04 Feb 2012

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Syrian rebels tear at Assad power base

RABIA ALAWAL 12, 1433 AH

Iran won’t bow to pressure, Khamenei says

No: 15349

Vibrant India cruise to 8-wicket T20 win

150 Fils

8Islamists 9 reign 42as women lose out

Max 21º Min 09º

Women, liberals hammered; Maasouma challenges results

KUWAIT: Abdul Hameed Dashti celebrates with his supporters yesterday. Kuwait’s Islamist-led opposition took control of the parliament, making sweeping gains in a snap election on the back of a wave of public anger over corruption and political deadlock, results showed yesterday. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti opposition scored a resounding election victory unparalleled since 1992 by securing 34 of the 50-member National Assembly, one more than the required absolute majority to dictate terms. Sunni Islamists and the nationalist Popular Action Bloc emerged the main winners, with Salaf and the Islamic Constitutional Movement, or Muslim Brotherhood, each winning all the four seats they contested.

The government and its supporters were hammered with Shiites winning seven seats down from nine, liberals reduced to just two from at least five in the previous National Assembly

and pro-government around five MPs from as many as 15. No women were elected to the new house compared to four in the previous assembly when women made history by winning seats in the assembly. Analysts have attributed the women debacle to the female lawmakers’ blind support of the government.

With the opposition impressive win, veteran lawmaker and former three-time National Assembly speaker Ahmad AlSaadoun is tipped to become the next speaker even if the government decides to support other candidates. The win of the opposition was so impressive that leading opposition figures Jamaan Al-Harbash, Faisal Al-Muslem, Mussallam Al-Barrak

and Falah Al-Sawwagh came in first position in the second, third, fourth and fifth constituencies.

The opposition also bagged 18 of the 20 seats available in the fourth and fifth tribal constituencies, in addition to seven seats in the third, at least five in the second and four in the first. Prominent winners include Saadoun, a member of parliament since 1975, Mussallam Al-Barrak, who secured over 30,000 votes, a record high in Kuwait’s history. The new house includes 26 new MPs with 19 fresh members, with the third constituency producing the maximum number of new faces with six.

Continued on Page 7

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti opposition candidate, Faisal AlMeslem, celebrates with supporters following his victory in the parliamentary elections in Kuwait City early yesterday.

Kuwait’s Islamist-led opposition won a landslide majority in polls by securing 34 seats in the 50-member parliament.

KUWAIT: Candidate Waleed Al-Tabtabae receiving congratulations after winning the elections.

KUWAIT: Ali Al-Rashid celebrates with supporters following his victory in the parliamentary elections in Kuwait City early yesterday. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

LOCAL KUWAIT: Kuwaiti opposition candidate, Musallam AlBarrak, celebrates with supporters following his victory in the parliamentary elections in Kuwait City early yesterday.

— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Chants of victory by Falah Al-Sawwagh’s supporters.

KUWAIT: MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash and Abdul Rahman AlAnjari celebrate after winning the elections.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti opposition candidate, Ahmad Al-Saadoun, celebrates with supporters following his victory in the parliamentary elections in Kuwait City yesterday.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti opposition candidate, Mubarak Al-Waalan, celebrates with supporters following his victory in the parliamentary elections in Kuwait City yesterday.

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Years

PROFILES OF WINNERS

1

1

2

3

4

5

Faisal Al-Duwaisan

Hussain Al-Qallaf

Mohammad Al-Kandari

Osama Al-Shaheen

Main areas: Sharq, Dasma, Daiya, Shaab, Rumaithiya, Salmiya, Mishref, Bayan and Salwa Voters: 71,146 [Women - 38,350 (53.9%), Men - 32,796 (46.1%)]

Faisal Al-Duwaisan, born in 1964, holds a high school degree. He worked at Kuwait Radio, and headed channel three in Kuwait Television. He was named Deputy Director General of AlWatan TV and was also appointed as media advisor in the National United Media Company. He was elected MP in 2009.

Hussein Al-Qallaf, born in 1958, holds a degree in Law and Islamic Sharia. He was elected National Assembly member in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2008 and 2009.

Mohammad Hassan Al-Kandari, born in 1971, holds a Medical degree from Kuwait University and worked as a Physician at Kuwait’s Health Ministry. He was an MP in 2008.

Osama Al-Shaheen, born in 1979, holds a masters degree in Law from Kuwait University. He works as a Lawyer in the Legislation Department of the Cabinet.

Abdul-Hameed Dashti holds a PhD in Law and works as a Lawyer. He is member of the Kuwait Bar Association, Arab Bar Union, International Abdulhameed Bar Association and Dashti the Arab Organization of Human Rights.

6

7

8

9

Saleh Ashour, born in 1953, holds a diploma in communications, a Bachelors Degree in Economics, and a diploma in military sciences. He was forSaleh Ashour merly a Colonel in the air force and an Engineer in the Ministry of Communications.

He was a National Assembly member in 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Ahmad Lari

Adel Al-Damkhi

Adnan Abdulsamad

10

Ahmad Lari, born in 1955, holds a Bachelor Degree in Statistics. He was a National Assembly member in 2006 and 2008. He was also a Municipal Council member from 1993 until 2003.

Adel Jassem AlDamkhi, born in 1965, holds a PhD in Islamic sharia. He worked as Lawyer in Kuwait’s Municipality. He is chairman of the Human Rights Principles Society.

Adnan Abdulsamad, born in 1950, holds a Bachelors Degree in Political and Economic Sciences and a diploma in planning. He held a number of positions in various Ministries before turning to the private sector. He was a National Assembly member in 1981, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Abdullah Mohammad Al-Turaiji, born in 1958, holds a PhD in Security Management. He worked as police officer in the Ministry of Abdullah Interior and was the Al-Turaiji chairman of Salmiya Sport Club.

2

1

Main areas: Dahiyat Abdullah Al-Salem, Mansouriya, Qadsiya, Nuzha, Faiha, Shamiya, Sulaibikhat and Doha.

Voters: 45,400 [Women - 24,004 (52.9%), Men - 21,396 (47.1%)]

Jamaan Al-Harbash, born in 1970, holds a PhD in Islamic Ideology. He is a college Professor and a lecturer Jamaan with the Ministry Al-Harbash of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. He was elected MP in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Riyadh Al-Adsani holds a Bachelors Degree in Finance and Marketing. He has worked in the Investment Department in Kuwait Petroleum Riyadh Corporation (KPC) Al-Adsani since 2006 as Assistant Investment Director at the Public Investment Authority. He was Chairman of Al-Nuzha Cooperative Society during 2007-11.

2

Mohammad Al-Saqer, born in 1951, holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics. Among other positions, he was a member of Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA), the Mohammad Inter-Parliamentary Al-Saqer Union’s (IPU) Executive Committee and President of the interim Arab Parliament and Chief Editor of daily Al-Qabas newspaper. He was elected as MP in 1999, 2003, 2006 and 2008.

6

7

Hamad Al-Matar

Hamad Al-Matar, born in 1970, holds a PhD in Industrial Chemistry and teaches at Kuwait University. He was Chairman of the Arab Chemists Union in 2006 and Chairman of Kuwait Chemistry Society in 2005-07.

Abdulrahman AlAnjeri, born in 1957, holds a Bachelors Degree in Business.

Among other positions, he was Director Abdulrahman General of Kuwait’s Al-Anjeri Agricultural Food Products Co. He was elected as an MP in 2009.

Adnan Al-Mutawwa, born in 1954, holds a Bachelors Degree in Engineering. He worked at the Kuwait Stock Exchange and was an engineering Consultant for the Public Industry Authority in 20062007. He was elected as an MP in 2009.

3

8

Ali Al-Rashed, born in 1967, holds a degree and a higher diploma in Law. He held a number of public positions, and was a member of the bureau investigating Ali crimes of the ousted Al-Rashed Iraqi regime in 2000.

Al-Rashed became a member of the National Assembly in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009. He was appointed State Minister for Cabinet Affairs in 2011.

Khaled Sultan bin Essa, born in 1940, holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelors Degree in Aviation Engineering.

Khaled He held a number of Sultan prominent positions, including chairman of the Kuwait Graduates Society and Jamiyat Ihyaa AtTurath Al-Islami. He was as an elected MP in 1981, 2008 and 2009.

4

5

Marzouq Al-Ghanem

Marzouq Al-Ghanem, born in 1968, holds a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He held a number of positions, including Chairman of Boubyan Petrochemicals. He was elected MP in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Adnan Al-Mutawwa

9

10

Abdullatif Al-Ameeri, born in 1966, holds a Bachelor Degree in Law and Islamic Sharia from Kuwait University, and worked as Chief Abdullatif Investigator at the Al-Ameeri Interior Ministry. He was an MP in 2008.

3 Faisal Al-Mislem AlOtaibi, born in 1962, holds a PhD in Modern and Contemporary Political History from the University of Faisal Wales. He is a memAl-Mislem ber of Kuwait University’s Arts Faculty. He was elected as an MP in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

1

2

Faisal Al-Yahya

Faisal Al-Yahya, born in 1974, holds a degree in Law from Kuwait University.

He works as a Lawyer in the Legal Advice Legislation department.

Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, born in 1964, holds a PhD in Islamic Sharia (laws) and taught at Kuwait University. He was a member in the National Assembly in 1996, 1999, 2003, Waleed 2006, 2008 and Al-Tabtabaei 2009. Al-Tabtabae was also Editor-in-Chief of Al-Mishkat magazine and wrote columns for AlWatan, Al-Rai and Al-Aam newspapers, as well as Al-Deera magazine.

3

4

Mohammad AlDalal, born in 1964, holds a Masters Degree in Law and works as a Lawyer.

He worked as a Prosecutor and a Mohammad Lawyer at the Government’s Legal Al-Dalal Advice Legislation Department.

Ahmad Al-Saadoun, born in 1934, holds a degree in Literature.

He was formerly the Assistant Undersecretary for Mail and Telephone, Ahmad and member of the Al-Saadoun National Assembly from 1975 until 2009. He was elected deputy speaker in 1981, and speaker in 1985, 1992, and 1996.

5

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Years

PROFILES OF WINNERS Main areas: Jabriya, Rawda, Adailiya, Khaldiya, Khaitan, Surrah and South Surrah, Qurtuba, Kaifan and Yarmouk.

Voters: 67,063 [Women - 36,823 (54.9%), Men - 30,240 (45.1%)] Ali Al-Omair, born in 1958, holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and taught in UAE University in 1990 and 1991, at Ali Kuwait University Al-Omair between 1992 and 1994, and at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training between 1994 and 1997. He was elected as an MP in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

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Shaya Al-Shaya

Shaya Al-Shaya, born in 1964, holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, and won Municipal Council membership in 2009.

Nabeel Al-Fadhl, born in 1949, holds a Degree in Civil Aviation, and worked as Pilot for Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC).

Nabeel He is the Manager Al-Fadhl of various companies and a member of the Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA).

8

Mohammad AlJuwaihel, born in 1969, holds a Degree in Music and worked at the Kuwait Municipality.

9

Mohammad Al-Juwaihel

Ammar Al-Ajmi, born in 1962, holds a Bachelors Degree in Commercial Aviation. He worked as Head of Fleet of Boeing 777 at Ammar Kuwait Airways Al-Ajmi Corporation (KAC), as Secretary General in the Martyrs Bureau, and is a union member of the KAC employees union as well as a member of the Society of Pilots and Aviation Engineers.

10

4

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2

Musallam Al-Barrak

Main areas: Farwaniya, Jahra, Andalus, Rabiya, Rehab, Ardiya, Sabah Al-Nasser, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Omariya.

Voters: 103,280 [Women - 57,517 (56.9%), Men - 45,767 (53.1%)]

Musallam Al-Barrak, born in 1956, holds a Degree in Geography. He held several food health and municipal positions, and was elected as a Parliament Member in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Mohammad Hayef Al-Mutairi, born in 1964, holds a Bachelors Degree in Islamic studies. He was employed at the Kuwait Municipality, Mohammad and was elected as Hayef an MP in 2008 and 2009.

6

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Mohammad Khalifa Al-Khalifa, born in 1948, holds a Bachelors Degree in Military Sciences.

He was elected as an MP in 1999, 2003 Mohammad and 2006.

Al-Khalifa

Shuaib Al-Muwaizri

Obaid Mohammad Al-Mutairi, born in 1971, holds a PhD in Procedural Law. He is a Professor at Kuwait University.

3

8

Obaid Al-Wasmi

Mubarak Al-Waalan, born in 1959, holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Sciences from Kuwait University. He was a Diplomat and is curMubarak rently Director of Al-Waalan Public Relations at the Public Authority for the Assessment of Compensation Damages Caused by the Iraqi Invasion, and was elected MP in 2009.

4

5

Ali Al-Deqbasi

Ali Al-Deqbasi, born in 1965, holds a diploma in management, and worked at the Customs Department. He was elected as a member of the parliament in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

9

10

Osama Al-Munawer

Saad Khanfour

Mohammad Al-Hatlani

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1

Main areas: Ahmadi, Fahaheel, Sabahiya, Fintas, Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Mangaf, Rigga, Sabah Al-Salem, Dhahr, Abu Halifa and others.

Voters: 113,407 [Women - 58,610 (51.7%), Men - 54,979 (48.3%)]

Falah Al-Sawwagh Al-Azmi, born in 1961, holds a high school degree. He works at Kuwait National Petroleum Co. and is a board Falah member of Fintas Al-Sawwagh Co-op Society. He was elected as an MP in 2009.

Shuaib Al-Muwaizri, born in 1959, holds a diploma in police science. He was a Colonel in the Ministry of Interior.

He was elected as an MP in 2009.

Khaled Mashaan Tahous, born in 1974, holds a Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the US. He is an Engineer at the Public Industry Authority and heads Khaled the syndicate of Al-Tahous workers there. He is also a member of Kuwait Journalists’ Association and the Society for Democracy Development. He was elected as an MP in 2009.

Osama Ahmad AlMunawer, born in 1971, holds a Bachelors Degree in Law and works as a Lawyer. He is a member of the International Bar Association.

Bader Zayed AlAzmi, born in 1964, holds a diploma from the Institute of Technology. He worked as a general supervisor of chemistry.

Saad Ali Khaled Khanfour Al-Rashidi, born in 1965, holds a high school degree.

He was an employee of the Interior Ministry, and was elected as an MP in 2008 and 2009.

Mohammad AlHatlani, born in 1964, holds s PhD in Law. He worked as Lawyer in the Legal Advice Legislation department and is a teacher in the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET). He was an MP in 2008.

2

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4

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Badr Al-Azmi

Ahmad Al-Azmi

Al-Saifi Al-Saifi

Ahmad Abdullah Al-Azmi, born in 1971, holds a PhD in Islamic Shari and law in B.O.T. He works as Chief Auditor in the Ministry of Housing Affairs.

Al-Saifi Al-Saifi AlAjmi, born in 1961, holds a university degree. He worked as a department head at Kuwait Municipality. He was elected as an MP in 2009.

Nayef Abdulaziz AlAjmi, born in 1963, holds a PhD in Islamic Economy and worked as a police officer.

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7

8

Nayef Al-Ajmi

Abdullah Al-Barghash

Salem Namlan

Abdullah Hashr AlBarghash, was born in 1962, and holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce. He worked in the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. He was a former MP.

Salem Namlan AlAzmi, born in 1967, holds a Masters Degree in Law. He is Assistant Director of the Interior Ministry’s Investigations Department. He was elected as an MP in 2009.

Khaled Shukhayyer Al-Mutairi, born in 1972, holds a PhD in education.

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Khaled Al-Mutairi

Munawer Theyab Neqa Al-Azmi, born in 1965, works in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

10

Munawer Al-Azmi

LOCAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Ready yourselves for heavy responsibilities Premier urges new MPs

Small businesses active on elections day KUWAIT: The 2012 National Assembly elections not only a political festivity but also an economic one, as many restaurants and cafes carefully prepared for this day.

In statements, owner of a bakery said that he prepared many orders for this eventful day, an opportunity to increase profits by 900 percent.

Meanwhile, barber shop owner Jalal Al-Sayyed, said that during elections day he receives customers from 3 am, as ways to serve all voters and candidates.

Also, Bilal Al-Nafie, owner of a restaurant, said that many take advantage of this event to increase product prices, as in return the amount of sales increase.

Cafes are also busy during elections day, as a resort for voters who are waiting for results long hours after casting their votes.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry announced that up to 74 cases were treated during the 2012 elections’ day, including three that transferred to hospitals. The cases included chronic diseases like diabetes and blood pressure, as well as fatigue, media coordinator of medical emergency department at the ministry Abdulaziz Bu Haimad said. The Fourth Constituency was the highest in number of cases reported, whilst the second was the lowest, he added, pointing out that, until 6:00 pm, 58 cases were registered among males, while female cases were 16. — KUNA

Voters hope for e-voting KUWAIT: Third Constituency voters in the 2012 National Assembly elections expressed hopes that the process of vote counting in the next elections would be electronic as is the case in many developed countries. Dr Talal Al-Shimmari, voter, said that the process of counting votes electronically in ballot centers and on the specialized elections website would increase the number of voters.

He added, that this process would facilitate the voting for those of special needs, senior citizens and citizens abroad. Meanwhile, Abdullah AlOtaibi, college student, said that voting through

the internet would contribute in lessening costs in providing and equipping ballot stations, in addition to the number of workers in the counting process, and most importantly reduces the human error factor. Al-Otaibi assured that the state of Kuwait has all the qualifications and human elements to launch this process.

For his part, Abdulwahab Al-Hashem, mechanical engineer, said that the decision to use electronic voting should be made “quickly and comprehensively, “ noting that there are many previous successful experiences in developed nations. — KUNA

Wataniya Telecom offers 50% discount on SMS to Sri Lanka KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom congratulates all Sri Lankan people residing in Kuwait on the occasion of the 64th Independence Day of Sri Lanka and offers them a special promotion to enjoy their special day. The exclusive promotion includes 50% off on SMS sent to Sri Lanka giving a chance to the country’s citizens in Kuwait to greet their friends and family back home on this festive occasion.

Abdolaziz Al Balool Public Relation Director at Wataniya Telecom said: ‘Wataniya Telecom’s aim in introducing such promotions is to appreciate the diversity of cultures and backgrounds we have in Kuwait and to affirm that our network caters to everybody residing in our country. We hope for all Sri Lankan people in Kuwait to enjoy our promotion and their happy holiday.’

The 50% discount on SMS will be valid for 24 hours starting today (Saturday 12:00am).

Wataniya has offered similar promotions to citizens of other countries living in Kuwait such as the USA, Egypt, Jordan, India, and the Philippines. This helps the expatriate community

Abdolaziz Al Balool feel close to their home country even when they are far away. Wataniya Telecom would like to wish all Sri Lankan people happy celebration.

Wataniya hopes that the offer tailored especially for them will add value to their communication and bring them closer to their friends and families in Sri Lanka. Wataniya aims to continue exploring different ways of staying closer to the different cultures and communities in Kuwait by providing them with the best and most innovative services and products.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Prime Minister congratulated yesterday the Kuwaiti people on the conclusion of the parliamentary elections, and said that elected MPs should be prepared to bear “heavy responsibilities” and cope with the upcoming “dangerous phase.” In a statement, HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlHamad Al-Sabah expressed congratulations to the candidates “...who won the confidence of the Kuwaiti people and won seats in the National Assembly to represent them.”

HH the Prime Minister affirmed that the new MPs should be prepared to bear a heavy burden of responsibilities and cope with the forthcoming “dangerous stage.”

His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak issued the statement a few hours after the conclusion of the parliamentary polls, which ended with the election of members for the 50-seat National Assembly.

The polls were held after HH the Amir dissolved the previous parliament due to deteriorating political conditions in the local arena.

In his address, HH the Prime Minister expressed hope that the new members of the parliament would meet the aspirations of the people regarding security, stability, development, prosperity, combating negative acts and bolstering patriotism. HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak congratulated the Kuwaiti people, namely the voters, who responded to the aspirations of

HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

HH the Amir who had urged them to head to the polling stations and cast their votes.

He also thanked all departments, civil servants, staff, associations and judges for taking part in the electoral process and ensuring its success.

He called on all Kuwaitis to abstain from bickering and to look toward the future for the sake of serving Kuwait, “...which we wish to preserve as a homeland of dignity under the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.” — KUNA

Kuwait leaders congratulate winners of NA elections KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent yesterday congratulatory cables to winners of the National Assembly’s elections, hoping that they would do their best to serve the country and its people.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent similar cables.

In another development, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said Thursday evening his government wouldn’t allow anybody to take law into their own hands.

“As a state of law, Kuwait will spare no effort in maintaining the rule of law, “ Sheikh Ahmad said.

The minister made the remarks during an inspection tour of a polling station. He regretted the recent attempts by some people to act to the contrary, vowing to prevent the repetition of any incidents that could destabilize the security of the country.

“The Ministry of Interior is making its utmost to ensure the success of the

ongoing democratic process and show the National Assembly elections - 2012 in a proper way,” he added.

The elections is a bright manifestation of the country’s democratic portrait, Sheikh Ahmad added.

Meanwhile in Manama, the King of Bahrain’s media adviser, Nabil bin Yaqoub Al-Hamar, congratulated yesterday the Kuwaiti leadership on the success of the electoral process.

During his meeting with Kuwaiti ambassador to Bahrain, Sheikh Azam Mubarak Al-Sabah, Al-Hamar praised the media momentum and attention that accompanied the Kuwaiti elections, pointing out that it has won the respect and admiration of many in the region and credited Kuwaiti democracy as a leading force in the Arab world.

On his part, Sheikh Azam congratulated the winners of the elections for attaining the honor of representing the Kuwaiti people in the National Assembly, wishing them all the best of luck in consolidating their efforts to push development projects and achievements in the country to higher levels for the benefit of the Kuwaiti peoples. — KUNA

local SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Islamists reign as women lose out Continued from Page 1 Only two of the 13 former MPs who were questioned on charges of corruption managed to get re-elected. They are Saad Al-Khanfour and Saleh Ashour. The rest either did not contest, lost in tribal primaries or defeated in the National Assembly election.

Kuwaiti tribes, though emerged the main platform for the opposition, secured only 23 seats, down from 25 in the previous assembly with the loss coming from the first and second electoral districts with one each.

Awazem, Mutairi and Ajmans maintained their strength with six, five and four MPs, respectively, while Rasheedi got one more on the four it had. Enezi tribe had only one seat compared to three in the previous assembly, Hawajer lost its solitary seat while Oteibi got one compared to two. Shimmari however secured one seat while it had nothing in the previous house.

The Salafists and their supporters improved from just three in the previous assembly to as many as 12 and the Islamic Constitutional Movement and its supporters also improved from just to two to as many as eight. There are several independent Islamists. The Popular Action Bloc, headed by Saadoun, raised its strength by one seat to five but it also has at least four supporters, thus becoming an important force in the new assembly. Liberals suffered the most with losses by all the Democratic Forum four candidates including former MPs Salah Al-Mulla and Mohammad Al-Abduljader. Other liberals to lose include Aseel Al-Awadhi and deputy speaker Abdullah Al-Roumi.

Shiites were reduced to seven MPs from nine in the previous house with Maasouma Al-Mubarak and Rola Dashti the main losers. The Shiite National Islamic Alliance added one more seat to former MP Adnan Abdulsamad when former MP Ahmad Lari won.

Hussein Al-Qallaf and new comer Abdulhameed Dashti also won.

Former female MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak, who maintained her position among the top 10 during most of the counting period but lost at the end, said she will challenge the results in court, alleging irregularities in counting and calculation.

But the main loser among Shiites was moderate MP Hassan Jowhar who at times was close to the opposition. He came in the 17th position. Main losers among the pro-government MPs include Mekhled Al-Azemi, Khalaf Dumaitheer, Askar Al-Enezi and Mohammad Al-Huwailah. Among the main former MPs who returned is leading liberal MP Mohammad Al-Sager, Islamists Mohammad Al-Kundari, Abdullatif Al-Ameeri and Mohammad AlHatlani. The main surprise of the election perhaps is the unexpected victory of controversial anti-opposition figures Nabeel Al-Fadl and Mohammad Al-Juwaihel, both from the third constituency.

Juwaihel and Fadl, a columnist in Al-Watan, have been highly critical of Bedouin tribes and the opposition.

The two candidates are believed to have received most of their votes from the 9,000-strong Shiite voters who were urged by their religious leaders to support them. Shiite candidate Fakher AlQallaf, who lost in the same constituency, protested strongly after the results at why Shiite leaders supported Juwaihel and Fadl and

Results at a glance Opposition Sunni Islamists Liberals ICM Salaf Popular Bloc Women Islamist Reform Bloc Tribes Awazem Mutairi Rasheedi Ajmans Enezi Shimmari Hawajer Oteibi Shiites Pro-government

34 23 2 4 4 5 none 4 23 6 5 5 4 1 1 none 1 7 5

from around from around from around from just from just from from from from from from from from from from from from from from around

20 9 5 1 2 4 4 4 25 6 5 4 4 3 none 1 2 9 15

not their own candidates. The whereabouts of Juwaihel are unknown since he disappeared on Monday after harshly criticizing the Mutairi tribe at an election rally, prompting thousands of tribesmen to burn his election tent.

The new assembly must hold its first session within two weeks of officially announcing the results. Several constituencies erupted in celebrations even before the

results were officially announced, with some people firing from automatic weapons to mark the impressive win. MP Obaid Al-Wasmi, a professor of law who won for the first time, told cheering supporters that he will open all corruption files and will push for the implementation of the law against all. “The Kuwait of tomorrow will not be the Kuwait of yesterday” said the outspoken opposition figure.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Romney poised to win another state

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UK minister quits Cabinet to fight criminal charge

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Khmer Rouge jailer gets life in prison

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EDLEB: In this image provide by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and released on Thursday Feb. 2, 2012, Syrian rebels raise up their weapons as they attend a funeral procession of their comrade, dead body seen in front wrapped with the Syrian revolution flag, in Edleb, north Syria.—AP

Emboldened Syrian rebels tear at Assad power Some see worsening conflict, increasing sectarianism AMMAN/LONDON: Syrian President Bashar AlAssad looks increasingly cornered, his authority seriously wounded by rebel raids at the gates of Damascus and his ability to wield superior firepower complicated by political constraints. On paper, the military balance remains in Assad’s favor, with army defections still relatively small.

Rebel strength, estimated variously at 20,000 to 30,000, is less than a tenth of the army’s.

External armed intervention in favour of the opposition is unlikely and the security services, manned mainly by members of his minority Alawite sect, remain intact.

But while Free Syrian Army (FSA) insurgents seeking an end to 42 years of Assad family rule are unable to hold territory, and a purely military victory seems out of reach, their multiplying raids appear to be achieving a political momentum that cannot be slowed simply by Assad’s bigger armed clout. And Assad’s capacity to deploy his army’s full might to end an 11month-old uprising is limited by fears it might backfire by simply spurring more defections.

Yezid Sayigh, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East Center,

wrote there was no longer any serious doubt that “the government’s days are numbered” but it was an open question how long it could hang on. “The regime cannot win, but it certainly can resist and prolong the conflict,” he wrote in a commentary. Armed clashes, now increasingly punctuating what began as a non-violent protest movement, have raised fears of a fullscale conflict in Syria, a Sunni Muslim-majority country of 23 million which also has Alawite, Druze, Christian and Kurdish minorities.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in Assad’s crackdown on protests. Syria says foreign-backed “terrorists” have killed 2,000 soldiers and police. In responding to the spreading insurgency, Assad’s military options amount to a dilemma: If he calls out the vast majority of his conscript forces, they may turn against him when ordered to fight in the communities from which they come. And if his core, mainly-Alawite forces resort to increasing levels of violence, they may push more people into the opposition camp. The result, some analysts say, may be a gradual escalation of violence that sees Assad rely increasingly on

Alawite support, with the attendant risk of greater sectarian conflict.

“The more Assad is cornered the more brutal he is becoming. His advisers are telling him they are winning. They are delusional,” a Western diplomat based in the region said The rebels’ temporary seizure of some Damascus suburbs on Jan 26-29, and a Jan. 27 attack on anti-Assad demonstrators in the second city Aleppo, scene of an expanding protest movement, are likely to have unnerved the ruling elite.

While Assad has retained strong support from allies Russia, Iran and the powerful Shiite Lebanese group Hezbollah, he is under unprecedented Arab and Western pressure to step down. The exact strength of the dissident soldiers is not known and Syria’s ban on most foreign media makes it hard to verify events on the ground. But analysts say increased defections among the military are forcing Assad to rely more heavily on two main units composed mainly of troops from his minority Alawite sect, the Republican Guards and the Fourth Armored Division. These units are using heavier force, such as shelling from tanks and fixed artillery, to

put down the uprising, diplomats and opposition sources said, prompting more desertions and popular support for the insurgents.

Shashank Joshi of the Royal United Services Institute military think tank in London said the government “is only going to face increasing numbers of fronts on which to fight.” “The opposition will also grow increasingly willing and able to go on the offensive. The more troops it deploys, and the more forces it uses, the greater the rate of defections,” he said. Sayigh told Reuters he assumed rebel activity would result in “attrition. The regime’s assets will slowly wear down.” “There presumably will come a time when the regime loses the ability to besiege or retake towns and neighborhoods. Once that becomes evident then I guess there will be a tipping point. But I just don’t see that happening yet.” Sayigh said up to three quarters of the army was believed still in its barracks because the government did not want “large numbers of conscripts and ground forces face to face with their own people in towns and cities they may come from themselves and tell them to shoot people, perhaps even their own family.” — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Iraqi cleric urges politicians to solve crisis BAGHDAD: Iraq’s most prominent Shiite cleric has urged politicians to make concessions to solve the country’s ongoing political crisis, an aide to the leader said yesterday. Ahmed Al-Safi, who often speaks for Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, said that the cleric believed that Iraq’s leaders are taking the country “into the unknown.”

“Politicians must work fast and make concessions to solve the crisis,” Al-Safi told worshippers during a Friday sermon in the holy city of Karbala. Al-Sistani normally exerts his considerable influence through sermons and statements made by his aides. Iraq’s Shiiteled government has been paralyzed for the past two months by a political crisis that erupted after officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi on terrorism charges.

The sectarian political fight brought government work to a standstill, just days after the US completed its military withdrawal in mid-December. The crisis was partially resolved when lawmakers from the country’s largest Sunni-backed bloc ended a boycott of Parliament on Tuesday. However, the bloc’s nine ministers, including those in charge of the finance and education portfolios, continue to boycott Cabinet meetings.

Also yesterday, two road accidents in the center and south of the country killed 19 people and left another 22 injured, police and health officials said. In the first accident, 11 people were killed and 12 injured when a bus collided with a sports utility vehicle near Samarra, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, said police Lt. Col. Ghayath Sami.

Another accident on a highway outside the city of Diwaniyah, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Baghdad, left eight dead and 10 injured, police and hospital officials said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.— AP

Iran warns of retaliation over oil sanctions Khamenei says Iran won’t bow to pressure TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday Iran would retaliate over Western-backed oil sanctions and any threat of attack, after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was cited as saying he feared a possible Israeli strike as early as April. Khamenei’s defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was the first direct response to tighter sanctions imposed by the West in recent weeks to force Tehran to abandon a nuclear programme it says has purely peaceful ends.

“Threatening Iran and attacking Iran will harm America ... Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course ... In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time,” Khamenei told worshippers in a speech broadcast live on state television.

“I have no fear of saying that we will back and help any nation or group that wants to confront and fight against the Zionist regime (Israel).” US media reports said US Defense Secretary Panetta believed there was a growing possibility Israel would attack Iran as early as April to stop it building a nuclear bomb.

The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that Panetta was concerned about an increased likelihood Israel would launch an attack over the next few months. CNN said it confirmed the report, citing a senior Obama administration official, who declined to be identified.

“Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June - before Iran enters what Israelis described as a ‘zone of immunity’ to commence building a nuclear bomb,”

columnist David Ignatius wrote. “Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon - and only the United States could then stop them militarily,” Ignatius wrote.

Panetta and the Pentagon both declined comment on the Post report.

Khamenei said any US military strike against Iran would backfire and that the “painful and crippling” Western sanctions would only increase the resilience of Iran.

“Americans say all options are on the table even the option of military strike (against Iran)...Any military strike is ten times more harmful for America. Such threats show that they have no sufficient discourse against Iran’s logic and discourse.”

“Such threats show that America has no way but using force and bloodshed to achieve its goals, which further harms America’s rulers, international and domestic credibility,” he added. Khamenei said the aim of the sanctions was to punish “the Islamic Republic because of Islam”.

