering two days ago by the title ‘The Suggested Law for Elections Public Authority’, said that they expect the authority to contribute effectively in reforming the current faults of the democratic process.

On his part, the Director of Kuwait Transparency Society Salah Al-Ghazali unveiled that the significant increase of corruption indicates that “there is something wrong in the democratic process”, adding that democracy should be part of the many suggested re-

forms. “We have to look for the faults, and then look for convenient solutions given that our Constitution was endorsed 50 years ago and it calls for maintaining democracy,” he added.

Al-Ghazali disclosed that most countries have independent authorities to organize elections. He considered the existence of such authority as a necessity.

He said that as a law of composed of 66 Articles has been prepared for establishing this authority, which is expected to enhance citizenship, loyalty and belonging to the country. The political activist Sami Al-Munaie emphasized that Kuwait is in dire need of such law and authority as they can support the democratic system in the country. The activist Ayad Al-Mutawi said that Kuwait’s democracy suffers from chaos especially in the field of voter registration and if such matter is not tackled then it will be considered as a kind of forgery.

He called all relevant government authorities to follow up and solve such problems.

Nation interested in keeping pace with latest aviation technologies DUBAI: Kuwait is always interested in getting familiarized with the latest technologies and innovations in the aviation industry, Kuwait General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Chairman Fawaz Al-Farah said on Wednesday. This remark was made at the “Airport Show” which kicked off Tuesday in Dubai. President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum inaugurated the event.

Al-Farah told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the event is one of the world’s leading events devoted exclusively to airport construction, operations, technology and services and is supported by leading international industry associations and local government authorities.

Kuwait’s participation in the show is vital since Kuwait Airport expansion and development plan will be

underway end of 2012, the GCAA chief pointed out.

He clarified that the expansion plan will consist of constructing a new passengers’ building that would encompass more than 13 million passengers yearly. According to plan the capacity of this new building would have room to contain 25 to 50 million passengers in the future. He further said that he seized the presence of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority Chairman at the event to discuss with him means of cooperation between the Kuwait and Dubai Aviation bodies.

The 12th edition of the show gathered 210 exhibitors from 32 countries. It hosts seminars designed to update the knowledge and professional skills of the aviation industry as well as buyers who will have the opportunity to present their projects giving the show attendees valuable insights into the regions industry outlook. -KUNA

Ambassador praises unprecedented democratic elections in Egypt

MP Obaid Al-Wasmi speaking with MP Fallah Al-Sawwagh during Parliament session on Monday, May 23, 2012.

(Al Watan)

Kuwait wholly committed to assisting Yemen: Official

RIYADH: Kuwait is committed to lending a helping hand to Yemen through fostering development projects there so as to enable that country to surmount its gamut of political, security, and economic hurdles, said a Kuwaiti official on Wednesday.

Voicing this commitment at the Friends of Yemen conference, taking place here, was head of the Kuwaiti delegation to the conference Khaled Al-Jarallah, who is undersecretary of the ministry of foreign affairs.

He informed the conference that Kuwait had allocated 200 million US dollars to Yemen at the recently held London donors’ conference, USD 90 million of which has already been turned over to Yemen and the rest had to be delayed due to unstable political conditions in recent times in that country.

However, he said next week Kuwait will sign an agreement in Sanaa to turn over $30 million more to Yemen and will also sign to finance two projects for the total balance of the $200 million commitment, said Al-Jarallah.

While he extended Kuwait’s condolences to Yemeni officials over the deaths of many victims in the recent explosion in that country, he noted the positive steps taken lately by Yemen to set in motion more effectively the Gulf Initiative.

Al-Jarallah encapsulated in his remarks to the conference Kuwait’s assistance to Yemen over the past half a century, having contributed seminally to building vital infrastructure projects there, including hospitals, universities, and hotels, among other mega undertakings. So much so that at one time the Kuwaiti ministry of foreign affairs set aside a full department for Yemeni affairs. Currently numerous Kuwaiti-funded projects are taking place in Yemen under the auspices of the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development (KFED), he pointed out.

He thanked Saudi Arabia for hosting the present conference and its recognition of the seriousness of the turmoil Yemen is currently experiencing and its dire need for regional help to ensure stability and total security in that nation.

The Friends of Yemen conference opened earlier today, was chaired by the Saudi Arabian foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, and was attended by delegations from 40 states, international, regional, and Islamic organizations. -KUNA

Kuwait extols Morocco’s human rights situation GENEVA: Kuwait Wednesday highly appreciated the situation of human rights and state of law reinforcement in Morocco. Delivering Kuwait’s speech at a United Nations (UN) human rights review meeting, Counselor with the Kuwaiti Permanent Delegation at the UN Talal AlMuteiri said the Kingdom of Morocco had carried out judicial reforms with a view to ensuring judicial independence so as to shore up and protect human rights in the country.

He also spoke highly of Morocco’s national human development initiative purposed to fight poverty and exclusion.

However, he urged Morocco to continue with efforts to pay compensations to victims of human rights abuses. -KUNA

Interior Minister receives Hamas chief

KUWAIT: First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah met here on Wednesday with the visiting head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Khaled Meshaal, a number of issues of common concern.

Meshaal is accompanied by deputy chief of Hamas political bureau Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk and member of political bureau Sami Khater. -KUNA

Kuwait takes part in friends of Yemen conference RIYADH: Undersecretary of Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry Khaled Al-Jarallah is representing the Gulf State at the third conference of Friends Yemen states which was held in the Saudi on Wednesday.

Officials, ministers, leading and eminent figures of more than 40 states, as well as international organizations, namely the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, took part in the broad convention, due to prepare for a forecast conference for donors’ states, scheduled in Saudi Arabia in July.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-

Qirbi said, in remarks published on Tuesday, the conference would address the GCC initiative for Yemen, constitutional amendments, financial reforms and preparations for parliamentary and presidential elections. He indicated that the conferees would look into other issues, namely Yemen’s economic hardships, namely scarce resources, the state budget deficit and the nation bad need for vital projects to renovate the infrastructure and utilities.

Al-Qirbi indicated that the conferees would discuss the armed forces’ need for logistics and training to help the forces

face Al-Qaeda and terrorism.

At the humanitarian level, Yemen needs support for an estimated one million refugees and half a million relocated people in the province of Saada -- “who constitute a burden for the Yemeni economy.” The Yemeni delegation, including senior officials, will be headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindwa.

The Friends of Yemen group includes countries from the GCC and the European Union as well as the United States, Japan, Canada, Turkey, and prominent international organizations. -KUNA

Al-Shamali faces questioning as uncertainty looms continued from page 1

Men wait in line outside a polling station in Cairo Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (Reuters)

CAIRO: The Kuwaiti ambassador to Egypt Dr. Rashid Al-Hamad praised on Wednesday the genuine democratic demonstration now experienced by the Egyptian people for the first time since eruption of the revolution on Jan. 25.

Egypt is now witnessing an unprecedented democratic polling experience, namely the presidential elections, the ambassador said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), upon launch of the polls early

Wednesday.

The ambassador expressed confidence that the ruling military council would succeed in the holding of the polls noting that the people headed to the ballot center on a day marked with a major turning point in history of the nation.

He also praised the authorities for supervising and securing the polling process, namely, the supreme electoral commission, the police and the army. -KUNA

This came at a press conference held by the minister following the final adjournment of Wednesday’s session.

Sheikh Mohammed said, “I assure that the government is committed to its position taken on Tuesday was stemming from our belief in the importance of proper application of the parliament’s bylaw which governs the relationship between us all.” “We remain ready to cooperate with our brothers in the National Assembly as stipulated in the bylaw without derogation and without recording any bylaw precedents that may be reflected on us in the future,” he added.

Al-Mubarak said that “much talk about the Ministers ascending the platform to discuss interpellations that we believe are unconstitutional ... and to justify the position taken by the government Tuesday, I quite easily can say that if such (government) position had been taken when the first unconstitutional interpellation was submitted in the 3rd legislative term, unconstitutional interpellations would not have been submitted after that”.

He said the government “has supported an important article in the bylaw

and avoided recording a serious constitutional precedent through the activation of this article, so as not to be accused in the future if the government was to take this action on the grounds that it had already been agreed on in the past, and you should accept it in the future.” He reiterated that the government extends its cooperation with the National Assembly, noting that the “practices witnessed by the Abdullah Al-Salem Hall during the past three months confirm clearly and obviously that the government has no objection to the deal in accordance with the bylaw and constitutional precedents but we put an end to the infringement of the bylaw through the measure which we took yesterday.” Concerning accuracy of reports that say the government rejected the Majority bloc’s request to separate the two questionings, Sheikh Mohammad said “our position is documented in the minutes of the parliamentary session, and as stated by the Finance Minister he wanted to discuss the two interpellations separately and this is our position and we have also issued a statement on Tuesday through the Council of Ministers in which we emphasized on this principle.” In response to a question regarding whether the government will attend the session on

Thursday, the Minister replied, “certainly.” And on the “secret” of the absence of ministers from attending Wednesday’s session, Al-Mubarak said the government was not absent, but was present in the rest house “to confirm that our position of today’s (Wednesday) meeting is a continuation of our position yesterday (Tuesday).

We will not enable the Parliament to vote on the Article (137) of the bylaw, which will establish an unsound precedent”.

In response to a question regarding the existence of two ministers in Abdullah Al-Salem Hall at the beginning of the meeting and the absence of the government, the minister said “We were gathered in the break to reach a solution with the MPs and, unfortunately, the discussion extended between us which led to the delay of the session and then its adjournment.

He denied in response to a question that the Minister of Finance is a “red line”, indicating that the minister’s statement in Tuesday’s session on his willingness to discuss the two interpellations “confirms that he is not a red line.” Sheikh Mohammed said, “ We hope to reach a solution and we are ready to enter Abdullah AlSalem Hall if there is an obligation not to vote on the Article (137) of the bylaw.”

ALWATAN DAILY

KUWAIT

THURSdAY, may 24, 2012

Amir inaugurates Warba Bank, affirms supporting special cases

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Kuwait discusses health plan at WHO’s 56th session

GENEVA: Kuwait discussed, on Wednesday, at the 56th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) its health plan to fight non-communicable diseases.

Undersecretary at the General Health department at the Ministry of Health Dr. Qais Al-Duwairi told the assembly that Kuwait has formed a higher committee to counter diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes and blood pressure turbulence as a measurement toward a better public health.

This committee takes the responsibility of raising awareness toward a better health by encouraging the adoption of a healthy life style, away from bad eating habits and smoking.

He also pointed out that Kuwait has received the support of WHO’s regional office that provided the country with the international health expertise needed to lessen the impact of these diseases. -KUNA

People vent via social media networks: Seminar

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (right) greeting attendees during the official inauguration of Warba Bank branches on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (KUNA)

KUWAIT: The official inauguration of Warba Bank branches was held, on Wednesday, under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah at Sheikha Salwa Sabah AlAhmad’s Hall at Marina Hotel.

His Highness the Amir was received at the venue by Central Bank of Kuwait Governor Dr. Mohammad Yousef Al-Hashil and Warba Bank Chairman and Managing Director Jassar Dakheel Al-Jassar.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Parliament Speaker Ahmad Al-Sadoun, former House Speaker Jassim AlKharafi, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and state’s senior official attended the inaugural ceremony.

The event began with a performance of the national anthem and a recitation of verses from the Holy Quran.

Then, Al-Jassar delivered his speech to the assembly where he pointed out the establishment of Warba Bank is a symbolism of the country’s interest in going forward with its development plan to achieve a comprehensive rise to its community.

Warba Bank is a new financial monument which has seen the light due to the efforts made by the government, the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait Investment Authority, Warba Bank’s management as well an equal participation from all of the country’s citizens.

“Despite the challenges faced within the financial system of the bank, in particular, and the

global financial crisis, in general, Warba Bank has made it a success,” Al-Jassar noted.

He finally pointed out that the path to excellence can only be achieved through taking up transparency and adopting firm moral and ethical beliefs.

At the end of the ceremony, commemorative gifts were present to His Highness the Amir.

Meanwhile, the Amir received on Wednesday the student, Aisha Hussein Al-Hashash, who presented His Highness with a book, titled My Handicap Is Secret of My Success, and a design of the project for renovating Mishref palace.

His Highness praised spirit of challenge enjoyed by the female student, affirming the state keenness on caring for cases of special needs. -KUNA

Light shed on Kuwait’s support for development worldwide at conference KUWAIT: Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah addressed inauguration of a conference, themed outlook of economic development of the Muslim nation, on Wednesday noting Kuwait’s initiatives of backing development across the world.

Sheikh Ali, addressing the conferees on behalf of His Highness the Amir, welcomed the participants, namely the eminent personalities and elite intellectual figures that came to the country from various corners of the world “for sake of taking part in this conference for meeting aspiration of the nation of working out future outlook.

“This conference is held at a time the Muslim nation is facing tremendous challenges, namely globalization, rapid technological developments, as well as necessity to improve image of the Muslim nation worldwide, in addition to other internal challenges such as need to alleviate poverty, securing water and food security, backing human development at the health and educational levels, as well as realizing sustainable development, upgrading administration for bolstering peace and stability.” Kuwait was among first nations in backing economic development in the Arab world, he said, alluding to establishment of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in 1962, shortly after independence of the state. This fund contributed in funding development schemes in 45 Muslim countries, at an overall value of USD 13 billion, some 76 percent of the fund operations.

Moreover, Kuwait was a founding member of the Islamic Development Bank, set up in 1975.This bank played a role in supporting development and trade among the Islamic states. Therefore, Kuwait boasts hosting this convention, aimed at working out a future outlook for economic development in the Muslim world, “on basis of our doctrine of tolerance that calls for construction on earth. Sheikh Ali praised the Social Reforms Society for organizing the broad conference. For his part, Islamic Society for Social Reform (Al-Islah Al-Ijtmaee) Chairman Hamoud Hamad Al-Roumi said the conference is held in cooperation with Kuwait Ministry of Waqfs and Islamic Affairs and Wales-based Ummah Development Initiative LTD. “The event aims to help develop Muslim societies in all domains, particularly economy,” AlRoumi said. He pointed out that Al-Islah Al-Ijtmaee has been striving to achieve this noble goal since its inception in 1963.

Deputy Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and other participants at the inauguration of a conference, themed outlook of economic development of the Muslim nation, on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (KUNA)

“This conference is held at a critical time following a global financial crisis that hardly hit the economies of many countries since 2008,” he said.

Al-Roumi underlined that development of societies and the whole world is an Islamic imperative.

“Islam even considers serving and developing the society as the most God-loved worship,” he explained. He expressed hopes the conference would come up with practical recommendations to develop Kuwait and the entire world. Al-Roumi thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Ministry of Waqfs and Islamic Affairs for sponsoring the conference.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Assistant Undersecretary of Ministry of Waqfs and Islamic Affairs Mutlaq Al-Qarawi said Islam has practical solutions for many of the economic plights of world.

He added that Kuwait is capable of occupying an advanced position on the new world economic order. “Kuwait has great potential that could help grow the world economy,” he said.

Al-Qarawi hailed the Amir vision which con-

siders development and charity work in all world countries as the main pillars of his general policy.

He underscored that the Kuwaiti governmental and non-governmental organizations are doing their best to participate in implementing this policy. He hailed the Al-Islah Al-Ijtmaee society for their sponsorship of the event.

Moreover, Ummah Development Initiative Director Mahmoud Akef said the conference debates the current global economic and financial crises and their impacts on Muslim societies.

“The conferees also will mull Islamic solutions for these crises and how to alleviate people sufferings,” he said. Akef added that the conference will discuss and set certain criteria for economic development from the Islamic perspective.

Hussein Hamad Hassan, director of Dar Al-Sharia society in the United Arab Emirates, thanked HH the Amir of Kuwait for his patronage of the conference. He asserted that Kuwait has been a pioneering and a role model in charity and development work in the world. -KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti and French diplomats and intellectual agreed that social media networks have become a source to vent freedom for many people who lacked freedom of expression in past.

French Ambassador to Kuwait Nada Yafi, in a seminar about modern media means, nationalism and political contribution, said the State of Kuwait enjoyed great space of freedom and an influential civil society action.

When France chaired the G8 group last week, she said, it invited Kuwait to co-chair the group in order to boost future cooperation.

Yafi said social communication means have become important for societies because they were quick means to interact.

The seminar is co-organized by the French institute here, Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA), Kuwait lawyers Association and Kuwait Graduates Society.

Chairman of Kuwait Graduates Society Saud Al-Enezi said the seminar was a good opportunity to interact between Kuwait and France.

He said his society organized many seminars about social media networks,

Minister Safar inaugurates first Kuwait Green Building Forum

KUWAIT: Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs Dr. Fadhil Safar Ali Safar inaugurated Wednesday the first Kuwait Green Building Forum.

In his opening speech, Minister Safar said the forum aims to raise the awareness about eco-friendly buildings, local and international efforts to fight global warming and protect the environment.

It also aims to promote international green building system, known as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, he said.

The minister explained that this system was promulgated to improve the environmental and economic performance of new and existing commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings.

The rating system consists of the following major categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality.

Minister Safar disclosed that this international system was applied in the new Kuwait airport.

He expressed hopes the forum would end up with practical recommendations that help achieve its goals.

Kuwait Green Building Forum aims to educate, inform, network and unite forces for spreading the green building

approaches to administration, said Undersecretary of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Mohammad Al-Roumi on the fringes of a training course currently held by the institute for senior Kuwaiti officials.

The current training course, Al-Roumi told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on Wednesday, tackles the best ways of delivering governmental procedures properly and quickly.

movement. It will provide developers, architects, building consultants, engineers, contractors, facility managers and decision makers with a platform to explore latest trends in green buildings and to showcase green building products, equipment, services and technologies.

Participants in the forum includes builders, architects, building consultants, code officials, designers, government officials, contractors, renewable energy contractors, manufacturers, researchers, students, suppliers and utility specialists.

Kuwait Green Building Forum will focus on all aspects of green design, construction, retrot, and maintenance leading to high performance buildings, and will examine best practices and project delivery models that result in more e efficient methods of designing sustainability into any project.

It will provide a perfect platform to meet face-to-face and network with industry experts and peers to exchange views, debate concepts and develop knowledge about emerging green building systems, materials and technologies.

Alongside the conference, a specialized exhibition will take place showcasing the latest sustainable and environmentally friendly technology, solutions, systems, products, materials and supplies that are adopted for green buildings and green retorting. -KUNA

Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs Dr. Fadhil Safar Ali Safar (center) inaugurating the first Kuwait Green Building Forum on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (KUNA)

Kuwait signs MoU with French administration institute PARIS: Kuwait signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) to hold specialized training courses for senior Kuwaiti employees in the country’s various government bodies.

The MoU aims, for the next three years, at teaching the trainees on the latest technological systems and the newest

whose negative effects would be inciting racism, sectarianism and tribalism.

However, social media networks boosted the meaning of democracy among people, so they moved a step forward from just casting a ballot to interacting with events.

Kuwait University (KU) philosophy professor Dr. Mohammad Al-Wuhaib said an individual could not live alone but needed groups and a social organization.

KU political sciences professor Dr. Ghanem Al-Najjar said social media networks were like weapons of mass destruction but without casualties or remains, but their impacts were devastating depending on the way they were used.

Al-Najjar criticized the government’s bids to crack down on users of social media networks was countered with enormous attacks by unanimous users.

Rakan Al-Nisf, member of the executive office of the national alliance, said people were coping with technological development.

He called on governments to cope with this development and not to fight it but rather benefit from it. -KUNA

He stressed that CSC is very concerned with enhancing the performance of its working staff through conducting such cooperation with specialized institutes.

On his part, head of International Affairs department at the institute said this MoU is only an extension of the deep relations between Kuwait and France.

There are 10 senior officials participating in the train-

ing course held in France. They are from the Ministries of Defense, Public Works, Electricity and water, Planning and Health and some CSC employees.

The Ecole Nationale d’Administration (National School of Administration) is one of the most prestigious of French graduate schools. It educates high civil servants of French local authorities. -KUNA

4

ALWATAN DAILY

regional

The vote of a martyr

By Hossam Fathi Staff Writer

The long lines of freedom, dignity, and pride are enough proof that the Egyptian people have become aware of the importance of the presidential elections, and their firm belief that those elections cannot be forged. Egyptians are aware that, for the first time in history, their votes have value and meaning.

What is happening in Egypt now is a significant accomplishment of the revolution, since Egypt was a country that had never chosen a president that will rule the country according to a Constitution.

Today is the birth of a new, free Egypt, and also the birth of a new style of political practices and culture that Egyptians have never known in the past. We can elect a president, and we must accept the results of those elections, since the winner will have been chosen by the majority. It is the will of the people.

This new president will be granted four years to fulfill his vows that he had made during his electoral campaign. This new president is fully aware that everyone will be closely watching his actions; waiting for a mistake, in order to topple him is he proves to be less than promised. This new president will not be immune to criticism. hossam@alwatan.com.kw Twitter:@hossamfathy66

Lebanon FM says Arab mediation to free hostages ‘soon’ BEIRUT: Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said on Wednesday that Lebanese Shiites kidnapped in northern Syria by insurgents hoping to trade the captives for detainees in Syrian government custody would be freed soon. “Our information is that, God willing, the Lebanese will be released very soon,” he told Reuters. “We can’t say who is conducting the negotiations, but the matter is ongoing and, God willing, we’re going to reach a positive result.” Mansour confirmed the party negotiating for the release of the hostages was Arab, but declined to specify further.

Families of Lebanese Shiites abducted in northern Aleppo as they returned from pilgrimage in Iran on Tuesday blocked roads in mainly Shiite neighborhoods of Beirut, demanding the release of men they said were held captive by Syrian rebels.

Relatives of those being held said rebels who seized a bus carrying the pilgrims set free the females and elderly men, but held 13 men to demand the release of insurgents. Syria’s state SANA news agency said there were 12 captives, one of them a Syrian.

The Arabic-language Asharq Alawsat on Wednesday quoted Mustafa Al-Sheikh, a former Syrian general exiled to Turkey who claims to have influence over rebels on the ground, as saying his Free Syrian Army was not behind the kidnapping.

The abductions - which drew a call for calm from the head of Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim political movement and guerrilla group which is Syria’s top ally in Lebanon - follow the worst unrest in Beirut since 2008 sectarian clashes that threatened to become civil war. At least two people were killed in gun battles between members of rival Sunni Muslim factions in Beirut on Sunday that spread from northern Lebanon - a stronghold of conservative Sunnis who back the Sunni-led revolt against Syria’s rulers, who belong to the minority Alawite sect.

The northern city of Tripoli saw fighting between Sunni Islamist foes of Syrian President Bashar AlAssad, the Lebanese army and Alawite supporters of Assad that killed eight people this month after the arrest of a Sunni supporter of the Syrian revolt. A Lebanese court on Tuesday released Shadi Al-Moulawi, who still faces a charge of membership in a “terrorist” group, on 333 US dollars’ bail on Tuesday, after the killing of two Sunni clerics at an army checkpoint in the north triggered the Beirut clashes. -Reuters

THURsDAY, may 24, 2012

Egyptians vote for Mubarak successor in historic poll CAIRO: Egyptians voted Wednesday in the country’s first free presidential elections, with Islamists and secularists vying for power with competing visions of an Egypt liberated of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak’s iron grip.

Long queues of people, many in a festive mood, wound their way outside polling stations across the country throughout the day after polls opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT).

More than 50 million eligible voters have been called to choose one of 12 candidates wrestling to succeed ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Voting over two days is taking place at 13,000 polling stations, with initial results expected on Sunday.

Voting ends at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) on both days. A senior interior ministry official said police were on standby across the country and helping soldiers secure polling stations.

The election marks the final phase of a tumultuous transition overseen by the ruling military council after Mubarak’s ouster in a popular uprising last year.

Pollsters say the large number of voters undecided between candidates reflecting radically different trends, and the novelty of a free presidential vote, make Wednesday’s election almost impossible to call.

Turnout in the scorching heat appeared lower than in parliamentary and senate elections last winter, but many voters will cast their ballots later in the day and on Thursday.

Leading contenders include former foreign minister and Arab League chief Amr Mousa, who is seen as an experienced politician and diplomat but like Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister, is accused of belonging to the old regime. The powerful Muslim Brother-

Egyptians queue to vote in the country’s first free presidential election at a polling station in Cairo on May 23, 2012. (AFP)

hood’s candidate Mohammed Mursi faces competition from Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former member of the Islamist movement who portrays himself as a consensus choice with a wide range of support.

Despite an official ban on campaigning during the voting, the candidates have continued giving interviews to shore up their support and denounce rivals. Shafiq told AFP in an interview that the country would face “huge prob-

lems” if an Islamist won and that he was the only one who could stop the fundamentalists from spreading their influence.

Faruq Sultan, the head of the electoral commission, told a news conference that the commission had referred reports of violations to the public prosecutor.

The next president will inherit a struggling economy, deteriorating security and the challenge of uniting a nation divided by the upris-

Big powers, Iran meet in Baghdad to ease nuclear standoff BAGHDAD: World powers held talks with Iran on Wednesday to test its readiness under pressure of sanctions to scale back its disputed nuclear program, seeking to defuse a decadeold standoff and avert the threat of a Middle East war.

The stakes could hardly be higher: global oil markets are edgy over sanctions on Iran’s vital crude exports and the possibility of Israeli strikes against its defiant arch-enemy, which has threatened reprisals if it comes under attack.

Both sides were upbeat as the meeting between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain began, the second since diplomacy resumed in April in Istanbul after a 15-month hiatus, during which a war of words escalated.

The powers’ overall goal is an Iranian agreement to measures that would allay concerns it is using its nuclear energy program as a cover for designing atomic bombs. Iran’s priority will be to negotiate relief from sanctions damaging its

economy. A pivotal proposal by the six, led by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, was for Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium to the higher fissile concentration of 20 percent, her spokesman Michael Mann said after talks began.

That is the Iranian nuclear advance most worrying to the West since it largely overcomes technical obstacles to reaching 90-percent, or bomb-grade, enrichment. Iran says it is enhancing the fissile purity of uranium only for medical research.

“We have a new offer on the table which addresses our main concerns about the Iranian nuclear program. The 20-percent enrichment question,” Mann told reporters. “We hope the Iranians respond positively and we can make progress today.”

In a separate interview with Iran’s state-run English-language Press TV, Mann said no final deal was expected in Baghdad because progress was likely to be only gradual.

But he said toughened sanctions, especially an EU ban on Iranian oil exports due to take full effect on July 1, had helped to draw Iran finally into serious negotiations.

“We have put forward some things from our side to give back to the Iranians,” Mann said, welcoming the approach of chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili. “The mood music is certainly good between Jalili and Mrs Ashton is certainly good and hopefully we can get a positive result.” Aides to Ashton did not rule out negotiations going into a second day.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, speaking to reporters in Tehran, said: “The ideas fielded to us speak of the fact that the other side would like to make Baghdad a success.We hope that in a day or two we can bring good news.”

Salehi also warned that Iran would not bow to pressure. “Their policies of pressure and intimidation are futile. They have to adopt policies to show goodwill to solve this issue.”

Iran suggested it would try to parlay its

Syrian troops storm rebel bastion

Yemen starving as world stands by say aid groups LONDON: Almost half of Yemen’s population does not have enough food to eat and world powers are unwilling to help because of the unstable political situation, seven aid agencies said on Wednesday.

The charities called for urgent aid to avert a catastrophe as representatives from Western and Arab Gulf nations were meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss how to tackle poverty and lawlessness in Yemen, where militant group Al-Qaeda are waging war against the government. Penny Lawrence, international director at Oxfam, said donors were being short-sighted by focusing solely on politics and security in the country. “Failure to respond adequately to the humanitarian needs now will put more lives at risk, further entrench poverty and could undermine political transition in the country,” she said in a statement. Five million people are in need of urgent care in Yemen and 44 percent of the population - about 10 million people - do not have enough to eat, the aid groups said. But the United Nations’ humanitarian appeal for Yemen is short of 262 million Us dollars, with only 43 percent of funding raised.

International donors argue the chaotic security situation in the country makes it impossible to know whether their money will be used effectively. But the work of aid groups in Yemen proves assistance can be delivered in a transparent and accountable way, agencies CARE, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Mercy Corps, Oxfam and Save the Children said in a statement. “Donors need to heed the lessons of the Horn of Africa and respond now before the crisis further deepens,” said Hashem Awnallah, Islamic Relief Yemen country director. The United States, European Union, France, Egypt and Russia were attending the Riyadh summit onWednesday, as were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. -Reuters

ing and its sometimes deadly aftermath, but his powers are yet to be defined by a new constitution. Islamist candidates have promised an Islamic-based project that has prompted fears among secularists and Egypt’s Coptic minority over personal freedoms and raised questions about the future of the country’s lucrative tourism industry.

Shafiq and Mousa have vowed to maintain stability and restore law and order but their ties to the old regime sparked fears of renewed protests by those who will feel their revolution threatened.

The election caps a rollercoaster transition, marked by political upheaval and bloodshed, but which also witnessed democratic parliamentary elections that saw Islamist groups score a crushing victory.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), in power since Mubarak’s ouster, has urged Egyptians to turn out en masse to the polls, while warning against any “violation.” The SCAF has vowed to hand power to civilian rule by the end of June, after a president is elected, but many fear its retreat will be just an illusion.

The army, with its vast and opaque economic power, wants to keep its budget a secret by remaining exempt from parliamentary scrutiny, maintain control of military-related legislation and secure immunity from prosecution.

Mubarak, 84 and ailing, may watch the election from a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo as he awaits the verdict of his murder trial on June 2. The former strongman is accused of involvement in the killing of some 850 protesters during the uprising and of corruption. -AFP

A Syrian soldier signals as he stands close to a damaged bus following an explosion which killed three people along the international airport road leading from the capital Damascus, on May 23, 2012. (AFP)

Oil minister admits sanctions hurting DAMASCUS: Syrian forces tried to storm the rebel bastion of Rastan Wednesday under cover of heavy gunfire, shelling and rocket bombardment, reports said, as Damascus admitted sanctions were biting hard. The rebel Free Syrian Army, meanwhile, denied it was behind the kidnapping of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in the north, an incident adding to tensions in neighboring Lebanon which is already divided between pro- and anti-Damascus camps.

There was no word on any Rastan casualties, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 12 people were killed nationwide, including seven troops shot dead at Qalamun in Damascus province as they tried to defect to the rebellion.

Soldiers were trying to overrun Rastan for the second time in 10 days, with shells crashing into the town at the rate of “one a minute” at one stage, according to the Britain-based watchdog.

An activist told AFP that Free Syrian Army fighters were defending Rastan’s entrances but that “regime forces are being strengthened with new deployments,” including from the elite Republican Guard.

“Electricity has been cut off in Rastan, and water tanks have been shelled,” said activist Abu Rawan.

“There is also a severe lack of food because the market is closed and we can’t bring food in from nearby villages.”

Hours later, the activist said the army assault eased when a team of UN observers entered Rastan.

“The situation is calm now because the UN monitors have arrived” having heard the shelling, Abu Rawan told AFP, adding, however, “God protect us when they leave.” Elsewhere, troops fired on protesters in Syria’s second city Aleppo as about 1,500 people rallied against the regime, triggering armed clashes, said the Observatory, without providing any details on casualties.

