10 Feb

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THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013 / RABEE’A AL-AWWAL 29, 1434 AH

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Secret studies show flaws in US missile shield Govt stresses need to resolve issue

Fixes could be difficult

Report advises against loan write-off

WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AP): Secret Defense Department studies cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe will ever be able to protect the US from Iranian missiles as intended, congressional investigators say.

Military officials say they believe the problems can be overcome and are moving forward with plans. But proposed fixes could be difficult. One possibility has already been ruled out as technically unfeasible. Another, relocating missile interceptors planned for Poland and possibly Romania to ships on the North Sea, could be diplomatically explosive.

The studies are the latest to highlight serious problems for a plan that has been criticized on several fronts. Republicans claim it was hastily drawn up in an attempt to appease Russia,

By Nihal Sharaf Arab Times Staff

A reveller from Rosas de Ouro samba school performs during the first night of carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Feb 9. (AFP) — See Page 19

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: The Parliament’s Finance and Economic Affairs Committee received the government’s report on the issues of citizens’ loans and loan interest, sources revealed on Saturday. The report, they added, stresses the need to resolve the long-pending issue but advises against the write-off of the loans.

The committee will hold a meeting with the concerned gov-

ernment representatives on Monday as well as Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shammali for discussions on the issue.

Last week, the National Assembly had postponed discussions on citizens’ loans and loan interest write-off until its next regular session in two weeks. The delay was requested by the government so that its observations and recommendations could be included with the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee report.

On Sunday, the committee will discuss amendments to the recently approved draft bills on unemployment insurance and small businesses the management of small businesses as well as amendments to the Companies Law. Meanwhile, MP Nabil Al-Fadhl proposed the amendment of the procedures and criminal trials law to stipulate the punishment of individuals who claim to have witnessed or have knowledge of a Continued on Page 5

Continued on Page 12

TUNISIA ISLAMISTS RALLY AS PM THREATENS TO RESIGN

‘Ennahada’ in show of force Chants against France TUNIS, Tunisia, Feb 9, (Agencies): Thousands of backers of Tunisia’s ruling Islamists rallied in the capital Saturday to denounce Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali’s plan to form a new government of technocrats amid deepening political uncertainty.

Jebali, who is seen as a moderate, said he would step down if he failed to form a new government within days as more than 3,000 supporters of his Ennahada party took to the streets to oppose his plans.

Kerry to Iran

‘Be serious with N-talks’ WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AFP): New US Secretary of State John Kerry held out an olive branch to sanction-hit Iran on Friday, saying the world would respond if Tehran seriously addressed its nuclear program at upcoming talks.

“The choice is really ultimately up to Iran,” Kerry told his first press conference since becoming America’s top diplomat a week ago.

Tehran, which has been hit by crippling international sanctions, has agreed to meet with the six world powers working to rein its suspect nuclear program for a new round of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Feb 26.

Kerry assured the Iranian leadership that “the window for diplomacy is still open” as they prepare for the next talks.

“The international community is ready to respond if Iran comes prepared to talk real substance and to address the concerns, which could not be more clear, about their nuclear program,” the new secretary of state said.

“If they don’t, then they will choose to leave themselves more isolated. That’s the choice,” Kerry said, speaking after his first bilateral talks with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.

In talks held last May in Baghdad, the so-called P5+1 — the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — Continued on Page 5

The prime minister stated his determination to replace the existing cabinet, including the three key ministries held by the Islamist party, in a television interview late Saturday that threw down the gauntlet to opponents within his own party.

“All the ministries will be independent, including the interior, justice and foreign affairs ministries,” Jebali told France 24, when asked by the satellite news channel about the plan.

Ennahada supporters rallied in Tunis to press their demands that the Islamist-dominated cabinet remain untouched, deepening a pervasive sense of crisis after days of street clashes between opposition supporters and police following the murder of leading government critic Chokri Belaid.

A man (left), holds up a sign that reads in Arabic, ‘The people demand national unity,’ as Tunisian Ennahda party supporters take part in a rally to show support for the ruling Islamist party, in which the Ennahda-dominated coalition holds a majority, on Feb 9, in the capital Tunis, three days after the assassination of Chokri Belaid, an outspoken critic of the Islamists. (AFP)

Legitimacy “The people want to protect the legitimacy of the ballot,” they shouted as they gathered on the Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the epicentre of the 2011 revolution that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Belaid, who accused the Islamist party of stealing the revolution, was gunned down outside his home on Wednesday morning, sparking days of unrest as his supporters and family openly blamed Ennahada for eliminating him.

Saturday’s protest was on a far smaller scale than anti-government rallies held in the wake of Belaid’s murder.

Ennahada supporters also chanted anti-French slogans in response to Paris’ Interior Minister Manuel Valls’s condemnation of “Islamist fascism” in Tunisia.

Tensions between liberals and Islamists have been simmering for months over the future direction of the once proudly secular Muslim nation.

Their divisions within the national assembly have blocked progress on the drafting of a new constitution.

But the crisis has also laid bare divisions within the party itself, and Continued on Page 12

US weighing Syria options: Kerry

Assad reshuffles cabinet, rebels hit DAMASCUS, Feb 9, (Agencies): President Bashar al-Assad reshuffled his cabinet Saturday as regime warplanes raided rebel areas in a bid to end the stalemate in Syria’s deadly civil war and hopes for a political solution appeared to founder.

Syria is in the depths of an unprecedented economic recession because of the violence gripping the country for nearly two years, and the latest government reshuffle focused on finance and social affairs portfolios.

The World Bank says the country’s gross domestic product has shrunk by 20 percent, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) puts unemployment at 37 percent and possibly hitting 50 percent by the end of 2013.

Assad changed seven ministers, the official SANA news agency reported.

It said he split the ministry of labour and social affairs into two, and brought in a woman, Kinda Shmat, to head the latter. Hassan Hijazi becomes labour minister.

Ismail Ismail becomes finance minister and Sleiman Abbas takes the oil and mineral resources portfolio. The housing and urban development, agri-

Newswatch

Continued on Page 12

Foes Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said on state television late on Friday that the regime was prepared to have talks with its political foes so long as they set no preconditions.

“The door is open, the negotiating table is there, welcome to any Syrian who wants to have dialogue with us,” he said.

“When you speak of dialogue, it means dialogue without conditions, which excludes no one... There must be no preconditions.”

The opposition Syrian National Coalition said on February 1, the day after an offer of dialogue by its

Hunt for fugitive ‘resumes’ in US

CAIRO: Residents of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh say more than 100 people have demonstrated to call for the release of people detained without charge.

Saudi security officials say they arrested at least five people. They spoke anonymously in line with police regulations.

Dozens of security vehicles blocked the intersections of two streets Saturday where the demonstrations were taking place.

North of Riyadh in the city of Buraydah, around 30 people — mostly women related to the prisoners — held a similar rally.

In past years, a small number of

culture and public works ministers also changed.

Assad has announced several reshuffles since the uprising against his rule began, the most recent in August 2012.

Efforts towards finding a political solution to the conflict, which the UN says has killed more than 60,000 people, appeared to be deadlocked, hours after Damascus offered talks without preconditions.

The opposition has demanded Assad’s departure be the focus of any talks.

A demonstrator reacts to tear gas fired by security forces during clashes in Mahalla, Egypt, on Feb 8. Thousands took their demands to the streets in cities across the country on Friday, carrying Egyptian flags and pictures of slain protesters and chanting ‘down with the rule of the Guide,’ referring to Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, who critics allege is calling the shots for Morsi from behind the scenes. (AP)

BIG BEAR LAKE, California, Feb 9, (AP): The search resumed in the snowy California mountains Saturday for a former police officer who is suspected of killing three in a deadly rampage to get back at those he blames for ending his career.

The manhunt for Christopher Dorner entered its fourth day.

Relentless snowfall on Friday grounded helicopters with heatsensing technology. Dorner’s burned-out truck was found a day earlier in a ski resort town.

Continued on Page 12

leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, that any talks on the country’s political future must be about the departure of the Assad regime.

In the latest fighting, regime warplanes launched air strikes within the Menegh military airbase in the northern province of Aleppo after rebels stormed parts of the garrison, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The base is less than 25 kms (15 miles) from the border with Turkey, a key backer of the rebellion against Assad’s regime.

Air raids also targeted northern and eastern areas outlying the capital, amid fighting between loyalist troops and insurgents, the watchdog said.

Jets also hit the town of Sabineh south of Damascus, and fierce clashes broke out between rebels and troops in the embattled town of Daraya, where the army shelled insurgent positions, the Observatory said.

The army this week launched a major offensive against rebel zones surrounding the capital, in a drive to break the stalemate.

Continued on Page 12

Evidence inconclusive

No sign omega-3s benefit babies’ brains NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): A review of the existing evidence finds it to be inconclusive about whether omega-3 fatty acids taken by mothers during pregnancy boost their kids’ brain development early in life.

“There are so many trials where pregnant women are supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids and they’ve all got different results,” said lead study author Jacqueline Gould, a researcher at the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute in Adelaide, Australia. “We found that there was neither a positive nor a negative effect on visual or neurological outcomes.”

The Australian team, who published their findings in The American Journal

of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data from 11 clinical trials with a total of 5,272 participants who were randomly assigned to take omega-3 supplements or placebos during the last half of their pregnancies.

Across the trials, the amount of omega-3 taken by the mothers ranged from 240 to 3,300 milligrams per day.

And the ages at which children’s brain and vision development were assessed ranged from newborn to 7 years old.

According to the researchers, most of the clinical trials included too few participants to distinguish subtle differences expected from nutritional studies, excluded complicated pregnancies Continued on Page 12

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LOCAL

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Al-Awadi proposes 2 types of entry visas

Assembly secretary proposes new designs for entry visas KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: National Assembly Secretary Kamil AlAwadi has proposed new designs for entry visas granted to foreigners in GCC countries, reports AlQabas daily.

In a recent press statement, Al-

Awadi explained his proposal, once implemented, will the pave way to the realization of the economic and social development visions of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah.

He said the new Gulf visas will be issued from any GCC country to foreigners and their families residing in the region, although he admitted that there is more to be done in terms of agreements on the unification of the system.

Fight against corruption

‘Don’t muzzle local unions’ KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: No one has the right to prevent the unions from performing their role in fighting against corruption and crisis-provokers, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting the

National Union of Kuwaiti Workers and Employees.

In a recent press statement, the union strongly rejected the alleged attempt by Social Affairs and Labor

Minister Thikra AlRashidi to interfere in its internal affairs.

“Freedom of workers unions is a red line that should not be crossed.

Violation

According to the union, Al-Rashidi’s action is a violation of the powers and privileges of the undersecretary who is considered the legal representative of the ministry.

The union also urged the minister to respect the norms and the international conventions.

certain categories of people based on their professions. He said the golden visa will be valid for one year and it will be given to highlevel professionals, such as visiting doctors, senior consultants and international agents.

The Secretary added his proposal is in response to the call of HH the Amir to exert more efforts in overcoming obstacles to have more achievements in all aspects and to strengthen relations between the GCC countries.

Government will resist any attempt to politicise unions Groups reject calls for civil disobedience

Transparency

“Since the unions work with full transparency, they will not allow anyone from the government to put limits on what they do,” the statement added.

The union also wondered if the minister’s step is aimed at serving personal interests.

Al-Awadi suggested two types of entry visas — normal and golden.

He disclosed the normal entry visa is valid for three months from the date of entry but it is not renewable and it will be issued to

By Abdulrahman AlShemmeri and Mohammad Al-Fodari Special to the Arab Times

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: The government firmly stands against any attempt to politicise union work by involving the labor and students unions in politics; while inciting them to hold or participate in demonstrations – an unlawful act which negatively affects public interests, say sources from the executive authority.

Sources revealed the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has referred a memorandum to the Cabinet, in which it clarified that any public employee who takes part in rallies or strikes must be referred to the judiciary for responding to calls and provocation launched by the members of the nullified Parliament to instigate civil disobedience.

On the other hand, sources disclosed the Popular Labor Bloc and the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) intend to replicate the experience of the Islamic Brotherhood Movement in Egypt and Tunisia, which ended in unrest and division of the society into various groups.

In the meantime, labor and student unions have outrightly rejected calls of civil disobedience launched by the opposition. Around Kuwait University 70 students issued a joint statement to express their objection to any attempt to politicize the student union work, stressing that the action taken by National Union of Kuwaiti Students, which is dominated by the Islamic Brotherhood Movement, does not represent them as students in the university. They asserted the call for the union to organize a sit-in inside the campus on Sunday is against educational principles and values.

Moreover, the 62-member group urged the government, in a press statement Saturday, to take all the legal procedures to prevent public utility societies and unions to interfere in politics and religious issues.

Also, the Doctors Union rejected the calls made by some political blocs for the unions to take part in rallies or gatherings; condemning at the same time the threats launched by some members of the nullified legislature.

On the other hand, MP Safaa Al-Hashim asked HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak to take a decisive step against Justice Ministry Workers Union Chairperson Ahmad AlMutairi for the provocative statements he made in a bid to suspend operations of public utilities.

Furthermore, MP Nabil Al-Fadhel asked the State Security Department to arrest Al-Mutairi as he poses a grave threat to the society as reflected in his call for the suspension of operations in public utilities, stressing the government must strictly apply law on the erring unions.

Al-Qabas photo

Former lawmaker Musallam Al-Barrak and some Kuwaiti citizens gathered recently at the garden of Kuwait Municipality in the presence of security and traffic personnel, reports Al-Qabas daily. Al-Barrak said to the people, “We are here in response to the call by youth movement against the National Assembly of ‘one man one vote’ system and to protest the security authorities’ pursuit of political activists”.

Exercise slated for Feb 10-26

Peninsula Shield Force thanks Kuwait KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9, (KUNA): Peninsula Shield Force Commander Major-General Mutlaq bin Salem Al-Azima Saturday expressed gratitude for Kuwait’s hosting of the ninth major exercise of the pan-GCC force, slated for Feb 10-26.

At a press conference organized by the Moral Guidance and Public Relations Department of the Kuwaiti Army, Al-Azima thanked, in a statement read out on his behalf by Major Fahad Al-

Muttairi, the Kuwaiti political and military leaderships for employing all potential to render the exercise a great success.

He also conveyed the Peninsula Shield Force’s greetings to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah.

For his part, Head of Moral Guidance and Public Relations

Department of the Kuwaiti Army Brigadier Abdulaziz Al-Ris said the Peninsula Shield Force’s exercises in Kuwait have been long scheduled and have nothing to do with the current developments in the region.

He pointed out that the exercises are meant to upgrade the performance and enrich the experience of Peninsula Force personnel to retain the GCC security and stability through the strategic joint defense forces.

Kuwait Today Civil ID info: 1889988 Site for checking travel ban

Prayer Timings Fajr ............................... 05:11 am Sunrise ................................ 06:32 Zohr ..................................... 12:02 Asr ..................................03:10 pm Maghrib .............................. 05:33 Isha .................................... 06:51

Weather Expected weather for the next 24 hours:

By Night: Cold with light variable wind, with speed of 06-20 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear.

By Day: Sunny with light variable wind, with speed of 06-22 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear.

Kuwait Weather Station

Kuwait City Kuwait Airport Nuwaiseeb Wafra Salmi Abdaly Jalaliyah Failaka Ahmadi Port Umm Al-Maradem Qaruh Island

Max Rec

Min Exp

22 26 24 27 28 26 25 23 20 21 22

15 12 13 13 13 13 13 14 16 16 16

4-days forecast - Weather Sunday, Feb 10 Expected weather.........sunny + ........................scattered clouds Max Temp ...........................27C Min Temp ............................12C Wind Direction....................VRB Wind Speed.............06-22 km/h Monday, Feb 11 Expected weather.........sunny + ........................scattered clouds Max Temp ...........................26C Min Temp.............................11C Wind Direction ......................SE Wind Speed.............08-30 km/h Tuesday, Feb 12 Expected weather ............sunny Max Temp ...........................23C Min Temp ............................12C Wind Direction ......................SE Wind Speed.............12-35 km/h Wednesday, Feb 13 Expected weather.........sunny + ..................................rising dust Max Temp ...........................20C Min Temp ............................08C Wind Direction .....................NW Wind Speed.............20-45 km/h

www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/NGeneral/Main.jsp

deaths Muhammad Abdallah Akbar Hassan Akbar, 17 years old, buried. Condolences: (Men) Salwa, Aqsa Mosque Street, Sayyed Muhammad Husseiniya. (Women) Salwa, Aqsa Mosque Street, Muslim bin Aqeel Husseiniyah, Tel: 99835835, 67058889, 25636485. Salim Hajr Haylan Al-Enezi, 70 years old, buried.

Condolences: Saad Al-Abdallah, Block 3, plot 565, Tel: 55771727, 99505066. Nuweir Ersheed Farhan AlAzmi, 92 years old, buried. Condolences: Sabah Al-Salem, Block 11, Street 2, Ave 3, House 11, Tel: 99361362, 99593033. Mariam Hassan Mihdali, 74 Years old, widow of Hajji Khadr Al-Abdali, 9 am.

Condolences: (Men) Rumaithiya, Maqamis Mosque. (Women) Mubarak Al-Kabeer - Block 7, Street 22, House 14, Tel: 65555336, 99771751, 99867579. Zahiyyah Muhammad Eid Al-Funeir Al-Adwani, 81 years old, widow of Abdallah Rashid Al-Buijan Al-Adwani, buried. Condolences: Men Fahaheel, Block 10, Malik bin Reib Street, House 36, Al-Funeir Diwaniya, opposite Al-Rawdan Mosque. (Women) Sabahiyyah, Block 2, Street 13, House 37, Tel: 99705100, 97494437, 99621424. Faisal Abdulmajid Haydar Hassan Muhammad Al-Tamimi, 21 years old, buried. Condolences: (Men) Bayan, Imam Hussein Mosque.

(Women) Rumaithiyah, Block 8, Hassan Banna Street, Ave 80, House 31, Tel: 99407733, 65800999. Najat Abdulameer Hamad, 68 years old, widow of Suleiman Abdallah Al-Haddad, Sabhan graveyard, 9 am.

Condolences: (Men) Sabahiyyah, Block 1, Street 2, House 564. (Women) Mubarak Abadía Al-Jabir, Block 3, Street 308, House 9, Tel: 99200280, 66476666, 50909111. Yusuf Fakheer Muhammad Al-Hindi, 86 years old. 9 am, Sabhan Graveyard. Condolences: (Men) Aqeelah, Block 2, Street 104, House 44.

(Women) Aqeelah, Block 2, Street 221, House 6, Tel: 65555222. Sarrah Abdulrazaq Ahmad Al-Ma’tooq, 76 years old, buried. Condolences: (Men) Salaam, Block 5, Street 509, House 3. (Women) Al-Qusuur, Block 4, Street 13, House 14, Tel: 99272759, 90986968. Norah Saad Qatwaan Al-Rashidi, 71 years old, widow of Abdallah Sarhan Al-Rakkaka, 9 am. Condolences: (Men) Omariyah, Block 5, Street 4, House 25.

(Women) Andalus, Block 3, Street 101, House 2, Tel: 66213434, 99970191, 90049933, 66153060. Sabuur Awadh Ayed, 63 years old, widow of Nafei Muneer Nuweifei Al-Rashidi, buried. Condolences: Firdaus, Tent between Block 5 and Block 9. (Women) Firdaus, Block 5, Street 1, Ave 12, House 4, Tel: 66512252, 99888508, 99889712. Aliyah Rashid Hamad Marzuq Al-Ghareeb, 72 years old, buried. Condolences: Fintas, Block 2, Street 13, House 5. (Women) Jabir Al-Ali, Block 2, Street 15, House 43, Tel: 99736568, 50244478. Ibrahim Saad Shaffi Al-Rashidi, 43 years old, buried. Condolences: Qasr-Jahra, Block 4B, Street 5, House 123, Tel: 55455588.

Feb 9, 2013 Marine Forecast Station

South Dolphin Ahmadi L/V Beacon M28 Beacon N6 Qaruh Island Umm Al-Maradem Sea island Buoy Salmiyah

Max Min Sea Today’s Exp Rec Surf Waves Ht Direction

19 17 20 19 22 21 20 20

15 08 15 13 16 16 15 15

16 16 17 16 -

2ft 2ft 2ft 2ft 2ft 2ft 2ft 2ft

SW SW SW SW SW SW SW SW

4-days forecast - Marine Sunday, Feb 10 Expected weather.........sunny + ........................scattered clouds Sea state...........................slight Wave height ......................1-2 ft Max Temp ...........................27C Min Temp ............................12C Wind Direction....................VRB Wind Speed.............06-22 km/h Monday, Feb 11 Expected weather.........sunny + ........................scattered clouds

Sea state ......slight to moderate Wave height ......................1-4 ft Max Temp ...........................26C Min Temp.............................11C Wind Direction ......................SE Wind Speed.............08-30 km/h

2nd high tide:....................12:45 1st low tide: ......................06:30 2nd low tide: .....................18:15 Sunrise: ............................06:32 Sunset: .............................17:33

Tuesday, Feb 12

Recorded yesterday at Kuwait Airport

Expected weather ............sunny Sea state ......slight to moderate Wave height ......................2-5 ft Max Temp ...........................23C Min Temp ............................12C Wind Direction ......................SE Wind Speed.............12-35 km/h

Max temp ............................24C Min temp .............................13C Max Rh...............................90% Min Rh................................36% Max Wind..................N 21 km/h Total Rainfall in 24 hrs....00 mm

Wednesday, Feb 13 Expected weather.........sunny + ..................................rising dust Sea state......moderate to rough Wave height ......................3-6 ft Max Temp ...........................20C Min Temp ............................08C Wind Direction .....................NW Wind Speed.............20-45 km/h

Tide times at Shuwaikh Port 1st high tide: .....................23:00

Recorded yesterday at South Dolphin Min/Max/ Air Temp ..........................14/19C Min/Max Rel Hum...........................64/92% Wind Direction/Wind Speed.......N/29 km/h Prev Wave Dir/Max Wave Ht............N/ 1 ft Min/Max Sea Surface Temp ...........16/16C Sea Current ................................Upwelling — Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Meteorological Department.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LOCAL

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Kuwait’s envoy stresses ‘solid’ ties with US, army Sheikh Salem attends ribbon cutting of USO warrior center WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (KUNA): Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem AlSabah attended an official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the USO Warrior and Family Center in Fort Belvoir, Virginia; the largest center in USO history.

The Selda 5C2 band with their anniversary cake.

Some of the guests at the event

Kuwait’s Ambassador and his wife Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah, with the cooperation of the KuwaitAmerica Foundation, had held in 2011 a Gala Dinner which helped raise around USD two million to fund the USO Warrior and Family Center.

In remarks at the opening ceremony, USO President and CEO Sloan Gibson thanked all the people and organizations that helped make this center possible.

Gibson thanked, in particular, the Kuwait Embassy for the fund raiser it held for this particular center “which became at that time the largest single gift to the USO in its history.” He also thanked “nearly a quarter of a million individual Americans that have made a contribution honoring our wounded troops and their families to operation enducing care.” “Thank you to all those that helped make today possible and all of the tomorrows that are going to be enjoyed in the center,” he remarked.

For her part, President and CEO, USO of Metropolitan Washington, Elaine Rogers said in her remarks that this center is “life changing” for the USO and the troops and their families, saying “this is a place of hope and possibility, where the mission is to turn this place into a home.”

Director of the Army Staff, US Army Lieutenant General William Troy also thanked all the contributors on behalf of all the service people “who will come through here and their families for what this center is going to mean to them.”

Magnificent

The Selda 5C2 Band in action

Labour Attache’ Dicang (4th from left) with some Filipino leaders.

Club Ilonggo in Kuwait joins thanksgiving

Selda 5C2 Band marks 5 years of good music

By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Five years of good music, from Classic Rock, Pop, Alternative, R & B, Blues, Reggae to some Instrumental Jazz. The Selda 5C2 Band, one of the popular Filipino bands in Kuwait celebrated its fifth anniversary with fun and music together with the Club Ilonggo in Kuwait (CIK) on Friday night at the L’ Elysees Hotel in Salmiya.

Engr. Ronald Lico of the Selda 5C2 band welcomed all the guests to the event that included Philippine Labour Attache David Des Dicang, Welfare Officer Norlita Lugtu and some Filipino community leaders namely PANIK President Hengie Taton, GBI President Bill Valenzuela, BISDAK President Elma Roxas Sibullin, Founder Ed Costinar of RUGBII, Capt Cirilo Mansueto of Sailor’s Club in Kuwait, Club Ilonggo in Kuwait President Oliver Tupaz Diong as well as CIK officers and members.

Lico thanked everyone who supported the band for the past five years as he traced back its inception where they originally started as the Flare

Band in 2007 and played for the first time in Kuwait Stock at the British Embassy. Three of its members left then and they recruited new members and renamed the band to Selda 5C2 to what it is now.

Aside from Lico who is the band leader and on the guitar, other band members are Art Lalix (lead guitar), Neil Ferrer (bass guitar), Ogie Vivo (drums) and Ghally Dalhag (lead vocals).

Break Lico shared that the band’s first big break was in March 2008, when they performed before a huge crowd for a fund raising event called ‘Tugtugan sa Kuwait” that was organised by one of the Filipino organisations in Kuwait. Then the band’s second big break was the “Rockability’ concert for a cause in October 2009 that was held at the Asia Asia Restaurant Royal Hall in Kuwait City and the rest is history as the band continues to play great music in small or big gigs in Kuwait.

Alongside the Selda 5C2 anniversary celebration was also the thanksgiving party of the CIK led by Diong

who honoured the CIK members who were celebrating their birthdays this month. Diong congratulated the Selda 5C2 for their musical passion and for bringing Original Pilipino Music to the OFWs in Kuwait.

On the other hand, Labour Attache Dicang lauded the band and the CIK for organising an event aimed at fostering unity and camaraderie among Filipinos. He also congratulated the Selda 5C2 Band. Dicang exhorted everyone to be united and to look after the welfare of one another.

One of the highlights of the event was the candle lighting ceremony and community singing as everyone sang “Through the Years.”

The Selda 5C2 Band kept the audience alive and awake with their kind of music that oozed with so much verve and passion. The band’s repertoire ranged from the hits of the yesteryears to the all-time favourites of the generation X. The band also gamely performed the song requests of the audience, making them ask for more. The band indulged to the audience’s clamor and gladly did an encore. Indeed, it was a night filled with music, fun and surprises.

News in Brief Oil minister forms probe panel: Chairman and Managing Director of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Hussein Ismail revealed that the Minister of Oil Hani Hussein issued instructions to form a committee to investigate the alleged partnership between Kuwait and the Israeli oil company Delek, reports Al-Rai daily.

Ismail indicated that the committee will be formed by the Internal Audit Department of KPC, adding, “We are committed to investigate thoroughly and reveal the reality of this matter”.

He explained that this issue related to the partnership between KPC and

Delek Company was raised as a part of the parliamentary questions addressed to the Minister of Oil Hani Hussein.

He revealed that the Kuwaiti party was unaware of its involvement with such a company, as it occurred with the acquisition of the Delek Company by the Texaco Company, which has partnered with Kuwait for its oil activities in Belgium. ❑ ❑ ❑

$100,000 Kuwaiti aid donated: A Kuwaiti charitable society distributed $100,000 worth of financial aid to 600 Syrian refugee families in

He said that when the returning service members and their families “see this magnificent structure and they feel the love inside that will be given to them they will know without any doubt that they have a home and that somebody does care about them.” He added that they will know “they are not alone and they will be always be there for them as they take this journey for however long it takes them on to the rest of their lives.”

“This center says what words can never say “we love you, we care about you and we are going to be with you the entire way,” he remarked.

He affirmed that “this is the most eloquent testimony that there could ever be that we care about our service members and their families.”

Also, co-Chair of Operation Enduring Care Ed Reilly noted that “this day is a celebration of partnerships,” on many levels to help ensure the success of this facility.

He stressed that the money raised by the KuwaitAmerica Foundation which “was an essential rock piece of the building of the campaign and gave us the confidence that we were going to make our number and go forward.” He affirmed “not only was it an important number but it came at a very important time.” He thanked the Kuwait ambassador and his wife , who “have been strong supporters of the USO efforts to help wounded, ill and injured troops and their families.” In his remarks, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah shed

Lebanon.

The Kuwaiti public campaign (AlBunyan) distributed the funds to Syrian refugees escaping violence in their country which has been raging since March 2011, head of the humanitarian cooperation society Fahdi Shamiyeh told KUNA. He also noted that the campaign had visited previous relief aid projects to check on the situation of the refugees.

Lebanese statistics showed that some 240,000 Syrian refugees are currently in the country with most of them residing in the northern parts.

(KUNA) Elaine Rogers

KUNA photos

Top: Kuwait’s ambassador (2nd left) during the official ribbon cutting ceremony, and (above) Sheikh Salem speaks at the event.

‘Non-commissioned officers’

Panel to okay special pay proposal KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Member of the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Affairs MP Abdul-Hamid Dashti revealed that the committee will Sunday approve the proposal to grant special salaries to non-commissioned officers after reviewing it legally and constitutionally, reports Al-Rai daily.

MP Dashti said the committee will also discuss and approve a proposal for setting up a health insurance company, indicating that such a proposal will serve the interest of citizens. He added that the committee will approve the proposal and forward it to the Health Committee for further action.

He revealed that the committee will deliberate on the proposed amendment of the electoral constituencies to include new areas that were not in geographical demarcation of the previous five constituencies. light on Kuwait’s interest in such a project, saying “if it wasn’t for the U. S. armed forces I would not be standing in front of you today as a representative of a free and sovereign nation.” He said “this is an opportunity for us as an Embassy and the Foundation to give back in a way and what made it even more special was the timing the fund raiser was held,” as it coincided with the 20th liberation anniversary of Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion,” saying “it was a very opportune moment for us to be on board.”

Relationship The ambassador stressed on the “solid” relationship between the US military in particular and Kuwait “and we are honored to play our small role in making this facility possible.” “We believe the healing process of any warrior is not complete if his family is not around him to present that support,” he said.

In an exclusive interview to KUNA, Gibson said that this Center is “a very powerful and physical expression of gratitude from the American people and the Kuwaiti government and Foundation for the service and sacrifice of the men and women in uniforms.” He stressed the importance that the Kuwait Ambassador was present in the opening ceremony of the Center “and what it means to us as Americans and what it means to men and women

No differences between PM, interior minister: top official KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Senior government officials deny HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak and the Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hamoud will have differences on the issue of executing the sentences against three former MPs Falah Al-Sawagh, Khalid Al-Tahous and Bader Al-Dahoum, reports Al-Kuwaitiya daily.

Sources noted the minister of Interior’s traveling abroad has nothing to do with this issue, indicating he traveled because of medical issues.

They also denied information published in the local dailies saying that Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud had traveled abroad after presenting his resignation, adding the report is unfounded.

In a related issue, security sources have said the Interior Ministry received an order to execute the sentences slapped on the three former MPs charged for ‘attacking’ the Amiri entity. They noted the ministry will deal with the issue wisely.

He pointed out that the Human Rights Committee is scheduled to visit the deportation detention centers in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and

Shuwaikh to assess the situation of the inmates and the official procedures in the General Department for Reform Institutions.

still serving in uniform today that someone like the Ambassador would express their gratitude for what the US and Americans did for Kuwait over 20 years ago; that means a lot to us.” “It is wonderful to know that a strong and powerful ally like Kuwait appreciates the things we have done in the past, that is very meaningful to us, “ he added.

Gibson said “we do lots of different things to help and support troops and families around the world but we understand that at the very essence of what we do is to say thank you to the service men and women and that is our role, it is to express that gratitude to that service and sacrifice that they put every single day.” “This center becomes a physical manifestation of that gratitude thank you for what you do to us,” he said, in reference to the US troops.

years to come,” he remarked. The Ambassador stressed that “the people of Kuwait will always be grateful to our friends in the United States for the sacrifices they made to stand with us in our hour of need.” The Ambassador noted “we honor the US military for their courage and their skill, and for their service-every day-on behalf of security and peace.”

Garrison Commander, Fort Belvoir Col Gregory Gadson told KUNA “I am grateful and was touched by the remarks of the ambassador and what is really powerful is the relationship between our countries and the fact is that Kuwait has been one of the major contributors.” He added “it is something I personally feel proud of because I have served in Kuwait and went through your country before I went to Iraq and what a powerful relationship we share.” The USO is an organization that provides many humane services to the US forces and their families in the US and overseas.

The Center will support wounded, ill and injured troops, their families and caregivers and local active duty troops and their families. It will be a place where families of our wounded, ill and injured troops can be together, away from the hospital environment.

It will also be a place that will also help them make the necessary transitions to service or civilian life.

Contribution For his part, Sheikh Salem told KUNA that this center was the result of fund raiser held by the Embassy, saying “this contribution is a reminder to the American people and armed forces that Kuwait did not forget their sacrifices neither their efforts 20 years ago in liberating Kuwait.” “My visit to the center is the fruit of the fund raiser and I was very impressed by the work and effort put into the facility,” he added.

“I believe it will serve the wounded warrior for many

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LOCAL

4

DIWANIYA a digest of public opinion Govt, Assembly, opposition in same boat

Despite need progress elusive

As part of activities of the ongoing Third Folkloric Heritage Festival that will wind up Feb 15, some 40 camels were lined up Friday morning at Salmi area for the camel beauty contest (Al-Sofor 50 category) slated for Kuwaiti and GCC nationals only. Another competition held that day was the Falcon Speed Contest for Kuwaitis only.

‘MoH not able to send more patients abroad’ Plan to hire women in emergency units KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: The Director of Overseas Medical Treatment Dr Mubarak AlAjmi has said the Ministry of Health last year sponsored the treatment of 2,000 patients abroad, while each of the patients had one dependant and in exceptional cases, the dependants were two, reports Al-Shahed daily.

Dr Al-Ajmi noted the department has approved 10 percent of the applications for overseas treatment, while others have been rejected because they do not meet the criteria. He affirmed, “We understand the need for some patients to receive medical treatment abroad, but we are constrained by regulations governing our activities and people must understand that we are operating under the best regulation, which does not require any major amendment.”

Meanwhile, Al-Anba daily reported the Ministry of Health has amended the job title of Health Attaché at three missions abroad, which now becomes Head of Health Office. The missions are Washington where Dr Abdullah Al-Wated heads, Jordan office headed by Dr Abdul-Aziz Enzi and the office in London managed by Dr Yaqoub Al-Tammar.

The daily added the amendment became necessary based on the demand of former holders of the position, noting the new job title attracts certain professional and monetary benefits.

Chief Commander of the Arabian Peninsula Shield Forces Major Staff General Mutlaq Salim Al-Ozaima and accompanying delegation arrived in Kuwait via Al-Salmi border exit. They were received by senior officers of the Kuwait Army.

In a statement, General Staff of the Kuwaiti Army said Vanguard Forces of the Arabian Peninsular Shield Forces will continue com-

ing into the country through various border exits to participate in the ninth military drill of the Forces slated for Feb 10 and Feb 26.

He added the Forces have been conducting periodic training since the formation of GCC Forces in 1983 to increase their effectiveness and uniformity to generate mutual and a unified working spirit for experience in the military training.

News in Brief Arabian horse fest begins: Kuwait First Arabian Horse Festival opened on Friday featuring the beauty of the local hybrids.

The first day of the festival witnessed a race with 127 pure blood horses competing fiercely, Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee Mohammad Al-Khamis told KUNA this evening.

The two-day festival is being held on the Green Island and along the Gulf Road, Kuwait City, he added. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑

Speaker in Bahrain: Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker Ali Al-Rashed arrived Saturday in Bahrain, accompanied by a large parliamentary delegation, at the start of a three-day official visit to the Gulf nation.

“The visit is meant to bolster parliamentary and people-to-people relations between Kuwait and Bahrain,” Al-Rashed said in statements to KUNA and Kuwait TV. The NA Speaker added the Kuwaiti delegation will discuss with Bahraini counterparts means to upgrade bilateral cooperation and coordinate stances towards issues of common concern.

Meanwhile, Al-Rashed lauded Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s calls for national dialogue among Bahrainis of all political hues and all walks of life to iron out differences. (KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑

Focus on privatization: The Supreme Council for Allotment has asked the ministries and other public or government institutions to submit their opinions on the privatization of some sectors affiliated to them, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources from the government.

Sources said the Council will soon hold a meeting to be presided over by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak to discuss the views of these institutions and determine which of the sectors need to be privatized.

Sources revealed the World Bank had ear-

EU committed

Aid pledge lauded BRUSSELS, Feb 9, (KUNA): Leaders of the 27-member European Union Friday pledged the EU’s commitment to continue to provide humanitarian aid and other civilian support to the Syrian population.

“In this context and in light of the humanitarian emergency situation, the European Council (the EU summit) welcomes the significant pledges made at the Kuwait donor conference, encourages Member States and the Commission to further increase their respective contributions and calls on all parties to the conflict to facilitate humanitarian access,” said the EU leaders in their conclusions released after a 2-day summit in Brussels, late on Friday this evening.

The statement expressed EU support “for the Syrian population’s aspirations and for the Syrian National Coalition as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people, “and stressed “the need for a political transition towards a future without Assad and his illegitimate regime.”

They called on EU foreign ministers “to work on all options to support and help the opposition and to enable greater support for the protection of civilians.” lier recommended the privatization of the following: Petrochemicals Industries Company (PIC), ports, land phone services, vehicle inspection unit affiliated to the General Traffic Department, garbage collection, sports clubs, and electricity and water stations but the distribution of these resources will remain under the jurisdiction of the government.

Employ In another development, Ministry of Health is planning to employ women in the Medical Emergency Unit as technical assistants, reports Al-Anba daily quoting ministerial sources.

They revealed that several female students graduated recently from the Public Authority for Applied Sciences and Training who are capable of working as technical assistants in Medical Emergency Unit of the Ministry of Health.

They indicated that six female graduates have been recruited into the Medical Emergency Unit and are currently undergoing training courses on Medical Emergency.

They disclosed that the ministry is studying the possibility of recruiting women in the emergency centers for dealing with cases that require female attention. And, under auspices of Kuwaiti Minister of Health Dr Mohammad Barrak Al-Haifi the colon and rectal cancer conference will open in Kuwait on Feb 15.

The conference will review the latest advances in preventing, diagnosing and treating colon and rectal cancer, Dr Salem Al-Shimmari, head of the chemical treatment unit of Sheikha Badriya Al-Ahmad Center said Friday.

“World-renowned colon and rectal surgeons from the United States, France and Canada will share experience with their Kuwaiti peers on the related surgeries and chemical medication,” Dr Al-Shimmari, also head of the lymphoma and stem cell plantation unit of the center and chair of the conference, noted. The conferees will discuss, inter alia, the prevalence rate of the disease in Kuwait and other GCC countries, and a number of researches on best medical practices approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he added.

“HIS HIGHNESS the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said in an interview with the London-based AlSharq Al-Awsat daily (Middle East), which was published last Monday, that the last parliamentary elections held as per the emergency decree of ‘one man one vote’ has presented a challenge of ‘achievements’ to the government and the new Parliament.

He also said the people of Kuwait appreciate the achievements and not the protesting marches”, columnist Dr Ahmad Yusuf Al-Duaij wrote for Al-Watan Arabic daily.

“HH the Prime Minister’s statement is admirable, considering the fact that the annulled former parliaments had focused completely on controlling the government at the expense of the legislative aspect.

“Regarding the parliament of ‘one man one vote’, it is too early to identify them as the parliament of achievements.

“During the parliamentary session on Thursday, Feb 7, members of the current National Assembly proved that they have planned several activities but not accomplishments.

For example, these MPs had endorsed the bill for amending Article 31 of Law 5/2005 Al-Duaij related to Kuwait Municipality during the first session that was allocated for discussing this amendment.

“Surprisingly, all 43 members who attended the session had approved the bill. Same thing happened during the session that was allocated for discussing amendment to Article 104 of the same law where all of the MPs who had attended the session had endorsed the amendment.

“Regarding the parliamentary session that was allocated for discussing revision of Article 44 of the Amiri Decree 31/1978 concerning the rules for the preparation of State budget and control of its implementation, all 39 MPs who attended the session gave their consent for the matter.

“During the parliamentary session last Thursday, parliamentary questions were addressed to the Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas AlSaleh regarding the statements issued by the former state minister for housing affairs and state minister for National Assembly affairs Shuaib Al-Muweizri. In response, Al-Saleh said the preparation of projects to be carried out by Ministry of Public Works (MPW) are governed by clear-cut rules and procedures that were established to ensure these projects are implemented in accordance with the relevant conditions, specifications and quotations. He added that these projects also undergo procedures that have been established by all controlling authorities in the country. He stressed that the ministry continually follows up with the latest developments that might be required for achieving the public interest.

“However, it was obvious that the response of the minister to the parliamentary questions was prepared by an Egyptian employee working in the ministry.

“We would like to tell the minister, “Please fear Allah the Almighty when you talk about implementation of projects in Kuwait. Who said the implementation of the projects undertaken by the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is governed by clearcut rules and procedures? Are you serious?”

“It seems the minister uses a helicopter and not a car to tour the country. Minister, I would like to tell you that just a single glance at the Kuwaiti streets and roads is enough to refute your ideal response to the parliamentary questions regarding the projects of the Ministry of Public Works.

“HH the Prime Minister, even though we agree with you that the people of Kuwait respect the achievements and not the marches, we also believe that neither the government nor the National Assembly of ‘one man one vote’ or that of ‘one man four votes’ are capable of realizing the targeted achievements.”

Also: “Majority of people from the Arab world are Muslims and all of the components from this part of the world irrespective of their doctrines including the Christians are affected by the conservative Islamic customs and traditions”, columnist Mustafa Al-Sarraf wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“In the absence of other ideologies such as Arab nationalism post 1967 war between Arabs and Israel, socialism and communism after the former Soviet’s collapse and emergence of the United States of America as the sole superpower in the world, the political Islamic

groups collaborated with Washington authorities to help them reach the level of political powers in their country.

“This happened not because the United States of America believes in the efficiency of these groups for managing their homelands but because Washington realized that these groups never adhered to a single clear-cut ideology, which was mainly due to their contradicting fatwas (edicts) over various issues, which served the so-called ‘Creative Anarchy’.

“Under such circumstances, the Western Secret Services headed by the United States of America Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Israeli Secret Service Mossad sneaked into these countries and eventually seized the opportunity to empower Islamic political groups in the name of fighting corruption, poverty and deficits in development.

“However, the calculations made by the United States of America and its allies for the success of the Islamic political currents were unsound because they were betting on the conservativeness of the Arabs and had hoped these countries would easily accept the rule of Islamic political groups with the use of Islamic slogans.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “It is a dilemma to see the mask of some former MPs beginning to fall; thereby, revealing their real intention to supporters who trusted and voted for them. The deeper you look into the political life, the more you will discover the grave mistakes and ethical lapses,” Dr Aliya Shueib wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“It is disheartening to see a lawmaker hated and criticized by the nation after being so respectable in front of them. This happened because of the way they express their opinion, particularly their use of foul language before a big audience and the media - an act that does not suit them.

“They must be aware that they are role models to others especially the youths; hence, the need for them to set a good example to protect their image or reputation. Unfortunately, they always justify their use of foul language by saying they were misquoted or they didn’t mean what they said. They adopt the same attitude every time they express their stand on a certain issue. It is then better to avoid putting themselves in a situation which gives others a chance to criticize them.

“It is frustrating to see the deterioration of values among the people who are supposed to set a good example to others. It is also unfortunate to see them delivering the worst political speeches which lack honest words and influential expressive image.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “It is unjust for a ministry to be on the side of the Parliament, because the government will not be the same for the next four years,” Hassan Ali Karam wrote for Al-Watan daily.

“The issue is not related to parliamentary inquests, simply because this is not the kind of government which can encourage people. Therefore, the people cannot rely on this government to have great achievements as expected. We should bear in mind the deterioration of all aspects of life.

“We know that not all interrogations for ministries have the same purpose; some are for settling personal accounts, while others prove certain ministers are losers and their existence on top of their functions may lead to enormous disasters.

“When we say the government should leave to be replaced with another, it is definitely for serving personal interests, because we do not have interests in specific places that can push us to say such words.

“It is painful to see the ‘paralysis’ of the development process, while the neighboring countries continue to move forward. The problem does not relate to people; it is rather the way they were chosen and this system must change if they want the nation to make progress.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “It seems like the government has just realized the dangers of the parties controlling public utility organizations. HH the PM conveyed a clear message and called upon the unions to operate within their jurisdiction and not interfere in the politics and religious or sectarian conflicts, and discrimination,” Talal AlSaeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“The government’s wake-up call on this issue might be overdue but it’s a step that has been welcome by the Kuwaiti society — except for those who will benefit if the situation maintains its status quo — especially those organizations affiliated to the parties.

“These parties have ended up financing their sub-branches almost everywhere, and the best example is what we uncovered in UAE and many other countries. The public

utilities are governed by rules similar to those of the clubs that mainly play the role of creating awareness on issues in the community.

“It is imperative for the government to seriously intervene before it’s too late and educate the public on the importance of selecting members of public utilities to protect society from dangerous parties.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “The recent rally of the opposition that ended at the diwaniya of former MP Musallam Al-Barrak is clearly different from previous rallies because it was organized against a judicial verdict,” Dr Hassan Abdullah Abbas wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“The act of protest against the court’s verdict is considered a wrong political stance, while its organizers and all those participating in the event have been condemned, even though the rally neither opposed the decree of necessity nor legislation approved by National Assembly or even government’s performance.

“We know that politics interferes in several fields, including medicine, sports, science and even cooperative societies but the institution of judiciary is distant from politics because it has the right to issue the final word in every conflict. Accordingly, it must be kept away from political lobbies and conflicts. Otherwise, we’ll lose it and the country also will go astray.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Shedding of Buazizi’s blood in Tunisia sparked the revolution in that country, forming the platform of what people refer as ‘The Arab Spring’, which lead to similar revolutions in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria,” columnist Saleh Al-Shayeji wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“Results of this spring shocked or disappointed the Arabs from the affected countries or their counterparts in other Arab countries, affecting both protagonists and antagonists of the revolutions, considering the level of chaos, destruction and security disorder. It affected the economies of those countries through the impressions it created in the minds of investors.

“The scenario described is one aspect of the situation; the real disappointment was when the Islamists took over governance in those countries. The discussion here is limited to Egypt and Tunisia because the political Islamists have succeeded in governing Libya. The blood of Buazizi sparked the revolution but will the blood of Chokri Baleid restore the right track of the revolution that started from Tunisia and spread to all affected Arab countries?” ❑ ❑ ❑ “The court verdict that convicted former MPs Falah Al-Sawwagh, Khaled Al-Tahoos and Bader AlDahoum clearly indicates that government continues to punish its opponents among political activists, lawmakers and youths, which is a violation of the Constitution and people’s liberty,” columnist Waleed Al-Rujaib wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“According to Dr Mohammad AlMaqate’s article in Al-Qabas newspaper published on February 7, the verdict contradicts several other similar allegations. The court sentenced some people to three years while in other cases, suspects received ten years jail term; this indicates that there is no specific penalty for a particular crime.

“Clearly, this situation indicates that the court verdict is a way of using the Constitution to clamp down selected personalities from the opposition for settling political scores through spurious allegations.

This method will never douse the tension and instability or quench the fire of crisis. Nobody can predict and control the intensity of the undesirable implications and negative reflections.” ❑ ❑ ❑ “Constitutions are not curricula to be changed with every new minister.

For example, if the minister is a cleric, he adds to these curricula verses from the Holy Qur’an. On the other hand, if the recruited minister is secular, the curricula will contain scientific, cultural and literary text,” columnist Ghassan Suleiman AlOtaibi wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“With the case of constitutions, it is completely different. Constitutions are meant for the future of several generations. They are allotted to organize the lives of people and guarantee their rights; therefore, they must be impartial and self-denial.

“After the Egyptian revolution toppled the former regime, it was necessary to allot an ideal constitution for the leaders and nations.

However, when this did not take place, the strongest party began to take advantage of the opportunity to allot a constitution that serves the interests of the group.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LOCAL

5

Too early to judge current govt, says MP Tameemi Panel to discuss amendment to Companies Law KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: MP Abdullah AlTameemi has said the need to respect judicial verdicts and looks forward to the current political impasse settling soon, reports Al-Rai daily.

In an interview with Al-Rai TV channel, Al-Tameemi added it is too early to judge the current government. He pointed to the National Assembly developing chronic problems and said it ardently seeks remedy in collaboration with the government, citing the draft law of Bedouns as among the remedy.

Photos by Anwar Daifallah

Top: Kites with Kuwait’s national flag and other designs being flown, (above) the folklore groups entertaining the crowd at the Gulf beach.

Kites flying as part of national day events As part of activities of the National Days celebration the Supreme Committee for National Celebrations chaired by Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah is organizing and supervising, a group of kite amateurs recently presented different decorations of kites with the Kuwaiti national flag and pictures of HH the Amir at the Gulf beach,

reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The event was attended by a huge audience, in the presence of folklore groups entertaining the crowd.

Some governmental agencies also participated in the event, and a charity fair was launched for clothes, food and handicrafts, besides amusement games for kids.

‘Be serious

no options off the table in their dealings with Iran, diplomatic code for the possibility of a military strike.

Kerry appeared to put the accent on the possibility of a diplomatic solution that could allow Iran to continue its civilian nuclear program as long as it convinces other states that its program is not to obtain weapons.

“The president has made it clear ... he is prepared to talk about a peaceful nuclear program,” Kerry said.

“Iran has a choice. They have to prove to the world that it is peaceful and we are prepared to sit reasonably and negotiate how they can do that ... . Or they can chose to be more isolated,” he said.

“The president has made it clear that his preference is to have a diplomatic solution. But if he cannot get there, he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to make certain that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon,” he added.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Iranians feel the pain of sanctions but still support a civilian nuclear program, a poll said, as a study on Friday charged that Western efforts have caused medicine shortages.

Continued from Page 1 demanded Iran scale back its uranium enrichment, the part of its program that causes the most concern because it could provide the key ingredient for a nuclear bomb.

But because the P5+1 stopped short of offering relief from the sanctions, Iran walked away at the third round of talks in Moscow.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said the P5+1 will put forward an “updated and credible” offer to Iranian leaders at the Almaty talks.

Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but many in the international community suspect that Tehran’s real aim is to develop an atomic bomb.

Tehran has been calling on the international community to scale back biting sanctions that are hurting the Iranian economy.

But instead, the United States on Wednesday tightened sanctions on Iran to further choke off its oil income and limit Tehran’s ability to freely use the money it gets from oil exports.

The global sanctions have also targeted Iran’s access to the world banking system, slowing its economy, accelerating inflation and boosting the ranks of the jobless.

And they have led to the collapse of the national currency, which lost more than twothirds of its value in a 20-day span starting in late September.

Tehran is also being pressured by the UN’s atomic watchdog agency to allow broader access to its nuclear facilities in a bid to resolve outstanding issues over the Islamic republic’s past atomic activities.

Accused Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei angrily accused Washington this week of trying to negotiate with the Islamic republic at gunpoint, as he rejected an offer of direct US-Iran talks.

“I am not a diplomat but a revolutionary and I speak frankly,” Khamenei told air force commanders in remarks published on his website.

“You (Americans) are pointing the gun at Iran and say either negotiate or we will shoot.”

Washington broke off relations with Iran in 1980 in the aftermath of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran, which led to 52 American diplomats being taken hostage by Islamist students.

Since then, the United States has been vilified by the Islamic republic as the “Great Satan.”

Israel, widely regarded as the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has warned it could mount a pre-emptive strike on Iranian atomic sites. Israel says the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran threatens its existence, given Tehran’s refusal to recognize the Jewish state.

U.S. officials also routinely say that they take

Report advises Continued from Page 1 crime committed (either verbally or on social-networking sites) but refrained from reporting it to the authorities.

In other news, the government is reportedly preparing a comprehensive annual plan for referral to the Assembly this April. The plan’s report, however, will be unlike previous reports as it will be more detailed with information from beginning and ending dates for projects as well as dates for tender bids.

This came after lawmakers had strongly criticized the government’s annual plan report as vague during last week’s parliamentary session. They believed the government does not provide the Assembly with detailed reports on the plan’s developments and effective time tables and implementation plans for the projects.

Sanctions The US polling firm Gallup, which spoke to 1,000 Iranians by telephone over December and January, found that 83 percent said that international economic sanctions personally affected their livelihoods.

Nearly half of Iranians said the United States was most responsible for the sanctions and only 10 percent blamed their own government, with a smaller number putting the onus on Israel or Europe.

Despite the sanctions, 63 percent of Iranians said that the country “should continue to develop its nuclear power capabilities.” Iran’s clerical government says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Western officials have voiced fear that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, and Israel and the United States have not ruled out a military strike to prevent it from doing so.

After initial overtures to Tehran, President Barack Obama has pursued sanctions aimed at choking off Iran’s economy. Iran is estimated to have lost billions of dollars in oil sales and the value of its currency has plummeted.

The United States has repeatedly said that its sanctions — which penalize any entity that deals with Iran’s central bank — exempt humanitarian goods.

But a report presented to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars said that the fall in pharmaceutical exports to Iran was causing harm and was undeniably triggered by international sanctions.

“The pronounced role of sanctions in creating shortages of life-saving medical supplies and drugs in Iran may have been unintentional, but it is also irrefutable,” said the report.

He supported the idea of reconsidering the issue of forged nationalities obtained as a result of pressure mounted by government, and added a new bloc will be announced soon. He noted the new bloc includes various groups in society.

For his part, MP Nasser AlMari, member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee stressed that government has submitted its report on the proposal to drop the loans’ interests. He also said the committee did not have enough time to review the governmental opinion, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Al-Mari noted the government took a considerable initiative by submitting its report fast and asking the committee to provide a convenient text to deal with the issue of customer and installed loans based on social justice. He added the committee will meet with the Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shimali on Monday to deliver a study conducted for this purpose, with fair solutions to the problem.

Finance Committee Member MP Ahmad Lari also pointed out that the committee will Sunday discuss the amendments to Companies Law and draft law of unemployment insurance plus the draft law of small projects.

Meanwhile, Member of the Parliamentary Finance and Economic Affairs Committee, MP Mohammed Al-Jabri has stated the committee insists on approving the draft law it has submitted to deal with the loans’ issue, and calls for the lawmakers to approve the draft that serves justice and fairness.

He censured the stance of the government after it asked for withdrawal of the committee report to postpone voting on it. He demanded government must agree on the draft law to show its good intention and collaboration with Parliament.

He reaffirmed the committee will push for approval of the draft law during Feb 19 session, indicating the issue of loans has been created by government — particularly the Central Bank, as it wasn’t up to performing its surveillance role over the banks properly, thus violating the conditions for granting loans to citizens.

Also: KUWAIT CITY: Speculations are rife that Oil Minister Hani Hussein is behind the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Workers Union ongoing campaign against Chief Executive Officer of the corporation Farouq Al-Zanki, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

A reliable source revealed the

Photos by Anwar Daifallah

The Petrochemical Industries Company decorated all its facilities on the occasion of the National and Liberation holidays and the seventh anniversary of the ascendancy of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah to the throne. Chairperson of the company Abdul Hadi Al-Hajiri explained the company participates in national festivities every year as part of its corporate social responsibility program and in the spirit of patriotism.

kuwait on the web Swak celebrates feast: Shirva Welfare Association Kuwait (SWAK) under the presidentship of Clifford D’Souza celebrated its Patron feast (Vodlen Fest) at the Indian Community Girls School Auditorium - Salmiya Kuwait on Friday February 8.

The programme commenced with Deepak Andrade, MC of the day, welcoming the members and the guests, followed by a prayer by Urban D’Souza. Committee members sung welcome song for which lyrics were written by Lancy Rodrigues and music was provided by music maestro Adrian Gomes. President of SWAK - Clifford D’Souza officially welcomed the entire guest and thanked all the members for their support. Secretary Gretta D’Souza read out the annual report highlighting the achievements of SWAK. During the felicitation session, Fr Noel and Archie Menezes were the chief guest who also delivered feast message. The entire committee member along with Fr Noel and Archie Menezes cut the cake to symbolically start the feast. Jaison Lasrado received honor and memento on behalf of Gulf Voice of Mangalore winner Orson D’Souza for his achievement in winning the singing title in Gulf level competition.

union leaders are using the issue concerning the rent of a building purportedly owned by the executive director of Kuwait Oil Company, and this is considered a

Outstanding and merit students were honored by president Clifford D’Souza, Urban D’Souza, Fr Noel and Archie Menezes. The sponsors, outstanding members and media personnel were also honored during the occasion for their contribution towards SWAK. A memento was presented to Lancy Rodrigues for his support to SWAK by president.

Different games were conducted to all the age groups. A lot of spot prizes were given ib between and during dance sessions. Lucky dip draw and Housie were conducted to keep the excitement alive. Lucky member and highest lucky dip seller were honored with prizes.

Votes of thanks were delivered by Vice president Alwyn D’souza. Fr Noel and kids offered grace before meal. www.daijiworld.com ❑ ❑ ❑

it necessary to heal this dangerous rift promptly before it worsens and erodes our progress, development and successes achieved throughout our history,” the federation said in the statement signed by its chairman, Fayez Al Mutairi. www.gulfnews.com ❑ ❑ ❑

Dentist to battle cavities: In a

“Kuwait is now going through a deep political crisis that has divided the street into two sides,” KTUF said in a statement on Wednesday. “This crisis is threatening our society with dire consequences if it continues and the divisions keep on widening. KTUF appreciates the positions of all parties and respects the viewpoints of all groups. However, it sees

few weeks, Horseshoe Bay dentist Dr. Gregory Sopel will trade his private practice on Hi Circle South for the deserts of Kuwait, where he will be deployed as an US Army Reservist for three months to treat soldiers.

Lt Col Sopel, who has 2 years of Army service, will undertake his first mobilization as a reservist when he leaves on Feb 15 for Fort Benning, Georgia, where he will spend about a week for in-process training before leaving for the Middle East. There, at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, he will treat military men and women in need of dental work.

“There are limitations to what you can do because of the location, but it will be more routine stuff,” Sopel said.

“My 90 days start the minute I touch down in Kuwait.” www.dentistryiq.com

constitutional lapse against him.

He said the minister convinced Al-Zanki to refund the payment and close the file which happened later. He claimed the minister had

hinted to the union leaders that Al-Zanki misused a public property, pointing out the refund is tantamount to admission of wrongdoing.

Trade union calls for talks:

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LOCAL

6

Court Cases Lower court verdict nullified

Company ordered to pay comp to Kuwaiti citizen

By Jaber Al-Humoud Special to the Arab Times

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: The Court of Appeals nullified the verdict of a lower court and ordered a local company to pay compensation to a Kuwaiti citizen. The court revoked a ‘time share’ contract signed between the citizen and the company and obliged the latter to pay material and emotional damages to the former for violation of contract.

Court files indicate the plaintiff (citizen) had signed the contract with the company on 29/5/2008 and invested a sum of KD 4,500 on condition that the company will provide hospitality, health and remedial services for contractors.

The citizen Al-Dhufairi upheld his part of agreement but he was surprised when he discovered that hotels mentioned in the contract were exempted by the company, thus the citizen was unable to benefit from the service or privileges as stipulated in the time share contract.

Representing the citizen, Attorney Turki Mish’el Al-

Dhufairi presented documents to prove that the lower court did not comprehend the nature of the case that’s why it rejected the lawsuit.

The Appeals Court then ordered the company to compensate the plaintiff. ❑ ❑ ❑ Duo acquitted in assault: The Misdemeanor Court of Appeals canceled the decision of the Court of First Instance which sentenced two defendants to one month in prison with hard labor and a fine of KD 100 to suspend execution of the verdict for beating the plaintiff and his sister and damaging their vehicle.

According to the case file, the male victim was driving in the vicinity of the Capital when suddenly the first suspect crossed his path and he couldn’t help hitting and breaking the glass of his car.

The suspects pursued the plaintiff and his sister, and compelled him to pull over and then started beating him.

Earlier, the suspects had appealed the verdict through Attorney Zaid Al-Khabbaz who argued the suspects were defending themselves and implored the court to acquit them of all accusations. The court then canceled the verdict of the Court of First Instance and refrained from announcing penalty against the suspects.

Firemen push the vehicle to retrieve the injured victims trapped in it in Jahra.

Two bikers perish in Gulf Road accident

By Munaif Nayef Special to the Arab Times Two people died and eight others sustained injuries in several road accidents reported over the weekend in different parts of the country.

Firefighters, paramedics and police officers immediately responded to the emergency calls and handled the accidents efficiently. The injured were referred to hospitals near the accident

sites while the dead were taken to Forensics.

Two citizens died on the spot when the motorbikes they were riding crashed along the Gulf Street. Their bodies were referred to Forensics, while security officers started a thorough investigation to determine the actual circumstances leading to the incident.

Meanwhile, three citizens, including a woman, sustained injuries when

their cars collided on Metla’a Road.

They were rushed to Jahra Hospital by paramedics Hussam Al-Najar, Tamer Ahmad, Nabil Shawqi and Mustafa Al-Imam.

Two Kuwaitis suffered injuries in various parts of their bodies when the car they were riding overturned on King Fahad Expressway. They are now confined in Adan Hospital.

Two Egyptians were injured when their car flipped over in Abdali.

Paramedics Hussam Mahdi, Abdullah Mohammad and Nabil Shawqi rushed the injured to Jahra Hospital.

A citizen sustained injuries when his car somersaulted after crossing the red light in Jahra. He was admitted to Jahra Hospital through the assistance of a team of Jahra firefighters lead by Captain Abdullah AlUweihan.

Kuwaiti attorney for Egypt’s Mubarak receiving threats Teenager caught driving at 200 kph arrested, car seized

The body of the victim covered with blanket.

Lankan woman run over, dies A Sri Lankan woman in her 30s died when she was run over by a speeding vehicle on the Coastal Road near Mangaf, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

Reportedly, the victim was crossing the road when the accident occurred.

Her corpse was referred to the Forensics Department and the motorist was referred to the police station for investigations.

Meanwhile, a nine-year-old Kuwaiti youth died instantly when he was run over by a heavy vehicle while he was crossing a street in Ahmadi.

His corpse was referred to the Forensics Department and securitymen have arrested the driver of the heavy vehicle.

Earlier on Friday, the remains of an Asian expatriate were referred to Forensics after he was run over by a speeding motorist while crossing the Sixth Ring Road, opposite Jleeb Shuyoukh.

In another story, a 17-year old boy was referred to Jahra Hospital with injuries in various parts of the body, and additional fracture to his leg, after his motorbike overturned in Metla’a area.

News in Brief Gliders hurt in crash: Two Kuwaiti citizens of ages 29 and 27 sustained serious injuries when they lost control of their glider and crashed in a desert in Nuwaiseeb, reports AlRai daily.

According to security sources, desert campers were shocked to see a small aircraft crash and they immediately contacted the Operations Room of Ministry of Interior. Securitymen rushed to the location and referred the two injured citizens to Adan Hospital.

Investigations revealed that one of the victims lost control of the glider due to a glitch in the engine, resulting in its crash. ❑ ❑ ❑

Son steals mom’s car: A Saudi woman has filed a complaint with the Adan Police Station accusing her son of ‘stealing’ her rented car, reports AlWatan Arabic daily.

The mother told police her son is a drug addict and is afraid he may use the car to commit crime. ❑ ❑ ❑

Fire in school: Fire broke out in a private school in Farwaniya Governorate. No casualties were registered, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

According to security sources, firefighters from Farwaniya Fire Station rushed to the location immediately after receiving alert about the incident.

They evacuated the students from the school and controlled the fire before it spread further.

Investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.

Meanwhile, acting on information firemen from the Al-Hilali and AlMadina fire centers rushed to the Public Authority for Youth and Sports in Dai’ya and put out fire before it caused extensive damage, reports AlWatan Arabic daily.

The daily did not give details about

Asian in fight

Man caught driving drunk

By Munaif Nayef and Mishal Sanousi Special to the Arab Times KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: A young man was arrested along the Gulf Street for consuming alcohol.

While patrolling the area, a team of securitymen noticed the erratic movement of a vehicle, so they signaled for the driver to pull over. The officers noticed he was under the influence of alcohol when they asked him to present identification documents.

A case was registered and the man was referred to the concerned security department for the necessary legal action.

Meanwhile, a 25-year old Asian expatriate sustained various injuries during a quarrel with his compatriot at a commercial complex in Al-Rai.

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Lawyer Faisal Al-Otaibi, Head of Kuwaiti Defense Lawyers of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak says he has been receiving death threats from the Muslim Brotherhood Movement because he had received ‘incriminating evidences’ indicating peaceful revolutionaries were killed during the January 25 revolution, reports Al-Rai daily.

Al-Otaibi lamented that the factfinding committee, which was formed by President Mohammad Morsi to investigate the events of the revolution, was in reality formed to deceive the Egyptians to calm them and protect the real killers.

He indicated that he will present the evidences to the court to reveal the real killers and acquit the former president, pointing out that the evidences reveal the involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, Hamas and Hezbollah in the killing of the Egyptian demonstrators. ❑ ❑ ❑ ‘Super speed’ teen held: A 19-yearold Kuwaiti citizen was arrested and his vehicle was seized when he was caught driving his vehicle at a speed of 200kph recently, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to security sources, when the Assistant Undersecretary for Special Security Affairs of the Ministry of Interior Lt General Sulaiman Al-Fahad was on his way to Wafra, he noticed the teenager driving the vehicle at a high speed. He immediately informed the concerned traffic authorities and provided them with information about the vehicle.

The officers searched the area and found the vehicle parked in front of a restaurant in Wafra.

They arrested the youth, who claimed that he was driving at a speed of 160kph.

He was detained at a police station to be referred to the Traffic Court. ❑ ❑ ❑ Briton in suicide bid: A British expatriate attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the stomach in Salwa, reports AlWatan Arabic daily.

According to security sources, the victim was in the country on visit visa.

He was rushed to the nearest hospital for treatment.

A case of suicide attempt was registered against him and securitymen are waiting for the revival of his health for investigations. ❑ ❑ ❑ Woman slits her wrist: An Egyptian woman tried to commit suicide in front of her children by slitting her wrist, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

the fire or the damage done to the building. ❑ ❑ ❑

Probe on

Corpse wrapped in ‘carpet’ found

By Munaif Nayef

Damage caused by the fire.

Fire erupts in clothes shop

By Munaif Nayef Special to the Arab Times Fire broke out in a shop for selling clothes in the Capital at dawn Saturday.

Acting on information, firefighters with securitymen and paramedics rushed to the location and doused the fire which covered nearly 24 square/meters area.

No casualties were registered.

Meanwhile, three Asians were arrested in Salmi for trying to steal copper cables.

This came after Jahra Security Directorate Director General Major General Ibrahim Al-Tarrah instructed securitymen to intensify efforts in arresting copper cable thieves due to the rising number of such thefts in desert areas.

According to security sources, when the children started crying, a neighbor rushed to the house and took the woman to the nearest hospital.

A case of suicide attempt was registered against him and securitymen are waiting for the revival of her health for investigations. ❑ ❑ ❑ Magic tools seized: A 37-year-old Iraqi national was arrested recently for attempting to smuggle tools used for witchcraft into the country, reports AlAnba daily.

According to security sources, the Customs officers checked his luggage and found the tools hidden in cucumbers.

He was arrested and referred to the concerned authorities for necessary legal action against him. ❑ ❑ ❑ ‘My future is ruined’: A Kuwaiti citi-

While on routine duty in Salmi, a team of securitymen noticed the suspicious acts of the suspects. The securitymen approached them to know what they were doing in the area but they tried to flee. However, the securitymen chased them and managed to arrest them.

The officers found stolen copper cables and electric scissors in the possession of the thieves who were referred to the relevant security department for the necessary legal action.

In another development, a Kuwaiti woman sustained injuries, including a broken leg, when the buggy (ATV) she was riding overturned in Julei’a.

Paramedics rushed to the location immediately after receiving information on the incident. They took the woman to Adan Hospital.

zen has filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice for ruining his future by imprisoning him for one year for crimes that he did not commit, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

Lawyer Mohammad Al-Majdi said his client was convicted of two crimes in absentia, one for escaping arrest and other for consuming drugs. After serving one year in prison, he was released when the prison officials handed him his passport, which he had earlier lost and which was used by the actual culprit of the two crimes.

Al-Majdi said the culprit was arrested for another crime but the police had failed to check his passport. ❑ ❑ ❑

Cash, passports stolen: An unknown individual broke into the house of a Kuwaiti police officer and stole a

Special to the Arab Times KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: The corpse of a 27-year-old Kuwaiti citizen was found wrapped in a carpet and dumped on the roadside along Ghazali Road.

Reportedly, Farwaniya securitymen rushed to the location when they received information from an eyewitness about the corpse. He informed securitymen that he was in his apartment when he saw a man parking his vehicle at the spot where the corpse was found and dumping a rolled carpet. The suspect left by the time he reached the spot and he checked the carpet to find the corpse. He immediately contacted the Operations Room of Ministry of Interior.

Securitymen referred the corpse to the Forensics Department for autopsy.

Intensive investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest the suspect.

Meanwhile, a female teacher has filed a complaint with the police accusing an unidentified person of stealing KD 100 from her handbag, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

However, according to reports the school administration has taken measures to identify the thief.

large sum of money, six passports, three citizenship certificates, eight birth certificates and a cheque book from the safe, reports Al-Anba daily.

Securitymen and officers from Criminal Investigation Department rushed to the location when they received information about the burglary. The officers lifted fingerprints and collected other evidences.

A case was registered and investigations are ongoing to arrest the suspect. ❑ ❑ ❑

Blacklisted in Kuwait: A Briton of Kuwaiti origin identified as Mihannad Al-Harqeh was arrested upon his arrival at Adan International Port in Yemen from Istanbul, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The Yemeni Ministry of Interior announced the arrest to the Kuwaiti authorities and it was discovered that the suspect is blacklisted in Kuwait.

GTD launches country-wide crackdown

Miraculous escape: A Kuwaiti citizen had a miraculous escape from certain death following a road traffic accident on the King Fahd Motorway, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

The citizen was allegedly speeding, lost control of his car and crashed into a concrete barrier.

The citizen was hospitalized with serious injuries.

7,449 citations issued, 402 cars seized in weekend KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Officers from General Traffic Department (GTD) issued 7,449 citations against various traffic violations and seized 402 vehicles during a series of traffic campaigns that were launched across the country during the weekend.

According to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, officers issued 1,553 citations and seized 34 vehicles in Capital Governorate while they issued 910 citations and seized 30 vehicles in Farwaniya Governorate. In Hawally

Governorate, officers issued 1,947 citations while in Ahmadi, 941 citations were registered and nine vehicles were seized.

In Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate, 126 citations were issued while in Jahra Governorate, 8,915 citations were regis-

tered and 80 vehicles were seized.

Officers from the General Operations Unit issued 846 citations and seized 249 vehicles while the officers at Kuwait International Airport issued 211 citations for various violations.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LOCAL

7

‘Govt will not hesitate to reshuffle ministers’ Muttawa calls to oust violators KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: The government will not hesitate to reshuffle some of its ministers if it feels their presence in the current cabinet hinders the implementation of projects approved by the National Assembly, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting government sources.

The move coincides with the parliamentary expectations that the coming reshuffle will include six ministers-First Deputy Premier, the Minister Interior Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud, Deputy Premier, the Minister of Defense Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khalid.

Sources said the expected reshuffle may include Oil Minister Hani Hussein, indicating the pointer of the reshuffle became obvious after interpellation requests submitted against the Oil Minister, Minister of Communications and Minister Finance.

They consider rationale behind this campaign of inquests is to compel HH the Prime Minister to approve reshuffling soon, which will include the Minister of Planning and Development Dr Rola Dashti.

Meanwhile, MP Adnan Al-Muttawa has called for the ouster of ministers who have been referred to parliamentary investigation committees for committing violations in their respective offices, reports Al-Watan daily.

In a press statement recently, AlMuttawa argued the incumbent government includes ministers working for the opposition only, asserting they should not prioritize the interests of a certain group over that of the public.

He claimed the executive authority’s performance does not match that of the legislature, which is strong and has the ability to use its constitutional tools once the government shows indifference or neglects its duties.

On the plan of some lawmakers to submit grilling requests against erring ministers, Al-Muttawa believes it is still possible to strengthen coordination between the legislative and executive authorities, provided the latter

Photos by Mahmoud Jadeed

Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized an open day on February 8 in collaboration with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) for the ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in KPC’s Spring Camp in

Wafra.

A large number of ambassadors and dignitaries attended the event along with their families.

Several entertaining activities and competitions were held during the

event. The attendees appreciated the efforts taken to organize such an event to relieve them from the usual diplomatic protocols and work. Top and above: some photos from the event.

Waiting for Maimouni’s death verdict

Sheikh Ali transferred to Diwan KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: MajorGeneral Sheikh Ali Al-Yousef has been transferred to the General Diwan of the Ministry of Interior as Director of Research and Studies Center until a verdict is issued in the ‘death’ of Mohammed Al-Maimouni, reports Al-Rai daily.

The daily added a decision to this issue has been issued by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hmoud.

Prior to his transfer Sheikh Ali was the Director-General of the General Department of Criminal Investigation. The suspension came following the death of AlMaimouni allegedly at the hands of the police investigators while he was in police custody.

A security source, who refused to disclose his name, said the decision of the minister is a step to force Sheikh Ali into retirement.

Earlier it was reported two detectives were charged with torturing Al-Maimouni during interrogation when he was in police detention.

The defense attorney had requested the court to release his clients saying there is no evidence to prove he died as a result of tor-

Firms pressure MoH to use their products

Low quality gauze pads being used KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Department of Central Sterilization has sent a letter to the Infection Prevention Department stating that the gauze pads used in the Maternity Hospital does not comply with the recognized specifications, as it leaves residuals inside open wounds, reports AlSeyassah daily quoting reliable sources from Ministry of Health.

Indicating that this matter has raised concern among the medical circles, sources revealed that this is not the first time such gauze pads were imported into the country.

They pointed out that the

Infection Prevention Department rejected several medical materials in 2011 after a change in the country of production of these materials; however, these materials were illegally introduced in the hospitals and used on patients.

They lamented that this scandal was revealed soon after the scandal of rotten chicken being served to patients in the Psychiatric Hospital, adding that the Ministry of Health is under pressure to use these materials for the benefit of a company, which is in violation of the decisions of the Central Tenders Committee.

ture.

It was also reported following the outbreak of the incident the then Minister of Interior had ordered the suspension of the Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation.

The Director of the Ahmadi Investigation and Detection Department Col Adel Al-Hamdan was also referred for interrogation for allegedly providing false infor-

mation based on which the Minister had issued his first statement surrounding the causes and circumstances of the death of AlMaimouni.

A security source had said the committee which was investigating the circumstances of the incident had ordered the arrest of two officers - a Lieutenant identified only as A.A. and Lieutenant, S.A. and four other military personnel.

Photo by Ahmad Al-Naqeeb

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) recently conducted the second Kuwait Industrial Forum at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Peru food festival in March KUWAIT City, Feb 9, (KUNA): Eating in Peru is a journey in itself, said Gustavo Bravo, Charge d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy of Peru in Kuwait Saturday.

“Starting from the bountiful Peruvian Sea, where our ‘cebiche’ come swimming out, passing through the Andes with the hundreds of varieties of potato and moving on to the Amazon, loaded with the exotic for a natural and mysterious cuisine, we have just one great route that makes Peru a unique territory; it is the road that outlines our flavors,” Bravo told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) in an exclusive interview.

His remarks came on the occasion of holding the First Peruvian Food Festival in Kuwait, to be organized at the Restaurant La Brasserie at JW Marriott from March 10-15. The event will be held with the collaboration of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters of Kuwait and will include shows of the Peruvian National Dance “Marinera”, to be performed by a group of Peruvian profession-

al dancers brought exclusively for the event.

“My country’s cuisine benefits not only from its geography but from a long history of immigration. Peru’s population is not only comprised of Europeans, mestizos (people of mixed heritage or descent) and indigenous peoples, but also Asians, especially Japanese and Chinese. The Chinese in particular have left a big impact on the cuisine, giving rise to its own type of Chinese food; Peruvian-Chinese, commonly known in Peru as ‘Chifa’.

“Whenever hearing from a Peruvian that ours is the best cuisine, always remember that this is not one hundred percent naive bravado; but it is due to the beliefs that, if there is such a thing as a sixth sense, then us, the Peruvians, have received ours to double the sense of taste,” Bravo noted.

Peru has won the top honor as World’s Leading Culinary Destination at the 19th World Travel Awards held in New Delhi, India, last December.

rectifies its errors.

He said some lawmakers do not belong to any political bloc nor

espouse a certain ideology, so they work in accordance with their own principles.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

MIDEAST

9

Anti-Islam film threatens security: court

Egypt blocks YouTube over Islam film CAIRO, Feb 9, (Agencies): A Cairo court on Saturday ordered the government to block access to the YouTube website for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film that caused deadly riots across the world, but the ruling can be appealed and based on precedent may not be enforced.

Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered YouTube blocked for carrying a 14-minute trailer for the movie “Innocence of Muslims,” which portrays Islam’s central figure Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) negatively. The film, which was produced by an Egyptian-born Christian who’s now a US citizen, sparked deadly protests that killed more than 50 people in more than 20 countries last year.

In the past, a similar order to ban pornographic websites deemed offensive in Egypt has not been enforced because of high costs associated with technical applications, although blocking YouTube may be easier to enforce.