“Such sanctions will benefit us. They will make us more self-reliant ... We would not achieve military progress if sanctions were not imposed on Iran’s military sector ...

More imposed pressures mean more selfreliance for Iran.” “Sanctions are beneficial also because it makes us more determined not to change our nuclear course ... Iran will not change its nuclear course because of sanctions...,”he added. Israel, widely believed to possess the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, views Iran’s uranium enrichment projects as a major threat and has not ruled out the use of military force to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The Post said the postpone-

ment of a joint US -Israeli military exercise that had been scheduled for this spring may have signaled the prospect of an Israeli attack soon.

Iran has said repeatedly it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz Gulf oil export route if sanctions succeed in preventing it exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate. Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief Major-General Aviv Kochavi said on Thursday he estimated that Iran could make four atomic bombs by further enriching uranium it had already stockpiled, and could produce its first bomb within a year of deciding to build one. Citing figures similar to those from the IAEA, the UN nuclear agency, Kochavi told Israel’s annual Herzliya Conference on strategic affairs: “Iran has accumulated more than 4 tons of uranium enriched to a level of 3.5 percent and nearly 100 kilos at an enrichment level of 20 percent. “This amount of material is already enough for four atomic bombs.”

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said separately that “if sanctions don’t achieve the desired goal of stopping (Iran’s) military nuclear program, there will be a need to consider taking action.” A top Chinese newspaper stepped up Beijing’s opposition to a Western push for tighter sanctions against Iran, warning yesterday that tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program are hurting energy markets and could stifle the global economic recovery. China’s criticism appeared in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party. It comes a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Beijing to use its influence to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program. — Reuters

3 die in Egypt clashes over deadly soccer riot CAIRO: Police in Cairo fired salvos of tear gas and birdshot yesterday at rock-throwing protesters as popular anger over a deadly soccer riot spilled over into a second day of street violence that left three people dead and more than 1,500 injured, doctors and health officials said. The protesters blame the police for failing to prevent the melee after a soccer match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said on Wednesday killed 74 people. The violence - the soccer world’s worst in 15 years - has fueled anger at Egypt’s ruling military generals and the already widely distrusted police force.

Demonstrators in Cairo, the city of Suez and several Nile Delta cities yesterday turned their anger on the military, calling for it to surrender power because of what they say is the ruling generals’ mismanagement of the country’s transition to democracy. In the capital, protesters in helmets and gas masks hurled stones at riot police firing tear gas outside the Interior Ministry, which controls the police. The demonstrators say they don’t want to storm the ministry, but to hold a sit-in in front of it to protest the soccer deaths.

“I came down because what happened in Port Said was a political plan from the military to say it’s either them or chaos,” said 19-yearold Islam Muharram. Many protesters have suggested the authorities either instigated the Port Said violence or intentionally allowed it to happen to retaliate for the key role soccer fans known as Ultras had in clashes with security forces during the uprising that toppled

President Hosni Mubarak. The Cairo violence began late Thursday and escalated overnight, with protesters pushing through the barricades erected around the fortress-like ministry building and bringing down a wall of concrete blocks erected outside the ministry two months ago, after similar violence left more than 40 protesters dead.

Ambulances and volunteers on motorcycles ferried the injured, most of them suffering respiratory problems from the tear gas, to field hospitals set up nearby on Tahrir Square.

Yesterday afternoon, thousands of people rallied on the square itself, demanding early presidential elections and calling on the country’s military rulers to speed up the transfer of power to a civilian authority. Meanwhile, some 1,500 protesters marched to the Defense Ministry, chanting “the people want to execute the marshal,” referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council ruling Egypt.

The death toll from yesterday’s violence stood at three. One man was killed in Cairo after being hit by birdshot at close range, a volunteer doctor said on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals by the authorities. He said four protesters have lost an eye from birdshot, and that his field hospital close to Tahrir Square was overwhelmed with the wounded overnight. Two protesters also were killed in Suez by police who opened fire, said health official Mohammed Lasheen.

About 3,000 people demonstrated in front

CAIRO: An Egyptian protester throws stones towards riot policemen during clashes near the interior ministry in Cairo yesterday.—AFP of the Suez police headquarters, prompting parliament - which called an emergency session police to fire tear gas and live ammunition, wit- Thursday to discuss the violence - blamed the nesses said. A third protester in Suez was in crit- new leadership for letting the soccer riot hapical condition with a wound to the neck. The pen - whether due to a lack of control by the chief of security in Suez denied the deaths there security forces, or as some allege, intentionally. were from police gunfire. The Interior Ministry The violence in Port Said began after home urged the protesters in a statement “to listen to team Al-Masry pulled off a 3-1 upset win over the sound of wisdom ... at these critical Cairo’s Al-Ahly, Egypt’s most powerful club. AlMasry fans stormed the field, rushing past lines moments” and prevent the spread of chaos.

Many in the public and in the newly elected of police to attack Al-Ahly fans. —AP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Heavy snowstorm hits Colorado on its way east DENVER: A powerful winter storm swept across Colorado yesterday as it headed east, bringing blizzard warnings to eastern Colorado and western Kansas, and winter storm warnings for southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska. The storm stretched as far south as New Mexico, where Department of Transportation reported difficult driving conditions on several state highways because of the winter weather, leaving highways snow packed and icy.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued a warning through yesterday east of the Continental Divide, saying 2 feet of snow or more could overwhelm a weak snow pack, with natural and human-triggered avalanches likely yesterday. The storm forced the cancellation of more than 200 arriving and departing flights at the Denver airport that had been scheduled through yesterday night.

Southwest Airlines canceled all its flights through 4 pm yesterday at Denver International Airport because of the storm. The airline said it wanted to mitigate the impact of the storm on its operations elsewhere across the country. The Colorado Department of Transportation closed portions of Interstate 70 and Interstate 25, the two main arteries crisscrossing the state. The National Weather Service said snow was falling at 2 inches an hour on the Eastern Plains, producing some blizzard conditions.

Colorado State Patrol spokesman Josh Lewis said nonessential staffers were told to come in at 10 am and Gov John Hickenlooper told state workers in the Denver metro area to stay home until 10 am unless their jobs involved health and safety. Transportation spokeswoman Becky Navarro said yesterday eastbound I-70 was closed from Aurora, Colo., to Limon, Colo., and a ramp was closed on Interstate 25 in Denver because of numerous accidents. “There are a lot of areas on the Front Range where there is very poor visibility,” she said. One of the largest snow totals yesterday morning was 2 feet in Pinecliff west of Denver, and snow totals were mounting rapidly along the Front Range and eastern Colorado. Jim Kalina of the National Weather Service said another foot of snow was expected in some areas along the Front Range before the storm moves out today.

The weather service said the snow will be moderate at times yesterday in Wyoming and Nebraska. However, winds could gust up to 35 mph and produce blowing snow from the southern Laramie Range to Sidney, Neb. Cities in the Front Range urban corridor from Colorado Springs, Colo., in the south to Fort Collins, Colo., and Greeley, Colo., in the north were under a winter storm warning.

The storm warnings prompted shoppers to stock up on food and liquor, while Colorado lawmakers canceled legislative work yesterday. Stores in Denver reported brisk business Thursday night. “The cheese wall is hammered, bread’s kind of hammered, milk’s kind of low,” said Aaron McFadden, a manager at a King Soopers store. Ted Vaca at Argonaut Liquor said customers were snapping up all kinds of drink. “It was more like a Friday than a Thursday,” he said. A Learjet ran off a runway at the Pueblo, Colo., airport as the storm moved in, but investigators hadn’t determined if the weather was a factor. None of the 10 people aboard was injured, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Many school districts announced they would be closed on Friday, including the two largest, in Jefferson County and Denver.— AP

Romney poised to win another state Candidates made a last push LAS VEGAS: Republican front-runner Mitt Romney seemed poised to pick up another state in the race to challenge President Barack Obama this fall, as candidates made a last push yesterday before the caucuses in Nevada this weekend. Romney, a Mormon with close ties to church leaders, is expected to carry an overwhelming majority of votes today from Nevada members of the church. Roughly 7 percent of Nevada’s population is Mormon, but they carry more clout than that because they turn out in such high numbers.

Nearly a quarter of all 2008 Republican presidential caucus voters in Nevada were Mormon, and roughly nine in 10 backed Romney then. While Romney narrows his focus on Obama and the economy - by far the most important election issue this year - the president got some welcome news yesterday, as the Labor Department said the country’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent in December, the lowest in nearly three years.

A final day of campaigning in Nevada for Romney, closest challenger Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul followed a carvival-like day in which real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump stole the spotlight with a surprise endorsement for Romney. The news came after Gingrich’s campaign mistakenly leaked word that he, not Romney, would get the backing.

Amid the glitter of Las Vegas casinos, Trump declared that Romney, whom he often criticized in the past, is “not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country we all love.” The endorsement wasn’t expected to have much sway on Republican voters, but it was a shot of publicity for a race that has seen a dizzying range of candidates rise and fall. Romney said he was glad to get the support, but he seemed almost bemused to be caught up in the drama.

“There are some things you just can’t imagine happening. This is one of them,” Romney said with a smile.

Romney is already the clear Republican front-runner after a convincing win in

FLORIDA: Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his wife Ann celebrate during a primary election night event in Tampa, Florida, January 31, 2012. —AFP the Florida primary this week, pulling 46.4 percent in the state compared with 31.9 percent for Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, his closest rival.

The race is now moving to more western states that could be more friendly to Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has been hit in recent weeks with concerns over his multimillionaire status and his sometimes tone-deaf comments about the poor. Whereas Romney’s faith was widely viewed nationally as a liability in 2008, running as a Mormon in the West guarantees a built-in voting bloc. Nearly 2.9 million members of the church live in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, California and Arizona. In contrast, there are barely 206,000 Mormons in the first four Republican voting states of New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, according to church estimates.

Even Mormon Democrats in Nevada claim Romney as a point of pride.”The LDS church has the same affinity toward Mitt Romney as African-Americans feel toward President Obama,” said Democratic state Sen. John Lee, referring to the church’s full name, the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “We don’t look at him as the governor from Massachusetts. We don’t look at him as the leader who saved the Olympics. We look at him as a man who knows what the values of our church are.” The church stresses political engagement, urging its members to “play a role as responsible citizens in their communities, including becoming informed about issues and voting in elections,” according to its website.

The libertarian Texas Rep. Paul, who took second in Nevada in 2008, has been courting Mormon voters for months, setting up a “Latter Day Saints for Ron Paul” Facebook page, holding special phone bank hours aimed at registered Republican Mormon voters and sending out frequent campaign emails highlighting his Mormon volunteers.

Gingrich and former Pennsylvania senator Santorum, who only recently launched campaign operations in Nevada, have done little to appeal directly to church members. But their religious values both are Catholics could serve as a common ground with some Mormon voters who revere family and faith.— AP

Chavez raps allies for posing kids with rifles CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez is strongly condemning an armed progovernment group for allegedly allowing children to pose with assault rifles.

He says it could hurt his image ahead of Venezuela’s presidential election.

Chavez took members of La Piedrita to task, calling them irresponsible and questioning their revolutionary ideals for staging a Jan 23 event in which youngsters wearing ski masks appeared brandishing assault rifles.

While adults held a political rally backing Chavez, the kids sat in front of a mural of Jesus Christ holding a Kalashnikov rifle alongside an angel in a

white dress, one of the numerous progovernment murals covering walls in the capital’s tough, working-class 23 de Enero district. “This is a serious irresponsibility,” Chavez said Thursday night during a nationally televised address. “This hurts the revolution.”

Only soldiers, police and state security officers, along with citizens with permits, are authorized to carry firearms, Chavez noted.

Representatives of La Piedrita have not publicly commented on mounting criticism from allies and adversaries of Chavez regarding the incident.

Photographs of the armed children

were recently posted anonymously on Facebook and Twitter, shocking many Venezuelans. “Instead of teaching civic values, they are indoctrinating little ones” with violent, revolutionary ideology, said Freddy Guevara, an opposition politician.

Authorities have strongly criticized La Piedrita previously. “We can only describe such activities as repulsive and morally unacceptable,” Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said of the latest incident while speaking a news conference earlier Thursday.

El Aissami said an investigation had been launched to determine who

armed the children. Opposition politicians have repeatedly accused the government of arming thuggish proChavez groups that have attacked antiChavez street marches, lobbed tear gas canisters at critical television stations and brandished their weapons while riding motorcycles through downtown Caracas.

Chavez, one of Latin America’s most outspoken critics of US policy on the region, suggested some members of the shadowy, secretive La Piedrita are doing Washington’s bidding. “I doubt they are true revolutionaries; they must be CIA infiltrators,” he said.— AP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

World court upholds German immunity in Nazi cases THE HAGUE: The UN‘s highest court confirmed yesterday that Germany has legal immunity from being sued in foreign courts by victims of World War II Nazi atrocities. The International Court of Justice said that Italy’s Supreme Court violated Germany’s sovereignty in 2008 by judging that an Italian civilian, Luigi Ferrini, was entitled to reparations for his deportation to Germany in 1944 to work as a slave laborer in the armaments industry.

The ruling is expected to stem the flow of civil cases launched against Germany in Italian courts in the aftermath of the Ferrini verdict. Germany had argued that the Italian ruling threw into doubt a restitution system put in place after the Nazis’ defeat that has seen Germany pay tens of billions of dollars in reparations since the 1950s. The 15-judge world court said in a 12-3 ruling that the Italian case violated Germany’s long-stand-

ing immunity, which has been recognized in international law, from being sued in national courts.

“The action of Italian courts in denying Germany immunity ... constitutes a breach of the obligation owed by the Italian state to Germany,” world court President Hisashi Owada said. Rulings by the International Court of Justice are final and binding on states. German representatives argued last year that if the world court sided with Italy it would open floodgates for restitution claims by individuals around the world, a situation it tried to avoid in negotiating reparation accords with Israel and with countries that had been occupied during the war, and with specific groups such as the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed yesterday’s ruling, saying it confirmed Germany’s

view on state immunity. “The clarification was not only in the interest of Germany but also in the interest of the international community. It is good and it serves all to have legal certainty now,” he said. Westerwelle stressed that Germany’s decision to go to court was not aimed at diminishing the country’s responsibility for Nazi war crimes. “The (German) federal government has always recognized their pain,” he said. “And, of course, the aim is also not to question German responsibility for the crimes of the Second World War.” The international court rejected Italy’s argument that states’ immunity did not apply in cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by one country’s army on the territory of another country.

Italy’s chief representative in the case, Paolo Pucci di Benisichi, said the result helped clarify the limits of states’ legal immunity. “We are not

disappointed,” he said. “Of course, I would have preferred a judgment that was closer to our line of defense.”

He said Rome likely would not have launched the case at all had it not been for the fact that Italians interned by Germany during the war were not included in existing reparation schemes. The court’s judgment noted with “surprise and regret” that Germany had excluded such victims from compensation.

Although Italy was a German ally during the War, many Italians were deported by Nazi forces, interned in camps and used as slave laborers.

Rome’s case was supported by Greece, whose citizens have similar claims against Germany. In 2008, the Italian court decided on the seizure of Villa Vigoni, a German-Italian cultural center on Lake Como, to “enforce” the claims by Italians and Greeks seeking compensation. — AP

Europe tries to shield homeless from cold Death toll rises to 169

LONDON: British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne gives a statement to the media outside his London flat yesterday resigning as energy and climate secretary over charges that he perverted the course of justice over. —AFP

UK minister quits Cabinet to fight criminal charge LONDON: British leader David Cameron made a third unwanted shake up of his government since 2010 yesterday after Cabinet minister Chris Huhne quit as prosecutors charged him over an alleged attempt to pin a speeding penalty on his ex-wife. Huhne, who will continue to serve in Parliament with the Liberal Democrat party, will appear in court later this month to face a criminal charge of perverting the course of justice. The charge follows an eight-month police investigation into an allegation that Huhne persuaded his now ex-wife, economist Vicky Pryce, to accept a speeding penalty on his behalf in 2003, to avoid a driving ban. Pryce, who is also charged with the same offense, split from Huhne in 2010 after he was exposed as having an affair with his public relations adviser Carina Trimingham.

A police inquiry was launched after Pryce was interviewed by The Sunday Times newspaper last year and alleged that Huhne had asked someone else to take the rap for the 2003 speeding offense, as he feared losing his diving license. Huhne, who was energy and climate change secretary, denies any wrongdoing. In a letter sent to Cameron tendering his resignation, he said he would “mount a robust defense” against the criminal charges.

“I am innocent of these charges and I intend to fight this in the courts and I am confident a jury will agree,” Huhne told reporters yesterday. Cameron confirmed Huhne’s fellow Liberal Democrat Ed Davey, 46, would take over the position handling the climate change and energy ministry.

Davey had been a junior minister in the business department since 2010, responsible for the country’s postal service and consumer affairs. — AP

KIEV: Russia and Ukraine both took precautions yesterday to protect homeless people, scores of whom have frozen to death on the streets of Europe during its brutal cold snap. As the death toll from the weeklong tragedy rose to at least 169 yesterday, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the creation of feeding and medical-assistance facilities nationwide for the homeless.

Russia has not reported casualty figures from the cold snap, which has gripped a large swath of the continent from Russia to Serbia. But Russian Deputy Health Minister Maxim Topilin was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency yesterday as saying that 64 people died from the cold in all of January. In Ukraine, the hardest hit country, health officials have told hospitals to stop discharging the hundreds of homeless patients after they are treated for hypothermia and frostbite. The goal is to prevent them from dying once they are released into temperatures as low as minus 32 Celsius (minus 26 Fahrenheit).

Authorities also have set up nearly 3,000 heating and food shelters.

Thirty-eight more fatalities were reported from frostbite and hypothermia in Ukraine yesterday, raising the nation’s death toll to 101. Emergency officials have said many of the victims were homeless. Of the Ukrainians who have died since the cold weather hit Jan 27, 64 were found frozen on the streets, 11 died in hospitals and 26 in their homes, emergency officials said.

The weeklong snap - Eastern Europe’s worst in decades - is causing power outages, frozen water pipes and the widespread closure of

schools, nurseries, airports and bus routes. Rome - which usually spares Italians from cold winter weather experienced a rare snowfall yesterday, prompting officials to close the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome’s ancient emperors, to prevent tourists from slipping and falling.

Northern Italy also has been gripped by snow and ice that is disrupting train travel. Temperatures in the Italian Alps have fallen as low as minus -22 C (minus 7 F).

In Poland, the Interior Ministry recorded eight more deaths yesterday and said two other people died of asphyxiation from carbon monoxidespewing charcoal heaters. In Serbia, where six people have died, blizzards gripped Belgrade, the capital, and

Novi, the country’s second-largest city, complicating efforts to rescue people trapped in their homes. In northern Serbia, hundreds of tons of fish in the Ecka lakes were in danger because the water was icing over.

Dozens of people have been working nonstop to break the ice, using hammers and all kinds of tools, and sometimes even falling into the freezing water.

Neighboring Croatia and Montenegro also were hard hit. In Croatia, some highways were closed and waters of the Adriatic Sea froze in some areas.

Buses that travel from Zagreb, the capital, toward the coast have been canceled. In Montenegro, the airport in the capital, Podgorica, was closed due to heavy snow. — AP

ROME: Scooters and motorbikes are covered with snow as they are parked downtown Rome yesterday. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Sudan bombs US-funded Bible school, US condemns NAIROBI: Sudan’s military bombed a Bible school built by a U.S. Christian aid group, prompting students and teachers at the school to run for their lives in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations condemned the attack.

Pictures obtained by The Associated Press yesterday showed that two stone school buildings were demolished in the attack. No one was hurt or killed despite the fact school was in session.

Ryan Boyette, a former aid worker

who lives in Sudan and is now leading a team of 15 citizen journalists, spoke to a teacher at the site of Wednesday’s attack in the Nuba Mountains. The teacher, Zachariah Boulus, told Boyette that he couldn’t find his wife and children after the attack because everyone ran into the mountains for safety.

Boyette said that two of eight bombs dropped hit the school. The Heiban Bible College was built by Samaritan’s Purse, a North Carolinabased aid group. Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham said the

attack was carried out by the Sudanese Air Force. “Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene,” Graham said.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said she was outraged by what she called a “heinous” bombing.

“It was the first day of school, and the campus was full of students, teachers and families,” Rice said in a statement. “While miraculously no one was killed, this attack-involving eight bombs dropped from the airunderscores the viciousness of

UN declares Somali famine over but warns of risks Crisis now a ‘humanitarian emergency’ NAIROBI: The United Nations said yesterday that Somalia’s famine is over, but the world body’s Food and Agricultural Organization warned that continued assistance is needed to stop the region from slipping back. The world body moved the crisis from the top step of a five-point scale - based on the death rate - to the fourth step, formally reducing it from a “famine” to a “humanitarian emergency”.

However, the UN said that 2.3 million people remain in a food crisis situation in Somalia and still need assistance. That represents 31 percent of the country’s population. Across the Horn of Africa region the total is 9.5 million who need help. The international body declared famine in Somalia last July after successive failed rains. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Somali capital Mogadishu in search of food.

The famine was exacerbated by the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has let few aid agencies into the area it controls in south-central Mogadishu. Jose Graziano da Silva, the director general of the UN ‘s Food and Agriculture Organization, warned that without assistance in the region over the next three months “those people will not survive.”

“The Horn of Africa will be for FAO the most important region and we’ll be doing our best here to improve food security,” he said. “We do believe it is possible to have a Horn of Africa free of hunger.” Mark Bowden, the UN ‘s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said that a massive increase in assistance last year helped lift Somalia out of famine conditions. But he said the international community needed to keep helping.

“The gains are considerable but they are also very fragile and one of the things I want to highlight is we have a temporary respite in terms of addressing the crisis in Somalia,” Bowden said. He later added: “The years of conflict and poor rains have left millions of Somalis vulnerable. The mortality rates in southern Somalia are still among the highest in the world.”

The militant group al-Shabab this week banned the international Red Cross from operating in southern Somalia. Bowden said any reduction in assistance “is of critical concern to us,” and he urged all sides of the conflict not to impede humanitarian aid.

The UN does not have a death toll from Somalia’s famine and will say only that it knows tens of thousands of people died, mostly between April and September last year. A study will be commissioned to look at the death toll

Exhausted, rail-thin women were stumbling into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia with dead babies and bleeding feet.

The journeys sometimes took weeks, and weaker family members children and the elderly were left behind on the way to die alone. The UN expanded Somalia’s famine zone a couple weeks later, defined as when two adults or four children per 10,000 people die of hunger each day and a third of children are acutely malnour-

MOGADISHU: In this Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 file photo, women queue up to receive basic foodstuffs at a food distribution center for those displaced by last year’s famine or by conflict, in Mogadishu, Somalia. —AP in more detail, one UN official said yesterday. Senait Gebregziabher, the head of Oxfam in Somalia, lauded the gains against hunger but said that Somalia “is still in the throes of its worst humanitarian crisis in decades” and said that insecurity is disrupting aid supplies, warning the world not to turn its back on the crisis.

“We are seriously concerned that if people do not have the security to tend their crops and animals, or the freedom to access clean water and food in the markets, the humanitarian situation will deteriorate once again,” Gebregziabher said.

After months without rainfall across the region, the UN on July 20 declared several parts of Somalia a famine zone.

ished. Aid groups quickly sent in planes and boats full of food, though a critical report written by two prominent aid agencies has found that government and aid groups were much too slow to respond despite early warnings of impending disaster. The crisis was the worse since 1991-92, when hundreds of thousands of Somalis starved to death.

This time, the British government estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 people died, most of them children. Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti were all badly affected, but the famine hit hardest in areas of Somalia suffering from a toxic mixture of drought, war, high taxes levied by armed groups, and rising food prices. —AP

Sudan’s ongoing military campaign in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.” The Nuba Mountains have been an area of conflict between Sudan’s military and a rebel group formerly aligned with South Sudan for months. Tens of thousands of people have fled the violence. Rice said the conflict is affecting more than 500,000 people. If the conflict continues, it could precipitate a famine, Rice said. Sudan is preventing aid groups from accessing parts of Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. — AP

Boko Haram refutes claim of spokesman’s arrest in Nigeria MAIDUGURI: A member of Islamist group Boko Haram has confirmed one of the group’s high-ranking members was arrested, but refuted reports that the detained person was its spokesman. In a phone conference with journalists in the northeastern city of Maiduguri late Thursday, the man said Boko Haram’s head of “public enlightenment” Abu Dardaa was arrested and not spokesman Abul Qaqa. The man speaking on the phone claimed to be Abul Qaqa himself, but his voice sounded different from previous such conferences in which the purported spokesman has claimed responsibility for scores of deadly attacks.

There has also long been speculation over whether those going by the aliases Abul Qaqa and Abu Dardaa are the same person. “We want to react on what security agents said regarding the arrest of one of our members,” the man said. “The person that was arrested was Abu Dardaa and not Abul Qaqa. I am Abul Qaqa ... Abu Dardaa is the head of the ‘Lajina’, the department of public enlightenment, and not the spokesman.”

A senior secret police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared the person who issued the comments was indeed connected to Boko Haram, but he dismissed the statements as propaganda. “It is no surprise they are making this ridiculous claim,” the source said. “Abul Qaqa is part of the 11-member Shura council, the sect’s decision-making body, and his arrest is a serious setback to the sect.”

Security sources said Wednesday that a suspect believed to be the person who goes by the alias Abul Qaqa had been arrested. Authorities have not officially confirmed his detention or his identity. The man claiming to speak on behalf of Boko Haram alleged that Dardaa was arrested when he was sent to the northern city of Kaduna for negotiations with government officials. “The arrest of Abu Dardaa is an outright deception and betrayal by the Nigerian government and security agents,” he said. “They proclaim dialogue but are doing the opposite.”

With authorities unable to stop attacks blamed on Boko Haram, there have been growing calls for dialogue to bring an end to the violence. “We want to reiterate that no amount of threat, arrest and intimidation will deter us from our course,” the purported Boko Haram spokesman said.

“We are not afraid of death and we are ever ready to die.” Boko Haram’s deadliest attack yet occurred on January 20, when coordinated bombings and shootings killed at least 185 people in Nigeria’s secondlargest city of Kano.

The group also claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that left at least 25 people dead. It has in the past claimed to be fighting for an Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, but its demands have repeatedly shifted. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Nepal’s ex-rebel fighters begin leaving camps Cheques part of govt plan to integrate men SHAKTIKHOR MAOIST CAMP: Nepal’s former communist rebel fighters began leaving the camps they have called home for five years yesterday after receiving government cheques as part of a plan to integrate them into society.

Thousands of former Maoist rebels have been living in camps spread across Nepal since 2006, when the Maoists abandoned their 10-yearold armed revolt and joined a peace process. Their fighters were then moved to the UN -monitored camps, where their weapons were locked in metal containers.

Government monitors started handing the cheques to the former fighters Friday and will take a few more days to complete the process, said Balananda Sharma, the chief monitor. Each of the former rebels is to receive from 500,000 rupees ($6,250) to 800,000 rupees ($10,000), depending on their rank in the People’s Liberation Army.

Sharma said they’ll be given half the amount now and the other half later this year.

The former fighters have lived in the camps for five years because of disagreements between the political parties on what to do with them.

The parties finally reached an agreement late last year to allow 6,500 of the ex- rebels to join the national army while the remaining would be given money to start fresh civilian lives.

At the Shaktikhor camp in Chitwan district, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital, Katmandu, the former fighters lined up outside the tent where government monitors in blue hats and jackets checked their documents and identification cars before giving them the checks.

First in the line was Uday Bahadur Chalaune, 34, the deputy commander of the camp, who received the full 800,000 rupees. Chalaune said he was leaving the camp so he could go back to his village and begin a new life as a politician. He said he would work for the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the nation’s largest political party. “There are still

many issues that need to be resolved. I am sad to leave the camp without addressing these issues,” Chalaune said. “But at the same time we gained many things through our people’s war, like converting the nation to a republic.”

Not all the former rebels were happy with the government’s package. Pabitra Khadka, 23, who still has bullet fragments lodged in her, said it would be difficult for both her and her husband, who also has battle injuries, to afford to continue receiving medical treatment once they leave the camps. They plan to move back to their village in west Nepal and work on the family farm they left when they joined the Maoists eight years ago.

“The main reason for leaving is to take care of my child and her education,” Khadka said. “We were assured by our leaders that even our children would be taken care of. But we have not heard about medical aid or any help for our children.”

Bhola Aryal, 30, who lost his right arm while fighting the government

army, said he was planning to pool the money with his friends and begin a small business.

“I have only one arm so I can’t work in the fields, so some of us from the same village decided to open up a business with the money,” Aryal said, adding that he was worried about medical costs because he has to routinely visit doctors. The Maoists fought government troops for 10 years, starting in 1996. After joining the peace process, they joined mainstream politics and contested elections in 2008, emerging as the largest political party.

Nepal’s current prime minister, Buburam Bhattarai, is the deputy leader of the Maoist party. He formed the government last year with the support of smaller political parties. Many of those who received the checks Friday were beginning to leave the camps. A formal farewell ceremony is planned for Feb 11, with the Maoists’ leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and the prime minister expected to attend. — AP

CHITWAN: A former Maoist rebel displays a cheque presented by the government at Shaktikhor Maoist Camp in Chitwan, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital Kathmandu, Nepal yesterday. —AP

Pakistani Taleban kill 7 soldiers, abduct 4 PARACHINAR: A large group of Islamist militants attacked a Pakistani army checkpoint near the Afghan border yesterday, killing seven paramilitary soldiers and abducting four, a government official and a spokesman for the insurgents said. Up to 18 insurgents were killed in retaliatory fire during the incident in Kurram region, said Jamil Khan. He said there were around 40 attackers armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons.

The attack was the latest in a series of bloody violent incidents in Kurram over the past week that have reportedly highlighted the tenacity of the insurgency there. It was not possible to independently confirm the information

because the border region is effectively off-limits to reporters. Militants have in the past disputed army accounts of casualties, and human rights groups say civilians often die in military actions.

Kurram is one of the seven Pakistani border regions where the military has battled for several years against militants. Pakistani Taleban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to reporters.

He made no mention of any insurgent casualties. The Taleban have abducted and killed several Pakistani army soldiers and paramilitary police in recent weeks. —AP

SATHI SARAPA: Indian disaster response personnel and onlookers gather around derailed cars of a passenger train following an accident at Sathi Sarapa village near Gauhati, India yesterday. A railway official said the train hit a bulldozer and derailed at an unmanned crossing in the north-eastern Indian state. —AP

NATO mulls paying for Afghan forces after 2014 BRUSSELS: NATO defense ministers yesterday tackled the controversial issue of how to pay for Afghanistan’s expanding security forces after they assume responsibility for the war in 2014. Since Afghanistan - one of the world’s poorest nations - cannot foot the estimated $6 billion (euro4.6 billion) annual bill, NATO nations will have to pay the bulk of it. But austerity measures and budgetary cuts caused by the financial crisis in the United States and Europe are making it difficult to raise the money.

British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said ministers would consider two critical questions: “What should be the long term size of the Afghan security forces and how are we going to share the cost of supporting that between different members of the international community. Those are discussions we have started here and we will continue at Chicago,” he said The two-day meeting in Brussels of ministers from NATO’s 28 nations and 22 other countries taking part in the war in Afghanistan is meant to pave the way for a NATO summit in May in Chicago.

The Afghan army and police are scheduled to grow to more than 350,000 members by 2014. But some have proposed that the force can be safely cut in order to reduce its cost. “A reasonable number would be 230,000,” French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said. The Taleban insurgents are estimated to have about 20,000 armed men. A related unresolved question that also will be taken up in Chicago is the number of US and other foreign troops that might remain behind and what missions they would be assigned.

The debate on costs came after NATO allies agreed broadly on Thursday to step back from the lead combat role in Afghanistan and let local forces take their place as early as next year, a shortened timetable that startled officials and members of the US Congress. Longuet said Paris would start drawing down its 3,600-strong contingent in March, and expects the withdrawal to be completed by mid-2013. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta caused a stir when he said Wednesday that he foresaw American and NATO forces switching from a combat role to a support role by mid- to late-2013. He said this was a natural transition in line with the NATO goal, announced in November 2010, of having every Afghan province placed in government control by the end of 2014. Until that remark, however, it was widely assumed that NATO forces would remain in the lead until the end of 2014, when most foreign forces are scheduled to be withdrawn.