Activists said lawyers and sympathizers with the revolt staged a sit-in at Aleppo’s judicial complex to demand the release of political prisoners, as well as pay tribute to four students killed at a May 3 rally in the northern city.

The uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad broke out with peaceful democracy protests in March 2011, prompting a fierce crackdown. More than 12,600 people have been killed in the bloodshed, nearly 1,500 of them since a UN-backed truce took effect April 12, according to

Observatory figures.

The bloodshed has persisted despite the ceasefire brokered by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, as well as previous diplomatic measures including several rounds of sanctions against AlAssad’s regime.

Oil Minister Sufian Allaw admitted on Wednesday that punitive measures imposed by the West have cost Syria almost 4 billion US dollars and caused shortages in fuel products.

“The oil sector has lost almost $4 billion because of the unjust European and US sanctions, blocking exports and imports of oil and oil derivatives,” he told a news conference.

The minister acknowledged “new difficulties” in meeting Syria’s energy needs, especially for domestic gas.

“The measures taken by the EU and United States are behind this crisis. They want to put pressure on the Syrian people by widening the embargo,” he said, adding: “We will also overcome the new difficulties.”

Allaw said negotiations were under way with Russia for a long-term energy deal, while a Venezuelan vessel loaded with 35,000 tons of fuel oil docked in Syria this week and another was expected shortly. -AFP

reported rapprochement with the IAEA into a deal in Baghdad to relax sanctions inflicting increasing damage on its economy, including a European Union oil embargo due to take effect in July. But Western officials ruled out such a weighty concession so soon, even though their call for a “step-by-step” negotiating process is widely seen as a tacit admission that sanctions will have to be eased at some point.

“Sanctions are only going to be lifted if we have significant and genuine progress,” one diplomat said.

Israel, widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, has loudly expressed its skepticism about the chances for diplomacy to rein in its major adversary.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was concerned that the world powers would not press hard enough to put a full stop its nuclear program and that Israel would keep all options open - an allusion to military action - to achieve that goal. -Reuters

Algerian government calls on losing parties to step aside

ALGIERS: Fifteen Algerian political parties that claim to have been cheated of votes in May 10 elections should leave parliament if they refuse to accept the result, the interior minister said Wednesday.

The parties, including four Islamist groups, had expected to pick up a sizeable slice of seats in the legislative polls, the first since Arab Spring protests in neighboring nations forced Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to launch a reform package allowing new parties to run for power. But the 15 parties won only a combined 28 seats out of parliament’s 462 and on Monday, amid claims of voter fraud, they said they would set up a parallel “constituent assembly” when the new assembly is inaugurated Saturday.

Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila told Algerian news agency APS on Wednesday that the losing parties must accept the poll, or else step aside.

“When you don’t recognize parliament, you resign,” he said. The new assembly will be dominated by the National Liberation Front (FLN), which has ruled Algeria since independence and took 221 seats, while another party loyal to the regime took 70. Among those parties complaining of vote rigging is that of Islamist leader Abdallah Djaballah, who was confident of broad support during the campaign but only won seven seats.

Many Algerians, opposition parties and analysts say the results announced by the interior ministry and confirmed by the constitutional council are a sham.

Bouteflika invited 500 foreign observers for the election, including 150 from the European Union, who gave a qualified endorsement of the official results but monitored only a few of the 40,000 polling stations.

On Wednesday the national election commission said political parties had requested a delay to the publication of a report into the elections after some parties said they wanted to amend it.

The report is expected to meet some problems and the commission has already lambasted two cabinet ministers who visited polling stations while voting was going on. Campaigning is not usually allowed at polls.

Separately, FLN head Abdelaziz Belkhadem is under fire from party members, who want to impeach him for nepotism. A party spokesman told Wednesday’s El Khabar newspaper that Belkhadem would seek a vote of confidence June 10. -AFP

ALWATAN DAILY

WORLD

thursdAY, may 24, 2012

Stage set for Hollande-Merkel showdown at EU summit

French new President Francois Hollande set for EU summit showdown with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

(Reuters)

Leaders of France and Germany have not held their own mini-summit beforehand BRUSSELS: European leaders will try to breathe life into their stricken economies at a summit over dinner on Wednesday, but disagreement over the issue of mutual euro-zone bonds and whether they can alleviate two years of debt turmoil will dominate the gathering.

For the first time in more than two years of debtcrisis meetings, the leaders of France and Germany have not held their own mini-summit beforehand to agree positions, marking a significant shift in the traditional Franco-German axis.

Instead, new French President Francois Hollande will meet Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in Paris to discuss policy, before the pair travel to Brussels for the 1800 GMT summit.

Despite fears that Greece could exit the currency bloc, Spain, where the economy is in recession and the banking system is in need of wholesale restructuring, is at the frontline of the crisis, with concerns that it could follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout. Hollande’s election victory has significantly changed the terms of the debate in Europe, with his call for greater emphasis on growth now a rallying cry for other leaders.

That has set up a showdown with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who supports growth but whose primary objective is budget austerity and structural reform. While she and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy did not always see eye-to-eye, in Hollande she is faced by someone with a different vision.

In his first EU summit, Hollande has also chosen to make a stand on euro bonds - the idea of mutualizing euro zone debt - despite consistent German opposition to an idea that has been hotly debated for more than two years.

He will have support from Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, among other leaders. But Merkel shows no sign of dropping her objections to the proposal, which she has said can only be discussed once there is much closer fiscal union in Europe.

The Netherlands, Finland and some smaller euro zone member states support her in that position, setting the stage for what could be a divisive discussion.

Austria’s chancellor supports Hollande’s line, but the

finance minister backs Merkel’s. “(Euro bonds) are the wrong prescription at the wrong time with the wrong side-effects,” Germany’s deputy finance minister, Steffen Kampeter, said this week, underlining Berlin’s view.

Or as one EU diplomat put it more colorfully: “Introducing eurobonds is the equivalent of ringing the bell for a happy hour so the inebriated can postpone their hangover indefinitely.”

No decisions will be made at Wednesday’s summit, which is intended to promote ideas on jobs and growth ahead of another meeting at the end of June, but it is clear the debate will be intense, not just over euro bonds but over how to rescue European banks and whether to give more time to struggling euro zone countries to meet their budget deficit goals.

Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic affairs, threw his weight behind the euro bonds proposal on Tuesday, calling for a “road map” that sets out the legal and fiscal steps needed to deliver the instruments in the years ahead.

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, the body which represents EU leaders, said heads of state and government should abandon taboos as they think about the future of Europe and its economic framework.

“It is not too early to think ahead and to reflect on possible more fundamental changes to economic and monetary union,” he wrote in a letter to the 27 EU leaders.

As well as exploring ways of resolving the sovereign debt problems that have torn the economies of Greece, Portugal and Ireland apart and threaten the stability of the euro, the leaders will assess how to stabilize their banking systems. Spain is a particular concern, with a number of its banks laden with bad debts incurred by excessive lending during a property boom that has long since turned to bust and still has some way yet to go before it touches bottom.

The total amount of bad debt is estimated at more than 180 billion euros (240 billion US) , while efforts to recapitalize and restructure the stricken banks have so far fallen short.

One proposal on the table is for the euro zone’s rescue funds to be allowed to recapitalize banks directly, rather than having to lend to countries for onlending to the banks.

But that is another idea with which Germany is uncomfortable, even though Merkel said on Tuesday a way should be found to dismantle banks across borders, a possible nod to a pan-euro-zone bank restructuring scheme. -Reuters

Philippine chief justice ordered back to witness stand MANILA: The Philippines’ top judge was Wednesday told to rise from his sick bed and take the witness stand at his impeachment trial, a day after walking out of the court and suffering an apparent heart attack.

The Philippines’ top judge was Wednesday told to rise from his sick bed and take the witness stand at his impeachment trial, a day after walking out of the court and suffering an apparent heart attack.

Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile ordered Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona to appear in court by Friday, so the tribunal can rule by early next week whether to kick him out of office.

Corona bizarrely left the witness stand and checked himself into hospital on Tuesday after a three-hour testimony in which he denounced the landmark corruption proceedings as a personal vendetta by President Benigno Aquino.

His spokesman Midas Marquez later said during radio interviews that he had suffered a possible heart attack after the court hearing, during which Corona rejected a charge that he failed to declare 12 million US dollars in bank accounts.

Despite an ultimatum from Enrile that his testimony would be thrown out unless he showed up Wednesday, the chief justice failed to return to the stand.

“The court will give you until Friday,” Enrile later ruled. “After that we will consider the case submitted on the record.”

Enrile then ordered prosecutors and Corona’s defense team to submit their final arguments to the court on Monday, to

allow the 23-member senate to vote on three impeachment charges.

Corona’s removal from office was sought by President Aquino, who won a landslide election victory in 2010 on a platform to end the pervasive corruption that he blamed for mass poverty.

Prosecutors allege that in addition to failing to declare $12 million, Corona blocked government efforts to prosecute former president Gloria Arroyo, whose term of almost 10 years was marked with corruption scandals.

Arroyo herself is being tried separately for vote rigging.

Corona’s lawyer Serafin Cuevas told the court Wednesday that the 63-yearold, who suffers from diabetes, was “not in a condition mentally or physically to testify”.

He submitted a medical certificate from Corona’s doctor which, he said, suggested that the chief justice had suffered from an apparent heart attack shortly after taking the witness stand.

Aquino’s allies in the House of Representatives impeached Corona in December, the first such move ever against a chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The trial, beamed live on television to a nationwide audience, has caused deep political divisions in one of Southeast Asia’s most free-wheeling democracies.

In his testimony Tuesday, Corona accused Aquino of a personal vendetta after a landmark Supreme Court verdict last year that ordered the president’s clan to break up a sprawling sugar plantation and hand plots over to farmers. -AFP

5

NEWS IN BRIEF Russia successfully test-fires new missile MOSCOW: The Russian military says it has successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile with an enhanced capability to penetrate missile defenses.

Defense Ministry spokesman Vadim Koval said that the first launch of the new missile was performed Wednesday at the Plesetsk launchpad in northern Russia. Koval didn’t say the name of the missile, but says it was fired from a mobile launcher.

Koval says the missile’s practice warhead successfully reached a designated target at a range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. He says the new missile will boost Russia’s military potential thanks to its improved ability to penetrate missile defense. -AP

Five aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan KUNDUZ: Five aid workers, including two Western women doctors, have been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in northeastern Afghanistan, police and the provincial governor’s office said on Wednesday. The aid workers working for a foreign-based aid group were making their way from central Faizabad city and were abducted on Tuesday in Yaftal-e Bala district, said Abdul Marouf Rasikh, a spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province. Police in the area, which is not a focus for Afghan insurgents but which is home to groups of mainly criminal gunmen, said the aid workers had been visiting a health clinic in Yawan district, where the road had been destroyed by floods. -AP

Indian PM says govt must ‘do better’ as woes mount NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has acknowledged the “large unfinished agenda” facing his government after three years in power, and vowed to tackle corruption and fiscal mismanagement. “I will be the first to say we need to do better,” Singh said late Tuesday as he presented his graft-tainted coalition’s annual report card at a function in New Delhi. Singh’s second term in office has been marked by slowing economic growth, accusations of policy paralysis and a series of corruption scandals that have combined to undermine optimism about India’s future development. -AFP

US hopes Pakistan to agree NATO supply route talks

Senate security personnel escort Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona after he was forced back to court, he had left the witness stand earlier without the permission of the senator-judges, during his impeachment trial at the Senate in Manila May 22. (AFP)

ISLAMABAD: The United States hopes Pakistan will soon agree to re-open supply routes to NATO troops in Afghanistan, a US official said on Wednesday, after a Senate panel threatened to cut aid to Islamabad over the standoff. Pakistan closed the supply routes, seen as vital to the planned withdrawal of most foreign troops from Afghanistan before the end of 2014, in protest against last November’s killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO air attack along the Afghan border. “Talks are ongoing and we hope to reach a resolution soon,” the US official told Reuters. NATO has been seeking to compensate for the lack of access in Pakistan with shipments of war supplies via Afghanistan’s other neighbors, but those routes are more expensive. -AP

‘Creeping quakes’ rumble New Zealand, say researchers China cancels high-level military visit to Japan WELLINGTON: Researchers have discovered New Zealand’s earthquakeprone landscape is even more unstable than previously thought, recording deep tremors lasting up to 30 minutes on its biggest fault line.

Scientists measured the so-called “creeping earthquakes” when they investigated a puzzling lack of major seismic jolts along a section of the Alpine Fault, which runs the length of the South Island.

The quakes, which caused no surface damage, occurred 20-45 kilometers (1228 miles) beneath the Earth’s crust and continued for as long as half an hour, much longer than ordinary earthquakes.

In contrast, the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 185 people in the South island city of Christchurch in February last year lasted just 37 seconds and struck at a

depth of about five kilometers.

The quakes could not be measured by regular seismic monitoring devices and researchers from Wellington’s Victoria University had to place sensors in boreholes 100 meters deep to pick them up.

Seismologist Aaron Wech said the research showed the Alpine Fault, regarded as New Zealand’s most hazardous, did not remain still between major earthquakes but was constantly shifting. Wech said the implications for future earthquakes were unclear. “It could be that constant tremor builds up stress and may trigger a major fault movement (earthquake) or, alternatively, the activity may decrease the likelihood of a major quake by acting as a release valve for stress,” he said.

“What’s important is that we find out more about these tremor events, such as where they happen and how often, so we

can better predict the hazard the Alpine Fault poses.” The research was published this week in the US journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The government’s GNS Science agency estimates the Alpine Fault has generated four quakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher in the past 900 years, most recently in the early 1700s, and another is overdue.

It says there is a high probability one will occur in the next 40 years, producing “one of the biggest earthquakes since European settlement of New Zealand (which) will have a major impact on the lives of many people”.

The Christchurch earthquake was not caused by the Alpine Fault but a previously unknown fault line, part of a network of seismic fractures cris-crossing New Zealand, which lies on the junction of two tectonic plates. -AFP

BEIJING: China said Wednesday it has cancelled a high-level military trip to Japan, as the two neighbors bicker over a disputed island chain and a recent Uighur symposium in Tokyo that angered Beijing.

Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission and China’s highest ranking military officer, will not visit Japan due to “work commitments” at home, the defense ministry said in a statement.

According to the China Daily, the visit had been due to begin Thursday, with Guo scheduled to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

The cancellation comes after China condemned Japan for allowing the World Uyghur Congress, which Beijing considers an exiled “anti-China” separatist grouping, to hold a meeting in Tokyo last week.

Uighurs are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority who mainly live in western China’s Xinjiang region and have long chafed under Beijing’s rule. In April, Beijing also angrily condemned remarks by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who re-ignited a long-simmering maritime territorial dispute by vowing to purchase a

group of uninhabited islands at the centre of the row.

Ishihara, an outspoken critic of Beijing who has made a career out of provocative nationalistic remarks, said he had approached the owner of the islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

In 2010, relations between China and Japan hit a low point after Japanese authorities arrested a Chinese captain for ramming his trawler against Japanese coastguard ships in the disputed area near the islands.

Despite their numerous political rows, China and Japan remain vigorous trading partners. Leaders of the two nations recently agreed to begin free trade negotiations that will also include South Korea.

Naoki Tanaka, Japan’s defense minister, said Chinese authorities had told him Guo Boxiong’s visit was postponed due to a work commitment, adding that he hoped to the trip could be rescheduled.

“I hope to have a high-level meeting as soon as possible, and I believe they understand the need for such a meeting,” Tanaka told reporters at a regular news briefing in Tokyo. -AFP

US missiles ‘kill four in Pakistan’

MIRANSHAH: US missiles killed four militants in a Taliban stronghold of Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, amid increasing strains with the West over a six-month blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan.

A drone targeted a compound near Miranshah, the main town of the tribal district where Pakistan has resisted US pressure to launch a sweeping offensive against militants fighting US troops in neighboring Afghanistan. “The drone fired two missiles on a house in the Tabai area near Miranshah,” one of the security officials told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, adding that four militants were killed.

“It is not immediately known if an important target is among those killed,” he said.

The area is a stronghold of the Haqqani

network - Afghan insurgents blamed for a series of spectacular attacks on Western targets in Kabul - and Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud. Islamabad denies any support for Haqqani activities, but the former chief US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, called them a “veritable arm” of the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

US officials say its leaders are based in Waziristan, the most notorious militant stronghold in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt.

Washington considers the area the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan. US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence agents of playing a double game in supporting or at least turning a blind eye to Afghan insurgents.

A local administration official and another

intelligence official confirmed Wednesday’s drone strike and casualties.

Residents said the bodies had been charred badly and militants had cordoned off the area and were sifting through the rubble.

It was the third US drone strike reported in Pakistan since parliament in March demanded an end to the attacks on Pakistani territory, as part of new guidelines for Islamabad’s often stormy relationship with Washington. Relations plummeted into deep crisis after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on November 26, prompting Islamabad to shut its Afghan border to NATO supplies and evict US personnel from an airbase reportedly used as a hub for drones.

Pakistan says the missile attacks are counter productive, violate its sovereignty, kill civilians and fuel anti-US sentiment. -AFP

Guo Boxiong, (right) vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission and China’s highest ranking military officer, will not visit Japan due to “work commitments” at home. (AFP)

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ALWATAN DAILY

OPINION

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012

The benefits of joining groups affiliated to political Islam

I simply cannot comprehend the reasons why all those who graduate from the College of Sharia, and who obtain the lowest percentage, insist on being enrolled in the judiciary as public prosecutors and judges.

Shamlan Yousef Al-Eisa

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lthough I do not belong to any groups of political Islam since I am a staunch believer of the concepts of a civil state and nurse liberal thoughts and convictions, I would definitely like advise my students at the university to join political Islam groups, specifically the Islamic Constitutional Movement (Muslim Brotherhood Movement) if they wish to accrue pots of money and ill-gotten material gains. I would also like to mention here that I have been following up on a host of activities that are usually engaged in by politically active students; especially those that are affiliated with the National Union of Kuwaiti Students, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, over a period of thirty years.

Most of the graduates and activists that are employed at the National Union are usually appointed, immediately after their graduation, as assistant undersecretaries in various ministries after which they are promoted as undersecretaries and in some cases even as ministers. These activists are also nominated to contest elections as members of parliament, which is supposedly a legitimate nomination. On the other hand, it is those that graduate from the College of Sharia and not those that graduate from colleges of Medicine or Engineering or any other colleges that are accorded higher salaries by the government in attempts to encourage them to work as imams or preachers in mosques. However, since most of the Kuwaiti graduates do not prefer to be employed in this profession, a loophole has been created in which a Kuwaiti imam appoints a non-Kuwaiti imam like an Asian or Arab. At the end of the month, the Kuwaiti imam withdraws his salary and gives part of it to the non-Kuwaiti imam.

In another development; with the blessings of the government, the Civil Service Commission has been granted a

free hand to appoint university graduates that specialize in Sharia, jurisprudence or any other religious aspect, as legal specialists after passing training courses that are held in the legal field. The period, place and material of these courses are set by the Kuwait Institute for Judicial and Legal Studies at the Ministry of Justice in coordination with the Civil Service Commission.

The question that surely arises here is: “Why has the College of Law been excluded from executing its duties taking into consideration the fact that it is this entity that is authorized to teach courses in law and its ramifications? Why has this issue been confined to the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, and the Civil Service Commission and most importantly; which is being run by ministers who are not specialists is academic affairs?

The underlying truth is that these groups want to dominate the judicial authority and this was the main reason behind the proposal to bring about some amendments in the composition of the Constitutional Court. I simply cannot comprehend the reasons why graduates of the College of Sharia, who obtain the lowest academic percentage, insist on being enrolled in the judiciary as public prosecutors and judges after undertaking these courses that we know nothing about? Why aren’t those who graduate in the fields of

medicine, engineering, science, economics, politics and sociology granted the same right in attempts to create honest competition through their academic performances and political affiliations? The government should not only respect our minds, it should also respect our views.

There can be doubt in one’s mind that the government is indeed weak and lacks vision as is evident in the fact that it not even aware of all that is going on across the Arab world; especially the alarming rise of groups specializing in political Islam in countries like Egypt and Tunisia. In fact, it seems that our government is blissfully unaware of all that is going on around its own jurisdictions. Contrary to popular perception, there are several benefits in joining the Salafi Movement or the Islamic Constitutional Movement, and not the Shiite groups. All those who graduate from the Sharia College and do not wish to teach for seven long hours in public schools, can surely join the Ministry of Awqaf and teach the Holy Quran for only two hours in the evening in schools that are affiliated to the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and receive salaries that are on par with those that are received by teachers employed at the Ministry of Education.

Practices such as these are rife simply because of the pressure that is imposed by lawmakers and members of the Kuwait Teachers Society on the Ministry of Awqaf and Is-

lamic Affairs. It is also important to note here that they all belong to the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. The destruction caused by groups affiliated to political Islam has now even penetrated the academic profession in the country as is clearly evident in the fact that they have literally surprised everyone by submitting a blueprint of the project to construct the new Jaber University. The project has already been discussed at the National Assembly and was approved during the first and second rounds of deliberations without even conducting any scientific or academic studies.

Nobody is even remotely aware or informed about the level of the new university, the scientific disciplines or even the minimum qualifications required by students who wish to gain admission at the new university. All that we know is that all those who obtained degrees in medicine through correspondence courses from various countries across the world can apply for academic staff positions at the University. I simply do not want to go into minute details in discussing projects and notions that are usually engaged in by MPs affiliated to political Islam and tribal communities to benefit their relatives and followers. What is strange about the entire situation is the fact that the government actually allows all these discrepancies to happen and then complaints about the spread of religious and sectarian intolerance and the conspicuous absence of moderation in the country.

I cannot comprehend the reasons why it cannot undertake concrete steps and measures to address the situation effective once and for all in attempts to not only save face; but also save the citizens from going through several inconveniences. It is never too late to make amends or rectify a situation that is simply spiraling out of control. All that the government has to do is call for the formation of an advisory panel and then initiate concrete and effective measures to address the situation and bring it under control.

Sudden change in attitudes after assuming power Nawaf Sulaiman Al-Fuzai

Ali Farzat

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t seems like our country is suddenly agog and awash with MPs embarking on a wild spree to file interpellation motions against ministers. Soon after two interpellation motions by different MPs were first merged and then submitted another one has now been filed by MP Riyadh Al-Adsani; a move that has been appreciated by several members of the Majority Bloc. And for some reason that I cannot seem to comprehend, I am also certain that the parents of all physically handicapped children will surely thank the MP for submitting the interpellation motion; not to mention all those that are also inconvenienced by repeated price hikes that are plaguing the country.

No one can refute the fact that filing interpellation motions against ministers is the constitutional right of MPs on condition that they are on par with the terms and conditions enshrined in the Constitution. In fact, no one can deny the MPs or even ordinary citizens their constitutional rights if whatever they are demanding are within legal norms. Likewise, it is common knowledge that members of the current Majority Bloc had always considered filing interpellation motions as their constitutional right in the past; especially at a time when they were a parliamentary minority; but ever since they started representing the Majority Bloc, they seem to have changed their minds now that they dominate the parliament.

Isn’t it strange that its members now consider filing interpellation motions as an inappropriate step; one which contributes towards disrupting the entire political process! On the other hand, the speaker of the house -- who can be considered as the chief of Majority Bloc (mainly because he assumed the speaker’s position due to their support), had earlier rejected invitations of the former speaker to attended meetings in private diwaniyas. He had earlier considered holding meetings and gatherings in private diwaniyas as an unconstitutional step since MPs are constitutionally expected to convene only in the National Assembly!

If that was the stance of members of the Majority Bloc along with their chief in the past, isn’t it indeed strange that they are going against their previously held stance as is clearly evident in the fact that they now hold meetings in MPs` diwaniyas? There can be no doubt in one’s mind that the main reason they are resorting to this course of action is because they want to garner a majority of votes from other MPs through the Majority Bloc. We are all aware of the fact that the interpellation motion that has been submitted against Finance Minister Mustafa Shamali is considered by a huge majority as a motion that is submitted against a Shiite minister; taking into consideration the fact that the Majority Bloc does not have a single MP who is a Shiite! It is strange indeed that some members of the Majority Bloc sometimes allege that it is MP Marzouq AlGhanim who is responsible for invoking members to submit the motion although the motion does not include any item that is pertinent to sports issues. We have to consider the underlying fact that if AlGhanim really intended to dismiss the minister; there was no need for him to provoke members of the bloc to submit a motion simply because it was common knowledge that they had already decide to submit the motion much earlier. We also cannot overlook the fact that most of the members of the bloc behave in accordance to a set pattern that is in tune with their own aims and ambitions and hence one cannot simply point an accusatory finger at a certain personality.

It is an irrefutable fact that most of those members simply want to exert their dominance in parliament because they are fully aware of the fact that they enjoy an overwhelming majority in parliament and hence; their vital votes surely matter especially where the decisionmaking process is concerned. If matters are permitted to continue the way they are now; there can be no doubt in one’s mind that the situation will only deteriorate further to the extent that it can never be reversed. The need of the hour is to exercise discretion and a sense of wisdom before the nation and its citizens begin to plunge down a deep abyss from which there will be no easy way out. We have to exhibit a sense of rationality and a deep concern for our nation if we wish to emerge unscathed from a mess that we created ourselves. No one can help us in this situation except ourselves simply because we have only ourselves to blame.

Constructive dialogue; the need of the hour Ahmad Mohammad Al-Fahad

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still remember the time when an interpellation motion that was being filed against former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, one of the items listed in the motion concerned the picture of an Iranian flag being printed on a tissue box. The company manufacturing those tissue boxes at that time belonged to a Kuwaiti company whose owner also happened to be employed at the oil sector at that point of time. At that time; citizens in diwaniyas across the length and breadth of the country were abuzz with lengthy arguments, discussions and debates over the issue while speculating over the possibility of Iran’s scheming intention of penetrating into Kuwaiti apparatuses.

During the course of the session that was held to discuss the motion, some MPs realized that the flag bore an uncanny resemblance to the flag that is usually painted on tankers owned by the Kuwait Oil Tankers Company (KOTC). After initiating thorough investigations into the issue, it was finally revealed that it was an honest and unintentional mistake that was committed by a female Kuwaiti employee who belonged to one of the Kuwaiti tribes and who could possibly not have any sort of affiliations or relations with Iran.

Mistakes such as these occur repeatedly not only at the National Assembly or the Municipal Council but even in co-operative societies across the country. There have

also been several instances wherein MPs come across pieces of evidence over certain issues only to discover later that they are circumstantial or weak. Let us take a recent incident as an example wherein MP Abdurrahman Al-Anjari stood before all those people who came to attend the grilling session at the National Assembly. In the midst of a heated debate when some ministers and the premier were about to stage a walkout; he raised his hand and brandished a file saying: “This is the file that will unmask all those that seek the country’s destruction. This is the social security file!”

I honestly believe that the file, in all possibility, could contain some serious and sensitive information on social security while on the other hand, it could also contain some petty documents that were simply not worth discussing! To save precious time, the MP should have first held individual discussions with his colleagues in attempts to assess its importance; after which he should have approached the concerned minister and only then presented his case at the National Assembly along with the relevant pieces of evidence in his possession to substantiate his claim.

Constructive dialogue is the need of the hour whenever parliamentary sessions are in progress simply because bouts of screaming, yelling and swearing will never solve anything apart from making things worse than they already are!

Likewise, soon after members of the Majority Bloc

unanimously agreed to merge the two motions against the Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali, several questions crossed my mind. The first question that hit me was: “If the intention of the motion was to bring about reforms; then why did members of the Majority Bloc insist on merging the two motions despite being fully aware of the fact that the minister had already agreed to face both the motions even if the entire process could extend over some six hours or so?” The members later clarified that they intended to merge the motions because both the motions were similar in nature. If that was their intention, then why didn’t they agree to merge the motions before actually submitting them against the minister?

Dwelling on another issue, the Lebanese minister in charge of tourism recently urged leaders of Arab countries not to discourage their citizens from travelling to Lebanon since the situation was not as volatile as was being portrayed.

Does the minister actually expect us to believe him?

Peoples across the world are actually witnessing Lebanon sink into a bottomless pit through the civil war that has been raging there for several years. Moreover, Lebanon is as, if not more, expensive than most other countries in Europe.

Is he even aware of the fact that he should first start rebuilding the devastated infrastructure before actually inviting tourists to visit the country!

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ALWATAN DAILY

views

thursDAY, may 24, 2012

Turkey’s new course

Turkey strives to act as a “virtuous power,” which requires us to align our national interests with values such as justice, democracy, and human dignity.

Abdullah Gul Project Syndicate

T

urkey has recently been at the forefront of international economic and political debates. On the one hand, despite the economic crisis engulfing neighboring Europe, Turkey remains the world’s second-fastest growing economy, after China. On the other hand, there is almost no issue on the global agenda - from Iraq and Afghanistan to Somalia, Iran, and the Arab Spring, and from sustainable development to a dialogue among civilizations - on which Turkey is not playing a visible role. This is a rather new phenomenon. Until a decade ago, Turkey was regarded as no more than a staunch NATO ally. That began to change in 2002, when an era of political stability dawned, giving rise to a vision for a stronger Turkey - and a firm commitment to realizing that vision.

To this end, Turkey’s governments since 2002 implemented bold economic reforms that paved the way for sustainable growth and provided a firewall against the financial crisis that hit in 2008. As a result, in less than a decade, GDP has tripled, making Turkey the world’s 16th largest economy. Moreover, the country benefits from strong public finances, prudent monetary policy, sustainable debt dynamics, a sound banking system, and well-functioning credit markets. At the same time, we expanded the scope of individual rights, which had long been subordinated to security concerns.

We streamlined civil-military relations, guaranteed social and cultural rights, and attended to the problems of ethnic and religious minorities. These reforms transformed Turkey into a vibrant democracy and a more stable society, at peace with itself and able to view its external environment in a different light. Quite simply, we stopped viewing our geography and history as a curse or disadvantage. On the contrary, we began to regard our location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as an opportunity to interact simultaneously with multiple players.

As a result, we began to reach out to countries in our neighborhood and beyond. We tried to expand political dialogue, enhance economic interdependence, and strengthen cultural and social understanding.And, while ten years is too short for a definitive assessment of such an ambitious policy, we have undoubtedly covered considerable ground. For example, we have quadrupled our trade volume just with our neighbors. On several occasions, we have also been instrumental in facilitating peace and reconciliation. But, what is more important, Turkey has become a model of success that many countries around us now seek to emulate.

FILE -- Thousands of people wave national flags as they celebrate the Youth Day marking the anniversary of Turkey’s War of Independence, May 19, 1919 in Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey, May 19, 2012. Turkey’s governments since 2002 implemented bold economic reforms that paved the way for sustainable growth and provided a firewall against the financial crisis that hit in 2008, analysts said. (AP)

And yet, until a year or two ago, some political pundits were asking, “Who lost Turkey?” or “Whither Turkey?” - the assumption being that Turkey had shifted its foreign-policy axis away from the West. In fact, Turkey’s external orientation has remained constant, because it rests on the values that we share with the free world. What has changed is our increased assertiveness in our efforts to ensure greater stability and human welfare in our region, evident in our advocacy of freedom, democracy, and accountability not only for ourselves, but also for others.