YouTube’s parent company, Google, declined to remove the video from the website last year, but restricted access to it in certain countries, including Egypt, Libya and Indonesia, because it says the video broke laws in those countries. At the height of the protests, YouTube was ordered blocked in several countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah issued an order blocking all websites with access to the anti-Islam film in the conservative kingdom.

Lawyer Mohammed Hamid Salim, who filed the lawsuit in Cairo, alleged the film constitutes a threat to Egypt’s security.

Protesters in Cairo scaled the US Embassy’s walls and brought down the US flag in a demonstration against the film last

Changes signal hope for Christians: patriarch

Arab Spring promoting bloodshed: Iraq’s Sako KIRKUK, Iraq, Feb 9, (AFP): The newly appointed patriarch of Iraq’s largest Christian community said on Saturday that the Arab Spring had been hijacked by narrow interests and had promoted tension and bloodshed.

Asked about the impacts on Christians of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East that eventually led to the ouster of strongmen in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya and the conflict in Syria, the head of the Chaldean Church Louis Sako said the changes had initially signalled hope.

“But unfortunately, it went in a different direction, and was taken over by a narrow faction,” Sako told AFP in an inter-

view.

“We are watching the situation in the Arab Spring countries. Where is the spring? There are fights, there is tension, and there is blood and corruption.”

Sako was selected as the new patriarch of the Iraqbased Chaldean Church on February 1, replacing Emmanuel III Delly who retired in December after reaching the upper age limit of 85.

The Chaldean church, which has 700,000 followers and uses Aramaic — the language that Jesus Christ would have spoken — belongs to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.

September. Street clashes ensued for days around the embassy.

Similarly last year, an Egyptian court convicted in absentia seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor, sentencing them to death on charges linked to the anti-Islam film that had sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world. The case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants, who mostly live in the United States, were outside Egypt and unlikely to ever face the sentence. In a related

case, a Cairo court also convicted a Coptic Christian blogger who shared the film on social networking sites. The blogger was sentenced to three years in prison for blasphemy and contempt of religion, but released on bail shortly thereafter.

During the 18-day uprising that toppled longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the government moved to block the entire Internet for several days in an attempt to disrupt communications among activists.

Mortar, rocket attacks kill 6 at Iran ‘exiles’ camp in Iraq UN urges to ensure safety of around 3,100 refugees ment of the refugees.

The camp is home to members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK, the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Iraq’s Shiite-led pro-Iranian government considers the MEK a terrorist group and is eager to have it out of the country.

The refugee camp, located in a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, is The UN urged the Iraqi government to ensure the safety of the about 3,100 camp meant to be a temporary way station while the United Nations works to find host countries residents and move quickly to find the still-unidentified attackers. for the refugees. They are unlikely to return to Iran because of their opposition to the regime.

The government said it launched an investigation, but that there is little it can do to shield In Saturday’s attack, 35 rockets and mortar rounds struck the camp, said camp spokesman the camp from rocket attacks. It asked the international community to speed up the resettleShahriar Kia. He said more than 100 people were hurt, while the UN and police put the number of injured at about 40.

The Iranian opposition group provided amateur video and photos it said showed the aftermath of the attack. One photo showed five bodies swaddled in blankets lying on the ground in a hallway.

A video clip showed wounded, some with blood-covered faces, being treated at a small clinic.

Other footage said to be from the camp showed several small craters in the ground, presumably from rockets, as well as shattered windows and shredded walls of trailer homes.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, called on the Iraqi government to ensure the safety of the refugees and find the perpetrators. “This is a despicable act of violence,” he said, noting that camp residents are asylum seekers requesting refugee status and are entitled to international protection.

Two police officials confirmed that six people were killed in Saturday’s attack and said more than 40 were hurt, including three Iraqi policemen. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to share information with the media.

Kia, the camp spokesman, alleged that Iraqi authorities refused to let the wounded be taken to area hospitals for treatment.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi denied the claim.

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian as activists tried to set up a new encampment to protest against settlement building in the Yatta, south The UN envoy to Iraq, Martin of the West Bank city of Hebron on Feb 9. Soldiers dismantled tents that were being erected in two different areas near the town of Yatta, Kobler, said about 40 wounded and forced activists to leave, the Palestinian witnesses said. (AFP) were taken to hospitals shortly after the attack.

Kobler said five people died at the camp and that a sixth apparently died later in a hospital.

The camp was set up last year.

Before being moved to the Baghdad area, members of the MEK had lived in another camp, CAIRO, Feb 9, (AFP): Palestinian factions polls to the Palestine National Council (PNC), representation for polling in the West Bank and called Ashraf, in northeastern Iraq. meeting in Cairo to seal a reconciliation deal the PLO’s parliament, and over legislative and Gaza Strip, and the rest under a one-person, oneCamp Ashraf was twice raided by between Fatah and Hamas were to hold a second presidential elections in the Palestinian territovote system.

Iraqi security forces trying to round of talks on Saturday after the failure of ries.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who impose control, leaving more than initial efforts, delegates said.

“Fatah wants the (transitional non-partisan) heads Fatah and the PLO, has convened the conthree dozen people dead. Iraq’s The talks are being held under the umbrella of government (tasked with organising the elecference of all Palestinian organisations in the government says MEK members the provisional governing body of the Palestine tions) formed at the same time as a decree setEgyptian capital, where his party and Hamas are living in Iraq illegally.

Liberation Organisation, which is charged with ting the date for elections,” Abu Yussef signed a reconciliation agreement on April 27, “We call on the international bringing non-members Hamas and Islamic Jihad explained.

2011. community to expedite the prointo the PLO. “Hamas wants the government to be formed Most of its clauses have gone unheeded and cedures ... to find countries for A round of discussions on Friday night lasted first to end the division before the date of elecdeadlines have been postponed. them as quickly as possible,” aleight hours. tions is decided.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s army on Saturday forced Moussawi, the government “The atmosphere was positive but we need Also, Fatah and independent figures in the Palestinian activists to evacuate a West Bank spokesman, said Saturday. another meeting to sort out some interpretations PLO provisional governing body want the same encampment they tried to set up to protest Kobler told The Associated and differences in point of view,” Maher alsystem to apply for the PNC and parliament, against settlement building, witnesses said.

Press that about half the camp Taher, head of the Popular Front for the whereas Hamas wants proportional representaSoldiers dismantled tents that were being erectresidents have so far been Liberation of Palestine, told reporters. tion within the Palestine National Council. ed in two different areas near the town of Yatta in cleared for resettlement, and that PLO executive committee member Wassel The Islamist movement which rules Gaza the southern West Bank, and forced activists to he believes the first group can Abu Yussef said the main differences were over wants a breakdown of 75 percent proportional leave, the Palestinian witnesses said. leave soon.

BAGHDAD, Feb 9, (Agencies): Rockets and mortar rounds struck a refugee camp for Iranian exiles next to Baghdad’s international airport before dawn Saturday, killing six people and wounding about 40, police and UN officials said.

Israel army evicts Palestinian protesters

Accord evades Fatah, Hamas unity bid

Iran’s English Lebanon patriarch to visit Syria TV ‘dropped’ Orthodox leader’s enthronement

DAMASCUS, Feb 9, (AFP): Maronite patriarch Beshara Rai will visit Damascus on Sunday to attend the enthronement of Syria’s Greek Orthodox leader, Yuhanna X Yazigi, the Lebanese church said.

“Yes, he will (attend),” the head of the Greek Orthodox church in Damascus said Saturday in answer to a question. “He has been invited and all guests will take part.”

The ceremony is to be held at 8:30 am (0630 GMT) on Sunday at the Church of the Holy Cross in Qassaa, a central neighbourhood of the conflict-hit Syrian capital.

It will be the first visit to Syria by a Maronite patriarch since the country’s independence in 1943, according to anti-Syrian regime Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar.

“The participation of several church leaders is a way to express solidarity between churches while Syria is in crisis, a crisis for Christians in Syria,” the daily added.

Christians represent about five percent of the population in Syria, where rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are locked in a civil war the UN says has killed more than 60,000 people.

TEHRAN, Iran, Feb 9, (Agencies): Iran’s English-language channel Press TV says that it has been dropped by the satellite that had broadcast its signal to North America.

The Saturday report says that the Galaxy 19 satellite serving audiences in the United States and Canada has removed both the state-owned news channel as well as a movie channel, iFilm.

It said the move was part of sanctions imposed on Iran as part of broader efforts to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

A body of a man who was allegedly killed in mortar attacks at Camp Liberty, an exile camp housing Iranian dissidents near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, on Feb 9. Assailants fired dozens of mortars and rockets at the camp in a dawn attack that killed five people, the first deaths from violence since they resettled near Baghdad last year. (AFP)

Israeli forces fire tear gas at the Al-Jalameh Israeli checkpoint north of the West Bank city of Jenin, during a support rally for Palestinians in Israeli jails, Feb 8. An Israeli group, Yesh Din, investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories is criticizing the army for not indicting a single soldier despite more than 100 criminal investi gations into the troops’ alleged offenses last year. (AP)

Transit centers eyed

Lebanon may need refugees camps: UN BEIRUT, Feb 9, (RTRS): Lebanon should consider setting up transit centres to absorb the waves of refugees fleeing neighbouring Syria and may have to establish formal refugee camps if the influx continues, a United Nations refugee official said.

The tiny and fragile Mediterranean state already hosts 260,000 refugees — equivalent to 6.5 percent of its population — and has sought to absorb them in homes and communities, fearing large camps of Sunni Muslim Syrians could inflame sectarian tensions still smouldering from its own 1975-1990 civil war.

But the accelerating exodus from Syria’s bloodshed means that the number of Syrians seeking help in Lebanon is growing by 3,000 a day, leaving authorities and the UNHCR refugee agency struggling to provide for them.

“We have this very tiny country ... a quarter of the size of Switzerland, with a population of 4 million people, taking in Kelley 260,000 refugees,” UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley told Reuters late on Friday.

“I think what we need to start doing is to prepare for an eventuality whereby we may not be able to find enough shelter and accommodation given the current level of demand.”

“We have advised the government that it may be a time to start having at least two transit sites,” she said, where refugees could be offered temporary food and shelter before other accommodation is found. “As a start, that would be a good thing.”

UNHCR has also made contingency plans to establish formal refugee camps if the mass influx continues, though that would have to be with Lebanese government permission, she said.

“We do plan for camps. We pre-position stocks, we make sure we have done assessments and that we are ready to go in that eventuality,” she said in an interview at

UNHCR headquarters in southern Beirut.

Reluctance to set up refugee camps stems in part from historic sensitivities over the waves of Palestinian refugees who fled from Israel, some of whom became central players in Lebanon’s destructive civil war.

The issue also highlights the country’s current political divide. Some of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Lebanese foes openly called for camps to be set up, hoping it would highlight the scale of his crackdown on the nearly two-year-old uprising in which an estimated 60,000 people have been killed.

The government of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, dominated by Assad allies including Hezbollah, preferred to support aid efforts to house the refugees in homes and schools in their own Sunni Muslim communities.

Aid workers say that the political concerns constrained their ability to help during the first year of the conflict, particularly in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where pockets of Christians, pro-Hezbollah Shi’ite Muslims and Sunni Muslim supporters of the armed Syrian rebels live close by.

Struggling They are still struggling. A report by the French aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said half the refugees in Lebanon were not receiving sufficient medical care and many more were living in inadequate winter shelter.

UNHCR has increased registration of new refugees to 40,000 a month, but even that may not keep pace with new arrivals and its capacity is stretched to the limit.

Kelley said that despite last month’s U.N. conference in Kuwait, when $1.5 billion was pledged for Syrian humanitarian aid, U.N. operations inside Lebanon had so far only received 15 percent of their funding requirements.

“Our problem right now is we simply don’t have enough funds to do 100 percent coverage of registered refugees and all the new arrivals,” she said.

News in Brief Tanker collides: Three people were injured Friday when a Turkish ferry collided with a tanker off Istanbul, local media reported.

The incident occurred around 1725 GMT near the historic Maiden’s Tower, built on a tiny island in the Bosphorus, the private NTV television said.

The Amur2521 tanker hit the ferry from behind, state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

In 1994, a Greek Cyriotflagged tanker collided with a freighter off Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, killing 27 people.

But the worst accident in the busy shipping channel was in 1979 when an oil tanker exploded, killing 43 seamen.

Turkey is worried about environmental risks and wants to shift the tanker traffic in the straits and use pipelines for oil and gas exports in an attempt to avoid any major catastrophe.

(AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Journalist killed: A Dubaibased radio network says one of its journalists was killed in a boat collision while on assignment in the Seychelles.

The Arabian Radio Network says Rebecca Davidson, a New Zealand native, was killed late Friday when the vessel she was aboard struck another boat in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Another colleague was injured.

Davidson, 35, deputy head of programming at the network’s news center, was working on travel-related stories for the station Dubai Eye. Seychelles maritime authorities said Saturday they have opened an investigation into the incident, which occurred between the main Mahe island and Sainte Anne Island. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

No US base in Egypt: The Egyptian Army dismissed Saturday as false media reports about the presence of American military base in Sinai Peninsula as part of Egypt-brokered IsraelGaza ceasefire deal.

“These reports are totally untrue,” Army Spokesman Colonel Ahmad Mohammad Ali said in a press statement, noting that the Army has repeatedly denied such baseless reports.

He went on to say that “there is neither American nor any foreign military base in Egypt” “The non-acceptance to host any foreign military basses is one of the main pillars of Egypt’s national security policy,” he explained. Colonel Ali urged those who have any information about the presence of foreign military bases on any part of the Egyptian territories to unveil it.

(KUNA)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

10

Troops bolster security at army checkpoints

Malians arrest two men with explosives GAO, Mali, Feb 9, (AFP): Malian troops bolstered security at army checkpoints and villagers detained two youths allegedly strapped with explosives on Saturday after Islamists claimed responsibility for the country’s first suicide attack.

Residents of a village near Gao, the largest city in the north, detained two youths they said were wearing explosiverigged belts and travelling on the same road where the suicide bombing on Friday wounded a soldier at a checkpoint.

“We arrested two young men early this morning. They had explosive belts and they were riding on two donkeys,” Oumar Maiga, the son of the local village chief, told AFP. He said the pair, an Arab and a Tuareg, were detained some 20 kms (12 miles) north of Gao. Soldiers and paramilitary police guarding checkpoints in Gao cut down trees to increase visibility, dragged sandbags in front of their positions and set up heavy machine guns in an effort to protect themselves from attacks.

In Friday’s blast, the bomber rode a motorcycle up to an army checkpoint and detonated an explosive belt, wounding one soldier, an officer said.

The young Tuareg, dressed as a paramilitary officer, was also carrying a larger bomb that failed to detonate.

The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) claimed the attack and vowed to carry out more against “the Malian soldiers who chose the side of the miscreants, the enemies of Islam”.

MUJAO is one of a trio of Islamist groups that occupied northern Mali for 10 months before France sent in fighter

World urged to refuse to pay for hostages

US urges ‘zero-tolerance’ on ransom demands WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AFP): The United States on Friday urged all nations to refuse to pay for the release of hostages, amid reports that al-Qaeda linked militants in Mali have amassed millions of dollars in ransoms.

In an interview with French television aired Friday, former US ambassador to Mali, Vicki Huddleston, said as much as $89 million could have been paid out in ransom payments from 2004-11.

Huddleston, the US ambassador to Mali from 2002-05, said Germany, other European countries except Britain, and Canada had paid ransoms, helping to finance the Islamist groups which last year seized control of northern Mali.

France, which is now battling to help the Malian government wrest back control of the north, had paid $17 million (12.7 million euros) to free French hostages seized from a uranium mine in Niger in 2010, she alleged.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland could not confirm the figures, but said the United States was concerned that al-Qaeda’s North African franchise and other groups “do use hostage taking as their main means of financial support.”

“We continue to encourage all of our partners and allies in the international community to absolutely refuse to cooperate with hostage taking and to have a zero-tolerance policy for this kind of effort,” Nuland said.

jets, attack helicopters and 4,000 troops to drive them out.

The French-led operation, launched on January 11 as the insurgents advanced toward the capital, has succeeded in forcing the Islamists from the towns under their control.

But they are thought to retain a presence in the vast desert spaces of the country’s north and France is now anxious to hand over the operation to United Nations peacekeepers amid fears of a prolonged insurgency.

Two Malian soldiers and four civilians have already been killed by landmines, and French troops are still fighting off what Paris called “residual jihadists” in reclaimed territory.

Some villages around Gao, 1,200 kms (750 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako, continue to support the Islamists, French and Malian security sources say.

“As soon as you go more than a few kms outside Gao, it’s dangerous,” a Malian officer told AFP.

Filipino former ‘hostages’ say Qaeda-linked militants thriving ‘About 400 Abu Sayyaf fighters enjoy luxury life’ MANILA, Feb 9, (AP): When they were taken hostage last year in the jungles of the southern Philippines, Ramel Vela and Roland Letriro were pleasantly surprised when their al-Qaeda-linked captors handed each of them a hotel-like comfort pack that included a bedsheet, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a glass, plates, spoons and two sets of new clothes.

In the mountain encampments that would be their prison in Sulu province for nearly eight months, the recently released captives said they saw an Abu Sayyaf force of about 400 heavily armed fighters who puffed Marlboro cigarettes and enjoyed the luxury of cellphones, including some with cameras and access to email and Facebook.

Vela and Letriro’s ordeal provides a glimpse into the Abu Sayyaf’s resiliency despite a decade of American-backed local offensives that have battered the group, which is on a US list of terrorist organizations and remains one of Southeast Asia’s most dangerous alQaeda-inspired offshoots.

Rice, fish, beef, medicine, bottles of Coke and other supplies filtered from the town market, which the militants visited from time to time, or from an unknown network of supporters into the Abu Sayyaf’s far-flung lairs, according to Vela and Letriro, who were freed on Feb 2, reportedly in exchange for ransom.

It’s unclear where the militants got their weapons and ammunition.

“We didn’t see all their weapons, but the ones I saw were very powerful,” Vela told The Associated Press in an interview Friday in Manila.

The 39-year-old cameraman was seized along with audio technician Letriro and veteran Jordanian TV journalist Baker Atyani by Abu Sayyaf militants he said they had hoped to interview in Sulu, about 950 kms (590 miles) south of Manila.

Atyani, who gained prominence for interviewing Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan a few months before the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, remains in the hands of Abu Sayyaf gunmen, who are demanding a $3 million ransom, police say.

Vela said about 400 militants armed with assault rifles, explosives and machetes were split into several groups, which alternately held them in different encampments of bamboo huts A French helicopter flies towards the remote desert city of Tesalit, northern Mali. President of the government body representing the area of nestled amid mangosteen trees Tessalit, Aicha Belco Maiga confirmed by telephone on Friday from her home in Bamako that her town had been retaken by French forces. (AP) and coconut groves.

The gunmen stayed in community-like encampments with their wives and children, who were immediately moved away, along with the hostages, at the first sign of a looming military attack.

White House officials told reporters last Afghan forces are expected to take over the RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany Feb 9, While most of the militants month ahead of a visit by Afghan President lead role for security in Afghanistan this spring.

(RTRS): The top US military officer said on were barely educated, some did Hamid Karzai that the possibility of leaving no The international force plans to hand over full Saturday he was confident enough US troops attend college and others kept troops behind after 2014 was an option. responsibility for security to the Afghans by the will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 to accomto a conservative Muslim way “The military at this point is confident that the end of 2014, with most international combat plish the three-part mission agreed to by allies at of life. They prayed in a number will match the mission,” Dempsey said. forces being withdrawn. last year’s NATO summit in Chicago. makeshift mosque before “Let me put it this way: I will not at any point Dempsey spoke to reporters while en route to Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of dawn, at noon and early ask 10,000 troops to do 20,000 troops’ work.”

Afghanistan for a change of command ceremothe US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not evening each day, helping the At a NATO heads of state summit in Chicago ny for the International Security Assistance know whether President Barack Obama would captives keep a rough track of last year, the leaders agreed that the post-2014 Force. Marine Corps General John Allen will announce the size of the post-2014 US force for time, Vela said. mission in Afghanistan would focus on counterhand over command of the international coaliAfghanistan during his upcoming State of the In one encampment, women terror operations against al-Qaeda, training and tion to Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, Union address. were completely covered with assisting Afghan forces and supporting other US expected to be the force’s last commander.

But he said an announcement on the managegowns and religious veils, government diplomatic and development operaDempsey played down a suggestion by some ment of forces in 2013 “has to come fairly soon, which left only their eyes tions.

White House officials that the United States simply because we’re two months in(to)” the exposed. The men there never Dempsey said the only circumstance under might consider a “zero option” and leave no year. Officials have said a decision on the size of smoked or played cards, unlike which a zero option was likely to come into play troops behind in Afghanistan. Dempsey said no the post-2014 US force would be made before in the other camps, according to was if the two sides failed to negotiate a bilaterone had suggested that to him, “and I would any announcement of the speed of the 2013 al security agreement, as happened in Iraq. the two former captives. never recommend zero.” drawdown.

‘Obama may announce the size later’

Enough US troops to remain in Kabul: Dempsey

Gas plant attack mastermind

US mulls Algerian on kill list WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AFP): Senior members of US President Barack Obama’s administration want to put the mastermind of last month’s attack on an Algerian natural-gas facility on a secret “kill” list, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Adding Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar to a US list for targeted killing would entail a significant US military expansion into northwestern Africa, the newspaper said, citing unnamed US officials.

It would mean extending drone strikes and other lethal counterterrorism operations to the region, the

paper added.

Thirty-seven foreign hostages, including three Americans, were killed when gunmen last month stormed the In Amenas gas plant and the Algerian army launched a military assault in response. One Algerian and 29 of the insurgents were also killed.

The push to target Belmokhtar is being led by US military and intelligence officials, the Journal reported.

And some were pressing for a more direct involvement in the hunt for Belmokhtar, whether with drones, other aircraft or American forces, the paper added.

Mine blast ‘kills’ Afghan family of 6 KANDAHAR, Feb 9, (AFP): A landmine explosion ripped through a civilian vehicle in southern Afghanistan and killed six members of a family, provincial authorities said Saturday.

“Six people all onboard — two elderly men, two women and two men — were killed in a landmine explosion in Nad Ali district of Helmand province,” Ahmad Zirak, the provincial governor’s spokesman, told AFP. The blast at around 7:00 pm on Friday took place as they were travelling from one village to another in the district, Zirak added.

Dried blood stains and abandoned polio vaccine kits litter the floor of Haye dispensary of Feb 8, in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, where gunmen on motorised tricycle killed seven female polio immunisation workers.. Ten polio immunisation workers, nine of them women, were killed and five others injured in separate gun attacks on two polio clinics in the city. (AFP)

Patrols stepped up in Niamey

Mali ‘instability’ poses security threat to Niger NIAMEY, Feb 9, (AFP): Authorities in Niger, who have sent troops to help battle Islamists in neighbouring Mali, are wary of armed extremists filtering across the desert border and of an uprising by the domestic Tuareg population.

Since French troops deployed in Mali on January 11 to tackle the armed Islamists, Niger’s government has ordered round-the-clock military patrols in the capital Niamey and stepped up security around hotels and foreign embassies.

“Never seen anything like it, except during coups d’etat,” said a resident in the plush Plateau residential district, home to many expatriates.

Hostages It was there that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in January 2011 took two young French hostages, who subsequently died during a failed rescue bid by the French military.

The abduction in the capital was among the most spectacular operations carried out by Islamists in Niger in recent years, together with the kidnapping of seven expatriate workers at the uranium mine run by French nuclear group Areva at Arlit in the north in Issoufou September 2010. AQIM still holds four French hostages.

“The threats that exist in Mali constitute a domestic security problem for Niger,” President Mahamadou Issoufou recently said.

A long-standing proponent of using force against AQIM and its allies, who seized control of northern Mali last year, Issoufou sent a battalion of 500 Niger soldiers to join the West African peacekeeping force deployed there.

These soldiers, considered well-trained and tough, are presently the most committed African troops in Mali, along with a Chadian contingent that is battle-hardened in desert warfare.

At home, Niger’s rulers have adopted preventive tactics. The government says it is doing its best to patrol the 800-kilometre (500-mile) border with Mali to deter any infiltration.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Hama Amadou, warned “terrorist” forces could

Temptation “If the demands of this Tuareg armed group are met (in Mali), there will be a big temptation for their Tuareg brothers in Niger, who for the moment are content with decentralised rule of their territory. The north of Niger is certainly going through a calm period, but everything could change very fast,” an African diplomat posted to Niamey said.

Niger’s Tuareg community — about nine per cent of the country’s 15 million inhabitants — will not “dig up the battle-axe”, countered a former rebel leader in the town of Agadez, in the heart of Tuareg territory.

Sidelights Russia detains 271: Russian police have detained 271 people, most of them from the North Caucasus and central Asia, in an investigation into involvement in “terrorist activities”, authorities in St Petersburg said on Saturday.

Russia is concerned that Islamist militants could become a greater threat outside the heavily Muslim North Caucasus region, plagued by an insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet separatist wars in the republic of Chechnya.

In a statement, the regional investigative committee in St Petersburg said that most detainees were from the North Caucasus and the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. An Egyptian and an Afghan were also detained. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Islamist arrested: Spanish

Diggers find a bullet near the head of the corpse of Mohamed Lamine in Timbuktu, Mali whose body was dumped in the desert.

Lamine, an Arab, was last seen being led away at gunpoint by Malian soldiers on Jan 28. Children found his body and that of another Arab man days later, lying facedown in the side of a dune on the outskirts of this desert capital. (AP)

“deploy in the direction of Niger” after armed Islamists took dozens of hostages in January at a gas site in Algeria’s southeastern desert to avenge French military action in Mali.

At least 37 foreigners and one Algerian hostage were killed when Algerian special forces stormed the complex, along with 29 hostage-takers.

The attack led France to send special forces to protect the Areva sites in Niger, which are the poor and largely desert nation’s main source of foreign income.

But “in spite of all the best intentions of the security forces, it is impossible to control everything,” an official close to Niger’s ruling elite said.

The Niamey government has welcomed US plans to deploy reconnaissance drones in Niger to monitor AQIM activities in the vast Sahel region.

Officials are also closely watching the role played by Tuaregs in the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), whose fighters captured northern Mali before AQIM and its allies sidelined the Tuaregs.

Like Mali, Niger has been prone to Tuareg separatist uprisings, but both countries’ governments made several peace deals with the traditional nomadic tribes. Mali considers the MNLA as the only force it would be prepared to negotiate with among the armed movements in the north.

However, Niger’s President Issoufou has made forceful demands for the disarmament of the MNLA and spoken out against talks with the movement on self-determination, a stance that surprised some observers.

police arrested a suspected Islamist for plotting terrorist attacks in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, authorities said Friday.

They arrested Mohamed Echaabi, a man “of Moroccan origin”, on Thursday in the eastern city of Valencia, a police statement said.

It said he had “the same profile” as Mohammed Merah, a radicalised French Algerian who shot

dead seven people including three children in a Jewish school in Toulouse last March. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

CIA under probe: CIA records documenting the waterboarding and interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda chieftain must be shown to the doctors who will decide whether he is mentally competent for trial on charges of conspiring to bomb a US warship, a judge ordered.

The order, dated Thursday, ensures that the mental competency board will consider allegations that Saudi defendant Abd al Rahim al Nashiri was tortured during the four years he spent in secret CIA prisons, among other criteria. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Pirates kidnap 3: Pirates have attacked a British-flagged cargo ship off Nigeria and kidnapped one Romanian and two Russian crew members in the latest such incident to hit the region, a statement said Friday.

“Carisbrooke Shipping Ltd. regrets to report that their 2008 built, UK flag, ... general cargo ship ‘MV Esther C’ was boarded by pirates on the evening of Feb 7 whilst in international waters south in the Gulf of Guinea,” a statement issued by MTI Network on behalf of the operators said. (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

11

‘Most popular Irish party’

Fianna Fail stages stunning comeback: poll DUBLIN, Feb 9, (RTRS): Ireland’s main opposition party Fianna Fail has become the most popular party in the country, an opinion poll showed on Friday, less than two years after being booted from power for their handling of an unprecedented financial crisis.

The centre-right party inched a percentage point ahead of Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael, although the poll was carried out before the government struck a vital deal on Thursday to ease the country’s debt burden.

Support for Fianna Fail, which lost a record 58 of their 78 seats in the last election of February 2011, has risen by five percentage points to a five-year high of 26 percent, the Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed.

Its fellow centre-right party Fine Gael, which has had to continue a relentless austerity drive as part of the EU/IMF bailout signed under the Fianna Fail government, has seen its support fall to 25 percent in the survey, from 31 percent when Ipsos last polled voters in October.

Kenny’s centre-left junior coalition partners Labour, under particular pressure for the tough tax hikes and spending cuts introduced, has fallen two points to 10 percent. The opposition Sinn Fein party has also dropped two points to 18 percent.

The swing in support represents a remarkable recovery for Fianna Fail which has dominated Irish politics since the country’s independence more than 90 years ago.

Its leaders negotiated independence from Britain and participated in peace talks in Northern Ireland as Ireland’s

Thousands kept off school

Briton charged over threats to schoolchildren LONDON, Feb 9, (Agencies): A British man was remanded in custody on Saturday after being charged with threatening to kill 200 US schoolchildren.

Reece Elliott, 24, appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, in the Newcastle conurbation in northeast England.

He also faces a charge of making a malicious communication. Threatening posts made on a memorial webpage for a girl killed in a Tennessee road accident led to thousands of children being kept off school in the state’s Warren County on Thursday.

Elliott, who lives about a kilometre from the court, did

not enter pleas to the charges during the 30-minute hearing.

Jim Lynch, chairman of the bench, said he would be remanded into custody. He next appears before the same court on Wednesday.

Police were stationed this week at schools in McMinnville, the seat of Warren County, 70 miles (110 kms) northwest of Chattanooga.

The online posting threatening gun violence was made anonymously on a memorial page set up for a Tennessee student who died in October. Police did not address the motive behind the posting.

main party.

The party had won a seat in every constituency at each election since first taking power in 1937 until the mauling of 2011 when it was left with a presence in just 18 of Ireland’s 43 constituencies.

Of the 47 members of Ireland’s 166-strong lower-house elected in the capital Dublin, none represent Fianna Fail.

Leader Micheal Martin, a senior minister in the government widely blamed for a financial crisis that led to

Ireland’s humiliating bailout in November 2010, now has the same satisfaction rating as Kenny, the poll showed.

Satisfaction with the government, which may see its rating improve thanks to the debt deal struck this week with the European Central Bank, has dropped to its lowest level since it took office.

The poll was carried out among a sample of 1,000 voters on Monday and Tuesday. The next general election is due in three years’ time.

Horsemeat contamination likely ‘not accidental’, says Findus UK Lawyers called in as scandal deepens LONDON, Feb 9, (AFP): Findus UK said Saturday it was taking legal advice after early results from its internal investigation “strongly suggest” that the presence of horsemeat in its frozen beef lasagne meals was “not accidental”.

They have also been told by their French frozen food supplier Comigel that “the contamination” of processed beef products with equine flesh could date back to August 2012.

“Findus is taking legal advice about the grounds for pursuing a case against its suppliers, regarding what they believe is their suppliers’ failure to meet contractual obligations about product integrity,” it said in a statement.

“The early results from Findus UK’s internal investigation strongly suggest that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not accidental.”

In an earlier statement, Findus said they wanted to be “absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year. “They were only made aware of a possible August 2012 date through a letter dated 2 February 2013 from the supplier Comigel.

“By then Findus was already conducting a full supply chain traceability review and had proactively initiated DNA testing.”

The opposition Labour lawmaker Tom Watson earlier claimed he had been shown by a retailer a copy of a letter that Findus sent to them on Monday.

He published an extract on his website.

Incorrect

In a handout picture received from the British Royal Navy via Defense News Imagery on Feb 8, construction on the front end of the British Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is completed at an Aircraft Carrier Alliance facility at Rosyth in Scotland on Feb 8.

Images released today show workers successfully attaching a 1,000 tonne bow unit to the huge ship, completing the forward part of her hull.

The ship is set to be launched next year before embarking on her sea trials. (AFP)

Green light to kill citizens condemned

Assange urges leak of US drone rules LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (AFP): WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange urged US officials Friday to leak secret documents on drone strikes, saying that the broad discretion to kill citizens showed a “collapse” in the American system.

Assange, who has angered US officials by releasing thousands of secret memos, used a rare US television appearance to condemn President Barack Obama’s controversial green light to kill American citizens who conspire with al-Qaeda.

“I can’t see a greater collapse when the executive can kill its own citizens arbitrarily, at will, in secret, without any of the decisionmaking becoming public,” Assange told the HBO talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

“That’s why we need organizations like WikiLeaks. I encourage anyone in the White House who has access to those rules and procedures, work them on over to us. We’ll keep you secret and reveal it to the public.”

Assange spoke to host Bill Maher, a supporter of WikiLeaks, by video link from Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has been holed up since June to avoid extradition to Sweden. Britain has refused him safe passage to Ecuador.

Swedish authorities say they want to question Assange over allegations of sex crimes.

The former computer hacker says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks’s massive release of sensitive documents.

Bradley Manning, a young army intelligence analyst in Iraq, was arrested in May 2010 over suspicions he handed diplomatic correspondence and other data to the website.

He faces life in prison if convicted by a military tribunal.

NBC News published an unclassified document by the Justice Department this week indicating that senior al-Qaeda operators may be lawfully killed, even if they are US citizens and are not shown to be actively plotting an attack.

The Obama administration called strikes legal, ethical and “wise,” and vowed to provide lawmakers with access to secret documents that outline the legal justifications for drone strikes.

“Investigations have led one of our suppliers based in France to inform us in writing on 2nd February 2013 that the raw materials delivered since 1st August 2012 are likely to be non-conform and consequently the labelling on finished products is incorrect,” it said.

Britain’s Food Standards Agency regulator announced Thursday that 11 of 18 samples of Findus beef lasagne were found to contain between 60 and 100 percent horsemeat.

A Europe-wide food fraud scandal deepened Saturday as supicions of criminal involvement mounted and the exact origin of horsemeat sold as beef in frozen dishes remained a mystery.

The French meat-processing company at the centre of the scandal said it would sue a Romanian supplier it claims mislabelled the horsemeat that has been found on the shelves in at least three countries.

But the company, Spanghero, refused to identify the Romanian supplier or any intermediaries involved in the supply chain, and failed to offer any explanation as to why it allegedly resold the meat as 100 percent French beef.

Findus also initiated legal proceedings on Saturday, although the Swedish frozen foods giant did not identify an alleged culprit in a criminal complaint lodged against persons unknown with the authorities in France.

In London, Findus revealed that products ostensibly containing beef but actually made predominately with horsemeat could have been on sale in Britain since August 2012.

The uncertainty over the exact origin of the horsemeat ensured the possibility of a threat to human health remained.

Former serviceman questioned

UK’s RAF probes historic sex abuse LONDON, Feb 9, (AFP): Britain’s Royal Air Force said on Friday that it has questioned one of its former servicemen over claims that he sexually abused children at a British base in Berlin in the 1980s.

The RAF’s Police Special Investigations and Intelligence Branch said it had questioned a man over alleged offences between 1981 and 1989. He was stationed at the now-closed Gatow RAF base in what was then West Berlin.

“A man in his early 60s from the London area has been interviewed by the RAF Police regarding allegations relating to the sexual abuse of children whilst he was serving in the RAF,” said Wing Commander Mike Dixon, who is overseeing the investigation.

“Anyone who served at, or had connections with, the former RAF base at Gatow during the 1980s and early 1990s, who believes that they have any information relating to the alleged offences, is urged to contact us in absolute confidence.”

British personnel left the Gatow base in Berlin in 1994, and the site is now home to the German Air Force museum.

Britain, the United States and France have stationed troops in western Germany since the end of World War II and it was an important base for the NATO allies during the Cold War. Britain still has around 16,000 soldiers in Germany based in the Rhine area but plans to withdraw the final troops by 2020.

Former BBC broadcaster presenter Stuart Hall makes a statement to the media after appearing in court charged with rape and 14 counts of indecent assault, in Preston, England, on Feb 7. Veteran BBC broadcaster Hall vowed to fight sex offence allegations and ‘regain my reputation,’ and questioned why the allegations had taken so long to surface, as they date from the 1960s to the 1980s. (AP)

An armed police officer patrols outside Preston Crown Court in Preston, north-west England, on Feb 7, ahead of the start of the trial in which Dale Cregan stands charged with the murder of WPC Fiona Bone, her colleague WPC Nicola Hughes and two other people. The trial includes nine other people. (AFP)

France promises punishment

Horse ready meals spark ‘food scare’ LONDON, Feb 9, (Agencies): Britain held emergency talks Saturday about horsemeat found in beef ready meals amid confusion over the origin of the meat in a food scandal that has spread to several other European countries.

Food minister Owen Paterson rounded up industry bodies and retailers in an attempt to tackle what he feared was an “international criminal conspiracy” to mislead the public by passing off cheaper horsemeat as beef.

Swedish food giant Findus withdrew various frozen meals from France and Sweden on Friday, a day after withdrawing frozen beef lasagne from sale in Britain that was found to contain up to 100 percent equine flesh.

The British supermarket chain Aldi voiced anger Friday after finding that two of its own brand frozen ready meal ranges — beef lasagne and spaghetti bolognese — contained between 30 and 100 percent horsemeat.

The meals were all produced in Luxembourg for French supplier Comigel, which said the horsemeat used originally came from a Romanian abattoir via a meatprocessing firm called Spanghero in southwest France.

But officials at Spanghero’s headquarters in Paterson

Castelnaudary refused to say where the meat had come from and whether it had passed through intermediaries, but indicated a statement would be made later Saturday.

“We have a real problem,” Paterson told Sky News television.

“There are very significant amounts of horsemeat in products marked as processed beef.

That is totally unacceptable.

“People must go to the shops today knowing and having confidence that if it’s marked beef, it is beef.

Incompetence “It may be incompetence; I fear it’s actually probably an international criminal conspiracy and I’m completely determined to get to the bottom of it.” Paterson said he wanted to know how the industry intended to analyse all processed beef products on sale in Britain by the end of next week.

“Something must have gone extraordinarily wrong or someone was acting in a criminal manner,” he said.

He stressed that there was no evidence that the products were unsafe for human consumption but added: “This is an issue of mis-labelling and effectively a conspiracy to mislead the public.”

Comigel chairman Erich Lehagre meanwhile apologised to the company’s customers. “We are aware of the very strong feelings this has given rise to, particularly in Britain,” he told AFP. According to Lehagre, his company thought Spanghero were supplying them with beef from French cattle.

However, “they’ve told us the meat came from a Romanian producer who used abattoirs which slaughtered both cattle and horses and processed beef and horsemeat.”

The meals were then produced in Luxembourg by a supplier called Tavola.

Luxembourg’s director of veterinary services Felix Wildschutz told AFP that the meat imported from France had been “fraudulently labelled” beef.

Spanghero was established

in the 1970s by two former France rugby players, Claude and Laurent Spanghero. They were bought out in 2009 by Lur Berri, a Basque agricultural cooperative.

In Romania, Sorin Minea, president of Romalimenta, the country’s food industry federation, said: “Horsemeat is cheaper than beef. The French importer has doubtless sought to buy cheaper meat. But given the specific colour and texture of horsemeat, it is impossible that they did not realise it wasn’t beef.

“It remains to be seen if the abattoir or the importer has falsified the labelling,” he stressed.

Announced On Thursday, Britain’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced that 11 of 18 samples of Findus beef lasagne were found to contain between 60 and 100 percent horsemeat.

All Findus frozen beef lasagnes have been recalled from Swedish stores while in France, the company is withdrawing three products — lasagne, cottage pie and moussaka.

The FSA said it had ordered further tests on the suspect lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, which can cause a serious blood disorder to humans in rare cases.

France’s agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll warned that companies found to have knowingly misled consumers would be “severely punished.”

France’s anti-fraud body, the DGCCRF, has launched an investigation.

It is the latest horsemeatrelated scare to his Europe after equine DNA was found two weeks ago in frozen beefburgers in Britain and Ireland, countries where horsemeat consumption is generally taboo. The consumption of horsemeat is more common in other parts of Europe including France, as well as in central Asia, China and Latin America.

Sweden on Friday became the newest European country to be hit by a widening meat products scandal, as frozenfood company Findus said it was recalling beef lasagna meals there after tests confirmed the products contained horsemeat.

Already, Britain, Ireland, Poland and France have been drawn into the growing saga over the use of horsemeat and the apparent mislabeling of products along the supply chain. Millions of burgers have been recalled in recent days due to the scandal.

Eating horsemeat is not generally a health risk, but the cases have spurred disgust in places where such meat is far from a staple.

Earlier this week, Findus said it was recalling beef lasagna meals in Britain because of concerns raised by its French supplier Comigel.

Tests later found that some of those meals contained between 60 to 100 percent horsemeat instead of beef.

Then on Friday, a second British company, Aldi, confirmed that tests on Comigelsupplied products it had recently recalled – beef lasagna and frozen spaghetti bolognese – showed some contained between 30 and 100 percent horsemeat.

Aldi said it felt “angry and let down” by Comigel and that it was severing ties with the French supplier.

Britain’s Food Standards Agency said that in light of the latest information from Aldi, it is working with French authorities and recommends that any companies that have sourced beef products from Comigel “conduct a precautionary withdrawal of product.”

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

12

Anything of value plundered in Al-Yakubiye church

Bibles escape Syria war, fall prey to looters AL-YAKUBIYE, Syria, Feb 9, (AFP): The bibles lie untouched on the carved wooden stands but the chandeliers have been dumped upside down on the altar; the Christian village of Al-Yakubiye may have escaped the full ravages of Syria’s civil war but it could not avoid the plundering of the fighters.

Along the main road of this agricultural village in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, an old cemetery with stone crosses adjoins an Apostolic Orthodox Armenian church whose door lies open, buffeted by the winds.

Those who swept through here seized anything of value, plundering even the chancel and the sacristy. Under a portrait

of a benevolent Virgin Mary, a thief stole the chalice from the tabernacle.

Al-Yakubiye, nestled in a lush mountain overlooking the Orontes valley, fell to the rebels two weeks ago after fighting that lasted for several days.

The bulk of the clashes were around a fortified army post at the entrance to the village, until the troops pulled out hastily and headed to Jisr al-Shugur, further south.

President Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers spared the village, which boasts one Catholic and two Armenian churches, from street battles that would have inevitably turned it into ruins.

Of a population of around 600 during

‘Ennahada’ in

Syria’s Christian minority makes up about five percent of the war-torn country’s population. Many Christians have remained neutral in the conflict while others have taken Assad’s side, fearing a rise of Islamism.

Meanwhile, new US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the United States is evaluating new options to halt Syria’s civil war, but he refused to weigh into administration debates over whether to arm the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime.

In his first news conference as secretary, Kerry said the Obama administration was looking at the crisis anew and hoping to find a diplomatic solution. But he sidestepped specifically addressing a question over providing military assistance to the anti-Assad opposition.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress on Thursday that they had recommended offering military support to the rebels but were rebuffed by President Barack Obama.

“My sense right now is that everybody in the administration and people in other parts of the world are deeply distressed by the continued violence in Syria,” Kerry told reporters alongside Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. “There’s too much killing. There’s too much violence. And we obviously want to try to find a way forward.”

“We are evaluating now,” he said.

“We’re taking a look at what steps, if any, diplomatic particularly, might be able to be taken in an effort to try to reduce that violence and deal with that situation.”

Kerry’s suggestion of a possible new American approach comes after Panetta and Dempsey gave the Senate a glimpse of the internal disagreements over how forcefully the US should respond to violence that has killed some 60,000 people in the last two years. Both military leaders said they supported providing weapons to the rebels, but that the president made the final decision against such action.

Continued from Page 1 inflamed anti-Islamist sentiment.

Jebali first announced his plans to form a non-political government of technocrats in the immediate aftermath of Belaid’s murder.

“I will present the team no later than the middle of next week,” he told Tunisian media on Saturday.

“If it is accepted... I will continue to carry out my duties as head of the government. Otherwise, I will ask the president of the republic to find another candidate to form a new government.”

Saturday’s protest was called to “defend the legitimacy of the national constituent assembly,” in which the Ennahada-dominated coalition holds a majority, but whose support Jebali said he did not need to form a new cabinet.

His own parliamentary bloc have rejected the plan, with Sahbi Atig, Ennahada’s leader in the national assembly, criticising Jebali for not consulting his party.

Fugitive Salafist leader Abu Iyadh, who heads the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia and is accused of organising a deadly attack on the US embassy last year, warned Ennahada that compromising with secular parties amounted to “political suicide.”

The Tunisian League for Defence of Human Rights said threats and intimidation of the kind that Belaid’s family had long complained were continuing under the Ennahada-led government, and called for politicians to be protected.

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets on Friday for Belaid’s funeral, which turned into a massive anti-Islamist rally, while clashes between police and protesters led to 132 arrests, the interior ministry said.

On Friday night, protesters torched Ennahada’s headquarters in Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the uprising just over two years ago, as well as the office of an Islamist NGO in Souk Jedid, 17 kms (11 miles) away.

The left-wing leader’s funeral concided with a widely-observed general strike called by the powerful 500,000-strong General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT). The strike was believed to be the biggest since Jan 14, 2011 — the day Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, where he remains in exile.

Fathi Rhayem, a teacher, said the demonstration “shows the Tunisian people’s desire to show that it is sovereign, it is independent and is no longer under French protection.”

“We want to show that we want to live on equal terms with France, as friends with reciprocal interests but not like a dominant and a dominated. The policy of submission ... is finished now,” Rhayem said, reflecting the mindset of the new Tunisia just over two years after it overthrew its autocratic ruler.

The events have added to the growing turmoil in Tunisia, where the transition from dictatorship to democracy has been shaken by religious divides, political wrangling and economic struggles. It’s been a perilous stretch for a country many hoped would be a model for other post-revolutionary Arab states.

Belaid, who in his car outside his home, was shot dead while by an unknown assailant. Hours after his killing Wednesday, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said he would form a new, technocratic government to guide the country to elections — but Ennahada, his own party, rejected that idea soon afterward.

Late Friday, Jebali renewed his proposal for a new government, which would be a key concession to the country’s opposition. “I am convinced this is the best solution for the current situation in Tunisia,” Jebali said, offering to resign if the elected assembly did not accept his proposed Cabinet.

Although Jebali said he was confident he could get Ennahada’s support, his party’s earlier rejection of the proposal exposed its own divisions between moderates and hardliners, and it remained unclear how the prime minister planned to pull enough support to his side.

But the coalition’s failure to stem the country’s economic crisis and stop the often-violent rise of hardline Salafi Muslims have drawn fierce criticism, especially from staunch secularists such as Belaid. He had also accused Ennahada of backing some of the political violence through its own goon squads.

Assad reshuffles Continued from Page 1 Pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan said the army was “determined to crush terrorism around the capital and in big cities.”

The Observatory said at least 15 people were killed on Saturday a day after it reported 136 deaths nationwide.

Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch, meanwhile, was in Damascus for Sunday’s enthronement of Syria’s Greek Orthodox leader, in a show of support for the country’s minority Christian community.

Patriarch Beshara Rai will attend the enthronement of Yuhanna X Yazigi in the first visit by a Maronite patriarch since Syrian independence in 1943, Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar reported.

Bloodshed Washington has struggled throughout Syria’s civil war to come up with a policy that would help end the bloodshed and hasten Assad’s departure. Obama called on the Syrian leader to leave power in August 2011, but the United States has refused to entertain any notion of military intervention by patrolling Syria’s skies to prevent government airstrikes or by handing out advanced weaponry to Syrian rebels.

US officials have noted that, unlike in Libya, there is no UN mandate for any direct American military involvement such as a no-fly zone. And officials believe any plan to provide weapons would only further militarize a conflict that needs to be resolved with some sort of political transition. There is also fear that if the weapons end up in the hands of terrorists and extremist groups they can later turn on nearby Israel or other US allies and interests in the region.

Kerry said he wasn’t privy to all the details of the administration’s internal deliberations.

“I don’t know what the discussions were in the White House and who said what, and I’m not going to go backward,” Kerry said at the end of his first full week in his new job. “This is a new administration now, the president’s second term, I’m a new secretary of state and we’re going forwards from this point.”

But Kerry underscored the numerous challenges hindering the possibility of a more activist approach, citing the threat of the rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra - the Obama administration has designated it a foreign terrorist organization - and the influx of fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq.

“It is a very complicated and very dangerous situation,” he said. “And everybody understands it is a place that has chemical weapons, and we are deeply concerned about that.”

In the past months, several officials in the State Department, Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency have said that giving weapons to carefully vetted rebels could help blunt the influence of extremists like al-Nusra among the rebel ranks. Such US assistance, according to proponents, might also be remembered in a post-Assad Syria and provide the United States a new partner in a place that it has generally met hostility during the four decades of the Assad family dynasty.

The counterargument maintained that giving weapons posed too great a risk, according to other officials who also spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly about internal matters. The White House, in particular, was wary in the weeks preceding Obama’s re-election and hasn’t changed its mind because the nonextremist opposition still lacks cohesiveness and because there is no compelling national security reason for direct US weapons supplies.

It’s unclear whether Kerry has formed his own opinion. Asked during his confirmation hearing last month about new options for Syria, he said he needed to first see the administration’s contingency plans.

“What I do know is that there are a lot of weapons there,” he said. “There are people in the Gulf, and you know who they are, who are not hesitating to provide weapons. And that’s one of the rea-

the winter, only a few men, a handful of elderly and a Catholic priest, stayed back during the fighting.

“Christians and Muslims have lived together as brothers here for centuries,” says Georges, a pensioner who boasts that his family roots in the village go back “one thousand years”.

Sited in the heart of a majority Sunni Muslim region of Syria, Al-Yakubiye with its “half Armenian, half Catholic” population, according to Georges, serves as a summer resort for Christians of Aleppo, the main city in the north and one-time flourishing economic centre.

On this rainy day, the few who venture out onto the streets are confronted by

heavy mist. Street corners are piled high with garbage. Many houses are closed up but some doors and shutters show signs of having been forced open.

Before beating a hasty retreat, Assad’s forces had parked themselves with their tanks and armoured vehicles in the garden of an Armenian church.

The soldiers did not enter the church itself, which remained shut, but turned its courtyard into a dumping ground for open sand bags, leftover food and filth.

In “liberated” Al-Yakubiye, rebels of the Free Syrian Army, mostly from nearby Sunni villages, have taken over several houses along the central road. The owners gave their approval, they say.

Mussa Beidaq, the 27-year-old chief of the rebel battalion, has set himself up in a house close to the Catholic church. The keys to the house were handed to him by the priest on condition that it suffers no damage.

Nothing has been moved — not the icons nor the crucifixes nor the paintings on the walls depicting the Archangel Saint Michael.

“We will soon be gone,” says Beidaq.

“There was no violence against the village and we will not tolerate it either.”

“Not a single villager was killed,” adds Joseph, a resident in his 40s, who is quick to say that relations with the rebel FSA have been “correct”.

In this Feb 8 photo, anti-government demonstrators wave banners and national flags in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian rebelsbrought their fight within a mile of the heart of Damascus on Friday, seizing army checkpoints and cutting a key highway with a row of burning tires as they pressed their campaign for the heavily guarded capital, considered the likely endgame in the nearly 2-year-old civil war. (AP)

sons, together with the fact that al-Nusra has been introduced to the equation that the movement on the ground is faster than the movement in the politics.”

Secret studies Continued from Page 1 which had opposed an earlier system. But Russia is also critical of the plan, which it believes is really intended to counter its missiles. A series of governmental and scientific reports has cast doubt on whether it would ever work as planned.

At a time that the military faces giant budget cuts, the studies could prompt Congress to reconsider whether it is worthwhile to spend billions for a system that may not fulfill its original goals.

The classified studies were summarized in a briefing for lawmakers by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ nonpartisan investigative and auditing arm, which is preparing a report.

The GAO briefing, which was not classified, was obtained by The Associated Press.

Military officials declined repeated requests to discuss the studies on the record, noting they were classified. Even speaking on condition of anonymity, they declined to say whether the GAO had accurately reported its conclusions. But the GAO briefing had been reviewed by several Defense Department officials and the revisions they requested were incorporated. There was no indication they had objected to how the studies had been described.

The officials who spoke to the AP emphasized that the interceptor intended to protect the United States is in the early stages of development and its capabilities are not known. They said that the US is already protected by other missile defense systems. Even if European-based interceptors are unable to directly defend the United States, they say they would protect not only European allies and US troops stationed on the continent, but also US radars there that are necessary for all US missile defense plans.

Missile defense has been a contentious issue since President George W. Bush sought to base long-range interceptors in central Europe to stop missiles from Iran.

Some Democrats criticized the plans, saying they were rushed and based on unproven technology. Russia believed the program was aimed at countering its missiles and undermining its nuclear deterrent.

While it might seem logical for the US to want to have a defense against Russian missiles, it’s not so simple. A new missile defense system aimed at Russia could undermine the balance between the nuclear powers, prompting Moscow to add to its arsenal and build up its own defenses. It would undermine prospects for further cuts in nuclear weapons — a priority for President Barack Obama — and could also hurt US-Russian cooperation on other issues of international importance.

Obama reworked the plans soon after taking office in 2009, arguing that the threat from long-range Iranian missiles was years off. His plans called for slower interceptors that could address Iran’s medium-range missiles. The interceptors would be upgraded gradually over four phases, culminating early next decade with those intended to protect both Europe and the United States.

The plans have gained momentum in Europe with the signing of basing agreements in Poland, Romania and Turkey, as well as backing by NATO. But Russia, while initially welcoming the plan, now strongly opposes it, especially the interceptors in the final stage. Russia fears those interceptors could catch its inter-

continental missiles launched at the US It is that fourth stage that is now at issue. The GAO investigators said that the classified reports by the Missile Defense Agency concluded that Romania was a poor location for an interceptor to protect the US It said the Polish site would work only if the US developed capabilities to launch interceptors while an Iranian missile was in its short initial phase of powered flight.

But the administration is not pursuing that capability because it does not believe it is feasible, according to one senior defense official.

The military has considered deploying interceptors on ships, but the Navy has safety concerns that have not yet been resolved. The suggestion of attempting intercepts from ships on the North Sea would likely aggravate tensions with Russia. That could put it right in the path that some Russian ICBMs would use, further reinforcing Russia’s belief that it, not Iran, is the target of the system.

The GAO investigators also took the administration to task for not conducting studies earlier that could have revealed the problems. Reports by the GAO and scientific bodies advising the government have raised other concerns about the missile shield, citing production glitches, cost overruns, problems with radars and sensors that cannot distinguish between warheads and other objects. One report by the National Academy of Sciences recommended canceling the fourth phase of the system and deploying the interceptors to the East Coast.

The GAO study was requested by Republican Rep. Michael Turner, who until recently led a panel that oversees missile defense. He said he is concerned that the interceptor in development might be useless in protecting the United States.

Hunt for Continued from Page 1 Attempts to follow his tracks failed.

Police teams in camouflage were scouring the mountains, aware they could be walking into a trap set by the welltrained former US Navy reservist.

“He can be behind every tree,” said T. Gregory Hall, a retired tactical supervisor for a special emergency response team for the Pennsylvania State Police. “He can try to draw them into an ambush area where he backtracks.”

Thousands of heavily armed police remained on the lookout throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico for a suspect bent on revenge and willing to die.

Police said officers were guarding more than 40 people mentioned as targets in a rant they said Dorner posted on Facebook. He vowed to use “every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance and survival training I’ve been given” to bring “warfare” to the Los Angeles Police Department and its families.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing, Dorner was fired after he made a complaint against his field training officer, saying that said that in the course of an arrest, she kicked suspect Christopher Gettler, a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

Richard Gettler, the schizophrenic man’s father, gave testimony that supported Dorner’s claim. After his son was returned home on July 28, 2007, Richard Gettler asked “if he had been in a fight because his face was puffy” and his son responded that he was kicked twice in the chest by a police officer.

Dorner was fired in 2008 over the incident. On Sunday, police say Dorner shot and killed a couple in a parking garage.

The woman was the daughter of a retired

police captain who had represented Dorner in the disciplinary proceedings that led to his firing.

Hours after authorities identified Dorner as a suspect in the double murder, police believe Dorner shot and grazed an LAPD officer and then used a rifle to ambush two police officers early Thursday, killing one and seriously wounding the other.

The focus of the manhunt was on the mountains 80 miles (128 kms) east of Los Angeles - a snowy wilderness, filled with thick forests and jagged peaks.

Authorities said they do not know how long Dorner had been planning the rampage or why he drove to the San Bernardino Mountains. Property records show his mother owns undeveloped land nearby, but a search of the area found no sign of him.

It was not clear if he had provisions, clothing or weapons stockpiled in the area. Even with training, days of cold and snow can be punishing.

“Unless he is an expert in living in the California mountains in this time of year, he is going to be hurting,” said former Navy SEAL Clint Sparks, who now works in tactical training and security.

“Cold is a huge stress factor.”

Jamie Usera, an attorney who befriended Dorner in college, said he introduced him to the outdoors and taught him about hunting and other outdoor activities.

“Of all the people I hung out with in college, he is the last guy I would have expected to be in this kind of situation,” Usera, who had lost touch with Dorner is recent years, told the Los Angeles Times.

Others saw Dorner differently. Court documents obtained by The Associated Press on Friday show an ex-girlfriend of Dorner’s called him “severely emotionally and mentally disturbed” after the two split in 2006.

Dorner served in the Navy, earning a rifle marksman ribbon and pistol expert medal. He was assigned to a naval undersea warfare unit and various aviation training units, according to military records. He took leave from the LAPD for a six-month deployment to Bahrain in 2006 and 2007.

Last Friday was his last day with the Navy. It was also the day CNN’s Anderson Cooper received a package that contained a note on it that read, in part, “I never lied.”

A coin riddled with bullet holes that former Chief William Bratton gave out as a souvenir was also in the package.

Police said it was a sign of planning by Dorner before the killing began.

Police believe he is armed with multiple weapons, including an assault-type rifle. That detail concerned officers whose bullet-proof vests can be penetrated by such high-powered weapons, said LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese.

As a result, all LAPD officers have been required to work in pairs to ensure “a greater likelihood of coming out on top if there is an ambush,” Albanese said.

“We have no officers alone right now.”

He said it was the Catholics who stayed behind, while many Armenians, some of whom agreed to help regime troops, had fled for fear of reprisals.

“We Catholics refused to take arms given by the army,” he says.

Some families have begun returning to the village, only to find their homes looted.

“Soldiers forced their way into empty houses,” says Beidaq while acknowledging that insurgents too flocked in after the village fell.

“Do not look for the guilty in one or the other camp,” says Georges.

“There are good and bad people everywhere.”

Developing fetuses can get DHA from their mothers’ fat stores, and from food and supplements they consume during pregnancy.

The hope that omega-3 supplements might enhance brain development stems from research like a large study from Denmark that found mothers who reported eating more fish had children with greater neurological and motor development in their first months.

The author of that study, Dr Sjurdur Olsen, head of the Center for Fetal Programming in Copenhagen, cautions, however, that in Denmark at least, mothers who eat more fish tend to be better educated and more well off — which could both be important factors in a child’s development.

Other studies have found that an expecting mother’s fish oil intake doesn’t increase her child’s IQ or enhance her baby’s visual development. (See Reuters Health story of September 29, 2011 here: reut.rs/qbsjxQ Still, several mainstream organizations, including the European Food Safety Authority and the World Health Organization, do endorse omega-3 supplements for expectant mothers, noted Harry Rice, vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs at the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega3s, a trade organization.

“It’s because of the science that many organizations and government agencies around the world recommend DHA supplementation for pregnant and lactating women,” Rice told Reuters Health in an email.

It may be too soon to reach a definitive conclusion on this topic, according to Elvira LarquÈ, physiology professor at the University of Murcia in Spain, who independently reviewed DHA clinical trials in a 2012 study.

LarquÈ agreed that more trials are needed. The ones analyzed in the new report had weaknesses, including the fact that all sources of DHA were not accounted for in the mothers’ diets, and measures of intelligence were based on tests, such as observing a child play with a toy, that were too subjective.

Olsen said the discrepancy between official encouragement for mothers to take prenatal DHA supplements, and the actual evidence for their effects probably stems from wishful thinking.

“People want to have some good news,” he said. “There’s a strong wish to have simple means to get strong effects.”

Newswatch Continued from Page 1 Saudis have demonstrated in Riyadh to demand the release of thousands of people detained without charge or trial on suspicion of involvement in militant activity.

Some have been held for up to 15 years.

Protests are rare in the conservative kingdom. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

ABU DHABI: Masdar Institute of Science and Technology announced here Saturday a pioneering breakthrough by two faculty members in developing a novel membrane that can operate in an ‘in-situ’ cleaning system for desalination purposes.

The path-breaking innovation — a novel out-of-the-box concept in preventing membrane fouling — firmly places the UAE in the forefront in obtaining clean energy and advanced technology solutions. A patent application has been filed for the new system that is considered superior to other existing techniques.

Dr Nidal Hilal, Professor in Nano-membranology and Water Technologies and Dr Raed Hashaikeh, Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, have together invented this system based on a new approach to tackle the challenges in fouling using novel nano-materials.

(KUNA) ❑ ❑ ❑ MONTREAL: A blizzard that swept the

Continued from Page 1

northeastern United States also battered three Canadian provinces Saturday, causing flight cancellations, power cuts and some coastal flooding.

Thick flakes fell in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and on Prince Edward Island, with between 30 and 40 centimeters (11 and 15 inches) of snow expected over the course of the day, according to weather forecasts.

Certain areas saw wind gusts of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour), as two fierce weather systems bore down on the region — one from southern Ontario and Quebec and the other from the northeastern United States, where it left at least two people dead and half a million people without electricity.

On Friday, the weather claimed at least three lives in Ontario, as two people died on the roads while an elderly woman perished shoveling snow from her driveway, public broadcaster CBC reported. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

(in which greater differences might have been seen) and didn’t follow the children long enough during development.

“Our analysis highlights that more research is needed,” Gould told Reuters Health.

Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial for healthy fetal brain development and are commonly found in fatty fish such as tuna, mackerel and sardines. Human brains and eyes contain large amounts of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), both forms of omega-3.

BOGOTA: A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook southern Colombia Saturday, causing some damage to houses but no casualties or major mishaps, authorities said.

The quake was felt as far away as Quito, Ecuador and Bogota, where buildings swayed under the force of the tremor.

“Fortunately, there have been no victims,” said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at a public event.

Authorities said the quake struck at a depth of 129 kms (80 miles) at 1416 GMT, 11 kilometers (7 miles) southwest of Pasto, Colombia, a city of 400,000 people that lies at the foot of the Galeras volcano. (AFP)

No sign

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SUBCONTINENT

13

‘One dip in the river has the power to change life forever’

Pilgrims prep for holiest day at Kumbh Mela ALLAHABAD, India, Feb 9, (AFP): Tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims prepared to cleanse their sins with a plunge into the sacred river Ganges, ahead of the most auspicious day of the world’s largest religious festival.

Some 30 million Hindu saints, devotees and visitors were expected to take part in the Kumbh Mela on Sunday — considered the holiest of the 55-day festival — in north India, police said.

“One dip in the river has the power to change life forever,” said 65-year-old Malti Devi from London, taking part in the festivities for the first time.

The Kumbh Mela, which began last month, takes place every 12 years in Allahabad in northern Uttar Pradesh state, with smaller but similar events every three years in other locations around India.

It has its origins in Hindu mythology, which tells how a few drops of the nectar of immortality fell on the four places that host the festival — Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.

Devotees believe entering the mighty river cleanses them of sin and frees them of the cycle of birth and rebirth. Many believe some three billion Hindu deities will also take a dip in the sacred river to bless mankind on Sunday.

The festival, which draws ash-covered holy men, a smattering of international celebrities as well as millions of ordinary Indians, on Saturday welcomed new waves of devotees.

Naked ash-smeared mystics, known as sadhus, and swamis and gurus clad in flowing robes streamed into the festival grounds.

No incidents reported

New Delhi airport suffers radar failure: report NEW DELHI, Feb 9, (AFP): An electrician accidentally unplugged the radar system at the Indian capital’s airport, forcing air traffic controllers to manually guide in aircraft, media reports said on Saturday.

Electricians fixing a fault accidentally unplugged the main power source of the radar late on Friday, causing radar screens to go blank, said the Times of India newspaper and other media.

Operations were shifted to manual control to assist the planes in air and for those lined up for a take-off, the

media said quoting officials. No incidents were reported.

“Though the standby power took over the system within seconds, it took over 45 minutes to reboot all consoles and restore the operations fully,” officials told India’s NDTV network.

In 2011, a five-hour electricity blackout at the airport’s newly inaugurated terminal affected scores of domestic and international flights.

The Delhi airport is hailed as an example of India’s ability to build state-of-the-art infrastructure projects.

Sunday, when the water is considered the holiest and most auspicious, is “the most crucial day for the pilgrims and for police”, Ajit Tyagi, a police officer in Allahabad, told AFP. “We have to make sure everyone is safe.”

Over 7,000 policemen have been deployed to oversee the Sunday bathing ritual, along with 30,000 volunteers, he said.

The “safety of women and children is our first priority”, said Tyagi, adding that over 10 million women were expected to participate in the big bathing day.

Increasing pollution in the river has been another key con-

cern for authorities who said they are constantly monitoring levels since the festival began on Jan 14.

Londoner Devi said she would donate food and clothes to the poor after taking the ritual dip in the river.

“I’m not worried about the security or pollution. We’re here to celebrate a festival that brings the rich and poor together,” she said.

Around eight million people housed in a sprawling city of tents have already bathed at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers since the festival started.

New Delhi ‘executes’ man for 2001 attack on Parliament

An Indian father with his son takes a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, for Maha Kumbh festival, in Allahabad, India, Feb 9. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are attending the Maha Kumbh festival, which is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings that lasts 55 days and falls every 12 years. During the festival pilgrims bathe in the holy Ganges River in a ritual they believe can wash away their sins.(AP)

A Bajrang Dal activist holds up a burning poster after the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru in New Delhi on Feb 9. A Kashmiri separatist was executed Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001, an episode that brought nucleararmed India and Pakistan to the brink of war. (AFP)

Security forces impose curfew in Kashmir reported. His family in the India’s Jammu-Kashmir state has demanded that his body be handed over, but that seems unlikely given the highly sensitive nature of the execution.

Guru had been on death row since first being convicted in 2002. Subsequent appeals in higher courts were also rejected, and India’s Supreme Court set an execution date for October 2006. But his execution was delayed after his wife filed a mercy petition with India’s presiHome Secretary R.K. Singh told reporters that Mohammed Afzal Guru was exe- dent. That petition, the last step in the judicial process, was turned down earlier this week.

Several rights groups across India and political groups in Indian Kashmir have said that cuted early Saturday morning at New Delhi’s Tihar prison.

Guru did not get a fair trial.

“It was the law taking its course,” Singh said.

Guru was given a Muslim burial in the prison compound, Press Trust of India news agency “Serious questions have been raised about the fairness of Afzal Guru’s trial,” Shashikumar Velath, Amnesty International India’s programs director, said in a statement. “He did not receive legal representation of his choice or a lawyer with adequate experience at the trial stage. These concerns were not addressed.”

Protests broke out Saturday in at least four parts of Indian Kashmir, including the northwestern town of Sopore, which was Guru’s home. Scores of protesters chanting slogans including “We want freedom” and “Down with India” defied a curfew and clashed with police and paramilitary troops, who opened fire. Four protesters sustained bullet wounds and one of them was in critical condition, a senior police officer said on customary condition of anonymity.

Thousands of police and paramilitary troops fanned out across the state preparing for more protests and violence following the announcement of the execution. A curfew was also imposed in most parts of Indian Kashmir, and cable television channels were cut off in the region.

About 30 Kashmiri students and anti-death penalty activists clashed with Indian police and right-wing Hindu groups in New Delhi. Most of the protesters were detained by the police.

Police in Indian Kashmir on Saturday also detained several Rashtrawadi Shiv Sena activists celebrate with firecrackers after the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru in New Delhi on Feb 9. A Kashmiri leaders of the All Parties separatist was executed Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on parliament in New Delhi in 2001, an episode that brought nuclear-armed Hurriyat Conference, an India and Pakistan to the brink of war. (AFP) umbrella organization of separatist political and religious groups, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.

Meanwhile, security forces imposed a curfew Saturday in parts of Indian-administered Kashmir while the centre of the main city Srinagar was sealed off MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Feb 9, (AFP): Kashmiris who migrated to Pakistani Kashmir free and independent”. “Nobody should expect by police after the execution of a Hundreds of protesters on Saturday rallied in from the Indian-administered part of the disputany justice from those courts,” said Durrani. separatist.

Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-adminised Himalayan region.

Guru was found guilty of conspiring with and Residents in rural areas said tered Kashmir, to condemn the execution of a Hurriyat chief Uzair Ahmad Ghazali consheltering the militants who attacked the Indian police used loud hailers to order Kashmiri separatist in India. demned the hanging and announced that his parliament in December 2001. them to stay indoors from dayMohammed Afzal Guru, a one-time fruit mersupporters would stage a sit-in in front of the In the meantime, Amnesty International on break as it emerged that chant, was hanged at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail United Nations office in Muzaffarabad on Saturday condemned India’s execution of a Mohammed Afzal Guru, a memearly Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on Monday.

Kashmiri separatist over a deadly 2001 attack on ber of an Islamist group fighting the Indian parliament in 2001, after President Meanwhile, the government of Pakistanparliament, saying his trial fell “considerably Indian rule in the divided region, Pranab Mukherjee rejected a mercy appeal. administered Kashmir announced three days of short” of international fair standards. was to be hanged.

Some 400 protesters gathered in mourning across the state to mark Guru’s hangMohammed Afzal Guru’s execution also sugAlthough there was no formal Muzaffarabad, burning Indian flags and chantiing. gested a “disturbing” trend towards the resumpcurfew order in Srinagar, police ng slogans including “down with India, down “The state’s flag will fly half-mast during the tion of death penalty use in India, said the globhastily erected barricades across with India’s farce democracy, we will continue mourning, which started from today,” Murtaza al human rights group. main entry roads and in the city Guru’s mission”, an AFP reporter said.

Durrani, a state government adviser, told AFP. “We condemn the execution in the strongest centre in a bid to prevent any The rally was organised by Pasban-eHe said Guru was hanged under “draconian possible terms,” said Shashikumar Velath, propossible demonstrations against Hurriyat, an organisation representing laws” and claimed that “courts in India are not grammes director of Amnesty’s India wing. the execution.

NEW DELHI, Feb 9, (Agencies): A Kashmiri man convicted in a 2001 attack on India’s Parliament that left 14 people dead was hanged Saturday after a final mercy plea was rejected, a senior Indian Home Ministry official said.

Amnesty condemns India’s execution of parliament attacker

Hundreds rally in Pakistani Kashmir

Divers pull out 12 more bodies

Dhaka ferry sinking toll hits 14 DHAKA, Feb 9, (AFP): Rescue divers on Saturday pulled out 12 more bodies from a ferry that sank near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka with around 100 people aboard, raising the death toll from the latest boat disaster to 14.

The small vessel was ferrying passengers Friday on the Meghna river, close to the town of Gazaria in the central Munshiganj district, when it collided with a barge laden with sand to be used for construction.

While some passengers managed to swim to safety as the wooden boat went down rapidly, many oth-

ers remain unaccounted for, according to officials involved in the rescue effort.

“Divers have pulled 12 more dead bodies from the sunken vessel,” district police chief Mohammad Shahabuddin told AFP, adding that the ferry had been recovered and would be searched for more bodies. “The death toll is now 14.”

The exact number of people aboard the ferry was uncertain as passenger lists are often not maintained properly in Bangladesh and many travellers buy tickets on board.

US drones toll in Pak rises to nine DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Feb 9, (AP): Pakistani officials say the death toll from a suspected US drone strike in a restive tribal region has risen to 9, all of whom were militants.

Two intelligence officials said Saturday that three members of the Pakistani Taleban movement wounded in the Friday strike on a militant compound died overnight.

They had originally put the death toll at six.

Activists of banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa gather during a protest in Islamabad on Feb 9. Hundreds of protesters on Saturday rallied in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, to condemn the execution of a Kashmiri separatist in India.

Mohammed Afzal Guru, a one-time fruit merchant, was hanged at New Delhi’s Tihar Jail early Saturday over his role in a deadly attack on the Indian parliament in 2001, after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a mercy appeal. (AFP)

Demand for horns surges

Park battles rhino poachers in India KAZIRANGA, India, Feb 9, (AP): Out of the early morning mists and tall grass of northeast India emerges a massive creature with a dinosaur-like face, having survived millions of years despite a curse — literally on its head. As elephantborne riders approach, the formidable hulk sniffs the air for danger, then resumes its breakfast.

This is Kaziranga, refuge to more than 2,200 endangered Indian rhinoceros and one of the world’s best-protected wildlife reserves. But even here, where rangers follow shoot-to-kill orders, poachers are laying siege to “Fortress Kaziranga,” attempting to sheer off the animals’ horns to supply a surge in demand for purported medicine in China that’s pricier than gold. At least 18 rhino fell to poachers in and around the park in 2012, compared to 10 in all of India in 2011.

Insurgents eager to bolster their war chests here in India’s Assam state are also involved, according to police.

Authorities are investigating a recent news report that a Chinese company offered two rebel groups a deal: weapons in exchange for horns and body parts of the one-horned species whose scientific name is rhinoceros unicornis.

Pitted against the poachers, some armed with battlefield rifles, are 152 anti-poaching camps staffed by more than 900 rangers, guards and other personnel — almost one for every square kilometer of the reserve. These include a wellarmed task force rushed in when the poaching erupted again early last year. Kaziranga also is ready to deploy drones and satellite surveillance to track the intruders.

The rhino war is a bloody one on all counts. A number of guards have been killed along with 108 poachers since 1985 while 507 rhino have perished by gunfire, electrocution or spiked pits set by the poachers, according to the park. More than 50 poachers were arrested last year.

Crime “It’s highly organized crime where someone comes to buy, somebody supplies the arms, someone comes as a shooter and local field men help them,” says veteran park chief N.K. Vasu, as a nighttime operation that nets one poacher gets under way. “If mobilization had not occurred there would have been widespread killings.”

Driving the killings are soaring prices that China’s growing, moneyed class are willing to pay — up to $65,000 per kilogram ($30,000 per pound).

This has even forced museums in Europe where thefts have occurred to replace real rhino horns with fakes.

Behind it is a deeply rooted belief among many Chinese that rhino horn — basically compressed hair — can cure everything from rheumatism to cancer, despite admonitions by most medical experts that it has “about as much medicinal

value as chewing one’s fingernails.” The product has been struck from the list of officially approved Chinese traditional medicines but is readily available in China and Vietnam, the second largest consumer.

To date, experts say Asian countries have proved better at protecting their rhinos than Africa, where most of the China-bound horns originate before being smuggled mainly through Southeast Asia by air, land and sea.

Kaziranga park statistics since 1980 reflect this ebb and flow, stemming from both demand and the level of protection afforded. The 1990s saw intensive poaching with a high of 48 rhinos killed in 1992. It subsided after 1998 but shot up again this year.

Smuggling Williams, who is based in Nepal, says Asian smuggling routes run from India through Nepal to Tibet and into other regions of China or through northern Myanmar to China.

“Beyond, when it heads into Tibet, it’s a black hole,” he says.

China has in the past supported an array of insurgent groups in Assam and other areas of India’s northeast that have sought independence from India, and growing economic and transport links are facilitating wildlife trafficking.

Last month, Seven Sisters Post, an English-language newspaper in Assam, reported that the United Liberation Front of Assam and another rebel group have been approached several times by the Longhui Pharmaceutical Company, a subsidiary of arms manufacturer Hawk Group, to supply rhino parts in exchange for weapons, something the groups claim they rejected.

The website of Longhui, based in Hainan province, says the company produces rhino horn medicine through “shaving alive rhino horn technology.”

Despite such threats both Assam and Nepal — homes to the densest rhino populations in Asia — have notched impressive records in curbing poaching. Rhino tourism in both countries brings in considerable revenue, and the animal is an Assamese icon with the recent spate of poaching sparking a public outcry.

Kaziranga itself is regarded as one of the world’s great wildlife conservation victories.

From some 20 rhino at the beginning of the 19th century — when maharajas and British colonials shot them by the scores — it now faces the problem of overpopulation.

This Asian Eden also shelters healthy numbers of tigers, elephants, the highly endangered swamp deer and some 500 species of birds.

To keep it that way, Vasu says it’s essential to “dominate every inch of the ground” inside the park and link up with area police and civil authorities, a weakness in the past along with continuing corruption.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

14

World News Roundup Immigration Maternity tourism

State targets Chinese hotels LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (AFP): Six pregnant Asian-looking women cross the road. Two others cross in the opposite direction. In a nearby store, about 10 compare baby clothing.

Something is happening in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Nearby, a string of so-called “maternity hotels,” where Asian women — often Chinese and Taiwanese — come to give birth to babies who will automatically acquire a US passport — has recently drawn the attention of authorities.

There is nothing illegal Obama about foreign women giving birth in the United States. But federal officials are investigating possible related crimes, while local officials say planning regulations may have been violated.

Since December, there have been 64 complaints, mostly involving the districts of Hacienda Heights and Rowland Heights, Alex Garcia, an LA County planning department official told AFP. Inspectors entered 16 of these lodgings for pregnant women, and found that five of them were operating as boarding houses for Chinese or Taiwanese women, he said.