Panetta said he explained to his NATO counterparts that he hopes Afghan forces will be ready to lead the combat nationwide sometime in 2013, with international troops shifting to a support role after a decade of inconclusive combat. That means Afghans would bear the main burden of offensive action, with US and other foreign troops assisting, he said. His remark prompted some Republicans in Washington to complain that the Obama administration was unwisely telegraphing its intentions to the Taleban , and it led to a cascade of confusing statements seeking to illuminate Panetta’s meaning. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

More than 110 missing from ferry in Papua New Guinea Rescuers fear many trapped inside

PROPERIDAD: A Philippine soldier (C) guards former hostages aboard a military vehicle shortly after arriving at a hospital for a check up in Prosperidad, a town in Agusan del Sur province on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on December 13, 2009. —AFP

No ransom demand yet for two Europeans: Philippines MANILA: Police said yesterday that local thugs, not AlQaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, were likely to have abducted two European tourists this week in the southern Philippines. Police Director Felicisimo Khu said the kidnappers had not contacted authorities or made any ransom demand. Ewold Horn of the Netherlands, Lorenzo Vinciguerra of Switzerland and their Filipino guide, Ivan Sarenas, were abducted Wednesday during a bird-watching trip to Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines’ southernmost province. They were the latest kidnap victims in an impoverished region infested with Al-Qaeda-linked militants and criminal gangs that often seek ransom for their foreign hostages.

Sarenas escaped hours later by jumping off their captors’ boat after he saw some fishermen, who rescued him.

Khu said he doubts the gunmen were Abu Sayyaf members because there is no known Abu Sayyaf presence in the province. But Tawi-Tawi is home to rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a peace pact with the government in 1996. “There are no indications that they are Abu Sayyaf,” Khu said in a telephone interview, adding that the abductors were likely local thugs.

He said the kidnappers freed unharmed an unarmed policeman, a town councilor and a boat skipper who were accompanying the bird watchers, and did not shoot Sarenas when he jumped out of the boat to make his escape - uncharacteristic of the brutal Abu Sayyaf militants, who are notorious for kidnappings and beheadings. The abductors also appeared to be have bungled in failing to take Vinciguerra’s bag, which contained more than $1,000 worth of foreign currencies, and Sarenas’ bag, which had expensive cameras.

Police recovered the belongings from the motorized outrigger from which the victims were seized. Sarenas said the victims were transferred to another boat, then a third boat. He said he escaped when he realized the boat was speeding toward Jolo island, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. But Khu said that the boat was small and that there was no extra fuel on board for the 12-hour trip to Jolo.

Police said the kidnappers landed in Tawi-Tawi’s Languyan township and burned their boat in a bid to hide its owner. Sarenas said he, Horn and Vinciguerra arrived in Tawi-Tawi on Sunday in search of the Sulu hornbill, said to be the most endangered hornbill in the world. Tawi-Tawi is famed for virgin beaches surrounded by crystal blue waters. But like most areas in the restive southern Philippines, it is undeveloped because of years of violence, including ransom kidnappings, bomb attacks and fighting between troops and Muslim rebels.

After spending three days in a mountain forest, the three were heading back to the provincial capital of Bongao by boat Wednesday when five rifle-toting gunmen on another boat fired warning shots and intercepted them, Sarenas said. Muslim insurgents have been fighting for minority self-rule in the predominantly Christian nation’s south, and the Abu Sayyaf is the most violent group. The militants have been holding an Australian man abducted in December, as well as a Japanese and a Malaysian. — AP

PORT MORESBY: More than 110 people were missing yesterday after a ferry sank off Papua New Guinea’s east coast, and rescuers feared many had been trapped inside. Searchers found only one survivor yesterday, a day after rescuing 246 people from the MV Rabaul Queen, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said.

The ferry sank Thursday morning in rough seas. O’Neill said bad weather forced rescuers to abandon their search early yesterday, but it would resume today. He refused to say whether any bodies had been recovered.

Capt. Nurur Rahman, rescue coordinator for the National Maritime Safety Authority, said he had not given up hope of finding more survivors. “I do not presume them to be dead yet,” Rahman told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Rony Naigu, a National Maritime Safety Authority official, told ABC that about 100 people are thought to have been trapped inside when the ship was hit by three large waves and sank. “The sea was really rough, windy, big waves. The boat tilted once, then twice, then three times and it went over,” said Alice Kakamara, who was recovering in a hospital yesterday after inhaling toxins during the sinking.

“There was oil everywhere,” she said.

Kakamara said she might not have survived had she not been with her 11-

year-old nephew, who urged her not to give up. They found a lifeboat, but it too was sinking. She said she put the boy on another boat and later heard from relatives that he is OK. The ferry’s owners, Papua New Guinea-based Rabaul Shipping Co., said there had been 350 passengers and 12 crew aboard the 22year-old Japanese-built ferry when it went down while traveling from Kimbe on the island of New Britain to the coastal city of Lae on the main island. A police official said most of those aboard were students.

“We are stunned and utterly devastated by what has happened,” managing director Peter Sharp said in a statement. The company said the cause of the disaster remained unclear, but National Weather Service chief Sam Maiha told Papua New Guinea’s PostCourier newspaper that shipping agencies had been warned to keep ships moored this week because of strong winds.

By nightfall Thursday, 246 survivors had been rescued by merchant ships battling 16-foot (5 meter) swells and 45 mph (75 kph) winds at the disaster scene, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. Capt. Rahman said the sea temperature was above 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) - warm enough for people to survive for an

extended period. He said most of those rescued had been wearing life jackets.

He said the 155-foot (47-meter) ferry sank in 3,300-foot (one-kilometer) deep water, making it difficult to determine whether bodies were trapped inside.

The survivors were delivered to Lae, the South Pacific country’s second-largest city, by five ships early yesterday, said the AMSA, which is assisting Papua New Guinea authorities with the rescue.

“None of them had sustained any real injuries. They were pretty cold and miserable,” Lae Chamber of Commerce President Alan McLay told Sky News television. An angry crowd threw stones at the Kimbe office of the shipping company on Thursday night, outraged at a lack of information, police said.

“There were a lot of people crying and then they wanted to know the fate of their loved ones, the people actually who were on board,” Kimbe Police Inspector Samson Siguyaru told ABC. The company said the ferry’s captain had made routine radio contact with another vessel before the sinking and gave no indication anything was wrong.

O’Neill, the prime minister, said the cause of the accident was unknown, but acknowledged that safety in the shipping industry was lax. “We need to bring some safety measures back into this industry,” —AP

Khmer Rouge jailer gets life in prison PHNOM PENH: A U.N.-backed tribunal’s Supreme Court lengthened the sentence for the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer to life imprisonment yesterday because of his “shocking and heinous” crimes against the Cambodian people. The surprise ruling increased a lower court’s 19-year sentence for Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch. Prosecutors had appealed the sentence as too lenient, and outraged survivors had feared the man who oversaw the torture and killing of thousands could one day walk free.

Duch was the first defendant to be tried by the tribunal. He was commander of Phnom Penh’s top-secret Tuol Sleng prison, code-named S-21. He admitted to overseeing the torture of his prisoners before sending them for execution at the “killing fields.” In July 2010, the tribunal’s lower court convicted Duch (pronounced DOIK) of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder.

He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but had 16 years shaved off for time served and other technicalities. The

PHNOM PENH: Bou Meng, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge’s prison Toul Sleng, speaks to the media after Kaing Guek Eav —better known as Duch — was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Cambodia’s UN-backed Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Phnom Penh yesterday. —AFP

sentence was appealed both by prosecutors, who called for life imprisonment, and by Duch, who argued it was too harsh because he was merely following orders. Judge Kong Srim, president of the Supreme Court Chamber, said yesterday that the upper court felt the penalty should be more severe because the former jailer was responsible for the brutal deaths of so many.

“The crimes of Kaing Guek Eav were of a particularly shocking and heinous character based on the number of people who were proven to have been killed,” the judge said.

The tribunal says Duch oversaw the deaths of at least 12,272 victims but estimates have placed the number as high as 16,000. The court said the high number of deaths and the extended period of time over which they occurred from 1975 to 1979 “undoubtedly place this case among the gravest before international criminal tribunals.”

Duch, 69, stood calmly without emotion as the sentence was read. He then pressed his palms together and drew them to his chest in a show of respect to the judge, before being led away by court guards. The ruling is final with no other chance for appeal. Andrew Cayley, the British co-prosecutor, said Duch can request a pardon after 20 years served; in this case, that will be about seven years from now. Duch trained, ordered and supervised his staff to conduct “systematic torture and execution of prisoners” and showed “dedication to refining the operations of S-21, which was the factory of death,” the court said in a separate statement. — AP

Business Putin pre-poll share buy-back sparks row

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Greek debt deal ‘within reach’: EU Commission

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IMF warchest in parallel with EU firewall

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

US job growth rises, jobless rate drops

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China has no plan to ‘buy Europe’: Wen Concern over rising Chinese investment in EU economies BEIJING: China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday the Asian giant had neither the ability nor the intention to “buy Europe”, amid concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken euro-zone economies.

China is “willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe”, Wen told a German-China business forum in the southern city of Guangzhou. “This a concern and doesn’t fit reality. China doesn’t have this intention and doesn’t have this ability.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in China for a three-day visit to boost her host’s confidence in Europe, also attended the forum along with executives from the energy, chemicals, engineering, banking and electronics sectors.

There are growing concerns in Europe that a recent wave of investment by Chinese companies and government-backed funds will give Beijing too much influence over struggling European economies.

In the latest deal, China State Grid has agreed to pay 387 million euros ($508.2 million) for a 25 percent stake in the national electricity grid of debt-stricken Portugal, Treasury Secretary Maria Albuquerque said Thursday.

European leaders have called on China, which has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, to invest in a bailout fund to rescue debt-stricken countries. China has so far made no firm commitment to provide financial assistance, although Wen said Thursday it was considering getting more involved in bailout funds through the International Monetary Fund.

Analysts say bargain-hunting is behind the recent acquisitions

by Chinese companies seeking to expand overseas. The country’s sovereign wealth fund has also sought to diversify away from US bonds. At the forum Wen also touched on the politically sensitive topic of rare earths — 17 elements crucial in the manufacturing of many high-tech products amid accusations China unfairly restricts exports of the valuable minerals. China-the world’s largest producer of rare earths-”has no discrimination when it comes to foreign companies”, Wen told the forum.

State media said this week Beijing was bracing for renewed calls to ease its rare earths controls after the World Trade Organization ruled the country’s limits on key raw material exports broke trade rules. Merkel, who earlier yesterday held talks with President Hu Jintao and the country’s top legislator Wu Bangguo in Beijing, had said that she would raise human rights issues during her visit.

Rights lawyer Mo Shaoping, whose clients include jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, told AFP Friday that police had prevented him from meeting with Merkel at a reception at the German Embassy on Thursday.

Mo said police told him he was not allowed to attend the meeting due to concerns over social stability ahead of a key Communist Party meeting slated for late this year that will usher in a 10-yearly leadership transition. The German embassy in Beijing did not immediately comment on the absence of Mo, who also defended the jailed rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. —AFP

SHANGHAI: Local tourists ride an escalator in Pudong, the financial district of Shanghai yesterday. China’s premier Wen Jiabao warned of an “urgent” need to solve the European debt crisis and said Beijing was looking at ways it could contribute to bailout funds, after talks with Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel. — AFP

business SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Euro-zone sales fall at Christmas BRUSSELS: Retail sales in the eurozone tumbled unexpectedly in December, the biggest drop in the Christmas period in three years, data showed yesterday, with rising joblessness and stubborn inflation undercut signs of a stabilization in Europe’s economy.

Sales across the 17-nation single currency area fell 0.4 percent in December from November, well down from the 0.3 percent rise forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

They were down by 1.6 percent on an annual basis, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said. That annual drop was the biggest since December 2008 when retail sales also fell 1.6 percent in the month at what turned out to be the start of the

world’s biggest post-1930s recession.

European households cannot yet be relied on to help the euro zone pull out of its latest slump. Joblessness reached a euro-era high of 10.4 percent in December, while inflation remains near recent peaks of 3 percent. Even in Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, sales fell 1.4 percent compared with November and shoppers stayed away from the malls in France and Spain, where sales slid 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent respectively. Consumer confidence is also weak, despite rising slightly in January from a 26-month low in December.

“We’re not expecting any miracles from consumer spending this year, simply because we haven’t got a high enough growth rate to generate jobs

and stabilize the labor market,” said Guillaume Menuet, an economist at Citigroup. “The question is to what extent households draw down their savings to maintain consumption,” he said. EU leaders at a summit on Monday promised to free funds to promote jobs and try to revive the euro zone economy, a shift in their mantra that spending cuts are the only way to recover from the euro zone’s two-year sovereign debt saga. The European Central Bank’s decision late last year to provide cheap three-year loans to banks has also helped to avert a freeze in lending that could have deepened the downturn.

In one hopeful sign, industry data and business surveys suggest the collapse in confidence last year has large-

ly stabilized and Germany will probably avoid recession in 2012.

The euro-zone’s private sector economy snapped a four-month decline in January and expanded, albeit very weakly, according to a survey released separately yesterday.

“There’s some momentum, as the first quarter is starting from a less negative footing from the fourth quarter of 2011, but it is not telling us there’s going to be growth, just a stabilization,” Citigroup’s Menuet said. At the EU leaders’ summit, the bloc’s 27 countries risked sending a mixed message to households by signing up to a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline that could stifle policies aimed at sparking growth, economists say. —Reuters

US job growth rises, jobless rate drops Nonfarm employment surges 243,000 in Jan

The logo for Swiss bank UBS is photographed outside one of their offices in the City of London. The Swiss Competition Commission said yesterday it has launched an investigation into possible cartel behavior by a dozen banks including Switzerland’s two biggest institutions UBS and Credit Suisse. — AP

Zain Kuwait offers 50% discount on SMS, 20% on calls to Sri Lanka KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, has announced that it will offer a 50% percent discount on all SMS messages to Sri Lanka and 20% discount on international calls to Sri Lanka as they celebrate the Independence Day today (February 4).

Zain Kuwait expressed its congratulations on this occasion to the people of Sri Lanka, represented in its leadership, the embassy and all Sri Lanka expatriates residing in Kuwait.

The Company said that Zain is a global company which is always keen to participate in the celebrations of nations. The company stated that the offer is extended to all SMS & International calls sent to Sri Lanka only today (February 4) for both post-paid and pre-paid customers.

Gold holds near 11-week high LONDON: Gold held near $1,760 an ounce yesterday ahead of key US payrolls data later in the day, having earlier hit its highest since mid-November as expectations that US monetary policy will remain ultra-loose boosted investors’ appetite for bullion.

Spot gold was at $1,757.00 an ounce at 1200 GMT, down 0.1 percent, having hit a high of $1,762.90. US gold futures for February delivery were flat at $1,759.30. A US Federal Reserve pledge last month to keep interest rates at rockbottom levels and hints of another round of monetary easing, which would keep the dollar weak and the opportunity cost of holding bullion low, have helped lift gold prices by 12.5 percent this year. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: The US economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent, indicating last quarter’s growth carried into early 2012.

Nonfarm payrolls jumped 243,000, the Labor Department said yesterday, the most since April and beating economists’ expectations for a gain of only 150,000. Economists had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 8.5 percent. The rate has dropped 0.8 percentage point since August.

The decline last month reflected large gains in employment in the separate household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived. Fewer people left the labor force.

Job gains last month were widespread, with even the transportation and warehousing sector increasing payrolls. The tenor of the report was further strengthened by revisions to November and December payrolls data, which showed 60,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

In addition, average hourly earnings rose four cents, which should help to support spending. The report suggested that expectations of a slowdown in US economic growth in the first quarter were not yet impacting on companies’ hiring decisions.

The continued labor market improvement could be a relief for President Barack Obama who faces a tough reelection.

The US Federal Reserve last week said it would probably hold interest rates near zero at least through 2014, citing still-high unemployment. Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed was mulling further purchases to speed up the recovery, but the last employment numbers could cause policymakers to step back.

The US central bank has already bought $2.3 trillion in bonds to keep rates low and spur the economy.

Employment in the private sector surged 257,000 - the largest gain since April. Government payrolls fell 14,000,

the least amount since September.The US economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2011, quickening from 1.8 percent in the third quarter. However, the rebuilding of stocks by businesses accounted for twothirds of the rise, setting the economy up for a slower growth pace this quarter.

Growth is also seen moderating as the European debt crisis, which has already pushed some economies in the region into recession, takes an edge off US exports. Still, there are signs that the economy continues to have momentum. Auto sales were buoyant in January, factory activity hit a sevenmonth high and the four-week average of new jobless claims fall through the month.

While job growth has quickened there are no jobs for three out of every four unemployed people and 19.3 million Americans are either out of work or underemployed. But there is reason for cautious optimism. The unemployment

rate has declined for five straight months, partly because of unemployed workers giving up the hunt for a job and people actually finding work.

A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have stopped looking and those working only part time but who want more work, slipped to 15.1 percent in January from 15.2 percent in December.

The January household survey data incorporated new population controls.

The department also released annual revisions to the payrolls data from the survey of employers and introduced new factors to adjust for seasonal fluctuations. It said the level of employment in March of last year was 165,000 higher than it had reported, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Mild winter weather boosted construction employment last month, which added 21,000 after a 31,000 increase in December. — Reuters

NEW YORK: Daniela Silvero (left), an admissions officer at ASA College, discuss job opportunities with Patrick Rosarie, who is seeking a job in IT, during JobEXPO’s job fair, in New York. The unemployment rate fell for the fifth straight month after a surge of January hiring, a promising shift in the nation’s outlook for job growth. — AP

business SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Bangladesh remittances set record in January DHAKA: Bangladeshi migrant laborers have sent home a record $1.22 billion in January this year, easing concern over the country’s eroding foreign exchange reserves, a central bank official said yesterday.

The figure is up 25 percent over January last year and six percent higher than the previous monthly record of $1.15 billion set in December last

year, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Ahsan Ullah said. “January’s remittance figure is the highest ever Bangladesh has received in a month,” he told AFP, adding that a 20-percent depreciation of Taka against the greenback since January last year prompted many to send home more money. Taka has been sliding fast since late last year when the country’s

current account dived into deficit.

“It’s a good news for the economy.

It has significantly helped boost our foreign exchange reserve,” Ullah said.

Remittances from the country’s seven million-plus migrants are Bangladesh’s second-highest foreign exchange earner after exports and are seen as a big help in alleviating poverty in the impoverished South

Asian nation. “This fiscal year ending in June, 2012, we are confident annual remittances will cross $12 billion,” said Ullah. Bangladeshi migrants sent home $11.65 billion last fiscal year.

According to government figures, seven million Bangladeshis work overseas, although unofficial estimates put the figure at around nine million. — AFP

Putin pre-poll share buy-back sparks row Central Bank expresses alarm

ZHENJIANG: A factory of Chinese carmaker Youngman in Jinhua, east China’s Zhejiang province. Chinese carmaker Youngman has placed a bid for bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab, public broadcaster Swedish Radio reported on Thursday. — AFP

Brent above $112 on Iran; eyes on US jobs LONDON: Brent crude rose above $112 yesterday after Iran’s supreme leader warned of retaliation over an oil embargo “at the right time”, although caution before the latest U.S. jobs data and worries about the euro zone kept gains in check.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a defiant speech to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, said Tehran would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear program. “Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course ... In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time,” Khamenei told worshippers in a live broadcast on state television.

By 1206 GMT, front-month Brent crude was up 26 cents at $112.33 a barrel, gaining for a fourth consecutive day.

US crude rose by 17 cents to $96.53 a barrel, reversing five straight sessions of losses.

“This news flow should continue to build a Brent premium, and could widen the Brent-WTI (U.S. crude) spread,” Commerzbank oil analyst Carsten Fritsch said.

The spread between the two benchmark crudes stood at $15.77 a barrel by the same time, having widened the previous session to above $16. The Washington Post reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was concerned about the increased likelihood that Israel could launch an attack as early as April. CNN said it confirmed the report, citing a senior Obama administration official, who declined to be identified.

“The view and talk has helped to slowly support the growing risk premium that has been in the market and ... is acting as a price floor at a minimum,” Dominick Chirichella from Energy Management Institute said in a note.

Oil gains were capped, however, ahead of key US jobs data and as Greece continued negotiating towards a deal with its creditors.

Investors will scrutinize the US employment report, mindful that an expected slowdown in first-quarter US economic growth could affect oil demand from the world’s top consumer. “The markets are setting up for a macrodriven trading session at least for the first part of the US session as all await the latest non-farm payroll number from the US Labor Department, along with the headline unemployment rate,” Chirichella added. — Reuters

MOSCOW: A plan by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to allow investors in a partly-privatized state bank to sell back their shares sparked controversy yesterday, with the central bank expressing alarm.

Putin stunned markets by announcing in a apparently ad-hoc fashion a plan to let shareholders in state bank VTB, whose shares have not proved a great investment since privatization in 2007, to sell their shares back to the bank. The head of the bank Andrei Kostin, responding to Putin’s announcement during the plenary session of a conference, said a program would be drawn up at an estimated cost of 15-18 billion rubles ($500 million to $600 million).

“The pre-election buy-back,” the daily newspaper Vedomosti said in its headline. Putin’s promise should do his popularity ahead of March 4 presidential elections no harm, especially among VTB shareholders disappointed with the performance of their holdings. The bank held an initial public offering worth $8 billion in May 2007.

But the promise, coming as Putin faces an unusually tense election campaign after mass protests against his rule, has already proved hugely controversial among economic policymakers.

“I think that it is wrong to use the state budget for this operation,” Interfax news agency quoted the

deputy chief of Russia’s central bank Alexei Ulyukayev as saying. “I do not quite understand what this will involve, but for sure taxpayers should not have to pay,” he added.

German Gref, the head of Russia’s

largest bank whose IPO was hailed as a “people’s IPO” and saw over 100,000 small investors become shareholders.

Putin said the bank had to look at buying the shares back so that minority shareholders “did not sustain any

SAINTS PETERSBURG: An Italian automatic loom produces tapestries with portraits of Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Uzor (Pattern) weaving mill in the town of Vyritsa near the Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg, yesterday. — AFP largest bank Sberbank, commented: “This is beyond the limit of my understanding.”

The government still retains a 75.5 percent stake in VTB, Russia’s second

losses”. Russia froze its privatization program following the global financial crisis, but it is now taking steps to sell more shares in state firms once market conditions improve. —AFP

Sri Lanka raises rates, slows lending COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s central bank yesterday raised its key interest rate for the first time in five years and asked commercial banks to reduce lending in the face of a trade deficit.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka hiked its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 9.0 percent, the first rise since February 2007 when the rate was upped to 12.0 percent from 11.50 percent.

The bank also asked commercial banks to rein in lending, arguing that much of it financed the country’s surging import bill, owing to higher oil costs and cheap credit that drew a flood of foreign-made vehicles into the country.

The IMF, which extended a $2.6 billion bailout to Sri Lanka following a balance of payments crisis in 2009, said it welcomed Friday’s policy moves, but said the island needed to do more to “balance the economy.”

International Monetary Fund’s Brian Aitken, who led a

team to assess the island’s economy, said Sri Lanka could not allow the huge trade deficit that was seen in 2011 to continue along with dwindling foreign reserves. However, he said the problems faced by Sri Lanka which is emerging from nearly four decades of ethnic war, was not as “acute” as it was in 2009 when foreign reserves dipped below $1 billion.

Government forces crushed Tamil separatists in May 2009 and the regime of President Mahinda Rajapaksa thereafter sought the IMF bailout. “We don’t see the situation as that acute,” Aitken told reporters in Colombo at the end of their latest review of the island’s economy.

“That is why the government has the policy space to manage a transition towards a more sustainable current account,” he said. The Indian Ocean nation’s trade deficit hit a record $8.83 billion in the first 11 months of last year, shrinking its foreign currency reserves. — AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Greek debt deal ‘within reach’: EU Commission 70% bond write-down hard to get

STOCKHOLM: Olof Persson CEO of truck maker Volvo AB presents the fourth-quarter results during a press conference yesterday in Stockholm. — AFP

Volvo Group posts record sales in 2011 STOCKHOLM: Volvo Group, the world’s second-largest truck maker, announced yesterday a 63-percent jump in its 2011 net profit boosted by record sales and margins, and a 43-percent hike in the fourth quarter.

“If we review the full-year 2011, the Volvo Group generated the highest net sales, the best operating income and the highest operating margin to date,” chief executive Olof Persson said in a statement.

For the full-year, the group’s net profit rose 63 percent to 17.75 billion kronor (2.0 billion euros, $2.65 billion), and by 43 percent in the final quarter to 4.72 billion kronor. Sales rose 18 percent to 310.3 billion kronor last year, and increased by the same amount to 86.5 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

The quarterly profit and sales figures beat the expectations of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, who had forecast 4.67 billion kronor and 81.05 billion kronor respectively.

“The improved results were primarily due to higher sales,” Persson said. “The group is financially strong in an environment that is currently characterized by turmoil in the financial markets and uncertain macro-economic trends,” he added.

The group’s full-year sales were mainly driven by a 21-percent rise in truck sales to 200.7 billion kronor and a 22-percent rise in bus sales to 22.2 billion kronor.

Volvo posted its biggest ever increase in truck sales on the North American market, which were up by 75 percent in terms of volume and by 38 percent in terms of value for the full-year.

The overall truck market in North America, for all brands, rose 52 percent last year with 216,000 units sold. The strong demand was attributed to the need to replace ageing fleets, the group said. — AFP

UK opposition attacks ‘corrosive’ bank bonuses LONDON: Britain’s opposition Labor Party is calling on banks to exercise restraint in the annual bonus round, warning yesterday that a culture of excessive bonuses has been “corrosive”. At a speech hosted by Thomson Reuters, Labor leader Ed Miliband commended Royal Bank of Scotland Chairman Philip Hampton for his decision to waive his bonus at the state-backed bank.

“I think all banks should show restraint,” Miliband said, adding that “private banks also have an implicit government guarantee” and “This bonus culture has ultimately been corrosive.” Hampton said yeterday that pay in the banking sector had been too high for too long.. Miliband stopped short of making specific demands on individual bankers. Attention will focus next week on Barclays American CEO Bob Diamond who could get a 3.4 million pound ($5.4 million) bonus for 2011.

Miliband, who has struggled to make an impact since he became centre-left Labor leader in 2010, has struck a chord with his attacks on bonus payments. The Conservatives, the dominant party in Britain’s coalition government, are traditionally the party of big business but their leader, David Cameron, has also criticized excessive executive pay at a time when Britons are seeing their living standards decline.

The bonus issue came to a head in recent days when RBS chairman Hampton gave up his bonus and CEO Stephen Hester bowed to political pressure and followed suit.

Former RBS CEO Fred Goodwin was also stripped of his knighthood, confirming his pariah status for a disastrous expansion that brought the bank to its knees. —Reuters

BRUSSELS: A deal to restructure some 200 billion euros of privately-held Greek sovereign debt that would pave the way for a new financial rescue is “within reach,” the European Commission said yesterday. “We believe ... that a deal is within reach,” said Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for the European Union’s top economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, At the same time, Altafaj said the negotiations were proving “very difficult” due to the novelty of securing a 70 percent bond write-down by private creditors. Despite the problems, and the repeated reports that the talks over many weeks that the talks were on the verge of an accord, Altafaj maintained that there was “a clear willingness among the parties to reach a deal on private-sector involvement (PSI) on a voluntary basis.”

The goal is to get Greece’s overall debt burden down to nearer 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, a level required by the International Monetary Fund, from its present 160 percent of GDP. This would then enable talks to proceed on a fresh 130-billioneuro bailout by euro-zone, EU and IMF partners for Athens, although a row is ongoing over whether the official sector-namely, the European Central Bank and other EU institutions-should also take a hit on their holdings of Greek government bonds.

Reports suggest that the difference between Greece and its private creditors comes to some 15 billion euros which will need to be found elsewhere, with

the suggestion being that the official sector, which up to now has refused to write-down its bonds, may have to give ground.

Josef Ackermann, the head of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest private bank, and chairman of the Institute of International Finance representing the banks in the negotiations, said

Finance ministers from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Finland-the four Triple A-rated euro-zone stateswere holding talks in Berlin on Friday on the Greek deal. A German government spokesman said that the conditions for full talks among the 17-state currency Eurogroup were not yet ripe for concrete decision making. Altafaj did con-

ATHENS: Poul Thomsen (center), a senior International Monetary Fund official, arrives at a Greek government building yesterday for ongoing talks on a new 200 billion euros bailout deal for the crisis-hit country. — AFP Thursday he may make for Athens this weekend in a bid to close the deal.

Altafaj was again unable to confirm that a ‘virtual’ meeting of euro-zone finance ministers by teleconference set for late Monday would take place.

firm that “all aspects” of labor-market reform were being examined, which could involve a reduction of minimum wages for Greek workers. “Everything is up for negotiation (but) nothing is imposed,” Altafaj said. — AFP

Greek unions, employers reject wage cuts ATHENS: Unions and employers’ associations in Greece have rejected demands for private-sector wage cuts, despite pressure for the country to introduce strict austerity measures if it is to receive a crucial bailout package. In a letter to the government yesterday, unions and employers said they rejected proposals for the minimum wage to be slashed and annual salaries to be paid to Greek workers in 14 installments.

Wage costs have emerged as a major sticking point in negotiations between the government and rescue creditors from Greece’s partners in the euro-zone and the International Monetary Fund for

a new bailout worth at least euro130 billion ($170 billion). Without that deal, and a related bond swap that seeks to cut the country’s privately held debt, Greece would go bankrupt in late March, when it faces a euro14.5 billion bond redemption it cannot afford.

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the bond swap deal, known as the Private Sector Involvement, or PSI, and the parallel negotiations with the euro-zone, European Central Bank and IMF debt inspectors for the second bailout were almost complete. “The PSI, I think, in its basic elements is ready,” he told Real FM radio, adding that talks

ATHENS: Greek civil engineers protest as a sign on a shopfront behind reads ‘’closing sale,’ outside the Labor Ministry building in central Athens yesterday. —AP

with the debt inspectors known as the troika were “in the final stage.”

“Within the day, we will have to finalize a series of alternative proposals which will be put before the political (party) leaders so we can take the final decisions,” he said. People familiar with the talks on PSI have said that the deal would see investors take losses of more than 70 percent through a 50 per cent cut in the value of the bonds, a lower interest rate of between 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent on the bond and more time to pay back the debt.

A meeting between Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the heads of the three parties in his interim coalition government was expected today, but no precise time or day was set by noon Friday. Asked whether there was any alternative plan, Kapsis said that “there will necessarily be a Plan B” - but that he did not want to discuss what it might be.

“Clearly, if we don’t close the deal and we let go and say ‘we will default on our own,” we would be heading to an open bankruptcy. But I don’t think anyone supports that.” Greece has been surviving since May 2010 on rescue loans from a euro110 billion bailout package from other euro-zone countries and the IMF. In return, it has pushed through tough austerity measures, including public sector salary and pension cuts and repeated rounds of tax hikes. — AP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

IMF warchest in parallel with EU firewall: Official Shinohara calls for more Japan tax hikes

TOKYO: Fumio Otsubo, president of Japan’s electronics giant Panasonic, makes a speech during a press conference at its head office in Tokyo yesterday.—AFP

Panasonic poised for record $10.2bn loss TOKYO: Japan’s Panasonic yesterday warned it would see its worst-ever net loss of 780 billion yen ($10.2 billion) for the year to March, blaming the strong yen, flooding in Thailand, and acquisition costs.

The electronics giant said the huge net loss-which would be one of the worst ever recorded by any non-financial Japanese company-was due to one-off costs it incurred to acquire rival Sanyo, among other factors. “We expect a sizable decline in sales due to the impact of massive flooding in Thailand last October on broad supply chains, together with a global economic slowdown triggered by the European debt crisis,” the firm said.

“Although the company carried out streamlining efforts rigorously in this extreme situation, it is not expected that the company will be able to offset the decline in sales,” it added in a statement.

Panasonic has long suffered major losses in its television business and its debt soared due to the Sanyo purchase. A torrid year for the firm saw it downgraded by Moody’s and announce a plan to reduce headcount by 17,000 people.

Company president Fumio Otsubo admitted the situation was serious. “We feel the gravity of our responsibility for reporting the massive loss,” he told a news conference.

“We have been carrying out our painful reforms, and then came the quake disaster, flooding and a sudden rise in the yen. As a result, we reported these tough results,” he said.

He did not respond directly when asked if he was planning to resign, saying: “For us, the important thing is to firmly achieve profit recovery for the fiscal 2012 year. That’s all.”

The prediction of a huge loss is a stark contrast to Panasonic’s net profit of 74 billion yen in the year to March 2011, and its first forecast for the current year, which was for a 30 billion yen profit.

The Osaka-based company revised downward its annual sales forecast to 8.0 trillion yen, from 8.3 trillion yen earlier.