This approach has been reflected in the Arab Spring, which Turkey ardently supported from the outset. We have not hesitated in siding with those fighting for their rights and dignity. Indeed, in countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, which are now attempting to institutionalize change, Turkey is their most active partner, sharing our own experience and providing tangible assistance in the form of economic cooperation and political capacity building. In

Syria, on the other hand, the revolution has not yet come to fruition, owing to the regime’s brutal repression of its opponents. Every day, scores of people there die in pursuit of dignity.

Turkey is doing all that it can to alleviate the Syrian people’s suffering. Unfortunately, the international community as a whole has so far performed poorly in providing an effective response to the crisis. Turkey’s position on Iran’s nuclear program has been similarly clear: we are categorically opposed to the presence of weapons of mass destruction in our region. Attempts to develop or acquire WMDs might well trigger a regional arms race, leading to further instability and threatening international peace and security.

That is why we have always called for the establishment of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East, including both Iran and Israel.

We support Iran’s right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. But Iran’s program must be transparent, and

What is the long-term euro vision?

Reuters

Max Rudolph

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Reuters

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File -- Protesters hold banners during an anti-austerity demonstration in Frankfurt May 19, 2012. At least 20,000 demonstrators marched through Frankfurt on Saturday in a peaceful protest against austerity measures implemented to tackle the intensifying euro zone debt crisis. (Reuters)

France and Germany conspired to dilute the Basel 3 global capital rules as they apply to Europe, while Spain imposed another half-hearted restructuring on its banks. result that 74 percent of Athens’ outstanding 274 billion euros in debt is now held by governments and the International Monetary Fund, according to UBS. This means taxpayers will be on the hook when the big fat Greek default occurs. Of course, if Greek debt had been restructured earlier, banks in the rest of the euro zone would have had big holes in their balance sheets. Some would have needed bailouts from their governments. But that would have been better than the current debilitating long drawn out sovereign-cum-banking crises.

What’s more, in the future, insolvent banks shouldn’t be bailed out either. Their creditors should be required to take losses before taxpayers have to stump up cash.

The failure to do so explains why the government of Ireland, previously financially solid, become infected by its lenders’ folly.

The second minimum condition for monetary union to flourish follows the first: there should be liquidity backstops for banks and governments that are solvent. With banks, the natural liquidity backstop is the European Central Bank. The quid pro quo is that lenders have to be properly capitalized. Time and again throughout the crisis, euro zone governments have ducked this issue. Only this month, France and Germany conspired to dilute the Basel 3 global capital rules as they apply to Europe, while Spain imposed another half-hearted restructuring on its banks. If the euro zone’s leaders want a successful single currency, this nonsense

its leaders must assure the international community of its non-military nature. The key is to close the confidence gap and pave the way for meaningful dialogue.

In April, we hosted the inaugural round of revived talks between the international community and Iran. Let us be clear: there is no military solution to this problem. Military intervention would merely further complicate the issue, while creating new layers of conflict in our region and beyond.

In this and other matters, Turkey strives to act as a “virtuous power,” which requires us to align our national interests with values such as justice, democracy, and human dignity, and to achieve our foreign-policy goals through mutual cooperation rather than coercion. Effective multilateralism is a key facet of this vision. Turkey served as a member of the United Nations Security Council in 2009-2010, and is now seeking another term in 2015-2016. Given the crucial importance of developments in our part of the world, Turkey’s contribution to the Council’s work promises to be highly valuable.

In 2015, moreover, we will assume the presidency of the G-20, and we are committed to using our means and capabilities to make it a more effective organ of global governance.

Turkey’s internal transformation over the past decade has placed it in an ideal position to benefit the region - and thus the global community. While we have accomplished much already, more is required of us. Given the challenges of our neighborhood, and the region’s central role in global affairs, Turkey will not refrain from taking on new responsibilities. * Abdullah Gul is President of Turkey.

What do risk officers worry about?

Hugo Dixon

hat should be the long-term vision for the euro zone? The standard answer is fully-fledged fiscal, banking and political union. Many euro zone politicians advocate it. So do those on the outside such as David Cameron, Britain’s Prime Minister, who last week called on the zone to “make up or break up”.The crisis has demonstrated that the current system doesn’t work.

But a headlong dive into a United States of Europe would be bad politics and bad economics. An alternative, more attractive vision is to maintain the maximum degree of national sovereignty consistent with a single currency. This is possible provided there are liquidity backstops for solvent governments and banks; debt restructuring for insolvent ones; and flexibility for all.

Enthusiasts say greater union won’t just prevent future crises - it will help solve the current one. The key proposals are for governments to guarantee each other’s bonds through so-called euro zone bonds and to be prepared to bail out each other’s banks.

In return for the mutual support, each government and all the banks would submit to strong centralized discipline. But the European people are not remotely ready for such steps. Anti-euro sentiment is on the rise, to judge by strong poll showings by the likes of France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Beppe Grillo. Germany’s insistence last December on a fiscal discipline treaty has stoked that sentiment. An attempt by the region’s elite to force the pace of integration with even more ambitious plans could easily backfire with voters, particularly in northern Europe. They would fear being required to fund permanent bail outs for feckless southerners. Premature integration might not even help with the current crisis if it backfired with investors. They might start to question the creditworthiness of a Germany if it had to shoulder the entire region’s debts. In contrast, the principle of “subsidiarity” - the Maastricht treaty’s specification that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level of government that is competent to handle them - is good politics and good economics.

Of course, even advocates of political union such as Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister, subscribe to this principle. The issue is to define the minimum conditions needed for the sustainability of the single currency.There are probably three.

The first is that insolvent entities - whether they are governments or banks - should have their debts restructured. One of the main reasons states and lenders were allowed to leverage themselves so much in the boom was because there was a widespread view that they couldn’t go bust. The complacency sowed the seeds of the crisis.

Meanwhile, a key mistake in managing the crisis was the failure to restructure Greece’s debts as soon as they became unbearable. If that had been done, privatesector creditors would have taken the hit. Instead, they were largely bailed out - with the

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has to stop.

For governments, the natural liquidity backstop is the European Stability Mechanism, the zone’s soon-to-be-created bailout fund. To do its job properly, it will need extra funds - as it isn’t be big enough to help both Spain and Italy. One option could be to allow it to borrow from the ECB. Again, the quid pro quo would be solvency. Insolvent government would only get access if they restructured their debts. And illiquid but insolvent ones would need credible long-term plans to cut their debts. Italy, with debt over 120 percent of GDP but huge private wealth and state assets, might one day find itself in the latter category. In return for liquidity, it might have to agree a multi-year program to privatize real estate and to tax wealth.

The final minimum condition for a successful monetary union is much more flexibility, particularly in labor markets. This is the key to restoring competitiveness in southern Europe and enabling the zone to respond to future shocks. If the euro zone can do these three things - restructure insolvent institutions’ debts, provide liquidity to solvent ones and improve flexibility everywhere - nations will be able to keep both the euro and much of their sovereignty. That’s a preferable vision to either a euro super-state or the chaos of disintegration. * Hugo Dixon is a Reuters correspondent. The views expressed here are his own.

n recent news JPMorgan’s astonishing quarterly loss of 2 US billion-dollar plus due to trading in credit default swaps from its London office spotlights the crucial role of the chief risk officer (CRO).What exactly are risk officers supposed to do? Is the CRO someone who fills out reports, becomes a fall guy for misplaced strategy or, as a key executive, makes management aware of the risks and has input to decisions made by the senior management team?

Taking on the role of a CRO is not for the faint of heart - even the title grants you a certain degree of unpopularity. You’re the bearer of potential bad news when it comes to strategic decision making.

It is your job to provide your boss and peers with possible outcomes of scenarios they often don’t want to hear about. Yet, you are the first to be thrown under the bus when a risk suddenly surfaces and your company has no mitigation plan in place. You can’t say “I told you so,” so you roll up your sleeves and quietly prepare for the next event. Of course, every risk a company faces cannot be predicted and proactively avoided. As recent worldwide financial, economic and societal events have illustrated, it has become critical to employ a process driven by foresight. To understand how to develop and implement a risk management strategy, we must first learn which emerging risks CROs are most concerned with today.

According to a recent survey co-sponsored by the Joint Risk Management Section of the Society of Actuaries, Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society, the top two risks reported were financial volatility and failed and failing states. Risk managers also cited cyber-security and the overall interconnectedness of infrastructure, followed by the threat of a Chinese economic hard landing, an oil price shock and regional instability. From a broader perspective, the survey explains which emerging risk categories most distress risk managers. The economic category leads the pack (56 percent of managers named this as the biggest concern), followed by geopolitical (22 percent), technological (8 percent), societal (5 percent) and environmental (4 percent) risks.

The survey also polled risk managers on the role of strategic planning and incorporating the potential effects of evolving emerging risks into the decision-making process. This revealed that recent events such as the Japanese devastation, Middle East political unrest and European sovereign debt crisis have had great influence on the concerns of risk managers about future risks. The year 2011 marked the largest economic impact of physical disasters in history, which included flooding, monsoons, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornados.

Risk managers reported their top combinations of three risks, which was dominated by financial volatility when combined with failed and failing states, oil price shock and an Chinese economic hard landing.

Although it is the CRO’s duty to outline

As recent worldwide financial, economic and societal events have illustrated, it has become critical to employ a process driven by foresight. potential crises, the survey research showed that management teams increasingly believe that it is not a risk manager’s job to predict the future. For instance, in 2010, 77 percent of respondents felt that their companies expected them to be predictive. Nowadays, more than half of surveyed risk managers indicated that predicting specific scenarios is not part of the job. Rather, their role is to generate potential scenarios and their implications, shedding light on both the positive and negative outcomes. In fact, nearly half of the responses indicated that risk managers were recognized for identifying in advance and avoiding risks, while only 31 percent were held accountable when a risk that had not been identified arose.

In addition, risk managers increasingly have a seat at the table for strategic discussions; the survey showed that 84 percent of risk managers said they have C-level input and the power to influence strategic business opportunities, while only 7 percent reported having no input.

The importance of an established risk management process, which anticipates a variety of developments, was evident during the recent financial crisis. Many companies, particularly those dealing directly with financial risks, had a chief risk officer (CRO) established before the crisis.

Traditionally, the CRO provided reports to the board and senior management. Now, companies are asking the CRO for their opinions about potential scenarios and understanding that these are not predictions. Indeed, for 2012, 59 percent of respondents expect increased enterprise risk management (ERM) activities, while 39 percent expect increased funding. It’s definitely a move in the right direction.

Truth be told, risk management is an everevolving discipline. The Great Recession pointed out both the shortcomings of implementation at many companies, as well as the potential for a strong risk culture driving the risk management process. As time passes from this crisis to the next (as there is always another one around the bend), recurring trends are becoming apparent and companies across the world are getting smarter about the essential need to move risk management from the back room to a position influencing strategic decisions. * Max Rudolph is a Reuters correspondent.

The views expressed here are his own.

8

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

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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

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

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Kuwaiti crude up to $104.51 per barrel

CAPITALS: The price of Kuwaiti crude oil went up to 104.51 US dollars per barrel (pb) in transactions on Tuesday, compared with $104.48 on Monday, reported Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Wednesday.

Price of the Kuwaiti crude oil rose for the second consecutive day, following a bearish phase that had lasted for weeks, during which it shed 15 percent, compared to the level in the first quarter of the current year.

BUSINESS

THURSdAY, MAY 24, 2012

m ar ket watc h

OIL MARKETS

KUWAIT

DUBAI

QATAR

OMAN

ABU DHABI

BAHRAIN

EGYPT

SAUDI

0.22% 6367

1.1% 1480

0.4% 8467

0.5% 5721

0.2% 2476

0.1% 1138

1.2% 4922

0.6% 7061

US Crude $91.15 $0.70 London Brent $107.24 $0.73 Kuwait Crude $104.51 $0.03 Information Courtesy: KAMCO

CURRENCIES

KUWAIT: Under the patronage and attendance of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Warba Bank celebrated Wednesday its official launch in a grand ceremony that took place at Salwa Sabah Al Ahmed Ballroom.

The bank started its operations during the first quarter of 2012, with the opening of four branches. The ceremony also witnessed the attendance of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al Jaber Al-Sabah, Parliament Speaker Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Saadoun, Prime Minister Jaber Al-Mubarak Al Hamad Al-Sabah, as well as several ministers, sheikhs and VIP guests.

Warba Bank came into existence with the issuance of an Amiri decree and is registered in the Islamic Banks’ register of the Central Bank

Jassar Al-Jassar Chairman and Managing Director of Warba Bank speaks at the official launch.

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KSE ends session on mixed board KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange’s KSX 15 index ended Wednesday’s trading session with a gain of 2.03 points to read 981.58 points. The price index; however, lost 14.06 points to 6,366.95 points. Meanwhile, the weighted index increased 0.22 points to 411.77 points.Trades came to 3,951 transactions, worth 18,546,145.222 Kuwaiti dinars and volume reached 210,265,372 shares.

Top share for the day was that of Flex Resorts and Real Estate Company. The biggest loser was Al-Safat Real Estate Company, and top volume share was that of Gulf Finance House.

The 14 sector indices were mixed upon closing.

Trading started at Kuwait Stock Exchange on red boards on Wednesday and at 9:30 a.m., the KSX 15 index came to 974.61 points, a down of 4.94 points, while the weighted index came to 409.89 points, also a slip of 1.66, and the price index came to 6,361.32points, a drop of 19.69 points. Trades came to 531 deals, worth KD 2,433,713.486 and involving 32,751,202 shares. -KUNA

US dollar stabilizes against Kuwaiti dinar KUWAIT: Exchange rate of the US dollar against the Kuwaiti dinar on Wednesday stabilized at KD 0.279, but the euro fell to KD 0.354, compared to Tuesday’s figures, said the daily bulletin of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK).

Exchange rate of the Sterling pound dropped to KD 0.440, however the Japanese yen remained stable, at KD 0.003, whereas the Swiss franc slipped to KD 0.295.

The greenback has remained dominant banknote, among the major currencies, amid fears about Greece’s prospected withdrawal from the euro zone, thus investors viewed, anew, the American currency as a safe option. -KUNA

A man walks past Azalea flowers in full bloom in front of the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo May 23, 2012. Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Wednesday that there was absolutely no change to the central bank’s stance of continuing to pursue powerful monetary easing to beat deflation. (Reuters)

Shirakawa and his six board colleagues also voted unanimously to maintain the unsecured overnight call loan rate at a range of zero percent to 0.1 percent to support the country’s economy.

“The BOJ recognizes that Japan’s economy faces the critical challenge of overcoming deflation and returning to a sustainable growth path with price stability,” the central bank said in a statement after the meeting.

The BOJ last month boosted its asset-purchase program by five trillion yen ($63 billion) to yen 70 trillion ($880 billion) in order to ensure the return of Japan’s economy to a sustainable growth path with price stability.

“In global financial markets some nervousness has recently been seen, mainly due to concern about the European debt problem. Close attention should therefore be paid to developments in

these markets for the time being,” the BOJ said.

As for the assessment of the domestic economy, the central bank said, “It has become increasingly evident that Japan’s economy is shifting toward a pick-up phase, although its economic activity has remained more or less flat.”

The BOJ said the nation’s economy is expected to return to a moderate recovery path as the pace of recovery in overseas economies picks up, led by emerging and commodity-exporting economies, and as reconstruction-related demand after the earthquake disaster gradually strengthens.

However, it also pointed out risks to the economic outlook, such as a high degree of uncertainty about the global economy, including the prospects for the European debt problem and the momentum toward recovery for the US economy -Agencies

Warba Bank celebrates official launch Staff Writer & Agencies

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Prices in Kuwaiti fils as of May 23, 2012 Courtesy: KAMCO

Japan keeps zero-0.1% rate, monetary easing unchanged

Nancy Oteifa

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Kuwait’s trade surplus with Japan widens 48.6% TOKYO: Kuwait’s trade surplus with Japan widened 48.6 percent in April to 136.1 billion Japanese yen (1.7 billion US dollars) from a year earlier, remaining in the black for the 51st month in a row, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

Kuwaiti overall exports to Japan jumped 53.5 percent to 147.3 billion yen ($1.8 billion) for the 12th straight month of gain, and imports from Japan also expanded 157.5 percent year-on-year to 11.2 billion yen ($140 million) for the seventh consecutive month of growth, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

The Middle East’s trade surplus with Japan also widened 13.7 percent to 1.136 trillion yen ($14.2 billion) last month, with Japan-bound exports from the region rising 19.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.321 trillion yen ($16.5 billion).

Crude oil and petroleum products, which accounted for 98.7 percent of the region’s total exports to Japan, grew 20.0 percent on the year.

Among resources, liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from the Middle East saw a 53.8 percent expansion. Imports from Japan also rose 72.7 percent to 184.9 billion yen ($2.3 billion), thanks to robust shipments of automobiles and vehicle parts, which gained 317.1 percent.

The world’s third-biggest economy logged a global deficit of 520.3 billion yen ($6.5 billion) in April for the second straight month of red ink on higher costs of crude oil and LNG, as well as weak exports to Europe and Asia, the ministry said.

It was the largest deficit ever for the month of April since comparable data became available in 1979. Exports totaled 5.567 trillion yen ($69.7 billion), up 7.9 percent, buoyed by strong shipments to the US, but imports grew 8.0 percent to yen 6.087 trillion ($76.2 billion). Imports of crude oil jumped 27.1 percent and LNG 45.7 percent, respectively.

Resource-poor Japan is buying more fossil fuels for thermal power generation as all of the nation’s 54 commercial reactors are currently idled due to safety concerns following the radiation accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March last year. The trade data are measured on a customs-cleared basis before adjustment for seasonal factors.

In more news, Japan’s central bank on Wednesday decided to keep monetary policy unchanged in an effort to curb deflation in the world’s thirdlargest economy. At the end of a two-day policy meeting, Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) Governor Masaaki

See page 10

of Kuwait since April 5, 2010. The government, represented by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), owns 24 percent of the bank’s total capital.

The remaining 76 percent has been granted to the entire Kuwaiti population, with 684 shares per individual, subscribed and paid by the government.

The authorized share capital of Warba Bank is 100 million Kuwaiti dinars.

The idea of launching the bank reflects the cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities, as the decision of establishing the bank came by a Parliament initiative that was endorsed by the government. Such a national project of economic significance serves the target of turning Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub, and accomplishes several national goals towards pursuing continuous development in Kuwait.

During the event, narrator and actor Jassim AlNabhan introduced the audience to the story of the bank’s formation and the stages of its establish-

ment as a Kuwaiti shareholding company.The bank is marked to be the first of its kind on a worldwide scale since the Kuwaiti government pioneered in establishing a bank for the nationals to meet their economic and financial needs while providing financial stability for the coming generations.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Warba Bank, Jassar Al-Jassar told the press that the launching of this bank is the first achievement in the bank’s agenda. “Launching Warba bank represents a great icon in the Kuwaiti history of development and achievement. It also plays a great role in the development of human resources in the country.”

He added, “The bank was launched with the help and support of the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait Authority for Development, the board of directors at the bank and of course the bank’s employees. Although we face a lot of difficulties and challenges due to the world economic crisis, we were able to achieve our goals. We insist on developing the bank and face all challenges in the future with a strong team ready to defend the bank at hard times.”

He noted that the bank is an Islamic one that follows the Sharia-compliant, it’s unique in terms of the services it provides to its customers who indeed will build a good and strong reputation for the future. “Our vision is to make Warba Bank the best choice for all of our customers in the Islamic banking sector, he said.”

He concluded “This stage is the first and most important one for the bank and we will move towards achieving our goals in a well planned and studies method in order to gain success and respect of our customers.”

In the first quarter of 2012, Warba Bank successfully opened four branches in Hawally, Al Qibla, Salmiya, and Sharq, in addition to special segregated branch facilities for ladies, given the importance of this segment. The openings came in line with the ambitious strategy of the banking group to reach the biggest segment of clients in different areas in Kuwait. The bank also plans to open one more branch before the end of 2012.

UAE needs unified Sharia board to boost market

ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) needs a centralized body for the Islamic finance industry to help develop its Sukuk market further, a top central bank official said on Wednesday.

Saif Al-Shamsi, assistant governor for monetary policy and financial stability, said the law calls for a central sharia committee at the federal level that would work with Sharia boards at the corporate level but that has not been implemented yet federally.

“Despite the advanced state of the UAE in issuing Islamic Sukuk, we believe that we still need to do more,” he said in a speech. “This includes finding a unified body for the main Fatwas (decrees) in the Islamic financial services domain, as is the case in Malaysia.”

At present the industry is governed by a patchwork of national regulators, Islamic standard-setting bodies and scholars interpreting Islamic law - a recipe for different rules and practices.

“For Sukuk to be issued there must be the regulation and infrastructure that is Islamic compliant and that is to be determined by (federal) Sharia board and that is not there yet. We are calling for this.

Islamic financial assets hit $1.3 trillion globally last year, a 150 percent rise in the past five years as the industry expanded beyond core markets in the Middle East and Malaysia, financial lobby group TheCityUK estimates. -Reuters

Gold slips in line with euro ahead of EU meeting LONDON: Gold prices fell, coming under pressure as concerns that a European Union meeting later on Wednesday would fail to significantly ease worries over the euro zone debt crisis lifted the dollar to a 21-month high against the euro. The dollar, along with German bond futures, benefited from a flight from riskier assets, including stocks and commodities such as copper and oil.

Spot gold was down 0.5 percent at 1,560.99 US dollars an ounce at 1128 GMT while US gold futures for June delivery were down $15.70 an ounce at $1,556.00. “Gold is acting more as a risky asset, and everything is tumbling this morning ahead of this informal finance ministers meeting, where nothing good is really expected,” Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said.

The informal European leaders summit set for Wednesday is expected to discuss growth-boosting proposals and the idea of a joint euro-zone bond. French President Francois Hollande supports the bond plan but German Chancellor Angela Merkel is opposed. Concerns over the prospect of debt-laden Greece exiting the euro zone to avoid unpopular austerity measures have grown ahead of an election there on June 17 which could hasten its departure from the bloc if voters back anti-bailout parties.

“As uncertainty mounts leading up to the June 17 Greek elections, we’re more inclined to bet on a higher gold price but a Greek exit, while most likely fuelling considerable physical gold demand in Europe, could spark a sizeable deleveraging and dis-investment in financial markets,” UBS said in a note.

“The paper gold market would not be immune to this selling. That is gold’s risk and it’s feasible to think the metal could fall below last week’s low of $1,527 before ultimately rebounding sharply.” Indian demand hurt by sliding rupee In India, the world’s largest gold consumer, demand stayed muted after prices in the local market rose as the rupee fell to a record low, increasing the cost of imports. The rupee’s fall sparked mild intervention from a central bank seen by traders as reluctant to be more aggressive against the strong downtrend.

Gold scrap sales are also rising, analysts said.

“India’s scrap gold sales have picked up by 30 percent in the span of just one week as gold prices in local terms surged,” HSBC said in a note.

“The rise in gold scrap sales, if it were to continue, may mean India will require lower gold imports than would otherwise be the case. Weak bullion import demand may present headwinds to any near-term gold rally.”

Silver was down 1.1 percent at $27.79 an ounce, while spot platinum was down 0.8 percent at $1,426.75 an ounce and spot palladium down 0.5 percent at $603.25 an ounce. Platinum matched the five-month low of $1,416.70 an ounce it fell to last week as the strong dollar and worries that demand from the European car market would remain weak offset the impact of an ongoing strike at the world’s largest platinum mine. -Reuters

10

ALWATAN DAILY

BUSINESS

thursDAY, may 24, 2012

Kuwaiti crude up to $104.51 per barrel Kuwait delays some gasoil cargoes to Pakistan

CAPITALS: The price of Kuwaiti crude oil went up to 104.51 US dollars per barrel (pb) in transactions on Tuesday, compared with $104.48 on Monday, reported Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Wednesday.

Price of the Kuwaiti crude oil rose for the second consecutive day, following a bearish phase that had lasted for weeks, during which it shed 15 percent, compared to the level in the first quarter of the current year.

Tuesday witnessed fall in forward transactions for the Brent crude, 40 US cents, due in July, posting $108.41 pb. Meanwhile, the forward deals for the American crude shed 91 cents, falling to $91.66 pb.

Prices of the oil on the international markets tended downward in shadow of receding fears over possible disruption of oil supplies, amid a nearing reported consensus between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In more news, rising domestic demand and refinery problems have prompted Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) to delay the loading of some gasoil cargoes, four industry sources said Wednesday.

The delays triggered KPC to reschedule some cargoes with one of its biggest customers Pakistan State Oil (PSO), which is contracted to buy around three million tons of gasoil from KPC in 2012.

“KPC rescheduled some cargoes to PSO,” one trader said. “Due to some troubles in secondary units and also due to the current planned shutdown in Mina Al-Ahmadi,” he added.

OPEC member Kuwait’s biggest refinery with capacity over 460,000 barrels per day (bpd) is undergoing a planned maintenance since mid-May. The maintenance is expected to last up to 30 days.

A KPC source confirmed there were delays due to some problems in secondary refinery units but did not elaborate. “It’s under control now,” he said.

KPC, which regularly sells 40,000 to 80,000 tons of

BAE secures $2.5 billion Saudi jet deal

CAPITALS: BAE Systems has signed a 1.6 billion Sterling pound (2.5 billion US dollar) deal to supply Saudi Arabia with Hawk jets to train pilots to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon which it has already ordered from UK company.

The deal provides some welcome relief for the British defense giant, which is battling against shrinking European and American defense budgets and fierce competition.

The deal covers the supply of 22 new Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft, which will be made in Britain, 55 Swiss made Pilatus turboprop aircraft as well as training equipment and other support services, BAE said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia’s official news agency quoted an unnamed official at the Saudi defense ministry as saying the Hawks would help train “the Saudi air force to be able to use the fighter jets ... efficiently”.

The majority of the Hawks will be made at BAE’s plants in Samlesbury and Warton in Lancashire, northwest England, with some to be built at its site in Brough, Yorkshire, which is due to close in 2014, according to BAE. British trade union Unite said 218 jobs at the plant in Brough, where planes have been made for almost 100 years, would be saved as a result of the deal. BAE previously said 845 jobs at Brough would be cut. In 2007 Saudi Arabia - the world’s top oil exporter - signed the contract with BAE to buy 72 Typhoon aircraft, 24 of which have been delivered to the Royal Saudi Air Force. The Salam deal, as it is known, is worth around 4.5 billion pounds.

FILE - In this March 2007 file photo, oil workers walk by in Ahmadi Refinery, south of Kuwait City. The price Britain’s defense ministry said the deal would provide of Kuwaiti crude oil went up to 104.51 US dollars per barrel (pb) in transactions on Tuesday, compared with the Royal Saudi Air Force with “cutting edge officer and $104.48 on Monday, reported Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. (AP) aircrew training ... to support the introduction and operagasoil a month in the spot market, has not offered any Pakistan is a major oil products buyer under several tion of its growing fleet of fourth generation Typhoon fighter spot cargoes since mid-April, traders said. term contracts but it enters the spot market during the aircraft.” Shares in BAE, which have fallen 15 percent in the “There are some delays for end-May to early-June summer period when agricultural activities pick up and last year, were flat in a weak broader market at 274.4 pence Research loading cargoes, mainly due to local demand going up when KPC is unable to supply additional term volumes by 1130 GMT, valuing the company KAMCO at around 8.9 billion for summer,” a second trader with direct knowledge of due to a spike in summer demand. pounds.

GCC Equity Markets Review the matter said.

PSO is currently seeking 110,000 tons of gasoil for In December the United States signed a $29.4 billion Demand for fuel in the Middle East soars in the sumdelivery over June and July, its first gasoil spot requiredeal to sell 84 new F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a longmer period due to rising electricity usage with temperament in more than a year. Bangladesh Petroleum Corpoexpected move that the Obama administration said would tures spiking up. Gasoil is used for power generation in ration (BPC) also has a 1.02 million ton Total dieselvalue contract security with Iran.

-Reuters traded on the boost 7 GCCGulf bourses duringamid Apriltension 2012 recorded around USD 79.5 bn; the the Gulf. with KPC in 2012. -Agencies Saudi TADAWUL remains the engine of trading in the GCC stock markets representing 91

percent of aggregate traded value while the Kuwaiti bourse was lagging behind at a total value of USD 2.86 bn. Liquidity in the UAE stock markets remains tight with only USD 2.3 bn traded in April while trading improved in Qatar Exchange to record USD 1.97 bn.

Japan may offer insurance for Iranian oil imports

Syria’s oil industry lost $4 billion due to sanctions

Market Capitalization of the GCC Equity Markets as of 30.4.2012 450

BEIRUT: The Syrian oil industry has lost around four billon US dollars due to sanctions imposed in September which banned crude oil imports from the country, Syrian oil minister Sufian Alao said on Wednesday.

Syrian state news agency quoted him as saying: “The Syrian oil industry lost about four billion dollars as a result of unjust European and American sanctions and impediments that they imposed on the export and import of petroleum and petroleum derivatives since the beginning of September.” -Reuters

TOKYO: Japan’s government may provide cover for tankers bringing in Iranian oil once a European Union ban on insurance takes effect in July, Japanese officials said on Wednesday.

Japan has been lobbying the EU to remain exempt from the ban on insurance and reinsurance of Iran’s oil exports, which is part of a raft of Western sanctions aimed at shrinking Tehran’s oil revenues to force it halt its controversial nuclear program.

The officials said the Japanese government was considering asking parliament to

enact a law that would enable it to provide the necessary insurance cover.

World powers and Iran began negotiations in Baghdad on Wednesday aimed at making progress towards resolving the dispute over the nuclear program.

“All eyes are on the negotiations in Baghdad today,” said one official who declined to be identified as he is not allowed to talk to media. “The lobbying for insurance and reinsurance exemptions is the prime focus.”

The Nikkei newspaper had reported that the government was planning submit the KAMCOto Research

GCC Equity Markets Review

KAMCO Research

17

17

MSM

BHB

GCC Equity Markets Review

KAMCOmarkets Researchlose $17.7 billion of their market capitalization during April 2012 GCC GCC Equity Markets Review

KAMCO (15.02.2012): A report prepared by KAMCO Research that analyzes the performance of the 7 GCC Equity Markets during January-2012 in GCC Equity Markets Overview addition to assessing the latest key economic and market developments and their effect on the performance of each stock market.