A 26-year-old woman, seven months pregnant, who offers the pseudonym Xui Li, has just arrived from Beijing, to give birth on US soil. As other compatriots, she hesitates before discussing the reason for coming with her.

But in the end she opens up — not giving her real name, of course — as she browses in the stroller aisle in a store across the road from Pheasant Ridge, where she lives.

A man walks toward a statue of George Washington in Boston Common on Feb 8, in Boston, Massachusetts. Massachusetts and other states from New York to Maine are preparing for a major blizzard with possible record amounts of snowfall in some areas. (AFP)

Weather Thousands left without power

Blizzard kills 2, brings northeast to halt

Education “It’s my choice for my baby.

Maybe later he can have a good education. US has the best universities in the world. In the future, maybe he can come here if he wants,” she tells AFP. As US citizens, her baby will be eligible for college loans and grants. And her parents will be able to apply for a family visa, if they want to settle in the United States.

A couple, who also ask not to be named, say their reasons are different.

“We want to have another child.

After the birth of a child, it’s not possible,” he says, referring to China’s one-child policy — which only counts the number of officially Chinese children.

“If the child is born in a foreign country, the Chinese (officials) are not going to ask for ID,” he added.

USA Baby Care, which has a hotel in Anaheim — near Disneyland, south of Los Angeles — offers lodging and prenatal care for expectant mothers — but offers other reasons to convince Asian women to give birth in the US under its president Barack Obama.

“In the case of political instability or unrest, US citizens enjoy the protection of the US government,” it says on a Chinese-language website, which has a picture of a baby next to the Statue of Liberty and US Capitol.

“Even if there is an airspace shut-down, they enjoy priority to get on a plane to leave,” notes the service, which has prices ranging from $14,000 to $22,000.

Depending But mothers, like the organizations or people who house them, run serious risks with US authorities, depending on exactly how they go about it.

“There is nothing in the law that makes it illegal for pregnant women to enter the United States,” Virginia Kice, regional spokeswoman for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told AFP. “However if a pregnant woman or anyone else uses fraud or deception to obtain a visa or gain admission to the United States, that would constitute a criminal act,” she added.

“Likewise, that would also be true if someone conspires with others who then commit fraud on his or her behalf.

She noted that the “focus on in any visa fraud probe would be on the instigators or organizers, since that is key to disrupting and ultimately dismantling the criminal activity.

“Often the defendants who orchestrate such schemes face violations beyond just visa fraud,” including possible conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements, she added.

Cleopatra Pendleton (left), and her son Nathaniel Jr arrives at the Calahan Funeral Home for the wake of Pendleton’s daughter Hadiya on Feb 8, in Chicago. A White House official says Michelle Obama will attend Saturday’s funeral for the 15year-old Pendleton who was killed after returning home from performing during inauguration festivities for President President Obama. Hadiya was killed in a park close to the Obama’s home on Chicago’s South Side. Police say a gunman hopped a fence and opened fire on a group of young people, killing the drum majorette. No arrests have been made. (AP)

Sharry

Travis

North America Activists push path: Immigration activists on Friday rejected the idea of granting legal status short of US citizenship to illegal immigrants in emerging legislation. The activists said that only citizenship would be acceptable for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants and that the compromise idea floated by some House Republicans, offering legalization but not citizenship, won’t work.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, said allowing illegal immigrants to legalize their status without the prospect of citizenship would “create an institutionalized group of second-class noncitizens.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

NEW YORK, Feb 9, (Agencies): A ferocious snowstorm pummeled the northeastern United States for a second straight day Saturday, killing at least two people, bringing transportation to a halt and cutting off power to at least half a million customers.

The storm dumped more than a foot and a half (about 46 centimeters) of snow on New York state and Connecticut, severing power and transport links for tens of millions of people.

Massachusetts, which was due to bear the brunt of the blizzard, was forecast to get up to two feet of snow.

With wind and heavy snow snapping power lines everywhere in the affected area, more than half a million customers sat in homes without electricity, including 389,000 in Massachusetts, 177,000 in Rhode Island, and 35,000 in Connecticut.

Airlines canceled more than 3,000 flights on Friday. New York, one of the world’s busiest air travel hubs, was cut off from the skies as snow and wind led airlines to suspend all operations at LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy International airports.

A car driven by a young woman went out of control in the snow on a highway in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, striking and killing a 74-year-old man, who was walking on the shoulder of the road.

And in Auburn, New Hampshire, a man was killed after losing control of Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle will serve 18 years and five months behind bars because of time he has already served, Provincial court Judge Patrick Curran said. Curran also ordered Delisle to pay a fine of nearly CA$111,817 ($111,700).

Delisle, 41, pleaded guilty in October to espionage for selling secrets to the Russians. He worked at a naval intelligence center and had access to information shared

his car and hitting a tree, local officials said.

Minor injuries were reported in a 19-car pileup on Interstate 295 in Falmouth, Maine, caused by poor visibility and slippery road conditions.

State state utility companies in Connecticut said they were planning for up to 30 percent of their customers, or more than 400,000 homes, to eventually lose power.

A gust of 74 miles (119 kms) per hour winds was reported on Nantucket Island.

LaGuardia general manager Tom Bosco told NY1 television that the airport was “battling” the storm and would strive to remain open even after the airlines shut down for the night.

In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick ordered all regular traffic off state roads, with the threat of up to a year in jail for violators.

Exemptions “There are a number of exemptions for... emergency workers and the like.

Please exercise caution and use common sense,” Patrick said at his emergency center in Framingham.

In Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy issued a “ban on motor vehicle travel on limited access highways” to free up emergency services traffic and suspended commuter train service between New York and New Haven, Connecticut.

Rhode Island, where some of America’s most exclusive summer homes are located, also instituted

by Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Ringleader gets 15 yrs: The 67-yearold Amish ringleader of hair- and beard-cutting attacks on fellow members of his faith denied he ran a cult, but was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison, while family members convicted of carrying out his

Navy officer gets 20 yrs: A Canadian navy intelligence officer who pleaded guilty to selling military secrets to Russia was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Devastated The storm came a little over three months after Hurricane Sandy devastated swathes of New York and New Jersey, killing 132 people and causing damage worth some $71.4 billion.

“In addition to the heavy snowfall, wind gusts of up to hurricane force are possible, especially near the coast,” the National Weather Service warned. “This will result in blizzard conditions with drifting and blowing snow.”

Travel at night “will be extremely hazardous, if not impossible,” it added. Among the more glamorous victims of the travel upsets was designer Marc Jacobs, who said he had to reschedule his two shows at New York Fashion Week due to storm-related “production problems.”

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who came under withering criticism for the city’s flat-footed response to a blizzard in 2010, said residents should stock up with vital supplies and prepare for the worst.

“Stay off the city streets, stay out of your cars,” he said at a news conference. “Staying off the streets will make it easier for city workers to clear the streets of snow.”

New York’s four zoos also announced they were closing for the orders got sentences ranging from one to seven years in Cleveland.

The judge said the defendants had violated the constitutional rights protecting religious practice that had also benefited them as Amish. Authorities had prosecuted the attacks as a hate crime. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

US cannibalism trial: Some prospective

Obama’s health bid

Letter finally to return to Alamo: An 1836 letter penned by the commander of the small force of Texans defending the Alamo, a pivotal battle in the Texas Revolution that led to its break from Mexico, will be displayed for the first time at the San Antonio mission.

With its dramatic ending - “Victory or Death!” - the letter by William Travis, written on both sides of a single sheet of paper, is considered one of the defining documents of 19th century American history.

“I call on you in the name of liberty, patriotism, and everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with all dispatch,” Travis wrote in the open letter, in which he pleaded for reinforcements, addressing the letter to “the People of Texas and All Americans in the World.” (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

driving restrictions.

In addition to the road and air snarlups, the rail service Amtrak said trains from New York northbound and also southbound to the capital Washington were being suspended.

Bishops reject offer

A firing party participates during the funeral of Army Sergeant Aaron X. Wittman on Feb 8, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Sergeant Wittman, 28, of Chester, Virginia, was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Georgia. He died on Jan 10, in Khogyani District of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, from injuries sustained after his unit was hit by a small arms fire. (AFP)

WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (RTRS): US Roman Catholic bishops last week rejected the Obama Administration’s latest bid for compromise over a hotly disputed health policy that requires employees at religiously affiliated institutions to have access to insurance coverage for contraceptives.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said his group would redouble efforts to reach an agreement on the contraceptives issue after more than a year of protest and scores of federal lawsuits from Catholics groups and other social conservatives.

duration of the storm.

The good news was that the storm’s peak was due as the weekend began, meaning far fewer people would be on the roads. Forecasters said the system should blow through on Saturday, with milder temperatures to follow.

Ahead of the storm, locals were wondering whether it would match the intensity of the ferocious blizzard of 1978, which killed 100 people and buried Boston in more than 27 inches (69 centimeters) of snow and Providence, Rhode Island in nearly 28 inches. During that storm, people were forced to abandon cars stuck on highways and made their way around Boston on cross country skis and snowshoes.

The behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the US Northeast on Saturday, dumping more than 2 feet (more than a half meter) of snow on New England and knocking out power to 650,000 homes and businesses.

At least four deaths were being blamed on the storm, three in Canada and one in New York.

In southern Ontario, an 80-year-old woman collapsed while shoveling her driveway and two men were killed in car crashes. In New York, a 74-yearold man died after being struck by a car in Poughkeepsie; the driver said she lost control in the snowy conditions, police said.

See Also Page 29 jurors in the conspiracy trial of a police officer accused of plotting to kill and eat women were so disturbed at a judge’s description of the case and staged pictures depicting women being abused that they said they were too hurt emotionally to be fair.

“I am shaking just writing,” one potential juror wrote Friday. “I feel physically ill,” said another. “Already sick to stomach,” said a third. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

US man charged: The FBI arrested a California man on Friday after he tried to set off what he thought was a car bomb outside a bank, capping a months-long undercover sting operation, federal authorities said in Wshignton.

Matthew Aaron Llaneza, 28, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Federal agents arrested Llaneza in the early morning hours as he attempted to use a cellphone to detonate a bomb inside a sport utility vehicle parked at a Bank of America branch in Oakland, in the San Francisco Bay Area. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

US orders shutdown: US regulators have ordered the immediate shutdown of a tour bus operator involved in a Southern California crash that killed eight people.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a statement Friday that the buses operated by Scapadas Magicas LLC pose an imminent hazard to public safety. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

15

Deficit ‘Economy at risk’

Obama warns on ‘sequester’ WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AFP): US President Barack Obama urged Congress Saturday to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction, warning that steep budget cuts known as “the sequester” would hurt the economy and threaten thousands of American jobs.

“If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

“All our economic progress could be put at risk,” he added.

The cuts, which are due to take effect on March 1, would also affect US military readiness, said the president.

Furman “As our military leaders have made clear, changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats in an unstable part of the world,” Obama pointed out.

The sequester was agreed by the president and Congress in 2011 to be so punishing that it would force Washington’s warring political factions to forge an agreement on a way to cut the US budget deficit.

But amid partisan gridlock, no agreement on cutting the deficit has been reached and cuts due in March will slash defense spending by $55 billion and non-defense discretionary spending by $27 billion this year.

On Friday, the White House issued a doom-laden survey of the impact of sequestration.

It said 10,000 teacher jobs were at risk, food inspections could stop, 373,000 mental health patients would lose treatment and prosecutors could be furloughed.

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (left), watches soldiers pass by while flanked by his wife Sylvia (2nd left), US President Barack Obama (center), and US Army Gen Martin E. Dempsey (right), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during an Armed Service farewell ceremony for Sec Panetta at Joint Base Ft Myer, on Feb 8, in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)

Obama says farewell to defense chief as successor awaits vote President Barack Obama bade a fond farewell to retiring US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at a ceremony on Friday and voiced strong support for his nominated successor, Chuck Hagel, who was attacked by Republicans at a contentious Senate confirmation hearing last week.

Panetta, in his 19 months as Pentagon chief, ended the ban on women serving in front-line combat roles and oversaw the integration of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.

The Iraq war ended and the last Afghanistan “surge” troops came home on his watch.

But he may be remembered

Loans The FBI would have 1,000 fewer officers, small business loans would be cut by $540 million, and around 600,000 women and children could lose government-funded emergency nutrition, according to the White House.

“The good news is, there’s another option,” Obama said.

He reminded his audience that two months ago, the White House and Congress faced a similar prospect of deep cuts and tax hikes, known as the “fiscal cliff”.

On that occasion, said the president, Democrats and Republicans managed to come together and make “responsible cuts and manageable changes to our tax code” to pull back from the brink.

“This time, Congress should pass a similar set of balanced cuts and close more tax loopholes until they can find a way to replace the sequester with a smarter, longerterm solution,” Obama said.

The US military says it may have to skip the Paris air show this year for the first time because of the cuts, and the Navy has already halted the deployment of the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman to the Gulf.

The sequester was agreed by the president and Congress to be so punishing that it would force Washington’s warring political factions to forge an agreement on a way to cut the US budget deficit.

But amid partisan gridlock, no agreement on cutting the deficit has been reached and cuts due in March will slash defense spending by $55 billion and non-defense discretionary spending by $27 billion this year.

The White House said Friday that the cuts would amount to nine percent of spending for non defense programs and 13 percent for defense.

Jobs The Bipartisan Policy Center has said that a million jobs will be lost by the end of next year caused by a slowdown brought on by the cuts.

“Sequester is a blunt and indiscriminate instrument that poses a serious threat to our national security, domestic priorities and the economy,” said Danny Werfel, the federal controller of the Office of Management and Budget.

“It does not represent a responsible way to achieve deficit reduction.”

Jason Furman, principal deputy director of the National Economic Council, warned that the sequester would also have long-term economic impacts.

“We got a tiny bit of a preview of what that might look like in the fourth quarter GDP numbers, where GDP contracted because of a large contraction in defense spending that was, at least in part, due just to fears about the sequester before it even started to hit,” he said.

The Commerce Department reported at the end of January that the US economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

most for his work before he came to the Pentagon in July 2011, as the CIA director who helped oversee the raid earlier that year that killed Osama bin Laden.

Obama noted the progress against al-Qaeda under Panetta’s tenure and added that “we’ve been relentless against

its affiliates.”

After citing Panetta’s accomplishments, Obama then turned to Hagel, the decorated combat veteran the president picked to take over at the Pentagon. Amid Republican maneuvering, Hagel still hasn’t had a nomination vote in the Senate.

A former two-term senator

who fell out with his Republican Party over the Iraq war, Hagel faced harsh questioning at his nomination hearing last week from Republicans seeking to portray him as soft on Iran and anti-Israel.

Some Republicans have said they will not vote for Hagel, even though he is expected to win

confirmation. Obama again gave Hagel his full-throated support.

“Keeping us prepared will be the mission of my nominee to be the next secretary of defense, a combat veteran with the experience, judgment, and vision that our troops deserve — Chuck Hagel,” Obama said. (RTRS)

Politics ‘Battle lines’ drawn as State of the Union night approaches

Obama to advance liberal agenda US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to reporters at the State Department in Washington on Feb 8, after a bilateral meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. Beyond US-Canada relations and the Keystone XL pipeline project, Kerry warned Iran to come to upcoming nuclear talks prepared to talk seriously with world powers about addressing concerns over its nuclear program. (AP)

Rice

Judd

America

WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (RTRS): If Inauguration Day marked the official rollout of a tougher, bolder President Barack Obama, look for him to take it a step further on Tuesday night: his State of the Union address is expected to lay out an unabashedly liberal Democratic agenda to a US Congress half controlled by conservative Republicans.

With his poll numbers up, his supporters’ expectations high and Republicans still in disarray after their lackluster showing in the November election, Obama would seem to have good reason to press ahead.

But the political and fiscal realities of a divided Washington will make it difficult for him to translate the ambitious themes he articulates from the podium — a US immigration overhaul, gun control, tax reform and possibly even action on climate change — into legislative form.

On top of that, Obama knows the clock is ticking.

The consensus among Washington insiders is that the Democratic president has a limited window, possibly as little as a year and a half, to push through his congressional priorities before being reduced to lame-duck status.

Obama also faces the risk of overreach, a common pitfall of second-term presidents, and his new, hard-line approach in the latest fiscal battles

WH follows path of predecessor

US president hawk on war against terror WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AP): For all of his liberal positions on the environment, taxes and health care, President Barack Obama is a hawk when it comes to the war on terror.

From deadly drones to secret interrogations to withholding evidence in terror lawsuits, Obama’s Democratic White House has followed the path of his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush. The US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains open, despite Obama’s pledge to close it, and his administration has pursued leaks of classified information to reporters even more aggressively than Bush’s.

“They have maintained momentum in a lot of important areas that we were focused on, and they’ve continued to build in those areas,” said Ken Wainstein, the White House homeland security adviser and a top

Justice Department lawyer under Bush. “You can see an appreciation for the severity of the threat, the need to stand up to it, and the need to go on offense at times.”

John Brennan’s confirmation hearing this week to be CIA director showed just how much Washington and especially Democrats - has come to accept the same counterterrorism policies that drew such furor in the first years after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

Brennan refused to call waterboarding a form of torture but called it “reprehensible” and, if CIA director, said he would not allow it. He also said he didn’t know whether any valuable information was gleaned as a result. His more than three hours of testimony was received by a mostly friendly panel of senators, and his confirmation is expected to move for-

ward soon.

In October 2007, by contrast, Bush’s attorney general nominee, Judge Michael Mukasey, called waterboarding “repugnant” but also refused to say whether it was torture.

His confirmation was delayed for three weeks and nearly derailed. No one expects Brennan not to be confirmed.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama has stopped or softened a number of Bush’s security tactics, including ending harsh interrogations, closing secret prisons and, overall, trying to be more transparent about counterterror policy. But he noted that Obama has delivered on his campaign promises to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, take the battle to al-Qaeda in Pakistan in Yemen before its members can attack the US, and to end the war in Iraq.

could alienate Republicans to the point of shutting down the cooperation he needs to gain traction for his other bigticket plans.

With State of the Union night approaching, the ideological battle

lines are already drawn.

“The inaugural address was a robust liberal vision, and this is going to be a detailed liberal plan,” predicted Democratic strategist Doug Hattaway.

Once again, conservatives will not

be pleased.

“If he stays on the same path as the inauguration, the president is going to come across as very in-your-face to the Republicans,” Republican strategist John Feehery said.

Rice forming bipartisan group: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is working to put together a group of highprofile Republicans and Democrats to find on bipartisan solutions to the US immigration problem, a source familiar with the plans said on Friday.

Rice, a political science professor at Stanford University in California and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is setting up the group with former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican, and two Democrats, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Formation of the group comes as President Barack Obama and both houses of Congress confront how to overhaul US immigration laws in ways that both toughen security along the US-Mexico border and provide a pathway to citizenship for as many as 11 million illegal immigrants. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Kentucky race.

“Ashley thanks Senator McConnell, Karl Rove and their negative allies for all the attention as she considers her future political plans, although a decision hasn’t been made

yet,” according to a statement from a Judd spokesman.

Rove launched a Kentucky-targeted You Tube video advertisement this week that suggests the actress does not fit the conservative

‘Favorite politico’

Clinton tops poll

GOP ad attacks Judd: Republicans launched a political ad in Kentucky this week attacking actress Ashley Judd as a “Hollywood liberal” even though she has not yet decided to run for the US Senate.

The ad, backed by Republican strategist Karl Rove, prompted Judd to respond that she was grateful for the attention as she mulls a run against Republican US Senate leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014

culture of the state. Rove said on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” Thursday night that “this is just the opening ad” and there will be more to come. Rove’s American Crossroads group declined a Reuters request for com-

In this Jan 31 file photo, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen Carl Levin, D-Michigan (right), talks with committee member Sen Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, during the committee’s confirmation hearing for former Nebraska Republican Sen Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s choice for defense secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Levin said Friday he will press ahead with a vote on Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary, rejecting Republican demands for more financial information from President Barack Obama’s choice as setting an unprecedented new standard. (AP)

WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AFP): She may be fresh out of a job, but Hillary Clinton is currently the most popular political figure in America, well ahead of President Barack Obama, who is slipping, a poll published Friday found.

Clinton, who stepped down last month as Obama’s secretary of state, enjoys a 61 percent favorability among US voters compared with a 34 percent unfavorable rating, according to a survey by Quinnipiac University.

Obama, who beat Clinton to the Democratic nomination in 2008 and took the White House, had a positive-negative favorability of 51-46 percent.

ment. (RTRS) ❑

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Paul to deliver response: Sen Marco Rubio is not the only potential Republican presidential candidate delivering a response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Sen Rand Paul is giving the tea party’s response.

The Tea Party Express, one of the largest organizations in the movement, said Friday that the Kentucky senator will deliver its response. The conservative lawmaker will speak immediately after Rubio, who is giving the official Republican response to the president Tuesday night.

The group says it’s pleased that Rubio and Paul, both of whom had the backing of the movement in their 2010 elections, will be speaking. Previous tea party speakers who countered Obama’s major address were Rep Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and 2012 presidential candidate Herman Cain. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Campbell steps down: The top US diplomat for Asian affairs, Kurt Campbell, stepped down from his post Friday after almost four years in the job helping to steer America’s pivot to Asia, a US official said.

Campbell has served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs since June 2009, and has criss-crossed the region since taking over from his predecessor Christopher Hill. (AFP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

16

World News Roundup Germany Plagiarism scandal

Merkel ally steps down BERLIN, Feb 9, (AFP): German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a major political blow less than eight months before elections when her education minister, a close ally, stepped down on Saturday over plagiarism allegations.

Merkel said she had accepted the resignation of Annette Schavan “with a heavy heart” after her former university stripped her of her docSchavan torate, saying she had plagiarised parts of her thesis “Person and Conscience” 33 years ago.

Schavan vowed to fight the allegations but said she did not want the scandal to damage the office, the party or the federal government.

“I think today is the right day to leave my ministerial post and to concentrate on my duties as a member of parliament,” said an emotional Schavan.

Merkel said she had suggested to the country’s president that Johanna Wanka, a minister in the state of Lower Saxony, should succeed her.

Schavan, 57, became the second close ally of Merkel to step down over plagiarism after Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a popular defence minister sometimes tipped as a future chancellor, resigned in 2011.

The extent of Schavan’s alleged plagiarism is thought to be less than that of zu Guttenberg’s, whose actions earned the aristocrat the nicknames “Baron Cut-And-Paste” and “zu Googleberg.”

Mistakes Nevertheless, Schavan’s mistakes were seen as indefensible given her position as education and research minister in a country where academic titles are taken extremely seriously.

There was also an element of schadenfreude given her reaction to zu Guttenberg’s downfall, when she said she was “ashamed” of her former cabinet colleague.

“As someone who was herself awarded a doctorate 31 years ago and who has supervised several doctoral candidates, I am ashamed and not just behind closed doors,” she told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung at the time.

Merkel paid tribute to Schavan, seen as a close personal friend as well as a strong political ally, saying: “Her performance in this very important post has been extraordinary. Education and research in Germany... owe a lot to her.”

“She has put her own personal interests behind the interests of the greater good,” said Merkel, visibly shaken.

Mass circulation daily Bild noted: “The departure was difficult for both of them ... the chancellor has seldom seemed so moved as in these few minutes. Her eyes seemed to be welling up.”

Schavan thanked her “dear Angela” and said their friendship would extend beyond this professional break.

Fight “I will not accept this decision (from the university) and will fight against it. I neither copied my dissertation nor cheated. The accusations... affect me deeply,” said Schavan.

However, she acknowledged that there were consequences to be drawn when an education and research minister takes up a legal battle with her former university and said she was resigning as “the office should not be damaged.”

“My decision stems from the same responsibility with which I have tried to carry out my office,” she added.

“First my country, then my party and then me personally.”

The resignation came as an unwelcome distraction for Merkel as she gears up to run for a third term at the helm of Europe’s top economy in elections on Sept 22.

Although the chancellor enjoys a huge popularity lead over her gaffeprone Social Democrat rival, Peer Steinbrueck, the gap between the two main parties appears to be narrowing, according to some polls.

A survey for ARD public television channel on Friday showed Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrat/Christian Social Union bloc losing a point and Steinbrueck’s SPD gaining two points to close the gap to 10 points.

Writing before the resignation, the influential weekly Die Zeit noted that Merkel could always reemploy her friend after the election if she won her legal scrap with the university.

“After the conclusion of the process in the autumn she could then even re-install her in office — provided that Schavan wins her legal battle and Merkel the election,” wrote the paper.

Cardinal Tacisio Bertone, small figure beneath Bernini's baldachin, celebrates a mass to mark the 900th anniversary of the Order of the Knights of Malta inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Feb 9. (Inset): Pope Benedict XVI waves as he leaves after the mass in St Peter's Basilica to mark the 900th anniversary of the Order of the Knights of Malta, on Saturday at the Vatican. (AP/AFP)

Vatican celebrates Knights of Malta’s 900 years The Knights of Malta, one of the most peculiar organizations in the world, marked its 900th birthday Saturday with a colorful procession through St. Peter’s Square, a Mass in the basilica and an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, himself a member of the onetime chivalrous order drawn

from Europe’s nobility.

The Knights are at once a Roman Catholic religious order, an aid group that runs soup kitchens, hospitals and ambulance services around the globe, and a sovereign entity that prints its own passports and enjoys diplomatic relations with 104 coun-

tries — yet has no country to call its own.

Some 4,000 people — volunteers in neon orange civil protection suits, children in red berets and members each draped in a black cloak with a white, eight-pointed Maltese Cross on the front — processed through St

Peter’s Square and into the basilica for the Mass marking the 900th anniversary of the order’s recognition by the Holy See. After the Mass, which was celebrated by the Vatican No 2, Benedict came to the basilica for an audience during which he thanked the order for

its service and urged it to continue providing health care for the world’s neediest while staying true to its Christian ideals.

The order’s work, he said, “is not mere philanthropy but an effective expression and a living testimony of evangelical love.” (AP)

Adoption Mothers caught in legalistic blind alley ready to start new life

US adoptive moms get Russian kids

A station of the ‘Bateaux-Mouches’ riverboat company is pictured along partially submerged banks of the river Seine in front of the Eiffel tower (center) on Feb 9, in Paris, as the river Seine’s level rose in Paris.

Roads along the river are closed to motorists since Feb 6 after the level of the water was reported at 3.79 meters high instead of the usual 2 meters. (AFP)

Berlusconi

Rajoy

Europe Tax amnesty proposal revived: Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has revived proposals for a sweeping amnesty on unpaid taxes and building permit violations as he tries to gain ground on the centre-left ahead of elections on Feb. 24-25.

The pledge follows Berlusconi’s eyecatching promise to scrap a hated housing tax imposed by the technocrat government of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti and reimburse last year’s payments.

(RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

MOSCOW, Feb 9, (AP): After weeks of anxiety, plodding through the opaque Russian legal system and suffering wallet-thinning expenses, two US women have custody of their adopted Russian children and are preparing to take them home to start a new life together.

Jeana Bonner of South Jordan, Utah, and Rebecca Preece from Nampa, Idaho, told The Associated Press on Saturday about the confusions and emotional swings they’ve gone through since arriving in Moscow in mid-January, expecting to quickly leave with their children, both of whom have Down syndrome; the Bonners and Preeces each have another child with the syndrome.

Bonner and Preece, and their husbands Wayne and Brian, had spent about a year, including multiple trips to Russia, to arrange for the adoption of the 5-year-old girl and 4 1/2year-old boy. By late 2012, the adoptions had received court approval and they thought all they had to do was wait out the 30-day period in which such rulings can be challenged. ization that opposes evictions in Spain says one of its members has committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of a building a year after he, his wife and young daughter were evicted from their home.

Rafael Cidres, a spokesman for Stop

But in those 30 days, a ban on Americans adopting Russian children sped through parliament and into law, part of a hastily born package of measures retaliating against a new US law allowing sanctions on Russians identified as human-rights violators.

Blind alley When Jeana Bonner and the Preeces arrived in Moscow, they found themselves caught in a legalistic blind alley. Although officials said adoptions approved before the ban would go through, the judge who was to issue the decree formally granting custody said the ban meant there was now no mechanism for him to do so.

Help came from a surprising quarter - the office of Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, who has been one of the strongest critics of American adoptions. The office appointed an attorney for the Preeces and Bonners, who obtained a Supreme Court order directing the lower court to immediately issue the decree, Bonner said.

“We were really excited and thought ‘let’s go pick up our chilEvictions, said fellow activist Francisco Lema Breton, who was unemployed, killed himself Friday after receiving a bill for 20,000 euros ($26,700) to cover his legal fees regarding the eviction.

Police confirmed the fatality. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Evicted’ jumps to death: An organ-

Decree The decree came through on Feb. 5 and the women rushed to the orphanages.

“It was an amazing day, just so special, what we’d hoped and dreamed it would be,” Bonner said.

Both aim to leave on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, they’ve been doting on the kids, who are keeping their Russian names as middle names and getting new first names - Jaymi Viktoria Bonner and Gabriel Artur Preece.

The children have already brought some cheerful surprises to the toy-

Activist under house arrest: A Russian court on Saturday put prominent opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov under house arrest amid accusations he incited mass disorder to overthrow President Vladimir Putin, local media reported.

The Basmanny court in Moscow was

Airport reopens

Crash kills five

Rajoy publishes tax returns: Spain’s prime minister published his tax returns on Saturday in a bid to quell reports he and other conservative politicians received secret cash payments but the opposition said many questions remain unanswered.

The government’s website posted tax authority documents detailing Mariano Rajoy’s income and tax payments from 2004 to 2012. His ruling People’s Party (PP) also revealed four years of financial accounts on Friday, in another attempt to put the matter to rest. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

dren’,” Bonner said. But the lower court waited another 15 days.

“That was really frustrating and disheartening” especially because some other American adoptive parent had received quick action from courts in other regions of Moscow, she said. The further delay forced Brian Preece to go back home to attend to the family’s fireplace business, while the two women stayed, racking up what Rebecca Preece said were “a couple thousand dollars” in costs for food, accommodation and canceled flights.

Berndt Heidenreich works on giant snowman ‘Jakob’ on Feb 8, in Bischofsgruen, southern Germany. Residents and visitors of Bischofsgruen traditionally celebrate Rose Monday around the giant snowman. This year’s edition, Jakob XXVII, has a height of 1,050 meters. (AFP)

BRUSSELS, Feb 9, (RTRS): A small passenger plane crashed at Belgium’s Charleroi airport on Saturday, killing five people and closing the international hub used by Ryanair for six hours just as thousands of people were due to go away on holiday.

The aircraft, a Cessna, had problems on takeoff and tried to return to Charleroi to make an emergency landing but crashed on the side of the runway, airport officials said.

The airport was closed immediately after the crash, which happened just before 10:00 am (0900 GMT), and reopened at 4:00 pm after an investigation on the runway was completed.

laden hotel rooms where they’re staying until the flight to the US “As soon as he saw the bathtub, he wanted a bath,” Preece said.

“That’s been his favorite thing to do, sit in the warm water, sit and splash in the bathtub.”

The pleasure of finally having the children has smoothed over much of the last month’s distress and the women expect to leave Russia with favorable memories.

In light of ombudsman Astakhov’s criticism of American adoptions and frequent complaints that adopted Russian children face abuse and even death at the hands of their new parents, “We were very surprised that he had appointed that attorney for us,” Preece said.

“It makes us hopeful for the other families that have met their children and really would like to finish their adoptions,” she said. “It makes us hopeful that they will do the right thing for these families as well.”

At the time the ban went into effect, 46 adoption cases went into the legal limbo. US officials have not said how many cases have been resolved. responding to a request by investigators who said Udaltsov was not showing good behaviour and not cooperating with the authorities.

The judge said that Udaltsov could flee abroad or “try to carry out his criminal intentions”. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Grodzka loses bid: Poland’s parliament will not make history as the first in the world to have a transsexual deputy speaker, after lawmakers from an anticlerical party on Friday failed to push through their candidate in this deeply Roman Catholic nation.

Born as a man, Grodzka, 58, was nominated last week for the position by party colleagues in the left-wing, Palikot Movement, which advocates legalising marijuana and civil unions for gay couples. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Protests hit Slovenia: Thousands of people rallied for and against Slovenia’s center-right government Friday, adding to the tensions in the small European Union country where authorities have turned to austerity measures to revive the economy.

About 5,000 flag-waving pro-government activists gathered at a central square in the capital, Ljubljana, Friday morning.

Hours later, around 20,000 people protested against the leadership. It was the largest anti-government rally since the protests started about two months ago. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

17

New Year Austere celebrations

Beijing ‘tones’ down revelries BEIJING, Feb 9, (AP): Chinese New Year is traditionally a time for colorful and noisy displays of fireworks and generous-portioned banquets. This year, the festivities are likely to be a little more austere.

Authorities have asked the public to set off fewer fireworks in Beijing to reduce pollution, a new antiextravagance drive has Xi prompted government officials and state-owned companies to cancel their banquets at high-end hotels and a campaign against food waste is leading to half-portions in restaurants. Even ads for luxury goods were pulled ahead of Saturday’s opening of the seven-day holiday.

All in all, China’s Lunar New Year is shaping up to be a Leaner New Year.

Following a call by China’s new leader Xi Jinping to oppose waste, a village just outside of Beijing has canceled its mass dumpling festival that has been taking place for the past 30 years, involves hundreds of people and draws television cameras.

“We planned to make about 50,000 dumplings and now the plan has been canceled,” said a woman surnamed Wang from the Liuminying village committee’s tourist office. “The flour bought for the festival will be distributed to the villagers and we haven’t bought the meat yet. Villagers will make dumplings at home with their own families and they may feel like this is a new experience for them since they haven’t done it that way for such a long time.”

Performers take part in a traditional Qing Dynasty ceremony in which emperors prayed for good fortune, during the opening of an annual fair at the Temple of Earth park in Beijing on Feb 9, a day before the Lunar New Year. China is preparing to welcome the Lunar New Year of the snake which falls on Feb 10. (AFP)

Japan Tokyo may release data proving radar incident

Japan suggests hotline to Beijing

Oppose Xi recently called for people to be more frugal and oppose waste following a “Clear the Plate” campaign by netizens calling on restaurants to cut down food waste. His words sparked off an anti-food waste campaign in state media.

He had already launched a crackdown against government extravagance, aimed at cutting corruption by officials, which angers the general public and threatens the party’s hold on power.

Capsulizing the new mood, the website of the Global Times newspaper on Wednesday displayed a photo of workers at a power supply company in eastern Anhui province writing “cut down waste” slogans on balloons.

The Beijing city government together with catering associations announced that the restaurant industry should reduce food waste. Ten companies with a total of 749 branches have responded with a plan to offer half-portions and encourage people to take away their leftovers, according to the Beijing News.

A lot of people are already asking for the half portions, said a waitress at Xiabu Xiabu, one of the named chains, in a central Beijing office block.

Bearing the brunt of Xi’s austerity drive, government officials and state-owned companies are stopping their banquets this year, and luxury hotels are missing out on the business.

Cancelled A lot of reservations are being cancelled, many of which were for government departments and stateowned companies, said a woman surnamed Zheng at the dining department of the Zhejiang Hotel in eastern Hangzhou city.

Hu Xiaonan, 24, who works for a PR company, said having banquets over the New Year holiday is a must, but people should wrap up the leftovers. “Most people are worried about losing face” – if they take the leftovers home people will think they are too concerned about money, Hu said.

Highlighting the dangers of overindulging, the general manager of a state-owned financial investment company in southern Guangdong province has been suspended following a banquet in which he and 16 others ran up a bill worth 37,517 yuan ($5,965), according to the Zhuhai city Communist Party. They drank 12 bottles of expensive wine and Zhou Shaoqiang tried to hide the extravagance by having the restaurant make out a receipt for about a tenth of the price.

In another response to the calls for people to shun extravagance and waste, China’s TV watchdog has ordered all radio and television channels to cut advertising suggesting “gift giving,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported this week. A circular issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television says some ads have encouraged people to give luxury watches, rare stamps and gold coins, “which has publicized incorrect values and helped create a bad social ethos,” Xinhua said. This also has to do with corruption, because it’s less obvious than giving money.

In this picture taken on Jan 10, 2013, a woman displays her pet, a corn snake, during an event promoting responsible breeding and pet ownership in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong prepares to usher in the Year of the Snake, an increasing number of the reptiles are slithering their way into local households, with sales of the uncuddly pet rocketing. (AFP)

Manjun

Roberts

Asia Malaysian jailed: Activists Friday in Kuala Lumpur slammed a two-year jail term handed to a Malaysian man over the country’s biggest seizure of illegally trafficked tiger parts as too short and a “demoralising finale” to the case.

Eight tiger skins, and 22 tiger skulls and bones were discovered at the home of Nor Shahrizam Nasir in northern Malaysia in February last year, as well as nine pieces of African elephant ivory.

A district court in northern Kedah state found Nor Shahrizam guilty Thursday of illegal possession of tiger parts and ivory and he was ordered to serve 24 months in jail, said TRAFFIC, a group that monitors wildlife smuggling.

Malaysian court or wildlife officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

TRAFFIC said it was “shocking” that no fine was imposed even though the law stipulates a mandatory fine of not less than 100,000 ringgit ($32,000).

“The short jail term and the lack of a fine are a demoralising finale to what should have been a victory against wildlife crime,” said TRAFFIC Southeast Asia regional director William Schaedla.

“We hope the lapse does not crush the spirit of those authorities who are still working hard to protect Malaysia’s 500 remaining tigers,” he added.

At the time of the smuggler’s arrest, wildlife officials said the parts were likely destined for Malaysia and neighbouring countries, adding the ivory had been made into key chains.

Activists say the smuggling of endangered wildlife throughout Southeast Asia is extensive, with some animal parts still used in traditional medicines.

They say Malaysia has become a key trans-shipment point for smuggled animal goods, such as ivory.

In December, Malaysian customs officials seized 1,500 elephant tusks hidden in a timber shipment from the west African nation of Togo, the largest haul in the country to date. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Malaysia seeks more tests: A Malaysian official said Friday in Kuala

TOKYO, Feb 9, (Agencies): Japan has suggested setting up a military hotline with China to avoid clashes between the two countries, which are at loggerheads over a group of disputed islands, Tokyo’s defence minister said Saturday.

The proposal came after Tokyo accused a Chinese frigate of locking its weapons-tracking radar on a Japanese destroyer — a claim Beijing has denied.

The incident, which Japan said happened last week, marked the first time the two nations’ navies have locked horns in a territorial dispute that provoked fears of armed conflict breaking out between the two.

The neighbours — also the world’s second and third-largest economies — have seen ties sour over the uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Tokyo and Diaoyu by Beijing, which also claims them.

“What’s important is to create a hotline, so that we would be able to communicate swiftly when this kind of incident happens,” Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters.

He said Tokyo told Beijing on Thursday through its embassy in China that it wants to resume talks on creating a “seaborne communication mechanism” between military officials of both countries.

In 2010 China and Japan agreed to establish a hotline between political leaders following a series of naval incidents, but the plan has yet to materialise.

Defence officials of the two countries also agreed in 2011 to set up a Lumpur that an initial chemical analysis on 14 Borneo pygmy elephants that died mysteriously came back inconclusive as to whether they had been poisoned and that tests would be conducted abroad.

The endangered elephants were found dead last month in a protected forest in Sabah state on Borneo. Sabah is home to most of the remaining 1,200 Borneo

military-to-military hotline by the end of last year, but the talks stalled due to heightened tensions over the territorial row.

Onodera also said Japan was considering disclosing evidence to bolster its accusation of the lock-on incident, after Beijing rejected the charge.

“We have evidence. The government is considering the extent of what can be disclosed”, because it includes confidential information on Japan’s defence capability, Onodera said.

The comments came after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanded Beijing apologise and admit the incident took place.

Tokyo has also charged that last month a Chinese frigate’s radar locked on to a Japanese helicopter, in a procedure known as “painting” that is a precursor to firing weaponry.

Incidents For both alleged incidents, on January 19 and January 30, China’s defence ministry said in a statement to AFP that the Chinese ship-board radar maintained normal operations and “fire-control radar was not used”.

Onodera said on Saturday that Japan could prove the frigate used a fire-control radar, instead of an early-warning radar that China insists was used as part of normal operations.

“An early-warning radar turns around repeatedly, while a fire-control radar keeps pointing to a moving ship that it targets at,” Onodera said.

“We have evidences that the radar pygmy elephants that exist worldwide.

The elephants are feared to have been poisoned because they encroached on Malaysian plantations.

Sabah Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said the state’s wildlife department would send samples to forensic testing facilities in Thailand and Australia for more comprehensive tests to determine the cause of the elephants’

followed after our ship for a certain period of time,” he said, adding that Japan recorded a radio frequency that is peculiar to a fire-control radar.

The long-running row over the islands intensified in September when Tokyo nationalised part of the chain, triggering fury in Beijing and huge anti-Japan demonstrations across China.

Beijing has repeatedly sent ships and aircraft near the islands and both sides have scrambled fighter jets, though there have been no clashes.

“Activities of Chinese official ships around Senkaku islands have calmed”, since Tuesday, when Japan disclosed the radar incident, Onodera said.

Abe, the hawkish Japanese premier, on Thursday called the incident “extremely regrettable”, “dangerous” and “provocative”, but also said dialogue must remain an option.

Meanwhile, Japan may release data it says will prove a Chinese naval vessel directed its fire control radar at a Japanese destroyer near disputed islands in the East China Sea, local media reported.

Japan has said a Chinese frigate on Jan. 30 locked its targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer - a step that usually precedes the firing of weapons - but China insists that its vessel used only ordinary surveillance radar.

The incident has added to tensions between the two nations over the disputed islands.

Data Japan will consider how much normally classified data it can deaths.

“To ensure greater transparency of the entire issue, my ministry will be seeking a second opinion from other laboratories,” he said in a statement.

Samples will be sent immediately to the Ramathibodi Poison Center at Thailand’s Mahidol University and the chemistry lab of the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in

Shipment probed

2,600 snakes found

View of the North Korean town of Ch’ongsudong-Chung-ni taken from the Chinese town of Hekoucun on Feb 9. US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that North Korea’s expected nuclear tests only increase the risk of conflict and would do nothing to help the country’s stricken people. The country has vowed to carry out a third nuclear test soon, and concerns have been raised over the type of fissile material used in the device. (AFP)

HONG KONG, Feb 9, (AFP): Hong Kong customs authorities investigating a shipment from Thailand marked as fruit were shocked to discover the consignment instead contained 2,600 live snakes, officials said Friday.

Customs intercepted the air cargo shipment of 2,400 common rat snakes and 200 cobras on Tuesday and returned them on Thursday, a government spokeswoman said, just days before the start of the Year of the Snake in the Chinese horoscope.

The intended fate of the snakes was not known but both species are used in southern Chinese cuisine. Snake is considered a delicacy, often served as a soup, and is believed to improve blood circulation and ward off illness.

release, the media reports said, citing comments by Japan Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera on local television.

“The government is considering the extent of what can be disclosed,” Kyodo news agency quoted Onodera as saying.

China has accused Japan of smearing its name with the accusations, and on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency continued the war of words.

“By spreading false accusations and posing as a poor victim, Japan had intended to tarnish China’s image so as to gain sympathy and support, but a lie does not help,” it said in an English language commentary.

“China has been exercising maximum restraint and stayed committed to solving the dispute through dialogue and consultation.”

In other development, Japan is seeking to cooperate and exchange information with China on the recent bout of severe smog in many Chinese cities as Japanese fret that the toxic haze may drift into their own skies.

The Foreign Ministry said it plans to pursue the issue with China once its weeklong Lunar New Year holiday ends in mid-February. It is unclear if tensions with Beijing over a territorial dispute might interfere with that plan.

Many Japanese cities suffered from severe smog in earlier decades, during the country’s industrial boom. But enforcement of fuel and clean air standards helped clear the skies, and pollution is much less severe than in most of China.

Australia, he said.

Masidi said he had also directed the state’s chemistry department to expand its scope of tests on more possible chemical contaminants. Department veterinarians have said the elephants suffered severe bleeding and gastrointestinal ulcers.

The wildlife group WWF under its CEO Canter Roberts said last week that the dead elephants were found in areas being converted for plantations within permanent forest reserves, raising the prospect that they were deliberately killed by humans taking over their habitat.

Sabah, one of two Malaysian states on Borneo island, is home to endangered animals including the pygmy elephant, Sumatran rhinoceros and orangutan.

Wildlife activists say their numbers have dwindled in recent decades because of illegal poaching and the loss of jungles cut down for timber and development.

Some 60 percent of Sabah is currently under forest cover, but activists say the deforestation rate is rising, with large forest areas slated for conversion to farmland or timber concession.

Masidi said police were in the midst of a very thorough investigation, including probing plantations and logging companies within the vicinity where the dead elephants were found. Two palm oil plantations and a logging company operate in the area.

“I hope people would refrain from jumping to conclusions at this point of time and wait until the case is fully investigated to avoid innocent parties being unfairly implicated,” he said. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

18

World News Roundup Quake Relief ops on

Rescuers fight to aid victims QHONIARA, Feb 9, (AFP): Relief workers scrambled to reach quakeravaged villages in the Solomon Islands Saturday, with “unusual seismic activity” sighted as strong aftershocks continued to jolt the remote Pacific region.

Pungent steam was reportedly rising from cracks in the ground three days after a deadly 8.0magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami in the region, killing Lilo at least 13 people, destroying villages and leaving thousands homeless.

A further 12 houses were reported destroyed following a 6.8 magnitude tremor and another measuring 7.0 late Friday, which sent villagers fleeing to higher ground in fear of another tsunami.

The Solomon Islands government under its PM Gordan Darcy Lilo has declared the outlying Santa Cruz Islands a disaster area as a series of aftershocks continued to hamper relief efforts.

Damage A fragile communications system meant officials in the capital Honiara were struggling to get a clear picture of the extent of damage, but the Red Cross said food, water and shelter were a priority for quake-hit villages.

An Australian Air Force plane flew over the ravaged area on Friday and confirmed the worst damage was around the provincial capital Lata.

Authorities do not have immediate access to cargo planes capable of landing on the Lata air strip and desperately needed supplies are being shipped on a day-long journey from the Solomons capital Honiara.

“Relief operations are still going on despite the tremors and aftershocks. Water and food are the priority,” Red Cross secretary general Joanne Zoleveke said.

The first vessel to arrive, a police launch carrying medical supplies, food and shelter, reached Lata on Friday evening but could not berth until Saturday morning because of the ongoing tremors.

Analyse Volcano and seismic specialists were also being called on to analyse the significance of the steam rising from the ground in parts of the Santa Cruz Islands.

“There’s a lot of unusual seismic activity,” a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Office told AFP from Honiara.

“The earth is clearly doing something there. We are asking for scientific expertise to provide us with some information about what they think might be happening. There are cracks and some steam and water coming out.”

The first major aftershock on Friday “triggered a very small wave, this has caused some damage to Lata wharf”, the National Disaster Management Office spokeswoman said, adding it was also hindering the unloading of emergency supplies.

A larger vessel carrying bags of rice, water and a water purifier was expected to arrive on Sunday morning.

The aftershocks have prevented villagers from returning home and they are sheltering in makeshift camps sharing limited provisions, with World Vision warning that sanitation would soon become an issue.

The Solomons are part of the “Ring of Fire”, a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, who will visit the Solomons on Sunday, said the disaster “has been a devastating experience” for people in the low-lying islands.

Carr announced 300,000 Australian dollars ($309,000) in relief payments and said a Royal Australian Air Force Hercules had been sent to the Solomons to provide logistical support.

Rove said the plane would make a reconnaissance flight over the island, giving officials their first comprehensive overview of the damage.

World Vision said food and water in the hillside camps was running low and sanitation would soon become an issue.

“Destruction has been widespread in and around Lata,” it said.

“Coastal wells have been covered by debris or contaminated, water tanks and toilets have been destroyed and coastal areas are littered with dead fish and poultry.”

Performers take part in a dragon dance to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year of the Snake in China town in Manila on Feb 8. The Chinese Lunar New Year of the Snake will be celebrated on Feb 10. (AFP)

Indonesia Series of corruption scandals damage PKS

President steps in to lead ruling party Guido Westerwelle (right), Foreign Minister of Germany with K Shanmugam (second right), Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law stand during a tour to the Garden by the Bay in Singapore, Feb 9. Westerwell is in Singapore on a three-day visit accompanied by officials from the Federal Foreign Ministry of Germany. (AFP)

Key

Thein Sein

Asia NZ strikes deal: New Zealand is to accept 150 refugees a year from Australia, Prime Minister John Key said Saturday in Wellington to ease pressure on Canberra which is grappling with a surge in boatpeople heading to the region.

Key made the announcement at the end of talks with visiting Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard whose government last year faced a record number of more than 17,000 asylum-seekers arriving by boat.

“People smuggling has tragic consequences. It is a regional problem that requires regional cooperation,” Key said, adding Australia had assisted New Zealand in the past.

“There are boats that we can point to that were on their way to New Zealand where Australia has effectively taken those people.”

Gillard warned New Zealand’s assistance should not be seen as a message of encouragement to boatpeople and Australia would continue to rigorously patrol its waters.

Most of the asylum-seekers pay peoplesmugglers for passage from Indonesia on over-crowded, leaky, vessels, and sinkings are routine.

“Australia expends a lot of effort in detecting and disrupting people-smuggling ventures and prosecuting peoplesmugglers. This is transnational crime and we take a very rigorous approach,” she said.

The 150 boatpeople to be taken by New Zealand would be people who have been approved as refugees in one of Australia’s offshore processing centres, in the island state of Nauru or Manus in Papua New Guinea.

Key said they would be part of the annual quota of 750 refugees New Zealand takes as per its commitment to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

JAKARTA, Feb 9, (RTRS): Indonesia’s president has stepped in to take over his ruling party, so damaged by a series of corruption scandals that even its senior members concede it faces a rout in elections next year.

One of his ministers was felled in December after being named as a suspect in a bribery investigation by a powerful anti-corruption agency which has in recent months sunk its teeth into several politicians, including top members of the country’s most successful Muslim-based party.

The latest issue surrounds the chairman of the ruling Democrat Party, Anas Urbaningrum, who has been linked to a graft case surrounding the construction of a sports stadium, and whom President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono effectively pushed from his post on Friday night following his return from an overseas trip.

“While I am sorting things out ... I am giving (Anas) time to focus on his KPK (Corruption Eradication Agency) legal case,” Yudhoyono told reporters at his home on Friday night.

However, the president said Anas “They will not be in addition to the quota. We are limiting this to 150 in order to still maintain a significant commitment to resettling refugees referred by the UNHCR,” he said.

New Zealand last took refugees in a similar manner in 2001 when it resettled 131 of the 438 boatpeople rescued by the Norwegian freighter Tampa near Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

US welcomes Myanmar committee: The United States welcomed Friday the creation of a committee to review and release Myanmar’s last remaining political prisoners.

remained party chairman, counter to what media have said was a strong push by senior party members to have Anas ousted completely and try to repair the party’s tattered image.

Indonesia has long been listed as among the world’s most graft-ridden societies.

Chase But it is only more recently, after little more that a decade of democracy in the world’s fourth most populous nation, that Indonesia has really had the means through the KPK anti-corruption agency to chase down suspected officials and politicians.

The agency has had to fend of repeated attempts, including by police and legislators, to weaken its powers. But its head, Abraham Samad, sounded confident enough this week to state that even the president could not interfere with its investigations.

The rash of graft cases comes ahead of next year’s general and presidential votes, with no clear front runner for either.

Government coalition member the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has also been badly hit after its head was forced to step down after investigaAfter long denying their existence, the Myanmar regime has freed hundreds of political detainees since President Thein Sein took power in March 2011, and announced a review of all “politically concerned” cases in November.

On Thursday, state media said Thein Sein had established a committee to review political prisoner cases “to grant them liberty.”

“By establishing an inclusive, transparent review mechanism to ensure the release of all remaining political prisoners, the government has taken an important step toward national reconciliation,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

tions into the allegations the party was involved in a beef-import scam.

That has led to widespread media speculation that the position of Agriculture Minister Suswono, a member of the PKS party, could be at risk.

The PKS is the most successful of the Islam-based parties in the world’s most populous Muslim country. But it has faced repeated scandals including an incident when one of its MPs was photographed looking at pornography on a tablet computer in parliament.

Speculation With Yudhoyono coming to the end of his second and final five-year term next year, speculation is high over who might take over. Months of horse-trading are expected as more powerful parties try to lure candidates with some chance of winning.

One top Democrat Party official told Reuters last week that the ruling party itself would be lucky to get 10 percent of the vote next year.

The other main party, Golkar, is pushing controversial businessman Abdurizal Bakrie as its presidential candidate but he is seen even among some of his own party officials as “We look forward to supporting the implementation of this process,” she added, recalling that Thein Sein’s government had released more than 700 political prisoners over the past 18 months.

The English-language New Light of Myanmar said committee members have yet to be picked, but will be made up of government representatives as well as civil society groups and other political party members. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

No deforestation – APP: The world’s third-largest paper producer Asia Pulp and Paper said Tuesday it had stopped using logs from Indonesia’s natural forests, after fierce campaigning by

unpopular and unelectable.

His campaign appears to have suffered a setback when sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday that his debt-ridden company was in talks to sell its majority stake in a media company, potentially depriving him of easy national television access.

One of the most frequently mentioned names is the ex-son-in-law of former autocratic ruler Suharto, Prabowo Subianto, who heads the relatively small Great Indonesia Movement Party.

Prabowo, who has been denied a visa to the United States over his chequered military past, is the brother of one of Indonesia’s wealthiest businessmen.

There is speculation he might be discussing a tie-up with the head of another major party, with links to the country’s second biggest Muslim organisation, who is close to Yudhoyono.

In the absence of a strong contender, some have suggested that the popular Jakarta governor, Joko Widodo, who has escaped the graft smears that usually attach themselves to the country’s top politicians, might try his chances. green groups against the company.

The firm has in recent years lost packaging contracts with big brands such as foodmaker Kraft and Barbie’s Mattel after Greenpeace accused APP of clearing carbon-rich forest, home to endangered Sumatran tigers and orangutans.

“APP has committed to stop logging in all natural forest,” the firm’s sustainability head Aida Greenbury told AFP. “We will only expand operations on open land and scrubland.”

In a statement the company said that from “February 1st, all of APP’s suppliers have suspended natural forest clearance,” and that it was conducting assessments to identify high-conservation-value forest for protection. (AFP)

Amil resists arrest

Police shoot dead massacre suspect

Nine-year-old Hengki Hutabarat collects recyclable materials at a dumpsite in Marelan, North Sumatra, Indonesia on Feb 8. Hutabarat can make about Rp 10,000 ($1 or 0.7 euro) a day from selling plastics and other materials to recycling plants. (AP)

COTABATO, Philippines, Feb 9, (AFP): Philippine police said Saturday they had shot dead a suspect in the 2009 killings of 58 people, the country’s worst political massacre, after he hurled a grenade and fired a pistol at them.

Maguid Amil resisted arrest after being approached by policemen in the strife-torn southern province of Maguindanao on Friday, Senior Superintendent Melecio Mina said.

Arroyo The grenade did not explode but officers fired back, killing Amil, he added.

Maguindanao police chief Senior

Superintendent Rodelio Jocson said the policemen survived because Amil apparently forgot to pull the grenade’s pin.

“He must have gotten flustered. He did not pull out the pin before he threw it at the policemen,” said Jocson.

Elsewhere in Maguindanao on Friday, another suspect, Nasser Guia, was arrested by police acting on a tip-off, Mina said.

Both Guia and Amil were allegedly part of the private army of the powerful Ampatuan clan who stopped a rival political group’s convoy and herded dozens to an isolated hillside where they were murdered.

The massacre shocked the nation, forcing then president Gloria Arroyo to crack down on her former allies, the Ampatuans.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

19

Africa Militia kill 17 civilians: Khartoumbacked militia in Sudan’s South Kordofan state have killed 17 civilians, rebels said on Saturday.

They accused the group of ethnic South Sudanese of ambushing a civilian lorry on Friday at Abu Nuwara, about 80 kms (50 miles) from the border with South Sudan’s Upper Nile state.

“They clashed with the civilians there and there’s a lot of casualties,” said Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation MovementNorth (SPLM-N) which has been fighting government forces in South Kordofan since June 2011.

He said the incident Bashir occurred in a government-controlled area and blamed a militia linked to Lam Akol’s Sudan People‚Äôs Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC).

“This is ridiculous,” Akol told AFP from Khartoum. “We don’t have a militia.”

SPLM-DC is South Sudan’s main opposition party, a breakaway group from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement which has ruled the South since independence in 2011 after a 22-year civil war.

He said the rebels in South Kordofan are “just parroting what their masters in Juba are saying.” Khartoum accuses South Sudan of supporting the SPLM-North, and this has been a major obstacle for the failure of Sudan under its president Omar alBashir and South Sudan to implement key security and economic agreements signed in September. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Town mourns rape victim: Hundreds of South Africans chanting “enough is enough” gathered on Friday at a building site where a 17-year-old girl was mutilated and left to die after being gang-raped.

Their tribute was testimony to how the killing of Anene Booysen has stirred outrage in a country where many people have become oblivious to rampant sex crimes and violence.

People marched in a procession to the site in the sleepy town of Bredasdorp, 130 km (80 miles) east of Capte Town, where they placed flowers and candles by a simple wooden cross.

Booysen was found by security guards lying only a short distance from her house after partying at a nearby bar last Friday evening. She later died in hospital.(RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Revellers of Academicos do Tatuape samba school perform during the first night of Carnival parades in Sao Paulo on Feb 08. (AFP)

Carnival Dozens of cities cancel, tone down festivities

King Momo kicks off Rio Carnival

74-year-old charged: Zambian police Friday charged an elderly farmer with causing a deadly high-speed collision between a bus and a truck that killed 53, the police chief said in Lusaka.

The bus crashed into an oncoming truck on Thursday after swerving to avoid 74year-old farmer Abraham van Eeden’s vehicle, which was overtaking the truck, according to police chief Stella Libongani.

“From our investigations, the driver of the Land Cruiser ... is the cause of the accident and has since been charged with 51 counts of causing death by dangerous driving,” Libongani said in a statement.

President Michael Sata had said 53 people died in the crash, which happened 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the capital Lusaka. It was not immediately clear why 51 counts were entered. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Revellers from Academicos do Tatuape samba school perform during the first night of carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo,Brazil, on Feb 9. (AFP)

Angolan court rejects complaint: Angola’s constitutional court on Friday rejected a claim by an opposition party that President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had overstepped his powers to create the country’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund in Lisbon.

Angola launched the fund last October to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funnelling the country’s vast oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels and other high-growth projects.

Dos Santos has been accused of avoiding public scrutiny during his 33 years in power. The announcement of the fund raised criticism from opposition groups about transparency as it did not give parliament any oversight and appointed one of the president’s sons to the fund’s management board.

Opposition party CASA-CE in December asked the constitutional court to overturn the creation of the fund, arguing that the constitution did not allow a president to create reserve funds by decree without the approval of parliament. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

Detective jailed: An investigator hired by former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s defence team will spend 30 months in jail for tampering with prosecution witnesses in the landmark case, a U.N.backed court decided on Friday in Freetown.

Ex-President Taylor was convicted in April of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in supporting rebels during Sierra Leone’s civil war, the first time a head of state has been found guilty by an international tribunal since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg.

One of his defence team’s investigators, Prince Taylor — no relation to the former president — was arrested late last year and later convicted on five counts of interfering with witnesses. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ Senegal tribunal begins: Senegal officially launched its tribunal investigating former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre for alleged crimes against humanity on Friday, a move rights groups called a decisive turning point in the campaign to bring him to justice in Darkar.

The tribunal, authorized by the African Union and approved by a vote in Senegal’s parliament, marks a major step toward Africa dealing with its own alleged war criminals. Court administrator Cire Aly Ba announced the commencement of the work Friday.

“We are going to have a fair and just process,” Ba said. “We also need to think about all of the victims who could not be here to experience these moments.”

Habre faces accusations of torture, crimes against humanity and war crimes during his rule of Chad from 1982 to 1990.

He has enjoyed 22 years of impunity after fleeing to Senegal — leaving behind a country strewn with mass graves. (AP)

Neruda

Lobo

Lat/Am ‘Exhume Neruda remains’: A Chilean judge has ordered the remains of poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda exhumed in a probe into whether he died of cancer as commonly believed or was killed by agents serving Augusto Pinochet in Santiago. The exhumation was announced Friday by the foundation that manages his literary legacy.

The leftist poet, who died 12 days after the 1973 military coup that ousted socialist president Salvador Allende and brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was long believed to have died of prostate cancer. But officials in 2011 started looking into the possibility he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime, as claimed

by Neruda’s driver and aide.

Neruda is best known for his love poems as well as his “Canto General” — an epic poem about South America’s history and its people. A senior member of Chile’s Communist Party, his writings were banned during Pinochet’s military dictatorship, which ended in 1990. An exhumation date will be decided in March.

Neruda is buried next to his wife Matilde Urrutia in Isla Negra, 120 kms (75 miles) west of the capital Santiago. He won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 9 , (Agencies): Under a shower of confetti and with pulsating samba music, portly King Momo on Friday officially kicked off Rio’s famed Carnival, a five-day fest that will climax in spectacular weekend parades of top samba schools.

Milton Rodrigues da Silva, the event’s symbol of overweight excess, symbolically received a giant key to the city from Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes.

“The time has come to hand over my duties to magnificent King Momo so that the city may have fun under his rule,” said Paes, wearing a white panama hat and a collar of blue flowers. “Let there be peace and joy.”

“I declare the Rio Carnival open!” responded King Momo, who in real life is a 33-year-old bank teller.

He then hoisted the city key and wowed the crowd with a gracefully executed samba dance in spite of his 150 kilograms (330 pounds).

Flanked by his queen and two princesses, King Momo, resplendent in white suit and shoes, earlier arrived in a vintage Ford convertible at City Hall as a band played “Marvellous City,” the official song of Rio. “Long live the monarchy! Long live the king!,” shouted members of his retinue, including a few elderly sambistas wearing their trademark lacquered shoes.

“King Momo represents the madness of the city he rules. Carnival means samba dancing and drinking galore, and of course lots of women.

Without women, there is no carnival,” said 80-year-old Anatalio Isidoro da Silva, a sprightly, lifelong sambista.

Last November, King Momo was crowned king for the fifth year in a dents in the township of Ayutla would determine the next step.

The movement has spread to about a dozen towns, with farmers wearing ski masks and bearing old hunting rifles and shotguns setting up roadside checkpoints to

row, pocketing $10,000.

His majesty, who says that he plans to keep his crown through 2016, has a punishing schedule.

Events He must hold court at private events, street parties, and most importantly at the sumptuous parades he will open at the Sambodrome — the Samba parade ground designed by the late Oscar Niemeyer — Sunday and Monday night.

The parades will feature Rio’s top 12 samba schools competing on floats packed with dancers wearing huge headgear, feathers, sequins, body paint and little else.

Carnival is Brazil’s most important festival and elaborate celebrations are staged across the country, including in cities like Sao Paulo, Salvador, Recife, Olinda, Manaus and Porto Alegre.

As is customary, Salvador — Brazil’s third largest city and the heart of the rich Afro-Brazilian culture — led the way Thursday night, with hundreds of thousands of revelers pouring into the streets to dance and party.

On his arrival in the Bahia state capital, South Korea’s “Gangnam Style” rapper Psy posted a picture of himself on Twitter with the message “Hello Salvador.”

He was due to perform later Friday with top Brazilian singers Claudia Leitte and Gilberto Gil at the start of the Salvador Carnival, which attracts two million annually and is often described as “the biggest street party in the world.”

The Brazilian Carnival this year is paying a special tribute to Koreans to mark the 50th anniversary of their immigration to the country.

Samba schools in Rio and Sao Paulo will honor the contribution of ask passing motorists for identification.

(AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Honduras sends soldiers: Honduran President Porfirio Lobo has deployed

Chance For many Brazilians, the celebrations will be a chance to forget the January nightclub fire in the southern college town of Santa Maria that left 239 young people dead.

Authorities have stepped up safety inspections at entertainment spots nationwide.

In Rio, which will host next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, some 14,500 police 1,400 soldiers to fight street gangs in the country’s two biggest and most violent cities. The troops began patrolling the capital of Tegucigalpa and the city of San Pedro Sula on Friday.

Lobo says the soldiers will coordinate

‘Pemex blast’

Vigilantes turn over 11: Mexican farmers who took up arms against druggang violence and other crime in the mountains of southern Mexico have turned over to authorities 11 of 53 people that the vigilantes have put in improvised jails over the last month as suspected criminals.

Bruno Placido, leader of the self-styled “self-defense” movement, described the 11 as the detainees accused by local residents of the most serious crimes, such as murder, kidnapping and extortion. He said they were turned over to state and federal officials.

The authorities will presumably weigh bringing charges against the detainees, but given that the suspects were taken and held with no legal authority, in some cases for weeks, any prosecution might prove difficult. The government of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where the vigilante movement sprang up after a series of kidnappings in early January, said that Placido’s group had agreed to turn over “the first 20” detainees, implying that more would eventually follow.

But Placido said an assembly of resi-

the 50,000-strong Korean community has made to this vibrant and racially diverse country of 194 million people.

But not everybody was in a festive mood.

At Rio airport, feminist activists staged a topless protest against sexual tourism, chanting sex tourists go home” as tourists disembarked from a flight from Italy.

“We are protesting because during Carnival, sexual tourism goes up 30 percent,” said 20-year-old Sara Winter, head of the Brazilian branch of Femen, a feminist movement founded in Ukraine in 2008 with the aim of combating machismo, sexual exploitation and sexual tourism.

Femen’s Brazilian branch has 20 members, including eight in a newly-opened Rio office.

Authorities meanwhile said six million people, including more than 900,000 tourists, were expected to attend the five-day Rio extravaganza.

Some 12 elite samba schools are competing for the title of Rio Carnival champion in a dazzling contest watched with the same fervor as football matches in this soccer-mad nation.

One school will pay tribute to BossaNova composer Vinicius de Moraes, co-author of the classic hit “The Girl from Ipanema.”

Death toll hits 37

Hooded men stand guard while passing the detainees to the Government of the State of Guerrero by the comunitarian police at the central square of Ayutla de los Libres, on Feb 8. Hundreds of civilians armed with rifles, pistols and machetes decided to provide security for the communities of Guerrero, creating a vigilante force, saying gangs were committing robberies, kidnappings and murder. Guerrero, home to the Pacific resort town of Acapulco, has been one of the states hardest hit by Mexico’s drug violence, which has left more than 70,000 people killed across the country since 2006. (AFP)

MEXICO CITY, Feb 9, (AP): Mexico’s federal Health Department said Friday night that a statement it issued earlier in the day listing a death of a person injured by last week’s explosion at the Pemex headquarters did not mean the disaster’s death toll had risen from 37.

The earlier statement by the agency listed a lone fatality, appearing to indicate a rise to 38 deaths.

But the department clarified later on its Twitter account that the death included in the report represented a victim who had died Monday and had been included in the death count released previously. It gave no reason for the confusion.

offiers have been mobilized to provide security.

Brazil’s Carnival celebrations cut loose on Friday, but the parades, block parties and overall festivities began under the pall of a recent nightclub fire that killed 238 people in the southern city of Santa Maria.

Even as the mayor of Rio de Janeiro handed over the keys of the city to King Momo, the ceremonial figurehead of Brazil’s best-known Carnival celebrations, the mourning continued.

President Dilma Rousseff attended a mass in honor of the fire victims at the cathedral in Brasilia, the capital, on Thursday night.

She will spend the five-day holiday in the northeastern state of Bahia, where a blackout late Thursday darkened the capital city of Salvador ahead of the revelry there. Her press office said she would not participate in any of it.

Most of the show, of course, will go on.

Psy, the Korean pop star whose “Gangnam Style” single with its signature dance moves has made him a global phenomenon, was scheduled to sing in the massive street parties in Salvador, Brazil’s third-biggest city. Other Brazilian and foreign celebrities, including American actress Megan Fox, were expected to enliven celebrations in Rio and elsewhere.

Carnival is the consummate Brazilian holiday, with most of Latin America’s biggest country closed down ahead of the Catholic season of Lent.

The annual event lures millions of locals and tourists to parties across the country. Rio alone is expected to attract 900,000 tourists and generate $665 million for the local economy this year. with police to patrol neighborhoods that are hotspots for crime. He says 800 soldiers have been assigned to Tegucigalpa and 600 to San Pedro Sula. National Police Director Juan Bonilla says this is part of a “frontal attack against crime.”

(AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Media say govt taking away ad’: Argentina’s newspapers say supermarket and appliance companies have been told to stop advertising during a price freeze the government imposed to stem inflation.

The government denies this: Consumer protection official Maria Colombo calls it “an invention” of the daily newspaper Clarin. But Clarin spokesman Martin Etchevers says advertisers told both Clarin and La Nacion they’re dropping the ads under pressure from Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno.

A trade group representing Argentina’s supermarkets did not respond to Associated Press questions on Friday.

Consumer ads bring important income to newspapers that don’t enjoy government subsidies or official advertising.

Argentina’s auditor-general criticized the government this week for spending $460 million on official advertising from 20072010, and giving most of it to only five of the country’s 300-plus media companies, without considering their audience size.

(AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

20

World News Roundup Energy Critism widspread

Malaysia scales back dam plans KUCHING, Malaysia, Feb 9, (AFP): A Malaysian state minister Friday said the government would not push ahead with building a dozen new dams on Borneo island, acknowledging they have caused outrage from local tribes and environmentalists.

The proposals sparked fears that the dams would destroy pristine rainforests, endanger wildlife, and displace natives in Sarawak, a Malaysian state crossed by powerful rivers with rich jungle habitats.

“It is not a firm plan to build 12 dams. I don’t think we will need that. We will only need four,” James Masing, Sarawak’s state minister of land development, told AFP in an interview.

Masing said the government was backing off in response to widespread criticism.

Protests over the years have seen activists and locals staging blockades of Masing roads into dam areas.

“I’m pleased that this type of thing (protests) takes place. Not all that we do is correct, and this shows we need to refine our plans and think again,” he said.

Huge The now-complete Bakun mega-dam, which is not part of the new dam proposal, has already been dogged for years by claims of corruption in construction contracts, the flooding of a huge swathe of rainforest and the displacement of thousands of tribespeople.

Despite that, the government mooted constructing more dams as part of an industrial development drive to boost the resource-rich state’s backward economy.

Another dam at Murum, also deep in the interior, is nearing completion and two others are in the planning stages as part of the new proposal.

Together the four dams — at Bakun, Murum, Baleh and Baram — are already expected to put out nearly 6,000 megawatts of power, six times what Sarawak currently uses, Masing said.

“The protests are becoming more vocal on the ground so (the dam rethink) is a very good development for me,” said Peter Kallang, member of a Sarawak tribe and chairman of SAVE Rivers, an NGO that has campaigned against the dams.

However, he said plans for the Baram and Baleh dams should be scrapped as well, noting that the Baram dam would displace about 20,000 people, compared to about 10,000 at Bakun, and destroy irreplaceable forest.

Protest He said SAVE Rivers last month organised a floating protest along the Baram river that cruised down river for three days and was met with support along the way by local tribespeople.

Kallang and other activists have also travelled abroad to lobby against the dams, including meeting officials of Hydro Tasmania, an Australian corporation that advises the Sarawak government on the dams.

The Tasmania government corporation pledged in December after meeting the activists that it would pull its personnel out of Sarawak by the end of 2013, Kallang said.

Sarawak’s tribes — ethnically distinct from Malaysia’s majority Malays — fear that they will lose their ancestral lands and hunting and burial grounds, as the government encourages them to make way for projects and move into new settlements.

Those are equipped with medical clinics, electricity, and Internet access. But village elders and activists say alcoholism, drug use, and crime are on the increase and anger is rising over continuing encroachment on native lands.

In one of the blockades in 2011, Penan tribespeople blocked roads into their lands for a week to protest logging and alleged river pollution by Malaysian firm Interhill until the blockade was dismantled by authorities.

The Swiss-based jungle-protection group Bruno Manser Fund says about 90 percent of Sarawak’s rainforests have been damaged as the state government has opened up virgin forest to loggers and palm-oil plantations.

Critics also allege chief minister Taib Mahmud, who has ruled Sarawak since 1981, has enriched himself and his family through corrupt timber and other dealings, and have called the dams white elephants.

Taib has dismissed the corruption allegations.

This artist rendering released by NASA shows the Landsat satellite in orbit around Earth (AP)

Earth-observing satellite to launch from US A new Earth-observing satellite is set to provide another watchful eye over our planet’s glaciers, forests, water resources and urban sprawl.

If all goes as planned, the Landsat satellite will be launched into orbit Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

It would be the eighth such satellite in a series designed to continuously track natural changes and society’s influence on Earth’s resources.

Since the maiden launch in 1972, the satellites have been providing “uninterrupted observations,” David Jarrett, program executive at NASA headquarters, said during a pre-launch news conference on Friday.

During the past 40 years, the Landsat satellites have been key in documenting changes to the Earth, pinpointing where droughts are occurring, how crops across the globe are faring and how erosion is affecting

coastlines.

The satellites also have recorded retreating glaciers in Greenland, captured the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption and recovery aftermath, tracked population growth in Phoenix and deforestation in the Amazon.

Although NASA aimed for a Monday liftoff, launch director Omar Baez said there were two remaining engineering issues to complete. It was too early to know whether that would affect the

launch schedule, he said.

The newest Landsat will be the most powerful yet. Once in orbit, it will circle Earth 14 times a day.

It was expected to beam back 400 images a day to ground stations in South Dakota, Alaska and Norway. As in previous missions, the images will be freely available on the Internet.

The $855 million project is managed

by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The space agency developed the satellite and its two sensors, which are more sensitive than previous ones.

After a checkout period in orbit, day-today duties will be turned over to the USGS. The latest Landsat will build on past missions. The USGS recently retired Landsat 5, which operated since 1984 and has returned 2 1/2 million images.

Landsat 7, launched in 1999, continues to operate. (AP)

Environment Bid to end wrangle This image courtesy of the University of Chicago shows a new species of plant-eating dinosaur with tiny, 1-inchlong jaws which has come to light in South African rocks dating to the early dinosaur era, some 200 million years ago. Researchers have identified a species of puny dinosaur so odd looking — quills like a porcupine, a parrotlike beak and fangs like a vampire — it probably deserved a small part in ‘Jurassic Park.’ The finding was reported Oct 3, 2012 in the online journal ZooKeys by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist and dinosaur specialist at the University of Chicago. He did so belatedly. The specimen was first chipped out of a slab of red rock in southern Africa in the 1960s, and Sereno viewed it in 1983 at Harvard University. Sereno told The New York Times that when he first saw it, ‘my eyes popped, as it was clear this was a new species’. (AFP)

Jarvis

France reshuffles wolf pack PARIS, Feb 9, (AFP): Can you teach a wolf not to eat sheep?

The idea is being floated in France, where the return of the wolf has got farmers and environmentalists at each other’s throats.

Under a proposed “National Wolf Plan,” the government says it will conduct experiments into “educating” the canine carnivore, which is spreading stealthily in remote areas.

Rest assured, this scheme does not entail lecturing wolves about the cuteness of lambs or trying to convert them to vegetarianism.

Instead, it entails capturing individual wolves that are known to attack a local flock and then marking these bothersome predators before letting them go.

The theory is that the animal will be so traumatised by the experience that it will leave the sheep alone and instead hunt for deer, boar, rabbits and other wild animals.

But if the wolf remains a problem, the ID makes it easier to be singled out and shot.

“Eleven of France’s regional parks have said they are willing to take part in the experiments,” Ecology Minister

Delphine Batho said this week, as the proposal met a mixed reception.

Once plentiful, the wolf officially died out in France in the 1930s, wiped out by farmers and hunters.

More than a half a century later, wolves began creeping back, crossing the border from Italy. In 1992, suspicions of the comeback were confirmed when a pair of wolves were spotted in the Mercantour park in the southeast of the country.

Today, according to Eric Marboutin at the National Office for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS), there are around 250 wolves, 90 percent of them in the Alps, and scatterings of others in the east and southwest of France, including the eastern Pyrenees.

In 2011, a wolf was spotted for the first time in the Vosges, in eastern France, and last year, a wolf was photographed in a cornfield in the southwestern department (county) of Gers, the westernmost point of the species’ advance.

The wolf is shielded by the Bern Convention on European wildlife, and in 2007 it joined other mammals on a list of species that in France are given special protection, except in specific

cases where they pose a threat.

But flocks are under rising pressure as the wolves expand.

Consensus Two powerful groups — the agricultural lobby and the environmental movement — are fiercely at odds, despite efforts to forge consensus in a “National Wolf Group” that includes politicians.

Emotions flared last month in the upper house of the French parliament, where rural regions are strongly represented.

Senator Pierre Bernard-Reymond of the High Alps region blasted Parisians for what he said was their cosy image of an ancient predator.

“It’s time to release a few wolfpacks in the Vincennes Park or the Luxembourg Gardens,” he said — a suggestion that was not adopted.

In 2008, 2,680 sheep were killed by wolves, according to an official count; this rose to 4,920 in 2011 and 5,848 in 2012, when the state paid out compensation of around two million euros ($2.7 million).

At present, 11 wolves are allowed to be shot each year. Anti-wolvers say that this restriction is far too inflexible.