Operating profit for the year is now seen at 30 billion yen, compared with 130 billion yen projected earlier. But Hiroshi Sakai, chief economist at SMBC Friend Research Center, said that “recovery is expected” once the company had finished costly procedures linked to the Sanyo acquisition.

Panasonic is taking an additional 250 billion yen charge for acquisition-related goodwill impairment in the annual figures.

Sakai said: “It faced sizable contingencies this year such as the Thai floods and the great earthquake disaster, whose impact is expected to subside.”

But he added: “Its business environment is expected to remain severe due to a slump in its main businesses, notably the TV and electronic devices sectors.” In the third quarter, Panasonic said that while Japan had seen signs of recovery after the March 2011 disasters, the economy was “still severely affected by the shortage in electricity distribution after the disaster, the global economic slowdown, appreciation of the yen”. The company posted a net loss of 333.82 billion yen for the nine months to December, reversing a 114.70 billion yen profit in the corresponding period a year earlier, partly due to write-downs on the value of deferred tax assets.

Operating profit for the period plunged 85.0 percent to 39.54 billion yen on sales of 5.97 trillion yen, down 10.3 percent. —AFP

TOKYO: The International Monetary Fund should proceed with talks on increasing the size of its warchest at the same time as Europe discusses how to build a firewall to contain its debt crisis, a senior official from the fund said yesterday.

Emerging countries understand the need to boost the IMF’s resources as Europe’s debt crisis threatens the global economy, IMF Deputy Managing Director Naoyuki Shinohara said, signalling expectations that developing nations will contribute more money.

The IMF could face a difficult negotiating task, because some emerging economies could chafe at the idea of bailing out wealthier European countries without reassurances that the euro zone can draw a line under its two-year old debt crisis.

“Talks to boost the regional firewall and the global firewall in terms of the IMF’s financial base need to proceed in parallel,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Naoyuki Shinohara told Reuters in an interview.

“There is a broad agreement among countries about the overall framework.

Based on this, discussions have begun about how much each country will contribute and the modality.”

Officials from the Group of 20 rich and emerging countries meet later on Friday in Mexico City to set the agenda for financial diplomacy needed to keep the global economic recovery on track.

The IMF has estimated about $1 trillion will be needed to contain the eurozone debt crisis and half and Shinohara said half of that amount should come in the form of strengthening of the IMF’s war chest and half should be provided

by Europe. However, The United States, China and other countries outside of the 17-country euro bloc want to see its

TOKYO: Lawmakers stand to approve the supplementary budget for the fiscal year ending March 31 at Parliament’s lower house in Tokyo yesterday.

Parliament approved a 2.5 trillion yen ($32.9 billion) extra budget bill, the fourth one to fund reconstruction projects after last year’s disasters and support the nation’s economy. — AP members stump up more money before they commit additional resources to the IMF. At the same time, countries also want to avoid a disorderly default for Greece, a violent breakup of the euro-zone and the ensuing havoc on the global economy. “At present, we have started talks with countries to see how many countries are willing to contribute and if they would, in what way,” Shinohara told a news conference.

“Countries, including emerging nations, understand the need to boost a global institution such as the IMF at a time when Europe’s problems could affect countries outside the euro zone in a major way,” Shinohara said when asked about emerging nations’ roles.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday the world’s No 2 economy is considering increasing its participation in the European rescue funds aimed at resolving the debt crisis.

Wen didn’t make an explicit financial commitment, but analysts say China is likely to play it safe and support Europe via the IMF. Shinohara, a Japanese national, also said he understands Japan is also making various consideration on the matter as an important partner of the IMF and as its exports are being hit by the global slowdown in the face of the euro-zone crisis.Shinohara took part in high-level discussions among 18 Asia-Pacific countries on the tax system in Tokyo, which ended yesterday. — Reuters

Turkcell threatens suit over Iranian deal: MTN JOHANNESBURG: South African mobile telephone operator MTN said yesterday that rival Turkcell has threatened to sue it in a US court for alleged corruption involving a deal in Iran.

MTN said Turkcell has accused the South African group of bribing government officials and pressing Pretoria to endorse Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for rights to an Iranian GSM mobile operating license.

“Turkcell has informed MTN that it believes it has a claim against MTN and its relevant subsidiary, arising out of the award of (Iran’s) second GSM license, based on alleged violations of United States laws, and has indicated an intention to bring such a claim before a United States court,” an MTN statement said.

MTN owns a 49-percent stake in the Iranian mobile telecoms company

Irancell, which holds the operating license. Turkcell subsidiary East Asian Consortium made an unsuccessful bid to acquire the license in 2005. MTN said it would name an panel to look into the allegations, led by retired British judge Lord Leonard Hoffmann and including non-executive members of its board.

“Irrespective of the validity of Turkcell’s claims, the very fact that such allegations have been made is serious,” MTN chairman Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.

“MTN has zero tolerance for corrupt and unethical business practices.

MTN’s response must be measured and authoritative, reflecting the seriousness with which we take any claims of this nature.”

MTN said Turkcell also alleged that MTN had made “improper payments”

to an Iranian and a South African government official, and had encouraged the South African government to take a favorable stance on Iran’s nuclear program at a 2005 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Turkish company is also said to have claimed that MTN had enlisted South African support for the provision of military equipment to Iran. MTN, which operates in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has came under fire for its Iranian operations from the influential US lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The Turkcell dispute comes as Washington is pressuring allies to cut business ties with Tehran. MTN’s 33 million clients in Iran make up 21 percent of its total subscriber base. — AFP

Business

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Swiss probe suspected interbank rate scheme ZURICH: Swiss authorities said yesterday they have opened an investigation into suspected manipulation of interbank lending rates, following similar actions in other countries.

The Swiss Competition Commission COMCO said in a statement that it had received information regarding potential unlawful agreements among banks.

“Specifically, collusion between derivative traders might have influenced the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) and TIBOR (Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate) reference rates.

“Derivative traders working for a number of financial institutions might have manipulated these submissions by coordinating their behavior, thereby influencing these reference rates in their favor,” the statement said.

The commission said derivative traders might have colluded to manipulate the difference between “the ask price and the bid price (spread) of derivatives based on these reference rates to the detriment of their clients.” COMCO has begun to probe actions by Switzerland’s two biggest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, as well as those of a dozen major foreign financial institutions and other companies.

A UBS spokeswoman contacted by AFP said the bank would “take very seriously” the investigation and will “cooperate fully” with authorities. Foreign banks being investigated include the Bank of TokyoMitsubishi, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Mizuho Financial Group, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

Tibor and Libor rates are based on central bank reference rates and determine the level of interest paid by participating financial institutions on interbank markets in London or Tokyo.

The rates are then used as benchmarks in many contracts and financial products such as home mortgages. In December, Japan’s financial watchdog ordered a temporary suspension of trading activities at Japanese subsidiaries of the US bank Citigroup and UBS, accusing them of trying to manipulate interbank rates.

The Financial Times reported in March that US, Britain and Japanese officials had launched a probe that applied to all banks regarding the calculation of Libor for dollar interbank loans between 2006 and 2008. — AFP

Global oil traders edgy as Sudan oil spat drags Dispute impact reaches beyond major buyer China

BUDAPEST: Local and foreign passengers wait in front of the ticket desk at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport yesterday. Hungary’s national airline Malev said early yesterday that it had grounded its planes after running out of cash almost a month after the European Union said the carrier must pay back state aid. — AFP

Hungarian airline Malev halts operations BUDAPEST: Hungarian national airline Malev said early yesterday that it had grounded its planes after running out of cash almost a month after the European Union said the carrier must pay back state aid.

“At 0500 GMT on February 3, after 66 years of almost continuous operation, Malev stopped taking off,” Malev chief executive Lorant Limburger told a news conference.

The immediate reason for grounding the flights was a refusal by Israeli ground staff to service a Malev flight in Tel Aviv, Limburger said. “Since the government can no longer provide resources due to the EU’s decision and there is no feasible partner in sight, the company’s operations became impossible,” Malev chief Laszlo Berenyi added.

“Every (partner) asked for payments in advance, and claims accelerated incredibly. No company can honour payments months in advance,” he said.

Partners have become jittery since the European Commission on January 9 ordered the Hungarian flag carrier to repay various forms of state aid received between 2007 and 2010 that amounted to 38 billion forints (130 million euros, $171 million), a sum equal to its entire 2010 revenue.

This prevented the company’s owner, the Hungarian state, from providing liquidity to the stricken airline.

Budapest had moved on Thursday however to prevent a forced grounding of Malev, appointing a receiver and shielding it from creditor claims.

Following yesterday’s announcement, Prime Minister Viktor Orban still told state radio MR1-Kossuth that Malev might be relaunched “if we manage to get rid of the inherited skeletons.”

The airline informed its passengers at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport at 0600 GMT that all its flights were being grounded. According to Hungarian newswire MTI, 64 Malev flights were scheduled to fly from Budapest yesterday. This week, the Hungarian government set up a fund of two billion forints to compensate passengers with tickets to fly on Friday and the next three days.

Other passengers might be compensated by their credit card companies or travel agencies, according to Malev. The carrier employs 2,600 people and is responsible for 40 percent of traffic at Liszt Ferenc Airport. It posted a loss of 24.6 billion forints in 2010, but had forecast improved figures for 2011. — AFP

KHARTOUM: Global oil traders are nervously watching a dragging dispute over compensation between Sudan and breakaway South Sudan, whose impact reaches beyond major buyer China, analysts say.

The South announced last Sunday it had nearly completed a protest shutdown of its oil production-the fledgling nation’s top revenue source-after talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa failed again to resolve a disagreement with Sudan over oil fees.

Khartoum admits to confiscating 1.7 million barrels of South Sudanese crude since vowing in November to take 23 percent of southern oil exports as payment in kind during the fee dispute. The South calls this “theft.” While Juba’s pre-shutdown daily output of about 350,000 barrels per day pales against Saudi Arabia’s more than eight million barrels, analysts say it is not insignificant.

“It’s just another factor in the geopolitical risk that’s causing the market to be nervous,” said Tony Nunan, energy risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.

“The price of oil is determined by the marginal barrel, so it’s important.” Analysts say the stoppage of oil from Sudan is particularly felt in Asia. China receives 67 percent of Sudan’s crude shipments, accounting for five percent of the country’s imports.

Japan is also vulnerable as its demand for Sudan’s medium-sweet crude, burned for power generation, has risen since last year because of nuclear power outages, Deutsche Bank said in a report on Thursday. Malaysia, India and Indonesia are the other main buyers of Sudan’s oil. “Asian buyers already scrambling to find alternatives to Iranian oil are now faced with the prospect of having to scramble for alternatives to Sudanese oil,” the report said.

“More broadly, the loss of Sudanese crude oil further aggravates a global market already struggling to cope with multiple threats of supply disruptions in the face of low inventories and eroded OPEC spare capacity.” Neither Sudan nor South Sudan is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Analysts see the global market impact only worsening if the Sudan dispute is protracted.

“With refiners concerned about the potential loss of Iranian crude volumes, the problems in Sudan have been cited as potentially leading to a tighter supply market in the second half of the year should the problem not be resolved,” said Tamsin Carlisle, senior editor in Dubai for energy market information provider Platts. After decades of civil war, the South split from Sudan in July and took with it three-quarters of the country’s total oil production of 470,000 barrels per day.

But landlocked and grossly underdeveloped South Sudan can only ship its oil through the north, leaving the neighbors disputing how much Juba should pay for sending its crude through the pipeline and Red Sea marine terminal. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir accused Khartoum of stealing $815 million worth of oil since December, largely by blocking four ships in Port

Sudan and preventing four others from collecting their purchases.

Last week he rejected a draft agreement which proposed the South give Khartoum $5.4 billion, to be paid by Sudan’s taking 35,000 barrels of oil per day. Kiir said he could not sign a deal that did not address other unresolved issues as well as oil, because an incomplete agreement would guarantee future conflict. The crisis between the two nations has become a major threat to regional peace and security, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said.

Because of the supply uncertainties buyers are shunning Sudanese Nile and Dar blends of crude, whose prices have fallen to their lowest levels in months, Platts said. It added that Khartoum is offering the South Sudanese cargos at steep discounts from official prices. “Some of the less risk-averse trading outfits... might buy the oil if offered a sufficient discount, as they know how to disguise its origin when selling it on. This may already have happened,” Carlisle said.—AFP

NEW YORK: Trader Luigi Muccitelli (left) works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Optimism over upcoming US jobs figures helped stocks and the euro to rally yesterday despite further evidence that the 17-nation euro-zone is heading for recession. —AP

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A model wears a creation by Danish designer group ‘CPH Vision’ who showcases the best contemporary brands focusing on Scandinavian design, during Copenhagen Fashion Week . — AP (See Page 29)

Madonna channels Victor Cruz with salsa dance PAGE 25

Brad Pitt wakes

his kids up with Coke

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

T

Kim Kardashian is dating Mark Sanchez

T

he 31-year-old socialite - who was famously married to basketball star Kris Humphries for just 72 days last year - has allegedly been hooking up with the New York Jets quarterback, but has been careful to avoid being seen with him in public. A source told Starberryicecream.com: “Kim and Mark like to meet in hotels for dinner dates and flings. “Whenever Kim is in New York, they hang out.

They are very careful with not being seen together, Mark is seeing someone! She has her hopes set on a bigger star than Sanchez. But for now, he will do.” Meanwhile, Kim’s D-A-S-H cloth-

he ‘Moneyball’ actor admits he and partner Angelina Jolie sometimes find it a struggle to get all six of their kids Maddox, 10, Pax, eight, Zahara, seven, Shiloh, five, and twins Knox and Vivienne, three - ready for the day so sometimes start the day with the caffeinated soda to give the youngsters an energy boost. He admitted during a recording of ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’: “Listen, I admit there’s times like, ‘We gotta get up. Get up!

Here’s your shoes. Here’s your shoes. Drink this coke. Drink this Coca Cola. Drink it all. Right now! Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!’ Just so we can get ‘em up and going.” Meanwhile, Brad has

i m

revealed he played a prank on his ‘Moneyball’ co-star Jonah Hill by turning the golf cart he used to travel around on the set into a shrine to gay singer George Michael. He said on the ‘Today’ show: “I had Jonah’s cart rigged.

Whenever he turned it on it would blast ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’. It was pretty good, I gotta say.” Jonah added: “If it was just that, that would be crazy. That would be annoying for me. But he had it shrink-wrapped bright pink, like neon pink, and superimposed a photo of George Michael on front . So I’d have a meeting and I’d drive up in this, like, insane, absurd, Liberace-style golf cart.”

was ‘man o t a ipul Lov a

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he 19-year-old singer-and-actress - who entered rehab in late 2010 to seek help for her problems -spent two years prior to her hospitalization doing whatever she could to avoid people finding out there was anything wrong. She said: “I was a very manipulative person when it came to my eating disorder. You name it, I did it. “I would lie about already eating. I would lie about having to go to the bathroom. I would go to any lengths to make sure I was sick.” The former ‘Sonny with a Chance’ star admits her problems with food go back to a very young age. She explained: “I began compulsive eating at the age of eight. Then, when I started being bullied at 12, I stopped eating. I went from overeating to undereating to throwing up.” At the height of her success, the ‘Camp Rock’ star admits she could barely bring herself to look at pictures of herself in magazines because she was so uncomfortable with her appearance. She told Britain’s Glamour magazine: “It never really went away. I’d try, but the impulses would come back. You feel like you’re on a downward spiral, but you have to fight through it. “I had real difficulty with my body image. It was hard to look at myself in magazines. My friends would say, ‘Wow you look so gorgeous.’ Everyone else was looking at what they thought as a beautiful girl, but I just couldn’t see that when I looked at myself.”

ing store in Miami has become so popular she is having to scout for a new store to move it to. According to TMZ.com, Kim - who runs the fashion outlets with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe - is looking to double the size of the store in Florida. Since her break-up with Kris in October, Kim has been spending lots of time with her family to think about what happened with her marriage. She said: “I really did some soul-searching, and I needed that. I needed to just be with the family. It’s been a hard couple of months. I really didn’t think that following my heart would create this much backlash.”

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Bruce Willis urges Demi Moore to seek help

Marriage makes Christina Hendricks more nurturing

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he 49-year-old star - who split from husband Ashton Kutcher in November amid speculation he had cheated on her - was rumored to be suffering from anorexia and substance abuse for some time and former spouse Bruce tried to convince her to seek help. A source told People magazine: “He was worried about her and wanted her to get better. Many of her friends did the same thing, but she just wouldn’t listen.” Bruce, 56, and Demi have three daughters together - Rumer, 23, and Tallulah, 18, who are now living with him and Scout, 20, who is enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and insiders say the children, especially Rumer are struggling to cope. A source said: “It’s hard for Ru right now to see her mom in this situation.” It has been claimed that ‘Striptease’ star Demi has been abusing Adderrall - an amphetamine salts-based medication which is only legal in the US and Canada and which is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy - before her collapse. A source said: “Demi has been taking Adderall and drinking energy drinks and starving herself and those are some of the serious causes that led her to collapse. “The pills and starvation destroyed Demi and this has been a problem for about a year.” Demi’s estranged husband Ashton was in Brazil working when the incident happened but he is now back in America and visited her after she was released from hospital.

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he ‘Check It Out’ rapper is obsessed with the toy doll - often criticised for re-enforcing negative stereotypes about women - and insists the pneumatic blonde is a thoroughly modern women with her various careers. She said: “I feel like Barbie is great because it doesn’t only focus on beauty - you have Barbies that work, they have tons of different jobs now. “And they come in different shades, which I love, and different hairstyles. So I think that they’ve gotten to the point where they’re making girls feel like it’s OK not to look like or be like the traditional Barbie.” Nicki, 29, is quick to dismiss the criticisms of Barbie’s unrealistic body shape and insists all dolls are made to look more perfect than their real-life counterparts. In an interview with

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he ‘Mad Men’ actress - who tied the knot with ‘(500) Days of Summer’ actor Geoffrey Arend in October 2009 admits their relationship changed after they wed because she felt more “connected” to her spouse. She explained: “I felt more nurturing towards him [when we married], like he’s here forever and I’ve got to make sure

Nicki Minaj thinks Barbie is a great role model

he’s healthy and fed and clothed and loved.

“I felt much more connected to him. There’s something about having all your family in a room and announcing it and celebrating it that makes it very real.” Christina, 36, also admitted she “freaked out” Geoffrey with a passionate declaration of love soon after they started dating. Asked how soon after

they started dating she told him she loved him, the actress told the new issue of Britain’s Cosmopolitan magazine: “Not long - and I cracked it out in such a big way. “I was like, ‘You make me want to have a family.’ I freaked him out a bit... Thank God I didn’t spook him enough to make him leave.” — Bangshowbiz

Nick Carter dedicates group’s tour to his late sister

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Wonderland magazine, she said: “Now in terms of a body image, even male action figure dolls are cut up more than the average man - it’s just how people make dolls!” A Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall and when calculated to scale she would measure in at 5 ft 9 ins with a 36 inch chest, 18 inch waist and 33 inch hips. She would weigh 110 lbs and due to her BMI rating would medically be considered anorexic.

Toy company Mattel has released numerous different Barbies over the years which have seen the blonde take on a multitude of jobs, including being an aerobics instructor, a palaeontologist, a cheerleader and a scuba diver.

he singer - who is due to go on the road with the boy band later this spring - made the gesture following the sudden death of his sister Leslie Carter, aged 25, in New York. Nick said: “Performing is cathartic to me and I am dedicating the rest of my tour to my sister since she loved to watch me perform.” His publicist Jack Ketsoyan told MailOnline: “Nick is thankful to the many people and the fans who have shared their wishes and prayers during this tragic time. We want to let the fans know the tour will go on as promised.” Nick’s brother Aaron Carter who is now set to take leave from starring in off-Broadway production ‘The Fantasticks’ - also paid tribute to his sister by posting a message on her Facebook page. He wrote: “RIP MY DEAREST SISTER....!

I LOVE U AND YOU THE ONE THAT ALWAYS ROCKS. LOVE AARON UR LIL BRO U CALL LL AC. (sic)” An autopsy has been performed on Leslie’s body, and the medical examiner found “no visible signs of trauma”. Coroner Richard Mackowiak, of the Chautauqua County Coroner’s Office, told E!: “We are awaiting a toxicology report to determine a cause of death. There were no visible signs of trauma. “The body has been released to the family. Results of the toxicology test are made public at the discretion of the family.”

The toxicology report is expected to take between four and six weeks to complete.

The Carter family previously said in a statement to ‘Access Hollywood’: “Our family is grieving right now and it’s a private matter.

We are deeply saddened for the loss of our beloved sister, daughter, and granddaughter, Leslie Carter. “We request the utmost privacy during this difficult time.” As well as Nick and Aaron, Leslie also had a musical career. Her single ‘Like Wow!’ featured on the soundtrack to 2001 animated movie ‘Shrek’ and she signed a record deal with Dreamworks in 1999 but a planned album was never released. She leaves behind her husband Mike Ashton - who she married in 2008 - and their 10-month-old daughter Alyssa Jane Ashton.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Namaste, travelers!

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tressed out by flying? Travelers in Northern California can now find their inner calm in the Yoga Room at San Francisco International Airport. The quiet, dimly lit studio officially opened last week in a former storage room just past the security checkpoint at SFO’s Terminal 2. Airport officials believe the 150square-foot (14-square-meter) room with mirrored walls is the world’s first airport yoga studio, said spokesman Mike McCarron.

The room, open to all ticketed passengers, contains a few chairs and yoga mats but no instructors or televisions. No shoes, food, drinks or cell phones are allowed.

“Silence is appreciated,” says a sign spelling out “Yoga Room Etiquette.” A prominent blue-and-white sign with a Buddha-like pictogram beckons visitors: “Come check out our Yoga Room.”

Frequent flyer Maria Poole accepted the invitation, practicing a downward dog asana and other yoga poses before boarding her flight. “It’s perfect,” said Poole, 47, of Lafayette. “I think it should be in every airport, especially the terminals that I fly through. This would be such a great way for me to get my exercise in, get a little peace and quiet - a little Zen moment.”

The Yoga Room is just the latest example of how airports are trying to improve the passenger experience and showcase their regional culture, noting the ancient practice’s popularity in the San Francisco Bay area, said Debby McElroy, executive vice president of Airports Council International-North America.

In recent years, airports have upgraded their food and shopping venues and added massage parlors, nail salons, dry cleaners and pet hotels, McElroy said, but SFO is the first to add a yoga room in North America and probably the world.

“I expect other airports will be looking at whether a yoga room at their airport makes sense,” McElroy said. SFO officials say the idea came from a passenger who checked out the newly remodeled terminal last year and told Airport Director John Martin it was lacking one thing: a yoga room. Martin, a long-time yoga practitioner, agreed. Airport managers spent $15,000 to $20,000 to turn the storage space into the yoga studio.

SFO officials had to design the Yoga icon after they couldn’t find one in the international guide of airport pictograms that direct travelers to taxis, restrooms and baggage claim carousels. Lindsey Shepard of Fremont, who was traveling with Poole, said she liked having “a dark place to chill out and have a timeout and relax.”

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or more than a decade, Daniel Radcliffe was known the world over as the owlish waif in the massively successful “Harry Potter” films-based on the equally popular book series by JK Rowling. Now, the young actor is turning a page. A child prodigy no more, the 22-year old Radcliffe now is stepping out in grown-up film roles. His first post-Potter film, which opens this week, is the neo-Gothic horror movie “The Woman in Black.” Radcliffe told AFP that he fell in love with the script, which he read for the first time just a few hours after shooting the last frames of his final “Harry Potter” film.

“It was such a brilliantly written script,” he said. “Normally, if you get a script which has a lot of stage directions, it can be quite hard to read, but I just flew through it-it was so frightening. You could tell it was going to be scary,” he said. “That was for me the principal reason to do it,” said Radcliffe. “It was a really compelling story.” “The Woman in Black”-a co-production between Canada, Britain and Sweden, directed by British filmmaker James Watkins-debuts Friday throughout North America and opens in Europe beginning next week.

A supernatural thriller set in the 1920s, the movie is about a young widowed lawyer sent to an eerie estate to settle the affairs of a recently deceased dowager. He begins to investigate the mysterious drowning years

Travelers Maria Poole (left) and Lindsey Shepard practice yoga at San Francisco International Airport’s new Yoga Room in San Francisco. — AP photos “Flying can be stressful,” Shepard said. “It’s nice to have something to do at the airport besides sit around and eat bad food and read magazines.” Of course, the Yoga Room isn’t for everyone. “If I got into yoga, I might lose track of time and miss my flight,” said Robert Diaz, 52, of Seal Beach, who was visiting San Francisco with his wife. “I’d be so relaxed.” — AP

earlier of the elderly woman’s young son, and uncovers the startling mystery of numerous unexplained deaths of young people in the neighboring village.

Radcliffe said he was drawn to the project not just by the script, but also by the message that underlies the grim storyline.

“It’s about how death and grief affect people in different ways,” he said. “It’s a horror film, but driven by characters.” The role is a huge departure from his persona as boy wizard in the eight-film, billion-dollar “Potter” franchise, but it allows him to make a clean break and avoid the peril that faces all suc-

Actor Daniel Radcliffe visits “The Elvis Duran Z100 Morning Show” at Z100 Studio in New York City. — AFP

Yoga mats lean against a wall at San Francisco International Airport’s new Yoga Room.

cessful actors-becoming typecast as their last character.

“I think I have to accept that for some people I’m always going to be Harry Potter, some people will never want to see me in other ways,” he told AFP. “But you know, some people already see me as just an actor, and so I just have to keep trying to make people see me as a true actor and not as a character.”

He feels surprisingly little grief about laying the boy wizard role to rest, and is determined to mix it up as much as he can-trying as many different types of roles on for size as he can. Last year, for instance, Radcliffe tried his hand at musical comedy, appearing in the hit Broadway production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

A few years ago, in an earlier turn on New York’s “Great White Way,” Radcliffe stunned his fans by disrobing on stage in the starring role of the psycho-drama “Equus.”

Soon he’ll begin work on “Kill Your Darlings,” a true-life murder story in which he co-stars as poet Allen Ginsberg. He acknowledged that relinquishing Harry Potter, the role of a lifetime, will be neither quick nor easy.—AP

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inger David Peaston, who had a string of R&B hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has died, his family said Thursday. Peaston, 54, died Wednesday of complications from diabetes, his niece, Neuka Mitchell said. Peaston was born into a St Louis family with deep musical roots. His mother, gospel singer Martha Bass, was one of the Clara Ward Singers. His older sister, Fontella Bass, is a noted singer whose single “Rescue Me” reached No 1 on R&B charts and No 4 on pop single charts in 1965. Peaston’s highest charting song was “Two Wrongs (Don’t Make It Right),” which reached No 3 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1989. “Can I?” got to No 14 R&B that year, and “We’re All in This Together” reached No 11 R&B and No 45 on the dance charts in 1990. His first album, “Introducing ... David Peaston,” reached No 7 on the Billboard R&B album chart in 1989. At the height of his career, he toured with Gladys Knight.

Peaston earned a degree in elementary education and taught in his hometown of St. Louis before moving to New York to pursue a career as a singer. He began doing session gospel and R&B work. His career got a big boost after winning several competitions on the “Showtime at the Apollo” television show in the late 1980s, winning over fans and the judges with his powerful rendition of “God Bless The Child.”

Singer Cheryl Pepsii Riley recalled traveling with Peaston on several shows. —AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Madonna channels Victor Cruz with salsa dance Elderly dancers wait to perform at a preview show for the Chinese Lantern Festival which falls on February 6 and traditionally marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Beijing yesterday. — AFP

How low can you go?

Record label launches bass hunt

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he Decca music label is looking for a singer who can go where no other singer is believed to have gone before-a low “E”, which is nearly three octaves below a middle “C” on the piano.

Paul Mealor, the composer behind the surprise British Christmas chart hit “Wherever You Are” sung by The Military Wives choir, has written a composition called “De Profundis (Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord”. It features a low E which is six semitones lower than the “B Flat” from Rachmaninov’s “Vespers”.

“My setting of De Profundis calls for a

rich and powerful voice; a voice that can not only touch the heart with its sincerity and truth, but also make every fabric of the human body resonate as it plunges into the very lowest parts of the vocal spectrum,” Mealor said in a statement. The search for the bass will be conducted through trade magazines on the Internet.

According to Guinness World Records, the lowest known note produced by a human voice is a low “F Sharp” achieved by American Roger Menees in 2010. Singers have been invited to send in demo tapes or upload recordings of their voice to the

website www.howlowwillyougo.com.

Voices will be judged by Mealor and Grammy-award nominated producer Anna Barry, an authority on Russian choral and vocal music which is one of the composer’s main inspirations. The record is set for international release in the spring. Mealor rose to prominence after being selected to composenew music for the 2011 royal wedding of Britain’s Prince William to Kate Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge-one of the biggest public events in recent years. This is his first choral work since then. — Reuters

US author traces Rimbaud’s mysterious Java journey

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n 1876 French poet Arthur Rimbaud joined the Dutch colonial army, sailed to the Indonesian island of Java and then deserted and fled into the jungle. No one knows what

In this file photograph, US author Jamie James stands beside a portrait of famous French poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), in his shop in Kerobokan in the Indonesian island of Bali. — AFP

happened next. More than 130 years later, an American author followed in the Frenchman’s footsteps to try and solve the mystery. “It’s like a Sherlock Holmes story,” said Jamie James, alluding to the detective work needed to trace where the enigmatic Rimbaud, who was born in 1854 and died just before turning 37, wandered to.

Nearly 200 letters by the tortured poet, who described his process of attaining visionary insights as “a long, involved and logical derangement of all the senses,” map out all-or nearly all-of his travels in Africa and the Middle East. But little detail has escaped Java island about what transpired in Indonesia, then a Dutch colony. “It remains one of the most elusive enigmas among the many that constitute his tumultuous life and is often overlooked outside Rimbaud circles,” James wrote in “Rimbaud in Java: The Lost Voyage,” published last year.

“He never wrote anything about Java because he was a fugitive. He could have been arrested” by the Dutch for desertion, said the Texan, who has lived in Indonesia since 1999 and has been a Rimbaud enthusiast since childhood. —AFP

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adonna won’t explicitly say who she’s rooting for, but her spot-on salsa dance in honor of the New York Giants Victor Cruz may have revealed where her allegiance lies. At a news conference Thursday to promote her halftime Super Bowl performance, she was asked what she thought of the wide receiver’s touchdown celebration dance and if she had any criticisms of his moves.

“I have no criticism ... actually, he’s inspired me. I’ve been practicing,” said Madonna, who lives in New York, before busting a move in front of the few hundred media members in attendance. “Do you think he’d approve?” she asked after her brief performance. Madonna also leaned toward the Giants when pressed on which quarterback she’d rather have dinner with, the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady or the Giants’ Eli Manning. While she protested the question was unfair, she allowed: “I’d have to say Eli because he lives in New York and I don’t want him to waste gas. “ Madonna’s salsa dance was her only performance of the day; she declined to follow the footsteps of other halftime acts who have given a tease of their performance with a mini concert. Madonna gave few details about Sunday’s show, which is being “imagined” Cirque du Soleil and may feature white-hot rapper Nicki Minaj, who is featured on Madonna’s new single “Give Me All Your Luvin’.” (She promoted her song by announcing it would be available on iTunes Friday, and for those who may not have known her film “W.E.” opens this week, a press kit was placed on seats for reporters). “”I really don’t want to blow the surprises,” said Madonna, who only promised to sing three old songs and one new one. “I want people to be knocked off their feet.’”

The 53-year-old music icon is perhaps the most edgy Super Bowl performer since 2004, the halftime show that will live in infamy, as Justin Timberlake revealed Janet Jackson’s bare assets during a “wardrobe malfunction.” Madonna, who is as defined by sometimes racy antics as her music, once again promised no flesh would be seen during her set, and when asked if she was going to be “pushing the envelope,” she said: “The envelope I am pushing is for a spectacular show which will, I think, entertain all age groups and will be a feast for the eyes and ears.”