GCC Equity Markets Benchmark Return & Volatility

Closing GCC Equity Markets Review Value Tadawul All Sharebegan Index GCC Bourses

Return April-12

YTD-12

Volatility April-12

7,558.47 17.77% 18.40% of 2012 on a mixed note as 4(3.53%) out of 7 markets ended the month JanuaryKSE 2012 the red. Dubaiʼs2,645.79 DFM General(0.30%) Index was the 2.34% top performer 5.84% for the KAMCO TRWinIndex month increasing 1,435.72 followed KSE Weighted Index 6.08 per cent to417.47 (0.65%) by the Saudi 2.92% TADAWUL, 8.60%the largest bourse in the GCC region,2,503.82 rising 3.25 per(1.93%) cent to 6,626.04 points. However on ADX General Index 4.23% 5.11% the loserʼs side, Qatar Exchange ended as the worst performing market as its 20 Index DFM General Index 1,630.95 (1.09%) 20.51% 15.17% shed 2.4 per cent to 8,568.23 closely followed by the MSM 30 Index which lost 2.35 per QE 20 Index 8,703.64 (0.86%) cent of its value to close the month at 5,561.39. (0.99%) Kuwaitʼs KSE Weighted Index 5.88% slipped Bahrain Allcent Share 1,152.79 0.03%relatively flat 0.80% 0.13 per toIndex 405.11 while KAMCO TRW Index was at 2,584.95. 4.40% Source: KAMCO Research

50

-

KAMCO Research

MSM 30 Index

394

draft to400 parliament in early June, with the Insurers in the EU, the biggest market for aim of getting it passed by the end of the reinsurance, will be prohibited from coverMarket Cap at the end of 30-April-2012 (USD Bln) month. 350 ing liabilities for tankers carrying Iranian Under Japanese law, shipping companies crude oil. Without reinsurance, liability pro300 entering the nation’s territorial waters must vided by Japanese insurers would only cover obtain liability insurance against damages damages up to $8 million, an official at Japan 250 from accidents, including oil spills and fataliP&I Club said. Requests to get cover from ties. Most Chinese insurers failed, the official said. Cur200of this coverage has been offered by the Japan Shipowners’ Mutual Protecrently, tankers are insured up to 7.6 billion 150 127 tion & Indemnity (P&I) Association, which US dollars for any critical incident except an in turn obtains reinsurance from other107 P&I oil spill. Up to $1.0 billion is provided for oil 100other insurers to cover potentially 75 which have less coverage because they clubs and spills, 51 large claims. occur more frequently.

-Reuters

5,868.90

3.14%

3.05%

GCC Equity Markets Benchmark Return & Volatility Closing

Return

9.73%

Volatility

Total value traded on the 7 GCC bourses during April 2012 recorded around USD 79.5 bn; the TADAWUL QE KSE in March-12, while value traded was up 14 percent to OMR 123 mn versus OMR 108 mn in the Saudi TADAWUL remains the engine of trading in the GCC stock markets representing 91 previous month. percent of aggregate traded value while the Kuwaiti bourse was lagging behind at a total value Source: KAMCO Research of USD 2.86 bn. Liquidity in the UAE stock markets remains tight with only USD 2.3 bn traded in April while trading improved in Qatar Exchange to record USD 1.97 bn.

GCC Equity Markets P/E Multiple Market Capitalization of the GCC Equity Markets as of 30.4.2012 400

394

30.0

YTD-12 12.37% 4.97%

7.10%

10.39%

22.85% 8.07%

5.63%

8.01%

25.0

300 250

20.0

200

15.0

150

127

107

KAMCO Research

100

75

GCC Equity Markets Review

50 -

Stocks

Market Cap at the end of 30-April-2012 (USD Bln)

350

TADAWUL

QE

KSE

ADX

in March-12, while value traded was up 14 percent to OMR 123 mn versus OMR 108 mn in the previous month.

Source: KAMCO Research

33.9 24.0

10.0

51

DFM

5.0 -

DFM

Market Capitalization by Country Market Cap (Mln USD) as of: # of Listed

35.0

450

ADX

15.7 17 MSM DFM

17 KSE

BHB Tadawul

Saudi Stock Exchange Kuwait Stock Exchange Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Dubai Financial Market Qatar Exchange 15.0 Bahrain14.4 Bourse 12.5 12.2 Muscat Securities Market Total GCC Equity MSM Markets QE Avg. GCC ADX

10.5

BHB

151 203 66 65 42 41 61 629

31-Mar-12 409,748 108,172 75,808 51,618 127,239 16,700 16,751 806,036

30-Apr-12 394,234 106,848 75,042 51,091 127,160 16,710 17,239 788,325

M-T-M % Chg

% of Total

(3.79%) (1.22%) (1.01%) (1.02%) (0.06%) 0.06% 2.91% (2.20%)

50.01% 13.55% 9.52% 6.48% 16.13% 2.12% 2.19% 100.00%

Source: KAMCO Research

Source: KAMCO Research

Following a strong performanceValue during theJan-12 First Quarter of 2012, Jan-12 GCC Equity Markets lost FY 2011 FY 2011 Market Capitalization by Country ground the monthKUWAIT: of April and The closed on a mixed note affected by the renewed financial Tadawul during All Share Index 6,626.04 3.25% 8.52% 19.8% following is(3.07%) a report proIn Qatar, The QE 20 Index reversed its two GCC Equity Markets P/E Multiple GCC Equity Markets P/B versus Dividend Yield Market Cap (Mln USD) as of: # of Listed M-T-M % of stress inKSE Spain that triggered a2,584.95 negative sentiment in international financial markets.

KAMCO TRW Index (0.01%) (12.06%) 4.94% 9.6% Alleviated In Saudi Arabia, despite strong Q1-12 earnings and bright prospects the0.99 banking sectorto duced by Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) month positive trend to for drop percent Stocks % Chg Total 31-Mar-12 30-Apr-12 KSE Weighted crude Index (0.13%)prices (16.22%) 6.94% supply-side oil pressures405.11 which pushed down also contributed to13.2% the retreat in P/B (X) Yield 2011 35.0 according to Fitch Ratings, profit booking and a crackdown issued by the Saudi King onto Asset Management Company (KAMCO) which 8,703.64 and reversing its YTD-12 return Saudi Stock Exchange 151 409,748 394,234 (3.79%) 50.01% 2.25 5.5% ADX General 2,453.98Following 2.15% 13.68% 10.0% most of theIndex GCC equity markets. a gain of(11.68%) USD 88.6 bn in its combined market 5.2% Kuwait Stock Exchange 203 108,172 106,848 (1.22%) 13.55% the Cooperation Council (GCC) a loss of 0.86 percent.

The sell-off coincided DFM General Index 6.08% (17.00%) 15.33% USD 17.7 17.9% bn of their market manipulation weighed on the TASI performance to end on a negative note and snap a capitalization duringdiscusses Q1-2012,1,435.72 the Gulf 7 GCC Equity Markets lost together 2.00 75,042 Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange 66 75,808 (1.01%) 9.52% 30.0 5.0% QE 20 Index 8,568.23 (2.40%) USD 788 1.12% withfailed a surge in trading indicators with volume market capitalizationequity during markets.

April 2012 to record bn. Saudi10.87% TADAWUL14.3% weighed down Dubai Financial Market 65 51,618 51,091 (1.02%) 6.48% 4 month winning streak.

As a result, the TASI to maintain the bullish momentum that 1.75 All Share Index 1,139.83 (0.34%) (20.15%) 4.72% 8.7% Qatar Exchange 42 127,239 127,160 (0.06%) 16.13% onBahrain market cap losing alone around 15.5 bn while Kuwait Stock lost around Following aUSD strong performance during theExchange increasing 25 percent 277.3and million 25.0 4.5% MSM 30 Index 5,561.39 (2.35%) (15.69%) 4.40% 12.9% pushed the index to a new4.4% 42 month high during the beginning of thetomonth endedshares April Bahrain Bourse 41 16,700 0.06% 2.12% 1.50 16,710 USD 1.3 bn of its market cap.

The ongoing concerns regarding debt sustainability in Europe, first quarter (Q1) of 2012, Gulf Cooperation from 220.8 million while value increasing Muscat Securities Market 61 16,751 17,239 2.91% 2.19% down 276.68 points, or 3.53 percent, to close at 7,558.47 points and end as the worst further possible downgrading in Spainʼs sovereign credit rating (negative outlook) and the 20.0 4.0% 1.25 788,325 Total GCC Equity Markets 629 806,036 (2.20%) 100.00% 12 percent to 7.2 billion Qatari riyals ($1.97 Source: KAMCO Research Council (GCC) Equity Markets lost ground concerns about the damage that might be caused to the global economy as a result33.9 of a 3.5% 3.4% performing 3.6% market in the GCC region and narrowing YTD-12 gains to 17.77 percent from 22inSource: KAMCO Research during the month of April and closed on a billion).itsAggregate market capitalization 1.00 European debt crisis developments along with regional geopolitical situation and the 3.5% 15.0 possible Greece exit from the Euro-zone along with the volatility in oil prices and financial percent witnessed in Q1-12.

In April, TADAWUL market capitalization lost 3.8 percent of itsto 3.1% mixed note affected by the renewed financial creased 0.12 percent during the month after-math results of the Arab Spring continue to dominate the attention of regional markets and the soft landing of the Chinese economy are all factors that will most likely 24.0 0.75 In Saudi Arabia, despite strong Q1-12 earnings and bright prospects for the banking2.9% sector 3.0% bn) as investors.toThe GCC region economic landscape remains solid by the huge 10.0 value2.6%to SAR 1.48 trillion (USD 394 compared SAR 1.54 trillionbillion) (USD 410 bn) stress in Spain that triggered a negative senti-quarter.

463.8 billiontoriyals ($127.4 as comcontinue shape GCC equity markets performance during thesupported second fiscal surpluses enjoyed most of the GCC states and governmentsʼ commitment to mentby in international financial markets. Alle-

0.50 according profit booking and a crackdown issued by the Saudi King on 15.7 to Fitch 15.0 Ratings, 14.4 12.2performance to end on a negative note and snap a market manipulation weighed on12.5 the TASI

pared to last month’s marketIndustries capitalization recorded in March-12, pressured by market heavyweight Petrochemical sector,of

2.5% deployhealthy its recourses in developing infrastructure construction stimulate 10.5 5.0 0.25 After gains viated recorded during Q1-12 thatand was fuelled byprojects ample to liquidity and positive 4 month winning streak. As a result, the TASI failed to maintain the bullish momentum that supply-side crude oil pressures which 463.2 billion The5.4 month wastomarked growth in inthe real economy. blue-chip stocks well stock positioned to to foreign 34 percent of the aggregate market cap,riyals. slumping percent SAR 504by 1.59 2.07 1.31 1.09 which 0.97represents 1.83 0.91 1.57 progress issuing new lawsDemand that willfor most likely open upthat theare Saudi market pushed the index to a new 42 month high during the beginning of- the month and ended April 2.0% pushed prices down also contributed to the a change in the market’s sector distribution benefit from the governmentsʼ prudent policies is driving gains in major GCC equity investors, the Saudi Tadawul consolidated during the month triggered by the disappointing Q1down 276.68 points, or 3.53 percent, to close at 7,558.47 points and as theKSE worst ADX GCC endSSE DFM QE BB MSM Avg. GCC ADX MSM QE BHB DFM KSE Tadawul securities markets, though the GCC is not totally immune to the debt stress retreat in heavy mostregion of the GCC equity markets. as the exchange followed on the heels of last performing market in the GCC region and narrowing its YTD-12 gains to 17.77 percent from 22 2012 financial results of the weighted petrochemical stocks which dropped by 13 present in the Euro-zone. percent witnessed in Q1-12.

In April, TADAWUL market capitalization lost 3.8 percent of its Source: KAMCO Research Following a gain US dollars month’s announcement of new indices with the Source: KAMCO Research percent during Q1-2012 to SAR 8.2 of bn 88.6 downbillion from SAR 9.4 bn in during Q1-2011. Saudi value to SAR 1.48 trillion (USD 394 bn) as compared to SAR 1.54 trillion (USD 410 bn) TADAWUL All Share (TASI) wasthe thecurrent worst situation performer amongst its GCCwith Peers during itsIndex combined market capitalization during Q1tensions establishment of new sectors.

2 During the month, investors were eyeing arising from recorded in March-12, pressured by market heavyweight Petrochemical Industries sector, April, ending the month down 3.53 percent to 7,558.47 driven bylost negative in the 2012, the seven GCC Equity Markets witnessed the petrochemical stocks. snap a four month As ato SAR in February 2012, Abu Dhabi Securities ExWhereas in Bahrain, the lack of positive Iran after Europe banned crude oil imports from the country.

Thetobandevelopments imposed 34 percent of and the aggregate market cap, winning slumping streak.

5.4 percent 504 GCC Equity on Markets P/Bwhich versusrepresents Dividend Yield international markets along with drop in oil prices and the sell off witnessed on the escalated tensions as Iran claimed that theyofhave themarket legal right to close the StraitRobust of gether $17.7 billion their capitalizaQ1-12 earnings announced by Qaresult, the TASI failed to maintain the bullish change retreated in April and continued the4 market catalysts along with thin trading durpetrochemical Hormuz, a key stocks. path for oil trade. Worries of a Greek exit from the Euro Zone may trigger

tion during April 2012 to record $788 billion.

tari companies along with theP/B new clas(X) sectorsYield 2011

the damage that might be caused to the global economy as a result of a possible Greece exit from the Euro-zone along with the volatility in oil prices and financial markets and the soft landing of the Chinese economy are all factors that will most likely continue to shape GCC equity markets performance during the second quarter.

After healthy gains recorded during Q1-12 that was fuelled by ample liquidity and positive progress in issuing new laws that will most likely open up the Saudi stock market to foreign investors, the Saudi Tadawul consolidated during the month triggered by the disappointing Q1-2012 financial results of the heavy weighted petrochemical stocks which dropped by 13 percent during Q1-2012 to 8.2 billion Saudi riyals down from 9.4 billion Saudi riyals during Q1-2011. Saudi TADAWUL All Share Index (TASI) was the worst performer amongst its GCC Peers during April, ending the month down 3.53 percent to 7,558.47 driven by negative developments in the international markets along with drop in oil prices and the sell off

0.75 8,703.64 at the end of 2.9% the month. Since the 2.6% beginning of the year, Qatar Exchange per0.50 formance was slightly down by 0.86 percent 0.25 despite the1.59 favorable environment 1.31 1.09 0.97 fu-1.83 1 2.07 business elled -by government massive spending on de- QE GCC SSE KSE ADX DFM veloping infrastructure and real estate projects Source: KAMCO Research and the solid public finance.

Total value traded on the seven GCC bourses during April 2012 recorded around $79.5 billion; the Saudi TADAWUL remains the engine of trading in the GCC stock markets representing 91 percent of aggregate traded value while the Kuwaiti bourse was lagging behind at a total value of $2.86 billion. Liquidity in the UAE stock markets remains tight with only $2.3 billion traded in April while trading improved in Qatar Exchange to record $1.97 billion.

In Saudi Arabia, despite strong Q1-12 earnings and bright prospects for the banking sector according to Fitch Ratings, profit booking and a crackdown issued by the Saudi King on market manipulation weighed on the TASI performance to end on a negative note

2.25 another sell-off spree that would spread across the globe on speculation that the global

Saudi TADAWUL weighed onfound market cap sification that took place during April failed to Robust earnings announced by Qatari companies along with the new sectors economicQ-12 recovery may stall.

Nevertheless, GCC down Bourses some support from 2.00 losing alone around whilethe Kuwait reverse downside trend in Qatar Exchange. classification that took place during April$15.5 failedbillion to reverse downside trend the in Qatar 1.75 since Exchange. HoweverStock the Qatari market lost has been showing Exchange around $1.3 resilience billion ofonitsthe downside However thethe Qatari market has been showing 1 beginning of the year.

QE market capitalization dropped by 0.1 percent to1.50USDon 127.2 market cap. The ongoingslightly concerns regarding resilience the downside since the beginning bn, while QE 20 Index dropped 1 percent to 8,703.64 at the end of theof month.

Since QE the market capitalization slightly KAMCO Research debt sustainability in record Europe, further possible the year.

1.25 beginning of the year, Qatar Exchange performance was slightly down by 0.86 percent despite downgrading in Spain’s sovereign credit ratdropped by 0.1 to $127.2 billion, while3.6% 3.5% 3.4% the favourable business environment fuelled by government massive spending on developingpercent 1.00 ingestate (negative outlook) concerns QE 20 Index dropped one percent to record infrastructure and real projects and the and solid the public finance. about 3.1%

momentum that 5.5% pushed the index to a new 42 5.2% month high during the beginning of the month and ended April 5.0% down 276.68 points, or 3.53 percent, to close at 7,558.47 points and end as 4.5% the worst4.4% performing market in the GCC region and narrowing 4.0% its YTD-12 gains to 17.77 percent from 22 percent witnessed in Q1-12.

3.5% market capitalization lost In April, TADAWUL 3.8 percent of its3.0%value to 1.48 trillion Saudi riyals ($394 billion) as compared to 1.54 trillion Saudi riyals2.5%($410 billion) recorded in March-12, pressured by market heavyweight 0.91 1.57 2.0% Petrochemical Industries sector, which repreBB MSM sents 34 percent of the aggregate market cap, slumping 5.4 percent to 504 billion Saudi riyals ($134.5 billion); and Banks & Financial sector falling 4.9 percent to 360 billion Saudi riyals ($96 billion). 4 While in Kuwait, After rising for the last six sessions in April, the Kuwaiti Bourse was able to end the month on a positive note to reach a 10 month high. Although, the KSE Weighted and KAMCO TRW Indexes registered losses during April falling 0.65 percent and 0.3 percent to close at 417.47 and 2,645.79 points, respectively; the KSE Price Index ended the month as the best performer in the GCC helping push the Index’s YTD-12 gain higher to 9.54 percent. Local retail investors picking up mid- and small-cap stocks pushed the KSE Price Index higher to 6,368.6 points.

As for Abu Dhabi, Following healthy gains

downtrend that started in March on the back of 2 invisibility in corporate earnings and the ongoing global uncertainty emanating from the sovereign debt crisis in Greece and Spain. Profit taking before the announcement of Q1-2012 financial results also pressured the market and extended the ADX General Index losses in April to 1.93 percent, thus narrowing its gains over the first 4 months of the year to 4.2 percent.

In Dubai, Selling pressure on small cap stocks coupled with poor Q1-12 corporate earnings from listed companies dragged the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index lower by 1.1 percent to 1,631 points at the end of April compared to 1,648.9 points at the end of March-12. All sectors in the market ended in the red with the exception of the Real Estate & Construction sector as aggregate market capitalization lost 1.02 percent of its value to reach 187.6 billion UAE dirhams in April12 down from 189.6 billion UAE dirhams in March 2012. Heavyweight banking sector fell 4.02 percent to 50.3 billion UAE dirhams from 52.4 billion UAE dirhams during the same period. Investors remained on the sidelines this month as was evident in trading indicators with volume traded slumping 40.2 percent to 4.7 billion shares from a previous 7.9 billion while value traded fell 29.5 percent to 6.7 billion UAE dirhams down from 9.6 billion UAE dirhams in March 2012.

ing April pushed the index to end the month with a marginal gain of 0.03 percent closing at 1,152.79. Renewed local tension and absence of large institutional investors continue to weigh down on sentiment as trading activity is still significantly low as the value of shares traded during April dropped by 66 percent to 3.54 million in comparison with 10.55 million Bahraini dinars in March, reflecting the scarcity of international and institutional investors in the market. Moreover, the number of shares exchanging hands during the month also dropped by 57 percent to 24.05 million shares in comparison with March’s 55.9 million shares.

In Oman, fuelled by strong Q1-12 corporate earnings coupled with bright prospects for the economy, the Omani Bourse was able to reverse last month’s fall to recover losses and end as the second best performing market in April, following Kuwait. By the end of the month, the MSM 30 Index gained 3.14 percent to close at 5,868.90 points with volatility slightly easing to 9.7 percent from 10 percent during April. The MSM 30 Index recovered Q112 losses to post a 3.05 percent gain in YTD12. Corresponding to the increase witnessed, trading indicators rose with volume increasing 36.5 percent during the month to 593 million shares compared to 434 million in March-12, while value traded was up 14 percent to 123 million Omani riyals versus 108 million Omani riyals in the previous month.

ALWATAN DAILY

MARKETS

11

thursDAY, may 24, 2012

UAE telco Etisalat plans price cuts, refocuses on home Wednesday 23 May, 2012 Index Price index Weighted Index KSX 15 Security

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates (UAE) telecom firm Etisalat plans to cut international call tariffs to various countries by up to 30 percent, an executive said, as the former monopoly tries to win back market share and stem the spread of Internet-based phone calls. The plans are at an early stage and need regulatory approval, but are likely to come into force in the second half of 2012, Rashed Alabbar, Etisalat Vice-President for home product marketing, told Reuters. Etisalat already has a favored country call plan where customers can get up to 40 percent off standard tariffs.

“On top of that, we’re studying whether to further reduce international rates,” said Alabbar. “If we are going to implement something in landline, most probably it will also be in mobile because we wouldn’t cannibalize other product lines. “(A) 10 to 30 percent (cut) is what we are currently looking at across local and international calls. It should cover the most popular destinations.”

These may include India, Philippines and Pakistan, which have large expatriate communities in the United Arab Emirates. International calls are a crucial revenue source for Etisalat and rival operator du, with about 89 percent of the UAE’s 8.3 million population foreigners.

The proposed cuts come as Etisalat, which operates in 17 countries, refocuses on its domestic market.

According to a fourth-quarter results presentation to analysts, the UAE is home to about 6 percent of Etisalat’s 167 million subscribers yet provided 73 percent

of revenue in 2011, with foreign units which span from West Africa to Indonesia - providing limited revenue diversification. Analysts say Etisalat was distracted by its foreign expansion, allowing du to build up a 47 percent share of the country’s mobile subscribers since launching services in 2007.

“Du has been taking the initiative, primarily in the mobile market which is where the main competition is,” said Matthew Reed, a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media in Dubai.

“Etisalat has been losing market share quite substantially and part of that is from du being more competitive on pricing.”

Etisalat also faces a rising use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services free Internet-to-Internet calls and cheap Internet-to-phone calls - as people upgrade to smart phones with VoIP capabilities and broadband penetration rises.

“That’s one of the reasons, but not necessarily a major one (for price cuts) the destination countries we’re targeting, not all customers have PC-to-PC VoIP capabilities,” Alabbar said. “People making free calls, no one can compete with that.”

Etisalat recently changed its low-end broadband tariffs so that subscribers get double the bandwidth for the same price.

“It’s part of the overall product revamp for home products,” said Alabbar. It comes ahead of a long-delayed network sharing deal to allow competition in fixed line services.

Both du and Etisalat offer fixed-line voice, broadband and television services but not in the same districts. -Reuters

Major construction opportunities valued at $500 billion in GCC: Deloitte

CAPITALS: Despite grappling with challenges and delivery issues related to current projects, major opportunities in the construction sector remain prevalent in SaudiArabia, Qatar,Abu Dhabi and Iraq in 2012, according to the newly released Deloitte Middle East’s annual report on the sector: ‘GCC Powers of Construction: Five Lessons to Learn From’. This was stated in a press release on Wednesday.

Key findings in the Deloitte report indicate that large infrastructure projects, particularly around social and transport infrastructure, will offer tremendous opportunities for contractors, as will continuing upstream and downstream oil and gas related developments in the coming years. Cemented as a trusted advisor to a large number of clients throughout the Middle East construction industry and supply chain entities, Deloitte is uniquely positioned in this report to analyze the impact of the global financial crisis on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) construction sector, particularly regarding current projects. Of the biggest investments currently underway is Qatar’s plan to spend 100 billion US dollars in preparation for hosting the 2022 World Cup and achieving its 2030 vision, and Saudi Arabia’s capital spend program approaching $400 billion over the next 10 years alone. The Deloitte report indicates that although there are massive opportunities associated with huge construction spend, many project sponsors still have to deal with illiquid projects and debt.

“What primarily differentiates participants in the GCC’s construction industry from their Western counterparts is that grand opportunities continue to be capitalized upon across the region, despite being forced to deal with continuing negative financial circumstances - simultaneously - in specific locales,” states Rizwan Shah, Managing Director, Corporate Finance, and Leader of Deloitte’s Capital Projects Advisory services practice for the Middle East. The ‘GCC Powers of Construction’ series is an annual report issued

by Deloitte Middle East. The 2012 edition provides a collection of unique perspectives on the underlying issues that have challenged the GCC’s multi-trillion dollar construction industry, and how these challenges have been overcome by some of the largest and most sophisticated businesses in the region.

“This report demonstrates Deloitte’s unique perspective on the construction industry and its commitment to addressing what is ‘next’ for the benefit of our clients

and wider GCC industry participants, by leveraging a multitude of lessons learned in the context of projected growth for the GCC construction industry in the future,” adds Shah. “Collectively, the report is designed to share what is typically privileged client intelligence in a neutral medium, to help stakeholders involved in the construction industry improve their business performance and to benefit and advance the GCC construction industry as a whole,” he said.

The Deloitte report is produced based on data gathered from surveys and internal data, supported by interviews with some of the most prominent industry leaders from the region, to understand and leverage how they have progressed their businesses through these difficult times and how they have managed to create a stable foundation to move forward.

Backed by vast oil-based reserves and government stimulus packages, the economic prospects of the GCC region have remained positive despite ongoing political unrest in the wider Middle East region. As such, efforts to maintain a balanced and diversified economic base have remained the primary focus of the regional governments as evidenced by a steady stream of investments into construction and infrastructure developments. The Deloitte report indicates that there is at least an estimated $500 billion investment opportunity regionally, in energy, transportation, education, healthcare and other critical sectors of economic development. The oil and gas exporting countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, have an additional objective which is the need to diversify their economies away from the traditional petrochemical and hydrocarbon industries. This is also driving infrastructure spending in these countries. These countries are now looking at how to take advantage of existing strengths to develop upstream industries and the focus has shifted to construction, according to the Deloitte report.

“The region certainly is expected to continue to offer a lot of opportunity for contractors,” says Cynthia Corby, audit partner Deloitte Middle East and leader of the Construction industry for the UAE. “Construction contracts alone, worth $40 billion were awarded to contractors in the first quarter of 2011, 47 percent of which were in the energy sector. It is interesting to note that despite such grand investments, governments are still trying to recuperate from the impact of the financial crisis,” she added.

High

-14.06 0 22 0.22 2.03

Low

Volume

Closing

Last Closing

High

Low

6,366.95 411 77 411.77 981.58

6,381.01 411 55 411.55 979.55

6,384.77 411 77 411.77 981.58

6,325.78 408 45 408.45 971.02

Trades Value (KD)

Trades

Last

0

MARIN

0

0

0

0

0

IKARUS

0

0

0

0

0

IPG

0

0

0

0

0

NAPESCO

0

0

0

0

0

AREFENRGY

0

0

0

0

0

GPI

0

0

0

0

0

216

206

28,360 28,360

5,845 5,845

6 6

212 999.44

112

110

43,091

4,781

11

ABAR

FILE - A man walks past a sign at the headquarters of telecommunications company Etisalat in Dubai Oct. 25, 2011. Etisalat plans to cut international call tariffs to various countries by up to 30 percent, an executive said, as the former monopoly tries to win back market share and stem the spread of Internet-based phone calls. (Reuters)