Under the 2013-2017 plan, the figure would be adjusted in line with scientific estimates of what is a sustainable wolf population.

“The wolf is and will remain a species that is strictly protected,” the ecology and agricultural ministries said in a joint statement.

“However, bearing in mind the healthy population dynamics of this species, it is possible to fine-tune the methods for managing it.”

Capturing and marking a problem animal would mean that only the real culprits would be targeted. Or so it is hoped.

Jean-Jacques Blanchon of the prowolf Nicolas Hulot Foundation said wolf education had worked successfully in pilot experiments in the United States, “so we should make the effort to see what it can do for us.”

Don’t bother, retorted others.

“You might as well try to educate a shark,” said Daniel Spagnou, a member of a commission probing the fraught relationship between wolves and mountain herdsmen.

“What a circus! Whatever next?

Wolftamers?”

Gray

Science Wild weather strands 2: Two adventurers attempting to recreate an epic 1916 Antarctic expedition by Ernest Shackleton were Saturday stranded on a plateau above a glacier after wild weather hit the final leg of their journey.

British-Australian expedition leader Tim Jarvis and mountaineer Barry Gray were stuck at Shackleton’s Gap, but had assured their team that they were doing well, although cold and wet, and would continue when the weather clears.

Four other members of the expedition and film crew recreating Shackleton’s journey over a mountain in South Georgia to an old whaling station at Stromness have already been evacuated due to the extreme conditions.

“They are both experienced mountaineers and they’ve said they will continue with the expedition unsupported when there is a break in the weather,” crew member Paul Larsen said in Sydney.

The team is aiming to recreate one of the greatest ever survival tales and has already completed Shackleton’s crossing of the Southern Ocean in a lifeboat from Elephant Island off the Antarctic Peninsula to rugged South Georgia.

The final leg is a two-day climb to 900 metres (2,950 feet) over the mountainous, crevassed interior of South Georgia to reach the whaling station where Shackleton and his men raised the alarm about the sinking of their ship, the Endurance.

For the journey the men have worn only the traditional gear of early last century while during the boat trip they used

only the equipment, navigational instruments and food available to Shackleton.

(AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

‘Curiosity’ completes 1st drill: To scientists’ excitement, the Curiosity rover

has completed its first drilling on Mars and is preparing to analyze a pinch of powdery rock.

Images beamed back to Earth overnight showed a fresh drill hole next to a test hole the rover made earlier.

The feat marked yet another milestone

for Curiosity, which landed last year to hunt for the chemical building blocks of life.

While previous Mars rovers have chiseled away at rocks, it’s the first time one drilled down to obtain a sample. The exercise was so complex that engineers spent

several days commanding Curiosity to drill test holes. The next task is to transfer the powder to Curiosity’s onboard laboratories to study the chemical makeup.

After the drilling activities, Curiosity will spend nine months driving to a mountain. (AP)

‘Highly developed flying posture’

Squid can fly more than 30m thru air

In this file photo taken March 23, 2010, installers Arin Gharibian (left), Hayk Mkrtchayan, and team leader Edward Boghosian, (right), all employees of California Green Design, assemble solar electrical panels on the roof of a home in Glendale, Calif. Homeowners on the hunt for sparkling solar panels are lured by ads filled with images of pristine landscapes and bright sunshine, and words about the technology’s benefits for the environment — and the wallet. What customers may not know is that there’s a dirtier side. While solar is a far less polluting energy source than coal, many panel makers are nevertheless grappling with a hazardous waste problem. Fueled partly by billions in government incentives, the industry is creating millions of solar panels each year and, in the process, millions of pounds of polluted sludge and contaminated water. (AP)

TOKYO, Feb 9, (AFP): A species of oceanic squid can fly more than 30 metres (100 feet) through the air at speeds faster than Usain Bolt if it wants to escape predators, Japanese researchers said Friday.

The Neon Flying Squid propels itself out of the ocean by shooting a jet of water at high pressure, before opening its fins to glide at up to 11.2 metres per second, Jun Yamamoto of Hokkaido University said.

Olympic Gold medallist Bolt averBolt aged 10.31 metres a second when he won at the London Games last year.

“There were always witnesses and rumours that said squid were seen flying, but no one had clarified how they actually do it. We have proved that it really is true,” Yamamoto told AFP.

Researchers say is the first time anyone has ever described the mechanism the flying mollusc employs.

Yamamoto and his team were tracking a shoal of around 100 squid, part of the Japanese Flying Squid family, in the northwest Pacific, 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Tokyo, in July 2011.

As their boat approached, the 20-centimetre (eight-inch) creatures launched themselves into the air with a powerful jet of water that shot out from their funnel-like stems.

“Once they finish shooting out the water, they glide by spreading out their fins and arms,” Yamamoto’s team said in a report.

“The fins and the web between the arms create aerodynamic lift and keep the squid stable on its flight arc.

“We have discovered that squid do not just jump out of water but have a highly developed flying posture,” the report said.

The squid are in the air for about three seconds and travel upwards of 30 metres, said Yamamoto, in what he believed was

‘Lincoln’ screenwriter apologizes for 15-second error

Polish city angered by portrayal in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

Film

WARSAW, Feb 9, (Agencies): The Polish city of Gdansk said it was offended by Hollywood blockbuster “Zero Dark Thirty” for labelling the home town of the communist bloc’s first independent labour union as the location of a secret CIA detention centre.

The critically acclaimed movie has already sparked controversy by suggesting that the torture of al Qaeda suspects played an important role in tracking down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US special forces during a raid on a Pakistan compound in 2011.

Polish prosecutors are looking into the country’s role in helping US intelligence services transport

suspected members of the al Qaeda group who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide airliner attacks on New York and Washington to facilities outside the United States for interrogation.

The remote airfield in northern Poland where human rights groups accuse the CIA of flying al Qaeda suspects is located some 200 km (124 miles) from Gdansk, where electrician Lech Walesa co-founded the Solidarity trade union movement which toppled the communist government more than two decades ago.

The film offers a view from the sea of an industrial building, a red ship with a darkening sky in the background and the caption:

“CIA BLACK SITE, Gdansk, Poland”.

“The name ‘Gdansk’ is synonymous with freedom and Solidarity,” Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz said.

“In the movie it has been turned to a gloomy place where secret services interrogate people accused of terrorism. We are simply offended,” he told Reuters.

Poland’s government has never publicly acknowledged the existence of CIA prison centres on its territory.

The investigation into the country’s involvement in the CIA’s “rendition” programme is now in its fifth year and prosecutors asked earlier this week for another exten-

sion.

Also: LOS ANGELES: The screenwriter of “Lincoln,” which has 12 Oscar nominations, conceded on Friday that the taut political drama changed the historical record for “15 seconds,” after a lawmaker complained.

Democratic Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut said a key scene the film was wrong to suggest that two congressmen from his state voted against the US Constitution’s 13th Amendment that abolished slavery in 1865.

“Representative Courtney is correct that the four members of the Connecticut delegation voted for

the amendment,” screenwriter Tony Kushner wrote in a letter he made public.

“We changed two of the delegation’s votes, and we made up new names for the men casting those votes, so as not to ascribe any actions to actual persons who didn’t perform them.” With a hint of irony, Kushner added: “I’m sorry if anyone in Connecticut felt insulted by these 15 seconds of the movie, although issuing a congressional press release startlingly headlined ‘Before The Oscars...’ seems a rather flamboyant way to make that known.” Kushner stressed that the fallacy did not change the direction of the film in any way, stressing that “Lincoln” is first and fore-

most “a dramatic film and not an attack on their home state.” In a statement released after Kushner’s letter, Courtney said he was pleased the screenwriter had recognized the mistake.

“My effort from the beginning has been to set the record straight on this vote, so people do not leave the theater believing Connecticut’s representatives in the 38th Congress were on the wrong side of history,” Courtney said.

He also called for a correction ahead of the DVD release.

The Steven Spielberg film recounts Abraham Lincoln’s maneuvers to secure votes in Congress to abolish slavery during the American Civil War.

Features

Variety

Japanese Kabuki actor Tamasaburo Bando is seen during a dress rehearsal for ‘Jiuta’ (Kabuki dance solos) at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. Tamasaburo is uncontestably the most celebrated Kabuki actor of our time, according to the Chatelet Theatre’s website. (AFP)

Film ‘Movie about lost love’

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

CAMBRIDGE, Mass: Golden Globe-winning actor Keifer Sutherland has been awarded the pudding pot after being honored as Man of the Year by Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

The roast for the actor took place despite a massive snowstorm hitting the Boston area.

The Friday evening event, including presentation of the traditional pudding pot, was moved to the Charles Hotel in Cambridge.

The 46-year-old Sutherland has been in dozens of films.

He’s perhaps best known for his role as Jack Bauer in the television series “24,” for which he won Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy awards. He is currently starring in the television show “Touch.”

Last year’s Man of the Year was Jason Segel.

The 2013 Woman of the Year, Marion was honored last week. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

PARIS: Hollywood actor and director Kevin Costner is to receive a lifetime achievement award at France’s annual Cesars ceremony later this month, the academy said Friday.

A two-time Oscar winner for the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves”, Costner, 58, will receive his honorary Cesar at the French film awards in Paris on Feb 22.

In addition to “Dances with Wolves” for which he won best picture and best director Oscars, Costner has starred in a string of box office successes including “Field of Dreams”, “The Untouchables” and “The Bodyguard” with Whitney Houston.

The academy said in a statement it was “proud and happy” to announce the award to Costner for his lifetime’s work as an actor, director and producer and his “fabulous contribution to cinematic history”.

Sheen revisits alter-ego in ‘Charles’ LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (RTRS): It’s a downward spiral for Charlie, a successful professional whose life slides into despair when his girlfriend breaks up with him.

This Charlie could be Charlie Sheen, but it’s actually the fictional Charles Swan, a charming, immature character played by Hollywood’s favorite bad boy actor and filmed only a few months after Sheen’s off-screen antics got him fired in 2011 from TV comedy “Two and a Half Men.” Sheen stars in “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III,” opened in US movie theaters on Friday. The film is directed and written by Roman Coppola, son of “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola.

Coppola, 47, who is Oscar-nominated for his work on the screenplay of “Moonrise Kingdom,” talked with Reuters about working with Sheen on the “playful romp” about lost love and revenge fantasies set in a stylized Los Angeles.

Question: Did you write the film specifically for Charlie Sheen to star in?

Answer: “I didn’t write it for him in mind. I was excited to write a piece about a very outlandish lead character, someone charming, immature, strug-

Austrian director Michael Haneke’s film “Amour”, which won the Palme d’Or top prize at the Cannes film festival last year, is among the nominees in the Cesars’ best film category.

For best foreign film, nominees include Ben Affleck’s “Argo” in which he starred and also directed.

gling and full of imagination. As I was finishing it, I kind of realized Charlie Sheen would be perfect. Both are larger than life. They use their wit and charm to smooth over problems in their life to not deal with things. But it’s a coincidence that it’s the same first name.”

Q: Both of you are part of Hollywood dynasties. Your father is Francis Ford Coppola and his dad is Martin Sheen. When did you and Charlie first meet?

A: “We met as boys when we were around 11 years old on the set of (the 1979 film) ‘Apocalypse Now’ (which Francis Ford Coppola directed and Martin Sheen starred in). Our families were in the Philippines (for the shoot) for many months so Charlie and I became pals. We have a lot of fond memories hanging out together in that exotic location.”

Q: What type of memories?

A: “I remember being with him when they built the (fictional) Kurtz Compound. Charlie and I would cruise around (the set) and there would be all sorts of skulls and weapons and things that are interesting to 11-year old boys. I was also interested in theatrical makeup, so I introduced Charlie to the hobby of making scars.”

Q: Did you get any pushback from

Last year, British actress Kate Winslet was awarded an honorary Cesar (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

BRYN MAWR, Pennsylvania: Rock musiSutherland

Costner

cian and writer Patti Smith is being honored by a US college with a medal named after the

family, friends or financiers when you decided to cast Sheen in “Charles Swan”?

A: “Basically there was no film company willing to finance the movie with Charlie. Insurance companies didn’t want my business, nor did any bond company. There was very little support in the film community to finance that picture. So I had to be very crafty about getting the financing.”

Q: Were you surprised at that?

A: “I was surprised to some degree because I had other talent attached to it like Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. You’d think that would tip people’s curiosity. When people say ‘No’ or ‘Why would you want to cast Charlie Sheen?’ it makes me feel like everyone else is crazy.”

Q: But it’s Charlie who conjures up the images of crazy — public battles with “Two and Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre and his ex-wives, Denise Richards and Brook Mueller. He is the one who was in rehab for drugs, who damaged hotel rooms, lived with porn stars, and called himself a warlock with “tiger blood” and “Adonis DNA.” A: “But that’s very comic book, that’s not a real person. That’s a portrayal that comes from wanting to make stories.

He’s an individual. He’s obviously a tal-

late actress Katharine Hepburn.

Smith received the 2013 Katharine Hepburn Medal on Thursday night in a ceremony at the women’s liberal arts school Bryn Mawr College.

Smith is recognized as a rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer whose work as a musician, writer, performer

ented guy and talent doesn’t go away.

Ten years ago we’d be having this exact same conversation about Robert Downey Jr. and how crazy and irresponsible he is. Now we know he’s at the top of his game. So to me it’s kind of immature to cotton to that kind of stuff. It’s gossipy and phony.”

Q: So none of that was prevalent during the shooting of your film?

A: “Charlie was totally committed throughout the entire shooting. He showed up every day, he knew his lines, he learned Spanish and he learned to dance. I had a professional, fantastic experience with a highly skilled and dedicated performer.”

Q: How would you describe Charlie’s acting?

A: “He’s very intuitive. On a technical level, he’s very experienced and capable.

He knows where to stand, where the light is. Then there is the magical aspect of acting where you’re able to create a see-through veil in which your feelings come out and they’re captured by the camera.

“No one knows how it works. Some people can do it and Charlie certainly has it. So despite all the chitter chatter of Charlie this and breakdown that, he’s a fine actor and he shines in this performance.”

and visual artist influenced multiple generations. Her 1975 debut album, “Horses,” is considered one of rock’s greatest albums and she received the 2010 National Book Award for non-fiction for her memoir, “Just Kids.” Smith said when the college approached her about receiving the award, “I

enthusiastically accepted without hesitation.”

“My love of literature permeates my songs, poems and is certainly prevalent in my photography. Sometimes it may be a stylistic influence and at times a direct reference,” she said in an email to The Associated Press. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

NEWS/FEATURES

22

People & Places Film ‘Oscar hopeful’

Humble Damon cheers Affleck BERLIN, Feb 9, (RTRS): It seems that wherever Matt Damon goes to promote his movies he is asked about something else altogether — his old friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, whose Iranian hostage drama “Argo” is in the running for a Best Picture Oscar.

Damon shared a screenplay Academy Award with Affleck for the 1997 film “Good Will Hunting” and has gone on to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, with blockbusters including the “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Bourne Affleck Identity” series.

He was in Berlin on Friday for the festival premiere of “Promised Land”, a tale set in rural America that tackles the controversial gas extraction technique known as “fracking”.

At a news conference following the press screening, the 42year-old did not have to wait long for a question about Affleck, and, once again, he lavished praise on an actor who he said had endured his share of tough times.

“His life is so interesting that I kind of never get tired of talking (about it),” Damon joked.

Deserves Of the critical acclaim and string of awards for “Argo,” he said: “I’m really happy for him.

He certainly deserves it.”

“He’s worked so hard and he’s taken it on the chin for years from the press and just from everywhere. He was really in a rough spot 10 years ago,” Damon told reporters, referring to the ridicule Affleck suffered during his romance with Jennifer Lopez and their 2003 movie flop “Gigli.”

The actor recalled Affleck once telling him he was “in the worst place you could be career-wise: I sell magazines and I don’t sell movie tickets’.”

Damon singled out some “fantastic” performances by Affleck in recent years: “Hollywoodland,” “The Town” and “Argo” itself, the last two of which he also directed.

He would not, however, be drawn on the chances of “Argo” landing the big prize at the Oscars on Feb 24.

Admitted Less successful has been “Promised Land,” which Damon readily admitted had “bombed” in the United States.

It opens across Europe in February, March and April.

According to Boxofficemojo.com, the movie earned just $7.6 million at the North American box office.

“I’m leery of becoming one of those people who lives so much in a bubble that I just think everything I do is great,” he said. “I try to be mindful of that and listen.

“I’ve had a lot of movies that ... haven’t been well received by an audience and I’m realistic about that, but with this one I just really love it and a big part of my heart is in it and I don’t understand what I’m hearing back.”

He said it was possible that “Promised Land,” also starring Frances McDormand and directed by “Good Will Hunting” filmmaker Gus Van Sant, would be appreciated more in the future.

“I’ve had movies bomb worse than this one and then actually make their money back.”

“Promised Land” is one of 19 movies in the main competition at the Berlin film festival running from Thursday to Feb 17.

Also screening on Friday were Polish entry “In the Name of” and Austrian director Ulrich Seidl’s “Paradise: Hope,” the final part in a trilogy looking at the lives of a single family, in this case an overweight teenager sent to a diet camp.

US actress Jane Fonda poses as she arrives on the red carpet for the premiere of the movie ‘Promised Land’ at the international Berlinale Film Festival on Feb 8. (AFP)

Film Austria’s Seidl unveils new drama at Berlinale

Director turns ‘Lolita’ on its head Julian Lennon attends The Morrison Hotel Gallery Opens At The Sunset Marquis In West Hollywood. (AFP)

Evans

Spears

Variety LOS ANGELES: “The Avengers,” or at least most of the members of the worldsaving crew, will assemble on the stage of this year’s Academy Awards.

Castmates Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo will present an Oscar together, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced.

Missing in action are Scarlett Johansson, who played Black Widow but is currently starring in a revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway, and Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor.

“The Avengers” was the biggest hit of 2012 by a wide margin, racking up more than $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, but all that commercial success didn’t translate into Oscar votes. Despite receiving strong notices for its witty script and director Joss Whedon’s deft handling of his all-star cast, the movie earned a single Oscar nomination for visual effects.

Most of the cast who will take the stage on Oscar night are no stranger to awards ceremonies. All of the actors, save Chris Evans, have been nominated for Oscars in the past.

The Oscars will be hosted by Seth MacFarlane and will be broadcast on Feb 24. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

BERLIN, Feb 9, (AFP): One of Europe’s most controversial directors, Ulrich Seidl of Austria, unveiled a new drama at the 63rd Berlin Film Festival Friday about a teen who falls for a man four decades her senior.

Seidl revisits themes of sex, power, the cultural obsession with the female body and a hunger for human connection in “Paradise: Hope”, the final chapter in a trilogy and one of 19 contenders for the event’s Golden Bear top prize.

The film’s predecessors premiered at Cannes and Venice, marking a rare hat-trick for a contemporary director.

Co-screenwriter Veronika Franz said she and Seidl aimed to take the “Lolita” story and turn it on its head by telling it from the perspective of the longing young girl rather than the tormented older man.

The film tells the tale of heavy-set Melanie, in the throes of puberty and shipped off by her single mother to a diet camp where calorie counting, sport and humiliation make up the strict regimen.

A pert dietician blows into a shrill whistle and leads the girls and boys in choruses of “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your fat!”

Melanie, 13, played by amateur actress Melanie Lenz, seeks refuge in the office of the camp doctor, a trim 50-something convertible driver who covers up his loneliness with a flirtatious manner.

The girl basks in the doctor’s attention and begins trailing him at every opportunity and revealing her infatuation with him to a friend at the camp.

The doctor is clearly drawn to Melanie as well but treads a perilously thin line,

what should have been a major professional breakthrough. He wrote a series for the San Jose Mercury News exposing how the CIA

‘Human rights advocacy answers something else in me’

Oscar winner mulls activist career VIENNA, Feb 9, (AP): Mira Sorvino’s list of awards includes an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a host of nominations reserved for the world’s best actors and actresses.

She’s had meaningful roles in more than 50 films and TV productions in a career that began two decades ago and is still going strong.

So why is she contemplating ending her acting career a few years down the line?

“I love acting, and that is my job right now,” Sorvino told The Associated Press on Friday. At the same time, she describes her advocacy against human trafficking and modern-day slavery as “my calling,” and so important that “in a decade or so, I wouldn’t mind just switching to a career in humanitar-

ian causes.”

Sorvino’s Oscar-winning role as a prostitute with a golden heart in Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite” might have cast the world’s oldest profession in comic light. These days, though, her fight against the sex trade and modern-day slavery has become a serious crusade off screen and on. She has served as UN Goodwill Ambassador to Combat Human Trafficking since 2009, and in her 2012 film “Trade of Innocents” — described as a “powerful, important movie” by Movieguide — she plays a woman chosen to extricate a little Cambodian girl from the grip of a prostitution ring.

While firm figures are not available, the US State Department

estimated in 2010 that 12.3 million people are enslaved worldwide. Of those, millions are children forced into the sex trade, and Sorvino said she was drawn to the role both as a mother and as an activist anguished by the plight of girls driven into prostitution at childhood.

“It’s unthinkable, it’s unspeakable, and yet it’s all over,” she said, tearing up as she recalled one such victim she met in Mexico who had been held in a brothel from the age of 4 until her rescue three years later.

The 45-year old actress spoke to the AP in the offices of the Viennabased UN Office for Drugs and Crime after being extended in her goodwill ambassador’s role by the UN agency’s head, Yury Fedotov.

indulging her affections without ever making explicitly sexual contact.

“My mom had her doubts but then she finally relented because this opportunity doesn’t come along five times in a lifetime,” Lenz said.

Seidl, who exploded onto the European art-house cinema scene with deeply divisive features such as “Import/Export” about eastern European women in the sex industry, said he liked working with lay actors and usually kept the cast from seeing the script to allow

them to improvise in character.

“This was not the typical story — an older man abuses a young girl — but rather what happens to a man when he experiences that kind of love.

It’s a fine line,” said Joseph Lorenz who played the doctor.

Seidl said he was used to extreme reactions to his work, saying it was the price of tackling delicate themes in an unflinching way.

“I have just stayed the course,” he said. “But of course many have been

hostile, particularly in Austria.”

The first film in the trilogy, “Paradise: Love”, is an eye-opening and graphic portrayal of lonely European women who go to Africa as sex tourists — one of whom is Melanie’s mother in the final film.

The second, “Paradise: Faith”, deals with a sister of the first protagonist who quits her job as a nurse to devote herself to religious practice. Italian media branded it “blasphemous” after its premiere at Venice.

war against the leftist Nicaraguan government. Webb also drew a link between the influx of cocaine and the rise of crack

cocaine, a drug that devastated many American cities in the 1980s. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

permitted Nicaragua’s Contra rebels to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

The contras then used the profits to fund a

‘Oscar performance’

Bassey to appear

NEW YORK: Focus Features has acquired the worldwide rights to “Kill the Messenger,” an upcoming film starring Jeremy Renner as prize-winning journalist Gary Webb, according to a Focus spokeswoman.

Focus will distribute the film domestically and sell it internationally, initiating the deal making at the European Film Market in Berlin later this week.

Michael Cuesta will direct the film from a script by Peter Landesman.

Cuesta has made a quartet of films and directed several episodes of successful TV series “Six Feet Under,” “Dexter” and “Homeland.”

Webb’s life took a turn for the worse after

Indian Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachahan (top left), accompanied by wife Jaya (left, middle row) and son Abhishek (2nd right) with wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (centre) pose with fim director Govind Nihalani (right) and other children following a press conference in Mumbai. The Bachchan family pledged to donate the proceeds of a book to the Plan India charity organisation, which supports the protection and rights of newborn girls in the country. Married women in India face huge pressure to produce male heirs, who are seen as breadwinners while girls are often viewed as a burden to the family as they require hefty dowries to be married off. (AFP)

NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): Dame Shirley Bassey, who recorded the theme songs for the James Bond films “Goldfinger,” “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Moonraker,” will make her first appearance at the Academy Awards this month, the show’s producers said on Friday.

Bassey, whose career has spanned more than six decades, will perform at the awards show on Feb 24 in Los Angeles, along with others including Adele, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.

“Her association with film music is world renowned and we are proud that she will be making her first Oscar appearance on our telecast,” Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the producers of the show, said in a statement.

LOS ANGELES: Pop star and former “X Factor” judge Britney Spears is in talks to sign a long-term contract to headline a show at a Las Vegas resort, Caesars Entertainment Corp said on Friday.

“We can now confirm the company is actively engaged in discussions with Britney Spears’ representatives regarding a potential headlining residency at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino,” the company said in a statement.

Representatives for Spears were not immediately available for comment on Friday.

Caesars Entertainment, which owns casinos and resorts including Planet Hollywood, has hired some of the world’s top-selling artists for residencies at various Las Vegas sites.

Canadian singer Celine Dion has a three-year deal with Caesars Palace that is said to be worth $100 million. British singer Elton John also has a long-term commitment to perform at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Singers Cher and Bette Midler had similar long-term deals at The Colosseum in recent years.

Spears, 31, shot to fame in the late 1990s with hits such as “... Baby One More Time” and has gone on to become one of the biggest pop figures of the 2000s. (RTRS)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

NEWS/FEATURES

23

Obit Charismatic conductor

Music director DePreist dies PORTLAND, Feb 9, (AP): James DePreist, one of the first African-American conductors and a National Medal of Arts winner, died Friday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., his manager Jason Bagdade said.

DePreist, who was 76, had been in and out of the hospital since a massive heart attack last March that was followed by open-heart surgery, his wife, Ginette DePreist, told The Oregonian newspaper.

DePreist was director emeritus of The Juilliard School’s conducting program in New York. He was the Oregon Symphony’s music director from 1980 DePreist until 2003, transforming it from a small, parttime group into a full-time nationally recognized orchestra with 17 recordings.

DePreist also led orchestras in Quebec, Monte Carlo, Tokyo and Malmo, Sweden.

The Oregon Symphony will dedicate its weekend performances to the charismatic conductor known as “Jimmy.’’

“We are talking about a man with an international career, who achieved many things on international stages,’’ Oregon Symphony conductor Carlos Kalmar said.

“And you can only do that if — aside from technicalities — you are a real personality, someone the musicians look up to, and you keep the audiences very, very interested. And I think in that sense Jimmy was great.’’

Hard rock guitarist Slash performs on stage during his concert in Ljubljana, on Feb 8, 2013 (AFP)

Music Producer reshapes hip-hop

Diplo takes unique path to Grammys

Phenomenal Peter Frajola, a principal violinist hired by DePriest more than a quarter-century ago, said the symphony took “phenomenal musical journeys’’ with the conductor, and his influence went beyond the concert hall.

“A huge figure in the Portland area; everybody knew him,’’ Frajola said. “Even if you weren’t a musician, even if you never went to the symphony, you knew who Jimmy was. Everybody loved him.

He was just absolutely wonderful speaker to the audience. Made everyone feel welcome.’’

DePreist was born in Philadelphia in 1936. According to his website, he studied composition with Vincent Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

He contracted polio in 1962 while in Thailand, affecting his walk for the rest of his life. He developed kidney disease in the 1990s and had a transplant in 2001.

In 2005, President George W. Bush presented DePreist with the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence. The conductor also received more than a dozen honorary doctorates, was honored in countries from Finland to Japan, and managed to write two books of poetry.

Humble DePreist was the nephew of Marian Anderson, a celebrated contralto whose 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was a landmark moment in civilrights history. DePreist told National Public Radio in 2005 that that his aunt “was simultaneously the most humble person I ever met in my life and the most powerful.’’

Though DePreist was a pioneer in terms of African-American conductors, he downplayed that aspect of his career.

“He never seemed to bring that to the foreground,’’ Frajola said.

“It was always more important to him to play the music well, to be thinking artistically and to take care of his orchestra.’’

In a 1992 letter to the editor of the New York Times, in which he responded to an article about minority conductors, DePreist made clear that artistry was his major concern.

“What self-respecting musician would really want to be engaged for reasons primarily other than artistic?’’ DePreist wrote. “In my view, any orchestra that engages a conductor, soloist or player because that individual is black not only offends the process but also demeans the musician and compromises the artistic integrity of the institution.

Honoree Bruce Springsteen (right), and Patti Scialfa arrive at Springsteen’s MusiCares Person of the Year tribute at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Feb. 8, 2013 in Los Angeles. (AP)

Houston

Franklin

Variety BEVERLY HILLS, California: Last year, Whitney Houston died hours before Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala went on. This year, the music executive says she’ll be remembered.

“In saying I’m proud of her legacy, I’m going to make sure that she’s felt somehow during that night, yes,” the 80-yearold said in an interview Thursday.

Davis’ gala will take place at the Beverly Hilton, where Houston died on Feb 11, 2012, at age 48.

The annual event is where Davis introduced a young Houston to the music world more than two decades ago. Davis — Houston’s mentor, producer, champion and longtime friend — memorialized her at last year’s gala, held downstairs from the hotel where she died and where her body was being examined by coroner’s officials.

“Whitney and I had great times at this party over the years,” he said, smiling.

“I’d played her new songs and she’d come over in her pajamas and be listening late at night … so it is bittersweet. Tragedy is still foul.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (AP): Don’t bother calling Diplo if you want to make something that sounds like a Diplo record. He’s not interested.

“Producers in L.A. were hitting me up: ‘We need a Diplo record. We want to sound like Diplo,’” the producer said. “And I’m like, Diplo is the guy who’s doing what nobody else is doing. So unless you’re willing to jump off the cliff with me ... “ Jumping off the cliff has put Diplo right in the middle of things as Sunday’s Grammy Awards approach.

Up for producer of the year, he’s got parties with Snoop Dogg and Skrillex planned in the run up to music’s biggest night. Next he’ll release a new, much-anticipated Major Lazer album and the reggae album he produced for Snoop. Down the road he’s got projects with Chris Brown, 2 Chainz, Tinie Tempah and Riff Raff among others.

The producer, whose given name is Wes Pentz, took time out Thursday to reflect on where he’s been over the last 10 years. He admits over a quick snack of sketchy sushi in the conference room of his label Mad Decent that he’s not really sure what tomorrow will bring. But wherever he travels next, he knows he won’t be covering the same ground twice.

Creative “I think we’re on top at this label right now and what we do as far as creative people, but if that changes I’ll start making pizza,” Pentz said with a laugh. “I’ll be the best (expletive) pizza maker. Underground pizza, whatever that is.”

The drive to do something different and new has taken Diplo from the fringes of dance music to the top of pop. Along the way he reshaped hiphop, exposed the world to new sounds from places like Brazil and Jamaica, and caught the attention of stars like Beyonce and MIA. His latest convert? Justin Bieber.

music like Sting, Alabama Shakes and Neil Young paid homage to “The Boss.”

The annual event, now in its 23rd year,

‘It’s unexpected’

Black Keys ready for Grammys with 5 noms LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (AP): The Black Keys still feel like the black sheep of the Grammy Awards.

“It’s unexpected. I don’t think we’ll ever get used to this stuff,” singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach said Friday.

“I don’t think we ever will either,” added drummer Patrick Carney.

“It’s more surreal now kind of being here and seeing all the musicians gathering for their annual ‘pat on the back.’”

The bluesy rockers are nominated for five trophies at Sunday’s ceremony. They were rehearsing Friday with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and legendary New Orleans pianist Dr. John, who’ll join the group when they perform “Lonely Boy” live at the Grammys.

Justin Timberlake was also heard rehearsing as he transitioned from his comeback single “Suit & Tie” to a new song called “Push Your Love Girl,” which featured his falsetto.

The Black Keys’ five nominations include album of the year for “El Camino” and record of the year for “Lonely Boy.” Auerbach is part of the six top acts with six nominations Sunday night, thanks to his nomination for non-classical producer of the year.

The duo said in an interview that they’re fans of their top-album competitors, which include Frank Ocean, Mumford & Sons, fun. and Jack White.

“They’re all good records, so it’s exciting,” Carney said before

Auerbach jumped in with a light laugh: “Stiff competition. This is a competition right? I don’t know what the odds are. Are they taking bets in Vegas right now?”

The group said they’ve spent the last month hard at work on a new album in Nashville.

“It’s still coming together. We have tons of ideas,” Carney said.

“It’s also something that will develop in the studio. We don’t really know what it sounds like until it’s done.”

Carney makes an appearance on drums on Ke$ha’s recently released album, “Warrior.”

“She’s a friend of ours. She asked me to play on a song. She lives in Nashville, too,” he explained of the collaboration.

“I Twittered I was with Justin Bieber and some kids were mad at me...” Pentz said. “I was telling some other producers in the EDM world and they were like, ‘Man, I can’t go in the studio with Justin Bieber. My fans would leave me.’ I’m like, ‘What?

(Expletive) your fans.’ I don’t do it for the fans, I do it for myself. If they want to go or whatever and find something new, that’s cool. You’ve got to believe in your music first of all. If you’re going to be a slave to your genre or your fans, that’s a death sentence, you know?”

His inventiveness and willingness to merge different sounds into new things makes Diplo a different kind of producer, one others recognize as a player to pay attention to. He caught Rick Rubin’s attention, for instance,

when he began working with MIA. Rubin thinks “Paper Planes” was something of a milestone in the hiphop world, helping force the genre in a new direction after tracks started to become interchangeable.

music industry, as someone to model his career after — someone who brings out the best in artists and makes them think differently.

Diplo began thinking about different sounds and how they might flow together while traveling around the South with his family as his father migrated from job to job in the healthcare industry. He lived in Mississippi and Tennessee and Florida, before moving to Philadelphia and finally Los Angeles as an adult.

In Fort Lauderdale, he found an unexpected multicultural harmony where kids of different backgrounds and races attended parties together.

His family had always exposed him to country and gospel music. At the same time he was discovering dancehall and freestyle music with his friends.

celebrates a star’s musical achievements and philanthropic work, and is hosted by Grammy organizers to kick off the week-

end of the awards show.

The 55th annual Grammy Awards will air this Sunday on CBS.

Past Musicares honorees include Bono, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin and exBeatle Paul McCartney. (RTRS)

Bid to protect celebrities

BEVERLY HILLS, California: Music

Tyler gets okay on ‘privacy bill’

teachers are now eligible for a Grammy honor of their own.

Recording Academy president Neil Portnow says the group has established a music educator award that will be presented for the first time next year.

Portnow announced the new award Thursday at the Grammy Foundation’s 15th annual Music Preservation Project event at the Saban Theatre.

“We’re dedicated to preserving the great music of the past, present and future,” he said. “Music education is perhaps the most vital part of the Grammy Foundation’s mission.”

Kindergarten through college teachers are eligible for the new annual award, which will be presented at a special ceremony the day before the Grammy Awards.

Students and colleagues can nominate candidates online. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

LOS ANGELES: Bruce Springsteen was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on Friday at a star-studded pre-Grammys event where some of the biggest names in

Record “The sort of world beat that he brings, I think it’s finding more accessibility,” Rubin said. “And with each record he makes that widens that spectrum, it allows others to follow that new trend or be inspired by the trend to see, ‘Oh, somebody made this left turn, now I can make this right turn.’ And it just opens things up.”

Diplo sees Rubin, who broke through in hip-hop but has evolved into an unclassifiable player in the

Jordin Sparks (left), and Queen Latifah attend ‘For the Love of R&B – A Tribute to Whitney Houston’ at Tru Hollywood in Los Angeles. (AP)

HONOLULU, Feb 9, (AP): Rock legends Steven Tyler and Mick Fleetwood convinced a Hawaii Senate committee on Friday to approve a bill to protect celebrities or anyone else from intrusive paparazzi.

The state Senate Judiciary Committee approved the so-called Steven Tyler Act after the stars testified.

The bill would give people power to sue others who take Tyler photos or video of their private lives in an offensive way.

Tyler said he asked state Sen Kalani English to introduce the measure after paparazzi took a photo of the Aerosmith frontman and his girlfriend in his home, causing a ripple in his family.

The former “American Idol” judge said his kids don’t want to go out with him in Hawaii because of the threat of paparazzi.

Opponents say the bill limits constitutional rights.

“The paradise of Hawaii is a magnet for celebrities who just want a peaceful vacation,” Tyler said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “As a person in the public eye, I know the paparazzi are there and we have to accept that. But when they intrude into our private space, disregard our safety and the safety of others, that crosses a serious line that shouldn’t be ignored.”

More than a dozen celebrities submitted testimony supporting the bill, including Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Neil Diamond, Tommy Lee and the Osborne family. The letters all included the same text.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

24

Paintings from Williams’ collection could fetch over $30 mln

British Museum puts ‘art’ from Ice Age on show LONDON, Feb 9, (Agencies): The art world loves hype. Works are touted as the biggest, the rarest, the most expensive.

Even in an age of superlatives, the British Museum has something special the oldest known figurative art in the world.

The artworks on display in the new exhibition “Ice Age Art” are so old that many are carved from the tusks of woolly mammoths.

But it’s not just their age that may surprise visitors. It’s their artistry.

These are artworks, not just prehistoric artifacts. Some of the sophisticated carvings, sculptures and drawings of people and animals look like something Pablo Picasso or Henry Moore might have created.

That shock of recognition is the aim of the show, which is subtitled “arrival of the modern mind” and explores the moment the human brain began to embrace abstraction, symbolism and imagination.

We don’t know what these distant ancestors believed or how they communicated, but we know how they thought - like us.

“They are fully modern humans,” Jill Cook, the museum’s curator of Paleolithic exhibitions, said Tuesday.

“What these works of art show is that they have a visual brain capable of imagination and creativity.

“They really are us. They are our ancestors.”

Although early humans were making sophisticated tools, abstract items and music in southern Africa 100,000 years ago, the earliest surviving works representing people and animals appear after groups of people moved into eastern and central Europe some 45,000 years ago.

The plentiful wildlife roaming the grassy plains helped these communities of hunter-gatherers grow and flourish.

(Left): An oldest known portrait of a woman (left), a miniature sculptured from mammoth ivory dates at least 27,000, years old, and a sketched human face engraved on a flake of mammoth ivory, both discovered at Dolni Vestonice, Moravia, Czech Republic are seen on display in an exhibition ‘Ice Age Art: arrival of the modern mind’ at the British Museum in London. (Right): A sculpture of an adult female bison worked from a large piece of mammoth tusk dates at least 21,000 years old, discovered at Zaraysk, Osetr Valley, Russia, is seen on display. (AP)

“The living was quite easy,” Cook said.

Then, some 40,000 years ago, the weather took a change for the icy.

Suddenly, humans were struggling for survival, and this seems to have brought a surge of creativity.

Cook said that “faced with increasingly difficult conditions, finding the courage to go on” required of early humans “a fixing on things outside the human,” - the spiritual, perhaps.”

From its own collection and others across Europe, the museum has gathered artworks, made between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, that reveal a world vastly different from ours. Few are made from wood, a precious commodity during the Ice Age that had to be hoarded for fuel. They are made from bones, tusks and antlers, and sometimes

rocks or clay. They depict animals that are now rare or extinct - mammoths, bison, lions, wolverines.

And yet, as art, they are instantly recognizable and remarkably sophisticated.

They play with ideas like perspective and scale, toy with abstraction and capture movement. Some of the animals show strength and grace: a delicate yet powerful bison, a mammoth poised to charge, a delicate carving of two reindeer swimming.

Ice Age artists could depict imaginary creatures, such as the man with a lion’s head found in a cave in Germany and created 40,000 years ago. They made musical instruments; there are flutes carved from swan bones and ivory.

The works are displayed alongside pieces by modern artists, including Henri Matisse - whose drawing of a

voluptuous nude hangs near a plump female ceramic figure - and Henry Moore, whose rounded abstract sculptures can appear timeless and elemental.

Cook said the modern works are there partly to reassure visitors that this is an exhibition of art and not just archaeological artifacts - “You can look at them without being intimidated.”

There is also a more direct link. Some 20th-century modernists drew inspiration from the bold abstraction of ancient artworks. Picasso was fascinated with a 21,000-year-old ivory sculpture of a naked woman found in southwestern France in 1922 and kept replicas of it in his studio.

Despite the strong resonances, there remains much we don’t know about the distant past.

The exhibition includes many depic-

tions of female figures, from girlish youths to pregnant women to mature matrons. Were they carved by men or, as Cook speculates, created “by women for women”? Many are realistic about large hips and bellies, and show an image of the female body Cook likens to the “does my bum look big in this” view in the dressing room mirror.

There’s also a 27,000-year-old puppet discovered in what is now the Czech Republic - possibly used in some shamanistic ritual, though it’s hard to be certain. Tools and cave walls were inscribed with a form of calligraphy which we can’t read.

Also: NEW YORK: Paintings from the private collection of US singer Andy Williams, amassed over six decades, could fetch

more than $30 million when they are sold at auction in May, Christie’s said on Friday.

Works by Willem de Kooning and Richard Diebenkorn are expected to be the top sellers of the portion of the collection that will be auctioned at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on May 15-16.

De Kooning’s 1984 “Untitled XVII” and Diebenkorn’s 1976 “Ocean Park #92” are expected to sell for about $5 million each.

“Williams’ highly personal choices in Post War and Contemporary artworks reflect the dynamic energy of New York and Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s,” Robert Manley, an international director at Christie’s, said in a statement.

Christie’s described de Kooning’s “Untitled XVII” as a masterpiece of his final years of painting.

“The lyrical 1984 work demonstrates the artist’s supreme confidence at the height of his fame, after six decades of painting,” the auction house said. ❑ ❑ ❑ MILAN: A little known side of famous US singer Bob Dylan has gone on show in Milan last week — a series of paintings of New Orleans that the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist produced between 2008 and 2011.

The film noir-like “New Orleans” series harks back to the city as it was in the 1940s and 1950s, with one painting showing a woman trying to break up a fight between two raincoat-clad hoodlums.

Dylan began painting at the height of his music career in the 1960s but has only relatively recently returned to the visual arts, publishing three collections of drawings since 1994.

The 71-year-old star, whose works already hang in various European art galleries, came to inaugurate the exhibition himself earlier this week.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

26

Sydney bids to attract Asian visitors

Australian retailers reach out to Chinese shoppers SYDNEY, Feb 9, (AFP): Be polite but not too familiar, display lucky symbols and take things slowly — unusual advice for the frantic world of retail but Australian stores hope it will help lure cashed-up Chinese tourists.

As Sydney gears up to host one of the world’s biggest Chinese New Year celebrations, officials are working to help struggling retailers use the key tourism event to set their cash registers ringing.

Consumer confidence has stalled in Australia, with households cautious about spending given the uncertain global economy, while an explosion in online shopping has hurt bricksand-mortar stores.

In an effort to offset the impact, Sydney has established practical workshops to help businesses attract

Chinese clients with advice ranging from employing Mandarin-speaking staff to using feng shui to attract shoppers.

“The numbers of Chinese tourists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China are increasing exponentially,” explained Sydney councillor Jenny Green at a recent “ChinaConnect” workshop designed specifically for retailers.

“So it’s really important that our businesses here in Sydney cater to the needs of those tourists.”

Skills She said the workshops, where dozens of tourism operators, business owners and hospitality specialists gather to learn more about what Chinese tourists might want, are about giving retailers the skills to cater to their needs.

They cover cultural awareness — such as Chinese sensitivities, customs and traditions; how to communicate more effectively with Chinese shoppers and how to tailor products and services to meet the needs of visitors.

Among the advice to shop assistants is to respect the elders and not deal exclusively with the person who speaks the best English, given that they may not be the one with the most buying power.

Experts also recommend translating signs, brochures and business cards, acknowledging Chinese New Year and other holidays and using the power of auspicious symbols, feng shui and gifts.

Green said there are signs that some retailers get the message, but there is also an awareness that more could be done to attract Asian visi-

tors.

“I think, no doubt, that the retailers and the business people here would be very aware that that’s a growing market, and they would be keen to tap into that,” she said.

Chinese tourists and students come to Australia each year in the tens of thousands, and the government launched a global marketing campaign called “Nothing Like Australia” in mid-2012 in Shanghai to further boost business.

Market China is Australia’s fastest growing and most valuable international tourism market, with visitors from the country more than tripling over the past decade, jumping from 190,000 visits in 2002 to a record 630,000 in 2012.

Tourism Australia believes the mar-

ket could grow to be worth up to Aus$9 billion a year by the end of the decade, with Chinese visitors not only increasing in numbers but spending at greater levels.

In particular, Chinese tourists surveyed for the agency said they wanted to go shopping, particularly for souvenirs, with local brands and products highly rated.

“Now China has become more open to the outside, one of the things they are (wanting)... is to go for shopping,” said Li Chen, who runs a business in Sydney and was attending the workshop.

“It’s not only for tourism, or to look at the view, or the beautiful weather. Shopping was one of the key tasks for them to achieve.”

Will Figueira, said the workshop had “really helped us understand a lot

more about the mindset from where a lot of Chinese customers come from”.

He said this has meant that his staff were not only better able to establish a rapport with Asian customers, but had also helped the business devise its marketing strategies.

“Including some Mandarin on our business cards, while seemingly only a small step, is taken as an extremely nice symbolic gesture by many of our Chinese customers,” he said.

Knowing what to say, and what not to say, and understanding the concept of someone “losing face” by being publicly criticised or embarrassed, was also vital for good relationships with Chinese suppliers, he said.

“These sorts of things can be the difference between a positive outcome, and a not so great one,” Figueira said.

Fashion

KD to members 2 KD non members.

Feb 13

KLT presents Daisy Pulls It Off: Kuwait Little Theatre (KLT) is proud to present Daisy Pulls It Off by Denise Deegan. Daisy Pulls It Off is a hilarious parody of wholesome adventure stories.

Set in a 1920s girls’ English boarding school, new girl Daisy Meredith, a girl from a poor background, is forced to face and overcome snobbish prejudice and schoolgirl pranks from the wealthier girls.

Along the way she and her new best friend Trixie Martin, search for missing treasure, perform a daring rescue, and make an amazing discovery.

Come and join Daisy and Trixie on Wednesday 13th February, Thursday 14th February and Friday 15th February at 7.30pm. To book your tickets, please email www.klt.boxoffice@gmail.com.

Don’t forget to include which show date you are booking for, how many tickets you require, your full name, contact number and e-mail.

Alternatively, you can call our Box Office on 99373678 between 9am and 4pm or send us a text anytime!

Feb 14

Go Healthy with TIES: ‘Why say so!!

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger

Join our healthy cooking classes to discover the beautiful taste of healthy bite!!

For reservation please call us on 25231015/6 or 97228860 or visit our website www.tiescenter.net. Thursday Feb 14, 2013, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Feb 15

Tommy Hilfiger

TKK picnic: Tulu Koota Kuwait under

Tommy Hilfiger

Models wear designs by Tommy Hilfiger at the MercedesBenz fashion week Feb 8 in New York.

(AP/AFP)

Tommy Hilfiger

Bid to break down barriers

Afghan fashion show seeks to empower women

click Drinking problem?: You are no longer alone! Confidential helpline 99641389. ❑ ❑ ❑ Narcotics Anonymous: NA can help with addiction problems. Totally confidential: 94087800 English/Arabic. ❑ ❑ ❑ Cancer online support group: If you are Cancer patient or family member fighting with this deadly disease, come join our online support group. Best way of dealing with this disease is providing support and share our experience with each other. There are lot of things which even doctors can’t tell so be member of this website and start sharing your experiences which may help others. October is recognized as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). The primary purpose is to promote self examination and screening mammography as the most effective way to save lives by detecting breast cancer at early stage. For more information visit: http://fightingwithcancer.webs.com/

Latest Bridge bi-weekly results: The results of the bi-weekly bridge games played on Wednesday, Jan 16: 1st: Bianca Mousalli/Ahmed Tawfik; 2nd: Imran/Sam Jacobs; 3rd: Ahmed Al Hinnawy/S. Mostafa; 4th: Anita Dudeley/Rola; 5th: Dr Abdul Aziz Dashti/Hisham; 6th: Dia Kasawat/Sudhir Dumra.

Bridge tournament is being held every Sunday and Wednesday at 20:00 hours.

Played at the Graduates Club, next to Kuwait Engineering Society. Interested bridge pairs or individual players please

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 9, (AP): Afghan models paraded down a candlelined catwalk Friday as men and women watched from the audience in a restaurant off a muddy street in Kabul.

The rare fashion show in this warweary capital was a small production but a big idea - part of an Afghan group’s efforts to empower women by breaking down barriers in this highly conservative Muslim society.

“The situation always gets tougher and tougher every day by day, but we should not back down. We are here to move on and move forward, so I think if women step up and they show up in this field, I think they will do a good job,” said Shahar Banoo Zeerak, the designer whose clothes were featured in the show.

The idea of women on display remains mostly taboo in Afghanistan more than a decade after the 2001 U.S. assault that ousted the Taliban from power after a five-year reign of terror by the fundamentalist movement.

Some women still don’t go outside without wearing blue burqas that cover them from head to toe. Violence against women is still common in Afghanistan, and there are reports of women being stoned, executed in public or imprisoned for having affairs with men.

Women have even set themselves on fire to escape domestic violence.

pendent, nonprofit Afghan organization committed to empowering Afghan women and improving their lives.

Most of the 10 models, including three young men, who showed off 33 designs including colorful short-sleeved dresses, jeans, tunics and more traditional outfits - were Afghan women who volunteer for the group.

One of them, 17-year-old Farkhonda Taheri, had never even seen a fashion show before. She said her father and other family members were supportive

of her decision to participate, but her grandmother was not happy.

“The biggest challenge for us that we cannot do these things in Afghanistan because people do not like it,” she said afterward. “I was excited because I felt I am going to bring a change.”

She said it was important for Afghan youths to take risks to bring change as the country struggles to achieve a semblance of normalcy, with international combat forces preparing to withdraw by the end of 2014.

“Who will bring the peace? We are going to bring it. Afghans. The new generation,” Taheri said.

There have been a few other fashion shows in Afghanistan, but most were geared toward an international audience and seldom featured Afghan women or a mixed Afghan audience. Reflecting the obstacles, the organizers did not permit local Afghan media to film the event to protect the women, who on occasion appeared without headscarves and in short skirts.

An Afghan model wears a dress creation by Shahar Banoo Zeerak, during a fashion show in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb 8. (AP)

“It may not be perfect and professional but it’s a beginning,” said Salma Gul, the 26-year-old tailor who made the clothes.

Organizers said they had two reasons for staging the show despite fears of violence in a country that sees frequent bombings and suicide attacks, often against targets deemed un-Islamic by extremists. One was to raise money for the advocacy group and the other was to gradually change attitudes toward women. A spokesman for the advocacy group, Mohammad Zafar Salehi, said they earned more than $1,000 from the show, which sold tickets and drew mostly group members and friends.

“We want to change the mindset of the people but at the same time I worry about the security of the girls,” he said as the famous Afghan rock band Morchaha performed in another room.

“I believe in a change that can be slow.”

Perfect

Improve Friday’s fashion show was organized

by Young Women for Change, an indecontact Mohammed Merchant, Tel: 24815622, 24841158, 99612287.

Feb 11

BLS hosts Valentine bazaar: The

British Ladies Society (BLS) will hold a

10am to 1pm at their premises at Shaikha

Valentine mini bazaar on 11 February from

Complex, 1 Bahrain st, Salmiya Cost — 1

the leadership of Ramesh Kidiyoor is proud to announce the “Family Picnic” scheduled to be held on Friday 15th February 2013 at Mishref Garden from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Tulu Koota Kuwait will assure you a day of outing with your family with fun, refreshing memories of Tulunadu sports and games in addition with some innovative outdoor games. Please plan your day ahead and don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to participate and applaud our enthusiastic members as they strive to show excellence on the ground.

You can sign up your teams in advance for the kabaddi, volleyball and throw ball and ensure your participation with our Sports Secretary Ronald D’Souza Tel: 99865712 and membership renewal.

Please contact TKK Pro Paustine Pinto, Tel: 66614622 For more details pls. contact 97875789 Our Web www.tulukootakuwait.org Mail ID info@tulukootakuwait.org ❑ ❑ ❑

Valentine Dance 2013: Come 15th February to celebrate the most awaited musical presentation ‘A Valentine Dance 2013’ will be organized by ‘Kitchen of RockBank’ with special guests.

Musicians and bands: New Version Band, Selda Band, and Free Fall Band at the Asia Asia Royal Hall, Al Watiya Complex, Kuwait City from 7:00 pm onwards. The event is sponsored by KORG. For more info, please contact 55633740, 90098427 or 50942441.

Celebrate the day with music and songs to meet the sentiments. ❑ ❑ ❑ SIK presents Art: SIK (Staged in Kuwait Productions), presents the Tony award winning comedy ART, by Yasmina Reza, at the Mousetrap theatre in Jabriya (NES campus) from Wednesday, Feb 13 to Friday Feb 15 at 7:30 pm. Tim Waddell, Hassan Rawas and El Elsharif star as the three friends whose relationships go awry when one spends a small fortune on a piece of abstract, modern art.

Tickets for each production can be booked via our website at www.StagedinKuwait.com.

Feb 16

TIES Book Club: Join our first Book Club session on Saturday, Feb 16, 2013, from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. For all Passionate Readers are welcome!! Stop in and meet new friends and welcoming environment. To sign up or for more

Continued on Page 29

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

27

Rebec ca Mi nkoff

Fashio n

Noon

by No or

Helmu t Lang

NEW YORK: Mother Nature is clearly not a fashionista.

A blizzard forced Michael Kors to arrive at New York Fashion Week’s “Project Runway” show on Friday in – gasp – Uggs.

“I came in looking like Pam Anderson,” he joked backstage, where the offending boots had been traded for tasteful black leather.

Marc Jacobs postponed his Monday night show until Thursday, citing delivery problems, but for the most part Fashion Week went on with the show. IMG Fashion said organizers remained in contact with city officials, including the mayor’s office, about potential weather problems but had planned for an extra layer of tenting for the venue and more heat at Lincoln Center, along with crews to help with snow and ice.

Zac Posen said he would present his collection as usual on Sunday but he worried that out-of-town editors and retailers might not be able to make it. Other designers were considering Plan B – adding an Internet stream – to accommodate guests who couldn’t make it to their shows.

Still, plenty of fashion fans wouldn’t let a little snow get in the way. Baltimore college student Carmen Green arrived in a red cocktail dress and black high-heel booties..

Jason Wu Wu’s collection was all woman. Not girlie. Not mannish. That was by design.

“I wanted to bring back the woman to the runway,” he said backstage.

The clothes were full of strength, with exaggerated shoulders and some military touches, but chiffon pleats floated down the runway. Two outfits were long – as in floor-length – pleated, peplum tops over tuxedo pants, the perfect yin and yang.

“Certainly red was on my mind. ... I felt it was right for right now,” he said.

Cushn ie Et O chs

NEW YORK Above and below: Models display creations by Helmut Lang, Cushnie Et Ochs, Project Runway, Noon

by Noor, Rebecca Minkoff, Cesar Galindo and J. Burgos during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2013 collections on Feb 8, in New York. (AP)

Projec t Runw ay

the label founded by U2 rocker Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, decided to showcase men’s clothes with equal emphasis.

“We’ve been making men’s clothes for so long, but a lot of people didn’t know that,” Hewson said. “It’s great to bring men’s looks to the fore.”

The look was strong and simple for the men: big black biker jackets, with fitted black jeans. On the women’s side, many of the looks – from jackets to tops to dresses – featured little silver chains.

But not too thick, emphasized the label’s designer, Sharon Wauchob.

“I didn’t want it to be too aggressive and tough,” she said backstage of the chain detailing.

“It’s always a very careful balance

Rag & Bone Outside, there was sleet, snow and slush. But inside at the Rag & Bone show, one could find at least a temporary solution to the winter storm: Hot mulled wine to ease the chill, and some fun, colorful clothes.

Designers Marcus Wainwright and David Neville were interested in pops of bright color – like mineral green and grape – and in a more overtly masculine style.

“We referenced men’s silhouettes a lot more than usual this time,” Wainwright said.

lindo Cesar Ga

between expressing femininity and expressing a strong identity.”

Helmut Lang The Lang label went cubist, Picasso style.

koff

Min Rebecca

Project runway

s J. Burgo

The rivalry stayed on the catwalk when new judge, Zac Posen, met previous judge, Michael Kors.

Runway Project Kors, acting as a guest panelist, Posen, Heidi Klum and Nina Garcia were one big happy family when they took their seats to watch the collections of this season’s contestants.

Runway (Kors and Klum joked they’ve spent so Project much time together over the years that they now look like brother and sister.)

Kors said. “I knew I was leaving it in very “I didn’t call Zac with any tips before capable hands.” he started. He knows what he’s doing,”

The show featured some stunning gowns in ivory, grape and merlot, but most creations were in black. Valvo said he was so taken with black this season that he almost did the entire collection in it. “It really makes you focus on the structure and the detailing, to make sure each dress is different,” he explained.

lindo Cesar Ga

Carmen Marc Valvo

Valvo’s tell-tale heart drew him to Edgar Allan Poe for inspiration.

“I was thinking long, lean, moody and dark,” the designer said backstage. “Edgar

Allan Poe. Creatures of the night. With a little rock ‘n’ roll, too.”

Edun There’s something new on the Edun runway this season: the Y chromosome.

The theme for fall is youth culture, and

Also: PARIS: Paris fashion’s

enfant terrible, Jean Paul Gaultier, has inaugurated his first international exhibit at Europe’s largest port: the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

The location is perhaps unsurprising given that the Paris couturier is famed for his nautical stripe motifs.

The “Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier” exhibit at the Dutch port’s Kunsthal gallery, which opens Sunday, traces about 35 years of the designer’s avant-garde creations.

More than 140 original creations are in the mix, from the 60-year-old Gaultier’s haute couture line to his ready-to-wear selections. Also included, on loan, are Gaultier designs such as Madonna’s postfeminist conical bra, long the stuff of fashion legend, as well as movie costumes for Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

28

‘Amayiphendleya’ adventure tale on wonders of technology

S. African engineer takes Zulu high-tech with new book JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9, (AFP): When a middle-aged South African engineer recently set out to write a novel in his native Zulu, he found himself hamstrung by a lack of words to describe modern life.

Determined not to use English as a crutch, Phiwayinkosi Mbuyazi instead created 450 new words in Zulu, the mother tongue of a quarter of South Africa’s 50 million population.

His book, titled “Amayiphendleya,” is an adventure tale about four teenage boys and the wonders of technology.

For the first time in Zulu history they come across an isilolongamoya — a machine that controls the air temperature, or air conditioner.

They also come to terms with umnukubalo,(pollution) and with ubungqonela (colonialism), both words derived from their function or sound.

Mbuyazi said his creations were motivated by a realisation that Zulu has not kept up with the developments in almost all major sectors of knowledge.

“It now lacks the terminology that would allow one to hold a conversation, let alone write a book.”

The 41-year-old is dismissive of traditionalists who would keep isiZulu — of the Zulu language — “pure.”

“Many people speak proudly about preserving isiZulu but the truth is by

Macmillan agrees to lift restrictions

US settles with final publisher in e-book case

This undated photo courtesy of Geomagic shows Ping Fu. The US businesswoman has come under fire for allegedly lying in her memoir and media interviews about experiences in China, as Chinese web vigilantes expand their net from corruption to other offences. (AFP)

NEW YORK, Feb 9, (AFP): US authorities said Friday they reached a settlement with Macmillan, the last of five publishing firms accused of colluding with Apple in an e-book price-fixing conspiracy.

The Justice Department said in a statement that with the five publishers having settled, the case will proceed against Apple, and that a trial was set to begin in June.

Macmillan joined Penguin Group, Hachette Book Group Inc., HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster in settling the charges of an illegal conspiracy to raise e-book prices.

Macmillan agreed to immediately lift restrictions it has imposed on discounting and other promotions by ebook retailers, and its practices will

be monitored under the settlement.

US officials allege the price-fixing scheme was aimed at ending a discounting effort by Amazon, which sold most e-books at $9.99 until Apple’s new pricing plan was forced on the retail giant.

The move almost instantly raised the prices consumers paid for ebooks to $12.99, $14.99 or higher, according to the US complaint.

“As a result of today’s settlement, Macmillan has agreed to immediately allow retailers to lower the prices consumers pay for Macmillan’s e-books,” said Jamillia Ferris of the Antitrust Division at Justice.

“Just as consumers are already paying lower prices for the e-book versions of many of Hachette’s,

HarperCollins’ and Simon & Schuster’s new releases and best sellers, we expect the prices of many of Macmillan’s e-books will also decline.”

According to the lawsuit filed last April, the five publishers and Apple were unhappy Amazon’s efforts had reduced e-book prices and the retail profit margins of the book sellers to levels they thought were too low.

The suit filed in US District Court in New York said a conspiracy dating back to 2009 involved “schemes to limit Amazon’s ability to discount e-books,” hurting consumers by pushing up prices.

Macmillan’s parent firm Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC is owned

by German-based Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH.

keeping it unchanged we are contributing to its death,” he said.

“Languages evolve, and isiZulu need not be left behind, otherwise it will become irrelevant,” he told AFP.

He hopes that the new words will catch on with the legions people who speak Zulu as a first and second language, and eventually become part of everyday vocabulary.

But the author’s own path shows how many hurdles exist.

He had to set up his own publishing company after several mainstream houses turned him down, saying there was

“no market for Zulu literature.”

A recent industry survey showed no Zulu books were published in 2011, except for religious or school books.

Some 33 books were published in

JIS

Afrikaans, which is spoken by around seven million people in South Africa.

But Mbuyazi feels that little has been done to create the market for Zulu readers.

The Oxford University graduate is trying to change that.

He compiles a crossword puzzle for the Sunday Times Zulu edition and wants to use his company, Mbuyazi Publishing, to get Zulu writers published.

So far the company has produced his three books.

Despite its shortfalls, Zulu has some major advantages compared to South Africa’s eight other indigenous African languages.

It is the only South African language besides English and Afrikaans in which a major national newspaper is produced.

The first Zulu newspaper Ilanga (The Sun) was published in 1903 by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) founding leader John Langalibalele Dube.

It is still in existence and has faces fierce competition from Isolezwe (The Eye of the Nation), which is owned by Irish media mogul Denis O’Brien.

Mbuyazi’s work has caught the attention of academics, some of whom caution against words being created on the hop.

Books Harper to publish

‘Time’ jumps to top spot in US NEW YORK, Feb 9, (Agencies): Danielle Steel’s newest book, “Until the End of Time,” debuted at the top of Publishers Weekly’s bestseller list on Thursday.

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

Some photos from the event

JIS bids farewell to Class XII students It was an evening of mixed emotions for all present at the Jabriya Indian School auditorium on 28th Feb, to witness the official send off for the class XII students at the valedictory ceremony 2013.The ambience of farewell resonated with the dignitaries being escorted to the auditorium. The chief guest was His Excellency, the Ambassador of India to Kuwait, Satish C. Mehta, whose presence was of great honour and inspiration.

The evening, organised with meticulous perfection, commenced with a procession of the class XII students who walked in solemnly to take their

seats — an awe-inspiring sight with all present visibly moved at the sanctity and enormity of the occasion. The programme began with recitation from the Holy Quran after which the school principal, Dr Shobha Vaddadhi warmly greeted and welcomed the guests in her address. The august gathering included M.Mathews, the chairman of the school, Abdulla Al Sabej, the owner of the school, D.K.Sharma, the school manager, Mrs Asha Sharma, principal of Learners’ own Academy, Mrs Susan Roy, principal of United Indian School, Ms Bushra ,Ministry of pri-

vate education, parents and wellwishers among others.

The main event was the distribution of the course completion certificates which were received by the students who looked scholarly in their graduating robes and caps. Certificates and medals were also presented to those students who had topped the school, in various subjects in the class XII examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi in March 2012.

To add colour and vibrancy to the programme, there was the smartly turned out school choir, who presented

melodious songs sung in unison and the popular event of the evening was the semi-classical dance, depicting very clearly the message, “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on to the ground. Climb the stairways to the star one step at a time.…”

The speech of the Head boy and Head girl, was filled with gratitude and emotion as they recollected their wonderful days at JIS. In his valedictory address, the chief guest expressed his happiness, to see that today’s young generation of JIS and was very happy with their achievements.

He reiterated that there is a possibility of course correction at any point in the process of learning if one, feels that they are not satisfied with what they are doing. He exhorted the students to face the world fearlessly and to never give up .With this attitude they will definitely reach their goals.

The management, principal, viceprincipals and the staff wished the children all the best to conquer the peaks and bring laurels to everyone around them.

It was indeed a day to be cherished by all as it was a hallmark of joy and solemnness.

Author Wiggin devoted her life to children’s cause

‘Rebecca’ a classic children’s tale revisited

By Rima A. Mneimneh

described by Mark Twain (1835-1910) as : “Beautiful and moving and satisfying”.

Special to the Arab Times

Genre

I

n the creative art of storytelling one tends to encounter infinite stream of themes and plots woven by masters in the distinguished realm of children’s literature. In the specific domain of children’s literature each country seems to take pride in its own inherent and diverse literary legacies. It has only been in the recent decades, the era of the magical Internet, that the unlimited exposure of world literature has found its way to the readers of all ages and invariably anywhere in the world.

Upon probing writings in children’s literature where the intended readers are the young with limited life experiences who will be the future adults and the steering power of their native countries towards the future one encounters a myriad of great classics indeed. As a general precept, many literary works tend to depict the times and the social, economic and political conditions they have been written in.

Legacies Children’s literary legacies tend also to be influenced by the same trends. Upon visiting the writings by one of the pioneer writers in children’s literature whose life has also been closely associated with children as she opened the first free kindergarten in San Francisco and had devoted her life to children’s education;

The book cover of ‘Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm’

she lectured and wrote articles and essays on education many of which were published in newspapers and magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly.

To raise funds for her kindergarten she published her first books “Story of Patsy” published in 1883 and “The Birds’ Christmas Carol” in 1887, many ensued later on in her life. She collaborated with her sister and produced “The Republic of Childhood” based on her lectures. Kate Douglas Wiggin (18561923) was an American author and educator whose one of her most popular stories is titled “Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm”, published in 1903, it was

Reprints of this tale have been published in recent years indicating its significance and appeal in the children’s literature genre. Wiggin’s tale recounts the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall, the second eldest of seven children, who is leaving her family to live with her two aunts Miranda and Jane Sawyer in Riverboro as a relief for the impoverished family with many siblings. The story begins with this opening paragraph: “The old stage coach was rumbling along the dusty road that runs from Maplewood to Riverboro.

The day was as warm as midsummer, though it was only the middle of May, and Jeremiah Cobb was favoring the horses as much as possible, yet never losing sight of the fact that he carried the mail.

The hills were many, and the reins lay loosely in his hands as he lolled back in his seat and extended one foot and leg luxuriously over the dashboard. His brimmed hat of worn felt was well pulled over his eyes, and he revolved a quid of tobacco in his left cheek.” Rebecca’s stay with her aunts was a means to enhance her chances in life as well.

Rebecca is a gentle-natured girl, quite imaginative and charming. She composes poems and songs. It was she who called the family farm “Sunnybrook”. Whilst

Jane was the real protector of the Rebecca Miranda was not particularly impressed by her niece’s qualities.

Jane taught Rebecca how to cook, sew and be a good housekeeper. Life at Riverboro has its peculiarities coupled with many protagonists that enrich the plot in this tale such as Jeremiah Cobb and his wife Sarah Cobb, Emma Jane Perkins and Adam Ladd. Rebecca grows into a fine young lady and remains fond of writing.

She applies for a teaching position but her mother was sick and she has to return to the family farm to tend to her. During her absence her aunt Miranda passes away leaving her the house. A railway company buys Sunnybrook Farm and the family ends up with enough means to live on.

Rebecca becomes an independent woman and helps her brothers and sisters.

The novel ends with her saying : “It was home; her roof, her garden, her green acres, her dear trees; it was shelter for the little Kate Douglas Wiggin family at Sunnybrook; her mother would have once more the companionship of her sister and the friends of her girlhood; the children would have

teachers and playmates. And she?

Future Her own future was close-folded still; folded and hidden in beautiful mists; but she leaned her head against the sunwarmed door, and closing her eyes, whispered, just as if she had been a child saying her prayers: “God bless aunt Miranda; God bless the brick house that was; God bless the brick house that is to be!”

Wiggin’s story of Rebecca is comprised of 31 chapters, some selected titles are: “We Are Seven”, “Rebecca’s Relations”, “A Difference in Hearts”, “Wisdom’s Ways”, “Sunshine in the Shady Place”, “Riverboro Secrets”, “Color of Rose”, “Ashes of Roses”, “Snow-White; Rose-Red”, “Mr. Aladdin”, “The Banquet Lamp”, “The Skyline Widens”, “Aladdin Rubs his Lamp”, “The Inevitable Yolk”, “Mother and Daughter” and “Aunt Miranda’s Apology”.

This pleasantly narrated tale teeming with interesting conjectures and experiences of a growing child into her teens is available on the Internet on http://www.online-literature.com/katewiggin/. Such Web sites providing complete literary works written by major writers and poets are pivotal sources of knowledge dissemination thus enabling readers across the globe to relish in wonderful reading experiences at schools or colleges or in the comfort of their homes.

1. “Until the End of Time” by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, $28.00) 2. “Private Berlin” by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan (Little, Brown, $27.99) 3. “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 4. “A Memory of Light” by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor, $34.99) 5. “Suspect” by Robert Crais (Putnam, $27.95) 6. “Tenth of December: Stories”

by George Saunders (Random House, $26.00) 7. “A Deeper Love Inside” by Sister Souljah (Atria, $26.99) 8. “The Fifth Assassin” by Brad Meltzer (Grand Central, $27.99) 9. “Speaking from Among the Bones” by Alan Bradley (Delacorte, $24.00) 10. “The Racketeer” by John Grisham (Doubleday, $28.95) Hardcover Nonfiction 1. “The Legend of Zelda” by Shigeru Miyamoto (Dark Horse, $34.99) 2. “Shred: The Revolutionary Diet” by Ian K. Smith, M.D. (St. Martin’s, $24.99) 3. “Francona” by Terry Francona (HMH, $28.00) 4. “My Beloved World” by Sonia Sotomayor (Knopf, $27.95) 5. “Killing Kennedy” by Bill O’Reilly (Henry Holt, $28.00) 6. “Hitmaker” by Tommy Mottola (Grand Central, $27.99) 7. “The Future” by Al Gore (Random House, $30.00) 8. “Remembering Whitney” by Cissy Houston (Harper, $27.99) 9. “Rebooting Work” by Maynard Webb (Jossey-Bass, $27.95) 10. “I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak” by Joel Osteen (FaithWords, $21.99)

Also: OTTAWA:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has penned a tome on the history of hockey for hockey-mad Canadian voters that will hit bookstores later this year, his publisher announced Thursday. The as-yet-untitled book tells “the intriguing, little-known story of the origins of professional hockey, where strong personalities and philosophies battled to define not only how the game would be played on ice, but by whom,” said a statement. ❑

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NEW YORK: A British writer has written a book based on Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice” but told from the servants’ point of view, its US publisher said on Thursday.

In “Longbourn,” which will be released later this year in the United States, writer Jo Baker focuses on a romance between the main characters, a newly arrived footman and a housemaid on the Bennet family estate.

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travel sunday, february 10, 2013 airport inquiry tel: 161 www.kuwait-airport.com.kw

Northeast blizzard

Airports in NY resume flights NEW YORK, Feb 9, (Agencies): Flights resumed with delays at New York airports Saturday after a fierce blizzard passed.

“Airlines are expected to begin limited service this morning, but all travelers should check with airlines carriers for flight status,” the New York and New Jersey Port Authority said on Twitter.

John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia and Newark suspended all flights on Friday in response to the heavy snow and hurricane-strength wind gusts.

First passenger jets began arriving early Saturday, the Port Authority said.

However, almost 2,000 flights were cancelled Saturday across the New England region amid continuing high winds and snow clearance operations.

Boston’s Logan Airport was struggling to get back into action.

“Overnight, whiteout conditions on the airfield prevented safe operations for our snow crews and their work was suspended for about five hours. The airport is currently closed to all air traffic. Crews started up again shortly before 4:00 am,” the airport said on its Facebook page.

Smaller version of iconic statue to fetch $1.8m

Iwo Jima monument coming to NYC auction NEW YORK, Feb 9, (AP): A statue depicting soldiers raising the US flag at Iwo Jima in 1945 is going on sale.

The original smaller version of the iconic statue is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million later this month at a New York auction dedicated to World War II artifacts.

That such a statue even exists is news to all but the most ardent history buffs.

Most Americans are familiar with the 32-foot (10-meter)-tall Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Felix de Weldon’s 1954 bronze depicts five Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising the flag on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi as Allied forces struggled to capture the Japanese-held island.

Less well-known is the 12 1/2-foot (4meter)-tall statue created soon after the event.

De Weldon, a young sculptor serving as an artist in the Navy, became instantly transfixed by an Associated Press image of the Feb. 23, 1945, flag planting, which would earn photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize and resonate around the world.

Construction “It’s an incredibly iconic image of bravery,” says Marci Reaven, vice president of historic exhibits at the New-York Historical Society. “It immediately captured Americans’ imaginations, their hopes for victory and their fears at a diffi-

cult time.”

De Weldon canceled a weekend leave to model a wax sculpture of the photo to present to the chiefs of staff. Congress soon called for construction of a large statue. But burdened with war debt, it could provide no financing and de Weldon agreed to fund it himself.

Completed in just three months, de Weldon’s cast stone monument was erected in Washington, D.C., in front of what is now the Federal Reserve Building on Constitution Avenue. It remained there until it was removed in 1947 to make room for a new building.

At about the same time, the government authorized a foundation for de Weldon to build a much larger flag-raising statue in bronze — the 32-foot (10meter) Iwo Jima monument in Arlington.

The 12 1/2-foot (4 meter) version was returned to de Weldon, who covered it with a tarp behind his studio. It remained largely forgotten for more than four decades.

The story of how military historian and collector Rodney Hilton Brown came to own the statue is, like Rosenthal’s photograph, one for the history books.

In researching material for a biography on de Weldon, Brown learned about the old studio and amazingly found the monument still covered by the tarp. He purchased the 5-ton monument from de Weldon in 1990, paying with “a

Jima from the last year of WWII and it’s going to get restored.”

Brown unveiled the restored version of the statue in 1995 on the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. It remained on the aircraft carrier until 2007 and was then moved to a storage facility in Connecticut.

Storage

This photo combination shows (at left), a 1945 photo of the original 12-1/2 foot (4 meter) cast stone version of Felix de Weldon’s iconic statue depicting soldiers raising the US flag at Iwo Jima, placed in front of the old Navy Department Building, now the Federal Reserve Building, in Washington, DC, and (at right), de Weldon’s 32-foot (10-meter) tall bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va, on Oct 21, 2012. (AP)

Stradivarius violin, a 1920s solid silver Newport yachting trophy and a lot of money.”

But years of neglect had taken their toll. The joints of the sculpture’s inner steel skeleton suffered extensive damage.

Brown was told by a restoration house

that it could build a brand-new monument for a quarter of the cost that it would take to restore it.

“They said, ‘You’re crazy.’ And I said, ‘You’re right, I’m crazy. I’m crazy for my Marine Corps. I’m crazy for my country,” Brown says. “This is the original first Iwo

Brown, 70, founder of the New Yorkbased Virtual War Museum, said he wants to sell the statue now because “it doesn’t fit in my living room. I want to find it a good home so we can pass the flag onto somebody else.”

It will be brought out of storage for display in a sculpture garden adjacent to Bonhams auction house in Manhattan before the Feb. 22 sale.

The successful bidder will also get the tools de Weldon used to build the statue, plus the sculptor’s drawings, sketches and photos of the monument. Also included is the June 4, 1945, Orders for Rosenthal and de Weldon to report to the White House to present a model of the monument to President Harry S. Truman.

Among the other 186 lots at the auction is a copy of Rosenthal’s award-winning photograph that includes a handwritten inscription to de Weldon. The only known photograph autographed by the photographer to the sculptor, it’s expected to sell for $7,000 to $10,000, Brown said.

Predictions Many travelers were steering clear of the region altogether.

Airlines waived the usual fees to change tickets for flights in the affected areas.

Airlines began canceling Saturday flights on Friday, hours before the storm was due to hit, said Daniel Baker, CEO of FlightAware. “That’s when the meteorologists start to have reliable predictions and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) holds conference calls to discuss which airports are shutting down,” he said.

Airlines try to get ahead of big storms by canceling flights in advance rather than hope that they can operate in bad weather.

Storms like this one jam up airline call centers, so airlines are increasingly automating the process of re-booking passengers.

Delta is rolling out software it calls “VIPER” — Virtual Inconvenienced Passenger Expedited Reprotection — to automatically find a replacement flight for passengers whose flights have been canceled.

LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Airport in neighboring New Jersey stopped all flights late afternoon, and John F. Kennedy International Airport was doing the same by early evening, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office said.

“The five New York City airports are open, but airlines are operating on a greatly reduced schedule, with more than 2,300 flights cancelled as of mid-afternoon,” Cuomo said.

“In the event that some travelers become stranded, airport personnel are preparing cots, blankets and other essentials to assist customers. All air travelers should check with their carriers regarding resumption of flights tomorrow.”

Tom Bosco, general manager of LaGuardia, said there were “no further airline arrivals or departures tonight.”

“We will strive to keep the airport open throughout the storm, even if the airlines have shut down for the night,” he told NY1 television.

click Latest Continued from Page 26 information contact us on 97228860 or email us tiesbookclub@gmail.com. ❑ ❑ ❑

TIES Desert Camp: All are welcome for an outdoor event like never before! Its TIES Center all day Desert Camp on Saturday, Feb 16, 2013 from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. Transportation will be provided.