Madonna fielded several questions from reporters, some softball, some staid, and a couple bizarre. One person asked if she could confirm that her former companion and rumored boyfriend Alex Rodriguez had a painting in his house featuring himself as a half-man centaur. “If he does, I haven’t seen it but I’m pretty sure he has a rather large painting of me,” she said. Someone else asked Madonna, who admitted that she rarely watches TV let alone games, about the ankle injury to New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, and whether she’d be able to perform with such an ailment. “Well, a lot of people would say I’m a bit of a masochist,” said Madonna, who said ibuprofen and tape would have her ready to go. The superstar said she stared rehearsals for the halftime show in December. She also said preparing for her set, which will likely be around 10 minutes, was the most arduous time of her long career, and perhaps made her the most nervous. —Agencies

NFL stars SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

who became movie stars S

uper Bowl Sunday is upon us, a special, heartwarming time to gather with friends, eat too much queso and make ridiculous side bets on how long the national anthem will last and who will be forced to punt first. It’s also a good time to reflect on the many, many football players who’ve branched out into movies. We’d be here all day if we pondered college standouts like John Wayne and Dwayne Johnson, so we’re sticking to the NFL. We’d also be here all day if we considered all forms of entertainment, so we’re sticking to feature films.

touchdowns (126) or rushing touchdowns (106), which put him in the Hall of Fame. His confident persona drew the attention of a Hollywood agent, who thought he’d be perfect for action films. Brown was a revolutionary presence on the screen - a virile, almost threatening black man, in contrast to the sophisticated characters Sidney Poitier played. And

O.J. Simpson: We really can’t ignore him. So instead, let us now harken to a simpler, happier time, when O.J. was best known as a charismatic rental-car pitchman and sometime actor. After winning the Heisman Trophy as a running back at USC in 1968,

in movies like the 1969 Western “100 Rifles,” he did something previously unheard of: an interracial love scene (with Raquel Welch).

Carl Weathers: Come on, he’s Apollo Creed! And he was in “Predator.” Weathers started out as a star linebacker at San Diego State University before going on to an extremely brief pro career with the Oakland Raiders in the early ‘70s. After a couple years in the Canadian Football League with the BC Lions, Weathers retired to pursue acting full-time in 1974. His most important role has been as Rocky Balboa’s nemesis and eventual friend in the first four “Rocky” movies; the character died in “Rocky IV.” His first crack at playing the lead, 1988’s “Action Jackson,” didn’t go so well. But he’s rebounded nicely, including playing a version of himself as Tobias

Jim Brown

O.J. Simpson

ALex Karras

Simpson put together a stellar career over nine seasons with the Buffalo Bills before retiring with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979 and being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. But he’d already begun his acting career before he retired, playing a security chief in “The Towering Inferno” (1974) and an astronaut in “Capricorn One” (1978). Probably his most famous film performances came in the “Naked Gun” trilogy, in which he played Frank Drebin’s best friend and partner, Nordberg, who often found himself in awkward situations.

Jim Brown: Spike Lee devoted an entire documentary, 2002’s “Jim Brown: All-American,” to Brown’s accomplishments on and off the field. One of the greatest running backs in football history, Brown played nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns, from 1957-65. When he retired, no player had run for as many yards (12,312) or scored more

Funke’s acting coach on a few episodes of “Arrested Development.”

Carl Weathers

Alex Karras: You may know him best for his television work as Emmanuel Lewis’ adoptive dad, Mr. Papadapolis, on the feel-good ‘80s sitcom “Webster.”

But before that, Karras put together more of an eclectic filmography than most football players who become movie stars. Karras was an All-Pro defensive tackle who played 12 seasons for the Detroit Lions between 1958 and 1970. Even before his football career was over, he played himself in 1968’s “Paper Lion.” Famously, he punched a horse as the fearsome but dimwitted Mongo in Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles” (1974). Karras played the sheriff in the classic comedy “Porky’s” and a closeted bodyguard in “Victor/Victoria” and those movies happened to come out on the same weekend in 1982, a real demonstration of his range. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Michelle Yeoh says ‘lifetime opportunity’ to play Suu Kyi

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ctor Michelle Yeoh said yesterday playing the role of Aung San Suu Kyi in the “The Lady” was an opportunity of a lifetime, as the film about the Myanmar democracy leader made its debut in Hong Kong. But the Hong Kong-based, Malaysianborn star refused to be drawn on the film’s likely reception in Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma, where Suu Kyi’s recent release from house arrest has ignited the democracy movement. “When I first heard that someone wants to make a movie about Aung San Suu Kyi, instinctively I knew as an actor that this is a role of a lifetime,” the former Bond girl told reporters ahead of the film’s Hong Kong premier.

“She is such a revered person, she is such a good human being (who) would be very inspirational for me not just as an actor but for my audience as well.” The 48-year-old star of films including “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” said the pressure of playing a Nobel Peace Prize winning icon of democratic struggle was a weight on her shoulders. “Of course I was pressured, of course you feel a great sense of responsibility because of who she is and what she represents,” Yeoh said.

“But I think what is important for me is my commitment not just to myself but to the profession that I love... This was truly an opportunity of a lifetime.” “The Lady” is a two-hour biopic that focuses on the private life of Suu Kyi, her late British husband, Michael Aris, and their two sons as she assumes the mantle of democracy leader in a country ruled by an iron-fisted junta. Suu Kyi’s struggle for her country came at a high personal cost. Her husband died in 1999 in Britain, and in the final stages of his battle with cancer the Myanmar junta denied him a visa to see his wife.

Suu Kyi refused to leave Myanmar to see him, certain she would never have been allowed to return. While there is no scheduled release of the film in Myanmar, pirate copies of “The Lady” have flooded the streets of Yangon, which its French director Luc Besson described as”excellent news”.

“As an artist I’m always very happy even if it’s through piracy that they can have access to culture, so obviously I’m really fine with that,” he said.—AFP

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh smiles during a photo-op at a press conference promoting “The Lady,” her latest film, while standing in front of a poster of herself as Aung San Suu Kyi in Hong Kong yesterday. — AFP

Revelers pose for pictures during an event to elect carnival characters known as Chuta, Pepino and Chola in La Paz, Bolivia Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. — AP

Snooki, JWoww wanted in Jersey Shore I

f Snooki and JWoww need a place to live, Jersey Shore will welcome them with open arms. Jersey Shore, Pa., that is. The Central Pennsylvania Film Office wants the stars of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” reality show to go to the tiny borough in north-central Pennsylvania or to nearby Williamsport to shoot a planned spinoff of their gym-tan-laundry lifestyle. The commissioner of the film office, Lorena Beniquez, was quick to jump on the news that officials in Hoboken, N.J., had refused to issue a permit for the new reality show that will feature hard-partying stars Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jenni “JWoww” Farley.

So, Beniquez thought, why not invite the “Jersey Shore” stars to the borough of the same name about 140 miles northwest of Philadelphia and only slightly farther than that from Hoboken?

Failing that, Beniquez is hoping the producers might consider shooting in Williamsport, the Lycoming County seat. “Most of the time, when we make headlines, it’s for the Little League World Series,” Beniquez said, referring to the global tournament played in Williamsport each summer. “Or the gas industry. We want to be known for something once the gas industry is done and gone.”

A phone call and an email seeking comment were left with 495 Productions, the Beverly Hills, Calif., production company that was snubbed by Hoboken. But MTV said it was “flattered by the invitation” to Pennsylvania. “We love all Jersey Shores!” it said. Officials in Williamsport, population 29,000, and Jersey Shore, which has about 4,300 residents, say they’re all ears if MTV or the production company wants to pitch the show to them.

“It would be fun to have the spotlight on the borough,” said Jersey Shore borough manager Gretchen Speicher. “But we’d like to know what the show’s going to be about, will it be shot inside or outside ... and I would like to know because I’ve never seen (‘Jersey Shore’).” Williamsport city clerk Janet Frank was excited at the prospect, too.

“Oh, my gosh, yes,” Frank said when asked if she’d be interested in hearing a pitch for the show. “I think that’s awesome. I think that’s a

great idea. It’s a great way to get attractions here.”

Hoboken officials refused to issue the permit that would allow the reality stars to be filmed around the clock, citing public safety and other concerns.

Some critics have said “Jersey Shore” perpetuates negative Italian-American stereotypes that are sometimes referred to as the “guido/guidette” lifestyle.

Some local historians think the Jersey Shore borough got its name because some of its original settlers in the early 1800s were from the Jersey shore, Speicher said. Others say Jersey used to mean “opposite” and the borough was so named because it was across the Susquehanna River from another settlement, Speicher said.

Whatever the case, Beniquez said she believes the show focusing on the two reality TV stars would work in Lycoming County, one of nine served by her office. “From what we’ve heard in their press,” Beniquez said, “it sounds like it could be a good fit for our region.” — AP

(From left to right) Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Jennifer “JWoww” Farley appear on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” show. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Designer puts

luxury tag on ‘made-in-India’ label

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ade in India” clothing is often seen as the product of sweatshop labor, but fashion designer Saloni Lodha, whose fans include film stars Naomi Watts and Emma Watson, wants to give it a luxury tag. “I have great faith in the made-inIndia idea and wanted to see an Indian, made-in-India brand in the world’s best stores,” she told AFP while on a visit to Mumbai to source fabrics. British-based Lodha launched her label, Saloni, in 2007 with just 10 designs on offer.

Today, her flirty, feminine dresses are stocked at some of the world’s leading boutiques and worn by socialites and stars alike. A precocious success in a competitive, often cutthroat industry, the 30-year-old designer has expanded her business to include jewelry and handbags, all the while trumpeting her brand’s Indian origins as a selling point.

Everything in the collection is manufactured in India in collaboration with traditional weavers, tailors and embroiderers.

Lodha maintains a studio in London, where she designs textiles and drapes her dresses, and says her work is built on “a constant dialogue between India and London.” Her career rise has coincided with a growing interest in India among foreign fashion houses, both as a source of inspiration and fine workmanship. French luxury goods maker Hermes launched a limited edition sari range in October 2011, and fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld presented an ode to the country’s royal heritage in a recent collection for Chanel. From Valentino to Armani, several of the world’s top

Indian fashion designer Saloni Lodha is photographed along with her clothing line at a high end lifestyle store in Mumbai. — AFP designers have turned to India to commission elaborate embroideries for their lavishly-beaded gowns. But few have discussed manufacturing clothing in India as extensively or as openly as Lodha, out of fear that consumers might refuse to pay top dollar for “made in India” items.

Lodha shrugs off such concerns.

“India has incredible craftsmanship, there are skills here you just can’t replicate. Made-in-India is a luxury on so many levels,” she said. She works with artisans across the country, from Kashmiri families who weave Saloni’s wafer-thin cashmere and silk scarves to a women’s knitting cooperative nestled in the Himalayas along the IndoTibetan border. Raised in a traditional

family in the Indian town of Nasik, Lodha said she was a very visual child, with a particular fondness for indigenous textiles and the heavy silk saris favored by her great-grandmother. “My eye was always drawn to colours and prints when I was a kid,” she said. After studying graphic design in Mumbai, she married and moved to Hong Kong at the age of 20. “That’s when I started to think about fashion. All you could find there were these big luxury brands, so I thought I could make my own dresses and sell them to clients in a more personal way.”

She set up tiny temporary ‘pop-up’ shops to sell her dresses made of Indian brocade, silk and cotton. This was followed by a three-year stint at a London

fashion consultancy and a short course at the city’s famed fashion school Central St Martins. Finally, in September 2007, she pooled her savings and launched the Saloni label during London fashion week. The line was immediately snapped up by top London department store Harvey Nichols and other buyers followed suit.

Despite India’s wealth of craftsmanship and centuries-old textile tradition, few Indian designers have made it big overseas, with the exception of Delhi’s Ritu Beri, formerly with French fashion house Jean-Louis Scherrer, and Manish Arora who currently heads Paco Rabanne. The rest have preferred to target India’s own growing market instead, as Lodha is beginning to do now. “I have never really sold in India before, but I was recently approached

by Le Mill (a Mumbai boutique). We started selling there in Spring/Summer 2011 and the response has been terrific.” And while she admitted it was “incredibly exciting” to see her clothes on Hollywood stars, she now has a new customer in mind. “Oh my god, I love Bollywood! I probably watch more Bollywood films than friends who live in India,” she exclaimed. “I love Frieda Pinto, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor,” she said, rattling off names of Indian actresses. “I would love to see my clothes on them.” In the months to come, Lodha plans to launch her own online store and, eventually, a bricks and mortar retail outlet. “I on’t really feel like I have made it,” she said.

“There’s a long way to go and I feel like I am learning how to do it every step of the way.” — AFP

Spain Fashion Week

Models display Autumn/Winter designs by Ion Fiz during Madrid Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Madrid, yesterday. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Copenhagen Fashion Week

Models wear creations by Danish designer group ‘CPH Vision’ who showcases the best contemporary brands focusing on Scandinavian design, during Copenhagen Fashion Week. — AP photos

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Facebook’s popularity also brings lawsuits

BALI: Indonesian children log on a Facebook page at an internet shop in Kuta in the resort island of Bali. — AFP photo

Facebook users get more than they give NEW YORK : The goody-two-shoes among us say it’s better to give than to receive. That’s not true for the average Facebook user, though. A new study out yesterday found that the average user of the world’s biggest online social network gets more than they give. That means more messages, more “likes” and more comments. Yes, even more “pokes.”

Behind all that is Facebook’s relatively small group of “power users,” who do more than their share of tagging, liking and uploading. The report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project comes two days after Facebook filed for a $5 billion initial public offering of stock that could eventually value the company at $100 billion.

Key to that mammoth valuation will be Facebook’s ability to convince advertisers they can make money from the billons of connections and interactions that people partake in on its website and beyond. Though Pew’s findings don’t address the commercial side of people’s activities, they shed important light on how people use the site and what they get out of it.

The study is the product of Pew’s analysis of Facebook users’ activities in November 2010. It consisted of data that Facebook provided to Pew after 269 users gave their permission. Those users were identified through a random telephone survey about broader Internet issues.

The researchers found that about 20 percent to 30 percent of Facebook users fell into the “power user” category, though they tended to specialize in different types of activities on Facebook.

Some of them sent a lot of friend requests, while others tagged more photos than the average user. Only 5 percent were power users in every activity that Pew logged.

The way this plays out is that the average user is more “liked” than they click “like” on other’s posts. They receive more friend requests than they send. On average, 63 percent of Facebook users studied received friend requests in the survey month while only 40 percent made a friend request.

The result? It feels good to be on Facebook. It might even feel better than life off Facebook. After all, there’s no dislike button, and friends are unlikely to post harsh comments on your page.

Instead, people you might not have seen in years bombard you with positive affirmations day after day, year after year.

“You keep getting all these wonderful positive rewards,” said Keith Hampton, the study’s main author and a Rutgers University professor. “That’s pretty hard to give up.”

Getting more than you are giving, in terms of emotional support, “is kind of what you are looking for,” he added.

This might be the lure of Facebook, the reason it could be worth $100 billion and the reason it has 845 million users who are not leaving even if they’ve been on the site for years. The study found no evidence of “Facebook fatigue,” the idea that people get tired of Facebook after they’ve been on it for a long time.

In fact it was the opposite. The longer someone had been using Facebook, the more frequently they posted status updates, pressed “like” and commented on friends’ content. “For most people, the longer they are on Facebook, the more they do on Facebook,” Hampton said.

The original phone survey of 2,255 adults was done in October and November of 2010 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. At the end of that survey, users were asked for consent for Facebook to share data. Twelve percent of the survey participants agreed. — AP

JAKARTA: Indonesian Facebook patrons play a round of card game at an internet shop in the capital city of Jakarta.

Indonesia, a developing Muslim nation which claims the world’s third-largest community of Facebook users, has become a showcase for the social networking site’s global power and reach. — AFP photo

WASHINGTON: As Facebook readies for Wall Street’s richest high-tech debut, it is wrangling with litigation and bracing for potential new suits. The social network filed Wednesday for a $5 billion stock offering that could create one of America’s largest publicly traded companies.

But even as Facebook reinvents the way people around the world communicate, it anticipates a mountain of legal challenges which will take armies of lawyers years to disentangle. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook hinted at some of the legal tangles ahead, writing that it is already embroiled in litigation and anticipates “numerous” more lawsuits in coming years.

“We are currently, and expect to be in the future, party to patent lawsuits and other intellectual property rights claims that are expensive and time-consuming, and, if resolved adversely, could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations,” Facebook said. Legal experts said there is virtually no corner of public life where Facebook’s impact is not felt.

“Social media drastically affects almost every aspect of how society communicates,” said Brian Wassom, a partner at Honigman Miller Schwarz and Cohn law firm in Detroit.

Wassom said the numerous types of possible legal challenges reflect the unprecedented reach that Facebook has achieved in its few years of existence. The company says it has over 845 million users including nearly half a billion who log in daily.

Ryan Calo, director for privacy at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, said the social network is “a real transformative communication platform.”

“For better or for worse, this pattern is really accelerating,” Calo said, speaking about Facebook’s expanding reach. Legal experts said the untold number of unresolved legal issues for users of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social networking sites cover every aspect of financial and personal transactions carried out between individuals.

For instance, can a prosecutor use elements gleaned from Facebook in making a legal case against a defendant? Is it possible to use Facebook to establish whether a loan applicant is a good credit risk?

Can law enforcement officials prosecute threats or intimidating statements posted on Facebook? How and when can an employer use information gathered on Facebook to discipline or terminate an employee?

Calo said the ubiquity of Facebook increases the urgency to update the legal roadmap governing how it can be accessed, and by whom. “Facebook has become almost as indispensable as the telephone or radio,” he said. “We need to make changes in laws or update our laws to reflect a new reality.” Pedram Tabibi, an attorney at the New York firm Melzer Lippe, said three businesses in four use some form of social media.

“The dependence on Facebook in people’s personal lives is high, (and) the dependence on Facebook in business is increasing,” Tabibi said, alluding to what he called the “intersection of two roads.”

But slightly less than half of US companies have put in place ground rules on how their workers are to proceed in using social networking sites, Tabibi said, adding that firms that tarry are leaving themselves open to headaches.

Equally opaque are the conditions under which the US government can access the information on an individual’s Facebook account, legal experts said.

Nebulous rules have not stopped the government however from deporting migrants or conducting broader investigations based on tips gleaned from Facebook.

“People now put their lives on Facebook,” said Tabibi, adding that they need to exercise caution because that information “might be used against them.” — AFP

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Dutch treat for mobile technology group in software products link-up BELFAST: A mobile technology company with a base in Belfast has won new business in the Netherlands. TotalMobile, which has recently moved from Antrim town to new premises at Clarendon Dock, has signed a deal with Aenova BV, a leading software company based in Delft.

The announcement was made by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster at the annual Northern IrelandNetherlands Trade and Export Society dinner in Belfast this week.

TotalMobile - a subsidiary of

Consilium Technologies - specialises in products which help companies increase the productivity of their remote staff. The firm, which has one of the fastest growing public sector customer bases in the UK, first broke into the North American market in 2008. This year the firm increased its Northern Irelandbased staff by 10% to a total of 90.

The company intends to grow staff numbers over the next year to support planned expansion in the UK and North America.

The new deal originated from

Invest Northern Ireland’s ‘Going Dutch’ initiative which has helped a number of small to medium-sized enterprises here access the Netherlands market.

Colin Reid, TotalMobile managing director, said that Aenova is an “ideal fit” for the firm. “Aenova will integrate our software within its solutions and also market it as a standalone product and market it to existing and new customers,” he said. “The partnerships will also allow us to target new opportunities in healthcare.” —- AFP

Huffington Post to launch streaming network

AUCKLAND: Founder of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom appears in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand. The jailed founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload is complaining that women inmates are giving him unwanted attention. —- AP

WASHINGTON: The Huffington Post has marked the first anniversary of its acquisition by AOL with an announcement that it plans to launch an online video streaming network.

The HuffPost Streaming Network will launch this summer with 12 hours a day of original programming, to be increased to 16 hours a day by the end of 2013, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington said in a blog post.

Huffington said the network will “live on every platformcomputer, smartphone, tablet, Over-the-Top TV-with the goal of creating the most social video experience anywhere.”

She said the network “will be built around segments spot-

lighting the biggest, hottest, most engaging stories HuffPost is covering at any given moment.”

The Huffington Post was launched by Huffington, a GreekAmerican author and columnist, in May 2006 and sold to AOL last February for $315 million.

Huffington said that over the past year, the number of unique monthly visitors to the Post has increased by 47 percent to 36.2 million.

The Huffington Post also launched Canadian, British and French editions, she said, and has plans to launch Spanish and Italian versions. — AFP

Megaupload founder refused bail WELLINGTON: A New Zealand court refused an appeal by the founder of online file-sharing site Megaupload.com to be freed on bail yesterday, agreeing with prosecutors there was a risk he would attempt to flee before an extradition hearing.

Kim Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor, was returned to custody until Feb. 22 ahead of a hearing on an extradition application by the United States.

Prosecutors say Dotcom was the leader of a group that netted $175 million since 2005 by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorisation.

Dotcom’s lawyers say the company simply offered online storage and that he strenuously denies the charges and will fight extradition.

Dotcom, 38, and three others were arrested on Jan. 20 after armed New Zealand police raided his country estate at the request of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He told the court that, with his assets frozen and business shut down, he had no intention of trying to flee to his native Germany, where he would be safe from extradition.

“I will not run away. I want to fight these allegations on a level playing field. I have three little children. My wife is pregnant with twins. I just want to be with them,” he said in court.

The prosecution again painted Dotcom as an extreme flight risk because of he had had multiple passports, sources of funds, and access to various means of travel.

It also said he had a previous history of trying to evade arrest, when he allegedly fled to Thailand from Germany to dodge insider trading charges.

The United States is expected to file its extradition application within the next few weeks. — Reuters

ATHENS: Monitors display the hacked Greek Ministry of Justice website yesterday. Online hackers group Anonymous attacked the Greek ministry website in criticism of the country’s tough fiscal reforms and its decision to join a controversial anti-piracy deal. — AFP

Hackers hit Greek ministry ATHENS: Online hackers group Anonymous yesterday attacked the Greek justice ministry website in criticism of the country’s tough fiscal reforms and its decision to join a controversial anti-piracy deal.

“You have introduced a new dictatorship upon your people’s shoulders and allowed the bankers and the monarchs of the EU to enslave them both economically and politically,” the group said in a statement posted on the ministry’s site.

“Democracy was given birth in your

country but you have now killed it,” they added. Greece is applying a crunch economic overhaul under supervision from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that has left nearly 900,000 jobless and plunged the country into a deep recession.

The hackers also threatened to “deface” media and ministry sites unless Athens withdraws from the AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a deal signed on January 26 to create international standards for intellectual

property protection.

Greece was one of the 22 signatories among EU states. Critics of the agreement say it could significantly curtail online freedom. “Next target will be all the media in Greece,” the hackers warned.

“We have most of the media websites admin passwords,” they added.

Greek police said they have launched a probe. “The investigation is in process, we are examining the attackers’ electronic traces,” the police department said. — AFP

TV listings SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

00:50 01:45 02:40 03:35 04:30 05:25 06:20 07:10 07:35 08:00 08:25 09:15 10:10 11:05 11:30 12:00 12:25 12:55 13:50 14:45 15:40 16:35 17:30 18:25 19:20 21:10 22:05 23:00 23:55

I Was Bitten Animal Cops Philadelphia Speed Of Life Air Jaws I Was Bitten Dogs 101: Specials Animal Cops Philadelphia Monkey Life Wildlife SOS Monkey Life Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Crocodile Hunter Growing Up...

Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Monkey Life Talk To The Animals Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Wild France Must Love Cats America’s Cutest...

Baboons With Bill Bailey Max’s Big Tracks Into The Pride Wildest India Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Wildest Africa Shark Attack Survival Guide Human Prey

00:40 Doctors 01:10 Lead Balloon 01:40 Ideal 02:10 Survivors 03:00 Last Of The Summer Wine 03:30 Keeping Up Appearances 04:00 Balamory 04:20 Tellytales 04:30 The Large Family 04:45 The Roly Mo Show 05:00 Buzz & Tell 05:05 Tweenies 05:25 Little Prairie Dogs 05:35 Nina And The Neurons 05:50 Balamory 06:10 Tellytales 06:20 The Large Family 06:30 The Roly Mo Show 06:45 Buzz & Tell 06:50 Tweenies 07:10 Little Prairie Dogs 07:20 Nina And The Neurons 07:35 Last Of The Summer Wine 08:05 As Time Goes By 08:35 New Tricks 09:25 Doctor Who 10:20 Eastenders 12:15 Last Of The Summer Wine 12:45 New Tricks 13:35 Mutual Friends 14:30 Doctor Who 15:20 As Time Goes By 15:45 The Weakest Link 16:30 Holby City 18:10 Doctor Who 19:00 Doctor Who Confidential 19:10 The Weakest Link: Rugby Special 20:00 Live At The Apollo 20:45 Little Britain 21:15 Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show 21:45 Supernova 22:15 Doctor Who 23:05 The Weakest Link: Rugby Special 23:55 Live At The Apollo

00:20 00:45 01:35 02:25 03:15 03:40 04:30 05:15 06:25 06:50 07:15 09:30 15:25 17:40 21:55 23:35

10:20 10:45 11:35 12:00 15:45 15:48 16:15 16:45 17:10 World 18:00 18:25 18:50 19:40 20:30 21:20 22:35 23:00 23:50

James Martin’s Brittany Antiques Roadshow James Martin’s Brittany Indian Food Made Easy What To Eat Now - Autumn 10 Years Younger Fantasy Homes By The Sea James Martin’s Brittany Indian Food Made Easy James Martin’s Brittany Bargain Hunt Masterchef Australia Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Gok’s Fashion Fix What Not To Wear

00:05 Johnny Bravo 00:30 Scooby Doo Where Are You! 00:55 The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop

DUE DATE ON OSN CINEMA 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:15 07:40 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 09:55 10:20 10:45 11:10 11:35 12:00 12:30 13:20 13:45 14:00 14:50 15:40 16:05 16:30 17:20 17:45 18:10 18:35 18:55 19:20 19:30 21:00

Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Johnny Bravo Duck Dodgers King Arthur’s Disasters The Scooby Doo Show Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show Yogi’s Treasure Hunt Popeye Paddington Bear Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Jelly Jamm Puppy In My Pocket Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show The Scooby Doo Show The Flintstones Looney Tunes Tom & Jerry Top Cat Popeye Tom & Jerry Top Cat Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley The Flintstones Wacky Races Scooby Doo Where Are You! Popeye Classics Scooby Cinema Top Cat

21:30 21:50 22:05 22:40 23:05 23:30

Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Wacky Races The Scooby Doo Show Tom & Jerry Johnny Bravo

00:40 Samurai Jack 01:05 Samurai Jack 01:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 02:20 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:45 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 03:10 Best Ed 04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:25 Adventure Time 04:50 Generator Rex 05:15 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 05:40 Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy 05:55 I Am Weasel 06:55 Powerpuff Girls 07:45 Angelo Rules 08:00 Casper: A Spirited Beginning 09:30 Casper’s Scare School 23:00 Ben 10 23:25 Ben 10 23:50 Courage The Cowardly

Dog00:15 Destroyed In Seconds 00:40 Moments Of Terror 01:35 Dirty Jobs 02:30 Overhaulin’ 03:25 Ultimate Survival 04:20 Mythbusters 05:15 How Stuff Works 05:40 How It’s Made

06:05 07:00 07:25 08:15 09:10 10:05 10:55 11:50 12:45 13:40 14:35 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 20:05 21:00 21:55 22:50 23:45

Dirty Jobs How Stuff Works Really Big Things Huge Moves Extreme Engineering Mighty Ships Man, Woman, Wild Dual Survival Ultimate Survival Ultimate Survival License To Drill Coal Swords: Life On The Line Gold Rush: Alaska Storm Chasers Man vs Fish With Matt Watson Extreme Fishing Ultimate Survival Taking On Tyson Daredevils Surviving The Cut

00:40 01:05 01:35 02:25 02:50 03:15 03:40 04:35 05:00 05:25 06:20 07:10 08:00 World 08:55 08:58 09:25 09:55

The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Eco-Tech The Tech Show Tech Toys 360 Tech Toys 360 Ecopolis How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made Kings of Construction Prototype This Eco-Tech How Techies Changed the Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections Tech Toys 360

Tech Toys 360 Ecopolis Weird Connections Weird Connections Head Rush Sci-Fi Science Weird Connections The Tech Show How Techies Changed the Tech Toys 360 Tech Toys 360 Mighty Ships Smash Lab Scrapheap Challenge Sci-Fi Science Sci-Fi Science Smash Lab Scrapheap Challenge

00:00 KIM POSSIBLE 00:25 Fairly Odd Parents 00:50 Fairly Odd Parents 01:15 STITCH 01:35 STITCH 02:00 REPLACEMENTS 02:25 REPLACEMENTS 02:50 EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL 03:15 EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL 03:35 STITCH 04:00 STITCH 04:25 REPLACEMENTS 04:50 REPLACEMENTS 05:15 Fairly Odd Parents 05:35 Fairly Odd Parents 06:00 MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE 06:25 JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES 06:35 JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES 06:45 THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY 07:10 SO RANDOM 07:35 FISH HOOKS 07:55 TIMON AND PUMBAA 08:20 TIMON AND PUMBAA 08:45 PHINEAS AND FERB 09:10 PHINEAS AND FERB 09:32 HAVE A LAUGH 09:40 Suite Life On Deck 10:05 Suite Life On Deck 10:30 THE SUITE LIFE MOVIE 12:00 FISH HOOKS 12:25 SHAKE IT UP 12:50 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE 13:15 A.N.T. FARM 13:40 SUITE LIFE ON DECK 14:00 TIMON AND PUMBAA 14:25 TIMON AND PUMBAA 14:50 SO RANDOM 15:15 HAVE A LAUGH 15:25 PHINEAS AND FERB 15:55 PHINEAS AND FERB 16:20 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE 16:45 MY BABYSITTER’S A VAMPIRE 17:10 FISH HOOKS 17:30 A.N.T. FARM 18:00 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 18:20 PHINEAS AND FERB 18:45 RECESS 19:10 SO RANDOM 19:30 HARRIET THE SPY: BLOG WARS 20:55 HAVE A LAUGH 21:05 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE 21:25 MY BABYSITTER’S A VAMPIRE 21:50 Good Luck Charlie 22:15 SHAKE IT UP 22:40 FISH HOOKS 23:05 THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY 23:30 HANNAH MONTANA 23:55 SONNY WITH A CHANCE

00:00 00:25 00:40 00:55 01:20 01:30 01:45 01:55 02:20 02:35 02:50 03:05 03:15 03:40 03:55 04:10 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:15

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Special Agent Oso Little Einsteins Timmy Time Jungle Junction Handy Manny Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Little Einsteins Higglytown Heroes Higglytown Heroes Jo Jo’s Circus Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Jungle Junction Jungle Junction

05:25 Little Einsteins 05:50 Higglytown Heroes 06:05 Higglytown Heroes 06:20 Jo Jo’s Circus 06:40 Special Agent Oso 06:55 Special Agent Oso 07:10 Jungle Junction 07:25 Jungle Junction 07:35 Little Einsteins 08:00 Higglytown Heroes 08:15 Higglytown Heroes 08:30 Jo Jo’s Circus 08:50 Jungle Junction 09:00 Jungle Junction 09:15 Higglytown Heroes 09:30 Higglytown Heroes 09:45 Handy Manny 10:00 Special Agent Oso 10:15 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:40 Timmy Time 10:55 Little Einsteins 11:20 The Hive 11:30 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 11:45 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 12:00 Jungle Junction 12:10 Handy Manny 12:25 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 12:45 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 12:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:15 Lazytown 13:45 Art Attack (Cema) 14:10 Imagination Movers 14:30 The Hive 14:40 Lazytown 15:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:30 Handy Manny 15:45 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 16:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 16:15 The Hive 16:25 Timmy Time 16:35 Special Agent Oso 16:50 Handy Manny 17:00 Imagination Movers 17:25 Lazytown 17:50 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 18:15 Handy Manny 18:30 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:45 Jungle Junction 19:00 Imagination Movers In Concert (Cema) 19:45 Art Attack (Cema) 20:10 Imagination Movers 20:35 Little Einsteins 21:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:15 Handy Manny 21:30 Handy Manny 21:45 Jungle Junction 22:00 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 22:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 101 Dalmatians 22:40 101 Dalmatians 22:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 23:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 23:20 The Hive 23:30 Mini Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:35 A Poem Is...