Change ź Ÿ Ÿ

Oil & Gas PIPE KFOUC

335

335

4,500

1,508

1

BPCC

610

600

717 722 717,722

430 643 430,643

26

ALKOUT

0

0

0

0 0

0

0

0

48,523 485,455

21 59

218 976.61

KCEM

420

415

100,000

41,875

7

415

REFRI

174

170

50,000

8,580

4

CABLE

1,340

1,340

15,000

20,100

6

SHIP

242

240

210,000

50,560

9

PCEM

930

900

54,000

49,260

11

PAPER

0

0

0

0

0

MRC

132

120

1,035

125

5

ACICO

250

242

204,050

50,237

17

GGMC

0

0

0

0

0

HCC

0

0

0

0

0

KPAK

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

233

1

EQUIPMENT

172

168

133,980

22,685

18

NCCI

0

0

0

0

0

GYPSUM

91

91

1

0

1

SALBOOKH

36

36

60,000

2,160

1

AGLTY

410

405

1,067,143

432,416

42

EDU

120

110

154,250

18,289

26

CLEANING CITYGROUP

156 0

154 0

421,600 0

65,510 0

17 0

KGL

114

112

439,885

49,367

14

KCPC

380

380

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

106

93

1,553

149

10

HUMANSOFT NAFAIS SAFWAN

0

0

0

0

0

GFC

29

28

5,500

159

3

MAYADEEN

23

21

34,541,399

746,337

260

CGC

1,440

1,440

3,500

5,040

6

MTCC

94

90

171,324

15,808

17

UPAC

0

0

0

0

0

ALAFCO

295

295

12,000

3,540

3

MUBARRAD

65

63

73,688

4,720

6

LOGISTICS

285

280

1,584,234

443,586

58

SCEM

85

83

191,100

16,013

9

GCEM

99

97

1,854,987

181,173

37

0.0 0.0

ŷ

335

0

819

ŷ

0.0

610

223,607 988,920

0

ŷ

0.0

0.0

0

285

ŷ

0.0

ŷ

216

0

ŷ

00 0.0

110

0

285

ŷ

-4.0 -2.24

218

KBMMC

ŷ

ź ź

ALQURAIN Basic Materials

NICBM

Change

174

1,340 240

910 0

132

250 0

0

0

0

ŷ ŷ

120

156 0

114 380 0

95 0

29

22

1,440 94 0

295 63

285 85

98 0

FOOD Consumer Goods MHC ATC

126

126

126

100,000

12,600

2

1,340

1,340

13,000 915,900

17,420 100,839

3 34

1,340 979.25

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

395

395

40,000 40,000

15,800 15,800

4 4

395 991.77

KCIN

1,000

1,000

4,000

4,000

2

1,000

KHOT

192

192

1,000 1 000

192

1

SULTAN

104

102

468,721

48,469

20

CABLETV

49

49

6,128

297

1

YIACO Health Care

EYAS

0

0

0

0

0

IFAHR

395

395

1,000

395

1

MASHAER

275

270

88,122

23,798

6

OULAFUEL

290

275

223,901

63,995

12

MUNTAZAHAT

50

50

90

5

1

JAZEERA

415

415

2,000

830

1

SOOR

0

0

0

0

0

FUTUREKID

0

0

0

0

0

ALNAWADI

110

108

7,000 7 000

764

3

ALRAI

120

120

1

0

1

192 104 49 0

395

275

290 50

415 0

0

108 120 0

9,937

6

0

0

THEMAR

0

0

0

0

0

2.0

GRAND

0

0

0

0

0

TIJARA

42

41

1,284,999

53,333

42

0.0

TAAMEER

54

51

25,151

1,283

6

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

0.0

4.0 0.0

ARKAN

90

82

1,471

121

2

0.0

ARGAN

148

128

10,102

1,393

5

ABYAAR

47

46

3,802,501

175,921

56

0.0

MUNSHAAT

37

35

815,602

28,856

27

FIRSTDUBAI

40

38

642,001

24,991

25

KBT

0

0

0

0

0

-5.0

REAM

0

0

0

0

0

MENA

39

39

2,000

78

1

0.0

ALMUDON

0

0

0

0

0

0.0

-4.0 0.0

-1.0 0.0

ź

ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ

ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ Ÿ ŷ

50

48

5,120,500

247,057

90

NINV

136

128

1,930,319

251,064

96

-0.5

KPROJ

325

320

117,000

37,478

14

COAST

54

50

1,234,501

61,997

41

TII

0

0

0

0

0

SECH

0

0

0

0

0

IIC

0

0

0

0

0

SGC

0

0

0

0

0

IFC

100

98

595,000

58,525

24

MARKAZ

118

116

61,676

7,228

4

KMEFIC

0

0

0

0

0

0.0

AIG

0

0

0

0

0

ALAMAN

37

35

2,805,351

100,916

59

-1.0

ALOLA

144

142

1,680,000

241,880

23

ALMAL GIH

0 35

0 34

0 6,553,147

0 225,754

0 81

5.0

2.0

0.0

0.0 0.0

0.0

-1.0 0.0

0

415

215,595

88,394

18

3,376,559

2,427,902

202

BOUBYAN

610

600

222,470

133,657

26

UGB

172

172

500

86

1

AUB ITHMR

170 41

170 39

804,000 804 000 13,626,591

136,680 136 680 535,569

17 194

21,400,823

5,342,096

597

976.57 0

Banks KINS

0

0

0

0

0

GINS

0

0

0

0

0

730

610 172

170 39

0

435

0

KAMCO

250

250

2,000

500

1

NIH

55

55

1,000

55

1

ISKAN MADAR

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

ALDEERA

38

36

205,302

7,699

17

ALSAFAT

0

0

0

0

0

ALSALAM

260

255

493,781

125,984

42

EKTTITAB QURAINHLD

90 0

86 0

2,117,572 0

185,791 0

81 0

ALMADINA

0

0

0

0

0

NOOR

0

0

0

0

0

180

168

825,101 82 101

140,728 140 28

39

32

30

190,001

5,815

6

80

70

10,593

743

3

KCIC

70

69

509,599

35,162

22

5

MANAFAE

57

57

139,999

7,980

6

GNAHC

50

46

73,352

3,520

8

-5

AMWAL

0

0

0

0

0

MASAR

0

0

0

0

0

0

ALIMTIAZ

0

0

0

0

0

MANAZEL

35

34

512,461 512 461

17 596 17,596

23

4

NIND

226

220

6,343,826

1,406,655

103

UIC

88

86

463,552

39,889

16

0

BIIHC

71

64

119,512

7,893

28

0 1,625,000

0 124,180

0 28

0

-3 0

0

0

0 3.76 -3.76

SHOP SENERGY

0 78

0 75

AGHC

148

144

710,001

102,800

24

ź

-10

ALSAFWA

21

20

9,321,335

187,082

126

KPPC

73

72

408,000

29,614

13

TAHSSILAT JEERANH

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

ŷ ź ŷ ŷ Ÿ ŷ Ÿ ŷ ź

-40

ŷ ŷ ŷ ŷ ź Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ ź

270 48

130

325 50 0

0

0

0

98

118 0

Ÿ ŷ

0

75 0

250 55

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

0 0

ŷ ŷ

0

ŷ

38 260 87 0 0

0

168 0

0

32

80

70

57

49

Ÿ ź ź ŷ ŷ ŷ ź ŷ ŷ ŷ Ÿ ŷ ź Ÿ

0

ŷ

0

ŷ

222

ź

0

35

87

66

0 78

148

ŷ ź ź ź ŷ ź ŷ

21

Ÿ

0 0

ŷ ŷ

73

295

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0 0.0

-3.0 3.0

10.0 0.5

-0.5

-0.5 0.0

0.0

1.5

0.0

0.0

0.0

ŷ

ź

0

0.0

-1.5

ŷ

144

39

3.0

5.0 2.14

ŷ

0 35

1.0

Ÿ Ÿ

0

37

1.5

-1.0 0.0

ź

Ÿ

0.0

-1.5

-6.0 0.0

-3.0 0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

-2.0 0.0

0.0

0.0

1.0

-2.0

0.0 -0.5 0.5 0.0

-1.0 0.0

1.0

0.0

10.0 -5.0 0.0 0.0

0.5

0.0

-5.0

-4.0 0.0 0.0

0.0

-8.0 80 0.0

0.0

0.0

5.0

0.0

-3.0 1.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

-0.5 05

-2.0

-1.0

-2.0

0.0 1.0 -1.0 0.0

1.0

-1.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 50

6,826 6 826

5

1,858,321

402

0 40

INOVEST Financial Services

57

56

736,700 84,910,795

41,689 5,630,672

18 1,462

57 975.39

ź ź

-1.0 -6.71

-10 10 0

MAREF 0 Investment Instruments

0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0.00

ŷ ŷ

0.0 0.00

20

ASC

440

Ÿ

20.0

0

0

0

10 0 -3

0.0

-5.0

2 1

0

0

0

0

0

FTI

114

112

2,500

284

2

WETHAQ

76

66

201,100

14,879

9

ARIG

0

0

0

0

0

BKIKWT Insurance

0

0

0 216,609

0 18,131

0 14

0 1097.69

ŷ Ÿ

0.0 1.79

AINV

0

0

0

0

0

0

ŷ

0

SOKOUK KRE

0 55

0 54

0 683,000

0 36,915

0 21

ŷ ŷ

ŷ

0.0

-3.0

23,511 23 511

1,744

ŷ

ź

0.0

0.0

39,543,162

1,224

Ÿ

ŷ

0.0 0.5

47

4,009

ź

Ÿ

0.0

285

0

ŷ

Ÿ

0.0

49

ŷ

ź

ź ŷ

-1.0

295

6.73

ź

Ÿ

0.0

-5.0

EKHOLDING

Ÿ

ŷ

ź

00 0.0

GFH

9,000

0 55

0

KSHC

435

0

0

STRATEGIA

0

136

76

0

-5

435

112

0

0

136

0

KFIC

0

AINS KUWAITRE

3

0

WINS

136

0

822

0

0

410

0

11,062

0

ŷ

710

0

74

0

1,060

415

0

75

0

-2 -17.48

730

0

OSOUL

0

ź ź

BURG

GLOBAL

0

79 918.25

KFIN

0 2

0

18

880 270

0 1,142

EXCH

163 245

590

0 29,000

TAIBA

0

457,238 1,717,895

12 10

0 39

-1

241,778

10

0 40

TAMINV

108,225

51,126

AAYAN BAYANINV

-10 10

5,910,890 7,459,514

127,475 134,402

59

IFA

0.0

ŷ

ŷ

-3.0

-2.0

ŷ ŷ

0

39

102

0.0

ŷ Ÿ

ŷ

2

0.0

ŷ

0

11

-1.0

ź ŷ

ŷ

31,727

-0.5

ź

0

40

28,560

0.0

ŷ ŷ

ź

117,879

76

85,553

47

Change

36

280,000

2,220

144,847 507,062

90

148

265

2,240

590

42

53

102

700

880 265

0

270

64

600

0

102

1,018,878

890 270

0

FACIL

0.0

1,440,399

ABK

84

KINV

-2.0

700

ALMUTAHED KIB

35

-5.0

ŷ ź

ŷ Ÿ

0

345 989.97

710

410 810

88

2

0 978.90

56 5

60

10 896

0 49

509,460 56,400

54 0

118

0 142,745

ź

21

30,600 2,850,466

0 801,963

ŷ

61

2,000

10

Ÿ

990

90,001 52,073,718

Ÿ

ŷ

0

92

59

-5 -4.11

ź

0 37

340

ź ź

ŷ

0

59

0

ź

37

230

345

ŷ

ŷ

260

REMAL Real Estate

0.0 -1.51

ź

108

130

MARAKEZ

ŷ ź

ŷ

Last

0.0 0.0

0

1,256,068 70,000

2

0

0

400 800

52

972

118,502

KOUTFOOD Consumer Services

415 810

877,510

15 198 15,198

0

0

GBK CBK

892,236

61

83

0

46

980

64

0

0

1,140,945

990

INJAZZAT

85

-4.0

-10.0

0

1,091,578

MABANEE

ADNC

ź

0

1,040

0 10

MAZAYA

ź

0

1,060

0 7,755

4

0

NBK

0 85,050

2,084

0

2,220

0 91

61,146

0

HITSTELEC 80 Telecommunications

0 92

34

0

NMTC

UREC ERESCO

39

0.0

ZIMAH

ZAIN

0 22

ALAQARIA

ŷ

UFIG

0

0 21,765

0

0.0

POULT

0 590,000

0

ŷ

89

0 36

0

0

29

0 38

0

0

70,819

MASSALEH ARABREC

0

6.0

0

802,900

0

AQAR

Ÿ

0

87

0

11

0

89

0

126

0

DANAH

0

10,470

KSH

0

0

433,204

0.0 -4.28 4.28

0

AREEC

180,003

ŷ ź

0

3

5,134,633

0 972.62

0

4

373

58

0 593

0

507

1,634

81

0 2,235,361

0

14,284

228

60

0 41,431,051

CATTL

36

230

88

0

0

37

TAM

SANAM

0

0

PEARL

AAYANRE

RKWC Industrials

0

9

-5.0

0

0

57,338

ź

4

0

220,333

58 0

0

0

260

356

7,440

0

265

282,839 0

0

0

SRE

591,553

80,002

0

26

5,293,124 0

0

0

10

145,468

30,479,746

93

0

55 080 55,080

1,119,000

53 0

0

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510 001 510,001

128

18

95

NSH

108

130

21

FCEM

PAPCO

108

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55 0

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95

URC

IRC ALTIJARIA

ŷ

36

Trades

Low

INVESTORS

0

410

Trades Value (KD)

High

-2.0 -1.86

ŷ

91

0.0

Volume

210,504,930 18 569 961 18,569,961 3,986

ź ź

285

172

0.0

0.0

Security

Volume Value (KWD) Number of Trades

-2.0 0.0

-10.0 5.0

00 0.0

0.0 0.0

440

410

5,100

2,094

2

SAFTEC

0

0

0

0

0

FUTURE

0

0

0

0

0

116

116

146,869 146 869 151,969

17 17,037 037 19,131

16 18

HAYATCOMM Technology BAREEQ

0

0

0

0

0

AFAQ

0

0

0

0

0

ALSHAMEL

0

0

0

0

0

SAFRE

18

18

6

0

4

AJWAN

38

38

300

11

1

SPEC

495

495

5,000

2,475

1

MASAKEN

38

38

80,000

3,040

1

DALQAN

0

0

0

0

0

ALEID

0

0

0

0

0

MIDAN FLEX

0 34

0 29

0 2

0 0

0 2

THURAYA

0

0

0

0

0

KCLINIC

0

0

0

0

0

AMAR Parallel Market

0

0

0 85,308

0 5,527

0 9

For more information, call 1 80 42 42, www.globalinv.net

47

0 0

116 1148.87 0

0

ź

ŷ ŷ

ŷ

0.0

ŷ

38

ŷ

38 0

0

0 34 0

0

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0.0

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0.0

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0.0

0.0

-2.0 0.0

10.0 -2.5 0.0

00 0.0

0.0 2.5

0.0

0.0

0.0 -4.19

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

12

ALWATAN DAILY thursday, may 24, 2012

April 2009 May21, 23, 2012 Rebased RebasedPerformance Performance 120115

113

Bull/Bear Indicator Bull/Bear Indicator

DailyIndex Index Performance Snapshot Daily Performance Snapshot

1% 6%

2% 6% Oman

113

115110

111

4%

1%

Qatar

2% 0%

Dubai

95 23-Feb-12 85

23-Mar-12

23-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

MENA Indices Highlights Country (Index)

Index Level

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

Index 7,061

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

2,476 5,250

Qa UAUAE Qatar (DSM Index) (ADSM Index)

8,467 2,695

Ku Kuwait (KSE Weighted Index)

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

OmOman UAE(MSM (DFMIndex) Index)

Level 412

Ba Bahrain (BSE Index)

Le Lebanon (Beirut SE Index)

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

Pa Palestine (Al-Quds Index)

M Morocco (Casa All Shares Index)*

Tu Tunisia (Tunis SE Index)

Le Lebanon (Beirut SE Index)* *Market Closed

Pa Palestine (Al-Quds Index)

4,922

5,478

1,681

9,815

463

1,154

2,825 454

10,621

5,114

1,094 546

Tu Tunisia (Tunis SE Index)* * Market Closed

0.1%

3,282

1.5%

52 Wk 7,931 High 448

52 Wk Low

52 Wk 5,916 Low 396

Turnover USD million

2,775 10,090

2,293 4,130

17 2,183

-0.4% 0.6%

-3.5% 12.8%

8,892 5,148

8,071 2,137

73 122

-0.1% 3.9% 1.2%

5.1%

0.6%

0.4%

0.7%

-0.9%

-

2.2%

-0.2%

-0.1%

-

-

0.9% -

9.4% -0.2%

0.5% 6.6%

-0.5% -18.8%

35.9%

0.7%

-3.8%

-6.8%

-11.7%

8.5%

-1.9%

2.4%

-4.8%

1,754 787

6,082 5,860

3,587

78

1,879

2,903

12,203

1,033

1,379

5,044 513

14,635

23.6%

739

-7.2%

6 305

2,188

12,109

5,141

2,119

13.6%

3,418

65,426 264,263

1,572 328

-

1,164

2,551 455

9,406

-

4,091

1,043

-

2,837

-

407

4

12.69

63,640

7.67

1

0

12.71

1.55

1.29

2.79

1.56

9,854

16.44

0.81

2.15

9.03

59,990

1.07

18.36

8,507

2

1.68

6.15

33,782 2,464

3

1.36

14.17

10,284

67

3.95

1.82

6.47

2,079

0.86

8.67

6,576

MENA Worst Performers

2.50

13.85

1.92

SAUDI ARABIA *Market Closed

GC Gulf Cement Co.

225 Saudi Industrial Inv. Grp.

101 Riyad Bank

115

102

56,765,510

115 Alinma Bank (KSA)

343,553,085 47,391,850 119,955,261 46,120,795

115 (KSA) 422Alinma EmaarBank the Economic City (KSA)

97,126,838

NBKNational Bank of Kuwait (KUW)

88,742,222

23-Mar-12

23-Apr-12

1030.SSE Saudi Investment Bank

2050.SSE Savola Group Co.

2020.SSE Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co.

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

Turnover (SAR) 792,538,118 7030.SSE Zain - Saudi Arabia 315,096,855 1040.SSE Saudi Hollandi Bank 212,887,691 1020.SSE Bank Al Jazira

20Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

1 Alinma Bank

177,733,656

70Zain - Saudi Arabia

23-May-12

64,280,166 Close

% Chg.

11.20

1.4%

17.35

0.9%

101.75

0.7%

179.00

0.0%

35.60

0.3%

Worst Performers

43Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

101

Abu Dhabi

84,019,106

Turnover (USD)

201 Corp. (KSA) 703Saudi Zain -Basic SaudiIndustries Arabia (KSA)

Highest Turnover

105

Tunisia Abu Dhabi

-6.4%

211,326,592

201 Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (KSA)

1,382,164,610

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

95 23-Feb-12

SAR 24.70

-6.8%

Turnover (USD)

MENA Highest Turnover

5,804,808

Turnover (SAR '000)

-2.7% -8.9%

-2.5% -8.6%

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

7,931 / 5,916 3050.SSE Southern Province Cement Co.

Tadawul Index 52 week High / Low

-4.4%

AED 0.79 SAR 48.00

SAR 13.70

GCC Highest Turnover

0.15

Advance/Decline Ratio

% Chg.

AED 1.08 SAR 22.95

62% 4300.SSE Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev. Co.

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

2.4%

8.0%

AED 1.04 -13.1% -2.8% KWD 0.265

7,061 (-0.6%)

Tadawul Index (% Chg.)

125

2.8% 8.6%

AED 1.21% Chg. -4.0% Close

EMAEmaar Properties (UAE) Best Performers

Summary

3.6% 8.8%

KWD 0.130

KFI Kuwait Finance House (KUW)

Rebased Performance

4.2% 9.8%

8.0%

Close

NINNational Investments Company

0.87 201 ARK ArkanBasic Building Materials Co. 1.74 Saudi Industries Corp.

8.07

51,998

OMR 0.720

GCC Worst Performers

1.94 FAC SO Commercial Sorouh RealFacilities Estate Co. 1.37 Co. 1.61 ALDALDAR Properties 0.88 238 Rabigh Petrochem.

9.50

26,726

18,727

2

1.01 1.77

9.87

15,024

8

9,747

0.70 1.52

8.98 8.85

46

1.86

10.20 6.87

56,510

QAR 21.60

BKMBankMuscat

PB

10.27 9.99

17,085 65,352

17,905 37,413

AED 8.91

QGTQatar Gas Transport Co.

PB1.43

11.59 7.29

KWD 0.730 QAR 6.35

FGBFirst Gulf Bank

PE 16.64 8.19 10.24

31,251 98,547

1 196

4,224

Trailing

128,076 69,783

QAR 20.30 OMR 0.703

KFI Kuwait Finance House KCB Al Khaliji Commercial Bank

11.91

101,132

25 718

5,419 1,433

1,129 4,230

5,628

-3.3%

7.5%

1,301 316

1,366 12,627

Mkt. Cap. 368,548 USD million

66

3.0% 9.3%

PE

KWD 0.250 SAR 5.60

ERE EzdanEngineering Real Estate&Co. GEC Galfar Contracting

Trailing

Mkt. Cap. USD million

Turnover 1,548 USD million

0.2% -4.0%

-0.5% 1.9%

1,917

Eg Egypt (Hermes Egypt Index (HFI))*

10.0% YTD

5,721 1,745

Jo Jordan (Amman General Index)

M Morocco (Casa All Shares Index)

%-0.6% Chg.

-1.1% 1.8%

1,138 5,590

OmOman (MSM Index)

YTD

1,480 406

Ba Qa Bahrain Qatar(BSE (DSMIndex) Index)

Eg Egypt (EGX 30 Index)

% Chg.

52 Wk High

% Chg.

KWD 5.2% Close0.810 % Chg.

KAM KIPCO Asset Co. 3 428 Kingdom Hldg. Management Co.

Period's Liquidity Ratio (PLR x)*

MENA Indices Highlights

Close

4 CBKCommercial Bank of Kuwait

Period's Liquidity 1 Ratio (PLR x)

-1

Saudi Dubai Dubai

MENA Best Performers

-1%

23-May-12

Qatar Saudi

GCC Best Performers

Saudi

Palestine Palestine

90

Oman Saudi

Qatar Oman

99

Qatar

Morocco

100

-2%

-6%

Lebanon Oman

102

95

-4%

Kuwait Kuwait

Return DailyDaily Return (%)(%)

BahrainBahrain

0%

-2% -1%

Kuwait

Abu Dhabi

0%

100

105

Kuwait

Abu Dhabi

Egypt Jordan Jordan

110

0%

Bahrain Bahrain

105

172,966,816

42Emaar the Economic City

Close

% Chg.

8.95

-2.2%

24.85

-1.4%

26.90

3030.SSE Saudi Cement Co.

90.25

4220.SSE Emaar the Economic City

10.85

-1.5% -1.4% -1.4%

Saudi SE

Quotes Company Name 1 Al Rajhi Bank

Close 73.25

Daily % Chg. -1.0%

High 73.75

Low 73.25

Turnover (SAR '000) 51,429

1 Alinma Bank

13.05

-1.1%

13.20

13.00

212,888

1 Arab National Bank

28.80

-0.4%

28.90

28.70

6,536

24.70

4,152

2 Almarai Co.

67.25

-0.4%

67.50

67.00

7,569

1 Bank AlBilad

26.90

-0.7%

27.00

26.80

7,363

1 Banque Saudi Fransi

35.90

-0.8%

36.00

35.80

718

4 Emaar the Economic City

10.85

-1.4%

1 Bank Al Jazira

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

4 Jabal Omar Development Co. 4 Jarir Marketing Co.

4 Kingdom Holding Co.

2 National Industrialization Co.

2 Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co. 1 Riyad Bank

1 Samba Financial Grp.

2 Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co.

1 Saudi Arabian Mining Co.

2 Saudi Basic Industries Corp.

3 Saudi Cement Co.

5 Saudi Electricity Co.

24.85

11.20

66.75

19.60

153.00 11.00

33.20

-1.4% 1.4%

11.30

11.05

792,538

0.0%

66.75

65.75

21,924

152.75

1,684

33.10

15,114

23.50

13,993

-0.3%

-0.7%

-0.9%

-1.2%

21.05

-0.5%

47.70

-0.2%

30.90

-1.0%

90.25

-1.4%

23.60

179.00 95.00

13.10

-0.8%

47.50

48,439

91.25

13.25

27.20

30.60

90.00

26.90

16,482 5,558

1,445

0.0%

23.20

22.85

12,607

0.9%

17.35

17.00

1,958

20.10

16.35

20.00

9,284

16.25

40,230

35.20

6,172

34.80

2,476

40.10

-0.5%

40.30

40.10

19,309

101.75

0.7%

102.00

100.25

3,320

-0.8%

48.70

48.30

13,243

8.90

177,734

35.60

0.3%

34.90

-0.3%

47.60

-1.0%

48.40 8.95

-2.2%

35.70

35.20

47.90 9.10

47.40

34,281

on high

YTD

-11.5%

71.75

48.41

-6.3%

274

32.90

17.20

-18.2%

35.5%

20

40.00

30.00

-10.3%

6.6%

13.60

6.20

-20.2%

16,313

16.25

227

33.70

113

167

31.90

9.05

26.60

15.75

70,762

13.85

328

69.25

50.00

165.00

108.67

15,942 3,025 11

618

13.10

-0.4%

31.40

% Change

Low 67.25

13,006 4,998

52-Week High 82.75

304

315,097

-0.6%

7 Zain - Saudi Arabia

21.00

702

3,341

94.50

16.30

2 Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co.

47.90

10.95

95.75

2 1 Saudi Investment Bank 2 Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. 7 Saudi Telecom Co. 2 3 Yamama Saudi Cement Co.

23.75

59,290

-0.3%

-1.0%

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

33.50

21.15

19.35

14,760

20.00

17.35

11.10

172,967

177.75

-1.5%

23.15

19.65

154.50

10.80

179.00

26.90

Saudi International Petrochemical Co.

11.05

0.0%

1 Saudi Hollandi Bank

22 Saudi Industrial Investment Grp.

25.00

Volume ('000)

455

593

105

22.90

13.10

50.75

28.10

26.90

56.75

6.05

46.6%

27.8%

1.6

35,400,000

10.7

1.2

-0.3%

44,750,000

11.0

4.9

-1.3%

-11.6%

285,000,000

9.9

2.0

-5.8%

-4.0%

54,582,379

22.6

1.1

-24.6%

18,439,800

2.4%

-10.8%

24.25

57.25

21.42

25.30

18.55

113

21.00

15.55

35.50

7.8

-9.5%

-18.4%

-12.3%

1.3%

22.1%

-7.9%

25.3%

-8.2%

8.3%

40.8%

-17.2% -7.1%

14.0% 41.6%

7.6%

80,200,000

nmf

-5.7%

14.0%

5.5%

34,900,000

11.7

-41.9%

-30.9%

-23.2%

5.25

-22.2%

61.3%

23.4%

-15.4%

8.2%

-1.0%

9,801,000

26,775,000

12,530,000

1.6

5.8

14.0

47.40

1.1

14.9

17,800,000

14,245,000

1.7

1.6

29.5%

43.3%

4.7

9.3

24.0%

83.25

11.50

1.4

24,450,000

274

19,859

10.0

7,333,333

0.3%

18.3%

1.7

1.5

-9.9%

10.5%

1.5

9.8

13.4

18.6%

2.2

10,676,610

9,542,500

-5.9%

1.5

14.6

-8.9%

-6.3%

2.0

13,808,250

7.4%

-23.5%

41.60

46.4

-17.4%

-4.7%

56.25

9.9

21.0

-5.7%

70.00

720

28,582,500

nmf

10,417,500

15.50

27.82

42,930,000

nmf

-1.7%

1.5%

106.75 37.00

18,506,625

nmf

21.8%

33

71

9,180,000

-8.5%

-18.2%

23.70

1.7%

-17.6%

17.75

33.00

9.9%

-34.6%

-15.9%

1.2

9.4

40,764,705

42.40

0.8

17.0

25.7%

23.10

10.9

1.5

2.6

24.3%

-25.1%

27.5

8.8

-16.0%

545

173

46,725,000

7.05

-19.6%

42.60

nmf

18,216,240

12.85

482

9,222,500

12,096,000

33.8%

16.30

21.30

41.8%

61.3%

3,698

2,468

1.6

27.1%

-13.4%

24.45

10.9

7,455,000

-14.4%

32.60

3.7

1.5

32,454,242

11.10

21.00

1.2

-7.5%

27.1%

-7.3%

10.9

3.4

2.0

-3.6%

87.75

464

24,480,000

38.3

19.7

23.8%

109.75

29.30

19,575,000

8,070,000

54.5%

3,317

54

40.5%

-19.1%

-10.5%

98.00

23.5

-10.6%

165.00

62

26,900,000

4.7%

200.00 37.50

24.8%

-14.5%

47.6%

PB

14.3

29.2%

-22.1%

Trailing PE

109,875,000

39.6%

17.5%

Market Cap. (SAR '000)

-3.3%

-19.7%

82

533

5.4%

12 mths

11.7 8.4

nmf

2.1

2.0

2.8

2.4

3.2

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

13

ALWATAN DAILY thursday, may 24, 2012

KUWAIT Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 6,367 (-0.2%)

KSE General Index (% Chg.)

120

412 (0.1%)

KSE Weighted Index (% Chg.)

51%

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

0.33

Advance/Decline Ratio

115

KAMCO.KSKIPCO Asset Management Co. KFIN.KSE Kuwait Finance House

Highest Turnover Turnover (KWD) 2,427,902

K Kuwait Finance House

N National Industries Grp. Holding

1,406,655

ZA Zain Kuwait

1,018,878

1,140,945

N National Bank of Kuwait

95 23-Feb-12

23-Mar-12

23-Apr-12

23-May-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

2.8%

0.410

0.0%

4.2% 1.8%

Worst Performers

102 100

0.730

28,296,776

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

100

5.2%

0.290

18,472

Turnover (KWD '000)

% Chg.

0.810

0.250

452 / 396 AGLTY.KSEAgility

KSE Weighted Index 52 week High / Low

105

Commercial Bank of Kuwait

6,492 / 5,694 OULAFUELOula Fuel Marketing Co.

KSE General Index 52 week High / Low

110

Close CBK.KSE

877,510

MMabanee Co.

Close

% Chg.

NINV.KSE National Investments Company

0.130

-4.4%

SRE.KSE

0.260

-1.9%

2.220

-1.8%

IFC.KSE

International Finance Co.

0.098

Salhia Real Estate Co.

ABAR.KSE Burgan Co. for Well Drilling

-2.0%

0.212

NMTC.KSE Wataniya

-1.9%

KSE Weighted Index

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

A Agility

0.410

0.0%

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

0.590

0.0%

0.610

0.600

134

0.415

0.0%

0.415

0.410

88

1.440

5

-

0.610

0.0%

1.440

0.0%

0.270

0.0%

0.116

K Kuwait Projects Co. (Holding)

0.325

1.340

0.530

0.0%

216

0.514

0.410

1.745 0.355

0.132

718 28 4

1,066,424

-19.3%

-8.2%

-16.2%

641,161

1.182

-17.5%

0.3%

-16.6%

153,063

15.4

3.8

0.255

-23.9%

3.8%

-26.0%

144,926

10.2

0.9

-23.1%

1,079,566

38.3

2.5

3.9%

179,283

nmf

59

0.415

1

0.250

1

0.415

42

0.019 1.240

0.214

595

0.142

0.162

2

0.096

0.485

2

0.182

0.315

100

0.226

0.600

0.415

-5.6%

-14.1%

-16.8%

12.9% -3.9%

-8.8%

2.5%

-9.8%

30.3

1,030,338 152,242 281,308

35.2%

-55.9% -7.4%

nmf

1.9

nmf

8.3

7.7

1.6

3.7

17.1

1.0

100,430

9.4

3.7

nmf

65,825

-30.8%

0.8

144,000 78,682

118.4%

1.4

264,627

0.7

nmf

0.8

18.5

1.8

0.265

134

507

0.335

0.236

-19.4%

5.9%

-19.4%

280,078

23.6

1.4

0.0%

0.325

0.320

37

117

0.381

0.281

-14.7%

12.1%

-14.7%

434,387

14.3

1.340

17

1.340

13

1.620

1.320

0.0%

1.060

1.040

1,141

1,092

1.109

0.909

0.222

-0.9%

0.226

0.220

1,407

6,344

0.275

0.192

0.130

0.0%

0.130

0.128

145

1,119

0.168

-0.9%

0.218

0.216

49

224

0.226

0.104

0.102

48

-

-

N National Real Estate Co.

-

0.0%

-4.4%

1.8%

0.260

-1.9%

0.230

0.0%

0.700

-30.8%

163.6%

-15.6%

44,441

1.2

11.4

0.270

0.709

2.220

-20.6%

136.7%

33.8

0.0%

1.020

0.170

-39.5%

-14.4%

-11.0%

295,911

1.4

1.7

892

0.0%

0.084

-10.3%

-46.3%

4.3

nmf

27.3

878

0.104

-16.3%

2.5%

7.0%

nmf

2,120,040

0.980

0.218

0.0%

0.0%

94,500

-21.2%

0.990

0.290

-12.0%

8.9%

8.6%

1.5

-12.4%

49

0.130

-48.9%

18.9%

5.8

-24.2%

0.900

0.285

-3.2%

-20.2%

-

0.700

1.600

1.0

3.4%

-4.5%

0.285

15

1.8

3.4%

0.198

0.116

nmf

0.5

19.6

230,033

0.495

-

87,075

892,811

-15.7%

0.530

0.415

-15.7%

-9.0%

-6.3%

0.085

0.630

16.2

0.690

N National Industries Grp. Holding

Z Zain Kuwait

0.610

429,203

0.963

1.060

N Wataniya

222

-5.5%

PB

9.3%

3,377

0.0%

0.425

S The Securities House

-16.9%

-6.2%

PE

2,428

0.0%

A The Commercial Real Estate Co.

0.280

9.3%

Trailing

Market Cap. (KWD '000)

0.710

0.990

T Tamdeen Real Estate Co.

0.355

12 mths

0.730

-1.1%

S Sultan Center Food Products Co.

12

YTD

2.8%

0.910

S Salhia Real Estate Co.

0.420

-9.2%

1

0.250

-1.2%

-17.3%

0.560

-23.1%

4.2%

0.415

0.079

0.650

0.410

0.250

-

-

0.104

86

0.533

0.098

-1.2%

-

-

20

1.340

-4.7%

1,256

0.100

-

1.340

0.248

0.920

-2.0%

0.0%

0.430

70

0.098

0.270

A Qurain Petrochemicals Industries Co.

-

-

on high

118

0

K Kuwait International Bank

O Oula Fuel Marketing Co.

-

% Change

Low

32

0.395

0.415

N National Investments Company

56

0.265

0.395

0.730

N National Industries Co.

0.800

-1.3%

K Kuwait Finance House

N National Bank of Kuwait

0.270

6

0.395

0.415

M Mena Holding

0.810

0.206

509

JAJazeera Airways

M Mabanee Co.

1.440

431

0.400

0.192

P Kuwait Portland Cement Co.

0.216

0.600

0.415

IK Ikarus Petroleum Industries Co.

F Kuwait Food Co.

0.610

0.0%

1.340

K Kuwait Cement Co.

-

-

0.410

C Gulf Cable and Electrical Industries Co.

K KIPCO Asset Management Co.