Don’t miss out!! For reservation please call us on 25231015/6 or 97228860 or visit our website www.tiescenter.net Feb 25

India Embassy closure: The Continued on Page 30

A general view of the Museum of Islamic Art during the 2009 Doha Tribeca Film Festival on Oct 30, 2009 in Doha, Qatar. (AFP)

Exhibit offers a glimpse into the mind of master

Michelangelo’s drawings go on display WILLIAMSBURG, Va, Feb 9, (AP): Twenty-five drawings by Michelangelo begin a two-city US exhibition in Virginia on Saturday, including some works never before seen in the United States and many that offer a glimpse into the mind of the master and the tumultuous times in which he lived.

“Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane, Masterpiece Drawings from the Casa Buonarroti” will be on view at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg through April 14, then move to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where it will run from April 21 through June 30.

While the collection is divided between figures and dazzling architectural drawings of libraries, churches and fortifications, the centerpieces are “Madonna and Child” and “Cleopatra.” These two works open and close the Muscarelle exhibit, which is presented in a stark setting with each drawing individually illuminated on burgundy walls.

The work typically is viewed only by scholars who must travel to the Casa Buonarroti museum in Florence, the city where Michelangelo spent most of his 89 years.

They call it the most important Michelangelo show in the US in decades.

“We sent to the Muscarelle our best, because I have old friends here,” Ragionieri said during a playful, bilingual discussion with Spike in the museum prior to its opening.

Spike selected the show from approximately 230 drawings that are held by Casa Buonarroti, the home of Michelangelo’s descendants. He burned many of his drawings, Ragionieri said.

“He said all that remained of his had to be perfect,” she said.

Muscarelle’s director, Aaron De

Visitors

Honors The Muscarelle was able to snag the exhibition because of the long relationship between the museum’s assistant director, John T. Spike, and Pina Ragionieri, the elegant 86-yearold director of Casa Buonarroti. The exhibit honors her and the Muscarelle’s founding 30 years ago.

Groft, said Michelangelo destroyed the bulk of his drawings for another reason: “He was protecting his brand.

He didn’t want other people to go and execute his paintings.”

The drawings were done after Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel in 1512, when he was 37.

“Over the next three decades he set his heart on the impossible task of surpassing himself,” Spike writes in an introduction to the show.

“Michelangelo between the ages of forty and sixty labored incessantly on projects too huge to complete on time or as planned.”

The drawings, however, are treasured for the hand that created them and the stories they tell.

“I don’t use the word ‘unfinished’ because it is abused in this sense,” Ragionieri said. “It’s something that comes from the deepest part of the artist.”

This image provided by the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the college of Williams & Mary shows a drawing by Renaissance artist Michelangelo of Cleopatra that is on display at the museum in Williamsburg, Va. (AP)

Michelangelo’s “Cleopatra” drawn in black chalk pleasantly confronts visitors as they enter the exhibit: her head is cast to the side, looking over her shoulder, an asp on her breast, her face “an emblem of divine beauty,” Spike said.

But circle around the drawing and Michelangelo has conjured a terrifying vision on the reverse, hidden until 1988 by another piece of paper. Her eyes are blank, she appears anguished, her features blunt.

“It’s not for delicate eyes, it’s so shocking,” Spike said. “She looks diabolical.”

The show draws its name from

these two contrasts: the sacred and the profane, meaning mortal or earthly.

Spikes writes that the jarring contrasts are intended to suggest that “that the opposite face of mortal beauty is the danger of submitting to sensual pleasures and, ultimately, destruction.”

The “Madonna and Child,” separated by a panel from the rest of the exhibit, is a showstopper as well. It depicts a muscular infant at the breast of his mother, who is looking away from the child. The Madonna is drawn sparingly with black chalk, while the child’s torso is highlighted with red chalk, appearing very much like polished marble.

“She looks very remote,” Spike said. “She’s not supposed to look with foreboding with what is to come.”

Spike said the iconography is personal to Michelangelo.

“He seems to have suffered from the loss of his mother at age 5 and because of this alienation — or the disappearing mother — he does this three times in different sculptures,” Spike said.

Fortifications While the “Madonna and Child” and “Cleopatra” are studies in sensuality, many of the other drawings rendered in pen, ink and chalk are dizzying in their complex geometry: the fortifications for the gates of Florence; the facade for the church of San Lorenzo, which was never built; and the plan for the Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome,

which again was never realized.

The work represents Michelangelo’s “tormented middle decades of his life,” Spike said. The period included the Protestant Reformation, turmoil among the pope-producing Medici family and the sacking of Rome. At one point, fearing for his life, Michelangelo went into hiding as his fellow Florentines were executed.

“It’s possible,” Ragionieri said, “if you begin from the beginning to follow the life of Michelangelo to the last moment. They are the most wonderful drawings.”

Michelangelo spent the final 30 years of his life in Rome. He died in 1564.

A parallel exhibit at the Muscarelle is “A Brush with Passion: Mattie Preti.” It will feature 15 paintings on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the artist’s birth.

Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sszkotakap. ❑

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If You Go...

Michelangelo: Sacred and profane, masterpiece drawings from the case Buonarroti: Muscarelle Museum of Art, campus of The College of William & Mary, www.wm.edu/muscarelle . Open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, noon-4 p.m.

Admission: $15. Exhibit on view Feb. 9-April 14 before moving to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, April 21-June 30.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

30

which are planned to be held at the turf ground at Sulaibiya. Kuwait Cricket intends to conduct two cricket tournaments for U-15 and U-18 school children who should have valid Kuwait residence and be a student of their respective school.

Physical Education officials or Managers of various schools in Kuwait are hereby requested to contact Murali Kutticode on 99542107 for more information. The tournaments will be played on Saturdays at Sulaibiya grounds and the matches will be 30 overs.

Participation of school cricket teams will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the open cricket tournament and we look forward to your confirmation of attendance. Any inquiries may be directed to the contact phone numbers or email addresses mentioned below: A meeting of School representatives will be arranged shortly and please feel free to contact Kuwait cricket with your positive feedback.

Contact details: Murali Kutticode, Director, Junior & Corporate cricket Tel: 99542107 or kutticode@yahoo.com

click Latest Continued from Page 29 Embassy of India will remain closed on the following days during the month of February 2013: Feb 25, 2013 – Monday, National Day of Kuwait Feb 26, 2013 – Tuesday, Liberation Day of Kuwait ❑ ❑ ❑

HMWA organizes grand prog: Hyderabad Muslim Welfare Association is going to organize a grand yearly programme on the life of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) titled “Prophet Mohammed Greatest Social Reformer on 25th feb 2013 soon after Friday prayer in Masjid-eAbdullah Al Mehri next to famous Edi Stores and in front of Titanic building in Salmiya. Prominent scholars from kuwait will speak on the selected topics focusing life of Prophet (PBUH) and his message to whole humanity and in particular to Muslim Umma.

Dear Brothers it is yet again a great opportunity to learn more and more about Seerah of our beloved Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). And to show our Passion, love and respect to our beloved religion of Islam and enlightened our lives with good deeds preached by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) HMWA executive committee request all the members and people from Hyderabad and other areas to participate in great numbers and bring your near and dear ones and get educated ourself with the message of Islam which is Peace, love and service to humanity.

For further details Contact 99481599, 50605074, 66605881

Courses NYF – yoga classes: Yoga classes available for all age groups and different health problems, weight reduction, depression etc by well experienced Indian female yoga teacher near Al-Rashid Hospital, Salmiya. Separate workshop, meditation, advanced breathing exercise classes, healing courses available according to the requirements of different schools, hospitals and organizations at your place. For more details contact 99838117, 99315825. ❑ ❑ ❑

Feb 28

Some photos from the event

YMCA membership campaign: YMCA Kuwait is conducting membership Campaign until Feb 28. Persons who wish to become a member of YMCA Kuwait and persons who would like to contribute their time,efforts and services for the society and humanitarian causes may please contact – 97542985.

Aug 30

Konkani Drama: M.A. Production is all set to present a Konkani Drama (Tiatr) “MOJE DHUVENCHEM KAZAR” to be staged on 30 August 2013 with an emotionally charged storyline, humour and music, written by M.Dias and directed by Sylvester Vaz & M.Dias to be held at Kuwait Medical Association Auditorium (near Blood Bank), Jabriya. Popular actors and singers will be flown from India including Seby de Divar – Goa’s singing sensation, John D’Silva – Goa’s best known comedian and character artiste, Yvonne – new sensation in comedy, Fr Nevel Gracias (Vell’lekar) – well known actor and writer, Sylvester Vaz – Hitman of Konkani stage, besides a few prominent well established actors and singers from the tiatrist fraternity in Kuwait. The proceeds of this drama will be sent to Old Goa Retreat Centre. Please make note in your diary to attend this must-to-see by all parents and children, and support this noble cause.

Await for more details how to obtain your entry passes or email: dias_q8@yahoo.com Tel: +965 66698257, 99616965, 65095345. http://goablog100.blogspot.com/2013/02/m oje-dhuvenchem-kazar.html

Salsa & jive classes: If you want to stay fit – Take the dive, with salsa and jive, two left feet won’t stop the beat. Join now as individual or couple. Unleash your potential. Individual attention to all students guaranteed. For details contact: 97979816/94445711. ❑ ❑ ❑

Indian classical music concert held at Embassy of India An Indian classical music concert featuring Maestros Kala Ramnath on the violin, Rupak Kulkarni on the flute and Yogesh Samsi on Indian drums (Tabla) was held at the Embassy of India auditorium on Feb 7, 2013. Maestro Kala Ramnath began playing the violin at the tender age of three and is amongst the most outstanding instrumental musicians in the North Indian Classical style. Maestro Rupak Kulkarni is a disciple of renowned Flute Maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

under whose tutelage he has matured as an outstanding exponent of the instrument. Maestro Yogesh Samsi born in a family of musicians was initiated into Tabla when he was four years old. He is a disciple of the legendary Maestro Ustad Allah Rakha under whom he trained for twenty three years. The event was hosted by the Ambassador of India Shri Satish C. Mehta.

A large number of Kuwaiti dignitaries, Ambassadors and members of the Indian community in Kuwait

attended the concert. The scintillating performance by the Maestros received spontaneous applause from the appreciative audience time and again. The spellbound audience gave the Maestros a standing ovation upon conclusion of the performance. The event was organized by the Embassy of India in cooperation with Indian Business Council Kuwait, National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters and Dar Al-Aathaar AlIslamiya.

TIES Russian Classes: TIES Center Russian Club is glad to announce the start of Russian Language Courses. We offer classes for all levels, from beginners to advance level. TIES Russian Courses are intended for all Arabic speakers who wish to learn Russian as a second language or simply as a hobby. Throughout the course the students will learn how to read and write in a friendly, relaxed and welcoming environment.

For more information/registration kindly contact us 97226650. ❑ ❑ ❑ TIES Arabic course: TIES Center offers Arabic classes. We offer classes for all levels, from beginners to advance.

TIES Arabic classes are intended for all expatriates who wish to learn Arabic (business, basic communication, hobby, fun, etc…). Throughout the course the students will learn how to read, write and speak Arabic in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

For more information please contact 25231015-6; mobile 97228860/96682792 or visit our website at www.tiescenter.net. ❑ ❑ ❑

Sports Football Coaching Course: The next P.G.A. Everton Football Coaching Course at the new location by Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School, Bayan Block 7, Masjed AlAqsa Street. Courses are available for boys and girls aged from 3 to 18 years. For further details see http://www.pgakuwait.com.kw/ or contact academy Director Mike on 99981327 or Executive Director Baker on 66918666. ❑ ❑ ❑

British School of Kuwait (BSK) staff and students congratulate the music students who performed at The Young Musician of the Gulf Competition in Dubai.

KLL registration: Kuwait Little League (KLL) has kicked off registration for the 2012-2013 baseball and softball season.

The various divisions and corresponding age groups are as follows: Tee Ball: Boys and Girls — 5 to 7 years old; Minors: Boys and Girls — 8 to 10 years old; Majors: Boys and Girls — 11 to 12 years old; Juniors: Boys and Girls — 13 to 14 years old; Seniors: Boys and Girls —15 to 18 years old; Softball: Girls only — 11 to 18 years old.

Challenger* – Boys and Girls — 7 to 12 years old (for children with special needs).

Persons who deem themselves eligible as volunteer baseball coaches, umpires or team parents are also welcome to register.

For registration and more information please visit www.Q8LL.ORG. ❑ ❑ ❑

Kwt-Brits football supporters: A new football supporters website for British expats living and working in Kuwait has been set up by an Everton supporter, Trevor Powell. The Kuwait Brits Football Supporters Association (KBFSA) site aims to provide contact information for supporters of each others’ whereabouts and also in the future hopes to organise social events such as quizzes and even five-a-side matches on a home international teams basis. We need expats to register their support and hence we can then start to cast around for a suitable meeting venue. The site can be accessed at www.kbfsa.co.uk. ❑ ❑ ❑

Kuwait Cricket for schools: Kuwait Cricket, the apex body of cricket in Kuwait would like to invite school cricket teams to participate in their tournaments

Quiz Night for Ladies: TIES Center Ladies Club invites all ladies to the educative & entertaining session of quiz night (2nd Wednesday of every month).

Time: 6 pm till 8 pm. You can come with your family and enjoy the quiz night together.

Refreshments will be provided. For more information/registration,contact 25231015/6 or 97228860 or visit www.tiescenter.net. ❑ ❑ ❑ AWARE Winter Arabic course: ‘The

A photo from the event

‘Thyagaraja Vaibhavam’ — truly an aradhana for Saint Thyagaraja

IBL commences registration: Indian Bowling League (IBL) – Kuwait.

Team registration begins for season 2.

Kindly email uly334@gmail.com for registration forms or contact 99503348 after 6 pm only. ❑ ❑ ❑

Free Arabic course: IPC and all its branches is opening Free Arabic Language Course for non-Arab Ladies accessible in beginners and advance levels. Class in Islamic and Quran courses are also presented in different languages. Registration is on!

Call the nearest IPC branch: Rawdah: Offers 2 alternatives for Level 1 — Call: 22512257. 1. Once a week class (4-month course); 2. Twice a week class (2-month course) Salmiyah: 25733263, 97533263; Kheitan: 24730137, 99285459; Mangaf: 23723002 ext 124/123; Jahra: 24558830, 97533948. ❑ ❑ ❑

In 1847 on the Pushya Bahula Panchami,day one of the greatest saints of Carnatic Classical music Nada Brahmam Shri Thyagaraja attained oneness with the effulgent god-head.

On Thursday, Jan 31, 2013,Raag ‘N’Rhythm, a forum created by Smt Malini Viswanath to promote Carnatic classical music in Kuwait, conducted the 166th Aradhana for Saint Thyagaraja.

Shri Suryaprakash, with absolute elan, welcomed the invited audience to the Aradhana enlightening them on how thousands of rasikas would have flocked that very morning to Thiruvaiyyaru to render the

Pancharatnams of the Saint.

The evening began with a screening of a film on the saint’s life ‘Thyagaraja Vaibhavam’, directed by Malini Viswanath and enacted by students of Raag’N’Rhythm, painting a canvass of the saint’s life and his compositions which were his experiences with divinity.

The film showed various stages in the life of saint Thyagaraja, as he began his association with his Ishta Devata Lord Rama, with’ Namo namo Raghavaya’ in Desiya todi.The film depicted scenes from Shri Thyagaraja’s visit to Tirupati, composing ‘Terediyakara’ in angst at not being able to see the Lord of Tirumala and

‘Venkateshasevimpa’ in ecstasy on seeing the Lord reveal himself ,composing kritis like ‘Naradaguruswami’ in Darbar, ‘SreeNarada’ in Kanada seeking Sage Narada’s varaprasadam, to mention a few.

The film carried a deep message on how to lead life on Saint Thyagaraja’s principles by the revered Guru Sangeetha Mahamahopadhyaya Brahmasri Shri Kollegal Subramanyam of Hyderabad in a special interview for the occasion.

Ghana Raga Pancharatnams in Natta, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali and Sri were rendered by Malini Viswanath and students of the forum, with Smt Malini explaining the lyrical beauty of every

Pancharatnam.

The evening concluded with the release of a special video and audio recording of Smt Malini Viswanath’s concert for a multinational audience showcasing the universality of Carnatic music which also features a special Jugalbandhi of the Carnatic Raga and the Arab Oud strings,by Smt Malini and Kuwait’s state artists.

The day was truly an Aradhana for the great Saint as the invited Rasikas participated with ardent dedication in the rendition of the Pancharatnams in a humble effort to recreate Thiruvaiyyaru.

Shri Suryaprakash’s educative yet sprightly compering made the event very interesting.

AWARE Management is glad to inform you that Winter 2 Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula begins today and runs until March 18, 2013.

AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed and courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community.

We cater to teachers, travelers and those working in the private business sector.

Arabic classes at the AWARE Center are unique because students are provided with the chance to practice their Arabic through various social activities that aim at bringing Arabs and Westerners together.

AWARE Arabic courses highlight: ■ Introductory to Level 5 Arabic language basics ■ Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic ■ Combine language learning with cultural insights ■ Taught in multi-nationality group settings ■ Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

Note: Due to some of our clients’ busy schedules during week days, AWARE Center has decided to offer Arabic classes every Saturday for beginners (Introductory Arabic) with effect from Feb 9, 2013 until March 16, 2013. Don’t miss this opportunity!

For more information, please call 25335260/80 or log onto: www.aware.com

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ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

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click

AUK lecture

Continued from Page 30

Courses

THE Center of Gulf Studies (CGS) at AUK will be holding a lecture about the transformation of the political landscape in Egypt and its challenges to adapt to the changes caused by the revolution. The talk will be held on Wednesday on February 13 at 6:30 p.m. and will take place at the AUK Auditorium. The lecture is open to public.

The talk will be presented by Dr Ann Lesch, professor of Political Science and the Associate Provost of International Programs at the American University of Cairo (AUC). The lecture will highlight and address the struggles and obstacles faced by the Egyptian people and the region’s attempts to transition.

Dr Lesch acquired her doctorate from Columbia University and joined AUC as Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2004. As cofounder of the Palestinian American Research Center, Dr Lesch’s research interests cover Palestinian, Egyptian, and Sudanese politics. Dr Lesch has published 60 academic articles and book chapters, and authored 10 books that focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict and inter-Arab relations.

TIES Center Arabic Course: TIES Center is glad to announce the start of Arabic Courses which runs until March 7, 2013. We offer classes for all levels from beginners to advance level. TIES Arabic Classes are intended for all expatriates who wish to learn Arabic for whatever purpose – business, basic communication, as a second language or simply as a hobby. Throughout the course the students will learn how to read, write and speak Arabic in a friendly, relaxed and welcoming environment.

For more more information/registration, contact 25231015/6 or 97228860 or through the following address amina@tiescenter.net. ❑ ❑ ❑ Latino dancing classes: Salsa & Bachata classes learn the moves, unleash your potential live the experience of true Latin dancing. We provide individual attention to students. You can join as an individual or as a couple. Salsa classes on Monday and Wednesday from 8 pm to 9 pm. Bachata classes every Sunday from 8 pm to 9 pm. For details contact: 55885102, 99885102. ❑ ❑ ❑ Islamic classes in French: The Enlightenment into Islam is offering Islamic Classes in French for ladies.

Timings 4:30 to 7 pm. Every Wednesday.

Please register at the office (Women’s Section), 2nd floor. For more information please contact us. Telephone 25362684, 99789954, 99507076, 97743327. Fax 25342573 (attention — Enlightenment into Islam) ❑ ❑ ❑

English Course at TIES Center: TIES Center announces new English Course Classes from Jan 9th 2013 to Feb 13th 2013, every Wednesday 6 pm to 8 pm. The course would be conducted by an instructor with vast experience in teaching English Mohammad Abdullah Cathcart,

A flyer of the event native English speaker, California/Minnesota accent and TEFL Certified English teacher. The classes would be at TIES Center in Al Shuhada, for more information please call 97228860 or you contact us through the following email address amina@tiescenter.net. ❑ ❑ ❑

A flyer of the event

General

PSME notice: We are inviting all

AWL registration: Ladies, all nationalities, wishing to join the American Women’s League (AWL) of Kuwait should call 99039723 and visit their Facebook page. ❑ ❑ ❑

Filipino Mech’l. Tech, CPM, ME, RME, PME, Masteral and PhD in Mechanical Engineering, who are currently working here in Kuwait to join the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers Kuwait Chapter (PSME-Kuwait Chapter).

The main objective of the Society is to uplift the Mechanical Engineering profes-

sion, by a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programs, like seminars, technical training, research and further studies.

Moreover, we are also focusing on Professional Upgrading of members through the Special Professional Licensure Board Examinations (SPLBE) for OFW’s which are held yearly in KSA,

UAE and Qatar.

Any interested person can contact the following: Engr Ernie A. Blanza, 97772741; Engr Benito B. Bulawan, 66336370; Engr Jonil G. Puracan, 66456245; Engr Francisco L. Olpindo, 97634388; Engr Arturo L. Palomar, 55116178; Engr Joseph De Chavez 66427247; Engr Marlon M.

Continued on Page 32

Cinema Cinema programme from Thursday 07/2/2013 to Wednesday 13/2/2013

Bullet to the Head (DIG) (Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa) Sharqia 1

13.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 20.00 (Daily) 00.05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Muhalab 1 12.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15.45 (Sun, Tue, Wed, Thu) 19.45 (Daily) 23.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Fanar 1 13.00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 19.00, 23.00 (Daily) Marina 2 13.30 (Fri) 20.00 (Daily) 00.15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 3 13.15 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17.15, 19.15, 21.15, 23.15 (Daily) 01.15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 5 18.30 (Daily) 360° 8 14.15, 16.15, 18.15, 20.15, 22.15 (Daily) 01.15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Al-Kout 4 17.30, 21.45 (Daily) 00.05 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 10 00.45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Bairaq 2 16.15, 20.15 (Daily) 00.15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Grand Cine 13.30, 16.00, 18.30, 20.30, 22.30 (Daily) 00.30 (Thu, Fri)

The Guilt Trip (DIG) (Barbara Streisand, Seth Roger) Sharqia 1 Muhalab 1

15.45, 22.00 (Daily) 14.45 (Fri, Sat, Mon) 17.45 (Sun, Tue, Wed, Thu) 21.45 (Daily) Fanar 1 15.00, 21.00 (Daily) 01.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Marina 1 13.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 17.30, 22.45 (Daily) Avenues 4 17.30 (Daily) Avenues 10 14.00, 16.15, 18.30, 20.45 23.00 (Daily) 01.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 10 13.45, 16.00, 18.15, 20.30, 22.45 (Daily) 360° 11 12.45, 15.00, 17.15, 19.45 (Daily) 00.05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al Kout 2 13.00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 20.15, 22.15 (Daily) Bairaq 2 14.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18.15, 22.15 (Daily) Grand Cine 14.00, 16.00, 18.00, 20.00, 22.15 (Daily)

Warm Bodies (Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer) Sharqia 1 Muhalab 2 Fanar 1 Marina 1

17.45 (Daily) 20.00 (Daily) 17.00 (Daily) 15.30 (Daily) 00.45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Avenues 1 13.15 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15.30, 17.45, 20.00, 22.15 (Daily) 00.30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 2 14.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16.45, 17.00, 21.15 (Daily) 23.30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Al Kout 3 16.15, 20.30 (Daily) Grand Cine 13.00, 15.30, 18.00, 20.30, 22.30 (Daily)

21.45 (Daily) 13.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15.45 (Daily) Bairaq 3 13.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat,Mon) 15.30, 17.30 (Daily) Ajial 2 16.00, 18.00 (Daily) Grand Cine 13.00, 15.00, 17.00, 20.00, 22.00 (Daily)

1. 360°

Zahra’a Area, South Surra, 6th Ring Road, corner of King Faisal Highway

2. Ajial

Ajial Complex, Fahaheel

3. Al Bairaq

Between Jaber Al Ali East & Al Agalia West

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (DIG)

4. Al Fanar

Al Fanar Complex, Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya

5. Al Kout

Al-Kout Complex, at the end of the Coastal Road, Fahaheel

6. Al Muhalab

Al Muhalab Complex, Behind Hawalli Clinic, Hawalli

7. Al Sharqiya

Arabian Gulf Street, Souq Sharq, near the Amiri Hospital

8. Granada

Abraq Khaitan, off the Old Airport Road

9. Laila Gallery

Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya

10. Marina

Marina Mall, Between Salem Al Mubarak Street & Arabian Gulf Street, Salmiya

11. Metro

Metro Complex, Farwaniya, near Crowne Plaza Hotel & Farwaniya Garden

12. Plaza

Salem Al Mubarak Street, near Sultan Center, Salmiya

13. The Avenues

The Avenues Mall, Al Reggai near Al Rai, 5th Ring Road & Ghazali Road Intersection

How to find us

Al-Kout 4

(Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton) Sharqia 2

14.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 22.30 (Daily) Muhalab 3 18.15 (Daily) 00.45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) Fanar 2 16.15, 20.30 (Daily) Marina 3 22.30 (Daily) Avenues 9 14.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16.45, 19.00, 21.15, 23.30 (Daily) 360° 6 13.15, 15.30, 17.45, 20, 22.15 (Daily) 00.30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 360° 13 14.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16.30, 18.45, 21.00, 23.15 (Daily) Al-Kout 1 13.30 (Fri) 17.45 (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu) Bairaq 1 14.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 19.45 (Daily) Laila 18.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue) Grand Cine 13.00, 15.00, 17.30, 20.30, 22.30 (Daily) 00.15 (Thu, Fri)

3Ala Gosety (Dig) (Ahmed Helmi, Ghada Adel) 18.00, 20.15 (Daily) 00.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Muhalab 3 14.15, 20.15, 22.30 (Daily) Fanar 4 12.45, 15.00, 19.30, 21.45 (Daily) 00.05 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Marina 2 13.00 (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu) 15.30, 17.45, 22.00 (Daily) Avenues 4 12.30, 20.00, 22.30 (Daily) 01.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Avenues 11 13.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16.15, 18.45, 21.15 (Daily) 23.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 4 13.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16.00, 18.30, 21.00 (Daily) 23.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 360° 9 20.00 (Daily) 360° 12 12.30, 15.00, 17.30, 20.00, 22.30 (Daily) 01.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Al-Kout 1 13.15 (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu) 15.30, 19.45, 22.00 (Daily) Bairaq 1 12.30 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 16.45, 21.15 (Daily) 23.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) Laila 16.00, 20.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue) Ajial 2 19.45, 22.00 (Daily) Metro 1 21.30 (Daily)

Sharqia 2

Broken City (Dig)

360° 1

360° 9

(Mark Wahlberg, Russel Crowe) Sharqia 3 Muhalab 2

Fanar 2 Marina 3 Avenues 5

Avenues 6

16.00, 20.30, 22.45 (Daily) 01.00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 13.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 15.45, 22.00 (Daily) 00.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18.15, 22.30 (Daily) 00.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 14.15, 20.15 (Daily) 00.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 13.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 16.00, 21.00 (Daily) 23.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 12.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 15.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 17.30, 20.00, 22.30 (Daily)

Al-Kout 3

Bairaq 3 Laila Grand Cine

01.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 13.45, 16.15, 18.45, 21.15 (Daily) 23.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 12.30, 15.00, 17.30, 22.30 (Daily) 01.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 14.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18.15, 22.30 (Daily) 12.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 19.30, 21.45 (Daily) 00.05 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 22.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue 14.00, 17.00, 20.00, 22.15, (Daily) 00.30 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue)

The Last Stand (Dig) (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eduardo Noriega) Fanar 3 Avenues 7

12.30 (Mon, Thur, Fri, Sat) 13.15 (Daily) 0030 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat)

(Claudia Abate, Pere Ponce) Sharqia 2 Muhalab 2 Fanar 3

Marina 3 Avenues 2 360° 3

12.30 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 16.15 (Daily) 20.00 (Daily) 13.00 (Thu, Sat, Mon) 15.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 16.45 (Daily) 12.30, 16.30 (Daily) 12.45, 14.45, 16.45, 18.45 (Daily) 13.45, 15.45, 17.45, 19.45,

Gangster Squad (Dig) (Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling) Fanar 4 Avenues 8 360° 15 Al-Kout 4 Grand Cine

Muhalab 2 Fanar 2 Marina 3 Avenues 2 360° 5

14.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18.30 (Daily) 18.00 (Daily) 14.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 18.15 (Daily) 20.45, 22.45 (Daily) 00.45 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 13.00 (Sat) 15.00 (Fri & Sat) 17.00 (Sun, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) 21.15, 23.15 (Daily)

17.15 (Daily) 12.45 (Thu, Sat, Mon, Tue) 14.00 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon, Tue) 00.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 19.30 (Daily) 14.30, 17.00, 20.00, 22.30 (Daily)

Lincoln (Dig) (Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field) Fanar 5 Marina 1 Avenues 8 00.15 360° 7

14.45, 17.45, 20.45 (Daily) 23.45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 19.45 (Daily) 15.15, 18.15, 21.15 (Daily) (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 14.00, 17.00, 20.00 23.00 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 17.15 (Daily)

(Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon) 360° 15

ABCD (Dig) Hindi (Prabhu Deva, Salman Khan) 16.30, 21.30 (Daily)

Mirchi (Dig) (Telugu) (Prabhas, Anushka, Shetty) Muhalab 1 Plaza Ajial 1 Metro 2

16.45 (Fri, Sat, Mon) 15.30, 18.30, 21.30 (Daily) 15.30, 18.30, 21.30 (Daily) 15.45, 18.45, 22.00 (Daily)

Special 26 (Dig) Hindi) (Kajal Agarwal, Manoj Bajpai)

‘Bullet to the Head’ starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater is now showing in Kuwait cinemas.

IMAX Imax film programme at The Scientific Centre Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Born to be Wild 3D 10:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm To The Arctic 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm, 8:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm The Last Reef 3D 2:30pm Journey to Mecca 4:30pm

Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 4:30pm, 9:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 11:30am, 2:30pm, 7:30pm Born to be Wild 3D12:30pm, 5:30pm, 8:30pm The Last Reef 3D 3:30pm, 6:30pm

Tuesday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30am, 5:30pm, 8:30pm The Last Reef 3D 11:30am, 3:30pm, 9:30pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30pm, 4:30pm, 6:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 2:30pm, 7:30pm

Wednesday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm, 9:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 11:30am, 6:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 12:30pm, 8:30pm Journey to Mecca 3:30pm The Last Reef 3D 4:30pm, 7:30pm

Thursday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am Born to be Wild 3D 10:30am, 3:30pm, 6:30pm To The Arctic 3D 11:30am, 5:30pm, 8:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm The Last Reef 3D 2:30pm

Friday Fires of Kuwait Flight of Butterflies 3D Born to be Wild 3D The Last Reef 3D To The Arctic 3D

2:30pm 3:30pm, 5:30pm, 8:30pm 4:30pm 6:30pm 7:30pm, 9:30pm

19.30 (Daily)

360° 15

Sharqia 3

23.45 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 19.00 (Daily) 13.00, 15.00, 17.30, 20.00, 22.15 (Daily)

Quartet (Dig)

(Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington)

Snowflake, The White Gorilla (DIG)

360° 3 360° 5 Grand Cine

Al-Kout 2

Silent Hill: Revelation (Dig)

15.45, 18.45, 21.45 (Daily) 15.30, 18.30 (Daily)

Monday

Grand Al-Hamra, tel: 22270333, www.grandcinemas.com

01.15 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 15.15 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon) 00.30 (Thu, Fri, Sat, Mon))

(Mammotty, Dileep)

Sunday

NB: Friday no show before 1:30 pm On Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday no show before 3.30 pm and after 11.15 pm in Sharq, Mohalab, Fanar, Marina, Al Kout, Bairaq, 360 and Avenues.

On Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday no show before 5:30 pm in Plaza, Laila, Ajial, Metro and Granada.

Regular show KD3:000; 3D-Digital — KD3.500; VIP show — KD6.000. ‘On Monday, price is KD1.500 except Digital movies.

Movies inquiries and Fax Back hotline 1803456

Al-Kout 2

Kammath & Kammath (Dig) Ajial 4 Metro 1

14. The Scientific Center Opp Holiday Inn, Salmiya, Gulf Road IMAX

15. Grand Cinemas

Sun) 15.45, 18.45, 21.45 (Daily)

Ajial 3

Fanar 3 Avenues 7 360° 14

18.30, 21.30 (Daily) 15.30, 21.30 (Daily) 14.30, 17.30, 20.30 (Daily) 23.30 (Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat,

Saturday Showtime Available for Groups 09:30 am To The Arctic 3D 10:30am, 1:30pm, 7:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 11:30am, 2:30pm, 6:30pm, 8:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 9:30pm Journey to Mecca 4:30pm The Last Reef 3D 5:30pm Notes: All films are in Arabic. For English, headsets are available upon request. “Fires of Kuwait” is in English. Arabic headsets are available upon request. Film schedule is subject to changes without notice.

For information call 1848888 or visit www.tsck.org.kw

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

32

Horoscope

By Jacqueline Bigar Happy birthday for Sunday, Feb 10, 2013: This year you have an opportunity for a new beginning.

Your charisma and energy are what separate you from many people. You will be noticed, no matter where you are. Be careful, as you might act on certain feelings and create a problem within a relationship. You’ll also have a tendency to be quite me-oriented. If you are single, you draw quite a few people toward you. Use caution with overindulging. If you are attached, try to walk in your sweetie’s footsteps more often. PISCES draws you in. You enjoy his or her reverie.

The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5Dynamic; 4-Positive; 3-Average; 2-So-so; 1Difficult

Capricorn - (Dec 22 - Jan 19) **** Discussions revolve around new plans and different points of view. Be smart and respect differences rather than try to prove that you’re right.

“Right” is subjective, and it’s different from person to person. Make plans for a fun happening. Tonight: Hang out with friends.

This Week: From Tuesday on, the people around you want to chat.

Aquarius - (Jan

20 - Feb 18)

***** You have a lot of spunk in your personality. You’ll have moments that will make you smile and release your fun ideas and good nature out into the world. Recognize that you are likely to go overboard. Avoid a disagreement if possible. Tonight: Your treat.

This Week: Monday, juggle your finances if you must.

Pisces - (Feb 19 - Mar 20) ***** You might be the ringmaster of a happening, and others will want to join in. Avoid being caustic or sharp. You know what you want, and also know how much you enjoy certain people. You have a chance to bring everyone together. Tonight: You call the shots.

This Week: Others respect your decisions, so they defer to you.

home decor

Aries - (Mar 21 - Apr 19) *** You have been so busy living life to the fullest that you might not have realized how tired you’ve gotten. You can see it now in your reactions.

When you become triggered, your anger could get a little out of control. Excessiveness seems to follow you. Tonight: Not to be found.

This Week: Tuesday you claim your power.

Others naturally bow in the presence of your energy.

Taurus - (Apr 20 - May 20) **** You have the rare opportunity to get some quality time with your loved ones. You could have a little too much energy and good will. You might want to buy a token of appreciation for nearly anyone you see. Discipline yourself! Tonight: Forget tomorrow. Live today.

This Week: Use Monday to the max — network and have meetings.

Gemini - (May 21 - June 20) **** Know that others might be admiring your

choices and how you are handling yourself. For some reason, you might feel as if they are checking in on you. Let go of any resentment or anger.

Tonight: A force to be dealt with.

This Week: Take a stand Monday. You might be celebrated for the remainder of the week.

Cancer - (June 21 - July 22) ***** Reach out to someone at a distance. Your conversation could be very lively, and it might take you to a point where you start fighting over a trivial matter. Try to avoid this situation for the sake of the relationship. Do something just for you. Tonight: Not to be found.

This Week: Realize what is happening.

Leo - (July 23 - Aug 22) **** Deal with others on a one-on-one level right now. It seems as though many people want your exclusive attention. Relating in this manner can, and probably will, open many doors. Tonight: Be a duo.

This Week: Work with an associate closely on

indoor gardening

Monday. Detach from Tuesday on.

Virgo - (Aug 23 - Sept 22): **** Others seek you out. Your popularity will soar, as long as you can take a harmless jab or two.

Even though it might be more fun just to get along, it still is important to clear the air. Follow someone’s suggestion. Tonight: Go with the moment.

This Week: Work well with a partner or loved one. Express your thoughts.

Libra - (Sept 23 - Oct 22) **** Be more direct with others, especially if you are working as a team. Holding back might feel good at first, but ultimately, it does not take you to victory. Afterward, you’ll want to partake in some type of relaxing activity, and perhaps even take a nap. Tonight: Do for you.

This Week: By Tuesday, you are ready for some fun.

Scorpio - (Oct 23 - Nov 21)

beauty tips

**** You know what you want. A love interest could be a little too spunky for you right now. Do your best to wear this person down; interactions will be easier if you do. Realize that a loved one goes a long way to accommodate you. Tonight: Let your imagination lead.

This Week: Forget Monday. You will more than make up for it from Tuesday on.

Sagittarius - (Nov 22 - Dec 21) *** Tension builds around you. Someone very close to you has very different ideas that often do not work for you. A discussion could turn into an argument. Be aware that you have different approaches to the same issue. Both ways work. Tonight: Close to home.

This Week: Not until Tuesday are you firing on all four cylinders.

❑

❑

❑

Born today: Actress Emma Roberts (1991), Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz (1950), TV journalist George Stephanopoulos (1961)

taste buds

branch curtain rod

sophronitis cernua

hiding stretch marks

chilli crab

Supplies: Curtains – easiest if they have loops or very large grommets; Fairly straight branches – one per window plus about 5 or 6 extra inches for hanging; Paint; Sand paper; Saw; Screwdriver and screws Instructions: Select the branches that match the measurements of your window and trim all the tiny twigs so you can slide the curtain on later. Lightly sand the trimmed branch. Paint the branches, this is optional.

Next, cut a small two small pieces off a branch you’re not using and screw into wall as a mounting mechanism.

Loop curtains onto your branch before you hang them.

Finally, screw branch into the pieces you just mounted.

Sophronitis cernua is a small brightly colored species is from Brazil. The long ovate leaves are borne one or two per growth and nearly obscure the short, flattened pseudobulbs. When grown well, this miniature species will be covered with full-formed vermillion flowers.

Site: should be grown in bright filtered light, but will also do well with more or less light. Continual air movement is of benefit in warm climates Temperature: tolerant from 50 to 110° F. Water: Water 2-3 times a week during the growing season and fertilize once a week with half-strength fertilize.

Stretch marks cause embarrassment and discomfort. it can appear on almost all parts of your body. Most commonly on the upper arms and legs, breasts, belly, back and sides. They can be caused by weight gain, weight loss, pregnancy, growth spurts, increase or decrease in muscle, and sometime just naturally and without any size change.

Artificial tanning product coupled with exercise to keep the abdominal muscles as toned and tight as possible minimizing stretch mark’s visibility.

Massaging the areas of your skin with a rich lotion containing Shea and or cocoa butter. You should do this after every shower or bath and even multiple times a day.

Keeping yourself hydrated by drinking enough water helps as well.

Ingredients: 4 small crabs; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 clove crushed garlic; 3 dried red chilies – soaked, drained and chopped; 2 tbsp chili sauce; 4 tbsp tomato sauce; 1 cup hot water or chicken stock; 1 tbsp cold water; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tsp corn starch; 4 spring onions – chopped; 1 egg white Method: Clean the crabs removing the shell and claws. Cut body in half. Fry crab pieces in hot wok for 3 – 4 minutes and set crab aside. Drain all but 1 tbsp of oil from the wok and reheat. Stir in garlic, chilies, sauces, stock or hot water, salt and sugar. Stir corn starch into cold water until smooth. Slowly whisk corn starch mixture into wok and bring to boil. Return the crab to the wok and add spring onions and toss until crab is cooked Stir in egg white until sauce thickens.

American Society of Safety Engineers, Kuwait Chapter had organized a workshop and training session on ‘Associate Safety Professional (ASP) Preparatory Program’ on Feb 1 and 2, at Kohinoor Banquets Hall, Fahaheel. Vasudevan N, CSP, President inaugurated the meet with his welcome address and shared his experience in obtaining his CSP Certification. Golamari Sampath Reddy, Secretary, introduced the speakers and thanked them for their voluntary

support in organizing the workshop. 11 ASSE members benefited by this two-day workshop.

The keynote speakers of the meet were Venkatakrishnan, CSP, PT Engineer, Chevron, Ramanan, CSP, Project Safety Coordinator, Chevron, Ramana Murthy, CSP, Safety Engineer, EQUATE, G. Sampath Reddy, CSP, CMIOSH, Secretary, ASSE and Vasudevan, CSP, President, ASSE. The ASP training workshop includ-

ed examination plan, review of test taking strategy, test format, scoring procedures, and recent examination results.

The workshop also provided opportunity to practice solving analytical problems in all the domains.

The presentations were followed by an extensive question & answer session. As a token of appreciation ASSEKuwait chapter thanked the speakers for volunteering for two days in presentation of the topics.

Dear Abby Parents balk at cost of rehearsal dinner

By Abigail Van Buren Dear Abby: My stepson “Steve” is getting married out of town. His fiancee is an only daughter with three brothers, and her family is throwing a large, traditional, formal wedding.

My husband and I have just been informed by Steve’s mother that we are to host the rehearsal dinner for the wedding party, their spouses and out-of-town guests. It will cost thousands of dollars in addition to the cost of us attending the wedding, and we will have to go into debt to pay for it. Is this fair?

When we were married, we had a simple wedding. We prepared everything ourselves because it was all we could afford. Should we be expected to fork over money we don’t have to feed people we don’t know just because the bride’s family can afford to throw a large, formal wedding?

— Stepmom in Canada Dear stepmom: No, you should not, and you should let the bride’s family know it ASAP. Although, traditionally, a rehearsal dinner is hosted by the parents of the groom, today it can be hosted by just about anyone who is willing.

And while the guest list normally includes all attendants and their spouses or partners, close relatives and special guests such as the clergyperson and spouse, you are not obligated to include Abigail Van Buren out-of-town guests. Out-of-town guests should be given a list of local restaurants and should not expect to be entertained beyond the wedding and the reception. ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby: I had a working relationship with a couple, “Ed” and “Millie,” for many years. I considered them personal friends as well. I have since left the company and moved about 80 miles away.

While I have enjoyed staying in touch with them, their phone calls to me have been overwhelming. They sometimes call at inappropriate times — day and night. Ignoring them or not returning calls didn’t work. Ed sent me texts, and I finally responded with “Please don’t call me anymore,” but his calls continue.

I changed my phone number, but now I’m starting to get calls where I work, and they have even called my daughter’s phone. I know Ed is retired now and has some health issues, but I don’t know why I’m the one he calls when he’s bored and wants someone to talk to.

I have reached the point where I don’t think it is possible to continue this friendship if it’s going to involve multiple phone calls each day and 20 messages in my mailbox during the week. How do I get these nice people to give me some space?

— Smothered in Carrollton, GA Dear smothered: How sad. Multiple daily phone calls and 20 email messages a week after you have asked the person not to contact you isn’t normal behavior. It’s harassment. In light of your long friendship with this couple, and the fact that Ed’s behavior is escalating, call his wife. Explain that you are concerned about her husband’s behavior and urge her to have him evaluated by his doctor. ❑ ❑ ❑ To my Asian readers: The Lunar New Year begins today. It’s the Year of the Snake. According to Asian culture, individuals born in the year of the snake are goal-oriented and hate failure. They are excellent mediators — intelligent, refined, clever in business and good providers because they value material wealth. A healthy, happy and prosperous New Year to you all. (Hiss, hiss, hooray!) ❑ ❑ ❑ Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

(Source: Universal Uclick)

what’s on today ‘Challenger’ and ‘Conceptis Sudoku’ — See Page 34 — ■ Redeemed Christian Church: The Redeemed Christian Church of God (HOD Parish) worship in English.

Celebration Service: Friday 9 am – 11 am; Divine encounter: Sunday, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; Digging Deep (Bible studies): Tuesday, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm; Night vigil every last Friday of the month from 10 pm.

Venue: New Mishref. For more information and direction please call 9927-6603, 6557-7482.

Email: rccghouseofdavidq8@gmail.com ❑ ❑ ❑ ■ KTCC activities: Worship service – every Wednesday 7:00-9:00 pm at North Tent, NECK.

Items for the What’s On page can be sent directly to the Arab Times, P.O. Box 2270, 13023, Safat or faxed to 24818267 or e-mail to arabtimes@arabtimesonline.com.

All items on this page are published as a courtesy to the public. These announcements can include birthday greetings, weddings, social functions or any other non-commercial events. Photographs of all events are welcome.

Children’s Bible School – every Wednesday 7 to 9 pm at Activity Building, NECK. Overnight prayer – every 1st Thursday from 10 pm – 4:00 am at Diwaniya, NECK. Communion Service – every 3rd Wednesday.

The Following meeting are held at our KTCC Prayer House: 1) Children Bible School Teacher’s Prayer – 1st Saturday 7 to 9 pm.

2) Children’s Prayer – 2nd Friday 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

3) Bible Study – every 2nd and 4th Sunday at 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm.

4) ISOM – Batch 1 Class Tuesdays – 7 to 9 pm and Batch 2 Class Fridays – 4 to

6 pm.

5) Choir Practice – Mondays – 6 to 8 pm.

celebration to mark 50 years of Ugandan’s Independence this year. If you have any ques-

tions regarding this association or if you are interested in registering, then please send us

click

emergency number 112

6) Men’s Fellowship – 4th Friday – 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.

7) Women’s Prayer – (Abbasiya) – 3rd Sunday – 6:30 to 8:30 pm and (Salmiya) 4th Tuesday – 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

8) Fasting Prayer – every 3rd Friday from 12:00 Noon – 3:30 pm.

9) Cottage Prayers – every 2nd and 4th Week.

10) Baptism Service – every 4th Friday.

Welcome to all Tamil known people to participate in our regular activities to worship the Lord in our own mother tongue and be blessed!

For details or for any prayer needs contact Tel No: 66920350 / 99432849. an email at ugandansinkuwait@gmail.com. We hope to hear from you soon. ❑ ❑ ❑

Indians urged to register: Kozhikode

General Continued from Page 31 Diego, 97119630; Engr Tito S. Tubil, 67766503; Engr Gene A. Rivera, 97298337; Engr Alfredd M. Avila, 60001578. ❑ ❑ ❑

Ugandans register with UIK: 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?

Then please get in touch with us. 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. The purpose of this exercise is to get together as Ugandans and to consider taking the first steps to establishing a more formal organisation. 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

Wishing you a very happy birthday Catherine!!! May you have many more years of happiness and success ahead!

Greetings coming from Mama, Papa, Ate Liza, Jho, Gian and friends (Det, Diza, Let, Helen, Karen, Becca and Pat).

Happy birthday to dear Ammuchechy. May God bless you always and keep you safe, keep smiling. Love from Thambu & Shambu – Srambical

District NRI Association (KDNA), registered with Indian Embassy Kuwait is urging all Indian nationals in Kuwait to register their name in Indian Embassy official website. Association reminded all the Indians to utilize the facility provided in the embassy website www.indembkwt.org.

Association understands that more than 600,000 Indians are living in Kuwait but about 4,000 nationals have only registered their details until now. Association has already started the registration for its members.

Complete data of Indian nationals in Kuwait will help to get easy reference about the person moreover can find out their Indian contact details in case of any individual emergency. Sometimes, it is apparent that due to lack of this updated data we face the difficulty of tracing the details of the person.

This registration will pave the way for Embassy to have reliable data.

It is important that we do our part, to help the Embassy to serve its community.

Please visit embassy website: www.indembkwt.org.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

33

Couch slouch Applegate leaves ‘Up All Night’

‘Do No Harm’ pulled from NBC schedule after 2 episodes LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (RTRS): NBC’s new drama “Do No Harm” has been pulled from the network’s schedule after two episodes, the network said Friday.

The series got off to a very poor start in the ratings with its Jan 31 premiere, drawing a 0.9 rating/3 share in the key 18-49 demo — the lowest rating for an in-season scripted premiere in the history of the four networks. The show dropped another 22 percent to a 0.7/2 with its sec-

ond episode Thursday.

The network will run repeats of “Law & Order: SVU” in its Thursdays at 10 p.m. timeslot for the next two weeks.

The “Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde”themed series starred “Rescue Me” alum Steven Pasquale as Dr Jason Cole, a neurosurgeon with an evil alternate personality that emerges every night at 8:25 pm and stays around exactly 12 hours.

Which, interestingly, is not that much

shorter than the series lasted. ❑

❑

❑

Christina Applegate is leaving “Up All Night,” the new-parent sitcom built around her and co-star Will Arnett, in what amounts to a no-confidence vote in its latest attempt at reinvention.

The departure comes as the Lorne Michaels-produced series was to have gone back into production this month

with a new format. But Applegate has left before the show could resume taping.

“It’s been a great experience working on ‘Up All Night,’ but the show has taken a different creative direction and I decided it was best for me to move on to other endeavors,” said Applegate, who begins filming “Anchorman 2” this month. “Working with Lorne Michaels has been a dream come true and I am grateful he brought me into his TV fami-

ly. I will miss the cast, producers and crew, and wish them the best always.”

Applegate’s exit may be the final blow for the stuggling comedy as NBC decides if it can or should be saved. It faces a series of difficult questions: Should it recast Applegate’s role? Write off the mother of a newborn? Or just call it quits?

There was no immediate word from the network Friday.

The comedy has already been dealt a slew of changes, including the exit of creator Emily Spivey. It also increased co-star Maya Rudolph’s role before it debuted in fall 2011, in part because of her role in the hit “Bridesmaids.”

NBC announced in October that the series would shut down for three months and use that time to convert the show from a single-camera to multi-camera comedy.

tv highlights Animal Planet 05:55 Animal Cops Houston 06:45 Wildest Arctic 07:35 Wildlife SOS 08:00 Meerkat Manor 08:25 Dogs 101 09:15 Crocodile Hunter 10:10 Michaela's Animal Road Trip 11:05 Monkey Life 11:30 Dick 'n' Dom Go Wild 12:00 Extraordinary Dogs 12:25 The Really Wild Show 12:55 Wildest Arctic 13:50 Wild France 14:45 Wild France 15:40 Shamwari: A Wild Life 16:05 Shamwari: A Wild Life 16:35 Wildlife SOS 17:30 Too Cute! 18:25 My Cat From Hell 19:20 Call Of The Wildman 19:45 Call Of The Wildman 20:15 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 21:10 Squid Invasion 22:05 Wildest Arctic 23:00 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 23:55 Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan 00:50 Untamed & Uncut 01:45 Squid Invasion 02:35 Animal Cops Houston 03:25 Wildest Arctic 04:15 Untamed China With Nigel Marven 05:05 Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan 05:55 Animal Cops Houston

BBC Lifestyle 05:35 Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes 06:25 New Scandinavian Cooking 06:55 The Hairy Bikers USA 07:20 The Hairy Bikers USA 07:45 MasterChef 08:40 MasterChef 09:35 MasterChef 10:05 MasterChef 11:00 Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes 11:50 New Scandinavian Cooking 12:15 The Hairy Bikers USA 12:40 The Hairy Bikers USA 13:05 Come Dine With Me: Supersize 14:40 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 15:35 Antiques Roadshow 16:30 Bargain Hunt 17:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 20:00 Come Dine With Me: Supersize 21:30 Gok's Fashion Fix 22:20 Antiques Roadshow 23:15 Bargain Hunt 00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 01:25 Gok's Fashion Fix 02:15 Design Rules 02:40 Design Rules 03:05 MasterChef 04:00 MasterChef 04:55 MasterChef 05:20 MasterChef 06:15 MasterChef

General

Boomerang 06:00 Bananas In Pyjamas 06:25 Jelly Jamm 07:00 Ha Ha Hairies 07:20 Baby Looney Tunes 07:45 Cartoonito Tales 08:10 Gerald McBoing Boing 08:35 Lazy Town 09:00 Krypto The Superdog 09:25 Bananas In Pyjamas 09:40 Cartoonito Tales 09:55 Ha Ha Hairies 10:10 Jelly Jamm 10:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 10:45 Lazy Town 11:05 Krypto The Superdog 11:30 Baby Looney Tunes 11:55 Ha Ha Hairies 12:20 Jelly Jamm 12:45 Gerald McBoing Boing 13:10 Lazy Town 13:35 Krypto The Superdog 14:00 Johnny Bravo 16:05 Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood 17:20 Johnny Bravo 22:40 Puppy In My Pocket 23:05 The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop 23:30 The Addams Family 23:55 Droopy: Master Detective 00:20 Yogi's Treasure Hunt 00:45 Duck Dodgers 01:10 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 01:35 Dastardly And Muttley 02:00 Popeye 02:25 Wacky Races 02:50 Scooby Doo Where Are You! 03:15 The Flintstones 03:40 The Jetsons 04:00 What's New Scooby Doo? 04:20 Taz-Mania 04:45 The Looney Tunes Show 05:10 Tom & Jerry Tales 05:35 Dexter's Laboratory 06:00 Bananas In Pyjamas

Cartoon Network 06:05 Ben 10 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Casper's Scare School 07:30 Casper's Scare School 08:00 Grim Adventures Of... 08:45 Total Drama Island 09:10 Total Drama Island 09:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 09:55 Level Up 10:15 Transformers Prime 10:35 Ben 10: Omniverse 11:00 Thundercats 11:25 Mucha Lucha 11:50 Adventure Time 12:40 Regular Show 13:35 The Amazing World Of Gumball 14:20 Johnny Test 15:10 Total Drama Island 15:35 Total Drama Island 16:00 Level Up 16:25 Level Up 16:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 17:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 17:40 Transformers Prime 18:30 Hero 108 18:55 Hero 108 19:20 The Amazing World Of Gumball 19:45 Adventure Time 20:35 Regular Show 21:00 Mucha Lucha 21:25 Total Drama Island 21:50 Total Drama Island 22:15 Grim Adventures Of... 23:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:50 The Powerpuff Girls 00:40 Chowder 01:30 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 01:55 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:20 Foster's Home For... 02:45 Foster's Home For... 03:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 04:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 04:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Powerpuff Girls 05:40 Generator Rex 06:05 Ben 10

Crime & Investigation 06:00 I Didn't Do It 07:00 Crime Stories 08:00 The FBI Files 09:00 Psychic Detectives 09:30 Psychic Detectives 10:00 Crime Stories 11:00 Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force 11:30 Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force 12:00 Manhunters: Fugitive

News

Al Jazeera English 06:00 News 06:30 Counting the Cost 07:00 News 07:30 South2North 08:00 News 08:30 News 09:00 Revolution Through Arab Eyes 10:00 News 10:30 Inside Syria 11:00 News 11:30 Talk To Al Jazeera 12:00 News 12:30 Earthrise 13:00 NEWSHOUR 14:00 News 14:30 Inside Syria 15:00 Al Jazeera World 16:00 NEWSHOUR 17:00 News 17:30 Listening Post 18:00 NEWSHOUR 19:00 News 19:30 101 East 20:00 News 20:30 Inside Story 21:00 NEWSHOUR 22:00 News 22:30 Talk To Al Jazeera 23:00 Witness

BBC World 06:10 World Features 06:30 Spirit Of Yachting 07:00 BBC World News 07:10

Movies

MBC Action 09:00 Cold Case 09:45 CSI Miami 10:30 Bones 11:15 Tapout 12:00 WWE Afterburm 13:00 CSI 13:45 Cold Case 14:30 Bones 15:30 Knockout Sportsworld 16:30 Gladiator 18:00 WWE Afterburm 19:00 Driven 20:00 Armored 22:00 WWE Raw 23:00 Top Gear USA 00:00 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 02:00 WWE Raw 04:00 Armored 05:30 Driven 06:30 Eureka 07:45 Bones 08:15 Law & Order

tv today Task Force 12:30 SWAT 13:30 Crimes Of Passion 14:00 The Devil You Know 15:00 The Devil You Know 16:00 The FBI Files 17:00 Psychic Detectives 17:30 Psychic Detectives 18:00 Crime Stories 19:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 19:30 Snapped: Women Who Kill 20:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 20:30 Snapped: Women Who Kill 21:00 Crime Stories 22:00 Evil Up Close 23:00 Paranormal State 23:30 Paranormal State 00:00 Jerome Brudos: The Lust Killer 01:00 Robert Pickton: The Pig Farmer Killer 02:00 Snapped: Women Who Kill 02:30 Snapped: Women Who Kill 03:00 Jerome Brudos: The Lust Killer 04:00 Paranormal State 04:30 Paranormal State 05:00 Robert Pickton: The Pig Farmer Killer 06:00 Evil Up Close

Discovery Channel 06:05 How Do They Do It? 06:35 How It's Made 07:00 Fast N' Loud 07:50 Jesse James: Outlaw Garage 08:45 American Chopper 09:40 Gold Rush 10:30 Gold Divers 11:25 Around The World In 80 Ways 12:20 How It's Made 12:45 How It's Made 13:15 How It's Made 13:40 How It's Made 14:10 How It's Made 14:35 Auction Kings 15:05 Auction Kings 15:30 Auction Kings 16:00 Auction Kings 16:25 Auction Kings 16:55 Border Security 17:20 Border Security 17:50 Border Security 18:15 Border Security 18:45 Border Security 19:10 Mythbusters 20:05 Mythbusters 21:00 Magic Of Science 21:30 Time Warp 21:55 How We Invented The World 22:50 Secret Service Secrets 23:45 World's Top 5 00:40 World's Top 5 01:35 World's Top 5 02:30 World's Top 5 03:25 World's Top 5 04:20 World's Top 5 05:15 World's Top 5 06:05 World's Top 5

Disney Channel 06:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 06:25 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 06:40 Suite Life On Deck 07:05 A.N.T. Farm 07:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 07:55 Phineas And Ferb 08:05 Phineas And Ferb 08:20 Prank Stars 08:30 Prank Stars 08:45 Good Luck Charlie 09:10 Shake It Up 09:35 Jessie 10:00 Austin And Ally 10:25 A.N.T. Farm 10:50 Gravity Falls 11:15 Girl vs Monster 12:40 Phineas And Ferb 12:55 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:15 Minnie And You 13:20 Suite Life On Deck 13:40 Minnie And You 13:45 Good Luck Charlie 14:05 Minnie And You 14:10 Gravity Falls 14:30 Minnie And You 14:35 Phineas And Ferb 14:45 Phineas And Ferb 14:55 Minnie And You 15:00 Jessie 15:25 Good Luck Charlie 15:50 Gravity Falls 16:15 Wizards Of Waverly Place 16:40 Phineas And Ferb 17:00 Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure 18:25 Prank Stars 18:35 Prank Stars 18:45 Phineas And Ferb 18:55 Phineas And Ferb 19:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place 19:35 Shake It Up 20:00 Austin And Ally 20:25 Prank Stars 20:35 Prank Stars 20:50 A.N.T. Farm 21:15 Jessie 21:40 Jessie 22:05 Good Luck Charlie 22:30 Good Luck Charlie 22:55 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 23:20 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 23:45 Stitch 00:10 Stitch 00:35 A Kind Of Magic 01:00 A Kind Of Magic 01:25 Replacements 01:50 Replacements 02:15 Emperor's New School 02:40 Emperor's New School 03:05 A Kind Of Magic 03:30 A Kind Of Magic 03:55 Replacements 04:20 Replacements 04:45 Emperor's New School 05:10 Emperor's New School 05:35 A Kind Of Magic 06:00 Phineas And Ferb 06:15 Suite Life On Deck

Disney Junior 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:30 Little Einsteins 06:50 Special Agent Oso 07:05 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:30 Jungle Junction 07:45 Handy Manny 08:00 Special Agent Oso 08:15 Jungle Junction 08:30 Little Einsteins 08:55 Lazytown 09:20 Imagination Movers 09:45 Timmy Time 09:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:20 The Hive 10:30 Doc McStuffins 10:45 Zou 11:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 11:15 Cars Toons 11:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 11:45 Art Attack 12:10 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 12:35 Lilo And Stitch 13:10 Timmy Time 13:20 The Hive 13:30 Doc McStuffins 13:45 Doc McStuffins 14:00 Zou 14:15 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 14:30 Mouk 14:45 Lilo And Stitch 15:15 Cars Toons 15:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 15:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 16:05 The Hive 16:20 Mouk 16:35 Zou 16:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 17:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 17:20 Doc McStuffins 17:35 Doc McStuffins 17:45 Zou 18:00 Zou 18:15 Zou 18:30 Zou 18:45 Zou 19:05 Mouk 19:20 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 19:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 20:00 Cars Toons 20:05 Timmy Time 20:15 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of

World Features 07:30 Dateline London 08:00 BBC World News 08:10 World Features 08:30 Changing Fortunes 09:00 BBC World News 09:10 World Features 09:30 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:10 World Features 10:30 Newsnight 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 The Bottom Line 12:00 BBC World News 12:15 Sport Today 12:30 Click 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 Horizons 14:00 BBC World News 14:10 My Country 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 Politics Europe 16:00 BBC World News 16:30 BBC World News 17:00 BBC World News 17:30 The Ideas Exchange 18:00 BBC World News 18:15 Sport Today 18:30 Spirit Of Yachting 19:00 BBC World News 19:10 World Features 19:30 Changing Fortunes 20:00 BBC World News 20:30 Horizons 21:00

02:00 Eraser 04:00 The Postman 07:00 Relative Strangers Page

OSN Movies Action HD 06:00 Lords Of Dogtown 08:00 Walled In 10:00 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine 12:00 Restitution 14:00 Walled In 16:00 Batman: Year One 18:00 Restitution 20:00 The Crazies 22:00 Kill List-R 00:00 Disturbing Behavior 02:00 The Crazies 04:00 Walled In 06:00 Restitution

MBC 2

OSN Cinema

08:00 Scoop With Riya 08:30 Monster-inLaw 10:15 Two Weeks 12:00 Man Of The Year 14:00 Scoop With Riya 16:30 Monster-in-Law 18:30 National Treasure 21:00 Swordfish 23:00 Eat Pray Love

05:30 Feed The Fish 07:15 Relative Stranger 09:00 John Carter 11:30 Princess Lillifee 13:00 Blank Slate 15:00 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice 17:00 Soldier Love Story 19:00 Water For

Sports TV listings — See Page 44 — Friendship 20:25 Doc McStuffins 20:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:10 Zou 21:30 Mouk 21:45 Handy Manny 22:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 The Hive 22:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:00 Timmy Time 23:10 Animated Stories 23:15 A Poem Is... 23:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 23:30 Jungle Junction 23:45 Handy Manny 23:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 00:20 Little Einsteins 00:50 Special Agent Oso 01:00 Special Agent Oso 01:15 Lazytown 01:40 Jungle Junction 01:55 Jungle Junction 02:10 Handy Manny 02:20 Handy Manny 02:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 03:00 Lazytown 03:25 Special Agent Oso 03:40 Special Agent Oso 03:50 Imagination Movers 04:20 Handy Manny 04:30 Handy Manny 04:40 Special Agent Oso 04:50 Special Agent Oso 05:00 Timmy Time 05:10 Lazytown 05:35 Little Einsteins 06:00 Jungle Junction 06:15 Jungle Junction

Disney XD 07:00 Pokemon: BW Rival Destinies 07:20 Rated A For Awesome 07:45 Phineas And Ferb 08:10 Almost Naked Animals 08:35 Lab Rats 09:00 Ultimate Spider-Man 09:30 Fort Boyard - Ultimate Challenge 09:55 Kickin It 10:20 Crash & Bernstein 10:45 Pair Of Kings 11:10 Mr. Young 11:35 Scaredy Squirrel 12:00 Slugterra 12:30 Phineas And Ferb 12:40 Phineas And Ferb 13:00 The Suite Life Movie 14:20 Phineas And Ferb 14:35 My Babysitter's A Vampire 15:00 My Babysitter's A Vampire 15:25 Scaredy Squirrel 15:50 Lab Rats 16:15 Slugterra 16:40 Mr. Young 17:05 Almost Naked Animals 17:30 Crash & Bernstein 17:55 Crash & Bernstein 18:20 Phineas And Ferb 18:30 Phineas And Ferb 18:45 Phineas And Ferb 19:10 Phineas And Ferb 19:20 Phineas And Ferb 19:35 Lab Rats 20:00 My Babysitter's A Vampire 20:25 Zeke & Luther 20:50 Mr. Young 21:15 Phineas And Ferb 21:25 Phineas And Ferb 21:40 Phineas And Ferb 21:50 Phineas And Ferb 22:05 Almost Naked Animals 22:30 Rekkit Rabbit 22:55 Kick Buttowski 23:20 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 00:00 Programmes Start At 7:00am KSA 07:00 Kickin It

22:30 CSI Miami 23:30 Chef Bila 7dood 03:30 Ghost Whisperer 04:30 CSI Miami 05:30 Lost 06:30 Flash Forward

Investigation Discovery 05:30 Ghost Lab 06:20 Dr G: Medical Examiner 07:10 Disappeared 08:00 Killer Outbreaks 08:50 Street Patrol 09:15 Street Patrol 09:40 Real Emergency Calls 10:05 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 10:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 11:20 Murder Shift 12:10 Disappeared 13:00 Killer Outbreaks 13:50 Street Patrol 14:15 Street Patrol 14:40 Forensic Detectives 15:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 16:20 Real Emergency Calls 16:45 Who On Earth Did I Marry? 17:10 Disappeared 18:00 Murder Shift 18:50 Forensic Detectives 19:40 On The Case With Paula Zahn 20:30 Disappeared 21:20 Nightmare Next Door 22:10 Couples Who Kill 23:00 Reel Crime/Real Story 23:50 Fatal Encounters 00:40 Deadly Affairs 01:30 Ghost Lab 02:20 Dr G: Medical Examiner 03:05 Reel Crime/Real Story 03:55 Fatal Encounters 04:45 Deadly Affairs 05:30 Ghost Lab

ITV Granada 06:00 Coach Trip 08:00 Seven Dwarves 09:00 Emmerdale 11:00 Coronation Street 13:00 Dancing On Ice & Skate Off 15:00 Coach Trip 17:00 Come Dine With Me Ireland 19:00 The Royal Variety Show 2012 21:30 The Adventurer's Guide To Britain 22:00 Dirk Gently 23:00 Monroe 00:00 The Jonathan Ross Show 2013 01:00 Come Dine With Me Ireland 03:00 The Royal Variety Show 2012 05:30 The Adventurer's Guide To Britain 06:00 Dirk Gently

Nat Geo Adventure HD

06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Extreme Close-Up 09:45 Extreme Close-Up 10:15 E!es 11:10 Opening Act 12:05 E! News 13:05 E!es 14:05 E!es 15:00 E!es 16:00 E!es 17:00 THS 18:00 E! News 19:00 Married To Jonas 19:30 Married To Jonas 20:00 Red Carpet Wrap-Up 20:15 Live From The Red Carpet 21:15 Ice Loves Coco 21:45 Ice Loves Coco 22:10 E!es 22:40 Opening Act 23:35 Opening Act 00:30 Scouted 01:30 E!es 02:00 Live From The Red Carpet 04:00 THS 06:00 THS

06:15 On Surfari 06:40 On Surfari 07:10 Don't Tell My Mother 08:05 Don't Tell My Mother 09:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 09:55 By Any Means 10:50 Market Values 11:15 Market Values 11:45 Into The Drink 12:10 Into The Drink 12:40 Ultimate Traveller 13:35 David Rocco's Dolce Vita 2 14:00 David Rocco's Dolce Vita 2 14:30 One Man & His Campervan 14:55 Street Food Around The World 15:25 Cruise Ship Diaries 15:50 Destination Extreme 16:20 Don't Tell My Mother 17:15 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 18:10 By Any Means 19:05 Amish: Out of Order 20:00 On Surfari 20:30 On Surfari 21:00 Don't Tell My Mother 22:00 A World Apart 22:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3 23:20 Food Lover's Guide To The Planet 23:50 David Rocco's Dolce Vita 1 00:15 David Rocco's Dolce Vita 1 00:45 Ultimate Traveller 01:40 Walking The World 02:35 Roam 03:00 The Ride: Alaska To Patagonia 03:30 The Green Way Up 03:55 Graham's World 04:25 The Frankincense Trail 05:20 A World Apart 06:15 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 3

Food Network

Nat Geo Channel HD

E! Entertainment

05:40 Chopped 06:30 Iron Chef America 07:10 Unwrapped 07:35 Unwrapped 08:00 Food Network Challenge 08:50 Kid In A Candy Store 09:15 Unwrapped 09:40 United Tastes Of America 10:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:30 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:20 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 11:45 Easy Chinese 12:10 Mexican Made Easy 12:35 Mexican Made Easy 13:00 Iron Chef America 13:50 Tyler's Ultimate 14:15 Easy Chinese 14:40 Easy Chinese 15:05 World Cafe Asia 15:30 Easy Chinese: San Francisco 15:55 Easy Chinese 16:20 United Tastes Of America 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 19:40 Tyler's Ultimate 20:05 Guy's Big Bite 20:30 Chopped 21:20 Chopped 22:10 Iron Chef America 23:00 Iron Chef America 23:50 Iron Chef America 00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 01:55 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 02:20 Unwrapped 02:45 Iron Chef America 03:35 Iron Chef America 04:20 Kid In A Candy Store 04:50 Unique Sweets 05:15 Charly's Cake Angels 05:40 Chopped

Fox TV 07:00 Baby TV 08:00 October Road 09:00 AlMaw3ed Al3emyani 10:00 Flash Forward 11:00 CSI Miami 12:00 The Block 13:00 Al Qaib Al Maftooh 14:00 Happy Endings 14:30 Happy Endings 15:00 Chef Bila 7dood 16:00 Modern Family 16:30 Modern Family 17:00 Scrubs 17:30 CSI Miami 18:30 The Block 19:15 Al Qaib Al Maftooh 20:00 Chef Bila 7dood 21:00 Junior Masterchef Australia 22:00 Scrubs

BBC World News 21:30 Our World 22:00 Newsday 22:30 Asia Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 Newsday 23:30 India Business Report 00:00 Newsday 00:30 Asia Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 BBC World News 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 BBC World News 03:30 Hardtalk 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 World Business Report 04:45 BBC World News 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 World Business Report 05:45 BBC World News 06:00 BBC World News

CNN International 06:00 CNN Newsroom 07:00 Eco Solutions 07:30 Inside Africa 08:00 World

Elephants 21:00 A Little Help 23:00 The Devil Inside 01:00 Soldier Love Story 03:00 Princess Lillifee 05:00 Blank Slate 07:00 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice

OSN Movies Comedy 06:00 12 Dates Of Christmas 08:00 Scooby-Doo! Curse Of The Lake Monster 10:00 Despicable Me 12:00 The Winning Season 14:00 Elf 16:00 Despicable Me 18:00 The Ladykillers 20:00 Paul 22:00 Super 00:00 The Secret Of My Success 02:00 Paul 04:00 The Ladykillers 06:00 Despicable Me

OSN Movies Festival 06:15 Neverland- 09:15 Call Of The Wild 10:45 An Invisible Sign Of My Own 12:30

06:00 Ancient Megastructures 07:00 World's Deadliest Animals 08:00 Is It Real?

S3 (1 hour) 09:00 Megastructures 10:00 Nat Geo Amazing! 11:00 Jurassic C.S.I. 12:00 Shark Men 13:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 14:00 Naked Science S2.5 15:00 World's Deadliest Animals 16:00 Great Migrations 17:00 Megastructures 18:00 Engineering Connections 19:00 The Border 20:00 My Brilliant Brain 21:00 Shark Men 22:00 The Border 23:00 Engineering Connections 00:00 Family Guns (Aka Family Combat) 01:00 Nazi Temple of Doom 02:00 Master of Disaster 03:00 The Border 04:00 My Brilliant Brain 05:00 Shark Men 06:00 The Border

Nat Geo Wild HD 05:35 Secrets Of The King Cobra 06:30 Dangerous Encounters 07:25 Dangerous Encounters 08:20 Wild Case Files 09:15 Snake Wranglers 09:40 Snake Wranglers 10:10 Secret Brazil 11:05 Desert Seas 12:00 Monster Fish 13:00 Bears Of Fear Island 14:00 Ultimate Animal Countdown 15:00 The Pack 16:00 World's Deadliest GPU 17:00 Kenny And Zoltan's Venom Quest 18:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 19:00 Monster Fish 20:00 Kenny And Zoltan's Venom Quest 21:00 Secrets Of The King Cobra 22:00 Ultimate Animal Countdown 23:00 The Pack 00:00 World's Deadliest GPU 01:00 Kenny And Zoltan's Venom Quest 01:55 Journey Into Amazonia 02:50 Night Stalkers 03:45 Caught In The Act 04:40 Strike Force 05:35 Untamed Americas

08:30 I am Too Sexy For My Shoes 09:00 Highway On My Plate 09:30 Heavy Petting 10:00 A Whole New World 10:30 A Whole New World 11:00 Vicky Goes ForeignCanada Tadka 11:30 Royal Reservation Project Living 12:00 CCL Glam Nights 2013 12:30 Fat Man And 13 Bridesy 13:00 Chakh Le India Kacha Rasta 13:30 Highway On My Plate 14:00 Yogacity 14:30 Great Drives 15:00 Tech Grand Masters 2 15:30 Ten Things To Do Around The World 16:00 Ten Things To Do Around The World 16:30 A Whole New World 17:30 Highway On My Plate 18:00 Highway On My Plate 18:30 Love Bites With Joey 19:00 I am Too Sexy For My Shoes 19:30 2 For The Road 20:00 Making Of The Kingfisher Calendar 2013 20:30 Life Is a Beach 21:00 Model TV Classic

OSN Comedy 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Hope & Faith 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Less Than Perfect 08:30 Parks And Recreation 09:00 Til Death 09:30 The Neighbors 10:00 Hot In Cleveland 10:30 Hope & Faith 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Seinfeld 12:30 Less Than Perfect 13:00 Til Death 13:30 Hope & Faith 14:00 Baby Daddy 14:30 Hot In Cleveland 15:00 The Neighbors 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Seinfeld 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 Baby Daddy 19:00 Two And A Half Men 19:30 Hot In Cleveland 20:00 The Cleveland Show 20:30 Breaking In 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Eastbound & Down 23:30 The Cleveland Show 00:00 Breaking In 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Saturday Night Live 02:30 Eastbound & Down 03:00 The Simpsons 03:30 Baby Daddy 04:00 Less Than Perfect 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Til Death 06:00 Seinfeld

OSN Aksyon TV 06:30 Pinoy Explorer 07:30 Sagupaan!