23:40 Animated Stories 23:45 Jungle Junction

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 20 Most Shocking Unsolved Crimes 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 Christina Aguilera 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Bridalplasty 10:15 Bridalplasty 11:10 Fashion Police 12:05 E! News 13:05 Ice Loves Coco 13:35 Ice Loves Coco 14:05 Dirty Soap 15:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:30 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 16:25 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 16:55 Fashion Police 17:55 E! News 18:55 World’s Specials 19:55 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 20:55 E!es 21:25 E!es 21:55 E!es 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

TV listings SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

00:40 01:30 02:15 03:05 03:50 04:40 05:25 06:15 07:10 08:00 08:50 09:40 10:25 11:10 11:35 11:55 12:40 13:25 14:15 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:35 17:20 18:10 19:00 19:45 20:10 20:55 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:50

Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab A Haunting True CSI Autopsy: Most Shocking Cases Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab A Haunting Mystery Diagnosis FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared On The Run Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared The Haunted Ghost Lab

00:00 Zambezi 01:00 Search For The Ultimate Bear 01:55 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 02:50 Super Pride 03:45 The Living Edens 04:40 Red Sea Jaws 05:35 That Shouldn’t Fly 06:30 Nordic Wild 07:25 The Invaders 08:20 Bonecrusher Queens 09:15 Animal Extractors 10:10 Super Pride 11:05 That Shouldn’t Fly 12:00 Shark Men 13:00 Great Migrations 14:00 Hyena Queen 15:00 Africa’s Deadliest 16:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 17:00 Journey Into Amazonia 18:00 The Living Edens 19:00 Hyena Queen 20:00 Africa’s Deadliest 21:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 22:00 Journey Into Amazonia 23:00 The Living Edens

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 PG15 12:15 14:00 16:00 PG15 18:15 20:00 22:00

08:30 Raising Hope 09:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 10:30 Just Shoot Me 12:00 Yes Dear 12:30 Dharma And Greg 13:00 Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne 13:30 Just Shoot Me 14:00 Happy Endings 16:30 How I Met Your Mother 18:00 Raising Hope 18:30 2 Broke Girls 19:00 The Office 19:30 Breaking In 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 23:00

American Idol Drop Dead Diva Damages Glee The Gates Good Morning America Kojak The Bachelor The Ellen DeGeneres Show Downsize Me The View American Idol Glee Kojak Drop Dead Diva Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Breakout Kings Criminal Minds C.S.I. Miami The Gates

21:00 The Fourth Kind-PG15 23:00 The Time Traveler’s Wife-PG15 00:00 Cold Case 01:00 Damages 02:00 Supernatural 03:00 American Idol 04:00 Glee 05:00 Drop Dead Diva 06:00 Cold Case 07:00 The Cape 08:00 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior 09:00 Drop Dead Diva 10:00 American Idol 11:00 Glee 12:00 The Cape 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior 15:00 Cold Case 16:00 How I Met Your Mother 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior 19:00 Breakout Kings 20:00 Criminal Minds 21:00 C.S.I. Miami 22:00 Top Gear (UK) 23:00 Lights Out

01:00 03:15 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

The Hurt Locker-18 Splinter-18 Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead-18 The Hit List-18 Phone Booth-PG15 The Thirteenth Floor-18 Staten Island-PG15 Phone Booth-PG15 The Craigslist Killer-PG15 Talento De Barrio-PG15 Friday Night Lights-PG15 From Within-PG15

00:00 Nine Months-PG15 02:00 The Dukes-PG15 04:00 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song-PG15 06:00 That Old Feeling-PG15 08:00 Miami Rhapsody-PG15 10:00 One Hot Summer-PG15 12:00 A Pyromaniac’s Love StoryPG15 14:00 Nativity!-PG 16:00 Nine Months-PG15 18:00 Marci X-PG15 20:00 Griff The Invisible-PG15 22:00 The Night Of The White PantsPG15

01:15 03:15 05:00 07:15 09:00 11:15 PG15 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

I Like It Like That-18 One Hour Photo-18 The Rookie-PG15 Good Hair-PG15 Lost In Space-PG15 Oscar And The Lady In Pink-

01:00 03:15 05:00 07:15 09:00 11:15 13:00 15:00 16:45 19:00

Paris-PG15 Flying By-PG15 Invictus-PG15 Witness To Jonestown-PG15 Iron Man 2-PG15 Pina-PG15 Don’t Fade Away-PG15 Cinema Verite-PG15 Iron Man 2-PG15 The Other Guys-PG15

Winning Time-PG15 Sunny Et L’elephant-PG15 Free Style (2008)-PG15 Limousine-PG15 Stand By Me-18 Shampoo-18

Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead-18 Tupac: Resurrection-18 Wild Bill-PG15 Returner-PG15 No Time To Fear-PG15 The Hunt For Red OctoberOng Bak 2-PG15 No Time To Fear-PG15 The Manchurian Candidate-

Raising Hope Happy Endings Dharma And Greg The Tonight Show With Jay Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne Yes Dear Just Shoot Me Dharma And Greg

00:00 Tetro-18 02:15 Gulliver’s Travels-PG 04:00 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 06:00 Coyote County Loser-PG15 08:00 Sundays At Tiffany’s-PG15 10:00 Citizen Jane-PG 12:00 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 14:00 St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend Of Fritton’s Gold-PG15 16:00 Citizen Jane-PG 18:00 Made In Dagenham-PG15 20:00 The Resident-18 22:00 Tyson-18

01:00 05:30 06:00 07:00 09:00 12:00 12:30 16:30 17:30 18:00 20:00 20:30 23:00

European PGA Tour Futbol Mundial Trans World Sport Super League Cricket Twenty20 Futbol Mundial Live European PGA Tour Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Super League Futbol Mundial Live Super League European PGA Tour

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE NXT WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE Vintage Collection UFC UFC 143 Countdown WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottom Line WWE SmackDown UFC 143 Countdown UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter

00:00 ICC Cricket World 00:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 01:00 Anglo Welsh Cup 03:00 Live Sevens World Series 13:00 Anglo Welsh Cup 15:00 Super League 17:00 Trans World Sport 18:00 Live Scottish Cup 20:00 ICC Cricket World 20:30 Anglo Welsh Cup 22:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 23:00 Trans World Sport

Ong Bak 2-PG15 The Resident-18 Friday Night Lights-PG15

00:45 Crazy-18 03:00 Make It Happen-PG15 05:00 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 07:00 Love N’ Dancing-PG15 09:00 Bangkok Adrenaline-PG15 11:00 Make It Happen-PG15 12:45 The Box-PG15 15:00 Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard-PG 17:00 My Sassy Girl-PG15 19:00 Gasland-PG15 21:00 Due Date-PG15 23:00 Death Race 2-18

03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 Leno 05:30 06:00 06:30 08:00

00:00 Dork Hunters And The Pirates Of Tortuga Island-PG15 02:00 Moomins And The Comet Chase-PG15 04:00 In Search Of The Titanic-PG 06:00 Winnie The Pooh-FAM 07:45 Toy Story 3-FAM 10:00 Jetsons: The Movie-FAM 12:00 Ramona And Beezus-PG 14:00 Micropolis-FAM 16:00 Legend Of Sleeping Beauty-PG 18:00 Jetsons: The Movie-FAM 20:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 22:00 Micropolis-FAM

PHONE BOOTH ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

00:00 Top 14 Highlights 00:30 Cricket International Twenty20 03:30 Trans World Sport 04:30 Anglo Welsh Cup 07:00 European PGA Tour 11:30 Super League 13:30 ICC Cricket World 14:00 Trans World Sports 15:00 Live Football Copa Del Sol 17:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 17:30 Futbol Mundial 18:00 Live Football Copa Del Sol 20:00 Trans World Sport 21:00 Live Football Copa Del Sol

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men Tales Of The Gun Ancients Behaving Badly Pub Dig American Pickers Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men Tales Of The Gun Ancients Behaving Badly Pub Dig American Pickers Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men Tales Of The Gun Ancients Behaving Badly Pub Dig American Pickers Deep Sea Detectives Ax Men The Crusades Cities Of The Underworld Monumental Challenge Modern Marvels

00:05 01:00 02:00 02:25 02:55 03:50 04:20 05:15 06:10 07:05 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 10:55 11:50 12:50 13:20 13:50 15:45 16:40 17:35 18:30 19:25 20:25 21:20 22:15 23:10

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00:00 Globe Trekker 01:00 Planet Food 02:00 Third Class Traveller 03:00 Planet Sports 04:00 Rivers Of The World 05:00 Globe Trekker 06:00 Planet Food 07:00 Opening Soon 07:30 Wild At Heart 08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 10:00 Chef Abroad 11:00 Top Travel 12:00 The Ethical Hedonist 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 Travel 360 15:00 Wild Camping 16:00 Third Class Traveller 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides 19:00 Essential 19:30 Going South 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 Travel 360 22:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 23:00 Globe Trekker

02:10 The Fixer 04:20 The Adventures Of Quentin Durward-FAM 06:00 Fury-PG 07:30 TCM Presents Under...-U 08:00 Manhattan Melodrama-PG 09:35 Moonfleet-PG 11:00 Son Of A Gunfighter-FAM 12:30 A Star Is Born-FAM 15:00 The Wizard Of Oz-PG 16:40 Hotel-PG 18:40 The Twenty-Fifth Hour-PG 20:35 The Dirty Dozen 23:00 Cool Hand Luke

HEALTH SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Pythons wiping out Everglades mammals: Study WEST PALM BEACH: A burgeoning population of huge pythons - many of them pets that were turned loose by their owners when they got too big - appears to be wiping out large numbers of raccoons, opossums, bobcats and other mammals in the Everglades, a study says. The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sightings of medium-size mammals are down dramatically - as much as 99 percent, in some cases - in areas where pythons and other large, non-native constrictor snakes are known to be lurking.

Scientists fear the pythons could disrupt the food chain and upset the Everglades’ environmental balance in ways difficult to predict. “The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the national park boundaries, are likely profound,” said John Willson, a research scientist at Virginia Tech University and co-author of the study.

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since.

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it. The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot one captured earlier this month.

For the study, researchers drove 39,000 miles along Everglades-area roads from 2003 through 2011, counting wildlife spotted along the way and comparing the results with surveys conducted on the same routes in 1996 and 1997. The researchers found staggering declines in animal sightings: a drop of 99.3 percent among raccoons, 98.9 percent for opossums, 94.1 percent for white-tailed deer and 87.5 percent for bobcats. Along roads where python populations are believed to be smaller, declines were lower but still notable.

Rabbits and foxes, which were commonly spotted in 1996 and 1997, were not seen at all in the later counts.

Researchers noted slight increases in coyotes, Florida panthers, rodents and other mammals, but discounted that finding because so few were spotted overall. “The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park,” said Michael Dorcas, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina and lead author of the study.

Although scientists cannot definitively say the pythons are killing off the mammals, the snakes are the prime suspect. The increase in pythons coincides with the mammals’ decrease, and the decline appears to grow in magnitude with the size of the snakes’ population in an area.

A single disease appears unlikely to be the cause since several species were affected.

The report says the effect on the overall ecosystem is hard to predict. Declines among bobcats and foxes, which eat rabbits, could be linked to pythons’ feasting on rabbits. On the flip side, declines among raccoons, which eat eggs, may help some turtles, crocodiles and birds.

Scientists point with concern to what happened in Guam, where the invasive brown tree snake has killed off birds, bats and lizards that pollinated trees and flowers and dispersed seeds. That has led to declines in native trees, fish-eating birds and certain plants. In 2010, Florida banned private ownership of Burmese pythons. Earlier this month, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a federal ban on the import of Burmese pythons and three other snakes. Salazar said Monday that the study shows why such restrictions were needed. “This study paints a stark picture of the real damage that Burmese pythons are causing to native wildlife and the Florida economy,” he said. — AP

BERLIN: A polar bear enjoys the fresh snow in the zoo yesterday. After a warm January, Germany was hit by a cold snap with temperatures plummeting far below freezing. — AP

Deforestation poses risk to Brazil’s wetland sanctuary 4,500 species live in Pantanal CUIABA: The Pantanal, a stunning biodiversity sanctuary in central-western Brazil, is threatened by intensive farming and deforestation, a leading environmental group warned as the world marked World Wetlands Day on Thursday. Often referred to as the world’s largest freshwater wetland system, the Pantanal extends through millions of hectares of Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay. It includes sanctuaries for migratory birds, nursery grounds for aquatic life, and refuges for such creatures as the yacare caiman, deer, and jaguar. Some 4,500 different species live in the Pantanal.

A leading environmental group, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), is sounding the alarm about the growing threat to the region posed by intensive farming, deforestation, urban growth and the proliferation of hydro-electric dams. As evidence the group cites a three-year study by 30 experts from Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, the counties that share the Paraguay river, which flows from its headwaters in Mato Grosso about 2,600 kilometers (1,620 miles) to its confluence with the Parana River in Argentina.

“The Pantanal is under threat,” said biologist Glauco Kimura, who coordinates the Water for Life program at WWF. “This may seem surprising but it is the sad reality. Our study shows that 14 percent of the Paraguay River basin must be urgently protected,” Kimura said.

Navigating the Cuiaba river, an important Pantanal tributary, escorted by raptors and colorful parrots overhead, Kimura and his team stop at the Chapada dos Guimaraes National Park, on a plateau at the edge of the Pantanal.

The threat, Kimura explains, comes from the highlands, known here as the Planalto. “This region is like a plate,” explains Kimura. “The Planalto on the edges and the Pantanal at the bottom of the plate.” The Pantanal suffers from

what goes on in the highlands, he says.

There are thousands of acres of farmland across the highlands. Soybeans are the region’s biggest crop, but corn, rice, cotton and sugarcane are also planted. The Pantanal is also at risk from deforestation as cattle farmers cut down trees to make room for land for grazing.

Roughly 15 percent of the region’s native vegetation has already been destroyed to make way for soybean cultivation and cattle ranching, according to the WWF, resulting in soil degradadation.

This worries Pierre Girard, a Canadian hydrologist at the Pantanal research center. “Soybean is cultivated at the headwaters of the rivers that feed and then form the Pantanal. There are risks of erosion,

but also of contamination of the Pantanal,” he warns.

The WWF study-conducted jointly with the US-based Nature Conservancy, another leading environmental groupunderscores the need for joint action by the countries and regions affected.

“There is no more space for intensive farming as if there was an infinite stock of native forest to destroy and fresh water to pollute,” says Kimura. “We need to protect ground water, create more protected areas and improve agribusiness practices.” Kimura believes that protecting the Paraguay river basin is crucial to conserve the region’s unparalleled wildlife diversity. Currently only 11 percent of the basin is protected. — AFP

PANTANAL: Bats rest on a tree trunk in Mato Grosso state. — AFP

CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

LOST Policy No. 633000545 issued by the State Life Insurance, Gulf Zone on the Life of Mr. Riaz Ahmed is reported to have been lost. Anyone finding the same or claiming any interest in it should communicate with the State Life office. Tel: 22452208/9. (C 3856) 2-2-2012

MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited for an Ezhava girl MBA 23 years old, looking for well educated Malayali boys from India or abroad.

Email: shibusviji@yahoo.co.in, shibusmini@gmail.com (C 3853) 28-1-2012

SITUATION WANTED Indian couple needs a job 12 years experience in Kuwait.

Cleaning, cooking and driving, we are expecting good salary. Contact: 65585930.

(C 3851) 28-1-2012

FOR SALE Expat owned Toyota Aurion, 2007 model, silver metallic color, done 73,000 kms, single owner. Registration and full cover insurance valid up to Nov. 2012. Price KD 4,975/-. Please contact Thomas only between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm at Tel: 22660301. (C 3850) Well maintained Toyota Camry 1998 for sale. Contact: 99172842. (C 3852) 28-1-2012

A 3700 watt, 2012 model ASTRA generator for sale.

Japanese parts assembled in China with pressure and gas meters. Price KD 85. Tel: 60066891 For rent in Hawalli a one bedroom (4x4m) and a 7x3.5 m reception+ terrace, fully equipped kitchen and bathroom. Tunis street, behind AlAndalus pharmacy. Tel: 99683200 A 2008 white, 1600 CC Nissan Sunny. Price KD 1700.

Tel: 99553221 A 2008 dark blue 6 cylinder Toyota Prado with Beige sued interior, low mileage, touch A/C, CD, cruise control, front and rear sensors for sale.

Price KD 6650. Tel: 99275550 A 2009 white, 6 cylinder Toyota Prado with 40,000 mileage touch A/C, CD, cruise control, front and rear sensors for sale. Price KD 7850.

Tel: 97477508-55809093 A 2009 YUKUN Suburban GMC XL with low mileage and beige sued interior, electric seats, cruise control, super headlights, rear camera, remote recording and rear sensors. Price 8550. Tel: 99301914 For rent a two storey villa and a basement in Mangaf including 8 rooms, laundry room, yard, parking. Rent value KD 1000. Tel: 97996900 A storey and half for rent in Mangaf including two 3 bedroom apartments with 2 baths, reception, kitchen, driver room each. Tel: 66989887 For rent a ground floor in Qurain comprising of four rooms, large reception, 5 baths, maid room, courtyard, parking. Rent value KD 550.

Tel: 66989887

MISCELLANEOUS Original guaranteed Palestinian virgin olive oil, large black and green olives for sale. Tel: 66517417 Whole Floor or small villa needed for rent in Shaab, Mansoriya, Nozha, Abdullah Al-Salem or Shamiya. Direct contact with owner. Tel: 9989018-99169016 A camp for rent in Kabed including five tents with all services. Complete privacy + game arcade. Tel: 97177714 Size 36 air pressure gun for sale in addition to a scope, safety lock. Shooting range 350 meters +bag+25 shots.

Price KD 70. Tel: 97790478

A fully central air-conditioned two room annex in Mangaf with separate exit and shaded car parking for rent to expatriates. Tel: 67753557 For rent in Ashbelia: two apartments with 3 bedrooms, bath, kitchen and maid room each plus a yard in between.

Tel: 90001594 A 2005 Mini Cooper for sale.

Tel: 99224855 A 2006 Lumina for sale with genuine factory paint. Price KD 2100. Tel: 69945429 A 2009 Touareg for sale.

Price 6350. Tel: 96670777 Senior English teacher for

Pakistani, bilingual schools, T.M.A., Ielts, Toefl, IBT K.S.S., social studies and math. Tel: 99577430 For sale: a 375 square meter house in Omariya, fully rented for KD 600. Price KD 185,000. Tel: 66815590 Transportation service available. Payment in advanced conditioned for all areas. Tel: 66678633 The smallest and most up to date recording device (2012 model) for sale. Finger size, voice activated, records up to 600 hrs, made in Japan.

Free delivery. Tel: 99773818 Original guaranteed Palestinian virgin olive oil for sale. Tel: 55740271

CHANGE OF NAME I, M. Madhavan, holder of Indian Passport No. H5961296, son of M. Muthukrishanan, converted in Islam and do now hereafter be known by my new name M. MOHAMED SHARIF. (C 3855) 1-2-2012 I, Mobin Sekh Jali, holder of Indian Passport No. E3360623 hereby change my name to MUBIN SHEIKH JALIL. (C 3854) 30-1-2012 I, Chinna Ravi Raj s/o Chinta Someswara Rao holding Indian Passport No: Z1852081 place of issue Kuwait would like to change my name as CHINTA RAVI RAJ. (C 3849) 28-1-2012

FOR RENT For rent at Salmiya, Apt 3 BR + 3 toilets + hall + kitchen + satellite, excellent location.

Foreigners and expats only, no mediators. Tel: 66060299.

(14183) For rent commercial Apt at the sea, excellent location, 190 square meter, suitable for (beauty saloon, consulting office, lawyers office). Tel: 66060299. (15004) For rent Apt at Salmiya 2 BR + 2 toilets + maid room + hall + kitchen and balcony for families only. Rent KD 280/-.

Tel: 66980123. (15007) For rent basement at Hawalli, excellent location, plastic floor, C-A/C, for serious only, please call: 66980123. (C 25997) Furnished Apt for rent in Salmiya 2 BR + hall + kitchen

+ satellite & DSL + parking, families only. Rent KD 450/-.

Tel: 66297171. (C 14941) For rent, one floor in a commercial complex in Salmiya, at main street suitable for Coffee Shop or Restaurant for serious only call: 66980123. (15006) For rent floor at South of Surra, 4 BR + maid room + 4 toilets, hall and elevator. KD 800/-. Tel: 66604095. (15041) For rent complete floor at Jabriya, 5 BR out of which 4 are master BR + 5 toilets + hall and elevator KD 750/-.

Tel: 66604095. (15103) For rent new elegant Apt at Al-Shaab for newly Weds, 3 BR + maid room + 4 toileets + hall + elevator. KD 650/-.

Tel: 94097080. (14899) For rent new ground floor at Granada, 4 BR + maids room + 4 toilets + hall, special entrance, C-A/C and marble.

KD 700/-. Tel: 94097080.

(C 14893) For rent Deluxe Apt South Al-Surra, 3 BR + maids room + 3 toilets + elevator. KD 600/-. Tel: 97713024. (15106) For rent Deluxe 1st floor with elevator at Al-Adan 4 master BR + large hall + 2 parking.

KD 650/-. Tel: 94097080.

(15107) For rent ground floor at Al-

No: 15349

Surra 3 BR + maids room + 3 toilets + hall, special entrance. For foreigners and expats. KD 650/-. Tel: 94097080. (15108) For Deluxe Apt new at AlRihab, 2 BR + 1toilet + hall + elevator, C-A/C, ceramic. KD 280/-. Tel: 97719024. (15110) For sale Trail Blazer Car, model 2007, agency painting, meter 110 km, one owner, KD 1,450/- on top of installments. Tel: 66297171.

(15016)

TUITION

Business management teacher with doctoral degree for universities, institutions, corporate & all student levels.

Over 10 years experience. Call 66495951. (C 3817) Business management teacher with doctoral degree for universities, institutions, corporate & all student levels.

Over 10 years experience. Call 66495951. (C 3817) Mathematics teacher, Intermediate and secondary Exams models, Easy method, Exams from past years with solutions. 97301901 English teacher (3) years experience, looking for a job and

ready to start with all educational stages. 55963993 Mathematics teacher for Universities, Institutions, Foreign Schools, Administrative, American, English, Australian, Bahrain, Electric and Gulf Sciences, Algbra Prel, Mathematics, intermediate, gmat, sat college, math98, 110 pre calculus geometry.

97619261 A Syrian Arabic language teacher. Masters in methods of teaching and follow up of 10th grade and 11th grade students. 97934291 Islamic education teacher for elementary and intermediate stages. Experienced in Kuwait curricula. Easy explanation, and summary of the subject, training for exams. 66292985 Syrian Arabic language teacher for elementary and intermediate stages.

Experienced in following learning difficulties, and those weak in reading and writing.

97264100 Female senior Mathematics teacher with more that 30 years experience in Kuwait, to teach secondary, intermediate and elementary stages.

Religious and applied, communications and navigation institutions, special courses and secretariat institution.

97926737

information SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines JZR QTR JZR KLM JZR ETH THY PIA UAE OMA QTR DHX MSR FDB ETD GFA THY FAH JZR JZR KAC BAW DHX KAC ABY KAC FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR ETD FDB BAB GFA RKM JZR IRM KAC KNE MSR SVA JZR KAC GFA MSR FDB MSR UAL GRF QTR KNE SVA RJA KAC KAC KAC JZR LMU QTR KNE JZR IRC ETD JZR UAE KAC FDB GFA CLX SVA ABY JZR

Arrival Flights on Saturday 4/2/2012 Flt Route 553 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 185 DUBAI 447 AMSTERDAM/BAHRAIN 539 CAIRO 620 ADDIS ABABA 772 ISTANBUL 239 SIALKOT 853 DUBAI 641 MUSCAT 148 DOHA 370 BAHRAIN 612 CAIRO 67 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 211 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 201 DUBAI 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 416 JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR 157 LONDON 170 BAHRAIN 412 MANILA/BANGKOK 121 SHARJAH 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 352 COCHIN 302 MUMBAI 531 ASSIUT 362 COLOMBO 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 301 ABU DHABI 55 DUBAI 436 BAHRAIN 213 BAHRAIN 310 RAS ALKHAIMAH 165 DUBAI 5066 MASHAD 382 DELHI 945 JEDDAH 610 CAIRO 9401 JEDDAH 201 DAMASCUS 672 DUBAI 219 BAHRAIN 621 ASSIUT 57 DUBAI 606 LUXOR 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 93 KANDAHAR/DUBAI 140 DOHA 745 JEDDAH 500 JEDDAH 640 AMMAN 562 AMMAN 786 JEDDAH 284 DHAKA 257 BEIRUT 611 ALEXANDRIA 134 DOHA 839 JEDDAH/MEDINAH 535 CAIRO 6791 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 357 MASHAD 857 DUBAI 118 NEW YORK 59 DUBAI 215 BAHRAIN 792 LUXEMBOURG 510 RIYADH 127 SHARJAH 777 JEDDAH

Time 0:10 0:20 0:20 0:30 0:50 1:45 2:15 2:20 2:35 2:50 2:55 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:15 4:50 5:30 5:55 6:00 6:25 6:40 6:40 6:45 7:35 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:00 8:20 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:40 9:55 10:40 11:20 12:40 12:45 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:00 13:20 13:25 13:30 13:50 13:55 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:25 14:30 14:40 14:45 14:50 15:00 15:00 15:10 15:25 16:15 16:25 16:30 16:50 16:50 16:55 16:55 17:05 17:15 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:45

RBG KAC BAB ALK JZR FDB KAC QTR JZR KAC KAC IRA KAC KAC KAC KAC SYR JAI OMA AIC MSR IRM KAC DHX KNE MEA GFA QTR UAE JZR KAC KLM KAC FDB FDB JZR UAL AXB BBC DLH

3561 550 437 227 177 63 542 6130 125 178 618 607 674 104 774 790 341 572 647 975 618 5064 788 372 789 402 217 136 859 135 502 445 614 8065 61 239 981 393 43 636

ALEXANDRIA SOHAG/SHARM EL SHEIKH BEIRUT COLOMBO/DUBAI DUBAI DUBAI CAIRO DOHA BAHRAIN GENEVA/FRANKFURT DOHA MASHAD DUBAI LONDON RIYADH MEDINAH DAMASCUS MUMBAI MUSCAT CHENNAI/GOA ALEXANDRIA MASHAD JEDDAH BAHRAIN JEDDAH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BEIRUT AMSTERDAM BAHRAIN DUBAI DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN KOZHIKODE/COCHIN DHAKA FRANKFURT

Airlines PIA UAL AIC JZR DLH KLM KAC ETH THY PIA KAC FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR DHX QTR QTR THY JZR GFA JZR ABY FDB BAW KAC JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY ETD KAC

Departure Flights on Saturday 4/2/2012 Flt Route 216 KARACHI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 976 GOA/CHENNAI 530 ASSIUT 637 FRANKFURT 447 AMSTERDAM 283 DHAKA 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 240 SIALKOT/ISLAMABAD 381 DELHI 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 642 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 371 BAHRAIN 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 771 ISTANBUL 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 200 DAMASCUS 122 SHARJAH 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 671 DUBAI 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 561 AMMAN 785 JEDDAH 101 LONDON/NEW YORK 856 DUBAI 126 SHARJAH 302 ABU DHABI 549 SOHAG/SHARM EL SHEIKH

17:50 18:00 18:05 18:10 18:15 18:40 18:50 19:00 19:00 19:10 19:15 19:20 19:25 19:35 19:40 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:45 20:50 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:20 21:25 21:35 21:40 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:05 22:10 22:15 22:45 23:00 23:40 23:45 23:50 Time 0:30 0:45 0:50 1:15 1:20 1:45 2:40 2:45 3:15 3:30 3:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:00 4:30 4:40 5:40 5:50 6:55 7:00 7:30 8:15 8:25 8:40 9:00 9:00 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:35 9:40 9:45 10:00 10:00

FDB QTR BAB GFA JZR RKM KAC KAC ASW JZR JZR MSR KNE IRM GFA MSR SVA FDB MSR KAC KNE UAL KAC RJA KAC JZR KAC LMU SVA KAC KAC QTR KAC KNE JZR QTR IRC ETD JZR FDB GRF UAE GFA ABY RBG SVA CLX JZR BAB KAC JZR ALK FDB JZR IRA QTR SYR KAC KAC JAI OMA IRM MSR KNE DHX KAC DHX KAC MEA GFA FAH QTR KAC JZR UAE FDB KAC KLM FDB JZR KAC

56 133 436 214 356 311 165 541 3202 776 176 611 946 5065 220 622 2401 58 607 673 746 982 789 641 617 124 787 612 505 501 773 141 153 840 238 135 6792 304 538 60 82 858 216 128 3563 511 792 266 437 613 134 228 64 184 616 6131 342 331 351 571 648 5063 619 790 171 543 373 675 403 218 102 137 301 554 860 8066 205 445 62 189 411

DUBAI DOHA BEIRUT BAHRAIN MASHAD RAS ALKHAIMAH ROME/PARIS CAIRO BAHRAIN JEDDAH DUBAI CAIRO JEDDAH MASHAD BAHRAIN ASSIUT JEDDAH DUBAI LUXOR DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN MEDINAH AMMAN DOHA BAHRAIN JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH BEIRUT RIYADH DOHA ISTANBUL JEDDAH AMMAN DOHA MASHAD ABU DHABI CAIRO DUBAI BAGHDAD DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH ASSIUT RIYADH HONG KONG BEIRUT BAHRAIN BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI/COLOMBO DUBAI DUBAI AHWAZ DOHA DAMASCUS TRIVANDRUM COCHIN MUMBAI MUSCAT MASHAD ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH BAHRAIN CAIRO BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT BAHRAIN DUBAI DOHA MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI DUBAI ISLAMABAD BAHRAIN/AMSTERDAM DUBAI DUBAI BANGKOK/MANILA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:05 10:10 10:25 10:40 10:50 11:40 11:45 12:00 12:00 12:15 13:50 13:55 14:00 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:20 15:30 15:35 15:50 15:50 15:55 15:55 16:00 16:15 16:25 16:30 16:35 17:05 17:15 17:25 17:30 17:35 17:40 17:50 18:00 18:10 18:15 18:25 18:30 18:35 18:45 18:45 18:55 19:00 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:55 20:20 20:30 21:00 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:15 21:40 21:45 21:50 21:50 21:55 22:00 22:10 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:45 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:35 23:55

C R O S S W O R D

5 7 8

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday始s Solution

ACROSS 1. Blood cells that engulf and digest bacteria and fungi.

4. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

9. An aromatic balsam.

13. The United Nations agency concerned with the interests of labor.

14. A kind of danceable music popular among black South Africans.

15. A musical work that has been created.

16. Large bamboo having thick-walled culms.

18. Generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids.

20. Of a period of maximal use or demand or activity.

21. Germanic barbarian leader who ended the western Roman Empire in 476 and became the first barbarian ruler of Italy (434-493).

22. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

25. The residue that remains when something is burned.

26. Any customary and rightful perquisite appropriate to your station in life.

33. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

34. Inquire about.

36. Tropical American tree producing cacao beans.

38. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

40. Electronic warfare undertaken to insure effective friendly use of the electromagnetic spectrum in spite of the enemy's use of electronic warfare.

41. Being or befitting or characteristic of an infant.

42. (Old Testament) The eldest son of Isaac who would have inherited the Covenant that God made with Abraham and that Abraham passed on to Isaac.

45. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

48. Enthusiastic approval.

51. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

52. One who attacks the reputation of another by slander or libel.

56. (usually followed by `of') Released from something onerous (especially an obligation or duty).

57. Relating to or near the radius.

60. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

61. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

62. A person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university).

63. Informal terms for a mother.

64. Nonresinous wood of a fir tree.

65. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

66. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

DOWN 1. A person who lacks confidence, is irresolute and wishy-washy.

2. (Scottish) Bluish-black or gray-blue.

3. The closing section of a musical composition.

4. A secret society of white Southerners to resist Black emancipation.

5. An open vessel with a handle and a spout for pouring.

6. A light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element.

7. In addition.

8. English monk and scholar (672-735).

9. The first of three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures comprising the first five books of the Old Testament considered as a unit.

10. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

11. A substance for packing a joint or coating a porous surface to make it

impervious to gas or liquid.

12. A person who makes use of a thing.

17. A Kwa language spoken in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

19. Ratio of the hypotenuse to the opposite side.

23. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

24. Grass with wide flat leaves cultivated in Europe and America for permanent pasture and hay and for lawns.

27. Committee formed by a special-interest group to raise money for their favorite political candidates.

28. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

29. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

30. A fraudulent business scheme.

31. A sock with a separation for the big toe.

32. Any plant of the genus Hoya having fleshy leaves and usually nectariferous flowers.

35. One thousand periods per second.

37. Make less active or intense.

39. A signal transmitted along a narrow path.

43. Scarabaeid beetle considered divine by ancient Egyptians.

44. 1 species.

46. Any of a group of heavenly spirits under the god Anu. 47. Measuring instrument in which the echo of a pulse of microwave radiation is used to detect and locate distant objects.