-

-

High

1,067

4

0.0%

5.2%

IF International Finance Co.

-

51

0.610

0.810

IF IFA Hotels & Resorts

-

0.590

0.295

C Commercial Bank of Kuwait

G Gulf Bank

-

0.600

52-Week

Volume ('000)

432

0.295

-1.9%

G Global Investment House

0.405

0.0%

0.212

F Commercial Facilities Co.

0.410

Turnover (KWD '000)

0.295

A Burgan Co. for Well Drilling

C Combined Grp Contracting Co.

Low

-

-1.8%

-1.4%

0.930

-

-

0.285

0.285

0.136

-

0.265

0.230 -

64

0.260

57

0.228

0

-

2.240

2.220

0.710

0.700

0.250

224

0.355

220

469

0.136

-

0.097

2

108

1,019

28.2%

-2.9%

26.6%

0.0%

-4.4%

-12.3%

0.136

-48.0%

-3.5%

287,512

27.5%

98,273

23.2

113,908

nmf

1.2

133,308

18.6

0.0%

-8.0%

85,818

22.4

115,600

nmf

-13.3%

0.0%

30.8%

-34.0%

-22.2%

-13.4% -10.5%

-8.8%

9.1%

25.4%

14.4%

11.0%

60,198

154,124

30.8%

1,118,953

-34.0%

3,015,274

0.6

13.3

22.6%

-23.5%

0.7

0.6

25.0%

239,800

1.3

nmf

-

12.4%

1.7

nmf

-1.9%

0.170 0.690

-17.8%

24.7

0.170

1.060

2.0

30.2

100,393

-14.8%

1.880

15.2

280,500

-15.9%

0.216

0.067

4,614,707

-3.3%

0.270

0.7

-4.4%

-18.3%

1.9%

1.3 4.0

-48.0%

0.186

32.6 28.8

-24.4%

1.6%

1.9

605,077

-16.2%

-22.6%

82,723

11.2

26.6%

1.8%

0.056

538,683

-20.2%

1187.9%

4.1%

-14.6%

0.093

-14.1%

1187.9%

-19.3%

0.200

2.480

1,440

-9.5%

-26.6%

0.260

0.242

0.265

-

242

0.425

0.325

1,930

-

-

0.660

0.425

1

251

0.275

1.240

-

0

0.128

0.290

54

-17.3%

2.4

1.0

nmf

1.6

0.9

16.4

0.6 9.1

10.6

1.4

10.5

1.6

UAE Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,480 (-1.1%)

DFM Index (% Chg.)

115

2,476 (0.2%)

ADSM Index (% Chg.)

Advance/Decline Ratio

DFM Index 52 week High / Low

97

Highest Turnover

92

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

23-Apr-12

A Arabtec Holding

Abu Dhabi SE

13,417,950

S Sorouh Real Estate Co.

23-May-12

0.1%

Worst Performers

A ALDAR Properties

23-Mar-12

1.0%

8.81

Turnover (AED) 19,995,364 GCEM.ADS Gulf Cement Co. 16,855,843 SOROUH.A Sorouh Real Estate Co. 15,014,680 ALDAR.AD ALDAR Properties

E Emaar Properties

85 23-Feb-12

1.7%

3.16

382,834,421

Market Cap. (AED '000)

95

1.8%

1.19

154,856

Turnover (AED '000)

2.4%

2.80

2,775 / 2,293 ETISALAT.AEtisalat

ADSM Index 52 week High / Low 102

% Chg.

8.91

36% CBD.DFM Commercial Bank of Dubai 0.26 TAQA.ADS Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. 1,754 / 1,301 ADIB.ADSM Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

105

Close FGB.ADSM First Gulf Bank

11,722,220

E Etisalat

Close

% Chg.

1.21

1.04

ARKAN.AD Arkan Building Materials Co.

1.08

-2.7%

0.40

-2.4%

0.79

DANA.ADS Dana Gas

-4.0%

-2.8% -2.5%

Dubai FM

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

Low

Turnover (AED '000)

A Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

3.08

-0.7%

3.09

3.04

3,066

T Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

1.19

1.7%

1.19

1.19

30

A Air Arabia

0.60

-1.3%

0.61

0.60

1.02

-

A Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

A Abu Dhabi National Hotels A ALDAR Properties A Amlak Finance

3.16

2.00

1.08

1.0% -

-2.7%

3.16 -

1.10 -

3.15 -

599 -

656

1.07

15,015

-

52-Week

Volume ('000)

-

High

% Change

Low

on high

996

3.32

2.69

25

1.36

1.14

190 -

3.55

2.92

YTD

17,234,440

5.3

0.7

-12.5%

-0.8%

-3.3%

7,407,750

7.2

0.8

-11.0%

0.0%

-28.6%

-9.1%

-28.1%

2,000,000

13,868

1.45

0.76

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

4,411,939

6,864

3.46

1.18

-16.1%

91.5%

134.2%

-

-

0.57 -

-20.4%

0.0%

2.6% 0.0%

19,995

A Arkan Building Materials Co.

0.79

-2.5%

0.80

0.78

487

619

1.45

0.71

-45.5%

-21.8%

D Dana Gas

0.40

-2.4%

0.41

0.39

3,422

0.30

2,138

8,559

0.65

0.34

-38.5%

-11.1%

3.00

3,193

C Commercial Bank of Dubai D Deyaar Development Co. D du

2.80 0.31

3.02

1.78

1.8%

2.80

-1.3%

0.31

-0.3%

3.03

1.77

2.80

D Dubai Financial Market

0.98

-1.5%

0.98

0.97

D Dubai Islamic Bank

1.90

-0.5%

1.91

1.89

E Emirates NBD

2.71

-1.5%

2.75

2.71

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.

2.90

8.81 8.91

-2.4%

0.1% 2.4%

1.21

-4.0%

8.71

-0.2%

1.71

-

67.00 4.95 0.86

-

-

-

2.26

1.88

-15.9%

4.63

2.65

-41.5%

11,722 3,365

-

1,054

-

18

2,058 -

17

9,116

0.37

528

U United Arab Bank

3.95

-1.9% -

2.91

0.37 -

1.03

13,418

2.89

234

-

-

5,805 386

1,331 378

-

15

236 -

1.14

1.06

-16.8%

2,658

8.76 8.86

8.70

2.80

-32.7%

5,055

1.17

-0.3%

* Closing Prices, Turnover and Market Cap. in USD

8.72

3.63

0.20

-13.5%

-25.6%

16,856

-

1,060

0.46

2.67

-9.7%

0.68

2.88

1.17

7,001

3.24

1.69

1.31

-0.9%

2.90

0.37

-

3

1.96

2,406

0.86

U Union National Bank U Union Properties

1.30

737

2,333

0.86

-2.8%

1.16

8.84 8.92

7

0.0%

1.04

T Tamweel

2.95

1,308

7,472,471

1.98

0.76

2.86

-2.2%

2.3%

2.80

1,093

-

20

3.30

11.20 10.75

1.44

2.41

8.57 6.98

0.67

102.00

67.00

4.95

3.37

9.00

2.24

1.02

7.38

2,640,801

-2.0%

11.3

-9.5%

50.0%

7,214,403

69,653,093 26,730,000

11.9 7.1

1.8 1.0

-4.7%

15,061,570

993,527 -

4.5%

33,747,404

-25.6%

4.50

3.28

-12.2%

0.24

-25.3%

43.4%

0.9

7.7

12.5

1,245,737

nmf

7,237,313

8.5%

-11.2%

3,935,785

-8.9%

8.1

1,160,000

-15.9%

0.8

0.9

1.2

7.9

0.3%

0.4

8.8

2,085,930

2,730,000

26.9%

nmf

13.8 18.5

0.0%

-6.5%

8.6

5,445,000

0.0%

2.82

0.8

-14.5% -0.7%

-29.6%

0.0%

92.4%

1.0

0.6

2,736,000

-22.1%

4.6

2.4

8.9

-10.0%

0.53

nmf

0.3

17,664,592

-5.5%

2.4%

1.3

0.9

-4.6%

-23.7%

-15.7%

1.5

0.5

13,805,714 7,800,000

1.1

0.9

4.3

-6.5%

-18.8%

0.5

7.1

nmf

8.8%

7.4%

5,707,386

11.6

1,768,068

0.0%

-3.2%

2,591,457

2.0%

-10.3%

70.4%

nmf

-38.5%

-34.0%

-7.8%

0.6

1,530,000

nmf

-34.3%

-16.0%

3.90

-

-2.1%

4.7

1,382,500

-3.5% 15.3%

81

0.50

4.5%

16.1%

0.2

10.2

-41.9%

-2.7%

1.1

8.5

2,804,687

14.6

-21.3% -17.1%

0.67

1,427

43.7%

6.4

4,552,275

12.8%

1.45

1.49

1.4%

0.0%

-12.1%

12,906 7,913

-1.7%

-16.2%

1.63

0.80

PB

10.0%

2.94

1.77

PE

10.8%

-0.7%

A Aramex

Trailing

Market Cap. (AED '000)

-7.2%

2.90

A Arabtec Holding

12 mths

2.7

0.5

0.4

0.5

4.8

0.7

11.4

2.0

0.5

STOCKS WITH NBK CAPITAL

14

ALWATAN DAILY thursday, may 24, 2012

QATAR Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 8,467 (-0.4%)

DSM Index (% Chg.)

120

Advance/Decline Ratio Turnover (QAR '000)

466,286,916

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

97

23-Apr-12

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

13,208,655

A Aamal Co.

23-May-12

26.70

0.2%

1.9%

26.85

Turnover (QAR) 32,949,538 QEWS.DSMQatar Electricity & Water Co. 24,500,048 QTEL.DSM Qatar Telecom 15,627,881 QNNS.DSMQatar Navigation

V Vodafone Qatar

MMasraf Al Rayan 23-Mar-12

2.2%

0.0%

Worst Performers

IQIndustries Qatar

90 23-Feb-12

3.6%

9.70

16.67

MARK.DSMMasraf Al Rayan

Highest Turnover

102 100

% Chg.

20.30

8,892 / 8,071 AHCS.DSMAamal Co. 264,701 BRES.DSMBarwa Real Estate Co.

DSM 52 week High / Low

110

Close

44% ERES.DSMEzdan Real Estate Co. 0.36 VFQS.DSM Vodafone Qatar

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

11,794,759

Q Qatar Telecom

Close

% Chg.

139.30

-1.2%

115.90

-0.9%

78.10

-0.8%

64.00

QIBK.DSM Qatar Islamic Bank

KCBK.DSMAl Khalij Commercial Bank

-0.8%

17.25

-0.8%

Doha SM

Quotes Company Name A Aamal Co.

Close 16.67

Daily % Chg.

High

1.9%

K Al Khalij Commercial Bank

17.25

-0.8%

C The Commercial Bank of Qatar

70.90

-0.1%

E Ezdan Real Estate Co.

20.30

3.6%

B Barwa Real Estate Co. D Doha Bank

26.70 57.60

Turnover (QAR '000)

Low

17.00

17.40

16.30

13,209 9,426

17.20

3,717

70.30

5,269

19.65

2,933

0.2%

26.75

26.50

-0.5%

57.80

56.80

71.20 20.90

138.30

-0.5%

139.00

137.90

24,500

Q Qatar Electricity & Water Co.

139.30

-1.2%

140.90

139.30

4,339

-0.4%

50.60

49.60

1,060

Q Qatar Gas Transport Co.

Q Qatar International Islamic Bank Q Qatar Islamic Bank

26.85 15.70

-0.6%

78.10

-0.8%

50.00

Q Qatar National Bank

133.40

Q Qatar Telecom

115.90

Q Qatar Navigation

64.00

V Vodafone Qatar

0.0%

9.70

26.90 15.80 79.00

26.65

15,628

15.61

8,388

77.80

7,459

63.90

3,617

-0.7%

134.00

133.20

4,772

-0.9%

116.90

115.90

11,795

-0.8%

2.2%

64.50 9.74

215

on high

9,076,815

18.8

1.5

31.10

26.25

-14.1%

-10.9%

-12.2%

10,389,628

7.6

0.9

67.00

50.00

-14.0%

-10.1%

11.6%

11,905,793

9.4

1.8

16.06

-4.2%

68.00

-18.7%

22.50

17,543,948

-3.6%

17.5%

20,137,500

14.0

15.74

-14.3%

-10.3%

-12.9%

76.30

-8.4%

-7.4%

-0.5%

18,454,499 7,329,613

56.20

45.50

36

141.73

122.73

102

123.30

94.31

-5.4%

-5.9%

-11.0% -5.9%

4.0%

-0.2%

-7.4%

-3.5%

-2.5%

-4.3%

8,695,351

4.7%

-24.4%

-16.3%

-24.4%

7.24

2.2%

28.5%

22.8%

22.9%

13,930,000

6.7%

64.00

-6.0%

76,065,000

10.9%

1.2

9.2

-4.4%

21

9.49

-2.2%

12.7

nmf

129.50

84.70

6,210,000

53,845,683

148.00

85.30

-15.6%

-4.1%

-11.5%

31

18.32

0.5%

-8.6%

118.80

28.10

-17.1%

18.60

146.20

3,430

PB

-18.5%

177

56

Trailing PE

15.3%

24.97

95

Market Cap. (QAR '000)

-23.9%

144

535

12 mths

14.00

85.50

583

YTD

21.90

74

16

% Change

Low

18.00

354

32,950

9.41

52-Week High

791

895

IQIndustries Qatar

M Masraf Al Rayan

Volume ('000)

1.3

1.9

9.8

3.2

10.2

4.6

2.4

10.6

4.5

7,568,437

11.3

1.7

93,343,907

12.0

2.3

37,125,088 8,200,380

12.9

1.7

10.1

0.7

14.7

1.8

nmf

1.2

OMAN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 5,721 (-0.5%)

MSM Index (% Chg.)

120

37% OTEL.MSMOman Telecommunications Co.

% of stocks trading above 1yr avg. price

0.25

Advance/Decline Ratio

6,082 / 5,419 RCCI.MSM Raysut Cement Co. 2,315 OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co.

MSM 52 week High / Low Turnover (OMR '000)

110

6,893,238

Market Cap (OMR '000) 102

100

103,642

N National Bank of Oman

S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

71,743

R Renaissance Services

23-May-12

0.6%

0.59

0.0%

1.24

-0.2%

-0.3%

0.29

Turnover (OMR) 353,893 RNSS.MSMRenaissance Services 121,397 NBOB.MSMNational Bank of Oman

O Oman Telecommunications Co.

23-Apr-12

1.31

-0.7%

Worst Performers

B Bank Muscat

23-Mar-12

% Chg.

0.67

NBOB.MSMNational Bank of Oman

Highest Turnover

101

90 23-Feb-12

BKMB.MSMBank Muscat

Close

59,119

R Raysut Cement Co.

Close

% Chg.

0.52

-2.1%

0.29

OCOI.MSM Oman Cement Co.

-0.7%

0.67

RCCI.MSM Raysut Cement Co.

-0.3%

1.24

BKMB.MSMBank Muscat

-0.2%

0.59

0.0%

Muscat SM

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

B Bank Dhofar

0.456

N National Bank of Oman

0.289

-0.7%

O Oman Telecommunications Co.

1.307

0.6%

R Renaissance Services

0.520

-2.1%

B Bank Muscat

0.590

O Oman Cement Co.

R Raysut Cement Co.

0.673 1.242

-

0.0%

-0.3% -0.2%

Turnover (OMR '000)

Low

-

-

-

0.595

Volume ('000)

High

-

354

0.586

52-Week Low

0.522

600

% Change on high

0.423

0.671

-12.6%

0.565

-0.6%

63.4%

121

93

1.425

1.041

-8.3%

0.531

0.513

72

138

0.950

0.458

-45.3%

50

0.672

1.245

74

59

1.231

0.286

0.693

48

-10.8%

0.416

1.250

0.711

-4.3%

55.8%

1.299

0.675

0.324

-7.4%

-2.9%

1.310

359

-11.5%

-11.4%

104

12 mths

0.2%

-12.1%

0.288

0.289

YTD

Market Cap. (OMR '000)

-4.8%

PB

12.5

320,219

8.9

16.1

248,400

14.8

19.8%

980,250

-4.6%

-45.2%

146,689

2.2

8.6

222,677

-0.2%

16.7%

PE

501,653

1,060,108

18.7%

Trailing

1.2

1.2

1.6

8.5

2.2

nmf

0.9

2.5

BAHRAIN Rebased Performance

Summary

Best Performers 1,138 (-0.1%)

BSE Index (% Chg.)

120

42% AUB.BSE Ahli United Bank BATELCO.BBahrain Telecommunications Co.

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

1,366 / 1,129

BSE 52 week High / Low

398

Turnover (BHD '000)

110

6,439,456

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

99

#N/A

#

23-May-12 Bahrain SE

#

#N/A

0.0%

0.48

-0.8%

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

Turnover (BHD) 63,496 BATELCO.BBahrain Telecommunications Co. 55,244 AUB.BSE Ahli United Bank

A Ahli United Bank

B Bahrain Telecommunications Co.

23-Mar-12 23-Apr-12 S&P GCC Large/Mid Composite

#N/A

#N/A

% Chg.

0.60

#N/A

Worst Performers

B Albaraka Banking Grp.

90 23-Feb-12

#N/A

Highest Turnover

102 100

#N/A

Close

#N/A

#N/A

-

#N/A

#N/A

#N/A

BARKA.BS Albaraka Banking Grp. #N/A

#N/A

Close

% Chg.

0.48 0.60

0.87 #N/A

#N/A

#N/A

-0.8%

0.0%

#N/A

#N/A

Quotes Company Name

Close

Daily % Chg.

High

A Ahli United Bank*

0.600

0.0%

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

0.870 0.090

-

0.476

-0.8%

797

-

0.390 0.145

0.560

0.234

-

-

Low

0.600

0.600

-

-

-

Turnover (BHD '000) 168

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

0.476

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

55

52-Week High

% Change

Low

280

0.676

0.599

-

0.530

0.420

-

-

0.478

Volume ('000)

-

116

1.020 0.114

0.486

on high -11.2%

YTD -0.5%

0.082

-21.1%

0.0%

-21.1%

0.380

9.5%

0.8

332,029

10.4

637,729

-2.6%

-4.3%

479,002

-39.6%

123.1%

-

0.424

0.234

-44.8%

-22.0%

0.545

nmf

-30.0%

0.065

-6.7%

70.6%

-31.2%

1.2

84,571

0.0%

0.240

9.9

0.7

0.0%

-

797

3.5%

-7.1%

PB 7.3

21.4% -5.8%

Trailing PE

882,827

-2.1%

-7.1%

0.600

1,430,980

-14.7%

0.388

-

-19.3%

-6.9%

0.420 797

3,140,967

-14.7% -13.2%

Market Cap. (BHD '000)

-9.4%

0.857

-

-

12 mths

685,440

388,379

195,287

6.8 8.7

0.4

1.3

1.4

4.5

0.6

10.4

1.8

nmf

nmf

0.7 0.9

LIFE

Avoiding Gluten

People with celiac disease should avoid eating gluten, a protein found in most grains, especially wheat. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics makes these suggestions for avoiding gluten: •Always read food labels. Look for gluten-free foods that are fortified with iron and folate.

•Opt for whole grains that are naturally gluten free, such as buckwheat, quinoa, teff, millet, corn, flax and amaranth.

•Carefully read restaurant menus and ask questions about ingredients.

THURsDAY, may 24, 2012

Skin from heart attack patients transformed into beating heart cells The heart cells created from patients’ skin were at the same stage of development as those of a newborn baby

LONDON: Scientists have turned skin tissue from heart attack patients into fresh, beating heart cells in a first step towards a new therapy for the condition according to The Guardian.

The procedure may eventually help scores of people who survive heart attacks but are severely debilitated by damage to the organ.

By creating new heart cells from a patient’s own tissues, doctors avoid the risk of the cells being rejected by the immune system once they are transplanted. Though the cells were not considered safe enough to put back into patients, they appeared healthy in the laboratory and beat in time with other cells when implanted into rats.

“We have shown that it’s possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young - the equivalent to the stage his heart cells were in when he was just born,” said Lior Gepstein, a cardiologist at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

The technique was first demonstrated with human cells in 2007, when two teams of scientists, Shinya Yamanaka in Japan, and James Thomson in the US, identified “pluripotency” genes that could wind back the clock for adult cells to a younger stage of development.

In the new study, researchers led by Gepstein took skin cells from two men, aged 51 and 61, who had survived heart attacks, and reprogrammed them into an immature state by

FILE - Surgeons performing a heart surgery. (AFP)

infecting them with a virus that carried three pluripotency genes. The scientists then grew these “induced pluripotent

Kids suffer long-term from parents’ smoking: Study PARIS: Children exposed to their parents’ cigarette smoke are at greater risk of suffering serious cardiovascular health problems later in life, a study showed Wednesday. The Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania collected data from a Finnish and Australian study following children first examined 20 years ago who are now aged in their mid-30s. It found that those exposed to passive smoke as youngsters have less elasticity in their arteries, an indicator of poor cardiovascular health. Study author and Menzies Research fellow Seana Gall said while it has been previously known that passive smoke was harmful, this was the world’s first examination on the long-term effects on blood vessel health. “We looked at blood vessel elasticity by measuring the ability of an artery in the arm to expand and contract,” she said.

“We found that people who had been exposed to parental smoking when they were children had less

elastic arteries, an early indicator of poor cardiovascular health.”

Gall added that it was not explained by the participants’ own smoking habits.

“The effect was seen up to 27 years later, suggesting a long-term and irreversible effect of passive smoking in childhood on the health of arteries,” she said.

“The chemicals in cigarette smoke interact with the lining of the blood vessels and that seems to be causing an inability of them to expand and contract properly.”

The World Health Organization estimates that about 40 percent of the world’s children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home, with 600,000 deaths annually caused by passive smoking. “The highest prevalence of smoking is still seen in those age groups that correspond with people first becoming parents, so that’s still a concern and we’d want to get the prevalence down in those groups particularly,” said Gall. -AFP

Solar Impulse ready for first intercontinental flight PARIS: The Swiss sun-powered aircraft Solar Impulse will on Thursday attempt its first intercontinental flight, travelling from Switzerland to Morocco without using a drop of fuel, organizers said.

If successful it will be the longest journey to date for the craft after an inaugural flight to Paris and Brussels last year.

Organizers announced at the end of March that the 2,500 km (1,550 mile) trip will coincide with the launch of construction on the largest ever solar thermal plant in Morocco’s southern Ouarzazate region.

The plane is scheduled to take off from a military airport at Payerne in Switzerland at 06:45 am (0445 GMT), piloted by Andre Borschberg, who is expected to land in Madrid at around 2:00 am on Friday for a stopover.

Bertrand Piccard will pilot the second leg on to Rabat, scheduled to leave Madrid on Monday at the earliest, organizers said.

In Morocco, Solar Impulse will be welcomed by the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN).

The trip would be a rehearsal in the run-up to the plane’s round-the-world flight planned for 2014.

The high-tech aircraft, which has the wingspan of a large airliner but weighs no more than a saloon car, made history in July 2010 as the first manned plane to fly around the clock on the sun’s energy.

It holds the record for the longest flight by a manned solar-powered airplane after staying aloft for 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds above Switzerland, also setting a record for altitude by flying at 9,235 meters (30,298 feet). -AFP

Street lights disrupt insect ecosystem: Study PARIS: Street lights have an unexpectedly strong effect on insect populations, favoring some species while punishing others, according to a study released Wednesday that raises new questions about human impact on wildlife. Researchers led by Thomas Davies at the University of Exeter, southwestern England, spent three days in August 2011 placing insect traps around Helston, a small town in Cornwall. They picked up 1,194 insects from 60 different species. Proximity to street lights was a big factor in the number of insects and the prevailing species, they found.

Five species, including ants, ground beetles and woodlice, were far more abundant in patches under streetlights compared with patches between street lights. And street lights also drew more predatory and scavenging insects. Tiny changes among insect populations reverberate up the food chain, boosting some species but imperiling others, the biologists note.

“Street lighting changes the environment at higher

levels of biological organization than previously recognized, raising the potential that it can alter the structure and function of ecosystems,” says the study.

Street lighting is advancing at the average rate of six percent worldwide each year, but its impact on wildlife is poorly understood.

Anecdotal evidence suggests street lights affect the body clock of urban birds, tricking them into feeding longer, and on the feeding habits of mammals such as foxes, rats, mice and bats.

The paper, published in the British journal Biology Letters, voices concern about the introduction of next-generation street lighting that uses metal halide or light-emitting diodes. These technologies emit light over a broader range of wavelengths to which organisms are sensitive, it says. “The paucity of information available on the environmental impacts of artificial light pollution does not currently reflect the potential scale of this problem.” -AFP

Color-changing contact lens helps monitor diabetes

NEW YORK: People with diabetes often have to check their blood sugar using a drop of blood squeezed from a finger, thigh or some other part of the body. It’s an unpleasant part of managing the disease, but when diabetes patients’ insulin levels falter, their sugar levels don’t just rise in the bloodstream. They rise in urine and tears, too. Now, one researcher is working on creating contact lenses that are able to detect unusual blood sugar levels in the eyes, then change color in response according to LiveScience. Chemist Jun Hu at the University of Akron in Ohio is working on a contact lens coated with a chemical that reacts to glucose in the tears that naturally surround the eye. That chemical reaction makes the lens change color. “It works just like pH paper in your high school chemistry lab,” Hu told his university.

Patients are able to record their blood sugar by aiming

a smartphone at their eyes and snapping a photo. Hu is also working on an app that can calculate and record a person’s blood sugar using that cellphone picture. Only one of the two contact lenses would contain the glucose-sensing chemical.

The other lens would be a normal contact, so that the app can calculate the color difference between the two eyes to make its blood-sugar calculation.

The lenses will only need small amounts of the colorchanging chemical, so they should feel as comfortable as normal contact lenses in use today, Hu said. The low amounts of color shouldn’t interfere with people’s vision, he added.

Hu has held a patent for his idea since 2011. He hopes contact lens eye-monitoring can replace blood-monitoring for some patients and help uncover others’ prediabetes conditions.

stem cells” into fresh heart muscle, and removed the virus and extra genes used in the procedure.

The cells looked healthy in a Petri dish and crucially, when injected into rat hearts, were woven into the organ and worked alongside the muscle cells already there.

“What was interesting was the cells could integrate with the rat tissue and contract in synchrony. If you put the cells in and they beat with a completely different timing, you wouldn’t see any improvement in heart function and may even cause a dangerous arrhythmia,” Gepstein told the Guardian. The work appears in the European Heart Journal. The technique must overcome major hurdles before doctors can begin clinical trials, but the latest work has boosted confidence that it has potential to help patients.

Further experiments to investigate whether the procedure is safe and effective are expected to take up to 10 years, the team said.

One concern is that reprogrammed cells might grow into tumors when implanted in patients, unless they are carefully screened beforehand. A further complication is that heart attacks cause the growth of scar tissue that might have to be removed for replacement cells to improve heart function.

Making enough cells quickly enough will be another hurdle. In the latest study, researchers injected a few million cells into rats, but a heart attack kills off around a quarter of the four billion muscle cells in the human heart.

It took two weeks to make heart cells from skin tissue, so patients could not be treated soon after suffering an attack, Gepstein said.

Tim Nelson, who works on regenerative medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, said the work improved scientists’ understanding of how induced pluripotent stem cells might be used to treat humans with heart disease. “These bioengineered cells have been demonstrated to integrate into the host heart tissue and not disrupt normal electrical activity. This is an important feature required to translate this technology towards clinical applications,” he said.

Brain cells with signs of Alzheimer’s killed off NEW YORK: In a defense mechanism gone wrong, our brain’s own helper cells start to kill off neurons - the brain cells responsible for thinking - when they show signs of Alzheimer’s, new research suggests according to LiveScience.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and the sixth-leading cause of death in the US, where 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s.

When our brain’s thinking cells, called neurons, start oozing too much of the amyloid protein that is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, the brain’s helper cells, called astrocytes, that normally nourish and protect them deliver a suicide package instead, the researchers report.

Amyloid is excreted by all neurons, but rates increase with age and dramatically accelerate in Alzheimer’s. Astro-

cytes, which deliver oxygen and nutrients to neurons in addition to hauling off some of their garbage, get activated and inflamed by excessive amyloid.

“If the neuron makes something toxic and dumps it at your door, what would you do?” Study researcher Erhard Bieberich, of the Georgia Health Sciences University, said in a statement. “You would probably do something to defend yourself.”

The researchers found that these astrocytes “defend themselves” by packaging together a deadly duo of proteins and sending them into the neuron.

The researchers hypothesize that this package ultimately kills both the neuron and the astrocyte, which could help explain the brain-cell death and shrinkage that occurs in Alzheimer’s.

“If the astrocytes die, the neurons die,” Bieberich said. Earlier studies have suggested that excess amyloid alone does not kill brain cells - and the recent work suggests that the cell’s reaction to amyloid that causes brain cell death.

“There must be a secondary process toxifying the amyloid; otherwise the neuron would self-intoxicate before it made a big plaque,” Bieberich said. “The neuron would die first.”

The researchers think that by attacking this deadly package sent from the astrocyte to the neuron, they could find some way to treat Alzheimer’s. In the researchers’ studies of brain cells of humans with Alzheimer’s as well as an animal model of the disease, antibodies to the proteins in this deadly duo prevented astrocytes’ amyloid-induced death.

New evidence of an unseen planet at solar system’s edge WASHINGTON: A planet four times the size of Earth may be skirting the edges of the solar system beyond Pluto, according to new research reports SPACE. Too distant to be easily spotted

by Earth-based telescopes, the unseen planet could be gravitationally tugging on small icy objects past Neptune, helping explain the mystery of those objects’ peculiar orbits.

The claim comes from Rodney Gomes, a noted astronomer at the National Observatory of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Gomes presented his recently completed computer models suggesting the existence of the distant planet at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Timberline Lodge, Ore., earlier this month.

Astronomers who attended the talk find Gomes’ arguments compelling, but they say much more evidence is needed before the hypothetical planet can be crowned as real.

For several years, astronomers have observed that a handful of the small icy bodies that lie in the so-called “scattered disc” beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune, including the dwarf planet Sedna, deviate from the paths around the sun that would be expected based on the gravitational pulls of all the known objects in the solar system.

Sedna, for example, swings around the sun in an extremely elongated orbit - tracing out a very long oval. “Sedna’s orbit is truly peculiar,” said Mike Brown, an astronomer at Caltech who led the team that discovered Sedna in 2003.

However, when Gomes ran the same calculations with the addition of the gravitational pull of a massive planet at the outskirts of the solar system, Sedna and the other anomalous objects’ expected orbits fell in line with observations. The unseen planet would be too far away to perceptibly perturb the motions of Earth and the other inner planets, but close enough to the scattered disc objects to sway them.

with a highly elongated orbit - but one that always kept it well beyond the orbit of Pluto - could yield similar results.

As for how it got there, the planet could have been born in and expelled from a distant star system and later captured by our sun’s gravity, Gomes said, or it could have formed near our sun and gradually been thrust outward through gravitational interactions with the other planets.

Though Gomes’ work has not yet been peer-reviewed, his colleagues are confident he got the math right. “[Gomes] is very good. It’s hard to imagine he made a mistake in his calculations,” said Hal Levison, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.