UFL Philippines Playoff Series 11:30 PBA Games 16:30 Balitang 60 17:30 Dekalibre 18:00 Rescue 5 18:30 PBA Games 23:00 PBA Games 23:30 Pilipinas News 00:00 Wasak 00:30 Love Notes 02:30 Balitang Alas Singko 03:45 Cocktales 04:15 Love Notes 06:15 Healing Galing

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OSN GMA Pinoy TV 05:25 Temptation Of Wife Marathon 07:55 Pepito Manaloto, Ang Tunay Na Kuwento 08:25 Design Para SA Lahat 09:00 Party Pilipinas 11:25 Celebrity Bluff 12:05 Pinoy Adventures 12:55 GMA Pinoy Blockbuster 14:55 Imbestigador 16:00 Teen Gen 17:00 24 Oras Weekend 17:30 Party Pilipinas 19:40 H.O.T. TV 21:30 Magpakailanman 22:40 Family TV Mass 23:40 Celebrity Bluff 00:35 24 Oras Weekend 01:15 Design Para SA Lahat 01:50 H.O.T. TV 03:30 Teen Gen 04:35 Born To Be Wild 05:10 Unang Hirit

OSN Kapatid TV5 06:45 Pilipinas News 07:15 Chef vs. Mom 07:45 Untold Stories 08:30 Kung May Hirap, May Ginhawa 09:30 Kanta Pilipinas 10:30 Game ‘n Go All Stars 12:30 Wowowillie 14:30 Video Incredible 15:30 Istorifik! Pidol’s Kwentong Fantastik 16:30 Pinoy Explorer 17:15 Jose And Wally 18:15 Loko Moko U 19:15 Talentadong Pinoy 20:15 Game ‘n Go All Stars 22:15 Pilipinas News 22:45 Baluarte 23:00 Rescue 5 23:15 Ang Latest 23:45 Untold Stories 00:30 Face To Face 03:15 Rescue 5 03:45 Cocktales 04:15 Chef vs. Mom 04:45 Video Incredible 05:45 Ang Latest 06:15 Wow Mali Vignettes

NDTV Good Times

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06:00 Good Morning America 08:00 Emmerdale 08:30 Coronation Street 10:00 Jane By Design 12:00 Criminal Minds 13:00 Top Gear (US) 14:00 Jane By Design 15:00 C.S.I. Miami 16:00 Live

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Henry's Crime 14:15 Paws 15:45 An Invisible Sign Of My Own 17:30 Film Socialisme 19:15 Cruel Intentions 21:00 Road To Perdition 23:00 1941 01:00 Fish Tank 03:00 Road To Perdition 05:00 Cruel Intentions 07:00 Paws

OSN Movies HD 05:45 Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked 07:15 Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 09:00 Stolen Lives 11:00 Tower Heist 13:00 Fat Albert 15:00 Glee: The Concert Movie 17:00 Stolen Lives 19:00 I Don't Know How She Does It 21:00 Thor 23:00 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-R 01:45 A Fall From Grace 03:15 I Don't Know How She Does It 05:00 I Don't Know How She Does It 07:00 Glee: The Concert Movie

CNN Newsroom Live From Hong Kong 01:30 Mainsail 02:00 CNN Newsroom Live From Hong Kong 03:00 World Report 03:30 World Sport 04:00 Backstory 04:30 Talk Asia 05:00 Fareed Zakaria GPS 06:00 CNN Newsroom

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OSN Movies Kids 06:00 The Nimbols: Part I 08:00 Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas 10:00 The Nimbols: Part II 11:30 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer 13:00 The Three Bears: The Amazing Adventurers 14:30 Mr. Popper's Penguins 16:15 Alpha And Omega 18:00 The Nimbols: Part I 20:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules 22:00 The Three Bears: The Amazing Adventurers 23:30 Alpha And Omega 01:00 The Nimbols: Part II 02:45 Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas 04:30 The Three Bears: The Amazing Adventurers 06:00 The Nimbols: Part II

OSN Premiere 06:00 Melinda And Melinda 08:00 Love

Good Morning America 18:00 Emmerdale 18:30 Coronation Street 19:00 Top Gear (UK) 20:00 Eureka 21:00 Grimm 22:00 Scandal 23:00 Six Feet Under 00:00 Eureka 01:00 Grimm 02:00 Scandal 03:00 Top Gear (UK) 04:00 Six Feet Under 05:00 Jane By Design 06:00 Good Morning America

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TFC Kapamilya Channel 2 06:00 The Healing Eucharist 07:00 Kabuhayang Swak na Swak 07:30 Salamat Dok 08:30 The Avengers Season 2 09:00 Marvel Knights 09:30 Matanglawin 10:15 NBA 12:15 ASAP 18 15:15 Luv U 16:00 The Buzz 18:00 TV Patrol Weekend 18:30 Goin’ Bulilit 19:15 Rated K 20:15 Sarah G. Live 21:30 Gandang Gabi Vice 22:45 Sunday’s Best

MSNBC The Ed Show 14:00 Live ABC 20/20 15:00 MSNBC Hardball Weekend 15:30 MSNBC Your Business 16:00 Live NBC Sunday Today Show 17:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 18:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 19:00 MSNBC Melissa Harris-Perry 20:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 21:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 22:00 MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt Sunday 23:00 MSNBC News 01:00 Live NBC Meet The Press 02:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 02:30 Live NBC Nightly News (Sat-Sun) 03:00 ABC World News Now With David Muir 03:30 Live NBC Nightly News (Sat-Sun) 04:00 Live NBC Sunday Today Show 05:00 ABC This Week With G Stephanopoulos 06:00 Live NBC Meet The Press

And Mary 10:00 For Richer Or Poorer 12:00 Dolphin Tale 14:00 New Year's Eve 16:00 Love And Mary 17:45 Captain America: The First Avenger 20:00 Albert Nobbs 22:00 The Debt 00:00 Roadie 02:00 Love And Mary 04:00 For Richer Or Poorer 06:00 New Year's Eve

TCM 06:10 Ask Any Girl 08:00 Northern Pursuit 09:35 It Started With A Kiss 11:15 Doctor Zhivago 14:25 They Drive By Night 16:00 Stay Away, Joe-U 18:00 Billy The Kid 19:35 Dial M For Murder 21:20 Party Girl 23:00 The Fixer 01:20 Some Came Running 03:35 April In Paris 05:10 Lovely To Look At

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

LEISURE

34

Sherman’s Lagoon — By J. P. Toomey

N E W

Y O R K

T I M E S

CROSSWORD

Mutts — By Patrick McDonnell

Hagar The Horrible — By Chris Browne

Beetle Bailey — By Mort Walker

Scratch pad

odds ’n’ ends

Garfield — By Jim Davis

Baby Blues — By Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott

Conceptis Sudoku

Challenger

The grid must be so completed that every row, column and 3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive.

contract b r i d g e

DIRECTIONS: Fill each square with a number, one through nine.

■ Horizontal squares should add to totals on right.

■ Vertical squares should add to totals on bottom.

■ Diagonal squares through center should add to total in upper and lower right.

By Steve Becker

Yesterday’s solution

THERE MAY BE MORE THAN ONE SOLUTION.

Answer to yesterday’s puzzle

Today’s Challenge Time 5 Minutes 26 Seconds Your Working Time __ Minutes __ Seconds

‘Horoscope’ and ‘Dear Abby’ — See Page 32 —

Word by Word

Count

(Taoud)

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

La taoud ferakhak qabla an tafqes.

Numbers

6039

Alliyanna, a chihuahua from Alabama, attends the New York Pet Fashion Show at Hotel Pennsylvania ahead of next week’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Feb 8, in New York City. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show first held in 1877, is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the US, second to the Kentucky Derby. (AFP)

Six thousand and thirty-nine Setat alaaf wa tesa wa thalathoon

STOCKHOLM: Six contestants have braved cold and boredom to win an annual ice pole-sitting contest in northern Sweden.

Two women and four men shared the 20,000-kronor prize ($3,100) for remaining on 8.25foot-tall (2.5-meter) blocks of ice during the 48-hour contest, which ended Saturday.

Competitors said the worst part of the competition was not the cold - temperatures dipped below -18 F (-28 C) - but the monotony, even though they were allowed to come down for 10-minute toilet breaks every other hour. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ LIMA, Peru: Peruvian authorities say at least 50 sea lions have been intentionally poisoned with fish laced with insecticides since midJanuary off a single beach.

The Production Ministry said Thursday that lab testing confirmed the poisoning. The ministry oversees Peru’s fishing industry and its ocean institute IMARPE examined the sea lion corpses, which were found on Bodegones beach in the northern state of Lambayeque beginning Jan 13. The ministry says it has asked Peru’s environmental investigations agency to look into the killings. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ PHILADELPHIA: An elderly lion has been euthanized at the Philadelphia Zoo after falling ill.

The zoo says the lion, named Merlin, had fathered 11 cubs and enjoyed a long life in captivity.

Officials said Thursday that his health had declined rapidly and he was euthanized Sunday after he refused to eat.

Merlin was born in July 1991 at the Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa. Officials say he was brought to Philadelphia two years later along with three female lions, Vinkel, Jezebel, and Zenda.

The females, all 21 years old, will remain together as a lioness pride. The zoo also has two young lions, a male and a female, that arrived more than a year ago. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ JAKARTA, Indonesia: A park official says two people have been hospitalized after being attacked by a giant Komodo dragon that wandered into the office of a wildlife park in eastern Indonesia.

An official at Komodo National Park, Heru Rudiharto, said Wednesday the 2-meter-long (6 1/2 foot-long) Komodo dragon attacked a park ranger after walking into the office on Tuesday. It then attacked another park employee who came to help him.

Both were badly bitten and were evacuated to a hospital on Bali Island. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

HEALTH

35

Health Evidence mounts against Pandemrix

GSK jab ingredient scrutinised for clues LONDON, Feb 9, (RTRS): Mounting evidence of a link between GlaxoSmithKline’s Pandemrix flu shot and a spike in narcolepsy cases among children in Europe is putting one of the vaccine’s key ingredients, AS03, under intense scrutiny.

The ingredient is one of a class of pharmaceuticals known as adjuvants, or boosters, designed to turbo charge the potency of a vaccine and the body’s immune response to it.

AS03 was widely used in Europe during the 2009-2010 H1N1 flu pandemic and is also contained in a GSK adjuvanted flu vaccine which in November last year became the first of its kind to be recommended for approval by the normally adjuvant-wary United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) There’s little doubt AS03 does its job well.

Pandemrix, the flu vaccine under suspicion for the narcolepsy link, Deaths drop needs only a fraction of the antigen — the part that actually does the immunisation — of other flu shots to give sufficient protection.

Doses This means the manufacturer — in this case GSK — can produce multiple times the number of vaccine doses without needing to spend valuable time making large amounts of the antigen.

In a pandemic situation in which the lives of millions around the world are under threat, that could make the difference between having enough vaccines to protect entire populations, or having to decide how to ration them out.

Yet some experts believe the turbocharged immune response AS03 generates, or the ingredients that drive it, may also be the answer to why almost 800 cases of the incurable sleeping disorder narcolepsy have been linked to Pandemrix’s use in Europe during the 2009/2010 H1N1 pandemic.

“The adjuvant in the Pandemrix vaccine is very potent and we think it may have played a role,” says Markku Partinen, a neurologist at the Helsinki Sleep Clinic in Finland who has spent the past few years investigating what might be behind the link between the vaccine and narcolepsy.

If it is the reason for the spike in the disease, Partinen and other researchers think it may be because the adjuvant’s strength boosted not just a good immune response but possibly an adverse one too.

Partinen was one of the first scientists to pick up a signal that something might be going awry in children in Finland vaccinated with Pandemrix in a nationwide immunisation campaign against the H1N1 flu.

Since then studies in Sweden, Finland, Ireland and now Britain have found the risk of developing narcolepsy is between seven and 13 times higher in children who were immunised with Pandemrix than in those who were not.

Cases Among the 800 cases of Pandemrix-related narcolepsy reported so far across Europe, many are children who say the life-long and incurable disease has all but wrecked normal life.

Narcolepsy’s most common symptoms are bouts of daytime sleepiness, but in its severe forms it also brings nightmares, hallucinations, sleep paralysis and cataplexies - when strong emotions trigger a sudden loss of muscle strength.

Doctors and researchers who have been treating and analysing cases of Pandemrix-linked narcolepsy say a common feature is that quite severe symptoms come on abruptly in these patients.

Pandemrix’s maker GlaxoSmithKline says it accepts the evidence of a statistical link but wants to see more research into whether the vaccine or any of its ingredients are implicated in actually causing narcolepsy.

“There is absolutely no doubt that people vaccinated with our vaccine were shown in published studies to be more likely to develop narcolepsy than people who were not. As a statistical association that’s clear. It’s a very different thing, though, to say that then means A causes B,” said Norman Begg, chief medical officer at GSK’s vaccines division.

Regulators — both those at the European Medicine’s Agency (EMA) which licenses Pandemrix, and those at the FDA whose advisory panel recently recommended approval of a GSK pandemic vaccine with the same adjuvant — say that for now suspicions about AS03 remain just that and offer no reason to put a stop to its use.

“There are so many theories behind what is happening here,” said Tomas Salmonson, who is both an official at the Swedish Medicines Agency and head of EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, which advises on drugs’ safety and efficacy.

FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle said the regulator could not discuss Pandemrix since it is not licensed in the United States. Asked about the GSK pandemic vaccine containing the same adjuvant which the FDA has been advised to recommend, she said the FDA evaluates each drug license application “based on the merits of the safety and efficacy data submitted”.

After being instructed by the EMA to investigate further, GSK is conducting a study in Canada where around 2 million doses of a GSK vaccine called Arepanrix — very similar to Pandemrix and containing the same AS03 adjuvant - were used to immunise children during the H1N1 pandemic.

“Narcolepsy has a number of different potential contributory factors,” Begg said. “Disentangling those

Worst of flu season over

NEW YORK , Feb 9, (AP): The worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, US health officials said Friday.

The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

“It’s likely that the worst of the current flu season is over,” CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.

For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor’s offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.

Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it’s down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.

“There’s no question that we’re seeing a decline,” she said.

In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.

Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications But back then, that year’s flu vaccine wasn’t made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots.

The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year’s vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.

So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.

Like others, Lehigh Valley’s Burger was cautious about making predictions. “I’m not certain we’re completely out of the woods,” with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.

potential confounding variables is something that really hasn’t yet been done.”

Independent groups of researchers around the world working hard to do that are homing in on AS03 and its super immune response boosting capability.

The adjuvant is not a single ingredient, but a combination of three —squalene, an oil derived from shark livers, a form of vitamin E called DLalpha-tocopherol, and an emulsifier, or mixing agent, called polysorbate 80.

Both the squalene and the vitamin E are there to boost the response of the immune system to the H1N1 antigen the molecule the immune system needs to learn to recognise in order to protect against infection in future.

At Stanford University in the United States, professor of psychiatry and narcolepsy expert Emmanuel Mignot believes the mistake may have been in putting the H1N1 virus, which itself produces a strong immune response and is used in the vaccine, together with such a potent booster combination.

Cathy Ludlum poses for a photograph at her home in Manchester, Conn on Feb 8. Ludlum, a disabled-rights activist who has spinal muscular atrophy, said she is concerned the state’s Public Health Committee has decided to hold the public hearing and worries the issue of doctor-assisted suicide will not go away soon, adding she wants lawmakers to focus more on ‘giving people a good life than giving people a good death’. (AP)

Assisted suicide on agenda in several US states A push for the legalization of physicianassisted suicide is under way in a halfdozen US states where proponents say they see strong support for allowing doctors to prescribe mentally competent, dying individuals with the medications needed to end their own lives.

The large number of baby boomers facing end-of-life issues has made the issue more prominent in recent years.

Groups such as Compassion & Choices, a national end-of-life advocacy organization, have been working to advance the cause.

Advocates received a boost from last year’s ballot question in Massachusetts on whether to allow physicians to help the terminally ill die. Although the vote failed, it helped to spark a national dis-

cussion, said Mickey MacIntyre, chief program officer for Compassion & Choices.

“The Massachusetts initiative lifted the consciousness of the nation and in particular the Northeast region to this issue that there are other alternatives patients and their families should have an opportunity to access,” MacIntyre said.

Bills legalizing assisted suicide are being considered in Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Kansas and Hawaii — and in Massachusetts, where proponents decided to resume their efforts after the public vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks legislative trends. Bills related to the issue are also

under consideration in New Hampshire, New York, Arizona and Montana.

In Connecticut, which has banned the practice since 1969, a group of lawmakers said Tuesday that the legislature’s first public hearing on the subject would probably be held this month. At least two bills on the issue have so far been proposed in this year’s session of the state legislature.

If the General Assembly votes to legalize the practice, it would be the first state legislature to do so.

Oregon and Washington have passed right-to-die laws, but they did so through voter referendums. Montana’s Supreme Court has ruled that the practice of physicians helping terminally ill patients could be considered part of medical

treatments. Thirty-four states prohibit assisted suicide outright. Seven others, including Massachusetts, banned it through legal precedent.

Opponents claim the initiatives in Connecticut are being pushed only by outside groups like Compassion & Choices.

“There’s no grassroots cry for assisted suicide in the state of Connecticut,” said Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the socially conservative Family Institute. “This is mostly an out-of-state organization that has targeted the state of Connecticut. They look at the Northeast and think this is low-hanging fruit: ‘We can conduct our social experiments here in the Northeastern United States.’” (AP)

Supercomputer to offer expertise cancer treatment

Doctors seek Watson’s help

Lynn Waits, 55, of Covington, Ga (left), Susan Harrison, 63, of Lawrenceville (right), and Vea Gaby, 73, of Athens (front), all who had surgical mesh placed in their pelvic cavities, are photographed in their attorney’s office, Jan 28, 2013, in Athens, Ga. The Georgia women are some of the thousands of women nationwide who have sued manufacturers of the surgical mesh, claiming they’ve suffered severe complications and intense physical pain when the flexible plastic mesh hardened inside their bodies. (AP)

Health US exports to Iran drops: Exports of US pharmaceuticals to Iran were cut in half last year, according to data released on Friday, while overall US exports to the Islamic republic rose about 9 percent because of grain sales.

The official US government statistics appear to support the claims of sanctions lawyers and some independent experts that financial sanctions are making it harder for Iranians to obtain medicine despite loopholes designed to permit such trade.

The United States and its European allies have tightened their economic sanctions on Iran to pressure the government to rein in its nuclear program, which the West suspects aims to produce a bomb. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity and producing medical isotopes.

US officials have said they have tried to sanction Iran without unduly harming ordinary Iranians, granting licenses, for example, to US companies that wish to export pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food and other humanitarian goods to Iran.

But sanctions lawyers have said the blacklisting of Iran’s major banks has made it extremely difficult to find smaller Iranian banks able to conduct such licensed transactions as well as international banks willing to deal with them.

A report issued on Friday by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars made the same point.

“Draconian penalties for a potential US sanctions violation are discouraging the involvement of international banks in humanitarian trade with Iran,” said the report, entitled: “Sanctions and Medical Supply Shortages in Iran.”

The report, written by Dubai-based consultant Siamak Namazi, said researchers in Tehran and Dubai interviewed US and European exporters as well as Iranian importers and found that the financial sanctions tended to scare off banks.

“Even when the most reputable American and European pharmaceutical companies are involved and their lawyers have completed all the necessary paperwork ... nearly all banks that Iran deals with prefer to err on the side of caution,” it said. “Their hesitation is understandable given that a mistake could earn a bank the wrath of the US Treasury Department.” (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑

NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): IBM’s Watson supercomputer has beaten expert “Jeopardy” quiz show contestants, and its predecessor defeated a world chess champion. Now, doctors hope it can help them outsmart cancer.

Oncologists at two medical groups have started to test IBM’s Watson’s supercomputer system in an effort to improve speed and efficacy of treatments, the company said on Friday.

The Maine Center for Cancer Medicine and Westmed Medical Group will begin testing an application based on Watson’s cognitive computing to help diagnose lung cancer and recommend treatment, IBM said.

“Access to comprehensive care can be difficult in rural areas such as southern Maine,” said Tracey Weisberg, medical oncology president at Maine Center for Cancer Medicine and Blood Disorders.

“This allows the most comprehensive evidence based treatment we could have only dreamed of in the past,” she added.

Watson is an artificial intelligence super computer system named after legendary International Business Machines President Thomas Watson.

Thanks to its computing power Watson can sift through 1.5 million patient records and histories to provide treatment options in a matter of seconds based on previous treatment outcomes and patient histories.

It has been fed with more than 600,000 pieces of medical evidence, 2 million pages of text from 42 medical journals and clinical trials in the area of oncology research, IBM said.

Partnered In addition, IBM partnered with clinicians and technology experts from health insurer WellPoint and Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center who spent thousands of hours to teach Watson how to process, analyze and interpret the meaning of complex clinical information, IBM said.

“Every doctor knows they cannot keep up with hundreds of new articles but every physician wants to be right and this is a way of facilitating that,” said Samuel Nussbaum, chief medical officer at WellPoint.

IBM first showcased Watson’s powers almost two years ago.

The computer beat two human competitors on the popular US quiz show “Jeopardy!” highlighting the progress people have made in making machines able to think like them.

IBM has since further advanced Watson’s linguistic and analytical abilities to develop new products such as medical diagnosis.

The Watson supercomputer is graduating from its medical residency and is being offered commercially to doctors and health insurance companies, IBM said Friday.

IBM Corp, the health insurer WellPoint Inc and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Cambodia’s 5th bird flu victim: A 5year-old Cambodian girl has become the country’s fifth bird flu fatality this year.

Cambodia’s Health Ministry and the World Health Organization under its commissioner Magaret Chan announced Friday that the girl had a history of contact with poultry in her village in southeastern Takeo province, where there was evidence of recent deaths among poultry.

Only one of Cambodia’s six victims this

Celgene drug OK’d for multiple myeloma

Oncolytics cancer pill shrinks tumors NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): Oncolytics Biotech Inc said a mid-stage trial of its experimental lung cancer drug showed that 95 percent of the patients experienced a reduction in the size of their tumors, sending its stock up as much as 38 percent.

The drug, Reolysin, was used intravenously in combination with chemotherapy drugs carboplatin and paclitaxel. It was tested on patients suffering from metastatic, or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

Squamous cell carcinomas account for about a fourth of all lung cancers, the company said.

However, Oppenheimer & Co analyst Boris Peaker said in a note the single-arm study was inconclusive and the spike in the company’s stock price associated with this news was not warranted.

“Since the chemotherapy itself is highly active, it is difficult to estimate the impact that Reolysin is making,” said Peaker, who kept his “perform” rating on the stock.

The company said the results further suggest that Reolysin may have potential use in pre-surgical settings.

“Based on these findings we intend to continue to look at Reolysin as a treatment for cancers of the lung and cancers that metastasize to the lung,” Chief Executive Brad Thompson said.

Calgary-based Oncolytics said in September the first part of a mid-stage trial of its lung cancer drug met the main goal of showing patient response.

The company’s US-listed shares rose 38 percent to $4.93.

US regulators have approved a new drug from Celgene Corp

for patients with multiple myeloma whose disease has worsened after being treated with other cancer drugs.

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it approved the drug, Pomalyst, also known as pomalidomide, for the most difficult-to-treat patients.

Celgene, in an emailed statement, said the drug was priced at about $10,500 per cycle, and clinical trials have shown that the typical course of treatment is about five cycles.

The company filed its application based on a mid-stage, or Phase II, trial in which patients either took pomalidomide, plus a low dose of the standard treatment dexamethasone, or pomalidomide alone.

Of 191 patients evaluated, 34 percent treated with the two-drug combination responded to treatment, compared with 13 percent of patients treated with pomalidomide alone. The analysis of whether patients in the treatment group lived longer has not yet been completed.

Data from the trial, known as MM-002, showed that median progression-free survival, or the length of time patients lived before relapsing, was 4.7 months in the pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone arm, versus 2.7 months in the pomalidomide-alone arm.

The FDA will require the Pomalyst label to carry a “boxed warning” alerting patients and healthcare professionals that the drug should not be given to pregnant women because it can cause life-threatening birth defects, and that it can cause blood clots.

Celgene is also required to institute a risk management program for Pomalyst, which is designed to work by enlisting the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells.

Center announced two Watson-based applications - one to help assess treatments for lung cancer and one to help manage health insurance decisions and claims.

Both applications take advantage of the speed, huge database and language skill the computer demonstrated in defeating the best human “Jeopardy!” players on television two years ago.

Armonk-based IBM said Watson has improved its performance by 240 percent since the “Jeopardy!” win.

In both applications, doctors or insurance company workers will access Watson through a tablet or computer. Watson will quickly compare a patient’s medical records to what it has learned and make several recommendations in decreasing order of confidence.

In the cancer program, the computer will be considering what treatment is most likely to succeed. In the insurance program, it will consider what treatment should be authorized for payment.

Watson - actually named for IBM founder Thomas Watson and not Sherlock

Holmes’ friend - has been trained in medicine through pilot programs at Indianapolis-based WellPoint and at Sloan-Kettering in New York.

Manoj Saxena, an IBM general manager, said the supercomputer has ingested 1,500 lung cancer cases from SloanKettering records, plus 2 million pages of text from journals, textbooks and treatment guidelines.

It also learned “like a medical student,” by being corrected when it was questioned by doctors and came up with wrong answers, Saxena said in an interview.

“Watson is not making the decisions” on treatment or authorization, Saxena said. “It is essentially reducing the effort for doctors and nurses by going through thousands of pages of information for each case.”

The lung cancer program is being adopted by two medical groups, the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine and WestMed in New York’s Westchester County.

Saxena said it should be running at both groups by next month.

Also: NEW

YORK:

Namazi

Chan

year of the virus, also called avian influenza, or H5N1, has survived the disease. The country reported three cases in 2012, all fatal.

WHO statistics issued Feb 1 show Cambodia as the only country so far reporting human cases of the disease in 2013.

The UN agency says bird flu has killed 365 other people worldwide since surfacing in 2003. Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected poultry. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

HEALTH

36

Side effects seen

Psychiatric drugs tied to fall in elderly, says study NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): Seniors taking psychiatric drugs may be at extra high risk for falling, new Dutch research suggests.

Of about 400 elderly people in the study, those who took medications including antidepressants and antipsychotics were twice as likely to report having fallen three or more times in the previous year, researchers found.

The new study can’t prove that falls were due to the effects of the drugs, themselves, and not to seniors’ underlying medical conditions, for example.

But a number of side effects of psychiatric drugs – from changes in thinking and attention to drops in blood pressure – could put elderly people at greater risk for falls, according to Dr Allen Huang, head of geriatrics at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada.

“In my clinical observation, it’s usually the first two weeks when people start something new that bad things happen,” said Huang, who has studied psychiatric drugs in older adults but wasn’t involved in the new research.

Seniors are especially vulnerable to falls, which at their worst can cause hip fractures, head injuries or death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 20,000 US seniors died in 2009 as a result of injuries from falls.

“If possible (psychiatric drugs) should be avoided for elderly patients with

‘Screening every 2 yrs may be more appropriate’

Longer span between mammograms okay for older women NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): Screening women over 65 each year for breast cancer doesn’t catch any more early tumors – but it does lead to more false positives – than screening every other year, according to a new study.

The findings are based on more than 140,000 older women included in five mammography registries across the United States.

“This study clearly tells us that screening every two years may be more appropriate than screening women every year,” said Dr Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS).

However, he noted, there are other studies that contradict that finding and do suggest annual mammograms are the

way to go, even among older women.

One in eight US women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in her life.

Mammography guidelines from the ACS call for women to be screened for breast cancer every year they are in good health, starting at age 40.

The US Preventive Services Task Force, on the other hand, recommends biennial screening for women ages 50 to 74, saying there’s not enough evidence to recommend for or against mammograms for those aged 75 and older.

For the new study, Dejana Braithwaite from the University of California, San Francisco and her colleagues followed women ages 66 through 89 for seven

years. During that time, about 3,000 were diagnosed with breast cancer and 138,000 remained cancer-free.

Among women with breast cancer, a similar proportion had invasive or advanced stage tumors, regardless of whether they had been screened every year or every other year leading up to their diagnosis. About two-thirds of those women were screened annually.

However, between 47 and 50 percent of women who were screened annually had a false positive mammogram at some point during the study period, compared to 26 to 30 percent of those screened biennially, according to the findings published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“Just having a false positive result means having the potential anxiety and inconvenience of having to undergo additional procedures,” Braithwaite told Reuters Health.

In older women in particular, biopsies and other procedures may exacerbate underlying health conditions, she added.

According to Brawley, who wasn’t involved in the new study, there are three types of cancers.

“There are the cancers that grow so slowly they would have never killed the patients, there are the cancers that grow slow enough that we can find them and save the patients’ lives and then there are the cancers that grow so fast that no matter what screening we do, we’re never

going to be able to save the patient’s life,” he told Reuters Health.

“This study saysÖ screening every year is not going to find any more of these cancers that are growing slow enough to be detected, but fast enough if they weren’t detected they would kill.”

Braithwaite’s team calculated that nationwide, screening older women annually rather than biennially would lead to almost four million additional false positive exams in that age group.

“Our study shows that it really does very little benefit, in fact there is no benefit, with annual mammograms and there’s this additional harm of having an increased probability of a false positive result,” Braithwaite said.

other risk factors for falling,” Astrid van Strien, of University Medical Center, Utrecht, and colleagues wrote in the journal Maturitas.

Their study included 404 people visiting a geriatric clinic in the Netherlands for a range of reasons, from mental impairment to incontinence. On surveys, 238 of the seniors said they had fallen at least once in the past year.

Among the one-third of participants

taking psychiatric drugs, 45 percent had fallen three or more times. That compared to just under 22 percent of those who weren’t taking a psychiatric drug and reported frequent falls.

In particular, the researchers found a higher rate of multiple falls among people taking antidepressants, antipsychotics and short-acting benzodiazepines, which include the anxiety drug alprazolam (marketed as Xanax)

and the insomnia drug temazepam (Restoril).

That pattern held after van Strien’s team took into account any depression or cognitive impairment among the seniors, as well as their exact age, their living situation and how much they typically walked each day.

Seniors and their families should come to each healthcare visit with a list of all medications an elderly person is

taking and what each was prescribed to treat, Huang said.

Sometimes, he noted, a person gets put on an antipsychotic for delirium while in the hospital, for example, and ends up staying on it for years for no good reason.

“Many of our old people have multiple (conditions) that need medication to control them or make them feel better.

Every time somebody is considering

adding something, review everything else they’re taking to make sure there is a solid indication for everything they’re already on,” he advised.

Huang said many different factors may raise the risk of falls and fractures, such as age, osteoporosis or a history of stroke.

“Drugs end up being the thing that you can modify,” he said. “We can have an effect to lower the falls risk.”

Gulf Bank announces winners of Al Danah Daily draws Gulf Bank held its Al Danah daily draws on Feb 3, 2013, announcing the names of its winners for the week of Jan 27 to 31.

The Al Danah daily draws include draws each working day for two prizes of KD 1000 per winner.

The Al Danah Daily Winners are: (Sunday 27/1): Aminah Mohammed Ahmed Mullahmohammed, Wedad Abdulnabi Mohammed Moussa (Monday 28/1): Omran Reyadh Haji Mohammed

Reyadh, Layla Abdulraouf Hanafi Al-Sherif (Tuesday 29/1): Suhaila Abdulqader AlMutawa, Mishary Khaled Mishref Al-Mutairi (Wednesday 30/1) Hassan Mohammed Hassan Al-Ansari, Balqees Abdullah Ismael Nasser (Thursday 31/1) Waleed Fadel Abdulraheem Al-Matrood, Nouf Mubarak Jassim Mubarak.

Gulf Bank’s new Al Danah 2013 draw lineup includes daily draws (2 winners per working day each receive KD 1000), as well as two additional prizes per quarter.

Market Movements AUSTRALIA PHILIPPINES HONG KONG GERMANY FRANCE EUROPE

-

All Ordinaries All Shares Hang Seng DAX CAC 40 Euro Stoxx 50

Change +33.60 +1.71 +38.16 +61.29 +48.45 +32.38

Al Danah’s 1st Quarterly draw will be held on 28 March (KD 200,000, KD 125,000, and KD 25,000), 2nd Quarter — 27 June (KD 250,000, KD 125,000, and KD 25,000), 3rd Quarter — 26 September (KD 500,000, KD 125,000, and KD 25,000) and the final draw held on 9 January, 2014 announcing winners of KD 50,000, KD 250,000 and the Al Danah Millionaire.

Gulf Bank’s Al Danah allows customers to win cash prizes and simultaneously

08-02-2013

Closing pts 4,989.40 4064.41 23,215.16 7,652.14 3,649.50 2,630.30

INDIA JAPAN S. KOREA

- Sensex - Nikkei - KRX 100

Change -95.55 -203.91 -3.40

Closing pts 19,484.77 11,153.16 4,180.78

Kuwait crude up 46 cent

encourages them to save money.

Chances increase the more money is deposited and the longer it is kept in the account.

Al Danah also offers a number of unique services including the Al Danah Deposit Only ATM card which helps account holders deposit their money at their convenience; as well as the Al Danah calculator to help customers calculate their chances of becoming an Al Danah winner.

Price of Kuwait crude oil was up 46 cents on Saturday to $112.86 pb, compared with $112.40 pb the previous day, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on Saturday.

Prices of oil have been rising due to positive economic reports from China and the United States, where prices of forward deals for the Brent crude closed with an up on Friday.

The Brent deals concluded delivery contracts for March with a rise of $1. 66, settling at $118.90 pb, the highest hike since May. Gains of the Brent deals for the week reached $2.14. (KUNA)

Business

Average daily turnover increases by 35.1 pct

KSE ends week with variance on its indices

By Bayan Investment KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week with variance on its indices. The price index ended last week with an increase amounted to 0.70%, while the weighted index decreased by 0.72% compared to the closings of the week before, whereas KSX-15 Index decreased by 1.13%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 35.10%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 41.85 million, whereas trading volume average was 664.13 million shares, recording increase of 59.18%.

In addition, small-cap stocks occupied the traders’ interest and witnessed active speculative operations, focused on stocks in the Financial Services and Real Estate sectors, where less activity was noticed on leading and large-cap stocks. Moreover, random purchasing and buy & hold operations started to appear in the market, due to the listed companies’ annual results expectations. In general, a cautious optimism state is prevailing on the market traders

by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 1,022.45 points at a loss of 0.92%.

Sectors’ Activity

since the beginning of 2013. For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 5.97% annual gain compared to its closing in 2012, while the weighted index increased by 2.73%, and the KSX-15 recorded 2.54% increase.

By the end of the week, the price index closed at 6,288.72 points, up by 0.70%

from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.72% weekly loss after closing at 429.06 points.

Moreover, the KSX-15 index closed at 1,034.68 points, decreasing with 1.13%.

Sectors’ Indices Eight of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other four record-

ed declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 4.66% growth rate as its index closed at 933.66 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Oil & Gas sector’s index closed at 1,115.56 points recording 3.76% increase. The Basic Materials sector came in third as its index achieved 3.46% growth, ending the week at

1,037.20 points.

On the other hand, the Telecommunications sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.90% to end the week’s activity at 916.30 points.

The Health Care sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.30%, closing at 917.37 points, followed

The Real Estate sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 1.58 billion shares changing hands, representing 47.50% of the total market trading volume. The Financial Services sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 26.13% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 867.57 million shares.

On the other hand, the Real Estate sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of K.D. 61.51 million or 29.39% of last week’s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of K.D. 55.01 million represented 26.29% of the total market trading value. ❑ ❑ ❑ For further details, please visit our web site: www.bayaninvest.com

Kuwait economic brief National Bank of Kuwait

Real estate sales reach KD 363m, up 16 pct y/y Increases seen in all three major mkt segments

Gulf Bank management along with staff after receiving their certificates.

Gulf Bank congratulates 57 staff graduating from IBS Gulf Bank has celebrated the success of 57 of its employees at the annual Institute of Banking Studies (IBS) graduation ceremony. The employees attended the ceremony which was held at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry to receive certificates for completing one of the institute’s specialist banking courses during 2011-2012.

Gulf Bank’s employees completed a number of programs, including the Certified Credit Management (CCM), Advance Certificate in Credit Management (ACCM), Risk Management Certificate (RMC), Certified Bank Branch Manager (CBBM), and Certified Assistant Bank Branch Manager programs (CABBM).

Gulf Bank has a long-term commit-

ment to investing in its employees and encouraging them to take up training opportunities to develop their skills. The Bank benefits from this investment through increased employee knowledge and loyalty, and improved performance, which is reflected in the high level of service standards and efficiency the Bank provides its customers.

Kuwait lender’s outlook positive

Burgan Bank brand rtg re-affirmed at AA KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Burgan Bank today announced that Brand Finance, the international brand valuation company has re-affirmed Burgan Bank brand rating as AA with a positive outlook. Burgan Bank is the only bank in Kuwait that witnessed an increase in its total brand value, which came at $199 million compared to $175 million last year. The brand ratings and values were recently published in “The Banker” magazine, a Financial Times publication, where Brand Finance has featured the world’s most valuable 500 banking brands.

Bashir Jaber, Burgan Bank’s Assistant General Manager — Corporate Communications said: “We are delighted with the recent ratings published by Brand Finance, and ranking at the top of the banking brand ratings in Kuwait.

Burgan Bank is the only conventional bank in Kuwait and one of only 5 banks in Middle East that has achieved an absolute rise in its brand value. Our brand model has been an essential component of our corporate strategy, one which aims at 1) increasing market share with profitability in the core market 2) achieving scale, capabilities and footprint through strategic acquisitions”.

Burgan Bank enjoys an award winning strong branding platform that reflects its values of trust as well as partnership to deliver international best practices throughout its operations.

“Going forward, Burgan Bank’s performance is on the right trajectory. We remain focused on further developing the bank’s brand in Kuwait, and across the markets we operate in. Recently, Burgan Bank announced the expansion of its regional brand platform to Turkey following its recent acquisition of Eurobank Tekfen, where as of January 28, is operat-

ing under the name of Burgan Bank — Turkey,” added Jaber.

In 2012, Burgan Bank won the “Best Bank Branding” award by the Banker Middle East. The bank was recognized for its creative approach towards continuously building its brand name and values, an element that is reflected across all forms of communications including the physical application of its brand concept within branches and channels to provide seamless services to customers.

Potential The global 500 banking brands, is an annual report published by “Brand Finance” in association with “The Banker” — a “financial times publication”. Each brand is rated on the basis of a benchmarking study of the brand’s strength, risk and future potential relative to its competitors and a summary measure of the business’s financial strength and delivery.

Established in 1977, Burgan Bank is the youngest commercial Bank and third

Bashir Jaber, Burgan Bank’s Assistant GM – Corporate Communications.

largest by assets in Kuwait, with a significant focus on the corporate and financial institutions sectors, as well as having a growing retail and private bank customer base.

Burgan Bank has five majority owned subsidiaries, which include Gulf Bank Algeria — AGB (Algeria), Bank of Baghdad — BOB (Iraq & Lebanon), Jordan Kuwait Bank — JKB (Jordan) Tunis International Bank — TIB (Tunisia), and fully owned Burgan Bank — Turkey, (collectively known as the “Burgan Bank Group”).

The Bank has continuously improved its performance over the years through an expanded revenue structure, diversified funding sources, and a strong capital base. The adoption of state-of-the-art services and technology has positioned it as a trendsetter in the domestic market and within the MENA region.

Excellence is one of the Bank’s four key values and Burgan Bank continually strives to maintain the highest standards in the industry. The Bank was re-certified in 2010 with the ISO 9001:2008 certification in all its banking businesses, making it the first bank in the GCC, and the only bank in Kuwait to receive such accreditation. The Bank also has to its credit the distinction of being the only Bank in Kuwait to have won the JP Morgan Chase Quality Recognition Award for twelve consecutive years.

Burgan Bank won the prestigious “Banking Web Awards” prize in the commercial and corporate Category for Kuwait. In 2010 Burgan Bank was awarded with the “Best Internet Banking Service award” from Banker Middle East Awards.

Burgan Bank was recognized in 2011 as Kuwait’s “Best Private Bank”, by World Finance The bank also won, in 2011.

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Real estate sales during December totaled KD 363 million, more than double the amount of the same month of 2011. Similar to November, the large y/y increase was a result of strong sales in all three major real estate segments. As for the full 2012, total sales reached KD 3.1 billion, up 16% compared to 2011 and indicating a generally healthy year for sales.

Residential sector sales totaled KD 204 million in December, rising by a sizable KD 117 million y/y. The jump in sales came from a higher number of transactions, especially for plots of land. The total number of all residential transactions in December rose by 73% y/y.

The 3-month average (October December) price for residential plots recorded 333 KD/m2, while the comparable price for residential homes recorded 632 KD/m2. These prices are aggregated across different governorates, as well as different specifications, and therefore only serve as a general indicator.

Sales As for the full year, aggregate sales in the sector reached KD 1.7 billion, up 20% y/y, and averaging 657 transactions per month, compared to a 494 average in 2011. These figures indicate a healthy sector, backed by persistent local demand.

The investment sector (mainly apartments and buildings intended for rental) saw KD 116 million in sales during December, KD 55 million more than December 2011. The sector saw a strong recovery in Q4 2012, after some slowdown earlier in the year.

In terms of pricing, the 3-month average price for apartments was 626 KD/m2 for the October-December period, while whole buildings recorded 1301 KD/m2. As for plots of land allotted to the investment sector, the 3month price went up to 1139 KD/m2.

Sales in the investment segment totaled KD 1.2 billion in 2012, up 16% y/y. Both healthy demand and on-coming new supply should keep the sector in good shape for the near future.

Sales in the commercial sector totaled KD 43 million, down from last month but more than double the monthly average for 2012. About KD 24 million came from the sale of 3 separate commercial buildings in Hawalli governorate, while most other transactions took place in Kuwait City. This sector brought in KD 252 million in sales in 2012, a 2% increase from the previous year. However, the last 2 months of the year witnessed increased interest in the

Regional services extended to 10

NBK offers customers access to 16 markets KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) enjoys the largest international network offering its customers access to 16 markets on four continents around the world.

NBK’s international network comprises 173 branches, subsidiaries and representative offices in 16 countries across the world’s leading financial centers, ten of which are in the Middle East. NBK’s international presence includes London, New York, Paris, Geneva and Singapore, as well as China (Shanghai).

Meanwhile, regional coverage extends to Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. NBK international network offers a wide range of cross border services

that address customers’ needs overseas. NBK’s services and products around the world deliver convenience and reliability.

NBK has a dedicated specialized unit in Ras Al-Salmiya branch that assists customers with their overseas banking needs and coordinates with NBK’s overseas subsidiaries. Experts are ready to assist customers with the services offered by NBK’s international branches.

NBK offers customers complete banking solutions, providing them with the freedom to manage their finances easily, 24 hours a day, seven days a week via NBK’s Mobile Banking application, Watani Online (www.nbk.com) or Hala Watani on 1801801.

sector. If this trend continues, alongside a more active government real estate fund, we could see a notable pick-up in sales in 2013.

Overall, 2012 saw a more active real estate market compared with recent years. The residential segment continued to lead sales, grabbing 55% of the total, while the investment segment took 37% and generally appeared to be in good shape, posting y/y increases in 8 out of the 12 months. The commercial

sector somehow also managed to end the year on a positive note. Overall, we expect the positive trend in sales to continue in 2013, albeit with varying intensity among the three segments.

Meanwhile, the Savings and Credit Bank (SCB) approved a little more than KD 22 million in loans, spread out over 394 applications. About a third of those applications were for the construction of new homes. Additionally, the SCB disbursed KD 9.2 million in housing loans.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

BUSINESS

39

Wheat traders doubt Syria reserves estimate Officials say two major silos disused among 32 silos in state hands AMMAN, Feb 9, (RTRS): International traders challenged Syrian officials’ estimates that the government has enough wheat stored to last a year despite the raging 22-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Wheat and other foods are excluded from Western trade sanctions imposed on Assad’s government but dealers say difficulties in financing grain purchases because of banking sanctions have deterred international trading firms from participating in Syrian grain tenders.

But Syrian officials told Reuters this week that wheat reserves stood at about three million tonnes, roughly one year’s

supply, boosted by last year’s harvest of about 2.3 million tonnes and about 700,000 tonnes of mainly Ukrainian and Black Sea origin wheat bought in the 12 months to January.

Some Middle Eastern traders say barter deals with Ukrainian state agencies and Iran have helped Syria maintain purchases during the last year.

“The silos that are spread across all governates have enough stocks for at least a year,” said a senior official from the country’s state-run General Establishment for Cereal Processing and Trade (HABOOB) who said the quantities were “secure”.

Syria traditionally kept wheat stocks of about 3 million tonnes, before the revolt against Assad, and as much as double that

after bumper harvests.

“They have used a lot of their strategic stocks and while they are doing their utmost to buy as much as they can, they are unable to purchase bigger volumes as the country is still under embargo,” said a Middle East-based trader.

Officials say only two major silos in northern Syria were under rebel control, and were damaged, out of a total of 32 major concrete and metal silos with a capacity of 3.5 million tonnes that remain under government control.

Rebels gained territory last July in and around the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s economic hub and largest city, capturing at least 20 state mills, they said.

Private mills and imports from Lebanon and the Ukraine were compen-

sating for state mills lost in Aleppo, which had supplied at least 60 percent of the country’s total national flour milling needs, according to traders and officials.

In the northern western Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, rebels ransacked silos and a major silo in the town of Al Bab was bombarded by air to prevent rebels emptying its 43,000 tonnes of locally produced wheat stocks, traders and officials said.

“Some wheat quantities have been stolen but the major silos where wheat is available are still in our hands and well maintained,” said the senior grain official in Damascus, who was contacted by phone and who requested anonymity.

Official estimates that the quantities of wheat that were either damaged or stolen

from state warehouses since the crisis erupted in March 2011 stood at about 200,000 tonnes.

Across government controlled areas, private and state milling flour capacity in January was about 8,000 tonnes daily after dropping by almost half at the outset of the troubles in Aleppo last July, officials said.

At least 2,000 tonnes of flour per day is now processed by private mills supplied with wheat by the authorities.

Idle private mills in areas across the country’s major cities still in government hands from central Damascus, Idlib, Deraa to Hama, have been forced to step up operations to boost production, a major Damascus based grain commodities trader in touch with the authorities

said.

This has eased shortages combined with a crackdown on profiteering traders, boosting private bakeries production and rushing imports by land of at least 100,000 tonnes of flour from Lebanon and a 40,000 shipment from Ukraine.

Syrian wheat purchases in the Middle East and Asia have been at higher prices than paid by other regional buyers and in smaller quantities, dealers said.

Earlier this week Syria issued a new tender to purchase 100,000 tonnes of soft milling wheat with a March 4 deadline.

“Grain shipments are reaching Syria and their cargo ports are operating, but the cargo sizes are much smaller and usually they are parcel-sized consignments,” a second Middle East-based trader said.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

BUSINESS

40

Tunisia Jan inflation at 57-month high 06:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 07:00 Charlie Rose 08:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 09:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 10:00 Insanity 10:30 Mop X5 11:00 Insanity 11:30 Mop X5 12:00 Insanity 12:30 Insanity 13:00 Ab Circle 99 13:30 Sonicrafter 14:00 Risk Takers 15:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 16:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 16:30 Sportfolio 17:00 Techstars 17:30 Techstars 18:00 Risk Takers 19:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 20:00 High Flyers 20:30 Asia’s Business 21:00 Risk Takers 22:00 Bloomberg Enterprise 22:30 Innovators 23:00 Bloomberg Enterprise 23:30 Eye To Eye 00:00 Bloomberg Game Changers 01:00 Bloomberg Enterprise 01:30 Innovators 02:00 First Up 03:00 First Up 04:00 On The Move Asia 05:00 On The Move Asia 06:00 Asia Edge

06:00 CNBC Originals: Ford 07:00 CNBC Originals: House Of Cards 09:00 CNBC Documentaries 09:30 CNBC Documentaries 10:00 CNBC Originals: Marriage From Hell 11:00 CNBC Documentaries 11:30 CNBC Documentaries 12:00 CNBC Originals: Love At First Byte 13:00 CNBC Originals: Investigations Inc 14:00 Business Poland 14:15 Business Turkey 14:30 Straight Talk 15:00 Managing Asia 15:30 Access: Middle East 16:00 Tom Brokaw Reports: Boomer$ 18:00 CNBC Originals: Love At First Byte 19:00 On The Money With Maria Bartiromo 19:30 Access: Middle East 20:00 Business Poland 20:15 Business Turkey 20:30 Straight Talk 21:00 Managing Asia 21:30 Money In Motion: Currency Trading 22:00 CNBC Originals: Marriage From Hell 23:00 CNBC Documentaries 23:30 CNBC Documentaries 00:00 CNBC Originals: Love At First Byte 01:00 CNBC Originals: Investigations Inc 02:00 Asia Squawk Box 04:00 The Call Asia 05:00 Cash Flow 07:00 Meet The Press

Tunisia’s consumer price inflation rose to 6.0 percent in January, the highest since April 2008, from 5.9 percent in December, boosted by rapidly rising prices of food and clothing, official data showed on Saturday.

Food and drink prices climbed 8.7 percent year-on-year while clothing and footwear gained 7.7 percent.

Rising inflation may add to

pressure on the government of Prime Minister Hamadi Jabali as it struggles to restore stability after this week’s assassination of an opposition politician. Poor economic conditions sparked protests that led to the ouster of veteran ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

The central bank is not aiming for a particular inflation rate but the most that should be tolerated

is 5 percent, central bank governor Chadli Ayari told Reuters last October.

Inflation rose last year partly because of depreciation of the Tunisian dinar against the dollar between mid-2011 and mid-2012.

The currency has now stabilised, but Tunisia is running a trade deficit, which grew to 11.64 billion dinars ($7.48 billion) in 2012 from 8.61 billion dinars in 2011. (RTRS)

Al Alban takes over as acting General Manager

Tawfiq S. Al Bahar resigns from Warba Insurance Co KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Warba Insurance Co Kuwait’s fastest growing insurance solutions provider announced the resignation of its current board member and Managing Director, Tawfiq Shamlan Al Bahar. Al-Bahar represented Arabia Investment Co on the board of Warba Insurance and has also resigned from all of his active administrative duties in the company effective immediately as was disclosed in a letter from the company to the Capital Markets Authority on Thursday.

Warba Insurance’s Board of Directors met almost immediately to discuss the request and after due deliberation decided to unanimously accept the resignation due to the medical and personal reasons that were mentioned in the letter submitted by Al-Bahar.

It is noteworthy to mention that Al Bahar is considered one of the few leaders of the insurance industry in Kuwait were he joined Warba Insurance since inception in 1977 upon his graduation as a Science & Statistics from Oregon State

Anwar Bukhamseen – Chairman

Mohammed Rashed Al Alban – acting General Manager

Tawfiq Shamlan Al Bahar – outgoing Managing Director

University, here he was deputy manager of Shipping & Aviation insurance and later became this departments manager.

Under his guidance this department grew to become the Fire & General Accident

Dept and in the mid-80’s he was appointed deputy general manager of Warba Insurance. After the liberation of Kuwait he was appointed general manager where he worked tirelessly to rebuild the busi-

ness from the effects of the events that occurred and in 2010 he was appointed managing director.

During his career he participated in a large number of specialized activities

that led the industry to growth and prosperity, not only in Kuwait but across the region. That includes his leadership of the team comprised of national insurers of Kuwait to take part in the committee that was responsible for the implementation of the national compulsory medical insurance initiative. He also was actively participant in forming the strategies of several international insurance companies that operated in the region including LIC International (Bahrain), LIC HFL (India), SLIP (Pakistan), Philippines National Insurance Co (Philippines), IHI Bupa, Interglobal, Ceylinco & Generali (Italy). His administrative experience also aided him in the establishment of several subsidiaries to Warba Insurance including Ritaj Takaful Insurance Co, Warba GTC, WAM Transformative Industries & WAPMED TPA Services.

Throughout his career he participated in a large number of specialized training activities, as he was a member of many

specialized insurance societies including being a recognized arbitrator in the joint GCC Commercial Arbitration Center, and Kuwait’s Ambassador to the International Insurance Society in the US. Anwar Jawad Bukhamseen — Chairman of Warba Insurance Co — cited on behalf of the Board the many sacrifices that Al-Bahar made to the company during his tenure there, and he also highly praised his character and the development that the company had achieved under his watch.

On a related subject, Warba Insurance Co also announced that Mohammed Rashed Al Alban has been appointed as acting General Manager. Al Alban was a longtime colleague of Al-Bahar where they both joined the company back in 1977 and has been involved in the development of the company since then through different appointments to leading positions in the company structure until he was appointed as Deputy general Manager for Fire & general accidents seven years ago.

KIB records net profit of KD 13.2m, up 22 pct y/y BoD recommends 7 pct cash dividend KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: Sheikh Mohamed Jarrah Al-Sabah, Chairman of Kuwait International Bank, announced that the Bank realised a net profit of KD 13.2 million for 2012 against KD 10.8 million for 2011, an increase of 22 percent.

Photo shows February Chevrolet vehicles promotion by Yusuf Alghanim & Sons Automotive

Offer includes discount up to KD 500

Alghanim & Sons launches annual Chevrolet promo KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9: In celebration of Kuwait’s national festivities and shopping season, Yusuf A. Alghanim & Sons Automotive, the exclusive distributor of Chevrolet vehicles in Kuwait, launched its special annual promotion throughout the month of February on its fleet of Chevrolet vehicles.

The promotion includes various discounts that reach up to KD 500 on an assortment of 2013 Chevrolet models including the TrailBlazer, Silverado, Malibu, Tahoe and Cruze.

People can also benefit from this special promotion during the month of February on other Chevrolet vehicles as well.

Terrain A beloved choice amongst the youth in Kuwait, the high-powered 2013 Silverado proves to be the ultimate answer for any terrain whether it is rough rides in the desert or leisurely outings. Available in two and fourwheel-drive configurations, the 2013 Silverado is powered by a 4.8, 5.3 or 6.0-liter engine that generate 360 hp, also, available as 1500, 2500 and the 3500 HD. The 2013 Silverado comes in regular, extended or crew cab versions, all of which merge smart technology that features an independent air conditioning unit, Stabilitrak and much more.

Another featured 2013 Chevrolet vehicle is the all-new TrailBlazer that comes in LT and LTZ trim levels.

Available in two and four-wheeldrive configurations, the TrailBlazer is powered by a 3.6-liter V6 engine that generates 239 hp with variable valve timing matched with a 6-speed automatic transmission that delivers an optimal balance of power, performance and fuel efficiency. All these features allow a smooth and controlled drive in rough terrain without requiring drivers to press the brake pedal.

Luxury lovers can benefit from this limited time promotion by

choosing the 2013 Chevrolet Cruze, a car that continues to evolve into one of Chevrolet’s most impressive vehicles in its segment, offering competitive amenities, quietness, safety features and space expected of a larger sedan, but still providing the efficiency and value of a compact car. Now available with the new infotainment system ‘MyLink’, the 2013 Cruze offers more value for customers than ever. Chevrolet MyLink is the brand-new and sophisticated infotainment system, which brings Smartphone capabilities into the vehicle.

Chevrolet MyLink aggregates content from a Smartphone onto the seven-inch, high resolution, full color touch-screen display. Available at a range of colors, the Cruze also proves to be the economical luxury 4-wheel drive as it is powered with a 1.8-liter engine that generates an impressive 140 hp.

Excellent Whichever Chevrolet you take home, you will enjoy excellent customer service, quality maintenance options and competitive prices on spare parts, all of which is provided by a team of professional and skilled team members and technicians. An element that further enhances customers’ peace of mind is Yusuf Ahmed A. & Sons Automotive’s service center that is distinguished by its continuous and successful efforts in providing the highest quality of services that have set an international standard.

The largest in the world, the service center is equipped with a large variety of the most advanced equipment operated by a team of skilled professionals and effective consultants who ensure timely service. Make the best out of the joyous and festive month of February by choosing your favorite new Chevrolet vehicle at the best price.

Bid to avert protests

Oman ‘raises’ minimum wage

With earnings per share of 14.1 fils for 2012, up 22 percent from the 11.6 fils of 2011, Al-Jarrah remarked that the Board has decided to recommend to the General Assembly a cash dividend of 7 percent of the nominal value per share (7 fils per share) to shareholders registered in the Bank’s records on the date of the General Assembly meeting. This recommendation shall be subject to the approval of the General Assembly and concerned parties.

Al-Jarrah noted that operating income of KD 44.9 million was 14 percent higher than the KD 39.2 million of 2011 and that such outstanding performance and growth directly reflected the Bank’s strategy of sustainable and fair growth. The net profit was declared after taking precautionary impairment provisions of KD 7.7 million which included additional prudent provisions of KD 4.4 million for the year. Al-Jarrah also stated that during 2012 Al-Dawli managed to diversify its sources of income with revenues from fees and commissions up 39 percent. Net financing income up 15 percent on 2011.

Return on assets increased to 1.11 percent in comparison with the 0.96 percent of 2011. Return on equity increased to 6.21 percent up from the 5.37 percent of 2011.

Expenditure The Bank noted that these positive results were achieved despite difficult circumstances during 2012, with the slowdown of Kuwait Economy performance and the continuing structural imbalance there which negatively impacted the local economy. The factors which could activate the private sector role include implementing the development plan and increasing government capital expenditure.

Al-Dawli’s total assets as on December 2012 were KD1,249 million compared to the KD1,118 million of 2011, an increase of 12 percent. Al-Jarrah noted that growth in financing receivables of 13 percent was matched with 13 percent growth in depositor accounts. The capital adequacy ratio at December 2012 of 25.23 percent comfortably exceeds the minimum regulatory requirements of 12 percent. AlJarrah confirmed that during the year AlDawli was able to reduce non performing financing receivables to 8.3 percent of the portfolio down from 11.2 percent through management’s continuous efforts to mitigate these risks.

Al-Jarrah noted that such promising indicators of acceptable and stable growth reflect the Bank’s success in implementing its business plan and realising its strategic targets which include: diversifying the financing portfolio, increasing financing to small and medium projects and expanding the branch and ATM networks throughout Kuwait.

With the inauguration of 5 new full service branches 2012 saw significant growth in the branch network. Al-Dawli now has 23 branches to provide its corporate and retail customers with a wide spectrum of Islamic banking products and services throughout Kuwait. The Bank’s network of ATM machines increased by 66 percent during 2012 with more ATM machines installed in customer convenient locations.

Sheikh Mohamed Jarrah Al-Sabah, Chairman of Kuwait International Bank

the

bottomline

SINGAPORE: Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) has reduced its offer for a third time this week for its full-range naphtha cargoes lifting April 2013 to March 2014 to a premium of $36 a tonne, traders said on Friday.

KPC is in its fifth day of term discussions in Singapore with Asian customers, mainly from Japanese and South Korean firms.

KPC, which started talks on Feb 4, quoted its first offer at a premium of $41 a tonnes to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis but progressively cut it to $39, then to $38, and now to $36.

“Bids have also moved up from about $30 to $34 a tonne now,” said a Singapore-based trader. “The deal is close to being done.” (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ RIYADH: Shareholders of Saudi Arabia’s second largest telecoms company Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) have approved its decision to raise the firm’s capital by 10 percent to 7.7 billion riyals ($2.05 billion), it said in a bourse statement on Saturday.

The company enjoyed surging profit growth last quarter, outperforming analyst forecasts with net earnings of $501 million, even as net income at its main competitor, Saudi Telecom Company, dropped.

Mobily is aiming to focus on growing revenue from data and corporate customers, its chief executive told Reuters last month. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ REYKJAVIK: The estate of a bankrupt Icelandic bank said on Friday it had settled a dispute with a Qatari sheikh which stemmed from a deal the sheikh made to buy shares in the bank just before it collapsed in 2008.

All three of Iceland’s top banks collapsed under big debts when the global credit crunch struck in late 2008.

Weeks before the collapse, one of the banks, Kaupthing, announced that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar had bought 5.01 percent of its shares in a confidence-boosting move. But a parliamentary commission later said the shares were bought with a loan from Kaupthing itself. (RTRS)

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DUBAI: Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank, the first Gulf company to file for bankruptcy in the United States under Chapter 11 rules, said on Saturday it had submitted a plan to reorganise the company.

The investment firm filed for bankruptcy in New York in March and was given court approval in November to take out a $125 million sharia-compliant loan to provide funding while it restructured its debts.

Arcapita’s case is being closely watched in the Gulf, where companies have little recourse to orderly ways of dealing with insolvency. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑ LONDON/ARBIL, Iraq: Exxon Mobil has hired a former US ambassador to Iraq as a consultant, diplomats and industry sources said, as the US major faces a dilemma over whether to operate in the south of the country or honor its deals with the autonomous Kurdistan region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last month made Exxon an offer in a bid to woo back the company, which had seemed intent on pulling out of the $50 billion West Qurna 1 oilfield in the south under the central government’s jurisdiction.

The substance of Maliki’s offer to Exxon is not known, but industry sources describe it as substantial and say it is likely to involve much sweeter contract terms. The condition is that Exxon quit the northern Kurdish region.

It was unclear whether James Jeffrey was hired specifically to handle the dilemma and its fallout, but industry sources and diplomats said it was likely to work in the central government’s favor.

“He probably has better relations in Baghdad than in Arbil,” said a former US diplomat on condition of anonymity.

Since signing for six blocs with the Kurdistan regional government in 2011, Exxon has put itself on one of Iraq’s deepest faultlines: between the northern enclave and Baghdad, which says only it has the authority to grant oil contacts and control crude exports. The Kurds argue their right to their own oil policy is enshrined in the country’s federal constitution, drawn up following the US-led invasion of 2003. (RTRS)

MUSCAT, Feb 9, (RTRS): Oman’s parliament, the Shura Council, approved a much higher minimum wage and curbs on the employment of foreigners on Saturday, aiming to prevent joblessness again becoming a source of anger for Omani citizens.

The cabinet proposed the moves last week in an attempt to spur private sector employment levels among Omanis after complaints about the lack of jobs contributed to Arab Spring protests two years ago.

The government is keen to move more citizens into private sector jobs in preparation for an eventual fall in oil revenue, seen as possible later this decade. Public sector jobs in Oman pay much higher wages than most jobs with private companies.

The private sector minimum wage for Omani citizens will be raised by more than 60 percent to 325 rials ($844) a month effective from July 1, state television said.

The council also approved restricting the number of foreign workers in Oman to 33 percent of the country’s total population “to create an employment balance”, but without introducing a timeframe.

The plan approved by the Shura Council also lacked details on any mechanism to cut the number of foreign workers, most of whom are from South Asia Or southeast Asia.

Expatriates are now thought to represent about 39 percent of Oman’s population and are mainly workers who were brought in to do skilled or strenuous jobs in the oil, construction and services industries, according to official data from last year.

“The new rules will open up more jobs for Omanis in the private sector as well as control demographic complexity between foreigners and nationals,” the Shura Council statement carried on television said.

The increased minimum wage is likely to affect 122,000 of the 172,000 Omanis working in the private sector, the government estimated heralding a likely rise in costs for many companies.

Finance minister Darwish Ismail Al Balushi said the government created 50,000 jobs through state spending in 2012 and promised another 56,000 jobs for Omanis this year.

After protesters in 2011 damaged some foreign-owned businesses, some Omanis are also worried that unemployment could cause a rift between the sultanate’s citizens and expatriates.

“If we don’t continue to create more jobs for Omanis, then we are going to see tensions between Omanis and foreign workers. We already started to see signs of that,” Mohammed al-Harthy, human resources officer at the property developer Al Mouj Al Khaleej Co told Reuters.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

BUSINESS

41

New York probing rating firms: source The New York attorney general has launched a probe into the mortgage bond rating practices of major ratings firms as a factor in the 2008 financial crisis, a person close to the investigation said Friday.

The New York probe will look at the ratings of mortgage securities by Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch. Those ratings have been criticized for being overly positive and downplaying risk to investors ahead

of the 2008 crisis.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent a subpoena to S&P and formal information requests to Moody’s and Fitch, said the person close to the investigation.

The New York action comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed earlier this week by the Department of Justice against S&P. The US accused S&P of knowingly inflating its ratings on collateralized debt obligations and resi-

Moody’s shares slide despite strong earns

dential mortgage-backed securities in 2007 in order to win revenue from issuers. S&P has called the suit meritless and pledges to fight the case.

Any enforcement by New York state could face a hurdle following a June 2008 settlement between the firms and Schneiderman’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, that cleared the ratings firms of additional enforcement in exchange for abiding by a number of provisions. (AFP)

Moody’s fourth-quarter net income jumped 66 percent and revenue blew away expectations, but shares slid with many expecting the ratings agency will be the next target of the Justice Department, which filed a suit against a rival for its actions before the housing market collapse.

The Obama administration accused Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday of refusing to warn

investors that the housing market was collapsing in 2006 because it would be bad for business.

In the days since S&P announced that the lawsuit would be filed, Moody’s shares have tumbled 15 percent, falling another 6 percent Friday.

CEO Raymond McDaniel said that he had no knowledge of any pending action against the company during a conference call with

investors Friday.

For the quarter ended Dec 31, the New York company earned $160.1 million, or 70 cents per share, up from $96.2 million, or 43 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Revenue jumped 33 percent to $754.2 million, easily topping Wall Street expectations for revenue of $687.1 million in revenue, according to FactSet. (AP)

Imports decline by 2.7 pct to $225 bln

US growth in Q4 likely stronger on export gains WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AP): A jump in energy-related exports and a steep decline in oil imports lowered the US trade deficit in December to nearly a three-year low.

The improvement suggests the economy grew in the October-December quarter instead of shrinking as the government estimated last week.

A brighter outlook for trade also illustrates how a boom in oil and gas production is reducing crude oil imports and making the US a leader in the export of fuels. And it shows that higher domestic sales of fuel-efficient cars are lowering dependence on oil.

The trade gap fell nearly 21 percent in December from November to $38.6 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Total exports rose 2.1 percent to $186 billion, driven in part by record exports of gasoline, diesel and other fuels.

At the same time, imports declined 2.7 percent to $225 billion. That was largely because oil imports plunged to 223 million barrels - the fewest in 15 years.

“While we may see some give back in the coming months ... the trend of a narrowing petroleum trade gap will continue to drive improvement in the overall trade balance,” said Michael Dolega, an economist at TD Bank, said in a note to clients.

A narrower trade gap boosts growth because it means US companies earned more from overseas sales while consumers and businesses spent less on foreign products.

Fewer exports were one of the reasons the government’s first estimate of economic growth in the October-December quarter showed a contraction at an annual rate of 0.1 percent. The December trade deficit figures were not available when the government reported its estimate last week.

Some of the gain from trade will be offset by a decline in December wholesale stockpiles.

Overall, economists at Barclays Capital expect the government’s second estimate for fourth-quarter growth will be revised up to a still-weak annual rate of 0.3 per-

Leaders to push for US trade

EU budget deal may face rough ride in parliament BRUSSELS, Feb 9, (Agencies): EU leaders may think they have settled the bloc’s 2014-20 budget but it is the European Parliament, angry at the first ever cut, that now has the final say and early signs point to tough talks ahead.

Stung by the agreed three percent reduction in EU spending over the next seven years, parliamentary leaders were quick Friday to reject the hard-won deal, saying it would undermine Europe’s future and could even be illegal if it resulted in Brussels running a budget deficit.

Under the core 2009 Lisbon Treaty, parliament is now a party to the EU budget process, with lawmakers required to sign off on the figures EU leaders agree.

In the heat of the moment, however, that aspect tends to get overlooked and the tone of the press commentary Saturday too was very much as if the deal had been done and that was it.

But Parliament has to vote on the 2014-20 budget in July and significantly, EU President Herman Van Rompuy was careful when he announced the accord after marathon talks Thursday and Friday to note that the hard-won deal still needed lawmakers’ approval.

Perfect It was “perhaps nobody’s perfect budget,” Van Rompuy conceded, but “there is a lot in it for everybody” and he urged MEPs to do their duty towards Europe.

The budget was not “an accounting exercise” and before rejecting it, lawmakers should think “very carefully” about the potentially huge implications for the economy, jobs and future prosperity.

“I hope that the European Parliament will meet its (responsibilities),” he added, in the same way the 27 EU leaders had met theirs by agreeing to compromise on their differences. Parliament head Martin Schulz, however, had repeatedly insisted that the cuts were unacceptable to most lawmakers.

Schulz made his position clear to EU leaders as they began the talks and then warned even more bluntly afterwards that he could not go along with a budget which would likely result in a deficit — barred under EU law, but familiar territory for most member states.

He was backed up Friday when the leaders of the four biggest parties in parliament rejected the accord outright.

Parliament “cannot accept today’s deal in the European Council as it is.

We regret that Mr Van Rompuy did not talk and negotiate with us in the last months,” they said in a joint statement.

“The real negotiations will start now with the European Parliament.

We will maintain our priorities which we have clearly stated many times.”

The prospect that parliament may also conduct July’s vote by secret ballot — and Schulz claimed to have enough support for that — must also give EU leaders pause for thought that the assembly might just decide to buck the system.

An EU source recognised the problem.

“The best case scenario is that parliament gives its consent” to the current proposal but that seems unlikely, the source said.

“The worst case scenario is a that parliament says ‘No,’ we will never agree. (In that case) there would be no budget or (EU leaders) would have to come back to change it,” the source

said.

In between, there “are very many scenarios,” the source said, adding: “We will have to find an understanding.”

An editorial in the Belgian daily Le Soir regretted the cutback in EU spending as a “political failure” for Europe but parliament still had to have its say, with rejection leading to the rollover of the current 2013 budget into 2014 and so on.

MEPs, it noted, also had more demands than just the total amount involved — they wanted more flexibility in spending, the right to review and revise the budget as it proceeds, and a promise the EU itself will be allowed to raise more of its own resources, rather than rely so much on member states.

“Another very difficult set of negotiations are therefore going to open up in coming weeks,” it said, adding that to “avoid pressure being put on individual lawmakers ... parliament should hold a secret vote on the 201420 budget.”

European leaders agreed on Friday to push for a free-trade pact with the United States, putting the onus on the White House to decide whether to try for a deal that would encompass half the world’s economic output.

Major exporters Germany and Britain won support from the rest of the European Union at a summit in Brussels to reach a deal with Washington that many leaders hope will help Europe pull out of its banking and debt crises.

In their final statement, leaders said the European Union gave “its support for a comprehensive trade agreement” with the United States.

“We need to move forward,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said at the end of the summit, referring to the United States.

“The Commission will push ahead to realise the full potential of an integrated transatlantic trade agreement,” said Barroso, who heads the EU executive responsible for negotiating the European Union’s trade agreements.

Endorse The EU leaders’ statement raises expectations that US President Barack Obama may endorse the initiative next Tuesday in his annual State of the Union speech, which presidents traditionally use to lay out their priorities for the year.

A US trade official in Washington said EU leaders’ unity was “helpful in building confidence that the EU has the political will to do what is necessary for an agreement.”

Europe’s main business lobby, Business Europe, urged Obama to embrace the momentum in a letter released on Friday on behalf of 41 business federations, calling on him to give “a strong signal” and “political support” for the talks.

With economic growth elusive on both sides of the Atlantic, Obama and EU leaders tasked their trade chiefs in 2011 to look at whether it was feasible to agree a deal to further integrate the two blocs that already have low tariffs.

A US-EU draft proposal drawn up

by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk is essentially ready. De Gucht, who went to Washington this week, has given strong signals that there is enough common ground to go ahead with negotiations.

Talks could start in months, and while De Gucht was warned of difficult negotiations, both sides appear to want to agree on an accord quickly, possibly by the end of 2014.

US pharmaceutical exports to Iran cut in half in 2012 WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (RTRS): Exports of US pharmaceuticals to Iran were cut in half last year, according to data released on Friday, while overall US exports to the Islamic republic rose about 9 percent because of grain sales.

The official US government statistics appear to support the claims of sanctions lawyers and some independent experts that financial sanctions are making it harder for Iranians to obtain medicine despite loopholes designed to permit such trade.

The United States and its European

allies have tightened their economic sanctions on Iran to pressure the government to rein in its nuclear program, which the West suspects aims to produce a bomb. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity and producing medical isotopes.

US officials have said they have tried to sanction Iran without unduly harming ordinary Iranians, for example granting licenses to US companies who wish to export pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food and other humanitarian goods to Iran.

However, sanctions lawyers have said the blacklisting of Iran’s major banks has made it extremely difficult to find smaller Iranian banks able to conduct such licensed transactions as well as international banks willing to deal with them.

According to data released by the US Commerce Department on Friday, overall US exports to Iran rose to $250.2 million from $229.3 million in 2011.

However, most of the increase is attributable to the sale of wheat and other grains. These amounted to $89.2 million

last year — the single largest category of US exports to Iran.

In 2011, the United States exported no wheat or such grains to Iran, though it sold $21 million of maize.

Without the wheat sales, US exports to Iran would have declined overall last year, sharply in some categories.

Exports of pharmaceuticals fell to $14.8 million from $31.1 million in 2011, while sales of vitamins, medicinal and botanical drugs decreased to $4.9 million from $10.8 million in 2011.

cent.

The monthly trade figures can be volatile. Still, economists see the trade picture brightening in 2013, helped by new technology that has made US fuel cheaper.

Production of oil and natural gas is

surging in the US because drillers have learned to tap once-inaccessible reserves trapped in shale formations. New techniques such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made this possible.

Increased production has lowered US prices of crude oil and natural gas, which refiners use to make gasoline, diesel and other fuels. Crude in the US has been selling for $20 per barrel cheaper than international crude. US natural gas is half the

price of natural gas in Europe and onethird the price in Asia.

With lower input costs, US refiners are making enormous amounts of petroleumbased fuels and selling them on the international market at a huge profit.

British PM claims victory in battle to cut EU budget Good deal for British taxpayers, says Cameron BRUSSELS, Feb 9, (AFP): Prime Minister David Cameron claimed victory in his battle to slash the EU budget Friday, saying marathon talks proved that his promise of a referendum on EU membership had not left Britain isolated.

Cameron had vowed to accept nothing less than a real terms freeze in the seven-year budget as he demanded savings to reflect austerity measures being imposed across the continent and as a necessary step towards reform of the bloc.

After more than 24 hours of wrangling in Brussels, leaders were looking at a cut in spending of around three percent compared with the previous budget.

“I have been determined to cut the spending limits and so to cut the amount that

Brussels can spend. And working with like-minded allies I have achieved that today,” a weary-looking Cameron told reporters after the deal was done.

“Every previous time these multi-year deals have been agreed, spending has gone up. Not this time.”

Cameron said the budget represented a “good deal for British taxpayers” though he conceded that Britain’s contributions to the EU will actually go up under a longagreed adjustment in its rebate, but by far less than before the deal was struck.

The prime minister made it clear for months that he would veto any agreement that did not reduce European Union spending, a demand which caused the last budget summit in November to collapse without a deal.

But critics had warned he had left himself with few allies following his veto of a crucial eurozone deal in 2011 and his pledge last month to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU by the end of 2017.

Cameron rejected this analysis on Friday, saying he had worked closely with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree the budget deal, as well as with other net contributors to the EU in northern Europe.

“Working with the Dutch, the Danes, the Swedes, working very closely with Angela Merkel, that is not isolation — that is Britain with allies getting things done in Europe, coming up with good results,” the premier said.

Slash

Visitors look over Hyundai cars during a media preview day at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb 7, in Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago Auto Show, one of the oldest and largest in the country, will be open to the public, Feb 9-18. (AFP)

Finance minister disputes CSO’s estimate of 5%

India can ‘recapture the magic’ of growth NEW DELHI, Feb 9, (AFP): India’s economy can “recapture the magic” and return to high-growth of sevento-eight percent in the next couple of years, picking up from decadelow expansion, the finance minister said on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, India’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) had projected that Asia’s third-largest economy will accelerate by five percent in the fiscal year ending in March — its slowest rate in 10 years.

“There are signs of an upturn that will take us to a high growth path,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters.

“We will climb back to a growth rate of between six to seven percent next year and then between sevenand-eight percent in the year after,” he said.

“We can recapture the magic of 2004-08. The average growth was 8.5 percent during that period,” he said.

The finance minister disputed the

CSO’s growth estimate of five percent for the current financial year as too low.

“We believe growth will be closer to 5.5 percent,” Chidambaram said, as he unveiled a scheme to draw more investors into India’s growing stock market.

The International Monetary Fund last week forecast India’s economy would post growth of 5.4 percent in the financial year ending in March.

Standards Last year, the economy grew by 6.2 percent but even that rate, while enviable by anaemic Western standards, is insufficient to create the jobs India needs to provide work for its ballooning population.

An eight percent growth rate is imperative to generate jobs, Chidambaram said.

“The measures we have taken... and will take in the coming days will put India onto the eight percent path,” said the minister, who is due to present the budget for the coming

financial year at the end of the month.

The Congress-led coalition government has introduced a string of measures since September to encourage foreign investment in key sectors and reduce subsidies, which have led to a ballooning fiscal deficit.

India’s economy has slowed sharply due to high interest rates, Europe’s debt crisis and sluggish investment caused by domestic and overseas concerns about policymaking and corruption.

On a positive note, Chidambaram said the CSO’s growth forecast was higher than a decade ago in 2002-03 when the economy grew at four percent.

“I have no doubt in my mind that we will come out of this trough,” he said.

As India gears up for national elections due in 2014, the government is under increasing pressure to kick-start the economy before facing voters.

Cameron’s determination to slash EU spending had put him at odds with countries such as France who were concerned about cutting investment that could boost growth and tackle the European Union’s record unemployment.

The tensions were laid bare when French President Francois Hollande pulled out of a pre-summit meeting with Cameron on Thursday, although officials insisted it was a scheduling problem, not a snub.

The British leader on Friday said that “obviously on this issue we had some debates and some discussions” but that the two leaders had talked positively about France’s military operation in Mali, which Britain is supporting.

Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum succeeded in calming eurosceptics in his Conservative party but sparked concerns in many European capitals by putting the prospect of a British exit starkly on the table.

According to one well-placed diplomat, Italian premier Mario Monti said at the negotiating table: “We cannot accept a deal dictated by Great Britain — a country we can’t even say with certainty will still be in the EU in 2017.”

Cameron denied that the question mark over Britain’s future had undermined his position, saying: “We always have our arguments and disagreements around the council table but people know Britain is a serious player.”

In his speech on January 23 setting out his referendum plans, Cameron said he believed Britain should play an active role in the EU but that the bloc must reform, particularly in reining in its bloated bureaucracy.

Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said the deal agreed on Friday was probably the best Cameron could get in the circumstances but warned it would not quell growing anti-European sentiment in Britain.

“The argument in Britain now is about ‘in’ or ‘out’, it’s not about shaving a few pennies off,” the European lawmaker told AFP.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

BUSINESS

42

US may expand Pontiac brake light recall US safety regulators are looking at expanding a small recall of Pontiac G6 midsize cars so it includes up to 550,000 vehicles.

About 8,000 of the cars were recalled by General Motors in 2009 because the brake lights and cruise control didn’t work properly.

But the recall affected only cars made in January of 2005. On Friday, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in docu-

ments posted on its website that it’s studying whether all G-6s from the 2005 through 2009 model years should be added to the recall.

The safety agency says it has received 212 complaints from consumers that brake lights won’t come on when the pedal is pressed, or the lights come on for no reason. Some of the complaints also say the cruise control disengages for no reason, or it may not work at all.

No crashes or injuries have been reported from the problem, and GM says it is cooperating with the investigation. In the 2009 recall, GM traced the problem to corrosion in a wiring connector. Dealers were to fix it by putting a lubricant on the connector to prevent corrosion. But NHTSA said Friday that complaints persisted from people with G6s from additional model years, so it will look at an expanded recall. (AP)

HP sets labor guidelines for Chinese suppliers Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s largest personal computer maker, is vowing to crack down on its Chinese suppliers in an effort to reduce the use of low-paid student interns and other temporary workers.

The guidelines unveiled Friday are the latest attempt by a major US technology company to weed out labor abuses at Chinese factories that manufacture the gadgets for an Internet-connected world.

HP, which is based in Palo Alto,

California, said its new standards are meant to ensure that its Chinese suppliers don’t lean too heavily on student interns and temporary workers as a way to save money. The company says it wants to protect workers’ rights when they are hired. The new standards come a few months after Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., a major China manufacturer better known as Foxconn, acknowledged it has hired interns as young as 14. Both HP and Apple Inc, the maker of iPhones, iPads

and Mac computers, rely on Foxconn to make some of their products.

Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, also has been trying to reform the labor practices at Foxconn and other Chinese suppliers in recent years in response to scathing criticism about the inhumane treatment of the workers making devices that have become status symbols as well as multi-purpose tools for communicating, reading, watching video and taking pictures. (AP)

Move expected to ease difficult budget outlook for govt

Venezuela sharply devalues currency against dollar CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 9, (AP): Venezuela’s government announced Friday that it is devaluing the country’s currency, a long-anticipated change expected to push up prices in the heavily import-reliant economy.

Officials said the fixed exchange rate is changing from 4.30 bolivars to the dollar to 6.30 bolivars to the dollar.

The devaluation had been widely expected by analysts in recent months, though experts had been unsure about whether the government would act while President Hugo Chavez remained out of sight in Cuba recovering from cancer surgery.

It was the first devaluation to be announced by Chavez’s government since 2010, and it pushed up the price of the dollar against the bolivar by 46.5 percent.

By boosting the bolivar value of Venezuela’s dollar-denominated oil sales, the change is expected to help ease a difficult budget outlook for the government, which has turned increasingly to borrow-

ing to meet its spending obligations.

But analysts said the move would not be sufficient to end the government’s budget woes or balance the exchange rate with an overvalued currency. Economists predicted higher inflation and a likely continuation of shortages of some staple foods, such as cornmeal, chicken and sugar.

Planning and Finance Minister Jorge Giordani said the new rate will take effect Wednesday, after the two-day holiday of Carnival. He said the old rate would still be allowed for some transactions that already were approved by the state currency agency.

Venezuela’s government has had strict currency exchange controls since 2003 and maintains a fixed, government-set exchange rate. Under the controls, people and businesses must apply to a government currency agency to receive dollars at the official rate to import goods, pay for travel or cover other obligations.

While those controls have restricted

the amounts of dollars available at the official rate, an illegal black market has flourished and the value of the bolivar has recently been eroding. In black market street trading, dollars have recently been selling for more than four times the official exchange rate of 4.30 bolivars to the dollar.

Economist Pedro Palma, a professor at Caracas’ IESA business school, said the government’s decision to allow some previously requested dollar transactions for products in categories such as food, health care, construction and autos will somewhat soften the impact on inflation. But he predicted the devaluation would inevitably further drive up inflation.

Economist Jose Guerra told The Associated Press that given the devaluation, he predicts inflation of more than 25 percent this year.

The announcement of the devaluation came after the country’s Central Bank said annual inflation rose to 22.2 percent in January, up from 20.1 percent at the

end of 2012.

The oil-exporting country, a member of OPEC, has consistently had Latin America’s highest officially acknowledged inflation rates in recent years.

Spiraling prices have come amid worsening shortages of some foods.

Seeking to confront such shortages, the government last week announced plans to have the state oil company turn over more of its earnings in dollars to the Central Bank while reducing the amount injected into a fund used for various government programs and public works projects.

It was the fifth time that Chavez’s government has devalued the currency since establishing the currency exchange controls a decade ago in an attempt to combat capital flight.

Giordani said the government also decided to do away with a second-tier rate that has hovered around 5.30 bolivars to the dollar, through a bond market administered by the Central Bank.

That rate had been granted to some

businesses that hadn’t been able to obtain dollars at the official rate, and accounted for roughly one-fifth of governmentapproved foreign currency transactions.

Central Bank President Nelson Merentes called that bond trading system, known by the acronym Sitme, “imperfect.”

“It doesn’t make much sense to keep a system that seeks the country’s debt to feed it,” Merentes said.

Palma said it’s worrying that the government is not providing any additional outlet for Venezuelans to obtain dollars, given the strong demand for foreign currency. Guerra, a professor at Central University of Venezuela, predicts that demand for dollars is likely to keep pushing the so-called “parallel” dollar market higher.

The government’s announcement drew strong criticism from opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who said that the government’s heavy spending was to blame for the situation and that officials were trying to slip the change past the public at

the start of a long holiday weekend.

“They spent the money on campaigning, corruption, gifts abroad!” Capriles said in one of several messages on his Twitter account. Capriles was defeated by Chavez in an October presidential vote that was preceded by a burst of heavy government spending.

Capriles criticized Vice-President Nicolas Maduro’s handling of the situation. Maduro, who was named by Chavez as his preferred successor before undergoing cancer surgery Dec 11, has taken on more responsibilities and a higher profile during the president’s nearly twomonth absence.

“They give Mr. Maduro a little more time in charge and he finishes with the country,” Capriles said. “Look at the inflation in January, and now the devaluation.”

Maduro said on television that the measure had been approved by Chavez.

He said the change was necessary in response to a recent “speculative attacks” against the country’s currency.

investment funds Funds Fund Manager Valution Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

National Bank of Kuwait

Private Equity Funds

Money Market Funds

Watani KD Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 1.377 1.377 Jan 29, 2013 Watani KD Money Market Fund (Islamic) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 1.161 1.161 Jan 29, 2013 Watani Foreign Currency Money Market Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 USD 1.284 1.284 Jan 29, 2013 Watani Foreign Currency Money Market Fund (Euro) NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 Euro 1.236 1.237 Jan 29, 2013 Watani USD Money Market Fund (Acc NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Weekly Feb 5, 2013 USD 1.091 1.090 Jan 29, 2013 to Islamic Shariah principles) Equity Funds NBK Gulf Equity Fund NBK Weekly Jan 31, 2013 USD 1.049 1.038 Jan 23, 2013 NBK Kuwait Equity Fund NBK Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.656 0.653 Jan 23, 2013 NBK Qatar Equity Fund NBK Weekly Jan 31, 2013 USD 1.357 1.342 Jan 23, 2013 Islamic Ijara Fund IX Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Ijara Fund X Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Ijara Fund XI Wafra Capital Partners LP Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Thahabi Ijara Fund V Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Thahabi Ijara Fund VI Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Thahabi Ijara Fund VII Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 10.000 10.000 Oct 31, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund I Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund II Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund III Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund IV Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic KD Ijara Fund V Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Monthly Dec 31 2012 KD 10.000 10.000 Nov 30, 2012 Alternative Funds Watani US Real Estate Income & Growth Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Monthly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Watani European Real Estate Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 Euro 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Central European Real Estate Fund NBK Global Asset Management Co. Ltd. Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 Euro 10,000.000 10,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic European Real Estate Fund – A Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic European Real Estate Fund – B Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic Asian Real Estate Fund Wafra Investment Advisory Group Inc Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 Islamic China India Real Estate Fund Wafra Capital Partners L.P Cayman Islands Quarterly Sept 30, 2012 USD 1,000.000 1,000.000 June 30, 2012 R.Estate Security Funds Islamic Global RE Securities Fund Class A Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 1,062.376 1,048.180 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Global RE Securities Fund Class B Wafra Capital Partners L.P. Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 1.017.974 1.013.814 Nov 30, 2012 Islamic Turkey Real Estate Fund Wafra Capital Partners L.P. March 19, 2008 USD 1,000.000 Multi Asset Funds Thahabi Multi Asset Fund – Con Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 93.044 92.730 Nov 30, 2012 Thahabi Multi Asset Fund – Mo Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 82.671 82.140 Nov 30, 2012 NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Con Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 92.730 92.410 Oct 31, 2012 NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Mo Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 82.140 81.586 Oct 31, 2012 NBK Frontier Multi Asset Fund – Plus Portfolio Frontier Capital Management (Jersey) Ltd Monthly Nov 30, 2012 USD 66.330 65.623 Oct 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Gulf Bank Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund Kwt. Fin. & Inv. Co. & Gulf Fin. House Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 6.988 6.871 Nov 30, 2012 Coast Fund Coast Investment Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.644 0.643 Dec 31, 2012 Sanaya Dow Jones Kuwait Index Fund Industrial & Financial Investment Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.629 0.614 Dec 31, 2012 Markaz Capital Preservation Programs 1 Monthly Nov 30, 2012 KD 0.959 0.959 Oct 31, 2012 Markaz Capital Preservation Programs 2 Monthly Nov 30, 2012 KD 0.960 0.995 Oct 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Commercial Bank Tijari Islamic Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Tw. Monthly Feb 7, 2013 KD 0.325 0.325 Jan 23, 2013 Tijari Indian Fund Commercial Bank of Kuwait Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 0.841 0.841 Jan 31, 2013 ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Al Ahli Kuwaiti Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Dec 26, 2012 KD 0.928 0.937 Nov 28, 2012 Al Ahli Gulf Fund Al Ahli Bank Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.794 0.788 Nov 26, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Boubyan Bank Boubyan KD Money Market Fund Boubyan Bank Weekly Feb 5, 2013 KD 1.021 1.021 Jan 29, 2013 Boubyan Sukuk Fund Boubyan Bank Daily Dec 25, 2013 USD 770.110 1,001.180 May 11, 2011 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Burgan Bank Burgan Financial Fund Burgan Bank Daily Jan 2, 2013 KD 1.009 1.009 Dec 31, 2012 Burgan Equity Fund Burgan Bank Monthly Jan 27, 2012 KD 1.845 1.828 Dec 23, 2012 ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Local Fund

Al Raed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.998 1.002 Jan 23, 2013 Kuwait Investment Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.651 0.624 Dec 31, 2012 Al Hilal Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Feb 4, 2013 KD 0.583 0.583 Jan 31, 2013 KIC Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.930 0.929 Dec 31, 2012 Al Atheer Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.072 1.044 Dec 31, 2012 International Global Bond Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Jan 30, 2013 USD 22.400 22.870 Jan 16, 2013 Diversified Fund Kuwait Investment Co Weekly Jan 30, 2013 USD 17.440 17.310 Jan 16, 2013 European Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Dec 31, 2012 Euro 15.500 15.320 Nov 30, 2012 Pacific Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 30, 2013 USD 32.550 32.280 Jan 16, 2013 Al-Awaed Fund Kuwait Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2012 KD 0.917 0.914 Dec 31, 2012 North American Equity Fund Kuwait Investment Co Tw. Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 13.210 13.090 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

lnternational Financial Advisors Local Fund

IFA Islamic Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Oct 21 2012 KD 0.200 0.195 Sept 30, 2012 IFA Investment Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Oct 22, 2012 KD 0.284 0.275 Sept 18, 2012 International IFA International Guaranteed Fund International Financial Advisors Monthly Dec 31, 2010 KD 9.040 0.703 Nov 30, 2010 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

National Investment Co. (NIC) Equity Funds

Al- Wataniya Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.617 0.599 Dec 31, 2012 Al-Safwa Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.461 0.457 Dec 31, 2012 Al-Darji Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.461 0.453 Dec 31, 2012 Mawarid Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.555 0.537 Dec 31, 2012 Zajil Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.745 0.733 Dec 31, 2012 Al Mada Investment Fund NIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 0.650 0.615 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Mal Investment Al Huda Islamic Fund Al Mal Investment Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.399 0.395 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Coast Investment Co. Coast Investment Fund Coast Investment Co Daily Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.664 0.643 Dec 31, 2012 Coast Pearl Fund Coast Investment Co Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.790 0.789 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) Mumtaz Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 4.250 4.250 Jan 24, 2013 MIDAF Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 3.116 3.114 Jan 24, 2013 Islamic Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.657 1.660 Jan 24, 2013 Markaz Arabian Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Jan 31, 2013 USD 2.860 2.840 Jan 24, 2013 FORSA Financial Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 3.996 0.963 Dec 31, 2012 Energy Fund Kuwait Financial Center Quarterly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.772 0.759 Nov 30, 2012 Real Estate Fund Kuwait Financial Center Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 1.375 1.376 Nov 30, 2012 Markaz Fixed Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Jan 31, 2013 USD 10.740 10.750 Jan 24, 2013 Markaz Idikhar Fund Kuwait Financial Center Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.446 0.444 Nov 30, 2012 Markaz Islamic Income Fund Kuwait Financial Center Weekly Oct 31, 2012 KD 0.219 0.218 Sept 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait & Middle East Financial & Inv. Co. Al Rou’yah Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 21, 2013 KD 1.423 1.367 Dec 31, 2012 Gulf Gate Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.857 0.824 Dec 31, 2012 Al Awsat Money Market Fund (USD) KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.688 0.688 Dec 31, 2012 Al Awsat Money Market Fund (USD) KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 4.787 4.784 Dec 31, 2012 Amwal Islamic Money Market Fund KMEFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.549 0.549 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Global Investment House

Money Market Funds Islamic Real E. Funds

Kuwait Finance & Investment Co (KFIC) Al Wasm Fund KFIC Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.396 0.384 Nov 30, 2012 Al Basha’er GCC Equity Fund KFIC & Gulf Finance House Quarterly Dec 31, 2012 USD 6.988 6.871 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

KAMCO KAMCO Investment Fund KAMCO Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.977 0.940 Dec 31, 2012 Kuwait Private Equity Opportunities Fund KAMCO Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.678 0.678 Dec 31, 2012 Kuwait Education Fund KAMCO Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.428 1.428 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Madar Finance Shuwaikh Real Estate Fund Al Madar Bi-weekly Dec 31, 2012 KD 1.438 1.486 Sept 30, 2012 US Index Fund Al Madar Monthly Nov 23, 2012 KD 1.653 1.159 Nov 16, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Madina Finance & Investment Co. India Fund Al Madina Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.873 0.845 Dec 31, 2012 Al Madina Fund Al Madina Quarterly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.473 0.473 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Wafra International Investment Co. Wafra Equity Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.855 0.819 Dec 31, 2012 Wafra Bond Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.001 0.998 Dec 31, 2012 Fajir Islamic Fund Wafra Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.619 0.589 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Shuaa Capital Co. Saudi Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Weekly Jan 28, 2013 USD 8.470 8.470 Dec 20, 2012 The Arab Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Monthly Feb 05, 2013 USD 24.180 24.160 Jan 29, 2013 Emirates Gateway Fund Shuaa Capital Monthly Feb 05, 2013 AED 7.340 7.270 Jan 29, 2013 Qatar Gate Fund (Q) Shuaa Capital Monthly Jan 31, 2013 QAR 94.840 89.110 Dec 31, 2012 Qatar Gate Fund (N) Shuaa Capital Monthly Jan 31, 2013 QAR 93.200 87.830 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Investment Dar Co. Al Dar Real Estate Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.134 1.133 Dec 31, 2012 Al Dar Funds of Fund Al Dar Asset Management Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.470 0.470 Dec 31, 2012 Al Dar Money Market Fund Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.872 0.868 Jan 21, 2013 Al Dar Securities Fund Al Dar Asset Management Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.550 0.524 Dec 31, 2012 Al Nokhba Fund Al Dar Asset Management Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.406 0.408 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Global Umbrella Fund - US Global Umbrella Fund - Asia/Japan Global Distressed Fund Zenith Fund Mayur Hedge Fund Global KD Bond Fund GCC Large Cap Index Fund Al-Mamoun Fund A Al-Mamoun Fund B GCC Large Cap Fund Al-Noor Fund Global Saudi Equity Fund Global KD Money Market Fund Global USD Money Market Fund Global US Real Estate Fund GCC Real Estate Fund Global Asia Real Estate Fund Global Real Estate Ijarah Fund

Al Aman Islamic Fund Al Aman Investment Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.471 0.452 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Housing Finance Co (ISKAN) Masaref Investment Fund ISKAN Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.906 0.914 Jan 23, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Gulf Investment Corp.

Gulf Bond Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Jan 25, 2013 USD 13.950 13.960 Jan 18, 2013 Gulf Premier Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Jan 27, 2013 USD 21.460 21.440 Jan 17, 2013 Gulf Islamic Fund Gulf Investment Corp Weekly Jan 24, 2013 USD 6.650 6.640 Jan 17, 2013 GIC KD Bond Fund Gulf Investment Corp Monthly Jan 24, 2013 USD 0.980 0.980 Jan 17, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Ahli United Bank (formerly BKME)

Kuwait Investment Co.

Fixed Income Funds Index Funds Equity Funds

Global Opportunistic Fund Global Quarterly Sept 30, 2009 USD 106.060 107.180 Global Opportunistic Fund II Global Quarterly Sept 22, 2009 USD 110.920 110.390 June 30, 2009 Private Equity Fund Global Quarterly Sept 30, 2009 KD 0.829 0.859 June 30, 2009 Global Buyout Fund Global Monthly Sept 30, 2009 USD 564.740 603.390 June 30, 2009 Country Fund Palestine Dedicated Fund Global Monthly Dec 31, 2012 USD 86.740 91.810 Sept 30, 2011 Global Egypt Fund Global Monthly Jan 31, 2012 USD 38.740 38.110 Dec 31, 2011 Sectoral Funds EPADI Fund Global Weekly Jan 29, 2013 USD 108.550 107.870 Jan 22, 2013 Islamic Funds Global GCC Islamic Fund Global Weekly Jan 29, 2013 USD 89.250 88.450 Jan 22, 2013 Al-Durra Islamic Fund Global Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.190 1.193 Jan 23, 2013 Global Islamic Fund of Funds Global Weekly Aug 31, 2011 USD 76.860 78.260 Feb 28, 2011 Global Islamic Fund Global Monthly June 28, 2012 KD 1.271 1.286 March 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Aman Investment

Al Ahli Bank

Hedge Funds

Funds Fund Manager Valution Valued date Currency Net Asset Prev NAV Prev NAV Dated Value (NAV) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global Global

Monthly Monthly Monthly Monthly Weekly Monthly Weekly Weekly Weekly Bi-weekly Bi-weekly Bi-weekly Weekly Monthly Quarterly Quarterly Quarterly

Sept 30, 2012 Sept 30, 2012 Sept 30, 2012 Nov 30, 2012 Nov 30, 2012 Dec 31, 2012 Jan 31, 2013 Jan 31, 2013 Jan 31, 2013 Jan 29, 2013 Feb 05, 2013 Feb 05, 2013 Feb 5, 2013 Jan 29, 2013 June 30, 2012 June 30, 2009 June 30, 2009 Dec 31, 2008

USD USD USD USD USD KD KD KD KD USD SAR SAR KD USD USD USD USD USD

152.630 117.130 167.850 94.840 92.180 0.819 1.331 0.539 0.539 120.160 168.573 166.016 1.114 134.440 0.265 0.675 0.850 850.790

151.150 128.400 166.740 94.910 89.400 0.815 1.334 0.535 0.535 118.210 168.967 166.598 1.112 134.690 0.378 0.710 0.857

Aug 31, 2012 Aug 31, 2012 Aug 31, 2012 Oct 30, 2012 Oct 30, 2012 Nov 29, 2012 Jan 23, 2013 Jan 23, 2013 Jan 23, 2013 Jan 22, 2013 Feb 03, 2013 Feb 03, 2013 Jan 30, 2013 Jan 22, 2013 March 31, 2009 March 31, 2009 March 31, 2009

Al Awasat Money Market Fund Ahli United Bank Monthly April 30, 2012 KD 1.132 1.104 Sept 30, 2010 Al Amin Islamic Market Fund Ahli United Bank Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.142 1.142 Dec 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Bayan Investment Co Ea’mmar and Estethmar Fund Bayan Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.442 0.411 Dec 31, 2012 Al Themar Securities Fund Bayan Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.452 0.445 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Tharwa Investment Co. Tharwa Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.212 1.193 Jan 10, 2013 Tharwa Islamic Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Jan 31 2013 KD 0.683 0.682 Jan 10, 2013 Tharwa Arab Investment Fund Tharwa Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 USD 1.422 1.251 Jan 10, 2013 Tharwa World Fund Tharwa Investment Co Weekly Dec 31, 2012 USD 1.042 1.016 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Bank Al-Bilad Al Seef Fund Bank Al-Bilad Daily Jan 27, 2013 KD 0.528 0.525 Jan 20, 2013 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Commercial International Bank Commercial Int’t Bank Fund I CI Asset Management Weekly Jan 02, 2013 EGP 194.450 193.930 Dec 26, 2012 Commercial Int’t Bank Fund II (Istethmar) CI Asset Management Weekly Jan 03, 2013 EGP 63.650 60.720 Dec 13, 2012 CIB and Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt Fund CI Asset Management Weekly Jan 03, 2013 EGP 44.090 42.160 Nov 22, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Noor Financial Inv. Co. Noor Islamic Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 1.678 0.676 Dec 31, 2012 Noor Real Estate Income Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly July 31, 2013 KD 1.124 1.126 June 30, 2012 Noor Kuwait Islamic Equity Fund Noor Financial Investment Co Monthly June 30, 2013 KD 0.633 0.636 May 31, 2011 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium Kuwait Real Estate Fund Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 1.685 1.685 Oct 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Manafae Investment Co. Manafae First Fund Manafae Investment Co Monthly Dec 26, 2012 KD 0.665 0.664 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Zumorroda Investment Co. Zumorroda GCC Fund Al Zumorroda Investment Co Monthly Sept 30, 2012 KD 0.539 0.543 Aug 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al Safat Investment Co. Al Safat Local Shares Equity Fund Al Safat Investment Co. Monthly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.201 0.204 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al-Imtiaz Investment Co. Al-Imtiaz Investment Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Quarterly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.847 0.847 Nov 30, 2012 Al-Imtiaz Real Estate Fund Al-Imtiaz Investment Company Quarterly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.889 0.937 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

BankMuscat BankMuscat MSCI Kuwait Fund BankMuscat Daily Dec 26, 2012 USD 0.430 0.430 Dec 19, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al-Muthana Investment Co. Muthanna Islamic Index Fund (MUDX) Al-Muthana Investment Company Daily Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.384 0.376 Dec 31, 2012 Muthanna GCC Islamic Banks Fund Al-Muthana Investment Company Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.636 0.615 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

CapCorp Investment Co. CapCorp Local Fund CapCorp Investment Company Weekly Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.936 0.902 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Amar Finance & Leasing Co. Amar Real Estate Fund Amar Finance & Leasing Company Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.901 0.901 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al-Dhow Investment Co.

Waed Real Estate Fund Al-Dhow Real Estate Company Jan 31, 2013 KD 0.906 0.922 Dec 31, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Al-Fouz Investment Co.

Al-Fouz Real Estate Fund Al-Fouz Investment Company Annual Sept 30, 2012 KD 0.997 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Securities House Co.

Diyar Real Estate Investment Fund Securities House Company Monthly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.991 1.002 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

A’ayan Leasing & Investment Company

Awa’ed Real Estate Fund A’ayan Leasing & Investment Co. Quarterly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.680 0.677 Nov 30, 2012 Makaseb Estate Fund A’ayan Leasing & Investment Co. Quarterly Dec 31, 2012 KD 0.724 0.724 Nov 30, 2012 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Industrial & Financial Investment Company Direct investment Fund

Industrial and Financial Investment Co. (IFIC)

Dec 31, 2012

KD

1.179

1.402

March 31, 2012

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

BUSINESS

43

AOL shows signs of revival on advertising growth AOL is showing signs of revival with gains in advertising, a key step toward the reinvention of the former Internet star as a media firm.

AOL said Friday profits in the fourth quarter jumped 57 percent from a year earlier to $35.7 million, led by a rise in ad revenues.

Total revenues were up four percent from a year earlier to $599.5 million, in what the company said was the first time revenue had increased year-overyear in eight years.

The growth was led by advertising,

which saw a 13 percent jump in revenue. “AOL returned to growth and generated significant value for shareholders in 2012,” Tim Armstrong, the firm’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

“AOL has strong momentum entering 2013 and is positioned to continue on our growth path by executing our strategy to build the next generation media and technology company.”

AOL, formerly known as America Online, has been struggling since the collapse of its leadership as an

Gold falls as dollar gains

Brent oil prices surge to 9-month peak near $120

WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (AFP): US stocks stumbled through the week on a mix of dull earnings and weak forecasts before encouraging data from both Beijing and Washington edged the indices to fresh multi-year highs on Friday.

The catalyst for Friday’s jump was a sharply narrowed US trade deficit in December — driven by both lower oil imports and rising oil exports — that pointed to a better economy in the 2012 fourth quarter than data has suggested.

The government’s first estimate for the quarter was an 0.1 percent contraction, a surprise figure that took the wind out of markets after it came out on January 30.

Deficit The smaller trade deficit “implies positive GDP growth for the fourth quarter,” said economist Harm Bandholz of UniCredit.

China’s January trade and inflation data also boosted markets: its trade surplus gained and inflation was down, adding to evidence the world’s number two economy is emerging from a drawn-out slowdown.

“These data suggest that external and domestic demand are both strong, which supports our view that the economy is on track for a cyclical recovery in the first half,” said Zhang Zhiwei, a Hong Kong-based economist with Nomura International.

Friday’s gains took the S&P 500 to its highest level since November 2007, hitting 1,517.93, though up a mere 0.3 percent for the week. It was still well shy of the all-time closing high of 1,564.15, reached on October 9, 2007 before the crash.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,992.97, down 0.1 percent for the week, but only after powering past the 14,022 level during trade Friday, its highest level in five years as well.

And the Nasdaq picked up 0.5 percent in the week, ending at 3,193.87.

The tech-dominated exchange last saw Friday’s level in 2000 as markets plunged into the dot-com crash.

“The two factors pushing the market higher are funds flows and the Fed,” said Peter Cecchini of Cantor Fitzgerald.

The Federal Reserve is holding to its ultra-low interest rate, easy money policy, leaving savers with little place otherwise to put their money.

“So clearly the stock market has some pretty impressive tailwinds generated by the Fed. But we might expect a little bit of a pullback, to take a breather,” Cecchini said.

Other analysts also saw a pause

Vulnerable Base Metals: Base or industrial metals enjoyed mixed fortunes despite the upbeat Chinese data.

Three-month aluminium eased to $2,116 a tonne from $2,122.

Three-month lead dropped to $2,419 a tonne from $2,460.

Three-month tin gained to $24,955 a tonne from $24,937.

Three-month nickel fell to $18,398 a tonne from $18,615.

Three-month zinc rose to $2,202 tonne from $2,173.

Cocoa: Cocoa futures rebounded from multi-month lows hit the previous week. On New York’s NYBOTICE exchange, cocoa for March increased to $2,243 a tonne from $2,200 a week earlier.

Coffee: Coffee futures diverged as traders tracked the mixed supply outlook.

On LIFFE, Robusta for March delivery rose to $2,136 a tonne from $2,023 a week earlier.

Sugar: Prices drifted lower as traders eyed the prospect of abundant supplies in key producer Brazil.

On NYBOT-ICE, the price of unrefined sugar for March fell to 18.19 US cents a pound from 18.80 cents the previous week.

Rubber: Prices moved upwards in line with positive sentiment on the Tokyo Commodity futures exchange, but the market was expected to slow down amid the holiday period in top consumer China.

The Malaysian Rubber Board’s benchmark SMR20 ended the week at 310.15 US cents a kilo, up from 305.85 cents the previous week.

Hurdle

With Google’s stock hovering at record highs, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt plans to sell more than 40 percent of his stock in the Internet search leader this year.

The plan disclosed Friday calls for Schmidt to sell up to 3.2 million shares. If he were to sell all that stock at Google’s current price, Schmidt would realize a $2.5 billion windfall.

Schmidt ended December with

7.6 million Google shares, or a 2.3 percent stake in the Mountain View, California, company.

He would be left with about 4.4 million shares of Google stock worth another $3.5 billion if he follows through on his divestiture plan for this year. He has gradually been winnowing his holdings in Google in recent years, without giving a specific reason.

Google Inc. declined to comment Friday. (AP)

‘Funds flows and Fed pushing stocks higher’

Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for delivery in March fell to $96.15 a barrel from $97.24 a week earlier. On London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for March jumped to $118.96 a barrel compared with $116.82 the previous week.

Precious Metals: Gold fell as the dollar strengthened against the euro in the wake of cautious comments from the European Central Bank.

“The ECB kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.75 percent but commented that the recent euro/dollar appreciation could derail the economic recovery in Europe and reduce the threat of inflation,” said Austin Kiddle, director at gold brokerage Sharps Pixley. “The mere hint of future interest rate cuts caused the euro/dollar to immediately drop. The gold price fell in reaction to the rising US dollar and the decline in inflation expectation.”

By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold dipped to $1,668.25 an ounce from $1,669 a week earlier. Silver increased to $31.52 an ounce from $31.43.

On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rose to $1,714 an ounce from $1,687.

Palladium firmed to $746 an ounce from $745.

“Iran’s international relations grabbed the spotlight this week, with the country’s supreme leader rejecting the US offer for nuclear talks, providing a further hurdle for diplomacy.

“The political temperature in Tunisia has also increased, with risks of further instability in the country following the assassination of Chokri Belaid, an outspoken critic of the coalition government of Tunisia.

On Thursday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected a US offer to negotiate one-on-one on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, ruling out such contacts so long as Washington keeps up its threats against the Islamic republic.

The growing hostility between Washington and Tehran has strengthened the Brent contract as the international oil benchmark by raising fears that oil supplies could be affected.

Western powers believe Iran is trying to build an atomic weapon, but Tehran says its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes.

By Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas

gy news site TechCrunch, the local news operation Patch, Moviefone and Games.com.

AOL shares leapt 7.3 percent to close at $33.72.

Victor Anthony at Topeka Capital Markers said the shares may “react positively off the headline revenue outperformance” and profit growth, but added that “we would have liked to see growth in domestic display (advertising) as evidence that AOL can fully compete with Google and Facebook.”

(AFP)

Rocky week ends with fresh multi-year highs on US mkts

Commodities Weekly

LONDON, Feb 9, (AFP): Brent oil prices surged to a nine-month peak near $120 this week as traders seized on healthy data from top energy consumer China, global economic optimism, and geopolitical jitters in Iran and elsewhere.

China’s trade surplus rose 7.7 percent year-on-year to $29.2 billion in January as the country maintained its economic recovery on improving global demand, official data showed on Friday. Exports jumped 25.0 percent to $187.4 billion last month, while imports soared 28.8 percent to $158.2 billion, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement.

“Brent oil prices continue to defy gravity pushing to nine-month highs after this morning’s Chinese data,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. “There is a worry though at some point that the high price will act as a drag on demand which could well translate into difficulty in pushing through the $120 mark.”

Some commodities experienced subdued trade heading into China’s Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Sunday.

Oil: Brent North Sea oil hit a series of multi-month high points and climaxed on Friday at $119.17 per barrel — a price last seen on May 2, 2012.

In contrast, New York crude fell in value as an extended US refinery outage revived concerns about a glut of crude sitting in the middle of the United States, which is the world’s biggest consumer of oil.

“Sentiment was boosted thanks to China’s strong trade figures,” said GFT analyst Fawad Razaqzada.

The market also won support from geopolitical concerns, particularly after crude producer Iran rejected a US offer on nuclear talks.

Internet subscription service, and has been seeking to become a more diversified Web firm. It fused with news and entertainment giant Time Warner in 2001 at the height of the dotcom boom in what is considered one of the most disastrous mergers ever.

It was spun off by Time Warner in December 2009 into an independent company and has been struggling since then as it tries to focus on media and news.

Its operations include the Huffington Post news site, technolo-

Google to sell up to 3.2 mln shares

Sharp gains on Wall Street leave stocks vulnerable to shock

Strong start to 2013 could be tested NEW YORK, Feb 9, (RTRS): The US stock market is no stranger to strong performances in January, only to see the lofty gains early in the year transition into months of grinding action that goes nowhere.

That’s what happened in 2011 and 2012, and some analysts think 2013 could follow the same routine. Markets are up this year in the face of Washington’s debates over fiscal policy, but a looming deadline on spending reductions could test the gains.

“This is almost a carbon copy of last year,” said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc in Toledo, Ohio.

The mentality is “ride the wave as far as you can and try not to be the last one off,” Lancz said.

Major indexes recently crossed psychologically important milestones — 1,500 for the S&P 500 and 14,000 for the Dow industrials.

The S&P is at its highest level in five years, while the Nasdaq finished on Friday at its highest close since November 2000, the tail end of the Internet bubble.

The current levels are more significant than Wall Street’s usual fixation on round numbers. This is only the second time the Dow has reached 14,000, and the third time the S&P has hit 1,500.

That could leave the market churning as investors test whether there’s enough support to reach new highs, or if a pullback is needed. The sharp gains and overall bullishness on Wall Street leave stocks vulnerable to sudden shocks, such as a flare-up of the financial crisis in the euro zone, which momentarily sidetracked the market earlier this week.

One significant hurdle is the automatic federal spending cuts that will go into effect as of March.

So far, the equity market has largely ignored the back-and-forth related to delaying the so-called

sequester that would trigger $85 billion in automatic spending cuts, which would hit the defense industry particularly hard.

If the cuts go ahead unchanged, that could slow economic growth this year due to the swiftness of the cuts, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

While that’s not as dire as the immediate threat of default presented by a possible failure to raise the debt ceiling, it isn’t positive for markets.

“I don’t see any grand compromise coming, largely because the markets are so complacent,” said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group in Washington.

With the economic calendar light next week, investors could start to focus more on the political jockeying. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday may also provide some insight into how the talks may shape up.

Valliere put a 60 percent chance on the sequester coming into effect next month while Washington scrambles to come up with a solution to alter it over the spring.

“They are way, way apart on a deal,” said Valliere.

Markets may also be ignoring the political deal making because the spending cuts would go towards reducing the United States’ high debt level. The CBO report, which included the cuts as they are, forecast the budget deficit will drop below $1 trillion a year after four years above that level.

But analysts are worried about the broader implications of slower growth.

“Across-the-board cuts will really be more damaging than strategic cuts,” said Lancz. “If we go into recession, all cards are off the

table.”

The economy already unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter of last year, but more recent data suggests subsequent revisions will show the economy did in fact grow, though at a weak pace.

The future path of monetary policy will be in focus next week as several members of the Federal Reserve are scheduled to speak on the economy and policy. The central bank is currently buying $85 billion worth of assets a month as it tries to bolster the economy.

A growing number of policymakers say the Fed should taper its bond-buying when the time is right rather than bring the stimulus to an abrupt end and investors will be looking for signs of what the central bank’s exit strategy may be.

The S&P 500 closed above 1,500 on Friday, though it likely faces resistance getting above 1,523.57, which would be its highest intraday level since November 2007.

Analysts say the index could ultimately make a run for the all-time high of 1,576.09.

Jeff Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial in Boston, expects the market will see a pullback in the 5 percent range, though that should present a better buying opportunity.

Kleintop suggests using the dips to buy stocks in sectors such as homebuilders and transportation.

“When you’re in a trading range, you want to buy what’s working.”

For now, analysts are taking the market’s sideways direction as a healthy move as it tries to establish a stronger base to push higher.

“To be stuck in a trading range for a period of time after having a jack-rabbit start to the year is probably a positive sign,” said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets in New York.

ahead, with earnings season winding up and little clear direction in the economies of both the United States and Europe.

“As the broad markets attempt to break free of this recent congestion, the volatility in Europe and retail sales could steal the headlines next week,” said Joe Bell of Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

Also looming was the massive snowstorm blasting through the US Northeast, which could tame some trading activity in the coming week

after a blizzard halted air traffic in New York.

The markets face US political headwinds through the rest of February: the fight between Democrats and Republicans over whether to implement $85 billion in budget cuts, the sequester, programmed to come into effect at the end of the month.

If allowed to go ahead, the sequester would crunch economic growth, even as the improved the country’s fiscal deficit.

President Barack Obama wants more

tax increases included in a compromise plan, but Republicans are balking.

“It seems likely that the sequester will take effect on 1 March,” said Nomura in a research note.

“The initial effect on economic activity should be modest, but it will grow if the cuts remain in effect for more than a few weeks.”

Key data releases covering January in the coming week include retail sales (Wednesday), industrial production (Friday) and consumer sentiment (Friday).

Sequester

exchange rates – Feb 9 US dollar BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK Oman KBE

Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell

Cash .278000 .282900 .281250 .283500 .274000 .284000 .278550 .285150 .276050 .284650 .276200 .274800 .278550 .284660 — — —

Buy Sell Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell

Cash .467000 .517000 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Buy Sell Sell Buy Sell Buy Sell Sell

Cash .541800 .554800 — — — — — —

Draft .280300 .282500 .282450 .282200 .281050 .283150 .281050 .283500 .281050 .283150 .281200 .283300 .281050 .283150 .287900 .287900 .282250

Sterling pound

Transfer .280300 .282500 .282450 .282200 .281050 .283150 .281050 .283500 .281050 .283150 .281200 .283300 .281050 .283150 — — .282250

Cash .440400 .450400 — .445000 .438000 .451000 .434816 .448629 .438540 .447600 .434500 .443530 .434820 .447470 — .467000 —

Danish kroner BEC Muzaini Dollarco Commercial Bank Gulf Bank NBK Burgan Bank ABK Oman KBE

Draft — — — — .051127 .051509 .050682 .051602 .050830 .051350 .046462 .046997 .052570 .053490 — — —

Cash .004930 .005370 – .005450 .004000 .006750 — — — — — — — — — — —

Cyprus Pound BEC Muzaini Gulf Bank ABK KBE

travellers cheques BEC Commercial Bank Gulf Bank Al-Ahli Bank

Transfer .439400 .448400 .444150 .443065 .440630 .443923 .438719 .445482 .440040 .444600 .436000 .440530 .439340 .444400 — .475000 .447600

Indian rupee

Transfer — — — — .051127 .051509 .050682 .051602 .050830 .051350 .046462 .046997 .052570 .053490 — — —

Draft — — — — — — — —

Draft .439400 .448400 .444150 .443065 .440630 .443923 .443220 .438719 .445482 .440040 .444600 .436000 .440530 .439340 .444400 .475000 .447600

Transfer — — — — — — — —

Draft .005198 .005268 .005302 .005310 — .005353 — .005392 — — .005094 .005093 .005254 .005346 — — .005312

Transfer .005198 .005268 .005302 .005310 — .005353 — .005392 — — .005094 .005093 .005254 .005346 — — .005312

Euro Cash .373000 .382000 — .385000 .378000 .387000 .378349 .384572 .378110 .386720 .339010 .347320 .374930 .386270 — — —

Draft .373000 .380500 .384270 .382705 .381300 .384150 .374984 .387288 .379610 .383770 .385330 .340510 .378830 .383620 .378620 .382570 .387200

Japanese yen Transfer .373000 .380500 .384270 .382705 .381300 .384150 .374984 .387288 .379610 .383770 .385330 .344320 .378830 .383620 .378620 .382570 .387200

Pakistani rupee Cash .002720 .003000 — .003100 — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .002860 .002889 .002882 .002882 — .002903 — .002921 — — .003233 — — .002945 — .003175 .002882

Cash .294000 .312000 — .004550 — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft — — .003022 .004015 .002998 .003020 .002994 .003043 .030024 .030394 .003588 .003636 .029954 .030445 — .003200 —

Transfer — — .003022 .004015 .002998 .003020 .002994 .003043 .030024 .030394 .003588 .003636 .029954 .030445 — .003200 —

Sri Lanka rupee

Transfer .002860 .002889 .002882 .002882 — .002903 — .002921 — — .003233 — — ..002945 — 003175 .002882

Cash .002111 .002691 — .002950 .002000 .003500 — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .001933 .002233 .002238 .002238 — .002253 — .002261 — — .002546 — — .002304 — .002510 .002245

Transfer .001933 .002233 .002238 .002238 — .002253 — .002261 — — .002546 — .002304 — .002510 .002245

Yemeni riyal

Thai baht

South African rand

Cash Draft Transfer .128000 — — .136000 — — — .001318 .001318 — — — — — — — — — — — — — .001550 .001550

Cash Draft Transfer .091100 .090800 .090800 .098100 .096800 .096800 — .094780 .094780 — — — — — — — – — — — – — — —

Cash Draft Transfer .025330 .025330 .025330 .033830 .033830 .033830 — — — — — — — .031948 .031948 — — — — — — — — —

US dollar .2823000 .2840000 .2831500 .2831500

Sterling .4436000 .4510000 .4454820 .4444000

Euro — .3870000 .3845720 .3836200

local gold BEC Muzaini Exchange

Swiss franc Cash .302100 .311600 — .313000 .307000 .316000 — — .304370 .314720 .279180 .289100 — — — — —

Draft .303100 .310100 .311750 .310390 .309492 .311805 .307057 .313237 .308370 .312220 .283180 .286600 .307590 .312720 — — —

Transfer .303100 .310100 .311750 .310390 .309492 .311805 .307057 .313237 .308370 .312220 .297119 .299506 .307590 .312720 — — —

Bangladesh taka Cash .003320 .003970 — .003850 — — — — — — — — — — — .004250 —

Draft .003515 .003553 .354900 .003553 — .003639 — .003644 — — .004017 — — — — .004170 .003561

Transfer .003515 .003553 .354900 .003553 — .003639 — .003644 — — .004017 — — — — .004170 .003561

Korean won Cash — — — — — — — —

Draft — — — — — — — —

Gold 999 kg — 15,060.000

Transfer — — — — — — — —

Canadian dollar Cash .276700 .285200 — .286000 .280000 .288000 — — — — .277897 .282890 — — — — —

Draft .274700 .283700 .284580 .283835 .282179 .284287 .270713 .286091 .281780 .285170 .286988 .277020 .281160 .285550 — — .289000

Transfer .274700 .283700 .284580 .283835 .282179 .284287 .270713 .286091 .281780 .285170 .286988 .277020 .281160 .285550 — .267000 .289000

Philippine peso Cash .006930 .007210 — .007200 — —

Draft .006489 .006946 .006946 .006931 — .007022 — — .007065 — — — — — .006449 — — — — — .007280 .006000 .006467 — — — .006980

Transfer .006489 .006946 .006946 .006931 — .007022 — .007065 — — .006449 — — .007280 .006467 — .006980

Syrian pound Cash Draft Transfer .003200 .003200 .003200 .003400 .003400 .003400 — .003070 .003070 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Gold 999 10 tola 1,800.110 1,772.000

Gold ounce — 483.000

Swedish kroner Cash .401000 .451000 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft — — — — .044340 .044672 .043960 .044775 .044090 .044560 .041155 .041482 .043430 .045320 — — —

Transfer — — — — .044340 .044672 .043960 .044775 .044090 .044560 .041155 .041482 .043430 .045320 — — —

Saudi riyal Cash .074740 .075430 — .077000 .072000 .076000 .074121 .076182 .073880 .076570 .073684 .075774 .073960 .076060 — .076800 —

Australian dollar Cash .283500 .295000 — — .289000 .300000 — — — — — — — — .237000 — —

Draft .281500 .293500 — — .290114 .292282 .288525 .293934 .289730 .293170 .284712 .286988 .288850 .293350 .237000 — —

Transfer .281500 .293500 — — .290114 .292282 .288525 .293934 .289730 .293170 .284712 .289490 .288850 .293350 — — —

Draft — — — — — — — —

Gold gm 22k — 13.785

Transfer — — — — — — — —

Transfer .074790 .075430 .075350 .075215 .074967 .075527 .074853 .075647 .074880 .075570 .074280 .075640 .074730 .075530 .076800 — .075410

Hong Kong dollar Cash .034370 .037120 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Iranian tuman Cash .000161 .000161 — — — — — —

Draft .074790 .075430 .075350 .075215 .074967 .075527 .074853 .075647 .074880 .075570 .075640 .072340 .074730 .075530 .076800 — .075410

Draft .033870 .036970 .036427 — .036242 .036512 .036112 .036700 — — — — .036250 .036510 — — —

Transfer .033870 .036970 .036427 — .036242 .036512 .036112 .036700 — — — — .036250 .036510 — — —

UAE dirham Cash .076570 .077020 — .077200 .076257 .077024 .075692 .077803 .076300 .077060 .075223 .077374 .076257 .077024 — .078600 —

Draft .075470 .076920 .076941 .076810 .076549 .077121 .076440 .077257 .076470 .077140 .077237 .074510 .076250 .077150 .078390 — .076940

Transfer .075470 .076920 .076941 .076810 .076549 .077121 .076440 .077257 .076470 .077140 .075832 .077237 .076250 .077150 — .078390 .076940

Singapore dollar Cash .225210 .229710 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Draft .224210 .229710 .228430 — .226964 .228660 .225960 .229837 .226530 .228770 .216673 .218433 .226280 .229370 — — —

Transfer .224210 .229710 .228430 — .226964 .228660 .225960 .229837 .226530 .228770 .222630 .216673 .226280 .229370 — — —

Lebanese pound

Malaysian ringgit

Cash Draft Transfer .000179 .000183 .000183 .000191 .000190 .000190 — .189600 .189600 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Cash Draft Transfer .088290 .087290 .087290 .094290 .094290 .094290 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Gold gm 21k — 13.150

Gold gm 18k — 11.275

100 gm 999 – —

10 gm 999 – 157.000

Bahraini dinar Cash .743280 .751280 — .749000 .742951 .750418 .737294 .757773 .743350 .750820 — — — — — — —

Draft .742780 .751280 .750500 .747120 .745787 .751360 .744573 .752458 .745000 .751760 .740873 .750398 .743530 .751900 — — .750200

Transfer .742780 .751280 .750500 .747120 .745787 .751360 .744573 .752458 .745000 .751760 .740873 .750398 .743530 .751900 — — .750200

Jordanian dinar Cash .392830 .400330 — .400000 .390000 .405000 — — — — — — — — — .415000 —

Transfer .392800 .400300 .398940 .397805 — .400495 — .401062 — — .394853 .398939 .395010 .401600 .401670 .415000 —

Transfer .392800 .400300 .398940 .397805 — .400495 — .401062 — — .394853 .398939 .395010 .401600 .401670 .415000 —

Indonesian rupiah Cash .026000 .032000 — — — — — —

Draft .025000 .031000 — — .000029 — — .000029

Transfer .025000 .031000 — — .000029 — — .000029

Omani riyal Cash .728120 .73380 — — .728331 .735651 .721912 .742191 .728720 .736040 .735741 — — — .752000 — —

Draft .722620 .733620 .733920 — .730285 .735741 .729039 .736985 .729530 .736030 .734440 .722120 .727940 .737260 .748000 — —

Transfer .722620 .733620 .733920 — .730285 .735741 .727614 .735554 .729530 .736030 .734440 .719020 .727940 .737260 .759930 — —

Egyptian pound Cash .039240 .042340 .042450 .043000 .042000 .047000 — — — — — — — — — .056000 —

Draft .039994 .042014 .041991 .041993 — — — .042513 — — .047830 .049026 — .042600 — — .041989

Transfer .039994 .042014 .041991 .041993 — — — .042513 — — .047830 .049026 — .

042600 — — .041989

New Zealand dollar Cash .230100 .239600 — — — — — —

Draft .228100 .238100 — .233608 .238534 .234020 .238170 —

Transfer .228000 .238000 — .233608 .238534 .234020 .238170 —

All rates in KD per unit of foreign currency

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

44

S’pore police join fight against ‘fix’ syndicate SINGAPORE, Feb 9, (AP): Singapore’s police are working with Interpol to help Italian authorities investigate an international football match-fixing scandal based in the Asian city.

Europol revealed startling revelations this week about the syndicate trying to fix games across Europe, including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers. It generated more than 8 million euros ($10.8 million) in profit.

An 18-month investigation dubbed ‘Operation VETO’ found 425 match officials, club executives, players and criminals in 15 countries conspiring to fix more than 380 matches.

The identification of the Singaporean syndicate in fixing has resulted in businessman Dan Tan Seet Eng being placed on Italy’s most-wanted list.

“As evidence of alleged match-fixing needs to be further developed in order for our law enforcement agencies to take concrete follow-up actions against the alleged suspects, the Singapore Police Force will send our officers to Interpol to assist in the current investigations and join the global fight against match-fixing and illegal betting in football,” the police said in a statement issued Friday.

“Singapore remains highly committed in the fight against match-fixing, and other trans-national crimes. If evidence of such crimes exist, the police will pursue the case vigorously with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice.”

Europol’s probe has led to several prosecutions, including 14 people in Germany being convicted and sentenced to 39 years in prison.

Mahan cards 69

Snedeker, Potter share lead at Pebble Beach PEBBLE BEACH, California, Feb 9, (AFP): Ted Potter opened with an eagle on his way to firing a three-under par 67 Friday to share the lead with Brandt Snedeker after the second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Snedeker, a runner-up the past two weeks, and Potter stood on eight-under 134 after 36 holes at the $6.5 million US PGA event, which is played over three different northern California courses near the Pacific Ocean.

Potter, a 29-year-old American who won his first PGA title last year at the Greenbrier Classic, fired a five-under 67 on Thursday at par-72 Pebble Beach and then backed it up with a solid round Friday at the par-70 Monterrey Peninsula Shore course.

Starting on the back nine, Potter eagled the par-5 10th hole but took back-to-back bogeys at the 14th and 15th.

He answered with two sets of back-to-back birdies, the first brace at the second and third and the other at the par-5 sixth and par-3 seventh. He closed with a bogey at nine.

Snedeker opened with a 66 at the Shore on Thursday and followed with a bogey-free 4-

under 68 on Friday at par-72 Spyglass Hill.

Also starting on the 10th tee, Snedeker birdied the par-3 12th and par-5 14th then added back-to-back birdies at the par-5 seventh and par-4 eighth.

“I didn’t make a lot of putts today but look forward to going into the weekend, confidence is very high, and after last week, feel like my game is where I want it to be and two good days to go, should be a lot of fun,” Snedeker said.

GOLF Snedeker’s two runner-up finishes in the past two weeks came behind Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines and Phil Mickelson at the Phoenix Open.

“I take nothing but positives away from the way I’ve played the weekend the last couple events,” Snedeker said. “That’s how you win out here — you keep putting yourself in position, and the more times you do that the more success you’re going to have.”

Snedeker was due to play Pebble Beach on Saturday, the same course where the tournament will conclude on Sunday. He said playing back-to-back rounds at the same course will benefit him.

“The greens, we’ll know how they are bouncing,” Snedeker said. “Every day it’s been different, because Monterey Peninsula, you play it early in the week and it was different yesterday than I remember playing it.

“Spyglass I played earlier in the week and it was super-firm and today it was softer.

“So I think playing Pebble (in) back-to-back days is definitely an advantage.”

A quartet of players were at 7-under. John Merrick posted a 67 at the Shore, where Hunger Mahan carded a 69.

Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobsen got to 7-under with a superb six-under 66 at Pebble Beach. He teed off on 10 and his seven birdies included four in a row from 15-18. Patrick Reed posted a 69 at Pebble Beach that included three birdies without a bogey.

Scores 8-under

134 - Ted Potter 67-67, Brandt Snedeker 6668 7-under 135 - John Merrick 68-67, Hunter Mahan 66-69 137 - Fredrik Jacobson (SWE) 71-66, Patrick Reed 68-69 6-under 136 - Patrick Cantlay 66-70, Nick O’Hern (AUS) 70-66, James Hahn 71-65, Jason Day (AUS) 68-68 5-under 137 - Russell Knox (SCO) 64-73, Sean O’Hair 70-67, Matt Every 67-70 139 - Chris Kirk 71-68, Justin Hicks 71-68, Retief Goosen (RSA) 71-68 4-under 138 - Pat Perez 69-69, Ryuji Imada (JPN) 65-73, Kevin Streelman 69-69, Kevin Sutherland 70-68, Luke Guthrie 68-70, Kevin Stadler 69-69, Lee Westwood (ENG) 68-70, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 67-71 140 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 69-71, Alistair Presnell (AUS) 68-72, Bob Estes 69-71, Kevin Na 68-72, Seung-Yul Noh (KOR) 67-73

England thump NZ by 40 runs Wright’s stuff too much for Black Caps AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb 9, (AP): Captain Stuart Broad became his country’s leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 cricket as England defended its largest-ever total, beating New Zealand by 40 runs Saturday in the first of three internationals.

England scored 214 for seven after being sent in to bat at Eden Park, beating its previous best total in Twenty20 internationals of 202 for six against South Africa in 2009.

Eion Morgan hit 46 from 26 balls, Luke Wright 42 from 20 and James Bairstow 38 from 22 as England exploited a fast-paced wicket and short boundaries.

CRICKET

Korea’s Kim Won-Jin (top), competes with Georgia’s Amiran Papinashvili during their men qualifying fight in the 60kg category on Feb 9 during the Paris International Judo tournament, part of the Grand Slam, at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. (AFP)

Fisher, Sterne retain lead in Joburg

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The 2011 Masters champion shot a bogey-free 68 to stay in the hunt, along with Chilean Felipe Aguilar (70), and home players Jaco van Zyl (67) and George Coetzee (70).

South African Garth Mulroy produced the round of the day, with a 65 which took him to 12-under for the tournament. The 2011 Joburg Open runner-up sunk eight birdies to go into Sunday tied for eighth place.

GOLF With thunderstorms predicted for Sunday afternoon, the tee-off times for the fourth round have been brought forward, with the leaders playing in a three-ball. ❑ ❑ ❑ Bernhard Langer and Tom Pernice Jr. each shot 6under 66 to tie for the first-round lead at the Allianz Championship on Friday.

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England’s Eion Morgan on his way to 46 against New Zealand in their Twenty20 cricket match at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Feb 9. (AP)

sixes and scored only 92 runs from boundaries.

Opening bowlers Broad and Steve Finn (339) bowled superbly and paceman Jade Dernbach produced two lightning spells which prevented New Zealand from scoring at the necessary pace. The England bowlers stuck to a shrewd tactical plan, bowling short of a length and preventing New Zealand’s batsmen hitting to the shortest boundaries.

“The freedom the guys played with today with the bat set us up,” Broad said. “After the losing the toss to set our record score as an England batting lineup is fantastic.

“It’s exciting to see the cleanness with which the guys are striking it and to be honest I think we learned a lot from batting on it first, so it probably wasn’t a bad toss to lose.”

New Zealand’s reply was limp with only Guptill’s 44 making any impression.

N. Zealand vs England Scoreboard

Langer, Pernice tied

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9, (Agencies): South Africans Trevor Fisher Jnr and Richard Sterne kept the joint lead in the Joburg Open on Saturday after they both carded 68s in the third round.

The pair go into Sunday’s final round locked on 19-under-par for the tournament, five shots clear at the top of the leaderboard.

Sterne is a five-times European Tour winner, but has not claimed a trophy since 2008, while Fisher is seeking his first win on the tour.

Fisher surged ahead on Saturday having gone out in 33 in his first nine holes, but three bogies coming home allowed his rival to stay in touch.

It could have been different after a fine approach to the 18th green left Fisher a 10-foot putt for eagle, while Sterne landed in the greenside bunker.

But an excellent save out of the sand gave Sterne a birdie and, when Fisher let the eagle chance slip, the opportunity to take the overnight lead was gone.

A quartet of players are five shots back, including twice winner Charl Schwartzel.

Broad then took four for 24, as England contained New Zealand to 174 for nine in reply. In doing so, Broad lifted his tally of wickets in Twenty20 internationals to 52 from 43 matches at an average of 23.19, beating Graeme Swann’s record of 51 wickets in 39 matches at 16.94.

England’s explosive batting on Saturday denied New Zealand any chance of winning the match and taking an early lead in the series which continues at Hamilton on Tuesday.

After six overs England was 62-1 and it continued at a frantic pace to establish and unbeatable total. After 17 overs it was 191-4 but New Zealand managed a small rally, claiming cheap wickets before the close.

New Zealand was never able to score at the pace necessary to challenge England’s total.

Martin Guptill scored 44 from 32 balls at the top of the order and Hamish Rutherford 18 from 11 balls on debut but New Zealand quickly fell behind the required run-rate.

England’s tally included 15 sixes - the thirdlargest number of sixes in a single innings in Twenty20 international history - and a total of 154 runs from boundaries.

New Zealand, in contrast, hit only eight

a playoff in 2010, birdied three of the last four holes.

Pernice was even through eight holes, but played the next six holes in six-under, including an eagle at No. 5 when he holed a pitching wedge from 128 yards, to charge into contention.

Defending champion Corey Pavin, Roger Chapman, Fred Funk, Scott Simpson and two players making their Champions Tour debuts - Rocco Mediate and Bart Bryant - are a shot back after 67s.

Langer’s finish was more impressive because he was weakened by the flu.

“It’s no fun playing sick, but I played pretty strong coming home,” said Langer, who was hosting the field for dinner at his Boca Raton home Friday night.

“I could have been six- or seven-under the last seven holes.”

Since turning 50, Pernice has concentrated on playing the PGA Tour more than the Champions. But after losing full-exempt status on the PGA Tour and posting just one top-10 finish on the Champions Tour last year, Pernice knows it’s time for a change.

AUCKLAND, Feb 9, (AFP): Scores in the opening T20 international between New Zealand and England at Eden Park on Saturday.

ENGLAND A. Hales st B. McCullum b Hira............21 M. Lumb c Rutherford b McClenaghan 22 L. Wright c Hira b Ellis..........................42 J. Bairstow c Guptill b Boult .................38 E. Morgan c Taylor b Hira.....................46 J. Buttler not out ...................................32 S. Patel c B. McCullum b Ellis................2 S. Broad c B. McCullum b Boult.............4 J. Tredwell not out ..................................0 Extras (w 6, nb 1) ...................................7 Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) ......................214 Fall of wickets: 1-29 (Hales), 2-89 (Wright), 3-91 (Lumb), 4-172 (Morgan), 5194 (Bairstow), 6-197 (Patel), 7-203 (Broad) Bowling: McClenaghan 4-0-29-1, Boult 4-0-40-2 (1 nb, 1w), Hira 4-0-42-2, N, McCullum 4-0-49-0, Ellis 3-0-40-2, Franklin 1-0-14-0 NEW ZEALAND H. Rutherford c Tredwell b Broad.........18

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M. Guptill c Broad b Wright ..................44 B. McCullum c Morgan b Finn..............10 R. Taylor c Bairstow b Finn ..................13 C. Munro b Broad .................................28 J. Franklin c Buttler b Broad...................8 N. McCullum c Buttler b Wright ..............3 A. Ellis c Wright b Finn ...........................4 R. Hira not out ......................................20 T. Boult c Patel b Broad .........................4 M. McClenaghan not out ........................6 Extras (lb 8, w 3, nb 5) .........................16 Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) ......................174 Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Rutherford), 2-46 (B. McCullum), 3-77 (Taylor), 4-111 (Guptill), 6-128 (Munro), 7-134 (N. McCullum), 8-135 (Ellis), 9-156 (Boult) Bowling: Finn 4-0-39-3 (1w), Broad 40-24-4, Dernbach 4-0-33-0 (1nb), Wright 4-0-29-2, Patel 2-0-17-0 (2w), Tredwell 20-24-0 Result: England won by 40 runs Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL), Derek Walker (NZL) TV umpire: Gary Baxter (NZL) Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

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ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

45

Kharafi rout Tazaj as Movenpick take heavy drubbing against Cheesecake

Chatters dominate KFM 99-80 in semis

By Valiya S. Sajjad

‘Fuentes client’

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 10: The semifinals clash between Chatters and KFM in the open category was the highlight of Friday’s Filipino Basketball League (FBL). Chatters won hands down 99-80, dominating every round of the game.

Cipollini snared in Puerto case

The scores at the end of each round were: 26-17, 45-38, 75-54 and 99-80. It was also the highest scoring game of the day.

Kharafi beat Tazaj in the opening game of the Inter-Company conference 67-51.

Fernandez was unstoppable for Kharafi; scoring 11 valuable points in the last round to seal the deal for his team. The teams were evenly poised with Kharafi leading the first round 12-10, and the Tazaj bagging the second, 9-13.

MILAN, Feb 9, (AFP): Retired Italian cycling star Mario Cipollini used a sophisticated doping programme designed by a sports doctor currently standing trial in Spain, a report claimed Saturday.

At the ‘Operation Puerto’ trial which opened in Madrid last week, Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes faced charges of supplying and administering banned doping products to a number of top cyclists and athetes.

Cipollini, a former star sprinter who was crowned world champion in 2002, is accused by Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport of being one of Fuentes’ clients.

The paper carried a huge front page photo of the rider, once known as the ‘Lion King’ for his flamboyant personality and flowing locks of blonde hair, with the headline ‘Here is the evidence which snares Cipollini’.

BASKETBALL

CYCLING

However, Kharafi changed tactics to aggression with Pamox coming up with awe-inspiring 3 pointers. The third round ended 39-33, in favor of Kharafi and the complexion changed little through to the buzzer.

Marvin manamtam, Antazo and Ray Jebunan were the key players for Tazaj.

In the game between Cheesecake and Movenpick, the latter took a heavy drubbing losing 90-59.

Cheesecakes were clearly dominating from the get go. The brilliance of Jon Alisbo of Cheesecake was large writ, making a deep impression in the first round with 3 consecutive 3 pointers.

Movenpick was often reduced to mere spectators as Cheesecake piled up scores.

The second round ended 47-29 when Rex Dimaano and Allan Valenzuela added their munitions to Alisbo’s firepower. The gap continued to grow, as much as Yozon for Movenpick struggled to score, including a 3-pointer, for Movenpick.

In the third round Cheesecakes took 29 while Movenpick managed 18, the total at that point was 76-47. The hardest fight back of Movenpick came out in the last round, but it came a little too late. The Cheesecake scoring was arrested by Movenpick tactics, with just 14 points coming in the last round, while Movenpick shot 12.

In the next game, KTS floored Crowne Plaza 80-56. Crowne Plaza was lackluster from the start, as KTS initiated a gap that only kept growing through the rest of the game.

Bernardo for KTS was in supreme form and a major bulk of the KTS score came off his accurate hands. In the second round KTS scored 22 against Crowne Plaza’s 14. In the third round, KTS added another 22 while Crowne Plaza scored 15. With the gap already unmanageable for a floundering Crowne

Cipollini told the paper he would make “no comment” until studying all the details of the allegations against him.

The report claims to have solid evidence of the doping programme Fuentes prepared for Cipollini during the period 2001-2004.

Referred to as ‘Maria’ — like many of the other cyclists who were given code names by the doctor — Cipollini is alleged to have used the banned blood booster (erythropoietin) as well as blood transfusions.

The Italian cycling federation (FIC) responded by saying it would become a civil party in the case, effectively in a bid to see Cipollini face doping charges.

“The Italian Cycling Federation will constitute a civil party in the ‘Operation Puerto’ investigation, in the light of the allegations against Mario Cipollini,” FIC president Renato Di Rocco announced.

Cipollini had an outstanding year in 2002, winning the Milan-SanRemo oneday classic, Ghent-Wevelgem semi-classic, six stages at the Giro d’Italia, three at the Tour of Spain and then the world title in Zolder, Belgium.

La Gazzetta claims it has evidence that Cipollini was administered a blood transfusion three days before MilanSanRemo, as well as before GhentWevelgem, the start of the Tour of Spain and a last one four days before the World Championships road race in Zolder.

Blood transfusions are particularly attractive for endurance athletes because they boost performance via the added oxygen-rich blood cells in the blood while being difficult to detect.

With nearly 200 wins in his career from 1989 to 2005, Cipollini is considered one of the greatest sprinters of all time.

Included in his honours list are 12 Tour de France stages and 42 from the Giro d’Italia.

Following the brilliance of Briones in the first round, Mindoro shone in the second, as Pablo took over in the third round to see their team through to the finals.

Photos by Iehab Qurtal

Some of the photos taken during the event.

Cardinals hand Freese 1-year deal

‘Schilling incident in 2008 a closed book’

people weren’t in the conversation, but they could clearly hear the conversation.

“And it was suggested to me that, at my age and in my situation, why not?

What did I have to lose? Because if I wasn’t going to get healthy, it didn’t matter, and if I did get healthy, great.”

Asked who had been involved, Schilling replied: “Former members of the organization. They’re no longer there.”

Schilling, who won World Series

championships in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Red Sox, did not pitch in 2008 because of right shoulder problems.

The six-times All-Star retired in March a year later at the age of 42 with a 216146 record and a 3.46 career ERA. ❑ ❑ ❑ The St Louis Cardinals avoided salary arbitration with former World Series MVP David Freese by rewarding the third baseman with a one-year contract for the 2013 season after a breakout campaign last year.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the team but some media reports have said St. Louis countered Freese’s $3.75 million request with a $2.4 million offer.

After several injury-plagued seasons, Freese set career highs last year in games played (144), home runs (20) and runs batted in (79) to earn his first All-Star nod.

In the 2011, Freese earned Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors in both

the World Series and National League Championship Series after a setting playoff records with 21 RBIs and 50 total bases. ❑ ❑ ❑ Felix Hernandez says he won’t pitch for Venezuela in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

The Seattle Mariners ace says in an interview with the Venezuelan sports newspaper Lider that it was a difficult decision to sit out. But he says he should think of his future and denied being influenced by any type of pressure from the Mariners.

Hernandez and the Mariners are working on a $175 million, seven-year contract that would make him the highestpaid pitcher in baseball.

Wilfredo Polidor, who represents the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, told Lider earlier on Friday that the Mariners think if Hernandez were to go to the WBC it would be “a very big risk for the negotiations.”

The fourth game was yet another lopsided fight, with KEC beating KEO 8869. KEC dominated from the first round, suffering a mild set back only in the sec-

ond round. After a 21-14 opening lead, KEC stalled 17-19 in the second round to bounce back 21-18 and 29-18 in the next two rounds to clinch the game. Khalid

was the leading scorer for KEC, amassing 28, which included a 3-pointer. Wissam was the second highest scorer. Soriano was the trump card for KEO, scoring 15.

LOS ANGELES, Feb 9, (Agencies): Major League Baseball (MLB) says it fully investigated a 2008 incident in which former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was allegedly advised by a team employee to take performance-enhancing drugs before the matter was closed.

In an interview with ESPN Radio earlier this week, three-times World Series champion Schilling claimed he had been offered drugs by a Red Sox employee that year as “a potential path” for him to continue his pitching career.

“At the time of the incident in question in 2008, the Boston Red Sox immediately reported the allegations to Major League Baseball as required by our investigative protocols,” MLB said in a statement on Friday.

“Once the Red Sox reported the matter, Major League Baseball assumed sole responsibility for the investigation. The club handled the matter consistent with all MLB rules and requirements and in a manner that was above reproach.

“Major League Baseball thoroughly

investigated the allegations and considers the matter closed.”

On Wednesday, Schilling told ESPN Radio: “At the end of my career, in 2008 when I had gotten hurt, there was a conversation that I was involved in which it was brought to my attention that this is a potential path I might want to pursue.

“It was an incredibly uncomfortable conversation, because it came up in the midst of a group of people. The other

Plaza, the last round was too short a time to get back into game.

De Guzman and Atong Philip were the top scorers for Crowne Plaza.

BASEBALL

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

46

IJF suspends staff on Japan women’s judo team LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Feb 9, (AP): The International Judo Federation has indefinitely suspended staff members of the Japan women’s judo team while an

independent inquiry is opened into complaints of ill treatment by former Olympic head coach Ryuji Sonoda.

At the end of last year, 15 female judo-

ka sent a letter to the Japanese Olympic Committee complaining they had been subjected to harassment and physical violence by Sonoda at a pre-Olympic train-

ing camp.

The IJF said in a statement Friday that all of those involved with Sonoda in the abuse scandal have been suspend-

ed with immediate effect and that the independent inquiry will be opened soon. The names of those suspended were not given. Sonoda tried to justify

his behavior by saying he was under tremendous pressure to produce goldmedal winners in London, and later resigned.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

47

Mahra and Habtoor defeated

Abu Dhabi, Bin Drai qualify for Silver Cup semis DUBAI, Feb 9: Ghantoot, Habtoor Polo, Abu Dhabi and Bin Drai will play the semifinals of the Silver Cup, Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series 2013.

The victories of Abu Dhabi and Bin Drai in today matches against Mahra and Habtoor qualified them to the final round.

In the first game of the day at the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club, Abu Dhabi defeated Mahra Polo by 5 goals to 3 in a attractive match played with real intensity. Mahra had a great start but couldn’t maintain their game level in the second half of the match.

Abu Dhabi, with a great teamwork, took the lead in the last two chukkers and find their way to the victory.

In the second match of the day, Bin Drai had to battle really hard to defeat Habtoor Polo. The victory came in the final seconds of the game after a great goal by Juanjo Brane.

With this results the fixture for the semis, to be held next Tuesday, will face Habtoor Polo and Bin Drai while Ghantoot plays against Abu Dhabi.

Six teams are taking part of the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series: Habtoor Polo; Mahra Polo; Zedan Polo; Bin Drai Polo; Abu Dhabi Polo and Ghantoot Polo.

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, the tournament has grown in tandem with the city of Dubai. With its exciting mix of top-class sportsmanship and

POLO glamour, it has earned a reputation as one of the most prestigious events on the international polo calendar. It’s also one of the most important annual tournaments in the region and always attracts a high profile crowd. This year it looks set to be more popular than ever and some of the most respected names from the world of polo have confirmed their participation.

As always the Dubai Polo Gold Cup series promises the very best in sportsmanship, entertainment of the highest level and an atmosphere unlike any other polo event.

“I am proud to see Dubai playing host to yet another top polo event,” said Mohammed Al Habtoor, the Chairman of the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series during the presentation of the tournament last sunday 27th January. “Each year the event reaches new heights. Dubai has quickly gained popularity and found its place on the Polo world stage. In 2012 the Dubai Gold Cup Series was recognised by the World Polo Tour (WPT). We have been privileged to attract some big names to the event year after year. Of course it is lovely to see many familiar faces (players, officials and spectators), but it is also great to see new faces on and off the field. This year we have upped the stakes by increasing the handicap from 15 to 16 goals. This means the Dubai Polo Gold Cup Series (Dubai Open) is now the highest handicapped tournament in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. A great achievement! Last year I was fortunate to lead my team to victory.”

The 2013 Teams Abu Dhabi Polo Name Country Faris Al Yabhouni (Patron) UAE Manuel Elizalde Argentina Juan Jose Storni Argentina Juan Ambroggio Argentina

Handicap 0 4 5 7

Bin Drai Polo Name Country Saeed Bin Drai (Patron) UAE Ignacio Ithurburu Argentina Salvador Ulloa Argentina Juan Jose Brane Argentina

Handicap 0 2 7 7

Ghantoot Polo Name Country HH. Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Patron) UAE Ali Al Merri UAE Pelayo Berazadi Argentina Juan Zubiaurre Canal Argentina Facundo Sola Argentina

Handicap 0 4 4 8

Habtoor Polo Name Country Mohammed Al Habtoor (Patron) UAE Ignacio Bello Argentina Guillermo Cuitino Argentina Martinez Ferrairo Ezequiel Edwardo Argentina

Handicap 0 3 6

Mahra Name Rashid Al Habtoor (Patron) Guy Gibrat Augustin Canale Fernando Pipi Bourdieu

Polo Country UAE Argentina Argentina UK

Handicap 0 4 6 6

Zedan Polo Country KSA Argentina Argentina Argentina

Handicap 0 3 4 9

Name Amr Zedan (Patron) Matias Logioco Rodolfo Ducos Nachi Heguy

7

Best of the Rest Svendsen wins biathlon sprint: Emil Hegle Svendsen won gold in the 10-kilometer sprint on Saturday for his second title at the biathlon world championships.

Svendsen overcame one penalty lap to cover the distance in 23 minutes, 25.1 seconds. On Thursday, Svendsen anchored Norway to victory in the mixed relay in the opening discipline of the championships.

Defending champion and overall World Cup leader Martin Fourcade of France finished 8.1 seconds behind for the silver after also missing one target.

Jakov Fak of Slovenia shot clean to finish 11.2 seconds behind Svendsen Svendsen in third, while six-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway was fourth, 19.9 seconds back. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

WADA reinstates Madrid doping lab: The World Anti-Doping Agency has reinstated its accredited lab in Madrid less than two months after it was suspended because of the improper handling of urine samples.

WADA says the three-month suspension has been lifted ahead of time after the lab had “successfully complied with the requirements for early reinstatement.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Lydia Ko shares lead: The world’s leading amateur, Lydia Ko, shot a 4-under par 68 on Saturday to share the lead after the second round of the New Zealand Women’s Golf Open.

The 15-year-old Korean-born New Zealander followed her 2-under first round of 70 with a round including an eagle, three birdies and a bogey to share the lead at 6-under 138 with Korean professional Bae Seon Woo. Woo carded a course record 64 on Saturday, with nine birdies and a bogey, to streak up the leaderboard in the 54hole tournament at the Clearwater Golf Club. Woo’s round included nine birdies and a bogey. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Ogier takes charge: Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, in a Volkswagen, led the way in the Rally of Sweden on Friday after winning five of the day’s eight stages, building up a lead of over 30 seconds.

Ogier, bidding to go one better than the second place he managed last month in Monte Carlo’s season-opener, kept world champion Sebastien Loeb of Citroen and Volkswagen’s Finn Jari-Matti Latvala at bay. (AFP)

Top and above photos taken from the tournament.

Stars shoot down Ducks Williams defends shortened bout in a spiteful encounter Botha eyes rematch

Anaheim win streak snapped at 4 games DALLAS, Feb 9, (RTRS): The Dallas Stars made the most of their powerplay opportunities to overcome the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 in a spiteful Pacific Division encounter on Friday.

A total of 14 penalties were dished out, including 10 in the first period, in which the Stars (6-5-1) scored two unanswered goals with a man advantage to lay the foundations for the win.

“Our first periods have been pretty good this year. We’ve come out with some juice,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan told reporters.

“I think it’s a little bit indicative of how we practice. We want to come out with a lot of tempo in our practices.”

Brad Staubitz was the main offender for the visitors with Trevor Daley scoring in the ninth minute for the Stars with a sizzling slap-shot from distance while the Ducks winger served time for roughing.

Staubitz was soon back in the bad books, ejected from the game after spearing Brenden Dillon in the groin, allowing Stars left wing

ICE HOCKEY Jamie Benn to slot home from a tricky angle during the advantage.

Nick Bonino scored for Anaheim (7-2-1) with an expert deflection on a Luca Sbisa slapshot in the second period to halve the deficit before Loui Eriksson restored the two-goal advantage with a little more than seven minutes remaining.

“Obviously they came out well and we didn’t. We were in quicksand right off the bat and we didn’t play very well in the first period,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “You can’t play 40 minutes in this league and win games, you have got to play the whole game.”

The Ducks entered the contest on a fourgame winning streak and remain top of the division but allowed the Stars to pull within two points.

They have little time to rest, however, continuing the road trip in St Louis on Saturday.

“I want them to have a long memory,” Boudreau said.

“I want them to know they didn’t come ready to play and what happens when you play good hockey clubs when you’re not ready.

A delayed start to a NHL game between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning was among a flurry of changes to the weekend’s sporting schedule as the northeastern United States braced for a major blizzard on Friday.

The game, originally scheduled for 1 pm ET (1800 GMT) on Saturday, will now start at 7 pm, the Bruins and National Hockey League (NHL) said in a statement.

The Boston area is expected to be one of the hardest hit by the weather, with some meteorologists forecasting 24 inches to 30 inches (60 centimeters to 76 centimeters) of snow by the

NHL Results/Standings WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (RTRS): Results from the NHL match between Dallas and Anaheim

Pittsburgh New Jersey NY Rangers NY Islanders Philadelphia

on Friday.

Dallas

Atlantic Division

Central Division

W 8 6 5 4 4

L OTL 3 0 1 3 5 0 5 1 6 1

GF GA PTS 39 26 16 27 22 15 24 26 10 30 34 9 25 30 9

Chicago Nashville St Louis Detroit Columbus

W 7 6 6 6 4

L OTL 1 1 3 2 3 1 5 0 6 1

GF GA PTS 26 20 15 31 22 14 31 24 13 28 31 12 35 41 9

W 6 5 4 4 2

L OTL 4 0 4 0 5 1 5 1 8 1

GF GA PTS 42 27 12 25 26 10 29 37 9 25 35 9 25 41 5

W 9 5 6 5 3

L OTL 0 2 2 3 4 0 4 1 6 2

1

GF GA PTS 39 25 20 23 21 13 33 30 12 28 29 11 23 36 8

Northwest Division Vancouver Edmonton Minnesota Calgary Colorado

Southeast Division Tampa Bay Carolina Winnipeg Florida Washington

Anaheim

Western Conference

Northeast Division Boston Ottawa Montreal Toronto Buffalo

3

Eastern Conference

W 6 4 4 3 4

L OTL 2 2 3 3 5 1 3 2 6 0

GF GA PTS 28 23 14 24 27 11 22 28 9 24 28 8 21 26 8

Pacific Division Anaheim San Jose Dallas Phoenix Los Angeles

W 7 7 6 4 3

L OTL 2 1 2 1 5 1 5 2 4 2

GF GA PTS 33 26 15 34 21 15 26 28 13 31 33 10 20 28 8

Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

time the storm ends on Saturday morning.

From New York to Maine officials have urged residents to stay home, rather than risk getting stuck in deep drifts when the storm

SYDNEY, Feb 9, (AFP): Sonny Bill Williams has defended his controversial unanimous points heavyweight victory over veteran Frans Botha in a title bout that ended after 10 rounds in Brisbane on Friday night.

The fight, which was advertised and scheduled for 12 rounds as per WBA rules, was stopped early, drawing an angry reaction from Botha and boos from the crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The former World Cupwinning All Black star, in only his sixth professional fight, won the points on all three of the ringside judges’ cards against the vastly experienced but ageing South African boxer.

Bookmakers refunded bets on Williams’s controversial win and 44-year-old Botha has challenged the rugby star to a rematch.

Williams, who was on the receiving end of some heavy blows from Botha in the final round, tweeted on Saturday that both camps knew it was a 10-round affair.

“First morning after the fight it’s sinking in what a great night it was. We both knew it was a 10 rounder b4 the fight!

WBAinterntionalbelt!!,” he posted.

The Australian newspaper reported that Australian National Boxing Federation (ANBF) vice-president Alan Moore, a ringside judge for the bout, said he had no idea why the title fight had been shortened.

“When the ring announcer said over the loud

kicks up later on Friday.

The NHL’s New Jersey Devils currently have a 1 pm ET game schedule for Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ber Lovejoy #6 of the Anaheim Ducks skates the puck against Cody Eakin #20 of the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Feb 8, in Dallas, Texas. (AFP)

BOXING speaker that it was the last round, that was the first we (judges) knew of any change,” Moore was quoted as saying.