49. An upward slope or grade (as in a road).

50. A woody climbing usually tropical plant.

53. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

54. Very dark black.

55. Avatar of Vishnu.

58. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

59. Two items of the same kind.

Yesterday始s Solution

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Big swinging Hend takes lead in Myanmar YANGON: Australian Scott Hend took advantage of his soaring drives to shoot a five-under-par 67 and edge into the halfway lead at the Zaykabar Myanmar Open yesterday.

Overnight joint-leader Hend held a one-shot advantage over Thailand’s rising star Kiradech Aphibarnrat with a two-day total of 13-under-par 131 at the Royal Mingalardon Golf and Country Club.

Kiradech, who won his first Asian

Tour title last year, shot a solid 66 while countryman Chinnarat Phadungsil (68) and Ben Fox (69) of the United States were a further shot back on 133 at the $300,000 event.

Jesper Kennegard of Sweden set a new course record with a sizzling 63 to tie in fifth place with former European Tour member Wade Ormsby, Kodai Ichihara of Japan, Marcus Both of Australia and Joon Lee of Korea. Hend, who was averag-

ing drives of 331 yards today, got off to a strong start, making four birdies and one bogey in the opening five holes.

The highlight of his day came on the 10th hole when he sank a 15-feet chip-in birdie. “I missed a couple of three footers but it is all positives going into the weekend,” he said, according to an Asian Tour press release. “The way to score around here is try and to give yourself a lot

of 10 footers. The key to this golf course is to read the slopes on the green.” Kiradech, popular for his grip-it and rip-it style of play, birdied the last three holes to put him within a stroke of the leader and ignite his ambitions for a second Asian Tour victory. “Been a solid two days but I still have a lot of work to do.

Honestly, I could have gone lower but missed a couple of easy birdie chances,” said the Thai. — AFP

Phoenix Open off to a frosty start

DOHA: Photo shows a general view of Doha Golf Club. Play was suspended due to high winds yesterday. — AP

Play called off at Qatar Masters due to wind DOHA: European Tour officials reduced the Qatar Masters to 54 holes when they called off play yesterday after strong winds moved golf balls and blowing sand reduced visiblity on several holes. Officials initially suspended play at 9:13 am local time after gusts of up to 56 kph, and with signs being tossed about safety became an issue. They were hoping to resume play but with no sign of a respite, they called it off.

Play will restart at 8:45 am today.

First-round leader Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano dropped two shots on his first five holes to fall to 4 under through seven. John Daly, who had yet to start his second round, was the clubhouse leader after his 5-under 67 on Thursday. A stroke behind were Fernandez-Castano, Jason Day (par through 6 holes) and KJ Choi, who had yet to start. Jose Manuel Lara of Spain, who shot 9-over 81 on Thursday, withdrew yesterday with a bad back. Tournament director David Probyn said sponsors and those holding television rights wanted to end the tournament tomorrow, so it was

reduced rather than postponed.

“There is no point in us putting the guys out on the questionable golf course for one or two hours because it is not going to change the situation in what we can achieve if we have to finish tomorrow night,” Probyn said.

“We have taken a decision to suspend play and come back tomorrow morning.” Probyn said the winds hadn’t damaged infrastructure but had caused balls to move on several greens. He said the weather forecast was for conditions to improve today. “We are really not expecting a problem. It will be maybe 20 mph maximum tomorrow which should not be a problem for us,” Probyn said. “It has just been the gusts that have been over 35 mph today that have prevented us from playing.”

About 66 golfers had started the second round in Doha before play was suspended, and most seemed relieved to leave Doha Golf Course. Lee Westwood, who missed the cut last year and was 1 over for the tournament through six holes Friday, had already shifted to cheering on England’s crick-

et team against Pakistan in a test in Dubai. “No play today!,” Westwood tweeted. “If I’m quick I might just get back to the hotel to see the end of England’s innings! It’s a good 15 mins back!”

Westwood said he felt the six holes he played Friday were manageable but admitted the European Tour had heard from other groups who had reported their balls had moved. “It’s a tough decision to make, really, for the tour when a course becomes unplayable,” Westwood said. “The holes that we played ... the wind was playable and the ball wasn’t moving on the green. But I understand the European Tour has to take the whole course into account and I think they mentioned 7 and 5 the ball was moving around.”

Westwood said the “worst case scenario” would have been to send himself and others in the early groups to finish their rounds and to allow those who hadn’t started to play in easier conditions on Saturday. Suspending play for everyone, he said, was the “fairest outcome.” — AP

SCOTTSDALE: Ryan Palmer finished his round of golf in fading light, shooting a seven-under 64 Thursday to take the clubhouse lead in the first round of the darkness-suspended PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open.

Palmer parred the final hole just minutes before play was halted as he was one of the lucky ones to get his round completed on the TPC Scottsdale course. “Probably about my last three or four holes, you could tell it was getting closer and closer so I was trying not to worry about it,” Palmer said. “I knew I was going to be here in the morning for the second round, so I wasn’t worried about if we had to come back and restart. So I didn’t think about it and I just kept hitting shots and sticking to my game plan.

“The last putt was a little dark I can say, but I’m glad to be done, and now I can get going in tomorrow’s routine. Instead of getting ready for one hole, I can get ready for the whole day. It’s going to be a nice night.” The start of round one was delayed an hour Thursday morning because of frost in the Arizona desert. It was a repeat of last year when frost and freezing temperatures delayed play nine hours overall, resulting in a Monday finish.

Webb Simpson, who is the top ranked golfer in the field at number six, was a stroke back. A total of 42 players were left stranded and will be back on the course at 7:30 am local time (1430 GMT) finish off the opening round, weather permitting. Weather forecasters are calling for even chillier temperatures. Among the players who will be returning to finish their first rounds are Bubba Watson, Spencer Levin and Jason Dufner, who got through 13 holes. Defending champ Mark Wilson is one under through 16 holes and in the same group as Brant Snedeker, who won the Farmers Open last week. Snedeker is at even par. — AFP

Sharapova looks to fire Russia in chilly Moscow PARIS: Maria Sharapova will be looking to fire Russia in their Fed Cup World Group opener against Spain this weekend as she returns to freezing Moscow after her run in the sun to the Australian Open final. Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev was spoilt for choice for the tie on the indoor hard surface of Moscow’s Olympic Stadium and has opted for world number three Sharapova for singles duty alongside 19th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova. Sharapova had a good run to the final of the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne before being thrashed in straight sets by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

“I just came to Moscow from Australia and I’m still shocked by the temperature drop (from +30 degrees Celsius to -20C). But I still have time to get accustomed to the weather conditions here,” the Florida-based player said. “I believe this time I will be able to play better than I did in my previous Fed Cup appearance against France last year. I’ll try to give my best against Spain on front of our home fans in a very important tournament.” Beaten 3-2 by the Czech Republic in last year’s final at the same Olympic Stadium, the Russian team will be looking for a morale-boosting opener with a team that also includes Nadia Petrova, ranked 33, and 42nd-ranked Ekaterina Makarova.

Spain legend Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario takes charge for the first time as captain of the five-time winners in a team that will be without Anabel Medina Garrigues. The 39th-ranked Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is Spain’s top-ranked player, in a team that also includes Carla Suarez Navarro, Arantxa Parra-Santonja and Nuria Llagostera Vives. “It’s my debut as the Spanish team’s skipper and I’m really proud I’m in charge of this great team,” said Sanchez-Vicario, who holds the record for the most number of Fed Cup wins. — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Big swinging Hend takes lead in Myanmar YANGON: Australian Scott Hend took advantage of his soaring drives to shoot a five-under-par 67 and edge into the halfway lead at the Zaykabar Myanmar Open yesterday.

Overnight joint-leader Hend held a one-shot advantage over Thailand’s rising star Kiradech Aphibarnrat with a two-day total of 13-under-par 131 at the Royal Mingalardon Golf and Country Club.

Kiradech, who won his first Asian

Tour title last year, shot a solid 66 while countryman Chinnarat Phadungsil (68) and Ben Fox (69) of the United States were a further shot back on 133 at the $300,000 event.

Jesper Kennegard of Sweden set a new course record with a sizzling 63 to tie in fifth place with former European Tour member Wade Ormsby, Kodai Ichihara of Japan, Marcus Both of Australia and Joon Lee of Korea. Hend, who was averag-

ing drives of 331 yards today, got off to a strong start, making four birdies and one bogey in the opening five holes.

The highlight of his day came on the 10th hole when he sank a 15-feet chip-in birdie. “I missed a couple of three footers but it is all positives going into the weekend,” he said, according to an Asian Tour press release. “The way to score around here is try and to give yourself a lot

of 10 footers. The key to this golf course is to read the slopes on the green.” Kiradech, popular for his grip-it and rip-it style of play, birdied the last three holes to put him within a stroke of the leader and ignite his ambitions for a second Asian Tour victory. “Been a solid two days but I still have a lot of work to do.

Honestly, I could have gone lower but missed a couple of easy birdie chances,” said the Thai. — AFP

Phoenix Open off to a frosty start

DOHA: Photo shows a general view of Doha Golf Club. Play was suspended due to high winds yesterday. — AP

Play called off at Qatar Masters due to wind DOHA: European Tour officials reduced the Qatar Masters to 54 holes when they called off play yesterday after strong winds moved golf balls and blowing sand reduced visiblity on several holes. Officials initially suspended play at 9:13 am local time after gusts of up to 56 kph, and with signs being tossed about safety became an issue. They were hoping to resume play but with no sign of a respite, they called it off.

Play will restart at 8:45 am today.

First-round leader Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano dropped two shots on his first five holes to fall to 4 under through seven. John Daly, who had yet to start his second round, was the clubhouse leader after his 5-under 67 on Thursday. A stroke behind were Fernandez-Castano, Jason Day (par through 6 holes) and KJ Choi, who had yet to start. Jose Manuel Lara of Spain, who shot 9-over 81 on Thursday, withdrew yesterday with a bad back. Tournament director David Probyn said sponsors and those holding television rights wanted to end the tournament tomorrow, so it was

reduced rather than postponed.

“There is no point in us putting the guys out on the questionable golf course for one or two hours because it is not going to change the situation in what we can achieve if we have to finish tomorrow night,” Probyn said.

“We have taken a decision to suspend play and come back tomorrow morning.” Probyn said the winds hadn’t damaged infrastructure but had caused balls to move on several greens. He said the weather forecast was for conditions to improve today. “We are really not expecting a problem. It will be maybe 20 mph maximum tomorrow which should not be a problem for us,” Probyn said. “It has just been the gusts that have been over 35 mph today that have prevented us from playing.”

About 66 golfers had started the second round in Doha before play was suspended, and most seemed relieved to leave Doha Golf Course. Lee Westwood, who missed the cut last year and was 1 over for the tournament through six holes Friday, had already shifted to cheering on England’s crick-

et team against Pakistan in a test in Dubai. “No play today!,” Westwood tweeted. “If I’m quick I might just get back to the hotel to see the end of England’s innings! It’s a good 15 mins back!”

Westwood said he felt the six holes he played Friday were manageable but admitted the European Tour had heard from other groups who had reported their balls had moved. “It’s a tough decision to make, really, for the tour when a course becomes unplayable,” Westwood said. “The holes that we played ... the wind was playable and the ball wasn’t moving on the green. But I understand the European Tour has to take the whole course into account and I think they mentioned 7 and 5 the ball was moving around.”

Westwood said the “worst case scenario” would have been to send himself and others in the early groups to finish their rounds and to allow those who hadn’t started to play in easier conditions on Saturday. Suspending play for everyone, he said, was the “fairest outcome.” — AP

SCOTTSDALE: Ryan Palmer finished his round of golf in fading light, shooting a seven-under 64 Thursday to take the clubhouse lead in the first round of the darkness-suspended PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open.

Palmer parred the final hole just minutes before play was halted as he was one of the lucky ones to get his round completed on the TPC Scottsdale course. “Probably about my last three or four holes, you could tell it was getting closer and closer so I was trying not to worry about it,” Palmer said. “I knew I was going to be here in the morning for the second round, so I wasn’t worried about if we had to come back and restart. So I didn’t think about it and I just kept hitting shots and sticking to my game plan.

“The last putt was a little dark I can say, but I’m glad to be done, and now I can get going in tomorrow’s routine. Instead of getting ready for one hole, I can get ready for the whole day. It’s going to be a nice night.” The start of round one was delayed an hour Thursday morning because of frost in the Arizona desert. It was a repeat of last year when frost and freezing temperatures delayed play nine hours overall, resulting in a Monday finish.

Webb Simpson, who is the top ranked golfer in the field at number six, was a stroke back. A total of 42 players were left stranded and will be back on the course at 7:30 am local time (1430 GMT) finish off the opening round, weather permitting. Weather forecasters are calling for even chillier temperatures. Among the players who will be returning to finish their first rounds are Bubba Watson, Spencer Levin and Jason Dufner, who got through 13 holes. Defending champ Mark Wilson is one under through 16 holes and in the same group as Brant Snedeker, who won the Farmers Open last week. Snedeker is at even par. — AFP

Sharapova looks to fire Russia in chilly Moscow PARIS: Maria Sharapova will be looking to fire Russia in their Fed Cup World Group opener against Spain this weekend as she returns to freezing Moscow after her run in the sun to the Australian Open final. Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev was spoilt for choice for the tie on the indoor hard surface of Moscow’s Olympic Stadium and has opted for world number three Sharapova for singles duty alongside 19th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova. Sharapova had a good run to the final of the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne before being thrashed in straight sets by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

“I just came to Moscow from Australia and I’m still shocked by the temperature drop (from +30 degrees Celsius to -20C). But I still have time to get accustomed to the weather conditions here,” the Florida-based player said. “I believe this time I will be able to play better than I did in my previous Fed Cup appearance against France last year. I’ll try to give my best against Spain on front of our home fans in a very important tournament.” Beaten 3-2 by the Czech Republic in last year’s final at the same Olympic Stadium, the Russian team will be looking for a morale-boosting opener with a team that also includes Nadia Petrova, ranked 33, and 42nd-ranked Ekaterina Makarova.

Spain legend Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario takes charge for the first time as captain of the five-time winners in a team that will be without Anabel Medina Garrigues. The 39th-ranked Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is Spain’s top-ranked player, in a team that also includes Carla Suarez Navarro, Arantxa Parra-Santonja and Nuria Llagostera Vives. “It’s my debut as the Spanish team’s skipper and I’m really proud I’m in charge of this great team,” said Sanchez-Vicario, who holds the record for the most number of Fed Cup wins. — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Vibrant India cruise to 8-wicket T20 win MELBOURNE: India revived their Australian tour with a convincing eight-wicket win over the home side in the second Twenty20 international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday. The tourists dazzled in the field with four run outs to restrict Australia to 131 off 19.4 overs before reaching the target at 135 for two with two balls to spare before 62,275 fans. It was the Indians’ first victory on their tour of Australia after losing the opening T20 game by 31 runs in Sydney on Wednesday and receiving a 4-0 thrashing in the Test series. Australia were scuttled by a India’s brilliant fielding, the pick of which came from man-of-the-match Ravindra Jadeja who claimed two run outs. It was a shambolic Australian performance with the bat and in the field as the youthful Indian side finally revealed the hunger missing for so much of the lopsided Test series.

Gautam Gambhir topscored with an unbeaten 56 off 60 balls with skipper M S Dhoni not out 21 off 18 balls after promoting himself to number four in the batting order. “The fielding was exceptional. Best fielding side, I’ve seen. It will be hard to beat this effort,” Dhoni said. “We are a side that relies a lot on a good start, not about the runs, a good, calm start is what we look for. “Overall it was a good effort by the bowlers and equally by the top three batsmen.” The Indians were always in control of the run chase, but tensions mounted in the final over as the Australians ringed the field around Gambhir before he pierced the circle for the winning runs with two balls to spare. India only lost the wickets of Virender Sehwag for 23 off 16 balls and Virat Kohli 31 off 24.

The impressive victory was just the momentum switch that India needed ahead of tomorrow’s opening match in the tri oneday series against Australia at the MCG. Opener Aaron Finch, one of three changes from Australia’s win in the opening T20 game, topscored with 36 off 23 balls and first match topscorer Matthew Wade chipped in with 32 off 29 balls. But India had the home side under pressure from the third over when they had the adventurous David Warner dismissed for eight to a great catch in the deep by a back-pedalling Gambhir off Praveen Kumar.

Test flop Shaun Marsh was out for a two-ball duck and Finch was run out by an outstanding piece of athletic fielding by Jadeja after David Hussey hit the ball straight to him at backward point and scampered for a single. Hussey also played a role in a second run out as Jadeja found skipper George Bailey (3) well out of his ground at the bowler’s end, and was himself next to go, caught and bowled by Jadeja for 24 off 29 balls. —AFP

SCOREBOARD MELBOURNE: Scoreboard yesterday from the Australia-India Twenty20 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground: Australia Innings David Warner c Gambhir b P Kumar 8 Aaron Finch run out (Jadeja) 36 Shaun Marsh c Dhoni b Pravin Kumar 0 David Hussey c and b Jadeja 24 George Bailey run out (Jadeja) 3 Matthew Wade run out (Rohit Sharma) 32 Mitchell March st Dhoni b Rahul Sharma 13 Brett Lee not out 6 Clint McKay c Dhoni b Vinay Kumar 0 Brad Hogg lbw Rohit Sharma 4 Xavier Doherty run out (Raina) 1 Extras (4w) 4 TOTAL: (all out) 131 Overs: 19.4. Batting time: 82 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-20, 3-49, 4-54, 5-93, 6-119, 7-121, 8-121, 9130.

Bowling: Pravin Kumar 3-0-21-2 (1w), Vinay Kumar 4-0-25-1 (1w), Virat Kohli 1-0-7-0, Ravindra Jadeja 3-0-16-1 (1w), Rahul Sharma 3.4-0-29-2, Suresh Raina 1-010-0, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-23-0 (1w).

India Innings Gautam Gambhir not out 56 Virender Sehwag c Shaun Marsh b Hogg 23 Virat Kohli c Wade b Mitchell Marsh 31 Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 21 Extras (4w) 4 TOTAL: (for 2 wickets) 135 Overs: 19.4. Batting time: 90 minutes.

Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-97.

Did not bat: Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Pravin Kumar.

Bowling: Brett Lee 4-0-24-0 (1w), Clint McKay 3.4-0-25-0 (1w), Xavier Doherty 3-0-29-0 (1w), Brad Hogg 3-0-19-1, Mitchell Marsh 4-0-30-1 (1w), David Hussey 2-0-8-0.

Umpires: Simon Fry and Bruce Oxenford, Australia.

TV Umpire: Paul Reiffel, Australia. Match Referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.

Result: India won by 8 wickets.

Series: Two-match series level 1-1.

DUBAI: Pakistan’s bowler Abdur Rehman (center) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of England’s Matt Prior (right) during the first day of the third cricket test match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday. — AP

England edge ahead as wickets tumble

DUBAI: England edged to a slender five-run lead over Pakistan at the close as 16 wickets fell during an extraordinary opening day of the third and final test at Dubai Stadium yesterday. Routed for a low score of 99 in their first innings by England pacemen Stuart Broad (4-36) and James Anderson (3-35), Pakistan spinners moved to the fore to leave England struggling at 104-6.

England, playing for pride after losing the first two Tests and the series, now hold a slight lead on a seemingly batting-friendly pitch. At the close, Andrew Strauss was unbeaten on 41 and James Anderson was on three not out. Paceman Umar Gul led Pakistan’s fightback by dismissing opener Alastair Cook (one) and Jonathan Trott (two) before Strauss added 57 for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen (32) during their bids to overcome batting frailties. England’s batting had flopped during their two wicket defeat in the first Test here and in the 72-run defeat in the second match in Abu Dhabi. Pakistani spinners Abdul Rehman and Saeed Ajmal, who grabbed 34 of the 40 wickets in the first two Tests, then grabbed four more wickets, with Rehman dismissing Pietersen and Eoin Morgan (10) and Ajmal accounting for Bell (five). Pietersen’s dismissal made it 34 leg-before dismissals for the series, beating the previous record of 33 in the Pakistan-West Indies series in the Caribbean in 1993. Rehman, who took 3-23, then bowled Matt Prior (six) with England just one behind Pakistan. Pakistan coach Moshin Khan said the decision to bat first was unanimous. “We thought if we could see off the first hour it would be easier later, but it didn’t happen,” said Khan.

“Both the teams have good bowling so its tough for the batsmen to score.”Earlier in the morning, England’s pace duo of Broad and Anderson bowled well to expose Pakistan, who won the toss and batted. Asad Shafiq topscored with 45. Anderson struck in the first over, trapping opener Taufiq Umar for a duck. Broad then clicked into gear, snaring Ali in his third over through a caught behind and Younis in his next, caught off a rising delivery, again by wicket-keeper Prior. He then claimed Hafeez’s wicket trapping him leg before. Australian umpire Simon Taufel initially turned down the appeal but changed the decision after England called for a review.

Hafeez mocked the decision review system and may face a hearing from match-referee Jeff Crowe of New Zealand after the day’s play. From the other end Anderson trapped Misbah-ul Haq for one in a decision challenged by the Pakistani skipper to no avail. That left Pakistan struggling at 21-5. Shafiq and Adnan Akmal (six) added 18 for the sixth wicket before Broad changed ends to dismiss the wicket-keeper, again with a sharp incoming delivery which caught the batsmen in front of the stumps.

Graeme Swann then teased a miscued a drive from Rehman (one) gathered by a grateful Pietersen at mid-off, leaving Pakistan in danger of being bowled out for their lowest ever Test total - 53 against Australia in 2002. Shafiq hit his first boundary in the last over before lunch to take Pakistan to that lowest mark and then hit another off left-arm spinner Monty Panesar to avoid the ignominy. —AFP

SCOREBOARD DUBAI: Scoreboard at the close of the opening day of the third and final test between Pakistan and England at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first.

Pakistan first innings: Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Broad 13 Taufeeq Umar lbw b Anderson 0 Azhar Ali c Prior b Broad 1 Younus Khan c Prior b Broad 4 Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Anderson 1 Asad Shafiq lbw b Panesar 45 Adnan Akmal lbw b Broad 6 Abdur Rehman c Pietersen b Swann 1 Saeed Ajmal lbw b Panesar 12 Umar Gul b Anderson 13 Aizaz Cheema not out 0 Extras (lb 3) 3 Total (all out; 44.1 overs) 99 Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-8 3-18 4-21 5-21 6-39 7-44 8-78 9-85 Bowling: Anderson 14.1-3-35-3, Broad 16-5-36-4, Panesar 134-25-2, Swann 1-1-0-1.

England first innings A. Strauss not out 41 A. Cook c Adnan Akmal b Umar Gul 1 J. Trott lbw b Umar Gul 2 K. Pietersen lbw b Abdur Rehman 32 I. Bell st Adnan Akmal b Saeed Ajmal 5 E. Morgan lbw b Abdur Rehman 10 M. Prior b Abdur Rehman 6 J. Anderson not out 3 Extras (b 1, lb 3) 4 Total (for six wickets; 43 overs) 104 Still to bat: S. Broad, G. Swann, M. Panesar Fall of wickets 1-5 2-7 3-64 4-75 5-88 6-98 Bowling: Umar Gul 7-1-28-2, Aizaz Cheema 4-0-9-0, Saeed Ajmal 17-5-40-1, Abdur Rehman 15-4-23-3.

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Arsenal racing against time LONDON: Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal must improve quickly, or face up to the prospect of missing out on a top four finish for the first time in 16 years. The Gunners have been a fixture among the Premier League’s leading group ever since they finished fifth in 1996.

But having dropped to seventh after the latest round of fixtures, Arsene Wenger’s side now face a testing challenge if they are to maintain their impressively consistent run and ensure

a place in next season’s Champions League. The midweek draw at Bolton at least ensured the North London club avoided a fourth successive league defeat. But that was scant consolation after Wenger’s team had been presented with the opportunity to reduce the gap to fourth-placed Chelsea to three points.

Now Arsenal must attempt to rediscover winning form when Blackburn Rovers visit the Emirates Stadium des-

perately seeking points to boost their relegation battle. The pressure is undoubtedly building on the manager following his failure to make a major signing in the transfer window, despite funds being made available to him.

And Arteta, the Spanish midfielder, acknowledges the time has come to step up the pace to avoid losing further ground to Chelsea as well as Newcastle United and Liverpool who lie fifth and sixth respectively.

“It is going to be tough to finish in the top four but it depends on us,” Arteta said. “We have got the talent and the quality in the side to do it but we have to show it day by day. “I am confident because we train together every day and I know how good we are but we have to show it every day, not every two or three weeks. “It is more about details to score and make the game much easier for us. It depends on small details. — AFP

PSV beat Nijmegen ROTTERDAM: PSV Eindhoven beat NEC Nijmegen 3-2 on Thursday with all the goals coming in the first half as the hosts progressed to the Dutch Cup semi-finals. Dries Mertens put PSV ahead after five minutes but 10 minutes later Nick van der Velden equalized from close range after a chip from Lasse Schone was cleared off the line by Marcelo. Tim Matavz restored the lead for PSV four minutes before the interval after good play by Ola Toivonen and Kevin Strootman, who added a third minutes later. Nijmegen, who had other good chances, hit back through a long drive from Schone in first-half stoppage time but could not grab an equaliser in a comparatively dull second period. On Wednesday AZ Alkmaar and Heracles Almelo reached the semi-finals after home wins over the amateurs of GVVV Veenendaal and RKC Waalwijk respectively, while Heerenveen beat Vitesse Arnhem 2-1 on Tuesday in their last-eight clash. — Reuters

Chievo stun Novara MILAN: Novara coach Emiliano Mondonico’s return to Serie A proved disappointing as he witnessed his new team lose 2-1 to Chievo Verona on Thursday and look even more certain of relegation. Sergio Pellissier grabbed his 100th goal for Chievo shortly after the half-hour mark and it looked all over when Cyril Thereau doubled its lead 12 minutes from time. But Giuseppe Mascara pulled one back less than a minute later to set up a nervy finish.

Mondonico, who had not coached in the top division since being fired by Fiorentina seven years ago, replaced Attilio Tesser on Monday in the 12th coaching change in Serie A this season. Novara remains bottom of the standings, seven points below Siena, which has a game in hand.

“I’m happy to be back on the bench, but I’m upset to have lost,” Mondonico said. “I saw a team which can play in Serie A, it’s not here by chance and its not clearly inferior to its opponents. “I saw a team which can fight to remain in Serie A. I don’t think people saw a team which are resigned to relegation or without talent.”

The first half got off to a bright start and Novara goalkeeper Samir Ujkani was forced into two smart saves to deny first Pellissier and then Luciano. Novara’s first real chance came in the 15th minute when it won a free kick in a dangerous position just outside the area.

Ivan Radovanovic drilled it in and Stefano Sorrentino’s save went straight back to the Serbia midfielder but his second shot was well held by the Chievo goalie. Chievo should have taken the lead in the 26th minute as Boukary Drame put in a perfect cross for the onrushing Thereau. However, the Frenchman for some reason decided to leap and attempt to score with his knee, and he blazed over.

The visiting side did take the lead minutes later as chaotic defending in the box saw the ball fall to Pellissier - Chievo’s highest ever goalscorer - and as the Novara defenders watched the ball bounce the Chievo captain muscled his way past them and tucked it past Ujkani. Novara almost immediately equalized but Mascara was a whisker away from making contact at the far post. It had another decent opportunity in first-half stoppage time as Sorrentino could parry Marco Rigoni’s cross only out to Andrea Caracciolo, who headed just wide of the left upright. Chances were few and far between in the second half, although Radovanovic did fire narrowly over the crossbar shortly past the hour.

Thereau appeared to have sealed the points when he doubled Chievo’s lead. Pellissier crossed to Paolo Sammarco, who had gone on seconds earlier, and he cut it back for Thereau to fire into the bottom left corner. — AP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Ronaldinho (left) of Brazilian team Flamengo, vies for the ball with Alberto Alarcon of Bolivia’s Real Potosi during their Copa Libertadores match at the Joao Havelange stadium in Rio de Janeiro. — AFP

Flamengo fire Luxemburgo despite Libertadores win RIO DE JANEIRO: Flamengo sacked coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo on Thursday despite steering the team through to the group stage of the Libertadores Cup the night before. The former Real Madrid and Brazil coach, who had been in charge since Oct. 2010, overcame internal squabbles to steer Flamengo to a 2-0 home victory over Real Potosi of Bolivia on Wednesday for a 3-2 win on aggregate in their preliminary round tie.

Luxemburgo said after Wednesday’s win that he would be staying on in the job despite media speculation he was on his way out regardless of the result, but club president Patricia Amorim said the sacking was decided on Thursday.

“The decision about Luxemburgo was taken after the talk I had with him today,” Amorim said.

“It had already been agreed with the coach that we would talk after the game but no decision was taken before that,” she told a news conference at Flamengo headquarters. “We listened to the opin-

ions of the players, the fans and saw this was the right moment to make changes.”

Amorim denied there was already a successor in line to replace Luxemburgo, who was in his third spell as coach of the club he played for as a right back in the 1970s. However, local media reports said Joel Santana, who quit Flamengo in 2009 to coach 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa only to be sacked a few months before the finals, had already agreed to return to the Rio de Janeiro club. Santana, who has been coaching Bahia since September, handed in his resignation to the northeastern club on Thursday night according to the club’s website (www.esporteclubebahia.com.br), at the same time as Flamengo were announcing Luxemburgo’s departure.

RELEGATION DANGER Luxemburgo, 59, arrived at Flamengo with the team, who were defending Brazilian champions, in danger of rele-

gation and managed to steer them to mid-table safety. With the signing of former FIFA World Player-of-the-Year Ronaldinho from AC Milan in January last year, Brazil’s most popular team expected a successful campaign but only won the low-key, early season Carioca (Rio) state championship.

Luxemburgo, who had a contract until the end of this year, also had problems with Ronaldinho due to the player’s love for partying during the summer off-season in January.

A 2-1 loss to Real Potosi in the first leg of the Libertadores Cup preliminary round tie last week despite a week spent in Bolivia acclimatizing to the high altitude virtually sealed Luxemburgo’s fate even though his team qualified on Wednesday. Luxemburgo, who as a coach has won the Brazilian championship five times with four different clubs with the last at Santos in 2004, held the Brazil job from 1998 to 2000 and spent the 2004/05 season at Real Madrid. — Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Juve looking to make light of the weather ROME: The weather has been playing havoc with football fixtures in Italy all week but Serie A leaders Juventus have survived the big freeze and managed to cement their grip on the standings, without even playing. Juve’s game at Parma was called off leaving them an anxious 24-hour wait to see if they would lose the league leadership. But AC Milan crashed 2-0 at Lazio meaning Juve held on to top spot ahead of the visit of Siena this weekend. “The midweek games provided a table that still makes us smile,” said Juve captain Alessandro Del Piero. “With a one-point advantage (over Milan) and a game in hand we have to take advantage of the opportunity to escape, even though it’s still too soon to stop and look at the table.”

There is still almost half the season to go but there’s a feeling that things are falling into Juve’s lap.

However, with temperatures of up to minus 10 Celsius expected in the north this weekend, the weather promises to have yet more of a say. Already three scheduled evening games have had to be brought forward to the afternoon to give them a better chance of going ahead. What this has done is reopen a raging

debate in Italy about the state of stadia in the country.

Juve are the only club to own their custom-built stadium while everyone else rents theirs from the local council. Those other stadiums are mostly old and outdated with poor facilities and no contingency plans for icy conditions. When games are called off in Italy it is rarely because the pitch is frozen but because the areas around the ground used by fans are deemed too dangerous. And while Turin is one of the worst affected areas in the country, the Juventus Stadium has held up well to the snow. “We’re first in the table but we’re already concentrating tomorrow against Siena at the Juventus Stadium,” added Del Piero. “Last Saturday we gave a great demonstration of efficiency (in dealing with the weather conditions), so thanks to the people who worked hard to allow us to play and the fans to enjoy a great spectacle.”

The efficient stadium is indicative of a well-oiled Juve machine that remains unbeaten this season and has proved beyond doubt now that they are capable of putting successive, miserable, seventh-placed finishes behind them and challenging for the title. And if

anything, their rivals seem to be facilitating affairs.

Lazio had previously slipped away by losing at Inter Milan, who were on a seven-game winning run until the last week where one point from six has dropped them eight points behind Juve having played a game more. But Lazio then threw a spanner in Milan’s works, leaving their coach Massimiliano Allegri insisting that Juve and not the champions are now the title favorites.

They also face a much tougher weekend game as they host Napoli, themselves beset by problems an inconsistency. Napoli have been highly impressive when playing supposed big teams, beating both Milans and Manchester City. But their continued inability to put lesser teams to the sword-they have drawn nine games in the league-has seen them fall right out of title and probably Champions League contention.