New planet or old star?

This would not be the first time a planet was revealed by way of its gravitational effects on other celestial bodies.

The existence of Neptune was hypothesized at the turn of the 19th century - long before the gas giant was actually seen through a telescope in 1846 - because of the way it was perturbing the orbit of Uranus.

On the other hand, many astronomers spent much of the 1900s searching

for an extra planet, dubbed Planet X, beyond the orbit of Neptune, because they believed there were anomalies in the orbits of Neptune and the other gas giants. “But it turned out that anomaly in Neptune’s orbit was the result of bad observation,” Levison said. The search for Planet X was called off (though some conspiracy theorists believe this was a cover up of the planet Nibiru, which they say is on a collision course for Earth.)

“You can go back 100 years to claims of planets in the outer solar system and they’ve all eventually gone away,” he continued. “That should give you pause for thought. Just because there’s not a good explanation for [the orbits of the scattered disc objects] besides another planet, doesn’t mean there won’t be a good explanation in future.”

Brown, who discovered Sedna, said another plausible explanation for that dwarf planet’s strange behavior could be that a star swung near it early in the history of our solar system, throwing it for a loop. “Back at the time of the birth of the sun, the sun probably formed in a cluster of other stars. If true, they would have been close enough together to influence each other’s outer planet systems, like where Sedna is,” he said.

Unknown entity

Several planet types could fit the disturbances seen in Gomes’ calculations.

For example, a Neptune-size planet, about four times bigger than Earth, orbiting 140 billion miles (225 billion kilometers) away from the sun would influence the anomalous objects in the observed manner. Or, a Mars-size planet

FILE - This artist’s conception illustrates a giant planet floating freely without a parent star. (AFP)

16

ALWATAN DAILY

CULTURE

thursDAY, may 24, 2012

A little music goes a long way in Egypt vote CAIRO: Egypt’s presidential hopefuls have had to zip their lips before voting starts, but there is no stopping the songs that pump up their virtues in styles ranging from hiphop to folk.

For the first time Egyptians get to pick their leader in voting on Wednesday and Thursday in a fiercely contested race enlivened by another novelty - online music videos.

Many of them are the work of underground musicians who flourished since the popular uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak last year and who can capture political moments too fleeting for the mainstream music industry to latch onto. “Our revolution will not fade,” goes a tune like a football chant, written in support of Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, seen by some as a flag-bearer for revolutionary values.

“Oh vote for a strong Egypt. Our path is long but we will reach freedom,” sing the Abol Fotouh Ultras, a reference to football fans called “ultras”, who guarded street barricades against attacks by police and Mubarak supporters in the revolt. The online tunes backing one or another of the 12 candidates attract tens of thousands of viewers and were often played at campaign rallies, which came to an end on Sunday under election rules. Some songs echo on the streets as mobile ringtones.

Pop singer Shaaban Abdel Rahim is backing former Arab League chief Amr Moussa in another of his catchy political lyrics. “I love Amr Moussa, the sincere, the sensitive. God willing, he will succeed and this is the president.” Abdel Rahim, or Shabola as he is known, sings in his folk style. “A first-class politician and the world can testify.”

It follows his 2001 tune “I hate Israel and I love Amr Moussa” - a big hit with a public that appreciated Moussa’s tough talk against Israel when he was foreign minister.

Soon afterwards, Moussa moved to the Arab League in what was seen as a Mubarak ploy to clip the wings of a potential rival.

Under 30 years of Mubarak’s rule, Egypt’s regional political clout may have waned. But the Arab world’s most populous nation remains a musical and cultural powerhouse in the Middle East, its creativity on display through the variety of election tunes.

Lyrics cite many of the values voters say they want in their new leader, such as integrity and reforming energy.

They also reflect the diversity of candidates from an establishment figure like Ahmed Shafiq, 70, Mubarak’s last prime minister, to the youngest, 40-year-old Khaled Ali, seen as championing the revolutionary values of Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“Egypt needs a working hand to carry it above. We are waiting for you, oh Ahmed Shafiq,” goes one song backing the former air force chief as the man to save Egypt from “crisis”. In contrast, Ali’s supporters sing of dreams for change, even if they realize he stands little chance in the election.

“I want someone to listen to me or at least once to encourage me,” goes a swift-paced song by musicians Ahmed Figo and Sadat Al-Alamy. “We want someone to bring our rights.”

“Our dream is filled with passion. Sing my friend; our voice is louder than the bullets. We are done with silence.

The revolution continues and Egypt is free,” they sing.

A song sung by chorus of children praises the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi for his promise to cleanse Egypt of corruption and crime. “With our hands, we will create a renaissance and Mursi is here to help us. He is carrying our burdens on his shoulders,” the ditty runs.

The merits of leftist Hamdeen Sabahy as the “image of the people and the Nile” are relayed in a song based on a poem by Gamal Bakheet that repeats his “one of us” campaign slogan. “My voice is to one of my own blood who would not let me live in misery,” it goes. “My voice is to the free word. It was said a million times: before, during and after the revolution.” -Reuters

Dig proves Bethlehem existed centuries pre-Jesus

Supporters of Mohammed Mursi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in Egypt’s presidential election, attend the party’s last campaign rally for Egypt’s presidential election, in Cairo on May 20, 2012, on the last day of campaigning. (AFP)

UK virtual orchestra puts you in conductor’s stand LONDON: A London museum is putting the conductor’s baton in visitors’ hands, allowing guests to direct a virtual orchestra using threedimensional motion sensors.

The “Universe of Sound” installation is an effort by the British capital’s Science Museum to dissect how classical music is made, using specially shot footage, immersive sound, and 360 degree projections to give an unusually close-up view of the well-regarded Philharmonia Orchestra.

“At the end of the whole installation you become part of the entirety,” said David Whelton, the museum’s managing director. “You become part of the Philharmonia.”

At the center of the Science Museum’s exhibition is footage of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” a majestic orchestral suite at times martial, moody or ethereal. Some 37 cameras shot the Philharmonia’s 132 musicians running through the score on the specially-blacked out stage at Watford Colosseum, just outside London, early this year.

They were shot over the course of a single day, playing together, playing in groups, or play-

ing alone. That’s something which allows those browsing the footage – projected on large screens against the Science Museum’s darkened, sonorous interior – to zoom in on a single section or even a single musician, picking single strands of sound from the general swell of the music.

Greg Felton, who does digital work for the orchestra, pointed an Associated Press reporter to the woodwind section’s subtle, atmospheric notes. “There are people who know The Planets incredibly well who would never have heard this,” he said.

The exhibit also gives visitors a chance to see parts of the orchestra in an up-close way which wouldn’t otherwise have been possible, focusing on a harpist’s hands or a violinist’s fingers. One camera was even attached to a trombone’s slide, whipping back and forth as the brass section got into gear.

“None of the musicians can get away with anything,” remarked the Philharmonia’s principle percussionist, Kevin Hathway, who was on hand to demonstrate an interactive drum set.

Would-be maestros may like the virtual conductor program the best.

Several installations at the museum use Microsoft’s Kinect technology to capture the hand movements of visitors who stand in speciallymade pods. Raise your left hand and the orchestra – which appears on a set of television screens – plays louder. Speed the movement of your right hand and the tempo of the music increases. Get the movements wrong and the musicians get out of tune. Get it really wrong and a computerized audience starts coughing politely.

The conduct-yourself exhibits are likely to be popular, but Felton seemed to like the close-ups the best — particularly the ones that showed musicians resting between movements, their hands slack but their faces alert.

He stopped at a video of organist Richard Pearce, normally hidden behind his massive instrument, far from the back-and-forth of the conductor’s baton.

“You never get to see that guy play!” Felton said.-AP

A clay seal recently unearthed by Israeli archaeologists is displayed just outside Jerusalem’s Old City May 23, 2012. (Reuters)

JERUSALEM: Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they had discovered the first physical evidence supporting Old Testament accounts of Bethlehem’s existence centuries before the town became revered as the birthplace of Jesus. The proof came, they said, in a clay seal unearthed near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and imprinted with three lines of ancient Hebrew script that include the word “Bethlehem”.

Eli Shukron, who directed the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the seal apparently had been placed on a tax shipment of silver or agri-

cultural produce sent from Bethlehem to the King of Judah in nearby Jerusalem in the 8th or 7th century BC. “This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible in an inscription from the First Temple period,” Shukron said in a statement, referring to the years 1006 BC to 586 BC. The coin-sized remnant of the seal proves that Bethlehem - first mentioned in the Book of Genesis - “was indeed a city in the Kingdom of Judah, and possibly also in earlier periods”, he said.

Bethlehem is located on the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem.-Reuters

Churchill’s will among millions published online

FILE - Sir Winston Churchill makes the victory sign in an undated image. (AFP)

FRANCE: The wills of famous Britons such as Winston Churchill are among those of six million people being published online for the first time Wednesday. The massive collection of documents, which also includes the wills of Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale and Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, has been made available by family history website ancestry.co.uk.

The latest records show that Churchill left more than £300,000 when he died – equivalent to nearly five million pounds today. Thomas was more impoverished, leaving behind just £100, or £2,265. Nightingale, though, proved as adept at saving money as she was at saving lives.

She left an estate worth £36,000 when

she died in 1910, the website showed – over three million pounds in today’s money.

The information came from the England and Wales National Probate Calendar, 1858-1966 but is being made available online for the first time by the website.

Ancestry.co.uk international content director Miriam Silverman said: “These new records give a fascinating insight into the final estates of some of Britain’s most recognizable faces and reveal that money and fame did not always go hand in hand.

“They also provide a rich source of information for anybody interested in uncovering the finer details of their ancestor’s finances and exactly what, if anything, they decided to leave and to whom.”-AFP

Australian tycoon ‘is world’s richest woman’

FRANCE: Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart has eclipsed Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton to become the world’s wealthiest woman, according to an annual index by Business Review Weekly.

A preview of the respected BRW Rich 200 list, published Wednesday, put the mining tycoon’s personal fortune at Aus$29.17 billion (US$28.48 billion), a figure that sees her outstrip Walton for the first time.

In March, Forbes placed Walton and her family’s net worth at US$25.3 billion, while Rinehart’s fortune stood at US$18 billion.

BRW rich list editor Andrew Heathcote said mining magnate Rinehart had almost tripled her wealth in 12 months as commodity prices rose and she pulled off two deals in iron ore and coal.

“The Aus$18.87 billion increase in her wealth is unparalleled.

It is a product of foreign investment in new projects, increased production and a recovery in the iron ore price over the past six months,” said Heathcote.

Rinehart, 58, heiress to an iron ore prospecting empire built in Australia’s resources-rich west, is a controversial figure who stridently campaigned against new mining taxes and recently bought up big in the media sector.

She is also locked in a series of lawsuits, including an acrimonious row with her own children over a family trust where she has been accused of threatening to financially ruin them.

Heathcote said Rinehart was on track to overtake Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim – worth US$69 billion – as the world’s richest person as demand ramps up for Australia’s natural resources.

“A $100 billion fortune is not out of the question for Rinehart if the resources boom continues unabated,” said Heathcote.

“There is a real possibility that Rinehart will become not just the richest woman in the world but the richest person in the world.”

The full BRW list of Australia’s richest people, the upper rungs of which are usually dominated by mining tycoons, will be unveiled on Thursday.-AFP

Playboy Sachs’ art trove raises $56m at London sale

The 1974 Andy Warhol painting of Brigitte Bardot, which sold at the Sotheby’s Gunter Sachs Collection Evening Auction for £3,009,250 on May 22. (AFP)

FRANCE: The art collection of the late German-born playboy Gunter Sachs, featuring works celebrating his obsession with his former wife Brigitte Bardot, on Tuesday fetched over $56 million at a London sale.

“Self Portrait (Fright Wig)”, by Sachs’ long-time friend Andy Warhol, was the night’s top lot, going under the hammer for $8,479,889 (6,629,730 euros) at the Sotheby’s sale, which raised $56,353,203 in total.

A Warhol portrait of Bardot which Sachs commissioned in 1974, five years after the couple divorced, realised almost $5 million. Sachs wooed Bardot by having a helicopter fly over her villa on the French Riviera and shower her with hundreds of red roses.

The couple married a few weeks later

on July 14, 1966, in Las Vegas.

Three pieces of mannequin furniture

by British pop artist Allen Jones made a combined total of £4,076,000, some 20 times the pre-auction estimate.

Sachs commissioned many of the pieces himself or purchased them directly from the artists for his apartment in the Swiss Alps resort of St Moritz.

In 1972, Sachs put on Warhol’s first major European exhibition at his Hamburg gallery. He spared Warhol’s blushes by secretly purchasing half the works when there were few buyers.

Sachs took his life at his Swiss chalet a year ago, explaining in a suicide note it was due to “no hope illness A”, thought to be Alzheimer’s.

Bardot said she was “literally destroyed” by the news of his death.-AFP

ALWATAN DAILY

entertainment Song Of The Day

Fahad AlSabah Staff Writer

Song: I Don’t Like (Feat. Kanye West, Jadakiss, Big Sean, and Pusha T) Artist: Chief Keef Album: Cruel Summer Genre: Rap In short: “I Don’t Like” is the third single taken off Kanye West’s record label GOOD Music’s debut studio album, Cruel Summer. Featuring Kanye West himself alongside Jadakiss, Big Sean, and Pusha T, Chief Keef hit it big on his debut single.

To listen to the song visit www.alwatandaily.com E-mail your feedback to falsabah@alwatandaily.com

The Buzz Actor Michael McKean struck by car in NYC Actor Michael McKean, who portrayed the lead singer in the movie “This is Spinal Tap,” was injured when he was struck by a car in New York City. A McKean spokeswoman, Harriet Sternberg, says the actor suffered a broken leg. Emergency officials say McKean was struck at West 86th Street and Broadway in Manhattan just before 3 p.m. Tuesday. McKean was taken to St. Luke’s hospital. Police say he was in stable condition. They had no further details. McKean also played Lenny on the hit television show “Laverne & Shirley.” He’s currently starring in the Broadway production of Gore Vidal’s political drama, “Best Man.” -AP

Smash: Raza Jaffrey and Jaime Cepero not returning “Smash” is going through another shakeup. Two of the series’ regular cast members, Raza Jaffrey and Jaime Cepero, won’t be returning for the NBC show’s second season. On the Steven Spielberg-produced musical, which chronicles the backstage machinations behind a play about Marilyn Monroe, Jaffrey played Dev Sundaram, the unfaithful fiance to actress Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee). Jaime Cepero, meanwhile, played scheming personal assistant and aspiring show producer Ellis Boyd. Though they will no longer be part of the cast, Jaffrey and Cepero could possibly return for an episode or two next season. The departures come on the heels of a major shakeup for the show, which found series creator Theresa Rebeck stepping down as showrunner.

She will be replaced on season two by former “Gossip Girl” showrunner Josh Safran. -Reuters

R&B singer Usher claims ex-wife spat at girlfriend R&B singer Usher Raymond is locked in a legal battle with his ex-wife arising from a custody fight over their two sons.

The 33-year-old testified in court on Tuesday that Tameka Foster Raymond spit at and tried to fight his girlfriend during one visit. He alleged that his ex-wife hit him during the dispute, but that he didn’t press charges because “I didn’t want the boys to know that their father put their mother in jail.” Tameka Raymond’s attorney claims that Usher provoked her client and that his account is exaggerated. The two were married in 2007 and divorced two years later. Tameka Raymond has since fought for full custody of their two sons while Usher Raymond wants more visitation rights. -AP

Kanye leads in BET nods, Samuel Jackson to host It’s a family affair at the upcoming BET Awards: Kanye West has the most nominations with seven, while his mentor, Jay-Z, earned five, and Jay-Z’s wife, Beyoncé, received six.

Jay-Z and West collaborated last year on the album “Watch the Throne.” Their songs - “In Paris” and “Otis” - are up for video of the year. Beyoncé has two nominations in that category with “Love on Top” and “Countdown.” The fifth nominee is Usher’s “Climax.” The nominations were announced Tuesday in New York. Samuel L. Jackson will host the July 1 award show, which will be held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj will perform.

Other multiple nominees include Brown, Lil Wayne, Drake and J. Cole. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will receive a lifetime achievement award. -AP

Meryl Streep to present Shirley MacLaine with award Shirley MacLaine will receive the AFI Life Achievement Award from Meryl Streep at the AFI Gala Tribute this year, the organization said Tuesday. MacLaine and Streep costarred in the 1990 Mike Nichols film “Postcards From the Edge.” Streep received the award from the American Film Institute in 2004. “The world loves Shirley MacLaine,” AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale said. “AFI’s challenge will be how to fit it all into one evening because hers is a life that spans from movies to television to Broadway, books and beyond. Perhaps more than any other recipient, with Shirley I would underline the word life in Life Achievement Award ... Hers is a story more than just movies. It’s an epic journey, and she has invited all of us to come along for the ride.” MacLaine has been nominated for an Academy Award six times and won in the Best Actress category for her portrayal of Aurora Greenway in the 1983 film “Terms of Endearment.”

The gala will take place at Sony Pictures Studios on June 7 and air on TV Land at 9 p.m. on June 24. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Institute’s education programs and the preservation of American film history. -Reuters

THURsDAY, may 24, 2012

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‘Polka King’ Eddie Blazonczyk dies at 70 CHICAGO: Grammy Award-winning polka great Eddie Blazonczyk, who began playing the lively music in the 1950s and went on to earn the nickname “Polka King” after starting his own band and label, has died. He was 70.

His record label, Bel-Aire Recordings, and his son, Eddie Blazonczyk Jr., said Tuesday that Blazonczyk died of natural causes Monday at a hospital in the Chicago suburb of Palos Heights.

Blazonczyk retired in 2001 after suffering a stroke, and his son took over his band, Eddie Blazonczyk and the Versatones.

The band formed in 1962, after Blazonczyk’s brief venture into pop music that landed him on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” and toured the US, Canada and parts of Europe.

“He attracted so many people to the polka audience, whereas previously they were scared away by the word polka,” Eddie Blazonczyk Jr. said. “After hearing his style of the music they weren’t afraid of polka anymore. They knew it wasn’t ‘She’s Too Fat For Me’ or ‘Roll Out the Barrel.’ They knew it was an evolution of the music.”

The Versatones, which picked up a Grammy in 1987, played their last show on Dec. 31, 2011.

The younger Blazonczyk described his father as a kind of music mogul, a founding member of the International Polka Association, a disc jockey and polka music promoter who ran a publishing company and music school.

“He was very good at what he did,” said Dave Ulczycki, president of the International Polka Association. “That’s why he was called the ‘Polka King.’ He was the top guy.”

The association said on its website that Eddie Blazonczyk and the Versatones was “unchallenged in its height as America’s No. 1 Polka Band.” Blazonczyk was a member of the association’s Polka Music Hall of Fame.

Blazonczyk was born to Polish immigrant parents on July 12, 1941, in Chicago. His parents operated music clubs in the city and he started playing in the 1950s with “Happy Eddie and his Polka Jesters,” performing at Polish festivities.

For a time, Blazonczyk performed pop music with Mercury Records as “Eddie Bell and the Bel-Aires,” when he appeared on “American Bandstand.” But he returned to polka in 1962, forming the Versatones and going on tour.

Blazonczyk played many instruments but preferred the bass, and he sang lyrics in both English and Polish. Some of

FILE - In this Oct. 6, 1998 file photo, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton shakes hands with Eddie Blazonczyk at the White House where she presented him with a National Endowment for the Arts 1998 National Heritage Fellowship award. (AP)

his biggest hits include “Angeline Be Mine Polka” and “Poor Boy Polka.” Blazonczyk earned many accolades throughout his career. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow in 1998. His son said many friends

have been sending him condolence messages since learning of his father’s death.

“For them this is truly the day that the music died,” Blazonczyk said. -AP

White House said to give inside access for bin Laden film

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration arranged for two Hollywood filmmakers to get special access to government officials involved in the commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden, according to a conservative legal group that posted internal government documents on its website Tuesday.

Judicial Watch posted what it said were 153 pages of Pentagon documents and 113 pages of CIA documents about the film project. The group said it had obtained the documents through a lawsuit it filed under the Freedom of Information Act, which can be used to force government agencies to release some undisclosed information.

Among the disclosures were that the filmmakers had access to top White House officials, were given the identity of a SEAL team member involved in the raid and taken to the top-secret “vault” where the raid was planned.

The group said the documents lay out contacts between White House, CIA and Pentagon officials and Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, the director and screenwriter of “The Hurt Locker,” a 2008 film about the Iraq war that won the Academy Award for

Best Picture.

The film project, titled “Zero Dark Thirty” about the May 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, became a focus of controversy last year when a New York Times columnist reported that its producers planned to release it weeks before the November 6 election in which President Barack Obama is seeking re-election. That has been pushed back to December.

Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon disputed the authenticity of the documents. A spokesman for the National Security Council said the White House would have no comment on the documents beyond those issued last August by presidential press secretary Jay Carney, who said the White House had not given the filmmakers classified information.

The CIA and Pentagon said there was nothing unusual about their dealings with the filmmakers. “The CIA has been open about our engagement with writers, documentary filmmakers, movie and TV producers, and others in the entertainment industry,” said Jennifer Youngblood, an agency spokeswoman.

She added: “Our goal is an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA,

Bollywood superstar defends humble Hollywood debut PARIS: Indian acting legend Amitabh Bachchan has warned his millions of fans to keep their eyes peeled for his long-awaited Hollywood debut, otherwise they might miss it altogether.

The Bollywood veteran laughed off his brief cameo in the new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan. “I play (underworld criminal) Wolfsheim for about a few seconds... by the time you look down on your popcorn to pick another morsel, I’d be gone from the film,” Bachchan joked on his blog this week.

Bachchan features prominently in the film’s trailer, which was released on Tuesday, but he advised his avid followers not to expect too much and brushed aside criticism he was too big for such a fleeting role.

Film’s Release Delayed

Judicial Watch said it launched its investigation of the Obama administration’s dealings with the filmmakers after seeing press reports suggesting that the administration might have leaked classified information as source material for the film.

Maureen Dowd, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote last year that the movie

was scheduled to open on October 12, just more than three weeks before the November 6 presidential election.

After Dowd’s column appeared, US Representative Peter King, the outspoken Republican who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, asked the Inspectors General of both the Pentagon and CIA to investigate the administration’s dealings with the filmmakers, suggesting in a letter that he was concerned about leaks of classified information.

At the time, White House spokesman Jay Carney rejected King’s suggestion that security had been compromised as “ridiculous” and denied the White House had disclosed any classified information to the filmmakers.

The movie is being filmed in India and Jordan and stars Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain and Joel Edgerton, according to movie website IMDB. With release scheduled for December 19, the movie is produced by Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle Corp chief Larry Ellison, and backed by Sony Pictures.

Media reports have said the release was delayed until after the presidential election to prevent the project from being associated with partisan politics. -Reuters

Football star Donald Driver is new Dancing champ

“Before you all start punching me for my minuscule participation in the film, may I just say that it was more out of a friendly gesture, than a desire towards furthering my career,” he said.

Bachchan, 69, has previously said he was not paid for taking the part, which he agreed to after Australian director and Bollywood admirer Baz Luhrmann visited India.

“It was a sheer delight to work with someone of such great genius as Baz Luhrmann and a host of co stars that have astronomical presence in the world of cinema,” Bachchan wrote of the much-hyped 3D film. Bachchan, known as the “Big B” to his millions of devoted fans, is the elder statesman of Hindi-language cinema, having starred in more than 150 films including in the 1970s hits “Sholay” (Sparks), “Deewaar” (Wall) and “Don”. -AFP

Johnny Depp made honorary member of Comanche Nation SANTA FE, New Mexico: Actor Johnny Depp, who plays the American Indian sidekick Tonto in the upcoming film version of “The Lone Ranger,” has been made an honorary member of the Comanche Nation, a Native American activist said on Tuesday.

The private ceremony for the 48-year-old actor took place on May 16 at the Albuquerque, New Mexico, home of LaDonna Harris, the president and founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity.

“I had read about him and his Native American heritage so I said to my children around Mother’s Day, ‘Why don’t we adopt him?’” Harris said.

Harris’ cousin, who serves as the cultural adviser on the “Lone Ranger” movie being filmed in New Mexico, arranged for a meeting.

“He was adopted into my family,” Harris said. “The (Comanche Nation) chairman

their vital mission and the commitment to public service that defines them. The protection of national security equities is always paramount in any engagement with the entertainment industry.”

Pentagon spokesman George Little said, “The Department of Defense, as well as other agencies and departments, regularly engage with the entertainment industry to inform projects ranging from books to documentaries to feature films.

“Many individuals in the industry expressed interest in developing projects on what can only be described as one of the top intelligence and military successes of a generation,” Little added. “Our engagement on these projects was driven by a desire to inform, not by timing.”

then recognized that adoption which made him an honorary member of the Comanche Nation tribe.”

Depp, whose most recent film release is “Dark Shadows,” was given a Comanche name pronounced “Mah Woo May” meaning “shape shifter.”

Depp, who comes from Kentucky, has said that he thought his great-grandmother was part Native American, maybe Cherokee or Creek Indian.

Efforts to reach Depp for comment were not successful.

In discussing his role as Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s Native American sidekick and source of wisdom, Depp told Entertainment Weekly magazine last year that he wanted to “reinvent” the duo’s relationship.

The movie, which stars Armie Hammer as the masked lawman, is due for release next year. -Reuters

In this publicity photograph released by ABC May 22, 2012, Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd hold the mirror ball trophy after the pair won as “Dancing with the Stars” champions during the finals show telecast May 22, 2012. (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES: He already has a Super Bowl ring, and now football star Donald Driver can add the “Dancing With the Stars” mirrorball trophy to his awards collection.

The Green Bay Packers receiver won the ABC dance show Tuesday after wowing audiences and judges with his kickin’ country-themed freestyle routine. He and partner Peta Murgatroyd hoisted the glittery prize above their heads after being named the new “Dancing” champs.

Streamers and confetti rained down from the ceiling, filling the ballroom as they celebrated. Driver’s wife and children joined him on the dance floor.

With just one point separating the three finalists, it was up to the viewers to pick the winner.

He and his fellow finalists, Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins and Cuban actor William Levy, each earned perfect scores for their last performances Tuesday. Jenkins came into the final contest with a perfect 60 points; Driver and Levy each had 59. Judges’ scores combined with viewer votes determined the result.

Contestants eliminated throughout the show’s 10-week season reunited for the two-hour finale. Martina Navratilova, Gavin DeGraw, Jack Wagner, Jaleel White, Sherri Shepherd, Melissa Gilbert, Roshon Fegan, Maria Menounos and Gladys Knight all donned costumes Tuesday for one last dance.

The next round of “Dancing With the Stars” will feature contestants from past seasons. -AP

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ALWATAN DAILY

AROUND TOWN / TIME OUT

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2012

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

Feature o f

graffiti

the day

moderately confused

FASTtelco wins ‘Best Change Management Strategy Award 2012’

KUWAIT: FASTtelco, the leading Internet Service Provider in Kuwait specialized in providing turnkey Internet, local and international data communication solutions has recently been awarded the prestigious GCC HR Excellence Awards for Best Change Management Strategy, which took place at a gala ceremony in Dubai.

Commenting on the award, Abdulwahab Ahmad Al-Nakib, Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of Al-Deera Holding, and CEO of FASTtelco said: “It gives us a great honor to have won such a prestigious award. We had a clear vision and plan right from the beginning on how we needed to take FASTtelco up to a much higher level. All the hard work that had been done and carried out by our talented human capital in parallel with our management strategies has been recognized not only in Kuwait but throughout the GCC region in general. In fact, that puts a great deal of responsibility on FASTtelco to continue providing the market with enhanced, top-of-the-line internet and data communication services and products, and manage to continually claim the leadership position in the Internet and Data Communication sector in Kuwait and the region.”

FASTtelco received this year’s Award in recognition of its outstanding loyalty and care towards its employees, and for training and developing them to become the future leaders of ISP, aiming to increase customer satisfaction levels and experiences, giving best strategic and shareholder value for shareholders, reflecting the style and approach in private equity experiences that Al-Deera Holding Company brings to the table using

Month a t

Sudoku

Elementary

Advanced

Intermediate

its international and local expertise leading FASTtelco to be named and honored with the Best Change Management Strategy Award.

The 4th Annual GCC HR Excellence Awards event is hosted as part of the 7th Annual Human Assets Expansion Middle East Summit, and is designed to recognize both organizations and individuals who have contributed to the successful development of the HR function in the region and have demonstrated outstanding improvements and results in the previous twelve to eighteen months.

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

a glance with family and friends for a public program - Protect yourself and your progeny from hell fire (Quran 66:6) on Thursday at Jamiyatul Islah Auditorium Rawdah, adjacent to highway 40. Dinner packet shall be served after the program. Contact: 99037240|66037944|66218674 for more details.

Carnatic concert May 24/ 6:30 p.m. / Jleeb Al Shoyoukh: Kalanjali Kuwait is organizing “Padma Vibhushan” “Chevalier” Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna Carnatic Concert at the Integrated Indian School auditorium, Jleeb Al Shoyoukh. Accompanying artistes are Violin - Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (D/o Padma Vibhushan Dr. Lalgudi Jayaraman), Mrudangam - “Padmasri” Dr.Yella Venkateswara Rao, Ghatam - Sri Giridhar Udupa and Thambura - “Kalaimamani” Dr. Saraswathi.

For more details send an email to kalanjaliq8@gmail.com

K’S PATH invites applicants for the adoption of pets Lilly is a gentle and gorgeous two-year-old female Tiffany cat. She is confident and loves being the center of attention. Lilly will be a wonderful addition to a family with children aged 5 and above. To adopt contact K’S PATH at (+965) 67001622 or visit the website www. kspath.org

International bazaar

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

GF Handel’s Opera SEMELE May 24-26/ Dar Al Athar Al Islammyah: International Opera singers Nicola Beckily and Matthew Long join Anna Karadimtrova and Haytham Abdulla to present the delightful story of SEMELE by GF Handel. Semele is the story of a young woman in ancient Greece, who falls in love with Jove, the King of the Gods on Mount Olympus. She begins to believe that she can become immortal, but will her ambition make her forget her true self? Music, humor, and strong feeling bring the story to life. For information, go to www.ahmadimusicgroup.com or email tickets@ahmadimusicgroup.com.

IMAK organizes public program May 24/ Rawdah: Indian Muslim Association-Kuwait cordially invites you

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.

Cissi is a pretty and friendly 6-month-old mix-breed female dog who loves to play and run. She is very affectionate and enjoys a cuddle. Cissi will do great in a family with children aged 8 and above.

Ugandans in Kuwait (UIK)

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

Are you a Ugandan living and working in Kuwait? Would you like to get in touch with other Ugandans in Kuwait both socially and professionally? We would like to invite you to register with the Ugandans in Kuwait (UIK) association, an informal organization of Ugandans living and working in Kuwait. This association is voluntary. It is designed to create a forum for Ugandans in Kuwait to foster a sense of community, to communicate more effectively with each other and to encourage Ugandans out here to work together.We are also planning a celebration to mark 50 years of Ugandan’s Independence this year. If you have any questions regarding this then please send an email at ugandansinkuwait@gmail.com.