“Any international title fight is meant to be fought over 12 three-minute rounds. I have no idea what happened.” ANBF committee member John Hogg said a last-minute decision to shelve the final two rounds was “unusual” but that it had been ticked off by officials after both camps agreed shortly before the fight.

“Any suggestion that there was any decision made during the fight is just nonsense,” Hogg told Fox Sports on Saturday. “Both parties told us it was cut back to 10 rounds, we had no time to try and check with the WBA to see if they were aware of what was happening.”

New Zealand betting agency TAB, which has refunded bets on the fight, claimed it had checked that it was correct in taking bets on a 12-round bout in the lead-up to the fight because it had been stung previously by Williams’ fights finishing early.

“We went to great pains to double check and triple check that it was 12 rounds because (in) a Sonny Bill fight this has happened before so we’re pretty annoyed about it,” TAB head bookmaker Mark Stafford told New Zealand’s Radio Sport. “It’s not really about the money figure. People are brassed off.

“I don’t know how it has happened, why it has happened. When they said ‘10th and final round’ we all just looked at each other and said ‘what is going on here’?”

The ringside judges gave the Kiwi the victory 97-91, 98-94, 97-91 which was greeted by considerable booing from the crowd.

But Williams, who will switch back to Australia’s National Rugby League this season after playing rugby union in New Zealand, was praised in some quarters for the win against Botha, who has fought Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko and Evander Holyfield in a 23-year career.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

48

Reynolds shines at 4 Continents

Geisenberger wins ‘overall’ luge WC LAKE PLACID, New York, Feb 9, (AP): Germany’s powerhouse luge team rolled on Friday with a pair of victories at snowy Mount Van Hoevenberg to clinch World Cup overall season titles.

Natalie Geisenberger completed a personably memorable seven days by taking the women’s competition and the team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt started the day with a win in the men’s doubles event.

Julia Clukey posted a career-best second-place finish .295 seconds behind Geisenberger’s winning combined time of 1 minute, 28.440 seconds.

Clukey’s three US teammates finished in the top 10. Alex Gough of Canada was third.

After four years as the runner-up, Geisenberger won her first women’s world championship Saturday at Whistler, British Columbia. She celebrated her 25th birthday Wednesday and won the first World Cup in Lake Placid in six years.

“I had some big problems in training runs and my only hope was to get down two times without hitting a wall,” Geisenberger said. “It was two perfect runs. I’m happy about the win and the overall World Cup win today.”

Geisenberger had the two fastest times of the day, 44.295 seconds and

Asada leads short programme OSAKA, Japan, Feb 9, (AFP): Canada’s Kevin Reynolds landed three quadruple jumps in the free skate to capture the men’s title at the Four Continents championships on Saturday for his first international victory.

The 22-year-old emerged as a threat to fellow countryman Patrick Chan who is due to defend his second consecutive title at the world championships on home ice in London, Ontario, next month.

Chan shunned this event, featuring talent from non-European continents, to focus on the worlds.

Going out from sixth place in the short programme overnight and skating to “Concerto No. 4” by Andre Mathieu, Reynolds topped the free skating table with a personal best 172.21 points for a two-day total of 250.55 points.

Japan’s newly crowned national champion and overnight leader Yuzuru Hanyu, 18, finished second overall on 246.38 points.

Yan Han, 16, who became the first Chinese man to become the world junior champion last year, was third on 235.22 in his international

LUGE 44.145, to win her fourth consecutive World Cup event and sixth of eight races this season. She was second in the other two events.

The 27-year-old Clukey, of Augusta, Maine, earned her first finish on the podium of a World Cup with a two-run time of 1:28.735. The performance continued what has been the best season of a career interrupted by a struggle with Arnold-Chiari Syndrome, which produces chronic headaches, fatigue and nausea. She underwent surgery in 2011 to have eight millimeters of bone shaved from her skull to relieve pressure. With a large of group of family and friends cheering her on, Clukey followed the third-fastest time of the first heat with the third-best time of the second run.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Clukey said. “I really wanted to attack on the start. I know this track in and out so I really was just focused on my position on the sled. I knew regardless if I was a little bit too far to the left or too far to the right I knew how to correct my lines in the curves. I just wanted to capitalize on my home track advantage and I’m super excited that I was able to do that today.”

FIGURE SKATING

Japan’s Mao Asada performs her short program in the ladies event during the Four Continents figure skating championships in Osaka on Feb 9. (AFP)

Paris, Poisson complete podium

Svindal reclaims downhill title SCHLADMING, Australia, Feb 9, (AFP): Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal reclaimed the men’s world downhill title here Saturday to win his eighth world championship medal and second in Schladming after a super-G bronze.

The 2007 downhill world champion and Olympic silver-medallist dominated the race with a masterful run that saw him cross the finish line in a time of 2min 01.32sec.

Italy’s Dominik Paris was second at 0.46sec, with France’s David Poisson winning bronze at 0.97sec.

For the Austrian contingent, briefly buoyed by Nicole Hosp’s super-combined bronze on Friday, it was another day of disappointment, after the men’s and women’s superG fiascos earlier in the week.

Local boy Klaus Kroell, last season’s downhill World Cup winner, finished just off the podium, hand-

SKIING ing Austria yet another fourth place.

The ski-mad nation’s last downhill world title goes back to 2003.

Svindal, who now adds a fifth world champion title to his trophy collection, was ecstatic in the finish area.

“I knew I couldn’t do it better,” said the towering 30-year-old.

“It’s better to really go all out and make a few tiny mistakes than be perfect. I took a lot of risks, didn’t make any big mistakes and thank goodness, I made it into the finish.”

Downhill World Cup leader Paris, 23, added: “I tried to keep up and I’m glad I could.

“I didn’t think I’d make such a good run, that I’d get this far.”

The 30-year-old Poisson, who has never yet made a World Cup podium and has just seven top-10 finishes in nine seasons, saw a natural progression from his results in Kitzbuehel two weeks ago.

“Last race I was fourth, now I’m third. It’s logical!” he said, laughing.

It was amazingly only France’s second medal-winning performance in a world downhill since 1968.

“I’m proud of my medal.”

Kroell said he struggled to make it to the bottom of the course.

“It already didn’t start so well at the top but at the bottom I really had to fight hard,” the Austrian said.

“I lost energy unfortunately and wasn’t able to attack anymore... at the last split I actually thought I won’t make it anymore.”

The 3,334m-long (two-mile) icy and twisting course, which saw the skiers hurtling down at speeds approaching 110 kilometres per hour, left numerous casualties in its wake, including many of the favourites for gold.

Canada’s Kevin Reynolds performs during the men’s ‘free skating’ event during the Four Continents figure skating championships in Osaka on Feb 9. (AFP)

‘The colour of medal I want is gold’

US quartet aim to fill Vonn’s boot in downhill SCHLADMING, Austria, Feb 9, (AFP): A quartet of US racers will desperately bid to fill the sizeable hole left by the injured Lindsey Vonn when they compete in the women’s downhill at the World Ski Championships on Sunday.

Vonn, the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline, sustained season-ending knee injuries in a crash in Tuesday’s opening super-G, a huge morale blow for the US team she spearheaded.

Teammate Stacey Cook was moved to issue a plea that she and the rest of the team be allowed to focus on racing in the wake of news that Vonn now finds herself in a battle to make the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Cook currently lies second in the World Cup downhill standings, behind Vonn. Three other US racers, Alice McKennis, Leanne Smith and Julia Mancuso, are in the top 11.

Cook twice finished second to Vonn in Lake Louise, while McKennis topped the podium in St Anton, and Smith pitched in with a second place in Val d’Isere and a third place in Cortina.

Reigning downhill champion Erik Guay of Canada was well placed to defend his title with the fastest time in the first sections when he made a costly mistake. Unable to get back into his stride, he failed to finish the race.

Austria’s other big hope Hannes Reichelt, who had been fastest in the first downhill training run and was

Mancuso bagged a bronze in the super-G here and again impressed in Friday’s super-combined, in which she finished eighth despite her weakness in the technical slalom.

But she has a penchant for the Streicher slope and warned that she would come out all guns blazing for the downhill.

“You’ll see me on Sunday, I’ll be racing and I will be going fast,” Vonn said Mancuso, the reigning Olympic downhill silver medallist.

“The colour of medal I want is gold. If you want to win you have to have an absolute best run and be on the limit.

“It’s going to be really cool to see what our team can do. We’ve got three other athletes who can be on the podium and not one of us came here for anything other than a medal.”

fighting for a medal after just missing out on a podium in the super-G on Wednesday, missed a gate after a bad landing from a jump and also went out.

“I’m really lucky that I’m here and healthy because I was on the limit of a crash,” he said.

Italy’s Christof Innerhofer, defending his bronze medal from

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal speeds down the course during the men’s downhill, at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Feb 9. Aksel Lund Svindal won the men’s downhill title at the Alpine skiing world championships Saturday after a powerful run down the Planai course that no one came close to matching. (AP)

Lining up to bump the US team off course will be Slovenian Tina Maze, who won the super-G and picked up a silver in the super-combined here.

Maze has been more consistent than thrilling in downhill on the World Cup circuit this season, her best result second behind Vonn at Cortina last month.

After storming to the super-G title, the Slovenian admitted that she had taken it easy in the first two training runs and had only really unleashed herself in the downhill run of the super-combined.

“I didn’t know how fast I could be,” said Maze, who finished joint first in the combined downhill.

“I know yesterday (in the second downhill training) I wasn’t skiing my best. Today (Friday) was the first day I really attacked the course.”

In a stark warning to her rivals, Maze announced that she was eyeing five medals in five disciplines in Schladming.

“I didn’t think about that coming here. Two golds were my goal,” she said.

Garmisch, finished 14th, more than 2sec behind Svindal.

Less steep than the classic runs of Wengen, Kitzbuehel, Bormio or Val d’Isere, the Planai course featured perilous traverses and rolls that prompted impressive jumps through the air.

A tricky last bend also saw numerous skiers go far off their line and lose precious time as they struggled to make the last gate before the finish line.

Started under clear conditions, visibility increasingly worsened as fog descended on parts of the course and amid light snowfall.

“I can’t see anything!” Slovenia’s Andrej Sporn, with start number six, shouted as he arrived in the finish area, despite temporarily taking the lead.

The blue riband race of the world championships, the downhill played out in front of a packed arena, filled with thousands of colourfullydressed fans, waving an abundance of Austrian flags and blowing the nation’s answer to the vuvuzela, the truck air-horn.

Among the onlookers were Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Hollywood actor Kevin Costner, who was due to give a free open-air concert in the evening with his band “Modern West.”

senior debut.

“This is completely beyond anything I could have expected... but I knew I was in range for medal,” Reynolds said.

“I had some under-rotated jumps in the short programme. They were fully rotated today, so I am very happy,” the Canadian said, adding he would aim to finish in the top six at the home worlds.

His best world championship finish was 11th in 2010 and he was 12th last year.

Reynolds, who in 2010 became the first man to nail two quads in a short programme, opened his long programme with a four-revolution salchow, followed by a quad toeloop in a combination with a triple toeloop.

His third quad, a toeloop, came after he dazzled with a high-level step sequence and camel spin.

American Timothy Goebel was the first man to land three quads in a programme in 1999, followed by a few others including Frenchman Brian Joubert.

Hanyu, who holds the world’s short programme record, landed an opening quadruple toeloop but doubled a planned quad salchow in his next element as he performed to “Notre Dame de Paris” by Richard Cocciante.

He also popped a triple lutz.

“I was visibly unstable in my jumps. I was off the mark in every attempt,” he said after placing third in the free skate alone on 158.73 points behind American Max Aaron’s 162.19.

Meanwhile, former world champion Mao Asada landed a risky triple axel for the first time in two years to lead Japan’s 1-2-3 finish in the short programme at the Four Continents championships.

Skating to the tune of “I Got Rhythm” by George Gershwin, the 2008 and 2010 world champion opened her routine with the highly demanding 3.5-revolution jump before nailing a triple-double combination and a triple loop.

The 22-year-old, who has swept all four events she took part in earlier in the season, including the Grand Prix Final, also hit a maximum level-four in two spins and a step sequence to collect 74.49 points.

Akiko Suzuki, the 2012 world bronze medallist, trailed in second spot on 65.65 and 2010 world junior champion Kanako Murakami was third on 64.04, going into the final free skate on Sunday.

Canada’s national champion Kaetlyn Osmond, 17, crashed on a triple flip attempt and placed eighth on 56.22 points.

Asada had refrained from attempting the triple axel so far this season because she frequently bungled the high-scoring jump in the past two seasons, after finishing second to South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Four Continents Results OSAKA, Japan, Feb 9, (AFP): Results from the Four Continents figure skating championships on Saturday:

Men Final standings 1. Kevin Reynolds (CAN) 250.55 pts, 2.

Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) 246.38, 3. Yan Han (CHN) 235.22, 4. Max Aaron (USA) 234.65, 5. Richard Dornbush (USA) 234.04, 6.

Song Nan (CHN) 228.46, 7. Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) 222.77, 8. Takahito Mura (JPN) 218.08, 9. Ross Miner (USA) 214.36, 10. Andrei Rogozine (CAN) 201.99

Free skating 1. Kevin Reynolds (CAN) 172.21 pts, 2.

Max Aaron (USA) 162.19, 3. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) 158.73, 4. Richard Dornbush (USA) 151.03, 5. Yan Han (CHN) 150.14, 6. Song Nan (CHN) 147.30, 7. Ross Miner (USA) 140.35, 8. Daisuke Takahashi (JPN) 140.15, 9. Takahito Mura (JPN) 140.05, 10. Misha Ge (UZB) 131.45

Women Short programme 1. Mao Asada (JPN) 74.49 pts, 2. Akiko Suzuki (JPN) 65.65, 3. Kanako Murakami (JPN) 64.04, 4. Christina Gao (USA) 62.34, 5. Gracie Gold (USA) 60.36, 6.

Zhang Kexin (CHN) 57.56, 7. Agnes Zawadzki (USA) 57.45, 8. Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) 56.22, 9. Amelie Lacoste (CAN) 54.74, 10. Li Zijun (CHN) 54.51

She is the only female skater who regularly attempts the triple axel in competitions.

“I have already declared my wish to revive the triple axel this season. It was great that I made it,” said Asada, who is preparing for a showdown with Kim at the world championships next month in London, Ontario, that will crown the pre-Olympic season.

“I tried to give it all, believing in what I did in training. I feel very happy,” she said. “I used to strain myself too much on the triple axel but now I don’t brace myself before doing it.”

Asada’s last successful triple axel was made at the 2011 Four Continents when she finished runner-up to teammate Miki Ando.

Kim, also 22, made a competitive comeback in a second-tier event in December but skipped this event, featuring talent from nonEuropean continents.

Italy’s five-time European champion Carolina Kostner is the reigning world champion. Asada’s short programme score was the highest this season in the world and about one point shy of her personal best she marked four years ago.

“I want to carry on the momentum to the free skate tomorrow and the world championships,” she said.

Best of the Rest Photo ban sparks ‘threats’: Press photographers were banned from taking pictures of the Tour of Qatar presentation when royal officials attempted to prevent the daughter of the country’s emir being snapped.

An AFP reporter, who was at Friday’s event, also saw spectators being ordered to destroy their own pictures.

If they didn’t, they “would be in serious trouble”, they were warned.

One of the daughters of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of the gas-rich Gulf state, had been invited to take part in the awards ceremony podium on the Doha Corniche for the race which had been won by Britain’s Mark Cavendish.

Media organisations were told they would be supplied with official pictures taken by a photographer of the al-Thani entourage, but five hours after the end of the race, photographs had still not been delivered. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

World Cup event in Japan postponed: Strong winds forced the 11th World Cup women’s ski jumping event on Saturday in Zao, Japan, to be postponed by one day, organisers said.

The first round of the event was halted after 27 of the 33 contestants ended their jumps in the morning. It was restarted in the afternoon but finally scrapped after only four jumped.

The organisers decided to stage the 11th and 12th events of the 16-round season together on Sunday.

In the overall standings after the 10th event in another Japanese city of Sapporo, Japan, last week, Sara Takanashi of Japan kept top place on 737 points, followed by last year’s World Cup champion Sarah Hendrickson of the United States on 597 points. (AFP) ❑ ❑ ❑

Seidl takes lead: Austria’s Mario Seidl secured a strong advantage for the cross-country round of the Nordic combined World Cup individual event at Almaty after defeating his competitors in Saturday’s ski-jumping section.

The 20-year old Seidl scored 125.2 points with a powerful 142-meter jump, translating into a 13-second advantage over Japan’s Taihei Kato for Sunday’s race and landing him his third jumping event win of the season.

Cristoph Bieler of Austrian came third with 121.3 points and will start 16 seconds behind his compatriot.

Most of the World Cup standings leaders have skipped the Almaty event, leaving the way open for a wide field of younger competitors.

Among the contenders for overall victory is Norway’s Jan Schmid, who will start 22 seconds behind Seidl after jumping 131 meters and scoring 119.8 points. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Kramer, Wust win World Cup races: World Champion Sven Kramer led a Dutch sweep of the top three places in winning the 5,000-meter race at a speedskating World Cup event on Saturday.

Kramer notched his third win in the distance this season by clocking 6 minutes, 11.76 seconds. Bob de Jong was 2.32 seconds behind and Jorrit Bergsma 2.79 seconds back.

Bergsma leads the World Cup standings in the event by 20 points from Kramer.

Olympic champion Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won the 1,500-meter race.

It was Wust’s first race in the distance this season and she clocked a winning time of 1 minute, 55.95 seconds. Diane Valkenburg, also of the Netherlands, was second, 0.47 seconds behind the winner. Yekaterina Shikhova of Russia was third, 1.12 seconds back. (AP)

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

49

No. 4 Duke tops NC State 98-85

Illinois buzzer-beater upsets No. 1 Hoosiers CHAMPAIGN, Illinois, Feb 9, (AP): At this rate, no one will want to be No. 1.

Indiana became the fifth straight topranked men’s college basketball team to lose, falling to unranked Illinois 74-72 on a buzzer-beater by Tyler Griffey on Thursday night.

The senior forward took an inbounds pass with 0.9 seconds to play and made a wide-open layup. And, just like that, the Hoosiers – who moved into the top spot by beating then-No. 1 Michigan just a few days ago – went down. Indiana coach Tom Crean, whose team has been No. 1 for a total of seven weeks this season after opening there, doesn’t know why the top spot is suddenly so hard to hang on to.

The Hoosiers (20-3, 8-2 Big Ten) were

in charge until the final 3-1/2 minutes when the Illini (16-8, 3-7 Big Ten) finally put together a run to take and then retake the lead.

Hoosiers guard Jordan Hulls said flatly that the top rank had nothing to do with Thursday’s loss, even for a team that

BASKETBALL some worried might be looking past unranked, slumping Illinois to a meeting Sunday with No. 10 Ohio State.

If Indiana falls from No. 1 on Monday, No. 2 Florida might not be a candidate to replace the Hoosiers after the Gators’ loss this week to Arkansas. That could put No.

3 Michigan back on top if they can make it to Monday without a loss. For the Hoosiers, nothing could have been worse than the way Thursday’s game ended.

With 0.9 seconds, Griffey left defenders Cody Zeller and Christian Watford behind on an inbounds play from the baseline, took the pass from Brandon Paul and delivered the uncontested buzzer-beater.

The shot sent hundreds of students onto the court, though they waited as officials checked the replay to make sure the clock hadn’t beaten Griffey. Once the basket was upheld, Paul and fellow guard D.J. Richardson hugged and teared up in relief.

Illinois had endured an awful run since starting 12-0. The Illini had since lost

eight of 11 and fallen to 10th in the 12team Big Ten. Griffey, who had struggled as bad as any Illini player, seemed surprised at how easily the winning shot came.

Crean said the play was a lot like the other breakdowns in the Hoosiers’ game that let Illinois climb back from a 12point halftime deficit.

Indiana’s loss drops them into a threeway tie for first in the Big Ten with Michigan and Michigan State. The win moves the Illini up into a ninth-place tie with Iowa but, more importantly, provides a potential lifeline ahead of a meeting Sunday at No. 18 Minnesota.

Illinois also added a plank to what may be one of the oddest resumes of any team

in the country trying to make the NCAA tournament. Illinois has lost to Purdue, Northwestern and twice to Wisconsin.

But coming into Thursday night, the Illini had already beaten three teams now in the top 15: No. 6 Gonzaga, No. 10 Ohio State and No. 14 Butler.

Duke 98, NC State 85 Big leads haven’t been entirely safe when Duke and North Carolina State get together at Cameron Indoor Stadium. So even as the Blue Devils went up by 21 points, Mason Plumlee knew the Wolfpack would rally somehow.

“They’re too good not to,” Plumlee said. And No. 4 Duke was too good to let its lead slip away.

Plumlee scored 30 points in the Blue Devils’ 98-85 victory.

Seth Curry added 26 points and Quinn Cook had 21 for Duke (20-2, 7-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which never trailed, shot 53.8 percent from the field and had to fend off the Wolfpack’s late surge for its fourth straight win.

Richard Howell had 15 of his 23 points in the second half for the Wolfpack (16-7, 5-5). Playing their first game this season as an unranked team, they clawed back in it by making 12 of their first 14 shots of the second half.

But NC State – the preseason favorite in the ACC – lost its third straight and was denied its first win in Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.

Maryland holds off Wake

Colorado women rout Oregon State BOULDER, Colo, Feb 9, (AP): Chucky Jeffery had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead 21st-ranked Colorado to a 61-47 victory over Oregon State Friday night.

Jen Reese added 10 points for the Buffaloes (17-5, 6-5), who matched their season total for Pac-12 wins from last year, their first in the conference. Colorado has not allowed an opponent to score 70 points this season. The Buffaloes never trailed in the game, but their biggest lead was 15 points.

The Buffaloes shot 31 percent from the field but went 28 for 39 from the free-throw line, with Reese making all six of her attempts. The Beavers’ Jamie Weiner was also 6 for 6 but Oregon State tried only one other free throw, missing it.

Weisner scored 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting for Oregon State, but none of her teammates had more than seven points.

The Beavers (9-14, 3-9) have lost five in a row.

Maryland 73, Wake 63 In Winston-Salem, NC, Maryland tried to make the tough plays instead of the less complicated ones. The Terrapins kept giving the ball back to Wake Forest, and the pesky Demon Deacons kept coming back.

It took some timely production from one of the ACC’s best one-two punches for the No. 7 Terps to avoid a colossal upset.

Tianna Hawkins and Alyssa Thomas scored 23 points apiece and combined for their team’s final 15 in a 73-63 victory over Wake Forest on Friday night.

Jeffery Malina Howard finished with 12 points to help the Terrapins (19-3, 10-1) sweat out their ninth straight win. They shot 54 percent and built a 20-point lead before blowing nearly all of it during a dizzying series of mistakes. ‘’We saw them coming at us, and instead of making the easy pass, we tried to make the hard one, and it resulted in turnovers,’’ Thomas said. They regrouped just in time to preserve their huge matchup Monday night at No. 5 Duke, which enters a half-game ahead of Maryland in the standings. ‘’We had to find a way to grind it out tonight, and not every game is going to be pretty,’’ coach Brenda Frese said. ‘’That was definitely for sure. And we found a way in a close game to grind it out.’’

Chelsea Douglas scored 17 points for the Demon Deacons (10-13, 3-8), who were denied their biggest victory in 20 years and lost their fifth straight.

Duke 62, Virginia 41 In Charlottes Ville, Va, Elizabeth Williams didn’t make her presence felt for No. 5 Duke against Virginia until the Blue Devils were pulling away.

The Blue Devils hardly seemed to notice as Haley Peters scored 14 points and Chelsea Gray 14, and the tandem sparked a 21-5 run spanning the halves as Duke overcame a slow start and won its 20th consecutive game against Virginia, 62-41. ‘’E always gets a lot of attention because she deserves it,’’ Peters said after making seven of 10 shots, including a 3-pointer. ‘’I was just trying to be aggressive and focused and attack the basket when the opportunities were there.’’

The burst turned a 22-13 deficit into a 34-27 lead for Duke (21-1, 11-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). After Virginia closed within four at 34-30, Duke scored nine of the next 11 points and cruised to victory.

NBA Results/Standings

WASHINGTON, Feb 9, (RTRS): Results and standings from the NBA games on Friday.

Washington 89 Brooklyn 74 LA Lakers 100 Charlotte 93 Toronto 100 Indiana 98 (OT) New Orleans 111 Atlanta 100 Detroit 119 San Antonio 109 Cleveland 119 Orlando 108 Miami 111 LA Clippers 89 Memphis 99 Golden State 93 Houston 118 Portland 103 Oklahoma City 127 Phoenix 96 NY Knicks 100 Minnesota 94 Chicago 93 Utah 89 Eastern Conference Atlantic Division NY Knicks Brooklyn Boston Philadelphia Toronto

W 32 29 26 21 18

L 16 21 23 27 32

PCT .667 .580 .531 .438 .360

GB 4 6-1/2 11 15

PCT .608 .600 .521 .373 .320

GB 0-1/2 4-1/2 12 14-1/2

PCT .702 .551 .286 .280 .224

GB 7 20 20-1/2 23

PCT .760 .640 .549 .500 .383

GB 6 10-1/2 13 18-1/2

PCT .673 .600 .471 .340 .333

GB 4 10-1/2 17 17-1/2

PCT .765 .633 .538 .429 .340

GB 7 11-1/2 17 21-1/2

Central Division Indiana Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland

W 31 30 25 19 16

L 20 20 23 32 34

Southeast Division Miami Atlanta Washington Orlando Charlotte

W L 33 14 27 22 14 35 14 36 11 38 Western Conference Northwest Division

Oklahoma City Denver Utah Portland Minnesota

W 38 32 28 25 18

L 12 18 23 25 29

Pacific Division LA Clippers Golden State LA Lakers Sacramento Phoenix

W 35 30 24 17 17

L 17 20 27 33 34

Southwest Division San Antonio Memphis Houston Dallas New Orleans

W 39 31 28 21 17

L 12 18 24 28 33

Josh Smith #5 of the Atlanta Hawks loses the ball against Anthony Davis #23 and Robin Lopez #15 of the New Orleans Hornets at Philips Arena on Feb 8, in Atlanta, Georgia. (AFP)

James-led Heat burn Clippers Lakers avoid costly defeat MIAMI, Feb 9, (AP): LeBron James scored 30 points in another efficient performance, Dwyane Wade added 20 and the Miami Heat dominated the middle two quarters on the way to an easy 111-89 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.

James shot 9 for 11, giving him 37 makes on his last 47 attempts, and sat out the fourth quarter. It was his fourth straight 30-point game, tying him with Wade as the only Heat player with such streaks in the franchise’s 25-year history.

Mario Chalmers finished with 18 points and Shane Battier scored 12 for Miami, which improved to 21-3 at home.

The Clippers got Chauncey Billups, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin back from injuries, but that trio of starters combined for only 23 points. DeAndre Jordan led Los Angeles with 17 points.

Miami was without Chris Bosh and Ray Allen, both sidelined with the flu.

Lakers 100, Bobcats 93 In Charlotte, NC, Kobe Bryant shrugged off a scoreless first half to finish with 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Los Angeles overcome a 20-point second-half deficit to beat Charlotte.

The Lakers avoided a costly defeat to the NBA’s worst team and pulled within three games of .500.

Bryant attempted only two shots in the first half and didn’t come out for warmups to start the second. But he provided the jolt the Lakers needed in the third quarter and scored 14 points in the final period, including a driving layup with 40 seconds left to push the lead to five.

Steve Nash and Earl Clark each scored 17 points and Dwight Howard added 12 points, all in the first half, and 11 rebounds for the Lakers (24-27).

Byron Mullens and Gerald Henderson each had 20 points for the Bobcats, who have lost six straight.

Pistons 119, Spurs 109 In Auburn Hills, Mich, Greg Monroe had 26 points and 16 rebounds as Detroit snapped San Antonio’s 11-game winning streak with a victory over the short-handed Spurs.

San Antonio played without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, and the Pistons led by as many as 21 points in the second quarter. It was 65-52 at halftime, and although the Spurs cut the deficit to seven in the fourth, they fell short against a Detroit team that equaled its highest point total of the season.

Tony Parker scored 31 points for San Antonio and Kawhi Leonard added 16. Brandon Knight had 24 for the Pistons, and Charlie Villanueva scored 21.

Knicks 100, Timberwolves 94 In Minneapolis, Carmelo Anthony had 36 points and nine rebounds, scoring 12 points down the stretch to rally New York over Minnesota.

Anthony topped 30 points for the 17th time this season for the Knicks, who trailed by 11 with seven minutes to play. But Anthony did all his fourth-quarter damage in those final minutes, hitting a 19-footer with 1:10 to play that put New York up for good.

Derrick Williams scored 19 points and Ricky Rubio had 18 points and 11 assists for the Timberwolves, who lost for the 14th time in 16 games.

Nikola Pekovic added 16 points and 11 rebounds, but Minnesota had no answer for Anthony down the stretch.

Thunder 127, Phoenix 96

In Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant scored 21 points, Thabo Sefolosha had a season-high 18 and Oklahoma City rode a gigantic third-quarter run to a victory over Phoenix.

All five Thunder starters had at least one basket during a 210 run that put Oklahoma City in position to complete a perfect homestand with a third straight blowout. Russell Westbrook had a right-handed slam during the run before finishing it off with a banked-in runner to stretch the lead to 81-55 with 3:25 to go in the third quarter.

Bulls 93, Jazz 89 In Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer scored 19 points, including 11 straight in the fourth quarter, and Chicago closed out a sixgame road trip with a victory over Utah.

Nate Robinson added 18 points for the Bulls, who rebounded

BASKETBALL nicely from a 32-point loss in Denver 24 hours earlier.

Al Jefferson had a season-high 32 points for Utah, scoring the first eight in the fourth period to give the Jazz a 77-73 lead.

Boozer, plagued by foul trouble early, got rolling with about 5 minutes remaining against his former team. His layup tied it at 83 with 2:29 left and he scored the next five from the free throw line, including a pair with 27 seconds left for an 88-85 Bulls lead.

Grizzlies 99, Warriors 93 In Memphis, Tenn, Marc Gasol scored six of his 20 points down the stretch to help Memphis beat Golden State.

Oregon State’s Jamie Weisner hurdles Colorado’s Chucky Jeffery during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Feb 8, in Boulder, Colo. (AP)

Gasol, who also grabbed 11 rebounds, was 9 of 14 from the field to help the Grizzlies end a two-game slide. Tony Allen had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Zach Randolph added 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Jerryd Bayless finished with 14 points.

Stephen Curry had 32 points and eight assists for the Warriors, who lost their third straight. David Lee was the only other Golden State player in double figures with 26 points, connecting on 10 of 16 shots.

Rockets 118, Trail Blazers 103 In Houston, James Harden had 35 points and 11 assists, and Chandler Parsons scored 20 to help Houston beat Portland.

Harden went 13 for 16 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range, putting on an individual show in the last game at the Toyota Center before the NBA’s All-Star weekend comes to town. Harden was chosen as a reserve for the West squad, making his first All-Star team.

LaMarcus Aldridge, another All-Star reserve for the West, scored 31 points for Portland. The Blazers had won the previous two meetings this season in overtime, rallying from double-digit deficits in both.

Raptors 100, Pacers 98, OT In Indianapolis, Rudy Gay scored 17 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, rallying Toronto past weary Indiana.

The game went into overtime after Amir Johnson’s buzzerbeating tip-in stood following a replay review. The Raptors won it when Gay hit a 17-foot jumper with 1.7 seconds left and Paul George’s 15-footer rimmed out as the horn sounded.

David West scored 30 points and George had 26 as the Pacers’ 15-game home winning streak came to an end.

Wizards 89, Nets 74 In Washington, the Washington Wizards held Brooklyn without a field goal for nearly 9 minutes during the first half, withstood a second-half slump and held on for their latest win over a team near the top of the standings.

Nene had 20 points and 11 rebounds, John Wall added 15 points and nine assists, and Martell Webster scored 16 points for the Wizards, who have one of the worst records in the NBA but have nevertheless taken eight of their last nine at home — a stretch that includes wins over Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Hornets 111, Hawks 100 In Atlanta, Greivis Vasquez had his first career triple-double and Eric Gordon scored 27 points, leading New Orleans over Atlanta to give the last-place Hornets a rare winning streak.

Vasquez scored 21 points, dished out 12 assists and grabbed 11 rebounds for New Orleans, which rallied from a 14-point deficit in the first half and withstood a late charge by the stumbling Hawks.

Al Horford drove for a slam that cut the Hornets’ lead to 9894 with 3¬ minutes remaining. But Ryan Anderson sank a 3pointer that caught the front of the rim, bounced high off the backboard and fell through. Anderson pumped his right fist; the Hawks never got closer than five the rest of the way.

Cavaliers 119, Magic 108 In Cleveland, Kyrie Irving scored 24 points and Cleveland sent Orlando to its 12th straight loss.

Marreese Speights had 18 points and Tristan Thompson added 16 for Cleveland, which scored 13 straight points in a stretch that began late in the third period to take control of the game.

The Cavaliers scored the last eight points of the third to go ahead 85-80. A basket by Shaun Livingston and a 3-pointer by Wayne Ellington put Cleveland ahead 90-80 early in the fourth.

The Cavaliers scored 34 points in the final period.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

50

Four tries for Scots in 34-10 win over Italy

Welsh end losing run against French PARIS, Feb 9, (AFP): Wales ended an eight-match losing streak with a 16-6 victory over France in their Six Nations clash at the Stade de France on Saturday.

A try by winger George North — his 12th for his country — late in the secondhalf gave the visitors the breathing space they needed to record only their fourth win in Paris since 1975.

For a woeful France side it was the first time since 1982 they had lost their opening two matches and coach Philippe Saint-Andre is left with a massive job to rebuild morale with a trip to England in a fortnight.

The opening 10 minutes saw Wales camped in the French half, but ruining any incisive move with a forward pass or a knock-on, while Dan Biggar’s drop goal attempt fell well short.

The French struck with their first scoring opportunity when referee George Clancy penalised Wales for collapsing the scrum and Frederic Michalak kicked the penalty.

However, they were all square soon afterwards as France fell foul of Clancy and Halfpenny slotted over the penalty.

Wales were playing with much more discipline and purpose than in the firsthalf of their defeat against the Irish last week — when they conceded 23 points — but they could not breach the French

defence with full-back Yoann Huget dealing with everything thrown at him.

A distinctly mediocre first-half — not aided by a pitch that cut up badly — ended 3-3 with the players exiting to a chorus of booing from spectators braving freezing temperatures in the French capital.

The Welsh took the lead early in the second-half when Halfpenny kicked a penalty after a storming run by scrumhalf Mike Phillips got his team deep into

England vs Ireland Aljazeera Sport +3 (17:30 Local) French territory.

The hosts missed a golden opportunity to draw level immediately afterwards when Francois Trinh-Duc, who came on at half-time for Benjamin Fall, sent a relatively easy drop goal wide.

In Edinburgh, Scotland rebounded from their drubbing at the hands of England at Twickenham to defeat Italy 34-10 in a Six Nations match at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Leading 13-3 at half-time, the Scots ran in four opportunistic tries from Tim Visser, Matt Scott Stuart Hogg and Sean Lamont, with Greig Laidlaw supplying

the rest of the points from the boot.

Alessandro Zanni battled over for a late consolation Italian try, converted by Kris Burton.

“Brilliant, delighted for the crowd,” said Laidlaw. “It’s been a rough time for us and we spoke about taking our emotions onto the field and what it felt like to be playing for Scotland.

“But we are not getting carried away, we have to go away and understand how we won this game and take it from there.”

In front of a full-house, the Scots made a rousing start with winger Visser and Ruaridh Jackson immediately in the action with piercing runs.

And Visser was denied a try by a wicked bounce as he tried to latch on to a beautifully-weighted lob from Laidlaw.

Having weathered the early storm, the Italians, victors over France last weekend, replied in positive fashion.

They were handed a clear-cut chance to break the deadlock when lock Jim Hamilton was offside in a maul — but Luciano Orquera shook his head in disbelief as the ball crashed back from the post.

Italy kept up the momentum and only some excellent foraging work by Rob Harley stepped the tide in the short term.

Then a huge clearance from full back Hogg eased the pressure further.

That was the cue for Hamilton and Johnnie Beattie to test the visiting defence with powerful runs, which led to a penalty opportunity for Laidlaw — which he confidently took from 35 metres to give his side the lead against the run of play.

Laidlaw’s strike prompted the Italians into mounting more raids at the other end, but without looking likely to break through.

Conversely, while Scotland’s attacks were not frequent — but they looked more capable of earning points.

And sure enough, Laidlaw doubled his penalty tally following a ruck offence.

Centre Scott then homed in on the line when the Italian back markers made a hash of dealing with a Sean Lamont chip.

But Scott’s dash was halted by a marvellous tackle by scrum-half Tobias Botes.

The celebrations among the home fans were only delayed for a matter of seconds as they watched Visser jinxing his way to a touchdown from 20 metres after he had taken a lovely short pass from Jackson.

Laidlaw added the extras from a tricky angle to provide Scotland with another dose of self-belief.

Italy found more fluency in the build up to the interval and they at least broke their duck through an Orquera penalty in the 39th minute.

France’s scrum half Maxime Machenaud (left), kicks the ball as Wales’ fly half Dan Biggar tries to tackle him during the Six Nations Rugby Union match between France and Wales at the Stade de France on Feb 9, in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. (AFP)

Morita brings Japan Top-seed Cilic to face Melzer level with Russia 1-1 Nadal reaches Chile semis

ZAGREB, Croatia, Feb 9, (Agencies): Top-seeded Croat Marin Cilic will face fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the Zagreb Indoors final on Sunday.

Cilic rallied to defeat defending champion Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to reach his third final at the tournament, while Melzer earlier beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Cilic was given two time violation penalties before advancing to his 16th career final. He was penalized for the

Zagreb Final Aljazeera Sport +2 (18:45 Local)

Japan’s Morita Ayumi serves to her Russian opponent Ekaterina Makarova during the Fed Cup tennis quarterfinal match Russia vs Japan in Moscow on Feb 9. (AFP)

Czech lead Australia 2-0 in Fed Cup MOSCOW, Feb 9, (AFP): Ayumi Morita drew Japan level 1-1 against Russia in their Fed Cup World Group first round match on Saturday as she dismantled Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-2 in a one-sided tie.

Earlier in the day, Maria Kirilenko had put the home team in front with a tough 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 win over 42year-old veteran Kimiko DateKrumm.

“Katya (Makarova) is a very strong player, who is in the world’s top 20, and I needed to perform my best tennis against her to win,” said Morita.

“I tried to keep myself concentrated throughout the match and played agressively and it helped me to beat her. I’m really pleased with my play today.”

The 22-year-old Morita started the opening set strongly by breaking twice for a commanding 4-0 lead before world number 20 Makarova could establish herself in the match Moscow resident Makarova, reduced the arrears with a break in the sixth game but Morita, who is 57th in the WTA rankings, broke again in the seventh to win the first set in 30 minutes.

In the second set, Morita gained in confidence and broke the 24-year-old Makarova’s serve three times, before going on to close out the match after just 1hr 4mins.

Meanwhile, world number 13, Kirilenko had a tougher fight as she needed 2hrs 15 minutes to finally get the better of Date-Krumm, running out a 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 winner for her first victory over the evergreen veteran in

three meetings.

“Finally I managed to win a point for my country,” Kirilenko said. “I caught a cold on my return to Moscow from Pattaya (Thailand), but managed to clinch my first ever win over Kimiko (Date-Krumm), who is a very uncomfortable opponent for me.”

TENNIS “The win in Pattaya boosted my confidence and now I feel myself on the rise. It helped me a lot to win today.”

In the opening set Kirilenko, 26, battled back several times before eventually winning the first frame 7-3

in the tiebreak, taking just over an hour.

In the second set, Kirilenko appeared in complete control on the hardcourt surface at the Moscow Olympic arena by breaking her opponent’s serve twice from the start for a 4-0 lead.

Date-Krumm refused to go down without a scrap and managed to reduce the deficit with a break in the eighth game but Kirilenko managed to hold onto her narrow advantage and finally closed out the match 6-4 to give Russia the opening point. The reverse singles and doubles are set for Sunday with three points needed to win.

Meanwhile, defending champion Czech Republic took a commanding

France’s Richard Gasquet returns the ball to his opponent Julien Benneteau of France during the Open Sud de France world tour ATP Series quarter-final tennis match, on Feb 8, in Montpellier southern France. Gasquet won the match. (AFP)

2-0 lead over Australia in their Fed Cup first-round series after Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova won their opening singles matches.

Kvitova overcame an early scare to beat Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (2), 6-3 before Safarova upset Sam Stosur 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4).

The Czechs are one win away from the semifinals against Italy or the United States.

Kvitova struggled with her serve and was down a break in the first set before recovering and dominating the tiebreaker. She then broke her 168thranked opponent four times in the second set to make up for losing her own serve twice, and converted her first match point when Gajdosova’s backhand sailed long.

“Nobody expected it would be easy,” said Kvitova, who has won just three of her seven matches this year on the WTA tour. “I struggle with my serve more than a year ago.”

Later, Stosur wasted a 4-1 lead and failed to serve it out at 5-3, squandering three set points. Safarova saved another two set points in the tiebreaker before converting her first set point with a service winner.

Stosur double faulted 10 times in the set that took 1 hour, 23 minutes.

The Australian again failed to serve out the second set at 6-5 and Safarova converted her second match point.

In Sunday’s reverse singles, Kvitova first plays Stosur in a matchup of two top 10 players, then Safarova takes on Gajdosova.

In the doubles, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka will play the Australian pair of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, who reached the final at the Australian Open.

first time in the opening set and again in the third, as he prepared to serve while facing a break point. Youzhny then took a 3-2 lead but failed to win another game.

Youzhny received treatment to his left leg at the beginning of the first set, but downplayed the problem.

“I would not even call it injury. It happened during the match, it was kind of tightness,” he said. “Marin played very well.”

Cilic has a 6-2 record against Melzer and is aiming for his ninth career title.

Melzer won 33 of 36 points on his first serve to advance to his 12th career final and the first since winning in Memphis a year ago.

The Austrian failed to convert two set points at 5-4 in the first set but comfortably won the tiebreaker.

In the second, Melzer failed to serve out the match at 5-2 but broke again in the next game to clinch the win.

“This is by far my best match here this week,” Melzer said. “I felt I was the better player today even though we had to play a tiebreaker.” ❑ ❑ ❑ Third-seeded Richard Gasquet beat veteran Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 63, 3-6, 6-2 Saturday to set up an allFrench Open Sud de France final against eighth-seeded Benoit Paire, who overcame countryman Michael Llodra 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Gasquet has been in good form this year with a victory at Doha and will try for his ninth career title against Paire, who is aiming for his first.

Gasquet had eight aces and broke Nieminen’s serve five times overall.

Paire, who saved a match point in his second-round win against Steve Darcis earlier this week, had 17 aces to

Llodra’s eight as he fought back to reach his second career final. He lost his previous one on outdoor clay at Belgrade last year. ❑ ❑ ❑ Rafael Nadal, playing his first event after a seven-month injury layoff, advanced to the semi-finals of the $410,200 Vina del Mar ATP claycourt tournament with a straight-sets win Friday.

The 11-time Grand Slam champion from Spain ousted seventh-seeded countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-1, 6-4.

Top seed Nadal will face French third seed Jeremy Chardy — who cruised past sixth seed Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 62, 6-3 — for a place in the final.

Until this week, Nadal had not played since a shock second-round exit from Wimbledon in June.

A torn tendon and inflammation in his left knee kept the former world number one out of the London Olympics and the 2012 US Open, and a virus delayed his return.

“Today, I had more confidence than the other days,” said Nadal, who also entered doubles here in order to gain more match experience.

“That is positive. It gives me confidence, and reasons to believe that I’m on the right way.

“I’m happy to win in singles against a tough opponent like Dani and to reach the semifinals after seven months,” he said. “In this tournament, I had a good feeling. The crowd gave me their support all the time.”

Nadal broke Gimeno-Traver’s first service game of the match for a 2-0 lead and again in the sixth game, and held on to claim the first set after 33 minutes.

In the second set, Nadal broke in the ninth game and then fought off four break points, the only ones he faced in the match, before holding serve in the final game to advance after 84 minutes.

For the match, Nadal connected on 68 percent of his first serves, winning 29 of 44 points on his first serve and 14 of 20 on his second serve.

Nadal, who turns 27 in June, plans to compete in claycourt events in Brazil and Mexico before playing ATP Masters hardcourt events at Indian Wells and Miami and then heading to Europe for clay events in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome ahead of the French Open.

There, Nadal has claimed the crown a record seven times.

Samoa open Sevens with two wins LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Feb 9, (AFP): Defending champions Samoa came from 12-0 behind to beat Spain 19-12 Friday on the opening day of the US stop in the IRB Sevens World Series.

Captain Afa Aiono scored the winning try under the posts, delighting a vocal contingent of Samoa fans at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“It was really tough. Spain, they wanted to win the game, but I am happy with the boys, especially in the second half,” said Samoa coach Faamaoni Lalomilo. “It is a second home, a big ground for Samoa, and the boys have to work hard for the fans too.”

Samoa closed the night with a 12-7 Pool D victory over the United States, who had lost their opening match to Australia 26-7.

Spain rebounded with a 24-14 win over Australia.

In Pool A, Fiji won both of their opening-day matches, hanging on for a 14-12 victory over Scotland when Russell Weir missed a last-minute penalty drop goal.

England, champions at Wellington

last week, lost both of their two matches — 21-5 to Portugal and 2617 to Fiji, who had two tries from Samisoni Viriviri.

In pool B, South Africa also ended the day with a perfect 2-0 record.

They routed Uruguay 45-0 then followed up with a 17-5 victory over Canada.

“It’s nice to get two on the board, we really wanted to start well, especially after last week,” said South Africa’s Paul Delport. “It was important. The guys aren’t used to playing over three days so to build some momentum going into days two and three it is always great.”

Eight remaining pool fixtures were scheduled for Saturday followed by quarter-final matches.

New Zealand also take momentum into the second day after conceding just five points in two day-one victories in Pool C. Belgium Tuatagaloa scored two of New Zealand’s three tries in a 21-0 victory over France. Ben Lam had a hat-trick in a 40-5 victory over reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions Wales.

ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013

SPORTS

51

Super Eagles sweat over Moses, Emenike

Nigeria, B. Faso seek African Cup title JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9, (AP): Nigeria will be trying to lift the African Cup trophy again after nearly two decades when it faces a Burkina Faso team hoping for an upset and its first major title on Sunday.

Nigeria is back in the final after 13 years and has a chance to win the title for the first time since it dominated African football in the 1990s.

Burkina Faso is in its first final and enters the decisive match looking to shock African football just like Zambia did when it beat Ivory Coast last year.

Nigeria is seeking its first title since 1994 and third overall. The Super Eagles are touted as the favorite after rebounding from a sluggish start in the group stage. The team looked impressive when it beat Ivory Coast’s star-filled squad 2-1 in the quarterfinals and trashed Seydou Keita’s Mali 4-1 in the semis.

Nigeria was the team to beat in African football in the 1990s with a squad captained by current coach Stephen Keshi. It made the semifinals in five of the last seven tournaments but was never able to break through with the trophy.

“We have a lot of respect for the guys who won this competition in 1994, they are heroes back home,” Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo said. “We cannot compare ourselves to them.

We want to make our own history, we have our destiny in our own hands and I believe we can win this tournament on Sunday. We are capable, we have what it takes to win.”

Burkina Faso, ranked only 23rd in Africa entering the tournament, reached the semifinals for only the second time - and first since it hosted the tournament in 1998. The Stallions initially just hoped to make it past the group stage, but the expectations were raised after they eliminated Emmanuel Adebayor’s Togo 1-0 in the quarterfinals and favorite Ghana on penalties in the semis.

Nigeria vs Burkina Aljazeera Sport +10 (21:00 Local) Burkina Faso will have leading striker Jonathan Pitroipa available after his red card in the semifinals was rescinded, but it remained unclear if injured Nigerian attacking duo Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike will be fit for the match at Soccer City.

The final will be a rematch of the teams’ opener in Group C, which ended in a 1-1 draw after Nigeria conceded an injury-time equalizer in Nelspruit.

British Soccer Results/Standings LONDON, Feb 9, (AFP): English soccer results on Saturday: Chelsea 4 Wigan 1 Norwich 0 Fulham 0 Southampton 3 Manchester City 1 Stoke 2 Reading 1 Sunderland 0 Arsenal 1 Swansea 4 QPR 1 Tottenham 2 Newcastle 1 Playing Sunday Aston Villa vs West Ham, Manchester United vs Everton Playing Monday Liverpool vs West Brom Championship Blackburn 1 Ipswich Blackpool 2 Millwall Bolton 2 Burnley Brighton 1 Hull Bristol City 2 Nott. Forest Charlton 1 Birmingham Huddersfield 0 Cardiff Middlesbrough 2 Barnsley Peterborough 2 Leicester Sheffield Wed. 2 Derby Wolverhampton 2 Leeds Played Friday Watford 2 Crystal Palace

0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 2 2 2

League One Bournemouth Brentford Carlisle Colchester Coventry Doncaster Leyton Orient Notts County Oldham Scunthorpe Shrewsbury Swindon

2 2 2 1 0 1 2 1 3 2 1 1

Portsmouth Bury Stevenage Preston Yeovil Walsall Tranmere Crewe M. K. Dons Crawley Sheffield Utd Hartlepool

0 2 1 0 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1

P 30 30 31 31 31 31 31 30 31 31 31 31 31 31 30

Derby Leeds Millwall Nott Forest Blackpool Charlton Birmingham Bolton Huddersfield Sheffield Wed Ipswich Wolves Barnsley Bristol City Peterborough

First Division Airdrie Utd Cowdenbeath Hamilton Livingston

0 Morton 4 Falkirk 1 Dunfermline 2 Dumbarton Postponed Raith Rovers vs Partick Thistle (waterlogged pitch)

4 1 2 3

Second Division Albion Rovers 0 Arbroath Alloa 2 Ayr East Fife 1 Forfar Queen of the South2 Stenhousemuir Postponed Brechin City vs Stranraer (waterlogged pitch)

1 2 2 1

Third Division Berwick Rangers 3 Clyde East Stirlingshire 2 Peterhead Elgin City 3 Annan Athletic Rangers 4 Queen’s Park Stirling Albion 3 Montrose In London, English soccer standings after Saturday’s matches.

3 4 1 0 1

Premiere League Man Utd Man City Chelsea Tottenham Arsenal Everton Swansea Liverpool West Brom Stoke West Ham Fulham Sunderland Norwich Southampton Newcastle Reading Wigan Aston Villa QPR

P 25 26 26 26 26 25 26 25 25 26 25 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 25 26

W 20 15 14 14 12 10 9 9 10 7 8 7 7 6 6 7 5 5 4 2

D 2 8 7 6 8 12 10 9 4 12 6 8 8 11 9 6 8 6 9 11

L 3 3 5 6 6 3 7 7 11 7 11 11 11 9 11 13 13 15 12 13

GF 60 48 55 44 50 40 38 44 34 26 28 36 28 25 36 34 33 30 23 19

GA 31 24 28 30 29 30 29 32 35 31 36 42 34 40 45 46 48 51 49 41

Pts 62 53 49 48 44 42 37 36 34 33 30 29 29 29 27 27 23 21 21 17

Championship Cardiff Leicester Watford Hull Crystal Palace Middlesbrough Brighton Blackburn Burnley

P 30 30 31 30 31 30 30 30 31

W 20 16 16 16 14 15 11 11 12

D L GF GA Pts 4 6 51 30 64 5 9 52 26 53 5 10 60 42 53 5 9 40 32 53 10 7 54 39 52 2 13 49 46 47 12 7 42 33 45 10 9 41 37 43 7 12 47 46 43

D 9 6 8 11 10 10 11 10 10 6 8 7 7 4 3

L 10 12 12 10 11 11 11 11 12 15 14 15 15 18 18

GF 47 41 41 40 50 41 41 43 33 38 33 37 36 44 43

GA 43 47 43 44 46 43 48 44 51 47 52 45 47 58 55

Pts 42 42 41 41 40 40 38 37 37 36 35 34 34 31 30

GF 47 44 52 55 42 43 49 51 45 35 43 37 40 37 38 38 38 34 31 33 32 31 33 26

GA 29 29 21 39 29 32 39 40 47 37 34 38 34 39 42 51 39 40 47 51 45 44 56 52

Pts 56 56 55 55 51 51 51 47 47 46 44 44 43 43 42 39 35 34 32 32 30 27 21 20

GF 64 49 44 46 40 50 44 40 46 40 38 40 44 39 41 48 36 37 39 33 31 30 27 33

GA 32 25 41 40 37 43 30 30 43 33 40 36 44 41 46 51 36 46 52 42 49 44 42 56

Pts 60 58 50 49 49 48 47 47 46 43 42 41 41 39 39 38 37 37 35 32 32 30 30 28

League One P 31 30 31 31 30 30 30 32 32 31 31 30 29 29 29 30 30 32 31 31 31 30 31 30

Tranmere Doncaster Swindon Bournemouth Sheff Utd Brentford Yeovil Coventry Walsall Leyton Orient Notts County Crewe Milton Dons Stevenage Crawley Town Carlisle Preston Shrewsbury Colchester Scunthorpe Oldham Bury Portsmouth Hartlepool

W 16 17 15 15 13 13 16 13 13 14 11 12 12 12 12 11 8 7 9 8 8 5 5 4

D 8 5 10 10 12 12 3 8 8 4 11 8 7 7 6 6 11 13 5 8 6 12 6 8

L 7 8 6 6 5 5 11 11 11 13 9 10 10 10 11 13 11 12 17 15 17 13 20 18

League Two

League Two Accrington 1 Southend 1 Aldershot 1 Plymouth 2 Barnet 0 Port Vale 0 Bradford 0 Gillingham 1 Burton Albion 2 Rotherham 0 Chesterfield 2 AFC Wimbledon 0 D. and R. 1 Cheltenham 0 Morecambe 0 Exeter 3 Northampton 3 Rochdale 1 Oxford Utd 0 Bristol Rovers 2 Torquay 0 Fleetwood 1 Wycombe 4 York 0 In Glasgow, Scottish soccer results on Saturday: Aberdeen 0 St Mirren 0 Dundee United 3 Hearts 1 Inverness CT 1 Celtic 3 Kilmarnock 2 Motherwell 0 Played Friday Dundee 0 Ross County 2 Playing Monday Hibernian vs St Johnstone

W 11 12 11 10 10 10 9 9 9 10 9 9 9 9 9

P 31 30 32 31 31 31 30 30 29 31 30 29 32 31 30 31 29 31 30 31 31 31 30 30

Port Vale Gillingham Burton Albion Exeter Cheltenham Northampton Southend Fl’wood Town Rotherham Chesterfield Wycombe Bradford Dag and Red Morecambe Oxford Utd Rochdale Torquay York Bristol Rovers Plymouth Accrington Barnet Aldershot AFC Wim’don

W 17 17 14 14 13 14 13 12 14 11 12 11 11 10 11 10 9 8 9 7 8 7 7 7

D 9 7 8 7 10 6 8 11 4 10 6 8 8 9 6 8 10 13 8 11 8 9 9 7

L 5 6 10 10 8 11 9 7 11 10 12 10 13 12 13 13 10 10 13 13 15 15 14 16

In Glasgow, Scottish soccer standings after Saturday’s matches.

Premiere League P W D L GF 25 17 4 4 55 24 9 10 5 49 24 10 7 7 40 25 9 7 9 32 24 8 9 7 29 25 8 9 8 40 26 8 9 9 31 25 8 8 9 37 25 7 11 7 31 25 7 9 9 25 25 7 8 10 33 25 3 5 17 14

Celtic Inverness CT Motherwell Hibernian St Johnstone Dundee Utd Aberdeen Kilmarnock Ross County Hearts St Mirren Dundee

GA 18 40 34 31 30 42 34 34 34 31 43 45

Pts 55 37 37 34 33 33 33 32 32 30 29 14

W D L GF GA 14 6 3 48 28 12 4 4 44 20 12 3 7 42 26 9 6 6 35 32 7 6 9 32 36 6 7 8 28 29 6 5 9 24 28 7 2 12 31 52 4 8 9 29 34 4 5 14 26 54

Pts 48 40 39 33 27 25 23 23 20 17

First Division P 23 20 22 21 22 21 20 21 21 23

Morton Partick Dunfermline Livingston Falkirk Raith Hamilton Dumbarton Cowdenbeath Airdrie td

Second Division Queen of South Alloa Brechin Arbroath Forfar East Fife Stenhousemuir Ayr Stranraer Albion

P 23 23 19 22 23 24 22 21 22 21

W D L GF GA Pts 19 3 1 58 14 60 12 6 5 41 24 42 10 2 7 38 31 32 9 5 8 34 41 32 10 2 11 40 49 32 7 5 12 37 38 26 6 8 8 33 39 26 6 5 10 30 39 23 6 4 12 26 44 22 4 2 15 25 43 14

Third Division P W D L GF GA Pts Rangers 23 17 5 1 62 18 56 Queen’s Park 21 9 7 5 33 26 34 Peterhead 24 9 7 8 27 22 34 Elgin 22 8 8 6 43 41 32 Montrose 24 8 8 8 41 45 32 Annan Athletic 23 7 7 9 38 45 28 Berwick 21 7 6 8 36 37 27 Clyde 22 7 4 11 28 39 25 East Stirling 22 5 4 13 31 54 19 Stirling 20 5 2 13 33 45 17 Note: Standings read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points.

“We respect a lot the team of Nigeria. They have big players who play in the highest level in Europe, so we all know that,” said Burkina Faso coach Paul Put, a Belgian who was banned for alleged connections with match fixing back home from 2008-11. “We also saw the progressing of the team first game (to) the last game. So we are facing a very, very good team.”

Put is confident, though, that the African Cup may provide another surprising finish this year. In 2012, Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast arrived at the final strongly favored to win its first title but was stunned by Zambia 8-7 in a penalty shootout.

“I think in football you never know,” he said. “You have to play the game and at the end when the referee is blowing you will know the result.”

It will help that Put will be able to count on Pitroipa on Sunday after the Confederation of African Football rescinded the yellow card that led to his sending off in the semifinals.

The ruling body on Friday overturned the decision by now-suspended referee Slim Jdidi to book the striker for diving in the final minutes of extra time. The confederation said the Tunisian referee conceded he had made a mistake.

Pitroipa would have been heavily missed as Burkina Faso

is already without injured Alain Traore, who scored three goals early in the tournament.

Keshi, meanwhile, still doesn’t know whether he will be able to count on his top forwards because of injuries. Spartak Moscow’s Emenike, one of the tournament’s leading scorers with four goals, is nursing a muscle injury, while Chelsea’s Moses is treating a twisted left ankle.

Moses converted two late penalty kicks in the team’s final group match against Ethiopia, saving it from early elimination.

Keshi is trying to become the first African coach to win the cup since Ivory Coast’s Yeo Martial in 1992.

The Nigerian coach said he still didn’t know whether he would put captain Yobo back in the starting lineup after benching him in the previous match.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with more than 160 million people, but many there may not be able to watch the final because local television channels were not able to secure broadcast rights to the tournament.

Although the Confederation of African Football said they reached a last-minute deal for the game to be shown, a top official in Nigeria’s broadcasting industry said there had been no agreement made by late Friday.

Dortmund suffer shock 4-1 defeat at home to Hamburg Bayern extend lead BERLIN, Feb 9, (AFP): Bayern Munich moved closer to their first title in three years after extending their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to 15 points on Saturday following their 40 rout of Schalke 04 at the Allianz Arena.

With neither of their rivals Dortmund nor Bayer Leverkusen having picked wins earlier, Bayern were irresistible in Munich with 20-year-old Austrian ‘wunderkind’ David Alaba claiming two goals.

May 2010 was the last time Bayern won a title after Louis van Gaal steered them to the league and cup double, but this year’s Bundesliga title is now theirs to lose.

Having enjoyed 70 percent possession, Munich lived up to German daily Bild’s mocking headline “Bayern are having open training today against Schalke” with the Royal Blues having won just once in their last nine league games.

SOCCER It proved to be prophetic as Schalke’s lone striker Teemu Pukki found himself hopelessly isolated up front with his side unable to create a single shot on goal and forced to defend against seemingly endless waves of Bayern attack.

France wing Franck Ribery won an early penalty when he darted through the Schalke defence and was brought down by Marco Hoeger.

Alaba showed his rising status by stepping up and drilling home the 19th-minute spot kick.

Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger proved the ankle injury which kept him from Wednesday’s friendly win over France was not an issue by curling home a free kick on 32 minutes to make it 2-0 at the break.

Alaba netted his second on 51 minutes after a pass from striker Mario Gomez, who grabbed his first goal of the year on his first start of 2013 on 63 minutes.

Defending champions Borussia Dortmund lost 4-1 at home to Hamburg with South Korea’s Son Heung-Min scoring twice as both teams finished with 10 men.

Having lost 3-2 at Hamburg in September, Dortmund were stunned at their Signal Iduna Park home in front of 80,645 fans.

Poland striker Robert Lewandowski put Dortmund ahead in the first half only to be sent off a quarter of an hour later as Hamburg roared back with two goals each from Son and Latvia’s Artjoms Rudnevs.

The numbers were evened up when Hamburg’s Dutch defender Jeffrey Bruma was shown a straight red for bringing down Marco Reus when he was clear on goal after 59 minutes.

But Hamburg recovered from that blow as Rudnevs headed home on 62 minutes and then Son’s 89thminute strike completed the rout of Dortmund as he turned in Marcell Jansen’s pass to move Hamburg up to fifth.

Bayer Leverkusen remain third after they drew 3-3 at Borussia Moenchengladbach after the lead changed hands three times before an 86th-minute equaliser by ‘Gladbach’s Patrick Herrmann shared the points.

Hanover 96’s Senegal striker Mame Diouf added to Hoffenheim’s woes with a first-half winner in their 1-0 home victory, while Chelsea’s Kevin de Bruyne, on loan at Werder Bremen, scored the final goal in his team’s 4-1 win at Stuttgart.

Dortmund’s Brazilian defender Felipe Santana (left), and Hamburg’s Latvian striker Artjoms Rudnevs (center), vie for the ball next to Hamburg’s Dutch midfielder Rafael Vand der Vaart (right), during the German First Division Bundesliga football match Borussia Dortmund vs Hamburger SV in the German city of Dortmund on Feb 9. (AFP)

Motherwell fall to Kilmarnock

Makeshift Celtic sink Inverness INVERNESS, United Kingdom, Feb 9, (AFP): A makeshift Celtic side swept aside nearest challengers Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3-1 here Saturday to open up a massive 18point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

With one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first-leg clash with Juventus, Neil Lennon made nine changes to the side that faced Raith Rovers last weekend with debuts for new signings Rami Gershon and Australian international Tomas Rogic.

There were also rare starts for Paddy McCourt, Marcus Fraser and Dylan McGeouch, while goalkeeper Fraser Forster made his return from a neck injury.

Lennon’s decision looked to have backfired when Inverness, who had defeated Celtic in Glasgow earlier in the season, took an early lead through Nick Ross.

But the Hoops hauled themselves level in the 20th minute when Rogic set up Kris Commons to hammer home the equaliser.

Fellow debutant Gershon headed Celtic in front for the first time in the 48th minute before Miku wrapped up the scoring in the 82nd minute as Lennon’s selection gamble ultimately paid off ahead of their against the Italian league leaders at Parkhead.

“I think you saw a wee glimpse of what’s coming through. Marcus Fraser, Dylan McGeouch and Rogic are young players and I thought they were fantastic,” Lennon said.

“All in all, to come here against a team in second place with our first team out and to win speaks volumes for the performance of the players today.”

His opposite number Terry Butcher was frustrated to see his side lose their fourth straight match.

“I’m not disappointed with the way

we played, I’m disappointed with the result and losing three goals,” the Inverness manager said.

At the Caledonian Stadium, Inverness took an early lead when Forster’s weak clearance from a dangerous Aaron Doran cross only made it as far as the edge of the box, where Ross was on hand to drill a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Rogic was looking assured on his Celtic debut and had a big hand in their 20th-minute equaliser.

The Australian international broke to the byeline before cutting the ball back for team-mate Commons to rifle

a thunderous strike beyond Ryan Esson and into the roof of the net.

Rogic then came close to opening his Celtic account as the midfielder clipped an effort just over after being teed up by Anthony Stokes.

Inverness appealed for a penalty at the start of the second half when Doran’s cross appeared to hit the elbow of Marcus Fraser but referee Craig Thomson waved away their protests.

And the home fans felt further aggrieved moments later when Gershon rose highest to connect with McGeouch’s teasing cross from the right to bullet a header past Esson as Celtic took the lead.

They came close to increasing their advantage on the hour when McGeouch’s corner from the left was headed off the top of the crossbar by Stokes at the back post.

Adam Matthews replaced goalscorer Gershon and one of his first tasks was to clear a Billy McKay effort off the line in the 71st minute after Draper had seen his initial effort blocked as Inverness pushed for an equaliser.

SOCCER

Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla celebrates scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League football match between Sunderland and Arsenal at The Stadium Of Light, in Sunderland, north-east England, on Feb 9. (AFP)

Celtic then moved further ahead in a quick counter-attacking move, as substitute Tony Watt’s cross-field pass found Stokes, who squared the ball for Miku to side-foot low under Esson.

Elsewhere, Motherwell missed the chance to move into second as they lost 2-0 away to Kilmarnock, while Dundee United moved up to sixth as new boss Jackie McNamara marked his league debut with a 3-1 win over Hearts, and Aberdeen’s clash with St Mirren ended goalless.

On Friday, Ross County won 2-0 at Dundee to leave the Dens Park club 14 points adrift at the foot.

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Sports

Rampant Chelsea ease pressure on Benitez, Arsenal win

City suffer another major blow Spurs edge Magpies SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom, Feb 9, (AFP): Manchester City’s hopes of defending the Premier League title were dealt a major blow on a disastrous evening for the champions as Southampton secured a 3-1 victory at St Mary’s on Saturday.

After Jason Puncheon opened the scoring for Mauricio Pochettino’s team, an embarrassing mistake from City goalkeeper Joe Hart allowed Steven Davis to d o u b l e S o u t h a m p t o n ’s lead.

Edin Dzeko got one back for City but a calamitous own goal from Gareth Barry shattered Mancini’s men, who trail leaders Manchester United Puncheon by nine points after their third successive league game without a win.

United can now move 12 points clear at the top if they beat Everton on Sunday.

For Southampton, the victory means they are now six points clear of the relegation zone and, on this evidence, look destined to secure their Premier League status for another season.

After returning from African Cup of Nations duty on Tuesday, City’s Yaya Toure started his first game since the 3-0 win over Stoke on New Year’s Day. Pochettino selected an attacking lineup featuring Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez and the Argentine could not have asked for a better start.

Puncheon stole the ball from Barry in the seventh minute and fed Jay Rodriguez, who saw his effort smothered by Hart.

Villa vs West Ham Abu Dhabi Sports 3, 5 (16:30 local) United vs Everton Abu Dhabi Sports 3, 5 (19:00 local) Unfortunately for the England goalkeeper, the ball fell directly into the path of Puncheon and he slotted home from the rebound.

Things went from bad to worse for Hart midway through the half as Lambert cut in from the right flank and hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper, but the ball slipped out of his grasp and was stabbed in by the onrushing Davis.

A flashing volley from the lively Rodriguez that missed the post by inches almost extended Southampton’s lead just after the half-hour mark before Pablo Zabaleta saw his curling effort just drift wide.

Less than five minutes later, the City right-back was instrumental in the counter-attack that saw City pull one back, with Dzeko converting a close-range finish.

Chelsea 4, Wigan 1 In London, Eden Hazard made a goalscoring comeback to help Chelsea ease the pressure on Rafael Benitez with a 41 win against struggling Wigan at Stamford Bridge.

Belgium midfielder Hazard was back in action after completing a three-game ban for kicking a ball-boy against Swansea last month and his return was perfectly timed for beleaguered boss Benitez.

It was not pretty at a tense Stamford Bridge, but although the scoreline flattered Chelsea, their first win in five games in all competitions is all that will matter for Benitez.

Ramires opened the scoring and Chelsea appeared to be coasting to a comfortable victory when Hazard struck in the second-half.

But a quick riposte from Shaun Maloney ensured Chelsea were left with a nervy finish before Frank Lampard made sure when he moved within four goals of Bobby Tambling’s record haul of 202 for the club.

Substitute Marko Marin headed home in added on time to add the gloss as Chelsea moved back above Tottenham into third place.

It was the sort of chance Torres should have taken. But at least Torres made amends by playing a key role in Ramires’ 23rd minute opener.

David Luiz’s pass saw Torres cushion a fine return into the Brazilian’s path and he did the rest with a lofted finish.

The opening goal had lifted the gloom

Tottenham Hotspur’s English midfielder Scott Parker (right) vies with Newcastle United’s French midfielder Moussa Sissoko (left) during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United at White Hart Lane in London on Feb 9. Tottenham won 2-1. (AFP)

Ghana disappoint again

Mali collect more Afcon bronze medals PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, Feb 9, (AFP): Mali finished third a second consecutive time at the Africa Cup of Nations by defeating Ghana 31 Saturday at rain-drenched Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Mahamadou Samassa and Seydou Keita gave Mali a two-goal advantage by early in the second half, Kwadwo Asamoah scored a soft late goal to set up a tense finish but substitute Sigamary Diarra put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time.

It was the second successive tournament in which the Black Stars of Ghana defeated the Eagles of Mali in the mini-league first phase of the tournament only to lose out when they met a second time with the bronze medals at stake.

Victory in a possible Africa Cup farewell for 33-year-old Keita brought a happy end to the week for Mali after a 4-1 semi-final drubbing from Nigeria in an unexpectedly one-sided game.

And the deserved victory by a team much hungrier for the consolation prize will lift spirits at home with the country involved in a struggle against Islamist extremists for control of the northern region.

Former champions Ghana spent

much of the match on the back foot as they tried in vain to shake off the disappointment of losing on penalties to surprise side Burkina Faso in the other semi-final.

Samassa opened the scoring on 21 minutes before another disappointing crowd in this Indian Ocean city, diving

but the home fans should have been celebrating again before the first-half was over.

Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross was met by Torres’ 33rd minute header but his closerange effort was tipped over by the Oman goalkeeper.

It came as little surprise when they extended their lead with 56 minutes on the clock.

Azpilicueta’s surging run and pass saw Hazard in space and the Belgian side-footed home from the edge of the area.

Arsenal 1, Sunderland 0 In Sunderland, Santi Cazorla fired 10man Arsenal to a 1-0 win at Sunderland, but the Gunners’ triumph was marred by Jack Wilshere’s thigh injury.

Although Arsene Wenger’s side moved up to fifth in table, keeping the pressure on Tottenham, who won 2-1

earlier in the day at home to Newcastle, as the north London rivals continue their battle with the leading pack for a place in next season’s Champions League.

However, there was immediate reason for concern over England midfielder Wilshere, who limped off in the second half following a strong challenge from Alfred N’Diaye.

And the dismissal of Carl Jenkinson made it an uncomfortable finish for Arsenal, whose victory would have been far more comfortable if not for the inspired form of Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Mignolet made two fine saves inside the opening two minutes from Theo Walcott as Martin O’Neill’s back-four was unlocked with an ease that was surprising for a team possessing one of the best defensive records in the Premier League. Sunderland, meanwhile, did

to head a cross wide of Fatawu Dauda after a superb pass from midfield set Adama Tamboura free down the left flank.

Former Barcelona midfielder Keita claimed the second goal three minutes into the second half when he latched on to a low Ousmane Coulibaly cross

Nigeria vs Burkina Al Jazeera Sport+10 (21:00 local)

Malian players celebrate with their bronze medal at the end of the 2013 African Cup of Nations third place final football match Mali vs Ghana, on Feb 9, in Port Elizabeth. Mali won 3 to 1. (AFP)

long pass from midfield evaded several defenders and he took advantage with a snap shot past Dauda.

Nigeria, who won the Cup of Nations in 1980 and 1994, and Burkina Faso, whose best previous showing was reaching the 1998 semifinals, meet Sunday at Soccer City in Soweto for the biggest African football prize.

See Also Page 51

force Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into action when he dealt with an angled drive from Stephane Sessegnon after an incisive run by the forward.

Arsenal continued to look the more impressive side, throughout an opening half as their passing and movement gave them the edge over their more pedestrian hosts.

The difference was plain to see when Wilshere cut through Sunderland as Arsenal constructed one of their best moves of the half in the 32nd minute.

It finished with Aaron Ramsey’s shot that swerved wickedly and required Mignolet to make his best save of the match to turn it away at full-stretch.

But even Mignolet was unable to do anything about the goal that gave Arsenal a deserved lead four minutes later. Wilshere was again involved with a

determined run before Walcott took over, setting up Cazorla for a fierce low finish beyond Mignolet.

Spurs 2, Newcastle 1 In London, Gareth Bale maintained his sublime form with a brilliant brace to inspire Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 victory over Newcastle United at White Hart Lane.

Bale added to the growing belief that he is currently the best player in the Premier League with a superb free-kick to open the scoring early in the first half.

The Wales winger then bagged the late winner after Yoan Gouffran had equalised with his first Premier League goal for Newcastle.

Bale’s heroics extended Tottenham’s unbeaten run to 10 Premier League games and lifted Andre Villas-Boas’s side into third place, although Chelsea had the chance to reclaim that position

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Results/Standings – Page 51

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and fired home from close range for his third goal of the competition.

Mubarak Wakaso, joint leading scorer on four goals with Nigerian Emmanuel Emenike, wasted a great chance to edge ahead in the chase for the Golden Boot trophy when he blazed a harshly awarded penalty over.

But Ghana, who have lost three of four third-place play-offs, did pull a goal back eight minutes from time when a speculative Asamoah shot from outside the box surprisingly found its way past Soumaila Diakite.

Diarra completed the scoring three minutes into stoppage time when a

by beating Wigan later on Saturday.

That was Bale’s ninth goal in his last 12 Premier League appearances for Tottenham and should have provided the hosts with the perfect springboard to finish off Alan Pardew’s team.

In between those chances, Newcastle were able to establish a foothold in the contest and they drew level in the 24th minute.

Villas-Boas sent on Emmanuel Adebayor, back in favour afer his late return from Africa Cup of Nations duty with Togo, for the final 22 minutes.

Stoke 2, Reading 1 In Stoke, United Kingdom, Robert Huth scored his first goal of the season as Stoke ended their wait for a first league win of 2013 by beating visitors Reading 2-1.

The hosts, who had not won in the Premier League since December 26, controlled the game from the start, but had to wait until the 67th-minute for German defender Huth to nod them in front from a Glenn Whelan corner.

Substitute Cameron Jerome doubled the lead after 81 minutes when the striker took the ball down neatly and turned his marker before smashing the ball home.

Reading, who have staged several late comebacks in recent games, kept their hopes alive when Jamaican defender Adrian Mariappa pulled one back with a header two minutes later.

But the Royals, unbeaten in four league games in an impressive recent run, could not pull off a last-gasp fightback.

In-form striker Adam LeFondre was sent on for Nick Blackman but his only impact was to go down in the box under a challenge from Ryan Shotton in injury time.

The defeat leaves Brian McDermott’s side 17th in the table, two points clear of the relegation zone, while Stoke remain 10th despite the victory.

With Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson watching on from the stands ahead of his side’s FA Cup clash with Reading, it was the Potters who made the stronger start at the Britannia Stadium.

Winger Matthew Etherington sent an early corner bouncing across the sixyard box, with Peter Crouch rushing in to meet it and just unable to apply a finish.

Norwich 0, Fulham 0 In Norwich, United Kingdom, Norwich and Fulham laboured to a 0-0 stalemate in an uninspiring Premier League clash at Carrow Road.

The draw extended the Canaries’ poor league run to nine games without a victory, leaving Chris Hughton’s side in 14th spot while Martin Jol’s Fulham remain in 12th position.

New Norwich signing Luciano Becchio, in for injured captain Grant Holt who suffered a back spasm on the morning of the game, headed a couple of half-chances wide.

Even the return of Dimitar Berbatov from a hamstring injury could not inspire Fulham, with a 25-yard effort from Steve Sidwell at the start of the second half about the best of the visitors’ few chances. The Bulgarian striker showed some typically cultured touches before the break for the away side but failed to break the deadlock.

Berbatov missed last weekend’s loss at Manchester United, and needed more treatment after he was caught in the face by a high boot from Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson and had to go off to the changing room for stitches in a bloodied nose.

Norwich almost made their man advantage count as Elliott Bennett’s run down the left found defender Javier Garrido in the penalty area, who subsequently teed up Becchio, only for the Argentine to strike straight at Schwarzer.

Swansea 4, QPR 1 In Swansea, Swansea City’s Spanish stars helped their team to a 4-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers that moved the Welsh outfit closer to the European places in the Premier League.

Michu bagged his 14th and 15th goals of the season while Angel Rangel and Pablo Hernandez added solo efforts as Michael Laudrup’s side brought an abrupt halt to the West Londoners’ fivegame unbeaten run.

Substitute Bobby Zamora had pulled the scoreline back to 2-1 just after the interval but it was all one-way traffic after that goal, as QPR again failed to end a winless run in Swansea that stretches back to 1981.

The victory puts the Swans into seventh place in the table, while QPR remain bottom but will be relieved that fellow strugglers Reading and Wigan also lost on Saturday at Stoke and Chelsea respectively.

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