However, it would be no surprise if the giant-killing Napoli turn up tomorrow. Roma meanwhile host Inter in a clash that could prove crucial to the European places. Fourth-placed Lazio travel to Genoa and thirdplaced Udinese will be at Fiorentina.—AFP

FA strip Terry of captaincy - again LONDON: John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy, the English FA said yesterday. The 31-year-old Chelsea centre back is awaiting trial after pleading not guilty on Wednesday to a charge of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match at Loftus Road in October. The trial date has been set for July 9 - eight days after the end of the Euro 2012 championship.

“Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry to July, The Football Association confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations against him are resolved,” the FA said in a statement on its website (www.thefa.com). “The FA Board expected the trial to be concluded prior to the European Championship.

“Further to Wednesday’s confirmation that the trial will not take place until after the tournament, the board has discussed the matter in detail and has collectively decided it is in the interests of all parties that John has the responsibilities of captaincy removed at this time. “This decision has been taken due to the higher profile nature of the England captaincy, on and off the pitch, and the additional demands and requirements expected of the captain leading into and during a tournament.”

The FA confirmed he had not been excluded from the squad and that manager Fabio Capello can select him for the friendly against the Netherlands at Wembley on Feb. 29 and for the European Championship itself.

FA AUTHORITY FA Chairman David Bernstein spoke to both Terry and Capello to explain the facts to them, the FA said. “Fabio Capello has not been involved in The FA Board discussions which reached this conclusion, but understands that The FA Board has authority to make this decision,” the statement continued.

“This decision in no way infers any suggestion of guilt in relation to the charge

Former England captain John Terry made against John Terry,” the FA added.

It is the second time that Terry has been stripped of the captaincy of the national team in two years. He has played for England 67 times, 34 of them as captain and scored six goals.

He was first relieved of the armband by England manager Capello in February 2010 following allegations of an extramarital affair, and re-instated as captain last year. The Italian has so far stood by his skipper, maintaining that Terry is innocent until proven guilty and that he should be free to select

him as he wishes. After the match against the Dutch at the end of this month, England face Norway and Belgium in other warm-up matches before the Euros begin in June in which they face France, Sweden and Ukraine in their opening group phase matches. London bookmakers William Hill installed Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard as the 8-13 favorite to take over as captain with Terry’s Chelsea team mate Frank Lampard rated at 5-1 and Anton’s brother Rio, Terry’s longterm partner in the centre of the England defence, at 7-1.— Reuters

Real go local in bid to defend 7-point lead MADRID: Real Madrid’s seven-point lead over Barcelona could come under threat this weekend when Jose Mourinho’s side face a potentially tricky fixture at local rivals Getafe.The team from the south of the capital may be sitting in ninth position but the Dark Blues sit only four points off the Champions League places for next season and are without a defeat in six league games. Getafe are also the only team to have beaten Barcelona this season-a significant detail, and also one of the reasons Real currently enjoy such a big gap over the Catalans.

Since being humiliated by a 3-1 home defeat to Barcelona in December, Mourinho’s side have a 100 percent record in five league matches-and that is partly down to on-form German international Mesut Ozil. Having stated in midweek his desire to stay at the club long-term, the attacking midfielder is clear what the short-term goal is. “It may that we have a big gap over Barca, but it’s not. If we mess up twice they can catch us,” said Ozil. Getafe coach Luis Garcia has duly pinpointed Ozil as one of Real’s danger men.

“I think the last few games he has been spectacular and we are now seeing the Ozil we had all heard about. Lets hope he has a bad game today but I think he has a great future with Madrid,” said Garcia, who is nonetheless confident of taking something from the game.”We are in good form and we’ll have our chances, Real have failed to win in the league three times so far this season and we hope to add to that tally,” added Garcia. Apart from the obvious difficulties in facing a consistent Real, Garcia has personnel problems.

Centre-halves Rafael Lopez (injured) and Albert Lopo (suspended), together with forward Dani Guiza (suspended) will all be missing. Also doubtful are midfielders Miguel Marcos Madera, known as ‘Michel’ (injury), while Pedro Leon-who is on loan from Real-will not feature either. Real have no such worries, with the only uncertainty surrounding midfielder Xabi Alonso. He has returned from injury but if he is on the bench or unselected, Mourinho should continue with ex-Getafe player Esteban Granero.

At Barcelona frustration has been the word of the week, especially for Lionel Messi. The Argentine midfielder was thwarted on a number of occasions in a 0-0 draw last week against Villarreal thanks mainly to the goalkeeping heroics of Diego Lopez. And on Wednesday Messi had a penalty saved by Diego Alves in the Spanish Cup semifinal first leg as the Catalans eked out a 1-1 draw at Valencia. Club captain Carles Puyol headed home the equaliser against Valencia, thus extending an incredible unbeaten sequence of games in which he has started that now runs to 54 matches-the last defeat being against Inter Milan in the Champions League final in April 2010. — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Cup co-hosts wary of Ivorian stars MALABO: Equatorial Guinea admit they did not want to face Ivory Coast today in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals. The Estadio de Malabo pairing appears to be the mismatch of the last-eight phase with 133 places separating the countries on the FIFA world rankings this month. Ivory Coast are packed with familiar English Premier League names like brothers Kolo and Yaya Toure from Manchester City, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou of Chelsea and Gervinho from Arsenal.

Equatorial Guinea do not have a single footballer with international status and are competing in the African football showcase only because places are automatically reserved for host nations.

The Ivorian build-up to the tournament was professional and smooth, but the Equatoguineans changed coaches less than three weeks before the kick-off

and captain Rodolfo Bodipo has not started a match because of a niggling injury. While Ivory Coast triumphed against Sudan, Burkina Faso and Angola with the minimum of fuss, Equatorial Guinea shocked Libya and Senegal before coming up short against group winners Zambia. “I wish we could have met Ivory Coast in the final rather than now,” confessed midfielder Javier Balboa, once on the payroll of Real Madrid and Benfica and now with Portuguese outfit Beira Mar. “It is not that we cannot beat them, but their status as a star-studded team is very formidable. There are very high expectations of us across the country,” said the match-winner against Libya.

“So it would be catastrophic if we were eliminated in the quarter-finals as many hearts will be broken. Supporters are expecting us to reach the semi-

Nations Cup proves taxing for top players LIBREVILLE: As snow and ice causes havoc with weekend soccer fixtures in Europe, players at top teams might be tempted to envy club mates supposedly sunning themselves at the African Nations Cup. Such envy is misplaced, say players at the 16-team tournament, co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which is now at the quarter-final stage.

With tropical heat and near 100 percent humidity, the Nations Cup is more taxing than top-level club football and the tournament is sapping mental and physical strength, players and coaches say.

“We have had to redouble our efforts. The premier league is technical but the Nations Cup is physical with a lot of aggression. I can move in the game in England but not here,” said African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure in an interview this week. “The Nations Cup is certainly not the European Championship. The temperature, the humidity, the pitches, the atmosphere, it’s a big change for the players coming from European clubs,” added the Ivory Coast midfielder, who plays in the Premier League for Manchester City.

His coach Francois Zahoui took the opportunity to rest Toure and other key players once the Ivorians had qualified for the quarter-finals. Zahoui had earlier told his players, heavily fancied to win the cup, that they were in for a hard three-week slog if they were to win the title. Poor organization at the tournament can also tax patience. Teams have encountered accommodation with no running water and training facilities far from their hotels, involving bumpy bus rides. Morocco coach Eric Gerets said extra mental fortitude was needed to succeed in the local environment. “You don’t realize how difficult it is until you get here. The fatigue after the games is enormous and the ability to lift yourself up as a player so much more important,” he said after the surprise early elimination of his team. Morocco’s Mbark Boussoufa, who had not played a competitive match since the end of the last Russian season in November, said he had been surprised by the exertion required in the two matches he played. “The pace and intensity was shattering,” he told reporters.

Going straight back to club football in Europe, without any break, would be difficult, added Bundesliga-based Garra Dembele of Mali. “This tournament is very hard on all the players.” — Reuters

finals and even the final.” Among the supporters of the National Lightning is President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the longest serving ruler on the continent, who expects the team to “display attractive football and sporting values and win the cup”. A fondness for football runs in the Obiang family with a son rewarding the dramatic victory over Libya in the opening match two weeks ago with a million-dollar bonus.

Suspended centre-back Laurence Doe and midfielder Iban ‘Randy’ Iyanga and rested full-back David Alvarez missed the Zambia match and should return to face the Elephants before an expected 15,000 sell-out crowd. Ivory Coast started with nine ‘B’ team players against Angola, but coach Francois Zahoui will take no chances against the minnows and is set to wheel in his ‘big guns’ with a semi-finals date against co-

hosts Gabon or Mali at stake. That means a strike force of captain Drogba, Kalou and Gervinho and guaranteed anxiety for Brazil-born goalkeeper Danilo, one of several naturalised players in the Equatorial Guinea squad.

A pre-tournament warning by former Italy-based professional Zahoui not to underestimate any opponent-no matter how weak they appear to beseems to be rubbing off on his stars.

“Equatorial Guinea are a very organized team who play well together and have a good spirit so we need to be careful,” emphasized centre-back Souleymane Bamba from English second-tier club Leicester City. Reigning African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure echoed those views: “It is going to be tough playing against the co-hosts, but I believe we have the experience and the footballers to make it.”— AFP

Kante and Keita; Mali’s Special Ks LIBREVILLE: Mali owe their appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations in no small part to ‘oldtimers’ Cedric Kante and Seydou Keita. “With Cedric we’re the two veterans in the side, the rest are youngsters,” conceded Keita, who like Kante is aged 32 and who like the captain has seen their international return rewarded with a last eight place. Mali face co-hosts Gabon tomorrow after taking the runners-up spot in Group D with Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat of Botswana.

And despite all his club silverware Keita went beserk with joy when the final whistle finally blew on the other Group D match being played simultaneously up in Franceville on Wednesday night signalling Mali’s certain qualification. Keita, competing in his fifth Nations Cup, has won the Champions League, Spanish Cup, French Cup, and the World Club Championship. Now he wants to seize his chance of adding this major international title. “It’s no contest (between the feeling of playing for club or country). “Your country is something else, I never felt like that with Barcelona, Sevilla or Lens. It’s not comparable.

“I’ve won everything, I’ve also lost everything...but I was under enormous pressure (on Wednesday). “I can’t explain how I felt after the game.”

Keita, who scored the winner against Botswana, is aiming to match or better Mali’s performance in 2004 when he helped the Eagles make it to the Nations Cup semi-finals in Tunisia. Keita and Kante are the two most vulnerable members in the Mali squad on account of their age and the fact that they returned to the international fold after a summons from coach Alain Giresse.

“I’m not going to say that we had everything to lose in returning, but....” conceded Kante, who is attached to

Cedric Kante

Seydou Keita

Greek side Panathinaikos.

“We came back to the squad in order to bring something to it, to help the young players and to help the country but it has to result in something concrete. “We were relieved to qualify. We’ve invested in this and we would be truly frustrated if we’d gone out in the first round.” Keita added: “I want to succeed in this with these young players something that I didn’t succeed in doing with the others! It’s huge to qualify. I didn’t want to go home like that. I’m happy for the team and the country.”

Reflecting on the role of his two talented thirtysomethings, Giresse said: “Kante and Keita have a role which represents their experience. The team needs experienced players...” Mali’s special Ks hope to make it to the last four and equal the performance Mali achieved in 2002 and in 2004 which

Kante missed with injury. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s clash with Gabon, Keita said: “They are playing in front of their fans. They’ll have pressure but also the motivation with their supporters behind them. We have our chance.”

Kante commented: “The advantage is that we know them well (Giresse coached Gabon before Gernot Rohr took over in 2010). The disadvantage is that they’re playing at home and we’ll have to be very strong to beat them.”

He conceded that up to now Mali haven’t produced a performance to match the enthusiasm of their fans.

“We haven’t played like we would have wanted but we’re in the quarter-finals and lots of big teams who thought they would make it have been knocked out.

“We’ve displayed good spirit and it’s that which can help us make it to the semi-finals. We have to play with our hearts.”— AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

City aim to steal march on rivals LONDON: Manchester City will aim to turn the pressure back on their title rivals today by re-establishing their slender lead at the top of the Premier League table with victory over Fulham. City have endured a wobbly start to 2012, exiting both domestic cup competitions while suffering defeats against Sunderland and Everton to leave Roberto Mancini’s side level on points with second placed Manchester United.

But with United facing a potentially tricky visit to Chelsea tomorrow, and third placed Tottenham travelling to Liverpool on Monday, City could well finish the latest round of fixtures with their noses back in front. A dejected Mancini blamed himself for City’s latest setback, a surprising 1-0 reverse at Everton on Tuesday which allowed United to go level on points with their bitter cross-town rivals. Mancini said he had made “several mistakes” in the build-up to the Everton game which would not be repeated as City aim to preserve their remarkable 100 percent home record against the Cottagers. “I acknowledge my mistake. It is important for me to know this because, like this, I can’t do the same mistakes in the next game,” said Mancini, who nevertheless insisted City were still in the driving seat. “We are on the top again. We have 15 games. It is important we win the game at home. We have time.” United meanwhile could welcome back Wayne Rooney, Nani and Ashley Young this weekend for their trip to Stamford Bridge, a venue that has been anything but a happy hunting ground for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in recent seasons. Although United defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in last season’s Champions League quarterfinals, Ferguson is still riled by the memory of his team’s recent league meetings at the venue. Last season a controversial Frank Lampard penalty gave Chelsea a 2-1 win while in 2010 United were left seething by a John Terry winner that Ferguson believed should have been disallowed. “Games at Chelsea in the last few years have been tough and we’ve had terrible luck there which has caused us disappointing results,” Ferguson said. — AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Arsenal v Blackburn Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 West Brom v Swansea Abu Dhabi Sports HD 4 Wigan v Everton Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5 QPR V Wolves Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Norwich v Bolton Abu Dhabi Sports HD 6 Man City v Fulham Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 African Nations Cup Zambia v Sudan Aljazeera Sport +9 Aljazeera Sport +10 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD Ivory Coast v E Guinea Aljazeera Sport +9 Aljazeera Sport +10 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD Italian League Roma v Internazionale Aljazeera Sport +1 AC Cesena v Catania Aljazeera Sport +1

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Utd eye first win at Chelsea for decade MANCHESTER: Manchester United’s injury problems have improved before this weekend’s Premier League trip to Chelsea with long-term midfield absentees Ashley Young and Tom Cleverley back in the squad, manager Alex Ferguson said yesterday. Other players back in the frame for tomorrow’s match are winger Nani, striker Wayne Rooney and goalkeeper David de Gea as the champions seek their first Premier League win at Stamford Bridge for a decade. Young has been sidelined for several weeks with a knee injury, while Cleverley has been out of action since October with an ankle problem.

“We’re are a bit better this week... we hope that Rooney, Nani, Young, Cleverley will all be in the squad,” Ferguson told a news conference. “It is more likely Tom will play against Chelsea reserves on Monday but he is travelling with the team anyway.” De Gea missed the side’s midweek victory over Stoke City but is expected to return to action in place of the injured Anders Lindegaard, who played in six of seven matches between Dec 21 and Jan. 22. “It looks like Lindegaard will be out for at least four weeks, maybe five to six, with ankle ligament damage,” Ferguson added. “We don’t know what his recovery from injuries is like, so we’ll have to wait and see, but I would have thought at least four weeks.”

Meetings between Chelsea and United have in recent seasons played key parts in the championship with the last seven titles having been won by one of the two clubs. This season, Chelsea are a hefty 12 points off the pace in fourth place and all but the most optimistic fan would rule them out of contention for the title. With the best away record in the league, having lost one and won eight of 11 games, United head to London in good shape to pick up three points that would take them top of the league if leaders Manchester City fail to beat Fulham the previous day.

“Hopefully our form will stand up as it did in the Arsenal game,” Ferguson said, referring to their 2-1 win at the Emirates stadium in their last away game in the league two weeks ago.

“It’s not an easy game going to Stamford Bridge, we’ve not beaten them since 2002... the last seven years we’ve fought with them for league titles so you expect it to be a hard game and it will be.” United are level on points with neighbors City, with 54 from 23 games, five ahead of third-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Ferguson’s side beat Chelsea 3-1 at Old Trafford in the league in September in what he called a “crazy” game where “it could have been 20-18” but he was not expecting a repeat. “I don’t think it will be anything like that, I think it will be much tighter, I’m sure of that,” the manager said.— Reuters

MANCHESTER: In this file picture, Crystal Palace’s English midfielder Stuart O’Keefe (left) vies with Manchester United’s Ravel Morrison during the League cup fifth round football match between Manchester United and Crystal Palace. United have parted company with Ravel Morrison, the highly rated 18-year-old youth player who failed to establish himself at Old Trafford and has now signed for Championship side West Ham. —AFP

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Spanish League Real Mallorca v Real Betis Aljazeera Sport +8 Athletic de Bilbao v Espanyol Aljazeera Sport +5 Getafe v Real Madrid Aljazeera Sport +2

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Pienaar relishing Everton return WIGAN: Steven Pienaar has promised to emulate Landon Donovan in his second spell at Everton as he prepares to face Wigan. The South African winger, 29, left Everton for Tottenham last January but has now returned to Goodison Park for the rest of the season on loan after struggling for regular football at Spurs.

Croatian striker Nikica Jelavic could also make his Everton debut at the DW Stadium after completing a £5.5 million move from Rangers on Tuesday. Pienaar got his career on track when he joined the Blues in 2007 after a difficult spell at Borossia Dortmund and he is hoping to do the same this time around.

He will join up with another former team-mate, Donovan, who is impressing in a second loan spell from LA Galaxy.

Pienaar said: “I have been speaking to the players a lot and when the manager gave me a call on Tuesday it made things much easier. “Like all the other players I have to come and fight for my place. “I know it is not going to be easy, the team has had two good wins so I will have to come and fight and show I deserve a place. “You could say there is pressure because people will expect the same stuff but maybe I’ll have a Landon Donovan effect and do

even better than last time.

“You have to look at someone to inspire you and what Donovan has done in the last few games. He’s been playing really well and hopefully I can do the same. “It feels great to be back. I just want to play football and got an opportunity to come back and play. I will definitely take it with both hands.” Jelavic has been in prolific form in Scotland, where he scored 30 goals in 41 SPL starts after joining Rangers from Rapid Vienna in the summer of 2010.

The Croatia international, 26, is sure he can maintain that scoring form in the Premier League. “Of course it’s a step up,” Jelavic said. “The Premier League is the biggest in the world, the strongest, and for me it’s a big step forward in my career so I want to prove myself here and to play well for the club and the supporters. “It’s not pressure, I look at it as a challenge. I scored in Vienna, at Rangers and so I can score here as well. “I have my way and my style and I look only at it as a challenge and won’t put any pressure on myself with numbers.”

David Moyes will hope that Jack Rodwell can overcome a hamstring problem but Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka, Seamus Coleman and Leon Osman are all

absent through injury. Colombian Hugo Rodallega could feature again for Wigan after being left on the bench for the 3-1 defeat at Spurs in midweek, following repeated speculation about his future.

Franco Di Santo is likely to overcome a cut leg and Antolin Alcaraz could return from a groin problem. The Latics are currently bottom of the Premier League and four points from safety.

Manager Roberto Martinez is sure that Rodallega, whose current contract expires in the summer, can make a big difference in the second half of the season despite the likelihood he will leave on a free transfer. “It is quite clear that the position we are in the table that the most important thing is Wigan, nothing will distract us a group,” Martinez said.

“Individual situations do not matter now as the window is closed. “Everything is around what Wigan need in the next 15 games. Individual situations are not going to benefit or hinder what we are trying to do. “I’m delighted as we have Hugo now for the next 15 games.

Everything else is not important at all.

“Hugo has shown over the last few seasons how important and affective he has been over the last few seasons.”— AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Red Wings extend lead Flyers down Predators VANCOUVER: Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and Jiri Hudler scored in the shootout to give the Red Wings a 4-3 win over Vancouver on Thursday that padded their lead over the Canucks in the NHL’s Western Conference. Both shooters beat goalie Roberto Luongo on the stick side to give the Red Wings a 6-0 record this season in shootouts. Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard smothered Alex Edler’s close-in shot, and Mason Raymond lost control of the puck in the tiebreaker. Drew Miller, Hudler and Dan Cleary gave the Red Wings one-goal leads but they still needed overtime to notch their ninth time in 10 games and move four points ahead of Vancouver, which has a game in hand. Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows and Raymond forced overtime for the Canucks, who were outshot 43-25 before the shootout.

FLYERS 4, PREDATORS 1 In Philadelphia, Wayne Simmonds scored twice as Philadelphia ended Nashville’s fivegame winning streak. Matt Read and Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers, who finally finished a game in regulation, having gone to shootouts in their three previous games, losing twice. Ryan Suter had Nashville’s lone goal.

SHARKS 5, STARS 2 In San Jose, Ryane Clowe scored in his first game back from an injury, and four other San Jose players scored as the Sharks stretched their winning streak to three with a victory over Dallas. Michal Handzus, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau also had goals for the Sharks, who beat the Stars for the fifth straight time. Steve Ott and Jamie Benn scored for Dallas.

HURRICANES 3, BRUINS 0 In Boston, Cam Ward made 47 saves - 22 in the first period and 20 in the third - to help Carolina complete its first ever season sweep of Boston. Brandon Sutter had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who won all four meetings with the Bruins despite sitting last in the Eastern Conference. Eric Staal scored in the first period, Tuomo Ruutu converted Sutter’s rebound in the second, and Sutter added a goal 3:13 into the third. Ward posted his third shutout of the season and 19th of his career.

WILD 1, AVALANCHE 0 In Denver, Niklas Backstrom had 37 saves for his third shutout of the season and 25th of his NHL career, giving Minnesota victory over Colorado. Greg Zanon scored the sole goal in the second period and the Wild hung on despite the Avalanche having 17 shots in the third period. Colorado has lost four straight and continues to struggle at home against Minnesota. The Wild are 10-1-2 in their past 13 visits.

OILERS 8, BLACKHAWKS 4 In Edmonton, Sam Gagner had four goals and four assists in the NHL’s first individual eight-point game in 23 years, leading Edmonton past Chicago in a goal-fest.

Gagner fell two points shy of matching the NHL mark of 10, set by Toronto’s Darryl Sittler in 1976, but he tied the club record of eight that is held by Wayne Gretzky and defense-

BRITISH COLUMBIA: Brad Stuart #23 of the Detroit Red Wings pins Henrik Sedin #33 of the Vancouver Canucks along the boards while battling for the puck during the overtime period in NHL action on February 02, 2012 at Rogers Arena. — AFP

man Paul Coffey. The 22-year-old Gagner had only five goals this season before Thursday but became the first player to notch eight points since Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux in 1988-89. Taylor Hall, Ryan Whitney, Jordan Eberle and Cam Barker had the other goals for the Oilers. Patrick Sharp had two goals, and Jamal Mayers and Dave Bolland also scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost four straight.

DEVILS 5, CANADIENS 3 In Newark, New Jersey, Zach Parise scored twice, including the go-ahead tally with 2:44 remaining to complete New Jersey’s rally over Montreal. Parise’s second goal gave the Devils their first lead of the night. He deflected Ilya Kovalchuk’s shot past Carey Price to break a 3-

3 tie. David Clarkson finished the scoring for the Devils, who had trailed 2-0 and 3-1.

Clarkson also scored twice, while Dainius Zubrus added a goal for New Jersey. David Desharnais, Andrei Kostitsyn and Mathieu Darche scored for the Canadiens.

JETS 2, LIGHTNING 1, OT In Tampa, Kyle Wellwood scored in overtime to lead Winnipeg past Tampa Bay. Wellwood scored from in close off a left-circle pass from Blake Wheeler. Wheeler also scored for the Jets, who had lost seven straight at Tampa Bay, dating to the franchise’s time in Atlanta. Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning, who had a season-best, five-game winning streak snapped. The defenseman snapped a 25-game goal drought. — AP

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Thursday. Carolina 3, Boston 0; New Jersey 5, Montreal 3; Philadelphia 4, Nashville 1; Winnipeg 2, Tampa Bay 1 (OT); Minnesota 1, Colorado 0; Edmonton 8, Chicago 4; Detroit 4, Vancouver 3 (SO); San Jose 5, Dallas 2. (SO = shootout, OT = overtime)

NY Rangers Philadelphia Pittsburgh New Jersey NY Islanders Boston Ottawa Toronto Buffalo Montreal Florida Washington Winnipeg Tampa Bay Carolina

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF 32 12 5 136 30 14 6 167 29 18 4 157 28 19 3 138 20 22 7 120 Northeast Division 32 15 2 175 27 20 6 160 26 19 6 156 21 24 6 122 19 23 9 134 Southeast Division 23 15 11 126 26 20 4 141 24 22 6 128 22 23 5 141 19 25 9 135

GA 100 145 132 142 145

PTS 69 66 62 59 47

108 164 152 151 142

66 60 58 48 47

138 145 145 170 164

57 56 54 49 47

Western Conference Central Division Detroit 35 16 1 167 121 71 Nashville 31 17 4 146 135 66 St Louis 29 13 7 124 102 65 Chicago 29 16 7 168 155 65 Columbus 13 32 6 117 172 32 Northwest Division Vancouver 31 15 5 164 128 67 Minnesota 25 19 7 120 131 57 Colorado 26 25 2 133 148 54 Calgary 23 22 6 121 140 52 Edmonton 20 26 5 133 148 45 Pacific Division San Jose 29 14 6 142 112 64 Los Angeles 25 16 10 114 113 60 Dallas 26 22 2 134 143 54 Phoenix 22 21 8 131 138 52 Anaheim 19 24 7 130 151 45 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

Unlike Patriots, NFL slow to embrace ‘Moneyball’ WASHINGTON: It’s advice that sounds like heresy on the gridiron: Go for it on fourth down. Try more onside kicks. Running backs don’t matter much. But to stats geeks, this is the gospel from the spreadsheets. The number-savvy economists, statisticians and refugees from Wall Street who revolutionized much of baseball in a way celebrated in the book and movie “Moneyball” are aiming their calculators at football.

But so far they aren’t making much headway. The complex team-oriented game is difficult to break down into interchangeable numbers, and the men who run the sport are even tougher to change. If baseball is in the 10th year of adopting “Moneyball” concepts, football is barely in year one, several sports number gurus say.

There is one NFL team that seems to best epitomize an increased amount of numberbased decision-making, top sports statisticians agree. And that team, the New England Patriots, will be playing on Super Bowl Sunday for the fifth time in 11 years.

“The Patriots are the ‘Moneyball’ team of the NFL, no doubt about it,” said Brian Burke, founder of Advanced NFL Stats Inc. “The Patriots are in the Super Bowl because they have this system and stick to it. The Giants are in the Super Bowl because they are lucky.” The statisticians are trying to bring mathematics and economics to decisions made on field strategy and player drafting. It’s called analytics and in many, but not all, ways it runs counter to decades of football philosophy. The numbers show that: Icing the kicker - calling a last-second timeout to put more pressure on him doesn’t work. The clichÈ that defense wins championships is wrong.

Top first-round draft picks are overvalued compared to picks a bit lower. So says Tobias Moskowitz, a University of Chicago economics professor and co-author of the book “Scorecasting.” Stats guys can spout the numbers proving them right. But when football teams hit the field and general managers compile their rosters, all that doesn’t seem to matter. They punt on fourth-and-2 even though they have a 75 percent chance of making a first down.

They ice the kicker. And they talk about how it all starts and ends on the defensive side of the line, even though when Moskowitz ran the numbers, the best offense won as many championships as the best defense.

The presence of the Patriots in Sunday’s game, and the win by the New Orleans Saints two years ago, show that it’s nonsense to say defense wins championships, said Aaron Schatz, founder of Football Outsiders and a pioneer in the young field.

“This year is the most offensively focused of all time,” he said. “These are the two worst defenses to ever play in the Super Bowl in terms of yards allowed.” Sunday’s game also supports another mantra of the numbers geeks: “a running back is a running back is a running back.” Shane Reese, a statistics professor at Brigham Young University, said an average-to-good running back with an excellent line works just as well as a superstar running back. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Sports

FA strip Terry of captaincy - again

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ATLANTA: Tony Allen #9 of the Memphis Grizzlies leaps for a rebound against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on February 2, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. — AFP

Grizzlies beat listless Hawks Late-blooming Rose lights up The Garden

ATLANTA: Memphis’ Rudy Gay scored 21 points to lead five Grizzlies players in double figures in the 105-102 win over a listless Atlanta on Thursday that prevented the Hawks going clear top of the NBA’s Southeast Division. The Grizzlies pulled away late in the first half, closing on an 18-7 run that gave the visitors a 10-point lead at the break. They extended that advantage in the third quarter as Atlanta missed its first seven shots and turned the ball over three times. The Hawks were coming off a 4-1 road trip that left them tied with Miami for the Southeast Division lead. But they looked exhausted in their return home, putting up ugly jumpers, playing pedestrian defense and struggling just to hang on to the ball. Tony Allen and OJ Mayo scored 18 apiece for Memphis. Josh Smith led the Hawks with just 11 points, playing only 19 minutes.

NUGGETS 112, CLIPPERS 91 In Los Angeles, Danilo Gallinari scored 21 points, including all five of his 3-pointers, as Denver ended Los Angeles’ season-high four-game winning streak. Ty Lawson added 18 points for the Nuggets, who had lost three in a row to the Clippers, their longest active losing streak against any team. Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 18 points, hours after he and teammate Chris Paul were named as starters

in the NBA All-Star game - giving the club two players on the team for the first time since 1976.

BULLS 105, KNICKS 102 In New York, Derrick Rose took over scoring duties late in the game to ensure the surging Chicago Bulls held off the New York Knicks to record a 105-102 victory at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. The Knicks (8-14) rallied from an 11point halftime deficit to tie game at 75-75 late in the third quarter before the reigning MVP took matters into his own hands with 15 points in the fourth quarter. “I really wasn’t forcing it,” Rose told reporters. “I’m always put in that position, where I’m one of the leaders in the fourth quarter. My team mates have confidence in me to take over the game in the fourth quarter and that’s all I do is try.” New York twice trimmed the lead to one point in the fourth quarter but failed to get on level terms.

Amar’e Stoudemire missed a three-point attempt with 11 seconds remaining that would have tied the game and Carmelo Anthony’s effort from a similar distance as time expired hit the front of the rim.

“I knew we had a lot of time left,” Stoudemire said of his attempt. “Coach explained if I’m open, shoot it. I was open. Joakim (Noah) contested it. We played hard, played well. We had a chance to win.”

Rose led the Bulls with 32 points and 13 assists and Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver each added 16 points as the Bulls improved their East-leading record to 19-6. Anthony sparked New York’s charge with 12 of his 26 points coming in the third quarter, while his Knicks team mate Stoudemire led all scorers with 34 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulls forged a 55-44 halftime lead, outscoring New York 22-11 to close the first half and converting 11 turnovers in the second quarter into 15 points.

WARRIORS 119, JAZZ 101 In Oakland, Stephen Curry scored 29 points and had a season-high 12 assists to lead Golden State over Utah. Monta Ellis added 33 points for the Warriors. He and Curry, who were on the bench for most of the fourth quarter in Tuesday’s win over Sacramento, didn’t get much of a rest against the Jazz while leading the Warriors to their highest point total of the season. Paul Milsap had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who were without starting point guard Devin Harris due to a strained hamstring.

KINGS 95, TRAIL BLAZERS 92 In Sacramento, Marcus Thornton scored 20 points as Sacramento won its first game in six, edg-

ing Portland. John Salmons had a season-high 19 for the Kings, who had lost 12 of their previous 13 against the Blazers, but ran off five straight points late in the game for a lead that held up as the visitors missed two 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Blazers, who have lost four straight on the road. Portland made just 8-of-16 free throws.

SPURS 93, HORNETS 81 In San Antonio, Tim Duncan scored 19 points to lead San Antonio past New Orleans to to its third straight win. A night after Duncan scored 25 in a win over Houston, it was somewhat surprising that he even played. Coach Gregg Popovich has vowed to limit the 35-year-old’s minutes and playing the West’s worst team seemed to invite a night off. But the Hornets didn’t make it easy.

Carly Landry scored 17 points and the visitors kept it close before the Spurs blew out the game in the fourth, condemning New Orleans to its 12th loss in 13 games. Tony Parker had 18 for the Spurs, who improved to an NBA-best 12-1 at home. They need to stockpile all the home wins they can: After hosting Oklahoma City today, the Spurs won’t be back home for three weeks due to the San Antonio Rodeo. — Agencies