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.

Fee of KD 2.500 is required to cover for the cost of course material. For more info contact; Danielle desertdanny@hotmail.com.

Dilbert

Embassy of Korea The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6. Contact: 25378621/2/3/4/5. The embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Morning: 8 a.m. 12:30 p.m. Lunch break: 12:30 p.m. - 1 p.m. Afternoon: 1 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Nancy

Horoscopes Aries: March 21 - April 19

You tend to get quite emotional about things even though you don’t always show it to the outside world, Aries. The difference today is that more people are likely to be acting out all their emotions, so you, in turn, could feel safer about exposing your true feelings to people around you. You’ll find friends who share similar opinions today so try to be in their midst.

Taurus: April 20 - May 20

If situations get too hot and heavy,Taurus, your first instinct is to run away or jump to the next subject before anyone notices you’re avoiding the serious ones. That’s one way to deal with today’s intensity, but deep down you know it’s not best. Dig deep and take advantage of this wonderful energy in attempts to deal with all things instead of simply ignoring them.

Gemini: May 21- June 21

Your actions today could take an investigative approach, Gemini. You will be able to probe much more deeply than usual as you search for answers you seek. Feel free to take any sort of aggressive action based on your gut instincts. Use your powerful emotions as a safe tool.

Cancer: June 22 - July 22

Your courageous strength and desire to take a leadership role may be threatening to others today, Cancer. Be careful of assuming the dominant position before learning what other people feel about the situation. You could make some drastic mistakes if you don’t watch out for the well-being of others; so be wary of any potential incidents that might flare-up.

Leo: July 23 - August 22

You can cut through to the truth quite easily today, Leo, so don’t hesitate to do so. If you come to an intersection and no one seems to know who should go next, take the initiative and go. Signal all your intentions to other drivers before you make your own move. Being aggressive in your actions does not mean to say that you have to be reckless in all things.

Virgo: August 23 - September 22

You may want to keep your ship on an even keel today, Virgo, but remember that no matter how hard you try it’s simply not be possible. The wind is blowing pretty hard and you might have to trim your sails and go full speed ahead. Though you’ll move more quickly, it will also mean that you’ll be more prone to capsizing.

Libra: September 23 - October 22

This is your day to shine in many respects, Libra.

Action you take is right on target, so draw back your arrow as far as you can before letting it fly.

There is a quiet strength to your being that comes out and when it does, people will note it for miles around. Today will give you an opportunity to display your incredible strength and passion to its fullest so be aware of that.

Scorpio: October 23 - November 21

You could be wondering why everyone has to be so serious and emotional all of a sudden. You’re likely to be feeling this way, too. Take this as a reminder that there are many walks of life and not all of them intersect your path. Those forces are apt to make themselves known in a traumatic fashion today. Prepare to defend yourself right to the end if you want success.

Sagittarius: November 22 - December 21

Don’t put up with anyone’s shenanigans. Your time is too precious and your energy too powerful to waste on those who see you as a fair-weather friend.

Concentrate on your problems. If someone has a sob story, tell him or her exactly what you think. Don’t pad the honest truth with some kind of soft fluff just to make them feel good.

Capricorn: December 22 - January 19

You have the intellectual side of the equation completely set in your head Capricorn.You’ve collected all the facts and have all the data worked out that it’s impossible for anyone to see fault your calculations. There’s one part of the picture left to consider - emotions.

Extreme feelings could put a monkey wrench on all your plans.

Be prepared for the worst scenarios.

Aquarius: January 20 - February 18

Other people might have a hard time navigating through the day thanks to the intensity and corruption that’s likely to surface. You have nothing to worry about, Aquarius, because your adaptable nature is perfectly suited to dealing with stubborn forces that are likely to rear their heads. This is a good time to clean out your overcrowded closet and relax thereafter.

Pisces: February 19 - March 20

Secure your bunker and ensure it’s fully stocked with heavy artillery, because there is bound to be a battle, Pisces. You need to be fully prepared in order to enter the fight today, simply because you have to. There are some battles that you actually like - the ones that get things rolling and produce results.

ALWATAN DAILY

SPORTS

THURSDAY, may 24, 2012

Basketball

James, Wade lead Heat to 115-83 win over Pacers MIAMI: Suddenly, the road back to the Eastern Conference finals no longer looks daunting for Miami. Not after the Heat left the Pacers beat up and banged up.

LeBron James scored 30 points, Dwyane Wade added 28, and the Heat moved a win away from the NBA’s final four with a 115-83 victory over the hurting Pacers on Tuesday night, a game where three flagrant fouls added more chapters to an already-physical series and Indiana watched starting forwards Danny Granger and David West leave with injuries.

“This is our challenge right now, to leave it behind us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “A lot of good things tonight, but we have to focus on the next one.” That would be Game 6 in Indiana on Thursday night. The Heat lead the best-of-seven East semifinals 3-2.

James added 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Shane Battier scored 13 points, Mario Chalmers had eight points and 11 rebounds, and Udonis Haslem finished with 10 points for Miami, which never trailed, held a 22-2 edge in fast-break points and shot a franchise playoff-record 61 percent best of any team in the playoffs this season.

Paul George scored 11 points for Indiana, with Granger andWest adding 10 points apiece. Granger left with a sprained left ankle in the third quarter and departed the arena in a walking boot, while West departed with what the Pacers called a left knee sprain at the end of that period - something that West thought was born of a cheap shot.

Replays showed Shane Battier boxed out West on the play where he fell backward, but it did not appear any Heat player hit West below the waist.

It was an 11-point game when Granger departed early in the third quarter, and the Heat outscored the Pacers by 21 the rest of the way.

“We learned early in this series, you don’t get two wins for a blowout,’’ Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. A series marked by ugly moments had perhaps its worst with 19.4 seconds remaining when Miami reserve center Dexter Pittman went across the lane to send a forearm into the chin area of Indiana’s Lance Stephenson - who was caught on camera making a choke sign toward James during the Pacers’ Game 3 win, drawing the ire of the Miami locker room.

Pittman was caught on camera winking after the foul.

Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade shoots over Indiana Pacers’ Leandro Barbosa (right) during the first half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. (AP)

Miami, which had gotten into quick deficits in each of the first four games, was the team that started hot in Game 5, running out to a 19-8 lead on the strength of three 3-pointers from Battier who had been 2 for 19 from the field in the first four games of the series. Battier left his mark in many ways, even stopping a 3-on-1 Indiana break to set up a score by Wade at the other end.

But much like the Heat did in Game 4 when Indiana threatened to turn things into an early runaway, the Pacers settled down in a hurry.

The Pacers made Wade see blood early on, a couple of early flagrant fouls reminding everyone that these teams don’t seem to like each other much.

Tyler Hansbrough struck first, hitting Wade on a play where the 2006 NBA finals MVP wound up with a cut over his right eye, similar to what

Haslem received at Indiana in Game 4. So Haslem retaliated against Hansbrough not long afterward, earning a flagrant-1 foul that left the Pacers saying it should merit a flagrant-2 and automatic ejection.

“Referee’s call,” Vogel said.

Said Haslem: “I’ve seen worse in this league in nine years. Nobody wants to give an inch and everybody’s going hard.”

Even after facing the big deficit, Indiana even had two shots to tie or take the lead late in the first half, the second of those a 3-point try from Granger with 3:03 remaining.

It didn’t go down. He did.

Granger landed on James’ foot after the shot, spraining his left ankle and leaving the game. The Heat outscored Indiana 8-2 the rest of the half, with James - who had been guarded by Granger for much of the series - scoring seven of them. -AP

19

TENNIS

Southern Cal wins 4th straight national title ATHENS, United States: Southern Cal coach Peter Smith wasn’t exactly feeling confident after the Trojans lost just their second doubles point of the year.

But with a fourth straight national title at stake, Smith was able to put a strong performance in pumping up his team.

“I said that our backs are against the wall,” Smith told the players. “Let’s just go out and play and play hard and stop worrying.”

Freshman Yannick Hanfmann rallied late in the third set to beat Justin Shane in singles and help Southern Cal win its fourth straight national championship with a 4-2 victory over Virginia on Tuesday night.

Rain delayed the start of singles 3 hours before the tournament at the University of Georgia moved indoors. Hanfmann clinched the Trojans’ 20th national title with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4) win just a few minutes before 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Virginia lost to Southern Cal for the fourth straight year in the tournament and for the second consecutive year in the finals.

Steve Johnson, the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA singles tournament and the event’s defending champion, gave Southern Cal (33-1) its first point of the finals, beating Jarmere Jenkins 6-3, 6-2 for his 66th consecutive victory.

For Hanfmann, earning the clinching victory in a national final was easy to imagine indoors.

Just three months ago in Charlottesville, Va., he rallied to win a break point in the third set against Ohio State’s Devin McCarthy. That performance gave Southern Cal the ITA national team indoor title.

“It came to my mind, but indoors was a long time ago,” Hanfmann said. “It’s not just me. Seeing everybody playing so hard is an inspiration for me. I’m lucky that it ended that way.”

Shane broke Hanfmann to go up 5-4 in the third set, but gave the lead back and never regained momentum.

“I might have gotten a little frustrated with the ref, but there’s nothing you can do when he’s doing his job,” Shane said.

“I stayed focused on the present.”

The Cavaliers (29-2) handed Southern Cal just its second doubles point loss of the year when Mitchell Frank and Alex Domijan beat Daniel Nguyen and Ray Sarmiento 8-5 and Shane and Julen Uriguen knocked off Emilio Gomez and Hanfmann 8-4.

“We’ve come a long ways in doubles, and that’s something we’ve worked hard on and made a great deal of improvement,” Virginia coach Brian Boland said.

“So it’s unfortunate that we came up short.”

Gomez’s 6-4, 6-2 victory over Drew Courtney in No. 4 singles put the Trojans up 2-1. But Frank helped Virginia even the score at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in No. 3 singles over Nguyen, who won the clinching matches in two of the past three Southern Cal titles.

Sarmiento gave the Trojans a 3-2 lead by holding off Domijan 6-4, 7-5 in No. 2 singles.

As the tension was building indoors, Johnson found it hard to relax even though he had beaten Jenkins without too much of a fight.

On side-by-side courts, Hanfmann was battling Shane while Southern Cal’s Roberto Quiroz was trying to rally against Julen Uriguen.

Quiroz’s match, which Uriguen led 6-2, 6-7 (3), 4-3, was not finished. But late in the third set of both matches, Southern Cal was trailing both matches before Hanfmann rallied.

“You know it’s just hard to watch,” Johnson said. “As a tennis player, it comes down to you usually. Usually the ball is in your court and you are able to control it.

To have it out of your control is just stressful to watch.”

When Hanfmann finally clinched the title, Southern Cal’s team ran onto the second court and jumped ecstatically in each other’s arms.

“It was tough for us,” Smith said.

“The last two matches were going to be two freshmen against a sophomore and a senior. That was going to be tough, but you know these guys. Tradition lives on, and it’s unbelievable.” -AP

CRICKET

Best eager to seize Windies chance NOTTINGHAM, England: Tino Best is ready to make the most of his unexpected recall to West Indies duty after being summoned to England as a replacement for the injured Shannon Gabriel.

Fast bowler Gabriel took four wickets on his Test debut during the five-wicket series-opening defeat by England at Lord’s concluded Monday

but was then ruled out of the remaining two Tests with a back injury.

That prompted the West Indies to call-up Best, even though it is three years since the 30-year-old quick last played international cricket.

Best, who had been named in the West Indies A team to face India A next month, was recently a

FILE- West Indies cricketer Tino Best delivers a ball during a practice session at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown on March 15, 2012. (AFP)

member of the squad for the limited overs internationals against Australia but did not play.

The player, who left the Caribbean on Tuesday ahead of the second Test at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge starting Friday, said: “I’m very happy to be recalled for the Test squad for the series in England. “I’ve been waiting for my opportunity to represent the West Indies again and this is another opportunity to wear the ‘Baggy Maroon’ (cap),” he said in a statement issued by the West Indies Cricket Board. “I’m fit and feeling quite ready. I’ve been training and working hard, looking forward to this. “I was in the team earlier this year when we played against Australia and I gained a lot of knowledge from being in the group. I felt I fitted in quite well and I have a good idea of the work ethic and what will be required of me.”

Best is familiar with English conditions, having toured with the West Indies in 2004 and played for county side Yorkshire last year.

“What I have to do, and what I am fully aware of, is how to put that knowledge to work,” he added. “I’m a hard worker and I’m really delighted to get this opportunity.” Best, who made his debut nine years ago, has won 14 Tests caps, with a modest bowling average of 48. He is best remembered in England for a verbal exchange with Andrew Flintoff during the Lord’s Test of 2004.

Flintoff, fielding at slip, urged him to “mind the windows Tino” as Best tried to slog spinner Ashley Giles. Best was out next ball. -AFP

FORMULA ONE

Hamilton bids to make it six of the best MONACO: Formula One will chalk up a notable first if Lewis Hamilton finishes first in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix. Never before has the glamour sport seen six different winners in the first six races of a season and McLaren’s 2008 world champion has yet to open his 2012 victory account going into his favorite race. Hamilton, winner in the Mediterranean principality in his title year, has every chance of standing on the top step of the podium as well as chalking up McLaren’s 150th pole after being denied it in Barcelona due to a fuel error.

British bookmakers William Hill have the 27-yearold Briton as their 3-1 favorite, with double world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso both at 5-1 for Red Bull and Ferrari respectively.

In this most unpredictable of seasons, with five different teams winning the first five races, anything could happen however. “We are going into Monaco, something we’ve been very good at, we’ve won more Monacos than anyone else,” said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh. “We go there with the belief that we can win but anyone who makes predictions at the moment in this sport would be nuts.” Despite his love of the tight and twisting street circuit, Hamilton has never started on pole in Monaco where overtaking is extremely tricky, even with KERS and moveable rear wings, and grid position crucial.

He has however finished on the podium twice

and in the points on four of his five visits.

“I think he is a favorite,” said Whitmarsh.

“And he thinks that and that’s good and he’s in that frame of mind. He deserves it, there’s absolutely no doubt about it. “We’ve got to work hard and make sure he’s got a good car, don’t make any mistakes and that he’s in a position to fulfill his potential at a circuit where he’s won in Formula Three, GP2 and Formula One.” Hamilton has started two of this season’s races on pole and it would have been three had McLaren not made an error with their fuel calculation in

McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain smiles during a news conference during the Monaco F1 Grand Prix May 23, 2012.

(Reuters)

qualifying in Barcelona. The team have also had a string of pit lane blunders that have cost them dear. If Hamilton fails to win on Sunday, there are still plenty of others who could add to the list of different winners - starting with the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.

Lotus, formerly Renault, are celebrating the 500th race for the Enstone-based team and 2007 champion Raikkonen also has previous in Monaco.

The Finn won there from pole in 2005 with McLaren and also started on the front row in 2003, 2008 and 2009.Vettel’s Australian team mate Mark Webber was a Monaco winner in 2010 but has yet to stand on the podium this season and is hungry to rectify that. Michael Schumacher, a five times winner in Monaco, is still chasing his first top three placing since he began his comeback with Mercedes in 2010 but team mate Nico Rosberg showed in China that the car is a winner. If there is to be a repeat winner for the first time this year, then there are three Monaco masters lining up - last year’s winner Vettel, Hamilton’s team mate Jenson Button who triumphed in 2009 and Alonso, who won with Renault in 2006 and McLaren in 2007. Rosberg grew up and went to school in the principality and knows every twist and turn by heart while Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, surprise winner in Spain to hand Williams their first triumph in nearly eight years, cannot be ruled out either. -Reuters

Southern California’s Steve Johnson returns a shot during a doubles match against Virginia during the finals of the NCAA college tennis championship, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. (AP)

OLYMPICS

Neymar gets a chance to prove his worth in London

SAO PAULO: Neymar’s motivation to become one of Brazil’s greatest players, the one expected to lead the team to its first Olympic gold medal, is no secret.

The young man with the scoring touch says it out loud for everyone to hear: It’s a love affair. A love affair with football.

A love affair with the ball. Neymar says there is nothing he would rather do than spend time on the football field.

With former stars Ronaldinho and Kaka past their prime, Neymar has become the player carrying Brazil’s hopes for success in London at the Olympics and then at the World Cup at home.

He is seen as the future of Brazilian football, and the Olympics will give him a chance to prove that he can be the decisive player the entire country expects him to be. “I’ve already told federation president (Jose Maria Marin) that I’ll bring the gold back to Brazil,” Neymar said.

The Olympic tournament is the only significant football competition Brazil has yet to win. The five-time World Cup champions won Olympic silver in 1984 and 1988, and bronze in 1996 and 2008.

“You have a chance to make history,” FIFA President Sepp Blatter told Neymar on Twitter after the Olympic draw last month, earning a quick response from the joyful youngster.

“I’ve got it, prez,” Neymar wrote.

Brazil will open against Egypt on July 26, and it will also play Belarus and New Zealand in Group C. “I don’t know a lot about our opponents, but we have to respect all of them because they all made it to the Olympics,”

Neymar said. “Hopefully we will be able to play well and advance.”

Brazilians have their own love affair with Neymar, and the hype about the youngster has reached unprecedented levels in the South American nation.

Many say he has the potential to become the country’s greatest player since Pele, who also starred for Brazilian club Santos. Pele himself is a fan, saying that he thinks Neymar will be better than Lionel Messi and “for sure” will be crowned the best player in the world in a few years.

Neymar was in the list of 23 players running for FIFA’s Ballon d’Or player of the year award last year, and won FIFA’s prize for the most beautiful goal in 2011.

“Without a doubt he is the greatest name in Brazilian football,” former Brazil striker Romario said. “Neymar will be one of the stars of these Olympics Games.”

Always smiling and sporting a Mohawk hairdo imitated by kids across the country, Neymar has become an idol on the field and a celebrity off of it. Everywhere you look and everywhere you go in Brazil there appears to be some sort of reference to him.

It might be in one of the dozens of television commercials or billboards by sponsors that make Neymar the best paid athlete in Brazil. Or in a television show talking about the new yacht he has just bought, or the YouTube clip showing him dancing around women in bikinis with a popular local music star.

On the field, Neymar is certainly making a case for himself with remarkable, record-setting performances. -AP

thursday, may 24, 2012

SPORTS

Sports Editors Highlight BERLIN: Bayern Munich jumped to winger Arjen Robben’s defense on Wednesday after he was jeered by the club’s fans in a friendly match, days after missing a penalty in theirChampions League final defeat to Chelsea. Many fans among the 33,000 crowd at Tuesday’s friendly betweenBayern and Netherlands in Munich vented their frustration at losing out on the biggest European club prize, whistling and jeering the Dutch international, who played only for Netherlands, when he had possession.

Robben, who earlier this month extended his Bayern contract by two years to 2015, has had an uneasy relationship this season with the club’s fans, some accusing the Dutchman of being too selfish on the pitch. Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk called Bayern fans’ behavior “a disgrace” on Tuesday, while former team mate Mark van Bommel said Robben should consider his Bayern future. - AP

Football

Barca seek winning end to Guardiola era MADRID: Barcelona have the chance to end the Pep Guardiola era in precisely the same way it began, with a King’s Cup final win over Athletic Bilbao on Friday.

A drained Guardiola is to step aside and hand over the reins to his close friend and assistant Tito Vilanova for next season, but will hope to walk away with a 14th trophy from his glittering four-year spell in charge.

The former Spanish international kicked off his trophy-winning run with a 4-1 Cup final win over Bilbao in May 2009. “His departure is traumatic for me,” Barca and Spain defender Gerard Pique, who returned to the Nou Camp just as Guardiola arrived in 2008, told a news conference. “I feel I am a much better player thanks to him and the whole team has learned a great deal. He will leave a void, but we’ll carry on with Tito and we’ll do well. That’s football, all eras come to an end.”

Barca have already won the European and Spanish Super Cups and the Club World Cup this season, but missed out on the major prizes in the closing weeks of the campaign. They were denied a fourth consecutive La Liga crown by Real Madrid, and fell to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals, before Guardiola’s shock decision not to renew his contract.

There have been criticism in some quarters at the way Vilanova’s appointment was announced at the same news conference in which Guardiola said he was leaving, leading to speculation of a rift between the two.

“Guardiola’s relationship with Vilanova is fantastic,” midfielder Cesc Fabregas said earlier this week. “Hearing these comments from outside isn’t good. It hurts us.”

Barca will have to make a number of changes in defense with Eric Abidal, Carles Puyol and Dani Alves all ruled out with injury, while striker David Villa will not recover from his broken leg in time.

Barca and Bilbao have lifted the trophy 48 times between them, and have been two of the most entertaining teams in Spain this year with their focus on attacking football. Bilbao head into the final with some trepidation after their crushing 3-0 Europa League final

FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, from Argentina, scores from a penalty against Athletic Bilbao during a Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, March 31, 2012. (AP)

defeat to Atletico Madrid two weeks ago. “We need to be more relaxed from the start, not as nervous and as rushed with our passes (as we were in Bucharest)” Bilbao’s leading scorer Fernando Llorente told reporters.

“We deserve to win this Cup. We have managed to put behind us the disappointment of the other final. If we can play to our best and nullify Barca, we are capable of beating them.”

Blatter says FIFA is sailing into calmer waters

(From left) Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke and FIFA president Joseph Blatter arrive to press conference, May 8, 2012. (AFP)

BUDAPEST: FIFA is heading into calmer waters after a series of corruption allegations over the last two years, its president Sepp Blatter said on Tuesday. “I am an optimist,” Blatter told reporters ahead of the world soccer body’s annual congress. “I am sure you will see at the congress that we are back in the harbor, not heaven yet, but we are taking more people on board and are heading to calm, clearer waters. A year ago, Blatter was elected for a fourth and final term as FIFA president against a backdrop of bribery and corruption allegations at a tense, acrimonious Congress in Zurich. This year’s Congress, set for Thursday and Friday in the Hungarian capital, will be presented with a new set of statutes aimed at making FIFA more transparent.

Among the members to go last year were Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, a FIFA vice-president, and Mohamed bin Hammam, who were both disciplined and expelled for their part in a bribery scandal.

Bin Hammam of Qatar, one of the game’s rich power-brokers, was due to stand against Blatter for the FIFA presidency but withdrew his candidature days before the vote and was later banned from football for

life by FIFA for trying to bribe Caribbean delegates to vote against the Swiss.

Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, who, like Warner, was involved in repeated corruption allegations, quit earlier this year on health grounds.

The departures followed those of Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii who were caught up in a cash-for-votes scandal before the decision in December 2010 to award the World Cups of 2018 to Russia and 2022 to Qatar. Blatter said he was pleased that change had come to the CONCACAF confederation of countries in North and Central America and the Caribbean, even though several legal issues still had to be settled in the courts. Blatter was also pleased about the addition of Nsereka, who is expected to become a full member of the committee at next year’s Congress in Mauritius.

“There was a big discussion about this,” he said. “It was not so easy to convince a male-dominated committee to have a woman but she has been the president of her country’s FA since 2004. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee, she is a businesswoman, she is a princess, she is very knowledgeable.” -Reuters

Paris officials reject ‘new’ Parc des Princes plan PARIS: A senior French local government official on Wednesday dismissed a plan by Paris Saint-Germain's Qatari owners to knock down the historic Parc des Princes and build a new stadium in its place, calling it unworkable.

"In our opinion, this proposal seems impossible," said Jean Vuillermoz, who holds the sports portfolio for Paris under city mayor Bertrand Delanoe. "We've discussed it and the mayor said it would be impossible to destroy a monument which is part of Paris," he told AFP. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi on Tuesday said that it was his "dream" to have a 60,000-seater stadium on the same site, with attendances up this year as the club challenged for the French title and with a Champions League berth next season.

"It's easy to get 60,000 seats. You've got to knock down the stadium.To have 50,000, it's just renovation. Paris is the capital. The

Mourinho inspired by long-term challenge at Real

city deserves a bigger stadium," he said.

Vuillermoz, however, said they had examined the proposals and rejected them.

"It's very difficult," he added. "It would take a lot of time. It would involve the local city planners and starting a public consultation. We believe it would be practically impossible and would also mean that the stadium is not ready for Euro 2016."

Vuillermoz, however, welcomed the fact that PSG's cash-rich owners have opted to stay in the capital and said he favored the option of renovating the ageing venue, which is situated in southwest Paris on the edge of the leafy Bois de Boulogne.

The current Parc des Princes has a capacity of just under 49,000 and has been home to PSG since 1973. Its history as a sporting venue dates back to the late 1800s and previous stadia on the site included a velodrome that was the original finish of the Tour de France cycling race. -AFP

The club, who only field players of Basque origin, are also concerned their inspirational and eccentric coach Marcelo Bielsa may not stay beyond the end of the season as he remains silent on his future.

A two-week break after the end of La Liga will help the Bilbao players as fatigue took its toll in the season run-in and they lost four of their last five matches in all competitions. -Reuters

MADRID: Jose Mourinho said he was motivated by the challenges ahead at Real Madrid after agreeing a two-year contract extension on Tuesday which tied him to the Spanish champions until 2016.

Mourinho, the self-styled ‘Special One’, joined Real from Inter Milan in 2010 on a four-year deal and led them to victory in the King’s Cup final in his first season, the club’s first cup triumph in 18 years.

Real set a new points record of 100 from 38 games, beating the previous best of 99 achieved by Pep Guardiola’s side in 2009, and broke the league’s goal-scoring record of 107 set by the Whites in 1989-90 by finding the net 121 times.

On a personal level, the league title was Mourinho’s seventh after winning two in Portugal with Porto, two in England with Chelsea and two in Italy with Inter.

Mourinho’s next big challenge is to win a 10th European Cup for Real, and his third with a different club after Champions League successes with Porto in 2004 and Inter in 2010.

Real have fallen in the semi-finals to Barcelona and Bayern Munich in his two years in charge.

The last time they reached the final four before then was 2003.

The 49-year-old has fought for and won unprecedented freedom and power as their coach with the full backing of club president Florentino Perez. His new commitment to Real ended any speculation that he might be lured away elsewhere.

The show of unity and strength at the world’s richest club by revenue comes at a moment when their great rivals Barcelona appear to be entering a period of transition.

Mourinho’s opposite number Guardiola has decided to step down at the end of the season after winning 13 trophies in four years at the Nou Camp. -Reuters

Rooney chasing redemption at Euro 2012

LONDON: Wayne Rooney will set off on his latest bid for redemption at Euro 2012 uncomfortable in the knowledge that his campaign could be dead in the water before he has even kicked a ball. Eight years ago, a 17-year-old Rooney lit up Euro 2004 with a string of dazzling performances that earned him breathless comparisons to a youthful Pele before England bowed out in the quarter-finals.

Despite the disappointment of defeat, Rooney's displays left many convinced that maybe, just maybe, the Three Lions had unearthed a player capable of leading them to the promised land of victory in a major tournament.

Fast forward eight years, and England fans are still waiting for Rooney to take a tournament by storm as he had once seemed destined to do, frustrated by a combination of injuries and poor form.

In 2006, Rooney's World Cup campaign in Germany was compromised by the curse of the metatarsal, a broken bone in his foot leaving him struggling for fitness as the tournament kicked off. He returned to the starting line-up at the end of the group stage but an unhappy and goal-less campaign ended in the quarter-finals when he was sent off against Portugal for a wild stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.

"Wayne Rooney is the golden boy of English football," outgoing England manager SvenGoran Eriksson commented. "Don't kill him because you will need him."

Yet with England failing to qualify for Euro 2008, Rooney would have to wait two more years for the opportunity to shine in a major tournament. The 2009/2010 season saw the Manchester United star in superb form for club and country, scoring regularly in the Champions League and reveling in his free role for Fabio Capello's England.

Manchester United’s English forward Wayne Rooney scores a penalty during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Aston Villa, April 15, 2012. (AFP)

But Rooney's serene progress through the season was cruelly disrupted by an ankle injury suffered in March which again left him short of match sharpness as England headed to South Africa for the World Cup. Rooney's performances at the World Cup were to become emblematic of England's ill-fated campaign as a whole.

A player who had seemed full of impish craft and dexterity only months before was suddenly unable to trap a bag of cement. The nadir came in England's abject 0-0 draw with Algeria in the group stage, when a frustrated Rooney hit out at fans who had booed the team's performance.

With a new deal at Manchester United in the bag, and order apparently restored in his personal life, Rooney finished the 2010/2011 season strongly, helping United to a record 19th title

before scoring a well-taken goal in the Champions League final defeat to Barcelona at Wembley. His contribution to England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign was mixed however. Illdiscipline led to his suspension for the 2-2 draw with Switzerland in June 2011, but he returned in the autumn to score twice in the 3-0 away win over Bulgaria in Sofia.

Rooney will not be eligible to make his entrance until the third and final group game against Ukraine in Donetsk on June 19, by which stage England could conceivably be out of the competition. If England fail to get positive results against France and Sweden in their opening group games, the 26-year-old's wait for redemption at a major tournament will stretch further into the future. -AFP

Under-strength Poles edge Latvia in Euro warm-up

KLAGENFURT, Austria: Euro 2012 hosts Poland gave their few travelling supporters reason to cheer as an under strength side beat Latvia 1-0 during a pre-tournament tune up here on Tuesday. In a near-empty stadium in Klagenfurt, where they also face Slovakia on Saturday in another preEuro friendly, the Poles largely dominated their Baltic opponents.

But despite a decent set of performances, notably Celtic striker Pawel Brozek and midfielders Adrian Mierzejewski of Trabzonspor and Rafal Mu-

Poland’s Marcin Wasilewski (left) heads the ball during their international friendly soccer match against Latvia in Klagenfurt, May 22, 2012.

(Reuters)

rawski of Lech Poznan and they only made their mark in the final minutes when Artur Sobiech celebrated his first appearance since 2010 with the only goal.

That will give some cause for concern when they start the tournament proper with resilient opponents Greece, the Czech Republic and Russia in their group. Poland manager Franciszek Smuda was nonetheless upbeat.

"Some say that the result's not what it's about, and that simply playing is the key thing. But the lads won, and that matters," he said.With Poland midway through a training camp in Austria, Smuda opted to rest the big names who have just wrapped up their club seasons, notably his Borussia Dortmund trio of striker Robert Lewandowski, midfielder Kuba Blaszczykowski and defender Lukasz Piszczek. Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was also stood down allowing his understudy at club and national level Lukasz Fabianski to show his mettle. Attacks were few and far between in the firsthalf, though, Polish teenager Rafael Wolski took the eye on his debut. Poland did at last get the ball in the net in the 55th minute through Werder Bremen defender Sebastian Boenisch, who latched onto a free kick from Sivaspor midfielder Kamil Grosicki and found the net - however it was ruled out for offside.

Grosicki, though, was to find his creative work rewarded less than 10 minutes from time as his pass was dispatched into the net by Hannover 96 forward Sobiech.

"This was a great result for the whole team," Sobiech said. "I'm the joker in the pack at my club too!" Klagenfurt brings back bad memories for Poland fans who recall their poor Euro debut in 2008. Having failed to reach the 2010 World Cup, and with an automatic hosts'' berth at Euro 2012, Poland will have gone 968 days without a competitive match by the time they kick off the tournament, hosted with neighboring Ukraine, on June 8 in Warsaw. -AFP